Shooting in Tucson

[justcarol67]

Carol earlier:
> 
> > If she were a radical or a reactionary, I could at least understand someone hating her

zanooda responded: 
> The guy is obviously very disturbed, you can't expect to understand him, Carol. It seems he went to a public meeting with her a few years ago, asked her a question and didn't like the answer. I guess for a mentally unstable person this is reason enough to shoot her and everyone around her. It must be a scary thought for you that you could have been there at the time of the shooting.

Carol again:

Right on all counts. His question to Gabby Giffords was, "What is government if words have no meaning?" How on earth can anyone answer that, yet he called her stupid for "failing" to answer his question.

And, yes, it's very scary to think that a place that I used to go to twice a week is now a crime scene. I wish I could talk to the Safeway clerks that I normally chat with as I stand in line to buy groceries (they know me by name) and ask them if they're okay. Apparently, anyone who was a witness, whether a customer, an employee, or the few people who attended the meet-and-greet and weren't killed or wounded, had to remain on the scene and undergo questioning. Some of them couldn't go home till seven in the evening and they'd been there since ten in the morning or earlier. (It's sort of like 9/11--many people weren't actual victims but were stuck in airports and couldn't go anywhere.)

I'm very lucky I wasn't there, but I still feel sick and sad every time I think about it. The good news is that Gabrielle Giffords is off the ventilator and breathing on her own, but she should be going about her daily business as a Congresswoman, not lying in a hospital bed. Even though the shooter is obviously mentally disturbed, I still ask--Why her, of all people? Why our kindest, most rational politician, always working for moderation and bipartisanship? No one deserves to be shot, obviously, but Arizona needs Gabrielle Giffords.

Carol, for whom January 8, 2011, is a day that will live in infamy