WOW... what an article. I have no idea what troubled that "sick" young man, but I have to agree with one conclusion - not every time, but many times, society allows the "mental" defense to draw some sympathy for the deranged killers... we even say, "oh, they snapped."

It is high time that we quit allowing such things to cloud our minds and hold such people guilty of their evil... yes, their evil... society continues to push God out of the picture and the second generation of the drug culture is showing the effects through rampant brutality. Folks, I fear this is only going to get worse!!!

Sorry, but as horrendous as this shooting is, I disagree. Gehenna is thriving at "Any Abortion Clinic", USA. It has been ever since Roe V Wade.

#2 is right. The modern Gehenna is the Planned Parenthood abortuary. Horrifying as mass shootings are, legal abortion kills far more children; yet abortion is accepted as something that "normal" and "good" people sometimes do.

So I have to disagree with Podhoretz here. There is a temptation for commentators like Podhoretz (whom I usually like) to draw grandiose and sweeping conclusions after a shocking event.

But when more facts come out, I think the Newtown shooting may turn out to be a simply a case of one young man´s rage against his own mother; and against her career (as represented by schoolchildren). Her career, in his mind, took her attention away from him.

Sad and dreadful as this is, I don´t think the disturbed young man who did this was sacrificing to Moloch -- no, he was just getting "revenge" against his mother.

This sort of "running amok" behavior has been going on since the beginning of time. It is awful, yes, but it is not Gehenna.

Dittos #3. Could not have said it better myself.

Must read.
Evil exists.
Th slaughter of the innocents ,whether in the womb or in the classroom must be confronted.
Obama´s feigned tears ring hollow for the man who promotes abortion at any time and enjoys his snuff films of drone attacks.
Mental illness is an excuse that needs to be reevaluated.
When Frederick Weismann did the tutti cut follies to expose the abuses of mental health hospitals- it created not an army of the Homeless but an Army of Evil masquerading as mental illness.
The man who pushed the father in front of the subway- evil or mentally ill?
James Holmes? Why didn´t the psychiatrist commit him when asked by the police.
The standard line is "danger to yourself or others" - but do you have to wait for t.he children to be slaughtered?

Did anyone else notice how Obozo showed "Deep Emotion" as he read his "Spontaneous" and Sorrowful speed on the deaths in Conn.?

He wiped his eyes and hung his head at the appropriate times. Any Human Being that felt the slightest modicum of sorrow for the children and victims of the Ct. School Shooter would not have had to have been prompted to nod and wipe his face.
The problems I saw was that Zippy only wiped ONE Eye at a Time!
He bowed his head when TelePromptered.
There was no moist residue on his face, and he wiped the outside corner of his eye ( tear Ducts are on the Nasal Side!) This guy does not even know how to FAKE emotions...

I know this observation will likely be poopooed but spiritual evil exists. Where God is ignored by a people demonic and other evil spiritual activity is allowed by God to enter to judge or carry out His greater purpose. Our nation´s culture has so blatently shut out God, opened itself up to drugs and drunken pleasure that people like we see in today´s mass killings are vulnerable to demonic control or possession. Satan wants to destroy and when he can he will. This nation must be on it´s knees in prayer not in submission to tyrannical forces. Please wake up America, we´ve had too many wake up calls to ignore any more.

BAN QUENTIN TARANTINO FROM MAKING MOVIES!

Thank you #7 for stating the truth. Unfortunately, our secular society is blinded to the truth of why these tragedies take place. When His people turn their eyes from Him, you can be sure that destruction will follow. Sadly, nothing will come from this tragedy because men will attempt to solve it by human means, and it will be all for naught. Satan is the great deceiver, the father of lies. Spiritual warfare is what this country needs, and the soldiers are few.

These shootings are happening because too many Americans do not know right from wrong. They are taught in schools to not to be judgmental. Abortions are common place. Too many people no longer respect life. This country has turned its back on God and on its Judeo-Christian heritage.

Moloch exists all around us. He has taken over the media, pop culture, and our government. Right is wrong, up is down and God fearing people are made to feel as if all of the values they live with mean nothing.

the ultimate fight between good and evil is coming sooner than any of us expect.

Sadly, the author and many posters do not understand the nature of mental illness. I am sure stories will quickly come out from people who knew the killer that show he clearly knew right from wrong. His sense of right and wrong is no more responsible than the person from Alzheimer´s is responsible for his wandering or not recognizing his wife of 50 years. We are talking about a damaged brain here. There difference is that, in the case of Alzheimer´s, the person is much older, loved one realize the problem and generally make arrangements to protect the person from himself (locked doors, no access to stove while alone, etc.) In the case of a young person with serious mental illness, our laws give him access to anything...until he proves that he is an imminent danger. And parents may not fully realize what is going on; they may chalk it up to ´he is a kid´ or ´young people these days´ - never realizing that their loved one is descending into psychosis until it is too late.

Had the shooter lived, in all likelihood, within 48 hours he wouldn´t have remembered the incident. Like a bad dream, like a seizure, memory of psychotic events often doesn´t get stored in the brain. He would know because people told him...but he would never remember.

Hubby and I were talking about this very context last night... evil, and how it is showing itself in our world more and more brazenly.

There have always been murders and wars, but Evil has definitely stepped up his power; he is being enabled at an astonishing and horrifying pace.

Hubby proposed that people who do this, do so under the control of supreme Evil, and in those moments of lucidity, when Satan lightens his grasp as his will is done, those people realize what they´ve done and then kill themselves. Evil´s grip on their lives can be sudden and spontaneous, or nearly lifelong.

I too believed, upon first hearing of this, that this young man was simply jealous of his mother´s little kindergartners. He was the younger of two sons of hers, and perhaps he felt she favored the real babies in her classroom over her baby son. But it doesn´t matter. Evil gripped him in those moments he had of jealousy, and ultimately controlled his actions.

But I disagree with Hubby on that moment of lucidity.... as I believe suicide, even after a horrifying act such as this, is also killing. This young man has gone to sit at Satan´s very side, for all eternity now. Those babies he slaughtered are with God, the One and True Only God, and can only become Angels for others.

Sometimes there are no answers. I know you all want a "quick fix" -- but -- sometimes WE must wait....

When I was growing up here in Chicago -- WE walked to school and played in the playground and delivered newspapers in the early morning hours -- unafraid of disturbed people....

Was it because there were "no" bad people? NO -- of course not -- but something has changed. That´s what WE need to look at -- not politicians using 20 babies to capitalize on a crisis....

My right to "bear arms" is a Constitutional guarantee. Taking guns from 200 million citizens won´t bring back these 20 babies -- AND -- I resent Mayor Ranting Rahm your efforts to exploit this situation....

LZK

Follow-up to #13 -

As for mental health hospitals and their mass release of ´non-threatening´ patients, remember Geraldo Rivera´s piece for ABC in the early 70´s on Willowbrook? How ´horrible´ those cnditions were, which led to an outcry against mental treatment facilities, and subsequent readjudication and release of patients who were then no longer considered ´dangerous´?

They have lived among us now, since then, and are extremely susceptible to the influence and direction of Evil.

Throw in video games, movies, jihadists, drugs and alcohol.... toss in a heaping dose of entitlement (You owe me!)..... finish off with a political utopian dream that cannot be achieved, the elimination of God from nearly every aspect of our lives, vilify our loving faith institutions....

And you have America in 2012.

But remember what this time of year is all about..... we cannot further eliminate Baby Jesus now - these babies in Connecticut will become more frequent if we allow that.

#2
Over 30,000,000 dead children at the hands of abortionists. Children are sacrificed daily on The Alter od the Self Centered here in The United States of America!l.

Perhaps code words set the young man off. Like union leader Hoffa saying "civil war." Or a congressman in MI saying ´there will be blood´....maybe these were words to activate an undercover killer. Now there IS blood and we have a civil war about gun control.

I told my husband today that Newtown must resemble Bethlehem after Herod commanded the death of the firstborn sons...so much heartache in one place.

As far as the shooter. He was terribly messed up. Was it not very obvious to his mother? I wonder why his mother didn´t lock up her guns ...I don´t know the circumstances but if the guns would have been locked up, he wouldn´t have been able to get them.

I tend to agree with #5. There are alot of people running around that should be in a mental health institution, if only they still existed. In correcting for a system that locked away people that were different and often didn´t belong in the institutions they were committed to, we now just leave them to thier own devices protected by the law until they commit some horrid act of violence.

Matthew 2:16 - When Herod realized that he had been outwitted by the Magi, he was furious, and he gave orders to kill all the boys in Bethlehem and its vicinity who were two years old and under, in accordance with the time he had learned from the Magi.

This was right as Jesus was born

Connecticut happens just before the western world celebrates the designated day of Jesus´ birth

Hmmm

Hmmmmmmm

BC is before Christ, and the longer BCE is also before Christ - but a deliberate attempt to remove that fact and Him from the culture.

In #3, ´´Her career, in his mind, took her attention away from him.´´ Was it only in his mind?

Almost seven years ago, a few houses down from ours, a young man hung his mother and grandmother in their garage and skinned them. Alive. No guns involved. According to people who knew the mother, they realized that he was mentally unwell, but of course they never suspected anything like this would happen. They had kicked him out of the house for being irresponsible, but that was the extent of it. Perfect knowledge is only available in hindsight.

The other point I´d like to make is that this young man did not try to obtain weapons in order to take out the rest of the people in the neighborhood. Even if he had chosen to, it would not have worked because most if not all of us are armed. And if a couple of those teachers in Connecticut had been armed, the death toll would have stopped far short of 20 dead children. Tragedy can´t always be prevented, but the extent of it can, if guns are available to law-abiding citizens.

And through a dream, God told Joseph to take Mary and the Baby Jesus to safety in Egypt, which he did...

BC=Before Christ. BCE=Before the Common Era. Yet another attempt to remove GOD from our national psyché. We take the Bible out of their hands, refuse to let children fold their hands in prayer, yet shove gaming controls & TV remotes into those same hands for hour after hour, day after day, month after month, year after year, firing away, blowing up bodies for a higher score, and we´re so surprised that they grow into 20 year olds with no moral compass. Without parental supervision nor any foundation in the reverence of our LORD, the video game designers and TV producers become the shapers of little minds, who then grow into adults who perpetrate such atrocities. Familiarize yourself with these games or tune into the cartoon channels everyday or on Sat. morning and see the garbage with which your kids are mesmerized.

It seems the next logical step in this sequence is the implicit segregation of society into believers and non-believers. Can a community of believers form, set-up there own schools, police their own, and keep out the non-believers? George Washington warned that a society such as ours, based on freedom and liberty, requires reverence for a supreme God, or anarchy will ensue. Are we there yet? Are we being pushed there by intolerant secular forces? I wonder......

Re#18.....A voice is heard in Rama, weeping and great mourning, Rachel weeping for her children, and refusing to be comforted, because they were no more.....Matthew 2:18

I´m with #13 & 25

Corporately, our nation does not fear God....Yet, at some level, the powers that be want every mention and suggestion of Him removed from the very fabric of our nation....Also, systematically, on a daily basis, we corporately kill thousands(over 50 million) of babies and have since 1973.-----Life has been cheapened.---We will mourn, rightly so, the sweet faces of those children from this tragic event, that soon will appear in our newspapers and magazine.....but only a remnant in this nation mourns the daily slaughtering of millions of other sweet faced babies.

I have tried, lately, to remind people of what happened in Kennesaw, GA when they *mandated* a firearm in every household.

An *immediate* drop in violent crime of more than 85%.

I agree with Bad Dog, I think the genesis of this tragedy has it´s roots in the family dynamic, and unhealthy situation that lead to a divorce.

Ryan hadn´t spoken to his brother for 2 yrs??
When did the mother start working outside the home, Ryan was in college during the marital turmoil, Adam was in the home. No mention if the father had any contact with his younger son.

Did the affluence as a substitute for discipline have any bearing, substituting material things for love and structure?

Divorce is hell for children--I know from seeing the fallout on my children.

Every hour, 24/7/365, a full kindergarten class of 24 American kids are murdered in what is euphemistically called ´abortion.´

So this is repeated 24 times per day.

Seven days per week. Fifty-two weeks per year.

Ever since 1973.

And we wonder why life is seemingly so cheap.

Moloch, Socialism, and Women´s Lib.

The most lethal combination in human history.

It is mind boggeling to me how democrats, like Obama, who are pro-abortion can stand up and seem to be upset by the deaths of young children. Perhaps, because Obama is a parent he can "empathize" however, after watching his actions and listening to his meaningless, political speeches for years, I am convinced he truly is not capable of "empathy" even in this. If you heard it, his speech was all about him.

What´s important is not why he did it, but THAT he did it. Apparently, he thought too little of his own life and the lives of others and thus felt comfortable whipping out some guns and blasting away.

Sick? So? Evil? So?

These things cannot be prevented. Criminals and psychos will always find a way to kill people no matter what the law says. The States with the toughest gun laws have the highest level of gun crimes. This cannot be challenged by the stats we´ve already got.

I do agree that cheapening life in America through legalized abortion, violence in entertainment and the arts, and death panels in ObamaCare give more people than ever before the notion that it´s no big deal to take life, before or after it´s born.

As for the reason for the carnage being that God has been kicked out of American culture in most places (He is still here, watching), there is no doubt in my mind that God has withdrawn His protection for America because of that.

When we bring Him back and truly repent for having turned our backs on Him in the first place, He will stretch out His arm of protection once again.

Historically, that is God´s pattern:
He blesses the people,
the people promise to follow His Law,
the people break their promise,
God withdraws His blessing,
the people repent,
God once again blesses the people.

...and so on, repeating the rhythm of God´s own breath, repeating over and over again in Scripture, showing God´s mercy but also His judicial judgment for having broken His Law.

Whether we will live long enough to see the cycle of the people repenting and God blessing again is another matter.

What is truly despicable is the immediate attempt by Zero, Bloomberg, and the rest of the leftist radicals to use this crime as a lever against law-abiding gun owners. Before the evidence was collected, before the victims were all id´d, before the bodies were even buried, the leftist gang found cameras and microphones and began to spew the same old tripe: more gun laws, more gun laws, more gun laws.

Joel C. Rosenberg had a great point in a new column. He says that by chasing God out of all areas of our society the way we have been for the last 3 decades or so has left a vacuum that the evil one has rushed gladly to fill. Now we are witness to the violence of his minions here on earth as they wreck their havoc on us.

Nature abhors a vacuum. Leaving the Lord in His place would have prevented that. But the ungodly can´t have that now can they?

Interesting point #12. True, we do not understand mental illness. I would humbly assert that we will never understand it, because we cannot conceive its context, and the brain is capable of an infinite number of pathways and thought patterns. That is why the medical field of psychiatry has veered away from analysis, understanding and correction of mental illness to compartmentalizing it and attempting to suppress the symptoms with drugs. In effect, the ´experts´ have given up their venture into the Freudian ´Brave New World´ with the tacit acknowledgement that the cure is beyond them.

In the real world, it is left to us with the common sense inculcated by generations of culture to judge behavior, without the seductive diversion of empathy. You might say that the school shooter is mad, but might you say the same of the teenagers who murdered a woman this week because she wouldn´t give them cigarettes? What would you say of the Japanese, who en mass murdered 250,000 Chinese in Nanking, raping and murdering thousands of women and skewering children and infants? Were they collectively mad?

In the world of common sense, or perhaps wisdom (which may well be the same), the actions of these people are simply recognized by applying what, at first, appears to be a simple term, ´evil´. Yet, in the final analysis, this term is the best conclusion humans can achieve.

Finally - a jaw-dropping, yet related event in this context. Congress voted last week to remove the word ´lunatic´ from all federal law.

It is not just that God has been taken out of schools and other aspects of life, including government, but the loss of what the ethics and morals of true believers is lost also. So, killing is just another aspect of a person´s life, like using foul language, or watching pornography.

Number 18 posted above asks "I wonder why his mother didn´t have her guns locked up"? I am willing to bet she bought the guns for her son. That´s what parents who want to be their children´s best friend do. They give the, in this case mentally disturbed child, whatever they want. Kip Kinkel´s parents did the same thing. Both were teachers.

This is just my guess as to why he was able to gain access to the guns. I do know for sure that Kip Kinkel´s parents did this for him. He killed both of them, and then went to Thurston High School, and killed and injured students and teachers. He is in jail, and liberals are trying to get him out as I type this.

Parents need to be parents, not their children´s best friends.

Very tacky comment/leader re: this article on the Must Reads page. Come on now. Pathetic.

#31, I agree.

As my heart ached last night for 20 innocent children and their families, I had the thought - how many innocent babies died today by abortion? More than 20 X 20. How many were born alive and left to die on a table because their mother didn´t want them? Who wept for them? It surely wasn´t our President who considers them a mere inconvenience. How many flags were lowered to half-staff in honor of their innocent lives cut down before they could even take their first breath.

And then, trying to find any straw of positive in this sea of distress, I wondered how many mothers may have been on their way to an abortion clinic, heard what had happened and changed their mind and did not abort their baby. I would like to hope at least 20 did and maybe 20 times 20 did. Then the ever widening circle of consequences might at least have have some positive consequences instead of all negative.

My husband just stared at me when I proposed this to him this morning. But I can dream can´t I?

If anything is to be banned, how about starting with violent killing video games where one can act out execution fantasies for weeks and months on end with zero consequences. It is reported the young man with the gun was an avid player of these things. Then if you want safe schools, emulate the Israeli model with armed guards. Don´t pretend a little "gun free zone" sign will do the job. It won´t.

You know, I can remember that they started saying, "don´t let your child play cowboy or play with a toy gun." Now, on the video games and these horible movies they are showing, killing is the sport of the game. That is where these kids are learing this and they should be banned starting today. Then, God should be allowed back into the schools, let the children know what the Lord´s Prayer and the Ten Commandmenbts are. Let them talk about "Christmas" instead of "Holidays". A few people in this country have suceeded in making this an athiest country and it is showing. Why don´t the rights of 90% of this counntry matter??????

#1 and #12 Mental illness needs to be taken seriously by family, psychiatrists and ultimately government. People who have been diagnosed with personality disorders, severe depression, bipolar disorder and many others have got to be restrained and controlled. These diagnoses must legally required some minimum stay in a mental health facility to evaluate the effectiveness of medication. Otherwise you have the mental health equivalent of "treat ´em and street ´em" like in public hospitals.

We want to have a free society. It is a necessity. However, when you blur the distinctions between right and wrong and when you not only allow, but push, the concepts that are the antithesis of decent religious beliefs: that there is no purpose to being good; that you are not responsible for your actions; and that you are "entitled" to happiness and every other desire that you have, regardless of the effect on anyone but you (I´m sure that I have missed a few). And then you top all of that off with the integration of truly sick and mentally ill people into the mainstream of society and refuse to put people away who are a danger to other people and themselves - it would seem that this is an inevitable outcome. Quite frankly, I am surprised that this doesn´t happen more frequently because of the actions of our gov´t and other selected jackasses. And is it just me, or has this been happening more frequently?

Just reported on the evening news (CBS, I think) was that Mrs. Nancy Lanza, the killer´s mother, had purchased those guns for protection because she feared an economic collapse.

It will be interesting to see if that assertion is repeated. Will they call her a right-wing nut for her fears? Will the media choose not to mention it further, because it is Obama who is leading us down that path to collapse?

The guns are not at fault. The mother´s failure to secure those guns from an obviously very disturbed young man is at fault.

When a majority in this country no longer recognize evil and elect it to lead this country, God will hand us over to evil.
I too thought the tears of the evil one were fake.

I am inclined to agree with posters who believe that the shooter was influenced by violent video games and violence on television. A person who has the sort of disability which this young man had can easily become obsessed with violent video games and violent television, especially if left alone and allowed to "pattern" or become mentally locked in on such disturbing violence. It sounds as though this young man was isolated from his father and brother, and possibly from friends, and saw violence as an escape.

The Mayan "end of times" prophecy may be frightening more than a few people right now. Parents, families, talk with your loved ones and reassure them that you are there for them. Teach children that violence is not a solution unless it is self defense.

When we were growing up in the 1950-60´s our parents would not allow us to watch violent or frightening television or films. If a "violent" show like the old "Combat" came on the air, and we girls had crushes on the handsome military men, our parents would turn off the television if they saw that anyone was visibly shot or wounded. We were not even allowed to watch horror movies like Frankenstein or Dracula. Children are becoming immune to violence and horror, and as a consequence, they inflict harm on others.

#1--you said it all, and I did no need to read another comment. When God leaves, it allows only one other into the picture. Wake up folks.

And who, laments the aborted?

And what "prophet" condemns the aborting "mothers"?

There is none.

We weep for the children and adults that died trying to protect them.
Do you want the truth about families caught in the web of members who are mentally unstable? Just ask my grand daughter that truth about families rendered helpless to contain the potential harm. Ask about the maternal uncle when her grandmother begged to keep him committed and was told we can´t under the new laws hold him until he harms someone.
What? Harm to his own family didn´t count . That was merely family quarrels --yeah throwing his ill dad down the stairs--cutting his mom with a knife and attempt to rape his sister ( her mother) at different times. The court ruled he so not violent he should remain committed then forced the parents to keep him in their home because he didn´t harm an outsider. It took five more years of violent attacks before he met the criteria to commit him permanently.