Free Republic

I have an alert set in Google that sends me an email whenever my name is mentioned somewhere on these Internets. Little did I know that I was part of a vast conspiracy to take away white people's guns, and also to deny said firearms to poor African-Americans. In a dark corner of the gun nut Right-wing blogosphere, I have been elevated to the level of Nikki Giovanni (god, I wish I had 1/100th of her talent or success). I am also apparently an "intellectual" (I wish), a well-funded operative of the Left (I wish I had those duckets), and...

The self-described "progressive" Democracy Now! news program recently interviewed Virginia Tech professor Nikki Giovanni, who taught a class in which VA Tech mass murderer Seung-Hui Cho was (briefly) a student, before she demanded that he leave the class. In the interview, Professor Giovanni advanced some rather startling notions about guns: "I think that guns are not one of our good ideas. I read the Constitution, and I didn’t see anything that said that any fool that wants a gun should have one. What did I miss?" Well, one thing she seems to have missed is that the Constitution does not...

SNIPPET: "Dinapoli said police already had a facial composite picture of the suspect they believe was behind the attack which killed 16-year-old Melissa Bassi." SNIPPET: "He said investigators had acquired "significant" video evidence that suggested one man had set off the device which exploded as pupils were getting off a bus for the start of lessons on Saturday morning. The footage showed a man of about 50-55 years of age activating a remote control to detonate a rudimentary bomb made of three gas canisters hidden in a container outside the school gates, he said."

ALBANY -- A renowned poet who taught the Virginia Tech killer found his presence so intimidating it felt like he was "controlling my classroom," the professor said in an interview. . . . The evening wasn't all solemn, though. Giovanni's often profane jokes about men, Jesus, and especially the Bush administration kept the crowd in stitches, though most of them can't be printed in a family newspaper. And from this article:But it wasn't what the celebrated poet said about the massacre that provoked one of the loudest reactions from her audience of University at Albany students Thursday. What really got...

Killer Cho at Virginia Tech is, of course responsible for the rampage that scourged the college this past week. We can spend time for the rest of eternity attempting to dissect his psyche. What provoked him? Why did he fall into the cracks? Why was he constantly excused by the school for aberrant and even criminal behavior? What were his parents like? Were his plays inspired by Quinton Farrentino who probably dipped his pen into blood to write those monstrous screenplays such as Kill Bill and Pulp Fiction? What does Ismail Ax mean? Let Nancy Grace decipher his modus operandi,...

We are Virginia Tech We are sad today We will be sad for quite a while We are not moving on We are embracing our mourning We are Virginia Tech We are strong enough to stand tall tearlessly We are brave enough to bend to cry And we are sad enough to know that we must laugh again We are Virginia Tech We do not understand this tragedy We know we did nothing to deserve it But neither does a child in Africa Dying of AIDS Neither do the Invisible Children Walking the night away to avoid being captured by...

Nearly two years earlier,( Nikki ) Giovanni had stood up to Cho Seung-Hui ... He wore sunglasses to class and pulled his maroon knit cap down low over his forehead. When she tried to get him to participate in class discussion, his answer was silence. "Sometimes, students try to intimidate you," ... "And I just assumed that he was trying to assert himself." But then female students began complaining about Cho. About five weeks into the semester, students told Giovanni that Cho was taking photographs of their legs and knees under the desks with his cell phone. She told him...

Nikki Giovanni's Moving Speech from Today's Service Tuesday, April 17, 2007WSLS NewsChannel 10     Students feared gunman for 18 months Wednesday, April 18, 2007This is London             We are Virginia Tech. We are sad today and we will be sad for quite awhile. We are not moving on, we are embracing our mourning. We are Virginia Tech. We are strong enough to know when to cry and sad enough to know we must laugh again. We are Virginia Tech. We do not understand this tragedy. We know we did not deserve it but neither does a child...

“We are Virginia Tech. We are sad today and we will be sad for quite awhile. WE are not moving on, we are embracing our mourning. We are Virginia Tech. We are strong enough to know when to cry and sad enough to know we must laugh again. We are Virginia Tech. We do not understand this tragedy. We know we did not deserve it but neither does a child in Africa dying of AIDS, but neither do the invisible children walking the night to avoid being captured by a rogue army. Neither does the baby elephant watching his community...