Correction: Bahrain-Security Summit story

MANAMA, Bahrain (AP) — In a story Dec. 8 about a security summit in Bahrain, The Associated Press reported erroneously that Saudi Arabia's Deputy Foreign Minister Prince Abdulaziz bin Abdullah said in a speech that Gulf states should quash any Arab Spring-inspired unrest. Prince Abdulaziz said, "Tampering with the stability and security of any Gulf Arab state is considered as tampering with the security and stability of all other Gulf Arab states" and his remarks did not mention any specific type of instability or threat.
A corrected version of the story is below:
US envoys say no 'pivot' away from Mideast
US envoys at Mideast security summit: No 'pivot' from Washington role in region
By REEM KHALIFA
Associated Press
MANAMA, Bahrain (AP) — American envoys challenged assertions Saturday that Washington seeks to diminish its role in Middle East affairs, insisting U.S. political ties and energy needs bind the country closely to a region full of "threat and promise."
The defensive tone by U.S. officials, in response to questions raised at an international security summit in Bahrain, reflects growing speculation about a possible U.S. policy realignment toward Asia at the expense of Mideast initiatives.
Gulf Arab states, in particular, have urged the Obama administration to take stronger action on Syria, where Saudi Arabia and Qatar seek to open channels to send heavy weapons to rebel forces fighting to oust Syrian President Bashar Assad. The White House has favored a more cautious approach with the Syrian opposition, worried that hard-line Islamist rebel factions could be aided by stepped up arms flow.
"The idea that the U.S. can pivot away from the Middle East is the height of foolishness," Sen. John McCain said at the Bahrain gathering, which brings policymakers and political figures from around the world including Iran and the Syrian opposition.
The Arizona Republican, the ranking member on the Senate Armed Services Committee, also said he believes there is a "steady increase" in fighters inspired by al-Qaida joining the rebel side in Syria's civil war.
The comments follow a diplomatic flap after Bahrain's crown prince did not mention the U.S. at the opening of the conference Friday as he listed critical allies in the kingdom's 22-month battle against an Arab Spring-inspired uprising. Bahrain is home to the U.S. Navy's 5th Fleet, which is the Pentagon's main counterweight in the region against Iran's military.
Many at the conference interpreted the crown prince's omission as a public slap against Washington for its criticism of Bahrain's crackdowns, including recent action such as banning opposition rallies and revoking citizenship for 31 activists.
More than 55 people have died in the unrest as the island nation's Shiite majority pushes for a greater political voice in the Sunni-ruled kingdom.
The head of the U.S. delegation, Deputy Secretary of State William Burns, said Washington's foreign policy objectives clearly include the "dynamic" rise of Asian economic and political power and "domestic renewal" to compete in the changing world economy.
"For all the logical focus on pivots in other directions, however, the fact remains that the United States cannot afford to neglect what's at stake in the Middle East," he said.
He credited Bahrain's leadership for some reforms aimed at easing the tensions, including giving more powers to the elected parliament. But he noted "there is still a long road ahead" in following through with recommendations by an independent fact-finding committee last year that included calls for investigation into allegations of high-level abuses against protesters.
The main Bahrain Shiite opposition group, Al Wefaq, said Saturday that it was open to the crown prince's offer for dialogue, but it was unclear whether any breakthroughs were possible. Past overtures have failed to gain traction.
Burns also said Middle Eastern oil remains crucial for the world economy despite projections of a sharp rise in U.S. crude output in coming years from techniques such as extracting oil from shale.
Burns, however, pointed out that other nations need to help chart the course in the region following the Arab Spring — suggesting no major unilateral push by Washington over Syria or other simmering disputes such as Iran's nuclear program.
"It is important for Americans, self-absorbed as we sometimes are, to understand that the Middle East is not all about us ... But if it's not about us, the future of the region certainly matters a great deal to us," he told the conference. "It's a region today that is full of both threat and promise."
Earlier, Prince Abdulaziz bin Abdullah, the Saudi deputy foreign minister, told the conference that "tampering with the stability and security of any Gulf Arab state is considered as tampering with the security and stability of all other Gulf Arab states."
He described the "security and destiny" of the six-nation Gulf Cooperation Council as "one and may not be divided." The GCC includes Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, Bahrain, Qatar, Oman and the United Arab Emirates.
Leaders of the six-nation Gulf Cooperation Council plan to meet later this month in Bahrain with issues such as closer intelligence and security coordination on the agenda.

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Yemen court sentences 3 militants to up to 6 years

SANAA, Yemen (AP) — Yemen's state security court has sentenced three al-Qaida militants to up to six years in prison for planning attacks on security forces, foreign diplomatic missions and state institutions.
The court on Saturday gave the three militants between two and six years each. They have the right to appeal.
The judge also accused the three of running a training camp for al-Qaida in the southern Abyan province in 2011. He didn't provide further details on the alleged targets.
The court released four others who had already spent about 18 months in detention. The militants earlier denied the charges.
Yemeni President Abed Rabbo Mansour Hadi has ordered trials for dozens of al-Qaida suspects held without charges for over a year.
Washington considers al-Qaida's Yemen branch as the militant group's most dangerous.
In the southern city of Ibb, security officials and medics said eight prisoners died and dozens injured in a fire that broke out in the city's central prison Saturday. The medics said the death toll could rise because more than 10 prisoners were in serious condition. The officials and medics spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to talk to the press.
Authorities were still investigating the cause of the fire, the officials said.
The prison, which is one of the biggest in the country, witnessed riots last week by inmates protesting ill-treatment.

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Existing home sales rise to fastest pace in three years

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Home resales rose sharply in November to their fastest pace in three years, a sign the recovery in the housing market is gaining steam.
The National Association of Realtors said on Thursday that existing home sales climbed 5.9 percent last month to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 5.04 million units.
That was the fastest since November 2009, when a federal tax credit for home buyers was due to expire. Sales were well above the median forecast of a 4.87 million-unit rate in a Reuters poll.
The U.S. housing market tanked on the eve of the 2007-09 recession and has yet to fully recover, but steady job creation has helped the housing sector this year, when it is expected to add to economic growth for the first time since 2005.
NAR economist Lawrence Yun said superstorm Sandy, which slammed in the U.S. East Coast in late October and disrupted the regional economy for weeks, had only a slight negative impact on home resales.
The NAR expects some purchases delayed by the storm to add a slight boost to resales over the next few months, Yun said.
Nationwide, the median price for a home resale was $180,600 in November, up 10.1 percent from a year earlier as fewer people sold their homes under distressed conditions compared to the same period in 2011. Distressed sales include foreclosures.
The nation's inventory of existing homes for sale fell 3.8 percent during the month to 2.03 million, the lowest level since December 2001.
At the current pace of sales, inventories would be exhausted in 4.8 months, the lowest rate since September 2005.
Distressed sales fell to 22 percent of total sales from 29 percent a year ago.
The share of distressed sales, which also include those where the sales price was below the amount owed on the home, was also down from 24 percent in October.

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New York City should hike taxes on big business-comptroller

(Reuters) - New York City's top financial officer and possible contender for mayor in 2013, John Liu, proposed on Thursday tax hikes for big businesses and an end to Madison Square Garden's $15 million annual property tax exemption.
The proposals by New York City Comptroller John Liu include tax hikes on private equity firms, which would help offset his plan for $500 million in tax breaks and lowered fines for 90 percent of the city's small businesses.
Liu is expected to vie for the Democratic mayoral nomination for the election in November 2013.
The city could end tax breaks for big companies - more than $250 million of which were handed out last year, Liu said.
The city could also eliminate its $15 million annual property tax exemption for Madison Square Garden, the indoor arena in midtown Manhattan that's home to the New York Knicks basketball team. Madison Square Garden has been exempt from paying taxes on real property since 1982 under New York state law.
The arena is owned by The Madison Square Garden Co, which also owns the Knicks and other professional sports teams. The company also owns Radio City Music Hall, the Beacon Theatre and others venues, as well as television networks.
Liu also proposed examining tax breaks for special interests. Insurance companies, for instance, have not paid the general corporation tax since 1974, at a cost of $300 million annually to the city, he said.
Private equity firms could also start paying the unincorporated business tax for carried interest or gains from assets being held for investment. The exemption costs New York City about $200 million a year, Liu said.
Liu's package would use the revenue generated by those measures to offset his plan to ease the tax burden for small businesses.
He proposed ending the city's general corporation tax for all businesses with liabilities under $5,000 -- about 240,000 business in the city, or 85 percent of those that currently pay the tax.
His plan would also reduce some fines, as well as exempt businesses that make less than $250,000 in annual income from the city's unincorporated business tax.
The proposals would have to be approved by the governor and state legislature after a request by the city council.
The city is facing a possible $2.7 billion gap in fiscal 2014 that could grow to $3.8 billion the following year, Liu said.

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Republicans push own "fiscal cliff" plan; talks frozen

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Republicans in the Congress pushed ahead on Thursday with a "fiscal cliff" plan that stands no chance of becoming law as time runs short to reach a deal with President Barack Obama to avert a Washington-induced economic recession.
House of Representatives Speaker John Boehner's "Plan B" to limit income-tax increases to the wealthiest sliver of the population appeared likely to pass the House on Thursday evening after it narrowly cleared a procedural hurdle in the afternoon.
However, Obama has vowed to veto the plan, and Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid said he will not bring it up for a vote in the Democratic-controlled chamber. White House spokesman Jay Carney called it a "multi-day exercise in futility."
Still, passage of Plan B could give Boehner the political cover he needs to strike a deal that would break with decades of Republican anti-tax orthodoxy.
"Time's running short. I'm going to do everything I can to protect as many Americans from an increase in taxes as I can," Boehner told a news conference.
Though it does not raise taxes on as many affluent Americans as Obama wants, the bill would put Republicans on record as supporting a tax increase on those who earn more than $1 million per year - a position the party opposed only weeks ago.
That could make it easier eventually to split the difference with Obama, who wants to lower the threshold to households that earn more than $400,000 annually. Obama also faces resistance on his left flank from liberals who oppose cuts to popular benefit programs, which Republicans say must be part of any deal.
Obama and Boehner will need to engage in more political theater to get lawmakers in both parties to sign on to the painful concessions that will have to be part of any deal to avert the cliff and rein in the national debt, analysts say.
"They are now in the mode where they have to demonstrate how hard they're trying to get everything they can," said Joe Minarik, a former Democratic budget official now with the Committee For Economic Development, a centrist think tank.
Even as he pressured Obama and the Democratic Senate to approve his plan, Boehner indicated that he was not willing to walk away from the bargaining table.
"The country faces challenges, and the president and I, in our respective roles, have a responsibility to work together to get them a result," Boehner said.
TIME RUNNING OUT
Obama and Boehner aim to reach a deal before the end of the year, when taxes will automatically rise for nearly all Americans and the government will have to scale back spending on domestic and military programs. The $600 billion hit to the economy could push the U.S. economy into recession, economists say.
Investors so far have assumed the two sides will reach a deal, but concerns over the fiscal cliff have weighed on markets in recent weeks. The S&P 500 index of U.S. stocks was up 0.4 percent in Thursday trading, despite a round of strong data on economic growth and housing.
"The closer we get to the end of the year without a deal, the more optimism is going to evaporate," said Todd Schoenberger, managing partner at LandColt Capital in New York.
Shares crept up after Boehner said he was prepared to work with Obama to prevent the fiscal cliff from kicking in.
Lawmakers are eager to wrap up their work and return home for the Christmas holiday, but congressional leaders kept the door open for last-minute action.
The Senate was expected to leave town on Thursday or Friday, but Reid said it could return next week to vote on any deal.
Boehner indicated the House would stay in session after Thursday's vote, scheduled for 7:45 p.m. EST (0045 GMT on Friday).
Several influential conservative groups have condemned Plan B, and some Republicans are expected to vote against it. But passage appeared likely after the House narrowly voted by 219 to 197 to bring the bill to the floor for debate.
The U.S. Chamber of Commerce, an influential business group that has often tangled with the Obama administration, offered grudging support.
"We are not comfortable allowing tax increases on anyone in this environment. However, we understand that, at times, politics requires compromise," the Chamber's top lobbyist, Bruce Josten, wrote in a letter to lawmakers.
To placate conservatives, Boehner also scheduled a vote on legislation that would shift $55 billion in scheduled defense cuts to cuts in food and health benefits for the poor and other domestic programs.
That measure also would roll back some of the Dodd-Frank financial regulation reforms of 2010. It is not expected to become law.

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Canada's seven-month budget gap narrows to C$10.6 billion

OTTAWA (Reuters) - Canada's federal budget deficit narrowed in the first seven months of the fiscal year to C$10.57 billion ($10.68 billion) from C$13.90 billion in the same period last year as personal and corporate income tax revenues rose and debt charges were lower.
The monthly shortfall in October was C$1.68 billion, compared with a gap of C$2.13 billion a year earlier, the Department of Finance said in a report on Friday.
The Conservative government in October pushed back by one year, to 2016-17, the date it expects to eliminate the deficit. Most economists believe that if the economy continues to grow, the books could be balanced sooner.
Ottawa has estimated a 2012-13 deficit of C$26 billion, including a C$1 billion cushion for risk.
In the April-October period, revenues increased by 3.6 percent, or C$4.9 billion, from the same period in 2011, pushed up by personal income tax and corporate income tax. Program expenses rose by 2 percent, or C$2.7 billion, on increases in elderly benefits and direct program expenses.
Public debt charges decreased 6.1 percent, or C$1.1 billion, on a lower effective interest rate.

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"Fiscal cliff" creates waiting game for payrolls firms

WASHINGTON/NEW YORK (Reuters) - At payroll processing businesses across the United States, the "fiscal cliff" stalemate in Washington means uncertainty over tax-withholding tables just days before the start of 2013.
The U.S. Internal Revenue Service still has not issued the tables for next year that show how much money employers should hold back from workers' paychecks to cover federal income taxes.
Payroll processors need the tables to get their systems geared up for the new year. The tables are set by many factors, including tax rates and annual inflation adjustments.
In anticipation of late-breaking developments, Rochester, New York-based Paychex Inc will be serving Buffalo chicken wings for staffers working late on New Year's Eve, said Frank Fiorille, an executive at the payroll processing giant.
"Our systems are flexible enough that we can wait almost up until the last minute and still make changes," he said.
The IRS appreciates of the impact of Congress' inaction.
"Since Congress is still considering changes to the tax law, we continue to closely monitor the situation," IRS spokesman Terry Lemons said in a statement. "We intend to issue guidance by the end of the year on appropriate withholding for 2013."
Tax rates are slated to rise sharply for most Americans if Congress and President Barack Obama fail to reach an agreement that averts the "fiscal cliff" approaching at year-end.
"The political process will determine one way or the other what" the IRS must do, said Scott Hodge, president of the Tax Foundation, a business-oriented tax research group.
For now, he said, from the tax-collection agency's viewpoint, "doing nothing is probably the best course." This would be because withholding tables distributed now might only have to be revised if Congress acts in the next few days.
Some payroll servicers are not waiting for formal IRS guidance. The American Payroll Association, which represents about 23,000 payroll professionals, told members on Friday to rely on 2012 withholding tables until the IRS releases the new forms for 2013.
The association said its decision was based on a statement earlier this month from an IRS official.
The agency would not confirm that policy on Friday.
Tax preparer H&R Block Inc said it will use 2012 tax-withholding tables if the 2013 tables are not issued.
Executives said they were frustrated with the uncertainty in Washington, but were doing their best to cope.
"We are not doctors or surgeons and this is not life threatening," said Rob Basso with Advantaged Payroll Services, an Auburn, Maine-based payroll processor that serves 30,000 businesses. "It is annoying and disruptive to people's lives, but we will get through it."

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The longest war: The shooting at a Connecticut school shows, once again, that there’s no end in sight to our lethal way of life

Sometime between the shootings in Columbine in 1999 and at a Tucson supermarket with Gabby Giffords in early 2011, Americans stopped uttering the pieties about “Never again.” Now we are heartsick, but somehow never completely surprised, when we hear the latest gruesome news bulletins from a movie theater in Aurora or a quiet elementary school in Newtown.
We are a nation of 311 million people and roughly a similar number of guns. (Since there is no central federal registry of firearms and a 100-year-old unlicensed weapon can be lethal, estimates are far from precise.) What we do know for certain is that there are almost as many legal places to buy guns (130,000 registered dealers) as gasoline stations (144,000). Through the end of November, the FBI conducted nearly 17 million background checks of prospective gun owners this year.

This is the Faustian bargain that comes with being a 21st-century American. We are a nation of stubborn individualism and lethal gun violence. These two characteristics are entwined in our national psyche. And—as much as I weep over the dead children at Sandy Hook Elementary School—I sadly know that nothing will change in my lifetime. 

The last glimmer of hope for effective gun control in America died in 2008 when the Supreme Court (District of Columbia v. Heller) endorsed an expansive view of the right to bear arms. As Justice Antonin Scalia declared in the majority opinion, “The Second Amendment protects an individual right to possess a firearm unconnected with service in a militia.”

It is hard to pin down exactly when Americans made the collective decision that periodic massacres of the innocent are the price that we supposedly pay for our liberties.

Maybe it dates back to the late19th century when Americans in peaceful communities embraced the myth of the Wild West and the gunslinger. Maybe it partially reflects the tabloid fascination that accompanied the gangster era of the 1920s and 1930s. Maybe it has something to do with the way that movies—that most American of art forms—have successfully turned mass violence into a mass commodity.

Politics also played a role as well. As Jill Lepore pointed out in a New Yorker article earlier this year, the National Rifle Association (NRA) only embarked on its modern crusade against virtually all gun legislation around 1970. Fully entering the political arena with its endorsement of Ronald Reagan for president in 1980, the NRA emerged as a key player in the conservative coalition that came to dominate the Republican Party.

It’s hard to remember that for a while in the 1980s and 1990s, a limited form of gun control seemed politically possible. Reagan’s press secretary James Brady, badly wounded in the John Hinckley assassination attempt on Reagan, became a courageous Republican symbol for sensible regulation of the most lethal weaponry.

But then too many on Capitol Hill (Democrats as well as Republicans) grew fearful in the face of the frenzied opposition from the NRA. And following the 2008 Heller decision, it seemed the height of folly for legislators to take on gun control since the Supreme Court had so narrowed the framework for permissible regulation. As a result, even though the Aurora shootings took place in a swing state (Colorado) in an election year, Obama and the Democrats at the time never even raised the possibility of new federal legislation.

This should not be portrayed in cartoonish terms as a story of the white hats (liberals with a visceral hatred of guns) versus the black hats (hunters and other Americans who enjoy owning firearms). There was an element of cultural superiority to the urban liberal disdain for gun ownership, just as there was a self-destructive stubbornness to conservative opposition to all forms of regulation.

The result is an America that no sane person of any political persuasion could have possibly wished for. Who in his right mind wants to live in a country where maybe twice a year a crazed individual guns down dozens of people in schools and theaters? There is no plausible remedy since we are neither going to disarm Americans nor are we going to pass out guns to elementary school teachers as a just-in-case precaution.

All we can do is mourn and mourn again. And think of the young children who died only because they went to school giggling over silly things and dreaming of recess. Such is the American way of life and, sadly, death.

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The daily gossip: Kristen Stewart apologizes to everyone, and more

5 pieces of celebrity gossip — from Kate Middleton's stereotypically English pregnancy cravings to Kim Kardashian's slightly altered hairdo
1. Kristen Stewart apologizes to everyone for whatever they're mad at her about
If Kristen Stewart actually wronged you over the past year — we're talking to you, Robert Pattinson — you already got your apology back in June. But if you're one of the billions of earthlings who wasn't personally wronged by Stewart, the young actress would like you to know that she's very sorry anyway. "I apologize to everyone for making them so angry. It was not my intention," said Stewart in an interview with Newsweek, covering both fans who are upset that Twilight is over and critics who were forced to review the Twilight movies.
2. Kate Middleton having adorably English pregnancy cravings
Noted English pregnant person Kate Middleton has been experiencing some stereotypically English pregnancy cravings. "Kate has been craving scones with strawberry jam and clotted cream," says a source at Showbiz Spy. "And she washes it down with a cup of old-fashioned English breakfast tea." For now, Duchess Kate seems content with the high-tea staples — but her chefs might be well-advised to start preparing bangers and mash, and spotted dick.
3. Samuel L. Jackson insists he said "Fuh" on Saturday Night Live
Samuel L. Jackson may have landed himself in hot water when he dropped an F-bomb on last week's episode of Saturday Night Live, but he's already attempting to preempt an FCC fine by claiming he only said half of the word, reports Entertainment Weekly. "I only said FUH not FUCK!" insisted the actor on Twitter, a claim he repeated while visiting Jimmy Kimmel Live on Tuesday night. Anyone who wishes to hear Samuel L. Jackson utter an entire curse word need only watch a Quentin Tarantino movie for more than 20 seconds.
4. BREAKING: Kim Kardashian has bangs now
Today in Kim Kardashian developments: A slightly different haircut. The tabloid fixture arrived in LAX sporting a "new" 'do masterminded by celebrity stylist Chris McMillan. The far-from-startling look features "sideswept bangs and shorter locks," said an actual reporter at E! Online, who made the decision that Kim's marginally different hairdo merited an entire article. "We're loving this sassy look."
5. Taylor Swift and Harry Styles might elope, alleges unnamed source
Lovebirds Taylor Swift and Harry Styles have been spotted holding hands and enjoying meals together in public, as happy young couples are wont to do. But according to a source at Hollywood Life, the fact that the couple has enjoyed each other's company for a whole month can only mean one thing: Weddings bells. "Harry is totally in love. I can see them getting married in a week, just going for it!" speculates the anonymous source. The same source has predicted that Kim Kardashian will soon shave her head.

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WHEN SCIENCE DOESN'T COUNT

When the press reported that Adam Lanza had Asperger's syndrome (part of the autism spectrum disorders) and other unspecified personality problems, the autism community swung into action in a way that is totally understandable. The Associated Press' headline: "Experts: No Link Between Asperger's, Violence."
The vast majority of autistic people are not violent. Autistics like Temple Grandin, the professor who helped create humane strategies for the meat industry, remind us that many people with high-functioning also go on to live full, rich lives of value to themselves and others.
Grandin also reminded us that, for austic people, "The principal emotion experienced by autistic people is fear.
If you cannot read people's social cues, it's hard to tell who is a threat and who is not. If you live in a world with social rules created by "neurotypicals" that make no sense, anxiety and fear are natural, perhaps inevitable, responses.
But the suggestion that science has demonstrated there is no link at all between autism and aggressive violence is questionable.
Google "autism" and "aggression" and you will suddenly be treated to a counter world the formal autism community claims does not exist: desperate mothers seeking help or respite from the violent behavior of large, aggressive, beloved autistic boys (and a few girls).
In the name of love and absent decent institutions for these troubled young adults, we are permitting a silent epidemic of domestic terrorism against women that we would not tolerate under any other banner.
These are mothers. Many are willing to sacrifice their lives, if necessary, to keep their beloved sons out of institutions that would terrify them.
Consider an essay by novelist Ann Bauer. She believed passionately that autism is a beautiful, mysterious neurodifference. She wrote essays about her fierce love for her son Andrew and his beautiful mind. Then in 2009, she wrote another essay, "The Monster Inside My Son," after learning about Trudy Steuernagel's murder by her 18-year-old autistic son, Sky:
"I'm exhausted and hopeless and vaguely hung over because Andrew, who has autism, also has evolved from sweet, dreamy boy to something like a golem: bitter, rampaging, full of rage. It happened no matter how fiercely I loved him or how many therapies I employed."
Ann is an "official writer," but on the Web there is heartbreak galore
One mother of an 11-year-old with high-functioning autism:
"Over the last year he has evolved into a violently tempered child who seems to 'snap' when things (don't) go his way. He is at a point now that he has pulled knives on us and our other child and has threatened to kill us. ... I have no idea what to do and I'm in tears daily."
Another mom:
"He has bitten me, tried to strangle me, tried to sit on my younger son to crush him when he was an infant (18 months old) talked of shooting us, shooting our younger son in the eye with a bow and arrow, punched himself in the face so he got a black eye, threw large objects at us like our baby's sit-and-spin, kicked my husband in the groin area, aggressed toward babies in the park, punched me and my younger son while I was driving etc. ... This is the short list."
Yet another:
"I have spent the entire evening feeling so alone. Thanks for all your stories. I am recovering from my son's outburst this evening. The bruises from the last one were just starting to heal. He has autism, and at 13, he is over 6 feet tall and 200 pounds. There are pieces bitten out of my arms and hands, and my breast and stomach are full of red bruises. His much smaller twin brother tried to get him off of me and got bit in the process. I sent him out of the room so he would not get hurt any further. My husband left us and a divorce is in the works."
Enough anecdotes.
The 19th European Congress of Psychiatry abstracts included one study of "autism and violence." Researchers in Morocco handed out questionnaires to families being served by handicapped centers. They found that 43.3 percent of families in this sample reported problems with aggression.
According to another recent study, "The prevalence of and risk factors for aggression were examined in 1,380 children and adolescents with autism spectrum disorders (ASD). Prevalence was high, with parents reporting that 68 percent had demonstrated aggression to a caregiver and 49 percent to non-caregivers."
The human cost of denying the relationship between autism and aggression is simply unacceptable. Mothers need to know they should not allow themselves to be hit, beaten, bitten or threatened in their own homes. And a mother like Liza Long, who is afraid enough to have developed a "safe plan" for her younger children in the event their brother goes berserk, needs to know her first obligation, her very first one, is to protect those siblings and give them a safe home.
We need to give them better options than generalized overcrowded psych wards, jail and permitting violence against mothers.

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