Brain Fertilizer

Four Killed in Teacher's Meat Cleaver Attack.

Two Killed in Beijing Kindergarten.

This is worthy of comment on several different issues.

First, why the spate of attacks? There doesn't seem to be much in common in the attacks, including the motivation, the location, the background/occupation of the perpetrator, or even the weapon of choice. The only thing in common seems to be that people are suddenly trying to kill school-children in China.

Second, it highlights the ridiculousness of gun control attempts. Knives alone accounted for as many deaths and woundings as a gun could in a situation like this. In fact, if any of the teachers had been packing heat (a silly thought itself, sure, but humor me), the death toll in each case probably would not have exceeded one: the dead goblin. The problem is not the weapon of choice, but the hate/violence in the heart. If someone wants to kill, they will find a tool to do it, and guns aren't even the most efficient tool for the task. Cars and explosives are far better for killing people, and bare hands are pretty good, too.

Third, when I mentioned this to my friend in China, she said she hadn't heard anything about it. It's possible she just doesn't pay attention to domestic news, but...
I recognize that the authoritarian/totalitarian government in charge of China does suppress news. However, I cannot imagine why this news would be suppressed, especially since it appeared on the English-language site supported by the Chinese govt. WTF, over? The best part of that discussion is we got to have an interesting discussion over news not covered by the news media, and why: here we have a news media, of which a significant portion is dedicated to removing President Bush from office and enacting socialist dogma/ideology/programs. It makes for an interesting look at what news gets suppressed in each system, doesn't it?