Some Quick Hits On A Busy Day

Elayne’s daily Silly Site includes a PAC name generator. If you are going to set up a Political Action Committee and don’t want to take the time to create a name, especially if you don’t want people to identify who you are, the ‘Net provides. The sad part is that it was obviously used by people doing just that, i.e. they took their name from the generator.

Two things to read in police news:

Charlie Pierce is upset with the military equipment going to the police. I would note that there are tear gas rounds for the 40mm grenade launcher, and it is tougher and more accurate than the standard 37mm flare gun that most departments use for the purpose. OTOH, it is significantly heavier and the rounds are much more expensive.

Over at Naked Capitalism Maureen Tkacik writes about the ‘private’ group that has been coordinating the police response to the Occupy movement. The Police Executive Research Forum [PERF] is supposed to be about finding and disseminating the best police practices, but goals change. The important change was when PERF became an executive search service for the top law enforcement jobs in the country, meaning that they get to pick the police chiefs of all the major US cities. That is a lot of power.

In the foreign news:

The BBC reports on some of the fall out of the EU veto: Coalition partners seek to lower tensions. The junior partner in the British government, Lib-Dem leader Nick Clegg, decided not to be present when Prime Minister David Cameron explained his action to Parliament.

Meanwhile the CBC reports that Canada pulls out of Kyoto Protocol. Two hours after arriving home from the Durban conference, Environment Minister Peter Kent announced that Canada was beginning the process of withdrawing from the treaty. Stephen Harper will never be confused with a tree-hugger.