Reading that Senator Schumer called an airline flight attendant a "bitch" simply because she asked him to turn off his cell phone as federal rules require, a couple of things came to mind.

First, we have one of the quintessential champions of massive federal power -- a guy whose daily existence consists of figuring out new ways to tell people what to do and how to run their lives -- demonstrating for all the world that he does not think the rules should apply to him. It would difficult to find a better example of the pure arrogance of power.

Second, there's the rudeness issue. In an odd coincidence, I have been very recently been thinking about rudeness. Yesterday I watched Dr. Helen's interview with Amy Alkon, whose book on the subject I just bought. A recurring theme is what to do when people are rude, and how they become emboldened when no one calls them on it. Perhaps mistakenly, I tend to associate public rudeness with the scummier citizens -- like the guy I described here who made an angry display of public littering, as if he dared anyone to challenge him. This made my thoughts drift to the whipping post:

I saw a guy throw a coffee cup on the ground over the weekend, and as he glanced glaringly at the people around him it occurred to me that he might consider putting the cup in a nearby trashcan to be beneath his "dignity" -- or even "sissy" behavior. (An unfortunate truth is that society once had the whipping post precisely to deal with miscreants like that.)

At minimum, the man deserves to be severely punished by Amy Alkon (who has blogged about the Schumer incident, BTW).

Hmmm.....

I just thought of something. Maybe he'd enjoy it, and we can't have that, can we?

But on the other hand, (at the risk of sounding like a bleeding heart), I don't think Schumer deserves an extreme lesson in politeness from Hannibal "Eat The Rude" Lecter. Better to just lock him in a room with the guy I saw defiantly throwing the coffee cup. (I'd be willing to bet he could give the senator a good lesson on the proper use of the bitch word...)

Far be it from me to engage in Photoshopping for an appropriate outfit. Others have seen to that.

MORE: Sean Kinsell quotes from this post, and calls Schumer "a walking, talking argument for term limits if ever there was one." He also has some thoughts about Andrew Sullivan.

Thanks, Sean!