Does the price of a small domestic massacre matter?

Is $8 million a fair price for 33 dead and 17 injured? The price does not even make a nick in the trillions we are paying for a non-domestic bloodbath in the sand; how could a measly $8 million matter?

This diary explores the cost of only one small, domestic massacre. Only one Bad Guy with a coupla guns, about 175 rounds of ammunition, and a depthless rage.

This killing spree, this small domestic massacre, is different for me only because the bull's-eye was painted where it mattered most.

Last night, The Dave Matthews Band and other artists performed at Virginia Tech. The concert was designed to serve as both a remembrance of those killed and injured on campus in April 2007, and as a defiant affirmation of life for the people spiritually decimated by the shooter’s actions.

The Dave Matthews Band, John Mayer, Phil Vassar, and Nas have graciously offered to Virginia Tech a free concert for the members of the university community. ... It’s about a celebration of spirit. ... a way to help students, faculty and other[s] ... move forward in the aftermath of the April tragedy at Virginia Tech.
-- Virginia Tech concert website

I want to tell you about Rapunzel.

She did not die on campus that day in April. Neither did her father. So I was lucky. I didn’t have to join the thousands of grieving and celebrating people in Lane Stadium last night. I didn’t have to listen to Dave Matthews sing for my daughter.

This week's GonzoFest has stolen thunder from one especially sparkly trace of Excellent News. For the first time, I found myself writing a thank you note to my other senator, John Warner, he of the steely white hair, craggy jawline and flat-out loyalty to All Things War.

I suspect few of us at DailyKos were aggressive partisans before the Republicans of the Bush Administration made partisanship the measure of patriotism. John Warner pleasantly surprised me -- no, that's not true: he shocked me out of my shoes -- by calling for Bush to return 5,000 troops stateside by Christmas.

In keeping with my mother's insistence upon saying, "please," and "thank you," where merited, I sent this (moderately revised) email to Sen. Warner:

I've been trying to Update the following diary but the site seems tangled, or maybe I'm not doing it right. (New at this.)

Original diary:

[http://www.dailykos.com/...]

Update below the fold ....

Update [2006-10-1 4:46:54 by Coolwateroverstones]:

Some readers questioned the veracity of this diary when it originally posted because it did not have an external link to the print-published story. A different version of this story was published in _The Smyth County News & Messenger_ on Wednesday, Sept. 27, 2006, Page A4, below the fold, under the headline, "Different ways for different people." I wrote the story as a freelance Guest Columnist.

Please follow UPDATE below the fold ...