[pscates2.0]

...if they can just do something similar for those on the far Left, it'll all be great.

"Hey, trust fund neo-hippie...congrats on finally doing laundry! Now that we've got your attention...".

[Moogs]

Argh! I just had a Sobchak-worthy post on what to do with scumbags like Warren Jeffs and somehow my login timed out. That's the down side of quick replies, you can't go back a page in the browser and copy your post.

Anyway, at "trust fund neo-hippy". That is an instant classic.

As for Jeffs and his ilk:



And I can give you five irrefutable reasons why it's a good idea. (My far-right post for this month... I'm fair and balanced... mostly centrist, some left-leaning, some far-right. I am Americaz!)

[kscherer]

Originally Posted by Moogs And I can give you five irrefutable reasons why it's a good idea.

Bring it!

The dirt ball shouldn't be in prison. He should be pushing up thistles!

[Moogs]

Originally Posted by kscherer Bring it! The dirt ball shouldn't be in prison. He should be pushing up thistles!

You asked for it!


Scenario: Fast-track people like Jeffs (multi-count convicts of rape, child-rape, murder, torture, child trafficking or mixes of same, who were convicted on strong physical and eyewitness evidence) to their doom. Give a max of six months in solitary, one meal a day, to let any (unlikely) possibility of new evidence or changes in evidence to come to light, then hang their ass. The gallows should not be set up to break their neck. They should just hang there, twisting and flailing, until they asphyxiate and die. Last meal 24 hours in advance with laxative so they can't crap all over the place. Also cremation afterward; no casket expenses! Although maybe families pay for that anyway, I'm not sure.

Obviously this punishment does not apply to your garden variety violent convicts. Only the most egregious offenders and those who were not convicted largely on circumstantial evidence.


Benefits:

1) Big Savings! Much cheaper to implement and run than a lethal injection chamber or an electric chair (although I don't think anyone is using the chair anymore). We are in the midst of a national budget crisis. Taking all offenders of this sort together and subtracting out how many thousands of man-years that don't have to be paid for them to sit in prison with 3 squares, medical, whatever... is a big number. Huge. You think I'm kidding, don't you?


2) Less Prison Over-crowding! Every little bit helps, man.


3) Probability of sub-human filth being back on the street even as an AARP member, drops to zero. Speaks for itself.


4) No painless exit for the filth. No last words, no visitors, nothing. Only justice. This isn't about deterring other scumbags (it won't), or making the family feel better (it won't most of the time), or anything else. It's about inflicting fear and horrific punishment that is 100% deserved. And the savings... did I mention the savings?


5) Gives people something to argue about that's better than abortion, guns, politics, because we all hate the filth equally.


I'm sure this will not derail the thread because these points are irrefutable.

[Moogs]

A new entrant to the "first to the gallows" competition! I dunno man... this guy might have Jeffs beat. 11 people. Anyone excited about paying for his meals for the next 5 years while he sits on death row making pointless appeals?

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-14509824

[kscherer]

Originally Posted by Moogs I'm sure this will not derail the thread because these points are irrefutable.

The master of thread derailment is with you 100%!

Originally Posted by Moogs 1) Big Savings! Much cheaper to implement and run than a lethal injection chamber or an electric chair (although I don't think anyone is using the chair anymore). We are in the midst of a national budget crisis. Taking all offenders of this sort together and subtracting out how many thousands of man-years that don't have to be paid for them to sit in prison with 3 squares, medical, whatever... is a big number. Huge. You think I'm kidding, don't you?

I agree! And I'll add that I believe the populace should never have to pay for the crimes of others. Not one penny of taxpayer money should be expended to punish criminals. That expense should come from their own bank accounts and/or labor!) Yes, I believe in forced labor to repay criminal offense. It's a me thing. )

Originally Posted by Moogs 2) Less Prison Over-crowding! Every little bit helps, man.

I agree! Although I disagree with prisons altogether. They do nothing to cure the headache of criminal behavior. People should either pay with their wallets or their lives (depending on the severity of the offense) for criminal behavior, not jail time. A thief should reimburse x2, and if he/she cannot afford it, then they should be forced to labor until the debt is payed; drugs should not be illegal (and neither should sex-for-hire); etc. Murderers and rapists should visit your noose.

Originally Posted by Moogs 3) Probability of sub-human filth being back on the street even as an AARP member, drops to zero. Speaks for itself.

I agree. Those who present themselves as an outright threat to a free and peaceful society are not deserving of living within that society as free people. They should either be laboring to repay their debt to that society, or removed from it (and not by rotting in a jail cell.)

Originally Posted by Moogs 4) No painless exit for the filth. No last words, no visitors, nothing. Only justice. This isn't about deterring other scumbags (it won't), or making the family feel better (it won't most of the time), or anything else. It's about inflicting fear and horrific punishment that is 100% deserved. And the savings... did I mention the savings?

I agree, mostly. In a bygone age, a person found guilty of murder/horse-theifin'/rape was hung the next day, and because the judges, juries, and lawyers were far less corruptible, there were very few mistakes. However, I can get on board with a 6-month waiting period, albeit through forced labor. Not sure about the swinging around bit. That might be a little scary for the children (or maybe that is the point), but I can dig it. And you are quite correct in the deterrence thing. The death penalty will never deter anyone who is bent on murder. Those who are going to commit a crime always believe they will never be caught, so there is never a deterrent strong enough to deter them. The punishment is exactly that: a punishment.

Originally Posted by Moogs 5) Gives people something to argue about that's better than abortion, guns, politics, because we all hate the filth equally.

I disagree. I have brought up the death penalty numerous times, and have received loads of "bad reputation" in doing so. There are plenty of people who strongly disagree with the death penalty, so there are going to be arguments, one way or the other. It is inevitable.

—

Now, I have to add something: I do not believe that anyone, ever, should receive the death penalty unless there are at least two (2) eyewitnesses to the crime. EVER! Circumstantial evidence should not condemn someone to death.

Also, If you expect to put someone to death, expect to be the one to "pull the trigger". This should include the plaintiff and the jury. Those should be the people responsible for pulling the lever. The death penalty is serious business, and I place high value on human life. If a life is going to be taken for the punishment of a crime, then those who are accusing should be the ones responsible for carrying out the deed. Also, the prosecution should be held accountable for corruption. In other words, a corrupted judge/prosecutor/jury who convict a person should be accountable and held to the same punishment the defendant received. If it is discovered that you took a bribe and hung a man, you are a murderer and worthy of a good hanging, yourself!

When all parties understand the severity of the punishment, and are held accountable to it, then—and only then—will the defendant get a truly fair trial and justice be carried out.

—

Now, we can apply that to Warren Jeffs. It can be—and has been—shown that the man did in fact rape a young girl. It can be—and has been—shown that there were at least three eye witnesses to this brutal crime (the victim and two other "wives" who were present during the rape). Without having to take any prior actions into account, and understanding that the judge, jury, and prosecutor did their jobs with integrity and truth, Warren Jeffs was found guilty on all charges and has been sentenced. The sentence he should have received—and would have received in my court—is death by hanging, to be carried out exactly 180 days from today. In the interim, he would have been sentenced to six months hard labor (cleaning out a sewer or picking up heavy rocks). Should no reasonable doubt be discovered between then and now, he would be hung by rope, and the victim (or parents, in this case) as well as the jurors who condemned him to die, would collectively yank the lever that strings his neck out a few inches.

As a side note, a refusal to pull the lever would indicate reasonable doubt and the man would go free, all charges being dropped.

The End

Instead, the man gets to sit in a jail cell at tremendous cost to the taxpayers. Not cool!

Originally Posted by Moogs A new entrant to the "first to the gallows" competition! I dunno man... this guy might have Jeffs beat. 11 people. Anyone excited about paying for his meals for the next 5 years while he sits on death row making pointless appeals?

I can see his feetsies swinging in the wind as we speak. But don't worry, you anti-deathers. This dude will sit around and appeal his case for the next twenty years. Hell, he's safer than you are! Oh, and he has better medical benefits, too!

[Moogs]

Yah I know some people despise capital punishment. I meant we all detest the crimes equally. Hopefully.

Interesting take on the pull the lever thing. Never thought about that. It has some merit in principle. If you're not willing to pull it... shouldn't ask someone else to.

Back to your regularly scheduled Iowa side-show... fried twinkles now available in Ames!

[turtle]

Super Drug ends the battle with the common cold!

I'm wondering if this kind of drug will ever come to market, but then again why would I expect otherwise? We are really smart as a collective group (humans that is) so it isn't too far fetched.

[kscherer]

You see, jail just isn't the right sentence for this guy. He should be sentenced to 28 years hard labor! And I mean Really. Hard. Labor!

What he did to those kids and their families is absolutely beyond reprehensible.

The U.S. Attorney's office said more than 30 local and state government officials and contractors have been convicted or are awaiting trial in the case, Reuters reports.

HARD LABOR for the lot of them. I know some oil-spill-beaches that could use a good scrubbing. And I can imagine this lot would love to spend 14 hours a day, six days a week scrubbing away!

Instead, they'll get funneled into yet another for-profit, over-crowded prison with three squares and great "health"care.

Excuse me. I need to go puke!

[Mugge]

Libyan rebels have seized Gadaffis hat (may his spellings be many)

[kscherer]

This happened here in Boise, and I think the judge passed down sentence very well:

"The kind of sentence that might be most appropriate I can't impose," Williamson said. "I can't impose a sentence that he endure the dead bug from someone who weighs five times what he weighs, to have someone drop their knees on to his abdomen. I can't impose the chair. I can't impose the wall. I can't impose the occasional aggravated battery on mister Ehrlick. Those things would be considered cruel punishment." Williamson cited the US Constitution's prohibition of the administration of cruel and unusual punishment. "But mister Ehrlick, in the privacy of his home, committed cruel punishment on Robert, but I can't do that to mister Ehrlick. Mister Ehrlick is entitled to the protection of our constitution, he has to be treated fairly."

Makes me want to cuss.

[Foj]

Gamers help crack AIDS enzyme puzzle.

http://games.yahoo.com/blogs/plugged...161920724.html

[kscherer]

I knew all that time on Halo would pay off!

[pscates2.0]

Assbag of the Year, upon realizing he was shorted some hot sauce in his take-out order, returns to Taco Bell with a shotgun to threaten employees.



Glad he didn't overreact or anything.

Angered that his Taco Bell drive-thru order failed to include hot sauce, a Missouri man returned to the fast food restaurant and allegedly pulled a shotgun on an employee, who fled in fear from the takeout window. The bizarre incident Saturday evening resulted in the arrest of Jeremy Combs, a 30-year-old convicted felon, on both state and federal charges. Combs is pictured in the below mug shot. According to a U.S. District Court complaint, investigators with the Lee’s Summit Police Department interviewed Combs Sunday afternoon about the incident. Combs admitted that he had purchased several items from Taco Bell, only to return home to discover “the Taco Bell employee had failed to include his…hot sauce.”

Oh, but it gets better...

The incarcerated Combs is scheduled for a detention hearing tomorrow in federal court in Kansas City. According to the criminal complaint, Combs’s rap sheet includes 14 felony arrests and three felony convictions.

I'd sure love to hear a good reason why this guy was out and about. How many felony arrests and convictions does one have to rack up before they're deemed unfit to mingle amongst civilized society?



Seriously...I'd like to know.

Thankfully nothing came of it. But should some minimum wage fast-food worker (I assume they were young as well, probably barely into their 20's) have to die or take a gunshot from someone who shouldn't even be out walking around a free man? How tragic would that have been, knowing the record and past of this idiot?



I give up, folks.

[RowdyScot]

So I didn't post it when it happened, but the IHOPs around my area got raided by the FBI yesterday morning.

http://www.wtol.com/story/15519704/n...of-local-ihops

There are questions about a huge ring of illegal immigrants, possible ties to terrorism (though I believe these have been refuted), and all sorts of payroll fraud. I was heading into work across the street from one of the raided ones when the FBI rolled in. Crazy.

[curiousuburb]

Virtual Monkeys create Shakespeare

A few million virtual monkeys are close to re-creating the complete works of Shakespeare by randomly mashing keys on virtual typewriters. A running total of how well they are doing shows that the re-creation is 99.990% complete. The first single work to be completed was the poem A Lover's Complaint. Practical experiments show monkeys have poor keyboard skills Set up by US programmer Jesse Anderson the project co-ordinates the virtual monkeys sitting on Amazon's EC2 cloud computing system via a home PC. Mr Anderson said he started the project as a way to get to know the Hadoop programming tool better and to put Amazon's web services to the test. It is also a practical test of the thought experiment that wonders whether an infinite number of monkeys pounding on an infinite number of typewriters would be able to produce Shakespeare's works by accident. Mr Anderson's virtual monkeys are small computer programs uploaded to Amazon servers. These coded apes regularly pump out random sequences of text. Each sequence is nine characters long and each is checked to see if that string of characters appears anywhere in the works of Shakespeare. If not, it is discarded. If it does match then progress has been made towards re-creating the works of the Bard. To get a sense of the scale of the project, there are about 5.5 trillion different combinations of any nine characters from the English alphabet. Mr Anderson's monkeys are generating random nine-character strings to try to produce all these strings and thereby find those that appear in Shakespeare's works. Mr Anderson kicked off the project on 21 August using Amazon's cloud computers. Each day of virtual monkey keyboard mashing processing cost $19.20 (£12.40). The project has been moved to a home PC to speed up text string generation and to cut the cost. To make the task even easier the text being sampled has had all the spaces and punctuation removed. Mathematicians said the constraints Mr Anderson introduced to the project mean he will complete it in a reasonable amount of time. Monkeys: More interested in throwing faeces than writing sonnets "If he's running an evolutionary approach, holding on to successful guesses, then he'll get there," said Tim Harford, popular science writer and presenter of the BBC's radio show about numbers More or Less. And without those constraints? "Not a chance," said Dr Ian Stewart, emeritus professor of mathematics at the University of Warwick. His calculations suggest it would take far, far longer than the age of the Universe for monkeys to completely randomly produce a flawless copy of the 3,695,990 or so characters in the works. "Along the way there would be untold numbers of attempts with one character wrong; even more with two wrong, and so on." he said. "Almost all other books, being shorter, would appear (countless times) before Shakespeare did." Earlier experiments have shown how difficult the task is. Wikipedia mentions a 2003 project that used computer programs to simulate a lot of monkeys randomly typing. After the equivalent of billions and billions and billions of monkey years the simulated apes had only produced part of a line from Henry IV, Part 2. Also in 2003, Paignton Zoo carried out a practical test by putting a keyboard connected to a PC into the cage of six crested macaques. After a month the monkeys had produced five pages of the letter "S" and had broken the keyboard. source: BBC

[AWR]

It all seems like terrible luck until you get to the last paragraph.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2011...ctim-passersby

[addabox]

I always thought the infinite monkeys thing was shooting for actual complete texts from a given monkey, not an assemblage of random words from all the monkeys.

At any rate: stupid monkey!

[pscates2.0]

Originally Posted by AWR It all seems like terrible luck until you get to the last paragraph. http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2011...ctim-passersby

Holy crap. It was an amazing story of a terrifying attack, quick action from strangers, a qualified, dedicated medical and surgical team doing their job, etc.

And then, yeah...you realize the idiot shouldn't have been in the water in the first place. Kinda changes the whole vibe and flow, doesn't it?



If I'm the editor, that final paragraph becomes the sub-headline, top of page. In red, and the boldest font I can find.



Did he not see the flags? Or did, but just didn't care? One of those "we all gotta go sometime" types, with a Mountain Dew can at the ready and always wearing a parachute to jump off something?

"Hey, I'm not a seal...what are the chances I'll get attacked? The water is beautiful today...I just have to get in it, warnings be damned. Hey, looks like I have the whole place to myself...this day can't get any better!".

Yep, you're right on that. Way to roll the dice there, goofball.

If this was in the U.S., you know the first thing I'd be thinking, right?

"Your honor, my client believes the flags were not of sufficient size and/or attention-getting hue to sufficiently warn him of the possible dangers lurking in the waters. Furthermore, we contend that the silhouette graphic of the fish used on said flag could easily be mistaken by some beach-goers as a dolphin, one of the more friendly and sociable members of the fish kingdom. Excuse me, amphibian kingdom. Any reasonably curious swimmer, upon seeing this, would naturally opt for a swim in order to frolic and commune with these magnificent, intelligent beasts of the underwater realm.

It wasn't until my client's leg was summarily removed, mid-swim, that it became apparent to him that the flag was warning about another species altogether. Had my client been made better aware of this, we maintain that we would not be here today, your honor.

Therefore, in light of the above examples of gross negligence and carelessness in warning flag design and placement, we are respectfully requesting the amount of $874 million dollars for pain-and-suffering, emotional distress, loss of limb, financial hardship, loss of sexual prowess and the inevitable occurrences of being heretofore referred to as 'a fucking dumb-ass' by his friends, family and other associates, including, but not limited to, complete strangers upon hearing the story of how my client suffered this horrific injury. The plaintiff rests."

[Robo]

Nobody ever thinks it happens to them...

I'm sure he'll regret it now. But at least he's alive to regret it, right? That's something!

I'm just surprised they have shark warning flags. I'm pretty sure I wouldn't swim at any beach that had them, even if they weren't flying. I mean, someone has to be the unlucky SOB who sees the shark in the first place, right? No thanks. I'll take the pool. There, I only have to worry about contrived endings to M. Night Shyamalan films.

I do not fuck around with sharks. Or snakes! Or spiders. I'm pretty close to just avoiding the letter S on principle, actually.

[pscates2.0]

Originally Posted by Robo Nobody ever thinks it happens to them...

I suppose. But what an awful, irreversible way to find out! He's got one hell of reminder, for the rest of his life.

"Holy crap, it did happen to me! What were the odds?"

I'm not that hard-up for thrills, "bucking the odds" and taking a swim if I think there's a chance I may get attacked and partially eaten by something with sharp teeth. The fact that someone has thought enough of the situation to put warning flags up (and that nobody else was in the water) should be enough to discourage all but the biggest chuckleheads.

Seems this guy is a chucklehead.

Originally Posted by Robo I'm sure he'll regret it now. But at least he's alive to regret it, right? That's something!

If he can live down the feelings of "WTF was I thinking?!?" that are sure to eat a hole in him (figuratively, this time) for the next few decades, sure.

Although there are two things I've learned from a decade-plus of watching Shark Week on Discovery:

1) They never fail to point out that the biggest predator/threat to anything in the ocean is "man" (it's become a cliché on those shows, and I've seen that phrase used, in such stern earnestness, about 735 times over the years...almost to the point that I like to try and guess when the narrator will say it). In other words, the biggest, hungriest and most territorial great while will never be the asshole that a tourist with a spear gun (or a commercial fisherman) is. And while this may be true, I still get a little tired of hearing it all week long.

2) Surfer/beach types, even after suffering a horrific injury (losing half their head, the entire left side of their torso and both legs, for example) are still shown paddling out into the waves in slo-mo, in a defiant "if this is how I'm gonna go, so be it...surfing's in my blood and I'm not going to change" statement to any sharks with a basic cable subscription who may be watching.

While not nearly as overdone and clichéd at #1 above, it's getting there.

Originally Posted by Robo I'm just surprised they have shark warning flags. I'm pretty sure I wouldn't swim at any beach that had them.

Yeah, any place that has enough sightings that they've already got ready-made, official "there's a big shark out there...watch it!" warning flags stacked up for use at a moment's notice...uh, no. I'll take the pool or bathtub too.

[Capella]

The beach at home has a generic "hazardous marine life" flag. I don't recall it ever being used for sharks (though I think Daytona has used it for that), but it's been used for jellyfish being washed up on the beach, red tide blooms, etc.

[AWR]

Land shark!

http://autos.aol.com/article/driver-...usauto00000020

[curiousuburb]

Google Doodle for Today: Gumby (with real Interactive Clay!)



^^ Actually clickable. Fun!

Celebrating Art Clokey's 90th birthday.

Think I had a Gumby and Pokey set as a kid. </memories>

[kieran]

Gumby was my favorite as a kid. I couldn't tell you a thing about him now, but I do know I loved the show as a kid.

[ezkcdude]

Rick Perry says it was a mistake for him to take part in debates:

http://news.yahoo.com/blogs/ticket/p...125805254.html

Rick, some advice...if you consider debating a mistake, you might want to re-think that whole being POTUS thing.

[pscates2.0]

Not necessarily. I don't know, or care, anything about this guy (or the other basket cases vying for the gig), but I've said for ages now that these "debates" are anything but.

So structured, formatted and staged. More like a singing/dancing show, with the clap-happy audience.

Want to impress me? No idiotic audience, a moderator with no baggage and nothing off- limits. No horseshit "conditions" and negotiations about what can, and can't be, discussed or debated. It runs counter to the whole idea of having the damn things to begin with, don't you think? And screw the time limit because nobody sticks to it anyway. If you're making a great point, you don't get put on an arbitrary clock (although being able to state your case in a coherent, passionate and succinct manner should be something all these clowns strive for), so anyone worth a rip should have their own internal timer.

And you're not allowed to "stump", and speak in meaningless, vague platitudes. Either provide substantive, meaty and specific answers, or STFU and decline.

Whoever "rises" above all that deserves an honest shot and serious consideration. More than any bozo currently trying out for the position.

If I was running for president, I wouldn't stipulate, or agree to, any of these demands/conditions we hear about in modern "debates". If I can't think on my feet, handle any topic, not get thrown off by any surprises, can't account for past statements, associations or positions, then I don't deserve to run for the job.

Bunch of overly-handled/managed, PR-obsessed pussies. Are we electing a president of some flash-in-the-pan pop idol?

Wait, don't answer that...

[Foj]

Amy Winehouse's toxicology report says alcohol is what killed her.

[ezkcdude]

Originally Posted by pscates2.0 Whoever "rises" above all that deserves an honest shot and serious consideration. More than any bozo currently trying out for the position.

Of course, he (Perry) didn't do that either.

[Moogs]

Originally Posted by Foj Amy Winehouse's toxicology report says alcohol is what killed her.

Beat me to it, but this is a total shock to me. I thought for sure it was the Shingles.