[sulu]

When streetlights start going out in a major city because people are stealing the wire and selling it for scrap-- congratulations-- you live in a third world country.

[org.whodat]

When streetlights start going out in a major city because people are stealing the wire and selling it for scrap-- congratulations-- you live in a third world country.

BTTT

[mnehring]

Or copper has become a valuable commodity worth the risk of stealing.

[Oldexpat]

Stealing copper wire..stealing electrical power.
All Third World enviroment. Brought to you by politicians that won’t stop the flood.
It is time to vote them out..

[Jeff Chandler]

This is Bush’s fault. And a quagmire. We’re in the middle of a civil war in Los Angeles that we have no business being in.

[goldstategop]

Its profitable. Copper is the latest underworld craze.

"Show me just what Mohammed brought that was new, and there you will find things only evil and inhuman, such as his command to spread by the sword the faith he preached." - Manuel II Palelologus

[erikm88]

My sister-in-law and her husband recently moved to New Orleans to help rebuild (he is a contractor). They are rennovating a house they just bought down there and copper theft is HUGE! I don’t think they have had anything stolen yet, but new builds are always getting hit by copper theft.

[Iron Munro]

Celebrate Diversity.

This is just a way to express cultural heritage.

[joe fonebone]

COPPER!!!???!! definately third world....hell, here in detroit they are stealing catalitic converters and ripping the platinum out to sell......

[Tarpon]

Same thing is happening around here, stripping street lights, bridge guard rails and other installations where metal can be quickly stolen and then resold as scrap. They are also stealing outside AC units and pool heaters. It’s the third worlders way of earning money.

My way would be to show them the door.

[thefactor]

this has been going on since the lights were put up. at least in NYC where i live. good source of income for the homeless people. they just figured it out now in LA?

[caseinpoint]

I was reading a Theordore Dalrymple column the other night about how in England thieves are making off with brass door knockers and stealing roofs from churches, schools and even courthouses. Metal thievery is big and Dalrymple puts the blame for metal prices on China’s voracious need in its industrialization efforts.

[maggief]

Celine Let them touch those things for once

[CGTRWK]

Amateurs loot civilization at night with wirecutters.

Professionals loot civilization in a courtroom in broad daylight, and some of them use the proceeds to run for President.

[dragnet2]

Street lights are a robbery of tax payer income.

My car has headlights that work just perfect.

In addition, anyone notice that all these major cities are lit up like Vegas, yet they have the most crime? In fact, the bigger the city, the more light, the more crime.

Get rid of the street lights.

[bjs1779]

The government counts that as employment and adds that data now in their jobs report. /s

[Yo-Yo]

Stealing copper happened in the 1970s, and was even the subject of a Sanford and Son episode.

[KayEyeDoubleDee]

For anybody who is an electronics geek, and is worried about voltage surges killing electronics equipment, here's a new scam that could hurt you badly: Apparently the thieves will go around to people's houses and pull out the copper grounding rod [in most code zones, it will be 8 feet long], saw off all but six inches of it, and push those six inches back in the ground [so that it looks like you still have a grounding rod].

Also, they've been known to crawl under people's houses and literally rip out the copper water pipes.

[CarrotAndStick]

[OrioleFan]

"If I had an extra million dollars I could put 10 graffiti crews on the streets."

Remind Nancy Pelosi and Barbara Boxer to put that in the next Homeland Security or Defense Budget.

[Nathan Zachary]

It’s a quagmire, withdraw all the police and city workers! Isn’t that what a liberal would say? That’s what they say about Iraq when those idiots steal all the copper wire faster than the army engineers can string it up.

I say let LA live in the dark, it cuts down on “greenhouse gases”. Besides, street lights make it harder for those honest, hard working illegals to ake a living stealing the stuff Americans don’t want to. /s