Excellent op-ed by Joe Domanick, senior fellow in criminal justice at USC Annenberg's Institute for Justice and Journalism today in the LA Times --Stop LA's Crime Engine. His premise:

A fixation on arrest and crime statistics to gauge police effectiveness is standard in law enforcement — and politics. But the question police chiefs should be asking is what strategies will both prevent crime, short-term and long-term, and help stabilize L.A.'s communities.

The gist of the argument:

The New York Times reports on an "extraordinary army" of secret Commandos working in the U.S..

The special-missions units belong to the Joint Special Operations Command, a secretive command based at Fort Bragg, N.C., whose elements include the Army unit Delta Force.

This is the group that was put into play for security at the Inauguration. They are part of a program called "Power Geyser." The first mention of the group is on a website for a book just released by former Army intelligence analyst William Arkin.

In a nutshell, the problem with this is the Posse Commitatus Act of 1878, which prevents the U.S. Military from acting as law enforcement officers inside the U.S. Amazingly, the article quotes a single, unnamed civil liberties advocate who says that "as described" by the reporter, he had no problem with it.

Patrick at the Samuel Coleridge Foundation outlines the problems, here's just a snippet, read is whole post:

It's no secret that Donald Rumsfeld has been determined to end the CIA's monopoly on spying. What is news, however, is that acccording to the Washington Post, Rumsfeld put the plan into action two years ago by creating a separate entity within the Pentagon called the "Strategic Support Branch."

Designed to operate without detection and under the defense secretary's direct control, the Strategic Support Branch deploys small teams of case officers, linguists, interrogators and technical specialists alongside newly empowered special operations forces.

Military and civilian participants said in interviews that the new unit has been operating in secret for two years -- in Iraq, Afghanistan and other places they declined to name.

Just caught a glimpse of Rudy Giuilani and his wife Judy at Donald Trump's wedding in Palm Beach. They paused and smiled for the camera as if they were on the red carpet. Judy waved to the crowd as if she was the star of the evening. Amazing.

Guess the couple is practicing for Rudy's run in 2008. The New York Times reports that Gov. Pataki and Rudy both acted like they are presidential contenders, with very different strategies:

The DNC's Western Caucus has been in Sacramento today. The candidates for DNC chair are there, as is Al Sharpton (praising Barbara Boxer) and other Democratic luminaries. Lots of folks are live-blogging the event, including Matt Stoller over at MySimon.Org, JollyBuddah at My DD and Bob Brigham (via Tim Tagaris) at Swing State Project.

Update: The San Francisco Chronicle recaps the points made by the seven candidates who spoke. Somewhat surprisingly to us, Dean said the party should become more centrist while Simon Rosenberg and Donnie Fowler attacked the radical right and urged fighting it. Wellington Webb and Simon made an appeal to bring latinos and African-Americans back to the party. Martin Frost said he wants to beat Karl Rove--and that Dems need to show that they also believe in G-d. Tim Roemer said even though he is anti-abortion he will support the party's position on Roe v. Wade.

by TChris

Commissions and study groups have repeatedly told Wisconsin's lawmakers that its soaring prison population burdens the state's taxpayers while doing little to prevent recidivism.

[T]hese groups of judges, attorneys, correctional officials, business people and academics offered wide-ranging solutions that emphasized more programming in prisons, closer supervision and treatment in the community and establishing some intermediate form of sanction between probation and prison.

Why hasn't the advice been heeded? As in other states, Wisconsin's politicians fear the consequences of being labeled "soft on crime."

"There's one answer to this: politics," said state Sen. Fred Risser, D-Madison, who has seen just about every effort at correctional reform in his 48 years in the Legislature. "Trying to develop long-range programs that don't show immediate results is not the best thing to campaign on."

Politicians also worry about jobs that depend on incarceration rates. Wisconsin's ratio of correctional employees to inmates is nearly one to three. The Wisconsin State Journal explores proposals for reform that have been offered to and rejected by the state's legislature.

Edgewise voices what I was thinking when I read about Jefferson Airplane drummer Spencer Dryden's death January 11....he shouldn't have died this way.

Reading through the fan tributes in the Guestbook at SpencerDryden.com, I found this comment from Dryden's fellow musician Norton Buffalo: "What a sad display of how this 'great' nation 'takes care' of it's people."

He's referring, of course, to the miserable material circumstances of Dryden's death at 66: impoverished, uninsured, living alone in a rented or borrowed cabin on a friend's property. No one should end up that way, but more of us will as our nation explicitly abandons any notion of shared responsibility in favor of "ownership."

From the official press release on Spencer's death:

Spencer had been besieged by bad luck in recent years. A hip replacement that didn't take well left him permanently disabled. In September 2003, fire destroyed his home and all of his possessions and memorabilia. Three weeks after the fire, he suffered a heart attack and was told that he needed cardiac surgery. Friends and family worked tirelessly throughout 2004, including hosting a benefit concert in Dryden's honor, to raise the funds needed for the procedure. A week before he was set to have it performed, he was diagnosed with cancer. His battle with the disease lasted only three months.

Watch this VW ad for the VW Polo....it features a suicide bomber who ignites himself and the car survives....leading to a tag line, "small but tough." It's been making the rounds at advertising blogs and now it turns out it's a hoax. [Via Daily Dish.]

The New York Times reported Friday that Taser International announced it will increase the power of its stun guns because some subjects did not become completely immobilized. Taser responds:

Late on Friday, the company issued a statement denying that it had introduced a new model or boosted the power output. Rather, Taser said it was providing software that lets the X26 maintain full power for five seconds of discharge. Prior versions delivered full power for two seconds, then stepped down.

So it's increasing the effect of the taser, not the power, what's the difference?

In related news, a class action was filed today against the company:

The Complaint alleges that the Company violated Sections 10(b) and 20(a) of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 and Rule 10b-5 promulgated thereunder. Specifically, the Complaint alleges that, throughout the Class Period, the Company issued a series of materially false and misleading statements to the market concerning the safety of its TASER guns. The Complaint also alleges the Defendants engaged in channel stuffing at the end of the fourth quarter of 2004 in order to meet sales projections and analyst's expectations.

Maybe it was the 70 degree temperature in Denver yesterday that turned out so many protesters, but then again, maybe it was our rebellion at being told Colorado is a red state when Denver is such a blue one, but whatever, these pictures of happy, friendly protesters stand in stark contrast to the angry ones we posted yesterday. [Via What Really Happened ]

Check out the home page of Denver Voice as well....great site, great causes.

The Judge in the Michael Jackson case today ruled that an "expert" on how children behave after being abused may testify at the trial. Jackson's lawyer had a good argument against it but it didn't work:

Jackson lawyer Tom Mesereaux told the court: "What if they are flat-out liars? They have a history of lying in school, lying in acting school, lying in the community. What if they testify falsely in order to help their mother (obtain money)."

....Mesereaux said the prosecution hoped the expert witness would "bolster the credibility of their witnesses. They have a weak case. Our whole position is they should not be allowed to bolster (their witnesses) sheer lack of credibility."

Nat Hentoff's new column at the Village Voice recaps Alberto Gonzales' unsatisfactory answers at his confirmation hearing, in particular, those on rendition - sending people to countries where they could be subjected to torture..