The somewhat brutal eviction of Occupy Wall Street protesters in New York (and in other cities) while barring the media from reporting on it really is disgraceful.
Early Wednesday morning, New York police raided and evicted the Occupy Wall Street encampment in Zucotti Park in southern Manhattan. The behavior of the NYPD and the mayor’s office, in ordering this brazen action while blocking the press and the public from reporting on the eviction, is a disgraceful display of unnecessary force on a protest that for the most part has behaved lawfully and respectfully throughout its two-month existence.
Here's my ugly truth: I almost understand where any given mayor might be coming from on this deal. When are those goddam kids going to get out of my park? You're trying to manage a city, you want tourists to visit and families to come to your parks, especially in a tight economy (ironically enough), and it's the goddam drum line and protest songs.
That being said, there is a better way to manage your city and allow people freedom of assembly and expression (one of those pesky inalienable rights).
The OWS folks have been ridiculed by many in the media as goofy kids without a message. This did more to dispel the myth that we in America have an actual, effective media apparatus than anything else.
Now the OWS protesters have been kicked out of public spaces by governmental leaders who were ostensibly elected and serve to uphold the rights of people in public spaces, if nothing else. If a guy didn't know any better, he might start thinking that our government had become a myth as ineffective and trivial as our national media.
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Wow, you mean the former CEO of Godfather's Pizza and Groper-in-Chief of the National Restaurant Association doesn't have his shit together on foreign policy?
I'd say that Herman Cain embarrassed himself on video (you'll find it in that link) when asked a question about President Obama and Libya. John Dickerson of CBS News offers an interesting take, and maybe it's all true: Cain was operating on little sleep. He's been trying to cram a ton of stuff into his head.
Guess what part of the job description is for President of the United States?
I happen to think that Cain was in a box because the real kiss of death is not knowing what the deal is with Libya. The unforgivable sin in the Republican Party is to agree (or even appear to agree) with President Obama in any way, shape, or form. My guess is he was stuck trying to figure out how to applaud the outcome of what happened in Libya while trashing Obama all at the same time.
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The Beach Peanuts take-down of Allen West and military policy is a must-read. Honestly, people, I can't believe we're stll talking about waterboarding as a viable thing to do to people.
(Demi Moore was on an episode of "Will & Grace"?)
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I genuinely love John Cole and Balloon-Juice, and this post is exactly why. It's sexist, it's doesn't tell you much you don't already know, and it may well have been written in about a minute. And it's perfect.
To be fair to John, he corrected the sexist comment.
I'm telling you, that blog is a must-read.
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Be sure to check out Days of Struggle, the new website and blog from Kelly Benjamin. It'll go up in the list to the left soon.
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So the Supreme Court is going to take up the health care law before the 2012 elections.
The U.S. Supreme Court announced that it will review the constitutionality of President Obama's individual mandate that will require Americans to obtain health insurance by 2014 or pay a penalty, Adam Liptak wrote in the New York Times. The Court will hear oral arguments in March 2012 and a decision is expected in June during the showdown of the presidential election.
If the Supreme Court defers to elected officials in the executive and legislative branches and determines that the individual mandate is constitutional, the decision then moves to the court of public opinion. That court will be divided based on those who have to pay for health insurance from their own pocket and those who don't.
I've said a lot on this blog that the driving force of Election 2012 will be the economy (so have a lot of other bloggers and media types). That's still true, but you'd better believe this will be a factor, now, too -- no matter what the outcome.
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If you're looking for something uplifting, watch the Diane Sawyer interview of Congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords and her husband, Mark Kelly. It's just great stuff.
-- More later --
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