Sunday, June 1, 2008

Free advice of the day

If you are a (originally male) transvestite who has been arrested for showing up at the local high school in a purple dress and pink rubber boots, screaming threats, waving a Taser and threatening to use it on students...

Do NOT tell the authorities that your plan if released is to go to the next town and castrate the judge in your last case.

http://www.theolympian.com/southsound/story/464615.html



I've argued for bail in some pretty marginal cases, but that takes the cake.

If the Legislature was run like a court..

So now there's a flare up of talk about gun control due to a shooting incident at Folklife, the big Memorial Day gathering at Seattle Center.

My question is, where is the discussion of what works in other states? All the statistical evidence shows that there is no identifiable connection between gun control and the homicide rate in any given state. If gun control worked, wouldn't there be a lower crime rate in states with stricter gun control?

Likewise, every time there's a proposal to change the liquor laws there's screaming that it will encourage alcohol abuse, DUI, etc. Here, you have to go to the state-owned liquor store if you want a bottle of Scotch. In other states, you can buy it off the shelf at Safeway. Has anyone looked at whether people drink more and/or commit DUI more often in those states?

The Legislature runs on sound bites, not evidence. So much of my time is spent cleaning up and/or working around the results of that that it isn't funny.