Quote for today

"Virginia Tech has no more to do with gun rights than 9/11 had something to do with the licensing of pilots"

H/T to Varifrank.

More Sparta

Varifrank has posted a great article entitled More Sparta, Less Athens. Unfortunately, there's no email link on his page, as I wanted permission to reprint the entire piece. So here are a few choice paragraphs:

It seems to me that 'self defense' is not considered an option in polite society. It is time we learned (or relearned) the need to sometimes be a little more "sparta" and a little less "athens".

and

- Do not consider the feelings of the madman in your acts, his goal is to kill you, your goal is to stop the killing by any means necessary.

If you can disrupt Ann Coulter when she comes to campus or the ROTC when they recruit on campus, you can stop or disrupt a madman when he comes to kill you and your classmates.

Read the whole article and pass it on to those whom you want to stick around. Especially if they are in a "safe" gun-free zone.

UPDATE: Mister Bear at has a post referencing another similar article from Mitch Berg at Shot in the Dark. Berg is harsher than Varifrank and right on the money - especially about "officials" in these situations.

One of his teachers

One of the VT shooter's teachers had this to say:

She said she notified authorities about Cho, but said she was told that there would be too many legal hurdles to intervene. She said she asked him to go to counseling, but he never did.

A couple of observations. First, that a judgment was made by authorities not to try to go through the legal troubles to intervene. But, perhaps even more important, was the presence of all of those legal hurdles themselves. Just what does it take anymore to prevent a tragedy before it can happen?? Is the desire to have "protections" for the individual so strong that it prevents protecting the public at large?

Thanks to ABC News for the reporting.

From a VT Student

From an op-ed in the Roanoke (VA) Times:

Of all of the emotions and thoughts that were running through my head that morning, the most overwhelming one was of helplessness.

That feeling of helplessness has been difficult to reconcile because I knew I would have been safer with a proper means to defend myself.

I would also like to point out that when I mentioned to a professor that I would feel safer with my gun, this is what she said to me, "I would feel safer if you had your gun."

This was written by a VT student who was licensed to carry a concealed weapon. However, carrying a weapon is forbidden on the VT campus, with the possibility of expulsion as punishment. So, this student (who carries on a regular basis elsewhere in his daily life) was unarmed. And helpless. Who knows how many others were in the same position. And how many victims as well.

Read his entire op-ed HERE. H/T to Instapundit.

Another Double Standard with a motive

From the Manchester Union Leader:

The Imus standard: You can't say that

Radio talk show host Don Imus called Rutgers' mostly black women's basketball team "nappy-headed hos" and got fired. Al Sharpton falsely accused a white man of rape and incited a race riot that left several dead. Jesse Jackson called Jews "hymies." And yet they still mingle at the highest circles of Democratic Party politics.

Imus' comments were indefensible. Even if the women did have tattoos and look a bit street-tough, as Imus was trying to say, calling them whores was an insult too far. But is it a fireable offense for a "shock jock" who has built his career uttering juvenile comments, including regularly making what he calls "n----- jokes"?

What Imus said was a great deal tamer than what is routinely uttered by rappers who call women "bitches" and boast about using and abusing them. It is tamer than the misogynistic and even racist jokes numerous stand-up comics make a living uttering. How did this offensive but comparatively tame comment get a major radio host pulled from the air? Fellow syndicated radio host Neal Boortz has a theory.

Boortz thinks that the Left has finally figured out how to bring down talk radio: accuse the hosts of racism. Unable to compete with talk radio, the Left has opted to play thought police. Racial prejudice is the last free speech taboo in America. Peg a broadcaster as racist, and you can bring him down.

"Liberals see this whole Imus situation as a way to rid themselves of the problem of talk radio ... they will turn their attention to the rest of us. The tape recorders will be running. There is not one single significant right-of-center radio talk show out there that is not going to come under fire."

Boortz has a point. Calling black women "hos" is not offensive to the cultural Left. If it were, there would be boycotts of rap stars and record labels. But if it presents an opportunity to go after a non-liberal talk radio host, the Left will take it. With one notch on their belt, they'll be sure to seek others.

Meanwhile, the same people who demanded Imus' head on a pike will continue to give platforms to Jesse Jackson and Al Sharpton as legions of rappers provide the misogynistic background music.

Copyright, Manchester Union Leader, 2007

Thanks to Neal Boortz for the quote.

Memo to Al

Hey Dude,

This Global Warming thing isn’t working. Should I drive my SUV around a bunch to help out? I’m frakkin’ freezing here.

Stolen from When the Smoke Clears. Thanks to the Grouchy Old Cripple for the link.

Joe Biden, it's Katie on line 1

Captain Ed over at Captain's Quarters has the story on perky Katie and her childhood library days. The only problem is, the words aren't Katie's and neither it the original thought.

Ed has the same view that I do....that Katie is an empty suit (though definitely a well-tailored one) with no background as a journalist. She's that cute, perky face that just makes you want to believe everything that comes out of her mouth. Blecchh!!

He caps off his post with this conclusion:

The irony comes from the fact that even with all of these efforts to build Katie into a reporter, the public still finds Couric and CBS less than credible. Her ratings tanked shortly after joining CBS as the anchor as the Tiffany Network switched to softer news on her arrival. Now that the plagiarism has pulled back the green curtain, Couric is exposed as an empty suit -- emptier even than her colleagues on network news broadcasts. She's the new gold standard for phoniness.

Read the whole thing in The Empty Suit Parade.

From the StrataSphere

AJ Strata has a post that puts a lot of the 2008 race into perspective for "conservatives". He writes:

Far right (or hard right) Republicans/Conservatives have a decision to make: either purity or Power.

Personally, I have always been a "Half a Loaf" personality -- I'd rather have the half than get nothing and just complain about it. Also, if you have the half, it's easier to try to get more of the other half that's still out there.

Read the whole post HERE.

Dennis Miller on Pelosi

I've always enjoyed Dennis Miller, especially post 9/11. The scales came off the eyes.

Via Newsbusters, comes this little snippet on Pelosi:

Look at Pelosi for God’s sakes. Can you take her, what’s with the blinking? She always looks to me like she’s signaling the Carpathia that she’s hit an iceberg or something. You know, the whistle on that train of thought is barely audible off in the distance, okay. This woman has gone through the Peter Principle like Gene Hackman under the El tracks in “French Connection.” You know why people love her so much? The political cartoonists can use her actual photo. That’s why they love her.

You can see the complete clip through MsUnderestimated.

The Price of Destruction

If one person goes on a rampage and destroys private property, he's looking at some serious price to pay for his behavior. But, if you can do it in a group, and have a political "message" as a motivation, it can be a profitable endeavor.

From the Seattle Times:

The city of Seattle will pay $1 million to WTO protesters who were arrested in Westlake Park seven years ago and will clear their records, in a settlement announced today.

The money will cover the plaintiffs' legal fees, with the rest divided among 160 protesters, who will get roughly $3,000 to $10,000 per person, said Mike Withey, their attorney.

This is just simply abhorrent in my view....and if anyone needs to be reminded of scenes from that protest:

They had best not try this here

From RIA Novosti:

BRUSSELS, April 3 (RIA Novosti) - The government of Belgium's French-speaking region of Wallonia, which has a population of about 4 million, has approved a tax on barbequing, local media reported.

Experts said that between 50 and 100 grams of CO2, a so-called greenhouse gas, is emitted during barbequing. Beginning June 2007, residents of Wallonia will have to pay 20 euros for a grilling session.

The local authorities plan to monitor compliance with the new tax legislation from helicopters, whose thermal sensors will detect burning grills.

Then again, they don't celebrate the 4th of July, Memorial Day and Labor Day like we do.

Thanks to the WorldwideStandard for the tip.

Just what is it about "tolerance"

Thomas Mann on tolerance

"Tolerance becomes a crime when applied to evil."

Thanks to Scribal Terror for the quote.