my congresswoman was shot today

[badgercat]

I hope we can all agree that Fred Phelps is a jerk, because it looks pretty certain that the Westboro Baptist Church will be descending upon our city to picket the funerals of the fallen. http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/0...?ref=fb&src=sp

[Owlie]

I hope we can all agree that Fred Phelps is a jerk, because it looks pretty certain that the Westboro Baptist Church will be descending upon our city to picket the funerals of the fallen. http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/0...?ref=fb&src=sp

I was going to ask "Do these people have any common decency?", but that would be a waste of effort.

Ugh. Just ugh.

[Eden]

That is just beyond sickening. They are even justifying killing a *child* - who's the baby killers.....

[Crankin]

I'm not going to get into the discussion about name calling... but needless to say, Trek's comments about mental health care is probably the most valid here. People with serious mental health issues (i.e.w/psychotic symptoms) can be influenced by the inflammatory comments of others. If anything, this speaks to the issue of mental health parity.
Oh, and the mayor I used to drink coffee with, that I mentioned in an earlier post? He is now a congressman from my old district. And he is also in the crosshairs on Palin's map.

[Trek420]

That is just beyond sickening. They are even justifying killing a *child* - who's the baby killers.....

Why am I not surprised? These nucking futz (hopefully we all agree) are at military funerals, Elizabeth Edwards funeral ...

Hopefully the Patriot Guard will be there so grieving families will not need to even see their hate:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rP6gneH1DRU

[OakLeaf]

DH lived in Tucson about the same time as Crankin lived in Tempe. His house was catty-corner from where Loughner now lives with his parents.

[lunacycles]

we all know how much was horribly wrong about this tragedy. Here's something that was miraculously right, and gives me some hope:

http://www.cbsnews.com/video/watch/?id=7230296n

[badgercat]

I just watched a live press conference from University Medical Center on local TV. 8 victims are still hospitalized there: 2 in good or fair condition, 5 in serious condition, and one in critical condition (Congresswoman Giffords). One other patient has already been discharged. Giffords and one of the serious condition patients are in ICU, but the rest are on "regular" wards. Giffords continues to respond to simple commands (apparently things like squeezing a hand, wiggling toes). Assessing any more complicated function than that would be next to impossible with the ventilator and the heavy sedation. Swelling in her brain does not seem to be a problem, but apparently that normally peaks on or around the 3rd day post-trauma (which would be tomorrow). The doctors who spoke seemed confident that all of the other victims will survive, and are optimistic about Giffords, though one remarked "She's not out of the woods yet."

Something that the head of the trauma department brought up that I appreciated hearing was that their job isn't only to "fix" people physically, but to try to make them "whole" again emotionally and socially. He referenced their team of psychologists, psyciatrists, social workers, etc, who all have experience with trauma patients and PTSD, and that they will be working with all the patients through their recovery.

Bottom line, I guess we can be cautiously optimistic for all of the victims remaining in the hospital today.

[KnottedYet]

we all know how much was horribly wrong about this tragedy. Here's something that was miraculously right, and gives me some hope:

http://www.cbsnews.com/video/watch/?id=7230296n

And can we please take note that in gunsighted "REAL America" Arizona, a Jewish woman was shot by a man with inadequate health care and her life was saved by a gay Latino young man?

(Flags in my state were at half-mast today for the victims in Arizona, and we all thought of your state during our moment of silence.)

BTW: Daniel Hernandez Jr. self-identifies as gay, and is a member of the City of Tucson Commission on Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual and Transgender Issues.

Here's what he did, which in all honesty is probably more than I'd be capable of doing, and I'm supposed to be a trained Medical First Responder:
When the shots began that morning, he saw many people lying on the ground, including a young girl. Some were bleeding. Hernandez said he moved from person to person checking pulses.

"First the neck, then the wrist," he said. One man was already dead. Then he saw Giffords. She had fallen and was lying contorted on the sidewalk. She was bleeding.

Using his hand, Hernandez applied pressure to the entry wound on her forehead. He pulled her into his lap, holding her upright against him so she wouldn't choke on her own blood. [snip]

Hernandez used his hand to apply pressure until someone from inside Safeway brought him clean smocks from the meat department. He used them to apply pressure on the entrance wound, unaware there was an exit wound. He never let go of her.

He stayed with Giffords until paramedics arrived. They strapped her to a board and loaded her into an ambulance. Hernandez climbed in with her. On the ride to the hospital, he held her hand. She squeezed his back. - Arizona Republic