This has been happening today near where I live, and it's been chaotic and I've been avoiding travel through the area where it happened. Some sick twist gunned down several girls at an Amish school, specifically targeting the girls.

Just for a little background, the Amish keep their own grade schools up to 8th grade, and then the children leave school altogether to work on the farms with their community until they get what is called their rumspringa/rumschpringe period (Pennsylvania German term for 'running around,' where the Amish children get a pass from the Amish elders, their family and their community to experiment as they please with the 'English' world (outside world) before they decide whether or not to get baptised into the Amish Church).

The Amish are pacifists and it is a core belief that guns can never be created or used for the purpose of killing human beings (they can use appropriate hunting rifles if they are for other purposes such as livestock protection, hunting if the game is necessary and will be consumed, etc). They live their lifestyle as a way of isolating themselves from what they see are bad influences to Christian and good family and community bonds.

That this happened to them is a striking thing in their eyes. Spending their lives trying to avoid things like what just happened, it's sad that the world finally came to them this way.

http://www.cnn.com/2006/US/10/02/ami...ing/index.html

The movie Witness, starring Harrison Ford, was filmed in this town and surrounding area.

I'd give 50-50 odds that the autopsy finds a brain tumor.

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“ The subjects of every state ought to contribute towards the support of the government, as nearly as possible, in proportion to their respective abilities; that is, in proportion to the revenue which they respectively enjoy under the protection of the state.”

Adam Smith , The Wealth of Nations 1776

"We have always known that heedless self-interest was bad morals; we know now that it is bad economics"
FDR's second Inaugural Address

What a sick shit.

Terrible.

That's pretty seriously messed up.

Matt

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De duobus malis, minus est semper eligendum

Ugh, disgusting.

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"Anyone that needs what they want, and doesn’t want what they need
I want nothing to do with
And to do what I want
And to do what I please
Is first on my to-do list"
-Gnarls Barkley, "Going On" lyrics

School shootings are becoming all the rave!

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Is our children learning? -George W. Bush

"I think—tide turning—see, as I remember—I was raised in the desert, but tides kind of—it's easy to see a tide turn—did I say those words?"—Washington, D.C., June 14, 2006

"[T]he illiteracy level of our children are appalling."—Washington, D.C., Jan. 23, 2004

Or a chemical imbalance.

How do we keep guns away from psychos?

RIP little Amish girls

Like Charles Whitman, the Texas sniper, a person with a fairly normal life gets a gun and starts shooting people. It's not a very common occurrence, so I think based on the limited facts in the post, that there is probably some brain pathology involved.

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“ The subjects of every state ought to contribute towards the support of the government, as nearly as possible, in proportion to their respective abilities; that is, in proportion to the revenue which they respectively enjoy under the protection of the state.”

Adam Smith , The Wealth of Nations 1776

"We have always known that heedless self-interest was bad morals; we know now that it is bad economics"
FDR's second Inaugural Address

What makes you say that?


Edit: You can disregard goober. You already answered the question in another post.

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I want to change the world but they won't give me the source code.

Three school shootings in one week. Not this shit again. The high school I graduated from had a school shooting the year after I left.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Heath_High_School_shooting

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"Give me your tired, your poor,
Your huddled masses yearning to breathe free,
The wretched refuse of your teeming shore.
Send these, the homeless, tempest-tost to me,
I lift my lamp beside the golden door!"

I think the reason is media coverage. For example, a few weeks ago, I was watching the Red Sox-Yankees game and all of a sudden, the cameras were on the players for a few minutes. The announcer then said that some fan had created a ruckus on the field and to keep these types of incendents to a minimum, we do not show it on tv.
This makes me think of Iraq and our news media outlets.

Kramer

This is sick shit and is happening more these days.
The bastards just can't put a bullet into their own heads without involving others.

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Anyone who thinks freedom comes cheap, please put the blindfold on and stand against the wall.

Many times I believe Americans will have to take back the country and start a new government.

Great play there....Talk about school shootings and make a play for Iraq.

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Anyone who thinks freedom comes cheap, please put the blindfold on and stand against the wall.

Many times I believe Americans will have to take back the country and start a new government.

It's all about violence and how the media deals with it.

So you're already mounting an insanity defence to try and give understanding and compassion to a man who just gunned down schoolgirls? That was quick...