Another Freaky Twist in the Virginia Tech Shootings

The twisted life of Virginia Tech shooter Cho Seung-Hi takes a huge twist. Just after 4pm today, it was announced that during the time between the first & second shooting rampage, Cho put togher and mailed a package to NBC News in New York. Read the Associated Press story here: http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20070418/ap_on_re_us/virginia_tech_shooting Yeah...talk about messed up! So, what do you think...did NBC make copies of the materials while waiting for the State Police to pick up the originals?

How Can It Happen

Since the news broke yesterday about Virginia Tech, I've been wrestling and wrangling in my head about how something like this could happen. What motivates someone to go anywhere and blow away 30 some people. I can't process it...I just can't.

I'm not THAT old of a guy - 34 in November. But in the not too distant past of my youth, things were different. There is a disconnect in American society that is so wrong, so out of whack, that something like this happens. Case in point...my high school days. When you walked the halls, all the guys had a pocket knife - that was just the thing. You're from the Midwest, you have a pocket knife. No big deal. Hell, you would get it out and compare with friends on who had the baddest one around.

Walk out in the parking lot after school, especially during hunting season and you would see trucks parked, with gun racks, and guns IN the racks. Standard fare. Guns were brought on campus, and yes once again, no big deal.

So that leaves me to believe in what I call the "Great American Disconnect." That certain "something" that has gone wrong with our country as a whole, and I don't know what it is. Video games? TV & movie violence? Not enough stay at home parents? A broken school and social service system? Taking God out of schools? Materialism? Racism? Terrorism? Fanaticism? A complete mind change in the general populace that doesn't recognize today's youth are the most IMPORTANT generation and that to make them great leaders, you've got to give a damn? Divorce? What???? Just what is the magic answer?

I don't know, and I can't understand...

Virginia Tech - An Interesting Twist

Again, the latest from the Associated Press:

SEOUL, South Korea South Korea's Foreign Ministry says the country's "in shock beyond description" after learning the Virginia Tech shooter is a South Korean native.

The gunman has been identified as 23-year-old Cho Seung-hui (joh sung-wee). A ministry official says he's been in the U-S since 1992.A foreign ministry spokesman says South Korean diplomats are traveling to Virginia Tech.

Face of A Monster - Virginia Tech Shooter Revealed

From the Associated Press:

Cho Seung-Hui, 23, identified as killer in Virginia Tech massacre

written April 17, 2007

BLACKSBURG, Virginia (AP) _ A Virginia Tech senior from South Korea was behind the massacre of at least 30 people locked inside a campus building in the deadliest shooting rampage in modern United States history, the university said Tuesday.

The Virginia Tech Police Department identified him as Cho Seung-Hui, 23, a senior in the English department.

The bloodbath ended with the gunman's suicide, bringing the death toll from two separate shootings _ first at a dorm, then in a classroom building _ to 33 and stamping the campus in the picturesque Blue Ridge Mountains with unspeakable tragedy.

The Virginia State Police say ballistics tests show one of the guns found after a deadly shooting at Virginia Tech was used in both shootings, at the doom at the classroom building.

Virginia State Police say ballistics tests show one of the guns found after the deadly shooting was used in both shootings, at a dorm and at a classroom building.

Outrage Over Imus' Overblown

Let me give you a little education into the world of Radio because the part that the public doesn't see is brutal, and sometimes very ugly. While a broadcaster genuinely enjoys the audience and interacting with them, they are always looking for the next bit, the next thing that will keep them ahead and in front of their competition.

Don Imus is a master at this cat 'n mouse game and has BEEN a master for over 30 years. From the bits of "John Cardinal O'Connor" to "Go Baby, Go" with the Clinton's, to the now famous "Nappy Headed Basketball Ho's" Imus has this knack for reaching into his bag of political-incorrectness and throwing it in our face.

Why are you surprised at that? Ron Davis on his blog "CHATTER" has some excellent points which I agree with. You can read his post here: http://chatterbyrondavis.blogspot.com/
Imus mixes politics with pleasure, and blends being a crass old grouchy bastard with a persona that can make authors best sellers, and help politicians win elections. No doubt the man has influence. No doubt he regrets being busted like he has.

But the outrage is outrageous. There is such a double standard in America that it's almost laughable. Lets look at who is throwing stones...the NAACP - an organization for COLORED people? Isn't that a little racist? What about Black Entertainment Television? Last time I checked, there is NO White Entertainment Television. Are you catching on here?

Yes, I know the examples I've given are extreme one's, but they are pretty good at driving home the point. There is "acceptable" or "PC" racism and then politically-incorrect racism. In the end, Imus will be judged...by his listeners, and his advertisers.

And I agree with Ron, a Dark Day for the world of free speech.

I'm Your Daddy!

Ahh yes, the great American post-mortem of the life of Anna Nicole Smith continues today with a twist. It turns out that photo boy Larry Birkhead indeed slipped it to the now dead playmate, and indeed IS Dannielynn's daddy.

And what a rich daddy he will be!

You know that Anna's estate will take care of the little girl. Of course, there will be something used to raise her in the manner she would have been accustomed to if her mother had lived. So there you have it...Birkhead in the end, gets the girl and Howard K. Stern looses his meal ticket.

Does this really surprise you? Look, anytime the LAWYER starts to back off, well, you know there's got to be a reason. Ahhhh the drama!

**Photo of Larry Birkhead courtesy of CNN.com**

The End of Empire

It was an empire at one time...stores from here to Ft. Scott, Kansas. Oklahoma throughout Southwest Missouri. You could hardly toss a stone, without hitting a Consumers Markets. Remember the jingle? "Consumers, Consumers, the BEST supermarket under the Ozarks skies." Well, thank God I just type on here, and not sing...everyone in the blog sphere would be trying to get me to go away again!

Anyway, the Consumers empire ended years ago, but Clarence & Edna Wheeler kept their profile low, and their check books open wide to area organizations. Sadly, Edna passed away Saturday, March 31st. She was a true lady in every sense of the word. Strange...death always seems to go in 3's...Edna Wheeler, John Stone...and I've not found the last one yet.

Back to my story...I remember going over to the Wheeler's home many times as a kid. You wouldn't KNOW they had money...until you got to their home. HUGE! Long brick, built in two different wings in Southern Hills. The Wheeler's had a poodle named Bubbles. Actually, I think there were several "Bubbles" in my lifetime. Long story short, not only did they give of their hearts to this community, rub elbows with the most influential of our town, they were perfectly great to a little boy, who was amazed at their kindness, and their reality, and to this day, I have never forgotten them.

Consumers empire is finally gone...and there will never again be two people like Clarence & Edna Wheeler...and it's a damned shame.