THE SENSELESS SHOOTING OF TWENTY PERSONS IN ARIZONA ON SATURDAY...........

Saturday started as a normal and usual day in Tucson, Arizona, until a deranged twenty something gun man, opened fire in a Safeway grocery store parking lot where the local Congresswoman  Gabrielle Giffords, a conservative Democrat, was meeting and greeting some of her constituents.  Shooting Representative Giffords through the head at point blank range, the bullet pierced her brain and came out through her forehead.  She remains in critical condition.  Then, the gun man sprayed the crowd, killing six more persons, and wounding a total of fourteen people.  This was a senseless, unnecessary, attack on these twenty innocent and peaceful citizens.  What begins to explain such a tragedy ?  A quirky, insecure, degenerate, person, or are there further circumstances that contribute to such an occurrence ?  During the past year, Congresswoman Giffords and her District, was one of several throughout the country that had a rifle scope placed over them, by Sarah Palin's website and her Tea Party devotees.  The United States of America is a nation of freedom and liberty for all our citizens, but that does not condone or allow for violence by the choice of individuals or groups.  The hallmarks of our U.S. Constitution, and the Bill twof Rights, assure us, Freedom of Speech; Freedom of Assembly; the Right to Bear Arms; do not sanction, or justify, such attitudes and actions, as were carried out in Tucson yesterday.  Mrs. Palin and her ilk, can make all the statements of sympathy, solidarity, and about face, today and into the future they want; their ill considered political rhetoric during the past year in regards to what led to this senseless act, is as much to blame for what occurred - leaving even an energized and idealistic, 9 year old girl among the dead, as is the perpetrator who fired the gun.  If this is any indication of the leadership and public service Sarah Palin and her Tea Party allies will bring about, she and they are not qualified to hold any office, and particularly not the Highest Office in the Land, and the most Powerful Governing Position, in the World.  Peace, Justice, Liberty, and Freedom, that are grounded in the True and Constructive American Values we have fought to attain and perserve, for the past two hundred and a third years, must be maintained; and the self centered, self seeking, untoward, agendas of individuals and groups, that incite or execute violence and mayhem, must be called out and opposed for what they are : conveyors of UnAmericanism, instead of all we stand for, the undeniable American Spirit.  As Catholic Christians, we cannot condone, or allow, such violence to be advanced by anyone.  Nwely elected U.S. Senator Joe Manchin, Democrat of West Virginia, who as Governor was the replacement candidate for the late Senator Robert Byrd, also contributed to craziness during the Fall campaign, when he fired a high powered rifle at a copy of the Health Reform Bill, in a television commercial...........Praying For The Victims, Families, And Community, Caught Up In This Wanton Tragedy,   Fr.  Troy