Friday, August 12, 2005

A fool's analysis

Our 2nd Amendment watchdogs, the Red Star, put this article smack dab in the middle of the front page, above the fold: "Innocents under the gun". The article reviews recent shootings in Minneapolis in which children have been hit by bullets and shrapnel from our local gangbanger marksmen.

When the Red Star needs a quote for the story, do they go to Joe Lunchbox on the streets downtown? No, when speculating about the root cause of the increase in injuries to innocents, the Red Star goes to the local gadfly, the man with no visible means of support, Ron Edwards. Mr. Edwards, who has obviously studied the issue, racks his brain for a cogent answer. Here's what he comes up with as the reason for the mayhem:

It could come from economic pressure, said activist Ron Edwards. If somebody doesn't have a job or is making minimum wage and has to decide if they can afford to pay the rent or buy food, it becomes a 24-hour stress factor with no time for relaxation, he said. Throw in the recent rise in gasoline prices, which affects all classes and races, he said.
Stop the presses! Gas prices now correlate with violent crime. That's great, Mr. Edwards. You are the genius of all time. We're so lucky to have you on hand when some serious brainpower is needed to analyze a societal problem such as this. That's much better than Rambix' answer would have been, which is that stupid punk-ass gang scum have chosen a life of crime when every imaginable opportunity known to man is available for them, courtesy of liberals.

But then, that's why people like Mr. Edwards are so much smarter than Rambix.