links for 2009-09-16

  • The only problem? From a purely economic standpoint, insuring illegal immigrants makes a lot of sense—and not just for them, but for everyone.
    (tags: healthcare)
  • The NYPD’s stop-and-frisk practices raise serious concerns over racial profiling, illegal stops and privacy rights. The Department’s own reports on its stop-and-frisk activity confirm what many people in communities of color across the city have long known: The police are stopping hundreds of thousands of law abiding New Yorkers every year, and the vast majority are black and Latino.
  • Interesting point – it does seem that cops get a bizarre number of shows on TV, and why? "Consider that “put their lives on the line” business. Police work is indeed dangerous — 140 officers died in the line of duty in 2008 — but less so on a per capita basis than logging or fishing or roofing, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics. The municipal employees who do put their lives on the line every day? Sanitation workers — No. 6 on the list of jobs with the highest fatality rates. The police don’t make the Top 10."