Day: May 29, 2006

Be the First Kid on the Block to Get the 2006 Terrorism Trends Poster

Buck Banks

No black light needed: Take down your Hendrix poster, we’ve got something tons better — the official TKB Terrorism Trends 2005 map poster. “TKB” is short for “Terrorism Knowledge Base,” which is part of the National Memorial Institute for the Prevention of Terrorism (MIPT), which is a nonprofit organization dedicated to preventing terrorism on U.S. soil or mitigating its effects that was established after the April 1995 bombing of the Murrah federal building in Oklahoma City.

Oh, and it should be noted that the MIPT is funded through the Department of Homeland Security’s Office of Grants and Training. Hmmmmm.

According to the TKB, “this large, colorful map is a must-have for analysts, law enforcement, researchers, or others interested in terrorism.” Who is “interested in terrorism” besides, say, al Qaeda and gothic death-worshippers?

Like manna for the terrorism groupie, the poster lists the 10 most active groups (top three: al Qaeda, Hamas, Taliban), top 10 most frequent targets (police, government, private citizens) and tactics (bombing, armed attack, kidnapping, assassination, arson), and the most lethal attacks for 2005 (al Qaeda has six of the top 10) — complete with lurid color photos of death and destruction. The map also offers comparison graphs for several terrorism hotspots — helpful in vacation planning.

You can download a PDF copy here. For a 24” x 34” hard-copy version, simply e-mail your name and mailing address to TKBsupport@tkb.org and TKB will ship you a copy at no cost.

Of course, then they’ll have your address, if they don’t already.

CA Gov: Westly’s Negative Ads Give Momentum to Angelides But Westly Beats Schwarzenegger by 10 Points

Jon Ponder

If the election were held today, Westly beat Schwarzenegger by 10 points, and Angelides and the governor would be tied.

The race for the Democratic nomination for California governor has tightened dramatically, according to two new polls, the Los Angeles Times poll, in which ngelides has 37 percent to Westly’s 34 percent, and the Public Policy Institute poll released last Thursday that shows 35 percent for Angelides to 32 percent for Westly.

While support for Controller Steve Westly is steady in the low 30s,Treasurer Phil Angelides has momentum. He is up 17 percentage points in this month’s Times poll. In both polls, the candidates are statistically even.

The rapid shift in favor of Angelides shows that voters are starting to focus on the June 6 election. Even so, the situation is volatile — in the Times poll, 28 percent of Democrats are still undecided.

Negative advertising changed the dyanmics. The candidates have been trading charges for three or four weeks. So far, Angelides has benefited, perhaps because the tone of Westly’s ads has been harsher.

The Westly campaign got to 33 percent by emphasizing the candidate’s postives: He is both an E-Bay millionaire and a former public school teacher. The campaign signaled late last week that it would refocus on Westly’s positives fof the next few days.

Angelides has the momentum — not to mention the endorsements of top Democrats, including Sen. Dianne Feinstein. But Westly still has a chance with Democratic voters, a majority of whom believe he has a better chance of defeating Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger, whose approval is anemic at 44 percent.

If the election were held now, Westly would be beat the governor, while Angelides and Schwarzenegger would tie:

If the election were held today, registered voters would prefer Westly over Schwarzenegger, 50 percent to 40 percent. Angelides was virtually tied with the governor, 46 percent to Schwarzenegger’s 45 percent.

Another sign that things could change: 41 percent of voters in the Times Poll who were currently in favor of either Angelides or Westly said that they might change their mind before June 6.

Texas was Hammered by DeLay

Trish

Tom DeLay messed with Texas big time by placing party above…well everything, according to columnist Patricia Kilday Hart in the Dallas Morning News.

Redistricting Republicans into virtually every office has left the state with few ranking members, and now that DeLay himself has been forced from office under a cloud of scandal, Texans are crying in their Lone Stars.

The Texas delegation went from the most powerful to one of the weaker large state delegations, really as a result of DeLay’s efforts

…the Texas delegation underwent dramatic change after the 2004 elections, which were based on the Republican-friendly map Mr. DeLay forced through the state’s Legislature…In that election, Texas lost 85 years of seniority and three powerful ranking members of Congress.

“The Texas delegation went from the most powerful to one of the weaker large state delegations, really as a result of [Mr.] DeLay’s efforts,” says Matt Angle, director of the Lone Star Project, a Democratic research operation…

DeLay’s timing of his cut and run couldn’t be worse, Hart adds.

With Mr. DeLay’s retirement, Texas enters what one state official calls “uncharted territory,” with a delegation now claiming only one committee chairman and no leadership position — perhaps the state’s worst portfolio since the Great Depression. What’s more, this decline in stature coincides with President Bush’s lame-duck phase — and Mr. Bush’s precipitous decline in the polls.

…And then there’s also the question of what happens if the Republican Party loses its majority. “If the Democrats regain control of the Congress, the Texas delegation will be without a single chair or a single ranking member,” Mr. Angle notes.

Yes indeedy. “Democrats regain control of Congress.” Has a real ring to it, doesn’t it?