And I was going to post something optimistic...

I was in a pretty good mood today. I'm not sure why. It went beyond my usual Tuesday mood--I love Tuesdays for the same reason you normal people love Fridays, i.e., I'm off Wednesdays. But today I was feeling, for whatever reason, pretty damned good.

Then I got home. And read this
Bobby Tillman, 18, was kicked, stomped, and punched to death by four teenage thugs. His crime? He was "the next man who walks by."

Seems there was a fight in the aftermath of one of those out-of-control house parties that are all too common nowadays. A girl slugged a guy, and he declined to hit her back. He said, however, that he would hit the next man who walked by. That chanced to be Bobby Tillman. Three others joined in the attack; the rest of the crowd, apparently, stood around and cheered.

I'm not sure what sickens me more: the random attack, or that it was widely viewed as some kind of game.

I'm getting increasingly liberal and softhearted as I age, but when it comes to incidents such as this, I remain just as far right as I ever was. These four should die. Preferably painfully, but I'd settle for quickly. Even thinking about murder dehumanizes a person; anyone who actually goes through with this kind of pointless atrocity has lost any vestige of humanity, as far as I'm concerned. Human rights are for human beings.

And while we're on the subject, I'm positive I'm going to read or hear in coming days about how Bobby Tillman was "in the wrong place at the wrong time." This expression needs to die a quick death, too. Bobby Tillman was doing nothing wrong. He wasn't anywhere he shouldn't have been at any time he shouldn't have been there.

I actually had to remind myself that nobody I know would be a party to this madness; that most 18-year-olds wouldn't ever consider doing such a thing. There's a reason this is front page news. Mind you, given how impersonal the world is getting, I doubt this will be the last attack of its kind I hear about.