John Mohammed, Convicted Sniper, Gets to Play Courtroom Drama on Our Money April 12, 2006
Posted by danjeffers in Death Penalty.add a comment
I've stated I'm against the death penalty, but not for pure ideological reasons. John Mohammed, the DC area sniper, has been convicted and given the death penalty already. I won't shed a tear when he dies. If we have the penalty, which we do, he certainly deserves it.
Why the heck is the Maryland prosecutor allowing him to play games in the meantime? Another trial is just an opportunity for a crazy man to torture his victims and the community with his aggresive grand-standing. He is representing himself and is trying to call anywhere from 200 to 345 witnesses. Why? So he can cross examine people on the stand for his own entertainment? He has nothing to lose in this trial. No incentive not to make into a self-serving circus. The man should be in some small, quiet room where he can meditate on his own crimes without an audience. And, if someone takes him out behind the barn and shoots him, that's fine with me, too.
Falling Down: Jessica Simpson April 4, 2006
Posted by danjeffers in Pithy Comments to get quoted in Express.add a comment
People should fall, now and then. Rather, people should try to do things that are difficult. Things that stretch them, make them grown. I have no problem with public failure. But there is a class of celebrity who can fall down without ever knowing. They do stupid things, and they have a squad of handlers who shield them from the consequences of the fall.
Jessica Simpson fails twice in one video. She fails at being Daisy Duke, because she's too generic, too blond, and too simple. Dukes of Hazard would have been a horrible movie in any case, but she didn't help. THEN she insists on taking on Nancy Sinatra. Her remake of "These Boots" is as silly as Steve Martin trying to be the Pink Panther. Somebody needs to tell her that she's fallen down enough for awhile and should go back to what she does well.
The Troubling thing about Moussaui April 4, 2006
Posted by danjeffers in Death Penalty.add a comment
A jury found him eligible for the death penalty. Now, I lean against the death penatly, but I'm not really troubled when certain people receive it. My problem is more with those who are wrongfully convicted, or those who, because of poverty, race, or other conditions, get the penalty in circumstances where a richer, whiter person would only go to jail.
Moussaui doesn't trigger any real sympathy from me. But, he didn't kill anybody. He did not order anyone killed. He may have plotted to kill people, but didn't really stick to the plan. Too lazy. The theory, that he was responsible for someone's death because he didn't tell the FBI what he knew is tenuous. What about those at the FBI who had some knowledge of danger, but didn't do enough to stop it? What about Condi and the "Al Qaida plans to fly airplanes into American buildings" report sitting on her desk? Shouldn't she have done something too? Isn't she even more responsible, as she had the ear of the President? If Moussaui dies I won't feel bad for him. I may even feel cheated, as that's want he seems to want. Punishment would be living out his life in a cell, with nobody to listen to his rants.
But I will feel that we've widened the scope of our death penalty. Once, they could hang you for stealing a horse. But over time we've decided that only killing someone in a particularly brutal, cold, or egregious fashion merits this penalty. Now, apparently, you can get it for being somehow associated with a crime for which the actual perpetrators are either dead or successfully hiding in Afghanistan.
Big Ad Agency Attacks Blogger April 30, 2006
Posted by danjeffers in Pithy Comments to get quoted in Express.2 comments
A blogger, Maine Web Report, who covers internet activites having to do with the State of Maine, is being sued by a giant crappy ad agency, Warren Kremer Paino Advertising. Actually, I don't know for sure that WKPadvertising is crappy, but how can a company that sells itself as being creative, insightful, and edgy come up with no better response to criticism than a multi-million dollar lawsuit? Also, they have a pretty crappy website, using too much flash and bad navigation to showcase, well, nothing.