Opps!, I got that last part wrong. The European average is 87 prisoners per 100,000 of the population so, I guess, the US is running at about a tad under 8 times as many people in prison per 100,000 than the Euro average.
Hardball host Chris Matthews call my neighborhood one of the seediest in the country. We folk who live here like to think of it as a neigborhood in transition. And it has improved over the past 8-10 years. With housing costs so high in the Bay Area many people who wouldn’t even have driven through, now live here. But it has a reputaion that goes back about 80 years, so it will probably take another 80 years to shake it. It’s not a place where gang wars are going on, it just looks like a rundown section of town, with a lot of freaks hanging out. I feel safe, but I’m wierd, and I do stay out of the “really bad” parts at night. Great location, close to everything. And some wild places to hang out, if you feel daring. No, the new yuppies who live here don’t party here. They go uptown and tell everyone they live on Nob Hill.