Tuscon Shooting

I feel like I can't get back to blogging without talking about this. I've been doing the required NYT readings on my kindle (for free) and the front page has been on this issue big every day. Something about this story has really stuck with me. I feel like it is going to have a big immediate and long-term impact on the political discourse in the US. I'm still sifting through what I think about this, but here are some posts that I have liked and will reveal some of what I'm thinking.

First off, I feel deeply for everyone effected by the shooting, including the family of the shooter. It's a tough time and I'm praying for them.

The one I've been thinking about the most is about why no one is talking about terrorism in relation to this incident. If this had been committed by a Muslim or an Arab no matter what his background there would be plenty of talk about whether it was a terrorist act or not. Connected to this is this Slate article comparing Sarah Palin's comments about the shooting with the building of the "9/11 Mosque." I agree with Mrs. Palin that the Tea Party does not deserve collective blame for the shooting, this guy was not typical of even the most conservative Tea Partiers. But I think, especially on the issue of the 9/11 Mosque and with terrorism generally., conservatives have definitely been guilty of placing collective blame on 1/5 of the worlds population for the acts of 13 extremists.

And then unrelated to the other two, here is an article talking about how near impossible it will be for the Loughner to get off on an insanity plea. Apparently that is a lot harder nowadays. All he can hope for is to avoid the death penalty. Maybe I'll use this topic to talk about the death penalty sometime, but not now.

That's it. Any thoughts or helpful or interesting links? I know there is a lot of emotions connected to this and apologize if I have offended anyone, but I tried to express my feelings in an appropriate way.