Well, it's that time again! The time where we finally go into our inclusive side and decide that the outside world is FAR too scary and dangerous to us and we need something to protect us! You may keep getting older, but your instincts are timeless; We all want to feel safe and we all want to feel secure. When you were a child and the world grew scary and mean, you may have had a Security Blanket. For me, it was a teddy bear. I loved the bear to death, and whenever the world got tough, I'd go straight to that bear.

But then you get older. You either forget about the blankets or bears or whatever and you find new ways of solving that old problem of the burden of life coming down on you. But you ALWAYS will have a need for something, some symbol, to make you feel safe and secure, even if you know it's only an illusion.

So now your older, maybe in your 20's, 30's, or even in your 50's. You keep hearing that a bunch of "bad kids" are going around running shooting each other. When you were younger, the solution was simple; Criminals are killing each other, so get more cops out there and fight the bad guys! Simple enough! Stop the bad guys and lock them up! It was simple and it worked! But now the bad guys have changed!

In this post-9/11 world, we seem to need security blankets. Or, more accurately, we DID until the Iraq War. We, as a country, needed to know that the bad guys weren't going to wipe us all out with dirty bombs, Anthrax (Not the band!), and always having that feeling of them "dropping the other shoe", that we had another attack just waiting to happen. We instituted Terror Alerts, created a Homeland Security department, and put into effect the two worst ideas possible; The Patriot Act and EXTRA security at the Airport.

Now, Airport Security, as George Carlin will tell you, STINKS! You DO NOT joke around with airport security! But it's a massive security blanket. Why? Because we all know it is. The 9/11 hijackers were determined to create terror and die for their cause. They slipped by without a problem because we weren't paying close enough attention. The fact is, it's impossible for anyone, and in this case, The Government, to know everything and stop all the bad guys. If someone was to create 9/11 again, it's very likely we wouldn't know how to stop it. And it's unlikely they would even try planes again. Honestly, that's common sense. If someone really wanted to, guards be darned, someone could just barge anywhere and do anything. But the security measures make us feel safe and add a feeling of security. It may do something, but in reality, it's just a security blanket.

So, what the heck does this have to do with Philadelphia? I was just getting to that.

The Safe Streets Program. That alone should describe the next few paragraphs, but I will go on to prove my point.

Earlier today, I did an interview with a reporter and she asked me what my anti-crime policy was. I told her, from what I remember, the following:

What would I do about crime? Well, first, let me tell you that everyone is basically calling for more laws and more cops. Remember when the Safe Streets program started. Everyone, and I mean EVERYONE, saw it for what it was; a Pre-Election Year stunt! It had some real effects, I won't lie, but it didn't do anything in the long-term. It may have gotten more cops in bad areas, but where else are the criminals going to go? They're going to move to where they AREN'T, and that's the good parts and, lo and behold, that's what happened! And after they were released, the old criminals went back to where they were before.

It looked good, made us all feel a bit safer, the numbers don't lie there, but in reality, it didn't do anything long-term! Now, you have officers beefing up patrols in South West Philadelphia, and yes, it's working. But what about when they have to leave and go back to where they were? And the criminals where do you think they went? Same problems, same bad solutions! It's a great security blanket, but that's about it!

I don't think we need more anti-gun laws. I'll say it again, WE DO NOT NEED MORE ANTI-GUN LAWS! We already have a million of them on the books, and we don't need any new ones. To borrow a quote from John Kerry, I was in favor of the bill banning "Straw-Purchases".. and now I'm against it! Why? I spoke to someone who lives in PA earlier this week, and they pointed out that since the law isn't city-wide, but state-wide, it hurts the legal buyers. Now, you and I, living in Philadelphia, may not understand it, but there are people who collect guns. I believe in the U.S. Constitution, and I believe you have the right to bare arms and protect yourself. But you do not have the right to go around killing people!

I collect swords myself, so I can understand what the guy meant. Some people just like collecting things like guns and swords, and that's fine. He said the law would hurt people who bought guns legally, and I agreed. If someone wants to buy a gun illegally, they WILL do it. They don't care if they're caught or not. We already have laws stating you can't anyone else, but people still do it. What, you want to make more laws stating it's illegal to kill someone else? That's basically what anti-gun laws are doing right now, and it's not helping.

If you really want to get guns off the streets, focus on more gun buy-back programs and have a special police force dedicate to nothing more than getting illegal guns off the streets. That way, it doesn't hurt the people who use them responsibly.

What we need to do, instead, is stop relying on our security blankets. The polices and politicians of the past always dictated more laws and more cops. The problem isn't entirely gang-related now; it's angry young kids who don't have any other way of solving their anger! What they need is, in a word, HOPE. It sounds cheesy and lame, but the fact is, in a nutshell, that's what they need. Hope.

If someone is living in the ghetto, and all they see are drug dealers, pimps and hos, abandoned buildings, and their family isn't doing great, either, then they're going to see two options; 1) They turn their life around, say "The heck with this!", and do everything they can to get out of there, or 2) They go along with everything and everyone else and become the same scum they didn't want to turn into. Often, it's the later, or they start off well but the pressure of the neighborhood and society becomes too much and they go bad.

So how do you do that? How do you give someone Hope? Well, the Curfew Centers are a start. By a show of hands, how many of you knew, FOR A FACT, that there was a curfew in effect in Philadelphia. WHOA! Slow down! Out of 100 of you, that one hand in the back is hard to see! So the Curfew Centers is a step-forward. You have volunteers manning these shelters, giving the kids a place to go and just basically give them a leg-up. That's a GREAT step forward and the type of short-term and, hopefully, long-term solution to the crime problem we NEED!

But it's not even close to enough!

I'm reworking my platform now, but basically, here's some "Ideas from the Edge" that could help:

AFTER SCHOOL PROGRAMS:
Yeah, yeah, I know; "We don't have the money for after school programs!" Well, ask yourself this; How much does an after school program cost in comparison to keeping a kid in jail for a few days? If you give kids after school programs that they're interested in, then they have something to do.

MORE PROGRAMS:
When I was a kid, I wasn't a bad apple, but admittedly, I almost became one. You can only pick on someone for so long before they finally say enough and could very well become the very thing they hate. In grade school, they looked for something I could do to channel my feelings into, and they found it; Art and writing. If I got angry, they would let me leave class, go down to the office, and let me draw and write how I felt. Lo and behold, I became a better person! I took up art in high school and later I went to art school. I'm an illustrator now because of it!

If you give kids and teenagers the tools they need, and a smidgen of hope, they can do incredible things! So what we need are more programs in schools, such as Home Ec., Wood Shop, Auto Shop, and the like. But at the same time, we need more art programs. Heh, you never know when and where the next Stan Lee or Picasso will come from, so more art programs would be great!

APPRENTICESHIPS:
Like I said, give them tools! Give them hope! Give them a chance! I loved art, and if in high school someone said, "Hey! We've got some guy who does murals across Philadelphia and he needs some help. Since you love art so much, why don't you go with this guy and give him a hand? He'll track your hours and we'll count it as a class for you, an elective. Oh, and you can miss some school, too, namely an elective like Study Hall if you would like to do it."

That's just a rough idea, but basically, that's it; If you have a student who knows what they want to do and you have someone you know, have done a background check on, and trust, then let them take on apprentices and give the person some hope!

You know, I could just go on and on about this stuff. The point is, the security blankets we love are more laws and more cops, and the reality is that we, as a nation, as a city, have outgrown that. Yeah, we all need to feel safe, but we shouldn't just throw more money at it like that! We need to get to the underlying social problems and work there. It's like dealing with weeds and ivy; you may cut them down to next to nothing, but if the roots are still there, slowly but surly it will grow back. Thus the problem with crime in Philadelphia, and why need need to put away that old security blanket.

Oh yeah, if you want to learn more about me, just go to my site: