Historically speaking, what we will learn on May 4 on ABC may be a shocker, but its seeds have been sown throughout modern history. Remember, as ABC points out in the piece tonight, "Ma ma where's my pa" was a campaign slogan in 1884..
Apparently so.. While debates rage figuratively and literally about who will be the next President of the United States in 2008, there is a sudden surge of support from men who once worked for Ronald Reagan.. they are throwing their political weight behind actor/politician Fred Thompson..
The UK SUNDAY TELEGRAPH reported today that Michael Deaver sees the same chances for political success in Thompson that Reagan was blessed with in the roaring 80s..
The chances of a Thompson 08 and someone else ticket becoming much more possible lately: McCain is bitter that the media is not on his side while he flounders, Governor Romney pretends he hunts, and photos of Rudy Guiliani as a woman continue to produce laughter in inner circles of the Democratic party.
The sun is shining.. grass is mowing, construction projects beginning. It's spring. And just about summer. The same month that stated with heat then turned cold and snowy.. and ending beautiful..
And for the record, the Sunday afternoon lazy random rakings:
All the news unfit to print for Saturday, April 28, 2007
A few noteworthy events..
I didn't update or blog at all this week.. So a Friday night wrap up--even though it will be probably Saturday AM by the time this gets posted..
Boris Yeltstin died this week. A leader that helped move Russia forward--forget for a few moments what happened SINCE Mr. Yeltstin was in power.. And who can forget the lovable leader dancing before the world..?
A current leader danced before the world this week, as well.. President Bush at the White House.. The video made it way quickly around the net..
The President not dancing when Democrats voted against funding the Iraq war and also setting a timetable on withdrawal.. The bill, the White House said, will be vetoed..
There was a Democratic debate this week.. While mostly boring, a few bright moments emerged by the always lovable "Fringe candidates" .. The same fringe candidates that seem to emerge every four years and say exactly what they think while the front runners play it safe. This year's Democratic fringe: Former Alaska Senator Mike Gravel..
Various sources reporting that Senator John McCain will passionately make his case for the presidency on Wednesday; he will speak of his service to the country and his experience.. McCain's appeal has been slowly waning..
An announcement that may change what we think about our own planet.. and what our meaning is in existence. An amazing announcement. News of the potentially Earth-like planet making its way around the perhaps soon to be old news planet, Earth.
Debate out there exists.. Are we for the government legislating a cooling of the earth? Are we for corporations legislating themselves? Or maybe Mother Nature will start to take care of it all for us?
Until then.. related rakings from around the warm world, 2007:
I am not a scientist. I am not an expert. And I certainly don't propose anyone to think that this Earth is clean and minus negative dangerous toxins that are destroying portions of it.
But to watch Diane Sawyer the other night on Friday's 20/20 turning off the lights in the studio and waving to New Yorkers on Times Square with a flashlight was plain strange.. Moreover, at one point she entered a room full of toilet paper and paper towels--telling US to conserve. . I ask why if conservation is so urgent, ABC thought it was wise to gather up a thousand roles of toilet paper just for a 20 second spot on 20/20!?
Maybe Cynthia McFadden can tell us. If her satellite connection is working, that is.
It is Earth Day 2007. A day truly meant to reflect on our nature and our planet's nature. And how both are messing each other up dramatically..
The first Earth Day, it could be noted, was global cooling.. Eh, we all make mistakes.
But just as quick as Credence Clearwater Revival asked us all if we've ever seen the rain, the theme of Earth Day became more towards the global warming realm..
The state of our planet, 2007: Smoggy, foggy.. Stormy.. Cold, hot. A lot like the state of our planet in 7b.c. or even earlier. However, the creeping suspicion that mankind is warming things is getting more credence.. The pesky ice caps melting.. Things could get bad. Or maybe not.
I wish I had a crystal ball, just to verify the future. See if the polar ice caps melt into the Atlantic Ocean causing warming on one side and on the other in Europe a mini ice age. I want to know if the ocean currents change.. to see if the jet stream changes our weather.. to see if Hurricane whatever destroys where ever due to intensifying storms in the ocean.. to see if millions are displaced by climate change.. to see if water becomes a more important object in the world to cause war than oil.
Still we wonder.
Let's hope our pale blue dot makes it. Maybe the worst won't happen. But in case it does, recycle, be clean, turn off appliances when not using them, all that stuff--do as many little things as you can to add up to some big ones. Better to air on the side of caution. If you can see through the pollution, that is.
Limbo, of course, is the Catholic tenet that unbaptized babies are punished by not going to Heaven, but are not bad enough that they have to go to Hell..
Pope Benedict XVI now says that there is hope for the salvation of these babies..
For centuries, Catholic women who had stillborn babies or lost their babies immediately after birth were told that their children would never be in good fortunes in their afterlife..
I know net blogs are expressing their shock at the Senator, but I am actually happy something off the cuff happened in the thus far dull campaign for president--and not only that, but the "bomb Iran" song was a little flashback to the old McCain that so many came to love in 2000..
....Horrific.. traumatic horror seen by students, parents, and the world. The face of a killer that tore through the flesh and bone of students and teachers at Virginia Tech...
A brief pause for some other notable random rakings from the day..
The random raking seem almost trivial today. So many other things to ponder. Worry about. Pray about.
I am not trying to be negative but it's been a pretty bad week. Suffering from sea to shining sea and beyond. Guns raised in violence; warfare flaring. So many long for a simple, quiet, and serene night of sleep. A night in which there will be love and happiness surrounding their minds.. but instead they sleep in pain. We are all connected. Humanity does not exist alone. It's a maze of paths that almost always ironically end up being connected with each other in the end. And perhaps it's not coincidence.
During trying weeks like this there is a reaching out to a higher power. A belief system seems to sustain us. At least we try to make it that way. We attempt in our simple human minds to explain the unexplainable.. to believe the impossible.
Through snow and rain and wind and heat, we are all connected. So many nameless faces you pass each day with a story.. So many people alone. Desolate. And at the same time, so many happy and in peace.. a happy medium never seems to be reached.
...But it's Spring. A rebirth of the eternal. God bless this country..
With each gun that fires a newborn's smile comes to light in the world.. with each death comes a new being of possibility.. someone that could cure cancer. Heal the world. End war. Lead us. Souls go away just as new ones arrive. The magic and mystery of life.. but sadness of loss..
No words can explain the images of the a killer. No words can ever justify what we witness on our nightly news.
Some parents may be afraid to bring children into the world. But maybe.. just maybe.. that child will heal this world forever.. end the strife. End the misery... Emanciate the world of hate and war... A glimmer of hope can arrive during a trying period of loss and hate. Latch on to that hope. Hope is the way of the world. It can make this world move forward. It can sustain us like nothing else.
Between his first and second shooting on April 16, a large box was sent to NBC News containing videotape and photograph--made by killer Cho Seung-Hui..
NBC News turned over the information to authorities.. it aired tonight on NBC News..
Cho Seung-Hui bought a gun from Roanoke Firearms over a month ago for $571.. Virginia Governor Tim Kaine said today, "People who want to take this within 24 hours of the event and make it their political hobby horse to ride, I've got nothing but loathing for them."
The owner of the firearms store said he feels terrible about his store's invovlement with the deadliest shooting in American history..
One victim of the bloody rampage has received widespread attention--and rightly so.
He is Liviu Librescu, a survivor of the Holocaust.. He was killed when he used his body to barricade a door before Seung-Hui was able to gain access.. during this time several students jumped and fled to safety.. Librescu was 76 at death. Death after a long hard life of stuggle.. struggling in the end to do something herioc: Save others.. A chilling reminder of how painful and tragic life could be--and how heros among us will emerge when least expected to give a glimmer of hope that maybe this is all worth it after all..
Expect to hear more than a fair share of "troubled loner" stories along with reasons why such a dramatically horrific crime occurred. But the story won't be changed. What happened, happened. And as a result, Cho Seung-Hui will now be included with famous mass killers.. The Korean that moved to America 15 years ago. Now a dead killer with a face that will forever be synonymous with the scars he left on a school and a nation..
The "Question Mark" killer Cho was a quiet shy man.. seething with rage. He scrawled "ISMAIL AX" on the inside of one of his arms. Some experts say that this may be a reference to the Islamic account of the Biblical sacrifice of Abraham...
His writings raged against "rich" kids.. Other students called him the Question Mark Kid..
He's a question mark, no more.. His actions define him.
"Laura and I have come to Blacksburg today with hearts full of sorrow. This is a day of mourning for the Virginia Tech community and it is a day of sadness for our entire nation. To all of you who are OK, I'm happy for that. To those of you who are in pain or who have lost someone close to you, I'm sure you can call on any one of us and have help anytime you need it. People who have never met you are praying for you. They're praying for your friends who have fallen and who are injured. There's a power in these prayers, a real power. In times like this, we can find comfort in the grace and guidance of a loving God."
"On this terrible day of mourning, it's hard to imagine a time will come when life at Virginia Tech will return to normal, but such a day will come. And when it does, you will always remember the friends and teachers who were lost yesterday, and the time you shared with them, and the lives that they hoped to lead."
While the President was in Blacksburg, Virginia, two Secret Service officers were injured after another officer accidentally fired inside the White House gate..
Some are saying it's the fault of the gun culture in America.. Virginia Tech President Charles Steger did say that the shooter was a student at Virginia Tech in his early 20s but will not as of this time release his name..
Federal agents say that the guns had seriel numbers that were filed off--important in tracing where the guns came from.. Eyewitness accounts say that the shooter had clips of bullets on his shirt.. physically, he was described as wearing a maroon hat and leather jacket.. One eyewitness told NBC news he looked like he knew what he was doing..
"Authorities were investigating whether the gunman who killed 32 people on the Virginia Tech campus in the deadliest shooting rampage in U.S. history was a Chinese man who arrived in the United States last year on a student visa.
The 24-year-old man arrived in San Francisco on United Airlines on Aug. 7 on a visa issued in Shanghai, the source said. Investigators have not linked him to any terrorist groups, the source said."
The SUN TIMES goes on to report that bomb threats the school received last week may have been a test by the gunman to see how campus security responded..
Still a developing story.. Still so many questions. Yet again, people examining the soul of America.. the soul of who we are as a people. For it's America, a free society, that has a story with such a dramatically deadly and horrific outcoming: The death of so many innocent people. The injury of many more.
Stories from inside the school.. stories of the gunman--still to be named at this hour--lining students up and executing them..
"Terrified students lined up against the wall of their classroom and shot, execution-style. Doors chained shut by the killer to keep his victims in and police out. Blood-soaked bodies piled on top of each other. These were the scenes of almost inconceivable horror at Virginia Tech University yesterday as a gunman claimed at least 32 lives before killing himself. He was said to have quarrelled in a dormitory with his girlfriend, whom he believed had been seeing another man. A student adviser was called to sort out the row. But the killer produced a gun and shot dead both his girlfriend and the adviser. Two hours later he rampaged through an engineering building on the other side of the campus in the town of Blacksburg, killing indiscriminately"
Details emerging of the lovers tiff and a lot of ammo..
"We were sitting in class and all of a sudden heard loud banging noises — thought it could be construction. Heard screaming through the walls and everyone started to panic. Heard shots down the hallways, everyone started to panic and jumping out of the window. We heard almost 40 or 50 shots"
Power outages still widespread in many portions of the Northeast.. Spring 2007 looks more like mid-winter. Trees that were nearing their blooming time snapped in half, dangling over power lines amid winds of 30 to 60 mph..
It was a giant storm.. I went to bed during light rain and awoke 4am to thundering snow falling rapidly with gusty winds slamming snapping trees.. No power. Lots of reading today. It was quiet. Peaceful inside.. chaotic outside.
..A truly horrible day. With the lack of power until now I have been listening on a battery operated radio and a windup radio about the horrific shooting in Virginia all day.. The death toll continuing to rise.. More on this soon..
Random rakings
Expect to hear more than a fair share of "troubled loner" stories along with reasons why such a dramatically horrific crime occurred. But the story won't be changed. What happened, happened. And as a result, Cho Seung-Hui will now be included with famous mass killers.. The Korean that moved to America 15 years ago. Now a dead killer with a face that will forever be synonymous with the scars he left on a school and a nation..
