Although there is no word yet on when the San Bernardino Sun is going to officialy change its name to the "The Daily Lambert", I expect Las Vegas to open a betting line any day.

Steve Lambert, the omnipotent editor, once again weighs in with a front page editorial pistol whipping the residents of San Bernardino into submission as he pimps Mayor Morris' "anti-crime" plan.  In all fairness, Lambert only took up a significant piece of the front page of the local section this time.

A couple of weeks ago, he drew the ire of many residents when he expressed displeasure with the "gullible, misguided, dumb" voters who are demanding that every penny of the general sales tax increase go to law enforcement.

Never mind the fact that he and his paper referred to the sales tax time and time again as a "police tax" (here, here, here and here).  Never mind Mayor Morris touting himself as tough on crime, taking pictures with police officers and mailing out slick campaign flyers and brochures stating the tax was for new police, we are all just a bunch of dunskies.

Ultimately, what we have here in the City of San Bernardino is the clash between two resoundingly opposing philosophies.  There are those, like the Mayor, who believe our tax dollars should be used to "reform and rehabilitate" the degenerates in our city, much like his attempts via his well publicized drug court.  Then there are those, like myself, who believe that it isn't the job of government to teach people how to be good mothers or fathers, how to stay out of gangs and off drugs and be model citizens.  And that instead of using our precious few tax dollars on social engineering and feel good, bleeding heart initiatives to assuage the guilt-ridden liberals living next to the country club that the money should instead be used to run their butts out of town.

Amazingly, Lambert recognizes the extent of the problem at hand, when he says:

"...but to presume that bad parents will become Ward and June Cleaver through power of suggestion is less naive than it is silly."

What is silly is the belief some government program will turn them into the Cleavers, or some after school midnight basketball program will turn Lil' Johnny "Gunslinger" from a gangster to a boy scout. 

These criminals, little more than domestic terrorists, are being coddled.  The irony is, by and large, these criminals are preying on residents represented by so-called progressive members of the council seeking out a collaborative and holistic approach.

And yet, we repeatedly engage in this "lost cause" mentality whereby we cater to the lowest common denominator in our society.  We would rather spend the bulk of our resources on the relatively few.  We do this in our city, we do this in our schools and we do this at the federal level of government with one entitlement program after the other.

There is nothing wrong with cutting our losses on a certain segment and demographic of the population.  Throughout this city, and in particular downtown, good people who are trying to do the right thing, trying to raise their children to be contributing members of society are being plagued by criminals. 

Drop the hammer and run them out of town.  Save those that want to be saved.  Save those that deserve to be saved.

Pimpin' a political agenda ain't easy Mr. Lambert. The People of San Bernardino are tired of pimps and thugs, whether they be on Baseline, at City Hall, or peddling papers.