The Dance of Court

I have some perspectives on this case:

Clearly, the Duke lacrosse players need to be punished for their idiotic behavior. And this is not just a single incident, if you read some of the articles written, they certainly have a history of "bad boy" behavior; several documented incidents have come to light, and several of the players (including one of the accused) are or were on probation for various naughty incidents. So is this a single case of the boys being boys - nah, it's a continuation of an ongoing pattern of rambunctious behavior by a team known for it. But why is THIS incident, in my humble opinion, bigger than it really needs to be...

Durham, NC, is a very racially charged and economically segregated area. On the one hand you have the rich, priviledged, student body of Duke. On the other hand you have the lower class, predominantly black, populace of Durham. Clearly a case of them vs us, rich vs poor, white vs black. So getting a conviction of some sort to "appease" the injured and insulted populace of the local area is critical for...

Mike Nifong's political aspirations. Yeah, Tilam, I know that he deferred all this talk until after the trial, but wow, what a heckuva martyr. "No, I won't use this as an opportunity to gain faction and further my own political ambitions, we'll wait". Wow. I can just see at the local barber shop..."Oh man, that Nifong guy, he's really focused on this case, he doesn't care about the election, I LIKE HIM, I"M GONNA VOTE FOR HIM." And if gets a conviction of the rich athletes on behalf of all the local black population, they are REALLY gonna vote for him. But in the end, you and I both know it comes down to...

The almighty dollar. Dollars for the stripper who is NOT the accuser, who has made no bones about "trying to parlay my fame into money for me and my kid". To the accuser, who is either lucky or good, the conviction of the criminal case is completely irrelevant, she's focusing on the civil case. THAT's where the money is...remember Michael Jackson? He beat the child molestation rap (against what I thought was pretty darn compelling evidence), but the REAL case was getting a civil settlement aside from putting him in jail. Kobe Bryant? Need I go on?

In other news around the world...

Somewhere in butt fuck Texas, 2 redneck teenagers beat and sodomized a mexican young man who they thought was trying to kiss a white girl. Looking at their mug shots, they look like the typical run down broke ass redneck skinhead punks. The young man is in the hospital and apparently has a 50/50 chance of living. They should send those 2 little boys to jail and let the big convicts show them what it means to be anal-retentive.

So how we're in the phase of analyzing why those air packs failed the 12 miners stuck in the shaft during the Sago mine blast in VA. If you read the accounts, there is a complete confluence of stupidity and lack of planning which caused 11 men to die. Mines need to be safe, but since they inherently are probably not, then we need to take measure to keep our miners alive. Give them working air packs. Teach them how to use them (there is some speculation that they were not properly trained). A reported methane leak was plugged up with glue - WHAT? But what does this indicate about our country? Welp, it simply states that we are lazy stupid morons with no thought to the future, and changes are only enacted after something horrific happens - we manage our safety by death these days. We assume it always safe until people die or get hurt. What is wrong with this picture? That mining company, Alaska Airlines, and as a frequent flyer, I'm not convinced that we haven't become lazy and un-diligent in our airline security AGAIN! It's never a problem, we don't think of safety, until people get hurt or die. I'll stop here...

In the WTF department...Chevron Corp.'s first-quarter profit soared 49 percent to $4 billion, joining the procession of U.S. oil companies to report colossal earnings as gas prices soar. Am I the only one who reads that sentence and says "are you f**kin kidding me?!" I paid $3.15 today per gallon. I want someone's head on a platter...