DevelopingStorm

While surfing around on the internet this morning I landed on something I thought was interesting and was considering mentioning it on my blog or on Facebook when it occurred to me that perhaps the more interesting story was how I came to be reading the particular story in the first place. This in turn reminded me of one of my favorite series from the late 70 early 80; Connection s, the BBC series hosted by James Burke and shown on PBS.   The series was fascinating because it took the unusual approach of showing history in cross section, like a cut-away diagram of a complex machine, and showed viewers all the interesting tidbits that preceded and ultimately led to an important historical event. Of course, I'm not comparing my link discovery to an important historic event.  I mention the show because it exemplifies how the back-story and some seemingly innocuous events can all lead up to something unexpected. My personal connection story went like this:  As I s...

Pete Guither over at DrugWarRant.com collected a bunch of interesting reactions to the Missouri SWAT raid where the family dog was shot (I stole his title). My favorite is Megan McArdle writing for The Atlantic ; she summed her feelings thusly:  Short of multiple homicide, I'm having trouble coming up with anything that justifies that kind of police action.  And you know, I doubt the police could either.  But they weren't busy trying to figure out if they were maximizing the welfare of their larger society. They were, in that most terrifying of phrases, just doing their jobs. And in the end, that is our shame, not theirs.