Month: December 2006

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Saddam Hussein Is Dead

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by hilzoy CNN: “Former Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein has been executed, a witness said. “Saddam’s body is in front me,” said an official in the prime minister’s office when CNN telephoned. “It’s over.” In the background, Shiite chanting could be heard. When asked about the chanting, the official said “These are employees of the prime … Read more

Domestic Violence Drops — But Why?

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by hilzoy

Here’s some unquestionably good news: according to the Washington Post, domestic violence has dropped significantly:

“Domestic violence rates in the United States dropped sharply between 1993 and 2004 but showed recent signs of a rebound, the Justice Department reported yesterday.

The number of domestic homicides fell 32 percent from 1993 to 2004, and the frequency of nonfatal violence between domestic partners dropped by more than 50 percent, from 5.8 attacks per 1,000 U.S. residents age 12 or older, to 2.6 attacks, according to the Bureau of Justice Statistics.

Men benefited from the decline more than women, and black victims more than white women. The number of women killed by current or former partners fell from 1,572 in 1993 to 1,159 in 2004, or 26 percent. The number of men killed dropped from 698 to 385, or 45 percent. (…)

The report did not offer an explanation for the trend, but experts said it continued a decline in domestic violence recorded since 1976 and mirrored a drop in violent crime overall in the past decade.

Other theories credit increased policing, neighborhood-watch and victim-assistance programs, and awareness raised by the 1994 Violence Against Women Act.

Analysts worry that declines may have bottomed out, however. Although overall rates remained unchanged between 2003 and 2004, violence against black women and white men increased slightly.”

More statistics and musings below the fold.

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Our Soldiers Are Not Numbers To Add

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by hilzoy The NYT has a headline that it could have used at any time throughout the last month and a half: “Bush Weighing Strategy Shift on Iraq”. He’s weighing something, but I don’t know that I’d dignify it with the term ‘strategy’. It’s an escalation in terms of a mission: “How additional American troops … Read more

A Brief Note

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by von A general distrust of my natural enemy — trialius lawyerius — does indeed extend to one John "Two Americas" Edwards.  So I’ll take this opportunity to declare my lack of support for his candidacy. Although I’m looking forward to the day that his agenda of "economic populism" causes him to go Lou Dobbs … Read more

Say What?

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by von Matt Yglesias — following post after post protesting our nominal assistance to Ethiopia in its intervention in Somalia — mixes it up with Josh Tevino .  Yglesias is capable of being both smart and witty, but he ain’t either here.  Conceding that Trevino is better informed and probably right on the facts (yet, … Read more

Not Waving But Drowning

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by hilzoy From the Washington Post: “The Bush administration has decided to propose listing the polar bear as threatened under the Endangered Species Act, putting the U.S. government on record as saying that global warming could drive one of the world’s most recognizable animals out of existence. (…) Identifying polar bears as threatened with extinction … Read more

Down In Flames

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by hilzoy Reuters: “Just weeks after pledging a new approach in the Iraq war in the wake of his party’s defeat in congressional elections, U.S. President George W. Bush seems to be digging in his heels against any major change of course. (…) “He is now caught between admitting the war was a mistake and … Read more

Gerald Ford

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by hilzoy From the Washington Post: “Gerald R. Ford, who picked up the pieces of Richard Nixon’s scandal-shattered White House as the 38th and only unelected president in America’s history, has died, his wife, Betty, said Tuesday. He was 93. (…) He was as open and straight-forward as Nixon was tightly controlled and conspiratorial.” That … Read more

Still More Fiscal Discipline

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by hilzoy From the Washington Post: “Determined to banish their old tax-and-spend image, Democrats want to shrink the federal deficit, preserve tax cuts for the middle class and challenge the president to raise money for the Iraq war when they take control of Congress next week. But it won’t be easy. The incoming Democratic chairmen … Read more