The dollar also fell against other currencies, reaching parity with the Canadian dollar for the first time since November 1976. One U.S. dollar now buys one Canadian dollar. [link]
AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAGH!
Looks like we’re going to hell on a toboggan instead of a handbasket.
Pretty soon, Canadians will be able to make fun of us for a lot more than Jerry Springer and George W. Bush. I think I’m going to go cry now.
Add comment September 20th, 2007
Just re-sharing something I said on IRC…
<nevdull> Canada was developed to try to teach us how to be nice.
<nevdull> They started out with a whole bunch of *really nice* people, then sprinkled in some Frenchies to temper them a bit… we would have resisted the attack if it were pure niceness.
Add comment September 18th, 2007
I’m sick of reading how people think that if we can trust ATMs with our dough, electronic voting machines should be just as easy…
If you believe that, you’re missing a huge aspect of voting…
ATMs are accountable, but not anonymous.
Voting machines need to be both. And it’s a lot harder to maintain accountability and anonymity.
And while the need for accountability has been highlighted in recent elections, one must remember that anonymity is vital to freedom.
Add comment August 28th, 2007
I was directed this evening to this article about Kenneth Foster, who’s about to be executed in Texas within the next three weeks. Michael LaHood was shot and killed not by Foster, but by Mauriceo Brown, who was a passenger in Foster’s car.
Section 7.02 of the Texas Penal Code outlines the following:
A person is criminally responsible for an offense committed by the conduct of another if “acting with intent to promote or assist the commission of the offense he solicits, encourages, directs, aids or attempts to aid the other persons to commit the offense” or “If, in the attempt to carry out a conspiracy to commit one felony, another felony is committed by one of the conspirators, all conspirators are guilty of the felony actually committed, though having no intent to commit it, if the offense was committed in furtherance of the unlawful purpose and was one that should have been anticipated as a result of the carrying out of the conspiracy.”
Article 37.071(b)(2) of the Code of Criminal Procedures permits the infliction of the death penalty only if the jury believes beyond a reasonable doubt that the defendant “intended to kill the deceased or another or anticipated that a human life would be taken.”
I’ve not seen the evidence presented at trial, but I know that Foster has claimed that he did not know that a crime would take place after giving his friends a ride. Mauriceo Brown stated that Foster did not know.
Since it’s the sort of thing which is damn near impossible to prove beyond a reasonable doubt — multiple corroborating witnesses would seem to be the minimum — I can’t see how one could reasonably convict the man of capital murder.
I’d assume that something like “accessory after the fact” would be trivial to prove, and if driving around people with illegal weapons was a no-brainer (and I don’t know the legal status of the gun or its possession), I would fully support punishment… but I cannot see that what this man did is worthy of execution.
I may be wrong, feel free to comment.
2 comments August 14th, 2007
I’ve read mounds about a possible Giuliani run for president, and I’m not really sure what to think of it. I’ve only come to live in New York City after he was gone, but I think the city is better for having had him. I’ve come to the conclusion that the Republican Party could really use a good, solid split. I’d like to see the Republicans move from a “big tent” inside of which the “normal people” are scurried off to behind the elephant poop area.
I’d be a fan of splitting the party in two. Reasonable people who are currently Republicans could leave the wacked-out religious folks at a retreat in the Ozarks and get to some real business.
I’m both jaded and optimistic. I believe that there are people in this country with the honest goal of making things better. I also believe that many of those people are shut out of their party’s mainstream.
Compromise isn’t weakness. It’s how progress is made. Presidential veto should be rare, and require a statement of justification. The Supreme Court writes opinions to explain their judgements. Signing statements shouldn’t be a “yeah, but”, and unnecessary when vetoing, or letting a bill lay fallow until expiration.
Then again, Congress passing a bill shouldn’t be the almighty decision maker, either. The rules made by the majority in either house can be quite petty, or downright ominous. Committee membership is laughable at times. Denying a vote can be downright dismissive. Fairness is something usually sought only by the minority, who tends to turn to oppressor upon ascention back to the throne.
So… getting back to my point. If we had a schism in the Republican Party (maybe break it on a gay rights / pro-life line), I could foresee a considerable migration from the Democrats as well. Let’s call them Demicans, this new, third party.
In ‘04, the Annenberg Public Policy Center polled and found that 31.8% of people thought of themselves as Republican, generally speaking, 34.6% Democrat, and 25.2% independent. Yeah, that’s only 91.6%. I’m not sure what happened to the other 8.4%, but I’ll forget about them for now.
I’d say that a third or so of people are Republicans who’d leave, and maybe a quarter of Democrats would join them. I’d venture that half of the independents would consider becoming a Demican. 10.6 + 8.7 + 12.6 = 31.9%
If things went that way, it would be 21.2% Republican, 25.9% Democrat, 31.9% Demican, and 12.6% Independent. I’m envisioning a Democrat/Demican coalition to govern, forcing the wackjob Republicans to turn to Jesus for salvation. Should the Democrats get too haughty, people would leave the Demicans, lowering the power base of the coalition, and allowing a re-found equilibrium far short of the extremes of either party.
I guess I’m letting this hit the press before I’m done thinking about it, but I think it better to get it out there than let it slide away when I go to sleep.
Add comment February 5th, 2007
