It used to be that ordinary people were extremely reluctant to believe that police officers ever abuse their power. The prevalence of video cameras is changing that.

Within the past week, two videos have surfaced showing what appears to be police misconduct in New York. In one video, viewed more than 1 million times on YouTube, a police officer is seen charging a bicyclist and knocking him to the ground during a July 25 group bicycle ride through Times Square -- despite the officer's sworn complaint that the cyclist tried to run him down.

So let's hear it for "Jimmy Justice," a "cop-arazzi" who "prowls the streets of New York looking for law enforcement officers who are breaking the law." While the abuses he documents are minor -- police cars parked illegally while drivers engage in personal errands -- he's performing a public service by exposing the "laws don't apply to us" mentality that drives too many officers.

Update: For those who don't read the comments, you should check this out.

My post, "A Fairy Tale Revisited" has elicited reactions from some quarters. The interesting reactions are the ones that insist that the Clintons are racists and that rejection of the Clintons is the way for Obama to go. August J. Pollak writes:

Jesus Christ, someone save us from the stupid. . . . Because the Obama campaign had the audacity to be upset about veiled racist attacks made against him in the primary, now it's already on the table for McCain to use. See, Obama only had one "race card" in his Magic: The Election deck, and he should have saved it for McCain. A smart candidate would have simply held off from responding to six months of suggesting that the black guy can't actually win.

. . . Armando and the rest of the baby brigade truly embody the most disgraceful and arrogant remnants of the Democratic Party. It's Obama's fault, you understand, that Clinton ran a disgraceful . . . campaign. . . . [I]t's Obama's fault that Hillary Clinton spent the last six weeks of a primary she was already statistically incapable of still winning having her surrogates practically write half of McCain's campaign ads for him.

(Emphasis supplied.) More . .

Your turn.

It is easy to dismiss David Broder because he so often writes foolish things. For example, in today's column, he describes Ted Stevens, whose indictment alleges that he was doing political and legislative favors in exchange for expensive contracting work on his properties, as part of:

the rear guard of a generation of senators who see it as their principal responsibility to help their chronically needy citizens obtain the federal largess that can spell the difference between subsistence and a decent living.

(Emphasis supplied.) Um, Stevens was just labelled by the Department of Justice as a two bit grafter. Foolish, Broder, foolish. But what about Broder's claim that he will "win again" in the 2008 election, that High Broderism will be triumphant? That claim requires some examination. More . . .

The Nation has an open letter to Sen. Barack Obama and is asking his supporters to sign it. The letter, Change We Can Believe In, seeks to hold Obama accountable to the positions he's endorsed while a candidate.

The letter will be delivered to the Obama campaign prior to the start of the Democratic National Convention on August 25. So far, more than 13,000 have signed. I just added my name. You can too. (Added: Big Tent Democrat writes why he won't sign here.)

Why is this necessary?

Since your historic victory in the primary, there have been troubling signs that you are moving away from the core commitments shared by many who have supported your campaign, toward a more cautious and centrist stance--including, most notably, your vote for the FISA legislation granting telecom companies immunity from prosecution for illegal wiretapping, which angered and dismayed so many of your supporters.

[More...]

Edmond Brandy's first strike was robbing a Beef Bowl with a BB gun at age 19. While serving his sentence, he earned his second strike for his involvement in a prison yard fight. Brandy, now 32, faces 25 to life if he's convicted of his third strike.

Brandy has been charged with pointing a gun at another motorist in an alleged episode of "road rage." The California Highway Patrol traced the car to Brandy. Two months after the alleged incident, the police raided his house to search for a gun. They didn't find one, but they arrested him anyway.

The people in the car who say they were threatened can't get their stories straight. [more ...]

Joe Amrine spent 17 years on death row waiting to be executed for a crime he didn't commit. He writes on behalf of Moratorium Now!, a campaign to bring about a national moratorium on executions. Before advances in DNA technology began to demonstrate the shockingly significant risk that an innocent person will be put to death, Amrine knew that mistakes happen. He's lucky to be living proof of that fact.

We know now that eye-witness testimony, jailhouse informants or “snitches,” and even confessions do not always result in a proper conviction. But what have we done to ensure that these potentially deadly mistakes aren’t made?

Missouri has never had a thorough examination of our death penalty system. The state set me free, acknowledging an innocent man had been in prison awaiting execution for nearly two decades. Five years have passed, and still no study has been done to guarantee that another person won’t be set to die for a crime he did not commit. This baffles and horrifies me.

The last sentence in his essay is inarguable:

The state can always set the innocent free; bringing the dead back to life is outside its capacity.

With 23 days to go to the Democratic National Convention in Denver, it's no surprise that local news coverage is expanding daily.

In addition to writing TalkLeft, for the past four years I've been blogging daily on local issues at Elevated Voices, the blog of Denver's terrific monthly magazine, 5280. Now we have a special blog just for the DNC, DNC Daily. (The RSS feed is here.)We're just getting started and more writers will be joining us, but bookmark it now.

The August issue of the magazine is now out, I just picked mine up at Whole Foods. It's terrific -- especially the pullout guide to everything Denver, from where to eat, shop, party, relax, get a quick beauty fix and more. I'm going to keep it in my 4th Amendment tote bag at all times to have ready answers for the out-of-towners. (Tote bags available here.)

Much of the issue is available free online. Here are some highlights: [More...]

Gnarls Barkley is scheduled to perform at Lollapalooza tomorrow.

What makes you crazy?

From the "If it ain't broke ..." department:

The U.S. Postal Service has ended a decades-old tradition in which mail was delivered to [Sutton Island, Maine] by a private ferry service and left in a specially marked trash can on the dock for recipients to pick up. Postal Service higher-ups got wind of the practice used to serve those living in the island's 25 or so seasonal homes and decided it had to be halted for security reasons. ...

Shea Howell, who lives in Detroit, Mich., during the winter, said residents will now have to make the 2-mile ocean journey to the post office in Northeast Harbor. "That can mean a three-hour trip out of your day just to get the mail," she said.... Howell said having mail service is important, especially for older residents who stay on the island for several months at a time and rely on deliveries to pay bills, stay in touch with loved ones and even receive essential medications.

Security issues apparently don't trouble UPS or FedEx, which will continue to deposit deliveries in the trash can.

I love Survey USA's poll reporting. They provide you the demographic breakdown to REALLY analyze their poll. In today's Missouri poll, SUSA has MCCain up 5. But getting into the numbers is always the fun part of a SUSA poll.

Here are the basics, McCain wins men 53-41 (49% of the electorate), Obama wins women 48-45 (51%). McCain wins whites 53-39, with 7% undecided (86% of the electorate), Obama wins A-As 88-10 (11% of the electorate.

More . . .

For seven years, the identity of the person who mailed letters contaminated with anthrax has been a mystery. The FBI, once quite certain that Steven Hatfill was the culprit, eventually expressed regret at ruining an innocent man's life with its false accusations. Now the FBI has decided that Army scientist Bruce Ivins was the guilty party. Ivins' apparent suicide conveniently allows the FBI to close its investigation without being bothered to prove that he was any more guilty than Hatfill.

The FBI views the suicide as a confession. In the absence of a suicide note that actually admits the crime, that assertion is speculative. Ivins' lawyer points out that people who are dogged with life-ruining accusations, true or false, might lose the will to live.

Tom Daschle correctly argues that the public deserves to know whether the evidence against Ivins was compelling. If not, the true criminal may still be at large. [more ...]