Archive for July 18th, 2012

What the frack is wrong with you people?

Wednesday, July 18th, 2012

Not “you people” as in my regular readers. I’m sure you’re all tall, strong, above average in IQ, and every one of your bodily functions smells like a vanilla Glade plug-in.

No, I’m talking about the rest of the Internet who doesn’t read my blog and seems to be overrun with a massive sense of entitlement.

Item 1: The existence of the GR Bullies site. “GR Bullies” is apparently a website devoted to combating “bullying” on the GoodReads website (for values of “bullying” that seem to include posting negative reviews) by…acting like misogynistic bullies themselves. Good plan, guys; I’m sure Big Fred Nietzsche would approve. Or maybe not. I commend to your attention the take of John Scalzi, an actual professional writer who gets bad reviews from time to time, on this subject. (I also recommend reading the other three writers Scalzi links.)

Item 2: The existence of ChickLitGirls, a site that takes money for reviews, only posts positive reviews, and, when it is politely suggested that their pay-for-review policy may not be 100% clear, issues bumptious lawsuit threats.

(“bumptious”. Such a great word. I need to work that into my vocabulary, along with “gargantuan“.)

Item 3: “How dare you think Dark Knight Rises isn’t the greatest thing since the invention of fire?”

Item 4: “…those like my son who have disabilities have the right to live life with access to everything people who aren’t handicapped do.” So, therefore, Netflix is obligated to closed-caption streaming video. And, no, providing closed-captioned DVDs isn’t good enough. I am so sick and tired of hearing people like Ellen Seidman talk about “rights” without making a distinction between liberty rights and claim rights.

There are some things that should require accommodation; for example, access to governmental services. And it may be good business for Netflix to make this kind of accommodation. Right now, Netflix feels that it isn’t. (As other people have pointed out, Netflix gets the material it uses for streaming from studios, that material probably does not have closed captions, and the studios would be rightfully upset if Netflix started altering their property.) If you want to prove to Netflix that they’re wrong, don’t use the service, or start your own competing service with closed captions. If Netflix looses enough business, they’ll change their mind. But you don’t have a right to closed captioned streaming video, or, for that matter, to “access to everything people who aren’t handicapped do”. Down this path lies madness: should we build a wheelchair ramp to the top of Half Dome?

[Edited to add: Hattip on item 4 to Walter Olson at Overlawyered.]

Posted in Books, Clippings, Movies, Sarcasm, Stupid | Comments Closed

Banana republicans watch: July 18, 2012.

Wednesday, July 18th, 2012

Joe Wolfe has either resigned or been fired from the Fullerton, CA police department. Former Officer Wolfe was involved in the (warning!) Kelly Thomas beating death (as always, graphic image warning at that link), but has not yet been charged with a crime.

Add Compton to the bankruptcy watch. With a $42 million deficit, I doubt even a tax on rap groups with platinum records will help.

…the city has consistently fallen behind on payments to vendors, including its sheriff’s contract.

Remember when Compton was talking about reopening the Compton PD and spent $1 million on “equipment” before giving up? Good times, good times.

More recently, the city’s independent audit firm refused to sign off on the annual financial statements and quit, after Mayor Eric Perrodin wrote a letter to the state controller’s office alleging fraud might have contributed to the city’s financial issues and asking for an audit.

I’ve avoided blogging this next story because I felt like there was a limit to what my readers (many thanks to both of you) would put up with. Surprisingly to me, though, these banana republican updates have been among the most popular recent posts on my blog. You put up something thoughtful and original, and it gets ignored, but people seem to love California political corruption.

Anyway, there’s an ongoing case involving the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum and accusations of bribes and kickbacks. The Coliseum is nearly broke, and USC is in talks to take it over.

A bunch of people have been indicted in the case. Former “general manager” Patrick Lynch has already pled to conflict of interest charges and agreed to repay $385,000 he got from a man named Tony Estrada.

Estrada is a former contractor with the Coliseum, and has been charged with “embezzlement and conspiracy”. Estrada is also a fugitive from justice.

Today’s LAT has an interview with the fugitive Mr. Estrada.

Tony Estrada, rocking the ski mask.

No joke. Mr. Estrada claims to be “somewhere in South America”; the interviews that make up the story were conducted by telephone and over Skype. (It is unclear to me how the LAT verified that the man in the mask was actually Estrada.)

And:

Estrada regards himself as a whistle-blower — and some Coliseum officials described him that way in the past — because he came forward to tell a government lawyer and an outside investigator about alleged kickbacks he paid to former stadium General Manager Patrick Lynch and about other purported misconduct by stadium employees. Those payments are the basis of the charges against Estrada, who said Lynch pressured him for money as a condition of keeping his janitorial contract.

This just in: our old friend Cudahy City Councilman Osvaldo Conde (of the bimbo and the badge) has agreed to plead guilty to extortion and bribery. Actually, make that former city councilman: Conde resigned yesterday.

Conde is the last of the three indicted city officials (the others being former Mayor David Silva and former code enforcement head Angel Perales) to take a plea in the case.

Posted in California Über Alles, Clippings, Cops, Law | 1 Comment »

Guns, guns, guns!

Wednesday, July 18th, 2012

(This is also partially an Olympic watch.)

We’re the only ones professional enough…to shoot ourselves while cleaning our weapons.

The HouChron has a nice profile of Sergeant Glenn Eller, of the Army Marksmanship Unit. Sgt. Eller is competing in the shotgun double trap competition in the London Olympics. This is his fourth time at the rodeo; he won a gold medal in double trap in 2008. And he’s had an interesting time of it:

  • In 2000, he got food poisoning from “an Australian ham salad sandwich” and finished 12th.
  • In 2004, he finished 17th “after being informed before the competition of what proved to be a false positive drug test”.
  • He won the gold medal in 2008, but the shotgun he used was stolen in 2011 while he was on his way to another competition. It took him a while to get used to the replacement gun, and he “…lost the automatic U.S. slot in double trap to his Army teammate, Staff Sgt. Josh Richmond, but won a place on the team when a second berth for the London Games opened up this spring.”

Worth noting:

Richmond, in turn, has picked up a few things that should contribute to a steady hand in London. After clinching the Olympic berth last year, he served three months in Afghanistan, instructing Afghan soldiers.
Eller said he requested to serve as well but was told it would interfere with his competition and training schedule; like the other members of the marksmanship unit, he spends about 200 nights each year on the road for exhibitions and instructional events.
“I would have loved to go over there and help train people how to defend themselves in their own country,” Eller said. “It gives you pride to be able to do that. Sgt. Richmond is going in the same year from a combat zone to an Olympic Games.”

You know, I like these AMU guys. It’d be fun to meet some of them and hang out. I wonder if the AMU will have a presence at next year’s NRA meeting?

(Joy! Also speaking of the AMU, Amazon says my copy of US Military Match and Marksmanship Automatic Pistols has been delivered!)

Posted in Books, Clippings, Guns, Sports | Comments Closed