Ann Althouse to commenters: "Be respectful or I'll delete you".

The UW law professor now censoring comments on her blog. Something good has been lost here.

Does manufactured outrage count as trolling when you blog?

I love Ann Althouse's blog which I read every day and occasionally post comments there as well.  One thing she does  that drives me crazy though is the way she picks through the New York Times columnists and op-eds and finds something to snark or otherwise put down, condemn or get outraged about. Hey Ann! It's the New York Times for cryin' out loud! What the hell did you expect from them? But what you're actually going to get from them though is smug and obnoxious elite's mean and condescending putdowns of the fly-over country hillbillies on the other side of the Hudson River. But you would have to know that already wouldn't you?

IMHO this really amounts to trolling. And if that's your schtick then fine, run with it. But Ann don't forget you chose to enter their house. And it's bad form to  go into a titty bar if you're outraged by drinking, naked tits, and creepy horn dogs behaving badly and then complain about it. Not if you want to be taken seriously anyhow. Just saying.

Tempt fate often enough...

University of Wisconsin law professor, blogger and bon vivant Ann Althouse was attacked while filming a protest in Madison. The cops, as usual, were worthless, useless, and fat. Althouse needs to have about three or four six-foot plus tall friends to accompany her on her capitol grounds patrols to watch her back. These bullying types are totally willing to use violence to silence their critics. The attack is on video on her blog. Althouse has been fearlessly covering the whole semi-permanent protest/mob/demonstration scene at the Wisconsin state capitol that has been going on since January. It was bound to happen. Just sayin'.

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Ann Althouse lists some dining gaucheries she finds annoying
I have experienced just two from her list. I have had fish entrees served with the head and tail still attached and it didn't bother me a bit. And I've had expensive cocktails served in cheap plastic cups which did. Somehow my Bombay Sapphire martini just didn't taste as good. Go figure?

Unprepared and feckless US allies expect the America to pay for all joint military operations (Strategy Page)
Even those like Libya or the Balkans that are in their own backyards. Sheesh.

Osama may be dead, but his long-term strategic game plan is still winning (Danger Room)
That is: Force the US to bankrupt itself playing whack-a-mole against global terrorists threats.

What people really need and want (whether they realize it or not) (Front Porch Republic)
Steady work, stable families, and rooted communities.

Why America’s young adults will continue to leave urban centers for the suburbs (New Geography)
Because urban school districts are terrible and so they don't want to start or raise families there.

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An obvious political hack and a doctor-suing ambulance chaser likely to get nominations to federal court (Robert Snell, Detroit News)"[Likely judicial nominee Marietta Robinson] has given big donations to state and national Democratic candidates, particularly the three who will determine whether she becomes a federal judge. She has given $4,600 to Obama, $6,000 to Stabenow and $2,000 to Levin, according to the Center for Responsive Politics."

Jackson county district court judge James Justin recommended for dismissal for misconduct by the Michigan Judicial Tenure Commission  (Danielle Salisbury, MLive/Jackson Citizen-Patriot)
" '(Justin’s) deliberate and repeated decisions to circumvent the judicial process — many times to his own benefit — render him unfit to sit as a judge.' ” Justin dismissed traffic tickets issued to himself and his wife nine separate times. So much for "equal justice under law", eh? But I'd still like to keep elected judges instead of appointed ones. At least we can vote 'em out if need be.

 Profile of a Tom Henderson a respected Detroit-area business writer who moonlights as an author of true crime books (Sandra Svoboda, Detroit Metro-Times)
An interesting read.

Ann Arbor set to establish myriad laws, rules, and regulations for medical marijuana clinics (Dave Askins, Ann Arbor Chronicle)
This lengthy and cumbersome effort on the part of the city of Ann Arbor seems stupid, expensive, and pointless to me. Do they do all this micromanaging for wine shops, party and liquor stores?

Ann Althouse gains some insight on the topic of what constitutes "fairness" in union-dominated college towns like Madison, WI (Ann Althouse, Althouse blog)
"I don't see how the city can accept free-form sleeping on the street, with no group taking responsibility. Homeless and transient people are not allowed to sleep on the street, so I don't see how special immunity from the laws can be given to other sleepers based on their political opinions." Bottom line: Politically connected professional agitators have one standard. But the homeless, drunks, drifters, druggies, beggars, and kooks and such have another standard altogether.

A commenter on Ann Althouse's blog in re the amazing ability of the PEUs and their allies to mobilize some large demonstrations and sustain them for so long and son well last February.

"The problem with any largish college town is that it supports a population of 10,000 flakey losers. That's one of the reasons I have not returned to Austin in the twenty-something years since graduation."

That "flaky loser" demographic (which Ann Arbor has as well) is definitely a big plus for flash mob demonstrations.

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The Greeks get it; Americans just don't - TruthDig (Chris Hedges)

An amateur theater group reads Howard Zinn's play Marx In Soho - link

Professor Althouse is pretty accurate here but she doesn't go far enough - Althouse

"A love of autocracy often lurks beneath the liberal veneer. There's this idea that the right answers are known and the people are just too deluded and distorted to see what they are and to vote for them." But this isn't just a problem with "liberals" though. It applies to all the zealots and ideologues out there.

The myths and legends about Che Guevara - The Anarchist Library

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Ann Althouse discovers the nuances of modern Japanese cultural references - Althouse

I first read about the Thomasson concept in Japanese aesthetics in William Gibson's 1994 novel Virtual Light [p.70-72 in the hardcover edition]

American capitalists to working class men: We don't need you - Wall Street Journal

Portraits of post-humanity - io9

It's come to this: SWAT team raids Toledo foreclosure defense league, 7 arrested-Infoshop News

" 'I'm proud of these kids, I really am. I think they've taken a stand for what they believe in. The middle class is being destroyed. These banks have been bailed out numerous times and they haven't given us any breaks,' said John Kutsch, father of one of the arrested people." Police attack video here.