The World Around You

I’m willing to wager this story has legs.

Were they protecting shoppers? Or picking on them? That’s the question after a police operation Saturday night at Montgomery Mall. The cops blocked off exits to the parking lot and set up checkpoints. It happened right around closing time as hundreds were trying to leave.

“People were just entrapped here like you were a rat in a maze,” says mall customer Juanita Booker. It was a scene many shoppers would have never imagined. You couldn’t leave until your license and registration was checked.

“They normally entrap prisoners,” said Booker. “I don’t feel I committed a crime or did anything to be trapped in this particular situation.”

Police say it was a public safety operation to stop a trend of fighting and harassment at the mall. They say they were acting on intelligence, hoping to put troublemakers on notice that their actions would not be tolerated.

I don’t shop at Montgomery Mall. I don’t shop at EastChase, and I don’t really shop at Eastdale. I do most of my mall shopping in Birmingham. While I sympathize with those who felt inconvenienced, if mall management agreed to this operation(which the story indicates they did), there must have been a good reason behind it. Why? Because this is not going to help business.

“Have they done this at Eastdale Mall? Have they done it at EastChase?” Booker asked. “Unless they have done it at every mall, this is truly racial. We will not be shopping at this mall anymore. I will gladly drive my son to a mall in Birmingham to shop in peace.”

Despite what others are saying, Montgomery police are calling Saturday night’s operation a success. They made 7 arrests and handed out 189 tickets.

7 arrests and 189 tickets? Sure seems like things were going on that shouldn’t have been to me. Am I wrong?

Kieran Healy has an excellent post on where this discussion about Brights came from and links to the appropriate posts. Good reading if you feel lost when you encounter posts on the subject.

Steven offers the appropriate counter to Kevin Drum’s question about the desirability of Gray Davis’s job.

Kevin at WizBang has a great post on the potential effects of AOL entering the blogging arena.

TalkLeft points to a post by Gary Hart that makes some excellent points about the “War on Terror”.

‘These results are largely unsurprising,’ said Keith Nicholls, a USA political scientist who directed the poll. ‘Alabamians certainly don’t mind the injection of religion into their politics, and they certainly don’t want anyone telling them what to do.’

This rather obvious quote was included in a piece from this morning’s Mobile Register on polling data regarding Roy Moore.

The survey found that 77 percent of the respondents either “strongly approve” or “approve” of the monument, which Moore had installed in the rotunda of the Alabama Judicial Building during the middle of the night in July 2001.

My fellow citizens continue to confound me. Another poll number is downright frightening,

Forty-five percent said they would “most likely” vote for Moore if he ever ran for governor of Alabama; 28 percent said they would “most likely” vote against him. If Moore seeks re-election as chief justice in 2006, 65 percent said they would vote for him.

I pledge on this spot that if this man ever runs for Governor, I will take leave from my job and volunteer all of my time to ensure his defeat. You think we’ve seen corruption in this state? I cannot even begin to imagine the horrors that would befall us if this man was ever handed the powers of the Governor’s office. I’ll save my vitriol in the hope that this never occurs.

The second scenario is frightening enough.

Send Roy Home! Send Roy Home!