Serendiptiy SOUL- Tuesday Open Thread

Steely Dan Week continues…  Let’s  “DO IT AGAIN.”

Go out and make it a great day!  and 3 Chics will contiue to keep the media honest.

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44 Responses to Serendiptiy SOUL- Tuesday Open Thread

  1. Desiree Rogers of Johnson Publishing shares her thoughts on whether President Barack Obama should address the tone of political rhetoric in his speech during Wednesday’s memorial for the victims of the Arizona shooting.

    http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/21134540/vp/41023641#41023641

  2. Ariz. suspect’s parents: ‘We don’t know why this happened’
    Family of accused Tucson shooter expresses sorrow for rampage, ‘heinous’ events

    http://bltwy.msnbc.msn.com/politics/ariz-suspects-parents-dont-know-why-this-happened-1671406.story

    PHOENIX, Ariz. – The parents of Jared Loughner, the 22-year-old suspect in the mass shooting in Arizona, expressed sorrow on Tuesday for what they called “heinous events.”

    “There are no words that can possibly express how we feel. We wish there were, so we could make you feel better,” according to the statement attributed to accused gunman Jared Lee Loughner’s family.

    “We don’t understand why this happened. It may not make any difference, but we wish that we could change the heinous events of Saturday,” the family statement said. “We care very deeply about the victims and their families. We are so very sorry for their loss.”

  3. Doctor: Giffords has ‘101 percent chance’ of surviving

    http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/41018273/ns/health-health_care

    TUCSON, Ariz. — U.S. Rep. Gabrielle Giffords was breathing on her own and moving both arms after being shot in the head, doctors said Tuesday.
    Giffords still has a breathing tube to prevent infections such as pneumonia, said her neurosurgeon Dr. Michael Lemole.

    “I’m happy to say that she’s holding her own,” he said.

    Giffords, a three-time Democrat, remained in critical condition at Tucson’s University Medical Center since Saturday when she was shot during a meeting with constituents outside a grocery store. The attack killed six and injured 14 others. Six remained hospitalized.

    Giffords previously raised two fingers with her left hand and gave a thumbs-up when responding to doctors’ verbal commands.

    Although her condition has remained virtually unchanged the past few days, doctors were hopeful.

    “She has a 101 percent chance of surviving,” said trauma chief Dr. Peter Rhee said. “She will not die. She does not have that permission from me.”

    God IS good all the time and all the time God IS good!

    • Ametia says:

      Now here is a woman with a mission. God has a mission for her, and she knows it.

      • http://the-reaction.blogspot.com/2011/01/amazing-recovery-of-gabrielle-giffords.html

        Truly amazing. And wonderful news.

        Of course, Giffords is receiving excellent medical care, including from two military doctors (who were brought in because her husband, an astronaut, is in the Navy.

        All Americans should have access to such care, and the vote Giffords cast for health-care reform helped last year helped move the country towards a fairer and more just system for all.

        Consider what she herself wrote in August 2009:

        We are as great nation. We deserve the best health care in the world. How we get it is the real question.

        We need reform that puts patients first. It is not right and not fair that insurance companies can deny coverage because of pre-existing conditions, or impose lifetime limits on service.

        I support reform that allows Americans to keep their current health care program, keep their doctors and keep their hospitals.

        I support reform that creates competition through a strong public option that lowers everyone’s costs and competes with private insurers.

        I support reform that allows Arizonans who lose their jobs to afford insurance so they can get back on their feet without fear of getting sick without medical care.

        I support reform that will slow the growth of health care costs and does not impose new taxes or burdens on our nation’s most valuable economic contributors, small businesses.

        Last month, this nation observed the 40th anniversary of our arrival on the moon – one of the most awesome accomplishments in the history of mankind. Now our generation has our own opportunity to make history.

        A nation that can leave footprints on another celestial body is up to this challenge.

        Providing Americans with health care that gives them lifetime security and peace of mind must be America’s next great accomplishment.

  4. Leading Republican To Introduce Strict Gun Control Legislation

    http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/01/11/peter-king-strict-gun-control_n_807323.html

    Rep. Peter King, a Republican from New York, is planning to introduce legislation that would make it illegal to bring a gun within 1,000 feet of a government official, according to a person familiar with the congressman’s intentions.

    King is chairman of the House Homeland Security Committee. The proposed law follows the Saturday shooting of Rep. Gabrielle Giffords (D-Ariz.) and a federal judge that left six dead, including the judge, and 14 wounded.

    New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg, one of the nation’s most outspoken gun-control advocates, is backing King’s measure and is expected to put the weight of his pro-gun-control organization behind it.

  5. Palin: Democrats in the crosshairs

    http://www.blogforarizona.com/blog/2010/03/palin-democrats-in-the-crosshairs.html

    Sarah Palin told her followers:

    Commonsense Conservatives & lovers of America: “Don’t Retreat, Instead – RELOAD!”

    Then she created a map of the U.S. with the targeted Democrats pinpointed . . . by using rifle sight cross hairs.

    These people are insane, and dangerous. I’m talking about the leaders.

    Ten Democrats have been threatened in one way or another. Here’s a partial list, from Daily Kos:

    Aravosis reports on the increasing threat to Dem members of Congress.

    Now we find out that 10 members of Congress have asked for increased security following threats….

    Here are Chuck Todd’s tweets on the latest:

    RT @chucktodd: House Maj. Leader Hoyer says he’s worried about the security of fellow House Dems; Calls on House GOP leaders to join in decrying threats

    RT @chucktodd: Hoyer says any member of Congress who is concerned about threats is receiving access to security; So far, over 10 members.

    CBS News has obtained audio of threats made against Rep. Bart Stupak.

    The calls placed to Stupak’s office reveal the extreme anger members of Congress are facing.

    “Congressman Stupak, you baby-killing mother f***er… I hope you bleed out your a**, got cancer and die, you mother f***er,” one man says in a message to Stupak.

    “There are millions of people across the country who wish you ill,” a woman says in a voicemail, “and all of those thoughts that are projected on you will materialize into something that’s not very good for you.”

    CBS News also obtained copies of faxes sent to Stupak, which include racial epithets used in reference to President Obama and show pictures of nooses with Stupak’s name.

    Another of the threatened members, pro-life Rep. Steve Driehaus, spoke with Brian Beutler today:

    Last week, the anti-reform advocacy group the Committee to Rethink Reform published an ad in The Cincinnati Enquirer featuring a photo of Dreihaus with his children. (Both the Committee and the Enquirer have retracted and apologized for the ad.) Now, conservatives are planning a Sunday protest outside of his house, after a conservative blog put his address–complete with directions–on the Internet.

    Speaking to me and another reporter outside the House chamber this afternoon, Driehaus said Republican leaders are to blame for the vitriol–and implied that they will bear some responsibility if reform opponents’ anger bubbles over into violence.

    “I think if you look at some of the language that has been used by leaders on the Republican side, one shouldn’t be surprised,” Driehaus said. “Unfortunately many of us are now receiving threats, death threats…. These comments that have been made by Republican leaders can serve as–I don’t know if I want to say an excuse or perhaps permission for people who may be unbalanced, who may be calling with these threats.”

    Rep. Tom Perriello, whose brother’s family has become a target, adds in a statement:

    “My number one priority right now is ensuring the safety of my brother’s family, and I am grateful to law enforcement for their excellent work,” Perriello said in a statement today. “While it is too early to say anything definitive regarding political motivations behind this act, it’s never too early for political leaders to condemn threats of violence, particularly as threats to other Members of Congress and their children escalate.”

    Absolutely Republican leaders need to condemn this, loudly and frequently. Or are they going to let Sarah Palin be the only voice of leadership on the issue?

  6. Ametia says:

    CONGRATULATIONS, AUBRUN TIGERS & CAM NEWTON!!!

  7. President Obama on Tucson, Grief & Courage

    http://www.whitehouse.gov/blog/

    Following a long-scheduled bilateral meeting with President Nicolas Sarkozy of France, President Obama spoke again on the tragedy that unfolded over the weekend in Arizona.

    PRESIDENT OBAMA: We’ll, I’m very grateful to have my dear friend, Nicolas Sarkozy, here. And I think Nicolas has agreed that at the top I want to just make a few comments about the situation in Tucson, Arizona.

    Obviously all of us are still grieving and in shock from the tragedy that took place. Gabby Giffords and others are still fighting to recover. Families are still absorbing the enormity of their losses. We have a criminal investigation that is ongoing and charges that no doubt will be brought against the perpetrator of this heinous crime.

    I think it’s important for us to also focus, though, on the extraordinary courage that was shown during the course of these events: a 20-year-old college student who ran into the line of fire to rescue his boss; a wounded woman who helped secure the ammunition that might have caused even more damage; the citizens who wrestled down the gunman. Part of what I think that speaks to is the best of America, even in the face of such mindless violence.

  8. Ametia says:

    In Wednesday speech in Arizona, Obama is seeking right tone
    By Anne E. Kornblut and Scott Wilson
    Washington Post Staff Writers
    Monday, January 10, 2011; 11:02 PM

    In the aftermath of the Arizona shootings, President Obama ordered that American flags be flown at half-staff and called for a national moment of silence, which he and first lady Michelle Obama observed on the South Lawn of the White House at 11 a.m. Monday.

    http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2011/01/10/AR2011011006218.html?hpid=topnews&om_rid=DRaeQf&om_mid=_BNLFgoB8XMdBk7
    Silence was the easy part. Now the question becomes, when Obama next addresses the nation, what he will say.

    White House officials are weighing their options. Obama will travel to Tucson on Wednesday to attend and address a memorial service for the victims of Saturday’s shootings.

    The service is set for 8 p.m. Eastern time at the University of Arizona’s basketball arena, the school said. It will include a Native American blessing, a moment of silence, a poetry reading and the presentation of a chain featuring messages from members of the public, the school announced.

    Obama is likely to deliver a speech about tolerance, a theme that could also be featured in his State of the Union address on Jan. 25.

  9. Remember John Lewis’ Warning About Violent Talk?

    http://www.theroot.com/views/remember-john-lewis-warning-about-violent-talk

    During the 2008 presidential campaign, the civil rights veteran warned against overheated rhetoric. It’s no wonder, given the experience of African Americans as targets of political violence. But the shooting of Rep. Gabrielle Giffords reminds us that it’s advice all Americans should heed.

    We were warned by Rep. John Lewis two years ago. He took John McCain and Sarah Palin to task during the 2008 presidential campaign for “sowing the seeds of hatred and division.” Lewis knew well the consequences of political violence; he was badly beaten during civil rights protests in the South a half century ago.

    Throughout last year, alerts continued, delivered by black politicians and pundits who expressed alarm about weapons at Tea Party rallies and brutal, sometimes racist rhetoric that cast President Barack Obama as a Nazi, a communist, a Middle East terrorist or, worse, an illegal alien who had somehow fooled the American people into putting him in the White House. But like a lot of the wisdom that comes out of the mouths of black folks, these warnings didn’t get much play in the mainstream media.

    When Lewis and Rep. Elijah Cummings (D-Md.) reported that they had been called names and spat upon last summer by a crowd protesting health care reform, their credibility and even their motives for walking through a hostile crowd were questioned by the right. One conservative talk-show host offered a reward for a video proving that the two men had been mistreated — essentially calling them liars.

    When the NAACP’s Benjamin Justice urged the Tea Party to purge its ranks of racists, he was greeted with derision or accused of playing the race card — until a Tea Party leader’s outburst proved him right.

    For the moment, at least, the attempted assassination of Rep. Gabrielle Giffords (D-Ariz.) and the accompanying massacre have focused mainstream attention on the verbal — and occasionally violent — excesses of the American political system. Within minutes of the alleged rampage by 22-year-old Jared Lee Loughner, the punditocracy began an inflamed debate on whether the brutal political dialogue of the last two years had played a role in instigating or nurturing an atmosphere that led to the shootings.

    • Ametia says:

      Mr. Lewis’s and Speaker Pelosi’s warnings went unheeded.

      Some of their pol peers don’t get it. they don’t think it could happen to them.

      Their experiences has been Dems being on the receiving end of violence in politics.

  10. Loughner’s parents ‘devastated,’ ‘hurting’

    http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/41014125/ns/us_news-crime_and_courts

    PHOENIX, Ariz. — The parents of Jared Loughner, the 22-year-old suspect in the fatal shooting of six people and attempted assassination of Congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords, are “devastated” and “hurting real bad,” a neighbor told The Wall Street Journal.

    The paper reported that the neighbor, Wayne Smith, broke the news to Randy and Amy Loughner that their son was a suspect in the shootings Saturday.

    “She almost passed out right there,” Smith told the Journal. “He sat in the road with the tape up and cried.”

    “They’re hurting real bad. They are devastated,” he added.

    Smith, 70, who was asked by Randy Loughner to bring in their mail Monday, told the Journal that Amy Loughner was having a “nervous breakdown.”

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