Dyna says: About now I hear the citizens of some of the city's wealthier neighborhoods snickering. These hookers don't bother with condoms, and you wealthy taxpayers get to pay for their AIDS treatment...
Peter says: I'm not sure if CARAG qualifies as one of the wealthier neighborhoods, but if it does, Dyna, please realize I'm not snickering. What you bear witness to in your neighborhood day after day, year after year, is truly horrifying, utterly disgusting. I see many of the same tragedies that you write about so eloquently as I ride my bicycle to work through the streets of Phillips. The gangbanging, drug dealing, murder, vandalism, theft, burglary, mugging, robbery, domestic violence, prostitution and other problems that afflicts the crime containment zones of Minneapolis (including poorly funded public schools) are symptoms of 21st Century American capitalism, a corrupt system that our politicians and their financiers from the two major parties (truly the most pernicious whores and pimps of all) are expected to uphold. Forget the U.S. Constitution, that's just window dressing anymore. It will probably go by the wayside in the next few years, put to rest with that slogan we used to see on Minneapolis police cars, "To Protect and To Serve". To put it briefly, Dyna, that's capitalism for you. And if it makes you and other members on the list feel any better, Dyna, I do have empathy and respect for the majority of our police officers. Like many of our compromised local politicians, they started their careers with every intention to do good and make this city a better place. But because they're up against a political, economic and legal system that's rotten to the core there isn't much that even the best of them can do. BTW, I'd like to recommend an excellent play by Rebecca Gillman called <Blue Surge>. I saw it when I was in San Francisco last spring. It's about a decent cop who tries, but ultimately fails, to help a good woman a way out of the sex trade. It was truly heartbreaking. You can order a copy of the text from most bookstores. David Shove, your response to the thread "Coming to a Bridge Near You", proposing that rods be installed in the chairs of our public office holders, is truly brilliant. Just keep moving those politicians along, like we do with those who are homeless. To sum it up, Dyna, just because I have a different take than you and some of the other members on this list about root causes of crime and appropriate, effective responses, that doesn't mean I don't validate the sadness and outrage that you and your neighbors feel.-----------------------Peter Schmitz CARAG TEMPORARY REMINDER: 1. Don't feed the troll! Ignore obvious flame-bait. 2. If you don't like what's being discussed here, don't complain - change the subject (Mpls-specific, of course.) ________________________________ Minneapolis Issues Forum - A City-focused Civic Discussion - Mn E-Democracy Post messages to: mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] Subscribe, Unsubscribe, Digest, and more: http://e-democracy.org/mpls
