The Night Writer is busy working on something…I think he’s filling out his “Quality of Living” Will, so I’m going to take this opportunity to look around and see what else is making news in the world.
Oh, here’s a headline on CNN: “As Killer Gunman Approached, Teacher Prayed.” What? Guns and prayer in schools? I bet somebody’s going to get sued.
BEMIDJI, Minnesota (AP) — English teacher Neva Rogers finally had found a place where she felt needed, where she could give opportunities to poverty-stricken children who struggled with teen pregnancies, drugs and alcohol.
That place was Red Lake High School, where she died in a school shooting last week. While students crouched under their desks in a corner, Rogers stood out in the open and began to pray.
“God be with us. God help us,” 15-year-old Ashley Lajeunesse heard Rogers say after she told students to hide as gunman Jeff Weise fired through a window and marched into the room.
Hmmm, just a thought, but I wonder what might have happened if there had been more guns and more prayer in the school that day? I’m not saying, but I’m just saying, you know? I’m sure the Supreme Court knows Rights from what’s right and wouldn’t needlessly put defenseless people at risk of death.
I see Time magazine has an article about the Red Lake shootings as well: “The Devil in Red Lake.”
The teacher spoke up. “God be with us,” said Rogers. Provoked, the gunman shot her. He then aimed at another student, Chon’gai’la Morris, and asked, “Do you believe in God?”
“No,” came the answer. The gunman turned away and found other targets, shooting and killing Dewayne Lewis, Thurlene Stillday, Chanelle Rosebear and Alicia White as they huddled on the floor. He left the room and exchanged fire with police officers, who were advancing down the hallway. Retreating into Rogers’ classroom, he yelled, “I have hostages!” Then he turned a gun on himself and pulled the trigger. Silent throughout the ordeal, the surviving students began to scream.
A little bit later on, the article cites some of the killer’s writings…
He also wrote of strange tingly feelings that woke him out of a sound sleep and dark visions of small creatures sitting by his bed that he would reach out to touch before falling unconscious. But whatever demon finally compelled Weise to act also made him plan his assault.
The Devil? Demons? Is Time saying they exist? Is the creeping theocracy taking over the media? I mean, they couldn’t print it if it wasn’t true, could they? Naah, let’s move on.
Now this looks grim. CNN has picked up this story from Reuters:
JOHANNESBURG, South Africa (Reuters) — Animal rights groups have begun fresh public campaigns timed for the start of the annual seal hunt off the coast of Canada this week and suggestions that South Africa may kill elephants for population control…
Canada said last week it would allow hunters to kill 320,000 young seals on the ice floes off its Atlantic coast from Tuesday and earlier this month a South African official told Reuters that national parks were leaning towards an elephant cull.
Anti-hunt activists held protests earlier this month in 50 cities around the world. Groups like the Humane Society International (HSI) said they would press ahead with calls for a boycott of Canadian seafood.
“We are joining in a specific boycott of Canadian seafood products, focusing on snow crabs, and starting on Tuesday, the day the first seal is killed,” HSI vice-president John Grandy told Reuters by phone from the eastern Canadian province of Prince Edward Island.
Big beasts strike a chord with the public, making them the perfect “poster animals” for conservationists who have branded Canada and South Africa as outposts of wildlife tyranny.
“The things that seem to attract the layman the most is the big animals. I think people… connect to them,” said Chris Hails, the Global programs director for WWF International…
Meanwhile, in South Africa…
…national park authorities say the burgeoning elephant population in the flag-ship Kruger National Park has made culling a necessity. The park has an estimated 12,000 ponderous pachyderms, well above the estimated “carrying capacity” of around 7,000.
Animal rights activists are horrified at the prospect of a return to culling elephants, which involves the herding and shooting of entire family groups.
Meanwhile…in Florida…
