- I finally got a chance to talk to my father regarding the Gates contretemps -- he is a veteran of 23 years as a cop, including numerous riots, standoffs, and other nasty spots. He also did a lot of training over the years and was very big on it as a means of producing a smarter, more effective police force with less need to resort to violence. As I suspected, he thought the cop in the Gates mess had screwed up. He told me that he instructed his people to "always leave room to back up" if the need arose and if possible, avoid humiliating men in front of family or neighbors. He observed that as a cop you always hold the trump card, i.e. the ability to lock someone up -- but you don't want to use that card too often or too quickly. He said he would have apologized to Gates and just gotten out of there.
- Reading this by Roy Edroso, I was struck by how often right wingers write in ways that seem to show a need for approval by respectable liberal opinion. The plaintiff tones of "why won't you" 1) make my movie; 2) publish my book; 3) talk to me like I'm sane; or 4) give me a pity fuck seem to emanate regularly from the right wing blogosphere. It fascinates me. I can't imagine giving the least little fuck what people like Glenn Reynolds, Jonah Goldberg or the douche bags at Powerline or Red State or any of the other insane clown posse think of me. I think they're idiots -- I would view their approbation as a sign of my failure as a human being. Basically, when I am in the unusual circumstances of being with right wingers -- only through business, family or happenstance, never voluntarily -- I try to be polite and talk about sports and the weather. But no, I will not discuss whether there is reasonable doubt that Obama is a citizen or that evolution is just a theory. Go find friends or go get help, but don't expect me to act like you're reasonable people.
- I was really annoyed by this astonishingly vacuous piece in the Washington Post yesterday by Kathleen Parker touting Utah's health care reform as a model for the U.S. Talk about no there there -- there is literally no description of what exactly was done to increase coverage or control costs nor any discussion of actual outcomes. Parker mentions insurance exchanges -- but that's it. That was followed today by another disingenuous piece by Robert Samuelson, claiming that we can't insure everyone while cutting costs. And yet, every country in western Europe manages to provide universal coverage while spending a significantly lower percentage of GDP on health expenditures. Perhaps that's worth looking into Bobby, you twit.
- And then there's Kristol -- badness in a whole 'nother dimension. This twisted grinning fuck really has no idea of the irony of him admonishing people for speaking of things they know nothing about. And by the way Bill, as with my comment about Samuelson, oddly enough, people are getting better and cheaper health care throughout the industrialized world.
- Did I mention that I fucking hate the Post? Lazy, irony deficient, and ill-informed -- that's our media in a nutshell.
- Except, of course, for Krugman, who remains the sole glimmer of light amidst this darkness.
- Ah, and Bill Clinton remains a man of prodigious appetites. Jesus Bill, usually we choose, onion rings or fries, milk shake or apple pie -- but the Big Dog's gotta have it all.
