Dorf needs to recharge the belltones.

FindLaw's Writ - Dorf: The President's Disingenuous Arguments Against Expanding the Federal Hate Crime Law

In his column, and some parts were persuasive, Dorf has this to say about the libertarian argument against "hate crimes" legislation:

"But this brings us to the second reason why the libertarian objection to hate crimes is misplaced, if raised with respect to the current controversy: If you think hate crime legislation impermissibly interferes with freedom of thought, then you will object to all hate crime legislation--including the existing version of the hate-crime law (the one that does not list sexual orientation). Yet the Administration has not even hinted that it would like to see the current federal hate crime law repealed."

Apparantly, Dorf thinks that Bush has changed hats and become not only a libertarian, but all libertarians.  I would be surprised if Dorf could not go to a libertarian think tank and not find one person who objects to ANY sort of "hate crime" legislation, not just that for sexual orientation. 

But now onto the legislation itself, which Dorf claims is NOT a pork barrel project.  It may not be, but if there's cash, the pigs will come a oinking, count on that.  In our own little hamlet, we have recently had a charming group of fellows that thought another human being could be used as a punching bag.  If the suspects are found guilty, absolutely they should be sent away for a rather long time, not only for punishment but to ensure the rest of us who have found ways to express our thoughts outside of punches and kicks can be safer for it.  But the question now is, would those people who assaulted this teenager have not done it if some sort of "hate crime" status was in effect?

This is a hard game to play, since we are counting negatives.  How many people would NOT have engaged in a particular action based upon a presumed punishment.  This goes as well for the fellow in Chicago who was apparently assaulted because he was gay.  In order to believe this, you have to think that there was some line in the sand in terms of punishment that would have cut through their hate filled emotive states.  "I'd really like to pound that homosexual, but I can't.  I'd get an extra 5 years for it".

Part of the reason that I have abandoned advocacy of the death penalty is that I fail to see how anybody in a heated state of passion would get down and study the law books before offing somebody.   There are several reasons to off somebody, but three major groups are passion, insanity, or profit.  Passion and insanity are two groups of people who aren't thinking right in the first place.  So you're left with profit, and mostly I'd think they'd be more concerned about whether or not they got caught in the first place than what the punishment was.

 

 

Let Aussie rules prevail

Australia hands over man to US courts - National - theage.com.au

I think I can say, first and foremost, I am a patriot.  This is my country, right or wrong, but always my country.  I owe allegiance to it and to its laws, and if I break them, I am tried in their courts.

But I don't think the same can be said of Hew.  Hew was extradited to stand trial in the United States even though he had never set one foot within our borders.  He hasn't lived here, he hasn't voted here, yet somehow he can be tried here.  Were the situation reversed, and a US citizen were extradited, we'd be fit to be tied.

There are also a few other things that are just priceless in this story:  "But Drink or Die's activities did cost American companies money — an estimated $US50 million ($A60 million), if legal sales were substituted for illegal downloads undertaken through Drink or Die. It also raised the ire of US authorities."

That priceless word "if".  If legal sales were substituted for illegal downloads.  Doesn't that assume--and we all know what that does--that these people given the choice between not having the software and having it would pony up the cash?  And if they had the cash at that point, why wouldn't they have bought it in the first place?

 

Imus: the more you say about others. . .

In as cliched as it is and in as much as I hate living by cliches (*cough*AA*cough*), I truly believe that every finger you point at somebody else points four more fingers back at you, and this is what happened to Don Imus.

Here's what I think about the words, however: those words did not turn those Rutgers basketball players into nappy headed hos any more than the people who called MLK Jr into an ape turned him into an ape. What they did show is that they (the racists) were the ones down on the evolutionary scale. Same thing with Ann Coulter dropping a three-letter f bomb on Edwards. No matter how cute she tried to turn the insult, she marred her physical beauty with ugly that cute to the bone. And the same thing with Don Imus.

Now, do I think that he should be fired? I don't know. I'm not a fan of Don Imus and I don't watch his schnitck often enough to make an informed decision, but here's what I do know: I've seen him and his clowns use other insults against other people rather than arguments. If you are going to fire him just for this, what does that say about the other slams he has made against other people? Smack them for their religion, for their political beliefs in a way that doesn't open discussion, but the moment you step across race you are gone?

I don't think Imus is racist in the sense that he believes honestly that caucasians are superior to black people. But I do think it shows a bias and a stereotypical thinking about blacks. He has biases against other groups as well. Does that make them any better?

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Sometimes, you just gotta draw the line somewhere

Teen tried to hire hit man to kill ex-girlfriend's fetus - CNN.com

I caught wind of this story from an e-mail list, Legalize Choice 4 Men, under the subject line "Lack of C4M Leads to Another ruined life".  With all due respect to LC4M--and I believe that they have a lot to their arguments--this is one place that I will not go.

I am nearing 30 in my own life, and so the memories of being a teenager are fading fast, but I can remember the distant times where everything was a life or death situation.  Every choice, every thing that you do at that age threatens to elevate your life to pure bliss or slam it into the pits of hell.  If you don't go out with that girl, you're going to die.  If you don't make the sports team, you're going to die.  Well, I have news for you.  I'm still living, and I didn't make one team or make it to first base with a girl.

But through all of that I never contemplated murder to the point of asking around for a hitman about it.  And while we're at it, a word to all you would be assassins and godfathers; have you just been watching way too much gangland movies, or do you really think that everybody knows an assassin?  Do you think we all keep the number of "Joey V" down the street in case we have a leak that needs to be fixed?

The kid's lawyer said that his client was, "is an intelligent young man who got bad advice."  Apparently he wasn't smart enough to realize that this had no chance in hell of working, but if the lawyer is correct, who ever gave him that advice should be sitting in a cell next to this kid.

 

OT: Dobson questions another person's faith.

Dobson: Thompson must express faith - CNN.com

 

This, is what drove me from organized religion:  people questioning each others faith.  Unless Dobson has some sort of crystal ball, he really doesn't know what Fred Thompson believes or does not believe.  So, quite frankly, he should concern himself more with his faith than with that of another person.

Am I alone in thinking that one of the most hypocritical things in the world is somebody saying that another person doesn't believe enough, that somebody isn't spiritual enough.  Whether it's religion or "spirituality" (read, a bunch of ex-drunks at AA questioning each other over the "quality" of their sobriety), one man does not know what another man thinks, let alone what he believes.    Hell, claiming that you know what God wants is a little bit arrogant let alone you know it better than another man, don't you think?

And why is this on the NCP Revue?  Well, Dobson has set himself up as an enemy of shared custody, so any chance to examine the man is going to get on our board.

 

Talk about your slick new toys!

Downloaded a copy of xdetv and if you don't have it and you're on Linux, what are you waiting for? This is, to be blunt, "digital recording for dummies". One "R", and you're recording your favorite shows. Sweet!
Later on in the week, I hope to be telling you about another toy I've stumbled across.

Will they ever learn?

Pizza boxes carry deadbeat mug shots - Yahoo! News

Well, at least you can give this to the Cincinatti Department that Can't Steal Enough: at least they got permission first.

Of course, the fact that they're humiliating fathers (and the occasional token female: I wonder if you get a discount if you turn in a pizza box with a female on it.) for not paying an arbitrary number a judge decided on.  There's a good way to build strong, healthy families.

And if any of you are in the Cincinatti area, I urge you to call Karen's Pizzarea and any other joints that engage in this humiliation campaign and tell them exactly where they can shove their pies.  And as for the kiddies: you can't get your dads back, but you can get an extra slice of pepperoni.  Enjoy.

 

Got my little dlink G122 dongle a-working!

Here's the steps, in case I ever get hit on the head with a giant rock and forget, or for any of you.

This pertains to the DWL-G122 h/w A1 version.

1. Make sure you have ndiswrapper
2. Go to http://www.dtech.com and download the appropriate driver
3. load the PRISMA02.inf file with ndiswrapper
4. modprobe ndiswrapper
5. on the NetworkManager, click on default (not altnet)
6. Let the good times roll!

Yeah, because Democracy in DC is best as a theoretical

White House opposes DC vote in the House - Yahoo! News

This is one of those times where I will go off the boards for something that has nothing to do with anything, but I felt compelled to say something about this.

There are going to be arguments about representatives and "amongst the people of the states", but here's what it comes down to for me.  We fought a bunch of British bastards over "taxation without representation".  Here's the deal: DC residents pay federal taxes, they should vote.  I don't care how you do it, if you have to give an extra vote to Utah to seal the deal, if you have to do it via a Constitutional Amendment, you give residents of DC a vote, or you give them back their tax money.

 

Keep thinking about the origins of Redd and the Godsbane

Where my stories are going about Redd ultimately involves the Godsbane, so I guess I should flesh out its meaning. The concept first came to me when playing a video game, The Summoner. In one of the adventures, they end up descending down what could only be described as the tomb of a God. It struck me as odd that somebody, would make their home on top of that. If such a place existed, I could only think of it as a very sad place.
Why is it sad? Well, as I read somewhere, God really is just an abbreviation of Good. So you could take the death of a God as being the death of all that is good in people, or rather all that is perceived as good. How would you survive knowing that all your hopes of a better life turned out to be a lie, or dead? How would you go on?
But ultimately, we have to go on. People die, good people that have meant so much in our lives, but our obligation to live continues. So when that happens, you must cut out a goodness of your own creation. You must be good not because you hope for reward or fear punishment, but because it is good and that is the right path. And that is eventually the key to maturing and growing up.

To Catch a Predator: what's wrong with it?

To Catch a Predator, one of the highest rated shows on television. You got a clear cut good guy, a clear cut bad guy, a confrontation, and somebody goes to jail. In other words there is no thinking required, which makes it perfect for most American households. Here's what I got a problem with in terms of this program, and no I'm not for pedophiles.

• Journalists working with the police How could this be wrong? Doesn't Cops work the same way? One big difference; in Cops, the journalists that are riding along don't take an active role. They are merely along for the ride. Dateline sets up the people, and then the police swoop on in. It's the difference between passive observer and active decoy. To put it in terms that are less sickening than pederasts, imagine this: let us suppose NBC decided to do a special called "To Catch a John", wherein they lure men to a hotel room, Chris Hansen interviews them and then the cops swoop in for the kill. Would any of you want to see that? But old Chris seems to enjoy being the investigator and getting a confession out of these people. I suppose next we'll see Deputy Chris Hansen with a badge and a gun swooping in with the rest of them.


• Two: the cops drawing guns on the pedophile. Maybe this isn't abuse of power, but it seems a little overblown. Some of you may say it's a felony, requires a felony take down. There are a lot of felony cases where cops do not go into a neighborhood with guns drawn. Did US Marshals rush the White House with guns drawn to arrest Lewis Libby? Did they slam Martha Stewart to the ground with more firepower drawn than the entire Canadian army?


• The lack of context. I've been searching the archives for where they actually solicit these people. While I have heard some are on kid-friendly chats like Myspace and Yahoo, I have heard that others are actually solicited on IRC (Internet Relay Chat). If they do solicit off IRC it's kinda like trolling in the red light district with a Catholic school girl. IRC has a much smaller base than the rest of the Web, and a lot of people that are slimy in the first place. Not all IRC chatters are like this, but you get a much more specialized audience. Yet the general population thinks that the entire web is no more safe than IRC. And when the common man gets bad ideas, politicians often push them into law.
  


• Dateline. And lest we not forget, Dateline has not had quite a stellar record in regards to ethical journalism. Before "To Catch a Predator", their infamous GM truck piece and "Cataract Cowboys" both skirted ethics.


• It gives excuses for idiots like McCain and that one senator from Illinois excuses for regulating the internet. Since we are not afforded any context as described above, McCain and others can seek to put onerous requirements on all web sites, not just the chat rooms where they pick these people up. They can treat sites that are perfectly legitimate just the same as the "Lolita" room on EFnet.


• The potential tainting of a jury pool. Yeah, yeah, you may say; and that person COPS just taped breaking into that house is "innocent until proven guilty". But not everything is so clear cut. Chris Hansen has admitted that some of the men who show up are talking about things that are improper but not legal. Yet he only leaves us the assurance that "probably" those people are not shown? Probably? How about until you find out what the district attorney has filed or will file, you probably don't show them.

• Dateline paying anti-pedophile watchdog group Perverted Justice a consulting fee. Does anybody here know the phrase "checkbook journalism"? A quick web search and you'll find out why it is so reviled in the world of reporting.
• We get the point already. I think the first fifty times you showed it drove home the point that the internet is not a safe place. Turn the page already. Or is that one too many tricks for you to learn, Chris?
  

And last but not least, if you think that I'm alone in these concerns and a nut for them, google "Chris Hansen" and "ethics" and see what you are finding.

For instance
http://www.digitalduke.duq.edu/article.asp?id=1253
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/15592444/ (note the comments at the end. The mayor doesn't seem like the type to embrace pedophiles, but I guess he's not so down with the idea of his town being used as the honeypot for sexual predators).
http://www.opednews.com/articles/opedne_diane_ma_070220_no_more_tabloid_jour.htm
http://www.ethicsscoreboard.com/list/dateline.html

[/list]

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Just goes to show what a Gimp and some patience can accomplish

So I'm out using my new "digital camera" (and here's a tip for all of you: any time you see a digital camera doing a tie in with the IDG Dummies guys, run.), and experimenting with my new camera. It's not all that bad for what I paid for it, which was zero. I won the thing as part of a Convergys perfect attendance contest, and am slowly starting my way up to being a digital shutterbug.
Okay, so I get the pictures home, and most of them, they're okay I guess. So, I bring them into Gimp and start trying to do some things with them and lo and behold, I come up with what is in the corner. By the way, if any of you want to try for that, you use the sorbel function when you attempt to enhance the edges. Wow! Gets me psychadelic just looking at the thing. I'll be posting up occasional photos here just so you can get some views of Pueblo.

Crit for crit: do we need a set ratio?

I am writing this in response to a e-mail I received about "crit for crit", where I suggested that while points were nice, people need to return the favor and critique the other person's e-mail. The editor pointed out a couple of things, I feel the need to respond in a forum a little bit larger than 1,000 characters.
Besides being writers, we are also humans that have bills to pay and lives to be actively involved with. And sometimes, yes, sometimes, you even have to put aside writing to finish them. That may mean that even though you receive critiques of a piece that you put out there, you may not have time to return the favor.
And there are places out there, such as critters, which have a strict ratio to encourage critiques. I am not suggesting writing.com use that. Just because you have gotten bogged down is no reason to clip somebody's privileges.
I would rather it be an unwritten rule that if somebody critiques your work, you at least return the favor somewhat, even if your critique is incomplete. Nothing that penalizes people, just a quick reminder that if you are not getting criticisms, maybe it's because you are not out there that much. How long does it take to say, "I don't think this story is going in the right direction,"? You do not need to take the piece apart, just give your overall impressions of the work.
The "point system" that writing.com uses is nice, but sometimes people use that and forget why it is in there in the first place: to encourage critiques. We're not here to rack up points like a game of pinball; we're here to improve our writing. And the only way you can improve is if you see what is wrong with your own work.
Besides, what is criticism anyway but another form of writing, and practice makes perfect.

Talk about ensuring you still have a job.

Massively Addictive - Video Game Feature - Yahoo! Video Games




Are you freaking kidding me?  Now you're saying that the looser who spends more hours playing with a control than he does...playing with himself...is not just a loser, he's "constitutionally incapable of honesty".  Good lord!




At this point, I have an admission: I've had addictions, and I've struggled with them.  Lots of them.  And at one time (around 12), I had a problem with obsessing over video games.  But you know what happened?  I grew up.  I went from trying to sneak marathon sessions of video games to staying away for days, even weeks.  Even my mother remarked about it.




Why?  Because I grew out of them.  I found other hobbies, other things to do.   In short, I expanded my horizons.




But now this group of idiots is trying to blame their obsession with getting to level 70 on some sort of reward malfunction?  Please.    Go outside, or even go inside.  Write a book, jog, do something.  Too much of anything is a problem.  Don't make it into some sort of 12-step mess that makes us all puke.  I really do not have to hear about a "spiritual solution" to overcoming old Super Mariocorn (a takeoff on John Barlycorn, the mythical demon that XA relies upon). 





 

Computer Tips: Firefox extensions

I don't know about you, but I spend a good amount of time behind my browser reading, writing, and discussing. My browser of choice is Firefox, fast and free, both in cost and of Microsoft. Firefox by itself is a pretty good browser, but if you want to really ramp things up, you probably want some other specialized tools. Maybe you have a weather site that you check again and again. Or, you're like me and want to blog without having to close down a window. Well, here I will list some of my favorite extensions, as well as showing you where to get them.



Fasterfox

As the lovelorn bachelor said to the hot blond nymph, "Where have you been my entire life?". This is simply a must for anybody who has seen a decrease in the speed of browsing. It allows you to tweak settings and maximize the power of your browser. In addition, it also contains a pop up blocker that stops pop ups generated by flash embeds. A must have, in my view.

Performancing

Many of my blog entries read, "Powered by Performancing" Performancing is an add on blog editor for your browser. Normally, it sits as an icon on your status bar. But if you stumble upon something that you really want to blog about, you can pull it up and start typing away.

Diigo Toolbar

Diigo is an online community, much like del.icio.us, that lets you tag pages with particular keywords. These keywords then can be searched by you or anybody else you let to find relevant content. In addition to being able to tag pages with notes, there's a blog this function, similar to Performancing, that lets you immediately link to a page on your own blog.

These are just a few of the extensions out there, and sometime next week, I'll be back with a few more of these great little helpers.

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Interesting tidbit on Apache permissions error

On Fri January 19 2007 20:06, John Meyer wrote:

> Okay, I don't know what or who screwed with my apache server, but first
> off, it gave mea  404 error, then when I set up the UserDir directive,
> it's now kvetching about Permissions.

Hi John,

I encountered this, also, after installing 10.2. Try this:

Edit /etc/sysconfig/apache2 and set:

APACHE_CONF_INCLUDE_FILES="extra/httpd-userdir.conf"

save

Run 'rcapache2 restart'

hth & regards,

Carl

A bit of an edit here to remove one line.  Also, original cred to Leeander Meyer for the post.