As I write this, there is a movie playing on HBO called "Falling Down." It's a story of an impotent man who -- after he decides he's "had it" with everyone and everything -- abandons his car in the middle of rush hour traffic and decides to walk home. During his journey, the man encounters attacks by various and sundry street creeps, all of whom he manages to dispatch with (amongst other weapons) a baseball bat, a hunting knife, as well as a satchel full of automatic weapons that he manages to accumulate.

The filmmakers were smart. We all empathize with the protagonist (he's referred to only as D-FENS -- his license plate number). Thus, as he makes his way back home, we cheer along as he dispatches anybody who gets in his way (this means everybody from a couple of old duffers playing golf, to some CalTrans workers, to a gang of street thugs). D-Fens is an embodiment of our collective rage; thus, his every deed is righteous.

Actually, I've seen the film before. Several times, to be honest. It's good escapist fare. However, tonight, the only reason I turned it on was to escape the plethora of babbling politicians, psychologists, attorneys (and anybody else, with "an opinion") who are currently offering their "wisdom" on the Littleton, Colo., massacre.

Of course, I'm sure that most of these knowledgeable souls would find "Falling Down" to be part of the "cause" (that durn ol' media violence!) of the massacre.

Perhaps this is so. I don't really know. Nor do I care. In my humble P.O.V., it's irrelevant.

Unfortunately, just about everything that's being said by the circus of TV anchors and their oh-so-willing guests is not only irrelevant, it's bulls--t. I swear, if I hear one more yokel in a cheap suit yapping about gun control or media violence or -- worst of all -- asking that most insipid of questions -- "Why?" -- I'm gonna puke.

To be perfectly honest, these people make me want to get hold of an automatic weapon (all I've got at the moment is my trusty .45) and mow them down -- one by one. And if that makes me a psychopath or a sociopath (the favorite terms being applied to Harris and Klebold by the good folks in the psychological community), then, so be it.

---

By last Friday, I had purchased my ticket to fly to Colorado. This morning I called and cancelled the flight. Having covered both the O.J. Simpson case and the Menendez murders, I've vowed to steer clear of covering huge media events. But I'll admit it -- there's something about this story that has me hooked. Moreover, I truly think -- despite all the yap and yammer -- that the heart of this thing hasn't been touched as yet.

But I'm going to hold off my trip till the smoke clears in Littleton. Then I'll go do my sleuthing. In the meanwhile I've got plenty to keep me busy. Thanks to the talents of my amazing webmistress -- who can do just about anything with a computer -- I'm currently in possession of literally hundreds of leads to follow up on. The best part is, I doubt very much if anybody else has the material that I'm in possession of.

Despite the fact that AOL (and other mirror sites) pulled Harris' website down shortly after the deed, we managed to get into the log files on Harris' server, thus giving us the ability to pull up the addresses of virtually every single person who had accessed Harris'website, , as well as the URL's of every single person he was in contact with (Forget it: the log files are now gone).

I'm not prepared to say much at this point, but I'll tell you this: It's a highly interesting array of people. And I'm not just talking about a bunch of teenage computer punks. Uh, uh. I'll simply say this: anybody who still thinks this thing was the product of just two minds is a fool. (If you want to know more, you'll just have to wait till the book comes out).

Now let me get to the point of this column, which relates to the question everybody's asking about this tragedy.

"Why?"

In addition to that question being asked umpteen million times daily by everybody and his brother, that single word had the honor of being the cover blurb for both Time and Newsweek (which features an astonishing poster-boy shot of Harris, who looks nothing like the geek he does in the much publicized yearbook photo).

As some wise man once said, in order to get the right answers you have to ask the right questions. "Why?" is NOT the question. In point of fact, we ask "why" in order to avoid the issue. In other words, the moment you ask "why" -- what you're doing is separating yourself from the incident. Now you're not a participant; you're an observer. You're one of the "good guys" -- somebody who is watching the actions of the "villains" from the sidelines while you munch pretzels and guzzle coke. "Why?" turns this heinous deed into entertainment.

Sorry, but I'm not about to let you get away with that.

Don't worry, I'm not going to get cosmic here -- though, clearly this is a "spiritual" issue. To treat it as a political or sociological issue is fallacious. But spirituality doesn't have to be airy-fairy or mystical or pie-in-the sky. No -- the only spirituality that I'm interested in is nuts-and-bolts. Hardcore stuff.

So, for all you "why" askers, I'm going to tell you: not "why" (because that's the wrong question) but rather "how," and "who."

So, here's the deal.

For approximately 90 minutes on the morning of April 20, Satan -- in the person of two teenage boys -- strode through the halls of Columbine High school, doing what he does best. Wreaking havoc. Spreading fear, mayhem destruction and death.

The boys laughed as they fired their guns -- their glee and their bloodlust amping up with each fresh kill. They asked two of their victims, "Do you believe in God?" One didn't get a chance to respond before his brains were blown out. But when Cassie Bernall was asked, she replied (and this has rarely been reported in the media), "Yes I do, and you should be following Him too." Eric Harris put his gun up against Cassie's skull, and took her life. Then, the same young man who, weeks earlier, had signed the yearbook of a fellow Columbine senior, "Ich Bin Gott" (I am God) looked down at the bloody body and sneered: "There isno God."

Yes friends, Hitler was alive and well on the day of his birth, April 20, and though Klebold and Harris, as well as their mentor, are in the ground -- food for worms -- the spirit who inhabited these people is alive and well, right this very minute.

Whether it was because of a suicide pact, or because -- as is now being reported in the media (in my opinion to let the cops off the hook, because of the abysmal job they did) -- they couldn't escape due to heavy gunfire, at some point, the two murderers went back into the library and, in an eerie imitation of the death of their mentor, Hitler, killed themselves. (Harris fired a bullet into his mouth; Klebold died of a single shot to the temple).

Now stop for a minute and think about how the devil works. He says, "Come. Join my club and I'll give you the world. I'll make your wildest dreams come true! I'll make you feel gooooood!" And so you go along with him. And, for awhile, he makes good on his promise.

But, at some point, the devil will do what he always does. He'll turn to you and say, "Guess what, fellas? Fooled ya!" Yep, just when you think you've got it made, good ol' Mr. Scratch gives you the finger and sneers, "Welcome to hell, sucker."

And so Eric Harris and Dylan Klebold shot themselves. And, as they did, their Father, the devil, laughed uproariously. "Two more for the gipper," you can almost hear him saying.

In having Harris and Klebold kill themselves, the devil got a double payoff. He not only stuffed two more souls into his soul bag, but he took away the opportunity of everyone affected by this hideous deed to rest peacefully. Our souls demand justice (if you want to call it revenge, that's fine by me). In any event (and every parent or relative of a murdered person will confirm this), we need to settle the score. And we've been robbed of that -- forever.

The most poetic touch of all: the bloody deed was done on Hitler's birthday! And for good reason too. No, this was not a "symbolic" act. Nor was it an accident.

What do you mean you ask? What I mean is quite simply this: the same demonic spirit that inhabited Adolf Hitler, Charles Manson, Jeffrey Dahmer, Richard Ramirez, and a host of other evil men throughout history occupied those two boys on that bloody day.

Oddly, for several weeks preceding the Littleton Massacre, I'd been researching Hitler for a piece I'm writing on cults. Like Harris and Klebold -- Hitler was a study in contradictions. One of the most interesting things about Hitler (as described by one of his closest compatriots) is that when he was "offstage," so to speak, he had almost "no personality." He was, according to the friend, literally, a "nonperson." An empty vessel. Yet when Hitler was in front of a crowd, giving a speech, "something" -- the friend says -- "would take him over ... something would speak through him."

Guess who?

If you look at the more recent photos of Klebold and Harris, you'll see two very different people from the two geeks whose 10th grade yearbook pictures were shown in those first hours after the murders. You'll see an entirely different quality... not just in the new hairstyles (Harris, with his short spiky blond hair and icy blue eyes could easily pass for one of the Hitler Youth Movement), but in their very presence. A new confidence. An arrogance. It's almost palpable.

A transformation was taking place in those two boys during the year they planned for "NBK Day" as they referred to it in Harris' diary. On the day the deed took place -- April 20, 1999 -- the "transformation" was complete.

---

Studies show that demonic possession is not something that happens all at once. Rather, it takes place in stages, sometimes over a period of many years.

Picture an empty glass. We are filled -- as we grow up -- with "experiences." If we fill ourselves with good, pure things, the likelihood is that when we are fully formed (and the brain of a 17-year-old is not fully formed) we will, more than likely, act out of that well of these experiences. If we fill ourselves with poison -- as these boys did -- we become "poisonous." It is no great mystery. We are computers. We are programmed. Our actions are borne out of our "programming" (conditioning).

If you take the position that the mind, body and soul are not three separate things (science separates them for reasons of convenience), then the picture is even clearer. As we continue to grow -- if we fill ourselves with the sickness that is around us -- our mind/body/soul becomes polluted. Unfortunately, today, this is almost unavoidable. The world around us is polluted beyond repair ... and unless those people who we rely on to teach us (parents, teachers) make a concentrated effort to shield us from the sickness that surrounds us, we will become ill ... polluted. At some point -- if the process goes unchecked -- the evil reaches its watermark. And thus, you have an Eric Harris and a Dylan Klebold.

Now, let me make an abrupt 90-degree turn. Over the past week, we've heard not only from the multitude of psychologists, politicians and lawmakers, but also from those good Christian folks who are anxious to use this tragedy as an opportunity to show people the face of the Lord. We've all heard the words: "healing," "prayer," "God's love," and "She's in a better place." And we may think to ourselves, "Yes, this is a good thing. It's a chance for God to do his work." And we feel, in that moment, some sense of hope.

I'm sorry to have to say this, but it is not time to feel hopeful. Not only have these words become cheap, they have become utterly meaningless. Being a person who not only makes his living with words, but who loves words and language, this is a painful observation to make, but I truly believe it. Words no longer mean anything. Only behavior counts.

This is not the time to be assuaged or comforted by words; nor is it the time to feel hopeful. Rather, it's a time for awareness, and in order to be "aware" -- to be able to see the truth of what is taking place in the world -- we are not allowed the luxury of "feeling good." Not now.

One of the reasons that organized religion has failed -- why many people have stopped attending churches and temples -- is because they find nothing there but fluff ... emptiness. Sure, you can go to a Sunday service -- sing, praise the Lord, get worked up -- but if there is no "teaching" taking place during that service, you're doing nothing more than engaging in spiritual masturbation. In the worst case -- where you have a roomful of people waving their hands in the air and talking in tongues -- what you're witnessing is people who are hypnotized, and when you're in that state you're actually much more open to the possibility of being invaded by evil spirits than when you're walking around with a sound mind and body.

The blissed-out people in church are in the exact same state of mind as the blissed-out people at a rock concert. After the service is over, they may talk the talk, hug one another say "God Bless," and all that business. But, more often than not, these same good people go home, then for the rest of the week they continue with "life as usual." Which means that daily they lie and cheat and steal. They may even beat their wives, engage in illicit sex or watch porn movies after the family has gone to sleep. Next Sunday they're back in church. And on it goes. ...

I'm not bashing Christians here. This same scenario takes place in all religions. Read the newspapers. It won't take you long to find a story about a local rabbi, pastor or priest who's been caught having sexual relationships with young children in their congregation. Happens every day. And even if you don't read about it, it's still happening.

So I'm afraid that "religion" is not the answer. Not if you're truly serious about seeking truth. In fact (and I'm sure I'll get scads of ranting e-mails on this) I'd suggest that you stay out of churches and temples.

Let me ask you this: Do any one of you dare argue that we are not in spiritual warfare? The operant word here is "war." If you agree, you must understand that presently -- that is, at this point in chronological time -- we are in a "battle mode." And when you're in a battle mode, it is not the time for soothing words. It's not the time for "healing." It's not time for "closure" -- a word I must have heard over a hundred times this past week. ("We're just looking to get closure on this thing").

Brother, you don't WANT closure. Closure means "escape from pain." Pain is the teacher we need to listen to right now. We need to leave the wound open -- it will scar over when it's ready. Right now pain, fear, anguish, doubt -- these God-given emotions have something to tell us. And we need to be quiet and listen. Learning to listen is the beginning of true understanding. Understanding does not come from the mere repetition of words and phrases. Understanding has nothing to do with acquiring more "knowledge."

Even (so-called) "saved" Christians will have to admit that after you're saved, the battle is not over. In fact it's just beginning. You may be "saved" (if you believe in that concept), but you must still fight "the flesh." In fact, after the "salvation experience" most Christians will come under much more harsh attack from the enemy.

We all know "fallen Christians," right? So "salvation" is not a panacea. Rather, it is an invitation to go on the front lines of spiritual warfare. Judaism (which does not accept the concept of salvation), believes that we must constantly strive to imitate the behavior of a Holy God. If one truly follows the tenets of Judaism, one has to "work" at being good every day. Because evil is both in us and around us at all times, we have to "practice" goodness. As for evil -- we don't need any practice. It comes naturally.

One of the most effective programs that ever existed within the prison system was a program called "Scared Straight." Some years back, they made a documentary about this, and if you can locate it, I recommend it highly. The "Scared Straight' program was conceived of and run by a group of hardened criminals -- all lifers -- who had turned their lives around. Their mission now was to go one-on-one with the young criminals who'd been recently incarcerated

But there was nothing pretty or comforting about their techniques in dealing with the young brothers. During these encounters, the older prisoners didn't talk about "God's love," or put their arms around the young men and tell them everything would be OK. Instead, they screamed at them; they berated them; they taunted and bullied them; they humiliated them ... they shoved them and pushed them and roughed them up. Literally, their gig was to "scare them straight."

It was a frightening show to watch. The second half of the documentary showed the men who'd been through the program five years later. If I recall correctly, there was almost an 80 percent success rate. The "Scared Straight" program was found to have been one of the most successful programs ever to exist in the prison system. More young criminals actually turned their lives around because of this "Tough Love" approach than through any other methodology.

Whether or not it still exists, I don't know, but what I'm saying is that we need to use a "scared straight" approach with our youth today. I'm talking about discipline, corporal punishment ... the whole nine yards.

But before we can teach others, we must ourselves change. And, unfortunately, that's something nobody wants to do. But I'm telling you that unless you do this, you're going to lose this battle.

You need to turn off your TV's and your radios. You need to get "entertainment" out of your life (that includes your favorite "religious program "). You need to BE QUIET (try it; you'll hate it). You need to learn to sit with yourself and listen. If you actually do this you'll find that you become very uncomfortable. You don't like being alone with your thoughts. Most amazingly, if you do this, you will soon see that you are not separate from this thing called evil. It's a horrible thing to experience, but unless you do, you're useless as a spiritual warrior.

We don't need brain scans or medical histories in order to understand Eric Harris and Dylan Klebold. These two kids were neither especially interesting nor unique. In truth, they were terribly mundane. There are a million Eric Harrises and Dylan Klebolds out there -- right now, this very minute. Disaffected kids who are at that stage in life when they feel immortal, when they're subject to grandiose thinking, when their stupid ugly little egos are so inflated that what people think of them is the single most important thing in the world. (Stop for a moment and realize that this whole killing spree began because these kids felt like they weren't "cool.")

Today, as the year 2000 creeps up on us, we have created a mutant generation of young people. Again, this is not mythology or sociology. It's fact. Just look around you. For those of us who grew up in the '40s and '50s -- the era of Eisenhower, Elvis, and the Mickey Mouse club -- I would venture to say that if our brains were examined, they'd find that we have actual different brain structures than do the teenagers of today.

Look at them. Check out the morph that's taking place. Kids today actually look physically different. I'm not just taking about haircuts and clothes or tattoos or pierced noses or ridiculously steroided bodies. No, there is something different in the faces. If you don't think so, pick up the Newsweek photo of Eric Harris and look at him. It's all in the eyes. Check them out. You'll see arrogance; you'll see hatred; you'll see all kinds of things. And if you look closely, you'll see something else -- something unnamable. Something inhuman.

That unnamable thing has existed since the beginning of time. It has occupied -- and in some cases -- taken over the minds, bodies and souls of certain men throughout the course of history. Last week, on Hitler's Birthday, that thing -- which had taken up residence in the bodies of two boys in an upscale community in Colorado -- showed its true face, its intent and purpose in this world: to maim, to kill and to destroy.

I guarantee you that before this millennium is upon us, we will see more such acts. Pass all the gun laws you want; put in all the metal detectors till you're blue in the face. Ban "Doom" and outlaw "Natural Born Killers." It doesn't mean a thing.

I think I've said enough. If at this point, if you find you are still asking "why?" I'll make it easy for you. I'll give you the answer to that question.

The answer is -- "look."

If you're got enough guts and fortitude to actually do that, then perhaps you have a shot at survival.

---

For those of you who are interested, Harsh Reality Productions is offering a "CONFIDENTIAL REPORT ON THE COLUMBINE MURDERS. The report includes the full text of Eric Harris' "The Book" taken from his website. "The Book" includes Harris' step-by-step instructions for making the bombs used in the killings, as well as Harris' thoughts while putting together his arsenal. It also includes two different drawings (including the by now famed "Doom Drawing," as well as "The Pink Drawing" (linked from a homosexual website), which were posted on Harris' website. (A Jungian analyst would have a field day with these pics). In addition to the text and the artwork, the report includes an in-depth analysis of Harris' writings, as well as my own notes and thoughts.

If you wish to obtain a copy of the CONFIDENTIAL REPORT ON THE COLUMBINE MURDERS please send $16.00 plus $3.50 S&H) to Harsh Reality Productions, PO Box 8268, Calabasas, CA, 91372 If you want to ensure that you get a copy of this report (we have a limited number of copies), you may call 1-888-257-2656, leave your name and the date of your call. Just say "Confidential Report" and we will reserve your copy and prioritize your order, so that it will go out the moment we receive your check.

Over the coming weeks, Harsh Reality Productions may release further documents to the public regarding the Columbine Murders. We would advise you to check back here to stay abreast of forthcoming materials. You are also welcome peruse our bookstore, which contains a multitude of titles on "counter-culture" subjects. These are books which you will NOT find in your local Barnes & Noble. If there is a particular title or subject matter you are seeking, please send an email to: bookrequest@thetongue.com

Finally, for any of you who are interested in the concepts discussed in this article, and would like more information, please send an email to: deprogramming@thetongue.com