Weekly reader: Sarah Palin ought to do well expressing herself with a 140-character limit

• “[Palin] also wants to campaign for political candidates from coast to coast and continue to speak her mind on the social networking site Twitter, one of her favorite venues to reach out to supporters.” [Detroit Free Press]
• “The real reason for the invention of hate crimes was a hard-left critique of conventional liberal justice and the emergence of special interest groups which need boutique legislation to raise funds for their large staffs and luxurious buildings.” [The Daily Dish]
• “Menu labelling may also encourage restaurants to provide healthier dishes. In response to New York’s menu-labelling law, Cosi, a restaurant chain, created a new menu with healthier items and lowered the calorie content of some of its existing sandwiches. As a result, it says, people are switching to the lower-cal products.” [The Economist]
• Classic from the vault: Gay Talese’s “Frank Sinatra has a cold.” [Esquire]

Yes, Henry Louis Gates, Jr, the Cambridge Police did profile you–as a possible burglar

When staying at my parents’ house a few years ago, I accidentally set off their house alarm while entering one afternoon when they were gone. I knew the code and quickly deactivated the alarm, but the police came nevertheless.

The officers, not using the kindest of tones–because they are cops after all, a profession that attracts more dicks than the Chippendales–asked to see my ID, despite

• the alarm’s silence making it clear that I knew the code to deactivate it
• my explanation of how the alarm was triggered demonstrated knowledge of both the house and the alarm system
• my being white

Was I profiled?

Read more

Riverbrook: Exceptional is relative

But I do love how she’s on her toes, accentuating her gams.

Weekly reader: Sarah Palin, the William Hung of politics

• “This seems odd unless you recognise the context of the New American Dream, which is not that any of us might be Bill Gates or Barack Obama—for by the time we reach adulthood, it’s plain most of us won’t be. It is, rather, that any of us might be Joe the Plumber or William Hung or Sarah Palin.” [The Economist]
• Really Hendrik Hertzberg, did you have to compare Sarah Palin to Thomas Jefferson to demonstrate her stupidity? By his standards, must of us fall short. [The New Yorker]
• “[Losing the Minnesota Senate race to Al Franken] gave [Norm] Coleman the distinction of having twice lost elections to candidates with unusual résumés: in 1998, he lost a run for governor against the wrestler Jesse (the Body) Ventura. Now he has lost to a man who starred in the movie ‘Stuart Saves His Family,’ as a simpering self-help guru who mewled the daily affirmation ‘I’m good enough, I’m smart enough, and, doggone it, people like me!’” [The New Yorker]
• “Step-By-Step Guide To Getting Shot By The Sartorialist” [Refinery29]

Unless Obama grants gays their full rights, I might hate black people

Dear President Obama,

Please support equal rights for people who are lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgendered (LGBT), to include

• their right to marry
• the right of gay couples to receive the same benefits as heterosexual ones

Until you do so I will put forth no effort in supporting your initiatives.

Furthermore until you change your bigoted ways, I might see it in me to discriminate in kind against African-Americans–to include mulattos and maybe quadroons, but not octoroons. That’d be taking it too far.

Sincerely,

Commandant Uno (who donated a lot of money and time to your campaign)

(Photo: Flickr/giopuo)