Crime is up across the USA.
There is no NATIONAL Crime Bill under Bush. There was under Clinton. The Brady Bill (click on) was the 'firearms' section of the Clinton Crime Bill. With higher rates of crime, there are higher rates of police deaths as well.
After shootings in U.S. schools, gun violence back in spotlight (click on)
THE THREE SCHOOL shootings that happened around the country in the past week were horrible. Sad. Inexplicably violent.
First there was that drifter, a guy who lived in his car, who walked into a Colorado school, held some girls hostage, then shot one as she tried to escape before killing himself. Then there was the disturbed teen who gunned down his school principal in Wisconsin. And finally, there was that truck driver in Pennsylvania who was so despondent that he entered the Amish school near his home, lined up some girls, and took them out, execution style, before killing himself.
But even though the headlines like "Who Will Save Our Children?" and "Now It's Outsiders Shooting in Schools" are all written, even though President George Bush is shocked and has announced a summit at the White House to discuss school violence, and even though People magazine, as we speak, is undoubtedly slapping together some sort of "Shocking Week In Our Schools" issue, the sad truth is that none of this is new.
We have been through this before. Perhaps recalling an award winning documentary by Michael Moore will stir memories.
"Bowling for Columbine" (click on)
Mike never stops with 'just the film.' He always carries through with 'action plans' to improve the outcomes of his documentaries. If one pays attention to the entire page of this advertisement, there are teacher sections and students sections to stem the violence in our schools.
I could list thousands upon thousands of news articles regarding Crime Bills. But. They are all local actions by local and state governments. Why? Because if Bush put forward a Crime Bill, he would have to FUND it which would increase the National Debt or God Forbid, he should raise taxes.Then we all know that Bush and Cheney are in the back pocket of the NRA. I mean you do that for a fact right? That's called corruption. You have to know that the NRA are huge Bush/Cheney backers. In return this administration bends over backwards to 'keep the NRA happy.' That is called corruption. Plain and simple. It's not the role of government to polish the gun barrels of the NRA. It is the role of government to protect the people of this nation. To protect the people of other nations by regulating the availability of weapons for illegal arm shipmensts out of the USA.
It's called corruption to support ONLY the interests of your campaign contributors. Bush and Cheney are criminals. They trade the lives of Americans for the profits of gun lobbiests.
The Increase of the Use of Tasers
Can stun guns and tasers cause death? (click on)
The chance of dying after being shot by a taser or stun gun is about one in 870. Dr William P Bozeman, professor of emergency medicine at the Wake Forest University School of Medicine in Winston-Salem, North Carolina, estimates this in the September 2005 issue of the Annals of Emergency Medicine.
But Dr Bozeman acknowledges that any such estimate is based on very little data. Tasers and stun guns have been in use for only a short period of time and there are still few studies assessing their various effects.
Nevertheless, medical studies suggest that more not fewer deaths could result from the introduction of tasers and stun guns for police work. Some doctors worry that more deaths could occur since police may be more likely to use tasers and stun guns on a suspect thinking they are safer than handguns.
Why might you ask are tasers such a 'popular' form of police defense?
Won't be corruption, would it?
Yeah.
(12-10) 04:00 PDT Washington -- Just five years ago, Bernard Kerik was facing lawsuits from a condominium association and bank over delinquent payments owed on a modest New Jersey condo he then owned. Today, he is a multimillionaire, the result of a lucrative partnership with former New York Mayor Rudolph Giuliani and an even more profitable relationship with a stun-gun manufacturer.
If he is confirmed to the post of homeland security secretary for which he was nominated by President Bush last week, he will oversee an enormous department that does business with some of the companies that helped make him wealthy.
The list of income sources that transformed the former New York City police commissioner into a wealthy man is a diverse one, including a best- selling autobiography, speeches around the United States and service on corporate boards. Kerik even sold the rights to make a feature film about his rags-to-riches life to Miramax.
The Death Sentence
As of February 23, 2006, there have been 123 exonerations in 25 different States. (click on)
The Bush Illegal Drug Policy
The US has confirmed a big increase in Afghanistan's opium poppy crop and says the illicit drugs trade is endangering efforts to rebuild the country.
Afghanistan Produces Record-Breaking Opium Poppy CropReport says security problems, economics drive Afghan opium trade (click on)
By David Shelby
Washington File Staff Writer
Washington -- Afghanistan's opium poppy production reached record high levels in 2004, due in part to a dangerous security situation, a lack of alternative income streams and limited law enforcement capabilities, according to the State Department's International Narcotics Control Strategy Report issued March 4.
The report states that 206,700 hectares were devoted to poppy cultivation in Afghanistan in 2004 -- more than a threefold increase over the amount of land under cultivation in 2003. The fields produced an estimated 4,950 metric tons of opium gum, far exceeding the country's previous record of 3,108 metric tons in 2000.
Afghanistan's 2004 opium production could potentially be refined into 582 metric tons of heroin, putting Afghanistan far ahead of Burma, the second place heroin producer, with a production potential of 28 metric tons.
