Fox News trots one out of the ball park

MoonHowler

Responding to Limbaugh’s criticism of Fox, Krauthammer retored, “As one of the three slobberers… I find it interesting that only the ruling class wants a president who is smart articulate and oratorical in delivering a funeral oration… It’s an odd and rather condescending view of what the rest of America is looking for in their president.

It looks like the Fox News Panel trots one out of the ball park for a change. Good for Krauthammer!  Good self deprecating humor!

(Thanks to Juturna for bringing this gem to my attention.)

The State of the County, complete with Gettysburg address

MoonHowler

Chairman Corey A. Stewart

State of the County Address

January 11, 2011

 

They met here, in Prince William County, on July 21, 1861, to engage in battle.  It was supposed to be a quick battlefield victory for the Union and bring about an early end to the civil war.

 But Union forces were routed in this first major battle of the war.  The North was shocked.  There was little celebration in the South, however, as both sides realized the war would be longer and more brutal than they had imagined. 

 This year, we will commemorate that battle.  We will give thanks that the war ended the scourge of slavery and preserved our nation.  The war was not so long ago.  We may meet living children of those who fought.  And perhaps, most importantly, we will come to understand our own place in history. 

 When you elected this board in 2007, the county—and the nation—was entering the longest and deepest economic downturn since the end of World War II.  The housing market had gone from boom to bust, and county tax revenues were plummeting. 

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Karen Hughes on Rhetoric

MoonHowler

Washington Post

By Karen Hughes

 

Friday, January 14, 2011; 8:00 PM

   We can’t blame our rhetoric for the Tucson shootings. But we can try to fix it.

When I traveled the world representing the United States during the George W. Bush administration, I was often confronted by people who wanted to blame the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, on American foreign policy.

U.S. support for Israel, along with the suffering of the Palestinian people, they told me, had spawned the resentment and anger that resulted in the attacks on our country.

No, I always answered, you cannot blame the murder of innocent people on any grievance, no matter how legitimate. The only organization and people responsible for Sept. 11 are al-Qaeda and the 19 hijackers who carried out its murderous mission.

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“After the shootings, Obama reminds the nation of the golden rule”

Elena

John McCain, once again, demonatrates why I liked him.  Having met him, having done his make-up for CNN and MSNBC,  having witnessed his kindness to his staff ( a must in my mind to demonstrate true character), and his kindness to a “common” make up artist,  I feel like he has earned my respect again.   

From an op-ed in the Washington Post:

President Obama gave a terrific speech Wednesday night. He movingly mourned and honored the victims of Saturday’s senseless atrocity outside Tucson, comforted and inspired the country, and encouraged those of us who have the privilege of serving America. He encouraged every American who participates in our political debates – whether we are on the left or right or in the media – to aspire to a more generous appreciation of one another and a more modest one of ourselves.

I believe, what Moonhowler and I have been trying to convey, is that although we cannot and should not assess blame, we can look inward and wonder, how our words, and how are actions, can be better, can rise above the anger.

I disagree with many of the president’s policies, but I believe he is a patriot sincerely intent on using his time in office to advance our country’s cause. I reject accusations that his policies and beliefs make him unworthy to lead America or opposed to its founding ideals. And I reject accusations that Americans who vigorously oppose his policies are less intelligent, compassionate or just than those who support them.

He goes onto say being respectful is a goal, not always an achievable one, but one we can, and should strive for.

The suggestion that disagreement cannot our should not be spirited is not realistic, nor does John McCain imply that is our end goal, but I believe when we call for civility, we can still call for vigorous factual debates, without suggesting your “opponent is the devil incarnate”, “a traitor”, or any other pejorative !

Wasting human resources and time

MoonHowler

The Virginia legislature which started up its short session today, will deal with more issues involving illegal immigration.  This time, several legislators are targetting the children of illegal immigrants.  While these kids were often brought to the United States as infants or young kids, and many went through American schools k-12. 

Had the Dream Act passed, the legislature would not be wasting its time on this question.

From insidenova.com:

Del. Christopher Peace’s bill would amend state law to explicitly prohibit people who are in the United States illegally from being admitted to Virginia’s public two-year or four-year institutions.

Several previous attempts to pass similar legislation in Virginia haven’t succeeded.

Federal law prohibits such people from paying in-state tuition at colleges and universities, but they can still pursue a public college education. Virginia’s public universities currently have the discretion to decide whether to admit illegal aliens as long as they charge out-of-state tuition.

South Carolina bars undocumented students from enrolling in public colleges, as have some Georgia institutions, and Alabama’s two-year colleges.

I seriously doubt that this bill makes it through to the finish line.   Too many people understand that these are extremely good students who will one day add to our work force.  Why not reward kids who do the right thing?

AZ Legislature Passes Emergency Bill Barring Funeral Protests

MoonHowler

The Arizona Legislature passed an  emergency bill that would bar funeral protests.  Westboro baptist church (no caps intentional) intends to protest the funeral of 9 year old Christina Taylor Green, for whatever reason.  Governor Jan Brewer is expected to sign the bill this evening and it would go into effect immediately.  The new law would prohibit protesting at or near funerals in Arizona. 

According to Politics Daily:

On Monday, members of the anti-gay Westboro Baptist Church said they plan to protest outside the funeral of Christina Taylor Green, one of six people killed in the shootings that wounded another 14 people, including Rep. Gabrielle Giffords (D-Ariz.).

Westboro Baptist, a small church in Topeka, pickets at funerals of military veterans and people who have died of AIDS because its members say their deaths are God’s punishment for America’s tolerance of homosexuality. Salon reported that a flier posted by the church on its website regarding the Tucson protest declared “God hates Catholics” — the little girl’s family is Catholic — and “God Hates Fags.” The church website also features a video with founder/pastor Fred Phelps thanking God for the deadly shootings.

Numerous states have passed laws restricting protests at funerals after members of the Westboro church began demonstrating at the funerals of soldiers killed in Iraq and Afghanistan.

The Arizona legislation is modeled on an Ohio law that was upheld by the 6th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, said Sen. Kyrsten Sinema, a Phoenix Democrat.

“This is just horrific that … people have to deal with this. We shouldn’t have to do this in time of great pain for our state,” Sinema told the Post.

Under the bill, picketing or protesting within 300 feet of a funeral service is a misdemeanor punishable by up to six months in jail.

Shirley Phelps-Roper of the Westboro church said church members will get around the ban by protesting at intersections that are farther than 300 feet from the services.

But some in area are planning a counter-action to protect the grieving family.

Tonight I will dream of watching those people getting  hauled away and dragged across the pavement.  Sshhhhhhhhh don’t tell Ken Cuccinelli.  He wouldn’t like us inhibiting free speech, even if someone is  yelling fire in a crowded theater.

Westboro Baptist appears to be ever bit as mentally ill as the shooter.  They represent pure evil.  Perhaps finally we can all agree on what hate rhetoric really is. 

Lock and Load Rhetoric

MoonHowler

From the Huffington Post:

Marty Kaplan

The Lock and Load Rhetoric of American Politics Isn’t Just a Metaphor

I’m not saying that putting a bullseye[sic] * on Arizona Democrat Rep. Gabrielle Giffords’ congressional race – as Sarah Palin did – was an explicit or intentional invitation to violence. Nor am I saying that the “Get on Target for Victory” events held by the guy Giffords beat – “Help remove Gabrielle Giffords from office Shoot a fully automatic M16 with Jesse Kelly” – was the reason her assassin went after her. This tragedy is still unfolding, and the questions of motive and incitement will be argued about for a long time to come.

But I am saying that the “lock and load”/”take up your arms”rhetoric of American politics isn’t just an overheated metaphor. For years, the language of sports has dominated political journalism, and discourse about hardball and the horserace and the rest of the macho athletic lexicon has been a factor in the trivialization of our public sphere. This has helped dumb down democracy, making a serious national discussion about anything important too wonky for words.

The “second amendment solution,” though, does something worse than make politics a branch of entertainment. It makes it a blood sport. I know politics ain’t beanbag. But words have consequences, rhetoric shapes reality, and much as we like to believe that we are creatures of reason, there is something about our species’ limbic system and lizard brainstems that makes us susceptible to irrational fantasies.

If you’re worried that violent video games may make kids prone to bad behavior; if you think that misogynic and homophobic rap lyrics are dangerous to society; if you believe that a nipple in a Superbowl halftime show is a threat to our moral fabric – then surely you should also fear that the way public and media figures have framed political participation with shooting gallery imagery is just as potentially lethal.

I believe Marty Kaplan just said it all.   You don’t have to go to a national level to feel the sting of exactly what he was talking about.  And it doesn’t all have to do with fire arms metaphors.  The entire bullying tones of politics is felt.  Private citizens are made fun of  just for expressing their opinions.  We all know what I am talking about. 

 I don’t believe any one thing triggered Jarod to go on a rampage.  I will leave that to the experts.  He was obviously psychotic.  However, the vitriolic attacks I have heard for the past 48 hours on Sheriff Dupnik have been shocking.  I have heard major unnamed networks call for his removal and he has been castigated as though he spat on the pearly gates.  What happened to those ideas of Americana like free speech and democratically elected officers?  Dupnik lives in the region and knows a lot more about the pulse and tone of his area than any of us. 

 

*  the graphic on the map targetting Rep. Giffords was a rifle scope, not a bull’s eye.

Post Tucson–Where do we go from here?

MoonHowler

Who is Jarod Loughner? That seems to be the question everyone is fighting over. What were his links to politics? Anytime a congresswoman and a judge are shot, the shooting is automatically political–whatever that means.

From all descriptions, Jarod Loughner is seriously mentally ill. Even if he is political, he seems in too much of a fugue state to even have an ideology.

 Where do we, as a nation, go from here?  This horrific situation seems so like the massacre at VA Tech in so many ways.  Specifically, a person demonstrating psychotic, erratic behavior is noticed by professors to the point they refuse to teach the students  (Dr. Gioninni at Tech and Ben McGahee at Pima Community).  The students are removed from the class.   At Pima, Jarod was suspended from college until he had a psychological evaluation declaring him not a danger to himself or others.  In both cases, we have bizarre behavior that makes students and faculty every uneasy and very afraid.

So nothing is done.  Both students meltdown and both go on a rampage, killing and wounding multiple people. 

Why must we allow those who are obviously seriously mentally ill to go untreated?  What must happen in order to put people away BEFORE they harm others?  We need to reassess how we deal with people who display extremely erratic behavior.  We cannot allow these rampages to continue. 

Saturday’s events will change how some things happen in America. We will use expressions like ‘post Tucson’ to indicate how things have changed since this tragic event.  Hopefully America will focus on providing a safety net for when people get dangerously mentally ill.  Now is not the time to make cuts in mental health care.  Our very lives depend on it.

UPDATE:

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Dick Winters Dies: Band of Brothers Inspiration

MoonHowler

 

Richmond Times Dispatch:

Richard “Dick” Winters, the Easy Company commander whose World War II exploits were made famous by the book and television miniseries “Band of Brothers,” died last week in central Pennsylvania. He was 92.

Winters was a humble man and very respected by the men under his command.  He asked that his death not be announced until after his funeral.  He lived in Hershey, PA. 

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A Mecca for Prejudice and Bigotry?

MoonHowler

Pima County sheriff Clarence Dupnik has come under fire for referring  to his state, Arizona, as a ‘mecca for prejudice and bigotry.’   Those are harsh words, but is the sheriff just calling it as he sees it?

 

The longer version (7 minutes) where Sheriff Dupnik talks about his thoughts.  He does not call out a specific group or person here either.  He just talks about the history of threats against Gabby Giffords and also about the level  of anger in the rhetoric in this country.

 

 

It is important to note that Sheriff Dupnik called no individual or group by name.  Perhaps those who follow the sheriff’s politics know to whom he is referring.  I do not.  Is Arizona a mecca for bigotry?  If yes, what has made it that way?  Is it just about immigration or do other political issues come in to play?  Congresswoman Giffords was a strong supporter of increased border security. 

Moonhowlings featured a post on Sheriff Clarence Dupnik  last spring.  He felt it was stupid to throw illegal immigrants in jail at tax payer expensive when he could just turn them over to the border control.  At the time, it was also determined that the mayor of Tucson also opposed the new Arizona legislation, SB 1070.   He turned thousands of undocumented immigrants over to the border control. 

As we return to the question, is Arizona a mecca of intolerance?  Does the political climate in Arizona make this state more vulnerable to shootings and assassinations?  Does the drug violence have any play in this discussion?

 

Post-Shooting Reflections

MoonHowler

Yesterday became one of those days that Americans dread.  Something inside someone, some stranger, goes terribly out of wack and the end result is rampage and carnage and death.  Such was the case yesterday where Congresswoman Gabby Giffords met with constituents at a Safeway in Tucson, right there in her district.  By 10 am Arizona time, 6 people lay dead and the congresswoman was fighting for her life along with 6 other people.  One of the dead was a federal judge.  A 9 year old child was shot in the chest at point blank range.

It is all too easy to start analyzing and blaming.  Human nature kicks in real quickly when events like this happen.  All of us start trying to make sense out of something so tragically senseless. 

According to moonhowlings poster Ken Anderson: 

On the web, the TV, everywhere the political characters are playing the same game. Left wing jumps to connect this to GOP/TEA political tactics of the last 2 years. GOP/TEA jumps to cover their butts. Nobody knows the guy’s motivations, but that doesn’t matter. Everything is just another opportunity to take a shot at the “enemies” on the other side of the aisle.

Six people have lost their lives. Could we wait a day at least before we start to calculate the political fallout?

I think Ken Anderson is right.  Let’s not start pointing fingers and casting blame on anyone other than the shooter.  From all indications, the shooter was a seriously emotional disturbed individual and not part of any political movement.  That fact, however, does not remove us from any responsibility as far as what we say and how we say it.  Casting aspersions on our political opponents, Giffords’ opponents, or those we feel have made threats in the past simply proves nothing and is unproductive, especially on a blog. 

Perhaps this is should be a time where we come together to try to resolve our differences rather than create an even wider chasm.  It appears that is exactly what our elected officials in Congress are doing.  All voting has been suspended for next week.   Hopefully some peace and understanding will emerge from this tragedy.

Our congress men and women should be able to move about freely in a free society.  When they are unable to do this, perhaps we are no longer a democracy. 

Congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords Shot In Arizona

MoonHowler

by NPR Staff, National Public Radio

January 8, 2011

 

U.S. Rep. Gabrielle Giffords of Arizona was shot outside a grocery store in Tucson while holding a public event, Arizona Public Media reported Saturday.

Giffords, who was re-elected to her third term in November, was hosting her first “Congress on Your Corner” event at the Safeway in northwest Tucson when a gunman ran up and started shooting, according to Peter Michaels, news director of Arizona Public Media.

At least five other people, including members of her staff, were hurt. Giffords was transported to University Medical Center in Tucson. Her condition was not immediately known.

Giffords was talking to a couple when the man ran up firing indiscriminately, and then ran off, Michaels said. According to other witnesses, the was tackled by a bystander and taken into custody.

Fox News reported that she was shot at point blank range in the head by a gunman who was firing indiscriminately. 

According to Wikipedia:

She is the only member of the U.S. Congress whose spouse, astronaut Mark E. Kelly, is an active duty member of the U.S. military.

Giffords is known as a strong proponent of solar energy as well as for her work to secure the border with Mexico

 

This is the third time she has met at this type of community event in Tucson.  She is 40 years old.     11 others, including local staff members, were also shot.  Our thoughts and prayers are with Rep. Giffords.

Fox News is reporting that there are multiple fatalities and that the congressman has died.  They are trying to get official confirmation.

The above information was incorrect.  Gabrielle Giffords  is out of surgery.  She is alive, in critical condition, but the doctor who just spoke said he was optomistic about her recovery.