What Global Homicide Rates Are Telling Us...

A quick look at the countries with the top 15 murder rates in the world today tells an interesting tale.

The world’s top 15 violent places are;

Colombia 61.1 per 100,000 people
El Salvador 56.4 per 100,000
Cote d'Ivoire 45.7 per 100,000
South Africa 39.5
Lesotho 37.3
Angola 36
Burundi 35.4
Congo, the Dem Rep of the 35.2
Sierra Leone 34
Jamaica 33.7
Venezuela 32.5
Brazil 30.8
Belize 30.1
Russian Federation 29.7
Central African Rep 29.1

OK, right off the bat, you can see that 7 of the top 10 and 8 of the 15 nations with the world’s highest murder rates are located in sub-Saharan Africa, a region beset by racial and tribal/ethnic violence.

The top two (Colombia and El Salvador), like numbers 11, 12 and 13 (Venezuela, Brazil and Belize) are all suffering through waves of violent Leftist guerilla terrorism and massive drug cartel wars!

In most of the rest of the cases, certainly in almost all those outside South America, the widespread violence is due to primarily to ethnic/racial strife.

In the Russian Federation, at least according to Amnesty International, “Racist attacks and killings of foreigners and ethnic minorities are reported with shocking regularity in Russia and disturbingly, their frequency seems to be increasing.(1) Victims whose cases have come to the attention of Amnesty International include students, asylum-seekers and refugees from Africa and Asia, as well as people from the south Caucasus, from South, Southeast and Central Asia, from the Middle East and from Latin America. However, citizens of the Russian Federation are no less at risk of physical attack. Anyone who does not look typically ethnic Russian, for example, individuals from ethnic groups of the North Caucasus, in particular Chechens, as well as members of the Jewish community, Roma and children of mixed parentage are at risk. Even ethnic Russians who are seen as sympathizing with foreigners or ethnic minority groups, for example, fans of rap or reggae music, members of other youth sub-cultures, and campaigners against racism, have also been targeted as they are perceived as "unpatriotic" or "traitors". Attacks have been reported in towns and cities across the Russian Federation.”

The countries with the lowest violent homocide rates also tell an interesting story.

Of the countries with the lowest 10 murder rates;

Qatar 0.8
Austria 0.7
Egypt 0.7
Fiji 0.7
United Arab Emirates 0.7
Hong Kong 0.6
Japan 0.5
Morocco 0.5
Singapore 0.5
Luxembourg 0.4

Well, clearly 4, or 40% of them are Middle Eastern, Muslim states.

I guess draconian punishments really ARE viable deterrents to violent crime after all!

In fact I could only find three Muslim nations with murder rates higher than the United States’ 5.6 per 100,000. They were Indonesia (with the highest murder rate for a Muslim country at 8.9/100,000, Iraq with 6.7/100,000 and Albania with 6.6/100,000.

Another among those nations with the lowest murder rates in existence is also one that consistently ranks among the freest economies in the world – Hong Kong!

Another thing that the lowest 10 also have in common is a set of nearly homogeneous populations, which, of course, serves to limit that pesky “ethnic/racial violence.”

In other words, it would seem that a homogeneous population is generally a less violent one, as are nations that mete out draconian punishments for violent crimes...and economic Liberty and the prosperity it delivers also seems to reduce violence, as witnessed by Hong Kong’s infinitesimal 0.6/100,000 violent crime rate and its corresponding 6.0 Misery Index!

Sometimes You Just HAVE to Ask – WTF?!....

Are you kidding me, or WHAT?!

Early Thursday morning, three University of Tennessee football players, all of them freshmen, two of them very highly recruited players wound up arrested in Knoxville Tennessee for...ARMED ROBBERY!

Apparently they thought it would be a good idea to walk over to another car, wave a gun in the faces of those folks and look to ROB THEM!

They were caught a very short time later, ID’d by the other vehicle’s passengers, fellow students at U of T and a pellet gun was found in their possession...along with some drugs, which a female passenger conveniently claimed were hers.

ARMED ROBBERY!

These are three guys getting a completely FREE RIDE through college...guys who want for NOTHING and at least two of whom probably WOULD HAVE been nearly guaranteed to have become instant millionaires, upon leaving that College for the pros!

These guys decide an ARMED ROBBERY is a good idea!

This is exactly the sought of incident that proves what I’ve said for over 25 years, “Poverty doesn’t CAUSE violence, in fact, violence, and the traits that lead to violence are what CAUSE poverty!”

The three Nu'Keese Richardson (above), Janzen Jackson, the two highly sought after recruits, and Mike Edwards, all 18 y/o, were each charged with three counts of attempted armed robbery in connection with the incident, which occurred at a gas station in an area known as "The Strip" at the edge of Tennessee's campus.

As of Friday, Richardson was being held Thursday afternoon on a $19,500 bond. Edwards was released on a $19,500 bond and Jackson was released on his own recognizance.

According to Don Bosch, Janzen Jackson’s attorney, "Mr. Jackson vehemently asserts his innocence, and we hope that this will become apparent in the next 24 to 48 hours." It was not immediately known if the other two players had contacted attorneys.

The incongruity of this....of three extremely privileged young men acting as though they have a reason for rage, is more than outrageous and beyond pathetic.
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UPDATE (11-16-2009):

According to Associated Pres reports, two of the players (Richardson and Edwards) have been permanently dismissed from the University of Tennessee. The third is barred from all team actioviti8es pending the outcome of an investigation into his role in the incident.

“KNOXVILLE, Tenn. (AP)—Two of three Tennessee freshmen football players charged last week in an attempted armed robbery have been dismissed from the team.

“Clearly, their actions have no place in our program,” coach Lane Kiffin said Monday.

“Kiffin said wide receiver Nu’Keese Richardson, 18, and defensive back Mike Edwards, 18, were permanently dismissed from the team, while former starting safety Janzen Jackson, 18, will continue to be barred from team activities while Kiffin awaits more information in his case.”

http://rivals.yahoo.com/ncaa/football/news?slug=ap-tennessee-playersdismissed&prov=ap&type=lgns

Rolling the Dice With Terrorism......

By sending the case against Khalid Sheik Mohammed (pictured above) to trial in a U.S. District Court, in lower Manhattan no less, Eric Holder and Barack Obama have (1) made an outright acquittal of the "terrorist mastermind," far more likely, because the American criminal justice system's "rules of evidence" were not followed in the capture, interrogation and evidence gathering process, as they were carried out by Military NOT law enforcement authorities, thus none of the suspects were ever Mirandized and no warrants were ever procured...AND (2) it gives the jihadists the grand stage they've wanted all along. It's also likely that the government will forgo using classified evidence rather than risk exposing both the evidence itself and how that evidence may have been attained.

The 1993 trial over the first World Trade Center bombing was an unmitigated disaster, so much so, in fact, that James Fox, then Director of the FBI's NYC Office said, "America's criminal justice system is inadequate to the task of dealing with state sponsored terrorism."

Director Fox was, without question, right and that was the beginning of the shift away from viewing terrorism as a "law enforcement issue," and refocusing it as a military one.

Undoing that approach at this juncture is not only unwise and naive, it's recklessly and irresponsibly dangerous as well.

'Dangerous and Irresponsible'

Rudy Guiliani lays out the legal and security reasons why trying the architects of 9/11 in Manhattan is a "reckless an irresponsible decision."

SEE the Video:

'Dangerous and Irresponsible'

Rethinking Kelo?...

Ginsburg, Kennedy, Souter, Breyer and Stevens...have got to rank among the Worst SC Justices EVER...OK, throw Brennan, Marshall, Burger and Warren in there too...

The June 23, 2005 Liberal abomination called the Kelo Decision DID spark a nationwide wave of reining in the use of Eminent Domain, but at such a cost.

Private property rights ARE sacrosanct in America...at least in America’s Constitution and for better or worse, we’re all bound by that document to “go down with the private property rights ship” should it ever prove non-seaworthy.

On that dark day back in 2005 five hooded, black robed “jurists” declared it OK for the town of New London Connecticut to steal the homes of dozens of its citizens to make way for a planned office park built by Phizer Pharmaceutical.

Ironically enough, the allegedly “Corporate-hating Left” wildly supported Kelo the way they mindlessly support virtually all government action no matter how destructive. But karma has appeared to have belatedly reared its head, as a scant four years after that decision that gave Susette Kelo's (pictured above) land away to "private developers" (yeah, private developers with deep government ties) for a project that was set to include a hotel and offices intended to enhance Pfizer Inc.’s nearby corporate facility, the pharmaceutical giant has announced it will close its research and development headquarters in New London, Connecticut.

So, while Susette Kelo and her neighbors lost their homes, the city of New London and the state of Connecticut spent almost $80 million to bulldoze private property for high-end condos and other "desirable" elements, it has all come to naught. Instead of a brand new gleaming office park, the wrecked and condemned neighborhood still stands vacant, without any of the touted tax benefits or job creation.

In FACT, New London has LOST the property tax revenues they already had in hand!

Perhaps the BEST commentary on this was posted by Ace at Ace of Spades HQ (http://ace.mu.nu/archives/294618.php#294618); “This cannot be emphasized enough.

“The people who run your city, the politicians who are full of bright ideas for improving your life by infringing on others' rights, and the black-robed genius who is tasked with interpreting our founding documents; NONE of these people are smarter than you.

“NONE of these people are gifted with superior insight on how better to run your life or use our native resources. But they believe that they are. So without the brake of morality or explicit law, these geniuses and pols and town busybodies will extend professional courtesy to each other as they go about dismantling your life for some dubious utopian idea.”

That’s 100% CORRECT!

If any of those folks were at all savvy about anything at all, they’d have realized there was absolutely no downside to letting those "private developers" negotiate buyouts with the owners of the homes they wanted.

Yeah, they MIGHT have had to pay through the nose to get those folks to move...and they would’ve simply charged more for their office space...and Phizer would’ve had to buck up a little more...and property values and perhaps property tax revenues would’ve gone up.

Instead, the whole affair is a net loss.

Think “the political class” will learn anything form this failure?

If you do...guess again.

Perhaps NOW Would Be a GOOD Time to Revisit THIS...

With all the fast and furious appointments of the early Obama administration, many have been overlooked and thus a lot of mischief is set to be unloosed on the American people without their understanding where any of it is coming from.

Earlier this year, Barack Obama tabbed Harold Koh (the Dean of Yale’s Law School) as his top lawyer - legal adviser for the State Department.

Sounds very much like a reasonable enough choice, right?

But Harold Koh had a bounty of incredible statements in his file that would almost certainly raise the eyebrows of the vast majority of Americans.

Perhaps the most incredible of all is Professor Koh’s stated belief that Muslim Sharia Law is not at all incompatible with the U.S. Constitution!

In a 2007 speech, Harold Koh stated, “In an appropriate case, he didn’t see any reason why sharia law would not be applied to govern a case in the United States.”

An administration that appoints, as it top lawyer, it’s top legal analyst, a man who sees no innate incompatibility between Sharia Law and the U.S. Constitution is not one that is concerned about either the safety of Americans or protecting America’s far-flung global interests.

Celebrating Incompetence!......

MSNBC may do a very poor job of delivering much in the way of news and coherent commentary (as I believe they do), but it cannot be denied that they do a splendid job of hiring the handicapped, so long as incompetence counts as a legitimate handicap.

In a recent example the always reliably, slow-witted Chris “Hardball” Matthews made a fool of both himself and the network he represents by musing on-air, whether it’s a crime for an American citizen to contact al Qaeda.

(A brief note on this thorny issue; Turns out that it IS a crime. That’s why the FISA Laws allowed the NSA to monitor American contacts TO “suspect foreign portals,” since way back in 1979. Although, I suspect that to Mr. Matthews, contacting, say Nazi Germany or Imperial Japan during WW II would’ve been “No big deal” either...or maybe it’s just those ideologies he approves of that are “OK” - perhaps then, collaborating the Soviets during the Cold War would’ve been fine with Chris Matthews.)

On the November 9^th broadcast of "Hardball," Chris Mattheww was conducting one of his typically sweet-toned, pandering interviews with Zuhdi Jasser, president of the American Islamic Forum for Democracy, in which he compared Nidal Hasan to Sirhan Sirhan (killer of Robert F. Kennedy) and, in the process, actually evinced some sympathy for Sirhan’s cause, saying, “Bobby Kennedy had made political statements saying we're going to sell arms, fighter planes directly to Israel, not under the table. We're going to recognize Jerusalem as the capital of Israel. Those are the things that triggered his killing spree. He killed one person - Bobby Kennedy, horrifically. But did he become a different religious person because he committed the crime? And when did this happen?”

Yes, when indeed?

More importantly, when did Chris Matthews become SUCH an embarrassment to anyone associated with him?

And if you thought his bending over backwards to “understand” Sirhan Sirhan’s motivations was acrobatic, his contortions over Nidal Hasan’s possible motivations (other than that he was a jihadist terrorist, that is) were even more breathtaking; “See - we have a problem," Matthews began. "How do we know when someone like Hasan is going to make his move and do we know he's an Islamist until he's made his move? He makes a phone call or whatever, according to Reuters right now. Apparently he tried to contact al Qaeda. Is that the point at which you say, ‘This guy is dangerous?' That's not a crime to call up al Qaeda, is it? Is it? I mean, where do you stop the guy?"

That's a GREAT question, isn't it?! When you think about it, how could it be "a crime" to simply "dial up al Qaeda?" I mean what have THEY done to US?....OK, bad question, but IS IT an "actual crime?"

Wow! That's some deep philsophical stuff oozing out of Chris "hardballs" Matthews, isn't it?

Maybe I'm being unfair. Maybe he didn't mean "al Qaeda," as in the jihadist Islamic group we're AT WAR WITH, perhaps he really mean Al Kaida, that full-time plumber and part-time U.S. wiffle-ball champ from Sandusky, Illinois...I mean it really is "no crime" to call him!

OK, I’m not getting this at all.

MSNBC puts up a weekday evening commentary line-up that goes, Schultz, Matthews, Olberman, Maddow...and the result is not only “NO ratings,” BUT major, even massive humiliation for MSNBC and anyone even remotely associated with the ponderously idiotic ramblings of the likes of Matthews and Olberman – the current reining champs of gross stupidity.

I mean, seriously, guys, are you TRYING to lose?!

If you are, you’re doing a helluva job!