- Violent crime is increasing.
- It's Bush's fault because he's not sending enough money to local governments.
- He doesn't care about the uptick because the victims tend to be young black men.
- Oh, and to heck with the Constitution.
There. That wraps it up nicely.
My favorite bit is Venocchi's approving citation of L.A. police chief William Bratton:
``The federal government has stepped back significantly from dealing with the issue of local crime. This administration in Washington clearly feels that local crime is an issue for local towns and municipalities."
Well, yeah. Local crime is an issue for local towns and municipalities - and states. Check the Constitution. It's in there. Or more precisely, dealing with local crime isn't in there as a power of the federal government, meaning as a result that it's reserved to the states.
Another thing. Liberals seem to cherish the curious belief that shipping their tax dollars off to DC, letting the bureaucrats there conceive some creative new hoops and hurdles while skimming something out of the pot for overhead, then hoping that their locality will do better than average in the lottery when it comes to doling out the dough, is better than never sending the money in the first place. Why?
Then it's time for Vennochi to accuse the Bush administration of racist indifference:
"The willingness to ignore the latest crime statistics might also be explained by its flesh-and-blood victims. Males, blacks, and persons age 24 or younger continued to be victimized at higher rates than females, whites, and persons age 25 or older."
Look at the bright side, Joan. Maybe Bush is just biased against . . . men.
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Finkelstein lives in the liberal haven of Ithaca, NY. View webcasts of Mark's award-winning TV show 'Right Angle' here. Contact Mark at mark@gunhill.net
