Sunday, April 21, 2013

Miranderize the dude

From the Guardian: "No one is crying over the rights of the young man who is accused of killing innocent people, helping his brother set off bombs that were loaded to maim, and terrorizing Boston Thursday night and Friday. But the next time you read about an abusive interrogation, or a wrongful conviction that resulted from a false confession, think about why we have Miranda in the first place. It's to stop law enforcement authorities from committing abuses. Because when they can make their own rules, sometime, somewhere, they inevitably will."
As a practical matter, it would be hard to believe that a smart 19 year old who grew up in the US has never seen a cop show or has never heard of Miranda rights. If that's the case, then the good teachers at Cambridge Rindge & Latin who so admired his intelligence and athletic skill really let him down. In principle, of course, the authorities should read him his Miranda rights. I'm touched --touched!--by the Guardian's concern for US legal procedure. Perhaps that high tone allows them to forget that a member of their own Parlement was starved to death in captivity, or that Tony Blair, along with Bush, remains a war criminal. I guess they've also forgotten how their beloved London bobbies police iced an innocent guy on the bus after that horrible attack in 2006. So much for King's rights. Even though it's kind of mainstream media and all, I'm as interested in the terrorism that turns runners' legs into hamburger meat and that kills an year old child and a grad student who was Chinese, and therefore presumably not tainted with the primal sin of being American. The death of innocents bugs me, whether they are Chechen or Americans. But, speaking personally, I'd be glad if Tamerlan is sucking pus off Satan's left buttock right now, because if there were any justice in this sorry universe that's exactly where he'd be with his brother soon behind him. But hell yeah, read him his rights

Saturday, April 13, 2013

Barn Rules




If you unlock it, lock it back
If you open it, close it
If you borrow it, return it.
If you don't know, ask.
If you drive it, check the oil.
If you lose it, replace it.
If it doesn't concern you, don't mess with it.
If you turn it on, turn it off.
If you break it, fix it.
If you move it, put it back.

If you throw it down, pick it up.
If you ride it, feed it.
If it drinks water, give it some.
If you fall off, get back on
.