I hope DUers realize that with all

[malaise]

of Bushco's homeland security, the worst crime on a US campus has taken place under his watch. So much for improved security.

[Lex]

1. "Homeland" security

indeed.

[eleny]

2. The ironies keep marching on, don't they

[Gregorian]

12. I love that.

I predicted when Bush was selected that there would be war, increased illness, and increased violence.

I was surprised it took him so long to get the war started.

[eleny]

14. Thanks, G!

One of my oldies but I like to drag it out when the timing seems right.

[Deja Q]

3. And as a result expect martial law.

People complain about the change of security in airports and every other little thing that may or may not be intrusive.

The only way to prevent violence may indeed be martial law.

Scary.

[malaise]

6. Airport security is ridiculous

When you make people in flat sandals take off their shoes, you're really clueless.

[Zensea]

8. There is no way to prevent violence

Martial law certainly won't do it even from a logistical standpoint - aside from the fact that it is a form of violence against liberty itself.

[alarimer]

19. There is no way to be absolutely safe

except for martial law, as you said. But who wants that? Not me anyway. I'd sooner die.

As the Spanish say, better to die on your feet than to live on your knees.

[Mz Pip]

4. Just shows

how easy it could be if they really wanted to follow us over here.

This is a horrible event. But security is a fleeting thing. NO one is ever really safe.

Mz Pip
:dem:

[uppityperson]

5. It also shows that we don't have to wait for "them" since there are people here already

that do things like this.

[live love laugh]

7. Nobody can protect us from every possible harm. As much as I hate BushCo this has

nothing to do with them.

[Sadie4629]

11. Thank you for saying that

Blaming this on Bush is like blaming Columbine on Clinton.

[malaise]

13. No blame was ascribed

I merely pointed out that despite Homeland Security, this happened under his watch.

It is palpably clear that neither the campus police nor those who came in were trained to deal with an emergency. I assumed Homeland Security spoke to improved training.

[bobbolink]

9. And who's holding him responsible? Our Dems?

I didn't even hear Keith mention this...

Must be nice to be able to skate away from everything....

:nuke:

[OPERATIONMINDCRIME]

10. With All Due Respect, This Post Makes Zero Sense.

If you think it truly does, then you are mistaken and I graciously request that you re-evaluate the logical factors behind the premise. You may then come to realize the flaws inherent within it.

[Bjorn Against]

15. I am very much a Bush critic, but I don't really see how he could have stopped this

I am glad he hasn't yet gotten "homeland security" to the point where we have armed guards on every street corner and that is the only thing that could have maybe prevented this (and that is a very big maybe).

Honestly there are much better things to go after Bush for, don't go after things that he has no control over it just weakens our arguments in other areas if it looks like we are going after him for every last thing that goes wrong.

[MonkeyFunk]

16. Umm...

are you saying that Bush should've implemented even more draconian security measures to prevent an occurrence such as this?

Sorry, I'll pass.

Homeland security isn't meant to prevent all crime - and this was a crime. A terrible one, but it wasn't a terrorist attack.

[progressoid]

17. HUH?

And the Murrah FBI Building and Centennial Olympic Park bombings happened under Clinton so....????

[frogcycle]

18. yes, I was ranting about that to my family earlier

disregard whether it was "terrorism" - a foolish debate - it was exactly what we were supposedly going to spend big bucks via Homeland Security to train "first responders" to recognize and deal with.

The cops didn't recognize the situation ("nobody expected the levees to fail"), and the medical facilities were overwhelmed. There was no semblance of a "rapid response" team mobilized. If this was a test to see if we are vulnerable, boy did we dramatize we have plenty of rich targets. Nothing - NOTHING has been done to make ANYBODY ANY more ready for something like this than they were on 9/10/01. Instead we're just killing 3-4 highly-trained military professionals a day playing policeman in somebody else's homeland. The damned Homeland Security funds all got spent on pet projects rewarding political allies.

[malaise]

20. That was my only point

Frogcycle - I saw no evidence of trained "first responders". Indeed I saw an inexplicable two hour gap before the lock-down. I remember 9/11 like yesterday and many people wondered why they hadn't cleared the second tower after the first one was hit. Of course that was easy to say after the fact, given the unusual nature of the attack, but I thought people wre suposed to learn from that. The campus should have been shut down and nothing VT's President says will change the fact that they should have locked down the campus.

[MistressOverdone]

21. And just what did YOU have in mind

for improved security? (Try to think of something that doesn't resemble a police state, ok?)

Blaming this on the Bush administration, or ANY administration would be funny if it weren't so tragic.

[tomreedtoon]

22. Don't blame Bush. Blame the educators.

They didn't take the proper steps, they didn't prepare for this sort of thing, even after 9/11 and after numerous school murders and suicides. Like all American educators, they are dunderheads trying to cover their own asses instead of protecting the asses of their charges.

The only complicity Bush has in this is that he is the "education President." In other words, he's paid lip service to the educational establishment, which continuing in its incomptent, egotistical ways.