angiEmedia

In the aftermath of the December 14, 2012, mass murder of 27 presumably innocent victims at Sandy Hook Elementary in Newtown, Connecticut, the mass media is predictably filled with discussion about gun control laws. When you consider the full story behind mass killings in schools, this is highly irrational and irresponsible. It is akin to discussing banning cars because of driving fatalities caused by people using prescription drugs.

This comparison is doubly apt because so many school killers were using dangerous antidepressant prescription drugs. Recent media discussion mentions that Adam Lanza, the accused shooter, may have suffered long-term mental health problems including an unspecified personality disorder and possible autism or Asperger’s syndrome.

Given how the mental health care system in the US works, it is likely that Adam Lanza was taking one or more psychiatric drugs. While many take these drugs without killing anybody, there are numerous cases in which patients with no history of violence took such drugs for even just a few days and became highly violent and committed suicide or homicide. Given what happened at Sandy Hook, it is important for authorities to investigate and reveal any medications that Adam Lanza may have been using.

Guns Are Not The Problem

Guns are not the only way to maim and kill large numbers of people. Further, they virtually never kill anybody without direct action by a person who has made the gun dangerous by misuse.

Even in China, where guns are outlawed and the government quickly stomps on anybody opposing its opinions including by military violence against its own citizens, troubled people still harm school children with ease.

On the same day as the Sandy Hook massacre, Min Yingjun is accused of attacking a group of school students walking to school using a knife. Reports claim that 22 kids and one adult were injured.
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Long-time former NSA (National Security Agency) employee William Binney was recently interviewed about the NSA’s massive electronic surveillance and collection of what he says is essentially all email sent and received in the US.

Binney reveals that the NSA has developed electronic eavesdropping systems such as the “Narus device” that can continuously capture and store all the email transmitted over a 10 gigabit per second Ethernet feed at line rate (full bandwidth). By deploying these devices inside of Internet Service Providers around the nation, sites such as such as the AT&T building in San Francisco, the NSA can capture very nearly every email sent or received in the US each day.

They store these emails for later use when the government finds it wants to investigate or attack a person, such as they recently did to General David Petreus and General John Allen who had become, by some reports, on the outs with the Obama Administration. This may have to do with how News Corp. reportedly encouraged Petreus to run for US President against Obama.

Although neither were accused of any crime, the government accessed their emails, including email drafts, and other electronic communications to snoop on them and the people with whom they were communicating.

There might be some justification to do this to them because they have Top Secret security clearances. Dishonest personal conduct, such as that of a sexual affair while married, is considered one of the “red flags” warranting investigating and even pulling a security clearance. However, most people do not have a security clearance and thus the wholesale capture of more or less the entire population’s email traffic is not reasonable even if they were engaging in the same scandalous behaviors as Petreus and Allen.

FBI Raid On Binney To Intimidate Whistleblowers

Binney has personal experience with government intimidation. In 2007, as he was speaking out against the US government’s illegal surveillance state, the government decided to retaliate against him. On July 26, 2007, the FBI raided his home with 10 to 12 agents with guns drawn as he was in the shower.
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A New York appeals court has ruled that if the US Federal government declares a “public health emergency” per the Public Readiness and Emergency Preparedness Act (PREPA) then it does not have to obey state laws. Additionally, the parties who helped it forcibly provide “medical care” to those in the declared emergency area are also not liable for their actions and consequent adverse outcomes.

Quoted from Mom Loses Suit Over Daughter’s H1N1 Vaccine:

The Appellate Division concluded on Nov. 21 that PREP pre-empts state law claims. PREP contains an express pre-emption clause stating that, during a declared public health emergency, “no state … may establish, enforce or continue in effect with respect to a covered countermeasure any provision of law or legal requirement that (A) is different from, or is in conflict with, any requirement applicable under this section; and (B) related to the … use, … dispensing or administration by qualified persons of the covered countermeasure,” Peters wrote.

PREPA: Bad Law Inspired by 9/11

PREPA was passed in December 2005 during the second Bush Administration when it was signed by President George W. Bush. Like so many broken laws passed in the wake of 9/11, it does not appear there is any legal criteria that might counterbalance the potential for harm. In particular, there is no description in the law for what is required to authorize declaring a public health emergency. There is no provision for considering or evaluating dissenting views by those outside the government, either.

Quoted from Pandemic funding, liability shield clear Congress:

But Sen. Edward Kennedy, D-Mass., and some other Democrats, along with consumer groups such as Public Citizen, derided the liability provision as a giveaway to the drug industry. Kennedy said the bill makes it “essentially impossible” for injured parties to sue for damages. He also argued that the measure allows the HHS secretary to use many common diseases as a reason to activate the liability shield.

“Without a real compensation program, the liability protection in the defense bill provides a Christmas present to the drug industry and bag of coal to everyday Americans,” stated a Dec 21 news release issued by Kennedy and Sens. Tom Harkin, D-Iowa, and Chris Dodd, D-Conn.

The liability protection language, called the Public Readiness and Emergency Preparedness Act, was tacked onto the end of the huge defense-spending bill (H.R. 2863).

It gives the HHS secretary authority to trigger the liability protection by declaring an emergency if he or she determines that a disease or other health threat represents an emergency or may constitute an emergency in the future. The act does not list any criteria for determining the existence of an emergency. The declaration would have to list the diseases, populations, and geographic areas covered and when the emergency would end.

Such an emergency declaration is not subject to court review, and it preempts any conflicting laws or regulations of states or local communities, the act says.

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