Gabrielle Giffords, US Congresswoman, shot in head

[michael32]

Associated Press, Jan 8, 9:11 PM EST


Doctors were optimistic about Giffords surviving as she was responding to commands from doctors despite having a bullet go through her head. "With guarded optimism, I hope she will survive, but this is a very devastating wound," said Dr. Richard Carmona, the former surgeon general who lives in Tucson.

Police say the shooter was in custody, and was identified by people familiar with the investigation as Jared Loughner, 22. Officials said he used a pistol with an extended clip to carry out the attack. U.S. officials who provided his name to the AP spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to release it publicly.

The suspect's exact motivation was not clear, but a former classmate described Loughner as a pot-smoking loner who had rambling beliefs about the world.

 

[Saving Hawaii]

These words still ring very true today:

In this country we cherish and guard the right of free speech. We know we love it when we put up with people saying things we absolutely deplore. And we must always be willing to defend their right to say things we deplore to the ultimate degree. But we hear so many loud and angry voices in America today whose sole goal seems to be to try to keep some people as paranoid as possible and the rest of us all torn up and upset with each other. They spread hate. They leave the impression that, by their very words, that violence is acceptable. You ought to see—I'm sure you are now seeing the reports of some things that are regularly said over the airwaves in America today.

Well, people like that who want to share our freedoms must know that their bitter words can have consequences and that freedom has endured in this country for more than two centuries because it was coupled with an enormous sense of responsibility on the part of the American people.

If we are to have freedom to speak, freedom to assemble, and, yes, the freedom to bear arms, we must have responsibility as well. And to those of us who do not agree with the purveyors of hatred and division, with the promoters of paranoia, I remind you that we have freedom of speech, too, and we have responsibilities, too. And some of us have not discharged our responsibilities. It is time we all stood up and spoke against that kind of reckless speech and behavior.

If they insist on being irresponsible with our common liberties, then we must be all the more responsible with our liberties. When they talk of hatred, we must stand against them. When they talk of violence, we must stand against them. When they say things that are irresponsible, that may have egregious consequences, we must call them on it. The exercise of their freedom of speech makes our silence all the more unforgivable. So exercise yours, my fellow Americans. Our country, our future, our way of life is at stake. I never want to look into the faces of another set of family members like I saw yesterday, and you can help to stop it.

-Bill Clinton

​

 

[Gawron]

Wasn't that Clinton's speech in trying to blame talk radio for the Oklahoma City bombing?

 

[Maren]

Interesting article on the alleged shooter. For example, comments from a couple of classmates:

A former classmate of Loughner at Pima Community College said he was "obviously very disturbed."

"He disrupted class frequently with nonsensical outbursts," said Lynda Sorenson, who took a math class with Loughner last summer at Pima Community College's Northwest campus.

Sorenson doesn't recall if he ever made any threats or uttered political statements but he was very disruptive, she said. He was asked to leave the pre-algebra class several times and eventually was barred from class, said Sorenson, a Tucson resident.

Another Pima classmate, Lydian Ali, said Loughner would frequently laugh aloud to himself during the advanced-poetry class they attended. Only about 16 people were in the class, so Loughner's behavior stood out, Ali said.

"It almost seemed like he was on his own planet, because his comments would have nothing to do with what we were talking about," Ali said.

Also, police appear to be searching for an accomplice, thought to be a 50 year old white male.

 

[michael32]

These words still ring very true today:

In this country we cherish and guard the right of free speech. We know we love it when we put up with people saying things we absolutely deplore. And we must always be willing to defend their right to say things we deplore to the ultimate degree. But we hear so many loud and angry voices in America today whose sole goal seems to be to try to keep some people as paranoid as possible and the rest of us all torn up and upset with each other. They spread hate. They leave the impression that, by their very words, that violence is acceptable. You ought to see—I'm sure you are now seeing the reports of some things that are regularly said over the airwaves in America today.

Well, people like that who want to share our freedoms must know that their bitter words can have consequences and that freedom has endured in this country for more than two centuries because it was coupled with an enormous sense of responsibility on the part of the American people.

If we are to have freedom to speak, freedom to assemble, and, yes, the freedom to bear arms, we must have responsibility as well. And to those of us who do not agree with the purveyors of hatred and division, with the promoters of paranoia, I remind you that we have freedom of speech, too, and we have responsibilities, too. And some of us have not discharged our responsibilities. It is time we all stood up and spoke against that kind of reckless speech and behavior.

If they insist on being irresponsible with our common liberties, then we must be all the more responsible with our liberties. When they talk of hatred, we must stand against them. When they talk of violence, we must stand against them. When they say things that are irresponsible, that may have egregious consequences, we must call them on it. The exercise of their freedom of speech makes our silence all the more unforgivable. So exercise yours, my fellow Americans. Our country, our future, our way of life is at stake. I never want to look into the faces of another set of family members like I saw yesterday, and you can help to stop it.

-Bill Clinton

​

I'm assuming you mean for these words by Clinton apply to the following very gracious liberal comments? Maybe these are the public comments the shooter was motivated by...or maybe he was just a mentally disturbed loner.


"Let’s just throw Ledeen against a wall. Or, pace Dr. Alterman, throw him through a plate glass window. I’ll bet a little spot of violence would shut him right the [bless and do not curse][bless and do not curse][bless and do not curse][bless and do not curse] up, as with most bullies."-Spencer Ackerman on Journolist

“..And then there’s Rumsfeld who said of Iraq ‘We have our good days and our bad days.’ We should put this S.O.B. up against a wall and say ‘This is one of our bad days’ and pull the trigger.” — From a fundraising ad put out by the St. Petersburg Democratic Club

“I want to go up to the closest white person and say: ‘You can’t understand this, it’s a black thing’ and then slap him, just for my mental health” — New York city councilman Charles Barron

{Unbelieveably vulgar rant} I want {unbelievably vulgar sexual term} Joe the plumber dead.” — Liberal talk show host Charles Karel Bouley on the air.

“You guys see Live and Let Die, the great Bond film with Yaphet Kotto as the bad guy, Mr. Big? In the end they jam a big CO2 pellet in his face and he blew up. I have to tell you, Rush Limbaugh is looking more and more like Mr. Big, and at some point somebody’s going to jam a CO2 pellet into his head and he’s going to explode like a giant blimp. That day may come. Not yet. But we’ll be there to watch. I think he’s Mr. Big, I think Yaphet Kotto. Are you watching, Rush?” — Chris Matthews

“Drudge? Aw, Drudge, somebody ought to wrap a strong Republican entrail around his neck and hoist him up about six feet in the air and watch him bounce.” — Liberal radio host, Mike Malloy

“I know how the ‘tea party’ people feel, the anger, venom and bile that many of them showed during the recent House vote on health-care reform. I know because I want to spit on them, take one of their ‘Obama Plan White Slavery’ signs and knock every racist and homophobic tooth out of their Cro-Magnon heads.” — The Washington Post’s Courtland Milloy

 

[LightUpTheNight]

The tools of conquest do not necessarily come with bombs and explosions and fallout. There are weapons that are simply thoughts, attitudes, prejudices to be found only in the minds of men. For the record, prejudices can kill and suspicion can destroy, and a thoughtless frightened search for a scapegoat has a fallout all its own for the children, and the children yet unborn.

This is my first post on this site, and I am disgusted by all of you. Lives have been taken by a madman and all you can do is blame each other, or people you do not like. It is sickening how you are turning on each other, and all I can think of is the words of Rod Serling.

Why are you all like this? Why must you strike at each other over a tragic occurrence? Why do you let the opinions of a few people affect you so much that you use the monstrous events of tonight to your own ends? Why can't a tragedy just be a tragedy? Why does it have to be a twisted conspiracy? Why? If Jesus, or Buddha, or any of the great peacemakers were here, they would be sickened by the sight of you all.

 

[RedDead1981]

UPDATE: From the moment this story broke, the Left attempted desperately to claim the would-be assassin of Congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords was a Tea Party member. As the mounting evidence in this case proves, Jared Lee Loughner is a Leftist Democrat, not a conservative, not a Tea Party member.

This is an excellent case study in the Leftist media doing everything it can to malign the Tea Party because it serves the Obama Administration and the goal of the media is to destroy the Tea Party to help Democrats.

The same thing happened when Muslims bombed Times Square last year…and Mayor Bloomberg and the Leftist media tried to blame the Tea Party, when it turned out the terrorist was a Muslim (who was supported by the Left, as all terrorists are).

UPDATE: 302pm CST Daily Kos actually put a “bulls eye” (sic) on Gabrielle Giffords

No matter how hard the Left and media (redundancy alert!) try to spin this as a Tea Party attack, no Tea Party supporter agress with either Mein Kampf or the Communist Manifesto. Those two books belong on a shelf with the ravings of William Ayers, Jeremiah Wright, and other anti-American writers favored by the current White House and the Left (redundancy alert!), not those who support the Tea Party. 22-year old anarchists who “favorite” flag burning, the Communist Manifesto, and Mein Kampf are not part of the Tea Party.

But they sure as heck are abundant on Daily Kos.

UPDATE: 445pm CST School classmates and former friends are describing Jared Lee Loughner as a committed Leftist and detail his support for the Democrat party and the far-Left’s agenda:

IS DAILY KOS INVOLVED IN ARIZONA MURDERS? “My CongressWOMAN voted against Nancy Pelosi! And is now DEAD to me!” — eerie Daily Kos hit piece on Gabrielle Giffords just two days before assassination attempt; repeated use of word &#822

There's a special place in hell for people who snag tragedies like these to score political points.

 

[LightUpTheNight]

Have any of you seen the Great Dictator? Charlie Chaplin makes a speech at the end that I believe we should all live by.

 

[LightUpTheNight]

I doubt very much any of you will read this, but I feel I must post it.

I'm sorry, but I don't want to be an emperor. That's not my business. I don't want to rule or conquer anyone. I should like to help everyone if possible - Jew, Gentile - black man - white.

We all want to help one another. Human beings are like that. We want to live by each other's happiness - not by each other's misery. We don't want to hate and despise one another. In this world there's room for everyone and the good earth is rich and can provide for everyone.


The way of life can be free and beautiful, but we have lost the way. Greed has poisoned men's souls - has barricaded the world with hate - has goose-stepped us into misery and bloodshed. We have developed speed, but we have shut ourselves in. Machinery that gives abundance has left us in want. Our knowledge has made us cynical; our cleverness, hard and unkind. We think too much and feel too little. More than machinery we need humanity. More than cleverness, we need kindness and gentleness. Without these qualities, life will be violent and all will be lost.

The aeroplane and the radio have brought us closer together. The very nature of these inventions cries out for the goodness in man - cries for universal brotherhood - for the unity of us all. Even now my voice is reaching millions throughout the world - millions of despairing men, women, and little children - victims of a system that makes men torture and imprison innocent people. To those who can hear me, I say: 'Do not despair.' The misery that is now upon us is but the passing of greed - the bitterness of men who fear the way of human progress. The hate of men will pass, and dictators die, and the power they took from the people will return to the people. And so long as men die, liberty will never perish.

Soldiers! Don't give yourselves to brutes - men who despise you and enslave you - who regiment your lives - tell you what to do - what to think and what to feel! Who drill you - diet you - treat you like cattle, use you as cannon fodder. Don't give yourselves to these unnatural men - machine men with machine minds and machine hearts! You are not machines! You are not cattle! You are men! You have the love of humanity in your hearts. You don't hate, only the unloved hate - the unloved and the unnatural!

S
oldiers! Don't fight for slavery! Fight for liberty! In the seventeenth chapter of St Luke, it is written the kingdom of God is within man not one man nor a group of men, but in all men! In you! You, the people, have the power - the power to create machines. The power to create happiness! You, the people, have the power to make this life free and beautiful - to make this life a wonderful adventure. Then in the name of democracy - let us use that power - let us all unite. Let us fight for a new world - a decent world that will give men a chance to work - that will give youth a future and old age a security.

By the promise of these things, brutes have risen to power. But they lie! They do not fulfil that promise. They never will! Dictators free themselves but they enslave the people. Now let us fight to fulfil that promise! Let us fight to free the world - to do away with national barriers - to do away with greed, with hate and intolerance. Let us fight for a world of reason - a world where science and progress will lead to all men's happiness. Soldiers, in the name of democracy, let us unite!

 

[lordbt]

There's a special place in hell for people who snag tragedies like these to score political points.

Well, there will be a lot of lefties down there if the past 24 pages of this thread are any indication. I mean, how many lefties do you think are out there right now pouring over footage of tea party rallies and Sarah Palin events hoping to find an image of this guy in attendance? Hundreds? Probably.

 

[Avatar]

I doubt very much any of you will read this, but I feel I must post it.

Wow. Chaplin sure had a lot to say for someone who appeared in so many silent films.

 

[LightUpTheNight]

You see? None of you actually care about the people who have died. You all will just use this to further your own causes, to further cement in your minds that your hate is reasonable. Left, Right, all the labels you give yourself and your enemies are just ways to dehumanize the other person, so that you do not have to empathize with them, so that your hatred can grow and grow and keep growing until it consumes you.

 

[LightUpTheNight]

Wow. Chaplin sure had a lot to say for someone who appeared in so many silent films.

So few listened to him. I tried to post the video, but I do not have enough posts.

 

[laconicstudent]

You see? None of you actually care about the people who have died. You all will just use this to further your own causes, to further cement in your minds that your hate is reasonable. Left, Right, all the labels you give yourself and your enemies are just ways to dehumanize the other person, so that you do not have to empathize with them, so that your hatred can grow and grow and keep growing until it consumes you.

If you find us all so sickening, why are you here?

Please note it is only a few cads on this thread actually trying to milk this for political points.

 

[RedDead1981]

Well, there will be a lot of lefties down there if the past 24 pages of this thread are any indication. I mean, how many lefties do you think are out there right now pouring over footage of tea party rallies and Sarah Palin events hoping to find an image of this guy in attendance? Hundreds? Probably.

I didn't specify one side or the other. As I said, there is a special place in hell for people who try to score political points off of these kinds of tragedies.

 

[LightUpTheNight]

If you find us all so sickening, why are you here?

Please note it is only a few cads on this thread actually trying to milk this for political points.

Here on this site, or in this thread? I was attracted to this thread by the news story I found on my homepage, and to my disgust I found all this mindless hate being spewed.

 

[lordbt]

Here on this site, or in this thread? I was attracted to this thread by the news story I found on my homepage, and to my disgust I found all this mindless hate being spewed.

What mindless hate?

 

[LightUpTheNight]

The blaming of whatever side you disagree with for this man's actions. "He must be a TEA Party Member." "He must be a Leftists." I will admit the Sarah Palin picture is a bit disconcerting, but she did not pull the trigger, and Obama did not pull the trigger either. This man pulled the trigger, and he and only he is to be blamed.

 

[Avatar]

I didn't specify one side or the other. As I said, there is a special place in hell for people who try to score political points off of these kinds of tragedies.

An honored place? Or does the Devil disapprove of that sort of thing? Just trying to figure out what you're trying to say while you're making things up that appear nowhere in the Bible.

 

[lordbt]

The blaming of whatever side you disagree with for this man's actions. "He must be a TEA Party Member." "He must be a Leftists." I will admit the Sarah Palin picture is a bit disconcerting, but she did not pull the trigger, and Obama did not pull the trigger either. This man pulled the trigger, and he and only he is to be blamed.

Well, I agree with that. I just wouldnt catagorize it as mindless hate. Mindless partisanship sure, but not mindless hate.