<html>
<head>
<meta content="text/html; charset=ISO-8859-1"
http-equiv="Content-Type">
</head>
<body bgcolor="#FFFFFF" text="#000000">
<br>
<div class="moz-cite-prefix">On 6/5/2014 6:38 PM, Tom Hansen wrote:<br>
</div>
<blockquote
cite="mid:D86CF0A2-A6B4-493C-8926-F46FE41172A9@moscow.com"
type="cite">
<meta http-equiv="content-type" content="text/html;
charset=ISO-8859-1">
<div>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.</div>
<div><br>
</div>
<div>Ok?</div>
</blockquote>
<br>
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.<br>
<br>
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.<br>
<br>
<br>
Ken<br>
<br>
</body>
</html>