Patterico's Pontifications

2/7/2007

Andrés Martinez Chat Transcript Is Up

Filed under: Dog Trainer,General — Patterico @ 10:23 pm



Here is the Andrés Martinez chat transcript. Not one of you participated, even though I told you about it this morning. You all suck. Every last one of you.

Cops Who Shot Kathryn Johnston to Face Murder Charges

Filed under: Crime,General — Patterico @ 8:16 pm



Via Instapundit comes a link to an Atlanta Journal-Constitution article on the Kathryn Johnston case from Atlanta:

Fulton County District Attorney Paul Howard will seek criminal charges, including felony murder, against three Atlanta narcotics officers involved in a botched drug raid that resulted in the shooting death of an elderly woman, according to a proposed indictment.

I said on January 11:

If the probable cause for the warrant was manufactured, that is strong evidence that the woman was firing at the police because she believed that they were criminals breaking into her home. If the allegations of the anonymous source are true, then I urge prosecutors to go after the lying cops — hammer and tongs. If a murder prosecution is viable under applicable law — and the story quotes a former federal prosecutor suggesting that it might be — I think it should be pursued. We can’t tolerate behavior like this from law enforcement.

I’m not going to pretend to know all the facts of this case, but from what I’ve read, it looks really bad for the cops. I reiterate that if they lied to get into the house, and if that lie forms the basis of a valid murder prosecution, then I’m all for it.

iowahawk Digs Up the Dirt

Filed under: General,Humor — Patterico @ 8:09 pm



iowahawk has discovered some e-mails from Amanda Marcotte to John Edwards.

Marcotte Fired?

Filed under: General — Patterico @ 6:35 pm



Amanda Marcotte has been fired as John Edwards’s blogger [link requires sitting through an annoying ad — Ed.]:

The right-wing blogosphere has gotten its scalps — John Edwards has fired the two controversial bloggers he recently hired to do liberal blogger outreach, Salon has learned.

Or has she? Two paragraphs later, the Salon piece says:

Speculation from sources that the two bloggers might be rehired was bolstered by Jennifer Palmieri, a spokeswoman for the Edwards campaign, who said in an e-mail that she would “caution [Salon] against reporting that they have been fired. We will have something to say later.”

Let’s proceed on the assumption that she has indeed been fired, which I think is more likely. A few observations.

(more…)

The Right Crazy Stuff

Filed under: General — Patterico @ 6:53 am



An astronaut who recently flew on the space shuttle has gone cuckoo and gotten herself charged with attempted murder:

Wearing a trench coat and wig, [NASA astronaut Lisa Marie] Nowak, 43, allegedly fired pepper spray at [Capt. Colleen] Shipman, who managed to escape and alert police. Investigators said Nowak was carrying a 4-inch buck knife, steel mallet, latex gloves, rubber tubing, garbage bags and a BB gun in a black duffel bag.

Nowak, you see, apparently “saw Shipman as a rival for the affection of astronaut and Navy Cmdr. William A. Oefelein, 41.” So she drove cross-country, wearing diapers to avoid bathroom breaks and make better time.

I blame the Tang.

Chat with L.A. Times Editorial Page Editor Andrés Martinez

Filed under: Dog Trainer,General — Patterico @ 12:14 am



The L.A. Times reports that Andrés Martinez, Editorial Page Editor of the Los Angeles Times, will make himself available for a live chat at 2 p.m. Pacific today. You can get details on how to participate here.

I will be working and can’t participate. But I insist that you guys do this. I want Patterico commenters to be well represented. Ask the questions that I would have asked.

For example, I’d like to know why the editorial page made such a huge issue out of the secrecy of the Board of Rights that exonerated Officer Steven Garcia in the Devin Brown case, but (as far as I am aware) didn’t even mention the secrecy of the Police Commission proceedings that found Garcia had acted out of policy. Do they care about secrecy only when they don’t like the findings?

Or you could ask them about their ignorant editorial on gay marriage. Do they even understand how the initiative process works in this state? Study up, though — don’t let them weasel out of it with an argument like this.

Or heck — come up with your own questions.

But please, participate. And let me know how it went.

And kudos to the paper for finally starting this sort of thing.

Oh . . . the *Israel* Philharmonic . . .

Filed under: Morons,Music — Patterico @ 12:00 am



I went to the Israel Philharmonic concert at Disney Hall last night. When I first got there, I couldn’t figure out why I wasn’t allowed to enter in the usual place. Finally, at the entrance, I saw some yahoos holding anti-Israel signs, and figured it out. Israel Philharmonic. You know, Israel. Of course.

And, as everyone knows, in between rehearsals, the members of the Philharmonic dictate policy on the government’s treatment of Palestinians.

I almost went over and yelled at these people, but I didn’t. I’m getting calmer in my old age. I did wonder where they would go while I was inside enjoying the music. Would they sit outside with their little signs? But I didn’t wonder long, as it’s hard to worry too much about idiots like that when Mendelssohn is playing.

It was a wonderful concert. Lorin Maazel conducts the way I’d like to think I would conduct — if, you know, I could conduct. (When you sit in the orchestra view seats, as I did last night, you are sitting right behind the orchestra, and can become preoccupied with the novel treat of watching the conductor as he faces you.) Maazel conducts with very precise hand movements, and doesn’t play with the tempi like so many of these conductors do. He lets the music speak for itself, and last night, it did.

Mendelssohn is one of my favorite composers, and the best symphonies are the Third and Fourth. The Israel Philharmonic’s rendition of the Fourth last night was absolutely spotless. The orchestra was perfectly balanced, so all the musical lines could be heard. The precision of all the players was extraordinary.

It was a big contrast from last Thursday, when the L.A. Philharmonic under Neville Marriner botched Mendelssohn’s Third Symphony. This reviewer from the L.A. Daily News loved it. (Apparently the L.A. Times couldn’t be bothered to do a review.) Weird, that. I can’t understand how two people can hear something so differently. Were we at the same concert?? Marriner’s abrupt tempo changes confused the orchestra so badly that there was one point when the brass was actually out of sync with the rest of the orchestra. And he took some parts so fast that the poor horns couldn’t keep up.

And Martin Chalifour’s performance was just embarrassing. He sounded flat a good portion of the time.

No such awkward moments were present in last night’s performance. If anyone could criticize it for any reason, I can imagine that some people might have found it too polished and too perfect.

But not me. As I said, Maazel let the music do the talking. And that’s the way I like it.

By the way, the yahoos were gone when the concert was over. I guess it had gotten too cold. I mean, the Palestinians are getting mistreated and everything, but . . . how’s about some hot chocolate?


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