When was that last time you spent any time in one of our major inner
cities, Jay? What do you *know* of living there? What do you *know* of
what is and isn't "rational behavior" there? From your comments, I'd say
you've spent no time in that environment; is that incorrect?

Quite incorrect. I spent seven years collecting money in hard-core
inner city areas of Racine and Kenosha, WI -- on the "drug road" (I-94)
from Chicago to Milwaukee.

I've stepped across bodies to get into an apartment complex -- have
you?

And these areas are tiny examples of what's going on in the really big
inner cities -- yet they were areas that "normal" Americans --
including law enforcement officials -- feared to tread. (Luckily, I was
young and dumb...and got out alive.)

The only difference between these areas, and Baghdad, is the size of
the explosives used.

Life in those areas has been pretty much the same ever since such areas
were built, and the reason for the violence in those areas is pretty much
unchanged too.

Wrong. Inner cities grow like a fungus. What were once beautiful
parts of Milwaukee and Racine are now uninhabitable by normal
Americans. Gunshots ring out with regularity, and police are either
paid off or afraid.

Sound familiar? Does Baghdad come to mind?

It isn't that those areas "...can't even be patrolled
safely by law enforcement...", they certainly could be, but aren't. So,
gangs and mob rule fill the void created by the lack of law enforcement
who are spending their time and resources in more affluent areas of the
city.

That, my friend, is crap. Affluent areas generally receive miminal law
enforcement money -- why? Because there's no crime there. Cops just
don't have time to patrol a sleep, affluent suburb.

Where the money goes is to the "border" areas -- the fuzzy no-man's
land between the inner city and the "nice" parts of town. Sadly, in my
experience, for every piece of inner city that is "gentrified" (brought
back to liveability), there are three that sink into the putrid mess
known as "the ghetto".

Sound familiar?

Again -- you guys that expect democracy to work overnight in Iraq are
simply showing your ignorance. It won't happen -- no, it CAN'T happen
-- in a mere four years. Or ten. It hasn't happened here (in many
parts of America) yet.

The same choice has been made by local governments for over a
hundred years in cities like New York and Chicago. And, those police
departments are well known for their "integrity", aren't they?

Many choices are made -- just not the ones you think are being made.
The reason the police departments in Chicago and New York (and others)
have grown corrupt is because our namby-pamby court system simply
refuses to take the criminal element off the streets. I've spoken to
many police officers who won't arrest or detain a known criminal,
simply because there is no point. They'll be on the street again in
hours -- and the cop will have to fill out endless paperwork, and
(perhaps) appear in court.

Sound familiar?

If those residents weren't being disenfranchised at the polls, perhaps
they could give it a try.

Which residents -- Iraqi or American?
--
Jay Honeck
Iowa City, IA
Pathfinder N56993
www.AlexisParkInn.com
"Your Aviation Destination"