Saturday, December 22, 2012

Mental health you say?

Homicide offenders from 1973  thought 2005 age 18 to 35 carry 65% of all homicide in the USA. (click here)

Across the board, the perpetrators of homicide are 18 to 35 years old. With rare occasion the victims are the same age.

Victim/offender
relationship
         
 Intimate1.5%46.7%34.3%17.5% 1.0%46.2%34.9%17.9%
 Family19.6%31.9%26.4%22.1% 6.0%49.1%28.1%16.8%
 Infanticide100.0%


 7.9%81.3%9.7%1.1%
 Eldercide


100.0% 10.3%49.2%19.1%21.4%
Circumstances         
 Felony murder7.6%46.9%21.8%23.8% 14.8%72.9%10.3%2.0%
 Sex related19.6%45.1%16.6%18.7% 10.7%73.6%13.7%2.0%
 Drug related5.4%71.4%19.9%3.3% 10.6%76.9%11.3%1.2%
 Gang related24.2%68.4%6.1%1.3% 28.9%69.2%1.6%.3%
 Argument5.5%56.1%26.3%12.2% 6.9%60.2%23.1%9.7%
 Workplace.5%28.0%32.0%39.5% 3.7%53.1%27.6%15.5%
Weapon         
 Gun homicide7.4%59.3%22.4%10.9% 11.9%64.8%15.8%7.5%
 Arson28.3%27.0%19.2%25.5% 11.5%57.7%23.8%7.0%
 Poison28.0%23.3%16.5%32.2% 4.5%50.9%26.2%18.5%
Multiple victims
or offenders
         
 Multiple victims18.2%46.3%19.1%16.4% 9.5%66.1%18.5%5.9%


        Multiple offenders    11.3%    55.5%   19.7%   13.5%        18.2%  73.1%        7.5%     1.2%

If we are to effect these rates then we need to address the mental health of our 18 to 35 year olds and primarily male.

Mental Health statistics can be interesting. But, in cases where crime is the issue there is commonly ONE TRUTH and that is the PERCENTAGES of incidence are primarily predictable.

A statistic analysis of the heinous Connecticut crime almost predicts the crime itself. Same is true in Colorado. 

Wealthy neighborhood. Majority caucasian. Because a mass murderer has to be able to afford the weapons, the ammunition and the jaded ambition of young men oriented toward violence defined in a powerful self.

...Eric Harris and Dylan Klebold were radically different individuals, with vastly different motives and opposite mental conditions. Klebold is easier to comprehend, a more familiar type. He was hotheaded, but depressive and suicidal. He blamed himself for his problems.,,,

Harris is the challenge. He was sweet-faced and well-spoken. Adults, and even some other kids, described him as "nice." But Harris was cold, calculating, and homicidal. "Klebold was hurting inside while Harris wanted to hurt people," Fuselier says. Harris was not merely a troubled kid, the psychiatrists say, he was a psychopath....

...Their slaughter (click here) was aimed at students and teachers, but it was not motivated by resentment of them in particular. Students and teachers were just convenient quarry, what Timothy McVeigh described as "collateral damage."...

The fact of the matter of whether or not we can control these events lies in the social ability to act. Do we act on the individual or do we act on the exterior forces? Or. Do we do both?

I recently watched a documentary called Bowling for Columbine. (click here) It's basically about a high school massacre in Columbine High School and the director's thoughts on gun violence.

Anyways I really want to talk about the high school shooting a bit more. It's the second deadliest attack on a school and the deadliest school shooting. The two shooters, Eric Harris and Dylan Klebold killed 12 students and teachers and injured 24 others. The documentary I mentioned earlier has detailed footage of what had happened through the security cameras (boy were they brutal). These two students were "out-casts" of the school and were full of hatred towards their fellow students.

Michael Moore is an absolute genius. I became interested in 'Who is this guy?" when his film "Fahrenheit 911" was being banned from release to the public during the Bush years. (See, Putin is not far from correct when he states what is good enough for the USA is good enough for Russia. The difference is the citizens don't put up with it.)

Moore's work between films, television segments, radio programs and books are really works of love of citizens of the USA. He stares down those in the USA that would seek to victimize others in healthcare and otherwise. The KKK was his favorite dialogue when he was in radio. He grew up awash of violence, mastered 'the gun' and joined the NRA. But, never once did he accept the idea a gun's power in human hands had to carry out its ultimate purpose. He always, always believed a gun owner could and should control the use of their guns. That understanding is embodied in The Second Amendment of the USA.



The event in Connecticut. The slaughtering of innocent children was deranged. There is no other definition. Some would say this is the scheme of a murder-suicide. I don't think that is it. I sincerely believe the shooter was attempting to get his hands on guns. He was unable to when asked to be cleared through a background check. He killed his mother for the guns, not matricide. His desire for killing was greater than the hate for his mother. I actually don't believe he hated his mother, but, she was in the way of his satiation to kill.

What is that favorite word? Conflicted. He was not accepted to the military, unable to find a place of belonging at the age of 20. When he went into the school, he had already decided he was going to die that day. He perceived authority to be greater than he. He killed himself when police arrived. He was not going to be taken alive by anyone. His death was more important than his life that day.

There has been an increase in the number of mass shootings in the USA than ever before. It is becoming more common place than not. It is not from external forces, but, from our own people. Young men defined by their society to accept violence as part of their identity.

Young adults (18-24 years -old) have historically had the highest offending rates and their rates nearly doubled from 1985 to 1993. Since 1993 offending rates for 18-24 year-olds have declined but remain slightly higher than levels prior to the mid 1980's.

The rates have doubled. And now they are becoming exponential. There is no prediction tool to stop this. The Second Amendment is not about IRRESPONSIBLE social contract. We have to control the guns, because, in the USA there is no controlling the minds of those willing to kill others with them. We need to reclaim the esteem of our men, especially our young men.

Can you afford to buy a gun?

Because unless you can afford to buy a gun, ammunition, lessons and practice at shooting galleries, the entire recommendation of the NRA is mute.

Just because I own a gun, I cannot act as a police officer.

Concealed Carry allows me to protect myself if I am attacked, it does not allow me to act as a law enforcement officer.

If I witness a mugging of a little old lady as I am jogging through a park, Concealed Carry does not provide permission for me to confront the attacker(s) and 'take them down.' I can act. No one can stop me from being a hero if I have that capacity, but, if I am Conceal Carrying a gun in the park that does not give me the right to stop crime. That is especially true if the others are unarmed even though they are committing a crime.

This is what is so tragic and true about Tayvon Martin's death. It is why the police stated to the shooter do not confront the suspect. The shooter is not authorized to act as a law enforcement officer simply because the Police Union doesn't allow it. The law doesn't allow it. No one can act as a vigilante in the USA.

The NRA acts on myth. Complete myth. This country's social contract with personal safety is compromised in horrible realities because of MYTH. Concealed Carry doesn't work. It just doesn't work. That is why I stated professionals such lawyers have legitimate reasons to Conceal Carry. My son and his spouse work and travel that could meet with confrontation. They Conceal Carry for a very real reason. They don't own or carry assault weapons because it is not realistic to do so.

They practice. They take lessons. My son destroyed an expensive watch at one of his lessons because he took it off and put it in his breast pocket while at instructions. The lesson that day was to defend himself at point blank range when removing his weapon from his shoulder harness under his jacket. The close proximity of the 'kick back' of the gun destroyed the watch. The concussion of the power of the 'kick back' absolutely turned the METAL watch into pieces in his pocket. This is the dedication Concealed Carry demands.

Regardless, of the ideology, the practical application of the NRA recommendations is not at all based in reality. 

Can you afford to carry a gun? Can you afford to purchase one? Can you afford to take lessons for Concealed Carry? Can you afford the practice sessions to insure you are an effective gun owner when you Conceal Carry? Can you make that gun work for your benefit?

But, more than that, can you insure you will never have your guns used against you or anyone else?

There is a very serious discussion a gun owner has to have with him or herself before going down this road.

Concealed Carry does not work to protect the people of the USA. It is not an answer to the issue of "Too many guns on the street."

Does anyone actually believe if the adults at the elementary school in Connecticut were empowered by Concealed Carry it would have worked against the shooter with powerful weapons and the will to kill? He shot through a locked and secure door.

He killed himself. We don't even know if the police, once they arrived, could have stopped him. That was true at Columbine.

In the article where four people died at a church, there were three officers wounded before the shooter could be stopped.

The discussion about guns in the USA needs to change to empower the people to understand how hideous their reality is today and how completely stupid Republicans are in acting as puppets to the NRA.

GET OVER IT.

Concealed Carry gives people a fighting chance. It is not an answer to gun violence in a culture of violence.

Concealed Carry in the general public is a marketing technique. The interstate commerce of guns has nothing to do with personal safety, it is a Wall Street priority to stop local gun owners from selling what Wall Street can sell. Will a Wall Street company like Cabela's 'be there' to give advise, provide a link to reality for gun purchasers or UNDERSTAND who they are selling to? No. Walmart is selling to strangers, not people they know. They have no skin in the game, except, profits to stockholders and CEOs. The more liberal the gun laws the higher the profits.

"Zero Dark Thirty"

The real question that may  result from this film is not "Is torture effective?" (click here for official site)

The sincere question is what difference did the intelligence make? 

Wasn't there a courier involved and it is premature to comment on a film I haven't seen yet. But, my understanding is the knowledge of a courier, which we know is a fact, was the key element in finding Osama bin Laden. Right? He was sitting in his personal compound in Pakistan near a military university, using thumb drives and giving orders to the rest of his network.

Supposedly, that fact lead to his death at the hand of the USA Seal Team. 

Why did it take so long? What difference did torture make in the immediate war? If torture was the reason the late Osama bin Laden was found, so what? It wasn't until President Obama was in office that he was finally killed in a military operation that also captured all the information he was operating on from that compound.

Obtaining information from a maniacal mass murderer's personal documents and records that claimed the lives of nearly 3000 Americans, of which most were innocent civilians, was nearly more important than the death of bin Laden himself. What happened? Because the 911 War was nearly a decade old before any of this took place. 

So, if the USA insists torture is effective as per a Hollywood film, the real message is SO WHAT. The information was not leading to the end of the war. 

Enough already.

By Cindy Chang
Los Angeles Times
December 22, 2012

Illegal immigrants (click here) who are arrested in minor crimes will no longer be targeted for deportation, the Obama administration announced Friday in an apparent concession to the increasing number of jurisdictions pushing back against its Secure Communities program.
Immigrant advocates as well as some police chiefs and sheriffs have complained that detention orders under the program were being issued indiscriminately, snaring people who were driving without a license or selling tamales on private property.

"In order to further enhance our ability to focus enforcement efforts on serious offenders, we are changing who ICE will issue detainers against," U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement Director John Morton said in a statement. "We are constantly looking for ways to ensure that we are doing everything we can to utilize our resources in a way that maximizes public safety."...

Goin' ta put armed security guards at every church, too?


4 dead, 3 troopers hurt in shootings

Juniata Valley Gospel Church member killed while decorating for church children's party

December 21, 2012
The Altoona Mirror
GEESEYTOWN -- Four people are dead (click here) -- including the shooter -- and three state troopers were injured Friday morning in a shooting incident in Frankstown Township, Blair County District Attorney Richard Consiglio said.

The gunman and two other men and Kimberly A. Scott, 58, of Duncansville are all dead, authorities said.

The gunman is Jeffrey Lee Michael, 44, of Hollidaysburg, and the other victims are Kenneth Lynn and his son-in-law William Rhodes, sources tell the Mirror....

No. The NRA's plan is not costly, it is stupid. Let's just get this over with because otherwise people will actually take this 'notion' seriously. The NRA's idea of fun is always pure stupidity.

Schools: NRA plan is costly (click here)

11:52 PM, Dec 21, 2012 

Some local school officials say armed security is one possible way to increase security at schools, but it shouldn’t be the only step considered....

ASA Hutchinson is vying to be the first on the NRA block to have 'tunk 
somethin' up to please the NRA. He didn't want to be copy cattin' anybody. 
He wanted to say he was the first to kiss NRA butt.


Some high schools already have police on duty because they have tough kids
to handle. It has nothing to do with an idiot coming through the door with an assault weapon approved of by the NRA. There is nothing going to stop aperson brandishing an assault weapon, dressed in black military uniform,
carrying other automatic weapons after having been rejected by the USA 
military.

If Bat Man can do it, so can they.

I don't see school security guards and/or sheriff deputies wrapped in body
armor with a cache of assault weapons and ammunition locked in a hall
closet in fear the 'kids might get into it' stopping anyone armed to the teeth
with weapons we are seeing on the street these day. 

Everyone needs to stop listening to idiots and lying to themselves as if the idiots actually haveanswers. They don't.


The NRA is waiting for the next shooting to take place and state, "See, if ya
all did as we said it wouldn't have happened."

See, the NRA has a problem. They have a real moral dilemma here. They 
have advocated and gotten liberal gun laws and now they are killing kids. So, 
they are trying to 'save face.' Not your face, not your child's face, but, their 
public face.

Has anyone stopped to think about the terror those children when through. The ones that died and the ones that lived. Have ya? Because if you did you would have realized those that died were riddled with bullets and absolutely terrified in the final moments of their lives. The ones that lived clung to the chance they would be rescued by their Mommy and Daddy any moment now.


...kids this age are just beginning to understand (click here) several key concepts. For example, they don't totally grasp that death is permanent, inevitable, and happens to everyone, says Michael Towne, a child-life specialist who works with grieving families at the University of California-San Francisco Medical Center.
Nor do they necessarily comprehend that being dead means that the body no longer functions. And no matter how many times you explain it, many 5-year-olds can't really understand what causes death, and they may think of it as something that's temporary and reversible. Even when a parent or a sibling has died, kindergartners often don't see death as something that can happen to them.
Five-year-olds react to death in a variety of ways. Don't be surprised if your child becomes clingy, regresses, or suddenly balks at going to school. After all, his daily routines may have been interrupted, he's struggling to understand why the adults around him are so sad, and the world may suddenly seem ominous to him in a way that it hadn't before....

Where has the sanity in the USA gone? Why would ANYONE trust a gun organization with the lives of their children? Dear God, what is everyone thinking? 

We need gun control in this country and until there is enough of it and the number of guns come down on the street and in the dark crevices of every extremist home we have plenty to worry about. But, seeking to counter the number of guns with more guns is compete idiocy.

STATISTICALLY. What are the chances of winning a million dollars in the Lotto? Really low, considering one might purchase one ticket. But, the stats change when a person purchases more tickets and plays every spin of the wheel.

What is the chance of being slaughtered in an elementary school in Connecticut at the age of six. An age where they don't even know how to conceptualize death? What is the chance of that?

As the number of assault weapons and ammunition on the street goes up the statistics come closer and closer to making every American's life a nightmare and a tragedy waiting around the corner.

If there was one American with one gun and one bullet; what would the chance be of another American being killed with that bullet? Really, really slim. Not only would there be only one killing, but, everyone in the country would know who had the gun, the bullet and would be able to identify any risk at any moment from that danger.

That is just an illustration. But, it is a good way to think about the path our country has taken. 

Not long ago. Not long ago at all, police were armed with only a six shooter. Six bullets in a revolver and they were considered more than sufficient to carry out any attempt to stop a bank robber. 

But, today. 9 mm semi-automatics are standard issue. SWAT teams. And don't even try to understand the weapons of a Police Drug Raid. They know what they are up against before they even know where the drug dealers are.

The NRA plays on the stupidity of fear. They want everyone to believe the more guns in the hands of people the more safe they will be.

Ya wanna know something. The ONLY real danger any gun owner has is from the Grizzly Bear with cubs that might happen on the hunters path. That is somewhat expected in the wilds of nature. The average American today has more danger in their lives from guns than any hunter or any Grizzly Bear.

Now. Are you safer today, since the NRA has pushed sanity in the USA over the cliff? Aren't you tired of listening to idiots? 

Been there, done that.

Puppet on a string.


Submitted by The City Wire Staff on Fri, 12/21/2012 - 12:43pm

Former Republican U.S. Rep. Asa Hutchinson, (click here) a potential GOP candidate for Arkansas Governor in 2014, appeared today (Dec. 21) at a National Rifle Association (NRA) press conference saying he will lead an initiative to study putting armed guards in schools.
Hutchinson appeared following remarks from NRA President Wayne LaPierre.
The press conference was largely in response to a renewed call for additional restrictions on guns in the wake of the shooting at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Connecticut that resulted in the deaths of 20 children and 8 adults.
“The only thing that stops a bad guy with a gun is a good guy with a gun,” said LaPierre, who defended gun rights and instead said focus should be on increasing security in schools. “Would you rather have your 9-11 call bring a good guy with a gun from a mile away or from a minute away?”