It's the same here in Minneapolis. I think they keep electing the fools because those are the only kind of people who run. Conservatives and Republicans have enough to worry about concerning their safety without a political campaign or position making them more of a target, and believe me, they are.

I think it's because the preferred Democratic method for dealing with things is 'let someone else do it'. Whether it's my own fault or not, my problems are our problems, so therefore someone else should take care of them for me!

Let's see...

Because Dem cities are known to be more "diverse," and so the criminals and druggies know that they can go there and be "empowered" in their "alternative lifestyles."

Whereas in a city where conservatives are in charge, criminals are (gasp!) punished and (double gasp!) told to straighten up.

If you're a meth-head, which would you head for?

Jayson, I usually agree with you but Chicago has become very liveable. There's not much anyone can do about the schools when the parents don't care and the Teacher's Unions protect bad teachers. Maybe Mayor Daley has done such a good job because all he ever wanted to be was Mayor and not use it as a stepping stone.

Why does the south have the highest murder rate?

Keep in mind by 20% we are talking about a difference of 9 murders. Just for, you know, perspective.

Interesting.

For armed forces casualties in Iraq, even 9 deaths is a tragedy.

For violence in the lefty haven of San Francisco, 9 deaths is apparently nothing to be worried about.

Hypocrisy, thy name is Mantis.

jp2:
You might want to look up some actual stats on that.

DC is still #1, and it's not really southern...

Hypocrisy, thy name is Mantis.

I don't go on about Iraq casualties (try and find where I have), and I didn't say 9 deaths is nothing to be worried about. Bullshit strawman, thy name is C-C-G.

Btw, I see you've declined to revisit the ACLU discussion after your challenge. Just an echoing silence over there.

"why does the south have the highest murder rate" Because we have to keep the herd of liberals to a mangeable size so as not to overload the welfare rolls. There. Does that answer your question jp2?

Jhow66, I like your idea but the fact is the liberals have been invading the South in search of a better place to live. When they came the brought the drug and sex with children life style with them in addition to hundreds of liberal idea's that destroyed their home state. They just can't get it through their head that they left their home in search of something better so they should leave the failed liberal idea's in their home state. Wasn't it said that 95% of the criminals would vote democrat so that means 95% of the criminals are democrats who commit 99% of the crimes. That leaves 1% of crime to the republicans.
If people with a brain would look around they would find several cities in the U.S. as dangerous or more dangerous than Bagdad. The antique MSM can't point that out for fear that the U.S. will win the war and their friends the terrorists will lose. Congress in in the most rabid show of ignorance in the history of the United States to end the Surge because it's working and that will make them look like fools. Hey dummies, you not only look like traitorous fools, you are traitorous fools and a lot of you will pay when the terrorists attacks start. They won't be out to kill us peon's, they'll be out to kill you self appointed wheels. Like a dog they will pee on the wheels.

Didn't they outlaw hand guns in the Liberal Mecca of San Fran last year?

jp2:

Why does the south have the highest murder rate?

Because too many people like you visit.

The violent librul murdering fantasies aside, are there any large cities that vote Republican? Salt Lake?

Why does the south have the highest murder rate?

No bag limit on liberals?

any large cities that vote Republican? Salt Lake?

Hard to tell exactly, since Presidential returns are usually tallied by county. You'd have to dig around and find what precincts in the county were actually in SLC.

But, according to this USA Today chart every county in Utah went to Bush.

Salt Lake City metro area spans Salt Lake, Summit and Tooele counties. I'm guessing SLC proper is in Salt Lake County.

The city of Salt Lake did elect a far left whacko as Mayor.

Wow, 3 unoriginal librul murder jokes in one thread. Nice work, fellas.

Anyways - I don't think there are any major cities in the country that are solidly Republican. Makes this entire post a bit mooooot.

Wow, 3 unoriginal librul murder jokes in one thread. Nice work, fellas.

That's because it was an unoriginal question.

Is the murder rate higher in the South? Which part of the South? Where are your figures?

Another possible dollop of liberal lore.

The Peoples' Republic of San Francisco is above the Mason-Dixon line, last time I checked, unless the earthquakes moved it.

If you look, what you will probably find is not so much a disparity in murder rates by regions of the country, but a disparity in murder rates by the size of the cities.

According to FBI murder rates cities with populations over 100,000 have almost twice the murder rate of cities of 99,999 or less.

Cities with populations of >50,000 but

what the heck? Don't know what happened to the rest of the post...

Cities with populations of >50,000 but

The murder rate keeps going up from that point until cities of 1,000,000+, then it takes a dip.

(note) The table lists it as "Murder and nonnegligent manslaughter".

aha, I guess a greater than symbol does something to what follows it...once more...

Cities with populations of more than 50,000 but less than 100,000 have a murder rate of 4.8/100,000. Cities with populations of 100,000 to 249,999 have a murder rate of 8.2/100,000.

jp2, could you please cite the source data of your claim regarding murder and the south? It would make for some interesting reading and thinking. Thanks.

Criminal types love to hang around in large cities for a variety of reasons. It's easier to hide among a larger population, more victims to choose from, etc. It takes more than just a strong civic leader such as the mayor or police chief. The citizens have to take an active role too. Tolerance has its limits.

In Jayson's defense, the 20% depiction was taken from another site. Yes, it only reflects 9 more murders and that shouldn't have been left out, but it also is stated clearly that the rise in the crime rate overall was significant enough that it needs attention as it has contributed to those that actually resulted in death. I'd be interested to know how much of a rise there is in family and drug violence, knife violence, etc that didn't result in a death. I think that's a point that can't be ignored.

I blame Global Warming.

I question the timing AND blame global warming.

'We have a lot more spontaneous violence, we have had a lot more knife violence and we have had an increase in family and drug violence,' said Lt. John Murphy, head of the police homicide detail.

Why, the answer is simple: Knife control!

it's obvious that global warming and the Bird Flu, possibly SARS as well, have some effect on this. I mean when it gets hot out, people get mad, and with the NRA forcing guns down peoples throats and forcing people to buy them on a daily basis, of course people are going to get mad and start shooting people. It's simple physics!!

Higher Temperatures from Man-Made global warming + NRA Guns = violence!!

Of course no one who owns a gun illegally is included in these stats since nobody owns a gun illegally, or commits crimes with said guns. All crimes are committed with legally bought and owned guns, so we should ban guns as well and the problem will just fix itself! There should also be a tax imnposed on the people of these cities so the government can further control people and take their money, and oh yeah, punish them for using guns anyways. Thats why we need to go after "The South".

We need to put a tax on gun racks in the backs of pickup trucks. Once again, regulations and more taxes are the answer!! Oh, and i propose that congress passes a law that bans the sun. If we ban the sun we won't have and UV rays getting trapped in our atmosphere and no run-away greenhouse effect!!

It's ALL Bush's fault. If he had never rode horses, he wouldn't be walking bull-legged. If he didn't walk bull-legged, people wouldn't think that he's arrogant. Because people think he's arrogant, they become full of rage and hate. Because they become full of rage and hate, they kill. I'm surprised you guys never figured that out.

"DC is still #1, and it's not really southern..."

Actually I am pretty sure that DC is not #1, everyone always throws DC out there as number one. Can't find the murder stats per city right now, but I do no that on the list of most dangerous cities '06, DC doesn't even come in on the top 25:

http://www.infoplease.com/ipa/A0921299.html

And the homicide rates from '05, DC is #13.

http://www.infoplease.com/ipa/A0934323.html

Many believe that New Orleans is actually the murder capital despite what the lists say:

http://blog.nola.com/times-picayune/2007/06/2006_murder_rate_tops_in_natio.html

http://www.nola.com/news/t-p/metro/index.ssf?/base/news-20/117367751715220.xml&coll=1

And not only that but (Paul won't like this) it seems as if New Orleanians are raising the murder rates in other cities too:

http://www.click2houston.com/news/6215677/detail.html

And by the way, DC is a southern city.

D-Hoggs:

When you look at states (with DC in the stats) they come out on top, but when you compare with cities, they move down the list.

If you dig around in your Infoplease stats some more, you find:

http://www.infoplease.com/ipa/A0004912.html

...where DC is safely on top. Again.

Something else that's being missed in the "north/south" comparisons is that the Southern states with high crime rates get much of that crime from Democrat-controlled big cities (or are Democrat-dominated states to begin with, like Louisiana).

Let's look at the most dangerous Southern cities:

Memphis, TN: Democrat (same mayor since 1991)

Miami Gardens, FL (basically a new city, recently incorporated - again, Democrat-dominated)

Orlando, FL (Democrat-dominated)

...and much the same for the rest of the list.

So... why do Southern states have high crime rates? Too many Democrats running things. As always.

Didn't they outlaw hand guns in the Liberal Mecca of San Fran last year?

That would explain this:
"we have had a lot more knife violence"

If you read anything about crime in the U.K., you'll note that theme as well (increase in crime rate accompanied with an increase in knife crime). This would tend to indicate that the intent of the gun ban and the actual effect are opposite. Perhaps the "Liberals" next step is to ban sharp objects...

That's the improper use of the phrase "begs the question." You should say "...raises the following question."

I blame the knives. Heh.

Cirby, the second link I posted clearly states that DC was ranked only #13 in 2005, and that list is all cities, no states, and is strictly HOMICIDES. The link you posted is from 2004, and is ALL crime, not just homicide.

It is obvious that liberal mayors are responsible for crime. It can't be the Federal Govt after all the years of a Republican Prez/Senate/House had no effect....we already have mandatory sentencing that allows us to achieve this
From Nov 2006
WASHINGTON - Tough sentencing laws, record numbers of drug offenders and high crime rates have contributed to the United States having the largest prison population and the highest rate of incarceration in the world, according to criminal justice experts.

Tough sentencing laws, record numbers of drug offenders and high crime rates have contributed to the United States having the largest prison population and the highest rate of incarceration in the world, according to criminal justice experts. REUTERS/Shannon Stapleton
A U.S. Justice Department report released on November 30 showed that a record 7 million people -- or one in every 32 American adults -- were behind bars, on probation or on parole at the end of last year. Of the total, 2.2 million were in prison or jail.

According to the International Centre for Prison Studies at King's College in London, more people are behind bars in the United States than in any other country. China ranks second with 1.5 million prisoners, followed by Russia with 870,000.