[jcmanson]

This guy is so sick. It just disgusts me. I couldn't believe what I was hearing. There was also a quote I heard about him comparing himself to moses as opening the sea for his followers to be able to run through. He was just sick. I'm trying not to say anything worse than that.

I was wondering if anyone else heard the interview with the girl who had a friend who got killed that was in her prayer group. It was a very good interview.

[BrysOn_G]

This guy is so sick. It just disgusts me. I couldn't believe what I was hearing. There was also a quote I heard about him comparing himself to moses as opening the sea for his followers to be able to run through. He was just sick. I'm trying not to say anything worse than that.

I was wondering if anyone else heard the interview with the girl who had a friend who got killed that was in her prayer group. It was a very good interview.

i didn't see this interview. if it's online anywhere, post it up.

[jcmanson]

Here's a very descriptive story from a kid in the French class.

http://www.time.com/time/nation/article ... nn-partner

[thepostman]

dang man....I can not imagine being that person right now...it must be so hard for the ones that were in the classrooms that survived....anybody going to the service at TRBC tonight?

[FlameDad]

[kel varson]

a couple things, im really surprised this happened monday and not this friday as this friday is 4/20 and thats the day that most of these types of things have happened in the past, its just a dark day. But i also hate the news and his english teacher and how today she was on the air saying she tried warning people he was going to do this because of his writing and blah blah blah shut the eff up lady. If you actually saw this coming you would have done something more than referring him to counseling. She can say she saw this coming all she wants, but she didnt, if she did, she sucks at life for not actually trying to stop it. The news stations need to just leave it alone. It happened, its tragic. Dont start making conspiracies and questioning how it was handled. Leave the president and the VTPD and everyone involved alone, at least for a couple weeks. Dont start questioning the people two days after it happened.

Is that the lesbian looking lady who spoke at the convo, and plugged her poem with all kinds of political junk when it should have been focusing on the tragedy. She annoys me. I thought Tim Kaine and Bush did a good job at the convo though. I wanted to throw up when tech invited teh four clerics to the stage though. Our society is so clueless.

[kel varson]

Excerpt from "We are Virginia Tech."

"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 be devastated for ivory; neither does the Appalachian infant in the killed in the middle of the night in his crib in the home his father built with his own hands being run over by a boulder because the land was destabilized."

She got a standing ovation for this bunk.

[TallyW]

I missed that part of her speech. I did see everything up to Bush and I caught a piece of the clerics... I agree that Kaine and Bush did well... I was very impressed with Kaine using no notes and talking casually... (at least appearing casual). Bush did a good job as well for the times. He's had a rough set of circumstances thrown his way. Lots of tragedy to handle. I know all presidents are bound to handle major tragedies... but it seems as though he's had more (even above and beyond anything associated with Iraq).

[qkslvrsrfrboy]

I have bushes speech on my ipod so i can listen to it, i think it was a great speech, especially how toward the end he was casually able to bring in God so strongly, really smooth transition. Her speech was junk, but that wasnt the lady who i was talking about from the interview.

[Realist]

What in the world? I thought her speech was great. She wasn't being politcal, she was saying that bad things happen to everyone, you have to move on and get through it.

Thank God everyone there saw it for what it was and gave her the best ovation of the night.

[thesportscritic]

you'll are nuts for calling that lady's speech "bunk" and "junk". It was a great speech. She definitely deserved an ovation. I loved the part where they chanted "lets go hokies" repeately at the end

[ATrain]

I agree with Realist and Critic, her speech was great. I enjoyed it. And the "Lets go Hokies" afterwards.

[kel varson]

Yeah, Elephants losing their tusks is real comparable to a mass shooting of actual "human beings."

I thought the whole "lets go Hokies" thing was a little bizarre and completely out of place. Maybe its just me, but when I'm reflecting on a tragedy the last thing I want hear is some trivial sports chant. I thought it took away from the solemnous ceremony. Then again, I wouldn't have had all the world religions on the stage spouting multi-cultural gobbily gook either.

Oh, and call me old school, but I like to see women act a little more feminine.

[LUconn]

I havent actually heard any of this stuff because I'm behind the Alcatraz firewall, but that is the first I've read of many many many opinions, that didn't like the chant.

[bigsmooth]

all the speeches were good and the lesbian looking woman did a good job of rallying the crowd to stay strong and show the hokie pride they are so well known for. she may have laid it on a bit thick, but you can't really blame her for getting caught up in the moment. it kinda gave me goosebumps.

[Realist]

Yeah, Elephants losing their tusks is real comparable to a mass shooting of actual "human beings."

I thought the whole "lets go Hokies" thing was a little bizarre and completely out of place. Maybe its just me, but when I'm reflecting on a tragedy the last thing I want hear is some trivial sports chant. I thought it took away from the solemnous ceremony. Then again, I wouldn't have had all the world religions on the stage spouting multi-cultural gobbily gook either.

Oh, and call me old school, but I like to see women act a little more feminine.

No, it is not comparable, but that isn't the point, she put that in with all the other things to show that tragedies happen everyday, everywhere, to everything, and that while you must reflect, you also must move on and persevere.

I didn't see the whole proceeding, so I don't know how it fit into everything, but I assume she was the last speaker? At some point you have to move on and celebrate moving on and lift up spirits. No matter the tragedy, life goes on. I thought it was inspirational and uplifting to those on hand and a step in the right direction of moving on. It will not be soon forgotten, but the for most on hand, excluding victims families, I think it was appropriate to have some joy and a speech that spoke of moving past the incident and looking to the future, of pride, and I thought the chant was great for unity as well.

And while she may not be to my personal tastes in attractiveness, how is she not feminine? Short hair, aggressive speech? We don't live in the 19th century anymore, give me a strong woman anyday.

[kel varson]

"How is she not feminine?" Oh, come on. The same way Rosie O'donnel and Ellen Degeneres aren't feminine. She reminded me of Gilbert Godfried (sp) or whatever that comedians name is.

[PeterParker]

As an aside, if you go to the youtube link for the video of her speech that was posted a couple pages back, you will find a rigorous discussion by some of VT's own students and others about the speech in the comments section...some did not like the allusions and others defended it. According to some of the posters, the speaker is generally very overtly political, so that's probably why many who have had more association with the speaker are seeing the allusions and accompanying subtext as more overt than others who are more casual observers.

Regardless of her intent, the immediate focus should remain on offering condolences and memorializing the lives of those who needlessly lost their lives on that day, rather than debating the semantics of one speech. While certain elements in the poem may have had more political undertones, perhaps, a little down the road, a bit removed from the freshness of the wounds for the VT community, a rigorous debate about her words and intentions may be more apropos, IMHO.

[01LUGrad]

I have to say that I am just a little bit dissapointed by the lack of visible support shown by LU on its website for those at Tech. Yes, I know that the first picture on the slide show is of the rock. But other than that, there is no mention of the tragedy. I am sure that there are all sorts of things going on at LU to pray for and honor the victims, but I can't see that because I am not there! I went to the LU site expecting to see a huge show of support. Not there. Go to ANY other college website and you will see what I am talking about.

Maybe I am making a big deal out of nothing, but I just expected a little more.

[4everfsu]

Belcherboy, here is a bio on your friend Brian Bluhm. What a Christian testimony he had.

http://www.cnn.com/SPECIALS/2007/virgin ... bluhm.html

Also a young lady Rachael Hill from a christian school from Va.

http://www.cnn.com/SPECIALS/2007/virgin ... .hill.html

Another Christian young man, Jarrett Lane

http://www.cnn.com/SPECIALS/2007/virgin ... .lane.html

Another Christian young lady Lauren Mccain

http://www.cnn.com/SPECIALS/2007/virgin ... ccain.html

Reading these bios and the posting of friends brings tears to my eyes. God bless them and their families of all the victicms

[kel varson]

I have to say that I am just a little bit dissapointed by the lack of visible support shown by LU on its website for those at Tech. Yes, I know that the first picture on the slide show is of the rock. But other than that, there is no mention of the tragedy. I am sure that there are all sorts of things going on at LU to pray for and honor the victims, but I can't see that because I am not there! I went to the LU site expecting to see a huge show of support. Not there. Go to ANY other college website and you will see what I am talking about.

Maybe I am making a big deal out of nothing, but I just expected a little more.

I was rather suprised as well.

[Realist]

"How is she not feminine?" Oh, come on. The same way Rosie O'donnel and Ellen Degeneres aren't feminine. She reminded me of Gilbert Godfried (sp) or whatever that comedians name is.

Ironically, I drank a beer with Gilbert in a bar in San Fran about 4 years ago. He was as obnoxious in person as he comes across on the screen.