Columbine revisited

There will be more than enough analysis of the shootings and death in Oslo to last a life time in the coming weeks. Look to see a book within weeks and a movie by this time next year. Of course the main focus right now? Is hey! Look! It wasn't a Muslim! It was one of those nasty Christians that we have been warning you about!

The cries of Christian radicalism will soar while the realities of Islamic radicalism will continue to be looked at in the same passe manner that they always have, but meanwhile the media will entertain us with their analysis of this massacre by a non Muslim.

The bottom line this time, we have a supposed Christian radical and a Mason on top of that and all these other hater designations rolled into one by the media. The one thing for certain will be this, The media will have a field day with this guy. But will the realities of what happened and what could have been prevented and the lives that could have been saved be addressed at all by the media? I don't think so. Have a look at this report in the morning Telegraph.

Latest on the Norway Terror attacks via the UK Telegraph

15.36 More reports of the horrific scene that greeted local civilians who sailed to the rescue of people swimming in the waters around Utoya Island.

AFP quote a woman who made seven trips in her small motorboat despite warnings from police not to approach.

" I saw three heads in the water, swimming, but then there was only one, only one got on my boat."

I will stop there to make my point. You are welcome to read the entire piece and all the others that will be posted by media today and all those that will follow in the coming weeks. But already a fact is surfacing in this massacre that will once again be overlooked by the media et al. They will overlook it again because they always do.

In the media haste to point fingers and assign blame to everything and everyone from Christians, to the evils of allowing guns to exist in free societies, (maybe that's why they are called free societies) the main point of what has truly happened will be lost once again.

Does anyone remember Columbine? Sure you do. Do you remember how two demented killers stalked the halls of that school for hours wounding and killing their classmates and teachers? While no one did anything? Not a damn thing for hours? One teacher lay there bleeding to death for three hours before he finally died and no rescue was ever even attempted.

I see a parallel here. I see a parallel between Columbine and Oslo. While the talking heads and the pundits want to draw the parallels between this lunatic and Timothy McVeigh, one glaring reality conveniently escapes their analysis in my opinion.

The man killed seven people with his bomb in downtown Oslo on Friday. He then killed at least eighty five people with one or more firearms while he wandered at will (dressed as a police officer) on an island resort and shot his victims at will. Apparently killing until he literally ran out of ammunition.

We know this based upon three realities. Firstly those surviving his murderous attack have told of their account first hand. Secondly, the media has photos of the rampage, some apparently either taken from aircraft or adjacent high rise buildings, showing the killer stalking then killing his victims in plain view.

And thirdly and far more telling in my opinion, we have the reports that it took the police in Norway over and hour and a half to respond to his rampage. I personally have a fourth and perhaps less meaningful observation at this point. "Why is this bastard still alive?" But I will come back to that.

You see people, the fact that we have lunatics amongst us is nothing new. They have always been there. Throughout history they have always been there. It's how society has chosen to deal with them that makes the difference on a wide range of levels of how they appear in our society. Not the least of which being how we deal with them during their episodes of violence and afterward.

I believe that it was the English who first envisioned the need for the Shire Reeve, to become the Sheriff and ultimately they determined need for a 'constabulary' and ultimately police forces.
Here in America, we adopted the same principles and more times than not, justice was administered at the end of a Marshal's pistol or by a rope. A simpler time perhaps that called for simpler approaches, but the bottom line was, the people knew the consequences of evil vileness. Where as today? I submit that they don't care about consequences. The media of the day makes them famous.

What should have happened to this lunatic in Oslo on Friday, is the same thing that should of happened to Eric Harris and Dylan Klebold in Columbine. Police officers should have responded immediately and with a vengeance. Police officers armed and responsible to the public for their safety, had and do have a responsibility to place themselves on the line and between this lunatic and his victims. They had a responsibility to take him out, to kill him, to stop him as soon as humanly possible and to do so at the cost and loss of their own lives if need be!

This is the point being missed people! And it has been being missed for so long that there are few if any of us who still remember it.

When I became a US Marine, I swore and oath to defend this nation, against all enemies, foreign and domestic. I have never forgotten that oath and I consider it to still be in effect. When I swore and oath thirty eight years ago as a police officer, I swore an oath to protect the citizens of the city and state and to intercede and intervene when required to protect them. I swore an oath to disregard my own personal safety or threats of death or injury. I swore an oath to protect and serve and protecting meant putting my own ass on the line and in between those who would intentionally hurt others if need be. And I have done just that on more occasions than I can remember since then.

In service to my country, I was never called upon to openly and directly face any threat or enemy, but as a police officer, I was called upon more times than I can remember. I was called upon to the extent that I was shot and almost killed and subsequently injured in a duty related accident years later that also came very close to killing me.

But never once when called upon, did I back away or stop and consider my own safety before that of those who were depending upon me to be the difference between their surviving or not. I swore an oath and even though I had never met any of these people before that moment, I had made them a vow and a promise. To lay down my life if need be to protect theirs.

Think about that. Do you see why I am so angry about this? Do you see why I was so angry and hurt by Columbine and the dozens of other incidents that I have seen played out over the years before and since? I swore the day of Columbine alright, but it wasn't an oath peeling from my lips. It was anger at the horror that I and millions of others were witnessing. But mostly it was the thoughts down deep inside myself that told me that I would have never stood idly by 'awaiting orders' while kids were being hunted down like vermin and murdered in that school.

Had that happened in my community, I could not have lived with myself if I failed to react and address the threat that those two animals represented. The bottom line at Columbine that day? You didn't need the convergence of opinion of a command structure. You didn't need a SWAT TEAM or an Emergency Response Team. What was needed were men who knew how to act like men and were willing to utilize their training and their commitment to the citizens of that town to protect those kids. Even if it meant that they were to die too in the effort.

Now, have a look at Oslo on Friday and tell me what you think about all that has been reported and the official statements of police and their commanders and why it will take weeks and months to sort out the diabolical mind of this crazed gunman.

As I said earlier, his mind should have already been sorted out. It should have been sorted out by a "double tap" by a pistol or an assault rifle in the capable hands of a police officer willing and committed to saving lives. This jerk should have suffered the same fate as Osama Bin Ladin. Forget about surrender, Double tap his ass into the next life and then count your blessings on the lives you were able to save by doing so.

But instead of brave police officers in Norway on Friday? We had brave citizens who were ordered not to approach that island by none other than the police, but did so anyway. They went in and rescued people whom otherwise would have died. Why? Because is was for damn sure that the police weren't going to do anything about it and something had to be done. Something called human decency prevailed over official police protocols and thank God that it did.

I am sickened by this tragedy and by the senseless loss of life, but I am inspired to read of common people who knew what to do and that they did it. Men and women, young and old. And you know what? They weren't armed and they hadn't sworn any oaths, They just knew what had to be done and they did it.

God bless them......