One day, a woman read a poem about having an abortion. “He made a really off-color comment,” Ali said. “I remember him saying something about strapping a bomb to the fetus and making a baby bomb out of it.”
~Sam Quinones, Molly Hennessy-Fiske and Ashley Powers, reporting on accused AZ shooter, Jared Loughner, and his strange behavior prior to the shooting, Los Angeles Times, January 11
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Jill Stanek is a nurse turned speaker, columnist and blogger, a national figure in the effort to protect both preborn and postborn innocent human life.
Another example of the culture of death. *tears* *crying*
Praying for all the loved ones of those who died because of this lost man’s choices. Praying for all those who have been hurt and for their speedy recoveries. Praying for this young man and his family as well.
A lost soul.
An emotionally disturbed young man.
He hurt a lot of people including himself, all needlessly.
What a tragedy.
There were enough red flags. There always is.
A complete and utter tragedy and my heart goes out to all of the grieving families. Praying for their comfort.
Also praying for healing for the wounded and strength to get through recovery.
Making a baby bomb?
Yeah, a real right-winger right there, folks.
Hopefully we can all learn something from this horrible tragedy about the dangers of incendiary political rhetoric and the effect that it can have on disturbed minds. There have been decidedly noticeable undercurrents of violent, extremist sentiment in right-wing political discourse for some time now and I just hope that this is merely one isolated incident and not a portent of more acts of political violence to come.
You know what I think is sad, aside from the fact that people died as a result of this mentally ill man’s actions?
The fact that liberal extremists like joan are continuing to use it to launch attacks against free speech in America and against people with whom they disagree politically. But I guess you think we “American Taliban” have it comin’. (Oh, yeah, remember that term? I guess that’s not incendiary.)
If everyone agreed with each other, there would be no need for the right to freedom of speech.
http://www.facebook.com/note.php?note_id=487510653434
President Reagan said, “We must reject the idea that every time a law’s broken, society is guilty rather than the lawbreaker. It is time to restore the American precept that each individual is accountable for his actions.” Acts of monstrous criminality stand on their own. They begin and end with the criminals who commit them, not collectively with all the citizens of a state, not with those who listen to talk radio, not with maps of swing districts used by both sides of the aisle, not with law-abiding citizens who respectfully exercise their First Amendment rights at campaign rallies, not with those who proudly voted in the last election.
The last election was all about taking responsibility for our country’s future. President Obama and I may not agree on everything, but I know he would join me in affirming the health of our democratic process. Two years ago his party was victorious. Last November, the other party won. In both elections the will of the American people was heard, and the peaceful transition of power proved yet again the enduring strength of our Republic.
Vigorous and spirited public debates during elections are among our most cherished traditions. And after the election, we shake hands and get back to work, and often both sides find common ground back in D.C. and elsewhere. If you don’t like a person’s vision for the country, you’re free to debate that vision. If you don’t like their ideas, you’re free to propose better ideas. But, especially within hours of a tragedy unfolding, journalists and pundits should not manufacture a blood libel that serves only to incite the very hatred and violence they purport to condemn. That is reprehensible.
There are those who claim political rhetoric is to blame for the despicable act of this deranged, apparently apolitical criminal. And they claim political debate has somehow gotten more heated just recently. But when was it less heated? Back in those “calm days” when political figures literally settled their differences with dueling pistols? In an ideal world all discourse would be civil and all disagreements cordial. But our Founding Fathers knew they weren’t designing a system for perfect men and women. If men and women were angels, there would be no need for government. Our Founders’ genius was to design a system that helped settle the inevitable conflicts caused by our imperfect passions in civil ways. So, we must condemn violence if our Republic is to endure.
As I said while campaigning for others last March in Arizona during a very heated primary race, “We know violence isn’t the answer. When we ‘take up our arms’, we’re talking about our vote.” Yes, our debates are full of passion, but we settle our political differences respectfully at the ballot box – as we did just two months ago, and as our Republic enables us to do again in the next election, and the next. That’s who we are as Americans and how we were meant to be. Public discourse and debate isn’t a sign of crisis, but of our enduring strength. It is part of why America is exceptional.
No one should be deterred from speaking up and speaking out in peaceful dissent, and we certainly must not be deterred by those who embrace evil and call it good. And we will not be stopped from celebrating the greatness of our country and our foundational freedoms by those who mock its greatness by being intolerant of differing opinion and seeking to muzzle dissent with shrill cries of imagined insults.
~Sarah Palin
Joan, that’s ridiculous. If this guy wasn’t mentally or otherwise disturbed, he would not have done this.
A person who commits vile acts like this usually would have committed them anyway, regardless of the political climate or other environmental factors. Sure, those factors can act as a catalyst, but this guy was a bomb just waiting to go off. It could have been anything!
For most people, I don’t think that politicians talking about “targeting” districts is going to make them go and shoot their Congressmen. People need to lighten up about political rhetoric. I’m a political activist myself and I can tell you that the rhetoric does not imply actual violence.
Of course this is a tragedy. But can we please grieve together as human beings without dragging politics into it?! I don’t agree with Congresswoman Giffords’ politics, but I’m still grieved over what happened. She’s a human and the fact that someone tried to take her life is reprehensible.
The very first novel ever published on one of the first printing presses was a story that culminated in suicide. There were some copy cat suicides in real life. Some people thought the printing press and novel were to blame. Now imagine a culture without books.
Back in the 80’s when we experienced ‘de-institutialization’ a lot of places that could have been remodeled, and made safe for people (like this young man) were simply closed. A healthy person can shrug off the media and we don’t need the protection for ourselves. We need to solve the more complicated problem of how to keep both the mentally ill and ourselves safe.
I wonder what “political rhetoric” motivated Dylan Klebold and Eric Harris.
http://www.intellectualconservative.com/2011/01/12/the-dismissal-of-sarah-palin/
Excellent.
“dangers of incendiary political rhetoric and the effect that it can have on disturbed minds”
hmmm….If that was the case, a lot more people would have risen up against Obama. with all his political rhetoric since he started office…
Rahm Emmanuel in 2008:
“Never let a good crisis go to waste”
It is part and parcel of the left wing modus operandi. Let the left fester and bathe themselves in this tragedy. I choose to pray for the victims instead.
Know what, Joan?
That murderous Cocoa Puff listened to heavy metal music.
Why aren’t we blaming heavy metal music?
He was obsessed with “conscious dreaming”.
Let’s blame conscientious dreamers.
He smoked pot. Lots of it.
All those potsmokers need to turn down their rhetoric.
He proclaimed he was not going to trust God.
So round up the atheists!
And did you know he was mentally ill? Time to put those guys out of their misery.
If I didn’t know any better, I’d have thought that you cut and pasted your post from pacifist left-wingers like Schulz or heck, even Obama because they never engage in “noticeable undercurrents of violent, extremist sentiments”, now, do they?
Why not blame violent and graphic video games, since he played them.
Why not blame the devil since he was satanic?
Why not blame the drugs he took,
or the police that knew he was a sicko and did nothing?
Why not blame pot, or Marx, or Hitler?
No, it’s the harsh language…..and that Tea Party, and Sarah Palin….yeah, yeah…that must be it….. (rubbing hands together)
Do you really not see what a stupid stretch of common sense that is?
Let’s do this, Joan.
We’ll go to Target Store World Headquarters and demand they get rid of their “violence inciting” logos, especially the big, fat, red target that could really push paranoid schizophrenics over the cliff.
That way no one will ever go Loughner again.
Everybody happy.
joan, I think you missed the part in The Quote of the Day where this killer made jokes about destroying a human being.
Prolifers are opposed to destroying humans.
It’s not the fault of any right-winger that you support this destruction.
I realize you can’t tell a book by its cover, but he flat-out looks nutty to me.
If nothing else he should have waited until he was older – hopefully there would be an “Addams Family” movie re-make that he could be in.
This is so tragic. I hope that Rep. Giffords makes a full recovery, and I hope that the families who are grieving losses find comfort.
I will object to the language all around the Internet where people are fighting over whether he’s right-wing or left-wing or mentally ill. For one, people keep implying that the reason he’s violent is because he’s “unwell.” And that might be true in his case, but I just want to say that not all individuals suffering from a mental illness are violent; in fact, most aren’t. I’m not accusing anyone of anything here, but I just want to say it: illness =/= violence.
We should all stop fighting about politics and see in each other the humanity that we all have and must act on- we can’t allow ourselves to sink to violence or threats or fights over the Internet. We need to work together now. That’s the only good that can come out of the tragedy in Tuscon. A nine-year-old girl died and the only way to bring some good out of a situation like that is to stop screaming harsh words at one another. I’m guilty of it, too- I know. Now is just the time to change.
Hey, carder, did you see this? http://townhall.com/columnists/NealBoortz/2011/01/12/sarah_palins_map/page/full/
Surveyor symbols or crosshairs? Hmm.
Blaming “rhetoric” for Jared Loughner’s crimes is even stupider than blaming video games for the Columbine High School shootings. At least we know the Columbine killers actually liked video games.
http://www.mediabistro.com/tvnewser/jared-loughners-friend-says-suspect-did-not-watch-tv-disliked-the-news_b48040
“He did not watch TV. He disliked the news. He didn’t listen to political radio. He didn’t take sides. He wasn’t on the left. He wasn’t on the right.”
Oh, I know, I know. Since when does the truth matter, right?
Vannah,
You are preaching to the choir, girl. The screaming over politics is on quite a few other blogs. :)
Anyone who takes a gun and shoots at innocent people is sick. Call it whatever you want. HE was not well. Him. That guy. The shooter. He did it. He pulled the trigger. He was sick. And people around him knew it before he killed innocent people. They knew and did nothing.
Since the Congresswoman was one of 18 Democrats to not vote for Nancy Pelosi for minority leader (a rare insult to such a political leader), a plausible speculation could have been that the shooter was a true believer of the Left. Not considered, of course.
Isn’t ironic that Rep. Giffords read the First Amendment the week before, when Congress opened with reading the Constitution? Many are now doing a disservice to that great privelige of hers, by trying to silence any dissenting voices.
joan 9:15am
Get real. The guy was apolitical and didn’t even listen to talk radio. He was a lunatic. He was obsessed with Rep.Giffords, he was known to the police as a danger to the community. Maybe you should have an issue with the sheriff and how derelict he was in his responsiblity to protect citizens from a deranged person he was well aware posed a threat to the community.
Oh and joan, any thoughts on why violent TV programs, movies, and video games are not considered dangerous? Couldn’t these give deranged individuals some incentive to act out their sick fantasies?
Hans Johnson,
A great point. This was a plot by Nancy Pelosi. She knew how to manipulate a mind like Loughner’s for her own purposes.
My mind is made up so don’t confuse me with the facts.
Obama sure made some nice comments at the memorial.
Hal,
I wanted to vomit when he spoke about how everybody should hold their hand on their heart while singing God Bless America. Remeber this:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hU9iCANi02o
Do you really believe Obama has he had a change of heart or was tonights speech an attempt at using the death of a nine year old girl for political gain?
“I love the Republican Party but I don’t want to take a bullet for anyone.”
http://www.azcentral.com/community/ahwatukee/articles/2011/01/11/20110111gabrielle-giffords-arizona-shooting-resignations.html
mp,
Obama used his ”eulogy” to state that the killings in Tucson had nothing to do with partisan politics; and then he proceeded to use the memorial service to lecture us all about politics. The memorial service should have been a time solely about the slain and injured. Obama could have saved that partisan politics lecture for his State of the Union address or his radio address or a press conference.
I don’t think anyone was responsible for the killings besides Loughner himself. Like that character in “Batman” he just wanted to see the world burn.
I didn’t see Obama’s speech, but if helps bring people together, good for him.
phyllymiss, it will bing people ‘together’ who fall for his line of bs. The guy is a statist and he used the occasion try and quell the groundswell of people who are voting/kicking him and his party out of office and repealing his disastrous agenda. It was a classless act to use the eulogy for his own campaign rally and to focus his oratory on the rantings of left wing nuts who would twist this senseless act of violence into a blood libel attack on Sarah Palin and the Tea Party. One Democratic Senator named Sanders actually used this tragedy as a basis to send out a fundraising letter for his own campaign. The letter accused Sarah Palin and the Tea Party and conservatives of fomenting the violence that occured in Tucson. If Obama were at all honest in his desire to lower the partisanship he would have publicly condemned that but he didn’t. What a bunch of reprobates.
I agree with Truthseeker on Obamas speech.
Mary,
I hope you know I wasn’t for a minute suggesting this crime was committed on Pelosi’s behalf. I was just wondering why there wasn’t a crackpot theory blaming the Left, as there is for “Right Wing rhetoric”
All the true blame goes to Loughner.
The Tea Party Express was also wrong when they used the Democrats baseless attacks as fundraising fodder. Unlike the left they were not spreading perjurous statements; but it is still not right to use this event in any way for politcal gain. Unlike the left, many conservatives hold some things more in greater regard then loyalty to their party. Thats why Democrats make such good gang-bangers.