By Jim Irvine

The Cleveland Plain Dealer has started posting data on homicides on its web site. The move was highlighted in a front page story in the Metro section on Sunday, January 25, 2009.

On the site they will "list information on every 2009 homicide in its seven-county coverage area. The searchable database ... will include details of the slayings, photos of the victims and links to stories. The site also maps each killing." A color map with "pins" marking each homicide was included.

The web site lists data about each homicide, such as the method of the killing. As it has in the past, the Plain Dealer is listing deaths of those who are killed as though they are equal or similar. Nothing could be further from the truth.

By Jeff Knox

When Barack Obama announced that he intended to nominate Eric Holder to be his Attorney General, we at The Firearms Coalition launched an aggressive campaign to block the appointment and urged all other Second Amendment organizations to do likewise. Holder was Janet Reno's top deputy in the Clinton administration and has proven himself to be a radical opponent to the rights of firearms owners. Holder has not only testified before Congress in support of expanded restrictions on firearms ownership, he signed an amicus curiae (friend of the court) brief in DC v. Heller in which he espoused the theory that the Second Amendment's "right of the people to keep and bear arms" is actually a right of the states to organize militias. Someone with such twisted opinions about the Constitution should not even be considered for the position of Attorney General.

The controversy over the confirmation of Holder is reminiscent of a confirmation battle that took place back in 1979.