Shopping for an AR-15

Boston cops want to pack the semiautomatic version of the M-16 into battle on the streets of Boston. Uh, no. What a stupid idea.

The dangers are not imaginary, but the police have to go to Mumbai to justify their desire for new toys. In Columbine, the police hesitated to establish a perimeter, or so they said.

The BPD wants a weapon with a range of a five hundred meters to shoot bad guys in the city. How many 500-meter fields of fire are there in Boston? How many should anyone send a high-velocity bullet tumbling down? How many would be empty enough to have a righteous shooting?

If I were one of the targeted bad guys, I might think about jacking a cop car to get the assault rifle out of the trunk.

Better body armor would be much safer for cops and civilians.

Running government like a business

Building relationships, getting paid, screwing the shareholders - what could be more like modern American business? Now, like Ted Stevens before her, Dianne Wilkerson has been caught taking bribes, Wilkerson for liquor license shenanigans (disclaimer: allegedly caught). She was very effective evading the law and engaging in back-room manipulation. She should have been in the private sector!

At least the voters in the September primary were finally tired enough of Wilkerson, who apparently believes that no rules apply to her, to deny her the Democratic nomination for re-election. Alaska Republicans? Nope, not that smart.

(For those of you who aren't tuned in enough to notice snark when it's slapping you across the face, no, I don't think these practices are universal in the private sector either, and I don't think they're good anywhere.)