It’s a pretty slow news day, folks.

Of course, we can always count on the double G (guns, gays) to provide some banality, misspellings, and hypocrisy among the anonymous soapboxers hanging out in the comment sections.

First the Guns

A Franklin County Deputy shot and killed his ex-wife in a Roanoke Sheetz parking lot over the weekend. His current wife knew of his plan and called 911. However, the Franklin County Sheriff (who I assume was the shooter’s boss) decided to make personal phone calls to the Salem police supervisor in lieu of dispatching a notice to all surrounding law enforcement to be on the lookout for the guy.

This kind of gun we can live with. (Pic | geeked.info)

This story is the kind of tragedy that could have been prevented on so many levels. Obviously the gun thing (see jESiO: crazy liberal gunhater). Why didn’t the Sheriff respond more responsibly to the 911 call? Why didn’t his subordinates ignore his orders and issue an APB anyway? Why didn’t someone call the victim since there was a good thirty minutes between the 911 call and the shooting? Sad sad sad.

It’s sad. You know what else it is? Maddening. I am angry, full-on, fist-clenched angry that I have to open my newspaper each day to multiple stories about gun violence. I’m not going down the Brady vs NRA road today, as it generally accomplishes nothing more than heated discussions on internet boards, which leads to absolutely no change whatsoever. Instead, I want to plea to those who sit at home with their arms beared with this: Aren’t you also angry? Don’t you think it’s unfair that we have to all live in a society where each and every day multiple people from our own community are shot to death?

Now the Gays

First off, a big big congratulations to all involved in bringing Out in the Park to Norfolk’s Town Point Park this Saturday.

Fight for our right to have asinine additions to defense spending bills. (Pic | personalliberty.com)

Next, in yuckier news, it seems the military has changed its mind (whaa?? that never happens). The newly passed $690 billion defense bill states military chaplains are not allowed to perform same sex marriages and that military installations cannot host gay weddings. This seems to be the case regardless of DADT being repealed. Interesting they lumped this little nugget in with a large, complicated bill more focused on military spending regarding war funding and military salary.

As clearly seen by interviews with various legislators, lawmakers who support gay marriage still voted for this bill because it overwhelmingly had to do with something else they did agree to. Kudos to the Pilot for the headline “Defense Bill Gives Cold Shoulder to Gay Marriage.” It’s so much more ballsy than “Defense Bill Passes, Will Fund War and Pay Soldiers” or some such vanilla recap. It’s as editorial as a paper can get without being editorial, and I respect that.

Bath Salts Banned

In North Carolina, spice and bath salts are now classified as synthetic marijuana and cocaine, respectively. This makes them both illegal. I just heard about this bath salts-up-the-nose craziness for the first time this weekend and had no idea it was prevalent enough to create a law. However, upon entering the letters “bath salt? into Google, it auto-filled with “bath salt drugs” as the number one search. Upon reading, I learn that these are not the normal bath salts we use to soak in our tubs. They’re a little different, and manufacturers are putting them in bath salt jars labeled “not for human consumption” and selling them legally to users.

Puppies!

Prairie Dog puppies were just born at the Virginia Zoo. Check them out!

CNU Student Paper Prepares for Fight

Voice of whom?

As a CNU Alum who worked for four years at its student paper, The Captain’s Log, I was upset to wake up to unsettling news that attempts are being made to dismantle the Student Media Board, which, as Faculty Advisor Dr. Terry Lee states in an email, will “inhibit the SMB freedom-of-the-press firewall between the university administration and student government groups, and the student media.”

I was at CNU when the SMB was formed as a means to separate the paper from the Student Government Association. This action was necessary as we had recently published (public) information regarding the university President’s salary and the reaction by the administration was an attempt at firing our Editor.

Seems the administration is up to the same dirty tricks. As Dr. Lee’s email goes on to explain, attempts to stifle The Captain’s Log‘s criticism of anything unbecoming have escalated into full-on attempts to defund the organization, eradicate the print edition, and move the role of a journalism degree from an English Department concentration to a Communications Department concentration (whose Chair called the move “a waste of time and resources” as journalism could “be dead in 7-10 years.”)

I’m sure there will be more to come regarding this. I’m publishing my rant here in case any CNU alum or anyone else who loves freedom of the press should care to email the powers that be at CNU and explain why journalism is a very important and alive field. I disagree wholeheartedly with any attempts by those in power to stifle anything a journalist wishes to state about said power (CNU-related or non.) CNU has grown rapidly and wonderfully over the last decade and I’m proud to the teeth to call myself a Captain. The notion that the paper’s criticism of other parts of campus hinders recruitment is ridiculous. A paper that stands its ground and creates infrastructure to protect itself from being in essence “government-run” is an achievement CNU should be touting to those it wants to recruit. It means its students are learning the right kinds of lessons.