There was an attack in Memphis this past week. A woman was bringing her 12-yr-old son home from school when she was met in the driveway by a couple of men who went into her house with her and raped her. One man called someone on his cell phone and bragged about the rape as it was occurring. That cell phone call is what helped find the perps.

There's a lot of outrage, rallies and meetings and so forth, because the rape occurred in one of the wealthiest, if not the wealthiest, part of the city. The populist(?) in me wonders if that makes it worse than the rapes that happen every day elsewhere, including to little girls in their homes and neighborhoods. But just because X group of people is apparently willing to put up with something doesn't mean Y should be, right? (And let me add that the SCLC has had signs up for quite some time trying to get people to think about not attacking each other - I drive past one every day going to work.)

There's an article in the paper today with this stupid quote from our governor, who I thought I liked:

"Ultimately we have got to get these kids out of high school, we've got to get them into college and we've got to get them good jobs," the governor said. "That in the long run is going to do as much about crime as build more jail cells."

1 - Every single person doesn't need to go to college. College isn't the new high school. Or is it?

2 - More to the point, not going to college doesn't make a person a violent thug. I went to college and I don't remember that being a turning point in my life preventing me from being a person of violence. Not having a good job also doesn't make a person a violent thug. Everybody doesn't need to go to college, but every able-bodied adult ought to be able to support himself or herself. But what in the world does that have to do with breaking into a woman's home and raping her? What?

3 - He's talking about "ultimately" and "in the long run". Ultimately, Memphis is going to consist of whoever is left after people who can have fled the city with its violent crime. What can we do in the short run, Mr. Governor?