Arizona Deep and DearTraditions & This Crazy Little Thing We Call the Bill of Rights

“We have met the enemy and he is us.” - Pogo

"I would remind you that extremism in the defense of liberty is no vice! And let me remind you also that moderation in the pursuit of justice is no virtue!" - Barry Goldwater

Please note I have tried to post the links to the secondary sources I got this information from.

I doubt this blog will resonate with many of you, but I found myself dwelling on today’s terrible events in Arizona, and being troubled. So I read some things and am sharing them here with some reflections.

During the 9/11 attacks took place, an aide leaned over George W. Bush, who was reading to school kids, and whispered, “We are under attack”. George Bush sat for a while, clearly stunned. The question is are we still under attack again today, or are our enemies determined to attack again within the United States.

I am not talking about Al-Qaeda.

I am talking about Tea Party Partisans, particularly the gun wielding ones.

There seems to be an obvious paradox. It is a constitutional right for citizens to bear arms. It is within the constitutional right of free speech to advocate threatening specific people you do not agree with and to use those arms to threaten them, at least metaphorically. Killing people you do not agree with is apparently not unconstitutional, although it is against the law in many places, and is generally to be discouraged, unless you do not agree politically with the person you may threaten to kill metaphorically.

Today Rep. Gabrielle Giffords of Arizona was shot in the head, and an unknown number of others were wounded when an assailant opened fire in an area where the lawmaker was meeting with constituents, officials said. Many of the wounded are dead or dying, including a 9 year old girl and a senior Federal Justice appointed by George H. Bush.

Early reports are that the arrested suspect in the shooting is 22 year old Jared Lee Loughner, a man whose quickly retrieved online YouTube posts suggest that he is a paranoid man with an obsession with the government. From the Huffington Post: “The most illustrative window is Loughner’s YouTube account, which appears to be hub of anti-government zealotry, obsession over currency and language standards, and, to put it bluntly, outright paranoia.”

However, when the congresswoman’s father Spencer Giffords, 75, was asked if his 40-year-old daughter had any enemies, he offered a different opinion as to where to cast blame. He wept and said "Yeah," he told The New York Post. "The whole tea party."

Is this just a grief stricken father’s rambling hyperbole and slanderous accusations? Is he too just another delusional paranoid? Consider the following.

According the New York Times, “Sylvia Lee, a friend of Ms. Giffords, told CNN that the congresswoman had received numerous threats….Last March, after the final approval of the Democrats’ health care law, which Ms. Giffords supported, the windows of her office in Tucson were broken or shot out in an act of vandalism. Similar acts were reported by other members of Congress, and several arrests were made, including that of a man who had threatened to kill Senator Patty Murray, Democrat of Washington.

"And in August 2009, when there were demonstrations against the health care measure across the nation, a protester who showed up to meet Ms. Giffords at a supermarket event similar to Saturday’s was removed by the police when the pistol he had holstered under his armpit fell and bounced on the floor.

"During the fall campaign, Sarah Palin, the former Republican vice-presidential candidate, posted a controversial map on her Facebook page depicting spots where Democrats were running for re-election; those Democrats were noted by crosshairs symbols like those seen through the scope of a gun. Ms. Giffords was among those on Ms. Palin’s map.”

 This is just free-speech , right?

Also, Giffords’ 2010 Congressional opponent Jesse Kelly held a June 12 gun event that was billed as follows on the Pima County Republican website (now removed)

“Get on Target for Victory in November Help remove Gabrielle Giffords from office Shoot a fully automatic M15 with Jesse Kelly”

Jesse Kelly, meanwhile, doesn’t seem to be bothered in the least by the Sarah Palin controversy earlier this year, when she released a list of targeted races in crosshairs, urging followers to “reload” and “aim” for Democrats. Critics said she was inciting violence.

He seems to be embracing his fellow tea partier’s idea. Kelly’s campaign event website has a stern-looking photo of the former Marine in military garb holding his weapon. It includes the headline: “Get on Target for Victory in November. Help remove Gabrielle Giffords from office. Shoot a fully automatic M16 with Jesse Kelly.”

The event costs $50.

Isolated rhetoric? More Free Speech?

Well, controversial Rep. Michele Bachmann (R-Minn.) said this weekend that she wants residents of her state "armed and dangerous" over President Barack Obama's plan to reduce global warming "because we need to fight back." This is the same extreme paranoid ramblings of the tea party’s favorite son, Glenn Beck.

For example:

     -- He ran several segments, including one on his radio show, in which he promoted the concept of the secession of Texas from the Union. A little later, he tried to pretend he didn't agree with the concept while in fact giving a secessionist the opportunity to promote his plans to Beck's audience.

     -- He regularly promoted "one world government" paranoia. This included a supposed plot to put us all on a global currency controlled by the New World Order.

     -- He tried to argue that the chief cause of the sour economy was the United States' reliance on a central banking system.

     -- He hosted an entire hourlong segment devoted to promoting militia-derived constitutional theories about state sovereignty.

     -- He expressed his admiration for Nazi admirer and renowned anti-Semite Henry Ford.

     -- He warned his audience about Obama's supposed secret plot to grab our guns.

    -- He also speculated that it is actually liberal "political correctness" that inspires right-wingers to go on murderous killing rampages.

     -- Later, when a Beck fan named Richard Poplawski shot three Pittsburgh police officers because he believed the cops were going to take his guns away on behalf of President Obama...and a number of other acts of right-wing violence occurred that were similarly inspired by Beck's kookery...Beck attacked C&L and other blogs for having the audacity to point out the connection.

     -- Then, after building up his audience's paranoia, anger, and fearfulness, he pleaded with them not to indulge in acts of violence.

After the shooting of Congresswoman Giffords, Palin has remove the crosshair map from her website and offered her condolences on facebook:

     “My sincere condolences are offered to the family of Rep. Gabrielle Giffords and the other victims of today's tragic shooting in Arizona. On behalf of Todd and my family, we all pray for the victims and their families, and for peace and justice.- Sarah Palin”

There were generally two flavors of commentsthat followed this posting.

     Bartholomew Hayes “Your rhetoric has caused the deaths of innocent Americans and your offered 'prayers' rings hollow after putting this Congresswoman in your 'crosshairs'. try washing their blood off of your hands but you are unable to do so!”

     Katherine Shannon “Wasn't this one of the members of congress whom you put in your "crosshairs?" Why did you do that?”

     Noah Karr Kaitin “This is what happens when you play with fire, Sarah. You hurt innocent people.”

     F.A. Seidman “You should be in prison. Don't try to worm your way out of this like when O'Reilly incited    the killing of George Tiller. Your political career is over and I hope to God you're Federally investigated for inciting hate crimes with your ‘hit list’.”

     Louise Wylen “Heh, you took out a lot of Libs today, eh, Sarah? good work!!! “

     Laura C Cutshall “ ‘The crossfire is intense, so penetrate through enemy territory by bombing through the press, and use your strong weapons -- your Big Guns -- to drive to the hole. Shoot with accuracy; aim high and remember it takes blood, sweat and tears to win,’ -- Sarah Palin”

     Gawain Harding “Don't retreat, reload.”

     Tim Kapp “Politics will get you shot, not that politicians deserve much better.”

Of note, Giffords differed with many Democrats on issues such as gun control. A long-time gun owner, Giffords supported the Second Amendment to the Constitution on the right of Americans to bear arms, according to her official biography. U.S. Rep. Gabrielle Giffords of the 8th Congressional District also signed an amicus brief opposing to a 32-year-old ban on private handgun ownership in Washington D.C. Giffords owns a Glock handgun and regards gun ownership as a constitutional right and an "Arizona tradition."

Arizona was one of the states that sued to overturn the Brady Handgun Violence Prevention Act of 1993 l which required background checks before you could purchase a handgun. The bill was named after James Brady who was shot in the head by the Jodie-Foster-obsessed John Hinckley, Jr. during an attempted assassination of President Ronald Reagan on March 30, 1981. The bill was ruled unconstitutional in 1998, but most states, including Arizona, still require the sort of checks when purchasing a gun from a federally licensed gun dealer. However, sales by private owners especially at gunshows do not necessarily require such checks in all states, including Arizona.

In July 2009, Representatives Michael Castle and Carolyn McCarthy introduced the Gun Show Loophole Closing Act of 2009 (H.R. 2324)[13] in the U.S. House of Representatives. Sen. Frank Lautenberg introduced similar legislation, the "Gun Show Background Check Act of 2009"(S. 843), in the U.S. Senate. As of October 2009, the House version of the bill had 35 co-sponsors (mostly Democrats) and the Senate version had 15 co-sponsors, all Democrats.

Presently, 17 states regulate private firearm sales at gun shows. Seven states require background checks on all gun sales at gun shows (California, Rhode Island, Connecticut, Oregon, New York, Illinois and Colorado). Four states (Hawaii, Maryland, New Jersey, and Pennsylvania) require background checks on all handgun, but not long gun, purchasers at gun shows. Five states require individuals to obtain a permit to purchase handguns that involves a background check (Massachusetts, Michigan, North Carolina, Iowa, Nebraska). Certain counties in Florida require background checks on all private sales of handguns at gun shows. The remaining 33 states including Arizona do not restrict private, intrastate sales of firearms at gun shows in any manner.

Apparently it is an Arizona tradition, among its many traditions (John McCain and Barry Goldwater aside). And perhaps they are among our dearest and deepest American traditions as well , such as unending tragedy, blind stupidity, perpetual violence, the unhinging effects hate and fear, and our all-too-many wasted lives.