Irony and Audacity

I am not quite sure what I want to say about the VT shooting.

Stunned isn’t even the right word to describe what it’s like to watch the news, listen to the radio and read the internet. I have my opinions about what happened, based on what I know right now. I think there was a method to his madness. I hate it when people get busy pointing fingers, so I don’t think anyone is at fault, besides the crazy one. I feel absolutely awful for those people the families and friends, other students and faculties. I’ve said my prayers for them. But alas, in the middle of all this, my war is still being waged. Beneath the surface of all the headlines, political correctness is creeping like a thief in the night!

The gun control lobby is out in full force as we all expected. I don’t understand gun control. The only people who would abide by it would be law abiding citizens. I think they should look into their methods of screening people for guns. The VT shooter was apparently sick, deemed so by a court, and why that didn’t come back in his screening for a gun, I don’t know. But many people, law abiding citizens would pass a gun ownership screen. People have to go through similar screening just to get a job, every day. I don’t understand why people think that making it harder or impossible to have a gun, makes us safer.

Last year, a student at Virginia Tech got in trouble for having a gun at school. Apparently his state issued concealed weapons permit wasn’t good enough to carry on campus. http://www.roanoke.com/news/roanoke/wb/wb/xp-50658 . Imagine what it might be like had the students been permitted to carry their gun on campus, as permissible by state law. Not that all students would have had, but say, how many of 32 would have had a weapons permit? (The sheer irony of it all…)

The media likes to blow things out of proportion. Not to trivialize anything, but it has been pointed out that although being so terrible, this is not the worst mass murder in American history. 9/11 bore 2,998 deaths, Oklahoma City bombing took 168 lives, HappyLand Arson had 87 and Bath, Michigan took 45 http://mypetjawa.mu.nu/archives/187474.php . However putting it the other way does provide a powerful punch when talking about restricting gun rights.

Speaking of restricting rights, another story of major importance that didn’t get as much attention due to the massacre, was the new Supreme Court Ruling on partial birth abortion. The ruling favored a 5/4 vote to keep partial birth abortions banned. http://apnews.myway.com/article/20070418/D8OJ7CL00.html . I can’t imagine what the four justices are thinking, ruling FOR this: The procedure at issue involves partially removing the fetus intact from a woman's uterus, then crushing or cutting its skull to complete the abortion. We’re not talking about a science fiction scene; we’re talking about this actually being done. Now granted, the report says 90% of abortions happen in the first trimester (but 87% of statistics are made up…), and we are talking about later term abortions. But there are other methods if it’s needed (and I’m not going to debate it here). The politicians are split right down the middle, as expected. The front runners for the republican nomination are on the agreeing side and the democrats are on the disagreeing side. I do not think abortion should be illegal, but the simple description of the procedure speaks a thousand words. And there are a lot of people for it.

Among the disagreeing party (read: liberals) are the front runners for the democratic nomination for president of the United States of America. Between deciding what position to take on the Imus “scandal”, the VT shooting, and the abortion ruling, next on their calendar is a visit with good Pal Al Sharpton! http://www.boston.com/news/nation/articles/2007/04/17/sharpton_attracts_dems_to_his_convention/ I can’t make this stuff up!! If it wasn’t enough for Hillary to go down pandering to Rutgers on Monday, if it wasn’t enough of Obama the Poet to compare the VT shooting to the violence in Imus’ words and the violence of people loosing their jobs http://www.wispolitics.com/1006/Obama_in_Milwaukee_04_16_2007.mp3 (I know, he said it, I shook my head, too. The VT shooting to Imus? WTF??!), now they’re headed down to see Pal Al. Touching, isn’t it?

Am I on Mars? Is it just me, am I dreaming? I guess they think they know how to ensure votes.

For only Wednesday, it sure has been a long week. I’m still waiting for global warming to make it up my way in the northeast.