As it becomes clear that this tragedy resulted from mental disease we have every reason to examine involuntary commiment statutes which were availiable to the various people in positions of responsibilty who had observed signs of psychopathologyin Jared Loughner . However it is perhaps more telling to examine as a whole a health care system which routinely excludes those who need treatment the most. If this tragedy was a manefestation of disease, why and how could the shooter have gone untreated until it was too late. The politics ( read money ) of health care must be objectively compared to other more effective and lower cost systems. Cuba which we chronically depict as politically disfunctional has the highest number of doctors per capita, the largest medical school in the world ( tuition is not charged ), and cradle to grave care focussing on prevention. If an impoverished nation boycotted by the largest ecconomy in the world can do so much better than we do, we must be doing something wrong. One huge lesson here is that we cannot afford the most costly system in the world which fails to serve the society from which it sucks unbelieveable wealth. Health Care Reform ???? Perhaps we should subcontract the entire system to Cuba. They clearly are much better at it than we are.

Don't tell me that Arizona -- the backward "epicenter of divisiveness" according to the current headlining article on this site -- is actually ahead of some other states in its laws on this.

If no one knows about the law, though (as apparently school officials, campus police, and numerous others did not), it doesn't matter.