George - 18 February 2012 11:58 AM

You started the thread, so I imagine you would be the first one to come up with a comment. Linking to a page is not a comment.

OK George. You may be right on this one.    One of the things that I have observed over the last few years is that the media tends to over-report these types of items, often to the exclusion of news that has much more important to our future.  IMO they do this because it is less controversial than reporting on political action of many elites, more attention getting than on reporting on environmental issues, etc. (No one is going to call your editor and threaten to cut off their advertising to your organization.)  It also promotes the paranoia that the law enforcement and prison staff community uses to promote their budgets.

The list isn’t what I have in my library.  It’s what I am intending to read (eventually ).

My real point on this particular work is that I have read numerous studies with the same viewpoint over the past 45 years.  Like the Bible, statistics can be used to support any position.

An impressive list Gary, and sorry about the misunderstanding. I often wonder how the people on this site have the time to read and absorb the books and material mentioned. Personally, I’m a very slow reader and it takes up any spare time I have to get through a book I especially want to research. What has helped is the Kindle though. When I finish one I can just push a button and continue on to another. It has helped me speed up my reading as I don’t have to go to the local bookseller any more even though I miss it terribly. And yes, statistics can be used to showcase any point of view. The best way I’ve found to fact-find is with corroborative material, otherwise it’s one author’s opinion. Don’t get me wrong, a good researcher always shows his/her work with copious endnotes and extensive bibliography, but the more the merrier!

Cap’t Jack