Boardwalk Wood Protesters Have Already Lost It

The city council of Ocean City, New Jersey, voted earlier this year to buy Brazilian ipe wood that was certified Logged Friendly™ (or whatever) because of protests from environmentalists. After doing so, of course, what Ocean City got was lots and lots of protests from environmentalists.

Now Ocean City’s city council wants out of the deal. But, whoops!, they already bought the wood, and the mayor says if they pull out of the deal other vendors will be unable to trust the city and suddenly Mack’s won’t have any flour. So the Brazilian wood is coming in, costing $1.1 million to repair a block-long section of boardwalk. And protesters are ready with their over-the-top similes :

That has protesters like Georgina Shanley vowing to do whatever it takes to stop the plan. “We are considering stopping it physically from coming into Ocean City by standing in the middle of the road like that young man in Tiananmen Square in front of the tank,” she said. “It has to be stopped.”

Ahh, yes, it’s just like that, only without the chances an oppressive government will literally crush you into pieces with a giant tank. And we’ll know who you are, and you’ll be in a mob instead of just one person. Pretty much the same thing as Tiananmen Square, then.

Boardwalk plans set off huge protest [AP/The Courier-Post]

Except Minus The Genocide And All

Wikipedia entry, The Killing Fields:

The Killing Fields were a number of sites in Cambodia where large numbers of people were killed and buried by the Khmer Rouge communist regime which ruled the country, as Democratic Kampuchea, from 1975 to 1979. Estimates of the number of dead range from 1.5 to 3 million out of a population of around 7 million. The Khmer Rouge judicial process, for minor or political crimes, began with a warning from the Angkar, the government of Cambodia under the regime. More than two warnings resulted in being sent for “re-education”, which meant near-certain death. People were often encouraged to confess to Angkar their “pre-revolutionary lifestyles and crimes” (which usually included some kind of free-market activity, or having had contact with some foreign source, such as a U.S. missionary, or international relief or government agency, or contact with any foreigner or with the outside world at all), being told that Angkar would forgive them and “wipe the slate clean.” This meant being taken away to places such as Tuol Sleng or Choeung Ek for torture, and/or execution.

Inquirer, A response to violence: Frisking, today:

As Philadelphia grapples with a spike in homicides that makes some neighborhoods feel like killing fields, police, politicians, community leaders and criminologists are looking at tactics used in other cities to confiscate illegal guns.

Shit. This city is in worse shape than I thought.

The Killing Fields [Wikipedia]
A response to violence: Frisking [Inquirer]