The state of Utah is now allowing students with CCW permits to carry them on university campuses. Strike one for the good guys. Let evil mourn, let evil die.

Utah allows guns on college campuses

SALT LAKE CITY - Brent Tenney says he feels pretty safe when he goes to class at the University of Utah, but he takes no chances. He brings a loaded 9 mm semiautomatic with him every day. var lrec_target="_blank";var lrec_URL = new Array();lrec_URL[1] = "http://us.ard.yahoo.com/SIG=12gu4s214/M=402711.10493470.11119304.1414694/D=news/S=8903239:LREC/_ylt=AtrOxWf_roS7F1v4ZVOFksJH2ocA/Y=YAHOO/EXP=1177731727/A=4443044/R=0/id=flash/SIG=11bbc21iv/*http://finance.yahoo.com/personal-finance";var link="javascript:LRECopenWindow(1)";var lrec_flashfile = 'http://ads.yimg.com/us.yimg.com/a/ya/yahoo_finance_barter/030307_personalfinance_07003_1_300x250_lrec_coins_blue.swf?clickTAG='+link+'';var lrec_altURL = "http://us.ard.yahoo.com/SIG=12gu4s214/M=402711.10493470.11119304.1414694/D=news/S=8903239:LREC/_ylt=AtrOxWf_roS7F1v4ZVOFksJH2ocA/Y=YAHOO/EXP=1177731727/A=4443044/R=1/id=alt/SIG=11bbc21iv/*http://finance.yahoo.com/personal-finance";var lrec_altimg = "http://ads.yimg.com/us.yimg.com/a/ya/yahoo_finance_barter/030307_personalfinance_07003_1_300x250_lrec_coins_blue.jpg";var lrec_width = 300;var lrec_height = 250; on error resume next plugin = ( IsObject(CreateObject("ShockwaveFlash.ShockwaveFlash.6"))) if(window.yzq_d==null)window.yzq_d=new Object();window.yzq_d['M1UlAtGDJGI-']='&U=13b8103fu%2fN%3dM1UlAtGDJGI-%2fC%3d402711.10493470.11119304.1414694%2fD%3dLREC%2fB%3d4443044';

"It's not that I run around scared all day long, but if something happens to me, I do want to be prepared," said the 24-year-old business major, who has a concealed-weapons permit and takes the handgun everywhere but church.

After the massacre at Virginia Tech that left 33 dead, some have suggested that the carnage might have been lower if a student or professor with a gun had stepped in.

As states and colleges across the country review their gun policies in light of the tragedy, many in Utah are proud to have the nation's only state law that expressly allows the carrying of concealed weapons at public colleges.

"If government can't protect you, you should have the right to protect yourself," said Republican state Sen. Michael Waddoups.

Utah legislators and law enforcement authorities said they knew of no modern-day shootings at the university. But one lawmaker cited a shooting rampage in Mississippi in 1997 as an example of how allowing others on campus to arm themselves can improve safety: After a teenager shot two students to death at Pearl High School, an assistant principal chased the gunman down outside and held him at bay with a .45-caliber pistol he kept in his truck.

Nationwide, 38 states — including Virginia — ban weapons at schools. Of those, 16 explicitly prohibit weapons on college campuses, according to the National Conference of State Legislatures. In other states, each school is allowed to formulate its own policy.

For decades, the University of Utah banned concealed weapons.

"Our view was that there was an increased risk of both accidental and intentional discharge of a firearm if more firearms are present," said spokesman Fred Esplin. "It was a matter of safety."

But in 2004 the Legislature passed a law expressly saying the university is covered by a state law that allows concealed weapons on state property. The university challenged the law, but the Utah Supreme Court upheld it last year.

Utah is easily one of the most conservative states, and the Legislature is dominated by Republicans, many of whom have a libertarian streak. Utah has no motorcycle helmet law, for example, and there is strong affection for the Second Amendment.

The carrying of guns at the university worries students like Timmy Allin, a freshman on the tennis team from Dallas who feels safe on the 28,000-student urban campus. Allin was not aware weapons were allowed on campus until told by a reporter.

"I don't see the need for one up here, so that could only lead to trouble," he said.

Lawmakers point to a recent shooting at a downtown shopping mall as evidence that concealed weapons prevent additional deaths.

Armed with a shotgun and a pistol, 18-year-old Sulejman Talovic randomly shot nine people at Trolley Square, killing five, on Feb. 12. He died in a shootout with police. An off-duty Ogden police officer carrying a concealed weapon — in violation of mall policy — pinned down Talovic with gunfire until other police arrived.

"Thankfully that officer disobeyed the rule of Trolley Square of having no guns," GOP state Rep. Curt Oda said.

Oda said banning guns on campus might do more harm than good. He said people bent on violence might resort to other, perhaps bloodier methods, such as swords.

"A person that's got skill with a sword in a very big crowd could put a lot more people down with a sword than a gun," he said. "They're silent. You'll have people screaming, but nobody knows what's going on."

Some of those who work at the University of Utah said they feel more secure because concealed weapons are allowed.

"What happened at Virginia Tech might have been stopped," said Christine Zabawa, a medical researcher at the university. However, she said it is a bad idea to allow guns in dormitories, and fears an accident could happen during a party on campus.

"Alcohol and guns. It's a bad combination," she said.

Justin Ligon, 23, a Virginia Tech student and vice president of the school's Pistol and Rifle Club, with about a dozen members who do their shooting at a public firing range, said the Blacksburg, Va., university should drop its prohibition on guns.

He said it is unlikely that bringing guns on campus would make school more dangerous.

"People with those permits, they go through a background check," he said. "Generally the people who go through that trouble aren't people who are gong to fly off the handle and do something dangerous."

The Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms requires Form 4473 to be filled out for all legal gun purchases. For those who have never taken time to research gun registration, which is what Form 4473 is all about (check the movie Red Dawn for more information), I enclose a link for you.

http://www.ocshooters.com/Gen/Form-4473/ATF-Form-4473.htm

Everyone has been reading about Cho. His violent plays that makes the woodchipper scene from Fargo look like a Mother Goose fairy tale, while his profanity-laced diatribes against Christians, Hedonists, rich kids and others, and his mental condidtion and arrest record have come under scrutiny by the press. I've been getting a lot from World Net Daily about this tragic event, and all I can say is that Cho is gettnig more coverage than the morons who tried blowing up their high school a few years ago.

From what I have read, Cho committed a federal offense by lying on his 4473. Read question F, which asks about a person's mental history. Was he mentally deficient? I have no doubt that he was.

http://www.worldnetdaily.com/news/article.asp?ARTICLE_ID=55284 

I've seen Oldboy, and it didn't affect me in any way. Seeing the movie once was more than enough. There was nothing in it that I found to be inspiring and will say there are better Korean movies that one can watch. It doesn't change the fact that the gutless creep would have faced federal charges had he survived the killing spree he brought on. That's not including the 30+ murders he committed.

That being said, I hold as accomplices in this heinous crime all of the proponents of gun control and believe they should stand trial. Though they did not put their fingers on the trigger, they did prevent innocent people from being able to properly and adequately defend themselves. Legislators, senators, representatives and others serving in public office who have sworn their sacred honor to perform their duty and conduct themselves honorably in their elected offices as defined by their state and national constitutions, have failed in their jobs to insure domestic tranquility and to provide for the common defense. Those words are found in the preamble to the Constitution of the US, the government's contract with the people listing the rights that the government will guarantee and defend. It may not be treason, but it is a high crime, a dereliction of duty by those in elected office to fail to protect the lives of our fellow citizens.

How much more of this foolishness will we put up with?

http://www.worldnetdaily.com/news/article.asp?ARTICLE_ID=55288

Guns don't kill people. Gun control kills people.

We have heard about the killings at Virgina Tech. Some of us have probably read the obits of some of the victims, and know a little bit of their hopes, dreams and accomplishments in their majors or fields of expertise. I am sure there are even a few who have tried to look into the mind of the vicous murderer as well, wondering how a man (for lack of better term), can walk into a building and with no emotion kill innocent people. How much anger did this man (for lack of a better term) have buried inside him? What sparked the explosion  resulted in so much innocent blood being spilled?

What we do know is that too many people are dead and not one of them had the means to adequately defend themselves or the lives of their students or teachers. One brave teacher bravely stood in a doorway and was killed as he protected his students. He died a hero.

The murderer died at his own hand. The gutless creep didn't have the guts to stand before a court and a jury, where he would be held accountable for his own actions. The cowardly cur (for lack of a better term) will soon be six feet under. As families grieve for their dead, one family will be standing alone, wondering how their son could do such a monsterous deed. Who amongst us would be willing to stand with the Cho family on the day of the son's funeral? Not many is my guess, if any at all.

The bodies are in the morgue. The wounded are in the hospitals. Some shed tears of sympthy with the victims while others burn with outrage, demanding who is to blame for this massacre.

An inanimate object will be blamed.

What of the teachers and students who saw the warning signs of antisocial behavior but who failed to respond to it? What of the intervention that one English teacher requested for her student who wrote disturbing images in his class assignments? The warning signs were there, and some people picked up on it, but...

An inanimate object will be blamed for the tragedy.

And yet, had one teacher or student been able to have access to that inanimate object, it is possible that lives would have been saved. If one life could have been saved, would it have been worth it?

Perhaps. Perhaps not. I will leave the alternative history to the professionals like Harry Turtledove.

The cleanup continues as people try to bury their dead and move on from this incident, but already the shameful morons who claim to be journalists in Europe have assigned blame to Charleton Heston for what happened. They claim that America needs tighter gun control laws to prevent such a thing from happening again, and these same idiots weep and gnash their teeth that the Republicans did the right thing in allowing the ten-year old semi-automatic weapons ban fade into oblivion. Their ignorance amazes me. The semi-auto ban focused on semi-automatic rifles, not pistols manufactured by Berretta, Sig-Sauer, and Glock. They make semi-automatics that are very popular with law enforcement officers, as well as recreational shooters, professional security guards, and other down-to-earth people like you and me.

Oh, they are also popular among the gun-owning elitists of the Democratic Party who want to disarm the down-to-earth people like you and me.

If lives could have been saved that fateful, tragic day, would the Virginia General Assembly have voted differently when the issue of allowing qualified college students and employees the right to carry handguns on campus first came up? From what I have read, one man was "happy" to hear that the bill was defeated. Now 32 people are dead because they could not defend themselves.  

"I'm sure the university community is appreciative of the General Assembly's actions because this will help parents, students, faculty and visitors feel safe on our campus." Larry Hincker,Virginia Tech spokesman after the bill was defeated.

Does anyone feel safe on the VT campus any more?

"Now we will probably begin discussing the overly lax gun laws in the United States. There, buying a machine gun is often easier than getting a driver's license. (Driver's License: not including the price of a permit: $8 and no extensive criminal background check. Class Three Weapons Permit: Not sure, but the last I heard, it was over $1,000 and includes an extensive criminal background check. This publication needs to check its facts.) And a new ban on violent games and killer videos will also be put back on the agenda. But in the end, nothing is likely to happen. And the next killer already lives somewhere among us. But we have little reason to point an accusing finger at the Americans. Despite strict gun legislation, we (in Germany) have experienced the school shootings in Erfurt and Emsdetten. We have to consider the problems in our society. And we have to take care of our fellow humans." - Bild, German publication

Read that last line with me.

"We have to take care of our fellow humans."

What do you think the Second Amendment to the Constitution of the US is all about? The times have changed, but human nature has not. If Germany has gun control laws and school shootings like we have had in the US, then the gun control laws must be eradicated so that people can defend themselves should such an act of emotional foolishness happen again. People as a rule of self-preservation do not look for trouble, because there are usually enough people around who will not put up with that trouble for long. Some problems get solved with short term solutions. Others get solved with long term solutions. When a push becomes a shove, then the solution has a tendency of becoming permanent. It is called "justifiable homicide," resulting in the use of deadly force to defend human life.

In our efforts to become more civilized, the barbarians have seemingly become more vicious. The more liberal elements would have total disarmament of the people (because we are civilized), but that leaves the people defenseless before the barbarian hordes. The body count continues to grow. How much innocent blood is on the hands of the Bourgeois of the Democratic Party and their friends on the Left (and on the Right who have sold out their legacy found in the Constitution of the US, including the Second Amendment)?

When the illegalization of private firearm ownership comes to pass, the only people who have guns will be the police (who may or may not be corrupt, i. e. in the pockets of organized crime), the gutless creeps of the Bourgeios political elite (who also are corrupt, living in fear of being killed by their perceived enemies of the Proletariat), and criminals (who just might be carrying a badge or running for political office or hiding in the bedroom closet with the bogeyman).

Gun control has broken a lot of hearts and taken a lot of lives. I'm reminded of gun control in Europe that resulted in the near extermination of Jews under Hitler, the disarmament of the people that resulted in the enslavement and purgings under Stalin and Lenin in Russia following the October Revolution, and the Khmer Rouge as Pol Pot worked his magic in Cambodia. Gun control gave us 32 more victims at VT.

Gun control has taken our liberty and given us death.

So much for taking care of our fellow humans.

For years there has been this arguement about whether or not sex education should be taught in classrooms. Is public education the right forum for teaching children about these things? It was a matter of time before the idea of schools handing out condoms became a hotbed issue that some parents are still outraged over.

The outrage continues. Check these stories out.

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/17762423/

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/17980152/

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/17944990/

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/17954824/

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/17963308/

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/17963702/

And now for something completely different...

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/17909828/

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/17910613/

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/17921359/

And I found all of this out in a matter of minutes. What has become of our schools? Is this the end result of billions of taxpayer dollars being spent so that No Child Will Be Left Behind?

I want my money back.

Valley of the Temple - April 2007

Hyangseongsa Temple from the Cable Car - April 2007

Ulsanbawi and Hyangseongsa Temple - April 2007

Ulsanbawi - Seoraksan National Park, April 2007 

Ulsanbawi Rock - Seoraksan National Park, April 2007

A clear day with the prediction of bad weather brought on by yellow dust. It was excellent weather when we took the cable car to the site of Gwongeumseong Fortress. None of the original buildings are there, but you can find the beacon fire mound.

From the cable car area, it is a 10 to 15 minute climb to this spot. The scenery is beautiful, and very rugged.

Seoraksan National Park from Gwongeumseong - April 2007

I had to adjust birghtness and contrast to compensate for the overall greyness brought on by yellow dust. On a clear day you can see all the way to the East Sea, which is on the horizon.

By this time the yellow dust had affected the temperature. I think we lost perhaps ten degrees F in a few minutes. It started out relatively warm, but it was cold when I took this image of a Buddha that is at the base of Gwongeumseong. It is located about 300 yards from Sinheungsa Temple that dates back to the Shilla Kingdom. The temple, called Hyangseongsa. was destroyed by fire. This temple was built during the 22nd year of King Injo of the Joseon Dynasty, in 1644, about one kilometer from the original site.

Naksan, Gangwon Province, is a resort city on the East Sea. This past weekend the teachers of the SDA Language Institute gathered together at the Freya Condominiums, near Pine Beach, for their biannual meeting. The first two pictures were taken from the balcony of my room at the Freya.

from Naksan looking west - March 31, 2007

That is snow on the ridge.

from Naksan, looking north-west

Waverunner - Pine Beach, Naksan, ROK - March 2007

self-portrait - Naksan, ROK - March 2007

The day after this picture was taken, there was yellow dust in the air, which makes the background in the following pictures look foggy or misty. Yellow dust is sand particles from the Gobi Desert that is carried along the air current or jet stream into Korea, Russia, Japan and as far west as San Francisco. This year will be bad for yellow dust. People with lung problems are encouraged to stay inside, for it is a health hazard. Others wear surgical type masks with charcoal filters.

Riding with a group of missionary-teachers, we went to a town called Sokcho. It is a famous city in Korea, and was featured in a television program called Autumn in My Heart (Gaeul Donghwa).

We stopped at a fishing market, where I took the following pictures of seagulls and fishing boats.

The next two were at a different location in Sokcho.

Anchorage - Sokcho, RoK, April, 2007

One more self-portrait, taken April 2007

self-portrait - Sokcho, ROK, April 2007

all images were taken with a Canon PowerShot A-620 on a two-gig SD card

"It's Not Easy Bein' Green" (lyrics by Joe Rapposo) 

It's not that easy bein' green; 
Having to spend each day the color of the leaves. 
When I think it could be nicer being red, or yellow or gold- 
or something much more colorful like that.

 It's not easy bein' green. 
It seems you blend in with so many other ordinary things. 
And people tend to pass you over 'cause you're not standing out like flashy sparkles in the water- or stars in the sky. 

But green's the color of Spring.
And green can be cool and friendly-like. 
And green can be big like an ocean, or important like a mountain, or tall like a tree.
 
When green is all there is to be 
It could make you wonder why, but why wonder why? Wonder, 
I am green and it'll do fine, it's beautiful! 
And I think it's what I want to be.

From IrishCorner.com

We are the sons and daughters of Hibernia
proud heirs of an ancient legacy
We've settled every corner of the globe
driven from our homeland by famine and opression
or simply by the restless spirit that's our birthright

Wherever we go, we bring with us a love of freedom
a melancholy humor, a biting wit, and a golden tongue
But regardless of where destiny may take us
we're linked to the land of our ancestors
by an ethereal thread that binds the heart
and reminds us always that we are a unique people

WE ARE THE IRISH

Happy St. Patrick's Day!

May God grant you many years to live,
For sure He must be knowing.
The earth has angels all too few.
And heaven is overflowing...