Screw Afghanistan, let's get things fixed at home

We could fix things in Afghanistan in a couple months and get the Taliban out of power. Follow the money -- the economic driver is the opium poppy. The Taliban forces villagers to grow it so they can make money. All the USA has to do is step in and buy the entire crop at twice the price. The villagers will have steady work and income, a buyer that they trust and respect, the global pharma business will have a steady supply of opiates and the Taliban will have been priced out of the market. What prompted the mini-rant is this little nugget: there were more Citizens killed in Chicago in 2012 than Soldiers killed in Afghanistan. From The Daily:

Wild West in Chicago
The streets of Chicago are officially more dangerous than a war zone: Homicide victims in the Windy City outnumber U.S. troops killed in Afghanistan this year.

While 144 Americans have died in Afghanistan in 2012, a whopping 228 Chicago residents have been killed, and the murder rate is up a staggering 35 percent from last year. That�s a rash of homicides quadruple the rate of New York City�s, and police and crime experts fear it may only get worse.

This week, Chicago announced it will allow police in the cash-strapped city to work overtime at time-and-a-half pay in order to put more officers on the street.

The move comes as Mayor Rahm Emanuel, President Obama�s former chief of staff, is under increased pressure to find a way to stem the violence. Last weekend, nine people were killed and 53 were shot, just two weeks after 10 people died and dozens more were wounded in gun-related mayhem.

More:

�Violence has always been most pronounced on summer weekends in Chicago,� said Roseanna Ander, executive director of the University of Chicago Crime Lab. �One likely factor [for this year�s rise in gun violence] is the warmer-than-usual weather and the early spring. Over 80 percent of shootings occur outdoors and in public places.�

Temperatures are forecast to hit the 90s this weekend in the city, and officers who choose to participate in the police department�s Violence Reduction Overtime Initiative will largely be deployed in the western and southern sections of the city, where the bulk of the shootings and homicides have taken place.

�These are the same neighborhoods that had the most violence happened in the �80s and �90s,� Ander said. �Chicago has used overtime this way in the past. It�s the right thing to do, but it�s only a piece of a larger strategy.�

Ander also blames budget cuts for contributing to the spike in shootings. As the city struggled to balance its budget, Emanuel�s administration has cut anti-violence programs targeting some of Chicago�s poorer neighborhoods by $9 million.

Emphasis mine -- you will not effect a change by implementing programs. I have just as much urge towards projectile emesis when I hear of this and such program as when I hear of a College course of xyzzy studies. They need to fix the schools -- we are spending more and more money, hiring more and more people and the quality of education is getting worse and worse. Start up some trade schools -- teach usable skills and get the kids out of the inner city and into the work force. A Perfect Liberal utopia (but we didn't get enough funding -- waaaaaaaaaa!!!!)...