This little weekend gem didn't escape our notice, and we'll see what we can find out further, but what is it lately with local police throwing a beat down on jaywalkers?

Besides the lady skater in Deep Ellum over the weekend, there's the pedestrian that DART cops whooped up on then pepper sprayed, in addition to other DART cop excesses Jim Schutze over at the Dallas Observer has been tracking.

It's a shame when some people go unbeaten - people with those wearable cell phones, for instance - but jaywalkers? Doesn't natural selection take care of that problem in the long run?

Dallasblog.com has asked me to contribute some coverage of events and issues happening in Dallas, especially on the local political scene. I’m an experienced journalist and I’ve lived in the Metroplex since the mid-1990s, but city politics is a new animal to me. So I bring to the table a complete lack of bias, borne of my ample ignorance. (See that? That’s me being completely upfront. Expect a lot of that. With hopefully less ignorance as we go along.)

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Now, for the action in today’s committee briefings.

There really wasn’t any.

Discussion of the progress of the Dallas NAFTA Trade Corridor dominated the Economic Development and Housing Committee. They’re essentially on the way to building an inland port in south Dallas that could become the focal point for hundreds of millions of dollars in trade and development, and anyone in real estate development, logistics or shipping who isn’t in on this should find out more.

Dallas Police First Assistant Chief David Brown detailed the effectiveness of a pretty interesting test program debuted in July 2005 called Operation Disruption that, if his numbers were right, was a significant part of last year’s dramatic drop in violent crime in Dallas.

The idea of Operation Disruption is to rapidly deploy a force of about 60 officers to crime hot spots to “disrupt the comfort level” of criminals. This involves both patrol officers as well as headquarters units such as SWAT, tactical, K-9, and narcotics officers, and there are two levels of crime hot spots – those where there is a lot of violent crime, and those with a lot of property crime.

Despite DPD being chronically short on officers, this program of taking officers from other operations and precincts to periodically focus on hot spots doesn’t cause upsurges in crime in the areas the officers are pulled from. Just the opposite, in fact – when crime goes down in the hot spots, it likewise declines in areas surrounding the hot spot.

Brown said the program is going ahead with a new target zones in 2006. Details on the program can be found here.

Wednesday’s council briefing has three items you’ll want to watch.

The council will discuss two traffic related items that seem to get everyone talking.

The first is consideration of red light cameras, and the second is consideration of a proposal to make it city policy to of impound vehicles involved in accidents that are uninsured.

Also on tap, discussion of the future bond program development. This behemoth promises/threatens to affect everyone in Dallas, one way or another, so it’s on our watch list.

Mike is sitting on a stool thing about the Cowboys.  He has faith in Drew Bledsoe.  He thinks kickers matter.  And he thinks your not bad if you are old you are only old if your bad.  And more.

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If you want to know what is coming down the road in the consumer electronics field then the Consumer Electronics Show is the show for you.  Thomas Palamides of the Canadian Consulate provides an excellent summary report and collection of industry stats from the 2006 Consumer Electronic Show.  Thank you Tom!

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Hartman Tax Plan addresses twin issues of trade deficits and loss of U.S. manufacturing jobs.

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Warren Strobel of Knight-Ridder Newspapers has an interesting take on the U.S. to push "to spread democracy to the Middle East."

The winners, according to Strobel, are the Islamic parties who have "trounced secular opponents in recent elections in Iraq and Egypt."

"In Lebanon, the Shiite Muslim militia Hezbollah is part of the government for the first time."

As Strobel puts it, "Call it a case of why you should be careful what you wish for." The article is entitled "Islamists gain ground from American push for Mideast democracy." Strobel’s piece is well worth reading. To read it, click here.

DallasBlog ran an article last week about how suspected terrorists may be trying to buy large quantities of prepaid cellphones which are more difficult for authorities to trace. Click here for that story.

Now, the Wall Street Journal has run a story about how stock scam artists are using "prepaid cellphones that function as ‘virtual boiler rooms’". The phones are used to sucker investors by touting and manipulating small cap stocks for the benefit of the stock promoters and to the detriment of the investors. By using "a network of prepaid cellphones", the crooks make it more difficult for the government to catch them "because of the absence of physical records."

As if that is not enough, folks who use regular cell phones are discovering that web sites are selling their cellphone records for around $100. One of the latest victims is General Wesley Clark, former Democratic candidate for President, whose November cell phone calls were made public.

For the full story, click here.

Detail is always appreciated in a biography. Mao: The Unknown Story  by Jung Chang and Jon Halliday (Alfred A. Knopf, $35) certainly delivers on detail but more importantly also delivers perspective.

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