doonesbury
Kicking Butts

It's been a funny weekend. Yesterday defied the weatherman and the afternoon got warm and sunny. It felt great to go out for a walk in sneakers and my Mets jacket instead of boots and my big black coat. It definitely helped with the cigarette cravings. It will be a month tomorrow and for some reason the last three days have been really difficult. I just want to quit quitting. Holding firm however; I think the wellbutrin and Commit have made the difference.

I went to the Eagles club for Sally the weekend bartender's benefit party last night. I was late for that but came in time to donate anyway and I'm happy to report that the results were significant judging from the stunned look on Sally's face.

The shuffleboard game was in full swing and of course I had to play. I was worried about being rusty, and my partner definitely carried the day, but I held my own and we won both games. I hadn't been there in months, but it kind of felt like I had never been away. I was greeted like the prodigal son returned. Lots of hugs and back slapping made me feel welcomed back.

Meanwhile, to the four of you who asked me to install comments, I did it a week ago and your response has been underwhelming. However, I found out the function is working, thanks to the hate mail from all the Young Republicans commenting at this post. Last count was 34 and still growing. One and half of them were positive. The rest want to kick my butt and commit other cruel acts on my body because I had the nerve to suggest this so-called 'violence' that barely required a bandaid, much less hospital treatment, is page three news at best.

If I thought it would do any good, I would go back to Margolis' post and point out how I extrapolated my theory of the occasion based on his own narrative. I don't have that kind of time to waste on lost causes, however. These kids are not really looking for civilized debate, they're looking for justification for bad behavior.

I'm certainly not going to feed them again on the comment board. I don't think they're scrolling past that post however, so for my regular readers, I offer this last analysis of the event. I wasn't there, but I know Boston and provoking a fight with a blue collar worker, union or not, is like shooting fish in a barrel, (which is not to imply that every blue collar worker is a brawler). I'm sorry it came to any kind of physical contact, but those kids willfully and knowingly put themselves in the situation and were looking to incite a confrontation so they could get the press attention.

They made a huge deal about needing police protection after the incident and then continued to insist on placing themselves in the middle of the Bush detractors. Without that I doubt that the Globe would have even reported the scuffle. For them, and even Glenn Reynolds, to equate this isolated (and I maintain manufactured) incident as some proof that the left has devolved into a group of lunatics who prefer violence to civilized debate would be laughable except they seem to believe it. And the unsubtle equation of this "hyper-violent" episode with the war in Iraq goes beyond ridiculous.

I find it choice in any event, these "moral folks" who are so willing to send others in their place to fight their glorious wars, can support the atrocities of the Bush regime and then make a federal case about being pushed to a sidewalk. I shudder to think what would happen to them if they were on the front lines in Iraq and I can't help but wonder if the union guy has a family member there or perhaps has already lost someone close to him, to the daily ticking of body bags trickling steadily back into the country. Margolis and his friends look young and healthy. If they're so gung-ho on supporting their hero's war, why don't they go and fight it instead of picking fights on the sidewalk?

I'm truly sorry the altercation occurred. I'm glad they were not seriously injured and I apologize to the union guy for any unintended implication that he was too stupid to debate verbally. I meant that remark to illustrate the difference in backgrounds and opportunities. And if the Margolis kids come from an underprivileged background and had to work their way through college by slaving away at part time jobs, I will apologize for calling them spoiled brats. Aaron Margolis commented that they do have jobs, so I do apologize for saying they were living on their parent's money. I'm still betting they didn't obtain employment based on a community college BA though.

For my part, I admit my post was strident and in fact hasty. Perhaps I should done a little fact checking beyond young Matt's post, but it was an opinion piece, not a news report. I acted out of an irritating certainty that the big boys of the BPAC were about to give this story legs, and skew it to fit their agenda. The irony of course is that I realized I'm now contributing to the phenomenon that irritated me enough to post in the first place. Two more hate mails arrived while I was posting this.

I believe this is what the Free Republic crowd considers freeping the comment board. The hell of it is, since I asked for them, I feel obligated to read them all eventually.