This week, we’ll go with Matthew Sweet’s retro-pop classic “Girlfriend.”

Get the album–a classic–here.

Conservative blogs are crowing over this absurd comparison from CBS News:

An estimated 125 people were shot and killed over the summer. That’s nearly double the number of U.S. soldiers killed in Iraq over the same time period.

War proponents are using that line to draw the asinine implication that we’ve made Iraq as safe as Chicago.

I don’t mean to insult you by explaining this, but here goes: The CBS story is comparing homicides in the entire city of Chicago with the number of U.S. troops killed in Iraq. There have been 125 citizen deaths in Chicago since Memorial Day. Depending on who’s doing the counting, there have been 1,000-2,500 citizen deaths in Iraq.

I can’t find a site that looks specifically at Baghdad deaths over that period, which would be the most appropriate comparison to Chicago, but it doesn’t take much effort to show how ridiculous the comparison really is:

• A car bomb killed 63 people on a single day in June.

• Another 32 were killed on a single day in July.
• Seventeen died in a bombing three weeks ago.
• Another 25 were killed in an attack at the end of August.

That’s a quick Google search of the first few stories about mass bombings in Baghdad this summer, and we’re already well over 125 fatalities.

If U.S. troops were gangbangers on the south side of Chicago maybe, maybe, they’d have a greater chance of violent death than they do on duty in Iraq. But to look at these figures and draw the broad conclusion that all of Chicago is as safe as all of Iraq–even in gest–is not only intellectually dishonest, it’s pretty insulting to the people who live in both places.

One of the joys of having a moderately well-read blog is being able to publicly shame companies that give me crappy customer service. So add Dollar/Thrifty car rental to the list businesses I won’t be patronizing anytime soon.

When we were in Alaska, we initially rented from Enterprise. They were out of the type of car we’d reserved, so they sent us to Dollar/Thrifty, who gave us the same rate.

When it was time to return the car, we realized our flight was leaving several hours later than we had originally thought. So we called the rental office, and asked if we could have a few extra hours without being charged. The woman said it wouldn’t be a problem, and that she’d make a note on our rental agreement. If she had said no, it wouldn’t have been a problem. We would have come back at the agreed-upon time, and just killed a couple more hours at the airport.

The point is that we called and, after about 20 minutes of being on hold (how long could the line at the Thrifty-Anchorage Airport really be?), we were given the okay.

A week later, I discover that Thrifty had charged my credit card an extra $83. I called yesterday morning to ask what happened, and the manager told me the car was late. I explained that we had asked for permission to return it a bit late. He replied that there was no such note on the rental agreement. He then said that there’s only one woman who works at the office–his assistant manager–and there’s no way she would have told us we could bring the car back late without being charged another full day. The guy flat-out called us liars.

The manager manager then smugly told me that he’d be charging me a full day for returning the car three-and-a-half hours late, and there’s nothing I could do about it.

I regret to say that at that point, I may have used some profanity before hanging up the phone.

I am aware of the police raids in Minneapolis ahead of the RNC. I haven’t written about them because (a) I’ve been on vacation, then trying to catch up from said vacation, (b) there’s a lot to absorb about them, and (c) there’s a lot of misinformation on both sides to sort through, and because of (a), I haven’t had time to do so.

My lack of writing about them does not mean I don’t care; that I secretly favor the Republicans, and so am secretly pleased that the people protesting them were raided; that I don’t care because the people raided were lefties and environmentalists; or any other nefarious motive you want to ascribe to me. It just means that I have a lot on my plate and, unfortunately, paramilitary police tactics have become ubiquitous enough that I can’t write about every incident that makes the news and still do enough independent reporting to be sure I have my facts straight when I do.

I may yet get around to covering them, particularly as the facts shake out. But I have quite a bit of other stuff to work on. So I may not. But plenty of others are giving the raids lots of attention–people who, unlike me, were actually there.

Now, please stop sending me angry email.

Whoops…

People calling a federal phone number to order duck stamps are instead greeted by a phone-sex line, due to a printing error the government says would be too expensive to correct.

The carrier card for the duck stamp transposes two numbers, so instead of listing 1-800-782-6724, it lists 1-800-872-6724. The first number spells out 1-800-STAMP24, while the second number spells out 1-800-TRAMP24.

People calling that second number are welcomed by “Intimate Connections” and enticed by a husky female voice to “talk only to the girls that turn you on,” for $1.99 a minute.

I know y’all can come up with better puns than my headline.

Last June, police in St. Louis broke in to the home of an 86-year-old woman, deployed a "smoke bomb," and turned her place upside down in what looks to be a mistaken drug raid.  A clergyman from the woman’s church has been trying to get an apology and compensation, but thus far has been rebuffed by city officials.

“We’ve been battling since June,” Brown said. “The (police) board is for the birds, when it comes to citizens. I talked to one board member, but he was very insulting. They just closed the door in our face.”

Valentine wants an apology from the department and compensation for the damage done to her psyche and home.

“She’s scared, and when she hears loud noises outside she thinks it’s the police coming in her house,” Brown said.

[...]

“When they realized they’d been had, why didn’t they just get everyone’s information and write a report for a complaint number and take it to the City counselor, who could get the right department to pay for damages?” Broughton said.

Instead, Valentine and Brown said the officers threatened to the take the elderly lady’s house when they left.

Police tore down Valentine’s door, ripped up her walls, sliced open her mattress, and seized a safe containing stationery.  They found no drugs, made no arrests, and, three months later, have made no offer to compensate her for the damage done to her home.

In a decision that shouldn’t surprise anyone, an internal investigation by the Prince George’s County, Maryland Sheriff’s Department has determined that raiding officers acted entirely appropriately when they shot and killed two pet labradors during a mistaken drug raid at the home of Berwyn Heights Mayor Cheye Calvo.

Neither Calvo nor his mother-in-law—both in the house as the raid transpired—were interviewed for the investigation.  Calvo says one of the dogs was shot as it was running away, an assertion supported by a veterinary examination showing an entry wound to the back of one of the dog’s legs.

Prior posts on the Calvo raid here.  I’ll be speaking on a panel with Calvo and Peter Christ of Law Enforcement Against Prohibition on Thursday, September 11 at the Cato Institute.

Texas city using police officers for code enforcement.

Thanks to Sam Wilkinson for the link.

Devastating. And he’s right about Dick Morris.

Sarah Palin is one of only three governors to sign a proclamation for "Jury Rights Day," an event sponsored by the pro-nullification Fully Informed Jury Association.

Via Volokh.

Sometimes you catch a bit of a news report or a piece of text from an article that beautifully frames what a phony game all this convention business really is.  Happened to me this evening while reading the Washington Post, with this passage:

Sitting around a dining room table, the McCain team has talked to her about Iraq, energy and the economy but has focused on what she should say in her speech, struggling almost as hard as she has to prepare for what will be, along with a debate in October, her main opportunity to shape the way she is viewed by voters. Not anticipating that McCain would choose a woman as his running mate, the speech that was prepared in advance was "very masculine," according to campaign manager Rick Davis, and "we had to start from scratch." 

Few politicians write their own speeches anymore.  But even my jaded eyes bugged at the idea that McCain’s campaign had already written tonight’s speech before they knew who the running mate would be.

The Washington Independent combs through public records in Wasilla, Alaska and finds a news clipping reporting how various Alaska towns fared in the annual federal earmark sweepstakes.  There, in Sarah Palin’s own handwriting, is a big circle around the graph noting that Wasilla’s $2.5 million take led the region.

"We did well!!!" Palin boasts with triple exclamation marks, adding that the article didn’t include an additional $1 million in federal money to pave the Wasilla airport.

That’s $3.5 million in federal earmarks for water treatment, airport paving, and "pedestrian walkways" in a town of 9,000. 

Meticulously vetted!  Has bravely risked her political career fighting earmarks and government waste!

Barack Obama: He’s post-biology!

A gringo ate your baby.

I can’t vouch for the accuracy of this, but it’s not at all implausible.

MORE: A few of you have expressed doubt about the story, noting that nothing relevant pops up in a Google search on McDowell’s name save for the video (and, now, this post). I just checked Lexis, which didn’t have anything either. I’ve emailed the guy who made the video to ask for some further documentation of McDowell’s case. I’ll let you know what he says.

It’s getting more and more difficult to buy the narrative that Sarah Palin courageously risked her own career to take on Alaska’s GOP establishment.  Indeed, it’s looking like she was part and parcel of the state’s federal money grab right up until the time it became politically expedient, at which point she abruptly did an about-face.

The photo above (via Ben Smith) certainly shows Palin’s spunk, but it shows her being defiant in the face of critics of the "Bridge to Nowhere."  Palin political nemesis Andrew Halcro explains that as late as September of 2006, Palin was a vocal defender of the bridge, adding she was insulted by the insinuation that it led to "nowhere."

It wasn’t until last summer, six weeks after the FBI raided the offices of Sen. Ted Stevens, that Palin announced her opposition to the bridge (before taking the money anyway, and using it for other projects).  By that time, Alaska’s lone congressman, Rep. Don Young, was also already under federal investigation.  Opposing Stevens and Young as of late last summer wasn’t a much of a political risk at all—just a little hypocritical, given Palin’s own proven deftness at the earmark game.

We also learn today that John McCain has at least three times singled out for criticism earmarks procured by Palin when she was mayor of Wasilla.  And the AP is reporting that as governor this year, Palin requested that indicted Sen. Ted Stevens procure some $200 million in federal earmarks for the state.  That’s $300 for every resident.  That’s more than any other state, and about nine times the average of the other 49 states.

All of which not only severely undercuts Palin’s image as a reformer, it also puts the lie to the McCain camp’s claims that Palin was thoroughly vetted.  It would be one thing if Palin had been nominated for, say, her foreign policy expertise, and the earmark stuff was merely a shortcoming.  But McCain says he selected Palin in large part because of her fight against earmarks and government waste.  She’s been on the right side of this issue for all of about a year.

Which means that Palin either wasn’t vetted at all, or McCain’s staff did vet her and didn’t see a problem with any of this.

Neither scenario inspires much confidence in McCain or his staff.

Sean Hannity, referring to the attacks on Palin on his show Monday night:

…they tried to make the attack that she has a young daughter, pregnant and engaged. Is that fair that they would attack that? I mean, I don’t remember Chelsea Clinton being attacked. I don’t remember Al Gore’s children being attacked. I thought there was a general rule that children of candidates ought to be left alone.

Here’s none other than John McCain, wowing them at a GOP fundraiser, circa 1998:

Why is Chelsea Clinton so ugly?

Because Janet Reno is her father!

Chelsea Clinton was 13 18 at the time. You’re going to need a new set of talking points, Sean.

For entertainment value alone, this might be the best interview I’ve seen yet from either convention.

There’s also some talk now that Sarah Palin may get Thomas Eagleton-ed. NPR reported this evening that she’s been in seclusion for two days, from both media and convention goers. She even canceled a meeting with right wing maven Phyllis Schlafly’s pro-life group today, which got ol’ Phyllis’s knickers in a twist.

I think it would take a hell of a lot to get McCain to dump Palin. He’d have to conclude there’s no possible way he could win with her on the ticket. Because dumping her would almost certainly cause him to lose. And we’re nowhere near that point right now. It’s not even yet clear that she’s a liability. My guess is that McCain’s campaign has merely locked her down for a couple days while they finish the vetting they wish they had done two weeks ago.

I’m still not really sure what to make of Palin. She’s certainly driven the news cycle the last few days. Policy-wise, she’s a mixed bag, but in interesting, unconventional ways. Yes, she took on Alaska’s corrupt GOP fossils, but, we learned today, only after hiring a lobbying outfit well-known to those same fossils to secure a hefty chunk of federal earmark largess as mayor of her home town. And she really only took on Stevens, Young, and Murkowski once all three were already national pariahs, and once there were already investigations of Stevens in the offing. Palin opposed the Bridge to Nowhere, but only after initially supporting it, and even then, she merely shuffled the money earmarked for it off to other pet projects. Not exactly Profiles in Courage stuff, this.

Then there’s this alleged abuse of power known as “Troopergate.” From what I’ve read, if all the allegations are true, it would make me think more of Palin, not less. She asked the state’s public safety commissioner to fire a state trooper who tased his 11-year-old son, made death threats, and drove his squad car drunk? Why is this a problem? Because he was in the process of divorcing Palin’s sister at the time? I’d like to think any governor who was made aware that a state trooper engaged in any of those things would do what she could to get him fired, no matter how it was brought to her attention. And if the commissioner, who reports to her, refused to fire the rogue cop, he’s not doing his job. So I’m okay with firing him too.

Unfortunately, Palin has denied intervening to get the cop fired. So I can’t even give her the credit here that I’d like to.

By far the best thing Palin’s done thus far is get the usual suspects to don the others’ clothes. That is, the left’s screaming “affirmative action!” while the right’s screaming “sexism!” And both are doing it with a straight face. Makes it fun to be a libertarian.

The lefties are probably right in saying Palin’s gender gave her the edge over many other, more qualified candidates. But. Um. Isn’t that what affirmative action is all about? Breaking down barriers and whatnot? Correcting for historical injustices and such? Is the lesson here that only leftist minorities are allowed to benefit from preference-based political promotions? As my colleague Dave Weigel put it, does anyone really think the Democratic nominee would be where he is today if he were Barack O’Bama, the white Irish-American? For that matter, would Hillary Clinton have gotten 18 million votes for president if she had married the law student two doors down from Bill at Yale?

Yes, Palin’s political resume is thin. That’s a plus in my book. “Experience” tends to mean “knows the ways of Washington,” which generally means more of the same old crap. If David Broder has praised you in one of his columns, you’re probably part of the problem. Frankly, I wish Obama had picked someone less “experienced” than Joe Biden, a guy that embodies everything loathesome about Washington. I also like that Palin’s not a career politician, and doesn’t genuflect before powerful interests. On the other hand, it doesn’t bode well that she has a history of also applying that same kick-ass-and-take-names style of governance to, for example, trying to ban books from the public library that she finds offensive.

But the right’s cry that Palin’s critics are guilty of sexism is just as hypocritical. Palin’s family is Palin’s business, and I have no interest in passing judgment on the decisions she has made in her private life. But let’s pretend for a moment a liberal Democratic governor had delivered a baby with Down’s Syndrome last April, then ran for vice president months later–all while still mothering four other kids, and with her high school daughter pregnant with a grandchild. Can’t you hear the howling from the right about how feminist women care more about their careers than they do about their children and families? Can you hear the stern lectures about how, maybe if Palin had spent less time running for office and more time mothering, her daughter might not be pregnant? Hell, it’s only a hypothetical, and I’m pretty sure I can hear them as I type.

And while we’re turning tables, a poster at Reddit today had a doozy: Imagine the giddy glee we’d see from the right if it was Barack Obama who announced this weekend that his unwed teenage daughter was pregnant. Somehow, I doubt we’d be seeing the handwritten “I support unwed mothers” buttons we (weirdly) saw at the RNC tonight.

All of which is my rambling way of stating I don’t really have a pithy take on Palin. It’s all just a little too wacky right now. But it’s sure as hell fun to watch.

MORE: And I’ll defer to my colleague Jesse Walker on the Alaska Independence Party flap. Given McCain’s creepy “country first” fetish and nationalistic fervor, Palin’s sympathies for a secessionist movement are a positive, as far as I’m concerned.