All the good that Nader did in the public sphere is far outweighed by his decision to throw the 2000 election Bush's way.
And if you harbored some doubt on whether that decision was deliberate:
Later I was introduced to Nader's closest adviser, his handsome, piercingly intelligent 30-year-old nephew, Tarek Milleron. Although Milleron argued that environmentalists and other activists would find fundraising easier under Bush, he acknowledged that a Bush presidency would be worse for poor and working-class people, for blacks, for most Americans. As Moore had, he claimed that Nader's campaign would encourage Web-based vote-swapping between progressives in safe and contested states. But when I suggested that Nader could gain substantial influence in a Democratic administration by focusing his campaign on the 40 safe states and encouraging his supporters elsewhere to vote Gore, Milleron leaned coolly toward me with extra steel in his voice and body. He did not disagree. He simply said, "We're not going to do that."
"Why not?" I said.
With just a flicker of smile, he answered, "Because we want to punish the Democrats, we want to hurt them, wound them."
(From a 2004 Village Voice article, still worth reading.)
I was in the jury pool in New York City for one of these cases, approximately two years ago.
From the questions being asked of the potential jurors, I got a pretty good sense of the facts of the case and the lines of argument: a young woman had picked up a purse at a department store (H&M, I think) and left the store with it. The purse was part of a sting operation (by the store? by the cops?) and so the young woman was arrested. It didn't seem as if those events were in dispute--I believe there was even security-cam footage--and the defense attorney was pushing the "Did you ever return found property? Did you do it immediately, or did you bring it home to deal with it?" angle. I don't know how the case turned out--always a frustration when one doesn't make it onto the actual jury.
Personally, if I'm at a place of business, like a department store or a restaurant, and I found a bag or a wallet, I'd turn it in to a clerk or a greeter. If I found a wallet or a phone on a park bench, I'd probably take it to track down the owner (maybe immediately on my cell, depending on whether I was in a rush and how much detective work was required from the wallet's contents). If I found something more cumbersome (like a larger bag) on a park bench, I'd probably leave it there, hoping the owner would return soon. If I saw an abandoned bag in the subway, I'd alert a token clerk on the "if you see something, say something" principle. I find it hard to imagine a situation where I would turn in lost property to a cop, though; it just doesn't seem like the most effective move. What are they supposed to do with a handbag while walking the beat?
By what possible standard would Eternal Sunshine not be science fiction?
A very fine certificate, although I regret the absence of the word "suppress."
"Here one of the guinea-pigs cheered, and was immediately suppressed by the officers of the court. (As that is rather a hard word, I will just explain to you how it was done. They had a large canvas bag, which tied up at the mouth with strings: into this they slipped the guinea-pig, head first, and then sat upon it.)"
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