Once again President Obama wanted to play the blame game as well as campaign for his next election. He spoke for roughly 20 minutes on how the debt ceiling needed to be raised and the hurdles which laid in the way from the Republicans. Several times he stated that if the debt ceiling wasn’t raised, America would default on it’s obligations to pay it’s debt. That is partially correct, but not entirely. Never during his speech did he mention cutting spending unless you count the times how the only spending cuts that would be affected are the ones tied to seniors, children and the “less” fortunate.

The biggest game politicians play is striking fear into the American voter. To do that, they need to inform people that the spending cuts that that are available to do are the ones that will affect these three categories of people. Don’t get me wrong, I do care and I feel those people shouldn’t be sacrificed to rein in the spending spree that politicians have been on for the last 20 years.

After Obama finished speaking, he allowed a few questions from the press. During the nearly thirty minutes of questions, only six questions were asked. Why? Because Obama once again went into campaign mode, blaming the “other”side of not doing what needed to be done. Each question was about 20-30 seconds long, but his average answer was seven minutes. One question that was asked, “What contingency plans do you have Mr President if an agreement can not be reached before the deadline.” His answer was short… “We will meet the deadline of August 2nd.”
Another question was asked in regards to a bill towards the minorities in this county finding employment. This time his answer was not short, but very lengthy. He stated off by saying, “I’m not going to talk about the bill.” Then continued with a very long winded answer which was more towards a campaign bullet point than anything a president would say during a press conference. Another big problem we’re having in this country is the lack of a backbone from the main stream media. the other questions that were asked were “easy”, “softball” questions at best. None of the reporters have the “guts” to ask serious straight forward questions to the president. Add to the fact that when the president goes off on a tangent that has nothing to do with the question, the reporters should remind Obama what the question was and ask him to answer it this time around. The president works for us. it’s only right that he answer questions the public want to know.

One comment Obama made really disturbed me. He said, “America’s democracy will only work if people listen to other people.” America was not built on democracy, it was designed to be a republic and nothing more. I spoke about it in a recent post about the difference between Democracy vs Republic governments. I feel president Obama has no intentions of keeping this country free and set by the “rule of the land”.

The only way to save this country by it’s own financial failures is by cutting spending of many programs that are not needed or required to run the federal government. Both the Republican and the Democrat politicians need to look at their district and cut programs without worrying about how it will affect their next election results. We as Americans need to keep a careful eye out on all of them before the next election and clean house no matter what political party they are affiliated with.

The main stream media has been bought out by Washington. I’ve seem it for years how CNN, MSNBC and the other left-leaning station will cover stories about things that don’t affect our lives in any major way. But now even FOX has taken the same path as to not informing the American people of major issues or policy changes coming out of Washington. It gotten to the point where I’ve stopped watching these “news” outlets and searching for the real issues at hand that are affecting the freedoms and the quality of life for Americans.

We have major problems in our country as well as the world. There is still a problem in Japan with the Fukushima Nuclear plant, never mind the problem at the Ft. Calhoun Nuclear plant in Nebraska that many don’t even know about. Why? Because the federal government are the ones responsible for the problem in Nebraska by opening up the dams to save other interests.
We have a president that has taken us into another war without Congressional approval and Congress is looking to sue the president to get the troops out of Libya. The House of Representative have every right and duty to impeach Barack Obama and they try to “fool” us by some frivolous law suit. On top of all that, we have reports coming out of North Korea about their capabilities for using a “super EMP” nuke. If it wasn’t for the different websites I go on, I wouldn’t even know about these stories. They are other stories I read that I can’t even confirm to really want to discuss here on this blog.

We as Americans need to stay away from the lame stream media and the news they spew out every night. It’s allowing Washington to get away with showing us how incompetent they really are. Of course there will always be a large amount of “brainwashed” people who will never get out from under the vail of lies they are fed each and every night.
We can only start with ourselves and do what we can to keep as many others informed of the “real” news going on out there.

Six months into his presidency, with more surely to come, it is an appropriate moment to ask: What is the point and purpose of Barack Obama‘s speeches?……He seems to be on TV every day, talking.

Mr. Obama is not the nation’s Speaker in Chief. He’s not a senator, and he’s no longer a candidate. He’s the president. A president’s major speeches are different than those of anyone else. That high office imposes demands beyond the power of a podium. Inspiration matters, but the office also requires acts of leadership. A U.S. president’s words must be connected to something beyond sentiment and eloquence. Too much of the time, Barack Obama’s big speeches don’t seem to be connected to anything other than his own interesting thoughts on some subject.

You can read Daniel’s article at the link above. Also, read some of the comments if you get a chance. Here’s a few I thought were right on the spot:

“It is megalomania, pure and simple that drives this talking head of a president. His ideas are old and vacuous, and as the author points out, rest on a tissue of foundation.”

“Just like a top 40 song that everyone hums along to when it first comes out after excessive airplay people begin to just change the channel and soon enough it is out of radio rotation. The American public is already beginning to change the channel; what will happen when he announces a major speech and only Keith Olberman shows up?”

“I certainly can’t see why anyone thinks his speeches are worthy of any praise. Seeing the media fawn over his oratory reminds me of pre-school parents ooo’ing and ah’ing over their precious little ones fingerpainting……He may be spouting roses and laurel but what I hear in my head resembles the sound all adults make in “Charlie Brown” features. What he lacks in sincerity he makes up for in deceit.”

Just when I thought it couldn’t get any more obvious, I was proven wrong.

On Friday, Sara Palin announced that she was stepping down from her duties as governor of the state of Alaska. Whatever her reasons for doing so is her business, but she did share them in her announcement. Since it was a holiday weekend and most of the commentary media were off for the holiday, it wasn’t really discussed until Monday.

After listening to many different show on TV as well as the radio, I find myself appalled by the treatment that this woman is having to go through again. All I heard from the people who didn’t support her last year was that she is a quitter because she still has another eighteen months in her term.

She may be a conservative and a republican, but I see her more as a Libertarian. That is why I supported the McCain/Palin ticket. She’s turned the state of Alaska around and has cut spending and unnecessary waste by an unbelievable amount. Palin had even sold the governor’s private jet. Before she announced her departure from office, she made sure that the right people were put in place to carry on with the policies that she felt that would benefit the state. Again all I hear is that she is a quitter. I don’t look at it that way.

If these people want to label Palin as a quitter, then I guess they have many other politicians to add to that list. Let’s start with Barack Obama, a State Senator who spent most of his time campaigning for the U.S. Senate during his first term. As a U.S. Senator he spent two years of his term campaigning to be President (and continued be be paid) and then still left that office to fulfill his duties as President.

The sad thing is that it doesn’t end there. What about Joe Biden, Rahm Emmanuel and Janet Napolitano? They too did the same thing when it came time to take the position that Obama offered them.

The main stream media has sold out to politicians at the price of the American people. So the next time you’re watching TV, be aware of who you’re listening to.

It now gotten to the point where the media is outright in the open with their relationship with Obama. ABC will be airing Obama’ speech titled “Prescription for America”. The purpose is for him to explain his plans for nationalized health care. While reading the Drudge Report, I found this article about how ABC won’t let a organization buy some air-time after the broadcast so they can give an alternative viewpoint. You can read it for yourself here.

I also heard today how Obama will be “making his rounds” on many different shows to get his health care message out to the people. Of course he’s being selective of who will be broadcasting it. One of the ways he’ll be doing so is by having some sort of involvement with the show “Dora the explorer”. That’s right, a cartoon. It has been stated that FOX will not be given that option and the reason is because o the fact that FOX is not a financial network. All of this is still being hashed out and I will continue to follow this atrocity.

The panel consisted of Larry Fink, the Chairman of Blackrock, Shelly Lazarus, the Chairman of Ogilvy & Mather, Vikram Pandit, the CEO of Citigroup, Marc Morial, the CEO of The National Urban League, Mohamed El-Erian, the Chairman of PIMCO, Cliff Asness, Chairman of AQR Capitol Management and Jack Welch, the former CEO of GE. I expected the show to be enlightening, but as the show went on that was not the case.

It was evident that many on the many on the panel didn’t want to rock the boat with the government (namely the Obama Administration) by saying anything negative against it’s policies. Jack Welch was the most interesting and honest of them all.

Throughout the show they touch on many key topics that are in the news today in regards to the economy. One of them being the fact that we are in a crisis of governance not credit. I do agree with that statement, but no one on the panel would even go further into the subject.

The one thing that did not sit well with me was the comment that was made by Marc Morial which was that capitalism needs to be reformed. As Larry Fink said, capitalism is not broken. Capitalism is what built this country to what it is today. Our constitution is based on that principal. Morial also stated that capitalism needed to be shared equally by the people. I disagree with that statement since capitalism is based on a person’s effort to work hard and strive for more. It’s not something that is just given out.

We are in an age of leverage, an age of entitlement as well as an age of self regulation. Unless we as a country live a moral and honest way of life, we will not remain the super power that this great notion is known for. We can not live outside our own means, we are not entitled to anything that we didn’t work for and we should only regulate ourselves if we can remain honest and have morals.

What we need more of is less government involvement and less taxes. We do not need government and private business to come together, what we need is government to stay out of the private sector.

It’s a real shame as to what our country is turning into thanks to the politicians, lobbyist as well as the gangster type business men who buy off the politicians.

Over a decade ago, laws were passed in regards to one person owning more than one radio station ans a newspaper in the same market (region). The idea was to allow different points of views as well as making sure that certain news information suppressed. You also had to be a U.S. citizen to own either one of the media outlets. Unfortunately that law was overturned a few years ago and now we have in the last two to four years have monopolies of entire markets that control the news that is released. Not only that, we now have foreigners owning not one but several newspapers.

This is what the forefathers wanted to avoid. When this type of control goes on we have to wonder how much information is not being given to us. This has nothing to do with which political party you belong to, it needs to be stopped.

These types of controls put on the American people will only get worse until we have no more freedom to give up. Freedom of the press was written by the founding fathers, but it didn’t mean to limit what news was given to the American people.

These actions are the types of actions that have happened before in world history. Look back and you will see that these actions are just the beginning of Socialism and Communism type regimes.

How long are we going to allow this. Make your vote count tomorrow. Remember to not let one political party have control of the Presidency, the Senate and Congress. That would be nothing but certain death of our freedoms.

ABC News’ George Stephanopoulos: “I think the fact that John McCain was able to make Joe Wurzelbacher a character in this campaign, I’ll bet you we’re going to see him in campaign ads starting tomorrow, shows that, why this was his best debate so far. He was able to set the agenda on a lot of issues like taxes, especially with Joe Wurzelbacher.” (ABC News’ “Vote 08: The Final Debate,” 10/15/08)

The Washington Post’s Chris Cillizza: “HUGE moment for McCain. Slams Obama for comparing him to Bush. VERY savvy. AND, he looked directly at Obama.” (Chris Cillizza, “The Fix Twitters The Final Debate!”www.washingtonpost.com, 10/15/08)

Cillizza: “McCain with a break from Bush Administration — ‘disappointed’ with Paulson’s approach on financial crisis.” (Chris Cillizza, “The Fix Twitters The Final Debate!” www.washingtonpost.com, 10/15/08)

Cillizza: “McCain has done well for himself so far — kept Obama on defense.” (Chris Cillizza, “The Fix Twitters The Final Debate!” www.washingtonpost.com, 10/15/08)

The Politico’s Jonathan Martin: “John McCain creates an instant headline with some of his firmest language yet to distance himself from President Bush. ‘Sen. Obama, I am not President Bush,’ McCain said, in a line clearly in his pocket. ‘If you wanted to run against President Bush you should have run four years ago. I will take this country in a new direction.’” (Jonathan Martin, “Your Morning Lede (So Far)” www.politico.com, 10/15/08)

National Review’s Jim Geraghty: “McCain’s best line so far: ‘Senator Obama, I am not President Bush. If you wanted to run against President Bush, you should have run four years ago.’” (Jim Geraghty, “If You Wanted To Run Against President Bush, You Should Have Run Four Years Ago,” www.nationalreview.com, 10/15/08)

MSNBC’s Pat Buchanan: “I do believe that this was John McCain’s best campaign. I think he clearly won it on points. It was his best performance. He was intense and ideological and he’s appealing to the base, clearly.”(MSNBC’s “Post Debate Analysis,” 10/15/08)

Buchanan: “Joe the plumber gives round one to McCain on points!” (Pat Buchanan, “Buchanan And Maddow: Live Debate Commentary,” firstread.msnbc.com, 10/15/08)

Buchanan: “McCain much more aggressive and specific, and more compassionate on John Lewis, issues of ACORN and Ayer.” (Pat Buchanan, “Buchanan And Maddow: Live Debate Commentary,” firstread.msnbc.com, 10/15/08)

Los Angeles Times: “McCain again shows that he came into this debate more focused and more disciplined than in the past ones.” (Don Frederick and Kate Linthicum, “Live Blogging The Final Barack Obama And John McCain Debate,”latimesblogs.latimes.com, 10/15/08)

The Atlantic’s Marc Ambinder: “McCain’s doing well on the issues…” (Marc Ambinder, “Live Blogging The Final Debate,” The Atlantic’s “Marc Ambinder” Blog, marcambinder.theatlantic.com, 10/15/08)

Commentary’s John Podhoretz: “Good zinger from McCain; Obama mentions he wants Warren Buffett to pay more taxes and McCain says we’re talking about Joe the Plumber, not Warren Buffett.” (John Podhoretz, “Warren Buffett Vs. Joe The Plumber,” Commentary’s “Contentions” Blog, www.commentarymagazine.com, 10/15/08)

Commentary’s Jennifer Rubin: “McCain says sure he’s qualified but then points out his record of bad ideas. Digs at his ‘cockamamie’ idea about dividing Iraq. Maybe his best answer.” (Jennifer Rubin, “Joe Biden,” Commentary’s “Contentions” Blog, www.commentarymagazine.com, 10/15/08)

National Review’s Mark R. Levin: “I am impressed with McCain tonight. Obama is off his game, as they say.” (Mark R. Levin, “A Different Debate,” National Review’s “The Corner” Blog, corner.nationalreview.com, 10/15/08)

Levin: “McCain came ready tonight, he has Obama resorting to his stump speech answers and a bit unnerved, IMHO. And for the most part, he is not letting Obama get away with his endless dissembling.” (Mark R. Levin, “Ready. Set…,” National Review’s “The Corner” Blog, corner.nationalreview.com, 10/15/08)

Time’s Mark Halperin: “McCain has best debate yet in final face-off. … McCain: A- …” (Mark Halperin, “Enough (!)(?)” TIME’s “The Page” Blog, thepage.time.com, 10/15/08)

Halperin: “During the first half of the debate, showed off the best of himself — dedicated, sincere, patriotic, cheery, earnest, commanding–all without seeming old or anxious. Even scored some points in the ‘change’ category, against the candidate who has owned the theme. Clear, upbeat, and totally on message.” (Mark Halperin, “Mark Halperin’s Grades For The Final Presidential Debate,” TIME’s “The Page” Blog, thepage.time.com, 10/15/08)

Halperin: “[I]f a majority of persuadable voters watched the debate, they saw why McCain’s advisers have faith in him and still believe he can win this race.” (Mark Halperin, “Mark Halperin’s Grades For The Final Presidential Debate,” TIME’s “The Page” Blog, thepage.time.com, 10/15/08)

CNN’s John King: “It was by far McCain’s best performance of the three debates. … It was by far McCain’s most aggressive, assertive.” (CNN, 10/15/08)

The Associated Press’ Liz Sidoti: “John McCain Kept Barack Obama On The Defensive … By That Measure, McCain Won The Last Debate Of The 2008 Campaign.” “This time, John McCain kept Barack Obama on the defensive. The feisty Republican tried hard to find a lifeline Wednesday night, challenging his Democratic rival at every turn over his truthfulness, associations and record. By that measure, McCain won the last debate of the 2008 campaign.” (Liz Sidoti, “McCain Puts Obama On The Defensive,” The Associated Press, 10/15/08)

MSNBC’s Andrea Mitchell: “I thought John McCain had a very strong night. I thought it was his best debate, clearly.” (MSNBC’s “Post Debate Analysis,” 10/15/08)

Former Clinton White House Press Secretary Dee Dee Myers: “I thought it was a stronger night for McCain, though, than the last debate, and he got in some licks, like the one that Dan was talking about where he said you know, if you wanted to run against George Bush you should have run four years ago. I think he brought up Joe The Plumber and used that quite effectively for most of the times he brought it up, which was a lot of times. So a stronger performance from McCain.” (CBS’s “Presidential Debate,” 10/15/08)

CNN’s Candy Crowley: “I would agree this was not Obama’s best debate.” (CNN, 10/15/08)

CNN’s Gloria Borger: “John McCain finally got to say tonight I am not George W. Bush. … That was his best line. That’s the line he has been waiting to say.” (CNN, 10/15/08)

CNN’s David Gergen: “I thought that McCain had the best start than he’s had in any debate. The first 30 minutes I thought he excelled, I thought he played very well to his base. Obama started to look, I thought, flat.” (CNN, 10/15/08)

ABC News’ Rick Klein: “My sense is that McCain has done much of what he needed to do tonight…” (Rick Klein, “Live Debate Blog,” ABC News’ “Live Debate” Blog, blogs.abcnews.com, 10/15/08)

Klein: “The ‘long line of McCains’ remark a slightly emotional, and probably effective, close.” (Rick Klein, “Live Debate Blog,” ABC News’ “Live Debate” Blog, blogs.abcnews.com, 10/15/08)

Fox News’ Charles Krauthammer: “I thought McCain was feisty and tough.” (Fox News’ “On The Record,” 10/15/08)

ABC News’ Charlie Gibson: “It was interesting — my only thought, when he said that, first of all, very good line.” (ABC News’ “Vote 08: The Final Debate,” 10/15/08)

The Washington Post’s Chris Cillizza: “McCain’s best line of attack in this debate: Obama talks about bipartisanship but doesn’t get it done.” (Chris Cillizza, “The Fix Twitters The Final Debate!” The Washington Post’s “The Fix” Blog, www.washingtonpost.com, 10/15/08)

CNN’s Bill Bennett: “Well remember last time I said I didn’t think that McCain broke through. I think he did this time. He had a very strong debate.” (CNN’s “Anderson Cooper 360,” 10/15/08)

ABC News’ George Stephanopoulos: “Best Of The Three Debates.” ROBIN ROBERTS: “Very important debate for him last night. And it was his best debate?” GEORGE STEPHANOPOULOS: “Clearly. Best of the three debates. especially at the beginning when he did introduce Joe the Plumber and put Barack Obama on the defensive on issues like taxes, especially taxes and the economy. Also laid out his plan for buying up those bad home loans. I think his first half hour was very, very strong.” (ABC’s “Good Morning America,” 10/16/08)

Christian Broadcasting Network’s David Brody: “John McCain Put A Dent In The Obama Persona.” “Wednesday night John McCain put a dent in the Obama persona. There’s no doubt that out of all the debates this fall, John McCain had his best one at Hofstra University. He was able to pokes some holes in Obama’s armor. He nicked him with Ayers, ACORN, public financing, negative advertising, abortion and yes, Joe the Plumber.” (David Brody, “McCain Dings Obama At Hofstra Debate,” Christian Broadcasting Network’s “Brody File” Blog, 10/16/08)

Brody: “The ‘Joe The Plumber’ Moments Were Probably Some Of McCain’s Best Moments.” “The ‘Joe the Plumber’ moments were probably some of McCain’s best moments. Not only was McCain able to use the Joe the Plumber story as an example of class warfare, he also used Joe as a way to make the economy a personal story.” (David Brody, “McCain Dings Obama At Hofstra Debate,” Christian Broadcasting Network’s “Brody File” Blog, 10/16/08)

Brody: “Clearly, the line of the night was when McCain’s distanced himself from the President by saying: I’m sure a lot of McCain supporters thought ‘It’s about time’. Obama has been hammering McCain on his ties to Bush forever but Wednesday night McCain not only delivered the big line but also listed numerous examples of how he is different than President Bush.” (David Brody, “McCain Dings Obama At Hofstra Debate,” Christian Broadcasting Network’s “Brody File” Blog, 10/16/08)

The New York Times: “John McCain Was In A Groove Early.” “Senator John McCain was in a groove early in the presidential debate on Wednesday night, looking Senator Barack Obama in the eye and chiding him over taxes, over his backbone in standing up to Democrats and over the Obama campaign’s portrayal of Mr. McCain as the second coming of George W. Bush.” (Patrick Healy, “Pressing All The Buttons, McCain Attacks, But Obama Stays Steady,” The New York Times, 10/16/08)

The Arizona Republic’s Dan Nowicki: “For McCain, It Clearly Was His Best Debate Performance And For At Least The First Part Of The Proceedings He Effortlessly Kept Obama Off-Balance.” (Dan Nowicki, “Both Candidates Stand Tall In The Final 2008 Presidential Debate,” The Arizona Republic, 10/16/08)

The Weekly Standard’s Stephen Hayes: “The Winner Was John McCain.” “The winner, and in my view quite decisively, was John McCain. From the very first question, McCain seemed certain of himself and his answers.” (Stephen Hayes, “McCain Wins Round Three,” The Weekly Standard, 10/16/08)

National Review’s Byron York: “Who Won? There Seems Little Doubt That McCain Scored Many More Points Than Obama.” (Byron York, Op-Ed, “‘I Am Not President Bush.’” National Review Online, 10/16/08)

New York Post: “On Issue After Issue, McCain Made His Case, Deftly Countering Obama’s Jabs.” “On issue after issue, McCain made his case, deftly countering Obama’s jabs. Why, he asked, does Obama ‘always say we have to spend more?’ Added McCain: ‘Throwing money at every problem is not the answer.’” (Editorial, “Lessons From The Plumber,” New York Post, 10/16/08)

New York Post’s Charles Hurt: “John McCain Delivered The Best Debate Performance Of His Campaign Last Night.” “With an assist from Joe the Plumber, John McCain delivered the best debate performance of his campaign last night. And it was probably the best night of the entire general election so far for him, rivaled only by the electric evening on which Sarah Palin gave her acceptance speech during the GOP convention last month.” (Charles Hurt, “Old Warrior Finally Has His Great Debate,” New York Post, 10/16/08)

Hurt: John McCain “Made The Strongest And Most Convincing Argument Yet That He Is Prepared To Keep The Federal Government From Making The Current Economic Crisis Worse.” “McCain last night made the strongest and most convincing argument yet that he is prepared to keep the federal government from making the current economic crisis even worse.” (Charles Hurt, “Old Warrior Finally Has His Great Debate,” New York Post, 10/16/08)

USA Today: John McCain “Kept Obama on The Defensive.” “So the Republican’s tone was crisper, sharper and more cutting than it had been in the first two debates. He kept Obama on the defensive for much of the 90-minute forum, attacking him for everything from his association with ’60s radical Bill Ayers to his decision not to take public financing for his campaign.” (Editorial, “Analysis: McCain More Cutting; Obama Low-Key,” USA Today, 10/16/08)

Denver Post’s Joanne Ostrow: “It Wasn’t Obama’s Night.” “On Wednesday, Joe, you saw Democrat Barack Obama and Republican John McCain making their cases, seated uncomfortably close, without the distraction of a town hall. It wasn’t Obama’s night.” (Joanne Ostrow, Op-Ed, “McCain Seemed Energized; Obama Kept Cool,” Denver Post, 10/16/08)

The Boston Globe’s Peter Canellos: “John McCain Last Night Put Barack Obama Through A Red-Hot Grilling, Barely Hiding His Disdain For The Illinois Senator And His Outrage Over Obama’s Policies.” (Peter S. Canellos, “Intensity May Help The Republican,” The Boston Globe, 10/16/08)

Canellos: “McCain Also Scored Substantively By Focusing On ‘Joe The Plumber,’ A Real Person Who Wants To Buy His Business And Worries That Obama’s Tax Policies Would Hurt Him.” (Peter S. Canellos, “Intensity May Help The Republican,” The Boston Globe, 10/16/08)

On a Monday afternoon, September 15, 2008, three McCain volunteers were holding campaign signs and distributing leaflets on a busy corner of 51st Street and Lexington Avenue in NYC. He rushed towards them, grabbed a McCain sign off a volunteer’s hands, and tore it apart. That didn’t seem enough. This is how the victim describes it: I said, “What are you doing? You can’t do that!” And he was red in the face screaming, “You people are ridiculous!” And I said, “Yeah, whatever, but you can’t do that.” So I reached for the sign that he ripped up, and he grabbed another sign, broke it, and ripped it to shreds. And when I said, “You can’t do that,” he took the stick from the sign and started beating me on the head with it. He broke the skin on my head, he scratched my wrist, and almost broke my glasses…

I wonder if this doucebag will come under the microscope the way Joe The Plumber is right now. I highly doubt it. He should be ashamed of himself.

When is Barack Obama going to get his supporters under control? Ever since he told them to “get in their face and argue with them” their level of violence has skyrocketed.