Are We Multitaskers or Mice?

Can you multitask? Try rubbing your belly and patting your head at the same time. We all multitask everyday in different ways. So why do people, when confronted with a policy they don't like, suddenly accuse others of being incapable of addressing multiple issues?

If you read the "Voice of the People" section of this week's Cap Times, you can read a letter by one Tom Minser of Madison who works at a campus bar. He has noticed the police engage in "undercover sting" operations in attempts to bust underage drinkers. Mr. Minser is aghast at the MPD for enforcing the law:
The problem I am baffled by is that at a time where [sic] there are two unsolved murders, the department has decided that instead of focusing on problem areas, they would rather find those two 20-year-olds with fake IDs.

Are the police unable to give due attention to the unidentified problem areas and yet enforce drinking laws? Where are these problem areas and how are they related to the murders? When past murders have been solved, were officers not policing taverns? I suspect that, if the sting operations had been taking place at another establishment besides the one at which Mr. Minser worked, he probably would not have written that letter.

And then there's the criticism of Alderwoman Marsha Rummel by the proprietor of Caffeinated Politics. Rummel seeks to expand the city ordinance which allows people in single family dwellings within the city limits to keep up to 4 hens. CP:

For Pete’s Sake! Let city alders do the real work that is needed in Madison and leave the chickens for the country folks.

"Real work" being things like "crime and water purity". Of course, when the council takes time to debate and vote on purely symbolic acts like recommending that Bush be impeached, CP has no problem with this - crime and water purity be damned! Why should we have to suffer with city wells going to shit and rampant crime just so CP can have his feel-good council resolution?

Is Ms. Rummel unable to push for expansion of the ordinance while also addressing CP's real work? Madison doesn't fall apart when the council votes to impeach Bush or take any of the other meaningless stands that it does; other city business gets done. Are Rummel and the council going to ignore all else until the fowl issue is disposed of? Water quality was one of her top concerns when she ran for office and I have no proof that it is no longer a priority. But, given her reputation, I suspect that it remains important to her.

I'll be moving into her district come August and am disappointed that her website hasn't been updated in well over a year and her page at the city website is woefully bereft of any useful information.