Mexico has released its 2011 murder statistics for January through August. Murders are down in Juarez, the border city in Chihuahua, which has been known as the most violent area in Mexico.

While it remains exceedingly bloody, Juarez is far safer than it was in 2010: with 1,065 murders through August, it is on pace for just under 1,600 murders, a murder rate of roughly 120 per 100,000 residents. In 2010, the city registered some 3,000 murders and a murder rate of roughly 250 per 100,000.

Murders are also down in Baja California Norte, home to Tijuana and Mexicali. On the other hand, murders are up in Guerrero, especially Acapulco. [More...]

Geithner!

[I]t eventually became clear the administration’s housing rescue was falling woefully short. While HAMP had aided fewer than 70,000 people in 2009, for instance, 2.5 million received foreclosure notices. [. . .] To date, administration programs have permanently reduced the debt of just one tenth of 1 percent of underwater borrowers.

The entire article is worth reading. The incompetence of one Tim Geithner shines through.

Speaking for me only

As a diehard Florida Gator fan, I am rooting for Tim Tebow to succeed as an NFL quarterback but my expectation is he will fail. I do not think he has, or will have, the passing skills necessary to be a good NFL QB. That said, who really knows? Merrill Hoge? Trent Dilfer? Really? This morning I listened to Dilfer say that Tebow's problems are "quantum mechanics." I kid you not. That is what he said. It is not inspiring of confidence. Yet, I think we should all be wary of "the illusion of validity." I had a great day picking games Saturday. It was a fluke. But the "illusion of validity" creeps in to my psyche. What is the "illusion of validity?" Via Kevin Drum, Nobel prize winner Daniel Kahneman explains (and, yes beware of the "illusion of validity" here too):

I thought that what was happening to us was remarkable. The statistical evidence of our failure should have shaken our confidence in our judgments of particular candidates, but it did not. It should also have caused us to moderate our predictions, but it did not. We knew as a general fact that our predictions were little better than random guesses, but we continued to feel and act as if each particular prediction was valid. I was reminded of visual illusions, which remain compelling even when you know that what you see is false. I was so struck by the analogy that I coined a term for our experience: the illusion of validity.

More . . .

Via TPM, Perry does not even code his birther outreach:

[PARADE] Governor, do you believe that President Barack Obama was born in the United States?

[PERRY:] I have no reason to think otherwise.

[PARADE} That’s not a definitive, “Yes, I believe he”—

[PERRY: ]Well, I don’t have a definitive answer, because he’s never seen my birth certificate.

[PARADE]But you’ve seen his.

[PERRY:] I don’t know. Have I?

[PARADE:] You don’t believe what’s been released?

PERRY:]I don’t know. I had dinner with Donald Trump the other night. [. . .] That came up. [. . .] He doesn’t think it’s real.

[PARADE:] And you said?

[PERRY:] I don’t have any idea. It doesn’t matter. He’s the President of the United States. He’s elected. It’s a distractive issue.

Heh, distractive.

Busy again. Open Thread.

You need multiple DVR's to catch all the TV on tonight. There's new episodes of Showtime's Homeland, HBO's Boardwalk Empire, The Good Wife, Pan Am and the Next Iron Chef. And Desperate Housewives and the World Series.

Here's an open thread, all topics welcome.

As we all know from the travails of Schapelle Corby, the laws of Indonesia and Bali suck.

The latest travesty is "The Bali Boy," a 14 old from Australia, on vacation with his parents, who has been jailed since Oct. 4 when police say they saw him stop and buy $25.00 worth of marijuana (3.6 grams) from a street dealer who had approached him.

[More...]

NBC News Los Angeles interviewed Andre Birotte Jr., U.S. Attorney for the Central District of California (Los Angeles) this weekend on the recent federal crackdown on medical marijuana dispensaries, their landlords and banks that do business with them.

According to Birotte, the crackdowns are on those who are making a profit, which is against California law. He insists they are only going after the profiteers since they are not in compliance with state law. His soundbite: "The compassionate use act has turned into the commercial use act." [More...]

Condoleeza Rice has written a 734 page memoir of her time in the Bush Administration (first as National Security Adviser and then as Secretary of State.) The New York Times has an advance copy. It says she recounts her clashes with Dick Cheney, Alberto Gonzales and Rumsfeld. Rice describes the meeting with Cheney and Bush where Bush decided to move Khalid Sheikh Mohammed from an overseas secret prison to Guantanamo. As to Rumsfeld:

Ms. Rice writes that he tried to avoid such issues, at one point marching out of a meeting and saying, “I don’t do detainees.” [More...]

Here we go again with Herman Cain and his ever-evolving abortion stance. First, in February, 2011, he says as President, he'd sign legislation protecting the right of the unborn.

I am a firm believer in the dignity of life and support a ban on partial birth abortion. If I were president, I would sign legislation that would protect the sanctity of life.

And on October 7, he says at the Values Voters Summit (video here):

So I happen to believe that the Founding Fathers put it in that order— life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness—for a reason. You can pursue happiness all you want to, as long as you don’t tread on somebody else’s liberty....You can pursue liberty all you want to, as long as you don’t tread on somebody else’s life. And that includes the life of the unborn.”

[More...]

Another sign of our growing aging population: Denver's Exempla Lutheran Medical Center has converted a pediatric emergency room into an emergency room for seniors, and made a lot of changes to address their specific needs.

A hushed atmosphere, softer lighting, no-slip floors and staffers trained to screen for dementia, drug interactions and other elderly risks are sample features of the Lutheran Senior ER, launched this week. ..."This is where our market is going," said Bev White, a registered nurse who directs Lutheran's emergency trauma services.

This is a great idea. The screening helps those who don't need hospitalization get to the right place, and identifies those who do have major problems and need inpatient care. The noise of a regular ER really is disconcerting for the elderly. Here's the hospital's webpage for the senior ER. Love the graphic.

"We don't need a warrant, we're ICE" said the officers as they broke down the doors of an apartment in Nashville.

Without a search warrant and without consent, the ICE agents eventually knocked in the front door and shattered a window, shouting racial slurs and storming into the bedrooms, holding guns to their heads. When asked if they had a warrant, one agent reportedly said, "We don't need a warrant, we're ICE," and, gesturing to his genitals, "the warrant is coming out of my balls."

It wasn't just one apartment, but a complex. ICE agents and Metro Nashville police officers are now being sued by the ACLU on behalf of 15 residents, including American citizens and children. [More...]