Latest Political & Social News | Black Political Thought

December 20, 2007 • 6:36 pm Comments Off on New Orleans Police, Protesters Clash Over Public Housing Demolition Controversy

New Orleans Police, Protesters Clash Over Public Housing Demolition Controversy

Just when you thought the furor in New Orleans from Hurricane Katrina was abating, today there was a serious clash of protesters and police, which resulted in the use of chemical spray and stun devices. The protesters are seeking to halt the demolition of public housing in New Orleans. They tried to force their way through an iron gate at City Hall.

The City Council’s demolition moveCity Council approval of the demolition is required under the City Charter. Thursday’s expected vote will be a critical moment in a protracted fight between the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development and residents, activists and preservationists. HUD wants to demolish the buildings, most of them damaged by Hurricane Katrina, so developers can take advantage of tax credits and build new mixed-income neighborhoods. HUD says the redevelopment, in the works before Katrina hit, will mark an end to the city’s failed public housing experiment that lumped the poor into crime-ridden complexes and marooned them outside the life of the rest of the city.

Critics have said that the plan will shrink the stock of cheap housing at a time when housing is scarce and drive poor blacks out of the city. They also say the buildings are, contrary to popular opinion, mostly handsome brick structures that will outlast anything HUD builds in their place. Opponents of demolition appeared resigned to a council vote that would go against their wishes, and were accusing council members of discriminating against blacks. A news release from the Coalition to Stop the Demolition, one of several groups organizing protesters, characterized the pending action as a “rubber stamp” at a “sham meeting.” “It is beyond callous, and can only be seen as malicious discrimination. It is an unabashed attempt to eliminate the black population of New Orleans,” said Kali Akuno, an organizer with the group.

A recent shake-up on the seven-member City Council turned it into a majority white chamber for the first time since the 1980s, a shift that will certainly make the vote even more racially charged. Three of the council’s white members were quick to say they supported the tear-down plan, while the council’s three black members were hesitant about expressing their intentions. One black member, Cynthia Hedge Morrell, issued a statement late Wednesday in favor of demolitions. The fourth white member, Council President Arnie Fielkow, has been careful to tread the middle ground, but a spokeswoman Thursday said he supports demolition.

The clash has been largely along political lines. Many Democrats, including presidential hopefuls Barack Obama and John Edwards, have said they would like the Bush administration to stop the demolitions. Louisiana’s Democratic senator, Mary Landrieu, has also supported overhauling the redevelopment plan. Republicans, by contrast, have come out in favor of demolition. On Wednesday, Sen. David Vitter, whose name appeared in the D.C. Madam’s telephone book, and three Republican congressman wrote a letter to a Senate committee considering the redevelopment plan, saying it needs to be left alone because overhauling it would delay and even derail redevelopment.

“Public housing in New Orleans has for many decades served almost no other purpose than to warehouse the city’s poor and disenfranchised,” the letter said. “That generations of our fellow citizens were allowed to live in government-operated and sanctioned slums is offensive and intolerable.” The real question is, if these new houses will be built to accommodate the poor in New Orleans, or will they be ignored and, essentially, kicked out of the city. We must also be mindful that New Orleans has more than a housing crisis on its hands, it has a job crisis as well and crime statistics of unheard of proportions.

The housing projects should be demolished to make way for better housing, that should be affordable for the poor of the city to live. I believe that there is too much crime in the inner cities and housing projects. These rising crime statistics must be addressed with improved police patrols and oversight. I suspect that if the projects were left as they are and renovated, the crime would still be a problem and once increased police patrols commenced, the very same people would say that they are being discriminated against and profiled. I guess there is no win-win situation, but if the buildings need to be demolished and will be replaced with housing for low and middle income families, then go for it.

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December 20, 2007 • 4:30 pm Comments Off on Bob Kerrey Apologizes to Barack Obama for Comment

Bob Kerrey Apologizes to Barack Obama for Comment

Why do these people continue to have the “foot-in-the-mouth” syndrome. They, the politicians, continue to insult one another only to have to apologize later when the press gets wind of it. Former Nebraska Senator Bob Kerrey has apologized to Barack Obama for an unintentional insult he committed by raising Obama’s Muslim heritage while endorsing Hillary Rodham Clinton. He made an about-face and has since sent Barack Obama a letter of apology. In the letter, he praises Obama’s qualifications and said that he did not mean to insult him, which was probably true.

While announcing his support for Clinton on Sunday, Kerrey told The Washington Post in an interview that while he hopes Clinton is the nominee, he would like Obama to have a role _ especially because of his ability to reach out to black youth and Muslims around the world.
“It’s probably not something that appeals to him, but I like the fact that his name is Barack Hussein Obama, and that his father was a Muslim and that his paternal grandmother is a Muslim,” said Kerrey, a former governor and the current president of the New School in New York City. “There’s a billion people on the planet that are Muslims, and I think that experience is a big deal.”

Kerrey’s mention of Obama’s middle name and his Muslim roots raised eyebrows because they are also used as part of a smear campaign on the Internet that falsely suggests Obama is a Muslim who wants to bring jihad to the United States. Let’s be mindful of the fact that Obama is a Christian. The timing of this comment raises eyebrows because the Clinton campaign recently fired two volunteer county coordinators in Iowa for forwarding hoax emails with the debunked claim. Just last week, a national Clinton campaign co-chairman resigned for raising questions about whether Obama’s teenage drug use could be used against him. It leads one to wonder if this is a smear campaign against Obama.

People need to be mindful of the fact that Barack Obama’s faux pas during his youth is reminiscent of issues that were raised by Bill Clinton’s many indiscretions, including the famous statement that he tried marijuana but did not inhale. We should also be mindful of details of Bush’s dodging of active service, drunk driving and claims of drug use. So, let us not point fingers at Barack because of his Muslim background. Not every Muslim is a bad person.

KERREY’S APOLOGY LETTER:

Dear Barack,
I want to sincerely apologize for the remarks I made on Sunday in Council Bluffs, Iowa, after an event at which I endorsed Senator Hillary Clinton’s presidential candidacy. I answered a question about your qualifications to be president in a way that has been interpreted as a backhanded insult of you. I assure you I meant to do just the opposite. After you and I met during your primary campaign for the Senate, I wrote a public letter in which I said that that you were among the two or three most talented people I have ever met in politics. Nothing in your performance in the Senate or your campaign for the Presidency has altered that view.
The question I was asked in Iowa on Sunday was something like this: “Senator Kerrey, you ran for president in your first term in the Senate. If you were qualified, why isn’t Senator Obama?” With the benefit of my computer’s capacity to make certain that my words reflect my belief let me answer that question in this letter which you are free to use anyway you choose.
You are exceptionally qualified by experience and judgment to be president of the United States. I do not doubt that you would use the power of the presidency to bring peace and prosperity to as many people as possible on our fragile planet. You inspire my highest hopes for that office’s potential: That it be used as a force for good in America and the world.
It is your capacity to inspire hope that is your greatest God given talent. Without spending a dime of tax payer’s money or changing a single law your presence in the Oval Office will send a clear and compelling message to four groups of people who will be altered for good as a consequence. That was what I was trying to say on Sunday and what I hope I said more clearly in this letter.

Again, I am sorry for the insult and wish you the best on January 3 and beyond.
Merry Christmas to you and your family.

Respectfully yours,
Bob Kerrey

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December 17, 2007 • 12:18 am Comments Off on Mitt Romney’s Mormon Religion Discriminated Against Blacks For A Long Time

Mitt Romney’s Mormon Religion Discriminated Against Blacks For A Long Time

I must admit, I did not know enough about the Mormon religion and their ban of blacks in the priesthood. I was curious, to say the least, when I read that this was a major issue that was being thrown in Mitt Romney’s face on the campaign trail. So, I decided to do some research. I came across a ridiculous article written by Elder Mark E. Patterson, entitled “Mormon Racism in Perspective.” I was insulted by the tone of the article and was equally insulted that it was written 53 years ago, in 1954. Am I angry, not really because of the racial climate that clung to the very fabric of America’s soul was conducive to such thinking. While it was not Mitt Romney’s choice to attend a Mormon church as a child, it makes one wonder, exactly what the deal is with this guy. I can’t recall seeing one black face on his campaign team. I have to wonder what his real position is on race relations in America. I realize that he speaks in glowing terms, but what does it really mean for blacks in America.

A little more on Elder Patterson’s article….. In his article he states that the reason that one would lose his blessings by marrying a Negro is due to the restriction placed upon them. “No person having the least particle of Negro blood can hold the Priesthood” (Brigham Young). It does not matter if they are one-sixth Negro or one-hundred and sixth, the curse of no Priesthood is the same. If an individual who is entitled to the Priesthood marries a Negro, the Lord has decreed that only spirits who are not eligible for the Priesthood will come to that marriage as children. To intermarry with a Negro is to forfeit a “Nation of Priesthood holders”…. I think I have read enough to give you an idea of what the Negro is after. He is not just seeking the opportunity of sitting down in a cafe where white people eat. He isn’t just trying to ride on the same streetcar or the same Pullman car with white people. It isn’t that he just desires to go to the same theater as the white people. From this, and other interviews I have read, it appears that the Negro seeks absorption with the white race. He will not be satisfied until he achieves it by intermarriage. That is his objective and we must face it. We must not allow our feelings to carry us away, nor must we feel so sorry for Negroes that we will open our arms and embrace them with everything we have. Remember the little statement that we used to say about sin, “First we pity, then endure, then embrace”….

Still more crap by Patterson …. “Now let’s talk about segregation again for a few moments. Was segregation a wrong principle? When the Lord chose the nations to which the spirits were to come, determining that some would be Japanese and some would be Chinese and some Negroes and some Americans, He engaged in an act of segregation….
When he told Enoch not preach the gospel to the descendants of Cain who were black, the Lord engaged in segregation. When He cursed the descendants of Cain as to the Priesthood, He engaged in segregation…. “

In the Brigham Young Journal of Discourses it states, “Shall I tell you the law of God in regard to the African Race? If the White man who belongs to the chosen seed mixes his blood with the seed of Cain, the penalty, under the law of God, is death on the spot. This will always be so. Vol. 7, pg. 290-291– Cain slew his brother. . . and the Lord put a mark upon him, which is the flat nose and black skin. You see some classes of the human family that are black, uncouth, uncomely, disagreeable and low in their habits, wild, and seemingly deprived of nearly all the blessings of the intelligence that is generally bestowed upon mankind. The first man that committed the odious crime of killing one of his brethren will be cursed the longest of any one of the children of Adam. Cain slew his brother. Cain might have been killed, and that would have put a termination to that line of human beings. This was not to be, and the Lord put a mark upon him, which is the flat nose and black skin. Trace mankind down to after the flood, and then another curse is pronounced upon the same race–that they should be the “servant of servants;” and they will be, until that curse is removed.”

So, in essence, again I ask the question, where does Mitt Romney stand on race relations in the United States, specifically where blacks are concerned. It doesn’t seem that long ago to me that these people espoused these beliefs. Again, I am not saying that Romney believes this stuff, but one has to question his position on race issues. I have never seen him in the black community campaigning and he did not attend a debate at a historically black college. I guess our vote is not as important as the Hispanic vote. I have to wonder why Mr. Romney would be a part of an organization that banned blacks from its priesthood until 1978, when he was 31 years old.

“I’m very proud of my faith,” he said, but added that his father, the former Gov. George Romney of Michigan, had “marched with Martin Luther King” and long supported the civil rights cause. Without criticizing it, he said, “I was anxious to see a change in my church.”
He said that he heard the news about the church dropping its exclusion of blacks while driving home in Massachusetts, “and I pulled over, and literally wept.” I wonder what he did to effect that change in his church.

Mitt Romney certainly has the presidential look, but I suspect he could do just fine, if he can past the religious issues and his flip-flopping on some issues. If President Bush could get two terms in the White House, the bar has been lowered and anyone with the right message and deep pockets, and I guess the “right race” can become the next president. So, with that, I guess the field is wide open… Mitt, talk about race issues. They are important to hardworking blacks in this country!

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December 13, 2007 • 3:46 pm Comments Off on Feds Raid Al Sharpton’s Offices, Subpoena Financial Records

Feds Raid Al Sharpton’s Offices, Subpoena Financial Records

Has the chicken come home to roost or was this a spiteful and malicious act by the feds? Al Sharpton’s offices have been raided and his financial records subpoenaed? His finanical records and employees have been hit with subpoenas stemming from his 2004 presidential bid, nonprofit civil rights group, and for-profit businesses, a newspaper reported Thursday. As many as 10 Sharpton associates were subpoenaed Wednesday to testify before a federal grand jury in Brooklyn Dec. 26, his lawyer told the Daily News. They were told to provide investigators with financial records from the campaign and roughly six Sharpton-related businesses, as well as personal financial documents of Sharpton and his wife, the newspaper said.

The FBI and Internal Revenue Service are seeking the records, which go back to 2001, according to the Daily News. “It was like a sting or a raid,” said Carl Redding, Sharpton’s chief of staff for eight years during the 1990s. “They converged on everybody.”
Redding said FBI agents awoke him at 6:30 a.m. Wednesday with a subpoena to testify and to bring records to the grand jury, but would not tell him the reason for the investigation. Several staffers from the National Action Network, a Sharpton-led civil rights organization, also got subpoenas to testify, said Sharpton lawyer Michael Hardy. Sharpton himself did not receive a subpoena, the Daily News said.

Sharpton spokesman Charlie King said “I can’t think of a time when the Rev. Sharpton wasn’t under investigation.” In 2005, Sharpton agreed to repay the government $100,000, plus interest, for taxpayer money he received during his failed effort to win the Democratic presidential nomination the year before, though he denied wrongdoing. The Federal Election Commission had determined that he spent more of his own money on the campaign than the qualifications for federal matching funds allow. In 1993, Sharpton pleaded guilty to not filing a state income tax return in 1986.

So, now all the naysayers are going to jump on the bandwagon condemning this man. I can see it now, on Hannity & Colmes, Sean Hannity with his smug facial expressions will gloat over this. Hey, if Sharpton is guilty of not keeping his house clean, then indeed, the chickens have come home to roost, but as always, a person is innocent until proven guilty, so let’s see how this unfolds. Sharpton would be really dumb if he played right into the hands of the IRS and the feds.

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December 13, 2007 • 3:15 pm Comments Off on Public Assistance Recipients Should Be Forced to take Random Drug Testing

Public Assistance Recipients Should Be Forced to take Random Drug Testing

I believe that people on public assistance should be forced to take a random drug test. Many times a lot of these people do not work, nor have the urge to seek gainful employment, sit around and bleed the system. There are, I am sure, a lot of them on drugs. Just as anyone who is gainfully employed is subject to random drug testing at some point of their careers, so too should these people. Public assistance has become a rite of passage for some in our society and often spans generations in families. The testing should obviously be for people who receive Medicaid and food stamps.

The statistics are interesting….

The racial proportions for reference persons in assisted families are 70 percent white, 26 percent black, two percent Asian/ Pacific Islander, and three percent American Indian/ Aleut/Eskimo. Among assisted families, as the number of assistance programs increases, the proportion of white reference persons declines, while the proportion of black reference persons increases.

Families consisting of a husband and wife only make up 24 percent of non-assisted families, compared with seven percent of assisted families; and single parents with children make up five percent of non-assisted families, compared with 17 percent of assisted families. Among assisted families, the proportion of single parent families increases more than twofold when the number of assistance items received is four or more, compared with families that receive less than three types of assistance. Conversely, the proportion of dual-parent families generally falls as the number of assistance items received increases, from 34 percent for families receiving one type of assistance to 11 percent for families receiving four or more types of assistance. Single-parent families make up 6.1 percent of all families.

Of these single-parent families, 38 percent receive assistance. Also, those families have more members and more children under age 18, compared with non-assisted single-parent families. None of the single-parent families has members aged 65 or older. About 83 percent of the reference persons of single-parent non-assisted families are women, 74 percent are white and 21 percent are black. In contrast, 96 percent of the reference persons of single-parent assisted families are women, 52 percent are white, and 46 percent are black. The proportion of single parents who are high school graduates living in non-assisted families is 25 percent, compared with 27 percent for assisted families. However, while 28 percent of the reference persons of single-parent non-assisted families have at least a bachelor’s degree and 34 percent have attended some college or have an associate’s degree, the proportions for single-parent assisted families are lower, at 5 percent with some college and 19 percent with an associate’s degree.

If public assistance recipients test positive for drugs, some type of punishment should be levied to discourage the behavior. For example, their benefits should be reduced on a sliding scale and they should be forced into some type of treatment for repeat offenders.

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December 13, 2007 • 3:31 am 3

Samuel Snow,World War II Veteran, Gets A Paltry $725 from the Army for Unfair Trial, Imprisonment

This is truly a slap to African American soldiers serving in the United States armed forces. Samuel Snow, 83, a World War II veteran was imprisoned by the Army in 1944 for a crime he has maintained he did not commit. The military overturned his conviction this year and sent him his back pay for the 15 months he was incarcerated. The back pay amounted to $725.

A little background……

Snow was one of two defendants still alive from one of the biggest military trials of World War II. Twenty eight black soldiers were sent to prison after an Italian prisoner of war, Guglielmo Olivotto, was found dead by hanging, following a night of brawling at Fort Lawton in Seattle. The military forces at that time were segregated. Forty-one black soldiers were tried in one large group and were provided with two attorney to defend them all. According to the Army, 28 of the soldiers were convicted of rioting, including Private Snow. Two of the soldiers were convicted of manslaughter in the death of the prisoner of war and were sentenced to 15 years behind bars, while 13 of the men were acquitted.

After being released from prison, Snow returned to the South which was still heavily segregated. He arrived home with a criminal record, a bad conduct discharge and no benefits such as those provided by the GI Bill of Rights. He eked out a meager existence by becoming a janitor. He thought that with the overturned verdict, he would at least get an apology and the compensation he was denied for 63 years. Boy was he dead wrong.

According to a report on CNN, in October, the Army Board for Corrections of Military Records determined the defendants were denied a fair trial. The board said the prosecutor refused to give defense attorneys access to confidential evidence. As a result of the findings, the Army overturned the convictions, but stopped short of finding the defendants “not guilty.””What it is saying is that they didn’t receive their fair day in court,” said Army spokesman Col. Dan Baggio.

Of the paltry compensation Snow was sent, the Army said there are no legal provisions that allow it to consider adding accrued interest, adjustments for inflation or compensation for lost benefits. Snow said the size of the check was not a surprise to him. “I didn’t think it was no kind of mistake,” he told CNN. “They don’t care.”

Samuel Snow, 83, wants medical benefits and retirement pay from the Army since his conviction was overturned. It is imperative that all blacks who have the right to vote do so in the next elections. We have been denigrated for so long that it seems to be ingrained in the fabric of the United States. I will say that there are some things that have occurred that are self-inflicted such as Michael Vick’s incarceration as a result of dogfighting, but the big picture is stark and we must take this seriously.

Mr. Snow, thank you for your years of service in the military during one of the harshest times for African Americans in the military, and daresay I say in the United States.

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December 13, 2007 • 2:43 am Comments Off on Clinton Aide Says Obama’s Drug Past May Come Back to Haunt Him

Clinton Aide Says Obama’s Drug Past May Come Back to Haunt Him

William Shaheen, a top advisor to Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton has said that Senator Barack Obama’s admission of illegal drug use as a young man could potentially threaten his bid for the White House and would be seized upon by Republicans if he won the Democratic presidential nomination. Well, isn’t this a case of the pot cursing the kettle black! Wasn’t Bill Clinton the one who said that when he tried marijuana he didn’t inhale? Wasn’t he the one who was accused of having adulterous relationships left, right and center? I do not think this will be an enormous problem for Obama to overcome. After all, our current President George Bush was arrested for DUI and had his license suspended for two year. While this is not the most pleasant thing to have thrown in your face during a debate, nonetheless, it can be overlooked. This is nothing more than a scare tactic by a campaign that has seen its lead in the polls steadily being eroded.

Shaheen, who the a co-chairman of Mrs. Clinton’s national and New Hampshire campaigns, said voters should study Mr. Obama’s background as they chose a candidate, warning that Republicans would scour for new details about a period of Mr. Obama’s life more than 20 years ago when he admitted using marijuana and cocaine. I am sure the Republicans could dig deep into Hillary’s past and come up with some juicy tidbits, although we have heard many of these tales in the past. The criticism is the most direct by a top official in the Clinton campaign.

Mr. Obama’s campaign manager, Phil Singer, said Mr. Shaheen’s comment was a “desperate effort to slow her slide in the polls.” In a statement, he said, “Senator Clinton’s campaign is recycling old news that Barack Obama has been candid about in a book he wrote years ago.” To that I completely agree.

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December 11, 2007 • 4:46 pm Comments Off on The Runaway Bride Saga Revisited In Georgia

The Runaway Bride Saga Revisited In Georgia

Georgia must be a hot state for runaway brides and spouses to come. This is the second time we have been associated with something as crazy as this. I am sure a lot of people remember in May 2005 when Jennifer Wilbanks had us riveted to our televisions after seeing her fiance and family’s tearful plea for her to be safely returned to them. But little did we know at the time that she had decided to run away to avoid dealing with her upcoming wedding.

Wilbanks bought a cross country bus ticket and later surfaced in Albuquerque, New Mexico, saying that she was abducted by a Hispanic man and a white woman. She was scheduled to get married in front of 600 guests. She told investigators in Albuquerque that she embarked on her trip without a plan, leaving on “the spur of the moment” with $140 to $150. The stress of the wedding had gotten to her, and after the marathon runner went jogging one evening near her house in Duluth, Georgia, she took a taxi to a Greyhound bus station, where she boarded a bus to Las Vegas, Nevada.

So, here we go again, but this time it is an attorney, who you would think would know better than to lie to the police. Karyn McConnell Hancock, a pregnant attorney and former Toledo city councilwoman, disappeared for four days last week, and told police when she was found that she was kidnapped at gunpoint by two men. Well, she has now said that she fabricated the entire tale, much like Jennifer Wilbanks.

Lawrence Hancock, her husband, who must now feel like a fool, has said that his 35-year-old wife, has been having a meltdown for several years. So, how come she has received no help or sought counselling. He is a “man of God” who counsels people everyday, how come not your wife. “She experienced a meltdown and attempted to handle those matters without the assistance of professional help or others. Karyn elected to leave everything because she felt that she was unable to continue,” he said. Police said at a news conference Tuesday that she recanted the story Monday after eight hours of questioning. Hancock will likely be charged with making a false police report, said Police Chief Mike Navarre.

Hancock’s father, C. Allen McConnell, is a Toledo Municipal Court judge, and her husband is bishop of Final Harvest Church in Toledo. The husband had said earlier that he believed the purported kidnapping had something to do with a case McConnell handled before he was a judge.

Her husband had said his wife called him from a restaurant pay phone Thursday afternoon, saying “they have me.” She said she thought she was going to die and “told me don’t let her son forget her and that she loved me,” he said. All a big, fat lie. She was found after she flagged down a motorist near at Six Flags in Austell, Ga., and the motorist called police, authorities had said. Her car was found nearby. It is a real shame, but we have a lot of nuts walking around and sometimes in high places too.

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December 11, 2007 • 2:38 pm Comments Off on Why Do People Wait to Report Unusual Behavior?

Why Do People Wait to Report Unusual Behavior?

Here we go again.. The Matthew Murray, shooter in Arvada and Colorado Springs was a ticking time bomb, much like Seung Hui Cho, the Omaha mall shooter, Columbine high school shooters, the list goes on and on. There were clear warning signs for all to see, but for some reason, they were ignored. We have to be very vigilant of the people around us and not shrug our shoulders, as if to say, this problem is not mine or let me ignore it for now. While these murders were horrendous and caused untold hardships and sorrows on the families, we have to find a way to bridge this divide. Too many of our young people are displaying such unimaginable violence. In all cases, these perpertrators displayed such rage that it is unbelievable to note that there was not mental treatment or early intervention.

Peter Warren, director of Youth With A Mission, said Monday that Murray did not go on the mission he was training for in 2002 because managers thought that “issues relating to his health made it unsafe for him to do so.”Another source, who is a longtime member of New Life church, site of the second shooting, told CNN that Murray had a falling out with Youth With A Mission after working with the organization a couple of years ago, and that he sent antagonistic and threatening correspondence afterward.

CNN affiliate KUSA reported on its Web site Monday that Murray posted anti-Christian writings on a Web site for people who have quit fundamentalist religious organizations. Murray’s last posting was made between Sunday’s shootings, KUSA reported.”I’m coming for EVERYONE soon and I WILL be armed to the @#%$ teeth and I WILL shoot to kill. …God, I can’t wait till I can kill you people. Feel no remorse, no sense of shame, I don’t care if I live or die in the shoot-out. All I want to do is kill and injure as many of you … as I can especially Christians who are to blame for most of the problems in the world,” the KUSA report quoted from the final posting.

Police said Murray, 24, of Englewood, Colorado, shot and killed two people at the Youth With A Mission center and wounded two others early Sunday. At New Life Church, some 80 miles away, Murray sprayed fire from an assault rifle and threw smoke bombs in at least two locations where large numbers of congregants were likely to be, police said. Two teenage sisters were shot in the church’s parking lot and died of their wounds; three other people, including the girls’ father, were wounded.

We have to become more vigilant and pay attention to the people around us. Parents, if your kids are displaying weird behavior, don’t just shrug your shoulders and attribute it to being a teenager, find out what is going on and get help if the situation warrants it. In all these cases there were clear danger signs that were either ignored or mistaken for something else.

We need better gun control laws in this country. The elected officials need to get out of bed with the NRA and effect some positive change to get the guns off the streets. People have too much free access to obtaining guns. Where did he purchase all the ammunition. Why didn’t someone question this?

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