* Violent crime has fallen considerably in most major cities. No one's sure why.

Because no one wants to act like a Republican?

* Violent crime has fallen considerably in most major cities. No one's sure why.

It's not really a mystery. The military decided that DADT was more important than quality people, and lowered their standards for entry. Now we've got the scum off the streets, and in the military.

To quote Yakov Smirnov (sp?): What a country!

If 38 year-old Audra Shay is leader of the "Young" Republicans, the rest of the party must be must be dipping heavily into Social Security and reduced bus and movie tickets.

Frago can be reached at gfrago@atwater.org; I think everyone should drop him a note. Here's my effort:

Sir:

Evidently, you wrote:

“Breaking News Playboy just offered Sarah Palin $1 million to pose nude in the January issue. Michelle Obama got the same offer from National Geographic.”

Increasingly, the Republicans are becoming the party of pin-headed, resentful white people, and nobody else. Since I want the Republican Party and all its evil works to fail, and to fail utterly, I'm grateful for this small contribution you've made to that much-desired end. Please keep running your moronic mouth, and tapping the keys on that computer-thingy. Please.

Sincerely,



Aaron Baker
Evanston, Illinois.

P.S. I'm white by the way. These days, this kind of swill offends most of us, too.

P.P.S. Michelle Obama has more charm in one of her fingertips than you have in your entire ugly, lumpy body. You belong in an issue of Invertebrate Life.

Steve Benen wrote: "Secretary of State Hillary Clinton's trip to India appears to be off to a good start."

A good start?

India rejected binding limits on CO2 emissions, thus eliminating any possibility of avoiding the most catastrophic consequences of anthropogenic global warming.

And, the US and India struck deals to allow US corporations to export more nuclear technology and more advanced weapons systems to a nation that has given the finger to the Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty and developed nuclear weapons with which to threaten its similarly nuclear-armed neighbor Pakistan, with which it has gone to war in the past, and with which it will almost certainly go to war in the future over vanishing fresh water supplies for hundreds of millions of people -- water that originates in Kashmir, from glaciers that are rapidly melting away due to anthropogenic global warming (see above).

I guess if you are really hoping that the human species will be extinct before the end of the century, that's a good start.

People need to wake up and see what is happening to America - thanks to the GOP

Compete America - a coalition group that supports bringing in more skilled labor to America. In fact, these corporations such as Microsoft, Oracle...pay for the visas, education....

GOP that received campaign contributions from insurance companies that are against universal health plans ***example, WellCare Healthplan office was raided by state & fed agents - some of the beneficiaries of donations include John Cornyn, Mitch McConnell, George Voinovich.....

BTW, if you look at the website for Compete America, you will see a list of corporations that are actively seeking lower wages for Americans, or just don't want to hire Americans.

Greenwald: Celebrating Cronkite while ignoring what he did

A brilliant post following the devolution from Cronkite and Halberstam to Gregory and Russert.
(Seasoned with Lapham and Hunter Thompson.)

Greenwald's money quote:

In other words, Cronkite's best moment was when he did exactly that which the modern journalist today insists they must not ever do -- directly contradict claims from government and military officials and suggest that such claims should not be believed. These days, our leading media outlets won't even use words that are disapproved of by the Government.

Despite that, media stars will spend ample time flamboyantly commemorating Cronkite's death as though he reflects well on what they do (though probably not nearly as much time as they spent dwelling on the death of Tim Russert, whose sycophantic servitude to Beltway power ... quite accurately what today's media stars actually do). In fact, within Cronkite's most important moments one finds the essence of journalism that today's modern media stars not only fail to exhibit, but explicitly disclaim as their responsibility.

"I think there are a lot of critics who think that [in the run-up to the Iraq War] . . . . if we did not stand up and say this is bogus, and you're a liar, and why are you doing this, that we didn't do our job. I respectfully disagree. It's not our role" -- David Gregory, MSNBC, May 28, 2008.

"Israel has not been swayed by Americans requests and will continue with its plans for a planned housing project in east Jerusalem."

Israel gets $3 billion a year from American taxpayers. Strings can and should be attached. We need to let them know (as previous presidents from both parties have done) that we'll cut off funding if they continue on this destructive course.

Israel has not been swayed by Americans requests and will continue with its plans for a planned housing project in east Jerusalem.

Couple that news with this below, and the far right Likudniks currently running the show are doing a good job of isolating themselves from support they're going to need. The American Kach Krazies responsible for these outrages in the West Bank really are Nazis.

NABLUS, West Bank (AP) -- More than 30 Israeli settlers, some of them on horseback, set fire to fields and olive trees and stoned Palestinian cars during a rampage in the West Bank on Monday, a Palestinian official said. Two Palestinians were lightly injured.

The settlers went on the rampage near the city of Nablus in the northern West Bank to protest the Israeli army's removal of an unauthorized settlement outpost in the area.

Ghassan Daglas, a Nablus municipality official, said the riot began with 10 settlers on horseback and grew to a mob of 30 south of the city, where the settlers attacked Palestinians who passed in cars.

Daglas said smoke from the burning fields blanketed the area, but no houses were damaged. Daglas said Israeli forces tried to stop the rampaging settlers.

Israel's paramilitary border police force said it arrested one settler.

Israel has pledged to the U.S. to remove more than two dozen tiny, unauthorized settlement outposts in the West Bank, but has taken little action against them. Hardline settlers commonly attack Palestinian property as retaliation for demolished or evacuated settlements - a tactic they call the "price tag."

Peters added that the Taliban can "save us a lot of legal hassles and legal bills" by killing the American serviceman. -- Steve Benen

Makes me wonder what Peters thinks of McCain's public performance for Viet Cong, all those years ago.

Secular Animist, @17:55,
Thanks for the check. When I saw Steve's "good start", I thought that, maybe, India has reversed itself overnight. Because, when I read the news yesterday, it looked to me like "couldn't have been worse", not "a good start". Benen, you need new glasses, with the rose tint removed :)

Regarding Audra Shay. She ran against a woman convicted of voter fraud ....

http://www.politico.com/blogs/bensmith/0209/Vote_fraud_at_issue_in_YR_race.html

There's a choice for you.

TCinLA, I'm highly sympathetic to your point of view and almost certainly share it, but please don't call them Nazis. It's a conversation-ender. Call them Kachniks, nutballs, jerks, assholes, racists... but not Nazis.

Animist,

You profess outrage that we're sharing nuclear power technology with India while at the same time being outraged that they won't reduce their greenhouse gas emissions and warn that they'll go to war in the future with Pakistan over water supplies. Yet if we would freely share our metal fuel technology for their fast reactors they would be able to not only eliminate the bulk of their emissions but would also be able to commence desalination on a massive scale to preclude any future wars over water. Moaning about the problems while trying to take the best solution off the table guarantees a no-win situation. It's like pro-lifers trying to stop birth control.

FooBar: You mean to tell me Ann Coulter was running for President of the Young Republicans? She's pushing that definition even harder than Audra, isn't she?

Re Ralph Peters's disgusting and contemptible remark about Bergdahl, there are two possible explanations why he might say that.
a) He knows that after Abu Ghraib, Guantanamo,the televised humiliation of Saddam Hussein after his capture, and the news that every bit of "evidence" we ever had for Saddam Hussein's WMD came from torture, he knows we have no moral standing to condemn the Taliban for using a prisoner in a video. So he attacks the prisoner instead.
b) This is the network on which Bill O'Reilly opined that the child victims of a kidnapper and sexual abuser probably liked their ordeal, and Peters is a company kinda guy. Murdoch, give him a raise.

SecularAnimist: I guess if you are really hoping that the human species will be extinct before the end of the century, that's a good start.

Here are some advances in climate science reported within the last month:

improved modeling of aerosol-induced global warming effects;

insolation linked to El Nino and La Nina.

If those two studies are supported by results of future research, then the effect of CO2 on global warming has been seriously over-estimated.

Also, it has been reported that all of the radiation passing through the atmosphere that could be absorbed by CO2 (the narrow range of wavelengths) already is nearly 100% absorbed, so that future accumulation of CO2 will not raise earth temperature. I am looking for a peer-reviewed source. If you come across a refutation or confirmation of this assertion, please post the link.

Walter Cronkite dead is a better journalist than the crew now on tv.

Maybe crime is down nationwide because America has been able to slowly deport all the "criminals" while everyone has been distracted by the poor economy and countless other more important problems plaguing this country.

Today the TARP special auditor released a report to Congress stating that the total cost for TARP could reach $23.7 trillion dollars.

23.7 trillion dollars to fix capitalism. That's roughly $78,000 per person.

When somebody tells you universal single payer heath care is too expensive, tell them it's a freaking deal compared to fixing capitalism.

Time for Lou Dobbs to exit stage right and follow Glen Beck over to Faux news, where journalism need not apply and they hate everybody.

Crime is down! Hmm, let me see. I think crime has been spread almost equally.

Thanks to Willard Romney, his Sober Living by the Sea facilities. The group homes, half-way houses tend to reach almost all areas of Cali, including Laguna Beach, Newport Beach.....

So exactly what kind of crimes are they talking about? Robbery and theft is on the rise, due to the GOP policies which caused the biggest increase in drug use in modern history. In addition, robbery & theft is on the rise due to jobless & homeless.

Drug use is on the rise due to people that couldn't handle the pressure of losing their jobs, their families & their money. **No job, no pension, no health care, divorces...

another China energy story:

electricity from chicken manure

Since it qualifies for CDMs, a Chinese coal-fired power plant can buy offsets from them, should China try to control CO2 emissions. For the time being, however, Chinese CDMs are mostly bought by the EU.

"I think there are a lot of critics who think that [in the run-up to the Iraq War] . . . . if we did not stand up and say this is bogus, and you're a liar, and why are you doing this, that we didn't do our job. I respectfully disagree. It's not our role" -- David Gregory, MSNBC, May 28, 2008.

I agree with the Gregory that the strawman he erected should be burned down.

However, it was their job to disclose that there were respectable people in the nuclear regulatory field, some U.N. officials, who said there were NO nukes in Iraq. They should have reported the full story instead of just reading their steno pads full of White House quotes.

Mr. Ralph Peters, wow, how disgusting!!!

see www.awolbush.com/whoserved.html

Here's a long list of those who served in the military/and those who didn't

Those who didn't:
1)McConnell
2)John Kyl
3)John Cornyn
4)John Ensign
5)John Boehner
6)Rush Limbaugh
7)Willard Romney
8)Bill O'Reilly
9)Bill Kristol
10)George Will

Take a look for yourself - all these guys are dictating policy, caused tremendous damage to the country and its people.

There's no helping me. I am just too fucking dumb to get a link right even with my hand held.

BTW, this list Arnold "the terminator" as going AWOL from the military to pursue bodybuilding!!!

* Violent crime has fallen considerably in most major cities. No one's sure why.

Going out on a limb here...maybe there's a correlation between fairness and justice (or perceived fairness and justice) in the larger society and the length of people's fuses. Is it possible that when people perceive that they are being or are going to be treated more fairly for a change, it mellows them out a bit?

I don't know but it's kind of an interesting theory. Especially given that the same correlation was noted between the go-go bubble 1920's (high rate of violent crime) and the economically depressed 1930's (much lower rate of violent crime). You would expect people under great economic distress to be more on a hair-trigger. Maybe when government promotes a dog-eat-dog world, more dogs eat each other? And when it looks more like it's interested in preventing the big dogs from feeding on all us little dogs...fewer dogs get eaten? Interesting if true.

Article says police are taking credit for it, and they may deserve some of the credit where they're doing more community beat policing...but most people are killed by people they know, and those killings aren't really what beat policing prevents. Something else is going on.

* Audra Shay's election to head the Young Republicans National Federation is so wrong, it's even drawing fire from Joe Scarborough.

Ah, come on. What's wrong with having an unrepentant racist running a visible republican group? It is quite thoughtful of them to show us what to expect plainly for a change, rather than try to hide it behind dog whistles and double-talk.

[...] most people are killed by people they know, and those killings aren't really what beat policing prevents. Something else is going on. -- Jennifer, @8:44 PM |

You're less likely to kill your spouse, even if he's a louse of the first order, if your health insurance "goes" with him? During the Great Depression, the divorce rates went down, too, for similar reasons.

***"In a rather shocking display, conservative media figure Ralph Peters appeared on Fox News yesterday and, without proof, called Bergdahl "an apparent deserter." Peters added that
the Taliban can "save us a lot of legal hassles and legal bills" by killing the American serviceman.

:(

I watched that segment, stuck at a hospital, and was horrified by those remarks. It was so excruciating that someone like Peters, that random, ridiculous guy, could be so devastatingly definite about Bergdahl's situation--without proof whatsoever. It was just awful that this Peters person was so judgmental--judge and jury.
WTF??
I thought--how in the hell does he know??
Bergdahl seemed so frightened, alone, traumatized.
I hate Fox News.

Hang his ashes by a lamppost

NYT obit on Frank McCourt:

“When the book was published in Ireland, I was denounced from hill, pulpit and barstool,” he told the online magazine Slate in 2007. “Certain citizens claimed I had disgraced the fair name of the city of Limerick, that I had attacked the church, that I had despoiled my mother’s name and that if I returned to Limerick, I would surely be found hanging from a lamppost.”

The Mayor of Limerick would like the McCourt family to consider scattering some of the Pulitzer Prize-winning author's ashes over the River Shannon in the city that he captured so vividly in his memoir Angela's Ashes.

A great storyteller...
Mr. McCourt would have found something funny in all that.
RIP.

During the Great Depression, the divorce rates went down, too, for similar reasons.

But abandonment of spouses and children went up. I don't know about domestic violence.

TCinLA, I'm highly sympathetic to your point of view and almost certainly share it, but please don't call them Nazis. It's a conversation-ender. Call them Kachniks, nutballs, jerks, assholes, racists... but not Nazis.

No, the conversation enders are all the idiots who get hung-up on fucking semantics, and use that as an excuse not to deal with the reality of the situation and instead allow the slow-motion genocide of the Palestinians, financed with US tax-payer money, to continue unabated.

please don't call them Nazis. It's a conversation-ender.

Call them social conservatives. The same people everywhere.

Rachel Maddow kicks ass back to Pat Buchanan:

She takes time in her show to reflect and then dispute his flagrant fallacious commentary that was left hanging there from their 'debate' on Friday... I put debate in quotes, because Buchanan just rattles on and on in a way that is incredibly manipulative, like a machine gun, shooting rapid, multiple bullets...loaded indeed.

Rachel: I know that may not have been easy, but that was perhaps the most important rebuttal to date I've seen you make.

Thank you for speaking the truth, for all of us.

You forget the number cheekenhawk(said in a French accent) - Richard Bruce Cheney. 5, count 'em 5 deferments. Also too,his daughter Lying Lizzie.

I finally saw the segment about the Peters comment on the evening news.

Wow, because the guy gets captured, he's accused of desertion?

If memory serves me right, there are a lot of military personnel that have not been diagnosed with mental disorders.

Then to make a comment that he should be killed!

Shouldn't they be concerned that the guy could easily give away some security secrets, battle plans?

Seem to me like the guy is broken-hearted, broken-spirit, and just mentally broken.

Just because they showed him eating, I guess the GOP feels he should avoid food and lose his strength-or starve.

Interesting how the GOP has this 'fight mentality' but somehow 2/3 of the GOP that's making policy just didn't serve in the military.

Also, another interesting note, while looking at the website www.awolbush.com/whoserved.html - the top guy at NRA also didn't serve.

But abandonment of spouses and children went up. I don't know about domestic violence. -- shortstop, @21:20

I don't know, either. Don't think anyone was keeping track of that then, since slapping your chattels *in* the home (wife and children) was considered a perfectly legitimate way of venting a bit of steam, when things went wrong *outside* the home. Not worth mentioning, unless someone ended up dead. I was born much later than the Great Depression and I still remember one of my village uncles advising my father on how to deal with a "lippy" wife: "pounded meat is more tender"...

Disputo - a good site to see about the Palestinians is freegaza.org **must have a strong stomach, some of the pix are horrific.

Fostert & MichaelW - where are you!!!

" ... but please don't call them Nazis."

Belief in master race. Check.
Acquiring Lebenstraum via war. Check.
State based on maintenance of racial purity. Check.
Ultimate goal of state to restore historic empire. Check
Subjugation of lesser races into ghettos. Check.

Probably missing a few things.

haven't verified this, but, on the radio news, the rumor is that an a guy from the O.C. enlisted in the military - he was autistic - he went AWOL, they sentenced him to I think 4 yrs.

Another active military USAF, went to have gall bladder surgery, somehow, the doctors made a mistake which cause the guy to lose both legs, and they still haven't removed his gall bladder. Apparently, he's still in intensive care.
The reporter went on to say, that because he is active military, he 'cannot' sue the doctors for the medical mistake, because military personnel is barred from bringing a suit!

WTH!!

check out this link on Healthcare.

Hopefully it will get enough views that Senators will take notice....

Youtube

It's about the amount of money the blue dogs have been taking... the clip doesn't mince words... Those Senators were BRIBED by big Pharma and Insurance companies

MatthewRQuarreler: There's no helping me. I am just too fucking dumb to get a link right even with my hand held.

I, by way contrast, got 2 out of 3 today. Not that it matters, since no one likes Science magazine anyway.

Fostert & MichaelW - where are you!!!

Posted by: annjell on July 20, 2009 at 10:55 PM

Not sure if you mean me here, but I took some time off to make dinner for hubby and spend time with him and the dogs, and watch the season premier of Torchwood on BBC America.

I'm not sure that I could have added much to the conversation that hasn't already been said.

Yes, Michael W, I meant you!!!

I was hoping for just that, for you to have a lot of conversation.

Especially with the Troop kidnapped by the Taliban - interesting that he lives in a RED State, Idaho. Not one of his state reps made a statement to counterattack Ralph Peters.

But then, we all know the GOP will throw anyone under the bus.

I pulled up an article about this. According to the Taliban, the soldier was "intoxicated when he was abducted."

I may be wrong, but, I don't think the Taliban would say he was intoxicated if he wasn't.

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Crime is not down in US territories - like St. Croix of the U.S. Virgin Islands.

ATF agent charged with murder in St. Croix -
St. Croix under 'consent decree'
after Agent charged, all ATF agents left the islands.
Crime is the highest of all Caribbean Islands
Hookah Bar opens in St. Croix
A large atheist following in St. Croix - most from mainland.
Police dept can't keep officers due to crime

Mr Benen, thank you for, finally, recognizing the passing of Walter Cronkite. I was surprised on Friday, that you did not include this on your list. However, thank you, also, to koreyel for posting that comment from Greenwald. Shuster has fallen into that "fair and balanced" trap, thus, alleviating himself and others who falsely believe they are journalists from having any moral duty to their country. Cronkite considered himself to be a Jeffersonian Democrat, but, did not let his political leanings stop him from criticizing LBJ's mis-guided steps into the deathtrap of Viet Nam.

Ralph Peters has become akin to the Japanese military of 1905 who believed any soldier captured by the Russians and who survied was suspect and treated as an outcast once back in his unit. And, the US still pays Peters his military pension for wandering around and spewing such swill.

A large atheist following in St. Croix - most from mainland.

What is the relevance of this to your stream-of-consciousness "reporting" on St. Croix crime, annjell? I can't wait to hear this.

St Croix? Why not more coverage of the really pressing issues of why food and alcohol prices are so high in Iceland? Kinda tough to brown bag it while enjoying the marvelous hot springs.

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thanks for the post.
I don't know, either. Don't think anyone was keeping track of that then, since slapping your chattels *in* the home (wife and children) was considered a perfectly legitimate way of venting a bit of steam, when things went wrong *outside* the home. Not worth mentioning, unless someone ended up dead. I was born much later than the Great Depression and I still remember one of my village uncles advising my father on how to deal with a "lippy" wife: "pounded meat is more tender"...

I think your blog is very good, very poetic, also very talented, hope you can pay attention to my blog, thank you for coming.

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