The implementation of the rule of law can take some strange turns. A few years ago two biker gangs in Waco, Texas, got into a shootout that left nine people dead with 177 people arrested on various charges. You might think that somebody would be going to jail but not so, all charges have been dropped because, according to the authorities, any further effort to prosecute would be a “waste of time, effort and resources.” Maybe it's just a Texas thing but it seems screwy to me.
-----
Perhaps the next topic for the Institute could be how the other side of the city seemed to us when we were kids.
That's a meaty haunch to gnaw on, Uncle Ken; don't know where to start. I didn't have a good sense of the city or the area I grew up in. There was my neighborhood, there was "downtown," and finally there was everyplace else, broken down into vaguely ethnic or economically different neighborhoods. I was oblivious to a lot of things and living in a "white" area I didn't have to pay much attention to the realities of the non-white communities.
I liked the numbering system of the east/west streets on the south side; it made a lot of sense when you were determining distance. 55th Street was 5500 south, a little less than seven miles but how far north was Diversey, anyhow? If you didn't know you had to look it up or ask someone. Too many names, too little information, and none of it intuitive.
-----
I need some remedial classes in political awareness. None of the folks I voted for yesterday won; all three were soundly thrashed. Chicago is becoming more interesting politically as the Democratic Machine has lost its grip. Some of the new alderman are of a socialist persuasion but I don't know what to make of that fact; perhaps it will mean nothing. But if you would have told me, when Rahm decided not to run again, that the next mayor would be a gay black woman I would have said you were nuts.
No comments:
Post a Comment