Of Tragedies And Double Standards

Prayer vigil for Congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords in Tucson, AZ

Today has been a very unusual Sunday.  It didn't really feel very much like a Sunday as we watched Fox News and saw the usually weekly staff taking the place of the weekend programs.  Like many Americans we were tuned in to television news, and reading news on the Internet, mostly hoping that news would come that Congresswoman Gabby Giffords was "out of the woods," although we know that with a complex injury to the brain as she suffered, only time can tell how long her recovery will be, and what deficits, if any, she will have suffered.


The carnage in Arizona yesterday was truly an American tragedy and it has many ramifications.  First and foremost what should concern us is the recovery process of those who were injured, and  we send our condolences and sympathy for the families of those who were sensesly murdered.


However in spite of our grief and concern, we can't help but feel anger at the irresponsibility of those who have from the onset attempted to politicize the  murderous rampage of an individual who by all accounts is unstable and deranged.

According to the Christian Science Monitor, "After the shooting, Pima County Sheriff Clarence Dupnik, a Democrat in a largely Republican state, condemned "the vitriol that comes out of certain mouths about tearing down the government."  This, in our opinion, was the initial source of the subsequent, damaging reports that have appeared in the mainstream media, as well as many leftist blogs and journals.

This irresponsible attempt to link Jared Lee Loughren to the Tea Party movement, and specifically former Alaska Governor Sarah Palin was and is reprehensible.  Even Fox News' Geraldo Rivera and Shepherd Smith, both sensationalist personalities, are guilty of this abhorrent behavior.  Not only have their baseless speculations misinformed many and offended many others, but they have also inspired the news media abroad to blame American conservatives.

Ironically, when Major Nidal Malik Hassan opened fire at Ft. Hood, Texas, killing 13 of his fellow soldiers and wounding 32 others, the media was very cautious to even mention that Major Hassan was a Muslim.  In fact, Attorney General Eric Holder has refused to link  Hassan to radical Islam in spite of the fact that Hassan screamed, "Allahu Akbar," the Muslim battle cry, as he opened fire at Ft. Hood's Soldier Readiness center.  Later investigations linked him to a renegade American Muslim cleric who preaches violence against America, and radical Islamic references were found in his possessions. 

Anyone who does not see the double standard here is either deliberately obtuse or in complete denial.

The accusations that Loughren was somehow linked to an publication called American Renaissance has been  denied by the founder of  "The New Century Foundation - Yale University graduate Jared Taylor, the author of several books on race and policy who has has written that diversity is "dangerous" because it is "one of the most divisive forces on the planet."

American Renaissance is the publication of the The New Century Foundation, described by the Anti-Defamation League as a "self-styled think tank." The ADL, on its website, calls American Renaissance a "white supremacist journal and companion Website" that "promotes pseudoscientific studies that attempt to demonstrate the intellectual and cultural superiority of whites and publishes articles on the supposed decline of American society because of integrationist social policies." 

Even the most hardcore liberal must see that such a group has nothing to do with a grassroots movement such as the Tea Party which is not made up of pseudo intellectuals, but rather, every day Americans of every religion and race who stand for something entirely different from those segregationist ideas.


Mark Pitcavage, director of investigative research at the Anti-Defamation League, is skeptical about any hard connection between Loughner and American Renaissance.  Says Mr. Pitcavage. "Based on the limited nature of [Loughner's] Internet footprint suggesting his thoughts and beliefs, there's nothing to lead one to think he would lean that way. It's perplexing to us that there is a notion of a substantial connection."

Several government agencies have engaged in a fact finding endeavor in order to put together a psychological profile of Jared Lee Loughner.  Currently his computer is being analyzed in order to learn more about him.  He has been described by those who knew him as a marijuana smoking, loner who  was a troubled student who not only caused problems in class but he actually frightened his classmates. He also has a record of problems with the law. 

According to the Christian Science Monitor, the picture that emerges of Loughren is  as an anti-social, erratic and possibly mentally unstable young man, whose anti-religion and anti-flag views run starkly counter to the broader tea party platform. Caitie Parker, one of his high school classmates, says in press reports that in the past Loughner was "quite liberal," and a "political radical." Sheriff Dupnik said Saturday, "He has a troubled past, I can tell you that."    In one of his You Tube rants, Loughner declares, "No, I wont Trust in God."  Even Sheriff Dupnik can see that such a description does not match the liberal thinker's stereotype of a Conservative Tea Party affiliate.

In his My Space account, Loughner listed his favorite books as Animal Farm, Brave New World, The Wizard of OZ, Aesop's Fables, The Odyssey, Alice's Adventures in Wonderland, Fahrenheit 451, Peter Pan, To Kill A Mockingbird, We The Living, Phantom Toll Booth, One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest, Pulp,Through The Looking Glass, The Communist Manifesto, Siddhartha,The Old Man and the Sea, Gulliver's Travels, Mein Kampf, The Republic and Meno.  Hardly a required reading list for  Tea Party members who stress fiscal responsibility, loyalty to the Constitution, and smaller government, wouldn't you say?

The more one delves into Jared Loughner's past, it paints a picture of a mentally ill, disturbed young man who as we tend to say in Education, "fell through the cracks."  We don't know yet if he ever received psychiatric help or sought it.  The recurrence of young adults going on a shooting spree and killing innocent people such as occurred at Virginia Tech, Columbine, University of Texas, and others throughout the world is a frightening phenomenon.


It is also disturbing to us as "bloggers from the right" that the Department of Homeland Security should issue a memo linking Jared Loughner with "American Renaissance" an anti government journal, or that the Sheriff of Pima County should suggest that right wing rhetoric was responsible for this act.

Jared Lee Loughner certainly appears to have had his problems with "government."  He felt he was being spied on, and he feared "mind control."  But those are the rantings of a deeply disturbed mind.  There is no evidence as of today that Loughner was affiliated with any political group, left or right.

We find it abusive and unfair to take advantage of this extremely tragic situation to cast aspersion and blame on Conservatives and the Tea Party movement in order to weaken its influence.  Representative Giffords, a self described Blue Dog Democrat, and a former Republican would not, we are sure, agree.  A gun owner herself, and defender of the Second Amendment, we believe she'd disapprove of such tactics.

These unfounded accusations, without a shred of evidence to connect this lunatic to any Conservative movement is just a scurrilous ploy on the part of liberals and leftists to silence those of us on the right.  It is behavior unbecoming any human being that values the sanctity of human life, to take advantage of such a tragedy for political gains. 

As long as the First Amendment to the Constitution of the United States exists, we will speak our minds.  Ours is not inflammatory speech, nor is it provocative.  It is meant to make the reader think and evaluate his/her political stand.

We pray for Congresswoman Giffords' full recovery, and may she be able to return to Congress and represent the constituents who reelected her to office.  To those on the left, be warned, your ruse has failed miserably.  Conservatism in America will not be silenced.