I’m having a bit of trouble feeling sympathy for this victim and his family.  I know I shouldn’t be like that, but in a post-Columbine world a child of 13 or 14 years of age should no better than to bring a gun, fake or otherwise, into a school.  It will almost always end badly; and it did for this young man.

As to who to blame, well, that’s up in the air right now.  People are always quick to blame the police in situations like this, but I like to give everyone the benefit of the doubt until the facts are clear.  If it was communicated to the officers on the scene that the gun was fake, then officer in question should be held responsible.  If it’s discovered this information was not communicated to the officers on the scene, then someone else’s head should roll.  There’s something else to consider:  even if the father and brother told the police the gun was fake, could they be sure he didn’t have another gun, a real gun?  They couldn’t.  In these heated situations the officers have to make decisions on the fly.  Mistakes will happen, horrible mistakes, but none of us can know what it’s like unless we’re there.

You know, I’ve never been one of those who thought Tony Blair was a liberal, but what has happened to make him turn into a right wing nut that could go toe-to-toe with President Bush? I don’t think you can blame it on the recent attacks in London. Spying on members of Parliament!  What exactly does he hope to achieve with this?  Does he think members of Parliament are giving aid and comfort to the enemy?  If so, why not use the already pro-government rules currently in place?  This just seems overkill to me; not to mention career suicide.  Hell, even the Tories weren’t this bad.