Business as usual
Today our nation experienced the worst shooting massacre in it’s history. The rampage at Virginia Polytechnic marks the deadliest campus shooting since 1966, where 16 people were killed by a gunner at the University of Texas. This also comes during the week of the 8th anniversary of the Columbine shooting in Colorado on April 20, 1999.
Not to sound jaded or cynical, but while the government has issued their patented "we grieve for the losses of today" statement, they continue on with business as usual. Which means: turning our attention to Iraq, to larger spending bills, away from domestic issues. Instead of taking time today to reflect on how to respond to such horrific violence as a nation with an inward focus, President Bush has proceeded as planned to discuss his reasoning for a "clean" Iraq war supplement, bringing in more money for more troops for the war.
Now, normally, with the disasters that have wrought the last 7 years in America, our President has jumped into "don’t let them (the terrorists) stop us by changing the way you live" mode. So, is that what we do today? At 11:00 EST we hold a press conference to encourage Congress to bring a clean bill with no end-of-war deadlines to the table, all about Iraq, when just a couple hours before there was the most violent shooting attack in America’s HISTORY?!? "We must have resolve, we must not relinquish our fight, blah, blah, blah."
Maybe I’m being overly critical. I guess I’m just struck by our resolve to fight terrorists abroad, where there are dozens of deaths every week, but the lack of focus the government chooses to give when there is blood on our own soil. Our own people are killing each other every day, but we’re more interested in our foreign relations to turn our attention and deal with it.
