A common cry this time of year has been usurped by the denizens of Dallas:
The city's crime rate was the highest among nine U.S. cities, including Houston, with more than a million residents for the seventh consecutive year in 2004, according to police statistics.
But the real reason I highlighted this story is buried a little farther down:
Criminologists warned that strictly statistical comparisons can be misleading. They say the crime data can't account for the willingness of residents to report crime, the number of workers and shoppers who visit the city daily, as well as differences in geography, development and transportation. Many New Yorkers, for example, take mass transit, lowering the number of vehicles that can be broken into or stolen.
While concurrently, of course, increasing the up close and personal interactions for everyone fortunate enough to spend an extended period of time in cramped underground quarters where everything is sweetness and light. Oh dear, they forgot to take credit for that.
Sounds like the writer of that other paragraph works for the Dallas City Hall -- they spout the same crap to the papers here about willingness, etc.
Five more years, and I'm out of here for 'way out in the country, where the birdies sing...'