8.13.2007

The Baltimore Hating Continues at Red Maryland

The new hater over at backwoods Maryland is yet another concerned citizen, Chet Dembeck. He is terribly upset that "gentrified" areas of Baltimore, like (get this) Locust Point and Hampden will be "hurt" by the election of Mayor Dixon.

First, Hampden is GENTRIFIED? Ok then, I suppose I will continue, though I once again doubt whether this critic of Baltimore has actually entered the city.

Of course there is the not so subtle endorsement of Keiffer Mitchell because he has uttered the words "zero tolerance." Crime policy that leads to the illegal arrest of thousands of (black) citizens is like candy to GOP'ers. Despite the policy barely affecting murder stats in the city, and the faced with a police department that is known for fudging numbers, I have less faith in zero tolerance than our unknown critic, Last Reporter. It might also be good to point out, that despite his support of zero-tolerance policing and the civil rights violations it causes, Last Reporter DESPISES it's Maryland architect, Martin O'Malley, as well as his surveillance plans. Seems to me that citywide surveillance is all part of the police state Last Reporter so gleefully advocates.

Really though, how can you tear down the idea of "strong government" in on paragraph and advocate authoritarian police strategies in the next? I would posit that it is because Last Reporter cares nothing about Baltimore City beyond making political points about Democratic policy in general.

Finally, as my previous post shows, there is absolutely nothing that will stop the violence caused by drug prohibition besides legalization in some form. The people who advocate zero tolerance policing are the farthest from affecting any real change in Baltimore. They are much more concerned about protecting "gentrified" (white) Baltimore, than actually saving the whole city.

4 comments:

Anonymous said...

Reforming drug policy and zero tolerance are not mutually exclusive. Both are tools and processes that can be used to reduce crime.

Reduce crime throughout the city and quality of life for all citizens improves not just "Gentried Baltimore" (Plenty of balck citizens would like to be considerd gentrified as well.)

I would argue that crime hurts the poorer citizens of our city more then other groups. Their lives are a constant turmoil from high crime rates in their neighborhoods. A reduction of crime would improve the lives of this group the most.

Paint a picture for yourself - a street in the heart of West Baltimore where there is no crime. What would it look like? Neighbors out in the streets, kids on bikes, families taking walks, businesses bustling, growth, not decay. Normal for most of us but another world for some.

Anonymous said...

You know, I have visited the Last Reporter's blog recently and find his not so subtle promotion of Keiffer, $40,000 missing and counting, Mitchell pretty nauseating, and plain ridiculous. It's not possible to dislike Martin Big Brother O'Malley and Shady Sheila Dixon, but to support keiffer. After all for the past 8 years, until noe, he's supported every wrong and bad policy that they have. I'm frankly more afraid of keiffer than Sheila because he's so busy sucking up to the FOP that there's no telling what level of police state he would impose to appease them. Thumbs down on doofus.

Unknown said...

I'm not sure this kind of rank hypocrisy should surprise you. It's the same people who think Government can't be trusted to administer basic health care, who want to entrust them with complete Orwellian authority in every other realm of our lives.

Anonymous said...

Hey, thanks for reading my post.

God bless,

Last Reporter