This isn't really political as DKos goes, but it's a tragedy wrapped inside of a national embarrasment.
In Portland, Oregon, my hometown, which is currently embroiled in a semi-major scandal between the mayor and a barely of-age young man, two Rotary exchange students (one fromn Peru, one from Clackamas, Oregon - my hometown) were gunned down outside an underage club by a psycho dumbass.
I was an exchange student in the same Rotary district (5100) to the Philippines (Lucena City) from 1987~1988 and it was a highlight of my life. The Rotary people in Oregon and the Philippines were top-notch and really cared for the kids so I feel especially devastated that the kids - who they try their best to protect - were killed in my own hometown.
I live in Japan and it's 4am so I'm about to go to bed, but this story really tears me up because of my personal experience with the program and the fact that:
- It's another shooting spree
- The victims included a student from Peru and a promissing student from my rival high school and 7 (!?) others who were shot.
- As an American and a former Rotary exchange student this is, to be blunt, a goddamn embarrassment to America.
Shit.... I studied in the Philippines after the ultra-corrupt Ferdinand Marcos was overthrown and a coup actually occurred while I was living there and yet it seems I was safer in the Philippines than these students were in Portland, OR.
Sometimes, I'm just plain embarrassed of my town and the country that allows any old a*hole to acquire a gun and shoot it at completely innocent people before the shooter decides to (try to) off himself.
If you'd like to read about this senseless tragedy, you can do so here:
http://www.oregonlive.com/...
I haven't read all of the comments at the website because The Oregonian website tends to be full of wingnut commentators who apparently think a gay sex scandal between two differently-aged participants is somehow more important than the utterly senseless murder of two teenage girls.
In my opinion, this is a far more important story and I'm deeply ashamed, once again, that this sort of incident happens in America and this time, a non-American teenage girl died as a result of it. The Rotary Exchange program is all about building ties between countries and I can't imagine anying more damaging than this sort of senseless violence. My heart goes out to the Rotary people who are supposed to keep these children safe 24/7. It's an impossible task, but they try their best. And now they're probably in the middle of a shitstorm that they simply cannot stop and never should have been thrust into in the first place.
I'm rambling, but this fucks me off.... Feel free to leave your comments.