The Rampage in Tucson

This shooting in Tucson has, of course, commandeered the front pages of the news media. My comments, in no particular order:

1. The media is making a big deal over the fact that a Congresswoman, Gabrielle Giffords, was seriously wounded. Relegated to the end of the story (if it is even in the story) is that there were six people actually killed -- including Judge John Roll, and a 9-year-old girl, Christina Green. But now, it looks as though Christina will start getting more ink, but only because she was the granddaughter of Dallas Green, who served as Manager of the Phillies, Yankees and Mets.


2. The MSM has been implicitly -- and sometimes, explicitly -- blaming it on the various right-wing political philosophies that have been expressed of late. But the shooter was connected with some anti-Semitic organizations whose party lines have had more in common with the far left. Why aren't those people blamed?

3. Amongst some of circles I frequent, much has been made of the fact that Congresswoman Giffords is the offspring of a non-Jewish mother, and therefore not technically Jewish. This, to me, is both accurate and irrelevant! This should not be about my philosophical disputes, or anyone else's, with the so-called Reform Judaism; nor even about my political differences (or anyone else's) with Gabrielle Giffords (of which I have many). I respect Ms. Giffords as an accomplished woman who, notwithstanding her political orientation, has displayed far more rationality than many at either extreme of the political spectrum. I wish her the very best.

4. Judge Roll's murder was a tremendous loss to America's judiciary. But even if he had been a lesser legal light, his murder would still strike a blow to law and order.

5. A number of pundits and commentators (many of whom do not merit such an honorific) have been blaming the shooting on Sarah Palin's public pronouncements using firearms metaphors. I am willing, to an extent, to find possible validity to the theory. After all, words and ideas do have consequences. But quite notably, one of these people who has been blaming the likes of Sarah Palin and Glenn Beck has been none other than Jane Fonda. I daresay that Hanoi Jane's extreme and public statements some years ago, before the Internet age enabled the quick and expeditious communication to the masses, contributed to the killing of far, far more Americans and South Vietnamese. Jane Fonda, no less than Sarah Palin, ought be held to the same standard, and called to account for her lethal statements.