Comments on The Belmont Club,"Conversations"

The committee, led by “nationally recognized experts,” will not investigate the arrest of Gates, nor will it “make any judgments” on the officers involved, Healy said. The committee “will identify lessons to be taken from the circumstances surrounding the incident” and will advise the police department on how “those lessons can be applied” to its policies and practices.
- City Manager Robert Healy

Sentence first, verdict afterwards
- The Queen of Hearts, Alice in Wonderland

They intend to advise the police department on how to apply lessons that are derived without bothering to investigate what actually happened. The deal I suspect will be that nothing goes formally into Crowley's Official File and the municipality spends money on counselors and interveners, possibly with kickbacks to Gates. Of course the next time there is a reported crime and the police do not respond effectively the city will face a lawsuit. However it will be hard for the victims to prove that best practices were not used. Consider what would happen if a lawsuit faced every teacher, either in a public school or in a prestigious college, who talked nonsense in front of a class. Proving malpractice in a law enforcement or any government administration setting is much harder then in a medical setting. Otherwise lawyers would be terrorizing bureaucrats and school teachers instead of physicians.

Of course there is more money in shaking down doctors and insurance companies but there is a nice living to be made from shaking down the police and City Hall. Teachers seem to have less to offer the legal profession.

-------
A winning slogan for 2012?

Nobody owes you a damn thing.

-------
joe buzz,
(who amongst other things was discussing beer)
I also wonder why Gates didnt just call the Harvard maint. staff instead of getting jiggy wit his own crowbar.

Harvard, as Gates' landlord, should charge him $2,000 for damaging their property.

BTW, I usually wear Black and Tan on St Patrick's day. No one should be ordered to share alcohol with anyone. Crowley should decline to drink with Gates and Obama.

Addendum, members of the Foreign Officer corp are paid to drink with monsters and smile. Crowley is not a diplomat.
A diplomat is an honest man sent to lie abroad for the good of his country

-------
Malthus,
(who insists ex cathedra that the police can just back off and await orders)

Since I think you are dumb I will use small words. In the past the cop or the nice person has been found dead since there was a bad guy in the house when the good guy came out and said “All is OK” or looked angry or scared. If the cop did not search then he or the good guy could end up shot. So now the cop must search the house when sent to make sure all is in fact OK. Since Gates did not make clear he was the good guy and did act like there was a bad thing for the cop to fear the cop had to act like the worst might be true. Got it?

All in words of one syllable. Agreed you are a Troll but not on fact a Moby. A Moby would pretend to be on the officer’s side and would in fact make outrageous statements, such as racist or violent threats, to discredit this site and the serious people who come here.

-------
Consider another public safety issue that is not a law enforcement one. You live in an apartment building on New York’s Upper East Side. You are worth a lot of money and so are your apartment and possessions. There is a fire in another apartment below yours and suddenly the firefighters are banging on your door. Can you stand behind the locked door explaining to them that you have a very nice collection of Limoges porcelain and Hummels on the sideboard and Baccarat crystal on your tables? They will break down your door and smash everything in their way as they tear open your walls to chase the fire. They will smash open your windows and snake their hoses through to pour water out and you will be left with six inches or more of water on the floor of your ruined apartment. They are there to save lives and they love their work. Get in their way and a cop will drag you off in handcuffs.

Domestic calls are incredibly dangerous. More dangerous then traffic stops.

-------
Had a dream that Officer Crowley walks in and informs his host and fellow guest that they now have evidence that Gates was fomenting a confrontation to conceal that he was engaging in illegal conduct with a minor and that while the Sergeant was not empowered to act in his official capacity while in the White House, due to his being temporarily disarmed at the request of the Secret Service, he would be waiting outside when Mr Gates emerged. My dream ended with Chief Justice Roberts telling the President that he could not protect an offender from State prosecution with a Presidential pardon and the Secret Service telling the President that they would do nothing to impede or hinder a Law Enforcement Officer from acting outside of the White House.