Short Takes

A number of questions keep echoing in my mind, triggered by the Virginia Tech murderer:

Even if he wasn't a Jihadi, isn't it obvious that he used the model for mass murder first sensationalized by the Palestinians and now part of the modus operandi for al Qaeda and all other haters of the modern world in which they fit so poorly?  And perhaps someone smarter than me can explain this:

Islam has been used as inoculation against outrage. When Muslims do something crazy in the name of Mohammed, it is not regarded as a mental illness, rather as freedom of religion.

Further, under the heading that even very smart people can be poorly informed, serious mental illness does not necessarily increase the risk of violence.  Most violent people do not have major psychiatric disorders (Schizophrenia, Bipolar, Depression) but rather suffer from character pathology.  The Va Tech killer may have shown evidence of paranoid trends in his thinking, antipathy to others, inappropriate anger, but he was not, as far as is known, psychotic, which is what we usually mean when we talk about mental illness.  (Of course, the APA has done its part in trying to pathologize all sorts of behavior, but it is a disservice to call anyone who is depressed, "mentally ill.")  The question should be whether the person had the capacity to know right from wrong and the ability to choose one or the other course.  By all accounts, the killer knew what he was doing and chose to do something unspeakably evil.

And one more thing about the killer.  We know that, just as with the idealized murderers of the Islamist world, notoriety rewards them for their atrocities and encourages further atrocities.  If we know that, or should know that, why is it that of all the bloggers I have read and all the MSM reports I have seen and read, only Robert Avrech (independently) has joined me in refusing to mention this killer's name?  Maybe if we start to deny them their posthumous gratification, the next killer will think twice.  When I wrote about Amok on Monday, I omitted comments about how the scourge ended in Malaysia at the turn of the last century; this is germane to the discussion of our response to this man's Amok. 

After a number of killers were apprehended and jailed rather than killed, the incidence of Amok decreased.  Once a glorious death was no longer an option, but rather an ignominious stint in a jail, forgotten and ignored, the appeal lost some of its luster. 

In related news, many people in the West are racing to submit to Islam.  Harry Reid, leader of a new incorruptible Congress (did you really expect anything to change?) cannot wait to surrender.   Doug Ross has written the press release; we can expect to see the ceremony in the New York Times shortly.  The Canadian Federation of Students has already circulated their proposed articles of surrender for implementing Sharia in our neighbor to the North.  [HT: Powerline]

Why is it that 5 1/2 years after 9/11, so many people seem to be unaware that Islam means "submission"? 

And did you know that the Koran apparently forbids the recognition of a Jewish state?  Or that the best and brightest among Islamic intellectuals are so deeply imbued with paranoia as to be indistinguishable in their ravings from the those of the Va Tech killer?  Or that, predictably, many in the Islamic World are celebrating the atrocity, just as they danced in the streets after the great victory of 9/11?

Or that the government of Iran, like their brothers-in-arms, the Taliban, are attempting to erase all history prior to Islam?  Might I note that this history does not belong to them; it belongs to all of us.  Perhaps you also didn't know that the Republic of Iran has just endorsed the actions of the Va Tech killer as a model for enforcing Islamic purity?  It should give great comfort to those who blithely inform that we can talk to such people that their nuclear program has been moving ahead with alacrity.

For anyone interested in how Sharia will look when imposed on a Western city, consider a visit to the beautiful and friendly city of Malmo, Sweden.

Finally, with all the serious problems facing our Nation, we have the spectacle of Alberto Gonzalez being drilled by the Senate.  AG Gonzalez may be, certainly appears to be, a lovely man, yet he is so out of his depth that it is embarrassing.  The appearance of incompetence is the scandal here.  I am not a lawyer but when Arlen Spector, while badgering Gonzalez, asked why the Justice Department response to the Senate requests differed so much from the response to Special Prosecutor Fitzpatrick's requests for documents in the Plame-gate investigation, even I knew the answer.  One was a criminal investigation and the other is a political inquiry without even an allegation of a crime.  Would it have been too much to expect the AG to make such a distinction?

Between the Democrats lust for surrender, the Bush administration celebration of incompetence, the escalating and interminable election season, a flailing MSM using anything to maintain influence and income, and clear minded fanatics determined to destroy us as we dither, the next two years are likely to be  unpleasant.