Rep. Giffords is someone for whom I have a great deal of respect not only for some of her positions, but for the way she works to truly be a representative of the people. She is one of those rare politicians for whom the letter after her name is not the primary signifier. Recently, she was speaking about a bill she has put forth in the House recommending that the members take a 5% pay cut, and - get this - "lead by example." Wow. What a concept. Here she is discussing her plan:
Rep. Giffords was also instrumental in pushing Obama to provide more troops for the Arizona border, a much needed move (though more needs to be done). She is embraced by those on both sides of the aisle for the way she conducts herself, and the way she conducts the work of the people whom she serves.
Giffords is an amazing woman. That some psycho felt compelled to attempt to silence her voice is reprehensible, to put it mildly. I hope, and pray, for her speedy recovery. I pray for strength for her husband, NASA Astronaut, Mark Kelly, as he provides support and comfort to his wife during this difficult time.
To those families who lost loved ones this day, my heart goes out to them all. It is just a shock beyond imagining that such an event, going to meet their representative in a grocery store parking lot, could end in such tragedy. To the family of Federal District Judge John Roll, my deepest sympathy for this senseless loss.
All of their names are not yet known, but to the family of the 9 year old girl, my heart goes out to you, as well as to the others whose lives were lost this day.
My prayers go out to all of those who were wounded, and who are fighting for their lives. This tragedy should never have happened, not in this country, the impact of which is captured in this statement:
[snip] "An attack on one who serves is an attack on all who serve," said House Speaker John Boehner (R-Ohio) in a statement. "Acts and threats of violence against public officials have no place in our society....This is a sad day for our country." [snip] (Click HERE to read the rest.)
Amen to that.
Again, my thoughts and prayers are with Rep. Giffords as she fights to survive this senseless shooting, and to all those, including three members of her staff, who were shot.
And to those who lost their loved ones, I cannot imagine how impossible this must be for you now. Please know that we are with you, we stand by you, we pray for you, and our thoughts are with you all...
6 comments:
How horrible is it that -- and I say this with no small amount of trepidation -- that I was sort of expecting violence against women in office to start? I thought it would be a couple others, though. But I was expecting it eventually.
I don't like it when people take horrible tragedies and try to carve them into bricks for their personal ideological fortresses, so I say this with extreme delicacy. But I am not shocked at all that a woman was the one who was ultimately in the crosshairs, even if some of the other people killed were not.
This shit has got to come to a stop now. It's just got to stop.
Again, I seriously do apologize for any tender spots that this touches on. But I cannot pretend that I haven't noticed it.
No need to apologize, janis. It is such a tragic event. That it was directed at such a beloved (female) member of the House is disturbing on so many levels...
I do not get this rush to blame Sarah Palin for this, either. It is just absurd. People are talking abt her map with cross hairs on it, apparently forgetting both the DLC and the DCCC maps that used bulls-eyes, or DailyKos, just two days ago writing that "Rep. Giffords is dead to me." Or even Obama's, "if they bring a knife, we bring a gun..." Bottom line, it is none of those people's fault - it belongs squarely on the shoulders of this young man (whose fave books were "Communist Manifesto" and "Mein Kampf," not exactly high on Palin's list, I wager).
Janis, I hear you - I do. Thanks for the comment...
It's on his shoulders, but I'm not going to play the good girl and act like I haven't noticed that, even if the guy was responsible, the idea of "go git a bitch" didn't just teleport itself into his head apropos of nothing. So he was a loner weirdo. How many newspaper headlines do you see that have said: Loner kills seven women. Loner chains 16 women in his basement. Loner rapes and murders old woman. Loner kidnaps young girl. Loner this, loner that, and one of us is always in the crosshairs.
Okay, he was mentally ill ... but it sure is a funny coincidink that these mentally ill guys all seem to have the same hive mind causing them to -- just at random -- lock, load, and aim at women. How many mentally ill crazies do you knopw of who are sent to jail for life for chaining short people with glasses in their basement and dumping their dismembered bodies in a stewpot?
One might conclude that it's the loner weirdo herd that needs a little thinning. However, not being a loner weirdo myself, I'm not about to go bust into a comic book convention and start blasting away.
If the dice keep coming up snake eyes ALL THE TIME, it's reasonable to conclude that something larger is going on. And the circle jerk orgy of womanhatred that the left indulged in a mere two years ago does seem to have gone to a few people's heads.
Although I don't think any one party has a monopoly on violent language per se (nor on gendered violent language). They all like to talk like they're in an action movie. Assholes. The right wing uses plenty of gun metaphors.
You are sure right that no one party has the monopoly on violent language.
Indeed, women do seem to be the target of choice, don't we? Apparently, this guy meet Giffords before and told a friend she was "stupid." Well, enough said then, right?
I need to vent for a second - at Facebook, my sister was going on and on abt how this is Palin's fault. I made it clear that this guy was a liberal, and listed his books of choice. She said Hitler was far right. I stated that was incorrect and defined what Nazism is: National Socialism. As a result, an old friend claimed I was DEFENDING Hitler.
WTF???
The "logical" leaps these people make in an attempt to blame Palin, excuse this guy's behavior, and to twist the point is just staggering.
Wow.
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