Political Cortex: Brain Food for the Body Politic

The census reveals that in Washington, D.C., Whites represent 38 % of the population, with Blacks accounting for 57 %.  

Here are some figures from other major U.S. cities:

Detroit:  Whites, 12.3 %, Blacks 81.6%, Hispanics, 5%.

Baltimore:  Whites, 31.6%, Blacks 64.3%, Hispanics, 1.7%..

Cleveland:  Whites, 41%, Blacks, 51.0%, Asian 1.3%.

Philadelphia:  Whites, 45%, Blacks, 43.2%, Asian, 4.5%.

San Diego:  Whites, 60.2%, Blacks, 7.9%, Hispanics 25.4%.

Such a diversified population requires understanding, especially since it is revealed in these statistics that the language spoken in U.S. homes other than English is now 47.6%.

That is why it is vital that every U.S.A. resident should be able to read, write and speak in the English language if we be true to the name of this nation - the United States?

China is the most populated nation in the world.  India is the second most populous while the U.S.A. now ranks as the third most populous nation.  

In the past 42 years the U.S.A. has added 100 million residents.  This requires enormous infrastructure expansion, more highways, bridge repair, more trains, more buses, more schools and hospitals.

Popular U.S. television shows such as CBS' "48 Hours" and NBC's "Dateline" reveal the wide extent of crime plaguing the U.S.A.

For example, the Los Angeles Police Main Headquarters' warehouse packed with files of so-called "cold cases" (unsolved crimes) totaling over 9,000 cases.

A USA Today July 1 headlined article by Kevin Johnson read:

CALIF. DEATH PENALTY SYSTEM `DYSFUNCTIONAL'

"The California death penalty system, plagued by backlogs in appeals that routinely delay executions by more than two decades, is "dysfunctional" and in danger of collapse, a state commission concluded Monday.

"In the state that maintains the largest death row - currently 669 condemned inmates - the report determined that California could save up to $100 million a year by abolishing the death penalty.  Yet the 22-member panel stopped short of recommending its elimination."

The current backlog is 180 appeals, as only 30 to 40 cases can be decided each year, the report said.

"The lapse of time of over two decades between sentence and the imposition of sentence is unacceptable," Los Angeles Police Chief William Bratton, a panel member, wrote in a statement.

In Chicago, during a 6-month span in 2007, 26 murders in public schools occurred in one crime ridden section of the city.

In public schools throughout the U.S.A., killings and threats of killings have kept students on edge.  The Virginia Tech massacre of gun-toting, crazed college student, alerted the nation to the need of gun control, but it did not alert the U.S. Supreme Court.  

In Washington, D.C. the number one employer is the prison system.  It was in a lawsuit brought by security guard Dick Heller, who sued for the case against Washington, D.C. for the right of gun ownership, where the historic decision was made and won on behalf of gun ownership.

J.W. Anderson of Talladega, Alabama wrote a dissenting viewpoint that appeared in USA Today July 2:

"I am an attorney, an avid hunter and a gun collector - within the law.

"What this decision does not do is recognize essential limitations.  Where does one draw a line?  Should guns of more than 10 rounds be allowable?  Are assault weapons legal?

"When we try to judge what the forefathers meant by the Second Amendment, it is fairly reasonable to assume the writers were referring to a `state militia.'  Surely, anyone with common sense would agree that those Founders could not possibly have had our modern-day world in mind where battlefield weapons are common on our streets."

Eugene R. Wytrykus of Lincoln, California also wrote a sharply worded dissent to the U.S. Supreme Court gun ownership decision that appeared July 2 in USA Today:

"McCain saying gun ownership is a `sacred' right.  Sacred?  The next thing we'll hear is that Adam was created wearing a holstered six-shooter.

"Justice Antonin Scalia focused on the Second Amendment's use of the word `militia' to establish an individual right to gun ownership."