I went through the whole experience of being a journalist in the nation's capital: attending deadly boring policy luncheons, interviewing near-dead lawmakers and dead-inside lobbyists, and dying a little inside myself every time I saw my work "edited"—turned into shameful garbage before going on air.
The attack left one lawmaker dead and 22 wounded.
That crime, which left a woman and her two daughters dead, could also prompt lawmakers to order longer mandatory sentences for offenders who break into homes at night or while residents are inside.
Even before the Arizona shooting on Saturday, which wounded Representative Gabrielle Giffords and left six people dead, reported threats against lawmakers had been on the rise, jumping in the Senate alone to 49 incidents last year from about 30 each in 2008 and 2009, according to the Senate sergeant-at-arms.
But for the poor, the oppressed, the voiceless, or even the tortured or the families of the dead, scoring meetings with lawmakers or airing grievances in the nation's capital is a far more daunting assignment.
New York City officials are not completely sold on it, some state lawmakers are dead-set against it and now regulators in New Jersey are trying to stop it.
Addressing the House of Commons just meters away from where the gunman, a reported convert to Islam, was shot dead on Wednesday, Harper said lawmakers would expedite new powers to counter the threat of radicals.
The problem is that we live in a society where there are many opinions about what is considered a "dignified" way to treat the dead, and where citizens and lawmakers alike often think it is their place to tell strangers how to behave in this regard often asking for "protections" where none are appropriate.
On Thursday, a second opposition lawmaker was shot dead.
NAIROBI, Kenya — A second Kenyan opposition lawmaker was shot dead on Thursday, and riots immediately exploded in opposition strongholds, putting the country increasingly on edge.
