Sunday, August 20, 2006
Not Just Me
ROXBURY, Massachusetts (Reuters)[Aug 20] "... In a shift from trends of the past decade, violent crime is on the rise, fueling criticism of Bush administration policies as a wave of murders and shootings hits smaller cities and states with little experience with serious urban violence. ... one of the shocking examples of a rise in the murder rate across the United States that is raising questions about whether police are fighting terrorism at the expense of crime."
This is an interesting article. A couple of weeks ago, I was saying the same thing, more or less. Our small town (under 60,000) has seen more murders and shootings this year than it has over the last 5 years put together - much to the surprise of the local police chief. (As a separate story, he didn't even know that crime was up - in fact he was quoted as saying crime was down - and he's the chief!!) Last week, a 13 year old pled guilty to trying to shoot a cop - he's also the subject of one of my rants - remember his mom was wailing her kid wouldn't do anything wrong.
I honestly hadn't given much thought to the idea that cops were preoccupied with fighting Al Queida (does anyone spell this the same way twice?) and weapons of mass destruction. Last week Caro, Michigan (pop. 4,000) tossed some guys in jail under suspicion of plotting to blow up Big Mac, the bridge, not the burger. And while I'm pretty sure they were doing something wrong - or at least very suspicious, blowing up a bridge wasn't it.
All-in-all, it's hardly comforting to know you're not alone with an increase in shootings, murders and other violent crime. BTW, if it isn't "a hate crime" does that automatically make it "a love crime?"
