The Thursday Eudemon
Sanjaya is gone, but I didn't see it. I'm sidelined with a cold, so I'm basically sleeping, sucking zinc lozenges, and walking real slow.
Drudge has a neat run-down of presidential candidate reactions to the Supreme Court's decision to uphold the partial-birth abortion ban:
HILLARY: 'Erosion of our constitutional rights'...
GIULIANI: 'I agree with it'...
OBAMA: 'I strongly disagree'...
ROMNEY: 'A step forward'...
MCCAIN: I'm very happy...
EDWARDS: 'I could not disagree more strongly'...
More information about the Cho monster. He was a psychotic and people knew it. But what could they do? The standards to commit someone to a mental institution are ridiculously high, and if he's not committed, he has disability rights under the Americans with Disabilities Act that would've made it difficult for Virginia Tech to expel him. I'm no expert in this area, but in general the ADA prohibits discrimination against disabled people in public accommodations. The term "disability" includes mental illness. It's political correctness run wild.
Carry your weapons in April. Anthony Gregory at LewRockwell points out that "this week in April marks the fourteenth anniversary of the Waco massacre, the eighth anniversary of Columbine, and, in years to come, the anniversary of the largest mass shooting in American history ”“ the massacre at Virginia Tech."
Time for me to a be a little mean: Why the candlelight ceremonies around the nation? I understand why Blacksburg held one, but students in Grand Rapids, Michigan? I gotta believe it's primarily feel-goodism ("I just gotta do something . . . I know, I'll hold this lit candle. That'll do it"), though I also think it speaks to a deeper part of our psyche, one that has a need for ritual and other material manifestations of the spiritual. In that, it exonerates the old Christian religions that keep ritual in the forefront of their worship ceremonies and throws into serious question the white-wall approach to worship.
Smoking can save your life: Smoking saved the life of a US woman when she nipped outside for a cigarette seconds before an 80ft tree fell on her house. Maybe she'll be the next Marlboro (Wo)Man.
