[Ebbc-Talk] A Cure for Violence?

To the Editor:

The Oakland Police Department is being threatened with being put 
under court control ("receivership"), due to its history of abusive 
behavior. But police work is dangerous! I can easily understand why a 
policeman would sometimes, in an atmosphere of fear, make a bad decision.

But maybe there is another solution! Where does violence come from? 
Doesn't most of it revolve around money? Let's assume that it does. 
There are two possible solutions to the money problem: (1) get more 
or (2) spend less. There are plenty of people working on the former. 
Let's look at the latter.

There are many simple ways that homeowners can reduce their expenses: 
(1) convert incandescent (old-fashioned) light bulbs to compact 
fluorescents; the latter use far less electricity, as well as lasting 
much longer; (2) insulate your home, reducing heating costs in the 
winter and cooling costs in the summer; the gas company and the 
government will often subsidize this; (3) put all consumers of 
"vampire power" (appliances that consume electricity even when they 
are allegedly "off": TV, stereo, microwave, etc.) on switches or 
power strips, so they can be turned completely off when not used; (4) 
grow fruits and vegetables (and even chickens, rabbits, etc.) in your 
own garden, saving on food costs; (5) sell all your motor vehicles 
and get a bicycle -- bike riding is free; (6) we use too much water 
for bathing; get wet and turn off the water; then wash and turn the 
water back on to rinse; this will greatly reduce your water 
consumption (you may have to convince the water company to base all 
charges on consumption levels; currently, many charges are fixed, and 
not proportional to usage).

People who don't own their home, or pay for their utilities directly, 
should be able to negotiate a lower rent, when they reduce their 
water and power consumption.

Instead of focusing on the downstream effect -- crime -- let's help 
each other reduce the cause of crime: the need for money! Maybe the 
police depsrtment would even offer to help! Anything that reduces 
violence and crime would make their job easier, so they should be 
willing to help....

Mike Vandeman


-- 

I am working on creating wildlife habitat that is off-limits to 
humans ("pure habitat").
Want to help? (I spent the previous 8 years fighting auto dependence 
and road construction.)

Please don't put a cell phone next to any part of your body that you 
are fond of!

http://mjvande.nfshost.com
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