'Cop cities' are on the rise. Catholics should be concerned.

[ret5hd]

2. kinda on topic:

several years ago, spouse and I took a guided walking tour thru Seattle. The young man giving the tour had OBVIOUSLY given MUCH effort to studying his subject matter...not just pointing at buildings/sites and saying "this was once..." but delving into the Native American history of the area and region, the REASONS things happened as they did, what was apt to happen in the future, etc. Truly one of the best such tours we have taken (quite a few!).

Anyway, during this tour we of course came across homeless encampments on the streets. The guide made this comment (as close as I remember):

"The media says that Seattle, San Francisco, etc has a homeless problem. No...I disagree. THE COUNTRY has a homeless problem that manifests itself in Seattle. The country has a problem that it refuses to address and dumps that problem on areas that have the weather and resources to accommodate the nations problem."

How true...

Another semi-interesting factoid he pointed out (discussing the boom-bust cycle Seattle experienced over its history...logging, mining, etc) was that after the loggers had denuded the entire area and were now left without jobs: "...and they discovered that it takes exactly 1000 years to grow a 1000 year old tree."

I hope this didn't hijack your thread too much.