What You Didn't See on CNN and NHK

It is wonderful to have President Obama in Japan, and we hope that he will be able to return for a longer visit next time. He has stated that he would like to go to Hiroshima and Nagasaki, and that would be an excellent experience.

However, just to comment on the media coverage here and in America, CNN and NHK have largely (and I say largely because I have not watched every minute of coverage) failed to report on protests in Japan accompanying the visit. Some protests have been relatively "positive" in nature, such as protesting to encourage the President to continue promoting the elimination of nuclear weapons and encouraging climate change legislation. Some has been "negative", such as those protesting the move of the base at Futenma.

You can see it here.

And read about it here.

UPDATE: NHK is airing a piece from BBC World News, and they did report briefly on the protests. Good for them, although the focus of the piece is on efforts by the U.S. and Japan to not offend China. For example, by not visiting the Yasukuni Shrine where war criminals from WWII are enshrined and also not visiting with the Dalai Lama ahead of the visit to Shanghai later in this trip.

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So, why, exactly, is no one asking who put a damn loaded Uzi in the hands of an 8 year old under the direction of a 15 year old?

WTF?!?!

The parents have no culpability?

The society that thinks it's OK to have loaded Uzis available to whomever the hell wants to put their hands and their childrens' hands on them has some serious issues that must be addressed.

Why is it normal and acceptable for such dangerous weapons to be made available to the general public?

You can not write gun control legislation preventing such persons as MAJ Hasan, an Army officer, a doctor, etc. from acquiring weapons that can efficiently kill, short of banning all guns from public possession entirely.

If these guns continue to be available, and parents continue allow their 8 year olds to be supervised by 15 year olds, and the society does not find anything seriously wrong with "cop killers" being available at the local "Guns Galore", then people will continue to die unnecessarily.

This is beyond ridiculous.

Special Edition Update

WTF!

I can't blog fast enough or often enough to keep up with the mass shootings in the U.S.!

This is just sick.

Out of Control. Special Edition

In the wake of a shooting spree by a US army psychiatrist at Ford Hood in Texas, below is a glance at some of the worst mass shootings in the US in recent years:

November 5, 2009: The army says 12 people were killed and 31 wounded in a shooting rampage at its Fort Hood base in Texas. Army officials initially said the suspected assailant was among the dead, but later said he survived and was hospitalised.

April 3, 2009: A 41-year-old man opened fire at an immigrant community centre in Binghamton, New York, killing 11 immigrants and two workers. Jiverly Wong, a Vietnamese immigrant and a former student at the centre, killed himself as police rushed to the scene.

March 10, 2009: Michael McLendon, 28, killed 10 people, including his mother, four other relatives and the wife and child of a local sheriff's deputy, across two rural Alabama counties. He then committed suicide.

February 14, 2008: Former student Steven Kazmierczak, 27, opened fire in a lecture hall at Northern Illinois University in DeKalb, fatally shooting five students and wounding 18 others before committing suicide.

December 5, 2007: Robert Hawkins, a 19-year-old US citizne, opened fire with a rifle in Omaha, Nebraska, at a Von Maur store in the Westroads Mall, killing eight people before taking his own life. Five more people were wounded, two critically.

April 16, 2007: Cho Seung-Hui, 23, fatally shot 32 people in a dormitory and a classroom at Virginia Tech in Blacksburg, then killed himself in the deadliest mass shooting in modern US history.

February 12, 2007: Sulejman Talovic, 18, killed five and wounded four at the Trolley Square mall in Salt Lake City, Utah. He was then shot and killed by police.

October 2, 2006: Charles Carl Roberts IV, 32, shot to death five girls at West Nickel Mines Amish School in Pennsylvania, then killed himself.

March 21, 2005: Jeffrey Weise, a 16-year-old student, killed nine people, including his grandfather and his grandfather's companion at home, and then five fellow students, a teacher and a security guard at Red Lake High School in Red Lake, Minnesota, before killing himself. Seven students were wounded.

March 12, 2005: Terry Ratzmann, 44, gunned down members of his congregation as they worshipped at the Brookfield Sheraton in Brookfield, Wisconsin, slaying seven and wounding four before killing himself.

July 29, 1999: Mark Barton, 44, a former day trader, killed nine people in shootings at two Atlanta, Georgia, brokerage offices, then committed suicide.

April 20, 1999: Eric Harris, 18, and Dylan Klebold, 17, both students, opened fire at Columbine High School in Littleton, Colorado, killing 12 classmates and a teacher and wounding 26 others before committing suicide in the school's library.

March 24, 1998: Andrew Golden, 11, and Mitchell Johnson, 13, killed four girls and a teacher at a Jonesboro, Arkansas, school. Ten others were wounded in the shooting.

October 16, 1991: George Hennard, 35, smashed his pickup lorry through a Luby's Cafeteria window in Killeen, Texas, and fired on the lunchtime crowd with a high-powered pistol, killing 22 people. At least 20 others were wounded.