Forget learning from history

I wish some people would get a damn clue from the PRESENT! Why, you ask? Well let me tell ya!

First of all, reason #1,265 why I hate the *spit*french*spit*

The French government has told an airline that it is not to ferry British troops to Basra, a ban that will be seen as reflecting Paris's opposition to the occupation of Iraq.

Folks, it's time to stop pretending that France is an ally. Hell, it's time to stop pretending that France is a friend to any civilized nation. These greedy, power-hungry, backstabbing hipocritical pieces of walking excretement need to be treated with the contempt that they have earned. This isn't history, it's right here, right now. LEARN FROM IT!

Ready for some more? Good, because British teens are now saying that crime pays.

Forty per cent of youngsters across the country believe it is the way to easy money.

And in deprived inner cities 60 per cent agree.

The astonishing figures came on the day a teenage boy lay critically ill after being stabbed for his mobile phone.

A young mum was stabbed seven times on a crowded bus by a mugger after she chased him and grabbed back her handbag.

And a teenage girl told police how she was slashed with a knife and nearly drowned by a gang.


Well then, how do you prevent crime? The teens gave their opinion on that as well!

The survey by insurance giant Norwich Union showed teenagers reckon prison is the best deterrent to crime.

Only five per cent thought community service worked - and fines were backed by just one per cent.

But how can we learn from this lesson? Because we can look at the trends in crime, coupled with events that happened before the crime started climbing.

"[I]n the four years from 1997 to 2001, the rate of violent crime more than doubled. Your chances of being mugged in London are now six times greater than in New York. England’s rates of assault, robbery, and burglary are far higher than America’s, and 53 percent of English burglaries occur while occupants are at home, compared with 13 percent in the U.S., where burglars admit to fearing armed homeowners more than the police." (Reason Magazine, "Gun Control’s Twisted Outcome", November 2002).

"In 1996, the U.K. banned handguns. Prior to that time, over 54,000 Britons owned such weapons. The ban is so tight that even shooters training for the Olympics were forced to travel to other countries to practice. In the four years since the ban, gun crimes have risen by an astounding 40%.

But that's just Britain, right? Uhhhh, not really.

Australia also passed severe gun restrictions in 1996, banning most guns and making it a crime to use a gun defensively. In the subsequent four years, armed robberies rose by 51%, unarmed robberies by 37%, assaults by 24%, and kidnappings by 43%. While murders fell by 3%, manslaughter rose by 16%.

We have the results of gun-control right in front of us. It's not history, it's right here, right now. LEARN FROM IT!.

Hat tip to Zogby Blog.