Interesting questions here - who was in charge of Congress in 1996, and why would you pass a law restricting such research?

Surprising fact: Half of gun deaths are suicides

By MIKE STOBBE

AP Medical Writer

Mon Jun 30, 2008, 3:19 PM ET

ATLANTA (AP) - The Supreme Court's landmark ruling on gun ownership last week focused on citizens' ability to defend themselves from intruders in their homes. But research shows that surprisingly often, gun owners use the weapons on themselves.

Suicides accounted for 55 percent of the nation's nearly 31,000 firearm deaths in 2005, the most recent year for which statistics are available from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

There was nothing unique about that year — gun-related suicides have outnumbered firearm homicides and accidents for 20 of the last 25 years. In 2005, homicides accounted for 40 percent of gun deaths. Accidents accounted for 3 percent. The remaining 2 percent included legal killings, such as when police do the shooting, and cases that involve undetermined intent.

Public-health researchers have concluded that in homes where guns are present, the likelihood that someone in the home will die from suicide or homicide is much greater.

Studies have also shown that homes in which a suicide occurred were three to five times more likely to have a gun present than households that did not experience a suicide, even after accounting for other risk factors.

In a 5-4 decision, the high court on Thursday struck down a handgun ban enacted in the District of Columbia in 1976 and rejected requirements that firearms have trigger locks or be kept disassembled. The ruling left intact the district's licensing restrictions for gun owners.

One public-health study found that suicide and homicide rates in the district dropped after the ban was adopted. The district has allowed shotguns and rifles to be kept in homes if they are registered, kept unloaded and taken apart or equipped with trigger locks.

The American Public Health Association, the American Association of Suicidology and two other groups filed a legal brief supporting the district's ban. The brief challenged arguments that if a gun is not available, suicidal people will just kill themselves using other means.

More than 90 percent of suicide attempts using guns are successful, while the success rate for jumping from high places was 34 percent. The success rate for drug overdose was 2 percent, the brief said, citing studies.

"Other methods are not as lethal," said Jon Vernick, co-director of the Johns Hopkins Center for Gun Policy and Research in Baltimore.

The high court's majority opinion made no mention of suicide. But in a dissenting opinion, Justice Stephen Breyer used the word 14 times in voicing concern about the impact of striking down the handgun ban.

"If a resident has a handgun in the home that he can use for self-defense, then he has a handgun in the home that he can use to commit suicide or engage in acts of domestic violence," Breyer wrote.

Researchers in other fields have raised questions about the public-health findings on guns.

Gary Kleck, a researcher at Florida State University's College of Criminology and Criminal Justice, estimates there are more than 1 million incidents each year in which firearms are used to prevent an actual or threatened criminal attack.

Public-health experts have said the telephone survey methodology Kleck used likely resulted in an overestimate.

Both sides agree there has been a significant decline in the last decade in public-health research into gun violence.

The CDC traditionally was a primary funder of research on guns and gun-related injuries, allocating more than $2.1 million a year to such projects in the mid-1990s.

But the agency cut back research on the subject after Congress in 1996 ordered that none of the CDC's appropriations be used to promote gun control.

Vernick said the Supreme Court decision underscores the need for further study into what will happen to suicide and homicide rates in the district when the handgun ban is lifted.

Today, the CDC budgets less than $900,000 for firearm-related projects, and most of it is spent to track statistics. The agency no longer funds gun-related policy analysis.

On the Net:

CDC gun injury statistics: http://www.cdc.gov/ncipc

Everyone keep humming...America, America, God shed his grace on thee...and crowned thy good, with brother-hood from sea to shining sea...

Whose American Dream Is It, Anyway?

Source: from Yahoo! Finance

by Anya Kamenetz

Posted on Tuesday, June 17, 2008, 12:00AM

 

A recent "USA Today" poll showed that, given the worsening economy, high prices for energy, and the housing crisis, Americans are more pessimistic about their lives than at any time in the past half-century. Most worrisome is that just 45 percent believe their children will be better off financially than they are, which caused reporter David Lynch to ask if the American Dream was, if not dead, then at least wounded.

 

I've been asking the same question since I started writing the original Generation Debt series for "The Village Voice" back in 2004. Back then the economy was booming, but the long-term data were already clear -- young men were earning significantly less than their fathers had 30 years ago (given inflation); young women were barely making progress on the gains in the workforce that their mothers had worked so hard for; and both were saddled with record prices for housing, health care, and education, as well as rising student loan and credit card debt.

 

Well, now I think it's time to take a fresh look at the issue. Maybe the American Dream is dead or wounded -- or maybe it's just outdated.

 

Perhaps the strongest symbol of the traditional American Dream is the single-family home in an automobile-dependent suburb. Today, in many places, those houses are unaffordable for the middle class.

 

With gas prices soaring to an average above four dollars a gallon, the car commute is unaffordable, too -- and no one is expecting gas to come back down to the 99-cent range anytime soon.

 

Furthermore, even if house prices continue to decline and cars get more fuel-efficient, it turns out that the driving commute itself cuts into people's happiness -- so much so, one pair of researchers found, that someone commuting an hour each way would have to earn 40 percent more to compensate for the decreased quality of life.

 

Another piece of the American Dream that we're saying goodbye to is lifetime employment with a single corporation that offers health care, a pension, and a gold watch upon retirement. Manufacturing has moved overseas, and large corporations simply don't operate like that anymore.

 

For high-school educated workers, the middle class job is all but kaput. GM was the largest employer in the country in 1970, with an average wage of $17.50 an hour. Today GM is all but bankrupt, and Wal-Mart is the nation's largest employer, with an average wage of $9 an hour.

 

But what about the most fundamental assumption of the American Dream, the idea that standards of living, as measured by money and ownership of material things, ought to keep rising steadily year after year, generation after generation? That one is looking to be on the shakiest ground of all.

 

First of all, by most measures, our country has long since passed the point where adding more income and more stuff will make us happier. Once a nation has a per capita income above $12,000, for example, there is little correlation between wealth and happiness.

 

And in the U.S., researcher Daniel Gilbert found, once an individual passes $50,000 a year in income, more money has little effect on his or her happiness on average.

 

In fact, not surprisingly, the top earners have far less free time than the poorest fifth of Americans, and their average mood is not much better.

 

Secondly, indications are mounting that the planet just can't take all this constantly increasing driving and shopping and fast-food eating. If the entire world consumed the way Americans do (China and India are the most obvious examples of countries headed in this direction), we would need six Earths full of resources.

 

So for those of you who, like me, hope to be living another 60, 70, or 80 years in this unique nation, it might be time to ask: What is our new American Dream? If it's not a house, a car, a lawn, a lifetime of job security, and a constantly rising standard of living, what are we looking for? What should we be looking for?

 

I don't have the definitive answer. But I have three suggestions and observations.

Time, Not Stuff

 

Young people prize flexibility with their time. More likely to be raised by working mothers than any generation in history, we've seen the tradeoffs and don't want to fall into the "two-income trap" where both partners work more and more hours, barely seeing each other or their kids, just to keep up with the Joneses.

 

Both young men and young women say over and over in employment surveys that they want time to take care of their families and their health, to be involved in their communities, and to "have a life."

 

As we weather this economic downturn, I predict that even more young people are going to choose -- or be pushed into -- a smaller-scale, downshifted lifestyle where they make do with less stuff and trade more money for more time.

 

People are already planting more gardens, driving less and riding their bikes or public transportation more, canceling their cable subscriptions, and spending more time at home. This is a perfect example of making a virtue out of necessity -- all these changes save money, but they also mean a slower, healthier lifestyle that for some is its own reward.

 

There are even reports in the media of young families going to the extreme with the trend of taking out a "Selling All Worldly Possessions" ad on Craigslist and taking to the road.

Meaningful Employment

 

Money and security are important, but research says young people really want meaning in their jobs, too.

 

This includes finding a personal passion and getting a chance to do something important for the world.

 

One employment trend that attracts young people is self-employment and entrepreneurship. This ties in to our interest in individuality and flexibility. Nearly a fifth of the workforce can be classified as non-standard in some way, and non-standard workers are twice as likely to be under 25.

 

Going out on your own has its tradeoffs. This part of the workforce faces greater risk, and under our current laws, they have inadequate access to benefits such as health care and nondiscrimination protection. Yet it turns out many independent workers are more satisfied with their jobs than salaried employees at an equivalent level. That's in large part because autonomy is a major key to job satisfaction.

 

A second popular direction for young people seeking meaning in their employment is in public service. Teach for America, where college graduates go into underserved public schools for two years, is a top entry-level employer at many elite colleges.

 

And last year's College Cost Reduction and Access Act established a slew of new student loan forgiveness programs for young people who go into professions including social work, nursing, law enforcement, and firefighting, which should entice even more young people into these lines of work.

 

And they may well find satisfaction there. In one huge employer survey, the three job categories where employees were most likely to say they had their "Dream jobs" were, in order, teacher, police officer, and firefighter.

A New New Deal

 

This part is more political than personal. The old American Dream included a social safety net that provided a baseline of security. As noted, this is no longer being provided adequately by employers or the government.

 

Young people are the largest and fastest-growing group of Americans without health insurance, we lack access to pension plans, and the future of programs like Social Security and Medicare is threatened by current budget positions. Young Americans in polls hold a more favorable view of government solutions than older Americans, and we are calling for new government investments in portable, flexible benefits that will restore the social safety net while controlling rising costs.

 

These are scary times. But after Hurricane Katrina hit my hometown of New Orleans, I learned from the courage of people struggling to rebuild. I saw that pessimism is a luxury for easy times, while optimism is a necessity for times like these. The new American Dream may be smaller and less flashy than your father's Oldsmobile, but it's more sustainable -- and maybe it can take us farther.

the bible thumper and the athiest neighbor...

There was a little old lady, who every morning, stepped onto her front porch, raised her arms to the sky, and shouted, "PRAISE THE LORD!"

One day an atheist moved into the house next door.  He became irritated at the little old lady.  Every morning he'd step onto his front porch after her and yell. "THERE IS NO LORD!"

Time passed, with the two of them carrying on this way every day.

One morning, in the middle of winter, the little old lady stepped onto her front porch and shouted, "PRAISE THE LORD!  Please Lord, I have no food and I am starving, provide for me, oh Lord!"

The next morning she stepped out onto her porch and there were two huge bags of groceries sitting there.  "PRAISE THE LORD!" she cried out.  "HE HAS PROVIDED GROCERIES FOR ME!"

The atheist neighbor jumped out of the hedges and shouted, "THERE IS NO LORD, I BOUGHT THOSE GROCERIES!"

The little old lady threw her arms into the air and shouted, "PRAISE THE LORD!  HE HAS PROVIDED ME WITH GROCERIES AND MADE THE DEVIL PAY FOR THEM!"

show him your card

A Department of Water representative stopped at a ranch and talked with an old rancher.  He told the rancher, "I need to inspect your ranch for your water allocation."

The old rancher said, "Okay, but don't go in that field over there.."

The Water representative said, "Mister, I have the authority of the Federal Government with me.  See this card?  The card means I am allowed to go WHEREVER I WISH on any agricultural land.  No questions asked or answered.  Have I made myself clear?  Do you understand?"

The old rancher nodded politely and went about his chores.

Later, the old rancher heard loud screams and saw the Water Rep running for the fence.  Close behind was the rancher's bull.  The bull was gaining on the Water Rep with every step.

The Rep was clearly terrified - so the old rancher immediately threw down his tools, ran to the fence and shouted, "Your card!  Your card!  Show him your card!"

never bring your plants in for the night when it gets cold...

Never bring outdoor plants into the house.  Garden Grass Snakes, also known as Garter Snakes can be dangerous.  Yes, grass snakes, not rattlesnakes.

Here's why....

A couple in Baltimore, Maryland had a lot of potted plants.  During a recent cold spell, the wife was bringing a lot of them indoors to protect them from a possible freeze.

It turned out that a little green garden grass snake was hidden in one of the plants and when it had warmed up, it slithered out and the wife saw it go under the sofa.  She let out a very loud scream!  The husband, who was taking a shower, ran out into the living room naked to see what the problem was.  She told him there was a snake under the sofa.

He got down on the floor on his hands and knees to look for it.  About that time the family dog came and cold-nosed him on the behind.  He thought the snake had bitten him, so he screamed and fell over on the floor. 

His wife thought he had a heart attack, so she covered him up, told him to lie still and called an ambulance.  The attendants rushed in, wouldn't listen to his protests and loaded him on the stretcher and started carrying him out.

About that time the snake came out from under the sofa and the Emergency Medical Technician saw it and dropped his end of the stretcher. 

That's when the man broke his leg and why he is still in the hospital.

The wife still had the problem of the snake in the house, so she called on a neighbor.  He volunteered to capture the snake.  He armed himself with a rolled-up newspaper and began poking under the couch.  Soon he decided it was gone and told the woman, who sat down on the sofa in relief.

But while relaxing, her hand dangled in between the cushions, where she felt the snake wriggling around.  She screamed and fainted, the snake rushed back under the sofa.  The neighbor man, seeing her lying there passed out, tried to use CPR to revive her.

The neighbor’s wife, who had just returned from shopping at the grocery store, saw her husband's mouth on the woman's mouth and slammed her husband in the back of the head with a bag of canned goods, knocking him out and cutting his scalp to a point where it needed stitches.

The noise woke the woman from her dead faint and she saw her neighbor lying on the floor with his wife bending over him, so she assumed that he had been bitten by the snake.  She went to the kitchen and got a small bottle of whiskey, and began pouring it down the man's throat.

By now the police had arrived.  They saw the unconscious man, smelled the whiskey, and assumed that a drunken fight had occurred.  They were about to arrest them all, when the women tried to explain how it all happened over a little green snake.

The police called an ambulance, which took away the neighbor and his sobbing wife.  The little snake again crawled out from under the sofa.  One of the policemen drew his gun and fired at it.  He missed the snake and hit the leg of the end table.  The table fell over and the lamp on it shattered and as the bulb broke it started a fire in the drapes.  The other policeman tried to beat out the flames, and fell through the window into the yard on top of the family dog who, startled, jumped out and raced into the street, where an oncoming car swerved to avoid it and smashed into the parked police car.

Meanwhile, the burning drapes were seen by the neighbors who called the fire department.  The firemen had started raising the fire truck ladder when they were halfway down the street.  The rising ladder tore out the overhead wires and put out the electricity and disconnected the telephones in a ten-square city block area, however, they did get the house fire out! 

Time passed!  Men were discharged from the hospital, the house was repaired, the dog came home, the police acquired a new car, and all was right with their world.

A while later they were watching TV and the weatherman announced a cold snap for that night.  The wife asked her husband if he thought they should bring in their plants for the night...

now THIS is comedy...

The 84 year old bride

A local news station was interviewing an 84-year old lady because she had just gotten married -- for the 4th time. The interviewer asked her questions about her life, about what it felt like to be marrying again at 84, and then about her new husband's occupation.

"He's a funeral director," she answered.

"Interesting," the newsman said. "Would you mind telling us a little bit about your first three husbands and what they did for a living?"

The woman paused for a few moments, needing time to reflect on all those past years. After a short time, a smile came to her face and she answered proudly, "Well, first I married a banker when I was in my early 20's, then a circus ringmaster when I was in my 40's, and, later on, a preacher in my late 60's. Now I'm marrying a funeral director."

The newsman looked at her quite astonished. "Why have you married four men with such diverse carrers?" he asked.

"Easy, son," she replied. "I married one for the money...two for the show...three to get ready...and four to go!"

Sportscar Doctor and the Old Man...

An old man on a moped, looking about 100 years old, pulls up next to a doctor at a street light.

The old man looks over at the sleek shiny car and asks, 'What kind of car ya got here, sonny?'

The doctor replies, 'A Ferrari GT. It cost half a million dollars!'

'That's a lot of money,' says the old man. 'Why does it cost so much?'

'Because this car can do up to 320 miles an hour!' states the doctor proudly.

The moped driver asks, 'Mind if I take a look inside?'

'No problem,' replies the doctor.

So the old man pokes his head in the window and looks around. Then, sitting back on his moped, the old man says, 'That's a pretty nice car all right, but I'll stick with my moped!'

Just then the light changes, so the doctor decides to show the old man just what his car can do.. He floors it, and within 30 seconds the speedometer reads 160 mph.

Suddenly, he notices a dot in his rear view mirror. It seems to be getting closer! He slows down to see what it could be and suddenly WHHOOOOSSSHHHH! Something whips by him going much faster! 'What on earth could be going faster than my Ferrari?' the doctor asks himself.

He floors the accelerator and takes the Ferrari up to 250 mph. Then, up ahead of him, he sees that it's the old man on the moped!

Amazed that the moped could pass his Ferrari, he gives it more gas and passes the moped at 275 mph and he's feeling pretty good until he looks in his mirror and sees the old man gaining on him AGAIN!

Astounded by the speed of this old guy, he floors the gas pedal and takes the Ferrari all the way up to 320 mph.

No ten seconds later, he sees the moped bearing down on him again! The Ferrari is flat out, and there's nothing he can do!

Suddenly, the moped plows into the back of his Ferrari, demolishing the rear end.

The doctor stops and jumps out and unbelievably the old man is still alive.

He runs up to the mangled old man an says, 'I'm a doctor... is there anything I can do for you?'

The old man whispers, 'Yes, please! Unhook my suspenders from your side view mirror'....

apparently my brother and I share something..

Dreamy Idealist (DI)
(Just visiting? Take the free test and determine your personality type!)

The dreamy idealist is very cautious and therefore often appears shy and reserved to others. He shares his rich emotional life and his passionate convictions with very few people. But one would be very much mistaken to judge him to be cool and reserved. He has a pronounced inner system of values and clear, honourable principles for which he is willing to sacrifice a great deal. Johanna von Orleans or Sir Galahad would have been good examples of this personality type. He is always at great pains to improve the world. He can be very considerate towards others and does a lot to support them and stand up for them. He is interested in his fellow beings, attentive and generous towards them. Once his enthusiasm for an issue or person is aroused, he can become a tireless fighter.

For the dreamy idealist, practical things are not really so important. He only busies himself with mundane everyday demands when absolutely necessary. He tends to live according to the motto “the genius controls the chaos” - which is normally the case so that he often has a very successful academic career. He is less interested in details; he prefers to look at something as a whole. This means that he still has a good overview even when things start to become hectic. However, as a result, it can occasionally happen that he overlooks something important. As he is very peace-loving, he tends not to openly show his dissatisfaction or annoyance but to bottle it up. Assertiveness is not one of his strong points; he hates conflicts and competition. He prefers to motivate others with his amicable and enthusiastic nature. Whoever has him as superior will never have to complain about not being given enough praise.

As at work, the dreamy idealist is a helpful and loyal friend and partner, a person of integrity. Obligations are absolutely sacred to him. The feelings of other are important to him and he loves making other people happy. He is satisfied with just a small circle of friends; his need for social contact is not very marked as he also needs a lot of time to himself. Superfluous small talk is not his thing. If one wishes to be friends with him or have a relationship with him, one would have to share his world of thought and be willing to participate in profound discussions. If you manage that you will be rewarded with an exceptionally intensive, rich partnership. Due to his high demands on himself and others, this personality type tends however to sometimes overload the relationship with romantic and idealistic ideas to such an extent that the partner feels overtaxed or inferior. The dreamy idealist does not fall in love head over heels but when he does fall in love he wants his to be a great, eternal love.

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Adjectives which describe your type
introverted, theoretical, emotional, spontaneous, idealistic, dreamy, effusive, pleasant, reserved, friendly, passionate, loyal, perfectionist, helpful, creative, composed, curious, obstinate, with integrity, willing to make sacrifices, romantic, cautious, shy, peace-loving, vulnerable, sensitive, communicative, imaginative

These subjects could interest youl
iterature, philosophy, psychology, music, art (museums), writing, drawing/painting, astrology, spiritual things, meditation, handicrafts, writing, voluntary work

now you know its getting bad when...

McMahon fighting foreclosure on Beverly Hills home
LOS ANGELES (AP) - Ed McMahon, who for decades appeared as Johnny Carson's sidekick on "The Tonight Show," is fighting to avoid foreclosure on his multimillion-dollar Beverly Hills home, according to published reports.
The former "Star Search" host was $644,000 behind on payments on $4.8 million in mortgage loans when a unit of Countrywide Financial Corp. filed a default notice Feb. 28 with the Los Angeles County Recorder's Office, The Wall Street Journal first reported late Tuesday.
McMahon, 85, has been a pitchman for the American Family Publishers' sweepstakes.
However, he has been unable to work as a pitchman for various products since he broke his neck 18 months ago, said his spokesman, Howard Bragman.
"There are plenty of people affected by the weak economy, bad housing market or bad health," Bragman said.
McMahon has been in "very fruitful discussions" with the lender to resolve the situation, Bragman said. But it's unclear whether McMahon and his wife, Pamela, will remain in the home.
A telephone message left for Countrywide early Wednesday was not immediately returned.
The six-bedroom, five-bath house is in a hilltop gated community overlooking Mulholland Drive called The Summit and is listed for sale at $6.25 million. It has been on the market two years, according to real estate agent Alex Davis, who has the listing.
The house is near that of pop star Britney Spears, which doesn't always work in its favor.
"When we were trying to sell the house one time, there were about 100 paparazzi there," Davis said.

go figure....

Marked-up birds become sexier, exude testosterone
By SETH BORENSTEIN, AP Science Writer
Tue Jun 3, 2008 16:02 PM ET

WASHINGTON (AP) - A little strategically placed makeup quickly turns the wimpiest of male barn swallows into chick magnets, amping up their testosterone and even trimming their weight, new research shows.
It's a "clothes make the man" lesson that — with some caveats — also applies to human males, researchers say.
Using a $5.99 marker, scientists darkened the rust-colored breast feathers of male New Jersey barn swallows, turning lighter birds to the level of those naturally darkest.
They had already found, in a test three years ago, that the marked-up males were more attractive to females and mated more often.
This time they found out that the more attractive appearance, at least in the bird world, triggered changes to the animals' body chemistry, increasing testosterone.
"Other females might be looking at them as being a little more sexy, and the birds might be feeling better about themselves in response to that," said study co-author Kevin McGraw, an evolutionary biology professor at Arizona State University.
McGraw said the findings are surprising, in part because the hormonal changes occurred after only one week.
The study was published in Tuesday's edition of the journal Current Biology.
In the 30 male barn swallows who were darkened, testosterone was up 36 percent after one week, during a time of year when levels of that hormone would normally drop.
At the same time, testosterone levels in the 33 birds that didn't get the coloring treatment fell by half, said lead author Rebecca Safran, an evolutionary biology professor at the University of Colorado in Boulder.
"It's the `clothes make the man'" idea, Safran said. "It's like you walk down the street and you're driving a Rolls Royce and people notice. And your physiology accommodates this."
Before you feel superior to these birds, Safran cautioned, people's mating systems are more similar to birds' than we might like to admit.
Barn swallows are "socially monogamous and genetically promiscuous, same as humans," she said. "There are some interesting parallels, but we do need to be careful about making them."
In people, hormonal changes have been observed after changes in behavior. A 1998 study found that loyal male fans of sports teams experienced a 20 percent rise in testosterone when their teams won.
The researchers aren't certain how the testosterone boost happens. It could be that because of the darkened color, the birds mate more often and that changes their testosterone levels.
It could also be that because of the darkened color, other males think the pecking order has changed and that boosts the darker swallows' hormone levels. Or it could be both. The authors said figuring out which theory is right is the next step.
The birds' weight loss is more easily explained, Safran said. The more macho swallows could be spending more time mating than eating or working off the calories, she said.
Most of the time it's the hormones that change the behavior or appearance, but this work shows "it can go more than one way," said study co-author James Adelman, a Princeton University researcher.
"It certainly is a very new and interesting finding," said Cornell University psychology and neurobiology professor Elizabeth Adkins-Regan, who had no role in the study.

On the Net:
Current Biology: http://www.current-biology.com/