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Today (April 24), the Institute for Economics and Peace released the second annual U.S. Peace Index, which assesses America’s peacefulness at the state and city levels and analyzes the costs associated with violence and the socio-economic measures associated with peace.

So just how peaceful is America?

It may come as a surprise but over the past 20 years, America has become substantially more peaceful, witnessing a significant and sustained reduction in direct violence. Homicide rates in the U.S. have halved since 1991 and the violent crime rate has also fallen by nearly half during the same period. The state level trends are also very encouraging. 42 states reduced their violent crime rates, and 13 out of 16 Southern states increased their peacefulness.

As the only statistical analysis that offers a comprehensive nation-wide measurement of crime and its costs to the 50 states, the U.S. Peace Index is based on analysis of homicide, violent crime, policing Windows 7 oem key, incarceration rates and availability of small arms data. With improvements in all five of these indicators from the 2011 to the 2012 USPI, the U.S. was found to be more peaceful than at any time since 1991.

Which part of America is most and least peaceful?

Maine is America’s most peaceful state for the 11th year running with recorded reductions in the homicide and incarceration rates as well as the number of police employees. Maine also has the least cost to taxpayers, with violence costing $1,281.

Louisiana is America’s least peaceful state for the 20th year running. Louisiana is ranked last in the nation on homicides, equal last on incarceration and ranks in the bottom ten on the other three indicators. In spite of this result, there is still some cause for optimism, as both the homicide and violent crime rate have fallen along with the incarceration rate.

The biggest riser in peace over the year in analysis is Wyoming, which moved into the top 20 states on the USPI for the first time since 1995, rising six places from 23rd to 17th thanks to improvement in homicide and violent crime rates. Arizona experienced the biggest fall, dropping into the five least peaceful states due to an increase in its homicide rate.

The Index even ranks American cities. The most peaceful metropolitan area in America is Cambridge-Newton-Framingham in Massachusetts. The least peaceful metropolitan area is Detroit-Livonia-Dearborn, Michigan. The more peaceful metro areas were found to have lower poverty, inequality and unemployment rates.

So why should Congress care about these rankings?

Because violence and violence containment is costing the average taxpayer $3,257 each year. In fact, the total cost of violence to the U.S. — including lost productivity from violence — was conservatively calculated to be over S460 billion.

Improvement in peace pays dividends. According to the Index, if all the states in the U.S. had the same level of peacefulness as the most peaceful state of Maine, $274 billion worth of extra economic activity could be generated.

Take one component of these costs, specifically the financial costs of incarceration. Emphasis needs to be placed on programs that reduce the likelihood of reoffending or finding more cost effective ways that deal with non-violent offenders. Programs dealing with education and vocational training have been proven to be effective in reducing recidivism. To highlight the size of the problem, if all of the people who were in incarcerated were contained in one city it would be the fourth largest in the U.S.

But what is absolutely clear from the Index is that peaceful states perform better across a range of economic, health, education and community factors. They have higher high school graduation rates, lower poverty Office Project Key, better access to basic services Windows 7 oem key, higher labor force participation rates, higher life expectancy and less single parented families. Even social capital — like volunteerism, civic engagement, trust, and group membership — is higher in more peaceful states. Therein lies the lesson.

Michael Shank is the U.S. vice president at the Institute for Economics and Peace. Follow Michael on Twitter.

This article originally appeared on The Broke-Ass Bride.

There is a great debate in the wedding world these days, as to why we all do this. Weddings are down, cohabitation is up. Why, why, why? My life as a wedding coordinator and as an officiant — ground zero, as it were — has given me a few theories on that. (int #1: The average wedding in the U.S. rivals the cost of a B.A. at UCLA these days — go Bruins.) There was an article on the Huffington Post recently, “Seven Reasons To Believe in Marriage,” and I agree with them all. But why do weddings matter?

1. The act of publicly committing yourself to another person. Vowing before everyone you love and whichever deity you do or do not believe in, “This is who we are, and we are dedicating our lives to each other.” No matter how many people are watching, I think the public part is a good reminder that this is no small feat you are undertaking. And, hey, you promised replica watches!

2. Celebrating that commitment to another person. It’s no small feat, but it is one based in love and joy. I think that calls for a party, don’t you?

3. A great reason to get all those people in the same room. I’ve said it before, and I will say it again: There are at least five people on your guest list who you haven’t seen in forever and can’t wait to hang out with at your wedding. Don’t discount it — this is one of the few opportunities you’ll have to get all the people you dig and who dig you in the same place. It’s a one-stop shop for a good time.

4. Finding out how the two of you work together and how to improve how you work together. This will come into play many times during your marriage. Planning a wedding will teach you how to compromise. How to reach a goal under a time limit replica watches, and often, under stress. You’ll figure out the best way to deal with your families. You’ll figure out the best way to deal with each other. I’ve said this before, too, and you should really trust me on this one.

5. Seriously, The Love, you guys! No, really. Right now I’m thinking about the wedding I performed on Easter, and the way the two of them were looking at each other. And the way everyone was looking at them. They’d created this day that had all the things that made them happy, from the purple roses to the Appletinis to the four-hour photo booth. It is gratifying to create that kind of environment for yourself, surrounded by your own idea of The Pretty and The Cool. It’s one day, yes. But it’s your day.

And the practical and political reasons:

6. For the same reason you vote. Because you can. And it’s another one of those infrequent times where you get to publicly affirm your choice. And everyone should be able to do this. Forty-five years ago replica watches, my Jewish husband and I couldn’t have gotten married in California. Gay people across this country are facing this challenge today. If you want to and you can, go for it.

7. The economy. One of the reasons Prop 8 annoyed me — aside from the obvious Lucy-snatching-the-football away-ness of it all — was that weddings are good for the economy. More than 18,000 same-sex couples got married at a time when the average cost of a wedding in California was $25,000 (during the brief window when gay marriage was legal). That’s 450 million freakin’ dollars. Granted, not all of them spent that much. But there was a clerk who had to process their applications, the officiant who married them, and the other clerk who had to process the marriage license. And even a $10,000 wedding employs at least five people at some point, and most of the weddings I coordinate have twice that number. It’s not just the wedding planners and photographers who are getting paid. Your venue staff, down to the busboys and the guy that mows the lawn outside, is taking a check home and pumping it back into the economy. Have a wedding — it’s patriotic.

So, why does having a wedding matter to you? And what do you think of my reasons? Let me know in the comments below!

Find Liz Coopersmith at www.silvercharmevents.com and on twitter @SilverCharmEvnt

A man allegedly assaulted by a transit guard at a train station in Perth has denied being drunk and aggressive at the time of the incident. Tattoos Kits For Sale

James Hagerstrom is giving evidence at the trial of transit officer Tattoo Supplies, Shaun Liam McCalmont, who is accused of assaulting him at the Subiaco train station in March, 2010.

The court was told the incident was triggered when Mr Hagerstrom's son stepped onto train tracks to retrieve a football he had dropped.

Four transit officers approached the duo to issue a fine and an altercation ensued.

Mr Hagerstrom was originally charged with obstruction but the case was dropped after security vision of the incident was played to the court.

The vision shows two men being pepper-sprayed by the transit guards before Mr Hagerstrom is pushed to the ground.

He denied being drunk and aggressive at the time of the incident.

Mr Hagerstrom testified while he was intoxicated Tools For Tattooing, he was otherwise happy, calm and collected.

He said he became agitated after officers began issuing a fine to his son because he thought it was a trivial issue.

The Public Transport Authority pursued an internal inquiry into the incident.

Mr McCalmont was charged after a separate police investigation.

The trial has been set down for four days.

With the eyes of the world on the Oslo district court, there are stark contrasts on display. The twisted and hate-filled logic of Anders Breivik contrasts with the calm, dignified and above all fair criminal process against him.

There are contrasts too between the shocking terrorist atrocities he is charged with and the response of Norway and its people: no emergency measures, no hysteria, just a reaffirmation of the fundamental importance of human rights and the rule of law.

The rest of Europe could learn a lot from Norway’s response. In the decade that followed the 9/11 attacks in the United States, some countries in Europe, including the UK and France, relied on draconian powers to combat terrorism, bypassing the criminal justice system through the use administrative detention and deportation to countries with poor records on torture. Others, including Poland, Romania and Lithuania, cooperated with the CIA on the illegal transfer, detention and torture of terrorism suspects.

The United States which is trying terrorism suspects using unfair “military commissions” could also learn from Norway. Despite his desire, like many terrorists, to be treated as a warrior, Breivik is rightly being prosecuted as an ordinary criminal.

The lessons from the Breivik case for Europe go beyond the fight against terrorism.

It may be comforting to see Breivik as a lone madman whose actions were an isolated event. But the reality is that hatred and intolerance are growing in Europe today. Three trends stand out.

First, in many European countries, populist Tattoo Starter Kits, anti-Muslim, anti-Roma, and anti-immigrant extremist parties are now a prominent part of the political landscape.

The National Front secured almost 18 percent of the vote in the April 22 first round presidential elections in France. The Freedom Party withdrew its support from ruling coalition in the Netherlands on April 23 causing it to collapse. Until recently, extremist parties were also part of government coalitions in Italy and Switzerland. Similar parties have made significant gains in Denmark, Sweden, and Finland, and had electoral success in the 2009 European Parliament elections in Hungary, the UK, and elsewhere. An extremist party looks poised to enter the Greek parliament in forthcoming elections.

A 2011 study from Chatham House, a research and policy organization Tattoo Machine Suppliers, indicates that support for these parties is a long-term trend, which in many cases pre-dates the economic downturn. And far from neutralizing extremist parties, the response of mainstream parties has served instead to legitimize the extremists, sending a message to voters that xenophobic, anti-Muslim, or anti-Roma sentiment is acceptable rather than a cause for shame.

Second, intolerance toward foreigners, Muslims and other minorities is now common among Europeans. In polling data from 2010 by the Friedrich Ebert Foundation, half of those polled across eight EU states (including France, Germany and the UK) shared the view that there are too many immigrants, and more than 40 percent concluded the same about Muslims. Norway itself was criticized by the UN in 2011 for failing to tackle hate speech. Fears about loss of culture Tattoo Ink For Cheap, terrorism, crime and competition all help explain rising intolerance in Europe.

Third, minorities and migrants encounter discrimination in housing, education and employment, as well as racist violence. Research by the EU Fundamental Rights Agency in 2009 demonstrates that Muslims and Roma experience persistent hostility and discrimination across the region. It also found that African migrants face significant problems, including discrimination and violence.

In a statement to the court this week, Breivik described members of a German Neo-Nazi gang who murdered nine migrants and a policewoman during a seven-year spree as “heroic young men.” While individual attacks are the typical pattern in Europe, intolerance sometimes spills into mob violence, including attacks on migrants in Greece and Italy and on Roma in Italy, Hungary, the Czech Republic and Slovakia.

Countering extremist parties requires political leadership. Europe’s leaders should stop aping extremists, offer a positive alternative vision to their counsel of hate, and forcefully condemn violence and discrimination against migrants and minorities rather than blaming them for crime and other social ills.

The criminal justice system and authorities should redouble their efforts to prevent and punish racist and xenophobic violence, and to enforce anti-discrimination laws. Hate speech should be robustly condemned, and prosecuted when it directly incites violence.

Europe’s approach to integration also needs to change. With European leaders like Nicholas Sarkozy, Angela Merkel and David Cameron declaring multiculturalism a failure, integration policies focus more and more on assimilation. The immense contribution made by migrants in Europe over the last decades is forgotten or ignored.

Coercive integration policies requiring certain communities to shed fundamental aspects of their identity and treat the process as a one-way street are unlikely to succeed. Sustainable integration should instead aim at giving migrants a real stake in their new home and encourage participation rather than exclusion.

Because of the courage of the Norwegian people and its government, Breivik’s efforts to change the country failed. Europe’s people and governments need to find the same courage to tackle rising intolerance and hatred in Europe. If we fail, the damage to human rights and the rule of law will be incalculable.

AP File Photo-Former Israeli President Moshe Katsav gestures at the court in Tel Aviv.

Jerusalem – The Supreme Court ruled on Sunday that former president Moshe Katsav will not be allowed a further appeal hearing in his rape trial.

The former president is currently serving a seven year prison sentence after being unanimously convicted in the Tel Aviv District Court in 2010 of two counts of rape, two counts of sexual harassment, an indecent act using force, and obstruction of justice.

Supreme Court Justice Esther Hayut wrote in her ruling that the former president’s defense team had “left no stone unturned” in their request for an additional appeal hearing Marc Jacobs Dresses sale, but said the arguments raised did not justify further discussion on the court’s ruling.

In November 2011, after the Supreme Court rejected Katsav’s appeal against his conviction and sentence, his defense team petitioned the court for extra time to file a request for a further appeal hearing.

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The former president’s attorneys said grounds for further discussion included legal difficulties with the conviction, including the standard of evidence in what was a testimony-based conviction in which the decisive factor had been something other than physical evidence or witness corroboration.

Katsav’s defense team also argued that the main complainant in the case, Aleph from the Tourism Ministry, had given fallacious testimony, and that the former president had suffered a ‘trial by media’.

In February, Katsav’s lawyers also asked to file two pieces of additional evidence – a video recording and a photograph, both taken at a Ramat Gan event for Persian Jews – that they said proved the former president was telling the truth regarding his whereabouts at the time Aleph from the Tourism Ministry claims he raped her for the first time.

However, in rejecting Katsav’s petition for an additional hearing, Hayut said that the court only takes such steps in “rare and unusual cases”, in order to avoid creating additional legal proceedings where the law did not permit it.

The fact that a panel of justices had already ruled unanimously to uphold the former president’s conviction, Hayut said, “supports the rejection of this petition.”

Regarding the issue of the testimony-based conviction, Hayut said that there had been nothing novel in the court’s ruling on the Katsav case.

Hayut said that Katsav had not brought any new claims when he alleged in his petition that the main complainant in the case, Aleph from the Tourism Ministry, had given fallacious testimony. The former president’s arguments, Hayut said, were in fact regarding the complainant’s credibility Discount Missoni Dresses, which the district court had already determined.

The same was true of Katsav’s claims regarding his alibi at the time of the first rape, Hayut said.

Concerning Katsav’s arguments that he had suffered a “trial by media”, Hayut said that a “hostile public atmosphere” towards the defendant, and even a ‘judgement’ made by the media while his trial is ongoing does not mean that a fair trial was not possible.

The trial, Hayut said, was conducted and ruled on by a panel of professional judges.

Regarding the two pieces of additional evidence proposed by Katsav’s defense team, Hayut said such a request would anyway be suitable only where the defense proposed a retrial, and could not be brought into any additional appeal hearing.

Katsav is serving his prison sentence in the Torah Division of the Ma’asiyahu Prison in Ramle.

Content is provided courtesy of the Jerusalem Post

All states and territories must sign on to the National Disability Insurance Scheme for it to work, says the major backer of the scheme.

The nation's premiers and chief ministers have convened in Canberra for the Council of Australian Governments meeting, and the NDIS is a possible inclusion on the agenda.

Every Australian Counts campaign manager John Della Bosca is urging all state and territory leaders to fast-track the rollout of the scheme.

“Disability support systems are either currently in crisis or in some states on the verge of collapsing – we can't wait any longer Tattoo Supplies,” he said in a statement.

The prime minister and the premiers have an obligation to deliver an NDIS Tattoo Supplies, he said.

“The community is counting on them.”

Opposition Leader Tony Abbott will on Friday present a cheque for $500,000 to Carers Australia and will use the event to air his views on the NDIS.

Mr Abbott is proposing a bipartisan parliamentary committee to help bring a national disability insurance scheme to fruition.

The NDIS is expected to be sidelined at the COAG meeting in favour of other topics including skills shortages and changes to environmental approvals to fast-track major projects.

Click above for high-res gallery of the Ford Explorer America Concept

For years Discount White Herve leger, the success of vehicles such as the Ford F-Series pickups and Explorer SUV kept the Blue Oval brand from improving its line of mostly uncompetitive sedans. Automakers like Honda Herve Leger v neck sale, though, never went the way of body-on-frame trucks and SUVs, preferring instead to continually improve its range of cars and crossover utility vehicles. That strategy is paying dividends in these days of high fuel prices, and Ford has taken notice. Asked whether he would prefer a more car-oriented model-mix, like that of Honda or Toyota, CEO Alan Mullaly recently answered, “Absolutely. We just don’t have enough of those small or medium-sized vehicles yet, and that’s what we need to concentrate on.” Of course, all is not lost. As Automotive News points out Discount Chanel Dresses, Ford has a new F-150 on the horizon, which is likely to improve its sales somewhat, and the brand as a whole has sold 647 DKNY Clothing sale,140 vehicles Discount Karen Millen Dresses, placing it well above Honda through April. Profitability Buy Christian Audigier Clothes, on the other hand, is another matter entirely.

[Source: Automotive News]

click above image for more pics of Volvo’s sunken treasure

As Volvo reminds us Buy Christian Audigier Clothing, three-quarters of the earth’s surface is under water, so trying to find its sunken treasure of $50,000 worth of gold doubloons and the keys to a new XC90 SUV is not going to be easy. Autoblog readers are furiously working their way through the challenges and riddles offered by the Hunt Cheap Herve Leger v neck, and you can follow their progress for tips and clues or just get up to speed by reading the comments on this post.

Volvo Cheap Herve Leger gown, however Discount Chloe Dresses, doesn’t want people to get too discouraged by the daunting task that lies before them Replica Christian Audigier Clothes, so it’s unveiled 10 places it has not sunk its treasure. Most of the places are humurous, with only a few actually being locales on our planet. Check out the complete list after the jump for a midday chuckle.

Also DKNY Dresses sale, we’re not sure if they contain any clues, but we located additional pics of the treasure chest in the process of being sunk.

[Source: Volvo] Related GalleryVolvo’s The Hunt contest

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Audi loves talking about the lightweight technology used to build its mighty turbodiesel LMP racers. While the last-generation R15 utilized a 590-horsepower twin-turbo 10-cylinder diesel engine BCBG Dresses sale, revisions to the rulebook forced Audi to alter the oil-chugging powertrain. The newer R18 TDI is powered by 3.7-liter V6 turbodiesel that pumps out around 575 horsepower Hale Bob Dresses sale, yet weighs 25-percent less than the previous mill and drinks fuel at a slower rate.

Besides the engine Herve Leger sale, Audi has employed aluminum and carbon fiber in an effort to keep the weight of the R18 TDI as low as possible. How did the four-ringed automaker fare? According to the commercial posted after the jump Buy Karen Millen Dresses, the engineering team did a pretty good job.

Last week, I compared the proposed Islamic center in lower Manhattan to a synagogue recently constructed in the West Bank city of Hebron. The synagogue stands in Kiryat Arba, a Jewish community from which Baruch Goldstein, a settler, launched a terrorist attack that killed 29 Muslims and wounded more than 100 others. I asked why opponents of the “Ground Zero mosque,” who claim to be motivated by sensitivity to sites of terrorism, didn’t similarly condemn the “Ground Zero synagogue.”

You, the readers of Slate, answered me. You posted nearly 500 comments on the article. Some of you endorsed the analogy. Others strongly objected. Many of you engaged in eloquent debates on the history and morality of Middle East violence. In particular, I recommend the fiercely argued and highly informed exchanges between jacobblues and firemage26. But some of your answers troubled me. Here are the 10 that worry me most, and why I think they’re wrong.

1. Goldstein is the only Jewish terrorist. “Way to find the ONE example of Jewish terrorism,” scoffs OK! Another reader, Elan B, says, “Goldstein was an isolated Jewish terrorist, while the 9/11 plotters were part of a vast network of Muslim terrorists (which supports the whole sensitivity thing).” By sensitivity Buy Cheap Replica Dolce & Gabbana Watches, Elan B means this:

Sure, build a mosque Replica Girard Perregaux Watches, but have some sensitivity to the people who do not know any Muslims and have reasonable fears about a Muslim community center being built near the site where their family members were brutally murdered. I do not think that the proposed mosque is so abhorrent, in fact I would say that I would support it if so many people were not offended by it.

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So the Islamic center should be relocated because it offends people who reasonably fear Muslims. What makes their fear reasonable is that Muslims have a history of terrorism, whereas Jews don’t. Goldstein is the one exception.

It’s true that Muslims have committed a lot more terrorism than Jews have. But Goldstein is hardly alone. Jewish Terrorism in Israel Where find Replica Parmigiani Fleurier Watches, a scholarly review published last year by Columbia University Press, analyzes “309 Jewish terrorist attacks perpetrated in Palestine and the State of Israel between 1932 and 2008.” These attacks involved 224 participants and various terrorist networks.

Guess what happened in Hebron on Monday? Vandals (believed to be Jewish settlers) torched a mosque and left behind Hebrew anti-Muslim graffiti, including the phrase “price tag,” which refers to anti-Palestinian vandalism by settlers in response to Israeli restrictions on settlement construction. This comes two months after settlers burned Palestinian fields in another “price tag” attack. Israeli Defense Minister Ehud Barak has flatly called the mosque burning terrorism.

2. Goldstein wasn’t motivated by a religion of conquest. Another commenter, bon voyage, argues:

Jews who live in Kiryat Arba and Hebron consider themselves liberators, not conquerors. … Nobody knows what were Goldstein’s motives. He didn’t left videotaped shaheed statement. He wasn’t expecting 72 virgins. He wasn’t worshiping a genocidal prophet and the religion that demands death of apostates and sees the Day of Judgment in terms of “when Muslims will kill all Jews”. Whatever clicked in his mind at that day, wasn’t part of an organized ideological drive to subvert and subdue the unbelievers. That’s why there’s only one Goldstein.

Of course Goldstein didn’t worship Mohammed, expect 72 virgins, or leave a Shahid (martyrdom) statement. That’s because he wasn’t a Muslim. But you don’t need any of these things to be a terrorist. The day before his crime, Goldstein wrote a farewell note about his work in Kiryat Arba for the “complete redemption.” After the massacre, his widow said: “He planned to do this in order to stop the peace talks. He did this for the sake of the people of Israel.” That sure sounds to me like an ideological drive to subdue unbelievers.

Another reader, Slickback, tries to distinguish Christian from Muslim terrorists on similar grounds:

The KKK is a pagan group, they burn crosses and use mythological names for their leaders (wizards Replica Alain Silberstein Watches, dragons, and cyclops) and although many of their members are Christian, they do not murder, lynch Bvlgari Replica Watches, or intimidate in the name of God. The 9/11 terrorists DID kill in the name of Allah.

Tell that to the Christian Identity Klan, the Traditional Christian Knights of the Ku Klux Klan, the Imperial Klans of America (a “Christian organization”), and the Knights Party USA (”Bringing a Message of Hope and Deliverance to White Christian America”). As for the cross burnings, Brendan Koerner has explained them in Slate: “Modern Klan groups are careful to refer to their ritual as ‘cross lighting’ rather than cross-burning and insist that their fires symbolize faith in Christ.”

3. Not many Jews supported Goldstein. Happy and Proud writes:

It is untrue, insulting, and provocative to claim that “many” residents of Judea and Samaria approve of Goldstein’s actions. The claim is purely a figment of the writer’s imagin[ation]—there is absolutely NO evidence to support this. Saletan obviously believes that people will [ac]cept any slander against the Jews; that’s why he wrote it.

Alas, Elan B tells a different story:

Sure Discount Replica Burberry Watches, there are a small number of West Bank settlers who revere Goldstein for what he did, but the proof is in the numbers. Only roughly 10,000 have visited Goldstein’s grave since 1994 according to a BBC article in 2000.

I’d say 10,000 qualifies as “many,” wouldn’t you? And that was a decade ago.

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