Jay Maynard

km5r posted this statement from the father of one of the victims of the Columbine killers to a subcommittee of the US House of Representatives Judiciary Committee. He's right, and he's wrong.

He's absolutely right when he says the blame cannot be laid at the feet of the National Rifle Association, or the guns the killers used. The guns were just tools used by the killers.

He's wrong when he lays the blame on the perceived lack of God in the schools. As an atheist, I cannot agree that those who do not believe in a supreme being must necessarily "allow[] evil, prejudice, and hatred to rush in and wreak havoc". It is possible to be a good person without being intimidated into doing so by fear of divine retribution. Indeed, that is the goal to which I strive (imperfectly, since I am human).

The problem at Columbine High School was simply that two guys who had put up with far too much from their peers decided they weren't going to take it any more. I've been there. I don't know why I didn't grab a couple of guns and shoot up my high school, but I have no trouble at all understanding why others have done so.

I got the first of several copies of howardtayler's first Schlock Mercenary book, Under New Management, from the post office a few minutes ago. My reward for spending a couple of hours struggling with Adobe Illustrator to generate a cleaned-up version of the United Nations of Sol seal and giving it to Howard for his use was a signed, sketch edition of the book.

What I didn't know was just what Howard was going to put in it.

As it happens, the one I got was entirely appropriate: it shows Sergeant Schlock about to pounce General Xinchub - and when Schlock pounces someone like that, that someone usually winds up getting eaten.

I can't quit giggling.