And it is unbelievably callous-- and presumptuous-- to suggest that 19-22 year-old students who haven't been trained to confront someone armed with semi-automatic weapons should have just thrown themselves at the shooter. Aren't these the same people who criticize Muslim fundamentalists for promoting suicide missions?

I have to remember -- for authoritarians, maintaining the illusion of control over your environment and your fate are paramount. And, they just love heroics.

What a paradox, though, that the university is a gun-free zone in a state that has very lax gun purchase laws. In fact, I just heard on ABC news that a lot of the guns used for crimes in NYC are purchased in Virginia.

I'm not advocating for students or anyone else carrying guns on campus, it's just that it seems unusual to pro-actively make that choice in that state.

I've been trying to think of a way to use parsnippany...

I know that a lot of people think they're a bit embarrassing, but they work so hard... modifying verbs, adjectives, and themselves and other adverbs. They are the true multi-taskers of the mad-lib page.

Your contribution is particularly delicious... yet restrained.

Nah. Tim's just pointing out that Jr. is fakin' a suthern dahuhlect.

I only wish I'd thought to phrase it that way.

I can hardly say how frustrated I am with Maureen Dowd and her ilk. (I don't think Zax mentioned her comment that reduced an entire field of serious Democratic candidates to being "The Seven Dwarves.") Perhaps the one good thing about the paywall is that she gets less exposure, but then she must go to greater lengths to get her narrative spread abroad (like that story about Geffen/Obama/Clinton).

Perhaps these particular pundits are really just frustrated novelists, trying to write some kind of narrative somewhere, they don't care where, as long as everyone else is talking about it. The way people used to talk about the latest big novel. And they don't want to write about the substance because that's just filler. They only want to cover the horse race. The Drama.

I wish I'd spent more time learning to draw... because then I'd be a political cartoonist (at least on my blog) and there would be a cartoon this week of the (recognizable) media elite gathered around the horse track, rating the various styles of manes, braids, etc. sported by contestants. Including how much they cost.

If Dowd only wrote for SNL, I'd be thrilled.

I also don't think there was an attempt to minimize the seriousnes of the first shootings, but more likely just the mindset that it was more encapsulated, because that's how we are used to thinking about domestic violence.

But domestic violence doesn't always occur in a "home." It seems (from evening news stories) that domestic disturbances are increasingly occurring at work. For a college student, that would be on campus.

I don't remember where or when, but some time ago, I remember reading a story about companies that take their workers' domestic problems very seriously, recognizing that an irate (and potentially armed) partner appearing at work can endanger everyone. That kind of foresight belongs on campuses, too.

Practically everything that the RW noise machine says/writes/blogs is some kind of a false choice. Why can't someone be both wealthy and a populist? Especially someone who remembers not being wealthy?

(Gates Sr and Buffett may not be proper populists, but they still think they should be paying more in taxes...)

You'd think that the RW would be more likely to call Edwards a class traitor, but I guess they can't do that, either, since he didn't grow up wealthy, like FDR did. And we know they don't want to compare Edwards to FDR in any way that could be favorable to him.

So, they can only impugn Edwards' manhood, something they couldn't do with FDR then, but surely would now, if they had the chance.

Speaking of hair, has anyone else noticed how bad GWB's has been looking? I have honestly wondered why he can't get a decent haircut. Could be that he has so much more grey now that it is less manageable, but that's just a guess.

...about how the rest of the world views America's role in the world, now and in the future.

http://www.worldpublicopinion.org/pipa/articles/home_page/345.php?nid=&id=&pnt=345&lb=hmpg1

IF they cover it, how will BigMedia spin this one?

Another interesting poll... this one global

...about how the rest of the world views America's role in the world, now and in the future.

http://www.worldpublicopinion.org/pipa/articles/home_page/345.php?nid=&id=&pnt=345&lb=hmpg1

IF they cover it, how will BigMedia spin this one?