Wattles Waggling

This weeks link-dump starts with a hot times in the legal industry section. Long story short, the Prosecutor and Presiding Judge were sleeping together (well, not sleeping, but you get the gist) during the adjudication of a capital case. I have a few thoughts that aren't covered by the press. Everyone nods and says that the verdict isn't in doubt. Not mentioned is that they're reporting on their own reporting, which was pretty much stenography of the prosecution's position. A review of evidence admitted and not admitted, and motions sustained or not, might be in order. The family's wait for justice is often waved about like a bloody shirt. The subtext, of course, is that we should just dummy-up, overlook the monkeyshines of the industry, and off the obviously guilty party. This stance depends on the assumption that it will never be your butt being played for gain by industry insiders. I like reasonable doubt better.

• The facts of Hood's case look very bad. That's why his appeal to the Supreme Court was supported by 30 top legal ethicists and an array of high-profile judges and prosecutors, including former FBI Director William Sessions and former Texas Governor and Attorney General Mark White, who supports capital punishment.
• Because Hood failed to raise the claim in earlier pleadings, as he could not substantiate the "rumors" of the affair with sufficient proof and, therefore, according to the Texas appellate court, was procedurally barred from raising the claim now. The Texas prosecutor hailed the decision as a significant procedural victory.
• The trial judge and the prosecuting attorney's affair breaches every standard of fairness that you would expect a defendant to receive during a capital case or, for that matter, a noncapital case. Hood could not have gotten a fair trial under these circumstances. His trial was infected with an incurable conflict of interest.

This one is sure to raise the grain. It gets no traction in mainstream, not even a refutation. Was the South Park threat real, or just a handy knob to hang various publicity campaigns on? Something similar is happening this morning, in Times Square. A car full of fireworks has been upgraded by the talking heads into a threat to The United States of America. Lists of foreign orgs deemed a menace to our way of life have been pressed up against the camera lens and wattles have waggled with promises to get our honor back, etc. All we need do is vote a certain way, or give money to someone, or shut-up while another layer of officialdom accretes. Why golly, corporations have sales kiosks in the square and people from the sacred heartland had to interrupt their shopping. (yes,I have had my morning expresso, thank-you for asking)

• A radical group known as “Revolution Muslim”–based out of New York–issued thinly veiled threats against the South Park creators, hinting that their misdeed would result in their untimely deaths. The founder of the group goes by the name of Yousef al-Khattab, but his real name is Joseph Cohen. He was born and raised in the United States as a Jew, and holds both American and Israeli citizenship.

Next are the various business related ones.

• Wal Mart declined to comment.
• I have been watching with a mixture of awe and dismay some of the really bad analysis, sloppy reporting, and just unsupported commentary about the GS case.
• We live in an age of regulation. But surprisingly, there are very few principles of regulation. As Karl Polyanyi said, “Laissez-faire was planed; planning was not.”
• In January Facebook Chief Executive, Mark Zuckerberg, declared the age of privacy to be over. A month earlier, Google Chief Eric Schmidt expressed a similar sentiment.

The remaining ones are the fun stash. With the astronomy photos, be sure to click them for enlargement. I'm going to put them last, because they provide a bit of prospective on everything else.

• If you are a fan,(Dr.Who) then hopefully this bit of trivia about the show and The Doctor will help hold you over until the next episode comes on.
• Can your microwave oven really measure the speed of light? Yes. And since many of the suggested experiments also involve chocolate....
• The images of the Pillars of Creation, taken by the Hubble ST April 2, 1995, are considered one of the top 10 most beautiful images Hubble has given us.