tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-63166482012-01-01T22:19:23.112-05:00Musings about the important things in life - law, politics, music, racing, soccer, etc. - an "eclectic blend of miscellany"JD Byrnehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00752668899810828567noreply@blogger.comBlogger31701100tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6316648.post-86107225050484567132010-01-04T00:01:00.001-05:002010-01-04T00:01:02.213-05:00

I've come to a conclusion.After more than six years and 3100 posts, I've decided that the Ranch has run its course. In short, this will be the last post I make here. I'll leave the blog itself up as an archive (and a collection of useful links), but the lights will go dark after this post, so to speak.What's brought me to this decision? I blame jedi jawa.OK, that's not really fair or accurate,

JD Byrnehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00752668899810828567noreply@blogger.com11tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6316648.post-18032592966659534212009-12-31T12:01:00.001-05:002009-12-31T12:01:00.059-05:00

While I wrote about music back in the days before blogs, I never really did the same with movies. It wasn't due to lack of interest. A lot of lonely weekends in law school led to my development into a film fanatic. Thanks to Netflix, I've got a treasure trove of great cinema, new and old, to work through these days.As with the tunes, I do not claim to be any kind of an expert. Hell, I can at

JD Byrnehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00752668899810828567noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6316648.post-58068819506792460672009-12-30T17:01:00.001-05:002009-12-30T17:01:00.654-05:00

Back in the days before blogs, I wrote album reviews. Nothing all that substantive, just gut reactions to whatever passed through my world. Ever since I started this blog I've occasionally popped off about music. So it only seems natural, as we wind up the decade, to look back at the high points.I am by no means an expert and won't make the argument that these are the ten "best" albums of the

JD Byrnehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00752668899810828567noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6316648.post-9966155341710972312009-12-29T17:01:00.003-05:002009-12-29T17:01:00.306-05:00

In comparison with the year in tunes, it feels like I've hardly seen any movies this year. Maybe it's because, going back over my list, there wasn't anything I saw in the theater that really grabbed me. I suppose I should just delete "film" from the post title, then, but why mess with a tradition?That being said, I managed to uncover quite a bit of good older stuff this year and catch up with

JD Byrnehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00752668899810828567noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6316648.post-77431504759331662572009-12-28T17:07:00.001-05:002009-12-28T17:12:33.772-05:00

Yes, dear readers, it's that time of year, once again. The time where I take a few minutes and talk about the cultural artifacts that particularly moved me over the past 12 months. And after that, a special treat - my top movies and tunes of the decade as we send out the Aughts.We start, as always, with music. Holy cow I listened to a lot of tunes this year! It was a big year for several of

JD Byrnehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00752668899810828567noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6316648.post-2235893072475552522009-12-18T18:19:00.003-05:002009-12-18T18:19:00.082-05:00

The Devil. It’s always the Devil’s fault.It seems appropriate that in the same week that we bid good riddance to religious huckster supreme Oral Roberts that one of his followers makes the kind of base plea for cash that would have made ol’ Oral smile. Remember, he demanded millions in 1987 lest he be “called home” by the Lord.Rod Parsley runs a megaministry in Columbus, one that is firmly in

JD Byrnehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00752668899810828567noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6316648.post-12129223764204608822009-12-17T19:59:00.004-05:002009-12-18T08:18:45.556-05:00

The nation first met this family (for the most part):Hard to believe the show started before I was even in college! And that debut episode profoundly shaped my ideals of Christmas:Ho ho ho, indeed!

JD Byrnehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00752668899810828567noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6316648.post-86630755409346508052009-12-15T18:16:00.003-05:002009-12-15T21:58:33.768-05:00

I’ve never wasted a whole lot of time or energy on the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.For one thing, the idea of a “hall of fame” for music of any kind (or art in general) seems odd. Unlike sports, which have statistics to work with and a career defined by a term of specific years, music is inherently subjective and careers never really end, as long as we’re talking about recorded music, anyway. In

JD Byrnehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00752668899810828567noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6316648.post-31648306184464044402009-12-14T17:48:00.002-05:002009-12-14T17:55:41.807-05:00

When I made the shift from state to federal criminal defense practice, it seemed to me that the leitmotif of the cases passing through our office, which were mostly drug cases, was this: dude gets pulled over for speeding (sometimes flagrantly) or some other minor traffic violation, gives consent to search the car, and the cops recover a large amount of cocaine/crack/meth (pick your poison).

JD Byrnehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00752668899810828567noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6316648.post-83479388420936797812009-12-10T17:45:00.002-05:002009-12-10T17:50:01.913-05:00

Sadly, we may never know the answer to that question. For when Jesus gets called for jury duty, she (yup, you read that right) can't make it through voir dire (via Volokh):Christ was sent to Judge Clyde Jones's courtroom for a criminal case. She was excused because she was disruptive, court officials said. Instead of answering questions, she was asking them, a court employee in Jones's office

JD Byrnehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00752668899810828567noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6316648.post-8788050843875435822009-12-09T18:15:00.002-05:002009-12-09T18:20:14.383-05:00

I live in a duplex. That means that earlier this year when the roof picked up a little wind damage on my side of the house, but quite a bit on my neighbor's side, I had to pony up to put a new roof on the whole shebang. Such is one of the perils of sharing a wall with someone.So today, we've had some amazingly powerful winds whipping around (74 mph at the airport, according to local news).

JD Byrnehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00752668899810828567noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6316648.post-87801006036271664722009-12-08T18:31:00.002-05:002009-12-08T18:55:45.746-05:00

Jeez, you leave town for a few days and all this juicy news stuff piles up at the front door. Oh well, at the risk of ruining the spirit, if not the letter, of my “one post per day” limit, a few quick thoughts . . .On Clemency & HuckabeeI am no fan of former Arkansas governor and failed GOP presidential candidate Mike Huckabee. His approach to governance is so enmeshed with his religious

JD Byrnehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00752668899810828567noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6316648.post-45766763971862662062009-12-03T17:30:00.005-05:002009-12-06T21:55:46.245-05:00

Were you glued to the TV last weekend watching the Grey Cup, the Super Bowl of Canada? No, neither was anybody else with a full slate of NFL games to watch. Nonetheless, the game, between the Montreal Alouettes and Saskatchewan Roughriders was a nail biter, coming down to to a field goal attempt with no time left the clock by Montreal kicker Damon Duval.He missed.But wait! A second chance at

JD Byrnehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00752668899810828567noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6316648.post-21187879780274354612009-12-01T17:56:00.002-05:002009-12-01T18:35:42.625-05:00

When I first got online in college back the mid-1990s (before there were even pictures on the Web, kids!), the main interactive destination was the USENET newsgroups. Organized by topic and dedicated to a bewildering array of human interests, newsgroups provided a way for fans of particular arts, artists, hobbies, sports teams, whatever to talk to each other in semi-real time. Web-based forums

JD Byrnehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00752668899810828567noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6316648.post-33448862523286206232009-11-30T18:49:00.003-05:002009-11-30T19:00:00.658-05:00

It is done, yet it is not finished.What could lead to such near incoherence? Why the end of National Novel Writing Month, that's what! For the second year in a row, I've hit the magic 50,000 word month and thus I'm a NaNoWriMo winner twice over!After a month's worth of work, I've pooted forth 50,202 words. That's the good news. The bad news is that, unlike last year, I'm nowhere near finished

JD Byrnehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00752668899810828567noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6316648.post-12669642575284018822009-11-24T19:16:00.004-05:002009-11-24T19:18:36.667-05:00

I'm not a fan of the national pastime, but maybe that's because I've been doing it wrong. Like engaging with it sober (via Concurring Opinions):I've heard worse excuses to embed some echolyn, while I'm at it:

JD Byrnehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00752668899810828567noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6316648.post-19975975655262486702009-11-23T20:39:00.001-05:002009-11-23T20:42:02.605-05:00

For the most part, the fortune cookies I get when I eat Chinese food actually make some kind of sense. Not so yesterday's lunch chaser:Now go to it!It's ready to be prick.Add to that the fact that my Chinese word of the day on the other side was "disease" and I'm not sure what they were trying to tell me. Maybe that I should have ordered off the Chinese, rather than Japanese, side of the menu?

JD Byrnehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00752668899810828567noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6316648.post-61267744026917113672009-11-19T22:23:00.002-05:002009-11-19T22:27:36.761-05:00

She's gone rogue, but now Sarah Palin is . . .. . . going Moog! Run for the hills!Shamelessly lifted from here.

JD Byrnehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00752668899810828567noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6316648.post-50346760344522683162009-11-16T18:01:00.002-05:002009-11-16T18:08:13.803-05:00

English actor Edward Woodward, most well known in the States for his Golden Globe winning role in the TV series The Equalizer, has died in a British hospital.Though prolific on stage and both screens (small and big), he only really got to be the main attraction in films twice. Once was in the cult classic The Wicker Man (the first one, obviously) and in one of my favorite films of all time,

JD Byrnehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00752668899810828567noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6316648.post-78879559442853385072009-11-12T17:07:00.000-05:002009-11-12T17:07:00.170-05:00

I just realized that we're coming to an end of a decade, as the "aughts" will finish up when the New Year rolls around in January. Not surprisingly, we're starting to see "best of" lists for the decade. The Times of London is already up with its 100 best films of the decade, while The Onion's AV Club has started a project to nail down the decades best . . . well, everything.In that spirit and

JD Byrnehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00752668899810828567noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6316648.post-58029094903653401732009-11-10T16:55:00.005-05:002009-11-10T16:55:00.309-05:00

When it comes to fictional characters, main characters at least, most audiences want them to be likable. They want to empathize with the hero battling evil or the underdog overcoming huge odds. At the very least, we don't want the main character to be an annoying dipshit.Not that annoying dipshits can't be entertaining. John Cleese has made a living annoying other people for a living. He even

JD Byrnehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00752668899810828567noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6316648.post-28143037084324726562009-11-09T17:20:00.002-05:002009-11-09T18:17:11.184-05:00

A great day indeed.

JD Byrnehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00752668899810828567noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6316648.post-91427199734623705362009-11-06T17:08:00.000-05:002009-11-06T17:08:00.054-05:00

Legal briefs on the whole are dry, dull, boring affairs. Trust me - I write them for a living. It can be tempting to try and enliven things with a joke or a pop culture reference, but you have to tread carefully. If the audience either doesn't get the joke or is insulted at its very existence, you're better off dry, dull, and boring. And if you drop a pop culture reference, you might just

JD Byrnehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00752668899810828567noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6316648.post-88997934258511210452009-11-05T17:12:00.001-05:002009-11-05T17:12:00.615-05:00

One of my pet peeves, although one I don't go off on much here because I don't carry a camera around with me all the time, is the abuse so many people heap upon quotation marks. Hardly seems like a day goes by where some store sign or announcement completely mangles the poor things.Thankfully, I've found somebody else who is keeping an archive of this abuse, The "Blog" of "Unnecessary" Quotation

JD Byrnehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00752668899810828567noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6316648.post-85970073275561380452009-11-04T18:24:00.004-05:002009-11-05T08:12:22.337-05:00

Turns out Big Brother was right. At least that's what the church up the street from me says. Who knew?At least Big Brother was pithier.

JD Byrnehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00752668899810828567noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6316648.post-64482490734754360142009-11-02T17:07:00.002-05:002009-11-02T17:07:00.583-05:00

November is National Novel Writing Month. As I mentioned last week, I'm participating in NaNoWriMo again, for the third year running. Of course, that means posts here at the Ranch will be few and far between. However, if the progression of my past efforts means anything, I might have something decent when all is said and done this year.My project in 2007, The Year of Living Magically, cratered

JD Byrnehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00752668899810828567noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6316648.post-91783859665528973342009-10-30T07:00:00.005-04:002010-03-04T17:43:15.388-05:00

I know it's a day early (or a day late, if you go by organized trick-or-treat dates), but here are a couple ghost stories to help mark the occasion.The first is an oldie, but a goody, the tale of the Greenbrier Ghost. Yes, it's from Greenbrier County, West Virginia, and it's a story of murder and testimony from beyond the grave! Talk about Confrontation Clause issues.The second is an original

JD Byrnehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00752668899810828567noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6316648.post-35561558182527728472009-10-29T18:37:00.002-04:002009-10-29T18:45:14.215-04:00

Randy Cohen writes a column, “The Ethicist”, for the New York Times Sunday Magazine. He also has a NYT blog where he hashes out ethical issues. Earlier this week he made some excellent points about religion in the public sphere, some that I think are key to one big thing so many of us non-believers would like to change. The short version is that religion, like every other idea on the planet,

JD Byrnehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00752668899810828567noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6316648.post-7754698725315616112009-10-28T18:48:00.004-04:002009-10-28T19:10:11.223-04:00

One of the problems with the 24-hour news cycle - and a blog in every pot, to be honest - is that we demand instant analysis of people and events as they take place. Often times we don't demur until we have some distance from the event. Distance tends to cool passions, allow factual disputes to sort themselves out, and generally let us figure out how something or someone actually impacted the

JD Byrnehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00752668899810828567noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6316648.post-53643505081457486572009-10-27T17:14:00.002-04:002009-10-27T17:14:00.621-04:00

You know, it's funny enough when Rush Limbaugh gets punk'd by a prank. It's a whole 'nother level of funny when he tries to defend himself.Last Friday, Rush stumbled upon a hot and juicy exclusive - Obama's college thesis, in which he wrote:'While political freedom is supposedly a cornerstone of the document, the distribution of wealth is not even mentioned,' read the fake report on Obama's

JD Byrnehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00752668899810828567noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6316648.post-92042360252340453922009-10-26T17:54:00.002-04:002009-10-26T17:58:45.440-04:00

Yeah, well, OK, not exactly "on the cross," but rather pontificating about the case I blogged about a couple of weeks ago:The Colbert ReportMon - Thurs 11:30pm / 10:30cThe Word - Symbol-Mindedwww.colbertnation.comColbert Report Full EpisodesPolitical HumorMichael MooreAs usual, Stephen cuts right to the heart of things in his own special way.

JD Byrnehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00752668899810828567noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6316648.post-89323190500234892122009-10-24T12:00:00.000-04:002009-10-24T12:00:02.317-04:00

Yeah, so the whole couch burning thing in Morgantown is not cool, but this is funny as hell:

JD Byrnehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00752668899810828567noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6316648.post-27187809427550285152009-10-23T17:15:00.001-04:002009-10-23T17:15:00.070-04:00

It’s been a good year for Ayn Rand, aside from the fact that she’s still dead. Her books shot up the best seller charts at Amazon over the summer as the Tea Party brigade embraced her as an icon. A new biography of Rand is also developing a lot of buzz. That’s the jumping off point for a couple of posts over at The Volokh Conspiracy about Rand’s influence. One claim about her, in particular,

JD Byrnehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00752668899810828567noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6316648.post-28998488929883359782009-10-22T17:53:00.001-04:002009-10-22T17:53:00.344-04:00

A few blurbs of interest from here and there.More Legislative TomfooleryChildren, er, politicians not playing well together continues apace, this time in Connecticut, where the state GOP created a bunch of fake Twitter accounts in the names of Democratic legislators. The scheme was shot down when Twitter was notified, as the fake accounts violated their terms of service. Amazingly enough, the

JD Byrnehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00752668899810828567noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6316648.post-86388836558188289162009-10-21T18:26:00.002-04:002009-10-21T18:33:28.721-04:00

Earlier this year, I blogged about the shenanigans going on with the New York state Senate. You remember - the narrowly split body was thrown into chaos when a couple of Dems switched sides and caucused with the GOPers, shifting the balance of power and generally resulting in a state of higgledy-piggledy. Normalcy (such as it is in politics) has since been restored.As amusing as it was to watch

JD Byrnehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00752668899810828567noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6316648.post-63671023631254254542009-10-20T19:54:00.001-04:002009-10-21T18:24:51.542-04:00

A few months ago I blogged about Pandora, the streaming music service that takes the songs you request and your favorite artists and tries to figure out other tunes that you'll like. It's a lot of fun, especially since it's free. This Sunday's New York Times Magazine had a fascinating article about the mechanics behind Pandora and the Music Genome Project, which powers it.What was interesting

JD Byrnehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00752668899810828567noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6316648.post-43946868860722256682009-10-19T17:07:00.000-04:002009-10-19T17:07:00.165-04:00

. . . like the American public duped. Seriously, if you want to really get on the bad side of the American populace - I'm talking about across all ages, political viewpoints, and what have you - dupe them into caring about something that turns out to be bogus. Involve the safety of a child? Serious bonus points.I'm referring, of course, to the saga of the "Balloon Boy", which captivated the

JD Byrnehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00752668899810828567noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6316648.post-91728684643963421182009-10-16T17:04:00.001-04:002009-10-16T17:33:11.217-04:00

When is a religious symbol not a religious symbol? When religious folk want to keep it on public land and its convenient to argue otherwise.That kind of practical illogic is the only way I can understand what’s commonly called “ceremonial deism.” That’s the argument that some religious expression in the public square – “under God” in the pledge of allegiance, a squishy non-denominational prayer

JD Byrnehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00752668899810828567noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6316648.post-48053773419857035402009-10-15T18:52:00.003-04:002009-10-15T19:13:13.279-04:00

I know it’s not very nice to revel in the misery of others. “Do unto others . . .” and all that. But when it comes to sports, it really goes with the terrain, doesn’t it?I mean, by definition, if I want my team to win I want the other team to lose, right? Thus the misery. When the other side is a hated rival, it’s all the sweeter. Don’t get me wrong, I’ve got nothing against Marshall

JD Byrnehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00752668899810828567noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6316648.post-49859009628689270132009-10-13T19:16:00.002-04:002009-10-13T19:27:13.034-04:00

Or super scary, I can't figure out which. Remember the huge supercollider they built in Europe that, at one point, someone worried was going to cause the end of existence? When they actually switched the thing on it just broke, so that particular doomsday scenario got pushed back a bit. But now a couple of physicists have come up with a more intriguing possibility:Then it will be time to test

JD Byrnehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00752668899810828567noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6316648.post-64855940961764738812009-10-12T20:48:00.002-04:002009-10-12T20:53:52.994-04:00

I really shouldn't have to do this. Your parents should have taught you, sometime back when your troglodytic brain was being formed. They should have taught you that when you go to a concert and someone is up on stage playing/singing something, you shouldSHUTTHEFUCKUP!Really, I'm constantly amazed by people who pay good money to go to a concert and talk through the whole damn thing. I dragged

JD Byrnehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00752668899810828567noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6316648.post-62115933996019765792009-10-09T17:27:00.003-04:002009-10-13T19:16:22.010-04:00

I think I’m losing my grip on reality.First, I get home yesterday and find an article at Salon about whether blackface is making a comeback. Then I see a story on CNN about how, for the first time in eons, a sitting President will not meet with the Dalai Lhama while he is in Washington, for fear of honking off our Chinese creditors. Finally, our massively important World Cup Qualifier in

JD Byrnehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00752668899810828567noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6316648.post-74449867653937688262009-10-08T18:28:00.000-04:002009-10-08T18:28:27.335-04:00

Another installment my (regular? occasional? time will tell) series of odds and sods from the artsy fartsy realms.Happy Anniversary – IMonty Python has been such a ubiquitous presence in my life (it's where the post title came from) that sometimes it’s hard to remember it’s been around longer than I have. In fact, this year marks the 40th anniversary of the debut of Monty Python’s Flying Circus

JD Byrnehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00752668899810828567noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6316648.post-56840967342532098162009-10-07T18:16:00.000-04:002009-10-07T18:16:40.121-04:00

I’m pretty sure I have. Maybe not, though, it’s always so hard to tell, especially with Supreme Court Justices. The other day, Justice Scalia told a C-SPAN interviewer, in response to a comment from Chief Justice Burger about the poor quality of advocacy before the Court (via Volokh):'I used to be disappointed that so many of the best minds in the country were being devoted to this enterprise.'

JD Byrnehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00752668899810828567noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6316648.post-53008387208798564602009-10-05T17:54:00.002-04:002009-10-05T18:08:58.854-04:00

What is it with GOPers and popular music? Can't they get things straight in advance for once? Ronald Reagan famously appropriated Springsteen's "Born in the USA," figuring it must be a patriotic anthem, without actually listening to the lyrics, apparently. And then during last year's presidential campaign, McCain started using some John Mellencamp songs, only to be smacked down.The latest

JD Byrnehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00752668899810828567noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6316648.post-82050098548866735112009-10-02T17:28:00.002-04:002009-10-02T17:28:00.695-04:00

Ah, it's October. Both the college and pro football seasons are firmly underway, while in Europe the soccer season is in full swing, both domestically and internationally. But there's one more fall milestone to come around - First Monday, the opening of the Supreme Court's term.When Chief Justice Roberts brings the gavel down on Monday morning for the Court's first round of oral arguments, it

JD Byrnehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00752668899810828567noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6316648.post-52955554289237584372009-10-01T18:03:00.002-04:002009-10-01T18:19:46.502-04:00

Although I like to think of myself as a technologically hip and cutting edge kind of guy, I admit that when it comes to media I'm a bit of a stick in the mud (as the comments to this post pointed out!). I like my music on CDs, something tangible I can hold in my hand, rather than just as files on a PC or iPod. Similarly, I like my books (although CDs outnumber books in my house) the same way,

JD Byrnehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00752668899810828567noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6316648.post-28261889308733560192009-09-30T18:21:00.003-04:002009-09-30T21:27:42.104-04:00

Yeah, but what is truth? If you follow me.- Lionel HutzI continue to be fascinated by the Roman Polanski saga. As the director sits in jail in Switzerland, folks on both sides of the case continue to hammer away at each other. In the process, it's become clear that a lot of people don't really have a firm grasp on the facts of the case and what those facts might mean.There are basically two

JD Byrnehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00752668899810828567noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6316648.post-62494234322593939042009-09-29T17:59:00.000-04:002009-09-29T17:59:00.141-04:00

As I said a couple of weeks ago, this month marks a pair of milestones for me. One was the 10-year anniversary of my first autocross. The other, today, is the 10-year anniversary of my admission to practice law in the State of West Virginia. This trip down memory lane should be a bit shorter than the last one, mostly due to the fact that I don't have any pictures to joggle my mind.When I was

JD Byrnehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00752668899810828567noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6316648.post-60248570658933958462009-09-28T18:06:00.002-04:002009-09-29T12:49:49.231-04:00

After more than three decades on the lamb, a Los Angeles County arrest warrant finally caught up with director Roland Polanski last weekend, as he arrived in Switzerland to accept a lifetime achievement award from the Zurich Film Festival. I don’t know much of Polanski’s work (I’ve seen Chinatown – good, but not great IMHO), but the sordid details of his case as they’ve come to light in the past

JD Byrnehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00752668899810828567noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6316648.post-80913539751783758552009-09-25T17:54:00.001-04:002009-09-25T17:56:11.173-04:00

This is a contestant from Ukraine's Got Talent (yup, that stuff's everywhere) who works with sand art. Her work is just amazing:Via PRI's The World.

JD Byrnehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00752668899810828567noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6316648.post-52868735053422934672009-09-24T18:10:00.001-04:002009-09-24T18:11:55.932-04:00

A few bits of interest from around the artsy fartsy world.Scambot’s Here! (Almost)Had a missive in my Email box today from Mike Keneally with some good news on his first new studio album in several years, Scambot 1 (first in a series). It’s about ready for preordering. Here are the groovy details:The concept of Scambot had its genesis in a comic strip I drew in one of my sketchbooks in 2001,

JD Byrnehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00752668899810828567noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6316648.post-58796958697653614972009-09-23T18:38:00.002-04:002009-09-23T18:55:10.781-04:00

But progressive rock is surging on the charts! In Europe, at least:Observant chart watchers may have noticed an unfamiliar - and unusual - name in the UK top 30 album chart this week.Among a flurry of new entries from Peter Andre, Jay-Z, Pixie Lott and David Gray is an album by a band that has been around longer than any of them: Porcupine Tree.Porcupine who?Although largely unknown to

JD Byrnehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00752668899810828567noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6316648.post-86908374149705468792009-09-22T19:00:00.003-04:002009-09-23T18:38:44.159-04:00

Of all the dumb ass ideas I've heard for boosting tourism, this one really takes the cake (via Volokh):A tourism gimmick in the southeast Iowa town of Kalona is giving new meaning to the phrase three hots and a cot.Last week the town's Chamber of Commerce and Washington County sheriff pulled over people with out-of-state license plates and offered them an all-expense paid visit -- including free

JD Byrnehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00752668899810828567noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6316648.post-57405906887140855652009-09-21T18:41:00.002-04:002009-09-21T19:06:15.279-04:00

You know, Frank Zappa once said that you can't be considered a real country:unless you have a BEER and an airline - it helps if you have some kind of a football team or some nuclear weapons, but at the very least you need a BEER.Along similar lines, you can't be a real religion until you can complain that someone has discriminated against you because of your faith. But that measure, the Jedis

JD Byrnehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00752668899810828567noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6316648.post-6548597433998199842009-09-20T17:55:00.003-04:002009-09-20T18:09:12.918-04:00

I've been writing this blog for more than five years, during which I've made over 3000 posts. I say that not to toot my own horn, but to show just how much time I've spent writing this thing over the years. As a result, sometimes the blogging crowds out my other creative outlets, sapping what you might call my precious creative fluids. At least, that's the excuse I've come up with for my

JD Byrnehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00752668899810828567noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6316648.post-64410811883543669022009-09-18T17:20:00.000-04:002009-09-18T17:20:00.193-04:00

This month marks a pair of ten-year anniversaries in my life. Later this month will mark ten years since I was sworn in as a member of the West Virginia bar (yeah, there'll be a post about that when the time comes). But tomorrow it will be ten years since I ran my first autocross. So let's take a trip down memory lane, shall we?I started autocrossing about a month after my brother, Scott,

JD Byrnehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00752668899810828567noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6316648.post-90923407905570505492009-09-17T19:01:00.000-04:002009-09-17T19:01:00.530-04:00

I’m wondering if I was the only person in the country this week to walk out of a CD store with both the new Porcupine Tree opus, The Incident, and the new Bruce Hornsby album, Levitate, under my arm? I can’t imagine there’s a lot of overlap between those two fan bases.

JD Byrnehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00752668899810828567noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6316648.post-27281540973078264612009-09-17T18:55:00.000-04:002009-09-17T18:55:00.122-04:00

If you were going to embark on a scheme to impersonate a public official, why on Earth would it be Joe Manchin? Why not go for someone that, I don’t know, people actually like?

JD Byrnehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00752668899810828567noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6316648.post-3481379944442465102009-09-16T18:30:00.002-04:002009-09-16T18:46:24.181-04:00

Over at his New York Times blog, Stanley Fish does something I've never really seen before - he goes after curiosity as a character trait. The jumping off point is a speech given by the National Endowment for the Humanities at the University of Virginia recently that asked whether that institution's founder would have valued curiosity as part of the inalienable right to "life, liberty, and the

JD Byrnehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00752668899810828567noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6316648.post-71752168485760176122009-09-16T18:20:00.002-04:002009-09-16T18:29:39.087-04:00

One would think that discovering that the judge who presided over your murder trial was having an affair with the man who prosecuted you (and put you on death row) would be pretty solid grounds for a do over. Not in Texas, thanks to a feat of judicial formalism overwhelming all else (via Crime & Federalism): The question of whether a romantic relationship between a judge and prosecutor is unfair

JD Byrnehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00752668899810828567noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6316648.post-26350277523587428202009-09-16T18:14:00.002-04:002009-09-16T18:20:19.270-04:00

. . . then apparently Denmark is for anonymous hook ups? That appears to be the message, believe it or not, of a Danish tourism advertisement, highlighted by the BBC:A video promoting tourism in Denmark has been removed from YouTube after complaints it promoted promiscuity.* * *In the advert, the woman says - in English - that she was 'trying to find August's father'.'We met one night a year and

JD Byrnehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00752668899810828567noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6316648.post-36330038233721804952009-09-15T18:40:00.002-04:002009-09-15T18:46:41.002-04:00

K's friend Julie is on the Board of Advisors of the Ascent Russian Orphan Aid Foundation, an organization:that spends 100% of donations to provide basic necessities such as food, clothing and shelter to orphans and homeless children living in the former Soviet Bloc countries.I wanted to pass along its latest fund raising effort, from their latest newsletter:We have been offered a challenge grant

JD Byrnehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00752668899810828567noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6316648.post-30771947589468057252009-09-15T18:23:00.002-04:002009-09-15T18:37:11.582-04:00

In general, I’m a fan of the Freedom From Religion Foundation, a non-proft (or “non-prophet”, as they say) organization dedicated to maintaining the separation of church and state. But I think they’ve committed a strategic blunder, one that’s emblematic of the way some atheists miss the political realities of the world.Over the summer, FFRF bought a series of ads across the country, usually on

JD Byrnehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00752668899810828567noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6316648.post-19811593843449853002009-09-15T18:15:00.002-04:002009-09-15T18:17:59.007-04:00

Something the President says that we can all get behind - Democrat or Republican, independent or dependent, communist or fascist: Kanye West is an asshole (via Volokh)!Must suck to get dissed by the Pres, huh Kanye? Oh well, you'll always have fish sticks.

JD Byrnehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00752668899810828567noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6316648.post-54453776672693551592009-09-14T18:12:00.002-04:002009-09-14T18:19:57.083-04:00

Does anybody here remember Vera Lynn?- Roger WatersWith the release of their entire catalog in remastered form last week, you'd expect that The Beatles would top the charts, for a week at least. Not so fast (via):Dame Vera Lynn beat The Beatles and other artists to top the British charts on Sunday, and become the oldest living singer to have a number one hit album, at the age of 92.* * *'We'll

JD Byrnehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00752668899810828567noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6316648.post-33847498204171080302009-09-12T12:27:00.003-04:002009-09-12T12:29:58.002-04:00

The engine that drove one of my favorite bands has been forced into retirement:Phil Collins today revealed he will never drum again because he is suffering from a painful spine injury.The former Genesis star can't even hold his sticks after years of sitting in front of a drumkit.'My vertebrae have been crushing my spinal cord because of the position I drum in.It comes from years of playing. I

JD Byrnehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00752668899810828567noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6316648.post-19036249628904852002009-09-11T17:45:00.001-04:002009-09-11T17:45:00.478-04:00

I missed Obama’s big health care speech the other night – the whole thing’s been so watered down that I’ve got little interest, plus we were playing T&T at the time – so I missed the outburst from a GOPer Rep from South Carolina when he blurted out “you lie!” It’s been hard to miss the press coverage of the aftermath, tho’, which would be amusing if it weren’t so pathetic. I agree with Glenn

JD Byrnehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00752668899810828567noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6316648.post-18846161599280107232009-09-11T17:34:00.001-04:002009-09-11T17:35:22.867-04:00

I’ve blogged before about how the restrictive residency regulations for sex offenders sometimes leaves released offenders with no place to live in towns or counties. In one instance, folks have been forced to live under a bridge. Radley Balko at Reason points out that now even that is ticking some tough on crime people off. I agree with him completely when he says:Look, I have no sympathy for

JD Byrnehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00752668899810828567noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6316648.post-35724349844845351182009-09-10T19:25:00.002-04:002009-09-10T19:30:03.517-04:00

Unless you've been living under a rock for the past month, or so, you know that another wave of Beatlemania is sweeping the globe. Not only do the Fab Four get their own installment of Rock Band, but EMI has finally released their entire catalog in remastered form (in stereo and mono, to boot). The Onion A.V. Club has an appropriately humorous look at the set.Meanwhile, the BBC is diving into

JD Byrnehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00752668899810828567noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6316648.post-50965800089000585802009-09-10T19:15:00.002-04:002009-09-10T19:25:21.267-04:00

The finishing line is in sight for qualifying for next year's World Cup finals in South Africa. Several teams booked their spots yesterday (Spain and England, most notably), but the situation in CONCACAF is far from settled.Of the six teams in the final round of qualifying, only Trinidad & Tobago has no hopes of making it to South Africa. After scraping out wins over El Salvador (2-1) and at T&

JD Byrnehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00752668899810828567noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6316648.post-4275033356114105622009-09-10T19:06:00.002-04:002009-09-10T19:12:23.582-04:00

Part of my daily web rounds include stopping by Wikipedia, as they always have some neat stuff on their front page. Where else would I ever hear about Mike the Headless Chicken, who survived for 18 months after his farmer owner tried to cut his head off (to serve him to his mother-in-law). Mike toured the freak show circuit until he finally died. Sadly, without his head:A pickled chicken head

JD Byrnehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00752668899810828567noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6316648.post-64425365399821709112009-09-09T18:26:00.000-04:002009-09-09T18:27:38.766-04:00

In the debate over the death penalty, perhaps the most perverse Holy Grail that has been pursued is proof that an innocent person has actually been executed. Such a clear injustice would surely sway some hearts and minds to the side of abolition. It’s not enough that hundreds of people have been exonerated from death row before their execution could be carried out. Since they got out,

JD Byrnehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00752668899810828567noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6316648.post-3448146163986344662009-09-09T18:15:00.000-04:002009-09-09T18:17:08.386-04:00

British writer Phillip Pullman, who threw a whole lot of fundies into a tizzy with the His Dark Materials series, has a new project that's bound to push them over the edge again:He enraged America's religious right with his portrayal of God as a senile old man in the His Dark Materials trilogy, and now Philip Pullman is set to court more Christian controversy – this time with a novel about 'the

JD Byrnehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00752668899810828567noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6316648.post-47800811782755973352009-09-09T18:03:00.002-04:002009-09-09T18:07:17.645-04:00

Yesterday, I talked about how the New York Times played a part in the partisan wrangling between competing "discoverers" of the North Pole. Poking around today, I did find that the Times did eventually issue a correction - 79 years later. I guess they had better things to do.

JD Byrnehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00752668899810828567noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6316648.post-89022063051951898772009-09-08T18:43:00.003-04:002009-09-08T19:21:26.764-04:00

Tell the men and messengersSalvation is my own affair- finneus gauge, "Salvation"I have a collection of "words of wisdom" tacked to a filing cabinet in my office.* The first one, from Frank Zappa, goes like this:Anybody who wants religion is welcome to it, as far as I’m concerned – I support your right to enjoy it. However, I would appreciate it if you exhibited more respect for the rights of

JD Byrnehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00752668899810828567noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6316648.post-4653996360465081562009-09-08T18:12:00.004-04:002009-09-09T10:08:16.751-04:00

I came across a couple of stories today of folks taking a home grown approach in areas you might not imagine, with varying degrees of interference from the government. One is thriving thanks to Federal regulatory largess, while the other operates under the specter of rarely enforced Federal criminal law.From the New York Times comes the story of KXZI radio, which broadcasts from a front porch in

JD Byrnehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00752668899810828567noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6316648.post-83618749608919282012009-09-08T17:54:00.004-04:002009-09-09T10:08:30.763-04:00

Quick, who was the first man to reach the North Pole: Frederick Cook or Robert Peary? Might be a trick question as, it appears, neither man actually got there. According to this story from the New York Times, what it calls the "most successful fraud in modern science" continues to provoke debate that sounds awfully familiar, in form if not in content:The believers who have kept writing books

JD Byrnehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00752668899810828567noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6316648.post-77840895291781591382009-09-05T10:56:00.002-04:002009-09-05T11:03:03.998-04:00

Any guy can tell you that there's a peculiar brand of tongue tiedness that comes over us when we talk with women. It's not just in your head, fellas -n ow there's science to back it up (via Volokh):The research shows men who spend even a few minutes in the company of an attractive woman perform less well in tests designed to measure brain function than those who chat to someone they do not find

JD Byrnehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00752668899810828567noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6316648.post-38510606100321525052009-09-05T10:47:00.003-04:002009-09-05T11:05:20.472-04:00

Now that I've escaped from the tangle of asphalt and blacktop that is the greater Washington, D.C., metroplex, I'd like to say a few words to the authorities who maintain that labyrinth.First, to the Maryland State Highway Administration - thank you. The Interstates and other byways in the Maryland part of the metroplex are well signed, particularly at critical moments that could send a wary

JD Byrnehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00752668899810828567noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6316648.post-30390791824536071322009-08-27T18:10:00.003-04:002009-08-27T18:25:40.697-04:00

Last year I blogged about a bit of weirdness next door in Kentucky, which by law was required to acknowledge that:[t]he safety and security of the Commonwealth cannot be achieved apart from reliance upon Almighty God.I agreed with the local lawyer suing the state that the law was "breathtakingly unconstitutional," but took issue with the atheist plaintiffs seeking monetary damages for "mental

JD Byrnehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00752668899810828567noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6316648.post-14205025914886219202009-08-27T17:34:00.003-04:002009-08-27T17:53:26.831-04:00

After some looking around, it looks like this diary over at Kos has found some of the operative statutory language regarding Scotland's compassionate release law:Power to release prisoners on compassionate grounds(1) The Secretary of State may at any time, if satisfied that there are compassionate grounds justifying the release of a person serving a sentence of imprisonment, release him on

JD Byrnehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00752668899810828567noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6316648.post-43856611047594776092009-08-27T17:25:00.002-04:002009-08-27T17:29:54.471-04:00

USA Today has a nice story about a really cool program called Pilots N Paws:The skies next month will be filled with thousands of dogs, cats and other creatures escaping death row through the kindness of strangers.From Sept. 12 to Sept. 20, small-plane pilots — who for 18 months have been volunteering their planes, fuel and time to fly pets from high-kill shelters to areas where there's space and

JD Byrnehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00752668899810828567noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6316648.post-65903200933156141442009-08-27T17:08:00.002-04:002009-08-27T17:21:45.115-04:00

Via SL&P, here's a New York Times story about the latest private prison scandal:Hawaii prison officials said Tuesday that all of the state’s 168 female inmates at a privately run Kentucky prison will be removed by the end of September because of charges of sexual abuse by guards. Forty inmates were returned to Hawaii on Aug. 17.But I see a problem that comes well before any abuse - what the fuck

JD Byrnehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00752668899810828567noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6316648.post-91144700852731095132009-08-26T18:14:00.002-04:002009-08-26T18:30:50.277-04:00

For the third, and final, installment of the review of discs I picked up at 3RP, we travel 'round the world, from Canada and Mexico to France, Italy, Belgium, and Finland. Prog knows no boundaries, both physically and musically. Here we go:Cabezas de Cera, by Cabezas de Cera (2000): This is a really hard disc to pin down. CdC is a Mexican trio, consisting of a percussionist, string guy (guitar

JD Byrnehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00752668899810828567noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6316648.post-17700370350423549682009-08-26T17:28:00.002-04:002009-08-26T17:39:15.736-04:00

With Ted Kennedy's passing, news outlets are focusing on his history with health care, Supreme Court nominees, and his tumultuous personal life. One area that's likely be be overlooked (except by Doug Berman, of course) is his key role in developing the modern world of federal sentencing.Kennedy, along with Orin Hatch and Strom Thurmond (of all people), pushed along the reforms that culminated

JD Byrnehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00752668899810828567noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6316648.post-53849770703377304142009-08-26T17:11:00.002-04:002009-08-26T17:27:29.981-04:00

Yesterday, I speculated about why folks don't like lawyers very much. As part of one theory, I argued that:The new[s] focuses on the sensational cases and big personalities. From that folks get the impression that . . . all criminal defense attorneys are lying weasels who will do anything to get their obviously guilty client off . . .When I wrote that, I had no idea that a perfect example was

JD Byrnehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00752668899810828567noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6316648.post-30450168893472921382009-08-25T18:27:00.002-04:002009-08-25T18:40:22.775-04:00

Today's hunk of 3RP discs come mostly from Sweden, with one from Norway. I've never understood just how or why Sweden developed such a deep and rich prog scene, but both in the heydays of the 1970s and the modern era, they've done it. Anyway, here we go:Destined Solitaire, by Beardfish (2009): I jumped on the Beardfish bandwagon when I picked up The Sane Day after their breakthrough performance

JD Byrnehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00752668899810828567noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6316648.post-82928449024485422762009-08-25T18:03:00.002-04:002009-08-25T18:25:52.136-04:00

Gallup is out with their latest polling data about various industries (via Volokh). For we lawyers, the news ain't good. Only 25% of my fellow Americans have a positive perception of the legal profession/industry. That ranks us fourth from the bottom, ahead of only real estate, the automobile industry, and the oil & gas industry. It's not much of a change from last year and, of course, it's

JD Byrnehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00752668899810828567noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6316648.post-32337874617818841552009-08-25T17:36:00.003-04:002009-08-25T18:00:05.481-04:00

Last week, in trying to figure out Scotland's release of the Lockerbie bomber via compassionate release, I said:Whether this was a routine extension of a well used procedure or an extraordinary stretching of one is relevant, I think.I still haven't found a good discussion of the compassionate release law itself, one that would really inform an analysis. But I did come across this explanation,

JD Byrnehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00752668899810828567noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6316648.post-63504460056537689652009-08-24T19:19:00.003-04:002009-08-25T08:01:34.253-04:00

As promised/threatened, here are some thoughts about the first batch of new albums I picked up at 3RP a couple of weeks ago. I divided them into three roughly equal groups. Today, the Anglo/American group:Oblivion Sun, by Oblivion Sun (2007): Oblivion Sun is the afterbirth, so to speak, of the short lived Happy The Man reunion from a few years back, with HTM mainstays Stanley Whitaker and Frank

JD Byrnehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00752668899810828567noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6316648.post-61351737259272027902009-08-24T19:12:00.003-04:002009-08-24T19:19:38.848-04:00

Last week, Pam over at Pandagon shed light on a completely insane Baptist preacher from Arizona who is on video sermonizing about executing homosexuals and praying for the death of President Obama. Pam has excerpts, which are chilling.But in a thread about this asshat over at PZ's place, a commenter points out another sermon from this guy that's just . . . well, take a look:Now, there comes a

JD Byrnehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00752668899810828567noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6316648.post-23349333310325758952009-08-24T19:00:00.002-04:002009-08-24T19:12:04.145-04:00

Last week, NPR had another in the long line of stories about the financial straights of indigent defense around the country. This time, the story focused on Detroit and Wayne County, and particularly on the absurdly low rates at which appointed counsel get paid for representing the accused. Those lawyers, it should be noted, are not "public defenders" in the strict sense, as they don't get paid

JD Byrnehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00752668899810828567noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6316648.post-44724610098149173412009-08-24T18:24:00.002-04:002009-08-24T18:39:03.963-04:00

Writing in last weekend's Financial Times, Elijah Wald, author of an upcoming book called How the Beatles Destroyed Rock 'n' Roll, makes an interesting case for technology killing live performance in pop music.Basically, his theory is that as studio recording technology evolved (aided greatly by the late Les Paul's multitrack developments), pop music shifted its focus from songs to performers and

JD Byrnehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00752668899810828567noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6316648.post-50248100126561779372009-08-24T16:48:00.002-04:002009-08-24T16:48:00.059-04:00

. . . before you put that sticker on your car:You never know who's going to see it.

JD Byrnehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00752668899810828567noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6316648.post-84138366970408634452009-08-21T19:20:00.003-04:002009-08-21T19:32:23.437-04:00

I guess John Scalzi doesn't have enough excitement in his life. That's the only reason I can figure that he decided to kick the ultimate geek hornets nest by chronicling the ten worst design flaws in the Star Wars universe. As a certified fanboy - I played the role playing game in college, for Han's sake - he's got some valid points. Particularly this one:Death StarAn unshielded exhaust port

JD Byrnehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00752668899810828567noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6316648.post-40865300296223197152009-08-21T18:41:00.004-04:002009-08-21T19:00:35.865-04:00

Doing some research this week, I stumbled across a lengthy opinion from earlier this year in which a federal trial court ripped its appellate court for something I've complained about before - bending over backwards to ensure a Government victory on appeal, even in situations where the court won't extend the same benefit to the defense.The case is US v. Ingram, out of the Northern District of

JD Byrnehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00752668899810828567noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6316648.post-17217201705011604852009-08-21T18:16:00.002-04:002009-08-21T18:41:17.707-04:00

Let me preface this by saying that (a) I'm not a fan of people who do dumb things with guns and (b) I am not now nor have I ever been a New York Giants fan. With that out of the way, I'm finding a hard time finding much sympathy for Giants receiver Plaxico Burress, who is off to prison for two years, as are many commentators.Here's what happened. Burress carried a loaded handgun into a club in

JD Byrnehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00752668899810828567noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6316648.post-77255741600706845662009-08-20T19:46:00.002-04:002009-08-20T20:12:49.882-04:00

In debates about the death penalty, supporters often trot out the worst cases - Hitler, Stalin, McVeigh - and ask folks like me, "yeah, but you wouldn't be against executing one of those guys, right?" The scope of the evil doesn't change my mind, but I concede there is emotion appeal there. Similarly, if you're talking about releasing folks from prison before their sentences are served for

JD Byrnehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00752668899810828567noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6316648.post-69028851479056190632009-08-20T19:20:00.002-04:002009-08-20T19:41:26.429-04:00

Earlier this week, the Supreme Court did an extraordinary thing, granting an "original" habeas corpus petition (as opposed to something seeking review from a lower court) in the case of Troy Davis. Davis was convicted in 1989 of murdering a Georgia police officer, based largely on the testimony of nine eyewitnesses. He was sentenced to death. Since then, seven of the nine have recanted in some

JD Byrnehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00752668899810828567noreply@blogger.com1