The last few weeks have been very busy. I'm behind on email to an extent that will probably necessitate some kind of general amnesty and fresh start, the school year and everything else has begun with a vengeance, and while my current crop of problems is pretty awesome, I generally feel like I stepped on a rake. (THWACK!)

But none of that excuses my egregious failure to share the incredible, delightful, and creepy moment I had on Monday:

I was walking along Washington Square minding my own beeswax when an African-American homeless gentleman in late middle age came up to me, wagged his finger in my face, and yelled, "I'M GONNA TELL RON BURGUNDY ON YOU!"

Please don't rat me out, crazy homeless guy. I promise to stay classy from now on.

Also, just as I did that time in 2002 when I heard a homeless guy who was at least 65 years old singing a really not bad rendition of "No Diggity"**, I find myself wondering about the availability of pop culture to the homeless. What weird bits and pieces of non-print media find their way to those with only intermittent access to shelter, never mind TV? I know this is just about the least of their worries. But my curiosity is roused all the same.

** I totally gave that guy money.

Mark Shields on NewsHour yesterday afternoon, discussing the Palin vice presidential nomination:

And I think that what we have to bear in mind is this, that there's enormous excitement. I think that there's no question that her position on pro-life, where she has not simply talked the talk, she's walked the walk.

She and her husband found out they were going to have a Down syndrome baby at a time when that's become, you know, fairly common procedure to terminate a pregnancy. She said publicly, "We consider it a gift from God," and they are raising the child.

What a condescending asshole. Look, if she had chosen to abort that or any other pregnancy, it would have been 100% her choice and nothing for which she would owe anyone an apology. Her having chosen to carry the pregnancy to term, I believe exactly the same. Notice how any of her decisions regarding her own pregnancy fit neatly into the pro-choice conception of reproductive rights? "Walking the walk" if she were pro-choice would not have involved some kind of compulsory abortion. She just walked the pro-choice walk. In fact, truly walking the pro-life walk would have meant being forcibly compelled to have the child against her own wishes. It is not possible to walk a pro-life walk absent oppressive forces not yet holding total sway over our politics.

And can anyone imagine a male candidate for office being singled out for praise for choosing to keep and raise a child with Down Syndrome? Yeesh.

P.S. No, I would never vote for McCain or this woman. It's going to be a fun couple of months, explaining how I can object to the idiotic coverage about to avalanche this woman AND not sabotage my core politics by voting for her ticket.