I just read an interesting post on Joejolly’s blog. In the post, he speculates that using Violence to Solve Problems may be contagious. Basically, he speculates that the Bush Administration’s aggressive military endeavors–namely the occupation of Iraq–set an example of using offensive violence for the American people. As a result, American citizens may tend to… Read More

Last week, I posted a link to a short article I wrote in which I argued that society does not need prisons. Shortly after that, I came across a Washington Post article that reports that now more than one in 100 adults in the United States is in jail or prison. According to the article,… Read More

I have come to the conclusion that we do not need prisons. I wrote an article about it: Does Society Need Prisons? Basically, my contention is that we can release anyone who does not have a psychological defect making them so dangerous to others as to warrant putting them in a medical asylum. What do… Read More

Today, I will post the following video about the genocide that happened in Nazi Germany: What do you think of the video? If it interested you, then also check out a post I wrote about genocide: Lo taamod al dam reakha Basically, I explained that fear causes people to stop caring about the lives of… Read More

I watched the State of the Union Address earlier tonight. While he did mention international terrorism and the wars, Bush did not even mention the domestic violent crime problem. He leads the country into a needless war in Iraq that will cost trillions of dollars and has made us less safe. But he does not… Read More

I wish you all a good Martin Luther King Day. But I cannot stop myself from fearing that we let the mission die with the man. Years after Martin Luther King Jr. delivered his message of unity and non-violence, our society still allows violence. We still let our government wage needless, expensive wars overseas. Domestically,… Read More

by Scott Hughes Today I became an administrator of a group on Facebook about the Jewish Holocaust, which refers to when Germany’s National Socialist regime exterminated approximately 6 million European Jews. The group’s title quotes a Hebrew biblical commandment, “Lo taamod al dam reakha,” which means, “You shall not stand idly by the shedding of… Read More

Have you noticed how little attention violent crime has received in national political campaigns? Presidential candidates seem to only give attention to one very specific type of violent crime: terrorism. However, more people in the United States die from regular old murder than from terrorist attacks. If these politicians truly want to protect us, then… Read More

The Associated Press reported today about the hidden costs of war. I include an excerpt: The economic costs of the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan are estimated to total $1.6 trillion — roughly double the amount the White House has requested thus far, according to a new report by Democrats on Congress’ Joint Economic Committee.… Read More

Most of us want to live in a society without rape, murder, theft, vandalism and other forms of victimization and violent crime. Why don’t we do more to stop the violence and victimization? A lack of funding may explain a large part of it. I suggest the following to increase funding for the prevention of… Read More

I recently posted about how I (and every other driver passing through) had been stopped and pestered at a DUI checkpoint. While I was not that bothered by the unwarranted inconvenience, I speculated that it seems indicative of a police state and unconstitutional. Today, I read an article that confirmed my suspicions about DUI checkpoints.… Read More

A Philadelphia newspaper recently reported that U.S. Senator Bob Casey (D-Pa.), U.S. Rep. Allyson Schwartz (D-Philadelphia) and Democrat mayoral candidate Michael Nutter talked about the need for strong federal funding for crime-fighting efforts for the city in North Philadelphia yesterday. I disagree. I do not think the government needs more funding for crime-fighting. Instead, they… Read More