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Beiruty wrote:I have feeling that the shooter is not crazy nor having mental issues. He is a life failure. He was finding refuge in extremists anti-government ideology. He might have associated himself with anti-government groups to gain some esteem and redemption for his failure. He seeked violent attack against a public figure in public place to gain notoriety and fame and as way to terminate his failed life

b322da wrote:

texanron wrote:I just heard the gunman bought the Glock 9mm legally from a sporting goods store in AZ on November 30th of last year.

"Legally?" This could possibly result, even in Arizona, in questions about limiting sales to certain categories of persons. Recognizing there was apparently no medical diagnosis in this case, that will most likely not inhibit moves, or publicity, in that direction.

Slippery slope?

Elmo

THE SUSPECTED GUNMAN

– The suspect in the shooting is Jared Lee Loughner, a 22-year-old former community college student, according to an Arizona law enforcement source and a U.S. law enforcement source.

– He railed against government "mind control" and illiteracy in online missives and had "kind of a troubled past," said Pima County Sheriff Clarence Dupnik.

– He also had brushes with the law, the sheriff said without elaborating. "We understand that there have been law enforcement contacts with the individual where he made threats." Court records indicate he had been arrested for possession of drug paraphernalia in 2007, but the charge was dismissed.

– Loughner dropped out of high school in 2006, after his junior year, said Tamara Crawley, a spokeswoman for the Marana United School District in suburban Tucson.

– In 2008, he tried to enlist in the U.S. Army. The Army rejected him, and privacy laws keep the military from disclosing the reason, the service said in a statement to CNN.

– He enrolled at Aztec Middle College, a partnership between Tucson schools and Pima Community College that helps high school dropouts transition to community colleges, the community college President Sylvia Lee told CNN.

– He took classes at the college from 2005 until October 2010, but withdrew after five contacts with police "for classroom and library disruptions" at two campuses between February and September, the school said.

– Loughner was suspended after authorities found a YouTube video in which he called the school "illegal according to the U.S. Constitution, and makes other claims," a college statement said. He quit during an October 4 meeting with his parents and school administrators, and a follow-up letter warned that to return, he had to present a doctor's note stating that "his presence at the College does not present a danger to himself or others."

– On his YouTube page, a list of his favorite books included both Adolf Hitler's "Mein Kampf" and Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels' "The Communist Manifesto," along with works by George Orwell, Ray Bradbury, Ken Kesey, Herman Hesse, Ernest Hemingway, Plato and Aesop's fables.

– "Good-bye friends," read a Saturday morning posting on Loughner's MySpace page, just hours before the shooting. "Dear friends ... Please don't be mad at me. The literacy rate is below 5%. I haven't talked to one person who is literate."

– A December 30 posting read, "Dear Reader ... I'm searching. Today! With every concern, my shot is now ready for aim. The hunt, a mighty thought of mine."

– Online, Loughner complained about the "second Constitution," a term legal scholars sometimes use to describe the post-Civil War amendments that ended slavery, extended the right to vote and required equal protection under the law. Its meaning to Loughner could not be clearly discerned.

– In an apparent reference to Giffords' congressional district, he wrote in a December 15 video message on YouTube: "The majority of people, who reside in District-8 are illiterate - hilarious."

– In the same message he wrote: "If I define terrorist then a terrorist is a person who employs terror or terrorism, especially as a political weapon. I define terrorist."

Beiruty wrote:,,,The shooter has the following tendencies and views:
1) Extreme socialist (and maybe communist?), (Reference to Hitler book and Carl Marx book,etc)....

baldeagle wrote:I think the classical way of defining political systems is completely wrong. Both communism and facism are totalitarian systems. So I think it is incorrect to call fascism a "right side" system and communism a "left side" system. I believe a better way of defining political systems is from anarchy on the right to totalitarianism on the left. Somewhere in the middle is where I would put democracy and to the right of that a republic (which is what America is supposed to be.)

Beiruty wrote: Finally, why this shooter is not called a terrorist, or the incident as a terroristic act by an Anti-government agent is just mind boggling

gregthehand wrote: In fact there is even a disorder that is named Alice in Wonderland Syndrome. It's linked to mental illness.

Oldgringo wrote:

Beiruty wrote: Finally, why this shooter is not called a terrorist, or the incident as a terroristic act by an Anti-government agent is just mind boggling

The accused, or someone, certainly did engage in a most despicable and cowardly act of murderous terror against an unarmed and unsuspecting group of innocents. It is yet to be determined if the accused is a member of, or otherwise associated with, a larger group of like-minded cowardly assassins. I don't know if this answers your question, but it is a start.

AndyC wrote:

baldeagle wrote:I think the classical way of defining political systems is completely wrong. Both communism and facism are totalitarian systems. So I think it is incorrect to call fascism a "right side" system and communism a "left side" system. I believe a better way of defining political systems is from anarchy on the right to totalitarianism on the left. Somewhere in the middle is where I would put democracy and to the right of that a republic (which is what America is supposed to be.)

Sounds good to me - a much more logical system

It would have the interesting effect of rendering some democrats as totalitarians and some republicans as anarchists