We interrupt our Christmas Series....

To just say a few things about the shooting in Omaha.

First off, let me say that I spent a good part of my teenage years in Westroads, but that was 25 years ago. The whole place has been redone, and most of the original stores are gone, in favor of standardized blandness (Omahans love their standardized blandness) The shooting happened at Von Maur, which is where the Bishops Buffet used to be. Bishops was known for its over-the-top decorating, and the uniformed girls who carried your tray to your table, and poured coffee for you when you turned a little light on on your table. I've never been to Von Maur, but I did go to college with one of the Von Maur boys.

Being Omaha, many people are suggesting that if everyone was armed, this wouldn't have happened. While I don't really have much of a problem with gun ownership, I don't agree with that premise. People quite understandably get nervous and scared when a psycho opens fire, and that doesn't lead to good shooting. I think you would probably end up with more dead people, not less. A circular firing squad, you might say.

Being a knee jerk, tree-hugging liberal, I like to look at the root cause of things, rather than engage in hysteria, and I suspect what might have happened is that this kid went nuts because he was put on anti-depressants. Anti-depressants have done some wonderful things for adults, but they can really mess up young people, causing them to become suicidal and psychotic. The pharma companies, who didn't test these drugs on kids, try to say that everything is fine, and that things like this are anomolies. But I'm not so sure. Obviously, this kid had bigger issues, but I really don't think the AD drugs helped.

Anyway, it's a sad, sad thing to happen to a town that has more than its share of violence, and it will doubtless make for a sad Christmas this year, and for that, I'm very sorry.

So enough of that. Here's a picture of Westroads during happier times.