Oh Finland, You Make me Chuckle So

First, ignore the headline- it has nothing to do with the story.  Rather, the story centers on the fact that

Finland has rated the DVD release of the much-loved children’s television series “Little House on the Prairie” suitable for adult viewing only.  To save money, Universal Pictures decided not to submit the series to state inspection, the company’s Finland marketing manager Meri Suomela told Reuters on Wednesday.  Finnish authorities charge 2 euros ($2.57) per minute for assessing the correct age limit on films and television series. Distributors who forego this can only sell their shows with a sticker saying “Banned for under-18s.”

I never knew that it was bad for me to watch LHOTP when I was a kid.  If only Finland would have informed the world back then…  [Breaking out in song, 'Finland, Finland, Finland...']

New in the Review of Biblical Literature

A few interesting volumes:

Frank J. Matera
New Testament Theology: Exploring Diversity and Unity, Reviewed by Udo Schnelle

Marvin A. Sweeney
I and II Kings: A Commentary, Reviewed by Ernst Axel Knauf

The Easy Accessibility of Firearms…

Has borne fruit again.  This time at the hands of an 8 year old boy in Arizona, who killed his dad and another man.

“Who would think an 8-year-old kid could kill two adults?” said St. Johns Police Chief Roy Melnick Friday.  The crime that unfolded Wednesday evening sent shock waves through St. Johns, a community of about 4,000 people northeast of Phoenix. The boy had no disciplinary record at school, and there was no indication he had any problems at home, prosecutors said.

Surely it was an accident then, right?

On Friday, a judge determined there was probable cause to show that the boy fatally shot his father, Vincent Romero, 29, and Timothy Romans, 39, of San Carlos with a .22-caliber rifle. The boy faces two counts of premeditated murder.

Premeditated murder, by an 8 year old.

FBI statistics show instances of children younger than 11 committing homicides are very rare. According to recent FBI supplementary homicide reports, there were at least three such cases each year in 2003, 2004 and 2005; there were at least 15 in 2002. More recent statistics weren’t available, nor were details of the cases.  Earlier this year in Arizona, prosecutors in Cochise County filed first-degree murder charges against a 12-year-old boy accused of shooting his mother to death.

Why don’t these gun loving parents ever have the sense to secure weapons in their homes?  Don’t they know what a gun safe is?   And more importantly, when will we as a society say ‘enough’?  I know, never.  So we will continue to see these senseless acts of violence until our country crumbles into oblivion.