Let's start with a personal fact, which is petty in light of the subjects I discuss below: It is now Sunday, the start of a new week.

I can officially say that next week, I will know if I passed the bar.

Yikes, people.

***

There are far more important things going on. If you are visiting this site from other places, you've probably seen Toledo on TV lately. Unfortunately, it's not in the context we'd have liked.
The American Nazi Party (or whatever the hell they're called, I'm not taking the trouble to get their name right) decided to stick their nose into a neighbor dispute and decided it was all over gang violence brought about by blacks. So, they thought they could help by showing up and marching.

EVERYONE was encouraged to stay away from the march. They begged. They pleaded. They encouraged people to meet for healing meetings other places.

Didn't work out so well. Add unhappy people, volatile gang members, bricks, reports of people with guns, mix well, and voila, Toledo is the #5 search term on Technorati tonight.

Really, with as volatile a situation as it was, things were bad but could have been much, much worse.

If you're looking for an insider's perspective on what happened, here's a pretty good one from a friend of mine, Toledo city councilman Frank Szollosi, who has written a very thoughtful account of his day.

The worst part of this is, of course, that in the words of Mayor Ford, this has given the white supremacists exactly what they wanted. Stirred up everyone and will make nothing better.

(In case you're wondering, I was nowhere near the activities that were taking place...my apartment is out to the west of what was happening.)

Some of the annoyance seems to be over the fact the Nazis were allowed to march at all. If you're disturbed by the fact they got to march, read the second half of this post of mine from June to find out why unpopular and offensive speech is still protected speech.

So, pray for Toledo, y'all.

***

After all that, you might need a laugh. Here's one. For years, there's been a rumor that the Smurfs TV program were really a subtle indoctrination for the Communists. (If you haven't heard this, no, I'm not kidding.) Papa Smurf running around with his red hat and long white beard had to be representative of Karl Marx; everyone shared everything; no profit was made.

Anyway, here's a pretty decent takeoff on that whole theme. It gave me a laugh.

***

Oh, c'mon. Michigan beat Penn State? The irony, oh, the irony.

Time for bed.