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No Ordinary Cross Hairs
Christina Taylor Green might well have made the world a better place someday. According to reports, Christina had just been elected to her elementary school's Student Council. Her neighbor brought her along to Rep. Gifford's community event in the corner Safeway parking lot. He thought it would be of interest to this young, budding public servant.
Nine years old, a ballerina, a ball-player, a student councilmember and a beloved daughter, Christina Taylor Green was felled by a would-be assasin's bullet.
Tragedies do happen. Innocent people, even children, are caught in cross hairs every day in this country. But these were no ordinary cross hairs. These cross hairs appeared on the website of an immensely high-profile political leader, indeed that of a former U.S. Vice-presidential Candidate. Tea Party Spokesperson Sarah Palin. This map targeted, with the cross hairs of a gun barrel, Rep Gabrielle Giffords (D-AZ). And to reinforce this map of "targets," Palin tweeted to conservatives last year "Don't Retreat...Reload."
These cross hairs hung in the air when 2010 Congressional-candidate Sharon Angle, another Tea Party favorite, said in an interview that people should exercise their Second Amendment Remedies.
These crosshairs were present at a campaign stunt which Gabby Giffords' Tea Party-backed Congressional opponent Jesse Kelly. Kelly's campaign event website posted a photo of him in his Marine uniform holding his gun, advertising a target shooting event: "Get on Target for Victory in November. Help remove Gabrielle Giffords from office. Shoot a fully automatic M16 with Jesse Kelly."
Palin, Angle, Kelly and the Tea Party neither pulled the trigger nor can be said to be responsible for the shootings. They have rightly decried the violence. The suspected shooter, Jared Lee Laughner's internet rants seem to indicate mental instability and radical right-wing delusions. But so far there is no indication that he believes he was following instructions from any particular public figures.
No, they are not "behind the shootings." But neither have they acknowledged the dangerous potential of their violent rhetoric. They have not repudiated their remarks or election tactics. They are not personally to blame for the tragedy. But can anyone say that they bear no responsibility for creating the cross hairs in which 18 innocent people were caught?
Pima County Arizona's Sheriff Clarence Dupnik said in the Press Conference following the shooting, "People tend to pooh-pooh this business about the vitriol that inflames American public opinion by the people who make a living off of that. That may be free speech but it's not without consequences."
So, no. These were no ordinary cross hairs. And in them a well-loved public servant, Democratic Congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords was shot through the brain. Six people were killed. Thirteen more were injured. And Christina, a child embarking on her own mission of public citizenship in her school, was caught in them and brutally murdered.
Incendiary rhetoric has ballooned in the past two years and has crafted the cruelest of cross hairs. This climate of hate threatens us all.
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131 Comments so far
Show AllHow about "inciting others to commit violence" and making death threats? That is basically what she did with her target list/Fatwa.
Now imagine if the Crosshairs Website came from someone living in Yemen.
I posted the following comment on another article, but I'll reiterate it again. The shooting appears to be politically motivated. Under the US government of terrorism, this act clearly falls within the category of a terrorist attack. Even more so than probably many US designated terrorists around the world and certainly more than Julian Assange, who Biden called a high tech terrorist, as Assange isn't a terrorist. The M$M is following the US Government (effectively Reps & Dems) talking points by not labeling this this shooter a terrorist.
Official United States Government Definition of Terrorism
"[An] act of terrorism, means any activity that (A) involves a violent act or an act dangerous to human life that is a violation of the criminal laws of the United States or any State, or that would be a criminal violation if committed within the jurisdiction of the United States or of any State; and (B) appears to be intended (i) to intimidate or coerce a civilian population; (ii) to influence the policy of a government by intimidation or coercion; or (iii) to affect the conduct of a government by assassination or kidnapping."
HighKarate, Did you not read the US Govt definition of a terrorist? Show me how this doesn't fall within that definition instead of trying to discount my comment as a left/right critique and laughting it off. This act clearly falls into US Govt definition. Your subjectivity in not calling it a terrorist act is my point - the use of the word terrorism is subjectively used based on political motives.
The fact that he acted alone is irrelevant (btw, a 2nd person suspected of being involved is be sought by police). The fact that he is a fellow countryman is irrelevant as the US Gov has labeled and arrested Muslim Americans as "home grown terrorists" (Florida Sears Tower plot ring a bell?). And simply discounting the killer as a nut means nothing. Of course, anyone involved in killing someone has some mental weaknesses. Loughner's gibberish on the website isn't much different than some of the gibberish I've heard when listening to people talk about certain government conspiracy theories and generally any killer has to somehow justify in his/her mind the killing. They are competent people in all other forms and and function in society. In addition, how many "suspected" terrorists that we killed or labeled overseas did we give a mental assessment to before defining them as terrorists?
I made a comment, you responded to my comment and I responded to your comments about my comment. Now you resort to name calling? Thank you, I rest my case.
You have a valid point, there are people arrested for sending socks to AlQaida. The question is who is making the decision and how is the law being applied. People in peace and environmental groups have had thier property seized and brought before grandjurys for affiliation with what amounts to discussion. I think you raise an important issue and it's not a personal issue as suggested.
Prog101
"...but I will tell you that I am against the term 'terrorist' altogether and let you work out the rest on your own."
Rather than working it out on my own (which I don't think I can), I would be interested to know what your problem with the term 'terrorist' is.
I have a problem with it as well...the same problem I have with "hate crimes", but I would like to know your thinking.
My problem with the term "terrorist" is it is a vague, hot button term that is politically used and misused by the government, politicians and M$M to give them the green light to go after anyone that meets their interpretation of a terrorist, and lately it has been predominately used to label Muslims or brown skinned foreigners that we target. I also have a problem with the lax use of terrorism because our Republicans and Democrats have given themselves a green light to wage a "War on Terror", which due to definitional vagueness, gives them the green light start wars on any country in the planet, Pakistan and Yemen are the latest examples, without a declaration of war. Those in power don't even bother to define why the terrorist suspects are terrorists anymore. Simply labeling someone a terrorist is enough to put them in a Gulag (Guantanamo) without rights and those in power only label people/groups terrorists when it is politically convenient and ignore others (like the Arizona shooter) who commit the same acts (double-standard).
Similar reasoning could apply to the term "hate crimes".
Yes I am against using the term all together, just as I was after the Fort Hood incident; however, until the public gets educated on how those in power are using the term for political purposes, how they have a double standard on the application of the term by selectively using it to label some people/groups terrorists ("enemies") and ignore other people/groups who commit similar acts and how the government is abusing the term to continue a resource war on the world, nothing will change. This is a repeat discussion on CD that occurred after the Fort Hood incident and the public hasn't learned anything since then on how those in power are abusing the term because it isn't talked about in M$M and not talked about in public. That is my point (to educate), to bring up how the use of the term terrorism is being abused and selectively used (double standard in this case), because certainly M$M and even CD article writers rarely write about it. Once the public gets educated, then we can do something to repeal the Government's sanctioned use if it, but not talking about it only allows existing policies to continue.
The Fort Hood shooter was a lone nut, and a fellow countryman, why was he labeled a terrorist and not this guy? (Seriously I would like to know!) A few things come to my mind, religion, race, and political leaning, but then again maybe it's just the cynic in me.
Funny that we don't hear Liebermouse demanding a "terrorism" investigation like he did Major Hasan, the Fort Hood shooter. I guess we live in "interesting" times, now don't we...
Because he shot a Democrat, that's why...
Seriously though, this nutcase, pasty....whatever he is, it was reported was blabbering in his facebook or twitter (whatever) something about mind control and brain washing. With all these shootings the last many years, it may be time to dust this off and read it............and I mean really read it:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Project_MKULTRA
oILYbOMBER sent hEAD of the fbi TO "ASSIST" the sheriffs
READ coverup!
Person of interest drove him to killing grounds and
U of A Tucson Ethnics Studies Program Building was vandalized simultaneously with shootings.
Pinning this shooting, even indirectly, on lock 'n load Palin would be a good way for the Rove righties to once and for all get Palin out of the way. She's an embarrassment to the repub party and the country.
...not to mention that one of the shooter's favorite books was Main Kampf, and that Rep. Giffords, (as well as one of her aides that was killed), was the first Jewish American elected to congress in that district.
abe, this too was one of my initial thoughts when i first saw his online profile listing of one of his favorite books as Mein Kampf and the fact that Giffords is jewish. But I don't want to speculate. I think that a lot more will be revealed, also when they apprehend the second person of interest. It would not surprise me if anti-semitism is somehow mixed in here. Though Loughner seems to identify as non-religious, but seems there could be more to it...
Some people that are not even religious still think that Isreal is acting very bad to the Palistiens,they treat them like they were treated...not gassed by Nazi's but still very cruel to close water ports, airports, roads, food medicine, I just don't get it how the Isreali people sit well with this ...except that America tells them it's okay, and we stand by them because of the agreement we made in 1949.
I don't see how any agreement was supposed to hurt an entire other group of people by people that were hurt. None of it makes sense. They should embrace their nieghbors and get over it, that land is old and all religions claim it as theirs. Stupid religion once again. Still how can the Jews treat anyone bad after what happened to them. If THEY haven't learned anything then I wonder if any of us ever will.
Another one of his books was Das Kapital, by Marx.
So, what is your point?
"Another one of his books was Das Kapital, by Marx."
Just another liar aren't you.
Here's the whole list: "I had favorite books: Animal Farm, Brave New World, The Wizard Of OZ, Aesop Fables, The Odyssey, Alice Adventures Into Wonderland, Fahrenheit 451, Peter Pan, To Kill A Mockingbird, We The Living, Phantom Toll Booth, 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."
When I first joined the CP-USA, Gus Hall insisted that I read each and every one of these books.
GOP: " Irresponsible for the media to mention Palin's cross hairs map". Oh, I see, I guess what the GOP is saying is it was responsible for Palin to post her cross hairs map targeting, IN NAME AND DISTRICT CONGRESSWOMAN GIFFORDS! WHO ARE THESE GOP PEOPLE?
Of course the GOP will find someone else to blame - from their list of usual targets, the media, gays, immigrants, liberals, they chose the media. Big surprise. Sarah Palin is a media whore yet in the next breath she blames them for mis-representing her.
"...But neither have they acknowledged the dangerous potential of their violent rhetoric. They have not repudiated their remarks or election tactics...."
lamar alexander directly disassociated this from comments by dick durbin about the "crosshairs" postings...
dick army is currently "dancing" right around the whole issue with gibberish... he's now blabbing about the representatives arranging more security for themselves...
republicans will NEVER accept that they don't get their way...
since obama's election... the part of the electorate... that could not accept a black man occupying the white house... have been well funded behind the scenes... that latent hatred of blacks has been funneled and channeled into political debates about real national issues from everything from healthcare to a functionally fair society...
no... there is no connect the dots per se... but as this article points out... the climate in the room has changed... and those prone to or capable of gunning down people indiscriminately... have had the door of their sick minds pried open a little further...
i still HAVE NOT HEARD anyone on the right... "acknowledge" OR "repudiate"...
what this will play out is - he was insane... and we need more security...
but i'll bet dollars to donuts...
no one on the right... will "acknowledge" OR "repudiate"...
no no no... we couldn't possibly be the blame for ANYthing that's happened in america in the past thirty years... see... regularly they blame obama for the deficit... even though since 1980... the federal deficit increased from $1T to $14T... $10T directly under reagan, bush, and bush jr., the rest under obama to clean up the mess... and the story is... look what this socialist from kenya has done to YOUR standard of living... sure people are pissed... now the nut cases have a platform... this is is the ONLY "trickle down" that works... WORDS MATTER!
Just two days ago when Boehner made them all read the Constitution, when the part read about the person must be born an American to be President ,one of those hateful, sicko, wacko's shouted out "Obama's not"...the problem with this is whomever screamed that out, is a Leader of their community, and they are there to represent the people. So if these idiots can become congressmen, than our country will suffer for along time coming. Hell we don't even have manners anymore. I am surprized more people aren't being killed.
Cheney,Rumsfeld, Bush ,they are all still running this country. They made a pact yrs. ago to take over the world, and that is what they are trying to do.If we let them, they will surely lead us down the road to Hell. As of now we only take Hell to other countries, and murder their citizens, but eventually the world will grow tired of us, and they WILL stop us !
What a shame. If they had not started that religious fanatic shit back in the late 70's and those men had not worked in our goverment, we could have been a great Nation, but hate and religion, has been slowly developed, and created to change us and it worked ! We can stop it, but it will take Education, and a real Open Press owned by the people, not corporations,we will need to be honest and pay for our crimes and then we can grow into the country we should have been already.
"....but it will take Education, and a real Open Press owned by the people, not corporations".
Good luck with that....enjoy your stay in Fantasyland.
OMG, squidd....you are SOOOOOOO fanned & faved!!
(sorry, have been spending too much time on Huffington Post.)
Wha'daya mean? You did not hear the other day George W. Bush and his father George H.W. Bush and Dick Cheney all coming out to strongly condem in no uncertain terma this heionius atrocity???
...................well frankly, neither did I!
Regarding the congressperson’s shooting,I think we can all agree that Sarah Palin, Rupert Murdoch, Roger Ailes, Glenn Beck, Bill O’Reilly, Mitch McConnell, John Boehner, Eric Cantor, Peter King, Larry Summers, Tim Geithner, perhaps even Obama, Wall Street and other conservatives are doing the “Happy Dance Circle Jerk” over this, eh?
When the Barlow strikers threatened the plutocrat, he had them shot. Homestead, Haymarket, Joe Hill, Malcolm, Martin. The rich know how to get it done, and the rest of us grab our ankles.
I just reported Sarah Palin's page on Facebook as a "credible threat of violence". Maybe if a few million more do this they will remove her page?
Great. Let's censor those with whom we disagree! That seems to be the progressive way...
Oh, you'd rather allow anyone to call for killing those they disagree with? That's the repressive way!
Maybe we should all boycott "Law and Order" and "CSI" and like shows, each in their various versions. For huge parts of each programming day these shows inculcate the idea of constant threats and extra-judicial (or at least, just on the edge of judicial) justice. Hey, go back to "Dirty Harry."
You get enough of that for long enough and that is the world you inhabit in your head, even when the world you are in physically doesn't really match the one in your head.
And the viciousness from the right? All that consensual haranguing from Limbugger, O'Heinous, Et. All. Didn't happen that heavily until RayGun got rid of the fairness reg. This is just one nasty, smelly infection of the right. The people who never saw a head they didn't want to crack.
Stupid me
And I always thought "Law and Order" was about, of all things,
Law and Order!!
I'll raise my glass later today to celebrate the political death of Sarah Palin. The video of Giffords commenting on Sarah Palins website is the end for Tea Party queen. I will personally remind everyone I can of her involvement in this matter.
here's something rather ridiculous: After scrubbing her site and tweets about the cross hairs and the targets and the reloading and all that, today an aid of hers made the claim that the cross hairs were those of a surveyor's tool rather than of a gun. I wonder who will believe them?
karen
A surveyor's tool? Sarah can't even SPELL surveyor! LOL!
"Surveyor"?
I thought they were called "mechanics"!
The 'shooter' was veted by the FBI. I guess he wasn't 'Islamic' enough to worry about.
Does anybody here remember Joseph Stack - the guy who flew his plane into an IRS building?
I kind of have a feeling of deja vu reading and watching the news coverage in regards to this tragedy. I understand that these are two very different incidents (one attacked an IRS building and one attacked a Democratic rep), but the script playing out in the media feels all too familiar.
One of the things that took place amongst the media pundits (both left and right) was placing blame on the other side. They also worked overtime pontificating which 'side' Joseph Stack was on. All one had to do to understand Mr Stack's grievances and stance was to simply read his manifesto. It turns out that to him , it wasn't about being a tea party member or a lefty, but about him being entirely screwed over by a system that has 'two “interpretations” for every law; one for the very rich, and one for the rest of us… Oh, and the monsters are the very ones making and enforcing the laws...'
Yes, the issue and grievance of Mr Stack was about a system that protects the rich while screwing over the rest of us - a class issue and a corrupted government issue. But, the media doesn't want those issues to be discussed. In fact, they did everything they could to ignore his words, and continued on with the tried and true method of divide, distract and blame the other side. I also think it might be physically impossible for these pundits to speak about this issue because they have trained their heads to only turn in a two-dimensional manner - left and right - while not realizing a 3rd dimension is possible (up and down). And, of course, their paychecks might have something to do with it too...
The other thing that took place was the terrorist debate, and that if this violence were to have been committed by a Muslim... bombs would be dropping all over the world, or that Obama would be ordering the assassination of a US Muslim American citizen without giving him due process of law.
Anyway. My point is that I'm going to refrain from jumping on the 'blame the other side bandwagon' until I can read more about this kid. If I were to jump on any blame bandwagon, it will probably be aimed more towards his social conditioning and the systematic issues our society is facing right now, rather than blaming Palin - which is just another shallow and symptomatic analysis.
Well observed, markpaddles.
I posted a comment on the "Arizona Rep. Giffords Shot At Public Event In Tucson"* article on CD about the perils of trying to come up with an instant comprehensive analysis or interpretation of this tragic event.
One of the traps in rushing to analyze and judge such events is the pernicious fallacy you cogently and correctly warn against: the knee-jerk tendency to classify or pigeonhole perpetrators according to superficial and artificial pop-politics memes and schemes.
There's a shallow and frankly stupid tendency to think that if we can affix the right label to the actor(s), an enlightened understanding of what transpired will readily fall into place.
I don't know how one could quantify this, but my "working assumption" is that very few people, at least thinking people, define themselves in simplistic labels. Although I assert a "leftist" bias, I put the term in quotes because I know it's ambiguous. Actually, my values and beliefs are complex, messy, and all over the map.
Over the years, I've occasionally been mistaken for a wingnut or libertarian by those who ignorantly, foolishly, and needlessly map certain beliefs to a rigid political spectrum.
This ambiguity is more an indication of thoughtfulness than an artifact of mental illness. The impulse to reduce persons-- even disturbed, pathological, violent persons-- to a particular flavor of Lone Nut is exasperating and just plain wrong-headed.
* http://www.commondreams.org/headline/2011/01/08-2
Thanks for the response and the compliment, Obedient Servant. I went and read your comment on the "Arizona Rep. Giffords Shot At Public Event In Tucson" article. Well said! I think you and I are on the same wave length right now.
"There's a shallow and frankly stupid tendency to think that if we can affix the right label to the actor(s), an enlightened understanding of what transpired will readily fall into place."
-- Agreed. And I think what you describe is exactly what Karen has done with this article. It would all make sense, and Karen would be correct, IF there was concrete evidence to prove that Jared was a tea party member and was influenced by Palin's 'Cross Hairs'. But I still haven't found one concrete thing - that comes directly from Jared Lee Loughner's writings and videos - to suggest that he was influenced by Palin and her rhetoric. I'm not saying that it isn't possible, but where is the evidence to support your claim, Karen?
Karen is essentially adding fuel to the political fire by submitting such a speculative article.
Yes, I remember Mr Stack and thought of interjecting his manifesto into the discourse, but there appear to be very few similatities between the two manifestos, so I refrained. However, you do raise a very valid point. I can only relate to printed comments as I refrain from watching what's paraded as news on TV, but the dynamic you illustrate is certainly present in print and online.
I believe there is alaw regarding insurrection. The crosshairs map and hateful, murderous rhetoric should fall under insurrection.
Cross hair pain.
In terrible rhetoric of cross-hairs,
Forged in the meeting of four squares,
Climate change bullets are on their way,
Resource depletion triggers have final say.
Targets are everywhere around to shoot
Innocent in knowledge of original sin,
We all live from machines that pollute,
that load our sky with bullets thin.
How soon is tne next hit?
by violent weather manifest.
Its no use to rally and shout,
or vent in violent protest.
Words often lead to actions.
Even the bad must have sanctions.
Wrong words lead to worry,
That its too late for sorry.
Do You Do You
Really Know
DU?
Personally, I hope the Green family is able to successfully sue and financially ruin Sarah Palin, Glenn Beck, and FOX News. There is plenty of precedent in the civil courts.
I wonder if someone will ask the alleged shooter, "who gave you 'permission' to do this"?
Although there were no written or verbal orders implicit or otherwise from an authority lynch mobs carried out their actions because they felt they had 'permission'.
It will be interesting to see if he is allowed to speak on camera or will we only hear what we're told he said. To me that's one of the things I'm waiting to see. I am also waiting to see if he somehow were to die while in custody. That would be, to say the least, suspicious.
There are some regular posters whom I have yet to hear from on all this.
Actually I'm watching Dateline's coverage of the case right now and every thing said raised questions. I'm going to have to see if that segment will be on line and go through it, quote all the assertions and ask the questions. Such has, where did he get the $500 he used to buy the gun and did he buy the "hundreds" of rounds of ammunition during that same purchase, how much did that cost? It is said that somehow his YouTube postings, which were texts not video, "came to the attention" of authorities and got him kicked out of that Community College he was attending as mentally unstable. How did that happen? Who saw them and brought them to who's attention?
There were a lot more that went by too fast for me to remember them now.
PP said:
"They are already pumping up the drama big time, I mean, not only is it money for the machine, but it keeps the sheeple enraptured"
As tragic as this subject is, we need to keep our eyes on the rest of the news.
With the US’s assumption and phony rush to justice we need to make sure that Julian Assange and WikiLeaks receives a fair and reasonable outcome and not just disappear into oblivion. Stay alert.
Sarah Palin should be in jail right now. Her acts led directly to the murder of 6 people. Her map ws not "just rhetoric", it was a direct threat of murder. Why is this evil witch not in handcuffs right now!
"Sarah Palin should be in jail right now. Her acts led directly to the murder of 6 people. Her map ws not "just rhetoric", it was a direct threat of murder. Why is this evil witch not in handcuffs right now!"
Because she is the darling of the MSM and the Elite who have bought and paid for all the political parties, including the Tea Baggers.
Non Serviam - I will not serve.
NB - The Zodiac Killer also made use of the 'surveyors marks' on his various communiques with the Police at the time.
He was never punished either.
Palin called Julian Assaunge a terrorist, but unlike her, he has never incited violence against anybody. Who is the real terrorist? Whose rhetoric has caused the deaths of innocent people?. Palin or Assaunge?
Excellent!