Monday, September 29, 2014


News Clips For The Day


Pro-democracy protests expand in Hong Kong – CBS
AP September 28, 2014, 9:49 PM

HONG KONG - Pro-democracy protests expanded in Hong Kong on Monday, a day after demonstrators upset over Beijing's decision to limit political reforms defied onslaughts of tear gas and appeals from Hong Kong's top leader to go home.

And with rumors swirling, Hong Kong's Chief Executive Leung Chun-ying reassured the public that speculation that the Chinese army might intervene was untrue.

"I hope the public will keep calm. Don't be misled by the rumors. Police will strive to maintain social order, including ensuring smooth traffic and ensuring the public safety," said the Beijing-backed Leung, who is deeply unpopular. He added, "When they carry out their duties, they will use their maximum discretion."

The city's transport department said that besides road closures in areas such as Causeway Bay, Wan Chai and Admiralty - where the protests have been focused - main roads have also been blocked by demonstrators in Mong Kok.

More than 200 bus routes have been canceled or diverted in a city dependent on public transport. Subway exits have also been closed or blocked near protest areas.

The mass protest, which has gathered support from high school students to seniors, is the strongest challenge yet to Beijing's decision to limit democratic reforms for the semi-autonomous city.

The scenes of billowing tear gas and riot police outfitted with long-barreled weapons, rare for this affluent Asian financial hub, are highlighting the authorities' inability to assuage public discontent over Beijing's rejection last month of open nominations for candidates under proposed guidelines for the first-ever elections for Hong Kong's leader, promised for 2017.

Authorities said some schools in areas near the main protest site would be closed, as Leung urged people to go home, obey the law and avoid causing trouble.

"We don't want Hong Kong to be messy," Leung said as he read a statement that was broadcast early Monday.

That came hours after police lobbed canisters of tear gas into the crowd on Sunday evening. The searing fumes sent demonstrators fleeing, though many came right back to continue their protest. The government said 26 people were taken to hospitals.

The protests began with sit-ins over a week earlier by students urging Beijing to grant genuine democratic reforms to this former British colony.

"This is a long fight. I hope the blockade will continue tomorrow, so the whole thing will be meaningful," said 19-year-old Edward Yau, 19, a business and law student. "The government has to understand that we have the ability to undo it if they continue to treat us like we are terrorists."

When China took control of Hong Kong from the British in 1997, it agreed to a policy of "one country, two systems" that allowed the city a high degree of control over its own affairs and kept in place liberties unseen on the mainland. It also promised the city's leader would eventually be chosen through "universal suffrage."

Hong Kong's residents have long felt their city stood apart from mainland China thanks to those civil liberties and separate legal and financial systems.

Beijing's insistence on using a committee to screen candidates on the basis of their patriotism to China - similar to the one that currently hand-picks Hong Kong's leaders - has stoked fears among pro-democracy groups that Hong Kong will never get genuine democracy.

University students began their class boycotts over a week ago and say they will continue them until officials meet their demands for reforming the local legislature and withdrawing the proposal to screen election candidates.

Students and activists have been camped out since late Friday on streets outside the government complex. Sunday's clashes arose when police sought to block thousands of people from entering the protest zone. Protesters spilled onto a busy highway, bringing traffic to a standstill.

In a statement issued after midnight, the Hong Kong police said rumors that they had used rubber bullets to try to disperse protesters were "totally untrue."

Police in blue jumpsuits, wearing helmets and respirators, doused protesters with pepper spray when they tried to rip metal barricades apart.

Thousands of people breached a police cordon Sunday as they tried to join the sit-in, spilling out onto a busy highway and bringing traffic to a standstill.

Although students started the rally, leaders of the broader Occupy Central civil disobedience movement joined them, saying they wanted to kick-start a long-threatened mass sit-in demanding Hong Kong's top leader be elected without Beijing's interference.

Occupy Central issued a statement Monday calling on Leung to resign and saying his "non-response to the people's demands has driven Hong Kong into a crisis of disorder."

The statement added that the protest was now "a spontaneous movement" of all Hong Kong people.

Police said they had arrested 78 people. They also took away several pro-democracy legislators who were among the demonstrators, but later released them.

A police statement said the officers "have exercised restraint and performed their duties in a highly professional manner." It urged the public to not occupy roads so that emergency vehicles can get through.

Among the dozens arrested was 17-year-old Joshua Wong, who was dragged away soon after he led a group of students storming the government complex. He was released Sunday evening.





“Pro-democracy protests expanded in Hong Kong on Monday, a day after demonstrators upset over Beijing's decision to limit political reforms defied onslaughts of tear gas and appeals from Hong Kong's top leader to go home. And with rumors swirling, Hong Kong's Chief Executive Leung Chun-ying reassured the public that speculation that the Chinese army might intervene was untrue. 'I hope the public will keep calm. Don't be misled by the rumors. Police will strive to maintain social order, including ensuring smooth traffic and ensuring the public safety,' said the Beijing-backed Leung, who is deeply unpopular. He added, 'When they carry out their duties, they will use their maximum discretion.'... More than 200 bus routes have been canceled or diverted in a city dependent on public transport. Subway exits have also been closed or blocked near protest areas. The mass protest, which has gathered support from high school students to seniors, is the strongest challenge yet to Beijing's decision to limit democratic reforms for the semi-autonomous city.... The protests began with sit-ins over a week earlier by students urging Beijing to grant genuine democratic reforms to this former British colony. 'This is a long fight. I hope the blockade will continue tomorrow, so the whole thing will be meaningful,' said 19-year-old Edward Yau, 19, a business and law student. 'The government has to understand that we have the ability to undo it if they continue to treat us like we are terrorists.'”


See the following Wikipedia article for information on the history of democracy in China and its opponents.

Chinese skepticism of democracy
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Starting in the mid-eighteenth century, Chinese scholars and politicians debated at length how to deal with the ever-encroaching Western culture. Though Chinese Confucians were initially opposed to Western modes of thinking, it became clear that aspects of the West were appealing. Industrialization gave the West an economic and military advantage. The devastating defeats of the First and Second Opium Wars compelled a segment of Chinese politicians and intellectuals to rethink their notion of cultural and political superiority.[1]

Democracy entered the Chinese consciousness because it was the government of the West, potentially responsible for its industrial, economic and military advancements. A segment of Chinese scholars and politicians became persuaded that democratization and industrialization were imperative for a competitive China. In response, a number of scholars resisted the idea, saying democracy and Westernization had no place in traditional Chinese culture. What most agreed upon was Liang Shuming's opinion that democracy and traditional Chinese society were completely incompatible, and China’s only choice was either wholesale Westernization or complete rejection of the West.[2] The debate centered around the philosophical compatibility of traditional Chinese Confucian beliefs and the technologies of the West.[3]
At a fundamental philosophical level, Confucian tradition is contingent upon an idea articulated by Thomas Metzger as epistemological optimism. This expresses the belief that it is possible to understand the essence of high morality and design policies and laws that reflect that knowledge. ….The modern conception of liberal democracy is grounded in the opposing principle of ideological pessimism. This denies that such knowledge is possible, thus the theory and practice of liberal democracy does not make rules in the pursuit of high morality.[4]

A primary motivation within traditional Chinese philosophy is to preserve social harmony. It looks unfavorably upon anyone who attempts to disrupt this placidity. The election process that takes place in modern liberal democracy directly opposes this ideal. ... Chinese Confucians consider these controversial issues to be cleavages within the fabric of social harmony. Western politicians rely on utilizing these social cleavages to garner support from voters. In Chinese culture it would be proprieties for a politician to exploit these social cleavages to achieve the personal goal of getting elected. ,,,,

Another motivation in Chinese culture is to benefit the common good. Modern liberal democracy is based upon the self-interest of each voter. Voters are encouraged to choose an official that benefits them and promotes their interests. Elected representatives serve the interests of their individual constituents. …. Consequently, people of a traditionalist Chinese perspective tend to believe that the collective good of the people is under-represented in a democracy, which instead reflects majoritarianism.[6]

Confucian societies are centered around familial relationships; an individual had no authority to revolt against these societal ties. An individual disconnected from the family is widely considered an outcast and relegated to the bottom of the social ladder.

Confucianism lacks a universal reverence for the individual; personal status in Confucian communities is inexorably linked to one’s position within the social hierarchy. In this context, many individual rights cannot exist in the same way they do in the West. Naturally the right of the individual to partake in the direct appointment of a ruling official is an ideological inconsistency with traditional Confucian society.[9]

Disassociation of democracy and well-being –

The economic success of Firstly, the boom of the Four Tigers and other growing Asian economies has severed the links between Western culture and material wealth in the eyes of many Chinese. In the early 1900s, scholars like Liang Qichao conflated democracy and power.  Confucian and authoritarian societies has debunked the idea that wholesale adoption of Western beliefs such as Democracy are requisite for economic success.
The Chinese see democracy as enabling social ills to spread through the U.S. Increasing rates of divorce, homosexuality[citation needed] and other trends are viewed as the negative results of the relaxed social control in the U.S.

Proposal for a Confucian society –

Scholars and governmental officials alike recognize the weakening grasp of the People’s Republic of China. It is becoming more and more clear that drastic political changes are in China’s future. The aforementioned philosophical debates suggest the necessity for a governmental system that is in line with Confucian beliefs. Many view liberal democracy as unfit for modern China and its traditions of legalism and Confucianism.[10]
Pan Wei addresses these issues and promotes a system of governance that is more appropriate for a Confucian society. He blends aspects of democracy, like governmental responsiveness to the will of the people, with Confucian values like social harmony. The proposed Consultative Rule of Law supersedes individual interest groups and promotes the good of the people at large. Pan’s system also directly addresses China’s most crippling shortcomings, most notably corruption. Identified as the largest problem in China’s current government, corruption among officials is directly tied to the institutional structure of the PRC. An institutional shift to consultative rule of law would serve to alleviate corruption and evolve from authoritarianism, all while promoting the traditional values of a Confucian society.[11]




American thought comes from European Enlightenment thinking of philosophers who boosted the position of the individual to a point that is more equal to that of noblemen and landowners, who had literally owned all the land, while the serfs did all the farm work, and were not free to leave the land to set up businesses in the towns. They were legally bound to the landowners.

In 1381 England experienced what is called the Peasant's Revolt, under the influence of radical cleric John Ball and led by a Wat Tyler. He and his rebels marched on London, causing King Richard II to retreat to the Tower of London, from which he acceded to the peasants' demands the next day, including the abolition of serfdom.

For Western thinkers to go back to a time of terrible repression like the Middle Ages is unthinkable, and to me it is impossible to understand things like the social pressure to conform to a very high degree, as is expressed in the Japanese saying “the nail that sticks up will be hammered down.” That is how they view individualism. In the Wikipedia article above on China and democratic thinking, Confucianism seems to be very similar in its philosophy to that statement, which isn't surprising since Confucianism has been an influence in Japan, too. It is equally not surprising, however, that the Chinese who were born in Taiwan and grew up under British rule, would be considerably more democratic in their temperament and philosophy than those living under the Confucian way of thinking. I can't help hoping that they will succeed in establishing a truly democratic government there. The Chinese government's failure to put democratic reforms in place as they promised will not be taken lightly by those people, I don't think.






ISIS-held oil refinery in Syria hit by U.S.-led strikes, locals say
CBS/AP September 28, 2014, 8:35 AM

SANILURFA, Turkey - Residents of a Turkish border town say that U.S.-led coalition warplanes have struck an oil refinery controlled by the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria.

They say the airstrikes hit the Tel Abyad refinery in the early hours of Sunday, a few hundred yards from the Turkish town of Akcakale.

"There was an explosion and I jumped out of bed," said Akcakale businessman Mehmet Ozer.

The U.S.-led coalition has been targeting oil installations controlled by the militants, aiming to cripple revenue sources for the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS, also known as ISIL,) estimated at some $3 million a day.

The United States and five Arab allies launched an aerial campaign against ISIS fighters Tuesday with the aim of rolling back and ultimately crushing the extremist group, which has created a proto-state spanning the Syria-Iraq border.

On Saturday, U.S. Central Command said airstrikes targeted ISIS militants attacking a town near the Turkish border for the first time, as well as positions in the country's east.

Fighter jets and drones conducted a total of seven airstrikes in Syria Friday and Saturday, Central Command said. Jordan, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates participated in the strikes with the U.S. Air Force and the U.S. Navy.

ISIS' assault on the Syrian Kurdish town of Kobani has sent more than 100,000 refugees streaming across the border into Turkey in recent days as Kurdish forces from Iraq and Turkey have raced to the front lines to defend the town.

CBS News national security correspondent David Martin reports that the strike near Kobani was intended to take some of the pressure off of the town.

Central Command said an ISIS building and two armed vehicles at the Kobani border crossing were destroyed.

Nawaf Khalil, a spokesman for Syria's Kurdish Democratic Union Party, or PYD, said the strikes near Kobani, also known as Ayn Arab, destroyed two tanks. He said the jihadi fighters later shelled the town, wounding a number of civilians.

The strikes also destroyed an ISIS vehicle south of Al-Hasakah in eastern Syria and several buildings near Al-Hasakah that were part of an ISIS garrison, Central Command said. The strikes also damaged an ISIS command and control facility near Manbij in Syria's north.




“Residents of a Turkish border town say that U.S.-led coalition warplanes have struck an oil refinery controlled by the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria. They say the airstrikes hit the Tel Abyad refinery in the early hours of Sunday, a few hundred yards from the Turkish town of Akcakale. 'There was an explosion and I jumped out of bed,' said Akcakale businessman Mehmet Ozer. The U.S.-led coalition has been targeting oil installations controlled by the militants, aiming to cripple revenue sources for the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS, also known as ISIL,) estimated at some $3 million a day.... Jordan, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates participated in the strikes with the U.S. Air Force and the U.S. Navy. ISIS' assault on the Syrian Kurdish town of Kobani has sent more than 100,000 refugees streaming across the border into Turkey in recent days as Kurdish forces from Iraq and Turkey have raced to the front lines to defend the town.... Nawaf Khalil, a spokesman for Syria's Kurdish Democratic Union Party, or PYD, said the strikes near Kobani, also known as Ayn Arab, destroyed two tanks. He said the jihadi fighters later shelled the town, wounding a number of civilians. The strikes also destroyed an ISIS vehicle south of Al-Hasakah in eastern Syria and several buildings near Al-Hasakah that were part of an ISIS garrison, Central Command said. The strikes also damaged an ISIS command and control facility near Manbij in Syria's north.”

It is too bad that we have to be involved in so many little wars in the Middle East, but as terrorist groups keep proliferating it is a necessity. ISIS in particular is a major threat, as their goal is conquest over a vast swath of land over two countries. I have never been a pacifist, though I am a Democrat, so I approve of Obama's actions. I am grateful that a number of the Middle Eastern countries are joining in the fight against them, and I will check on events from time to time to see what is being achieved.

I still say the US needs to arm the Kurds in Syria, Iraq and Turkey, however, because they are really good fighters and motivated to defend their country against ISIS. Last night's TV news showed a gathering of 50 or so Kurds who were watching the fighting between Kurds and ISIS and cheering loudly as though they were watching a sports event when the Kurds made an advance. Several men from that group then ran down to the join the fighting, though they didn't have weapons.





Afghanistan gets new president, replacing longtime leader Hamid Karzai – CBS
AP  September 29, 2014, 3:15 AM

KABUL, Afghanistan -- Ashraf Ghani Ahmadzai was sworn in Monday as Afghanistan's new president, replacing Hamid Karzai in the country's first democratic transfer of power since the 2001 U.S.-led invasion toppled the Taliban.

Moments after Ghani Ahmadzai took the oath, he swore in his election challenger, Abdullah Abdullah, as chief executive, fulfilling a political pledge he had taken to share power and defuse election tensions that had threatened to spark violence between the country's north and south.

Ghani Ahmadzai, a former World Bank official and Afghan finance minister, wore a dark black turban popular in the country's south as he swore in his two vice presidents and then Abdullah.

Abdullah, a former foreign minister, spoke first and thanked Karzai for his service and the people of the country for casting votes in the millions despite the threat of attack from Taliban militants who tried to thwart the election process.

"We are committed as one in the national unity government," Abdullah said. "Our commitment will be fulfilled together as unified team to create national unity."

Ghani Ahmadzai then congratulated Karzai for a peaceful and democratic transition of power, and he thanked Abdullah for making the national unity government possible.

"I am not better than anyone from among you. If I do any good, give me your support. If I go wrong, set me right," Ghani Ahmadzai said.

Karzai - the only president Afghanistan and the West have known since the invasion - wore a wide smile as he greeted his presidential guards upon entering the palace. Karzai has said he is glad to be stepping down after more than a decade of what the U.S. ambassador recently said was one of the most difficult jobs in the world.

The inauguration caps a nearly six-month election season that began when ballots were first cast in April. A runoff election in June between Ghani Ahmadzai and Abdullah stretched on for weeks as both sides leveled charges of fraud. The United Nations helped carry out what it said was the most thorough recount in its history, a count that reduced Ghani Ahmadzai's vote percentage from 56 percent to 55 percent, but still gave him the win.

But the real power struggle was taking place in marathon talks between the two sides, often brokered by U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry and other U.S. officials. The political deal the sides agreed to created the new position of chief executive that Abdullah will now fill.

U.S. officials have said they expect Ghani Ahmadzai to sign a security agreement with the U.S. shortly after his inauguration to allow about 10,000 American troops to stay in the country after the international combat mission ends on Dec. 31.

Even as the inauguration unfolded in the heavily guarded presidential palace, two bomb attacks took place on the road connecting the country's main airport with the palace. A roadside bomb didn't result in any deaths or injuries, but a second attack about a half mile from the airport by a suicide bomber killed six or seven people, police officer Abdul Latif said.

A bigger attack took place in the eastern province of Paktia. Police Capt. Mohammed Hekhlas said a car bomb exploded near a government compound as gunmen attacked, sparking a gun battle that killed seven Taliban militants. Another police official, who gave his name as Azimullah, said four police officers and two civilians also were killed.

The inauguration took place eight days after the political deal was signed between Ghani Ahmadzai and Abdullah. Though Kerry played a big role in the political deal, the short notice of the inauguration date and events elsewhere in the Middle East did not enable him to attend. Instead, the U.S. was represented by John Podesta, counselor to President Obama. Other notable guests included Pakistan President Mamnoon Hussain and Indian Vice President Mohammad Hamid Ansari.




“Ashraf Ghani Ahmadzai was sworn in Monday as Afghanistan's new president, replacing Hamid Karzai in the country's first democratic transfer of power since the 2001 U.S.-led invasion toppled the Taliban. Moments after Ghani Ahmadzai took the oath, he swore in his election challenger, Abdullah Abdullah, as chief executive, fulfilling a political pledge he had taken to share power and defuse election tensions that had threatened to spark violence between the country's north and south.... 'We are committed as one in the national unity government,' Abdullah said. 'Our commitment will be fulfilled together as unified team to create national unity.' Ghani Ahmadzai then congratulated Karzai for a peaceful and democratic transition of power, and he thanked Abdullah for making the national unity government possible....U.S. officials have said they expect Ghani Ahmadzai to sign a security agreement with the U.S. shortly after his inauguration to allow about 10,000 American troops to stay in the country after the international combat mission ends on Dec. 31.... Though Kerry played a big role in the political deal, the short notice of the inauguration date and events elsewhere in the Middle East did not enable him to attend. Instead, the U.S. was represented by John Podesta, counselor to President Obama. Other notable guests included Pakistan President Mamnoon Hussain and Indian Vice President Mohammad Hamid Ansari.”

Achieving peaceful elections and a politically balanced government is grounds for congratulations, to Kerry and the two new political leaders. I was glad to see that Karzai “wore a wide smile.” He hadn't been so happy in the last days of his presidency. He was unhappy with the way US soldiers sometimes acquitted themselves during the war, especially the practice of bursting into private homes looking for Taliban and the setting up of prisons in which CIA and others administered torture to extract information. I was not proud of that, though I could see the need behind those actions. The Taliban are fighters one day and regular citizens the next. Catching them and their leaders wasn't easy. The jihadists are based, an article a couple of years ago said, in the tribal areas of Pakistan and Afghanistan, and who joins the militants results directly from their family relationships, so in a way, those ordinary citizens are not “innocent.” Still, breaking into a house and terrorizing women and children didn't make friends for the US. Peaceful Islamic people have to ostracize the fundamentalist radicals and take over the Islamic religion again.

I don't like rhymed poetry in general, but this one is an exception.
http://www.poetryfoundation.org/poem/173698 –

Abou Ben Adhem
BY LEIGH HUNT

Abou Ben Adhem (may his tribe increase!)
Awoke one night from a deep dream of peace,
And saw, within the moonlight in his room,
Making it rich, and like a lily in bloom,
An angel writing in a book of gold:—
Exceeding peace had made Ben Adhem bold,
And to the presence in the room he said,
"What writest thou?"—The vision raised its head,
And with a look made of all sweet accord,
Answered, "The names of those who love the Lord."
"And is mine one?" said Abou. "Nay, not so,"
Replied the angel. Abou spoke more low,
But cheerly still; and said, "I pray thee, then,
Write me as one that loves his fellow men."

         The angel wrote, and vanished. The next night
It came again with a great wakening light,
And showed the names whom love of God had blest,
And lo! Ben Adhem's name led all the rest.





At least a dozen arrests in Ferguson
CBS/AP September 29, 2014, 4:15 AM

At least a dozen people were arrested Sunday night in Ferguson, Missouri as a large crowd gathered in front of the city's police headquarters, St. Louis County Police report.

Officers said bottles and rocks were thrown at Ferguson officers.

According to CBS St. Louis affiliate KMOV-TV, police said many of the arrests were on allegations of either not following orders from police or agitating the crowd.

Separately, authorities searched Sunday for a suspect in the shooting of a police officer in Ferguson, the St. Louis suburb where there have been .angry protests since a white officer fatally shot an unarmed 18-year-old black man last month

Although there were two protests about the Aug. 9 shooting of Michael Brown happening when the officer was shot Saturday night, St. Louis County Police Chief Jon Belmar said at a news conference early Sunday he didn't think they were related to the wounding of the officer.

St. Louis County Police Sgt. Brian Schellman, a police spokesman, said in an email that only one suspect was involved in the shooting, not two as earlier reported.

The suspect was standing outside a closed community center when the officer approached Saturday night. The suspect fled and the officer gave chase. That's when the man turned and shot him in the arm, police said.

Belmar said the officer returned fire, but that police have no indication that anyone else was shot.

The officer was treated and released from a hospital, Schellman said.

Schellman said he didn't know why the body camera the wounded officer was wearing was turned off during the shooting.

The shooting comes amid simmering tension between community members and police in Ferguson, where two-thirds of the residents are black, but only three of the city's 53 police officers are African-American. The shooting of Brown and police response to the protests stoked a national discourse about police tactics and race.

On Saturday, Brown's parents told The Associated Press they were unmoved by a videotaped apology released days earlier by Ferguson Police Chief Tom Jackson,whose attempt to march with protesters Thursday night sparked a clash that led to several arrests.

When asked whether Jackson should be fired, Brown's mother, Lesley McSpadden, said he should be. Brown's father, Michael Brown Sr., said rather than an apology, they would like Darren Wilson, the officer who shot their son, to be arrested.

A county grand jury is weighing whether to indict Wilson in Brown's shooting.

The Justice Department, which is investigating whether Brown's civil rights were violated, is conducting a broader probe into the Ferguson police department. On Friday, it urged Jackson to ban his officers from wearing bracelets supporting Wilson while on duty and from covering up their name plates with black tape. The bracelets, which sparked complaints from Ferguson residents, are black with "I am Darren Wilson" in white lettering.




“At least a dozen people were arrested Sunday night in Ferguson, Missouri as a large crowd gathered in front of the city's police headquarters, St. Louis County Police report. Officers said bottles and rocks were thrown at Ferguson officers. According to CBS St. Louis affiliate KMOV-TV, police said many of the arrests were on allegations of either not following orders from police or agitating the crowd. Separately, authorities searched Sunday for a suspect in the shooting of a police officer in Ferguson, the St. Louis suburb where there have been angry protests since a white officer fatally shot an unarmed 18-year-old black man last month. … Belmar said the officer returned fire, but that police have no indication that anyone else was shot. The officer was treated and released from a hospital, Schellman said. Schellman said he didn't know why the body camera the wounded officer was wearing was turned off during the shooting....

The body camera was turned off – ill will, or forgetfulness? That was one complaint against the use of body cams given in an article several weeks ago, that there is no guarantee the officers will use them correctly. I am discouraged by the continued police behavior in Ferguson. It's been one thing after another ever since the situation exploded. I think the Justice Department needs to press the police chief to resign, as the blacks there want, or maybe they can make a case against him for malfeasance. It appears to me that there is a need for a large group of the Ferguson police officers to be fired and others, perhaps say 20 new black officers, be hired. The city government needs to elect some black members, too, and enact some new laws like stopping the practice of giving out a great many tickets for mainly small infringements in order to raise money for the town. The town needs a better source of income than that, and fines of $100.00 or so for failing to use a seat belt counts up after awhile for poor people. The city should vote in a sales tax or something.





"Yes means yes" becomes law in California
CBS/AP  September 28, 2014, 10:21 PM

SACRAMENTO, Calif. - Gov. Jerry Brown announced Sunday that he has signed a bill that makes California the first in the nation to define when "yes means yes" and adopt requirements for colleges to follow when investigating sexual assault reports.

State lawmakers last month approved SB967 by Sen. Kevin de Leon, D-Los Angeles, as states and universities across the U.S. are under pressure to change how they handle rape allegations. Campus sexual assault victims and women's advocacy groups delivered petitions to Brown's office on Sept. 16 urging him to sign the bill.

De Leon has said the legislation will begin a paradigm shift in how college campuses in California prevent and investigate sexual assaults. Rather than using the refrain "no means no," the definition of consent under the bill requires "an affirmative, conscious and voluntary agreement to engage in sexual activity."

"With one in five women on college campuses experiencing sexual assault, it is high time the conversation regarding sexual assault be shifted to one of prevention, justice, and healing," de Leon said in lobbying Brown for his signature.

The legislation says silence or lack of resistance does not constitute consent. Under the bill, someone who is drunk, drugged, unconscious or asleep cannot grant consent.

In a "CBS Evening News" report last month, UCLA senior Savanah Badalich, an advocate for the law, used her own personal experience of being raped to describe its significance.

"I had said 'no' numerous times. But after a while, I just stopped saying anything at all," she said. "I don't think had I said 'no' nine times versus the eight times that I did, it would have made a difference, so I just stopped talking. And that could technically be used against me without this affirmative consent bill."

Lawmakers say consent can be nonverbal, and universities with similar policies have outlined examples as a nod of the head or moving in closer to the person.

Advocates for victims of sexual assault supported the change as one that will provide consistency across campuses and challenge the notion that victims must have resisted assault to have valid complaints.

The bill requires training for faculty reviewing complaints so that victims are not asked inappropriate questions when filing complaints. The bill also requires access to counseling, health care services and other resources.

When lawmakers were considering the bill, critics said it was overreaching and sends universities into murky legal waters. Some Republicans in the Assembly questioned whether statewide legislation is an appropriate venue to define sexual consent between two people.

There was no opposition from Republicans in the state Senate.

Gordon Finley, an adviser to the National Coalition for Men, wrote an editorial asking Brown not to sign the bill. He argued that "this campus rape crusade bill" presumes the guilt of the accused.

SB967 applies to all California post-secondary schools, public and private, that receive state money for student financial aid. The California State University and University of California systems are backing the legislation after adopting similar consent standards this year.

UC President Janet Napolitano recently announced that the system will voluntarily establish an independent advocate to support sexual assault victims on every campus. An advocacy office also is a provision of the federal Survivor Outreach and Support Campus Act proposed by U.S. Sen. Barbara Boxer and Rep. Susan Davis of San Diego, both Democrats.




“Gov. Jerry Brown announced Sunday that he has signed a bill that makes California the first in the nation to define when "yes means yes" and adopt requirements for colleges to follow when investigating sexual assault reports. State lawmakers last month approved SB967 by Sen. Kevin de Leon, D-Los Angeles, as states and universities across the U.S. are under pressure to change how they handle rape allegations. Campus sexual assault victims and women's advocacy groups delivered petitions to Brown's office on Sept. 16 urging him to sign the bill. De Leon has said the legislation will begin a paradigm shift in how college campuses in California prevent and investigate sexual assaults. Rather than using the refrain 'no means no,' the definition of consent under the bill requires 'an affirmative, conscious and voluntary agreement to engage in sexual activity.'... The legislation says silence or lack of resistance does not constitute consent. Under the bill, someone who is drunk, drugged, unconscious or asleep cannot grant consent.... 'I don't think had I said 'no' nine times versus the eight times that I did, it would have made a difference, so I just stopped talking. And that could technically be used against me without this affirmative consent bill.' Lawmakers say consent can be nonverbal, and universities with similar policies have outlined examples as a nod of the head or moving in closer to the person. Advocates for victims of sexual assault supported the change as one that will provide consistency across campuses and challenge the notion that victims must have resisted assault to have valid complaints. ... SB967 applies to all California post-secondary schools, public and private, that receive state money for student financial aid. The California State University and University of California systems are backing the legislation after adopting similar consent standards this year.... An advocacy office also is a provision of the federal Survivor Outreach and Support Campus Act proposed by U.S. Sen. Barbara Boxer and Rep. Susan Davis of San Diego, both Democrats.”

“Gordon Finley, an adviser to the National Coalition for Men, wrote an editorial asking Brown not to sign the bill. He argued that "this campus rape crusade bill" presumes the guilt of the accused.” See the thinkprogress article below on NCFM and perhaps the Wikipedia article on the subject of the group, which began in the 1970's.

In that women have undoubtedly sometimes accused a man of rape when it was consent or even seduction, if those situations are present and brought out in trial, then the man should definitely be acquitted. However, under this new law, the woman's consent must be an unequivocal “YES” and not “a nod of the head” or “moving closer” to the man.

Likewise, if a woman assaults a man they should be liable for arrest and conviction. The man would have to have her arrested, though, rather than simply beating her up in revenge. It is high time couples stopped fighting when they disagree. People in general need to use words and not force. Domestic abuse is not an acceptable part of a loving relationship. Women should not hit men any more than men should hit women. It's a severe abuse, whoever does it.

As for rape, a sexual liaison is either consensual or not. The rise of a drug called Rohypnol began to appear in cases about twenty years ago, which renders a woman unable to resist and often leads to amnesia surrounding the rape. It was called “the date rape drug.” The act of sex with a woman who is incapacitated is rape. Long before the date rape drug, however, there was alcohol. As the old phrase went among college men, “Candy is dandy, but liquor is quicker.”

However, the very lovemaking process as it proceeds tends to confuse the issue of whether the “No” is timely enough, as each person becomes more and more aroused by the minute. Women and men need to be taught not to be involved with “petting” which is, of course, nothing but “foreplay,” until they are old enough to consent to sex, as it leads to increased arousal on both sides, possibly beyond the point of control. Men and women drinking heavily together is often the cause of their mental control becoming deadened, with both proceeding from step one to step two at a rapid pace.

It is, in a way, unfair for a woman to suddenly put a halt to something which she was actively pursuing just a few minutes beforehand. Let's face it, though, NO is still NO, even if it isn't uttered in the very beginning. Also, a woman never knows how rough the man will be. Men are not all “lovers.” When that happens it is rape, even if there had been some consent in the beginning. These things, when brought out in court should cause a judgment of rape, because the truth is, women are generally weaker than the man and unable to fight him off. “Rough sex” is rape. Many a married woman has been raped by her husband in that way.

The articles on this subject which appeared a month or so ago and this one today dealt with the issue of how college administrations should handle it, and it is my position that they shouldn't. They should immediately involve the police instead, because even if it happens on a college campus and in a dating situation, it is still the same thing as if the woman were walking down the street and were suddenly assaulted – the “classic” case of rape. It is a crime wherever it occurs and should be tried in the courts unless the woman is too afraid of the man to testify against him. If she is, sometimes the police can set up protection for her as with any assault or threat. She may also want to buy a hand gun and learn how to shoot it. I think colleges in the past have been dealing with it as though it were the misbehavior of two kids, but a nineteen year old is no kid, and if sexual activity has occurred against the woman's will it is a crime. So I think this new law is a step forward, but it still doesn't solve the problem of women who don't get justice because the campus system judges them to be “provocative” or consenting.

This article on the National Coalition For Men is very interesting. The fact is that women's rights have been unfair since the beginning of time in most human cultures, and if women want to vote, argue with their husbands, go to college, run for political office, own property, refuse the advances of any man, choose to marry nobody at all, make love to a woman, get alimony as a part of a fair divorce settlement or other rights that they have only won in the 1900's, I think that is fine. Just because men aren't little kings anymore doesn't make them abused by women or the law. See the following article on the NCFM.

http://thinkprogress.org/health/2012/05/16/485285/ncfm-vawa/

Misogynistic ‘Men’s Rights’ Group Endorses GOP Version Of Violence Against Women Act
BY IGOR VOLSKY POSTED ON MAY 16, 2012

Most women’s rights and LGBT equality organizations are opposing the GOP’s version of the Violence Against Women Act (VAWA), which removes the protections for marginalized communities from the Senate’s version of the bill.

But at least one group is coming to the GOP’s defense. The National Coalition for Men (NCFM) has released a statement arguing that the Republican alternative will “ensure more of the abused are better served” and provide protections for the “true victims” of domestic violence — heterosexual men:

Those opposing H.R. 4970 loudly assert that VAWA serves all people, which is absurd on its face given the name of the Act. Opposing versions, by omission and lack of specificity generally exclude men, particularly heterosexual men, regardless of specious arguments to the contrary.
We cannot adequately address violence related issues by excluding half of the population, allowing precious resources to be squandered for ideological purposes, empowering false accusers at the expense of the true victims, and letting malfeasance and maladministration to run unchecked without holding applicable administrators accountable.

Their accusation is hard to take seriously. The Senate version of VAWA “builds on the efforts of previous reauthorizations to better address the needs of male victims of domestic and sexual violence” and, by prohibiting VAWA-funded programs from discriminating on the basis of sexual orientation (gay men) and increasing the number of visas offered to undocumented victims of domestic violence (so-called “U Visas”), it does more to help abused men than the House alternative.

But the NCFM’s long history of advancing misogynistic causes suggests that it’s not interested in addressing actual domestic violence. For instance, the group sued a strip club in California for offering free admission to women during Ladies’ Night, threatened to sue the organizers of a cycling festival for including a “Ladies Activities Day” that was intended to promote the involvement of women and girls in cycling (because women would have been admitted for free) and essentially criticized Rihanna for fighting back against Chris Brown’s abuse.





Who's Buried In The 'Magnificent' Tomb From Ancient Greece? – NPR
by JOANNA KAKISSIS
September 29, 2014

Early last month, on a hill outside a tiny, windy village of almond and tobacco farmers in northeastern Greece, veteran archaeologist Katerina Peristeri announced that she and her team had discovered what is believed to be the biggest tomb in Greece.

The "massive, magnificent tomb," Peristeri told reporters, is likely connected to the ancient Greek kingdom of Macedonia, which, in the fourth century B.C. produced Alexander the Great.

Shortly after Peristeri's announcement, Greek Prime Minister Antonis Samaras held his own press conference at the site — known as Amphipolis — declaring it an "exceptionally important discovery" from the "earth of our Macedonia."

And since then there have been daily reports in the Greek media, even though Peristeri and her team have refused interviews. They release each tidbit of news — each discovery of a caryatid, sphinx and other impressive artifacts — in press releases through the Greek Ministry of Culture.

Speculation over who is buried in the tomb has drawn a steady stream of visitors to nearby Mesolakkia, where the village's president — Athanassios Zounatzis, a silver-haired, retired tobacco farmer — now doubles as a tour guide.

"We've seen tour buses full of German tourists, the Dutch have gone, even a few American families," he says. "And they all ask, 'Where is the tomb?' But they leave disappointed, because they don't even get a glimpse."

That's because Greek police have set up a roadblock to the excavation, which left Bernard Boehler, an art historian from Vienna, looking longingly at a grassy hill obscuring the site.

"Needless to say, we are more than curious to see a little bit more, but we realize there is heavy surveillance and we can't come closer," Boehler says.

Archaeologists say the secrecy and security surrounding the tomb is about keeping the facts straight. They're also worried that visitors could get hurt at the partially excavated site.

But retired sanitation worker Giorgos Karaiskakis, who has visited the roadblock to the site three times, says he suspects the measures are also related to the conflict with neighboring Macedonia — the former Yugoslav republic — over who owns Alexander the Great. This discovery, he says, is just more proof that Alexander belongs to Greece.

"This great discovery doesn't get us out of the crisis, because if you don't have money, what are you going to do?" he says. "But it shows one more time that Macedonia is here, OK? Not up there with the Slavs."

Regardless of where Macedonia is, the tomb likely doesn't hold its most famous son, Alexander, who died at age 32 in Babylon, now in modern-day Iraq. It also doesn't likely hold his immediate family, such as his son Alexander IV, who is likely buried at one of the royal tombs in Aigai, the ancient first capital of Macedonia which is located near the present-day northern Greek city of Vergina, and also likely contains the remains of Alexander's father, Philip II.

So who might be buried there?

Robin Lane Fox, a noted historian at Oxford University and an expert on ancient Macedonia, says the existing scholarship suggests the tomb might belong to a top admiral in Alexander's empire-expanding Macedonian army, someone such as Nearchus, Alexander's best friend since childhood.

In Plutarch's Life of Alexander, another important friend of Alexander's — Demaratus of Corinth — was honored with an individual grave mound over his burial site that is comparable in size to the one at Amphipolis, Lane Fox says.

"So my suspicion is that this is a very high-ranking companion in Alexander's former army, who has returned back or has been returned back as a body to his home in Amphipolis," he says.

But Olga Palagia, an archaeologist at the University of Athens, suspects that the Amphipolis tomb might not be Greek at all — but Roman.

"Nobody has realized that Amphipolis was a very significant place in the first century B.C. because it was the headquarters of a huge Roman army led by Marc Antony and Octavian when they were fighting Brutus and Cassius, who had killed Julius Caesar," she says.

Palagia, an expert in ancient sculpture, hasn't visited the site, but says the Amphipolis sculptures look Roman, not Greek. If the tomb is a monument to Roman generals, she says, it won't mean much to Greece.

"Modern Greeks are very insular, inward looking and extremely traumatized by the financial crisis," she says. "I think they will feel really cheated if it's not Greek."

Peristeri, the lead archaeologist in Amphipolis, insists that the site is Greek, beyond a doubt.

That's also the sentiment back at Mesolakkia, where the townspeople remember a Greek archaeologist named Dimitris Lazaridis, who first discovered the Amphipolis mound in the 1950s but ran out of money to excavate it. Lazaridis said he also suspected that the tomb contained a major Macedonian tomb.

"He was sure of it," says Alexandros Kochliariades, who worked for 30 years as a guard for Lazaridis, who excavated other sites in the area. "Now, so many years later, his hypothesis is turning out to be true."

Kochliarides sips coffee at a gas-station cafe near Mesolakkia, the village which has now become ground zero for what one archaeologist called "Amphipolimania." The retired guard says he understands why the tomb means so much to Greeks right now, who have suffered a psychological as well as economic beating during the four years of the debt crisis.

"It reminds us that we are rich, in history at least," he says. "And that Amphipolis was once the apple of an empire."




“The "massive, magnificent tomb," Peristeri told reporters, is likely connected to the ancient Greek kingdom of Macedonia, which, in the fourth century B.C. produced Alexander the Great.... Regardless of where Macedonia is, the tomb likely doesn't hold its most famous son, Alexander, who died at age 32 in Babylon, now in modern-day Iraq. It also doesn't likely hold his immediate family, such as his son Alexander IV, who is likely buried at one of the royal tombs in Aigai, the ancient first capital of Macedonia.... 'So my suspicion is that this is a very high-ranking companion in Alexander's former army, who has returned back or has been returned back as a body to his home in Amphipolis,' he says. But Olga Palagia, an archaeologist at the University of Athens, suspects that the Amphipolis tomb might not be Greek at all — but Roman. 'Nobody has realized that Amphipolis was a very significant place in the first century B.C. because it was the headquarters of a huge Roman army led by Marc Antony and Octavian when they were fighting Brutus and Cassius, who had killed Julius Caesar,' she says.... Peristeri, the lead archaeologist in Amphipolis, insists that the site is Greek, beyond a doubt. That's also the sentiment back at Mesolakkia, where the townspeople remember a Greek archaeologist named Dimitris Lazaridis, who first discovered the Amphipolis mound in the 1950s but ran out of money to excavate it. Lazaridis said he also suspected that the tomb contained a major Macedonian tomb. 'He was sure of it,' says Alexandros Kochliariades, who worked for 30 years as a guard for Lazaridis, who excavated other sites in the area. 'Now, so many years later, his hypothesis is turning out to be true.'... 'It reminds us that we are rich, in history at least,' he says. 'And that Amphipolis was once the apple of an empire.'”

Ancient finds are very appealing, and this one is causing quite a ruckus. The preliminary idea that it is connected to Alexander The Great has been challenged by Olga Palagia, who thinks it may be Roman. She, however, hasn't been to the site and has only seen pictures of the statues. Peristeri the lead archaeologist says no, it is “beyond a doubt” Greek. I wonder if they have done any carbon dating or other scientific testing yet. Palagia said Rome had an army there, but that was in the first century BC and not 400 BC. Also, archaeologists can usually tell a difference between the types of tombs as to when and to whom they were connected. Hopefully there will be more articles within the next year as to what has been decided. If I ever win the lottery I may take a tour of old ruins from the British Isles to the Mediterranean, because there are thousands of sites known at this time. For now I will content myself with reading about them.





A Doctor Unlocks Mysteries of the Brain By Talking And Watching – NPR
by JON HAMILTON
September 29, 2014

The heavyset man with a bandage on his throat is having trouble repeating a phrase. "No ifs..." he says to the medical students and doctors around his bed at Brigham and Women's Hospital in Boston.

"Can I hear you say no ifs, ands or buts?" says Dr. Allan Ropper, the Harvard neurologist in charge. The patient tries again. "No ifs, buts, ands or," he says.

Ropper's heard enough. "I think he's probably had a little left temporal, maybe angular gyrus-area stroke," he tells the students and doctors, once they're assembled outside the patient's room. A brain scan confirms his diagnosis.

Later, Ropper tells me that the patient's inability to repeat that simple phrase told him precisely where a stroke had damaged the man's brain. "What we did was, on clinical grounds we nailed this down to a piece of real estate about the size of a quarter," he says.

This reliance on bedside observation and conversation is what makes neurology such a remarkable specialty, Ropper says. "The rest of medicine has moved very strongly toward laboratory diagnosis" and scans like MRI and CT, he says. But the brain, he says, "is too complicated to believe that by looking just at the images you can sort out what's going on for an individual patient."

Ropper shows me example after example of this as I follow him on rounds. The hospital allowed me to record what I saw and heard so long as I didn't use the names of any patients.

In one room, we meet a woman in her late 60s who came in for back surgery, but ended up with another problem. "I came out of surgery and I opened my eyes and everything was double," she says.

The surgeons thought her double vision might be from a stroke. But Ropper checks the muscles that control her eyes and realizes they're being affected by something else.

"Do you have trouble with your eyelids drooping?" he asks. "Do you have trouble with your head staying upright at the end of the day?" The woman answers yes to both questions.

Ropper suspects she has myasthenia, a disease that causes muscles to weaken rapidly with use. So he has her repeatedly squeeze a rolled-up blood-pressure cuff. The pressure gauge on the cuff shows that each squeeze is weaker than the previous one.

That clinches the diagnosis for him, although a blood test will eventually confirm his bedside assessment. "That's an example of the craft of neurology," Ropper says. "There's no book that would have extracted that diagnosis from that lady."

When someone develops a serious brain problem, Ropper says, it can be like falling down a rabbit hole and entering an Alice-in-Wonderland world — where nothing looks or works the way it's supposed to. A neurologist's job is to find a way to understand the odd landscape of a damaged brain, he says.

"You're querying the organ that has the problem and you're asking it to talk to you, but it can't do it properly because of that damage," he says. "That's the Alice in Wonderland part. You have to figure out with mirrors and metaphors how to get at the problem."

Ropper and coauthor Brian Burrell describe that process in a new book called Reaching Down the Rabbit Hole. An entire chapter is devoted to patients whose problems cannot be detected by any test or scan.

We meet one of these patients during morning rounds. She's a charming, soft-spoken woman in her 30s who says her left leg is so weak she can't move it.

Ropper turns the exam over to Dr. Shamik Bhattacharyya, a senior resident at Brigham and Women's. It's a part of Ropper's mission to make sure the next generation of neurologists also knows how to reach down the rabbit hole.

During a long conversation, the woman tells Bhattacharyya about a similar episode a few months earlier. At the time, doctors ordered nerve conduction studies, ultrasound, MRI — pretty much everything medical technology has to offer. Nothing turned up a problem.

So Bhattacharyya tries a low-tech approach that doctors have been using for a century. He has the woman lie on her back and lift her healthy leg. When the woman does this, she involuntarily pushes down hard with the supposedly disabled leg.

Neurologists know this as Hoover's sign and it confirms what Bhattacharyya suspected. The problem isn't physical; it's psychological. But it's hard to treat, Ropper says, because the weakness is very real to the person experiencing it.

"You've got a normal functioning brain that somehow goes out of its way to produce blindness, paralysis, tremor, walking difficulty and so on," he says "There's no other organ that does that. Your liver doesn't decide one day to wake up and say, I'm going to feign liver failure."

But the brain isn't like other organs. And Ropper says that's why he gets up and goes to work each day.




“This reliance on bedside observation and conversation is what makes neurology such a remarkable specialty, Ropper says. 'The rest of medicine has moved very strongly toward laboratory diagnosis' and scans like MRI and CT, he says. But the brain, he says, 'is too complicated to believe that by looking just at the images you can sort out what's going on for an individual patient.'... When someone develops a serious brain problem, Ropper says, it can be like falling down a rabbit hole and entering an Alice-in-Wonderland world — where nothing looks or works the way it's supposed to. A neurologist's job is to find a way to understand the odd landscape of a damaged brain, he says.... So Bhattacharyya tries a low-tech approach that doctors have been using for a century. He has the woman lie on her back and lift her healthy leg. When the woman does this, she involuntarily pushes down hard with the supposedly disabled leg. Neurologists know this as Hoover's sign and it confirms what Bhattacharyya suspected. The problem isn't physical; it's psychological. But it's hard to treat, Ropper says, because the weakness is very real to the person experiencing it.”

When I was young I can remember doctor's doing much more observation and talking in general than they seem to now. Now they do tend to start ordering lab tests as a first preference. That is the cause, to some, of the increasing medical bills in many cases. Of course doctors are aware of more possible conditions and causes now, and they often want to eliminate some dangerous possibility with a test. I always feel a little more secure if a lab test or examination by a specialist clears me of some scary condition.

Knowledge of brain function has increased tremendously since I was young. From physical disability to mental health problems, research has really improved the life condition of the average person. When I was a young child, I was aware that some kids were mentally disabled, which was called “retarded,” now considered a pejorative term. Now “disabled” is often avoided as well, with the use of “challenged” instead. Whatever it's called, most such kids simply had trouble learning in school. I now know that many of them aren't “intellectually challenged,” but suffer from autism, ADHD, dyslexia, etc. Psychologists and – not to be forgotten – school teachers have worked with those conditions to develop ways around their disability. It's slow, but it often works. They aren't “unable to learn,” but unable to keep up with a large class with the teacher trying to move forward as fast as possible. That's why I always argue for teachers to have a teaching assistant to help with special needs.

Science is still making new findings about these conditions as to whether it is a biochemical disorder, brain damage such as from a stroke or blow to the head, a physical flaw in the brain, or some other problem. I never can resist articles about brain disorders, because the brain is so very complex and amazing. I was astounded when I saw a documentary about a young child with very debilitating seizures sited on just one side of her brain. It was so extreme that the surgeons removed that half of her brain. Within months she had regained functions using only her remaining hemisphere. Her brain had retrained itself. Equally importantly, she had no more seizures. In the old days people just kind of gave up on kids with problems, often feeling shame about it. Nowadays we keep working to find solutions. I'm glad to live in modern times. The “good old days” were often romantic, but they weren't always good.





To Counter Gun Violence, Researchers Seek Deeper Data – NPR
by KIRK SIEGLER
September 28, 2014

For the first time in nearly two decades, federal money is beginning to flow into gun violence research. And there's growing momentum behind creating a reliable national reporting database for firearm injuries and deaths.

On the front lines at the Los Angeles County+USC Medical Center, one of the top trauma hospitals on the West Coast, researchers like Dr. Demetrios Demetriades hope to get a better picture of the scope of the problem, so states can better target their prevention programs.

"This is very important because firearm injuries, it's a huge medical problem in the country," Demetriades says.

Not knowing the full range of the problem poses a challenge for Demetriades, who's the hospital's trauma director and a professor of surgery at USC. He's trying to better understand who's getting hurt and who's dying from gun violence, where and when — and even why.

On average, his trauma ward sees one or two new patients a day who are victims of gunshot wounds. On a recent afternoon, doing rounds through the ICU, he was particularly interested in a progress report on a man who was shot in the head the night before.

The shooting occurred in El Monte, a city east of the hospital. The two men involved were first taken to the closest hospital, which wasn't a trauma center. One of the men died there. The other was transferred to this Level 1 trauma center, where Demetriades and his team ended up saving him.

Because the first man didn't die in a trauma hospital, that fatality will likely never get reported to any national registry. And this highlights a serious problem: there are big gaps in what gets reported and what doesn't when it comes to gun violence.

"You'll be able to address the problem only if you have reliable information," Demetriades says, "Without reliable information, you cannot take the appropriate corrective action — you cannot allocate the resources as needed."

Money, Politics Block Data Collection

There are several reasons why more of this information isn't being collected. Logistics, for one: It's hard to get every single law enforcement agency, hospital and coroner in every city and every state on the same page.

Some of the other reasons are a little more clear-cut: money and politics.

"For essentially the last 20 years, there has been almost no federal support for research on a health problem that kills upwards of 30,000 people a year," says Garen Wintemute, director of the Violence Prevention Research Program at UC Davis.

Wintemute, who's also an ER physician, says since the mid-1990s, Congress has barred federal funds from going to gun violence research, linking it with gun control.

But last year, a big change happened. By executive order, President Obama directed the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and other federal labs to resume the research and craft prevention strategies.

Wintemute is encouraged, and points to the research that has gone into motor vehicle injuries as a good case study.

"There are such data systems, and have been for decades, for motor vehicle injuries, and that sort of continuing flow of data has done a great deal to shape our efforts to prevent motor vehicle injuries," he says.

Violent Death Database Expansion

It remains to be seen if the same thing can be done for gun violence. But to start with, the CDC has begun offering more than $7 million in grants to states to expand the agency's National Violent Death Reporting System. The hope is that will also capture more data on firearm fatalities.

Epidemiologist Alex Crosby, of the CDC's National Center for Injury Prevention and Control, is one of the researchers who's helping spearhead this expansion.

Similar to the push for better data on gun trauma deaths, Crosby says the goal behind expanding the CDC system is to give states more information so they can start to take action.

Say, for example, a county is trying to figure out how to tackle the growing problem of suicide by firearms among older men. With access to detailed data, Crosby says they could spot trends.

"A job crisis in the past two weeks or an eviction, foreclosure; these were some of the precipitating circumstances that involve that suicide," Crosby says. "Now let's see what we can do to try to make our programs more focused on some of these risk factors and hopefully we can make a difference in terms of bringing those kind of things down."

Getting a nationwide database together is a huge task, and it's still very early. But Crosby says there have been some early successes: a suicide prevention program in Oregon and a homicide crackdown in Oklahoma, for starters.

He hopes to one day expand the system from 32 states, its current size, to all 50.




“For the first time in nearly two decades, federal money is beginning to flow into gun violence research. And there's growing momentum behind creating a reliable national reporting database for firearm injuries and deaths. On the front lines at the Los Angeles County+USC Medical Center, one of the top trauma hospitals on the West Coast, researchers like Dr. Demetrios Demetriades hope to get a better picture of the scope of the problem, so states can better target their prevention programs. 'This is very important because firearm injuries, it's a huge medical problem in the country,' Demetriades says. Not knowing the full range of the problem poses a challenge for Demetriades, who's the hospital's trauma director and a professor of surgery at USC. He's trying to better understand who's getting hurt and who's dying from gun violence, where and when — and even why.... Because the first man didn't die in a trauma hospital, that fatality will likely never get reported to any national registry. And this highlights a serious problem: there are big gaps in what gets reported and what doesn't when it comes to gun violence....There are several reasons why more of this information isn't being collected. Logistics, for one: It's hard to get every single law enforcement agency, hospital and coroner in every city and every state on the same page. Some of the other reasons are a little more clear-cut: money and politics.... Wintemute, who's also an ER physician, says since the mid-1990s, Congress has barred federal funds from going to gun violence research, linking it with gun control. But last year, a big change happened. By executive order, President Obama directed the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and other federal labs to resume the research and craft prevention strategies.... Similar to the push for better data on gun trauma deaths, Crosby says the goal behind expanding the CDC system is to give states more information so they can start to take action. Say, for example, a county is trying to figure out how to tackle the growing problem of suicide by firearms among older men. With access to detailed data, Crosby says they could spot trends.”

I hate to cry foul on Republicans again, but they and a powerful organization called the NRA are behind this block on federal action, which they apparently see as a threat to the highly lucrative manufacture and sale of guns. That's big business, so they are a powerful congressional lobby. Now Obama has come out ahead of the pack with his research on gun violence. It is interesting to me that the CDC are doing part of the research. The way people relate to their guns is often pathological, I am convinced. It has become a national obsession and the focus of a part of the right-leaning turn of mind in general. For people to buy a gun if their life has been threatened or their environment is dangerous is one thing, but concerning people like Michael Dunn – if he hadn't had a gun in his glove compartment, probably would have backed down in the confrontation with the four black youths.

Personally, I wouldn't have confronted them at all. I would have moved my car farther down to another parking space and then called the police. That way I could still get them to turn their music down without shooting anybody. Only by means like this will shootings be made an uncommon occurrence, while unruly people will still be discouraged. At this point in Jacksonville, there are two or three shootings almost every day. It starts with an argument, and then when the fight gets too difficult, somebody pulls out a hand gun to decide the issue. It's anger, for the most part. We should go ahead and call the police when people are being abusive. I have twice called the law on people who were having very loud parties after 10:00 PM. That's what police are for -- to step in and prevent really bad trouble from occurring.