At least seven men in five states have been fatally electrocuted since July while hacking through power lines to steal wire made of copper, which has been commanding near-record prices, police say.
"It is a growing problem with the rise in the price of metals," says Lt. Shea Smith of the Greenville County Sheriff's Office in South Carolina. Smith says one thief died Aug. 30 and another July 7. Both were found with wire cutters and other tools that suggested their intent. He says at least 30 more copper thefts have occurred in the county so far this year.
What can you say about someone who tries to steal a copper powerline, but doesn't try to find a way to shut off the electricity first? Even better, what about the person who is so stupid that it never even occurs to them that this is kinda a prerequisite for a "job well done?"
At least when the post-colonial Congolese tore down their power and phone lines to beat the copper into bracelets and earrings they made sure the power was off...
That reminds me of something that I read in high school while I was studying for the AP Comparative Politics exam. It said that when the Europeans left Africa, their former colonies had modern universities, industry and basic infrastructure. It took them only at the most a decade to tear all of that down into nothing as tribalism and despotism returned in force.
Now, that is funny!
Sad, but funny!
Knowledge is power,
and cutting through livewires is too.
"It took them only at the most a decade..."
Which is exactly what makes me so skeptical about GWB's Great Democracy Crusade(tm). In order for America to flourish as a liberal democracy it had to go through several stages and needed a certain philosophical and (gasp) religious foundation.
Areas of the world where governments more "advanced" than despotism were imposed and set free have not gone through those stages, so giving them democracy and asking them to perpetuate it is like giving a fat man a piece of paper with a number on it and assuming that will make him a marathon runner.
Africa, when left to its own devices, immediately returned to what it knew, to what its native culture could support. Iraq, I think, will do the same.
Found a quote that says it better than I:
"The West required the hideous religious wars of the 16th and 17th centuries, the Napoleonic Wars of the 18th, the American Civil War, and the two World Wars of the 20th century to make its adjustment. To export a prefabricated democracy to a part of the world whose culture and religion are far less amenable in the first place is an act of narcissistic idiocy."
http://www.atimes.com/atimes/Middle_East/HC14Ak02.html
The West had to at least try to learn from its own mistakes before it could get where it is today, that's definitely true. However, the real question WRT Islam is whether or not most of them can learn from those lessons in the Middle East and southern Asia. My money is not on them learning that lesson anytime soon, if ever, because of the nature of their religion.
It's telling that mostly Hindu India, despite its problems with liberty, is far more stable and liberal than Pakistan which is culturally very similar. The main difference is religion, which I think proves that it's not just Judaism and Christianity which can create fairly stable governments. That alone is, IMO, a pretty damning fact about Islam.