DC sound bites for dullards

Drug Czars Energy Czars, Wars on poverty Wars on terrorism - I've never been a great student, but I read a bit, including stories about American history suggesting that our founding fathers got their ideas from the Enlightenment, not feudal Russia. Or so they (Madison, Marshall, Jefferson...) said. What more? Post Office Tsar? They'd save a bundle by annointing the "Unemployment Czar." Who'd ask Ivan the Terrible for $250 a week? Really, I bet even incumbents would agree that our national role models should not be the same as those of Stalin.

Murdering Gonzago

Before the musical interlude, a Shakespearean discourse: Did Olivier make a better Hamlet than Gibson? Or is the question too crass to merit response?

Why worry, as some of my favorite rhymes spring from this song:

• Hear you Sir! What is the reason that you use me thus? I lov'd you ever; but is no matter. Let Hercules himself do what he may; The cat will mew and dog will have his day
• Oh Villain, Villain, smiling damned Villain!...That one may smile, and smile and be a Villain
• There are more things in Heaven and Earth, Horatio, Than are dream't of in our Philosophy for instance, listen to the clip of the Kings and they'll proclaim that "Nothing matters but the weekend, from a Tuesday point of view (That's what I hear, them say, but it's just another thing to point out to Horatio)

The Onion and Neurophysiology

Oliver Sacks and Stephen Jay Gould may have had differen views, styles of expression, and even areas of expertise, but The Onion certainly tells engaging tales, and is slightly more accessible because of its on-line presence.

Still The Man who Mistook his Wife for a Hat is a great read. I've not seen Awakenings, but besides having an excellent director, Penny Marshall, the cast includes Robert DeNiro, Robin Williams, Vin Diesel, Marge Simpson (Julie Kavner) and Josh Lyman (West Wing) were in it.

Area Man Calls For Immediate Release Of His Endorphins

When This Meth Thing Blows Over, You'll Come Crawling Back

Why so down in the dumps, vato? Man, you don't look so good. What happened, artillery-shell blow half your face off? What's that? You're...

One Big Profile In Courage or rather One Profile in BIG Courage

News Story - Inmate freed after conviction in 1988 Pizza Hut murder overturned In 1996 another man admitted committing the crime, DNA examination exonerated Mr. Ochoa , and in 2001, the Texans let him out of prison. In 2006 Christopher Ochoa graduated from law school. Best to not know what happened to Chris's buddy who also was wrongfully convicted at the time, and also later exonerated, but who has not decided to attend law school.

Responding quickly to the calls of justice, a newly elected Governor of Texas, G.W. Bush initiated an investigation/exoneration process as part of an his prison reform plan that established a special commission to revisit crimes and convictions where issues of equity had been raised. Governor Bush wished to rectify the rare occassions where poverty may have hindered a defendant’s ability to obtain adequate legal representation. Formerly involved in professional sports himself, George Bush understood that the side with the money to pay its players had a better chance of winning than a team that could not afford top quality professionals. An ardent advocate social justice, the Guv wanted the best legal teams available to any Texan who needed them - law enforcement teams, defendents, and convicts alike – in the quest for truth.
And if the best minds in Texas couldn’t do it, the Guv was not above asking folks even from blue states to help.
Project Innocence with the University of Wisconsin group helped free Mr. Ochoa.

Had the Guv had just a bit more foresight, his criminal justice reforms might have aided close buddies (Ken) and friends (Jeff, et.). Ken has a web site detailing the miscarriage of justice in his case. While I do not believe that DNA tests or costs were important factors in this case, I obviously am not an attorney.

Dear AAJ: What's in a name

I needed an email address, and while Askajunker was more a typo of last resort than apt pseudonym, turns out that some other sicko had already grabbed Askajunkie. After I thought more about it, I decided that at my age I'd be wiser to reveal ancestral membership in the Prussian nobility than to admit any sort of addiction. If I were ever to trade email addresses with a new friend, for instance, I figured it would be cooler to come from a family of German squires, than to admit they were a bevy of hippie pot heads. DDDefault would work just fine. Juliet's theory notwithstanding (act 2, scene 2), lot's is in a name apparently, and I bet all the fun monikers at free web based email sites are in use.

Once I accidentally impressed a few tech friends at with my hotmail id (ddefault@hotmail.com) that was made with just my name and no special characters (to distinguish me from all the other dee dee default's out there), instead of one like ddfault2003@hotmail.com that would reveal me uniquely, but as a DD come lately (or DD come 2003) to the internet. In one of my very few trendy moves, I apparently rode an early wave of web surfing in the nineties.

But damn, was I cool!

In Which AAJ plays "Expert Witness"

They'll Let Just Anybody On-Line These Days, and I still dream of being Bobby Goren.

From television true crime shows and web sites like CourtTV and its CrimeLibrary companion, I stay abreast of the news about evil baby rapers and serial killers who possibly troll for prey, announce their intentions, or boast of their accomplishments on web sites like My Face dot com or say Confidential Diary Secrets for My Absolute Best Friends Only dot dum.
Sometimes, thoughtless, grandiose gossips put it all out there for our voyeuristic pleasure, and just possibly their own self destruction. Consider the Fifth Nail Blog.
Knowing how the story ends makes it a creepy read, even from the safety of your own home. Google led me to one site that compared both the police account of Joe's activities with Joe's own blog accounts of his exploits. The revelations here SHOUT out loudly at least two morals/conclusions

1. Don't trust child molesting murderers - They may have an agenda


2. Blog entries make poor alibis

Now, using expertise I acquired from my junior high school gift subscriptions to two enlightening monthlies, Readers Digest and Psychology Today, and by researching the Duncan blog in conjunction with internet accounts, I am able to analyze Joe's sad little life for the court (which in my rich fantasy life is on an L&O spinoff ). Consider the following:

1. He claims he was molested frequently as a kid.


2. He's accused of raping/murdering a number of young boys


3. When, with the help of truly virtuous Citizens, the police nab the guy, he's dining with an abductee, a sister of a some poor little boy he mauled and murdered. Joe apparently abused the girl, but not quite to death.

ERGO - when he rapes and murders the little boys today, he's striking back as he was unable to as a boy, when he was then defenseless against the abuse. He hated himself for being exploited and exploitable, for being raped, with all the attendant hurt, guilt, proof of his inadequacy that allowed older boys or men to fuck him up and over. Now as an adult, he holds the power to avenge. Described by the mechanism of transference when he now rapes and kills, he is destroying the defective child of his youth who allowed the abuse, who deserved the shame and pain, while suffering silently and immensely because of it. He is finally in control.

EMIL SKODA, WATCH OUT

and Happy BD Heather

The Truth vs. James Dobson from Downtown!!!

While MJ dribbled with the divine, a Point Guard among point guards, a heavenly graced athlete who delivered layup after layup, his testimony to the Net, it was a (hypothetical) man of gods who killed Pete.

But false prophets, beware, for Pistol Pete Maravich was a man of the Net, yet one who ultimately dunked with the devil, committing the most flagrant T when he met James Dobson. Dr. Dobson, a Ph.D. psychologist, reached his infamy by focusing on the family and spewing out loving advice on a radio show. Famous for offering up child rearing alternatives to Dr. Spock, e.g. Bringing Up Boys - an inspiring instructional on raising righteous, real boys, the right reverend has been a public figure for a couple of decades now, spreading his brand of Christian love with pschological and political advice. He is one of the loudest voices of the religious right to whisper into Republican ears.

But the Lord's view of James is obvious, and Pete Maravich may well have died for his sins. Pistol Pete was a spiritual explorer who, though once a devout priest of the hallowed Game, became a free agent for a different god after retirement. Perhaps for his apostasy, Pete was smitten stone dead during a one on one pick up prayer just prior to an appearance on the Focus on the Family radio show. While James Dobson was not indicted in connection to Pete's mysterious and premature death, the conclusions to be drawn are clear.