Classes For Gang Members' Parents: Horses And Barn Doors

Hey, Wilbur, close the door, would you?

There's a very good chance that California Assemblyman Tony Mendoza of Norwalk is clinically brain-dead -- along with everyone else in Sacramento.

I say this because, according to the Daily News, he introduced a bill -- which was passed in 2007 and which went into effect in January of this year -- whereby "parents and guardians of Los Angeles Unified students convicted of gang-related crimes will have to attend parenting classes and meet with families who have been victimized by gang violence."

Oh, please. You're going to stop gangs by spending tax dollars on "parenting classes?"  Give me a break.  Spend that money on police and prisons. By the time the kid's a gang member, it's a bit late for "parenting classes," don't you think?

Plus, what are you going to do if the parents don't show up? Prosecute them, too? And notice how the law would apply only to the parents of students. What about drop-outs? Plus, they have to be convicted first. That's going to take, what, about a year or two after the crime is committed?

And, do tell, where are the "experts" who will teach these parents to transform their little hoodlums into upstanding scholars?

Just balance the damn budget and quit introducing phony feel-good measures creating new bureaucracies would you? You want to fight gangs? P and P: police and build prisons. Kids will learn how to behave really quickly when they see criminals whisked off the streets, instead of being handed million-dollar contracts for their "non-profits" by former gang member Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa.