Power

Johnny Hart, the creator of the BC comic strip has stepped in it with his upcoming Easter Sunday strip. Hart has been known to inflect his comics, especially on holidays, with his Christian beliefs. That's totally fine, but this one in particular has inflamed Jewish groups because it depicts a menorah burning out until it's a cross. Can we try to not antagonize other religions at a sensitive time? Thanks. (via Romenesko's Media News)

Upon further reading, I think I sound like a major league asshole in yesterday's screed. Oy vey. It happens. As Maude says in Harold and Maude, everyone "has the right to make an ass out of themselves." So true. Be stupid. See if I care. Besides, it's not the dumb people that really irritate me anyway. I'm mostly pissed about stupid people that are in better straits than I am. It's a question of privilege. If we were living in a merit-based society, people like George W. Bush would never be where he is. He's ridden the crest of nepotism and money his entire life. The myth of egalitarianism is a pervading one in America, but it's not true and never has been. Sure, the Horatio Alger theme of rags to riches is possible, and America's opportunity is likely unmatched, but the rich and well connected live their lives on another track from the rest of us. It's partially because of this that I decided to go to Law School; if you can't beat them, join them.

What do you do about it? Well, to draw back to this late unpleasantness with the law, the two tracked system has never been more evident to me. We shouldn't have the law be a bright line between the powerful and the powerless, and people should be treated like people whether they are legal professionals or not. Being tossed into the machine known as the Law illuminated one thing about myself; I'm most afraid of situations where I'm not treated like a person. Court, hospitals, dealing with civil servants - in all of these cases the workers dealing with you aren't thinking of me as Nathan Hobbs, the human being; I'm just another defendant, or patient, or license applicant, or whatever. They don't care, at all. And why would they? It's their job to deal with thousands of people. I'd just prefer to never deal with any of those people, but life doesn't work like that. The rich and famous don't have that problem. They live on a plane that is unknown to us, and that's why I resent them.

Updates and information

The FBI has a reading room set up for their most requested Freedom of Information Act requests. Among the highlights are Marilyn Monroe, MLK, and John Dillinger. I always have wondered if the FBI has a file on me. After all, I joined Amnesty International when I was 14. Don't all those stinkin' liberals have a file? (Frankly, I'd be disappointed if I didn't. That's why I've never requested it.)

Update on the Candiru, via Glish. Our buddy Cecil at the Straight Dope is skeptical about the swimming up the urethra thing, but concedes it's possible. I'm still not skinny dipping in the Amazon.

Okies unite! If you qualify, please submit your application. Via one of those Okie blogs I frequent and love. Start at Leaving Oklahoma and explore. That's how I found it.

Finally, go visit a gangster on the web. Henry Hill is the wiseguy portrayed by Ray Liotta in Goodfellas. I'll always remember seeing that movie. I saw it with my friend Jeremy Larchick in Norman at the long dead Heisman 4 movie theater. After seeing it, we snuck in to Silence of the Lambs. Now that's a double feature.