CNN reports on the latest school shooting, this one in Arkansas.
Two people were killed and one wounded in a shooting at the University of Central Arkansas on Sunday, according to a hospital spokesman.
The shooting prompted a campus lockdown.
One suspect was in custody and three others were being sought, police said in a recorded message.
Even with these sparse details, I think the questions we've often discussed can be raised again. Is this kind of incident preventable? How? Should the gun-free status of universities be changed and licensed gun owners encouraged to carry on campus? Or would that solution move us into an area of even greater problems?
The UCA site will hopefully contain some updated information later today.
Monday, October 27, 2008
Sunday, October 26, 2008
Do You Twitter?
I've been hearing about Twitter for a couple months now. Finally I decided to look into it and after reading this article, signed up.
Bye-bye blogs: The net's cool kids are all on Twitter now -- and they use it for everything.
I never really wanted to be one of the "cool kids," at least not for the last thirty years or so, but this thing really is cool. For starters, it's the simplest sign-up procedure I've ever done on the internet. How it might fit in with blogging remains to be seen; although I find many blogs too lengthy for my rather limited attention span, the 140 character limit on Twitter seems a bit extreme. Maybe the two, blogging and twittering can go together.
Do any of you have experience with Twitter?
Bye-bye blogs: The net's cool kids are all on Twitter now -- and they use it for everything.
I never really wanted to be one of the "cool kids," at least not for the last thirty years or so, but this thing really is cool. For starters, it's the simplest sign-up procedure I've ever done on the internet. How it might fit in with blogging remains to be seen; although I find many blogs too lengthy for my rather limited attention span, the 140 character limit on Twitter seems a bit extreme. Maybe the two, blogging and twittering can go together.
Do any of you have experience with Twitter?
Wassup?
This one's going around the internet. It's funny, poignant, appropiate.
Hat tip Jon Talpin via Marc Cooper
Hat tip Jon Talpin via Marc Cooper
Saturday, October 25, 2008
Convicted Felons Allowed to Vote
In most states, convicted non-violent felons can regain their right to vote. In Virginia, this may favor Obama. Politico.com has the story.
Thousands of former felons may be voting in the upcoming election, thanks to Virginia's two most recent Democratic governors.
Former Gov. Mark Warner and current Gov. Tim Kaine both worked to restore the voting rights of nearly 6,000 nonviolent felons in Virginia. During his 2002-2006 term, Warner helped 3,414 of these felons regain their right to vote. Kaine did the same for 2,576 felons in the first three years of his term.
To me this is the very type of progressive thinking that I'd expect from Democrats. It seems almost incompatible with the party line for a Republican governor to do something like this. If the movement catches on, who knows, perhaps white collar felons will one day be able to regain their right to bear arms under the Second Amendment.
What do you think? Will we ever see the day when a non-violent offender will be able to regain all his rights? Or do you think once a felon always a felon?
Thousands of former felons may be voting in the upcoming election, thanks to Virginia's two most recent Democratic governors.
Former Gov. Mark Warner and current Gov. Tim Kaine both worked to restore the voting rights of nearly 6,000 nonviolent felons in Virginia. During his 2002-2006 term, Warner helped 3,414 of these felons regain their right to vote. Kaine did the same for 2,576 felons in the first three years of his term.
To me this is the very type of progressive thinking that I'd expect from Democrats. It seems almost incompatible with the party line for a Republican governor to do something like this. If the movement catches on, who knows, perhaps white collar felons will one day be able to regain their right to bear arms under the Second Amendment.
What do you think? Will we ever see the day when a non-violent offender will be able to regain all his rights? Or do you think once a felon always a felon?
Troy Davis Gets Another Stay
CNN reports that the 11th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals granted a stay of execution Friday for a Georgia death row inmate who had been scheduled to die on Monday. We discussed this case before here and here. Several things came out in those discussions, like the oft-repeated epithet cop-killer, as if that makes the crime worse, the fact that the stays come sometimes only days or hours before the appointment with the needle, the fact that the victim's family wants "it over," and of course the fact that in this case with so many witnesses recanting, it doesn't take a brain surgeon to figure out there might be an injustice in the making.
On the very interesting site called Death Power we read someone who is not afraid to say simply and clearly what his opinion is. It's captured well in the post title, Thank Goodness - Troy Davis Execution put on hold again.
What do you think? Do I sound unsympathetic towards the victim and his family because I'm trying to support Troy Davis? I'm not unsympathetic really. The questions in this post have little to do with the victim, the murder victim. They have to do with the convicted murderer. Did he get a fair trial? Is it a type of political spinning to call him a cop-killer? Is the victim's family interested in justice or vengeance? Would an execution satisfy them?
Amnesty International Executive Director Larry Cox said in a written statement that the organization was "heartened" to hear of the stay of execution.
"Until this point, the compelling issues in this case have been virtually ignored, leaving Georgia vulnerable to the possibility of killing an innocent man."On the very interesting site called Death Power we read someone who is not afraid to say simply and clearly what his opinion is. It's captured well in the post title, Thank Goodness - Troy Davis Execution put on hold again.
What do you think? Do I sound unsympathetic towards the victim and his family because I'm trying to support Troy Davis? I'm not unsympathetic really. The questions in this post have little to do with the victim, the murder victim. They have to do with the convicted murderer. Did he get a fair trial? Is it a type of political spinning to call him a cop-killer? Is the victim's family interested in justice or vengeance? Would an execution satisfy them?
Friday, October 24, 2008
The Cananian Bus Cannibal - Remember Him?
A couple months ago I posted about Vince Weiguang Li, the Cananian bus cannibal. You can read the original post here on Wordpress. Although it still gets hits, a few every day in fact, after two months a comment came in from Mother. Here it is:
cannibal did not kill with a gun. he killed with a knife. even if that tool was intended for other uses. all here have very good opinions. do not take what i write next personally as i am not applying it to any one here. i am simply reminded of some observations i have made in the past and given much thought to. i would like to say this:compassion is a great and noble gift. please make sure that you are not waving it around like a flag to show how enlightened and politically correct you are while spending it all on killers who lack that very thing you hold dear, ie. compassion. i have noticed a tendency from people who have great feeling for the criminals among us do not usually hold those sentiments for the victims and other people these crimes impact. in fact, many times those espousing compassion will have a lot of detail of the criminal’s names and vital statistics, but will not know much about the victims’. the criminals names will be mentioned ad nauseum during the compassion speeches but the victim’s may only be mentioned at the insistence of other’s. this is a grave disservice. i have also noticed (this was not done here in any of the comments) that compassion is not extended to an opposing view of the stated purveyor of that grace. how many times have we all seen a bleeding heart liberal protect a violent sociopath to the public, and at the same time viciously attack any one who dares to question the judgement of that advocate? you will hear ‘do not judge’ no ‘casting the first stone’ until the defender is questioned. then those convenient parables and contextually inaccurate phrases go out the window. anyone witnessed what i have?as applied to these comments, you are all giving this horrendous, violent trend in our society great thought. one thing, though. that poor canadian boy was not safely in a university level philosophy course able to banter and discourse in an enlightened, well-fed intellectual forum. he was dealing with a real life psychopath and all the inherent danger that goes with it. he was helplessly asleep and much smaller than the cannibal. reality bites not just in theory. all of the sane and safe rationalizations on criminality, spectrum, psychoses and reaction/remedies for the good of the hegemenical ladder fly out the window when you are walking in the dust outside of the barrier of walls and locked doors. unfortunately, i know this up front and personal. born and raised in a violent dark hole with 2 very mentally ill individuals. no poor me, that is not what i am saying. i love life. i am able though to tell you about impact, effect and personal responsibility from a 1st hand experiential perspective. along with rights and compassion comes responsibility. and that is true of the criminals and society in their support and reactions to the victims.this was a ramble of my OHP. forgive misapplied generalizations and run on paragraphs. i am tired. i will leave with this thought. this is for america. do not kick the bodies of the victims laying on the floor as you step over them in your self aggrandizing dash to spout to the world how compassionate you are toward the aggressors. the victims just might be alive to feel that final kick to their rights and dignity.
Some of these are familiar arguments. How do you feel about them? I responded in the comments.
cannibal did not kill with a gun. he killed with a knife. even if that tool was intended for other uses. all here have very good opinions. do not take what i write next personally as i am not applying it to any one here. i am simply reminded of some observations i have made in the past and given much thought to. i would like to say this:compassion is a great and noble gift. please make sure that you are not waving it around like a flag to show how enlightened and politically correct you are while spending it all on killers who lack that very thing you hold dear, ie. compassion. i have noticed a tendency from people who have great feeling for the criminals among us do not usually hold those sentiments for the victims and other people these crimes impact. in fact, many times those espousing compassion will have a lot of detail of the criminal’s names and vital statistics, but will not know much about the victims’. the criminals names will be mentioned ad nauseum during the compassion speeches but the victim’s may only be mentioned at the insistence of other’s. this is a grave disservice. i have also noticed (this was not done here in any of the comments) that compassion is not extended to an opposing view of the stated purveyor of that grace. how many times have we all seen a bleeding heart liberal protect a violent sociopath to the public, and at the same time viciously attack any one who dares to question the judgement of that advocate? you will hear ‘do not judge’ no ‘casting the first stone’ until the defender is questioned. then those convenient parables and contextually inaccurate phrases go out the window. anyone witnessed what i have?as applied to these comments, you are all giving this horrendous, violent trend in our society great thought. one thing, though. that poor canadian boy was not safely in a university level philosophy course able to banter and discourse in an enlightened, well-fed intellectual forum. he was dealing with a real life psychopath and all the inherent danger that goes with it. he was helplessly asleep and much smaller than the cannibal. reality bites not just in theory. all of the sane and safe rationalizations on criminality, spectrum, psychoses and reaction/remedies for the good of the hegemenical ladder fly out the window when you are walking in the dust outside of the barrier of walls and locked doors. unfortunately, i know this up front and personal. born and raised in a violent dark hole with 2 very mentally ill individuals. no poor me, that is not what i am saying. i love life. i am able though to tell you about impact, effect and personal responsibility from a 1st hand experiential perspective. along with rights and compassion comes responsibility. and that is true of the criminals and society in their support and reactions to the victims.this was a ramble of my OHP. forgive misapplied generalizations and run on paragraphs. i am tired. i will leave with this thought. this is for america. do not kick the bodies of the victims laying on the floor as you step over them in your self aggrandizing dash to spout to the world how compassionate you are toward the aggressors. the victims just might be alive to feel that final kick to their rights and dignity.
Some of these are familiar arguments. How do you feel about them? I responded in the comments.
Austria's Sex Slave Patriarch Talks
Time magazine reports today on the statements made public by the infamous Austrian man who'd imprisoned his daughter in the cellar.
Ever since Josef Fritzl, the authoritarian patriarch of a sprawling family in the north Austrian town of Amstetten, was discovered to have imprisoned his daughter as a sex slave in a cellar for 24 years and fathered seven children with her, Austria has been locked in an emotional debate over what could cause such a crime.
After considering several possibilities, the psychiatrists decided the explanation behind these crimes was personal rather than societal. Fritzl had been severely abused himself as a child. Consistent with the increasingly popular modern interpretation, the doctors in Austria concluded that in this case the victim became the perpetrator.
Fritzl himself has a different explanation.
Fritzl reportedly blamed his behavior not on his upbringing but on an innate "evil streak" that he battled against his whole life. "I was born to rape, and I held myself back for a relatively long time," Fritzl reportedly told Kastner. "I could have behaved a lot worse than locking up my daughter."
Psychiatrist Adelheid Kastner wrote a 130-page report in which she says Fritzl suffers from severe combined personality disorder and a serious sexual disorder. Kastner recommends that Fritzl remain in psychiatric care for the rest of his life, regardless of the outcome of his prosecution.
Austrian authorities meanwhile are focusing on the rehabilitation of Fritzl's 42-year-old daughter Elisabeth and her six children. Psychiatrists say the children are more likely to suffer from a range of psychological problems in adulthood, including becoming abusive themselves. As a nation obsesses over one man's evil, the challenge now is to help his children escape their dark past.
What's your opinion? Is he evil or damaged? Should he receive psychiatric treatment or plain old incarceration? Do you agree that victims of abuse often become abusers themselves, and they should receive leniency as a result?
Ever since Josef Fritzl, the authoritarian patriarch of a sprawling family in the north Austrian town of Amstetten, was discovered to have imprisoned his daughter as a sex slave in a cellar for 24 years and fathered seven children with her, Austria has been locked in an emotional debate over what could cause such a crime.
After considering several possibilities, the psychiatrists decided the explanation behind these crimes was personal rather than societal. Fritzl had been severely abused himself as a child. Consistent with the increasingly popular modern interpretation, the doctors in Austria concluded that in this case the victim became the perpetrator.
Fritzl himself has a different explanation.
Fritzl reportedly blamed his behavior not on his upbringing but on an innate "evil streak" that he battled against his whole life. "I was born to rape, and I held myself back for a relatively long time," Fritzl reportedly told Kastner. "I could have behaved a lot worse than locking up my daughter."
Psychiatrist Adelheid Kastner wrote a 130-page report in which she says Fritzl suffers from severe combined personality disorder and a serious sexual disorder. Kastner recommends that Fritzl remain in psychiatric care for the rest of his life, regardless of the outcome of his prosecution.
Austrian authorities meanwhile are focusing on the rehabilitation of Fritzl's 42-year-old daughter Elisabeth and her six children. Psychiatrists say the children are more likely to suffer from a range of psychological problems in adulthood, including becoming abusive themselves. As a nation obsesses over one man's evil, the challenge now is to help his children escape their dark past.
What's your opinion? Is he evil or damaged? Should he receive psychiatric treatment or plain old incarceration? Do you agree that victims of abuse often become abusers themselves, and they should receive leniency as a result?
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)