In Which Michael5000 Talks Back to The Man

When bitching about public issues, I really try to resist the logic of "how come they are doing x, but they ain't doing y!?!" In general, that's a pretty naive way of thinking about any complex organization.

Furthermore, it bugs me that many of my fellow Portland lefties enjoy characterising the Portland Police as a sinister cryptofacist brutalizing jaugernaut. It ain't. Complaints about the PPD generally strike me as embarassingly provincial, kind of like complaints about the terrible, terrible Portland traffic.

Having said that, though, it was discouraging that in the same week we learned about the Police Bureau's abyssmal performance in investigating rape cases, we were also treated to the spectacle of officers aggressively ticketing letter-of-the-law traffic infractions by bicycle commuters -- $242 for rolling stops in the light-traffic Southeast Industrial neighborhood. Which is just unspeakably stupid.


C'mon, Rosie. Let's set some priorities.