More fallout from Pelosi's "Mission of Diplomacy"

Yes, I know that this subject is now weeks old, but we still see comments on the subject that tell us that many people are missing the point. It doesn't matter if the congressperson is Republican or Democratic, when he or she takes it into his or her hands to try to create new foreign relations, that person is undermining the duties and policies of the State Department, and crossing the boundaries of Constitutional separation of powers.
For those who think no harm is done, please read this article from the Reform Party of Syria. Nancy's posturing to try to prove a point harmed more than just US diplomatic relations.
For those who are unfamiliar with the RPS, this is the statement from the "About" page on their site:

Reform Party of Syria (RPS) is a US-based Syrian opposition party to the Assad regime that has emerged as a result of September 11.



The party is governed by secular, peace committed American-Syrians, Euro-Syrians, and native Syrians who are determined to see that a "New Syria" is reborn that embraces real democratic and economic reforms.



RPS believes that political despotism, economic deprivation, and social stagnation in the Middle East have contributed significantly to the increase in domestic and international terrorism and to an Arab public policy that dilutes the goodwill the US harbors for democratic values in the Middle East.



RPS embraces accountability and transparency, human rights and freedom of expression, full diploamtic rlations with democratic Lebanon, and peaceful co-existence with ALL of our neighbors.




RPS leadership is consistent with the rich social mosaic of Syria, which includes Kurds, Alawites, Christians, Druze in addition to women who will play an important part in the future of Syria.

The RPS mission statement may be found here

Laws didn't prevent mass murder

The atrocity at Virginia Tech, yesterday, left thirty-three people dead, and at least twenty-three wounded. It is now known as "The worst mass-murder in the history of the United States. This is a time to wish peace and healing on the victims and their families. We would like to be able to avoid entering the debate as to why or how it happened, but the self-described "experts" are already pointing the finger of blame at everything from video games to the lack of gun control and a "violent society," and we feel compelled to state our feelings in the case.
We live in a world where there are people who have nothing in their state of being to tell them that it is wrong to take an innocent life. Such people have existed since the earliest time of history, going all the way back to the story of Cain and Abel. The fact of life is that there will always be someone who is out to kill people. There is no reason or rationale, and no cause. There will always be horror and tragedy such as that which happened at Virginia Tech. Although our natural state is to abhor acts which take the lives of others, there are those who do not fit in to our natural state.
Jack Thompson, a self-proclaimed "expert" on school shootings is an attorney--not a psychologist or sociologist--who claims that video games are behind all school shootings. The absurdity of such claims is evident in the fact that tens of millions of people have played video games such as "Doom," or "Grand Theft Auto," yet the percentage of these people who actually become killers is so small that Thomas may as well say that beer drinking is behind all school shootings.
Of course, all the gun control folks are claiming that our "gun" society is responsible for the actions of the killer, who has been identified as Cho Seung Hui, a South Korean National in the US on a student visa. Such people should be reminded that, though Virginia has a liberal weapons carrying policy, firearms are not permitted on school grounds or college and university campuses in that state. No law could have prevented the tragedy, unless there was one under which potential victims could have defended themselves. There was no way for the victims to defend themselves, in this case, while Seung Hui reloaded his weapons, which were not permitted on campus, and fired them over a hundred times. Think about it.