What a difference a week makes..

Last week it was outrage with Imus and this week that is barely a distant memory. What happened at Virginia Tech seems uncomprehensible. To think of the innocent people just doing what they do and gunned down by a madman is so frightening.

I don't understand
- how anyone can buy 1 gun a month every month in Virginia
- how easy it is to buy a gun and why there are not more controls
- how someone so mentally ill could slip through the cracks so easily

I believe Virginia Tech did what they thought was best. For anyone who thinks they should have done something else, please tell me what they could have done?
- How do you stop 26,000 people from coming to school?
- How many students wake up and check their email?
- How many emails does the University have?
- How would those already in class or those on their way to school have been notified?

There is opportunity for changes all college campuses and changes with how guns are obtained. I don't want to take away someone rights, but I think there should be better controls.

For colleges, could we create some type of alarm/pa system that would alert anyone on campus when something such as a murder occurs?

For guns, can we create some sort of flag on a person's record if they have been diagnosed as mentally ill within a period of time so they cannot buy a gun that same day? Could we load all college campus residence hall addresses into the database to ensure no one living on campus can buy a gun?

I only hope something good comes out of this tragedy. My heart goes out to all of those lost, to anyone injured and to all of touched by this event.

Choices

Life is all about choices and each day we each have choices to make regarding our actions and lives as a whole. This week was a sad week for America. Not sad like a death of someone or a catastrophic event like 09/11, but sad in the context of where America is today.

It is a fact that what Don Imus said about the Rutger's women's basketball team is disgusting and wrong. He deserved to face the consequences of his words, but I do not believe he deserved to be fired. America is place where freedom of speech is a right, and economics could have chosen his fate rather than an executive. All the advertisers who chose to pull their campaigns and all the people who chose not to listen to his show, could have easily ended the Don Imus show.

The news media and various groups are now discussing the music industry and rap music in particular for what some are calling a 'double-standard'. It is true that listening or watching some of the rap music sounds much worse than what Don Imus said, and is repeated over and over based on its popularity. Again, it is a choice that each of us have to make - I can turn off the television, radio or not purchase a CD when I don't like the content.

Democracy, the Constitution, the Declaration of Independence, and the Bill of Rights, all provide opportunities and choices for Americans. There is a reason that all of the details, although not perfect, have survived for 225+ years.

Censoring any right, but especially freedom of speech puts us all at risk. Who or what will be next? Who gets to decide what is right to put on the radio or television? I want to live in a country where I can say what I want and understand there could be consequences for my words. I don't want to be told what I can or cannot say, or afraid that I cannot speak freely without fear of persecution.