[JustJo]

I have so many mixed (and horrible) feelings about this whole thing... I walked into my son's school this morning to deliver a forgotten homework assignment and found the children observing a moment of silence and reflection or prayer for those lost. For me, it's heartbreaking...not only what happened in AZ, but also that it's coloring the worldview of these young children.

Anyway...I think that what Palin and Beck and others are doing is despicable. I don't think it's criminal...and I don't think they can be blamed for what a single disturbed individual does. I do blame them for fostering an atmosphere of hatred, however.

From what I've read, this was a very disturbed young man. Friends and staff at his high school had grown increasingly concerned about his mental state. He had been kicked out of the community college he attended for causing multiple disturbances in the classroom and the library...and could not return to college until he had been cleared by a mental health professional who would vouch for the fact that he was not a danger to others. This had not happened.

In part, I blame the changes in our society that have eroded the services we provide to the mentally ill (as well as a plethora of vulnerable others). If we had a decent safety net of mental health care...maybe he would have been helped before now, and these deaths would not have happened.