By Ted Nugent

     WACO, Texas (CNN) -- "Zero tolerance, huh? Gun-free zones, huh? Try this on for size: Columbine gun-free zone, New York City pizza shop gun-free zone, Luby's Cafeteria gun-free zone, Amish school in Pennsylvania gun-free zone and now Virginia Tech gun-free zone.

      Anybody see what the evil Brady Campaign and other anti-gun cults have created? I personally have zero tolerance for evil and denial. And America had best wake up real fast that the brain-dead celebration of unarmed helplessness will get you killed every time, and I've about had enough of it.

      Nearly a decade ago, a Springfield, Oregon, high schooler, a hunter familiar with firearms, was able to bring an unfolding rampage to an abrupt end when he identified a gunman attempting to reload his .22-caliber rifle, made the tactical decision to make a move and tackled the shooter.

      A few years back, an assistant principal at Pearl High School in Mississippi, which was a gun-free zone, retrieved his legally owned Colt .45 from his car and stopped a Columbine wannabe from continuing his massacre at another school after he had killed two and wounded more at Pearl.

      At an eighth-grade school dance in Pennsylvania, a boy fatally shot a teacher and wounded two students before the owner of the dance hall brought the killing to a halt with his own gun.

      More recently, just a few miles up the road from Virginia Tech, two law school students ran to fetch their legally owned firearm to stop a madman from slaughtering anybody and everybody he pleased. These brave, average, armed citizens neutralized him pronto.

      My hero, Dr. Suzanne Gratia Hupp, was not allowed by Texas law to carry her handgun into Luby's Cafeteria that fateful day in 1991, when due to bureaucrat-forced unarmed helplessness she could do nothing to stop satanic George Hennard from killing 23 people and wounding more than 20 others before he shot himself. Hupp was unarmed for no other reason than denial-ridden "feel good" politics.

      She has since led the charge for concealed weapon upgrade in Texas, where we can now stop evil. Yet, there are still the mindless puppets of the Brady Campaign and other anti-gun organizations insisting on continuing the gun-free zone insanity by which innocents are forced into unarmed helplessness. Shame on them. Shame on America. Shame on the anti-gunners all.

      No one was foolish enough to debate Ryder truck regulations or ammonia nitrate restrictions or a "cult of agriculture fertilizer" following the unabashed evil of Timothy McVeigh's heinous crime against America on that fateful day in Oklahoma City. No one faulted kitchen utensils or other hardware of choice after Jeffrey Dahmer was caught drugging, mutilating, raping, murdering and cannibalizing his victims. Nobody wanted "steak knife control" as they autopsied the dead nurses in Chicago, Illinois, as Richard Speck went on trial for mass murder.

      Evil is as evil does, and laws disarming guaranteed victims make evil people very, very happy. Shame on us.

      Already spineless gun control advocates are squawking like chickens with their tiny-brained heads chopped off, making political hay over this most recent, devastating Virginia Tech massacre, when in fact it is their own forced gun-free zone policy that enabled the unchallenged methodical murder of 32 people.

      Thirty-two people dead on a U.S. college campus pursuing their American Dream, mowed-down over an extended period of time by a lone, non-American gunman in possession of a firearm on campus in defiance of a zero-tolerance gun ban. Feel better yet? Didn't think so.

      Who doesn't get this? Who has the audacity to demand unarmed helplessness? Who likes dead good guys?

      I'll tell you who. People who tramp on the Second Amendment, that's who. People who refuse to accept the self-evident truth that free people have the God-given right to keep and bear arms, to defend themselves and their loved ones. People who are so desperate in their drive to control others, so mindless in their denial that they pretend access to gas causes arson, Ryder trucks and fertilizer cause terrorism, water causes drowning, forks and spoons cause obesity, dialing 911 will somehow save your life, and that their greedy clamoring to "feel good" is more important than admitting that armed citizens are much better equipped to stop evil than unarmed, helpless ones.

     Ted hit the nail on the head with this article!  Anyone who denies the logic and rationale of self-defense is a coward and a weak soul who must love to be controlled; they do not embrace the responsibility of true liberty.  I hereby nominate Ted Nugent for President!

     UNIVERSAL CITY, California (AP) -- "Two AIDS doctors made a house call last month to the set of TV's "Law & Order: Special Victims Unit."

      The plot line was the suggestion that HIV doesn't cause AIDS -- a fringe theory promoted on the Internet and by certain African leaders. But the two physicians weren't there to doctor the script.

      They just wanted to make sure the TV show followed some standard doctor advice: First, do no harm.

      Surveys show that most people believe the medical information they see on television dramas and soap operas. With fictional TV shows playing such a powerful role in public health education, the government is dedicated to keeping an eye on what Hollywood says. That's why the CDC is one of four government health agencies that fund the "Hollywood, Health & Society" program at the University of Southern California. The program has an annual budget of nearly $564,000..."

     TOKYO (Fox) —  "A series of strong earthquakes rattled southwestern Japan on Friday, prompting the government to warn of a possible tsunami that ultimately never came.

      There were no immediate reports of major damage or injuries from the quakes.

      The Meteorological Agency issued a tsunami advisory for southwestern Japan after an earthquake with preliminary magnitude 6.7 struck at 10:46 a.m. (0146 GMT).

      The notice covered islands around Miyakojima, part of the Ryukyu island chain that stretches southwest toward Taiwan.

      A tsunami advisory is used when waves are forecast to be no more than 18 inches tall, agency official Yuji Nishimae said. The agency issues a warning when the waves are forecast to be 3.1 to 6.2 feet high, and warns of a large tsunami when higher waves are expected, he added.

      The agency lifted its advisory at 11:50 a.m. (0250 GMT). No tsunami was detected, agency official Kana Akiyama said.

      The 6.7-magnitude quake came a little more than an hour after a tremor with a preliminary 6.2 magnitude quake struck the same area. A third quake, also with a preliminary 6.2 magnitude, followed later in the morning..."

     6.7 magnitude is pretty significant.

      WASHINGTON (Reuters) - "Turmoil in the U.S. housing market has taken a toll on the world's richest economy and a quick snapback looks increasingly unlikely as businesses cut back on investments and hiring, and consumers spend less.

      The economy grew at a respectable pace of 3.3 percent in 2006, but many economists now project that 2007 will see growth just slightly above 2 percent.

     NEW YORK (Reuters) - "Investors hope the next round of results from U.S. home builders, starting on Thursday, will show that the slump in the housing market is abating, but realistically they expect no sign of a bottom yet.

      In fact, many investors and analysts expect the market downturn -- caused by a glut of homes for sale, tighter lending standards and weak demand -- to worsen until at least the second half of this year.

     Prepare for Real Estate Limbo.

     FORT WORTH, TX  (AP) -- "D.R. Horton, the nation's largest homebuilder by deliveries, said today its second-quarter sales orders fell 37 percent, led by even steeper declines in California and the Southwest.

      "We continue to sell more homes than any other builder, even though the spring selling season has not gotten off to its usual strong start," Chairman Donald R. Horton said in a statement.

      Net sales orders for the quarter ended March 31 totaled 9,983 homes, down from 15,771 homes during the prior-year quarter. The value of the orders dropped to $2.6 billion from $4.4 billion in the previous year..."

     Ok.  Let's see some test results of this new vaccine.

     PORLAMAR, Venezuela (Reuters) - "Venezuela threatened on Tuesday not to compensate some foreign oil companies in its planned takeover of their multibillion dollar projects in the OPEC nation's vast Orinoco reserve.

      The warning from the oil minister intensified the pressure the leftist government of President Hugo Chavez has exerted on some of the world's largest companies as they negotiate before a June deadline over the nationalizations.

     Ok, I know this is going to re-spark the push for more "protections" and "gun-control" laws.  Absolute wrong approach.  Being ready is more than just being ready for disasters of natural origins. 

     Being ready to defend your life is not a privilage, it is a right as Americans.  This is protected by the Bill of Rights, as Amended to the Constitution by the 2nd Amendment.  People can argue the "intent" all they want.  Reading what was said by those who drafted the 2nd Amendment removes all question as to its meaning;  the right for individual citizens to keep and bear military arms. 

     It says nothing about hunting.  The protection of one's life, family and property are paramount.

     Had the Virginia Tech College allowed students to exercise those rights, this might be a very different outcome.

     In an eerie prophetic warning from a student speaking out against the crackdown on conceal-carry of firearms by lawful students on campus, I submit the following article written by a Virginia Tech Graduate in 2006 (and I stress the WRITTEN IN 2006):

"Unarmed and vulnerable

Bradford B. Wiles

Wiles, of New Castle, is a graduate student at Virginia Tech.

On Aug. 21 at about 9:20 a.m., my graduate-level class was evacuated from the Squires Student Center. We were interrupted in class and not informed of anything other than the following words: "You need to get out of the building."

Upon exiting the classroom, we were met at the doors leading outside by two armor-clad policemen with fully automatic weapons, plus their side arms. Once outside, there were several more officers with either fully automatic rifles and pump shotguns, and policemen running down the street, pistols drawn.

It was at this time that I realized that I had no viable means of protecting myself.

Please realize that I am licensed to carry a concealed handgun in the commonwealth of Virginia, and do so on a regular basis. However, because I am a Virginia Tech student, I am prohibited from carrying at school because of Virginia Tech's student policy, which makes possession of a handgun an expellable offense, but not a prosecutable crime.

I had entrusted my safety, and the safety of others to the police. In light of this, there are a few things I wish to point out.

First, I never want to have my safety fully in the hands of anyone else, including the police.

Second, I considered bringing my gun with me to campus, but did not due to the obvious risk of losing my graduate career, which is ridiculous because had I been shot and killed, there would have been no graduate career for me anyway.

Third, and most important, I am trained and able to carry a concealed handgun almost anywhere in Virginia and other states that have reciprocity with Virginia, but cannot carry where I spend more time than anywhere else because, somehow, I become a threat to others when I cross from the town of Blacksburg onto Virginia Tech's campus.

Of all of the emotions and thoughts that were running through my head that morning, the most overwhelming one was of helplessness.

That feeling of helplessness has been difficult to reconcile because I knew I would have been safer with a proper means to defend myself.

I would also like to point out that when I mentioned to a professor that I would feel safer with my gun, this is what she said to me, "I would feel safer if you had your gun."

The policy that forbids students who are legally licensed to carry in Virginia needs to be changed.

I am qualified and capable of carrying a concealed handgun and urge you to work with me to allow my most basic right of self-defense, and eliminate my entrusting my safety and the safety of my classmates to the government.

This incident makes it clear that it is time that Virginia Tech and the commonwealth of Virginia let me take responsibility for my safety."

     Puts everything into perspective.   I don't blame him for not trusting his safety with the local police. 

     As in Columbine, the Police in this situation stayed at a safe distance away; hiding behind trees and parked cars with their sidearms and rifles drawn. 

      And again, like Columbine, the gunman took his own life.  And like Columbine, the Police seemingly did NOTHING to stop this man. 

     There was a lot of running around, shouting orders and drumming up dramatic video, but after the gunman chained the doors they all but gave up.

      Never trust another man with that of your own personal safety.

    "Americans have the right and advantage of being armed - unlike the citizens of other countries whose governments are afraid to trust the people with arms." (James Madison, The Federalist Papers #46 at 243-244)

     "The best we can hope for concerning the people at large is that they be properly armed." (Alexander Hamilton, The Federalist Papers at 184-8)

     "The strongest reason for people to retain the right to keep and bear arms is, as a last resort, to protect themselves..." -- (Thomas Jefferson)

     CROTON-ON-HUDSON, New York (AP) -- "A menacing spring storm punished the Northeast for a second straight day Monday, dumping more than 8 inches of rain on Central Park and sending refrigerators and pickup trucks floating down rivers in one of the region's worst storms in recent memory.

      "This one is really a horror show," Gov. Eliot Spitzer said after touring hard-hit areas north of New York City.

      The nor'easter left a huge swath of devastation, from the beaches of South Carolina to the mountains of Maine. It knocked out power to hundreds of thousands of people and was blamed for at least 12 deaths nationwide, including a New Jersey man who drowned inside a car..."

     I'm not a prophet.  I'm just pretty good at looking at all of the variables, seeing potential outcomes and guessing at what I think is most likely to occur.  Cognitive Deduction, I think they call it.

     MOSCOW (Reuters) - "Russia launched its first new generation nuclear submarine since the fall of the Soviet Union on Sunday, as the Kremlin seeks to upgrade its undersea nuclear strike force.

      The long-delayed Yuri Dolgoruky, the first Borei-class (Arctic Wind) nuclear submarine, was moved to the dry docks at a highly secret submarine base in the Arctic town of Severodvinsk, the heart of Russia's northern submarine fleet.

     Heads up folks.  This looks like a big, powerful system the likes of which we have not seen in a land-based storm.

     BANGKOK (Reuters) - "The death toll in flash floods which swept scores of Thai New Year holidaymakers over three waterfalls in the southern province of Trang rose to 35 on Sunday, disaster officials said.

      Another 30 people are thought to be missing and rescue teams began a second day of searching the area.

      The flash floods, triggered by heavy rains, swept over the waterfalls six miles apart in the Bantad Hill Range, the Health Ministry's Relief Center said.

      Most of the victims were swimming below the Sai Roong (Rainbow) and Prai Sawan (Heavenly Forest) falls during a long weekend holiday for the new year Songkran festival, Trang governor Arnon Manasvanich said..."