now it begins?

i spoke on thursday about events accelerating this month and next, and i fear this is the first significant event.
the crazies have emerged from the woodwork of America.
Representative Gabrielle Giffords, a Democrat from Arizona, was shot in the head - point blank - and possibly 18 others were shot outside a Tucson grocery store this morning. Giffords was hosting a "Congress on Your Corner" event in a Safeway parking lot.
she is in reported to be 'in surgery' as i write this.
Giffords was listed on Sarah Palin's sarahpac.com site as one of 20 democrats "targeted" in a graphic with crosshairs over her congressional district.
the graphic has now been removed from that site. (i have not heard mention of this graphic on any of the cable news outlets so far.)
motive of the gunman - described by witnesses as a young man in his teens or early twenties - remains unknown, but this is Arizona, where immigration and other issues may have been a factor.
in November, Giffords won a tough campaign for re-election against a Tea-Party opponent.
from NPR:

Giffords' Tucson office was one of three damaged last March by vandals who targeted Democrats in advance of the U.S. House vote on the controversial health care legislation. A glass panel at her office was shattered, and at the time her staff said that it appeared the window had been damaged by a pellet gun.

Fox News just reported that Federal District Judge John M. Roll was among those killed in the parking lot today.
there is a live picture from a local TV station displayed on Fox news right now - a press conference from the hospital - the local station: KGUN.
besides the sarahpac.com crosshair image, many other such metaphorical threats have targeted at Rep. Giffords. Just look at this campaign ad run by her opponent last June:

Get on Target for Victory in November Help remove Gabrielle Giffords from office Shot a fully automatic M15 with Jesse Kelly

John McCain apparently had no problem with “targeting” opponents. talking about the crosshairs image (Palin was his running mate at the time)

‘I have seen the rhetoric of “targeted districts” as long as I've been in politics. ... To say that there's a targeted district or that we “reload” or “got back into the fight again.” Please. ... Those are fine.’

among the dead in this shooting was a 9 year old girl.
Giffords has been characterized as a strong second amendment supporter. her district includes the storied ‘wild west’ town of Tombstone.