Wednesday, January 3rd, 2007
Strib:
Minneapolis-St. Paul International Airport wants to crack down on Muslim taxi drivers who refuse to carry alcohol or service dogs in their cabs.
About 100 people are refused cab service each month at the airport. Roughly three-quarters of the 900 taxi drivers at the airport are Somalis, many of them Muslim. In recent months, the problem of service refusals for religious reasons has grown, airport officials have said, calling it “a significant customer-service issue.”
Hey, I am all for religious freedom and what not, but if your religious beliefs are so strict that they are preventing you from doing your job then you should find another damn job.
Posted by Smithers at 9:43 pm in News | Permalink | 1 Comment »
Wednesday, January 3rd, 2007
keepaustinweird asks me:
What’s your view of capital punishment?
Here ’tis: I have a nuanced position on this issue.
This issue came up due to the recent execution of Saddam Hussein, a man who ordered the deaths of more than 100,000 Kurds during the Al-Anfal campaign of 1987–88. What do you do with the Saddam Husseins, Pol Pots, Joseph Stalins and Adolph Hitlers of the world? While I think that those who commit these kinds of horrible crimes on a broad scale against thousands should be tried in an international forum, I can accept a death penalty outcome. It is hypocritical of me to hold this view in light of my feelings toward the death penalty in general. But, there it is. I think that there are some acts against mankind that are so abhorrent that the perpetrator should be executed. If the society of the world, via international tribunal, votes to condemn a human to death based upon grievous acts towards the fellow person, then so be it. (It should be noted that this form of trial was not used in the case of Saddam Hussein and therefor I believe the “legitimacy” of his execution is now in doubt.)
I feel differently regarding the use of the death penalty by my own government.
The United States certainly has some pretty bad company around the world in regards to countries that continue to use the death penally as a legal form of punishment (countries detailed in red). China, Iran, Pakistan? These countries are not members of a club that I want to be associated with.
I do not accept the death penalty as a legitimate form of punishment in the United States. Supporters of the death penalty state that it deters crime (which it does not), it prevents a repeat offense (so would life in prison) and is an appropriate punishment for the crime of murder.
Whether it is an appropriate punishment for crime is debatable, but it is certainly much more expensive than a sentence of life imprisonment. Death penalty supporters state correctly that it is the “endless appeals” that increase the cost of keeping a prisoner on death row. But limiting the legal recourse of an individual who is facing the ultimate punishment would be unconscionable.
Life in prison without the possibility of parole is the answer to every argument in favor of the death penalty save one: revenge. I am afraid that those who would hold this argument as their last defense of the death penalty do not understand the real meaning of the word justice, nor are they ever truly and ultimately satisfied in its outcome.
Posted by Smithers at 3:09 pm in Politics | Permalink | No Comments »
Wednesday, January 3rd, 2007
Where are Baby Smithers and I right now?
Originally uploaded by smithersmpls.
Parents know this room well.
(sent wireless via Treo 650)
Posted by Smithers at 10:40 am in Mobile Post | Permalink | No Comments »
Wednesday, January 3rd, 2007
The best way to keep from dropping your cookie on to the floor is to shove the entire thing in your mouth at once.
Posted by Smithers at 9:52 am in Family | Permalink | No Comments »
Wednesday, January 3rd, 2007
Brent Scowcroft on former President Gerald Ford:
Ford liked to get all his advisers around and liked to sit there and listen to them arguing with each other. He had no hang-ups. He had no preconceived notions that he had to fit the facts into.
Compare with our current President:
Even strong supporters sometimes worry that his curiosity and patience seem limited, while detractors see him as intellectually lazy and dependent on ideology and sloganeering instead of realism and clear thinking. Because he has a relatively small set of advisers, dissenting voices are effectively muffled.
That’s long been my criticism of President Bush.
Some have called him a brainless moron, but I do not agree with this belief. I think the President is very smart. My problem with Bush is that he had a preconceived notion about policy. To listen to argument and dissent would force the President to actually consider, and possible reconsider, his decisions. I don’t believe that the President has any interest in that, in spite of evidence often being available that his decisions might actually need to be revisited.
Posted by Smithers at 8:18 am in Politics | Permalink | No Comments »
