From: wag5@quads.uchicago.edu (john peter wagner)
Subject: Re: Take Note: Victory for Bush on another front......
Reply-To: wag5@midway.uchicago.edu
Organization: University of Chicago Computing Organizations
Date: Wed, 26 Aug 1992 23:11:17 GMT

In article <1992Aug26.205840.29270@mdd.comm.mot.com> gix@mdd.comm.mot.com (Brian Gix) writes:
>In article <01GO1DD99UCYBG1K7T@UMAECS> VIGNESWA@ecs.umass.edu writes:
>>	Gang Violence was one of the serious problems in LA.  President Bush,
>>as promised, eradicated  gangs from LA area.  Members  of various gangs take
>>part in picnics and baseball games together. They no longer kill people, but 
>>are in community service.  This is a great victory for President Bush in the
>>decades long war against gangs.  Street War has been won by Republican White
>>House.  People can walk in the streets without any fear of a cross fire.  Mr
>>George Bush, the great President of USA after Ronald Reagan  made LA a safer
>>place to live.  Of course, there are few (gang looking) groups around.  They
>>have "favorite group" status anyway.....
>
>Is this a serious post?  Do you honestly think that this is what happened?  The
>present truce between LA street gangs is in response to police brutality, and
>poverty.... So yes I suppose George Bush and Ronald Reagan are responsible.

	Street Gang members actually have somewhat more money and
resources than their welfare recipient neighbors, thanks to the drug
trade.  Just come and visit me in Chicago, watch as the nineteen year
olds drive around in the black mercedes with the gold hub caps and trim.
	Come and visit the grave of the cop who overstepped his bounds,
being an overachiever, and got plugged the next day.
>
>Members of the 3 major LA projects got together to ask the question of why they
>are fighting each other, when it is the police & state who are their major
>problem.  They came to the obvious conclusion that fighting & destroying
>each others neighborhoods was counter-productive.

	If anything, the cities protect the gangs.  It is illegal,
a misdemeanor, to carry any form of weapon(mace,gun,knife w/blade>3")
in the city of Chicago.  The police and some detectives only may carry.
It is the same for both concealed and plainly visible weapons.  Thus,
terror groups, who are not threatened by the misdemeanor, freely carry
while the innocent civilian who is concerned about his record is
the victim.  Gang members also give their guns to minors to carry
for them so that if they are caught the minor takes the blame and 
gets a greatly reduced system.  When asked what students should carry
in defense, a police officer held up a whistle.
	The gangs hve a monopoly, a serious niche in the market which is
protected by law.  Their market is comprised of drug addicts who
get their money through welfare or from theft, prostitution, etc.
Because the police and the city have grouped the poor into large
projects together, kingdoms reminiscent of the middle ages are formed,
where in certain domains certain gangs hold sway. Women, girls become
'G-queens' for the fancy of the gang members.
	The gangs have nothing against the police, the city government.
It is the people who look for a life that doesn't live on fear and
Death that hate the city government and the police.
	The honest citizens hate the police because they no longer have the
ability to solve their own problems, to defend themselves; the police
are basically corrupt, slow and ineffective-they don't do the job
of justice.  The gangs love them; the people hate them.
	In Chicago, if you are mugged, as I was, you will probably find
that after calling the police it will take at least twenty minutes to
get a cop.  It will be an act of God if the mugger is actually caught,
and when criminals are caught it makes a story in the school newspaper.
This contrasts the page long list of crimes(rape, robbery,burglary, etc.)
that happen in Hyde Park and are printed in each edition of the paper.
	Assuming you have been hurt, in the mugging, as I was, you will
eventually be taken to an emergency room. Once in there, you will wait
on the order of six hours to see a nurse, unless you are bleeding to
death.  So, you wait in line for six hours, behind a room full of people
with the flu, some weird cough, old age, a case of indigestion, etc,
people who the hospital is going to have to pay for(Univ. of Chicago
Emergency Room).  You will be briefly and incompetently attended by
a nurse, discharged, and your insurance premiums will go up.
	The University of Chicago Hospital is, shall I say, well funded;
but when every Tom Dick and Harry drops in for his cold, his congestion,
or his gang-fight related wound, even the best resources become strained.
If we 'socialize medicine', or whatever our magical financial transformation
is, I think we will see a similar dearth of quality, and there will be
rampant abuse of the system.  The Democrats will either 1)increase
funding, or 2)Place restrictions, 'closing loopholes' as someone
once said.  Thus, we will have people standing at the door saying
'Hmm. You are not sick enough to be here. Get lost." A decision only
makeable by a qualified physician or nurse.  The point is, this
whole protectionist medicine racket is for the birds.
>They still make their money through "crime", and are still unfriendly towards
>authority.
>
>Reagan & Bush policies simply crystalized for them who their real enemy is.
>
>>
>>Vicky:
>>Aug 26, UMass
>
>
>--Brian Gix

				J. Wagner
Newsgroups: alt.politics.clinton