We Saw The Olive Garden People

Today at the grocery store Maggie and I saw the people we talked to last night at the Olive Garden. It’s a small world. We said hello and awed at the coincidence before moving along on our way. That’s so cool.

Quiet Day

It was a quiet day today. Maggie and I slept in late, sealed the grout on our new tile, and attended High Desert Church. The sermon was a lot of fun. Pastor Tom Mercer spoke on parenting. We were wondering if we’d really get much out of it at the start, but quickly realized that he spoke truth that we could file away and use in the future when we eventually become parents.

I scanned through the news today and nothing really warrants any attention. That’s fine. It’s nice to have a quiet news day.

Tonight, after church, we decided on the Olive Garden for dinner. When we arrived we were told that it would be a thirty to thirty-five minute wait, so we found a table to sit at while we waited in the lobby/bar area. While sitting there an older couple walked in. They were searching for a place to sit. It’s usually not acceptable to sit at a table that’s already occupied even if there’s open chairs if you’re not invited, so I motioned for them to sit with us. It was a lot of fun talking with them. We conversed for about fifteen minutes until a table came available for us. We said our goodbyes and went to eat. I just thought I’d share because it made me feel good and I figured it might make you feel good as well. Showing a little kindness is a good thing.

For now, I’m off to bed. Thanks for stopping by.

Preying on the Weak and Defenseless

William Phillips, age 60, murdered David Beverly and then took his own life today at NASA in Houston (see story). Although this is a tragic story, the shooting did not seem to have any connection to the 4-20 infamy of Columbine or Hitler. Instead, it would seem that Phillips was driven by a dispute he’d had with Beverly and nothing more. Perhaps he was emboldened by the murderer Cho and the excessive coverage that occurred, but we may never know.

Aside from this shooting we seem to have emerged from the day relatively unscathed. No neo-nazi, demented killers with long trench coats or strange multimedia presentations came out to murder today. That’s a relief.

Now that we’ve had some time to take in the events of the past few days, it’s time, I think, to take a serious look at gun laws. What do I mean by this? Consider the following. Why was Cho successful? How did the two Columbine boys carry out those killings? Wasn’t it all because they were able to get their hands on the guns they needed to carry their plans out?

No, the accessibility to the firearms is not what gave them their leverage. What? What do you mean? Of course they could not have done what they did without the weapons to do it with. If we take guns out of the equation then they have no power, right? Wrong. They were successful because the people they were attacking could not defend themselves!

Think about it. If an individual wants to go on a killing spree and the people he wants to kill are all armed with guns, do you think he’ll be very successful? First, he might think twice about getting himself killed, because that would quickly be ensured if he started shooting at people with guns. Second, because he would be killed quickly once he’d started shooting, the number of lives lost would be much lower.

Look at this in a different light. During the Cold War neither the U.S. or the Soviet Union wanted to fire a nuke on the other. Why? Because of a little thing called mutually assured destruction. If the Soviet Union fired on us, we would fire on them. In the end both sides would lose. This kept war from breaking out.

Now, bring this back to the individual level, that concept of assured death can act as a major deterrent for idiots like this Cho lunatic. Giving people guns means limiting the power of the criminals that prey on the weak and defenseless. Cowardly criminals buy guns and use them because nobody else has them. It’s their way of cheating in a game with ridiculous rules.

Consider the fact that these criminals are just that: criminals. Criminals are all about breaking laws. What makes you think a criminal is going to abide by a “no gun” law? Criminals still find guns, but the law abiding innocents will not have guns because it’s against the law! If you remove guns completely, you’ve rendered innocent people defenseless against one of these criminals who’s obtained a gun illegally.

Criminals still find guns, but the law abiding innocents will not have guns because it’s against the law!

So, what does this mean? It means that gun control needs to be exercised by the individuals carrying the guns, not by the government. If that right were fully restored to us, violent crimes would decrease. Put the power back into the hands of the people and make it more difficult for criminals to gain an upper hand. That is our solution.

Adolf Hitler’s birthday, and the anniversary of the Columbine shootings. It’s also known as national smoke marijuana day.
Graffiti on a wall of Vista Murrieta High School yesterday displayed a threat that promised everyone would die on 4-20 (see story).
Jeffery Thomas Carney, an allegedly drug addicted 28 year old, is the subject of a manhunt by Sutter County Sheriff Department because he told his pastor that he was going to carry out a shooting that it would “make the incident at Virginia Tech look mild by comparison.” The manhunt continues even now and schools in the area are on lock down in expectation (see story).
So, tomorrow promises a potentially interesting news day.
I think it’s probable that we’re going to see some act of violence tomorrow solely predicated on the fact that it’s 4-20 and the anniversary of Columbine. Cho’s outburst may have emboldened others to copy his psychotic episode. This could very well mean more ruthless murders. In the case of Jeffery Thomas Carney the goal in mind appears to be an outdoing of Cho’s carnage. This is when preemptive action comes in. They need to get this guy before he gets anywhere near taking the lives of innocent people.
I know it’s a terrible prediction to say that something tragic will likely happen tomorrow, but I have a sick feeling in my gut that I’m right. Pray to God that I’m not.

The Torment of Cho - Victim or Brutal Murderer?

It’s still blanketing the news. NBC just received a package with video, pictures, and more writing from Cho. In the video he speaks with a strange tone about his death being like that of Jesus Christ.

“I die like Jesus Christ, to inspire generations of the weak and the defenseless people.”

He says a lot things that reach to the bizarre. He mentions the Columbine killers as martyrs, he calls the universal you hedonistic, and he says, “You have vandalized my heart, raped my soul and torched my conscience.” What does this all mean? This guy was probably insane. The radio shows are now inviting psychologists to comment on the possibility of schizophrenia or some other serious mental disorder.

The element in all this that troubles me? His image is getting revamped into an abused or severely disturbed victim. Some are forgetting that he murdered 32 people in cold blood. No matter the reason that drives a person to such lengths it doesn’t change the actions committed. If he were still living I’d say he deserves to die on a poorly grounded electric chair.

Articles like Cho offers glimpse into tortured soul attempt to invoke pity for the crazy murderer. His rants in the video are so strange and filled with hate that I really wonder if he wasn’t being influenced by forces unseen. The comparison to Jesus is reason enough to think that something more may have been behind his actions.

Ultimately, a kid as disturbed as this should not have flown under the radar so long. Had he come under psychological evaluation he may have been recognized as a threat and detained. It’s important to identify these types and notify the right people before somebody gets hurt. Imagine 32 deaths that could’ve been prevented.

New Blog

I have a new blog. http://stevemind.wordpress.com

I liked it better. Drop by, leave comments, and change your links. Eventually this site will be set up to redirect visitors to the new blog.

So We Backed Out

I know, the last post mentioned regrets or paying a lot of money, but we decided to back out. Too many things about the deal seemed fishy. I was getting different stories from the same person, the Mello Roos tax was ridiculous and didn't expire until 2020, and we didn't like the area.

Break Time. Now we wait. That's okay though since we have to ready this house for rental shape. At first I thought we'd just leave it all as is, but in order to attract higher quality renters we decided to make this house a lot nicer than it currently is. It's one of the rules mentioned in Property Management for Dummies. That requires time and since escrow would've closed in early May we didn't have enough time. Getting out from under that deal feels like a load off and now we have all the time we need. We're under no schedule except that I'd like to be renting it before next year so the improvements will count as write-offs for a rental property.

Just bringing you up to speed here. Now you know.

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Preempting Virginia Tech

Let’s talk about Virginia Tech, the site of the worst shooting in U.S. history (32 dead). The gunman? 23 year old Cho Seung-Hui. It’s difficult to pronounce, but quickly becoming a household name. I’ve been following the news stories and was surprised to hear about the substantial number of signals that indicated something was definitely wrong with this kid.

Classmates from his playwriting class mentioned that his screenplays were ridden with violence and disturbing content.

“One was about a fight between a stepson and his stepfather, and involved throwing of hammers and attacks with a chainsaw. Another was about students fantasizing about stalking and killing a teacher who sexually molested them.” (Yahoo! News)

Classmates said they weren’t sure whether his writing was invented or speaking from the torment of experience. Fellow classmate Ian MacFarlane, in a blog post prior to the shootings, mentioned that he was concerned about Cho having the potential to actually become a school shooter. Stephanie Derry said that she and others would often joke about the likelihood that he would be capable of doing something like that, but that it was no joke when she actually received word that he’d committed this heinous act.

I’m especially intrigued by the large caches of Cho’s writing that the authorities are now uncovering. The writing is consistently being described as ‘troubling’ and ‘disturbing’.

All this begs the question, should we act on signals that indicate an individual is likely a school shooter type? Were his ‘disturbing’ writings enough of a warning that something should have been done to prevent the eventual outcome? That thinking probably would not have boded well for Stephen King, but for someone like Cho, it could have saved the lives of 32 people.

Minority Report comes to mind. In the movie, the murder rate dropped to zero when the Precogs saw murder before it happened. Tom Cruz played the role of the framed murderer and it brought preemptive action under ethical question. The idea that a person who writes such disturbing material might be a school shooter and should therefore be placed under suspicion sounds like an infringement of rights, but perhaps taking no action prior to the crime is a worse strategy. That inaction could potentially be blamed for the deaths of those people.

So, should we take action to prevent possible capital crimes? Is it placing your rights and mine under attack or is it protecting our lives from demented would-be killers? What do you think?