27 February 2007

That explains everything

I do believe that the crucifixion was a Jewish conspiracy though. It had something to do with getting all the dumb Jews to convert to Christianity I think.

Shmuel

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We destroyed their lives in order to save them

[source, Instapundit]

Two Florida teenagers, Jeremy and Amber, ages 17 and 16 respectively, boyfriend and girlfriend — snapped digital photos of themselves engaged in sexual activity. They were prosecuted under state child porn laws, and convicted. . . . In Florida, Amber and Jeremy did not break the law by having sexual relations — even though they’re both teens — but the courts decided they were criminals for having documented it digitally.

If you click through the links you can find excerpts from the judicial opinions, which would be hilarious if the consequences weren’t so dire. The pinnacle is the argument that the convictions are necessary because there was a risk that the pictures might have been released and caused “Jeremy” and “Amber” problems later in life (unlike, say, a felony conviction for child pornography). Another comment that was very astute was the these two were tried as adults for pictures of themselves as children. Isn’t there some way we could convince the law enforcement and prosecutors who spent time on this to going after actual child pornographers?

Posted by orbital at 2:12 PM | View 0 TrackBacks | Trackback URL

A seeker after indictment

The Wilson Gambit, or how a small cadre of fanatics launched a major propaganda effort via a complacent and frequently openly hostile Old Media. The article presents a strong case that Fitzgerald had as his goal not the investigation of the “leak” about Valerie Plame, but to indict as many members of the Bush Administration as possible.

Posted by orbital at 2:07 PM | View 0 TrackBacks | Trackback URL

Not everyone fails to learn from history

[source, source]

“One thing Sheikh Sattar keeps saying is he wants al-Anbar to be like Germany and Japan and South Korea were after their respective wars, with a long-term American presence helping … put them back together,” MacFarland said. “The negative example he cites is Vietnam. He says, yeah, so, Vietnam beat the Americans, and what did it get them? You know, 30 years later, they’re still living in poverty.”

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