Recession-hit US reels from violence surge

[philw]

http://www.mywire.com/a/AFP/Recessionhit-US-reels-from-violence/9733652?&pbl=251

WASHINGTON (AFP) — A spate of high-profile mass killings in the United States in the past six months show the impact that the economic meltdown is having on rising violence, experts say.
The recession's fallout on victims of domestic violence is also being felt as donation-starved shelters fill to capacity and are forced to turn away abused women.
Criminologist Jack Levin says there is a clear link between the economy and rising body counts.
"A mass killer is someone who has almost always suffered a catastrophic loss -- that's the link between a recession and mass killings," he says, citing the loss of a job, the loss of a lot of money or the loss of a relationship.
With exact motives still being investigated, signs of troubled times were evident this week in a number of gruesome massacres across the country.
A heavily armed gunman shot dead eight people at a North Carolina nursing home, days after six people were killed in an apparent murder-suicide in an upscale neighborhood in northern California's Silicon Valley.
On Saturday US media reported a brutal scene discovered at a Boston home -- a man had stabbed to death his 17-year-old sister, decapitated his five-year-old sister and began stabbing another sister before being shot by police.
Direct correlations may not always immediately surface, but Levin, criminology professor at Northeastern University in Boston, Massachusetts, says the trends are clear.
"Catastrophic losses serve as inspiration, or precipitant," he told AFP.
In a severe recession there are simply more people suffering such a loss, he says.
In an economic downturn, the United States often sees "many more large-body-count murders -- on the job, in the family -- as many more Americans feel desperate in a situation they feel got completely out of control."
Mass killings are almost always "methodical and selective," says Levin, pointing to a similar spike in murders during the early 1990s US recession.
In that period "many workers were being laid off and the number of vengeful workers who killed their bosses skyrocketed.
"And too often these revenge-seeking ex-workers would not only kill their boss, but their co-workers as well."
After the economy unraveled in September and further nosedived into 2009, clusters of large body counts surfaced, linked to the sort of loss Levin describes.

In January a father apparently upset over the loss of his job shot dead his wife and five children before killing himself in a Los Angeles suburb.
In December a gunman dressed as Santa Claus stormed a Los Angeles home of his former in-laws on Christmas Eve and opened fire on his ex-wife and her family, killing nine people before killing himself.
In November a recently fired engineer in California killed three colleagues, and in October a 45-year-old man shot his wife, three children and mother-in-law before killing himself, reportedly because of financial woes.
Domestic abuse also increased during the early 1990s recession, says Levin, and it was clearly linked to the economy.
"Husbands, fathers dedicated to their families as breadwinners lost their jobs and felt they would never again have control over their families."
Cindy Southworth, director of the Safety Net Project at the National Network to End Domestic Violence, warns against labeling recessions as a time for more abuse.
"A bad economy doesn't cause domestic violence, just as a good economy doesn't cure domestic violence," she told AFP.
But Southworth says a bad economy "disproportionately impacts victims of domestic violence, and shelters that support them.
"If there is already domestic violence in a home, an abuser might have lost his job and is now home all day, as opposed to just the evenings. There's more risk time."
Chitra Raghavan, a psychology professor and domestic violence expert at the John Jay College of Criminal Justice in New York, says even if economic downturns don't cause abuse, they make an impact.
"In a recession, if you lose a job, you're not going to going to be able to find another job. That leads to a particular type of hopelessness, and that intensifies in a recession."
Abusers, nearly always men (as are the mass killers), can be "stuck in a cycle: unemployed, humiliated, distrustful, hopeless."
"Previous insecurities get worse, especially if the woman is working and he's not. Longstanding anger can erupt in these moments," says Raghavan.
Southworth says that because financial strings are tightened, shelters get less donations "as requests for help are skyrocketing," and crowded shelters are forced to turn women away.
"What makes it heartbreaking: the amount of courage it takes to call a stranger and say 'I'm in danger, I'm being battered by the person who I love, can you help me?' And then having to say to them 'we're so sorry, our shelter is full.'"
© 2009 AFP

no wonder people are rushing out to get CCW  to protect there selves and Families

[twyacht]

Unfortunately, you can now add Pittsburgh, Pa to the list. Three LEO's killed.

http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5gxAP_ul1xtDvN-3H8XQ5EaI6_7cAD97BR6T00

3 officers killed in Pittsburgh shooting

By RAMIT PLUSHNICK-MASTI – 1 hour ago

PITTSBURGH (AP) — Pittsburgh police say a man wearing a bulletproof vest opened fire on officers during a domestic disturbance call, killing three of them.

Police chief Nate Harper says the motive for Saturday's shooting isn't clear. Friends say the gunman recently had been upset about losing his job and that he feared the Obama administration was poised to ban guns.

The three dead officers are Eric Kelly, Stephen Mayhle and Paul Sciullo III. Kelly had been on the force for 14 years and the other two only two years each. Another officer was shot in the hand and a fifth broke his leg on a fence.

The gunman, 23-year-old Richard Poplawski, was arrested after a four-hour standoff.

THIS IS A BREAKING NEWS UPDATE. Check back soon for further information. AP's earlier story is below.

PITTSBURGH (AP) — A man opened fire on officers during a domestic disturbance call Saturday morning, killing three of them, a police official said. Friends said he recently had been upset about losing his job and that he feared the Obama administration was poised to ban guns.

Neighbors described how a quiet street in the city's Stanton Heights neighborhood turned into a battlefield with hundreds of rounds cracking through the morning air and fallen police officers lying bleeding in the street, their colleagues unable to reach them.

Three officers were killed, said a police official at the scene who spoke on condition of anonymity because was not authorized to talk to the media. Police spokeswoman Diane Richard would only say that at least five officers were wounded, but wouldn't give any other details.

Friends identified the suspect as Richard Poplawski, 23, but police would not immediately confirm his name. The gunman was arrested after a four-hour standoff, police said.

[Sgt Z Squad]

Sorry, but I see a problem bigger than the economic meltdown causing this. I see the destruction of the nuclear family by first, divorce and now homosexual marriage. I see the most innocent, the unborn, as an inconvenience because of a momentary indiscretion or because the men are using women as pieces of meat to satisfy their desires.

I see boys growing up to be men who have never had a positive male role model in their life and have learned to be a man by watching television or playing video games in which you kill the one who insults you or wrongs you or you just want to make your mark.

I see a country that has taken a God who thinks every life is precious in His sight in which He does not want to see perish and replaced it with a view that we are all evolved from a pool of goop and that there is no god, that there is nothing but dirt and worms after this mortal life.

I see a populace who has learned that you can't fail and if you fail, it is the other person's fault. I see a country where if you do something stupid, you sue because you should not have been able to do the stupid stunt.

I see a society who has allowed their brains to grow to mush by indulging in mindless watching and indoctrination by the "know-nots" on television.

I see a society whose education system is showing children that to be successful in school, you memorize the essentials, regurgitate it on a test, forget about it and move on to the next. Critical thinking and analysis-what's that?

I see a society of parents who are more worried about paying for their Beemers and bigger homes while their children are left alone after school to fend for themselves and learn to grow up through MTV, VH1 and Disney.

I see a society who has become complacent on what a special country we have and how much blood has been shed to save the principles so divinely laid out on the pieces of parchments called the United States Constitution and the Bill of Rights.

I see a society who allowed itself to be sold a bill of goods this past November, and voted a person into the most important job in the world because he could read a teleprompter well.

The economic meltdown is the least of our problems.

Amen.

[Hazcat]

Sorry, but I see a problem bigger than the economic meltdown causing this. I see the destruction of the nuclear family by first, divorce and now homosexual marriage. I see the most innocent, the unborn, as an inconvenience because of a momentary indiscretion or because the men are using women as pieces of meat to satisfy their desires.

I see boys growing up to be men who have never had a postive male role model in their life and have learned to be a man by watching television or playing video games in which you kill the one who insults you or wrongs you or you just want to make your mark.

I see a country that has taken a God who thinks every life is precious in His sight and that he does not want to see perish and replaced it with a view that we are all evolved from a pool of goop and that there is no god and that there is nothing but dirt and worms after this mortal life.

I see a populace who has learned that you can't fail and if you fail, it is the other person's fault. I see a country where if you do something stupid, you sue because you should not have been able to do the stupid stunt.

I see a society who has allowed their brains to grow to mush by indulging in mindless watching and indoctrination by the "know-nots" on television.

I see a society whose education system is showing children that to be successful in school, you memorize the essentials, regurgitate it on a test, forget about it and move on to the next. Critical thinking and analysis-what's that?

I see a society of parents who is more worried about paying for their Beemers and second homes while the children are left alone after school to fend for themselves and learn to grow up through MTV, VH1 and Disney.

I see a society who has become complacent on what a special country we have and how much blood has been shed to save the principles so divinely laid out on the piece of parchment called the United States Constitution and the Bill of Rights.

I see a society who allowed itself to be sold a bill of goods this past November, and voted a person into the most important job in the world because he could read a teleprompter well.

The economic meltdown is the least of our problems.

Amen.

HEAR HEAR, Z!

[twyacht]

"America is broken because the american family is broken. We can't run our own families and we expect to run an entire country? It's time to put the Lord back in the driver's seat. We cheat on our wives, fall into drugs, are abusive, unfaithful, unloving, etc. yet we (think we can) teach our kids to grow up and be faithful, sober, loving, slow to anger? This country is falling apart at the seams because the american family is falling apart at the seams...What this country needs more than anything right now is a revival of the Spirit and the family."
CZRev

Along the same lines, we removed God from schools, bicker over Nativity Scenes, its not even Christmas Break anymore, its "winter holiday."

the eroding of this country, will be from the people already IN this country.

[Sponsor]

[tombogan03884]

What the country NEEDS is to have its population reduced by 50 - 75 % in the space of about a week. When survival replaces American Idol as the primary interest of the population you will see a greater emphasis on the proper priorities of life.

Z I see 2 flaws in your post
"I see a country that has taken a God who thinks every life is precious in His sight in which He does not want to see perish and replaced it with a view that we are all evolved from a pool of goop"
http://scripturetext.com/exodus/22-18.htm  Shows us that God has no problem with Capital punishment. I know you were referring to abortion but Exodus  22 - 18 shows us that not ALL life is precious, there are those among us who need to go.
Secondly Creation and Evolution are not mutually exclusive. Explain to me how Creation theory disproves millions of years worth of fossil evidence. Conversely, explain to me how evolution conflicts with Genesis.

[Sgt Z Squad]

Z I see 2 flaws in your post
"I see a country that has taken a God who thinks every life is precious in His sight in which He does not want to see perish and replaced it with a view that we are all evolved from a pool of goop"
http://scripturetext.com/exodus/22-18.htm  Shows us that God has no problem with Capital punishment. I know you were referring to abortion but Exodus  22 - 18 shows us that not ALL life is precious, there are those among us who need to go.

Secondly Creation and Evolution are not mutually exclusive. Explain to me how Creation theory disproves millions of years worth of fossil evidence. Conversely, explain to me how evolution conflicts with Genesis.

Thanks for input: I am an advocate for Capital Punishment. You are right that God gave governments the authority to rid those in society who were wolves. Romans 13:1-6.

As far as Old earth and the Young earth positions; can I suggest you visit Answers In Genesis: http://www.answersingenesis.org or The Institution for Creation Research: http://www.icr.org/

I don't have the space nor the time to explain this. And it is not my job to convince you one way or the other. You need to do the research yourself and come to your own conclusion. There is a lot there that helps with reconciling Scripture from scientists who do believe in the literal account in the original Scriptures. Some of it is quite technical. Take a look at the RATE (Radioisotopes and the Age of The Earth research) project report. I am at peace with what the Scriptures say and my position. How you resolve your questions in your faith journey is between you and God, not me.

Journey well!

[tombogan03884]

Basically I put it in terms I've observed. Creation is the blue print, evolution is the process used to achieve the end result