Sheriff: Parents saw son’s anger grow:
This is just another local news article about Ryan Schallenberger that is actually a couple of days old so there’s no new information in it. However, the article provides us with a quote that sounds eerily familiar. I know I’ve brought this point up before but I thought it was worth mentioning again.
Here’s a quote about Schallenberger’s journal…
The diary detailed Schallenberger’s dissatisfaction with the world in general, Lear said, including “rich guys being able to get hot girls, the girls trying to use the guys for status … people being frivolous.”
Now let’s hear from burning in hell cowardly scumbag Cho Seung-Hui.
“Your Mercedes wasn’t enough, you brats,” he said. “Your golden necklaces weren’t enough you snobs. Your trust funds wasn’t enough. Your vodka and cognac wasn’t enough. All your debaucheries weren’t enough. Those weren’t enough to fulfill your hedonistic needs. You had everything.”
My point is that I think Schallenberger was broken the same way Cho was broken. By broken I mean there was something obviously wrong with him that I don’t think anyone could have fixed. Before I said that Schallenberger could have just bided his time until graduation but I now take that back. I don’t think it would have mattered what school Schallenberger was attending. At the point, he reached he would have plotted to attack whatever school he was attending at the time.
With the same attitude as Cho could you imagine if Schallenberger had attended a university like Georgia or Clemson where so much is placed on athletics? It staggers the mind.
Prosecutor says S.C. student to face WMD charge, could get life:
Ryan Schallenberger could be facing life behind bars since the feds have decided to charge him with attempting to use a weapon of mass destruction. The feds are able to file charges against him since he used the US Mail to receive bomb-making materials.
US Attorney Kevin McDonald said Schallenberger will be charged with federal counts of attempting to use a weapon of mass destruction, attempting to use explosives on a building that gets federal funding, and using interstate commerce to obtain explosives to be used against people and property.
The wounds of Virginia Tech still sting. The feds are going to make an example out of this kid as they should.
Technology helps fuel ‘pimping’ of young girls:
This is a very powerful article about a case of child prostitution in the Bay Area that was in part facilitated by craigslist.
I would do the story and its author a great injustice if I tried to either quote or summarize the story. That’s how good I think it is.
For those of you who think that child prostitution is not happening on craigslist you need to read this article.
And again for those of you that think prostitution is a victimless crime you need to read this article.
Official: Parents sought counseling for bomb plot student:
According to police, the parents of Ryan Schallenberger tried to get him mental help just days before his arrest.
His parents allegedly took him to a mental health facility after he banged his own head through a wall. Chesterfield Prosecutor Jay Hodge said that the clinic offered no help whatsoever. The clinic had no comment.
Some people keep saying that his parents didn’t do anything for him or they didn’t do enough in time. I disagree. I think they did plenty. They tried to get him help, whether or not that help was any effective is under debate but they tried which is more than a lot of parents would have done. After the ammonium nitrate was delivered they did the responsible thing and searched his room thereby discovering his alleged plot. How many stories have I posted where parents didn’t have an iota of a clue?
Someone at my job yesterday asked me if it was my son would I have turned him into the cops. I didn’t even hesitate in saying yes. If anyone in a similar situation would say no then that just makes you an enabler.
So when we last left off our intrepid hero said he was going to give PCLinuxOS another try and I did. I’ve upgraded my opinion of it somewhat. I got it customized enough to where it really looked slick. I loved that it used Synaptic as a package manager. However, the latest dealbreaker was that it was missing a vital program that I need from its repository. This really isn’t a knock on PCLinuxOS I’m just not comfortable compiling my own stuff manually yet. I also have to add that if you’re a first time Linux user I wouldn’t start with PCLinuxOS. I found the install process a little confusing. Why does it need two partitions? Anyway, it’s worth checking out.
Previously I also posted about OpenSUSE and how I couldn’t get past the start menu. Well, I figured out how to change it to basically a generic KDE menu but I’m still not all that impressed. While the install was a snap once everything was updated I found it to be a slow and sluggish OS. I also think their repository is severely lacking. I really wanted to like this too because Novell, the company behind OpenSUSE, has some kind of deal with Microsoft that pisses off the Linux fanboys and I love to do things that piss off fanboys. However, I can not recommend OpenSUSE.
I actually dropped Mandriva as my main OS as well. I loved Mandriva and I do highly recommend it but I found a Linux install that in my opinion was better. It’s actually kind of an old install for me. Over the weekend I tried out the KDE version of Linux Mint and I’ve never been happier with an installation. I know some of you hardcore Linux fans will deride me for choosing what is basically Kubuntu but I don’t care. I found this install to be more stable and useful than most of the others I’ve tried and since it uses Ubuntu’s repository it has all the programs I need.
My next foray into Linux won’t be until Fedora 9 drops.
I’m kind of sad about this.
I never shopped there or anything but anyone who grew up in the South Jersey/Philadelphia area should remember their jingle.
“Take the wheel of your automobile and swing on down to…Ideal”
They don’t make ’em like that anymore.
[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7k2A26cOkzg&w=420&h=315]
Bomb plot by 18-year-old South Carolina student could have killed dozens, police say:
That didn’t take long at all.
The 18-year-old accused of plotting to bomb Chesterfield High School in South Carolina was just another coward worshiping mutant. Ryan Schallenberger kept a journal about his now failed plot where he noted his admiration for the cowardly scumbags Harris and Klebold.
And we have a little bit of motive…
“He seemed to hate the world. He hated people different from him — the rich boys with good-looking girlfriends,” Chesterfield Police Chief Randall Lear said.
So it seems the motive was the same as Columbine, jealousy. Eric Harris wanted to be one of the “cool kids” so bad it drove him to kill. It seems that Schallenberger had the same jealous and cowardly streaks.
The article states that Schallenberger was one of the top students at the school. Such a waste. He’s 18 and only a few months away from graduation. Now he’s ruined his life over his petty jealousy.
S.C. teen accused of planning Columbine-like attack:
I thought that since April 20th fell on a Sunday this year it would be relatively peaceful. That’s what I get for thinking.
18-year-old Ryan Schallenberger of South Carolina has been arrested for plotting an attack against Chesterfield High School. His parents were tipped off when 10 pounds of ammonium nitrate was delivered to the house. Ammonium nitrate was made infamous for being the explosive of the Oklahoma City bombing. Coincidentally the anniversary of which was yesterday.
Police found bomb-making materials, a detailed plan of the attack entitled “Columbine III”, and an audio tape that was to have been played after the attack. I’m guessing he’s referring to Virginia Tech as Columbine II. Police also are saying that Schallenberger was the only one involved in the plot.
No word yet on a motive. What gets me though is that he was 9 when Columbine happened. He probably didn’t even know what happened at Columbine until he got into his angsty years.
I do have to commend Schallenberger’s parents for not ignoring an obvious warning sign.
More on this as information becomes available and as time permits.