Funkytown
My deep blogging funk remains seriously debilitating. Unable to muster the strength for a sustained rant on anything, I will settle for some micro-observations that will hopefully serve as a kind of therapy. With your indulgence...
Hugo Chavez wins in a romp. Obviously Chavez will eventually destroy Venezuela, as Castro did Cuba, because that's what socialism does to countries. But while the oil money's good the country will muddle along just fine, and that could last awhile. He'd better hope that global warming turns out to be a hoax, so no serious conservation efforts end the party.
E. Coli infects dozens of Taco Bell patrons in NY area. If you eat at Taco Bell, you deserve to get sick, but many of these cases are rather serious. If repulsive food and gooey Pepsicola soft drinks aren't enough to keep people away, let's hope the thought of consuming intestinal bacteria will finally bring people to their senses. Taco Bell must die!
TV Land is playing the Andy Griffith Top Ten right now. Here's my favorite Andy/Barney routine.
What do Public TV Pledge Drives say about the upper middle class? PBS claims its audience reflects the nation's demographics. That may be. PBS has some very good programs - Frontline, American Experience, American Masters, History's Mysteries, Nature, etc. But when it's pledge week, the programming changes. Tonight, instead of NOVA, I'm expected to sit through 2 hours of Johnny Mathis followed by 90 minutes of this cretin. All weekend long there were geriatric Fifties acts and folk concerts right out of A Mighty Wind. So obviously this is what sets a fire under the butts of people with money (you either have to have lots of disposable income to contribute to public TV or be a pathetic sap, as your measly $100 isn't going to make a dent in their budget). That's pretty scary. Fortunately PBS has the good sense to ignore its clueless patrons' tastes when it returns to regular programming and goes back to the good stuff - at least it has so far.
I listened to a bit of the arguments before the Supreme Court today on the use of race in high school assignments in Seattle (available here). I thought Justice Kennedy was clearly leaning against the school districts - and Kennedy is all that matters, as the other 8 votes are set in stone before the case even arrives. The Times agrees. I'd prefer that the court, rather than striking down these arrangements, instead make a clear ruling that forced integration will no longer be required of school districts, and then let each district handle it from there. I think each locality should be better able to judge their particular circumstance and design appropriate policies than federal courts. The lessons of integration should be clear to everyone by now - above all else, it tends to eliminate the white middle class from cities. That alone should keep it in check. But I doubt my preference will bear any relation to what eventually happens.
And down in Durham, behind the scenes, some serious pressure is coming D.A. Nifong's way as complaints and grievances pile up, including requests for a federal civil rights investigation.
Hugo Chavez wins in a romp. Obviously Chavez will eventually destroy Venezuela, as Castro did Cuba, because that's what socialism does to countries. But while the oil money's good the country will muddle along just fine, and that could last awhile. He'd better hope that global warming turns out to be a hoax, so no serious conservation efforts end the party.
E. Coli infects dozens of Taco Bell patrons in NY area. If you eat at Taco Bell, you deserve to get sick, but many of these cases are rather serious. If repulsive food and gooey Pepsicola soft drinks aren't enough to keep people away, let's hope the thought of consuming intestinal bacteria will finally bring people to their senses. Taco Bell must die!
TV Land is playing the Andy Griffith Top Ten right now. Here's my favorite Andy/Barney routine.
What do Public TV Pledge Drives say about the upper middle class? PBS claims its audience reflects the nation's demographics. That may be. PBS has some very good programs - Frontline, American Experience, American Masters, History's Mysteries, Nature, etc. But when it's pledge week, the programming changes. Tonight, instead of NOVA, I'm expected to sit through 2 hours of Johnny Mathis followed by 90 minutes of this cretin. All weekend long there were geriatric Fifties acts and folk concerts right out of A Mighty Wind. So obviously this is what sets a fire under the butts of people with money (you either have to have lots of disposable income to contribute to public TV or be a pathetic sap, as your measly $100 isn't going to make a dent in their budget). That's pretty scary. Fortunately PBS has the good sense to ignore its clueless patrons' tastes when it returns to regular programming and goes back to the good stuff - at least it has so far.
I listened to a bit of the arguments before the Supreme Court today on the use of race in high school assignments in Seattle (available here). I thought Justice Kennedy was clearly leaning against the school districts - and Kennedy is all that matters, as the other 8 votes are set in stone before the case even arrives. The Times agrees. I'd prefer that the court, rather than striking down these arrangements, instead make a clear ruling that forced integration will no longer be required of school districts, and then let each district handle it from there. I think each locality should be better able to judge their particular circumstance and design appropriate policies than federal courts. The lessons of integration should be clear to everyone by now - above all else, it tends to eliminate the white middle class from cities. That alone should keep it in check. But I doubt my preference will bear any relation to what eventually happens.
And down in Durham, behind the scenes, some serious pressure is coming D.A. Nifong's way as complaints and grievances pile up, including requests for a federal civil rights investigation.
The request for federal intervention is aggressive and rare, said Richard Myers, a UNC-Chapel Hill law professor and former federal prosecutor. "It's a fairly strong indication the defense has nothing to hide if they want more eyes on the ground," Myers said. "How effective it's going to be, who knows? You cast a wide net and hope someone gets interested."
posted by ziel | 12/04/2006 10:43:00 PM
2 Comments:
Well, I agree that there is substantial effort being made to bring serious pressure on Nifong. However, as long as lawyers are the ones policing lawyers, I doubt much will happen to that jerk.
Having the defendants be cleared of the apparently trumped up charges might be the best result that can be expected from this. And if grandstanders like Nifong think twice before they attempt something like this next time, that would be nice too.
On the Fidelity Investments bribery, Fidelity operates many funds that have stocks purchased enmasse at times. Jeffries likely wooed the Fidelity Traders to trade their stock holdings inside Jeffries, thereby greatly boosting its commissions flow. Not sure this is illegal, when one considers all the freebies offered to increase business from Joe Six Pack at any given business. What's a few more zeroes between friends?
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