Gunman Identified as Massacre at Virginia Tech Enters Second Day - "We now know the identity of the killer at Virginia Tech. He is Cho Seung-Hui, a 23-year-old resident alien of the United States, as first reported by ABC News."
Questions remain after worst U.S. shooting rampage - "Police and university officials faced pressure on Tuesday to explain how a gunman evaded detection between killing two people and going on to kill 30 others two hours later in the United States' worst shooting rampage."
Israeli professor killed in US attack - "The Israeli mechanics and engineering lecturer was shot to death, "but all the students lived - because of him," Virginia Tech student Asael Arad - also an Israeli - told Army Radio. Several of Librescu's other students sent e-mails to his wife, Marlena, telling of how he blocked the gunman's way and saved their lives, said Librescu's son, Joe."
Blaming Charlton Heston - "With a view to Monday's deadly shooting rampage at Virginia Tech, European newspapers are blaming the lack of gun control measures in the United States and implying that Charlton Heston is indirectly responsible for the scope of the killings." -- Idiots.
"A Tragedy... of Monumental Proportions." - "The first question, appropriately, is: Why did this happen? The second question, equally appropriately, is: What should we do about it? There is is a simple answer to Question No. 1: America is a violent country. Unfortunately, simple answers lead to simplistic responses. If America can do nothing about its violent streak, the NRA will argue, it is silly to place limits on gun ownership. Better to arm everyone, the argument goes. Or better to allow the "concealed carry" of weapons. Or, well, you get the point -- anything to avoid taking a piece out of the profits of the corporations that manufacture and sell deadly weapons. By the same token, the notion that banning those weapons will end the violence has become a a tougher sell. Shocking and horrible rampages occur in countries with stricter gun laws than the U.S. No, they do not happen as frequently. But they do happen. Conversely, in some countries where gun ownership is relatively high, incidents like at Virginia Tech are far less common. We ought to wrestle with these contradictions and complexities."
Needed: More Americans with guns - "First, it is not a tragedy. Tragedies are sad things that occur naturally. A friend dying of cancer is a tragedy. This, instead, is an act of evil and of infamy. It is an act of terror and sabotage. The murders at Virginia Tech are willful malevolence, but they are not tragedy. ... The idea that Americans should be hearing from the White House is: "The right to keep and bear arms provides for concealed-carry laws, which could have prevented this situation. We do not know why there were not more law-abiding citizens carrying firearms in the vicinity so that this madman could have been stopped. The vulnerability of our population to terrorism needs to be addressed, and the Second Amendment to the Constitution provides a starting point. The president intends to do everything he can to see more lawful people armed as a bulwark against terror.""
Virginia Tech Shooting -- Gun Bans Are The Problem, Not The Solution - "Isn't it interesting that Utah and Oregon are the only two states that allows faculty to carry guns on campus. And isn't it interesting that you haven't read about any school or university shootings in Utah or Oregon? Why not? Because criminals don't like having their victims shoot back at them," Pratt said. "That's why the American people want an end to this ineffective gun ban."
Gun Control Law Helped Campus Killer - "In January 2002, a student at the Virginia Appalachian School of Law, Peter Odighizuwa, shot three people dead before other students were able to retrieve guns from their cars and put an end to the carnage before there was more bloodshed. Over thirty victims at VA Tech yesterday were denied that right as a result of a campus gun control law that helped the shooter pick off his targets at will."
Gun-control argument builds in background - "Monday's deadly rampage at Virginia Tech might have lit the fuse for another round in the long- running debate over gun control, but this time the response was largely one-sided. Gun-control advocates pointed to the shootings as dramatic evidence of the need for tougher laws, while supporters of gun rights generally kept their heads down." -- As I said before, if just one student/victim had had a gun then this might have ended differently.
Campus killings may restart gun violence debate - "The killings at Virginia Tech university on Monday will stir fresh U.S. debate over gun control and what drives people to go on shooting rampages through schools and colleges."
Rate of U.S. losses in Iraq is highest yet - "In the past six months, the rate of Americans killed in Iraq has reached its highest level ever, despite four years of fighting." -- Stay focused people.
Nuclear weapons worthless to Iranians - "Iranian Foreign Minister Manuchehr Mottaki had underlined that Iran's rich culture makes acquiring nuclear weaponry 'pointless' and 'unnecessary'." -- Unnecessary unless you want your country to be taken seriously on the world stage.
New threat to skilled U.S. workers - "Blinder was taken aback when, sitting in at the business summit in Davos, Switzerland, he heard U.S. executives talk enthusiastically about all the professional jobs they could outsource to lower-wage countries. And he's a free trader."
Cost of gasoline rises for 11th straight week - "Over the past 11 weeks, the national average price has surged 71.1 cents, or 33 percent, from $2.165 on Jan. 29."
Denial in the Desert - "But the Arctic is not the only theater of spectacular and unequivocal climate change, nor are the polar bears the only heralds of a new age of chaos."
British doctors oppose abortions on ethical grounds - "It says there is evidence of a 'slow but growing problem' of young doctors opting out of abortion training on moral grounds."
Bill would ban site names mimicking U.S. agencies - "House to vote on bill to clarify 1994 law that bars "any" use of the name of the Treasury and the IRS to solicit business."
Days numbered for tax-free Net sales - "The halcyon days of tax-free Internet shopping may be about to end."
Docs Point to E-Voting Bug in Contested Race - "Additionally, the documents -- obtained through public records requests by Wired News and the Florida Coalition for Fair Elections -- show the problems also appeared on a smaller scale during the primary election in Sarasota County two months earlier. This contradicts statements by Sarasota supervisor of elections Kathy Dent, who told Wired News last month that no such problems happened during the primary, and that she only learned voters were having problems with the touch screens after the November election was over and votes were counted. Seven voting machines had touch problems in the September primary, five of which later clocked in an unusually high number of "under votes" in the now-contested race for the U.S. House of Representative's 13th Congressional District."
Internet radio broadcasters dealt setback - "Internet radio broadcasters were dealt a setback Monday when a panel of copyright judges threw out requests to reconsider a ruling that hiked the royalties they must pay to record companies and artists." -- It's all about control.
Local TV stations face Net threat - "Some attendees of the National Association of Broadcasters conference this week are worried that local television affiliates will be the next business species to be endangered by the Internet."
BANNED FROM THE PROM - "Two dozen girls, their dresses deemed too revealing, kept out."
Chocolate gives people more of a buzz than passionate kisses: study - "British researchers said Monday they were stunned to discover that people get more of a buzz from eating chocolate than passionately kissing their lovers."
Men, Women Look At Sexual Pictures Differently - "Researchers hypothesized women would look at faces and men at genitals, but, surprisingly, they found men are more likely than women to first look at a woman's face before other parts of the body, and women focused longer on photographs of men performing sexual acts with women than did the males, the study found."
Einstein was right, probe shows - "Early results from a Nasa mission designed to test two key predictions of Albert Einstein show the great man was right about at least one of them. ... In a similar way, the Earth drags local space and time around with it - ever so slightly - as it rotates."
What's Happening to Our Lovely Cult? - "I'm sure the decision to delay a major update to OS X and shift engineering staff to the iPhone instead makes lots of business sense, but it signals loud and clear Apple’s shift from computers to consumer electronics. As further evidence, go hang out at your local Apple Store."
Quote of the Day
"All the world is full of suffering. It is also full of overcoming it."
~ Helen Keller
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