Archive for January 9th, 2011
“It was probably not the best idea to run towards the gunshots, but people needed help” – Daniel Hernandez, intern to Congresswoman Giffords…the man who may have saved her life
Daniel Hernandez, age 20, probably saved Congresswoman Giffords' life yesterday
After reading this story, I honestly needed a moment because the emotions of everything that has happened really hit me. I don’t know anyone involved in this tragedy personally and I had never met, or even heard of, Congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords before Saturday. She just wasn’t on my radar, but I’m sure I’m not the only one who will never forget her and will follow her career with great interest for the rest of my life.
Another person I plan on following in all he does is Daniel Hernandez, a remarkable 20 year old man who had interned for the Congresswoman for just five days before the assassination attempt on her.
While others around him panicked and fled in terror, Daniel went running TOWARDS the gunfire to help those who had fallen. He checked pulses. He propped up heads so people would not choke on their own blood. He taught people how to apply pressure to mitigate bleeding.
The article above does not make a note of it, but I’d be stunned if this guy was not a boy scout or altar boy or something when he was younger. Somebody really raised him right. On a day when one 22 year old was firing on a crowd taking lives, this heroic young man was risking, without even thinking, his own safety to save as many people as he could, in the ways he knew how.
That grace, courage, and responsibility while under fire is so rare.
I hope Daniel Hernandez chooses a career in politics and decides to serve his country in elected office.
I also hope I am not alone in pledging to one day in the future do all I can for his campaign when that day comes.
THIS is who we need representing us, because the sort of character that evidences itself in a crisis is the sort of thing that can’t be faked or learned in any Ivy League school for resume polishers.
There’s something really special about Daniel Hernandez…which is so clear at age 20…where he’s an example for us all to keep in mind if ever we’re in any sort of position to help others in need like this as well.
Contact info for Arizona Sheriff Clarence Dupnik
Click above to embiggen contact information for the Pima County Sheriff, Clarence Dupnik.
If you have 15 minutes or so to spare today — and I most certainly hope you do — I strongly urge you to get a postcard and write a message to Sheriff Dupnik, letting him know what you think of him…in a professional and businesslike, respectable, but STERN AND SCOLDING way.
Postcards are the very best way to handle situations like this, where you want to tell an elected official how terrible he is. It’s embarrassing for an office to receive a disproportionately large amount of mail. You just can’t hide this. In the age of email, people forget how much weight (literally) an avalanche of mail carries. The mail carrier will notice. The people in the office who sort the mail will notice. The recipient’s mail box will be full to bursting. It’s quite the spectacle.
Post cards work the best for calling someone out as terrible because all along the way everyone who is handling the postcard gets to read what you think of that person. There’s just no hiding what’s on a postcard.
On one side, there’s a happy, sunny image of your hometown (I like using shots of the Chicago skyline when I do this, and I buy postcards on the cheap wherever I find them for a quarter or less…sometimes, I find a big box of things like this at the Brown Elephant Thrift Store here in Boystown, for a nickel or so each)…and on the other side is a message that could be something like “Dear Sheriff Dupnik, you are an utter embarrassment to your position and the state of Arizona in general”.
If it doesn’t sit well with you that Sheriff Dupnik has used the assassination attempt on Congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords to make a political attack on the Tea Party movement (the way Leftists always try to do whenever anything in the world happens unrelated to the Tea Party movement, such as it raining), then don’t just sit there and think there’s nothing you can do about it.
Send Dupnik a postcard.
Call him out for being ridiculous.
Tell him how shameful it is for him to conduct himself the way he does.
I personally think Sheriff Dupnik looks like Al Lewis, the character actor who played Grandpa Munster on “The Munsters”. In my postcard to Dupnik, I will probably mention that fact, while also working in a reference to Suzanne Somers being a better sheriff than he will ever be on her short-lived 80s TV show “She’s the Sheriff”. That’s because I do things like that.
You can do it too, or make your own jokes at Dupnik’s expense that will make him a complete and utter laughingstock to his subordinates for years to come.
Or, you can just scold the man, tell him how disappointed you are in him, and itemize exactly how terrible he is in all the ways he’s bad at what he does.
If you don’t have any postcards, you can always print one. Heck, use the image below if you like and print it on card stock, cut it to postcard size, and stick a stamp on it and send it on its way.
Can you imagine if the Pima County Sheriff’s office was flooded with cards from all over the country telling Sheriff Dupnik what a doofus he is for so shamelessly trying to impugn the Tea Party like this?
Send Sheriff Clarence Dupnik a postcard and tell him exactly what you think of him -- in an expletive free, professional, scolding, and original fashion.
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UPDATE: Here’s something else that really bothers me about Clarence Dupnik that came out in the postcards my friends and I have written to him today.
Dupnik is a law enforcement officer. That should be first and foremost for him. Yes, he is Sheriff, and that is an elected position, and to run for election he has to be a Democrat or a Republican and Dupnik is a Democrat. A very Lefty one at that, so it’s remarkable he’s Sheriff in Pima County, but more power to him with that.
Here in Chicago, in Cook County, our Sheriff is Tom Dart — a man who is also a Democrat, though not as Left as Sheriff Dupnik.
I can honestly say that I have been following Sheriff Dart’s career for a long time…almost the entirety of the time I have lived in Chicago…and even in Chicago, a Leftist controlled enclave, Sheriff Dart has never made remarks as political as those so casually tossed out by Sheriff Dupnik in the wake of a major tragedy with national interest.
Last year, Sheriff Dart was thrust into the spotlight because of the sick and gruesome discovery of bodies dumped in a local cemetery, whose owners committed a laundry list of felonies involving all manner of horrors. Dart was thrust in front of microphones, addressed the press and a concerned public, and had to show leadership in the midst of chaos and horror.
Sheriff Dart did not somehow turn this tragedy into an attack on conservatives or a politically motivated slam against the Tea Party. I am sure he could have done so, if he wanted, because he is a clever man and he had all those microphones in front of him. This being Chicago, where the media is 100% behind Democrats, Dart would have no doubt had the support of the entire press corps in whatever he chose to say and do.
But, he kept focus on the matter at hand, doing his job as Sheriff, and carrying on his duties as a law enforcement officer.
He did not try to wear two hats at the same time, one as Sheriff and the other as a political operative of the Democrat party. There is a time and a place for campaigning, and it is not when a Sheriff should be in crisis management mode.
Clarence Dupnik is a political hack and a buffoon.
His words and actions in the aftermath of the assassination attempt on Congresswoman Giffords are tainted by extreme partisan politics. It was inappropriate for Dupnik to make wild accusations against the Tea Party and continue Obama’s meme that conservative Americans are somehow “enemies” out there that Democrats need to persecute.
Dupnik is reprehensible, irresponsible, and repugnant.
We’ve got a half dozen or so postcards from Chicago on our way to him in Arizona to tell him just that…and on one of them I did personally compare him to our Sheriff and told him that never in a million years would I imagine Sheriff Dart handling himself the way Dupnik has behaved in the last two days.
It’s shameful, ridiculous, and frightening…seeing as how this man is charged with upholding the law and managing police resources in his county, when from the looks of things the only hat he’s wearing is that of a Democrat operative trying to score cheap political points under orders from the DNC.
I hope many of you out there send postcards to Dupnik to let him know how you feel about his behavior. If you think he’s doing a bang-up job, tell him that, too…but I can’t imagine how anyone can honestly think that.
Sarah Palin to Left: “Quit making things up”
The imperative going forward is to show the American people exactly what they are dealing with when it comes to the Left. For whatever reason, they have never seen that before. It’s time to think outside the box about ways to expose the Left for what it is, so they can no longer make things up and get away with it.
Democrat Linda Lopez owes Americans an apology…was driving force behind Left’s attempt to blame Tea Party for assassination attempt on Gabrielle Giffords.
Want to do something productive with all the emotions you are feeling today?
How about using the upcoming week to put immense pressure on Democrat Linda Lopez to apologize to all Americans for turning the tragic assassination attempt on Congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords into a partisan political attack by Democrats on the Tea Party movement.
Arizona state representative Lopez was a high profile driving force behind the immediate effort on the Left to blame the Tea Party for the shooting of Congresswoman Giffords and the murder of 6 bystanders yesterday (with scores more injured). Without having a single piece of information, Lopez took to the airwaves condemning the Tea Party and conservatives for the murder spree.
Jared Lee Loughner, the would-be assassin, is a confirmed Leftist Democrat upset with Congresswoman Giffords for being a conservative Democrat who was not Leftist enough for his tastes.
Blackfive.net has suggested directing attention and energy toward Lopez to let her know how Americans feel about Democrats taking the advice of Rahm Emanuel to “never let a good crisis go to waste” and politicizing a tragedy into an assault on opponents.
If you have a fax machine, fax Linda Lopez and tell her what you think of her.
Be polite, professional, and curse-free…but be honest. It is a challenge to write an effective and compelling letter of scorn and contempt, but this woman deserves it, and I know you have it in you if you apply yourself.
If you can’t fax, then email. Write a snail mail letter too.
On Monday, when her office opens again, call her nonstop on the telephone to tell her staff what you think of her.
Let’s see if this Democrat does the right thing and owns up to doing the Left’s bidding so recklessly.
BRACE YOURSELVES: Democrat Fred Phelps and Westboro Hate Group announce plans to picket 9-year-old shooting victim Christina Greene’s funeral. A new low for Democrat hate groups.
The Left does some truly despicable things in this world, but this is a new low for Democrats.
Former three-time Democrat gubernatorial candidate Fred Phelps Jr. (commonly called just “Fred Phelps”) and his Westboro Hate Group have announced plans to disrupt the funeral of 9 year-old shooting victim Christina Greene.
Christina was murdered by Jared Lee Loughner yesterday in his assassination attempt on Congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords. The little girl was born on September 11th, 2001, so her parents have been cursed with a horrific trifecta of high profile trauma: their daughter born on the worst day in our generations’ lives, their daughter murdered in an assassination attempt on a member of Congress, and Democrat Fred Phelps aiming his hate machine at their family during their daughter’s funeral.
Democrat Phelps (an enormous supporter of Al Gore’s, though the media conveniently leaves off that he’s a Democrat and instead likes to imply he’s a conservative, which he is not…he’s a Democrat, and ran repeatedly on the Democrat ticket unsuccessfully for several elected offices) disrupted the funeral of Elizabeth Edwards last month, because it is what he does.
On a day when a family is hurt the most it could possibly imagine being hurt, this horrible man makes things just a little worse for all involved.
There are no printable words for what I imagine we all think of Phelps and Westboro.
Below the fold, there’s the video of Phelps making the announcement that he’s going to disrupt little Christina Greene’s funeral and traumatize her family. It’s like watching a video of Osama bin Laden or Dracula talking about the evil things they are going to do next. Watch it if you must, but it’s stomach turning. It’s the most horrible thing I have ever seen, frankly.
Do not click “More” if you do not want to see the Phelps video…it’s really, really bad.
Congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords reading the First Amendment this past week
Honestly, from both sides of the aisle, I am seeing nothing but genuine, heartfelt praise and love for Congresswoman Giffords.
For those of you who have never heard her speak, here she is reading the First Amendment in Congress this past week.
Here’s hoping she can be back to work soon, fully recovered, where she belongs.
The six people killed by Jared Lee Loughner identified…please pray for their souls
The youngest victim: Christina Greene, age 9
Michelle Malkin has identified the six people killed by Jared Lee Loughner in his assassination attempt on Congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords, Saturday January 8th, 2011.
These victims are:
* 9 year old Christina Greene (who was born on September 11th, 2001)
* Judge John Roll, 63
* Dorthy Murray, 76
* Dorwin Stoddard, 76
* Phyllis Sheck, 79
* Gabriel Zimmerman, 30 (an aide to Congresswoman Giffords)
A complete list of all those injured in the assassination attempt is not yet known.
The number of people directly impacted by this unfathomable horror is incalculable.
Can you help honor the lives lost by researching the bios of all the victims?
Right now these are just names in a list to most of us…but it would be nice to know something about each of these people, so we can include them more deeply in all our prayers and really appreciate the loss their families are feeling today.
Can you find something interesting about each of them, to make them “real” for all of us?
