Sad day for America

No links today, nor artwork, nor news of Holiday Concerts or recent trips.  Just some random ramblings about what transpired over the weekend.  What a sad and tragic day Saturday was.  I had just returned home from my daily walk with the dogs in the foothills near our house, and was settling in to prepare and cook my world-famous spaghetti sauce.  As I was prepping the sausage and ground beef (soon to be meatballs), I thought I'd check my DVR recordings for a little entertainment while I cooked.  I turned on the TV and of course, never made it as far as checking out the recorded programs listing.  The rest of the day was devoted to coverage to the tragic shooting in Tucson, AZ.  Once again, violence and hatred take over the headlines, and senseless killings rule the day.  A Federal judge, a 9 year old girl, a political aide and 3 others lay dead in the aftermath, and 14 others were seriously wounded in the shooting spree, among them Congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords, who was the reported target in the incident.  She suffered a through-and through shot to the brain and is in critical condition in the ICU. 

What has transpired since, in many regards, is equally sad and somewhat shameful.  The political positioning and speculation as to motive began almost immediately.  Left, right, sane, insane, unchecked vitriol from all sides.  It makes one pause to consider the sad state of affairs in America.  But is it really any worse than at any other time in our nation's history?  I think not.  We are a nation born of bloodshed, and political unrest has been a benchmark of our growth throughout our history.  Once it took days, or even weeks for news to reach from one end of the country to the other.  Now it is seconds.  Once it was eptithets that were hurled at opponents, and maybe an occasional duel or two.  Now we use automatic weapons and hurl hand grenades.  But let's keep everything in perspective.  In Sunday's Statesman Journal, our local newspaper in Salem, Oregon, the events of Saturday morning and all that had transpired since, were relegated to page 11.  Plastered all over the front page of the newspaper, above the fold and below were articles about tonight's BCS title game between Oregon and Auburn.  Now that is truly shameful.