When on September 11, 2001 our nation was viciously attacked by Islamic terrorist as a united people we came together to mourn our dead and to vow that together we would bring those responsible to justice. In doing so we set aside all of our differences to allow for a respectable time in mourning their loss and to reflect on our national tragedy as we reverently paid our respects to those who had perished and jointly prayed with and grieved with the families of the victims.

But that was way back then and since that terrible day some people in this country declared at the ballot box that they wanted change. Saturday’s terrible tragedy in Tucson and its aftermath have clearly shown us just how much our nation has changed.

As I sat here in my computer room watching the early reports of this heartbreak it became ever so clear to me that what I have suspected for some time now is that what we now call our “news media” has very little interest in reporting the truth, or what was once known simply as the news, and are now far more interested in just holding our attention. How else can you explain why CNN, MSNBC, and yes even Fox, would report such unconfirmed hearsay and rumors instead of reporting what they actually knew as facts and then breaking away? While I understand that in such events there is always a lot of confusion and that it was going to take time to get at least some of the facts straight, why didn’t they?

Apparently these news outlets now feel that they can tell their viewers any old thing and correct it later, or hope that we’ll forget they even said it, and so they continually gave us false and unconfirmed information.

At one point all three of these news channels stated that they had “confirmed” reports that Congresswoman Giffords had died of her wounds only to later report that she was indeed alive and being operated on. In this vast technical age of instant communications and information jumping the gun on declaring someone has died is not only unprofessional but is indeed unforgivable. The only reason to report such a grievous and appalling error is that each network was trying to get the jump on their competitors. In what passes for news in today’s market that advantage on their competition seems to outweigh the truth.

Because the shootings involved a Democratic Congresswoman from the outset of these reports there was obvious underlying contention that the shooter must have had a political agenda, and that since the victim was a Democrat then obviously he had to be some right wing extremist. Yet even I didn’t think that the Liberals would be so crass as to use this tragedy to attack the Right.

I was wrong.

Early on, and before the shooter even had a name, it was reported on Fox and CNN that he was believed to be a Veteran of the Afghanistan War.

Really? I thought. In a nation of almost three hundred and eight million people, with less than one percent of those citizens serving in our military and with even a smaller percentage of those serving in Afghanistan, to have this madman be an Afghan Veteran was almost impossible. Yet there it was, this unconfirmed and irresponsible rumor, blasted out all over the world via satellite insinuating that of course anyone this crazy had to be a Veteran, after all we have all been warned by our National Security Agency that returning Veterans pose a serious threat.

If it had been true, and it wasn’t, the Left must have felt like they had just won the lottery because the odds of winning a lottery are about the same as any one random madman shooting up a place would also be a right wing extremist, Afghanistan War Veteran. But those odds and the lack of any verification of this little tidbit did not stop them from reporting it as fact.

In the confusion and mayhem that followed the shootings the news media continued to guess at how many people had been wounded or killed by this insane young man. Through out the morning and into the afternoon their total numbers of the victims went up and down like some grotesque sliding scale that would ultimately determine the magnitude of this calamity leaving us viewers hoping and praying that as bad as it was somehow in the end it would not be as bad as it now seemed and that maybe, just maybe, nobody had been killed. 

To help fill the void the reporters started to interview a few witnesses, other members of the press and some Democratic leaders from that district. With the questions of the political motives of the shooter now fully open for debate exasperated Liberals could stop biting their tongues and came out of the woodwork to expound on their unsubstantiated theories. 

Within two hours of the shootings, and still without even knowing the name of the madman, CNN interviewed David Fitzsimmons, a cartoonist and opinion columnist for the Arizona Daily Star. Fitzsimmons unabashedly announced his theory on how in our state, politicians on the Right have conducted a campaign of hate for years and how this mornings events were just the results of such a campaign. In Fitzsimmons undaunted opinion we citizens of Arizona are an angry bunch and it seemed to me that he was quite sure that any one of us was capable of violence. For the life of me I don’t know why he stays here…

A few minutes later CNN also interviewed an Arizona Democratic committee member who insinuated that the Tea Party was to blame and he commented in agreement with the earlier Fitzsimmons’ interview. Sorry but I didn’t catch that fellow’s name.

Meanwhile over on MSNBC there was a report that as Rep. Giffords’ father was leaving his home to go to his daughter’s side he had blamed the Tea Party for the shootings. At such a sad time such hateful, erroneous statements, even from a distraught father, have no place on a legitimate newscast or in a civil society. 

Others stated how guns were a big problem in Arizona and more than one pundit reported how a gun had once fallen out of a woman’s purse during another meeting held by Rep. Giffords. The woman with the gun was of course supposed to have been a member of the Tea Party, although that was never “verified”.

It was also stated more than once that Arizona was really “The Wild West”, in an effort, I suppose, to insure that all of those fine civilized, citified folks of the elite East Coast who were listening knew to stay away.

Yet still others talked about the recent nasty campaign that Giffords had won over a Tea Party candidate and of how she had received threats during that campaign.

In the past two days we have seen that despite the truth about this lone crazed gunman the Left insists on using this senseless act of violence to attack their opponents. Conservatives such as Hannity, Beck, O’Reilly, Limbaugh and others, have all been ridiculously accused of inciting this violent act. Sarah Plain has been brought to task for a map she used with crosshairs targeting certain Congressional members that she believed could be defeated in the last election. But her target map was almost identical to one used by the Left to target Republican Congressional members back in 2004. Obviously the Left has a short memory when it is convenient and completely forgets that we now have the Internet.

In the last two days there have been many members of the Left who have lectured us on hate. Al Sharpton appeared on Fox News Saturday night to sanctimoniously lecture us all about hate speech. I’m sorry but I refuse to listen to a hypocritical, speechifying parasite that makes his living by inciting the very hate he now so conveniently condemns.

On Sunday’s MSNBC’s Meet The Press, various Democrats sat around a table discussing how the American people need to stop being so angry and how everyone needs to ratchet back on the hate speech. Among them was Rep. Raul Grijalva, D-AZ. When Arizona passed our immigration law Rep. Grijalva said we were racists and called for a boycott of his own state for punishment, now how hateful was that?

Many other Democrats have also stepped forward to now condemn the Right for hate speech. Yet for three years, or since Obama first started his Presidential campaign, we have been bombarded with an us against them mentality of the Left. Led by Obama the Left has tried to use every type of class warfare to divide us by race, religion, economics and political ideology. For these radicals to now step forward and use this tragedy in an attempt to put the blame for the divisions in our country on anyone but themselves is nauseating. 

As Saturday afternoon progressed it seemed that what really mattered to the media was not that a number of people had been killed or wounded but that what was most important was that Rep. Gifford had been involved. Even when the facts of the event were starting to become clear most of the discussion remained centered on Giffords’ condition. The other causalities seemed to be almost an after thought.

There were a number of updates on her condition, along with lengthy reports about her family and her work, and testimonials from her friends and Congressional members, while except for a judge who had been killed all of the other victims remained nameless and their status remained unreported. If not for Giffords being involved I feel sure that the networks would have cut away and gone on to other topics.

These feelings were confirmed the next day when a friend told me that it seemed that the other victims were of little concern to the networks. My friend felt that by the coverage only the elite Congresswoman mattered and that the ‘common people’ like you and I might have well had just fallen off the face of the earth. 

Although on Sunday and Monday the media had started to put a face on the others, with the charges against the shooter made public, I have to wonder why there is a law that makes it worse to kill a Congressional member than just you or I?

Likewise I am amused by the talk of how Congressional members have been warned to be on the alert, even after this has been proven to be a non-political attack by an obviously insane lone gunman. The media and Congressional members would have us believe that they are in more jeopardy than the average citizen. Really? Before Saturday when was the last time a Congressional member was attacked? But then politicians do love to overact.

Meanwhile everyday normal American citizens run the risk of that lone crazed gunman coming into a McDonald’s, a school, a post office or a place of business. This seems to happen at least once a week somewhere in our country, and there were everyday normal Americans killed in Saturday’s attack too you know. Yet all of the attention and discussions are now about protecting our elite political class.  

Late Saturday afternoon the media reported that one of the victims was a young child. I could literally feel my heart drop and I prayed and prayed that this was just another mistake. I prayed that like their reporting Rep. Giffords death that this too would be retracted and that no child was harmed.

Sadly we learned that it was true, a child, a nine year old little girl had been killed. I do not mean to diminish in any way the terrible things that happened to everyone else on this tragic day. The families who lost loved ones are in my prayers as well as those who are recovering from their wounds. But this little girl’s death cripples my heart. I am old now, I’ve been around and I’ve seen too many bad things in my life, yet I still cannot comprehend how anyone could so senselessly harm this child in this manner, even a lunatic.

My heart is sad and I feel resentment towards those who through their despicable attack, lies and hate have not allowed us time to absorb and to filter this tragedy in our minds and hearts or to even allow us a moment’s rest from their insanity to mourn this child. And that incivility is how this country has changed the most.

On that long ago terrible day of 9-11, when terrorist attacked our homeland something very good also happened, a little girl was born. She was allowed to live among us for nine years and almost four months before another madman took her away. From all reports she was a beautiful, intelligent, loving child. And I am sure she did not have an ounce of hate in her heart.

May God keep her and bless her.

No one can hurt her now.

Amen.

"Copyright 2011.  Michael E. Tank   All rights reserved. No part of this document may be copied, faxed, electronically transmitted, or in any other manner duplicated without express written permission of the author.”