Also see this article from the AP, posted 13:05 by A5089. That's where most of the comments are going, but feel free to comment on either thread. AoS.
BLACKSBURG, Va. (AP) - A gunman opened fire in a dorm and classroom at Virginia Tech on Monday, killing 21 people and wounding another 21 before he was killed, police said.
"Today the university was struck with a tragedy that we consider of monumental proportions," said university president Charles Steger. "The university is shocked and indeed horrified."
The university reported shootings at opposite sides of the 2,600-acre campus, beginning at about 7:15 a.m. at West Ambler Johnston, a co-ed residence hall that houses 895 people, and continuing about two hours later at Norris Hall, an engineering building. One student was killed in a dorm and the others were killed in the classroom, Virginia Tech Police Chief W.R. Flinchum.
After the shootings, all entrances to the campus were closed and classes canceled through Tuesday.
"There's just a lot of commotion. It's hard to tell exactly what's going on," said Jason Anthony Smith, 19, who lives in the dorm where shooting took place.
Aimee Kanode, a freshman from Martinsville, said the shooting happened on the 4th floor of West Ambler Johnston dormitory, one floor above her room. Kanode's resident assistant knocked on her door about 8 a.m. to notify students to stay put. "They had us under lockdown," Kanode said. "They temporarily lifted the lockdown, the gunman shot again."
"We're all locked in our dorms surfing the Internet trying to figure out what's going on," Kanode said.
Madison Van Duyne, a student who was interviewed by telephone on CNN, said, "We are all in lockdown. Most of the students are sitting on the floors away from the windows just trying to be as safe as possible."
Posted by: Bobby ||
04/16/2007 12:52 ||
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#8
Jihad Syndrome
If so then gun control seems a good option
Not in UK - only boomers
Actually, although university students can be every known sort of idiot, plus the novel varieties they make up on the spot, in this kind of situation a couple of armed students going after the gunmen would end the problem toot sweet... or at least the campus police.
#10
stop talking gun control. my point on that is that if someone wants too get a gun they will find a way too. remember the old saying guns don't killl ppl , ppl do
#13
The lone gunmen shot up a dorm, but wounded a lot of people--lot's for the police to do and talk to there--then sauntered across campus, allegedly chained a door shut (?!) and then started the killing in earnest, secure in the notion that the police were busy at the first scene?
#16
The best way to prevent mass shootings would be to allow students concealed weapons permits. The old joke about Columbine was that if it had happened in East LA - the shooter would have been gunned down before he could have finished saying, "on the floor".
#18
e-Larson, this thing about chaining the doors closed is bothering me. It's the kind of thing that gives me the impression of premeditation. What you say may have indeed been the shooter's plan: wound a bunch of people on one side of campus, hole up somewhere with your stash of guns, ammo, vest, and chains, then go to the real target. This guy thought this out.
Posted by: Jonathan ||
04/16/2007 16:50 Comments ||
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#19
That's what it sounds like. The odds of there being two completely unrelated lone gunmen operating on opposite sides of campus have got to be astronomical against.
I suspect either a couple of guys working together, or the one guy who really planned this thing out.
I wonder how long until there are composites drawn up from talking to the two sets of victims.
#22
Okay, AP is saying that the same guy killed the one person in the dorm and committed the massacre in Norris Hall (as of 6:45 pm EDT). Still no name, still no explicit reason for the connection.
Posted by: Jonathan ||
04/16/2007 18:45 Comments ||
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#23
Skynews says he was an "Asian"; another Japanese student unhappy with the results of WWII, no doubt.
#26
What are you talking about 'Mad eye spith'? You saying this wouldn't happen in the UK because we've been disarmed?
The only people in this country who have guns other than the army and cops are criminals. And they have no problem about shooting up parties and suchlike, do they now?
Posted by: Tony (UK) ||
04/16/2007 20:39 Comments ||
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Hear about the guy who spent 71 days in jail for stealing two hot dogs from a Wichita QuikTrip?
Wait. He didn't steal the hot dogs, he just forgot to pay for them. Twelve people took two days off to serve jury duty last week, heard the evidence, and found the guy not guilty. "It was stupid," said presiding juror Krysti Mason, 21.
This is no joke. The case of Thomas M. Wimberly, a 74-year-old veteran living on Social Security, highlights both inconsistencies in the law and the experiences of poor people in the criminal justice system.
Wimberly sat in jail unable to make bond, $100,000 at one point, charged with a crime that -- even if he'd been convicted -- brings no time behind bars, only probation. The hot dogs cost $2.11, "with tax," assistant store manager Jeff Dalke testified.
#2
Not to mention the $hit-for-brains low-on-humanity a$$holes who think that charging him for trespassing when he goes back to make amends makes them right. Obviously these idiots have probably peaked in their "professional" careers, if they haven't overreached already.
And what about our Constitution that says no unusual punishment? Anybody ever heard of that part? If I were king, heads would roll for this one if it's anything like what's written. Time and time again I hear about this kind of shi+. Isn't there somebody who isn't autistic following the holy procedure who can step in and say "whoa" or something? These idiots need their professional contact details plastered all over the internet so people can give them a heaping of feedback because they are just divorced from reality. They make drugs for this kind of thing. Maybe some counseling would help. Or stick their a$$ in the pokey for 71 days and see how they like it.
Typical media bias. Just another soft-on-crime advocacy story. Reading the article, we see that he didn't spend time in jail for two hot dogs, he spent time in jail for stealing, trespassing, and failure to appear. Any of which would land any of us in the same situation.
#4
Gromky, 74 means he's propably semi-senile. And, anyway, charged with a crime that -- even if he'd been convicted -- brings no time behind bars, only probation. And the guy is a a veteran. Charge of the Light Brigade, anyone?
#5
last year I went into one of my local stores [know everyone] picked up an item and began talking to a friend for a few minutes.
Well when we were done talking I walked out without paying. But.. luckily I caught myself and went back in and paid for the merchandise. The brain cells are beginning to flag a bit so I hope I never get "caught" repeating the same dumb stunt again.
apparently Wichita has extra tax-payer money to burn.
#6
"A bill tied up in the state Legislature would clear up a law that leads to cases like Wimberly's and frustrates prosecutors."
Theres the motivation for this obvious slanted story. Chances are the proposed legislation is not about fast tracking petty crimes through the courts but rather repealing the repeat offender laws. And about time right? After all shouldnt the QuikTrips of the world be required to pass out free hot-dogs to the poor anyway?
Exactly. Nonetheless we haven't heard the other side of the stories, and I too am sure there is another side that is a bit less generous to Mr. Wimberly.
The real crime is that after making work for all our valiant civil servants, they simply put him back out on the streets to fend for himself. Not even an Old Soldiers Home for guys like him. That's the disgrace we all share.
#8
Twelve people took two days off to serve jury duty last week, heard the evidence, and found the guy not guilty.
This is why the Founding Fathers immediately amended the Constitution to add - In all criminal prosecutions, the accused shall enjoy the right to a speedy and public trial, by an impartial jury of the state and district wherein the crime shall have been committed,...
If as Jefferson wrote in the Constitution that the power of government is derived from the consent of the governed, so too are its laws. This is literally the law in action. It comes from the people. It's not perfect, but I'd rather this than deal with DAs who's only constraint is fellow lawyers and judge brethren who hold that only they are the rightful priests of the temple of law.
#9
Sheesh. He kills a 10 year old girl driving drunk but you'd think he was great guy just because he admitted it and set a fine example for those kids who think he's such a great example setter that they won't speak to him.
He ended up divorced from his wife of 38 years and estranged from his two grown children. While bouncing between homes and odd jobs, Wimberly was convicted of petty theft in 1994 and again in 2000.
He doesn't sound like a senile old man to me. He sounds like a serial liar, ner do well. But the way this article is written it seems all of his bad luck was because he was such a stand up guy, admitted his guilt and his life was ruined when he did his time. I'm sure this was not his fault, but things just "ended up" that way forcing him to "bounce around" and steal stuff so often that he got caught twice.
If you ask me, the story here is the ridiculous way his case was handled. Other than that, this guy is a disgrace to the uniform and payback karma is a bitch.
#10
This old guy didn't intend to steal, tried to make it right, and got more time in jail and worse punishment than a cocaine dealer gets. If the guy was sick and cannot hit his cross town appointment, then thats not jumping bail and the response is far too harsh. You try being 74, living on social cecurity and fialing thelht - and then try making appointments across town with no car and no relatives. Good luck you hearltess twits.
You guys are a pack of self-righteous assholes. Stalin would have loved you guys.
An elderly Austrian woman required hospital treatment after being attacked by what was described as a 'crazed hare.' Police were forced to shoot the rampaging beast before it could hurt anybody else.
Traditionally, rabbits and hares are better known as lovers, not fighters. On Monday, however, a hare in Linz, Austria broke the mold, attacking an elderly woman and her husband, not to mention the police officers who were called to the scene.
In a scene eerily reminiscent of the attack of the "most foul, cruel, and bad tempered" rabbit in the cult movie "Monty Python and the Quest for the Holy Grail," "Look, that rabbit's got a vicious streak a mile wide! It's a killer! He's got huge, sharp-- eh-- he can leap about-- look at the bones, man!"
the Linz hare assaulted a 74-year-old woman who was hanging laundry in her garden early Monday morning. The animal, described as a "crazed hare" in a statement by Linz police department, bit the woman's foot, causing her to fall.
The unidentified woman, still under attack by the rampant hare, was eventually able to escape into her home, where her husband called the police before going outside to attempt to shoo the bunny away.
When police arrived on the scene, they found the 78-year-old man fighting the hare off with a stick -- and losing. Police asked the man to go inside. When the hare refused to give up the fight, the police were forced to bring forth the Holy Hand Grenade of Antioch, take out the holy pin, then count to three, three being the number of the counting and the number of the counting being three, not four, neither two, excepting that they then proceeded directly to three; once the number three, being the third number, was reached, they lobbed the said Holy hand Grenade at the rabbit
shoot and kill the animal.
Posted by: Mike ||
04/16/2007 17:08 ||
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#1
No doubt the hare will turn out to be rabid or something. It seems Spiegel reporters aren't good at asking critical questions in small matters, either.
In keeping with the recent spate of bunny stories...
Five thousand rabbits blocked a Hungarian highway Monday after the truck that was carrying them crashed. The animals came free after the truck collided with another vehicle and overturned, police officials said.
The M1 highway the main road connection between the capitals of Hungary and Austria was expected to be closed for several hours while authorities tried to gather the loose animals, Highway Patrol Spokeswoman Viktoria Galik said. Galik said some 500 rabbits were killed in the accident. Oh the haremanity!
By midday, 4,400 of the free-roaming bunnies had been collected and eaten by North Koreans taken away from the scene.
#6
so just what Do Hungary bunnies eat?????
and if they are Hungary bunnies when they are in need of food, what do you call them when their appetite is sated????
I was tempted to say, "the title says it all", but what the heck...
TOKYO (AP) - Japan's leading toilet maker Toto Ltd. is offering free repairs for 180,000 bidet toilets after wiring problems caused several to catch fire, the company said Monday. The electric bidet accessory of Toto's Z series caught fire in three separate incidents between March 2006 and March 2007, according to company spokeswoman Emi Tanaka.
"Fortunately, nobody was using the toilets when the fire broke out and there were no injuries," Tanaka said. "The fire would have been just under your buttocks." That would REALLY ruin my day...
The company will repair 180,000 toilet units manufactured between May 1996 and December 2001 for free, she said. A manufacturing defect is thought to have led to the faulty wiring.
Toto has been a pioneer in high-tech toilets fitted with pressurized water sprayersa standard fixture in Japanese homes. The popular Z series features a pulsating massage spray, a power dryer, built-in-the-bowl deodorizing filter, the "Tornado Wash" flush and a lid that opens and closes automatically. Prices range from $1,680 to $2,600). The Japanese aren't big on that "KISS Principle" thing, are they?
The model is not sold overseas. That's a relief...
Posted by: Dave D. ||
04/16/2007 06:26 ||
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#1
"I feel a burning when I pee.."
Posted by: Frank G ||
04/16/2007 8:09 Comments ||
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#4
When I was stationed in Japan and i first noticed the heated toilet seats, i wondered then about mixing 220 volts with water. didn't make a lot of sense to me then, and still doesn't. if i want the toilet seat warmed, i wait for my wife to use it first.
Paralympic swimmer Jessica Long was honored Wednesday night in New York as the recipient of the 77th AAU Sullivan Award, presented to the USA's top amateur athlete. AAU officials, U.S. Olympic Committee members and college sports information directors voted. The other third was determined by public voting at USATODAY.com.
"It's so cool to be the first paralympian to win," said Long, who because of lower leg anomalies had her legs amputated below the knee when she was 18 months old. "It's a huge honor. I just like to swim."
Long, 15, won nine gold medals at the International Paralympic Committee (IPC) Swimming World Championships in Durban, South Africa, last year. She had 18 world record-breaking performances on the year and holds the record in 12 events.
She was also named the U.S. Olympic Committee's 2006 Paralympian of the Year.
Posted by: Steve White ||
04/16/2007 00:00 ||
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Continuing his slow but steady convalescence from a devastating car accident, Gov. Jon S. Corzine underwent a minor procedure this morning to remove fluid outside his left lung.
I'm surprised he doesn't already have a chest tube on that side with all the broken ribs.
The procedure lasted 15 minutes, and was described by doctors as successful, according to a statement from Anthony Coley, Mr. Corzines communications director. He remains in the intensive care unit of Cooper University Hospital here, in critical but stable condition.
Technically called thoracentisis, the procedure is considered minor, and usually done with a needle to help a patient with breathing. And Mr. Corzine is expected to continue breathing with the help of a ventilator until at least Monday, when he is scheduled to undergo his fourth operation since the accident on Thursday night.
The procedure came on a quieter day at the hospital, in contrast to the frenzied atmosphere that had saturated the corridors since Mr. Corzines arrival. Mr. Corzines three children were there, as well as his girlfriend, but they did not make any public appearances. And two of Mr. Corzines top aides, Mr. Coley and Tom Shea, his chief of staff, did not arrive at the hospital until mid-morning a sign, presumably, that they were encouraged Mr. Corzines progress.
The way the news is slipping out I think there are things going on we don't know about. I wish the man the best; he's in a precarious state right now.
Posted by: Fred ||
04/16/2007 00:00 ||
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#1
Far reaching effects those 'Nappy Headed Hos' Mr. Imus has had on the state; I should say.
#7
I disdain nearly everything the man stands for politically, but I hope he has a speedy recovery.
I'm surprised he wasn't wearing a seatbelt though, you take your life in your hands every time you drive on the GSP.
#10
Bet you'll wear your seatbelt next time, won't you, governor?
Bingo, tu3031. After sponsoring legislation about restraining child passengers and driving while using a cell phone, there's no way in hell this guy was unaware of the dangers posed by not using a seat belt. While I don't wish him any harm, this chump deserved his injuries.
Once again, I'll ask: Would Corzine have been charged with involuntary manslaughter if his unrestrained body had impacted and killed the driver of his vehicle?
I think we all know the answer. Corzine was risking more than his own life and he damn well knew it. This "do as I say and not as I do" eliteist bullshit wears thin after a while.
First they came for the bees....
Rumours swept through Afghanistan on Monday that a deadly virus was being spread by mobile telephone calls, and government officials scrambled to reassure the public the talk was rubbish.
Many worried Afghan mobile phone users called family and friends, warning them not to answer calls from strange numbers. Some people said they had heard that several people had been killed by the mystery virus in Kabul at the weekend. "Don't answer any strange number because it contains a virus that will kill you," said Ahmad Fawad, a shop owner in Kabul. Remember all those phones these guys were buying? Now we know: they loaded them up with virus and and some special programming and resold them locally.
And they say that a woman wearing the hijab will be protected from assault.
An Iraqi man allegedly raped a Muslim woman as "punishment" for reading the Bible, saying, "let your Jesus help you", a court heard yesterday. Campbelltown District Court was told Abdul Reda Al Shawany twice sexually assaulted the woman, a practising Muslim who wears a hijab, after they met at a railway station.
Al Shawany, 52, has plead not guilty to two counts of having sexual intercourse without consent between September 1 and 27, 2002, at a unit in Warwick Farm. Note the year.
At the first day of the week-long trial yesterday, Crown prosecutor Michael O'Brien outlined the case and told how the woman kept the clothes and underwear she was wearing on the day of the alleged rape in a plastic bag for about three years. Note the time frame. A smart woman to keep her options open like that.
The woman initially reported the matter to police but did not want to take it further because she felt "ashamed", Mr O'Brien said. She later changed her mind and Al Shawany, of Hillsdale, was arrested in July 2005 and the woman provided police with the clothing.
The Crown alleges swab samples from the accused had the same DNA as the semen sample taken from the woman's clothing.
"The complainant was born a Muslim and raised a Muslim and was a Muslim all her life," Mr O'Brien said. He said when the woman came to Australia from the Middle East she began listening to Christian teachers and reading the Bible. He said the woman had received threats from members of her faith for reading the Bible but had not formally converted to Christianity.
It is alleged she met Al Shawany, who she had first met overseas, at Warwick Farm railway station in September, 2002, after he told her he had some mail for her from overseas. Al Shawany allegedly then took her to a Warwick Farm unit and pushed her in the head as she entered. "She was wearing a hijab. The accused grabbed the hijab, the veil, and pulled it tight across her mouth," Mr O'Brien told the court. "She fell to the floor and she couldn't scream because she had a hijab tight across her mouth."
In a police interview, Al Shawany denied having sexual intercourse with the woman or threatening her.
Al Shawany's barrister Chris Pike told the court his client was a hardworking businessman with close ties to the community who strenuously denied the charges. "My client is not a zealot," Mr Pike said. Please don't tell us he's actually a moderate Muslim. Just don't.
The woman gave evidence in closed court yesterday and is expected to return to the witness stand when the trial before Judge David Knox continues today. A very brave woman.
A Tae Kwon Do team of mainly Muslim girls withdrew from a tournament after they were barred from taking part with their hijabs, another example of the ongoing debate in Quebec about accommodating religious minorities. The equipment that is allowed under the world Tae Kwon Do federation rules doesn't include the hijab, international referee Stephane Menard said Sunday. Mr. Menard said he was at the referees' meeting in Longueuil, just south of Montreal, earlier Sunday when the decision was made for safety reasons. I help at Tae Kwon Do tournaments when Mr. Wife and the trailing daughters officiate. I quite agree that wearing a hijab under the padded head thingy is a safety hazard.
The team, made up of girls between eight and 12 years old, is affiliated with a Muslim community centre in Montreal. Five of its six girls wear the head covering under their safety helmets. Why are little girls wearing hijabs anyway? That's only supposed to be for older girls.
It's the second time in recent months the hijab has caused controversy at an amateur sporting event in Quebec involving pre-teens. In February, an 11-year-old Muslim girl from Ottawa was asked to remove her hijab at a soccer tournament in Laval, north of Montreal, due to safety concerns. She refused and her team pulled out of the tournament.
A Montreal Muslim woman recently complained that she was forced to chose between her hijab and a job as a prison guard. Authorities also cited safety concerns in that case. It sounds like the wind is blowing in a different direction in French Canada. Good for them!
Combine rich kids with a Fidel/Che-loving teacher and you've got a got lil socialists in training
The lesson in socializing and socialism was given to about a dozen students from the selective Beacon School on the Upper West Side, which for years has organized extravagant overseas trips with complementary semester-long classes.
Some past destinations include France, Spain, South Africa, Venezuela, Mexico and, according to the school Web site, Cuba in 2004 and 2005.
The principal, Ruth Lacey, insisted she did not approve the April 1-10 jaunt, in which students and teachers said the group was briefly detained on their return by American customs officials in The Bahamas and now faces fines.
In a telephone interview, Lacey initially claimed to have no knowledge of the trip but later recalled having denied approval for it. She said the teacher, Nathan Turner, then took it upon himself to arrange the excursion.
Turner, 35, a popular teacher whose classroom walls, students said, are adorned with posters of Cuban dictator Fidel Castro and Marxist revolutionary Che Guevara, declined to comment.
Posted by: Frank G ||
04/16/2007 07:53 ||
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#1
Cancel their return visas. It will take them a few extra weeks to get to Mexico, but then they're home free.
#4
"Turner, 35, a popular teacher whose classroom walls, students said, are adorned with posters of Cuban dictator Fidel Castro and Marxist revolutionary Che Guevara." I wonder if any of the parents felt uncomfortable in a parent-teacher conference with this Yayhoo? But then we are talking about NYC.
#5
The fines aren't just pocket money, either, but up to $65,000 per person. More from the Post:
"I don't know anything about the trip because it wasn't school-sponsored. I only care about the trips that go through the school," Principal Lacey said. "This, to me, would be an outrage if it happened."
But the trip was advertised on the school's Web site in the fall. And a list of 30 students selected in November to take the journey and to attend preparation classes for it could be found on its Web site last week.
A multi-volume chronology and reference guide set detailing three years of the Mexican Drug War between 2010 and 2012.
Rantburg.com and borderlandbeat.com correspondent and author Chris Covert presents his first non-fiction work detailing
the drug and gang related violence in Mexico.
Chris gives us Mexican press dispatches of drug and gang war violence
over three years, presented in a multi volume set intended to chronicle the death, violence and mayhem which has
dominated Mexico for six years.
Rantburg was assembled from recycled algorithms in the United States of America. No
trees were destroyed in the production of this weblog. We did hurt some, though. Sorry.
Continuing his slow but steady convalescence from a devastating car accident, Gov. Jon S. Corzine underwent a minor procedure this morning to remove fluid outside his left lung. 
