Boortz Calls for Violence on the Same Day Giffords Leaves Hospital and Arivaca Family Murder Trial Continues

I don't do a lot of cross-posting on my blogs, but today I have to.  I have tried to write an entry several times today.  Several situations are swirling around in my brain space,  and they all involve violence and public complicity in that violence.

Ed Schultz gets pulled from the air for a week for using the word slut.  Neal Boortz, major Right Wing radio personality, calls for his listeners to arm themselves and kill "thugs," a thinly disguised term for young brown or black men, and women, in the streets of Atlanta, and I hear no outcry from the right to control their own.   Where the hell is the rage when Beck or other Fox "news" people regularly allude to violence against our political figures. 

Gabby Giffords, my Representative to Congress, was able to go home with her husband for the first time in over 5 months since the attempted assassination of her, the life altering injuries of several others and the death of 6 Tucson  by a very disturbed man that I still believe, as I wrote shortly after the shooting, was impacted and influenced by a culture of hate that is one of a number of subtexts and dialogs that run through my beloved Tucson.  There was a call for civility that was anchored in Tucson.  That call is still being broadcast from Tucson.  If you don't believe me, just read Ashley Burroughs post on BlogHer today who doesn't candy coat a dern thing (can you use the word dern without tooting?) and still remains a positive, constructive person and a force for good.   She and her Big Guy chose to live in Tucson because they picked up on all the wonderful sub texts that far outnumber the negative ones in the Old Pueblo.

The trial of the third person charged in the Flores family murders is also going on here in Tucson.  Some things that have not been clear before in the two trials of the non-locals who arranged the murders of a family to finance more hate crimes.   This third person was known to the family.  As much as I cannot understand how anyone can shoot a child, the pure evil of killing a child of a family you know is beyond my ability to even describe.  There was something under the surface of the daily lives of these people that never should have been there.  Smuggling pot across the border.  Why is it illegal?  Why do we not just let people grown a couple pot plants? There would be very little market for illegal marijuana smuggling then and much of my figurative backyard would not be littered with the bodies of people drawn into the lure of "easy" money from the Mexican Cartels.  If we had Fair Trade, living wages, and corporate regulation there would not be mass migrations of economic refugees to attract the hateful attention of people competing with the economic refuges.  I don't like the Pulp Fiction feeling that I sometimes get that something has been going on nearby and recently -- you can find that feeling here in Tucson. 

So I guess I should just say that, living in a city where people have been shot en masse recently,  I'm more jumpy about violent speech than the average person, and I want the people of America to take responsibility for what they say, do, and listen to.  If you don't speak up then you are just as guilty of any violence that stems from whatever you remained silent about as the actual perpetrator.  We are a democratic republic, yes, but that does not come free.  I'm quite frankly tired of "I don't want to get involved" types enabling hate speech.

Shawna Forde Found Guilty of the Murders of Brisenia Flores and Her Father

I don't like to use the names of crazies who commit murder, but in this case I am choosing to use the name of one of three  people charged with with a nine year old girl in southern Arizona.  The little girl, Brisenia, was nine when Shawna Forde masterminded the home invasion robberies of drop or stash houses near the Mexico - U.S. border south of Tucson, in Pima County, in 2009 in order to finance border militia operations.  The problem is that Brisenia's home wasn't a drop or stash house according to the evidence and the invasion turned into a double homicide.

The first of three trials for her and her father's murders ended just after noon today, February 14,2011.  Shawna Forde has been found guilty of first degree murder of both 9-year old Brisenia Flores and her father Raul.  Arizona does have the death penalty.  Sentencing of Ms. Forde will take place separately.

Two more trials of men accused in the murders have yet to take place.

Brisenia's mother identified Ms. Forde as one of the three people who broke into her house and killed her family in 2009.  There were also recordings of Forde's phone conversations and one of the father's rings was in her possession after the murders.  Apparently these things were enough for the predominantly female jury to find Forde guilty for planning and ordering the murders even though she did not fire the weapons.

The Minutemen, a border militia group, has splintered since Forde helped found the Minutemen Civil Defense Corps.  Forde, has been called unstable by this group, and she later founded another group , the Minutemen American Defense, of which one of the others charged in the slayings is National Operations Coordinator as well as being associated with Aryan Nation.   The Minutemen Project disavows affiliation with Ms. Forde.

The border militia groups deny being vigilante but at least some of the members of some of the groups  show the disregard of law as well as disregard of the rights of certain ethnic groups.  These actions of disrespect that are central to border vigilantism. 

Murder of 9 Year Old Arizona Girl Goes to Trial

While there is much debate about using the names of crazies who commit mass murder, in this case I am choosing not to use the names of three people associated with the border militia movement who stand accused of killing a nine year old girl in Southern Arizona.  The little girl who was gunned down was named  Brisenia Flores.   Brisenia Flores!  Brisenia Flores!!   Brisenia Flores!!!

Not the name you were expecting?  


I am aghast that Brisenia's name isn't on the tongue of every mother in this country.  A child, a little girl filled with promise, hope, and potential was gunned down in her home along with her father in a home invasion in Arivaca, AZ in 2009.  Her mother is alive only because she played dead after being shot, called 911, and shot one of the intruders after they returned.

The trial in her murder has started and we hear (as in national talking head coverage) nothing of it?  Why?  The violent nature of life on the border may or may not have had anything to do with the now infamous January 8th attempted political assassination of Gabrielle Giffords and 18 others, 6 of whom died. People want to believe that.  But this trial certainly portrays a violent and obviously mentally deranged group of individuals who are very much part of life in Pima County, Arizona.

Do we hear nothing because there is no debate possible about motive?  Is the obvious motive one that no one in the U.S. media wants to look at?   Is it because a white woman appears to be behind the murders?  Is it because the little girl and her daddy who were brutally executed in their home had darker skin than the people who murdered them? 

The least coarse and provocative account of the shooting and arrests I can find to inform you, accurately, about the whole gruesome occurrence is from February 4 on All Things Considered by NPR. 

The trial is in recess until mid-week and is still in the jury selection and instruction phase of the trial process.  Arizona Daily Star reported on January 25th about the opening arguments.  The Daily Star reported on January 17th about the intricacies of the case and likely arguments to be used by both sides.   

Trying to be Positive in Tucson

I'm serious about trying to be positive and build upon rather than to tear down.   I'm taking tiny steps toward this end.  Blogger and Tucson Massacre survivor yesterday called on all of us to something:

The history is defined a little awkwardly right now, and I'm not sure any of us has it in the place we need it to be.  But I have you here in The Burrow to help me think it through, and I have all of Tucson rooting for something good to come out of this horror.  I'm going to do my part.  And I wonder, as did Mr. Obama last night, what you as citizens and parents are willing to do.

If you don't mind, why not take a few minutes and give it some thought.  Feel free to let me know in the comments if you want to make a public commitment to something.  I know that it helps me to stay focused if I say it aloud.

America is not going to get better unless we are all in it together again.  Our President is asking us to join hands and take part.  I'm throwing in my two cents, too........ let's do something..... Christina will never be able to fulfill her incredible potential..... it's on us now to do it for her.

I am blogging here again and will continue to do so.  Is that something?  It is a start. And trying to stay as positive as possible is something.  At least it will be for me when I look at topics such as those I wanted to be today's topic: Arizona as an example of what is to come if the slow, occasionally punctuated, evolution of social policy of the United States follows Arizona's example.   The most conservative political factions in the country seem to be doing this.

Shining the light of day into, the dark shadowy areas of how the non-wealthy are treated in Arizona which is a proving ground for uber States Rights funded by out of state and corporate sources will be focused on over the next few months.  I will try to keep my barbed wit within tasteful limits in memory of  little Christina murdered by a madman who has become symbol of a call for civility, but remaining civil will be difficult because of little 9 year old Brisenia Flores who, though she begged for her life, was slaughtered in her home by Arizona border militia, and all those poor Arizona children who will be denied either transplants or basic health care due to Brewer's death panels.

A soldier's dilemma and honorable action.

Justin Watts is an honorable man. A local Tucson man showed a strength of character that few possess and fewer still can maintain when confronted with horrific knowledge that if disclosed will permanently alter untold numbers of lives and indeed the course of a nation.

Justin is the man who voiced his concern about what his brothers in arms appeared to have done -- raped a young teenage girl and then killed her and her family. The story is here in the Arizona Daily Star.

What amazed me is comment 63 on this story.

I'm very happy this man [Justin] was so brave to come forward. He is a hero to me and to my kids now. He will never know how much he helped my family alone. One of the soldiers he told on is my husband. He used to beat me and make me sleep on the floor while pregnant. In april he was home on a leave and he wanted me to be alone with him but i said no. I've been trying to divorce him for more than 2 years now and i had a restraining order against him. He violated it so many times that I had to move. I told the army what was going on and they did not help at all. they left me with no option but to run and hide. Now thanks to Justin watt, my children are safe and so am I. God bless him and I hope things get better for him.

This is a neglected aspect of the horrific situation our country faces. Violence begets violence. Allowing violence upon women is symptomatic of a cultural suppression of morality. Thank you Justin for keeping the tiny spark of belief in the essense of good alive within me. This heinous war is creating a generation of military vets who have been wounded in unimaginable ways -- scars unlike anything ever before seen are forming.

Thank you Justin for showing me that although our troops are being asked to ignore international law and conventions, and because of this evil cultivation are having their darkest sides emerge that men and womenof character are refusing to go along with an immoral status quo. Justin and those others who will now step forward because of his bravery, along the folks who are refusing to go back to fight in this immoral attrocity, are showing that Americans still have among them the best, the brightest, and the most honorable citizens who serve because they believe in justice and what Americans hold in their hearts as the essence of what our country is and can be.

Let us all send safe energies to him, pray for his safety, and for this shining example of courage to be followed and to inspire other soldiers to do what is right and just.

Breathe in courage. Breathe out action.