Locating Sex Offenders In The Mahoning Valley

After reading about this heartbreaking case in Georgia, I began wondering if sex offenders lived in or near my neighborhood. A quick look at law enforcement websites showed that the Trumbull County Sheriff's site and the Mahoning County Sheriff's site both have functions that allow you to monitor offenders in the area. Click on either name above to go directly to the search page. You can search by offender name or by geographic location. Maps will be displayed with the address you enter and the location of any offenders in the area.

"Shrub" by Molly Ivins

Yes, I know I'm about 7 years late with a review of this book. There are a few reasons for that and for reviewing it now. First, I didn't blog in 2000 when the book was originally published. Secondly, I don't think I was reading Molly Ivins at that time. Finally, this book is relevant today because of the points Ms. Ivins made in it. Her mantra "Look at the record, look at the record, look at the record" shows how each of us should go about choosing our leaders.

Molly Ivins and Lou Dubose completed this short look at then Texas Governor George W. Bush's record. A recap of his life will leave you puzzled as to how he rose to a position to be elected President of the United States. It's not that the authors slam him so much for his politics; it's that his record shows a failed congressional campaign, a failed oil business, a helping hand into an ownership role with the Texas Rangers and then a surprising win as governor.

Of his time in office, Ivins and Dubose are comprehensive in their examination of the things he actually accomplished. It's not that he didn't do anything good for the state. On the contrary, the authors give him credit for his stand on education and reading. It's the way things are run that will give the reader pause. His record on the environment is terrible. Big business polluters some how end up shaping public policy. On complex issues like crime the simplest fix is the one always taken. people like a governor who is hard on criminals and Gov. Bush gave the people what they wanted. You have to wonder if some of the policies he spearheaded on juvenile crime are the reason why there is currently a juvenile offenders sexual abuse scandal in Texas.

Reading this now leaves one with a feeling of deja vu. Starting out with a budget surplus and ending up deep in debt is something that worked in Texas so the president decided to try it on a nationwide scale. Tort reform, tax cuts that barely benefit the average tax payer and his success in mixing religion and politics are all things that we have witnessed over the last six years. Folks in Texas have been seeing them since 1994.

Any Molly Ivins book is a good read and this one is no exception. Her painstaking research and examination of the facts is presented in a humorous, every man voice. This isn't mere opinion based on ideaology of the type so frequently seen from the Fox News talking heads. No, this book is a careful analysis of the facts with a partsian view. If you are a liberal you will love it, if you are a moderate it may sway you and if you are conservative of the Sean Hannity/ Ann Coulter strain you'll read half of it and give it a one-star review on Amazon.com.

Behind the Scenes of the Federal Prosecutor's Mess

We here at Tales From The Rust Belt know that the internet is a funny place. Very often conversations and information are exposed that some people would rather keep private. That's apparently what happened with this transcript of an instant message conversation that appeared anonymously in our mailbox. It appears to have something to do with the recent firing of the Federal prosecutors but I'll be darned if I can figure out who the participants are:

Dubya: This whole thing with the prosecutor firings is really messin' things up, Al. I mean I go all the way to South America to figure out how Brazil is makin' gas outta sugar cane and the reporters ignore that and ask me about Human Resource decisions.

AGGonzo: I only did what Karl asked.

TurdBlossom: Don't drag me into this. You're the one who made up those pink slips.

AGGonzo: Only because you asked me to, you weasel! Maybe you should figure out why more people didn't vote for our guy instead of wasting my time prosecuting people you think commited voter fraud.

Dubya: Weasel LOL!!!!!

TurdBlossom: Look, just do your job. There are at least a couple dozen people who voted who shouldn't have. You don't think that's important?

AGGonzo: Right. I'm supposed to be concerned that a few prosecutors blew off your snit fit over a few instances of voter fraud? Don't forget that I've got to figure out some way to subvert the Constitution so you clowns can put terrorists on trial without Habeas Corpus or giving them legal representation.

DarthVP: I find your lack of faith disturbing.

TurdBlossom: So do I. There may have been dozens of people who voted incorrectly and I know they did it maliciously! Those people need to be held accountable for their actions and your prosecutors weren't getting the job done!

AGGonzo: Maybe firing people so your old college buddies can get a job isn't the best way to do things!

Dubya: He's got a point, 'Blossom. If I have to answer questions about your friends getting jobs after we fire someone who was doing just fine it could get embarrassing. The media can be ruthless. I don't know how I would hold them off.

DarthVP: You don't know the power of the Dark Side!

TurdBlossom: Well, boss, I owe Timmy from back in the day for that thing that he did. He's worth the risk.

AGGonzo: That's what I'm talking about. Now I'm in hot water over you doing a friend a favor. Why don't you go back to the junk mail business where you belong?

TurdBlossom: Are you going to cry all day?

AGGonzo: You got a big mouth for someone who sits in the White House without having to go through a Senate confirmation hearing. If you quit tomorrow would anyone notice?

Dubya: I would!

TurdBlossom: Look, those eight prosecutor's weren't on the team. We need people who are going to do what we ask and concentrate on the crimes we think are important.

AGGonzo: You idiot! We don't have anymore races to run. All you had to do was put up with them for 21 months and then we're done. Do you have to be the snotty little cheerleader all the time?

Dubya: I was a cheerleader. Man, those were good times.

AGGonzo: Sir, with all due respect, it's difficult to fire anyone without a good reason. Doing it to Federal prosecutors and expecting them to go quietly is crazy.

TurdBlossom: They weren't on the team! We reward our friends and crush our enemies!

DarthVP: The force is strong with this one.

AGGonzo: Look, I've done everything that was asked of me! I've bent the Constitution into an origami crane trying to figure out how you can listen in on phone calls without a warrant, open people's private mail and hold people without presenting evidence to a judge. Now reporters are asking me about when I'm going to resign. This kind of BS was never part of the deal.

DarthVP: I am altering the deal. Pray I do not alter it further.

TurdBlossom: Yeah, Al. Just suck it up and do what you're told.

AGGonzo: Oh, yeah? If I'm going to be hung out to dry on this then I'm outta here. Let the "Brain" figure out how to put terrrorists on trial while pursuing these stupid vendettas. I bet that will be easy for a college dropout.

**AGGonzo has left**

Dubya: That's just great, Karl. Now what are supposed to do?

TurdBlossom: Well, Condi hasn't been the Attorney General yet. Maybe she'd like a try at it.

**Dubya has left**

TurdBlossom: Hello?

DarthVP: 'Blossom, you can destroy the Emperor. He has foreseen this. It is your destiny. Join me, and together we will rule the galaxy as father and son. Come with me. It is the only way.

TurdBlossom: Yikes!

**TurdBlossom has left**

DarthVP: Hmph.

**DarthVP has left**

Youngstown Homicide Maps

I was reading the L.A. Times website and was startled to see a blog chronicling the murders in the city. The paper is recording all deaths caused by other human beings. The times gives a description of the murder and the victim. Watching this list grow weekly suddenly brought home just how many people are murdered over the course of a year. I read this with great interest given the problems Youngstown is currently facing.

Included in the L.A. Times blog is a map created by one of their readers. This was extremely interesting given how concentrated homicides seem to be in south L.A. and how the crime is reaching out to other areas of the city. Especially interesting from my Mahoning Valley perspective was this paragraph:

The map revealed both expected and unexpected patterns of homicide, Quick said. "You look at what's going on in South Los Angeles, and it's heartbreaking," he said. "But then you start to see it's not contained. There are these little tentacles that go out ... it brings home that this is not just a problem in one area." At the same time, Quick noted that some neighborhoods that people used to call dangerous, such as MacArthur Park, now have few homicides.

It is not unusual to hear Mahoning Valley residents talk about which side of Youngstown is worse than others. I decided to follow Michael Quick's example and create my own map of Youngstown homicides to see if patterns emerged. I plotted the murders as well as the names and ages of the victims. Clicking on the markers displays information about the crime. The map for 2006 can be seen here and for 2007 here. The 2006 map lists only 22 of the 32 murders committed. The 2007 map is missing information on one murder. I am still searching for information on these crimes and will update the maps as I find it. The "my maps" button in the links column will remain up so people can continue to view the maps.

Here are some observations based on the maps. Murders in the city appear to be spread primarily among the south side, north side and east side neighborhoods. The west side appears to have fewer murders. Murder victims for 2006 average 28.8 years of age with the youngest just a year old and the oldest 52.

In reviewing the data to create the maps I was struck with just how casual the brutality of the crimes seemed. To read about an abused one year old or a clerk at Autozone shot during a robbery seemed unreal. I wondered what any of these persons could have done to warrant such treatment and realized the answer was nothing. These and other murders were simply senseless.

The national murder rate in the United States is 5 persons per 100,000. In Youngstown it's about 43. The drastic steps taken so far by Mayor Jay Williams don't appear to be working. There are already 9 murders in the city in 2007. The accomplishments of the mayor's zero tolerance policy pale beside the continuing killings.

As I look over the maps I'm beginning to see why people are calling Ron Verb and Dan Rivers and speculating about the benefit of bringing the National Guard to the city to enforce law and order. Flooding the city with a surge of troops may reduce crime to a low enough level to force the criminals out and allow local authorities time to gain control over the area. If President Bush thinks it is a good idea for Baghdad then perhaps Youngstown could benefit as well.

In all seriousness, while I reviewed this data I realized that murder in this country is too prevalent. I know you know that but let me put it in perspective for you. The war in Iraq has cost us the lives of about 3,100 servicemen and women over the last four years. In 2005 16,692 people were murdered. It's long past time the country saw this crime as the problem it is and dealt with it accordingly. We need a paradigm shift that concentrates on preventing crime. We need to discover and address the problems that lead to crime.

• If criminals are killing each other and innocents over drug profits then the time has come to have a serious discussion about legalization.
  
• If we expect criminals to come out of prison rehabilitated but don't offer training and then send them back to the same circumstances that led them to crime why are we surprised when they commit more violent crimes?
• Why do we allow children to drop out of high school and then shake our heads in astonishment when they clog the courts and jails with drug convictions?

We're smarter than this aren't we? I would rather see the 400 billion dollars we've spent in Iraq spent here addressing these problems. If we're going to go into debt rebuilding a country I really think it ought to be our own. Take that money and put cops on the streets and teachers in the classrooms. In twenty years we'll see a much better return on our investment than we will from Iraq.

What do you think?

The 2007 map now includes all homicide victims recorded as of March 18th.

Brilliant! MadTV Parodies Apple & Bush At The Same Time

FEMA Hates Storm Victims

Here's a word of advice to our friends in the south; if a natural disaster wipes out your home and leaves you without the means to shelter yourselves, don't look to FEMA for help. They'll be the ones giving you the finger rather than a mobile home.

In an act of stupidity so stunningly remarkable that it defies explanation, the Federal Emergency Management Agency is selling used trailers it stores in Hope, Arkansas rather than provide them to storm victims. The trailers were originally purchased to house victims of Hurricane Katrina. The used ones have been returned to the government after the hurricane victims found more permanent accomodations. As you may remember, Dumas, Arkansas, 100 miles from Hope, was the site of horrific tornadoes in late February that left many families homeless.

I can see that light bulb going on over your head.

However, because Dumas was never declared a federal disaster area, FEMA will not release the used trailers to storm victims. Nor will they release any of the 20,000 brand new trailers that are also stored in Hope.

It would seem that FEMA lacks the will to redeem itself after bungling its response to Hurricane Katrina. Once the storms devastated Dumas the Director of FEMA, R. David Paulison, should have been on the phone with his boss, President Bush, and requested that the agency be allowed to assist the town. He should have done this for no other reason than to deflect any bad publicity away from his agency. I don't know what parameters the agency uses to determine if federal assistance is needed but they need to put one in the win column. The following is a description from USAToday of the damage wrought by the tornadoes:

The two tornadoes last month injured 27 people in Dumas, destroyed or damaged 150 homes, and put at least 800 people out of work in the small town. For days, the town was without electricity and residents had to boil their drinking water as a health precaution.

The agency is seen as sluggish and lethargic when disasters occur. In order to combat that, the staff of FEMA should be proactive. They should reach out to state officials and ask what they need when disasters occur. Much of the finger pointing after Katrina centered on politicians who didn't understand what they needed to do to get federal assistance. FEMA should take the lead on that. How much effort does a phone call take when the news shows you a town that has been crushed by a tornado?

Regardless of who's budget the assistance comes from, it is taxpayers who look to their government for asisstance when nature destroys large swaths of their hometown. Yes, most of these residents have insurance and yes, Arkansas has a state budget surplus. What matters in such a situation is getting assistance quickly. Filing insurance claims can take months. Finding your credit cards when they're two counties over can take even longer. These trailers were two hours away by truck. Taxpayer money bought those trailers and bungling bureacrats prevented them from being released to the people who need them.

It is unclear whether FEMA is useless or if they are trying togive us all a little tough love by making us fend for ourselves when disasters blow our homes away. Either way, we're not getting our money's worth from this bloated, inefficient agency.

Who Is Served When Political Discourse Turns Nasty?

Ann Coulter managed to prove her irrelevancy as a political commentator this weekend by referring to former senator and presidential contender John Edwards as a "faggot". You can read the whole sordid story here but what I really want to talk about is who this kind of language serves when used in political discourse. Why exactly did she think this statement was relevant to the political discussion of the 2008 presidential race?

"I was going to have a few comments on the other Democratic presidential candidate, John Edwards, but it turns out that you have to go into rehab if you use the word 'faggot,' so I'm - so, kind of at an impasse, can't really talk about Edwards, so I think I'll just conclude here and take your questions," said Coulter, whose comment was followed by applause.

What was Coulter trying to get across? How does a suggestion that John Edwards is gay advance the dialogue for who is best qualified to be president? It doesn't address any of the issues he is speaking about. A statement like that does not examine his voting record as a senator. It certainly doesn't help any candidate that Coulter professes to support because they spent all day Sunday and Monday distancing themselves from her.

Fox News was there to help Coulter, though. The purportedly "fair and balanced" news network put her on Hannity & Colmes so she could explain the context of her remark. I was surprised. After all, any guy knows exactly what it means when someone calls you a faggot. You don't get through elementary school or junior high in small town Ohio without at least one bully trying to hang that label on you (I'm looking right at you Greg Matta). Coulter used the opportunity to say this:

"'Faggot isn't offensive to gays; it has nothing to do with gays," Coulter said on "Hannity and Colmes" Monday night. "It's a schoolyard taunt meaning 'wuss,' and unless you're telling me that John Edwards is gay, it was not applied to a gay person."

She shouldn't have bothered explaining herself because the minute you say faggot isn't offensive to gays your credibility as a logical, reasoning human being goes the way of the Titanic. It's now abundantly clear that Ann Coulter wanted to generate a little noise around herself, to get people talking and to put herself in a position to be invited on Hannity & Colmes.

The bigger question, though, is how much time is being devoted to her and to those others who make these sort of outlandish statements? We have serious problems in this country that need discussion. Health care, unemployment, two wars and Social Security all need moderate, in-depth thought and discourse. The public needs candor and education about these issues so that we don't make a decision about who our leaders will be based on soundbites.

The truth is the budget is getting to the point where we will soon have to make some serious decisions about healthcare. If it is to be fixed, who will pay? How much will it cost? Voters need to be aware that covering everyone means that their taxes will pay for some part of the solution.

That's what I want to hear about. Ann Coulter's mindless ramblings do nothing to further the debate we really need.

Here's Something Fun That Showed Up In The Mail

Yous 87% Youngstown!

 

No denyin' your from Da Valley! So crank up Y103 in your Lordstown car all the way to the Rib Burn off! Don't forget to celebrate with some Handels! Get going...they're waitin' for ya at The Hub!

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