Drink Upstream

Them's Fightin' Words

I'm not sure why, but I've been in an arugmentative mood lately, so there's another thread going on over at the Alamo.  Check it out.

Also, here's my most recent reply if you are too lazy to read it all.  We're talking about the fact that those boys over there can't find anyone who's had their rights abriged by the policies of the current presidental administration, and by their recokning, if I can't find someone who's had their rights taken away, then there's really nothing to complain about.

-----------------------

Just note the irony.

If I had indeed "lost my right" to habeas corpus, I think I would have a hard time "beamoaning" its loss.  In fact, I would have a hard time doing much of anything other than sitting in a cell pondering my now worthless existence. 

I'd have no recourse.  No public forum, no one to plead my case. 

So you're right, I can't find anyone who has had that right abriged, and while I hate to sound like a consipracy nut, if that person did exist, would we even know about it? 

Now I'm no fancy-pants lawyer, but I'm pretty sure that's why they've always called habeas corpus (or HC as we like to call it in the hood), "the great writ". 

It's supposed to be one's last ditch effort....and it's gone.

I do think though, that basing your willingness to stand up for a perceived loss of rights based on the volume of folks affected is about as selfish as one can get.

To take the position of "That won't ever effect me, so it's not a big deal." is sorry.

If we're only going to maintain rights that directly apply to me, I have a few that we can get rid of.  I know you conservatives hate the "big government", which is ironic; given that under the watch of "your leader" we have seen government control and spending grow beyond anyone's wildest dreams...but that's another post.

Given that, why don't we trim some "fat" from the old bill of rights:

The second amendment:  I don't own guns, I mean, I don't have a problem with them, but really, I don't own any, and I don't really want to own any, so we can trash that.

The 3rd amendment:  Our military has fine housing, and my house is pretty small, so they wouldn't want to crash there anyway.  Let's scratch that one.

The 4th, 5th,  6th and 8th amendments:  Well...we've already taken care of those.

The 7th and 9th amendments:  Eh...too complicated.  Forget those.

The 10th, well...that's not really personal, it's sort of governmental, so we'll just call it a loss too.

Well, looks like I'm willing to stand up and fight if and only if my first amendment rights are abriged.

As for the rest....eh.  F 'em.

----------------

Since we can't manage a real post on our own blog.....

I decided to start a discussion on another site....

Being a self-described moderate, this kinda got my jorts up in a wad.  I'm sure the pole-axing the Cowboys took last night didn't help either.

Link: Alamo Nation: Moderates, Third Parties and Jackassery!.

Why aren't you watching Battlestar?

ve youOkay sure it's scifi.  Yea...it's geeky.  But it's also the best damn show on television.  I just finished watching the Season 3 premiere of Battlestar Galactica on my TiVo, and I must say, it's as good as anything I have ever seen on television.  It's entertaining, thought-provoking and thoughtful.  What else do you want in good drama.

If you aren't watching the show, here's what you need to do (Dees...I'm talking to YOU!).

Go to iTunes.

Download and watch "The Story So Far" so you can get caught up.  Sure, it's not perfect, but you'll know enough that you won't be lost.

Now plunk down the couple of bucks to download and watch the Season 3 premiere.

Have your mind blown, and then you're hooked like the rest of us.

Then if you don't think I'm right, I'll shut up, but not until then.

Also, I know that some of you already watch the show, so here's a cool interview with Ron Moore (the creator).  I wouldn't read it if you haven't seen the Season 3 premiere, as it will spoil some things, but if you've watched it, I don't think that it has too much in there that you didn't already at least suspect.

Link: Chicago Tribune | The Watcher.

An Engineer's Error

This has already made the blog rounds today, but it gives me a hearty chuckle, so I'm reposting here.

There's a very common beginner's programming error in the C code snippet below.  House Bill HR 6166 has exactly the same error implicitly included.  See if you can spot the error:

if (person = terrorist) {
            punish_severely();
} else {
            exit(-1);
}