Current Affairs

Well, here's a thoughtful approach to preventing another Virginia Tech. Let's just criminalize free expression:

One violent, profanity-laced English essay later and Allen Lee's future with the Marine Corps appears to be over.

The great student-newspaper crisis at Woodlan, which was a case of both sides overreacting, then getting caught up in the fury unleashed by special-interest groups using it as a cause, is over. Students who work for publications at East Allen County Schools will forever be unable to share their wisdom about sex, drugs and other great social issues without adult review. Some people will regard this as a great civil rights tragedy.

Everybody's beating up on Newt Gingrich because of his appearance on ABC's "This Week," in which he said, A) Somebody with a concealed weapon could have stopped the Virginia Tech killer earlier in his rampage and, B) It's all the fault of liberals and "elites" for creating the culture we have. On the second point, there are certainly things wrong with our violent and permissive culture -- including many of the things he indentied.

Oh, please:

Millennials — also known as Gen Y — are typically described as those born since the early 80s. And the signposts on this generation's road to maturity have been a somber directory of tragedy shared. The Oklahoma City bombing. Columbine. September 11. The space shuttle disasters. Hurricane Katrina. And now Virginia Tech.

Well, it appears I was wrong, or at least in the minority. Americans would rather have a president who knows the price of milk than one who can lead us through the coming perilous years:

Only 23 years late, 1984 is finally here:

"Talking" CCTV cameras that tell off people dropping litter or committing anti-social behaviour are to be extended to 20 areas across England.

They are already used in Middlesbrough where people seen misbehaving can be told to stop via a loudspeaker, controlled by control centre staff.

[. . .]

Bringing it all back home -- the Virginia Tech story meets the Don Imus story:

Those who may want to help police bring criminals to justice will run into a conflict with rapper Cam'ron.

The Diplomats leader, who will be featured on this week's edition of 60 Minutes, tells Anderson Cooper that helping the authorities would not only hurt sales of his, but also violate his "code of ethics."

Let us now praise moderation. First up is Jim Webber, a gardener who finally decided to retire at the age of 94:

He puts his longevity down to having "plenty to do and being interested in it" - as well as a bit of his "medicine" - whisky.

And we have Deana Jarrett, an unhappy record holder and a former police officer:

The blame game has shifted from "Why didn't officials at Virginia Tech lock the campus down after the first incident?" to "Why weren't the clear warning signs in Cho Seung-Hui's behavior heeded?"

Partial-birth abortion seems pretty much indefensible to me. But those seeking a "reasonable solution" to our abortion agonies have to contend with those who do defend it, quite passionately. Here is one of the justices who dissented from the 5-4 Supreme Court decision upholding a federal ban on the procedure: