Terrorist with Threat to Harm Bush Discovered on U.S. Soil

Wow, that's really funny.

Try this, STFU.

The first thing that I wonder about is the whole chain of events (not mentioned) that led the Secret Service to investigate a school boy in the first place.

I mean either the Secret Service (or one of the many other spy groups in the US), is actively monitoring the public schools (or just the public in general), or someone in the kids school or home actually reported the "threat."

I dont know which is more stupid or more offensive.
What a wonderful country the US has become.

You're right, the US is a terrible place now. God I can't wait til it depopulizes. Oh, what, you're not leaving ??? THEN STFU

Probably the latter. Reporting the "threat" could be a good thing, since parents these days are clueless about weapons stashed under their own roofs.

What I find the saddest part of that article is maybe
Don't get me wrong, I sure will not characterize the phantasy to kill politicians or celebreties as a pleasant side of a youth's personality. But questioning the kids mental health because of that reminds me of too many dystopian novels. "He must be crazy. He does not like our Beloved Leader"?

Have you had your nap today? Oh, wait, I'm not leaving, I better STFU! *rolls his eyes*

What I wonder is who put those kinds of thoughts into a kid's head in the first place, they aren't your typical 7th grader's top concerns.

If you glance over this or google for some similar information you might see a different perspective on why kids that act odd SHOULD be looked at a little, rather than just ignored, which I'm gathering is supposedly the "correct" response...

http://www.educationworld.com/a_issues/issues139.shtml

I wonder if one essay is really the full background of the story.

Secret Service involvement seems like over-responding to me but in a worthless article like that containing almost no details whatsoever, "investigating" could mean an hour of calling people on the phone and checking criminal background records. I just "researched" the story myself (i.e. I did a few google searches, see my point?)

We could come up with all kinds of theories but there's no point when you don't have any information. If you want to assume, "Oh, the school and government are idiots or paranoid." that's your own fault for being so biased and presumptuous. I think they have just a little more information and experience than we have to go on. I should probably copy and paste this paragraph after 50+% of the threads here, too.

So, 1) we don't know what the actual response was to judge whether or not it was appropriate, and 2) we have not a clue of what prompted a response in the first place. Such situations always produce such meaningful discussions huh?

Shit, I can't believe I just managed to write a response to an article that is probably longer than the GD article itself.

The obvious solution is, of course, to impeach Bush and put him on trial for war-crimes.

Cancelling Oprah would also help.

Impeach Oprah!

The fact that the SS was involved in ANY way over the fantasy of a 7th grade boy speaks volumes on the stupidity of someone along the chain of authority. Just because we don't have all the facts doesn't mean that we can't see that "something" really stupid happened.

7th grade + ANY SS response just does not add up. Whether that's the fault of school administration or the government remains to be seen. My guess is that some idiot in the school overreacted and called the SS and then they reassurred him/her that they would investigate.

Ding Ding Ding

Give the Man a Cigar we have a winner!

I can't speak for others, but I ain't leaving without a hell of a fight.

I'll join ya at the barricades, sister!

Naw...

The Secret Service was just bored... And they had to find something to Justify keeping them on the job and a paycheck in their pockets.

Hey I am all for that... Boy George Bush needs to be in jail

And that's probably a good guess. For all we know there could have been some kind of major miscommunication. The reason I'm so skeptical is because I agree that it seems too stupid to be true. Most of the time when something seems too stupid to be true, it's not...or we're being misinformed. (No troll responses to that last sentence! )

I used to think that way, that something can be too stupid to be true, but when I had to train people for office jobs I realized I had severely underestimated the capacity for ingenious human idiocy.

Actually, what I meant was that this overreaction to the "threats" of a child might shine some light on a tragedy waiting to happen. Its far from the sort of work the Secret Service should be doing. On the other hand, the incident might get the attention of clueless parents who seem to have better things to do than being parents and MAYBE they will wise up and get the kid some help.

Here's my guess... the kid was writing rhetorically about his belief that society would be better off without the influence of these people. In that case I'd happen to agree with him. Too bad the article doesn't give more detail, but I found this part pretty telling:

Sounds to me like some propaganda swallowing flag waving robot overreacted.

Feb. 2, 1996 - Moses Lake, Wash. Two students and one teacher killed, one other wounded when 14-year-old Barry Loukaitis opened fire on his algebra class.

March 13, 1996 - Dunblane, Scotland 16 children and one teacher killed at Dunblane Primary School by Thomas Hamilton, who then killed himself. 10 others wounded in attack.

Feb. 19, 1997 - Bethel, Alaska Principal and one student killed, two others wounded by Evan Ramsey, 16.

March 1997 - Sanaa, Yemen Eight people (six students and two others) at two schools killed by Mohammad Ahman al-Naziri.

Oct. 1, 1997 - Pearl, Miss. Two students killed and seven wounded by Luke Woodham, 16, who was also accused of killing his mother. He and his friends were said to be outcasts who worshiped Satan.

Dec. 1, 1997 - West Paducah, Ky. Three students killed, five wounded by Michael Carneal, 14, as they participated in a prayer circle at Heath High School.

Dec. 15, 1997 - Stamps, Ark. Two students wounded. Colt Todd, 14, was hiding in the woods when he shot the students as they stood in the parking lot.

March 24, 1998 - Jonesboro, Ark. Four students and one teacher killed, ten others wounded outside as Westside Middle School emptied during a false fire alarm. Mitchell Johnson, 13, and Andrew Golden, 11, shot at their classmates and teachers from the woods.

April 24, 1998 - Edinboro, Pa. One teacher, John Gillette, killed, two students wounded at a dance at James W. Parker Middle School. Andrew Wurst, 14, was charged.

May 19, 1998 - Fayetteville, Tenn. One student killed in the parking lot at Lincoln County High School three days before he was to graduate. The victim was dating the ex-girlfriend of his killer, 18-year-old honor student Jacob Davis.

May 21, 1998 - Springfield, Ore. Two students killed, 22 others wounded in the cafeteria at Thurston High School by 15-year-old Kip Kinkel. Kinkel had been arrested and released a day earlier for bringing a gun to school. His parents were later found dead at home.

June 15, 1998 - Richmond, Va. One teacher and one guidance counselor wounded by a 14-year-old boy in the school hallway.

April 20, 1999 - Littleton, Colo. 14 students (including killers) and one teacher killed, 23 others wounded at Columbine High School in the nation's deadliest school shooting. Eric Harris, 18, and Dylan Klebold, 17, had plotted for a year to kill at least 500 and blow up their school. At the end of their hour-long rampage, they turned their guns on themselves.

April 28, 1999 - Taber, Alberta, Canada One student killed, one wounded at W. R. Myers High School in first fatal high school shooting in Canada in 20 years. The suspect, a 14-year-old boy, had dropped out of school after he was severely ostracized by his classmates.

May 20, 1999 - Conyers, Ga. Six students injured at Heritage High School by Thomas Solomon, 15, who was reportedly depressed after breaking up with his girlfriend.

Nov. 19, 1999 - Deming, N.M. Victor Cordova Jr., 12, shot and killed Araceli Tena, 13, in the lobby of Deming Middle School.

Dec. 6, 1999 - Fort Gibson, Okla. Four students wounded as Seth Trickey, 13, opened fire with a 9mm semiautomatic handgun at Fort Gibson Middle School.

Dec. 7, 1999 - Veghel, Netherlands One teacher and three students wounded by a 17-year-old student.

Feb. 29, 2000 - Mount Morris Township, Mich. Six-year-old Kayla Rolland shot dead at Buell Elementary School near Flint, Mich. The assailant was identified as a six-year-old boy with a .32-caliber handgun.

March 2000 - Branneburg, Germany One teacher killed by a 15-year-old student, who then shot himself. The shooter has been in a coma ever since.

March 10, 2000 - Savannah, Ga.Two students killed by Darrell Ingram, 19, while leaving a dance sponsored by Beach High School.

May 26, 2000 - Lake Worth, Fla. One teacher, Barry Grunow, shot and killed at Lake Worth Middle School by Nate Brazill, 13, with .25-caliber semiautomatic pistol on the last day of classes.

Sept. 26, 2000 - New Orleans, La. Two students wounded with the same gun during a fight at Woodson Middle School.

Jan. 17, 2001 - Baltimore, Md. One student shot and killed in front of Lake Clifton Eastern High School.

Jan. 18, 2001 - Jan, Sweden One student killed by two boys, ages 17 and 19.

March 5, 2001 - Santee, Calif. Two killed and 13 wounded by Charles Andrew Williams, 15, firing from a bathroom at Santana High School.

March 7, 2001 - Williamsport, Pa. Elizabeth Catherine Bush, 14, wounded student Kimberly Marchese in the cafeteria of Bishop Neumann High School; she was depressed and frequently teased.

March 22, 2001 - Granite Hills, Calif. One teacher and three students wounded by Jason Hoffman, 18, at Granite Hills High School. A policeman shot and wounded Hoffman.

March 30, 2001 - Gary, Ind. One student killed by Donald R. Burt, Jr., a 17-year-old student who had been expelled from Lew Wallace High School.

Nov. 12, 2001 - Caro, Mich. Chris Buschbacher, 17, took two hostages at the Caro Learning Center before killing himself.

Jan. 15, 2002 - New York, N.Y. A teenager wounded two students at Martin Luther King Jr. High School.

Feb. 19, 2002 - Freising, Germany Two killed in Eching by a man at the factory from which he had been fired; he then traveled to Freising and killed the headmaster of the technical school from which he had been expelled. He also wounded another teacher before killing himself.

April 26, 2002 - Erfurt, Germany 13 teachers, two students, and one policeman killed, ten wounded by Robert Steinhaeuser, 19, at the Johann Gutenberg secondary school. Steinhaeuser then killed himself.

April 29, 2002 - Vlasenica, Bosnia-Herzegovina One teacher killed, one wounded by Dragoslav Petkovic, 17, who then killed himself.

April 14, 2003 - New Orleans, La. One 15-year-old killed, and three students wounded at John McDonogh High School by gunfire from four teenagers (none were students at the school). The motive was gang-related.

April 24, 2003 - Red Lion, Pa. James Sheets, 14, killed principal Eugene Segro of Red Lion Area Junior High School before killing himself.

Sept. 24, 2003 - Cold Spring, Minn. Two students are killed at Rocori High School by John Jason McLaughlin, 15.

Sept. 28, 2004 - Carmen de Patagones, Argentina Three students killed and 6 wounded by a 15-year-old Argentininan student in a town 620 miles south of Buenos Aires.

March 21, 2005 - Red Lake, Minn. Jeff Weise, 16, killed grandfather and companion, then arrived at school where he killed a teacher, a security guard, 5 students, and finally himself, leaving a total of 10 dead.

Nov. 9, 2005 - Jacksboro, Tenn. One 15-year-old shot and killed an assistant principal at Campbell County High School and seriously wounded two other administrators.

Now, I agree, there's a difference between being worried about a kid killing classmates and/or teachers and thinking that a 7th grader is capable of assassinating the President of the United States, but as you can see above, the idea of a student using a firearm to harm or kill others is certainly a valid concern. Two of these occurred in my own state. And please note that quite a few of these occurred in Europe -- you are not exempt.

Perhaps they should have alerted the local police, rather than escalating it to calling in the Secret Service, but when it comes to the idea of a juvenile shooting someone, I believe it wouldn't hurt to err on the side of caution. If he couldn't get to Bush, he might have decided that his principal was a good secondary target.

P2

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I completely agree. My RL and SL partner Grim Hathor was about 30 feet away when this boy started shooting at Santee. There were warnings ahead of time but everyone thought it was a joke. This boy even told an adult the day before that he was going to shoot up the school and was not taken seriously. Just something to think about.