Posted on 07/10/2007 10:17:55 PM PDT by goldstategop
A young Air Force airman is fighting for his life in Camden, N.J. He was shot on Independence Day by a crazed gunman who reportedly had a beef with the military and the U.S. government and "wanted to make a statement" on the Fourth of July. Have you heard about the plight of 22-year-old McGuire Air Force Base loadmaster Jonathan Schrieken? Probably not.
The shooting got no mention in The New York Times -- not even a squib in a back section (though the paper did see fit to put the shooting of a 7-year-old girl in Trenton on the front page).
Rosie O'Donnell, fills the moderator slot on "The View" during the taping of the first show of the 10th season of the ABC women's talk show in this, Sept. 5, 2006, file photo, in New York. Donald Trump sent a letter to O'Donnell on Tuesday, Jan. 9, 2007 distributed by the TV show "The Insider," saying Barbara Walters told him in a private conversation that working with O'Donnell is "like living in hell." (AP Photo/Mary Altaffer, file) Related Media: VIDEO: Barker: Remarks Not a Rosie Endorsement
Local media outlets have gathered a few news tidbits about the shooter, Matthew Marren, who killed himself after attacking Schrieken outside his Willingboro home. Schrieken roomed with a few other servicemen in the rented house. Schrieken did not know Marren. PhillyBurbs.com reported that a relative said Marren was "angry at the government and wanted to make a statement" on Independence Day. Authorities found two suicide notes that "were indicative of an individual suffering from mental-health problems."
A random act of insanity? Not so fast. There's more to the story. A reader whose son is the best friend of Senior Airman Schrieken wrote to Charles Johnson of the Little Green Footballs (littlegreenfootballs.com) blog with background details:
"My son's best friend, Jon, who's in the Air Force stationed in New Jersey at Fort Dix/McGuire Air Force Base, was shot by a crazed anti-military white guy on Independence Day and he remains in critical condition. He had been on leave here in Ohio and got back to his home off base and was unpacking stuff from his car when this 22-year-old guy walked up to him and asked him if he lived in the house. When Jon said yes, the guy said 'not any more' and shot him point-blank in the chest. He tried to shoot him again, but his gun jammed. Jonathan made it into the house. The guy then shot himself.
"Turns out the guy left a couple of suicide notes stating how much he hated the military and he wanted to go out making a statement, so he chose to make his statement on Independence Day trying to kill a soldier. We are very worried about our Airman . . . he's like a son to me. He's been to Iraq and Afghanistan on our behalf and then gets shot in his own driveway here in the U.S. by an anti-war, anti-American lunatic. This is gut wrenching."
Now, imagine the scenario flipped: What if a soldier had attempted to murder a peace activist over the holidays in order to "make a statement"? The Times would be holding front-page vigil, and Katie Couric's brow would be furrowed for a week. The yakkity yaks on "The View" would be clucking their tongues about the culture of violence bred by the military -- and who knows what Rosie O'Donnell would be dressing her poor child in to exploit the story on her website.
Funny how the Root Causes crowd becomes so incurious about the root causes of crime when the suspects are anti-military nutballs and anti-war protesters. To the extent leftists pay any attention at all to this attempted murder, you can expect it to be downplayed as an isolated incident. Never mind the pro-fragging comments made by troop-bashing academic fraudsters like Ward Churchill; the iconic banners that proclaim "We support our troops when they shoot their own officers" and "Don't impeach Bush . . . execute him"; the countless acts of vandalism against military recruitment offices nationwide since 9/11; and the burning of soldiers in effigy by hate-filled peaceniks.
Oh, and this week, the trial of Michael Curtis Reynolds began. He's a Pennsylvania man and al Qaeda sympathizer accused of plotting to blow up U.S. energy installations in order to drive up gas prices and precipitate a U.S. withdrawal from Iraq. In e-mail exchanges with Internet sleuth Shannen Rossmiller, who unmasked the bombing plot, Reynolds called the United States an "accursed country" and said "it isn't the land of the free, but the home of the new dictators."
Harmless rantings? No. Ideas, like the bullet in Jon Schrieken's chest, have consequences.
"Show me just what Mohammed brought that was new, and there you will find things only evil and inhuman, such as his command to spread by the sword the faith he preached." - Manuel II Palelologus
...this is all ancedotal. I’m not saying it’s not true, I’m saying that a more solid source would make this more trustworthy.
Prayers for Jonathan Schrieken. ~Pandora~
Swap “Approval of” for “Indifference to” and you’d be closer to the truth.
It is a misnomer to label anything they do with “peace”. They are dirty commie no-good-niks.
They are decidedly pro-Palestinian War up to and including the use of suicide bombers (”They are using the only weapons they HAVE, their bodies, sob cry...”).
They’ve been violent before. The 1960s and 1970s especially, shooting cops, blowing up and burning armories. Shooting up election offices and slashing tires and shooting returning soldiers shouldn’t come as a surprise.
But their radical politics do not constitute “hate crimes”. Such is political correctness.
Just something else to piss me off.
A google search suggests that even moderate and conservative news and blog sites didn’t cover this story except to talk about the media not covering it. Very odd.
“were indicative of an individual suffering from mental-health problems.”
In other words, a typical leftist. Prayers for that poor airman and his family.
It would be just if an angry soldier were to shoot some moonbats just on general principle — or some lying reporters.
If the soldier was gay this would have been on the front page of every paper in the nation.
Of course it’s not true if it were true it would be headline news.....(/sarcoff)
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