foreseeable

The driver of a Lamborghini was killed early Saturday morning in a high-speed, single-car wreck after his vehicle went through a guardrail on the 101 Freeway, crashed into a parking structure and burst into flames, authorities said. [LA Times]

Good.

No, wait. I don’t mean it’s good that he’s dead and that his family is grieving. I don’t wish people pain.

I mean it’s good when the outcome of human behavior is the rationally foreseeable outcome. If you drive a fast car recklessly – which, if you read the article, you’ll see he allegedly was – then you crash and die. That’s what is likely to happen. Preferably without killing anyone else.

I just hate it when people get away with stupidity. And think hard before you say you’ve never been almost blown off the road by some jerk, and thought to yourself, Boy I hope you wipe out.

We’re talkin’ justice here, aren’t we?

a heartbeat away

E-mail du jour, from Senator Barbara Boxer:

The Vice President is a heartbeat away from becoming President, so to choose someone with not one hour’s worth of experience on national issues is a dangerous choice.

If John McCain thought that choosing Sarah Palin would attract Hillary Clinton voters, he is badly mistaken.

The only similarity between her and Hillary Clinton is that they are both women.  On the issues, they could not be further apart.

Senator McCain had so many other options if he wanted to put a woman on his ticket, such as Senator Kay Bailey Hutchison or Senator Olympia Snowe — they would have been an appropriate choice compared to this dangerous choice.

In addition, Sarah Palin is under investigation by the Alaska state legislature which makes this more incomprehensible.

Well, Squelch couldn’t agree more. I was barely awake this morning when the news because to drivel in from my bedroom TV. Once confident that I wasn’t still dreaming, my first thought was, “Is this a joke?”

McCain has never struck me as this reckless before, or this indifferent to the realities of the office to which he aspires. He seems out of touch, misanthropic in the Bushian sense, warmongering, and economically deadly, but not politically reckless.

So I am pleased, I think. But then I keep thinking I live in a sane land, forgetting that we were all driven mad by the seething hatred which followed the sea of flags, which followed 9/11. In a sane world, choosing a running mate with no national government experience – someone categorically incapable of actually being president – would be disastrous, almost farcically comic.

But we have to remember that it’s all fun and games until the little car covered with clowns mows down your family. You get my drift.

Would Bug Me Too

Cindy Sheehan returned to her Denver hotel room today to find the door unlocked and ajar. She walked in to discover a man working on her phone, screw driver in hand. [Link]

Astounding. You’d think by now they’d find a plumber they could train not to get caught.

Consent

How stupid it was of America to give it, twice.

For in reason, all government without the consent of the governed is the very definition of slavery.

-Jonathan Swift

How much more insane now, that half the voters are even considering four more years of the same damn thing.

don’t tread on my laptop

Do you have a “checkpoint friendly” laptop bag? As of Aug. 16, the Transportation Security Administration allows laptops to remain in their bags — but only certain kinds of bags. Here’s what you need to know before crossing your next security checkpoint. Laptop bags that are OK: Basically, your laptop bag needs to be able to lie flat on the X-ray belt. There can be no pockets inside or outside the laptop section or anything else in the laptop compartment that would obstruct a view of your laptop. Butterfly and tri-fold-style bags work because you can isolate the laptop-only section for viewing. Laptop bags that are not OK: If you carry a backpack or an accordion-style bag, you might take this new ruling as an opportunity to go shopping. Bags with zippers, metal snaps, buckles inside or on top of the laptop-only section will not be permitted. Caveat: TSA still retains the right to rescreen any laptop regardless of what bag it is in. Info: www.tsa.gov.

LA Times

Just a little reminder from your old pal Squelch:

No government official has any right to look in your stuff. They can’t look in your laptop bag or in your luggage at all. They can’t make you open your purse, or your touch your body to frisk you. They have to leave you and your belongings alone.

The right of the people to be secure in their persons, houses, papers, and effects, against unreasonable searches and seizures, shall not be violated, and no Warrants shall issue, but upon probable cause, supported by Oath or affirmation, and particularly describing the place to be searched, and the persons or things to be seized.

So tell the TSA to stuff it, is my point. Their state interest is compelling, but searching every citizen, with no showing that any intends any harm, makes such searches unreasonable.