Lock & Load: Violence in the Crosshairs

In the aftermath of the shooting in Tuscon the irony looms: those who tout the 2nd Amendment usually insist that ready access to handguns, possibly concealed, will limit the probability of gun violence. A Second Amendment "solution" yesterday would have meant a crowd armed and hair-triggered enough to be ready to defend the Congresswoman when her assailant aimed at her - as the pro-gun pundits vociferously insisted might have prevented deaths in the wake of the Virginia Tech shootings, for example. One could only hope they'd all have the talent to aim very carefully in such crowded conditions that even a trained sharp-shooter might feel tested, since the deaths and injuries at a grocery store in Tuscon were arguably incited by the implied acceptability of such "2nd Amendment solutions."

I'd surely hate to be Jesse Kelly, Gifford's opponent in the recent election who tied defeating her to coming to shoot a "fully automatic M-16" to remove her from office, or Sarah Palin (who used a gun-sight rendering to target 20 candidates she wanted defeated, including Giffords) right now. It must be distracting for them both to work out ways to not feel guilty about this travesty.

So, while it's true that guns don't kill people, (people kill people) it does behoove us to consider culpability for incitement; there's more to being an American patriot than whipping up media ratings in support of your particular political agenda - or at the very least, we should agree that their ought to be. If we can agree that yelling fire in a crowded, darkened theater is unacceptable, then surely we can agree that inciting to violence is not responsible public discourse, much less a valid means to attain elected office.

This was an assault on the best system of government the world has ever brought to life. With all due respect to the Constitution and the 2nd Amendment, violence is not a solution - it's a symptom. If you don't like how our system works, that's fine with me - feel free to move to Somalia, or anywhere else that doesn't use elections to determine what the government can do and who represents us. If you're staying, though, buy in.

Thomas Hayes is an entrepreneur, former Democratic Campaign Manager, journalist, and photographer who contributes regularly to a host of web sites on topics ranging from economics and politics to culture and community.

Petaluma High School My Space Threats By East Coast Teen - SF Chron

This goes to show that you can't hide, even on the Internet. They got him.

Cops say East Coast teen admits MySpace threats

Warnings about shooting people at Petaluma High School keep 2/3 of students away

Jim Herron Zamora and Marisa Lagos, Chronicle Staff Writers
Wednesday, May 9, 2007

(05-09) 19:55 PDT PETALUMA -- Petaluma police said a 17-year-old boy from the East Coast admitted to posting prank MySpace messages -- threatening to shoot people at Petaluma High School -- that caused about two thirds of students to miss classes Wednesday.
Police said that the boy, who was not named, admitted using a stolen password to hack into the MySpace page of at least one Petaluma High School student and using the account to send prank messages on Tuesday night vowing to bring a gun to school Wednesday to shoot enough people to exceed the 33 deaths at Virginia Tech last month.
Late Tuesday, investigators traced the threats to a person 3,000 miles away, but police and school officials still took the matter seriously and warned parents. Educators decided not to cancel classes but they did beef up security and lock down the campus.
The message said:"Listen up you people, I'm sick of all your s -- . Tomorrow I'm going to school strapped and none of you can do anything to stop me. I'm beating the high score of 33 thanks to you f -- ."
Police said that the prankster, who was not arrested but will likely face criminal charges, is one of several internet users who have obtained passwords "for a variety of MySpace accounts." Police said the prankster told them that a number of other internet users have used the passwords to "post inappropriate and possibly criminal data" on the popular social networking site.
The prankster's threats were posted and re-posted to about 300 other Petaluma students with MySpace accounts, school administrators said.
The East Coast boy has no connection to Petaluma, police said in a statement, "and he had no intention of carrying out any violence."
Police declined to discuss what criminal charges the youth may face. He could possibly be prosecuted under federal or state law.
School administrators said they had to take the threats seriously and enacted an emergency plan.
"The police let us know (Tuesday) night that they had some leads that linked this to the East Coast, but we had to respect the police investigation and treat this as a potentially serious threat," said Dave Rose, head of student services for Petaluma City Schools. "Had this been clearly a threat we would have closed down the school totally."
Police and school officials posted several alerts on the school's web-site on Tuesday night and Wednesday morning. Administrators also received nearly 400 phone calls from concerned parents before school Wednesday.
As a result, only about half of the 1,650 students showed up for first-period classes. That dwindled to about 35 percent by second period because many parents pulled their children out of school because of the threats.

Petaluma High School My Space Threats By East Coast Teen - SF Chron

This goes to show that you can't hide, even on the Internet. They got him.

Cops say East Coast teen admits MySpace threats
Warnings about shooting people at Petaluma High School keep 2/3 of students away
Jim Herron Zamora and Marisa Lagos, Chronicle Staff Writers
Wednesday, May 9, 2007

(05-09) 19:55 PDT PETALUMA -- Petaluma police said a 17-year-old boy from the East Coast admitted to posting prank MySpace messages -- threatening to shoot people at Petaluma High School -- that caused about two thirds of students to miss classes Wednesday.
Police said that the boy, who was not named, admitted using a stolen password to hack into the MySpace page of at least one Petaluma High School student and using the account to send prank messages on Tuesday night vowing to bring a gun to school Wednesday to shoot enough people to exceed the 33 deaths at Virginia Tech last month.
Late Tuesday, investigators traced the threats to a person 3,000 miles away, but police and school officials still took the matter seriously and warned parents. Educators decided not to cancel classes but they did beef up security and lock down the campus.
The message said:"Listen up you people, I'm sick of all your s -- . Tomorrow I'm going to school strapped and none of you can do anything to stop me. I'm beating the high score of 33 thanks to you f -- ."
Police said that the prankster, who was not arrested but will likely face criminal charges, is one of several internet users who have obtained passwords "for a variety of MySpace accounts." Police said the prankster told them that a number of other internet users have used the passwords to "post inappropriate and possibly criminal data" on the popular social networking site.
The prankster's threats were posted and re-posted to about 300 other Petaluma students with MySpace accounts, school administrators said.
The East Coast boy has no connection to Petaluma, police said in a statement, "and he had no intention of carrying out any violence."
Police declined to discuss what criminal charges the youth may face. He could possibly be prosecuted under federal or state law.
School administrators said they had to take the threats seriously and enacted an emergency plan.
"The police let us know (Tuesday) night that they had some leads that linked this to the East Coast, but we had to respect the police investigation and treat this as a potentially serious threat," said Dave Rose, head of student services for Petaluma City Schools. "Had this been clearly a threat we would have closed down the school totally."
Police and school officials posted several alerts on the school's web-site on Tuesday night and Wednesday morning. Administrators also received nearly 400 phone calls from concerned parents before school Wednesday.
As a result, only about half of the 1,650 students showed up for first-period classes. That dwindled to about 35 percent by second period because many parents pulled their children out of school because of the threats.

Petaluma High Students Get Death Threat On MySpace

This is scary, and an example of just how sick our society has become. Virginia Tech, combined with our communications system, has produced copycats. Sick.


MySpace hacker posts menacing statements to Petaluma High students

Marisa Lagos, Chronicle Staff Writer

Wednesday, May 9, 2007


(05-09) 09:18 PDT PETALUMA -- Someone hacked into the MySpace pages of several Petaluma High School students Tuesday night and posted statements on the networking Web site threatening to bring a gun to school today and kill people.

Police are asking parents, students and officials at Petaluma High School to help them identify the suspect today. Education officials said school remains in session, and there is extra police presence on campus.

The threats referenced April's deadly shootings at Virginia Tech, and warned students to stay home from school today.

Petaluma Police Sgt. Marty Frye said police sent out a "school alert" to employees and parents detailing the threats and stating that investigators do not know if it is valid.

According to the alert, the suspect wrote, "Listen up you people, I'm sick of all your s -- . Tomorrow I'm going to school strapped and none of you can do anything to stop me. I'm beating the high score of 33 thanks to you f -- ."

The person also went on to make additional statements in which they threatened to bring a gun to school and repeatedly referenced the Virginia Tech shootings, which left 33 people, including the shooter, dead.

Frye said it appears the suspect gained access to several Petaluma High School students' MySpace pages by hacking into the accounts and sent the messages without those people's knowledge.

Internet providers are cooperating with detectives and working to track down the origin of the messages, he added.

Petaluma City Schools deputy superintendent Steve Bolman said classes are continuing as normal.

"School is in session," he said. "We do have officers on campus, and students are being encouraged to stay in class."

An Angry Taiwanese Man On The Heels Of Virginia Tech

The Virginia Tech tragedy shed light on the problem of guns, functioning psychotics, minority isolation in America, and the Angry Asian Guy.

What was that last one? The what?

Yep. Cho Seung-Hui was totally off his rocker, we all agree on that, but a number of people also believe that something made him snap over time. That something seems to be society itself. Cho comes off as a person who's envious of anyone White or rich, plus he seems to have a fixation with White Women and a dislike for Asian Women, even to the point of openly expressing this.

I have formed the view that some -- not all -- Asian Men who immigrate over to the United States are more likely to have a fixation on White Women and an idea that White Women -- and more specifically, blondes -- are to be the objects of their desire, and are more often of the view that Asian Women should date Asian Men and not want White Guys. (By contrast, American-born Asians don't have such issues on display and have no such fixation problem.)

I've observed this behavior from time to time and remember various examples from Grad School at UC Berkeley (like the Korean student who was PISSED that Korean women were dating White Guys and not him); today, there was someone at my gym who really fit the description and in a scary way.

(Now, as a momentary aside, one could echo Chris Rock and say that most Black men seem to make Blonde women the object of their desire, but since the rate of Black out marriage in America is actually less than that of Asians, it's not the "habit" people think it is.)

Ok, it all started with a short athletic Blonde woman who was working out on one of the machines and it happened to be one that I always use. Since she already beat me to the device, I curled dumbbells while waiting my turn. Ok, she was totally hot -- great athletic legs -- but not off the charts "hot" to be sure.

After a while, all of a sudden I hear this loud clanging not far from both of us but closer to me than her by far. I took a sideways glance and noticed someone lifting a barbell, but because I wasn't looking directly I could not see the person.

The person making the noise kept up the banging of weights and finally I did get a look at the noise maker. He was an Asian man with glasses who looked to be in his early 30s or so. But since I was concentrating on my workout and -- ok -- taking a look or two at the woman, I could have cared less about the guy.

Well, he continued the annoying act of letting the weight he was lifting hit its support frame hard, resulting in a loud bang. The more he did it -- and this was several times -- the more I moved away from him. I then realized he was trying to get the attention of the woman, and seemed real frustrated in the process, getting up from the weights, dancing around a bit as if to the tune on his iPod. So, what did I do?

I talked to her. I asked her if something was wrong with her back and about the way she was using the gym machine, as I could learn something.

Well, as this was happening I overheard the Asian man talk to a White Guy he obviously knew and who was nearby working out as well. But what he said to this man was not pleasant.

He said "Americans are stupid" and went on a general rant about people here and other matters I frankly tuned out from hearing because it was terrible. He sounded angry. He mentioned that he was from Taiwan and "We're different."

Great!

Then the hot Blonde White Chick moved on to another area, after showing me her way of using the machine, and then the Asian guy basically stopped being loud. He got up and looked for another place in the gym to workout another body part area. It was the most amazing display of what I contend is sexual frustration channeled to anger about America.

But it was also scary. In the dark light of Virginia Tech, I can't help but look at anyone fitting the behavioral profile of Cho Seung-Hui differently. That person does not have to be Asian, but does have to express, well, what I saw today.

Regarding what seems to be an wild focus on Whites on the part of Asians, I would hope that our diversifying society would make this less likely over time. It can be taken to dangerous extremes with unfortunate results.

Video Of Cho Seung-Hui's Rant Before The Second Virginia Tech Shootings

This is the video that was sent to NBC News by wacko killer Cho Seung-Hui before his second killing spree in Virginia Tech.

Virginia Tech: Lets take a breath

It has a little over thirty-six hours since the first shot was fired on the Virginia Tech campus. The horrors that will hopefully always remain unfathomable to me littered websites with bold headlines.

As I try to keep up with the details through work and conversation, it becomes painful to see the media torrent that has already surrounded the tragedy. For all of us glued to the television and computer screen, in anticipation and hope for reason or excuse, let us just morn the loss of life.

It is becoming far too apparent that blame is being placed as quickly as news vans are being scattered across Virginia Tech's campus. There is ample time to find motives and debate gun control. We will seek out the tragedies heroes, those who selflessly gave their lives for others, and those who could have saved lives by quick action. But lets save all that for next week or at least tomorrow. For now, lets forget about the news cycles and developments and just light a candle for those lost.