Comments on: Who is Jared Lee Loughner?

By: Steve Bensen

Steve Bensen — Thu, 07 Feb 2013 12:35:20 +0000

Floyd Lee Corkins II, the man who shot up the Family Research Council, specifically stated when he pled guilty to the crime that he picked out the FRC based on the Southern Poverty Law Center’s “Hate Map.”

SPLC sends out thugs like these to attack innocent people and kill them. It is, after all, a ‘Hate Map’ and Corker understood that meant he should kill them.

This is the hate filled face of the totalitarian left.

By: Kristen frame

Kristen frame — Thu, 10 Feb 2011 01:08:39 +0000

I was very saddened to see the use of hostile discriminatory language on the page of an organization who champions tolerance and appropriate cultural competency in speech.
Individuals who experience mental illness are not deranged or any other of the stigmatizing language used here.

Language is important. Please be moe respectful. It is inappropriate and damaging to use this kind of language to describe Mr. Loughner. He is still accused, not convicted of a crime and the facts about his mental health is not public knowledge at this time. The conversation should focus more productively on violence prevention and on providing appropriate justice system and mental health resources for all Americans.

By: Robert

Robert — Sat, 05 Feb 2011 19:54:21 +0000

For what it’s worth, a lot of what Loughner said about our money system and specifically about the Federal Reserve being a private, for-profit enterprise is true. Those views are actually not that controversial, it is not difficult to find mainstream sources that will confirm them.

By: Ann

Ann — Sat, 22 Jan 2011 21:10:19 +0000

To say that Palin and Fox News are responsible for inciting Loughner’s actions is as assinine as saying that the Beatles’ White Album incited Charles Manson’s actions. Sorry, I meant the actions of his followers!

By: "I"

"I" — Sat, 22 Jan 2011 17:37:07 +0000

I’m tired of this topic. I have much more important things to worry about in my life. That said, I appreciate that somebody responded to one of my posts. Problem is nash#’s, it was BY FAR the least thoughtful and heartfelt and PERSONAL of those posts. It was a sort of off hand “I give up” comment. Seeing I got you’re attention, any comments on my other posts?
(If this blog is still relevent.?!)

By: alise

alise — Fri, 21 Jan 2011 17:23:51 +0000

Boy, is this character even is uglier than a peck of butt holes! He doesn’t even deserve his 15 minutes of fame. What motivates killers like him is that he wants notoriety, plain and simple. Colin Wilson puts it brilliantly in his book: The History of Murder, “man has become less concerned with the basics of life, because he has them, ” but now he is bored with that, so he turns to the crime of “self-esteem.” Loughner was seeking to become a somebody, because he was a nobody.

By: marvin nubwaxer

marvin nubwaxer — Fri, 21 Jan 2011 03:11:21 +0000

” . . .his apparent semi-literacy.”
really? do you really wonder about anyone in the USA being semi-literate? I assume it.

By: nash984954

nash984954 — Thu, 20 Jan 2011 07:35:51 +0000

So “I” People say things too, but it doesn’t mean that it is true.
What you said is not what I hope to be true. My hope is that what people believe is based on reality and facts that can be verified. Truth is neither right nor left, nor are facts a matter of left or right, however, I would bet, and it is my opinion, for which I have a high regard for the facts, that there is more attention paid to the facts in those who are the liberals than the FOX noise machine right wing Republican conservatives.
The recent poll about sources of information and whether there was misinformation more at particular media sources than others, and it was found that more people were misinformed who watched FOX noise than any other outlet. Don’t believe it? Look it up.

By: "I"

"I" — Tue, 18 Jan 2011 17:48:08 +0000

People believe what they want to believe. Doesn’t make it true.

By: ruben

ruben — Tue, 18 Jan 2011 01:42:22 +0000

this man had mental issues and a mentally deranged person can believe something one day and then believe something completely opposite the next because he is unstable! this man was caught up in the perfect storm that is arizona politics which is where he lives.hateful,scapegoating rhetoric.if this man was on the internet posting on you tube you would have to be naive to think that he wasn’t also on other sites like maybe sarah palins with the crosshairs and as far as the inflammatory/racist/hateful rhetoric i would say that most is coming from the right especially since obama became president.

By: skinnyminny

skinnyminny — Mon, 17 Jan 2011 20:57:28 +0000

Deft,
Did you see the youtube video entitled, “Sarah Palin Battle Hymn,” allegedly sung by tea party?

Dee,
Agree with you 110%. All one has to do is come to ’skidrow’ in downtown Los Angeles. At one point, it was alleged by reporters that ambulances/hospitals/police were dumping people in skidrow if they were considered/determined to be homeless. However, the Mission (Fred Jordan) seems to be the only one that really tries to help them. However, during the holidays, movie stars come out to help serve meals. What makes this scenario kind of dangerous, is, now there are families with small children that are moving there. Skidrow has a mix of homeless families, drug addicts, alcoholics, ex-convicts, and the mentally ill (some were former doctors, lawyers…).

By: Mark Myers

Mark Myers — Mon, 17 Jan 2011 18:56:30 +0000

Why the heck are we all so keen on assigning this nut to the left or right. He surely stands on his own here. The idea that everyone, who says something that others disagree with, has to be categorized politically as left or right is ridiculous. The fact is very few Americans agree with everything one political party espouses.

By: Abbey Driscoll

Abbey Driscoll — Mon, 17 Jan 2011 17:53:35 +0000

All of you that are sitting here blaming the Tea Party, the Democrats, Sarah Palin, Fox News, Obama, etc etc… This is exactly what we need to stop. Pointing fingers in anger and blame will only fuel the fire. I think it’s safe to say that most everyone agrees that the inflammatory, insulting, violent rhetoric needs to stop. Maybe one political party uses it more than the other, but again, that is not the point here. What we should really be discussing is this: How are we going to stop it? What can you personally do to change the hostile, angry environment that politics has become? One person can’t do it alone, but together Americans can. The thing is, we can’t unite in this if we’re busy blaming each other’s parties for the issues. Stop debating about whose fault this tragedy is, and start thinking of ideas to prevent something like this from happening again.

By: "I"

"I" — Mon, 17 Jan 2011 17:15:39 +0000

As of today, as more and more people are chiming in with oped columns and letters to the editor in my local mid-sized metropolitan newspaper, the overwhelming consensus seems to be this was an APOLITICAL act perpitrated by a sick and deranged and hatefilled INDIVIDUAL, period. How ’bout that for a run-on sentence!

By: Dee

Dee — Mon, 17 Jan 2011 16:23:31 +0000

Why do the mentally ill not have Civil Rights as well? We are a country that wants to fight for everyone’s rights! Everyone has a say in the political process and we pride ourselves on the laws we’ve passed to make sure that happens.

But, one group of Americans is categorically left out of the mainstream, shunned and looked down upon in this nation — those who are mentally ill.

People cannot help it if they’re brain does not function neuro-typically. You cannot pop your fingers and make mental illness go away the same way you can’t pop your fingers and make cancer go away. You need help. You need support. You need a community of people who care enough about you to make sure that you get that help.

I will never condone the actions of this young man. But, I am ashamed the way Americans look down their noses at the mentally ill. If someone had cared enough about this young man’s mental illness this tragedy would never have happened because he would probably be in a hospital getting the psychiatric help he needed.

The mentally ill are medically sick, not always criminally hateful. They cannot help their actions sometimes because are they just — sick. And, we need to understand that and stop looking at them like they’re “un-American.”

That’s my take. And, on MLK Day, MLK would also offer sympathy to this man’s family along with the victims because that was his character.

Dee

By: nash984954

nash984954 — Mon, 17 Jan 2011 08:36:20 +0000

Curiouser and curiouser, when those on the right spout their views, somehow it is considered that what they say is somehow true and when those on the left challenge every aspect of the right and show that it is either incorrect, not true, or a Republican Luntz talking point, which is basically a distortion of the topic. As in the “job killing health care bill” or “bailouts” or “government takeover of healthcare” or “death panels” in the healthcare bill to name a few.
The healthcare bill that was passed does not actually cause any loss in jobs; theTARP was not really a bailout, but was a Temporary Assistance Recovery Program that was started by Bush before Obama was even in office;there is no government takeover, the insurance companies are still in control, and now have 32 million new customers; the end of life discussions with the terminally ill or elderly who are ill and are dying with doctors being paid to have these discussions, is not a death panel.
Objectively describing right wing views is not namecalling, nor is it that anyone’s speech is being taken away when the right wing is being criticized; when the views of the arguments that are presented by the right are debunked factually, instead of accusing someone of disallowing a different point of view, maybe if the proponents of the right would talk to the issues it would be better. But because the right usually just spouts FOX noise misinformation and outright lies, these become the conservative views and naturally the views can be torn down and shown to be false it seems unlikely that those on the right will change.
The 1st amendment guarantees separation of church and state in the very first line. Just because a friend of Glenn Beck, otherwise known as David Barton revises histroy by saying it does not exist, does not make it so. Barton is well known for distorting what the Founding Fathers said
and is not a historian in actuality. The evangelicals have nothing to stand on in their religion but things for which there is no evidence. There is no science in the bible, it was written in the Bronze age and has been traced to Pagan writings that were written before the bible. So anything that Barton says about religion or the Constitution, should be taken with a grain of salt, and in most cases outright given no credibility. I kinow some commenters will be either defensive, offended or will just disagree, but that is ok.

By: Ruslan Amirkhanov

Ruslan Amirkhanov — Mon, 17 Jan 2011 04:52:47 +0000

“His former classmates described him as leftwing.”

Right, because American teenagers have top-notch political education and can easily recognize the content of one’s ideology.

By: gbuddha2012

gbuddha2012 — Sun, 16 Jan 2011 20:49:58 +0000

went to a guns rights thing years ago – dominated by birchers, national alliance, and nwo types. you got to see these guys in action to believe them. anyone who hasn’t really doesn’t get the danger they represent.

By: gbuddha2012

gbuddha2012 — Sun, 16 Jan 2011 20:42:23 +0000

ayn rand, animal farm, and mein kampf don’t make you leftwing. the figure that seems to be emerging is of a libertarian/anti-communist. seen a lot of guys like him floating around the fringes for years.

By: Deft

Deft — Sun, 16 Jan 2011 14:27:22 +0000

His former classmates described him as leftwing.

By: Roger

Roger — Sun, 16 Jan 2011 10:23:31 +0000

If a person with a Middle Eastern name had made gun related comments similar to Sarah Palin and Jesse Kelly, that person would have been nailed by Homeland Security and held indefinitely for questioning, his background searched, and his reputation smeared forever. Palin and Kelly deserve the same treatment.

By: skinnyminny

skinnyminny — Sun, 16 Jan 2011 00:02:19 +0000

I believe he is not as crazy as people think! He was able to say he will not talk without an attorney. He was able to say that the Dems will represent him and save him – which, to me, says he knows that the left are definitely people who are caring and believe in human rights. Not one report from officials that he was ‘incoherent, rambling speech,” once in custody or while in detention.

Either way, people need to not only turn off the television, people need to stop relying in technology so much. There are the text messages, blackberries, ipads, facebook…when did people get to the point where they can’t deal with people in person. In this country, people criticize minorities for ‘not being able to read and write,’ well with all of the technology, eventually we won’t be able to write. With all of the radio/television programs, technology, eventually we will all be anti-social.

By: Sam Molloy

Sam Molloy — Sat, 15 Jan 2011 14:49:47 +0000

He doesn’t have to make any sense at all if he’s crazy.

By: Ruslan Amirkhanov

Ruslan Amirkhanov — Sat, 15 Jan 2011 10:44:26 +0000

“We should definitely get rid of the outdated 1st amendment to stifle those who disagree with us.”

Nobody is advocating that.

” You, know, so we can be like China, Russia, Cuba, etc. Let tyranny reign.”

From the Russian constitution:

Article 28
Everyone shall be guaranteed the freedom of conscience, the freedom of religion, including the right to profess individually or together with other any religion or to profess no religion at all, to freely choose, possess and disseminate religious and other views and act according to them.’

And…article 29:

Article 29

1. Everyone shall be guaranteed the freedom of ideas and speech.

2. The propaganda or agitation instigating social, racial, national or religious hatred and strife shall not be allowed. The propaganda of social, racial, national, religious or linguistic supremacy shall be banned.

3. No one may be forced to express his views and convictions or to reject them.

4. Everyone shall have the right to freely look for, receive, transmit, produce and distribute information by any legal way. The list of data comprising state secrets shall be determined by a federal law.

5. The freedom of mass communication shall be guaranteed. Censorship shall be banned.

Russia, China, and Cuba have their respective problems for a number of reasons, but they are hardly “tyrannies.”

Next time check your facts. Of course people say that things don’t really work that way in Russia, but then again the same thing applies in the US.

Ok…then you wrote…

” We could change things to be more like Russia, who actually has “separation of church and state” written into their constitution.”

http://www.constitution.ru/en/10003000-01.htm

Please show me where that phrase appears. I have already posted Russia’s article relating to freedom of religion. In fact Russia needs separation of church and state, because the state has ties to various religious organizations.

I highly suggest you start checking the claims you hear on the radio or Fox news from now on.

By: Jonathon

Jonathon — Sat, 15 Jan 2011 02:17:38 +0000

Why am I always so late chiming into these online conversations? At any rate, I have to say, I am no fan of Sarah Palin and the Tea Party, to be honest I am a Marxist whose favorite book really is the Communist Manifesto. I’m no fan of Obama and the Democrats either. I do think an inordinate amount of the blame is being piled on Palin specifically and the right in general. Democrats have used plenty of violent rhetoric themselves. The analysis here wants to emphasize Loughner’s references to right rhetoric and discount his references to left rhetoric. The analysis on Tea Party websites wants to emphasize his references to left rhetoric and discount his references to right rhetoric. My guess is he did not truly understand either. He was confused and grasping at straws to explain the hypocrisy and injustice that is obvious to all of us, even if we choose many different interpretations as to it’s causes and solutions. Why is Palin to blame? Amy Bagadonuts, in the 15th comment from the top, provides some great links that are just as convincing in blaming Obama or Daily Kos. Palin is a moron, and a dangerous moron at that, but she doesn’t deserve to shoulder the blame for Loughner’s actions. Having said that, she looks more and more foolish every day that she defends herself. The best thing for her to do would be to apologize for anything she may have said that could have contributed to an atmosphere where this kind of tragedy is possible. Without accepting blame she should publicly pledge to tone down her rhetoric and plead for others, on all sides, to do the same. That would be the honorable thing to do. But then, when has Sarah Palin ever done the honorable thing?
One last thing: how come there was nothing resembling this kind of debate when the shooting at Fort Hood occurred? How easy is it for us to accept that Arabs/Muslims commit violence without explanation, but when a white man does it someone must be to blame? And so we put the blame on a woman and consider ourselves progressive thinkers! I’ve got a suggestion: perhaps it is the capitalist economic system itself and it’s perpetual alienation of humanity that is to blame…

By: Hilda M. Saulsbury

Hilda M. Saulsbury — Fri, 14 Jan 2011 23:09:28 +0000

January 14, 2011

I have no idea who Jared Lee Loughner nor any affiliation with him and his views, Money is necessary to use in this life, but threatening and taking peopled lives is not fare. What does taking a life or lives do to help the living? What good comes out of an expression of death is better for all?

By: Jenelle

Jenelle — Fri, 14 Jan 2011 20:27:06 +0000

The left should decide what is responsible speech. Again, have you researched the history of “tolerance?” It has nothing to do with freedom. Why is it that only certain beliefs are to be tolerated?

How can one find common ground on the issues at hand? Only the right must move to the center. Compromise is not automatically a good thing.

“poisonous,demonizing and dangerous rhetoric” – why all this name calling? Is no one ever allowed to be skeptical?

By: "I"

"I" — Fri, 14 Jan 2011 17:43:37 +0000

Case in point. I am 46 yrs. old. I do not, have NEVER, and do not plan to EVER own a gun. The ONLY time I have ever held a hand gun in my hand and fired it was while shooting at some empty milk jugs in a refuse pit on the farm we (dad, uncle, cousin, grandfather) were hunting on. I was a child, maybe 11, 12 yrs. old. POINT: It scared the shit out of me! One shot. Had enough. Too much power in the palm of the hand. Now, I enjoyed shooting at targets with “my” BB gun. Would carry and occationally shoot “my” shotgun (recoil; cheek/right shoulder— “Ouch!’). But shooting at and KILLING living things? Too much blood, too squemish.
I relate this to illustrate I grew up around firearms. (almost entirely “long” guns) I went to a private parochial grade school and most kids would talk about hunting trips with their fathers/relatives. The point is while I was personally leery around firearms, I don’t EVER remember being afraid of the people around me. (maybe a little at times….??? but no ingrained event I can put my finger on). Where did all this voilence come from? I’m sure it existed but it seems to have skyrocketed. Why?
Are you listening?

By: jenelle

jenelle — Fri, 14 Jan 2011 17:26:37 +0000

jenelle…..no one is calling to ban the first amendment on here….but do not hijack it either and use it in a irresponsible way…the way that the right has manipulated it recently is like russia ,china and cuba,incite harm to anyone who does not agree with your politics…both parties like to talk “smack” but by far the most poisonous,demonizing and dangerous rhetoric comes from the right…they leave zero room to find common ground with issues in the middle…with the right its either there way or they will tear you down one way or another.and again that is behaving like they do in russia,china or cuba.tolerance is indeed not liberty to a point…but living in a society with zero tolerance that is a tragedy.

By: "I"

"I" — Fri, 14 Jan 2011 16:58:55 +0000

I don’t vote PERIOD. I want to, but I can’t bring myself to. I just do not trust either “side”. If the comments I’m reading here are an acurate gauge of the left, I will continue to hate politics. God help this country.