AND NOW FOR BAD GOVERNMENT – AT 8:15 A.M. ET:  In contrast to the spectacular success of Virginia under conservative government, as noted in the post just below, we have New York, where this is being written.

Behold, another piece of "progressive" government, and all in the name of "civil liberties."  From the New York Post:

Gov. Paterson today is expected to sign a controversial bill that would delete an NYPD database with the names of hundreds of thousands of people who were stopped and frisked but never arrested, sources said.

The measure -- reviled by law enforcement and Mayor Bloomberg -- has been strongly favored by minority lawmakers in the state Legislature.

This week, all five Democratic candidates for attorney general called on Paterson to sign the bill to nix portions of the "250 database," so called because of the number on the form filed to the database.

Three sources told The Post last night that the governor was expected to sign the bill this morning at a planned event in Manhattan.

"Albany has robbed us of a great crime-fighting tool, one that saved lives," Commissioner Ray Kelly fumed.

"Without it, there will be, inevitably, killers and other criminals who won't be captured as quickly or perhaps ever. They'll be free to threaten our neighborhoods longer than they would have been otherwise."

Kelly is one of the all-time great police commissioners.  You'd think his words would be taken more seriously.  The greatest beneficiaries of New York's spectacularly successful crime-fighting program have been minorities.  And yet, minority "representatives," still living in the 1960s, fight the program at every turn.

While some 12 percent of stop-and-frisks wind up with an arrest or summons, Kelly insisted the database has been invaluable in crime-fighting.

That info has been important in identifying suspects in 178 criminal cases -- including 17 murders -- over the last 18 months, he said.

COMMENT:  This is so typical of New York, a state still wallowing in its liberal past.  Who cares about murders?  Who cares about life?

In the time since liberals were ousted from New York City's mayor's office, murder has declined 80% in the city.  You'd think some of these self-appointed bleeding hearts on the left would finally notice.

July 16, 2010