Tasering for Everyone!

OK, this Florida student may have been acting like an idiot as he tried to ask John Kerry a question, but what was wrong with cutting off his mic and just ending the forum? No, the thugs in the police uniforms decide to forcibly escort him away, then end up tasering him.

Living in Baltimore, I know the value of a good police force, but terrible decision-making on the part of police, like this incident and many more like it, just end up doing damage to law-enforcement. These incidents may be rare, but they almost always make the news, like D.C. Metro cops arresting a 12-year old years ago (crime: eating French fries on the subway). Then there are the popular zero-tolerance, quality-of-life arrests, as popularized by Rudy in New York. Do those approaches work? Hard to say. They likely tamp down some of the petty crime, but the suspicions of police that they engender probably contribute to fewer jury convictions, even for the most serious crimes. Throw in witness intimidation, the stop snitching "code" that so many fine Baltimorons honor, underfunding of police, lowering standards to attract new recruits, and law-enforcement is a big mess.

And what's with tasers, anyway? They've at least contributed to quite a few deaths since they were adopted by police; can't the geniuses employed by the military-industrial complex come up with something better?

Sweet Tail

Here are a few photos from our whale-watching excursion while we were in Boston a few weeks ago. We were up there seeing the sights and visiting Lis and John, who graciously put us up for a few nights and showed us around.

This past weekend was another crazy-busy weekend filled with Matt & Amy wedding stuff. A fun time, but it took us a few days to recover from all the activity and all the people.

And now Mr. Grau is a father. And the apocalypse is not upon us! Weird.