This Week in Google Alerts: Home Fires

Lee Berman · 11 Apr 2012, 19:58 · from 2012-April.txt.gz

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From: severiansola at hotmail.com (Lee Berman)
Date: Wed, 11 Apr 2012 15:58:55 -0400
Subject: (urth) This Week in Google Alerts: Home Fires
Message-ID: <SNT123-W19420CDFB64D439E6D115DCF350 at phx.gbl>

>David Stockhoff: I know there are anti-immigrant politicians across Europe, 
>we generally only hear about our own in the US. Here, Islamists boast of nothing. 
>They keep quiet.

There is a sociological rule of thumb stating that minority populations don't start
trying to exert political power until they approach 10%. Muslim population in the
USA is well below that, while Latino and African-American are at that level.

I think the desire for sharia law in Europe may be more a function of disadvantaged
minority status than pure religious zealotry and belief.

>I don't think that makes sense. What would any justice system be 
>without, say, a death penalty?

Yoicks! There are 16 US states without the death penalty. Moreover 50% of all nations
on earth have abolished it and only 22% actually use it significantly. You've got China
and the US. Most of the rest are Muslim and/or African nations.

The data seems pretty well established that execution does not serve as a deterrent to
crime. But it does serve the populace in providing a sense of justice and vengeance. In
some cultures, most of the USA included,  justice and vengeance are more important than 
crime prevention.

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