This is just plain scary. Our
[nuclear bomb research has been stolen](http://www.mercurycenter.com/breaking/headline1/004680.htm)
by the Chinese!
##Regarding the Littleton tragedy:
Here’s what I think: [[We’ve Gone Crazy]]
Here’s what I
[Father Geek](http://www.aint-it-cool-news.com/display.cgi?id=3508)
of “Aint It Cool News” has to say.
[Roger Ebert’s Thoughts](http://www.suntimes.com/output/eb-feature/ebert2.html)
Ebert on Littleton:
[Searching for a cause? I’ve got news for you](http://www.suntimes.com/output/eb-feature/ebert2.html)
It’s finally happened… our society has gone over the brink and lost its sense of direction. We’re living in a loony bin!
##First things first
What happened in Colorado is a tragedy, pure and simple. There is no nice moral message
that can be wrapped around it to make us feel better about what happened. It sucked,
and kids are dead. Period.
So, what follows is my (somewhat) disjointed rantings about what happened, how we
should view it, and how we shouldn’t.
##A World Gone Insane
I was driving home from work when I heard. Several, perhaps as many as 25 kids were dead
at a high school in Colorado at the hands of a couple of students armed with guns
and grenades.
What!!!
I remember my high school days. Put quite simply, they sucked.
I actually had a lot in common with these so-called Trench Coat Mafioso.
I never got into any clique.
I wasn’t part of the cool crowd (not nearly shallow enough for that).
I wasn’t a jock (blew my knee out, so I couldn’t participate in sports anymore).
I wasn’t a brain (although smart enough, I wanted more of a social life than I perceived
those kids as having).
And high school is brutal. If you’re not in a group, you’re vulnerable. So I understand some
of the emotional strain these kids went through. But I never thought about literally
killing my classmates because I couldn’t seem to fit in. In some way, in the back of my
mind, I knew that I’d be fine in the long run and had confidence that the problem
was with them, not with me.
##No Kneejerk Reactions
###A Short Story
My father told me a story once. His father used to restore and build guns when he was a kid.
They’d go shooting now and then with the old guns. On time in particular, my father checked
the gun he was using to make sure it was empty (he was very conscious of gun safety),
and then pointed it at his father saying something like, “stick ’em up!” At this, his father
snatched the gun from him, kicked the tar out of him and told him, “you _never_
point a gun at anything unless you’re willing to kill!”
What’s this have to do with what happened in Colorado??? Simple… those kids knew how
to use guns, and they intended to kill. Period. The guns had little to do with it. They
wanted to kill a lot of people and they were going to accomplish it with or without the
guns to help them.
###The easy answers are all wrong
I’ve been hearing “more gun control”, “movie content control”, “game content control”,
“parental control”, “school dress control”… It’s all about more control, less freedom, and
less responsibility for our actions. That’s not what this country is supposed to be about.
So, lets call it like it is and move on to more constructive dialogue: those two young
adults (they were 17 and 18 years old) were evil, pure and simple.
We didn’t talk about changing our society because of Charles Manson, Charles Ng, or Berkowitz
(whatever the Son Of Sam’s name was). These were evil people that did evil things
and you can’t do anything legislatively or through society that will stop evil. It’s just
not possible.
The reactions from various groups is so predictable as to be pitiful
####Gun Control
The first thing we hear from the liberals is that we need more gun control.
Let’s think about this for a minute. First off, the most obvious thing: they used
pipe bombs and a propane tank bomb along with the guns. They actually intendend
to kill a lot more people than they actually did. But more gun control wouldn’t have
stopped them from using the pipe bombs, or anything else along those lines.
Second, **it was already illegal for them to have those guns!**. Making it illegal
again wouldn’t have changed things one bit! This just goes to prove the tired old
cliche that the right wing NRA drone always tout: “If you outlaw guns, only outlaw
will have guns.”
####Violent Movies, Games, Music
OK. It’s the right wing’s turn.
This always gets trotted out by the conservative right wing, as
if any normal person would get affected by seeing violent images on the screen.
The key word in the previous sentence is “normal”.
##What do we say to our children?
My 7 year old daughter was already expressing concern about going to high school after
watching the news about these events! At her school they had an assembly to talk about
what happened. What could they possibly say? “Don’t worry, it won’t happen here.” I bet
the schools in Littleton were saying that to themselves after other school shootings around
the country. Obviously, they were wrong.
I think we need to reassure our children that although things like this are possible
everywhere, they aren’t very likely anywhere.
** Recently Updated Pages**
For you Monty Python fans, get your
[Daily Llama](http://www.dailyllama.com/home.html)
right here!
From my old alma matre: has science finally discovered the
[unified theory of everything](http://www.nytimes.com/library/national/science/042099sci-quantum-mechanics.html)
? *(password required, free registration)*
For those of you that just don’t understand,
[Augusta makes for Masterspiece theater](http://www.golfweb.com/u/ce/multi/0,1329,898452_64,00.html.)
What makes the Masters special is simply the beauty and the old-fashioned approach of the
first major of the year. The U.S. Open, PGA and Open Championship all rotate courses
annually. The Masters always has and always will be played at Augusta. Each hole has a
name, as do the sets of holes, all have taken on personalities of their own.
NY Times:
[Twin Dragons](http://www.nytoday.com/scripts/editorial.dll?fromspage=AE/movies/movies.htm&categoryid=&only=y&bfromind=31&eeid=148833&eetype=article&render=y&ck=33915738&userid=70387405&userpw=xtv0J*txAwt8tE*FD0C&version=16194&adrVer=923924767&mwhere=Manhattan&ver=cg2.) review.
…it comes as no surprise to see the popular Jackie Chan,
Hong Kong’s comic master of martial arts, in a double role
in “Twin Dragons”…
What more can be said than it makes me cry every time.
##Sweet Memories
Back when I was a kid,
CarneyWeb 