Tidbits 17Mar05

I'm having a bit of tough day and looks like Monk is as well. A few interesting bits today.

1. Tony Blankley at TownHall urges caution at indications that the Bush administration may be looking to find accommodation with Hezbollah by drawing a comparison the the years of accommodation of IRA/Sinn Fein which have led to naught.

"Long-term stability" is the illusive pot of gold. The rainbow is the gorgeous vision of dealing separately with the political and military arms of a terrorist organization, in the expectation that the political arm will grow, while the military arm will wither. Unfortunately, both arms are connected to the same body, which is governed by the same brain. And it is the brain of a killer.

Our views on Hezbollah are here.

2. Ann Coulter places the blame of Brian Nichol's murderous court rampage at the feet of feminists. Why? Nichols wrestled the gun away from 5 ft tall grandmother [the security guard] and slew three before escaping. Ann is a bit overboard but her point is noted. I found this particularly interesting:

The inestimable economist John Lott has looked at the actual data. (And I'll give you the citation! John R. Lott Jr., "Does a Helping Hand Put Others at Risk? Affirmative Action, Police Departments and Crime," Economic Inquiry, April 1, 2000.) [not available, costs $27.50.]

It turns out that, far from "de-escalating force" through their superior listening skills, female law enforcement officers vastly are more likely to shoot civilians than their male counterparts.
...
Unable to use intermediate force, like a bop on the nose, female officers quickly go to fatal force. According to Lott's analysis, each 1 percent increase in the number of white female officers in a police force increases the number of shootings of civilians by 2.7 percent.

Adding males to a police force decreases the number of civilians accidentally shot by police. Adding black males decreases civilian shootings by police even more. By contrast, adding white female officers increases accidental shootings.
...
In addition to accidentally shooting people, female law enforcement officers are also more likely to be assaulted than male officers – as the whole country saw in Atlanta last week. Lott says: "Increasing the number of female officers by 1 percentage point appears to increase the number of assaults on police by 15 percent to 19 percent."

3. Barbara Lerner warns that Sharon's Gaza pullout plan may jeopardize his government.

4. What the heck is "heteronormative"? Oh brother.