School Uniforms

[The Duke]

Bandit: Crime didn't go down under Giuliani.
Jake: Uh, yeah it did.
Bandit: Prove it.
Dazzleman: Even if we present evidence, you'll just say its doctored.
Bandit: Prove it then.
Jake: Here are the numbers from independent government agencies.
Bandit: Those numbers are doctored!
Dazzleman: Sigh.
Jake: Sigh.

[dazzleman]

Bandit: Crime didn't go down under Giuliani.
Jake: Uh, yeah it did.
Bandit: Prove it.
Dazzleman: Even if we present evidence, you'll just say its doctored.
Bandit: Prove it then.
Jake: Here are the numbers from independent government agencies.
Bandit: Those numbers are doctored!
Dazzleman: Sigh.
Jake: Sigh.

Yes, that about sums it up.  You know the old saying, "Never get into a pissing match with a skunk."  When I see the reasoning ability of certain people with political views opposed to my own, such as bandit, it only confirms that their views are not to be taken seriously.

[Jake]

Bandit: Crime didn't go down under Giuliani.
Jake: Uh, yeah it did.
Bandit: Prove it.
Dazzleman: Even if we present evidence, you'll just say its doctored.
Bandit: Prove it then.
Jake: Here are the numbers from independent government agencies.
Bandit: Those numbers are doctored!
Dazzleman: Sigh.
Jake: Sigh.

Sadly, that's how it went.  Though Hughento also was involved.

[TexasPatriot2024]

I know that i hated the idea of uniforms when i first started school but i wore one for years. It makes everything run smoother, and supprisingly the students complained less about a regulated uniform than they did about previous dress codes that were broken every day.

[Platypus]

and a county that voted over 68% for Bush also produced me. What's the lesson?

Your opinions are based on negatives, not positives. You define your world in terms of what you don't like, rather than what you do like, and carry residual bitterness with you. That bitterness distorts your view of the world. The ironic thing is that in a negative way, you allow those you don't like to control the choices you make with your life, which could (and probably has) lead you to make choices that are bad for you.

You need to start liking the positives more than you hate the negatives.

This is one of the things that really, really pisses me off about the left-it's so defeatist and 'anti'.

In the western world today, the right shows the initiative, and the left reacts. It reacts almost universally against the right, just because.

The mindset seems to be that the CONSERVATIVE side of politics is actually more proactive, whilst the PROGRESSIVE side is reactive!

I'm proud to subscribe to ideas that can best be described as socially liberal. I believe in a fair world, I believe in progression, and I believe, perhaps naivelyin humanity. My political philosophy, perhaps naively I'll admit, says that all situations start neutral and we can improve thm or make them worse. the left seems to think, especially when the right is in power, that everything starts negative and they have to work to et it back to neutral. All they're doing is keeping it there, not making any movement.



I know that was rambling, and I dout it makes much sense (it;s late) but I wanted to get it off my chest.

[Nym90]

One thing to remember about crime during the 1990's is that it went down across the entire country, not just in New York City. So by that logic, Clinton deserves credit for the national drop in crime, as well, which conservatives are loathe to do.

A good economy is the best weapon against crime. Poverty is the leading overall cause of crime. It certainly is far from the only cause, but it's the leading one.

Did crime in NYC actually drop at a faster rate than the national average? Everything needs to be kept in context. Giuliani did have the good fortune to come into office just as the national economy was starting to improve.

[dazzleman]

One thing to remember about crime during the 1990's is that it went down across the entire country, not just in New York City. So by that logic, Clinton deserves credit for the national drop in crime, as well, which conservatives are loathe to do.

A good economy is the best weapon against crime. Poverty is the leading overall cause of crime. It certainly is far from the only cause, but it's the leading one.

Did crime in NYC actually drop at a faster rate than the national average? Everything needs to be kept in context. Giuliani did have the good fortune to come into office just as the national economy was starting to improve.

Crime in NY dropped at a much quicker rate than the national average.

I don't agree that poverty is a leading cause of crime.  Crime skyrocketed during the country's economic boom in the 1960s.  Crime results from an attitude of entitlement to what you haven't earned, among other things, which incidentally is is one of the same attitudes that leads to poverty.  I view poverty as the brother/sister of crime, not the parent.

I also don't agree that Clinton deserves a great deal of positive credit for the national drop in crime, though he deserves some.  To the extent that he agreed to Republican anti-crime initiatives, he deserves credit, but crime is primarily a state and local issue.

In Connecticut and New York, newly elected Republican governors in the mid-1990s pushed through tougher mandatory sentencing of criminals as well as parole reform, against fierce Democratic opposition, and these had a big impact on crime.  Local initiatives like this had a lot more to do with crime reduction than anything Clinton did or didn't do, in my opinion.

[Nym90]

One thing to remember about crime during the 1990's is that it went down across the entire country, not just in New York City. So by that logic, Clinton deserves credit for the national drop in crime, as well, which conservatives are loathe to do.

A good economy is the best weapon against crime. Poverty is the leading overall cause of crime. It certainly is far from the only cause, but it's the leading one.

Did crime in NYC actually drop at a faster rate than the national average? Everything needs to be kept in context. Giuliani did have the good fortune to come into office just as the national economy was starting to improve.

Crime in NY dropped at a much quicker rate than the national average.

I don't agree that poverty is a leading cause of crime. Crime skyrocketed during the country's economic boom in the 1960s. Crime results from an attitude of entitlement to what you haven't earned, among other things, which incidentally is is one of the same attitudes that leads to poverty. I view poverty as the brother/sister of crime, not the parent.

I also don't agree that Clinton deserves a great deal of positive credit for the national drop in crime, though he deserves some. To the extent that he agreed to Republican anti-crime initiatives, he deserves credit, but crime is primarily a state and local issue.

In Connecticut and New York, newly elected Republican governors in the mid-1990s pushed through tougher mandatory sentencing of criminals as well as parole reform, against fierce Democratic opposition, and these had a big impact on crime. Local initiatives like this had a lot more to do with crime reduction than anything Clinton did or didn't do, in my opinion.

Good points. I didn't realize it was faster than the national average, though obviously New York had more room for improvement than the nation as a whole as well. Giuliani certainly does deserve some credit then, however.

The anti-crime bill of 1994 did expand the death penalty and put 100,000 new police on the streets, and was passed by a Democratic Congress over strenuous Republican opposition. Of course, the GOP opposition was due to the assault weapons ban, and yes, the Congressional Black Caucus opposed it due to the death penalty expansions (I wasn't crazy about those either, but it was worth it to get the rest of the bill, which was very good).

Of course, the gun control portions made the NRA oppose the bill (so much for them wanting to reduce crime...even if they didn't like the assault weapons ban, it seems pretty lame to suggest that the bill wasn't, overall, a good one, and did help reduce crime).

[Bandit3 the Worker]

The 1994 crime bill was truly bad.

It had more death penalty and more gun control, both of which I opposed.

I wouldn't shed a tear if it was repealed.