Hang on a second…

Police spokeswoman Diane Richard said the robber took $60 from Todd, then became angry when he saw a McCain bumper sticker on the victim’s car. The attacker then punched and kicked the victim, before using the knife to scratch the letter “B” into her face, Richard said.

UPDATE: Vindication
I’m not going to come out and say that she’s lying. Every word of it may very well be true, and if that’s the case, I would like to preemptively apologize for questioning a victim of a violent attack. Still, I can’t deny that some of it just doesn’t add up:

• She was hit in the face and her orbit is discolored. Why is it black, with no blue or red? Why is there no swelling?
• The ‘B’ looks like it was done with a pencil eraser. If the mugger were posessed with enough rage to turn back and disfigure his victim, why didn’t he even break the skin?
• The ‘B’ is backwards, which suggests that it was done in a mirror. It could be explained by her attacker being behind her and cutting upside-down.
• She refused medical attention after the attack. That’s her right. If someone had just cut my face with a knife I’d be shooting up with tetanus vaccine in every possible vein. On the other hand, if I’d staged an attack, I’d want to keep doctors away.

Either way, she deserves sympathy because the only two possibilities are that she is the victim of a violent crime or that she has serious emotional issues (or both). Still, this smells like another Tawana Brawley to me.

stop the presses

Pew Research Center: Most Voters Say News Media Wants Obama to Win
Who do most reporters want to see win?
Obama: 70%
McCain: 9%
Gee, I’m just stunned. Didn’t see that one coming.

Don’t see that every day

What’s this rationality doing here?

You know, we should be holding these candidates accountable for what they say during this campaign and hope that in these final days they do try to maintain a little dignity. But we’ve also got to check ourselves. We’ve got a responsibility, too, to not get over-heated. What we say matters, too.

I’m expecting CNN to issue a retraction any day now.

New winter gear

In anticipation of fall weather I decided to ditch the flimsy ponchos I’ve been using and actually get some legitimate rain and cold weather gear. I started off with the Briko Drop jacket:

I’ve been wearing it all week, though I haven’t tested it in any significant rain yet. Specifically, it’s a shell, not a jacket - it has no insulation. It’s got taped seams and a roll-up hood in the collar, and it folds up an zips into its own back pocket. It’s also apparently a girl jacket, because the zipper is on the left side. One complaint is that it doesn’t breathe very effectively, with elastic and thumb-loops at the wrists and an elastic bottom (though that keeps it from riding up), but I’d recommend it to anyone looking for a lightweight rain/wind shell. It’s light, effective, and the price is reasonable.

Then there are gloves. Last winter I wore Carter’s old motorcycle gloves, which are nice to have when you totally eat shit on ice but not particularly useful otherwise.

I ordered the Chiba Bio X Cell gloves in medium (based on the measurement guide), but because of eight years of the Bush Administration’s failed policies the medium was too small so I’ll have to send them back for large. I’m still looking for rain pants; none of the ones I’ve seen look particularly convenient to don and remove.