Archives 2006

Results or Justice?

Would you sacrifice justice for positive results?

Let’s say someone introduces a program — say a combination of education and neighborhood watch, or something — that has been shown to reduce the level of crime in a neighborhood. In towns and neighborhoods that have instituted this program, there are only 10% of the muggings, 10% of the burglaries, 10% of the murders, etc. as there were before the program was instituted.

Unfortunately, this comes at a cost: none of the crimes that do occur are punished. Perhaps the cops are too busy managing the new program to show up in court, or maybe it’s an integral part of the program.

Would you be in favor of this program being instituted in your own neighborhood?

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Why Don’t the Republicans Want My Vote?

I like Dean’s Fifty-State Strategy. For those who haven’t been following along, the idea is that for years, the Republicans and Democrats have been concentrating their campaign money where they think it’ll do the most good. Thus, for instance, the Democrats would realize that they’re not going to win some rural seat in Georgia, and therefore there’s no point in campaigning there. Then the Republicans would see that there’s no Democratic competition for that seat, and would concentrate their resources on a more disputed election, perhaps in Ohio or Missouri.

We all saw the 2000 and 2004 elections. So Dean apparently decided that the old was weren’t working so well anymore, and that the Democrats should actually spend money on every race in 2006, even the ones they can’t reasonably win.

The effect is at least twofold. For one thing, remember that dogcatcher race in rural Georgia? If the Democrats are actually spending money on it and putting up a fight, that means the Republicans can’t just take it for granted, and are going to have to spend money there as well, which is money they can’t spend in Missouri or Ohio.

The other effect is that stories are coming out about a resurgence of the Democratic party in unlikely places, like Alabama. Places where, in past election cycles, the Democratic party presence consisted solely of a PO box now have actual paid staffers, and people are getting to meet real live Democrats for the first time. This is all well and good and in the spirit of democracy, giving people a choice of candidates.

But I guess the Republicans didn’t get the memo. This November, I’ll be voting for or against Steny Hoyer, who has said a few stupid things recently. So I thought I’d see who the competition is.

As far asI can tell, there’s no Republican in that race. Apparently Ron Miller was running, but decided to switch to the Senate race. But no Republican will take the Maryland 5th house seat, because they haven’t put up a candidate.

I sent them mail yesterday asking about that, but I’m not terribly hopeful. I sent them mail in April asking for a platform document (no snark or anything; just a straight request), and never heard back.

Which brings me to the question in the subject: apparently the Republicans don’t want my vote. Why not?

Update, Aug. 11, 2006: I actually got a response from the MD GOP. My request:

Hi! I’ve been trying to find out who will be the GOP candidate in Maryland’s 5th Congressional district this November. I’ve searched the mdgop.org web site, but haven’t been able to find this information.

If you could help, I’d appreciate it.

Thanks.

Their response:

There is no Republican candidate going against Steny Hoyer this year. We originally had one candidate, Ron Miller, running but he decided that running against Mike Miller in the state Senate presented a better opportunity for success and impacting the people of the district. There was one other candidate who thought about getting into the race, but decided at the last minute that his time and energy was better spent re-electing Governor Ehrlich, electing Michael Steele to the U.S. Senate and bringing more Republicans into the General Assembly.

Thank you for your email. I hope this information helps.

Sincerely,

Audra Miller
Communications Director
Maryland Republican Party

We Know You’re Guilty. We Don’t Need to Prove it.

The Washington Post has
another scary dictatorship article.

A draft Bush administration plan for special military courts seeks to expand the reach and authority of such “commissions” to include trials, for the first time, of people who are not members of al-Qaeda or the Taliban and are not directly involved in acts of international terrorism, according to officials familiar with the proposal.

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Kohlberg’s Moral Stages

I just ran across a reference to Lawrence Kohlberg’s stages of moral development, and was immediately intrigued enough to spend my attention span learning just enough to mistakenly be sure that I know something about the subject.

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Word O’ the Day

The first definition the OED gives of scumbag is “condom”, from “scum” meaning “foam” or “froth”, and by extension “semen”. This usage dates back to 1967. “Scumbag” as an insult shows up in 1971.

Theocracy in Delaware

The New York Times has an
article
about the Indian River School District case.

Basically, the area is populated by religious bigots. Their entire argument seems to be “we’re all Christian. We’ve always been Christian. If you don’t like it, you can either convert or leave.”:
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Word O’ the Day

Ultracrepidarianism:
Giving opinions on matters outside of one’s knowledge.

(HT Pinky and the Brain on DVD; checked at the OED.)

Dr. Dino Learns the Joys of Staying at Home

Back when Kent Hovind
was arrested,
the judge :

Hovind argued that he needs his passport to continue his evangelism work. He said “thousands and thousands” are waiting to hear him preach in South Africa next month.

But [Judge Miles] Davis agreed with Assistant U.S. Attorney Michelle Heldmyer, who argued that “like-minded people” might secret Hovind away if he left the country.

Right on cue, “like-minded people”
asked the judge
to let Hovind leave the country.

Now, alert reader
Corey Schlueter
points out
another
article
saying that judge Casey Rodgers denied Hovind’s request to have his passport back.

We can only speculate that he applied the time-honored legal principle of “Mama Rodgers didn’t raise no dummies.”

Kent Hovind Speaks Out

Nearly two weeks after Hovind’s arrest, there’s still nothing about it on drdino.com, but now Kent has posted
an entry
on his weblog.

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It’s A Fine, Fine Line Between Faith and Gullibility

Dan Manassas, Th.D., writes to the author of All Things Human:

The shameful persecution of Kent Hovind, one of God’s most upright and dedicated ministers, shows that it’s you Darwinist Marxists who really control the U.S. government. The founder of Creation Science Evangelism, he works entirely for God, has no income, no property and no expenses. Despite this, he is able to make continuous bank withdrawals for $9,500 or $9,600 (just below the federal reporting limit). Instead of seeing this as a miracle and a sign of the grace that God has bestowed on his faithful servant, the government has indicted him for tax evasion.

(HT FSTDT)

Update, Jul. 25, 2006: If you doubt the authenticity of this message, I can’t blame you. It might be tongue-in-cheek, or it might not. Given that there are no blatant blinking smileys,
Poe’s Law
applies.