Think Progress

Highlights from VA Tech convocation.

By Nico Pitney on Apr 17th, 2007 at 5:28 pm

Highlights from VA Tech convocation.

The Washington Post reports:

A day after a lone student gunned down at least 32 people in a campus rampage, Virginia Tech students, faculty and family members gathered today to receive condolences from President Bush, Virginia Gov. Timothy M. Kaine and other officials, who urged them to preserve their sense of community amid overwhelming grief.

Students, many of them wearing Virginia Tech sweatshirts or T-shirts, wept openly at times, and one student sitting behind Bush had to be helped up and escorted out of the building after he was overcome by his emotions.

Below, watch highlights from Gov. Kaine and President Bush, as well as footage of the student who collapsed behind Bush in the audience. [Note: Audio problems fixed.]

[flv http://video.thinkprogress.org/2007/04/vatec232.320.240.flv]

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101 Responses to “Highlights from VA Tech convocation.”

  1. ∞Ω says:

    Tim Kaine:yes,now that is a highlight.
    Was Jim Webb there?


  2. Your Conscience says:

    Why is it Gov Kaine can freely speak and discuss the tumultous gut wrenching emotions and the Failure in Chief has to read someone elses prepared speech?

    How heavy is the water today?


  3. Ian says:

    anyone having trouble with the audio shortly after bush starts yapping?


  4. Rape-Public-Cans = Enemy #1 says:

    I wonder if today Laura Bush had any flashbacks of her killing classmate Michael Douglas when she was 17?

    http://www.snopes.com/politics/bush/laura.asp


  5. Hector Garcia says:

    Bush troubles everything he is in touch with….


  6. Nirvision says:

    No, because he’s not really saying anything.


  7. ∞Ω says:

    anyone having trouble with the audio shortly after bush starts yapping?
    Comment by Ian

    As Martha Stewart would say,”And that’s a good thing”!


  8. Anonymous By Choice says:

    Oh sure… now CNN tries to appear respectful about this event.

    Have you seen their moving graphics and the music they use when they come into and leave the story? It’s all theatircs!

    Have you seen the advertising banners for their special tonight? I thought it was an ad for a horror movie! I have no idea how long the image will last at the link, but look at this insanity:

    http://i.a.cnn.net/cnn/2007/images/04/17/247×60.va.shooting2.beg.jpg

    …in response to #3, it goes silent for me too, until they cut to the crowd, and we see the kid collapsing.


  9. Tobey Tall says:

    Dennis Kucinich (D-OH) is planning to introduce a bill of impeachment in the House against Vice President Dick Cheney.

    Democrats are on politically safe ground impeaching Dick Cheney.

    http://www.afterdowningstreet.org/cheney


  10. Zooey says:

    Those poor kids and families….

    My condolences.


  11. Heather Slater says:

    My audio also dropped out righ after Bush started talking (no loss there, I’m sure) But seriously, why on earth are these politicians exploiting the pain at this school less than one day after the tragedy?


  12. DocG says:

    Bush sounds drunk.


  13. Kevin says:

    I can’t believe you turned this into a hate Bush thing. You folks are too much.


  14. hil says:

    the bush has no volume :/


  15. Zooey says:

    Dennis Kucinich (D-OH) is planning to introduce a bill of impeachment in the House against Vice President Dick Cheney.
    Comment by Tobey Tall

    Totally cool. Thanks, Tobey.


  16. Rape-Public-Cans = Enemy #1 says:

    #13 Feel free to emulate ANYTHING positive bush has done……..go ahead……………..yeah, thats what we thought.

    Failure in Chief is a National Disgrace. When did you become alergic to the facts?


  17. Tracy says:

  18. midwestblue says:

    Just a reminder: “America at a Crossraods” is on PBS tonight (I didn’t get to see the segment from last night). Richard Perle comes off as a pompous ass, and there’s also a part about the Iraqi security forces we’re supposed to be training. At least, that’s what I read in the NYT Arts Section review of it today.


  19. shane says:

    I can’t believe you turned this into a hate Bush thing. You folks are too much.

    Comment by Kevin — April 17, 2007 @ 5:57 pm

    EVERY troll spouted this same line today. Must have been #1 talking point.


  20. Zooey says:

    I can’t believe you turned this into a hate Bush thing. You folks are too much.
    Comment by Kevin

    I can’t believe you’re trying to turn this into a hateful troll issue. You trolls are too much.


  21. ValiantVenusGrewFromUranus says:

    #15 LOL!Comment by Tracy — April 17, 2007 @ 6:06 pm

    Tracy thinks the impeachable crimes of fellow republicans is ‘humorous’. Figures.


  22. Fed the Fcuk Up! says:

    What a tragic story. These young kids brutally murdered in the dawn of their life never being allowed to pursue their dreams and desires. They definitely didn’t deserve this. I mean, it’s not like they were Iraqis.


  23. Tobey Tall says:

    Dennis Kucinich (D-OH) is planning to introduce a bill of impeachment in the House against Vice President Dick Cheney.

    another link

    http://www.afterdowningstreet.org/node/19740

    Kucinich has long shown himself to be that rare thing—a politician of conscience.

    He now has the chance to prove it, by standing up to Pelosi and the do-nothing Democratic leadership. As Kucinich said in his statement on the floor of Congress, “This House cannot avoid its constitutionally authorized responsibility to restrain the abuse of Executive power.”

    If Kucinich acts on those words and puts impeachment back on the House table, he will deserve to move to the head of the table in the Democratic presidential race.


  24. Republicans are the fear and smear party says:

    I can’t believe you turned this into a hate Bush thing. You folks are too much.

    Comment by Kevin — April 17, 2007 @ 5:57 pm

    I can’t believe you turned this into a “TP bloggers hate Bush thing.” You hateful trolls are too much.


  25. Jason M. Hendler says:

    Ah, I know you libloggers were praying to Satan that the culprit would be a white Christian male, but alas, your boiler plates just don’t fit, and you have nothing to seize upon. Moreover, you had worked yourself up for the Gonzales hearing, and were left pud in hand, unfulfilled.

    As much as you try to bend the world to your vision, reality always intercedes and derails your efforts – must be frustrating. Bask in the last days of your movement, the Clintonistas will finish you off in time to foist her into the primary election of 2008.


  26. Republicans are the fear and smear party says:

    #25…For the record, I don’t pray to Satan, I wasn’t praying that the culprit was a white Christian male, the Gonzales hearings are still ongoing, and the 2008 elections haven’t taken place yet.

    For the record, I do think you’re an asshole.


  27. Wayne says:

    Comment by Jason M. Hendler

    What a disgusting piece of crap you are Hendler.
    Left something out, Let me add to that:
    What a disgusting piece of racist, neocon crap you are Hendler.


  28. Crump's Brother says:

    Jason,

    One name for you….. Tim McVeigh!


  29. lestatdelc says:

    #13 Well if Bush had not pushed his sanctimonious unwanted empty-headed warmonger jack-off self into this by showing up to pander and speechify on the VT campus today, we wouldn’t have had the opportunity now would we?


  30. JPark says:

    #25 Bask in the last days of your movement, the Clintonistas will finish you off in time to foist her into the primary election of 2008.

    Wait, Jason. I thought (according to you) TP was a propaganda arm for Hillary. I am confused. Are you being…inconsistent???


  31. Tracy says:

    #21

    Present some proof of the crime that Kucinich is claiming and I just might stop laughing.


  32. El Tonno says:

    > Ah, I know you libloggers were praying to Satan that the culprit
    > would be a white Christian male

    Ommm…. Satan… Ommmm…. Raise Me Up a White Christian Male with Extremist Tendencies And a Gun … Yesss… Good!!

    Yeah, that might surely work if we sit in a chalk pendragon and burn bible leaves and the freshly cut hair of some fair maiden over candles.

    …Poof!!! (Damn, it’s Dick!)


  33. Zooey says:

    As much as you try to bend the world to your vision, reality always intercedes and derails your efforts – must be frustrating. Bask in the last days of your movement, the Clintonistas will finish you off in time to foist her into the primary election of 2008.
    Comment by Jason M. Hendler

    Bless his heart, Jason’s running scared. Take a shower, Jason, you stink of flop sweat.


  34. Wayne says:

    Wait, Jason. I thought (according to you) TP was a propaganda arm for Hillary. I am confused. Are you being…inconsistent???
    Comment by JPark

    Jason is being a one post wonder today.

    He posts once and runs off, then we sit wondering WTF was that boy thinking…….


  35. Pete_Bogs says:

    honestly, I think Bush made people feel worse… he took them back through the tragedy… Kaine focused on the positive, such as it was…


  36. JPark says:

    #33 I think he has lost the passion for trolling.


  37. TheHeathen says:

    re #12
    Bush is drunk or stoned 24/7/365
    Things haven’t changed


  38. Bluedog49 says:

    Tracy, “proof” is something we attempt to find with investigations and testimony. If you want a list of arguably “impeachable offenses,” just go to Google, click on “advanced search,” put Bush in the top line and impeachable offenses in the second line. My only beef with the various lists you’ll find is that I don’t think any of them are complete. But, if you really want to know why people think Bush should be impeached, just go look for yourself.


  39. Lee says:

    Bush attends the convocation for the fallen students at Virginia Tech, but does he ever plan to attend a single funeral of a fallen American soldier in Iraq?

    How long before Uncle Turd Blossom convinces him to blame the Virginia Tech tragedy on the Democrats?


  40. Lee says:

    BTW, my deepest condolences to the families of the students slain the other day.at Viriginia Tech University.


  41. gogreen says:

    What will be lost in this is the critical issue of gun control. Our love affair with guns and the undeniable temptation for the weak-willed to obtain a gun to fulfill, coupled with the insane ease with which this may be done, is the cause of the thousands of unneccessary deaths in the US. Any search on gun deaths in the world will show that our “superior” society outstrips all other developed nations in this regard.

    What gun “rights” advocates never mention about “illegal” guns is that every gun starts out life in a “legal” gun factory. There are no “illegal” gun factories. What there are in abundance are arms outlets, through licensed dealers and unregulated gun shows, that care not a whit about the end use of a gun. Most gun dealers are reputable and comply with such laws as exist. The ones that don’t make a veritable river of guns available to criminals and nutcases through straw purchases. The gun shows are black-market conventions where every conceivable type of racist, wanna-be mercenaries, and just plain violent people go to satisfy their thirst for destructive technology.

    I hope that a prime part of this inverstigation is a history of the guns the shooter obtained. I will be interested to see if he just broke in somewhere and stole them (an occurence which accounts for a small fraction of gun trafficking), or was able to obtain them from a source traceable to a “legitimate” gun dealer.


  42. gogreen says:

    How long before Uncle Turd Blossom convinces him to blame the Virginia Tech tragedy on the Democrats?

    Comment by Lee — April 17, 2007 @ 7:16 pm

    I assure you, Wayne LaPierre will shortly be citing this as proof that all students on campus should have mandatory sidearms.


  43. ironchef says:

    Be nice if people gave a schite about the 32 dead Iraqi’s that get slaughtered ever hour or so in Iraq. Oh, that’s right…we kill them over there so…they…don’t migrate here…and talk with their strong accents and run 7/11s.

    This country sucks.


  44. Bluedog49 says:

    Again, Canada has more gun ownership per capita than the United States. I’m all for control, but I don’t think that’s the primary issue. We live in a society racked with fear. We fear poverty because we have no real social safety net. No citizen in any other industrialized nation fears that he will be bankrupted because of a health problem. Nobody worries that a qualified son or daughter will not be able to get a college education because of money. Nobody worries that their parents will be stuck in a hell-hole for their last years. Our corporate media feeds the fear and encourages it. Fearful people are anxiety-ridden and anxiety feeds consumption. I’m not saying it’s a conspiracy. I think it’s the nature of the beast.

    We need to take care of our people. We’ve had more than 26 years now of this modern conservative/libertarian view and where has it gotten us?


  45. lestatdelc says:

    #40 stow your gun-restrictions crap. Gun laws would have done NOTHING to prevent this. Nor would arming students and teachers. Both sides of the gun issue are angling to make hay out of this, and both sides are full of shit.


  46. Bluedog49 says:

    lestat: “Gun laws would have done NOTHING to prevent this.”

    Actually, in this case, I’m not sure that’s true. The shooter had a history of mental illness. He had been referred to counseling. All Virginia had was this NRA “instant background” check, which some law enforcement personnel will tell you is next to useless. In many states, this shooter wouldn’t have been able to purchase the Glock. Now, maybe he gets the Glock another way, maybe not. I’m just sayin.


  47. red says:

    Welcome to what happens in Iraq EVERY DAY on a much larger scale!


  48. joshdestardi says:

    Thank God there are other Progressives who feel the same as I do about “gun control.”

    GoGreen, no disrespect, but if you don’t like the the Bill of Rights, you might want to become a republican.

    Guns are a tool, not the original intent. If someone wants to do something insane, they’ll find other methods of doing it. That’s like bushies attacking of Iraq, and going after the “terrorists.” Instead of addressing the issue, the periphery issues are attacked.

    Criminals get the guns; law abiding citizens are unarmed.

    This isn’t physics.


  49. joshdestardi says:

    I’m a liberal, and I support the Bill of Rights. Guns are the tool, not the original intent.


  50. joshdestardi says:

  51. El Tonno says:

    #40 I hope that a prime part of this inverstigation is a history of the guns the shooter obtained. I will be interested to see if he just broke in somewhere and stole them (an occurence which accounts for a small fraction of gun trafficking), or was able to obtain them from a source traceable to a “legitimate” gun dealer.

    But gun tracing has become f*ck difficult:

    http://www.mayorsagainstillegalguns.org/html/federal/archive_pending.shtml#hr5672


  52. BucketsofBloodforBucketsofOil says:

    Keith Olbermann just asked the question about the horror in Blacksburg –

    Do we find it less of a horror when young people die in Baghdad.

    It’s a question very much worth asking.


  53. BucketsofBloodforBucketsofOil says:

    Police said he was not threatening enough when he…

    - stalked women on line such that the women called the police and he was repeatedly counselled
    - wrote bizarre disturbed violent papers for class such that his Professor repeatedly asked the police to intervene
    - he set fire to a dorm room
    - after he killed two people in the dorm, he returned to his dorm room to reload

    Meanwhile the campus police decided he had left campus and possibly the state.

    I would like to know on what basis they made that assumption.

    All of this seems to point to the police doing what many police do — totally ignore violence expressed especially towards women


  54. Marie says:

    This kind of tragedy happens every day in multiple places in Iraq.
    Their people are suffering too.


  55. BucketsofBloodforBucketsofOil says:

    All of this seems to point to the police doing what many police do — totally ignore violence expressed especially towards women

    Meanwhile if you dare to protest the Iraq war the police are all over you for carrying a sign that’s too big or for stepping off the curb.


  56. BucketsofBloodforBucketsofOil says:

    They keep referring to the Virginia tech campus as a “place that seemed so safe”

    But did it really seem so safe to everyone. Or is that a myth.

    I’d be willing to wager that if you polled the females on campus you would find a different story. A typical story of stalking, date rape, and other fears.

    So when Americans wax teary-eyed about how safe small town America is, we need to remember it’s just men, and particularly white men, who experience it as safe.

    The number one cause of death amongst pregnant females in America is murder by a partner, relative, or close friend.


  57. BucketsofBloodforBucketsofOil says:

    Keith Olbermann just asked another good question

    Why isn’t the American flag flown at half mast continuously in honor of the dead in Iraq?


  58. Wayne says:

    Actually, in this case, I’m not sure that’s true.
    Comment by Bluedog49

    He was a registered alien, not a US citizen. I think whoever sold him the weapons broke the law, and the check, if any was made, did not catch the fact.
    I also think that he might have bought blackmarket if he couldn’t get the guns legally. The law wouldn’t be able to stop that. The law doesn’t stop criminals.


  59. Zooey says:

    He was a registered alien, not a US citizen. I think whoever sold him the weapons broke the law, and the check, if any was made, did not catch the fact.

    The article I read (on CNN, I think) said the shooter showed three forms of ID and they ran a check on him, which came back clear. If his papers are in order, why wouldn’t it be legal to sell him a gun?

    I also think that he might have bought blackmarket if he couldn’t get the guns legally. The law wouldn’t be able to stop that. The law doesn’t stop criminals.

    Criminals will find a way, that’s true. Around here, all you have to do is go to a “gun show,” and you’re set. It’s ridiculous.

    Comment by Wayne


  60. gogreen says:

    Re the comments above about me stuffing it.

    Did any of you accusing me of being a republican comprehend anything I said about gun laws? Apparently not. the gun dealersa, backed by the firearms industry , backed by the NRA, backed by the Republican pary, of which I am empahatically not a member, has tied the hands of the law enforcement community in conrtrolling access to guns. Want to onw who the most fervent gun control people are? Cops. Because they are the ones that often get killed. So before you take trhe liberty of telling me to stuff it, and before you give me the funs are tools crap. gfo educate yourself about how guns get to the streets.

    Is a gun a tool? technicallty. Do insanse peolple reach for am pipe wrnech to go a rmapage? They might, if that’s all that were available. But hey we have guns, and people kill people – with guns

    Comment by lestatdelc

    You stow the NRA crap. Or why don’t you just become a fu&& ing replublican.


  61. lestatdelc says:

    Comment by Bluedog49 — April 17, 2007 @ 7:46 pm

    Simply being referred to counseling does not prevent someone from legally purchasing a gun even in states with more robust background checks. Furthermore, as you yourself admit, he would most likely have gotten a firearm illegally. Gun control laws are well-meaning but chimeric at best.


  62. lestatdelc says:

    #60 You stow the NRA crap. Or why don’t you just become a fu&& ing replublican.

    Comment by gogreen — April 17, 2007 @ 8:44 pm

    ROFLMAO.

    Because I specifically state that both sides of the gun issue (i.e. the NRA and the gun-control law advocates) are basically full of shit with their rheotric, I am spewing NRA crap and should become a Republican?

    Too funny.

    Be sure to let Howard Dean, Jim Web and Jon Tester know about your hair-trigger (pun noted) litmus tests on “gun-control” laws and also us here on planet earth know what color the sky is on your planet… ya fuck-stick.


  63. dbadass says:

    I read much at this site but speak little. I agree with many of you and disagree with many but my sister’s reaction (Va Tech alum 1984) was very eye opening. It was a home for her for many years and it has been desecrated by the confusion, anger, and frustration which breeds violent mindless acts. I do not suggest that I am a member of your electronic community nor do I have a right to say this but maybe this thread should leave some of the other agendas alone for a bit if only to reflect upon who those kids might have become.


  64. JPark says:

    #61 You have a right to say whatever you want but it isn’t going to happen. The VA Tech shooting is not the most important thing going. Maybe it is to someone close to anyone who was shot but in the grand scheme of things but people are dying all over.


  65. JPark says:

    #62 Oops, wandering thoughts…in the grand scheme of things it is minor, people are dying all over.


  66. big papa says:

    Bushiva politicized this tragedy by showing up…

    …he is radioactive, and he knows it…

    …this DEMON will stop at nothing to keep this country divided…

    …a statement of support would have sufficed…

    …after all it’s his SECURITY failures that have caused these tragedies…

    …9/11 and now VT…


  67. dbadass says:

    #62/63 and each of these deaths “all over” are tragic. Why not one thread to examine the basis for these losses and another to honor them. Would you stand up a funeral to proclaim your thoughts or respectfully honor the dead? I may be missing your point but the big picture of deaths all over seem callous. If you are suggesting that I am somehow naive to the realities, you know me not. Did I miss something or was this thread about the Va Tech events?


  68. big papa says:

    …and I neglected to mention his (Bushiva’s) establishment of…

    …a culture of preemptive violence, cruelty, mass murder, profiteering, social Darwinism, and callousness…


  69. JPark says:

    #65 Sorry, it seemed you were proposing having only VT threads for a few days. If that is the case, it may be callous, but this isn’t the only story. If not, I apologize. I am all for having a thread honoring the dead.


  70. PonyDriver says:

    It’s better to honor people while they are still living, not when they’re dead. Mourn and/or pray when they’re dead.

    People used to treat my brother like total crap, then when he died, they came around and acted like they were his best friend. They probably found out that his wife was getting quite an inheritance and wanted to make an “impression” on her. What a bunch of hypocrytes.

    Honor me or not while I’m still alive. Not after I die. It’s too late. I will be somewhere else.


  71. big papa says:

    From interviews of everyone who knew anything about this shooter…

    …he was mentally ill and didn’t receive the help (intervention)…

    …he needed…

    …that fact mixed with the easy access to firearms was a recipe for disaster…

    …and there is no shortage of similar situations across this country…


  72. big papa says:

    …wait until the PTSD soldiers return from Baghdad…


  73. Jason M. Hendler says:

    JPark,

    Your name sounds Korean, how is your community handling the LARGEST mass murder in American history perpetrated by one of your own?


  74. Mr Logic says:

    Jason, I think Timothy McVeigh did the LARGEST mass murder in American history. How did your you community handle one of your own doing that?


  75. Mr Logic says:

    Jason, I think Timothy McVeigh did the LARGEST mass murder in American history. How did your community handle one of your own doing that?

    {typo fixed for the language police}


  76. big papa says:

    Comment by Mr Logic #73

    Actually Mr. Logic (and Jason),

    …the largest massacre in U.S. History was perpetrated…

    On December 29, 1890, five hundred troops of the U.S. 7th Cavalry, supported by four Hotchkiss guns (a lightweight artillery piece capable of rapid fire), surrounded an encampment of Miniconjou Sioux (Lakota) and Hunkpapa Sioux (Lakota)[2] with orders to escort them to the railroad for transport to Omaha, Nebraska. The commander of the 7th had been ordered to disarm the Lakota before proceeding and placed his men in too close proximity to the Lakota, alarming them. Shooting broke out near the end of the disarmament, and accounts differ regarding who fired first and why.

    By the time it was over, 25 troopers and 300 Lakota Sioux lay dead, including men, women, and children.

    -Wikipedia-

    …guess Jason needs to learn more about HIS people…

    huh?


  77. brandy says:

    he’s a registered democrat… ouch


  78. sarcasm says:

    I don’t think Bush should have gone there. I mean after all, haven’t they suffered enough!


  79. sarcasm says:

    The largest shooting spree in US history was The Civil War. About one million casualties.


  80. brandy says:

    Yeah your right, civil war… lasted about five years after it was declared a victory…. oh wait, just checked still had problems after 25 years


  81. keith says:

    There are thirty “Virginia Tech’s” every year in the USA. Bush enables them. Check this article:

    http://www.gregpalast.com/the-accomplices-sundance-george-and-butch-reid-and-the-virginia-tech-massacre/#more-1696


  82. Zooey says:

    JPark,
    Your name sounds Korean, how is your community handling the LARGEST mass murder in American history perpetrated by one of your own?
    Comment by Jason M. Hendler

    JPark, I didn’t know you were Korean. :D


  83. bakho says:

    Bush should quit trying to imitate Bill Clinton. Bush comes across as phony.


  84. keith says:

    That should have been there are a THOUSAND “Virginia Tech’s” every year in the US.

    Thirty thousand deaths every year.


  85. keith says:

    Cho got American culture from the age of 8 to 23. Comes from Fairfax County Virginia outside D.C. Home of NRA. Don’t just label him a Korean. He wanted to be a screenwriter for violent Hollywood films.


  86. keith says:

    Hey Zooey. Your friend Jason sounds like a real winner.


  87. Exley says:

    I can’t believe you’re trying to turn this into a hateful troll issue. You trolls are too much.
    Comment by Zooey — April 17, 2007 @ 6:12 pm

    Zooey’s right…For anyone — The Brady Center, Dems, NRAers, Reps, Juan Cole, TP — to try and turn this tragedy into a politically advantageous event is reprehensible.


  88. Zooey says:

    Hey Zooey. Your friend Jason sounds like a real winner.
    Comment by keith

    Oh yeah, he’s a real wiener alright. :)


  89. Zooey says:

    Zooey’s right…For anyone — The Brady Center, Dems, NRAers, Reps, Juan Cole, TP — to try and turn this tragedy into a politically advantageous event is reprehensible.
    Comment by Exley

    I told you before not to put words in my mouth.
    Keep it up, and I’ll bite your fingers off.


  90. Exley says:

    Sorry Zooey….Didn’t mean to be presumptuous. I know you and I don’t often agree….I just hate to see this tragedy politicized.


  91. keith says:

    I think it should be politicized. You don’t need easy quick access for a semi-automatic handgun with a 15-round clip for home protection or deer hunting.

    To see how Bush and conservatives enabled this tragedy, check this out:

    http://www.gregpalast.com/the-accomplices-sundance-george-and-butch-reid-and-the-virginia-tech-massacre/#more-1696

    It is righties who think the solution to everything is violence. They condemn lefties for wanting diplomacy, prosecutor-courts-judge-jury, etc.


  92. Tobey Tall says:

    Europe, Please Stop Moralizing

    After SPIEGEL published a summary of European press reactions to the tragic shootings at Virginia Tech, our in-boxes were flooded with hundreds of letters from Americans who were angered by editorials critical of America’s lax gun policies. Conservative blogs also stormed the barricades. Here’s a compilation of some of the mails.

    http://www.spiegel.de/international/0,1518,477882,00.html


  93. Proud Dem says:

    Your name sounds Korean…
    Comment by Jason M. Hendler

    Hey, Jason? Profile much?


  94. smafdy says:

    There is no news here, and there is no lesson to be learned.

    The shooting is over, the dead are being buried, nothing else has changed. We are hardened, callous observers of our own culture.

    This type of violence cannot be stopped by law or politics.This is not a political event.

    Jason and Exley are still whores.


  95. cavjam says:

    When I listened to Bush’s stumbling eulogy, I was struck by two thoughts. Every word he said about the senseless killings in Blacksburg applies to the dead in Iraq. And – has he ever given even one public eulogy for the fallen soldiers under his purported command?


  96. Mrs. Tarquin Biscuitbarrel says:

    Yes, Jim Webb was there. He was partially blocked from the camera by Sen. John Warner.


  97. Parrotlover77 says:

    #40 stow your gun-restrictions crap. Gun laws would have done NOTHING to prevent this. Nor would arming students and teachers. Both sides of the gun issue are angling to make hay out of this, and both sides are full of shit.

    Comment by lestatdelc — April 17, 2007 @ 7:40 pm

    I disagree entirely. Although I do agree that gun control is a “bandaid” or sorts and not the root of the solution, it is not hard to realize that without guns, you do not have gun violence. Is that going to happen? No matter how much I want it to. I hate guns. Always have, always will. In fact, I would say I have a phobia of them. I get uncomfortable even seeing them locked in a cabinet, unloaded! So I admit my view is slanted by this. But I just don’t see how anybody can argue that a little extra red tape would not help gun violence. There is more of a background check when you apply for a job at McDonalds! Would calling a few references hurt? Would waiting a few weeks hurt? For a twisted “loner” who is going to vouche for him? And maybe a little extra time to “cool down” would help others? Perhaps require some sort of license to own any gun? You need a license for a car, which is deadly (and why its licensed), why not a gun?


  98. Tracy says:

    #95

    How would a little extra “red tape” prevented, in the least, what happened in Virginia? The guy had a clean record, so even with the most stringent background check he still would have been able to get the guns. Extra time I don’t think would have helped either with this guy. The simple fact that he remained as calm as he did AFTER he shot and killed his ex-girlfriend and then proceeded to go across campus sit in class and then start executing his classmates two hours after the first shooting, tells me that time had little impact on his mental state.

    “Perhaps require some sort of license to own any gun? You need a license for a car, which is deadly (and why its licensed), why not a gun?”

    When Cho bought the guns it was registered in his name in the national data base. It’s how the govenment can track who has guns….and that as far as I am concerned BTW, is very scary.


  99. keith says:

    If the gun-death rate in the US is 50 times the rate in Britain, righties will still argue that Americans need more guns and more-deadly guns. And don’t give me that “homogonous” crap. Britain is far from “homogonous”. I lived there 12 years.

    A gun in the home is 22 times more likely to harm a family member than an intruder.

    Interesting that Cho is from Fairfax County, Virginia (home of NRA) and gun was bought in Roanoke, Virginia where I and my best friend Wayne LaPierre (NRA head ) lived.


  100. Elizabeth says:

    According to the White House, it was not a student who fainted:

    “That individual was a father who lost his only daughter, and he was overcome with grief. He shared with the President later that he hadn’t eaten or had anything to drink for many hours, and it was quite warm in the gym. He fainted briefly.”


  101. Ed Moser says:

    Only in the love of God, Jesus Christ and the Holy Spirit.
    Will you find peace in the resurrection of the body.
    Man alone is just that, man alone.



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