First lady's anti-gang mission marks first year

[sabra]

http://www.wfaa.com/sharedcontent/dws/news/nation/stories/013006dnnatnugangs.7ea546b.html

First lady's anti-gang mission marks first year
Some call her work 'real deal,' while others see need for 'real strategy'


Who would have thought it – Laura Bush taking on the Bloods and the Crips, or any of the other street gangs that prowl the country.

But she has – not in any back-alley brawl, but in her own first lady way – in speeches and round-table forums and conferences, at home and on the road.

A year after Mrs. Bush embarked on the mission given her by her husband, reviews are mixed. Any talent expended on the daunting gang problem is time well spent, some say. Others wonder whether she can have any effect on the gritty world of street gangs in cities such as Dallas without surrounding herself with homeboys.

...

Still, Mrs. Bush has skeptics along with her supporters.

"I'm supportive of the first lady and President Bush," said Omar Jahwar, executive director of Vision Regeneration, a nonprofit Dallas gang intervention and youth development organization. "But at the same time, it has to be more real strategy."

[Orangepeel]

1. she can raise money for people who really deal with the problem

but that's all the use she is on an issue like this

[UTUSN]

2. Ooooooooo, and they can quote SHAKESPEARE now?

How'bout Pickles making her Bushie put money into drug rehab programs and any other social welfare programs?

[KurtNYC]

10. Would that be like "A pox on the house of Crips!"

"A pox on both your houses!"

"get thee to a nunnery" ?

[JI7]

3. i remember when this was first announced, and never heard a thing

about it until now.

so she gives speeches in front of crowds full of other stepfords about how gangs are bad while her piece of crap husband cuts programs to help young people, especially those who already don't have much. and she thinks her speeches in front of stepford crowds is going to help ? she is so fucking stupid , robotic, ignorant. i can't stand her.

[hatrack]

9. Yes, but the SOTU speech is tomorrow

Hence the sudden reappearance of this "news" item.

[tanyev]

4. And now that's taken care of,

she can go work out the Israeli/Palestinian problems. She should have that done by the elections in November. What a woman!

[sabra]

5. LOL - just got a flashback when Pickles visit Jerusalem

all chaos broke loose... I remember an i-view after that, where she said some to the effect, "I think that went pretty well" :-)

[tanyev]

6. Oh, yeah. I forgot about that!

They probably had to up her Xanax dosage to deal with some PTSD.

[saigon68]

7. First lady's anti-gang mission --The gang of 4

She'd better reform this gang

[0007]

23. Hail Hail the gangs all here! I'd had liked to seen Judith Miller

in the photo.

[chat_noir]

8. program now to include "faith"

Originally: Family, Community, and School

http://www.helpingamericasyouth.gov/background.htm

Now faith:

Faith Groups Featured at Conference on At-Risk Youth

WASHINGTON – Family, school and community are the three pillars that can help save millions of America’s youth from the daily threats of gangs, apathy or jail, First Lady Laura Bush said Tuesday, as she opened the first-ever National Conference on at-risk youth.

Many of the attendants and featured presenters work from a faith-based aspect, using Christian teachings as a foundation for their ministry for at-risk youth.

One such minister highlighted at the opening session was the Rev. Fr. Gregory Boyle of Los Angeles, who started Home Boy Industries to give hope and economic stability to former gang members.

http://www.christianpost.com/article/society/2176/section/faith.groups.featured.at.conference.on.at-risk.youth/1.htm

[K-W]

11. Gangs are a symptom more than anything else.

And you dont get rid of them by fighting them, you get rid of them by giving the people in those communities the ability to control thier own neighborhoods by eliminating ghettos and raising the quality of life of the poor.

[brentspeak]

15. Gangs and crime today are more "cause" than "symptom"

Can't have much quality of life in a ghetto when at least 1/2 of the young people are in and out of jail, dealing drugs, sticking people up.

What do you mean by "ability to take control of their neighborhoods"?

[K-W]

16. You cant have much quality of life in a ghetto because its a ghetto!

And if it wasnt a ghetto, and quality of life wasnt low, 1/2 the young people wouldnt be in and out of jail.

What do you mean by "ability to take control of their neighborhoods"?
I think thats pretty self descriptive, im not sure how I can clarify it for you.

Of course crime causes things, and saying that it is a symptom isnt to say it is any worse for people. But it is, in the grand scheme of things a symptom. A hacking cough is horrible, and can cause amazing amounts of pain, but that doesnt change the fact that it is a symptom. Street gangs exist, and have always existed, alongside poverty and social/economic marginalization.

[brentspeak]

19. I don't know what you mean by

"ability to take control of their neighborhoods". It's not a self-descriptive sentence. 'Take control away from the gang and criminal element, then transform the neighborhood into a safe and economically healthy environment' -- that's my guess on what you are referring to.

[K-W]

20. What is not clear?

"ability to take control of their neighborhoods". It's not a self-descriptive sentence.

Yes it is.

'Take control away from the gang and criminal element, then transform the neighborhood into a safe and economically healthy environment' -- that's my guess on what you are referring to.

I dont think the gang and criminal element has much control, but yes safety and economic health would result. But I am in fact not referring to those things or thats what I would have said. I am referring to developing healthy communities where the people in the communities have the freedom/access/resources to control thier neighborhoods. This in opposition to ghettos where people with little resources/freedom/access are all living together in relative chaos.

[symbolman]

12. I'm sure there's a lot of faith involved

if you let these Stepford assholes loose on the streets with no protection you better believe they'd be on their KNEES praying to GOD the whole time, if they weren't running and screaming..

"Oh PLEASE GOD, don't let those BLACK people cross the street! Lord, don't let them rape me or make me drink piss.. I KNOW, I'll just get in one of these big old cars and RUN THEM ALL DOWN, I'm really GOOD at that - I killed my old boyfriend with just one little ol' foot on the gas pedal.. yeah, that'll work.. a BIG CAR!"

as she's pawing through her purse for her big gulp economy bottle of Xanax so that she won't have to worry so much when the HEATHENS attack her..

They Pray alright, "Please Lord, don't let all my bodyguards leave an opening that a bullet could pass through.. use your mighty powers to make sure that the bullets enter the bodies of the body guards instead of me, for their faith that they are indestructible is strong.."

Got more respect for the REAL HO's that wander the street, at least they earn their money honestly, and let's face it, what's the difference between a woman that will screw a guy for money and one that screws a man for money AND POWER?

All the same really.

[maxrandb]

13. The First Lady has an Anti-gang Mission??

Damn, that's the first I've heard of it.

Must have been a bunch of Social Security style "townhall meetings", 'cause I sure never heard about it. Hell, even Nancy's weak "Just Say No" program got some media traction.

[Raine]

22. Yeah

it's news to me too. :shrug:

[K-W]

14. Also, when will she be divorcing her gangster husband?

Or do gangs of rich people not qualify?

[NYC Liberal]

17. When discussing this in class last year after he announced it at the SOTU,

I asked my (Bush-supporting) teacher why, if Bush was so concerned about gangs, did he cut almost a BILLION dollars from anti-gang funds in his budget.

No response.

What a bunch of hot air...as can be expected from this GANG.

[K-W]

18. And where is the poverty reduction plan. EOM

[otohara]

21. Gang of 14 - Maybe She Could

do something about this stupid gang. My senator can't shit with out their permission.

[Cha]

24. picklebrain should break up

the cheney gang..look at all the damage they've done to the world.

[leesa]

25. Do you suppose she's found one yet? If only she would start with the thug

she lives with.