If the mayor is doing something, maybe it is time for the mayor to TALK about what he is doing. If it doesn't work, I certainly will not hold it against him. He should try what he thinks will work, perhaps with a healthy dose of input from the voters (government officials are not required to possess all knowledge), and then shift gears if it doesn't. It is the perception of inactivity that hurts his image most of all, not the perception of lacking all the answers. SSB used to scoff at anything that looked like PR as "being a showhorse". I don't see it that way. I think talking in a non-showy way is a sign of respect for the residents.
Incarceration
The only PROVEN effect of incarceration is a temporary cessation of activity by the small minority of criminals who actually get caught (with a deduction for those who weren't guilty but got locked up anyway). I think, at best, it is a very small parto of the real solution. Look at the societies with low crime rates (from January to June of 2003, Japan, had 11,000 violent crimes for the WHOLE COUNTRY of 129 million people), and I don't think you'll find it has to do with incarceration.
Limousine Liberals
I would like the name of one limousine liberal. I know Rush likes the term, but who are they? In Minneapolis, for David's sake, name a limousine liberal.
Gated Communities
How about gated communities for smokers to obtain their "poison". Or alcohol-consumers. I hate to see this bogus distinction brought up for drug users again. It is one of the great obfuscations of our society. The ONLY thing necessary for calling alcohol an "illegal drug" is to pass a law.
Unfair property taxes
It isn't just we homeowners who don't like them. Downtown business doesn't like them. But they consider the problem "solved" when they get the relief. The fact is we could fun all our shortfalls by simply raising property taxes on business. Any harm in that?
Gallmon and racism
I think Gallmon is right in the sense that the way that African American culture has been twisted by the dialectic between it and American politics has had vastly deleterious effects on the lives of young African Americans. Politics has contrived in various ways to contain the explosive energies of young nonwhites. Meanwhile, American business has contrived to turn a buck with things like "rap culture". I don't think "rap culture" is anything but a commercialization in "legal" ways of what the police are fighting. Nothing new in the world. Business sold arms to the people our military regarded as an "enemy". It is a way of playing both sides for profit. Gallmon and others are searching for ways to TALK about this and people on the Left should be HELPING, not play the role of "more anti-racist than thou" (unless you own a limousine, then its OK)
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Jim Mork
Cooper Neighborhood
Longfellow Community
Minneapolis, MN
We think. You'll like it here.
And we're more fun than a barrel of Norwegians
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