There’s not much to say that isn’t being said by others today. I saw the tragic news when I stepped off a plane in Washington, DC this afternoon. I felt much like I did on 9/11…. shock, horror, disbelief.
My prayers go out to all of the families who will be impacted by this tragedy. It makes my heart ache.
Latest news on the massacre at The Roanoke Times website.
**************************
I thought these words from Peggy Noonan that she wrote after the Columbine school massacres were worth reflecting on again today.
The fish–your child–is bombarded and barely knows it. But the waves contain words like this, which I’ll limit to only one source, the news:
. . . was found strangled and is believed to have been sexually molested . . . had her breast implants removed . . . took the stand to say the killer was smiling the day the show aired . . . said the procedure is, in fact, legal infanticide . . . is thought to be connected to earlier sexual activity among teens . . . court battle over who owns the frozen sperm . . . contains songs that call for dominating and even imprisoning women . . . died of lethal injection . . . had threatened to kill her children . . . said that he turned and said, “You better put some ice on that” . . . had asked Kevorkian for help in killing himself . . . protested the game, which they said has gone beyond violence to sadism . . . showed no remorse . . . which is about a wager over whether he could sleep with another student . . . which is about her attempts to balance three lovers and a watchful fiancé . . .
This is the ocean in which our children swim. This is the sound of our culture. It comes from all parts of our culture and reaches all parts of our culture, and all the people in it, which is everybody…
And there’s more. We forget, those of us who are middle-aged, that we grew up in a time of saner, less sick-making images and sounds.
For instance, the culture of crime only began to explode in the 1960s. We have lived in it for 30 years, and most of us turned out OK. So we think our children will be OK too. But they never had a normal culture against which to balance the newer, sicker one. They have no reference points to the old, boring normality. We assume they know what we know: “This is not right.” But why would they know that? The water in which they swim is the only water they’ve known…
The title of the column: The Culture of Death.
-Bruce (GayPatriot)
UPDATE (from GPW): Like Bruce, I don’t have much to say that others have not already said. I read about the situation and wonder that even as civilization advances, evil persists. Despite all our best efforts, we can’t seem to eradicate it from human hearts.
This is deeply sad. I am totally heartsick about this.
Thankfully, people may be starting to recognize one of the major roots of the problem.
But let’s face facts. Kids today are taught that life is disposable.
Very tragic indeed. My prayers and thoughts go out to the families/loved ones of the victims. I’ve thought for years that if our public mental health system were better funded, as it used to be, as a society, we may be able to help some of these troubled kids at young ages, either with psychotherapy, anti-psychotic meds, or both, before they reach the ‘massacre mentatlity’ stages as teens or young adults. Our states’ mental health systems are currently in shambles, and completely non-existent in many states. If this lack-of-fudning trend continues, we’ll just see more and more incedents like these. There was a time when many people with severe mental problems were locked away, but those days are gone for good.
We also need strict gun control laws regarding automatic weapons — ALL automatic and semi-automatic weapons. Non one needs those just for home defense or hunting. More often than not, most of them end up in the hands of criminals anyway.
my uncle was at the bath schoolhouse bombing in 1926 when some wacked farmer detonated dynamite with a car battery. sh1t like that and today will never end. the best we can do is foster a society in which such actions become rare. we sure have a lot of work to do.
Bruce, Dan I agree with your sentiments.
Maybe now would be a good time to focus American’s ire on those radically violent video gaming simulation companies, producers and distributers –as well as those “musicians” who pollute our airwaves with the pornography of violence glorified– to finally put a halt to the pollution of our youth and their minds, their souls. It’s time to stop allowing these types to hide behind the noble values of the 1st A and push them out into the light of day and be done with them… I’d rather that than a thousand Brady bills or one more dollar for mental health “professionals” curing the sickest within society.
Peggy Noonan called for then-1st Lady Hillary Clinton to engage a natl dialogue with all those Hollywood types feeding the pornography of violence to our children… she didn’t. AlGore’s wife did a bit… and she got mostly hammered by the LiberalLeft.
For me, that call is a lot more persuasive than going after the fake boogey men of the Left.
“….We also need strict gun control laws regarding automatic weapons — ALL automatic and semi-automatic weapons. Non one needs those just for home defense or hunting. More often than not, most of them end up in the hands of criminals anyway.”…
1. Automatic weapons are already restricted.
2. “Most of them” are still-legally in the hands of decent citizens who have the Right to self-defense.
3. Criminals don’t purchase handguns or long-guns legally, nor may they legally possess them in most states already. “Criminals” don’t care about what the law says, nor do they obey the Law….so what’s the point of depriving citizens of their Constitutional Rights?
If someone there had been armed, they might have stopped him/them. We need more guns on the streets in the hands of honest citizens, not fewer…we do outnumber the goblins after-all.
Mind-numbing, this incident. So many dead. So much potential lost.
Since we don’t yet know the whys and whos, it’s impossible to try to understand it, but I do know that more laws (guns, video games, music) aren’t the answer.
Comment #5 — “1. Automatic weapons are already restricted.”
Ted, they were originally manufactured by legal companies and initially sold by legal gun stores or dealers. so how do so many end up in the hands of psycho criminals? Magic? There needs to be accountability.
As an added note, I also agree with GPs post about violent video games and movies in our culture. It really does desensitize our youth to the effects of real violence.
“If someone there had been armed, they might have stopped him/them.”
And just over a year ago, The Virginia Legislature killed a bill that would have let people with concealed carry permits carry their guns on college campuses.
A senseless waste of human life. One armed person could have prevented this carnage.
Unfortunately, ours is a society that glories violence, death and destruction throughout the media – TV, Internet, video games, movies, music. Then we allow easy access to very efficient killing devices. At the same time, “pornography” in our society seems pretty much limited to depiction of sexual activity. Go figure.
” #4 …a thousand Brady bills or one more dollar for mental health “professionals” curing the sickest within society.”
I’d rather see some of my tax dollars going toward supervised drug treatments for some of these psychos than to get shot by one at radom while walking down the street — or if not for treatments, how about locking them up for life like we used to (without the patient abuse by asylum staff which occurred back then)? Acutally, I’d like to see a war on pyschotic behavior from both fronts — GP’s suggestion from the post, and my own regarding our (NON) mental health system.
#8:
I suspect for every such situation there’d be many more where a moment of anger turns deadly because so many carry guns. Here in Arizona, we allow pretty much anyone to carry an unconcealed handgun. It hasn’t helped stem shootings. Indeed, road rage here all too often results in shootouts with innocent bystanders often the victims. No, the real problem is how we glorify violence and have become desensitized to it.
Our states’ mental health systems are currently in shambles, and completely non-existent in many states. If this lack-of-fudning trend continues, we’ll just see more and more incedents like these. There was a time when many people with severe mental problems were locked away, but those days are gone for good.
The problem doesn’t lie in the mental health system. The problem lies in the culture we’ve created (see brilliant Peggy Noonan column cited by GP).
We now have a culture where people are taught that every need and desire is something to which they have a right to; where one’s desires trump the rights of others; where other people are no more than obstacles to be kicked out of the way.
Just watch people drive.
BTW: we don’t lock people with mental problems anymore. Long ago, the libs decided that people who aren’t able to take care of themselves are, somehow, competent to make decisions about their care.
And this horrible event isn’t due to the Second Amendment. We had guns long before people were routinely shooting each other over sneakers and “dissing”.
14: Excuse me, but the idea of releasing mental patients began in California in the 60s with none other than Ronald Reagan. While governor there, he was instrumental in lowering the standards by which mental patients could be “held against their will” as a cost cutting measure to the state’s budget. Unfortunately, many states (both liberal and conservative alike) followed suit over the years, increasing homelessness in this country and helping to increase crime. Don’t blame liberals for this; everyone can take a bit of that blame.
i saw the news at 19.00 here in the u.k. could not beleive what i was watching, god have mercy on all those poor students and comfort their loved ones.
god bless the u.s.a.
Kevin, as I remember all States opened the doors to the mental institutions at the same time that California did. Also if I remember correctly the Supreme Court ruled that a ‘mental patient could not be held against his will’.
John W
Ian: the Appeals Court just ruled that the 2nd Amendment does indeed prevent the Govt from banning guns, why are you trying to take away our rights?
#18:
Where did I mention banning guns? Although quite honestly, these days, the Second Amendment is about the only right many “conservatives” care about. The problem is that your puny arsenal will never be a match for a government wherein the head of said government can order you detained forever without being charged with any crime.
“Guns” are not to blame for this atrocity. Neither are violent movies, video games or “society” at large. The one responsible for the crime is the one who chose to pick up the gun and pull the trigger. Period.
Whatever happened to personal responsibility? The anti-gun rhetoric in this country is nothing short of insane. To hear the gun-grabbers talk, disembodied guns just magically float around, killing people, without anybody attached to them. Guns don’t shoot people — people do.
The shooter was responsible. He was solely responsible. Whatever “society” chooses to do about the problem of random, psycho violence, it needs to start by assigning blame where blame belongs.
That sounds like an argument for more guns in the hands of citizens, not less.
I have to wonder how the kid was raised? As Adam & Dr. Drew always said “Where’s dad?”. Where the parents actively involved in their lives or did they just pawn them off on the school to raise? What were they taught about all the porn, violence etc. out there?
Why do some folks have a grip on the fact that Grand Theft Auto (or whatever kids are playing these days) is not the same as reality? Of course in my mind, kids that play sports with no winners or losers don’t get used to disappointment. Same with kids that are passed in school because correcting them or holding them back might hurt their feelings. When they grow up, they learn quickly that life’s a beyotch and they don’t know how to deal with it.
Guess who’s coming to the funeral?
VdaK, would that be the same anti-gay, Democrat Fred Phelps who protests at military funerals –probably encouraged by the disrespectful and dishonorable conduct of House Democrats in their “cut & run”, “meet with the terrorists”, “freedom ain’t worth it” attitudes toward our troops, funding of our troops, and letting them succeed in this WOT?
I wish the liberalLeft would spend as much time reigning in a tough nutjob case like their partisan Democrat brethern Fred Phelps as they do screaming about “Bush is a war criminal”. But then, Fred Phelps is just the typical media whore dressed up with a bible… like other Democrats ala Jesse Jackson, Al Sharpton, etc
It’s a shame the Democrat Fred Phelps would do something like this… how long before ChuckieSchummer or TeddieK get up inthe well of the Senate and try to use this tragedy for their own political games? I guess Democrat Fred Phelps is just practicing what he’s learned over the years.
#24:
Since Phelps has no position within the Democratic Party, I’m not sure how the Dems would reign him in. Unlike you authoritarian conservatives, we’re not inclined to throw away the Bill of Rights just to get the government to shut him up. Now of course, you conservatives have your own Phelps-like homohaters but they actually run for office and wield power in the GOP.
Robert Byrd is a Democrat, not a Republican
Mich-Matt, much as I’d love to rehash the love the Dem party has for Klansmen (Robert Byrd), bigots (Don Imus), sexual predators (Bill Clinton, Mel Reynolds, Gerry Studds), and crooks (John Murtha, Dianne Feinstein, William “Cold Cash” Jefferson)… this doesn’t seem like the appropriate thread to get into all that.
I also don’t want to get into Second Amendment issues at this time, it seems like we should be thinking about the victims now. But eternal vigilance is the price of freedom, and those who truly love the Bill of Rights (and not arbitrary bits and pieces of it, and only when those bits and pieces are interpreted to their liking) have to remain always on guard.
#15 – Good comment. Kudos!
He was also instrumental in stripping most federal funding from anything dealing with mental health, including research. Thanks Ron. Between that, ignoring the aids epidemic, and supply-side non economics, ya done good.
#25 – Ian — Good comment as well. Kudos!
“why are you trying to take away our rights?”
So civil liberties ARE important after all!
That is nice to hear as in the past I have heard so much from the conservatives about how we have to restrict civil liberties to protect our country
And incidentally, I agree, gun ownership is enshrined in the constitution. I don’t like it, but its there so it must be respected.
Late Breaking News!
Virginia Tech Gunman Has Been Identified as a Student of Korean Descent Named Seung Hui Cho.
He Was Carrying a Backpack with a Receipt for the Purchase of a Handgun
Keogh, you mean like those silly illegal wiretaps, illegal monitoring of phone conversations, and covert illegal internet spying of all those BAD american citizens. We didn’t need those silly privacy rights anyway ‘-)
# 25 For Example:
The elected republican anti-semite racist, homo-hater David Duke, who went to Iran for the Holocaust deniers symposium as an American Rep.
byrd huh? brown shirt vinnie. ….anyways. there have been guns around me my entire life. 22’s, double barrels, 32 specials and bb guns. all used for hunting. i remember the first time i saw a hunter with a handgun, and thought: wtf you need that for?
I predict that there will be lawsuits filed against the university for failure to protect students or campus police failure to respond adequately to the initial disturbance. This is a particularly unfortunate result of our desire to ‘do something’ and lash out at those whose jobs are to serve and protect against even the most horrifically unthinkable and is magnified in the context of the parents of young victims.
Many will focus on materials such as guns and ammunition and will call for laws to be strengthened/enacted. (NPR was quick to point out that Virginia is the home of the NRA.) Again, this is the ‘do something’ mentality and is as lazy as thinking a welfare system is charitable or solves poverty. I suppose it stems from the utilitarian philosophies of Mill, Laski, Galbraith.
Many will decry our culture (though the student could hardly have been steeped in it, as he arrived here in August of last year according to reports I’ve heard). Was it culture shock? What of the domestic dispute that apparently touched it off (and during which he shot several students in a dormitory)? Was he dumped by a girlfriend or rejected by a girl he was interested in? Is China’s culture (one child per family = aborted females = too few available females) partly to blame for the student’s state of mind? See how easy it is to come up with snap answers?
We’ll no doubt learn more about the nature of the incident during the coming weeks. Are there reasonable and obvious things that can be done? Yes, possibly. Some metal detectors installed in areas where students congregate might be a good start (though it would merely move violence elsewhere), particularly from the standpoint of limiting liability litigation. As with 9/11, we need to remain rational and as Lori mentioned above, afix blame where it belongs.
And HH, it turns out that the shooter was an Asian here in the US on a student visa. Which is why the FBI could not come up with his fingerprints, since they were not on file.
Sad but true.
Regards,
Peter H.
Unfortunately, colleges and university, especially large ‘open’ campuses, are unsafe at best.
Once, ‘a friend of mine’ walked up to the gym at my local university, invented a student ID number, and just waltzed right in. The kid at the desk didn’t even ask for a drivers license or any other picture ID.
“Campus security” is an oxymoron. Just asked any number of young women who have been victims of the epidemic of rape on college/university campuses.
Maybe they (the colleges/universities) will finally wake up and take measures to protect their students with a lot more vigilence than they have in the past.
Too bad it took these horrible murders at Virginia Tech to open the eyes of the administration
Ian writes, hopefully with tongue in his cheek, “Since Phelps has no position within the Democratic Party, I’m not sure how the Dems would reign him in.”
Vince offers: Sen Robert Byrd.
I offer: Holding office didn’t stop you guys from reigning in Don Imus, either. “Holding office” isn’t the key, Ian… conduct is. And Democrat Fred Phelps, just like Democrat Don Imus and other racists within the Democrat Party, are a real problem for our society. Just like allowing the violence pornographers to peddle their filth to our young while hiding behind the 1st Amendment, you enable the Fred Phelps of the world to putrify the public square.
Last time I checked, there was greater diversity in the GOP than amongst the shrill anti-WOT dominated Democrat Party… it’s why we can have a Tancredo running for the same office as a Guiliani.
Nice try and the ol’ DC two step and spin, but Fred Phelps and “Sheets” Byrd are all yours. And Phelps is going to try to make this tragedy something of a media circus… disrepsecting the intense grief of the victims and those who mourn them. Rather than try to avoid holding him responsible, Ian, maybe you should have written “You’re right; Phelps is horrible media whore just like Schummer and Pelosi and gReid and I wish they didn’t try to use this tragedy for their own political gain.”
But you didn’t. You tried to spin away, only causing yourself some momentary dizziness.
As an illustration of just what I mean, in listening to the news, the student was not from China as originally reported, but is now identified as a Korean.
Peter, London’s The Guardian was reporting the mass murderer as a student whose visa was issued in Shanghai. It’s odd that the acquisition of a student visa wouldn’t require fingerprints, though I’m not sure they would have helped in this case. It would be interesting to know what standards (if any) must be met to obtain such a visa such as a clean medical and psychological record, criminal record, etc. Then again, we allow illegals to obtain driver’s licenses and allow them in-state tuition, free health care, etc. But that’s another topic for another day.
Speaking of Imus, it’s hard to believe that, a week ago, that’s what we were supposed to be all worked up about.
#25 — ‘we’re not inclined to throw away the Bill of Rights just to get the government to shut him up. Now of course, you conservatives have your own Phelps-like homohaters but they actually run for office and wield power in the GOP. ”
Kudos, Ian!
#15 — Thank you, Kevin. Couldn’t have said it better.
“Heck of a job there, Ronnie, heck of a job…”
CNN reported this morining that the VT shooter had just bought his weapon this past Friday. How was it this guy was able to purchase a firearm so quickly with no waiting period? Oh thats right, a wink, a nod, and by crouching behind the shroud of the misinterpreted 2nd amendment. No wonder the number of gun deaths in the UK, Canada, and Australia combined = 350 a year, while those in the U.S. number 15,000. No one thinks there is anything wrong with this picture?? Guess not, unless of course one of your own gets injured or killed by some psycho like this VT shooter.
O/T keogh writes: David Duke is a GOPer. BZZZT. Nice try to you, too; copying Ian’s two step and spin now? You guys should try out for the whirling dervishes.
David Duke, a vile equal opportunity bigot, is actually a Democrat, keogh. He just ran as GOPer because he knew he didn’t have a chance at winning anything unless he ran in the majority party. And he’s lost nearly every office he ran for –turned out by the GOP.
He’s a Democrat in his heart. How do we know? He’s in favor of bringing the troops home no matter what –check, Democrat. He’s anti-Israel –check, Democrat. He’s been to Syria to undercut the Prez– check, Democrat. He supports Democrat Fred Phelps’ right to protest at military funerals –check, Democrat. He’s a racist bigot like Democrat Don Imus –check, Democrat. He’s against the Patriot Act –check, Democrat. He’s serving time in a federal jail for mail fraud –check, Democrat (because most felons are Democrats; it’s why Hillary wants them to be able to vote).
See, a Democrat not only at heart, but in word, deed and action. Oh, and he really likes to don the white sheet like Democrat Senator Robt Byrd and others –check, Democrat.
What’s that phrase that Peter uses here against you so often? Check____?
Matt,
You are becoming unhinged. Anyone who can say an Elected Republican (David Duke) is actually a democrat even though he won his seat as a republican is obviously dizzy from his own spinning (sorry to steal your line there)
Further – Phelps is merely a link in a long republican chain or racist, homo hating freaks – Michael Savage, Anne C., Barbara Cubin, James L. Hart, and on and on and on and on.
So Spin away pal as you usually do. (Right after you sanctimoniously condom others for spinning of course. Intellectual honesty? Not in your vocab)
But in the end, your spin hits the brakes when confronted with reality.
HH, actually there are about 73k higher education institutions in the US that issue an I-20 form with their letters of acceptance… that act starts the process of issuing a student visa. It isn’t all higher ed and Ivy Leaguers though… the San Diego Golf Academy can issue an I-20. Willing to pay full tuition? Go to the head of the line… unless it’s a Pilot Training School where everyone pays full price.
America’s college administrators want those liberal standards liberalized even more… so that student visas can be for up to 4 years, no interim renewal periods and easy access in/out of the US. Now, you have to reapply for a visa if you leave the US even briefly… and wait can be lengthy.
But for now, it’s basically get an I-20 from one of the 73K educational institutions in America, agree to pay the full tuition, promise you’ll leave when the education is completed, get interviewed by your local US consulate agent… then pack your bags.
keogh, no spin in all that… no unhinged conduct. Just looking at what a typical Democrat looks like these days and Davey Duke, as reprehenisble as he is, fits the bill as a Democrat… just like Imus, Byrd, et al. It may not be to your liking… but, it’s reality.
ndtovent: UK is well on its way of being Islamisized… I can guarentee you when the Muslims begin their assults, the people of the UK will wish they had their weapons.
O/T –by the way, keogh, Anne Coulter doesn’t hate gays… she’s just tried of the GayLeftBorg’s agenda and activist and victimhood… like many here. Oh wait, you probably think we’re all self-loathing, gay haters, right? LOL; you spin buddy.
I love the pyschoanalysing people like pleghm do. Its the only way they can read what someone says , have no way to respond to it , and stil be able to ignore it by saying the person is crazy. Intellectual thuggery without intellect.
ndtovent at #40, please see #42 and join Ian & keogh at the back of the bus for some remedial time. A little less one hand clapping might be order for the lower case clan’s echo chamber, too.
On da radio they’re saying the guy left notes behind
Anyone else kinda wish the media and the politicians would just back off for a month or so, and just give the victims and their families and the rest of us some space? Just cover the facts and not shove a microphone in some survivors face and ask “How does it feel?” Or demagogue some ill-considered policy proposal until we’ve had some time to gain perspective on it.
I know. I’m dreaming here. Maybe in the next world.
The mass murderer’s name is Cho Seung-Hui of South Korea.
He was a resident alient and full-time student. He purchased a 9mm handgun a few days before the attack (not an assault weapon, for those of you who are not experienced with firearms).
I’m wondering why it took so long to identify this thug. My speculation is that maybe the VTU administration was aware the shooter was not a US citizen and felt politically uncomfortable with possibly “inflaming” the situation.
And also, remember that the so-called “police” at VT are not allowed to carry firearms. Sort of like the old saying about bringing a knife to a gunfight.
One expert marksman could have taken this guy out and we wouldn’t be Monday-morning QBs about this sad situation.
Regards,
Peter H.
#35:
You’re a bit short of the facts as usual. The latest reports say the killer was a “resident alien” which means he had a “green card” not a student visa. Furthermore, even people on a student visa now have to be finger-printed. A student that young is unlikely to be able to get a green card on his own; almost certainly, it was through his parent(s) who are probably living and working legally in the US.
This is one of those things when i’m glad I dont have cable/tv. After going through 9/11 about 6 months after I had enough and canceled it.
Actually Ian, Peter had it right at #52. You can thank him for correcting the error… if you care.
VdaK –I wish that the press and pundits would leave it to just reporting the facts… but some of them, like Gerry Rivaldo of Fox (ugh) try to make the news, tossing out red meat to the ever hungry audience. I think it was the noted conservative writer George Will who once opined that America is a nation consumed in the pornography of grief.
How fitting. Pornography of violence. Pornography of grief. Journalists as pornographers, not professionals. How long before we can fest on AndieCooper’s silvery manes contrasted with a loose light-dappled tear while reporting from the field?
IgnoAndNaus, you are spinning and using conjecture as usual. The report I cited was one of many emerging ones containing details of the killer and are updated as events warrant. I am not in the news business and I’m certainly not going to educate you as to the facts of the case. You have an internet connection; in Rosie’s words, “Google it.”
Furthermore, you don’t know for sure if his parents are in the USA or in South Korea. Also, you are engaging in hypotheticals regarding fingerprinting. A homocide investigator gave a news report yesterday where he explicitly said that if the FBI did not have fingerprints of the killer, it was safe to assume that it was because they were here either illegally or under a visa that did not warrant their fingerprinting.
When I first heard the shooter was Asian, my first thought was Islamic. We have seen the liberal MSM use the term Asian to describe Islamic terrorists before, in an attempt to hide their true ID as well as what their true motives may have been.
Given the level of liberal PC insanity pervading our society today, I would not be surprised to learn that the long wait before issuing any warnings to the students was, in fact, due to the race of the shooter.
Regards,
Peter H.
Plus, IgnoAndNaus, re-read post#52 where I updated my remarks to HardHobbit and used the term RESIDENT ALIEN. There it is IN BLACK AND WHITE.
CHECKMATE, dude.
Regards,
Peter H.
V the K, I share that same sentiment with you, 100%.
My prayers and thoughts are with the families.
Unlike you authoritarian conservatives, we’re not inclined to throw away the Bill of Rights just to get the government to shut him up.
Right.
I think that post better than any other sums up your insane and irrational need to tell lies about conservatives and their beliefs, Ian.
Furthermore, Ian, you and your fellow Democrats have no problem with restricting freedom of speech when it comes to banning abortion protests. Try doing the same with Phelps — and expose your own hypocrisy even more.
Your problem, Mr. Constitutional Scholar, is that you pontificate whether or not you really know what you’re talking about. Your demonstrated ignorance of the Constitution all the while insisting you were right some time back is a classic example.
“Your problem, Mr. Constitutional Scholar, is that you pontificate whether or not you really know what you’re talking about.”
Pot, meet kettle.
And frankly, IgnoAndNaus, I don’t have to establish my credentials to you, nor do I have to brag about them. Suffice to say that I have a lot more credence than you do in terms of geopolitical analysis, and Dan (GayPatriotWest) will back me up on that.
Regards,
Peter H.
What’s the matter, coward and racist Ian? Can’t you explain why the people you scream are “authoritarian conservatives” OPPOSED bills preventing Phelps from protesting, as I cited?
Or are you still busy trying to explain why the Democrat Party bans free speech in and around abortion clinics, despite your “support” for the Bill of Rights?
#44 MM, interesting how once we accepted that education is a value, educators and the Education Industrial Complex are allowed to determine our law, n’est-ce pas? Here, school funding is based upon student FTE (Full-Time Enrollment); the more FTEs, the greater the funding for the school, department, etc. Thus, there is a reverse incentive to question any potential attendee. (This has even led to a bastardization of the Running Start program, whereupon high school students get free college and books in a backroom handshake between secondary and post-secondary administrators. Of course actual college students are bumped from classes that are pre-promised to these high school miscreants.)
It will be interesting to watch how our trade policies with various countries change and whether this has any effect on immigration law. We are currently negotiating a free trade agreement with South Korea and I suppose this includes trade in intellectual property, joint partnerships in the public/private spheres, and both tax-funded groups and NGOs. The net result can only mean an increase in immigration to the U.S., with immigration laws likely further liberalized to facilitate it.
#10 — ”
And just over a year ago, The Virginia Legislature killed a bill that would have let people with concealed carry permits carry their guns on college campuses.”
Yep, that’s just what we need. More armed college kids packing heat around campuses, and maybe and even better way to end the drama moments flaring up at drunken frat parties, eh?
This applies to the local coverage of the shootings here in my area, but one of the comments I have repeatedly heard this morning while listening to the radio news is ‘we need these immigrants because the United States isn’t producing enough qualified applicants for our technology-based economy’ or something of that sort.
This is a bunch of crap. As someone who has recently changed his career and is now in the tech sector, it’s insulting to Americans that a foreign-born graduate is automatically more qualified. There are whole flotillas of Americans that can do the jobs corporate America claims go begging and even if a specific skill is needed, there are many Americans who would very willingly be trained. What Americans lack is, perhaps, motivation and drive, but we are as talented and intelligent as any on Earth and we understand our own culture and business needs better than anyone. Talented foreigners should be welcome here, but let’s not kid ourselves into believing that the only reason foreign workers are attractive is their purported skill.
Besides, the mass murderer was an English major and we certainly have no lack of them.
#61:
Then without pause:
Oh Petie, you’re such a “massive” hoot.
Not to perpetuate off-topic commenting, HH but you miss the point. It’s not that American born citizens are less talented or less qualified (although if you ask any teacher, instructor, professor, etc. they will tell you that asians are the most highly motivated/diligent of any ethnic group in getting ahead academically — I’ve heard/read so many teachers’ comments about this, and went to school with plenty of them as well — it’s a fact). The point of those oppinions is that there aren’t enough U.S. babies now being born to handle the workload demands of the future. Our population is growing at a very slow rate, averaging only slightly less than two children per family now, vs. 4 per family during the baby boomer years following WW2. The only exception is the hispanic population, which averages 3 children per family, but they only make up about 15% of the total U.S. population — by the time the last of the baby boomers retire, there will only be about 1 worker for every retiree…. So we’ll need more working-age immigrants to meet the demand — at least that’s the theory.
ndt: I loved your bigoted comment in 64. Real classy.
#67 You’ve missed my point. The argument has to do with the lack of Americans qualified to do the jobs corporate America needs done. There is no lack of American college students. In fact, I would argue there are too many, or if you prefer, we make it too easy to go to college, which devalues the experience in the marketplace. There is no lack of American applicants, except for low-wage service sector and some manufacturing jobs. My point had nothing to do with population and its necessary attrition, but I thank you for the opportunity to clarify it.
There is a very large designer/manufacturer of software in my area. You’ve likely heard of it. At one time (I don’t know about now), they received as many as 10000 applications per month. Now I would bet that the vast, vast majority of these applications are from Americans seeking a better life and more challenging work. I would also bet that such a corporation can afford to attract foreign talent with less money than their American counterparts. This is the perception, anyway.
As for your point about Asian motivation, you are basically repeating what I already stated in my previous post: “What Americans lack is, perhaps, motivation and drive…“
Testing…
This thread is deleting my comments.
#67 You’ve missed my point. The argument has to do with the lack of Americans qualified to do the jobs corporate America needs done. There is no lack of American college students. In fact, I would argue there are too many, or if you prefer, we make it too easy to go to college, which devalues the experience in the marketplace. There is no lack of American applicants, except for low-wage service sector and some manufacturing jobs. My point had nothing to do with population and its necessary attrition, but I thank you for the opportunity to clarify it.
There is a very large designer/manufacturer of software in my area. You’ve likely heard of it. At one time (I don’t know about now), they received as many as 10000 applications per month. Now I would bet that the vast, vast majority of these applications are from Americans seeking a better life and more challenging work. I would also bet that such a corporation can afford to attract foreign talent with less money than their American counterparts. This is the perception, anyway.
As for your point about Asian motivation, you are basically repeating what I already stated in my previous post: “What Americans lack is, perhaps, motivation and drive…” I didn’t mention ethnicity, but you should be aware that Americans come in all ethnicities and so your comment regarding same is misplaced.
Thread still deleting comments.
The PC Police are now telling us not to identify the perpetrator by his race or country of origin. That is because they don’t want any “retaliation” over this incident.
Hmmm…sort of like the way Duke University “retaliated” against white hetero males?
Meanwhile, I’m going to see if Margaret Cho is related to this guy, so I can have an excuse to hurl epithets at her. (SARCASM)
BTW – Has Rosie O ever apologized for her “ching chong” Asian bashing? Just wondering.
Regards,
Peter H.
Peep this, Pete. Rosi O Doughnuts has already figured out how to blame Bush for the tragedy..
Re: Other comments. The Left always attempts to paint all gun owners as trigger-happy drunken idiots. But it’s interesting that shootings at gun shows, NRA meetings, and target ranges are almost unheard of. It seems that the first requirement for a massacre is to have a pool of disarmed people.
Oh what a surprise:
islamthreat.blogspot.com/2007/04/cho-seung-hui-was-inspired-by-islam.html
Just heard it on Fox News. Cho Seung-Hui left a suicide note and signed it as Ismael-AX (or Ismail-AX as the media published just now). Ismael is the Arabic for Ishmael the father of the Arabs, the son of Abraham and the one that Muhammad the founder of Islam favored above Isaac the father of the Jews. This terror seems to have indeed been motivated by Islam. Muslims believe that it was Ishmael that Abraham almost sacrificed on the mount of Moriah rather than Isaac. The feast of sacrifice, Eid Al Adha, celebrated by Muslims, celebrates that event by slaughtering sheep. Ismail-AX definitely slaughtered many innocent people like sheep yesterday.
I will post more info on this as I get it. I hope the media gets the Islamic connection here. I am sure what they will find is a story of a convert to Islam who was convinced that his only salvation is go to Jihad. He is a perfect recruit; His South Korean heritage would make it easy for Muslims to deflect any charges of Islamic terrorism and, with the aid of the media and the PC government, dismiss it as another psycho attack, similar to what they did at Trolley Square in Utah.
V da K – whoa. Talk about adhering to the template for the Libtard Left.
Vince – you are kidding, right? This is getting weird now if what you mentioned is true.
Also – I heard/watched part of the memorial service at VT just now. The Prez was on target, on message and VERY good in his eulogy. But check this out – of the four clergy assembled to give their thoughts and blessings, ONE WAS A MUSLIM MULLAH. The others (as if it matters) were of the Jewish, Buddhist and Lutheran faiths.
Since when did Virginia have so many muslims that they needed a mullah to give a “blessing?” He also urged those in attendance “not to judge others by what one person did.”
As Lewis Carroll wrote, “Curiouser and curiouser.”
Regards,
Peter H.
ndtovent offers that arming college students is: “an even better way to end the drama moments flaring up at drunken frat parties”.
Maybe you were thinking the Democrat option (let’s have a rich, white boy lynching party) of legally harassing drunken lacrosse players for 2+ years with unsupported rape charges is more fair?
You’ve been Nifong’ed, ndtovent.
#75:
Of course you do, it’ll help rally the nation for what… attacking Iran?
Since when did Virginia have so many muslims that they needed a mullah to give a “blessing?”
VA actually has a very large Muslim population in the northern counties (the prosperous DC suburbs, that is). Those counties also send a LOT of students to VA Tech. Just FYI.
markie at #33 asks, “… remember the first time i saw a hunter with a handgun, and thought: wtf you need that for?”
For someone who contends he lives in Michigan (right, wink wink) you sure are ignorant about hunting and guns, markie. Just as an example, Michigan has about 58,000 black bears… skip brown bears for now. Last year, about 12,500 tags were issued to about 9,100 real men …. read “hunters”. Weapon of choice for real men hunting black bears, markie? You guessed it…
Handgun. Followed by black powder rifle and muskets. All without dogs.
To parody your own nonsense, markie: “I once say an uninformed liberal commenting in a conservative political website about hand guns and hunting and I thought WTF does that person know about the subject?”
You don’t even know jack, dude.
Ian asks at #78 “Of course you do, it’ll help rally the nation for what… attacking Iran?”
You guys on the whackedLeft have been peddling that myth for so long it is solidly busted, Ian. Right up there with Geo Bush is going to bring back the draft right after the 2006 election.
Let’s stop trying to get that myth to stick to the LiberalLeft Wall, ok? You guys gotta get some new material… maybe Jon Stewart can help you out of that hole?
#80
It has already begun
17: True, but it was CA that was the first to do it under the urging of Ronald Reagan, but as I said it was all levels of government/citizens that were responsible for allowing it to flourish.
10: That suggestion reminds me of an old episode of “All in the Family”. On that show, Archie bunker went on TV to give a rebuttal editorial. He pointed out that the best way to avoid hijackings was to arm every passenger who walked on a plane, supposedly to put them all on an equal footing.
How exactly would “one armed person” have prevented this, especially on a campus of over 20,000 people? The campus had armed security and that didn’t stop it. What you talk about is vigilanteeism. These types of incidents show that the person commiting it essentially wants to commit suicide and has decided, in their deranged minds, to take as many people with them as they can.
the cops knew the guy was psycho beforehand.
[Did the cops know? At least not from what I’ve read. Do you have a link to back up this statement? ]
Geez! I go to work and miss a whole bunch. Let me catch up:
1. Unless I’m mistaken, you apply, wait and then purchase the firearm. So yeah, it can be done “quickly” as you say.
2. Unless I’m mistaken (and I don’t think I am), Va. doesn’t have a waiting period.
What? Would that be with a body condom?
Well, there was a standoff at a gun range here in the Tampa area, but your point is still valid. BTW, how come you never hear about those sniper kittens?
Oh! You HAD to narrow it down to BLACK bears, didn’t you! ;P
Are you putting me on? Let’s say, hypothetically, that I chance upon some dude holding you at gunpoint. I draw my weapon to take out his knee. Are you telling me would leap into the line of fire to save him?
Are you telling me would leap into the line of fire to save him?
+ you
Oh BTW, who stopped the shooter at Appalachian School of Law?
A student with a handgun.
Besides, Kevin, if we don’t have guns, how can we defend ourselves when the Republicans come to exterminate us?
TGC, you are so full of it. It doesn’t matter whether VA or any other state has a waiting period. One is required by the Brady Bill, a federal law. Google it (if you can figure out how. If not, ‘Internet for Dummies’ should help you out).
#90 – I did google it. From Wikipedia:
The five day waiting period for handgun purchases expired on November 30, 1998 and was replaced by a computerized criminal background check prior to any firearm purchase from a dealer holding a Federal Firearms License (FFL). All FFL holders must now verify the identity of a customer and receive authorization from the National Instant Check System (NICS) which usually takes only a matter of minutes instead of the previously required waiting period.
This can be verified on the Brady Campaign’s website, in fact, here.
Also here.
Or even here.
Perhaps you should do your research first, post second.
89: Well, apparently, that’s pretty easy in VA, seeing as there is no waiting period for buying a gun. Wonder what would have happened if he hadn’t been able to get a weapon right away and had to wait a week before getting it in his hot little hands.
#92 – Kevin, I’ve learned that when a person – sane or insane – has their whole being fixated on a plan, nothing will distract them from it.
So even if there had been a THIRTY-day waiting period, that little psyCho would have waited. And then acted.
Plus, the evidence shows that he had this crime in the making for a long period of time. It’s not as if he woke up one day and said, “oh, geez, this is going to be a boring week. Let me liven up the place by going on a terror spree.”
For you or anyone else to think otherwise shows your lack of depth and reason.
Regards,
Peter H.
Unfortunately, you can’t legislate against evil.
Wonder what would have happened if he hadn’t been able to get a weapon right away and had to wait a week before getting it in his hot little hands.
Given the amount of time he apparently spent planning this, which appears to have been on the order of MONTHS of video-making, observation, and multimedia promotional material building, what exactly is your point?