Sarah Palin possibly responsible for Norway shooter

OK it's a bit of a stretch but lets talk about it anyway

From Firedoglake.com

Watching the international media on the web and TV change gears Friday, as information started to fasten to the fact that the worst terrorist act in Scandinavia since the 3rd Reich was perpetrated by a right-wing Christian zealot, was fascinating. This, rather than what people like Pam Geller, Daniel Pipes, Dennis Prager, David Horowitz, CNN, Fox News and many others were touting for hours as most likely an act of Muslim Jihad in a country that is way, way too liberal.

I was keyed into paying attention to how this meme might have to morph fairly early in the afternoon, by an item carried by Michael Rivero at What Really Happened, about the major event at the youth camp the day before the massacre:

During the second day of Labour Youth League summer camp at Utøya got the Labour Party’s young hopefuls visit by Foreign Minister Jonas Gahr Store.

Together with the Norwegian Broadcasting Corporation correspondent Sidsel Wold and Norwegian People’s Aid Kirsten Belck-Olsen, discussed the Foreign Minister of the deadlock between Israel and the Palestinian Authority.

As foreign minister arrived Utøya he was met with a demand from the AUF that Norway must recognize a Palestinian state.

- The Palestinians must have their own state, the occupation must end, the wall must be demolished and it must happen now, said the Foreign Minister to cheers from the audience. [automatically translated from Norwegian by Google translate]

That was an event held Thursday at the summer camp for the children of Norwegian liberals.

As the story developed Friday, almost every news outlet was quick to provide experts on Muslim terrorism and how that might have a growing negative impact on Norway and Europe. On Anderson Cooper, Friday afternoon, as he had his experts on Jihadism on camera, he was being told by another person – a CNN reporter – that the shooter, possibly the bomber, was a blond Norwegian. Cooper seemed to be taken aback, turning back to his Jihad experts, who were dismissive of the new information.

The bombing-shootings took up enormous bandwidth in our media machine until it came out that the alleged perpetrator has more in common with Sarah Palin and Alan Dershowitz than with Rachel Corrie or Furkan Doğan, both of whom have been labelled terrorists by Dershowitz.

As the end-of-the-week-in-midsummer stupor overtakes the media on a hot Friday evening in the USA, will they get around to trying to find out what set Anders Behring off?

The bombing had to be pre-planned, probably for some time. Was the pro-Palestinian event Thursday at the camp where over 70 were killed published on the web, facebook, twitter or somewhere else? Most likely. That may be what pushed this guy’s last button.

And just who created the group that fictitiously took credit for the massacres early Friday?

The ‘Helpers of Global Jihad’ group, of which al-Nasser is a member, made the claims in an email circular issued to various sources. The group does not appear to have any past history.

It is thought that the bombings are a belated response to Norwegian newspapers and magazines republishing cartoons of Mohammed originally published by Jyllands-Posten of Denmark.

I’m not about to go all conspiracy theory on this story. I am bothered, though, that the media was extremely rapid to ramp up the radical Islam run amok meme, yet so unready to deal with what is increasingly appearing to be possible – that the Christian gunman was impelled to kill liberals he may have felt were too sympathetic to Palestinians.

Reason #76 not to vote for Sarah Palin for anything

She loves guns waaayyy too much




From Ontheissues.org

Sarah Palin stuck to her guns on guns, in her first major public appearance since Rep. Gabrielle Giffords was critically wounded and six people were killed at a Tucson campaign event. Palin was criticized after the shootings for having published campaign literature that marked some Democratic districts, including Giffords's, with crosshairs, but she pushed back, saying Republicans were being unfairly blamed for the act of a crazed shooter.

Asked if she would support efforts to restrict semiautomatic weapons or multi-bullet clips, like the clips used in the Tucson shooting, Palin responded, "There are already on the books many gun control measures and I do support those that are on the books. I do not support taking away more freedom from the good guy. The people who have no intention of using that weapon to harm another person so, no additional gun control measures could be supported." She added, "Prayers should continue for the full recovery of Gabby Giffords and others who were involved."

Source: Associated Press in ABC News, "Palin Rejects New Gun Laws" Feb 17, 2011

Not far from home, near the Talkeetna Mountains, I learned to hunt. Traveling on skis and snowshoes, we harvested ptarmigan and big game. I love meat. I eat pork chops, thick bacon burgers, and the seared fatty edges of a medium-well-done steak. But I especially love moose and caribou. I always remind people from outside our state that there's plenty of room for all Alaska's animals--right next to the mashed potatoes.

In our northern state, with some communities located hundreds of miles from big grocery stores, Alaskans have for generations lived on local, organic protein sources. Anti-hunting groups are clueless about this. It always puzzled me how some of the people who think killing and eating animals in the wild is somehow cruel have no problem buying dead animals at the grocery store, wrapped in cellophane instead of fur.

Source: Going Rogue, by Sarah Palin, p. 18-19 Nov 17, 2009

The Heath house in Wasilla sat near woodlands of birch, willow, and spruce. The woods were a wilderness playground--the kind of place where kids play out the imaginative adventures of childhood.

In both summer and winter, most of the family's activitie took place outdoors. Sarah said that she appreciates the many outdoor adventures she had as a child. Fitness was a big part of family life. "My parents jumped on the bandwagon of the '70s running craze," she said. The whole family ran together, competing in five- and ten-kilometer races throughout the summer.

When the family wasn't running or hiking, it was hunting or fishing. "We could literally go hunting out our back door," [Sarah's brother] Chuck Jr. said. Sarah shot her first rabbit at age ten not far from the back porch. In her teens, she hunted caribou with her father. The family's freezer was always full of fish and game. Chuck Jr. said he didn't eat a beef steak until he was a senior in high school. Gardening helped fill the family larder.

Source: Hockey Mom, by Kaylene Johnson Sep 9, 2008

Hunts and fishes, as did her father

Her father shot the grizzly bear whose hide is now draped over the sofa in her office. She, too, hunts and fishes. She runs marathons. She delivered her fifth child during her first term as governor. They call her husband, the reigning champion in the annual Iron Dog snowmachine race, First Dude.

Though indisputably Alaskan, she rose to prominence by bucking the state’s rigid Republican hierarchy, impressing voters more with gumption, warmth and charm than an established record in government.

Source: New York Times, pp. A1 & A10, “An Outsider Who Charms” Aug 29, 2008

Hunts as much as she can; freezer-full of wild game
Like many Alaskans, Gov. Sarah Palin is a lifelong hunter and strong proponent of Second Amendment rights. A longtime member of the National Rifle Association, she told USA Today when she was running for governor as a Republican in 2006 that “We hunt as much as we can, and I’m proud to say our freezer is full of wild game we harvested here in Alaska.” Palin’s favorite food? “Moose stew after a day of snowmachining,” she said.

Source: Q&A with Newsweek’s Brian Braiker Aug 29, 2008

Supports ending D.C.’s 32-year-old ban on handguns
Governor Sarah Palin today lauded the U.S. Supreme Court’s landmark decision upholding the right of Americans to own guns for self-defense, hunting and other purposes. The high court’s 5-4 ruling in District of Columbia vs. Heller affirmed gun rights by striking down the District’s 32-year-old ban on handguns.
“This decision is a victory for all Alaskans and individual Americans. The right to own guns and use them responsibly is something I and many other Alaskans cherish,“ Governor Palin said. ”I applaud the Court for standing up for the Constitution and the right of Americans to keep and bear arms.“

The state of Alaska in February joined a multi-state amicus brief written by the state of Texas in support of the Second Amendment right of individual Americans to bear arms.

Source: Alaska Governor’s Office: press release, “2nd Amendment” Jun 26, 2008

Lifelong NRA member & champion of right to bear arms
Governor Sarah Palin announced the State of Alaska will join the multi-state amicus brief authored by the State of Texas in support of the Second Amendment right of individual Americans to bear arms. The Texas amicus brief in the case Washington, D.C. v. Heller will be filed by February 11, 2008.

Governor Palin, a lifelong member of the National Rifle Association, has long been a champion of the constitutional right to bear arms, as well as a proponent of gun safety programs for Alaska’s youth.

“I am proud to join the State of Texas in support of the Second Amendment,” Governor Palin said. “We need to send a strong message that law-abiding citizens have a right to own firearms, for personal protection, for hunting and for any other lawful purpose.”

Source: Alaska Governor’s Office: press release, “2nd Amendment” Feb 8, 2008

Sarah loves guns so much she spoke at the NRA Convention for free yet took money from religious and pro-life groups. She loves guns more than she loves people.

Gabby Giffords receives standing ovation during first public appearance.

Wounded Arizona Rep. Gabrielle Giffords made her first Houston public appearance Monday night since being shot in the head in January by joining her husband, former astronaut Mark Kelly, at a Houston awards ceremony where he received the Spaceflight Medal.

Her communications director, C.J. Karamargin, confirmed her attendance, late Monday but could provide no further details.

According to a report from ABC News, Giffords was pushed into the auditorium in a wheelchair and received a standing ovation from the crowd of hundreds assembled at Space Center Houston.

Giffords reportedly rose from her wheelchair to hug and kiss her husband. The couple held hands for most of the event. The Arizona Democrat appeared to chat with people sitting around her, and laughed when the crew of STS-134, the Space Shuttle Endeavour’s last mission, was introduced, ABC reported.

Karamargin said he was not surprised his boss was out and about in Houston.

“You have to keep in mind that the congresswoman was just in Tuscon … for a Father’s Day visit. She met with the staff there and she climbed a flight of 18 stairs. I think it’s no surprise the congresswoman is getting out more and more … She’s showing greater physical strength, greater cognitive abilities and greater verbal skills, so it’s not a surprise.”

I don't know about all of you, but when I think of "steel spines" and "thick skins" THIS is the person who I picture.

Gabby Giffords is a true inspiration, and I am beginning to think that she might very well return to House someday and be a force to be reckoned with.

Gabby Giffords is home now

Gabby Giffords was released from the hospital on Wednesday where she will begin outpatient therapy.

GOOD LUCK GABBY!  See you on the campaign trail next year.

Gabby Giffords goes home!

Courtesy of the LA Times:

Five months after falling victim to an assassin's bullet, Rep. Gabrielle Giffords was discharged from the Houston hospital where she has been rehabilitating.

Calling her release a "major milestone," the hospital, TIRR Memorial Hermann, said Giffords would continue to receive outpatient care at a home outside of Houston owned by her husband, Mark E. Kelly.

In a statement, her doctors said that the Arizona Democrat had improved to the point where she no longer needed to be a patient.

“Congresswoman Giffords has shown clear, continuous improvement from the moment she arrived at TIRR five months ago,” said Gerard Francisco, the hospital’s chief medical officer. “We are very excited that she has reached the next phase of her rehabilitation and can begin outpatient treatment. We have no doubt that she will continue to make significant strides in her recovery.”

Kelly, an astronaut who recently completed a mission aboard the space shuttle Endeavour, praised the care that Giffords received.

“Gabby gives her all to everything she does and that’s exactly what she’s been doing at TIRR since Jan. 26,” he said. “The remarkable progress she has made since then is a testament to both her single-minded determination to get better and the team of medical professionals overseeing her care.”

Am I the only one who gets misty eyed every time I read anything about this amazing woman's courage and amazing recovery?  I swear I have to dab my eyes after every other paragraph.

The ONLY reason I would ever consider going to Arizona would be to help with Giffords campaign for reelection. And believe me, she would win to.

Gabby Giffords making progress

Gabby's staff just released this photo of her:

She is doing better than she was five months ago but still has a long recovery.

From ABC News


Rep Gabriele Giffords , bright eyes peering out from behind blue wire-framed glasses, looks radiant in a recently released Facebook photo. But experts say her half-tilt smile suggests her recovery from a gunshot wound to the head will be complex.

The Arizona congresswoman has astounded all her doctors, climbing stairs recently to board a plane for Florida to watch her husband, astronaut Mark E. Kelly, at the launch of the shuttle Endeavour and responding to her family and caregivers.

Now, as Giffords prepares to leave TIRR Memorial Hermann Hospital in Houston, Texas, to begin her long-term rehabilitation, brain injury experts say public hopes for a return to the House may be unrealistic.

"If I had to guess, I would expect her to have some deficiencies for the rest of her life," said Dr. Anand Germanwala, chief of cerebral vascular and skull-based neurosurgery at the University of North Carolina Medical School. "The brain is a very unforgiving organ.

"I certainly wish her all the best and hope she has complete recovery -- it is possible," he said. "But realistically thinking, this is a young lady in a high profile job, well-educated and eloquent. That requires a lot of brain tasks to successfully execute the job. To expect that now, it's not fair."

Her husband, who has been the most consistent optimist, admits the road back is "months not weeks away."

Gabby is certainly in my thoughts and prayers.  I hope she can make a complete recovery for herself and the nation.  I hope she will be well enough to defend her Congressional seat or perhaps runs for Jon Kyl's Senate seat when he retires.  Now wouldn't that be a stick in Sarah and Jared Loughner's craw?

New pictures emerge of Rep. Gabby Giffords.

Courtesy of the Daily Beast:

A much clearer picture has emerged of how Arizona Rep. Gabrielle Giffords is doing, and it's a comforting look. Two photos of a smiling Giffords were posted early Sunday on her public Facebook page by her aides. Her hair is shorter, but there are few other signs of her gunshot wound to the head five months ago in Tucson. Giffords has been in a Houston rehab facility since Jan. 26, two weeks after the deadly shooting that killed six and injured another 13, including Giffords. Her spokeswoman, Pia Carusone, cautioned that Giffords still has a long way to go in her recovery, but she said Friday that Giffords could be released sometime this month.

I have to say that this is a very pleasant sight this Sunday morning.

You can find an additional picture here of Giffords with her mother.

Time for an update on Gabby Giffords progress.

Courtesy of AZ Central:

Pia Carusone knew the day would come when the questions about her boss, Rep. Gabrielle Giffords, would become more indelicate.

After answering some of those questions, Carusone, Giffords' chief of staff, told me: "We want to give people a clear picture (about Giffords). It's not in anyone's interest to have anyone feel misled. But it's hard because we satisfy one person and one set of questions, and tomorrow, we're on to the next. The feeling is like it's never enough."

For example, how well is she able to communicate with them?

"We do a lot of inferring with her because her communication skills have been impacted the most," Carusone said. "If you think of it as someone who is able to communicate with you clearly, it is easy to test them. You can ask them a series of questions, and you can get clear answers back. Whereas with Gabby, what we've been able to infer and what we believe is that her comprehension is very good. I don't know about percentage-wise or not, but it's close to normal, if not normal."

Does her struggle to communicate mean that she's not using complete sentences?

"Exactly," Carusone said. "She is borrowing upon other ways of communicating. Her words are back more and more now, but she's still using facial expressions as a way to express. Pointing. Gesturing. Add it all together, and she's able to express the basics of what she wants or needs. But, when it comes to a bigger and more complex thought that requires words, that's where she's had the trouble."

Is that frustrating for her?

"Absolutely," Carusone said. "When she is trying to come up with a word or a sentence and she's clearly struggling, putting everything she's got into it, and sometimes she's not successful. When she is, there's a relief that comes across her face that she has found the word. But when she can't come up with that, it is absolute frustration."

This is only a small portion of the article and I encourage everybody to read it if they want to learn more about this truly heroic woman.

While it does not appear that Rep. Giffords will return to Washington anytime soon, nobody is prepared to dismiss that possibility.  This is truly a remarkable women who suffered a horrific injury that in most cases would have turned the victim into a vegetable.  Just the fact that she has managed to come so far in such a short amount of time is amazing. However hoping for her to return to her job in Washington might be nothing more than a pipe dream.

But then again, this IS Gabby Giffords we are talking about!

Jared Loughner deemed mentally unfit to stand trial.

From the LA Times:

A federal judge ruled Jared Lee Loughner mentally incompetent to stand trial in the Jan. 8 shooting spree that gravely wounded an Arizona congresswoman after two medical experts agreed he suffered from schizophrenia and for several years has been troubled by delusions and hallucinations.

Judge Larry A. Burns sent Loughner back to the federal medical center for prisoners in Springfield, Mo., for treatment and further evaluation, stopping for now any attempt to take him to trial for the shooting that killed six people and injured 12 others at Rep. Gabrielle Giffords' neighborhood meeting.

Without any change in his condition, Loughner could spend the rest of his life in federal mental health facilities. But if he shows some signs of improvement, his case could go forward.

The ruling came after U.S. marshals removed Loughner from the courtroom Wednesday when he suddenly started screaming. His father, Randy Loughner, sat in the second row next to Loughner's mother and cried almost the entire time.

Court staff variously reported him saying "thank you for the free kill" or "free shot," and then, "she died in front of me," and "you're treasonous." A government source said Loughner is convinced he killed Giffords, and that "she died in front of me" apparently refers to that belief.

When asked later whether he could behave in court, Loughner told Burns that he would prefer to watch the proceedings on a closed-circuit television screen in a courtroom anteroom, where he remained for the rest of the hearing.

Too mentally unstable to sit in a court room, but NOT too mentally unstable to buy a Glock with an extended clip in Arizona. 

How can ANYBODY read that and NOT believe that we need much, much, much stricter gun control laws in this country?

Sarah's ridiculous interview with Sean Hannity

Sarah shut up you fucking whining cunt! You bring it on yourself. The reason your kids get death threats is because they are a bunch of law breaking grifters. You didn't even the decency to mention Christina Green and Gabby Giffords by name.