@eberndl

meurtres (1 pour 56 529 habitants, contre 1 pour 18 321 habitants aux Etats-Unis)
et de viols (1 pour 7 024 habitants, contre 1 pour 3 136 habitants aux Etats-Unis).

MURDERS
----------------
USA 1 per 18 321
FRA 1 per 56 529

3 times higher in USA

RAPES
----------------
USA 1 per 3 136
FRA 1 per 7 024

2.2 times higher in USA

This is what I have found for now but I am still searching to
be sure these numbers are correct

> It is, however, far more violent than any other western democracy in the world
> and those can't compare to the non-violence in a democracy like Japan.
>
> -H. Richard Utzig
>
>
Hmm I wonder how Japan became such a non-violent country. What was their motivation.

> This rant is singing to the choir. Those who agree will say nothing but a
> silent Amen, the rest will continue to shake their fists and raise their
> voices to the Judas Goat of ignorance.
>
Here's a loud AMEN!

> Actually it might not be a good
> idea. It would not make the military industries healthy. War on terror
> does that very well. lol
>
Petit Soleil, In your personal opinion what do you think the US should have done in response to 9/11? Also, hypothetically, what do you think the French government would do if terrorists destroyed the Louvre and Eiffel Tower and killed a few thousand innocent civilians in the process?

> My guess it is societal pressure (perhaps the fear of loosing face?), >
> -H. Richard Utzig
>
>
I figured it was from the result of WW2. When such a small country has such a great military force with dreams of global domination only to be beaten back and have 2 cities vaporized I think that would be such a traumatic experience that they wouldve had a complete mindset reversal.
Now there current situation is US friendly and there is such a trade deficit in their favor its mindboggling. They make something (and of excellent quality), we buy it. Too bad things didnt start off that way.

Berkeley's view: Editorial: Ban Should Be Renewed

Well, the world in general is a violent place however what I truly object to is seeing all the anti American sentiment that is put out there as Gospel.

I know of one way to drop the crime rate in the US. Deport anyone that is not a United States Citizen then start over with some of the tough immigration laws other countries use. Such as "You want to immigrate to (insert country name here) what can you offer us?"

We has so many "international gangs" that think they are still in Jamaica, Viet Nam, Mexico, China and so on. Not only do they bring their thug ways to America, they refuse to become part of America. That is one reason I asked about demographics with the per capita crime data.

California is so lenient of immigrants who after generations still do not or will not speak English, that the State publishes documents (to include Voting materials) in any language you can think of and most of the dialects of those languages that have them. The Elementary School down the street from me has 123 languages spoken there. God forbid that one need speak English in an American School. Can I come to your country (non-English speaking that is) and have you teach me in English because I do not want to learn your language? Of course I expect all the rights and protection that your laws and government provide. I think not.


As for guns, they get all the headlines. People can be murdered by hand, knife, screwdriver, rock, crowbar, thumb to the windpipe, pen, auto/truck, paper clip or what ever else is handy.

You want to point a finger at a country that is violent, pick one that allows by law to kill ones wife or daughter for any indiscretion. Maybe one that beheads the opposition. Those that send tanks and rockets to quell rock throwing children, or bomb the hell out of a city block to get one man. Now that is a violent country in my book.

I have said this many times and I will say it again. It would not hurt my feelings one bit if the United States of America withdrew from all foreign lands, closed its boarders, cut off trade, and became an isolationist country. With our resources there really is nothing that we need to import and the grief of being the worlds whipping boy is not worth the price of being the "World Power".

Let someone else take the heat for a change.

I noticed something that was said earlier that got me thinking. Someone said that they liked for only the police to have guns! That kind of thinking scares the heck out of most Americans. We are not nearly as trusting of our government as most Canadians and Europeans seem to be. I don't know if it is our wish to make sure our rights aren't trampled or what but Europeans seem to be willing to bend over backwards to conform to the standards set by society.

I am certainly not a racist first off. But after looking at my Almanac one thing is very clear. Minorities including African and Mexican both are much more likely to commit crimes than a caucasian in the US. People argue all day long about the reasons for this. Do these other countries like Canada that have a lower crime rate have as many minorities? Carrying a gun is a big responsibility and some people don't want that, others do.

With the US citizens having guns they become an army of several hundred million who could defend our great country, that is very reassuring.


Oh and one more thing, the Assault Weapon ban did not make high capacity magazines illegal, it just made ones made after a certain date illegal. You could always buy older pre-ban ones and have them repaired if they had problems.

> I know of one way to drop the crime rate in the US. Deport anyone that is not
> a United States Citizen then start over with some of the tough immigration
> laws other countries use. Such as "You want to immigrate to (insert country
> name here) what can you offer us?"

But isn't USA based on immigration? Your forefathers were immigrants (unless you are a native american, by which i mean indian).

> I have said this many times and I will say it again. It would not hurt my
> feelings one bit if the United States of America withdrew from all foreign
> lands, closed its boarders, cut off trade, and became an isolationist country.
> With our resources there really is nothing that we need to import and the
> grief of being the worlds whipping boy is not worth the price of being the
> "World Power".

There's a word for this but I can't remember it now. I agree that the us meddles too much in other countries affairs, but to remove yourself from the world is, well, dumb. Your culture would die out, and people would become slaves to the system. That's basically what they did in the east Europe when they build the berlin wall. But that seems to be the american way of thinking. There's the USA and then there's the rest of the world.
As the richest country in the world I think you have a great responsibility, for the wellbeing of other less fortunate countries. There are many small, rich countries that contribute more per capita to nations in distress than the usa. Remember the middle-east has the oil, but USA has the crops. When their oil runs out, they really have a problem.

And back to the topic: Sorry, I just can't see how having more guns bring down the crimerate.
--------------
Ost, nej tak!
--------------

> I noticed something that was said earlier that got me thinking. Someone said
> that they liked for only the police to have guns! That kind of thinking scares
> the heck out of most Americans. We are not nearly as trusting of our
> government as most Canadians and Europeans seem to be. I don't know if it is
> our wish to make sure our rights aren't trampled or what but Europeans seem to
> be willing to bend over backwards to conform to the standards set by society.

Well, Having a gun won't prevent your government to abuse and fool you all the time.
Your government scared you to death with Irak WMD and you believed it and gave him
full "authorisation" to go even if it wasn't true. The power of citizins to have control
over the government decision is made by free speech and protests. In america
those who were against the war in Irak were affaraid to say it publicaly because they
were treated as unpatrioticts!!! who put that in the mind of people? Your government !
Don't be fooled that because you have a gun in your house protects you from your
goverment. The French are far from conforming to the standards set by society and
they do it very well without guns. France is a real democracy and it becaume so thru
is long history. Why Paris is called city of light ? I am sure 75 no 98% of american think
it must be because the city has a lot of bulbes...

> I am certainly not a racist first off. But after looking at my Almanac one
> thing is very clear. Minorities including African and Mexican both are much
> more likely to commit crimes than a caucasian in the US. People argue all day
> long about the reasons for this. Do these other countries like Canada that
> have a lower crime rate have as many minorities? Carrying a gun is a big
> responsibility and some people don't want that, others do.

There are currently 28% of Canadian popullation who are not born here. Toronto
is the most cosmopolitan city in the world. France has 6 millions muslims.
Perhaps the minorities in the US are not threated with respect?

> With the US citizens having guns they become an army of several hundred
> million who could defend our great country, that is very reassuring.

Your country spend 350 billions USD per year in defence since the sixties. It has
by far the biggest army in the world. Now tell me what would it change if citizens
have guns? to protect from who? A cuban or a Canadian Invasion !!! Or maybe an
ET invasion? What are you so scarred of ? Why are americans so insecure ?
Could it be your government want that???? and using the media for it.
I am also not racist and really really not. But it seems to me that americans have
a very strange way to see things. Being self contains, almost no neigbours, you
seem to have a very "limited" visions of the world arround your so great country.
Don't take it bad, really, but I am so sure that Europeans have a much better
understanding of the world and their general culture is much better.

> > Actually it might not be a good
> > idea. It would not make the military industries healthy. War on terror
> > does that very well. lol
> >
> Petit Soleil, In your personal opinion what do you think the US should have
> done in response to 9/11? Also, hypothetically, what do you think the French
> government would do if terrorists destroyed the Louvre and Eiffel Tower and
> killed a few thousand innocent civilians in the process?

I really don't know. But I am almost certain that they would have not annoyed the
hole world like BUSH did.

>
> But isn't USA based on immigration? Your forefathers were immigrants (unless
> you are a native american, by which i mean indian).
>
-
-
Immigration as such has gotten out of control. It is no longer regulated and anyone who arrives by a leaky boat, across the border, or just comes to visit then stays is not the way to run the store.

Yes my forfathers came here from England in 1626, as for the Native Americans, they were killed off by the "Indians" when they came over the Bering land bridge.

The U.S.A is no longer a melting pot it is a dumping ground. You may also noticed that I did not say to stop immigration, reform it to the standards of other countries.

On another subject, we are also one of the few countries that allow the sale of our land to foreign interests. Soon most of California will be owned by Japan and the Arab's.

OFF TOPIC somewhat.

Going to war with Iraq had very little to do with Weapons of Mass Distruction. The threats of WMDs only made the invasion happen sooner. The UN is the one who passed the resolutions saying we could use force if he didn't follow the rules back after the first gulf war. So you could say it was the UNs fault for allowing the use of force. The fanatics in the Middle East need to be wiped out. They live for death and destruction of anyone who doesn't agree with their views. Things have gone so well for the US over in Iraq that it is hard for me to see how anyone could argue against it. We have had miniscule casualties and the people in general seem very happy to have been liberated.

Oh, and the US and Canada have tons of oil. We just sell most of it to Asian countries who pay more than what we do to get it from the Middle East.

>
> You should be glad of all the foreign investment in your country as it is
> helping prop up your economy as the combined government debt and the current
> account deficit is about 1/3 of your economy - a phenomenal outflow of assets
> from your country.
>
-
-
Buying my country is not the same as investing. It is not like they are leasing land and building a useful industry or service oriented business.

We would have fewer problems if our government did not send billions of hard US currency to countries that burn our flag, scream die Yankee dog and swear to see us dead. F them I say and let them continue down the road to hell.

Rebuild the United States first and screw the rest.

> Well, the world in general is a violent place however what I truly object to
> is seeing all the anti American sentiment that is put out there as Gospel.
Exactly, well said!

> I know of one way to drop the crime rate in the US. Deport anyone that is not
> a United States Citizen then start over with some of the tough immigration
> laws other countries use. Such as "You want to immigrate to (insert country
> name here) what can you offer us?"
Well if someone is here illegally and they are caught I think that is the policy. A year ago I was serving on a criminal jury. It was a death penalty case and the defendant was here illegally. I can tell you for a fact that his legal status didnt have any effect on our deliberations whatsoever. Anyone can commit a crime no matter what country they are from. Evil is based by choice and free will, not nationality. Even though I am thoroughly against illegal immigration I have to ask myself what American is willing to pick strawberries for (less than) minimum wage? Pay union members $10-20 an hour to do it would add a zero to the end of your grocery bill. I do think though that rewarding people for being here illegally is wrong. For example all the attempts by the California legislature to give undocumented immigrants official drivers licenses. If I went to a foreign country illegally, without a passport, would they give me a DL? I doubt it. Most likely I'd be arrested and deported back to the US. BTW, the defendant in my case was hispanic. We found him guilty of murder with special circumstances and gave him life in prison. The other defendant (a white american citizen) was also found guilty and he was sentenced to death.

> We has so many "international gangs" that think they are still in Jamaica,
> Viet Nam, Mexico, China and so on. Not only do they bring their thug ways to
> America, they refuse to become part of America. That is one reason I asked
> about demographics with the per capita crime data.
I'm for evicting ALL gang members to Antartica. Let them throw snowballs at each other.

> California is so lenient of immigrants who after generations still do not or
> will not speak English, that the State publishes documents (to include Voting
> materials) in any language you can think of and most of the dialects of those
> languages that have them. The Elementary School down the street from me has
> 123 languages spoken there. God forbid that one need speak English in an
> American School. Can I come to your country (non-English speaking that is)
> and have you teach me in English because I do not want to learn your language?
There was a court case here where English speakers sued bilingual coworkers for harassment because the bilingual ones were speaking badly about them and openly making fun of them since they didnt understand what was being said. Then later on a 3rd party who overheard translated for them. The court actually ruled that it wasnt harassment since they didnt understand it themselves and the employer didnt have to require that English be spoken in the workplace. So if someone harassed me in English I would have a case but if someone harassed me in spanish, french, german, or latin etc I couldnt do anything about it.

> You want to point a finger at a country that is violent, pick one that allows
> by law to kill ones wife or daughter for any indiscretion. Maybe one that
> beheads the opposition. Those that send tanks and rockets to quell rock
> throwing children, or bomb the hell out of a city block to get one man. Now
> that is a violent country in my book.
True. Wasnt the latest bombing in Iraq done at a police academy that killed a lot of civilians standing in line who wanted to recruit? I dont see that going on here in a daily/weekly/monthly/yearly basis.

> I have said this many times and I will say it again. It would not hurt my
> feelings one bit if the United States of America withdrew from all foreign
> lands, closed its boarders, cut off trade, and became an isolationist country.
And yet I think the world and UN wouldnt like that either. We give out billion$ a year in aid. If that were to stop all wouldnt all those nations be upset? Its a damned if you do damned if you dont situation. I do think that the US should be more worried about what goes on within its own borders. We have problems with homelessness, education, crime, medicare and social security that should be dealt with first. Why try to solve everybody elses problems first before they fix our own?

> With our resources there really is nothing that we need to import and the
> grief of being the worlds whipping boy is not worth the price of being the
> "World Power".
Except Oil. Because of the auto industries refusal to produce more cars based on anything but gas. Plus we have the multibillion doller oil/gas industry here that would do everything in their power to keep that oil flowing.

> Let someone else take the heat for a change.
Sounds great to me!

> There's a word for this but I can't remember it now. I agree that the us
> meddles too much in other countries affairs, but to remove yourself from the
> world is, well, dumb. Your culture would die out, and people would become
> slaves to the system. That's basically what they did in the east Europe when
> they build the berlin wall. But that seems to be the american way of thinking.

Exactly what specific culture do you think we have? We have a great mix of many cultures but there is no such thing as a "white america" culture. Why? Because anything having to do with the majority that seperates from the minority is considered racisit. I remember when attending SDSU every month was dedicated to a different culture. Celebrating Black culture, celebrating hispanic culture, celebrating chinese culture, celebrating jewish culture, celebrating muslim culture. But have you ever heard of a White culture celebration? Of course not. It would be labeled as racist. We have the NAACP, the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People, and thats OK. Would this country ever have the NAAWP where W=white? That would be racist. We have the United Negro College Fund and thats OK. Would this country ever have the United Caucasion College Fund? No because that would be racist. Theres also the religion aspect. It seems if youre Christian you get labeled as anti-semitic or anti-muslim or anti-budist. As far as the analogy of the Berlin wall that also kept people from getting out of East Germany. If America closed its borders I think closing would mean "exit only" and you could leave anytime you wanted.