• Scary Regional News
  
  There are concerns that there might be a new serial sniper in Virginia:
  

  A 20-mile stretch of Interstate 64 was closed overnight because at least four cars were struck by bullets, injuring two people. The highway reopened Thursday morning.
  
  The four cars were hit along an 11-mile stretch of highway starting around midnight Wednesday. Virginia State Police were trying to find the gunman.
  
  Sgt. David Cooper ... said he didn't know if there was more than one shooter or what type of gun or guns were used.
  
  I-64 was closed about 6 hours between Charlottesville and Waynesboro.

  
  Using a phrase like "serial sniper" is probably premature, but memories of Muhammad and Malvo are still pretty fresh. This new story scares me because I drive that stretch of I-64 all the time. I just hope that the local authorities are able to get some guidance from Chief Moose.
  
  Police are looking for multiple suspects in the incident.



• Monks Up In Arms
  
  We're going to see more and more stories like this as we get closer to the Olympics in China:
  

  
  A group of monks shouting there was no religious freedom disrupted a carefully orchestrated visit for foreign reporters to Tibet's capital Thursday, an embarrassment for China as it tried to show Lhasa was calm following deadly anti-government riots...
  
  "Tibet is not free! Tibet is not free!" yelled one young Buddhist monk, who started to cry.
  
  They also said the Dalai Lama had nothing to do with the (mid-March) riots by Tibetans in which buildings were torched and looted and ethnic Han Chinese were attacked. The government has said the March 14 riots were masterminded by "the Dalai clique," Beijing's term for the Dalai Lama and his supporters...
  
  "They want us to crush the Dalai Lama and that is not right," one monk said during the 15-minute outburst.

  
  
  I don't follow the Olympics, so I'm unsure how the brutal Chinese government was ever granted the international games in the first place. If nothing else, it's good that the Olympics are focusing some degree of attention on China's barbarous rule of Tibet.
  
  You know, it always bugs me when I buy something and realize that it was made in China. I've heard so much from so many sources about the pitiful state of human rights in China ... about the terrible working conditions imposed on workers in state factories ... and I've come to believe it. The Chinese government is monstrous and the Chinese people are suffering. That belief is by and large accepted and promoted with bipartisan zeal. So why do we import plastic junk from China?
  
  Wouldn't it be worth going without a $30 DVD player if it helped bring down communism's last inhuman stronghold?
  
  Just thinking out loud, that's all I'm doin'.



• Ferraro Freak-Out
  
  People are still freaking out about Geraldine Ferraro's so-called "insensitive" remarks regarding Barack Obama's race. Here's what she said, in case you hadn't heard:
  

  "If Obama was a white man, he would not be in this position ... And if he was a woman of any color, he would not be in this position. He happens to be very lucky to be who he is. And the country is caught up in the concept."

  
  So what's the big deal? Obama's schtick is not substantially different from the John Edwards act. His methods and manner aren't far removed from Hillary's. What he does have going for him, though, is the promise that his Presidency would put one last, huge nail in the coffin of American racism. Anyone who thinks that his race isn't the biggest factor in his success is fooling himself/herself.
  
  And I don't really intend that as a slam on his supporters. Look, I like the idea of a black President as well as anyone. I like the idea of a female President, too. If I had my way, our next President would be both female and black: I'd like to see Condi Rice in the White House.
  
  But I don't want her there simply because she's female or because she's black. I want her in the White House because she's tough, conservative, brilliant and trustworthy. More so, in fact, than anyone who recently ran for President from either of the two major parties.
  
  I'd support Condi enthusiastically because she's the right person for the job. Her race and her sex are not factors.
  
  Neither Barack Obama nor Hillary Clinton are substantially different from John Kerry, John Edwards ... or Jimmy Carter, for that matter.
  
  Except in terms of race and sex.

Labels: Media, News, Politics

Permalink -- Posted by Darrell at 11:30