Both Virginia Tech and Florida State cancelled classes yesterday, along with many other schools and organizations. The state capitol here (which is only a couple blocks from my apartment) was closed as well, since it's a tempting target, being the only tall building in the city. The entire city felt like it was holding its breath - practice rooms were silent, no sorority girls were walking, and meter upon meter stood empty on the street.

Even before the dust had settled, the vultures were circling. Yesterday's crisis was a gold mine for opportunists of all stripes, and none of them wasted any time in searching for a soapbox. The media saw their chance to report on the next big "Condit" and spent the entire day looping the clip of the second plane crash, while reporting wild speculation as near-fact and quoting unrelated sources ad nauseam. An unending parade of representatives and senators exhausted the thesaurus for synonyms of "horrific" and "tragedy" while arguing that none of this would have happened if more money had been spent on their favourite defense contractor. Even the President realizes that this will be the perfect opportunity to show the American people that he isn't a lame duck, probably to the detriment of any country he defines as the scapegoat. This breeding ground of fear and public opinion will be the perfect rallying cry to expand on our already bloated military spending.

Thousands of people died yesterday, but that fact can be dismissed with a quick disclaimer of personal sympathy (also using the words "horrific" and "tragedy"). America is the land of opportunity so they're all quite willing to do the requisite mourning, if it means that tomorrow they get to reap the benefits.

To all of you who read this site, I hope that any of your friends and relatives involved in the incidents are alive and safe.

On a separate note, it still amazes me that so many people refuse to believe the United States is anything but a kind and just country, beloved around the world. They can't accept the fact that the US is a condescending behemoth with fingers in everyone else's pies... a country that's probably managed to offend everyone out there at least once. I think that as long as we're the "great white Satan", all the military spending in the world won't keep us completely safe.