TheTrenchcoat Chronicles

I've posted about Dr. Jerald Block before. He's a psychiatrist from the Oregon Health & Science University who theorizes that the cowardly scumbags Harris and Klebold went on their rampage because they were both denied access to their computers in the days prior to their attack. While I don't agree 100% with Dr. Block's theory I do think that is does have a lot of merit and may have been the breaking point.

However I'm not here to talk about Dr. Block's work. I'm here to talk about what in my opinion is lazy journalism.

In this article from UPI they editorialize while paraphrasing Dr. Block...

Prior to the shootings, both teens spent a significant amount of time playing first-person-shooter computer games. Block suggests that these virtual worlds became essential for the teens and that Harris and Klebold may have been unable to distinguish the boundaries between their virtual lives and their real lives -- in effect mixing the two.

That seems to imply that Dr. Block thinks that games like Doom were the main cause behind Columbine.

However in this article by WebMD, who Dr. Block actually spoke to, he says no such thing.

Before the attack, shooters Eric Harris and Dylan Klebold spent "more and more time with their computers, to the point that they may have been unable to distinguish the boundaries between their virtual lives and their real lives," says Oregon Health & Science University psychiatrist Jerald Block, MD.

"Then, as they got into trouble with school authorities, limits were put on their use of the computer. This made them react with homicidal rage and suicidal depression," he tells WebMD.

Does that sound like Dr. Block is blaming video games? Not to me. Personally it doesn't even sound like he's blaming computers or the internet.

He is basically giving a warning to parents to not let their kids immerse themselves wholly into any of these things. Yet the UPI article never mentions that at all.

There's nothing wrong with editorializing, that's what I'm doing right now. Editorializing in what's supposed to be an informative article is just bad journalism.

(Cross posted at CrimeNe.ws)

The cyber school for killers:
According to the article not only were Dillon Cossey and Pekka-Eric Auvinen YouTube buddies but it seems they belonged to the same pro-Columbine groups on MySpace.

Police do not believe this to have been a coincidence. The two youths are thought to have made contact over two MySpace groups, “RIP Eric and Dylan” — a reference to Eric Harris and Dylan Klebold, who killed 12 schoolmates at Columbine — and “Natural Selection”.

And people wonder why I think that sites like MySpace and YouTube need to shut down what basically amounts to hate groups.

But like I've said before MySpace and YouTube wouldn't have to if parents just paid better attention to their kids.

Speaking of parents...

Auvinen’s parents are regarded as somewhat bohemian in the small dormitory township of Jokela. His father plays part time in a jazz band and composes his own music; Auvinen’s mother is an activist for the Greens. They are regarded as stalwart members of the community and neighbours describe them as a “normal family”.

I'll let you draw your own conclusions on that one.

This week I talk about the other reason why 9/11 sucks, people who love cop killers, and a racist rant from craigslist.

Direct Download.

Study links computer denial to Columbine:
This is one of the more sensible explanations for Columbine I've heard in a long time.

Eric Harris and Dylan Klebold went on a killing rage at Columbine High School in 1999 because they were abruptly denied access to their computers, an Oregon psychiatrist says in a published study.

The two young men relied on the virtual world of computer games to express their rage and to spend time, and cutting them off in 1998 sent them into crisis, said Jerald Block, a researcher and psychiatrist in Portland.

"Very soon thereafter - a couple of days - they started to plan the actual attack," Block said.

Block published his research in the current issue of the American Journal of Forensic Psychiatry, a peer- reviewed journal.

The paper is likely to generate debate, said Cheryl Olson, co-director of the Center for Mental Health and Media at the Massachusetts General Hospital.

Block sifted through thousands of pages of documents released by Columbine investigators and said he believes both Harris' and Klebold's parents banned them from their computers after the two were caught breaking into an electrician's van in 1998.

Harris and Klebold had each previously been temporarily kept off computers at school or at home, and after each incident, Block said, the boys' writings or behavior became more violent.

Block said he worries about people immersing themselves so deeply and also about cutting them off cold-turkey.

"How do you pull them out, without triggering homicidal or suicidal behavior?" he asked.

Personally I don't think that was the only reason but it very may well have been a major one. However those two cowardly scumbags were so selfish and spoiled that Dr. Block may be on to something.

2nd Columbine gunman's family not opposed to sealing records:
Here's another shocker. The parents of the other Columbine gunman Dylan Klebold, Thomas and Susan Klebold, want their depositions destroyed but don't oppose them being sent to the National Archives for 25 years.

Thomas and Susan Klebold's position on the proposal, outlined in a federal court filing, is similar to the wishes of the parents of gunman Eric Harris. The Klebolds said if the judge chooses to send the documents under seal to the National Archives and Records Administration, they would like some information - such as names, addresses - blacked out.

Hmmm. I wonder whose name and address they want blacked out. Maybe if they didn't allow their kid to plot one of the most horrific mass murders in American history then this wouldn't be an issue.

The more I write about this story the more it makes no sense to me whatsoever. Who is Judge Babcock covering up for? JeffCo. Sheriffs or the killers' parents? He shouldn't be covering up for either. The decent thing to do would to be to give the victims' families the answers they've been seeking. Unsealing the depositions would accomplish that.

Judge: Seal Columbine papers for 25 years:
U.S. District Court judge Lewis Babcock has suggested that the depositions given by the parents of Columbine killers Eric Harris and Dylan Klebold should be sent to the National Archives and be kept sealed for 25 years.

In 2002, the parents of Columbine killer Eric Harris gave more than 16 hours of depositions in connection with a lawsuit by Columbine survivor Mark Taylor against Solvay Pharmaceuticals, maker of Luvox.

Taylor claimed that Luvox, an anti-depressant, made Harris homicidal and suicidal. However, Taylor dropped the lawsuit in February 2003 after Solvay agreed to contribute $10,000 to the American Cancer Society.

The other depositions of Harris' parents and the parents of Dylan Klebold took place over a four-day period in August 2003 in connection with a lawsuit filed by the families of five slain Columbine students. But, like the Solvay lawsuit depositions, the depositions were sealed when those families reached a settlement with the Harris and Klebold families.

The depositions have since been sitting in a highly secured evidence room at the federal courthouse awaiting a decision by Babcock about what should be done with them.

After 25 years, the National Archives would decide if the depositions are of significant social value and could release them to the public. Otherwise, they'd be destroyed, according to evidence presented at today's hearing.

Babcock said he wouldn't make a final decision until all sides had an opportunity to file written responses with him. He gave the parties a two-week deadline to file motions.

I understand that depositions in privately settled lawsuits are supposed to remain sealed but this is a special case. I'll be honest with you. I can think of no legal reason why the depositions should be made public. I only want to see the released for my own personal curiosity. In my opinion it's already been proven that the Harrises dropped the parenting ball. I just want to see how many opportunities they had to prevent the massacre but didn't.

Thanks to an anonymous German reader we have a link to Sebastian Bosse's diary.

My German skills are basically non-existent but I do recognize at least one phrase. On the entry dated 26.09.2006, which is September 26th for us non-Europeans, he wrote the phrase ERIC HARRIS IST GOTT. It doesn't take a genius to know that says, "Eric Harris is god". In the same entry he also invokes the names of Dylan Klebold, Kip Kinkel, and Kimveer Gill.

On the following page assuming that's from the same date is what appears to be a hit list and possibly a list of names of people to spare. From November 6th on he writes exclusively in English. On November 17th he states that he is "not a fucking psycho". I beg to differ but I've already expounded on that.

On November 18th he laments over the fact that he never had a girlfriend. Neither did I until I was almost 20 but so what? Again, it's not a reason to shoot up a school. There is no reason to shoot up a school. Cowards like this are just trying to justify to themselves about their murderous intent. It's not the world's fault that you don't have a girlfriend. It's nothing to be ashamed about. And after I got into my mid to late 20's I had a lot of girlfriends. So trust me, you're not going to go your whole life without a girlfriend and there is no woman alive out there worth killing yourself or anybody else over. He also makes a point that he's not gay, not that there's anything wrong with that, he says. He stated that he liked the character Jill Valentine from the Resident Evil videogames. Almost like she's a real person, which leads me to believe that Bosse was detached from reality. He says that's why he named one of his guns Jill. He also says that he named his other gun after Homer Simpson's gun. I must have missed that episode.

Then he talks about how much he loves his family and how much he hates himself for hurting them like this. If he loved his family so much he wouldn't have done what he did. He committed one of the most selfish acts a person could commit. He then states that he hopes the other outcasts at his school will be treated better. I can almost guarantee they won't. Bullies and other criminals don't care about the repercussions of their actions so they're probably just going to come down even harder on the outcasts. Then he says he hopes some of the outcasts will be like him and Eric Harris and Dylan Klebold, heroes. Like I've said before none of them are heroes. People like Bosse, Harris and Klebold are now and have always been cowards. Unable to deal with their own issues they take the cowardly, murderous way out and make things worse for other outcasts. That's not a hero.

The Return of the School Shooting:
This is an opinion piece from Blogger News Network about school shootings which also come to the most logical conclusion about them...

However, I think it's important to note that kids getting picked on doesn't explain the totality of the issue. Something had to make school shootings start in the first place in the mid-to-late '90s -- bullying has been going on for ages -- and analyses of Columbine showed the shooters did not concentrate on those who'd picked on them, opting instead for "Doom"-style random violence.

My preferred explanation -- one that ruffles feathers -- is parenting. Many of these kids had plenty of time alone in their houses (Harris and Klebold made pipe bombs), and in most cases I can recall, the parents could easily have afforded quitting one job or working fewer hours. It's also a parent's job to monitor his/her children's mental health issues, and keep guns away from the offspring if need be.

I think it's the only explanation that stands up to scrutiny, as it's one of the few explanations that changed markedly between my parents attending high school in the '70s (much bullying, lots of access to guns, no shootings) and now. Other factors can make it wax and wane, but as long as parents let a violent media raise their kids, the shootings won't disappear.

I'm glad to see that I'm not going crazy by having the same opinion.

Even campus killers have their groupies:
This is an intersting article about a reporter's first encounter with mutantdom.

As a matter of fact it's such a good article I can't pick what to quote. So I'll give you just a brief taste.

"You wanna know why there has only been three school shootings in Quebec? It's because the people here don't have the balls to do it, as much as they want to ... as much as they plan it all ... make `hit lists' and just wish they had the guts that Eric and Dylan had ... you know ... the real victims of Columbine! They are looked up to by many bullied high school students ... and many believe that the bullies got what they deserved on April 20th, 1999.

"Kimveer will be greatly missed by the people who actually understood him ... the people who don't have their heads up their asses."

Welcome to my world. I get e-mails like this all the time.

Hopefully this article will be read by parents and others to let them know that these kind of murderer worshipping people exist and one of them may be a family member. And if it is please get them the help they need.

As always it was your pleasure.

Murder Suspect Sent Video to Newspaper:
More on Alvaro Castillo's Columbine obsession and the failure for anyone to do anything about it...

Investigators say Castillo was obsessed with Columbine. During a search of the Castillo home on Lipps Lane in Hillsborough, deputies found a diary entitled "Mass Murders and School Shootings of the 20th and 21st Centuries," as well as directions to the homes of the Columbine school shooters.

Eyewitness News has learned that the Castillo family knew of this obsession, saying Alvaro Castillo identified with the deep depression of Dylan Klebold and Eric Harris, but never anticipated it could lead to violence.

I apologize to the family for giving them grief at a time like this but what did they think this obsession could lead to?

This should serve as a warning to parents who have kids that look up to school shooters as heroes. It's not just a phase. It's an unnatural lifestyle that could get them or someone else killed.

Orange Co. Shooting Suspect Obsessed With Columbine:
A little more background on the life of Alvaro Castillo...

The suspect's mother, Victoria, and sister, also named Victoria, were present in the courtroom when Castillo was charged. Castillo smiled at them as he was brought in. The women did not comment, but they were visibly shaken during the court appearance.

A neighbor of the Castillo family, Tim Fluet, was also at the courthouse and described the family as friendly and kind. He said that Victoria Castillo had mentioned to him her son's obsession with the Columbine shooting in Littleton, Colorado which occurred on April 20, 1999.

When asked by reporters how long he had been obsessed with the Columbine tragedy, he said, "Since I was ten."

When asked why, he said he didn't know.

Sheriff's deputies said Castillo had a previous run-in with law enforcement. He told a law enforcement officer during a traffic stop on April 20th of this year -- the seven-year anniversary of the Columbine shooting -- that he was suicidal.

Why don't parents do anything about unhealthy obsessions like this rather than let them go on for years?

He will appear in court again on September 11th for a probable cause hearing.

Coincidentally the birthday of Dylan Klebold. I bet that's not lost on Castillo.

Paper receives letter, video related to shooting:
Alvaro Castillo's mutant status keeps climbing higher and higher...

The Chapel Hill News on Thursday received a package with a videotape and a letter signed with the name of the man charged Wednesday with killing his father in Hillsborough. The murder charge came after police arrested Alvaro Rafael Castillo in connection with a shooting at Orange High School on Wednesday that slightly injured two students.

The letter writer says he knows “almost every detail” of the 1999 shooting at Columbine High School in Littleton, Colo. In that well-publicized incident, 13 students were killed and 23 people were injured by two students, Eric Harris and Dylan Klebold, who then killed themselves.

“I sent you the tape because I do not want them locked away just [like] the Basement Tapes that Eric Harris and Dylan Klebold made,” the letter says. “The police would not release them. This will not happen again. I want the world to see myself.”

The writer later adds: “I also like to read about massacres like the one that occurred in Red Lake, Minnesota by Jeff Weise,” referring to the deaths of 10 people, eight of them at a school, in a shooting rampage in March 2005. “I must remind the world!”

The letter ends with, “I will die. I have wanted to die for years. I’m sorry.”

He's not either.

“I know I am insane. Ever since I was young, I knew there was something wrong with me,” the letter says. The writer calls himself “a depressed and traumatized individual.”

The letter speaks of a father who is verbally abusive to the writer, his sisters and his mother. It speaks of the father hitting members of the family on occasion. “His threats and abuse took their toll on me,” the letter says.

It also says the writer was shown pornography by a friend at 8 years old. “From that day on, I was disgusted with the world,” the letter says.

Ok but what the hell does that have anything to do with shooting at his old high school?

Online Columbine comments net one arrest:
With school either starting or already started in parts of the country it should come as no surprise that the threats are already starting.

This time a 14-year-old from Clark County, Nevada, the same county Las Vegas is in, has been arrested for a threat posted on MySpace...

With a week left before the first day of school in the Clark County School District, Henderson police arrested a 14-year-old boy on allegations of sending threats and comments referring to the 1999 Columbine school shooting via the Internet to another youth.

The teen, who was not identified, also had surveillance footage of the Columbine shooting on his home computer, said officer Todd Rasmussen, spokesman for the Henderson police.Advertisement

The teen titled his MySpace.com Web page "R.I.P. Eric Harris and Dylan Klebold," Rasmussen said.

Authorities were alerted to the threats about 2 p.m. Wednesday when the relative of a teen who received a message from the 14-year-old called the police, Rasmussen said.

The 14-year-old sent a message from his MySpace.com account that stated, " 'Would you be down for some Columbine-like (expletive),' " Rasmussen said.

" 'Like what we talking?' " the other youth asked, Rasmussen said.

" 'I can't talk to you online about it. But how can I hit you up offline,' " the 14-year-old wrote back, Rasmussen said.

The police went to the 14-year-old's house and searched his home computer. The youth was at the house and was wearing a shirt that had the words "Kill Hate Destroy" printed on it, Rasmussen said.

Authorities found video footage of the Columbine massacre on the 14-year-old's computer, he said. The footage, taken by Columbine school surveillance cameras, showed Klebold and Harris standing in the school's cafeteria holding guns.

The same old question has to be asked...parents? I mean my parents were pretty cool in letting me wear Iron Maiden and Black Sabbath t-shirts but none of them ever said KILL. Also I wonder how the parents felt that their little mutant had a cache of the typical Harris and Klebold mutant fan material on his computer. Did they not know or just not care?

And I'm sure I'll get all the mutants stating that he was bullied. To them I offer this...

Rasmussen said detectives learned that in previous school years the boy had been suspended from school for prior incidents that included fighting, threatening other students and using slurs. They searched his home "and no weapons were recovered," police said.

Police said the teen had access to weapons in the past, but did not elaborate.

Sounds pretty much like a bully himself huh?

Haven't done a Sunday Mail Sack in a while. Let's get to it shall we?

The first one is from my entry on the Zero Hour documentary. Hold on folks. It's a long one...

Nameless Says:

Personally, I think Trench needs to think about his name calling against two people of which I doubt he would have called cowards and scumbags in person. I find your kind interesting, in that you can feel all high and mighty off of it, but it is sad because I highly doubt you would have said anything to them in person. Did you learn nothing from that documentary? I personally like to keep an open mind, giving everyone their own views and opinions and respecting them for such. However, Erich and Dylan were greatly misunderstood. I would also like to direct your attention to point that pieces of information, even on the day of the shooting itself, were false. Information such as the fact that the police, at one point in time during the shooting, believed there were more then two gunmen and even that there was a sniper on the roof. If you people search long and hard, and as well using more then one site for refrence so that you can reflect the material you find, you’ll start to understand things better…

You call two men cowards who took their time to make several explosives, purchase weapons dispite being of legal age, carefuly plan, and actually killed people… Interesting… I wonder how many of you people can truely say that you would carefuly plant propane explosives, though they of course did not go off - I would like you to keep in mind that if they did, it would have killed an estimate of 300 or so students, and yet when those bombs didn’t go off… They still shot and killed people… Why don’t you ask yourself a simple question… What would a man with nothing to lose do?

People like you, Trench, who think it is so great and wonderful to mock someone for being different and or because they do something outside of your beliefs or views, you people are the type of people who bring events like Columbine to reality. I, however, perhaps have no right to judge you or anyone. I don’t claim any drama calls for Eric and Dylans actions… I don’t sit here and say that they were doing it because of insecurity, though it was their so called fellow peers that aided in the reasons for them to do such things. I think that if you actually took the time to research materials out there, like per say Erich Harris’s journal entries or even go ahead and download the entire Columbine report (I can attempt to post a link to it actually if I can find it again but the version I found it in was in all PDF format) then perhaps you guys can start to understand the multiple sides to the story. Instead, you and the others are so quick to outcast them further because of what they did, regardless of the obvious that they themselves were victums. Some of the people they killed did not have anything to do with them actually, this I know myself. If you look at a lot of though, you’ll see that not a single one of them had a bad quality pointed out about them in any of the articles that were written about them after their deaths at Columbine. Interesting, don’t you think? There are more then just the sides of the people who were shot and killed. There are reasons for virtually everything. You would find it interesting to know that such things like the whole “asking so and so if they believed in god and then killing them because they said yes” were actually entirely false. You would find it interesting perhaps to learn that they didn’t have any real targets, dispite the fact that they did indeed say, “All Jocks Stand Up!” when shooting victims in the library. You can learn a good bit if you actually take the time to, instead of sitting here and mocking two beautiful people…

Personally, I think Eric and Dylan were tragic heros… We need more people like them…

Sunday May 29, 2005 @ 11:31 pm

I may not have called them cowards in person but I definitely would have called them scumbags because if they were still alive they didn't do anything yet to be called cowards. But being the two juvenile delinquents that they were I definitely would have called them scumbags. So the police thought there may have been more than two gunmen. That doesn't change the fact they killed 13 people in one of the most cowardly ways possible. And you go on about how careful there plans were and that doesn't make them cowards. It not only makes them cowards it makes them psychopathic cowards.What do you mean they had nothing to lose. Graduation was a short time away. If they thought like most rational people they would have graduated and have been done with the school forever. I do not mock people for being different unless of course they're murderer worshipping mutants who don't have the sense that God gave them. That's not different. That's just wrong. And do you mean the Columbine report that says Eric Harris' so called bullying was a whole two kids who made fun of him in gym class? The same one that said Dylan Klebold bullied a kid with a learning disability? They were not victims. What were they victims of? Upper class suburbia? Spoiled rich kid syndrome? Spare me the blame society crap. And the Eric Harris Journal, yeah, I've read that too. I love it when people tell me to do my research when they obviously haven't done theres. Mocking two beautiful people? You have got to be kidding me. I see more as reviling two cowardly scumbags. They were not tragic heroes. They were two psychopathic cowards who can't suffer enough for what they did. Seek professional help. It will do you some good.

My last one is from my entry from when I started The Watchlist...

Sean Says:

Oh how much I love what Harris and Klebold did. FINALLY someone has stood up for themself and told the world how they felt and I love what Jeff Weise just did also the revolution has already begun and no one can stop it not even you. 13-2 9-1 long live 4-20-99

Wednesday Jun 1, 2005 @ 8:21 pm

What revolution? What were they revolting against? Does someone want to tell me please. Just remember parents, this could be your kid.

As always it was your pleasure.

Let's clear out the mail sack shall we?

The first one is from me entry on the Eric Harris journal of course...

Beachbaron58 Says:

I have to respond to the word “coward” since it is used so many times here. Anyone who can do what Klebold and Harris did then pull the trigger with a shotgun in your mouth is no coward to me. They shot and killed other kids at close range not once but many times without batting an eye! These two gave the word “hate” a whole new meaning. I asked myself why I had an interest in the Columbine story and made prints of so much material? Same as everyone else five years later, the story is fascinating sad to say and we all know Columbine was just the begining but no way the end of such things. Other people will try to do better than Klebold and Harris, that is just the way things are.

Friday Apr 15, 2005 @ 10:35 pm

What's scary about this is that in a previous comment this guy said he was a 46 year old Navy vet. And to address the issue at hand, yes they were cowards. If I have to explain why you haven't been paying attention.

This next one is from my entry on the collapse of white supremacist record label Panzerfaust Records. I'm not going to print the whole thing because it is so long and nonsensical I'm a little more stupid from actually having read it all. To show you what I mean the racist assclown who left the comment compared the "plight" of the white race to Lord of the Rings. If you want to risk your intelligence you can read the whole thing here.

The next one is from my entry about the Columbine death photos...

fegan Says:

Erik and Dylan were solidiers of an radical opinion and they made all us anarchists and anti social revolutionaries realise it is time to make our mark we need to prepare the revolution is at hand it is time for society to stop all these black and white thoughts on right and wrong and listen with an open mind to our opinions on how society should work

We our the children of cililzed society and the future leaders of this forsaken land that we are forced to dwell soon it will be ours lets get it better suited for our existance

Friday Apr 29, 2005 @ 10:15 pm

Ah yes. No punctuation and almost no capitalization. The true sign of an intellectual. And let's not forget "An radical opinion" Apparently being an anarchist or an anti-social revolutionary means failing English class. They were not soldiers of an radical opinion. They were psychopathic cowards. They didn't even have the guts to face the repercussions of their own actions.

And lastly from my entry about the Eric Harris worship site...

CORINNE Says:

ERIC AND DYLAN HAVE BEAUTIFUL MINDS. THEY WILL GO DOWN IN HISTORY FOR WHAT THEY DID. ERIC IS HOTT, I WOULD GO TO PROM WITH HIM.KISS KISS ERIC R.I.P. WHY DID YOU KILL YOURSELF?

Thursday May 5, 2005 @ 11:03 pm

All capitalization is worse than no capitalization. Also does anyone care take a guess at what ISP this "person" uses? That's right it's everyone's favorite polluter of the internet AOL. Anyway parents, see what your kids are up to. If this is your kid they think that two people who killed 13 innocent people are "HOTT". A little supervision goes a long way.

As always it was your pleasure.