Arizona Prays : The Tragedy In Tucson
55J.D. Hayworth Has It Right
On Fox News this very minute, former U.S. Representative J.D. Hayworth said it best:
"I believe that all of America could use a lot more prayer and a lot less politics right now."
Amen, Brother.
Virtually everyone in the country knows by now: Yesterday, shortly after 10:00 a.m., 22 year old Jared Loughner went on a shooting rampage in Tucson, Arizona. By the time two unarmed bystanders tackled him and took him down (as he attempted to reload his 9mm Glock), 19 people had been shot. A number of those people did not survive, and our U.S. Representative from Arizona CD8, Congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords, is fighting for survival at the University Medical Center.
Pam and I are devastated. In fact, we don't personally know of anyone in the entire state of Arizona who is not devastated. Our hearts and prayers are with Gabby and her family and also with the families of those who did not survive.
As I'm a political conservative writing in the public realm, there is a cadre of citizens throughout our great nation who neither believe nor understand this. I do not wish to spend much time talking about them--our fallen deserve better than that--but do expect some of these sincere but misinformed Americans to comment on this page. To them, I say simply that any comments which are considered negative in nature will be summarily deleted/denied. To our other readers, I say simply that if you see such comments in play, they'll be removed within a matter of hours at most.
May the blessings be.
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Absolutely, Jim. Thanks for commenting.
I join in your prayer for all involved and a heartfelt thank you for those who rose to the occasion and stopped him. God Bless.
My thoughts and prayers are with the victims and families of everyone who died or were seriously injured at the hands of madman.
My heart and prayers are with you all! May God bless you all.
Hammer, Pop, Ms Dee, thanks for checking in. We're all on the same page, for sure.
Hi Ghost, My prayers are with all of the families. It's really sad that politics pushes peopl to these kinds of acts. What is sad is some of the comments I have read on the Internet about the shooting of Congresswoman Gifford and stating that there is a hitlist and blaming Sarah Palin and The Tea Party already. Greg
Yes, Gregas. Many of those folks commented on one particular hub of mine which I deleted (with Pam's full endorsement) after things went way beyond the merely ridiculous. I did that as a sign of respect for Gaby and the other victims, not because of concern about the attacks, but that was the "inspiration" for my closing paragraph in this hub.
I completely agree with you: It is sad.
Shocking to see this on tv. Terrible. A few years ago we had in the Netherlands two similar cases but with only one special target (Pim Fortuyn and Theo van Gogh). Hell broke loose in the media and there was a lot of anger, fear and discussion on the streets. It's important that anger and unbelieve can be ventilated and that this crazy action will be condemned by every political camp. Otherwise the gap between left and right can grow to dangerous proportions.
Ghost, like most citizens of Arizona, and the rest of the country, I had a very sleepless night. How this can happen in a supposedly civilized country is beyond belief. So far it appears the shooter is just a nut case and was not assoicated with any particular group. I'm certain more facts will be discovered and released to the public as the investigation proceeds. This case was turned over to the FBI and it is a Federal Case. He will not be able to walk on a temporary insanity plea on a Federal Case. This guy will never walk the streets again for the rest of his life.
The victims of this shooting were all fine people and this act of violence was disgusting to say the least. May this nut case burn in hell for all of eternity.
Ron, thank you for commenting. Every political camp in our country does condemn this action; there is no question whatsoever about that.
Mike, there is some indication this might have been a hate crime (based both on what I found online last night and on media reports).
I didn't know that about a Federal Case, that he won't be able to walk on a temporary insanity plea. That much, at least, is good.
Disgusting isn't a strong enough word for what he did, but I fully realize that (like me) nothing more accurate seems to be available in the English language.
The medical update that just aired is moderately encouraging, at least. Including the fact that all of the wounded victims they were able to save OTHER than Gaby have now been upgraded from critical and moved out of the I.C.U. Also, especially considering that she's the only member of Congress with an active duty spouse, some of the neurosurgery techniques used to save her life were actually gleaned from the military in the last 10 years.
We all pray along with AZ. In fact prayer should have been at the top of the list prior to this. My shock and devastation over this heinous act is equal to the day JFK was shot.
May the families of all the wounded, deceased and the Gifford family be blessed with the healing power of God to Whom we all pray for their relief. May He heal Gaby so she may once again be a part of all of our lives in wholeness of body and mind.
For us (Pam and me) it seems to be actually hitting harder than Dallas did--but that might only be due to the softening effect of the decades that have passed since Nov. 22, 1963. I did notice it wasn't necessary to look up the date.
Thanks for your prayers.
Oh..this is so sad. I could not believe it so I had to go through different news sites...
Yes, our prayers go to them...
Thanks, Melinda.
Update: Word on the news now is that before the two men tackled the shooter, a woman went after him when she saw him trying to reload. She grabbed the magazine and weapon and prevented him from firing another shot until the two men could get there to actually take him down.
I saw that as well, Ghost. I think she was shot in the process. Thank God for brave Americans.
Those were the early reports--which were thankfully in error. Just heard her tell it in her own words.
Turns out the two guys did have him down before she acted, not the other way around. He was trying to pull the magazine from his pocket to reload. It was knocked loose, went skittering on the ground (or pavement, I suppose, being a Safeway parking lot). She'd been lying flat, hit the deck when the shooting started, but scrambled and managed to secure the magazine.
Still a mighty good move, no doubt about it.
FitnezzJim Level 6 Commenter 16 months ago
This is one of those rare occasions where nearly everyone agrees ... time out with the politics. May our thoughts and prayers be with those who have fallen or been wounded. Violence isn't the answer, it's part of the problem.