Airbag

Police officers in Colorado Springs have found the root of all crime, at least at home: music. The New York Times reported today that police officers in Colorado attribute rising gang violence to the growing hiphop and rap scene:

“We don’t want to broad-brush hip-hop music altogether,” said Lt. Skip Arms, a police spokesman, “but we’re looking at a subcomponent that typically glorifies, promotes criminal behavior and demeans women.”

Ok, first off, Skip Arms? Is that your name? Seriously? Secondly, Skip, based on your data, you might want to watch out for anyone listening to The Velvet Underground (the potential perpetrators/listeners are probably of your generation). Consider Heroin from the former rock sensation:

I don't know just where I'm going
But I'm gonna try for the kingdom, if I can
cause it makes me feel like I'm a man
When I put a spike into my vein
And Ill tell ya, things aren't quite the same
When I'm rushing on my run
And I feel just like jesus son
And I guess that I just dont know

Clearly, that's a totally different situation though, right? They're only singing about putting a highly addictive and mind altering substance into the bloodstream. That's totally legal... And after listening to the VU, there surely wasn't anyone curious about heroin.
Skip's colleague had this to say:

“When you have music that says it’s basically O.K. to treat women poorly, to steal things and to confront and shoot police officers,” said Lt. Harris, “you’ll attract a small percentage of the population that wants to lead the thug life.”

Right on Harris! You've got it. The key word is small. As in, if Colorado Spingers were listening to opera and the lyrics involved throwing massive amounts of tea into the bay, the idea would cross a fractional number of listeners' mind. Whether they acted on it or not is up to them, not the music. The point here is that there's always been edgy music exploring taboo subjects, it doesn't make people want to kill or whatever. In fact, it's probably better than just suppressing the ideas until there's some kind of eruptive meltdown and all hell -which until then had been retained- bursts out causing chaos. But you're probably right. So go ahead, blare the siren when Tupac is on the radio, Alex and his droogs must definitely be on the street. It's all in a day's work for Colorado's finest.

The Path That Suits You Best

And another one bites the dust as the saying goes. Yesterday Attorney General Alberto "I do not recall" Gonzales announced his resignation! Yipee! No longer are the news networks plagued with awkward pauses before Gonzales mumbles "I do not recollect" -you'd think that an Attorney General could muster a better b.s. defense than a bad memory, but oh well. Gonzales's signature scandal (because everyone in the White House has their own skeleton out of the closet) was perjuring himself about firing a number of White House attorneys that refused to do neoconservative anti-democrat dirty work. But wait! There's more! According to The New York Times, "He was also accused of misleading Congress about his role, in his earlier job as White House counsel, in promoting a government eavesdropping program."

Basically, another power hungry lieutenant of Bush's is so deep in political scandal that he's weighing our Commander-in-Chief down. The Times also reported that Gonzales offered his resignation of his own accord after he and his wife concluded that Gonzales' credibility could never fully be restored; aww gee, you think? But seriously it's past time to realize that so Gonzales probably would have hung in there if he had the choice. But he didn't. Apparently, Deputy Chief of Staff Karl Rove acted as some kind of protector or buffer keeping Gonzales in Bush's court. That's far more believable. So with the Rover gone and Democrats and Republicans practically waving torches and pitchforks for Gonzales to get out of town, it's no surprise that he's leaving. Gonzales had a teary eyed press conference where he thanked Bush for helping him along the way by hiring him at every job he ever had -not exactly something to flaunt, especially when you're going to be unemployed but okay. The conference seems to come standard with every unofficial firing of a high ranking official in the Bush Administration.

Now that Rumsfeld, Rove, and Gonzales are gone there are less cowboys on the mountain that could damage Bush's image...more. That probably won't last though. A possible permanent successor to Gonzales is Larry D. Thompson, an ex-deputy Attorney General and VIP at Pepsi Co. and oh yeah, he's black which makes him especially appealing to the job, according to White House officials. Since when did the Attorney General position become a position to appeal to the minorities that the White House has shunned? Well, whoever gets the job, let's hope he's credible and interested in law rather than power.