September, 2014 archive
“An Armed Society Is a Polite Society” 0
Be polite to your friends.
There is no excuse for this.
If you cannot load a gun safely, you are too stupid to touch a gun. Full stop. End of story.
The Rich Are Different from You and Me 2
They have their own code of laws.
After pointing out that the root of the word “privilege” is the French for “private law,” Noah Smith bemoans the system of private law for the rich and white that he sees evolving in the United States. He supports his case with many examples. Here’s one (emphasis added):
“Felony convictions have some pretty serious job implications for someone in Mr. Erzinger’s profession, and that entered into it,” [prosecutor] Mark Hurlbert said. “When you’re talking about restitution, you don’t want to take away his ability to pay.
So a rich guy got a lighter sentence because a heavier sentence would prevent him from being rich. Obviously, this get-out-of-jail-free card isn’t available to someone from the middle class, even if he or she is white.
Smith’s mistake is thinking that there is anything new about the rich having private law, though the privilege of the privileged does seem to be increasing. As recently as the Savings and Loan scandal of thirty years ago, banksters went to jail for stiffing their customers; today they get bonuses.
Follow the link for the rest of Smith’s examples.
American Taliban 0
You can’t make this stuff up. What’s truly sad is that you don’t even have to try to make it up.
The Hollow Men 0
The Sacramento Bee’s Jack Ohman parodies pandering pols. You don’t have to be from Cali to get a chuckle from this.
Denial Is Not Just a River in Egypt 0
The gyrations of Southerners who wish to deny the reality of Southern history constantly bemuse and amuse.
Houdini would be confounded by the contortions of those who seek to justify a society based on kidnapping, captivity, torture, rape, and theft of labor.