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Arizona mass shooting


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Andrew Sullivan is a British-born, gay white conservative. He's a frequent guest on Bill Maher's show.

 

I thought Jon Stewart had the most insightful commentary on the killings on his show last night--not surprising, since he usually does. And the whole Rally to Restore Sanity was about this exact same issue: take it down a notch. I know people who get annoyed with Jon for asserting a false equivalency between right-wing mudslingers and their (supposed) left wing counterparts, and personally I agree that the teabaggers, etc., are WAY worse--their hatred, fear and stupidity know no bounds. But that's all the more reason I admire Jon for trying to work in that very specific groove of reason, rationality, mutual respect, tolerance. Me, I'm not so tolerant, but I do admire the effort he makes. It's a really hard line to straddle.

 

Here's the whole opening segment from Monday night's show:

 

My link

 

Thanks for sharing Stewart's commentary, Diane.

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Seriously? WTF?

 

Joe Wilson 'You Lie' Slogan Etched Onto Line Of Assault Rifle Components

 

Rep. Joe Wilson's (R-S.C.) health care-era "you lie" interruption of President Obama is now reportedly being commemorated with a place on a new, limited edition line of assault rifle components.

 

The Columbia Free Times reports that the words are being engraved on a series of lower receivers manufactured for popular AR-15 assault rifles. Lower receivers are one of the primary pieces of the firearms.

 

"Palmetto State Armory would like to honor our esteemed congressman Joe Wilson with the release of our new 'You Lie' AR-15 lower receiver," the weapon manufacturer's site writes in the product description. "Only 999 of these will be produced, get yours before they are gone!"

 

Wilson caused a commotion in September of 2009 when he disrupted a key health care speech by Obama in which the president claimed that the impending health care reform legislation wouldn't provide coverage for undocumented immigrants.

 

The South Carolina Republican later apologized.

 

Also check out South Carolina blog Fits News for more on the commemorative gun units, as well as how they could play into Obama's planned visit to the Palmetto State later this year.

 

Link - http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/01/11/joe-wilson-you-lie-assault-rifle_n_807644.html

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Good Old,

Jaysus! But it is no different than the politicians and pundits rhetoric. It is all done to make a buck or to get a vote. I heard on NPR this morning that a Republican colleague of Rep. Giffords had received an email from her the night before the shooting regarding the tone of the political rhetoric. There is supposed to be a story on it today. Again, proof of nothing, but an interesting coincidence deserving of discussion/reporting.

 

Most importantly, it is amazing how well she is recovering. The doctor said that she will not die and will not be in a vegetative state. She is responding and even gave a thumbs up.

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Good Old,

Jaysus! But it is no different than the politicians and pundits rhetoric. It is all done to make a buck or to get a vote. I heard on NPR this morning that a Republican colleague of Rep. Giffords had received an email from her the night before the shooting regarding the tone of the political rhetoric. There is supposed to be a story on it today. Again, proof of nothing, but an interesting coincidence deserving of discussion/reporting.

 

Most importantly, it is amazing how well she is recovering. The doctor said that she will not die and will not be in a vegetative state. She is responding and even gave a thumbs up.

Here you go.

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cryptique,

Thanks for the laugh

 

66rebilac,

Thanks for the link.

 

edit: NPR interview w/ Grayson regarding the email he received and Giffords' passion to tone down rhetoric

http://www.npr.org/2011/01/12/132853985/Rep-Giffords-Wanted-To-Calm-Inflammatory-Rhetoric

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Yup.

 

That dickhead has already gotten way too much press. Everyone knows his name ... how many know the names of his victims?

 

The worst part is he will never truly receive the justice he deserves. He'll probably be acquitted by reason of insanity and spend the rest of his life in a minimum security resort. Or if he gets the death sentence, it will be lethal injection, in which he will quietly and painlessly pass away.... What the guy really deserves; I would probably get banned from the forum if I mentioned it...

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Arizona doesn't allow "not guilty by reason of insanity" verdicts. He could get "guilty but insane" and go to an institution, but if he's ever declared sane he would then go to a regular prison to serve the remainder of his sentence.

 

So there's that.

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The questions I've been pondering lately (and that I haven't seen asked elsewhere) are these:

 

1. Why wasn't there a police officer on detail for this event? A sitting congresswoman does a meet-and-greet with her constituents and there's no armed security? I realize that budgets are tight and a congresswoman can't have a cop following her around at all times, but has Arizona cut taxes so far that the local constabulary couldn't shake loose one officer to patrol this event?

 

(I'm assuming there weren't any police there, because this guy got off an awful lot of shots and from what I've read, no one ever returned fire.)

 

2. If Arizona's gun laws are so permissive (something I've read as part of the coverage of this event, particularly in regard to how easily the shooter was able to obtain his own gun), where were all those citizens who pack heat? Isn't that one of the sacred tenets of the pro-gun crowd -- that widespread gun ownership and the ability to carry concealed weapons deters exactly this sort of incident? Arizona allows citizens to carry concealed weapons without a permit! But no one in that area had one? Then what good is it to be so permissive?

 

Just a couple items my brain's been tossing around.

 

edit: Apparently there was a guy nearby, but by the time he showed up it was already basically over, and he nearly shot the man who'd taken the shooter's gun away.

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Guest Speed Racer

1. Why wasn't there a police officer on detail for this event? A sitting congresswoman does a meet-and-greet with her constituents and there's no armed security? I realize that budgets are tight and a congresswoman can't have a cop following her around at all times, but has Arizona cut taxes so far that the local constabulary couldn't shake loose one officer to patrol this event?

 

(I'm assuming there weren't any police there, because this guy got off an awful lot of shots and from what I've read, no one ever returned fire.)

 

edit: Apparently there was a guy nearby, but by the time he showed up it was already basically over, and he nearly shot the man who'd taken the shooter's gun away.

 

The only thing worse than one guy shooting aimlessly into a crowd is two guys shooting aimlessly in a crowd. If, as all reports indicate, it was so crowded that no one could flee from the fire, what makes you think someone would be able to get a shot at him? Most people who weren't getting shot probably couldn't even tell which one of them was shooting.

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The only thing worse than one guy shooting aimlessly into a crowd is two guys shooting aimlessly in a crowd. If, as all reports indicate, it was so crowded that no one could flee from the fire, what makes you think someone would be able to get a shot at him? Most people who weren't getting shot probably couldn't even tell which one of them was shooting.

Right. More guns = more chaos = more death.

 

One armed police officer may have made a difference. Half a dozen armed civilians may have resulted in an even bloodier, inadvertent massacre.

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One armed police officer may have made a difference.

 

Would that have made the line of sight clearer? I don't understand how one officer would have necessarily changed things all that much.

 

Police presence at things like this is nice, but rare and almost incongruent to the whole point of these things. To me, the act itself is a relaxed approachability. At the Pride parade this year in Minneapolis, Amy Klobuchar's car was swarmed by people near me; one of them very well could have had a gun, and if there were police nearby none of them batted an eye. If one of the people in the swarm had a gun, six people could have been shot before an officer had a clear line of sight. At another parade in Minneapolis, I insulted Al Franken not knowing he was standing right in front of me.

 

When politicians want to be accessible, they either keep police at bay or go out without them there at all. I don't see why they shouldn't, since this is the first shooting of a congressperson in how many years?

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