Violence

The Davona Dale Gulfstream Park, Race 9 - Post 4:35 $250,000 (Grade II), 3 y.o. fillies, 1-1/16 miles 1. Private Ensign. . . Javier Castellano. . . 4-1 2. Lady Banks. . . Joe Rocco Jr.. . . 6-1 3. Dreaming of Julia. . . John Velazquez. . . 4-5 4. Live Lively. . . Joel Rosario. . . 5-2 5. Twice Told Tale. . . Edgar Prado. . . 12-1 Dreaming of Julia's only loss was a pretty good third in the Breeders' Cup when she was closing against a strong speed/inside bias.

IF PEOPLE put as much effort into stopping violence on the streets of Philadelphia as they do into things like arguing over politics and minding celebrity lifestyles, the city would be on its way to peaceful living. As a public high-school student, every day I wonder if I'll make it safely through the day. Jennifer Smith, Philadelphia

Even as two faces now gaze out from a wall of Benjamin Franklin High School, last-minute work needs to be done for the All Join Hands: Visions of Peace project. On Saturday, you have one last chance to join this antiviolence project. About a year has passed since residents from throughout the region began work on the mural. It is rising on the long wall of the school, located at Broad and Spring Garden Streets. The mural's mission: to remind its viewers of the high cost of violence and the high hopes for a safer future.

It should come as no surprise, but a study of young children has confirmed that physical abuse at home is more strongly linked to later aggressive behavior than such factors as poverty, divorce or marital violence. In other words, as often as not, violent people learned to be that way because as kids, they were the victims of violence. Sparing the rod needn't spoil the child if effective alternative discipline is applied, and it could help a kid develop into an adult who doesn't misbehave.

Intensity is the order of the day. The top three new movies on video this week offer both intense drama and intense comedy. NATURAL BORN KILLERS 1/2 (1994) (Warner) 119 minutes. Woody Harrelson, Juliette Lewis, Robert Downey Jr., Tommy Lee Jones. Love it or hate it, you have to see director Oliver Stone's sort-of satire about violence and the media and how they have blood-soaked our culture. This trippy tale of gun- crazy lovers on the lam is like channel-surfing through hell - and every station has a laugh track.

Children carry lighted candles during a procession yesterday at St. Carthage Roman Catholic Church, 63rd Street and Cedar Avenue, to honor 54 children killed by violence last year. The observance marks the beginning of the third annual Children's Sabbath, a month-long interfaith observance across the nation, aimed at raising awareness of the extent of violence in children's lives.

The trouble on California roadways escalated yesterday with two law officers becoming targets of random violence, which included a new round of shootings, rock-throwing and at least two reports of motorists pointing guns at cars. The latest round of violence came despite stepped-up patrols of freeways by officers from all 48 municipal police departments within Los Angeles County.

We all are saddened when we hear of a child murdered or victimized by violence. We are even more saddened when the perpetrators are also children. We ask ourselves, why are the children of today so violent? People blame the inner city, or poverty, or a single-parent household, or lack of a male role model or the easy access to guns. But that doesn't explain why violence affects suburban communities where both parents are present and the poverty does not exist. The primary factor is the attitude of adults toward violence.

There's something wrong with people who consider pornography, even as mild as Playboy, to be more conducive to violence than movies on television today. Even children can watch acts of violence any time of day. I doubt that reasonably sane adults well past their formative years will be brainwashed into committing sex crimes after prolonged exposure to sexually explicit material. After all, members of the Meese commission viewed a lot of pornography before releasing their report.

BAGHDAD - Iraq's wave of bloodshed sharply escalated Monday with more than a dozen car bombings across the country, part of attacks that killed at least 95 people and brought echoes of past sectarian carnage and fears of a dangerous spillover from Syria's civil war next door. The latest spiral of violence - which has claimed more than 240 lives in the last week - carries the hallmarks of the two sides that brought nearly nonstop chaos to Iraq for years: Sunni insurgents, including al-Qaeda's branch in Iraq, and Shiite militias defending their newfound power after Saddam Hussein's fall.

PETARE, Venezuela - Stern-looking soldiers clutching assault rifles wave down the beat-up Chevy Caprice entering this sprawling slum on the outskirts of Caracas. Flashlights in his face, the driver steps out and places his hands on the roof while the soldiers frisk him for drugs and weapons. He's clean, and a hand gesture from the commanding officer sends him off into the maze of ramshackle homes that is Petare, one of the most dangerous parts of Venezuela's notoriously crime-infested capital.

I HAD a very good Mother's Day weekend. I got some unexpected presents and spent time with my husband and kids, my parents and my grandmother. But I also spent important time with some mothers who are not as lucky, who no longer have their kids to celebrate with. I stood with these mothers, who lost their children to gun violence, as well as with survivors of gun violence, and called for change that will spare others the tragedies they have suffered. Together we sent a clear message: We are not going away; we are here for the long haul.

NEW ORLEANS - Police hope that a $10,000 reward and blurry surveillance camera images will lead to arrests in a Mother's Day shooting that wounded 19 people and showed again how far the city has to go to shake a persistent culture of violence that belies the city's festive image. Monday night, police identified Akein Scott, 19, as a suspect, saying several people had identified him. Police Superintendent Ronal Serpas said it was too early to say whether Scott was the only suspect and that police were looking for him. Angry residents said gun violence - which has flared at two other city celebrations this year - goes hand-in-hand with the city's other deeply rooted problems such as poverty and urban blight.

Addressing urban violence as a problem that grips cities large and small, the Philadelphia-based organization Mothers in Charge hosted its first national conference on the impact of violence this week. The two-day conference at the Sheraton Philadelphia Downtown Hotel, which concluded Tuesday, featured grassroots activists, law enforcement officials, medical experts, and others. Dorothy Johnson-Speight, founder and executive director of the group, said her organization was hosting a national conference "because violence is a national problem.

By Jim McGovern The 10th annual Interfaith Walk for Peace and Reconciliation is scheduled for Sunday. When I heard the news about the attack in Boston, I wondered if we would still walk. Of course we will. In fact, everything we stand for is in direct opposition to the shameless act of hate and violence that rocked the world last week. On Sunday, walking together will be Muslims and Jews, Christians and Sikhs, Buddhists and seculars, and on and on. We will honor and celebrate our fellowship and the messages of peace and connectedness found in all these great religions, but even more so in the deepest crevices of our hearts.

DURING HIS 2012 campaign for re-election, U.S. Sen. Bob Casey was mysteriously absent from the headlines - so much so that Ed Rendell said he was running a "noncampaign. " Now, after cruising to victory, Casey seems to be all over the news. In December, the Democrat sacrificed his NRA-approved standing to rally behind new gun laws. And earlier this month, he announced that he is jumping the fence to support same-sex marriage. Daily News reporter Sean Collins Walsh sat down with Casey last week in his Washington office (the same one John F. Kennedy occupied during his brief Senate career)

TRENTON - Nearly two months after the Assembly passed 22 bills aimed at curbing gun violence, the Senate is hashing out details for a separate package that so far does not include the lower chamber's controversial bill to further restrict the number of bullets in a magazine. Senate President Stephen Sweeney (D., Gloucester), who had planned to introduce his chamber's final bills Monday, said some of the measures were still being revised. Although no draft bills were available, Sweeney said the centerpiece would create a state electronic database that would encode handgun and hunting rifle permits on a gun owner's license or state-issued identification card, allowing for instant background checks.

Sports and games serve as peaceful proxies for war, made possible by the absence of actual hostilities; think the Olympics or the Fischer-Spassky Cold War chess championship. That is part of what makes an act of violence against an athletic event so deeply sickening: It shows the best impulses of humans undone by their worst. Monday's apparent attack on the Boston Marathon was replete with such distressing juxtapositions. Participants were photographed running toward an explosion in the moment that the glorious sight of the finish line was transformed into a savage crime scene that people fled.

WHEN IT comes to cracking down on gun violence, New York has become America's model city. Word is out that police and prosecutors in the Big Apple don't mess around when they catch people who carry or use illegal weapons. It is unlawful to carry a gun without a New York license, even if the owner has a permit from another municipality. Hunters avoid driving through the city, fearing they could get nabbed. And punishment is swift and harsh. In 2007, New York passed a 3 1/2-year mandatory-minimum sentence for illegal gun possession.