Scritti Politti: March 10, 2009

I'm sure I've mentioned this before, but readers of Romenesko's Obscure Store and Reading Room know that as the weather turns warmer, the uptick in news stories involving parents who mistakenly leave their infant children in cars - often with fatal conclusions - begins anew. Over time, the litany of reports of these incidents takes on a sort of tragic absurdity. That's what makes Gene Weingarten's piece on this phenomena, titled "Fatal Distraction," so brilliant and beautiful and devastating. Weingarten really brings us face to face with the subjects of his story, viscerally exposing us to their grief, and when all is said and done, it's just impossible to judge these parents. It seems apparent that all of Weingarten's subjects have made an "honest mistake" - it just happens to be one of the most horrific mistake honesty is capable of making.

Reading this story won't make you feel very good, and yet, I can't say enough good things about it.

[h/t: Balk]

Later, Stop By "Continuing Resolution" For Shooters Nite!: As Garance Franke-Ruta points out, the fact that DC is the home to the Federal Government often leads to businesses getting stuck with really uninspiring names. The worst of the worst were food kiosks at the Verizon Center named "The Thirst Amendment" and "E Pluribus Mmmm'mmmm." Truly cruel and unusual nourishment.

Because YOU Demanded It: Here are some reviews of Mexican porn comics, featuring "Lujuriosos apretones ¡de CHICHES!"

For All You Newt Futurists: Via Yglesias:

I'll bet you Newt doesn't apologize [to Limbaugh]. His conservative credentials aren't really in doubt, and I think he's shrewd enough to see how absurd the apologies other conservative politicians have offered make them look. Consequently, Newt--whose ideas are every bit as stupid as Rush's--will come out of this possessing an entirely undeserved veneer of reasonableness.

The Whole Lucy Pulls The Football Away Scene's Gonna Be BRUTAL: In the wake of the WATCHMEN opening, I've been wondering what edgy comic book project is on the way. These concept drawings for Frank Miller's take on the Peanuts gang Schultz City: That Yellow-Shirted Such and Such look good to me. I'm holding out for Daniel Clowes' Garfield Minus Garfield, as well.

Your Daily Dose Of Gastric Distress: Hey kids, remember SNL's "Taco Town" Commercial?

Well, someone went out and made that deep-fried monstrosity.

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Comments

[rosette2251]

The Weingarten piece left me both breathless and a little queasy. The folks who blame these parents are the same ones who blame the poor and say they're lazy. I have seen this over and over - myself with an autistic child, my friends with cancer or late term miscarriages - people wanting to find fault with us to explain these disasters and keep them from befalling themselves. I know they won't see themselves, but thanks for pointing me toward this haunting work. I lived in California at the time of the Warschauer baby's death, and I wondered at that time how someone could go on in the face of such sorrow, how to remain in a marriage when the fault is all one's own, how not to just lie down and die. I had absolutely no idea that there were so many similar events. My heart goes out to these folks and their precious babies, and I thank them for having the courage to stand naked before us all and talk about what has to be an unimaginable pain.

[whiteboyblues]

TACO TOWN!