U.S. Rep. Gabrielle Gifford is in critical condition after being shot by possible Sarah Palin supporter

Jared L. Loughner is the raging lunatic who went a shooting spree yesterday at a supermarket in Arizona. In is senseless wake of destruction he left 11 wounded including Dem. Rep. Gabrille Gifford. The shooter also killed 6 including a 9 year girl and Chief Judge John Roll of the U.S. District Court for Arizona. Police recovered a 9mm hand gun with a extended clip at the scene of the crime which was used by Laughner.

According to Pima County Sheriff Clarence Dupnik 22 year old Laughner has been writing anti Government rhetoric on the Internet and also had previous run ins with the law. Laughner rallied against Government "Mind Control" and literacy on his Myspace page. The FBI and local authorities are looking for another person of interest that was seen with Loughner just before the tragedy.

Rep. Gifford just won a hard fought fight for re election in November against a Tea Party Candidate. At some of Giffords political rallies Tea party members were reported being there caring fire arms. On Sarah Palins Facebook page she literally put a target on a map with Rep. Giffords congressional seat in the cross hairs. In March of '10 Giffords home town office was vandalised because of her support of the Health Care Bill.

This is what happens when people don't use common sense and use the law to hide behind their ignorance. When the rhetoric is so anti anything sooner or later you are going to get a nut job who cannot distinguish what is reality. If you want to let people show up at political rallies with guns, put targets on Reps. backs and say it's your right, fine. When Government officlas start getting killed just don't pretend like you don't know why.

Tea Party: Renter's Shouldn't Vote

Initially, when I heard Tea Party leader Judson Philips felt that renters shouldn't have the right to vote, I wondered what "The Rent Is Too Damn High" Party's Jimmy McMillan would say about that. Then I realized he's too busy peddling his action figures and soliciting dates to really care.

On a Tea Party Nation radio show, Philips alleged:

“The Founding Fathers originally said, they put certain restrictions on who gets the right to vote. It wasn’t you were just a citizen and you got to vote. Some of the restrictions, you know, you obviously would not think about today. But one of those was you had to be a property owner. And that makes a lot of sense, because if you’re a property owner you actually have a vested stake in the community. If you’re not a property owner, you know, I’m sorry but property owners have a little bit more of a vested interest in the community than non-property owners.”

Is this really true? I'm a property owner and I do pay annual taxes, but I'm not voting at every community board meeting, volunteering, or running a non-profit community organization. Last I checked, renters are just as capable of doing all those things as me. Sure, I care about my property value dropping, but I wouldn't say I did anything about it this year. Besides, renters are still paying taxes on their groceries, taxes on their clothes, taxes on their income. I think I'm missing the point here.

Some Founding Fathers Theory nut-jobs would argue that only "white, property-owning males over the age of 21" should have the right to vote because that's how it was in the earliest years of our nation. However, the Founding Fathers themselves argued for states' rights.

By and large, the states did dictate who could and couldn't vote until the 15th amendment was ratified in 1870, declaring: "The right of citizens of the United States to vote shall not be denied or abridged by the United States or by any State on account of race, color, or previous condition of servitude." Still, states like Alabama, Virginia and Mississippi levied poll taxes to limit the "power of the people."

As the wise Benjamin Franklin once said:

"Today a man owns a jackass worth 50 dollars and he is entitled to vote; but before the next election the jackass dies. The man in the mean time has become more experienced, his knowledge of the principles of government, and his acquaintance with mankind, are more extensive, and he is therefore better qualified to make a proper selection of rulers—but the jackass is dead and the man cannot vote. Now gentlemen, pray inform me, in whom is the right of suffrage? In the man or in the jackass?"

But perhaps it's not so much about renters as it is about voting bases and xenophobia.

Tea Party candidate elect Allen West is already butting heads before he is even sworn in.

It should come to no surprise to anyone who knows Tea Party elect Republican Rep. Allen West of florida that he is not afraid to speak his mind. Allen West was first brought to national attention in 2003 during the Iraq war. Allen West is a retired Lieutenant Colonel of the U.S. army. In 2003 while in Iraq lets say he got a little over zealous during a interrogation. West thought an Iraqi police officer was with holding information and allegedly shot a few rounds with his .45 next to the police officers head. Lets just say the Iraqi police officer began to sing a like a canary. It was never proven whether the information West obtained through his tactics were factual but West said he would do it again to keep his men safe. Allen West was court marshaled and allowed to retire with full military benefits.

In more recent history Allen West has been accused of being too closely associated with a shady biker gang named the "Out laws Motorcycle Club". He has been photoed at rallies that the Out Laws were sponsoring. Emails were also obtained where it seems West is defending his association with the Out Laws.

Who is Allen West butting heads with now? Come January House Majority leader Eric Cantor of all people. Probably not the best way to make new friends in congress or maybe that West's point. West wrote a letter to Cantor complaining that in the entire month of January their is only 10 days of scheduled work. In the entire year only 123 days of congressional sessions. In the letter West asked Cantor how any progress could be made with all the large looming problems are country faces with only 10 days of Congressional sessions. "As we know, Congress needs to work to create jobs, reduce the deficit, strengthen our economy, limit the size of government and contend with a plethora of national security issues," West wrote in a statement to Cantor. "How are we to do that when, among other things, we start off being in session only ten days the entire month of January?" In response to that Eric Cantors spokesman Brad Dayspring said that more time in Washington does not necessarily mean more work will be accomplished.

I agree with Allen West here, I think are politicians should be setting a new tone in Washington. These are not ordinary times we are in and anything different and positive can help. Who do you agree with Eric Cantor or Allen West.

Huffington Post - Allen West sends letter to Eric Cantor