When our "justice" system fails

The case of Daniel Tavares Jr. continues to make a national news as an embarrassment to our legal system:

Convicted killer Daniel Tavares Jr. got out of a Massachusetts prison in July and fled the state for Seattle, Wash., where he managed to live for a few months before killing two other innocent people.

Once again, the Massachusetts judicial system is under national scrutiny. Once again, people are looking for someone to blame.

Former governor and current presidential candidate Mitt Romney wants to blame Judge Kathe Tuttman, the former Essex County prosecutor whom he appointed to the bench in 2006. Romney has called for Tuttman to resign.

Tavares had completed a 16-year sentence for manslaughter after killing his mother. But he was still being held in jail on $100,000 bail on charges he had assaulted corrections officers while in prison. Tuttman heard Tavares' appeal of the high bail and released him on personal recognizance with no monitoring other than a requirement to report to a probation officer three times a week. Tavares reported twice, then disappeared.

Some more details:

[Republican presidential candiate and former Masachusetts] Gov. Mitt Romney appointed Tuttman to the bench in 2006 but last week called on her to resign for allowing the release without bail of Daniel Tavares Jr. after prosecutors tried to keep him incarcerated on charges of assaulting two guards while serving a 16-year prison sentence for stabbing his mother to death.

[...]

In July, the Worcester district attorney's office asked to have Tavares, 41, held on $100,000 cash bail | $50,000 on each charge that he assaulted the guards at the Sousa-Baranowski Correctional Center in Shirley. A District Court judge approved the bail request, but Tuttman overturned the decision.

Tuttman, according to court documents, said in her decision, "He doesn't have a history of any defaults on his record. And there is no indication ... that he is a risk of flight, other than the nature and circumstances of the charges."

She also denied a request by the prosecution that Tavares wear a monitoring bracelet, even though Tavares agreed to wear one, according to the records. Tavares, as part of his release, had to remain employed, live in his sister's house in Dighton and call his probation officer three times a week.

But Tavares violated conditions of his probation and fled to the Seattle suburb of Graham, Wash., where he was arrested last week for allegedly shooting to death Brian Mauck, 30, and Beverly Mauck, 28, over a $50 debt. Each had been shot three times in the head at close range.

Many leading figures in the Massachusetts legal community has, not surprisingly, risen to defend the judge. Boston Bar Association President Tony Doniger:

A terrible tragedy has occurred and our hearts go out to the families who have suffered the loss of a son and daughter in Tacoma, Washington as a result of the actions of a defendant released from incarceration by Massachusetts Superior Court Judge Kathe Tuttman. It is repugnant, however, that presidential candidates would compound this tragedy by using it for political gain and turning it into another launching pad for attacks on the judiciary. Judge Tuttman, a former prosecutor for 18 years, did exactly what the law required her to do under the circumstances and on the basis of the information available to her; that this information may have been deficient is not the fault of the judge, but rather of certain criminal justice agencies. Instead of engaging in an informed debate on serious public policy issues facing our criminal justice system, these presidential candidates have tried to make Judge Tuttman the scape goat for systemic shortcomings. If we succumb to such judge-baiting, we will have lost a valuable opportunity to educate the public about the challenges facing judges every day while they work diligently to deliver fair and impartial justice based on the rule of law rather than emotion. Judge Tuttman, and our independent judiciary, deserves our full and whole-hearted support.

Massachusetts Superior Court (something of a Massachusetts trial court system) Chief Justice Barbara J. Rouse:

Judge Kathe Tuttman came to the bench after a distinguished 18-year career as a state prosecutor. Today, unfortunately, she is living every judge’s nightmare: that a principled decision based on the law and the information provided to her was followed by tragic events over which she had no control. All in the judicial community and thoughtful people everywhere are deeply saddened by those events. At the same time, the bar, her colleagues, and the legal community all hold Judge Tuttman in high regard as she continues her work of producing fair, reasoned, thoughtful, and difficult decisions that faithfully apply the law to the facts before her.

Ed Ryan, Jr., former president of the Massachusetts Bar Association:

This judge did the right thing [...] The judge did exactly what we ask judges to do. Listen to the facts and apply the law as it is written to facts. Based on what she was given at the hearing, she had absolutely no choice.

That all may very well be true, and I am certain that Judge Tuttman feels horrible about what happened and her role in it. But it also obscures a larger point, as the Salem News opines:

Tuttman's defenders say the judge did only what the law requires. If so, there's something seriously flawed with a law which supposes that a man who has served 16 years in prison for killing his mother and is charged with assaulting corrections officers, is honorable enough that he will show up for his court dates.

To paraphrase Charles Dickens, if the law supposes that, then the law is an ass, an idiot.

This horrific crime is being compared to the case of William Horton, a convicted killer who raped a woman and tortured her and her fiance after he walked away from a prison furlough program. The Horton issue helped sink the presidential campaign of former Massachusetts governor Michael Dukakis.

This case is quite different. For one thing, Horton was still serving time for his murder when he was allowed to participate in the furlough program.

But 20 years after Horton hit the headlines, the Tavares case illustrates this clearly: There are still glaring problems with the Massachusetts judicial system that are obvious to everyone - except, apparently, the defense lawyers and judges.

I point this out because the defense lawyers are always looking for changes in the law to get their clients off scot-free or at very reduced punishments.

For instance, a while back I was reading Indiana Lawyer, which was discussing the "fairness" of felony murder and whether it should be abolished. "Felony murder" (a term of art distinct from first-degree and second-degree murder, which are indeed felonies) is a legal construct by which the death of an individual during the commission of a felony is considered a murder, whether intended or not by the criminal.

In this very long story in the Indiana Lawyer, there were people who were actually arguing in favor of eliminating felony murder. It didn't matter to them that, um, a criminal would commit a felony, which is horrible by itself (though not to the defense lawyers), and while committing that felony would cause the death of someone. Somehow, this is "unfair." Actually, if I remember correctly, a majority of the people quoted in the article supported dumping felony murder.

And this serves the public how? By putting more criminals on the streets? Funny that the criminal defense lobby talks a good game about keeping criminals off the streets, but when it comes to concrete proposals for doing so, they almost always oppose them, and even want to loosen what we have now.

Assuming for the sake of argument that Judge Tuttman did in fact follow the law, I don't doubt that the law in Massachusetts (a far more crime-friendly jurisdiction than Indiana) was written out of the same philosophy expressed in the Indiana Lawyer about felony murder.

For another thing, we in the legal community have heard a constant refrain from judges about how they do not like the continued erosion of judicial discretion, through such vehicles as minimum sentencing laws. While I don't doubt that this is a source of frustration for judges, frankly, I also don't care.

Judicial discretion was removed specifically through minimum sentencing laws as a result of the 1960's and 1970's era where courts were, to put it charitably, very, very lenient to criminal defendants. Public frustration as these thugs were turned out on the streets by lenient judges to prey on innocents again and again led to enaction of these laws. Frankly, I care more about public frustration than judicial frustration. And so should government, particularly when it comes to the raison d'etre of government, to provide for the public security, when the furtherance is hindered by judges abusing their discretion.

Did this happen with Judge Tuttman? I don't know. But both judges and defense lawyers should consider these factors in future policy.

Sony introduces gaming console that plays no actual games

In the wake of continued sluggish sales for its PlayStation 3 next-generation gaming console, today Sony Corporation released a new model PlayStation 3.

The new version of the PlayStation 3 will now have a 30 gigabyte hard drive and will retail for $389.

In an effort to boost the sales of the PlayStation 3, which have been well below both analysts' expectations and its competitors since its launch, Sony had previously reduced the price of the PlayStation 3 from its initial price of $599, but at the cost of removing almost all backward compatibility for older PlayStation and PlayStation 2 games, which comprise approximately 99% of the the hundreds and hundreds of PlayStation titles on the market.

The new 30 GB model takes that trend to a new extreme by removing all ability to play any games at all, whether designed for PlayStation, PlayStation 2 or PlayStation 3.

Sony Corporation says that the removal of the ability to play games on the PlayStation 3 gaming console pales in importance next to the 10$ price reduction and the ability to play Blu-ray next-generation DVD movies.

"We understand that some gamers will be disappointed with the inability of this new version of the PlayStation 3 gaming console to play actual games," said Sony North America spokesman Les Cheatham. "But the Blu-ray capability is more important."

"We never understood why they continued to play the hundreds and hundreds of quality PlayStation and PlayStation 2 games when the PlayStation 3 came out with its library of a dozen mediocre games."

The earlier model PlayStation 3 had been marketed with the claim of backwards computability, as had the earlier PlayStation 2, which is universally acknowledged to have been both revolutionary and wildly successful.

"Know that the PlayStation 3 was never about building a better gaming system with better games, but about leveraging our gaming customers into Blu-ray dominance in the next-generation DVD market," Cheatham continued. "Sure, only a tiny fraction of consumers actually have an HD TV, no one is watching movies anymore and no one cares about next-gen DVDs, but that's only because they are spending too much time and money on gaming.

"Frankly, we no longer care about gaming or gamers. We only care about Blu-ray, and we think our gamers understand that."

Attempts to contact Microsoft, manufacturer of the competing Xbox 360 gaming console, by e-mail failed because the e-mail software was almost a year old and, therefore, too old to be compatible with the Windows Vista operating system.

But when contacted by phone, Microsoft spokesman Yural Oozers said, "We take great pride in our consoles' continuing ability to play actual games, at least on those occasions when they aren't being bricked by the so-called 'Red Ring of Death.'"

Sean Taylor update

Lee "Hacksaw" Hamilton of radio stations KOGO and XTRA in San Diego has a round-up of news items concerning the apparent murder of Washington Redskins safety Sean Taylor:

Police in Palmetto Bay, Florida stepped up their murder probe of Redskins safety Sean Taylor today, investigating their may have been death threats made to him on his cellphone, and confiscating Emails and computer files. They continued to try to connect the dots between the fatal shooting early Monday morning, to a violent shooting Taylor was involved in in 2005.

The Miami Herald is reporting that 2-men may have been in the home…1-coming in thru (sic) an open bathroom window, the other thru (sic) an opened door. They have fingerprints from both areas and similar boot marks also. There was no security alarm in the home, but police reportedly confiscated firearms from the players house.

The Ft-Lauderdale Sun Sentinel reported that Taylor's father, Pedro, a police chief from Florida City, had asked his son not to live in Miami because of past bad history with gangs, saying it was not safe. The father was upset that Taylor spent a lot of time in bad neighborhoods in Homestead, with old gang members, who were friends with Taylor's mother. The Sun also reported that the father had tried to get Sean Taylor to meet with longtime Dallas Cowboys star Nate Newton to counsel him about the friends he was spending time with.

The Washington Post reported the bedroom door of the home was kicked open and shots fired at close range. The Post also reported that it took medics 9-minutes to get to the neighborhood, and that air-evac helicopters could not land in that neighborhood, and that he had to be transported 2-miles to be airlifted. His heart stopped twice in the ambulance and twice while on the operating table.

Meanwhile, former Miami Hurricane teammate Antrel Rolle, now a cornerback with the Arizona Cardinals, has spoken up about the case with some troubling observations:

Still in disbelief of his childhood friend's shooting death, Arizona Cardinals cornerback Antrel Rolle vowed Wednesday to make sure Sean Taylor is remembered.

He added he did not believe the killing was part of a burglary gone sour, and that Taylor had many enemies on the streets of Miami.

"This was not the first incident," Rolle said. "They've been targeting him for three years now."

Rolle said many former "friends" had it in for Taylor, who was trying to build a more stable life.

"He really didn't say too much," Rolle said, "but I know he lived his life pretty much scared every day of his life when he was down in Miami because those people were targeting him. At least, he's got peace now."

Rolle and Taylor, whose fathers were policemen in Homestead, Fla., started playing football together when they were 6 years old. They went on to become University of Miami teammates and NFL first-round draft picks. Both wore No. 21, Rolle for the Cardinals, Taylor for the Washington Redskins.

Rolle said he hadn't talked to Taylor in a while, and that the Redskin had withdrawn from the crowd he hung around with to build a new life with his girlfriend and young daughter.

"There was so much surrounding him," Rolle said. "Everyone was talking about him bad, so he just had to distance himself from everyone and live a life of his own. ... Within the last year, I've never seen anyone make such a dramatic change,"

Withdrawing from a bad crowd isn't easy, though, Rolle said.

"They say it was a burglary. It absolutely was not a burglary," he said. "Down South, where we're from, there were many people talking to Sean, a lot of jealousy, a lot of angry people.

"Sean, he had a large group of friends, and he no longer hung out with those friends, so you never know where this came from."

R.I.P. Sean Taylor

The entire football world is deeply saddened by the violent death of Washington Redskins safety Sean Taylor. Others have called the death a "tragedy," but I will not, for the same reason I will not call September 11 a "tragedy" -- to my way of thinking, a tragedy is an accident or an act of God. September 11 was neither, but was rather an act of man at his most vile, that is, a criminal act or an act of war. Likewise, from the news reports so far, Sean Taylor's death appears to have been an act of man at his most vile. Taylor, his family and friends deserve sympathy, prayers and support.

Before there is any speculation as to what happened -- and despite the seeming inappropriateness of it, it is taking place everywhere -- it must be stated that we do not know what happend to Taylor. Nobody knows, in fact, except for the alleged killers themselves. Further, we do not know what we know, because I am certain Miami-Dade Police are holding back some details of the apparent murder.

What we do know is that this is the second violent death of an NFL player this year, the first being that of Denver Broncos cornerback Darrent Williams, killed in a drive-by shooting on New Year's Day.

Williams' shooting should serve as a warning to everyone about jumping to conclusions (and yes, I'm looking at you, Duke faculty). By all accounts, Williams had done nothing wrong or illegal. He had not been involved in drugs or gang activity or any of the Pacman Jones-type behavior that seems to attract trouble.

While some reports indicate that Taylor's apparent murder may have been a planned hit, we have no reason at this point to believe Taylor was any different than Williams in that respect. Again, we do not know anything yet.

But we will eventually. Horatio Caine always gets his man.

Speaking of which

if I cannot be the Supreme Ruler of Earth, as I obviously should be, I can support and have always supported the "Palpatine for President" campaign. Believe it or not, there used to be a spoof website for this effort, with a campaign slogan of "We rule the galaxy, so you don't have to." The guy who came up with it did very good work, but unfortunately the Web site has long since disappeared.

In any event, the ticket would be President Palpatine (aka Darth Sidious)


Isn't that a winning smile?

Vice President would quite obviously be Darth Vader.


Can't you just see him kissing babies on the campaign trail?

We wouldn't even need him to cast the deciding vote in the Senate. Palpatine should probably dissolve it, and the last remnants of the old republic would be swept away.

(We should probably dissolve the Senate anyway, on the principle that no organization containing Ted Kennedy, John Kerry, Barbara Boxer, Dick Durbin, Trent Lott and Larry Craig is worth keeping around.)

I think, though, that we can add a cabinet official to our new ideal government. In terms of smarts, toughness and sheer ruthlessness, neither Condi Rice (gawd, no) nor Hillary are even fit to shine the shoes of my choice for Secretary of State:

Helena Cain.


Hey, Islamists! You just try putting a burqa on her. Go on. I dare you. She'll shoot you herself.

Who else could make von Ribbentrop look like a pacifist? She left so many bodies in the wake of the Pegasus that even the Iranian Revolutionary Guard would be terrified.

She's just the one we need for a public face against the scum or Iran, Syria, North Korea, Venezuela and others, not the wimps currently in our foreign policy community.

And is it just me or does Michelle Forbes just get better with age?

November 24, 2007

marks exactly the second time in recorded history that a Cylon centurion on Battlestar Galactica, operating as a soldier, actually managed to hit someone with his firearm. Notice I did not say "kill."

And wasn't it nice to see the old centurions again? And the old raiders, too?

Willie Horton II

“It’s because of stupidity in Massachusetts that my daughter is dead.” And the mother uses more colorful language than that. Yes, another murderer released because of the easy-on-crime policies of Massachusetts goes on to murder someone else. In another state, of course.

Letting liberals run law enforcement is like bringing flowers to a gunfight.

Michelle Malkin and Wizbang have more.

Sensible ideas on the environment

from Jay Tea. Note: I said sensible. Not enviro-nazi crap.

You hate to see bad things happen to good people.

Jacques Chirac under investigation for embezzlement.

Former French President Jacques Chirac is facing formal investigation for alleged embezzlement of public funds when mayor of Paris, his lawyer says.

The case relates to a scheme whereby rightist sympathisers were allegedly given jobs by Paris city hall.

[...]

This investigation relates to allegations that during Mr Chirac's time as mayor of Paris, up to 40 people were paid salaries by the city authority despite having had no connection to it.

They are alleged to have been supporters of Mr Chirac's own conservative RPR political grouping.

Reports say 21 people in total have been formally implicated in the scam.

And he seemed so honest, too!

(h/t: Instapundit)

Norman Podhoretz

makes a convincing case for bombing Iran. Though, truth be told, it's not hard. I do it all the time.

But Podhoretz's piece has generated some controversy. Power Line has the follow-up.

Are we finally learning

to fight this war the right way?

(h/t: Instapundit)

Apologies to Custer

Now here's something you don't see every day: a defense of George Armstrong Custer.

I've always wondered if the criticism if Custer was just a little too politically correct. Arrogant white man attacks innocent Indians. Like the Duke lacrosse case, the narrative was too good to check. For one thing, Custer had a long and distinguished career of military service. For another thing, the Indian defenders at the Little Big Horn, the Sioux, weren't exactly innocent. They were making war on their neighbors and were defending territory they had (illegally) taken from the Crow.

In any event, Robert Nightengale believes that Custer was attempting a battle of maneuver at the Little Big Horn, but was hamstrung by the failures of Frederick Benteen and Marcus Reno to adequately support him, in violation of their orders:

Custer divided his command into battalions, and retained personal command of two battalions (five companies, about 210 men). Reno was given command of three companies and most of the scouts (about 175 men). Captain Frederick Benteen was given command of three companies (about 125 men). One company and six men from each company (about 135 men) were assigned to protect the pack train and provide a rear guard for the advance. It has often been claimed that this decision doomed Custer, but never before had a battalion (let alone an entire regiment) of cavalry been whipped by Plains Indians. Neither Custer nor any of the officers with him would have doubted that each of these commands, with the exception of the pack train command, was a formidable offensive force. It is accepted military doctrine that forces divide and maneuver for the offensive while they concentrate for the defense. Custer had divided his forces many times during the Civil War, as well as at the Washita and during the Yellowstone Expedition. At the Little Bighorn, each command had disciplined troops who were expected to carry out their commander’s orders.

As would be expected, Custer commanded the largest force and planned to strike the main blow at the enemy. His company commanders included his brother Tom Custer, twice awarded the Medal of Honor during the Civil War, and other reliable officers—Captain Miles Keogh, Captain George Yates, Lieutenant Alger Smith and Lieutenant James Calhoun (who was married to Custer’s sister). Captain Benteen would later refer to these men, along with a few others, as “the Custer gang.” Perhaps so, but none of these proven soldiers would have conducted themselves the way that Reno and Benteen seemingly did at the Little Bighorn—by disobeying orders, exhibiting dereliction of military duty and displaying cowardice. Putting the majority of his most reliable officers in his own command may have been Custer’s biggest mistake.

Judging by Nightengale's version of events, Reno seems to have panicked. A guide right next to him was shot in the head, and Reno was hit with his blood, causing him to lose his nerve and retreat in a disorganized fashion. Not a good thing, but not unexpected in the heat of battle.

Benteen has little explanation for his actions. Custer appears to have been counting on Benteen to support him, but Benteen was lackadaisical in doing so, merely joining his forces up with the retreating Reno. Benteen was not on good terms with Custer, and there has been some peculation as to whether this strained relationship played a role.

Nightengale sums it up:

At the Little Bighorn, both Reno and Benteen had refused to follow their orders. They had for all intents and purposes abandoned their commander and the battle. Their actions, or inactions, made Custer’s defeat and death inevitable, but it doesn’t mean that George A. Custer didn’t stand tall on Last Stand Hill.

I really hate

to see bad things happen to good people.

You know, like Barry Bonds.

Or Michigan.

Heh.

Heaven on a bun

This flame-broiled burger on a slightly buttered and grilled bun (no microwaving here) is the Famous Star at Carl's Jr. In this case, the Carl's Jr. on Century Boulevard near LAX in Los Angeles. The Famous Star is the best fast-food burger anywhere.

This is one of the big things the West Coast has over the rest of the country -- Carl's Jr. It puts every other fast food joint to shame. Yes, even In-n-Out Burger, which is good but loses because they fry their burgers, and White Castle, which actually sucks. I had high hopes when Carl's Jr. bought and changed Hardee's -- they made Hardee's actually edible and brought the Happy Star. The share menus -- mostly. The problem is they did not bring the Famous Star to Hardee's.

Carl's Jr., please give us the Famous Star.

While I was in San Diego

I read in its entirety Until Proven Innocent: Political Correctness and the Shameful Injustices of the Duke Lacrosse Rape Case, by Stuart Taylor and KC Johnson. Johnson, you might recall, runs the Durham in Wonderland blog, where he helped lead the counterattack against the injustices of Mike Nifong and truly vile behavior of the Duke faculty and administration.

As you probably know, having been the victim of car theft and residential burglary, I am beyond ruthless on crime. This is where the "fascist" part of my political persuasion ("socially progressive fascist imperialist) comes from. I would actually be quite happy with police on every street corner. I would decriminalize most victimless crimes (drug possession or use, prostitution, underage drinking, etc.) and ramp up the penalties for crimes with actual victims (murder, rape, child molestation, robbery, car theft, residential burglary) up to and including the death penalty for all such crimes under what I call the point system, where if you get so many points, you are executed by the state as a predator.

I would support a modification of civil liberties to provide protection from such crimes. For instance, the exclusionary rule and Miranda do not help protect the public from crime -- the primary job of government -- and should be abolished. That said, I do support protection of civil liberties and due process.

The Duke lacrosse case has made me rethink some of my civil liberties positions. I have usually trusted prosecutors and police. After Mike Nifong and several other cases of prosecutorial abuse of which I have been made aware, that trust has been eroded somewhat. There was nothing to stop Mike Nifong. If these defendants had been anything other than wealthy, they would not have survived the onslaught of Nifong, the Duke faculty and the media.

Lying and fabrication of evidence by a prosecutor or police is never -- ever -- justified, and such behavior should be prosecuted.(For that matter, Crystal Mangum's fabrication of the rape charges should be prosecuted. Like that'll happen.) It is not the job of a prosecutor or police to win trials, but to protect the public and find the truth about those accused to doing it harm.

How prevalent is such behavior? I don't know, but Taylor and Johnson make horrifying estimates.

Until Proven Innocent is an excellent read. I highly recommend it.

Where have I been?

Helping to fight evil and injustice, making the world safe for democracy and civilization.

Here.


And here.


Most importantly here.


Where we don't have to pipe in our crowd noise.

America's Team -- the San Diego Chargers.


Offense? We don't need no stinkin' offense! Good thing, 'cause we don't have one.

Thank you for your good and noble service.

I do not usually comment on local or state politics, and yesterday's election is no exception. I will leave the analysis on that to reliable sources far more experienced than I. But I did want to say one thing.

Running for office is a difficult, frightening task. Losing an election is not usually meant to be personal, but it is difficult not feel it that way. One can certainly understand feeling some public humiliation. Personal rejection. Particularly if you were an incumbent.

Not that all candidates feel that way. But most do, to some extent, often times those who care the most. Those who don't often don't care about their constituents, and they are aplenty, as anyone who has observed Lake County for any length of time can attest. That lack of feeling has started infecting Marion County in the last decade or so. But I am convinced it is still the minority here.

So, to Bart Peterson and Deborah Cantwell, I must give you both a heartfelt "Thank you," for your good and noble service to our community.

To Mayor Peterson, you did some very good things, things that needed to be done. In spite of some mistakes and some issues not within your control, you did your best for the people of Indianapolis. And your best was very, very good.

To the lovely and talented Mayor Cantwell, you put your heart into Lawrence. You were a political neophyte who had a tougher road to hoe than Mayor Peterson, who after all at least had his party in control of the council. And you made some mistakes. Yet you took on very tough issues. You did what you thought was best for the people of Lawrence, often in the face of determined opposition. And your best was very, very good.

Mayor-elect Greg Ballard is ready and up to the job of running Indianapolis. His day is dawning and his accolades coming. Mayor-elect Paul Ricketts is in a similar position in Lawrence.

But I do not want to forget Bart Peterson and Deborah Cantwell. They gave their all. That voters wanted a different direction should not degrade the efforts of these two good and noble public servants. They deserve our thanks and respect.

"A just question, my liege."

Why is the world so convinced that Musharraf's new dictatorship in Pakistan is horrible, but Hugo Chavez' Cuba-style dictatorship in Venezuela is OK?

Hint: It's the anti-Americanism, stupid!

Speaking of the Sun

I'm going to call Braylon Edwards "the Sun."

Why? Well, that's easy. You are told to never look directly at the Sun. You can look to the side, look above it, look below it but you should never, ever look directly at the Sun.

With Braylon Edwards, he will make highlight, acrobatic catches if the ball is thrown above him, beneath him, behind him, in front of him. He'll catch the ball if it's thrown anywhere near him ...

Except when it's thrown directly to him. Then he drops it.

So, Derek Anderson and Brady Quinn, quarterbacks for the Cleveland Browns -- America's Team, Defenders of Western Civilization and All That Is Good About America, should never throw the ball directly to Edwards. Trust me on this one.

(Who would have thought that my Browns would have a better record than my other beloved team, America's Team -- the San Diego Chargers?)

Light posting for a bit

I'm taking a bit of a vacation, so posting will be light for a bit. Everything will be back to normal next week.

I can't say

that I like Bill Belichick, but his, uh, "advice column" on ESPN.com has some stuff I can agree with:

Dear Coach:
I've been diplomatic, tried tough talk, asked friends to intervene. I've even sent a few carrier battle groups into the region. Nothing works. Iran continues to pursue its nuclear program -- and if I press them too hard, they just might make my life in Iraq even more miserable. What's a near-lame-duck secretary of state to do? I'm running out of time.
-- Discouraged in D.C.

Discouraged:
Military historians generally concur that the Galactic Empire grossly miscalculated by using the Death Star to destroy the planet Alderaan; instead of establishing a credible, fear-based deterrent, the Empire's sheer evil overkill rallied the ragtag Rebel Alliance, gave Luke Skywalker and Co. a huge propaganda victory and ultimately led to the Battle of Endor, in which the Empire's finest soldiers were no match for a band of teddy bears who otherwise would not have been pissed off. Personally, I disagree with this analysis. The Empire stumbled by stopping with Alderaan; they should have blown up a dozen more inhabited planets to make a clear point.

What does this mean for you? Simple. A single Trident II missile contains up to eight nuclear warheads; a single Ohio-class submarine carries 24 Trident II missiles. The United States Navy has 14 Ohio-class subs in its fleet. Do the math.
-- Bill

Actually, I came up with that idea first. I should sue somebody for stealing it.