Rep. Giffords shot, judge and 5 others killed at Tucson event
U.S. Rep. Gabrielle Giffords was shot point-blank in the head on Saturday at a northwest-side grocery store, but surgeons say they are "very optimistic" about her recovery.
Meanwhile, Gov. Jan Brewer's office is confirming federal Judge John Roll was among the dead.
Sheriff's authorities said there were six dead, including a child, as well as 18 wounded.
Giffords, who is in critical condition, is out of surgery at University Medical Center, said Dr. Peter Rayle, a UMC surgeon. The bullet passed cleanly out her brain, exiting her head.
Rayle said she was following commands, which is a good sign.
The shooting occurred at a Safeway supermarket where Giffords was holding one of her regular "Congress on Your Corner" events, which allows her to speak directly with constituents in her district.
A tearful U.S. District Judge Frank Zapata of Tucson, meanwhile, did not know why Roll was at the event.
"It's devastating to the courts and to me," Zapata said. "We've been friends for 25 years and he was a tremendous judge and a tremendous person."
The gunman has been identified as 22-year-old Jared Loughner, according to The Associated Press.
The congresswoman’s father Spencer Gifford, 75, was rushing to the hospital when asked if his 40-year-old daughter had any enemies.
"Yeah," he told The Post. "The whole Tea Party."
Which brings us to Sarah Palin, who is trying to backtrack, after being the leader of fomenting the atmosphere that breeds DOMESTIC TERRORISTS like this guy.
She tried to scrub her website, but it always lives in cyberspace.
Scalia: Women Don't Have Constitutional Protection Against Discrimination
The equal protection clause of the 14th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution does not protect against discrimination on the basis of gender or sexual orientation, according to Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia.
In a newly published interview in the legal magazine California Lawyer, Scalia said that while the Constitution does not disallow the passage of legislation outlawing such discrimination, it doesn't itself outlaw that behavior: In 1868, when the 39th Congress was debating and ultimately proposing the 14th Amendment, I don't think anybody would have thought that equal protection applied to sex discrimination, or certainly not to sexual orientation. So does that mean that we've gone off in error by applying the 14th Amendment to both? Yes, yes. Sorry, to tell you that. ... But, you know, if indeed the current society has come to different views, that's fine. You do not need the Constitution to reflect the wishes of the current society. Certainly the Constitution does not require discrimination on the basis of sex. The only issue is whether it prohibits it. It doesn't. Nobody ever thought that that's what it meant. Nobody ever voted for that. If the current society wants to outlaw discrimination by sex, hey we have things called legislatures, and they enact things called laws. You don't need a constitution to keep things up-to-date. All you need is a legislature and a ballot box. You don't like the death penalty anymore, that's fine. You want a right to abortion? There's nothing in the Constitution about that. But that doesn't mean you cannot prohibit it. Persuade your fellow citizens it's a good idea and pass a law. That's what democracy is all about. It's not about nine superannuated judges who have been there too long, imposing these demands on society.
For the record, the 14th Amendment's equal protection clause states: "No State shall make or enforce any law which shall abridge the privileges or immunities of citizens of the United States; nor shall any State deprive any person of life, liberty, or property, without due process of law; nor deny to any person within its jurisdiction the equal protection of the laws." That would seem to include protection against exactly the kind of discrimination to which Scalia referred.
A Supreme Court Justice has gone on record that he sees nothing in the CONSTITUTION OF THE UNITED STATES that protects women from discrimination.
Wrap your mind around that.
A SUPREME COURT JUSTICE says he doesn’t see protections against discrimination for women in the Constitution.
Jazz great Billy Taylor, pianist, educator & media personality, dies at 89
By Matt Schudel
Billy Taylor, one of the musical treasures of Washington and the world, died last night, Dec. 28, at a hospital in New York City. He was 89 and died of a heart attack.
Dr. Taylor, as he was known to one and all, was a first-rate jazz pianist who grew up in Washington and was a graduate of Dunbar High School. He moved to New York in the early 1940s and was present at the birth of bebop, the new vernacular of music that transformed jazz. He played alongside Charlie Parker, Dizzy Gillespie and Miles Davis and became a protege of the greatest jazz pianist ever, Art Tatum.
In the 1950s, Dr. Taylor began to branch out into broadcasting with a television series, "The Subject Is Jazz," and with radio programs. He appeared on CBS over the years, particuarly on "CBS Sunday Morning," interviewing and performing many of the great artists in jazz.
Dr. Taylor -- who earned a doctorate in education, by the way -- had been the artistic adviser for jazz programming at the Kennedy Center and was a constant presence at concerts at the center. He often performed with his own trio and other groups and helped make the Kennedy Center one of the most important venues for jazz in America. He launched the annual Women in Jazz Festival at the Kennedy Center and was instrumental in developing other concert series.
For several years, he was the host of an NPR series, "Billy Taylor's Jazz at the Kennedy Center," and many people considered him the foremost jazz educator of his -- or any -- time.
Dr. Taylor received every award there is in jazz and the arts, including the National Medal of Arts in 1992, and was designated a Jazz Master by the National Endowment for the Arts in 1988.
I knew Dr. Taylor somewhat, and I treasure the memory of visiting him once at the Watergate hotel, interrupting him as he was practicing on an electric piano in his room. We sat and talked for more than an hour for background for a story you can find here
We'll have a full obituary up soon, but in the meantime, here's a taste of Dr. Taylor doing what he did best -- talking about jazz and demonstrating at the keyboard why he was so important to the music and everyone who loves it.
Hear Billy Taylor's Classic Anthem... "I Wish I Knew How It Would Feel To Be Free". I like the original vocals from Nina Simone, but must admit that i'm slightly partial to Marlena Shaw's rendition.
I don't want to spoil anyone's holiday mood, but as we approach President Barack Obama's second anniversary in office, it's time to say that he has not fulfilled some of his key promises to U.S. Hispanics and Latin America.
Consider:
• Immigration: Last week, the Obama administration failed to overcome Republican opposition in the Senate to the Dream Act, which would have given citizenship to tens of thousands of college students or soldiers in the U.S. military who were brought to the country as infants by undocumented immigrants.
It was the easiest immigration measure to pass, because it was the one that made most sense from a national security, economic and humanitarian stand.
REALLY?
It was the EASIEST?
Shrub Bush couldn't pass it and he shoved this country into TWO WARS without breaking a sweat, but it was supposed to be so easy for this President.
The author continues...
Granted, it was Republican senators who blocked it. But many Hispanic leaders wonder whether Obama spent enough time and effort to get it passed: On the same week, Obama managed to get enough Republican support in the Senate to repeal the military's ban on openly gay troops, and days later he mustered enough Republican Senators to pass the New START nuclear arms treaty.
On the broader issue of a comprehensive immigration reform that would seek to both secure the U.S. borders and provide a legal path to legalization to about 11 million undocumented immigrants, the president did not meet his campaign promise to make it a ``top priority'' of his first year in office, or of his second year.
It was REPUBLICAN Senators who blocked it, but that doesn't matter, because it's President Obama's fault.
Yes, because the President really didn't have anything on his plate the first two years in office, only two wars, the biggest economic crisis since the Great Depression, and trying to find a way to get healthcare for 30 million uninsured AMERICAN CITIZENS...I don't know why that would be more important than dealing with people who a) are NOT citizens, and b) are here illegally. Silly me, I don't know what the President of the UNITED STATES OF AMERICA was thinking over these past 2 years.
In all my reading, and my tv viewing, maybe I missed it, but I'd like to know...
When Latinos talk about the GOP knowing the power of the Latino vote, as they continue to pass ' What about IF YOU AIN'T WHITE don't you understand' Laws....
As well as ALL Republican Senators from following states with sizeable Latino populations voted AGAINST the DREAM Act : Texas,Nevada, Florida, Illinois. How come if the Latino is so ' obviously important', these Senators voted against it?
When I hear them talk about ' all they need are 6 more Senators'...
How come in all this ' the GOP will need to pass the DREAM act to get Latino votes', have I not seen one sentence written about how they've gotten SENATOR-ELECT MARCO RUBIO to be their champion in the new Senate?
what's up with that?
Why have I never heard RUBIO in the same sentence as the DREAM Act?
Being a Republican designated 'anchor baby' himself....why hasn't he taken up this cause?
And, if not, I wanna know why the Latino community isn't calling him on it? Like I said, I might have missed it...maybe they are calling him on it.
Who better to harness GOP Votes, than their new Tea Party Golden Boy Rubio?
Don't front like the President can do all the heavy lifting himself, if folks in the Latino community that could help - are silent.
Fanny Lou Hamer, a leader of the Freedom Democratic party, speaks before the credentials committee of the Democratic national convention in Atlantic City, August 22, 1964, in efforts to win accreditation for the group as Mississippi's delegation to the convention. The Freedom group, composed almost entirely of Negroes, is opposed by the regular all-white Mississippi delegation. ----AP Photo/stf
The Kennedy Center Honors will be televised tonight at 9pm EST on CBS.
WASHINGTON, D.C. - DECEMBER 04: The 2010 Kennedy Center honorees pose for their formal class photo following the formal Artist's Dinner at the United States Department of State in Washington, D.C. on December 4, 2010. Top row, from left to right: Merle Haggard, Bill T. Jones, and Sir Paul McCartney. Bottom row, from left to right: Jerry Herman and Oprah Winfrey. ---- Ron Sachs-Pool/Getty Images
President Barack Obama and First Lady Michelle Obama arrive at a reception for the recipients of the 2010 Kennedy Center Honors arrive in the East Room of the White House in Washington, Sunday, Dec. 5, 2010. ---AP Photo/Manuel Balce Ceneta
One of the greatest Soul singers of all-time, certainly among women. She easily fits into the top 10 women of all-time in Soul. Although I didn't care much for her bend towards Rap/Hip Hop in recent years. A genius, talented beyond measure. Her impact may never be fully appreciated. "The Brockert Initiative" alone (the Federal law setting precedent for protecting artists from record companies- freeing artists from labels abusing their contracts) puts her in a unique place in history.
Her music was part of the soundtrack to my childhood. A relative exposed me to her work back in the mid 80's. I didn't know until sometime later that she was white....and in the end, it didn't matter. She was a staple...both in our home and on those long 8, 12, 15+ hour road trips that my father seemed to love so much. She never quite got the level of recognition that matched her talent. She'll be in good company in that department.... Donny Hathaway, Chick Webb, Phyllis Hyman, Minnie Riperton, Grant Green & Curtis Mayfield immediately come to mind.
"The two parties have combined against us to nullify our power by a ‘gentleman's agreement' of non-recognition, no matter how we vote ... May God write us down as asses if ever again we are found putting our trust in either the Republican or the Democratic Parties." -- W.E.B. DuBois (1922)
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