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BullnBear52
I am not a gun person so I have no problem with having responsible gun laws and would not oppose Obama trying to create more responsible gun laws and ownership.
But when I say they can still access guns if they want, it is simply a true statement. They can still get their parents guns in many cases which was apparently the case here. And when you say "why dont you keep your gun locked up" , good luck trying to police that one. You are certainly correct that these guns should be locked up but I dont think its possile for the gun police to go door to door daily verifying that everyone is responsibly locking their guns up and even if they are locked up, im not sure clever teens cant figure out where the key to the lock is or how to access these guns. Teens can also get a hold of guns illegaly from drug dealers and gangs if they are in with the wrong crowd. A teen shot two other teens dead near my town recently, the gun was stolen and the teen also happened to be a drug dealer.
Well he was only half right. Im sure some did become future pilots, but some may have also become perpetrators of violence. But I wonder today about what happens to the kids who are exposed to massive amounts of these violent video games, TV, and psychiatric drugs? Sounds like a deadly mix to me and many of the folks who committed the worst acts had a history of all of the above.
The Creation of Senseless Violence,
Psychiatric Drugs,
and Kids Who Kill
by Lora Mengucci
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
The rise in gratuitous and senseless violence is a disturbing recent addition to the community landscape. Psychiatrists have tried to sell us on all the wrong reasons for this — everything from a person's mental illness, poverty and broken families to genetic makeup; however, the fact missed by most is that psychiatric drugs, on an ever increasing rise in society and amongst school children, are actually creating acts of violence. The rise in senseless violence in America is date coincident with the increased use of mind-altering drugs.
How many times must history repeat itself before we start looking for the common factors present in case after case of brutal and violent acts? In the recent cases where children have become murderous, one must ask the question, even if children have access to guns or the means to make bombs, what is it that is making them pull the trigger? What twists a child so that he would kill his classmates, friends or even people that he loves? What could possibly push children over the edge to a point where their acts are unrecognizable even by those who know them?
Consider the following:
In the U.S. alone, approximately 4 million children are currently on the psychiatric drug Ritalin, a drug which the Drug Enforcement Agency (DEA) places in the same category (a schedule II drug) as opium, morphine and cocaine.
Psychotic episodes and violent behavior are associated with chronic Ritalin abuse. Ritalin is the amphetamine-like drug widely prescribed to children for the contrived mental disease, "Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder" (ADHD). Even Ritalin's manufacturer warns that "frank psychotic episodes can occur" with abusive use. And even the American Psychiatric Association's Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders lists the major complication of Ritalin withdrawal is suicide.
In the U.S. today, over 909,000 children and adolescents between the ages six and eighteen are on psychiatric antidepressant drugs.
Between 1988 and 1992, in just four years, there were reports of over 90 children and adolescents who had suffered suicidal or violent self-destructive behavior while on the newer antidepressant, Prozac, an SSRI (Selective Serotonin Reuptake Inhibitor.) The Food and Drug Administration's own Adverse Drug Reaction reports reveal that a 12-year-old suffered hostility, confusion, was violent and became "glassy-eyed" on the drug; an 18-year-old was hospitalized after being on the drug for 270 days and had reportedly sexually assaulted and stabbed a store clerk; one 16-year-old who had been on Prozac for 50 days, reported hostility, psychotic depression and hallucinations when there had been no prior psychiatric history.
Since the 1960s, the use of these drugs has been on a massive increase, especially since the introduction of Community Mental Health Centers (CMHCs). The following are just a small sample of studies showing the violence-inducing nature of these powerful mind-altering drugs:
PSYCHIATRIC DRUG STUDIES
The New York Post reported on January 31, 1999, that they had obtained documents (through Freedom of Information Law) that the New York Psychiatric Institute was testing Prozac on 6-year-olds. The documents obtained by the Post showed that under these drug trials the psychiatric researchers own documents noted that "Some patients have been reported to have an increase in suicidal thoughts and/or violent behavior." Another side effect — wild manic episodes — was also acknowledged in the researchers' records.
A 1995 Nordic conference reported that the new antidepressant drugs, in particular, have a stimulating amphetamine-like effect and consumers of these drugs can become "aggressive" or "suffer hallucinations and/or suicidal thoughts."
1998 British report said that at least five percent of patients taking SSRI's (an antidepressant) suffered "commonly recognized" side effects which includes agitation, anxiety and nervousness. Other regularly reported effects include confusion, abnormal dreaming and nightmares. Around five percent of the reports also indicate aggression, hallucinations, malaise and depersonalization. SSRIs "can cause a broad spectrum of psychiatric and neurological side effects, resulting in over-stimulation in some cases and sedation in others," the report stated.
In 1995, nine Australian psychiatrists urged SSRIs be sold with a warning after patients had slashed themselves or became preoccupied with violence when taking them. "I didn't want to die, I just felt like tearing my flesh to pieces," one patient told them. Another said, "I got my cane cutters' knife in my right hand and wanted to cut my left hand off at the wrist." The self destructive harm started after the treatment began or doses increased and eased, or ceased when the drugs were stopped.
One Canadian research team which studied the effects of psychiatric drugs on prisoners found that "violent, aggressive incidents occurred significantly more frequently in inmates who were on psychotropic (psychiatric or mind altering) medication than when these inmates were not on psychotropic drugs" Inmates on major tranquilizers were shown to be more than twice as violent as they were when not taking psychiatric drugs. (emphasis added).
A paper published in The American Journal of Psychiatry in 1964 found that major tranquilizers ( Thorazine, Haldol, Mellaril etc.) can "produce an acute psychotic reaction in an individual not previously psychotic" (emphasis added).
In 1970 a textbook on the side effects of psychiatric drugs pointed out the potential for violence from these drugs stating, "Indeed, even acts of violence such as murder and suicide have been attributed to the rage reactions induced by chlordiazepoxide (Librium) and diazepam (Valium)."
Valium was later replaced by Xanax as the most widely prescribed minor tranquilizer. But the leopard did not change its spots. According to a 1984 study of Xanax, "Extreme anger and hostile behavior emerged from eight of the first 80 patients we treated with alprazolam (Xanax).
And a 1985 investigation into Xanax, reported in the American Journal of Psychiatry, claimed that more than half (58 percent) of the treated patients experienced serious "dyscontrol", i.e. violence and loss of control compared with only eight percent who were given a placebo.
A 1975 paper described a negative effect from the major tranquilizers called "akathisia" (from the Greek a - meaning "without" or "not" and akathisia meaning "sitting".) Akathisia is a drug-induced insanity which was first recognized as an inability of people taking the drugs to sit still comfortably.
In his paper, "The Many Faces of Akathisia," researcher Theodore Van Putten reported nearly half of the 110 persons in the study had experienced akathisia. He described what happened to these people after taking the drugs. One woman started to bang her head against the wall three days after an injection of a major tranquilizer.
Another, who had been given these drugs for five days experienced "an upsurge in hallucinations, screaming, even more bizarre thinking, aggressive and also self- destructive outbursts, and agitated pacing or dancing." While still another stated that while on the drug she felt hostile and hated everybody and heard voices taunting her.
In 1986, a study published in the American Journal of Psychiatry found that patients taking the drug Elavil, an antidepressant, "... appeared progressively more hostile, irritable, and behaviorally impulsive.... The increase in demanding behavior and assaultive acts was statistically significant."
A study of children taking Elavil published in Psychosomatics in 1980 found that some grew hysterical or hostile. One of the kids began "exhibiting excessive irritability and anger, pacing excessively and declaring that he was not afraid anymore, that he was 'not chicken anymore.' "
A 1988 study documented the tendency of the major tranquilizer Haldol to increase hostile and violent behavior. According to the study, many persons who had no history of violence prior to being placed on the drug "were significantly more violent on haloperidol (Haldol)". In this study, the researchers attributedthe marked increase in violence to akathisia.
A report published in The Journal of the American Medical Association exemplified the agitation which can accompany akathisia. Describing a man who had started taking Haldol four days previously, the researcher noted that the man "...became uncontrollably agitated, could not sit still, and paced for several hours."
After complaining of violent urges to assault anyone near him, the man assaulted and tried to kill his dog.
Another article published in the American Journal of Forensic Psychiatry in 1985 described five cases of "extreme acts of physical violence" due to akathisia caused by Haldol. These cases included acts of extreme, senseless, bizarre and brutal violence.
In more than 400 cases of violent crime reviewed by CCHR, it was found that most mass murderers had been under psychiatric care before the crime was committed. Many of the mass killers were found to have no previous pattern of violent behavior prior to being treated — especially with drugs — by psychiatrists.
But even more startling, is that normal children are becoming murderers, with the aide of psychiatric drugs, treatments and programs.
THE FOLLOWING ARE BUT A FEW EXAMPLES:
On May 20, 1988, Laurie Dann walked into a Winnetka, Illinois second grade classroom carrying three pistols and began shooting innocent little children, killing one and wounding five others before killing herself.
Subsequent blood tests revealed that at the time of the killings, Dann was on a psychiatric drug of a class clearly shown to cause unexplained hostile and violent behavior.
On September 26, 1988, 19-year-old James Wilson took a .22 caliber revolver into an elementary school in Greenwood, South Carolina and started shooting schoolchildren, killing two 8-year-old girls and wounding seven other children and two teachers. Wilson had been in and out of the hands of psychiatrists for years and within 8 months of the killings he had been on several psychiatric drugs which can generate violent behavior. Since the age of 14, he had been given psychiatric drugs, including Xanax, Valium, Thorazine and Haldol.
On January 17, 1989, Patrick Purdy opened fire on a school yard full of young children in Stockton, California. During his vicious and unprovoked assault, Purdy killed five school children and wounded 30 others. Purdy then killed himself. During the two years prior to the murders of the Stockton children, Purdy had been on two strong psychiatric drugs of categories known to cause violence.
On May 21, 1998 14-year-old Kip Kinkel shot and killed his parents and then went a wild shooting spree at his Springfield, Oregon high school that left two dead and 22 injured. He was reportedly taking Prozac and Ritalin and had been attending "anger management" classes.
On November 20, 1986: 14-year-old Rod Mathews beat a classmate to death with a bat in the woods near his home in Canton, Mass. He had been prescribed Ritalin since the third grade.
16-year-old Brian Pruitt, who fatally stabbed his grandparents in 1995, had a history of psychiatric treatment and had been prescribed psychiatric drugs.
And in 1997 16-year old Sam Manzie raped and strangled another boy to death. He was under psychiatric "care" and was being "medicated".
Psychiatric drugs can cause violence; they can kill. These are facts that psychiatrists and the National Alliance for the Mentally Ill (NAMI) are not comfortable with. Psychiatrists for obvious reasons — they could and should be held liable for a crime committed by their drugged out patients — and NAMI because it "is awash in money from drug companies" — $3.2 million per year from nine such companies — that manufacturer these often crippling drugs.
Horror stories all. On the surface, the idea of tranquilizers or anti- depressants creating hostility and violence may not make sense. After all, they are supposed to make people calm and quiet. But the reality is that they can and do create this effect. The scientific evidence is overwhelming. The studies documenting this connection go back to the 1960s when we begin to see a rise of senseless violence.
A LITTLE KNOWN FACT:
WITHDRAWAL FROM PSYCHIATRIC DRUGS
TURNS PEOPLE HORRIFICALLY VIOLENT
The fact that these drugs are a recipe for violence is obscured because frequently after a violent crime has been committed, psychiatrists or their allied organizations such as the pharmaceutical company-funded National Alliance for the Mentally Ill (NAMI), blame the offending person's violent behavior on his failure to continue his medication, but the truth is that violence is a documented side-effect of withdrawal from psychiatric drugs.
In 1995, a Danish medical study reported the following withdrawal symptoms from psychotropic drug dependence: "Emotional changes: Fear, terror, panic, fear of insanity, failing self-confidence, restlessness, irritability, aggression, an urge to destroy and, in the worst cases, an urge to kill." (emphasis added)
In 1996, the National Preferred Medicines Center Inc., comprising of physicians in New Zealand, issued a report on "Acute drug withdrawal," saying that withdrawal from psychoactive drugs can cause 1) rebound effects that exacerbate previous symptoms of a "disease," and 2) new symptoms unrelated to the condition that had not been previously experienced by the patient. The SSRIs (Prozac, Zoloft, Paxil, and others) can create "agitation, severe depression, hallucinations and aggressiveness."
Janet, a teenager who was prescribed minor tranquilizers and antidepressants said that while withdrawing from these drugs, she had violent thoughts and had to restrain her aggressiveness, including wanting to stab anyone who withheld the decreasing drug dosage from her: "I had absolutely no history of violence. These new feelings were not part of the so-called 'mental illness' I was suppose to have; I had never been aggressive before being prescribed the drugs. And once safely and gradually withdrawn from them, never experienced uncontrollable violent urges again."
Even the American Psychiatric Association euphemistically admits in their Diagnostic and Statistical Manual that the major "complication" of withdrawal from Ritalin, a psychiatric drug currently being administered to millions, is suicide.
Withdrawal effects from these drugs can be severe and take intense medical supervision to ensure the person safely detoxes, as an example:
Stevie Nicks, of the rock group Fleetwood Mac talks about the intense difficulty of detoxing from psychiatric drugs: "I'm the one who realized that that's what was killing me [the psychiatric drug, Klonopin]." It took her 45 days to withdrawal from the Klonopin, "I was in there sick for 45 days, really, really sick. And I watched generations of drug addicts come in and go out. You know, the heroin people, 12 days...and they're gone. And I'm still just there."
There is no question that psychiatric drugs create violence. When you marry these poisons with the toxic psychological programs in schools today which destroy the concept of right and wrong you have a recipe for disaster.
PSYCHIATRIC DRUGS AND PSYCHOLOGICALLY-BASED SCHOOL PROGRAMS:
A RECIPE FOR DISASTER
Today, we are witnessing an epidemic of children being prescribed a plethora of psychiatric drugs which have devastating side-effects, especially the newer antidepressants such as Prozac, Zoloft and Paxil. In addition, billions of tax dollars have been spent on Outcome Based Education (OBE) - psychological programs designed to de-emphasize academics, and instead focus on altering "behavior".
These programs are cloaked under various magnanimous sounding names such as "self-esteem training," "values clarification," "conflict resolution," "moral reasoning" or "death education" to name a few. The truth is that these psychological based programs have in fact raped the minds of schoolchildren, leaving them mentally hazy, without a concept of what is right or wrong. None of these programs are any more than mental techniques designed to modify behavior — or more bluntly, alter beliefs.
The violence we are witnessing in our schools and with our children is being created and we must look at the impact of behavior modification classes and psychiatric drugs on the increasing violent crime rate among children.
In 1991, despite objections from many parents about OBE, school officials in Jefferson County Colorado adopted the Outcome-Based Education programs. However, "OBE" had become a bad name, and consequently Jefferson County school officials asked OBE guru William Spady not to use the term "outcome-based education" in billings for teacher training seminars, but rather list it as "teachers classroom practices."
So what is Outcome Based Education?
If there was ever an example of tyranny over the minds of children, it is what is being given to them in the name of education and "help" today, through thoroughly deceptive behaviorist tactics like Values Clarification. Through OBE, children and teenagers are manipulated and molded with the purpose of bringing about certain desired "outcomes." This process, in part, involves breaking down and subtly invalidating the child's already acquired values — and replacing them with the idea that there is no set right or wrong, only personal opinion. For the child the result can be, minimally, confusion and disorientation.
According to William Kilpatrick, author of Why Johnny Can't Tell Right From Wrong, "feelings, personal growth, and a totally non-judgemental attitude" are emphasized. However, "...no time is spent providing moral guidance or forming character. The virtues are not explained or discussed, no models of good behavior are provided, no reason why a boy or a girl should want to be good in the first place.... They come away with the impression that even the most basic values are matters of dispute." In fact, the authors of the original 1966 text on Values Clarification stated, "It is entirely possible that children will choose not to develop values. It is the teacher's responsibility to support this choice also."
In 1995, former Values Clarification adherent, Dr. William Coulson, Ph.D., stated, "...one of the effects of self-esteem Values Clarification [OBE] programs is that you are no longer obliged to tell the truth if you don't feel like it. You don't have to tell the truth because if the truth you tell is about your own failure then your self-esteem will go down and that is unthinkable."
Another OBE program, Death Education, further damaged children by forcing them to focus on their own mortality: One student related the following story: "We had an English course in seventh grade junior high whose title was 'Death Education.' In the manual, 73 out of 80 stories had to do with death, dying, killing, murder, suicide, and what you wanted on your tombstone. One of the girls, a ninth grader, blew her brains out after having written a note on her front door that said what she wanted on her tombstone."
A class of sixth graders were asked to play a "survival game" in which they were to decide which three people they should eliminate from the group, according to their age and contribution; in another class they were asked to write their own epitaphs or obituaries.
Tom DeWesse of the American Policy Foundation, and an expert on the subject of OBE, told a Washington, D.C. press conference in 1995, about a 9-year-old boy who "...told his mother that he ranked lumberjacks in the same class as murderers and bigots after a Values Clarification class. These psychologically-bassed programs are harming children.... OBE is not education, it's mind control from womb to tomb."
Beverly Eakman, author and executive director of the National Education Consortium, describes the impact of psychiatry and psychology on schools: "Psychiatry's and Psychology's clear and stated agenda has been to jettison systematic, academic, knowledge-based curricula in favor of psychological fare.... Then it got worse. What information youngsters did learn was actually harmful.
Perhaps one need only look to the initial stages of behavioral "education" to fully understand our school systems and society today. G. Brock Chisholm, co-founder of the World Federation for Mental Health, set the stage for what would later come to be known as Outcome Based Education when he stated "If the race is to be freed from its crippling burden of good and evil it must be psychiatrists who take the original responsibility."
Psychiatrist Chester M. Pierce, in addressing the 1973 Childhood International Education Seminar stated "Every child entering school at the age of five is insane because he comes to school with certain allegiances to our founding fathers, toward our elected officials, toward his parents, toward a belief in a supernatural being, and toward the sovereignty of this nation as a separate entity. It's up to you as teachers to make all these sick children well — by creating the international child of the future."
Arm in arm, psychology and psychiatry have created that child of the future.
CONCLUSION
Every time a child commits an act of senseless violence, kills or commits a violent act, the first question that must be asked is what psychiatric mind-altering drugs was the child on? Who was the psychiatrist treating the child? If the child was not on psychiatric drugs at the time of the killing, when was he last on psychiatric drugs? Was he experiencing withdrawal effects from the drugs? What was the curriculum of the school he was attending? Did the school have Outcome Based Education Programs such as Values Clarification, Self Esteem, Death Education or any other psychological programs designed to "condition" the child? These questions must be asked and the information made public record. A national database should collect this data so that the correlations are documented and available as public record.
Frequently when a case such as the Colorado killings occur, the medical and juvenile records of the child may not be available due to the fact that they are minors, so gathering this data may be difficult. In this case, as was the case with Mitchel Johnson of the Jonesboro Arkansas school shootings, and Michael Carneal of the West Paducah Kentucky school shootings (among others), it is imperative that all of the family, friends, school officials, local police and anyone who knew the child must be queried if the truth about why children kill is ever to come out.
Furhermore, there has recenly been talk of the parents of children who kill being held jointly responsible for their crimes, however, in cases where children are presribed dangerous mind-altering drugs, it is the psychiatrists, having full access to the dangers of prescribing these drugs to children, that should be held accountable along with the child for the crimes committed.
The Citizens Commission on Human Rights has been investigating and exposing abuses in the field of mental health for over 30 years. All documentation is available upon request.
For more information contact: Marla Filidei at 800-869-2247 begin_of_the_skype_highlighting 800-869-2247 end_of_the_skype_highlighting
END NOTES
1 Maggie Gallagher, "Doping up 4 Million Kids," New York Post, April 13, 1999.
2 John Merline, "Public Schools: Pushing Drugs?", Business Daily, 16 Oct., 1997.
3 Physicians Desk Referencer, (Medical Economics Company, Inc., New Jersey), 1998, p. 1897.
4 Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (Third Edition Revised) (Washington D.C.: American Psychiatric Association, 1987), Page 136.
5 Kate Muldoon, "Shooting spurs debate on Prozac's use by kids, " The Oregonian, 1 Jun., 1998.
6 Summary done of FDA's Adverse Drug Reaction Reports for Prozac, 1988-1992, obtained through Freedom of Information Act by CCHR 7 Peter Schrag, Mind Control, (Pantheon Books, N.Y. , 1978), p. 48.
8 Gregg Birnbaum "State Testing Prozac On 6-Year-Olds " New York Post, January 31, 1999.
9 "Frygt for misbrugs-epidemi," Politiken, 13 June 1995, reported in CCHR Denmark's white paper to the Council of Europe and Danish Government and Parliamentary Committees, entitled, "Denmark's Law on Deprivation of Liberty and Other Coercive Measures in Psychiatry--Causing Violence," 16 Oct., 1996.
10 Charles Medawar, "Antidepressants Hooked on the Happy Drug: What Doctors Don't Tell You", Vol. 8: No.11, March 1998, p. 3.
11 David Grounds, Andrew Stockey, Peter Evans, Colin Scott, Rowan McIntosh, Estelle Morrison, Harry Durham, Rick Yeatman, Peter Farnbach, "Antidepressants and Side Effects," Australian and New Zealand Journal of Psychiatry, Vol. 29, No. 1, (April, 1995), pp. 156-57.
12 D.G. Workman and D.G. Cunningham, "Effects of Psychotropic Drugs on Aggression in a Prison Setting," Canadian Family Physician, Nov. 1975, pp. 63-66.
13 Daniel S. Chaffin, "Phenothiazine-Induced Acute Psychotic Reaction: The 'Psychotoxcity' of a Drug," The American Journal of Psychiatry, Vol. 121. No. 1 (July 1964), pgs. 26-32.
14 Richard I. Shader and Alberto DiMascio, Psychotrpic Drug Side Effects, (Baltimore: Williams & Wilkins, 1970), pg. 134.
15 Jerrold F. Rosenbaum and others, "Emergence of Hostility During Alprazolam [Xanax] Treatment," The American Journal of Psychiatry, Vol. 141. No. 6 (June 1984), pgs. 792-793.
16 David L. Gardner, M.D. and Rex W. Cowdry, M.D., "Alprazolam-Induced Dyscontrol in Borderline Personality Disorder," American Journal of Psychiatry, January 1985, Vol. 142, No. 1, pp. 98-100.
17 Theodore Van Putten, "The Many Faces of Akathisia," Comprehensive Psychiatry, Vol. 16, No. 1 (January/February 1975), pgs. 43-47.
18 Ibid.
19 Paul H. Soloff and others, "Paradoxical Effects of Amitriptyline on Borderline Patients," The American Journal of Psychiatry, Vol. 143, No. 12 (December 1986), pgs. 1603-1605.
20 Javad H. Kashani, M.D. et al., "Hypomanic reaction to amitriptyline in a depressed child," Psychosomatics, Vol. 21, No. 10, October 1980, pp. 867, 872.
21 John N. Herrera and others, "High Potency Neuroleptics and Violence in Schizophrenics," The Journal of Nervous and Mental Disease, Vol. 176, No. 9 (September 1988), pgs. 558-561.
22 Walter A. Keckich, "Violence as a Manifestation of Akathisia," The Journal of the American Medical Association, Vol. 240, No. 20 (November, 1978), pg. 2,185.
23 Jerome L. Schulte, "Homicide and Suicide Associated with Akathisia and Haloperidol [Haldol]," American Journal of Forensic Psychiatry, Vol. 6, No. 2 (1985), pgs. 3-7.
24 Cases of senseless violence on file with CCHR International.
25 Newsweek, June 13, 1989, page 33.
26 "Drug Treatment, " USA Today, June 3, 1988 page 3A. Dan had been taking Anafranil, a tricyclic antidepressant. 27 "Gunman kills girl, wounds 10 at school," Los Angeles Times, September 27, 1988.
28 Bob Smith, "Medications; effects issue in Wilson trial," State, Columbia, South Carolina April 25, 1989, page 1D; Lee Richards, "Psychiatric drugs create killer," Freedom Magazine, November /December 1988, pages 16-17 Wilson had been given several major and minor tranquilizers.
29 David Harpster and Kathleen Salamon, "Schoolyard Massacre, 5 Kids Die In Shooting, Gunmen Injures 30 Others, Then Kills Himself," The Sacramento Union, January 18, 1989. 30 "Chronological Life History of Patrick Edward Purdy," prepared by Special Agents Allen Benitez and Phil Lee, Bureau of Investigation, California, Dept. of Justice, 1989, pages 5,17-18.
31 Maureen Sielaff, "Prozac implicated in Oregon shooting," Vigo Examiner, Maureen@Vigo-Examiner.com.; 20/20 National TV Show reporting on the Kip Kinkel Oregon Shooting, 22 May 1998, transcript taken from the show. 32 "Kids Who Kill" Good Housekeeping/August 1989.
33 Ken Holloway "Pruitt found guilty of murder," Commercial News, Danvill, IL. June 15, 1996.
34 "Manzie to plead insane in killing of Jackson Township 11-year-old," The Boston Globe, Associated Press, 04/27/98 21:39.
35 Greg Birnbaum, "Patients group getting $3M a year from firms," New York Post, 28 February, 1999 page 18. 36 "Kvart Mill danskere er pillenarkomaner," Ekstra Bladet, 13 February 1995, reported in CCHR Denmark's white paper to the Council of Europe and Danish Government and Parliamentary Committees, entitled "Denmark's Law On Deprivation of Liberty and Other Coercive Measures in Psychiatry--Causing Violence," 16 October 1996.
37 "Acute Drug Withdrawal," PreMec Medicinces Information Bulletin, August, 1996, modified 6 Jan. 1997, http://www.premec.org.nz/profile.htm; accessed 18 March, 1999.
38 Greg Birnbaum, "Patients group getting $3M a year from firms," New York Post, 28 February, 1999.
39 Statement on file at CCHR International.
40 "Long Distance Winner" by Chris Willman Entertainment Weekly, May 1, 1998.
41 "Harming Lives: Psychiatry Betraying & Drugging Children" published as a public service by the Citizens Commission on Human Rights 1998 pg. 19.
42 "Education reformer rattle the rafters" Rocky Mountains News, April 27, 1994.
43 William Kilpatrick book "Why Johny Can't Tell Right >From Wrong,.
44 Greg Williams "Why Are America's Morals Declining?" The Oregon Observer, June 1995.
45 "Destroying Lives: Psychiatry Education's Ruin" published as a public service by the Citizens Commission on Human Rights 1995 p. 19.
46 Ibid. p. 19.
47 "Harming Lives: Psychiatry Betraying & Drugging Children" published as a public service by the Citizens Commission on Human Rights 1998 pg. 23.
48 Ibid.
49 "Destroying Lives: Psychiatry Education's Ruin" published as a public service by the Citizens Commission on Human Rights 1995 p. 7.50 Ibid. p. 3.
~o~
http://www.tysknews.com/Depts/Educate/psychiatric_drugs_kids_who_kill.htm
Video games figure in school shootings
Tuesday, April 27, 1999
By Jenni Laidman, Block News Alliance
"Meet people from all over the world, then kill them" -- an advertisement for the video game Subspace.
"More fun than shooting your neighbor's cat" -- Point Blank ad copy.
"As easy as killing babies with axes" -- Carmageddon advertising slogan.
Violent video games are coming under increasing attack for desensitizing troubled youngsters to bloodshed while training them to be effective killers.
But video game players maintain that blaming video games for school violence is scapegoating an industry for problems that start at home.
Video games are a common thread in at least two of five school massacres that have taken place in the last three years.
The two students who killed 12 of their peers, a teacher and themselves in Littleton, Colo., last Tuesday were reportedly devoted to violent video games.
"They got on their home computers and linked them with modems. They had death matches with violent computer games, matching computer to computer," one Columbine High School student said.
"I don't believe violent video games lead to violence, but this was different. They'd play these games for hours and hours."
Parents of the three girls killed in Paducah, Ky., are suing makers of violent video games. They contend that Michael Carneal, the 14-year-old boy who killed three and wounded five in Paducah, was influenced by violent computer games such as "Doom," "Quake" and "Mortal Kombat."
The $130 million lawsuit alleges that young Carneal was under the influence of violent pornography sites on the Internet and the 1995 Leonardo DiCaprio film "The Basketball Diaries."
Attorneys in the federal lawsuit claim that video games trained Carneal to be a proficient killer and desensitized him to what he was doing.
Researchers report that video games are used effectively by the military for training purposes.
Lt. Col. David Grossman, author of the book On Killing and a former West Point psychology professor, worked with community members after attacks in Paducah and in Springfield, Ore.
He was on the scene immediately after two boys, 11 and 13, killed four students and a teacher in his hometown of Jonesboro, Ark.
He likens the effect of video games to the military's efforts to reduce a young recruit's reluctance to kill.
"In interactive, point-and-shoot video games, children are taught the motor skills of killing in a process that makes killing a reflexive response," he said.
Carneal hit eight students with eight shots. Five of them were shot in the head and three in the upper torso.
"This is an absolutely unprecedented marksmanship achievement," Grossman said.
University of Toledo psychology Professor Jeanne Funk, whose work on video games and violence is recognized nationwide, said her research suggested that violent video games tended to draw kids who were already troubled.
"We've never found a positive relationship between a high preference for violent video games and positive self-concept," Funk said.
The fourth- through eighth-graders she studies seem to turn to violent video games when they feel that they're not good at anything else, she said.
"Kids who preferred violent games tended to see their behavior as not as good as other kids," she said. They see themselves as poor students and poor athletes, with unsatisfying relationships with family and friends.
These children have a lower ability to put themselves in another person's shoes, she said.
But preference for violent games isn't a clear signal of future behavior, Funk said.
"Is it accompanied by other things: kids who are failing in school, who are very alienated, who play video games all the time, who are nearly obsessed with violent media? Those are all problem indicators," she said.
Interactive video games are a huge industry. Annual video game revenue exceeds $18 billion worldwide. U.S. video game revenues of $10 billion per year are double what is spent on movies annually, according to Media Scope, a nonprofit organization concerned with media portrayal of, and impact on, children.
The most popular games are fantasy violence, with 32 percent preferring those videos, followed by sports (29 percent), general entertainment (20 percent), human violence (17 percent) and educational games (2 percent).
Gregory W. Boller, a marketing professor at the University of Memphis in Tennessee, said his research among 18 to 24-year-olds showed that the people who preferred violent video games felt helpless in other aspects of their lives.
"The more powerless somebody feels themselves to be, the more interested they are in playing violent games," Boller said.
Overall, males are far more likely than females to prefer violent video games, no matter their feelings of powerlessness, he said.
"There is an overwhelming gender effect. What's interesting, too, is [that] we looked at the television they watched, the movies they prefer, and how much they're online [on the Internet]. As you might expect, people that are interested in violent video games watch violent TV, violent movies, and they watch a lot of television, like an average of seven hours a day."
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http://old.post-gazette.com/headlines/19990427games4.asp
Im very disappointed that Im not hearing one politician mention one word about anything other than guns and Im afraid we will probably not hear much of a peep ever about other possible reasons for what I consider a new and growing epidemic. We all know teens and young adults can access guns if they want, but my other huge concern is what are they being exposed to in this generation that make them contemplate and sometimes go forward with these terrible acts? Other generations didnt have to fear there children being slaughtered in movies theaters or schools
And I literally now fear for my loved ones , relatives, who go to school every day because I now think its possible and even likely that this type of event can and will happen again. And I think it can happen at even the best of schools. I really think its a growing phenomenon and we need our best and brightest in this nation to study and analyze the root of this growing epidemic
I applaud him for that one. But Im very disappointed that Im not hearing one politician mention one word about anything other than guns and Im afraid we will probably not hear much of a peep ever about other possible reasons for what I consider a new and growing epidemic. We all know teens and young adults can access guns if they want, my other huge concern is what are they being exposed to in this generation that make them contemplate and sometimes go forward with these terrible acts? Other generations didnt have to fear there children being slaughtered in movies theaters or schools
No you are right there is nothing wrong with that and my political bs remark is more in repsonse to quotes of certain(not all) politicians whose quotes were copied here and not so much a specific poster here. I am very leary of certain politicians who try to seize on everything in order to make a political gain.
F6
Believe me Im not trying to be political about this at all and only wish to see an end to this fairly new epidemic of these type of shootings. As I said I am all for discussing gun control as well as PART of this solution and I will stand shoulder to shoulder with you in support of anything that will curb these type of events. I just have to question sometimes those who want to address this situation only in terms of guns. The Virginia Tech massaccre took place with regular hand guns which are not even talked about being banned. The Va Tech showed massive damage can even be done even with the most basic firearms.
But that aside , I believe there are other factors, some of which I touched on, that are making todays type of horror much more likely to continue
Yes Mayor Bloomberg you phony. And maybe you can also start by leading the charge examing the affect of psychiatric drugs precscribed to children, teens and young adults and limiting the consumption of violent films , tv and games instead of worrying about limiting the size of a coca cola or 7-UP we want to order.
It really has.
If you all think today is a good day to talk about gun control, fine. But I think if we are to have an honest conversation about the reasons behind todays event and similar recent events, we need to look at a few other subjects every bit as closely.
Gun control may well be part of this but we also all have to ask ourselves why this rash of mass shootings seems to be ocurring with much more frequency in recent years when guns have been just as readily available for many decades.
History doesnt show mass shooting at movie theaters , high schools or elementary schools in the 1930's or 1940's or 1950's and guns were just as easy to own then and their was far less of a paper trail.
But I do think we need to honestly look at the video games and handheld device games that are so frequently used by teens and young adults today for hours upon hours a day. Games where you constantly shoot and kill as many people, creatures and things as you can to gain more points or ranking. That is something that did not exist during those times when these events didnt happen.
And Hollywood, you dont get a pass either. We need to seriously discuss the blood and guts slasher , murder, friday the 13th , Hallowen and countless other films that saturate todays market with teens and young adults who are counted as the largest viewers of these type of violent films. This is another thing that did not exist back then anywhere near the extent they exist today and the tragedies like we saw today were not happening back then.
And finally if we are to honestly examine the real reasons behind this new and more recent epidemic of these type of shootings, we also need to honestly look at an examine the affect of psychiatric drugs and if there is a pattern as to whether all these individuals who commit these atrocious acts were in fact on prescribed psychiatric drugs at one time or another. Many believe our children and young adults are over-drugged today and this is another thing that was not occuring back in the days when these mass killings were not happening. The columbine killer had used these prescribed drugs as did the movie theater killer as did the shooter of gabby giffords. It will be interesting to see in this case if the pattern continues.
So we can all have this discussion and examination but if we do so by only talking about guns, then it tells me that that talk is just coming from folks who are foucused on political bullshit and not a very serious and new epidemic in our country.
I agree guns need to be a part of the discussion the FACT is guns were readily available when these types of events were not happening. So why now? Researchers need to look at the things that do exist now and didnt exist then and there I think we will find the real answers
As is your reply
I know you handle it that way Stephanie because I dont think you are a bigot. But some politicians and many in the liberal media dont handle it that way. Black, hispanic and female conservatives are slayed and highlighted by the media as some sort of aberation. There are many white congressman for example who say the exact same things as say Alan West and they are never in the media to the extent West is and most Americans never heard of them. These minorities are being singled out
My first reply to you addressed that. This second post of yours is not worthy of a reply.
They are very intelligent and have a right to their view whether I agree or not. They have said and done many things I agree with and many things I dont.
"utter idiots , little shits and liars"
But if they were white and made the same public statements, they would not have received even 1% of the media coverage and attacks they got from the liberal press. There are countless white senators , congressman and other positions who say the exact same things and most of them are unheard of by the public because they get zero or little coverage.
As much as you dont want to face it, if you are a black conservative and dont go along with the democratic plantation point of view, you are hammered beyond belief and made a poster child. Any women , black or hispanic who come to any position of importance are slayed by much of the liberal media. It doesnt fit the narrative. Women, black or hispanics are not allowed to be conservitive or they are painted as "crazy" women, blacks, or hispanics. Thats the real bigotry in my opinion.
Just watch what they do to Marco Rubio, or Susana Martinez if they show any interest in a higher position. Pure bigotry
They are both very intelligent men with their own point of view. Whether or not one agrees or disagrees with some of their views, I say good for them that they are not sheep.
It prompts me to ask you the same question you like to ask others so much. What part of the south are you from?
As it should have. Too bad the Obama admin. didnt support them. That is the real shame. If Obama could recognize gay marriage, he certainly should recognize the rights of the Palestinian people. Its hypocritical and more politics as usual. Im sure he is more worried about his legacy than the rights of a people.
The same thing Alan West, Condy Rice, Clarence Thomas, Herman Cain, Michael Steele and Alan Keyes have in common. All of whom were smeared by some bigots on the left
Israel needs to stop shelling Gaza and hold Iran responsible.
I have watched this scenario play out too many times in both Lebanon and Gaza. Hezzbullah fires rockets at Israel from within Lebanon and Israel counter atatcks Lebanon and innocent Lebanese who want no part of this suffer, get killed, lose limbs, lose homes. Hamas fires rockets from Gaza and Israel counter attacks and innocent Palestinians suffer in the same ways mentioned above.
Then we always hear Israel complain that these rockets come from Iran. So then, Israel needs to issue a warning to Iran that every time a rocket is fired at them from Lebanon or Gaza, Israel will hold Iran directly responsible and bomb Iranian soil and actually follow up on it. Iran uses Hezbullah and Hamas as a vehicle to flex its muscles in the region and knows that any counter attacks are done on Lebanese soil or Gaza and its lebanese and palestinian blood that is spilled. Its lebanese and palestinian buildings that are destroyed. Iran's soil goes untouched. No blood is spilled within Iran. Im tired of seeing the innocent Lebanese and Palestinians always pay the dearest price for this power game.
Do I want to see a war with Israel and Iran , no. But I am also sick and tired of Iran using Lebanon and Gaza for its battleground while Iran itself goes unscathed.
fuagf, I did read Juan Cole's post but it doesnt change my opinion a bit that the Hamas rocket launches against Israel are never never ever going to lead to a solution and in fact deepens the division.
I agree with much of Juan's characterization of Isael however it makes no difference to me that not one Israeli was killed at the time of the post. The Rockets were still reigning on Israel from Hamas. Just because they hadnt hit anything doesnt make it acceptable. Nobody is going to stand idle hoping one doesnt hit. Israel has a right to defend and stop the source of the rockets as Obama said.
As for Ahmad Jabari and him seeking a truce. Why the hell did he have to seek a truce???? Hmmm? Because his group was firing rockets. Their was no need for a truce if he wasnt firing rockets. If he was in fact trying to bring a truce and i have no reason to doubt it, why do they continue to fire rockets while supposedly hoping for an end to the Israeli counter response. You simply stop firing the rockets and Israel will stop. Juan Cole calls the assasination a ruse. No shit. So if thats true you have played right into their hands BY FIRING THE ROCKETS IN THE FIRST PLACE and giving them an excuse for their counter attacks which many world leaders like Obama then publicly say is justified.
Hamas is f--cked up and a scourge on the Palestinian people. Eventually they'll figure it out and stop voting for them but they are going to probably endure a lot more misery before they figure it out. This isnt hard fuagf, stop the damm rockets. Im sick and tired of watching all these fatass overweight double chinned Hamas and Hizzbullah leaders (puppets) who are doing the bidding of Iran more so than their own people. Their pockets are being lined and they are stuffing their fat faces with the best of foods while their people live in misery and poverty. The Palestinians need to hire PR firms and dump Hamas. They need PR firms to make many films about the injustices. Films and PR has impact much like the film stories made by CNN about the Taliban and shooting and hanging of women on soccer fields. Or like films of Neda in Iran. They need pr, stories, film of their injuctices. Sure their are already some. They need to multiply it by 100. Diplomatic solution, UN nation status, Pr are the real answer. Stop the f-cking rockets. Stop playing into their hands. The only thing your Juan Cole post to me does is tell me even more that the rockets are the wrong way and Hamas is the wrong way
I support their bid.
Fuagf, its not just me who embraces the Israeli defense justification , Its also your heroes Obama, Susan Rice, Joe Biden and Hillary Clinton and they have said so again just in the past 48 hours. Im tougher on Israel than they are. Does Israel have to get real on many issues as well? Absolutely and I have never said they didnt. But the Hamas rocket approach is a wrong approach and will bring more misery to the people they are supposedly trying to help. I think Hamas is more interested these days with catering to Iran's agenda. Iran , who lines their pockets and supplies them with the rockets.
The Palestinians have had many injustices done against them and they need to follow the path of leaders like Saeb Erakat and others who seek a peaceful path to achieve their goals.
Protests in Jordan Continue, With Calls for Ending the King’s Rule
IRBID, Jordan — Thousands of young men poured into the streets of Jordan’s cities and towns for a third night of scattered protests against King Abdullah II, as the United States expressed support for the monarch.
Thursday’s protests around the country, most of which involved exchanges of rocks and tear gas, were set off this week by anger at a reduction in public fuel subsidies. Unlike previous demonstrations here, this week’s protests for the first time have also called for ending the rule of King Abdullah II.
Crowds have borrowed the signature chant of the Arab Spring revolts — “The people want the fall of the regime!” — and added their own dances and rhymes comparing the king to Ali Baba, the legendary thief. In this affluent northern city, usually a bulwark of support for the king, some demonstrators spoke openly of demands for democracy.
“Our ambition is to get our rights,” said Ali Ababene, a young man warming himself by a burning tire before dashing away ahead of the next volley of tear gas. “Our problem is not the high prices. It is the audaciousness of the corruption.” He added, “It is about democracy, freedom and social justice.”
The protests here turned notably violent on Wednesday night, after the police shot and killed Qasi Omari, 22, now described in local graffiti as “the martyr of the price hike.”
The Jordanian government said he was killed in a shootout with a group of armed men who assaulted a police station here on Wednesday night. But on Thursday, two members of his family and a witness to the killing said that he was unarmed, part of a group of about 30 unarmed men who walked to the police station to complain about abusive language they said officers had used while breaking up an earlier protest.
One of those men, Firas Sultan el Azzam, 28, said they had asked the police through a sliding front door, “We want to know who gave you the right to curse us?” He and Mr. Omari’s family said the police then opened fire, killing Mr. Omari and wounding three others. Angry crowds then set fire to several government cars and burned down a municipal building, where a heavy contingent of plainclothes police officers was watching children play on Thursday.
The protests are expected to escalate after midday prayers across the country on Friday, and the family plans a funeral that day for Mr. Omari as well.
Established by the British after World War I, Jordan’s monarchy is one of the few Western-backed Arab governments to remain in place through decades of coups and revolts. Jordan is also a pivotal United States ally, occupying a strategic location between Israel, Iraq and Syria, and it is one of the few Arab countries to have signed a peace treaty with Israel.
Asked about the protests, a State Department spokesman, Mark C. Toner, urged protesters to remain peaceful and expressed support for the reforms led by the king.
“We support King Abdullah II’s road map for reform and the aspirations of the Jordanian people,” Mr. Toner said, “to foster a more inclusive political process that will promote security, stability, as well as economic development.”
http://www.nytimes.com/2012/11/16/world/middleeast/protesters-in-jordan-call-for-ending-king-abdullah-iis-rule.html?ref=world&_r=0
Hackers Down Hundreds of Israeli sites over Gaza
TEL AVIV: Online activist group Anonymous said on Saturday it had downed the websites of dozens of Israeli state agencies and a top bank in protest over the Jewish state's deadly air assault on Gaza.
The hackers said their operation "OpIsrael" had either damaged or completely erased the sites of more than 650 private and public institutions that included the Bank of Jerusalem -- one of the country's main finance houses.
"Bank of Jerusalem database has been deleted," the group said in a tweet next to a link to the lender's non-functioning website.
It also claimed to have briefly downed the foreign ministry website in protest over an alleged Israeli threat to cut the Gaza Strip's Internet communications.
"For far too long, Anonymous has stood by with the rest of the world and watched in despair the barbaric, brutal and despicable treatment of the Palestinian people in the so called 'Occupied Territories' by the Israel Defence Force," Anonymous said in a statement.
"But when the government of Israel publicly threatened to sever all Internet and other telecommunications into and out of Gaza they crossed a line in the sand."
The group threatened Israel with the "unbridled wrath of Anonymous" if it went ahead with the Internet cable cut.
Israel's foreign ministry was not immediately available for comment on the threat, and no reference to the hack attack was made in official government statements on Saturday.
Israel has been pressing an intense aerial assault over the coastal Palestinian enclave as militants from the ruling Hamas movement and other groups have fired hundreds of rockets over the border.
The intensifying stand-off has also played out over the Internet.
Militants have used social networking sites such as Twitter to promise new attacks and take credit for specific strikes.
Meanwhile, Israeli defence officials have used Twitter to provide real-time warnings about incoming rockets and also make direct threats against Hamas.
Read more: http://dailystar.com.lb/Technology/Regional/2012/Nov-17/195376-hackers-down-hundreds-of-israeli-sites-over-gaza.ashx#ixzz2CaXeu2Z3
(The Daily Star :: Lebanon News :: http://www.dailystar.com.lb)
http://dailystar.com.lb/Technology/Regional/2012/Nov-17/195376-hackers-down-hundreds-of-israeli-sites-over-gaza.ashx#axzz2CaWBNIsI
Obama: Israel has right to defend itself, warns of perils if violence in Gaza crisis deepens
BANGKOK - President Barack Obama said Sunday that an incursion by Israel's forces into the Gaza Strip could deepen its own death toll, cautioning against an escalation even as he defended Israel's right to defend itself. To Palestinians, Obama warned the latest crisis could crush peace hopes for years.
"Israel has every right to expect that it does not have missiles fired into its territory," Obama said at the start of a three-nation tour in Asia.
"If that can be accomplished without a ramping up of military activity in Gaza, that's preferable," he said. "It's not just preferable for the people of Gaza. It's also preferable for Israelis, because if Israeli troops are in Gaza, they're much more at risk of incurring fatalities or being wounded."
Obama's comments came as Israel's campaign against Hamas militants in Gaza blasted into its fifth day. Israel is at a crossroads of whether to launch a ground invasion or pursue Egyptian-led truce efforts. Obama sought to defend the U.S. ally's rights while pushing for a halt in the violence.
From Thailand, Obama also defended his decision to go to Myanmar, also known as Burma. Obama will be the first U.S. president to visit the country, which is moving from a brutal reign toward democracy, but still holds political prisoners and is living with ethnic violence.
"This is not an endorsement of the Burmese government," Obama said. "This is an acknowledgement that there is a process underway inside that country that even a year and a half, two years ago, nobody foresaw."
Obama said he was also guided by Myanmar's longtime democracy advocate, Aung Sung Suu Kyi, who visited him recently at the White House.
"I'm not somebody who thinks the United States should stand on the sidelines and not get its hands dirty when there's an opportunity for us to encourage the better impulses inside a country," he said.
Change in a country can happen quickly, Obama said, if people believe "their voices are heard."
The president will also visit Cambodia during his Asia trip, which began Sunday in Thailand. He was here as a sign of U.S. commitment to a region his administration deems vital to U.S. economic growth, but the shadows of another Mideast conflict hung over his journey.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu declared Sunday that Israel was prepared to significantly expand its military operation in Gaza. Obama has been lobbying Netanyahu along with the leaders of Egypt and Turkey to try to halt the crisis — including stopping rocket strikes on Israel.
He said Israel was justly responding to "an ever escalating number of missiles that were landing not just in Israeli territory, but in areas that are populated. And there's no country on earth that would tolerate missiles raining down on its citizens from outside its borders."
Obama said Palestinians will have no chance to pursue their own state and a lasting peace with Israel as long as rockets are fired into Israel. He said he hoped for a clearer process over the next 48 hours — showing how much the Mideast conflict had intruded on his diplomatic mission to Asia.
Still, Obama got a red-carpet welcome, a dose of sightseeing and an official dinner of authentic Thai food.
In a news conference with Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra, both leaders spoke of deepening ties of trade, security and democracy. Obama's praised Thailand for being a supporter of democracy in Myanmar, the once-pariah state that is rapidly reforming. He said he appreciated the Thai prime minister's insights into Myanmar during their private meeting Sunday.
On a steamy day, Obama began with a visit to the Wat Pho Royal Monastery, a cultural must-see in Bangkok. In stocking feet, the president and U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton walked around a golden statue of a sitting Buddha. The complex is a sprawling display of buildings with colorful spires, gardens and waterfalls.
After his time at the temple, Obama paid a courtesy call to the ailing, 84-year-old U.S.-born King Bhumibol Adulyadej in his hospital quarters. The king, the longest serving living monarch, was born in Cambridge, Mass., and studied in Europe.
The centerpiece of the Asia trip comes Monday when Obama travels to Myanmar.
Obama aides see Myanmar as not only a success story but also as a signal to other countries that the U.S. will reward democratic behavior.
http://www.startribune.com/world/179851311.html?refer=y
DBRM has entered a new phase and now with the funding, they are going to be able to uncover and exploit the the real value of these properties. Its going to be a fun year for DBRM imho
There is no doubt the Israeli hawks want to avoid an independent Palestinian nation. There is no doubt the settlements continue which agravate the situation. All that and many other things aside, their is NO justification for the rockets reigning down on Israel. It should be condemned by all and it is not the answer. That has been proven time and time again. Hamas is f--cked up. They have learned nothing from history and are doing exactly what the Israeli hawks you mention want them to do so they can continue to justify no Palestinian nation. Hamas is a bunch of criminals and they are equally responsible for the counter attacks that will befall the innocent Palestinians. Those Hamas cowards who place their rockets in Mosques , schools, hospitals are directly responsible for the the deaths of their own people and should be tried as criminals. And the Palestinian people who still support them (and their are many) are blinded by emotion and rage and this will never bring a solution
Reports: Rockets Fired From Egypt Hit Israel
Two major Israeli newspapers are reporting that rockets fired from Egypt have hit Israel.
"Terrorists in the Sinai Peninsula launched rockets into Israel Friday night," reports the Jerusalem Post. "The rockets fell near an Israeli village on the southern border, causing some damage, but no injuries."
The Israeli daily Haaretz reports, "Rockets fired from direction of Egypt toward Eshkol Regional Council."
It appears no damage was reported in connection with the rocket fire from Egypt. Earlier today, the Egyptian prime minister visited Gaza to express solidarity with the Palestinians there.
This new front comes a day after a rocket landed near Tel Aviv and on the same day Israel's capital Jerusalem was the target of rocket fire. Those attacks were courtesy of Hamas in the Gaza Strip.
"After Tel Aviv metropolitan area, capital under fire too: An air raid siren was sounded in Jerusalem and surrounding communities early Friday evening. After residents reported hearing blast sounds, security forces confirmed that one rocket had landed in the Gush Etzion area near a Palestinian village," Ynet reports.
"There were no reports of injuries or damage. This was the first air raid siren sounded in the area since the IDF launched Operation Pillar of Defense in the Gaza Strip. Air raid sirens were sounded in southern communities throughout the day and a barrage of missiles hit the area."
http://www.weeklystandard.com/blogs/report-rockets-fired-egypt-hit-israel_663502.html
Well the move definitely is being questioned by some. Many did not want them to give up the strip as long as Hamas had a hand in control of the Palestinians and as long as Hamas was continuing to funnel arms and rockets into the area. Hamas is where the PLO was back in the early days of Yasser Arafat. Very militant, hateful rhetoric, and acts of terrorism. After many years the PLO realized that way achieves nothing but more hate and deeper division. Now leaders of the current PLO are much more diplomatic and try to work through the UN. Their rhetoric is much more responsible and they site admirable goals for their people. The PLO evolved quite a bit over the decades. Unfortunately, Hamas has not done so yet and remain an obstacle to real peace.
nice photo
I think that is a completely different type of situation. Osama took credit for 9-11 and was America's Most Wanted. As with any criminal on the run, once you find him, you go get him. That is a very easy one to call. Military intervention in a sudden flare up or conflict is a very different situation and leaders sometimes wait to see how developments unfold. Sometimes, they wait too long and regret it, sometimes they are prudent to wait or not get involved at all.
But Obama doesnt strike me as the type who will rush into any Israeli conflict even if its with Israel fighting groups on several fronts. I could be wrong but I dont think he would move very fast in any further participation in that region in spite of your example of the easy call to go after Osama. Again I could be wrong, but thats not the way I read Obama
Im not convinced Obama will come full bore. I believe, he will only come full bore if the public demands it and Im not sure they have an appetite for it right now after more than a decade in Iraq and Afghanistan. He certainly didnt come close to coming full bore when our own diplomats and citizens were calling for help in Benghazi.
We(the USA) were not involved when Israel went into Lebanon in response to the rockets from Hezbullah. We were not involved when the rockets came from Gaza and Israel invaded Gaza the last time. Of course Israel had the upper hand and didnt need our help and they were only fighting on one front at a time in those instances.
But my point is their enemies are stronger now and things could develop very fast and I think we would eventually step in if Israel appeared severely threatened but by that time , quite a bit of damage could already be inflicted on Israel. This wont be like the six day war of the past. These countries didnt have rockets then capable of striking anywhere in Israel. Obama doesnt rush full bore into anything. Thats not his style. I dont see any USA participation until and unless Israel had already become severely damaged.
Its indeed very stupid of both non-Hamas Palestinians as well as other nations throughout the world not to condemn the Hamas rocket launches that were occurring before the latest escalation.
I think Palestinians like Saeb Erakat have the right idea by continuing to push in the United Nations to declare statehood. I think the achievement of this would be more likely to force Israel to the table for a more permanent solution. The rocket launches will always do the complete opposite and only hurt innocent Palestinians and Israeli's. Rocket launches will only bring retaliations and further loss of life and create deeper divisions
Palestine to seek statehood at United Nations next month
Father Roy writes: A “moment of truth” is approaching. The highlights in this article are mine. Peace, Roy
source: Erekat: Palestinian UN bid seeks to jolt p… JPost – Middle East
Chief Palestinian negotiator says PLO is determined to change the status quo, UN will be “a moment of truth.
Palestinian leaders plan to shake up the 19-year-old peace process and proceed with a United Nations statehood bid next month over US objections, chief negotiator Saeb Erakat said.
“It’s a moment of truth,” Erakat said in an interview at his West Bank office in Ramallah. “We’re determined to change the status quo.”
The move to upgrade the Palestine Liberation Organization’s status to that of a “non-member state” in the UN General Assembly comes a year after the failed effort to obtain full membership through the Security Council, a step the Obama administration blocked.
By forcing the statehood issue Palestinians risk jeopardizing international aid that accounts for about 14 percent of gross domestic product and inviting retaliatory measures from Israel, which captured the West Bank, east Jerusalem and Gaza in the 1967 Middle East war.
The Palestinian bid to upgrade its observer status at the UN is likely to pass the General Assembly, where the US has no veto as it does in the Security Council, Erakat said.
If the vote succeeds, “Palestine will become a nation under occupation,” Erakat said. “The moment we get this, every single thing Israel does in east Jerusalem or the West Bank will become null and void.”
Mitt Romney, the former Massachusetts governor, told campaign donors that the Israeli-Palestinian conflict is going to “remain an unsolved problem” and that the Palestinians are uninterested in peace. Romney made the comments at a closed fundraiser in May and they became public when a video of the event was posted September 18 by Mother Jones magazine.
Upgrading their status in the General Assembly would enable the Palestinians to join other UN agencies, including the International Criminal Court, where they could ask for Israel to be tried for war crimes, Erakat said.
“Israel’s main worry is the ICC,” said Erakat, who declined to specify whether they would proceed with the action. “They don’t want me to have a sword on their neck.”
Israeli leaders are concerned that a Palestinian victory at the General Assembly will bring a “new onslaught” against the Jewish state, Foreign Ministry spokesman Yigal Palmor said in a telephone interview when asked about Erakat’s comments.
“It will accomplish nothing except for poisoning the atmosphere so that it will be impossible to resume negotiations,” he said.
If the two-state solution fails, Erakat says Israel will find itself by 2018 in control of a single “apartheid” state in which Palestinians outnumber the Jewish population.
“Mr. Netanyahu can’t maintain the status quo,” he said. “We aren’t going anywhere.”
http://israelandpalestine.org/tag/saeb-erakat/
It could be Israel's nightmare far more than Obama's nightare.
Israel needs to tread very carefully right now. As fuagf's series of articles posted suggest, this time could be far more dangerous than the conflicts of the past.
Israel is much more vulnerable now than in the past. Syria is very unstable and big trouble could spill over from the Golan. Hamas has a great number of rockets (more advanced than in the past as well) capable of hitting many parts of Israel. Egypt is very unstable these days and their is no telling what Egypt or rogue elements within Egypt will do to participate in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. Hezbullah who is militarily stronger than ever, sits within Lebanon perched on the Israeli border and they have assembled a massive arsenal of rockets now capable of striking all parts of Israel. They now have thousands upon thousands of rockets that can match the number held by most nations on earth. Al_Quaeda is alive and well (contrary to recent political election propaganda to the contrary) and has issued statements of their solidarity with the Palestinians and there is no telling what they are capable of at any given time as evidenced recently in Benghazi. And of course there is still Iran , racing to become a nuclear player and who even without nuclear is a very strong military power in the region. Iran has funded and supplied arms and rockets to all of the above with the exception of maybe Al-Quaeda.
So why is Israel so much more vulnerable today in my opinion? Because scenario's can play out where Israel could find itself entangled with several(or even all) of these players mentioned above at the same time. Yes, Israel has a super powerful military and the best of equipment and weaponry capable of inflicting massive damage against all of the above. Yes , they have this Iron-Dome to protect against incoming rockets. But this dome is not tested against hundreds and thousands of these rockets coming at them all at once directed at any and all points within Israel. Israel's enemies are capable of creating major damage as well within Israel if the conflict escalates and this wasnt always the case in the conflicts of the past. Yes, Israel has nuclear weapons if they ever became needed for survival but with there enemies all perched so close to Israel, Israel itself would have fallout and major problems as a result of using such weapons.
As surrounding players get stronger , I think Israel can be overrun and destroyed in the years ahead. I dont want to see this. I also want to see the problems of the Palestinians fairly addressed and resolved. Its critical that their be a peaceful solution to all of the current flare-ups in the middle east. If not , Im afraid these nations and people can destroy each other. Every nation on earth needs to step in and offer to help facilitate a peaceful resolution to current list of crisis simultaneously happening in the region. I dont think it should be just the United States. Many of the players distrust the US and their loyalties. It needs to be a coalition of many nations.
Netanyahu needs to tread very carefully before launching an all out assault and ground invasion. Even though he can justify it in my opinion because of the rockets launched against his people, he still needs to weigh the consequence. It could unleash a chain of unforseen events that can bring even more misery on the Jewish people and the Arabs as well that live within Israel. The same chain of unforseen events could be unleashed if he decides to attack Iran. I dont believe the Iron-dome can protect the people within Israel completely if something errupted on several of these fronts. It will protect them quite a bit but I believe massive damage can be inflicted the likes of which Israel has not seen.
I pray peace prevails and good sense prevails in the minds of the leaders on each side.
Odd, I heard no outcry for a call to cease the continued Palestinian rockets into Israel which occurred BEFORE the Israeli counter attacks and directly led to this latest escalation.
Dershowitz point was right on target. Next time Harvard calls you for a donation, stop using ole Alan as an excuse and fess up that your just a cheapskate
Both are dirtbags
Well obviously Obama must fear Islam more than most because he and his people certainly saw the need to keep apologizing for that film.