Three reasons to think well of Radley Balko

I've had a case of red-ass with Radley Balko for awhile, due to his shameful smear (a word I seldom use and often mock the use of, but the only word that's applicable here) of Mary Ruwart.

But hey, I can move on.

Reason One: Got some link love from Radley today. The way to a blogger's heart is through his SiteMeter stats.

Reason Two: I won't try to position Balko in support of Nevada Libertarian Jim Duensing, who was shot by police a few days ago. I'm sure if he has anything to say on the matter, he'll say it himself. Whatever his analysis of this situation, though, he deserves big credit for his exposès on the militarization of American law enforcement and the various fuckups, lies and outright abuses stemming from that phenomenon (at Cato, at Reason, etc.).

I suspect that a lot of people who've gone from "believe the police, always" to "I'm not sure I should trust what these guys are saying -- cops are known to mess up, or just plain do wrong, and then lie about it" have Balko to thank for the epiphany, whether directly or indirectly (his scholarship seems to be seeping into the "mainstream discourse").

Reason Three: He's got a grip on the LP's Wayne Allyn Root problem.

I do wish the dude would get right on Ruwart, though.