Torricelli on the Newark killings
By Robert TorricelliThe execution of several young school children in Newark challenged all of our abilities to understand. Senseless death in an Iraqi city or a Colombian jungle doesn't challenge us. Separations of space and culture allow us to accept the tragedy as just another mystery of life. The Newark murders were different. They were senseless, cruel and here.
These weren't drug dealers fighting over territory. These weren't children abandoned by troubled homes. These were college kids from loving families. The success of their lives represented hope for America overcoming all of the things that have plagued her history. Poverty and racism were being defeated.
The enormity of it requires us to find something of value. The community was united. Gangs renounced the killings. Guns were being handed to police officers. None of it meant anything to me. When the cameras are gone, I worry the gangs will go back to work and the community will again cast a blind eye on the struggle of others.
It all seemed so hopeless. I called a friend who ministers at a Newark Church to discuss the despondency of it all. I inquired about the congregation. An illegal alien of Hispanic origin has just been arrested as the lead suspect. The victims were all African American. How much tension, I inquired, was there between the communities?
There was silence on the phone. It's not simply that there was no tension. It hadn't occurred to him that there might be a problem. There are no silver linings when a cloud this dark visits any community. Just maybe, however, there is some begrudging progress among all the despair. The killings are part of a sad continuum that's been going on for as long as I can remember. Maybe our reaction to each other isn't.
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A Sad Continuum
Sadly, the issues of urban violence and illegal immigration have been around for a long time. Maybe if we elected federal representatives who cared more about solving these issues than about lining their own pockets, this tragedy could have been averted.
Atticus
Right on the money!
Sad equals indifferent
Elected officials are not the ones to "solve" a crime problem; it has to start at the grass roots level with the city residents turning away from their long standing indifference to violence. The people who are affected themselves have to care enough to get off their tails and do something constructive, instead of crying the blues and wringing their hands.
Long Term Problem
Wouldn't it help if maybe there was a change at the local government guard? How long have democrats run the city and county? Why haven't their solutions brought about change even though they've had plenty of time to work.
Torch
While I believe Torch was touched by this tragedy and I believe he is sincere in his concern, I have to wonder...Does he have to make everything about himself. Does he really believe that one else would predict tension between African American and Hispanic populations as a result of this tragedy. Torch, I would recommend keeping your interjections out, keep to the facts you wont and cannot be the saving grace in every issue or happenstance that affects this state and or country.
More liberal idiocy
Only an unabashed liberal would embrace gangs as part of the solution in solving crime. Here you have a former US Senator who thinks the "community was united" in terms of outrage against these killings. What are you really saying? That gang style executions are fine? That gangs have a legitimate reason to kill over the drug and street trade? This "all about me" post only confirms that some surburbanite who now lives in horse country knows absolutley nothing about urban decay and the problems of failed cities like Newark. Yep, we need a Franklin Lakes native to tells us what really happen in Newark.
WHAT ABOUT BOB?
Most of us, of all political stripes, would agree with SJBlue, who ruefully asks,
"Does he have to make everything about himself?"
The answer is obviously YES. He does.
To Bob Torricelli, everything IS about him. Want proof? Just check the titles of all of his blog posts, following the first five.
That was when Bob suddenly realized he could work his name into the beginning of every single title.
Here they all are, below.
Note that there is only ONE exception . . . a very short expression of sympathy for Governor Corzine when the Governor was involved in the car crash on the Parkway.
Otherwise, it's all, "GETTING BACK TO ME!"
Torricelli on the Newark killings
Torricelli on Judith Miller
Torricelli on Lady Bird
Torricelli on Mount Laurel
Torricelli on the Middle East
Torricelli on Giuliani
Torricelli on Affordable Housing
Bob Torricelli's Restaurant Ratings
Torricelli on 101.5 and "hateful and divisive speech"
Torricelli on budget items as lifesavers Governor Corzine
Torricelli on Imus
Torricelli on Rudy and Judy
Torricelli on Governor Corzine, and Jamie Fox
Bob Torricelli's Best and Worst of the Media
Musical Chairs for Ferguson, Frelinghuysen and Garrett
In Hudson, a realignment may be coming
Newspapers fight to keep their taxpayer subsidies
Property tax relief won't work
PoliticsNJ welcomes Senator Torricelli with his first post
So what will be coming soon? "Torricelli on Torricelli?"
By way of comparison, check the titles of former Governor Whitman's blog. Not one single post she has put up contains her name in the title.
by Trochilus
IT IS not ALL about Bob
He didn't do "Bob on Bob" responding to the New York Times article today. Bob, a call from your readers to reply on the report that you allegedly "made donations from (your) Senate campaign chest to politicians with influence over (your) business interests." I would like to suggest that you give the rest to a charity that can help in Newark, to stop the horrible epidemic of violence.
Bobby on Bobby
It's simple, Bobby is his greatest fan! What do you expect from a disgrace!
Richard Zuendt
Like a scorching case of herpes.....
The Torch refuses to go away. He keeps coming back and back and back. The guy is about as relevant as MrGreedy.
The Torch
When, please when, is this bag of garbage going to go away
Ugh
Gang's as part of the solution, where was this foresight when he decided the US should not talk to "bad people" around the world, blinding the US intelligence apparatus and arguably making a contributing factor to 9/11. But now talking to gangs is a possible solution? It's sicking, Bob, don't go away mad, just go away....