It will all divert to fiscal cliff talk.

This will all be forgotten in DC - as have all the other previous tragedies.

A few tears.
A quote from the Bible.
A semblance of compassion.

For those of you who'd like to beat a dead horse, pun intended, here's the guy's obit.

To give some mindnumbing perspective on that length of service, when Inouye first joined the Senate in January 1963, its most senior member was Democrat Carl Hayden of Arizona, who was first appointed as U.S. senator by the Arizona State Legislature back in 1912 when that state first entered the Union. (The 17th amendment to the U.S. Constitution, which provides for the direct election of U.S. senators by the citizenry, did not come into effect until the 1914 elections.)

Inouye and Hayden served together until the latter's retirement in 1972, and their overlapping careers cover a full century between them, and a lot of American history.

Individuals with Asperger's tend to have normal to high intelligence. They may have obsessive tendencies and pervasive deficits in social interactivity. While every case is different, four general characteristics are (1)  emotional and developmental immaturity, (2) lack of social judgment, (3) lack of empathy, and (4) poor impulse control.

Commonly described clinical features of the syndrome include:

(a) paucity of empathy;
(b) naive, inappropriate, one-sided social interaction, little ability to form
friendships, and consequent social isolation;
(c) pedantic and poorly intonated speech;
(d) poor nonverbal communication;
(e) intense absorption in circumscribed topics, .[which] are learned in rote
fashion and reflect poor understanding, conveying the impression of eccentricity ...

(Source: A. Klin et al., Validity and Neuropsychological Characterization ofAsperger Syndrome: Convergence with Nonverbal Learning Disabilities Syndrome, 36 J. Child Psycho!. & Psychiatry 1127, 1127-1128 (1995). See also Am. Psychiatric Ass'n, Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders 77 (4th ed. 1994) ("DSM-IV'') (describing Asperger's as characterized by "[q]ualitative impairment in social interaction ... impaired use of nonverbal behaviors to regulate social interaction, failure to develop age-appropriate peer relationships, lack of spontaneous interest in sharing experiences with others, and lack of social or emotional reciprocity'').)

Experts agree there is very little connection between Austism or Asperger's and violence. While not unheard of, such instances are rare.

Also see What is Aspergers and Autism Speaks and The Many Faces of Asperger's Syndrome

This is from cops and others involved in school security.  They quote that standard line about lightning -- and then state that, in a lightning storm, we don't go stand next to a tall metal pole, now, do we?

Nope, we take steps to reduce likelihood of being hit by lightning.  Ask the idiots with this argument whether we ought to remove lightning rods from their kid's school's roof.  

Only a child would think voluntary tobacco use is a good analogy for a murder victim, a slow child at that.

  There's a $1.01 a pack federl excise tax and the states all impose their own excise taxes, and most states also have a sales tax (as do some cities and counties).

It's also revealing of how citizens will react differently in extraordinary situations involving improper law enforcement activity.  Frankly I was taken aback by how little resistance, verbal or otherwise, the two motorists put up to being body cavity searched.  Had it been me on the receiving end, I'm fairly sure the cop would have heard me giving him quite a verbal tongue lashing, possibly more, possibly physical resistance which would have led to being arrested for "assaulting a peace officer."