Exploding The Myth That Guns Protect A Home

The United States has experienced 250 mass shootings in the first 215 days of this year. It saw about 40,000 gun deaths in 2018. Neither of these statistics is acceptable, and neither happens in any other country. Why? Because we make it far too easy for anyone to get a gun in this country -- including criminals and others that pose a danger to innocent citizens.

As the top chart shows, we have more guns than people in this country. That's not true anywhere else, and it's a major reason why we have so many more gun deaths than any other country. The NRA (and their Republican lackeys) whine that gun restrictions would violate our Second Amendment. That's not true. The Supreme Court has rules that background checks and banning assault weapons are constitutional, but Republicans refuse to even consider them (in spite of the fact that the public favors both).

Would background checks and banning assault weapons completely cure our epidemic of gun deaths? No, but they could save thousands of lives -- and that makes them worth doing.

Some gun owners will tell you that they need a gun to protect their families from a criminal intruder. That may sound reasonable, but it isn't. The truth is that there is little difference (if any) in deaths from intruders between a household with guns and one without them. But evidence shows that having a gun in the household greatly increases the chance of a family member being killed (from either a domestic violence incident, a suicide, or an accident). A gun in the home makes a home more dangerous -- not less dangerous.

Here's is how Robert Roy Britt explains it at gen.medium.com:

Of the 30% of Americans who own guns, roughly two-thirds say it’s for self-protection. However, they might want to reconsider: New research is challenging the notion that gun ownership makes for a safer home. In fact, for the first time, scientific research shows that guns actually increase the risk of homicide among intimate partners and family members — but notably not strangers. And in states with lax gun laws, children are especially at risk.

One new study, published in the American Journal of Preventive Medicine, compares firearm ownership levels and homicide rates in all 50 states, from 1990 through 2016, looking also at the victim’s relationship to the offender. It finds that for every increase in gun ownership at 10% increments, domestic firearm homicide — specifically involving an intimate partner or other family member — goes up 13%, while non-domestic firearm homicide goes up just 2%. In roughly half of all homicides reviewed, the victim was a friend or acquaintance of the offender.

“While personal protection is a commonly cited reason for owning a gun, our research shows that firearm ownership also confers significant risks to loved ones, as they are more likely to be killed if there is a gun in the household,” says Aaron Kivisto, the lead author on the study and an associate professor at the University of Indianapolis.

Kivisto and his colleagues looked at all causes of homicide, finding that when guns aren’t present, people rarely turn to other weapons to kill someone in domestic situations.

“Where there are more guns, there are more domestic homicides, and this is driven by firearms,” Kivisto writes in an email exchange. “We don’t see low gun-owning states having higher rates of non-firearm domestic homicides.” The analysis is “the first to show who precisely bears the burden of increased rates of firearm ownership,” he says. “The victims placed at risk are those in the home.”

Kivisto admits his study can’t prove cause-and-effect — researchers are unable to argue that the mere presence of guns alone directly leads to deadly outcomes — but his team worked to rule out anything else being the cause for the results they see.

The findings build on a 2014 study led by Michael Siegel at Boston University. Siegel’s team found no significant relationship between gun ownership and stranger-on-stranger homicide, but linked higher levels of gun ownership to increases in “non-stranger” homicide.

Siegel says Kivisto’s new paper takes research a step further by providing “strong evidence” of a correlation between household gun ownership and rates of intimate partner gun violence — but notably, not homicides committed by strangers.

“By looking only at domestic homicide, the study excludes some forms of acquaintance homicide — such as gang killings — where the victim and perpetrator may not be well-known to each other,” says Siegel, who was not involved in Kivisto’s research.

The new data feeds into a body of research showing the complexity of what’s driving the United States’ very unique gun violence epidemic — and who its victims are.

A person with access to a gun is almost twice as likely to be the victim of homicide and is three times more likely to commit suicide, based on an analysis of 15 studies, 13 of which were in the United States. These findings, detailed in the Annals of Internal Medicine in 2014, also found that when firearms are accessible, women are nearly three times as likely to be homicide victims, and men are nearly four times as likely to commit suicide. 

The impact of gun ownership extends to kids, too. Firearm injuries are the second-leading cause of death for U.S. children, says Monika Goyal, a researcher at Children’s National Health System. Goyal recently compared gun-related deaths among children and young adults up to age 21 with the strength of state-by-state gun laws.

In states that for at least five years had required universal background checks for firearm purchases, gun deaths among youth were 35% lower. The results are published this month in the journal Pediatrics.

“Our findings demonstrate a powerful association between the strength of firearm legislation and pediatric firearm-related mortality,” Goyal says. “This association remains strong even after we adjust for rates of firearm ownership and other population variables, such as education level, race/ethnicity, and household income.”

States with stricter firearms regulation, including “laws regulating dealers, background checks, licensing, reporting of lost or stolen guns, multiple purchases, and gun design and manufacturing standards” have, on average, lower rates of gun-related homicide and suicide, according to a study last year in the journal JAMA Internal Medicine. The research also found that in states with lax gun laws, counties saw lower rates of gun deaths only when they were surrounded by states with tighter gun restrictions.

A follow-up to that study, published earlier this year in the Journal of Trauma and Acute Care Surgery, finds the effects of strict state firearms regulations are diminished when neighboring states have lax laws.

According to Mark Seamon, a senior author on the study and an associate professor of traumatology and emergency surgery at the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine, some prospective gun owners travel across state lines in order to purchase firearms under less restrictive laws. In turn, there’s an uptick in the number of guns and homicides back in their home state, even if laws there are technically tighter.

“Now we have scientific evidence for what common sense previously told us — that the benefits of firearm laws might not be fully realized until either all states reach a certain threshold level of firearm legislation or more universal federal firearm legislation is enacted” Seamon says.

A Very Disturbing Trend

The chart above is from the Center for Disease Control & Prevention. It shows the suicide rate among the population of the United States (number of suicides per 100,000 people). One would have hoped that the suicide rate would be dropping, but just the opposite has happened. It is rising, and rising significantly. It has risen from 10.7 in 2001 to 14 in 2017 -- a jump of 30.84%.

Suicide Rate Is Rising In U.S. And We Must Fix That

The charts above (from National Public Radio) show the United States has a problem with suicide. The rate of suicides per 100,000 people is too high, and it is growing. Between 1999 and 2016, the suicide rate grew in 49 of our 50 states (with Nevada being the exception). The smallest increase was in Delaware with a 5.9% increase. The largest was in North Dakota, which had a 57.6% increase. More than half of all the states had at least a 30% increase.

This is unacceptable, and it requires some action to solve this growing problem.

The thing that most people want to blame for the increase in the rate of suicides is mental illness. It is undeniable that we should be doing a better job in helping those with a mental illness. Unfortunately, since the Republicans have taken power, we have seen money to help the mentally ill being cut (to help pay for new tax cuts for the rich). That needs to be reversed. We can't do a better job in treating the mentally ill by reducing the money available for those treatments.

But treating the mentally ill will not completely solve the problem. A majority (54%) of those who commit suicide had no history of any kind of mental illness. A lot of these people make a fairly quick choice to end their lives without family, friends, or co-workers ever knowing the trouble was there. I think a lot of them find themselves in a difficult and stressful situation, and can't see a way out of it.

It's harder to know how to prevent these suicides, but I have to believe many of them could be prevented by making life easier for ordinary Americans. Increased wages (especially the minimum wage), more affordable housing, less expensive college/trade schools, and making sure everyone has decent, adequate health care for all, and providing counseling for those experiencing personal problems could go a long way to reducing the suicide rate.

Unfortunately, the Republicans have also cut funding in those areas, and propose even more cuts. This needs to be stopped. You can't solve problems like suicide by making life more difficult and stressful for ordinary Americans. All people deserve a decent life and the opportunity to better themselves. Just giving more to the rich is not a solution for anything.

If government did a better job is helping its citizens, I believe the suicide rate would be falling instead of rising. Am I wrong?

Green Party On The Politics Of Suicide And Depression

Despite the view by many that the United States is an "exceptional" country, we have a big problem with depression, suicide and other mental illnesses. Could this be because of economic hardship, various forms of bigotry, and other societal ills? There is some evidence that could be true. Here is the Green Party's take on this -- as written by Green Party Shadow Cabinet member Bruce Levine:

In November of 2014, the U.S. government's Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA) issued a press release titled "Nearly One in Five Adult Americans Experienced Mental Illness in 2013." This brief press release provides a snapshot of the number of Americans who are suicidal, depressed, and mentally ill, and it bemoans how many Americans are not in treatment. However, excluded from SAMHSA's press release -- yet included in the lengthy results of SAMHSA's national survey -- are economic, age, gender, and other demographic correlates of serious mental illness, depression, and suicidality (serious suicidal thoughts, plans, or attempts). It is these demographic correlates that have political implications.

These lengthy results, for example, include extensive evidence that involvement in the criminal justice system (such as being on parole or probation) is highly correlated with suicidality, depression, and serious mental illness. Yet Americans are not told that preventing unnecessary involvement with the criminal justice system -- for example, marijuana legalization and drug use decriminalization -- could well prove to be a more powerful antidote to suicidality, depression, and serious mental illness than medical treatment.

Also, the survey results provide extensive evidence that unemployment and poverty are highly associated with suicidality, depression, and serious mental illness. While correlation is not the equivalent of causation, it makes more sense to be further examining variables that actually are associated with suicidality, depression, and serious mental illness rather than focusing on variables such as chemical imbalances which are not even correlates (see Psychiatric Times, 2011). These results raise questions such as: Does unemployment and poverty cause depression, or does depression make it more likely for unemployment and poverty, or are both true?

And the survey results also provide extensive evidence that younger Americans are more depressed than older Americans, that women are more likely to be depressed than men, and that Native Americans and biracial Americans are more likely to be depressed than other ethnic/racial groups. Again, while correlation is not the equivalent of causation, depression obviously cannot cause one to become young, female, or Native American. More rationally, researchers should be asking what is it about American society that is so depressing, especially for young people, women, and Native Americans?

These recent SAMHSA survey results provide a golden opportunity for a scientific and societal shift to reconsider what about American society and culture is resulting in emotional suffering and self-destructive behaviors, especially for certain groups. Below is a summary of some of the key statistics in these buried SAMHSA survey results.

Summary of Buried SAMHSA Survey Results

Involvement with the Criminal Justice System: In 2013, the percentage of American adults with serious suicidal thoughts: 10.7 percent for those on parole or a supervised release from jail in the past 12 months, 9.2 percent among those who were on probation, and 3.9 percent for those not involved in the criminal justice system. The percentage for adults with any mental illness: if on probation was 32.3 percent, if on parole or supervised release, 36.5 percent, double the percentage of adults not involved in the criminal justice system (18.3 percent). The percentage of adults with serious mental illness: if on probation was 9.4 percent, if on parole or supervised release was 13.9 percent, more than triple for those not involved in the criminal justice system (4.1 percent).

Unemployment: Among American adults in 2013, the unemployed were more likely than those who were employed full time: to have serious thoughts of suicide (7.0 vs. 3.0 percent), make suicide plans (2.3 vs. 0.7 percent), or attempt suicide (1.4 vs. 0.3 percent). The percentage of adults with any mental illness: for the unemployed was 22.8 percent, for part-time employed was 20.3 percent, and for full-time employed was 15.4 percent. Among adults with serious mental illness: the percentage for the unemployed was 6.6 percent, for part-time employed was 4.8 percent, and for those full-time employed was 2.7 percent. Among those adults having a major depression episode: the percentage for the unemployed was 9.5 percent, for part-time employed was 7.8 percent, and for full-time employed was 5.3 percent.

Family Income: Among American adults in 2013, serious suicidal thoughts occurred in: 6.6 percent of those from family incomes below the Federal poverty level, 4.7 percent of those with family incomes between 100 and 199 percent of the Federal poverty level, and 3.1 percent of those with annual family incomes at 200 percent or more of the Federal poverty level. Among American adults, the percentage with serious mental illness: for those with a family income that was below the Federal poverty level was 7.7 percent, for those with a family income at 100 to 199 percent of the Federal poverty level was 5.1 percent, and for those with a family income at 200 percent or more of the Federal poverty level was 3.2 percent.

Age: No suicidality results were reported for Americans under 18, however, among American adults having serious suicidal thoughts, the percentage: for those aged 18 to 25 was 7.4 percent, for those aged 26 to 49 was 4.0 percent, and for those aged 50 or older was 2.7 percent. And among adults who made suicide plans in the past year: the percentage for those aged 18 to 25 was 2.5 percent, for those aged 26 to 49 was 1.3 percent, and for those aged 50 or older was 0.6 percent. The percentage of Americans having a major depressive episode in 2013: for those aged 12 to 17 was 10.7 percent, for those aged 18 to 25 was 8.7 percent, for those aged 26 to 49 was 7.6 percent, and for those aged 50 or older was 5.1 percent.

Gender: In 2013, adult women were more likely than adult men to have: any mental illness (22.3 vs. 14.4 percent), a serious mental illness (4.9 vs. 3.5 percent), a major depressive episode (8.1 vs. 5.1 percent), and suicidal thoughts (4.0 vs. 3.8 percent). Among American ages 12 to 17, females were more likely than males to have a major depressive episode (16.2 vs. 5.3 percent) and a major depressive episode with severe impairment (12.0 vs. 3.5 percent).

Ethnicity/Race: In 2013, the percentages of adults aged 18 or older having serious thoughts of suicide in the past year were: 2.9 percent among blacks, 3.3 percent among Asians, 3.6 percent among Hispanics, 4.1 percent among whites, 4.6 percent among Native Hawaiians or Other Pacific Islanders, 4.8 percent among American Indians or Alaska Natives, and 7.9 percent among adults reporting two or more races. The percentages of adults with a major depressive episode: 1.6 percent among Native Hawaiians or Other Pacific Islanders, 4.0 percent among Asians, 4.6 percent among blacks, 5.8 percent among Hispanics, 7.3 percent among whites, 8.9 percent among American Indians or Alaska Natives, and 11.4 percent among adults reporting two or more races.

Conclusions

The SAMHSA press release states that among American adults in 2013: 10 million American adults (4.2 percent) experienced a serious mental illness, 15.7 million adults (6.7 percent) experienced a major depressive episode, and states that "major depressive episodes affected approximately one in ten (2.6 million) youth between the ages of 12 to 17." The press release then laments how many Americans with mental illnesses are not receiving treatment.

While these statistics in the SAMHSA press release are troubling, the devil is in the details of the actual lengthy SAMHSA survey results. These results make clear that suicidality, depression, and mental illness are highly correlated with involvement in the criminal justice system, unemployment, and poverty, and occur in greater frequency among young people, women, and Native Americans.

Shouldn't researchers be examining American societal and cultural variables that are making so many of us depressed and suicidal? At the very least, don't we as a society want to know what exactly is making physically healthier teenagers and young adults more depressed than senior citizens?

Public Supports Physician-Assisted Suicide

Last week, there was a lot on social media about a young lady with terminal brain cancer choosing to die. This should not have been a big story. It should have just been a private tragedy involving her and her family. It only received so much attention because most of our states deny the terminally-ill the right to die with dignity -- even if it means they will suffer horribly for weeks or months.

This is just not right, and should be changed as soon as possible. And the majority of Americans agree. About 58% of Americans favor physician-assisted suicide for the terminally ill patients who have less than 6 months to live -- and when you break it down demographically, nearly every single group agrees (with only Republicans and Blacks showing less than 50% in agreement). It's time for politicians to listen to the public, and show a little sympathy for the dying.

The chart above is from a YouGov Poll -- taken between October 28th and 30th of a random national sample of 1,000 adults, with about a 4 point margin of error.

Suicide Rate Rising For Working-Age Adults

(The image above is a sculpture in Barcelona's Poblenou Cemetery. It was found at the website Kuriositas.)

There is a disturbing new report from the Center for Disease Control (CDC). The CDC reports that the number of deaths from suicides has for the first time eclipsed the number of people killed in auto accidents. This could have been expected, since the population is growing while cars become safer. But what was not expected, and is much more troubling, is that the rate of suicides (the number of suicides per 100,000 people) is also growing -- and that can't be accounted for by any increase in population.

Traditionally, suicide has been viewed as a problem mainly of the young and the elderly -- but the CDC found suicide is growing among those between 35 and 64 (increasing 28.4%), meaning much more effort needs to be taken to prevent suicides in that age group. That rate rises even more sharply for those from 45 to 64 -- and for both women and men, Whites, and Native Americans. It has also grown significantly among all areas of the country.

Here are the figures for the age 35 to 64 group. The first figure given is the 2010 suicide rate (per 100,000), while the number in parentheses is the 1999 rate -- followed by the percentage difference between the two figures:

General public...............17.6 (13.7).....up 28.4%

Men...............27.3 (21.5).....up 27.3%
Women...............8.1 (6.2).....up 31.5%

35 to 39...............15.3 (14.4).....up 6.4%
40 to 44...............16.7 (14.3).....up 16.5%
45 to 49...............19.3 (14.3).....up 34.3%
50 to 54...............19.9 (13.4).....up 48.4%
55 to 59...............19.1 (12.8).....up 49.1%
60 to 64...............15.6 (11.4).....up 37.0%

Whites...............22.3 (15.9).....up 40.4%
Blacks...............6.8 (6.4).....up 5.8%
Hispanics...............7.4 (7.1).....up 3.5%
Asians/Pacific Islanders...............7.8 (7.1).....up 10.6%
Native Americans...............18.5 (11.2).....up 65.2%

Northeast...............13.9 (10.5).....up 32.7%
Midwest...............17.3 (12.7).....up 35.6%
South...............18.4 (14.8).....up 24.4%
West...............19.5 (15.8).....up 23.6%

The study doesn't go into the causes of the sharp rise in the suicide rate. However, I can't help but feel it may have at least something to do with the economy and huge jobless rate. People who have always been able to work and take care of their families can no longer do so. That is just my guess, and may not be true -- but the fact that groups who have been used to having a harsher economic problem (like Blacks and Hispanics) tends to lend a bit of credence to my theory, since their rise in the suicide rate was very small.

What do you think? Why is the suicide rate rising among the 35 to 64 age group (who traditionally have had a much smaller rate than that among the young and the elderly)?

Suicides Still Climbing In The Military

Last year, I wrote a post about how suicides have been rising in the Army. Sadly that trend has not been reversed. In fact, it has gotten worse. While there were 164 suicide deaths of active-duty Army soldiers in 2011, that total grew to 182 in 2012 (a rise of about 11%). And it's not just the Army experiencing this problem. Suicides also rose in the other branches of the military also in 2012. The Marines had 48 suicides (a 50% jump), the Navy had 60 suicides (up 15%), and the Air Force had 59 suicides (up 16%).

That makes a total of 349 suicides among active military in 2012 (a record number of suicides for active-duty military in a single year) -- and a sharp rise from the 301 suicides recorded in 2011 (about 16% more). Perhaps the craziest thing about these statistics is that only 295 Americans were killed in Afghanistan last year. That means there were 54 more military personnel killing themselves last year than were killed by enemy insurgents (over 18% more).

And this is just active-duty military personnel. It doesn't take into account the number of suicides committed by veterans who have left the service -- and doesn't count the number of failed suicide attempts. The Army officials assured us last year that they were taking substantive action to deal with the problem of military suicides. If they did, it is not working. The problem continues to rise, and unfortunately, has now reached a record-breaking level.

It is time for our politicians to take action -- and end this war (and think long and hard before starting any new wars). These suicides may not be counted as casualties of war, but that is exactly what they are. They are just another terrible cost of this nation waging unnecessary and seemingly endless war. This horror show must stop!

Guns Make It Too Easy To Kill

This is a hard fact to argue with -- that an abused woman is five times more likely to be killed by her abuser if that abuser owns a gun. While this does not mean the only way to kill is with a gun, it does tend to show that owning a gun makes it very easy to kill. Here are some other interesting facts (from the Brady Campaign To Prevent Gun Violence):

In 2007, 4,177 women were killed with firearms in the United States. Just over half of firearm deaths to women are suicides (2,171) and just under half (1,865) are homicides(National Center for Injury Prevention and Control (NCIPC)).

In 2008, 7,451 women were treated in emergency rooms for a gunshot wound. Sixty-six percent of the injuries (4,892) were assault-related (NCIPC).

16 in every 1,000 U.S. women have been threatened with a gun (Sorenson, 2006, p.235).

For women, living in a home with a gun raises the risk of suicide by a factor of 4.6 (Bailey, 1997, p. 777).

For women, living in a home with a gun raises the risk of homicide by a factor of 3.4 (Bailey, 1997, p. 777)

Among high-income countries, the U. S. accounts for 32 percent of the female population but 70 percent of all female homicides (Hemenway, 2002, p. 100).

U.S. women's firearm death rate is 12 times higher than the combined rate of 22 other populous, high-income countries (Richardson, p. 4). 

Gun owners are 7.8 times more likely than non-gun owners to have threatened their partners with guns (Rothman, p. 62).

Over 90 percent of female homicide victims are killed by someone they know (VPC, p. 3, based on 2008 data). 

When firearms are used in a family or intimate assault, death is 12 times more likely than if another weapon is used (Saltzman, p. 3043).

An abuser’s access to a gun is associated with an 8-fold increase in the risk of homicide (Campbell, p. 1090).

In two thirds of battered women’s households that contained a firearm, the intimate partner used the gun against the woman, usually threatening to shoot/kill her (71.4 percent) or to shoot at her (5.1 percent). (Sorenson and Wiebe, p. 1412).

Republicans Attempt Political Suicide

I have to wonder what the hell the Republicans think they are doing. President Obama has already fixed it so that no religious organization has to pay for contraception coverage for their employees, while the employees will get that coverage anyway. It was a brilliant move on his part, realizing that insurance companies would rather pay for contraception rather than abortions or full-term pregnancies (because it is much cheaper for them).

But the Republicans still oppose allowing American women to have full and free access to contraception. They have to be opposing this because the president proposed it, and no other reason. That's because the protestant churches most of these Republicans belong to have no prohibition on using contraception, and most catholic women ignore their church's ban on it. In fact, a recent survey showed that well over 90% of American women have or are using contraception.

But the Republicans oppose it anyway. And since no religious institution will have to pay for this, the Republicans have to be opposing contraception in general. This is not a position that will get them any new support. In fact, it will probably cost them support. Are they trying to commit political suicide? Are they trying to convince American women that voting Republican is a voting against their own interests (and health)? If they are, then they're doing a pretty good job of it.

It's amazing to me that they have taken such a backward and anti-woman position in an election year. Their economic views already have congressional approval at only 10% (in the latest Gallup Poll). Their attempt to deny contraception to women will surely drive that rating even lower.

What will they come up with next -- abolishing Medicare and child labor laws? Oops, I forget. They already come out against both of those. I don't think I've ever seen a political party try harder to commit political suicide. And after their performance of the last few years, they deserve to succeed in that quest.

Suicides Of Active-Duty Soldiers Sets Another New Record

It looks like the very disturbing trend of the increasing number of suicides among active-duty soldiers is continuing -- in spite of increased suicide prevention efforts and more drug and alcohol counseling. The Army officials deny that repeated postings to war zones has anything to do with the rising number of suicides, but that sounds pretty weak. Consider that before the era of repeated war zone postings the suicide rate was 9.6 per 100,000, but in 2011 that has risen to 24.1 per 100,000 -- a huge jump and well above the 18.6 per 100,000 among the civilian population.

A total of 164 active-duty soldiers committed suicide in 2011. That sets a new record. And if you add in the non-mobilized Reserve and the National Guard, that figure rises to 278.

And that's not all of the bad news. It seems that serious sex offenses among active-duty troops jumped by a whopping 30% in 2011. This is also in spite of Army efforts to stop it (a failed "zero tolerance" policy). And nearly half of the victims were active-duty female soldiers between the ages of 18 and 21. The Army had a lot of excuses -- more crimes are being reported, new barracks offer more privacy, alcohol use is rising, etc. -- but excuses don't help the victims of sexual assault (or suicide for that matter).

The Army has some serious problems, and the biggest cause of those problems is the fighting of unnecessary wars that can't be won militarily. And the blame for that must be laid at the feet of the politicians, who used the politics of fear to start and continue those wars (and refuse to stop them because of their own vanity or electability).

We need to bring all of our troops home immediately. And we need to stop any future unnecessary wars -- including Iran, where many of our politicians are wanting to attack next. How many more young Americans (and others) must die before we learn our lesson? Wasn't Vietnam, Iraq, and Afghanistan enough?

The Suicide Of Capitalism

We hear a lot today about free trade and free enterprise. Those are today's code words for unregulated capitalism-- the idea that capitalism can work for the benefit of everyone in a society as long as it is not hindered by government regulations. The proponents of this idea say that the more money the capitalists make, the more jobs they will create and the better off everyone in the society will be. You may recognize this as the Republican "trickle-down" theory.

These modern Republicans may be surprised to learn that their boogeyman, Karl Marx was in favor of "free trade". Look at this quote from Marx:

The free trade system is destructive. It breaks up old nationalities and pushes the antagonism of the proletariat and the bourgeoisie to the extreme point. In a word, the free trade system hastens the social revolution. It is in this revolutionary sense alone, gentlemen, that I vote in favor of free trade.


Marx was in favor of free trade, or unregulated capitalism, because he knew that such a system was sowing the seeds of its own destruction. An unregulated capitalism would inevitably result in the death of capitalism (by concentrating too much of the total wealth in the hands of a few people which would kill demand).

The rich and the corporations (today's capitalists) have let their greed for accumulating ever larger pools of money blind them to reality (if they ever understood it in the first place). And that reality is that capitalists do not create jobs. Demand for products and services is what creates jobs. Capitalists simply exploit that demand to make money (and they have to put people to work in order to exploit that demand). But when the demand disappears, so do the jobs.

Now you may be asking yourself at this point, if an unregulated capitalism is suicidal then how has our system survived this long? The answer is regulation. When our system starts to get too out of whack, we have instituted measures which regulates or controls the excesses of capitalism -- measures that redistributed some of the income and wealth away from the rich and to the others in our society.

I know that the term "redistribution of wealth" has been demonized in this country, but that is ridiculous because wealth is always being redistributed in all societies. In a capitalist society such as ours, the wealth will be redistributed to the richest people unless there are some regulations to prevent that. These regulations will make the distribution of wealth and income spread throughout the society. This is healthy, because a more equal distribution of income creates demand as people use that wealth and income to buy goods and services (and this allows capitalists to make money and workers to find jobs).

We have used various means to redistribute the income more fairly in this country. We created a progressive income tax (where the more money a person makes the higher tax rate they pay), we created and protected unions (which provided workers with decent wages and better benefits), we created an array of social service programs (to protect children, the elderly, the poor, and those with disadvantages), and we imposed regulations on the business practices of Wall Street and the corporations. These things helped to keep our capitalist system from getting out of control and choking to death on its own success.

But the Republicans have never accepted that capitalism needs regulating. They still believe that "trickle-down" (or Voodoo) economics will work (in spite of its repeated failures). With the election of Ronald Reagan in 1980, they began to tear down the safeguards that had been installed in our society. They started to eliminate business regulations, strip unions of their power, dismantle social programs, and lower tax rates for the rich. This process was accelerated in the administration of George W. Bush.

The result was predictable. Far too much of the nation's wealth and income became concentrated in the hands of only a few people (about 1% of the population controls 40% of the wealth and income currently). While the incomes of the rich grew astronomically, the incomes of workers was stagnant (and their buying power dropped substantially). This resulted in a drop in demand, which resulted in lay-offs, which killed demand even further, causing more lay-offs -- and this spiraled the country down into a serious recession.

And what do the Republicans think the solution to this jobless recession is? They want to cut social programs, cut taxes for the rich, eliminate unions, and eliminate regulations on businesses. In other words they want to do more of the same things that caused this economic mess in the first place. They seem to be incapable of learning from either experience or history.

They claim they are being fiscally responsible. They aren't. What they are really doing is giving our capitalist system enough rope to hang itself -- an economic suicide that will unfortunately also kill our economy (and maybe even our democracy).

Those Dangerous Republicans !

Are Republicans dangerous to your health? James Gilligan thinks so -- at least the ones who get elected president. Gilligan, a psychiatrist and professor at New York University, has written a book that ought to make some right-wing heads explode. In his book, Why Some Politicians Are More Dangerous Than Others, Gilligan says that Republican presidents are more dangerous to the population at large than Democratic presidents.

That may sound like a slightly outrageous statement, but Gilligan claims to have the statistal proof that it is true. He looked at the rates of murder and suicides over the last hundred years and found a rather strange pattern.

According to Gilligan, when a Republican is elected president the murder and suicide rates start to rise, and they remain at epidemic levels as long as a Republican is in the White House. He says, "The increase began during their first year or years in office, and peaked in their last year or years."

When a Democrat is elected president the reverse happens. The rate of murders and suicides begins to fall when a Democrat enters the White House and is at its lowest level during the last year they are in office.

Is this just a weird anomaly? Gilligan says no. He claims it happens "with a magnitude and consistency that could not be attributed to chance alone". He used an investigative technique like the one used to show that cigarettes have a link with lung cancer, and says, "As cigarette smoking has been shown to increase the rates of lung cancer, so the presence of a Republican in the White House increases the rates of suicide and homicide."

Why would this happen? Here is what he thinks:

The cause: policies. In Gilligan’s view, the policies of Republican administrations increase socio-economic distress which has all sorts of ramifications that lead to higher rates of murder and suicide, while Democratic administrations reduce socio-economic distress which aids the psychology of the masses and brings down the levels of violence.

I think he may have a point.

Green Plastic Soldiers - But Not Toys

These little pieces of art are powerful. They may look like the little green plastic soldiers that many of us played with as children, but they're not. These are not for sale, but are meant to remind us that the horrors of war don't necessarily stop when soldiers are brought back home. Far too often that just marks the beginning of new problems -- problems that are a result of their wartime experiences. These pictures are from the website wearedorothy.com.

Here's what the website has to say:

The hell of war comes home. In July 2009 Colorado Springs Gazettea published a two-part series entitled “Casualties of War”. The articles focused on a single battalion based at Fort Carson in Colorado Springs, who since returning from duty in Iraq had been involved in brawls, beatings, rapes, drunk driving, drug deals, domestic violence, shootings, stabbings, kidnapping and suicides. Returning soldiers were committing murder at a rate 20 times greater than other young American males. A seperate investiagtion into the high suicide rate among veterans published in the New York Times in October 2010 revealed that three times as many California veterans and active service members were dying soon after returning home than those being killed in Iraq and Afghanistan combined. We hear little about the personal hell soldiers live through after returning home.

Suicides Still A Military Problem

I have posted before about suicide in the military. It is not just a problem, it is a problem that is getting out of hand. In 2010, a record number of combat deaths were reported in Afghanistan. But even sadder is the fact that the number of military suicides that year outnumbered the number of combat deaths (and the number of suicides was most likely under-reported).

Now we learn that the war-time suicide problem in the military also affects women. Women who have been sent to war commit suicide at three times the rate of military women who have not been to a war-zone. The normal suicide rate for military women is 5 per 100,000, but the rate of those sent to war jumps to 15 per 100,000. The scientists are unsure of the reason. They say it may be because the war-zone is male-dominated, and it could be because of children and other family they have left behind. I suspect it is because of the horrors they are exposed to in a war-zone (including rape by their own male cohorts).

But whatever the reason, the suicide rate among women is still lower than that of their male cohorts. The normal suicide rate for military males is 15 per 100,000, and this jumps to 21 per 100,000 when sent to a war-zone. The military says the overall suicide rate for troops is rising, and has climbed from 15 per 100,000 to 22 per 100,000 since 2004 (far surpassing the civilian suicide rate).

The only odd thing about the suicide rate is that it doesn't increase for married soldiers when they are sent to a war zone, but remains at about the same rate as for those not sent to a war-zone. No one seems to have a clue as to why this is true.

We are usually only told about combat deaths in the current wars. But the truth is that we are ruining the lives of a lot more soldiers, both men and women, than the number of combat deaths. Many are seriously injured and a lot of those are disable physically or mentally for a long time -- maybe the rest of their lives. Then there is the increasing and record number of suicides. And we haven't even discussed the ones who develop alcohol or drug problems.

Are these wars really worth the awful cost our soldiers are paying?

More Suicides Than Combat Deaths In Military

As we approach 10 years of continuous war without accomplishing any of our goals or even getting to a point where the end of those wars are in sight, American soldiers are still dying (although that is seldom reported by the mainstream media any more). Last year, 462 American military personnel were killed in combat. But while that is a tragedy, it is only the tip of the iceberg.

The website Congress.org is reporting that the deaths of soldiers in combat is actually exceeded by the number of people in the United States Military who commit suicide. This has been true for two years in a row now (2009 and 2010). In 2010, there were 468 military suicides reported. The figure is probably even higher than that, since the Air Force and the Marines do not report the suicides of those in the reserves not on actual combat duty. The figure also does not report the suicides of those who have left the military and re-entered civilian life.

This is an indictment of the state of continuing war our country is engaging in. It also shows the inadequacy of the mental health services offered to both our active duty soldiers, reserves and veterans. These men and women are heroes and our government is failing them. There is simply no excuse for military suicides to outnumber combat deaths. There is also no excuse for continuing wars that accomplish nothing but to continue the sacrifice of American lives.

Isn't it time to bring ALL of our soldiers home from Afghanistan and Iraq?

Record Number Of Soldiers Commit Suicide

It's no secret that the war in Afghanistan (or rather the misguided nation-building effort in Afghanistan) is not going too well. When the American soldiers "pacify" an area and move on to another area to do the same, those we are fighting move back in and take over again and nothing has been accomplished. And while this futile merry-go-round is happening the American deaths continue to rise, standing now at about 1100 (not to mention the thousands of deaths of innocent civilians in both Afghanistan and Pakistan).

It is a fact that June of 2010 set a record for the number of soldiers killed in Afghanistan (with 60 soldiers being killed) for any month in the nine year history of the war. But that is not the only death record that can be attributed to the effects of the endless war (in both Afghanistan and Iraq). June was also "the worst month ever for suicides in the Army", according to a report by CBS News. At least 32 soldiers, both active and reserves, killed themselves in the month of June.

In the first six months of 2010 a total of 145 soldiers committed suicide -- a record for times of both war and peace. That is an increase of more than 11.5% over the same period last year, which had 130 suicides by soldiers -- also a record at that time. This is a serious problem that seems to be getting out of hand.

To try and get a handle on the situation, the Army is changing the way it is trying to combat the growing problem. The Army has been using actors in the anti-suicide films it shows it's personnel, and they now admit that the soldiers consider these films to be a joke. They have now replaced these films with films of real soldiers who have tried to commit suicide, in the hopes that these messages from real soldiers will have more effect on soldiers considering suicide.

I hope that does help. But we all know that the only thing that'll really help is to end the senseless and endless wars foisted on us by Bush and Cheney (and continued by the current administration). The other day the Army Chief of Staff said we could be looking at another decade of war. What's that going to do to the number of dead soldiers -- both battle-related and suicides?

Helping When Help Isn't Wanted

One of my daughters has a blogger friend who lives in Europe. Although he was born in the United States, he has lived in Europe for over thirty years and is now also a citizen of a country there (which I will leave unnamed). Although they have never met in person, they have both been posting on the same blog and have been e-mailing and instant-messaging each other for a couple of years now. It is one of the nice things about the internet that people can now easily have friendships with people all over the world -- people they will probably never get to meet in person.

This gentleman has had some recent hardships in his life, but we all thought he was handling them well and would get through them with some help and love from his friends. It looks like we were wrong because this post appeared on his blog a few days ago:

I won't be around much longer. Yup, am gonna leave the planet.

Oh, don't get all crazy, I am so focussed on this. There are things that in themselves are meaningless. However.... something turns up that is the proverbial straw that breaks the camel's back.

Hey, you can get knocked down, you get up, brush yourself off, and go on.

But ONE day.... everything crashes on your head, and all you want to do is leave.

And you realise you can't DO it any more. Am at that point.

This isn't a cry for help. It's been in my mind for a lonnng time. I want everyone to know... I have loved people... deeply. I have tried to make a difference in the world. Most of it didn't work.

Am hanging out for a week or so, but once I get things squared away, I will be gone.

I wish to say I loved being here. . . And the nice people here who were supportive.

I don't know how to say this.... I probably would have left the planet if not for you all.

I have a week or so to get things in order. But it was profoundly nice to meet you all.

Although he said the post was not a "cry for help", my daughter (and I) believed that was exactly what it was. My daughter got on the internet and for the next couple of hours traded instant messages with him. She pleaded with him, tried to reason with him, and pointed out that he had friends who cared for him. It was all to no avail. He said his mind was made up and there was nothing she could do or that he wanted her to do.

That was not good enough. A person simply cannot sit idly by while a friend, who is obviously in the midst of a serious depression, commits suicide. My daughter decided to call the Suicide Hotline, in the hope they would have some suggestions about what to do. They were of no help at all. Their only suggestion was to call 9-1-1 (which would have been a waste of time since 9-1-1 can do nothing about a threatened suicide in Europe).

But persistence is not a quality lacking in my daughter. The next morning she contacted the United States State Department, explained the situation to them, and asked if there was anything they could do to help. I must admit that I didn't expect them to help. I was wrong! My daughter was contacted by an official from the U.S. Embassy in the European country. This same official also called the gentleman wanting to commit suicide, and the appropriate social service agency in that country (and even gave my daughter the name and contact information of the social service worker assigned to the case).

That social service agency worker paid a visit to the gentleman in question. We know this because the gentlemen sent my daughter an angry e-mail about her "interference". That is the last thing we have heard about the matter. Did he go ahead and commit suicide? Is he now in a hospital getting psychological help? We don't know. All we can do at this point is hope for the best.

We do know the U.S. Embassy and the social services of that country are trying to help, and we must trust they will be able to do so. We do appreciate the fact that they would take action on a request from an ordinary person halfway around the world.

As for my daughter, she says she could not just do nothing. It is better that he receives help even if he hates her for making sure he got that help. It goes without saying that I'm very proud of her. But that is not why I wrote this post.

The point is that if you know of a person threatening suicide, you must take action. It does not matter that the person doesn't want help or would hate you for helping. Life is far too precious to let chronic depression take it away. In the final analysis you must live with your own conscience, and that is far easier to do if you know you did everything you could possibly do to save a person's life -- even if that person said they didn't want your help.

Shocking Suicide Rate Among Veterans

We tend to hear about the United States soldiers that are killed in combat in Iraq and Afghanistan, and thankfully, that number has gone down in the last few months. That has given many Americans the false impression that these two unnecessary wars are not costing many American lives these days. Sadly, that is just not true.

It's just that the cost of these wars on the lives of American soldiers and veterans is more hidden now, because most of the lives lost now is in this country -- through suicide. But it is still directly attributable to service in Iraq and Afghanistan. These two wars are still costing this country a shocking number of American lives each and every day.

According to an article published in the Army Times yesterday, there is an average of 950 suicide attempts by veterans every month -- and about 7% of those attempts are successful. Among those who fail, 11% will make a second attempt within nine months. They say that about 18 veterans commit suicide every day (and five of those are receiving VA care).

The data shows that there is a lower rate of suicide among those who are receiving VA care than among those who are not. The VA is trying to strengthen it's suicide prevention programs and the VA figures they save about 250 lives each month through VA treatment. The VA suicide prevention hotline receives about 10,000 calls each month from current and former members of our military.

I commend the VA for their efforts and for the lives they are able to save, but obviously much more needs to be done. They not only need to increase their outreach to include many veterans not currently receiving care, but they also need to increase the quality and effectiveness of the care they are giving (because five suicides a day among those receiving treatment is just too many).

But the greatest need is to end these evil and unnecessary wars -- immediately! While deaths may have gone down on the battlefield (although there are still too many), at 18 suicides a day the wars are still costing us way too many American lives. And this won't stop until we stop putting our brave soldiers, both male and female, through the horrors of war (and will probably continue for months or years after the wars end).

The truth is that we are accomplishing nothing in Iraq or Afghanistan, and we are paying an awful price for these failures in nation-building. Let's end it. Now.

VA Lies To Congress About Vets

If there's one thing the Bush administration has been consistent about, it is lying. They have lied about little things and big things, important things and unimportant things. They have lied to their friends and their enemies. They have lied to Congress and to the American people.

So I guess it shouldn't surprise us to see they plan to finish their 8-year stretch still lying. Maybe they've been lying so long they've forgotten how to tell the truth. This time, it's the Veteran's Administration (VA).

We all know that 4047 American soldiers have been killed in the Iraq War. It's hard to hide an obvious cost like the death statistics. But there are hidden costs to this unnecessary war -- like the psychological casualties among the soldiers who have returned home. It's much easier to lie and hide this cost.

According to the statistics released by the VA, 790 veterans of the war tried to commit suicide in 2007. That sounded bad enough, but now we find through VA internal e-mails that this was a lie. The actual number of attempted suicides among returning veterans was about 12,000 in 2007. That wasn't just a lie -- it was a gigantic whopper!

Over 300,000 of the returning veterans suffer from Post Traumatic Stress Disorder or Major Depression. Only half of these have sought help, and of those, only half have received a "minimally adequate" treatment. This is a huge number of psychologically wounded veterans, and the Bush policy is creating more every day.

As Senator Patty Murray (D-Washington) pointed out, some of the more violent symptoms may not show up for many years. She said, "I think we ought to be worried. They can be walking time bombs for decades. I hope everyone in the VA understands this."

It's easy to see why the Bush administration is trying to hide these war casualties. This is a huge and growing problem that will affect our country for many years. We are paying a terrible price to soothe Bush's pride, control Iraqi oil and enrich a lot of giant corporations. It is time to end this nonsense.

We must pull our troops out of Iraq -- the sooner the better.