Comments on: The theoretical lionheart.

By: MaryC

MaryC — Fri, 20 Apr 2007 15:30:18 +0000

These blowhards who fantasize about taking the gunman down make me think of an exchange I had in a Law & Order Usenet group. The episode we were discussing had a similar scenario – students gunned down by a single gunman – based, I think, on Marc Lepine’s rampage at the Ecole Polytechnic in Montreal.

One of the posters made the usual claim that if the students and bystanders had been armed, they could have taken out the gunman and saved lives. Here’s the thing – as we discussed the episode, this guy had all of the details wrong. Whether or not the cops were already on the scene when the shooting started, how many victims there were – all that. Here’s a guy who’s sitting comfortably in front of the TV watching a cop show and expecting to see mayhem. And he still doesn’t know what it was that he saw.

I asked him what if, assuming that he was there and that he and everyone else were armed, he saw someone running past him with a gun. And then he saw someone else running past him with a gun, chasing the first person. Which one is the killer and which one is the student? Which one does he shoot? And how does he handle the manslaughter charge and the family’s lawsuit when he shoots the wrong guy? And while he’s shooting, which other panicky bystander will be aiming at him? I never did get an answer as I recall

By: LA mary

LA mary — Fri, 20 Apr 2007 15:06:54 +0000

I meant I didn’t know any members of the Andersen family. I know the restaurants.

By: Ricardo

Ricardo — Thu, 19 Apr 2007 22:05:07 +0000

LA Mary, Andersens is Buellton, north of Santa Barbara. I’ve been to Buellton and Frankenmuth, one is Danish, one German. Buellton also has Danish bakeries other than Andersens. There used to be a Frankenmuth Beer. I wonder if they still make it or revived the name now that micro-breweries are back in style.

By: Bill B.

Bill B. — Thu, 19 Apr 2007 19:21:19 +0000

From Pea Soup’s website “We specialize in freshly baked pastries that will please your pallet.”………..Back up the fork lift, I’m gettin’ some……

By: LA mary

LA mary — Thu, 19 Apr 2007 15:03:26 +0000

Unfortunately, I don’t know any of the pea soup Andersens. I’ve eaten in the Buellton and San Diego branches, and my kids loved the soup there even as toddlers.
United 93 was a great movie, and the lack of action stars and cowboys had a lot to do with that. Why do people have to cowboy it up? That woman who copyrighted the phrase, “let’s roll,” aaargh. My kids were completely silent during the whole movie, which is rare. Usually Pete will decide to report skateboarding adventures in real time when I’m watching something intently.

By: John

John — Thu, 19 Apr 2007 12:06:02 +0000

I am a bad boy and enjoy sophomoric humor, so sue me! Hey, I can’t help it if you are good looking and very funny (but not so much modest, you know?). By the way, I am older than you (who will hit the big one later this year) and clearly have entered into my DOM stage of life.

By: nancy

nancy — Thu, 19 Apr 2007 11:56:14 +0000

You bad boy. Interesting trivia: The person sitting next to me in that photo is the richest person I’ve ever known personally. Heiress to two vast Midwestern fortunes. Had one of those upper east side apartments where the elevator opened onto her front door, and no other. (The front door was left open all the time. She never carried keys. Her neighbors were other people like her, and security was the doorman’s job.) A fun girl, but had a bit of a drinking problem.

By: John

John — Thu, 19 Apr 2007 11:45:13 +0000

For those still pondering the bust thing.

By: brian stouder

brian stouder — Thu, 19 Apr 2007 02:57:20 +0000

regarding United 93, or that Nicholas Cage movie – or pretty much any of the others – I don’t plan on ever watching them.

I remember when I was maybe 15 years old, yapping with our neighbor across the street about some Second World War movie I had seen, and she matter-of-factly told me she never watches any of those movies; she lived through those days, read the newspapers, lost friends and loved ones – and didn’t need to see it.

I “get” that now; it is how I feel about 9/11 movies. I’ll read non-fiction books on the subject, but pass on some Hollywood star-turn treatment (thinking of the Cage movie here….although Pammy and our 11 year old son watched that movie, and were impressed by it)

By: michaelj

michaelj — Thu, 19 Apr 2007 00:54:56 +0000

That well-regulated militia the NRA thinks justifies some New Wild West, let the aholes takes their asses to Baghdad and put down terrism before it follows us home.

People don’t think this self-grandioose bullshit connects with putting a sock in it and landing on an aircraft carrier, well, the Scottie dog might have pissed in their ear when the pretzel knocked their ass out. And we need to monitor library borrowing but the Tejas legislature thinks the identity of secret packers should be sacrosanct.

I’ve got an idea that it’s easier to ascribe evil to a venal invasion for profit than to some clearly nutso guy in Blacksburg. And to the wackjob lobbyists that didn’t just arm him, they gave him a 31-shot clip. The 31-shot clip was a bouquet from the administration to the NRA, and a repudiation of the Brady Act. For what reason? Can some gun nut explain this? I suppose, if his fellow students had also had the banana clips…And if it takes 31 shots to bring down Bambi, should you be trusted with a gun? So we actually want you in our militia?

But I suppose somebody pretty clearly nuts still has his Second Amendment Rights, even though they’re about as real as the voices telling him to pull the trigger.