Thursday, August 30, 2007
Oh! Frabjous Day, Callooh, Callay!
Paradise, I have found thee, and thy name is 'Nestle Signature Treasures Dark Chocolate with Caramel Truffle'.
*clap* *clap* *clap* *clap* Deep In The Heart Of Texas
In a slightly misleadlingly-titled post ("Executing The Innocent", when there is no real doubt that the man in question was guilty of the charges against him) Matt Yglesias rails against the habit, in Texas, of giving criminals the death penalty for so-called felony murder charges, when the person in question is an accomplice to a murder, but did not actually kill anyone.
The Houston Chronicle has since reported that Texas Governor Rick Perry, in a display of liberal namby-pambyishness that former Executioner-In-Chief George W. Bush would undoubtedly decry, has decided to commute the sentence to life in prison. This seems like a pretty reasonable outcome, all told, and one of those reasons that you elect sensible people who, you know, understand and care about what's going on around them.
The death penalty is a tricky question. I am, in theory, in favor of it. I believe that there are crimes which are so awful, so heinous, that the death of the guilty party is the only just outcome. However, the penalty portion of the criminal justice system in the US is, well, criminally unjust. the crack/powder cocaine disparity. The disparity between the indictment-to-trial rates for whites and minorities, the disparity between conviction rates of whites and minorities, and imprisonment rates for said populations. The number of people sentenced to death who were later, through DNA evidence, shown to be altogether not guilty of the crimes for which they were sentenced.
In the end, on the question of the death penalty, I come to the same conclusion that I do for many conservative ideals: in a better world, or at least a world filled with better people, it's a fine idea. In the world we actually live in, it just doesn't work right, and needs to be scrapped.
The Houston Chronicle has since reported that Texas Governor Rick Perry, in a display of liberal namby-pambyishness that former Executioner-In-Chief George W. Bush would undoubtedly decry, has decided to commute the sentence to life in prison. This seems like a pretty reasonable outcome, all told, and one of those reasons that you elect sensible people who, you know, understand and care about what's going on around them.
The death penalty is a tricky question. I am, in theory, in favor of it. I believe that there are crimes which are so awful, so heinous, that the death of the guilty party is the only just outcome. However, the penalty portion of the criminal justice system in the US is, well, criminally unjust. the crack/powder cocaine disparity. The disparity between the indictment-to-trial rates for whites and minorities, the disparity between conviction rates of whites and minorities, and imprisonment rates for said populations. The number of people sentenced to death who were later, through DNA evidence, shown to be altogether not guilty of the crimes for which they were sentenced.
In the end, on the question of the death penalty, I come to the same conclusion that I do for many conservative ideals: in a better world, or at least a world filled with better people, it's a fine idea. In the world we actually live in, it just doesn't work right, and needs to be scrapped.
Tuesday, August 28, 2007
I Don't Know What You Call It, But I Don't Like It
Watching the diavlog between Will 'Craftsman' Wilkinson (he's a libertarian tool, but a high quality tool, unlike, say, Megan 'Stanley' McArdle) and Brian Doherty, I'm curious to know what one calls a circle-jerk when there's only two guys involved in it. Because that is most clearly what this was. Two reflexive libertarians congratulating each other for being much smarter than everybody else. The historical parts of the discussion were quite interesting, but the policy portions of the talk were less than uninformative - I am pretty sure I actually know less in this regard than before I listened.
And did Brian really claim that the popular perception is that programs like Medicare, Medicaid, and Social Security are on their death beds? I think he did...
And did Brian really claim that the popular perception is that programs like Medicare, Medicaid, and Social Security are on their death beds? I think he did...
New Photos
Hooray! A night in finally gave me the time to do some photoshopping and photopicking, and I got some of my favorites up on Flickr.
You can find my photo page here.
You can find pictures from the eclipse here.
You can find pictures from the motorcycle trip here.
And, finally, you can find the pictures of the baby robins which were born just outside my house here. A little explanation is owed: sometime on the 23rd, suddenly there was only one baby left in the nest. I never saw a dead one, but any of a thousand things could have happened. My best guess is either a squirrel or a crow pulled it out of the nest, although neither could have easily gotten there based on where it was located.
Anyhow, I mourned the disappearance of little Mina, but fortunately Martin was left. He grew quite quickly and sometime between the afternoon of the 29th and the morning of the 30th he disappeared, presumably flown into the wild blue yonder. I have not seen anyone in the nest since. I will leave it there and hopefully we'll get a new brood next spring.
You can find my photo page here.
You can find pictures from the eclipse here.
You can find pictures from the motorcycle trip here.
And, finally, you can find the pictures of the baby robins which were born just outside my house here. A little explanation is owed: sometime on the 23rd, suddenly there was only one baby left in the nest. I never saw a dead one, but any of a thousand things could have happened. My best guess is either a squirrel or a crow pulled it out of the nest, although neither could have easily gotten there based on where it was located.
Anyhow, I mourned the disappearance of little Mina, but fortunately Martin was left. He grew quite quickly and sometime between the afternoon of the 29th and the morning of the 30th he disappeared, presumably flown into the wild blue yonder. I have not seen anyone in the nest since. I will leave it there and hopefully we'll get a new brood next spring.
Dog Tales
I don't remember if I've mentioned that there are now two dogs in residence at The Official House. Two weeks ago, my new roommate Molly showed up from North Carolina, with her yellow lab mix Turtle in tow. Not literally, she was actually sitting in the back seat. But you know what I mean. Simon, The Official Dog of The Consistent Fool, is the chocolate lab on the left in the picture below, Turtle is the one on the right.
It's been great having two dogs in the house. They exhaust each other. They have been a little rough on any stuffed animal toy that Simon once owned (a small piece of debris from such a play session can be seen in the photo). But, all-in-all, having to replace some stuffed animals with some harder toys seems like a totally fair trade to Simon having a best friend in the house all the time.
Tonight, however, was a bit of an adventure. Just before I got home from work, Simon got into Turtle's food bag, which Molly had left in her open closet. She found him with his head buried in it, with paper shreds and food bits all over the floor. Sadly, she cleaned up before I thought to take pictures. Anyhow, you could literally feel the swelling of his stomach, he had eaten so much.
So I've spent all night awaiting the inevitable upchuck (note to self: The Inevitable Upchuck would be a great name for my death-metal band or an Ultimate team. Score!) and, mostly, hoping that it would happen on a hard surface instead of the carpet, which is definitely Simon's vomit medium of preference.
Well, I am happy to report that he just let loose an unholy belch, followed by an equally unholy pile of barely-digested kibble all over my nice tile basement floor. Which I did think to take a picture of, then realized that that would be gross.
I love a story with a happy ending.
It's been great having two dogs in the house. They exhaust each other. They have been a little rough on any stuffed animal toy that Simon once owned (a small piece of debris from such a play session can be seen in the photo). But, all-in-all, having to replace some stuffed animals with some harder toys seems like a totally fair trade to Simon having a best friend in the house all the time.
Tonight, however, was a bit of an adventure. Just before I got home from work, Simon got into Turtle's food bag, which Molly had left in her open closet. She found him with his head buried in it, with paper shreds and food bits all over the floor. Sadly, she cleaned up before I thought to take pictures. Anyhow, you could literally feel the swelling of his stomach, he had eaten so much.
So I've spent all night awaiting the inevitable upchuck (note to self: The Inevitable Upchuck would be a great name for my death-metal band or an Ultimate team. Score!) and, mostly, hoping that it would happen on a hard surface instead of the carpet, which is definitely Simon's vomit medium of preference.
Well, I am happy to report that he just let loose an unholy belch, followed by an equally unholy pile of barely-digested kibble all over my nice tile basement floor. Which I did think to take a picture of, then realized that that would be gross.
I love a story with a happy ending.
The Yuck Factor
I saw a piece on the Today show this morning that they have totally revamped the guidelines for CPR. For nonprofessional, single-person CPR, the new recommendation is chest compressions only, 100 per minute. This is in contrast to the old guidelines, which had alternating chest compressions and mouth-to-mouth breaths, with the ratios of each varying for infants, children, and adults.
Apparently, there was a serious 'yuck factor', and I believe I heard the statistic that 80% of people trained in CPR claimed that they would not do mouth-to-mouth with a total stranger.
All I can say to this is that I cannot wait for the revolution to come, if we have really become a country where 80% of people would not risk the small chance of picking up a cold, or the incredibly miniscule chance of picking up something more serious and less treatable, to possible save the life of a fellow human being. The whole things leaves a bad taste in my mouth, pun not intended.
Apparently, there was a serious 'yuck factor', and I believe I heard the statistic that 80% of people trained in CPR claimed that they would not do mouth-to-mouth with a total stranger.
All I can say to this is that I cannot wait for the revolution to come, if we have really become a country where 80% of people would not risk the small chance of picking up a cold, or the incredibly miniscule chance of picking up something more serious and less treatable, to possible save the life of a fellow human being. The whole things leaves a bad taste in my mouth, pun not intended.
Discussions I Could Not Be Paid To Enter
Wow, I am not touching the material surrounding this comment thread at Ezra's with a 30-foot-pole. I'm not that old, but I've been around the block enough times to know that the question 'What Is Rape?' has nothing but bad, bad answers.
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