ripped from the headlines

I might not have noticed this one if I had only read the newspaper online. I usually do. I haven't subscribed to a paper for years, and I just happened to flip through the paper Globe this morning while I was waiting for a library computer. (I was up next, and didn't want to go off into the stacks and risk missing my interval.) The front page cover story--whatever you call the big thing with the pictures and headlines and a little secondary story tucked in beside it--did not look like news at all. The Red Sox is still the World Series champion. The city is still pleased. Police officers in most of the state are likely to be white. The media still hates Hillary Clinton like she's some kind of uppity woman.

Inside the front section, I noticed a little article with a headline like, "Florida student shocked with police Taser at Kerry event apologizes." Do you remember the outrage that event sparked? (This guy at the back of the room was shouting questions at John Kerry, and campus police rushed him with the tasers as he yelled "Don't tase me, bro!") The idea that the victim of that attack is apologizing for it reminded me of Dick Cheney's old hunting buddy apologizing for Cheney's distress after Cheney had injured him in a shotgun accident.* The article in Wednesday's Globe started:

A University of Florida student who was shocked with a Taser after persistently questioning Senator John F. Kerry will avoid criminal charges by apologizing and complying with the terms of a voluntary 18-month probation, authorities said yesterday.

In the online version of the Globe, the list of subject lines for articles has the article as, "Florida student shocked with Taser at Kerry speech avoids charges."

If I'd just seen the online version, I would have thought it was good they realized they couldn't charge him. Even if saying, "Don't tase me, bro" might fit inside the edge of the category "Resisting An Officer Without Violence," it's just too disturbing to think of prosecuting someone along those lines.

http://www.boston.com/news/nation/articles/2007/10/31/fla_student_shocked_with_police_taser_at_kerry_event_apologizes/
The student's name is Andrew Meyer. I find it noteworthy that he had to agree to "conduct himself in a fashion that demonstrates his ability to behave appropriately and without violating the law" for the next 18 months. There are places where shouting at a politician from across a crowded large room is not considered a violation of the law. (I don't mean shouting threats. I'm thinking of shouting that is unfriendly without a hint of violence, like "Answer the question already, you stupid weasel!") I think it was once regarded as protected speech, but I don't know what the current situation is.

*Actually, that's not the kind of situation that feels like it has an emotional connection; it's a different kind of "apology" in a recent political situation that made me flinch. The victim of the shotgun accident was an old friend of Cheney's and a person of authority in the Texas Republican Party. He's a powerful person in his own right, not nearly as powerful as Cheney, but perfectly well able to exchange favors with him. Meyer was an undergraduate who tried to ask rude questions of a politician. "During a Kerry speech" is a label for time and place, but the important interaction was between Meyer and the campus police, not between Meyer and Kerry, or between Kerry and the campus police. Kerry has probably been dealing with hecklers longer than Meyer has been alive, so he was just answering the questions. He couldn't tell what the police were doing until it was over. (And he might have some influence in a Boston court, but not down in Gainesville.) Meyer is almost completely powerless. I understand him seeing it as a good idea to cooperate with the police, to agree to nearly anything to avoid prison and hold onto the chance of finishing his degree someday. He's certainly not in a position to argue with the campus police or the university, or to demand anything from them. That must be why the police don't apologize for losing control and becoming violent when they hear speech that is not calm and polite.

laundry

I remember when cautious, responsible people did their laundry with the coolest water feasible, and put clothes to dry on a clothesline instead of tumbling them in a hot dryer. They were trying to save money on the power bill. Or they were trying to reduce air pollution. Or they wanted their clothes to last longer (and they knew high temperatures tend to accelerate fading and elastic breakdown.) If they put their jeans and towels through the dryer, they'd take them out when they were barely dry, or even a tiny bit damp, and hang them up, not wanting to waste power on overdrying.

In the last few weeks, I've seen a lot of articles and pamphlets about MRSA, and the need to approach cleaning and hygiene in a properly anxious frame of mind. (Everyone seems to agree about frequent handwashing, but half say to always use antibacterial soap and the others to use stuff without triclosan when you can find it.) Do laundry frequently! Dry cleaning is no protection against the dreaded disease! Wash clothes and linens in hot water to kill germs. Dry in the dryer until everything is completely dry. Wash with bleach, because colorsafe bleaches don't kill germs like real chlorine bleach.

There is an organized industry of people who want to convince me I should buy an entire wardrobe of new clothes twice a year. I don't really think the big media push to "wash clothes the expensive and destructive way!" is in collusion with the ongoing media pressure to "buy new clothes" and "burn lots of petroleum!" Not when I'm thinking sensibly.