Day: May 3, 2007

Crankypantsing, News & Politics

Hate Crimes and Journalism

Shelly

From Frank James, blogging via the Chicago Tribune, on the hate crimes bill that just passed the Congress and the companion bill introduced to the Senate:

If you’re the sort of person who decides to pummel or kill someone because he’s of a different race, or transgendered, or walks with a limp due to a physical disability, are you really likely to be stopped because Congress put a federal law on the books making it easier for federal law enforcement officials to help local counterparts prosecute you?

We don’t have laws in order to deter potential criminals. That may be a desirable side-effect of laws, but the reason laws exist is so that

A) We all know which behaviors are socially acceptable and which are not, and
B) People who do things that society as a group deems unacceptable can be punished for their actions.

To argue that a law is unnecessary because people will just go ahead and break it, is ludicrous. People break laws all the time. That is in no small part why we have laws. If we were to employ Mr. James’ logic, we should get rid of them all, because they are just going to be broken, anyway.

Conservatives vigorously oppose the legislation because of what they say is the unequal treatment it would in the eyes of the law that would be afforded to some victims of crime versus others. For instance, the law could come down harder on someone who assaulted a gay man than someone who committed the same act against someone straight.

I suspect that very few straight men are threatened, beaten, or killed just for daring to be straight. When someone is attacked simply for being a member of a particular group, the violence is done to him or her in effigy. It is meant for the whole group; it is a form of terrorism.

Also, religious conservatives feared the new legislation could be used to criminalize a clergyman whose fire-and-brimstone against homosexuality might, inadvertently, spur a misguided believer to commit a hate crime.

Boo-fucking-hoo.

Was that load of excreta an example of what passes for journalism, or what passes for op-ed? Or is it a far right political blog flying under the Chicago Trib’s colors? I can’t tell, and that’s a huge problem. The line is so hopelessly blurred between journalism and opinion, that it’s no wonder people think that asswagons like Bill O’Reilly are actually journalists. Journalists, for fuck’s sake! What the hell is wrong with people? And when you have on-line news agencies embedding blogs in their websites, it just gets hopelessly muddled.

Pets

More Recalls

Shelly

They’re like the Energizer bunny. It’s Menu Foods again, only this time, it’s foods that do not contain gluten. The company is claiming that it’s a cross-contamination problem, but after ANI’s little stunt with adding gluten to products that were not supposed to contain it, I can’t help but be a bit cynical.

Anyway, if you have a pet, you really need to keep on top of this. Itchmo and the Pet Connection blog are both good sources of information. I’d recommend keeping an eye on the FDA’s website, too, but keep in mind that they are not updating in a timely fashion.

Uncategorized

Mr. Raccoon

Shelly

We had a visitor last night! A young adult raccoon ambled onto my patio while I was making supper. I think he must have smelled the cooking food, and was investigating his chances of getting in on the action. It was too dark to get a photo of him through the window, and there’s no way I was going to go outside with him there, so you’ll have to take my word for it.

Raccoons are crazy cute, but the possibility of them carrying diseases–like rabies–is too high to risk contact with them. Also, they can be very aggressive. This little guy was awfully brazen. He came right up to the patio window, where Harriet was doing her best Cujo impersonation. She was literally throwing herself at the glass. Not very smart of the raccoon to stick around, which makes me even more leery of him. Rabies is a neurological disease, and one symptom is the inability to properly gauge danger. Rabid animals do stupid things, like attack critters much bigger and meaner than themselves.

Supper, by the way, included fried tofu. It is most tasty. I’m not a big fan of tofu (the texture, it doth offend!), but I do like it sliced very thinly and either Shake-n-Baked or dipped in a mixture of about 2 parts soy sauce, one part water, and a few drops of worcestershire sauce, sprinkled with garlic and onion powder, then fried in olive oil. It gets crispy and leathery, which is much preferable to mushy and chalky.