Man Hurt As Shots Fired At House - BBC News

2 August 2011 Last updated at 02:35 ET

A 25-year-old man was taken to hospital to be treated for his injuries

A man was shot after an argument broke out in the street outside a house in Liverpool.

The man, 25, sustained an elbow injury in the incident, in Garston on Monday, when shots were fired at the house.

Two children and three other adults, who were inside the McBride Street house when the gun was fired at about 18:50 BST, were unhurt.

A black car was seen leaving the scene and a man, 27, was later arrested on suspicion of attempted murder.

Police cordon

He was detained in Toxteth and is due to be questioned later.

Merseyside Police believe a row broke out between the injured man and three others, before the shots were fired.

There was some damage to the front windows of the house and the man was taken to hospital to be treated for his injuries.

The scene was cordoned off while investigators were at the scene.

Police said a black Vauxhall Vectra was found in Kelvin Grove in Toxteth a short time later.

Officers are appealing to anyone who may have seen a black car being driven erratically around McBride Street at the time of the shooting, or anyone who saw anything suspicious, to contact them.

Gabrielle Giffords 'disappointed' At US Debt Ceiling Row After Congress Return - The Guardian

Lizzy Davies

Gabrielle Giffords on the floor of the House of Representatives. Photograph: AP

Gabrielle Giffords, the Arizona politician who was shot in the head in January, said she had been "deeply disappointed" by the party political wrangling that brought the US to the brink of an unprecedented default, after her return to Congress for a vote on the debt-ceiling bill.

To rapturous applause from both Republicans and Democrats, the convalescent congresswoman appeared in the House of Representatives with minutes left before the end of the vote, walking unsteadily and mouthing "thank you" to those who had leapt to their feet to welcome her back, including the Vice-President Joe Biden and the Tea Party favourite Michele Bachmann.

Such a show of unity had been rare in the weeks leading to the vote, a fact Giffords, a Democrat, observed in a statement released afterwards.

"I have closely followed the debate over our debt ceiling and have been deeply disappointed at what's going on in Washington. I strongly believe that crossing the aisle for the good of the American people is more important than party politics," she said.

Giffords, who is still undergoing outpatient therapy, added: "I had to be here for this vote. I could not take the chance that my absence could crash our economy."

Her vote in favour of the bill was one of 269 that sent it through the House with a hefty majority. Hers was without doubt the most enthusiastically greeted.

"It was one of the most thrilling moments for all of us to see this real heroine return to the House and to do so at such a dramatic time," said the House minority leader, Nancy Pelosi, who welcomed Giffords back with what she called "girl hugs".

On the House floor, Pelosi paid tribute to a woman she called "the personification of courage, of sincerity, of admiration throughout the country".

She said: "There isn't a name that stirs more love, more admiration, more respect. Thank you, Gabby."

Leaning on an aide and with her once-blonde hair cropped and brown, Giffords appeared strikingly different from when she was sworn in as a third-term congresswoman in January. Days after that, she narrowly escaped death in a shooting spree during a "Congress on Your Corner" gathering in the car park of a Tucson supermarket. Six people were killed; Jared Lee Loughner has been charged with the attack – in May was declared unfit for trial.

At the vote, Giffords was accompanied by her husband, Mark Kelly, an astronaut who announced his retirement from Nasa in June, citing his wife's medical needs.

Politicians of both parties paid tribute to Giffords's courage. "She is a model for the attitude that we should all have because she is tenacious and she is relentless in her love for America. You were missed and we're glad to have you back," said the Texas Republican Ted Poe.

Biden told the Associated Press after the vote: "She's remarkable. She's the embodiment of a strong, strong, strong woman. Think about what that woman's been through, and think about her determination."

Late on Monday, a message was posted on Giffords's Twitter feed. "The Capitol looks beautiful," it read. "And I am honored to be at work tonight."

Gabrielle Giffords Returns To DC To Vote In Passage Of Debt Bill - New York Post

WASHINGTON -- Cheers and applause broke out on the House floor Monday evening as Rep. Gabrielle Giffords (D-Ariz.) returned to Washington, D.C. to vote for the debt limit compromise bill, which the House of Representatives passed in a 269-161 vote.

There was a standing ovation as she arrived in the House and members began clapping again as she lodged her vote. She was hugged by a number of her fellow members after the vote, many of whom were crying.

AP

In this image from House Television, Rep. Gabrielle Giffords, D-Ariz., appears on the floor of the House of Representatives.

Shortly beforehand, her Twitter account announced, "Gabrielle has returned to Washington to support a bipartisan bill to prevent economic crisis."

Giffords, 41, was seriously injured in a shooting rampage in Tucson, Ariz., on Jan. 8 that killed six and left the lawmaker plus 12 others wounded.

It was Giffords' first return to the nation's capital since the shooting and first vote she has cast since that event.

"I have closely followed the debate over our debt ceiling and have been deeply disappointed at what's going on in Washington," Giffords said in a statement.

"After weeks of failed debate in Washington, I was pleased to see a solution to this crisis emerge. I strongly believe that crossing the aisle for the good of the American people is more important than party politics.

"I had to be here for this vote. I could not take the chance that my absence could crash our economy."

The bill was passed in a 269-161 vote.

Giffords was released from a Houston rehabilitation center in June and since then has been recovering at the Houston home of her husband, astronaut Capt. Mark Kelly.

"The vote taking place today is the single most important vote taken this year by the House of Representatives. The congresswoman insisted on participating," Giffords' spokesman C.J. Karamargin told Tucson Weekly.

"Congresswoman Giffords has been following this debate closely over the past two weeks.

"Like the vast majority of Americans, she is extremely disappointed at Washington's inability to confront the debt ceiling issue in a timely and thoughtful manner."

Jared Lee Loughner was charged over the Tucson shooting spree and, if convicted, could face the death penalty.

But Loughner's trial is on hold after US District Court Judge Larry Burns, who is overseeing the Arizona proceedings, declared him incompetent to stand trial in May.

Paul Krugman And Ron Paul Agree: Debt Ceiling Deal Sucks - Forbes (blog)

"Don't Steal, the government hates competition" says the sign on Ron Paul's desk - RonPaul.com

As markets await a final vote on the debt ceiling deal reached by Democrats, with President Obama as their chief negotiator, and Republicans huddled behind House Speaker John Boehner, experts on both sides of the ideological coin have come out against the new plan.  Nobel laureate Paul Krugman, representing liberals, and Congressman Ron Paul, on the right, both have blasted the new plan for its false promises.

The new Obama-Boehner-Reid plan cuts the deficit by about $2.1 trillion by 2021, according to the non-partisan Congressional Budget Office (CBO).  The first tranche of cuts will total $917 billion, coupled with a $900 billion debt ceiling increase; a special committee tasked with cutting an additional $1.5 trillion will be set up to get the rest of the task done by Thanksgiving.

The truth, according to Rep. Ron Paul (R, Texas), is that there are actually no cuts at all in the new plan.  “The ‘cuts’ being discussed are illusory, and are not cuts from current amounts being spent, but cuts in projected spending increases,” wrote Ron Paul.  With only 2% of cuts taking place before the next presidential election, according to Zerohedge, the truth is that Washington is about to pass “a bigger budget than ever” despite heavy rhetoric, said Ron Paul, who put it like this:

[The debt ceiling deal] is akin to a family “saving” $100,000 in expenses by deciding not to buy a Lamborghini, and instead getting a fully loaded Mercedes, when really their budget dictates that they need to stick with their perfectly serviceable Honda.

On the flip side is liberal economist Paul Krugman, who in his New York Times opinion column called the deal “a disaster.”  Krugman notes that the economics of the plan are completely flawed given that cutting spending in a weak economy will lead to further weakness.  Indeed, it will actually worsen the budget situation, making the economy weaker and reducing revenues.

Krugman thinks Obama conceded too much - newsrealblog.com

“Pay no attention to those who invoke the confidence fairy, claiming that tough action on the budget will reassure businesses and consumers, leading them to spend more. It doesn’t work that way, a fact confirmed by many studies of the historical record,” Krugman writes. The economist notes that given historically low interest rates, “spending cuts now will do little to reduce future interest costs.”

Krugman also had a handy-dandy analogy to explain the deal, taking a stab at Republicans:

So those demanding spending cuts now are like medieval doctors who treated the sick by bleeding them, and thereby made them even sicker.

Both Ron Paul and Krugman present alternative scenarios.  Rep. Ron Paul proposes freezing spending at current levels, noting “a simple freeze in spending would be a much bigger ‘cut’ than any plan being discussed.”  The Congressman for Texas explains that with revenues at $2.2 trillion and outlays at $3.7 trillion, freezing spending at current levels would cut $400 billion over the next few years; “it would only take us 5 years to ‘cut’ $1 trillion, in Washington math.” (Read Donald Trump: It’s Time For Republicans To Fix The Country, I Could Be Back In The Race).

Essentially calling the President a flop, Krugman explained that giving in to Republican demands have weakened his bargaining position.  Obama should’ve demanded an increase in the debt ceiling back in December, said the Nobel laureate.  “At the very least, Mr. Obama could have used the possibility of a legal end run to strengthen his bargaining position. Instead, however, he ruled all such options out from the beginning,” said Krugman.

If the most recent deal passes in both chambers of Congress, both parties, and the economy, can let out a cumulative sigh of short-term relief.  Default will have been avoided and maybe even a downgrade could be waived if Standard & Poor’s is feeling generous.  The reality, though, is that there are many problems with the current deal and that the U.S.’ fiscal and budgetary position remains untenable.  Even after a deal, Washington faces a steep climb. (Read Debt Ceiling Ripples Spread To Money Markets, Repos, Volatility).