It may too soon to compare the shooting of Arizona Democratic Congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords on Saturday morning to the Oklahoma City bombing in March of 1995 or the September 11,2001 terrorist attacks in NYC, Washington D.C. and Shanksville, Pennsylvania.
Nevertheless, it has to be a defining moment for everyone in American political discourse to take a reflection on what's been happening in the culture. Having said that, there unfortunately will probably always be some literally insane people who are going to be capable of accomplishing something as horrible as what happened this weekend.
We've written a post on the national reaction from some of our politicians, and the blame game as to who is somehow "responsible" for Jared Loughner.
In other news, the issue of whether the city of Tampa should impose a ban on panhandling on city street corners continues to dominate public discussion, and over the weekend we learned that mayoral candidates Bob Buckhorn and Rose Ferlita support such a ban. Ferlita has previously expressed support while she served on the County Commission, but tells CL that she thinks the city council in Tampa should allow citizens to vote on the issue.
And in somewhat lighter news, a Tampa City Council candidate has a little fun at the expense of Dick Greco's "Gimme 5" signs that are proliferating throughout the city.
the report here.
This article appears in Jan 6-12, 2011.