• Collected Thoughts on Health Care Reform
• Could have been worse--Bob Dylan in America
• How I wonder what you are
• Extreme Prejudice
• There is No Dana, only Fool
• Saving by Spending
• Is Anyone Else Hungry?
• Chuck Norris And State Secession
• Gun fear
• Why legislators don't worry about Constitutionality
• Hoping for Failure
• Halting the Tea Party
• The Crisis of Credit Visualized
• Intellectualism vs gimmick
• "Stop talking about it."

• August 2009
• April 2009
• March 2009
• February 2009
• January 2009
• December 2008
• November 2008
• October 2008
• September 2008
• August 2008
• July 2008
• June 2008
• May 2008
• April 2008
• March 2008
• February 2008
• January 2008
• November 2007
• October 2007
• September 2007
• August 2007
• July 2007
• June 2007
• May 2007
• April 2007
• March 2007
• February 2007
• January 2007
• December 2006
• November 2006
• October 2006
• September 2006
• August 2006
• July 2006
• June 2006
• May 2006
• April 2006
• March 2006
• February 2006
• January 2006
• December 2005
• November 2005
• October 2005
• September 2005
• August 2005
• July 2005
• June 2005

« How I wonder what you are | Main | Collected Thoughts on Health Care Reform »

Could have been worse--Bob Dylan in America

How many roads must a man walk down before he is considered suspicious? Well, I guess it depends on whether it is raining.

A few weeks ago, Bob Dylan--yes that Bob Dylan--was taking a walk in the rain while on tour in Long Beach, NJ. According to reports, he entered the yard of a house that had a For Sale sign out front. This very alarming behavior prompted the occupants of the house to call the police, apparently without interacting with ol' Bob one bit. I confess I don't understand that. But what I really don't understand is the behavior of the officer who responded to the phone call for help. It seems she (politely) asked Bob Dylan who he was and what he was doing, and made the determination that he was indeed suspicious lookin'.

Says the officer, "You know, it was pouring rain and everything."

Based on the suspicious act of walking in the rain, the officer put Bob Dylan in the back of her cruiser. The articles I've read make it sound very amicable and voluntary, but I have to wonder how this would have played out of Bob had tipped his hat, thanked her for her concern, and walked away. And maybe it wasn't so voluntary after all, given what else the officer had to say:

"He was really nice, though, and he said he understood why I had to verify his identity and why I couldn't let him go," Buble said. "He asked me if I could drive him back to the neighborhood when I verified who he was, which made me even more suspicious."

Officer Buble, I don't understand why you had to verify his identity. I don't understand why you couldn't let him go. I bet most Americans would be outraged if this had happened to them, but of course most Americans don't think it could happen to them, so the outrage does not take hold. What's the big deal? He looked like a homeless man, and it's not like they tased him or arrested him (this time).

For a variety of reasons, Americans have developed a relationship with their police departments that is best categorized as "It could be worse". It's not the Gestapo, or frontier justice, and yes this situation probably would have been worse for Jay-Z than for Bob Dylan. But I have the feeling that George Washington would have run you through with a sword if you tried to take him into custody for walking in the rain without identity papers. If that doesn't give you pause for thought, then I think you've missed the point of what this nation was supposed to be about.

To quote Bob Dylan, "A man is a success if he gets up in the morning and goes to bed at night and in between does what he wants to do." May you someday find that kind of success, Bob.