Politics and religion.

[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!

[blue]

Michelle Malkin

Lead Story
Blame Righty: A condensed history
By Michelle Malkin • January 14, 2011 08:54 AM


Image via Zazzle

On Monday, as the progressive smear machine worked overtime to pin the horrific Tucson massacre on conservatives and to squelch political opposition by targeting Tea Party/limited-government rhetoric, I published “The progressive “climate of hate:” An illustrated primer, 2000-2010.”

Today’s column provides another primer for the amnesia-wracked blamestream media on just how widespread the Blame Righty meme has been over the past two years. Regular readers of this blog are well aware of this expanding litany outlined below. You are also well aware of the cunning ability of the Left to hinder exposure of this sordid history by accusing its chroniclers and whistle-blowers of “playing the victim.” Sarah Palin is the most prominent conservative to encounter this tactic, but she is by no means the first conservative public figure to experience it. Kabuki outrage over her use of the term “blood libel” is an intended distraction from the history outlined below that undergirds her message. The political speech suppressors have honed their craft long and well.

The solution isn’t to “tone it down” and turn the other cheek, but to confront them forcefully with the facts — and to fight back unapologetically against insidious efforts to diminish the law-abiding, constitutionally-protected, peaceful, vigorous political speech and activism of the Right in the name of repressive “civility.”

***

Blame Righty: A condensed history
by Michelle Malkin
Creators Syndicate
Copyright 2010

I agree with President Obama. When it comes to politicizing random violence, he and his supporters have been “far too eager to lay the blame for all that ails the world at the feet of those who think differently than” they do. Recognition is the first step toward reconciliation. It’s time to recognize the poisonous pervasiveness of the Blame Righty meme.

For the past two years, Democrat officials, liberal activists, and journalists have jumped to libelous conclusions about individual shooting sprees committed by mentally unstable loners with incoherent delusions all over the ideological map. The White House now pledges to swear off “pointing fingers or assigning blame.” Alas, the Obama administration’s political and media foot soldiers have proven themselves incapable of such restraint.



In April 2009, a disgruntled, unemployed loser shot and killed three Pittsburgh police officers in a horrifying bloodbath. The gunman, Richard Poplawski, was a dropout from the Marines who threw a food tray at a drill instructor and had beaten his girlfriend. Was this deranged shooter who pulled the trigger to blame? Nope. Despite evidence that Poplawski’s homicidal, racist tendencies manifested themselves years before Obama took office, lefty publications asserted that the real culprits of the spree were the “heated, apocalyptic rhetoric of the anti-Obama forces” (according to mainstream liberal Atlantic Monthly pundit Andrew Sullivan), along with Fox News and Glenn Beck (according to mainstream liberal journalist Steve Benen of the Washington Monthly online).



That same month, a sick, evil man named Jiverly Voong ambushed an immigration center in Binghamton, New York. Recently fired from his job, Voong murdered 13 people, critically wounded four others, and then committed suicide. The instant psychologists of the Left knew nothing about the disgruntled man of Vietnamese descent of undetermined political affiliation. But within hours of the shooting, liberal mega-website Huffington Post commenters had overwhelmingly convicted GOP Rep. Michele Bachmann of Minnesota, the National Rifle Association, Fox News, Lou Dobbs, and yours truly. Liberal radio host Alan Colmes pointed his finger at the “huge anti–immigrant backlash in this country” – never mind that tens of millions of legal immigrants and naturalized citizens have coped with hardship, overcome racism, and embraced assimilation without going bloody bonkers.



In June 2009, a depraved, elderly anti-Semite named James von Brunn gunned down a security guard at the Holocaust Museum in D.C. Washington Post blogger Greg Sargent and lefty Center for American Progress think-tank fellow Matthew Yglesias immediately invoked the Obama administration’s report on right-wing extremism, leading to a wider chorus of condemnations against the Tea Party, talk radio, and the entire GOP. The truth? Von Brunn was an unstable, equal-opportunity hater and 9/11 Truther conspiracy loon who bashed Jews and Christians, George W. Bush and Fox News, and had also threatened the conservative Weekly Standard magazine.



In late August 2009, as lawmakers faced citizen revolts at health care town halls nationwide, the Colorado Democratic Party decried a window-smashing vandalism attack at its Denver headquarters. The state party chair, Pat Waak, singled out Tea Party activists and blamed “people opposed to health care” for the attack. The perpetrator, Maurice Schwenkler, turned out to be a far Left transgender activist/single-payer anarchist who had worked for a labor union-tied political committee and canvassed for a Democrat candidate.



In September 2009, Bill Sparkman, a federal U.S. Census worker, was found dead in a secluded rural Kentucky cemetery with the word “Fed” scrawled on his chest with a rope around his neck. The Atlantic Monthly’s Andrew Sullivan rushed to indict “Southern populist terrorism, whipped up by the GOP and its Fox and talk radio cohorts” in an online magazine post titled “No Suicide,” which decried the “Kentucky lynching.” Liberal author Richard Benjamin blamed “anti-government” bile. New York magazine fingered conservative talk radio giant Rush Limbaugh, “conservative media personalities, websites, and even members of Congress.” So, who killed Bill Sparkman? Bill Sparkman. He killed himself and deliberately manufactured a hate crime hoax as part of an insurance scam to benefit his surviving son.





In February 2010, ticking time-bomb professor Amy Bishop gunned down three of her colleagues at University of Alabama-Huntsville and suicide pilot Joseph Andrew Stack flew a stolen small plane into an Austin, Texas, office complex that contained an Internal Revenue Service office. Mainstream journalists from Washington Post columnist Jonathan Capehart to Time magazine reporter Hilary Hylton leaped forward to tie the crimes to Tea Party rhetoric. Never mind that Bishop was an Obama-worshiping academic with a lifelong history of violence or that Stack was another Bush-hater outraged about everything from George W. Bush to the American medical system to the evils of capitalism to the city of Austin, the Catholic Church, and airlines.



In May 2010, liberal New York City mayor Michael Bloomberg tried to preemptively pin the Times Square bombing attempt on “someone with a political agenda that doesn’t like the health care bill or something.” The culprit was unrepentant Muslim jihadist Faisal Shahzad.



In August 2010, Democrat supporters of Missouri Rep. Russ Carnahan blamed a “firebombing” at the congressman’s St. Louis office on Tea Party suspects. The real perpetrator? Disgruntled progressive activist Chris Powers, enraged over a paycheck dispute.

President Obama wisely counseled the nation this week at the Tucson massacre memorial that “Bad things happen, and we must guard against simple explanations in the aftermath.” But as the progressive Left’s smear-stained recent history shows, criminalizing conservatism is a hard habit to break.

...

[Grace]

From the Arizona Republic

Doctors performed a procedure Saturday morning that helps protect U.S. Rep. Gabrielle Giffords' airway but frees her from a ventilator that she's been on since being wounded in a shooting a week ago.

Doctors removed a breathing tube from the 40-year-old Arizona congresswoman and replaced it with a tracheotomy tube in her windpipe, according to an update from University Medical Center.

Giffords has been breathing on her own for several days, but doctors kept the breathing tube in place as a precaution, Dr. Peter Rhee, University Medical Center's chief of trauma, said Friday.

Surgeons also inserted a feeding tube to provide nutrition to the wounded congresswoman.

Both procedures are not uncommon among brain-injured patients in the intensive-care unit, according to the report. Giffords is still listed in critical condition.

Another shooting victim, James Tucker, was discharged Saturday, leaving only Giffords and two other victims of the Jan. 8 rampage as patients at the medical center.

Susan Hileman and George Morris remained in the hospital Saturday. Both were listed in good condition.

A week after Giffords was shot in the head at point-blank range in a rampage that left six dead and 13 wounded, she continued to improve significantly and is able to track with her eyes and has the ability to move her arms and legs, doctors reported Friday.

Wednesday marked the first time that Giffords opened her eyes spontaneously. On Thursday, she began a physical-therapy routine after showing doctors she could lift both arms and legs when held upright by medical staff.

Read more: http://www.azcentral.com/news/articl...#ixzz1B8tQyFnN

Slow, steady progress for all of the victims.

[blue]

Slow, steady progress for all of the victims.

All of the victims?

[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.

[Bonny]

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.

Mentally Ill Is What It Is All About. Jared needed the help & didn't get it. Everyone that knew Jared saw it coming & did NOTHING.

Is that where the Bill of Rights Comes in?

[lizbud]

Is that where the Bill of Rights Comes in?

Could you please explain what you mean with this statement?


He was a regular poster to several online sites where a lot of people
were confused by his online ramblings & rants. They suspected he was "off" but what could they have done about it, but avoid him?

http://www.cnn.com/2011/CRIME/01/14/....html?hpt=Sbin

[Bonny]

Could you please explain what you mean with this statement?


He was a regular poster to several online sites where a lot of people
were confused by his online ramblings & rants. They suspected he was "off" but what could they have done about it, but avoid him?

http://www.cnn.com/2011/CRIME/01/14/....html?hpt=Sbin

Am talking about family, friends, people that knew him that saw this big change in him. What about the school that said he needed mental help? No one helped him. He surely was no longer able to help himself.

Jared had the right to carry a gun but he abused that right. Jared had all the Freedoms the Bill of Rights allows all of us to have & he abused them because he IS mentally ill. Everyone else is getting political so why not add the Bill of Rights if you want to pin it down to something really political.

[blue]

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."

I havent "made up" anything. I also havent made up my mind based on what the MSM wants me to believe.

The Lefts Decade of Hate. Link.