After thinking about things a little more, I want to be sure I'm not giving out the impression that I have any sympathy whatsoever for the killer at Virginia Tech, because I don't. The more I read about him the more I wish someone could have been given the opportunity to kill him before he could kill anybody. That's my gut feeling, raw as it is. I can only hope that, without becoming super paranoid, that we can be more aware of warning signs and learn from this tragedy the way we should have after Columbine. Hindsight is indeed 20/20 (just ask the President of VT). I think partly most Americans (aside from those familiar with Asian gangs in SF or something) didn't think of quiet Asian kids as a threat to shoot 30+ people dead, execution style. I hope now people (self included) will be more wary and look beyond the usual assumptions. It's not just middle aged, white males who can do this.

I am saddened and deeply troubled by the news coming out of Blacksburg, VA. It goes without saying how horrible those killings truly are. More than ever it stresses the need for all of us to be more aware about mental illness and treat it as a disease. What compels some to commit suicide and others to commit suicide and take lives on the way. What we DON'T need is more guns. Arming everyone in the classroom is clearly not a very good idea. Let's remind those who believe that an armed society is a polite society some percentages: the murder rate during the California Gold Rush, among others. But I digress.

I have fond memories of Blacksburg. Beulah played there on its first tour, opening for the Apples in Stereo in the fall of 1997. We had an extra day off and rolled into Blacksburg a day early, which we spent getting to know some of the folks we met in a record shop that was helping to promote our show. I'm afraid my memory doesn't serve me well as to what their names were or the name of the store, but I had a good impression of the town, the campus and the people. I remember a childhood fear of bats was rekindled as we were walking through town that night when what seemed like an entire tree's worth were stirring and flapping about. I remember, at the place we crashed, one of my favorite Steve St. Cin quotes, chiding the others for not being up to partying that night: "What is this, the traveling Betty Ford clinic?" That night in Blacksburg was also the first time I'd ever seen an episode of South Park (or knew what it was).

On a more personal note, I also remember the gig at Blacksburg (not our best) being the first and last time a song that I personally wrote (S.O.S., song two, side b on a limited 7" called "A Small Cattle Drive in a Snowstorm") was performed by that band. It was a time of learning one's own limitations. Deepest sympathies to the students at Virginia Tech, their families and loved ones.

On a separate note, it looks like the RIAA and the Copyright Royalty Board are at it again. It is clear that their intention is to kill internet radio. But the arc of history points to technological change (as it usually does to justice). Wherefore art thou, Sheet Music publishers? Still here, yes, but...

I wrote my Congressman and encourage anyone who cares about the future of internet radio and services like Pandora, to do the same.

I'm sorry, but I don't give a rat's fuck what Don Imus has to say, never have. The only people who should care are the middle aged, balding, fat wife beaters that listen to his show. I'm not stereotyping, am I?

Here's a bit of good news. Not sure why it's not in blaring headlines rivaling, oh, say, Anna Nicole Smith still being dead, but there you go. A universal blood type for blood donating. That's pretty amazing. But I guess it hasn't been safely tested yet.

The latest in the contango files. Here at Hamradiocentral, we, I mean I, post on the subject from time to time.

Some excerpts:

"Blame huge refinery profit margins, falling gasoline production, tensions with Iran and American drivers themselves, who are -- believe it or not -- buying more gas now than they did last year."

Or how about:

"Throughout, refinery profit margins on the West Coast remained almost twice as high as they were last fall, adding to the price drivers pay at the pump. The difference between what West Coast refiners pay for crude and the price they charge for refined products has risen to $37 per barrel from about $20 last fall."

And:

"Consumer advocates charge that refiners are purposely restricting gas supplies as a way to drive up the price. They doubt that all the recent mechanical problems are real or require as much downtime as the companies say. And they note that no government agency polices refining companies to make sure their executives are telling the truth."

I like this one:

"Still, no one has been able to prove manipulation. And many experts say the huge margins for refiners simply represent the dynamics of the market, where supply is squeezed and demand keeps rising.

For all the times California officials have investigated gasoline prices, they have never been able to demonstrate that refiners are gaming the market. The state attorney general's office has one such investigation under way right now but has not reached any conclusions."

Sound familiar? It should, because that was the exact scenario California went through with Enron and others on 2001. Where is the outrage?

The clue can be found here:

"Yet, even some oil executives acknowledge that California's gasoline market is broken, or at least seriously warped.

The state uses its own unique, pollution-fighting blend of gasoline, made by a limited number of refineries. That limited supply makes the state prone to wild swings in price and is one of the main reasons Californians typically pay more at the pump than other Americans."

What's wrong with the way that the above is framed in this article? EVEN SOME OIL EXECUTIVES ACKNOWLEDGE...as if it's established fact that the real reason there's a problem is because of those hippie environmentalists. That's the implied from above. But don't you think the oil executives have an incentive in highlighting the above limitation to create an impression that it is the real cause of the spike in prices, and omitting or downplaying the real cause (artificially limited supply to create higher demand and, thus, higher prices in a short period of time)? Uh, yeah. The spikes in prices are not just here in California.

This kind of thing is right out of the Bush Administration's playbook, in fact. Remember WMD? It's the same tactic: oversell the flimsy evidence to create the conditions to get what you want. "Even oil executives acknowledge," my ass. They are the first to want to acknowledge that red herring, not the last.

I'm still surprised at how little attention was given to this report, which I linked to last year. Nobody seems to care. The dems have subpoena power now. Where is the movement on this? Is it not a priority because key Dems want to incent people to stop driving? Is it because the Dems in the House and the Senate also have friends in the oil industry and owe them a few favors? A combination of the two? None of the above? If it's none of the above, then what is it? I don't get it.

Two more years...

A familiar pattern: a disgruntled nfl player in the news. And his agent? Drew Rosenhaus. Shocker. Well, except that this one's a kicker. A sign of things to come for Drew?