Hammers should be banned...

lling a significant number of people who would not have died if US society took gun-control more seriously, gun control does become everybody's busine ss.

industrial countries.

aining yet disquieting. Quite an insight into the US justice system.

l get more murders no matter what weapons are allowed.

The US Gini index is 0.45, and the rich clearly don't invest enough in keep ing the poor healthy and well-educated. Too many of the poor end up unemplo yable in regular work, and make what they can out of the black economy - pe ddling drugs amongst other things. So the US justice system then convicts a nd incarcerates them - feeding them and housing them at considerable expens e.

I seem to remember that some US states are now spending more on their priso ns than they do on education, which is to say they are paying a high price for not investing more on education and training in the past.

The phrase "bone-headed right-wing stupidity" does come to mind.

Nicely done Bill! Two points.

Cheers, James Arthur

eping the poor healthy and well-educated. Too many of the poor end up unemp loyable in regular work, and make what they can out of the black economy - peddling drugs amongst other things. So the US justice system then convicts and incarcerates them - feeding them and housing them at considerable expe nse.

The greatest source of poverty in the U.S. are single women who drop out of high school and have a crop of kids.

That's fully enabled and encouraged by our progressive entitlement system, and she's even lauded as a role-model and a hero, struggling against adversity.

Naturally, this rapidly-exploding group living off society makes less, and exaggerates the GINI.

It's got mostly nothing to do with rich people failing to do anything.

sons than they do on education, which is to say they are paying a high pric e for not investing more on education and training in the past.

Seems highly unlikely, since most states spend roughly 50% of their budget on "education."

s/"right"/"left"

There, fixed it.

Cheers, James Arthur

Of course education is a factor, but the take-home message of the book was that *simply being arrested* is very likely to ruin your life.

The world record incarceration rate is a result of a toxic combination. Routinely broken laws, zealous "arrest-target" driven enforcement, and public online arrest records.

"The volume of arrests has caused a boom in jail and court construction and the creation of a criminal justice system that employs hundreds of thousands and requires ever more arrests to justify its existence."

I'm always amazed at how so many non-US residents are such experts on the US way of life.

Slowman spouts, "I seem to remember..." I doubt that he can remember where he lives without being prompted.

Here, in Arizona, like most states, probably 80% of your taxes go directly to education. ...Jim Thompson

Me? I am not at all an expert, that is why I found the book so educational. If you are wondering why I concern myself, it is partly general interest and partly the fact that the UK seems to be drifting in the same direction.

So, you would be willing to take the risk that it is a lie?

Carrying a gun *IS* the most effective. Bullshit.

keeping the poor healthy and well-educated. Too many of the poor end up une mployable in regular work, and make what they can out of the black economy

- peddling drugs amongst other things. So the US justice system then convic ts and incarcerates them - feeding them and housing them at considerable ex pense.

Sadly this is bone-headed right-wing pro-marriage propaganda that just says the most of the children who live below the poverty line are in single par ent families, and tries to pretend that if poor mothers got married before they had kids they wouldn't be poor - confusing causation and correlation i n the usual brain-damaged right-wing fashion.

There's no mention of the Gini-index anywhere in the document, and no menti on that if you don't want unwed mothers to have kids, you give them enough support - usually known as "welfare" in this context - to persuade them to graduate from high school.

ote:

d stop rapes? Would that be considered a self-defense?

Back when I was unmarried and interested in chatting up young women, I was careful about a whole range of issues - including, but not limited to, sexu ally transmitted diseases - and liked to know quite lot about the women wom en I was chatting up before I got deeply involved. I was perfectly capable of taking risks, but I did like to at least roughly quantify the risks that I ran.

That probably qualifies as a "no".

JT > I'm always amazed at how so many JT > non-US residents are such experts JT > on the US way of life. JT > JT > Slowman spouts, "I seem to remember..." JT > I doubt that he can remember where JT > he lives without being prompted. [...] I like when he used the Aussie press as an excuse for some of his ignorance.

involve risking more collateral damage than most of the alternatives.

I didn't say anything about whether carrying a gun was a particularly effec tive form of self-defence - firing a gun in the right direction might be, b ut that's a different question. What I argued was that it wasn't the safest form of self-defence, since the potential collatoral damage is a whole lot worse than with plausible alternatives - like Mace and pepper spray.

krw is a little too dim to be able to address the proposition being put, so he posts an answer to the proposition that he thinks ought to have been pu t.

James Arthur is a master of the same tactic.

gnitude higher than the rate in most other advanced industrial countries, w here the murder rate tends to be about 1 per 100,000, roughly the same as the US rate for homicides not involving guns.

ost industrial countries.

tertaining yet disquieting. Quite an insight into the US justice system.

keeping the poor healthy and well-educated. Too many of the poor end up un employable in regular work, and make what they can out of the black economy - peddling drugs amongst other things. So the US justice system then convi cts and incarcerates them - feeding them and housing them at considerable e xpense.

as that *simply being arrested* is very likely to ruin your life.

prisons than they do on education, which is to say they are paying a high p rice for not investing more on education and training in the past.

and the creation of a criminal justice systemthat employs hundreds of thous ands and requires ever more arrests to justify its existence."

US way of life.

re he lives without being prompted.

y to education.

See page 33. In the "Agency Operating Budgets" it looks as if about 50% of the budget goes on schools and universities, while the Department of Correc tions only gets 11%. Arizona certainly spend more on prisons than it does o n universities - usually described as "higher education".

The article that I may have failed to remember correctly was probably

n keeping the poor healthy and well-educated. Too many of the poor end up u nemployable in regular work, and make what they can out of the black econom y - peddling drugs amongst other things. So the US justice system then conv icts and incarcerates them - feeding them and housing them at considerable expense.

ys the most of the children who live below the poverty line are in single p arent families, and tries to pretend that if poor mothers got married befor e they had kids they wouldn't be poor - confusing causation and correlation in the usual brain-damaged right-wing fashion.

You believe a) a single high-school dropout raising a herd of kids has anything close to the earnings of b) a two-parent family of high-school graduates, where at least one parent can work full-time?

That's not a serious argument.

tion that if you don't want unwed mothers to have kids, you give them enoug h support - usually known as "welfare" in this context - to persuade them t o graduate from high school.

Backwards. It's the payments that made this behavior possible and popular.

Your prescription has left human carnage in all directions, as far as the eye can see.

Cheers, James Arthur

r prisons than they do on education, which is to say they are paying a high price for not investing more on education and training in the past.

n and the creation of a criminal justice systemthat employs hundreds of tho usands and requires ever more arrests to justify its existence."

he US way of life.

here he lives without being prompted.

tly to education.

ryBook.pdf

f the budget goes on schools and universities, while the Department of Corr ections only gets 11%. Arizona certainly spend more on prisons than it does on universities - usually described as "higher education".

Education spending can't be 50%, and it's certainly not more than prison spending. I know this because I'm just an American who thought it was about 50%. You're Australian, so you'd know better.

Likewise with our social spending and social behaviors. You're the expert, I've just lived it, with it, and in it.

Cheers, James Arthur

on. Routinely broken laws, zealous "arrest-target" driven enforcement, and public online arrest records.

eir prisons than they do on education, which is to say they are paying a hi gh price for not investing more on education and training in the past.

ion and the creation of a criminal justice system that employs hundreds of thousands and requires ever more arrests to justify its existence."

the US way of life.

where he lives without being prompted.

ectly to education.

maryBook.pdf

of the budget goes on schools and universities, while the Department of Co rrections only gets 11%. Arizona certainly spend more on prisons than it do es on universities - usually described as "higher education".

Jim Thompson is an American who told us that it was 80%. As an ignorant Aus tralian, I found the Arizona governors budget statement, where Jim could ha ve looked it up if he had two neurones to rub together.

As has Jim, and you both see what you want to see, which doesn't have much to do with what you ought to be seeing, and a lot to do with wanting to pay even less tax, no matter how usefully more tax money might be spent.

in keeping the poor healthy and well-educated. Too many of the poor end up unemployable in regular work, and make what they can out of the black econ omy - peddling drugs amongst other things. So the US justice system then co nvicts and incarcerates them - feeding them and housing them at considerabl e expense.

says the most of the children who live below the poverty line are in single parent families, and tries to pretend that if poor mothers got married bef ore they had kids they wouldn't be poor - confusing causation and correlati on in the usual brain-damaged right-wing fashion.

ything close to the earnings of b) a two-parent family of high-school gradu ates, where at least one parent can work full-time?

Obviously not. Nor did I say anything to suggest that.

No. It's a more than usually fatuous straw man, even for you.

ention that if you don't want unwed mothers to have kids, you give them eno ugh support - usually known as "welfare" in this context - to persuade them to graduate from high school.

r.

So you concede that if the state had subsidised these kids more extravagant ly when they were at school - to the extent that they might have graduated from high school - they'd have been less likely to need support as single m others after they'd left school.

Even the most backwards of right-wingers should have been able to see the s ense in that, but not - apparently - one who keeps his telescope jammed aga inst his blind eye.

eye can see.

I haven't had any hand in setting up the US welfare system - which sucks, a nd does produce human carnage. Germany has a more generous welfare system, and doesn't seem to have the same problems.

It would seem to be *your* prescription that's failing to work.

Since you're incapable of firing your mouth in the right direction, it's not surprising that you don't think others know which end of a gun makes noise. You idiot lefties are all the same. Wrong, and proud of it.

Why don't you learn how to post, Slowman?

Why thank you. Truth does beat socialism all to hell.

You need to learn to read what i write and not what you want me to write,