Virginia Tech

First of all, my condolences to the victims and their families. Although I find it in somewhat poor taste to use a tragedy as a political tool, it seems as if this Virginia Tech incident has brought about gun policy discussion. At the risk of hypocrisy, I'll add my two cents.
When I was young my father told me something that has stuck with me to this day: guns are not shields, and more and larger straps do not correlate to added security.
Point two: this is not Die Hard, and you are not Bruce Willis. As Pat Tillman's death demonstrated, even trained uniformed men are capable of friendly fire. In discussing the prospect of armed people in civilian settings with Ben, he points out that if you come upon a situation in which two civilians have their guns drawn, it is difficult to determine the antagonist.
Lastly, concealed carry is a pain in the ass. Guns are heavy, odd bulges worry people, and keeping track of one's Glock all day wears on the psyche. I can't think of a safer place than an on-campus class in the middle of the day. To think that anyone with a CCL would have been actually carrying is a stretch.
I wouldn't take your guns away if I could, but to claim that any specific tragedy could have been avoided by armed civilians is a disrespectful and malicious statement. For uninvolved parties to blame the victim disgusts me.

TriMet

Five hours on the bus today, to get to and from three hours of class. That just doesn't make strategic sense. By the time I was sardined onto a rail car at rush hour this afternoon I was wondering why I hadn't just rented a car for the day. On the way to class the bus driver booted two obnoxiously loud and profane youths. He warned them a couple times to quit swearing. They did quiet down and stopped using the big 7. However their conversation continued with liberal use of G.D. this and G.D. that. I guess if you're wondering if the public servant who just asked you to quit swearing considers taking the Lord's name in vain to be profanity, the answer is automatically yes. On the way home a couple of white teenage banger's were on the train talking smack. Nothing major, just teenagers talking themselves up to each other. The crazy lady sitting next to them reprimanded them for frontin'. This turned into a terse and altogether unfriendly discussion on who had spent more time in the county lockup. Testosterone and schzophrenia don't mix well.
The Chevy is getting the clutch replaced and should be out of the shop tomorrow. None too soon either, as I think my lack of time in the penal system has left me unprepared for use of public transportation.