Channeling Columbine

Yesterday there was another school shooting here in Colorado, just two miles from Columbine High. Oh, the symbolism! The proximity!

The anchors can't stop yammering, and local programming was pre-empted for breathless live coverage. I'll bet none of them slept last night!

I actually watched an interview of someone who merely lived nearby. That's it. Didn't see it happen, but hey - it was a live feed. ("BREAKING NEWS!!!! Just after these messages, we'll go live at the scene for an exclusive interview with someone who lives around the corner and was in the bathroom when it happened!!!! STAY TUNED!!!!!)

It's really a shame the newsies are all seated behind desks. It would be interesting to see how often they really wet themselves. (Might even be an effective ratings gimmick at this late date...)

Interestingly, as with the Columbine shooting, there was a teacher on scene who was a good hand. Again, though, an unarmed teacher against an armed attacker. Again!

The teacher - Dave Benke - stopped the action and lived to tell. Only two kids were hit and both should be fine. It would be wholly appropriate to buy the man a nice steak dinner and a quality drink or three, and I wouldn't even object if they used taxpayer money (so long as 300 administrators didn't tag along).

Good show, Dave!

Despite the obvious implications, the anti-gun crowd will have an orgasm. Further, the shooter is apparently mentally ill (for real) and had sought help but was turned down because he couldn't pay. So, while actually being a better argument for our side on both issues, this episode will likely become fodder for the Health Care/Welfare Quislings as well as the anti-gunners.

Socialized medicine's abysmal track record is well documented, as is the much better track record of private charity. Most charities are populated with people who actually care about the issue at hand, and that real passion produces real results. If we weren't taxed so much in so many ways, there would have been a charity out there that had the means to provide someone like that with real help.

As to the anti-gunners, the Dave Sanders/Dave Benke continuum illustrates why it would be wise to allow teachers to bear arms if they were so inclined. (Works nicely in Israel!) There are clearly some teachers out there who still have a pair, and they should be encouraged.

Come to think of it, society might be better off if we armed the better teachers and disarmed the cops. (Hmmm....)

Bus drivers helped Benke control the shooter. (Finally - an argument for busing!) The assistant principal, one Becky Brown, ran up after the gunman was subdued and actually picked up the rifle. Pretty cool stuff, but in a later interview she reverted to smarmy public school bureaucrat mode and gushed "Those kids are my kids, and it's important, and my teachers, we're like family." (Makes you wonder how she held the gun...)

Yours is the opposite of the genuine passion we find at charities, Becky. You and your fellow educrats may be like family, but that's YOUR village.

Those little souls are OUR kids, they don't live in your village, and real heroes don't talk like that. To an extent we can chalk her comments up to 15 minutes of PR giddiness, but (yet again) the emperor's clothes reveal much self idolatry and little else...

All's well that ends well, though, and this one did. The important thing now is to frame the inevitable debates truthfully, to wit: An armed society is a polite society, and the government really doesn't know you exist (or care) until you fail to file.