Our office corner has really become an area where the Tea party movement congregates and the rhetoric is really heated. Not just the calls but the e-mails, the slurs.

My position is to listen to my constituents, learn from the best information available and ultimately make sound, rational decisions that are going to be beneficial to the people of the 8th Congressional District.

We’re in Sarah Palin’s ‘targeted’ list, but the thing is that the way she has it depicted, we’re in the crosshairs of a gun sight over our district. When people do that, they’ve got to realize that there are consequences to that action.

Moments ago, the U.S. Senate decided to do the unthinkable about gun violence – nothing at all. Over two years ago, when I was shot point-blank in the head, the U.S. Senate chose to do nothing. Four months ago, 20 first-graders lost their lives in a brutal attack on their school, and the U.S. Senate chose to do nothing. It’s clear to me that if members of the U.S. Senate refuse to change the laws to reduce gun violence, then we need to change the members of the U.S. Senate.

Our democracy’s history is littered with names we neither remember nor celebrate – people who stood in the way of progress while protecting the powerful. On Wednesday, a number of senators voted to join that list.

Hope and faith. You have to have hope and faith… Long ways to go. Grateful to survive. I’s frustrating. Mentally hard. Hard work. I’m trying. Trying so hard to get better. Regain what I’ve lost… I will get stronger. I will return.

Violence is a big problem. Too many children are dying. Too many children. We must do something.

I’ve been working hard: lots of therapy, speech therapy, physical therapy, yoga too.

As gun owners, my husband and I understand that the Second Amendment is most at risk when a criminal or deranged person commits a gun crime. These acts only embolden those who oppose gun ownership. Promoting responsible gun laws protects the Second Amendment and reduces lives lost from guns.

Gun owners and non-gun owners alike agree on expanding background checks, making gun trafficking a serious crime with stiff penalties, making it illegal for all stalkers and all domestic abusers to buy guns, and expanding mental health resources so the mentally ill find it easier to receive treatment than to buy firearms.

The Capitol looks beautiful and I am honored to be at work tonight.

It was one of the most memorable experiences of my life. I got to see firsthand the sacrifices that Israelis make in the name of security because of the dangerous state of affairs there. I will always be a strong supporter of Israel.

Our country must be strong enough to solve problems, and that means we must learn how to work together again.

I will get stronger. I will return.

A well-meaning team of people can sometimes make horrible decisions that no single individual would make. Groupthink, and an unwillingness to disagree with the bosses, was too often a problem at NASA… None of us is as dumb as all of us.

None of us is as dumb as all of us. It means that when you get a group of people together to make a critical decision, groupthink can set in. There’s all this technical information, a critical decision needs to be made, and everyone starts marching in the same direction. There might be some people who think it’s the wrong decision, but they don’t say anything. They just remain a part of the group. We’ve learned that groups can make stupid decisions that no single individual in the group would make.

The Congresswoman was depressed by the fact that a woman of her standing could no longer count on making it to the rest room “in time” during the extensive rehabilitation that followed her shooting. Her husband, commander of a space shuttle crew, encouraged her by identifying with her limitation. Even revered astronauts, he revealed, have bodily limits and have to rely on Huggies during extended launch exercises.

Mile by mile, it’s a trial; yard by yard, it’s hard; but inch by inch, it’s a cinch.

Pursue your passion, and everything will fall into place. This is not being romantic. This is the highest order of pragmatism.

Be bold, be courageous, be your best.

I am still fighting to make the world a better place and you can, too.

Your future shines bright – find your purpose and go for it. Starting tomorrow, you can change the world.

My resolution, standing with the vast majority of Americans who know we can and must be safer, is to cede no ground to those who would convince us the path is too steep, or we too weak.

We know that silence equals consent when atrocities are committed against innocent men, women and children. We know that indifference equals complicity when bigotry, hatred and intolerance are allowed to take root. And we know that education and hope are the most effective ways to combat ignorance and despair.