Politics and religion.

[Grace]

She opened her eyes!!

When Giffords opened her eyes the first time, her husband and the doctor in the room reacted with shock. Giffords' husband, Mark Kelly, asked Giffords if she could give a thumbs up. She didn't at first. But after a few minutes, she was able to reach toward him. "Her whole arm went up in the air," Wasserman Schultz said. "She started touching his wedding ring." By the time Giffords opened her eyes for a fifth time, she was able to keep them open for more than 30 seconds, Wasserman Schultz said. The group was in the room 10 to 15 minutes.

link

I read that she also reached up and scratched her nose. Now, that might not mean much to most of you, but to medical personnel this is fantastic coming from a patient with a GSW to the head. It is purposeful movement.

I think the next really big test will be - can she talk.

[cassiesmom]

I heard on the news that she was responding to two part commands last night: "If you can hear me, give me a thumbs up." Which really has several parts- I have to hear you, figure out what you asked me to do, and then make the appropriate response to what you asked. And they're starting to wean her from the sedation, which is good.

Where did the bullet enter her brain? I've heard that it went in over her left eye, but I've also heard it went in by her left ear and exited over her left eye (i.e., the shooter was behind her). Has the shooter given any indication why he did it?

There were some pictures of the Green family at the little girl's funeral on the news last night too. How very sad. She barely got a chance to live her life.

[cassiesmom]

Gov. Quinn signed an increase in the state income tax (up to 5% individuals and 7% corporations) yesterday.

Today on the noon news ex-Gov. Blagojevich was quoted as saying he thinks the legislators were cowards for waiting until after the Nov. election to implement a tax increase, and if he were still governor he would review the state budget and make program cuts before raising taxes. ... Dude! You and your hyperinflated state budget are the reason Illinois got into this financial disaster in the first place!! Blago is s uch a poseur.

[Grace]

I heard on the news that she was responding to two part commands last night: "If you can hear me, give me a thumbs up." Which really has several parts- I have to hear you, figure out what you asked me to do, and then make the appropriate response to what you asked. And they're starting to wean her from the sedation, which is good.

Where did the bullet enter her brain? I've heard that it went in over her left eye, but I've also heard it went in by her left ear and exited over her left eye (i.e., the shooter was behind her). Has the shooter given any indication why he did it?

There were some pictures of the Green family at the little girl's funeral on the news last night too. How very sad. She barely got a chance to live her life.

The bullet went in over the left eye, and came out above the left ear. So her speech and right side movement might be affected, Initially it was said the bullet went from back to front - they have since changed that.

According to an article I read today, she is not moving her right hand nearly as well as the left one. Until she is extubated no one will know about her speech. The fact that she can follow commands, and initiate spontaneous movement - scratching her nose - is all very good news. She can understand what people are saying, and can process the words.

Senator Gillibrand spoke with Brian Williams yesterday.

"Mark was telling us just a couple days ago how he was telling the doctors, she will be walking in a few weeks, you'll see."

[Grace]

There are only 4 still in the hospital.

Here is an article about all those injured by gunfire.

[Karen]

Has the shooter given any indication why he did it?

The shooter is mentally ill, and it is likely even if he gives a "reason" it will not make sense to anyone but himself anyway. His YouTube posts are full of nonsensical statements and self-contradicting ones, so I doubt we will ever get a "reason why" that makes sense to anyone but himself.

[blue]

Ive cant say that Ive been happier to be wrong, but I am happy to be wrong. The A$$hat AZ shooter was not a Rooftop voter but a complete and total left leaning loon.

[Grace]

This is a wonderful article from the NT Times - From Bloody Scene to E.R., Life-Saving Choices in Tucson. It may not be for everyone to read - those who faint at the sight of blood, for instance - but as a former ER nurse, I found it fascinating.

It's also in the NY Times, and apparently some have problems getting onto that particular site. If you can't get on, and are interested, PM me your email address, and I will have them send you the link.

(Thinking of the other nurses who post here.)

[lizbud]

Does this sound like anyone you know? They are always the victim.

I guess, in this case, words do have very real consequences.


http://www.theindychannel.com/news/26499171/detail.html

[Grace]

Does this sound like anyone you know? They are always the victim.

Absolutely!

[SinbadsMom]

Ive cant say that Ive been happier to be wrong, but I am happy to be wrong. The A$$hat AZ shooter was not a Rooftop voter but a complete and total left leaning loon.

He's mentally ill, but not "left leaning." Neither his infamous books list (which includes Libertarian/Tea Party idol Ayn Rand and is all over the ideological map) nor his weird rants suggest that he's either left or right, and while some themes he hit on again and again in his rants (the anti-government, gold-standard themes) would sound rightwing to most (they're definitely not leftwing themes), some of the links below show those rants plus his obsession with grammar point more toward influence by an ideology that some would call far-right but others would say is so extreme it's outside the standard political spectrum.

http://www.salon.com/books/laura_mil...ist/index.html

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/01/10/us...agewanted=2&hp

http://motherjones.com/politics/2011...d-lee-loughner

http://blogs.forbes.com/janetnovack/...tizen-beliefs/

This is the Wikipedia article on the extremist whose ideas on grammar and government mind control Loughner seemed to be parroting. It says there that Miller is appalled by Loughner's actions and doesn't think his work inspired the shootings, but he does admit he thinks Loughner had been on his website:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/David_Wynn_Miller


My thoughts and prayers are with Loughner's victims, their families and friends, their community, and our entire nation.

And I do think we need to tone down the political rhetoric in this country, especially the more violent talk. Whatever the political leanings of an unstable individual, constant talk of violence -- and especially self-righteous justifications of violence or suggestions that there's anything heroic about violence -- do make it more likely that unstable individuals will become violent. The over-the-top rhetoric can make people sound foolish, too, to everyone whose views don't exactly mesh with theirs. We need more open-mindedness and less ideology. More listening and less rhetoric.

And I'd hope pet lovers would understand this. After all, we know what constant exposure to displays of violence, threats of violence, verbal intimidation and so on can do to pets. They affect people as well.

[RICHARD]

YEars ago I was on a jury and the case involved a guy who wasn't left, right, middle or independent.

He was an effing loon, who lived w/his parents.

Both parents had problems with this idiot and the reason the case went to court was that the dad took a gun away from the son-barely adult- put it into the trunk of a car, then took the keys to the trunk of the car and put them BACK ON THE HOOK IN THE KICHEN.

The son took the keys from the hook, took out the gun and threatened the parents.

-------------------

The parents called the cops and the son was arrested, The Rub?

If we came back with a 'guilty', there would have been incarceration and a mental eval.

The parents wanted him to go to jail to get help, because as an adult, he had to choice of getting help or not.

The case was based on his threatening the parents, the defense was all about the parents using reasonable care in securing the gun.

--------------

Because I am not a parent, my opinions isn't worth shiat, so...


Many of these things happen because parents will not or cannot get involved with their kids and their lives.

Especially when they live at home and have an inkling about who they are and how they are acting in and out of the house.


NOT blaming the parents, but have to wonder how much they did know and how they approached the subject.

Eight days after the shooting we STILL ARE TRYING TO BLAME SOMEONE OR SOMETHING for the event.


Stop.

Instead of looking into the mirror, we still point fingers at everyone bur ourselves. I do not mean each of us personally, but the morons who take the lead and start spewing blame and stirring up the crap.


Take a listen at any news outlet and instead of moving on to how an idiot can get a gun and massacre people?

We sit on our couches and try to figure out if it's a pill popping radio host, an moronic, sophmoric knucklehead that wishes us "good luck' at the end of his program, or the pot head on HBO that uses bad humor as 'real opinion'.


Here's the deal.

Bad shiat happens and when we cannot get over blaming each other WHY it happens, it will go on and on.


Nothing will change, sadly, this will happen again and we will all stop for a second and start fingerpointing all over again.


Guns do not kill people, bullets do.
Unless you are unfortunate enough to get pistolwhipped about the skull..

[blue]

His book list included Lefty favorites like Animal Farm, Mein Kampf, and The Communist Manifesto. He was also a heavy pot smoker, a liberal past time. He also acted out what many lefties had published over the last decade, a violent outburst.

Hence he is a left leaning loon.

He's mentally ill, but not "left leaning." Neither his infamous books list (which includes Libertarian/Tea Party idol Ayn Rand and is all over the ideological map) nor his weird rants suggest that he's either left or right, and while some themes he hit on again and again in his rants (the anti-government, gold-standard themes) would sound rightwing to most (they're definitely not leftwing themes), some of the links below show those rants plus his obsession with grammar point more toward influence by an ideology that some would call far-right but others would say is so extreme it's outside the standard political spectrum.

http://www.salon.com/books/laura_mil...ist/index.html

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/01/10/us...agewanted=2&hp

http://motherjones.com/politics/2011...d-lee-loughner

http://blogs.forbes.com/janetnovack/...tizen-beliefs/

This is the Wikipedia article on the extremist whose ideas on grammar and government mind control Loughner seemed to be parroting. It says there that Miller is appalled by Loughner's actions and doesn't think his work inspired the shootings, but he does admit he thinks Loughner had been on his website:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/David_Wynn_Miller


My thoughts and prayers are with Loughner's victims, their families and friends, their community, and our entire nation.

And I do think we need to tone down the political rhetoric in this country, especially the more violent talk. Whatever the political leanings of an unstable individual, constant talk of violence -- and especially self-righteous justifications of violence or suggestions that there's anything heroic about violence -- do make it more likely that unstable individuals will become violent. The over-the-top rhetoric can make people sound foolish, too, to everyone whose views don't exactly mesh with theirs. We need more open-mindedness and less ideology. More listening and less rhetoric.

And I'd hope pet lovers would understand this. After all, we know what constant exposure to displays of violence, threats of violence, verbal intimidation and so on can do to pets. They affect people as well.

[SinbadsMom]

Sigh. Your mind is already made up, and I wouldn't even know where to start debating with anyone who thinks Mein Kampf is a "lefty favorite."

Anyway, the links are there for people who are more interested in additional information.

The NY Times published a detailed look at what's known about Loughner in a long article the other day:

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/01/16/us/16loughner.html

Again, this is someone who

is mentally ill;

has abused both alcohol and drugs (according to his friends he'd given up drugs years ago but continued to drink, and in fact he told the cab driver the day of the shooting that he drank too much);

is obsessed with guns, to the point of getting tattoos of bullets;

has felt rejected by his father, his schools, and the US military;

and has been caught up for years in weird anti-government rhetoric and conspiracy theories, especially ideas associated with fringe groups that are sometimes described as off the political spectrum and sometimes described as far right.

This is what we know about him. It's tragic that he didn't get psychiatric help, and that he had access to guns.