400 Rabbis Protest Glenn Beck Attacks on Jews and Holocaust Survivors

Abe Foxman, national director of the Anti-Defamation League, a child survivor of the Holocaust, described Beck's attack on George Soros as "not only offensive, but horrific, over-the-top, and out-of-line". Commentary magazine said that "Beck's denunciation of him [Soros] is marred by ignorance and offensive innuendo." Elan Steinberg, vice president of the American Gathering of Jewish Holocaust Survivors, called Mr Beck's accusations "monstrous". Rev Welton Gaddy, president of the Interfaith Alliance, called them "beyond repugnant". And Deborah Lipstadt, professor of Holocaust Studies at Emory University, says Beck is using traditional antisemitic imagery.


(Reuters)

Four hundred rabbis will publish a letter tomorrow (NZT) calling on Fox News to sanction host Glenn Beck for repeated use of Nazi and Holocaust imagery and for airing attacks on World War Two survivor George Soros.

In an open letter to Rupert Murdoch, the chairman of News Corp, which owns Fox, the rabbis also demand an apology from Fox News chief Roger Ailes for characterising Beck's Jewish critics as nothing more than "left-wing rabbis".

The letter will appear as an advertisement in the News Corp-owned Wall Street Journal tomorrow for which the rabbis spent more than $100,000, a spokesman said.

In the letter, the rabbis cited "unacceptable attacks" by Beck against Soros, a billionaire financier who grew up in Nazi-occupied Hungary and is a frequent target of conservative commentators.

"And George Soros used to go around with this anti-Semite and deliver papers to the Jews and confiscate their property and then ship them off," Beck said in November.

"Here's a Jewish boy helping send the Jews to the death camps. And I am certainly not saying that George Soros enjoyed that, even had a choice. I mean, he's 14 years old. He was surviving. So I'm not making a judgement. That's between him and God."

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Beck, according to the rabbis, has made "literally hundreds of on-air references to the Holocaust and Nazis when characterising people with whom he disagrees," compares American leaders he does not like to Nazis and has said putting the "common good" first leads to "death camps".

"In the charged political climate in the current civic debate, much is tolerated, and much is ignored or dismissed," the letter said.

"But you diminish the memory and meaning of the Holocaust when you use it to discredit any individual or organisation you disagree with. That is what Fox News has done in recent weeks, and it is not only 'left-wing rabbis' who think so."

Why doesn't FOX News focus the same vitriol they target George Soros with towards Pope Ratzinger who was an actual Nazi youth? Funny irony, that.

The following is the full text of a letter published by Jewish Funds for Justice, appearing also as a full-page advertisement in the News Corp-owned Wall Street Journal, addressed to Rupert Murdoch, on the occasion of UN Holocaust remembrance day:

Dear Mr Murdoch

We are rabbis of diverse political views. As part of our work we are devoted to preserving the memory of the Shoah, and to passing its lessons on to our future generations and to all humankind. All of us have vigorously defended the Holocaust's legacy. We have worked to encourage the responsible invocation of its symbols as a powerful lesson for the future.

We were therefore deeply offended by Roger Ailes' recent statement attributing the outrage over Glenn Beck's use of Holocaust and Nazi images to "leftwing rabbis who basically don't think that anybody can ever use the word, Holocaust, on the air."

In the charged political climate in the current civic debate, much is tolerated, and much is ignored or dismissed. But you diminish the memory and meaning of the Holocaust when you use it to discredit any individual or organization you disagree with. That is what Fox News has done in recent weeks, and it is not only "leftwing rabbis" who think so.

Abe Foxman, national director of the Anti-Defamation League, a child survivor of the Holocaust, described Beck's attack on George Soros as "not only offensive, but horrific, over-the-top, and out-of-line". Commentary magazine said that "Beck's denunciation of him [Soros] is marred by ignorance and offensive innuendo." Elan Steinberg, vice president of the American Gathering of Jewish Holocaust Survivors, called Mr Beck's accusations "monstrous". Rev Welton Gaddy, president of the Interfaith Alliance, called them "beyond repugnant". And Deborah Lipstadt, professor of Holocaust Studies at Emory University, says Beck is using traditional antisemitic imagery.

"I haven't heard anything like this on television or radio – and I've been following this kind of stuff," Lipstadt said. "I've been in the sewers of antisemitism and Holocaust denial more often than I've wanted."

We share a belief that the Holocaust, of course, can and should be discussed appropriately in the media. But that is not what we have seen atFox News. It is not appropriate to accuse a 14-year-old Jew hiding with a Christian family in Nazi-occupied Hungary of sending his people to death camps. It is not appropriate to call executives of another news agency "Nazis". And it is not appropriate to make literally hundreds of on-air references to the Holocaust and Nazis when characterising people with whom you disagree.

It is because this issue has a profound impact on each of us, our families and our communities that we are calling on Fox News to meet the standard it has set for itself: "to exercise the ultimate sensitivity when referencing the Holocaust".

We respectfully request that Glenn Beck be sanctioned by Fox News for his completely unacceptable attacks on a survivor of the Holocaust and Roger Ailes apologise for his dismissive remarks about rabbis' sensitivity to how the Holocaust is used on the air.

Lead supporters (organisational affiliation listed for purposes of identification only):

Rabbi Bradley Shavit Artson, Vice President, American Jewish University, Ziegler School of Rabbinic Studies
Rabbi Dan Ehrenkrantz, President, Reconstructionist Rabbinical College
Rabbi Daniel Nevins, Dean, Jewish Theological Seminary Rabbinical School
Rabbi Yael Ridberg, President, Reconstructionist Rabbinical Association
Rabbi Ellen Weinberg Dreyfus, President, Central Conference of American Rabbis
Rabbi Steven Wernick, Executive Vice President, United Synagogue of Conservative Judaism
Rabbi Eric Yoffie, President, Union for Reform Judaism

Bachman's Latest Gaffe

Rep. Michele Bachmann (R-MN), the de facto  leader of the "Tea Party" Movement, has
once again stunned people with one of her pearls of wisdom.
According to Bachmann, who will likely give a fact-less Tea Party rebuttal to tonight’s State of the Union, the United States was founded on a platform of racial and ethnic tolerance, and the founding fathers were the ones responsible for ending slavery.
To think, all these years our history books have been teaching it all wrong.
Raw Story reports: Speaking at an event sponsored by Iowans For Tax Relief, Bachmann hailed the “different cultures, different backgrounds, different traditions” of the early European settlers in America, adding that the “color of their skin” or “language” or “economic status” didn’t preclude them from seeking happiness.
She continued to talk about our founding fathers who worked to end slavery once and for all. “But we also know that the very founders that wrote those documents worked tirelessly until slavery was no more in the United States,” Bachmann added, claiming “men like John Quincy Adams… would not rest until slavery was extinguished in the country.”
We don’t know how they taught history when Bachmann was in school but the folks at HyperVocal learned a bit of a different story.
Slavery was very popular in the United States long after the country’s founding in 1776, largely because of a compromise between the founding fathers that established African-Americans as three-fifths of a person. Several of them, including Thomas Jefferson, even owned slaves.
Despite Bachmann’s assessment that our forefathers were the ones to end slavery, it was not ended until 1865 (89 years after our country was founded) when the Thirteenth Amendment was ratified. It was that amendment that expressly forbade slavery.
Although he cannot be credited with the eradication of slavery — that was more Abraham Lincoln’s legacy — John Quincy Adams was known to be a strong opponent of slavery. Perhaps, this is where Rep. Bachmann became confused. Adams was a founding father and a National Republican, and we all know how much politicians love giving credit to their own party.
POSTED JANUARY 25TH 1:30PM
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Rep. Bachmann Thinks Founding Fathers Ended Slavery

Rep. Michele Bachmann (R-MN), the de facto  leader of the "Tea Party" Movement, has

once again stunned people with one of her pearls of wisdom.

According to Bachmann, who will likely give a fact-less Tea Party rebuttal to tonight’s State of the Union, the United States was founded on a platform of racial and ethnic tolerance, and the founding fathers were the ones responsible for ending slavery.

To think, all these years our history books have been teaching it all wrong.

Raw Story reports: Speaking at an event sponsored by Iowans For Tax Relief, Bachmann hailed the “different cultures, different backgrounds, different traditions” of the early European settlers in America, adding that the “color of their skin” or “language” or “economic status” didn’t preclude them from seeking happiness.

She continued to talk about our founding fathers who worked to end slavery once and for all. “But we also know that the very founders that wrote those documents worked tirelessly until slavery was no more in the United States,” Bachmann added, claiming “men like John Quincy Adams… would not rest until slavery was extinguished in the country.”

We don’t know how they taught history when Bachmann was in school but the folks at HyperVocal learned a bit of a different story.

Slavery was very popular in the United States long after the country’s founding in 1776, largely because of a compromise between the founding fathers that established African-Americans as three-fifths of a person. Several of them, including Thomas Jefferson, even owned slaves.

Despite Bachmann’s assessment that our forefathers were the ones to end slavery, it was not ended until 1865 (89 years after our country was founded) when the Thirteenth Amendment was ratified. It was that amendment that expressly forbade slavery.

Although he cannot be credited with the eradication of slavery — that was more Abraham Lincoln’s legacy — John Quincy Adams was known to be a strong opponent of slavery. Perhaps, this is where Rep. Bachmann became confused. Adams was a founding father and a National Republican, and we all know how much politicians love giving credit to their own party.

POSTED JANUARY 25TH 1:30PM

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Jihad Darrell Issa Republican , Muslim, Terrorist Sympathizer

Darell Issa is the Republican Chairman of the House Government Oversight Committee.

By Debbie Schlussel
I’ve been on the case of gazillionaire GOP Congressman Darrell Issa a/k/a “Jihad Darrell”, since just after 9/11, when he praised Hezbollah as a “humanitarian” group of “farmers” and went to Ramallah to become Yasser Arafat’s personal taste tester (not kidding). Since then, Issa’s continued to fete the Assads of Syria, the Hezbos of Lebanon, the Fatah-niks of the so-called Palestinian authority, and has called Israel an “apartheid” state a la Jimmy “Jimmuh” Carter. Nancy Pelosi’s got nothin’ on Jihad Darrell.
That’s not to mention Issa’s lengthy criminal and marred military record, and the sickening way Issa stole a company out from under his boss and went on to make millions by stealing patents and litigating everyone out of business.

Darrell Issa, Prez of the Bashar Assad Fan Club, American Auxiliary

As readers know, I’ve repeatedly written about Issa in the New York Post and elsewhere, and the thing that most galls me is the way the GOP gloms onto this guy, rather than disowning him the way they did David Duke in the Reagan days.
But things are changing, and I hope it’s a trend.
Last year, after I wrote a NYPost column about the San Diego Republican’s bid to become House Republican Policy chief and about his record of pandering to America’s Islamic terrorist enemies, the article was circulated among House Republicans. And Issa was defeated by a more than 2-1 margin. Since then, though, top Republicans–like the retiring Rep. Tom Davis–have been pushing Issa for key Republican posts, like budget czar and procurement chief.
But Issa’s antics, this week, may finally shut the lid on his ambitions. On Wednesday, Issa called the 9/11 terrorist attacks on America “‘simply’ a plane crash.” He made comments like this in House hearings regarding continuing federal assistance to 9/11 first responders, many of whom are stricken with life-threatening ailments because they inhaled the fumes of the attacks or were otherwise seriously injured.
The New York Daily News reports that Issa

suggest[ed] the federal government had already done enough to help New York cope with “a fire” that “simply was an aircraft” hitting the World Trade Center.

That any American Congressman–no less, a so-called conservative Republican–would say such a thing about the largest, most outrageous attack on American soil, is disgusting.
It’s frankly time for Issa to go. Several years ago, Issa–who has ambitions of running for the U.S. Senate and Governor of California–bankrolled the recall petitions against then-Governor Grey Davis. He planned to run for Governor in the recall election, and with his deep pockets, he might have won. But Karl Rove and other Republican bigwigs pushed him aside in favor of Schwarzenegger. And that’s because Democrats have been watching what I’ve written about Issa’s support for Islamic terrorists, and they were planning to use it against him. The GOP couldn’t afford to blow the golden opportunity of running California, so they demanded he bow out, which he reluctantly did (in a tear-filled speech).
Since the GOP has had several years and ample opportunity to learn Issa’s pan-jihadist views, it’s about time they asked him to step aside and resign from office, altogether.
They did so with David Duke. And Issa is far scarier, since he has mainstream respect and a following that the fringe-character Duke never had.
If the GOP wants to continue to legitimately attack Congressmen like Jim McDermott, John Conyers, and other far-left Democrats who kowtow to our Islamist enemies on American soil, the party needs to nip their own similar problem child–Darrell Issa–in the bud, once and for all.
I hope Republicans will take the words of two of Issa’s GOP colleagues to heart:

“It seems that with the passage of time, something happened along the way where the scope of the problem and the real extent of the problem has not drifted out to California,” fumed Staten Island GOP Rep. Vito Fossella. . . .
“New York was attacked by Al Qaeda. It doesn’t have to be attacked by Congress,” added Long Island Rep. Pete King, a Republican.
“I’m really surprised by Darrell Issa,” King added. “It showed such a cavalier dismissal of what happened to New York. It’s wrong and inexcusable.”

But, since his pan-Islamist antics have been legion since 9/11, none of Issa’s actions should surprise these men.
More:

The California congressman who called the Sept. 11 attacks “simply” a plane crash ran for cover Wednesday under a barrage of ridicule from fellow Republicans, first responders and victims’ families.
San Diego GOP Rep. Darrell Issa was under siege for suggesting the federal government had already done enough to help New York cope with “a fire” that “simply was an aircraft” hitting the World Trade Center.
“That is a pretty distorted view of things,” said Frank Fraone, a Menlo Park, Calif., fire chief who led a 67-man crew at Ground Zero. “Whether they’re a couple of planes or a couple of missiles, they still did the same damage.” . . .
Lorie Van Aucken, who lost her husband, Kenneth, in the attacks, slammed Issa’s “cruel and heartless” comments.
“It’s really discouraging. People stepped up and did the right thing. They sacrificed themselves and now a lot of people are getting really horrible illnesses,” she added.
Under pressure from all sides, the Golden State pol – who got rich selling car alarms after getting busted for car theft as a teen – pulled a partial U-turn. He issued a statement but cowered from the press. . . .
But he didn’t retract his wacked-out rhetoric claiming the feds “just threw” buckets of cash at New York for an attack “that had no dirty bomb in it, it had no chemical munitions in it.” . . .
“The sound I’m hearing is him slamming the brakes and going in reverse,” crowed Rep. Anthony Weiner (D-Brooklyn-Queens). Issa also belatedly admitted 9/11 was “an attack on America” in his statement.

Thank G-d there wasn’t a dirty bomb or chemical munitions on 9/11. The toxic fumes American victims breathed there were harmful enough.
But what’s also harmful is that we continue to tolerate outrageous men like Darrell Issa in leadership positions in our government.
Like I said, time for the GOP to tell him where to go.
Thanks to the many outraged readers who sent me tips on this latest deranged behavior by Jihad Darrell.
Related:
* My New York Post column on Jihad Darrell
* Jihad Darrell: Terrorism’s Manchurian Candidate

Stan Wawrinka versus Roger Federer

Stan Wawrinka , from Switzerland, played one of the greatest tennis players in history today in the quarterfinals of the Austrtalian Open.

The commentator Pat MCEnroe expressed the opinion that Wawrinka caved.

I don’t think so.

He played Federer at his best.

Few can stand up to that.

Tonight Federer looked thin, I mean athletically thin.

He had the eye of the tiger.

Like Ali in the Ring, Federer seems to float across the court.

Coiling his body into every shot, every shot a power shot.

Federer  is truly a phenomena.

He is the Muhammad Ali of Tennis.

I mean, in athletic terms.

He is a step ahead of, a blur faster than his opponents.

As a personality, he is different in some ways.

Federer seems appreciative of his opponents.

As people and as players.

He doesn’t seem over-impressed with his own accomplishments.

He loves tennis.

He loves to talk about tennis.

He was being interviewed after a tough match and while mentioning some of the hard fought rallies and rugged points, Jim Currier asked, “But you like that though, don’t you?”

Federer’s face lit up, “I do. I like the pressure, I love it.

The hard points and the difficult shots are the most fun.”

I’d advise anyone interested in watching a living legend in his prime, watch the rest of the Australian Open.

Revolt in Tunisia: When Arab Regimes Do (And Do Not) Tremble

By Barry Rubin

January 18, 2010

http://www.gloria-center.org/gloria/2011/01/revolt-in-tunisia

May the good Lord protect us from news analysis and Middle East experts. Is the Arab world really in shock over the Tunisian upheaval? Is this really a symptom for a coming upheaval in the Arab world?

Perhaps I'm wrong but a note of caution is in order. I think the answer is "no."

Let's begin by looking back at far bigger shocks that have made Arab regimes tremble.

First, there was the fall of Communism and the Soviet bloc. The Soviet Union was the superpower patron of many Arab regimes, their source of weapons and diplomatic support, their supposed protector from Israel and the United States.

Yet more than that, it was a basic role model--especially for political and economic organization--for a number of these regimes--most obviously Egypt, Iraq, and Syria but also for others as well. I don't mean they copied it exactly by a long shot. But the statist, single-party rule, government control over wide swathes of life is how they functioned for decades. If you're interested, I wrote a book on this called Modern Dictators.

How did the regimes respond then? By tightening up and killing off real hope of democratic reform. And they did quite well for themselves. I wrote about it in "How Arab Regimes Dealt with the Democracy Challenge."
There was also another time when (some) Arab regimes trembled, the Iranian revolution of 1978-1979. Indeed, they are still trembling at the prospect of overthrow by a revolutionary Islamist movement. These groups now form the principal opposition in most Arab countries--but not, as we shall see, in Tunisia--and elements of them are quite ready to use violence. Indeed, this is the most important conflict not only in the Arab world but in the Middle East altogether.

And there is a third occasion when (radical) Arab regimes tremble: the U.S. overthrow of Saddam Hussein's regime in 2003. Might the United States also overthrow them? This applied especially to Syria and Libya but others felt it also. As totally unlikely as this seemed in Washington it was not so unthinkable in Arab capitals. But they got over it when it became clear that there was no such threat. I discussed how Syria dealt with this in my book, The Truth about Syria. Libya reacted by surrendering all of its nuclear ambitions.

So Arab regimes begin to tremble sometimes. But when the going gets tough the tough don't tremble very long. They take counter-action.

Now are the events in Tunisia a new occasion for Arab regimes to tremble? Well, maybe a tiny bit for a tiny moment. The fact is that Tunisia has been a special case among Arab regimes for decades. It is the most Europeanized, the place where women have the most equality, and the Islamist movement is proportionately weakest. It is also the only country that has had just two rulers in 55 years.
Here's an excellent article on why the Islamist movement in Tunisia is weaker by Aziz Enhaili and Oumelkheir Adda.

Compare this to neighboring Algeria where the Islamists built a power base in part on similar material grievances to those that motivated the Tunisian riots, won an election, were then confronted by the military, and the result was an incredibly bloody and vicious civil war in which tens of thousands of people were killed.

Also compare this to Palestinian politics where corruption and incompetence led to the rise of Hamas, which seized the Gaza Strip by force. Let's face it, if not for massive Western aid and Israel security assistance to the Palestinian Authority--which does not repay this with any flexibility in negotiating, by the way--Hamas would probably be ruling the West Bank by now, too.

That is the kind of scenario faced in various ways by Egypt, Jordan, Syria, and other Arab countries. That is what they fear, not a citizens' spontaneous uprising that is easily defused by some minor changes at little cost in casualties.

The weakness of the Islamists--and in some ways Tunisian regime's  the less totalitarian approach, which at times was quite brutal but not so systematically so as some others--left the door open for moderate pro-democratic forces in a way that hasn't happened in any other Arabic-speaking country.

If you are interested in the remarkable story of how Tunisian Islam has differed so drastically from that in other countries, read my article about that here or a longer article by Lafif Lakhdar, "Moving From Salafi to Rationalist Education."

This factor gave more "secular" politics space, a space which in Egypt and Jordan, for example, is filled by the Muslim Brotherhood.

At any rate, there is no reason to believe that the events in Tunisia signal a regime change but only a partial leadership change.

What does it mean for other Arab countries? It calls to their attention the stress of serious economic difficulties given international problems and local mismanagement. The signal is that governments have to ease up a bit on their masses regarding pricing of basic commodities and other services. An obvious case in this regard is Jordan. But Jordan is crisscrossed by East Banker/Palestinian and pro-regime/Islamist factors that make it quite a different situation.

Remember that the notable thing about the Tunisian upheaval was that it was a spontaneous rebellion against an incompetent and corrupt government that had followed roughly the same policies for 55 years without a single serious challenge. Spontaneous rebellions are not going to happen if there are people clamoring to organize them for a specific political agenda beforehand. (The closest thing to that happening before was in Iran in 1978, but that's another story also.)

Incidentally, the thing to watch now is whether the Islamists profit from the discontent and the partial opening up of civil society to become much stronger. In that case, a future crisis might follow the pattern more common now in the region.

Incidentally, a senior U.S. diplomat told me about a meeting he had with Tunisia's (up until hours ago) president many years ago:

"I remember his telling me that he fights Islamism by increasing the number of government projects in districts where the Islamist movement might be getting stronger.

"As for Islamism he told me the following: 'They brainwash people. They brainwashed my mother. She called me and said: 'I thought I raised you to be a good Moslem. Why are you against God?' I had to tell her: 'You raised me to be a good Moslem and I am still a good Moslem. Don't believe what these people tell you.' But the brainwashing goes on and we have to deal with it."

Leaving aside the future of Islamism in Tunisia, though, this is not a turning point in Arab or Middle Eastern political history. It will, however, take its place as a precedent that will affect the thinking of governments, Islamist oppositions, and the small pro-democratic movements. It gives the governments cause to make adjustments, the Islamists ideas about posing as "good government" activists, and the democrats some hope for the future.

  Barry Rubin is director of the Global Research in International Affairs (GLORIA) Center and editor of the Middle East Review of International Affairs (MERIA) Journal. His latest books are The Israel-Arab Reader (seventh edition), with Walter Laqueur (Viking-Penguin); the paperback edition of The Truth About Syria (Palgrave-Macmillan); A Chronological History of Terrorism, with Judy Colp Rubin, (Sharpe); and The Long War for Freedom: The Arab Struggle for Democracy in the Middle East (Wiley). To read and subscribe to MERIA, GLORIA articles, or to order books, go tohttp://www.gloria-center.org.  You can read and subscribe to his blog at http://www.rubinreports.blogspot.com.

The GloriaCenter  depends on your contributions. To make a tax-deductible donation through PayPal or credit card, click the Donate button in the upper-right hand corner of this page. When processing your donation through PayPal please indicate in the "Special Instructions for Seller Box" for GLORIA Center. To donate via check, make it out to "American Friends of IDC," with "for GLORIA Center" in the memo line. Mail to: American Friends of IDC, 116 East 16th Street, 11th Floor, New York, NY 10003.  If you would like to make a tax deductible donation from the United Kingdom or Germany please email us for more information here. 

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A Coarsening Of Culture?

One of the contributing factors to the coarsening of our culture is the prison and Cop shows. 
They make what is considered a problem, i.e. the huge rate of incarceration of our citizens, into entertainment. 
Most of the prisons are profit making enterprises as well. 
To profit (and they certainly do profit) more people must be arrested and they must serve longer sentences. 

From a libertarian (not a liberal) standpoint, its problematic that many of the prisoners are incarcerated for victim-less crimes. 

I have worked with the Homeless population for many years now, most of them have criminal records, and most are extremely culturally deprived. 
I mean, Sam, they literally do not know how to comport themselves around "normal" people. 

And yet, the children from this very same environment are just like children in every other environment. 
Inquisitive, joyful, and so on. 
The exposure to the "homeless environment" however, to a large degree, condemns them to repeat the 'lifestyle" of the adults around them. 
Not all of them, of course, but just as the children of the wealthy emulate their peers, so do homeless children. 


It boils down to education and economics. 
Part of the coarsening of society, in my opinion, stems from our society's willingness to "write off" millions of our fellow citizens, if effects "them", and it effects us, as well, because we are not doing what we all know is morally right. 

I don't believe our society, our "empire" is doomed. 
I believe we can change for the better. 
I believe we need to remember that helping our fellow man is the right thing to do, a concept that has become laughable, or worse, to many. 

Christina-Taylor Green, May Flights of Angels Sing Thee To Thy Rest

It is so sad, almost beyond words, the loss of this young, bright and lovable child.

A parent should not have to bury their child.

The article below speaks for us, as well.

Michael

Mourning Christina-Taylor Green

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By Jeff MacGregor
ESPN.com
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Christina-Taylor Green.

One word here will be one word too many. Two hundred thousand more won't be enough.

I'd let this space stand empty today if I could, and send only the message of no message, of a long blank page quiet as stone. I'd ask that its stillness honor the lost.

---

As a writer in America, I spend my time wondering what it means to be an American. I wonder what it means to live inside all the contradictions of our freedom and violence, our wealth and poverty, our opportunity and opportunism, bravery and cowardice, privilege and misery and charity and hate and love and heroism and madness. Often enough, I can make no sense of it. I can make no sense of who we are or what we mean to be.

[+] Enlarge

AP Photo/Chris CarlsonRachel Cooper-Blackmore, 9, adds a note to a makeshift memorial at Mesa Verde Elementary School in Tucson, Ariz.

So I could make no sense of America on Saturday morning when all those things in opposition came home to roost on Oracle Road in Tucson, Arizona.

Nor will any sense be made of it before, during or after the big championship game Monday night up at Glendale, in that great loud theater of our national distraction. I expect a memorial moment of silence there, of course. As part of our deeper retreat into permanent nonsense, I also expect record television ratings -- earned for the comforts of the stylized violence and the soothing familiarity of those noises and colors.

Thus Arizona finds itself again at the crossroads of America's fears and excesses and its addiction to spectacle. Arizona as punch line. Arizona as editorial cartoon. Arizona heartbroken, standing in again as America writ small.

---

By the time most of you read this, more will be known about the circumstances of Saturday's shooting, about the order of events and about the sad mechanics of that day and the lives of the victims and the delusions of that young man with the gun. But neither meaning nor reason can ever be made of what he did or why. A trial will be held and a sentence imposed and a history written, but an absolute truth will always elude us.

---

Watching the coverage of a U.S. congresswoman shot, of attempted political murder in broad American daylight, I felt for the first time in more than 40 years, since the last rattle of the late 1960s, that something bleak and uncontrollable had been set loose again in America, and that a terrible anger is now general everywhere.

(Even the morning of September 11 brought a different kind of dread, of something straightforward and external, of an enemy. Of something we could safely hate and then fight to destroy. This is different, and the fear of it is different. Because this is the house divided. Like Oklahoma City, this is us, terrorizing ourselves. Maybe this is what it means to be an American as we light the fuse of the 21st century.)

So today we send our sympathies and our frights west and north and south and east, send our hopes and well wishes to Representative Gabrielle Giffords and the other 13 wounded, send our condolences and tears to those half a dozen dead.

---

And we mourn and remember Christina-Taylor Green, 9-year-old daughter and granddaughter to baseball men. Read about her here. And here. And here. And here. Andhere.

And understand that whatever she was meant for, she was not meant for this.

---

She saw people and governments in the way that only a child can, as instruments of optimism and the common good. And we can all hope that a billionaire one day endows a Christina-Taylor Green Institute for the Improvement of American Politics.

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Kevin C. Cox/Getty ImagesA makeshift memorial is set outside the district office of U.S. Rep. Gabrielle Giffords.

But until then, whatever your party and whatever motives you assign to her killer, let her death remind us of the high price of our ideologies. Her life unbegun, let her death reveal the cost of our comic book politics and our bullying, overheated rhetoric.

Then let her death restore us.

Let her death be the sacrifice that heals us all.

Remember her in your thoughts and devotions and let her loss remind us of what is best in us, and what is best in America.

Because who knows what Christina-Taylor Green might have become.

And who knows what will one day become of us.

Jeff MacGregor is a senior writer for ESPN.com and ESPN The Magazine. You can e-mail him at jeff_macgregor@hotmail.com or follow his Twitter.com feed @MacGregorESPN.