4th. Little Amish girl has died according to breaking news on CNN.com

[sinkingfeeling]

http://www.cnn.com/

[Erika]

1. This is sadness beyond belief

Executing grade school girls. What went wrong with this guy's head?

[hlthe2b]

12. Isn't that the truth...tiny litte girls and peaceful Amish children

at that....It is beyond inexplicable... and as many tears as we've shed for the innocent Iraqi babes, there seem to be no shortage today for this horrendous tragedy... If there is a heaven, let my beloved friends, family and the devoted, loving pets I've so acutely missed over the years, be there to greet these babes...

[proud2BlibKansan]

2. Oh how tragic

[karlrschneider]

3. I was afraid more wouldn't make it. Damn.

So sorry about this. There are lots of Amish people just north of here (like 3 to 10 miles) we often
stop in their bakery and pick up delicious home-made bread & pastries. They're lovable if somewhat
insural folks. I can't even imagine anybody wanting to do them harm.
:cry:

[Poiuyt]

4. I feel so sorry for those poor Amish families

Just simple people who want to be left alone. Now their grief is being shared by the rest of the country.

And what the hell is going on in schools these days??

[Lifelong Protester]

5. Schools are becoming frightening to children

as a principal, I feel this deeply. I live about 100 miles from the Wisconsin school in which the principal was shot to death last Friday. Our kids our nervous, and this horror will mark them too. I mean, the Amish, for pete's sake, they don't even lock their doors. What in the world is going on here?
If homeland (in)security wants to do something, let them help make safe the place where we send our precious children (although I know nothing would have helped in this case as the Amish would not take any help, especially technology).

I will not sleep tonight.

[bobbolink]

6. Thank you for caring for our children so deeply.

I hope you will be able to sleep.

I know this is very hard on you, your teachers, and your students.

Peace.

:pals:

[Lifelong Protester]

11. thanks for the hug

it has been a hard week on school personnel. It is something nobody wants to really think can 'happen here' but it has happened about everywhere, even the middle of nowhere.
If you know a teacher, principal, school custodian or secretary, give them a little extra positive energy this week. In the Wisconsin school shooting, a custodian wrestled a shotgun away from the shooter, only to have the kid pull a handgun. I really don't know what we are coming too. There is a large "why?" floating around in a lot of folks' heads tonight.

[bobbolink]

13. We *must*, finally, come to terms with our national sickness --

violence.

My generation thought we had changed the course of this country. Clearly, not.

It was bad enough when women were so often (and still are, of course) the targets of this sickeness. Our children are paying the price of our negligence of this huge elephant in our nation's living room.

We MUST rebuild our capacity for peace, at all levels. And that includes bullying and verbal violence, also!

My thoughts are with you, and your request to thank teachers and staff is well taken.

Thank you. :patriot:

[Bucky]

25. Thank you for putting your efforts on the right side of the scale, Bobo

If your generation was the 60s kids, then you did make a difference. The job can't be finished in one generation. But the world is a brighter place, even if it means we're just better at noticing violence. Compare the number of losses Vietnam took before the country stopped the madness to how many we've lost in Iraq before the people started screaming enough.

It's slow, it's painful, it doesn't feel like enough. But if you made a little difference and helped others contribute, you've done your part. Keep kickin' and keep reminding these youngsters (I'm a 40 something) that they have ideals to live up to and a world to save.

[malaise]

7. Horrible, horrible

what kind of human being could line up these kids and execute them in this manner.

[Mz Pip]

8. There are no words

No one is safe anymore. This school seemed to be out in the middle of nowhere. How much more safe can one expect to be?

But the other question: What could possibly have happened to this guy at the age of 12 that he carried it around for 20 years to end it all in this ultimate act of revenge? Who hasn't been dissed at 12? It is just too bizarre.

Mz Pip
:dem:

[Historic NY]

9. This really gets to me..............

While I live in NY I frequently have contact with the Amish who come and build garages where I live. They did one for me and a few others. When I know they are around I often go to visit with them and sometimes have to run one of them out for materials (they don't drive) These poor innocent girls who did nothing. I just hope the Amish do not retrench and pull their children out of school. Most children only go to the 8th grade any way. Its really sad this senseless act of violence is going to change the way of life for a whole community.

[kestrel91316]

15. They won't "pull their kids out of school". I'm quite sure they won't

have a knee-jerk response of blaming their own one-room school for this. They know there is evil "out there" in the world of us "English". It will just reinforce their convictions about remaining separate, and how violence is to be avoided in all its forms.

More power to them.

[Lone_Star_Dem]

10. I just heard that too

Heart breaking.

[rhiannon55]

14. Innocent little Amish girls...

This country has gone insane.

[GAspnes]

16. I still don't know how to feel about this.

A friend of mine is a teacher in Colorado.

My son taught in Wisconsin.

And now, again, such amazing hatred and lack of caring. I really don't know.

[leftofthedial]

17. I am so sickened by the school gun violence

that I can hardly breathe.

[Erika]

18. Violence begets violence

W used violence against an innocent country. Many innocent women and children are dead. Perhaps we are sending the message that violence can be the answer for vengeance.

I think of the 14 year Iraqi old girl who was raped and burnt, and her family killed.

What kind of message does that send?

Are we now feeling the after shocks here among our own?

[Bucky]

24. I don't buy into any magical "karmic payback" for dozens of reasons

Why would a natural force like karma be tied to national identity. If karma exists it would do payback on those who cause the harm in Iraq, not a dozen little girls unconnected to the villains in Iraq except by national affiliation.

But the violence our democracy authorized against Iraqi civilians through a neglectful Congress and a renegade president is the same social disease that inspired all these sickening murders at three schools in one week. We're cultivating a culture of death and inhumanity. Torture is part of that culture, even if you call it rendition or extraordinary interrogation.

I'm ready for my country to get back to sanity. I don't have a lot of confidence just Democrats winning the next election will do the trick.

[sandnsea]

19. Every 15 minutes

Someone is killed by a gun in the US.

[Bluebear]

20. News said the remaining victims "very grave", on life support

I think more little girls will die overnight. :cry:

[Bucky]

21. There are still 6-7 more who are still survivors of this monsterous attack

All or at least most are headwounds. I am ill from this.

[Generic Other]

22. Very sad

We live in violent ugly times.

[barb162]

23. the guy just should havejust suicided if he had to kill

Why they have to take others with them is way beyond me