Arizona again

Arizona Rep. Gabrielle Giffords was shot and gravely wounded today. She was shot point blank in the head by a man named Jared Laughner. The shooter was young, mid-to-late 20s, white, clean-shaven with short hair and wearing dark clothing and said nothing during the shooting or while being held down.

Laughner apparently shot Giffords and 17 others at a public event at a Safeway grocery store in Tucscon. He reportedly shot the congresswoman "point blank" in the head and may have come from inside the store. After shooting Giffords, he allegedly fired 20-30 rounds and hit "a number of people," including a child. He attempted to flee after running out of ammunition and was tackled by one of Giffords' staffers. Early reports are that an aide and a Federal Judge John Roll were also killed in the shooting as well as four more people including a 9 year old child.

Giffords had been on Sarah Palin's "target list." Once again we see that words have meaning. I talked to a conservative friend about the incident this morning and he cautioned me that the shooter was a nut and should not be called a tea-partier. We don't really no his make up yet. But one of his favorite books was Mein Kampf according to his myspace page. Go figure. You go to bed with dogs, you unfortunately wake up with fleas.  Stoke the fires of racism and violence and we all face the consequences. The conservative fringe needs to do a little soul searching. Of course they will all loudly decry the shootings. But will they partake of any serious self inspection as to the role their actions and rhetoric may have contributed to the angry climate?

Such a terrible tragedy. One target down, Sarah.

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I read today that Arizona has now passed a law outlying Hispanic Studies in its schools.

From the NYT:

“It’s propagandizing and brainwashing that’s going on there,” Tom Horne, Arizona’s newly elected attorney general, said this week as he officially declared the program in violation of a state law that went into effect on Jan. 1. 

Black and Asian studies have not been touched. Horne wrote the law aimed at challenging Tucson’s ethnic-studies program. The measure was passed last spring, and Gov. Jan Brewer signed it into law in May amid fierce protests.

"The Arizona law warns school districts that they stand to lose 10 percent of their state education funds if their ethnic-studies programs are found not to comply with new state standards. Programs that promote the overthrow of the United States government are explicitly banned, and that includes the suggestion that portions of the Southwest that were once part of Mexico should be returned to that country. Also prohibited is any promotion of resentment toward a race. Programs that are primarily for one race or that advocate ethnic solidarity instead of individuality are also outlawed. "


Horne said the district’s other ethnic-studies programs, unlike the Mexican-American program, had not received complaints and could continue.

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After I read this story this morning and now with the shooting episode I think back to last week when the Pakistani lawmaker, Punjab Governor Salman Taseer was shot down by his own bodyguard. He had brooked the religious establishment in fighting their ridiculous anti blasphemy laws. His assassin's supporters threw rose petals as his armoured vehicle passed by with him in custody. I wonder if Laughner will get similar treatment in Arizona?