NEXT KCDW MEETING – JAN 26TH  As we continue to search for a good meeting place, this month we will return to the AA China Buffet which is located at 3583 Wheaton Way. As the first meeting after our re-organization, it will be devoted to a discussion of our goals and objectives for the next two years. Please come and join the discussion.

WHEN WILL THEY EVER LEARN?
By Jo Fox Burr

Twenty people were killed or injured in a mass shooting in Arizona last weekend. The gunman’s prime target was Rep. Gabrielle Giffords (D), who was critically injured. Among those killed were a US District Judge and a 9 year old girl. What prompted the gunman is unclear, but most likely it was primarily the demons within his own deranged mind that drove him. It is hard to know if outside forces were a factor. Still much of the radical-right is in full swing, attempting to do damage control. Do you think they might actually feel partly guilty?
Pima County Sheriff Clarence Dupnik spoke for many of us when he said, “When you look at unbalanced people, how they respond to the vitriol that comes out of certain mouths about tearing down the government. The anger, the hatred, the bigotry that goes on in this country is getting to be outrageous. And, unfortunately, Arizona, I think, has become sort of the capital. We have become the Mecca for prejudice and bigotry...People tend to pooh-pooh this business about the vitriol that inflames American public opinion by the people who make a living off of that. That may be free speech, but it's not without consequences. ”

Much has been made of Sarah Palin’s map targeting specific Democratic Districts, including Giffords’, with crosshairs. During the campaign she added further fuel by saying “Don't Retreat, Instead RELOAD!" She had a right to selectively seek the unseating of certain Democrats, but her method was reprehensible. “That may be free speech, but it's not without consequences.” Who knows if it played a part in this shooting? A potential presidential candidate should have the grace and wisdom to be reflective enough to at least consider this. Not Sarah. She blames the press for even suggesting her culpability.

Rush Limbaugh actually blames Sheriff Dupnik for not protecting Representative Giffords. He tries to make him the culprit, claiming he must have known about this shooter before the event and that he would probably like to see this person get acquitted.

Others claimed the shooter was a liberal because he read Karl Marx. However his official voter’s registration lists him as a Republican. One person argued that had more people been there with guns, this event would have been stopped much quicker. Actually one of the people who took the shooter down, had a gun, but did not use it. Tragically, since this incident gun purchases have seriously mushroomed, particularly of the type the shooter used.
Defensively some claim there is just as much vitriol from the left as there is from the right. Left vitriol does exist, but little of it suggests violence as a recourse and what does has little support from the Liberal base. While some criticize him for it, I’m glad Obama does not participate in calling out right-wingers who spew bigotry and hatred. His speech in Tucson at the memorial service for those killed and injured soared high above the likes of Palin and Limbaugh.

In their defense, some Republican leaders have taken a less offensive approach. For instance Republican strategists are trying to tone down the health care debate in the House. And they did have the decency to postpone it for a week. Let’s hope they can succeed in bringing civility to it.

Some in the press think this should calm the right down a bit, just as the Oklahoma City bombing did. Perhaps it will dampen the popularity of the Tea Party. However, when the radical-right feels threatened it seems their level of vitriol only increases. Oklahoma may have calmed things down for a while, but clearly it did not last.

The Vietnam War protest song, Where have all the Flowers Gone, keeps running through my head. It lyrically speaks to an endless cycle that with deceptive innocence leads from peace to war to peace to war. Each verse ends with the refrain “When will they ever learn? When will they ever learn?” Because of the economy, many people in our society today are propelled by fear and hate. Because these forces control them, they can be manipulated by the radical-right to vote and act in ways that are not in their best interest or that of the country. When will they ever learn? Well, perhaps it is our job to find a gentle non-violent way to lead them out of their personal quagmire and our country back to saner discourses.

SCHEDULE OF EVENTS
Kitsap Co. Dem. Women
Date: Jan 26th (Wednesday)
Time: 11:30 am lunch; 12:30 Meeting Place: AA China Buffet
Topic: Goals & Objectives Discussion

Kitsap Co. Dem. Central Com.
Date: Jan 18th (Tuesday)
Time: 6:00 pm (Desserts available)
Place: Fairgrounds Events Ctr.
Topic: Discussion of Org. Issues

26th Legislative District
Date: Feb 1st (Tuesday)
Time: 7-9 pm
Place: Kitsap Rm, Givens Center
 1026 Sidney Rd, Pt. Orch.

JEFFERSON-JACKSON DINNER
Date: February 12th
Time: Doors open at 6; Dinner at 7
Place: Oly. Coll. Student Union Bldg.
RSVP: $50 per person
 Marilyn Boynton (360-297-2776)

RE-ORGANIZATION MEETING RESULTS
All incumbent officers were re-elected:
Jo Fox Burr as President
Martha Lynn Johnson as Vice President
Carolyn King as Secretary
Ginger Sommerhauser as Treasurer

TWO MEMBERS HAVE DIED RECENTLY
Eleanor Langham died in December. She was an active member of KCDW during the 10 plus years she lived in Kitsap and maintained her membership even after she moved away. Marilie Rice McMullen died in early January. She led a very full life which for a while included being a member of KCDW.  

“Imagine: here was a young girl who was just becoming aware of our democracy; just beginning to understand the obligations of citizenship; just starting to glimpse the fact that someday she too might play a part in shaping her nation's future. …She was off to meet her congresswoman, someone she was sure was good and important and might be a role model. She saw all this through the eyes of a child, undimmed by the cynicism or vitriol that we adults all too often just take for granted. I want us to live up to her expectations. I want our democracy to be as good as she imagined it. All of us - we should do everything we can to make sure this country lives up to our children's expectations.” – President Barack Obama talking about Christine Taylor Green, the 9 year old killed in Tucson, Jan. 8th.

Jo Fox Burr, Newsletter Editor - foxburr@comcast.net