"Who woulda thought/Slim Shady would be somethin that you woulda bought/that woulda made you get a gun and shoot at a cop/I just said it - I ain't know if you'd do it or not"

Police officer Dillon Stewart was killed in Brooklyn on November 19th following a car chase with a man who had run a red light. The bullet hit Officer Stewart under his left armpit just above the panels of his bullet-resistant vest. Apparently, this is a common problem with bullet-proof vests and has been a complaint among wearers for some time.

The blame game is in full effect. Gov. Pataki blames the lack of death penalty use in NY State. Various people blame lax federal gun laws. The Daily News blames the Criminal Court system. But the NY Post wins the prize for stupid with the most absurd editorial on the whole situation. Whose fault was the shooting? Basically, 50 Cent made him do it.

The editorial starts with a condemnation of the 'number of illegal guns in the city' but then quickly blames the 'perverted culture that feeds gun violence'. It mentions the violence at 50 Cent's movie, the murders of Jam Master Jay, Tupac and Biggie but also focuses on, completely nonsensically since these things are only marginally connected to violence, the money laundering case against Irv Gotti, and the perjury charges against Lil Kim. They quote lyrics by Lil Kim and 50 Cent, proving beyond any doubt that these people promote violence.

The editorial ends with this thought: Still wonder what motivates a thug like Allan Cameron? We don't. How the rap-rats sleep at night remains a mystery, however.

How do they sleep? They 'lay up in the sheets in presidential suites', so the Post doesn't need to worry about them getting their rest. They sleep just as soundly as Marilyn Manson or Judas Priest or Ozzy Osbourne or any number of musicians whose lyrics have been ridiculously blamed for various atrocities.

But what I want to know is how they know Allan Cameron is such a huge rap fan? I've read several articles on the killing and there is no mention of hip-hop in any of them. Is it just because he's black that he must've been a rap fan? Isn't that kind of, I don't know, racist? What evidence does the Post have that Cameron was even remotely motivated by rap music? Or that he was even a listener?

And, if they are drawing this assumption because he's black, can we then assume that Officer Stewart was also bumping 50 on the car stereo as he had his run-in with Cameron, since Stewart was also black?

Also, staying with the race theme, the title of this post is a lyric from white rapper Eminem. How come no blame for him from the Post?

It makes me so mad that I have to call 'racist!' on anything. I'm a conservative! We don't do that. But I don't see another explanation for this editorial. I would love to be enlightened. Robert? Ryan? Am I completely off-base here?

The funniest thing about using rap music as a target for all that ills society is that the blame is extremely effective in promoting rap music to youth. Young people will immediately be drawn to anything forbidden and assigning all this power to rap music will only make it more appealing.

But what do I know? I'm a hip-hop fan so clearly anything I say or do is far beyond my own control. 50 Cent controls me and made me write this post. I must do his bidding.