Thanksgiving Cats

Posted by: Old Grouch in Linkage at 23:06:46 GMT | Comments (2) | Add Comment
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“This is My Computer. There are many like it...”

In the comments at Xavier’s:

Anonymous said...

Hahaha!  Mac users are like glock users.  They both worship at the altar of their chosen idols.

12:05 PM

Anonymous said...

Hahaha!  Windows users are like 1911 users.  They both spend way too much time trying to fix the things.

12:07 PM

Posted by: Old Grouch in In Passing at 21:11:06 GMT | No Comments | Add Comment
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Too many “felonies”

In an article on the front page of this weekend’s Wall Street Journal, Amir Efrati examines five of George W. Bush’s Presidential pardons: “Seeking a Presidential Pardon? Try Praising the Right to Bear Arms.”  As should be obvious from the headline, Efrati’s “hook” is that the felons involved had requested pardons specifically for the purpose of having their right to own firearms restored.  It’s an intriguing angle (although Efrati fails to justify the headline’s conclusion^[1]), but more interesting to me is the apparent pettiness of the “offences”– the scare quotes are intentional– involved:

...poisoning bald eagles^[2]...

...conspiracy to distribute marijuana...

...lying to the government in order to receive unemployment checks.

...illegal storage of hazardous waste

...having knowledge of a felony fraud and not reporting it

These are hardly death-penalty material, especially in a society that agonizes over whether to execute teenaged gangbangers who commit premeditated murders.  Seems that felonies just ain’t what they used to be.

Glenn Reynolds has written about the process:

New felonies are being created all the time, often for activity that seems, morally, not terribly awful.  The currency of felony has been inflated, and has thus, inevitably, lost value.

...Where once “felony” meant things like murder, rape, or armed robbery, now it includes things like music piracy, or filling in potholes that turn out to be “wetlands...”

In my home state of Tennessee, we tried to deal with this problem some decades ago by creating special “Class X” felonies, with stiffer punishments, tighter requirements for parole, and so forth.

The issuance of new currency is a common response to runaway inflation.  It’s also a futile one if the authorities just keep the printing presses running.  That’s what happened in Tennessee, as lawmakers vied to designate more crimes as “Class X” felonies in order to demonstrate their toughness on crime, until the whole enterprise became a legislative joke...

One especially disturbing example of this “toughness” breast-beating is the increasingly agitated-for “hate crime” multiplier that allows prosecutors to turn offences such as petty theft or criminal mischief into felonies^{[3 (ot)]}.

Another troubling point is the repeated occurrence of the words “pleaded guilty to” (as in, “not ‘found guilty by a jury of his peers’”) in the felons’ stories.  Three of the five interviewed by Efrati lost their rights, despite having never faced a jury.

Smart conservatives should understand that they have a couple of issues with widespread public appeal here.

One is the increasing felonization of offences that are, in essence, “acts that somebody else doesn’t like” rather than “acts that really harm someone.”^[4]  The question we should be asking is:  Is offense X worth depriving someone of their rights as a citizen forever?  Then maybe it shouldn’t be a felony.  Which follows American tradition.  Reynolds again:

...There’s a good argument -- under Due Process and the Eighth Amendment -- that designating minor examples of malum prohibitum as felonies ought to be unconstitutional...  If executing someone for a heinous murder just because he was under 18 when it was committed is unconstitutional, then surely separating someone from citizenship for minor violations of tax or firearms laws should be too much.

The second is this:  If we are going to “separate someone from citizenship,” shouldn’t some sort of jury action– if only review of the evidence and any plea agreement– be a requirement?  Yes, this would have major impact on the legal process as it is presently practiced, but there is much to be said for a fully-informed jury as a check on prosecutorial overreach.


Suggested reading:
The Cato Institute:  “Go Directly To Jail: The Criminalization of Almost Everything”

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Posted by: Old Grouch in In Passing at 20:20:40 GMT | No Comments | Add Comment
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Welcome to the big leagues, Mr. Obama

Posted by: Old Grouch in Linkage at 23:15:42 GMT | No Comments | Add Comment
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The Weasel Has Landed

Stoaty is reported on the ground in the U.K., but not without some last minute excitement.

Previously:

Posted by: Old Grouch in Linkage at 22:41:54 GMT | No Comments | Add Comment
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Catch-and-release

(I had spotted this a week ago, but didn’t feel like linking it at the time.  Meaning Tam beat me to it.  Still gave me a chuckle, though...)

Posted by: Old Grouch in Linkage at 23:53:05 GMT | No Comments | Add Comment
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Blogmeet report and link to caption contest

What with fighting a cold^[1] and a hard drive simultaneously, I see I’ve neglected to post a report on Sunday’s blogmeet.  Short story: MacCool’s was worth the visit (the sweet potato french fries were an unexpected treat, the corned-beef-and-cabbage egg rolls... well, not sure!).  It was great meeting Joanna, official AoS Moron and Suggester Of the Venue.^[2]   Some of the regular faces were missing, hope they can make it next month.

Shermlock takes the prize for coverage, not only for getting the first post up but also for the photos (including a caption contest featuring our favorite stardrive tech).  There’s more at Roberta’s, at Tam’s and a bit at Turk’s.

And you Missing Morons, eat your hearts out!

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Posted by: Old Grouch in Meta at 21:58:41 GMT | No Comments | Add Comment
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“You know who” on the you-know-what

Not really, but imaginable:

“Oh, for crissakes.  Are you kidding me?  Are you friggin’ kidding me?...  Of course I betrayed those goddamned idiots.  Have any of you actually spent five minutes with them?  I have, unfortunately.  Nothing personal, but I wouldn’t trust these internet windowlickers with a plastic spork from Taco Bell, let alone a freaking $3 trillion dollar budget global superpower.  Look, I may be naive, but I’m not stupid.”

And that’s not the best quote in the piece! Take it from the top.

Via:  Attila Girl

Posted by: Old Grouch in Linkage at 20:37:25 GMT | No Comments | Add Comment
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Western Digital: What were they thinking?

So I have this Ancient Legacy Box^[1] that runs some ancient legacy software.^[2]

Within the Ancient Legacy Box is an IDE hard drive that is beginning to develop some bad sectors. It’s time to change it.

Now, read on...
more...

Posted by: Old Grouch in Rants at 16:42:29 GMT | Comments (2) | Add Comment
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“...the Liberal Talk Radio Welfare Act of 2009”

Brian Maloney spots liberal columnists playing the “paranoid” card:

Quick to protect their Dear Leader from criticism over plans to crack down on political dissent, liberal newspaper columnists have gone on the offensive, blaming talk hosts themselves for daring to suggest the medium may soon be shut down.

It's a classic case of running interference: cover for Obama by calling his intended targets “paranoid”...

“Fairness” isn’t going away, despite what they’d like you to believe.  Read the whole thing.

Posted by: Old Grouch in Radio at 18:01:19 GMT | No Comments | Add Comment
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