News-Record.com

Great letter!

Good lte, Mr. Hudson.
An aquaintance of mine is a postal employee who has a mail route that requires him to walk his route. (he delivers mail to appartments,etc.) Some of the tales he can tell you about the first of the month delivery! People in the gubbermint housing rake him over the coals and give him a good piece of their mind when those welfare checks are a day or two late...but the place abounds with those small satelite dishes. Pitiful.

Thank you, FDR and Lyndon Johnson.

Points to Ponder, both in the Counterpoint and comments posted....or do we consider the sources of these points?

Shalom

Darryl,
I'm sure one of the posters above would make Michael Richards' rant look benign, if he were allowed to use the language he uses with his "Postal buddy". His mindless tirades need only a white sheet and a hood to augment them.

Well I don't really disagree with the letter .. but I'd sure like less whine and more solution.

Drop Welfare - no problem .. but let's have something to occupy the minds and bodies of the Dantes.

Education - year round? Works for me, I tout it all the time.

Meaningful Jobs? Works for me, I tout it all the time.

Gun control? I want every house to have an Uzi .. I'm serious: an Uzi from required military service in the Militia called for in our Constitution - same as the Swedish Home Guard. Alternatives could included a medical bag (with proper training) or communications gear, or some other militia-appropriate logistical and support equipment - .. but the 50 cal's need to be keep in formal barricades.

== btw: http://web.eku.edu/flash/inferno/

I suppose ...I'll bet that...I'm sure that...And, I'll be willing to bet that... I wonder if ..Probably not...

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Straw_man

That's the ticket, Sweet Pea...consider the source, ignore the facts.

"I'm sure that"...
Good point on the world traveler, Denzein.

"year round education"?

How's that going to help someone who won't stay in school for 9 months?

"Meaningful jobs"?

You found a way to force someone to work one of those meaningful jobs? Heck, alot of us work meaningless jobs (in the big picture) but still manage to show up to work 40 plus hours a week.

The original Philadelphia heading for Bowden's column was: "The Point | A lethal twist to teenage boys' reckless pride."
The key paragraph states clearly:
"Another Dante conjured up one stunning vision of hell, but there is another real one burning in fierce pockets around this city. African Americans here are three times more likely to be murdered than the countrywide average. Most of the victims are young men. There were 317 gun-related homicides here last year, compared with 233 four years ago, despite world-class emergency medical care that every year pulls more and more back from the grave. The trend reflects an out-of-control urban underclass, an abandoned and shockingly vicious subculture that is one of the biggest ongoing stories in this city and country."

I guess this isn't clear enough for Mr Hudson. Some people don't seem to be able to read very well, or they don't want to understand the English language. BTW, Bowden wrote "Blackhawk Down."

I wonder where Mr Hudson and Cap'n Huff'n'Puff were when black men were being beaten and having their homes bombed and burned for seeking to get decent housing and equal pay for the work white men were getting paid more than twice as much to do. I wonder how they reacted when blacks in NC and throughout the South marched and sat in to get the same civil rights and jobs white folks enjoyed.
Were they standing shoulder to shoulder with our black citizens, or were they among the hate-filled faces spitting and shouting obscenities and sneaking in the random blow when they thought no one else was looking? Would they have joined the Freedom Riders, or the mobs of ignorant rioters who assaulted them and burned the buses? Did they support law-abiding citizens who were exercising their right to peaceably assemble and petition their government for a redress of grievances, or did they cheer on the terrorist thugs in police uniforms who used truncheons and dogs and horses to deprive citizens of their rights. Maybe they just sat at home and did nothing.

AFDC and Food Stamps have kept millions of children fed and clothed, and made available parenting classes and educational opportunities. Born children seem to concern some people not at all.
For each black "welfare queen," there've been two white ones. If the program failed, which I find to be a foolish judgment, it would be because we spent only enough to make ourselves feel good about ignoring the bigger problems, not because we actually spent enough to solve anything. We’ve always had enough money to mind other peoples' business and wage moronic wars, but never enough to address problems properly here at home.
Dante Freeman's world exists because his people, our fellow citizens, were ghettoized from the early 1900s through the mid 1960s through mob violence, corrupt local governments and police forces, and discriminatory lending institutions. Most of this never made the headlines, which were then dominated by conservative and reactionary forces.
Now we call it reform when we require mothers to work rather than caring for their children, and we blame men who still face hiring and job discrimination for not supporting their families. This doesn’t excuse mothers and fathers who shirk their parental obligations, but it does explain why some give up trying and others look for an easier way out. What excuses do runaway white fathers, negligent white mothers, and trailer-park meth factory parents use?
It's very convenient for some white Americans to ignore what the black middle and entrepreneurial classes have accomplished once they were free to be complete citizens - and how many people join those classes each year through the improved educational opportunities they now have.
I know what I saw in the 50s, 60s, and 70s, I know what I have read about events before that, and it disgusts me even today to be associated by color with those whose animalistic nature caused them to presumed a cultural and intellectual superiority they were incapable of displaying, who couldn’t treat other human beings with the kindness and understanding they heard about every Sunday.
Guess I'm just an old bleeding heart liberal, but at least I have a heart and a brain to guide it.

I'm not sure of the solution, Chris .. but welfare as we knew it wasn't getting it done.

Dear 2fer,
I just disagreed with you on the cat issue, but I must tell you, your response here was magnificent. Eloquent, well thought out, bang on.
Content aside, do you write for a living? Perhaps you should.
Tracy

Tracy - Neo is positive 2fer is Wrong for a living; maybe even wrong for living.

So Cap'n Planet, if one never marched from Selma to Montgomery or joined hands with MLK, they must have been one of those hooded beasts who fire bombed black churches, huh? Typical bleeding heart liberal hogwash you guys use to justify the welfare state and tell yourselves you are doing good and can sleep at night by supporting it.

"Dante's world" exists because 'Dante' and others like him made the personal decision to join a gang of street thugs and see which gang was the 'baddest'. He lost this particular round.

There are countless 'Dantes' out there because their mothers made the decision to invite people into their beds and make babies without first considering the consequences of their actions, not because of past atrocities committed against them. They exist because the welfare check has replaced the father figure in their lives.

"My grandpappy's house was bombed, so I think I'll go make a few illegitimate babies I know I can't support"... right. This makes sense only in your world, bub.

"Guess I'm just an old bleeding heart liberal"... Guess you are...and an enabler.

Got to hand it to neocon. He NEVER lets facts get in the way of his posts.

White guilt defined:

"I know what I saw in the 50s, 60s, and 70s, I know what I have read about events before that, and it disgusts me even today to be associated by color with those whose animalistic nature caused them to presumed a cultural and intellectual superiority they were incapable of displaying"

If you were black, they'd call you Bill Cosby.

BTW, Did you march from Selma to Montgomery?

Notice who brought race into the topic. White, guilt ridden liberals who view everything through the lens of white vs. black. Makes no difference to me what color Dante was. In fact I never read the original article and had no clue what color he was....until it was pointed out by the ones who have appointed themselves caretakers of the black community because they apparently believe them incapable of caring for themselves.

World traveler, why don't you clue me in on what "facts" I have never let get in my way instead of parroting the last liberal who posted. You have become a non-factor, not really worthy of a response anymore.
Cue here for a volley of liberal hate speech informing me that I am the unworthy one...too predictable to be funny anymore.

hi - i was good friend of dante and decided that i should try to clear a few things up for you. Dante was a very nice and giving person who did any and everything to put a smile on my face. although the last year or so of his life was full of pain and heartache he never declined to give a helping hand- sure he was ruff around the edges and made some mistakes in his life that unfortunately cost him his life but he meant EVERYTHING to me. I never got a chance to say goodbye to him or attend his funeral and it eats me up everyday. to be honest with you today is his birthday and the only thing i could do was google his name and it saddens my heart to find THIS. i don't mean to drag on and make this a memorial but i want it noted that he was not an "perfect example of what you can buy for $3 trillion dollars." he was an example of someone who made mistakes that he could never live down.he was an example of a friend who walked on the wild side and could never get to the right one. Dante always used to tell me that he wanted to die- that he was tired of being shot and tired of running. Right before he was killed I asked him did he still want to die and he told me NO. If i could pay 3 trillion dollars to bring him back....I WOULD!