This news is a couple of days old but it's still making me angry, so...

Just in case anyone missed it -

Here are the "top 10" most disturbing charges in the DOJ lawsuit against Sheriff Joe Arpaio in Arizona, who purportedly has been terrorizing Latinos for years. And the thing that kills me aren't that these things happened, but that this guy has been in power for so damn long. It's like something out of the 1950s Dixie South. You keep expecting Gene Hackman or maybe Ned Beatty to show up in some capacity.

Meanwhile, Catholic bishops are investigating the Girl Scouts over their affiliations with the Sierra Club, Doctors Without Borders, and Oxfam. There is no word in that sentence that does not leave me speechless. Or at least, that does not leave me without speech except for words that would be inappropriate for a family blog.

Say Anything

Mitt Romney, Thursday:

I believe that marriage has been defined the same way for literally thousands of years by virtually every civilization in history, and that marriage is literally, by its definition, a relationship between a man and a woman. And if two people of the same gender want to live together, want to have a loving relationship, or even to adopt a child -- in my state individuals of the same sex were able to adopt children. In my view, that’s something that people have a right to do. But to call that marriage is something that in my view is a departure from the real meaning of that word.

I know for many people, the issue of marriage is going to be a defining issue, and they will make their decision on that basis. That is their right. But you don’t change your position to try to win states or certain subgroups of Americans.

Mitt Romney, Friday:

On Friday,he was asked, in an interview with CBS affiliate WBTV in Charlotte, N.C., how his opposition to gay marriage “squared” with his support for gay adoptions. Romney told anchor Paul Cameron, “Well, actually I think all states but one allow gay adoption, so that’s a position which has been decided by most of the state legislatures, including the one in my state some time ago. So I simply acknowledge the fact that gay adoption is legal in all states but one.”

Actually, all states but one permit (in theory) gay adoption by an individual; very few permit gay adoption by couples, or, as Mitt Romney originally put it, by "people of the same gender [who] want to live together, want to have a loving relationship, or even to adopt a child."

To put it another way:

Awesome Avengers team-love vid

here. FEEEEEELINGS.

So, Common Law

Which I watched. It was pure fanbait - probably the epitome in "let's attract slash fans but no homo" sort of thing. Leaving that aside, I thought it was okay; it didn't thrill, in part, I think, because the banter was too hostile to ping my buddy kink. But it was pleasant enough that I'll stick with it and see how it develops.

Mostly, though, I was struck by the Starsky & Hutch vibe. Not solely because it featured buddies (and made me desperately want to re-edit The Real Slim Shady again), but because the entire structure felt a lot like episodes like Bust Amboy - the detective work mostly consists of traveling from witness to witness, each witness is sort of quirky and interesting, and the guys adopt a faux-casual, constant-joking sort of attitude at each stop.

But there was that scene -
( Barely any spoiler but just in case )