Patterico's Pontifications

10/5/2007

Sports Talk: College Football Rivalries

Filed under: Miscellaneous — DRJ @ 11:08 pm



[Guest post by DRJ]

My favorite college football team is playing one of its rivals this weekend and I’m conflicted. I think we will be trounced although the degree of trounce is up in the air. I hope the margin of defeat will be 21 points or less but I’m not optimistic. Still, like most fans, I hold out hope for victory.

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Beldar Further Probes the Richard Execution

Filed under: Crime,General — Patterico @ 4:51 pm



This post is a great example of the best of the blogosphere and Big Media both. Beldar seeks more information on the execution of Michael Richard from a Big Media reporter — and the Big Media reporter responds with more information, and without even a trace of arrogance.

Beldar promises more information over this long holiday weekend — specifically including an interview with one of Richard’s lawyers.

This is why I love the blogosphere. And it’s yet another reason to be thrilled that Beldar is blogging again.

P.S. Beldar says:

I didn’t previously know that the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals in fact routinely makes detailed preparations in anticipation of last-minute applications in connection with all executions (although I’m not terribly surprised to learn that).

I am not at all surprised to learn that, in light of a recent experience I had. Specifically, I called San Quentin to obtain an execution date for a death row inmate. (He’s almost nowhere near being executed; the details are part of a long and interesting story that I might tell over a beer, but won’t discuss on a blog.) In doing so, I learned that execution dates in California are set on Tuesdays, on a date when both the Governor and the Chief Justice of the California Supreme Court will be present in the state.

Executions are serious business, and the system anticipates and gears up for possible last-minute stays. Why this didn’t work out in Texas is a very interesting story, and I look forward to learning more about it from Beldar.

A Study I’d Like to See

Filed under: General — Patterico @ 7:19 am



Anyone who works in the criminal justice system knows that many, many criminals are on welfare.

Also, many, many criminals are on drugs.

I’ll let you in on a little secret: a lot of them are on both.

Which means your tax dollars, some of them anyway, are being spent on drugs.

Crack, heroin, PCP . . . you’re buying it all. From your pocket, to the government’s pocket, to the addict’s pocket — to the pusher’s pocket.

I’d like to see someone do a study that estimates how much tax money is being spent on drugs.

The results might be as eye-opening as the line of meth you just bought someone on Hollywood Boulevard. And it would provide a little perspective, in an era when city officials are trying to trick and threaten voters into approving a currently illegal phone tax — but (to my knowledge) nobody is considering substantial cuts in general relief.

What kind of “relief” is provided by “general relief”?

Does welfare improve the welfare of the recipient? Or of the pusher?

How many people will your tax dollars get high today?

How I Spent My Summer Vacation, Part 15

Filed under: General — Patterico @ 12:04 am



Geisler group, from Val di Funes, Dolomites, Italy:

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