In another blow to the Motor City's tarnished image, Detroit pushed past St. Louis to become the nation's most dangerous city, according to a private research group's controversial analysis, released Sunday, of annual FBI crime statistics.

Here we go with this again..

Ranked Most Dangerous
1. Detroit, Michigan
2. St. Louis, Missouri
3. Flint, Michigan
4. Oakland, California
5. Camden, New Jersey
6. Birmingham, Alabama
7. North Charleston, South Carolina
8. Memphis, Tennessee
9. Richmond, California
10. Cleveland, Ohio

Jersey will always have Camden. It's never going away.

I've got a peeve to bitch about here... I am completely puzzled as to why no one yammers on about Michigan being a shithole, while Jersey is widely seen as America's armpit. They have _two_ cities entrenched in serious positions on that list... Screw Michigan, seriously..

Now that I've gotten that load off my chest, I would like to point out that the truly nefarious thing going on here is the "Safest Cities" list:

Ranked Safest
1. Mission Viejo, California
2. Clarkstown, New York
3. Brick Township, New Jersey
4. Amherst, New York
5. Sugar Land, Texas
6. Colonie, New York
7. Thousand Oaks, California
8. Newton, Massachusetts
9. Toms River Township, N.J.
10. Lake Forest, California

I know both Brick Township and Toms River really well. I went to high school in Toms River and I'm in Brick all the time. These may be very safe places, as compared to somewhere like Lebanon, but all the factors that make it work out that way also contribute greatly to why they are miserable places to actually reside.

Brick Township does not "feel" safe. I can't think of another place in the US that has such a high ratio of police to people, and I work in downtown Washington, where we bathe in a sea of constant high security.. Brick is scary, because there doesn't appear to be any reason why it's necessary for it to be a police state like environment. It feels like it's unsafe as hell, because there are always cops, everywhere. There is a constant feeling that something should be going really wrong, if for no other reason than to justify why there are so many damn cops.

Next time you find yourself in the great Garden State, I suggest putting on Police and Thieves by The Clash and taking a nice drive through one of these two lovely Jersey Shore communities. You will find yourself weaving through a sea of police cars much like you would taxis in NYC, and saying things like "They must be looking for someone..."

But you will be safe... Very safe.