A very sad day in Tucson, today.

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Azrich

Well-known member
Joined
Apr 22, 2010
Messages
533
Location
Tucson, AZ
As many of you are aware, my Congresswoman, Gabrielle Giffords, was shot this morning at a "Congressperson on a Corner" event in front of a Safeway grocery. The numbers keep changing, but as many as 19 people were also shot. Gabby Giffords is in critical condition after surgery, but we are hopeful she will survive. As many as 6 people have been killed, including a federal judge and a precious, 9 year girl, whose grandparent brought her to meet the Congresswoman.

I have known Gabby for over ten years since she was a state legislator in Phoenix. I wrote her often in regards to education issues and then she began to call me to ask my view, as a public school teacher, about bills in the state house and later senate. She said I had become one of her sources of information about what was happening in the schools. When she ran for U.S. Congress, my partner and I went to campaign events to support her. She always knew our names, even when we had not seen her for over a year. When we wrote her or called her office with our opinion, we often got a call or email back from Gabby.

Gabrielle has been a strong advocate for solar energy and renewable resources. Her office here held Solar 101 seminars where people could be educated about these issues. I attended one of these last summer and the EV Project was represented with its plan for charging stations. I had spoken to her Tucson aid about driving Representative Giffords to a Solar 101 event in my LEAF when it arrives. She is a very good person and has worked hard for southern Arizona.

Gabrielle was one of the Congress people that Sarah Palin targeted on her website for defeat by a Tea Party candidate. Palin included a map on her website with a crosshair target on Tucson, calling for Giffords defeat. It also included language such as "reload". During the campaign last fall, the windows of Congresswoman Giffords' Tucson office were shot out only minutes after her staff left at 10 pm. Now, this.

I drive pass the Safeway grocery and shopping center every day on the way to work. It is about ten miles away. I am very sadden today for what this will mean for our elected representatives. Many, like Gabby, are constantly out and about with the public to talk and get a feel for how people are feeling about issues. What will happen now?

A sad day. Thanks for listening.
 
I think we should take domestic terrorism seriously and tackle it. 24/7 call for arms and violence from various media personalities and politicians will always have bad consequences.
 
Rich, thanks for giving us your personal insight into Gabby and her positive approach and her actions on behalf of the important issues that you spoke of. In our household, we just learned of this tragic event when we read President Obama's comments on Facebook. We feel terrible for Gabby, her family and for those of you who have known her and who support her.

I won't get political, but this event does cause me to worry further than I had been about the danger of the attack rhetoric that is used by some politicians and media figures. No, I don't think that these public figures would specifically advocate violence. But I am concerned that some of the vulnerable minds who listen to them might be pushed just that amount closer to taking unthinkable actions.

Our thoughts and hopes are with you and with Gabby and her family tonight.
 
very sad and so senseless. it pains me to know that we will most likely never know what motivated this young man to do what he did. latest word; police do not think he acted alone and are looking for another suspect.
 
Very sad day indeed. Our thoughts and prayers go to her and her family, as well as all the others that were killed or injured at the event. What a sad commentary on our society.
 
Thank you for your thoughts as always Rich. Our thoughts and prayers are with all of those assaulted and we mourn the tragic loss of life involved.
 
My thoughts and prayers to your congresswoman, who seems like an excellent public servant and a great person.
I also can't stop thinking that the very public someone who put a cross-hair on her head should feel blood on her hands.
When a certain type of violent rhetoric is used and abused, it's no surprise that feeble minds take it literally.
 
+1
evnow said:
I think we should take domestic terrorism seriously and tackle it. 24/7 call for arms and violence from various media personalities and politicians will always have bad consequences.
 
I mourn for the victims of this senseless attack and for the loss in civility and tolerance in our culture that fosters such actions.

TT
 
Azrich said:
A sad day. Thanks for listening.

Thanks for sharing, Rich. It's one thing to sit with a broken heart as some of our countrymen drive wedges and stir up emotions, but your words...sorry, I don't have words. :cry:

Blessings to you and yours, to Congresswoman Giffords and her family, and the other victims and their families.

I found this piece from March '10 - she seems like a very sharp lady.

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R7046bo92a4[/youtube]
 
One of the victims today looks to be Christina Taylor Green - a nine year old girl who was born 11 SEP 2001.

Putting political targets on maps seems to be rather commonplace.

Video too

Putting targets on opponents seems pretty foolish to me, as does suggesting that the responsibility for the horror lies at feet besides the shooter.

Prayers for Congresswoman Giffords and the others who were injured today, and the families of all of those who perished. It's a terrible day.
 
5337293100_2a078deaa4_z.jpg
 
The Palin "hit list" picture seems overly and unnecessarily suggestive, unless it was indeed intended to be "motivational" to impressionable minds.

If it had said "... need to 'light a fire' in our efforts to defeat these ...", and then, strangly, their were some offices and homes that were burnt down ... who would be at least partially responsible for "encouraging" the violence?
 
The cross-hair map was removed from the website today. This is as much an admission of guilt as we can expect from such a character.
Words do have consequences...
hodad66 said:
 
The problem is we have a lot of unhinged people - and many with guns (or easy access to them). They can't distinguish between rhetoric and reality.

We need to include domestic terrorism in the "war on terrorism" - not just far off places with oil.
 
hodad66 said:
I think that the FBI is keeping a close eye on the typical
militia types and know them well. One unhinged kid is
like a needle in a haystack.
True. You can't prevent these kinds of things.

But the government and the parties need to ratchet up the rhetoric against people who are indirectly inciting violence - instead of calling Julian Assange a terrorist.

Afterall, we can safely say Palin didn't actually want anyone go and shoot the targetted members. But when she uses such rhetoric Obama and others need to confront her about it. Remember her calling Obama a terrorist during the election ?
 
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