Usually we can say in cases like this that if X hadn't set the guy off, Y would have come along pretty soon. But in this case, I'm not convinced of that at all. If the IRS hadn't gone all out to destroy this man, he may very well have gone on for the rest of his life without doing anything.
This doesn't excuse what he did, of course; he's 100% responsible for that. But there's also no excuse for the IRS to try to inflict maximum damage on people. It only leads to mental anguish, and then to stuff like this.
posted by aaron at 2:50 PM on December 27, 2000
They may always be male, but the idea they're always white is slightly beyond ludicrous and edging towards racist. There have been LOTS of black men who have gone on shooting rampages.
If there's any question to be asked here, it's why the media likes to play up the murderer's race when he's white and play it down when he's black.
posted by aaron at 3:55 PM on December 27, 2000
Well, the burning of old, or "unserviceable" flags, is supposed to be done in a "dignified manner," preferably involving some sort of respectful ceremony. Here's the American Legion's ritual, which is sufficiently complex to compel them to save up a number of old flags and only perform it once per year, on Flag Day. (Burial is also considered by many to be appropriate.) Obviously, this is way different than waving a burning flag in the middle of the street while chanting "Death to America!" or somesuch.
As to why they care in the first place, I think it's because what a lot of older people have been through. Think of the old men who had to fight in WWII; those guys were fighting to save their entire way of life, their rights, etc. And they were going through unspeakable horrors to accomplish their goal. So to see an American flag go up on a piece of land they just captured, it meant everything to them. The flag became so infused with meaning for them that it's impossible for them to ever separate it from their right to exist as free men. (As a comparison, think how people react to Nazi swastikas. That's just a flag too, in and of itself.) To attack it is to attack them. And thus they react.
To people our age, who have never had to even contemplate the possibility of losing all our rights and our entire way of life, it's harder to understand.
posted by aaron at 12:19 AM on December 31, 2000
Conn. Man Held in Slayings of 3
Associated Press
Friday, December 29, 2000; Page A10
GUILFORD, Conn., Dec. 28 -- A man was arrested today in the slayings of his aunt and her two children and then helped police find the body of another woman who had been missing since October, officers said.
The three family members were stabbed a total of 30 times, a prosecutor said.
The bodies of Katherine "Kitty" Kleinkauf, 43, and two of her four children, Rachael Crum, 6, and Kyle Redway, 4, were discovered Wednesday in a cottage in this shoreline town, about 15 miles east of New Haven. Autopsies of those victims were scheduled.
The other victim, Mindy Elizabeth Leigh, 20, had dated John Mills, police said. Her skeletal remains were found at the town fairgrounds. Mills, 27, has not been arrested in that case, state police Sgt. Paul Vance said.
Vance said he could not provide many details about either case, including where Kleinkauf's two older children were at the time of the killings.
Vance said Mills had voluntarily come to Guilford police about 2 a.m. today and was questioned through the night. He was arrested on murder charges that could result in the death penalty on conviction. Other charges in the Kleinkauf case included robbery, burglary, larceny and fraud.
Mills said nothing during his arraignment and was ordered held on a $2 million bond.
Mills has had nine felony convictions in the past 10 years, state prosecutor Kim McCabe said.
posted by aaron at 3:00 PM on December 31, 2000
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posted by holgate at 10:52 AM on December 27, 2000