Earlier today a news story was posted on FOXNews.com that talked about a high school kid who threatened the life of two classmates before shooting himself. Let’s hope that this isn’t the beginning of a rash of copycat cases where disenfranchised students begin to take out their frustration on their classmates.

There MUST be a national campaign that puts help at the hands of these students. And for the love of God if a person is found to be a potential menace to his surroundings, then PLEASE put that kid in a place where he cannot hurt anyone - including himself!

As the United States continues to reel from the massacre at Virginia Tech, I think it’s worth looking at what happened here in a global perspective. What does that mean? Well, think about this…

In Iraq today alone, more than 180 people were killed. ONE HUNDRED AND EIGHTY! And that was just today. Now, bear in mind that Iraq is a country of some 27 million people. In contrast, America has over 300 million people and the entire country is on its heels about the 32 dead at Virginia Tech.

And yes, I understand that Iraq is a rogue state because of the young government there and the quasi-civil war that is taking place. And I also understand that many more than 180 people were killed on MANY days under the Saddam Hussein regime. However, I think that as we, as a nation, mourn the innocent dead in Virginia it would do us some good, as a nation, to stop and think about why we are so shocked.

From my standpoint, we are shocked because we are used to a safe, secure homeland. We are used to sending our brothers, sisters, sons, and daughters away to college and knowing that they are as safe as could possibly be while they are there. We are used to a homeland that values life more than anything else. Think about that - life more than anything else.

When we see elements of the third world encroaching our beloved America, the question after “Why is this happening?” should be “How do we stop this from getting worse?” Folks - now is the time to stop the evil in our streets before we suffer more than 180 dead daily. Now is the time to look at your local, state, and national leaders and ask if they and their policies have the best AMERICAN interests at heart. This means that you may have to put your personal beliefs aside to support someone whose platform will allow you to continue living and breathing in these United States.

At the risk of sounding overly conservative - it’s time that we look at our country’s policies and stop doing whatever it is that we are doing that is allowing America to slowly denigrate into a place where this type of terror can take place on a college campus.

If we don’t do it today - in the name of the United States of America - then our children and grandchildren may have to suffer through talking about their own 180+ massacres…and on a daily basis. And if that happens - then we might as look at whether or not we’re being true to the founding ideals of this country.

One of the funnier stories in the entertainment media over the last few weeks has been the huge joke that was Sanjaya Malakar’s rise on FOX’s American Idol. What I liked best about Sanjaya was that he was completely clueless as to the joke that was being played on him. Please - a crying girl in the audience didn’t get him the votes that kept him towards the top of the American Idol list and neither did his sub-par singing ability.

What kept Sanjaya on top was a huge group of people who were playing a massive joke on both him and American Idol. Sure, it’s cruel to play a joke on a poor 17 year old kid. But if the name of the game is to let the fans vote, then - in this country - the fans can vote for who they want!

Sanjaya’s latest performance of Bonnie Raitt’s “Let’s Give Them Something to Talk About” was so excruciatingly painful to listen to that I had to laugh out loud tonight when he sang it as his swan song and completely forgot a bunch of the words.

So now that Sanjaya is gone from American Idol the question becomes…is the show still worth watching?!

A few months ago a list was published that named today’s Top 20 TV shows. The phenomenon of the last few years, ABC’s Lost, wasn’t on the list. And for good reasons, too! If anyone has been following the Lost story - it’s a damn joke!

There are complete episodes that go by where there is absolutely no plot progression. NONE AT ALL!

Tonight was one of those nights. I admit, I keep the stupid show running in the background while I do my work at my desk, but the show is barely good enough to be background fodder any more! It sucks! It’s a disaster.

Someone at ABC please figure out how to get to the end of the series (not the season, the series) as soon as possible. The legacy of this show is now ruined - don’t let it get any worse.

All of the data coming out of the Virginia Tech tragedy tells us that this Cho Seung-Hui bastard was not just a loner and one of “those kids,” but that he also had a history of mental illness. So after 32 innocent people - including a heroic Holocaust survivor - are dead at this madman’s hands - who is to blame?

You know what? From what I can see, no one is to blame except the rotten bastard that was Cho Seung-Hui.

Sure, he shouldn’t have been allowed to live in the general public of Virginia Tech and we can see that using our hindsight as 20/20. But what do you do in a liberal, permissive society that doesn’t want to call a spade a spade? Fifty years ago in the United States of America, this scoundrel would have been marked as a mentally deranged individual and he would have been ostracized from the general public. Not today!

Not today. Not in the liberal, politically correct country that we live in today. There was a time when a guy could write evil plays in school, have his teachers tell their superiors that the kid was a threat to society, and the kid would be removed from society! But we can’t do that any more in America because we don’t want to hurt anyone’s feelings these days.

And no, the American country isn’t to blame. And despite what Rosie O’Donnell says, it’s not the fault that this kid was able to get a gun legally. The problem in this case was that our system in America has created situations where kids are allowed to fall through the cracks and then be left alone in the interest of diversity.

Seriously…32 dead at Virgina Tech less than a decade after more than a dozen dead at Columbine and our stupid scumbag leaders STILL won’t stand up and say, “What the fuck happened in this country?!?” Where is the leader who will say, “If you’re singled out time and time again as a person who is of great danger to your surroundings - we’re putting you in a padded room and getting you mental health!”???

What the fuck is so wrong about telling someone the truth these days? Damn it!

And what does our permissive society yield? Thirty-two completely innocent people who are shot and killed in a place that should be a sanctuary and a bastion of learning and improvement. As a staunch supporter of the college life and the college atmosphere, this tragedy shocks me to the bone. I have a younger brother who is college age and may decide to attend college one day. I advise hundreds of guys throughout New Jersey who - believe it or not - I think about and am concerned about every single day.

I remember going to high school the day after the Columbine massacre and making sure that the doors to all of the classrooms were closed and locked (if possible). It was frightening. Now I - and anyone else who has any connection to any college campus across America - have had that fear spread to the university level.

It’s sad and it’s sickening.

By now you all should be aware that the three young men who were accused of raping a stripper down at Duke University have all been found innocent and had the charges against them dropped. This was the only course of action that the legal system in North Carolina could take because the boys were 100% completely innocent! I mean for Christ’s Sake, one of them was videotaped at an ATM at the time of the alleged attack!

With the recent fervor around the Don Imus situation, the Duke Lacrosse case has seemingly dropped off the radar screen. But this is a case that SHOULD be talked about. Let’s try to figure out what happened here…

A group of college guys hired two strippers to perform at one of their parties. The two girls came in and stripped. The next day one of them cried rape and a huge media circus ensued. Over a year later, it turns out that the boys were the victims of a greedy whore, a self-promoting district attorney, and an unjust media-supported legal system. Let’s have some further discussion…

If anyone gets mad or annoyed at the fact that I am among the many voices who are calling this stripper a whore, then you’re delusional. This girl admittedly fucked a number of men before going over to the Duke Lacrosse house (and her stained panties prove that). She had DNA on her and her clothing from a few guys - NONE of which were from the Duke Lacrosse team. Even if she was raped with a condom (which she obviously wasn’t), there would be DNA evidence all over the place. There was none.

Her family is now coming out and saying that they aren’t surprised the case is being dropped because they’re poor black people and the accused are rich white people. Oh bullshit on that! Your daughter is a whore who slept with a bunch of guys. She walked, intoxicated, into a house with a bunch of rich white kids and thought “payday!” Good Lord it’s the obvious truth. It is absolutely disgusting and shameful for this family to denigrate their entire race by saying these boys weren’t prosecuted because they were white. This family needs to get off of the black/white race thing because everyone under the age of 40 in this country who has a half-decent education is already over the whole stupid race baiting bullshit that old bullies like Al Sharpton love because it keeps them in business.

Whew! There’s a lot in that last paragraph - you may want to go back and re-read it!

But the other part of this story that just has me furious is the presumption of guilt laid on these boys until they were unequivocally proven innocent. It’s disgusting. Anyone who had ANY hand in prolonging the truth from coming out should be thrown in jail for a minimum 5 year term (and the truth is that this girl was out of her mind and these boys were unjustly accused and investigated). Why such a harsh term? Damn it! Has anyone out there read ANYTHING about American history? Does anyone remember the story of the founding of this fucking country?!?

People were thrown in jail all of the time by the British in the 1600 and 1700’s. They needed no warrants and you were guilty if they said so. Doesn’t that ring a bell to any of you out there?!? How can we, in the years 2006 and 2007, allow such a disgrace to take place in North Carolina? Why? Because the accuser is a poor black woman and the accused were rich white men? What the fuck does that matter? Where does innocence come into play, damn it?!?

And then you have the mob of locals in and around the Durham, North Carolina area. Having gone to school at Monmouth University, I know what it’s like to attend school in a neighborhood that absolutely hates your presence and to have neighbors that will go out of their way to literally stand on their property line to listen if they can hear a peep out of your house so they can call the police (that actually happened to me and my housemates). These Duke boys were the victims of a public witch hunt and the media is spending all of their time covering some 100 year old fossil who said a stupid race-based comment as opposed to three young men who have had the beginning of their adult lives ripped away from them. What is wrong with this picture?

Why is the media focusing on the wrong story? Who gives a shit what Al Sharpton - one of the most public racists of our time - has to say about some over the hill radio personality who should have been put out to pasture years ago? Where is the condemnation for this girl in Durham, North Carolina who falsely accused these boys of rape?

It really is mind-blowing. And now the word is that the three boys may go after former district attorney Mike Nifong. These boys and their families each spent over $1 million proving their innocence (think about that again in a few minutes when you digest all of this). Someone needs to pay. The accuser needs to pay. The city of Durham needs to pay. The state of North Carolina needs to pay.

And for Christ’s Sake, the fucking media need to cover this outrage with as much heat as they’re covering this loser Imus.

Since Don Imus was fired last night, I thought that I would listen to terrestrial radio on my way to work today. Ugh. What a disaster regular radio has become since I’ve had my ears opened to the glorious sound of satellite radio. Anyway, I don’t want to get off topic yet.

What a load of bullshit I heard on the radio this morning. I flipped through a few channels (none of which I remember at this point) and the only good thing I came across was Sean Hannity making an appearance on the Opie and Anthony show. But Opie and Anthony needs to get off of their fucking soap box. They called Imus the most influential man in the history of radio. Good Lord! Are you kidding?!? This sorry sack stopped being funny in the early 1990’s and has been milking his position ever since then. He’s washed up. He’s MORE than washed up. He deserved to lose his job not because of his stupid comments but because he sucked and was unlistenable. Check the ratings - he was drawing in less than a million listeners on radio and television combined. That’s pathetic!

So I’m trying to listen to these two guys through the seemingly endless commercials (which, by the way, are getting more and more annoying) and they’re just lubing this Imus creep up. Listen, we all understand that you guys need to stick together so when it’s your turn to come under the microscope, you have some support. But for all that’s right - don’t go out of your way to kiss this jerk’s ass!

Now that Imus has been fired - this is when the bullshit comes out. Thank God I have endless commercial-free music on satellite radio to avoid this garbage while I drive!

My alma mater had a really gross incident occur yesterday. In case you haven’t heard, a creepy old goof ball was arrested at Monmouth University yesterday for planting a video camera in the men’s locker room. What a filthy, disgusting scumbag this jerkoff was, huh?

There are so many issues here that it’s not even easy to discuss all of them in one sitting. Why was this creepy old bastard allowed to join the gym at Monmouth University if he wasn’t an alumnus and wasn’t local to the university? For those of you that don’t know, he wasn’t from the local area.

Further, why was he allowed on campus in the first place if he had an old access card? If the guy’s sole purpose is to go to the gym because he’s a “member” and his card indicating that membership is expired…then shouldn’t he NOT be on campus?!

And what really pisses me off is the reaction that one of the students had to the entire thing:

“Doesn’t bother me,” he said. “I really don’t care.”

That pretty much sums up 99% of the students that I’ve ever met while at Monmouth University or that I’ve met since I’ve become an alumni advisor to my fraternity at Monmouth University. I deal with kids who go to school all over this state and virtually none of them would have had that completely uncaring reaction. And good Lord, if I had my way I’d take this pervert and give him a few minutes with some of those guys that he so desperately wanted to see naked.

I have no problem with the fact that this weirdo likes dudes, but I have a HUGE problem with him invading the privacy of these unsuspecting students to get off. That’s just disgusting and I hope he get what he deserves.

If anyone out there wants to see an asshole in action, come to New Jersey and try to drive when it’s raining out. You’ll see assholes all over the place!

And it seems that one of these jerks has claimed a hit and run style attack on our own Governor Jon Corzine.

What a completely retarded state this can be sometimes - where our own Governor (who, believe me, I have no love loss for) is injured in a car wreck on the Garden State Parkway.

One of the jobs that I gave myself as a volunteer for my fraternity is to create a few scholarship funds. My drive behind comes from a few different sources. First, I have some of the worst student loan debt in America (which has been documented in USA Today). So if I can help out some kid to have less student loan debt when he graduates, I want to help.

Second, I think this is the ideal way to give back to a fraternity in a positive way after graduating. Between volunteering time, money, and skills - I think there are myriad ways for a person to give back to a fraternity (or a sorority for that matter). But I digress…

To help me along with these fundraising goals, I read Tony Poderis’ It’s a Great Day to Fundraise! This is the second of three fundraising books that I’m reading and I have to say that it was very helpful in terms of laying out a plan. Tony uses lists to explain things, which are helpful to those of us who are organizing fundraisers. Also, the book is written in a very readable manner and should appeal to anyone looking for a fresh vision on how to raise money.

I should also mention that the book is a little dated, but the points are still relevant. I always feel that it is a good point to make (especially in the information age) when a book was published before the major advent of e-mail and web-based campaigns. This book will not give you great strategies on how to run a web-based campaign, but chances are that if you are ready to start such a huge undertaking, then you don’t need someone to tell you how to get it going! Besides, the core ideas in this book will help you design the concepts behind your fundraising campaign, which should be help enough.

Now I admit that due to a crazy schedule I read this book over the course of two months, which is never a good idea. I also admit that I began reading two other books at the same time - also not a good idea. However, I think that I can reasonably give a recommendation for this book if you are looking for a good discussion on fundraising.