In essence, Gates was arrested for saying that he felt violated and oppressed on his own property. And President Barack Obama was right: The Cambridge police did "act stupidly." The arresting officer, Sergeant Jim Crowley, claims “there was a lot of yelling, there was references to my mother,” and yet neither charge would hold up even as a ticketable offense.

But for the record, finding yourself in handcuffs after arguing with a police officer isn't something that just happens to blacks and Latinos. Cops everywhere are always on the lookout for opportunities to assert their authority, and, as in Gates' case, they'll gladly misinterpret public safety laws in order to show a civilian who's the boss.

Need another example of the universality of angry cops asserting their authority for no good reason? Last night, libertarian activistis J.D. Talley and Pete Eyre were turned away at the Canadian border after being detained for over four hours. The two are touring the U.S. and Canada as part of the Motorhome Diaries; basically, happy hours, talks, and meet-ups with other libertarians. Pretty harmless, right?

"[The mobile home was] searched by both state agents and the K-9 patrol. The MHD Guys were filming as the neared the check point, but the video was deleted and they were informed if they continued to film, record, or take pictures they would be arrested. A box of literature from the Alliance of the Libertarian Left was taken, and a copy of Crispin Sartwell’s “Against the State” was left out on the counter....

Their laptops are now in the possession of the state agents...

One agent has accused them of ’spreading misinformation.’

The guys have been told that the state agents are looking for “Pornography or Heinous Propaganda.” When asked for a definition of “Heinous Propaganda” or the applicable statute they were told it was available online, but they don’t have computers or Internet access.

Update 3: Computers returned, State Agents still in possession of box of ALL Literature.

The Canadian border patrol cited an incident in Jones County, Mississippi as the reason for denying Eyre and Talley entrance. We wrote about the same incident many Freedom Fridays back. To refresh your memory: Talley, Eyre, and an additional friend–all of them white–were pulled over by a Mississippi law enforcement officer. When the Motorhome Diaries crew asked why they had been pulled over and then refused to identify themselves until the officer answered them, the officer placed all three men under arrest, charged them with violating bogus public safety laws, and impounded their vehicle. They were held overnight and lost a lot of money in incarceration fees to the Jones County Sheriff's Office.

In short, the color problem–which is real–is subsumed by the much, much larger cop problem, which affects everyone, even if it affects minorities disproportionately more so. We shouldn't turn a blind eye to the petty cases and we shouldn't lose sight of this once Gates has won his lawsuit.

Don't Ask, Don't Tell and a teensy bit more about Maureen Dowd, after the jump.

• The MSM would rather praise Barack Obama for what he says than hold him accountable for what he doesn't do, hence the flowery recaps of yesterday's speech with little mention of the broken promises. Great example: On Wednesday, Rachel Maddow reported that Robert Gibbs, in response to a question about what Barack Obama was doing to overturn/abolish Don't Ask Don't Tell, said that the president "is working with the Secretary of Defense and the Joint Chiefs on making that happen." Yet according to Maddow, "a Pentagon spokesman said just yesterday that that‘s not actually happening, that there is no planning underway. There‘s no work underway inside the Pentagon toward changing the policy, despite the fact that the White House keeps saying that there is." As Greg Pollowitz at the NRO's Media blog points out, Maddow failed to mention that Gibbs lied. (Lefties, like righties, need that kind of shit spelled out for them.) In summary, the Obama Administration said its working to change Don't Ask, Don't Tell, and yet it's not actually doing that. At least his speeches are uplifting! My thoughts on DADT.

• In case you missed it, New York Times columnist Maureen Dowd plagiarized. The NYT didn't care, Josh Marshall (the victim) didn't care, and Maureen Dowd didn't care enough to formally punctuate her apology letter to HuffPo or address the fuck-up in her most recent column. Then one of my heroes, Jack Shafer, went and threw her a fucking bone, NSA. Every time I see that woman's wizened yet beautiful visage, my blood boils. How the fuck does she get away with it? Would William Kristol have gotten away with plagiarism? Newser's Michael Wolff thinks we should all just let it go: "Dowd is like some much-vaunted high school type whose success and popularity drive everybody else mad with either envy and spite or inspire a perverse (evidence of great-self-loathing) desire to be her way-too-loyal friend and supporter....Indeed, she is famously surrounded by an inside circle of friends and supporters—other famous-type columnists and New York Times reporters—who famously help her write her column. She regularly lifts their thoughts and sentences, which, since they are unpublished (supposedly), is not plagiarism—though it certainly is insiderism....Such insiderism is why so many people, especially the outsider-type bloggers, despise her. Her evident self-satisfaction and the obvious echo chamber in which she resides, not to mention her apparent ability to get by without doing too much work, rankles." I am TOTALLY BLUSHING RIGHT NOW!

OK, I'm going to watch this video of Maureen Dowd laughing at her own jokes! See y'all later!

• Greater Greater Washington has the scoop on an emergency tree removal last night that tied up some parking spaces on S St. NW between 15th and 17th:

Last night, residents of S Street NW between 15th and 17th discovered Emergency No Parking signs stating that the trees on the block would be removed. The residents had not known about any tree removal, nor had the local ANC commissioners. The blocks had already lost several mature trees in recent years, and residents worried about losing more.An hour, several DC Council staff, some representatives of the Mayor, and some frantic calls to DDOT's Urban Forestry Administration later, everyone found out the truth. Only three trees on the two blocks were coming down. These trees were either dead or seriously damaged in recent storms, but, according to ANC Commissioner Jack Jacobson, "There was evidently a problem that the contractor had decided timing on removing the trees and had not properly consulted with DDOT, much less the neighborhood."

• Good, honest, hard-working people are turning into blathering idiots. No need to name names, because the Good, honest, hard-working people who have endorsed Rush Limbaugh know who they are (the absolutely batshit wackos, not so much.) Yours truly hasn't managed to put together a less-than-rabid post on Rush without punching himself in the groin–so he's going to stop. Last word: libertarians, classical liberals, et al., should distance themselves from the whole Republican party/Rush Limbaugh/Michael Steele debacle–and if they won't, at least have the good graces to stop bitching about being lumped in with those fucking idiots by the "mainstream media."
• Speaking of libertarians trying to ride the Republican gravy train (ugh), Pete Eyre of Bureaucrash has written a sycophancy-free recap of CPAC (Conservatives Putting Assholes in Charge/Conservatives Pecking At Ciabatta/Conservative Political Action Committee), of which there are very few.

OK, back to 2nd Best Of. (Y'all are gonna love this shit.)

• George Mason University's economics department (known for its unquantifiable love of freedom) is losing the very smart Peter T. Leeson to the Becker Center on Chicago Price Theory at the University of Chicago, where he'll join the likes of Steve Levitt and Kevin Murphy. Leeson is the author of the sure-to-be-funny  Invisible Hook: The Hidden Economics of Pirates. [H/t to Tom at Fr33 Agents]

• Pete Eyre of Bureaucrash observed the anniversary of Ruby Ridge yesterday, and finished up his eulogy quite nicely: "This post touches on lots of factors but they all come down to one thing: That we, as individuals, should be free to act so long as we don’t initiate force against another. If we continue to stand idly by as our freedoms are usurped it’ll soon be too late. Because, as Thomas Jefferson noted, 'When the people fear their government, there is tyranny; when the government fears the people, there is liberty.'"

• Speaking of speaking up: This year's March on the Pentagon takes place on March 21 (which also happens to be the day that Rita's will be giving out free 10 oz. Italian ices!). Participants are meeting up at noon at 23rd St. & Constitution Ave. The theme is the same as last year: "Occupation is a crime!" Dress accordingly.

• In local news, Michael Perkins of Greater Greater Washington has an insanely thorough breakdown of proposed Metro service cuts. Here's just a taste of the proposed bus cuts: "Eliminate the 60 (Ft. Totten-Petworth) while keeping the 64; the L4 (Connecticut Ave) while keeping the L1 and L2; the N3 (Massachusetts Ave) while keeping the N2, N4, and N6; and the P2 (Anacostia-Eckington) while keeping the P1 and P6. Shorten the 42 bus between McPherson and Metro Center, and the 80 between McPherson and the Kennedy Center."

Have a good weekend, City Desk readers.

Good morning, City Desk readers. It's Libertarian Friday, are you ready to rage against the system? Great! Here's some news:

• Culture11, the conservative/libertarian Web magazine started by Conor Friedersdorf, Peter Suderman, Joe Carter, David Kuo, and James Poulos and based in Arlington, laid off its entire staff on Wednesday. According to Kuo: "We raised a certain amount of money last year predicated on the assumption we would raise more money...Then the fall’s fall occurred and we stretched money as long and far as we could without incurring any debts. With no new money in the door the board decided the most prudent thing to do was suspend business operations." Andrew Sullivan's eulogy for the magazine is especially touching.

• Pete Eyre, founder of the anti-statist social networking site Bureaucrash, has been trying to schedule a meeting with someone from the Arlington Police Department after he was intimidated by an Arlington police officer. (Background: Eyre called the APD after he found an officer had parked his cruiser in a no-parking zone while he went to the gym. The officer who responded to Eyre's call politely refused to write a ticket and left the scene. The officer who had been working out, however, decided to exercise his authority by following Eyre around the neighborhood in his gym clothes, sometimes right up close, sometimes from a distance. Eyre walked nearly a mile away from his home and found the officer was still following him. Always ready to fight the system, Eyre recorded the incident on video.)
• But a little hassle is nothing compared to death by police shooting, the subject of Dave McKenna's Cheap Seats story "Death by Wager." McKenna's lead says it all: "Sal Culosi was shot and killed by a Fairfax County cop three years ago last Saturday. He was about to be arrested for taking football bets, the quarry of a dubious sting operation that seemed timed to make a news splash ahead of the upcoming Super Bowl. (Why dubious? Well, the only major bettor was an undercover police officer, and the alleged bookie, Culosi, covered all the bets himself.)"
• WMATA is trying to cut $103 million from its 2009 budget. Michael Perkins at InfoSnack Headquarters breaks down the numbers. According to Perkins, "the largest increases in costs ($44 million) come from wage increases for unionized employees, which WMATA budgeting treats as sacrosanct." And while union employees will get a pay raise, hundreds of non-union employees will lose their jobs. UPDATE: WMATA will trim the ranks of union employees as welll.

Photo courtesy of Flickr user fdecomite.