'Humor writer' names Olbermann a 'target' after Giffords shooting

Your Words Do Hurt Me
In the aftermath of the Arizona shooting, which left six dead, 14 others injured, and a critically wounded federal public defender Rep. Gabrielle Giffords (D-AZ) in ICU (UPI News), there has been a lot made about the motives of Jared Lee Loughner, the alleged shooter. There are concerns that recent political Rhetoric of violent imagery from the Right might have been a motive for the seriously disturbed young man.  A recent article in Talking Points Memo reports that back in June 2010, Repub...

Silence Is Complicity and Defensiveness Is Endorsement
When, for instance, Sarah Palin responds to the shooting by scrubbing her website but not by apologizing for her violent imagery aimed at Rep. Gabrielle Giffords, that simultaneously says she knows she may be partially responsible for violent culture, but unwilling to state that publicly so as to change that culture. When Arizona Tea Party Leaders condemn the violence but then nonetheless make a show of publicly refusing to refrain from violent Rhetoric, they are acknowledging the tragedy whi...

Pete King: We Need to Stop the Fear
Rep. Pete King thinks cops need the power to stop people carrying guns within 1,000 feet of federal officials because Americans are becoming afraid of listening to lawmakers in public. The powerful Long Island Republican who chairs the Homeland Security Committee thinks the Arizona shootings that killed six and left Rep. Gabrielle Giffords (D-Ariz.) with a bullet hole in her head have deeply chilled regular Americans. "I’ve gotten people saying, 'Hey, you’re a good guy -- do...

Feinberg: Gulf victims' release form won't change
BP Oil Spill fund administrator Kenneth Feinberg addresses claimants at a town hall meeting in Houma, La., Tuesday, Jan. 11, 2011. The administrator of the $20 billion Gulf Oil Spill Victims' fund isn't yielding to pressure to change a release form that requires those accepting a final compensation payment to give up their right to sue. Washington attorney Ken Feinberg told The Associated Press on Tuesday that the form stands. He spoke to AP after a town hall meeting in Louisiana with spill vic...

Supporters urge Palin to hit back at liberal critics on Giffords shooting
Sarah Palin has stayed mostly silent on the Arizona massacre. This may be smart for her in the long-term - and if so, she is right to take the long-term view. After all, at this point no one should second-guess Palin’s political instincts . You do not rise from PTA mom to the head of the conservative political stratosphere by making dumb moves. Facing a firestorm of unwarranted criticism over gun metaphors that her enemies claim fed the heated political climate surrounding the Tucso...

Arizona legislature expected to block Westboro protest
We picket the Funerals to make these vital points to the living! If you heed, it is life and health and peace and God sent the shooter! Praise God for ALL his works, and BE YE THANKFUL! Before your blood reaches the boiling point, take some solace in the fact that the Arizona legislature is sending a message of its own. The body is expected to vote today to make it a Misdemeanor to Protest within 300 feet of a funeral from one hour before until one hour after the services have ended. Jeff Rogers...

Arizona governor asks residents to pray for victims
Devoting most of her annual State of the State Speech to the rampage, Brewer called it "something dark and ugly", according to a transcript of the Speech released by her office. Among those injured in the shooting on Saturday were Representative Gabrielle Giffords, who investigators believe was the shooter's principal target, and who remains in critical condition at a local Hospital. Killed were a Federal Judge, a 9-year-old girl and four others. The suspect in the shooting, 22-year-old Jared L...

Shot US politician can now breathe on her own
Gabrielle Giffords with her husband, NASA Astronaut Mark Kelly. Photo: AP The Arizona politician shot in the head in an attack that killed six in Tucson remains in critical condition but is now capable of breathing on her own, doctors said. "She's holding her own," said Michael Lemole, the head neurosurgeon who operated on Congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords, adding on Tuesday that she was still responding to simple commands, a key sign for her recovery prospects. "In fact, she's able to generate h...

The New Don't Ask, Don't Tell
With President Obama reportedly set to visit this divided and mourning Arizona city Wednesday, the chair of the county Republican Party is calling on the president to help put an end to what he calls "assigning blame" in the wake of Saturday's shooting at a constituent event for Rep. Gabrielle Giffords (D-AZ) that left six dead and the congresswoman gravely wounded. Brian Miller called on Obama to "lead the effort to stop the blame" after the shooting, responsibility for which he says has been u...

Rick Santorum Opposes Bullseye Ban
By Grant Bosse (MANCHESTER, NH) Rick Santorum doesn’t want to restrict Political Speech in the wake of this weekend’s shooting in Tuscon, Arizona. The former Republican Senator discussed calls for toning down fiery political Rhetoric following the attempted Assassination of Congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords on Saturday, which left six people dead. Congressman Robert Brady (D-PA) has proposed banning cross-hairs and bullseyes in political ads, as liberal commentators have tried to tie accu...

Loughner Parents: "No Words to Express" Feelings
Like this Story? Share it: During a Press Conference for the injured Victims of the Tucson, Ariz. shooting, Bill Hileman became overcome with emotion when describing his wife who was holding the hand of 9-year-old victim Christina Taylor Green. Jan Crawford speaks with New York Times Chief political correspondent Jeff Zeleny about what to expect from President Obama's Speech from Tucson, Ariz. Jan Crawford talks to Rep. Bob Filner (D-Calif.) and Prof. Larry Sabato, Director, Univ. of Va. Center ...

In Arizona, Obama to honor memories, speak of hope
WASHINGTON (AP) — Under high expectations to provide healing, President Barack Obama on Wednesday will try to convert the horror of the Arizona shootings into a moment of national unity centering his memorial Speech in Tucson on the lives of the Victims and the heroism of those who rushed to stop the madness. The president was crafting his Speech on Tuesday, and his aides were reluctant to discuss it even broadly in its unfinished form, other than to say it will emphasize the memories of t...

Family of accused Arizona shooter expresses sorrow
TUCSON, Arizona | Tue Jan 11, 2011 6:13pm EST TUCSON, Arizona (Reuters) - The family of a 22-year-old man accused in an Arizona Shooting Spree that killed six people and injured 14 others expressed sorrow on Tuesday for the rampage and asked for the media to respect their Privacy. "There are no words that can possibly express how we feel. We wish there were, so we could make you feel better," according to the statement attributed to accused gunman Jared Lee Loughner's family. "We don't unders...

Chris Matthews, M.D.
MATTHEWS: The guy’s a psychotic. But at some point, you decide between right and wrong. And, at some point, you need that moral license. And you go, OK, everybody says she’s bad. I’m OK here. You know what I’m saying? Everybody says she’s bad. It happened in the environment, all these kind of environments. Once you get that final moral, OK, oh, they’re bad, so my psychosis fits in with appropriate targeting here. It’s refreshing to see Matthews openly at...

American Psycho: Meltdown With Keith Olbermann Part 59, Tuscon Shooting Edition
On Saturday, MSNBC, like every other news channel, went all Tuscon shooting all the time.  So, they dragged Keith Olbermann in for a “Special Comment,” and Keith quickly spotted the real story… Keith Olbermann. That’s right, as the media template formed that somehow the fact that a psychopath obsessed with The Communist Manifesto had shot a Democrat Congresswoman was the result of conservative Rhetoric, Keith Olbermann quickly decided that the story was really about hi...

Congressional leaders lay blame for Tucson killing
Partisan representatives and their aides have slung Rhetoric over the circumstances that led to the Murder of 6, and the wounding of 14 more, including Representative Gabrielle Giffords, last weekend.  While Obama assured the country that “the perpetrator of a heinous crime” would be brought to justice, Democrats and Republicans slumped into their comfort zone.  Most media outlets have concluded that Jared Loughner, the man who held the gun, is mentally unstable, yet politi...

I Hope Erick Erickson Lives A Long and Miserable Life Afflicted By At Least Six of the Ten Plaugues*
I’m working on a longer post on the question of causation, madness and Murder, but I have to stop that for a moment of sheer rage. Y’all know that I’m a bit squeamish in my language here—the way I write f**k and all that—but let me drop that reticence for just this once and say that I hope that notorious goatbuggering cretin, Erick Erickson, suffers every possible anguish reserved for those who see the suffering of others as evidence of their god’s love for ...

Tuesday's Mini-Report
TUESDAY'S MINI-REPORT.... Today's edition of quick hits: * It seems hard to even imagine, but Rep. Gabrielle Giffords (D-Ariz.) is already able to breathe on her own, though she remains in critical condition. One of her doctors told reporters today, "She has no right to look this good." * Speaking from China today, Defense Secretary Robert Gates said North Korea's nuclear and intercontinental Ballistic Missile programs are "becoming a direct threat to the United States." * Gates' visit just ha...

Tucson Shooting To Be Condemned By House
WASHINGTON — The House plans to vote Wednesday to condemn "in the strongest possible terms" the shootings in Arizona that killed six people and gravely wounded a congresswoman. The proposed resolution extends condolences to the Victims and their families, praises the emergency responders and expresses hopes that the injured will recover. The House originally had planned to vote Wednesday on the divisive question of repealing last year's overhaul of the nation's Health Care system. Democr...

MSNBC Warns Changing Programing could Spell Disaster for Network.
From Diogenes “It’s About Angry Rhetoric That’s What We’re all About!” Public calls for a reduction in hate filled and inflammatory political rhetoric on Cable News networks have plunged the MSNBC News Channel into utter chaos.  A spokesperson warning that such a move could leave the network with pretty much all 24 hours to fill. Network spokeperson Shadow Pierson-Finkelroy said not to underestimate the giant hole this would create in their programing. “MSNB...

Olbermann: 'Worst Persons' Changing Following Arizona Shooting (VIDEO)
Keith Olbermann announced Monday a major change coming to one of his broadcast's signature segment: the Worst Persons in the World. The "Countdown" host said he would be changing the name of the segment just months after temporarily suspending it in the wake of Jon Stewart's Rally to Restore Sanity. "This ordinarily is where you would see our Worst Persons in the World segment," Olbermann said Monday late into the broadcast. "For more than two months, I've struggled with its value. We suspende...

Remainders, 1.11.11
NPR’s ombud said incorrect Giffords reports came from not following procedure. Most Americans think the shooting was unrelated to the political discourse. On the eve of The Daily’s launch, MySpace cuts half its staff. Bloomberg LP is starting its own rich list. Journalist organizations are shunning Assange. ABC News’s new president Ben Sherwood vowed to “fix” “This Week.” Mika responds, via Kurtz, to that New Republic essay. MSNBC releases a Twitter-f...

Daily scoreboard
1. From the Baltimore Sun: If the cold keeps up, the Chesapeake Bay may freeze over. First time in 7 years. Which was 2004. Which was one of those Hottest Years Ever. Under tough luck, you stole the Browns rule… GOOD. 2. From the Associated Press: “The Food and Drug Administration, which has long maintained that the Supreme Court freed it from any authority to regulate drugs used in executions, has quietly helped Arizona and California obtain a quick overseas source of lethal sodiu...

Halperin to Conservatives: Turn the Other Cheek
During a discussion on MSNBC's "Morning Joe" Tuesday, the panel conceded that Conservatives and Tea Party Activists were unfairly scapegoated in the wake of Jared Lee Loughner's Shooting Spree in Tucson, Ariz., which killed six and left Rep. Gabrielle Giffords fighting for her life after a gunshot wound to the head. Mark Halperin of Time just thinks Conservatives shouldn't bother defending themselves, so as to avoid further political escalation. You must login to comment. The Fox Nation is for t...

House Resolution Would Condemn Giffords Attack (Full Text)
Members of Congress and staff members observe a moment of silence for Rep. Gabrielle Giffords, D-Ariz., and other Shooting Victims, Monday, Jan. 10, 2011, on the East Steps of the Capitol on Capitol Hill in Washington. (Credit: AP Photo/Charles Dharapak) The House of Representatives on Wednesday will vote on a resolution declaring that the House "condemns in the strongest possible terms the horrific attack" in Tucson, Arizona that left six dead, a congresswoman in critical condition and 13 ot...