Are Laws Meaningless?
Trolling through the news today, it is clear that this country has a problem. People, and companies made up of people, are not willing to accept the rules that are made for them. Forget Paris Hilton, just for today. In this case, I am talking about the passport regulations that the Bush Administration is “suspending” in order to allow people to go on their vacations to places like Bermuda, Mexico, or parts of the Carribean. I guess the State Department is backed up in processing lots of passport applications, and the government of course doesn’t want to inconvenience anyone’s travel plans. So the people can show a receipt that they are waiting on the application. I pose this question: what would be easier for terrorists to forge: a passport, or a receipt claiming the passport was in the mail? I am thinking the latter. But Bush and his cronies would have us believe that it is worth that risk of less security, so that we can make sure some people who were not keeping their passports up to date properly, can go to Bermuda for some fun in the sun.
This is not an isolated incident. I recall cases like major car manufacturers balking on California emissions/fuel economy regulations. The government will pass tough laws, then people or companies will complain that they “don’t have time” to comply, or that it would be too tough to do it in the time frame dictated. So the government, acting like the big wimp that it is, will often turn tail, and bow to the demands of the corporations, or the complainers. I usually lean liberal/libertarian, but Republicans have been talking about this problem for years. Enforcement of laws is not consistent, and needs to be taken more seriously. Before we change laws or “relax” them, let’s try enforcing them, and then see where we get with that strategy. I will not right now espouse how border/immigration law enforcements might be a good solution to the immigration debate. After all, I need some yard work done this weekend, and I want to pay cash under the table. Ssshh!
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Cartoonish Justice
Sigh…I guess I should have seen this coming. Paris Hilton was released from jail today. Apparently, the waifish celebutante was refusing to eat her prison rations, and this “medical condition” caused her to be sent home for house arrest. There are thousands of people who would pay lots of money to live in Paris’ house for 45 days. Obviously, the system is being bent over and spanked by a rich and powerful family. Is there any way that us little people who don’t own hotel chains can find justice?
What is justice really? According to dictionary.com, justice is the quality of being just; righteousness, equitableness, or moral rightness. In Paris’ case, there is not much fairness or rightness about her being allowed to break the law and then go home because she doesn’t like jail food. In many cases these days, it seems that personal responsibility is not only being ignored, but the system is encouraging just that. Lewis Libby is going to jail for lying to the authorities in the Valerie Plame case. But no one has been charged with leaking her name to the press, which is an obvious breach of national security. So where is the justice in that? An undercover CIA agent is exposed, and we yawn. So If we are not going to hold our political leaders to high standards for behavior, why should we hold tabloid celebrities to any standard at all?
The problem is that the fault in these matters falls directly on YOU, the reader! And me, of course. All of us who have not written letters to elected officials, or marched in a public demonstration have not done their part in the process. Are we not a government by the people and for the people? Posting on a message board is nice, but ultimately not enough. When CBS cancelled the television show “Jericho”, fans were outraged, and sent 25 tons of peanuts to the network, prompting them to rethink their decision. So it is obvious what we need to do. If you don’t like the Plame investigation, send outraged letters to your local Congressmen and Senators. It sounds played, but you can make a difference if you get involved. Here is a link to the LA country Sheriff’s Department website, where they have listings for all sorts of people you can voice your distress to. Me? I am thinking about whether or not to mail them boxes of cashews or walnuts. Probably the cashews, since they look like deformed peanuts, and (can you feel it coming?), this situation is an example of DEFORMED justice. Snap!
UPDATE: According to TMZ, the release of this prisoner was to prevent her having a nervous breakdown. LA top Sheriff Lee Baca signed off on this, so this goes to show the idiocy goes straight to the top. Because there is no way other prisoners are sitting in their cells being nervous. Is Lee going to send them all home?
UPDATE #2: She’s going back in the clink! Hurray for Cashews! And the filter, for making it happen, of course.
No bully could spell like this!
Ah, it’s springtime again. Time for picnics, college lacrosse, and the best thing of all…children who can spell antidisestablishmentarianism! The Scripps National Spelling Bee concluded yesterday, with the championship going to California’s own Evan O’Dorney. O’Dorney beat out many other pretenders to the crown, and become the latest in the annals of superstar spellers.
Each year I get jazzed for the Bee. There are two main things that thrill me about it. The first is the pure competition. These young people are under tremendous pressure, studying spelling for years just for this purpose. Jonathan Horton, one of the favorites, had been in the Bee for years, studying hours a day, and then he got the boot on his first word of the final round. Since this was his last year of eligibility…that’s it. His competitive spelling career is essentially over, and he is not even fifteen years old. So watching these kids live and die by the dictionary has a certain appeal.
My favorite example of this is when Akshay Buddiga fainted on stage right in the middle of his turn. A lesser competitor might have accepted help or medical aid, but Akshay had the resolve to get right up and nail the word! This is guts and glory at its finest. And it is not just the kids that take this seriously. This year the parents of ousted favorite Samir Patel appealed his elimination, claiming a pronunciation variation cost him his chance at the title. The appeal was, thankfully, rejected. After all, the Bee was made for winners, not whiners!
The second reason to love the Bee, which I suspect is the main reason for many people watching, is the personalities of the spellers. Many of these kids are home-schooled, and that makes for some interesting sound bytes. The most famous, and one of my favorites, is Rebecca Sealfon, the champion of the 1997 Bee. Rebecca just oozes personality and enthusiasm, as you can see in her spelling the championship word, “euonym”. She knew this word, as she started to celebrate before she actually spelled it. If she had made an error, it would have been similar to Lindsey Jacobellis botching her gold medal in the 2006 Olympics. Thankfully for Rebecca, spelling doesn’t have as much opportunity for showboating. Check out Rebecca’s post game interview. A true classic. And sometimes these kids are funny on purpose too.
My only real complaint with the Bee is that they need to stop buying all the kids’ shirts in the same size. Can’t the National Spelling Bee afford to buy a variety of rugby shirt sizes? Good lord, some of these kids are basically wearing dresses. Sadly, the Bee is now over, and we are left waiting another twelve months for the next generation of whiz kids to make us laugh, cry, cheer, and feel stupid. I for one, cannot wait until next spring. And if I mis-spelled any words in this column, don’t blame me. I went to public skool.
Would Josh be proud of his Dad?
I am sure that by now many people are familiar with the tragic death of St. Louis Cardinals pitcher Josh Hancock. If you have followed this story, you are likely aware that the 29 year-old had more than twice the legal blood alcohol limit when he crashed his car into a tow-truck. Read further, and you learn he was also talking on his cell phone when the crash happened. On top of that, he wasn’t wearing his seatbelt. So there are at least 3 things (*read on for #’s 4 and 5) that Josh did wrong that night. And he paid the price for it with his life.
At first, I thought it was sad that Josh made these fatal mistakes. But today I found out that this death really wasn’t his fault. I feel so stupid, since I always thought people should not drink in excess. I mean, unless someone is forcing you to drink (let’s say with an IV in your arm) you are pretty much supposed to know when you have had too much. I also feel dumb for thinking that cell phones impair your ability to drive. There are many states that are passing laws about driving while taking; but I guess I mistook that for common sense. Oh, and I also had to call up Bobby Hurley, and ask him why he preached wearing a seatbelt in all those PSA’s after he was almost killed. I am embarrassed that I believed in Bobby, when I guess wearing your seatbelt isn’t something that results in bodily injury.
If you are not detecting my sarcasm, then you likely find nothing wrong with the lawsuit that Josh Hancock’s father has filed in regard to his son’s death. He is suing the bar that served Josh drinks. I have heard of this before, where bartenders are held accountable for serving drinks to drunks. I don’t agree with it, but I have heard of it. The thing that really sticks out is that not only is Mr. Hancock suing the bar, he is suing the towing company that owns the tow-truck his son hit, AND the driver of the car that was being towed. Let’s review this again, so all the kids can learn a good lesson. He is suing the driver of the car that was in need of assistance, because his drunk son was talking on his cell phone, while not wearing a seatbelt, and crashed his car into the tow-truck. And died.
Where has common sense gone? Where has personal responsibility gone? Does Mrs. Hancock actually believe that this person whose car was stalled caused his son’s death? According to the police report, the car stalled after being spun out when some other bad driver cut him off. So if we continue Mr. Hancock’s line of thinking, we need to locate that driver, and sue them for spinning this other guy out to begin with. And while we are doing that, shouldn’t we sue that driver’s driving instructor from high school, who obviously didn’t teach him not to cut people off?
Ideally, the judge or jury involved in this case will see past this ridiculous grab for post mortem satisfaction, and throw the case out. I had a family member (my 22 year old cousin) who died from blunt head trauma after getting dunk and falling off a bridge. I guess when my family came to the realization that it was a sad event, and we wished my cousin hadn’t had so much to drink, we were misplacing our grief. Maybe if Mr. Hancock was in the family, we would have channeled our grief into anger, and sued the city where this happened. Or better yet, the inventor of gravity!
*And if you want to know about Josh Hancock’s 4 and 5 mistakes:
I read that Josh was speeding at the time of the crash, and police found 8.55 grams of marijuana in his vehicle. But I am sure Mr. Hancock will find the people other than his son that are responsible for that as well. As for me, I will expect to be contacted by Mr. Hancock’s lawyers in the next few days. But in court I plan to blame my parents for instilling the values in me that made me write this column. Then I will sue them.
Put me in Coach! I’m ready to fight fight fight…cops
The Mahoning Valley HitMen are an indoor football team based in Ohio. Their incoming running back Maurice Clarett was arrested this morning after being maced by police. Seems Clarett had a number of loaded guns in his vehicle at the time, and was non-cooperative with officers. Without getting into a long drawn out discussion of why Clarett is a dunderhead, let’s discuss his new coach. Jim Terry, who also owns the team, had a reaction of: “I’ve seen far worse situations than this.” He added that the encounter Clarett had with the cops will not affect his status with the team. Way to go coach! Way to enable more potentially dangerous men to have no professional ramifications from wrongdoing! Sure we’ve all seen worse, but driving around with many loaded guns and getting into skirmishes with police is not exactly jaywalking.
What is Terry’s motivation here? On the cynical side, we might assume that Terry simply doesn’t care about people with dangerous weapons mixing it up with police, and wants a running back to gain lots of yards and score touchdowns. That might sound believable, but Clarett stinks these days last I heard. Then again, I suppose a team that is offering open tryouts to anyone could embrace a player that had at least one great college season, instead of a local bartender looking to live out his dream. (That sounds like a movie I heard of) On the hopeful side, maybe Terry thinks that by giving Clarett another chance, he can finally get his life sorted out. While the first idea is irresponsible, this one seems merely stupid. If a guy like Clarett is in trouble in his life, the place for him is with a therapist or doctor of mental health, not on some football field where anger and aggression can be rewarded. If society thinks a man like Clarett is worthy of being saved, we should be trying to get him emotional help, not ask him to carry a team of the Eastern Indoor Football League. Ironically, on the HitMen website, using the mouse to select different menu options produces a sound effect like a gunshot. I should mention that Clarett was originally tazered, but was wearing a bulletproof vest, so the police then had to mace him. Looks like Mo really was fixing to be a real hit-man. And, you know, his coach is cool with that.
The Madcap dies
Syd Barrett, possibly the single most notorious embodiment of all that what was great, awful, brilliant, insane, beautiful and ugly about the psychedelic movement of the late ’60s, has finally died. I say finally because if you’ve ever read much about him, it’s fairly obvious that he’d been living on borrowed time since sometime in 1967. Even though just about only notable things he had done since releasing “The Madcap Laughs” was to show up during the recording of “Wish You Were Here” looking extremely overweight and bald, it was clear that the rest of Pink Floyd hadn’t forgotten about him. If you saw Roger Waters on tour in 1999 or Pink Floyd’s Live8 performance, you would have seen/heard the tributes to him.
LONDON - Syd Barrett, the troubled genius who co-founded Pink Floyd but spent his last years in reclusive anonymity, has died, a spokeswoman for the band said Tuesday. He was 60.
See you on the Dark Side of the Moon, Syd.
Jackman promises more Logan
Yes, Crap Filter lives! Don’t worry kids, we’re going to resume publishing on a regular schedule with a new, less “bloggy” design very soon. In the meantime, here’s a little something to make you happy:
AMSTERDAM (Hollywood Reporter) - Hugh Jackman’s Wolverine will headline a spinoff of 20th Century Fox’s “X-Men” franchise.
At international industry conference Cine Expo, the studio promised the gathered exhibitors a Jackman starrer titled “Wolverine” for next year. Jackman himself sent the conventioneers a taped promise to back up the news.
Yeah, I know this isn’t exactly groundbreaking news, but it’s nice to have some solid confirmation. Click the link if you want, but those three sentences are the entire article.
The MOTHER of all Lost Season 2 finale reviews
Satisfied?
I am. I didn’t find the finale OVERwhelming, but it was far from UNDERwhelming like last year’s cliffhanger. I thought it was nearly perfect. There was so much going on it’s still sinking in for me, but I’ll try to get through everything as quickly as possible and then on to the big talking points. Spoilers ahead! Continues after the jump »
Last-minute Lost finale speculation
I was told that in a television commercial for the finale, Jack demands that Michael tell “them” (who’s them?) what he did. I have to believe that if Michael’s secret gets out, he will no longer be trusted or accepted by the Camp. I see him choosing to be with Walt, who will remain with the Others, over a rescue mission that will lead him back to the Camp where they will be outcasts. I don’t think Michael and Walt will be completely phased out of the show, but they may serve as examples of how the Others recruit their members.
Last week I made a guess about a surprise death, boldly stating that Hurley could be on the chopping block. I’ve decided to add another name – Charlie – to the very same block. Redemption is a huge theme of ‘Lost’ and Charlie has certainly come full circle this season. He’s fought off the temptations of the heroin again and again, rediscovered religion, and made peace with Claire after their relationship deteriorated for the better part of this year.
Again, I need to clarify. I like Charlie and Hurley both as characters. Obviously, the guy that plays Charlie is somewhat famous for his role in the Lord of the Rings series, so I don’t know that they’d axe him. I’m just speculating – IF there was going to be a surprise demise, it could be one of those two.
Just about 6 hours to go. I’ll catch up with everyone tomorrow once it’s all sunk in.
Red Hot Chili Peppers to play at Apple Store opening?
The word on the street is that 58th or 59th Street near 5th Ave. in New York City will be closing down tonight around 6 p.m. for a “major live band” to play at the opening of Steve Jobs’ latest affront to God.
Curbed seems to think it’ll be U2, which was my first guess. My sources tell me, however, that it’s going to be The Red Hot Chili Peppers. This actually makes a lot of sense, seeing as how Apple held listening parties for the release of Stadium Arcadium in its stores, and gave away iTunes cards for free downloads of “Dani California.”
It’s a total mob scene anytime Apple opens a new store, but it’s a safe bet that this will be many times more insane. I’m going to try to be there, so check back for updates.
