Could the recent VA massacre be traced back to Ronald Reagan's policies? He

[patricia92243]

emptied out the mental institutions - the first and only thing that I remember before I became interested in politics.

If the mental health institutions were what they were before Reagan, would that young man have received real, genuine help and the murders not have taken place?

[bluerum]

1. Cho wasn't even born. eom

[patricia92243]

2. LOL - I realize that. What I mean is that the policies we have TODAY are because of Reagan. n/t

[bluerum]

3. Oh yes - I am sure that to some degree that is true. Cho may have gotten

some real help had there been resources available. But the current administrative gang of criminals is as much if not more to blame as Raygun.

[flyarm]

4. PLEASE PEOPLE ..LOOK AT WHAT HE SAID ON TAPES TO NBC..

CHO SEUNG-HUI: I didn't have to do this. I could have left. I could
have fled. But no, I will no longer run.

CHO: When the time came, I did it. I had to.

CHO: You had 100 billion chances and ways to have avoided today but you decided to spill my blood. You forced me into a corner and gave me only one option. The decision was yours. Now you have blood on your hands that will never wash off.


CHO: You just loved crucifying me. You loved inducing cancer in my head, terrorizing my heart and ripping my soul all this time.

End NBC transcript

An addendum: MSNBC's Web report has a list of quotes from the documents and videos sent to NBC by the shooter:

"Do you know what it feels to be spit on your face and to have trash shoved down your throat? Do you know what it feels like to dig your own grave?"
"Do you know what it feels like to have throat slashed from ear to ear? Do you know what it feels like to be torched alive?"
"Do you know what it feels like to be humiliated and be impaled upon on a cross? And left to bleed to death for your amusement? You have never felt a single ounce of pain your whole life."
"Did you want to inject as much misery in our lives as you can just because you can?"
"You had everything you wanted. Your Mercedes wasn’t enough, you brats. Your golden necklaces weren’t enough, you snobs. Your trust fund wasn’t enough. Your vodka and Cognac weren’t enough. All your debaucheries weren’t enough. Those weren’t enough to fulfill your hedonistic needs. You had everything."



CHO: I didn't have to do this. I could have left, I could have fled. But no, I will no longer run. If not for me, for my children, for my brothers and sisters, the that you (EXPLETIVE DELETED), I did it for them.




MAUREEN RYAN
The Watcher
A Chicago Tribune Web log



--------------------------------------------------------------------------------



« 'Deadwood's return 'most likely' delayed until 2008 | Main | Sanjaya exits 'American Idol.' Try to be strong »

Originally posted: April 18, 2007
Details of what the Virginia Tech shooter sent to NBC News
Update posted 4/19: NBC has released a statement defending its use of Cho Seung-Hui's manifesto. That statement and my thoughts on the matter are here.

What follows is a partial transcript of what aired Wednesday evening on "NBC Nightly News with Brian Williams."

On Wednesday, the network received a package from the Virginia Tech shooter, Cho Seung-Hui (more on that here). In the package were documents and images that Seung-Hui mailed to NBC in his final hours.

NBC's coverage of this development, along with video clips from Seung-Hui's "multimedia manifesto," can be found at MSNBC.com.

NBC's partial transcript of Wednesday's "NBC Nightly News" report follows.

BRIAN WILLIAMS, NBC ANCHOR: Tonight, NBC News has received a
multimedia manifesto from the gunman at Virginia Tech, including his last
recorded words.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

CHO SEUNG-HUI: I didn't have to do this. I could have left. I could
have fled. But no, I will no longer run.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

B. WILLIAMS: Also tonight, what we now know about the victims and the
investigation so far.

And what may be the most important Supreme Court abortion decision in
decades.

ANNOUNCER: From NBC News World Headquarters in New York, this is NBC
NIGHTLY NEWS WITH BRIAN WILLIAMS.

B. WILLIAMS: Good evening. We now know what the Virginia Tech gunman
was doing during that two-hour period between shootings on campus. He was compiling before going to the post office and mailing via overnight mail what can only be described as a multimedia manifesto, containing video, still
pictures and a lengthy document to NBC Headquarters -- this very building --
here in New York.

The envelope was sent from Blacksburg, Virginia on Monday morning. And
looking at a copy, you can even see the handwriting of the clerk checking it in at 9:01 a.m. But because the gunman had the wrong zip code -- and there are three different scratched out attempts at it, along with Rockefeller Avenue and not Rockefeller Plaza in New York -- the zip code had to be corrected and it didn't arrive here until today.

An alert New York City Postal Service employee spotted the return
address and he spotted the return address name "Ishmael" and brought it to our attention by hand. When the package arrived on the desk of our news division president today, the first thing we did was call federal authorities.

Tonight, they have the original envelope. This one we've been showing
you is a color copy. We have been poring over a copy of the contents we made. It has taken hours and we are still going through it.

We are sensitive to how all of this will be seen by those affected, and
we know we are, in effect, airing the words of a murderer here tonight. We
asked our justice correspondent, Pete Williams, to be with us here in New York from Washington, where he's been following this story.

Pete, begin at the beginning.

PETE WILLIAMS, JUSTICE CORRESPONDENT, NBC NEWS: Well, Brian, after
seeing all this material, it's clear why the profilers have compared Cho Seung-Hui to the students who shot their classmates at Columbine High School.

In forceful language, he expresses the same kind of me against the
world attitude.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
End NBC transcript

An addendum: MSNBC's Web report has a list of quotes from the documents and videos sent to NBC by the shooter:

"Do you know what it feels to be spit on your face and to have trash shoved down your throat? Do you know what it feels like to dig your own grave?"
"Do you know what it feels like to have throat slashed from ear to ear? Do you know what it feels like to be torched alive?"
"Do you know what it feels like to be humiliated and be impaled upon on a cross? And left to bleed to death for your amusement? You have never felt a single ounce of pain your whole life."
"Did you want to inject as much misery in our lives as you can just because you can?"
"You had everything you wanted. Your Mercedes wasn’t enough, you brats. Your golden necklaces weren’t enough, you snobs. Your trust fund wasn’t enough. Your vodka and Cognac weren’t enough. All your debaucheries weren’t enough. Those weren’t enough to fulfill your hedonistic needs. You had everything."





PLEASE.......LOOK AT WHAT CHO SAID...
MY SON WENT TO VT AND WAS AN ATHLETE THERE...THE KIDS AT VT DON'T DRINK VODKA..AND THEY CERTAINLY DON'T DRINK COGNAC!!

THEY DRINK BEER!!

THE KIDS AT VT DO NOT DRIVE MERCEDES..AND MOST OF THE KIDS THERE ARE NOT TRUST FUND KIDS!! THEY ARE MOSTLY MIDDLE CLASS FAMILY KIDS!

THIS GUY WAS ABUSED..SERIOUSLY ABUSED..AND IF YOU CAN NOT SEE THAT BY HIS WORDS..YOU ARE IN DENIAL!!

FLY

[proud2BlibKansan]

6. This guy was delusional.

[flyarm]

9. your opinion..i see it as he was a very abused person..eom

[proud2BlibKansan]

10. No not my opinion

He was mentally ill. It is painfully obvious. And it makes zero sense to analyze the ramblings of a deranged mentally ill person. Yes he was probably abused. But why does that make any difference?

[LoZoccolo]

5. He had refused a good part of the help that was offered to him.

At least one of his teachers told him to get the free help offered by the University, even offering to walk him there. I agree that we need to do more to help people in general, but I don't think it would have affected Cho. From what I've read he had tried some anti-depressants but that was it.

[proud2BlibKansan]

7. Yep

I can't imagine him getting more help 30 years ago.

[patricia92243]

8. I thought he had been admitted to a mental institution and then allowed to leave. This is what I me

mean by the Reagun policies.

[papau]

11. Reagan killed the Carter Federal Funding of Mental Health/Institutions in Aug 1981 in the

first new budget, moving all such monies to "block grants" that we cut is subsequent years to zero or were used to reduce taxes for businesses in the state job bidding via company relocations.

In DC, St Elizabeth's was empty by 1987 of all but the criminally insane, and the streets were full of them.

[LiberalArkie]

12. In the past, the state could commit you to the "state hospital" until you were cured.

I may be wrong, it has been a long time, I think a suit by the ACLU was brought citing it was unlawful inprisonment, or something along those lines. I don't remember what happened after that, but the hospitals were emptied. I can not imagine many people with mental problems manafested by Cho checking themselves in and agreeing to stay even if it was free.

We have to face the fact that to get people like Cho treatment means that people would be locked up against their will, including many homeless people and others who can not function in the "normal" world.

We have to make a decision which do we desire.

[MadBadger]

13. Can we stop blaming people?