Voter ID Laws

[Foreigner]

I just read an article where the ACLU is up in arms because a judge refused to block the PA Voter ID law.
I have no problem with someone being required to provider a photo ID when voting.

You need a photo ID to:
- Drive a car
- Rent a car
- Board a plane
- Enter a bar
- Open a bank account
- Rent a DVD
- Buy cigarettes
- Buy alcohol
- Cash a check
- Pawn something or pick up a pawned item
- Get a library card
- Pick up a package at the post office, fedex, or UPS

And in states like PA, all you have to do is take a current phone bill or utilities bill down to the courthouse and they will issue you a gov't approved photo ID....for free.

If you can't find the time to do that, then if you find yourself unable to vote, I'm sorry but the sympathy meter pegs out at zero.

 

[Strat]

How racist of you....just figured i would get that out of the way so we can move on.

 

[Foreigner]

It always strikes me funny when people say that it is racist.
Especially since there are more poor people who are white than any other group.

 

[Strat]

It always strikes me funny when people say that it is racist.
Especially since there are more poor people who are white than any other group.

White peoople can't be poor like black people can't be racist....thats how it works..it's like that old Saturday Night Live skit that Eddie Murphy did years ago where he disguised himself as a white man...the bank gave him loans he didn't have to pay back and everywhere he went he was given stuff and treated like a king,of course we all know that that is exactly the way all white men's lives are....sure.

 

[Brother James]

Actually, white people do live in a state of privilege that they don't even recognize. For example, I'm a 56 year old white man and when I walk into a Target store the store detective does not follow me around. Let a 19 year old young black man walk in and there is a very strong likelihood that store detectives will follow him. He is also likely to be stopped by a police officer under some nonsense pretext if he drives through my neighborhood. Since white people don't experience these things, it is understandable why they don't recognize their privileged status. It is like asking a fish what it's like to live in the ocean. He'd give you a funny look and ask, "what's an ocean?" because he has never known anything else.

The experience of black and white people is different in America. It may annoy some people to have that said, but that doesn't change the truth. The question is, how do people respond to that? I know when I was a young man if I had been black and experienced the things many young black men experience, I would have been very angry. Very unhealthy angry. That's not good, but I sure do understand it. There is, of course, a healthier response to the difficult realities of life and the world, but unfortunately it is not the place of white peopel to lecture those healthier responses to black people. People like Bill Cosby have a role, as do others who choose to do something positive regardless of the negatives around them. Knowing Christ is the best solution for all problems, though. He does not guarantee that we will live happily ever after, that is not what it's about, but He sure does give us peace when the anger of our mind tries to stir up a storm.

None of this changes the fact that we should not let anyone vote if we don't know for sure who they are and if they have a right to vote.

 

[Strat]

Actually, white people do live in a state of privilege that they don't even recognize. For example, I'm a 56 year old white man and when I walk into a Target store the store detective does not follow me around. Let a 19 year old young black man walk in and there is a very strong likelihood that store detectives will follow him. He is also likely to be stopped by a police officer under some nonsense pretext if he drives through my neighborhood. Since white people don't experience these things, it is understandable why they don't recognize their privileged status. It is like asking a fish what it's like to live in the ocean. He'd give you a funny look and ask, "what's an ocean?" because he has never known anything else.

The experience of black and white people is different in America. It may annoy some people to have that said, but that doesn't change the truth. The question is, how do people respond to that? I know when I was a young man if I had been black and experienced the things many young black men experience, I would have been very angry. Very unhealthy angry. That's not good, but I sure do understand it. There is, of course, a healthier response to the difficult realities of life and the world, but unfortunately it is not the place of white peopel to lecture those healthier responses to black people. People like Bill Cosby have a role, as do others who choose to do something positive regardless of the negatives around them. Knowing Christ is the best solution for all problems, though. He does not guarantee that we will live happily ever after, that is not what it's about, but He sure does give us peace when the anger of our mind tries to stir up a storm.

None of this changes the fact that we should not let anyone vote if we don't know for sure who they are and if they have a right to vote.

It is also not the place of black people to hold white people who had nothing to do with their experiences responsable,the situations you describe have and do happen and they also don't happen...the crime statistics also have alot to do with things as well....black on white crime is rampant and often goes unreported in the media due to political correctness.This white priviledge you speak of existed at one time but now it is mostly the imagination of whites who have been taught they are guilty so they look for anything they can to indicate that it still exist and that they as whites are still guilty...and most often what you look for you find.

The modern solution to racism has become nothing more than a pound of flesh which will fuel future fires of hatred for decades to come,people being expected to prove they are not racist by simply giving in to whatever is wanted or demanded..which produces things like the video that has been on youtube for about 2 years now where a black "professor" calls for the mass murder of whites,many other such videos can be found..such a video from a white man or woman would be quickly removed as it should be....but black hatred and racism is ok and it is fueling the fires.

The Bible does not tell us to understand or psycho analyse hatred,or give it some kind of credence based on historical precedent or past injustices,it does not tell us to accept it from one man and reject if from another,it comforts no one with assurances that their hatred is understandable.....as far as whites are concerned listen to or read what Malcom X had to say about the effect guilt ridden white liberals had on his people.

 

[aspen]

I have no problem with requiring IDs for voters. My problem is when Republicans pretend that they are pushing this new law for noble reasons. We all know it is a political strategy to stop potential Democrat voters from voting. So, in the face of this reality, the ACLU is trying to stop them for political reasons - seems like Washington politics as usual.

 

[Brother James]

It is also not the place of black people to hold white people who had nothing to do with their experiences responsable,the situations you describe have and do happen and they also don't happen...the crime statistics also have alot to do with things as well....black on white crime is rampant and often goes unreported in the media due to political correctness.This white priviledge you speak of existed at one time but now it is mostly the imagination of whites who have been taught they are guilty so they look for anything they can to indicate that it still exist and that they as whites are still guilty...and most often what you look for you find.

Without a doubt there are many social problems in many groups in our society. And, I understand that it is easier to dismiss my thoughts as imaginings, but I assure you that I've been taught nothing. I grew up in Detroit, just about the most racially divided place in our country. I lived there during the 1967 riots, and I've been the target of black on white violence. There's no need for you to try to "educate" me on these matters, but my thinking is not the product of imagination, I'm pretty sure. I don't think you understood my point, because I did not speak of white guilt. I spoke of white ignorance. White people are not guilty for something they do not even know exists. When a white person has never experienced these things, like being pulled over by police for no other reason than they are black (and this too is not imagination, whether people want to admit it or not, it happens), many black people have. Yes, there are a lot of black criminals. If you put yourself into the position of a non-criminal young black man who is pulled over repeatedly, you cannot put yourself in his position and understand where he might be angry about that? Recognizing his reality does not make you guilty of anything. Refusing to recognize his reality does have some implications, however.

The Bible does not tell us to understand or psycho analyse hatred,or give it some kind of credence based on historical precedent or past injustices,it does not tell us to accept it from one man and reject if from another,it comforts no one with assurances that their hatred is understandable.....as far as whites are concerned listen to or read what Malcom X had to say about the effect guilt ridden white liberals had on his people.

No, the Bible tells us to love one another. BTW, if your "guilt ridden white liberals" comment was directed at me, that's a real hoot. You really do not know me at all.

I have no problem with requiring IDs for voters. My problem is when Republicans pretend that they are pushing this new law for noble reasons. We all know it is a political strategy to stop potential Democrat voters from voting. So, in the face of this reality, the ACLU is trying to stop them for political reasons - seems like Washington politics as usual.

Well, there really are a lot of illegals who live here for decades, register, and vote. They invariably vote for the Democratic candidates which explains why Democrats like for them to vote and why Republicans don't like it. But regardless of who benefits and who loses from the practice, isn't it best to have elections that have integrity? All of these decisions are done for political reasons. In politics, everything is political.

 

[Strat]

Without a doubt there are many social problems in many groups in our society. And, I understand that it is easier to dismiss my thoughts as imaginings, but I assure you that I've been taught nothing. I grew up in Detroit, just about the most racially divided place in our country. I lived there during the 1967 riots, and I've been the target of black on white violence. There's no need for you to try to "educate" me on these matters, but my thinking is not the product of imagination, I'm pretty sure. I don't think you understood my point, because I did not speak of white guilt. I spoke of white ignorance. White people are not guilty for something they do not even know exists. When a white person has never experienced these things, like being pulled over by police for no other reason than they are black (and this too is not imagination, whether people want to admit it or not, it happens), many black people have. Yes, there are a lot of black criminals. If you put yourself into the position of a non-criminal young black man who is pulled over repeatedly, you cannot put yourself in his position and understand where he might be angry about that? Recognizing his reality does not make you guilty of anything. Refusing to recognize his reality does have some implications, however.



No, the Bible tells us to love one another. BTW, if your "guilt ridden white liberals" comment was directed at me, that's a real hoot. You really do not know me at all.



Well, there really are a lot of illegals who live here for decades, register, and vote. They invariably vote for the Democratic candidates which explains why Democrats like for them to vote and why Republicans don't like it. But regardless of who benefits and who loses from the practice, isn't it best to have elections that have integrity? All of these decisions are done for political reasons. In politics, everything is political.

Never said i knew you :) don't have to know you to know that the current methods of race reconcilliation are not working...human beings live in generations and blaming one generation for the actions of a previous generation do not work and will never work regardless of all the talk and rationalizations.

I mentioned the guilt ridden white liberal because of the damage they have done,never said that was you...like i said,check out what Malcom X had to say...he was a black man so i imagine his opinion by your standard of judgemnent is worth more than mine and yours put together.

 

[Foreigner]

Actually, white people do live in a state of privilege that they don't even recognize. For example, I'm a 56 year old white man and when I walk into a Target store the store detective does not follow me around. Let a 19 year old young black man walk in and there is a very strong likelihood that store detectives will follow him.

-- Simple question: Between a 56 year old white mail and a 19 year old, which is more likely - several times over- to shoplift or commit some other crime? The observation by security is based on likelihood, not privilege.

I have no problem with requiring IDs for voters. My problem is when Republicans pretend that they are pushing this new law for noble reasons. We all know it is a political strategy to stop potential Democrat voters from voting.

-- Again with the unfounded all-encompassing accusations? "We all know....?" lol Aspen, please...

If ensuring the integrity of the vote is justified, then what do you care what the motives are to legally ensure that integrity?



IT IS JUST AS OBVIOUS that "We all know" the Democrats are more concerned about losing one of their most faithful voter groups - illegal aliens, those who are willing to vote multiple times, and those willing to assist others in voting illegally than whether or not a granny in a senior citizen center is able to vote.

Their over-the-top rhetoric about requiring a photo ID being comperable to Jim Crow laws is an insult to those who actually had to live through that.

If they actually cared about legal voters who may miss out on voting due to the voter ID law, they would have begun work in 2008 to use "community organizers" to organize rides for those they say cannot find time or a way to take their utility bill or phone bill to the county court house or DMV to get their FREE gov't approved voter ID.

Instead they have focused on trying to overturn the laws that ensure a legal voter's ballot is not negated by the ballot of an illegal voter.

Why?

Because with the law in place, scores of illegal voters who overwhelmingly vote Democrat will no longer be able to vote.

The simple fact is that if you can get to the voting station on the one single day of the year where you can cast your vote, you have no excuse for not finding a way to the DMV or courthouse once in the years between elections.




.

 

[Brother James]

I mentioned the guilt ridden white liberal because of the damage they have done,never said that was you...like i said,check out what Malcom X had to say...he was a black man so i imagine his opinion by your standard of judgemnent is worth more than mine and yours put together.

Malcom X was one voice, Martin Luther King Jr. was another. If you only want to focus on the radicals who preach violence, there are many "Christian" folks that are suspect as well. But I still believe that if you are a white person you have a privileged condition, not of your making, that is not shared by black people. Nothing more, and nothing less than that. But that seems to be a statement some folks find terribly offensive, and I've never understood why. While there are still people alive who had to use "colored" toilets and couldn't get something to eat wherever then wanted to, those conditions no longer exist. That does not, howerver, mean that black and white people live the same experience in America. Truth will always be true, and I certainly believe that to be true and I also believe I can back the claim up with indisputable facts. Reasons? Well, that's another discussion.

-- Simple question: Between a 56 year old white mail and a 19 year old, which is more likely - several times over- to shoplift or commit some other crime? The observation by security is based on likelihood, not privilege.

No, it is indeed a privilege to not be placed under scruity because of what I look like. That is indeed my point. Because I am deemed to be "unlikely" to be a criminal, I am completedly free of that experience. Have 56 year old white men stolen? You bet your sweet bippy they have. Poblably got away with it too, though they show up in the police logs in my local paper quite often. If you are a young honest black kid it makes you angry to be judged based on characteristics you had nothing to do with. I used to get angry that I had to pay so much for car insurance just because I was young. I didn't get tickets or have accidents. I was punished because of others? Just because I am older an understand how things work doesn't change how it hit me when I was young. So, when I put myself in the place of another, then I no longer shake my head and mutter "why are those people always SO angry?" Understanding is a first step, not an end to anything. But if people refuse to even understand the reasons for things or talk reasonably about them, what progress is ever possible? Smug self-righteousness gets us no where.

 

[Foreigner]

No, it is indeed a privilege to not be placed under scruity because of what I look like. That is indeed my point. Because I am deemed to be "unlikely" to be a criminal, I am completedly free of that experience. Have 56 year old white men stolen? You bet your sweet bippy they have.

-- Your example was flawed from the start.
First off EVERYONE is under video surveillance when they enter a Target, even tthe 56 year old man.
Video security in Target (and Wal-Mart amd Kmart) has personnel to watch every single section of the store via video at all times. Floor security is just an added step.

Since they have limited resources for security personnel actually walking the floor, they use them where it is more likely (several times over) to experience an crime.

Of course 56 year old men have stolen. But if it is at one-fiftien or one-one hundreth the rate of a 19 year old black man, where do YOU think it is more prudent to put forth your efforts to reduce theft?

You didn't answer my last question. Maybe you'll answer this one, hmmmmmm?

If you are a young honest black kid it makes you angry to be judged based on characteristics you had nothing to do with.

-- Then your anger should be focused on the large number of non-honest black kids whose actions on such a large scale have created the suspicion and distrust you are now being judged by.




.

 

[aspen]

Brother James said,

Well, there really are a lot of illegals who live here for decades, register, and vote. They invariably vote for the Democratic candidates which explains why Democrats like for them to vote and why Republicans don't like it. But regardless of who benefits and who loses from the practice, isn't it best to have elections that have integrity? All of these decisions are done for political reasons. In politics, everything is political.


[background=rgb(247, 247, 247)]I have no problem with requiring IDs for voters.[/background]

But it is a reality that many poor people do not have access to IDs. Most of the kids who are homeless that I work with do not have access to IDs - the strict, but necessary regulations for obtaining an ID after 911 has made the process quite difficult - one of the requirements in my state is to get a copy of a certified birth certificate, which forces the person to go back to the county they were born in. This requires time and money that many people do not have to spare.

All I am saying is that overall, Republicans benefit from this law and Democrats lose.

Foreigner said,

-- Again with the unfounded all-encompassing accusations? "We all know....?" lol Aspen, please...


Just in case you missed my first sentence of my post:

[background=rgb(247, 247, 247)]I have no problem with requiring IDs for voters. [/background]


If ensuring the integrity of the vote is justified, then what do you care what the motives are to legally ensure that integrity?

1. It is not the full story.

2. Citizens of the United States are being excluded from their civil duty based on economic class.


IT IS JUST AS OBVIOUS that "We all know" the Democrats are more concerned about losing one of their most faithful voter groups - illegal aliens, those who are willing to vote multiple times, and those willing to assist others in voting illegally than whether or not a granny in a senior citizen center is able to vote.

Along with:

1. People who are poor

2. Elderly

3. Disabled


Their over-the-top rhetoric about requiring a photo ID being comperable to Jim Crow laws is an insult to those who actually had to live through that.

I never said this, so why are you bringing it up?

If they actually cared about legal voters who may miss out on voting due to the voter ID law, they would have begun work in 2008 to use "community organizers" to organize rides for those they say cannot find time or a way to take their utility bill or phone bill to the county court house or DMV to get their FREE gov't approved voter ID.

How about a plane ticket to fly back to the county of their birth to obtain a certified birth certificate? That is exactly what I had to do to get a driver's license in my state - they even refused to accept my current California driver's license as proof of who I am. Apparently, you are out of touch with the reality of obtaining an ID - how surprising.....

Instead they have focused on trying to overturn the laws that ensure a legal voter's ballot is not negated by the ballot of an illegal voter.

Really?! So it is not the fact that Republicans have made it a priority to limit potential Democrat voters at the ballot box, under the guise of trying stop illegals from voting? LOL - ok, Foreigner.

Your blind allegiance to the Republican party is noted. You're a real 'team player'.......

The craziest part of posting on this board is reading all the posts that proudly adhere to principals before people at all costs; even in the face of reality. Tragic


The simple fact is that if you can get to the voting station on the one single day of the year where you can cast your vote, you have no excuse for not finding a way to the DMV or courthouse once in the years between elections.

Tell that to the people I work with everyday - when you are living hand to mouth, jumping through the legal hoops to get a ID just to cast a vote is not worth BS and money it takes to make it possible. Oh right - those poor people - they just deserve it, right Foreigner, why should their vote be counted?

 

[Strat]

Malcom X was one voice, Martin Luther King Jr. was another. If you only want to focus on the radicals who preach violence, there are many "Christian" folks that are suspect as well. But I still believe that if you are a white person you have a privileged condition, not of your making, that is not shared by black people. Nothing more, and nothing less than that. But that seems to be a statement some folks find terribly offensive, and I've never understood why. While there are still people alive who had to use "colored" toilets and couldn't get something to eat wherever then wanted to, those conditions no longer exist. That does not, howerver, mean that black and white people live the same experience in America. Truth will always be true, and I certainly believe that to be true and I also believe I can back the claim up with indisputable facts. Reasons? Well, that's another discussion.

Sorry you feel guilty....i don't...also sorry that apart from feeling guilty you have no answers to the problem,Malcom X told the truth about the self serving white liberals who have used black people for decades to gain power...i suppose you as white man know more about that than he did...LOL.nobody puts black folks in their place like a white liberal





No, it is indeed a privilege to not be placed under scruity because of what I look like. That is indeed my point. Because I am deemed to be "unlikely" to be a criminal, I am completedly free of that experience. Have 56 year old white men stolen? You bet your sweet bippy they have. Poblably got away with it too, though they show up in the police logs in my local paper quite often. If you are a young honest black kid it makes you angry to be judged based on characteristics you had nothing to do with. I used to get angry that I had to pay so much for car insurance just because I was young. I didn't get tickets or have accidents. I was punished because of others? Just because I am older an understand how things work doesn't change how it hit me when I was young. So, when I put myself in the place of another, then I no longer shake my head and mutter "why are those people always SO angry?" Understanding is a first step, not an end to anything. But if people refuse to even understand the reasons for things or talk reasonably about them, what progress is ever possible? Smug self-righteousness gets us no where.

-- Your example was flawed from the start.
First off EVERYONE is under video surveillance when they enter a Target, even tthe 56 year old man.
Video security in Target (and Wal-Mart amd Kmart) has personnel to watch every single section of the store via video at all times. Floor security is just an added step.

Since they have limited resources for security personnel actually walking the floor, they use them where it is more likely (several times over) to experience an crime.

Of course 56 year old men have stolen. But if it is at one-fiftien or one-one hundreth the rate of a 19 year old black man, where do YOU think it is more prudent to put forth your efforts to reduce theft?

You didn't answer my last question. Maybe you'll answer this one, hmmmmmm?





-- Then your anger should be focused on the large number of non-honest black kids whose actions on such a large scale have created the suspicion and distrust you are now being judged by.




.

Sorry,you must assume the guilty as charged,submissive and deferential position of the white devil or next you will receive the scarlet R on your forehead.

 

[aspen]

-- Your example was flawed from the start.
First off EVERYONE is under video surveillance when they enter a Target, even tthe 56 year old man.
Video security in Target (and Wal-Mart amd Kmart) has personnel to watch every single section of the store via video at all times. Floor security is just an added step.

Since they have limited resources for security personnel actually walking the floor, they use them where it is more likely (several times over) to experience an crime.

Of course 56 year old men have stolen. But if it is at one-fiftien or one-one hundreth the rate of a 19 year old black man, where do YOU think it is more prudent to put forth your efforts to reduce theft?

You didn't answer my last question. Maybe you'll answer this one, hmmmmmm?





-- Then your anger should be focused on the large number of non-honest black kids whose actions on such a large scale have created the suspicion and distrust you are now being judged by.




.

So I guess in places like my own city, where African Americans make up .05% of the population, we must have 'one-fiftien or one-one hundreth the rate' of theft from shoplifting? Oh Foreigner......LOL. Be glad I do not quote you on your rash statements for eternity in attempt to discredit you because this one is GOLDEN! HAHA!!

 

[Foreigner]

So I guess in places like my own city, where African Americans make up .05% of the population, we must have 'one-fiftien or one-one hundreth the rate' of theft from shoplifting? Oh Foreigner......LOL. Be glad I do not quote you on your rash statements for eternity in attempt to discredit you because this one is GOLDEN! HAHA!!

-- Sorry Aspen, police data (as well as data provided by the major big-chain stores) shows that a white Male in his 50s is going to commit shoplifing or other crimes within the store at a mere fraction of what a black youth will.

I know facts can be confusing for you (which is why you never provide any to support your position).

It is something you are simply going to have to come to grips with.

We all know it is a political strategy to stop potential Democrat voters from voting.

As I said, a blanket unsubstantiated claim that you are not qualified to make.




.

 

[aspen]

-- Sorry Aspen, police data (as well as data provided by the major big-chain stores) shows that a white Male in his 50s is going to commit shoplifing or other crimes within the store at a mere fraction of what a black youth will.

I know facts can be confusing for you (which is why you never provide any to support your position).

It is something you are simply going to have to come to grips with.





As I said, a blanket unsubstantiated claim that you are not qualified to make.




.

Ah ok - well, I will inform my local Walmart and Target to send home their security - Foreigner has spoken! Thankfully, you know what you are talking about, because you did not provide any sources either.....apparently you are your own source.

 

[Foreigner]

It's well after midnight here. I guess that gives a greenlight for you to act like a child.

I spent six years working as a security consultant in the late 90s. I started with Pamida (used to be Gibson) and then moved on to KMart and then the Mall of America in Minneapolis.

While I have not worked with Wal-Mart directly, I have seen the stats. I have, however, worked with multiple police departments. All show the same thing.

Another stat you won't like, but is true none the less. Black Wal-Mart employees - measured by percentage - commit more "theft of employer" crimes than all other groups combined. Doesn't matter if it is in AL where they may make up 80% of employees, or MT where they make up less than 5%.

One of us here can speak from a position of authority on the given subject, and yet again it isn't you.

 

[aspen]

It's well after midnight here. I guess that gives a greenlight for you to act like a child.

I spent six years working as a security consultant in the late 90s. I started with Pamida (used to be Gibson) and then moved on to KMart and then the Mall of America in Minneapolis.

While I have not worked with Wal-Mart directly, I have seen the stats. I have, however, worked with multiple police departments. All show the same thing.

Another stat you won't like, but is true none the less. Black Wal-Mart employees - measured by percentage - commit more "theft of employer" crimes than all other groups combined. Doesn't matter if it is in AL where they may make up 80% of employees, or MT where they make up less than 5%.

One of us here can speak from a position of authority on the given subject, and yet again it isn't you.

And economic status played no part in those statistics, I suppose? You are using the same argument against minorities that my parents use - they believe that because they live in California that they understand how minorities really act. What they fail to understand and what you appear to be missing is that shoplifting and other property crimes exist in areas of the country where minorities do not live in large numbers. In my city, property crime is a huge problem - the common denominator? Meth, not minorities. If you review the statistics on meth users, you will see that it is primarily a low income, under educated, white male population that abuses the drug.

 

[Foreigner]

And economic status played no part in those statistics, I suppose? You are using the same argument against minorities that my parents use - they believe that because they live in California that they understand how minorities really act.

-- You are again making an unsubstantiated accusation. What I am saying has nothing at all in common with what your parents are saying.
I am not saying WHY they do what they do. I am only pointing out WHAT they do, within the confines that Brother James originally mentioned.
Of course economic status plays a part. So does upbringing, what you are taught as far as right or wrong, drug use, and feelings of entitlement some have based on their current economic status.

What they fail to understand and what you appear to be missing is that shoplifting and other property crimes exist in areas of the country where minorities do not live in large numbers.

-- What exactly don't I understand? Of course shoplifting and other property crimes exist in areas where few minorities live.
Nothing I said even implies anything different. You pulled this accusation out of thin air.

What I am also pointing out is that in many areas where minorities are minimal, they sometimes still commit those crimes at a level beyond the percentage of their representation for that area. Places in MT and ND, for example. What is so hard to comprehend?

In my city, property crime is a huge problem - the common denominator? Meth, not minorities. If you review the statistics on meth users, you will see that it is primarily a low income, under educated, white male population that abuses the drug.

-- I have absolutely no doubt that what you are saying is true. And not just for your city.
But it isn't drug use that is the primary driver of theft in malls and big-franchise stores.
Most crimes committed by meth users are robbery, assault, theft, and theft by intimidation. Those addicts aren't walking into a Wal-Mart to steal a flat screen TV. They are robbing that TV from the homes of their neighbors or others in their apartment complexes.

You wish to speak in generalities ("property crime," which includes B and E of homes, apartments, closed businesses, cars, etc), while I am speaking in specifics: Theft from stores such as Wal-Mart and Kmart, as Brother James was SPECIFICALLY mentioning.