The latest college mass shooting, in which a former graduate student opened fire in a classroom at Northern Illinois University, killing five, will raise more questions about campus security and gun laws.
Police revealed Friday that the suspect had stopped taking medication (no specifics on what kind) and had become erratic in the days leading up to the shooting.
He bought two of the guns just a week ago. The immediate questions: Did he have a history of depression or other mental problems, as the Virginia Tech shooter did? If so, how was he able to buy guns?
Mitt Romney’s endorsement of John McCain Thursday is upsetting many of the former’s supporters, including some who wish instead he had bestowed his endorsement and 280 delegates on Mike Huckabee. Romney said of McCain, “This is a man capable of leading our country at a dangerous hour.†That sounds sincere, but it’s likely that Romney also realized he needed to be a team player now to be a potential nominee in 2012, should McCain lose in November.
An endorsement from former President George H.W. Bush, planned for Monday, should further cement McCain’s nomination. It surely will raise expectations that the president should formally endorse McCain, especially given what a good soldier McCain was for the latter Bush during the 2004 campaign.
Kansas is getting another p.r. hit with the story circulating the national news and blogs this week about a private high school northwest of Topeka that wouldn’t allow a female referee to officiate a boys’ game because the school doesn’t allow women to be in authority over men. The Kansas State High School Activities Association is investigating the report and may prohibit St. Mary’s Academy from playing other teams in the association (though the small school typically only plays a couple of association schools each season).
Sen. Sam Brownback has been offering crowds six reasons a Republican needs to win the presidency: the justices on the U.S. Supreme Court who are older than 70. When he delivered the line to a Topeka caucus crowd Saturday, he added: “If Hillary Clinton or Barack Obama are elected in the fall — how about a few more boos! — what direction do you think they’re going to take the Supreme Court? It’s going to a more leftist court.â€
The guy Brownback thinks can best fill any vacancies on the high court — with Brownback’s counsel, of course — is John McCain.
Given that McCain would be 72 when elected and sworn in, though, Brownback should exercise caution when suggesting being over 70 puts you in God’s waiting room.
Can bloggers name the six justices Brownback is talking about? (John Paul Stevens is 87. Ruth Bader Ginsburg is 74. Anthony Kennedy and Antonin Scalia are 71. And Brownback is rushing Stephen Breyer and David Souter, who turn 70 in August and in 2009, respectively.)
Speaking of justices who are older than 70, state Sen. Terry Bruce, R-Hutchinson, is pushing a bill to raise the mandatory retirement age for district court and Court of Appeals judges so they could finish any term they began prior to age 75, rather than having to quit the moment they hit 75. The bill also would allow Kansas Supreme Court justices to work to the end of the six-year term during which they turned 73. “I think we need to take advantage of the wisdom of our elders,†he said. He also noted that the state has no mandatory retirement age for lawmakers, governor or other state jobs. Maybe it should. Or maybe the state should rethink the need for any mandatory retirement ages. With life expectancy having risen from 68 to 77 since 1950, and with Social Security unprepared for baby boomer retirements, people need to start thinking of 75 as the new 65 anyway.
Bruce may face opposition over what seems like a simple proposal, though, given the irrational contempt that some GOP legislators have for the judiciary these days.
It was good to hear President Bush speak out forcefully this week against noose displays and lynching jokes that have been the subject of recent national controversies. “The noose is not a symbol of prairie justice, but of gross injustice,†he said. “Displaying one is not a harmless prank. ‘Lynching’ is not a word to be mentioned in jest.†He called such references and displays “deeply offensive†and out of place in America today.
They also reflect a gross ignorance of recent history.
Bush noted that not so long ago in this country, “Fathers were dragged from their homes in the dark of night before the eyes of their terrified children. Summary executions were held by torchlight in front of hateful crowds. In many cases, law enforcement officers responsible for protecting the victims were complicit in their deaths.â€
The latest college mass shooting, in which a former graduate student opened fire in a classroom at Northern Illinois University, killing five, will raise more questions about campus security and gun laws.
