Real thoughts about the actual law and stuff

When I decided to give this whole writing-a-post-per-day thing a whirl, I sketched out a rough outline of the kinds of things I would talk about each day (Mondays: weekend recap, Tuesdays: why "plumbing" has become my least favorite word, Wednesdays: "knitting patterns for tea cozies" and so on.) In this preliminary plan, Thursdays was "law stuff." So hey! Law stuff! Initially I was going to talk about my first Streetlaw meeting with my new class of high school students, during which Doughbri and I asked them what kinds of things they want to know about the law (my favorite response? "Why are all cops such jerkoffs?") But then I read this story and my eyes rolled back into my head and I started muttering under my breath because Alberto Gonzales makes me so frustrated sometimes that I lose my ability to speak coherently. Basically, the story is about "Operation Falcon III," a sweep of some of the "worst of the worst" criminals that led to almost 11,000 arrests over the past week, ending yesterday. Apparently, apprehending fugitives as soon as you find them is boring- you should wait until you can arrest over ten thousand at once because then you can get a nice press release out of it. I think my favorite part is this:

"America's neighborhoods are safer today, thanks to Operation Falcon III," Gonzales said. Two earlier stings -- Falcons I and II -- were held in April over the last two years. Gonzales and Clark denied that next week's elections played any part in scheduling the latest crackdown."

Um, sure. Your decision to wrangle 11,000 sex offenders and other "worst of the worst" criminals all at once has absolutely nothing to do with what's happening next Tuesday. And our civil liberties are totally intact and not at all threatened. And pigs fly. Thanks, Alberto. I'm deeply comforted.