Tag Archives: mass killings

Stop Killing Our Kids!

Since the tragic school shooting in Florida, there have been no shortage of theories as to why it took place.  And, as is common in today’s society, there is no shortage of blame.   I have a different theory from most, but it requires some background history.

In the late 80s and early 90s I was very much involved with the military.  For some unknown reason, my fellow officers and I and the NCO’s were continually being contacted about joining the NRA.  For the most part, none of us joined the NRA.  I am not a member today, even though I strongly support the 2nd Amendment.   There was a major controversy taking place at the time about assault weapons in the United States.  All of us in the military were very familiar with the M-16 rifle.  The Vietnam veterans were intimately familiar with the rifle and its characteristics as they utilized the weapon in a combat environment.  The M-16 was adopted by the military in 1964, replacing the heavier M-14.  The rifle utilized a high velocity 5.56 mm cartridge, with a 20 round magazine.  Later, along with other improvements, that capacity was increased to a 30 round magazine.  By taping two  30 round magazines together, 60 rounds were available in a matter of seconds by changing magazines..  With the use of a selector switch, the military version rifle could fired automatic or semi-automatic.

So here we were with the NRA facing off against Congress to determine the future of assault weapons in the United States.  I place part of the blame on the NRA, because they were using the 2nd Amendment (and their political contributions) as a sledge hammer to bludgeon politicians into assuring there would be no restrictions on any weapon.  Let me point out that this is the primary purpose of the NRA; to assure there are no restrictions on any weapon.  In other words….they were doing their job as required by their very extensive paying membership.

But, I also put part of the blame on Congress.  Many of these politicians received significant funds from the NRA in their election and reelection campaigns.  So at a time when common sense could have prevailed, nothing happened.  For instance, there could have been a limit as to the number of rounds for magazine capacity.  I was a hunter, and the largest capacity that any of my hunting rifles or shotguns had was 7.  Where I hunted, if you didn’t hit what you were aiming for in the first three shots, you were pretty much screwed.  Mostly, the third shot was a desperation/frustration shot after having missed with the first two shots.  So could the magazine capacity been limited to 8?  10?  Should assault style weapons have been banned from the beginning before becoming available to the civilian population?

The reason my fellow military compatriots and I did not join the NRA was because we felt that only the police and the military should have that weapon.  Military and police ‘wannabes’ began buying the M-16 and other assault style weapons by the millions, even though they weren’t for hunting and were not very good target weapons.  There have been over 8 million M-16’s produced.  But the real winner of the assault weapon sweepstakes is the Russian AK-47.  Originally designed with a 30 round magazine, later versions allowed for a 40 round magazine and a 75 round drum magazine.  Russia was the initial manufacturer of the weapon, but then China and many of the old Soviet satellite countries began knocking them off.  After the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1989, the gun markets were flooded with some version of the AK-47.  While attending gun shows in the early 90s, a person could purchase some version of the AK-47 with a case of ammunition for $200!  There are over 100 million AK-47s or it’s knockoffs in the world!

Now we fast forward to today and face the tragedy that there have been over 200 school shootings in the United States.  In order to be classified a ‘mass shooting,’ there must be four or more victims.  In the first two hundred years of this countries existence, there were 7 mass shooting school incidences.  (The first occurred in 1764 in Pennsylvania, when a schoolmaster was shot by marauding Indians, and nine students were bludgeoned to death!)  Since July 4, 1976, this country has experienced 17 mass-murder school shootings!  Twelve of these shootings have taken place since 1999, beginning with the infamous Columbine School shooting in Littleton, Colorado.  If we include school shootings with less than four victims, the number of school shootings would increase to 17 since Columbine.

Why the large increase since 1999?

Well, for one thing, let us look at our entertainment since 1999.  For starters, our television and our movies have become more violent, more sexually explicit, and more vulgar.  During my childhood, what use to take imagination now takes little imagination as everything in so explicit.  We did not see the murder, but would see blood on a wall or shadows on a curtain.   Today, many programs are a compendium as to how many ways a victim can be murdered.  The more gruesome, the better.  What happened to comedies?  What happened to shows showing a normal, stable family environment?  What happened to westerns?   What happened to variety shows?  If you don’t remember these shows, ask your grandparents.  They can give you a list.

Video games.  Have you seen some of these?  They are very similar to our TV and movie entertainment, except worse!  You may think they are a cartoon, but these games are nothing like any cartoons during my childhood.  Killing, sex, and vulgarity are the mainstay of many of these video games. (Can’t the Angry Birds become the Happy Birds?)

Our news reporting does not miss an opportunity to sensationalize a tragic event.  I had to stop watching the news for four days because of the Florida school shooting.  There was not a facet of that event that was not discussed at depth….24/7.  Unfortunately, because of this extensive news coverage, what is a tragic event for the sane becomes a pathway to infamy for the disturbed.  (Gee, if I kill a bunch of people, I can be on television!)  And, because of their extensive, in-depth coverage, they almost provide a road map as to how the crime can be done.

What happened to respect?  We don’t respect the police.  We don’t respect our teachers.  We don’t respect the opinion of others.  We don’t respect the rights of others.  It appears to me that the word ‘compromise’ has been removed from the English language and replaced by the word, ‘confrontation.’  I was continually told while growing up that I should ‘respect my elders.’  Now that I am an elder, that is not working out real well for me.  What’s with that?

So how do we stop school shootings in America?  It has been proposed to arm certain teachers.  An ‘in-school’ reaction squad.  Check.  We can provide in-depth background checks for gun purchasers.  Check.  We can raise the minimum age for purchasing a gun.  Check.  We could ask for military and police retirees to volunteer to assist in providing school security.  Check.  Have our legislators enact legislation against high capacity rifles and pistols.  (Pistols are actually the murderer weapon of choice.)  Check.  Increase gun violation punishments.  Check.  There are a myriad of things that can be proposed or enacted.  Many of which I do not agree.  But here is the one thing and one problem no one has ever approached……..

Our world and our society has changed significantly during my lifetime.  The technological advances have been amazing.  The technological advances have impacted every facet of our society:  how we eat, how we travel, our recreation, information resources, our military hardware, health treatment and services…..the list is endless!

But the one thing that has remained constant during this entire tumultuous period?  Parenting.  Our kids are bombarded and are exposed to sensory overload like no other previous generation.  Who is responsible for the movies and television that children are subjected to and watch?  The parents.  Who controls the usage of video games?  Parents.  Who teaches respect for others?  Parents.  Who has the best idea if a child is emotionally or mentally disturbed?  It would be the parent.

I empathize with anyone who has lost a child to violence.  But the fact remains, a gun or rifle did not load itself, jump out of a box, and then deliberately kill.  It requires the human element to pull the trigger and that is where the weakness of our murder prevention system lies.  Most mass school shootings are done by the young.  Blame others if it makes you feel better, blame the guns if it makes you feel better, but until our young are raised by parents that get into every aspect of their children’s lives, you can expect more of the same.  Stop being a friend and begin being a parent.  Its a much more difficult job, but society will get a better result.

The Late Republican Party. Suicide By Stupidity!

There has been much political speculating that the Republican party will not survive if Donald J. Trump is the Republican nominee for POTUS.  I have been mulling this over and I have come to the conclusion that maybe the Republican party should not survive, and here are my reasons.

Two years ago, during the last mid-term election, the voters of America once again gave control of the House and the Senate to the Republicans.  That election should have been taken as the ‘warning shot across the bow,’ indicating that voters were no longer satisfied with the status quo or the Obama administration.  My initial thoughts were that at least, with both houses controlled by the Republican party, a set of brakes would be applied to stop the Obama insanity.  What have they done?  They were elected to overturn Obama Care, and they have not done that.  (Yes, I understand that Obama would veto anything concerning his health care program,   More on that later.)

We got rid of the gatekeeper from hell, Harry Reed,  as senate majority leader, and actually submitted and voted on budgets for the first time of the Obama administration.  Are those budgets being followed?  Are they cutting costs, eliminating waste, and reversing the spiraling national debt?  No. No. And No.

What has this Congress done?  From my viewpoint, Obama has forged ahead with all of his crazy ideas.  We elected that Congress to protect its citizens.   We elected that Congress to straighten out the financial mess that this country faces.  Why do we have this Congress, and all of the expenses of supporting it….if they don’t do anything?

With the Republicans in control of both houses, I blame them.  It has become obvious since the beginning of all those Republican presidential debates that the Republican party has lost contact with the average, conservative American.  Rather than listening to what the average American is concerned about which caused the Republicans to gain control of Congress, apparently they are too stupid to have read the tea leaves, or, they are so self-serving they just don’t care.  The perfect paragon of this was Jeb Bush.  Two years ago, he was the ‘golden boy’ of the Republican party.  He was known, and he was a dynamic fund raiser.  But how well did he do in the debates?  It was obvious that Jeb, much like the Republican party, had underestimated the concerns and anger of mainstream America.  Gun control.  Border security.  Immigration control.  Job creation.  When Jeb was talking, if you would have shut your eyes, it would have been difficult to tell which party he represented.

And there is one more very big thing that both parties have underestimated.  People are tired of the status quo, and they are really becoming tired of career politicians.  It was refreshing to see three non-political career people in the debates:  Carly Fiorina, Ben Carson, and Donald Trump.

Now here we are with less than two weeks before the Republican national convention.

Dump Trump!  Anyone but Trump!  Trump Sucks!  There is no shortage of this, and unfortunately, much of it is coming from career Republican politicians.

Here are three possible scenarios for the convention.

1.  Attempt to undermine the delegate process and replace Trump with another candidate.  

Now you would think that if your apparent front runner brought out more voters to vote in the primaries for one candidate than ever before in the history of the United States, your party would be ecstatic.  Obviously that is not the case.  There has been much talk about attempting to sabotage the delegate procedure and put someone else in, rather than Trump.  Who would they get?  That smooth talking Mitt Romney, who has gone out of his way to back stab and denigrate Trump at every possible opportunity?  His little tirades are so despicable that I am sorry I voted for him in 2012.  I would not vote for him in 2016.  Many Americans who voted for Trump during the primaries would not vote for someone else if they feel their wishes have been cast aside.  If this were done, for sure Hillary Clinton would be voted in as POTUS.

I have to admit that Trump has kind of been my guy from the beginning.  I don’t have his hats or bumper stickers or have my lawn covered with his signs.  When asked if I support Trump, my answer has always been the same, “Donald Trump may not be who you like, but he may be what this country needs.”

This is similar to the Rush Limbaugh approach.  During the debates, one Cruz supporter called his show and wanted to know why Limbaugh had yet to attack Donald Trump.  Rush’s response was priceless.  “I will not attack anyone who has a chance of defeating Hillary Clinton.”  That attitude should have been adopted by the Republican party.

2.  Run someone as a third party candidate.

This option gives me nightmares!  It brings to mind the 1992 election when Ross Perot ran against George H. W. Bush and Bill Clinton.  Bush was seeking his second term.  Perot, an egocentric conservative decided to enter the race.  The end result?  Bill Clinton won the election with only 42% of the popular vote.  58% of the country voted conservative, but the liberal won!

Just think.  If it weren’t for Ross Perot, we may never had heard about Bill or Hillary Clinton.

Anyway, this is the worst possible scenario for the country.  If some established Republicans decide this is feasible, they obviously don’t care what happens to this country.  Hillary Clinton would win handily if the conservative vote is again divided.

3.  Support Trump.

It would be about time for the Republican party to step up and support Trump financially and morally.  He did not win so many delegates by mistake.  There is no mistake about what he is thinking.  He may not be as eloquent as Reagan, Kennedy or FDR, but everyone understands what he is saying.

Paul Ryan has played patty cake politics with his lukewarm, milk-toast attitude.  So hear is a word of advice to Paul and all of the other backroom schemers concerning this convention:  Support the people’s candidate….or be prepared to suffer the people’s wrath at the polls!  

Mr. Ryan, you are the speaker of the House of Representatives because the people entrusted the Republican party to right this floundering ship of state.  If you or the party decide to pull any underhanded shenanigans in this convention, you will not be speaker after the election, and you may not be a representative.

You gained control of Congress to repeal Obama Care.  Will you accomplish that with Hillary Clinton as President?  You gained control of Congress to provide security to the people.  Will that occur if Clinton continues with Obama’s policies?  Closing borders, and vetting immigrants are a top concern of the average American.  Have you kept track of the number of murders being done by Islamic terrorists in our country and in other Western countries?  Will anything be done about this if Hillary is President?  The Liberals look at an open border as providing more potential voters for the Democratic party.  How about the national debt?  If people think it is a difficult economic environment now, what would happen if the US basically goes bankrupt like Greece.  Like Spain.  Like Italy.  All Western countries whose socialistic policies have created a unmanageable burden because the governments were too weak and unwilling to address the overspending.  Do you think this would improve with Hillary as president?

I am definitely tired of living under an administration where the cops and the military are the bad guys and the black thugs are the heroes.  Is this what Obama meant when he said he was going to ‘bring the country together?’  This country has never been so divided!

So, Mr. Ryan and all you career politicians that appear to be quaking because a non-career politician may see just how deep the cesspool is in Washington, D.C; I suggest that it is time to quit worrying about how you are going to be reelected, and begin doing what is right for this country.  If the Republican party does not unite to defeat Hillary Clinton, then the United States will suffer and the Republican party may very well disappear because of stupidity, timidity and internal bickering by self-centered, power hungry bureaucrats.  Is this what the Republican party wants as its legacy?

Like I said earlier, “Trump may not be who you like, but he may be what this country needs.”

Make American Great Again.  Amen.

PS.  This blog was written the afternoon before the shooting of eleven police officers in Dallas, five of them fatally.  My heartfelt condolences to the families of these policemen that were murdered by snipers in a coordinated attack during a protest.  Some of these officers were standing in support with the protesters.

Gun Control or People Control -Which is it?

The hunter was moving slowly, picking each step carefully.  A misplaced step would scare the prey.  The crackle of a leaf or the snap of an obscured twig would prove to be the difference between hunting success or hunting failure.  He continues to move.  The prey would be much more difficult to find if it were not for his trusty dog, Goldie.  Goldie, that ever faithful dog of a Labrador mix combined with an unknown breed that produced the best hunting dog the hunter had ever owned.  Even though the dog was jet black, the medium sized dog was named Goldie when the hunter got him as a pup.  The young hunter had made up his mind about the dog’s name before his father brought it home.

They move further, eyes straining to get the slightest glimpse of the elusive prey.  Goldie’s sensitive nose was in the air.  The dog was using all of its amplified, hunting senses to locate the prey.  And then finally, a slight movement.  Both dog and man perceived it at the same time.  There it was!  Both dog and man froze.  No time for rash movements or noises.  The hunter inched slowly to the nearest tree, never taking his eyes off the elusive animal. The prey, now sensing danger, did not know if it should run or attack.   Once the hunter got to the tree, he took a steady position by leaning against it.  He slowly raised his rifle.  He took aim.  The hunter focused on the front sight, then the prey, then back to the front sight and then the rear sight.  He had the perfect sight picture.    The dog was becoming restless, but like the hunter, Goldie was patient and did not make a move or sound.  The hunter exhaled until practically all the breath was out of his lungs.  Then,  with the experience of a hundred hunts, the hunter delicately squeezed the trigger.  A trigger squeeze,  that if done to rapidly or with a tug would throw off the aim.  The shot rang out and echoed through the forest.  And then………………..

And that, dear readers, is gun control.  Steady position, aim, perfect sight picture, breath and trigger squeeze.  But unfortunately for us, that is not what is meant when the media is talking gun control

The media, bleeding heart liberals and even the POTUS is blaming all of the current unfortunate shootings on the lack of gun control.  This is a fancy way of saying that they want to remove all guns from all Americans…..that is their idea of gun control.

I have another take on this issue.  We don’t need gun control the way it has been put forth, what we need is people control.  Let me explain my idea for people control.

1.  I would pass a federal law stating that any person committing a crime with a gun is automatically given a ten year sentence to be served in a federal penitentiary.  No appeal, no parole, no pardon.  That person would have to serve the entire sentence.    Do you think that would make someone think twice about robbing a 7-11, a bank, or even holding a family at gunpoint during a break-in?  Then, this person would have a trial to determine how much additional prison time they get for the particular crime they actually committed.  If they did rob a bank or a 7-11, they might get an additional 15-20 years tacked onto the initial 10 years.  Do you think this would be a deterrent for anyone committing gun violence?

2.  If someone commits murder with either a gun or a bomb, they get the death penalty.  That’s right.  Grandpa T is advocating a federal law stating that if a murder is committed with either a gun or a bomb, the guilty party receives the death penalty.  Period.  If this law was enacted, do you think that it would be a deterrent?

3.  Anyone caught carrying a concealed weapon without the proper permit, has all of their weapons confiscated, is heavily fined, and serves  a specified amount of time in jail.  If you feel the need to carry a concealed weapon, a permit would have to be applied for through appropriate channels.  I propose a rigorous background check before granting these permits.

I can’t make it any simpler.  I think that all three of the proposed measures would certainly be a deterrent to crimes involving guns.  It is a get-tough policy, but the law abiding citizens need not worry. They need to be protected.  I don’t care if we have to build 100 new prisons, or put a fence around Rhode Island to hold all the prisoners.  If you want to have ‘gun control,’ you need to start with people control.

It gores my bull that the convicted Colorado theater shooter, James Holmes, did not receive the death penalty for the 12 people he killed during his shooting spree.  It really gets  my undies in a bunch that the death sentences for the Fort Hood shooter, Major Nidal Hasan and the Boston bomber, Dzhokhar Tsarnaev has not been carried out.  Amazingly, the appeals process afforded these last two people before their sentences are carried out, could be 10 years or more!  Is there any question that these men committed the crimes?

At this point, I am writing an open letter to the politicians of the United States:  We, the majority of the people of the United States, are not interested in ‘rehabilitating’ mass murderers.  We, the majority of the people of the United States, are not interested in supplementing the existence of mass murderers at taxpayers’ expense in any of our penal institutions.  Therefore, we would like to see the aforementioned three laws passed, and the appeal process for murderers restricted to 6 months or less before their execution is carried out.

That is the way that Grandpa T would enact gun control.  It would be done with people control.  But what brand of gun control is being bantered by liberals, the media, by celebrities and by politicians?

Somehow, in the amazing world of Wonderland where they live, these gun control advocates think they can disregard the Second Amendment, wave a magic wand, and make all guns disappear.  I have bad news for these people.  You have been sniffing too much of your fairy dust because you will never, ever make over 300 millions guns disappear in America.  And, if you could theoretically convince the public to turn in their weapons, only the law-abiding people would do it.  Do you think the criminals will do it?  The end result would be a country where the law-abiding citizens are unarmed and the criminals are armed.  What kind of pandemonium would that situation bring?

Unfortunately, as good as my laws are and as well intended as they are to protect the public, there is one large flaw in my people control policy.  The media skirts the issue, the celebrities skirt the issue and the POTUS has skirted the issue all the while they are pounding on their podiums about gun control.  They have skirted the issue of psychopaths.  Yes, those people that would go to any lengths to kill innocent people to achieve their 15 minutes of fame, even if it means the loss of their own life.  Recently, we had the Oregon shooting by Christopher Harper-Mercer.  Christoper killed nine people and wounded nine others at a rural community college before committing suicide.  The Sandy Hook elementary school shooter, Adam Lanza killed 20 children and 6 adults before taking his own life.  I know of no logical way that either of these events could have been stopped with any of the present gun legislation or any other gun control measures.  The fact is, they would have gotten their weapons somewhere to conduct these heinous killings, regardless of the laws.  They were crazy, and how exactly do you control crazy?

The American public has difficulties coming to grips with people that will wantonly murder and then take their own lives.  We have trouble coming to grips with suicide bombers.  Our problem is, we appreciate life too much and cherish it dearly.

I want to put forth a premise that is designed to be thought provoking:  Do you think any of these murderers would have done their killing if they knew the victims were armed?  The Colorado shooter passed two other theaters to get to the theater that had a sign posted stating that ‘no guns are allowed.’  Would he have been as brave in his mission if some of those theater goers were returning fire?  Would the Sandy Hook shooter or the Oregon shooter been as likely to have done their dastardly deeds if they knew the teachers or students were armed?  This is compelling because, if they were stopped immediately they would not have finished their mission, and thus, not received their 15 minutes of fame.  This is not advocacy for arming everyone old enough to pull a trigger, but a way of further defining the problem.

Oh……about the little hunting story?  It was me and my dog, and yes the dog’s name was Goldie.  The prey?  Why, it was those vicious tree climbing rats with bushy tails. Or as most people call them, squirrels.  We ate them.  Goldie was a fantastic dog.  We hunted together for pheasants, partridge, ducks and geese.  Goldie was always waiting to recover any game that I bagged.  If I missed the shot, Goldie gave me a condescending look as if to say, “What am I doing out here, if you keep missing?”  It was similar to the look that Grandma P gives me for watching football all day Saturday and all day Sunday.  (Really.  Would you have read this piece if you knew it was about squirrel hunting?)

Islamic Extremism, Oh My!

Our government is tripping all over itself not wanting to attribute ‘violent extremism’ to the Islamic religion.

In a meeting on Friday, January 23, 2015, held in Davos, Switzerland, our Secretary of State, John Kerry spoke in front of a group of our allies at a World Economics Forum.  In his speech, he said that extremists who are killing children and others in Iraq, Syria, Nigeria and other parts of the world may cite Islam as a justification, but the West should be careful about calling them Islamic radicals. He went on to say that it would be a mistake to link Islam to criminal conduct rooted in alienation, poverty, thrill-seeking and other factors.

Kerry also said, “We have to keep our heads.  The biggest error we could make would be to blame Muslims for crimes…that their faith utterly rejects.  We will certainly not defeat our foes by vilifying potential partners.  We may very well fuel the very fires that we want to put out.”

These comments irritated our allies from France and England, as our administration has yet to use the term, ‘Islamic extremism.’    The British Foreign Secretary, Philip Hammond, stood next to Kerry and urged the defeat of what he called “the scourge of violent Islamist extremism.”

Hurray for our allies!  At least, they have the guts to place the blame where it rightly belongs.   So why does our government do the ‘two-step’ shuffle to assure the three words ‘violent Islamic extremist’ never appear in the same sentence.  Could there be an unknown Islamic influence in our highest government?

Just look at what has happened recently.  There was the shooting, in Paris, of magazine employees and Jewish customers in a deli.  The people that carried out those attacks were Muslim.  There happened the beheading of at least one Japanese citizen, which was broadcast on the internet by, right again, Muslims.  There are atrocities of dynamic proportions taking place in Africa.  These include murder, rape, and selling women into slavery.  This, too, is being done by Muslims. All of the past bombings of US embassies and of the World Trade Center were done by Muslims.  The Boston Marathon bombing and the carnage caused at Ft. Hood were all carried out by Muslims.

These events are just the tip of a very deep iceberg, and yet our government, in light of all these events, is incapable of blaming the ‘violent Islamic extremists.’

I have researched until I am blue in the face and I cannot put one of these events onto the shoulders of any mournful Methodist, bible totin’ Baptist, or a perturbed Presbyterian.  There is not even a Hindu, Mormon, Catholic, or Jew in the bunch.  Nope.  Try as I may, they are all being done by Muslims!  And only Muslims!  All of these atrocious events are being done by members of the second largest, fastest growing religion in the world!

I believe much of this ‘Islamic-led’ violence is for money.  You don’t kidnap a village full of women and sell them into slavery because there wasn’t a good soccer game on the TV.  You don’t run amok and conquer oil fields for the sake of admiring a landscape full of oil derricks and sand..  ISIL has been pumping that oil and selling it for……money!  So, admittedly, there are many of these events taking place for greed.  Lets face it, some of these people that are being recruited into these land-grabbing, oil well-thieving, slavery-selling ventures are being paid quite well for their efforts.  Probably much more than they can get paid in a democratic, capitalistic society.

Then you have the zealots.  These are the ‘Mohamed inspired’ nut jobs that are the suicide bombers.  (Even though we have now learned that Saddam Hussein was paying money for suicide bombers to bomb Israel.)  These are the people that follow Sharia Law to the ultimate degree.  Kill anyone who does not believe in Mohamed!  Kill anyone who leaves the Muslim religion!   All religions other than the believers of Mohamed are infidels and deserve to die!  If you don’t know about Sharia Law, I cannot advise strongly enough for you to acquaint yourself with the tenants of Sharia Law.  (I published a blog called, What Flavor of Islam Do You Like, in September, 2014.  You will want to read it.)  When you combine the Islamic zealotry with the Islamic ‘money mongers’, it produces a combustible mixture of Islamic-inspired extremism.

So why are there so many of these people flocking to ISIL, Al Qaeda, Boko Harem and similar organizations?

Have you ever used Wikipedia?  Did you know there is a WikiIslam?  It is a website full of information targeted to the peoples of the Islamic religion, just as we Americans use Wikipedia.

John Kerry may have hit upon something when he said that the criminal conduct of these misguided Muslims was because of ‘alienation, poverty and thrill seeking.’  Because, as a major religion, the adherents of the Islamic religion are the most illiterate in the world.

Need proof?

According to WikiIslam, the whole Arab world of almost 1.5 billion people translates about three hundred books annually.  The country of Greece translates fives times that number alone.  The 10,000 books translated into Spanish every year exceeds the total number of books translated into Arabic over the last millennium!   The Arab world’s total investment in research and development is less than one seventh of the world average.  Fifty-seven Muslim majority (all members of the OIC, Organization of Islamic Conference) countries have an average of ten universities each for a total of less that 600 universities for 1.5 billion people. The country of India has 8,400 universities.  The United States has 5,758 universities.  Six out of ten Muslims cannot read!  In Christendom, the adult literacy rate stands at 78 percent.  Nearly half of all Arab women are illiterate.  There were no statistics available for how much “brainwashing homeschooling” that goes on over there.

Here are some disturbing statistics from specific countries.

Denmark – Two thirds of all immigrant school children with Arabic backgrounds are illiterate after ten years in the Danish school system.  Muslims make up 5% of the population but receive 40% of social-welfare outlays.

Nigeria – Illiteracy among Nigerian women of child-bearing age is three times as high among Muslims (71.9%) as among non-Muslims (23.9%).  Two-thirds of Nigerian Muslim women lack any formal education.

How about our Islamic progressive ally, Saudi Arabia – Saudi Arabia did not have a high school until after 1930.  Its first girls’ school was established after 1950.  The Saudis have only 250 public libraries to serve a population of 26 million.  The Saudis spend millions to translate the Quran into other languages, without a similar effort for foreign books.  The youth unemployment rate in 2009 was over 30%!

Tajikistan – Official figures show there are more mosques than schools in this country.  There are 3,425 regular mosques, 344 cathedral mosques, and 40 central cathedral mosques.  There are 3,793 overcrowded schools, with up to 40 students per classroom.

United Kingdom – In 2004, one-third of Muslims of working age in Great Britain had no qualifications, the highest proportion for any religious group!  They were the least likely to have degrees or equivalent education.  Thirty-five percent of all Muslim children are growing up in a household where no adult is in employment, compared with 17.6% of all dependent children.

Yemen – A shocking 65% of married Yemeni women, age 15 to 24, are illiterate.

The Middle East has the highest rate of unemployment in the world.  It is habitually over 10% compared to 6% for the world.  Three-quarters of Arab youth want to migrate to countries out of their region, due to rising unemployment in Arab states.  Unemployment among the youth group in Arab countries is over 26%!  It is typically over 40% for people under 25 years old.

These facts and statistics can all be found on WikiIslam.  (Hopefully, Homeland Security does not find me by knocking on my door for using the site!)  I could go on and on, but you certainly have been able to connect the dots.  The lack of education prevalent throughout the Islamic culture results in many, many disaffected youths.  These people want to leave the Islamic, especially the Mideast, countries for better opportunities.  Unfortunately, they are uneducated and unqualified to hold anything other than a menial job – if they can even get that.  They will then take advantage of the social-welfare programs or possibly become terrorists, or both.  Think about this.  With that background, what would their other options really be?

In November, 2011, the Arab League held a conference in Qatar for member-countries.  Khalid Al Wahishi, director of Population Policy and Immigration at Arab League, said the following:  “We at Arab League have been warning member states at all our meetings to empower the youth.  Unemployment, alarmingly high at 26%, poor participation of youth, and illiteracy are major hindrances to population policy development and implementation.”

I could not agree more.  So what has been done since then?  Well, since you are attempting to reconfigure the mindset of people who have been indoctrinated by a centuries old religion, you can imagine what corrective measures have taken place.  Not many, if any.  This would require the 1% ‘haves’ to spend some of their massive wealth on the ‘have nots.’  They would have to purchase one less Rolls Royce or solid silver Mercedes to build a school or two, and that is not likely to occur.  The ‘haves’ don’t want to share.  And, as long as the Islamic terrorist groups do not directly attack them, they are rather indifferent about the terrorist group.

The only changes that have occurred is that there are more and larger ‘Islamic extremist organizations,’ and there are employment opportunities galore for unemployed and uneducated Islamic youths.   Luckily for the extremist organizations, they have a large uneducated, unemployed labor pool from which to garner employees.

Connect the dots.  The oligarchys that are governing these Muslim countries in the name of Islam need to make a more concerted effort to educate their populace and provide greater opportunities to the young people.  Otherwise, the Western civiilizations will be facing Islamic extremists for a long, long time.

The murder, rape, slavery, and extortion business is profitable, and it appears that business has been booming.

The Media and Cowardice – Contributing Factors for Mass Shootings

I am a baby boomer. Baby boomers are the generation that are now grandpas and grandmas. We are an easily recognizable bunch. The gray thinning hair, wrinkles in places you never knew could wrinkle; well, you get the picture. We are never mistaken for Gen X’ers, Y’ers, or any other generation. We are also the generation from whom kids expect to receive large birthday and Chrismas presents.

I am proud to say that, in recent history, no mass killings have been committed in the United States by baby boomers. That is not to say we did not have our usual assortment of “nut cases” and murderers. It is the younger generation committing these heinous crimes, such as shooting grade school children, innocent moviegoers, or people in Washington, D.C.

My theory about why these tragic events are occurring today is based on cowardice and the media. Let me explain.

When growing up in the small town of Soft Rock, (population 969) we had a movie theater. As a matter of fact, the name of the theater was the Soft Rock Family Theater. Our little theater had about 200 seats. Movies were 25 cents, and popcorn and a soda were a dime each. The theater ran two different movies each week. One movie ran Thursday, Friday, and Saturday. The second movie would run Sunday, Monday and Tuesday. So, in the early 60s when my parents wanted the kids out of the house, we would use our weekly allowance of fifty cents. We would be dropped off at the door of the theater. Now here is how life was very different from today. My parents would drop me off without even looking at the marquee to see what movie was playing. They knew that no movie would be shown at the Soft Rock Family Theater that was inappropriate for children. There wasn’t any PG, PG-13, R, or any other designation. There weren’t any warnings regarding language, nudity, sexually explicitness, extreme violence, etc. Warnings were not needed.

Our parents never had to worry about what was on nighttime television. It was appropriate for all ages. Sunday night was family night in front of the TV, a tradition that is sorely lacking today. Everyone was home. There were no acceptable excuses for not being home on Sunday night. The shows included Ed Sullivan, Bonanza, a host of variety shows, and my very favorite, the Wonderful World of Disney. Walt Disney provided some of the best programming anywhere and at any time. Today Disney is known for their theme parks, but their entertainment during the golden age of television was so much more impressive.

We also had Saturday morning television with shows featuring real people actors. Our shows had people like Roy Rogers (my personal favorite), Hoppalong Cassidy, Gene Autry, Zorro, The Lone Ranger, Sky King, Pinky Lee, Superman, Wild Bill Hickok, Annie Oakley, Buffalo Bob and Howdy Doody. We even had animal shows like Fury and Rin Tin Tin. I don’t know how they did it, but that horse and dog either saved a kid, or they assisted in capturing a bad guy in every episode. Amazing!

At 6:00AM on Saturdays, while the parents were sleeping, I would sneak downstairs and turn on that cherished 19″ black and white TV, wait for that baby to warm up (about 30-45 seconds), and watch an hour of cartoons before my real live heroes came on the air. And when they came on, I was excited. I knew that good was going to triumph over evil, and the world was going to be a safer place because of the efforts of my heroes. Never mind the fact that most of them were westerns taking place in the 1800s, I just knew that they made America safe for me today.

My heroes were my role models. The bad guys always got what they deserved. And, if one of my heroes had to pull out a gun to bring him to justice, he shot to “wing” him. The hero was always an excellent shot, only shooting the villians in the shoulder, and occasionally, a leg. No hero ever shot a “baddie” in the head or torso. Apparently in the Old West this was not allowed, either on purpose or by accident. My heroes were so considerate that even when they had to shoot the villian, my heroes would not let him bleed. Obviously, there was no blood in those bad guys.

You could say that our entertaiment was “white-washed.” Many people would argue that it was not realistic. But to us baby boomers, it was entertainment!

There is a reason why it was whitewashed. Our parents, what Tom Brokaw calls the “greatest generation”, were the responsible parties for this whitewashing. They had lived through the Depression, lived in houses without electricity and indoor plumbing, and had won World War II. They were a tough, hardworking generation that lived at a time when you really did “eat what you killed.” And, they saw, lived in, and experienced the horrors associated with World War II. The returning service members lived in the mud and saw the blood and the death that is inherent to warfare.

Now that the war was over, the returning servicemen made bowling the second most popular indoor sport. The baby boomer generation was the result. “And by God, no kid of mine was going to experience what I did during the Depression and during the War!” Thus, television and movies were entertaining, upbeat, and bloodless. And, as a result, there were no shortage of role models for any of us young boomers.

The “greatest generation” had WWII, and the baby boomers had a country and a war called Viet Nam.

Viet Nam. The first time in our history that television reporting could be reported instantaneously. And the media, particularly television, did not pass up that opportunity. For the first time, the horrors of warfare were brought to the American public. It was dubbed the “living room” war because pictures of dead and dying enemies, dead and wounded civilians, and the carnage of war were shown up front and personal. The opportunity to show a dying American serviceman drawing his last breath while medics and doctors were frantically attempting to save him was also not wasted.

At first, Americans were appalled. But as the war lingered, and the casualties and carnage increased, the American public became “desensitized” by the whole affair. After seeing so much blood, so many bodies, and cities and towns destroyed, it just did not affect the public as did the initial onset of the war. (I quit watching television news during the Viet Nam war. I was a young Army officer not in the war, who’d lost too many friends and quit watching. I currently read newspapers and peruse news sites on the internet, and I can choose what I want to read.)

The gloves came off of our media, particularly television and movies. Nothing was off-limits. The “whitewashing” done by the media in the 50s was gone in the 70s.

We needed rating systems not only for the movies, but also for television. These ratings were to warn of: sexually explicit language, nudity, adult situations, graphic violence, and any one of numerous other reasons. So much for “whitewashing.”

Then, as technology advanced, we were subjected to computers and video games. The video games require a rating also. And one of the ratings is “not advised for people under 18.”

So here we are. With all of our technological advances we finally arrived at the “Freddy Kruger” generation. I know this is not the technical term, but it does signify that we left my Roy Rogers era and came to grips with a whole new era where the parents are not protecting their children from the crap that is now being pandered as entertainment. Now there is even a “Chain Saw Massacre” sequel. It astounds me that this stuff is both popular and profitable enough to continue with sequels.

It has also spilled into television. During my childhood, there was no lack of entertaining comedy. Now, it is difficult to find comedy that should really be seen by children. But there it is! There is no lack of blood and gore. Moreover, the plot takes a backseat to the gratuitous blood and gore.

I want to be entertained and relaxed while watching television. I do not want to see pedofilia on Criminal Minds, or 15 different ways to decompose a body on Bones. Have you seen the warnings preceding Bones? It baffles me that it can be shown during family prime time. Grandma and I quit watching both shows, because they went from educating to sensationalizing.

Now kids play video games loaded with violence.

Last weekend, a group whose objective is to clean up media, sent people to audit the violence shown in the 5 biggest box office drawing movies. Between these 5 movies, there were 185 incidents of violence, with many of them being murder. Apparently, this is what sells, and this is what the public wants.

My heroes used a six-shooter to bring the bad guys to justice. The modern protagonists (not heroes, by my standards) use a sixty shooter to eliminate the bad guys. Every person appears to have an assault rifle. My heroes were intelligent and attempted to minimize harm to everyone, including the villians. The modern protagonist is idolized for his strength and weaponry, and ability to cause mass destruction and carnage. In retrospect, I realize my heroes were actors playing a part. The characters being portrayed were good. In my young mind, they were real. I wanted to emulate them.

Who are the role models today? Cartoons do not qualify as a role model. Can you think of five people who are providing our youth with positive role models from the media? Someone a child can look up to and say,” I want to be like him.” And you would be proud.

The current crop movie and TV producers, as well as the video game makers, claim that they are in no way responsible for any of these mass killings. They may not be the “reapers” of their products, but common sense tells me that they have “sown” the seeds of heinous crimes with their products. When young, it is difficult to separate fact from fiction. My heroes were real to me. Some people do not mature past that level. They may be unbalanced. They are provided with many media “field manuals” to violent behavior. Our children have been desensitized by all the blood, gore, violence and killing from which they have been exposed. And as long as we, the public, keep buying it, they will continue to make it.

During the 50s, a school yard fight usually entailed two fifth-graders slugging it out. The damage done by these fisticuffs was minimal. It was just the way all disagreements were settled. In Medieval warfare, one combatant stood face to face with his foe.

Both of these scenarios have one thing in common; both combatants were within arms’ reach.

It takes a lot of “guts” to stand in a fist fight and fight within arms’ reach of your opponent. It takes a coward to gun down and murder unarmed, defenseless people.

I wondered why the Colorado theater shooter was not shot during his spree? The answer is that he picked a theater that did not allow guns. He passed two theaters that did allow guns to get to the theater that did not allow guns. Thus he was unmolested during his killing spree. If there were three or four guns in the theater, there would surely have been fewer innocent victims, and possibly one shooter victim. The coward went to a theater where he would be unmolested while committing his heinous act. (His trial has been delayed, because his attorneys are not prepared to enter a plea. Three hundred witnesses, and he has not stood trial.)

Do you think the Fort Hood psychiatrist would have had a chance if any of his soldier victims had their weapons? You can surmise that there may have been two or three victims, and he surely would have been one of them. But this coward also chose to shoot people who could not retaliate. His trial has not begun, even though the crime took place over a year ago.

It appears the Sandy Hook elementary school shooter was mentally unbalanced. His crime was the most vile and heinous of any, as he targeted elementary school children. Unfortunately, this is the crime that is causing knee jerk reactions in cities, in states, and in Washington D.C. Enough bad legislation cannot be written and passed quickly enough by our politicians. All of this done to convince their voting public that they are on top of the current situation.

These cowards would not have done their deeds, had they not thought they could get away with doing so.

And our media? They have provided these surviving killers, and any future copycats with more press coverage and television time than they could ever had hoped, yet they cleanse themselves of any responsibility.