My Two Cents. . .

. . .on the tragedy in Arizona, adjusted for inflation of course.

There are not enough words in Roget's Thesaurus that can adequately describe the vile and heinous act of violence perpetrated in Arizona over the weekend and if you have listened to any news broadcasts since then, you've heard them all at least a dozen times.

From my perspective, what is being lost in the knee-jerk reaction to the violence is the loss of life.  Hardly anyone is focusing on the six people that were killed, including the epitome of innocence in 9-year old Christina Greene, who was recently elected to her student council at school and was at the event filled with primed eagerness to learn about politics.  This disgusts me more than anything.

I am sorry that the others lost their lives too, but this little girl represents all that is right with America.  She was inspired to be involved and to learn and much of that inspiration could probably be traced back to her parents who I am sure were whole-heartedly involved and interested in her daily life, growth and development.  She played sports, enjoyed horses and wanted to be a veterinarian when she grew up, but none of that will come to pass now.  The essence of this little girl has been snuffed out, but it is my hope that a little of her will live on in the souls of the rest of us.  She was true, she was innocent, and she was our future.

Even her father, who must be suffering incomprehensibly, remained steadfast, courageous and rational when he stated that although he grieves for the loss of his daughter, to give up even a single freedom solely because one random lunatic couldn't handle his own life any longer is no reason to start whipping up law after law after law to "protect" us.  This is the sad cost of living in a free society and I concur with his statement.  But leave it to our illustrious politicians to march out in droves and begin pointing fingers before the barrel of the gun used in the shootings had even cooled off.

Naturally, their first instinct is to go after guns because as we should all know well by now, guns kill people.  Yet however, their reactionary instinct to place blame where it doesn't belong AGAIN is fallacious and in this case, damned near criminal.  Guns do not kill people, people kill people with guns.  And shovels, axes, lawn chairs, screwdrivers, automobiles, skateboards, stump grinders, arsenic, baseball bats, bad eggs, etc, etc, etc.  Should we control all of those items more also?

Secondly, in an era of political division which could very well be unprecedented in our nation, liberal politicians have gone to a full-court press to finger the blame on people like Rush Limbaugh, Glenn Beck and particularly, Sarah Palin, further dividing an already polarized nation.  Again, this misdirected blame is indicative of the position in which liberal politicians find themselves.  They were romped in the November elections, generally speaking their poll numbers have dwindled significantly, their policies completely rejected by the voting class, and now, in the aftermath of this violence, are seeking to rile up their weakening voter base by using the the same kind of in-your-face vitriol that they blame the right for.  Unfounded, hypocritical accusations with absolutely no basis in reality.  They need a boogey-man (or woman) to solidify their weakened position and what better way than to make the outrageous accusation that somehow Sarah Palin is responsible for these murders because she put some crosshairs on a map.  Egregious, filthy, lying, stinking, sniping, gutter politics.

This is the epitome of leftist politics.  When the truth hurts, lie, lie, lie.  Does anyone remember when Congress was convening on Capitol Hill and Nancy Pelosi made a large show of it by parading down the street with her giant gavel amongst the supporters and protesters of President Obama's health care bill just before the historic vote?  And Congressman Emanual Cleaver was intentionally spat upon while Congressman John Lewis was repeatedly called "nigger" by protesters?  Well guess what.  Total fabrications in the face of what was clearly an overwhelming protest against unwanted legislation and governmental overreach.  But this is how it works.

Clearly, the American people were not in favor of that legislation and Congress made an overt effort to rub the faces of the common man in it by marching up and down the street in a show of political force.  When faced with large scale anti-health care bill protesters their only way out was to continue the meme started long ago that Tea Party and conservative activists are nothing but bigots and racists that don't like the fact that there is a "black man in the White House."  

So, fast forward to today and we see the same type of scurrilous lying happening before us again.  The meme has been started by the Sheriff of Pima County and the ranks of liberal Democrats are marching forward beating their sick drum of lies.  Palin did it.  Beck did it.  Limbaugh did it.  Palin did it.  Beck did it.  Limbaugh did it.  And here are their solutions:

Besides gun controls, let's regulate political speech too or even symbology.  No more crosshairs or targets or words like "war-zone, battleground, or shot across the bow."  And while we are at it, let's regulate news and talk radio by reviving the Fairness Doctrine, which is nothing more that an attempt to stifle the free speech protected by our 1st Amendment rights.  The proof is in the pudding that liberal talk radio does not work and liberal cable news only fairs slightly better.  Both of these mediums derive their revenue from advertising and if people don't listen, people aren't buying the products advertised and said outlet goes the way of Air America.  Right down the tube.  But here comes government to the rescue in a effort to "level the playing field" which really means to quash free speech, free enterprise and in general the freedoms of all Americans all because of two totally unrelated events:  Sarah Palin put some targets on a map and some lunatic in Arizona couldn't handle the voices in his head.

Unfortunately, and with tragic results, some people are simply going to fall through the cracks of society.  No amount of gun control or speech control or leveling of the playing field is going to stop someone who is dead set on causing mass havoc at the expense of the innocent and no manner of law-making will ever legislate away the crazies in our nation.  What we can take away from this is that hopefully for the last time, the liberal left of this nation has been exposed as a crafty, lying, hypocritical and dangerous minority of our society who seek to control all manner of our lives, from daylight to dark, inside and outside the home, and at great expense to our taxpayers all for the sake of being "safer", "healthier", "smarter" or "more enlightened."

You cannot legislate away all the risks of life and living.  There are a million and one ways to die in this world and I hope when I go out whether is be by crazed gunman, falling anvil or choking to death on a boiled peanut, I hope that I leave behind a tenth of the inspiration that Christina Greene did.  Do not let the sick liberals of our nation smother out the burning flames of her memory, her innocence, and her potential to change this country for the better, even in death.