samwinolj

Let us suppose that you have a group of law students, working pro bono, who have uncovered evidence that a man was wrongly convicted.  What do you do?

Well, you could investigate the students' findings, to see if they have merit.  That's what you might do if you were, say, interested in justice.

If, on the other hand, if you're Cook County's State's Attorney you investigate the students.

(Hat tip to The Agitator)

Before my grade school religion teachers talked me out of being a believer, they managed to stuff quite a lot of the Bible into my little noggin.  So I've occasionally wondered how the various Conservative Christian groups reconcile their staunch anti-socialism with things like the socialist society the Apostles set up: " Acts 2, 44 And all that believed were together, and had all things in common; 45 And sold their possessions and goods, and parted them to all men, as every man had need." 

Well, the Conservapedia folks have found a solution.  They are planning to retranslate the Bible to take out all that icky liberal stuff.

No, honestly.  This is for real, not an Onion article.

Now, there is precedent for this sort of thing, after all, Martin Luther himself read seven  whole books and parts of others out of the Protestant canon, at least some of them because they contradicted his doctrines.  Still, it seems... audacious.

Slacktivist has an interesting take on the whole thing.

How does a 9/16" box-open wrench and nothing else get stuck in a file marked "Feb. 09 receipts"?

So, you want to have a friendly little baseball game?

(Via The Instapundit)

...to the phrase "shotgun wedding":




Story here.

Bonnie here.

I've just watched a new show on ABC called "I'd Rather Be Ted" Better Off Ted (Thanks, Bill!).  Ted is in charge of an R&D department (which appears to consist of Ted, two nerds and a victim tester--Sam (You didn't watch long enough to know how many people worked there--Bonnie)) in a large corporation.   I thought it was very funny, though I've never worked in R&D.  I especially liked the part where they froze one of the nerds researchers, intending to leave him in cryogenic suspension for a year, then accidentally defrosted him when two workmen moved the tank.

I hope that someone else who has worked in this environment has seen it and could tell me what they thought.  Sam watched five minutes and said it was creepy.  ( I have worked in R&D--Sam)

ABC put it as lead in for Dancing With The Stars Results, their biggest show, so they must want it to work. 

As noted in my last entry, the natives cope with the bizarre meteorological conditions found in this strange land of "Florida" by imbibing various medicinal potions. I have mentioned the "margarita", but there are many others: "rumrunners", "singapore slings", a variety of iced tea said to be imported from Long Island (which tastes very little like the iced tea I am familiar with), and many others too numerous to list here.

Desirous of protecting my health, I dosed myself assiduously with these specifics, as well as being sure to drink sufficient wine and beer to stay adequately hydrated in the blistering 75 degree F heat we encountered yesterday.  I am happy to report that these nostrums perform brilliantly, assuaging the melancholia one naturally feels as a result of the lack of ice and snow, the oppressively blue skies, and the necessity of shedding, even out-of-doors, much of ones clothing.

Apparently though, I did not succeed in consuming enough to get the full therapeutic effect, as I awakened this morning feeling a definite malaise.  I shall have to redouble my efforts.

B and I have arrived in a peculiar place that the natives call "Florida".  It is very odd here: the air is warm, near 75 degrees Fahrenheit, and the only white substance on the ground appears to be some sort of mineral powder, rather than snow.  It's uncanny.

The sky is not the normal grey color of the sky at home, is instead a bright blue, and there is a object in the sky that is too bright to look at.  There is a species of lake here that the natives refer to as "the Gulf".  I have not yet finished my explorations, but my preliminary assessment is that it is quite large perhaps, believe it or not, nearly as large as Lake Michigan, but the water is actually in liquid form, rather than the reassuring solid surface of Lake Michigan. This may be due due to its high salt content .

Conditions are difficult to say the least, but there is a concoction called a "margarita" that seems to help quite a bit.  B has been affected strangely, shedding her normal sweater and long pants for an outfit that is, shall we say, more stimulating.

More reports later, should we survive.

Charles Darwin!  200 years old today!

Oh, and an obscure Illinois politician was also born on the same date.  Nobody you would have heard of, though.

<Edited to remove image that had no business being there in the first place.>

From Orin Kerr at the Volokh Conspiracy:


for the folks who thought that President Bush had the power to arrest anyone in the United States and detain them as "enemy combatants" without any hearing as part of his Commander-in-Chief power, that this power is now enjoyed by Barack Hussein Obama."

Read it all. (it's short, and has a great punchline)

Joe Biden voted for the Defense of Marriage Act.

Dick Cheney opposed the Federal Marriage Amendment.

May the next four to eight years be safe and healthy for our new President.

OK, buddy, we'll hold you to that.  Thank you for saying it.

Grousing about Chicago Politicians is hereby suspended for at least a little longer.

Sorry, but Obama is not a "natural born citizen" because Hawaii was never properly admitted to the Union.   I wonder if that means we have to retroactively remove all of the presidents from Ohio, as well.

Also, yesterday I learned a new word: "birther".  A birther is like a "truther" , except that he is convinced that there is a conspiracy to hide the truth about Obama's birth.  I imagine that the two sets overlap a bit.

The Moonie Times is reporting that Al Qaeda has scored an own goal, killing something like 40 of its operatives.

This would be good for a giggle except that there is suspicion they were developing chemical or biological weapons at the time.

Or: Harry Discovers the Rule of Law

It looks like Reid is desperately trying to find a way out of the corner he backed himself into--is it really too much to expect that the Senate Majority Leader would check the rules before he shoots his mouth off?

On the other hand, the poor sap's not just dealing with the Chicago Boyz, he's messing with God. 

Who has, you know, fairly serious Clout.

Entertaining (in the black humor sense) as Illinois politics can be, it is, at its heart, depressing. Piss on it.

For some actual fun, I recommend Shirley O. Corriher's book Cookwise. Jerry Corrigan described this to me as the lab text for a course taught by Harold McGee. I think he's nailed it.


Good stuff. I particularly like her explanation of the protein content of various flours and the consequences thereof.

I can't wait to get a few loaves going.

As expected.

Yes, I know it's not about race, nor can I really blame Reid for not wanting to flip-flop on the issue, but this just prolongs the agony. Since Burris is probably already carving "US Senator" on his mausoleum, he's unlikely to back down. If so, the only way of defusing this short of the Supreme Court is for the General Assembly to remove Blagojevich and for Quinn to reappoint Burris.

Anything else leads to the Supremes hearing Burris vs (Reid? US Senate? Who would be the defendant?) in a few months. The longer this is in the headlines, the better chance the Republicans have of filling Obama's old chair with one of their own in 2010. Is this really what Reid wants?

erikvolson had a very nice post discussing the legal issues around Blago's little prank, but it's friends-only.  For those of you not on Erik's f-list, there are pretty good discussions here, here, and here (via Instapundit).

Short form: Unless the Senate decides to do something extraordinary, the only way to keep Burris out would be to talk him into resigning.  Since about the only thing Burris has to lose at this point is his reputation, expect to see a concerted effort to trash him in the next couple of days.

I'm impressed--about the only way Blago could have extended his middle finger any higher would have been to wear a suicide-bomber jacket to his impeachment hearing.

Burris is--so far as anyone can tell--competent and squeaky-clean, if a lousy campaigner. Harry Reid is probably going to have to go back on his promise not to seat anyone Blago appointed; Jesse Jackson Jr. has probably just lost his last chance at the US Senate,  Emil Jones certainly has; Daley's lost an opportunity to be a power broker...  

He may even have managed to revive the Illinois Republican Party.

erikvolson  calls it "political suicide", but is it really suicide if you were dead anyway?   Why not sow a little confusion and dismay amongst your tormentors before you go?


Open a beer, pop some popcorn and find a comfy chair--the show's getting interesting.

Al Frankenstin pulls ahead of Norm Coleman with a little help from The Flying Spaghetti Monster.

As an aside to my Minnesotan friends, I have to admit that I didn't pay that much attention to your Senate race. In hindsight, I'm a bit surprised that Franken did so well--he always struck me as bitter and unfunny, not really a politician (that's not a criticism, IMHO we could do with fewer politicians). Was Coleman that bad, or does Franken have hidden depths?