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By Jay Janson
Another school shooting massacre. This time in Connecticut. Twenty, as President Obama reported, "between the ages of five and ten."
Of course everyone is shocked and saddened.
But why is it not expected that occasionally an armed America will turn on his own? [1] (Wikipedia list of 54 massacres by Americans in the US since 1950) [2] (Worst Eight US Massacres recalling Columbine) [3] (Top Recent Five)
Violence and heroic gun play is in the air in the United States of America. It's on TV and in movies all the time, whether real or fictional. The world knows children in the US are brought up on violence and expected to be ready to go overseas to 'protect American freedom' in wars ordered by America's presidents and commanders-in-chief.
It’s kind of a catchy thing - 'Like father like son!"
America's pentagon fed war promoting prime time TV anchors are showing emotion, concern and compassion, as will all the organized clergy that have been blessing America's innumerable 'Just Wars.' The politicians fronting for corporatist governance will be talking about gun control for weeks to come - once again.
This writer and all his anti-imperialist wars colleagues might appropriately suggest or plead that every parent in the United States be assigned the following homework:
1. Watch Michael Moore's "Bowling at Columbine" again and write a review of what it means to you. Full length movie at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9jGtAcDefHg
2. Search the Internet for statistics on how many schoolchildren Armed Americans killed in Korea, Vietnam, Laos, Cambodia, Dominica Republic, Panama, Iraq, Somalia, Yemen, Afghanistan, Pakistan, Libya, etc. - how many schools were bombed, how many children were killed in while at home. Weaponized Americans have been collaterally killing innocent people overseas in poor countries for the past sixty-four years.
3. Watch Michael Moore's "Bowling at Columbine" a second time and write a review of what it means for America.
4. Meditate on how all Americans surely agree with President Obama that "Our hearts are broken," while others say we should make sure they did not die in vain. Meditate on doing something about our school massacres. Meditate on the connection between the militarized nation backing US private investments abroad, that Martin Luther King Jr. spelled out for the world. Try to realize that millions of hearts were broken in the same way in the above mentioned countries, by Americans firing weapons upon their countrymen designated as 'bad guys.'
5. Never forget "They had their entire lives ahead of them," as noted correctly President Obama. And in humility consider that those children that perished for having fallen in the way of armed Americans invading their beloved nations, also, "had their entire lives ahead of them."
6. Watch Michael Moore's "Bowling at Columbine" a third time and write a review of what it means for the world, and not only the danger Americans have become unto themselves.
7. Remind yourself daily that the only American with a three day holiday honoring his birthday, shocked the world and made headlines everywhere with, "The greatest purveyor of violence in the world is my own government," and held himself and the American people responsible for being fully capable of making America's "atrocity wars" as unacceptable as the "social injustice their expenditure caused at home." [watchMartin Luther King, Jr: A Time to Break Silencehttp://www.americanrhetoric.com/speeches/mlkatimetobreaksilence.htm]
[read King Condemned US Wars http://kingcondemneduswars.blogspot.com/
8. Do try to get your elected officials to make some effective gun control laws, but reflect upon the fact that every citizen in Cuba has been armed for decades, in expectation of another US invasion, but Cubans are not using their weapons upon themselves.
9. Tell all your friends and family to watch Michael Moore's "Bowling at Columbine," and to call for prosecution of US crimes against humanity, as the invasions of Germany were prosecuted at Nuremberg. [read Prosecute US Crimes Against Humanity Now Campaign ]
http://prosecuteuscrimesagainsthumanitynow.blogspot.com/
I mean if Americans focus on their love for children, everyone's children and not just their own, they can, Rev. Dr. King Jr. said, end American violence at home as well as the violence America brings overseas in the name of freedom for "predatory investments." And the way to do this is for Americans to prosecute its crimes against humanity and let the indictments fall where they may.
What else but prosecution and the threat of imprisonment could possibly serve as a brake on future wars for profit, and give Americans the chance they and their children deserve to end its nation's culture of violence, and free the world of it as well?
Footnotes:
[1]
List of massacres in the United States From Wikipedia, the free encyclopaedia
Alabama
Geneva County massacre
2009 Mar 10
Geneva and Samson
11 dead
6 injured
Arizona
2011 Tucson shooting
2011 Jan 8
Tucson, Arizona
14 wounded
4 dead
2 wounded
Arkansa
Westside Middle School massacre
1998 Mar 24
Jonesboro, Craighead County
5 dead
10 injured
California
101 California Street shootings
1993 Jul 1
San Francisco
9 dead
6 injured
Cleveland School massacre
1989 Jan 17
Stockton
6 dead
29 children and 1 teacher/ 30 injured
Cupertino quarry massacre
2011 Oct 5
Cupertino
4 dead
7 injured; death toll includes perpetrator
Cal State Fullerton massacre
1976 Jul 12
Fullerton
7 dead
2 injured
Golden Dragon massacre
1977 Sep 4
San Francisco
5 dead
11 injured
Ingleside mass murder
2012 Mar 23
San Francisco
5 dead
Newhall massacre
1970 Apr 6
Newhall
5 dead
death toll includes 4 officers and perpetrator
Oikos University shooting
2012 Apr 2
Oakland
7 dead
3 injured
San Ysidro McDonald's massacre
1984 Jul 18
San Diego
21 dead
19 injured
Seal Beach massacre
2011 Oct 12
Seal Beach
8 dead
1 injured
Colorado
2012 Aurora shooting
2012 Jul 20
Aurora
12 dead
59 injured. Suspect James Holmes in custody.
Columbine High School massacre
1999 Apr 20
Columbine
15 dead
24 injured. Both perpetrators committed suicide.
Connecticut
Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting
2012 December 14
Newtown, Connecticut
27 dead
20 killed were children, 6 were adults, and the gunman himself. One of the adults that perished was the gunman's mother who was also a teacher at the school.
Illinois
Brown's Chicken massacre
1993 Jan 8
Palatine
7 dead
Northern Illinois University massacre
2008 Feb 14
Dekalb
6 dead
18 injured
University of Iowa shooting
1991 Nov 1
Iowa City
6 dead
4 faculty members and 1 student killed (in addition to the perpetrator), 1 student injured and paralyzed
Kansas
Wichita Massacre
2000 Dec 8–14
Wichita
5 dead
Massachusetts
Blackfriars Massacre
1978 Jun 28
Boston
4 dead
Wakefield massacre
2000 Dec 26
Wakefield
7 dead
Chinatown massacre
1991 Jan 1
Boston
5 dead
1 injured
O'Leary Family Massacre
1973 Jun 8
Boston
7 dead
Includes the suspect
Michigan
2011 Grand Rapids, Michigan mass murder
2011 Jul 7
Grand Rapids
7 dead
3 injured
Minnesota
Red Lake massacre
2005 Mar 21
Red Lake
10 dead
Death toll includes perpetrator. 5 injured
Nebraska
Westroads Mall shooting
2007 Dec 5
Omaha
9 dead
4 people injured
New Mexico
Las Cruces Bowling Alley Massacre
1990 Feb 10
Las Cruces
4 Dead, 3 injured
New York
Attica Prison riot
1971 Sep 9
Attica
39 dead
Happy Land fire
1990 Mar 25
New York City
87 dead
Wendy's massacre
2000 May 24
Flushing, Queens, New York City
5 dead
2 injured
Ohio
Kent State shootings
1970 May 4
Kent State University
4 dead
Oklahoma
Oklahoma City bombing
1995 Apr 1
168 dead
Oregon
1977 Jul 23
Klamath Falls, Oregon
6 dead
Gunman randomly kills patrons leaving nightclub.
Pennsylvania
Flight 93 of September 11 attacks
2001 Sep 11
Shanksville
40 dead
Amish school shooting
2006 Oct 2
Nickel Mines
6 dead
5 injured.
South Carolina
Orangeburg Massacre
1968 Feb 8
Orangeburg
3 dead
Texas
Fort Hood shooting
2009 Nov 5
Ft. Hood
13 dead
30 injured.
Luby's massacre
1991 Oct 16
Killeen
24 dead
20 injured.
Waco siege
1993 Apr 19
Waco
76
Deaths after fifty-day siege
University of Texas massacre
1966 Aug 1
Austin
16 dead
Virginia
Virginia Tech massacre
2007 Apr 16
Blacksburg, Virginia
33 dead
One death was perpetrator. 25 were injured. It was the worst shooting incident by a single gunman in U.S history and one of the deadliest massacres in the world.
Washington
Cafe Racer massacre
2012 May 30
Seattle
6 dead
Capitol Hill massacre
2006 Mar 25
Seattle
6 dead
Wah Mee massacre
1983 Feb 18
Seattle
13 dead
Wisconsin
2004 Nov 21
Meteor
6 dead
Chai Vang (Deer Hunting)
Sheraton Hotel massacre
2005 Mar 12
Brookfield
7 dead
Terry Ratzmann {Bible Study}
Delavan Shooting
2007 Jun 9
Delavan
6 dead
Ambrosio Analco killed his two sons, wife, her sister, a friend, and then himself
Crandon, Wisconsin shooting
2007 Oct 7
Crandon
6 dead
Deputy Tyler Rampage - Killed by police sniper
2012 Wisconsin Sikh temple shooting
2012 Aug 5
Oak Creek
6 dead
Assailant died of self-inflicted gunshot wound
Spa Shooting
2012 Oct 21
Brookfield
4 dead
Radcliffe Haughton (Shot 7 - Killed 3 and Himself)
[2]
Top 5 Worst | Death Statistics | The United States | Crime & Punishment Statistics
The Top 5 Worst Gun Massacres in Recent U.S. History
|
1 |
2 |
3 |
| Perpetrator |
Seung-Hui Cho |
George Hennard |
Adam Lanza |
|
(aged 23, suicide at scene) |
(aged 35, suicide at scene) |
(developing information) |
| Location |
Blacksburg, Virginia |
Killeen, Texas |
Newtown Connecticut |
|
(university campus) |
(restaurant) |
(Sandy Hook Elementary School ) |
| Date |
April 16th, 2007 |
Oct 16th, 1991 |
Dec 14th, 2012 |
| Victims |
32 killed |
23 killed |
*26 killed |
|
(25 wounded) |
(20 wounded) |
(developing) |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
4 |
5 |
|
| Perpetrator |
James Oliver Huberty |
Nidal Malik Hasan |
|
|
(aged 42, shot at scene by police) |
(age 39, arrested at scene) |
|
| Location |
San Diego, California |
Fort Hood, Texas, (military base) |
|
|
(McDonalds restaurant) |
|
|
| Date |
July 18th, 1984 |
Nov 5th, 2009 |
|
| Victims |
21 killed |
13 killed |
|
|
(19 wounded) |
(29 wounded) |
|
[3]
Shooting recalls Columbine massacre
1. April 16, 2007: Seung-Hui Cho, 23, fatally shot 32 people in a dorm and a classroom at Virginia Tech in Blacksburg, then killed himself in the deadliest mass shooting in modern U.S. history.
2. Oct. 16, 1991: A deadly shooting rampage took place in Killeen, Texas, as George Hennard opened fire at Luby's Cafeteria, killing 23 people before taking his own life. Twenty others were wounded in the attack.
3. July 18, 1984: James Oliver Huberty, an out-of-work security guard, killed 21 people in a McDonald's restaurant in San Ysidro, Calif. A police sharpshooter killed Huberty.
4. Aug. 1, 1966: Charles Whitman opened fire from the clock tower at the University of Texas at Austin, killing 16 people and wounding 31.
5. April 20, 1999: Students Eric Harris, 18, and Dylan Klebold, 17, opened fire at Columbine High School in Littleton, Colo., killing 12 classmates and a teacher and wounding 26 others before killing themselves in the school's library.
6. Aug. 20, 1986: Pat Sherrill, 44, a postal worker who was about to be fired, killed 14 people at a post office in Edmond, Okla. He then killed himself.
7. April 3, 2009: A shooter entered the American Civic Association building in Binghamton and killed 14 people, including himself, wounding four others.
8. July 29, 1999: Former day trader Mark Barton, 44, killed nine people in shootings at two Atlanta brokerage offices, then killed himself. Barton also killed his family before the spree, which raised the total dead to 13, including Barton.
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