Right-wing logic betrays a singular lack of basic information about the way the world works.

Referring to my column this week about the testimony of Hurricans Katrina victims’ testimony, Conservative Dialysis asks:

hang on a minute here. If there’s one thing that you can count on from people who feel that some authority figure has injured them or mistreated them is that a lawsuit is going to be filed. The people Rall discusses here, if there stories are actually true, all have good causes of action against the City of New Orleans and/or the Federal Government. Why haven’t they filed these suits?

Because, genius, lawyers are expensive. The victims were poor to begin with. Now they’re homeless too. They can’t afford to hire a a lawyer and, despite the belief of some that many lawyers work on a contingiency, that’s only true in asbestos litigation and similar torts.

Why aren’t they cashing in on what would seem to be a lottery-type situation? I’ll tell you why: because there isn’t any evidence to back up these stories. In a time where people in government routinely loose their jobs for the slightest act of political correctness, why isn’t “Tammy” yelling and screaming about how the police called her a “black monkey bitch”? If true, she could and should have that officer hung from the highest flag pole.

Except, how would she do that?

Among the great ironies of my life was being temporarily arrested (!) for jaywalking in Los Angeles. I jaywalk every day, but that time I actually happened to be crossing with the light, in the crosswalk. An African-American cop cuffed me, threw me up against the wall and roughed me up before writing me a ticket and letting me go. I was polite. I didn’t resist. I’m not stupid; the guy has the legal right to shoot me. Anyway, I filed an Internal Affairs complaint. Guess what happened?

If you’re black and reading this, you know the answer: Nada. Cops get away with murder all the time. There’s no recourse against them. If you’re white and reading this, ask a black man.