[Vision2020] Question for Roger Falen

[Tom Hansen]

Roger Falen alleges:

"It is just fine for a potitical rally. The memorial should be to honor
those that have passed away not to make a political statement."

Copied and pasted below, from Fox News at:

http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2011/01/13/transcript-obama-address-tucson-memorial-service/

is President Barack Obama's entire speech that he presented at the memorial.

Would you PLEASE idintify specific passages that you feel are
inappropriate for tghe occasion?

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Thank you. Please. Please, be seated.

(APPLAUSE)

To the families of those we've lost, to all who called them friends, to
the students of this university, the public servants who are gathered
here, the people of Tucson and the people of Arizona: I have come here
tonight as an American who, like all Americans, kneels to pray with you
today and will stand by you tomorrow.

(APPLAUSE)

There is nothing I can say that will fill the sudden hole torn in your
hearts. But know this: The hopes of a nation are here tonight. We mourn
with you for the fallen. We join you in your grief. And we add our faith
to yours that Representative Gabrielle Giffords and the other living
victims of this tragedy will pull through.

(APPLAUSE)

Scripture tells us, "There is a river whose streams make glad the city of
God, the holy place where the most high dwells. God is within her, she
will not fall; God will help her at break of day."

On Saturday morning, Gabby, her staff, and many of her constituents
gathered outside a supermarket to exercise their right to peaceful
assembly and free speech.

(APPLAUSE)

They were fulfilling a central tenet of the democracy envisioned by our
founders: representatives of the people answering questions to their
constituents, so as to carry their concerns back to our nation's capital.
Gabby called it "Congress on Your Corner," just an updated version of
government of and by and for the people.

(APPLAUSE)

And that quintessentially American scene, that was the scene that was
shattered by a gunman's bullets. And the six people who lost their lives
on Saturday, they, too, represented what is best in us, what is best in
America.

(APPLAUSE)

Judge John Roll served our legal system for nearly 40 years.

(APPLAUSE)

A graduate of this university and a graduate of this law school...

(APPLAUSE)

... Judge Roll was recommended for the federal bench by John McCain 20
years ago, appointed by President George H.W. Bush, and rose to become
Arizona's chief federal judge.

His colleagues described him as the hardest-working judge within the Ninth
Circuit. He was on his way back from attending mass, as he did every day,
when he decided to stop by and say hi to his representative.

John is survived by his loving wife, Maureen, his three sons, and his five
beautiful grandchildren.

George and Dorothy Morris -- "Dot" to her friends -- were high school
sweethearts who got married and had two daughters. They did everything
together, traveling the open road in their R.V., enjoying what their
friends called a 50-year honeymoon.

Saturday morning, they went by the Safeway to hear what their
congresswoman had to say. When gunfire rang out, George, a former Marine,
instinctively tried to shield his wife.

(APPLAUSE)

Both were shot. Dot passed away.

A New Jersey native, Phyllis Schneck retired to Tucson to beat the snow.
But in the summer, she would return east, where her world revolved around
her three children, her seven grandchildren, and two- year-old
great-granddaughter. A gifted quilter, she'd often work under her favorite
tree, or sometimes she'd sew aprons with the logos of the Jets and the
Giants...

(LAUGHTER)

... to give out at the church where she volunteered. A Republican, she
took a liking to Gabby and wanted to get to know her better.

(APPLAUSE)

Dorwan and Mavy Stoddard grew up in Tucson together about 70 years ago.
They moved apart and started their own respective families, but after both
were widowed, they found their way back here, to, as one of Mavy's
daughters put it, "be boyfriend and girlfriend again."

(LAUGHTER)

When they weren't out on the road in their motor home, you could find them
just up the road, helping folks in need at the Mountain Avenue Church of
Christ. A retired construction worker, Dorwan spent his spare time fixing
up the church along with their dog, Tux. His final act of selflessness was
to dive on top of his wife, sacrificing his life for hers.

(APPLAUSE)

Everything -- everything Gabe Zimmerman did, he did with passion, but...

(APPLAUSE)

... but his true passion was helping people. As Gabby's outreach director,
he made the cares of thousands of her constituents his own, seeing to it
that seniors got the Medicare benefits that they had earned, that veterans
got the medals and the care that they deserved, that government was
working for ordinary folks.

He died doing what he loved: talking with people and seeing how he could
help. And Gabe is survived by his parents, Ross and Emily, his brother,
Ben, and his fiancee, Kelly, who he planned to marry next year.

(APPLAUSE)

And then there is nine-year-old Christina-Taylor Green. Christina was an A
student. She was a dancer. She was a gymnast. She was a swimmer. She
decided that she wanted to be the first woman to play in the Major
Leagues, and as the only girl on her Little League team, no one put it
past her.

(APPLAUSE)

She showed an appreciation for life uncommon for a girl her age. She'd
remind her mother, "We are so blessed. We have the best life." And she'd
pay those blessings back by participating in a charity that helped
children who were less fortunate.

Our hearts are broken by their sudden passing. Our hearts are broken, and
yet our hearts also have reason for fullness.

Our hearts are full of hope and thanks for the 13 Americans who survived
the shooting, including the congresswoman many of them went to see on
Saturday. I have just come from the University Medical Center, just a mile
from here, where our friend Gabby courageously fights to recover even as
we speak.

And I want to tell you -- her husband, Mark, is here, and he allows me to
share this with you. Right after we went to visit, a few minutes after we
left her room and some of her colleagues from Congress were in the room,
Gabby opened her eyes for the first time.

(APPLAUSE)

Gabby opened her eyes for the first time.

(APPLAUSE)

Gabby opened her eyes.

(APPLAUSE)

Gabby opened her eyes, so I can tell you, she knows we are here, she knows
we love her, and she knows that we are rooting for her through what is
undoubtedly going to be a difficult journey. We are there for her.

(APPLAUSE)

Our hearts are full of thanks for that good news, and our hearts are full
of gratitude for those who saved others. We are grateful to Daniel
Hernandez...

(APPLAUSE)

... a volunteer in Gabby's office.

And, Daniel, I'm sorry, you may deny it, but we've decided you are a hero,
because you ran through the chaos to minister to your boss and tended to
her wounds and help keep her alive.

(APPLAUSE)

We are grateful to the men who tackled the gunman as he stopped to reload.

(APPLAUSE)

They're right over there.

(APPLAUSE)

We -- we are grateful for petite Patricia Maisch, who wrestled away the
killer's ammunition and undoubtedly saved some lives.

(APPLAUSE)

And we are grateful for the doctors and nurses and first responders...

(APPLAUSE)

... who worked wonders to heal those who'd been hurt. We are grateful to
them.

These men and women remind us that heroism is found not only on the fields
of battle. They remind us that heroism does not require special training
or physical strength. Heroism is here, in the hearts of so many of our
fellow citizens, all around us, just waiting to be summoned, as it was on
Saturday morning.

Their actions, their selflessness poses a challenge to each of us. It
raises the question of what, beyond prayers and expressions of concern, is
required of us going forward. How can we honor the fallen? How can we be
true to their memory?

You see, when a tragedy like this strikes, it is part of our nature to
demand explanations, to try to impose some order on the chaos and make
sense out of that which seems senseless.

Already, we've seen a national conversation commence, not only about the
motivations behind these killings, but about everything from the merits of
gun safety laws to the adequacy of our mental health system. And much --
much of this process...

(APPLAUSE)

... of debating what might be done to prevent such tragedies in the future
is an essential ingredient in our exercise of self- government.

But at a time when our discourse has become so sharply polarized, at a
time when we are far too eager to lay the blame for all that ails the
world at the feet of those who happen to think differently than we do,
it's important for us to pause for a moment and make sure that we're
talking with each other in a way that -- that heals, not in a way that
wounds.

(APPLAUSE)

Scripture tells us that there is evil in the world and that terrible
things happen for reasons that defy human understanding. In the words of
Job, "When I looked for light, then came darkness." Bad things happen, and
we have to guard against simple explanations in the aftermath.

For the truth is, none of us can know exactly what triggered this vicious
attack. None of us can know with any certainty what might have stopped
these shots from being fired or what thoughts lurked in the inner recesses
of a violent man's mind.

Yes, we had to examine all the facts behind this tragedy. We cannot and
will not be passive in the face of such violence. We should be willing to
challenge old assumptions in order to lessen the prospects of such
violence in the future.

(APPLAUSE)

But what we cannot do is use this tragedy as one more occasion to turn on
each other.

(APPLAUSE)

That we cannot do.

That we cannot do.

As we discuss these issues, let each of us do so with a good dose of
humility. Rather than pointing fingers or assigning blame, let's use this
occasion to expand our moral imaginations, to listen to each other more
carefully, to sharpen our instincts for empathy, and remind ourselves of
all the ways that our hopes and dreams are bound together. After all...

(APPLAUSE)

After all, that's what most of us do when we lose somebody in our family,
especially if the loss is unexpected. We're shaken out of our routines.
We're forced to look inward. We reflect on the past.

Did we spend enough time with an aging -- an aging parent, we wonder? Did
we express our gratitude for all the sacrifices that they made for us? Did
we tell a spouse just how desperately we loved them, not just once in a
while, but every single day?

So sudden loss causes us to look backward, but it also forces us to look
forward, to reflect on the present and the future, on the manner in which
we live our lives and nurture our relationships with those who are still
with us.

(APPLAUSE)

We may ask ourselves if we've shown enough kindness and generosity and
compassion to the people in our lives. Perhaps we question whether we're
doing right by our children, or our community, whether our priorities are
in order. We recognize our own mortality. And we are reminded that, in the
fleeting time we have on this Earth, what matters is not wealth, or
status, or power, or fame, but rather how well we have loved and what
small part we have played in making the lives of other people better.

(APPLAUSE)

And that process -- that process of reflection, of making sure we align
our values with our actions, that, I believe, is what a tragedy like this
requires.

For those who were harmed, those who were killed, they are part of our
family, an American family, 300 million strong.

(APPLAUSE)

We may not have known them personally, but surely we see ourselves in
them. In George and Dot, in Dorwan and Mavy, we sense the abiding love we
have for our own husbands, our own wives, our own life partners.

Phyllis, she's our mom or our grandma, Gabe, our brother or son.

(APPLAUSE)

In Judge Roll, we recognize not only a man who prized his family and doing
his job well, but also a man who embodied America's fidelity to the law.

(APPLAUSE)
And in Gabby -- in Gabby, we see a reflection of our public- spiritedness,
that desire to participate in that sometimes frustrating, sometimes
contentious, but always necessary and never- ending process to form a more
perfect union.

OBAMA: And in Christina, in Christina, we see all of our children, so
curious, so trusting, so energetic, so full of magic, so deserving of our
love, and so deserving of our good example.

If this tragedy prompts reflection and debate, as it should, let's make
sure it's worthy of those we have lost.

(APPLAUSE)

Let's make sure it's not on the usual plane of politics and point-scoring
and pettiness that drifts away in the next news cycle.

The loss of these wonderful people should make every one of us strive to
be better, to be better in our private lives, to be better friends and
neighbors and co-workers and parents.

And if, as has been discussed in recent days, their death helps usher in
more civility in our public discourse, let us remember it is not because a
simple lack of civility caused this tragedy -- it did not -- but rather
because only a more civil and honest public discourse can help us face up
to the challenges of our nation in a way that would make them proud.

(APPLAUSE)

We should be civil because we want to live up to the example of public
servants like John Roll and Gabby Giffords, who knew first and foremost
that we are all Americans, and that we can question each other's ideas
without questioning each other's love of country, and that our task,
working together, is to constantly widen the circle of our concern so that
we bequeath the American dream to future generations.

(APPLAUSE)

They believe -- they believe and I believe that we can be better. Those
who died here, those who saved lives here, they help me believe. We may
not be able to stop all evil in the world, but I know that how we treat
one another, that's entirely up to us.

(APPLAUSE)

And I believe that, for all our imperfections, we are full of decency and
goodness and that the forces that divide us are not as strong as those
that unite us.

(APPLAUSE)

That's what I believe, in part because that's what a child like
Christina-Taylor Green believed.

(APPLAUSE)

Imagine -- can you imagine for a moment, 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 had been elected to her student council. She saw public service as
something exciting and hopeful. 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.

(APPLAUSE)

I want our democracy to be as good as Christina imagined it. I want
America 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.

(APPLAUSE)

As has already been mentioned, Christina was given to us on September
11th, 2001, one of 50 babies born that day to be pictured in a book called
"Faces of Hope." On either side of her photo in that book were simple
wishes for a child's life: "I hope you help those in need," read one. "I
hope you know all of the words to the National Anthem and sing it with
your hand over your heart. I hope -- I hope you jump in rain puddles."

If there are rain puddles in Heaven, Christina is jumping in them today.

(APPLAUSE)

And here on this Earth, here on this Earth, we place our hands over our
hearts and we commit ourselves as Americans to forging a country that is
forever worthy of her gentle, happy spirit.

May God bless and keep those we've lost in restful and eternal peace. May
he love and watch over the survivors. And may he bless the United States
of America.

(APPLAUSE)

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Tom Hansen
Moscow, Idaho