on the whole Billy Murphy-Ehrlich-O'Malley thing. . . .

From reader Charles Brown:

I'm sick and tired of well-to-do blacks taking for granted that us poorer blacks are their pit bulls who they can sic on whites at their convenience!  We wrestle with, talk and think about, critically and creatively, the social problems of our world every day in between elections.  We don't need "prominent" Blacks or anyone else trotted out to inflame or manipulate our emotions, simply for the sake of doing a favor for a pal behind in the polls.  If Billy Murphy and others have concerns about Zero Tolerance policing in Baltimore or the Broken Window Theory of policing high violent crime rates in big cities, then make that a central topic of debate in the contest.  Don't insult our intelligence by calling it "illegal or unlawful arrests" when they know it's not!  O'Malley was nominated in 1999 with 53 percent of the vote, elected 50-some days lafter with 98 percent of the vote, and reelected four years later with 88 percent of the vote. The citizenry has given him a mandate to implement a policing plan that former Black Commissioner Kevin Clark both lobbied for and explained; and that plan, which is now being forward by Commissioner Leonard Hamm, has significantly reduced the rate of both homicide and other violent crimes in Baltimore over the last six years by any measure.  Be it 23 percent or 40 percent, with a midrange of 32 percent and a 7 percent margin of error, it's still a major reduction in the rate of crime, which is essential to revitalizing the city!  . . . The next time you talk to Billy Murphy, A. Dwight Petit, Clarence Mitchell IV, and other "prominent" Blacks, tell them to stop playing into the hands of the right wing extremists. Let's all focus on the DLC and put our party on the true path of a populist democratic progressive party that will bring us a government that is for and truly by the people.