Wales Demolish Slovakia 5-2

The Welsh army marched into Trnava, Slovakia and laid the town to waste.

Everyone predicted a repeat of last year's 1-5 hammering the Slovaks dealt the Welsh on their home ground in Cardiff, but John Toschack's young Welsh side has at last developed a rhythm and a lethality.

Much-maligned striker Craig Bellamy returned to play for his coutnry after missing the 0-2 defeat to Germany on Saturday. Bellamy shone. He almost single-handedly took on the Slovaks, creating the first goal, scoring 2 more, and then forcing a Slovak defender to accidentally bundle the ball into the back of his own net for a 4th. The night was capped by Davies rifling in a shot in the upper corner.


This keeps Wales hopes alive of qualifying for next summer's Euro 2008 competition.

Gun Fact Sheet for Los Angeles

[provided by the Violence Prevention Coalition of Greater Los Angeles]

For more information call Billie P. Weiss, M.P.H. at (213) 351-7888
Copyright (c) 1998 VPCLA. All rights reserved. Revised September 2002
Violence Prevention Coalition of Greater Los Angeles
3530 Wilshire Blvd., Suite #800 / Los Angeles, CA 90010 / 213/351-7888

VIOLENCE PREVENTION COALITION OF GREATER LOS ANGELES
FACT SHEET
FIREARMS AND FIREARM-RELATED VIOLENCE
IN LOS ANGELES COUNTY

• Firearms in Los Angeles County kill approximately three people everyday.
- California Dept of Health Service, PHIS Death Data 2000
• In Los Angeles County, more people less than 35 years of age are killed by firearms than die from AIDS and motor vehicle crashes combined.
- California Dept of Health Services, IVPP/PHIS Death Data 2000
• In 2000, there were 1165 firearm related deaths in Los Angeles County of which 815 (70%) were homicides.
- California Dept of Health Service, IVPP/PHIS Death Data 2000
• There were 314 firearm-related suicides in LA County in 2000.
- LA County Dept of the Coroner, 2000
• There were 662 Federal Firearm Licenses (FFL) operating in LA County as of June 2002. Although the majority of these were licensed firearm dealers, 17 were licensed to manufacture ammunition for firearms and 30 were licensed to manufacture firearms.
- US Dept of Alcohol, Tobacco, and Firearms, 2002
• In 1999, approximately 2,000 firearm injury victims were admitted to LA County trauma centers. The medical charges to treat these victims exceeded $58 million with an average charge of $30,270.
- California Dept of Health Service, IVPP/PHIS Death Data 2000
• African American males are at greatest risk of becoming a victim of a firearm related hospitalization or death.
- California Office of Statewide Health Planning and Development, Hospital Discharge Data, 2000
• The mortality rate from firearms in LA County over the past ten years has consistently remained higher than California and the United States.
- California Dept of Health Service, IVPP/PHIS Death Data 2000
• Homicide rates from firearms in LA County over the past ten years have consistently remained higher than California and the United States.
- US Dept of Health Services, CDC, 2002
• Persons between 15 and 24 years of age are at the greatest risk of becoming involved in a firearm related incident.
- California Dept of Health Service, IVPP/PHIS Death Data 2000
• In 26% of violent crimes in the US, a weapon was present
- Department of Justice, Bureau of Justice Statistics, 2002
• Offenders had or used a weapon in 55% of all robberies, compared with 7% of all rapes/sexual assaults in 2001 in the US.
- Department of Justice, Bureau of Justice Statistics, 2002
• According to the National Crime Victimization Survey (NCVS) in 2000, 533,470 victims of serious violent crimes (rape and sexual assault, robbery, and aggravated assault) stated that they faced an offender with a firearm.
- Department of Justice, Bureau of Justice Statistics, 2002
• Victimizations involving a firearm represented 8% of the 6.3 million violent crimes of rape and sexual assault, robbery, and aggravated and simple assault.
- US Dept of Justice, National Crime Victimization Survey 2000
• The FBI's Crime Report in the United States estimated that 66% of the 15,517 murders in 2000 were committed with firearms.
- US Dept of Justice, National Crime Victimization Survey 2000
• The number of gunshot wounds from assaults treated in hospital emergency departments in the US fell from 64,100 in 1993 to 39,400 in 1997, a 39% decline.
- US Dept of Justice, National Crime Victimization Survey 2000
• According to the 1997 Survey of State Prison Inmates in the US, among those possessing a gun, the source of the gun was a flea market or gun show for fewer than 2%, a retail store or pawnshop for about 12%; family, friends, a street buy, or an illegal source for 80%
- US Dept of Justice, National Crime Victimization Survey 2000
• During the offense that brought them to prison, 15% of State inmates and 13% of Federal inmates carried a handgun, and about 2%, a military-style semiautomatic gun.
- US Dept of Justice, National Crime Victimization Survey 2000
• Among prisoners carrying a firearm during their crime, 40% of State inmates and 56% of Federal inmates received a sentence enhancement because of the firearm.
- US Dept of Justice, National Crime Victimization Survey 2000
• Nearly 16 children a day died in 1997 as a result of a firearms homicide, suicide or unintentional shooting in the US.
- Children’s Defense Fund, 1998
• Nearly 3 of every 5 suicides in 1999 (57%) were committed with a firearm in the US
- CDC 2002
• Among persons aged 15-19 years, firearm related suicides accounted for more than 60% of the increase in the overall rate of suicide from 1980-1997 in the US
- CDC 2002
• From January through June 1999, a total of 213,468 handguns and long guns (rifles and shotguns) were sold by firearms dealers in California. This represents a 30.9 percent increase over the 163,060 sold from January through June 1998. Sales of long guns increased 50.7 percent, from 66,764 sold in the first six months of 1998 to 100,593 sold in the first six months of 1999. Handgun sales increased 17.2 percent, from 96,296 sold in 1998 to 112,875 sold in 1999
- US Department of Justice 1999 US Dept of Justice, National Crime Victimization Survey 2000
• 28% of gun-owning households with children do not always keep guns locked in a secure place in the US.
- Peter Hart Research Associates, "Americans’ Attitudes on Children’s Access to Guns: A National Poll for Common Sense about Kids and Guns," July 1999.
• Of gun-owning households with children, one quarter only "occasionally" lock and store the bullets in a separate place from the gun in the US.
- Peter Hart Research Associates, "Americans’ Attitudes on Children’s Access to Guns: A National Poll for Common Sense about Kids and Guns," July 1999.
• 60% of high school boys and 31% of middle school boys said they could get a gun if they wanted to in the US.
- Josephson Institute of Ethics, "2000 Report Card: The Ethics of American Youth," April 2001.
• 6% of high school students said they had carried a gun in the last 30 days in the US.

Sept. 11th, 2007

The people murdered 6 years ago still have not been avenged. The planner of the 9/11 attacks, bin Laden, is still at large. The group that gave bin Laden's group a nice home and helped them train terrorists, the Taleban, are back in charge of most of Afghanistan. Opium production in Afghanistan is at an all time record high.

Meanwhile, the USA has spent 300 billion dollars fighting a "war on terror" in Iraq. We deposed their brutal dictator and executed him, even though Saddam Hussein was someone we personally supported, gave materiel assistance, sold weapons, and tacitly endorsed his using VX gas on the Kurds in the northern part of Iraq.

Yes, Iraqi crude oil does taste that good!

And our hands are clean because we had nothing to do with the 8 year Iran-Iraq War that left over a million dead... or did we? Wasn't Hussein our "foil" against the newly revolutionized Iran, which had thrown out our bitchpuppet Shah in favor of strict Islamic fundamentalism. This is from zmag.org:

The main tool by which U.S. policy makers sought to secure their position in Iran in 1985 and 1986 was secretly providing arms and intelligence information. As a proclaimed neutral in the Iran-Iraq war, the United States was not supposed to supply weapons to either side. Nevertheless, U.S. allies kept the combatants well-stocked.<74> Israel transferred vast quantities of U.S.-origin weapons to Iran;<75> to what extent U.S. permission for these shipments was obtained (as required by U.S. law) is not known, but surely the U.S. had enough leverage to prevent the transfers if it had wanted to.

In 1984, because of Iranian battlefield victories and the growing U.S.-Iraqi ties, Washington launched "Operation Staunch," an effort to dry up Iran's sources of arms by pressuring U.S. allies to stop supplying Teheran.<76> U.S. secret arms sales to Iran in 1985 and 1986 thus not only violated U.S. neutrality, but undercut as well what the U.S. was trying to get everyone else to do. The cynical would note that Operation Staunch made the U.S. arms transfers to Iran that much more valuable.

We not only allowed Iran to arm to the teeth, we helped Iraq as well. I guess that money from weapons sales, weapons that are used to blow up neighborhoods, just tastes too good as well! This is from the Congressional Record, reported by ThirdWorldTraveler.com:

"The Bush administration [George HW Bush, not Chimpy] [has] sent U.S. technology to the Iraqi military and to many Iraqi military factories, despite over-whelming evidence showing that Iraq intended to use the technology in its clandestine nuclear, chemical, biological, and long-range missile programs."

At the end of the day, honestly, who gives a fuck. All the military and political experts have not captured or stopped Al Quaeda, or even their giant spokesthing, Osama. All of this fucking around with other nations' sovereignty or fighting proxy wars or making money off the death and destruction of a foreign people - could all be forgiven - if it made the USA safer.

That's not to say it's not immoral, because it is, but if all of those defense contractor cunts were making millions and making us safe, we would complain differently. In fact, all of this meddling has made the Mid East a powderkeg waiting to blow up. It's bankrupted the American economy and allowed a gang of cutthroats to gut the Constitution and flagrantly violate international laws (that we forced everyone to agree to) against inhumane treatment of prisoners. We banned torture on soldiers in the 4th Geneva accord, and against civilians in the 3rd, so fuck Berto Gonzales with a waterboard, the smug cunt.

All we can do is try to remember and rekindle the feeling we as Amerians had after the terrorist attacks of 9/11, a feeling shared by the world for us, their friends and allies. Just because Chimpy Bush has squandered all of that good will and genuine sorrow and empathy does not mean it is forever gone. Once Bush is back doing whatever he does, and a new President is in charge, we can rebuild these bridges.

New York City is a quintessential American city, and as annoying, stupid, stereotypical, loud, smelly, pushy, obnoxious, boorish and arrogant as New Yorkers are, they are still our brothers and sisters. As a west coast native, I have always hated the New Yorkers when they move out here. But on that day and in the interval that followed, I loved New York and her inhabitants. It was an attack not only on the concept of a better life (as immigrants have tried to find over here, some succesful, many not), but on the concept of hope and belief in a better future.

Many said in the aftermath of that attacks that this crime made us stronger as a nation. In recent years, under Bush, we have been driven apart as a people. We have been directed to turn against our own country, to divide along blue and red state ideologies, to distrust and hate our neighbor. Well done, Bush: you've accomplished what those terrorist cunts could never achieve.

Today we remember those who were senselessly murdered and hope that their families have been able to rebuild their lives. God damn the politicians who exploit this tragedy.

Bad Piggy

This story from St. Louis Today here, shows a naughty piggy threatening to falsify charges in order to arrest a 20 year old motorist who had done nothing wrong. This kinda goes back to one of my themes, and that is cops are simply dickheads, not necessarily racist.