The Link Between Political Morality, Ideology, and Social Responsibility

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/01/14/opinion/14krugman.html?_r=1&nl=todaysheadlines&emc=tha212

All,

Once again Paul Krugman absolutely nails it and says clearly and honestly what most needs to be said about exactly where this country is in its political history and where it's going...Thanks again for eloquently speaking the necessary truth instead of lazily relying on empty platitudes Paul...

Kofi


OP-ED COLUMNIST

A Tale of Two Moralities
By PAUL KRUGMAN
January 13, 2011
New York Times

On Wednesday, President Obama called on Americans to “expand our moral imaginations, to listen to each other more carefully, to sharpen our instincts for empathy, and remind ourselves of all the ways our hopes and dreams are bound together.” Those were beautiful words; they spoke to our desire for reconciliation.

But the truth is that we are a deeply divided nation and are likely to remain one for a long time. By all means, let’s listen to each other more carefully; but what we’ll discover, I fear, is how far apart we are. For the great divide in our politics isn’t really about pragmatic issues, about which policies work best; it’s about differences in those very moral imaginations Mr. Obama urges us to expand, about divergent beliefs over what constitutes justice.

And the real challenge we face is not how to resolve our differences — something that won’t happen any time soon — but how to keep the expression of those differences within bounds.

What are the differences I’m talking about?

One side of American politics considers the modern welfare state — a private-enterprise economy, but one in which society’s winners are taxed to pay for a social safety net — morally superior to the capitalism red in tooth and claw we had before the New Deal. It’s only right, this side believes, for the affluent to help the less fortunate.

The other side believes that people have a right to keep what they earn, and that taxing them to support others, no matter how needy, amounts to theft. That’s what lies behind the modern right’s fondness for violent rhetoric: many activists on the right really do see taxes and regulation as tyrannical impositions on their liberty.

There’s no middle ground between these views. One side saw health reform, with its subsidized extension of coverage to the uninsured, as fulfilling a moral imperative: wealthy nations, it believed, have an obligation to provide all their citizens with essential care. The other side saw the same reform as a moral outrage, an assault on the right of Americans to spend their money as they choose.

This deep divide in American political morality — for that’s what it amounts to — is a relatively recent development. Commentators who pine for the days of civility and bipartisanship are, whether they realize it or not, pining for the days when the Republican Party accepted the legitimacy of the welfare state, and was even willing to contemplate expanding it. As many analysts have noted, the Obama health reform — whose passage was met with vandalism and death threats against members of Congress — was modeled on Republican plans from the 1990s.

But that was then. Today’s G.O.P. sees much of what the modern federal government does as illegitimate; today’s Democratic Party does not. When people talk about partisan differences, they often seem to be implying that these differences are petty, matters that could be resolved with a bit of good will. But what we’re talking about here is a fundamental disagreement about the proper role of government.

Regular readers know which side of that divide I’m on. In future columns I will no doubt spend a lot of time pointing out the hypocrisy and logical fallacies of the “I earned it and I have the right to keep it” crowd. And I’ll also have a lot to say about how far we really are from being a society of equal opportunity, in which success depends solely on one’s own efforts.

But the question for now is what we can agree on given this deep national divide.

In a way, politics as a whole now resembles the longstanding politics of abortion — a subject that puts fundamental values at odds, in which each side believes that the other side is morally in the wrong. Almost 38 years have passed since Roe v. Wade, and this dispute is no closer to resolution.

Yet we have, for the most part, managed to agree on certain ground rules in the abortion controversy: it’s acceptable to express your opinion and to criticize the other side, but it’s not acceptable either to engage in violence or to encourage others to do so.

What we need now is an extension of those ground rules to the wider national debate.

Right now, each side in that debate passionately believes that the other side is wrong. And it’s all right for them to say that. What’s not acceptable is the kind of violence and eliminationist rhetoric encouraging violence that has become all too common these past two years.

It’s not enough to appeal to the better angels of our nature. We need to have leaders of both parties — or Mr. Obama alone if necessary — declare that both violence and any language hinting at the acceptability of violence are out of bounds. We all want reconciliation, but the road to that goal begins with an agreement that our differences will be settled by the rule of law.

Paul Krugman and Bob Herbert Pay Us The Painful Honor of Telling Us The Truth About Our Society

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/01/10/opinion/10krugman.html?scp=2&sq=Paul Krugman&st=Search

All,

In a society that far too often lacks the will and honesty to confront its greatest fears, weaknesses, pathologies, and hatreds and thus nearly always winds up retreating in a manic depressive fog of evasion, infantilism, lies, and denial whenever real tragedy strikes, it is our good fortune to thankfully find people who simply refuse to play this dumb tired game of hypocrisy and self delusion. By insisting on the truth no matter how painful and distressing they pay us the honor of treating us like actual responsible adults and citizens instead of mindless and childishly passive victims of our own history. By demanding that we acknowledge and embrace the myriad sources of our collective confusion, anger, and ignorance in order to face up to and hopefully conquer them they pay us the respect of insisting that we take responsibility for our humanity and the consequences of the decisions we make in dealing with our actual hopes, dreams, and desires. Krugman and Herbert are two such individuals who realize that our country can only change for the better if we collectively decide to tirelessly work and struggle to make it better. And that process begins with us telling ourselves the hard fundamental truths about ourselves even or rather especially when it hurts the most.

Kofi

OP-ED COLUMNIST

Climate of Hate
By PAUL KRUGMAN
January 11, 2011
New York Times

When you heard the terrible news from Arizona, were you completely surprised? Or were you, at some level, expecting something like this atrocity to happen?

Fred R. Conrad/The New York Times

Paul Krugman

Put me in the latter category. I’ve had a sick feeling in the pit of my stomach ever since the final stages of the 2008 campaign. I remembered the upsurge in political hatred after Bill Clinton’s election in 1992 — an upsurge that culminated in the Oklahoma City bombing. And you could see, just by watching the crowds at McCain-Palin rallies, that it was ready to happen again. The Department of Homeland Security reached the same conclusion: in April 2009 an internal report warned that right-wing extremism was on the rise, with a growing potential for violence.

Conservatives denounced that report. But there has, in fact, been a rising tide of threats and vandalism aimed at elected officials, including both Judge John Roll, who was killed Saturday, and Representative Gabrielle Giffords. One of these days, someone was bound to take it to the next level. And now someone has.

It’s true that the shooter in Arizona appears to have been mentally troubled. But that doesn’t mean that his act can or should be treated as an isolated event, having nothing to do with the national climate.

Last spring Politico.com reported on a surge in threats against members of Congress, which were already up by 300 percent. A number of the people making those threats had a history of mental illness — but something about the current state of America has been causing far more disturbed people than before to act out their illness by threatening, or actually engaging in, political violence.

And there’s not much question what has changed. As Clarence Dupnik, the sheriff responsible for dealing with the Arizona shootings, put it, it’s “the vitriolic rhetoric that we hear day in and day out from people in the radio business and some people in the TV business.” The vast majority of those who listen to that toxic rhetoric stop short of actual violence, but some, inevitably, cross that line.

It’s important to be clear here about the nature of our sickness. It’s not a general lack of “civility,” the favorite term of pundits who want to wish away fundamental policy disagreements. Politeness may be a virtue, but there’s a big difference between bad manners and calls, explicit or implicit, for violence; insults aren’t the same as incitement.

The point is that there’s room in a democracy for people who ridicule and denounce those who disagree with them; there isn’t any place for eliminationist rhetoric, for suggestions that those on the other side of a debate must be removed from that debate by whatever means necessary.

And it’s the saturation of our political discourse — and especially our airwaves — with eliminationist rhetoric that lies behind the rising tide of violence.

Where’s that toxic rhetoric coming from? Let’s not make a false pretense of balance: it’s coming, overwhelmingly, from the right. It’s hard to imagine a Democratic member of Congress urging constituents to be “armed and dangerous” without being ostracized; but Representative Michele Bachmann, who did just that, is a rising star in the G.O.P.

And there’s a huge contrast in the media. Listen to Rachel Maddow or Keith Olbermann, and you’ll hear a lot of caustic remarks and mockery aimed at Republicans. But you won’t hear jokes about shooting government officials or beheading a journalist at The Washington Post. Listen to Glenn Beck or Bill O’Reilly, and you will.

Of course, the likes of Mr. Beck and Mr. O’Reilly are responding to popular demand. Citizens of other democracies may marvel at the American psyche, at the way efforts by mildly liberal presidents to expand health coverage are met with cries of tyranny and talk of armed resistance. Still, that’s what happens whenever a Democrat occupies the White House, and there’s a market for anyone willing to stoke that anger.

But even if hate is what many want to hear, that doesn’t excuse those who pander to that desire. They should be shunned by all decent people.

Unfortunately, that hasn’t been happening: the purveyors of hate have been treated with respect, even deference, by the G.O.P. establishment. As David Frum, the former Bush speechwriter, has put it, “Republicans originally thought that Fox worked for us and now we’re discovering we work for Fox.”

So will the Arizona massacre make our discourse less toxic? It’s really up to G.O.P. leaders. Will they accept the reality of what’s happening to America, and take a stand against eliminationist rhetoric? Or will they try to dismiss the massacre as the mere act of a deranged individual, and go on as before?

If Arizona promotes some real soul-searching, it could prove a turning point. If it doesn’t, Saturday’s atrocity will be just the beginning.

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/01/11/opinion/11herbert.html?src=me&ref=general


OP-ED COLUMNIST

A Flood Tide of Murder
By BOB HERBERT
January 11, 2011
New York Times

By all means, condemn the hateful rhetoric that has poured so much poison into our political discourse. The crazies don’t kill in a vacuum, and the vilest of our political leaders and commentators deserve to be called to account for their demagoguery and the danger that comes with it. But that’s the easy part.

Damon Winter/The New York Times
Bob Herbert

If we want to reverse the flood tide of killing in this country, we’ll have to do a hell of a lot more than bad-mouth a few sorry politicians and lame-brained talking heads. We need to face up to the fact that this is an insanely violent society. The vitriol that has become an integral part of our political rhetoric, most egregiously from the right, is just one of the myriad contributing factors in a society saturated in blood.

According to the Brady Campaign to Prevent Gun Violence, more than a million people have been killed with guns in the United States since 1968, when Robert Kennedy and the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. were killed. That figure includes suicides and accidental deaths. But homicides, deliberate killings, are a perennial scourge, and not just with guns.

Excluding the people killed in the terror attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, more than 150,000 Americans have been murdered since the beginning of the 21st century. This endlessly proliferating parade of death, which does not spare women or children, ought to make our knees go weak. But we never even notice most of the killings. Homicide is white noise in this society.

The overwhelming majority of the people who claim to be so outraged by last weekend’s shooting of Representative Gabrielle Giffords and 19 others — six of them fatally — will take absolutely no steps, none whatsoever, to prevent a similar tragedy in the future. And similar tragedies are coming as surely as the sun makes its daily appearance over the eastern horizon because this is an American ritual: the mowing down of the innocents.

On Saturday, the victims happened to be a respected congresswoman, a 9-year-old girl, a federal judge and a number of others gathered at the kind of civic event that is supposed to define a successful democracy. But there are endless horror stories. In April 2007, 32 students and faculty members at the Virginia Polytechnic Institute were shot to death and 17 others were wounded by a student armed with a pair of semiautomatic weapons.

On a cold, rainy afternoon in Pittsburgh in 2009, I came upon a gray-haired woman shivering on a stone step in a residential neighborhood. “I’m the grandmother of the kid that killed those cops,” she whispered. Three police officers had been shot and killed by her 22-year-old grandson, who was armed with a variety of weapons, including an AK-47 assault rifle.

I remember having lunch with Marian Wright Edelman, the president of the Children’s Defense Fund, a few days after the Virginia Tech tragedy. She shook her head at the senseless loss of so many students and teachers, then told me: “We’re losing eight children and teenagers a day to gun violence. As far as young people are concerned, we lose the equivalent of the massacre at Virginia Tech about every four days.”

If we were serious, if we really wanted to cut down on the killings, we’d have to do two things. We’d have to radically restrict the availability of guns while at the same time beginning the very hard work of trying to change a culture that glorifies and embraces violence as entertainment, and views violence as an appropriate and effective response to the things that bother us.

Ordinary citizens interested in a more sane and civilized society would have to insist that their elected representatives take meaningful steps to stem the violence. And they would have to demand, as well, that the government bring an end to the wars overseas, with their terrible human toll, because the wars are part of the same crippling pathology.

Without those very tough steps, the murder of the innocents by the tens of thousands will most assuredly continue.

I wouldn’t hold my breath. The Gabrielle Giffords story is big for the time being, but so were Columbine and Oklahoma City. And so was the anti-white killing spree of John Muhammad and Lee Malvo that took 10 lives in Maryland, Virginia and Washington, D.C., in October 2002. But no amount of killing has prompted any real remedial action.

For whatever reasons, neither the public nor the politicians seem to really care how many Americans are murdered — unless it’s in a terror attack by foreigners. The two most common responses to violence in the U.S. are to ignore it or be entertained by it. The horror prompted by the attack in Tucson on Saturday will pass. The outrage will fade. The murders will continue.

Congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords Is Shot in Tucson, Arizona--And We're All Responsible!

Joshua Lott for The New York Times
Rep. Gabrielle Giffords at an event in Tucson in October.

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/01/09/us/politics/09giffords.html?ref=global-home

Editor's Note: This was my initial reaction on saturday morning, January 8, 2011 to the horrific shooting in Tucson, Arizona that severely wounded Congresswoman Giffords, killed 6 other people including a 9 year old girl, and wounded 14. I leave my first impressions intact as I initially recorded them.

All,

I and many other people in this country have been saying for quite some time now that the demagogic anti-Latino rhetoric and vile, organized racism behind the endless number of public events where hundreds of white men came openly armed to the teeth at anti-Obama and Healthcare rallies throughout 2009-10 and the fierce anti-Latino and immigration reform rallies throughout the country and especially in the state of Arizona which passed a vicious racial profiling law aimed at Mexican Americans/Chicanos just six months ago was going to inevitably lead to the white supremacist madness we see in today's violent attack on government officials (BtW: It was just reported a couple minutes ago that the gunman--a whitemale in his mid-20s KILLED a federal judge at the same event in which he shot the Congresswoman and a small child, among others, was also shot by this maniac at the event and is now in critical conditionat a Tuscon hospital!). Meanwhile democratic Congresswoman Giffords is in very serious condition and is in surgery as we speak...

Make no mistake folks: This shooting is tied to a huge national network of racist/white supremacist anti-immigrant organizations and groups who in turn have an intricate web of formal and informal connections to various Tea party and other far right wing organizations. Mark my words: The only "good news" in this entire horrific tragedy is that the white man who did the shooting is still alive (and we all better pray he "accidently" doesn't die or is killed in any coverup attempt) and is thus going to be subjected to a massive thorough investigation of this heinous crime--(OMG!! AS I'M WRITING THIS THE CHILD WHO WAS SHOT JUST DIED!!)...I can't go on for the moment. I'm going back to the TV right now for further updated news reports...Will continue later today...

Kofi


Congresswoman Giffords Shot in Tucson
By J. DAVID GOODMAN
January 8, 2011
New York Times

Gabrielle Giffords, a congresswoman from Arizona, was shot in the head on Saturday at a public event held at a grocery store in Tucson, her spokesman, C. J. Karamargin, said. Others at the event, including members of her staff, were among the injured.

Her condition was unknown. She was taken to University Medical Center in Tucson, the trauma center for the area, about 10 miles away. Even though NPR and CNN reported that she had been killed, Darci Slater, a hospital spokeswoman, said that Ms. Giffords was in surgery.

CNN quoted a public information officer for the sheriff’s office as saying that 12 people had been injured in all and that the shooting had occurred around 10 a.m. local time.

Dr. Steven Rayle, a former emergency room doctor who now works in a hospice, said that he had witnessed the shootings. He said the congresswoman was standing behind a table outside the Safeway greeting passersby when the gunman approached her from behind, held a gun about a foot from her head and began firing.

. “He must have got off 20 rounds,” he said. Ms. Giffords slumped to the ground and staff members immediately rushed to her aid, Dr. Rayle said.

Dr. Rayle said he performed CPR on some of the victims. He said one of the victims was a young child and appeared to be in critical condition with a gunshot wound.

He said that one of the staffers tackled the gunman and that he and others helped detain the suspect. The doctor described the gunman as a white male in his mid-20s with short hair and “dressed in a shabby manner.”

An employee at a nearby store told CNN that he heard a steady stream of gun fire that appeared sustained and “random.” Shortly after, emergency vehicles filled the parking lot around the grocery story and cordoned off the area.

The shooting occurred at a Safeway supermarket in northwest Tucson as Ms. Giffords hosted an event, called “Congress on Your Corner, to allow members of the 8th Congressional District to meet her individually. She has held several events since first taking office in January 2007. At one such event in 2009, a protester was removed by police when his pistol fell on the supermarket floor.

Last March, her Tucson office was vandalized a few hours after the House vote overhauling the nation’s health care system, the authorities said. Earlier events in Tucson, Oro Valley, Green Valley, Sierra Vista, and Douglas had attracted between 75 and 150 people, according to a statement announcing the event. This was her first event since her re-election to a third term in November.

Ms. Giffords, 40, was interviewed on Fox news on Friday to talk about a bill to cut to congressional salaries by 5 percent.

She married Cmdr. Mark E. Kelly, 46, a NASA astronaut and Navy pilot from New Jersey, in December 2007 at a wedding attended by Robert B. Reich, the former Labor secretary.



Marc Lacey contributed reporting from Tucson.


This article has been revised to reflect the following correction:

Correction: January 8, 2011

An earlier version of this article misstated Gabrielle Giffords's condition. While several news reports had said she had died on the scene, a hospital spokeswoman said that the congresswoman was undergoing surgery.

White Supremacists Attack Chicano Studies and Declare it Illegal in Tucson, Arizona High School

Jill Torrance for The New York Times
Curtis Acosta spoke to his students about their future after Arizona said their Mexican-American studies program was illegal.

Jill Torrance for The New York Times Travis Turner and Anissa Soto in their Latino literature class at Tucson High Magnet School.

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/01/08/us/08ethnic.html?_r=1&ref=global-home&pagewanted=all

All,

This story--and many other stories like it-- is obviously connected at the hip to the vicious shooting that occured in Tucson, Arizona today. This article appeared yesterday-- just one day prior to today's tragic events
What did I tell you all in my December 19, 2010 piece--"White Supremacy Thinks It Has Defeated the Rise and Triumph of Brown Power in America--But They Are Mistaken!"-- on the Dream Act legislation that was defeated by the Senate: http://panopticonreview.blogspot.com/search/label/The Dream Act

THIS NEW CIVIL AND HUMAN RIGHTS MOVEMENT WILL NOT BE DEFEATED NO MATTER WHAT THE RACISTS DO! ...More later...

Kofi


Rift in Arizona as Latino Class Is Found Illegal
By MARC LACEY
January 7, 2011
New York Times

TUCSON — The class began with a Mayan-inspired chant and a vigorous round of coordinated hand clapping. The classroom walls featured protest signs, including one that said “United Together in La Lucha!” — the struggle. Although open to any student at Tucson High Magnet School, nearly all of those attending Curtis Acosta’s Latino literature class on a recent morning were Mexican-American.

For all of that and more, Mr. Acosta’s class and others in the Tucson Unified School District’s Mexican-American program have been declared illegal by the State of Arizona — even while similar programs for black, Asian and American Indian students have been left untouched.

“It’s propagandizing and brainwashing that’s going on there,” Tom Horne, Arizona’s newly elected attorney general, said this week as he officially declared the program in violation of a state law that went into effect on Jan. 1.

Although Shakespeare’s “Tempest” was supposed to be the topic at hand, Mr. Acosta spent most of a recent class discussing the political storm in which he, his students and the entire district have become enmeshed. Mr. Horne’s name came up more than once, and not in a flattering light.

It was Mr. Horne, as the state’s superintendent of public instruction, who wrote a law aimed at challenging Tucson’s ethnic-studies program. The Legislature passed the measure last spring, and Gov. Jan Brewer signed it into law in May amid the fierce protests raging over the state’s immigration crackdown.

For the state, the issue is not so much “The Tempest” as some of the other texts used in the classes, among them, “The Pedagogy of the Oppressed” and “Occupied America,” which Mr. Horne said inappropriately teach Latino youths that they are being mistreated.

Teaching methods in the classes are sometimes unconventional, with instructors scrutinizing hip-hop lyrics and sprinkling their lessons with Spanish words.

The state, which includes some Mexican-American studies in its official curriculum, sees the classes as less about educating students than creating future activists.

In Mr. Acosta’s literature class, students were clearly concerned. They asked if their graduation was at risk. They asked if they were considered terrorists because Mr. Horne described them as wanting to topple the government. They asked how they could protest the decision.

Then, one young woman asked Mr. Acosta how he was holding up.

“They wrote a state law to snuff this program out, just us little Chicanitos,” he said, wiping away tears. “The idea of losing this is emotional.”

At a recent news conference, Mr. Horne took pains to describe his attack on Tucson’s Mexican-American studies program as one rooted in good faith. He said he had been studying Spanish for several years and had learned enough to read Mexican history books in Spanish and to give interviews on Univision and Telemundo, two Spanish-language broadcasters.

Asked whether he felt he was being likened to Bull Connor, the Alabama police commissioner who became a symbol of bigotry in the 1960s, Mr. Horne described how he had participated in the March on Washington in 1963 as a young high school graduate. He said of his critics: “They are the ‘Bull Connors.’ They are the ones resegregating.”

Mr. Horne’s battle with Tucson over ethnic studies dates to 2007, when Dolores Huerta, co-founder of the United Farm Workers, told high school students there in a speech that Republicans hated Latinos. Mr. Horne, a Republican, sent a top aide, Margaret Garcia Dugan, to the school to present a different perspective. He was infuriated when some students turned their backs and raised their fists in the air.

The Arizona law warns school districts that they stand to lose 10 percent of their state education funds if their ethnic-studies programs are found not to comply with new state standards. Programs that promote the overthrow of the United States government are explicitly banned, and that includes the suggestion that portions of the Southwest that were once part of Mexico should be returned to that country.

Also prohibited is any promotion of resentment toward a race. Programs that are primarily for one race or that advocate ethnic solidarity instead of individuality are also outlawed.

On Monday, his final day as the state’s top education official, Mr. Horne declared that Tucson’s Mexican-American program violated all four provisions. The law gives the district 60 days to comply, although Mr. Horne offered only one remedy: the dissolution of the program.

He said the district’s other ethnic-studies programs, unlike the Mexican-American program, had not received complaints and could continue.

John Huppenthal, a former state senator who took over as Arizona’s schools chief, said he supported Mr. Horne’s 11th-hour ruling. Mr. Huppenthal sat in on one of the Tucson classes taught by Mr. Acosta, and said that Benjamin Franklin was vilified as a racist and a photo of Che Guevara was hanging on the wall. Besides that, he said, Tucson’s test scores are among the lowest in the state, indicating that the district needs to focus on the fundamentals.

Officials here say those enrolled in the program do better on state tests than those of the same ethnicity who are not enrolled.

The battle means that Tucson, a struggling urban district, stands to lose nearly $15 million in an already difficult budget environment. So far, the school board has stood by the program, declaring that it considers it to be in compliance with the law.

If financing were pulled, the district would have an opportunity to appeal, and school officials were already talking about the possibility of the matter ending up in court. Meanwhile, 11 teachers, including Mr. Acosta, have filed suit in federal court challenging the constitutionality of the state restrictions.

A discrimination suit against Tucson’s schools in the 1970s prompted a settlement in which an African-American studies program was created. Later, other ethnic-studies programs were added.

To buttress his critique of the Tucson program, Mr. Horne read from texts used in various classes, which in one instance referred to white people as “gringos” and described privilege as being related to the color of a person’s skin, hair and eyes. He also cited the testimony of five teachers who described the program as giving a skewed view of history and promoting racial discord.

“On the first day of school, they are no different than students in any other classes,” said John Ward, who briefly taught a Latino history class in Tucson. “But once they get told day after day that they are being victimized, they become angry and resentful.”

Augustine F. Romero, director of student equity in the Tucson schools, said the program was intended to make students proud of who they are and not hostile toward others. “All of our forefathers have contributed to this country, not just one set of forefathers,” he said. “We respect and admire and appreciate the traditional forefathers, but there are others.”

The debate over the program’s future, Mr. Romero said, proves more than ever the need for the program. “There’s a fierce anti-Latino sentiment in this state,” he said. “These courses are about justice and equity, and what is happening is that the Legislature is trying to narrow the reality of those things.

“Who are the true Americans here — those embracing our inalienable rights or those trying to diminish them?”

Congressman Raul Grijalva on The Toxic and Bigoted Political Climate in Arizona and the Demagogic Rhetoric of Sarah Palin

Democratic congressman Raul Grijalva of Arizona

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/01/08/grijalva-palin-needs-to-l_n_806283.html


Grijalva: Palin Needs To Look At Her Own Behavior
by Ryan Grim
January 8, 2010
The Huffington Post


Rep. Raul Grijalva (D-Ariz.), who represents a district adjacent to Gabrielle Giffords's, said that Saturday's shooting is a consequence of the vitriolic rhetoric that has arisen over the past few years among extreme elements of the Tea Party.

"The climate has gotten so toxic in our political discourse, setting up for this kind of reaction for too long. It's unfortunate to say that. I hate to say that," Grijalva said in an interview with The Huffington Post. "If you're an opponent, you're a deadly enemy," Grijalva said of the mindset among Arizona extremists. "Anybody who contributed to feeding this monster had better step back and realize they're threatening our form of government."

Grijalva said that Tea Party leader Sarah Palin should reflect on the rhetoric that she has employed. "She -- as I mentioned, people contributing to this toxic climate -- Ms. Palin needs to look at her own behavior, and if she wants to help the public discourse, the best thing she could do is to keep quiet."

Grijalva said that his family has been provided with protection and that he expects further precautions will be taken by Capitol Police when he returns to Capitol Hill.

"Her whole future's ahead of her," Grijalva said of Giffords. "She's a moderate; I'm not. She's my friend. Our difference of opinion did not interfere with our friendship."

"This is a very sad day for the nation."

HERE'S A COPY OF THE VILE AND INFAMOUS "DEMOCRATS IN CROSSHAIRS" MAP

http://delong.typepad.com/.a/6a00e551f0800388340148c76c2ebc970c-pi

Sarah Palin had posted this heinous map on her Facebook page during the November 2010 midterm elections and has now removed it from her Facebook site as a result of the shooting

SARAH PALIN HAD TARGETED CONGRESSWOMAN GIFFORDS IN HER INFAMOUS 'DEFEAT DEMOCRATS IN CROSSHAIRS' MAP

Mamta Popat/Arizona Daily Star, via Associated Press Jared Lee Loughner, 22, whom the police identified as the main suspect in the shooting, at the 2010 Tucson Festival of Books in March.

Emergency personnel used a stretcher to carry Representative Gabrielle Giffords outside a shopping center in Tucson, Ariz. on Saturday.

Federal 9th Circuit Court, via Associated Press
John M. Roll, the chief judge for the United States District Court for the District of Arizona, in 2006. Judge Roll was among the dead on Saturday.

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/01/09/us/politics/09giffords.html?ref=global-home&pagewanted=all

"Sylvia Lee, a friend of Ms. Giffords, told CNN that the congresswoman had received numerous threats.

Ms. Giffords, who represents Arizona’s Eighth District in the southeastern corner of the state, has been an outspoken critic of Arizona’s tough immigration law, which is focused on identifying, prosecuting and deporting illegal immigrants.

Last March, after the final approval of the Democrats’ health care law, which Ms. Giffords supported, the windows of her office in Tucson were broken or shot out in an act of vandalism. Similar acts were reported by other members of Congress, and several arrests were made, including that of a man who had threatened to kill Senator Patty Murray, Democrat of Washington.

And in August 2009, when there were demonstrations against the health care measure across the nation, a protester who showed up to meet Ms. Giffords at a supermarket event similar to Saturday’s was removed by the police when the pistol he had holstered under his armpit fell and bounced on the floor.

During the fall campaign, Sarah Palin, the former Republican vice-presidential candidate, posted a controversial map on her Facebook page depicting spots where Democrats were running for re-election; those Democrats were noted by crosshairs symbols like those seen through the scope of a gun. Ms. Giffords was among those on Ms. Palin’s map."


Congresswoman Giffords Shot in Tucson

Susan Walsh/Associated Press

House Speaker John Boehner of Ohio reenacts the swearing in of Rep. Gabrielle Giffords, D-Ariz., Wednesday, Jan. 5, 2011, on Capitol Hill in Washington.

By MARC LACEY and DAVID M. HERSZENHORN
January 8, 2011
New York Times

TUCSON — Representative Gabrielle Giffords, an Arizona Democrat, and 17 others were shot here on Saturday morning when a gunman opened fire outside a supermarket where Ms. Giffords was meeting with constituents for a “Congress on Your Corner” event.

Ms. Giffords, 40, was described as being in very critical condition at the University Medical Center in Tucson, where she was operated on by a team of neurosurgeons. One of the surgeons said that she had been shot once in the head, “through and through,” with the bullet going through her brain.

“I can tell you at this time, I am very optimistic about her recovery,” he said in a news conference. “We cannot tell what kind of recovery but I’m as optimistic as it can get in this kind of situation.”

An official with the Pima County Sheriff’s Department said that six people had been killed and 18 wounded in the shooting, including a federal judge, John Roll, who had been involved in immigration cases and had previously received death threats. Among the six dead was a child about 9 years old, the hospital confirmed.

Ten of the wounded were taken to the hospital.

Richard Kastigar, a supervisor with the sheriff’s department, identified the gunman as a 22-year-old who was in custody. Citing unnamed sources, the Associated Press identified the suspect as Jared Laughner.

Witnesses said Ms. Giffords was speaking to constituents when a man ran up and began firing. He then tried to escape on foot but was tackled by a bystander and taken into custody by the police.

The Saturday event was outside a Safeway supermarket and was the first opportunity for constituents to meet with Ms. Giffords since she was sworn in for a third term on Wednesday. She arrived in Washington when Democrats took control of the House in 2006 but narrowly survived a re-election bid in November.

“I saw the congresswoman talking to two people, and then this man suddenly came up and shot her in the head and then shot other people,” said Dr. Steven Rayle, a witness to the shootings and a former emergency room doctor who now works at a hospice. “I think it was a semiautomatic, and he must have got off 20 rounds.”

Dr. Rayle said that Ms. Giffords slumped to the ground and that staff members immediately rushed to her aid. “A staffer had his arm around her, and she was leaning against the window of the Safeway. He had a jacket or towel on her head,” the doctor said.

At least one of the other shooting victims helped Ms. Giffords, witnesses said.

Television coverage showed a chaotic scene outside a normally tranquil suburban shopping spot as emergency workers rushed the wounded away in stretchers. Some were taken from the site by helicopter.

Sylvia Lee, a friend of Ms. Giffords, told CNN that the congresswoman had received numerous threats.

In a statement, the House speaker, John A. Boehner, said: “I am horrified by the senseless attack on Congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords and members of her staff. An attack on one who serves is an attack on all who serve. Acts and threats of violence against public officials have no place in our society. Our prayers are with Congresswoman Giffords, her staff, all who were injured and their families. This is a sad day for our country.”

Ms. Giffords, who represents Arizona’s Eighth District in the southeastern corner of the state, has been an outspoken critic of Arizona’s tough immigration law, which is focused on identifying, prosecuting and deporting illegal immigrants.

Last March, after the final approval of the Democrats’ health care law, which Ms. Giffords supported, the windows of her office in Tucson were broken or shot out in an act of vandalism. Similar acts were reported by other members of Congress, and several arrests were made, including that of a man who had threatened to kill Senator Patty Murray, Democrat of Washington.

And in August 2009, when there were demonstrations against the health care measure across the nation, a protester who showed up to meet Ms. Giffords at a supermarket event similar to Saturday’s was removed by the police when the pistol he had holstered under his armpit fell and bounced on the floor.

During the fall campaign, Sarah Palin, the former Republican vice-presidential candidate, posted a controversial map on her Facebook page depicting spots where Democrats were running for re-election; those Democrats were noted by crosshairs symbols like those seen through the scope of a gun. Ms. Giffords was among those on Ms. Palin’s map.

Ms. Giffords narrowly won re-election in November in a race that was dominated by the immigration issue. She held on to her seat even as dozens of her Democratic colleagues, including two fellow Democrats from Arizona — Ann Kirkpatrick and Harry Mitchell — were defeated, and she went on a districtwide “thank you” tour after the race.

Ms. Giffords was able to maintain the support of constituents who favored the immigration law with her strong advocacy in favor of gun rights and for toughening border security.

In an interview at the Capitol this week, Ms. Giffords said she was excited to count herself among the Democrats who joined the new House Republican majority in reading the Constitution aloud from the House floor. She said she was particularly pleased with being assigned the reading of the First Amendment. “I wanted to be here,” she said. “I think it’s important. Reflecting on the Constitution in a bipartisan way is a good way to start the year.”

As a Democrat, Ms. Giffords is something of anomaly in Arizona, and in her district, which has traditionally tilted Republican. Last year, she barely squeaked to victory over a Republican challenger, Jesse Kelly, with just a bit over a 1 percent margin. She was aided in part by a blue streak that runs through part of her district in Southern Arizona, which has nonetheless normally been held by a Republican.

But Ms. Giffords had clearly heard the message that constituents were dissatisfied with Democratic leaders in Washington. At the Capitol this week, Ms. Giffords refused to support the outgoing Democratic House speaker, Nancy Pelosi of California, in her symbolic contest with the Republican, Mr. Boehner of Ohio.

Instead, Ms. Giffords cast her vote for Representative John Lewis, a Georgia Democrat and hero of the civil rights movement.

President Obama issued a statement on Saturday afternoon calling the shootings “an unspeakable tragedy.” He said that some victims “have passed away, and that Representative Giffords is gravely wounded.”

“We do not yet have all the answers,” the statement said. “What we do know is that such a senseless and terrible act of violence has no place in a free society.”

Ms. Giffords, an avid equestrian, was part of the Democratic class of 2006 that swept Democrats into the majority and that just turned over this past Tuesday to the Republicans.

She ran in an open seat that was vacated by a centrist Republican, Jim Kolbe, and defeated a conservative Republican who was tough on immigration and border enforcement.

Ms. Giffords had worked to win the confidence of her constituents on border issues and beat the White House to the punch last year by announcing administration plans to put more National Guard troops at the border.

Ms. Giffords is married to the astronaut Mark E. Kelly, who is a veteran of three space flights including serving as commander of a space shuttle Discovery in 2008.

In Attack’s Wake, Political Repercussions By MARC LACEY and DAVID M. HERSZENHORN
January 8, 2011
New York Times


TUCSON — Representative Gabrielle Giffords, an Arizona Democrat, and at least 17 others were shot Saturday morning when a gunman opened fire outside a supermarket where Ms. Giffords was meeting with constituents.

Six of the victims died, among them John M. Roll, the chief judge for the United States District Court for Arizona, and a 9-year-old girl, the Pima County sheriff, Clarence W. Dupnik, said.

Ms. Giffords, 40, whom the authorities called the target of the attack, was in critical condition Sunday morning at the University Medical Center in Tucson, where she was operated on by a team of neurosurgeons on Saturday. Dr. Peter Rhee, medical director of the hospital’s trauma and critical care unit, said Saturday that she had been shot once in the head, “through and through,” with the bullet going through her brain.

President Obama, speaking at the White House, confirmed that a suspect was in custody and said that the director of the Federal Bureau of Investigation, Robert S. Mueller III, was on his way to Arizona to oversee the investigation.

Investigators identified the gunman as Jared Lee Loughner, 22, and said that he was refusing to cooperate with the authorities and had invoked his Fifth Amendment rights. Mr. Loughner was in custody with the Federal Bureau of Investigation on Saturday night, the Pima Country sheriff’s office said.

Mr. Loughner had exhibited increasingly strange behavior in recent months, including ominous Internet postings — at least one showing a gun — and a series of videos in which he made disjointed statements on topics like the gold standard and mind control.

Pima Community College said he had been suspended for conduct violations and withdrew in October after five instances of classroom or library disruptions that involved the campus police.

The authorities were seen entering the Loughner family house about five miles from the shooting scene. Investigators said they were looking for a possible accomplice, believed to be in his 50s.

The shootings raised questions about potential political motives, and Sheriff Dupnik blamed the toxic political environment in Arizona. There were immediate national reverberations as Democrats denounced the fierce partisan atmosphere in Ms. Gifford’s district and top Republicans quickly condemned the violence.

Mark Kimble, an aide to Ms. Giffords, said the shooting occurred about 10 a.m. in a small area between an American flag and an Arizona flag. He said that he went into the store for coffee, and that as he came out the gunman started firing.

Ms. Giffords had been talking to a couple about Medicare and reimbursements, and Judge Roll had just walked up to her and shouted “Hi,” when the gunman, wearing sunglasses and perhaps a hood of some sort, approached and shot the judge, Mr. Kimble said. “Everyone hit the ground,” he said. “It was so shocking.”

The United States Capitol Police, which is investigating the attack, cautioned lawmakers “to take reasonable and prudent precautions regarding their personal security.”

Because of the shootings, House Republicans postponed all legislation to be considered on the floor this week, including a vote to repeal the health care overhaul. The House majority leader, Representative Eric Cantor, Republican of Virginia, said lawmakers needed to “take whatever actions may be necessary in light of today’s tragedy.”

Speaking of Ms. Giffords’s condition, Dr. Rhee said at a news conference, “I can tell you at this time, I am very optimistic about her recovery.” He added, “We cannot tell what kind of recovery, but I’m as optimistic as it can get in this kind of situation.”

Ms. Giffords remained unconscious on Saturday night, said her spokesman, C. J. Karamargin.

Several aides to Ms. Giffords were wounded, and her director of community outreach, Gabriel Zimmerman, 30, was among those killed. The girl who died was identified as Christina Green, a third grader. The others killed were Dorothy Morris, 76; Dorwan Stoddard, 76; and Phyllis Schneck, 79.

Ms. Giffords, who represents the Eighth District, in the southeastern corner of Arizona, has been an outspoken critic of the state’s tough immigration law, which is focused on identifying, prosecuting and deporting illegal immigrants, and she had come under criticism for her vote in favor of the health care law.

Friends said she had received threats over the years. Judge Roll had been involved in immigration cases and had received death threats.

The police said Ms. Giffords’s district office was evacuated late Saturday after a suspicious package was found. Officers later cleared the scene.

Ms. Giffords, widely known as Gabby, had been speaking to constituents in a store alcove under a large white banner bearing her name when a man surged forward and began firing. He tried to escape but was tackled by a bystander and taken into custody by the police. The event, called “Congress on Your Corner,” was outside a Safeway supermarket northwest of Tucson and was the first opportunity for constituents to meet with Ms. Giffords since she was sworn in for a third term on Wednesday.

Ms. Giffords was part of the Democratic class of 2006 that swept Democrats into the majority in the House. She narrowly won re-election in November, while many fellow Democrats were toppled and the House turned to Republican control.

“I saw the congresswoman talking to two people, and then this man suddenly came up and shot her in the head and then shot other people,” said Dr. Steven Rayle, a witness to the shootings. “I think it was a semiautomatic, and he must have got off 20 rounds.”

Dr. Rayle said that Ms. Giffords slumped to the ground and that staff members immediately rushed to her aid. “A staffer had his arm around her, and she was leaning against the window of the Safeway,” the doctor said. “He had a jacket or towel on her head.”

At least one of the other shooting victims helped Ms. Giffords, witnesses said.

Television broadcasts showed a chaotic scene outside a normally tranquil suburban shopping spot as emergency workers rushed to carry the wounded away in stretchers. Some of the victims were taken from the site by helicopter, three of which had arrived.

Law enforcement officials said that the congresswoman had received numerous threats.

Congressional leaders of both parties issued statements throughout the day expressing outrage at the shooting as well as concern and prayers for Ms. Giffords and her family.

The new House speaker, John A. Boehner, said: “I am horrified by the senseless attack on Congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords and members of her staff. An attack on one who serves is an attack on all who serve.

“Acts and threats of violence against public officials have no place in our society. Our prayers are with Congresswoman Giffords, her staff, all who were injured and their families. This is a sad day for our country.”

Senator John McCain, Republican of Arizona, issued one of the strongest statements, saying: “I am horrified by the violent attack on Representative Gabrielle Giffords and many other innocent people by a wicked person who has no sense of justice or compassion. I pray for Gabby and the other victims, and for the repose of the souls of the dead and comfort for their families.”

He added, “Whoever did this, whatever their reason, they are a disgrace to Arizona, this country and the human race.”

Ms. Giffords is a centrist Democrat who won re-election in part by stressing her strong support for gun rights and for tougher immigration controls, including tighter border security, even though she opposed the controversial Arizona law.

Last March, after the final approval of the Democrats’ health care law, which Ms. Giffords supported, the windows of her office in Tucson were broken or shot out in an act of vandalism. Similar acts were reported by other members of Congress.

In August 2009, when there were demonstrations against the health care measure across the nation, a protester who showed up to meet Ms. Giffords at a supermarket event similar to Saturday’s was removed by the police when the pistol he had holstered under his armpit fell and bounced on the floor.

In an interview at the Capitol this week, Ms. Giffords said she was excited to count herself among the Democrats who joined the new Republican majority in reading the Constitution aloud from the House floor. She said she was particularly pleased with being assigned the reading of the First Amendment.

“I wanted to be here,” she said. “I think it’s important. Reflecting on the Constitution in a bipartisan way is a good way to start the year.”

As a Democrat, Ms. Giffords is something of anomaly in Arizona and in her district, which has traditionally tilted Republican. Last year, she barely squeaked to victory over a Republican challenger, Jesse Kelly. But she had clearly heard the message that constituents were dissatisfied with Democratic leaders in Washington.

At the Capitol last week, Ms. Giffords refused to support the outgoing Democratic House speaker, Nancy Pelosi of California, in her symbolic contest with the Republican, Mr. Boehner of Ohio. Instead, she cast her vote for Representative John Lewis, a Georgia Democrat and hero of the civil rights movement.

“It’s not surprising that today Gabby was doing what she always does: listening to the hopes and concerns of her neighbors,” Mr. Obama said during a news conference Saturday, calling her a “friend of mine” and an “extraordinary public servant.” “I know Gabby is as tough as they come,” he said. “Obviously, our hearts go out to the family members of those who have been slain.” “We’re going to get to the bottom of this, and we’re going to get through this,” he said.

The shooting mobilized officials at the White House and throughout the highest levels of government, including the Department of Homeland Security and the Justice Department.

Rabbi Stephanie Aaron, who in 2007 officiated at the wedding of Ms. Giffords and the astronaut Mark E. Kelly, and leads Congregation Chaverim in Tucson, said the congresswoman had never expressed any concern about her safety. “No fear. I’ve only seen the bravest possible, most intelligent young congresswoman,” Rabbi Aaron said. “I feel like this is really one of those proverbial — seemingly something coming out of nowhere.”

At Ms. Giffords’s district office, a group of about 50 people formed a prayer circle. Chris Cole, a Tucson police officer whose neighborhood beat includes the district office, said of the shooting, “This kind of thing just doesn’t happen in Tucson.”

Behind the office, in the parking lot, campaign volunteers stood around a car with the door open, listening to a live radio broadcast of a hospital news conference updating the congresswoman’s condition. A cheer went up when it was announced that she was still alive.

The volunteers included Kelly Canady and her mother, Patricia Canady, both longtime campaign workers. Patricia Canedy had worked for Ms. Giffords since she served in the State Senate while Kelly, her daughter, moved to Tucson 13 years ago and was active in last year’s campaign and in the health care debate.

“She’s one of those people who remembers you. She always spoke to me by my first name,” Kelly Canady said. “She loved everybody. She was very easy to talk to. She was one of the main reasons I will stay involved in politics.”

Marc Lacey reported from Tucson, and David M. Herszenhorn from Washington. Reporting for the Arizona shooting coverage was contributed by Emmarie Huetteman, Janie Lorber, Michael D. Shear and Ashley Southall from Washington; Lisa M. Button, Ford Burkhart, Devlin Houser, Ron Nixon, Nancy Sharkey and Joe Sharkey from Tucson; J. David Goodman and Sarah Wheaton from New York; and Kitty Bennett from Tampa, Fla.

This article has been revised to reflect the following correction:

Correction: January 9, 2011

An earlier version of this article misidentified one of the women killed. Her name was Dorothy Morris, not Dorothy Murray.

This article has been revised to reflect the following correction:

Correction: January 9, 2011


An earlier version of this article misidentified one of the women killed. His name was Dorwan Stoddard, not Dorwin Stoddard.


Marc Lacey reported from Tucson, and David M. Herszenhorn from Washington. Carl Hulse, Ashley Southall and Jennifer Steinhauer contributed reporting from Washington and J. David Goodman from New York.

Congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords was Targeted for Assassination by Jared Lee Loughner

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/northamerica/usa/us-politics/8248696/American-congresswoman-Gabrielle-Giffords-fights-for-life-after-being-shot-in-head.html

ALL,

THIS ARTICLE CONFIRMS THAT THE SHOOTER DIRECTLY TARGETED THE CONGRESSWOMAN FOR ASSASSINATION. SEE HORRIFIC DETAILS BELOW.

WHEN THE CONGRESSWOMAN'S FATHER WAS ASKED IF HIS DAUGHTER HAD ANY ENEMIES HE REPLIED "YEAH, THE WHOLE TEA PARTY."

Kofi

"Her father, Spencer Giffords, 75, wept when asked if his daughter had any enemies. "Yeah," he told The New York Post. "The whole Tea Party."

Mrs Palin issued a brief statement on the shooting. "My sincere condolences are offered to the family of Rep Gabrielle Giffords and the other victims of today's tragic shooting in Arizona," she said."


US Politics

American congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords fights for life after being shot in head
Gabrielle Giffords, a Democratic Congresswoman, was fighting for her life after being shot in the head by a gunman who opened fire on a public meeting in Tucson, Arizona, killing six people.


By Philip Sherwell, in New York
09 Jan 2011
The Telegraph
LONDON

The dead included a nine-year-old girl, a Giffords aide and a federal district judge whose life had previously been threatened over a contentious illegal immigration lawsuit that he was hearing. A further 12 people were injured in the rampage.

Miss Giffords, 40, who is married to an astronaut, survived the murderous shooting spree, despite being shot at point blank range by a single bullet that passed through her brain and out of her head.

President Barack Obama said she was "battling for her life". Initial reports listed the congresswoman among those killed, but doctors later said they were "optimistic" after emergency surgery.

"We cannot tell what kind of recovery but I'm about as optimistic as it can get in this situation," said Dr Peter Rhee, trauma surgeon a Tucson University Medical Centre.

The suspected gunman, identified by law enforcement officials as Jared Loughner, 22, also from Tucson, was in custody after being tackled by bystanders as he tried to flee the scene.


The attack immediately focused attention on the shrill political climate in the US. Miss Giffords had narrowly beaten off tough challenge in November's congressional elections by a Tea Party-backed Republican candidate, she had previously received death threats and her offices had been shot at.

But federal investigators were also studying bizarre and rambling video and social networking postings by someone in the name of Jared Loughner in whcih he apparently railed against the US government.

Another chilling twist was the presence of John Roll, a district judge, among the dead. He and his family were given protection in 2009 after he ruled that a lawsuit by illegal immigrants could proceed – a decision that was denounced on conservative talk show radio and brought an estimated 200 death threats.

The shooting took place in a car park outside a Safeway grocery store in a Tucson shopping mall as Miss Giffords was talking to an elderly couple at a "Congress on your Corner" event which she had advertised an hour previously on her Twitter account.

Andrea Gooden, an eyewitness who was working across the road from the shooting, said: "I heard about 15 shots. Then there were people racing across the parking lot."

Steven Rayle, who was on the scene at the time of the shooting and helped to hold the suspect down while waiting for police, told the Gawker website: "The event was very informal. Giffords had set up a table outside the Safeway and about 20 to 30 people were gathered to talk to her. The gunman, who may have come from inside the Safeway, walked up and shot Giffords in the head first."

Alex Villec, 19, a campaign volunteer, was organising the line of constituents when the shooter first approached.

The gunman "said, 'Can I talk to the congresswoman?', or something to that effect," said Mr Villec, who told him to join the queue.
A few minutes later, the man left the back of the line and walked toward Miss Giffords amid a group of 20 to 25 constituents, employees and volunteers.

"He was intent when he came back - a pretty stone-cold glance and glare," Mr Villec said. "I didn't see his gun, but it was clear who he was going for. He was going for the congresswoman.

"A few staff members were caught in the crossfire... His goal was the congresswoman."

Mr Villec saw him raise his hand and heard gun shots before ducking behind a pillar and later running across the car park to a bank for safety. "It was bedlam," he said. "People were getting down on the ground. They were screaming. I just did what I could to keep myself protected."

Dr Steven Aryle, a hospice doctor, was among those waiting to meet Miss Giffords when he saw a man about two feet from her side shoot her in the head, without saying a word.

He said he heard another 15 to 20 rounds. He helped hold the suspect down after other witnesses tackled and disarmed him.
"It was surreal. Gunshots sound less real in person," he said. "I thought someone was staging a protest. It just didn't feel real."

Miss Giffords' husband Mark Kelly was on Saturday night flying to Tucson, with his daughter by a previous marriage. A veteran of three space flights and a highly popular member of Nasa's astronaut corps, he had been due to command the last scheduled flight of the space shuttle programme in April. His twin brother, Scott, is also a Nasa astronaut, currently in orbit in the International Space Station.

Miss Giffords had been named as a political campaign objective for conservatives in November's elections by Sarah Palin, the former Alaska governor, because of her strong support for the health reforms of President Barack Obama.

The Congresswoman, who is Jewish, is a gun-owner and supporter of the right to bear arms. She was also a strong advocate of abortion rights.
Mrs Palin published a "target map" on her website using images of gun sights to identify 20 Democrats, including Miss Giffords. But she nonetheless fought off a tough challenge from her Tea Party-backed Republican opponent to win re-election to her third term in Congress.

Her father, Spencer Giffords, 75, wept when asked if his daughter had any enemies. "Yeah," he told The New York Post. "The whole Tea Party."
Mrs Palin issued a brief statement on the shooting. "My sincere condolences are offered to the family of Rep Gabrielle Giffords and the other victims of today's tragic shooting in Arizona," she said.

"On behalf of Todd [her husband] and my family, we all pray for the victims and their families, and for peace and justice."
President Obama said the attack was "an unspeakable tragedy" and added: "We do not yet have all the answers. What we do know is that such a senseless and terrible act of violence has no place in a free society.

"I ask all Americans to join me and Michelle in keeping Representative Giffords, the victims of this tragedy, and their families in our prayers."
The newly-elected Republican House Speaker, John Boehner, said: "I am horrified by the senseless attack on Congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords and members of her staff. An attack on one who serves is an attack on all who serve."

Miss Giffords had just returned from Washington to Arizona after being sworn in to the new House. She had sent a message on the social networking site Twitter inviting constituent to the "Congress on Your Corner" event.

"Please stop by to let me know what is on your mind or tweet me later," she wrote. In a message earlier in the day, she said: "So good to be home. Happy New Year!"

Miss Giffords had previously complained of an attack by vandals on her Tucson office, and told friends she had been threatened.

The Washington Post said it was not the first time someone brought a gun to a Giffords event. A protester in August took a gun to a "Congress on Your Corner" event in Douglas, Arizona. Police were alerted after he dropped the firearm, the newspaper said

Arizona has been at the forefront of sharp and often ugly political conflicts over immigration and the role of government in the US. Rocks were thrown through the windows of Miss Gifford's constituency offices in Tucson last year.

Jan Brewer, the state's Republican governor, introduced a controversial law in the summer allowing police to question people if they suspected they were illegal immigrants. The new legislation prompted nationwide demonstrations by pro- and anti-immigrant groups.
JD Hayworth, a conservative former Republican Arizona congressman, said that members of Congress and other politicians in the state have been shying away from large town hall-style meetings for security reasons.

He said that Miss Giffords was taking part in what has become more of the "norm", events with smaller groups of voters, rather than large crowds that could turn rowdy or worse. Yet it was just this setting that exposed her and her aides to another danger as the lone gunman struck.
Mr Hayworth said the last campaign was a "very contentious one. But that was true for all of us in all directions." He added: "She is a very impressive person. And we're all praying for her."

Miss Giffords was a well-known local figure who had previously served in the Arizona state legislature and was often seen in her district riding her Harley Davidson motorcycle.

She was born in Tucson and graduated from Cornell University in 1996 with a master's degree in regional planning. Before entering politics, she ran her family's tire and automotive business in Tucson.

It is believed to be the first time that a woman politician has been the object of an assassination attempt in America, a country where elected leaders have often been the subject of attacks.

UPDATE ON ATTEMPTED ASSANINATION OF REPRESENTATIVE GABRIELLE GIFFORDS OF ARIZONA

UPDATE ON SHOOTING

January 8, 2011

SIX PEOPLE HAVE DIED FROM THE SHOOTING TODAY, INCLUDING A 9 YEAR OLD GIRL AND A 30 YEAR STAFF PERSON FOR CONGRESSWOMAN GIFFORDS WHO AFTER SURGERY TODAY REMAINS IN INTENSIVE CARE.

DOCTORS REMAIN 'OPTIMISTIC' SHE WILL 'PULL THROUGH"--WHATEVER THAT MEANS SINCE SHE WAS SHOT BY A 9MM GLOCK AT A RANGE OF ONLY ONE FOOT IN THE BACK OF THE HEAD. ONE CAN ONLY IMAGINE HOW BAD HER INJURIES REALLY ARE. MEANWHILE THE NUMBER OF PEOPLE WHO WERE SHOT NOW STANDS AT 18...PRESIDENT OBAMA HAS INSTRUCTED THE FBI TO LEAVE NO STONE UNTURNED IN THIS ONGOING INVESTIGATION OF THE 22 YEAR OLD SHOOTER WHOSE NAME IS JARED LEE LOUGHNER FROM ARIZONA...MORE AS FURTHER NEWS COMES IN...

Kofi

Who's Going To Take Public Responsibility for Contributing To These Heinous Acts of Violence?

All,

This statement was posted earlier today (January 8, 2010) by Paul Krugman on the shooting (it has now been confirmed that 17 other people--not 12 as it was reported earlier)--were also shot by the gunman. So far at least 2 of them--a Federal judge and a small child--have died. Congresswoman Giffords is still in critical condition following surgery...

Kofi


January 8, 2011

Assassination Attempt In Arizona

A Democratic Congresswoman has been shot in the head; another dozen were also shot.

We don’t have proof yet that this was political, but the odds are that it was. She’s been the target of violence before. And for those wondering why a Blue Dog Democrat, the kind Republicans might be able to work with, might be a target, the answer is that she’s a Democrat who survived what was otherwise a GOP sweep in Arizona, precisely because the Republicans nominated a Tea Party activist. (Her father says that “the whole Tea Party” was her enemy.) And yes, she was on Sarah Palin’s infamous “crosshairs” list.

Just yesterday, Ezra Klein remarked that opposition to health reform was getting scary. Actually, it’s been scary for quite a while, in a way that already reminded many of us of the climate that preceded the Oklahoma City bombing.

You know that Republicans will yell about the evils of partisanship whenever anyone tries to make a connection between the rhetoric of Beck, Limbaugh, etc. and the violence I fear we’re going to see in the months and years ahead. But violent acts are what happen when you create a climate of hate. And it’s long past time for the GOP’s leaders to take a stand against the hate-mongers.

Update: I see that Sarah Palin has called the shooting “tragic”. OK, a bit of history: right-wingers went wild over anyone who called 9/11 a tragedy, insisting that it wasn’t a tragedy, it was an atrocity.

Update: I’m going to take down comments on this one; they would need a lot of moderating, because the crazies are coming out in force, and it’s all too likely to turn into a flame war.