tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8597101.post4524687508748924673..comments2024-03-25T20:06:39.794-05:00Comments on Grits for Breakfast: Bring a Nickel: Max enforcement alone won't stymie open-air drug marketsGritsforbreakfasthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10152152869466958902noreply@blogger.comBlogger19125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8597101.post-55140655055491102712012-07-27T17:20:24.482-05:002012-07-27T17:20:24.482-05:00Would kids who live with parents slinging dope be ...Would kids who live with parents slinging dope be less likely to sling dope? The enhanced prosecution program targets those who have a long list of felony charges on their rap sheet - how is it OK to spit them back out on the streets with a slap on the wrist? Whatever your answer, tell that to Nick Jarmon who was shot in the head slinging dope at 13th and Chicon - and tell that to his kids. If there is no serious consequence for dealing crack, people will think it's OK and continue to do it along with all the peripheral damage it causes. And their kids will likely follow in their footsteps. Instead, punish the dealer, work with the kids, and work on the underlying problems. But don't turn a blind eye or put on the kid gloves.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8597101.post-46999207691596392422012-07-17T20:41:13.422-05:002012-07-17T20:41:13.422-05:00WIKI
"Down on the Corner" is a song by t...WIKI<br />"Down on the Corner" is a song by the American band Creedence Clearwater Revival. It appeared on their fourth studio album, Willy and the Poor Boys (1969). The song chronicles the tale of the fictional band Willy and the Poor Boys, and how they play on street corners to cheer people up and ask for nickels.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8597101.post-38345682271884732912012-07-14T19:15:35.312-05:002012-07-14T19:15:35.312-05:00You're saying that Mexicans get the jobs and B...You're saying that Mexicans get the jobs and Blacks get to watch NBA on TV so this is all OK?Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8597101.post-90999040284469632252012-07-13T13:13:51.957-05:002012-07-13T13:13:51.957-05:00Grits' 10:54s and my point wasn't complain...Grits' 10:54s and my point wasn't complaining about Hispanics having the construction jobs. It was about non Hispanics being excluded from those jobs by not being able to speak FOREIGN language.RASnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8597101.post-30394837915261390622012-07-13T10:24:00.951-05:002012-07-13T10:24:00.951-05:00If one does not want to get the stigma of being co...If one does not want to get the stigma of being convicted felon then one should not engage in felonious behavior. Especially in public place such as 12th and Chicon.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8597101.post-72762131489569465332012-07-13T08:54:47.382-05:002012-07-13T08:54:47.382-05:00In the happy news department, TDCJ does have a pro...In the happy news department, TDCJ does have a program for the children of prisoners: http://www.tdcj.state.tx.us/gokids/index.html started by former board chair, Christina Melton Crain whose day job is representing children in court. I don't know how well-funded, wide spread, or effective it is these days. But I do know we need more of it.Susan Haysnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8597101.post-60458677250755267772012-07-13T07:44:15.481-05:002012-07-13T07:44:15.481-05:00Bunny Colvin, call your office, please.Bunny Colvin, call your office, please.Dwight Brownhttp://www.sportsfirings.comnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8597101.post-79731695598819289222012-07-13T07:35:55.227-05:002012-07-13T07:35:55.227-05:00Thanks for the source Grits. I concur with Robert...Thanks for the source Grits. I concur with Robert Langham, "if the families don't get fixed, ain't nothing going to get fixed."Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8597101.post-59107324971265949282012-07-13T07:19:49.281-05:002012-07-13T07:19:49.281-05:00Oh, and 5:56, I had to look the stat up, but "...Oh, and 5:56, I had to look the stat up, but "Among parents in federal prisons in 2004, half (48%) had lived with their children in the month prior to their arrest," says <a href="http://www.sentencingproject.org/doc/publications/publications/inc_incarceratedparents.pdf" rel="nofollow">this source</a> (pdf). I can tell you from personal experience, though, even if the parent isn't living with them, however, that relationship is far more important than most people (certainly me, before I learned better) give it credit for.<br /><br />Also, fwiw, "In 2007, there were 1,706,600 minor children with an incarcerated parent, an 82.2% increase over the 936,500 children in 1991. In 2007, one in 43 (2.3%) American children had a parent incarcerated in a state or federal prison. Approximately half of children with incarcerated parents are under ten years old; 22% of children of state inmates and 16% of children of federal inmates are under five years old."Gritsforbreakfasthttps://www.blogger.com/profile/10152152869466958902noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8597101.post-91281428772472838482012-07-13T07:19:41.799-05:002012-07-13T07:19:41.799-05:009:32, if the same person began buying drugs from a...9:32, if the same person began buying drugs from a dealer selling indoors from their home, would the effects on the user, their life or society be any less damaging? The focus on open-air markets is about appearances - they're (rightly) repulsed the blatancy of it.<br /><br />Let's be clear: In targeting open-air markets, police aren't really aiming to reduce the AMOUNT of drug supply/demand but to push the trade indoors and out of sight, a method aimed at altering public perception but not the reality of drug crime. Overall drug demand/supply is unaffected by the tactic. It's a phantom mostly unconnected to the realities of the drug trade or for that matter public safety, for good or ill. But it's let them say they "cleaned up the streets," etc..<br /><br />10:54, would you personally have the woodworking and construction skills, etc., to renovate the McDs if they were to hire you on? I wouldn't. And not many TDCJ alums reentering the workforce have those skills either (plus the Lege cut the budget for vocational training in prison). It's true that in Texas Latino immigrants, particularly Mexican migrants, illegal and otherwise, dominate the construction trades, in much the same way and for many of the same reasons the Irish are disproportionately represented among American police, particularly on the eastern seaboard (and to a lesser extent in Texas).<br /><br />I don't see anyone raising the same complaint about the disproportionate number of WASPs in investment banking, the disproportionate number of Indians and Asians in engineering and medicine, etc.. Hell, seemingly every US motel I stay in anymore is run by someone of Indian descent named "Patel." Immigrants from different ethnic backgrounds migrate to job specialties because of a combination of the availability of work at the historical moment they arrive, the skills they bring with them, and access to employment through personal connections. That's what's happened in the construction trades and it's as natural (and to me, welcome) as the sunrise. Twas ever thus.<br /><br />This is off topic, but screw it it's my blog: I don't know if you've ever traveled in interior Mexico much (if you decide, to, email me privately and I'll gladly suggest destinations), but high-level construction skills are much more common there. E.g., the pier and beam house I live in in Austin was built in 1923 from a kit somebody purchased from Sears and Roebuck out of a catalog and built for themselves (in the Clarksville neighborhood, before I-35 was constructed and the house was physically moved on a trailer to East Austin). I probably couldn't build a complete, functioning house from a kit if you put a gun to my head, but in interior Mexico that's still quite common. I've actually priced having a house constructed in one of my favorite Mexican towns, and a) inevitably somebody first wanted to sell me a kit, and b) I was assured that it was easy and cheap to pay someone to assemble if I couldn't (and in fact "here's my cousin's phone number, should I call him now?," etc.). I began paying attention to various shopkeepers building their own facilities, homeowners adding wings to to their houses themselves, bricklayers on seemingly average buildings who laid intricate patterns around round windows and outer facades. Our last 2-3 trips, I've made it a point to ask folks at several notable, small construction job if they owned the building or were a hired crew: About half or more were owners or their kin. And it began to dawn on me that there may be more reasons than I understood why Mexicans dominate construction trades than just that they're taking jobs from Americans, any more than black men are taking jobs from white Americans because they're disproportionately employed in the NBA.Gritsforbreakfasthttps://www.blogger.com/profile/10152152869466958902noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8597101.post-4199194743154141072012-07-12T21:32:57.590-05:002012-07-12T21:32:57.590-05:00If somebody starts buying drugs at 12th and Chicon...If somebody starts buying drugs at 12th and Chicon, what effect would this have on their life? If they became hooked, how much damage would it do to them and their family and their children? Ten years from now (or even thirty years) would they still be suffering from this decision? How much would addiction cost them (just in dollars) over the course of their life? All this goes on in plain sight on 12th and Chicon and people keep quite about it?Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8597101.post-73654739250987646532012-07-12T19:01:46.765-05:002012-07-12T19:01:46.765-05:00If the families don't get fixed, ain't not...If the families don't get fixed, ain't nothing going to get fixed.Robert Langhamhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/16497658569363397644noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8597101.post-79943017685893538422012-07-12T17:56:06.616-05:002012-07-12T17:56:06.616-05:00"About half of the 158,000 Texas prison inmat..."About half of the 158,000 Texas prison inmates have minor-age children".........again I ask if there is any data available to indicate how many of these incarcerated were actually living with their children at the time of their criminal activity? How many of these incarcerated were gainfully employed at the time of their criminal activity? How many of these incarcerated were high school dropouts? What other dynamics might we think of?Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8597101.post-8194578857277905982012-07-12T17:45:24.212-05:002012-07-12T17:45:24.212-05:00"is a lack of focused effort to provide guida..."is a lack of focused effort to provide guidance and opportunities to children of incarcerated parents,"...........is there any data available that tells the number of children who were actually living in the home with both parents, one parent or a parent at all while said parent(s) were out doping?Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8597101.post-6646849568329258992012-07-12T16:03:45.512-05:002012-07-12T16:03:45.512-05:00If you don't speak the language, you are SOOL....If you don't speak the language, you are SOOL. Try being the only one who speaks English. It's the new dead language these days.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8597101.post-31404799826459130472012-07-12T14:33:34.270-05:002012-07-12T14:33:34.270-05:00The ones that would take a legal job just need to ...The ones that would take a legal job just need to move west of Abilene the oil fields are begging for workers. 10:54 The problem you mention occurs in the oilfields as well and is increasing as more Hispanics achieve supervisory postions the more it is tolerated.RASnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8597101.post-71873264731737952412012-07-12T12:00:14.749-05:002012-07-12T12:00:14.749-05:00Your assumption that the Spanish speaking workers ...Your assumption that the Spanish speaking workers were in the country illegally may or may not be true.ckikerintuliahttps://www.blogger.com/profile/02670661043872744115noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8597101.post-36342582970774654482012-07-12T10:54:17.142-05:002012-07-12T10:54:17.142-05:00A Story
Don’t get me wrong—I don’t often eat what ...A Story<br />Don’t get me wrong—I don’t often eat what they serve at McDonald’s, but I do like their coffee. Since I found myself in the neighborhood and since I drink more than one cup a day, I often was inside one particular McDonald’s place. Last year, the owners decided to renovate the place. To complete this restoration work (which took about three months), they employed a crew of about 8-9 workers. <br />I realize that jobs are hard to come by for lots of African-Americans. Times are hard. I have also observed that I see very few Blacks on construction sites. At this particular job site, I noticed that Spanish was the only language spoken and that every one of these construction workers seemed to speak this as their first language. There were no Blacks gainfully employed there. If a Black person had been hired, how could he have communicated with the other workers? By the way, I suspect that those workers were in the country illegally. I didn’t ask them, of course. The point is, I suspect that what I observed at this job site prevails all across the country at hundreds of thousands of work locations. African-Americans are squeezed out of employment. The message is: don’t bother to apply, these jobs are reserved for Spanish speakers. This keeps millions of men unemployed. Why? Because they are in the country legally and because they speak English. How many people turn to drug selling and other crime because of not having a job?Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8597101.post-31474344025046990922012-07-12T09:53:38.035-05:002012-07-12T09:53:38.035-05:00Very good and informative post; I hope I can use t...Very good and informative post; I hope I can use the info in my own community. In the smallish community where I live, the tried-and-failed "tuff on crime" sentiment still reigns supreme. It makes life easy for the police, gives them great statistics by just recycling the same offenders over and over, but obviously never any net improvement.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.com