Why all these mass killings in the US?

Have we all become so jaded that this doesn't get remarked upon? In the last week alone, FOUR public killings:
I just ran across news of another public shoting, this one at Louisiana Technical College in Baton Rouge. A woman shot and killed 2 students and then killed herself.

http://news.yahoo.com/...

Yesterday a man killed 6 at a City Council meeting near St. Louis.

This fellow just killed his current girlfriend and then stabbed and shot his ex-wife in front of her class full of kids:
http://www.wkyc.com/...

On Feb 2, 5 women were killed at a Lane Bryant store outside Chicago.

Where is the outcry?

I'm living in Montreal for the time being, and the contrast couldn't be more palpable. I watch CNN from time to time up here, and I see these stories get a lot of play for a few hours, but it seems if the body count isn't in the double digits, the stories have no legs--and God forbid anyone suggest that something is massively wrong with a culture in which people seem to feel it's their God-given right not just to settle scores with a gun, but to shoot it out in public places.

It's the goddam Wild West!

And god bless John McCain, swooning about his support for the 2nd amendment and the surge to a roomful of dubious conservatives.

Am I man enough for you? Bloody enough?

I've heard the saying that a people gets the government it deserves. I have never thought that to be true--it just doesn't seem fair. However, given our addiction to terrorizing the rest of the world with the threat of our military,  is this just a reflection of a similar mindset in our own personal lives--or is it the public violence which we greet with yawns that inures us to the nature of the violence we inflict and threaten to inflict on the rest of the world?

Our country is MAD.

I am simply stunned at the moment by the entitlement Americans seem to feel about killing others when they're angry.

We have got to rein ourselves in overseas, and see about some GUN CONTROL at home as well.

Why don't the Dem candidates show some leadership on this? Oh right--it's political suicide...

Let the slaughter continue.

•  worship violence, get violence

  it's the guns, but it's also the mindset. we've adopting Bush's "violence is the answer" doctrine, at the street level. you reap what you sow.

  by catchaz on Fri Feb 08, 2008 at 10:19:22 AM PDT

  •  Remember: violence good, sex bad.

    That's the message we get from the TV. Leads to lots of angry and repressed individuals.

    by haruki on Fri Feb 08, 2008 at 10:21:49 AM PDT

    •  Interesting perspective - how can you miss the

      totally over sexed teevee? Everything has been sexualized. Every event - every product - every series(I don't watch them) - have you noticed how women dress even as newscastors? There is one that should just use paint - we get the same visual anyway. She always has a pendant necklace that points to cleave like an arrow. She is a tart - she could be another attractive teevee "personally" but, no she went the total t & a route.

      Every product almost has to exude sex. There is very little left to the imagine. Children are exposed to the most personal sexual "enhancements".

      There are people who actually sexualize their political candidates are just sexy - I'm not talking about the snarky ads - I am talking about trash diaries people use the strangest analogies in - weird, perverted.

      I do not mean to pick on you - I just find the total opposite true. I am neither a gun person nor a prude.

      The diarist is saying what I have been feeling the last several days - seems epic proportion of mass killings. IMHO it is a lethal combination of what our country is going through(there is really no mental health assistance for those who need it the most) and it is becoming a perpetually hopeless situation simply because NOTHING is being done or changed and it has been this way for several years. We are fed total tripe by a "Profession"(MSM, journalists) that used to provide truth and when that truth was exposed - some measures were taken. That no longer happens.  We have total idiots(my opinion) making statements like Brian Williams stating Bu$hit is going to be there in Blacksburg, VA for the victims families(last year's horrid mass killing on campus) - "that Bu$hit was so Soothing to the people of the US" - that alone should tell you how huge the chasim is between reality and their speal(sp). A lot of people are really under a great deal of stress due to the economy but also the constant din uncertainy.

      That is why people cling to perceived hope when it fact it is those who face reality and have a plan and can facilitate it - first the truth has to be exposed. That is proving to be damn near impossible - a lot of it is out - BUT no one wants to touch it - INSANITY reigns, hairs are split, excuses made.  

         

      by Boorad on Fri Feb 08, 2008 at 11:46:39 AM PDT

      •  sex and violence

        we get the worst of everything here, sickening fetishism of violence and visions of women (even on the news) as nothing but playthings and eye candy for men.

        by catchaz on Fri Feb 08, 2008 at 12:08:42 PM PDT

  •  The gun is a tool

    And frankly, all the controls in the world aren't going to fix the problem of violence unless we stop trying to "treat" the tools and start trying to "treat" the causes.

    In England, where handguns are completely illegal, mass murderers resort to swords and knives instead. In Chicago, you can't own a handgun unless it's registered, and the City stopped accepting new registrations in the 1980s. And, inexplicably, people still shoot each other.

    Mental health is a major factor, but the biggest stressors on our systems right now are economic. Improve the economy, and the crime problem improves along with it.

    by maxomai on Fri Feb 08, 2008 at 10:37:58 AM PDT

    •  Nonsense

      If you look at the statistics, the murders in Chicago are committed with guns purchased elsewhere.

      And as for the "swords and knives," argument, when was the last time you heard of 85 people in England being stabbed EVERYDAY?.  Were there 65,000 Brits injured in sword fights last year?  

      I'm with Mme. Voltaire on this:  WE NEED GUN CONTROL!

      by QuarterHorseDem on Fri Feb 08, 2008 at 10:48:18 AM PDT

      •  I'm with you......

        .......right after they make Fox the 'offical' state media outlet and control all of the terrible, secularist, god-less homosexuality and violence being piped into your house that are undermining traditional family values.

        This is exactly why we need FISA....so we can catch all of these domestic 'terrorists' and send them all to Gitmo!

        <snark>

        by Fuzzy5150 on Fri Feb 08, 2008 at 10:53:17 AM PDT

        •  How has your gun helped us?

          Somehow I don't feel safer just knowing you have a gun to keep the fascists at bay.

          by QuarterHorseDem on Fri Feb 08, 2008 at 10:59:09 AM PDT

          •  That's.........

            a weird question.  So, then, I guess you have great trust and confidence in our present administration to always to act in our best interest?

            How would taking all the guns away make YOU feel?  Safer?

            By the way....I served in the USMC for 16 years, and had 3 combat deployments as an Scout/Sniper.  I was medically retired after 16 years...a couple of bullet holes have a tendency to do that to you.

            by Fuzzy5150 on Fri Feb 08, 2008 at 11:09:43 AM PDT

      •  Um...

        ...last I checked (I admit it was awhile ago) we have "gun control." That of course hasn't stopped arms dealers from peddling guns in inner cities to angry youth and crazy "can't make it here any more" workers so they can kill each other off.

        I actually do have an unregistered gun, and nobody's gonna take it from me. I inherited it fair and square (grandpa was the sheriff of Mead, OK, it's his shotgun). Of course, I don't live in the city. I don't hunt either, don't even eat meat. It's for when a rabid coon or skunk, or starving, abandoned hunting hound shows up meaning to attack and/or kill my pets or family. Or for when the incredibly dumb hunters show up drunk and armed to the teeth at 3 a.m. telling me they'll be shooting on my property regardless of Posted signs. So far it's worked really well to send them packing. And I don't even have to be a good aim (but I am).

        There are lots of places in this country where the "officials" are far enough away to expect the citizenry to protect themselves - they'll ask questions later. I am in one of those places by choice, and will protect myself. We've crazy people here just like there are crazy people in cities. So long as crazy people get no help, I'll be armed. Just don't bring a gun or a rabid critter on my property, I won't even pull it out to aim in your direction. That's simple enough, isn't it?

        by Joy Busey on Fri Feb 08, 2008 at 11:55:04 AM PDT

•  I heard on Christian radio the other day...

  ...that these recent events (lumping in tornadoes, too) are just more evidence of end times...

  These are the people who will put Huckabee on the Republicon ticket, and into the oval office when McCain keels over...

  by Minerva on Fri Feb 08, 2008 at 10:19:41 AM PDT

•  chatting with my uber-right wing neighbor

  last night, catching up on neighborhood gossip, etc. So far, so good.

  Mention something about politics and she says something on the order of "as long as I get a candidate who wants to turn the Middle East into a sheet of glass by bombing them to kingdom come I'll be happy"

  my inner jaw hits the ground

  she seems so nice, on the surface - scary

  violence is just fine with her -

  by Pandoras Box on Fri Feb 08, 2008 at 10:23:29 AM PDT

•  Economic stress and lots of other bad news

  may be sending people over the edge.  We ABSOLUTELY need gun control in this country.

  by machiado on Fri Feb 08, 2008 at 10:23:32 AM PDT

  •  I disagree.

    It's not the guns that are causing the violence, as you point out.  It's a lousy sense of community, poor mental health support for people, and a host of stresses on people.  Don't blame the guns.

    by nanoboy on Fri Feb 08, 2008 at 10:39:41 AM PDT

•  It's mental health not gun control

  If people who have distructive feelings and no access to care, then sometimes they act out their feelings.

  This is what a society where people who really need help and can't find it looks like.

  I would rather see my government fund mental health services than see this crazy stuff.

  by Sam Wise Gingy on Fri Feb 08, 2008 at 10:25:44 AM PDT

  •  agreed. It's a public health crisis

    by VelvetElvis on Fri Feb 08, 2008 at 10:26:54 AM PDT

  •  I say mental health AND gun control

    There is no reason the guy who wanted to shoot up the Super Bowl should have access to an assault rifle. Mental health improvements would have done nothing to stop that guy.

    by modemocrat on Fri Feb 08, 2008 at 10:41:18 AM PDT

    •  Again.....

      Just substitute 'shotgun' 'handgun' '22 rifle', your choice.

      What's the difference?

      by Fuzzy5150 on Fri Feb 08, 2008 at 10:49:38 AM PDT

    •  Sure there is.

      The citizenry should be armed.  I think that such a situation makes for a more frightened and humbled government.  It has been a mistake for liberals to be pushing for that illiberal position of gun control for so long.  And before you tell me that you don't need an assault rifle to hunt, you don't have a constitutional right to hunt.  You do, as I read it, have a constitutional right to bear arms, a term generally referring to fighting weapons.

      by nanoboy on Fri Feb 08, 2008 at 10:53:00 AM PDT

    •  Hear, hear...

      by MmeVoltaire on Fri Feb 08, 2008 at 10:55:21 AM PDT

      •  BAD placement...

        we need mental health access AND Gun Control.

        I don't giv e rat's ass about the 2nd amendment--the 2nd amendment was written when people carried MUSKETS!.  

        I say, muskets and swords ok if we have to have them--

        BUT ASSAULT RIFLES? UZIs?

        WHY not bombs? Bombs are arms. I can't bear them, but apparently many can.

        by MmeVoltaire on Fri Feb 08, 2008 at 10:57:34 AM PDT

•  It's not about the gun control.

  It's about a society driven and raised in violence. Michael Moore's documentary about this put it in perspective for me, frankly.

  We have loads and loads of gun control in this country. Lots of nice laws on the books and they don't make one bit of difference when the leader of this country tells us and the world that it is okay to rape, torture and murder innocent people in a foreign country because we say it is okay.

  by Pager on Fri Feb 08, 2008 at 10:25:53 AM PDT

  •  Thank you......

    How can we argue that FISA is a disaster, and a complete violation of our civil liberties, and yet be so ready to throw the 2nd Amendment under the bus?...or how about our oposition to torture, suspension of Habeus Corpus for certain classes of people, or the use of federal troops for local police duty?

    If we are going to defend the Constitution....ALL OF IT, then we can't selectively pick and chose, or we will be no better than the idiots we are trying to throw out.

    The root cause of unbridled violence should not be focused on an object.

    If you are looking for an easy, pat, canned, ignorant answer....then you bet....gun control is it.

    Haven't we seen enough of this ignorance and supersticion with attempts to ban same-sex marriage, attempts to overturn Roe vs Wade, et. al?

    by Fuzzy5150 on Fri Feb 08, 2008 at 10:32:17 AM PDT

    •  I'm with you! Bravo!

      by phrogge prince on Fri Feb 08, 2008 at 10:35:08 AM PDT

    •  What about the part of the 2nd Amendment

      that refers to a "well organized militia"? I'm not saying you do this, but I have found that those who invoke the 2nd amendment rarely want to talk about the well organized militia part.

      by Randian on Fri Feb 08, 2008 at 11:19:46 AM PDT

      •  Let's chat, shall we.....

        What is a 'milita'?  By definition, a citizen army.  So, what qualifies?

        Obviously, not the regular, standing army that considers the President of the United States the Commander and Chife.

        Does the National Guard qualify?  Who has control of the National Guard?  How are they used?

        "A well organized militia, being necessary for the security of a free people, the right of the individual to own and bear arms shall not be infringed."

        The key words are 'militia' and 'individual'.  There is nothing that talks about 'legitimate sporting use', or any other such qualifier.

        The founding fathers began this experiment as the product of dissent and revolution.  I have no doubt their understanding of this critical amendment was much more viseral and raw than any one of us would care to live through.

        BTW, I'm a 16 year veteran of the USMC, with combat tours and more than a couple of scars.

        by Fuzzy5150 on Fri Feb 08, 2008 at 11:43:02 AM PDT

        •  The key words

          Interesting that you are highlighting the words 'militia' and 'individual' and not "well regulated."

          However, the words of the 2nd amendment say "A well regulated Militia, being necessary to the security of a free State, the right of the people to keep and bear Arms, shall not be infringed."

          It's not worded as "the right of the individual." I think that this is more than mere semantics. I think that the notion of a "well regulated militia" has to be taken into account; what we now have in this country is nothing close to "well regulated."

          by Randian on Fri Feb 08, 2008 at 01:10:18 PM PDT

          •  What would...

            you suggest is an adequate, modernized version of 'well regulated'?

            Sorry for the symantic slip....individual vs people.  Writting quickly at work.

            In all honesty, I'm not trying to bait you, and am more than willing to have a discussion.  I have made more than one friend from this site, where the discussion began just as ours has.

            I would be very interested in formulating a solution to the senseless violence, but know in my own heart it is much more complex than simply disarming the population.

            by Fuzzy5150 on Fri Feb 08, 2008 at 02:06:27 PM PDT

•  A History of Violence...

  for this nation.

  "Generosity, Ethics, Patience, Effort, Concentration, and Wisdom"

  by Dood Abides on Fri Feb 08, 2008 at 10:27:08 AM PDT

•  It's the American cast of mind: violence as the

  solution to all problems.
  Where does it come from?
  Was it because we were all brought up on Westerns and similar celluloid fantasies in which the Good Guy (think Gary Cooper in "High Noon") kills everybody in sight?
  Or was it because we're a nation of Bible-readers, a notoriously violent book in which a vengeful Deity smites and orders genocide against all the enemies of his Chosen People (with whom we identify)?
  Whatever the origin of this cast of mind, it's certainly acted out by our government on the international level, so why be surprised by it happening lower down?

  by Lepanto on Fri Feb 08, 2008 at 10:28:17 AM PDT

•  TV violence is an excuse.

  Lack of gun control isn't.

  Other countries, Japan in particular, expose people to the same high levels of violence on TV as this country.  They don't have close to the same gun violence... you can't get them.

  Other countries, like France, have large numbers of gangs and even gang violence.  They don't have close to the same amount of gun violence... you can't get them.

  by NYClib on Fri Feb 08, 2008 at 10:30:35 AM PDT

  •  Sounds good to me........

    That's exactly why we need FISA, with no oversight....why it's ok to use Federal Troops to patrol your neighorhood during times of 'disaster' and martial law....and proves the point that torture is perfectly OK under the right 'circumstances' and is totally 'necessary'.....

    Next, we should ensure that Fox News is the only 'official' news network....

    I'm with ya......all the way!!!

    <snark>

    by Fuzzy5150 on Fri Feb 08, 2008 at 10:39:12 AM PDT

  •  Disingenuous

    What about violence in general?

    How's that working out, say, in the Paris suburbs? Not very well from what I've seen.

    by maxomai on Fri Feb 08, 2008 at 10:39:57 AM PDT

    •  Thank you....

      This is a great point.

      What is the difference between a model student and a bully? What makes people turn to violence in any situation, save for self-defense?

      by Fuzzy5150 on Fri Feb 08, 2008 at 10:44:25 AM PDT

•  Outlaw guns? Hell, I think we should outlaw

  those big Webster dictionaries one finds in libraries (they can crush a skull as easily as a concrete block); and paring knives (they can cut a jugular as easily as a razor); and automobiles (they kill countless thousands every year). How about those Little League ball bats? It's NOT the guns and we don't need more gun laws:  there are tens of thousands of gun laws on the books.  They simply need to be enforced. Don't confuse the crime with the weapon that was used to commit it.

  by phrogge prince on Fri Feb 08, 2008 at 10:31:35 AM PDT

•  Americans like violence and are afraid

  Canucks like peace

  Bowling for Columbine was really good movie pointing this out.

  by marcvstraianvs on Fri Feb 08, 2008 at 10:32:06 AM PDT

  •  It goes to culture......

    ...there are many many examples to point to.....

    by Fuzzy5150 on Fri Feb 08, 2008 at 10:35:10 AM PDT

  •  I have to agree...but why?

    why are the two countries so different? By now we pretty much share the same media...

    by MmeVoltaire on Fri Feb 08, 2008 at 10:41:10 AM PDT

    •  Unfortunately.....

      I don't know.

      by Fuzzy5150 on Fri Feb 08, 2008 at 10:43:06 AM PDT

    •  Why are we so different?

      That's a very good question. I've wondered about it a lot myself.

      For essentially all of our history, a huge part of what it has meant to be Canadian has been that we're Not American.

      It started with your revolution, when a lot of the colonists on the losing side moved north as United Empire Loyalists and settled in to farm up here in Ontario. Losing its American colonies changed Britain's attitude towards its other possessions, so that when we eventually had our own (failed) little rebellions, the response wasn't harsh repression, but an enlightened move to give us more democracy. In 1812, the US tried to conquer Canada; it's part of our national narrative that we beat you off and the border didn't move. So to a Canadian, "not being taken over" equals success. Our official birth as a nation was in 1867, only a few years after your horrifying Civil War. High on the list of priorities at the time was trying to figure out ways to structure the new nation so as Not To Do That.

      It's a recurring theme up here. Over and over, we've had to learn to live with you and find ways not to be swallowed up. We have come to place a high value on any compromises that let us retain our separate identity.

      As for media -- the thing that makes the difference is the CBC. (In Canada, the CBC is not the Congressional Black Congress, but the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation.) The CBC is a crown corporation, which means it is owned, but not run, by the government.

      No, the CBC isn't by any means dominant here. But it is trusted, which means it sets a standard for independent, high-quality political reporting that private media must equal in order to compete.

      These factors don't entirely immunize us against importing bad ideas across the border. At most they give us a breathing space of about ten years. But, you know, that's often enough. Ten years of a bad idea is frequently more than enough time to demonstrate exactly why it's not something we should be copying.

      by Canadian Reader on Fri Feb 08, 2008 at 11:46:27 AM PDT

  •  Except at hockey games

    I'm not so sure that Canucks (and I'm married to one) like non violent hockey games, or non violent entertainment, generally; my wife's family loves The Sopranos.

    by Randian on Fri Feb 08, 2008 at 11:21:23 AM PDT

•  The full formula:

  intoxication with violence + infantile selfishness.

  We don't get what we want, so we go ballistic and shoot someone.

  by LanceBoyle on Fri Feb 08, 2008 at 10:34:51 AM PDT

•  Killings and Where We Are

  I think it's because we're at a point where many people have lost hope in government, the system, the police, and all institutions which protect people and allow them to not have to take "matters into their own hands." There's a sense that most things are breaking down, and for those on the edge or pushed to the edge (by whatever environmental or psychological reason), they explode. I think that when and if progressives have the chance to get government working again, the police working again, child protective services working again, the police protecting battered women again, the federal reserve thinking about the common folk again--then these pressures will subside and people will feel more secure about their standing in life and future. Otherwise, right now--Everyone's just Pissed, and they're not going to take it anymore.

  by jvackert on Fri Feb 08, 2008 at 10:35:53 AM PDT

•  I think the diarist

  is referring to an acute situation, not the usual. And I can't tell if it's a media fueled spike or an honest phenomenon, but I'm seeing it too. If I had to say, it's got something to do with the current zeitgeist. Everyone is waiting for the other shoe to drop on the economy, but it hasn't quite dropped yet--just teetering. Actual conditions may not have changed much, but the mood is (aside from the Democratic primary, interestingly enough) very bleak even if actual conditions haven't gotten so.

  As for gun control--here's my theory there. Despite all the publicity, and the propensity to think that right now is always the worst time ever, violent crime declined precipitously in the 90s and although it's ticked up here and there, it's still nowhere like how it was. The will to enact gun control (and to execute prisoners--they go hand in hand) was higher when there was more motivation. Americans apparently have decided they can "live with" the current rate of violent crime in exchange for being able to have lax gun laws.

  That's just one of those quirks about the U.S.  

  by JMS on Fri Feb 08, 2008 at 10:37:41 AM PDT

•  And the Super Bowl was nearly a massacre

  That was just on CNN. Apparently some guy had an assault rifle and only at the last second did he have second thoughts about opening fire on the fans outside the stadium.

  The guy had no rap sheet and no known mental health issues.

  We need gun control now more than ever.

  by modemocrat on Fri Feb 08, 2008 at 10:37:55 AM PDT

  •  How about....

    Just change the word "Assult Rifle" to shotgun, handgun, 22 rifle....whatever.

    What is the difference if someone is determined to kill?

    Here we go down the same old tired, 'lets-objective-the-evil-nasty-looking-gun' road.

    by Fuzzy5150 on Fri Feb 08, 2008 at 10:42:11 AM PDT

•  Freedom is Messy/snark

  Also cult of the "strong' individual...gotta do it all alone.....

  In better (mentally healthy) societies, nobody is expected to tough out everything on their own...many more relationships with family and friends...mutual help, obligation, love, support..........

  by LNK on Fri Feb 08, 2008 at 10:38:28 AM PDT

•  Great topic for discussion

  get a tip jar going to promote this.  

  I live in close proximity to the Lane Bryant in Tinley Park, IL where the shootings happened.  It sickens and saddens me to no end.

  by djbender on Fri Feb 08, 2008 at 10:38:41 AM PDT

  •  I live in Omaha.........

    Where we lost 8 at the Von Mauer.

    The shooter was a high school drop-out from a broken family who was living with a dysfunctional family (just busted yesterday for drug use/possesion).  Truly a kid that droped through the cracks of society.  

    Who is to blame?

    His birth family?  His host family?  The guy he stole the gun from for having such a 'nasty' thing?

    I'd love to hear the solution to this senseless, random type of tragedy.

    by Fuzzy5150 on Fri Feb 08, 2008 at 10:47:30 AM PDT

    •  Here's the answer

      In Japan  very few people own guns.   Japan averages 124 gun-related attacks a year, and less than 1 percent end in death.

      Contrast that with our 84 deaths from guns every day and it doesn't take a rocket scientist to see that we need to regulate and control hand guns in the US!

      There's your SOLUTION.

      by QuarterHorseDem on Fri Feb 08, 2008 at 10:54:53 AM PDT

      •  Well.......

        ....then I guess you have absolute confidence in your government as stewards of your liberties and your best interest, right?

        by Fuzzy5150 on Fri Feb 08, 2008 at 11:37:04 AM PDT

•  Hmm

  Why all these mass killings in the US?

  I think I know the answer, and it rhymes with "Sandbuns"

  by Wisper on Fri Feb 08, 2008 at 10:40:29 AM PDT

•  Those who believe in astrology

  will tell you, the fault is in the stars.

  Seriously, there is a major shift going on up there, with a Mercury retrograde and Pluto shifting into Capricorn, sliding back into Sagittarius for the Presidential election, and then moving back into Pluto at the end of November. Then it stays there until 2023. Weird stuff always seems to happen during Mercury retrogrades (for example -- Mercury rules communication and the day it shifted, two telecommunications cables to Asia and the Middle East snapped; violence also goes up and murders allegedly increase), but this one is coupled with several other changes including Pluto moving around. Here's what one astrologer said about the Pluto shift:

  This fact alone suggests a time of confusion as a new archetype is emerging and beginning to affect the collective consciousness, but the old one, while weakening, hasn't lost its influence and will continue to remain important and relevant. It is even possible that the election will be decided on the basis of Sagittarius principles even though the issues that will need to be dealt with by the new administration will be concerned with the new emerging problems that are just now developing...Sagittarius has been at the core of the rise in the collective consciousness of fundamentalism, whether it be Islamic or what we've seen in the US as the growth in political influence of the Christian right or evangelicals. These forces have been in the particular societies for a very long time, but while Pluto has been in the sign of religion, ethics, [and] morality, it has intensified the issue of belief systems and many have wanted to impose their beliefs on the rest of the population and even the world.

  I know lots of you don't believe this stuff, but there are trackable changes that correlate to shifts in the planets and stars. I know correlation does not mean causation, but the information is -- at least to some of us -- undeniably interesting.

  by Brooke In Seattle on Fri Feb 08, 2008 at 10:55:01 AM PDT

•  It's not ALL about access to firearms.

  "The gubmint" (at least the Bushista version of it) has screwed up the lives of everyone in ways that most of us would never think about.  At the same time, it has gone out of its way to justify the perpetration of all manner of violent evils for "getting your way" and destroyed virtually all trust in any non-violent societal Justice system.

  While there may be no demonstrable direct connection between the Bushista ethos and these specific incidents - just as there's no demonstrable direct connection between global warming and specific tornado outbreaks - the Bushistas have poisoned our moral values and our collective psyche beyond measure these past seven years and it IS having an effect.

  The fact that firearms are so easily accessible certainly contributes to the outcome of these incidents, but just wait.  If the Bushistas actually fulfill the nightmares of the tin-foil-hatters, declare martial law and/or suspend the Presidential election, they'll be coming to confiscate those same guns right quick.

  So, the cure is not to take away the guns, but to restore a moral government, a more equitable distribution of financial security and a system of Justice that people can trust to genuinely address their grievances.

  by sxwarren on Fri Feb 08, 2008 at 10:56:36 AM PDT

•  Berserkers

  When all else fails, go berserk.

  by marina on Fri Feb 08, 2008 at 11:10:33 AM PDT

•  John Brunner's "Stand on Zanzibar."

  I've witnessed more and more of it come true. We've got Muckers (runners amok) everywhere.

  by LanceBoyle on Fri Feb 08, 2008 at 02:18:57 PM PDT