Politics as an Olympic sport

If the police were over the top, then we should probably bear in mind that previous experience in Oakland may have influenced their reaction. (I'm not sure just how far over the top they were. I don't think that we're dealing with the 68 convention and the Chicago 7 here...quite a shining moment for Mayor Daily and for the demonstrators, I guess.)

I almost forgot about the President...

If President Obama wants to make the pitch for Chicago then I guess that he can. The Presidency really doesn't offer vacations, they work wherever they are. I do feel that the pending request for additional troops and the situation in Iran should be dominating the President's time, and perhaps they are. He might have done well to stay out of it, though, Olympic politics are supposedly among the most corrupt known to man, and I'm not sure that it is necessarily what a President might want to be associated with. I believe that in going it means that either he is confident that Chicago is in, and wants to share in the success, or is confident that the resumption of the health care debate will cause even further erosion to his populairity, and doesn't want to share in that....but maybe that's too cynical.

<i>What is it with police and students anyway? No matter where you are, it seems that cops just don't like kids and are provoked by the mere sight of them.</i>

Let me explain:

infinonymous.blogspot.com/.../pitt-welcomes-dropouts-back-to-campus.html

(I had thought, now that the P-G obviously has acquired a Google-compatible Intertubes apparatus, that your comment feature might have advanced to the point at which it would accept links.  Are you guys working on that?)

I, usually, support the police. They have a tough job, and most comport themselves admirably; that said, the video (several cops, in riot gear, manhandling a petite young woman who, out of frustration, threw her bike against several police officers)  I watched, on last night's news, turned my stomach. Male bullies, who push women around, are scumbags, and need to be reprimanded.

They could have broken that poor woman's neck when they threw her to the pavement; then, she was charged with felony assault on a police officer! Thank heavens the incident was captured on video, or she might be facing serious jail time.

Now, if that had happened to myreply, I'd still be upset with the police -- because they didn't finish him off with a canine unit!

2016 Olympics? Of course Jack Kelly and his fellow NeoCons don't want any diversions from their current ratcheting up the hysteria about Iran's supposed nuke development. It is Iraq deja vu all over for them. Hey Reg, please do your homework before you do your next face off with Kelly. The news media is as much to blame for Iraq as anybody for not discrediting the NeoCon war hawks like Kelly who were instrumental in suckering us into that debacle. www.guardian.co.uk/.../iran-secret-nuclear-plant-inspections

Pontification alert:  I think, to answer your question, Reg, what is it with police and students:

A cultural and psychological divide exists, I posit, between the social and economic status of those who choose to do a dirty, hard and dangerous job lowish paid job vs. those who choose to sit around reading books and writing papers primarily because they would prefer not to have a dirty, hard and dangerous lowish paid job.

Also, I offer this story, and there have been others over the years, that police officers are deliberately chosen to be "average" vs. "above average" which actually makes sense to me but then of course I am a liberal elitist.

"Robert Jordan sued the New Haven, Conn., police department after it rejected him as a police officer because he scored too high on an intelligence test. But U.S. District Judge Peter C. Dorsey has dismissed Jordan’s suit, ruling that he “may have been disqualified unwisely, but he was not denied equal protection” as defined by law. Jordan’s IQ is approximately 125, versus a national average police officer IQ of 104. New Haven argued that a too-smart cop “could soon get bored with police work and quit after undergoing costly academy training.”(AP)

myooz:

Thank you.  Anyone struggling with the question of what, if anything, needs to be done about Iran is obligated to digest the article you linked, for, while the neocons may not be in office, they are still the masters of propaganda and manipulation, and the media thrives on hysteria as much as ever.

Mr. Henry:

On the other topic today, I do not mean to jump too hard on what I’m sure was only a casual choice of words, but you credited the police with having “behaved with some discipline over the previous two days.”  

They are the trained professionals.  They have deadly force always at their fingertips and are authorized to use it *against us*.  I expect more than “some discipline” all of the time.  I expect them to do their jobs consistent with the preservation of *our* rights.  

I expect the same of those who sent them.

Who works for whom?  

yinzerati:

Minefield, that.  If I’d been a few minutes quicker, I wouldn’t have had to face it.  

Let me return instead to the larger “cultural and psychological divide” the country as a whole is witnessing and that we have all been talking about, and ask:  When those who love this country start shooting at those who love this country, which side will the police be on?

104 for a national average IQ of police officers?  No way that's true.  84 maybe, but no way in the triple digits.

sdkeller:

My thanks to you, too, (1) for your efforts throughout the site these past few days, and (2) for exposing yourself to fire with a comment that can be taken as even more inflammatory than mine.

yinzerati -

Your story about the police candidate reminds me of something that I heard once (apocryphal, maybe) about middle managers.

Supposedly, the same argument applies to mangerial; candidates. i.e., one doesn't want a manager to be "too smart" or "too analytic" since they need to tow the corporate line as well as authoritatively enforce policy.

Truthfully, though, I really believe that *most* police are professional and educated. Most.

Callsign -- who will the police defend?  Will it matter at that point?  

Scarlet -- Highly doubt its apochryphal, it makes complete sense.  Likewise school -- they dont' really teach thinking, its considered too dangerous. They teach showing up on time, obeying authority and being just literate enough to fill out purchase orders and file paperwork.

On the police: absolutely love them, mostly really good guys who put their lives on the line for us every day.  I believe that police, teachers, soldiers, bus drivers and other public infrastructrure workers like them should be paid much more than they are and duly accorded more prestige and respect.  

Temperament and personaltiy type are more likely indicators of success than intelligence in all these jobs.

Its an interesting conundrum for liberalism (is this the Minefield you regard with horror, Callsign?) which often fails to distinguish one very important fact of life: although yes, each person is equally valuable in terms of their humanity and potential to contribute to (or destroy) the social fabric the uncomfortable fact remains that we differ greatly in our abilities, proclivities and talents. And society has many needs to fill.  

The conundrum I refer to above (human differences) is regarded by conservatives as a justification for their much greater tolerance of social and economic inequality.  Hence the cultural divide of suspicion, misunderstanding and worse.

As Callsign points out, our media has made this cultural divide into its bread and butter. Hence, we will shortly be bashing each other over the head with baseball bats as talking has become useless.

Neil Postman foresaw it all, but who listens to ivory tower intellectuals in such a media circus?  As he put it, and excuse me Neil I'm mangling you but something like: "Orwell and Bradbury thought we would be oppressed by an outside power that prevented our access to books; Huxley's vision was darker, he knew we would bring on our own destruction because nobody would want to read books any more."

Well I must depart, my corporate masters are calling  . . . and bread must be put upon the table.

Reg:

First let me answer the obama debate.  The Olympics thing should be handled by the state of Illinois, not Obama.  It seems a local issue.  But, it looks like Chicago politics, as usual.  Perhaps a senator or local rep. might have been better.  I would rather he stayed out of it. He is the president, not the neighborhood organizer.

Secondly, I would rather any other place be showcased for the games, especially after the violence this week in Chicago, and the on-going viloence there.  Clean up the house, before you invite company in.

As far as the G-20 - I didn't seeing  Pittsburgh as an armed camp - it was disturbing to say the least.  There is such a thing as preparedness, and then there is hostility.  What I saw was a lot of the latter.  I think, we a a city, lost more than we gained from this meeting.

To the frog: (Toadly)

You are an a**hole young lady.  I give you, what you gave me - you deserve no better when you fling the kind of crap you fling for no good reason other than to be "cute".  But you are not cute little girl - you are but a wart on a frogs a**.

Dear Ms. myreply:

Ribit! Ribit!

Ms. Frog:

Croak!

Hey, myreply, would you like to be one of my Facebook friends?

I can't afford to be picky!

Toadass:

You are to be pitied.  Did you mean to say that?

I beg to differ, Toadsly.  You're cute.  Definitely cute.  If you have a mellifluous voice you could also be dangerous.   Warts and all.  [I've heard Rush gets all ragey too when the meds are gone.]

Dear Little myreply:

Does your mommy know you're fooling around with her computer?

Dear ciejai,

I never go off my meds! If I did, I'd turn into myreply!

tourist,

What makes you think NeoCons are not in office. They infect both parties equally.

Hey, wait a minute!  Was that an apology you recieved, Toadsly?  

ciejai:

Your guess is as good as mine.

You two must be high - hell would have to freeze over before you would ever get an apology from me.

Dear Mr. Wonderful (myreply):

Please don't take this the wrong way: You're as stubborn as a mule, and twice as insipid!

Toadsly,

I thought you were an Olympic quality blogger until you allowed your self to sucked in by the Special olympic blogger.

It is not sporting and you can not win debating with the handicapped.

myooz,

I, God help me, actually, like myreply. I wouldn't waste my time jerking his chain, if I didn't; that said, I think it's time for me to quit annoying him.

I try to look for the good in everyone -- I'll bet even Mr. Wonderful (myreply) is, in his own contrary way, a decent fellow.

FYI: I enjoy reading your comments, myooz. I'm a centrist, and relish reading all points of view on the P-G blogs.

Toadsy,

My finger gets tired scrolling past her numerous and inane comments.