Show some sensitivity you FUCKNUT. Don't exploit these innocent bystanders on the campus for your DAMN cause. I am an Alumnus, our offices were in the next building, and I had 80-90% of my classes in that building. There are 32 innocent people dead because of one person, and arguably a bad decision by the local police. In Iraq, there is a WAR going on, no matter who caused it, Iraq is a WARZONE, not a rural college town in Western VA. Please show some sensitivity to these people and their families.

by Jonathan Brown (0 articles, 0 quicklinks, 0 diaries, 2 comments) on Monday, Apr 16, 2007 at 10:29:37 PM

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Sorry for the F***NUT comment. I don't mean for them to diminish my point. These people are going through tragedy. Once again, I appologize for the swearing. Just a little worked up.

by Jonathan Brown (0 articles, 0 quicklinks, 0 diaries, 2 comments) on Monday, Apr 16, 2007 at 10:31:30 PM

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Show sensitivity only when its geographically convenient, got it.  At least its only a kid or two to blame for Columbine 2.0.  America as a country is to blame for Iraq, but lets just keep shoving that under the rug.

by Jon Leemon (0 articles, 0 quicklinks, 0 diaries, 2 comments) on Tuesday, Apr 17, 2007 at 3:02:34 AM

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It is so typical of Americans to dismiss a point, and curse at the person making the point. No wonder America is in such trouble. No thinking, just swearing.

If the VT killings are absolutely terrible (which they are), then why aren't you outraged that 2, 3 or 4 times as many people are killed in Iraq every day due to the BushCo. war of aggression, and occupation for oil?

You just don't get it. We are all people.

By the way, you cursed at Larry Johnson, ex CIA agent. He knows of what he speaks.

JRM 

by John R Moffett (89 articles, 18 quicklinks, 3 diaries, 697 comments [14 recommended, 0 rejected]) on Tuesday, Apr 17, 2007 at 5:23:58 AM

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Excellent article, Few here think about the hell the oil grabbers have created there. The billions stolen, the babies with horrid cancers caused by the depleted Uranium, the daily fear of going to buy groceries. The fact that Hades is Iraq right now and the sooner the military gets get out the sooner they can solve the mess the Bushites Created.

It has been decades since I had to wear a uniform and I am certainly glad I don't have to wear one now. Keep telling it like it is, pal

Oh and hey, have you noticed a flatness in the Standard Deviation  of some people who comment lately and even a few who write? it repesents I think, those with higher glandular reactionary lack of control, and lowered ability to analyze and insightfully measure what they are reading. I think we are getting an influx of teenagers here, of late, or is it simply retarded adults, whose keepers are out having too much coffee?

by Professor Emeritus Peter Bagnolo (144 articles, 1 quicklinks, 95 diaries, 1317 comments [5 recommended, 0 rejected]) on Tuesday, Apr 17, 2007 at 7:26:07 AM

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This is painful stuff. When the dragon rears its head (reptilian brain) intellect suffers.   This is the way thousands are thinking in Iraq-- anger, hate, wanting revenge-- and all focused on the US and it's puppet Maliki government, if they're Sunnis, or focused on Sunnis, if the victims are Shia.

There, though they have someone to blame, not insanity, like we have here.

by Rob Kall (955 articles, 4178 quicklinks, 374 diaries, 2090 comments [50 recommended, 3 rejected]) on Tuesday, Apr 17, 2007 at 7:58:47 AM

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Thses are some of the same guys who were rejoicing and praising god that Tony Snow has terminable cancer. They have no compassion. They are sans emotions, sans conscience. Two hundred years ago their names were Maximillien Robespierre, Georges Danton or Jean Paul Marat. Iraq is its own tragedy and this on is its own tragedy. They are always their lurking in the shadows. God help us if and when they ever come to authority. The loss of just one life diminishes me, and to save one is to save a universe. Sixty-four parents, wives, teachers, brother and sisters and fellow students are in mourning. It is enough that we simply bow in quiet respect for their hurt. Comparing them to anything corrupts the process and corrupts us. It is much, much too soon.

by pratliff94 (0 articles, 0 quicklinks, 0 diaries, 972 comments) on Tuesday, Apr 17, 2007 at 7:57:08 PM

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Outrage should be felt for every unjustified death.

I wish to point out that the news agencies keep saying that VT is the largest mass-murder in America. I assume they mean committed by one person, because off the top of my head I can think of Wounded Knee, in which over 300 people were murdered by government troops. The destruction of Tent City in Washington DC killed over a hundred. And if one is to believe, as I do, that every person in Iraq that is killed is due to the lies of bush&co, then they too are murders.

Are we to accept that if killing is done by a government agent it's not mass-murder? Should we be any less anger because the person doing the killing wears a uniform or because the orders came from supposedly reasonable leaders?

I don't buy it. I'm as outraged by the VT killings, and the easy access to weapons in this country and mind-set of a nation that makes something like the VT killings a recurring incident as I am at the leaders of this country that would unleash an unwarranted war.

Will the family and friends of those killed in Iraq feel any less pain than those at VT?

by Mr M (8 articles, 0 quicklinks, 66 diaries, 2845 comments [654 recommended, 27 rejected]) on Tuesday, Apr 17, 2007 at 8:46:53 AM

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Thanks Common Sense,

Couldn't have said it better.

Too much anger in America, not enough thinking. Many Americans appear to love guns more than they love peace and harmony. There is a strong paranoid streak in America. That leads to anger, and a desire to aquire arms.

But back to Mr. Johnson's main point, if the VT killings are a very bad thing, then the constant killing in Iraq, caused by the US military action, ought to make us very angry indeed.

JRM

by John R Moffett (89 articles, 18 quicklinks, 3 diaries, 697 comments [14 recommended, 0 rejected]) on Tuesday, Apr 17, 2007 at 9:09:50 AM

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Well and correctly said!

by Professor Emeritus Peter Bagnolo (144 articles, 1 quicklinks, 95 diaries, 1317 comments [5 recommended, 0 rejected]) on Tuesday, Apr 17, 2007 at 9:03:20 AM

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Why do we praise "our courageous young men and women in Iraq," who carry out the orders of an insane mass murderer? 

Is the concept that we are one species on the same planet really that hard to grasp?

by Daniel Geery (26 articles, 95 quicklinks, 126 diaries, 915 comments [27 recommended, 0 rejected]) on Tuesday, Apr 17, 2007 at 11:18:25 AM

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That's the question I've been asking all my life.

by Bob Gormley (1 articles, 0 quicklinks, 3 diaries, 1094 comments [65 recommended, 0 rejected]) on Tuesday, Apr 17, 2007 at 12:00:17 PM

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I don't know. I think if children were all taught that everyone is a person,
and everyone deserves respect, it would go a long way. Many children are
taught the opposite for religious, ethnic or "tribal" reasons.

If empathy can be taught, then it is theoretically possible to have a
much more harmonious world.

JRM

by John R Moffett (89 articles, 18 quicklinks, 3 diaries, 697 comments [14 recommended, 0 rejected]) on Tuesday, Apr 17, 2007 at 1:25:57 PM

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Isn't it odd that the president would show up to meet those who were gunned down at a university but seems to feel no compassion for those who are collateral damage because of his decisions. Parents are parents, whether in Baghdad, Great Britain, or in the Commonwealth of Virginia.

The kid who shot the kids was not "evil" as Bush said, but a severely depressed and sick student. Nothing else.  No demonic beings in this student.  By grace, was he not your son or mine, or ... my students killed or yours. 

by Dale Hill (59 articles, 0 quicklinks, 107 diaries, 350 comments) on Tuesday, Apr 17, 2007 at 2:56:23 PM

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is there any church in this country which prays for the dead, the one we killed in Iraq  and Afghanistan  and the ones which were killed due to us? Not a chance.  Thus it seems to me that  we have no religion in this country, that we are here    actually pagans, not in the  way the Indians were but in a primitive fetischist sorts. BTW, there seem to be no church   at least for now to prey for the  killed in VT too.  They are all waiting for sorting: where are  white Americans, where are Latinos, Blacks, Jews, etc.

And  one more thing:  again the  one and only  proper way to address the issue has been blatanly disregarded- proper investigation has been compromised several times by the media.  Cold- headed proper  forensics is now imposssible.   Horrible tragedy indeed, tempers are running high, so why then  there is such sudden 'openness on the specific details, like  somehow the shooter seemed to shoot himself at the back of the head, etc'.  In a matter of hours there is a swarm- and nobody cares for the careful screening of the process and  collecting info. Was the 'path'  of the shooter sealed. Is it treated as a crime scene?

Same as in 9/11 or in Katrina we ignore th one and only  achievement of  Western Civilization - the absolute necessity of coolheaded, professional impartial investigation.  What a horrible example we show!

But the young people are dead.  We better pray. I am an atheist,   I have no one to pray to. So I  just look back and remember. You do not want to know what I remember, folks.

by Mark Sashine (72 articles, 19 quicklinks, 269 diaries, 4103 comments [131 recommended, 0 rejected]) on Tuesday, Apr 17, 2007 at 3:11:22 PM

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Actually, you are quite wrong. Lots of churches pray for all the killed and wounded in Iraq. My own church does it on a regular basis, and not just for our people but the Iraqis as well. It would be understandable that you wouldn't be aware of this if you are an atheist as, naturally, you don't attend church.

by larry booth (0 articles, 0 quicklinks, 0 diaries, 303 comments) on Tuesday, Apr 17, 2007 at 6:50:41 PM

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You are wrong on this acount, too. We have a Prayer Bulletin we publish weekly and the families of the dead and the wounded both Iraqi and American are prayed for regualry. We do not pray for the dying because we belive there is nothing anyone can do for a person who has moved from time into eternity.

We also pray for the poor in our community, have monitors for single moms with school children to help them stay up on grades, a pantry that helps thirty to forty families per month with about one hundred and fifty dollars worth of groceries each.

You should come some time. We could use your help and some of your money so we can do more. Go to almost any downtown in any large city in the United States and you will find a "mission" feeding the homeless street people.

On any given night in Oklahoma City there will be about five to six hundred men, women and children sleeping under overpasses, in open fields, deserted buildings, and in boxes in allies and in hospital waiting rooms until they get caught.

There is a "Rescue Mission" near you. You need to get involved. They are usually called "Grace Rescue Mission" or something like that. Our church passes out breakfast packs with hot coffee for two hours every Saturday morning downtown Oklahoma City. Most of these people are mentally ill and physically sick.

by pratliff94 (0 articles, 0 quicklinks, 0 diaries, 972 comments) on Tuesday, Apr 17, 2007 at 8:20:32 PM

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Thanks kindly. If your churches pray for the dead,  Iraqis included, it  is terrific and I  have a learned a lesson here. I just  follow the media, you know...

I surely cannot   become involved in some general mission but I helped many individuals, families even on the individual basis, also I am a member of Engineers Without Borders..

Again, I have  learned a lesson, which is  one of the benefits of this site.

by Mark Sashine (72 articles, 19 quicklinks, 269 diaries, 4103 comments [131 recommended, 0 rejected]) on Wednesday, Apr 18, 2007 at 6:43:41 AM

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I understand. It is always the monied and the flamboyant who are centered in the media. I am a Christian. I cannot judge the relationship anyone else has with God, but I can judge what they do as whether it be a Christian act or word.

I have not one iota of respect for many of those we hear about in the news and see on TV. I am brought across their paths many times in conferences and meetings. I do not hesitate to mention their names. Here are a few with whom I have no patience nor understanding: Jerry Falwell, Pat Robertson, Richard Land, D. James Kennedy, James Dobson, the Oral Roberts crowd, Phyllis Schaffley, and all the "give your money to me and 'god' will make you rich crowd."

Phil

by pratliff94 (0 articles, 0 quicklinks, 0 diaries, 972 comments) on Wednesday, Apr 18, 2007 at 9:54:39 AM

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My wife and I were sitting around thinking the same thing he just brought up in this article.

We only went a little farther.

It was 32 people that were killed. The man used a 9mm and a .22 hand guns to kill 32 people. I know personally a guy that was shot 6 times with a 45 and lived, three shots in the stomach one in the shoulder one in the arm and one in the leg. I must say to kill someone with a .22 you have to be a very good shot. To kill 32 people with two hand guns this guy had to be a well trained assassin.

Then the “Korean man” killed himself. Was it because dead man can tell no tails?

Didn’t we just give $25 million to Korea for some bizarre reason?

Why were these people killed in mass just before an important hearing before congress?

The U.S. government does not care about how many people die, what kinds of people die, or where they die as long as they get something out of it. Could this be the Bush wag the tail? Was Korea paid to kill Americans in the U.S. to change the subject because the deaths in Iraq have no effect on Americans?

What is disturbing is that this is plausible under the current U.S. government.

Our boarders are open to any nut and now it is clear why the right to bear arms should not be infringed. Your government can not and will not protect you. You must protect yourself. But now the government wants to disarm Americans completely.

Trust in God, Not your government…

Richard Gallaher

by Gallaher (2 articles, 0 quicklinks, 4 diaries, 990 comments [34 recommended, 1 rejected]) on Tuesday, Apr 17, 2007 at 4:19:01 PM

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This is so silly, no one will listen to you when you say something important.

This is the type of silliness that when Hillary Clinton talked of a "vast wing conspiracy" everyone laughed her off the board. Trouble is she is and was right.

by pratliff94 (0 articles, 0 quicklinks, 0 diaries, 972 comments) on Tuesday, Apr 17, 2007 at 8:24:05 PM

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however, did you notice the reports said the identification numbers on the guns were damaged to the point of not being readable...so the kid worked hard to conceal the owners identity

and yet, in his backpack they find a receipt for the guns.

now, if you go to all the trouble of scratching off the id numbers on the gun, do you just leave the receipt on your person to be found?? 

by rayrayjones (0 articles, 0 quicklinks, 0 diaries, 1 comments) on Wednesday, Apr 18, 2007 at 1:06:44 PM

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If you are Hindu or Buddhist, you can't help but wonder: Are the laws of Karma operating here?

by Mac McKinney (53 articles, 114 quicklinks, 241 diaries, 1418 comments [32 recommended, 0 rejected]) on Tuesday, Apr 17, 2007 at 4:46:47 PM

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This is how the NRA kicks off. The debate already started and guess what the NRA came up with. If people would be armed they could defend themselves from nutcases like these. So more guns, not less, would help prevent stuff like this. First of all let me remind you that situations like this do no happen in Europe, nor any other part of the world. Especially not on places where guns are forbidden by law. They happen in the USA. If people own a gun they are illegal and a manhunt is started from the very moment you show it. If you have a conflict the guy with the biggest muscles wins but most of the time it the worst that happens is a bit of threatening and shouting and then one party leaves, or if a conflict results in violence someone ends up with a few bruises. Whatever conflict citizens have, the moment _one_ gun is added the chance for a casualty increases a lot. Now suppose everyone has a gun. How on earth do you think that would make your country a safer place? The guy who draws the fastest wins a gun battle. Would you like to be constantly aware, from every angle about the number of ways people can shoot you while you are watching them. People would not only need to wear arms, they'd also wear armor all the time! You'd be living in a modern wild west with much more sophisticated weapons and much more people and much more conflicts, yay! True, it would prevent situations like the recent tragedy, but at what cost? The police force in the USA already has shown to kill people who grabbed for their wallet. It would certainly help if they would not assume people could be armed so they wouldn't shoot people for grabbing their wallet. And now the evil government argument. As soon as your government does go evil there will always be ways to fight back, and not every police officer is an evil guy no matter how much propaganda they show him. And there will always be ways to fight evil oppressions. Look at Iraq and Vietnam. Some evil country invaded them and their citizens kept fighting back until the invader was kicked out. And that had little to do with the gun control laws in those countries.

by Han (0 articles, 2 quicklinks, 0 diaries, 229 comments [7 recommended, 0 rejected]) on Tuesday, Apr 17, 2007 at 7:13:01 PM

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I would agree to the banning of all guns. This would have to include from law enforcement too.

In America not all police are bad but the percentage of killers is the same or higher than the rest of the population.

by Gallaher (2 articles, 0 quicklinks, 4 diaries, 990 comments [34 recommended, 1 rejected]) on Tuesday, Apr 17, 2007 at 9:32:25 PM

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