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Jan-08-2011 17:14
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Five Shot in Tucson: Federal Judge Dies, Arizona Rep. Shot
Tim King Salem-News.comKiller is caught; A nine year old girl was shot and killed. Arizona State Rep. Gabrielle Giffords was shot in the head. She survived the shooting and immediately was transported and went into surgery.
 Judge John Roll was killed; Arizona State Rep. Gabrielle Giffords was shot but survived the shooting. |
(TUCSON, Ariz.) - Tragedy erupts in Arizona; a 22-year old man opened fire in Tucson, killing at least five including Judge John Roll. In 2009, he was the subject of an article in Slate about judges whose lives are threatened over controversial decisions.
The deadly shooting happened at a Tucson Safeway supermarket at 7110 N Oracle Road, where a "Congress on Your Corner" event was held shortly after 10:00 a.m. today by Democratic U.S. House Representative Gabrielle Giffords.
Rep. Gabrielle Giffords was struck by a bullet in the head. She survived the shooting and immediately was transported with the others wounded and went into surgery. Rep. Giffords’ district supervisor was among the dead. US Rep. Gabrielle Giffords' husband is veteran astronaut Mark Kelly, who is scheduled to command the planned launch of Endeavour on 1 April, to the International Space Station.
Among the victims, a nine year old girl was shot and killed. She is reported to be the only child who was shot.
Twelve people were taken to a hospital; five are in critical condition and were undergoing surgery at last report. Five others have less severe injuries. The number of people shot dead is reportedly six.
The AP has identified the gunman as Jared Laughner. The suspect was taken into custody the shooting.
A person using his name also located in Tucson’s Eighth Congressional District, posted a video clip with words in simple text that CNBC termed an "rambling Internet manifesto" accusing the government of mind control and demanding a new currency. It concludes with this paragraph:
"In conclusion, my ambition - is for informing literate dreamers about a new currency; in a few days, you know I'm conscience dreaming! Thank you!" (Link here)
Officials say that if this is today's shooter, it seems clear that he had suffer from mental instability. At this point it is too soon to be sure. One of the biggest problems police have, is that they don't necessarily think this man was acting alone.
CBS reports:
Authorities were investigating the possibility that the suspect who killed six people and wounded 13 more outside a Tucson grocery story, including U.S. Rep. Gabrielle Giffords, did not act alone.
Pima County Sheriff Clarence Dupnik said a 22-year-old was in custody after the shooting rampage. He would not identify the suspect, but people familiar with the investigation said he was Jared Loughner.
Officials say he has claimed sole responsibility for the attack, but said authorities were "not convinced he acted alone," Dupnik said.
FOX News has been investigating the shooter's criminal background record, and it isn't much of one. Jared Lee Loughner was arrested one day before his 19th birthday in 2007 arrest for possessing drug paraphernalia and two other minor infractions.
Fox News also learned that Loughner was cited in 2007 for running a stop sign. This happened three months after his drug arrest. Pretty routine stuff.
A more interesting developing aspect, it is being reported that Jared Lee Loughner was a military recruit at the military induction center in Phoenix.
Arizona's Divided Politics
As for Gabrielle Giffords; she is considered a bright spot in a state that has been the scene of intense political division in recent years.
It has not been established whether the shooter Loughner was associated with a rival political faction like the 'Tea Party' movement which clearly stands in opposition to the ideals of a Democrat like Giffords.
Plus, she is Jewish which makes her unique among her peers. The Jewish Women's Archive was quick to bring up anti-Semitism, and they may be on target, considering what the shooter claimed to keep in his library, according to the Facebook page under his name:
From the Jewish Women's Archive:
It may be too early to suggest that the attack was motivated by anti-Semitism, however, Jared Laughner lists "Mein Kampf" as one of his favorite books on his Youtube channel. His videos, full of anti-government zealotry and paranoia, are disturbing.
Other favorite books listed by Loughner include One Flew Over The Cuckoo's Nest, Pulp,Through The Looking Glass, The Communist Manifesto, Siddhartha, The Old Man And The Sea, Gulliver's Travels, (Mein Kampf), The Republic, and Meno. People who rally for the rights of Palestinians and the prison population of Gaza are human activists, not anti-Semitic; however those who favor Mein Kampf, Adolf Hitler's book, likely meet the qualification.
However another point being made in reports that is hard to dispute, is anyone seriously trying to claim that they favor Hitler's book along with The Communist Manifesto, has to have not the slightest idea of what they are talking about, as he favors totally opposing philosophies.
Regarding the heated political aspect, Reuters wrote today:
The motives of the alleged shooter, who wounded Democratic Congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords and killed six people in Tucson, are not known and they may not be political. But politics nevertheless loom large in the wake of the shooting.
The spark in Arizona's political firestorm was the border state's move to crack down on illegal immigration last summer, a bill proposed by conservative lawmakers and signed by Republican Gov. Jan Brewer.
The law known as SB 1070 "superheated the political divide more than I've ever seen it in Arizona," said Bruce Merrill, a longtime political analyst and pollster at Arizona State University.
For her part, it is clear that Congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords was making an effort to connect with voters in Arizona.
This is from the US Representative's Website:“Congress on Your Corner” allows residents of Arizona’s 8th Congressional District to meet their congresswoman one-on-one and discuss with her any issue, concern or problem involving the federal government.
Giffords has hosted numerous “Congress on Your Corner” events since taking office in January 2007.As in the past, the congresswoman’s staff will be available to assist constituents.
Previous “Congress on Your Corner” events in Tucson, Oro Valley, Green Valley, Sierra Vista, and Douglas have attracted between 75 and 150 people. For the media, “Congress on Your Corner” is an excellent opportunity to view the congresswoman interacting with constituents or ask questions about any topic.This Saturday’s “Congress Your Corner” comes at the conclusion of the first week of the 112th Congress. Giffords took the oath of office for a third term on Wednesday and on Thursday she participated in a reading of the U.S. Constitution on the floor of the House.
Among the congresswoman’s first official acts this week was a vote for Speaker of the House and the introduction of legislation to cut congressional salaries by 5 percent. Giffords was interviewed about her bill this morning on Fox news.
It seems fair to conclude that this will probably take politicians further out of site and security levels will probably be adjusted everywhere. You don't have to live in Pakistan to fall victim to an extremist's deadly weapon.
Sources:
John McCarthy Roll - From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Jan-08-2011: Cops: Giffords Shooter May Not Have Acted Alone - cbsnews.com
Jan-08-2011: Arizona Shooting Suspect's Record Showed Minor Offenses Since 2007
Jan-08-2011: Internet manifesto may be linked to Arizona shooter - CNBC
Jan-08-2011: Bitter politics of Arizona loom over shooting reuters.com
Jan-08-2011: Jewish Congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords shot, may pull through - by Leah Berkenwald Jewesses with Attitude
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Tim King is a former U.S. Marine with twenty years of experience on the west coast as a television news producer, photojournalist, reporter and assignment editor. In addition to his role as a war correspondent, this Los Angeles native serves as Salem-News.com's Executive News Editor. Tim spent the winter of 2006/07 covering the war in Afghanistan, and he was in Iraq over the summer of 2008, reporting from the war while embedded with both the U.S. Army and the Marines.
Tim holds numerous awards for reporting, photography, writing and editing, including the Oregon AP Award for Spot News Photographer of the Year (2004), first place Electronic Media Award in Spot News, Las Vegas, (1998), Oregon AP Cooperation Award (1991); and several others including the 2005 Red Cross Good Neighborhood Award for reporting. Tim has several years of experience in network affiliate news TV stations, having worked as a reporter and photographer at NBC, ABC and FOX stations in Arizona, Nevada and Oregon. Serving the community in very real terms, Salem-News.com is the nation's only truly independent high traffic news Website. As News Editor, Tim among other things, is responsible for publishing the original content of 65 Salem-News.com writers. He reminds viewers that emails are easily missed and urges those trying to reach him, to please send a second email if the first goes unanswered. You can send Tim an email at this address: newsroom@salem-news.com
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Daniel January 10, 2011 5:53 pm (Pacific time)
Cali you should watch todays Democracy Now , a little different talking points than the news you have been watching.
Tim King: Daniel, I caught today's edition and I could not more strongly second your point.
California January 10, 2011 2:42 pm (Pacific time)
Editor: There is no evidence existing as you appear to claim. What we do see unfolding regarding the shooter is that he has far left associations ranging from published Facebook narratives, and his reading list favorites, which includes the "Communist Manifesto," and other similar leftist reads. Several of his high school and college classmates have done television interviews calling him a "Leftist Pothead." So any distraction otherwise is simply radical propaganda that may have a small audience, but it will not have a significant impact. Maybe what you consider evidence is nothing more than talking points coming from a nonsensical ideology that is withering at the vine? Go Ducks
California January 10, 2011 10:55 am (Pacific time)
I will be attending the Oregon Duck game today, and do report sadly, that the hoopla has not died down because of last weekend's shooting, but we sure are all involved in discussing different causal reasons for it. Most people do see it as simply the work of a deranged monster, while the major media is trying to blame various conservative organizations. It is these blamers who give their opinions based on zero evidence that really gin up the hatred, and they are always from the left. This I believe is why groups like the Tea Party and other conservative groups are gaining in power, the American public just isn't buying the left's crap anymore, which is a good thing for the country in the long run, even for the far left whack jobs because maybe some of them will take the time to re-assess their misguided viewpoints/behavior. Go Ducks!
Editor: 'Zero evidence' like the poster with a gun target where this Representative lives. Sorry, you guys play with fire all day long and this time everyone got burned. Forget the idea that Failin' Palin is blameless, it is not the case.
Laura Mills January 10, 2011 7:37 am (Pacific time)
To the editor: Have you read or heard what Sheriff Dupnik (where shootings happened) said in various nationally televised interviews? He is the one who introduced blame to the right, and even admitted he had no evidence, and that he was offering his opinion. This is the type of behavior that shows the hypocrisy from those on the left. I see you made a negative reference to the Tea Party, maybe you have not been following the elections in the last 15 months: Recall Virginia, New Jersey and Massachussettes besides last November? These are Americans, many may even be occasional Salem-News visitors. Things have changed politically. Please note their are legitimate reasons why politicians and business interests observe professionally constructed polls: "The number of American adults calling themselves Republicans last month increased by one percentage point from November to 37.0%, while the number calling themselves Democrats fell by a point to 33.7%. Those figures reflect the largest number of Republicans in the nation since December 2004 and the lowest number of Democrats ever recorded in tracking since November 2002. http://www.rasmussenreports.com/public_content/politics/mood_of_america/generic_congressional_ballot
Voters see “Tea Party” a bit less negatively as a political label these days, while “liberal” and “progressive” have lost ground even among Democrats.
A new Rasmussen Reports national telephone survey finds that “conservative” is still the most favored description. Forty-two percent (42%) of Likely U.S. Voters say they view it as a positive if a candidate is described as politically conservative. Twenty-one percent (21%) say it’s a negative description, and 36% rate it somewhere in between the two. (To see survey question wording, click here.)
Conservative, in fact, is the only political label other than “moderate” that is a net plus for a candidate.
Being described as a progressive, on the other hand, is a positive for 22% of voters and a negative for 34%, with 41% seeing it in between. But in the previous survey, voters were evenly divided, with 29% saying progressive was a positive description and 28% describing it as a negative. This marks a continuing downward trend for progressive which little over three years ago was slightly more popular than conservative. http://www.rasmussenreports.com/public_content/politics/general_politics/january_2011/tea_party_is_seen_less_negatively_as_a_political_label
Editor: You know the rules about posting under different names 'Mr. Conservative' , you guys like to play with fire, you are the gun people, the war people, the ones who are against poor Americans having healthcare and immigrants having a chance; you favor funding massive corporations instead of worrying about the average American. These so-called conservatives think poor people are lesser than you and generally support things like Israel's genocide in Palestine because they are influenced by terrible lying media pundits; drug addicts like Limbaugh and silly SOBs like that Glenn Beck
Conservative in this day and age means rip off the poor, lie your ass off, and be sure to only favor people and things that would be qualified to attend a Nazi rally. Trust me, I am assailed with their 'conservative' bullsh*t all day long and I am sick of all the other white bread zealots who think starting needless wars in Iraq and Afghanistan is 'conservative'. I suggest going back to square one.
Anonymous January 10, 2011 5:42 am (Pacific time)
Prayers go out to the victims and families. Such a tragedy, but I see another tragedy unfolding from this situation. The ignorance of peoples regarding their political parties. I have a list a mile long, but l;et me give you a few examples of situations that do not care if you are left or right. 1. When the bankers stole trillions, they frauded both left/right. 2. When millions of jobs were sent overseas, it effected both left/right. 3. Our soldiers fighting illegal useless wars, for nothing more than natural resources for the corporations, both left/right soldiers die. The bullets/bombs do not discriminate. 4. FLouride in the water (now finally being admitted by the government it is damaging), and GMO food, does not discriminate left/right. 5. When gas hits 4-5 dollars a gallon, democrats wont get a discount. And the skyrocketing prices coming for food, republicans wont get a discount. 6. Hundreds of thousands of college grads cant find work, 30 billion in college loans outstanding, and are moving home to both their left/right families. 7. I am seeing retail after retail store closing down on both the left/right. Tens of thousands a month, in Oregon alone, have, and will continue exhausting their unemployment benefits, and the 44 million on food stamps is spent by both left/right. I think you get the point..While the left/right are fighting, we are being looted, robbed, poisoned, manipulated, brainwashed, our children are now debt slaves the rest of their lives, living in a country of ever expanding police state. People do not know that the left/right was set up by the think tanks of the bankers, for this exact reason, while you guys are fighting amongst yourselves, they rob you blind. Here is a quote: "The division of the United States into two federations of equal force was decided long before the civil war by the high financial power of Europe. These bankers were afraid that the United States, if they remained in one block and as one nation, would attain economical and financial independence, which would upset their financial domination over the world. The voice of the Rothschilds predominated. They foresaw the tremendous booty if they could substitute two feeble democracies, indebted to the financiers, to the vigorous Republic, confident and self-providing. Therefore they started their emissaries in order to exploit the question of slavery and thus dig an abyss between the two parts of the Republic." Otto von Bismarck, 1876 Ok, you can go back to your tv's now, and left/right fighting, I have to get back to work on exposing the bankers/corporations that now run this country. Every obama cabinet member is either from goldman sachs or monsanto. Think about that a moment.
Amanda January 9, 2011 9:39 pm (Pacific time)
Taking comments out of context, as the writer has done here, places her into the same category of Hate-mongerers and spreading unrest.
Daniel January 9, 2011 8:32 pm (Pacific time)
What a sad and tragic affair for all , especially the families .
Sylvia Bartnik January 9, 2011 12:56 pm (Pacific time)
My email to the Sheriff of shooting location on 1/8/10.
Actual Topic: Sheriff’s News Conference Yesterday
Sheriff Clarence W. Dupnik
I think people such as yourself need to remember when you are so intent on blaming what voters have said as the cause for this tragedy, why not mention the rhetoric from Democrat politicians and liberal talking heads including:
President Obama:
“If they bring a knife to the fight, we bring a gun,” Obama said in Philadelphia last night. “Because from what I understand, folks in Philly like a good brawl. I’ve seen Eagles fans.”
And “I need you to go out and talk to your friends and talk to your neighbors. I want you to talk to them whether they are independent or whether they are Republican. I want you to argue with them and get in their face.”
Or John Kerry who said on the Bill Maher show: “I could have gone to 1600 Pennsylvania and killed the real bird with one stone.”
Or Howard Dean “I hate the Republicans and everything they stand for…”
and: “This is a struggle between good and evil and we’re the good?”
and “we need to remember that the enemy here is George Bush, not each other.”
Or Senator Chuck Schumer who called a flight attendant a “bitch.”
Or the Florida Democrats who ran an ad calling for the assassination of Donald Rumsfeld
Or New York State Comptroller Alan Hevesi who called for Senator Schumer to “put a bullet between the president’s eyes?”
Or Jonathan Chait who said “I hate President George W. Bush.”
Or singer Rickie Lee Jones who aid of President Bush “You’re an ignorant, low-class, opportunistic man, both personally and politically, who does everything for political gain and nothing for the wellbeing of the people, and you should not be in office, and the kind of fascism you’re perpetrating on our country we don’t want, and you’re out. We’re done with you. Ffffhgggmm.”
And when asked if she would be willing to take Bush out for the benefit of democracy? “If I say that, I might get arrested when I go back. And I have to go home.” She’s thinking it out carefully. “I guess the question is, would I kill anyone? And the answer is, no. But would I feel sorry if someone killed him? No, I wouldn’t. It would depend on who killed him, I guess.”
Or “The Late Late Show with Craig Kilborn” where they superimposed the words “Snipers Wanted” over an image of Bush delivering his acceptance speech at the Republican convention.
Or Nobel Peace Prize winner Betty Williams who said she could kill President Bush?
Or Randi Rhodes who joked about killing the President?
Or Reverend Wright who called Secretary of State Condoleeza Rice, Condoskeeza [sic] Rice.
Or England’s Charlie Brooker who wrote: “On November 2, the entire civilised world will be praying, praying Bush loses. And Sod’s law dictates he’ll probably win, thereby disproving the existence of God once and for all. The world will endure four more years of idiocy, arrogance and unwarranted bloodshed, with no benevolent deity to watch over and save us. John Wilkes Booth, Lee Harvey Oswald, John Hinckley Jr – where are you now that we need you?”
Editor: What a sad and twisted reaction to a tragedy; the fact that you wrote this in the first place makes your side of the argument look purely unbalanced. Greed has a following; a bunch of confused white complainers called the 'tea party'.
Anonymous January 8, 2011 6:38 pm (Pacific time)
the event happened at 10:00 am mountain standard time.
Editor: Thank you, the correction was made.
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