Sunday, February 17, 2013
Saturday, February 16, 2013
Thursday, February 14, 2013
Walter E. Williams
Our Real Problem Is Cultural Decay, Not Guns
By Walter E. Williams
There's a story told about a Paris chief of police who was called to a department store to stop a burglary in progress.
Upon his arrival, he reconnoitered the situation and ordered his men to surround the entrances of the building next door.
When questioned about his actions, he replied that he didn't have enough men to cover the department store's many entrances but he did have enough for the building next door.
Let's see whether there are similarities between his strategy and today's gun control strategy.
Last year, Chicago had 512 homicides; Detroit had 411; Philadelphia had 331; and Baltimore had 215.
Those cities are joined by other dangerous cities—such as St. Louis, Memphis, Tenn., Flint, Mich., and Camden, N.J. — and they also lead the nation in shootings, assaults, rapes and robberies.
Both the populations of those cities and their crime victims are predominantly black. Each year, more than 7,000 blacks are murdered.
Black Victims
Close to 100% of the time, the murderer is another black person.
According to the Bureau of Justice Statistics, between 1976 and 2011, there were 279,384 black murder victims.
Though blacks are 13% of the nation's population, they account for more than 50% of homicide victims.
Nationally, the black homicide victimization rate is six times that of whites, and in some cities, it's 22 times that of whites.
Coupled with being most of the nation's homicide victims, blacks are also most of the victims of violent personal crimes, such as assault and robbery.
The magnitude of this tragedy can be seen in another light. According to a Tuskegee Normal and Industrial Institute study, between 1882 and 1968, 3,446 blacks were lynched at the hands of whites.
What percentage of murders, irrespective of race, are committed with what are being called assault weapons?
You'd be hard put to come up with an amount greater than 1 or 2%. In fact, according to FBI data from 2011, there were 323 murders committed with a rifle of any kind but 496 murders committed with a hammer or a club.
But people who want to weaken our Second Amendment guarantees employ a strategy like that of the Paris chief of police.
They can't do much about hammers, clubs, fists or pistols, but by exploiting public ignorance, they might have a bit of success getting an "assault weapon" ban that will have little impact on violent crime.
There are other measures these people employ in an attempt to end violence that border on lunacy. Massachusetts' Hyannis West Elementary recently warned a 5-year-old's parents that if their son made another gun from a Legos set, he'd be suspended.
Elementary-school children have been suspended or otherwise disciplined for drawing a picture of a gun or pointing a finger and saying, "Bang, bang."
I shudder to think about what would happen to kids in a schoolyard if they played, as I played nearly 70 years ago, "cops 'n' robbers" or "cowboys 'n' Indians."
Maybe today's politically correct educators would cut the kids a bit of slack if they said they were playing "cowboys 'n' Native Americans."
What explains a lot of what we see today, which politicians and their liberal allies would never condemn, is growing cultural deviancy.
Twenty-nine percent of white children, 53% of Hispanics and 73% of black children are born to unmarried women.
No Dad, Big Problem
The absence of a husband and father from the home is a strong contributing factor to poverty, school failure, crime, drug abuse, emotional disturbance and a host of other social problems.
By the way, the low marriage rate among blacks is relatively new.
Census data show that a slightly higher percentage of black adults had married than white adults from 1890 to 1940. In 2009, the poverty rate among married whites was 3.2%; for blacks, it was 7%, and for Hispanics, it was 13.2%.
The higher poverty rates — 22% for whites, 35.6% for blacks and 37.9% for Hispanics — are among unmarried families.
Other forms of cultural deviancy are found in the kind of music accepted today that advocates killing and rape and other vile acts.
Punishment for criminal behavior is lax. Today's Americans accept behavior that our parents and grandparents never would have accepted.
Read More At IBD: http://news.investors.com/ibd-editorials-on-the-right/021213-644195-cultural-decay-not-guns-is-the-real-problem.htm#ixzz2KtSLpnX3
Follow us: @IBDinvestors on Twitter | InvestorsBusinessDaily on Facebook
Posted 02/12/2013 06:37 PM ET
Walter E. Williams
Upon his arrival, he reconnoitered the situation and ordered his men to surround the entrances of the building next door.
When questioned about his actions, he replied that he didn't have enough men to cover the department store's many entrances but he did have enough for the building next door.
Let's see whether there are similarities between his strategy and today's gun control strategy.
Last year, Chicago had 512 homicides; Detroit had 411; Philadelphia had 331; and Baltimore had 215.
Those cities are joined by other dangerous cities—such as St. Louis, Memphis, Tenn., Flint, Mich., and Camden, N.J. — and they also lead the nation in shootings, assaults, rapes and robberies.
Both the populations of those cities and their crime victims are predominantly black. Each year, more than 7,000 blacks are murdered.
Black Victims
Close to 100% of the time, the murderer is another black person.
According to the Bureau of Justice Statistics, between 1976 and 2011, there were 279,384 black murder victims.
Though blacks are 13% of the nation's population, they account for more than 50% of homicide victims.
Nationally, the black homicide victimization rate is six times that of whites, and in some cities, it's 22 times that of whites.
Coupled with being most of the nation's homicide victims, blacks are also most of the victims of violent personal crimes, such as assault and robbery.
The magnitude of this tragedy can be seen in another light. According to a Tuskegee Normal and Industrial Institute study, between 1882 and 1968, 3,446 blacks were lynched at the hands of whites.
What percentage of murders, irrespective of race, are committed with what are being called assault weapons?
You'd be hard put to come up with an amount greater than 1 or 2%. In fact, according to FBI data from 2011, there were 323 murders committed with a rifle of any kind but 496 murders committed with a hammer or a club.
But people who want to weaken our Second Amendment guarantees employ a strategy like that of the Paris chief of police.
They can't do much about hammers, clubs, fists or pistols, but by exploiting public ignorance, they might have a bit of success getting an "assault weapon" ban that will have little impact on violent crime.
There are other measures these people employ in an attempt to end violence that border on lunacy. Massachusetts' Hyannis West Elementary recently warned a 5-year-old's parents that if their son made another gun from a Legos set, he'd be suspended.
Elementary-school children have been suspended or otherwise disciplined for drawing a picture of a gun or pointing a finger and saying, "Bang, bang."
I shudder to think about what would happen to kids in a schoolyard if they played, as I played nearly 70 years ago, "cops 'n' robbers" or "cowboys 'n' Indians."
Maybe today's politically correct educators would cut the kids a bit of slack if they said they were playing "cowboys 'n' Native Americans."
What explains a lot of what we see today, which politicians and their liberal allies would never condemn, is growing cultural deviancy.
Twenty-nine percent of white children, 53% of Hispanics and 73% of black children are born to unmarried women.
No Dad, Big Problem
The absence of a husband and father from the home is a strong contributing factor to poverty, school failure, crime, drug abuse, emotional disturbance and a host of other social problems.
By the way, the low marriage rate among blacks is relatively new.
Census data show that a slightly higher percentage of black adults had married than white adults from 1890 to 1940. In 2009, the poverty rate among married whites was 3.2%; for blacks, it was 7%, and for Hispanics, it was 13.2%.
The higher poverty rates — 22% for whites, 35.6% for blacks and 37.9% for Hispanics — are among unmarried families.
Other forms of cultural deviancy are found in the kind of music accepted today that advocates killing and rape and other vile acts.
Punishment for criminal behavior is lax. Today's Americans accept behavior that our parents and grandparents never would have accepted.
Read More At IBD: http://news.investors.com/ibd-editorials-on-the-right/021213-644195-cultural-decay-not-guns-is-the-real-problem.htm#ixzz2KtSLpnX3
Follow us: @IBDinvestors on Twitter | InvestorsBusinessDaily on Facebook
"Smart Diplomacy" at work
Political News & Commentary
- Sponsored by:
Well, that worked out well: 92% of Pakistanis now dislike America
By Andrew Malcolm
Read More At IBD: http://news.investors.com/politics-andrew-malcolm/021413-644439-gallup-poll-finds-overwhelming-majority-of-pakistanis-dont-like-america.htm#ixzz2KtOpPSqE
Follow us: @IBDinvestors on Twitter | InvestorsBusinessDaily on Facebook
Posted 09:04 AM ET
AP (Pakistani allies discuss President Obama's policies)
After four years of Barack Obama's diplomatic 'leadership' and billions of dollars in attempted friendship aid, a new public opinion poll reveals that 92% of Pakistanis now disapprove of the United States.
The results could have been worse. Not much. But a little. Fully four Pakistanis out of 100 do approve of the United States, President Obama and his policies. They, however, seem to keep kind of quiet about their views in that rowdy land. That's the lowest favorable rating Pakistan's citizens have ever given their ostensible North American ally.
The new Gallup Poll, out this morning, reports that the recent high point of Pakistani approval of the United States came in the spring of 2011 when 27% approved. But then public opinion went south on North America.
Something to do with U.S. Air Force planes over Afghanistan one night confounding Pakistani radar into thinking its skies were perfectly empty when, in fact, a pack of stealth aircraft were advancing toward the city of Abbottabad carrying a Kevlar-coated posse of heavily-armed SEALs in night-vision goggles.
Their assignment was to land, blow open the gate, kill a few people if necessary and bring back the body of one, Osama bin Laden -- along with his computers, correspondence and anything else of interest. It was a mission any president would order.
All without notice to Pakistan officials, elected or otherwise.
Since then, CIA drones have lingered inside Pakistan air space, watching and waiting until commanded to direct a large explosive device onto a car or two or some houses where residents were gathered. More than 350 times that's happened.
Often, some of the people vaporized in such raids were on a list of terrorist suspects targeted for extinction by the American president.
For some reason, Pakistanis seem to regard these serial acts of lethal interdiction as a violation of national sovereignty. Imagine how Americans might feel if Canada sent silent drones on southbound flights over U.S. cities to dispatch residents in ill favor up north.
To be fair, during the 2007-08 campaign for the Democratic nomination, then former state senator Obama did warn everyone listening to party debates that he would bomb even Pakistan if it did not fully cooperate in a campaign against terrorists.
At the time many were faux-shocked and Obama was roundly denounced for saying he'd attack an alleged ally in the endless Afghan war. His critics were many, including fellow Sen. Hillary Clinton, his future Secretary of State who would come to help Obama implement his foreign policies.
You may remember one foundation stone of Obama's initial presidential campaign was the argument that because of the historical nature of his presidency and his upbringing in Indonesia, the globe's most populous Muslim land, the world would feel more fondly toward America for a change.
That doesn't seem to be happening so far.
Obama and Clinton helped push Egyptian dictator and close American ally Hosni Mubarak from office, alienated much of Egypt's ungrateful population and got instead a Muslim Brotherhood government openly hostile to Israel and the U.S. However, it's still willing to accept more than $1 billion in annual aid from the American administration, including recently new tanks and jet fighters.
Upset by the mere threat of civilian loss of life in Libya's civil war, Obama actively bombed and Tomahawked dictator Qaddafi from office, producing a lawless land where four Americans were killed by a heavily-armed mob in an indefensible consulate in Benghazi.
Obama was so upset by the first death of an American ambassador in four decades that he nearly postponed a campaign fundraiser in Las Vegas.
In Syria, where an estimated 55,000 civilians have already died in civil war fighting, Obama chose to launch merely a lengthy barrage of words at the dictator, firmly demanding that he leave. Obama also rejected pleas by two cabinet secretaries to help arm the rebels there.
American presidents understandably pay more attention to their poll standings at home. But the Pakistan situation is complicated by the fact that the country possesses something on the order of 100 nuclear weapons. Acquisition of such devices by al Qaeda, Taliban or disobedient Pakistani military could prove inconvenient.
Especially in a nation now so openly hostile toward Obama and America. Gallup found distaste for dealings with the West crossing all age cohorts, while support for Pakistan's military, always high, is now nearly 90%.
The country faces national elections in May. If successfully completed, those results would constitute the first transition in Pakistan's history from one civilian government to another. Incumbent President Zardari, viewed by many as too cozy with Obama, has seen his government's approval plummet from 54% in 2008 to 23% last fall.
This suggests the possibility of a newly-elected government that represents the now near-unanimous disapproval of America.
The results could have been worse. Not much. But a little. Fully four Pakistanis out of 100 do approve of the United States, President Obama and his policies. They, however, seem to keep kind of quiet about their views in that rowdy land. That's the lowest favorable rating Pakistan's citizens have ever given their ostensible North American ally.
The new Gallup Poll, out this morning, reports that the recent high point of Pakistani approval of the United States came in the spring of 2011 when 27% approved. But then public opinion went south on North America.
Something to do with U.S. Air Force planes over Afghanistan one night confounding Pakistani radar into thinking its skies were perfectly empty when, in fact, a pack of stealth aircraft were advancing toward the city of Abbottabad carrying a Kevlar-coated posse of heavily-armed SEALs in night-vision goggles.
Their assignment was to land, blow open the gate, kill a few people if necessary and bring back the body of one, Osama bin Laden -- along with his computers, correspondence and anything else of interest. It was a mission any president would order.
All without notice to Pakistan officials, elected or otherwise.
Since then, CIA drones have lingered inside Pakistan air space, watching and waiting until commanded to direct a large explosive device onto a car or two or some houses where residents were gathered. More than 350 times that's happened.
Often, some of the people vaporized in such raids were on a list of terrorist suspects targeted for extinction by the American president.
For some reason, Pakistanis seem to regard these serial acts of lethal interdiction as a violation of national sovereignty. Imagine how Americans might feel if Canada sent silent drones on southbound flights over U.S. cities to dispatch residents in ill favor up north.
To be fair, during the 2007-08 campaign for the Democratic nomination, then former state senator Obama did warn everyone listening to party debates that he would bomb even Pakistan if it did not fully cooperate in a campaign against terrorists.
At the time many were faux-shocked and Obama was roundly denounced for saying he'd attack an alleged ally in the endless Afghan war. His critics were many, including fellow Sen. Hillary Clinton, his future Secretary of State who would come to help Obama implement his foreign policies.
Bikas Das / AP
That doesn't seem to be happening so far.
Obama and Clinton helped push Egyptian dictator and close American ally Hosni Mubarak from office, alienated much of Egypt's ungrateful population and got instead a Muslim Brotherhood government openly hostile to Israel and the U.S. However, it's still willing to accept more than $1 billion in annual aid from the American administration, including recently new tanks and jet fighters.
Upset by the mere threat of civilian loss of life in Libya's civil war, Obama actively bombed and Tomahawked dictator Qaddafi from office, producing a lawless land where four Americans were killed by a heavily-armed mob in an indefensible consulate in Benghazi.
Obama was so upset by the first death of an American ambassador in four decades that he nearly postponed a campaign fundraiser in Las Vegas.
In Syria, where an estimated 55,000 civilians have already died in civil war fighting, Obama chose to launch merely a lengthy barrage of words at the dictator, firmly demanding that he leave. Obama also rejected pleas by two cabinet secretaries to help arm the rebels there.
American presidents understandably pay more attention to their poll standings at home. But the Pakistan situation is complicated by the fact that the country possesses something on the order of 100 nuclear weapons. Acquisition of such devices by al Qaeda, Taliban or disobedient Pakistani military could prove inconvenient.
Especially in a nation now so openly hostile toward Obama and America. Gallup found distaste for dealings with the West crossing all age cohorts, while support for Pakistan's military, always high, is now nearly 90%.
The country faces national elections in May. If successfully completed, those results would constitute the first transition in Pakistan's history from one civilian government to another. Incumbent President Zardari, viewed by many as too cozy with Obama, has seen his government's approval plummet from 54% in 2008 to 23% last fall.
This suggests the possibility of a newly-elected government that represents the now near-unanimous disapproval of America.
Read More At IBD: http://news.investors.com/politics-andrew-malcolm/021413-644439-gallup-poll-finds-overwhelming-majority-of-pakistanis-dont-like-america.htm#ixzz2KtOpPSqE
Follow us: @IBDinvestors on Twitter | InvestorsBusinessDaily on Facebook
Tuesday, February 12, 2013
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)