Mass Murder Watch

Febrary 2010 - Two People Shot At Middle School In Littleton, Colorado

2010-02-26T06:09:00.000-08:00

http://www.wusa9.com/news/local/story.aspx?storyid=97555

Jillian Coyle
9news
Wed, 24 Feb 2010 13:16 EST

Two students were shot at a middle school on Tuesday afternoon before teachers tackled a man with a high-powered rifle outside of the school. Authorities say the man is in custody, and one of the students is now in critical condition.

Jacki Kelley, spokesperson for the Jefferson County Sheriff's Office, says one victim was found inside at Deer Creek Middle School and the other was found outside the school.

Deer Creek is on West Columbine Drive near South Garrison Street, which is near Kipling Parkway and Ken Caryl Avenue.

The victims were a boy and a girl. Both were initially taken to Littleton Adventist Hospital with what authorities initially said were non life-threatening injuries.

Kelley says the shootings happened outside of the school around 3 p.m., which is about when children would be getting out of school.

One of the victims is a seventh-grade girl named Reagan Weber. She was treated and released from Littleton Adventist Hospital.

The other victim is an eighth-grade boy named Matt Thieu. He transferred to The Children's Hospital and is now listed in critical condition.

Kelley says both had surgery on Tuesday.

Kelley says deputies took 32-year-old Bruco Strong Eagle Eastwood into custody and he is being held at the Jefferson County Sheriff's Office. He is expected to face at least two counts of attempted first-degree murder and will appear in court at 10 a.m. on Wednesday for an advisement hearing.

His picture was not released pending a photo lineup.

Kelley says two people tackled Eastwood to the ground and a contractor pulled the gun away from him.

"There's no reason for us to believe that these two victims were targeted. It may have really been happenstance," Kelley said. "It could have been so much worse."

She says there are reports Eastwood was at the school prior to Tuesday.

"He was also briefly in the school today [before the shootings], although the shootings occurred outside," Kelley said.

Authorities say Eastwood used a bolt-action, high-powered rifle. 9 Wants to Know has learned he has a lengthy criminal history of charges, including assault, domestic violence and DUI.

Kelley says authorities do not yet have a motive for the shootings.

Reese Ferrin, a Deer Creek student, says he was standing next to Dr. David Benke, a seventh-grade math teacher, when the shootings began.

"I was by the crosswalk and the gunman came around the corner and Dr. Benke ran and tackled him," Reese said.

Reese says Benke tackled the gunman first and other teachers piled on top of him.

Benke's wife, Sandra Benke, told 9NEWS he called her just after the shooting.

"He wanted me to know, first of all that he was OK. That there'd been a shooting at the school and that he'd had to tackle the gunman and before he was able to get the gunman down he got a shot off and shot one of the students," she said.

"I'm not surprised that David would tackle somebody like that. He's 6'5" and he knows how to handle himself. He dearly loves his students. They're like an extended portion of his family. But I was really, really worried and glad to hear that he was OK," she said.

One student says she spoke with the shooter and he asked some students if they went to school at Deer Creek before he opened fire.

Sheri Hasse says her son was on the bus and he saw at least one of the shootings happen outside the school. Her son was kept on the bus as deputies investigated the scene.

Thirteen-year-old Kyle Barker was also on the bus and says they heard the first shot and everyone on the bus got down. He says he peeked up and saw students running away from the gunman around the back of the bus. He says one of those kids was the second victim. He watched the student fall to the ground after being shot. He says he also saw teachers tackling the gunman and one teacher came over and put a coat over the victim. They didn't do CPR, but did apply pressure to the wound.

Levi Shafter, a seventh grader, was also on the bus.

"I heard a gunshot and everybody was running away, I was a little confused, and then I saw the shooter, I saw him put out a second shot and that's when the bus driver told us all to get down so we got down," Levi said. "I was really scared."

"Some of the teachers tackled him and then the police arrived and arrested him," Levi said.

Tamara Vermeer has a daughter who is an eighth grader at Deer Creek. She says she was parked close to the front of the school and heard a gunshot.

"At that time, of course, I'm not thinking it's a gunshot. I see my daughter and her friends coming towards me and I hear a second gunshot and all - probably nine or 10 of them, just piled in my car and then I saw kids starting to run," she said.

"I could see adults or someone leaning over someone," Veremeer said. "And then I saw a woman come out and pick up a rifle and so that's when I knew this was a shooting."

Kelley says Deer Creek was put into lockdown because of the shooting.

All of the students were taken to nearby Stony Creek Elementary School at West Columbine Drive and South Everett Street. Parents were told to go to Stony Creek to pick up their children.

Groups of children were sent from one school to the other as investigators cleared Deer Creek.

Tuesday was not the first shooting on the Deer Creek campus. On April 7, 1982, 14-year-old Jason Rocha shot and killed a 13-year-old student named Scott Michael during a lunch-hour recess at the school.

The school is also about three miles southwest of Columbine High School, where two teens - Dylan Klebold and Eric Harris - killed 12 students and a teacher and wounded 23 others before killing themselves in 1999.

About 525 seventh and eighth grade students attend Deer Creek.

Jefferson County Schools says both Deer Creek and Stony Creek will be closed on Wednesday. Counselors will be available for anyone who needs them at Stony Creek beginning at 7:30 a.m. They will be there throughout the day.

All Jeffco activities, except athletics, were cancelled for Tuesday night. All athletic events were to go on as scheduled.

It is unclear when classes would resume at the schools.

Update: Accused Alabama prof shot, killed brother in 1986

2010-02-14T07:19:00.000-08:00

This mass murder is looking more like MKULTRA or Manchurian Candidate stuff all the time! With six unemployed people for every job opening, you'd think the professor would appreciate her job even if it wasn't tenured! A smart person wouldn't throw it all away like this. No, there has to be something hidden underneath. More, if she got away with the first murder, she might get away with these murders as well!! THAT'S WHY I'M MAKING IT A PUBLIC RECORD HERE!!! WAKEY, WAKEY ALL YOU SLEEPERS!!! SOMETHING IS WRONG HERE!!!

http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5hf_Cw1b1x1DmRrdG4hiu4P55yZTgD9DRJL8O0

Update: Accused Alabama prof shot, killed brother in 1986

Kristin M. Hall and Desiree Hunter
Associated Press
Sun, 14 Feb 2010 00:56 EST

The professor accused of killing three colleagues during a faculty meeting was a Harvard-educated neurobiologist, inventor and mother whose life had been marred by a violent episode in her distant past.

More than two decades ago, police said Amy Bishop fatally shot her teenage brother at their Massachusetts home in what officers at the time logged as an accident - though authorities said Saturday that records of the shooting are missing.

Bishop had just months left teaching at the University of Alabama in Huntsville when police said she opened fire with a handgun Friday in a room filled with a dozen of her colleagues from the school's biology department. Bishop, a rare woman suspected in a workplace shooting, was to leave after this semester because she had been denied tenure.

Police say she is 42, but the university's Web site lists her as 44.

Some have said she was upset after being denied the job-for-life security afforded tenured academics, and the husband of one victim and one of Bishop's students said they were told the shooting stemmed from the school's refusal to grant her such status. Authorities have refused to discuss a motive, and school spokesman Ray Garner said the faculty meeting wasn't called to discuss tenure.

William Setzer, chairman of chemistry department at UAH, said Bishop was appealing the decision made last year.

"Politics and personalities" always play a role in the tenure process, he said. "In a close department it's more so. If you have any lone wolves or bizarre personalities, it's a problem and I'm thinking that certainly came into play here."

The three killed were Gopi K. Podila, the chairman of the Department of Biological Sciences, and two other faculty members, Maria Ragland Davis and Adriel Johnson. The wounded were still recovering in hospitals early Saturday. Luis Cruz-Vera was in fair condition; Joseph Leahy in critical condition; and staffer Stephanie Monticciolo also was in critical condition.

Descriptions of Bishop from students and colleagues were mixed. Some saw a strange woman who had difficulty relating to her students, while others described a witty, intelligent teacher.

Students and colleagues described Bishop as intelligent, but someone who often had difficulty explaining difficult concepts.

Bishop was well-known in the research community, appearing on the cover of the winter 2009 issue of The Huntsville R&D Report, a local magazine focusing on engineering, space and genetics. However, it was unclear how many of her colleagues and students knew about a more tragic part of her past.

She shot her brother, an 18-year-old accomplished violinist, in the chest in 1986, said Paul Frazier, the police chief in Braintree, Mass., where the shooting occurred. Bishop fired at least three shots, hitting her brother once and hitting her bedroom wall before police took her into custody at gunpoint, he said.

Frazier said the police chief at the time told officers to release Bishop to her mother before she could be booked. It was logged as an accident.

But Frazier's account was disputed by former police Chief John Polio, who told The Associated Press he didn't call officers to tell them to release Bishop. "There's no cover-up, no missing records," he said.

Attempts by AP to track down addresses and phone numbers for Bishop's family in the Braintree area weren't immediately successful Saturday. The current police chief said he believed her family had moved away.

After being educated at Harvard University, Bishop moved to Huntsville and in 2003 became an associate professor at the University of Alabama's campus there. The school, with about 7,500 students, has close ties with NASA and is known for its engineering and science programs.

Setzer, the chemistry chairman, said he was not aware of the incident with Bishop's brother.

Bishop and her husband placed third in a statewide university business plan competition in July 2007, presenting a portable cell incubator they had invented. They won $25,000 to help start a company to market the device.

Her husband, James Anderson, was detained and questioned by police but has not been charged. Police said Bishop was quickly caught after Friday's shooting. A 9-millimeter handgun was found in the bathroom of the building where the shootings occurred, and Huntsville police spokesman Sgt. Mark Roberts said Bishop did not have a permit for it.

Bishop was in custody and it wasn't immediately known if she has an attorney. No one was home at the couple's house.

Several experts said campus shootings commonly occur because the shooter has some kind of festering grievance that university officials haven't addressed, and the granting of tenure can be a polarizing and politicized process for many academics. "Universities tend to string it out without resolution, tolerate too much and to have a cumbersome decision process that endangers the comfort of many and the safety of some," said Dr. Park Dietz, who is president of Threat Assessment Group Inc., a Newport Beach, Calif.-based violence prevention firm.

Tenure, which makes firing and other discipline difficult if not impossible, can seem generous to outsiders. But the job protection gives professors the freedom to express ideas and conduct studies without fear of reprisal. The system typically emphasizes research over teaching, and tenured professors typically are paid more.

While it's rare for the stresses of the tenure process to incur violence, what's even rarer is for a woman to be accused in such an incident like the one Friday that also left three of Bishop's colleagues injured, two critically.

"Workplace shootings of that kind are overwhelmingly male," said Franklin E. Zimring, a law professor and director of violence prevention at the University of California, Berkeley. "Going postal was essentially a monopoly position of the XY chromosome."

February 2010 - Alabama Professor Held in 3 killings

2010-02-14T06:06:00.000-08:00

A survivor of the Seattle massacre (a very nice lady) sends me articles for my mass murder blog and she sent me an article when it happened and then she sent me this today. This woman shot her brother in the chest with a shotgun, shoots in the neighborhood and it goes away...Almost all the records of it doesn't exist or never existed...Just incredible! Go to URL to see video!!!

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/us_ala_university_shooting_brother

Chief: Ala. prof held in 3 killings shot Mass. kin

AP – Amy Bishop is taken into custody by Huntsville, Ala. police Friday, Feb 12, 2010 in connection with fatal …
Play VideoVideo:Alabama Murders Prof. Shot Brother In Braintree WBZ Boston
By JAY LINDSAY, Associated Press Writer – Sun Feb 14, 12:02 am ET

BRAINTREE, Mass. – An Alabama university professor accused of fatally shooting three colleagues at a faculty meeting this week shot her younger brother dead at their home in the Boston suburbs more than 20 years ago, but records of it are missing, police said Saturday.

Amy Bishop shot her teenage brother in the chest in 1986, Braintree police Chief Paul Frazier said at a news conference. Bishop fired once into a wall, then shot her brother, then fired a third time into the ceiling and fled with the shotgun before police took her into custody at gunpoint, he said.

Before Bishop, who was 19 at the time, could be booked the police chief back then called officers and told them to release her to her mother, Frazier said. The shooting of the brother, Seth Bishop, an 18-year-old accomplished violinist, was logged that day as a "sudden death" and later considered accidental, but detailed records of the shooting have disappeared, Frazier said.

"The report's gone, removed from the files," he said.

The police chief said Saturday that he planned to meet with the local district attorney over the possibility of launching a criminal investigation into how the case was handled.

The police chief in 1986, John Polio, said Saturday in an interview at his Braintree home that he was astonished at any implication of a coverup. He said he didn't instruct officers to release Bishop and wasn't close to her mother.
"(There's) no coverup, no missing records," Polio said.

A University of Alabama at Huntsville spokesman said Bishop, who's in her 40s, had been denied tenure before she was held Friday in the campus shooting.

As Bishop was being taken to jail in handcuffs she said: "It didn't happen. There's no way."

Attempts by The Associated Press to track down addresses and phone numbers for Bishop's family in the Braintree area weren't immediately successful Saturday. Polio's wife said she believed the Bishop family had moved away.

Murder Capital of the World

2010-02-12T13:28:00.000-08:00

http://www.truthout.org/murder-capital-world56742

Thursday 04 February 2010
by: Laura Carlsen | Foreign Policy in Focus

On January 31, an armed commando unit pulled up to a house in a working-class neighborhood in Ciudad Juarez on the Mexican side of the border with the United States. Inside the house, 60 teenagers were celebrating a friend's birthday. Wielding high-caliber weapons, the commandos opened fire on the kids, robbed the house, then drove away from the scene — amid human cries, the scent of gunpowder, and the total absence of law enforcement officials.

To date, 16 people are dead as more lie wounded in the local hospital. Photographs capture the concrete floors stained with blood, the bereaved families, the frightened neighbors. Local residents interviewed in the aftermath of the tragedy called the security forces "useless." Fearing to give their names, they noted that the gunmen entered the neighborhood, hunted down the victims, and passed right by a group of soldiers in the vicinity.

"We heard a lot of shots, at first we thought they were bottle rockets, but later we heard the running and the cries of the young girls that were at the party. Then came silence and a strong odor of gunpowder," a witness reported. Residents say that even 10 hours after the murders, the crime scene had not been secured.

So far, no one knows the motive of the crime. The Washington Post reported that Ciudad Juarez Mayor Jose Reyes put forward the preposterous hypothesis that the hit was "random." Mexico's secretary of government chalked it up to "delinquents" and ended up blaming the victims. He stated that the new strategy in the region would be focused on "the gang wars." The state attorney general presented a suspect who claimed the victims were associated with a gang called the "Artist Assassins" that works for the Sinaloa drug cartel. According to this story, the rival Gulf cartel carried out the mass hit as punishment and a warning to others.

Mexico's Drug War

Ciudad Juarez now holds the world record in homicides per capita. The city beats out war zones in the number of violent deaths because unofficially, it too is a war zone. This border city of two million is the frontline of one of the most violent and most ill-conceived war of our times — the war on drugs. On March 27, 2008, Mexican President Felipe Calderon launched "Operation Chihuahua," and since then thousands of soldiers have been sent in to beat back the cartels.

The bodies of the slain teenagers and thousands of others attest to the results of this strategy. Last year, Ciudad Juarez's over 2,600 murders accounted for more than a third of Mexico's reported 7,724 drug war-related deaths. With 227 assassinations related to organized crime in January alone, 2010 stands to be the bloodiest year yet.

If governments based their security strategies on hard evidence and proven results, this city would be rightly viewed as a case study in the failure of the drug war. Instead, for years the strategy has been reinforced, with worse results. Ciudad Juarez stands out as a tragic example of what happens when a black-market economy creates massive corruption and avarice, and partisan politics and special interests determine government responses.

Calderon initiated the drug war to secure the support of the armed forces following huge protests over electoral fraud. He needed to unite the country against an enemy and organized crime was growing. Since Calderon announced the offensive against organized crime soon after taking office, somewhere between 15,000 and 17,000 people have been killed. The government has deployed 50,000 troops to fight the war nationwide, racking up human rights violations and criticisms that their new domestic role violates the constitution, accelerates the downward spiral of violence, and militarizes a nation still undergoing a shaky transition from authoritarian rule.

Now public anger over the government's failure to control the violence has reached a boiling point in Mexico. Perched atop the open casket of one of the young people, a hand-written sign read "Mr. President, We demand responses and solutions. No False Promises or False Hopes." Some groups in Juarez have called for Calderon's resignation.

The Mexican Congress has demanded that the cabinet members charged with security policy explain the failure in Ciudad Juarez in light of the recent killings. The massacre comes on the heels of the announcement of a change in strategy to withdraw soldiers and replace them with police officers. U.S. Ambassador to Mexico Carlos Pascual praised the move: "What the government has done now is an intelligent measure to introduce the federal police, which has all the legal capacities, and put them on the front line in the war on against drug-traffickers."

However, experts like General Francisco Gallardo of the Mexican armed forces, now a human rights leader, note that the difference between the armed forces and the police is often just a change of uniform. Although some groups in Washington have insisted that a shift from army to police represents a major improvement in the drug war strategy, the massacre and continued violence indicates that the impunity of organized crime will continue unabated as long as the confrontation model itself remains the same.

In an 2008 article for the Americas Program on the failure of Operation Chihuahua, congressman and human rights activist Victor Quintana wrote that "Crowding soldiers into different parts of the country, far from dissuading drug dealers and their hired gunmen, exponentially increases the risk for civilians, who now have to take care on all sides: hired gunmen breaking into their daily activities, stray bullets, and human rights violations by the police and the army."

A New Strategy?

Calderon has made the most self-critical statements yet regarding the failure of his drug war. Speaking from Japan, he said he would alter the strategy. He went on to announce a more integral approach to attack the "social deterioration" of Ciudad Juarez, adding that the new approach would revamp the police and justice system and tackle social problems. "It's clear that the action of the police or government and armed forces is not enough," he said. "We need an integral strategy of social recomposition, prevention and treatment for addictions, a search for opportunities for employment and recreation and education for youth."

The same week, in its 2011 budget request, the Obama administration called for an additional $310 million for Mexico's drug war under the Merida initiative. Through this initiative, the U.S. government, first under Bush and now under Obama, has pledged its support for the enforcement strategy with over $1.4 billion, mostly to the Mexican armed forces and police. But this approach doesn't address the reduction in the demand for illicit drugs, the treatment and prevention of addiction, or the financial structure of organized crime. Moreover a recent story in the Mexican daily El Universal notes that 70 percent of Merida resources remain in the United States, doled out in contracts for military and intelligence equipment.

The irony of announcing further U.S. support for the drug war strategy, at the same time as Mexican society and even the president called for a change in strategy, was not missed. The daily paper La Jornada dedicated an indignant February 2 editorial to the coincidence. "Based on the results, the application of the Merida Initiative has translated into a sustained and exasperating deterioration in public security," the editorial concludes. "Crimes linked to drug trafficking are more frequent than when it was signed, which is a disaster for Mexico. Through this instrument it was agreed we would fight a war that isn't ours, one that contains an immoral and unacceptable clause: the U.S. pays in dollars and Mexico pays in lives."

U.S. officials explain the violence in Ciudad Juarez as the result of turf battles for control of heavy trafficking routes. But the city has become the center for traffickers because of what's happening on the other side of the border. U.S. demand for drugs sustains the market, and U.S. laws do little to prevent the illicit trade — weapons going in, drugs coming out — that has made this border area a war-zone.

FPIF columnist Laura Carlsen is director of the Americas Program of the Center for International Policy. The Americas Program is online at http://americas.irc-online.org/.

February 2010 - Gunmen Kill 14 at High School Party in Mexico

2010-02-02T13:45:00.000-08:00

http://www.sott.net/articles/show/202247-Gunmen-Kill-14-at-High-School-Party-in-Mexico

Gunmen Kill 14 at High School Party in Mexico
Julian Cardona
Reuters
Sun, 31 Jan 2010 20:46 EST

Suspected drug hitmen burst into a high school birthday party and killed 14 people in Ciudad Juarez on Sunday, the latest massacre in one of the world's deadliest cities.

Gunmen jumped out of sport utility vehicles and fired at the students, who were celebrating the birthday of a classmate, in a house in the city across the border from El Paso, Texas, in the early hours of Sunday.

Bodies lay on the street outside and pools of blood collected by nearby parked cars. Inside the house, the walls were stained with blood and marked with bullet holes.

"The men drove up in SUVs, they were well-armed. They went into the house and shot at everyone, you could hear the gunfire all around," a neighbor at the scene said.

Patricia Gonzalez, attorney general for Chihuahua state that includes Ciudad Juarez, said the shooting was possibly linked to drug cartels.

"We have two lines of investigation and one of them is linked to drug trafficking," she told a news conference. "We know from witnesses that the men arrived looking for someone." She declined to give more details.

Over the past two years, hitmen have attacked parties in Chihuahua state, searching for rivals, and police have reported that some teenagers in Ciudad Juarez have been involved in kidnapping others.

Gonzalez said the dead included three adults and 11 minors. Fourteen others were wounded, two critically. All the victims were between 15 and 20 years old, the army said.

She denied earlier reports that the teenagers were celebrating a local sports championship victory.

"They were about 15 men, they closed off the surrounding streets and began shooting at the house as they moved inside," said army spokesman Enrique Torres.

Ciudad Juarez is the bloodiest front in Mexico's three-year drug war as rival cartels fight over markets and control of smuggling routes into the United States.

Violence is escalating even as federal police and soldiers patrol the streets. Some 2,650 people were killed in drug violence in Ciudad Juarez last year and cartel murders have jumped since the start of 2010.

In some of the worst attacks, gunmen have stormed at least seven drug rehabilitation clinics in the manufacturing city over the past two years, targeting rival dealers. Two strikes in September killed 28 people.

Mexico is the key transit route for U.S.-bound cocaine from South America and a top producer of marijuana and heroin.

A military crackdown on rival cartels in Mexico has fueled a surge in drug violence that has killed more than 17,000 people since President Felipe Calderon took office in 2006, worrying Washington and investors and scaring off tourists from some cities.

Serial Killer vs. Mass Murderer

2010-01-21T05:29:00.000-08:00

http://www.mentalfloss.com/difference/serial-killer-vs-mass-murderer/

Serial Killer vs. Mass Murderer

The Dilemma: The guy sitting next to you at the bar keeps insisting that John Wayne Gacy wasn’t a serial killer but a mass murderer, which is really creepy. But is he right?

People You Can Impress: authors of true crime novels and suckers for semantics

The Quick Trick: The creepy guy at the bar is full of it: Gacy was a serial killer because he committed many murders over a long period of time; mass murderers commit many murders all at once.

The Explanation: The difference here is all about the details—but then, any CSI fan knows that the magic of police work is in the little things. According to the U.S. Department of Justice, Statistics Bureau (and yes, there really is such a thing), “mass murder” is a single event at one location involving the murder of four or more people. Kill three people at once, therefore, and you’re merely a homicidal jerk. Terrorism and government-sanctioned murder often are considered mass murder.

Serial killers, on the other hand, kill in a series of events. The killers usually don’t know their victims (the opposite is true with mass murderers), they almost always have “cooling off ” periods between murders, and they usually derive sexual excitement from the killings. To qualify as a serial killer, one needs three victims. It rather goes without saying, but serial killers tend to be pretty screwed up individuals. Although there are records of serial killers going back to at least 1400, the term wasn’t coined until the 1970s, when killers Ted Bundy and David “Son of Sam” Berkowitz were frequently in the news.

SERIAL KILLERS

GILLES DE RAIS (1404–1440): Once one of the richest men in France, Rais raped, tortured, and murdered between 80 and 200 boys—and a few girls—on the grounds of his various estates.

Long before there was Aileen “Monster” Wuornos, there was ELIZABETH “THE BLOODY LADY” Bathory (1560–1614). Some sources claim that Bathory, a Hungarian countess, tortured and killed 2,000 young girls (mostly peasants, but some lower gentry).

When it comes to British serial killers in the 19th century, Jack the Ripper gets all the press. But MARY ANN COTTON (1832–1873) was more prolific, killing as many as 21 people. Cotton probably poisoned four of her husbands, a variety of her friends and in-laws, and several of her own children with arsenic.

MASS MURDERERS The term “going postal” has its roots in the case of one PATRICK SHERRILL, a disgruntled former postman who walkedinto the post office in Edmond, Oklahoma, on August 20, 1986, and killed 14 employees before committing suicide.

On November 1, 1955, JACK GILBERT GRAHAM put his mother on a flight from Denver to Portland with a dynamite bomb in her suitcase. (Graham wanted her life insurance money.) The bomb exploded midair, killing all 44 people aboard.

Texas man charged in deaths of 5 family members

2010-01-21T05:21:00.000-08:00

A blog reader sent me this and this mass murder was announced to the public 4-5 days after the incident. Instead, the Virginia mass murder was publicized during this period instead! It makes one wonder HOW MANY MASS MURDERS THERE REALLY ARE!!! It makes one wonder WHY THE MEDIA IS HIDING MASS MURDERS!!!

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20100121/ap_on_re_us/us_five_killed_texas;_ylt=Al2aJ3PjfBzvDVo1GFR8JHWs0NUE;_ylu=X3oDMTNwZHNtbms1BGFzc2V0A2FwLzIwMTAwMTIxL3VzX2ZpdmVfa2lsbGVkX3RleGFzBGNjb2RlA21vc3Rwb3B1bGFyBGNwb3MDMTAEcG9zAzcEcHQDaG9tZV9jb2tlBHNlYwN5bl9oZWFkbGluZV9saXN0BHNsawN0ZXhhc21hbmNoYXI

Texas man charged in deaths of 5 family members

AP – In this photo provided by the Austin County Sheriff's Office is an arrest picture of Maron Thomas, 20, …

By JUAN A. LOZANO, Associated Press Writer – Wed Jan 20, 8:13 pm ET

BELLVILLE, Texas – A southeast Texas man was charged Wednesday in the weekend shooting deaths of five family members, including his 2-year-old niece, who also was decapitated.

Maron Thomas, 20, remains jailed on a $1 million bond, accused in the deaths of his mother, stepfather, sister, brother and niece. Police said Thomas was naked when he was caught trying to break into a neighbor's home after the shootings.

"This is one of the most horrific crimes we've had," Austin County District Attorney Travis Koehn said.

Investigators said an ongoing family dispute led to the shootings, but they declined to give additional details.

The five bodies were discovered Sunday afternoon at the family's single-story brick home in Bellville, a rural town of about 4,000 people 55 miles northwest of Houston. Police say the shootings took place early Sunday morning.

Preliminary autopsy reports indicate all five died of gunshot wounds, and the 2-year-old girl was decapitated with a machete.

Her head was found near her body, Austin County Sheriff's Department Sgt. Paul Faircloth said.

A shotgun and a handgun found near the scene were both used to kill the family, Texas Ranger David Maxwell said.

Authorities would not say how many times each victim was shot.

Before the capital murder charge was filed, Thomas was held on charges of breaking into a vehicle and trying to break into a home 1 1/2 miles from his family's house.

Faircloth said he didn't know whether Thomas had an attorney, and the court was not open Wednesday evening to check whether an attorney has been listed in the case. Austin County court records aren't available online.

Relatives who were at Thomas' home Wednesday declined to comment.

Faircloth said Thomas broke into a car after the shootings and was naked when a neighbor caught him trying to break into the neighbor's house about 3 a.m. Sunday. The neighbor held Thomas at gunpoint until police arrived. By then, Thomas was wearing spandex workout shorts, he said.

Thomas was taken to the county jail, where he told deputies he had killed his family, Maxwell said.

Those found inside the house were identified as Thomas' mother, Debra Washington, 54; his stepfather, George T. Washington, 69; his sister Kiana Phearse, 25; and his 2-year-old niece, Khalilah Chambers-Massey. The naked body of his brother, Cedric Thomas, 19, was found in a thick expanse of woods behind the house.

Relatives and neighbors have described the Washingtons as a friendly couple who had lived in the house with Thomas since moving from Houston about two years ago.

Koehn said the single count of capital murder covers all five slayings, but Thomas could be charged with additional counts. Prosecutors have not decided whether they will seek the death penalty.

Authorities took blood samples from Thomas to determine whether he might have been using drugs at the time of the shootings, Maxwell said.

Bellville drew attention in August with the shooting death of a physician during a burglary at his ranch. Two suspects were arrested days later and charged with killing Dr. Jorge Mario Gonzalez of Houston.

January 2010 - 8 killed in central Va. shootings

2010-01-19T18:41:00.000-08:00

This year is really starting out violently...3rd mass murder so far (at least that is my count)...

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/us_appomattox_shootings

AP source: 8 killed in central Va. shootings
By LARRY O'DELL, Associated Press Writer.
January 19, 2010

APPOMATTOX, Va. – A lone shooter killed eight people Tuesday in central Virginia, a law enforcement official told The Associated Press, and police have the suspect circled in the woods where they believe he is hiding. State police say there were multiple deaths and injuries and that one shooter was responsible. They could not say what sparked the violence. The official who gave the number of dead asked for anonymity because the person was not authorized to speak about the investigation.

The drama paralyzed the rural area in southwest Virginia as police swarmed forests trying to flush out the suspect who, at one point in the manhunt, fired at a state police helicopter, forcing it to land with a ruptured fuel tank. No police were injured after one or more rounds struck the helicopter. No police were injured.

Canine units and a National Guard helicopter with thermal imaging equipment were being used to search awooded area late Tuesday.

"They are searching the area and will continue until the suspect is apprehended," State Police Sgt. Thomas Molnar said.

The violence began shortly after noon when an injured man was found on a rural stretch of road. A deputy who went to
investigate fled after he heard gunshots, said police spokeswoman Corrine Geller.

"When the deputy arrived on the scene, that's when he heard several shots," Molnar said.

He said there were "several fatalities and one injury." Police were still trying to determine the suspect's relationship with the victims.

Residents near the shooting scene were told to remain inside and a small Christian school was locked down until state police could escort about 60 children from the building.

Resident Bethel Hawkins said police warned families to remain inside with their doors locked. She said many homeowners in the area are senior citizens.

"We're just being cautious, keeping our doors locked, not going outside," said Hawkins, who lives about 2 miles up the road from where the shootings occurred. "Our church service is supposed to be tonight, but we talked with our pastor and told him we're not coming out. We're not going out in the dark not knowing what's out there. But we trust in the Lord to take care of us."

Appomattox is in a county of about 15,000 approximately 100 miles southwest of Richmond. It is best known as the place where Confederate Gen. Robert E. Lee surrendered to Union Gen. Ulysses S. Grant to end the Civil War.

January 2010 - Cobb shooter chose victims at random, company official says

2010-01-16T15:46:00.000-08:00

http://www.ajc.com/news/cobb/cobb-shooter-chose-victims-273801.html?printArticle=y

By Shane Blatt, Alexis Stevens and Ralph Ellis
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution

9:35 a.m. Thursday, January 14, 2010

Jaider Felipe Marulanda, 43, drove to the Penske Truck Rental near Kennesaw Tuesday to get his rental truck serviced.

He died there, one of five people allegedly shot by a man who lost his job at Penske last summer and returned on Tuesday with a gun. Marulanda and his wife, who were teenage sweethearts, had just celebrated their 25th wedding anniversary, their daughter said.

He was one of three who were killed; the third, Roberto Gonzalez, 31, died on Wednesday at a Cobb County hospital. Two others remain in critical condition.

The day of the shooting, Erika Marulanda recalled, her parents had breakfast together. Cereal, like always. Then her dad hugged his son Alejandro, 11, before the boy caught the bus for school.

“I believe he went to Penske to get something fixed on his truck,” said Erika, who is in medical school at Columbia University, by e-mail Wednesday night. “I think he went to that Penske all the time.”

Erika recalls a recent family trip to New York City the summer before she started med school.

“We stopped on the Chesapeake Bridge and the Jersey shore, all places we used to go when I was little,” she said. “My dad was a wonderful loving husband, father and friend.”

The AJC learned Wednesday that two of the employees who were shot were related by marriage, compounding the tragedy for one family in particular.

The widow of Roberto Gonzalez is the sister of Joshua B. Holbrook, 27, who was in critical condition in a Cobb County hospital Wednesday night.

Their lives all intersected Tuesday with that of Jesse James Warren, 60, who is now charged with three counts of murder and is being held without bond in the Cobb County jail. Warren is reported to have shot at least three victims in the head; Cobb police refused to say where the two others were shot, nor what sort of weapon was used nor how many shots were fired.

Warren lived quietly with his wife in rural Carroll County, by most accounts. On Wednesday, few in the community seemed to know much about him.

Local court records indicate that Warren has had financial trouble since losing his job at Penske in July.

Warren and his wife, Virginia, missed the Dec. 1 deadline on their property taxes — $642.14 on a small house on 44 acres in the Draketown community, according to county records. The Warrens have owned the property since 1995, the records say; it is currently valued at $68,571.

In addition, last September, a credit card company sued Warren, claiming he hadn’t paid his $4,857.64 balance, according to court records. The case is pending.

On Wednesday, about a half-dozen dilapidated cars and trucks were parked in the frozen dirt driveway or scattered around the Warren property, and a long livestock trailer had been parked beside the house. A ladder leaned against the roof and a new-looking silver grill with a hood stood on the front porch. In the small front yard, a rusty metal one-piece picnic table sat not far from an hay rake.

Open fields and stands of trees separate the houses. Neighbors don’t interact much, said James Spake, who grew up in the neighborhood and lives about a mile from the Warren house. He drives by it on his way to work at the University of West Georgia in Carrollton but has never met Warren.

“Unless you work with folks or go to church with them, you don’t know them,” he said. “We don’t really know any folks around here.”

A couple of neighbors contacted by phone near Warren’s residence on Ga. 113 Tuesday said they didn’t know Warren, noting that it’s not unusual for people in relatively unpopulated areas to be strangers.

Even the people who did meet Warren don’t recall anything special about the man. Diane Spray, a checkout clerk at the Super Foods in Temple, said Warren and his wife shopped regularly at the store.

“He never said anything much unless we said something to him,” she said. “He was quiet, just a regular customer.”

Warren, gray-haired and blue-eyed, is 5 foot 8 and weighs 180 pounds, according to Cobb County jail files.

He worked for Penske as a truck mechanic from June 2005 through July 2009, Penske Trucking President Brian Hard said Wednesday. Hard would not disclose why Warren no longer worked at Penske but said his “separation” was “not part of a large economically driven layoff.”

Police have not speculated on a motive in the attack, but CBS Atlanta quoted two people who knew Warren as saying that racism may have played a part.

"There were a lot of Hispanics that worked [at Penske] and that's one reason he was real mad, because they let him go and kept them," Fran Garner, a grocery store employee, told the station.

Garner said Warren came into her grocery store frequently and she told CBS Atlanta that he often complained about losing his job to minorities.

Another acquaintance of Warren made similar comments.

"He would be upset if he lost his job because Jessie did a good job,” Jeff peters told the station. “[Warren] took it seriously.”

Barbara Springer, whose husband of 37 years was among those killed, told WSB-TV her husband Van didn’t talk about Warren often but had said that he was laid off and “had some issues.”

Springer’s daughter, Angela Brents, through tears over the phone, told the AJC Wednesday evening that her father was “a very strong Christian man, a family man. He loved his [five] grandchildren.”

Brents, who lives in Ponchatoula, La., said her dad worked for Penske “for a long time.” She said he had talked about Warren, but she wouldn’t elaborate.

Hard, the Penske Trucking president, said the four employees who were shot all worked in the garage area of the facility, as “maintenance supervisors, technicians, customer service reps.”

The fifth victim, Marulanda, was a driver for El Maizal, a local food distributor and Penske customer, “who, I believe, was just here to get his truck serviced,” Hard said.

“It appears to have been random,” Hard said. “To come in and shoot one of our customers who couldn’t possibly have been involved in any grievance.

“We are still trying to understand what happened here and we are fully cooperating with law enforcement officials,” Hard said.

He also remarked on the quick thinking of the manager of Penske’s rental division in Kennesaw, which is in an area of the building adjacent to the shop. “He heard the gunshots. He immediately knew they were coming from the shop, and he immediately locked the door from the shop. He shepherded all of the rental employees up to the second floor,” Hard said.

Neighbors said victim Joshua Holbrook moved with his wife and two boys from Rome to Cartersville about a year ago.

Rhonda Smalley, a Cartersville neighbor, said she just ran into Holbrook gassing up at the QT on his way to work Tuesday. She said she waved to him.

“I always see him out in the yard, playing with his two kids,” she said. “They got little push scooters for Christmas, and he’s out there with them. He plays football and basketball with them. He’s a good hands-on dad as far as I can see.”

Jan. 8, 2010 - Worker goes on rampage, shoots 8, kills 3 co-workers

2010-01-08T11:48:00.000-08:00

http://www.stltoday.com/stltoday/news/stories.nsf/stlouiscitycounty/story/E1C6CB13C3E8A1B5862576A4004833B8?OpenDocument

Worker goes on rampage, shoots 8, kills 3 co-workers
By Kim Bell
ST. LOUIS POST-DISPATCH
Thursday, Jan. 07 2010

ST. LOUIS -- A factory employee went to the workplace this morning armed with
three weapons and shot eight co-workers, killing three of them, before shooting
himself inside the building, Police Chief Dan Isom said.

The rampage took place at ABB Inc., a manufacturer of electric transformers
near the old General Motors plant complex in north St. Louis. Isom declined to
name the gunman during a press conference this afternoon, but other police
officials had identified him as Timothy Hendron, 51, of Webster Groves, an
employee at the ABB plant.

"We are very confident that this is the shooter," said Isom, without confirming
his name.

Isom said officers found two deceased victims in the parking lot outside the
plant and two inside, including the shooter. Isom said officers recovered the
shooter’s weapons: an assault rifle, a shotgun and a pistol. He said officers
continued checking the 200,000-square-foot factory building this afternoon for
evidence.

Isom declined to discuss a motive.

"We are not really sure what was the motive," he said. "It will take a long
time for us to put together the pieces of what happened."

Two of the victims remained in critical condition at area hospitals. Two were
listed in fair condition. The fifth wounded co-worker was released from a
hospital this afternoon.

Isom said he didn’t know how many people were shot outside, because one or more
victims in the lot may have gone in the building. He said he believed the quick
response of officers to the scene hampered the shooters’ ability to take time
to find more victims.

The shots erupted at 6:30 a.m., right as the morning shift began at the plant,
4350 Semple Avenue, closing down nearby Interstate 70 for hours.

Police SWAT team members searched for nearly four frantic hours for the gunman,
unsure if he was still inside the building, before finding his body.

Marge Stanger of south St. Louis, an aunt of Hendron, said she was "sick with
grief" but could not explain the rampage. She said of her nephew, "Tim should
not be judged for this. Everybody loved him. He had a terrific personality and
he was devoted to his boy."

The Post-Dispatch has learned that Hendron was a plaintiff in a class-action
federal lawsuit against ABB and its pension review committee over financial
losses. A bench trial over the suit was held Tuesday and Wednesday in Kansas
City and resumed this morning, according to the court clerk of U.S. District
Judge Nanette Laughrey. The judge had set aside four weeks to hear all the
evidence.

Police have not released the names of the workers who were killed, but friends
identified Cory Wilson and Carlton Carter as among the dead.

Wilson, who was a standout football star at Collinsville High School, also was
an assistant volunteer coach there. He played college football at McKendree
University, said McKendree coach Carl Poelker.

Cory Wilson

Poelker learned from his son, Tim, another coach at Collinsville, that Wilson
had been killed.

"It's just senseless," Poelker said. "It leaves a big hole in a lot of people's
stomachs."

Carter, 57, of St. Louis, was also fatally shot, according to friends and
neighbors.

Rene Bonner, a good friend of Carter's who has been in contact with his family
members, said she was told Carter was shot in the parking lot. He worked the
morning shift on the assembly line, typically arriving at work at 6:15 a.m.

Carter bought a home about a mile from ABB about five years ago, according to
Bonner and others.

"He was a very good neighbor, very quiet," said Mary Kelly of St. Louis. "We're
going to miss him greatly. My heart is hurting."

A chaotic morning

Conversations between dispatchers and police on the scene painted a horrific
scene -- where bleeding victims were hiding, afraid to come out, and commanding
officers early on were getting conflicting reports about the race of the
elusive gunman.

Here is a summary of the morning:

About 40 workers were on the campus of ABB when it all began.

About 6:30 a.m. today, police got a call from a woman, very upset, who said
that someone came in to the east side of the building and started shooting.
"They are still shooting," a dispatcher told police officers rushing to the
scene at 6:34 a.m.

The scene was chaotic with witnesses giving conflicting descriptions of the
gunman to police. Finally, a company supervisor called police and named a
Hendron as the shooter.

Another employee on the phone with police said multiple shots were being fired
at the east annex of the building. One man was shot in the leg at the east
annex.

One caller and other employees were on the roof while talking to police.

Minutes later, police were tracking a black SUV with its headlights off heading
east from Semple and Bircher. But the conversation on the police radio was
somewhat chaotic. A police supervisor was trying to determine whether the SUV
was connected in some way, or if shots were still being fired inside the
building.

Soon, that was cleared up when an employee on a rear lot told police over the
phone that he was looking at the gunman right then, and that the gunman was
still shooting.

Ambulances were on their way, but police warned it was a "hot zone" because the
shooter hadn't been captured yet.

At 7:15 a.m., one victim hiding in a supervisor's office at the plant called
police to say he had been shot in the midsection, leg and arm and was afraid to
come out because he didn't know where the gunman was. He said he was with
another shooting victim, a man who was neither conscious nor breathing.

The plant on Semple has about 200 employees and annual revenue exceeding $50
million, according to a company profile. It makes transformers for ABB, an
international power company located in more than 100 countries and based in
Zurich, Switzerland. A company spokesman could not immediately be reached for
comment. Employees were escorted by police onto a Metro bus but weren't allowed
to leave the scene until the gunman was discovered.

About 7:35 a.m., the employees on the roof called police and wanted to know if
it was safe to come down. "No," replied a police supervisor at the scene. She
said she wanted to make sure the employees used the same stairwell that police
were in, so the employees wouldn't accidentally take another route out and run
into the gunman.

At 7:45 a.m., two employees called police to say they were hiding out in a room
accessible only by ladders. It was so loud in the room, they told police, that
they were not able to hear officers who might be coming to help them. Those
employees then began texting family members to let them know they were alive
and not injured.

Hendron sues employer

At the same time Hendron arrived at the plant in St. Louis, lawyers were
preparing to go to court on his behalf against the corporation.

Hendron is a plaintiff in a class-action lawsuit against ABB Inc., the Pension
Review Committee of ABB Inc., the plan administrator and others. Hendron and
his co-plaintiffs accused ABB of allowing the workers' pension plan to charge
excessive fees and expenses to the participants, the workers, without their
knowledge.

Mike Sweney, a lawyer who has lived two doors away from the Hendron home for 25
years, said Hendron asked him three years ago for the names of labor lawyers.
Sweney said Hendron suspected that supervisors at ABB were picking on him, but
Sweney never detected any hostility on Hendron’s part.

"Tim was a laid-back and easy-going guy who was always ready to have a beer and
talk things over," said Sweney. "He asked me if I knew an attorney who handled
employee-side labor law disputes. He had mentioned a couple times that he was
having some types of issues with supervisors at work."

Sweney said he didn’t know details or whether any issues were dealt with.

He also described Hendron as "a little cocky, a little haughty and had a strut
in his walk. He exuded confidence." He said Hendron was stocky and balding,
with brown hair and a mustache.

Hendron's longtime friend and neighbor, Ronald D. Bartram, said that Hendron
has worked for the company for a long time. Bartram said that he spoke to
Hendron just two days ago and nothing was bothering him. He said Hendron was a
hunter and had at least one gun.

Bartram said he could not believe that his friend could do such a thing.

"I am very upset," Bartram said in a phone interview from his home this
morning. "He's a good friend of mine and I am really concerned. He's a good
man."

Meanwhile, Webster Groves Police Lt. Andrew Miller said his department had no
record of having ever responded to any disturbances at the home, in the 300
block of Dobbin Road, where Hendron lived with his wife and an adult child.

No one was injured at the home, Miller said.

The house, a 1950s-style ranch house, is in a neat middle class neighborhood in
southwest Webster Groves.

Hendron married Karen D. Bourgeois on Valentine's Day 1982 in St. James, Mo.
They lived together at a home in south St. Louis and had a son, Robert A.
Hendron, who was born in 1989.

The couple faced some finacial trouble beginning in 1991 when the city's
collector of revenue sued them for not paying property taxes. Hendron faced
similar suits five more times that decade, according to court documents.

In 1993, the couple separated and Hendron filed for divorce claiming the
marriage was "irretrievably broken." The two agreed to split the assets and
share custody of their son.

In court files, Hendron said he was a high school graduate with no college
experience.

The victims

As soon as Cory Wilson's friends and teammates found out he was killed by the
gunman, they began to mourn the fun-loving but gentle football player, his
college coach, Poelker, said.

"I don't know if I ever saw Cory get mad," Poelker said. "You think in the game
of football that the middle linebacker is a mean, tough guy. But he just had
fun. He enjoyed being with his teammates. He was one of those kids you never
had a problem with."

Wilson was part of McKendree's undefeated football team in 2002.

"He was the ringleader of that defense," Poelker said. "We knocked off two
number one teams that year."

December 31 2009 - Six killed in mall shooting spree in Finland

2010-01-02T07:06:00.000-08:00

http://www.sott.net/articles/show/200059-Six-killed-in-mall-shooting-spree-in-Finland

Sydney Morning Herald
Thu, 31 Dec 2009 09:38 EST

A lone gunman killed four people in a rampage in a Finnish shopping mall and also murdered his former girlfriend before being found dead himself, police said.

The man, named as Ibrahim Shkupolli, 43, opened fire in the suburban Helsinki mall yesterday where his ex-partner reportedly worked, shooting dead three men and a woman before fleeing, detectives told a press conference.

The body of his former partner, whom he had been barred by a court from approaching, was later discovered in a house on the outskirts of the capital.

Police said they were believed the incident, the latest in a series of shooting sprees which have sent shockwaves through the Nordic country, was triggered by a domestic dispute.

Ambulances rushed to the scene in the suburb of Espoo after shooting erupted in the mall filled with New Year's Eve shoppers at around 10.20am local time.

Security services evacuated the shopping centre and then cordoned off the area while public transport services were rerouted.

After an extensive search of the mall proved fruitless, officers issued a photograph of Shkupolli and called on the public to help find him.

Media reports said the suspect opened fire with a 9-millimetre handgun, sending shoppers fleeing.

''Everyone was in a panic. They didn't know what was happening and some were crying,'' one witness told radio station Yle.

A witness told local radio a man dressed in black began randomly shooting at people on the second floor of the Sello shopping centre.

An employee of a grocery store was seen lying on the ground on the top floor of the shop. Another witness told Finnish radio panic ensued as the shooting began. ''There were loads of people who were crying, and many vendors who were completely panicked,'' the unnamed witness said.

''No one seemed to know what had happened.''

Kari Harjula, who was in a queue at the Citymarket store in the centre, said: ''I started to hear a lot of shouting from the outer doors of Citymarket and Sello, telling everybody to get out. The customers and employees were wondering what was going on.

''Soon some police ran in with riot shields and serious expressions on their faces. They yelled at everybody to get out; that the shopping centre was being evacuated.''

Source: Associated Press

Incredible Organized Murders in the Philippines

2009-12-13T15:58:00.000-08:00

http://www.opednews.com/articles/Incredible-Organized-Murde-by-arn-specter-091207-740.html

December 11, 2009
Incredible Organized Murders in the Philippines
By arn specter

Incredible Organized Murders in the Phillipines; Family Overlords Captured by Government Forces
by Arn Specter, Phila. (Twitter)

Blatant murder by repressive governments or groups in power positions are growing rampant in the world today. We read of murders in the US,Russia, Israel, Sri Lanka, Myanmar/Burma, China, Iran, India, Afghanistan,and other countries these days carried out by those who refuse to honor peoples human and civil rights - if they have any or many under those repressive governments and cruel groups vying for more power.

The blatant murders in the Phillipines on Nov.23, 2009 will go down in history as one of the worst crimes against humanity by a known group of political families, a family which has perpetuated power and violence upon the Philippine people for decades.

The Slideshow/Audio you will see (link below) shows the Ampatuan Clan family ruling over a terrorized population in a southern island of the Phillipines. Too, it shows the convoyof about 60 people, completely wrecked with bodies mutilated and half-buried on the top of a remote hillside on Maguindanao. The photos taken and the assembly of the slideshow show great courage on the parts of those involved, as reprisals by the Ampatuan Clan might be forthcoming.

Fortunately the brave government of President Gloria Maccapagal Arroyo and the Phillipine Army went into action and captured the head of the Clan, Andai Ampatuan, Sr. and many members of the family. They will be tried in court as much evidence seems to be available to them from eye witness testimony and video footage.The carnage reports must have been all over the Philippine Islands Media over the last two weeks. Unfortunately it took a massacre of 57 people to shake up the government and propel them into action.

Hopefully the success of the government/army's actions will give courage to other governments who face difficult opposition within their countries. Better to use diplomacy and negotiation than military or civilian manpower when a situation calls for it, when possible. the important thing is to take action against tyranny, rather than be held captive and let your people continue to suffer. Use of the courts to provide justice is essential in a democratic government and country that abides by the law of justice. "A California Filipino-American media group organized a memorial to honor thirty-one slain Filipino journalists. The Committee to Project Journalists (www.cpj.org ) says this appears to be the single deadliest attack on the press since 1992" says, Odette Keeley, Dec.4, (www.newamericanmedia.org )

Too, our condolences to the families of the other 27 civilians killed as well.

Let us say thank you to the Philippine government and army for their courageous efforts in subduing the criminals of such ahenious crime against humanity.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
http://www.bulatlat.com/main/2009/12/02/audio-slideshow-the-hills-of-maguindanao-bathed-in-blood/
Slideshow/Audio of the background of the Mass Killings of 57 people in the Philippines on Nov. 23, 2009.

Descriptions and pictures of the residents of the Ampatuan Clan family, and scenes on the hilltop where the bodies were taken to be buried are shown, with a powerful narrative. The Hills of Maguindanao Bathed in Blood, slideshow/audio
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Philippine massacre suspects face rebellion raps

By PAT ROQUE, Associated Press Writer , December 7, 2009

SHARIFF AGUAK, Philippines Prosecutors drew up additional charges of rebellion Monday against members of a powerful southern clan suspected in the Philippines' worst political massacre, as troops uncovered more hidden weapons.

Civil rights groups were set to challenge at the Supreme Court President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo's declaration of martial law in Maguindanao province, which authorized thousands of troops to make arrests without court warrants and crack down on the Ampatuan clan and its private army.

Andal Ampatuan Sr., the clan's patriarch and former governor who has ruled unopposed for years, has been arrested with at least six other family members and about 60 followers on suspicion of planning and carrying out the Nov. 23 killing of 57 people including 30 journalists and their staff traveling in a convoy of a political rival. The Ampatuans have denied involvement.

Ampatuan's son, Andal Ampatuan Jr., who turned himself in last month, is the only one charged with multiple counts of murder. Justice Secretary Agnes Devanadera said prosecutors would file murder charges against the other Ampatuans who were arrested over the weekend, as well as additional charges of rebellion for allegedly organizing armed resistance.

Thirty-nine firearms and crates of ammunition were dug up Sunday at a farm believed owned by the Ampatuans near the provincial capital of Shariff Aguak, army Brig. Gen. Gaudencio Pangilinan said. Other stockpiles, including mortar shells, were retrieved last week outside the Ampatuans' compound. Officials said the weapons, some stamped with Defense Department markings, were enough to arm a battalion.

Army troops and police said they were pursuing about 4,000 armed followers of the Ampatuans, some reportedly massing in eight Maguindanao towns. Security forces sealed off Maguindanao's exit points and mounted checkpoints, police Director Andres Caro said.

Pangilinan told reporters the gunmen were capable of carrying out bombings, arson attacks and abductions.

The Ampatuans are notorious for running a large private army, many of them pro-government militia who are meant to be an auxiliary force to the military and police in battling insurgents and bandits.

The clan helped Arroyo win crucial votes from Maguindanao during 2004 elections, but the administration's party expelled them after the massacre.

Citing a breakdown in law and order and massing up of Ampatuan's supporters, Arroyo on late Friday imposed martial law in Maguindanao the first use of military rule in the Philippines since late dictator Ferdinand Marcos declared it nationwide more than 30 years ago.

Pro-democracy advocates accused her of overreacting, and a group of human rights lawyers argues that there are insufficient grounds for martial law and plan to challenge it in the Supreme Court later Monday.

An Ampatuan ally, Rep. Didagen Dilangalen, filed a separate motion against martial law.

Arroyo sent a report on her martial law declaration to Congress, which will convene Tuesday to approve or reject it. Her allies dominate the lower house.

The Financial Crisis Is Driving Hordes of Americans to Suicide

2009-12-10T11:49:00.000-08:00

http://www.alternet.org/workplace/123563/

This Economic Crisis is Engineered By Evil So People Will Die...

July 12, 2008
The Financial Crisis Is Driving Hordes of Americans to Suicide
Nick Turse Tom Dispatch Wed, 28 Jan 2009 22:39 UTC

Pushed past their breaking points, people are robbing banks to pay the rent, setting homes on fire -- even taking their own lives.

The body count is still rising. For months on end, marked by bankruptcies, foreclosures, evictions, and layoffs, the economic meltdown has taken a heavy toll on Americans. In response, a range of extreme acts including suicide, self-inflicted injury, murder, and arson have hit the local news. By October 2008, an analysis of press reports nationwide indicated that an epidemic of tragedies spurred by the financial crisis had already spread from Pasadena, California, to Taunton, Massachusetts, from Roseville, Minnesota, to Ocala, Florida.

In the three months since, the pain has been migrating upwards. A growing number of the world's rich have garnered headlines for high profile, financially-motivated suicides. Take the New Zealand-born "millionaire financier" who leapt in front of an express train in Great Britain or the "German tycoon" who did much the same in his homeland. These have, with increasing regularity, hit front pages around the world. An example would be New York-based money manager René-Thierry Magnon de la Villehuchet, who slashed his wrists after he "lost more than $1 billion of client money, including much, if not all, of his own family's fortune." In the end, he was yet another victim of financial swindler Bernard Madoff's $50 billion Ponzi scheme.

An unknown but rising number of less wealthy but distinctly well-off workers in the financial field have also killed themselves as a result of the economic crisis -- with less press coverage. Take, for instance, a 51-year-old former analyst at Bear Stearns. Learning that he would be laid off after JPMorgan Chase took over his failed employer, he "threw himself out of the window" of his 29th-floor apartment in Fort Lee, New Jersey. Or consider the 52-year-old commercial real estate broker from suburban Chicago who "took his life in a wildlife preserve" just "a month after he publicly worried over a challenging market," or the 50-year-old "managing partner at Leeward Investments" from San Carlos, California, who got wiped out "in the markets" and "suffocated himself to death."

Beverly Hills clinical psychologist Leslie Seppinni caught something of our moment when she told Forbes magazine that this was "the first time in her 18-year career that businessmen are calling her with suicidal impulses over their financial state." In the last three months, alone, "she has intervened in at least 14 cases of men seriously considering taking their lives." Seppinni offered this observation: "They feel guilt and shame because they think they should have known what was coming with the market or they should have pulled out faster."

Still, it's mostly on Main Street, not Wall Street, that people are being driven to once unthinkable extremes. And while it's always impossible to know the myriad factors, including deeply personal ones, that contribute to drastic acts, violent or otherwise, many of those recently reported are undoubtedly tied, at least in part, to the way the bottom seems to be falling out of the economy.

As a result, reports of people driven to anything from armed robbery to financially-motivated suicide in response to new fiscal realities continue to bubble to the surface. And since only a certain percentage of such acts receive media coverage, the drumbeat of what is being reported definitely qualifies as startling.

Breaking the Bank

In September 2008, a 23-year-old woman from West Norriton, Pennsylvania, robbed a bank, police reported, to pay her rent. According to East Norriton Detective Sgt. Peter Mastrocola, "She said that the reason that she went to PNC Bank and committed the robbery was because she was two months behind in her rent and she was going to be evicted." In fact, after stealing $1,410, the young woman reportedly told police that she "took the cash from the robbery and went to another bank where she purchased a cashier's check for $1,410 made payable to Westover Village Apartments..."

The next month, in Northampton, Pennsylvania, a 49-year-old woman reportedly robbed a bank and, just 18 minutes later, "arrived at a check-cashing business and arranged for several money orders -- totaling $1,090 -- to pay a portion of the rent she owed her landlord." According to court papers, a "confidential informant" told police the woman had confided that "she was going to rob the bank to satisfy about $1,800 in back rent." The police reported that she was "in the process of being evicted."

This, however, is no Keystone State phenomenon. As the Los Angeles Times recently reported, "Another sign of the bad economic times... bank robberies, which had been declining for years, rose in 2008 in Southern California... [by] 22% compared to 2007." In Orange County, the spike was especially acute, a jump of 41% to 145 robberies. Similarly, Inland Empire News Radio reported that authorities attributed a 13% rise in bank robberies in Riverside and San Bernardino counties to a "poor economy."

"We've certainly seen a rise in bank robberies across the country particularly in our metropolitan areas," FBI Special Agent Scott Wilson recently pointed out. "The bank robbery rate has risen dramatically."

Last year, according to the New York City Police Department, bank robberies in that city jumped to more than 430, a 54% rise over 2007. On December 29th alone, CNN noted, "robbers targeted five banks in the Big Apple, some striking in broad daylight and near famous landmarks." Interviewed by the New York Times, a customer in one of the robbed banks put the obvious into words: "It makes me think that the recession is making people go to extreme measures." Illinois Wesleyan University Economics Professor Mike Seeborg agrees. Commenting on a similar local spike in crime, he told a Central Illinois TV station, "There's a clear linkage nationwide that when the economy is in bad shape, when unemployment begins to increase, if people lose their jobs and output falls, that crimes against property especially increase."

Suicidal Tendencies

At least 33 people chose to commit suicide in national parks in 2008. And there seemed to be an economic component to at least some of the cases. For example, an Associated Press report noted that a "49-year-old builder blamed the economy in a note he left for his ex-wife and attorney before killing himself at the edge of the woods at Georgia's Kennesaw Mountain National Battlefield Park." Similarly, in October, Bruce J. Colburn, a "freshly unemployed, former business executive" from Reading, Pennsylvania, traveled to Montana's scenic Glacier National Park where "he shot himself in the chest with a handgun, according to park officials."

Others stayed closer to home.

On October 14, 2008, a woman in Bogart, Georgia, was "supposed to go to court for an eviction hearing." Instead, she called the police and informed them that she was thinking of killing herself. Not long afterward, she shot herself in the head. On October 29th, a 47-year-old man from Blount County, Tennessee, "killed himself when sheriff's deputies tried to evict him from his rented home." The next month, according to Mike Witzky, the executive director of the Mental Health and Recovery Board in Union County, Ohio, two local men committed suicide due to financial problems, while another failed in his attempt.

On December 5, 2008, Ricky Guseman of West Palm Beach, Florida, was to be evicted. Instead, local officials told the South Florida Sun-Sentinel, he "barricaded himself in a mobile home... set the place on fire and then shot himself in the head with a shotgun."

In December, coroner's investigators in Kern County, California, revealed that they were "seeing a wave of people committing suicide because of financial stress," a 5-10% increase over 2007.

An analysis of 2008 "death reports" in Milwaukee County, Wisconsin, by local ABC television affiliate WISN-TV found "financial pressure in a difficult economy has led to desperate measures." Of 108 suicides -- a 20% jump over any of the last three years -- at least 25% of the victims "were struggling financially." For example, Wauwatosa resident Tom Brisch, a married father of two, fell on hard times after his wife of 20 years, Sherry, lost her job. At the same time, his job as a commission-only Ford car salesman fell victim to the sluggish auto market. As Sherry summed the situation up after his suicide, "The economic picture with a kid going to college, another one starting high school... was pretty grim and we were struggling." She returned home one day to find that her husband had hanged himself. In his shirt pocket was a suicide note in which "he asked for forgiveness and wrote that he could not get it together to provide for them."

WISN-TV uncovered a host of similar tragedies including:
* A 21-year-old Milwaukee man who shot himself in the face after "he ran out of unemployment [insurance]."

* A 43-year-old West Allis man who hanged himself in his basement with a belt. "The mortgage payments are behind," his girlfriend told the police. "There are astronomical medical bills."

* A 40-year-old Milwaukee woman who overdosed after having "financial problems."

* A 24-year-old Milwaukee man, "fired from his job three weeks before," who suffocated himself with Saran Wrap.

* And a 38-year-old Milwaukee man who shot himself in the head. He'd lost his job six weeks earlier.
In January, less than an hour's drive south of Milwaukee, 37-year-old Staci Paul's car was pulled from Lake Michigan, but they couldn't find the body of the Kenosha, Wisconsin, woman. As an article in the Kenosha News noted, however, friends "said they knew things hadn't been easy for Paul. A single mother, she worked hard to find jobs and as the economy worsened, friends speculated, Paul might have run into some financial trouble. Court records also show Paul had been evicted from her home in October."

Distress Signals

Paul apparently felt she had to deal with her problems on her own. Others, however, have called for help. According to a January 9th report in the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, local police received a phone call concerning a 64-year-old resident of Westview, Pennsylvania, who was "apparently distraught over losing his house." When they arrived at the home, they found him "sitting in a lawn chair in his driveway with a rifle under his chin." He was later taken into custody and sent to a psychiatric clinic for "evaluation."

Increasing numbers of desperate souls have also called the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline, which logged a record 568,437 calls in 2008. (There were only 412,768 such calls the previous year.) Similarly, a recent investigation by USA Today's Marilyn Elias found that suicide hotlines in Dallas, Pittsburgh, suburban San Francisco, Hyattsville (Maryland), Georgia, Delaware, and Detroit have all reported "increases in callers since the economy slid." The report added:
"In Boston, more hotline callers with mental health problems mention job losses, evictions or fear that they'll lose their homes, says Roberta Hurtig, executive director at Samaritans Inc. [a not-for-profit volunteer organization dedicated to reducing the incidence of suicide.] In Kalamazoo, Michigan, and other locales, callers with mental illnesses such as bipolar disorder say loss of insurance and cutbacks in public health programs are preventing them from getting medications.

"At the Gary, Indiana, Crisis Center, suicidal callers with economic worries are increasing, and their depression is more severe, says Willie Perry, program coordinator for the hotline."
In Franklin County, Ohio, suicide hot line volunteers are "logging more calls from people in financial distress, says Mary Brennen-Hofmann, coordinator of suicide-prevention services at North Central Mental Health Services in Columbus." She continued, "We have seen a lot more calls dealing with financial problems, evictions, foreclosures and job loss."

Similarly, the Hopeline of North Carolina Inc. in Raleigh saw a 50% jump in calls in October and November. "We get calls from people who are suicidal because the stock market is down," said executive director Courtney Atwood. "They have lost money and are not able to provide for their family."

In Los Angeles, calls to the city's "busiest suicide hot line" increased by as much as 60% last year. "A year ago, many of the calls we would get were from people with mental illnesses," commented Sandri Kramer, the program director of the center that operates the hot line. "Now many of the calls are from people who have lost their home, or their job, or who still have a job but can't meet the cost of living."

Domestic Disturbances

Not surprisingly, the economic meltdown has also strained marriages and, according to experts, is contributing to a rise in domestic violence. Retha Fielding, a spokeswoman for the National Domestic Violence Hotline, notes that calls increased 18% between October 2007 and October 2008 and attributes the spike to the poor economy. "It is bringing increased stress and violence into the home. Domestic violence is about control. If you lose your job, that's control you don't have, so you may want to have more control at home."

Sometimes economically exacerbated violence can turn deadly.

On December 9th, for example, 59-year-old Thomas Garrett of Midwest City, Oklahoma, murdered his wife. According to Midwest City Police Chief Brandon Clabes, "Garrett told officers he shot his wife because he didn't know how to explain that they were evicted from their home while she was in the hospital." He apparently planned to kill himself too, but was stopped by the police.

Thirty-one-year-old Eryn Allegra had lost her home as well as her job, and had, according to press accounts, been thinking about suicide for weeks. On Christmas day, the Port St. Lucie, Florida, resident reportedly checked into a hotel, gave her 8-year-old son over-the-counter medicine to put him to sleep, and then smothered him. She subsequently slit her own wrists in a failed suicide attempt.

Noting a man's pickup truck parked in his driveway at a time when he was normally at work, neighbors in an "upscale neighborhood" in Manteca, Georgia, entered his home which a bank had recently approved for a short sale. (A short sale often takes place when a buyer in default is trying to avoid foreclosure.) According to the Manteca Bulletin, they found him "lying in the foyer of the home... dead of a gunshot wound." Arriving at the scene soon after, police discovered the body of his wife nearby "and located a firearm near the two bodies."

On January 11th, Pinole, California police responding to a domestic disturbance call found 43-year-old Kimberly Petretti sitting on the curb in front of the home. She was being evicted that morning. Inside the house, which "showed no signs of a preparation for the move," they found the woman's mother, 62-year-old Claudia Petretti, dead -- shot in the head with an assault rifle. According to Deputy District Attorney Harold Jewett, a two-page letter on the scene indicated a murder-suicide plan linked to the family's financial difficulties. "It was a significant event in their lives that may have precipitated this tragic and desperate act," he said.

Last October, a man in Los Angeles, beset by financial troubles, shot his wife, mother-in-law, and three sons before turning the gun on himself. An eerily similar scene replayed itself this week, when another Los Angeles resident apparently killed his wife and five children -- an 8-year-old girl, twin 5-year-old girls, and twin 2-year-old boys -- before faxing a letter to a local television station and then killing himself. "This was a financial and job-related issue that led to the slayings," Deputy Chief Kenneth Garner said. "In these tough economic times, there are other options. In my 32 years, I've never seen anything like this."

As the World Burns

On December 15th, a 41-year-old Dubuque, Iowa man "used liquid pre-shave to set his apartment on fire because he thought he was going to be evicted."

On December 21st, a 31-year-old woman who had been evicted from her Orange Park, Florida, apartment, "started a weekend fire that caused an estimated $500,000 in damage" to the complex that was her former home. That same day, a woman in St. Augustine, Florida, "was charged with arson... after vacating a house she was evicted from that was later found burning."

On January 5, 2009, Bobby Crigler, the property manager for Holly Street Apartments in Fayetteville, Arkansas, said, "I went over and had a confrontation with [tenants about an eviction notice], and they got belligerent." After that, he sent the property's maintenance man, his son, 49-year-old Kent Crigler, to change the locks at another tenant's apartment. When friends of the tenant facing eviction spotted Kent, they assumed, according to Bobby, that he was there to evict their buddy. They set upon Kent, punching and kicking the father of four to death, according to a report in the Northwest Arkansas Times.

Generally, however, if you weren't a multimillionaire intent on suicide, what you did to your house, your husband, your wife, your child, your bank, your neighbors, your landlord, or yourself remained a distinctly local story, a passing moment in the neighborhood gazette or a regional paper. And for the range of such acts, unlike sports statistics, there are no centralized databases toting up and keeping score. Every now and then, though, a spectacular act of extreme desperation makes it out of the neighborhood and into the national news.

One of these occurred this January, although the media generally played it as a sensational screwball story rather than another extreme act stemming from the economic crisis. In December, Marcus Schrenker, a money manager and sometime stunt pilot, penned a letter that read, in part: "It needs to be known that I am financially insolvent... I am intending on filing bankruptcy in 2009 should my financial conditions continue to deteriorate." They did.

As the Indiana investment adviser grew more desperate to escape mounting financial difficulties and legal issues stemming from accusations of investor fraud, he reportedly hatched a plan that was splashed all over national television as it unfolded. According to news reports, he staged a Hollywood-style getaway from his rapidly deteriorating life, complete with a fake mid-air mayday call, a parachute jump over Alabama, and a faked death from a plane he put on autopilot that crashed in a swamp near a residential area in the Florida Panhandle. Schrenker then raced away on a carefully pre-stashed motorcycle, before being discovered by federal marshals just after he had slashed his wrists at a Florida campsite. He recently pleaded not guilty in federal court to charges that he willfully destroyed an aircraft and made a fake distress call.

Going to Extremes

Across the United States, people have been reacting to dire circumstances with extreme acts, including murder, suicide and suicide attempts, self-inflicted injury, bank robberies, flights from the law, and arson, as well as resistance to eviction and armed self-defense. And yet, while various bailout schemes have been introduced and implemented for banks and giant corporations, no significant plans have been outlined or introduced into public debate, let alone implemented by Washington, to take strong measures to combat the dire circumstances affecting ordinary Americans.

There has been next to no talk of debt or mortgage forgiveness, or of an enhanced and massively bulked-up version of the Nixonian guaranteed income plan (which would pay stipends to the neediest), or of buying up and handing over the glut of homes on the market, with adequate fix-up funds, to the homeless, or of any significant gesture toward even the most modest redistributions of wealth. Until then, for many, hope will be nothing but a slogan, the body count will rise, and Americans will undoubtedly continue going to extremes.

---

Nick Turse is the associate editor and research director of Tomdispatch.com. His first book, The Complex: How the Military Invades Our Everyday Lives, an exploration of the new military-corporate complex in America, was recently published by Metropolitan Books. His website is Nick Turse.com.

November 2009 - 4 Police Officers Shot Dead Near Washington State Air Force Base

2009-11-29T16:15:00.000-08:00

http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,577691,00.html

4 Police Officers Shot Dead Near Washington State Air Force Base
Sunday , November 29, 2009

A gunman burst into a coffeehouse Sunday and opened fire on four police officers as they sat working on their laptops, killing the three men and one woman in what an official described as a targeted ambush.

Pierce County Sheriff's spokesman Ed Troyer said officers were looking for one male suspect who fled the scene and haven't ruled out an accomplice, possibly a getaway driver.

It wasn't clear whether the officers even had time to draw their weapons to return fire, Troyer said.

"This was more of an execution. Walk in with the specific mindset to shoot police officers," Troyer said.

Troyer said the officers -- all from the Lakewood Police Department -- were catching up on paperwork at the beginning of their shifts when they were attacked at 8:15 a.m. Sunday.

Click here for a map of the area.

Troyer said the attack was clearly targeted at the officers, not a robbery gone bad.

"There were marked patrol cars outside and they were all in uniform," Troyer said.

With no known suspects, there was no indication of any connection with the Halloween night shooting of a Seattle police officer. The suspect in that shooting remains hospitalized.

"We won't know if it's a copycat effect or what it was until we get the case solved," Troyer said. "We don't even have a suspect ID right now."

Troyer would not release the names of the victims in Sunday's shooting. He said Lakewood has a small police force and the deaths represent a loss of 10 percent to 15 percent of the department.

Troyer estimates a couple hundred officers from the Washington State Patrol and multiple surrounding police agencies in the area are at the scene, with some coming on their own time.

"We have no motive at all," Troyer said. "I don't think when we find out what it is, it will be anything that makes any sense or be worth it."

Two employees and a few other customers were in the shop during the attack. All are being interviewed by the Pierce County Sheriff's investigators.

"Some are in shock. They are very upset," Troyer said. "They are the ones who are going to put together for us how this happened."

The Forza Coffee Shop, part of a popular local chain, is on a side street near McChord Air Force Base in Tacoma, about 35 miles south of Seattle. The shop is in a small retail center alongside two restaurants, a cigar store and a nail salon.

Brad Carpenter, founder and owner of Forza Coffee, said his staff was OK and being interviewed by police, and that his main concern was with the families of the police officers.

"I'm a retired police officer, so this really hits close to home for me," said Carpenter, of nearby Gig Harbor.

Troyer said the Lakewood officers were two blocks outside their jurisdiction, and the coffee shop was a popular place for officers from surrounding jurisdictions to meet and share information.

Streets around the coffee shop were blocked off late Sunday morning, and a police helicopter hovered over a large crowd of investigators. TV video showed police taking possession of a pickup truck parked in a grocery store in Parkland.

"We are looking at some people. We are looking at some cars. We are looking at some residences," Troyer said.

Troyer said investigators are checking surveillance video from multiple sources, trying to identify a possible getaway car. He urged people to stay away from scenes to avoid interfering and putting themselves at risk.

Dave Gabrielson, a clerk at Foot Mart about a block away from the coffee shop, told the newspaper all was quiet when he opened the store at 8 a.m. About 30 minutes later, "All of a sudden a million cops were zooming up and down the road," Gabrielson said.

He said he saw officers bring a police dog into a nearby apartment complex.

Last month, Seattle police officer Timothy Brenton was shot and killed Halloween night as he was sitting in a cruiser with trainee Britt Sweeney. Sweeney was grazed in the neck.

Authorities say the man charged with that shooting also firebombed four police vehicles in October as part of a "one-man war" against law enforcement. Christopher Monfort, 41, was arrested after being wounded in a firefight with police days after the Seattle shooting. He remains hospitalized in stable condition, the hospital said Sunday.

The officers killed Sunday were a patrol squad made up of three officers and their sergeant. No threats had been made against them or other officers in the region, sheriff's officials said. Their families have been notified.

"We lost people we care about. We're working to find out who did this and deal with him." Pierce County Sheriff Paul Pastor told reporters at the scene.

Washington Gov. Chris Gregoire said she was "shocked and horrified" by the killings.

"Our police put their lives on the line every day, and tragedies like this remind us of the risks they continually take to keep our communities safe," she said in a written statement. "My heart goes out to the family, friends and co-workers of these officers, as well as the entire law enforcement community."

At Rollies Tavern near the coffee house, the plasma TVs usually tuned to football had Northwest Cable News on. Three bar patrons live next door to the coffee house.

Jerry Arnold, 45, was in bed when he was awakened by sirens. He's lived there seven years and never seen anything close to Sunday's scene.

"I hope they get them. I can't sleep until they do," he said. "Those guys could be hiding in my backyard."

November 2009 - Kansas: Shootings Leave 3 Dead, 1 Wounded

2009-11-29T13:16:00.000-08:00

http://www.sott.net/articles/show/198008-Kansas-Shootings-Leave-3-Dead-1-Wounded

Kansas: Shootings Leave 3 Dead, 1 Wounded
The Associated Press
Sun, 29 Nov 2009 05:16 EST

A search is on in eastern Kansas for a man authorities want to question after a shooting that left three people dead and another wounded.

The violence was reported around 6 p.m. Saturday in Osage County, Kan. The sheriff's office says investigators found one person dead at the scene, and two others died once they arrived at a hospital. Another person is in critical condition.

Investigators want to question 46-year-old James Greg Kahler, and they say he may be armed and dangerous. They've got the area near where the shooting occurred blocked off, and they are asking residents to remain inside their homes.

Osage County is about 35 miles south of Topeka.

November 2009 - Philippines - Women killed in Philippines massacre were sexually mutilated, authorities say

2009-11-28T10:28:00.000-08:00

http://www.dallasnews.com/sharedcontent/dws/news/world/stories/DN-philippines_28int.ART.State.Edition1.4b91f73.html

Women killed in Philippines massacre were sexually mutilated, authorities say
12:00 AM CST on Saturday, November 28, 2009
Carlos H. Conde,

DAVAO CITY, Philippines – Most or all of the 22 women among the at least 57 people massacred Monday in the southern Philippines were sexually mutilated, authorities said Friday.

"It was horrible. It was not done to just one," the justice secretary, Agnes Devanadera, said on national television. "It was done to practically all the women."

While work continued to identify all the dead, the National Union of Journalists of the Philippines said it appeared that 30 journalists and their assistants had been killed.

About a dozen of the victims were the relatives, lawyers or supporters of Esmael Mangudadatu, a local politician whose determination to challenge the entrenched Ampatuan clan in a gubernatorial election touched off the violence, investigators said.

The rest of the victims, perhaps as many as 15, happened to be stopped at a checkpoint along the highway in Ampatuan, a town in Maguindanao province, when the convoy of Mangudadatu supporters and journalists was stopped by police officers and militiamen loyal to the Ampatuans, investigators said. They were killed to eliminate witnesses.

Andal Ampatuan Jr., a local mayor who is suspected of having ordered the killings, turned himself in Thursday, protesting his innocence. He is expected to be charged with murder next week. Devanadera told the Philippine Daily Inquirer that Ampatuan's brother, Zaldy, and his father, Gov. Andal Ampatuan Sr., the clan patriarch, also were under investigation.

At least one witness, according to Devanadera, told investigators that Andal Ampatuan Jr. was on the scene giving commands but that it was not clear whether he fired a gun.

On Friday, Mangudadatu, leading a 50-vehicle convoy guarded by soldiers and heavily armed police officers, finally filed his certificate of candidacy to run for governor of Maguindanao – precisely what the others were on their way to do when they were slain.

Carlos H. Conde, The New York Times

November 2009 - Philippines - More massacre witnesses to surface

2009-11-28T10:23:00.000-08:00

http://www.abs-cbnnews.com/nation/11/28/09/doj-chief-more-massacre-witnesses-surface

DOJ chief: More massacre witnesses to surface
abs-cbnNEWS.com
11/28/2009

MANILA - Justice Secretary Agnes Devanadera said Saturday that at least two persons directly involved in the massacre of 50 people in Maguindanao have executed their affidavits, detailing how the gruesome election-related crime was planned and consummated.

Devanadera told radio dzMM that one witness said he was present when the massacre was being planned while another witness said he was one of the at least 100 gunmen who massacred more than 60 people in Ampatuan town on Monday.

She said the witnesses have been brought to General Santos City, where prosecutors were processing their application for the government's Witness Protection Program.

"They really saw [how the crime was planned and committed]. This is the new development in the case's investigations," Devanadera said, adding that more than 20 witnesses have approached police investigators and prosecutors since the arrest Datu Unsay Mayor Andal Ampatuan Jr., the prime suspect in the massacre.

She said she is expecting more people directly involved in the massacre to come forward and stand as witness against members of powerful political clan of the Ampatuans.

“Mayroong witness na magpapatunay na bago mangyari ito kasama sila, nandoon sila sa lugar na nagbibigay ng instruction itong mga Ampatuan kung ano ang gagawin (We have a witness who can prove that before the this happened, he was in a place where the Ampatuans were giving instructions of the massacre),” Devanadera said.

ABS-CBN witness

The justice secretary, meanwhile, said they will also invite, through, ABS-CBN News, another witness who claimed he knew were the Ampatuan clan was hiding the firearms possibly used in the massacre.

The witness, a government employee, said he would be willing to testify in the government investigation in exchange for protection for himself and his family.

"All of the firearms are in their mansion. The guns that were confiscated were not the ones used [in the massacre]. Those guns are already old. What's worse is that the guns and ammunition were purchased from the Armed Forces. The issued firearms are long firearms coming from the Philippine National Police provincial command. Those people were killed using guns and ammo from the government," he said.

Devanadera said they would evaluate the witness’s statement and compare it with the others before actually taking him in for protective custody.

She said several Maguindanao residents have also been sending their prosecutors text messages about details of the massacre.

The justice secretary assured that the identities those who would be willing to help the government’s investigation on the massacre would not be revealed for their protection.

More arrests, charges

Devanadera said more arrests will be made as soon as the police investigators have finished their investigation into the supposed involvement of other Ampatuans in the crime.

“We are taking steps towards that (arrest of the other Ampatuans),” she said, adding that they would have to build strong cases against the members of the powerful clan before making arrests.

The justice secretary had said that eight more members of the Ampatuan clan are being considered as suspects in the massacre. They were Maguindanao Gov. Andal Ampatuan Sr., Autonomous Region for Muslim Mindanao Gov. Zaldy Ampatuan, Nords Ampatuan, Maguindanao acting Vice-Gov. Akmad Ampatuan, Datu Saudi Ampatuan Mayor Saudi Ampatuan Jr., Bahnarian Ampatuan, Sajid Islam Ampatuan, and Akmad Tato Ampatuan Sr.

Devanadera said they will initially file 7 counts of murder against Ampatuan Jr. on Tuesday in Cotabato City.

She said they will immediately amend the charge sheet against the mayor as soon as the families of the victims have acquired death certificates.

She said the families of the massacre’s victims are having difficulty acquiring death certificates because the local civil registrar’s office in Maguindanao was suspiciously closed.

Devanadera said the Ampatuan clan members had varying degrees of participation before, during and after the carnage, based on witness accounts.

Reports said the massacre's motive was to prevent the filing of certificate of candidacy of Genalyn Mangudadatu on behalf of her husband, Buluan town Vice-Mayor Esmael "Toto" Mangudadatu.

The vice-mayor's wife, his two sisters and more than 20 journalists were among those massacred.

November 20 - China: Six Die in Beijing Killing Spree

2009-11-28T05:17:00.000-08:00

http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/2009-11/28/content_12554155.htm

China: Six Die in Beijing Killing Spree

Xinhua
Sat, 28 Nov 2009 03:35 EST
Six people were found murdered at home Friday afternoon in Beijing's Daxing district, said municipal police Saturday.

The six people, including two children, who were killed by knife, were a family of three generations, according to a statement from Beijing Municipal Public Security Bureau.

A younger brother of a victim phoned the family and failed to contact them for several days. He called the police after finding the bodies at the home.

The police has identified a suspect and is probing further into the case, said the statement which gave no further details.

November 2009 - Killer hunted after Thanksgiving rampage

2009-11-27T09:33:00.000-08:00

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/34170956/

Killer hunted after Thanksgiving rampage
Cops: Man with ‘ongoing resentment’ toward family kills 4 female relatives
NBC News and msnbc.com
Nov. 27, 2009

JUPITER, Fla. - Three women and a child in bed were shot to death during a family Thanksgiving gathering in South Florida and a male relative was being sought Friday.

Police said 17 relatives were in the house when the shootings were reported around 10 p.m. Thursday in Jupiter, a small coastal town about 90 miles north of Miami.

Jupiter Police Sgt. Scott Pascarella said officers were looking for Paul Michael Merhige, 35, of Miami. Merhige is a cousin of the 6-year-old victim, Makayla Sitton, and has no criminal record, police said.

Investigators said Merhige had "ongoing resentment toward several family members within the residence." Merhige had been invited to the gathering and left the party before returning "a short time later".

According to a statement released by police Friday, Merhige then "began shooting the victims without warning."

The others killed were Merhige's twin sisters, Carla Merhige and Lisa Knight, 33, and an aunt, Raymonde Joseph, 76, according to police.

Authorities said two other victims, Merhige's brother-in-law Patrick McKnight, and cousin Clifford Gebara were also being treated at a hospital.

Pascarella said police received a 911 call from a neighbor shortly after 10 p.m. Police then received a second 911 call from someone within the home. Pascarella says the shootings took place inside the house.

Police said the home was owned by Jim Sitton, a photojournalist for WPTV-TV and father of the little girl killed. Sitton told WPTV his daughter was in bed when she was shot. He was at the party at the time of the shooting but was not wounded.

Yellow crime scene tape was stretched around Sitton's salmon-colored house, located in a well-kept subdivision of stucco homes. Several cars were parked in the driveway, and a crime scene van sat in front.

'A lot of sweetness'
Sitton told local media that his daughter was supposed to perform Friday in a holiday production of "The Nutcracker."

"God packed a lot of sweetness into that little body," Sitton said. "She's just our life. I don't know how we are ever going to recover."

The relationship between Sitton and Paul Merhige was unclear, police said.

Police across South Florida and the U.S. Marshals Service were searching for Merhige. Pascarella said Merhige is believed to be driving a blue 2007 4-door Toyota Camry with Florida license plate W42 7JT.

"The word we're trying to get out to the public is that this individual is considered armed and dangerous," said Pascarella.

Phone calls to a number listed for Paul Merhige were not answered. A phone call to Sitton was also not returned.

The Associated Press, NBC News and msnbc.com staff contributed to this report.

US Suicide Rate Rises as Recession Continues

2009-11-24T12:43:00.000-08:00

http://www.presstv.ir/detail.aspx?id=112050§ionid=3510212

Press TV
Tue, 24 Nov 2009 04:01 CST

New alarming statistics suggest that the number of suicides in the US has increased with the effects of the recession.

The latest surveys show the number of Americans killing themselves because of issues related with the economy may be climbing in the recessionary year of 2008 compared with that of 2007.

"Suicide among families for financial breakdown is of great importance and certainly preventable. However, it leaves incurable scars in families with such financial situation," an American psychologist and Press TV contributor Mala Coleman King says.

"The growing rate of suicide is rising as recession continues. There were suicides before the recession. The new financial situation added to intensity," King added.

Suicide in the workplace and the nation's military has also shown a steady rise.

Calls to the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline, a government-funded number linked to a network of crisis centers, are on pace to reach about 630,000 in 2009, according to officials there.

That is up about 15 percent from last year on top of a 36 percent increase in 2008.

The center says most calls they receive is from people who worry about bills, finding a job and their vague future.

Economic Crisis Is Getting Bloody -- Violent Deaths Are Now Following Evictions, Foreclosures and Job Losses

2009-11-21T02:10:00.000-08:00

http://www.alternet.org/rights/143990/economic_crisis_is_getting_bloody_--_violent_deaths_are_now_following_evictions%2C_foreclosures_and_job_losses/?page=entire

Economic Crisis Is Getting Bloody -- Violent Deaths Are Now Following Evictions, Foreclosures and Job Losses

Nick Turse
AlterNet.org
Fri, 20 Nov 2009 06:31 EST

Despite ever rosier economic predictions and a surging stock market, the body count from the economic crisis is destined only to grow in the weeks and months ahead.

In 2007, Jason Rodriguez was fired from his position at an Orlando, Florida engineering firm and ended up taking a job as a "sandwich artist" at a Subway restaurant. His salary was cut nearly in half and his debts mounted until, last May, he filed for bankruptcy, listing his assets at just over $4,600 and his liabilities at nearly $90,000. Although he lived only 30 minutes away, according to his former mother-in-law, America Holloway, Rodriguez barely saw his son. When the boy asked why his father didn't visit, Holloway said Rodriguez told him: "'Because I don't have any money. I don't have a job. I don't have anything to eat. When things get better, I'll come see you.'"

Things never got better. On November 6th, the 40-year-old Rodriguez went back to the downtown high-rise office building where he had worked and reportedly opened fire, killing one person and wounding five others at his old firm. Asked to comment following the shooting, a local lawyer who represented Rodriguez in his bankruptcy proceedings, said "That's how it is right now. He's a very typical client. Of people that are suffering through the economy right now, there's nothing extraordinary about him... except that."

In the wake of the massacre at Fort Hood -- which took place a day before the Florida incident -- there has, quite understandably, been a search for answers as to the cause of the shooting that left more than 50 dead or injured. Much less attention, however, has been devoted to uncovering the reasons for the much larger number of men and women -- including those allegedly shot by Jason Rodriguez -- who have fallen victim to violence stemming from the global economic crisis.

An analysis of national, regional, and local news reports from 2008-2009 indicates a largely silent, nationwide epidemic of drastic measures and extreme acts for which the economy seems to have been a catalyst. News of such deeds linked to economic woes -- from armed robberies to pay the rent to financially-motivated suicides to familicides (murder/suicides in which both parents and their children die) in the face of financial ruin -- has filtered out of cities and towns in most U.S. states. Since only a fraction of these acts ever receive media coverage, what is being reported -- most of it in local newspapers -- is startling. And while it's impossible to know the myriad factors, including deeply personal ones, that contribute to people resorting to drastic measures, violent or otherwise, many press reports suggest that the global economic crisis has played no small part in a wide range of extreme acts.

Going to Extremes

Earlier this year, for example, "Binghamton Shooter" Jiverly Wong garnered front-page headlines nationwide and set off a cable news frenzy when, "bitter over job loss," he massacred 13 people at an immigration center in upstate New York. Similarly, coverage was brisk after Pittsburgh resident Richard Poplawski, "upset about recently losing a job," shot four local police officers, killing three of them. Many others have directed violence inward, sometimes shooting themselves as sheriff's deputies stood at the door with eviction papers, other times engaging in armed standoffs designed to end in a suicide-by-cop killing.

One such case occurred recently when 64-year-old Kurt Aho of Phoenix, Arizona decided to take a stand. Aho had been struggling to find work and was preparing for his daughter and grandson -- who had lost their house to foreclosure -- to move in with him, but on September 29th, his own foreclosed home of 30 years was sold at auction. Vowing that he wouldn't just walk away, Aho cracked open a beer and had drink with neighbor Jeffrey Hobson who recalled, "He said, 'When the cops get here, either I'm gonna die by them or I'm gonna kill myself." When the two new owners arrived, Aho promptly shot out the tires of their trucks. He then retrieved a .357 Magnum from his house and chased the pair away. Next came the police who rolled up and ordered Aho to drop his weapon. Instead, the self-employed contractor ignored them and walked into his house to grab a few more beers. Neighbors warned the cops that Aho was suicidal and that he would fire on them if they advanced, but the SWAT team stepped up the confrontation by shooting Aho with rubber bullets. Aho responded by firing his pistol twice, striking the SWAT team's armored vehicle with one of the bullets. With that, a SWAT team member fired on Aho, killing him.

In the days that followed, as they have all year long, other economically-motivated extreme acts were carried out across the country. In an attempt to save their home from foreclosure, Daniel Weston and Mary Ann Parmelee, both 52, hired a pair of loan modification agents. Believing they had been ripped off, the Los Angeles couple later lured the men into an ambush, on October 20th, in which "Weston and another man, Gustavo Canez, 36, allegedly beat and robbed them" using a handgun and wooden knuckles.

On October 29th, in New Orleans, Louisiana, a man facing eviction armed himself with a rifle and barricaded himself inside his home. The act wasn't an isolated extreme for the area. "We've had a couple of suicides," Lambert Boissiere Jr., New Orleans's 1st City Court Constable remarked recently. "When the deputies get there, they find the person inside. Or sometimes you knock on the door and boom, they commit suicide."

One such incident took place on November 5th when Patrick Sanchez of Irvine, California answered his door to find a sheriff's deputy serving him an eviction notice. Sanchez asked the deputy to wait, walked back into his home and shot himself. It was, reportedly, at least the third eviction-related suicide in that area this year.

Elkhart Revisited

Right now, having suffered 13 deaths at the hands of a lone gunman, Fort Hood, Texas is the media's anguished community du jour. In February, however, it was the former "RV capital of the world," Elkhart, Indiana -- a financially-devastated community where President Barack Obama made an appearance to push his economic recovery package. In his speech at Elkhart's town hall, Obama caught the town's plight dramatically: "[This] area has lost jobs faster than anywhere else in the United States of America, with an unemployment rate of over 15 percent when it was 4.7 percent just last year... We're talking about people who have lost their livelihood and don't know what will take its place... That's what those numbers and statistics mean. That is the true measure of this economic crisis."

In reality, however, the "true measure" has only become clear as the year has ground on. As of early November there had been 22 confirmed suicides in Elkhart and two other likely self-inflicted deaths, outpacing the county average of 16. According to coroner John White, in more than a quarter of the suicides financial distress or job loss was a deciding factor for the victims. "They left notes specifically stating that the reason they did this was because of the economy," he said recently. He continued, "Everyone needs to be more aware with the stresses of 17 percent to 18 percent unemployment."

People do need to be aware of the stresses -- and the dire costs associated with them, but the chances of that happening are slim. The massacre at Fort Hood is bound to produce volumes of analyses resulting from multiple government inquiries into the killings. But neither the FBI nor Congress nor any other government agency will ever convene an investigation into the slow motion bloodbath resulting from the global economic crisis. For this reason, there will never be anything approaching a full tally of all the victims who were killed or died or were wounded or psychologically devastated as a result of evictions, foreclosures, job losses, and other forms of financial distress over the last years. Nor will President Obama head back to Elkhart, or anywhere else for that matter, to attend a memorial service to the fallen from this less spectacular, but far deadlier bloodbath. As a result of the inattention, and despite ever rosier economic predictions and a surging stock market, the body count from the economic crisis is destined only to grow in the weeks and months ahead.

France: Shooting in Central Paris Kills 1, Injures 2

2009-11-20T16:15:00.001-08:00

http://www.presstv.ir/detail.aspx?id=111765§ionid=351020603

PressTV
Fri, 20 Nov 2009 12:56 EST

A man with an automatic weapon has opened fire on a car near a Paris train station, killing one man and wounding two others.

The shooting took place near the Gare du Nord train station, for trains to London and other international destinations.

Such an incident is told to be rare in France, which has strict gun control laws, AP reported.

A police officer said one of the occupants was hit in the head and died soon after. The other two victims have been hospitalized.

The official speaking on condition of anonymity added that the shooter has fled and is being searched for.

Insurmountable anger, not losing millions, is often the determining factor in suicide cases

2009-11-19T14:48:00.001-08:00

Suicide is self-murder!

http://www.thefirstpost.co.uk/46320,news-comment,news-politics,financial-failure-is-simply-the-final-fatal-blow-for-suicides

Financial failure is simply the final, fatal blow
Insurmountable anger, not losing millions, is often the determining factor in suicide cases linked to debt, says COLINE COVINGTON
FIRST POSTED JANUARY 19, 2009

How many more victims of the financial crisis will there be? The US, the UK, Japan, India, and Egypt have all reported growing concern over suicides linked to debt. They are wise to be worried: in Japan the suicide rate increased by 34 per cent during the 1998 financial crisis.

On the face of it, it is hardly surprising that a sudden downturn in an individual's finances can precipitate depression and, in certain cases, suicide. But what is most striking about many of the suicides reported here and in the US in the last few months is their extreme rage. Men who have lost their fortunes kill themselves and sometimes their families as well; wives kill themselves when their husbands lose everything; men and women kill themselves as their houses are repossessed.

These suicides may appear to be fuelled by despair, helplessness, shame, and in some cases guilt, but in many cases the suicide note reveals overwhelming anger. One woman, facing foreclosure on her house, wrote to the mortgage company: "You have failed to protect me. You have broken your promise. You have destroyed my life."

Italian poet Cesare Pavese coined the phrase ‘suicides are shy homicides’
Mortgage companies, banks, investment companies, and now governments are being blamed by many people for their devastating losses. Since they can't murder the institutions or the Madoffs of this world, people are killing themselves instead. The Italian poet Cesare Pavese coined the phrase "suicides are shy homicides". Recent suicides linked to the financial crisis are no exceptions.

But it is not simply the case that people who have suffered these huge financial losses feel angry, let down, and helpless. For many of these suicides, financial failure is the final blow in a long history of feeling inadequate, rejected and robbed of love. The murder that takes place is against an internal parental figure who has made the individual believe that he can only be loved if he is successful; more often than not, this also means self-reliant and hard working.

So, when financial loss occurs it is especially traumatic. The efforts to gain love in the eyes of the parent have been suddenly wiped out in one fell swoop, and further efforts seem utterly futile. There is a powerful sense that everything is doomed to fail because it will all be undone in the end. Being left with no money (or house) is equivalent to being left with a parent who has withdrawn love for no apparent reason.

More specifically, it is like

For many of these suicides, financial failure is the last straw in a long history of feeling inadequate, rejected and robbed of love
being let down by a parent who puts their own needs first, leaving the child at risk. What seemed safe and relatively secure no longer exists, and the failure of the banks and mortgage companies to go on providing this security inevitably triggers off memories of parental failure that can feel life-threatening.

In some cases, the parent who needs to be pleased may also be projected onto the wife or husband, and the experience of rejection may thus be twofold. Failing one's spouse can be humiliating and shameful but also persecuting. One banker, referring to a colleague's suicide, described it as an act of honour because his colleague had felt so responsible to his clients for inadvertently losing their money in the Madoff fraud.

The guilt and despair such failure elicits is enormous. But so is the rage. In the case of people who have traumatic histories of emotional insecurity, the combination of despair and rage can produce a fatal cocktail. Add to this the impotence in not being able to actually kill the parent who has failed you (that is, the person or institution on whom you depended and who has betrayed you), and you come up with suicide.

As Foreclosure Nightmares Increase, Will More Homeowners Pay Off Their Bankers in Violence?

2009-11-09T13:29:00.000-08:00

As Foreclosure Nightmares Increase, Will More Homeowners Pay Off Their Bankers in Violence?
By Scott Thill, AlterNet
November 9, 2009
http://www.alternet.org/story/143813/

Anger and discontent are reaching a boil as a lethal combination of economic corruption and political collusion are deleveraged across the United States.

From recent rampages in Orlando, Fla., to mortgage-related torture in Los Angeles, certain members of the citizenry seem to have had their fill of being manipulated for the financial gain of others, and they're firing back with force.

And the situation threatens to burn hotter as the winter holidays -- always a peak period fof domestic violence, due mostly to financial stress -- approach to spark its frazzled strands. The economic crisis revealed late-capitalism's central offense: Human beings are being transparently treated if they were mere transactions. And they're going postal over it.

"They left me to rot," Jason Rodriguez said when asked why he went on a shooting rampage at the Orlando engineering firm Reynolds, Smith and Hills that had fired him two years ago.

That compressed vitriol is also found in the Los Angeles case, where Daniel Weston and Gustavo Canez allegedly imprisoned and tortured loan-modification agents Lamond Dean and Luis Garcia while three others -- Mario Soloman Gonzales, Marissa Parker and Mary Ann Parmelee, a realtor -- sat and watched.

According to the Los Angeles District Attorney's office, "Weston and Parmelee live in a house that is in foreclosure," and they "allegedly sought loan-modification assistance from the victims but believed that nothing was being done and wanted their money back."

When they didn't get it, they evidently extracted their payback in violent revenge.

"That's not right," explained Kathleen Day, spokeswoman for the nonprofit Center for Responsible Lending. "But clearly people are really mad about what's happened to them. This is the kind of thing that happens when lenders don't lend responsibly. You can't abuse your customers forever."

Or your tormenters, as Weston and Canez will no doubt realize, once the full force of the state comes down on them for venting their rage. Whatever their perceived or real injustices may have been, their attack on Dean and Garcia crossed a line laid down by the rule of law. But that rule, as everyone from voters to homeowners to municipalities and more have come to fully realize during the last decade, rarely applies in both directions.

For those in power, it is used to shield them from the justice they often deserve. For those on the outside looking in, it is often used to oppress them further. The disturbing blowback from that growing inequality, mirrored by an ever-growing gap between the rich and the poor and a true national unemployment rate around 17 percent, can only get worse.

"Loan-modification scams are proliferating now because of the numerous foreclosure-prevention programs that have been announced," said Douglas Robinson, spokesman for NeighborWorks America, a national nonprofit created by Congress to financially and technically assist with community-based revitalization efforts. "Homeowners know that there is help out there for them, so they are more susceptible to scammers who sound legitimate. Unemployment is increasing, and homeowners are looking for answers that will save their homes. Scammers know this and tailor their approach to homeowners."

Until more details on the case come in, the jury is still out on whether Dean and Garcia were scamming the posse that allegedly imprisoned and tortured them or were legitimate operators.

But the convergence of malfeasance and blowback in their case is alluring: NeighborWorks announced a national campaign to combat loan-mod scams alongside Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa on the same day the district attorney posted its press release on Dean and Garcia.

Of course, there was little in NeighborWorks' campaign -- which designated November as "National Loan Modification Scam Awareness Month" -- that mentioned the actual banks whose densely securitized loans have crippled not just American homeowners, but also the global economy.

According to a series of brilliant exposes, McClatchy newspapers found that Wall Street titan Goldman Sachs peddled billions of securitized mortgages that it knew were toxic, and then capitalized on inevitable foreclosures through murky subsidiaries tasked with kicking distressed homeowners onto the street.

The callous practice was good for Goldman's bottom line: According to a recent report from the National Consumer Law Center, there's more money for mortgage companies in foreclosures than in loan modification. To reward itself for its purportedly legal duplicity for the holidays, when economic stress is at its peak, Goldman is giving its employees billions in bonuses, all while claiming to do "God's work."

Of course, Goldman Sachs isn't the only perp getting a free ride. According to Ohio Rep. Marcy Kaptur, over 95 percent of troubled mortgages in the United States "has moved to five institutions: JPMorgan Chase, Bank of America, Wachovia, Citigroup and HSBC. They have this country held by the neck."

All of those U.S. banks, excluding London's HSBC, have received bailout billions in American taxpayer dollars, and yet homeowners threatened with foreclosure, especially poor ones, are running out of lawyers to represent them in court. Ironic, considering that the unjust double-standard, judging by events in Los Angeles and probably coming to a city near you, is destroying what is left of the rule of law as we know it.

"There's a growing sense from people that they don't feel they should have to hold up their end of contracts," added Center for Responsible Lending's Day. "The banks and government have caused a breakdown in social mores. The Senate didn't pass the bankruptcy bill, which would have helped homeowners with their loan modifications, because of pressure from the banking industry. And that helped create the situation we're in.

"Lenders, lawmakers and regulators have really got to start thinking about how to help those who have been hurt by this and how to prevent this kind of thing from happening again."

For its part, NeighborWorks and its partners in Congress, the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development and more are trying to help homeowners avoid loan-mod scammers in hopes of stanching the bleeding. And they're not fans of the kind of frontier justice allegedly meted out by Weston, Canez and crew in Los Angeles.

"No matter how frustrating the circumstance, we urge anyone who feels they've been scammed to seek justice by reporting the scam artist or business to the legal authorities," said Robinson. "Knowing the signs of a scam and reporting a scam is our best defense."

But that's wishful thinking, and given the recent rash of violent events, probably exhausted as an alternative at this point.

NeighborWorks' faith in "the legal authorities" has not been borne out by the facts of this unfolding economic depression, and Americans can see right through the hypocrisy of it all: From the housing bubble to the neutered bankruptcy bill and down to the highway robbery of the bailout, the collusion of the government and the financial-services industry has stripped the population of everything from its equity and savings to its dignity and options. And it's mad as hell about it, as it should be, given that what it is enduring is a perversion and ultimately erasure of authority.

"This isn't capitalism, it's the Wild West," concluded Day. "We have to heal the market."

The only way to do that is to give the American people's money back to them, rather than the white-collar vampires that are sucking them dry. The bailout, allegedly created to increase lending, has failed.

U.S. commercial and industrial loans declined 11 percent to around $1.4 trillion since September, according to the Federal Reserve, which itself, thanks to public anger, is busy trying to hide from audits to outright dissolution.

And so the plan to award banks that built the housing bubble on labyrinthine debt securitization doomed to failure has now fully backfired, and the pitchforks and torches are being brought out with mounting speed.

If the American people, to say nothing of those in much worse straits in poorer countries, don't get paid their due soon, they are liable to make what's left of the rule of law that has abandoned them an utter nightmare. You're likely to find reruns of Orlando and Los Angeles, as well as Fort Hood, replicating everywhere. And who is going to argue with them?

"For once," Day explained, "borrowers aren't seen as primarily responsible for products designed to bilk them of every nickel and dime. The fact is that all studies have shown if people can afford to stay in their homes, they will, even if they are underwater. But now there is a growing disrespect for banks and what has been a social norm -- if you incur a debt, you should pay it back.

"What the lending institutions have done is outrageous and has gone on for too long."

November 2009 - Texas Man Fatally Shot 3, Including Young Girl, Before Killing Himself

2009-11-09T13:21:00.000-08:00

http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/U/US_TEXAS_FAMILY_SLAIN?SITE=TXMID&SECTION=HOME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT

The Associated Press
Mon, 09 Nov 2009 12:18 EST

Authorities called to check on a family's well-being in a rural southeast Texas home found the bodies of four people who had been shot to death.

San Jacinto County Capt. Carl Jones said Monday that 42-year-old Oliver Bills Jr. fatally shot his girlfriend and her 4-year-old daughter and his adopted mother, 71-year-old Gloria Bills. Jones says Bills then killed himself.

Sheriff James Walters says the gunman "might have been off his medication." He declined to elaborate.

Authorities have not released the names of Bills' girlfriend or the 4-year-old girl.

Both of them lived with Bills in the house that is about is about 55 miles north of Houston.

November 2009 - 8 Shot, 2 Killed in Downtown Orlando Office Shooting

2009-11-08T08:13:00.000-08:00

http://www.thecelebritycafe.com/features/35483.html

8 Shot, 2 Killed in Downtown Orlando Office Shooting
6-Nov-2009
by: TheCelebrityCafe.com Staff

The building has been locked down and the suspect remains on the loose

MSNBC, ABC News and The Associated Press are reporting that there has been a shooting at an Orlando, Florida office building that has resulted in the death of at least two people. Six others have been shot and injured and according to ABC News, four of them are being labeled as ‘trauma red’ patients and they have been transported to the Orlando Regional Medical Center for immediate care.

The shooting occurred earlier this afternoon at Orlando’s Legion Place Gateway Center and the building has been locked down since the suspect remains on the loose. Early indications from authorities are that there is only one shooter and they have described the suspect as an armed male wearing blue jeans and a light blue polo shirt.

While it has been confirmed that eight people were shot by the suspect, there may be more victims who have yet to be discovered the SWAT team on the scene is currently continuing the process of removing people from the building.

The Legion Place Gateway Center, the office building in Orlando where the shooting occurred, is a 16-story high-rise building that was built ten years ago. According to reports from ABC News and MSNBC, Interstate 4 at SR-50 has been closed in both directions and local Edgewater High School has been placed on lock down.

November 2009 - Gunman kills 12, wounds 31 at Fort Hood

2009-11-08T08:10:00.000-08:00

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/33678801/ns/us_news-crime_and_courts/

Gunman kills 12, wounds 31 at Fort Hood
Army psychiatrist identified as attacker is captured alive, general says
NBC News and msnbc.com
updated 10:48 p.m. ET Nov. 5, 2009

An Army psychiatrist who opened fire at Fort Hood, Texas, killing 12 people and wounding 31 others, was shot but captured alive, military officials said late Thursday.

The gunman, identified as Maj. Nidal Malik Hasan, was wounded at the scene but was captured alive and was in stable condition, Lt. Gen. Robert W. Cone, commanding general of the Army’s III Corps, said at a press conference late Thursday.

Eleven of the victims died at the scene, military officials said. A 12th died later at a hospital, NBC station KCEN-TV of Waco reported. Cone said that most of those who were shot were military but two were civilians.

Cone also said that a female officer who was thought to be the first responder shot Hasan and was herself wounded and had undergone surgery at a hospital. It was not clear if the officer was a military policewoman or a civilian officer.

Col. Ben Danner said the suspect was shot at least four times. "I would say his death is not imminent," Cone said, adding that Hasan was in custody at a hospital.

It initially was reported that Hasan had been killed at the scene. But Cone said at the press conference that Hasan had been in custody since the incident occurred, and there was no explanation of the earlier report.

Poor performance evaluation
U.S. officials said Hasan was an Army psychiatrist, NBC News reported. Defense officials said Hasan, 39, arrived at Fort Hood in July after practicing for six years at Walter Reed Army Medical Center in Washington, which included a fellowship in disaster and preventive psychiatry.

At Walter Reed, Hasan received a poor performance evaluation, according to an official who spoke to The Associated Press on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to discuss the case publicly.

There was no official word on motive. But Hasan was scheduled to be deployed overseas on Nov. 28, officials said. Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison, R-Texas, said military officials had told her that Hasan was “pretty upset” about his deployment, which she said was to be to Iraq.

The Associated Press, quoting federal law enforcement officials, said Hasan had come to their attention at least six months ago because of Internet postings that discussed suicide bombings and other threats. The officials said they were still trying to confirm that he was the author.

Medical records on file in Virginia, where Hasan was born and was registered to practice, and Maryland, where he received his medical degree at the Uniformed Services University of the Health Sciences in Bethesda, revealed no disciplinary actions or formal complaints.

Two handguns used
Cone said the gunman used two handguns. He said that military officials believed that there was a single shooter.

Two other soldiers were taken into custody after the shooting, but Rep. John Carter, R-Texas, said they were released.

A senior administration official told NBC News that the shootings could have been a criminal matter rather than a terrorism-related attack and that there was no intelligence to suggest a plot against Fort Hood.

Military and local hospital officials said the victims were a mixture of men and women, military and civilian. At least four local SWAT officers were among those wounded, KCEN reported.

‘They shot me!’
Among the wounded was Pfc. Keara Bono, 21, of Independence, Mo., who was shot in the shoulder. She called her mother, Peggy McCarty, to let her know she would be OK.

Bono, who works with soldiers dealing with stress, arrived in Fort Hood only Wednesday from her previous posting in Topeka, Kan., NBC station KSN-TV of Wichita, Kan., reported. Her brother, Dustin, told the Kansas City Star that Bono was “mad more than anything.”

“They shot me! And I’m still here in this country!” Dustin Bono quoted his sister as saying.

Robin Geiser of Random Lake, Wis., said her 24-year-old son, who commands soldiers at Fort Hood, knew some of the victims. He had been scheduled to be in the readiness center Thursday ahead of his deployment in January, but he was spared because his day’s orders were changed and he was on the training ground, instead, Geiser said.

“I was terrified come January,” Geiser told NBC station WTMJ-TV of Milwaukee. “I’m doubly worried now. If you can’t be safe here ...”

Geiser said that in conversations with her son, he told her that “there’s a lot of anger in a lot of these soldiers.”

“Who knows what it stems from?” she asked.

Reminders of 1991 massacre
Fort Hood, one of the largest military complexes in the world, was put on lockdown until about 7 p.m. ET, as were schools in the area. Dozens of agents of the FBI and the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives responded to the post, federal officials said.

The base is surrounded by the town of Killeen, where a man shot and killed 23 people in a Luby’s restaurant in October 1991.

“Unfortunately, this is a day we had dreaded,” said Hilary Shine, a spokeswoman for the city of Killeen. “Every time you hear of a mass casualty situation in Killeen, you think of Luby’s. ...

“Here in City Hall, it’s panic,” Shine said. “We all have friends and family members who work or have business on Fort Hood.”

Speaking in Washington, President Barack Obama called the shootings a “horrific outburst.”

“It’s difficult enough when we lose these great Americans in battles overseas,” Obama said at the Interior Department. “It’s horrifying that they should come under fire at an Army base on American soil.”

Noting the Arabic nature of the gunman’s name, the Council on American-Islamic Relations, a Washington interest group, condemned “this cowardly attack in the strongest terms possible and ask that the perpetrators be punished to the full extent of the law.”

”No political or religious ideology could ever justify or excuse such wanton and indiscriminate violence,” the council said in a statement. “The attack was particularly heinous in that it targeted the all-volunteer army that protects our nation. American Muslims stand with our fellow citizens in offering both prayers for the victims and sincere condolences to the families of those killed or injured.”

Shootings in deployment center
Emergency Services officials at Fort Hood said the incident began about 1:30 p.m. CT (2:30 p.m. ET) when the gunman opened fire in the Soldiers Readiness Processing Center on the west side of the base. A spokesman for the base, Sgt. Major Jamie Posten, said the processing center was where soldiers “cycle through as they prepare to deploy.”

Retired Army Col. Greg Schannep, an aide to Rep. John Carter, R-Texas, who was on the post to attend a graduation service, told the Fort Hood Sentinel that he heard “three or four volleys of shots, with eight to 12 shots in each volley.”

“Initially, I thought it was a training exercise,” he said. But then, “a soldier came running past me and said, ‘Sir, there is someone shooting.’

“As he ran past me, I saw blood on his back,” Schannep told the base paper. “I don’t think he even knew he had been shot.”

The sprawling Fort Hood complex is home to at least 4,929 active-duty officers and 45,414 enlisted. Civilian employees total nearly 9,000.

A spokesman for the Army, Lt. Col. Lee M. Packnett, said he was unaware whether security measures were put in place at other military bases. Other U.S. military bases told local NBC stations that the shootings were being treated as an isolated incident and that no special security measures were being implemented in response.

‘Shocked and saddened’
Hutchison said in a statement: “I am shocked and saddened by today’s outburst of violence at Fort Hood ... My heart goes out to their loved ones.”

Texas Gov. Rick Perry’s campaign spokesperson said the governor was in Denton, scheduled to attend a campaign event, when word of the shooting occurred. There was no word on whether he had left Denton or whether he was headed to Fort Hood.

Fort Hood has seen other violence in recent years. In September 2008, a 21-year-old 1st Cavalry Division soldier shot his lieutenant to death and then killed himself. Spec. Jody Michael Wirawan of Eagle River, Alaska, shot himself to death after killing 1st Lt. Robert Bartlett Fletcher, 24, of Jensen Beach, Fla.

You can also follow this story at @msnbc_breaking on Twitter.

Pete Williams, Savannah Guthrie, Scott Foster, Kameko Jones and Joel Seidman of NBC News; Bill Dedman and Alex Johnson of msnbc.com; and NBC stations KCEN of Waco, Texas, KSN of Wichita, Kan., KXAS of Dallas and WTMJ of Milwaukee contributed to this report.

November 2009 - North Carolina Father Killed Wife, 2 Children, Self

2009-11-03T12:33:00.000-08:00

http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/U/US_FOUR_DEAD_NC?SITE=ORBEN&SECTION=HOME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT

North Carolina Father Killed Wife, 2 Children, Self

Martha Waggoner
The Associated Press
Tue, 03 Nov 2009 11:51 EST

North Carolina police say a real estate developer known as an active member of his church shot and killed his wife and two teen children and then committed suicide in their Fayetteville home.

Authorities did not hint at a motive into the slayings by William Maxwell in an upscale neighborhood of the city Monday night.

Police said Tuesday that 47-year-old Maxwell killed his wife, Kathryn, and their children, 17-year-old Connor and 15-year-old Cameron, before turning a gun on himself.

Friends and neighbors say the Maxwells were a friendly family who kept a meticulous yard and were active in their church and their children's religious high school.

"They were just wonderful people, active in their church," said neighbor Kay Edwards, who has lived next door since 1994, when she moved back into the home where she grew up and where her 94-year-old mother still lives. "They were just good neighbors."

Edwards said she would often see family members walking their small dog through the quiet, leafy neighborhood.

"We're just all in shock," she said Tuesday. "You could not image this happening."

William Maxwell was a builder and land developer who built residential subdivisions in Cumberland and Harnett counties, said John McKinney of Fayetteville, who described himself as Maxwell's business partner and friend for more than a decade.

"He was a devout Christian and I really loved his family," McKinney said. William Maxwell also owned a couple of local car washes, while his wife Kathryn was a stay-at-home mother who taught Sunday school at Snyder Memorial Baptist Church in Fayetteville.

Son Cameron Maxwell attended 9th grade at Village Christian Academy in Fayetteville and his sister Conner was a senior. The school is affiliated with Village Baptist Church. "We're obviously very saddened by this tragic event and we're really concentrating right now on just meeting the needs of the students and staff at the school," said Lou Nelon, the church administrator. "Those kids were very well loved and respected. They were very well known here in town," Nelon said.

In a neighborhood with well-manicured lawns where many houses sit on hill tops, a steady stream of cars drove by the house on Tuesday, slowing for drivers to gape at the crime scene.

Evelyn Diaz, a Maxwell neighbor for about a year, said she remembered the father and son working on the meticulously-kept lawn. One woman who said her husband coached basketball at Village Christian Academy with Maxwell came Tuesday to lay a bunch of yellow daisies on the lawn.

Suzie Martell, a neighbor and a student at Fayetteville Technical Community College, came by the house to snap some pictures with her cell phone. "The family was great. The husband obviously prospered in his field," said Martell.

Fayetteville is about 50 miles southwest of Raleigh and home to the Army's sprawling Fort Bragg.

Six bodies found at convicted rapist's house

2009-11-02T09:58:00.000-08:00

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/8335859.stm

Six bodies found at convicted rapist's house
BBC News
Sat, 31 Oct 2009 19:19 EDT

Six bodies have been found at the home of a convicted rapist in the US city of Cleveland, Ohio, authorities say.

Police discovered the first two bodies on Thursday when they came to arrest Anthony Sowell, 50, on a rape charge. A third was found a day later and police have now confirmed three more. The remains were recovered in the house and in its backyard.

The suspect - who spent 15 years in prison for a 1989 rape - was arrested on Saturday not far from his home.

Coroner Frank Miller said two of the bodies had been identified as black females, reports the AP news agency. Autopsies had been performed on all six, said the coroner's office, but no cause of death was announced.

Police chief Michael McGrath told a news conference that Sowell offered no resistance when arrested, following a tip-off, while walking down the street on Saturday at around noon. The suspect initially denied he was the man authorities were looking for, but admitted his identity as officers began fingerprinting him, police said.

Chief McGrath said the bodies were in "various states of being decomposed" and could have been in the property for up to six months. He said Sowell had initially lived in the house with his aunt and uncle, but his uncle had passed away and his aunt had gone to a nursing home about a year ago.

Police Lt Thomas Stacho told CNN: "It was such a disgusting sight."

"I can tell you I stood outside the home for about an hour yesterday, and the stench from inside was overwhelming," he added.

Neighbours told media that the suspect made a living from looking for scrap metal to sell.

Missing-person reports are being checked dating to June 2005, when Sowell was released from prison.

Crowds have been gathering outside Sowell's home, in the city's East Side, holding posters of missing loved ones.

India: Goa murders raise fears of serial killer

2009-10-17T13:36:00.000-07:00

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/asia/india/6336316/Goa-murders-raise-fears-of-serial-killer.html

Dean Nelson
Telegraph
Thu, 15 Oct 2009 10:15 EDT

Senior officers on Thursday sought to reassure tourists and local women that they were not in danger in the state
The bodies of six women and two young children were found in Goa over the last three days, prompting fears that a serial killer is stalking women in the tropical Indian holiday resort.

A total of ten people, including seven women, a seven-year-old boy and a four year old girl, have now been found dead in suspicious circumstances in the last few weeks.

Panic began to spread throughout the state on Monday after two bodies were found dead on Morjim beach in what detectives said were "unnatural deaths". The charred remains of another victim was found several hours later in the state capital Panaji. The bodies of two more women were discovered on Tuesday and a 50 year old man and a 35 year old women were found dead in Panaji's Mandovi River on Wednesday.

The police confirmed they were investigating the possibility that a serial killer is at large in the state. "We are not ruling out the possibility of a serial killing. We are probing all possible angles," said director-general of police B.S. Bassi.

The possibility of a serial killer on the loose spread fear among the state's women, and concern through its tourist industry as it prepared for its peak season.

Detectives had already faced severe criticism over their handling of another serial killer inquiry earlier this year when a man was finally arrested on suspicion of murdering 18 women in 15 years. A 40 year old rickshaw driver was charged with the murders in May.

Senior officers on Thursday sought to reassure tourists and local women that they were not in danger in the state, despite the possibility of a serial killer at large and a number of tourist murders in the last three years which have cast a shadow over the state's "paradise" image.

British teenager Scarlett Kealing, 15, was raped and murdered on a beach in Goa last year, while in December 2006 British holidaymaker Stephen Bennett was found hanging from a mango tree in Maharashtra after disappearing from Goa.

October 2009 - India: Man Stabs 7 Persons to Death

2009-10-12T12:31:00.000-07:00

http://www.ptinews.com/news/327377_Man-stabs-seven-persons-to-death

Press Trust of India
Mon, 12 Oct 2009 12:19 EDT
A man today allegedly stabbed to death seven persons including his family members in Sainik Society locality, police said.

Sunil Kumar Sen (34) allegedly killed his mother, wife, two children, and his sister and her son after he had an altercation over a chocked drain with his neighbour Rajkumar Gautam, who as also one of the victims.

They said Sen was having strained relations Gautam for last three years. However, the reason behind the man taking this extreme step is yet to be ascertained.

A hunt has been launched to trace Sen, who is absconding after the incident, police said.

Economic Murder Suicides Increasing Lately

2009-10-11T17:03:00.000-07:00

http://www.opednews.com/articles/A-Time-of-Shattering-Reali-by-David-Glenn-Cox-091009-321.html

October 10, 2009

A Time of Shattering Realities
By David Glenn Cox
U.S. Initial Jobless Claims Decrease to 10-Month Low

Oct. 8 (Bloomberg) -- U.S. Initial Jobless Claims Decrease to 10-Month Low. First time claims for unemployment benefits fell last week to the lowest since January, a sign the labor market is deteriorating more slowly as the economy emerges from the recession.

Yes, let the good times roll. The business community continues to dig through the economic manure pile looking for that pony! They choose to forget that unemployment benefits have fixed time limits, nor do they count the numbers whose benefits have already been exhausted. They count only the total number and pretend that it is reality. But, what is reality? As Christ asked, "What is truth?"

MOUNT AIRY, Md. — "A home-improvement worker and school janitor who apparently was struggling to survive the recession killed his sleeping wife and two children before turning the 12-gauge shotgun on himself, Maryland State Police said Saturday."　

In Las Vegas there have been three murder-suicides in the past twelve days. These are acts of desperation that are happening in every city in America and yet it is treated as strictly local news.

The Labor Department said that overall job losses in September were 263,000 after job losses in August were 201,000; that is almost half a million people in two months. Meanwhile, government officials admitted this month that they have probably underestimated job losses by 824,000.

"Investigators believe the deaths occurred Thursday night or Friday morning. Shipley said Jennifer Dalton failed to report to her part-time job at a veterinary hospital in Damascus, prompting co-workers to try to contact her starting at 8:30 a.m. Friday. No one answered their calls or came to the door.

'A family friend called 911 at about 5:30 p.m. Friday after spotting a body through a rear window of the split-level house,' Shipley said."

Charles Dalton was a self-employed cabinet installer who ran his business, Imagine Millwork, out of his home. He also worked the night shift as a maintenance worker for Montgomery County schools. The house, on a corner lot in a modest, middle-class neighborhood, had a "For Sale" sign out front. It had been on the market for at least a year, according to neighbors.

Kenneth Matthews, a security worker who also runs a carpet-cleaning business out of his home a few doors down, said Dalton had been scraping by in the weak economy. "He was struggling, just like me," Matthews said.

"We're probably running about 40 percent of where we were last year."

Nonetheless, economists surveyed by Bloomberg in September estimated the U.S. returned to growth last quarter after contracting in the first six months.

"Growth next year probably won't be strong enough to 'substantially' bring down unemployment, which may remain above 9 percent at the end of 2010," Federal Reserve Chairman Ben S. Bernanke told lawmakers.

"Companies looking to add staff include Richfield, Minnesota-based Best Buy Co. The world's largest electronics retailer last month said it plans to hire more seasonal holiday workers this year to help meet demand for Internet-connected flat-panel televisions and mobile phones."

That's the best you've got? That Best Buy is going to hire more Christmas help than last year?

"Legislation to extend unemployment benefits is being delayed in the U.S. Senate by a dispute among lawmakers over which states ought to receive the relief. The House approved legislation last week that would extend benefits by 13 weeks for people in 27 states with jobless rates of at least 8.5 percent in August. Democrats had said they wanted to forward the bill to Obama by the end of September, when benefits ran out for about 400,000 Americans. Seventeen senators objected to the House plan because their states would be excluded."

This is called fiddling while Rome burns, adding unnecessary suffering to people already suffering. The commerce department warns that there are six applicants for every job opening and if you look at these job openings in the want ads you find that many of these jobs pay nothing! They are commission only or minimum wage plus commission. Who can sell jewelry or cars or life insurance in a market where even grocery store sales are in decline?　

There is a deep-seated desire to deny reality that is rooted in their overall philosophical beliefs, and to admit reality is to admit that they have been fundamentally wrong all along about the economy. We hear of grand schemes and growth projections that assure us of the fundamental stability of the economy. But men and women are killing their children in ever-increasing numbers out of fear and frustration, and that says, "You Lie!" To the academics and economists who have insisted that outsourcing will be good for the economy in the long run, it says, "These dead are on your hands."

It is delusional to believe that somehow a family can be supported and kept on minimum wage and part time jobs. They are unwilling to admit that their policies are as much responsible for the deaths as the Remington. There is an ever-present air of benign neglect, let's look the other way and pretend that it has nothing to do with us or what we do here.

SUNRISE, Fla. -- Police in Sunrise said a father, mother and teenage girl died in a double murder-suicide over the weekend. Early Sunday morning, the bodies of Quincy Kelly, his wife, Lisa, and their 13-year-old daughter, Soroya, were found locked inside a back bedroom of their home. Sunrise police said it was a double murder-suicide."

"Yes, he lost his job, but where that is concerned, it's a total different matter than this," Mitchell said. "It's not known yet what caused all of this. All we know is that three lives were lost."

The potential link between murder-suicides and the economy is an area of study for the Violence Policy Center in Washington. "We've been looking at this issue of whether there are more murder-suicides " [and] a pattern is starting to develop that may point in that direction," says Kristen Rand, legislative director at the center.

The saddest part of this whole situation is that the government has already shot its bolt. They have already spent any funds that might have been available on the bank bailout and rescue. The Obama administration's stimulus package is DOA, too small and too short-sighted and littered with tax cuts and incentives. Even the Wall Street Journal now admits that it is too small.

Many states faced with huge budget shortfalls have used the stimulus money to save employees rather than to add employees. This is all well and good but bailing is not sailing and saving jobs doesn't solve the problem. It forestalls the problem while the situation grows worse. With 400,000 set to lose unemployment benefits, does anyone seriously believe that Best Buy is the answer?

A time of shattering realities is upon us; our people face grim winter months. How will they heat the house? How will they feed their children? How will they keep a roof over their heads?

"Cramer: Expect a Big Holiday Shopping Season"

"The consumer is alive and pretty well," Jim Cramer announced Thursday, "no matter what the pundits say."

September 27, 2009 - Man kills 15 family members

2009-10-04T07:57:00.000-07:00

http://www.dailytelegraph.com.au/news/breaking-news/man-kills-15-family-members/story-e6freuyi-1225780236805

Man kills 15 family members
AFP Mon Sep 28 2009

A 30-YEAR-OLD man shot dead 15 family members, including his wife and children, with an automatic rifle before committing suicide in a village in central Afghanistan.

Eight women and several children were among those killed in the shooting, which took place in the village of Ghola, in Ghazni province, provincial police chief Khial Baz Shirzai said.

Shirzai identified the killer as Mohammad Zaman, around 30, saying Zaman shot dead his family members with an AK-47 in a dispute over the ownership of land and a house.

Neighbours in the village said that Zaman was the owner of a homeopathic clinic.

After decades of war and insurrection, Afghanistan has become a violent country, with mental illness rife and easy access to deadly weapons.

Why Jim Badasci 'Went Postal': How Bullying Bosses and Economic Devastation Are Behind America's Latest Workplace Shooting

2009-09-28T14:47:00.000-07:00

Why Jim Badasci 'Went Postal': How Bullying Bosses and Economic Devastation Are Behind America's Latest Workplace Shooting
By Mark Ames, AlterNet
Posted on September 28, 2009, Printed on September 28, 2009
http://www.alternet.org/story/142925/

There was another workplace rampage killing last week, just outside of Fresno, California, leaving two company employees dead and the other employees grateful to be alive.

Fresno, like so much of unofficial America, is still in a state of shock these days, after suffering from a non-stop barrage of tragic events and trends, of subprime devastation and a three-year drought, and political corruption and machinations that seem to be accelerating with every month. So unlike workplace shootings in the past, this one was quickly pushed off the front pages and almost forgotten, just a couple of days after it happened.

But like so many workplace shootings, scratch the surface of Fresno today, to get a sense of context, and you'll be shocked by how corrupt, desperate and bizarre the situation has become: pull the camera back from the scene of the crime, and suddenly you get Sean Hannity making regular appearances on behalf of agribusiness oligarchs, and beleaguered Mexican farmworkers gang-pressed into marching 50 miles in the Central Valley heat calling for the repeal of the Endangered Species Act … but more on that a bit later.

Here's what happened last Tuesday: Jim Badasci, who'd worked at Fresno Equipment for 10 years, showed up Tuesday morning with a shotgun at 8:57 a.m., and the first thing he did was kill a fellow co-worker, Ralph Wallis. About two dozen fellow co-workers scattered at that point, some taking refuge at a nearby car wash, others reportedly hiding inside of a locked vault, as Badasci, wearing a hunting vest filled with ammo, proceeded to "shoot the equipment" -- in this case, John Deere agricultural machinery.

Shooting utility tractors may seem strange or psychotic to anyone who hasn't studied these workplace shootings, but if you believe Badasci was trying to kill the Company which he believed was killing him, then shooting anything on company grounds makes perfect sense.

The really surprising part of the story is how four of the employees managed to stop Badasci from killing anyone else. Though few details have come out about how they managed to convince an unarmed killer to stop shooting, a close friend of Badasci's believes this proves that he was not a wild madman randomly killing, but rather a normal man who'd become desperate.

Rather than kill more fellow-workers, Badasci took his own life.

It was all over in a few minutes; as always, the police and SWAT teams arrived just beyond the nick of time.

So why did Badasci shoot? What drove him to it, and who was he after? Officially, we don't know. But one local report on KSEE24 TV, which no one else picked up on, offered a rather clear explanation:

We spoke with Michael von Flue, a former coworker of Jim Badasci, who says that this was out of character for him. That Jim would go out of his way to help others and that he had a good home life. Von Flue did not want to go on camera, but tells KCEE 24 News,"This is what happens when a company mismanages their employees and fails to treat them with respect."

In an email exchange with Von Flue, he told me that Jim Badasci had been driven to desperation by a particular supervisor and the company's toleration of the supervisor's mistreatment. Von Flue apologized for all the grammatical errors in his email, noting how difficult the last week has been, and how little he has slept. He dismissed the idea that drugs played a part, but then went on to speculate that maybe he suffered from some kind of mental illness that was triggered by the harassment and mistreatment Jim suffered.

This is particularly interesting because I've written about this in the past: the definition of mental illness today in today's workplace is when you're too sensitive to mistreatment, bullying, stress, wage cuts, firing, etc. and you want to fight back; a healthy mind should be able to take it all in stride, accept it with a harmless grumble, and "move on."

Continuing, Von Flue said that Jim “loved his job, talking with people,” and was very sociable, but that the supervisor had made his life hell, and unfortunately the company owners decided not to do anything about it, even though others had also complained. “It is sad that they didn’t follow through...things might have been different I’m sure.”

Von Flue's letter echoes a reader comment I spotted in a Fresno Bee story about the shooting:

sweetthgvfwrote on September, 23 11:09 AM:To anyone and everyone out there who knows Jimmy and knows what it was like to work at Fresno Equipment Company, Jimmy may have been the one who did this horrible deed, but Fresno Equipment is ultimately responsible because of the way they treat their employees. If you don't want to believe it don't, but you can talk to anyone who's quit over the last 5 years because of management my husband included, and they will tell you the real story behind all of this. My husband warned the company owners 3 years ago when he quit that if they don't take care of the problem somebody will go postal. Too bad they didn't listen back then….if you ask me both Jimmy and Ralph are victims.

Again, our sympathies to both families….but let's face reality here. This situation has been in the making for a long time. It's called hostile work environment. Maybe now management will listen to their employees when there's a problem instead of sweeping it under the rug.

Just a year ago, this kind of talk would have been dismissed out of hand, because the Reaganomics model in place for 30 years was the still best in the world, and if you weren't on board, it was your own problem. Now that it's all collapsed and we're starting to understand how badly we've been burned all these years, revelations about how miserably workers may have been treated at the company Badasci attacked elicit a different kind of shrug -- like, "Yeah, so what, everyone gets screwed over by their companies, what's new?" Getting screwed over the way we have been these past 30 years is something new -- as are the workplace massacres, pitting employee against Company, which only started after the Reagan Revolution handed all power to the shareholders, and convinced the losers in that deal -- the 90 percent of Americans whose lives got worse in every measurable way since then -- that in fact it was in our own best interests to turn corporations into little Profit Gulags, where the inmates could be downsized at will, and mass-layoffs in the tens and hundreds of thousands became so common in good times and in bad that it proved Stalin's dictum about "one victim is a tragedy, a million victims is a statistic."

What is surprising is the portrait painted of Badasci -- nothing at all like the cliched "loner who kept to himself." Here is how some people described Badasci in the aftermath -- and remember, it's not easy to publicly talk well of a murderer:

One friend said he was unable to explain why Badasci would commit such a crime. Mario Juarez of Kingsburg said he worked with Badasci at Fresno Equipment for two years and they remained friends after Juarez quit. "We've gone dove hunting and to concerts. We talked from time to time," Juarez said. But Juarez is at a loss to understand the shooting. "I talked to him last week and he gave no clues that anything was wrong," Juarez said. "I've never in my life seen him mad. I would have bet my life savings he would never do a thing like this." … Marie Taylor, who lives down the block, had heard news reports about the shooting, but did not know Badasci was the suspect. She said Badasci was a mechanic and seemed to like his job. "He waved at me twice yesterday when I went by," she said Taylor occasionally talked to Badasci and his mother, but never saw a hint of trouble in his life. "He kept up the yard," she said. "He was good to his mother."

That last part, about how he lived with his mother at age 46, might offer one clue as to what might have been bothering Badasci; that, and the fact that everyone I read or saw interviewed seemed so casual about that, as if living with his mother and treating her well didn't pain him, as if they were unaware that American culture marks such people as losers and laughingstocks, disqualified from the Darwinian Tournament. If you ask me, that sounds about as miserable as a life can be: living at home with your mother outside of Fresno, in the unbearable heat and dust, at age 46, working every day in a John Deere dealership in a barren strip off highway 99, where business is bad and tempers are hot because of a three-year drought and a recession, and to top it all off, management treats him like shit. Who wouldn't want to end that violently? Few would actually do it -- only the mentally sick, of course -- but many, even healthy types, would dream of it…

So even though every person interviewed who knew Badasci had such nice things to say about him, and even though Von Flue and apparently others seem eager to get the truth out about what went on at the company, officially no one knows why he shot anyone, and officially, no one seems to care.

It is as if we've come to accept these rampage murders as inevitable, as if there were always worker-on-worker killings in the American workplace, as if the workplace was always a dangerous place, and a stressful place, and a humiliating, degrading, insecure place where no one could be trusted, from the executives stuffing their pockets to the co-worker you wrongly suspect of being "the type who'd go postal."

All that is brand new by any historical measure: The first of these modern workplace massacres, pitting abused employee against his own company, took place just twenty years ago this month, at the Standard Gravure plant in Louisville, Kentucky, when an aggrieved employee arrived at work with a gym bag full of weapons, and killed 8 coworkers and wounded 12, before blowing his brains out.

Compared to that body count, Tuesday's workplace shooting at the Fresno Equipment Company was a mere skirmish: two dead, no injuries. And we aren't learning much in part because Fresno Equipment's owners barred employees from talking to the media, according to a local ABC affiliate -- and they'll be inclined to listen, given Fresno's 15% unemployment rate. Moreover, Fresno has a particularly nasty socio-economic culture: at the top, a vicious ruling class of agribusiness plutocrats and their corrupt political tools, who together lord over hordes of pissed-off crackers and endlessly-exploited Mexican laborers. In a lot of ways the region has more in common with a kleptocratic post-Soviet country, or an old Upton Sinclair novel, than what we think of as "modern America."

Below the agribusiness oligarchs in Fresno County is a huge class of people struggling to keep its head above water, and losing. An estimated 41% of the people in Fresno County are either uninsured or underinsured, among the worst in the country. Housing prices collapsed out here, and coupled with the three-year drought, unemployment in some Central Valley farming towns reaches as high as 40-50%.

The struggle with poverty can mean dozens of circles of Hell, levels that you wouldn't imagine possible, like this one described in a recent Fresno Bee feature:

Ask Stanley about the cost of being poor and she whips out a plastic bag with dozens of dead cockroaches inside. They were gathered from one apartment along Lowe Avenue. "Every night when you turn on the light, roaches scatter," Stanley said.

The roaches, attracted to mold and moisture behind the walls, wiggle their way into the ears of young children, prompting costly midnight visits to the emergency room, she said. Families sleep with the lights on, not because they fear the bogeyman, but because they fear pests. The bag of roaches came from an apartment where FIRM was conducting an assessment as part of a program to identify substandard housing and organize help. The task is difficult, because families often won't ask for help, or shun it. Many are afraid of being evicted, having rents raised or being ratted out to immigration authorities, advocates say.

And this being Fresno County, you can't forget that familiar demographic which gravitates to hot dry places like this: the Fox/Hannity crowd, seething with petty white-male malice, always mobilized to fuck up anything good, and side with whomever's going to cause the most damage -- out of sheer spite.

* * *

Although the connection is tenuous between the site of the workplace shooting -- a dealer in agricultural machines -- and the larger issues in Fresno -- agribusiness and water -- nevertheless, as in so many other shootings, by digging into the Fresno Equipment murder, I started to get a taste of just how rotten and corrupt Fresno is these days, and the larger context in which the shooting took place. Fresno is a bad place to be, and it's getting worse: imagine, just a week before the shooting, Sean Hannity flew into the area to -- get this -- demand federal government handouts. Since this sort of clashes with his proclaimed hatred of socialism and Big Government, Hannity, whom Glenn Beck has relegated to role of "Peter Brady of Fox News' celebrity-goons," switched enemies: now it's environmentalists who are the "terrorists" and "extremists," headed, of course, by the eco-terrorist Number One, our socialist/Marxist/Islamofascist President Barack Obama.

Hannity was joined in his soak-the-taxpayer crusade by a washed-up Latino comedian named Paul Rodriguez, whose failure in showbiz (the best gig Rodriguez landed this decade was a bit part in Beverly Hills Chihuahua -- as the voice of a CG-generated iguana named "Chico") drove him to where it drove another failed comedian, Dennis Miller: into the fat arms of the angry Fox News white right-wing crowd: the last refuge of washed-up-comedian scoundrels.

But whereas Miller found himself a comfortable spot as Bill O'Reilly's monkey boy, Rodriguez is taking on a much more sinister role as the Latino face of agribusiness oligarch interests, fronting for rich landowners and farming conglomerates. They set Rodriguez up as the head of a shady new advocacy group, "The Latino Water Coalition," a front group set up by his rich agribusiness sponsors to make it seem that pobrefruit-pickers' interests are indistinguishable from those of their rich exploiters.

The agribusiness plutocrats who rule Fresno County are as horrible, greedy and shameless as the villains in an old Upton Sinclair novel, something even they seem to grasp. So they hired the notorious PR firm Burson-Marsteller to mask their role. Burson-Marsteller is the perfect firm for the job: they've spent decades whitewashing evil Third World dictators, genocidal maniacs, and kleptocrats, helping them get away with murder and mass-theft all across the globe. So for them, this was a piece of cake. What B-M and the agribusiness tycoons decided to do is re-define the debate over taxpayer-funded water: shift attention away from all the state welfare money that the tycoons have been feeding off of and want more of, and superimpose a new false debate over water: as a choice between an endangered guppy versus vulnerable, impoverished Mexicans, the apple of every liberal's bleeding heart.

Taking Astroturfing to a new and darker level, this past April, agribusiness interests gang-pressed a couple thousand migrant Latino farmworkers into "marching" 50 miles over four days in the scorching hot Central Valley sun, calling for the repeal of the Endangered Species Act and for taking out the taxpayer credit card to finance and subsidize more cheap water. The New York Times reported that marchers were paid by their employers, something I haven't seen since Putin's PR goons would bus in thousands of workers and students for rallies that they either were bribed into attending, or told they better attend: "In reality, this is not a farm worker march," said Arturo Rodriguez, president of the United Farm Workers of America, the 27,000-member union founded by Cesar Chavez, which did not participate in the march. "This is a farmer march orchestrated and financed by growers."

And again in July, a couple thousand Latino farm hands were pressed into marching on Fresno City Hall to demand the repeal of the Endangered Species Act, opening up more cheap water, and ultimately, building the loathed Peripheral Canal, which would cost taxpayers billions of dollars and deliver enormous amounts of cheap water from Northern California to the Central Valley, converting their farm land into much more valuable suburban-tract-home development land. At that July 1 rally, once again, some protesters admitted to reporters that they were either paid to protest, transported in by their bosses, or told that if they wanted to keep their jobs, they better show, according to the AP:

On Wednesday, nearly 4,000 people carrying professionally printed signs proclaiming, "No water, no jobs, no hope, no future," marched through downtown. One man who declined to give us name said his Kettleman City (Kings County) employer had driven him and other workers there and were paying them for their time. Another woman said she came with 50 other employees of a Tulare agriculture contractor for free, to protect their jobs.

So basically the super-rich landowners and farming oligarchs are using the poorest and most vulnerable demographic -- Mexican migrant workers -- as human shields, in order to steal money from taxpayers while daring them to fire back: "What, liberal eco-terrorists, you have more compassion for a guppy than for this poor Mexican, who sleeps with his lights on out of fear of cockroaches? What sort of heartless eco-terrorist are you? Sign the $12 billion Peripheral Canal deal now, or you'll have the blood of millions of Mexicans on your hands!"

It really is that sinister. Paul Rodriguez even bragged about it to a convention of nearly-all-white rightwing Republicans this past May. Rodriguez assured them they had nothing to be worried about his group being "Latino," because he, Rodriguez, was using his less-fortunate fellow Mexicans as human shields to front for their wealthy agribusiness profits. According to a topnotch local investigative reporter, Lloyd Carter (who's written some amazing stories on the water/race/Astroturfing issues in the region), Rodriguez was invited to Bakersfield to speak to the rightwing Republican Assembly, where the former comedian went out of his way to assure his new white masters that there was nothing to be afraid of in the "Latino" name of his "Latino Water Coalition" group -- it's all a Trojan Horse to advance their rich white Republican interests!

"When I say Latino Water Coalition a lot of you automatically say, 'Why Latino? Doesn't everyone need water, Paul? Why just you Latinos, and as a Caucasian person I take offense to that, why does everything have to be segregated?' I don't know. I don't know but we're using this. We're using this race card in a positive manner, a cloak. You know everybody's welcome to this. The reason why we call it the Latino Water Coalition [is] because it gives them a pause. 'Better not attack these Latinos, we don't know.' If we call it the Caucasian Coalition, you bet they would already be attacking us. Because Caucasians, sadly to say, who is defending you? I am. You know, just to put that to rest, there's no division."

Rodriguez really couldn't go any lower than this: from Beverly Hills Chihuahua to Westlands Mexican Hairless; from "Chico" the talking CG-generated iguana, to Paul Rodriguez the Republican-generated talking monkey, a mean soulless prick willing to sell out his own to get a pat on the head and a chew-stick from his white masters. To get an idea of just how vicious the ex-comic has become, watch him attack this guy in this video.

And this is where Sean Hannity comes in.

A week before the shooting, Hannity flew in to the nearby town of Huron, and hosted a show-cum-rally called "The Valley That Hope Forgot." One guest, former Republican mayor and TV actor Alan Autry, denounced Obama as fulfilling an Al Qaeda terrorist goal because a federal judge ordered the state to temporarily reduce the taxpayer-subsidized water flows to 86% of normal due in part to damage to fish stock in the north of the state.

Hannity:I never saw an issue where it was so simple: Just turn the water on.

Autry: Yeah, Sean. But that message has, there's a very powerful forces at work here. And there's an old saying, it's not paranoia if they're really after you.I made a statement not too long ago, and I stand by it, and I'm going to stand by it today, and you saw Evangelina and Joe, turning this water off is not just bad politics, it's an act of domestic terror.

[CHEERS AND APPLAUSE]

Now, Sean, the last thing I want to do is come here and go over the top. Let me tell you why it is. As mayor for eight years, I worked with Homeland Security after 9/11. One of the things we were charged with by the federal government was to work together locally to protect the water supply to farming communities so they could continue to provide food for the nation. Now, if you would have told me that those -- that water would have stopped, I would have believed maybe al-Qaeda struck, not the federal government.

[CHEERS AND APPLAUSE]
In an article on the right-wing site newsbusters.com about Hannity's rally, commenters (perhaps B-M AstroTurfers) reached for even more hysterical analogies:

September 18, 2009 - 12:53 ET byGrannyGrump42 What's the proper term for what Stalin did to the Ukraine? Because that's what this smacks of. Loginorregisterto post comments
September 18, 2009 - 15:39 ET byConservativeRex Granny, the proper term is Holodomor….'hunger plague' or in other words 'death by starvation'. I think it is ironic that all Obama would have to do is stroll around DC and see the memorial made to the Holodomor. But since one of his heroes implemented it, he won't pay attention to it. It all puts me in mind of
September 18, 2009 - 12:52 ET byGrannyGrump42 It all puts me in mind of what Stalin did in the Ukraine. Beck mentioned this last week
September 18, 2009 - 16:32 ET bycandance It all ties in to the effort to devalue human life. Who cares if 70 million people starved to death under Mao? Humans are an inconvenience to mother earth anyway. Once you accept this premise, no argument against government can be framed around damage to citizens.

What I don't get about these rightwing bleeding-hearts is that if they're so familiar with the tragedies they cite, and if they feel the pain of those tragedies so deeply, then how is it that they can, with a clear conscience, degrade those tragedies by comparing a situation where 6 million starved to death or 70 million starved to death on the one hand, and a situation where no one starved to death on the other hand. I know what their response is: retreat into an imaginary future-tense, where nothing can be disproven, and therefore their warnings that 70 million Americans WILL die because the government won't fund the Peripheral Canal is as valid as if I say they won't die, which is as valid as if someone else says that the Four Horsemen will align with the Age of Aquarius. Whatever, it's like trying to reason with the street people in Berkeley…

And then there's Paul Rodriguez, the failed comedian who's being paid by agribusiness oligarchs to betray his own people and in particular the United Farm Workers union, the real target of the Latino Water Coalition front group he heads up. Rodriguez, himself an immigrant from Mexico, now gets paid to put a suffering Latino face on the same rallies where migrant workers are pressed into marching for their masters -- the failed comedian is reduced to performing in front of an audience that's literally paid to see him, or threatened with their jobs if they don't.

And he's performing his role as the Tio Tomás of Fresno County better than his masters could hope for. Rodriguez is so overzealous in his new collaborationist role that he's cooking up his own plans to out-anti-Obama his pals in the angry-white Tea Party movement. One plan he's working on is to use these same gang-pressed migrant workers, hundreds or even thousands, to form a giant "HELP" sign visible from the air, aimed at President Obama; another plan is a petition drive he wants to hold to rename Fresno County as "Nobama County."

Here's an excerpt from Rodriguez's appearance on Hannity's show a couple of weeks ago in nearby Huron:

Rodriguez: You know, we're not going to be farmers any longer. We're going to be selling firewood because our trees won't last another six months without water. It's really a sad situation that those of us who choose to farm, my mother and my family in the central San Joaquin, perhaps the most fertile soil in the world, are now just sitting there ready to go on welfare or some other kind of support because we can't farm.

Hannity: Paul, this is so serious, and it's almost mind-numbing that this could happen. All right. So we showed the little Delta smelt, this little minnow fish that is now on the endangered species list. Now, they literally have shut down-you are getting and farmers are getting zero percent water. Their trees and their farms are dying. Is that right?

Rodriguez: Yes…

Incidentally, just over a week after Hannity's "The Valley Of No Hope" rally in Huron, the mayor of that town was arrested on charges of grand theft, real estate fraud, possession of stolen property, and "a wide array of criminal activity." Hannity really knows how to pick 'em.

A couple of days after the Fresno Equipment Co. workplace shooting, the big story making local headlines was about how scores of Fresno State Bulldogs fans were thrown out of the football stadium during their game against Boise State, accused of "politicizing" the game, which was broadcast live on ESPN. Certain students, supposedly forming a group called "The Cause," wore pro-water T-shirts and waved pro-water signs for the cameras -- a classic PR stunt that smells of something subcontracted out from Burson Marsteller. The reason the students were thrown out wasn't just because they'd brought politics into a college football game, but because some of the signs and shirts used profane language against President Obama.

Meanwhile, as Fresno continues to slash its police force and city employees, the county approved another $5 million tax subsidy for agribusiness landowners, even though the state budget can't pitch in anymore. For the super-rich in Fresno, there's no such thing as furloughs and shortfalls.

Which brings me back to Fresno Equipment Co. shooting. When you pull the camera back a bit like this, and put the shooting into a larger context, it starts to make more sense. But remember, even though it's easier to understand these shootings since last year's collapse, they're a product of the brutal Reaganomics we've been living under for thirty years. Workplace shootings, in which an employee stages an armed suicide attack on his company, or supervisors, or co-workers, only began a couple of decades ago, after Reagan's Revolution successfully stripped whatever power and leverage employees once had, and handed it all to the shareholders and executives. Since then, it's been Hell for an increasing number of Americans, and it's no coincidence that a brand new crime of desperation appeared with the Reagan Revolution: the worker who "goes postal." The first massacres began in the mid-late 1980s, and the shootings have repeated with such regularity that it seems we've got to the point where we almost accept them as part of the landscape, as if they're inevitable and they've always been with us, and always will.

Maybe that's why no one seems to have noticed or cared much that the man who shot his fellow worker, his company equipment, and then himself, may very well have been mistreated and driven to the brink. Given just a small sample of what's going on in Fresno County, it's a wonder we're not all taking up arms and heading to the source of the pain. Because Fresno County is most of America today, the rule, and not the exception.

Iraq's New Surge: Gay Killings

2009-09-11T03:52:00.000-07:00

With so little love in this world, it really peeves me that those who love of the same gender are murdered like this! A cruel world run by cruel religions is murderous and macho, thus intolerant of same-sex love. Watch. Soon these types of murders will become rife all over the world!

http://www.foreignpolicy.com/articles/2009/09/09/iraqs_new_surge_gay_killings?page=0,0

Iraq's New Surge: Gay Killings

Rasha Moumneh
Foreign Policy
Thu, 10 Sep 2009 20:03 UTC

As U.S. Ambassador to Iraq Christopher Hill testifies before Congress today, Iraqi's security is far from assured. Militias now targetting the socially marginalized could soon take their killing spree mainstream.

When my colleague and I sat down last April with Hamid, an Iraqi man from Baghdad, his trauma-induced stutter said as much as the words he spoke. Huddled inconspicuously in a dingy restaurant, Hamid recounted how militia members killed his partner along with three other men, two kidnapped from their Baghdad homes, two slaughtered in the streets. The next day, Hamid said, "they came for me. They came into my house and they saw my mother, and one of them said, 'Where's your faggot son?' My mother called me after they left, in tears. ... I can't go home."

As the world hails Iraq's supposed return to normality, the country's militias -- the same ones that spent years waging a sectarian civil war -- have found a new, less apparent target: men suspected of being gay. The systematic killings, which began earlier this year, reveal the cracks behind Iraq's fragile calm. Iraq's leaders may talk of security and democracy from behind barbed wire in the Green Zone, but the surge of murders against gay men is a stark sign of how far Iraqi society still has to go.

During a 10-day Human Rights Watch research trip to Iraq in April, we heard harrowing stories of torture, abductions, kidnappings, extortion, and murder. We listened to dozens of men who had faced violence at the hands of armed militias, attacked by youths with guns for violating the unwritten codes of Iraqi masculinity. A number of signs might implicate one as being not "manly" enough, from neighborhood gossip that a man is gay to looking somehow effeminate or foreign in the wrong people's eyes: wearing one's hair too long or one's jeans too tight, for example. There is no count available for the number of deaths since the killings began earlier this year, but one U.N. worker told us that the victims could number in the hundreds.

Not a single murder has been adequately investigated, and not a single murderer has been arrested. Infiltrated by militias and fearing for their reputations if they defend "immorality," government officials turn a blind eye.

Most survivors pointed to Moqtada al-Sadr's Mahdi Army militia as the main culprit in the attacks. The stand-down of al-Sadr's men over the past year has been pointed to as a sign of the U.S. troop surge's success. Now, however, many Iraqis speculate that the Mahdi Army is hoping to revitalize its street cred by seizing a murderous new role: as guardians of morality.

Western attention has always focused primarily on sectarian attacks in Iraq. Yet al-Sadr's militia and its counterparts in countless neighborhoods and towns have long had other targets in their cross hairs. These men claim to bear the banners of religion and morality, defending against any transgressors. They paint themselves as the caretakers of tradition, culture, and national authenticity -- which often means keeping women, as well as men, in their rigidly enforced traditional roles. Ironically, they sell their violence as a means of security: Amid the total upheaval of Iraqi society over the last eight years, many people regard any relaxing of gender roles as a threat to public order, undermining patriarchal power. And since the coalition forces failed to provide security after the invasion, such cultural conservatives have moved in to fill the role. Many aimless, unemployed advocates of rigid traditionalism have taken up the task with their guns.

Indeed, since 2003, the Mahdi Army and other militias have targeted women, murdering hundreds if not thousands for working outside the home, for wearing makeup or pants, or just for walking on the streets unveiled. More recently, as attacks on gay men have grown more pronounced, Iraq's media and its mosques have taken up the theme that Iraqi masculinity is under threat. Friday prayers warn that the "third sex" is on the loose in Baghdad cafes. News articles bemoan the "feminization" of Iraqi men, apparent not only by homosexuality but in Western dress and habits, scandalously tight T-shirts and expensive jeans. The hatred of "feminized" men betrays a deep-seated fear of women, and anxiety over the loss of fatherly and familial control.

Assaults on marginalized people, however, never stay at the margins. The fate of the most isolated, vulnerable people is a barometer of whether the law can protect, and the state will serve, all citizens.

We've seen this pattern all too closely before. In the 1990s, Zimbabwe's President Robert Mugabe proclaimed that lesbians and gays were "people without rights," foreshadowing a broader campaign of brutality -- against farm owners and farmworkers, dissidents and demonstrators, newspapers and trade unions. No one was left untouched. In Iraq today, the government's indifference to a similar campaign of murder -- within a stone's throw of the Green Zone -- is a grim augury for the future. Militias, emboldened by their successes, will need and find new victims. The rights and lives of all Iraqis are potentially at stake.

Today, American and Iraqi politicians' televised boasts about the surge and security sound like a cruel delusion in the homes of countless grieving families. There will be no security in Iraq until the government reins in militias and establishes the rule of law. There will be no justice until assaults against invisible victims -- including the epidemic of gender-based violence -- are investigated and punished. Otherwise, these men, whose only crime is looking different, will only be the first victims in Iraq's second surge -- of killings.

September 6 - 2-year-old, 3 others dead in La. murder-suicide

2009-09-06T05:43:00.000-07:00

http://news.yahoo.com/

2-year-old, 3 others dead in La. murder-suicide

HOLDEN, La. – A man shot his estranged wife, son and 2-year-old grandson to death and critically wounded his pregnant daughter-in-law at their rural Louisiana home, then killed himself as police tried to pull over his car 20 minutes later, authorities said.

The shootings appeared to stem from an ongoing dispute between 50-year-old Dennis Carter Sr. and his wife, Donna Carter, who had a restraining order against him, said Livingston Parish Sheriff's Office Chief of Operations Perry Rushing.
Another 16-month-old boy was in the house during the shootings but was not hurt. The child was related to the Carters but Rushing was not sure how.

Authorities were called to the home in Holden, about 30 miles east of Baton Rouge, around 10:30 p.m. Saturday. Donna Carter, 49, and Dennis Carter Jr., 26, were dead inside. Dennis Carter Jr.'s wife, Amber Carter, was badly hurt and their son, Mason Carter, 2, was found dead outside.

Rushing said it appeared Amber and Mason Carter managed to escape out a second-floor window but it was not clear if Dennis Carter Sr. shot them inside or followed them outside and shot them there.

All of the Carters lived at the house in Holden except Dennis Carter Sr., who used to live there but had more recently been living in nearby Hammond.

Amber Carter, who was about six months pregnant, was taken to Baton Rouge General Medical Center with life-threatening injuries, though a supervisor there could not provide an update on her condition early Sunday.

Rushing said deputies spotted Dennis Carter Sr. about 20 minutes later driving on a highway. When they tried to pull him over, he shot and killed himself.

"It's very unusual to have this many victims," Rushing said. "This is an anomaly by any stretch of the imagination."

August 2009 - 7 found slain at Georgia mobile home, 2 badly hurt

2009-08-30T09:03:00.000-07:00

In the end, eight people died.

http://www.kvoa.com/global/story.asp?s=11014068

Russ Bynum
Associated Press
Sat, 29 Aug 2009 23:35 UTC

Brunswick - Seven people were found slain and two critically injured Saturday at a mobile home park built on the grounds of a historic plantation in southeastern Georgia, police said.

Glynn County Police Chief Matt Doering called it the worst mass slaying in his 25 years of police work in this coastal Georgia county. He wouldn't say how the victims died.

"This is a record for us. We've never had such an incident with so many victims," Doering told reporters. "It's not a scene that I would want anybody to see."

A family member called 911 at about 8 a.m. Saturday after discovering the bodies inside a dingy mobile home shaded by large, moss-draped oaks with an old boat in the front yard.

At an afternoon news conference, Doering declined to say whether police believe the killer was among the dead or remained at large. No arrests had been made.

Investigators were interviewing neighbors about whether they saw or heard anything unusual Saturday morning.

The two injured victims were taken to a Savannah hospital 60 miles away and were in critical condition, Doering said.

By early Saturday evening, four of the seven bodies had been removed from the crime scene. Some of the victims had been tentatively identified, but Doering would not release any names or ages.

"I really don't know the ages," Doering said. "There were some older-aged victims and we believe there were some in their teens."

Located a few miles north of the port city of Brunswick, the mobile home park consists of about 100 spaces and is nestled among centuries-old live oak trees near the center of New Hope Plantation, according to the plantation's Web site.

The 1,100 acre tract is all that remains of a Crown grant made in 1763 to Henry Laurens, who later succeeded John Hancock as president of the Continental Congress in 1777.

Laurens obtained control of the South Altamaha river lands and named it New Hope Plantation, according to the plantation's Web site.

Lisa Vizcaino, who has lived at New Hope for three years, said the management works hard to keep troublemakers out of the mobile home park and that it tends to be quiet.

"New Hope isn't rundown or trashy at all," Vizcaino said. "It's the kind of place where you can actually leave your keys in the car and not worry about anything."

Vizcaino said she didn't know the victims and heard nothing unusual when she woke up at 7 a.m. Saturday morning. After word of the slayings spread, she said, the park was quieter than usual.

"Everybody had pretty much stayed in their houses," Vizcaino said. "Normally you would see kids outside, but everybody's been pretty much on lockdown."

January 2008 - Women Shot While Holding Their Babies

2009-08-21T14:03:00.000-07:00

I missed most mass murders for 2008 but this one really fucks me up. These women didn't do anything to deserve this! The four men who were later arrested for this wasteful shooting obviously hated women and their children!

http://sandrarose.com/2008/01/17/2-women-shot-while-holding-their-babies/

January 17, 2008

Indianapolis, Indiana was rocked to its core by the senseless killings of two women, a toddler and a baby who were shot multiple times while being held in their mother’s arms.

Police are searching for two men who were seen running from the home.

The victims were Charlii Yarrell, 4 months; Charlii’s mother, Andrea Yarrell, 24; Jordan Hunt, 23 months; and Jordan’s mother, Gina Hunt, 24.

The two women and the toddler died at the scene. Four-month-old Charlii Yarrell was taken to Methodist Hospital with several gun shot wounds. She died a few hours later.

Police initially investigated a burglary at a vacant house late Monday night. A short time later they were called again about gunshots being fired across the street from the vacant house. Police entered the home through a broken window and found the bodies.

A set of electronic scales, a safe, a pound marijuana and several long guns were found in the house, according to police. Two handguns were later found in the street near the home.

The story has received national press coverage and more than 80 investigators have been assigned to the case. The murders are a top priority for every uniformed law enforcement officer in Indianapolis. “Whoever is responsible for this, we’re going to track you down like dogs,” Marion County Sheriff Frank Anderson said. “We’re not going to stop until we find you and put you in a cage where you belong.”

August 2009 - Shooting in Germany Kills Three

2009-08-19T03:30:00.000-07:00

This was the only print article I could find about this. The article says at least one person was killed. Today's news videos say three people are dead now, making it a mass murder. Are you connecting the dots? The world has become more demonic! These are truly the last days on this planet!

http://www.etaiwannews.com/etn/print.php

Shooting kills at least 1 person in Germany
Associated Press
2009-08-19 02:26 AM

Police say a man opened fire after a dispute with his ex-wife and killed at least one person while injuring several others in western Germany.

Police spokesman Wolfgang Wierich says the man, his former wife, a property appraiser and a lawyer had arranged to meet at the couple's former home.

Wierich says that at some point the man began shooting a weapon and killed at least one person. The spokesman did not identify who was killed or wounded.

He says the man then barricaded himself in the house in the west German village of Schwalmtal and took several other people hostage before later surrendering to police.

No further details were immediately available.

March 2009 - German shooting: Cold blooded killer gunned down pupils in silence

2009-08-14T17:59:00.000-07:00

The article below says he killed 15 but in the end, he killed 16 and lost his life as well.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/europe/germany/4974618/German-shooting-Cold-blooded-killed-gunned-down-pupils-in-silence.html

German shooting: Cold blooded killer gunned down pupils in silence

By the time Tim Kretschmer's former schoolmates at the Albertville Realschule looked up to see him entering their classroom, he was already firing indiscriminately at them as he set about one of the world's worst school massacres.

By Gordon Rayner, Chief Reporter and John Bingham in Stuttgart
Published: 5:56PM GMT 11 Mar 2009

The 17-year-old, dressed in black combat fatigues and wearing a gas mask, had calmly walked into the building in Winnenden, near Stuttgart, at 9.30am (8.30GMT) and went straight to room 10d, where a class of 14 and 15 year-olds were in the middle of a chemistry lesson.

"He went in there and started shooting immediately," said Frank Nipkau, who edits the town's local newspaper. "He was shooting in a certain class, a ninth or tenth grade class."

Over the following two minutes, eight girls, one boy and three female teachers were murdered as Kretschmer went in and out of two classrooms, shooting most of his victims in the head with an automatic gun he had taken from his father's gun cabinet.

He returned to classroom 10d no less than three times, saying on his last visit: "Aren't you all dead yet?" They were the only words he spoke throughout the bloodbath.

For those who came into his sights, there was no chance of escape as Kretschmer repeatedly reloaded the gun using ammunition clips on his belt.

Three teachers made the ultimate sacrifice, shielding their students from the relentless hail of bullets and paying with their lives. One woman teacher stood in the way of the teenager she no doubt recognised, with "a defiant look on her face", according to one witness.

"He gunned her down with ice-cold efficiency," a police spokesman said. One student teacher he killed had only been working at the school for four weeks.

Kretschmer bore a deadly grudge against his old school, where he had been in trouble for bullying in the past.
Former classmates said he had never had a girlfriend, and it is possible he had become frustrated after being snubbed by girls at the school.

"It's striking that it was primarily girls who were shot," said Heribert Rech, interior minister of the Baden-Wuerttemberg region.
Within moments of the first shots being fired, some of the 1,500 pupils in other classrooms had begun escaping through windows, screaming: "He's killing everyone! He's killing everyone!"

One 15-year-old student, who gave her name as Betty, said: "I heard two shots and heard yelling. At first I thought it was a joke. Then I heard someone shout 'run!'"

Police received the first emergency call at 9.33am, from a pupil calling on their mobile phone. The first police arrived on the scene two minutes later, confronting Kretschmer, who shot at them before fleeing through a window, dumping a large quantity of ammunition.

Moments later, he came across a gardener at a psychiatric hospital a short distance from the school, and unflinchingly shot him dead.

Police were totally unprepared for the carnage they would find in the classrooms.

"It was a bloodbath," said regional police chief Erwin Hetger. "I've never seen anything like this in my life."

Seven other students were injured during the two-minute shooting spree, as bullets ricocheted off the walls.

Police spoke of classrooms and corridors "running with blood" and put out an urgent appeal to local people to donate blood for transfusions for the wounded.

By 10am the entire town of Winnenden was in lockdown, its 27,000 residents told not to leave their homes and all schools within 15 miles warned to lock their doors. Hundreds of policemen, including elite SEK officers, were scrambled to hunt down the killer, using helicopters and sniffer dogs to track him as he made his way towards the historic medieval centre of the town.
Meanwhile social networking websites including Twitter and Facebook were alive with minute-by-minute updates purporting to report the latest sightings of the gunman, though in many cases simply adding to the panic and confusion.

Teachers at the school had given police the name of the killer, who had left the previous year and was described by them as "disgruntled".

As the manhunt continued, officers stormed Kretschmer's middle-class home in Weiler zum Stein, where his father, a hunting enthusiast, kept an arsenal of 17 legally-held weapons. One was missing.

For the next two hours Kretschmer managed to evade the police, and at 12.04pm, in desperation, he hijacked a VW Sharan people carrier at gunpoint, ordering the driver: "Get me out of town."

The petrified motorist drove through a police roadblock and onto an autobahn, where they got stuck in a traffic jam.

Kretschmer ordered the driver to turn around, but the car got stuck in a muddy verge beside the hard shoulder and he panicked, running away to a nearby industrial estate at Wendlingen, 25 miles from Winnenden.

Determined to claim as many lives as he could, the gunman shot a salesman and a customer at a car showroom, then began wildly firing at three police cars which arrived on the scene, seriously injuring two officers.

A police spokesman said: "He shot at almost everything that was there in that industrial area. He was shot in the leg by our officers, he fell, got back up, picked up his gun and a short while later he was found dead. It appears that he shot himself."

Kretschmer's orgy of violence finally came to an end at 12.31pm, by which time he had left 15 people dead.

Neighbours of the Kretschmer family expressed bewilderment at what turned the teenager into a mass murderer.

Tim Kretschmer's father is a prominent local businessman who owns a packaging firm, and friends said the 17-year-old never wanted for anything.

A former classmate said: "He was an average student, with average grades. He was not the most popular, but he had his friends.

"His parents seemed perfectly normal and trustworthy. The only thing which stands out is that Tim was always very good with weapons. He mainly shot air weapons firing plastic balls, but the house had several gun cabinets occupying square metres of walls, mainly air guns.

"He was a pretty good shooter. He used to shoot in a forest behind his house. Sometimes we'd have air gun battles in the summer."

One elderly neighbour, who gave her name as Elisabeth, said: "They are decent people who you never noticed. I don't understand this."

Teenager shoots dead his family in Corsica

2009-08-14T17:56:00.000-07:00

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/europe/6022627/Teenager-shoots-dead-his-family-in-Corsica.html

A 16-year-old Corsican boy shot dead his parents and his younger twin brothers with a hunting rifle as they slept.

By Our Foreign Staff
Published: 7:00AM BST 14 Aug 2009

Police said that the teenager had confessed to the shootings.

Hubert Deininger, a police colonel, said officers found the four corpses in bloodied beds in the family home on the French Mediterranean island after interviewing the teenager.

Valerie Tavernier, a public prosecutor, said police are still trying to piece together the full story of what happened on Tuesday night in the southern Corsican village of Albitreccia.

Judicial officials said the boy had told an uncle of his killing spree on Wednesday, and the two went to a police station. The officials said the boy described shooting all four victims and told investigators where he hid the weapon, but gave no explanation for his actions.

Detectives were questioning the alleged killer on Thursday and have not identified either him or the victims by name.

The father was 43, the mother 45 and the twins were just 10 years old.

"It is a bit premature to draw an analysis about his psychological situation," Col Deininger told France-Info radio.

Neighbours described the parents as local merchants well known in the nearby resort of Porticcio.

Residents on edge as 9 women vanish from N.C. city

2009-08-14T08:52:00.000-07:00

There's a psychopath or psychopath goon squad on the loose!

By ALYSIA PATTERSON, Associated Press Writer
Fri Aug 14, 7:06 am ET

ROCKY MOUNT, N.C. – They spent their nights jumping in and out of strange cars, trolling otherwise empty streets lined with decaying storefronts and boarded-up homes. Many sold sex to support drug habits or children left in the care of worried, hardworking grandmothers.

Even when they were picked up for drugs or prostitution, nights in jail looming, they called home to let their families know they were OK. Then, one by one, the calls stopped.

Since 2005, nine women who lived at the edges of the poor community in this small North Carolina city have disappeared. Six bodies were found along rural roads just a few miles outside town, most so decomposed that investigators could not tell how they died. At least one of the women was strangled, and all the deaths have been classified as homicides. Three women are still missing.

Police will not say whether they suspect a serial killer, but people in the community about 60 miles northeast of Raleigh do, and they're impatient with law enforcement efforts to investigate the slayings.

After the latest body — that of 31-year-old Jarneice Hargrove — was found in June behind a burnt-out house that was once a crack den, local law enforcement and state police formed a task force. In July, the FBI got involved.

But friends and family say it didn't happen soon enough.

"We got someone out here that's snatching up females," said Stephanie Jones, a 28-year-old nursing student. "I mean, next person could be your grandmother, it could be me, it could be my mother, it could be my daughter."

Jones, who knew two of the victims, has founded a group that is raising money to publicize the slayings and search for those still missing. She says the cases are being swept under the rug because of the victims' lifestyles.

The lead investigator, Sheriff James Knight, said he cannot comment.

Rumors swirl about the identity of the killer, if there is just one. Some say he is an ex-military man or an ex-police officer because he leaves no evidence. Others believe he is exacting revenge on local women after contracting HIV from a prostitute.
Forensic psychologist Dr. Michael Teague said the killings are probably the work of one person.

"You're talking about a man who didn't finish high school, probably doesn't have a regular job, probably not married or in a stable relationship," he said.

Vivian Lord, chairwoman of the criminal justice department at the University of North Carolina at Charlotte, said that if one killer is responsible, he is likely trying to cleanse the world of prostitutes or deliberately picking victims he knows won't be missed.

If it's the latter, he chose wrong when he killed Ernestine Battle. Her sister, Tynatta James, 64, remembers the February 2008 day the family reported Battle missing. It had been less than 48 hours since they last heard from the 50-year-old, but she always checked in, even from jail.

"We knew something wasn't right because she hadn't called," James said.

A month later, a man putting up a wire fence around his property down a rural stretch of road outside town found a badly decomposed body. The bodies of two other victims were found in the same area in 2007 and 2009.

In May, a DNA test identified the remains as Battle's. She was wearing only her underwear and police told James she was probably strangled, but they couldn't be sure because animals had dragged away a small throat bone that typically breaks when someone is killed that way.

"I'm still frustrated," James said. "I didn't really feel like they were doing all they could. I just feel like they recently started to get involved in the cases after the last lady."

For Alecia Johnson, the killings were a wake-up call. She knew most of the women: They all walked the streets of Rocky Mount together. She said she didn't wait for police to catch a killer. She stopped after the body of the first woman, 29-year-old Melody Wiggins, was found dumped in the woods in 2005.

"I used to walk these streets and jump in and out of cars. But then when that first girl Melody got killed I stopped that because I knew he would kill another," said Johnson, 41. "I hate for that to happen to her, but it probably saved my life. I have five babies."

Counting the names on one hand, she added, "There's probably five or six girls left around here that will jump in and out of cars. He really did kill the whole neighborhood."

Jones' group has raised enough money to post billboards with the faces of the missing and slain women. Now she is raising more to organize search teams for those whose bodies have not been found.

Juray Tucker, the mother of 37-year-old Yolanda Lancaster, missing since February, said she wants to help with fundraising but doesn't get much time now that she has to care for her daughter's children.

"Every day, every minute, every hour, I'm worried," she said. "It's constant on my mind and there ain't nothing I can do, ain't nothing I can do."

August 2009 - Four dead, including gunman, in gym shooting

2009-08-05T12:25:00.000-07:00

http://edition.cnn.com/2009/CRIME/08/05/pennsylvania.gym.shooting/

August 5, 2009

CNN) -- A gunman walked into an LA Fitness gym outside Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, turned off the lights and fired off 50 rounds, killing three women before killing himself Tuesday evening, police said.

The man didn't speak but was carrying a gym bag with a note inside it. He was found dead in the gym lying on top a gun about 7 feet away from a victim, said Charles Moffatt, Allegheny County police superintendent.

At least 10 other people were injured in the barrage of bullets that sent people in the gym ducking for cover, Moffatt said.

A law enforcement source identified the gunman as George Sodini, a 48-year-old gym member.

Moffatt would not release the name of the victims during a Wednesday news conference.

Sodini was a systems analyst in the finance department of K&L Gates, a law firm with an office in Pittsburgh, said Mike Rick, a spokesman for the firm. Sodini had worked for the firm since 1999, Rick said.

Neighbors described Sodini as a bit of a recluse. They said he had stopped talking to neighbors.

The gunman apparently was on a mission, Moffatt said.

"He did what he set out to do, and I think nobody could have stopped him, " he said. Watch whom the shooter may have been targeting »

Moffatt would not confirm a newspaper report that Sodini's ex-girlfriend was wounded in the shooting.

He also did not say what was written on the note that was found in Sodini's gym bag. But the law enforcement source said that the gunman in the note "talks about his hatred of women."

Sodini entered the fitness center around 8 p.m. Tuesday and went straight to an aerobics classroom, where he opened fire with multiple handguns, Moffatt said.

Police have recovered six handguns, the source said. Four of them were purchased before 2000, and the other two were bought last year.

The shooting victims arrived at three major hospitals in the area.

A spokeswoman for UPMC Mercy Hospital confirmed five female shooting victims arrived at the facility with multiple gunshot wounds. "All arrived in critical condition," hospital spokeswoman Linda Ross said. "Three of them were upgraded to serious condition overnight."

Allegheny General Hospital received two wounded patients at its trauma center, a spokesman said. Both victims are women and were listed in fair condition early Wednesday.

A St. Clair Hospital spokesman said three shooting victims arrived there Tuesday night; two were in stable condition and one, who was shot in the chest, died at about 8:55 p.m.

Perry Calabro of nearby Bridgeville told CNN he was between racquetball games at the gym when he suddenly heard screaming and multiple gunshots. He said he ran out but didn't see the gunman or others.

Other witnesses told CNN affiliate WTAE-TV in Pittsburgh that the lights went out before they saw flashes in dark, later realizing it was gunfire.

Sodini apparently left behind an online diary that details his loneliness and longing for a female companion -- and his growing rage at what he perceived as rejection by women. The diary lists Sodini's dates of birth and death, with the death date listed as Tuesday, the same day as the shootings.

The source who identified Sodini provided a month and year of birth that matches the birth date listed on Sodini's diary.

The diary seems to offer a rare glimpse into the mind of the suspected killer.

"Why do this?? To young girls? Just read below. I kept a running log that includes my thoughts and actions after I saw this project was going to drag on," the diary begins.

Throughout the log, the writer refers to a shooting that he is planning as an "exit plan."

The first entry is November 5, 2008. "Planned to do this in the summer but figure to stick around to see the election outcome," it says.

The December 22 entry says: "Time is moving along. Planned to have this done already. I will just keep a running log here as time passes. Many of the young girls here look so beautiful as to not be human, very edible. After joining this gym, started lifting weights and like it."

The Web site on which the diary appears is registered to George Sodini of Pittsburgh. It lists an address in or near Scott Township. The law enforcement source said Sodini lived in Scott Township.

August 2009 - Hunt for killers after 700 die in sect rampage

2009-08-04T12:11:00.000-07:00

http://www.independent.ie/world-news/africa/hunt-for-killers-after-700-die-in-sect-rampage-1849673.html

Njadvara Musa
Independent.ie
Mon, 03 Aug 2009 13:54 UTC

There were horrific scenes after members of a radical Islamist sect known as the 'Nigerian Taliban' went on the rampage.

Bodies and burned-out cars littered the streets following heavy violence last week, which started when Boko Haram militants attacked a police station in Bauchi state.

An estimated 700 people were killed in the city of Maiduguri alone, with the death toll in other northern areas was unknown.

Moderate Muslim clerics had warned government officials about the sect's violent tendencies -- and that the alarms went unheeded.

Nigerian government forces hunted yesterday for surviving members of the sect, while the remains of the dead were hurried into mass graves.

No new fighting was reported but a military commander said many sect members were still at large.

Meanwhile government troops armed with machine guns, and sweating in tropical heat, guarded the rubble of the sect's headquarters in Maiduguri.

August 2009 - Gunman, daughter among 3 dead in northwest Tenn.

2009-08-04T12:00:00.000-07:00

http://www.sott.net/articles/show/190553-Gunman-daughter-among-3-dead-in-northwest-Tennesee

Associated Press
Mon, 03 Aug 2009 18:19 UTC

Police said Monday a northwest Tennessee man accused of abusing his teenage daughter shot her to death and killed her foster father before he turned the gun on himself.

Christopher Milburn, 34, on Sunday went to the home where his 15-year-old daughter had been placed by the state Department of Children's Services while the abuse claim was investigated, authorities said. During the attack, he also shot his daughter's foster mother, wounding her.

"The 15-year-old went to stay with family friends while the investigation continued," child services agency spokesman Rob Johnson said. He didn't elaborate on what abuse was being investigated. Police found the teenager and 46-year-old Todd Randolph dead inside the home. Randolph's wife, Susan, 45, was released Monday from a Memphis hospital.

Police found Milburn's body about a block away, apparently dead from a self-inflicted gunshot. Dyersburg, a city of nearly 18,000 people, is about 70 miles northeast of Memphis. The shootings marked the second domestic killing rampage in Tennessee in just over two weeks.

Jacob Levi Shaffer of Fayetteville, a small town near the Alabama border about 70 miles west of Chattanooga, is accused of fatally stabbing five people and beating another to death July 18.

The victims were Shaffer's estranged wife, her teenage son, a boy who was visiting and the wife's father and brother. An acquaintance of Shaffer's was found beaten to death at a business in Huntsville, Ala.

July 20, 2009 - Girl, 15, returns to find family bludgeoned to death

2009-07-20T06:44:00.000-07:00

http://edition.cnn.com/2009/WORLD/asiapcf/07/20/australia.killing/index.html?iref=mpstoryview

July 20, 2009

(CNN) -- A 15-year-old Australian girl returned from studying abroad to learn that her entire family had been bludgeoned to death in their sleep, in what police on Monday call a targeted attack.

The girl's parents, two young brothers and her aunt died of wounds to the head and upper body late Friday or early Saturday, at home in the Sydney suburb of North Epping, police said.

Police did not find signs of forced entry and nothing was stolen from the house. Authorities think the family was killed in a "personal" attack, a police spokeswoman said.

Media reports said the father ran a convenience store and had given evidence to police about an armored car robbery outside his store earlier this year.

"I don't believe they have reached anything conclusive about the motive," said the spokeswoman, who did not give her name, in keeping with department policy. "They are keeping an open mind."

The 15-year-old returned from a study trip in the Pacific Island territory of New Caledonia on Sunday.

"I can't imagine what this young girl is going through," homicide Commander Geoff Beresford told Fairfax Radio on Monday. "It is certainly going to be a long and caring process for us to deal with her."

The police department said it had set up a task force to investigate the deaths of the family, whose names were not officially released.

A family member called police Saturday morning after discovering the bodies of the 45-year-old man, his 43-year-old wife and his wife's 39-year-old sister-in-law.

The two boys who also were killed were 12 and 9.

July 2009 - 6 slain in Tennesee and Alabama; suspect in custody

2009-07-19T06:23:00.000-07:00

http://www.sott.net/articles/show/189400-6-slain-in-Tennesee-and-Alabama-suspect-in-custody

Kristin M. Hall
Associated Press
Sun, 19 Jul 2009 03:11 UTC

Fayetteville, Tennessee - Six slayings in two communities about 30 miles apart in Tennessee and Alabama are linked, and a suspect who was sitting on the front porch of a home where some the bodies were found was being questioned, authorities said Saturday.

Five people, including members of the same family, were found dead in two rural homes near Fayetteville in southern Tennessee Saturday, and a sixth body was discovered at a Huntsville, Ala., business, authorities said

Tennessee Bureau of Investigation spokeswoman Kristin Helm said in an e-mail that a suspect, 30-year-old Jacob Shaffer, of Huntsville, was in custody in Lincoln County, but no charges had been filed. She said deputies found him on the porch of one of the Fayetteville homes.

Lincoln County Sheriff Murray Blackwelder said at a news conference that his department is investigating three crime scenes, though he did not elaborate. He did not release the victims' names and would not confirm the causes of death. He also did not release a motive in what he called "horrendous" killings and "one of the worst crimes Lincoln County has seen."

Helm said some of the Tennessee victims were related and were killed Friday night or early Saturday. Huntsville police Sgt. Mickey Allen, who works for the city's major crimes unit, told TV station WAFF that based on the suspect's information, police found a body at Hall Cultured Marble Granite late Saturday morning. Authorities have not said how the slayings in the two communities are linked.

Authorities did not release the victims' ages. But Karon Weatherman, who lives about a half-mile away from the Tennessee homes, said she saw children as young as 4 and 5 running back and forth between the houses across the road from each other.

One of the Tennessee homes was once a skating rink that was converted into a duplex, said Weatherman. She did not know the family but said they moved in earlier this year in the area of mostly rental houses.

"I wouldn't expect nothing like this to happen," she said.

All phone numbers listed in Huntsville under Jacob Shaffer's name had been disconnected.

Fayetteville is a town of 7,000 people about 90 miles south of Nashville near the Tennessee-Alabama border. Huntsville, about 30 miles south, is the largest city in northern Alabama with more than 170,000 people.

Penalty of an Ancient Fraud - Why killing is the biggest business of all

2009-07-04T17:19:00.000-07:00

http://www.serendipity.li/eden/penalty_of_an_ancient_fraud.htm

Penalty of an Ancient Fraud
By John Kaminski

Why killing is the biggest business of all
And Moses said, Thus saith the Lord God of Israel: Pick up your swords, go from camp to camp,every man shall kill his brother, every man shall kill his companion,
every man shall kill his neighbor. — Exodus 32:27

Their children shall be dashed to pieces before their eyes; their houses shall be spoiled,and their wives ravished. — Isaiah 13:16

And you shall eat the flesh of your sons and daughters. — Leviticus 26:29

Their town is all green graves, and blood under the feet of its men.
— Aneirin, Welsh poet, c. A.D. 660

Who is the third who walks always beside you?
... Gliding wrapt in a brown mantle, hooded ....
— T.S. Eliot, "What the thunder said," A.D. 1922

When you become aware of a fleeting thought and try to catch it, it always seems to disappear. But if you try to walk away from it, it pursues you like a shadow, an invisible wraith of foreboding that lurks behind your left shoulder. Uneasily, you turn around to face it, and once again it is not there.

They are numbers on a newspaper page. Silhouettes on a TV screen. Imaginary insects tickling the back of your neck. Objects of hatred targeted by the pastor's pointing finger. Terrorists lurking in your own neighborhood, aiming to blow you up.

Who are these people we feel we must kill in order to assure our own safety, to validate and verify our own lives? Who are these faceless savages who give us nightmares, and accelerate the sales of drugs to calm us down.

Yesterday they were the Palestinians. In our minds we were taught to see beasts with dynamite-encased ribcages ready to shatter our lives on a moment's notice. In reality today we see desperate children throwing stones at Apache helicopters, then lying in the street bleeding after Israeli target practice.

Before that there were the niggers, coming to rape your white daughters. Subsequent exercises in reason reveal to most of us they were really innocent African abductees dangling from a tree limb in a drunken Southern town.

And before that there were those filthy savages called Indians, on whom white Europeans perfected their genocide techniques that became America's principal export, a social technique which — when combined with the latest style in weaponry — provided those in the United States with their much-admired level of prosperity. Subsequent perspective on these forgotten souls — these native Americans — has never evolved, and to this day, they are abused and ravished by the local cops.

Today's terrorists du jour are Iraqis (and Arabs in general), the ungrateful recipients of radioactive gifts from that high-tech plantation called America.

Wrapped in tiny shawls and speaking an odd language (as enemies usually do), they bring us nightmare bombs that manifest the threat we must overcome to stay alive, that give us our reasons for productivity and ingenuity. Funny how it works that way, how civilization evolves responding to threats, whether real or imagined.

Suicide bombers! Splashing the entrails of our own fear all over the front pages of our shrewdly designed existences. Funny how when you see how these creatures of horror evolved, we appear to have invented them ourselves, right in the pages of the Old Testament. You could also call it the Torah, but doing that allows Christians to evade responsibility for this violent horror that grips the world, and it would not be fair to do that, to pin everything on the Jews.

The one good thing about both creeds is that they both stress personal responsibility, and that's what we're trying to define here. That's true, even though they both advocate killing those whose property you covet, as the excerpted quotes at the top of this essay so aptly illustrate.

Few of us ever contemplate that these terrorist threats are works of fiction, crafted by those with an ulterior motive. Usually that motive, if history is any guide, is about stealing someone's land. When you read about so-called villains, the horror is created to achieve the objectives of someone who gains something from creating that threat. As I said, it's usually about land. Or if not, about a very lucrative commodity.

Perhaps it goes back to Cain and Abel, or Abraham and his two sons, one of whom was disinherited, and traces directly to the giant wall the erstwhile sons of Isaac are currently building in the West Bank. After all these centuries, still trying to deny the rightful patrimony of their brothers. And murdering their first-cousins at will. And with glee.

There are innumerable instances of righteous killing of those who had something we wanted. Our civilization is built on these lessons. We are still practicing them.

Justice always takes a back seat to avarice because it is conveniently created and administered by those with power over others.

Those who pretend to be religious are only pretending. The laws of God are contrived to facilitiate theft, not forgiveness.

Yet the thought is fleeting. When you turn around to face it it's not there, like a faint but painful memory of some childhood sexual trauma.

Fleeting. And our lives are wasted with murder and mayhem, scarred on our souls like a planet turned to ash by the poisons of our own desires.

Mnemosyne, goddess of memory, what a duplicitous gift you give us. Sweet reverie, how could we kill without you? But we have our Holy Orders!

Somehow our well-being is tied up with having enemies: Palestinian grasshoppers, black rapists, Indian savages. And tied into religion. Defeating death. Repelling the infidel. Planting the flag of Christ in some foreigner's land.

We know who most of yesterday's enemies are. They're still bleeding, those beleaguered few still left alive.

Conject, if you will, on whom tomorrow's enemies may be. And the lies that will be used to condemn them. Chances are good, if history is any guide, it will involve land. And precious commodities of some sort.

Certainly, Bush/Kerry has the Venezuelans in its gun sights. There is simply too much oil there to be left in the hands of people with such dark skin. And Lula's Brazil would be a natural progression once South Guanatamo is established in Caracas, although the Brazilians are reportedly close to perfecting their own nukes, and we all know the United States doesn't pick on countries which can actually fight back.

Which is why — OK, also because of Wal-Mart — that the U.S. will never go after China. Much too tough. Their day is coming. Hell, the U.S. isn't even tough enough to stop the Aztlantics from grabbing San Francisco, Santa Fe and San Antonio, something that will probably happen in the 21st century.

But the Lord says it's cool to kill people for their possessions. And the human race is apparently not ready to distinguish between the spoken words of God and the satanic scribblings of the pederastic priests who interpose their deluded dogma and insist it is the wish of the Messiah.

I lately have been deluged by letters from "concerned" Christians for blaming their faith in my "Fallujah" piece (see http://www.serendipity.li/iraqwar/hallelujah_in_fallujah.htm). Makes me realize how sick this religion is, in that so many people would be more worried about saving their selfish souls than in the unjust butchery of innocent people. That is not how to save your soul, people, and the principal thing that is absolutely wrong with all religions.

Got another note from a feller in Mississippi who actually bought one of my books but had to send me a little comic book illustrating why it was more important to "keep the Lord's holy word" than it was to do good works. It depicted a couple, who had spent their lives feeding the poor, meeting a man who had committed murder but who had "accepted" Christ. At the end, when they meet their maker, the wrathful God welcomes the reformed killer but sends the altruistic old couple straight to hell, pontificating that it doesn't matter what good works you do — it only matters if you follow the word of God.

This may explain why I have such contempt for religion.

I have nothing against God, but religions are pure evil. Simply mind control propaganda meant to assure the serene unconsciousness and political ineffectivness of the deceived populace.

Why is it that bullets and holy men in black cassocks always seem to go together?

In this world we try to find someone to look down our noses at, someone who makes us feel that we are better than them. Who is it that declares these evil infidels? How many pagans were slaughtered by the fledging Constantinian church?

I suggest that the true pariahs are the ones who create these distinctions: the Brahmins, the British, the Americans, the white Europeans who propagandize these falsely discriminatory distinctions and teach our children to kill because of the color of someone's skin.

It's all a ruse to begin with. It's not really about lineage; it's about cold hard cash.

The true villains on this Earth are those who enslave and exploit, who manipulate and massacre to prove to themselves they are the superior ones, when all they are proving is that they are the weak and evil ones. This concept of elite respectability is a sham anyway, since most fortunes in this world were built on illegal activity, from British drug smugglers to Israeli arms merchants to American drug profiteers. As they say, "behind every great fortune is a great crime."

So it is with Western history. The people who wrote the Bible were the bad guys, who went around killing everyone and then invented noble-sounding reasons for doing so. And we Americans, with our vaunted Western civilization, are their literal heirs, in every sense of the word. We have perfected killing and destruction as the highest art form of human civilization.

All the while marching on subliminal orders from the Old Testament.

In Richard Duncan's very scary piece on the savage world he predicts will develop at the shocking end of the age of oil (http://dieoff.com/page224.htm) he foresees it is the indigenous people who will fare the best, because they are well prepared for living close to the land without canned food and automatic can openers. Said the pessimistic geologist, "If God made the earth for human habitation, then He made it for the Stone Age mode of habitation."

And I am constantly reminded of Ernest Becker's maxim: "The greatest evil in human history is material production."

Something to keep in mind when you realize the elite are now trying to kill us all off with biotech food that curdles your insides, with aluminium and barium poisoning from the sky that clogs your lungs with hard mucous, with designer prescription drugs designed to make you more dependent on even more poisonous medications, with brain-numbing flouride in the water, with gene-shattering aspartame in our soft drinks, with radioactive polonium in our cigarettes ... it's all too clear that the preconscious triggers from all our religions and philosophies are predicated on self-destruction over our obsessive guilt that we die — and that our loved ones must die — and we can do nothing about it.

It's so clear why we are hellbent to destroy ourselves, and it is best reflected in my favorite Bible quote of all — Deuteronomy 28:56-58:

If your mother does not obey all of God's holy laws, she will be forced to eat her own children!
Come back to Earth, people, before it's too late. If you cling to your hope of heaven, and forget to heal the wounds of those you have injured because of that hope of heaven, it will surely produce exactly what it is aimed at — the death of us all.

It takes a little more understanding than that to truly live. It takes understanding that the messages in the holy books are only false justifications for killing our brothers and sisters. And it is in that sense that God has truly become the devil.

People are always asking me to stop complaining and suggesting something positive they can do fix the evil in this world. Well, here's an idea.

Boycott your churches. Snub your synagogues. Ignore your mosques. Until those preachers come out foursquare for peace and justice, refuse to accept their pitiful propaganda.

The minute you start worrying about your immortal soul is exactly the point at which you lose it.

Besides, that's not God who resides in most houses of worship anyway. It's Moloch! It's Baal. It's Marduk. It's definitely Mammon. The Evil One, posing as your deity, teaching you how to pretend to be good rather than actually teaching you how to be good.

Tell your pastor you have a higher standard of morality than he is able to reach, as long as he keeps preaching that Old Testament bigotry and stays silent about America's mass murder of innocents for reasons that are provable lies. What kind of morality is silence about that? Ask him. Tell him. Stand up for what's right.

Quit worrying about your soul. It will take care of itself. Besides, if you're an American you've already lost your soul anyway. You have almost no chance of getting it back.

The only thing God really cares about is how you treat others.

And bombing innocent people in order to steal their land and their valuable possessions, as that fake God in the Old Testament incessantly recommends, doesn't really cut it, does it?

John Kaminski, skylax@comcast.net, is the author of America's Autopsy Report, a collection of his Internet essays that have appeared on hundreds of websites around the world, and The Day America Died: Why You Shouldn't Believe the Official Version of What Happened on September 11, 2001, a booklet designed to be read by those who continue to trust what the U.S. government is saying.

July 3, 2009 - SC serial killer blamed for 4 deaths in 6 days

2009-07-03T11:41:00.000-07:00

http://www.comcast.net/articles/news-national/20090703/US.SC.Killing.Spree/

SC serial killer blamed for 4 deaths in 6 days
By MITCH WEISS, AP

GAFFNEY, S.C. — Sheriff's deputies searched Friday for a serial killer blamed for four deaths over the past six days as terrified residents wondered who might be next.

Investigators have not figured out how the victims are linked or if they knew the man who shot them. So far, all they have is a sketch of a suspect and a possible getaway vehicle, said Cherokee County Sheriff Bill Blanton.

"There's no evidence there is a hit list," Blanton said. "There's no evidence he knows the victims. There's no evidence the victims are connected."

But plenty of evidence links the killings, said Blanton, who would not provide details.

"Yes, we have a serial killer," he said at a news conference.

The latest victims were found in their family's small furniture and appliance shop near downtown Gaffney around closing time Thursday. Stephen Tyler, 45, was killed, and his 15-year-old daughter was shot and seriously injured. Tyler's wife, his older daughter and an employee found them in Tyler Home Center, County Coroner Dennis Fowler said.

The latest killing happened one day and about seven miles from where family members found the bodies of 83-year-old Hazel Linder and her 50-year-old daughter, Gena Linder Parker, bound and shot in Linder's home. Blanton would not say if Tyler and his daughter were also bound.

The killing spree began last Saturday about 10 miles from Tyler Home Center. Peach farmer Kline Cash, 63, was found shot in his living room. Investigators said he appeared to have been robbed, but they haven't determined if anything was taken in the latest killings.

The shootings have prompted fear in Cherokee County, 50 miles south of Charlotte, N.C., and home to about 54,000 people. The county had just six homicides in all of 2008, and that was double the number reported the year before.

Residents have "their guard up and their gun handy," said state Sen. Harvey Peeler, R-Gaffney, who recalled the area being terrorized once before, in the 1960s, by a serial killer dubbed the Gaffney Strangler who murdered several women before he was caught.

"There is no greater fear than the fear of the unknown and nobody knows. You can cut the tension with a knife," Peeler said. "People are locking their doors, even in broad daylight."

The latest shootings took place less than a half-mile from the sheriff's office, the command center where at least 30 investigators were already working on the case. Blanton said a profiler has brought up the possibility that Tyler and his daughter were shot to taunt investigators, but he said his only concern is solving the case.

"We had a 15-year-old girl shot; he killed an 83-year-old woman. The good people of this community don't deserve that. And it doesn't look like he shows much concern or remorse," Blanton said.

The sheriff reminded people they have a right to protect themselves and asked them to call 911 to report anything suspicious. He also advised salesmen and others to avoid knocking on strangers' doors with so many on heightened alert.

"People are going to start shooting at shadows," Blanton said.

June 2009 - Oregon: Mother indicted in children's plunge from bridge

2009-07-03T11:37:00.000-07:00

http://www.comcast.net/articles/news-national/20090603/US.Oregon.Child.Drowning/

William NcCall
Associated Press
Wed, 03 Jun 2009 04:50 UTC

Portland - A mother was indicted on charges of murder and attempted murder Tuesday after her two children plunged from a bridge into a frigid Oregon river.

Amanda Jo Stott-Smith was indicted on eight counts of aggravated murder and attempted aggravated murder Tuesday. She is being held in Multnomah County Jail.

Her 4-year-old son, Eldon Smith, died May 23 after falling into the Willamette River in Portland. His 7-year-old sister was rescued by residents who heard her moans in the darkness and jumped into their boat to investigate.

Police have not said how they believe the children fell from the bridge.

Court records show Stott-Smith and her husband, Jason Smith, fought for custody of their children after he left their Tualatin home last year and moved to Eugene. With the couple's divorce case pending, a judge in April granted Jason Smith custody of the children.

Stott-Smith had parental visitation rights.

The girl made a miraculous recovery after surviving the fall and 30 minutes in the river. She was hospitalized for several days and is now in Eugene with her father.

The state Department of Human Services has said it will conduct an internal review of its dealings with Stott-Smith.

She is scheduled for a court appearance Wednesday.

July 2009 - Russian Man Kills 5 and Self in Far East Shooting

2009-07-03T11:35:00.000-07:00

http://en.rian.ru/crime/20090603/155154703.html

RIA Novostsi
Wed, 03 Jun 2009 20:25 UTC

A villager in the Sakhalin Region in Russia's Far East went
on a shooting spree on Wednesday, killing five people before turning the gun on himself, local investigators said.

The attacker first killed his wife and son early on Wednesday, then left the house and shot dead another three people.

He later committed suicide, a spokeswoman for the local investigations committee said, adding that as yet there was no known reason for the man's actions.

A probe into the incident has begun.

Woman Commits Suicide on Eviction Day

2009-07-02T00:57:00.000-07:00

It is part of the mass murder scheme of the secret, serpent puppet masters when people commit suicide because they are about to be evicted from their housing...

http://www.sott.net/articles/show/188168-Woman-Commits-Suicide-on-Eviction-Day

Woman Commits Suicide on Eviction Day

Lily Fu
MyFox Memphis
Wed, 01 Jul 2009 03:16 UTC

A Florida woman tragically committed suicide on the day she was getting evicted from her home.

Heather Newnam, 28, of Tamarac, Fla., shot herself when a real estate agent, a locksmith and movers showed up at her home on Monday after she failed to pay her rent. She told them she had to secure the dogs first, and then a shot was fired, according to the Broward Sheriff's Office. The SWAT team arrived on the scene and found her dead from a gunshot wound to the head.

Newnam documented her life on Twitter as user rsangel04. Her last post on June 24 read, "Rich get richer, poor get poorer, families on the street, govt doesn't care. God bless the usa, but can He save it?"

The day before, Newnam seemed in better spirits. "Five minutes til Rescue Me, Woo Hoo! then bed, Im beat."

According to the New Times, Newnam worked in sales at the Success Research Group in Oakland Park, Fla.

The housing market in Florida is among the worst in the country. According to a recent Wall Street Journal report, Florida was third in the country with the highest foreclosure rate behind Nevada and California.

June 2009 - US, Virginia: Murder-Suicide in Axton claims 3, injures 1

2009-06-29T15:36:00.000-07:00

http://www.sott.net/articles/show/187956-US-Virginia-Murder-Suicide-in-Axton-claims-3-injures-1

Martinsville Daily
Mon, 29 Jun 2009 04:13 UTC

Just after midnight Saturday night the Henry County Sheriff's office received a 911 call reporting a shooting at 210 Willhaven Lane in Axton. When police got there the house was on fire. Two hours later three adult bodies were recovered and one male (around 20 years old) was transported to the hospital with undisclosed injuries.

Sheriff Lane Perry tells us that 56 year-old William R. Carter, Sr. shot and killed his wife and a son, 56 year-old Bonnie W. Carter and 28 year-old William Ronald Carter, Jr. in the basement of their home. He then called another son, Timothy E. Carter at Radford University and told him to come home because of an emergency. Timothy told police when he arrived his father told him to go into the basement where he discovered his mother and brother dead. William then shot Timothy 2 or 3 times and Timothy pretended to be dead. As William set fire to the house Timothy escaped, went to a neighbors house, and called police. By the time police arrived, William shot and killed himself.

Those we spoke with who knew Carter, say he was a nurturing and caring man who loved to garden, spend time with family, and take care of his neighbors.

Below is the official press release received at 1:24PM:

At 12:17 AM, the Henry County Sheriff's Office was called to 210 Wilhaven Lane, Axton Va. in reference to a shooting incident. Timothy Carter, age 22, of Radford University, reported his father summoned him home. Upon his arrival at 210 Wilhaven Lane, Timothy Carter's father, William Ronald Carter Senior, used trickery to lure him to the basement of the home. As Timothy Carter was going down stairs his father shot him in the back with a fire-arm. Timothy Carter was shot again as he tried to escape. Sheriff's Deputies arrived at 210 Wilhaven Lane to find the house had been set on fire. The Axton Volunteer Fire Department responded to the scene along with Stone Ambulance Service, Axton Rescue Squad and the Virginia State Police. The fire is considered Arson and is being investigated by the Fire Marshal.

Economic Fallout Has Spurred an Epidemic of Murder and Suicide That Has Gone Largely Unnoticed

2009-06-28T12:06:00.000-07:00

By Nick Turse, Tomdispatch.com
Posted on June 5, 2009, Printed on June 28, 2009
http://www.alternet.org/story/140455/

After David B. Kellermann, the chief financial officer of beleaguered mortgage giant Freddie Mac, tied a noose and hanged himself in the basement of his Vienna, Virginia, home, the New York Times made it a front-page story. The stresses of the job in economic tough times, its reporters implied, had driven him to this extreme act.

"Binghamton Shooter" Jiverly Wong also garnered front-page headlines nationwide and set off a cable news frenzy when, "bitter over job loss," he massacred 13 people at an immigration center in upstate New York. Similarly, coverage was brisk after Pittsburgh resident Richard Poplawski, "upset about recently losing a job," shot four local police officers, killing three of them.

But where was the front-page treatment when, in January, Betty Lipply, a 72-year-old resident of East Palestine, Ohio, "who feared she'd lose her home to foreclosure hanged herself to death" shortly after "receiving her second summons and foreclosure complaint from her mortgage lender"? And where was the up-to-the-minute cable news reporting on the two California dairy farmers who "killed themselves ... out of despair over finances, according to associates"?

Mass Murder, Mass Media, and Missing Stories

Last summer, in the pages of the Nation magazine, Barbara Ehrenreich called attention to people turning to "the suicide solution" in response to the burgeoning financial crisis. Months later, major news outlets started to examine the same phenomenon. Last fall, a TomDispatch report on suicides and a range of other extreme acts -- including self-inflicted injury, murder, arson, and armed self-defense -- in response to foreclosures, evictions, bankruptcies, and layoffs, was followed, months later, by mainstream media attention to the notion of "econo-cide" -- prompted, in large part, by a spate of familicides (murder/suicides in which both parents and their children die).

While it's impossible to know the myriad factors, including deeply personal ones, that contribute to people resorting to drastic measures, violent or otherwise, many press reports suggest that the global economic crisis has played no small part in a range of extreme acts.

An analysis by TomDispatch of national, regional, and local news reports in 2008 and early 2009 indicates that a silent, nationwide epidemic of drastic measures may be underway. News of such acts linked to economic woes -- from armed robberies to pay the rent to financially-motivated suicides -- has filtered out of cities and towns in no less than 30 states, many of which have seen multiple incidents. And since only a fraction of such acts ever receives media coverage, what is being reported, even if mostly in local newspapers, qualifies as startling.

For every Jiverly Wong, who garners days of cable-news coverage, there are untold despondent and desperate dairy farmers and retirees battered by the economy and at wits' end who respond by subjecting themselves, others, or property to violence and are hardly noticed. What follows is a sampling of such incidents, most reported locally, and organized by month -- no month lacked such reports -- since the beginning of this year.

January 2009

David Kelley lost his job in September 2008. As values plummeted on his Clairemont, California, home as well as the rental properties he owned, he reportedly became "overwhelmed by debt and depression." On January 5th, he shot himself. "He saw his good life and successful career slipping away," said his stepmother. "He couldn't see beyond the struggles he was having."

According to a police report, Manchester, Missouri, resident Frank Kavano, 66, who killed his wife and then himself, left a suicide note that mentioned "financial issues and difficulty in the marriage."

After losing a bet on a college football bowl game -- on top of losing his home to foreclosure -- Dante Vinci, age 48, reportedly stabbed a man to death outside a Reno, Nevada, sports bar.

February 2009

According to a news report, Gregory and Randolph Graham, third-generation car dealers from Ligonier, Pennsylvania, "watched helplessly over the past year as their business collapsed under the weight of the recession." One night, Gregory, 61, set fire to some of the cars at his dealership and "died of a heart attack next to the burning wreckage." Days later, Randolph, 51, "was found dead, slumped over the wheel of his car in what may have been a suicide."

When Otero County, New Mexico, sheriff's deputies tried to serve foreclosure papers on Miguel and Inga Gutierrez, the couple armed themselves and opened fire. After a 16-hour standoff, Miguel was found dead and Inga was taken into custody.

"Unemployed, awash in debt and hiding an October foreclosure from loved ones," 55-year-old Wayne "Mike" Anderson of Stratmoor Valley, Colorado, shot himself to death as a sheriff's deputy, ready to evict him, stood at his doorstep.

In Glyndon, Maryland, advertising executive Howard "Jack" Marks Jr., 63, killed himself after, his wife told the police, financial woes left him in danger of losing his business.

According to news reports, 53-year-old Jeffrey P. McKnight of Pataskala, Ohio, was "struggling financially and overwhelmed with caring for his elderly father" when he set his house ablaze and then killed his dad and himself.

Reportedly "upset over being unemployed and his financial status," George Vincent, 49, of Fort Meyers, Florida, drank copious amounts of beer, after which his wife called the police, telling them her husband was drunk, armed, and suicidal. When Vincent pulled a gun on responding officers, they opened fire, killing him, in what the state attorney's office deemed to be a case of suicide-by-cop.

March 2009

Lonnie Glasco walked into the San Diego, California, bus-maintenance depot where he worked as a mechanic and shot two fellow employees, one fatally, before police gunned him down. A friend said Glasco, 47, was "despondent over losing his wife and his home."

Michael McLendon, age 28 and "despondent over his inability to hold a job," fatally shot nine people in Samson, Alabama, and killed a 10th in a neighboring county.

After 46-year-old Springfield Township, Ohio, resident Michael Swiergosz's home went into "foreclosure and had been set for sheriff's sale," he barricaded himself inside "during a standoff with authorities that lasted three hours," before being arrested.

April 2009

In Warrenton, Virginia, police said that "domestic issues," likely compounded by "job-related stress," lay behind 39-year-old Bruce Curtin's decision to kill his wife and then himself.

Distraught in the face of eviction for failing to pay rent, Ginette Denize, 48, of Canarsie, Brooklyn, New York, turned on the gas burners of her stove, started banging on her landlord's door, and returned to her apartment. Police soon arrived and, when one of them reportedly tripped and fell in her kitchen, she allegedly "hovered with a knife over" him. The two other officers then opened fire, killing her. It was conjectured that the shooting might have been a case of suicide-by-cop.

Angered that someone else was living in the home he had lost to foreclosure, Derek C. Hightower, 24, of Bristol, Wisconsin, reportedly set a fire that "destroyed the garage, the house and three vehicles."

Michael Knudson's former girlfriend wondered whether he "somehow thought he was saving his mom and brother from the pain and loss of the foreclosure [of the family home] in some misguided way." Eviction was scheduled for April 7th. Days before, say authorities, the 39-year-old killed his mother and brother, buried them in "a shallow grave" nearby, and burned down their Hudson, Ohio, home.

Police reported that Mark I. Levy, a 59-year-old Bethesda, Maryland, resident, who had been a deputy assistant attorney general in the Clinton administration and "was about to lose his job because of the economy," died of "an apparently self-inflicted gunshot wound."

Under investigation by the FBI and other law enforcement agencies for possibly "scamm[ing] clients out of millions in a side investment business he ran," Garden City, New York, resident William Parente, 59, "beat and asphyxiated his wife and daughters in a Maryland hotel room" before killing himself.

With talk of layoffs in the air and reportedly fearful of losing his job at California's Long Beach Memorial Medical Center, Mario Ramirez entered his workplace and shot two immediate supervisors before killing himself.

Reportedly $450,000 in debt, 34-year-old Middletown, Maryland, resident Christopher Wood shot and killed his wife and children before taking his own life.

At a home north of Frederick, Maryland, a man threatened to kill workers from a company that clears out recently foreclosed homes, prompting SWAT team members to be called in. Not far away, outside Baltimore, a man attempted to commit suicide while being evicted from his home.

In Dauphin County, Pennsylvania, a 27-year-old man, upset about losing his job, killed himself. A week later, another area man, who had threatened to kill himself "after recently losing his job," surrendered to authorities after a five-hour standoff.

In North Carolina, the Charlotte-Mecklenburg Police Department reported 10 "suicide threats or attempts" over the weekend of April 18th and 19th. Bill Cook, the director of the Mecklenburg County Mobile Crisis Team, told the press that economic woes had contributed to the spike.

May 2009

Faced with eviction, 33-year-old Motalekgose Mothuse Valela allegedly warned the property manager of his Dallas, Texas, apartment: "No one comes to my place without me being there, and I don't care who it is: the constable, the police or the sheriff… I will blow them all up and blow this place up," according to court documents. He reportedly also affixed a note to his door reading, "Bomb set on door, don't touch," resulting in a standoff with the Dallas police bomb squad and SWAT team which lasted several hours, before he eventually surrendered.

According to Indianapolis, Indiana, Metropolitan Police Department spokesman Sgt. Paul Thompson, 27-year-old Candance Macy lured her landlord to her residence "with the intent to kill him" in order to avoid eviction. Reportedly, Macy claimed that "she had lost a ring behind a stove in the kitchen and… she had asked him to retrieve it. When he stooped down to look for the ring, Macy allegedly stabbed him in the back at least four times and several more times on other parts of his body." He was reported to be in serious condition.

In Rhode Island, during an eviction proceeding, a Pawtucket Housing Authority employee found a "man lying in a bed with a knife sticking out of his neck, and quickly phoned police, reporting either a stabbing victim or possible deceased person." When police arrived and approached the man, he "suddenly sat up, with the knife hanging from his throat." The knife fell from his neck and the man began threatening the officers with it. "You will have to shoot me. I have nothing to live for," he told them. Eventually, they persuaded him to drop the knife.

After Allen Park, Michigan's Mark David Fussner, 44, refused to obey an eviction order and threatened to shoot court officers, the police were called in. As one of the officers approached, Fussner reportedly fired birdshot from a shotgun, wounding him. Other police on the scene returned fire and for the next two hours, the sound of gun shots reverberated through the neighborhood. Fussner was later found dead in his basement. It was unclear whether he died of a self-inflicted wound or was killed by the police.

A Silent (and Violent) Epidemic

While news reports indicate that extreme acts precipitated by economic disaster have occurred in at least 30 states, similar incidents have undoubtedly occurred in most, if not all, of the remaining 20 states. Suicides are normally under-reported in the press, while murders linked to the economic crisis may never be reported as such. Many extreme acts, in any case, go unnoticed by those not intimately affected.

There is, of course, no way to know which of these and similar acts might have occurred even if there had been no global economic meltdown. One thing is certain however: there will never be a full accounting of the lives ruined or lost under the pressure of economic disaster, nor will anyone ever raise a monument to the victims of foreclosure, job loss, and business failure, of busted pensions and dynamited 401(k)s.

There will be no memorial wall in Washington with names etched into black granite -- not for these people, neither the desperate who killed themselves, nor those who lashed out and murdered others. Who will remember the Knudsons in their shallow grave, or Christopher Wood's dead children? No statue will be raised on Wall Street to solemnly remind the former masters of the universe of the Main Street consequences of their financial manipulations. No equivalent of the Arlington National Cemetery will ever be laid out for the dead of this crisis or filled with headstones reading: "Beloved Mother, Killed by Capitalism" or "Devoted Husband and Father, Sacrificed in the Name of Greed."

Instead, the bodies will just continue to pile up. A daughter here. A father there. A family in a nearby neighborhood.

No one will ever know how many. And no one will record their names for posterity.

Nick Turse is the associate editor and research director of Tomdispatch.com. His first book, The Complex: How the Military Invades Our Everyday Lives, an exploration of the new military-corporate complex in America, was recently published by Metropolitan Books. His website is Nick Turse.com.

Why Are We Surprised When White Preppy Guys Turn Out to Be Serial Killers?

2009-05-06T01:23:00.000-07:00

It is the preppy (or old) white guys who are the imperialists. You can't have empire without mass murder.

By Alisa Valdes-Rodriguez, Alisa Valdes-Rodriguez's Blog
Posted on May 6, 2009, Printed on May 6, 2009
http://www.alternet.org/story/139834/

The New York Times described alleged killer Philip Markoff as having led a "seemingly normal" life before he was arrested for killing a woman he'd met through Craigslist and for robbing at least two others.

The New York Daily News described Markoff as "clean cut" and "a high-achieving dentist's son." The Boston Globe also described the shaggy-haired Markoff as "clean cut" -- as did countless other media outlets. Politico.com called Markoff "all-American," while the Associated Press and dozens of others called him "handsome"; PR Insider said, simply, that "by all appearances, he had it all."

Over and over again, coast to coast, American media outlets told us how good-looking, smart and "normal" Markoff was, or should have been.

As I read and watched the media coverage of the 22-year-old alleged killer, I was stunned -- though not surprised -- by the fawning tone taken by the nation's reporters.

After all, given the available information, Markoff could have been painted as weird, anti-social, woman-hater, irresponsible, deeply in debt, broke and in the midst of eviction from his apartment. He could have been presented as a stone-faced, emotionless creep who scared classmates by forcing kisses on them and had a long history of strange behavior.

Hell, one look at the guy at a bar, and most women I know would have shuddered and walked the other way.

But Markoff wasn't served up to the public this way by the media.

Rather, Markoff was served by the media on a silver platter, described as a great-looking, charming, rich guy (none of which were true), whose alleged crimes were ostensibly all the more shocking for one simple and disturbing reason: Markoff had stepped outside of our racist culture's perceived norm for his type.

I'll say it again, in plain language: In the mythology of white male editors, guys like Markoff don't kill. They golf. With newspaper editors. Most of whom look like Markoff.

The hidden code in the news coverage of Markoff, as it was for "preppy killer" Robert Chambers and countless other white male killers, has been clear: tall, young white guys, especially middle-class or wealthy ones in college, just don't do stuff like this. Except that they do.

History inconveniently proves the U.S. media perception of privileged white men as nonviolent rulers of the earth to be counter to fact.

The United States has produced more serial killers than any other nation on earth, and 85 percent of them have been white men, according to a study by Apsche. The average age that serial killers take their first victim is 28; 62 percent target strangers exclusively and 71 percent operate in a specific geographic area.

From this description, it appears that Markoff, rather than being the shocking exception to an imaginary rule where white guys are the good guys, was pretty much the classic manifestation of the real rule of creepy serial criminals of a certain type. Not to mention that this nation was created through the rape, murder, robbery and enslavement of dark-skinned people, by guys who looked like Markoff.

(It is estimated that 100 million Native Americans were slaughtered by European "explorers," and 50 million Africans perished as the result of the American slave trade. None of this, however, seems to have any impact on the media's continued belief that educated white men are nonviolent.)

So, why the disconnect from reality among the media? That's easy.

The media has long been in the business of selling perception over truth, especially when it comes to issues of race, socioeconomic class and sex. If you wish to know the myths and prejudices of a time, read its newspapers. If you wish for the truths, read its poetry.

Sexism plays a part in the media coverage, too. That Markoff targeted women selling escort services only helped the media to see him as a good guy led astray by Jezebels.

In her book, Virgin or Vamp: How the Media Cover Sex Crimes, Columbia University journalism Professor Helen Benedict beautifully illustrates the distinctions placed upon victims and perpetrators of sex crimes, depending upon the reputation, dress, race, occupation and economic class of the female victim.

In cases such as the Markoff slaying and robberies, the underlying message in media coverage tends to be that the women were somehow asking for it. In presenting Markoff as "handsome," this mythology is underscored; after all, a handsome guy doesn't need an escort service. The women must have been asking for it.

Benedict places the blame for this sort of media coverage on the fact that most editors, reporters and copy editors in the national media are white men who find themselves relating, at a visceral level, to the alleged perpetrators. Thus, the media's description of Markoff as "normal."

Whose normal? Normal to white male editors who live in white neighborhoods and have only white friends, one assumes.

If ever there was an argument for the need for increased diversity in America's newsrooms, it is the recent coverage of Markoff.

Sadly, we are nowhere near such a goal. In fact, fewer minorities work in the news media now than 10 years ago, according to a recent report in Columbia Journalism Review.

In an increasingly nonwhite America, you do have to wonder if blatantly biased news coverage of alleged criminals like Markoff have anything to do with one after another newspaper filing for bankruptcy or outright closing down.

Sheriff: Florida father kills wife, 2 sons, himself

2009-05-04T17:57:00.000-07:00

http://www.sott.net/articles/show/183553-Sheriff-Florida-father-kills-wife-2-sons-himself

Associated Press
Mon, 04 May 2009 09:54 UTC

A father shot and killed his wife and two of his sons - one 5 months old and the other 7 years old - before killing himself in the front yard of their home on Sunday night, authorities said.

Another son, a 13-year-old, was pursued through the garage by his father, evaded several gunshots, and made it safely to a neighbor's house, Polk County Sheriff's Department spokesman Scott Wilder said in a statement.

Investigators believe Troy Ryan Bellar, 34, and his wife, Wendy Bellar, 31, were in a domestic dispute about 9:30 p.m. at their home in Lakeland, located between Tampa and Orlando.

When the wife tried to leave the home with two of the children, deputies said Bellar opened fire with a 7.62 mm rifle and killed his wife, 5-month-old Zack James Bellar and 7-year-old Ryan Patrick Bellar in the front porch area.

Investigators were still trying to determine the sequence of the shooting, but after the shooting began, 13-year-old Nathan Bellar ran from the home and was chased by his father, who fired several shots at him. The boy was being placed with family members.

No neighbors appeared to have been injured by gunfire, according to a canvass by deputies.

Wilder said the husband had been arrested twice in the county: on suspicion of aggravated assault in 1994 and suspicion of driving under the influence in 1999. Wendy Bellar was arrested in March on suspicion of domestic battery.

"This is one of the most tragic, senseless and horrific crimes we have investigated," Sheriff Grady Judd said in a statement.

"You don't have stuff like that in this neighborhood," neighbor Tammy Womble told The Ledger newspaper in Lakeland.

"It was just gunshots going off. We didn't hear screams or anything," she said.

Royal attack: death toll reaches seven

2009-05-02T10:12:00.001-07:00

Besides all the suicide bombers and 'collateral damage' from wars going on, other types of mass murders are happening all over the world, including my neck of the woods. Are possible assassination attempts resulting in many deaths mass murders? You bet they are!

http://www.dutchnews.nl/news/archives/2009/05/royal_attack_two_still_critica.php

Friday 01 May 2009

A seventh person injured when a black Suzuki drove through the crowd watching the royal family's motorcade in Apeldoorn on Thursday has died, officials said on Friday.

Five people died on Friday in the direct aftermath of the attack. The driver of the car, 38-year-old Karst Tate, died of his injuries in the early hours of this morning. Eight people are still in hospital - three women, three men and two children. One woman is very seriously ill.

In Apeldoorn itself, people have begun placing flowers at site of the accident. Many of the flowers were part of the decorations for yesterday's planned procession at the Het Loo palace.

At a news conference on Friday, Apeldoorn mayor Fred de Graaf, still visibly emotional, praised the emergency services and others who helped those hit by the car. 'There is a general feeling of dismay' throughout Apeldoorn, he told reporters.

Mystery

The reason for Karst Tate's attack on the royal family during the Queen's Day celebrations on Thursday is still complete mystery.

'Was it an attack on the monarchy or the desperate deed of a madman who could no longer pay his rent?,' the Telegraaf asked.

The man told the emergency services after his black Suzuki Swift slammed into railings that it was a deliberate act.

The paper says the man had been recently sacked as a security official and had told his landlord he could no longer pay the rent. He was due to hand over the keys to a new tenant on Friday.

He was unknown to the police, public prosecution department and mental health services. 'I have never had such a well-behaved tenant. He always paid on time,' landlord Sem Bosman told the paper.

Remembrance day

The state information service RVD said on Friday that queen Beatrix, crown prince Willem-Alexander and princess Máxima will attend the traditional wreath-laying ceremony at the Amsterdam war memorial on Monday.

But security measures in the capital will be tightened up, news agency ANP reported.

53 Dead in 25 Days

2009-05-01T12:50:00.001-07:00

http://thehill.com/leading-the-news/mass-murders-drive-delegates-amendment-opposition-2009-04-06.html

Mass murders drive delegate's amendment opposition
By Jordy Yager
Posted: 04/06/09 02:10 AM [ET]

A gun amendment attached to the bill granting Washington a congressional vote could lead to sporadic shootings like those that left 17 dead in New York and Pennsylvania over the weekend, according to D.C.’s congressional delegate.

"In only the 25 days between March 10 and April 5, 53 people have been killed in mass murders by gunmen," read a statement issued by Del. Eleanor Holmes Norton’s (D-D.C.) office Sunday night. "Yet, Members of the House and Senate have not looked at the gun amendment, but have regarded it as just another routine attachment to a local D.C. bill."

The statement — titled "Norton on WUSA TV Tomorrow Morning Warns Congress that Killings Like Those This Weekend Could Come to D.C. Unless the Gun Amendment is Eliminated from the Voting Rights Bill" — was a reversal of comments she delivered at a hearing Friday in which she conceded that including the gun amendment could be necessary to passing the voting rights bill.

“For the first time, the leaders in both houses are looking very seriously at this gun law,” Norton said Friday of the bill. “And they are aware the gun law is going to become law.”

The gun amendment attached to the measure, which has already passed the Senate, would loosen the District’s gun laws, making it easier for residents to obtain firearms and would also lower penalties for those illegally possessing a gun. The Supreme Court overturned the 30-year-old gun ban in the District last year.

“The bill would eliminate all local gun laws, making the city, including official Washington, more open to gun violence than any of the jurisdictions where the mass killings have occurred in March and April,” said Norton’s office in a statement Sunday.

Three police officers were killed in the line of duty in Pittsburgh on Saturday and 13 people were killed at an immigration center in Binghamton, N.Y., on Friday, with the shooter committing suicide.

Centrist Blue Dog Democrats in districts where the National Rifle Association (NRA) is influential appear unwilling to risk voting against the gun amendments, fearing they would be punished with a poor rating by the lobbying organization.

Norton she was not deterred by the NRA’s move to “score” the vote in the House at a hearing with the U.S. Capitol Police assistant chief on Friday.

“Because we're going to pass the D.C. House Voting Rights Act,” Norton said last week. “We're not letting anything stand in the way of that. There is no question in my mind these leaders are going to get this done. There's also no question in my mind that if you have this attached to both bills, it's law.”

But on Sunday Norton’s office re-emphasized the position she had held since Sen. John Ensign (R-Nev.) introduced the gun amendment in the Senate.

“Because the bill is on a glide to the passage she has worked for throughout her tenure in Congress, Norton is seeking to get the gun amendment removed rather than allow the bill’s passage with the dangerous amendment attached,” said Norton’s statement, adding that lawmakers have not considered the repercussions of the bill.

Royal bus attack: driver was a 'quiet man'

2009-05-01T10:57:00.001-07:00

People go nuts when they lose their jobs and are facing eviction but they shouldn't take it out on innocent people.

http://www.dutchnews.nl/news/archives/2009/04/royal_bus_attack_driver_was_a.php

Thursday 30 April 2009

The 38-year-old man arrested for driving his car into the crowd watching a royal parade in Apeldoorn on Thursday, killing five people, was described as a 'quiet' man by neighbours.

The Telegraaf reports that the man, Karst T, worked as a security guard but lost his job several weeks ago.

He had given up his house in the Gelderland village of Huissen because he could no longer afford the rent, the Telegraaf said. New tenants were due to move into the property on May 1.

What's Behind the Epidemic of Family-Killings? Could it Be Anti-Depressants?

2009-05-01T10:19:00.001-07:00

By Martha Rosenberg, AlterNet
Posted on May 1, 2009, Printed on May 1, 2009
http://www.alternet.org/story/139243/

The late comedian Richard Pryor used to riff about a fictitious interview with a mass murderer.

"But why did you kill [gulp] everyone in the house?" asks the reporter.

"They was home."

Today it wouldn't be funny.

The occasional Susan Smith or Andrea Yates who kills her kids has given way to the weekly child, sibling, parent, grandparent, spouse and all-of-the-above killer.

Last week in the Chicago suburb of Hoffman Estates, D'Andre Howard is accused of killing his girlfriend's sister, father and grandfather and leaving her mother in critical condition.

The same day in Middletown, Md., Christopher Alan Wood killed his wife and three children. A few days later in Towson, Md., William Parente killed his wife and two daughters.

Earlier this month, Kerby Revelus killed two of his sisters in Milton, Mass., -- decapitating his younger sister in front of her birthday cake while police watched in horror.

In Orting, Wash., James Harrison killed his five children.

And that's just this month.

Last month, Devan Kalathat killed his two children and three other relatives in Santa Clara, Calif., and left his wife in critical condition, where she clings to life.

And Michael McLendon slaughtered his mother and grandparents in southeast Alabama, along with many others.

Of course the press is quick to blame the monthly and even weekly family killings on economic stresses and lack of jobs.

Psychologists say a bad economy can create a family annihilator like Bob Dylan's Hollis Brown, who "looked for work and money … and walked a rugged mile" and whose "children are so hungry that they don't know how to smile," until he kills his wife and five children in a mercy massacre.

And that's before you get to the added threat of losing your wife and kids, which produces a feeling of loss of control in the killer-to-be, say psychologists.

Some have even blamed Binghamton, N.Y., killer Jiverly Voong's spree on his poor English, and Revelus' spree on his lack of job skills after prison.

But of course the elephant in the room is: When people lost their jobs or wives in the past, they didn't kill their entire families in a burst -- make that gun burst -- of irrational rage. Not every week.

No, behind the deeds of Howard, Wood, Parente, Revelus, Harrison, Kalathat, McLendon, et al. -- who are always called "depressed" and "bipolar" -- are probably some health care professionals thinking, "I shouldn't have prescribed that psychoactive med," and hoping the press doesn't come around.

Especially as California psychiatrist Christian Hageseth III goes to jail for irresponsibly prescribing Prozac to John McKay, who killed himself.

Certainly Middletown's Wood was prescribed the violence-linked Cymbalta and Paxil, along with two other psychiatric drugs before his deeds. His suicide notes even confirm he felt he was getting worse, not better, on the medication, say police.

Who can forget that Andrea Yates was on a double dose of Effexor when she drowned her five children in 2001?

But Mickey Mouse gun laws help, too, and there might well be private or licensed gun sellers thinking, "I shouldn't have sold that squirrelly dude that weapon," after the recent violence.

After all, Virginia Tech's Seung-Hui Cho, Voong and Pittsburgh's Richard Poplawski passed their background checks with flying colors and were legal gun owners by existing guns laws. Police killer Poplawski even had a conceal-and-carry permit.

And last year's Northern Illinois University shooter, Stephen Phillip Kazmierczak, waltzed into a Champaign, Ill., gun store and bought two of his weapons, despite having been in a mental institution for a year and a receiving psychological discharge from the Army. Who do gun laws reject?

No, behind the spate of family homicides is not just the economy, job stress and failing marriages, but a government that approved a cohort of psychoactive drugs with proven homicidal and suicidal side effects. Blockbuster antidepressants and anti-psychotics that are kept on the market despite the blood baths they can cause so drug companies can get their patent's worth.

And it's a government that allows unlimited weapon arsenals -- including military and assault-style weapons -- in the hands of everyone, including the unbalanced on "depression" drugs, only to act surprised when another entire family -- everyone who was home -- is killed.

Martha Rosenberg is a columnist and cartoonist who frequently writes about the impact of the pharmaceutical, food and gun industries on public health. A former medical copywriter, her work has appeared in the Boston Globe, San Francisco Chronicle, Los Angeles Times and Chicago Tribune, as well as on the BBC and in the original National Lampoon.

April 30, 2009 - "Loner" shoots 13 dead at Azerbaijan college

2009-04-30T07:01:00.000-07:00

http://uk.news.yahoo.com/22/20090430/tpl-uk-azerbaijan-shooting-81f3b62.html?printer=1

"Loner" shoots 13 dead at Azerbaijan college
Thursday, April 30 02:36 pm
Afet Mehtiyeva

Thirteen people were killed at a university in Azerbaijan on Thursday when a gunman went from floor to floor firing on teachers and students after the bell rang for morning classes. Skip related content

The gunman, a Georgian citizen of Azeri origin described as a loner by local media, was among the dead.

The government said it did not see a political motive behind the shooting at the prestigious State Oil Academy in Baku, capital of the mainly Muslim former Soviet republic which exports oil and gas to Europe from the Caspian Sea.

Witnesses said the shooting began shortly after classes began at 9.00 a.m. (5 a.m. British time).

"He climbed from the first floor to the sixth, shooting people mainly in the head from a Makarov pistol," the state prosecutor's office said. The Makarov is a Russian-made semi-automatic pistol.

Thirteen people were killed and 13 wounded. Blood stained the steps to the university and staff and paramedics carried out bodies in bags.

A witness said one student had tried to stop the gunman, approaching him and shouting: "Don't shoot, don't shoot!" He was shot in the head.

The gunman killed a security guard and a cleaner as he entered the building, before opening fire on students and teachers, Azeri ANS television reported. Two foreigners -- from Syria and Sudan -- were among the dead, a police source said.

"We all share your grief in these hard days," President Ilham Aliyev said in a message to the families of the victims. "The government ... will undertake all measures regarding this incident."

Police found three ammunition belts and 71 bullets on the body of the gunman, reported to be 29 years old. Officials could not confirm how he died, but Azeri media reported he shot himself in the head.

A senior aide to Aliyev said the motive did not appear to be political, Azeri Trend news agency reported. "Such incidents happen in many countries," Ali Hasanov said.

Novosti-Azerbaijan agency said the man had gone to Baku looking for work, having recently left his family in Russia to return to Azerbaijan. They described him as a loner who had fallen out with his father.

Azerbaijan is a mainly Muslim but secular country of 8.3 million people on the shores of the Caspian Sea. A BP-led oil pipeline ships high quality Azeri crude to the Mediterranean.

April 25, 2009 - Univ. of Georgia professor suspected in shooting deaths still being sought

2009-04-25T16:54:00.000-07:00

http://edition.cnn.com/2009/CRIME/04/25/georgia.shootings/index.html?iref=topnews

Professor sought after 3 shot dead near University of Georgia

ATHENS, Georgia (CNN) -- Police are looking for a University of Georgia professor in connection with the shooting deaths of three people at a community theater group's reunion on Saturday, police said.

Two other people were wounded by ricocheting bullets, Athens-Clarke County Police Capt. Clarence Holeman said. Maj. Mike Shockley said the wounded were not seriously hurt.

Neither Shockley nor Holeman would identify the victims.

"The only thing I can say right now is they were familiar with each other," Holeman said.

Police identified the suspect as George Zinkhan, 56, a professor in the department of marketing and distribution at the University of Georgia's Terry College of Business. They said he had been at a reunion of former and current members of the Town and Gown Players, a 50-year old community theater group, off campus. Watch report and interview by CNN's Richard Lui »

At least 20 people were in attendance at the event, a picnic on the theater's deck, Holeman said. Zinkhan was not at the event initially, Holeman said, but when he arrived, he got into "a disagreement" with one of the people there. He left the scene -- police believe to his car -- and returned with two handguns.

"It only took a few minutes," Holeman said.

Shockley told CNN that officers were searching Zinkhan's home and that a wide search for the suspect was in progress.

"It's still a hunt," he said. "We've got local, regional and national lookouts, and we've sent out a release with his photo and a photo of a vehicle similar to the one he was seen in."

"Now it's just a matter of trying to locate him."

Athens-Clarke County police said that Zinkhan was last seen driving a red, 2005 Jeep Liberty.

Michael Castengera, who teaches at the university, told CNN that his daughter is a board member of the theater and had text-messaged him about the killings and that she was being questioned by police as a witness. He said two of the victims were close friends of hers.

Castengera said that Zinkhan's wife was president of the theater board.

The theater Web site said its present production, "Sherlock Holmes: The Final Adventure," has been canceled.

The university disseminated information about the shooting through a campus-wide alert.

"George Zinkhan is a white male in his mid 50s with a goatee or beard. Current information is that he was last seen wearing a polo shirt, blue shorts, and a backpack. He was last thought to be in a red car in the area of Prince Avenue," the alert said. View a map of the location »

Downtown Athens was crowded Saturday, with many streets blocked off for the 30th Annual Athens Twilight Criterium, a festival and bike race scheduled this weekend that draws 30,000 people annually.

The news reverberated across Athens.

"The University community is shocked and saddened at this tragic event," University of Georgia President Michael F. Adams, said in a written statement. "Our first thoughts are for safety of the university community and for prompt apprehension of the person responsible. Our thoughts and prayers are with the families of all those who have been affected."

Another university professor, Steve Elliott-Gower, told CNN that Zinkhan had been at the school for at least 10 years and was "a distinguished professor with a national reputation."

"He was quirky and aloof, but absolutely nothing that I saw would lead me to this conclusion," said the professor. Elliott-Gower said he didn't know Zinkhan well, but knew him through Zinkhan's wife who, like Elliott-Gower, was associated with the theater.

"There are generations of people in the Athens community that have been involved in the theater," he said. "It's really difficult to imagine how an organization which is this close-knit recovers from something like this."

Is the Economy Why People Are Killing Their Families?

2009-04-21T14:05:00.000-07:00

http://www.opednews.com/articles/Is-the-Economy-Why-People-by-Martha-Rosenberg-090421-94.html

April 21, 2009

Is the Economy Why People Are Killing Their Families?

By Martha Rosenberg

Chicago, IL

The late comedian Richard Pryor used to riff about a fictitious interview with a mass murderer.

"But why did you kill [gulp] everyone in the house?" asks the reporter.

"They was home."

Today it wouldn't be funny.

The occasional Susan Smith or Andrea Yates who kills her kids has given sway to the weekly child, sibling, parent, grandparent, spouse and all-of-the-above killer.

And like an Airbus A320 landing in the Hudson river rather than at the airport we adjust with sweeping efficiency.

This week in the Chicago suburb of Hoffman Estates, D'Andre Howard is accused of killing his girlfriend's sister, father and grandfather and leaving her mother in critical condition.

The same day in Middletown, MD, Christopher Alan Wood killed his wife and three children.

Earlier this month Kerby Revelus killed two of his sisters in Milton, MA--decapitating his younger sister in front of her birthday cake while police watched in horror.

In Orting, WA James Harrison killed his five children.

Last month Devan Kalathat killed his two children and three other relatives in Santa Clara, CA and left his wife in critical condition where she clings to life.

And Michael McLendon murdered his own mother and grandparents in southeast Alabama.

Of course the press is quick to indict the economy for making the US home "less safe" than before--something of an understatement.

It bring to mind Bob Dylan's "The Ballad of Hollis Brown" in which a down and out farmer--who "looked for work and money...and walked a rugged mile" and whose "children are so hungry that they don't know how to smile"--kills his wife and five children in a mercy massacre.

Not only can a bad economy and being destitute turn you into a "family annihilator," say psychologists, so can the threat of losing your wife and kids which produces a feel of loss of control.

Some have even blamed Binghamton murderer Jiverly Voong's spree on his poor English and Kerby Revelus' spree on his lack of job skills after prison.

But of course the elephant in the room is that when people lost their jobs or wives in the past they didn't kill their entire families in a burst--make that gun burst--of irrational rage. Not, at least, every week.

No, behind the deeds of Howard, Wood, Revelus, Harrison, Kalathat and McLendon et al--who are always called "depressed" and "bipolar"-- no doubt are health care professionals thinking I shouldn't have prescribed that psychoactive med and hoping the press doesn't come around.

Especially as California psychiatrist Christian Hageseth III goes to jail for similarly prescribing Prozac to John McKay who killed himself.

There might even be gun sellers--private or licensed--thinking I shouldn't have sold that squirrelly dude that weapon.

After all, killer mother Andrea Yates was on a double dose of Effexor when she drowned her five children in 2001.

And Virginia Tech's Seung-Hui Cho, Binghamton's Jiverly Voong and Pittsburgh's Richard Poplawski passed their background checks with flying colors. Police killer Poplawski even had a Conceal and Carry permit.

No, behind the new spate of family annihilators is not just the economy, job stress and failing marriages: it's a government that approved a cohort of psychoactive drugs with proven homicidal and suicidal side effects. Blockbuster antidepressants and antipsychotics that are kept on the market so their companies can get their "patent's worth."

It's a government that allows unlimited weapon arsenals--including military and assault style weapons which we used to call machine guns--in the hands of all including the unbalanced on "depression" drugs.

Only to act surprised when another "entire family" is killed.

Author's Bio: Martha Rosenberg is columnist and cartoonist based in Chicago

Experts Track The Patterns of Mass Murderers

2009-04-21T14:00:00.000-07:00

http://www.officer.com/web/online/Top-News-Stories/Experts-Track-The-Patterns-of-Mass-Murderers/1$46208

Experts Track The Patterns of Mass Murderers
Posted: April 13th, 2009 11:19 AM GMT-05:00
Mark Roth, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette
Pittsburgh Post-Gazette (Pennsylvania)

In the past month alone, eight multiple-shooting incidents have occurred in the United States and Europe, leaving 70 dead, including the three Pittsburgh police officers killed April 4.

In the criminology trade, they are known as mass murders, and they usually share several common traits, experts say.

The police shootings here, and the actions of suspect Richard Poplawski, fit some of these patterns, they say, but in other ways, the Pittsburgh case and another incident in which four Oakland, Calif., police officers were killed are atypical.

A common factor in most mass murders, said criminologist Jack Levin of Northeastern University in Boston, is revenge.
"At the most basic level," Dr. Levin said, "the revenge is directed against family members," who are the main victims in about 30 percent of all mass killings.

"The next most likely target is the workplace, where an ex-worker who was fired or laid off comes back shooting, killing the boss and co-workers."

And finally, he said, there are mass killers who blame society in general for their problems and may walk into a mall and open fire, or target certain groups for destruction, including, occasionally, the police, because "the police are representatives of society."

Pittsburgh already had two infamous examples of mass killers who targeted certain groups, Dr. Levin said, in the twin rampages in early 2000 of Ronald Taylor, a black man who shot five white men, killing three, and Richard Baumhammers, a white man who shot six people who belonged to racial or ethnic minorities, killing five.

Besides an embittered sense of revenge, the experts said, another common thread in these killings is access to high-powered weapons, which is a particularly American phenomenon.

"You need to understand how our society permits easy access to lots and lots of guns if you're going to understand why these kinds of killings happen so much in the United States as opposed to somewhere else," said David Hemenway, a health policy professor at Harvard University.

"As far as I can tell, the psychological problems of these killers are not unique to the United States, but what is unique is that it's so easy for people in the U.S. to get access to weapons."

Daniel Nagin, a criminologist at Carnegie Mellon University, agreed. "It's technologically impossible to kill a lot of people very quickly without access to these assault weapons," he said.
Besides the revenge motive, mass murderers usually share certain other psychological or behavioral characteristics, the experts said.

Grant Duwe, a criminologist with the Minnesota Department of Corrections who has written a history of mass murders in America, cited five:
* The killer blames others for his problems.
* He is much more likely to have a mental illness, particularly paranoid schizophrenia, than homicide perpetrators in general.
* He is often a loner, with few friends or social connections.
* He carefully plans his attacks, taking days to months to get ready.
* He is much more likely to be suicidal than a typical killer. "Because the mass murderer considers his life no longer worth living, he will either kill himself or force the police to kill him," Dr. Duwe said.

For his doctoral dissertation, Dr. Duwe examined 909 cases of mass murder in America from 1900 through 1999 and found that out of 116 mass public shootings in that data set, 47 percent ended with the killer committing suicide, compared with less than 5 percent among homicide offenders in general.

During the incident April 4, Mr. Poplawski called friends during the shootout with police to say he was going to die that day, although he ended up surrendering to police.

That occasionally happens, said Eric Hickey, director of forensic studies at Alliant International University in San Diego, who has studied mass murders for several years.

"Most of these guys don't plan an exit strategy," he said, "and if they get caught, it's not by design -- it's more that they've vented and they're just out of ammo, and so they sit down and say come and get me."

While the Stanton Heights shootings shared some of the features cited by the experts, it also was unusual in certain key ways.
Franklin Zimring, a renowned criminal justice researcher at the University of California at Berkeley, said the fact that Mr. Poplawski's mother was spared is highly unusual.

In most mass murders, family members are often the first to be killed, especially if they are in conflict with the shooter.
After hearing details of the Pittsburgh incident, he said "mom is pretty strong in that relationship, and the significant factor here seems to be that the mother was going to get him thrown out of the house, and from his perspective this was almost like capital punishment, because it appears he was so dependent on her."

An incident March 21 in which a man killed four Oakland, Calif., police officers and then was shot to death himself also does not fit the usual mass killing pattern, Dr. Zimring said.

The suspect in that case was facing a return to prison when he was pulled over at a traffic stop and probably shot the first officer in a state of panic, "and all the other killings followed from that first one."

The researchers were divided on how much of a role the poor economy has played in the recent surge of multiple shootings.
"Is the economy a stressor?" asked Carnegie Mellon's Dr. Nagin. "Probably. But there are lots of stressors in life, so I'm quite skeptical that there's some systematic explanation for these really tragic events."

Northeastern's Dr. Levin said he doesn't believe the economy directly caused any of the killings but does think it could have been a critical trigger point.

"The economy is not the cause," he said, "but bad economic times create more catastrophic losses, and I can tell you in almost every one of the mass murder cases, there is some triggering event that takes the form of a catastrophic loss, such as a job loss, a loss in the stock market, a loss of a relationship -- some kind of loss that precedes the attack and kind of pushes the killer over the edge."

Dr. Hickey said in the recession of the early 1990s, the United States was seeing almost one multiple killing per week.
Gradually, that declined to about one per month, but "you knew that couldn't last and it started going back up a year ago or so, and in the past three or four months, there has been a spike, which could be an anomaly, but I don't think so."

"I would be shocked if we didn't continue on this track for a while."

While mass murders often focus attention on the kind of people who commit such crimes, it's important not to lose sight of larger issues such as gun regulations, said Harvard's Dr. Hemenway.

Dr. Hemenway drew the analogy of the accident investigation research he sometimes does. It is common in that field to find that many serious crashes occur at one intersection but hardly any at a nearby intersection.

"So what makes for the difference?" he said. "It's not the people who are driving through the intersection because they're the same at each spot, but instead, it's the way we set up the lights or crosswalks or whatever."

Or, as Dr. Hickey put it: "I'm not against guns, but I just think there are lot of people who shouldn't have guns, yet they do."
Copyright 2008 LexisNexis, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Experts: Loss, revenge often drive mass murders

2009-04-21T13:55:00.000-07:00

http://www.newser.com/article/d97da4k00/experts-loss-revenge-often-drive-mass-murders.html

Experts: Loss, revenge often drive mass murders
By ALLEN G. BREED | Associated Press | Apr 6, 09 7:46 PM CDT

Mass murderers are as different as their killing field _ be it a nursing home or a suburban home _ and as diverse as their reasons for killing _ whether it's spousal betrayal or the loss of a job.

But experts say most people who embark on such wholesale slaughter share certain key characteristics: A catastrophic event that triggers a suicidal rage and an unquenchable thirst to get even.

And there is often no way to see it coming.

"I'm not sure you can even predict it," says Mark Safarik, who retired in 2007 as a senior profiler in the FBI's famed Behavioral Analysis Unit.

"It's the constellation or coming together, the perfect storm of someone's last shot at something. For them, there's just no other way out. Or if there's another way out, they don't choose it, because they're going to punish somebody."

Mass murder is nothing new, and the invention of repeating guns only made it easier. But even experts who study the phenomenon have been stunned by the recent rash _ seven in the past month, three in the past week alone. The string of shootings in the U.S. in the last month has claimed the lives of at least 53 people.

"Boy, this is a lot," said Safarik, now a partner with Forensic Behavioral Services International.

Criminologist Jack Levin was not surprised to learn that the man who shot up a Binghamton, New York, immigrant center on Friday had recently been laid off from his job at a vacuum cleaner factory. What puzzled him at first was why Jiverly Wong chose his target.

"If it was only the job loss, why didn't he go back to the work site and kill his manager and his co-workers?" the Northeastern University professor asked himself. "Because that's what we're used to seeing when someone is set off by a termination at work. But he didn't do that."

Then he learned that the 41-year-old Wong _ an ethnic Chinese man raised in Vietnam _ had taken English classes at the American Civic Association, and that he blamed his inability to find and keep work, in part, on his poor language skills. That's when the massacre began to make sense _ or as much sense as any such tragedy can.

Wong's personal failures meant that he had "lost the respect in the eyes of others of the immigrant community," said Levin, co-author of the book "Extreme Killing: Understanding Serial and Mass Murder."

"I'm sure that he was on a suicidal rampage, but first he decided he was going to get even," Levin said of Wong, who killed 13 before ending his own life. "And just like every other mass killing I've studied, his motive _ his primary motive _ was revenge."

Wong's attack came less than a week after a rampage that killed eight in a North Carolina nursing home. And it preceded attacks in Pittsburgh and Washington State that left three police officers and five children dead.

Media coverage of such events blankets the airwaves, and that becomes another factor, Safarik said. In this era of saturation coverage, mass murders seem to beget more mass murders, and the stumbling economy only makes matters worse.

"I think that people that are on the edge, that are contemplating such tragic events, sometimes all it takes is that being highlighted in the media for them to go, 'You know? I could do something like that, I'm THAT angry,'" said Safarik. "It's in their face on the television, and now it's in their thinking pattern.

"It becomes an option that, perhaps earlier on, wasn't an option for them."

Most mass murderers, like most serial killers, are middle-aged, white males, like Robert Stewart _ the man who walked into Pinelake Health and Rehab in Carthage, North Carolina, on March 29 in an apparent search for his estranged wife. But that profile, coupled with the large body count, is where the similarities seem to end.

Serial murderers often kill for sadistic pleasure, said professor James Alan Fox, a colleague of Levin's at Northeastern and his co-author. Mass killers, on the other hand, tend to externalize their homicidal reasonings.

"They always think someone else is to blame. 'My boss doesn't give me the right kinds of assignments. My co-workers don't do enough to help me succeed. My wife doesn't understand me at all, doesn't treat me with respect.'"

Serial killers want the death to go on and on, and they work hard not to get caught, Fox said. But for mass murderers, their own death is a virtual certainty, and they want to take as many with them as possible.

"Before they die, it's very important for them to get some satisfaction, to get even with the people or the institutions or the world that has treated them so badly or made their life so miserable."

Fox and Levin say mass killers fall generally into three categories:

_ People who are angry at a specific person or group of people and who selectively target those individuals.

_ People who are angry at a place _ like city hall _ or a group _ like immigrants _ and kill anyone who happens to represent those things.

_ And, the rarest type, people who target victims at random, such as he sniper who killed 16 and wounded 31 from the tower of the University of Texas administration building in 1966.

That most of these killers are male should come as no surprise: 93 percent of violent crimes are committed by men, Safarik said.

Fox offers several explanations for this gender gap.

First, women tend to blame themselves for their failures and, so, more often simply commit suicide. Also, men tend to have better access to guns and firearms training.

And while women generally see violence as a means of defending themselves or their loved ones, Fox said many men view force as an "offensive weapon."

"Men will often use violence to show them who's boss, to assert control," Fox said. "So if a guy gets fired, he goes back to work and he says, 'You think you fired me? I'm firing you _ literally.'"

Men are also more likely to define themselves by their jobs and their earning capacity, Fox said. In the case of Wong, his frustration was compounded by his inability to master English, which he appears to have blamed on the immigrant center.

"The American dream for him was a nightmare," said Fox. "The land of opportunity, for him, was a cruel joke."

Typically, mass murderers have no criminal record or history of psychiatric treatment, Levin said. That would describe Stewart.

Before he walked into the Pinelake rehab center two Sundays ago, the 45-year-old disabled house painter's only real brush with the law was a drunken-driving charge in the late 1980s.

The apparent object of Stewart's rage, estranged wife Wanda Luck, was supposed to have been working on the main floor the day of the shootings. But through a quirk of fate, she was assigned to the Alzheimer's wing, which was behind a locked, password-protected door.

Had Stewart walked in and immediately found Luck, might the shooting have stopped there? It's possible, Fox said, but unlikely.

"Once they start shooting, the rage continues," he said.

Virginia Tech student Seung-Hui Cho also had no criminal history, aside from the odd speeding ticket. But there were plenty of people who sensed he was a ticking time bomb.

In her new book, "No Right to Remain Silent: The Tragedy at Virginia Tech," former English department chairwoman Lucinda Roy writes of her attempts to tutor Cho after his disturbing behavior and macabre writing got him kicked out of class. During their sessions between October and December 2005, Roy described Cho as someone from whom sadness oozed "like the smell of smoke from a nicotine addict."

Sitting with Cho between her and the office's only exit, Roy felt as if she were talking with "an inanimate object."

"The core of his identity is impenetrable," she wrote of the Korean native, "his gaze strangely neutered, as if he has spent his entire life ridding it of expression."

Roy was frightened for herself and for Cho. But she could not have predicted what was to come.

Initially considered more a suicide risk, Cho was ordered to undergo outpatient counseling, but apparently no one followed up. His anger and feelings of isolation festered until April 16, 2007, when the self-described "boy named LOSER" went on a campus killing spree that left 33 dead _ including himself.

In a recorded manifesto mailed to the media after he killed his first two victims, Cho lashed out at the "brats" and "snobs" with their trust funds, fancy cars, jewelry and cognac. Like Columbine (Colorado) High School killers Eric Harris and Dylan Klebold, to whom he dedicated his slaughter, Cho declared that he was wreaking revenge for countless slights and indignations _ real or imagined.

"You had a hundred billion chances and ways to have avoided today," the 23-year-old snarled into the camera lens. "But you decided to spill my blood. You forced me into a corner and gave me only one option. The decision was yours."

In many cases, there are warning signs of impending attacks that go unrecognized or ignored. But often, Levin said, it is virtually impossible to know that someone bent on suicide has decided to take others with them.

Like Wong, hundreds of thousands of Americans have been laid off in recent months. And Stewart, who was taken alive, is not the first man whose wife has left him.

Many other people "have all these symptoms, but they never get the disease," Levin said. "They may blame other people for their problems. They may be isolated so they have no support systems in place. And, yet, they don't hurt anybody."

NARCISSISM, IDEOLOGY, AND MASS MURDER

2009-04-21T11:12:00.000-07:00

http://shrinkwrapped.blogs.com/blog/2009/04/whenever-there-is-a-mass-murder-outbreak-in-america-the-amateur-psychologists-look-to-find-the-causes-in-the-ideology-of-the.html

April 06, 2009

Whenever there is a mass murder outbreak in America, the amateur Psychologists look to find the causes in the ideology of the people they disagree with. When a failed human being in Pittsburgh, spewing anti-Semitism and virulent right wing ravings, murdered four police officers, the left jumped at the opportunity to attribute the murders to his politics. Note the inane comments of Oliver Willis in which he attacks those who have the temerity to suggest that conservatism does not necessarily equate to hate or facilitate mass murder: [HT: Glenn Reynolds]

The conservative blogs are enraged that people are pointing out that they have and are stoking the fires of an atmosphere of hate that leads to police officers getting killed. As I’ve written for years, this is part of their pattern of behavior in America and for too long we’ve accepted their verbal diarrhea and incitements to violence as honest political dialogue and not the insanity it is.

Apparently Oliver Willis believes that if there are some on the far right who propagate conspiracy theories, then all Conservatives are responible when one disturbed individual commits mass murder. This is the equivalent of charging that since some on the left propagate the theory that the current financial meltdown was caused by greedy Wall Street Capitalists, then they are responsible for the anarchists at the G-20 breaking windows. Only someone who believes that other people have no independent agency can believe such nonsense.

Consider a psychological explication that is closer tot he material. In response to yet another mass murder in Binghamton, this one by a failed human being who happens to be a Vietnamese immigrant, Dr. Helen takes a more nuanced view and asks some reasonable questions: [HT: Dr. Helen's husband]

I do wonder how much a sense of entitlement (these types of killers often display a sense of narcissism) combined with continued coverage of how bad America is played a part in contributing to this killer's distorted thinking process? Psychologists and experts often find that in mass killers:

..."the central role of narcissism plainly connects them. Only a narcissist could decide that his alienation should be underlined in the blood of strangers..."

... In America, we continue to teach people to be more and more reliant on government and in a sense, never grow up. How will a nation of victims play out over the coming years? Will we see more of this type of violence? Mass killings are rare but what are the other repercussions that a lack of personal responsibility combined with a sense of entitlement will bring?

Dr. Helen gets much closer to the essence of mass murder when she brings in the subject of Narcissism.

Doubtless, people like Oliver Willis will find ways to excoriate her post as an example of ideological blindness but what people like Willis fail to recognize is how closely the far left and the raving right resemble each other. They are mirror images. For the left, society's ills would be addressed if only the immoral capitalists (bankers, Wall Street executives, greedy businessmen, et al) were better controlled by the good and wise liberal political class. The extremist right believes we could return to a more perfect union if only the blacks and the Jews and the immigrants would go back where they came from and the true Americans, white Christians all, were to be back in control. In either case, all of our shortcomings are externalized onto convenient scapegoats. All that is different is the identity of the chosen enemy.

People with Narcissistic pathology never recognize their own culpability for problems. It is too painful and intolerable. The Narcissist has a damaged self. When the environment (esp other people) support his self esteem, he does relatively well. He may be charming and charismatic and appear to be self assured and in command of himself. However, should the other fail him the pain of the assault on his self esteem is destabilizing. The Narcissist reacts to failure with terrible shame which evokes rage. The rage, if held within, leads to despair; suicidal depression is a danger at those times. When the rage is directed at the object who is imagined to have caused the humiliation (or has actually caused the humiliation, as by a lover's rejection) the outcome can be murderous. Often enough the rage is inchoate and the objects include those who have caused his pain (America, the Jews, women, and the police as symbols of the frustrating society) and murder-suicide is the outcome. The most severe form of Narcissistic pathology is Malignant Narcissism, which I described in a series on Narcissism, Malignant Narcissism, and Paranoia: Part III:

In more severe cases, the existence of the other person’s mind and life is simply of no consequence. For the Malignant Narcissist, other people are mere props in the pageantry of their lives. A tyrant can throw someone into a shredding machine without a second thought because the victim only matters in relation to how he can support the grandiosity of the tyrant; beyond that, he is faceless, nameless, worthless. It was no accident that Saddam Hussein was surrounded by sycophants who all grew mustaches to look just like him.

As might be apparent from the descriptions of narcissism, the attitude of the other is extremely important (narcissists are very sensitive to slights from others and almost anything that is not supportive is felt as criticism or attack One can see how, as you move down the spectrum from the healthy narcissist who has a concern and regard for the best wishes of others, to the more pathological narcissist who is intensely needful of being aggrandized, to the malignant narcissist who demands obeisance just as he can not trust anyone to really think well of him, you are moving down a spectrum from sensitivity to paranoia.

Further complicating the situation is that the Narcissistic Character is extraordinarily sensitive to humiliation and equally intolerant of it.

Jim Lindgren wrote a chapter in his PhD thesis on a relevant question:

"Testing Social Dominance: Is Support for Capitalism and Opposition to Income Redistribution Driven by Racism and Intolerance?"

It is sad that Willis would point to Republicans as particularly angry or vengeful, when those who strongly favor income redistribution (a central position of the current Administration) are more than twice as likely as strong opponents of leveling to admit that they responded to their anger by plotting revenge.

I would suggest that it not that those who favor income redistribution who are most prone to anger and revenge fantasies but that those who most readily deny their own responsibility for their circumstances and tend to externalize, ie blame others, who are most likely to respond with anger and revenge fantasies to perceived or real frustrations. I suspect that those who externalize are more likely to look to a presumed benevolent (toward them) Other (ie, the government) to make things right and will be attracted to redistributionist ideas. That does not, of course, mean that people can not come to such ideas from different and healthier psychological organizations and favoring redistribution is hardly diagnostic.

Finally, to return to Dr. Helen's comments; the combination of "a lack of personal responsibility combined with a sense of entitlement" is indeed a combustible combination. We see this combination on a daily basis in Adolescents, who often develop a hostile-dependent relationship with the parents whose support they they need and whose limits they resent. Needless to say, most Adolescents remain within the bounds of what we loosely refer to as normal and negotiate the trials and tribulations of adolescence without resorting to murder, though their rage when frustrated can be quite daunting.

We are now a Nation filled with overgrown adolescents used to getting whatever we desire. Perhaps the most worrisome problem is that, at last, we are going to have to learn to live within our means.

Australia bushfires: Arsonists guilty of 'mass murder' says PM

2009-04-21T11:09:00.000-07:00

http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2009/feb/09/australia-bushfires

Australia bushfires death toll may reach 200

The Australian prime minister accused arsonists of "mass murder" today as the death toll from the deadliest bushfires in the country's history reached 135. Officials in Victoria believe some of the 400 fires that reduced towns to blackened ruins may have been deliberately set, or have been helped to jump containment lines. The incinerated towns have been officially declared as crime scenes.

The prime minister, Kevin Rudd, announced a $10m (£4.5m) emergency relief fund and said: "Hell in all its fury has visited the good people of Victoria ... many good people now lie dead."

Speaking about the fears that arson could have played a part, he said: "What do you say about anyone like that [an arsonist]? There's no words to describe it, other than it's mass murder.

"This is of a level of horror that few of us anticipated."

Mike Rann, the South Australian premier, described the arsonists as "terrorists" and "the enemy within".

Authorities said the number of people known to have died would almost certainly rise as they reached deeper into the disaster zone, while forecasters warned that temperatures would rise again later in the week, raising the possiblity of further flare-ups. At least 80 people were in hospital with burns.

"I think it [the body count] will be up into the 100s ... 200," acting Sergeant Scott Melville told the Melbourne Age. "It's like a war zone up here ... it's like a movie scene."

Police have sealed off Marysville and Kinglake, where dozens of people died, setting up roadside checkpoints and controlling access to the area. Outside Marysville, residents who fled and news crews were told they could not enter because there were still bodies in the streets.

The Victoria police commissioner, Christine Nixon, said specialist fire investigators were at Churchill, east of Melbourne, and had strong suspicions that the blaze there had been started deliberately.

Kinglake saw the biggest loss of life, but "wherever a death occurred we investigate that as a crime", she told ABC radio.

Victoria's premier, John Brumby, broke down, saying: "It is just a day I hope in my lifetime I never see repeated."

The state has roasted in extreme temperatures – the highest in 70 years – for a fortnight, with the fires driven by hot winds of more than 60mph.

Officials said panic and the speed of the firefront probably accounted for the unusually high death toll, which have made this the country's worst natural disaster in more than a century.

Many tried to escape the acrid smoke in their cars, but some did not make it as trees exploded and blocked their path.

Nixon said it appeared some people had simply run out of time. "We're finding [bodies] on the side of roads, in cars that crashed," she told a news conference.

John Handmer, a wildfire safety expert at the Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology, said research had shown that people in the path of a blaze must get out early or stay inside until the worst has past.

"Fleeing at the last moment is the worst possible option," he said. "Sadly, this message does not seem to have been sufficiently heeded this weekend with truly awful consequences in Victoria."

ABC radio told of a car seen in a small reservoir, after the driver apparently steered there in desperation.

The Victoria Country Fire Service said some 850 square miles (2,200 kilometres) were burned out, with entire forests reduced to leafless, charred trunks.

The army has been called in to help thousands of exhausted firefighters as more than a dozen fires still burned uncontrollably across the state.

Fifty fires were also raging across New South Wales, where temperatures reached 46C (115F) yesterday.

Survivors said the devastated areas looked as though they had been hit by a nuclear bomb, and those who had started the blazes "must pay".

Brumby said a royal commission, among the highest-level investigations that can be called under Australian law, would be held.

A former judge is usually appointed to take extensive evidence and make formal findings that can lead to charges or changes in the law.

Anyone found guilty of lighting a wildfire causing death faces 25 years in prison in Victoria, but a murder conviction could result in a life sentence, the federal attorney general, Robert McClelland, said.

From the devastation, stories of survival began to emerge. Nine Network television reported that one woman, Nesh Sinclair, sheltered with her children in the burrow of a wombat as the worst of the fire passed.

Survivors scoured lists compiled by the Australian Red Cross at 20 emergency relief centres, looking for missing relatives. More than 4,000 people had registered themselves with the agency.

Parliament suspended its normal sessions today to hear condolence speeches by legislators, many of them speaking in voices that quavered with emotion.

Gordon Brown told Rudd the UK was ready to help Australia, and the Queen offered her condolences to the bereaved families.

A veteran television newsreader, Brian Naylor, and his wife were among the victims. A firefighter's family died as he tried to protect the residents of another fire-ravaged town.

Mary Avola, from Strathewen, 30 miles north-east of Melbourne, described how she and her husband, Peter, had attempted to flee their endangered home on foot.

The 67-year-old told her to go on ahead, and she has not seen him since.

"He was behind me for a while," she told the Age. "He just told me to go, and that's the last time I saw him."

Residents of the worst-hit areas of Victoria told of the extraordinary speed at which the fires travelled and said they feared there "was not going to be a tomorrow".

A thick blanket of black ash blotted out the sun, leaving a "horrible orange glow", one resident said, adding: "It rained fire."

Others described how flames four storeys high raced across the land, wiping out towns within an hour.

The alpine town of Marysville was flattened street by street.

Witness Victoria Harvey told the Australian Associated Press that a businessman watched as a car in which his two children were sheltering went up in flames.

"He put his kids in the car, turned around to go grab something from the house, then his car was on fire with his kids in it and they burned," she said.

Jack Barber said he fled his house in Pheasant Creek with his wife and a few belongings on Saturday and spent the night on a sports field dodging flames before driving out of the disaster zone on Sunday.

"There were dead horses, live horses, kangaroos bouncing down the road with flames at their back. It was horrific," he said.

Jim, from Tanjil South, was seeking refuge in his swimming pool as embers dropped in the water around him.

He told ABC radio it was "as dark as midnight" and "we can smell the fire ... we're still in the pool here and we can hardly see here, it's so dark".

At least 750 homes have been destroyed and more than 330,000 hectares of land burnt. The authorities said some fires could take weeks to contain.

guardian.co.uk © Guardian News and Media Limited 2009

8 and Counting: Mass Murders in 2009

2009-04-21T11:06:00.000-07:00

http://abcnews.go.com/Health/MindMoodNews/story?id=7288842

As Nation Reels From Latest Killings, Some Say Such Shootings Are on the Rise

By DAN CHILDS
ABC News Medical Unit
April 8, 2009

A brutal shooting spree in Alabama. A mass slaying in a nursing home on a Sunday morning. A bloody rampage at an immigration center.

As the public struggles to uncover the reasons behind the eight seemingly senseless mass murders so far this year, many researchers are working to determine whether this apparent surge in violence indicates a larger trend, and whether to expect more in the months to come.

Mark Kopta, chairman and professor in the department of psychology at the University of Evansville in Indiana, has researched extensively the country's mass killings, which he defines as attacks leading to the deaths of at least five people, including the killer's suicide.

"This is not a savory subject," Kopta said.

But, he added, it may be one that is becoming increasingly relevant to the U.S. public. In a paper to be presented at the annual meeting of the Midwestern Psychological Association in Chicago this month, he found three incidents in the United States fitting this profile between 1930 and 1970. Three more followed over the course of the 1970s.

In the 1980s, however, there were 10 such incidents of mass murder. The 1990s had 17; and, since the new millennium began, there have been 25 such mass murders.

Six of them occurred last year. And 2009 has already topped that with eight such killings.

Eight Mass Murders So Far in 2009

Police believe Ervin Lupoe of Los Angeles fatally shot his wife, his five children and himself Jan. 27 after faxing a note to a local television station claiming the couple had just been fired from their hospital jobs. A Cleveland man, Davon Crawford, killed his newlywed wife, his sister-in-law and three young children March 5 before shooting himself to death when cornered by police.

The four mass shootings in March made it the bloodiest month yet this year. Michael McLendon of Kinston, Ala., killed 10 people -- five family members and five other people -- before committing suicide March 10 in a factory in which he formerly held a job. Guillermo Lopez of Miami opened fire at a party March 15, killing his estranged wife and three other people before returning to his apartment, setting fire to it and shooting himself.

Jiverly Wong shot 13 people to death April 3 before taking his own life.
Five days later, Robert Stewart entered a nursing home in Carthage, N.C., March 20 and opened fire on residents, killing seven of them along with one nursing home employee. And Devan Kalathat, an engineer at Yahoo living in Santa Clara, Calif., fatally shot his two children and three other relatives March 29 at a family party before turning the gun on himself.

The first six killings set the stage for two more tragedies so far this month, the first an April 3 rampage in which Jiverly Wong entered an immigration center in Binghamton, N.Y., armed with two handguns. Police told the Associated Press that the man fired 98 shots, killing 13 other people before taking his own life.

The country's latest mass shooting occurred in the early hours of Saturday morning, when James Harrison of Graham, Wash. killed his five children before driving to a nearby casino and shooting himself inside his car. Authorities told the Associated Press that Harrison committed the murders after he learned from his wife that she was planning on leaving him.

Do Eight Mass Killings Make a Trend?

By Kopta's count, the Binghamton shooting pushed 2009's mass murder total beyond the six of 2008. Still, the overall number of these incidents remains relatively small, which makes it difficult to draw any solid conclusions on the reasons behind the shootings.

"We don't have enough data to say anything for sure; the numbers are too small," he said. "Right now, it looks like a trend. Is it a temporary trend? We don't know."

Robert Stewart entered a nursing home and opened fire March 20, killing eight. Stewart was arrested before he could commit suicide.
Grant Duwe, criminologist with the Minnesota Department of Corrections in St. Paul, agreed that it is far too early to divine a solid pattern underlying the recent spate of high-profile shootings.

"It's difficult to know for certain why there appears to be a recent increase in mass murder and, more narrowly, mass public shootings," Duwe said.

Plus, he noted, mass murder is all about how you define it. In his 2007 book, "Mass Murder in the United States: A History," Duwe takes a look at incidents in which four or more victims were killed within a 24-hour period, and in which the killer was not necessarily suicidal. Using this formula, he examined 909 such murders in the United States that took place between 1900 and 1999.

As opposed to Kopta's figures, in which mass murder cases progress from a flat line through the 1970s to a rapidly ascending curve in the 1990s, Duwe's graph looks more like a saddle, with more mass shootings occurring before and after a pronounced trough in the 1940s and 1950s.

"In my book, I argue that the trough in the mass murder rate during the 1940s and 50s may have been due to the upsurge in pro-social indicators like marriage, family, jobs, college attendance, home ownership, church attendance and an overall higher standard of living," he said. "Although the rise in pro-social indicators did not deter everyone from committing mass murder, it may have dissuaded those at the margins."

But even Duwe said that this model, too, presents far more questions than answers. "It's important to emphasize that this is speculative, as empirical research is still needed to better identify the causes and correlates of mass murder," he said.

Cause for Violence

The lack of solid answers has not quelled speculation within the public as to the reason for this year's early cluster of mass murders. Much of this speculation revolves around the economic downturn, particularly when it comes to the cases in which the shooter had recently lost a job or was otherwise facing financial hardship.

But Jeffrey Adler, a professor of history and criminology at the University of Florida in Gainesville, said that, historically, this explanation does not work well.

Michael McLendon 's March 10 shooting spree ended in his own suicide at a factory where he used to work.
"Throughout U.S. history, murder has not increased when the economy has taken a downturn," Adler said. "For example, the 1930s [the time of the Great Depression] may have been the safest decade in American history.

"It's too easy and too formulaic to say that this is a response to the downturn in the economy," he continued. "If that's the case, then other depressions in U.S. history should have left the nation awash with blood, which they didn't."

Likewise, other external factors, such as discontent with the government, or the disenfranchisement of a racial group, provide no simple template that ensconces all of this year's violent episodes. Indeed, a look at the eight mass murders so far this year reveal that some seem to have been sparked by domestic disputes, while others appear to have been triggered by social isolation, and others still seem completely random.

"This does not fit a single pattern, or even two or three patterns," Adler said.

Rage May Be Common Thread in Mass Shootings

But what does seem to be a common thread is anger. And Kopta said that uncovering the roots of this anger is critical to understanding these tragedies.

"Anger is the most seductive emotion of all," he said. "When people get angry, they don't want to stop being angry."

In his research, Kopta identified one potential source as media influence.

On March 5, Davon Crawford killed his wife, his sister-in-law and three young children before shooting himself to death.
"We have not targeted any specific content," he said. "But some of it is very dark; it has to do with hatred of other people, or how unfair the world is."

It is a point with which Duwe disagrees. Rather, he said his research identifies 10 common threads that appear to link mass public shooting throughout U.S. history, including mental illness, social isolation, a motive of revenge and a triggering event that ultimately sets the horrific deed into motion.

Other patterns, such as a seeming increase during particular months, are most likely spurious, Kopta said.

"Is there something about March that makes people more at risk? I wouldn't think so," he said. "I would be careful creating patterns that aren't necessarily consistent with what is happening."

Preventing the Next Mass Murder

The unpredictable nature of mass murders makes preventing them a nearly insurmountable challenge, the researchers said. Still, some maintain that the United States can take steps to reduce the likelihood of such tragedies -- and few are more vocal than those with the Brady Campaign to Prevent Gun Violence.

"This particular month has just been a catastrophe for folks who do what we do; it's been a rough month," said Doug Pennington, spokesman for the Brady Campaign. "People aren't interested as much in what we have to say until something like this happens."

Investigators believe unemployment may have been a factor in the Jan. 27 shooting committed by Ervin Lupoe, during which he fatally shot his wife, his five children and himself.
But he said the fact that all of these killings involved firearms offers a glaring clue as to what might be done to curb these episodes.

"From our perspective, we have encountered events like this for so long, and we interpret events like this less from the root causes and concentrate more on a common denominator," he said. "You don't have these events without a dangerous person getting their hands on a firearm. ... They're not using baseball bats, they're not using Frisbees, they're not using knives, they're not using any other weapons."

He said that the top three agenda items for the Brady Campaign are to enforce criminal background checks on all gun sales, to limit the bulk sales of handguns and to limit the availability of military-style assault weapons.

Still, several of this year's mass murders could have still occurred, even if all three of these measures had been in place. Pennington said this fact underscores the need to talk about gun sales to mentally disturbed individuals.

"We could have an open-ended discussion in this country about the Jiverly Wongs of this world," he said. "The mental health aspect is not a part of our core agenda right now, but it could be if we all, as a country, had a conversation about it."

Associated Press reports contributed to this story.

Copyright © 2009 ABC News Internet Ventures

Recession blamed for sharp increase in shooting sprees

2009-04-21T10:59:00.000-07:00

http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/world/us_and_americas/article6069944.ece

April 10, 2009

The US economic crisis and soaring job losses have brought a rash of killings across America with at least 58 fatalities in eight incidents over the past month.

A Vietnamese immigrant who had recently been sacked from his job at a vacuum cleaner factory stormed into an immigration centre in New York State last week and killed 13 people before turning the gun on himself. A letter sent by the gunman to a local television station blamed his “poor life” and police harassment for the rampage.

In Oakland, California, a 26-year-old man on parole shot and killed four police officers after a routine traffic check on March 21. His relatives said that he was frustrated about not finding work and feared returning to jail.

Two weeks later, in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, an unemployed man opened fire, killing three police officers.

In January a man in Los Angeles sent a letter to a local television station filled with tales of job loss, mounting debt and bad cheques. He was found dead, having shot his wife and five children before killing himself. It was the fifth such incident in the Los Angeles area in a year.

While detailed statistics on such tragedies have begun to be kept only in recent years, experts note an emerging pattern. Kristen Rand, legislative director for the Washington-based Violence Policy Centre, said that in most so-called murder-suicides, particularly in the “family annihilator scenarios”, there was “clear, significant involvement of financial pressure”.

“And there has clearly been an increase since the economic down-turn,” she added.

Mark Safarik, a former FBI profiler, is also startled at the number of deaths. “Boy, this is a lot,” he said. He noted that most people who commited such crimes shared the presence of a single catastrophic event, or trigger. “It’s the . . . perfect storm of someone’s last shot at something. For them there’s just no other way out. Or if there’s another way out, they don’t choose it, because they’re going to punish somebody,” Mr Safarik said.

He added: “I think that people that are on the edge, that are contemplating such tragic events, sometimes all it takes is that being highlighted in the media for them to go, ‘You know, I could do something like that. I’m that angry’.”

The recent spate of shootings has also reignited the emotive US debate over gun control. In 2005, the most recent year for which official records exist, there were 11,346 gun-related killings in the United States. In England and Wales there were 50 homicides involving firearms during the reporting period from 2005-06.

Gun-control advocates hope that a new Democratic Administration will mean an opportunity to tighten restriction on firearms but others fear losing their weapons. The shooter who murdered three police officers in Pittsburgh, friends said, feared that the Obama Administration would take away his guns.

Paul Helmke, president of the Brady Campaign to Prevent Gun Violence, said: “We have a gun crisis in America. As important as the economic crisis is, the right to be safe at home and work and play needs at least as much attention from our policymakers as the right to economic security.” Calling for tougher gun laws, he added: “What we’re doing now is not working.”

Recession increases likelihood of violence

2009-04-21T10:57:00.001-07:00

http://www.leaderpost.com/story_print.html?id=1510087&sponsor=

BY THOMAS JOLICOEUR, CANWEST NEWS SERVICEAPRIL 18, 2009

The economic downturn is creating an ideal breeding ground for violence, often against employers and families, researchers say.

"We are seeing an increase in workplace violence across the country, and it's likely to get a lot worse as the unemployment rate continues to escalate," says Jack Levin, the Irving and Betty Brudnick professor of sociology and criminology at Boston's Northeastern University.

Levin believes that unless awareness of worker stress is increased, tragedies such as a shooting in Vancouver -- in which a man killed his ex-boss at the company Christmas party last December a day after being fired -- will not only continue to happen, but will become more common.

The Times of London reported last week that job losses in the U.S. have led to 58 fatalities in eight incidents in the last month. Among them a Vietnamese man who had been fired from his factory job who killed 13 people at an immigration centre in Binghampton, N.Y.

But according to Kevin Kelloway, a workplace violence expert at St. Mary's University in Halifax, there are ways to prevent these violent outbursts.

Kelloway said that since such incidents often result from "the feeling of being unfairly treated, having nowhere else to turn,"' keeping people away from the edge to begin with is the best way to minimize the risk of violence.

He said that this can usually be accomplished with a little empathy.

"With layoffs, you don't just tell a person they're gone -- you arrange for counselling, you give them options," said Kelloway.

"You never want someone to feel that this is the end of the road, there's nothing they can do."

The economic crisis, according to Kelloway, magnifies the situation as people are generally more stressed and therefore more prone to violence. "It can literally be the straw that broke the camel's back," he said.

As such, the risk isn't limited to people who have been fired, but also those who may feel unfairly treated in the workplace.

"This external stress can lead seemingly mundane workplace altercations to escalate quickly," said Kelloway, adding that external stress caused by the economic meltdown puts added emphasis on miscommunications or misunderstandings.

Kelloway noted that developing a "general responsibility ... to respect the people you work with," alleviates most of these issues and is the best way to keep someone from snapping.

These are not suggestions that should be taken lightly, said Levin, whose studies of FBI data in the early 1990s -- the last time the economy was shrinking and unemployment was soaring -- showed the rate of supervisors being murdered by their subordinates in that period peaked, with bosses being killed twice as often as they had been 10 years earlier.

Levin also found no general long-term trend in mass killings, with one exception.

"Whenever the unemployment rate goes up, so does the incidence of mass killings. There is an incredibly strong relationship," he said.

The author of several books on mass murder, Levin said extreme violence is usually a result of someone who is "psychologically alone" and at the end of their rope who suffers a catastrophic loss -- like being fired or getting divorced -- which sends them over the edge.

"During economic hard times, there are simply more people who have suffered catastrophic losses, so you find more workplace violence," he said.

Richard Earle, director of the Canadian Institute of Stress, said uncertainty -- like that caused by economic chaos and job loss -- is the main factor in stress elevation.

"Humans respond to uncertainty very badly," said Earle. "Under high stress, people always catastrophize."

Some Link Economy With Spate Of Killings

2009-04-21T10:50:00.000-07:00

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/04/07/AR2009040703979_pf.html

In One Month, 57 Die In Eight Mass Murders
By Philip Rucker
Washington Post Staff Writer
Wednesday, April 8, 2009; A03

In Binghamton, N.Y., a Vietnamese immigrant upset about losing his job burst into an immigration center and killed 13 people before killing himself. In Pittsburgh, police said a gun enthusiast recently discharged from the Marine Corps opened fire and killed three police officers. And in Graham, Wash., investigators said a man whose wife was leaving him shot and killed five of his children in their mobile home before taking his own life.

The carnage that occurred during less than 48 hours last week capped a recent string of unusually brazen mass killings, which crime experts say have touched more people and occurred in more public settings than in any time in recent memory. Comparative statistics are difficult to come by, but during the past month alone, at least eight mass homicides in this country have claimed the lives of 57 people. Just yesterday, four people were discovered shot to death in a modest wood-frame home in a remote Alabama town.

The factor underlying the violence, some experts think, is the dismal state of the nation's economy. Criminologists theorize that the epidemic of layoffs, the meltdown of storied American corporations and the uncertainty of recovery have stoked fear, anxiety and desperation across society and unnerved its most vulnerable and dangerous.

"I've never seen such a large number [of killings] over such a short period of time involving so many victims," said Jack Levin, a noted criminologist at Northeastern University who has authored or co-authored eight books on mass murder.

The simple fact, criminologist James Alan Fox said, is that more Americans are struggling.

"The American dream to them is a nightmare, and the land of opportunity is but a cruel joke," said Fox, also of Northeastern, who has been dubbed the "dean of death" for his analysis of mass murders. "The economic pie is shrinking to the point where it looks more like a Pop Tart and some feel all they're getting is the crumbs. There's a combination of feeling despair and hopelessness at the same time as a certain degree of anger and blame."

Other crime experts caution, however, against drawing such conclusions.

"Because homicides are fairly rare, it is hard to see patterns even when ones exist," said Shawn Bushway, a criminologist at the University of Albany. "It's like reading tea leaves. I don't make much of it. I don't think you can say anything definitively one way or another."

Predictably, the carnage has focused attention on the nation's gun laws. Paul Helmke, president of the Brady Campaign to Prevent Gun Violence, said it is too easy for dangerous people to acquire guns.

"The common denominator in all these is that they're all using a gun," Helmke said of the recent killings. "You don't see police officers in Pittsburgh being killed by people throwing knives at them. . . . We've always had violence, but in the old days you couldn't take out so many people so quickly. Now we make it very easy to do that."

The Rev. Jesse L. Jackson called the recent spate of killings "domestic terrorism" and said he hoped the slaughter would be a wake-up call for policymakers.

"You can't grow businesses in war zones," said Jackson, who recently visited cities beset by gun violence. "You can't go to school in war zones. You can't play in the park in war zones."

Experts agree that most mass murderers share one trait: a traumatic event such as a layoff, divorce or separation that sets off an internal rage and a desire for revenge.

"It could be the loss of a job, the loss of a lot of money in the stock market, the loss of a relationship as in a nasty separation or divorce, the loss of a child who is in a child custody battle," Levin said. "There are just simply more catastrophic losses than there were when the economy was in good shape."

Consider the case of Bruce Jeffrey Pardo, a 45-year-old electrical engineer whose life swiftly turned sour last fall. His wife divorced him and he lost his job and his beloved dog, Saki. On Christmas Eve, Pardo dressed as Santa Claus for a holiday party hosted by his ex-wife's parents at their home at the end of a quiet cul-de-sac in a Los Angeles suburb.

Pardo rang the bell, swung open the door and opened fire on the party guests with a semiautomatic handgun before dousing the home with gasoline and setting it ablaze, authorities said. He killed nine people, including his ex-wife, before taking his own life.

"He was looking for revenge, which is almost always the motive in these mass killings," Levin said. "It wasn't enough to get her, but he wanted to get everything associated with her, everything she loved, everything he identified with her."

Since then, mass shootings have plagued communities in all corners of the country. Late last month, a gunman barged into a nursing home in Carthage, N.C., looking for his estranged wife. Police say he killed seven elderly residents and a nurse who cared for them. His wife, a nurse's assistant, escaped by hiding in a bathroom.

Five days later in Binghamton, a man wearing body armor burst into a New York state immigration center where he had studied English and opened fire on immigrants taking an exam to become U.S. citizens, authorities said.

"The nursing home in North Carolina and the community center in Binghamton were not randomly chosen locations," Fox said. "It's not just some gunman walking down the street. They're very deliberate choices and reflect the anger and blame that the killer has."

March 2009 - List of Mass Murder for March

2009-04-21T10:48:00.000-07:00

http://mediamatters.org/countyfair/200904030025?show=1

Rampage Nation: The press shouldn't be shocked when it happens all the time
Published Fri, Apr 3, 2009 5:21pm ET by Eric Boehlert

The sad news from Binghamton, New York, has once again turned the media's attention to the scene of a gun-fueled mass killing. But once again, the rampage coverage seems to be context-free, in that the press rarely connects the most current killing spree with all the ones before it, or steps back to wonder what is going on nationwide.

As I recently wrote:

The press now covers shooting sprees the way it covers killer tornadoes: They're one-day stories, they're acts of nature, and all people can do is try to stay out of the way.

The fact is, the shooting in Binghamton is the third killing spree this week. Nearly 30 Americans have been shot dead from mass murder rampages in the last six days. But the press pretends each bloody incident is completely isolated. They're not. There have been at least two dozen mass murders in the last 25 months. Here's a look at some of the U.S. shooting rampages that have unfolded in just the last 30 days:

April 3: Reports indicate a gunman Jiverly Voong backed up his car to the door of the American Civic Association in Binghamton, New York, in order to make sure people could not escape when he walked in the front door, killed the receptionist and then went from room to room assassinating as many as people as he could. The gunman, wearing a bullet-proof vest and a satchel of ammunition, later killed himself. Fourteen dead, four wounded.

March 29: In the upscale Santa Clara, California, neighborhood, Devan Kalathat shot and killed two of his children, three other relatives and then himself. Six dead, one injured.

March 29: Heavily armed suspect Robert Stewart, entered a local retirement home in Carthage, North Carolina, and began randomly shooting patients and employees with his high-powered rifle. Eight dead and three wounded.

March 15: A Miami man, Guillermo Lopez, barged into a birthday thrown for his ex-wife's boyfriend. An argument erupted. Lopez cornered some party goers in the back yard and opened fire, killing four people, including his ex-wife. Lopez drove to his home, set his pick-up truck on fire, and killed himself. Five dead.

March 10: Firing more than 200 rounds from two assault rifles, a shotgun and a handgun, Michael McClendon went on a two-hour killing spree in south Alabama, killing family members, strangers, and then himself. Eleven dead, seven wounded.

March 5: Ex-con Davon Crawford killed his new wife, his wife's sister, and her sister's three small children during a killing spree in downtown Cleveland. Days later Crawford killed himself. Six dead.

Are We Numb To Mass Murder?

2009-04-21T10:42:00.000-07:00

http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2009/04/05/sunday/main4920311.shtml

April 5, 2009

(CBS) In upstate New York, the people of Binghamton are still trying to figure out the rampage on Friday in which a gunman killed 13 people before turning his weapon on himself. As CBS News correspondent Jeff Glor reports, so are we all …
Jiverly Wong, a 41-year-old immigrant from Vietnam, often complained to friends and family about being criticized for his poor English skills.

In frustration, he dropped out of language classes at the American Civic Association in Binghamton, N.Y., where he returned on Friday armed with two handguns and wearing body armor.

After blocking the back door with his vehicle, Wong walked through the front door and began firing, killing one receptionist and wounding another, before moving on to a classroom filled with fellow immigrants and a teacher.

There, he took 12 more lives before taking his own.

One man whose wife was one of the victims asked, "What is it about American society that keeps turning out these kinds of people? What is it about our society that keeps driving people to do things like this?"

The shooting has stunned Binghamton, just as mass shootings of civilians have stunned so many communities.

You remember Columbine ten years ago: 15 dead. And then Virginia Tech two years ago: 32 dead.

But you may not remember the shootings that left ten dead in southeastern Alabama, or the eight who died in a North Carolina nursing home … the six dead in Santa Clara, California … and now Binghamton.

Then there's yesterday morning's shooting of three police officers in Pittsburgh, and the five children apparently murdered by their father in Washington State before he killed himself.

Six mass shootings that have taken 47 lives in just four weeks' time.

It seems that no town, big or small, is immune. But why? Is there more violence - and is our reaction to it changing?

"Tragically, I think many Americans have become more desensitized, more numb to the mass murder, to the massacre, because it is no longer that unusual," said Howard Kurtz, a media critic for the Washington Post.

"It doesn't mean that everybody doesn't get a feeling in their gut when they hear that a bunch of innocent people have died at the hands of one crazy gunman, but it is no longer a story that we've never heard of before," said Kurtz. "So there's a certain ritual to it. We know what to expect."

Part of what we expect are expressions of condolences from our political leaders … but that is where it all seems to stop.

CBS News legal analyst Andrew Cohen says that, in this climate, more is not likely to happen.

"I just don't think [as] a political issue that folks care as much about gun control right now as they do about economics," he said.

"The hard reality is that people are more concerned about their jobs and their 401(k)s and how they're going to pay for their school tuition for their kids, than they are about trying to put additional restrictions on guns."

Tonight in Binghamton, a candlelight vigil will be held. Hundreds will mourn the city's fallen … new statistics in an old story that just doesn't seem likely to go away.

March 11, 2009 - CHRONOLOGY OF A MASS MURDER (Germany)

2009-04-21T10:40:00.000-07:00

http://www.spiegel.de/international/germany/0,1518,druck-612780,00.html

'The Scope of this Disaster Is Incomprehensible'

On Wednesday, Tim K. staged a massacre at a local school in Germany and then continued on a rampage that culminated with a police shootout and his suicide. SPIEGEL ONLINE documents the tragic day.

At about 9:30 a.m., Tim K., wearing what eyewitnesses later describe as black combat gear, walks into the Albertville Realschule in the city of Winnenden near Stuttgart in the southwestern German state of Baden-Württemberg. The school itself has 580 students, divided into 20 classes, and 32 teachers -- but even more children and adolescents attend school in the larger educational center, of which the Albertville Secondary School is a part.

Tim K. enters the school armed with a Beretta that he appears to have taken from his parents' bedroom. His father is a member of a gun club and appears to possess the weapons legally.

Tim K. climbs the stairs to the second floor. He storms into a classroom where he shoots five students in the head at close range. "The children appear to have been totally surprised. When their bodies were later found, some of them still had pens in their hands," the state's interior minister, Heribert Rech, will later say.

K. storms into the next room, shoots two more students and injures several. Two of the injured will die later on their way to the hospital. As Tim K. leaves one room to reload his weapon, a teacher reportedly locks the door. He tries to shoot off the lock, but he is unsuccessful.

Tim K. then moves to the physics classroom on the upper floor, where he shoots a female teacher who is later found dead behind an experiment table. Betty, a crying 15-year-old student, later reports her experiences during the rampage. "I heard three shots and screams," she says. "At first I thought it was a joke. But then someone shouted: 'run, run.' Then I saw other students jumping out of windows, and I ran."

9:33 a.m. : The police receive the first emergency call from a student who is calling from his mobile phone. "We could hardly understand what he said," a police spokesman would later say. "You could hear screaming in the background."

9:35 a.m.: According to police, three officers with a swat team arrive at the scene within two minutes of the first emergency call. They enter the school and can still hear shots being fired. As they approach the stairs to the second floor, they believe they see the perpetrator. Tim K. fires at them and flees the scene. While exiting, he shoots two more female teachers.

Police find a large quantity of unused bullets on the school's floors. The chief criminal investigator, Ralf Michelfelder says: "It appears the perpetrator may have intended to do far more harm at the school than he managed." Tim K. escapes from the school, flees over the grounds and shoots a gardener at a nearby psychiatric and neurological clinic. News agencies report that he then flees towards the downtown area.

9:35 a.m.: The teachers at another school, the Geschwister Scholl Secondary School in Winnenden, are alerted. Olga, a 15-year-old student there, later reports that her teacher was initially called out of the classroom, only to return a short time later looking "nervous." "He told us to remain calm and lie down on the floor." The door and windows had been locked, the teacher said. "It was total horror," says Olga, an 8th-grader. "It's the sort of thing you normally see on television."

9:40 a.m.: Shocked students begin to pour out of Albertville Secondary School. Medics arrive and begin treating the injured. Police began a massive manhunt for the perpetrator.

10:00 a.m. : Chaos has erupted on the school grounds. Twelve kilometers (7.5 miles) away, special police units storm the house of Tim K.'s parents in Weiler zum Stein, a neighborhood in the town of Leutenbach in Rems-Murr County. The perpetrator's father, as part of a gun club, allegedly legally owns 15 weapons. (Ed's note: In Germany, private gun ownership is illegal in most cases unless a person is a registered member of a gun club.) Fourteen are stored in a safe, and the Beretta, which had been in the parents' bedroom, has disappeared.

10:27 a.m. : The news agencies file their first breaking reports about the shooting rampage in Winnenden, initially reporting two dead.

A police special forces unit arrives at the school and seals off the premises, as well as downtown Winnenden. The police order local businesses to lock their gates and doors. Large numbers of police immediately begin hunting for the gunman.

11:06 a.m. : The news agencies increase the death toll to nine.

11:14 a.m. : The news from Winnenden begins arriving more and more quickly. The killer is apparently on the run, and residents are warned not to pick up hitchhikers.

11:20 a.m. : The news agencies increase the death toll to 10.

11:49 am. : A news agency reports that the killer has been arrested. But the information is incorrect, as it later turns out.

11:51 a.m. : For the first time, it is reported that the presumed killer is a 17-year-old, former pupil at the Albertville Secondary School. The police maintain a low profile. "We still have to verify the facts," says a police spokesman.

11:52 a.m. : Psychologists are now counseling the unharmed students.

11:58 am. : Eyewitnesses and others on the school grounds begin to talk about the horror and fear they experienced. According to one eyewitness, many students are taken to safety "or locked into the classrooms." Special forces have surrounded the school. A number of students are waiting in an indoor swimming pool building. "The people here are horror-stricken," says the eyewitness. "The man who went on this killing spree was apparently acting alone."

12:03 p.m. : The death toll increases again, to 11 this time. A police spokeswoman denies reports that the killer has been apprehended. "It's not true," she says.

12:04 p.m.: At a parking lot in Winnenden, Tim K. forces the driver of a car to drive him out of the town. The trip with the hostage proceeds in the direction of Wendlingen, a town in Esslingen County about 40 kilometers (25 miles) away.

After running off the road in a sharp turn, the car gets stuck at the side of the road. Tim K. proceeds to flee by foot, and the driver of the car immediately calls the police.

12:14 p.m. : "The scope of this disaster is incomprehensible," says Heribert Rech, Baden-Württemberg's state interior minister, in an initial reaction.

12:15 p.m.: Tim K. flees into an industrial area in Wendlingen. He demands a car and fires 13 shots at a salesman and female customer. He then has to change the magazine on his gun, which gives another salesman and another customer a chance to escape. The perpetrator leaves through the front door. He sees a police officer and fires at him. The policeman fires eight shots back, hitting Tim K. twice in the leg. Tim K. moves back into the car delearship and fires another 12 shots at other cops through the glass.

He then leaves through the back, going into the courtyard of a neighboring business. He fires at an employee of a neighboring firm as the worker tries to lock the door. Tim K. changes the magazine on his gun and then shoots himself. Shortly later, a police spokesman says, "he was found dead."

12:39 p.m. : For the first time, the following headline runs across the news tickers: "The Winnenden killer is dead."

12:43 p.m. : An employee at the clinic where the gardener was shot relates her impressions: "I heard six to seven shots. I have been told not to leave my ward." The clinic, she says, has been sealed off.

12:46 p.m. : A police spokesman confirms that there has been a shootout in Wendlingen, about 40 kilometers (25 miles) south of Winnenden on the A8 autobahn. It is later revealed that the incident was in fact the deadly exchange of fire between the police and the killer.

1:04 p.m. : German President Horst Köhler expresses his emotions in an initial statement: "My wife and I were horrified and deeply saddened to learn of the shooting rampage in Winnenden. Our thoughts are with the victims and the families and friends. At this difficult time, we feel deeply connected to them."

1:27 p.m. : The death toll increases to 16. Police announce that 17-year-old Tim K. has been shot.

1:59 p.m. : At a press conference in Winnenden, the investigators announce that Tim K. graduated from the Albertville Secondary School in 2007. Helmut Rau, the state's minister of education, says that the young man was "never conspicuous" at the school and began a vocational training program after graduating. According to Rau, Tim K. had apparently had a "double identity."

4:30 p.m. : As SPIEGEL later learns, the police search for bullet casings on a street near a DPD parcel distribution center in the Wendlingen industrial zone.

5:20 p.m. : A police spokeswoman announces that the police have learned from the latest information available that the Winnenden school killer apparently committed suicide by shooting himself in the head.

*German privacy laws prevent us from immediately giving his full name until circumstances have been clarified