Yum!

Hmm, I wonder if PETA will pay any attention to how this online app is being used.



Let's see how long it is before they remove this.

UPDATE 4:51 PM: I would love to claim that this is my idea, but honestly I got the idea from Michelle Malkin. James Young seems to find it funny too. And he's right; KFC is some good stuff.

Idiotic

I am not happy.

Just a week ago, a gunman at Virginia Tech killed 32 people. So, needless to say, it has become obvious that people should not brandish firearms in public these days (concealed weapons are still a good idea; a student or professor with a concealed firearm could have stopped Cho's rampage). And of all places for students to understand this (outside of Blacksburg), I expected the University of Virginia to be it. Wahoos are intelligent students, and with the shooting hitting so close to home, I figured they would learn a quick lesson.

I was wrong.

Christopher Smith, a student at UVa, decided that now would be a great time to shoot a film for homework that had him roaming around Wilsdorf Hall (which only opened in the past year) with a BB gun. No one was hurt, though reports say that students were hiding and heard guns cocking and threats being yelled.

This disappoints me on so many levels. Unfortunately, we have seen a lot of this recently, and even though no one appears to have been in danger, this was an unnecessary scare.

A night in jail may be just what Smith needs to learn his lesson.

Irresponsible

That is the only way I can describe this AP article, headlined Va. Tech Shooter Was Picked on in School.

Newsflash: a lot of kids are picked on in school. I can remember many times when it happened to me. I can remember it happening to other kids. This story suggests that Cho was not responsible for his actions, but a victim of his cruel classmates.

Make no mistake, I think it is cruel for children to pick on each other, but that is children being children. You learn to get through it, and learn that those who tease you tend to be pretty insecure themselves.

Understanding this situation is one thing; but to talk to old classmates and look for evidence of teasing is irresponsible. Cho made a decision to isolate himself (there is always someone willing to be friends around), and he made the decision to go on his rampage.

There are thousands of real victims out there; why not focus on them for now?

Still more on VT

- No video games were found in the shooter's dorm. We'll see if people stop blaming them for this tragedy.

- Leslie Carbone does not doubt that the shooting was based around leftist notions, and has no qualms in saying so.

- Others posting on the differences that have arised between Virginia Virtucon and Not Larry Sabato:
Black Velvet Bruce Li
Grumpy's Gripes
novatownhall
The Right-Wing Liberal
SWAC Girl
The Ward View
I will also note that Ben at Not Larry Sabato claimed he was going to post a list of all the blogs that link to Virginia Virtucon after removing them from his blogroll. He hasn't done so yet, though I imagine he must feel a little conflicted since everyone in the ODBA includes Virginia Virtucon by default and by rule, even as the ODBA is overwhelmingly in favor of VV at this time.

- In related news, G4, a computer and gaming cable television network, received a bomb threat yesterday and their building was evacuated. Unfortunately, the actions of Cho Seung-Hui does not just appear to have enboldened people like this, but has also left us in fear anytime a threat has been made. This is getting very worrisome. Is this how we are going to react anytime a threat is made from now on?

UPDATE 11:30 AM: Greyhawk has his thoughts. He reminds us that those at VT were not children, even if they still were very innocent, wonders why Cho was able to kill so many with little resistance, and honors one exception to that in Liviu Librescu.

Liviu, in particular, deserves attention, as he survived the Holocaust and stood against communism. Indeed, if it were not for the fact that he was shot while allowing his students to escape, this would be the saddest of deaths. Instead, Liviu will (though still sadly) be remembered as a true hero. I encourage everyone to write their representatives and nominate Liviu Librescu posthumously for the Presidential Medal of Freedom. He has redefined the word "hero".

And Doug reminds us why the media is not to be trusted; they demonize Don Imus while giving Cho Seung-Hui all the attention he was hoping for.

Even more fallout

- Guess who's coming to dinner? If you said the Westboro Baptist Church and Scientologists, you'd be correct. The WBC is one of the most hateful organizations in existence, completely forgoing the ideals of forgiveness and love and instead sticking with hateful rhetoric; they suggest God hates the sinners, rather than just the sin. They also protest at funerals, suggesting that people die in tragedies like this because of homosexuals. It is hard to even consider them an offshoot of Christianity because they seem to show no love.

And scientology? Well, they are going to Blacksburg simply to corrupt students there. For anyone at VT reading this, do not let them talk you into joining them. They have proven in the past that joining them is dangerous, because they will never let you leave.

I am certainly not encouraging violence against either group, and to be honest, I would suggest avoiding any interaction with either group. It is doubtful that anyone will reach these people, and in such an emotionally charged atmosphere, I doubt anyone will be in a good place to debate them either. Get through your pain with the help of loved ones or a more traditional house of faith; finding faith can be a great treatment for this pain, but scam artists do exist in religion as well.

- Rush Limbaugh reminds us that video games are not to blame, and indeed suggests that targeting violent media may not solve anything here. I would expand on his point; there are alcoholics in this world, far many more than there are extreme violent offenders, so should we engage in a new prohibition? I didn't think so. And yet, some people will completely disregard Rush simply because he is Rush, regardless of where they stand.

It is truly a shame. This event should have united us all. Yet, we continue to see more divisiveness, and more people using this event for their own gain. Cho Seung-Hui was sick, but there are far too many twisted people out there trying to get their own way after this.

The Fallout of the VT Shooting

I recognized early on that the violence at Virginia Tech would make us all analyze what happened. And I figure a lot of good will come out of this; however, there will also be many mistakes.

- Chris Muir recognizes one of the biggest fallacies believed on college campuses.

Just because you say something should not be somewhere does not mean that it won't.

- Thus, Jerry Fuhrman wonders how Michael Daly comes up with such an idiotic idea. Daly complains about illegal guns, but spends more time on legally obtained weapons. Hey Daly, people who do stuff like this will find ways to obtain weapons illegally if they are unable to get them legally.

- Still, as I said, some good ideas are starting to pop up. E-mail is a good way to message people about problems like this, but the only people who will get them are those who have not left before then and checked their e-mail before doing so. Yet, like computers, a vast majority of students have cell phones, a very easy way to spread word like this. Bill Koslosky suggests that this is not only a good idea, but a very feasible one as well. He suggests that it is relatively inexpensive, so I am sure that many students and their families would not mind if they had to add a small sum to their tuition charges to cover something like this.

- Bigger problems start to arise though. Other people get ideas from Cho Seung-Hui. Threats directly referencing Seung-Hui and otherwise have closed schools in 10 states out of fear of repeated shootings. Now, many of these (if not all) would result in nothing; most people are very unaware of how many threats like these are called into schools (even at the high school level) but never acted upon. The question here is knowing what needs further action and what can be ignored; indeed, this makes for an incredibly difficult question.

- And Facebook has proven to be a very effective tool. While social networks have a bad rep for allowing child predators easy access to children and for actually making some people even less sociable, Facebook became a good place to figure out if some people were all right, when they would put up messages saying so, and as a way to put up online memorials. Having used Facebook for some time now, I have seen hundreds of groups supporting VT, and dozens of my friends have put up either ribbons or the VT symbol with their school symbol (most often, VT accompanied by the V with sabres that symbolizes UVa) as their personal picture (which is usually populated by a picture of that person, sometimes with friends). This makes for a good way to allow people to show their feelings about the shooting. Unfortunately, some people are blaming gun owners (rather than Seung-Hui), Virginia (rather than Seung-Hui), or even President Bush (what?). But most people recognize that this is about giving the students at Virginia Tech support, rather than finding someone to blame.

UPDATE 3:15 PM: A couple more things.

- Riley is getting criticized for suggesting that Seung-Hui was motivated by left-wing politics. Hard to think negatively of Riley when so many on the left are blaming this on the NRA, the right-wing machine, and President Bush (seriously people, find a new obsession; President Bush is not Satan incarnate).

- And for anyone suggesting that video games makes people violent (indeed, I have some rather ignorant friends who actually believe this) comes a report from the BBFC suggesting that violence in video games does not correlate with feelings of violence in real life.

Let us make no mistake here. Errors were made by many parties here. But ultimately, the responsibility lies squarely on the shoulders of Cho Seung-Hui.

Today, we're all Hokies

As a Wahoo, I always enjoy seeing UVa take on its big rival Virginia Tech in athletics and elsewhere.

But what happened yesterday goes beyond rivalries.

Today, we stand vigilant with the students at Virginia Tech. The games will return another day. The cheer of the crowd urging on the two competing teams will be a great sound to all. But today, as Doug puts so well, we are all Hokies.

Very Sad News

In what is being described as the worst shooting rampage in United States history, 30 Virginia Tech students were shot and killed by a deranged gunman. What's worse, he did it on seperate ends of the campus.

Keep the students and their families of Virginia Tech in your prayers.

The Imus thing is behind us, but it may have raised some new questions

Jason Whitlock is mad, and Al Sharpton and Jesse Jackson are his targets. Hot Air has more.

And Michelle wonders what's up with Barry?

Leno to Dems: What are you, scared?

I know it is only Jay Leno's monologue, and that it is done in parody, but a good point is still made; if the Dems are scared of Fox News, how can they possibly be trusted to deal with terror?

Particularly funny as Jay Leno is hardly a card-carrying Republican.

The stupidity of Al

Not Gore this time, but Sharpton. He is angry at Don Imus for his statements about the scrappy Rutgers team, so what does he do? Give Imus free advertising.

While Don Imus has been suspended, he will be back; it sounds as though he has no plan to resign (good for Don, it gets old hearing people call for a person's resignation just because they make one mistake). And now, people who have never heard of him now have. And they may be more likely to listen in when he returns. Instead of driving Don away, Al Sharpton may have given Don a larger audience.

And this is exactly why I do not go on tirades against Rosie O'Donnell (and wish other blogs, particularly those like Hot Air which have a national audience, would do the same). She needs to shut her mouth, but at least for a while (apparently, ratings are now dropping fast), The View's ratings were very high. It is ironic, but these loud voices tend to help more than harm the focus of the story.

So Al, bet you are feeling real proud of yourself now, eh?

Hope you like not having money

Democrats have proposed a new budget that will increase American's annual taxes by an average of close to $3,000. Worse yet, the Democrat controlled House has passed it.

Such a tax increase will hurt the middle class, as many families are only barely able to support themselves on the income they have now. And people like myself, who are not far removed from college, have a more difficult time trying to get started in life. Is there any doubt why this Congress currently has a lower approval rating than either President Bush or the previous Republican led Congress.

I suspect that this blue shift that Democrats have been excited about may not last very long.

Political Correctness at its Worst

Next up on the itinerary, getting rid of the phrases "World War II", "Civil Rights Movement", and "Cotton Gin".

Around the Horn

A quick introduction to this post. Often times, I fall behind, usually due to how busy I am elsewhere. I still read many blogs, and want, at the very least, to point out some of the best of what I'm reading. So, I'll run through a number of links, some of which I will comment on and others which I will let speak for themselves, not unlike a carnival, except I select all the links. They are usually unrelated, and often have at least a couple links that are non-political, though potentially still partisan to some (hey, I cannot help it if you went to Virginia Tech). So, to get the ball rolling...

- Something to soften you all up. A father returns home from Iraq and surprises his son. If any of you watch this and do not feel anything, surely you must be inhuman.

- And that soldier is no doubt doing some good work in Iraq. Chris at the Mason Conservative gives the Department of Defense their props for the acheivements that are happening in Iraq. The media shows all the bad news coming from the country while barely (if at all) noticing the good news there.

- And even if anyone believes the Democrats support the military, the military sure doesn't. Bryan at Hot Air elaborates.

- Chris has more, citing his pride in the president for standing up for our troops and saying that he will veto the current military spending, er, I mean pork and withdrawl date bill.

- And not to forget the others who have stood up for our troops, SWAC Girl reiterates that the anti-war protestors go too far.

- Iran is a hot topic as well, and The NOVA Townhall wonders if we will be following Britain into Iran, rather than the other way around.

- John Hawkins wonders why Republicans are quiet since Democrats have started calling for the draft again. Seems like a good question to me.

- It seems like we are in a never-ending election season, and the Republican candidates for president seem weak right now, but do not fear, Fred Thompson is pondering a run. Polls suggest he might be able to make a run (and I believe he would rank higher than these polls suggest; the conservative base comes out to vote in those primaries, and they will not likely vote for Rudy or McCain). Moreover, there appears to be an effort in place to draft Fred Thompson to the role. I am still very undecided, but I would certainly entertain this possibility.

- The Earth has a fever, and the only perscription is more cowbell! Or less Al Gore. I'd be fine with either myself, and I'm sure Isophorone agrees.

- And even Sixth graders can tell that the "science" behind global warming is hardly conclusive. Still, some teachers think that students are unable to handle what used to be commonly taught. The Holocaust and the Crusades are slowly being dropped. What next, slavery? Clearly, these teachers never learned that those who do not learn from their history (or even learn their history in general) are doomed to repeat it.

- Jerry Fuhrman notes that James Webb is going to write another book. Wait, what? Senator Webb, you were elected to serve the people of Virginia. Right now, you cannot even keep who is in possession of your firearm straight. Do your job right now; you'll have plenty of time to write after you lose the next election.

- Another baseball season has begun. And other sports are still running, despite the fact that basketball season is over. UVa won in a very strong performance over Maryland in this last weekend's lacrosse game, a game I was fortunate enough to be able to attend. Virginia's baseball team, like the lacrosse team, is now ranked #3.

- And this game is incredibly addicting. Beware if you click, you might find yourself wasting a lot of time.

Polling at its worst

Anyone who is familiar with this blog knows that I do not like polls. They can give an idea of trends, but are too easily botched up or or mistaken. This has only been further justified by a recent poll conducted by Princeton Survey Research Associates International. The poll covers many topics, in particular the following question.

12. Which one of the following statements come closest to your views about the origin and development of human beings? Humans developed over millions of years from less advanced forms of life, but God guided this process (or) Humans developed over millions of years from less advanced forms of life, but God had no part in this process (or) God created humans pretty much in the present form at one time within the last 10,000 years or so?

The overall statisitics suggest that 30% of Americans believe that evolution is a God driven process and another 13% believe that evolution exists but it is not driven by God. So, I know what many of you are thinking right now. "Wait a second Red Stater, these days, Christians believe in increasing numbers that evolution is part of God's great plan".

Depends on who you ask. The poll breaks down the numbers further. Catholics and Non-evangelical Protestants do have high numbers, totaling about 50% of each group. However, only about 20% of Evangelical Protestants believe that. And I'm sure some of you are still saying that doesn't sound problematic.

Well, let's include atheists and agnostics. They do seem to believe in evolution, but God is not a native concept to them. Yet, 72% of atheists and agnostics believe that evolution is or is not influenced by God. One can make the argument that the wording used in the case that evolution is not God driven is vague, but that still leaves 27% of atheist/agnostic Americans believing that evolution is driven by God. Now that sounds rather odd. Were they trying to sandbag this poll, or are they just stupid, or was it just a joke? It is hard to tell, but it is clear that something went wrong.