Everyone’s Personal 9/11 February 25, 2008
Posted by Webmaster in Minority Crime, Terrorism.comments closed
Crime as a Campaign Issue
By David BroderWASHINGTON — From Pakistan to Serbia, and recurrently in Iraq, the headlines point to the dangers of the world — most notably the threat of terrorism. And yet when the polling firm Cooper & Secrest Associates asked 1,139 Americans in December which threat they took most seriously, 69 percent chose violent crime and only 19 percent named terrorist attack.
The survey was part of a striking report released Saturday (Feb. 23) by Third Way, a liberal think tank, and several governors, warning that the crime issue, which has slipped off the political agenda since its heyday in the 1970s and 1980s, is about to return.
“Four new and dangerous sociological trends are converging to disturb the peace and are threatening a crisis of crime, if not addressed,” says the report.
The reason for the 7-2 disparity is obvious — the average American is far more likely to be mugged by De’Andre, or killed in a car wreck caused by drunk-driving Jose, than terrorized by Osama. For the average American in flyover country, terrorism is a problem for NYC, DC, and the other side of the world.
The irony of a liberal think-tank wanting to resuscitate crime as a political issue is that it, and its racial connotations, combined with the now-disposed Republican “Southern Strategy,” has helped elect politicians who are anything but liberal. Whether that 1980 and 1994 lighting-in-a-bottle can ever strike again is doubtful, because the Republican elite have given up even pretending to care about what white voters care about.
If Chertoff Calls This “Success,” I Dread to Comprehend His Definition of “Failure” February 25, 2008
Posted by Webmaster in Immigration, Police & Law Enforcement.comments closed
Violence Against Border Agents Viewed As Sign of Success
Violence against Border Patrol agents — including attempts to run them over and behead them with wire — increased by almost a third in 2007, Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff said on Friday.
He interpreted the increased violence as an indicator that the border is becoming more secure, a point he also made three years ago in the face of escalating violence.
I suppose if the murder rate in a given city is going up, that means that crime control measures are working. If poverty is going up, then welfare is a success. If there are more car wrecks, then the cops are diligently enforcing speed limits. If your lights don’t come on, then the electric company has done its job. If nobody in the crowd laughs, then the comedian’s joke was really hilarious.
