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Politics : Politics for Pros- moderated -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: JohnM who wrote (4566)	8/8/2003 10:48:59 PM
From: LindyBill	Respond to of 793752

There are several middle of the road and leftie thread; and several rightie and conservative thread. It increasingly looks as if folk don't cross over. Arnold has taken us to 99 bookmarks, about a 16 bookmark jump. We have about 4 regular liberal posters, and about 8 regular conservative. Another 10 or so jump in or out. You have been flagging at your duties here, but I figure you still have relatives in town. It is the August "Dog Days," and we would be down to zilch if it were not for the Terminator. Excellent articles in "The New York Times Magazine" this week. "The Taint of the Greased Palm" is a story of World Wide Government corruption, it's real causes, and how to fix it. Just great. "Fight Club" is about the conservative movement to replace moderate Senators who won't toe the line on voting for tax increases. They want Specter's scalp on the wall. I will post that one in a bit.

To: JohnM who wrote (4566)	8/9/2003 1:40:26 AM
From: LindyBill	Respond to of 793752

It was nice to read King's column in the "Washington Post" today. You have to face reality before you can make any progress. How to Stop the Violence By Colbert I. King Saturday, August 9, 2003; Page A15 As you may have heard, whole sections of our nation's capital have come to resemble the no-man's land of Monrovia, Liberia. In Washington, as in that war-torn West African nation, gun-toting combatants treat the streets as their own. This week, seven young men were shot, one fatally, in a drive-by shooting in Southeast Washington. Four recent gun-related homicides in a Northwest Washington community have been linked to gang activity. Stabbings don't even get much press play. And the murder rate thus far in 2003 is outpacing last year's. So, what's the answer? The bodies weren't even buried before an e-mail arrived from one of our city's prominent community and religious organizations with advice on how to stop the violence. The list of instructions was familiar: Build better relationships between the police and the community, and expand community outreach with more summer school programs, summer jobs and weekend recreational activities through structured programs. Do these things, said the message, and our youth will be led away from the cycle of violence and the blood sport of terrorizing the hell out of their communities with shootouts. I was not overcome with joy. What does blowing someone away or ripping off a person's car have to do with not having a summer job? It's been a while, but I recall being young in this city along with a whole host of boys and girls in our working class (that's putting it charitably) West End-Foggy Bottom neighborhood. We grew up at a time when summer jobs, both government-subsidized and privately funded, were not to be found. Nor, by the way, was air-conditioning. But despite being shortchanged on the jobs and recreational front, having feuds of our own, as well as hours upon hours of idle time on our hands, it never occurred to most of us to resort to robbing and stealing from our neighbors. Besides, we had chores to do. Am I saying that we didn't have kids in our neighborhood who wouldn't have jumped at the chance to use a gun or burglarize a home if they could? No. But they were the same kids who would have crossed that line even if they had been given an opportunity to attend summer school, work downtown or play in an evening sports league. They came with special baggage. We ought to quit playing games with ourselves. I don't care how much we try to rationalize the behavior: There is nothing ordinary about teenagers who seek to own and carry guns, who prowl the streets looking for a chance to take advantage of an innocent and vulnerable neighbor, and who sell the crack, heroin and PCP that ravage young mothers, families and entire communities. A young man -- or woman -- who commits these crimes is a threat to the community and has a serious problem that can't be solved by a fully funded summer youth program. I say this not from the vantage point of a privileged character who gets to pontificate weekly from an ivory tower but from real-time experiences based on my own family tree. As I told a gathering recently, the Colbert clan on my late mother's side has such a broad reach that we can claim members who have attended Penn State and the state pen. Let's be clear: Summer school, jobs, active recreational programs and constructive learning environments are desperately needed in this city. The more children we can enroll in those activities the better off both they and the city will be. But those programs are needed not as an alternative to crime but because they serve a beneficial purpose for all kids. Unfortunately, our city has large numbers of young men and women who have reached a stage where summer fun and enrichment activities simply aren't going to do the trick. They are the cause of our troubles -- and they are troubled, too. Some very deeply. We've done a lousy job of identifying them early -- of culling them out from the kids who are trying to do the right thing -- and getting them the kind of individualized attention, treatment and counseling that can help address the underlying problems that put them at risk. We've done an even worse job at getting to the men and women who brought them into this world in the first place. Too many parents -- through their actions and inaction -- are the reasons their children end up in trouble in school and in the hands of the law. So let's focus on the source of our ills. Start on the juvenile justice front. Schools, courts, social service agencies, parent advocacy groups and clergy should set aside their special agendas and list our city's troubled youth and their families among their top priorities. So should the mayor and council. Elected leaders can begin by putting their summer sideshows on hold and turning to the main event: crime. It's fun, I know, but chasing a Major League Baseball team, hammering the police chief and calling Washington suburbanites nasty names can wait -- at least for a while. After all, sections of our nation's capital are beginning to resemble "Gunfight at the OK Corral." For goodness sake, even Liberians have managed to reach a truce. washingtonpost.com