The three most important factors in your REAL ESTATE decision:
"LOCATION, LOCATION, LOCATION!"

Will it be Diwaniyeh (Iraq) or Dinuba (California)?







Historian Victor Davis Hanson does an unscientific analysis of his recent experiences at home and away, coming to the conclusion that security is a challenge everywhere, and on any given day California can feel like a war zone. Hanson wonders how Californians would feel if their dark side were publicized daily in a way comparable to mainstream reporting on Iraq. The statistics would be a little daunting if

...the world awoke each morning to be told that once again there were six more murders, 27 rapes, 38 arsons, 180 robberies, and 360 instances of assault in California — yesterday, today, tomorrow, and every day... Another $20 million spent today on housing our criminals... Another $100 million borrowed today — $3 billion more in red ink to pile up by month’s end!

And on and on and on. [California: Golden State or hellhole? Film at 11:00.....]

Hanson recently returned to California from a brief sojourn in the Sunni Triangle. Things had not been so peaceful in his absence:

While I was gone, a drug-addicted criminal with a long list of convictions broke into our kitchen at 4 a.m., was surprised by my wife and daughter, and fled with our credit cards, cash, keys, and cell phones.

Sometimes I wonder who really was safer that week.

I'm not picking on Dinuba, by the way -- it just pairs up euphoniously with the Iraqi reference. (However it does have a violent crime rate 25% higher than the national average, and property crime is about 35% higher. Ahem.)