Carpundit

Make The Thugs Show Their Faces

Why are accused murderers allowed to hide their faces in court?  What judge allows this?  I've always wondered.  Is there some principle of privacy law I've missed all these years, or are most of the jurists just too jaded to give a damn?

If I were a judge, you'd damn well show your face in my court.

MIT Admissions Chief

The pressure on children to get into a good college is enormous - AP courses, jobs, volunteering, team sports, high grades, and good test scores are the minimum requirements.  Now, a voice of sanity in the process is silenced.  Self-silenced, to be sure, but let's not throw out the message with the messenger.

Patrick on Sex Education

If you read this blog, you know I didn't support Deval Patrick for Governor and I'm not impressed with his "work" so far.  But I'll give him his due.  This makes sense, in a way abstinence-only education never did.  It's patent that teens will be having sex, theocrats' fantasies notwithstanding.  They should be taught about the implications. 

Burlington, Vermont Welcomes America's Enemies

According to the Boston Globe, the city of Burlington, Vermont owns a cable system.  It has a whopping 1200 subscribers, so it's scarely worth mentioning -as the Globe obviously decided, burying the item here- that it added a new channel to the lineup.  That channel is Al-Jazeera.  I believe Al-Jazeera is a propaganda machine for the terror-sponsoring states of the Middle East.  It is the "respectable" public face of the Islamist movement.  But even more shocking than the indefensible choice to put it on the city cable system is this quote from that cable system's director:

"We were certainly squeamish about it at first, given its reputation in the United States," said Tim Nulty, director of Burlington Telecom. "But if you look at it, it looks like BBC. I think it's more mainstream and more objective than CNN."

More objective than CNN?

When the BBC is your standard of objectivity, and Al-Jazeera seems more mainstream than CNN, you've gone over to the other side.  Embracing BBC just means you're a lefty.  Embracing Al-Jazeera means you hate America.  They do.

I've said the network should be banned in America.  I stand by that.  And the director of Burlington Telecom should be fired.  It's city-owned.  An American city is paying for enemy propaganda.  I'm stunned.

Send them some comments:

Contact Burlington Telecom Hours of Operation: Monday-Friday, 8 AM to 4:30 PM
Central Telephone Number: (802) 540-0007
Office Fax: (802) 652-4220
Mailing Address: 200 Church Street, Burlington, VT 05401

Massachusetts State Police and DNA

The new state police DNA plan is the first slip down a treacherous slope toward a society where everyone is known to the state and there's no privacy except in the darkest corners.

Or maybe it's just a new crime-fighting technique.  I'm on the fence, really.

Monday Assortment

If you're running (er, ran) the marathon today, you're insane.  I just have to walk to the T, and I'm thinking about taking the day off.

Just to keep my life exciting, I installed the smartTOP on my cabriolet over the weekend.  On Saturday afternoon.  It went very smoothly -it's a great product- except for the few moments of panic I enjoyed when the top seemed to be stuck in the half-open position.  I was fifty miles from a dealer, with an undriveable car, no garage, and a storm coming.  In the end, all was well.  What happened?  Well, let's just say it helps to RTFM.

The Imus Debacle

Apparently, it wasn't about Don Imus after all; it was about misuse of the airwaves:

"We cannot afford a precedent established that the airwaves can be used to commercialize and mainstream sexism and racism..." Sharpton said.

Sharpton and his coalition of vindictives and tell-tales are against the airwaves being used for sexism and racism.  OK, then where's black indignation about hip hop culture?  Where's the protest against MTV for showing that mindless, musicless, illiterate rhyming that passes for rap music?

It's almost unbelievable that all these spineless hypocrites are making me feel sympathy for Don Imus.  The world is upside down:  Al Sharpton agrees with George W. Bush, and I agree with Michelle Malkin.

Oh, and if Sharpton, Jesse Jackson, Malik Shabazz and Snoop Dogg are the champions of a minority, it's going to stay oppressed.  Shame on any person who follows their hypocritical lead.  Shame on any person who doesn't point out the hypocrisy.  And extra shame on those who are piling on the Imus burial mound now that it's safe because he doesn't have a microphone anymore.

The entire episode is disgraceful.  No one came out well.  No one.

Self-Defense in Cambridge

I've covered this before, but there's news today.  The state's highest court ruled that Alexander Pring-Wilson is entitled to a new trial, one in which he'll be allowed to introduce evidence of his alleged-victim's violent past in support of his self-defense claim.  Pring-Wilson is the former Harvard graduate student sent to prison for killing one of the two convicted felons who attacked him four years ago.

I had hoped Gerry Leone wouldn't pursue this case the way Martha Coakley did, but I guess he's protecting his political future too.  Middlesex DA is a launching post for political careers.

Combine that with the utterly irrational knee-jerk liberalism of Cambridge and you've got a real good reason not to go there.

Children Are Different

My kids were up before me this morning.  I came down to find my younger boy (age 5) using the dustpan and broom to sweep up the Ritz crackers he'd spilled in the living room.  He carefully swept every piece into the pan, walked over to the kitchen garbage to dump it, tapped out the crumbs on the edge, replaced the fitted broom into the pan, and went over to put it back under the sink.  Then, noticing he'd left the garbage open, he ran over to the garbage drawer and closed it.

I found my older son (age 6) by following the crumbs and plactic wrapper trail of his breakfast bar into my study, where he was blasting iTunes.

Siblings are different.  Slate has some sibling photos here.

Imus, part II

As I write this Tuesday morning, Don Imus is getting thrashed by Matt Lauer on his own show.  He's been suspended for two weeks starting next week, has apologized, and has submitted himself willingly to repeated chastisement by the virtueless fraud Al Sharpton.  I think that's sufficient.

Sharpton thinks it isn't.  Of course, Sharpton forgave Jesse Jackson for "Hymietown."

Imus is an ass.  Sharpton is a con.

I'll take Imus any day.