The Rutgers Student Who Died...

As I'm sure many of you have heard a recent tragedy took place at Rutgers, where a student committed suicide after acquaintances recorded a sexual encounter. I believe it was supposedly a consensual homosexual encounter, but either way they posted it online and the man killed himself as a result of it.

I went to Rutgers. I know that they have an extremely large internal file sharing system that allows students from all across the various campuses to share files. Its much like how any bit torrent site works only it runs off the school's networks. I bring that up because at the time I recall something similar happening to an acquaintance of mine, I say acquaintence because I like veryone else wasn't a fan of him but he and I just seemed to particularly not get along. I won't name him but this was a guy that was extremely abrasive to everyone around him and people made an embarrassing video of him and posted it on the schools network. I think within days pretty much the entire school had seen this thing. It was strangely popular and the poor kid immediately became a laughing stock. It really wasn't that funny then and in the case of this poor victim, its not funny now.

I understand that the two perpetrators were probably thinking it was a funny joke and they certainly didn't expect what happened to happen but they need to be punished for their actions. I support the school in taking this legally as far as they can go with it. It was essentially cyber-bullying. Heck I'll go even further and say that it was tantamount to rape. They raped this kids image and left him in an extremely stressful position of having everyone see something that was intended to only be private. I don't mean to disrespect all Rutgers students but there a disproportionate amount of ass-holes up there. Its Jersey and that Jersey Shore stereo-type exists. And I'm sure this kid got a lot of shit over this video before he ultimately decided to commit suicide. I'm not condoning what the victim did but when you're that age, struggling with sexual identity, it's not surprising he did what he did.

Fuck Fred Phelps

So I happened across this article today regarding the media's intense desire for the Supreme Court to come down on the side of Fred Phelps in the case of Snyder v. Phelps.

This is disgusting. First off the Westboro nutballs are just a group of opportunistic charlatans who are using soldier's funerals as a way to gin up press because its controversial place to protest. It's harassment, bottom line. If you recall, when this first went to trial Snyder won a huge (about $10 million) judgment against the Westboro's, which was then later over turned on appeal. The court considered the protests to be protected speech, but honestly when they are leveled at a single private citizen (as in the case of Snyder's deceased son) in a public forum, does that still hold true? Furthermore these asses usually protest outside away from the funeral typically at the gates of the graveyard but does the fact that those attending the funeral are forced to go past them in order to attend their private event factor in at all? Shouldn't people be allowed some privacy as they are on the way to a private event?

The WBC also released a poem (which is an insult to poets every where) that denigrates the deceased soldier. Sadly because of its use of hyperbole they get away with hate and vitriol. In fact everything they do is meant to dance on the line of free speech. While I can see where the various news outlets and political leaders who are pulling for the WBC side of the case are coming from it still is no less disturbing to see them do it.

How about we make a compromise? The original judge awarded Snyder a huge cash settlement in the case. Why doesn't the supreme court find in favor of the defendant but uphold the original jury's decision and award Snyder the money? Say it's pain and suffering. It will effectively shut down the WBC and for at least a little while hinder Fred Phelp's ability make disgusting remarks at inappropriate places.

No vote on taxes AND no vote on a budget??

It would seem that in all the talk yesterday about the Democrats running away from the vote on extending the Bush tax cuts, we all failed to notice that they forgot to pass a budget as well! Yes readers of the liberal slant will argue that there have been many a congress that has ended its final session and not pass a budget BUT were they under such extraordinary circumstances as the ones we face today? Did any previous congress face, such a missive deficit, high unemployment, unsettled taxes, AND two wars? (As long as we have soldiers in Iraq getting shot at I still count it) I think we're in new territory here. It's just another sign the the Democrats have lost their will to govern and aren't willing to fight for what they believe in. More importantly they are making it nearly impossible to convince the American people that they are worth keeping in office.

November is looking better for republicans as of now. They just need to keep their tea-party candidates to pipe down on the crazy speech and they should be OK. That's going to be pretty tough.

Best Korea finally has a new hero!

If you've been reading this blog for the past week you might recall my earlier post regarding Kim Jong Ill and the ascendancy of his son. Well it looks like it finally happened. Kim Jong Un is now a four-star general and grand pooh-bah of Best Korea. I'll be excited to read about the mental gymnastics they'll have to do in order to explain this to the people. Much like the father's exceptional golf skills I'm hoping they come up with some great lies to build up his cult of personality...that is assuming he has one. All in all I'm actually very curious to see what the son does now that he will be promenately in the public eye. That sushi chef of his says that Kim Jong Un can be just as ruthless as the dad but at the same time he does have some stories of acutally kindess. Time will tell how this kid plays out as a leader but my guess is that he will be the last of his family in charge of Best Korea.

Does anyone know the answer???

Obama today endorsed John Stewart's "Rally to restone Sanity" today. Has this ever happened before? I'm asking anyone if they know the anser to that. For the life of me I can't think of any president doing that. Not that its totally worng for him to do it, since it is the presidents right to his own free speech, but I'm curious to know if this is setting a precedent or at the very least a modern precedent.

Go to Hell? Sorry that's a line crosser.

Maine gubernatorial candidate Paul Lepage had an interesting comment today regarding what he would say tell President Obama to, "Go to Hell!".

Seriously? Have we given up on decency completely? If I lived in Maine I'd probably vote for him since I slant to the right but after that fun little comment I'm not sure I would. Look I'm very dissatisfied with the way Obama is handling things but there's no need to start cursing at someone. Especially from a distance. Its childish and indicates a personality trait that I don't like in a candidate. Again I don't really like what the president is doing but he's still the freaking president! It takes a lot to be in that position no matter how you handle it. He should have shown a little more respect.

I freaking knew it!!

So today the dems to end this session of congress with tails between their legs and decided not to do anything about taxes. If you have happened across this blog before you've may have seen my post earlier regarding the cowardice the dems are displaying by turning their collective backs on this issue. I'm still not to sure how I feel about John Beohner (his tan is really unsettling) but he did make a very poignant comment on the floor of house today, saying that those who voted to adjourn were, "putting their elections above the needs of [their] constituents".

If we needed any evidence of that the vote tells a lot; it was a very close call to adjourn. 39 democrats voted no on the matter, indicating that they are pretty nervous towards their constituents potential electoral wrath.

My analysis probably mirrors everyone else. That this was a bad move on the dems part and only up-holds the narrative that they don't really care that much about the people and are more concerned about saving their own hide than actually helping people. Days like this only point further to a big republican gain come November.