ROBERT SIEGEL, host:
Our coverage yesterday of the Tucson shootings and their aftermath generated a lot of listener comments and some helpful facts. First, my co-host Michele Norris spoke yesterday with one of Jared Loughner's instructors at Pima County Community College, Ben McGahey, who related this anecdote about Loughner.
Mr. BEN MCGAHEY (Instructor, Pima County Community College): He even wrote a few scribblings on the quiz. One thing in particular he wrote was called: mayhem fest.
MICHELE NORRIS: Just those words: mayhem fest?
Mr. MCGAHEY: Right. And it was written in bold capital print, written in pencil and three exclamation points.
SIEGEL: McGahey told us this incident made him very concerned. Well, Yucca Keller(ph) of Minneapolis had this response. Mayhem fest is a rock concert that was in Arizona in July of 2010 and not some sort of bizarre threat. And the listener is correct. Mayhem Festival features heavy metal bands and it tours the country each summer.
Well, moving on, we heard some strong opinions about my interview with Democratic Congressman James Clyburn about the tone of political discourse. Our introduction mentioned an example that's come up often in the media since Saturday's shooting. It's the map of the U.S. created last year by Sarah Palin's political action committee. The map identified, as if within the crosshairs of a gun, congressional districts held by Democrats who voted for the health care bill, including Gabrielle Giffords. Well, Congressman Clyburn was critical of that map.
Representative JAMES CLYBURN (Democrat, South Carolina): If you want a target a political district, put an asterisk on it. The sight of a gun barrel, I think carries a different connotation.
SIEGEL: Well, Frank Darr(ph) of Missouri City, Texas, emailed this: I am certain that both NPR and Representative Clyburn are aware of an identical map targeting Republican districts that was posted by the Democratic Leadership Council in 2004.
And Pam Tanner of Austin, Texas adds that she is disappointed in NPR. She writes this: I have heard absolutely no evidence from any news source that the man was affected by political rhetoric. And she adds, quit building news stories on speculation.
Finally, we have one correction about one of the victims of the shooting. We misidentified Dorothy Morris. We used the wrong last name. She was 76 years old. Her husband of 50 years, George Morris, was also shot and survived.