Don't get me wrong. I'm as shocked and saddened by the shootings in Tucson as anybody. I'm even more shocked that so many liberals immediately leapt on it as another chance to denounce Sarah Palin, although by now I shouldn't be. Actually, since everybody agrees that this was a senseless attack, why should it be laid at the feet of Sarah Palin or anybody else? Nevertheless, no sooner did she respond to all the furor than she was criticized for "inserting herself into the controversy," and attacked for using the phrase "blood libel." Heads, they win; tails, she loses.

Some people can't separate the political from everything else. Remember the memorial for Paul Wellstone?

What lead to this post was the recurrent thought that life is filled with senseless violence and suffering. The deaths in Tucson are no more senseless than the thousands that occur in traffic accidents after a snow storm or following natural disasters like the flooding in Australia. Every death, especially those as sudden and tragic as these, brings pain and sorrow to someone and evokes sympathy and sorrow from decent people. But life has never been free from senseless pain and suffering. One can be riding high one moment and reduced to nothing the next. We all understand that in our reflective moments and unless we've been dehumanized somehow we know that there but for the grace of God, go we.