91 In A 65

I remember watching a news report while I lived in New York State. The report, teased endlessly for several days before it aired, was an investigative piece titled (I think) "Trooper Speed." It showed hidden camera video of New York State Police troopers routinely driving at excessive speeds in non-emergency situations. They filmed the troopers and used radar to clock them. Some of them were driving at speeds that would get you or I a license revocation or jail time. Or both. No lights, no sirens, no emergency. Just a very high rate of speed. Why am I writing this? Because the "black box" (that many people do not know is installed on their vehicles by car makers) recovered from the SUV that Governor Jon Corzine of New Jersey was injured in was traveling at 91 miles per hour just before the crash that badly injured him.

TRENTON, N.J. - The sport utility vehicle carrying Gov. Jon S. Corzine was traveling about 91 mph moments before it crashed, the superintendent of state police said Tuesday.

The governor was critically injured when the vehicle crashed into a guardrail on the Garden State Parkway just north of Atlantic City last week. He apparently was not wearing his seat belt as he rode in the front passenger's seat.

The speed limit along that stretch of the parkway is 65 mph.

The state trooper-driven SUV was in the left lane with its emergency lights flashing when a pickup tried to get out of its way. Instead, it set off a chain reaction that resulted in the crash.

Corzine broke his left thigh bone, 11 ribs, collarbone and chest bone. He also fractured a vertebrae in his lower back.

He remained in critical but stable condition Tuesday and doctors were assessing when he might be ready to breathe without a ventilator. Spokesman Anthony Coley said Tuesday the governor was showing improvement.

Doctors have said he doesn't have brain damage or paralysis, and is doing well for someone who sustained so many injuries.

The driver, Trooper Robert Rasinski, could be charged if the state police Motor Vehicular Pursuit Review Board determines the crash was preventable, Superintendent of State Police Col. Rick Fuentes said.

There may have been perfectly good reasons for the speed, but this is murkier all the time. Corzine's injuries appear to confirm that he was not wearing a seatbelt and the SUV appears to have been rocketing down the highway at an excessive rate of speed. Someone will have some explaining to do. And voters should be asking the questions.

Courage

This is what courage looks like:

Professor Liviu Librescu, 76, threw himself in front of the shooter when the man attempted to enter his classroom. The Israeli mechanics and engineering lecturer was shot to death, "but all the students lived - because of him," Virginia Tech student Asael Arad - also an Israeli - told Army Radio.

Several of Librescu's other students sent e-mails to his wife, Marlena, telling of how he had blocked the gunman's way and saved their lives, said Librescu's son, Joe.

"My father blocked the doorway with his body and asked the students to flee," Joe Librescu said in a telephone interview from his home outside of Tel Aviv. "Students started opening windows and jumping out."

The Glittering Eye makes a valid point.

For those of you who believe this is an opportunity to place tighter controls on firearms, what’s your program? How, in particular, will it incontrovertibly prevent one determined nutcase from killing a lot of people?

For those of you who believe this is an opportunity to pitch concealed carry laws, again, how would that have prevented this particular incident? IMO training and courage are the determining factors in acting in dire circumstances like this, not firepower. Most people just freeze or (prudently) flee under crisis conditions. How will you mandate training and courage?

Those of us arguing that an armed citizen might have made a difference have to also address the issue of courage. Because armed or not, someone who won't step up when the time comes will not make a difference. Professor Liviu Librescu stepped up even though he was not armed and saved the lives of his students. But a lot of people who are legally licensed to carry have military training or other training (as I do). And they, because they obey the laws and rules are precluded from using their training. I'd like to think I would have rushed a gunman, whether I was armed or not. I cannot say with absolute certainty that I would in every situation. But I'd be inclined to use my firearms training if I needed it. That is why I got the permit in the first place.

Professor Liviu Librescu, may you rest in peace knowing that you truly made a difference in this world.

Parents Demand Firing Of Virginia Tech Officials

Parents of students attending Virginia Tech are furious with the President and the chief of the campus police. They are demanding the two be fired at once.

John and Jennifer Shourds of Lovettsville, Va. demanded the immediate firings of University President Charles Steger and Virginia Tech Campus Police Chief W.R. Flinchum who he said "screwed up" the handling of separate shooting incidents that left 33 students dead, including the shooter.

“My God, if someone shoots somebody there should be an immediate lockdown of the campus,” said John Shourds. “They totally blew it. The president blew it, campus police blew it.”

The Shourds said they received a phone call from their daughter, Alexandra, a freshman at the college in Blacksburg, who was unsure of how to handle a vague university e-mail received around 9:20 a.m. regarding the first shooting incident that happened at the West Ambler Johnston Hall around 7:15 a.m. Later, it was learned that a lone gunman entered that hall, two buildings away from Alexandra’s dorm, and opened fire, killing two people.

The bottom line here is that when the last incident happened at Virginia Tech, an escaped convict loose in the area, the campus was locked down. This time it was not. Email warning did not even go out about the first incident until after the second incident was already underway or finished. Someone has a lot of explaining to do here. My guess is that the lawsuits will begin rolling in very, very soon. What I wrote last night still applies. If I had a child at that school, they would be on their way home right now.

A Face And A Name

The Virginia Tech shooter has been identified as Cho Seung-Hui, a 23-year-old Virginia Tech student. Cho was a South Korean citizen legally in the United States. So we have a face and a name, which tells us nothing about why he committed this monstrous crime.

Sources tell ABC News that Cho killed two people in a dorm room, returned to his own dorm room where he re-armed and left a "disturbing note" before entering a classroom building on the other side of campus to continue his rampage.

Cho's identity has been confirmed with a positive fingerprint match on the guns used in the rampage and with immigration materials.

"Lab results confirm that one of the two weapons seized in Norris Hall was used in both shootings," Virginia Tech Police Chief Wendell Flinchum said at a press conference Tuesday morning.

At this time, police are not looking for a second shooter. But they did not rule out the possibility that a second person may have been involved. Sources say Cho was carrying a backpack that contained receipts for a Glock 9 mm pistol, purchased in March. Witnesses had told authorities that the shooter was carrying a backpack. Police also said this morning that Cho had a .22 caliber pistol. Sections of chain similar to those used to lock the main doors at Norris Hall, the site of the second shooting that left 31 dead, were also found inside a Virginia Tech dormitory, sources confirmed to ABC News.

ABC News continues its completely speculative and grossly ignorant agenda reporting, however:

It is unknown at this time if the guns had standard or extended clips, which can fire as many as 30 shots before the gun has to be reloaded.

It literally takes about a second to switch magazines on a semi-automatic pistol. They do not use "clips". And no matter what magazines Cho used, the changing of them would not have slowed down the killing one iota.

Doug Ross has two examples where the media generally failed to report that armed citizens stopped shooting incidents at schools and held the gunman for police. How many lives did they save? That will never be known. But how many lives were saved by the designation of Virginia Tech as a "gun-free zone." Tragically, we can answer that.

UPDATE: Bob Owens calls this "media malpractice." He's right.

A Cab Ride Too Far

The Minneapolis Metropolitan Airports Commission has voted - unanimously - to penalize taxi drivers who refuse rides to passengers carrying alcohol our who have dogs with them. This is, of course, a response to cab drivers who decided to make this an issue. It is not going to work out for them, they are going to lose their cab licenses if they want to continue their stunts.

MINNEAPOLIS (Reuters) - Muslim cab drivers at Minnesota's biggest airport will face new penalties including a two-year revocation of their taxi permits if they refuse to give rides to travelers carrying liquor or accompanied by dogs, the board overseeing operations ruled Monday.

The Metropolitan Airports Commission, responding to complaints about the liquor issue, voted unanimously to impose the new penalties beginning in May.

A large number of taxi drivers in the area of the Minneapolis-St. Paul International Airport are Muslim Somali immigrants. Many say they feel the faith's ban on alcohol consumption includes transporting anyone carrying it.

Some also have refused to transport dogs, both pets and guide dogs, saying they are unclean.

So, someone is finally pushing back against this kind of attempted strongarm tactic. The twisted reasoning at the heart of this is evident by the response of a "spokesman" for the people pushing this:

Hassan A. Mohamud, an imam at the Islamic Da'wah Center in St. Paul, called the stricter sanctions frustrating and disappointing.

"We see this as a harsh penalty against fellow Americans only because they are practicing their faith," the Muslim scholar said. "This does not reflect the American values of tolerance and accommodation."

In the imam's world, we have to tolerate and accommodate the intolerance and complete lack of accommodation of his followers in order to prove we are living up to American ideals. Welcome to the land of doublespeak.

Growing Anger

British newspapers are reporting that there is a growing amount of anger at the Virginia Tech administration for failing to get warnings out after the first shooting incident yesterday. The first of the emails the administration sent out was sent more than two hours after the first incident and actually after the second incident started. The media is paying attention and I do not think this issue is going to go away.

The first murders were two students – one male, one female – at a hall of residence at Virginia Tech, early yesterday morning.

Two hours later, an Asian man in his 20s and said to have been carrying an "ungodly" supply of ammunition, entered a teaching block, shooting 30 people as he moved from room to room. He then shot himself in the face.

The university said this morning that the gunman was a student at the university and a dormitory resident.

As America struggles to come to terms with the tragedy, questions are now being asked about why the killer was not detained between the two shootings, and whether the university authorities could have done more to warn students.

Email alerts were only sent out two hours after the first incident, as the second rampage was well under way.

"I think the university has blood on their hands because of their lack of action after the first incident," said Billy Bason, an 18-year-old student.

The wire services are also carrying stories questioning the administration response.

Mexico Tells Artist To Turn The Other Cheek

Spencer Tunick, who produces news coverage for himself by shooting photographs of large groups of naked people in famous locations, will apparently not get to stage one of his events among the ruins of the Teotihuacan pyramids in Mexico. The Mexican authorities are not going to allow it.

MEXICO CITY (Reuters) - Mexico is unlikely to allow U.S. artist Spencer Tunick stage a nude photo shoot at its famous Teotihuacan pyramids, citing possible damage to the ancient site.

Tunick has asked Mexican archaeological authorities for permission to photograph masses of naked people at Teotihuacan, Mexico's oldest major ruins, on May 6.

"The application has been filed and the National Anthropology and History Institute is evaluating it, but it looks like they won't let him. It's not the last word but they have told me it will be rejected," Alejandro Sarabia, who runs the Teotihuacan site, told Reuters on Monday.

Tunick has caused controversy by staging nude photo shoots in cities from Dusseldorf to Caracas. Organizers say the Mexico City event might top his record of 7,000 naked people photographed in Barcelona in 2003.

Teotihuacan, which housed some 200,000 inhabitants at the height of its power around 500 AD, is a series of pyramids and buildings set around a central boulevard and would provide Tunick one of his most monumental backgrounds.

The site's budget probably hasn't enough money to pay for all that cheek-print removal.

Jeepers, Creepers, What Did You Do With Peepers?

The media gets this whole story wrong - as usual when they are writing about anything involving an animal.

Authorities say that on March 23, Quinlan and his 39-year-old girlfriend drove to a Lynnwood shopping center, where he entered a Linens 'n Things outlet and she went into a Petco store, taking the duck with her.

Stern wrote in court papers that a security guard thought he saw Quinlan shoplift an iPod speaker system, and a scuffle ensued.

Police say the guard chased Quinlan to the Petco store, where Quinlan got the car keys from his girlfriend and tried to escape.

The man jumped into the driver's seat of the car as the woman walked out of the store with her duck. Not knowing what was going on, she tried to stop him from driving away and was knocked down by the open car door as it backed up. She dropped the duck.

A Petco employee saw what was happening and "ran to save Peepers from the front of the car" just as Quinlan drove forward, Stern wrote. The car ran over the woman, inflicting serious injuries including broken bones in her foot and ankle, he said.

Charging papers say Quinlan continued driving and didn't stop until his vehicle struck another car nearby.

Our mildly incoherent informants tell us that the real story is the duck, Mr. Peepers. He was the ringleader of the entire operation. The humans, especially the dumb one, were just decoys. The duck was actually the shoplifter and got away with thousands of dollars worth of duck chow to help feed the waterfowl attack squads of the Animal Uprising™. Mr. Peepers is reportedly upset that his minions were unable to get him the speakers for his iPod, however, and refuses to make bail for Quinlan.