The editors of the L.A. Times editorialize in favor of removing lawyers’ ability to use peremptory challenges — thus confirming that the editors of the L.A. Times have no idea what real trial lawyers face.

Words can’t express the depth of my contempt for such clueless posturing. But I tried putting my contempt into words here. What I said then is equally applicable to today’s daft editorial. In my post, I said:

I have to wonder whether Morris B. Hoffman, Stephen Breyer, or Adam Liptak have ever tried a criminal case to a jury, where twelve citizens must be unanimously convinced of the defendant’s guilt beyond a reasonable doubt.

Add “or the editors of the L.A. Times” to the list of clueless know-nothings catalogued in the preceding sentence.

This one earns the “Morons” tag.

Does Chuck Adkins read David Ehrenstein?

. . . are working for Hillary’s campaign.

[Guest post by DRJ]

It’s Iowahawk’s fourth blog birthday. He’s taking comments so you can wish him many more.

— DRJ

[Guest post by DRJ]

Today’s release of the Mitchell Report details the widespread use of steroids in Major League Baseball and describes the past two decades as the “Steroids Era”:

“Roger Clemens, Miguel Tejada and Andy Pettitte were among 75 players named in the long-awaited Mitchell report on Thursday, an All-Star roster linked to steroids and other performance-enhancing drugs that put a question mark — if not an asterisk — next to some of baseball’s biggest moments.

Barry Bonds, already under indictment on charges of lying to a federal grand jury about steroids, and Gary Sheffield also showed up in Major League Baseball’s most infamous lineup since the Black Sox scandal.

The report by former Senator Majority Leader George Mitchell, who was hired by commissioner Bud Selig to examine the Steroids Era, blamed both players and management for the problem.

“Everyone involved in baseball over the past two decades — commissioners, club officials, the players’ association and players — shares to some extent the responsibility for the steroids era,” Mitchell said in summation of his 20-month investigation. “There was a collective failure to recognize the problem as it emerged and to deal with it early on.”

There were lots of big name players named in the report (a complete list is here):

“Eric Gagne, Jason Giambi, Troy Glaus, Gary Matthews Jr., Jose Guillen, Brian Roberts, Paul Lo Duca and Rick Ankiel were among other current players named in the report — in fact, there’s an All-Star at every position. Some were linked to human growth hormone, others to steroids.
***
Rafael Palmeiro, who tested positive for steroids, was among the former players named. So were Kevin Brown, Benito Santiago, Lenny Dykstra, Chuck Knoblauch, David Justice, Mo Vaughn and Todd Hundley.

Mike Stanton, Scott Schoeneweis, Ron Villone and Jerry Hairston Jr. were among the other current players identified.”

Mitchell’s recommendations include “that the drug-testing program be made independent, that a list of the substances players test positive for be listed periodically and that the timing of testing be more unpredictable.”

I agree with former Commissioner Faye Vincent. The use of illegal substances is “cheating of the worst sort.”

— DRJ

[Guest post by DRJ]

I’m grateful for our troops and I like dogs so this is my kind of story:

“Marine Cpl. Dustin Jerome Lee and his German shepherd, Lex, scoured Iraq for roadside bombs together, slept next to each other and even posed in Santa hats for a holiday photo.

When a mortar attack killed the 20-year-old Marine in Fallujah a few months later, Lex, whimpering from his own injuries, had to be pulled away, Lee’s father was told. That strong bond compelled the slain Marine’s family to adopt 8-year-old Lex even though the military said he still had two years of service.

The family lobbied the military for months, launched an Internet petition and enlisted the aid of a North Carolina congressman who took their case straight to the Marine Corps’ top general. On Wednesday, the Marine Corps finally announced Lex could go home to Lee’s family. It is the first time the military has granted a dog early retirement to be adopted by someone other than a former handler.

“We knew that’s what Dustin would have wanted out of this,” said Jerome Lee, the slain Marine’s father. “He knew that we would take care of Lex and love him, just like our own.”

Lee’s family from Quitman, Miss., is scheduled to pick up Lex from the Albany base Dec. 21, exactly nine months after the fatal attack. Though some shrapnel remains lodged in his back, Lex has otherwise recovered from his wounds and has been serving alongside military policemen at the Albany base since July.

“It is extraordinary,” said Col. Christian Haliday, commander of the Marine Logistics Base in Albany, Ga., where the dog is based. “As far as we know, it’s the first time that a waiver of policy of this nature has been granted.”

Officials at Lackland Air Force Base in San Antonio, which trains dogs for all service branches, confirmed it is the first case of its kind.”

Lee and his family have a history of working with and caring for service dogs:

“Lee joined the Marines after graduating from high school in 2004. His father said his drive to become a dog handler came from Lee’s mother, who worked with search-and-rescue dogs for their local emergency management agency when Lee was a boy.

After finishing his military police and dog handler training, the young Marine headed to Albany. Lee adopted his first canine partner, Doenja, from the military and sent him home to Mississippi last year when the 11-year-old dog began losing his sight and had to retire.

Lee formed an equally strong bond with his new partner, Lex.”

Bomb-sniffing dogs are in high demand in Iraq and Afghanistan so this is a sacrifice but Cpl. Lee and his family made the greatest sacrifice. I’m glad the Marines took that into consideration.

UPDATE 12/21/2007: Lex is home with the Lees. Pictures are here.

— DRJ

I’ve read recently that Don Surber is the “Carnegie-Mellon University’s 2nd most informative blog.” I believe I saw that on Don Surber’s old Blogspot site.

I was intrigued. So I thought I’d seek out the study and look at the methodology.

And that is how I learned that no blogger linked me in the year 2006.

The screenshots prove it. Here is the page where they list all the blogs they considered. There are 45,000 blogs on the list, so it’s a pretty sizable sample. Note the statistics they tracked:

Pay special attention to that third column. As you can see, it represents the total number of links the blog got from the blogs on the list — which is pretty much every blog in creation, and then some. Even the smallest blog got a few links. For example, a blog literally calling itself dontlinkthis.com still managed to pick up 4 links during the entire year of 2006:

By way of comparison, Instapundit got 4636 inbound links, and the aforementioned Don Surber got 1206 inbound links. My pal See Dubya at the Junkyard Blog got 547.

So how many links did Patterico get in 2006?

None.

You don’t believe me? Then take a gander at this, my friend:

My interview with Stashiu? Nobody linked it. My post revealing Michael Hiltzik’s sock puppetry? No links. My post on Glenn Greenwald’s sock puppetry? Not a single link. My post on the non-existent Ramadi airstrike? Nobody linked that either.

The screenshot doesn’t lie, folks. Nobody linked me in 2006.

Carnegie Mellon researchers say it. So it must be true.

No wonder I have a tough time getting advertisers!