Gabrielle Giffords

Folks, at this point I'm sure you're all aware that congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords was shot in the head on Saturday, January 8th. Several others were also victims of gunman Jared Lee Loughner, including a nine year old girl. This is a tragic incident in our country and I would ask that anyone who reads this to please pray for the victims of this tragedy, as well as their families.

Not to undermine this tragedy, there are several questions about what happened. First, it should be noted that the shooter has not said what provoked him to open fire on innocent individuals. He has not said that it was the Democrats or the Republicans. We cannot begin to point blame, at this point we can only assume that this man acted on in own free will with no outside influences. With that being said, I think it's only fair to take a look at what Americans are talking about right now. Sarah Palin is known for her fierce criticism of President Obama. People are now asking if she had any indirect influence on this shooter. Again, I want to make clear that I am not attempting to pin any blame on Mrs. Palin and I highly doubt she had any influence on this lunatic, I simply think that there are valid questions being asked. One aspect being called into question is the graphic posted on Sarah Palin's website which featured crosshairs over areas under Democratic representation, along with the name of the Representative. The graphic says that "Let's take back the 20," referring to 20 representatives who were targeted. Along with this there was the infamous tweet telling Conservatives "Don't retreat, Instead Reload." This was a terrible choice of rhetoric. You can see them here:

http://www.alan.com/2010/03/24/palin-puts-gun-sighs-on-target-map-says-ti/

Personally, even though Sarah Palin likely had no influence on the shooter, I think she should apologize for her choice of words. The tone of politics in our country must be changed. Hateful speech, regardless of intentions, does undoubtedly incite violence. This rhetoric breeds hate and is the catalyst for these tragic events. Again, I am not trying to blame Sarah Palin, but, since she has come under such scrutiny, she could, at the very least, apologize for what she said, explaining that this was far from anything she ever wanted to happen.

Another issue that is making it's rounds on the internet is the editing choices made on Sarah Palin's facebook. As a politician, Sarah Palin has her advocates, as well as those who don't particularly care for her policies. Because of this the comments on Sarah Palin's facebook are edited, removing some of the more negative comments. An individual took some screenshots of what unfolded in the comments of Sarah Palin's facebook. Her team continuously cleaned her comments of anything negative, but when an individual made a comment about Christina Taylor Green, the nine year old girl who was killed in the shootings, the comment was left alone. The individual virtually said that he or she was happy that the child was killed because she would probably just grow up to be a "bleeding heart liberal." Palin's team left this comment untouched. Now, I cannot personally vouch for the authenticity of this, but there are screenshots of the page and it looks very legitimate. Again, I do not think that this means Sarah Palin is happy that a child is dead, or planned it, or anything of that sort. It seems to me that this was very bad judgement on the part of Palin's team. I do believe, however, that the team you choose reflects on you. Here is a link to the bit on Sarah Palin's facebook:

http://obamalondon.blogspot.com/2011/01/inexplicable-edits-on-sarah-palins.html

More Political Enlightenment

Hey everyone. Sorry that it's been a while since I've updated my blog, I've just been very busy. Here's a video covering my opinion on a lot of what's been going on in Washington over the past month.