my congresswoman was shot today

[Mr. Bloom]

This just in, he:

• Is a registered independent
• Didn't vote in '10
• Was obsessed with Mayan 2012 prophesy
• Had a satanic style alter in his backyard
• Has a mug shot that looks as looney as he was
• likely developed a profound hatred for the victim when she didn't answer his arcane question at a town hall meeting...so thinks the FBI

So much for the Palin/Limbaugh hate speech theory...

I don't like Limbaugh, Palin, that church from wherever, or any blow hard that only exists because they espouse extreme views - but by golly, I'm not going to scapegoat them for everything wrong in the world either

[Bike Writer]

To the posters who live in Arizona and are represented by this Congresswoman you have my sympathy over this tragedy to her and others who were killed or injured.

It's a very sad story reading about innocent people and children wounded and killed by a madman. There are bad people in this world and nothing can be done to stop random acts of violence by kooks unless we are willing to lock them all up to protect ourselves from them.

I just read a story today that says this alleged gunman was dropped from his community college and could not return until he proved that he was no longer a threat to others or himslef. I guess he proved just how much of a threat he was to human life. Too bad he was only expelled instead of locked up for his threat to "others." Before I get attacked for such a stern approach to this, one undisputable fact is that it's not possible for someone to kill innocent strangers from behind bars.

[Biciclista]

Bike WRiter, I agree with you. Once upon a time, when someone was crazy, it was fairly easy to lock them up. THen came the Reagan administration, who let all the crazies out. Now it's very difficult to lock people up who are nuts before they commit a crime.

[Trek420]

I'm not betting she'll be riding her bike again. I'd love to be proved wrong.

I'm very glad my taxes (and yours) go to provide lifetime healthcare for members of Congress. She will need it.

Yes, you're right. My tendency towards optimism got the better of me I should know better. I talk to people with brain traumas daily. I have no medical background but odds are even with the best of circumstances, luck and care she will never be quite the same.

Thanks, Veronica for the pictures of the bike. Somehow that was as moving or more so (yeah, we're bike nerds here ) than seeing her on the bike.

[oxysback]

1. Rush Limbaugh: "I tell people don't kill all the liberals. Leave enough so we can have two on every campus – living fossils – so we will never forget what these people stood for."

2. Senator Phil Gramm: "We're going to keep building the party until we're hunting Democrats with dogs."

3. Rep. James Hansen on Bill Clinton: Get rid of the guy. Impeach him, censure him, assassinate him."

4. Ann Coulter: "We need to execute people like John Walker in order to physically intimidate liberals, by making them realize that they can be killed, too."

5. Ann Coulter: "My only regret with Timothy McVeigh is he did not go to the New York Times building."

6. Bill O'Reilly: "ll those clowns over at the liberal radio network, we could incarcerate them immediately. Will you have that done, please? Send over the FBI and just put them in chains."


I dare you to find a similar list quoting liberal or left leaning public figures.

Barack Obama: “If they bring a knife to the fight, we bring a gun" (said at a Philadelphia fundraiser)

Bill Maher: I have zero doubt that if **** Cheney was not in power, people wouldn’t be dying needlessly tomorrow….I’m just saying if he did die, other people, more people would live. That’s a fact."

Liberal radio host, Mike Malloy: "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."

Chris Matthews: "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?"

Spike Lee: If I got (Condi Rice) a** on camera, I would put my Mars Air Jordans so far up her butt that the Mayo Clinic would have to remove them."

[Trek420]

Would everyone please sing kumbaya, hand your so called opposition an IPA, calm down and in the words of a typical parent "I don't care who said what to whom first, or who hit who first (do I use "whom" with that?) stop hitting your siblings". We could go back pretty far in a who hit who first .... I'm not interested.

I am interested in adult discourse because this is where we are now and we need to move forward and talking is the thing that ultimately works. Of course if all you can do is scream obscenities and yell on talk radio we have other problems.

As for locking up the insane some may need that for sure but my goal would be treatment. People are very stressed now, maybe it's the economy, maybe it's whatever but people need access to help if they choose to get it.

I have a friend whose sister has schizophrenia though you would never know it if you met her. She showed early signs of brilliance (the whole family is gifted) but also some disturbing trends. They got care. Result: she is a proud and good parent to an amazing daughter, she has a rewarding job in a health care field ... difference? The family has access to great health care. To any of you in the mental health field my hat's off, you are life savers too.

You know, some think we're crazy because we ride, ride so far, spend buttloads on gear .... do we really want mental hospitals to be the only way?

[PamNY]

This just in, he:

• Is a registered independent
• Didn't vote in '10
• Was obsessed with Mayan 2012 prophesy
• Had a satanic style alter in his backyard
• Has a mug shot that looks as looney as he was
• likely developed a profound hatred for the victim when she didn't answer his arcane question at a town hall meeting...so thinks the FBI

So much for the Palin/Limbaugh hate speech theory...

A much stronger argument against the Palin/Limbaugh hate speech theory is the fact that assassinations (or attempts) are, unfortunately, hardly new in US history.

There's a rather good article in Salon which says, in part:

"In reckoning with the extremity of the political rhetoric of our own time, a longer view of American political hyperbole and violence suggests that as bad as the dialogue between Democrats and Republicans is right now, it pretty much pales in comparison with the virulence that has characterized American political language since the nation’s founding."

None of this makes the tragedy in Arizona any less tragic (and I agree, the bike photo put a lump in my throat). But it is something we should keep in mind in discussing causes.

[NbyNW]

No doubt Congresswoman Giffords has a tough road ahead, but I was encouraged by seeing this video of Bob Woodruff talking about his own experience with a similar injury.

[Mr. Bloom]

I am interested in adult discourse because this is where we are now and we need to move forward and talking is the thing that ultimately works. Of course if all you can do is scream obscenities and yell on talk radio we have other problems.

Ok, There is a large population in the country who feel disenfranchised right now because they oppose big government, believe in personal responsibility rather than government solutions, and are tired of being called ignorant because they are conservative. They are disenfranchised because they see the mainstream media as biased and as a result their message is only heard when ultra right wing blowhards (like Limbaugh et al.) exaggerate the message. That's unfortunate...but it's the reality to a large number of Americans who see themselves as mainstream...and this thread only reinforces it IMHO

I respect what you think about all this, but I simply disagree.

Now, I have to go shovel the snow off the driveway

[KnottedYet]

...and this thread only reinforces it IMHO

You certainly reinforced my opinion.

[Deborajen]

A much stronger argument against the Palin/Limbaugh hate speech theory is the fact that assassinations (or attempts) are, unfortunately, hardly new in US history.

There's a rather good article in Salon which says, in part:

"In reckoning with the extremity of the political rhetoric of our own time, a longer view of American political hyperbole and violence suggests that as bad as the dialogue between Democrats and Republicans is right now, it pretty much pales in comparison with the virulence that has characterized American political language since the nation’s founding."

None of this makes the tragedy in Arizona any less tragic (and I agree, the bike photo put a lump in my throat). But it is something we should keep in mind in discussing causes.

This is true, unfortunately. Reagan was shot, apparently by a wierdo who thought he was going to impress the actress Jodie Foster. Kennedy was shot. Lincoln was shot. The Murrah Federal Building in Oklahoma City was bombed. (I haven't been able to access the link yet - sorry if any of this is redundant.) It's really sick, and so sad.

I wish this lady the best, and my thoughts and prayers go out to her and to all the other victims of this awful tragedy.

[KnottedYet]

For those who feel the need to do something constructive, donations can be sent to the Tucson Community Food Bank, Gabrielle Giffords Hunger Fund:
http://communityfoodbank.com/2011/01...s-hunger-fund/

[Crankin]

OK, I'll say it. If people feel disenfranchised because they don't believe in "big government" helping people, then they don't really know what disenfranchised means. To me, that's just plain cruel, and kind of thoughtless, because in the end we all will pay more. Take the 48 year old vet I was seeing at the clinic for awhile. He grew up with a schizophrenic mother, managed to graduate HS and went into the Army. While in his first or second year, he was sexually assaulted in the Army and given an honorable discharge after going through a trial againsthis perpetrator. From his service to is country, he got about 15 years of homelessness, drug use, alcoholism, PTSD, learning disabilities (he had repeated TBI from playing football in the Army), jail, and paranoid schizophrenia. A wise doctor at the VA in Connecticut sent him up here, to a program that has him on his feet, going to college and acting as a peer mentor. He is disenfranchised. Some white guy who is angry because he can't get a job in manufacturing because he didn'tget any new training or education is not.
My take on all of this is that some people are just plain angry and they always can find someone to blame. If you dig a little deeper, most of the time you find something lacking in their lives. Oy.

[OakLeaf]

Thank you, Crankin. And thanks Knott for the link, and your earlier link to SSL.


Someone I know attributed this following to Mohandas Gandhi. I didn't bother to verify the attribution, but authentic or not, it belongs here (and in every place of discourse):

I offer you peace.
I offer you love.
I offer you friendship.
I see your beauty.
I hear your need.
I feel your feelings.
My wisdom flows from the highest source.
I salute that source in you.
Let us work together.
For unity and peace.

[Eden]

Indeed Crankin - disenfranchised isn't about not being in the majority. It isn't about not getting your way....

to deprive of a franchise, of a legal right, or of some privilege or immunity; especially : to deprive of the right to vote