That’s right, he voted against the funding, rationalizing it as saving taxpayers’ money, despite the fact that programs like TAVIS have had quite a bit of success, bringing down Accordion City’s murder rate to an all time low over the past few years. I get the feeling that he’s going to approve even heftier spending, but this time on breaking skulls rather than prevention.
It’s just another case of “penny wise, pound foolish” disguised as fiscal conservatism, and it’s not that different from the sort of thing described in this earlier post.
3 replies on “Rob Ford on Gangs: Penny Wise and Pound Foolish”
Forgive an obvious joke, but pretty much everything Ford does is 300 pounds of pound-foolish fun.
http://www.ottawacitizen.com/opinion/op-ed/Understanding+culture/6948844/story.html
I am somewhat pessimistic that we will establish a program of independent academic research into the problems of guns, crime and social order in Canada. Without that knowledge, it is easier for politicians and pundits to pontificate. Mayors can be outraged and disgusted. Federal ministers can tub thump about the need for mandatory minimum sentences. It is business as usual for the crime fighters and business is booming. They are shooting in the dark.
I think “dumb and dumber” is more apt!
It’ll be interesting to see how Harper handles our
Mayor’s newfound enthusiasm for gun control as well!
Prevention programs are key, but two other things are important
too: first, you also have to drain away access to the weapons that
make these crimes possible; second, you have to remove any tacit
support for the people who settle their issues with public acts of
violence. That means giving up on the morally bankrupt “don’t snitch”
sub-culture and turning these creeps over to the police and the justice
system.
Like terrorists, criminals cannot exist without the tacit support or acquiescence
of some part of a community.
That community has some decisions to make.