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Apr. 25th, 2013 01:42 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
gwydion* I haven't written about the situation in Bangladesh as I simply hadn't the heart. They noticed a massive crack and a safety inspector told management they needed to evacuate the workers immediately. Management of course said no as they are only garment workers. Of course it collapsed and now 183 are dead and many more trapped and/or wounded. It reminds me of the Shirtwaist fire, all those innocent people dead because greedy management doesn't give a fuck about the safety of people working for them. Everyone would be safe and alive if the rich considered workers people and took basic precautions. But no. People are demonstrating, demanding arrests, the government has put them off with the sort of commission where justice goes to die. Of course. The rich protect the rich and don't give a fuck about the horror and misery they leave in their wake.
* I haven't mentioned the protests against impending marriage equality in France. They exist, they are depressing, they are expected to make no difference.
* Re: Gene Patents. I think it should not be allowed for companies to patent genes. It's both illogical and bad in the long term for information sharing needed for research. I also think that if you use someone's cells DNA, body parts etc. in a way that generates profit, the humans and/or their descendants deserve a cut of that. It is unconscionable that the family of the woman who's cell line is crucial for making vaccines got no compensation whatsoever and the drug companies make huge profits.
* Re: Miranda Rights. People have Miranda Rights whether or not you read them to the humans. If you do not read the rights, it means that what the person says under questioning may not be admissible in court. The magic of the reading of the rights is that you can use what they say in court. The delay for imminent threat comes into play so that if someone say, has time bombs planted all over the city, you can get them to tell you where they are, and they are more likely to say because you can't use their statement to incriminate them in court. The sort of questions you can ask relate to immediate threats and people they know who plotting immediate threats. The longer someone is in custody, the less they are likely to know about immediate threats and therefore this sort of questioning stops being useful. In the Boston Bomber case, the prosecution is unlikely to need a confession anyway as the evidence is so strong. Odds are the defense will be looking for mitigation testimony to try to lessen the punishment, rather than aiming to prove innocence. It's also looking like they did not have confederates planning near future attacks, so continued imminent threat questioning was unlikely to turn up new information. If he did have confederates, then he was lying to the interrogators and they were getting nothing of worth anyway. Seriously, it was past time for the judge to step in. Beyond this, the rule of law is important. For sure it's unlikely this guy is anything but guilty, but each time you toss out the judicial process, the easier it is to do in future more doubtful cases. Having a process in place keeps the rest of us safe. Remember the Elvis impersonator arrested last week for risin letters. He's now believed innocent and another man is under arrest. The process exists to protect people like you and me if we are suspected of crimes of which we are innocent. More than that, if we go around torturing people and denying them rights, we lose the core of our identity. The things W did in our name and over our protests tarnish us and endanger us. Let's do this by book, okay Folks?
* Where is the rest of the news? I had people most of the evening.
* Jon Stewart on FOX "News" demands we abolish the whole Bill of Rights except the 2nd:
* NASA's Penis Doodle:
* Today sucked physically for reasons that were no one's fault. (Both boys let me sleep, and I really needed it). Things happened like the post man knocked and I fell on my ass as I had insufficient control of my legs for standing. Getting ready for game ended up complicated for stupid reasons, like a fish pump needing extensive futzing. I did get the cupcakes made. I did set up a potluck table and cupcake station. The players brought delicious savories: yummy cheese and cucumber things and veggie suhi. Omnomnom. Just as the first player arrived I discovered I was about to have one of the less savory and more painful physical inconveniences that come with my medical situation. Luckily, the new meds mitigated this and I was able to hold it together for the game. I was not as sharp as I like to be for GMing, but it worked. The group is starting to come together. The rescued animals in distress. Two players who can come early have a thing I can run them next week that the others can't do. I rather botched renown and had to email extra points to the garou, but we're getting back in the swing. I'm easing them in to game mechanics and culture. Cats were rather more interesting in the nibbles than is ideal, but the little people got many pettins and naps.
* His face all red: http://emcarroll.com/comics/faceallred/01.html
* I haven't mentioned the protests against impending marriage equality in France. They exist, they are depressing, they are expected to make no difference.
* Re: Gene Patents. I think it should not be allowed for companies to patent genes. It's both illogical and bad in the long term for information sharing needed for research. I also think that if you use someone's cells DNA, body parts etc. in a way that generates profit, the humans and/or their descendants deserve a cut of that. It is unconscionable that the family of the woman who's cell line is crucial for making vaccines got no compensation whatsoever and the drug companies make huge profits.
* Re: Miranda Rights. People have Miranda Rights whether or not you read them to the humans. If you do not read the rights, it means that what the person says under questioning may not be admissible in court. The magic of the reading of the rights is that you can use what they say in court. The delay for imminent threat comes into play so that if someone say, has time bombs planted all over the city, you can get them to tell you where they are, and they are more likely to say because you can't use their statement to incriminate them in court. The sort of questions you can ask relate to immediate threats and people they know who plotting immediate threats. The longer someone is in custody, the less they are likely to know about immediate threats and therefore this sort of questioning stops being useful. In the Boston Bomber case, the prosecution is unlikely to need a confession anyway as the evidence is so strong. Odds are the defense will be looking for mitigation testimony to try to lessen the punishment, rather than aiming to prove innocence. It's also looking like they did not have confederates planning near future attacks, so continued imminent threat questioning was unlikely to turn up new information. If he did have confederates, then he was lying to the interrogators and they were getting nothing of worth anyway. Seriously, it was past time for the judge to step in. Beyond this, the rule of law is important. For sure it's unlikely this guy is anything but guilty, but each time you toss out the judicial process, the easier it is to do in future more doubtful cases. Having a process in place keeps the rest of us safe. Remember the Elvis impersonator arrested last week for risin letters. He's now believed innocent and another man is under arrest. The process exists to protect people like you and me if we are suspected of crimes of which we are innocent. More than that, if we go around torturing people and denying them rights, we lose the core of our identity. The things W did in our name and over our protests tarnish us and endanger us. Let's do this by book, okay Folks?
* Where is the rest of the news? I had people most of the evening.
* Jon Stewart on FOX "News" demands we abolish the whole Bill of Rights except the 2nd:
* NASA's Penis Doodle:
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* Today sucked physically for reasons that were no one's fault. (Both boys let me sleep, and I really needed it). Things happened like the post man knocked and I fell on my ass as I had insufficient control of my legs for standing. Getting ready for game ended up complicated for stupid reasons, like a fish pump needing extensive futzing. I did get the cupcakes made. I did set up a potluck table and cupcake station. The players brought delicious savories: yummy cheese and cucumber things and veggie suhi. Omnomnom. Just as the first player arrived I discovered I was about to have one of the less savory and more painful physical inconveniences that come with my medical situation. Luckily, the new meds mitigated this and I was able to hold it together for the game. I was not as sharp as I like to be for GMing, but it worked. The group is starting to come together. The rescued animals in distress. Two players who can come early have a thing I can run them next week that the others can't do. I rather botched renown and had to email extra points to the garou, but we're getting back in the swing. I'm easing them in to game mechanics and culture. Cats were rather more interesting in the nibbles than is ideal, but the little people got many pettins and naps.
* His face all red: http://emcarroll.com/comics/faceallred/01.html