On the Wright Issue's Damage to Obama

John Fund has this at today's WSJ's Political Diary:

Mr. Obama is going to have to address his continued weakness with white, working-class voters. He won North Carolina on the strength of getting 93% of the black vote, and since blacks made up a third of the electorate in the Tar Heel State, the African-American vote was able to carry him to victory. But he won only 38% of white Democrats and only 42% of independent voters.

In Indiana it was no better. He won half of the vote on the strength of his showing in urban Gary and Indianapolis, but was trounced 65% to 35% among white Democrats and also lost independent voters. The Rev. Wright and Mr. Obama's remarks in San Francisco about rural voters have taken a toll -- two-thirds of Democrats in both states who voted for Mrs. Clinton told exit pollsters they would be dissatisfied with Mr. Obama as the nominee. . . .

Few robberies solved in UK through CCTVs

If only three percent of the robberies are solved as a result of CCTV, it isn't particularly surprising that they had no impact on the number of crimes. It doesn't seem that this satisfies the cost-benefit test. The billions spent on this could have put a lot of police officers on the street. The Guardian has the story here:

Massive investment in CCTV cameras to prevent crime in the UK has failed to have a significant impact, despite billions of pounds spent on the new technology, a senior police officer piloting a new database has warned. Only 3% of street robberies in London were solved using CCTV images, despite the fact that Britain has more security cameras than any other country in Europe. . . . .

THe problem is apparently even worse than this. Not only are few crimes solved, but the shots from the cameras are apparently not very useful in court.

Use of CCTV images for court evidence has so far been very poor, according to Detective Chief Inspector Mick Neville, the officer in charge of the Metropolitan police unit. "CCTV was originally seen as a preventative measure," Neville told the Security Document World Conference in London. "Billions of pounds has been spent on kit, but no thought has gone into how the police are going to use the images and how they will be used in court. It's been an utter fiasco: only 3% of crimes were solved by CCTV. There's no fear of CCTV. Why don't people fear it? [They think] the cameras are not working."

Obama unjustified attack on Clinton

Obama claims that Clinton's win in Indiana doesn't count because Republicans crossed over to vote for her, but Obama has himself actively encouraged Republicans to vote for him in states such as Pennsylvania.

Barack Obama’s campaign issued an e-mail on Tuesday night that appeared to relegate Hillary Clinton’s lead in Indiana to efforts by Rush Limbaugh to wreak havoc in the Democratic presidential primary contest.

Indiana's voter ID rules have almost no problems

Very few problems reported with Indiana's voter ID rules:

But there were few other such incidents reported across the state, which has one of the strictest laws in the country, requiring voters to have a photo ID issued by the state or federal government. After the Supreme Court upheld the law by a 6-3 ruling last month, there was widespread speculation that the ruling could hurt Barack Obama in the primary, since he was counting on strong turnout among African American voters in inner city neighborhoods in Gary and Indianapolis where many residents lack drivers' licenses. But Obama spokesman Bill Burton said this evening that the campaign had received only scattered complaints on the voter hotline it set up to deal with problems at the polls. He credited the campaign's aggressive voter outreach effort to make sure supporters had the ID they would need. (Residents without driver's licenses can obtain free picture IDs at department of motor vehicle branches.)

Bethany Derringer, a spokeswoman for the Indiana Secretary of State's office, said the office also had not received many complaints on a hotline it set up for today's vote. She said that should not come as a surprise, given that the state's voters have had to contend with the strict law since 2005. "We've had nothing earth-shattering," she said. "We've done extensive education on this."

There was one area producing reports of voters being turned away: the state's private colleges. Under the state law, out of state students may vote, but only if they have the proper ID. Students at public colleges could use their student IDs, since those are technically "state-issued," but students at private colleges could not. Representatives with the Student PIRG New Voters Project who were stationed at three private colleges -- Notre Dame, St. Mary's College, and Butler University -- for several hours reported more than a dozen instances of students being turned away for not having proper identification. . . .

"Neighbor lends hand in foiling crime"

911 didn't wasn't particularly fast here:

Neighbor lends hand in foiling crime
By BEVIN PEPPARD
The Marion Star

PROSPECT - Tim Sheehan said he's grateful to an alert neighbor who confronted two Grove City men suspected of burglarizing the Prospect Pharmacy early Monday morning.

"That's above and beyond the call of duty of a neighbor," said Sheehan, owner/operator of the pharmacy at 171 S. Main St. "They wouldn't have been caught without him."

Around 1 a.m. Monday, the man, whose identity is not being released, heard a noise and witnessed two men entering the store, said Chief Deputy Al Hayden with the Marion County Sheriff's Office.

First, he called 9-1-1. Then, armed with a firearm, he confronted the two men.
"The alarm went off when they went in and they ran," Sheehan said. "(Deputies) caught up to them on their way out of town."

The neighbor was able to give a description of the suspects' vehicle and deputies who arrived on the scene spotted it and began to follow it.

With the help of the Delaware County Sheriff's Office, the vehicle was stopped on U.S. 23. . . . .

Thanks to David Kohler for sending this link.

NY Times describes how controlled rental rates are set

No reason to make sure that those who value the apartments the most are the ones who get them. This is a civilized way of setting prices:

In June 2006, hundreds of jeering tenants with drums, whistles and handmade rattles tried to shut down a board meeting, prompting the board chairman, Marvin Markus, to call a two-and-a-half-hour recess. The notice for tonight’s meeting warned that “items that are reasonably likely to disrupt the proceedings, such as noisemakers and drums, are prohibited and may not be brought into the meeting venue.”

Thanks to Jack Langer for sending me this link.

Weren't there any politicians who opposed this?

Connecticut doesn't seem to have anyone who opposes making the state poorer:

The state Senate gave final — and unanimous — legislative approval Monday to a tough new bill requiring drastic reduction of greenhouse gas emissions connected to global warming, and the GOP leader in the Senate said he expects Republican Gov. M. Jodi Rell to sign it into law.

"I'd be surprised if she didn't," Senate Minority Leader John McKinney, R-Fairfield, said after the Senate quickly passed, by a 35-0 vote, the same bill the House last week debated more than four hours before approving. . . .

"The clerk first used a Taser, but it did not stop the robber. Police said the clerk then shot the suspect."

At least the clerk had his gun when the taser failed to stop the armed robber. The article is here:

Store clerk shoots would-be robber
MIKE BRANOM, East Valley Tribune
A man’s attempted armed robbery of a central Mesa store was foiled Sunday when the clerk fought back with a Taser, his fists and a handgun, police said.

The 30-year-old suspect, shot several times by a clerk at Mesa Mart, 1510 S. Country Club Drive, was listed in critical condition at Scottsdale Healthcare Osborn, police spokeswoman Detective Chris Arvayo said.

Although the 55-year-old clerk had been assaulted with a pipe, he did not require extensive medical attention.

The clerk most likely will not face any criminal charges.

“He’s got the right to defend himself,” Arvayo said.

However, the suspect probably will be charged “once he’s better,” Arvayo said.

The incident began about 8 a.m., when the suspect entered the store near U.S. 60. He then demanded money while striking the clerk with a pipe.

The clerk first used a Taser, but it did not stop the robber. Police said the clerk then shot the suspect. . . .

New Op-ed up at Fox News: Real Economic Truth

The new piece with Maxim Lott is here:

Does the media accurately report economic news? Some are raising that question after the release of several highly anticipated economic reports last week.

The new data show that the United States is not in a recession, as the economy continues to grow. Fewer jobs have been lost than expected, with unemployment staying low at 5 percent. And the stock market has been surging over the last few months, with the Dow Jones Industrials average rising back over 13,000 last Thursday.

But many news articles are painting a different picture. . . .

Obama's Meet the Press Interview

Obama on Meet the Press yesterday mentioned this:

And I--you know, some, some of the reporting that implies that somehow he's my spiritual advisor or mentor, as he himself said, overstated things. He was my pastor, and he built a terrific church.

Rev. Wright's sermons were filled with politics. It is hard to listen to them and not hear just a constant political discussion. I don't think that Wright knows the difference between politics and religion.

It's in my DNA to believe that we can bring this country together . . .

All I can say is that the Obama that I knew at Chicago didn't seem to want to discuss issues with people with whom he disagreed.

Police stop shooting spree at a Walmart in Texas

The Austin Statesman story is here:

Austin police say officers thwarted a possible shooting spree last week at a South Austin Wal-Mart by a former employee who was found in the store with a 9 mm handgun and numerous rounds of ammunition, according to arrest affidavits. . . .

Why Oprah Winfrey left Wright's church

Newsweek has the explanation here:

According to two sources, Winfrey was never comfortable with the tone of Wright's more incendiary sermons, which she knew had the power to damage her standing as America's favorite daytime talk-show host. "Oprah is a businesswoman, first and foremost," said one longtime friend, who requested anonymity when discussing Winfrey's personal sentiments. "She's always been aware that her audience is very mainstream, and doing anything to offend them just wouldn't be smart. She's been around black churches all her life, so Reverend Wright's anger-filled message didn't surprise her. But it just wasn't what she was looking for in a church." Oprah's decision to distance herself came as a surprise to Wright, who told Christianity Today in 2002 that when he would "run into her socially … she would say, 'Here's my pastor!' " (Winfrey declined to comment. A Harpo Productions spokesperson would not confirm her reasons for leaving the church.) . . .

Friends of Sen. Barack Obama, whose relationship with Wright has rocked his bid for the White House, insist that it would be unfair to compare Winfrey's decision to leave Trinity United with his own decision to stay. "[His] reasons for attending Trinity were totally different,'' said one campaign adviser, who declined to be named discussing the Illinois senator's sentiments. "Early on, he was in search of his identity as an African-American and, more importantly, as an African-American man. Reverend Wright and other male members of the church were instrumental in helping him understand the black experience in America. Winfrey wasn't going for that. She's secure in her blackness, so that didn't have a hold on her.'' And while Winfrey, who has endorsed Obama and campaigned on his behalf, had long understood the perils of a close association with Wright, friends say she was blindsided by the pastor's personal assault on Obama. "She felt that Wright would never do anything to hurt a man who looked up to him as a father figure," said her close friend. "She also never thought he'd intentionally hurt someone trying to make history and change the lives of so many people.''

An interview with the reporter by Greta on Fox News can be found here. This is a very bad interview for Obama. Greta seems bothered by the fact that Oprah understood how bad this is but that Obama didn't. The explanation offered by the reporter doesn't seem to satisfy Greta and I don't think that it would satisfy my other people.

Here I thought that they cared about Greenhouse gases

Bison produce large amounts of methane, which is a very powerful greenhouse gas. Yet, environmental groups want to there to again be many millions of bison roaming North America (up from the current 500,000, which seems large to me).

Clinton goes after Obama on guns

The Politico has two pieces up on Clinton attacking Obama's views on guns.

1) Notes that Obama favored a ban on handguns, told people he supported the 2nd amendment to get their votes, and that "bitter" people "cling to guns."

2) That the picture that Clinton used on her mailing was not of a real gun.

Thanks very much to Tony Troglio for sending me these links.

Taser goes to court to keep it from being listed as a cause of death in autopsies

The Arizona Republic reports:

Judge rules for Taser in cause-of-death decisions
by Robert Anglen - May. 2, 2008 07:28 PM
The Arizona Republic
Taser International has fired a warning shot at medical examiners across the country.

The Scottsdale-based stun gun manufacturer increasingly is targeting state and county medical examiners with lawsuits and lobbying efforts to reverse and prevent medical rulings that Tasers contributed to someone's death.

That effort on Friday helped lead an Ohio judge's order to remove Taser's name from three Summit County Medical Examiner autopsies that had ruled the stun gun contributed to three men's deaths.

"We will hold people accountable and responsible for untrue statements," Taser spokesman Steve Tuttle said earlier this week. "If that includes medical examiners, it includes medical examiners."Many medical examiners, who are charged with determining the official causes of death, view the Scottsdale-based company's efforts as disturbing, the spokesman for the National Association of Medical Examiners says.

"It is dangerously close to intimidation," says Jeff Jentzen, president of the National Association of Medical Examiners. "At this point, we adamantly reject the fact that people can be sued for medical opinions that they make." . . .

Alice Walker on C-Span this morning

I heard Alice Walker, the author of The Color Purple, talk about owning a rifle for protection against the Klan. Here is a similar discussion by her:

Both books deal with some of the same topics, such as the Ku Klux Klan's death threats to the young family in Mississippi. Rebecca describes how 'Daddy sits in sometimes with the rifle and the dog waiting for the Klan to come'. Her description of her own graduation day in San Francisco makes clear the tension that existed by then between her parents: 'My parents are careful and each guarded, both of them skating across the surface studiously avoiding waters they might lack the skill to navigate. My father sits in our living-room like a stranger... my mother sits in a rocking chair, shelling pecans and offering uncharacteristically terse replies.'

The discussion on C-SPAN involved how the rifle was there for protection of the children.

One person who was removed from jury duty over his views on concealed handguns

David Friedman has a substantial post on his website regarding his recent experience with jury duty. In part, he wrote this:

I informed the judge that I had been at least peripherally involved in the academic controversy over whether people should be allowed to carry concealed firearms. When the judge asked if I would judge the case according to the law rather than according to my own moral beliefs, I replied (truthfully) that I would not. I was dismissed from that case, sent back to be reassigned and, since they apparently didn't need jurors for any other cases at that point, sent home. . . .

"Indoor Smoking Ban Takes Steam Out of Pipe Convention"

Nothing like protecting people from themselves:

ST. CHARLES, Ill. — There will be no indoor smoking at a large convention for pipe smokers in Illinois.

A new Illinois law bans smoking in public places. That's taken some of the steam out of this weekend's Chicagoland International Pipe & Tobacciana Show in St. Charles.

The event draws 4,000 pipe collectors from more than 60 countries. Organizers tried to get around the new law by arguing their gathering was a private club meeting. Police and health officials said no.

Instead, a large smoking tent has been set up 15 feet away from the Pheasant Run convention center.

Convention-goer Al Shinogle of Denver likens it to a wine tasting without the wine.

A South African's view on guns

Fikile-Ntsikelelo Moya has a piece in the South African Mail & Guardian:

The great Nelson Mandela was rejected when, upon returning from prison, he urged the people of KwaZulu-Natal to throw their guns into the sea. Without them saying it in as many words, they said that the reasons they had acquired the guns in the first place still persisted. Security Minister Susan Shabangu is our Donald Rumsfeld. Instead of al-Qaeda or whatever other incarnation of evil the Bush administration sees everywhere, the devil troubling our souls is the organised criminal gangs that lurk everywhere. Shabangu's call for police to shoot criminals when they threaten lives speaks to our gut. Given everything we have seen, show us why shooting the bastards cannot make the situation any better than it is now. Perhaps then we will think of more humane ways to deal with them.

911 not very helpful for this student

I find it very disturbing that the police will not release the 911 tape. I would hope that there is enough of a ruckus that there would be real pressure for them to release the tape. The story is here:

Police: Slain student apparently dialed 911; help not sent

By RYAN J. FOLEY
Associated Press Writer
May 2, 7:51 AM EDT

MADISON, Wis. (AP) -- A college student apparently called 911 from her cell phone shortly before she was killed but a dispatcher hung up, failed to call back and never sent police to investigate, authorities said Thursday.

Madison Police Chief Noble Wray said it was too early to know whether a better response could have prevented the April 2 slaying of Wisconsin-Madison student Brittany Zimmermann or helped police capture her killer.

Authorities refused to release the content of the phone call, but Wray said it should have been enough for the Dane County 911 Center to take it seriously.

Thanks to Rich for sending this to me.

Kelly and David Boldt start new blog on Bolivia

Unfortunately, Bolivia looks like it is going to soon be making international news for all the wrong reasons. David is a former Philadelphia Inquirer newspaperman, and he has already sent me numerous extremely long, detailed, and interesting emails about what is happening down there. The government recently nationalized the telephone company. The rest of the nationalization of the oil companies is being completed. Past emails from David have already discussed threats of violence that have erupted in Santa Cruz, where the Boldts live. Anyway, for anyone interested in what is happening in South America with the recent swing to the left in some countries or Bolivia, please see their blog here.

Wife falsely yells rape, Is convicted of Manslaughter

This is a defensive gun use case, though it occurred only because the wife falsely yelled rape.

FORT WORTH, Texas (AP) -- A Texas woman who caused her lover's shooting death by falsely crying rape was convicted Friday of involuntary manslaughter.

Tracy Denise Roberson, 37, cried a bit when the verdict was announced. The punishment phase was set for Monday, and she faces two to 20 years in prison.

In late 2006, Darrell Roberson came home from a late-night card game to find his scantily clad wife with another man in a pickup truck in the driveway. Tracy Roberson was with her lover but cried rape, and her husband fired four shots into the truck as Devin LaSalle drove off, killing him.

Darrell Roberson initially was arrested, but a murder charge was later dropped and a grand jury indicted Tracy Roberson instead.

During her three-day trial, defense attorneys called no witnesses but blamed LaSalle's death on Darrell Roberson's jealousy and rage.

But prosecutors placed all the blame on Tracy Roberson, showing evidence of the affair with LaSalle, 32, and a text message in which she invited him to her house that evening.

Thanks to JJ234 for sending this.

British Conservatives win big in local elections, taking even London

The BBC reports:

Conservative leader David Cameron has hailed the local election results as a "big moment" for the party.
Mr Cameron said the results marked a positive vote for his party, not just a protest against the government.
He said that a Boris Johnson win in the London mayor race - now widely tipped - would be "enormously important".
The Conservatives have made over 190 gains in council seats with Labour likely to be pushed into third place by the Liberal Democrats.
Speaking to reporters outside his London home, Mr Cameron said: "I think this is a very big moment for the Conservative Party, but I don't want anyone to think that we would deserve to win an election just on the back of a failing government.
"I want us to really prove to people that we can make the changes that they want to see and that's what I'm going to devote myself and my party to doing over the next few months." . . .

The conservatives now control 65 councils to 18 for labour.

Australian gun regulations on murder

Did the Australian gun regulations reduce murder? Time has this discussion:

"The hypothesis that the removal of a large number of firearms owned by civilians [would lead to fewer gun-related deaths] is not borne out by the evidence." - Samara McPhedran, University of Sydney academic

I wish that they had discussed other types of crime.

Louisiana House votes to let permit holders carry guns on college campuses

A discussion on the Louisiana legislation can be found here:

BATON ROUGE -- Despite opposition from student government leaders and top state education officials, a House committee Thursday took the first step toward allowing authorized concealed weapons on college campuses.
Members of the Committee on the Administration of Criminal heard emotional arguments on both sides for three hours before voting 11-3 for House Bill 199 by Rep. Ernest Wooton, R-Belle Chasse, a former sheriff and the panel's chairman.

The panel rejected an amendment to exempt private colleges from the bill. The measure heads to the House floor for debate.

State law now bans guns from being carried onto college campuses as well as other sites, such as the State Capitol, police stations, courts, churches and governmental buildings.

"We are not going to have 20,000 students lining up tomorrow morning to get a concealed weapons permit" if this bill passes, Wooton said. He said it is designed to give student a more secure feeling in light of recent violence on campus. The bill requires that the gun holder be 21 years old and have a valid concealed weapons permit. . . .

What the Wright affair is doing to Obama's campaign

John Fund at the WSJ's Political Diary has a new post about what the Wright affair is doing to Obama and Democrats generally:

A new Fox News poll may provide some evidence that the Rev. Wright affair is damaging the campaign of Barack Obama.

The poll shows that Mr. Obama's favorable ratings have declined among Democrats to a point where Hillary Clinton now has higher net positive ratings. Mr. Obama is viewed favorably by 63% of Democrats and negatively by 27%. Mrs. Clinton has a 73% favorable rating and is viewed negatively by 22% of Democrats. Specifically on Rev. Wright, 36% of Democrats say they would be disinclined to vote for Mr. Obama because of his ties to his former pastor.

Perhaps this explains why Travis Childers, the Democratic frontrunner in a special House election this month in Mississippi, has now gone out of his way to combat GOP attempts to associate him with the Illinois Senator. . . .

Question: Will the rising gasoline prices cause support for global warming proposals to decline?

The cost of gas is already so high. Will the threat of even greater costs reduce support for global warming proposals?

Politicians seek to control what people eat

New Jersey considers taxing fast foods:

Now some lawmakers in New Jersey are considering taking food taxes a step further and install a proverbial "sin" tax on fast food.

Yes, the idea of marking up your favorite fast food burger or pack of fries is actually being tossed around, and it's not settling well with many residents.

"They're taxing everything. Now you're gonna tax fast food? That's crazy," said Newark resident Miriam Robertson.

Added Livingston resident Tina Abrahamian: "No one wants to be taxed. I mean, it's a necessity to eat and people need to eat and with everything skyrocketing, that's the last thing we want to tax." . . .

A spokesperson for the governor, however, told CBS 2 on Wednesday:

"The governor is open to reasonable solutions to help solve our financing problems, but there are no plans for any fast food tax."

Montana man defends himself from bear, but is afraid that he will get in trouble for having a gun in a national park

The Bozeman Chronicle has this story:

LIVINGSTON - Bob Johnson, the mountain man mauled by a grizzly bear last week, has decided to tell the rest of the story.

He shot the bear dead, he said Wednesday, plugging it with a .41-caliber Magnum pistol after it had mauled him once and was returning for a second attack.

Johnson, 55, maintained last week that the details of the attack were hazy. On Wednesday, he said he had been reluctant to tell the whole story because of legal concerns.

He was convicted of a federal poaching charge in the early 1980s and was unsure if carrying a handgun would land him in trouble.

"I was scared of going to jail," he said Wednesday. . . . .

McCain's risky strategy

McCain's attack on the North Carolina Republican party last week was not only factually wrong, but those types of attacks may help ensure that if McCain wins, he will have massive Democratic majorities in congress to deal with. McCain's attack on the North Carolina Republican party and his references to their ad as being racist were completely uncalled for (the ad was very factually showing a clip of one of Rev. Wright's sermons and a picture of Obama and Wright together), but I am sure that it probably hurt the Republicans nationally as much as it might have helped McCain. The WSJ has some poll numbers that McCain might want to keep in mind:

Only 27% of voters have positive views of the Republican Party, according to the latest Wall Street Journal/NBC News poll, the lowest level for either party in the survey's nearly two-decade history.

Yet the party's probable presidential nominee, Sen. John McCain, continues to run nearly even with Democratic rivals Sen. Barack Obama and Sen. Hillary Clinton. His standing so far makes for a more competitive race for the White House than would be expected for Republicans, who face an electorate that overwhelmingly believes the country is headed in the wrong direction under President Bush. . . .

Why aren't Obama's political supporters coming to his aide this week?

Dan Henniger has this very interesting observation at the WSJ:

At Barack Obama's darkest hour, not one prominent ally came forward to support him. Everyone abandoned Everyman.

No prominent black clergyman came forth to make even the simple point that Jeremiah Wright's notion of the "black church" is but one point on a spectrum of faith. Rev. Wright, now written off as a virtual nut case, got more support from black clergymen than did Obama.

Barack Obama was bleeding by Monday and needed cover. Where, when he could have used them, were Obama's oh-so-famous endorsers: Jesse Jackson, Ted Kennedy, Oprah, John Kerry, Chris Dodd, Patrick Leahy, Tom Daschle, Amy Klobuchar, Claire McCaskill, Jay Rockefeller, John Lewis, Toni Morrison, Roger Wilkins, Eric Holder, Robert Reich, Ted Sorenson, Alice Walker, David Wilhelm, Cornel West, Clifford Alexander, Donald McHenry, Patricia Wald, Newton Minow?

Where were all the big-city mayors who went over to the Obama camp: Chicago's Richard Daley, Cleveland's Frank Reynolds, Atlanta's Shirley Franklin, Washington's Adrian Fenty, Newark's Cory Booker, Baltimore's Sheila Dixon?

It isn't hard for big names to get on talk TV to make a point. Any major op-ed page would have stopped the presses to print a statement of support from Ted Kennedy or such for the senator. None appeared. Call it profiles in gopher-holing. . . . .

Analysts and historians will spend years sorting through the lessons of this most bizarre of all presidential campaigns. The Obama desertion points in a few directions.

The nature of modern media coverage and the length of the campaign (two years!) has made these presidential candidates truly larger than life; indeed, they've become almost cartoon-like. Their personas dwarf and overwhelm the parties to which they nominally belong. . . . .