[Vision2020] Coming to UI soon . . .

[Kenneth Marcy]

On 6/5/2014 6:38 PM, Tom Hansen wrote:
> Just a sarcastic reminder, after the shootings in UC Santa Barbara and 
> now Seattle Pacific University (within a couple weeks of each other) 
> that weapons will be permitted on the UI campus in July, although 
> every Idaho college president and virtually every municipal police 
> Chief (including Moscow's own Chief Duke) has also spoken out against 
> weapons on campus.
>
> Ok?

Actually, no.  While it is certainly your privilege to hold the view, 
and to express the sentiment, that weapons violence and injuries are an 
inevitable result of recent unfortunate legislation, I would prefer, in 
the first instance, at least, to grant to University of Idaho students a 
presumption of the ability to, and the will and determination to, 
considering the seriousness of the matter, conduct themselves in manners 
that will not result in injuries or deaths as a result of the recent 
changes in law. Americans are supposed to grant a presumption of 
innocence to any accused before guilt is determined and judged.  
Analogously, I would prefer to grant a presumption of adult 
responsibilities and capabilities to University of Idaho students before 
any incident or accident provides evidence to the contrary.

In the last baker's dozen years changes have been forced upon the 
American populace that are both undesirable and onerous. Unfortunate 
though some of those changes are, the fact is that some of them are 
reversible, and to some extent at least, a recovery of the status quo 
ante is not only desirable, but it is possible if we are able, 
collectively, to keep our wits about us, our strength and determination 
to persevere and succeed intact, and our will to reverse the wrongs and 
the inadequate judgments that have placed us in our current 
less-than-optimal positions.  While it may be a bit too much to expect a 
reform of the Republican Taliban that convenes itself in the south, it 
may be the case that after a quarter of a century of 
less-than-acceptable executive leadership, better alternatives might be 
found and elected in the foreseeable future. Idaho's Dark Ages may now 
appear to persist indefinitely, but we must remember that there exists 
some possibility for a restoration of reason, if not actual 
enlightenment, in the executive branch. While such a change is no 
guarantee of cures for what ails the state, it might serve as a 
tourniquet to stanch some of the bleeding insanity that fancies itself 
as a legislative lodge at lower latitudes.


Ken

-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: <http://mailman.fsr.com/pipermail/vision2020/attachments/20140605/04c5e59b/attachment.html>