“Selfishness is not living as one wishes to live, it is asking others to live as one wishes to live.” Oscar Wilde quote.As the times we are presently living in under the cover of a recession, a recession that was denied for alleged twelve months prior to declaring, this recession has brought about a great deal of suffering. If the truth be told the times we are in today is a depression which will more than likely be announced at a latter date.
In the first months of 2009 we are averaging 600,000 jobs loss a month. Homes are still being foreclosed on and the news daily only reflects opulent spending on perceived waste. Millionaires are controlling the government and millionaires are the government as the regular folk suffer.
During the “Great Depression” wealthy folks committed suicide, by jumping from high rise windows, over the loss of their wealth. Soup lines got longer as homelessness increased and joblessness increased. Verily I say unto you, is this not what we are experiencing today? Still we are told we are only in a recession.
Regarding the suicides that prevailed during the “Great Depression,” how ever you feel regarding the subject, the only lives loss were that of the individual:Religious
In most forms of Christianity, suicide is considered a sin, based mainly on the writings of influential Christian thinkers of the Middle Ages, such as St. Augustine and St. Thomas Aquinas; suicide was not considered a sin under the Byzantine Christian code of Justinian, for instance. The argument is based on the commandment "Thou shalt not kill" (made applicable under the New Covenant by Jesus in Matthew 19:18), as well as the idea that life is a gift given by God which should not be spurned, and that suicide is against the "natural order" and thus interferes with God's master plan for the world. However, it is believed that mental illness or grave fear of suffering diminishes the responsibility of the one completing suicide.
Judaism focuses on the importance of valuing this life, and as such, suicide is tantamount to denying God's goodness in the world. Despite this, under extreme circumstances when there has seemed no choice but to either be killed or forced to betray their religion, Jews have committed individual suicide or mass suicide (see Masada, First French persecution of the Jews, and York Castle for examples) and as a grim reminder there is even a prayer in the Jewish liturgy for "when the knife is at the throat", for those dying "to sanctify God's Name". (See: Martyrdom). These acts have received mixed responses by Jewish authorities, regarded both as examples of heroic martyrdom, whilst others state that it was wrong for them to take their own lives in anticipation of martyrdom.
Suicide is not allowed in the religion of Islam; however, martyring oneself for Allah (during combat) is not the same as completing suicide. Suicide in Islam is seen as a sign of disbelief in God. The use of suicide attacks is strictly forbidden in Islam; however it is practiced by Radical groups such as Hamas and Al-Qaeda in Iraq.
In Hinduism, suicide is frowned upon and is considered equally sinful as murdering another. Hindu Scriptures state that one who commits suicide will become part of the spirit world, wandering earth until the time one would have otherwise died, had one not committed suicide.In my humble opinion suicide is the ultimate in Cowardliness. To take your life for fear of personal loss weighed against the value of the people you contact and who depend on you, is only a way to run away in the line of fire. I understand how one can find in their mind justification for such a heinous final escape resolution. I too have suffered such a deep feeling of foreboding and desperation that the thought crossed my mind once. Thanks to my strength and my faith I am here today. I didn’t run away and I didn’t cause any pain to my family or others. I am here today, and my being here has helped others, so many others. It takes courage to stand tall in times of adversity. It takes great courage to stand up against the gigantic odds you might face.
Today the cowardliness of suicide has metastasized into an abdominal act of preeminent selfishness so extreme that finding understanding and sympathy is completely impossible! Familicide: a type of murder or murder-suicide in which at least one spouse and one or more children are killed. I ask myself; just what kind of selfish cowardly scum would have the audacity to put a bullet into the innocence of a child, their own child! Then to continue to kill multiple children, their wife and then themselves, if this does not reach the heights of selfishness, I am at a loss of what does.
This action epitomizes how we are in the predicament we are in today. In my opinion the world has become to me oriented. There are many factors to contribute to this like the excess of wealth as after the “Great Depression” capitalism in full bloom created more millionaires that millions were small change compared to billions and now trillions. The car in every driveway and a chicken in every pot became a car a SUV and an ATV in every driveway and a cow for each and every individual. We went from “I’d do anything to have a job!” to “It’s not my job!” We went for teaching our children that there are winners and loser’s to teaching them that all they have to do is show up and they get a trophy.
People don’t listen to others anymore. People don’t care for anybody else. Love is ever so conditional today that I wonder if there is love. For a parent to think that they are “the everything,” in a child’s world that if the parent thinks they must no longer be here in the world, the child must go too, this is completely selfish.
I say go ahead coward, kill yourself, and as Scrooge stated; “reduce the surplus population,” you coward! I don’t like this taking the lives of innocence. Children have futures with or without you. Children are the future! Your selfishness is being measure in the ninth degree in your thinking your children are better off dead than to be without you! The act to kill the mother of those children, again with the thought that she is better off dead than to live without you is furthering your selfishness and increasing the pain you think you feel ten times ten.
It is this selfishness that permeates the entire society that has brought us to the era of the Greatest Depression. The generations of me, x, and I, have created lower productivity, higher prices, entitlements and opulent desires. Team may not have an “I” in it but we have found a way to manipulate the letters to mean “me”. “A’T ME” or “about me;” Look around at the selfness around you but before you shake your head in discuss, look at your own selfishness! Some link economy with crime wave At least 8 mass homicides have claimed 57 people over the past monthBy Philip Rucker
updated 11:54 a.m. ET, Wed., April 8, 2009
In Binghamton, N.Y., a Vietnamese immigrant upset about losing his job burst into an immigration center and killed 13 people before killing himself. In Pittsburgh, police said a gun enthusiast recently discharged from the Marine Corps opened fire and killed three police officers. And in Graham, Wash., investigators said a man whose wife was leaving him shot and killed five of his children in their mobile home before taking his own life.
The carnage that occurred during less than 48 hours last week capped a recent string of unusually brazen mass killings, which crime experts say have touched more people and occurred in more public settings than in any time in recent memory. Comparative statistics are difficult to come by, but during the past month alone, at least eight mass homicides in this country have claimed the lives of 57 people. Just yesterday, four people were discovered shot to death in a modest wood-frame home in a remote Alabama town.
The factor underlying the violence, some experts think, is the dismal state of the nation's economy. Criminologists theorize that the epidemic of layoffs, the meltdown of storied American corporations and the uncertainty of recovery have stoked fear, anxiety and desperation across society and unnerved its most vulnerable and dangerous.
"I've never seen such a large number [of killings] over such a short period of time involving so many victims," said Jack Levin, a noted criminologist at Northeastern University who has authored or co-authored eight books on mass murder.
The simple fact, criminologist James Alan Fox said, is that more Americans are struggling.
"The American dream to them is a nightmare, and the land of opportunity is but a cruel joke," said Fox, also of Northeastern, who has been dubbed the "dean of death" for his analysis of mass murders. "The economic pie is shrinking to the point where it looks more like a Pop Tart and some feel all they're getting is the crumbs. There's a combination of feeling despair and hopelessness at the same time as a certain degree of anger and blame."
Caution about drawing conclusions
other crime experts caution, however, against drawing such conclusions.
"Because homicides are fairly rare, it is hard to see patterns even when ones exist," said Shawn Bushway, a criminologist at the University of Albany. "It's like reading tea leaves. I don't make much of it. I don't think you can say anything definitively one way or another."
Predictably, the carnage has focused attention on the nation's gun laws. Paul Helmke, president of the Brady Campaign to Prevent Gun Violence, said it is too easy for dangerous people to acquire guns.
"The common denominator in all these is that they're all using a gun," Helmke said of the recent killings. "You don't see police officers in Pittsburgh being killed by people throwing knives at them. . . . We've always had violence, but in the old days you couldn't take out so many people so quickly. Now we make it very easy to do that."
The Rev. Jesse L. Jackson called the recent spate of killings "domestic terrorism" and said he hoped the slaughter would be a wake-up call for policymakers.
"You can't grow businesses in war zones," said Jackson, who recently visited cities beset by gun violence. "You can't go to school in war zones. You can't play in the park in war zones."
Experts agree that most mass murderers share one trait: a traumatic event such as a layoff, divorce or separation that sets off an internal rage and a desire for revenge.
"It could be the loss of a job, the loss of a lot of money in the stock market, the loss of a relationship as in a nasty separation or divorce, the loss of a child who is in a child custody battle," Levin said. "There are just simply more catastrophic losses than there were when the economy was in good shape."
Mowing down party guestsConsider the case of Bruce Jeffrey Pardo, a 45-year-old electrical engineer whose life swiftly turned sour last fall. His wife divorced him and he lost his job and his beloved dog, Saki. On Christmas Eve, Pardo dressed as Santa Claus for a holiday party hosted by his ex-wife's parents at their home at the end of a quiet cul-de-sac in a Los Angeles suburb.
Pardo rang the bell, swung open the door and opened fire on the party guests with a semiautomatic handgun before dousing the home with gasoline and setting it ablaze, authorities said. He killed nine people, including his ex-wife, before taking his own life.
"He was looking for revenge, which is almost always the motive in these mass killings," Levin said. "It wasn't enough to get her, but he wanted to get everything associated with her, everything she loved, everything he identified with her."
Since then, mass shootings have plagued communities in all corners of the country. Late last month, a gunman barged into a nursing home in Carthage, N.C., looking for his estranged wife. Police say he killed seven elderly residents and a nurse who cared for them. His wife, a nurse's assistant, escaped by hiding in a bathroom.
Five days later in Binghamton, a man wearing body armor burst into a New York state immigration center where he had studied English and opened fire on immigrants taking an exam to become U.S. citizens, authorities said.
"The nursing home in North Carolina and the community center in Binghamton were not randomly chosen locations," Fox said. "It's not just some gunman walking down the street. They're very deliberate choices and reflect the anger and blame that the killer has."
A medical technician executed his wife, five young children and himself Tuesday after claiming in a note to a TV station that he and his wife both had just been fired.
The shocking killings underscored the psychological toll that the down economy may be taking on some unemployed workers, as police urged those facing tough times to seek help rather than resort to violence.
Police identified the man as Ervin Lupoe on Tuesday. They did not release the names of the children because family members have not yet been notified.
Police said the child victims were an 8-year-old girl, twin 5-year-old girls and twin 2-year-old boys.
Lupoe removed three of the children from school about a week and a half ago, saying the family was moving to Kansas, the school principal told KCAL-TV. Crescent Heights Elementary School Principal Cherise Pounders-Caver said nothing seemed to be troubling Lupoe at that time; she did not ask why the family was moving.
"No words can describe this tragedy. There is no way to comprehend this unspeakable act," Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa told reporters on Tuesday. "I daresay that no one I know could understand what would drive anyone to take matters in to their own hands in such a lethal manner."
Police said they were alerted by KABC-TV that they had received a faxed letter from Lupoe indicating that he and his wife had been fired from their jobs at Kaiser Permanente West Los Angeles Medical Center and intended to kill themselves and their children.
The hospital confirmed that Ervin Antonio Lupoe and his wife, Ana, also a medical technician, worked at Kaiser Permanente Medical Center West Los Angeles.
"We are deeply saddened to hear of the deaths of the Lupoe family," it said in a statement.
Lupoe also called 911 and told dispatchers that he had found his family dead in their home, police said.
"Today our worst fear was realized," said Deputy Chief Kenneth Garner. "It's just not a solution. There's just so many ways you find alternatives to doing something so horrific and drastic as this."
"He was going through some critical situation at the job, that's what he described in that two-page letter, ongoing problems at the job, and that's what prompted him to take his own life and his family, from what was said in the fax letter," Garner said.
Garner said a note was found in the home, but it was not clear if it was what had been faxed to the TV station.
Officers rushed to the two-story home in Wilmington, near the Port of Los Angeles, shortly before 8:30 a.m., apparently within minutes of the killings. Garner said the officers could still smell the gunshot residue.
The bodies of the girls and the father were in one bedroom. The mother and boys were in another bedroom.
Although the fax asserted that the woman was involved, police Lt. John Romero said, "It is apparent that the suspect in the murder is the male adult."
KABC reported that the man claimed in the fax that a medical center administrator rebuffed them when they showed up to work, told them to file a union grievance and said, "You should have blown your brains out."
The man wrote that they filed a grievance but nothing was done and two days later they were fired, KABC said.
"They did nothing to the manager who started such and did not attempt to assist us in the matter, knowing we have no job and five children under 8 years old with no place to go. So here we are," the note said.
At the bottom of the note, the man wrote, "Oh lord, my God, is there no hope for a widow's son?"
"Obviously we're in the midst of an investigation. The police department is working on developing evidence on this and we'll know more about how and why this happens," Villaraigosa said.
"If you need assistance, if you're looking for a helping hand, know that we're ready with open arms and open hearts to guide you through this tough stretch to see that everyone emerges form this crisis with their livelihoods and their lives in tact," he said. "Unfortunately this has become an all too common story in the last few months."
This is the third mass slaying of a family in Southern California since fall.
On Dec. 24, Bruce Pardo, 45, dressed up as Santa Claus and invaded a Christmas Eve party at his ex-wife's parents' home in suburban Covina, opened fire with a gun and set the house ablaze with racing fuel. Ex-wife Sylvia Pardo and eight relatives were fatally shot or burned. Pardo later killed himself.
In October, a 45-year-old unemployed financial manager despairing over extreme money problems shot and killed his wife, three children, mother-in-law and himself in their home in the Porter Ranch area of the San Fernando Valley.
Karthik Rajaram wrote in a suicide letter he felt the honorable choice was to kill himself and his family instead of just himself, police said. Karthik Rajaram, a 45-year-old man, was discovered on Monday to have shot six family members in a murder-suicide.
The Los Angeles man's body was found holding a gun Monday inside the family's home. Rajaram had killed his wife, three sons and mother-in-law. Most of the victims were in their beds.
Police were called to the residence Monday by worried friends. When the police arrived, they discovered the six fatally shot in a murder-suicide committed by an unemployed man in financial crisis.
Rajaram's body was found by officers who followed a trail of carnage through the home in a gated community in the Porter Ranch area of the San Fernando Valley.
The Associated Press and FOXNews.com's Jennifer Lawinski contributed to this report.
Bruce Jeffrey Pardo
LOS ANGELES - A distraught man dressed as Santa Claus opened fire at a Christmas Eve party and then set the house ablaze, killing at least eight people, police said.
Several hours later, the shooter killed himself.
Three people who attended the party in Covina, a city 22 miles east of downtown Los Angeles, remained unaccounted for yesterday as coroner's officials continued to search the wreckage.
Bruce Jeffrey Pardo, 45, who had recently been divorced and is believed to have lost his job, knocked on the front door of a home owned by the parents of his former wife in Covina around 11:30 p.m. Wednesday, said Police Chief Kim Raney.
An 8-year-old girl ran to the door to answer Pardo's knock, police said. He shot her in the face, stepped into the house, and fired indiscriminately with a semiautomatic handgun.
MIAMI (AP) -- Pablo Amador was a "regular dad" who made music with his children and shared his
Police: Miami piano teacher kills kids, wife, self
MIAMI (AP) -- Pablo Amador was a "regular dad" who made music with his children and shared his gift teaching kids to play piano, a man known for a friendly wave and lending a hand to jump-start a car. And those who knew him say they can't understand why he apparently shot and killed his two daughters, wife and then himself.
TV satellite trucks surrounded the gray-trimmed, white ranch home Wednesday as authorities carried out the family, whom police identified as Pablo Josue Amador, 53; his 45-year-old wife, Maria; and their youngest daughters, Prescilla and Rosa, 14 and 13.
A teenage son escaped the shootings uninjured, calling 911 at 5:58 a.m. as he fled the home, police said. Those who saw him regularly along the quiet, modest street of homes could only wonder what happened.
Cleveland police say the man wanted for murdering his new wife and four other family members has killed himself while holed up in a house, The Plain Dealer reports.
Davon Crawford, 33, shot himself about 4:20 p.m. ET after being cornered by police. He was wanted for gunning down Lechea Crawford, 30, whom he married Monday; her sister, Rose Stevens, 25; and three of her children, Destiny Woods, 5, and 2-year-old twins Deon and Davion Primm.
A 7-year-old boy remains hospitalized. Crawford's 2-month old daughter was unharmed.
Police said they don't yet know what sparked the killings.
NY family's murder-suicide deaths baffle friends
By BEN NUCKOLS – 2 days ago Apr 23, 2009
TOWSON, Md. (AP) — They seemed like an ideal Long Island family: William Parente was a lawyer, his wife Betty a stay-at-home mom active in the community. Their daughters were well-liked by teachers and classmates.
William, 59, was a tax and estate planning attorney who commuted to his Manhattan office. Betty, 58, volunteered.
They were in Maryland to visit older daughter Stephanie, 19, a sophomore at Loyola College in Baltimore. With them was her sister, Catherine, 11, a sixth-grader at Garden City Middle School.
The Parentes ate breakfast together Sunday morning and an employee of the Sheraton Baltimore North Hotel in Towson saw them together Sunday afternoon.
On Monday, after they failed to check out of their room on time, a housekeeper found their bodies.
Baltimore County Police have just told us that William Parente killed his family with blunt force trauma and asphyxiation.
William killed himself in the bathroom of their hotel room. Police say he cut himself.
In Notes Left in Family's Killings, Md. Man Details Debts, Depression By Matt ZapotoskyWashington Post Staff Writer
Wednesday, April 22, 2009
The man who killed his wife and three young children and then himself in a tiny town in northwest Maryland last week was at least $460,000 in debt and owned a Florida house that was in foreclosure, according to property records and police.
According to investigators, Francie Billotti-Wood, 33, and the couple's 5-year-old son, Chandler, were each shot twice in the head with a .25-caliber handgun. Chandler's younger brother, 4-year-old Gavin, was shot three times; daughter Fiona, 2, was shot once.
After they were shot, their throats were slashed almost to the point of decapitation, officials said. Wood killed himself with a shotgun.
Wood, a youth soccer coach, was paid $97,000 as a sales accountant for CSX. His wife, who taught liturgy to children at their church, stopped working several years ago to be a stay-at-home mother.
An 81-year-old man shot and killed his wife and middle-aged son yesterday in their Fairfax County home before fatally shooting himself in what police described as an apparent double murder-suicide and "a family tragedy."
The bodies of Thomas K. Appleberry, his wife, Rachel, 81, and son, Thomas Jr., 53, were discovered in their home on Cinnamon Creek Drive, north of Vienna, after police received a call at 9:22 a.m. from the couple's daughter.
Residents of the Cinnamon Creek subdivision said the elder Thomas Appleberry -- known to residents as "Mr. Appleberry" -- was a friendly neighbor who loved to walk his dog in the morning.
Mark Meeks, his wife Jennifer Dallas Meeks and their two children were found dead on January 28, 2009 in their house in Columbus, Ohio. Police believe that Mark shot the family and then killed himself. Police said they found a suicide note that appeared to be written by Mark at the scene.
The York County Coroner said John Goodman, 39, shot and killed his wife, Julia, and their 2-year-old son before killing himself Sunday evening in the family's home in the 1300 block of Clover Lane in Spring Garden Township.
The killings occurred about 12 hours before officers arrived, police said.
Investigators are trying to determine a motive, Spring Garden Township police Chief George Swartz said.
Goodman did not leave a suicide note, police said.
Police and the coroner received information that Goodman might have recently lost his job. They are working to confirm this information.
There's no evidence that the couple was divorcing or that any protective orders were in place regarding the couple, Swartz said.
Neighbors said the family has lived in the home for about five years.
