Author Topic: Gabby Giffords to mark shooting anniversary by skydiving  (Read 808 times)

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Gabby Giffords to mark shooting anniversary by skydiving
« on: January 08, 2014, 03:00:01 pm »
The Mark Kelly freakshow continues:
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PHOENIX (AP) — Former Congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords reportedly plans to mark three years since she was severely injured in a mass shooting in Tucson by skydiving in Arizona.

In the three years since she was shot in the head at a political event, Giffords made an impressive recovery, learned to walk again and founded a national political organization.

NBC's "Today" show reports she will commemorate the shooting on Wednesday with the jump. NBC says the feat will be aired on Thursday.

Giffords' office didn't immediately respond to a request for comment. But Giffords retweeted a tweet by "Today" co-anchor Savannah Guthrie about the planned skydiving.

Six people were killed and 12, including Giffords, were injured in the shooting.


Rep. Gabrielle Giffords, left, leads the Pledge of Allegiance accompanied by her husband, former astronaut Mark Kelly, at the start of a one year memorial vigil for the victims and survivors of the shooting that wounded Giffords, 12 others and killed six in this Sunday, Jan. 8, 2012 file photo taken in Tucson, Ariz. The three-year anniversary of the shooting of Gabrielle Giffords will be marked Wednesday Jan. 8, 2013 with bell-ringing, flag-raising and other ceremonies, providing a moment of reflection for the former congresswoman. Giffords and Kelly plan to mark the anniversary privately with friends and other survivors of the attack.

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Re: Gabby Giffords to mark shooting anniversary by skydiving
« Reply #1 on: January 08, 2014, 03:01:50 pm »
Giffords on gun control: "We'll persist"

CNN) – Three years to the day that she was critically wounded in a mass shooting that left six dead, former Rep. Gabrielle Giffords called for persistence in the fight for gun control, and revealed for the first time that she now has movement in her right arm.

In an opinion piece Wednesday for the New York Times, the Democrat from Arizona described the daily "gritty, painful, frustrating work" of rehab and compares it to her mission to strengthen gun laws, saying "our fight is a lot more like my rehab. Every day, we must wake up resolved and determined. We'll pay attention to the details; look for opportunities for progress, even when the pace is slow."

Giffords described the disappointment in Congress for failing to pass gun control measures in the aftermath of the December 2012 shootings at a Connecticut elementary school that left 20 young children dead, writing that "Washington disappointed us during the first year of our work with the organization we began, Americans for Responsible Solutions. Many of you were outraged at the failure of the Senate to pass the background checks bill, and so was I."

But Giffords, who along with her husband, former astronaut Mark Kelly, have become leading advocates for gun control, also sounded optimistic. And she touted a recent high profile electoral victory this past November for a candidate who supported gun control, saying "we can get tough and win elections. We'll support our allies. And those who stood in the way will face a powerful advocacy community standing between them and re-election. I know that after the next elections, candidates won't wonder if common-sense gun policies can win elections; trust me, like Governor-elect Terry McAuliffe of Virginia, they'll know that the answer is yes."

On a personal note, Giffords revealed the slow progress she's made with her rehab.

"This past year, I have achieved something big that I've not spoken of until now. Countless hours of physical therapy – and the talents of the medical community – have brought me new movement in my right arm. It's fractional progress, and it took a long time, but my arm moves when I tell it to. Three years ago, I did not imagine my arm would move again. For so many days, it did not. I did exercise after exercise, day after day, until it did," she said.

Giffords was first elected to Congress in 2006. She stepped down from her seat one year after suffering a severe head wound in the shooting, which took place as she was meeting with constituents at a supermarket near her hometown of Tucson.
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Re: Gabby Giffords to mark shooting anniversary by skydiving
« Reply #2 on: January 08, 2014, 03:13:32 pm »
Her - I admire. Her husband, not so much.
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Offline flowers

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Re: Gabby Giffords to mark shooting anniversary by skydiving
« Reply #3 on: January 08, 2014, 04:03:22 pm »
Giffords on gun control: "We'll persist"

CNN) – Three years to the day that she was critically wounded in a mass shooting that left six dead, former Rep. Gabrielle Giffords called for persistence in the fight for gun control, and revealed for the first time that she now has movement in her right arm.

In an opinion piece Wednesday for the New York Times, the Democrat from Arizona described the daily "gritty, painful, frustrating work" of rehab and compares it to her mission to strengthen gun laws, saying "our fight is a lot more like my rehab. Every day, we must wake up resolved and determined. We'll pay attention to the details; look for opportunities for progress, even when the pace is slow."

Giffords described the disappointment in Congress for failing to pass gun control measures in the aftermath of the December 2012 shootings at a Connecticut elementary school that left 20 young children dead, writing that "Washington disappointed us during the first year of our work with the organization we began, Americans for Responsible Solutions. Many of you were outraged at the failure of the Senate to pass the background checks bill, and so was I."

But Giffords, who along with her husband, former astronaut Mark Kelly, have become leading advocates for gun control, also sounded optimistic. And she touted a recent high profile electoral victory this past November for a candidate who supported gun control, saying "we can get tough and win elections. We'll support our allies. And those who stood in the way will face a powerful advocacy community standing between them and re-election. I know that after the next elections, candidates won't wonder if common-sense gun policies can win elections; trust me, like Governor-elect Terry McAuliffe of Virginia, they'll know that the answer is yes."

On a personal note, Giffords revealed the slow progress she's made with her rehab.

"This past year, I have achieved something big that I've not spoken of until now. Countless hours of physical therapy – and the talents of the medical community – have brought me new movement in my right arm. It's fractional progress, and it took a long time, but my arm moves when I tell it to. Three years ago, I did not imagine my arm would move again. For so many days, it did not. I did exercise after exercise, day after day, until it did," she said.

Giffords was first elected to Congress in 2006. She stepped down from her seat one year after suffering a severe head wound in the shooting, which took place as she was meeting with constituents at a supermarket near her hometown of Tucson.
Yeah......riiiiiight she wrote the piece for the NYT's


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Re: Gabby Giffords to mark shooting anniversary by skydiving
« Reply #4 on: January 08, 2014, 04:09:55 pm »
Yeah......riiiiiight she wrote the piece for the NYT's
There are times it appears she's essentially become Mark Kelly's trained monkey.

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Re: Gabby Giffords to mark shooting anniversary by skydiving
« Reply #5 on: January 08, 2014, 04:15:10 pm »
Yeah......riiiiiight she wrote the piece for the NYT's

Why not? Roger Ebert couldn't speak in the last years of his life and was constantly ill. Didn't even slow him down as one of the finest writers on movies ever.

What annoys me is the squib at the end.

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Gabrielle Giffords, a Democratic representative from Arizona from 2007 to 2012, is a founder of Americans for Responsible Solutions, which focuses on gun violence.

A good half of her time and attention is spent on improving mental health care access and diagnosis, both in and out of schools. Never gets mentioned. It should be. When was the last time someone not mentally ill went on a shooting spree?
We've all said it here, multiple times.

If anyone has the right to be fervently anti second amendment, it's her. Being shot in the head gives you a different perspective. Yet, she's not. May not agree with her totally, but dislike seeing her misrepresented.

Yeah - I'll shut up now.
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Re: Gabby Giffords to mark shooting anniversary by skydiving
« Reply #6 on: January 08, 2014, 04:22:50 pm »
Why not? Roger Ebert couldn't speak in the last years of his life and was constantly ill. Didn't even slow him down as one of the finest writers on movies ever.

What annoys me is the squib at the end.

A good half of her time and attention is spent on improving mental health care access and diagnosis, both in and out of schools. Never gets mentioned. It should be. When was the last time someone not mentally ill went on a shooting spree?
We've all said it here, multiple times.

If anyone has the right to be fervently anti second amendment, it's her. Being shot in the head gives you a different perspective. Yet, she's not. May not agree with her totally, but dislike seeing her misrepresented.

Yeah - I'll shut up now.

Actually, one could say just the opposite, namely that being shot in the head might make you more pro-second amendment for the simple reason that if someone - including her - had been carrying the shooting might have stopped before she got hit.

Offline EC

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Re: Gabby Giffords to mark shooting anniversary by skydiving
« Reply #7 on: January 08, 2014, 05:00:32 pm »
Actually, one could say just the opposite, namely that being shot in the head might make you more pro-second amendment for the simple reason that if someone - including her - had been carrying the shooting might have stopped before she got hit.

True. It could go either way. Ban the thing that hurt you or try make sure it doesn't happen to anyone else.
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Re: Gabby Giffords to mark shooting anniversary by skydiving
« Reply #8 on: January 08, 2014, 06:19:31 pm »
Being shot might justify her being in favor of better ways of dealing with the mentally ill but it's just stupidity to use it as an excuse to go after constitutional rights, which seems to be what she (or Kelly, whoever is actually doing the writing and talking on the issue) is doing.
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Re: Gabby Giffords to mark shooting anniversary by skydiving
« Reply #9 on: January 08, 2014, 06:50:15 pm »
Being shot might justify her being in favor of better ways of dealing with the mentally ill but it's just stupidity to use it as an excuse to go after constitutional rights, which seems to be what she (or Kelly, whoever is actually doing the writing and talking on the issue) is doing.

I took a quick and dirty look at her voting - pre-shooting. A bit of a Lib on some things, but in an awful lot of ways, she'd have fit in well right here. Stronger borders, not exactly fond of bail outs, gun owner and enjoyed it.

I think - as she continues to improve - we're going to see a change in direction for this organization that is in her name,assuming she can get back control of it. She always was pro-2nd. Did some digging, didn't find anything in her own words about the usual left talking points.

Like I say - it was a quick and dirty search. Her hubby, OTOH, is a bit of a prat.
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Re: Gabby Giffords to mark shooting anniversary by skydiving
« Reply #10 on: January 14, 2014, 03:45:37 pm »
Gabby Giffords Drops a 'Maybe' About Her Political Future
ABC News By Alexandra Dukakis
Quote
Over the past week, Gabrielle Giffords has kept busy. She wrote an Op-Ed in The New York Times about gun control, sat down with her husband for a network television interview and even went skydiving in Arizona.

The former congresswoman was marking the three-year anniversary of the day she was shot by a would-be assassin outside a Tucson supermarket, an incident that left her brain damaged, killed six and wounded 13 others.

Giffords has been open about the difficult rehabilitation process and her commitment to the new gun control organization she and husband, Mark Kelly, founded. But her most recent foray into the public spotlight was different. This time she offered a hint - just a small one - about her own political future.

"Maybe," she told NBC's Savannah Guthrie when asked in an interview if she would ever run for office again. "A little bit later, a little bit later."

Last Tuesday, the day before the anniversary of the shooting, Giffords wrote an Op-Ed in The New York Times called "The Lessons of Physical Therapy" that discussed both her past struggles and her political hopes.

"It's gritty, painful, frustrating work, every day. Rehab is endlessly repetitive," Giffords wrote. "And it's never easy, because once you've mastered some movement or action or word, no matter how small, you move on to the next. You never rest."

During the course of her treatment, Giffords said she asked herself, "if simply completing a normal day requires so much work, how would I ever be able to fulfill a larger purpose?"

It was the shooting in Newton, Conn. that spurred Giffords and Kelly to create the organization, Americans for Responsible Solutions. It's mission: To change current gun laws and curb gun violence. Giffords said she and Kelly, both proud gun owners, "knew it wouldn't be easy, that special interests were arrayed against us, that congressional dysfunction was an enemy."

Indeed, it hasn't been easy.

In her recent NBC interview, Giffords expressed her disappointment with Congress, saying "Congress…the worst," and "so sad, awful awful."

But in her Op-Ed she remained resolute.

"Every day we will recruit a few more allies, talk to a few more elected officials, convince a few more voters," she wrote, "We can get tough and win elections."
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Offline Lipstick on a Hillary

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Re: Gabby Giffords to mark shooting anniversary by skydiving
« Reply #11 on: January 14, 2014, 04:02:29 pm »
There are times it appears she's essentially become Mark Kelly's trained monkey.


I agree.  I guess he can't make it in the limelight alone, so he continues to use her.  Encouraging something risky like skydiving when you've already suffered a horrendous insult to the brain is such a loving and caring way to go. 

And future political office?  There is no way that's going to happen for her.  But in this day and age, just putting the idea out there periodically is practically the same thing.   :thud: