Done

I'm done.

Just don't have time, and there are hassles I'm encountering that make this not worth it.

Those of you who know how, know how to keep in touch.

Others can email prosqtor(at)gmail, if ya feel like it.

What I Did On My Vacation

Just returned from a week in Punta Cana, Dominican Republic.
While others watched in awe at the Inauguration, I got drunk on Brugal Extra Viejo and read Atlas Shrugged on the beach. Our resort didn't even have television. I could not (and will not) recommend better avoidance therapy.

Alas, I could not stay unplugged for long. So today it's back to news of real-life James Taggarts and Orrin Boyles committing economic suicide by demanding bailouts, and the nonfiction Wesley Mouch's controlling who gets what and when. All along, the lapdog press cheers them for their intentions as another factory closes.

My question: Who is John Galt?

Mobile Blogging

I'm posting this from General Mitchell Airport in Milwaukee. Mrs. Prosqtor and I are about to board a plane destined for Punta Cana, Dominican Republic, for a week at the Moon Palace Resort.

It'll be nice to just relax and enjoy some nice weather. I might post from down there, I might not. Anyway, I'll be sure to put up some pics when we get back.

Hmmm....

This is a good point by Mark Steyn, writing on The Corner:

To a certain type of simple-minded populist, the idea of soaking vast faceless corporations is appealing. But in the end a "corporation" cannot pay tax: The Globocorp corporate HQ looming in chrome and steel over the skyline does not have a pocket to dip into. Like all taxes, the actual cash has to be ponied up by flesh-and-blood human beings - the owners, workers and employees of the corporation. The growing gap between US corporate rates and other developed nations is a massive disincentivization for real human beings to start and grow a business here. And for those already here it encourages the kind of short-term thinking that leads to Bailoutistan and American sclerosis.

UPDATE: A reader adds:

I have always looked at it another way: Corporations don't pay taxes — they collect taxes.

The taxes that they pay are collected from the people to whom they sell their goods and services — people like you and me. Corporate taxes are a way that the government hides what you and I are actually paying in taxes.

A couple things:

(1) No one would ever admit that this is the purpose of corporate taxation, but this is the result. And government at all levels is victim to the Law of Unintended Consequences.

(3) Just another example of a situation where letting the market work cures things. And another example of Leviathan not permitting that to occur.

News and a Slightly Related Funny

Our quest for new cell phones ended yesterday. That's right, the Long National Nightmare is over.

I spent hours researching, to the point that Mrs. Prosqtor accused me of obsessing a little too much. And eventually we bought a Samsung Instinct for her and a Blackberry Curve for me. I considered a number of Windows Mobile devices, and opted to avoid cumbersome software and crashes in favor of a stable, lean OS.

And then I read this....which validates every anti-Microsoft thought ever generated by anyone, anywhere.

Reader Comment Of the Week

In a thread about tonight's NFL Wildcard games:

70 Matt Millen analyzing the playoffs? He's watched em, same as I have, from the comfort of our living room. Is this a "hire the handicapped week" thing?

Posted by: Frank G at January 03, 2009 07:48 PM (P0rQD)

Funny.

Thanks to HeatherRadish, I saw this, and it made me think: I wonder if that whacko Obama supporter who insisted that He was going to pay her mortgage and put gas in her car ever had a reporter follow up?

Or do we have to wait until The Ascension? Christians can't celebrate on Good Friday (Election Day), they have to wait until Easter Sunday (January 20th) to be happy and saved. Maybe we have to do the same...

Well Put, Ace.

London Times Online Article Segment:

[Hamas] vowed that its attacks, which have lasted for years and which finally provoked the massive Israeli campaign, would not stop.

“I call on the resistance to continue pounding Jewish settlements and cities,” said Sheikh Abdelrahman al-Jamal at the funeral of a hardline Hamas political leader killed, together with his four wives and 11 children, in an Israeli air strike on his home.

“We will remain on the path of jihad until the end of days.”

Witty Aside from Ace:

The IDF has scheduled the end of days for this Tuesday.

We can only hope so...

Israel : Hamas :: The US : Al Qaeda, after all.

Nice Pick, Governor!

So you're indicted by the feds, and are on your way out as a governor. You defy your local, state and national political party organizers by nominating someone to fill a high-profile Senate seat, and this is the guy you pick?

Thanks a lot, Governor. Bloggers and talk radio needed some material to get them to the inauguration anyway...

Quick Hits

A couple things:

1. Hit both of Mrs. Prosqtor's sides for Christmas this past week, returning from Milwaukee-ish this afternoon;
2. Began the prosecution of a man who used "diaperboy73" as his userID on an instant messaging program;
3. Working on a motion to admit a juvenile child sexual assault at the trial of a 20-year old man charged with (you guessed it) sexually assaulting a child; and
   
4. Light couple of days of work, followed by a New Year's Eve / Delayed Christmas visit from Father of Prosqtor and Mother of Prosqtor.
   

Comments in Haiku

Man, I wish I could get comments like this one on this blog.

(Warning for language)

By the way, the blog that link connects to is very funny. If by "funny" you mean "someone swearing at pictures of animals." But then again, I was one who laughed at the people near Marquette who yelled at Wisconsin Avenue traffic.

I Like Cheese

This is not far from the palatial Prosqtor Ranch:

(from another blog -- I don't watch Channel 11)

Open Carry, Vindicated

Read this.

There's a similar(ish) case pending in West Allis Municipal Court.

The guy's right, by the way: What use is there to a Second Amendment that permits the police to stop a person just for carrying a gun?



(H/T: Dad29)

Case Study Update

As with most of my planning the last month, there is a change. We had a hearing yesterday, where the defendant indicated he did not want to withdraw his guilty plea. The case is currently set for sentencing later this month.

I'll be choosing another case instead, and we'll talk a little more about it as soon as I can find some time to choose a good candidate.

Classic Holiday Moments, Part One In a Series

Before you click "Play," please note that this is R-Rated for language:

I'm Dying Here!

I wanted to find something that my friend Reasonable Progressive wrote, and then I clicked on her post about frustration with the GenderAnalyzer.

Here's what I found:

We have strong indicators that http://reasonableprogressive.blogspot.com is written by a woman (99%).

Funny stuff -- apparently the Barbra Streisand pushed her over the top.


As far as this blog:

We have strong indicators that http://prosqtor.blogspot.com is written by a woman (93%).

I guess I take solace in the fact that, given some twisting and contorting of the statistics, RP's 9% more female than I. Ha, ha.

Interesting that my gender changed at roughly the same time as hers. Methinks the whole GenderAnalyzer concept is a scam, or simply random.

Those Racist Breathalyzers....

I saw this today, and have a few thoughts:

(1) The "blacks have less lung capacity" argument seems like crap. But the comments reveal a more basic mistake in understanding how an Intoximeter machine works.

An Intoximeter operates by measuring the amount of ethyl alcohol in 210 Liters of a person's breath. That is the standard, which becomes the shorthand "0.08 AC" -- or whatever result. This is a standard unit of measure just like oxygen saturation or parts-per-million or anything like it. Just so long as the subject provides a sufficient sample, the result is scientifically sound. That goes for people with asthma, or emphysema, or small lungs, or big lungs. It doesn't matter, which is why it makes a sound testing measure.

(2) The lawyer's claims are based on blind assumptions and bad math.

The primary bad assumption the attorney makes is that blacks were excluded from studies that led to the Intoximeter result being accepted as a reliable measurement of breath alcohol concentration.

Another bad assumption, which leads the skeptic perilously close to Jimmy The Greek territory, is that blacks as a population do have smaller lung capacity than whites. Now that I think about it, the assumption is actually the opposite of Jimmy The Greek, who talked about slave masters mating physically superior specimens in order to develop slave offspring who were able to work more. Smaller lung capacity seems like a bad thing to hope for.

The comments utilize some bad math too. 3% error means a spread of BAC of 0.0024 to either side of 0.08. The assumption is that blacks should receive the benefit of the error, so we subtract 3% from the indicated BAC on the Intoximeter. This means that a BAC of 0.08 from a black subject would have a "racially corrected" BAC of 0.0776. Truthfully, that would be the difference between presumptively intoxicated and not, but many analysts agree that impairment starts at 0.04 BAC. The vast majority of cases we see are in the 0.10+ range, with many people in the "teens" or more than 0.20.

Certainly a person could come up with a table showing the "racially corrected" BAC for a given Intoximeter result; my guess is that there is a very small population of cases where it is the difference between guilt and innocence.

All of the math relies on the base assumption being true. I am not willing to grant that proposition.

(3) Is the law over there really that a measurement of the alcohol in a subject's breath equates to their blood alcohol concentration? Or is that a typo?

There is a big difference in measuring blood versus breath alcohol concentration. Because of the possibility of error in having a person with a lot to lose blowing through a straw, law enforcement prefers to have the suspect's blood drawn by a qualified phlebotomist, and then scientifically analyzed.

(4) This article looks like a way for defense attorneys to crow about something for a day or two, but the end result may not quite be what they wanted.

It is a truism that most prosecutors are overworked. Unlike defense attorneys, who can take fewer clients -- and therefore fewer cases -- in order to devote more time to the cases they have, prosecutors basically have a caseload that is determined by the crime rate, without a realistic ability to say "I'm not going to issue misdemeanors, because I have a couple big cases now." There isn't a resultant ability to devote full priority to all cases equally.

The logical result of this is that prosecutors have the ability to put most cases on the back burner, or autopilot, or whatever, and shepherd them through the system. Maybe it's a minor offense, or a case with a confession; maybe it's a prosecutor's interest in a particular type of case.

The flipside: A prosecutor can make time to focus on a few cases. Maybe this is one, maybe it's ten; it depends on the particular prosecutor and the type of caseload.

I can honestly and bluntly say that the first defense attorney to bring up this "Intoximeters are racist" garbage will ensure their client's place on the short list of priority cases. Fortunately, in the county I work the police agencies force blood draws for forensic evidence of intoxication, rather than breath evidence.

(H/T: Overlawyered)

A Different Kind of Flip-Flop

From Mark Steyn on NRO, I give you this little peek into the Nanny State that once was Britain.

All this effort, in order to rid the world (or at least Britain) of this:

Happy Thanksgiving!

Lots to be thankful for this year.

Taking a few days to visit Father and Mother of Prosqtor in Michigan. Looking forward to adding some content next week. Enjoy your weekend!

Hmm.

From Dad29, I went here, with this result for this site:

ISTP - The Mechanics

The independent and problem-solving type. They are especially attuned to the demands of the moment are masters of responding to challenges that arise spontaneously. They generally prefer to think things out for themselves and often avoid inter-personal conflicts.

The Mechanics enjoy working together with other independent and highly skilled people and often like seek fun and action both in their work and personal life. They enjoy adventure and risk such as in driving race cars or working as policemen and firefighters.

I've taken that test before, with the result consistently ISTJ, so my writing style isn't far off from my personality. Assuming there's any scientific validity to self-assessments or website analyzers. And now I notice that at least one of my friends has assessed me as Extroverted Sensing Feeling Judging on the Jungian scale. Oh well.

A Couple Quick Hits

(1) Where was the Packers' vaunted defensive secondary tonight?

(2) My plans for discussion of the child porn case are rapidly unraveling. I still haven't seen the defendant's motion to withdraw his plea.

(3) Motorola Q9c or Blackberry Curve 8330? Inquiring minds want to know. I need to be able to use it to view MS Office and PDFs and it looks like both have Documents to Go -- the issue is ease of use.