WHO IS READING BLOGONAUT?

If you have ever started a blog from scratch, you know how difficult it is to build up a significant readership. You also know how frustrating it is to note site visits in the double digits.

In that spirit, and for no other reason (because this blog is educational and not-for-profit) every few days we check our visitor statistics, and marvel at the geographic diversity of our readership.

For those of you new to web-surfing, every time you visit a web page, you reveal information about yourself, including the “IP address” of your computer or network on the world-wide-web, your city, state or region, and country, and even your web browser and the resolution of your computer monitor.

The first thing you will notice about this site (apart from the fact that we have posted over 3,500 amusing and sometimes fascinating posts) is that we post infrequently.

This is a function of our limited time—since we practice law and juggle many additional responsibilities—as well as the realization gained over time that if the subject matter does not at once engage, it ain’t worth posting.

But we digress.

Here are the cities and countries of origin of our readers during the last 20 site visits:

Los Angeles, California, United States

Baltimore, Maryland, United States

Minneapolis, Minnesota, United States

High Point, North Carolina, United States

Esbjerg, Ribe, Denmark

Calgary, Alberta, Canada

San Francisco, California, United States

North Bergen, New Jersey, United States

Mumbai, Maharashtra, India

Los Angeles, California, United States

Drummondville, Quebec, Canada

Walnut Creek, California, United States

Laurel, Maryland, United States

Berkeley, California, United States

Barcelona, Catalonia, Spain

Faridabad, Haryana, India

Staten Island, New York, United States

San Francisco, California, United States

Manchester, United Kingdom

Lawrenceville, Georgia, United States

But don’t be misled—we receive weekly visits from almost every country in the world with internet access.

STEVE COOLEY LEADS SF DA HARRIS IN AG RACE, NEW POLL SAYS

Embattled San Francisco District Attorney Kamala Harris, whose quest for the job of California’s top prosecutor has been plagued by her opposition to the death penalty for cop killers and a subpar trial conviction rate now has something else standing in her path to the Attorney General’s Office: A new poll, giving her Republican opponent Steve Cooley a clear lead in the race.

A separate, earlier poll gave Cooley, the Republican Los Angeles County District Attorney, a small marginal lead over Harris, the Democratic District Attorney for San Francisco County.

The Field Poll had Cooley ahead of Harris by three percent, with Cooley at 37 percent and Harris at 34 percent.

But second poll conducted by Hill Research Associates July 10-12 gives Cooley a seven percent lead. The results showed Cooley with 41 percent and Harris with 34 percent, and also projected Cooley as the leader in all media markets except San Francisco.

The death penalty remains a key point of contrast between the candidates, with Cooley for and Harris opposed. Over 70 percent of Calif. voters continue to support the death penalty, which Harris has said she is personally against, and which she has consistantly refused to seek when it was up to her as San Francisco District Attorney--even for cop killers.

In 2009, Harris came under fire when her office decided not to seek the death penalty for triple-murderer and illegal alien Edwin Ramos, who shot three men, a father and his two sons, to death. Harris was also criticized in 2004 for refusing to seek the death penalty in the killing of a 29-year-old San Francisco police officer by a gang member.

The feeling in the law enforcement community is that cop killers are among the most dangerous of offenders, and taking the death penalty off of the table for cop killers endangers officer’s lives.

Harris has also come under fire for having the worst trial conviction rate in the state, with an accused murder in San Francisco having a 50% chance of acquittal if he decides to make Harris’ office prove the case at trial.

However, Harris has strong support from the DNC, listing $636,603 cash on hand with Cooley reporting just $222,729 as of May 22, 2010. So don't count the anti-death penalty conviction rate challanged SF DA out of the race just yet.