After several prayers, it was an emotional moment for me to find out that Representative Giffords had not only survived the attack by this disturbing individual, but that the prognosis for recovery is good. May a full recovery with no permanent physical damage be achieved.

I've engaged in many discussions on this board and on your board. While the debates have been generally enjoyable, on occasion, they become heated. They have never become so heated that I would threaten another poster or wish them bodily harm, even when several posters have wished the same to me. I cannot imagine the level of anger that it would take to cross that threshhold. I'm confident I would be friends IRL with most of you. For a very, very small handful, for both of our sakes, I wouldn't even try.

But in light of today's events and in my sincere wish that Americans can find a way to turn an event like this into a positive for the nation, I have hereby decided, like you, to take a sabbatical from political discussion boards.

My thoughts and prayers continue to be with all of the victims of today's tragedy.

Peace.