Web Two: December 2006

Wednesday, December 27, 2006

Murders up in New York, other big cities

NEW YORK - After many years of decline, the number of murders climbed this year in New York and many other major U.S. cities, reaching their highest levels in a decade in some places. Among the reasons given: gangs, drugs, the easy availability of illegal guns, a disturbing tendency among young people to pull guns when they do not get the respect they demand, and, in Houston at least, an influx of Hurricane Katrina evacuees.

In New York, where the city reported 579 homicides through Dec. 24 — a nearly 10 percent increase from the year before — the spike is mostly the result of an unusually large number of "reclassified homicides," or those involving victims who were shot or stabbed years ago but did not die until this year. Thirty-five such deaths have been added to this year's toll, compared with an annual average of about a dozen.

At the same time, Police Department spokesman Paul Browne noted that this year's total is only slightly higher than last year's 539 homicides — the city's lowest death toll in more than 40 years.

Browne blamed the rise in part on the availability of guns, particularly weapons from out of state. The city this year sued dozens of out-of-state gun shops that it says are responsible for many of the illegal weapons on the streets of New York.

In Chicago, homicides through the first 11 months of the year were up 3.3 percent compared with the same period in 2005, reversing a four-year decline. A police spokeswoman said gang violence has been a contributing factor.

In New Haven, Conn., there were 23 homicides as of Tuesday, compared with 15 in 2004 and in 2005. Police Chief Francisco Ortiz said that about half of this year's killings involve young people settling disputes with guns instead of fists.

"They're all struggling with this thing about respect and pride," Ortiz said. "It's about respect. It's about revenge. It's about having a reputation. It's about turf and it's about girls."

Houston police attribute the 15 percent increase in the homicide count to the influx of Katrina evacuees from the Gulf Coast.

"So we expect that to settle," Lt. Murray Smith said. "We're hoping it will go down."

New Orleans, with its post-Katrina exodus, is the only major U.S. city that saw a sharp decline in the number of homicides. There were 154 in New Orleans this year as of Monday, said police spokesman Sgt. Jeffrey Johnson, down from 210 in 2005. But the city was largely empty during the fall and winter of 2005-06, and even now has only about half of its pre-Katrina population of 455,000.

Some cities, like Cincinnati — which has had 83 homicides so far, up from 79 in 2005 — posted their highest numbers ever. Others saw their highest death tolls in years.

Oakland, Calif., had 148 homicides as of Wednesday, up 57 percent from last year and the highest in more than a decade. Philadelphia's 2006 homicide total was 403 as of Wednesday, the first time the number has topped 400 in nearly a decade. There were 380 killings in all of 2005.

Philadelphia officials have struggled all year to reduce the violence. In July, Mayor John F. Street gave a televised address in which pleaded with young people: "Lay down your weapons. Do it now. Choose education over violence."

A few cities reported slight decreases in murders. Los Angeles' total was down about 4 percent to 464 homicides through Dec. 23. San Francisco's fell about 15 percent. San Francisco Police Sgt. Steve Mannina said the drop is partly due to increased patrols in violence-prone areas and more overtime approved by the police chief.

The FBI does not release its national crime statistics until several months after the end of the year. The bureau's statistics for the first six months of 2006 showed an increase of 1.4 percent in the number of murders in the first half of 2006 compared with the first six months of 2005.

Andrew Karmen, a criminologist at John Jay College in New York, said that while there are various theories for the drop in murders in New York and other cities in the 1990s, no one knows for sure why it happened. And if they are going up again, no one knows the reason for that, either, he said.

He noted that police departments tend to take credit when the murder rate goes down. "When crime goes up it will be interesting to see whether they will accept responsibility," Karmen said.
(AP)

Ford's state funeral begins Friday

WASHINGTON - Gerald R. Ford's state funeral will begin Friday in his beloved California, with the late president then to lie in state in the U.S. Capitol over the weekend, a family representative said Wednesday.

Giving the first details of funeral arrangements for the 38th president, family representative Gregory D. Willard said events will last until Wednesday, when Ford will be interred in a hillside tomb near his presidential museum in his home state of Michigan.
(AP)

John Edwards joins presidential race

Former Democratic vice presidential nominee John Edwards jumped into the presidential race Wednesday a day earlier than he'd planned, prodded by an Internet glitch to launch a candidacy focused on health care, taxes and other domestic issues.

The North Carolina Democrat's campaign accidentally went live with his election Web site a day before an announcement Thursday that was supposed to use Hurricane-ravaged New Orleans as a backdrop.

The slip-up gave an unintended double-meaning to his campaign slogan on the John Edwards '08 Web site: "Tomorrow begins today."

Aides quickly shut down the errant Web site but could not contain news of the obvious, even in the shadows of former President Ford's death.

"Better a day earlier than a day late," said Jennifer Palmieri, an Edwards adviser.

Earlier Wednesday, Edwards visited the site of his planned announcement for a photo opportunity. He did yard work at the home of Orelia Tyler, 54, whose house was gutted by Hurricane Katrina and is close to being rebuilt.

The campaign Web site featured some of Edwards' expected campaign themes.

"This campaign is about changing America," the Web site read, listing five priorities that fit neatly with Edwards' message of economic equality. Among them: "Providing universal health care for all Americans," "Rebuilding America's middle class and eliminating poverty," and "Creating tax fairness by rewarding work, not just wealth."

Edwards, 53, also issued a statement on Ford's death, saying he was deeply saddened by the news and calling the former Michigan Republican a "true leader."

"He called on us to never lose faith that we can change America," Edwards said.

Taking turns with about 30 young people shoveling loads of dirt in Tyler's backyard, Edwards declined to discuss the campaign, focusing instead on the slow recovery in New Orleans, where whole neighborhoods remain a wasteland.

"Anyone who's not concerned with the rate of recovery is not paying attention," said Edwards. He said finger-pointing is part of the problem, adding that the student volunteers he worked with provided an example of what can be accomplished through cooperation.

Edwards arrived promptly at 1:30 p.m., clad in jeans and a khaki work shirt. His aides kept more than two-dozen reporters and photographers at bay as he and the students prepared Tyler's yard for landscaping.

Tyler is still living in a
Federal Emergency Management Agency trailer in her yard.

"I feel like a child with Santa Claus," Tyler said before Edwards arrived.

The son of a textile mill worker, Edwards has been on a fast track most of his life despite his up-by-the-bootstraps roots.

A standout law student who became a stunningly successful trial lawyer, Edwards vaulted from nowhere politically into the U.S. Senate and then onto the 2004 Democratic presidential ticket — all in less than six years.

In 1998, in his first bid for public office, Edwards defeated incumbent Sen. Lauch Faircloth, R-N.C., a leading advocate for impeachment of
President Clinton.

Edwards began building support for his first presidential bid shortly after arriving in the Senate. He quickly made a name for himself in Congress, using his legal background to help Democratic colleagues navigate the impeachment hearings.

Edwards launched a bid for the Democratic nomination in 2003 and quickly caught the eye of Democratic strategists. Although he won only the South Carolina primary, his skills on the trail, his cheerful demeanor, and his message of "two Americas" — one composed of the wealthy and privileged, and the other of the hardworking common man — excited voters, especially independents and moderate-leaning Democrats.

Edwards' handsome, youthful appearance also gave him a measure of star quality.

Those were among the qualities that led Massachusetts Sen.
John Kerry, the Democrats' 2004 standard bearer, to select Edwards as his runningmate. It was a stunning success for someone who had majored in textile management as an undergraduate as a kind of insurance policy in case a law career didn't pan out.

Republicans have sought to cast Edwards as a money-chasing trial lawyer. It is an image that Edwards has tried to counter by arguing that he represented ordinary people wronged by big corporations.

"I spent most of my adult life representing kids and families against very powerful opponents, usually big insurance companies," he liked to say. "And my job was to give them a fair shake, to give them a fair chance."
(AP)

Toyota shares trade at record high

Toyota shares rose to a record level on Wednesday after its chairman Fujio Cho met Ford's chief executive Alan Mulally amid speculation about possible co-operation between the two car makers.

Most observers believe a broad-ranging alliance between the two companies is unlikely, but there is recognition that more selective tie-ups would make sense for both.

Toyota shares rose 1.9 per cent to Y7,920 ($66.58) after earlier climbing to a record Y7.970. Ford shares were 1.2 per cent higher at midday in New York.

Toyota described the meeting as a courtesy call, and Ford noted that it met regularly with other automakers on "topics of mutual interest."

Mr Mulally is an admirer of the Japanese company's product development and manufacturing processes, some of which he sought to apply in his former job as head of Boeing.

After a robust year for global mergers and acquisitions, markets were quick to seize on the scantest possibility that Ford might be poised to forge a partnership with the world's most profitable big carmaker.

Producers, including Toyota, face broadly similar challenges of high costs, overcapacity, and growing regulatory constraints.

However, analysts expressed doubt that Toyota might seek a full-fledged alliance with financially troubled Ford.

"Toyota has a very crisp view of why it wants to partner with companies and that doesn't include turning around companies," said Ron Tadross, global automotive analyst with Banc of America Securities in New York.

In October General Motors broke off talks with Renault and Nissan on a possible three-way alliance.

Carlos Ghosn, Nissan's chief executive, has since said the company wanted to add production capacity in the US in the long term, but that an alliance was "not an urgent issue."

Rick Wagoner, GM's chairman and chief executive, says his company has no plans for a broad-ranging alliance with another carmaker.

However, GM does co-operate on individual projects, such as a venture with BMW and DaimlerChrysler to develop "dual-mode" hybrid technology.

Analysts said Ford and Toyota might also co-operate in developing alternative fuel technologies, building on their existing partnerships in a fast-evolving area where Toyota is recognised as an industry leader.

Despite its financial problems, Ford has one of the biggest research and development budgets of the world's carmakers. Besides hybrid vehicles, it has built a number of hydrogen-powered airport buses.

(F Times)

5 Dead In British Helicopter Crash

(AP) Five people were killed after a helicopter carrying seven passengers and crew crashed Wednesday as it flew off the coast of Morecambe Bay in northwest England, police said.

Lancashire police, who are coordinating the search, and the Maritime & Coastguard Agency, said five bodies had been found by searchers in the cold water of the large bay.

The search for the other two people aboard the helicopter, which was carrying five Centrica PLC employees when it went down 24 miles of the coast around 6:40 p.m., was continuing.

It was not immediately known what caused the crash.

A pair of Royal Air Force helicopters, two lifeboats and other vessels were searching for the other two missing people.

Energy concern Centrica PLC did not immediately comment on the deaths, but in an earlier statement said that a helicopter used to ferry its workers had gone missing in the East Irish Sea.

It did not say if it had crashed into the water or had to ditch.

"Centrica is working closely with HM Coastguard who have mounted a full scale search and rescue operation," the company said. "Centrica is contacting all families connected with its Morecambe Bay gas fields and expresses its thoughts for those missing at this time."

Centrica said it had contracted with CHC Scotia Helicopters to operate the aircraft.

The Maritime & Coastguard Agency said the craft was thought to have ditched in the cold water of the large bay that is just east of the Isle of Man.

Royal Air Force Rescue Center official Michael Mulford said that signals from a distress beacon believed to be part of the helicopter were detected after it hit the water.

There were no immediate details on what type of helicopter it was.

Gas was discovered offshore of Morecambe Bay in 1974, and some rigs operate there extracting the 6 trillion cubic feet of natural gas that is beneath the sea floor.

In February 2004, 23 shellfish collectors from China died when they were trapped by the tide on the sand at Morecambe Bay and drowned.
(AP)

The Avatar of Presidential Fade-Outs

Death is sad, at least in most cases. But the death of a former president has become an almost cheery television event.

It has been more than 40 years since John F. Kennedy was assassinated. His successors died out of office, relatively painlessly, and most were well into old age. The passing of a retired commander in chief perks up the day with a wallop of stately special reports and bittersweet nostalgia (plaid jackets, “Saturday Night Live,” détente), without undue anxiety or grieving.

And in Gerald R. Ford, who was 93 and served less than one term, television has found the avatar of comfortable presidential fade-outs. The deaths of Lyndon B. Johnson and Richard M. Nixon were too fraught with the Shakespearean tragedies they lived in office. Ronald Reagan’s life and two terms were so momentous that the days leading to his funeral, though full and colorful, were also weighed down with mournful Hollywood pageantry.

As president, the likable, reliable Mr. Ford was most memorable for pardoning Nixon; all day, television screens showed Mr. Ford’s address to the nation, as well as grainy color images of him looking on, stone-faced, as Nixon flung his arm in farewell from his helicopter on the White House lawn.

All the networks went live on Wednesday to Crawford, Tex., to cover President Bush’s tribute to his predecessor. Reporters stood vigil in front of the flags flying at half-staff at the White House, and in Rancho Mirage, Calif., and Grand Rapids, Mich. Most morning news programs were too respectful to repeat clips of Chevy Chase doing his pratfall impression of Mr. Ford as the great fumbler on “Saturday Night Live.” By midday, however, cable news shows were gingerly exploring the “lighter side” of Mr. Ford’s tenure.

In retrospect, it was remarkable how open to reporters the Ford White House was. On NBC “Today” flashed a black-and-white photograph by the former White House photographer David Hume Kennerly that showed Mr. Ford, seated at a table with three aides, in a long-sleeved shirt and pajama bottoms. (One of those aides was his chief of staff, Donald H. Rumsfeld, who recently retired as secretary of defense; Mr. Rumsfeld, along with Vice President Dick Cheney, who also worked in the Ford White House, stood out as among the most lasting, and contested, elements of Mr. Ford’s legacy.)

Mr. Ford’s presidential retirement was dignified and decent but not particularly distinguished: old news clips showed him in the 1980s and 1990s playing golf and attending fund-raisers for Republicans, not raising roofs for the homeless or public awareness about pandemics in Asia and Africa.

Richard Norton Smith, a former director of the Gerald R. Ford Presidential Museum and Library, told ABC News that the former president “swam twice a day well into his 90s.”

On CBS the presidential historian Douglas Brinkley somewhat apologetically told Harry Smith, a host of “The Early Show,” that while Mr. Ford’s post-White-House legacy is eclipsed by the charity work of former President Jimmy Carter, “we must not forget what the Fords have done for people who have a drug addiction.” But it was Mr. Ford’s wife, Betty, who shattered taboos, first by publicly discussing her breast cancer, and later, her dependence on drugs and alcohol, and it was she who led the way for the Betty Ford Center in Rancho Mirage, Calif.

After he tumbled into the presidency, Mr. Ford earned respect for the way he rose to the occasion. But as Wednesday’s television eulogies showed, it was his first lady who seized it.

Tom Brokaw, who covered the Ford White House for NBC, went on “Today” to lead the network’s special report, but on ABC it was Charles Gibson and not Diane Sawyer, who was on vacation. And that was a pity: Ms. Sawyer worked in the press office of the Nixon White House during the final days and was on the plane that took the disgraced president to San Clemente, Calif.; her reminiscences would most likely have been more interesting.

All of Mr. Ford’s acquaintances and biographers spoke of his modesty and stalwart nature. In an interview with Mr. Brokaw taped for Wednesday’s History Channel special, “Gerald Ford: A Man and His Moment,” his daughter, Susan, described him as the “Steady Eddie” of the family.

It seems that his persona was not so overwhelming that it drove commentators to fold into the shadows.

On “Today” the NBC correspondent Andrea Mitchell mentioned that she last spoke to Mr. Ford in California last February, “when he came over to see me, and we had lunch.” (It is hard to imagine a former president in his 90s going out of his way to meet a television reporter, so it was hard not to suspect that Mr. Ford was going out of his way not to invite Ms. Mitchell over to his house.)

Except for Ann Curry, who on “Today” adopted her usual smarmily maudlin tone, most of the encomiums were by turns affectionate and respectful, but not overly mournful.

Mr. Ford lived on healthily and happily for three decades after leaving the White House; as even recent clips show, he, more than anyone, made the Oval Office seem like a ticket to longevity.

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