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In light of recent events...

William is severely disturbed individual who should probably be ordered to submit to the same psych evaluation the shooter should have seen. The sheriff knew of this guys behavior and did nothing....the liberal nut job he is. For that matter the shooter was NOT a conservative. We've established this a long time ago. And lastly no one is to blame here but the shooter himself.

Here's another opinion piece:

The Other (Endless) Massacre

Tucson Tragedy Eclipses Minority Murders

by Ralph Peters

Since Saturday, our media have reveled in the aftermath of the avoidable slaughter in Tucson, where a young madman--ignored by “tolerant” social, educational and law-enforcement systems—gunned down, among others, a federal judge and a nine-year-old girl, while gravely wounding a Congresswoman reaching out to her constituents.

Caught out in his incompetence, Sheriff Clarence Dupnik of Pima County, Arizona, railed against conservatives, who the “lawman” blamed for the massacre on his turf. Other leftists rushed to blame the Tea Party (conveniently overlooking the murderer’s internet claim that The Communist Manifesto was one of his favorite books—oops!).

The fact is that the shooter wasn’t a political creature, but a psychopath. And a hyper-liberal social climate allowed him to go unchecked, despite no end of warning signs and documented complaints from his fellow citizens.

Meanwhile, another massacre occurred on the doorstep of our nation’s capital, but the media and left-wing activists ignored it: In the first eleven days of 2011, eleven people were gunned down in Prince George’s County, Maryland. Their deaths were irrelevant to the political discourse—because they were black.

We do, indeed, have a violence problem and an intolerable culture of the gun in this country. But it has nothing to do with honest citizens who go hunting every autumn. It’s a creation of the Democratic Party, which will take no serious measures to impose the rule of law and foster quality education systems in minority-populated districts, preferring to keep blacks and Latinos down on their electoral plantations.

Prince George’s County should be a shining success story. Bordering the District of Columbia, it has the highest per capita income of any black-majority county in the country, thanks largely to federal jobs. Yet, its levels of violence are breathtaking, the last county executive and his wife have been charged with whopping corruption, the police are dysfunctional (and frequently indicted), and the schools are third-rate. It’s a poster community for the effects on minorities of leftist policies designed by white elites.

How did county officials respond to eleven dead in eleven days? By telling citizens not to worry, since the killers and victims mostly knew each other and at least six of the crimes were drug-related. That made it okay.

Want to see racism in action? You don’t have to call up images of Selma five decades ago. The media weep for white victims in Tucson, but turn up their collective noses at the ongoing slaughter in minority communities. Intolerable drop-out rates from incompetent school systems exacerbate a multi-generational cycle of poverty and culture of violence. Wherever Democrats rule, minorities get the scraps from the overseer’s table, while the party’s professional blamesters tell them their problems stem from slavery that ended a century and a half ago, from lack of opportunity ascribed to prejudice, and from old-fashioned white bigotry.

Whites aren’t killing blacks. Blacks are. But facts are inconvenient.

To be fair, the apostles of blame are historically correct. The problem is that correct history isn’t taught. The racist Democratic Party gave this country the Confederacy, which fought a four-year war to preserve slavery, resulting in over a half-million deaths. When war failed to keep blacks chained, Democrats created the Ku Klux Klan and preserved Southern segregation into the 1960s. Lack of opportunity? Look at the union-ravaged schools where minority students aren’t expected to learn (and where they’re certainly not taught the history of “their” Democratic Party). Then the Democrat-spawned Great Society robbed black communities of their pride, addicting them to hand-outs. It’s a blot on our nation’s conscience—on all of us, liberal or conservative—that we have tolerated policies that left once-thriving minority communities with less promise and social integrity than they enjoyed in the years of segregation.

Dead young blacks don’t count in Washington politics or for the media. And that is a position so immoral and repugnant that future generations will excoriate our callousness and bigotry as savagely as we castigate the records of Bull Connor and Lester Maddox. The shocking human wastage among minorities in this country should mobilize us all to demand safe streets, disciplined schools and the dignity of achievement for our fellow citizens debased by leftist policies.

It’s up to conservatives to push for reforms with bite, since leftists never will. They thrive on the alienation of their own victims.

As we enter the second decade of the 21st Century, our country needs all the educated, hard-working talent we can generate. At present, we seek it from immigrants, while ignoring the politically segregated and willfully marginalized fellow citizens in our ghettos, barrios—and Democratic Party strongholds, such as Prince George’s County.

This column doesn’t stem from political bias, but from outrage. I’m ashamed of the terrorist act committed by a psychopath in Tucson—a young killer unleashed by a combination of do-your-own-thing-no-matter-what tolerance and a local bureaucracy conditioned to avoid responsibility. But I am far more ashamed of the media’s and society’s willingness to write off minority Americans—except when it’s politically convenient to pander to them.

Responsible journalism? Consider one more nauseating example of media racism (despite the rise of minority anchors and reporters): For years we’ve been treated to breathless reporting about a missing middle-class teenager, Natalee Holloway, who was white, blond and photogenic. Does any reader of this column believe that, had that girl been black and poor, she would have gotten a single prime-time mention? Social justice? Don’t make me laugh. If she ain’t white and cute, networks don’t give a hoot.

The Tucson tragedy was inexcusable. But it also was an anomaly. The slaughter in minority communities is 24/7. Meanwhile, even our first minority president perpetuates the culture of failure essential to Democratic politics: Instead of crusading vigorously for safe, quality schools in minority neighborhoods—schools for the benefit of their students, not unionized teachers--he debased the prestige of his office by phoning a sports hustler to praise him for giving an abusive criminal and overpaid sports star a “second chance.”

The children of millions of parents who voted for Obama won’t get a first chance.

We all pray that Congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords will recover. But will our minority fellow citizens ever recover from leftist policies thrust upon them by white ideologues?

We’ll bury the dead of the Tucson tragedy with fanfare. But the dead of Prince George’s County will go ignored.

It’s un-American.
 
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Loughner should have been placed in a mental institution years ago! He has a record of making death threads and is well known with the Pima County Sheriffs department.

RPT-Arizona suspect had made death threats-sheriff | Reuters

The fact that he was left on the streets and not institutionalized contributed to this tragedy.. and much of Dupniks rhetoric is purely a feeble attempt to protect his political career. And the saddest part is that Dupnik's comments are likely going to aid Loughners defense attorney to claim insanity.

Could Sheriff's comments help build insanity defense? - KGUN9 On Your Side, Tucson News, Weather & Sports

I'm thinking that Dupnik needs to start thinking about retiring...
 
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The fact that you guys on the left even put up this garbage

Remember our motto - attack issues and not other posters.

Everyone has a right to their opinion and to express it on this topic within the bounds of the forum rules, links in my sig, above.

You want to question what you think is garbage, fine. You want to question the people posting a view contrary to your own - against the rules.

It's that simple - and to the next person trying this - we agree that no matter how you pretend otherwise, you've read this and failure to comply will be met with the higher infraction of failure to heed a mod's warning.

And no one will have need of replying to the above comment unless replaced or edited to follow the rules.
 
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And lastly no one is to blame here but the shooter himself.

Yes, the shooter pulled the trigger ( allegedly, innocent until proven guilty and all that).

It's certainly a stretch to say that the far right caused this tragedy. In that respect, the opinion piece I posted goes a bit further than I am comfortable with.

However, I thought the main point of the piece was worth discussing.

Whether you are left or right, R or D, it's really hard to ignore that the divisions in our country are growing.

Try to be objective and ask yourself, who is responsible for this?

I would argue that there are individuals (in politics, in the media, etc.) who are actively trying to incite hatred of the "other side" and split our country down the middle for their own benefit.

How do we stop it? When do we, as a people, stop listening to this BS?

I was hopeful that, after the recent elections, we would see the two sides coming together again - to work together. I was hoping we get more civilized discourse if they are forced to share power. That doesn't seem to be what is happening.

I used to vote republican. I voted for GWB the first time. After I saw what was becoming of our country, I started to shift to the left.

I consider myself in the middle, and I'll vote either way depending on what I believe is best for our country.

However, right now the Republicans are not doing anything to win me back.

All this talk about repealing the health care bill... you do realize there is NO chance of that happening right? There is no way you would ever get enough votes to override a presidential veto. You think Obama is going to sign off on repealing his own landmark achievement?

At best, the Republicans are doing nothing but wasting time, money, and energy on this. I wish they would put that effort into something else.


This kind of political posturing, regardless of which side is doing it, drives me nuts.

We have REAL problems in this country. When is someone going to DO something about them?

All I get is "talk talk talk fear fear fear burn burn burn". Meanwhile, there are people out there that are waiting for a solution from our government.


Greatest country on earth? *Scoff*
 
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Wow, I despise Sarah Palin(for her actions completely unrelated to the tuscon incident), but calling her or anyone on the right responsible for this is a bit much. I would blame religious rhetoric for more bloodshed than politics could come close to, but that's another story for another thread.

I do agree with one thing. The split caused by naming ourselves right or left, democrat or republican is destroying america. I think we would be better off never using a party to describe ourselves. Argue the issue, don't hide behind your party and agree with everything they say(or they are paying you to say).
 
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I'm ashamed of nearly all in politics,many if not most spew half truths as facts,don't want people to have all necessary info. and are flat out liars,I'm disgusted by the bs..Tea Party,Repub.party,Indep.party,Dem.party and all other looney tunes party,how can anyone believe any of them. We all share in the downward spiral ,we've allowed our country to go down the tubes by greed,selfishness and especially my baby boomer generation that held so much promise,have given in,given up & have not fought the good fight,how could any of us be proud of ourselves.
I'm not saying this because of the original post here,none of us have done nearly enough to help our community our country and most of all we haven't helped our selves to become the best we could be and if we all look deep enough,we all seem to think someone else should have done it for us,instead of doing it for ourselves.We owe it to ourselves & our kids to do better in our lives and anything less is not enough.
Yes,I know I've ranted too much here,I'm just feed up with the blame bs,most all of us are less than what we should be by our own choosing,no one else's fault and until we take ownership to that single & simple truth,well enough said.I'm sorry for the out burst,it just flowed out.
 
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I do agree with one thing. The split caused by naming ourselves right or left, democrat or republican is destroying america. I think we would be better off never using a party to describe ourselves. Argue the issue, don't hide behind your party and agree with everything they say(or they are paying you to say).


Whole-heartedly agree. It wouldn't work, but I agree.
 
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I do agree with one thing. The split caused by naming ourselves right or left, democrat or republican is destroying america. I think we would be better off never using a party to describe ourselves. Argue the issue, don't hide behind your party and agree with everything they say(or they are paying you to say).

Completely agree. I wish we had an Independent as President so at least he/she would not have to follow a party.
 
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Under our system, an "indy" president would be kissing the backside of one side or the other to get anything done, just as it is today. You cannot govern without alignments. Unfortunately, too many in our current Congress are so far over to one side, they are only able to follow doctrine, and the good of the country be damned.
 
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Of all the articles I've read about the coverage of the shooting this one probably sums up my feelings the best:
The Giffords Shooting, The Instant Politicization of Everything, & Why Americans Increasingly Hate Dems & Reps - Hit & Run : Reason Magazine

Like Matt Welch and Jack Shafer, I don't think that today's political rhetoric is particularly overheated or vitriolic and, even if it were, I don't think that would be a problem. I suspect that most people are like me in that they respond to folks who actually believe something and are willing to fight for it when it comes to a particular political issue. I don't like bipartisanship, which usually means that all of us get screwed, but it's easy enough to respect someone you virulently disagree with if you think they are arguing in good faith.


The problem isn't with the current moment's rhetoric, it's with the goddamn politicization of every goddamn thing not even for a higher purpose or broader fight but for the cheapest moment-by-moment partisan advantage. Whether on the left or on the right, there's a totalist mentality that everything can and should be explained first and foremost as to whether it helps or hurt the party of choice.*


That sort of clearly calculated punditry helps explain one of last week's other big stories, which is how both the Dems and the GOP have really bad brand loyalty these days. In its most recent survey of political self-identification, Gallup found that the Dems were at their lowest point in 22 years and that the GOP remains stuck below the one-third mark. The affiliation that has the highest marks for the past couple of decades on average and is growing now is independent. Faced with the way that the major parties and their partisans try to bend every news story, trend, box office hit or bomb, you name it, whether truly horrific (as Saturday's shooting was) or totally banal, is it any wonder that fewer people want to be affiliated with the Dems and Reps? This is a long-term trend. Indeed, Harris Poll numbers that stretch back to the late '60s show the same trend: Fewer and few folks want to view themselves as Democrats and the GOP has never been popular (even though far more people consider themselves "conservative" than "liberal"). And note what Gallup are Harris are talking about there is not party registration. It's identification and self-affiliation; how you see yourself. It's a cultural identity.
*Emphasis mine

It also does a good job of articulating why I've never joined a political party and probably never will.
 
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More's the pity that if you want to vote, they still make you register as Democrat or Republican. At least in TN, they don't give you Independent as an ("official") option.

I found the letter in the OP a bit to full of hate-speak for my taste, and it was obvious which side of the aisle the author sits on. The second letter further down aligns more closely with my views.

I haven't identified as Republican in quite a while, though I do fall into the conservative majority in more than 75% of issues, especially those regarding finance.

Plainly said, I'm sick of this government, I wish we could vote them all out and start again, but that would require the ignorant masses to become less ignorant.
 
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More's the pity that if you want to vote, they still make you register as Democrat or Republican. At least in TN, they don't give you Independent as an ("official") option.

I found the letter in the OP a bit to full of hate-speak for my taste, and it was obvious which side of the aisle the author sits on. The second letter further down aligns more closely with my views.

I haven't identified as Republican in quite a while, though I do fall into the conservative majority in more than 75% of issues, especially those regarding finance.

Plainly said, I'm sick of this government, I wish we could vote them all out and start again, but that would require the ignorant masses to become less ignorant.

This holds true for me too. I used to be republican, but they leave a foul taste in my mouth....
 
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More's the pity that if you want to vote, they still make you register as Democrat or Republican. At least in TN, they don't give you Independent as an ("official") option.

I found the letter in the OP a bit to full of hate-speak for my taste, and it was obvious which side of the aisle the author sits on. The second letter further down aligns more closely with my views.

I haven't identified as Republican in quite a while, though I do fall into the conservative majority in more than 75% of issues, especially those regarding finance.

Plainly said, I'm sick of this government, I wish we could vote them all out and start again, but that would require the ignorant masses to become less ignorant.

Who, pray tell, are the "ignorant masses"?
 
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