Patterico's Pontifications

12/17/2008

Pictures from Our 2008 Vacations, 5

Filed under: General — Patterico @ 11:17 pm



Today you’re getting a group of five pictures, for several reasons:

  • The location — Polihale State Beach in Kauai — is one of the most beautiful places on Earth;
  • It’s where I proposed to Mrs. P.;
  • It was the first time we had been back there since we got engaged;
  • We got to bring our kids;
  • There were rainbows and a sunset;
  • For all these reasons, I couldn’t pick just one.

The pictures were all taken on April 5, 2008. Enjoy.


Mrs. P and Lauren


Matthew and Lauren


Matthew and Lauren check out the rainbow.


Rainbow and ocean


Sunset

YOU Be the Judge!

Filed under: Crime — Patterico @ 9:01 pm



Over at The Jury Talks Back, JRM (a Deputy District Attorney in real life) asks you what sentences you think would be appropriate in two hypothetical criminal cases:

One of the fairly common issues facing those in the criminal justice system is, “What is this case worth?” How much time should the defendant serve?

. . . .

[H]ere are two scenarios. For each, assume you are the judge and the defendant has pled guilty at an early stage. For a jail or prison sentence, you can impose the exact amount of time a person will do (two years is two actual years in custody.) If you sentence to a year or less, you can also attach whatever terms you like; for more than a year the prison authorities will do that. You can sentence to any amount of time you like for the purposes of this exercise. You must sentence to a specific amount of time, or life without parole.

Please give your proposed dispositions before reading the other comments.

Fascinating stuff — and it’s fascinating to us prosecutors to see how non-lawyers answer these questions. So go weigh in, here.

Bloomberg’s Support for Caroline Kennedy

Filed under: Politics — DRJ @ 6:08 pm



[Guest post by DRJ]

Last week, New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg spoke out in support of Caroline Kennedy’s appointment to Hillary’s Senate seat, saying she is experienced and “can do anything.” However, Bloomberg also said he would not try to “insert himself” into the selection process:

“The governor has weeks to decide, and Bloomberg said he wasn’t going to try to insert himself into the governor’s selection process.

“Caroline is very competent. The governor has obviously a lot of good candidates to pick from and I won’t be presumptuous enough to try to insert myself into what’s obviously a very difficult situation for him,” the mayor said.”

That was the public Bloomberg, but the Drudge Report leaks an upcoming article in the New York Times that indicates, in private, Mayor Bloomberg is pulling strings to get the Clinton Senate seat for Caroline Kennedy:

“When a powerful labor leader picked up the phone this week, he was surprised to hear the voice of a top aide to New York City Mayor Bloomberg. The aide made it clear: Caroline Kennedy [lose the Schlossberg] is going to be senator, “so get on board now!”

Buttons are being pushed and strings pulled by the mayor, the NEW YORK TIMES plans to front on Thursday.

The involvement has helped immediately elevate and coordinate the debut of Kennedy, who lacked an experienced political staff of her own.”

I’m curious why Bloomberg would go to bat for Caroline Kennedy. Maybe he thinks she would make a good Senator but my guess is Bloomberg thinks he can influence her. What do you think?

— DRJ

Scouting Obama’s Team

Filed under: Obama — DRJ @ 5:06 pm



[Guest post by DRJ]

Citing prosecutor Patrick Fitzgerald’s request that he avoid comment, Barack Obama has so far refused to answer questions about his staff’s discussions with Governor Rod Blagojevich regarding the vacant Illinois Senate seat. As a result, Dana Milbank thinks Obama’s basketball team may be varsity but his politics is barely JV:

“There’s no denying Obama’s team has an impressive starting five: Duncan (6-foot-5), incoming national security adviser James Jones and body man Reggie Love (both 6-foot-4) all played college basketball, while Attorney General-designate Eric Holder and U.N. Ambassador-designate Susan Rice played high school ball.

But Obama’s response to Blagojevich questions has been decidedly junior varsity. Begging off because of an ongoing investigation? Hiding behind Patrick Fitzgerald’s skirt? Warning a reporter not to “waste” a question and asking for an alternative question? All four techniques were popularized by Bush.”

I think Obama the politician is not that different from Obama the basketball player.

— DRJ

Illinois Supreme Court Declines to Hear Blagojevich Challenge

Filed under: Politics — DRJ @ 12:37 pm



[Guest post by DRJ]

The Illinois Supreme Court today refused to hear Attorney General Lisa Madigan’s challenge claiming Governor Blagojevich should be removed from office under a disability provision.

That means the action will likely move to the Illinois capital where an impeachment panel is gearing up. In an appearance today, Blagojevich’s attorney Ed Genson claimed members of the panel have already made up their minds and should be disqualified. Genson also asked that the State agree to pay any attorneys’ fees, claiming the Attorney General – who he said would typically represent the Governor – should be barred because she asked the Court to declare Blagojevich unfit to serve.

Finally, proving that Blagojevich’s bad luck isn’t over (or that his bad deeds are coming back to haunt him), a Chicago station reports an FBI informant has reiterated a story he told them years ago: That Blagojevich was a mob bookie in the late 1980’s.

Something tells me we won’t miss the Sopranos as long as we have Chicago politics.

— DRJ

Good News: Obama is TIME’s Person of the Year

Filed under: General — Patterico @ 7:33 am



Let the adulation continue!

Well, I don’t read that rag anyway.

Xrlq Takes on Snopes.com

Filed under: General — Patterico @ 7:28 am



He focuses on their lies by omission.

They still haven’t fixed their error‘ about Obama’s pledge not to run for President, by the way.


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