Practice tip

(After receiving repeated calls from an individual who apparently believed it was currently the 1940s)

"Rule number one, when doing mental commitment hearings: never give your client your business card."

--The firm's first-named partner

You know, some systems of law are really better than others

If there is one thing that is easy to criticize about Islamic law, it is its treatment of women. For instance, rape is seldom punished because unless further witnesses corroborate the victim's story, the victim will be punished - severely - for adultery, having confessed to engaging in sexual activity but failed to prove unwillingness or a perpetrator. There is thus a strong disincentive to raising the matter at all.

This week, however, a Saudi court proved that even reaching a conviction isn't enough. In this case, a woman managed to secure the conviction of the men that gang-raped her 14 times one afternoon. Although the "up to ten years" they will be spending in Saudi prisons are surely no joke, this is a mere slap on the wrist for a country where swiping a wallet costs you a hand. However, the woman will be spending some time in the clink herself, as well as receiving 200 lashes. Turns out that in the process of testifying against the mass of defendants, she had to admit that she had *gasp* been in the car of a man not her relative (that was where she was raped - apparently scienter is not a critical element of the crime of being in a car with a man not your relative).

But women's rights and other substantive issues aside, there is another aspect of this case that indicates the trouble the Saudi legal system is in: as part of the appellate court's decision, they suspended the woman's attorney for undertaking the appeal. Not only do they have draconian punishments and a lack of substantive rights, but they punish those who attempt to stop (or just actively monitor) the railroading of these people. With such a disincentive to even run interference on the prosecution or level of punishment of anyone presupposed to be guilty, why even bother having a "justice" system?

It does illustrate, though, why the lawyers in Pakistan are so demonstratively upset about threats to the post-British legal system they have. They can see from their neighbors where the loss of a confrontational legal system leads.

Article here

Please do not feed the Benjamin

©2007

Used by Permission

(Benjamin is a guy at our church who is deathly allergic to peanuts. When he was little his parents made the title of the post into a sign for him to wear in the nursery. He has since outgrown the nursery, but we still label things that go to church, so as not to knock him off.)

The things they come up with...

Concept cars, usually created by auto manufacturers to show the artistic direction their models are going, are usually very interesting to look at. Not so much the above Mazda Taiki, unveiled recently at the Tokyo Motor Show. The high, ungainly lines and curves say "Half pimp-mobile half Indycar, after getting a Redneck lift job." It might be cool to drive to a Star Wars convention in, with a little Palpatine plush doll in the rear "window," but I have a hard time imagining driving this vehicle with a straight face. I can't even imagine how much fun it must be to change one of the rear tires. If I had to provide a tag line for this entry, it would read, "With any other car, you simply hit a deer. We chop it into steaks for you."

Rocky the Frying Squirrel

Article Here

Given my enjoyment of mischief and destruction, an article about a squirrel blowing up a car (even if posthumously) is too good not to pass on. In the roadkill wars, this rodent deserves a Croix de Guerre. (Hey, there is precedent for animals receiving that award...)

Cross-examination fun

Thanks to Judge Buchmeyer for the following exchange in a Texas trial:

Q. On the day that Twine was shot, were you intoxicated?

A. I definitely was not.

Q. Had you been drinking that day?

A. I drank a few beers.

Q. How many beers did you drink?

A. About thirty.

Q. And you were not drunk?

A. No.

Q. What is your definition of drunk?

On Nobels

Gore uses the Force: "I find your lack of faith in global warming... disturbing."

I am still trying to figure out what "educating the world about man-made climate change" has to do with the purported purpose of the prize criteria: outstanding achievement in understanding or ameliorating human conflict. Armistice negotiations, protesting, humanitarian aid to displaced persons, and arms control I can see. But carbon emissions?

Life's too short to drink cheap beer

The merger of Miller and Coors won't have much effect on me. I tend to stick with the good brews.

The newest such brew (see also report by Wileyman) is the Wee Heavy Ale at Vintage 50


Of course, we shouldn't forget The Heart and my old favorite, Old Dominion Brewing Company (in particular, their Oak Barrel Stout).

The Realities of the Rebellion

Chruch Fathers

This actually wasn't one of the better online personality quizzes I have taken, as the answer choices were usually rather limited. Nonetheless, the topic makes it worth posting.

You’re St. Jerome! You’re a passionate Christian, fiercely devoted to Jesus Christ and his Church. You are willing to labor long hours in the Lord’s vineyard, and you have little patience with those who are less willing or able to work as you do. Your passions often carry you into temptation zones of wrath, lust, and pride. Find out which Church Father you are at The Way of the Fathers!

Funny

Funny line--
[After Instructor Brad describes the defense against an attack with a small stick ]
Sensei Dave: "And if you get attacked by a quarterstaff, you have been hanging around too many Renaissance festivals."

Funny toon--
Irregulary Webcomic on Elven poetry

Update on life

Having not been very good about updating recently, I offer the following in abbreviated form:

Tunes: Basil Poledouris' The Jungle Book is amazing. The Heart got me a copy; the theme is a very full, grand view of life, the adventure in the wild. The track "Attack of Shere Khan" has some very nice brass work which I think comparable in quality to the Asteroid Belt music from The Empire Strikes Back.

Books: Timothy Zahn's The Icarus Hunt is a sort of Firefly (for starship, bad guys, and plot) meets Ronin (for characters), and a lot of fun. Sci-fi is just better when it's about the down and out who can barely keep their ship running.

Activities:


It rocks.

Vehicles: Angus passed 233k, but inspections may catch up to him soon. Have to wonder how it saves the earth to downcheck a car based on emissions, requiring me to buy a new one, and thereby causing all the carbon emissions of refining, processing, and working two tons of steel, making carpet, glass, etc.

Work: I am working full time but not permanently. Nonetheless, reversing the cashflow hemorrhaging caused by education has been nice.

Alabama Constitution

I like some of the oddly (or oldly) worded laws legislatures come up with and don't change. I offer as an example the following, which is the sole grounds (beyond the general provisions for all state officers) for impeaching a county sheriff:

Whenever any prisoner is taken from jail, or from the custody of any sheriff or his deputy, and put to death, or suffers grievous bodily harm, owing to the neglect, connivance, cowardice, or other grave fault of the sheriff, such sheriff may be impeached...

Ala. Const. § 138.

Yep, in Alabama, sheriffs can be impeached for cowardice, if a prisoner gets lynched.

Oh, and since it also seems interesting, the governor and other high state officials can be impeached for "intemperance in the use of intoxicating liquors..." Ala. Const. § 173.

Quote of the Week

"[Mr. T's] veins bulge with smaller veins. He sweats animal blood. His armpit hairs are made of beef."

--Gene Weingarten, "Cattle Call," Washington Post, Aug. 19, 2007, p. W60.

Congratulations to the 1000th visitor

The counter (unobtrusively posted at the bottom of this page) has, as of 23:33 (EDT) last night, reached 1000 visitors since I started keeping track.

Thank you, person from Iowa State University for visiting. Your prize is the following message: GO CYCLONES!

And thank you, Cavie, for providing the link that led to the 1000th visitor.