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This is about gangs.. or more specifically how to 'get rid' of them. Forests have been sacrificed to writings on this subject, however, that shouldnt stop us from trying to contribute. "Gangs" are hot right now, to be cynical, because of some high profile gang murders and Mayor V's budget , but that's cyclical. ( Not of course, to the families and friends of the dead) . Much has been made of late of the need to spend money on the programs that work, which would be a lot easier if we could figure out which programs work . Having said that, i'm thinking that the key to all this is basically two words... education and jobs. Again, not radical concepts. But in spending a long nite w/ some honest to goodness gang bangers... past and present, tough and not so tough, and hearing their stories, it was crystal clear to me that if we offered a way to see them thru school, and a guaranteed job with health benefits in exchange for saying good bye to their local clique... we'd be a long way down the road towards ridding ourselves of the gang violence that is bred by turf wars, the drug trade, and macho posturing. Father Greg Boyle has been proving this for years . and dont even start in about another whiny liberal in the media who wants to provide babysitting services for gang bangers...

Now this is of course way too simplistic. There is a small percentage of gang bangers who are hard core criminals and to them I say lock em up and throw away the key, and if they happen to have something worse happen to em along the way i will shed no tear, but they didn't get that way overnite.

So, how do we do this.. hmmmm let's see... money..? that's the key, as always... and we aint got enough, right ? Well, it's a question of priorities. The last LAPD budget in round numbers i believe is a billion dollars... The amount of money the city of LA spends on intervention and prevention is about 20 million.. you do the math..... and we aren't even talking about LA County yet.... So that's why community leaders and politicians who have the courage to be ''non P.C.'' say that much of the talk about fighting gangs is lip service cause we ain't putting the cash on the line to fund the programs that can make a difference...,and if someone like Janice Hahn proposes a 'parcel tax " to specifically fund anti gang programs, everyone criticizes her for wanted to raise taxes.... but she and many others have been to the funerals and also been to the intervention and prevention programs that make a difference.... so the basic concept is 'put up or shut up' and continue to live in violence and fear and tragedy and another generation or two of gang bangers lives are wasted when they should be able to say '' i want help'' and get it.

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