Last week opened with gunshots at Virginia Tech turning everything gloomy.  I could have recovered from the gloom.  But what really ate my insides and keeps on eating them, is the face of that gun-toting wacko peering from almost every news site, newspaper, or TV channel.  The coverage given to this psychopath killer once again proves what we already know: the passion of the media with the gross and the grotesque borders near to insanity and nearer to fetishism.  The stupid media is turning this stupid psychopath into an icon and a martyr.  And if they continue on that path, it won’t be long before some other weak minds try to emulate him just to get media coverage.

The American College Health Association’s National College Health Assessment’s Spring 2006 Report covered 117 campuses.  It shows that out of the 95,000 students surveyed, more than nine percent had seriously considered suicide, and one in every 100 had attempted suicide within the previous year.  Considering that the gunman himself was a student who committed suicide, his continuous coverage doesn’t make me feel very happy.  The point has aptly been made at Professor Stephen Bainbridge’s blog over at www.professorbainbridge.com in “Reacting to Virginia Tech.”  If you want the pro-gun, no-gun, and campus legal policy approaches to the event, check out the JD2B blog archives at www.jd2b.com.

Well, getting back to the normal from the abnormal, over there at Peter Lattman’s blog in the Wall Street Journal this week there is a good piece on former Qwest CEO Joe Nachchio, who has been found guilty of insider trading.  More interesting to me was the article on Chris Marston, founder and CEO of Exemplar Law Partners posted on www.leadershipforlawyers.typepad.com/.  Marston has started a law firm with a novel approach.  His firm goes only for flat-fee billing, and hires only entrepreneurial lawyers.  His firm also builds cross-functional teams from the time a matter is accepted.

Now, if you are a lawyer who litigates abroad, then don’t miss the post “International Arbitrations: Dealing With Delay” at www.whataboutclients.com, and save Mel Simburg’s article from the link given there.

Returning to recurrent stupidity, if Don Imus got fired for his stupid comments about the Rutgers’ woman’s baseball team, then, Professor Stephen Bainbridge at www.professorbainbridge.com argues, that Alec Baldwin, too, deserves to be fired for calling his 11-year-old child a “rude, thoughtless little pig.”  Shows how stupid Baldwin can be.  Fathering a pig!  Imagine that!