Frank Singleton tried to rob a woman of her Nissan 350ZX outside the jail he had just been released from in West Palm Beach, Fla., but couldn’t drive a manual. Singleton was arrested in the parking lot and was booked on the felony charge of car theft. His previous charge was only a misdemeanor. Singleton, according to the University of Kansas City-Missouri newspaper, was sentenced to six years in prison.

In May 2010, According to Crime Voice, a California crime news website, two thieves were twice foiled by the manual transmission in the same car in two days. The pair stole the car on Thursday, May 20, abandoning it three blocks away when they couldn’t drive the manual. The car was recovered by the owner the next day, onlyLa Botz Got the Siegel Campaign All Wrong

by David Judd

Dan La Botz' article on the return of Left to electoral politics is generally insightful, and its survey of campaigns around the U.S. is a valuable contribution. However, the article's analysis of the Dan Siegel campaign for mayor of Oakland is off.

Siegel's economic program is not one "for capitalist investment that might have been developed by Democratic or Republican party candidates." It's not a socialist program, but no mayor is likely to bring about socialism in one city. Capitalist investment is indeed moving into Oakland, and the question is what form this will take. Will it displace Oakland's working class and force out even more of Oakland's African American residents? Or can Oakland's current residents organize and leverage capital's