Hal O'Brien

Kottke pointed to this listing of the "50 Most Loathsome People In America 2008".

Clocking in at #30, our old friend, Antonin Scalia. OK, no big surprise that the most intellectually dishonest person in DC should make such a list. But why in this case?

"Exhibit A: “Mere factual innocence is no reason not to carry out a death sentence properly reached.”"

Huh. The spooky thing is, while I can see Nino saying such a thing, I'd think I would've heard of that by now. So you know what I had to do.

A quick Google search yielded 12,200 results. On the first batch of hits, we see a citation: Herrera v. Collins 506 US 390 1993.

Alas... Here's Scalia's concurrence in Herrera v. Collins. No such quote appears. That's the good news.

The bad news? It's not an unfair paraphrase of what he did say. Which means I suspect this internet hoax started as someone being snarky about the opinion (I thought it might be Dahlia Lithwick, but it doesn't seem so), then the vital phrase along the lines of, "It's as if Scalia is saying..." disappeared, and it was just laid at Scalia's feet whole cloth.

Still. 12,000 hits on the misquote. Including at "quotation sites." (!)

So perhaps there's justice after all.

( Scalia's opinion is short enough I'll give the whole thing after the cut. )

I've been meaning to make this a full-fledged post. Since the issue came up in comments, I'm recycling being efficient with my writing. :)

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"I'm surprised that McCain went there again in the first place as that issue was laid to rest in the LAST debate--does McCain have a listening problem?"

No, it's most likely he (or his advisers) think we do. That's probably the reason he latched on to the figure of "Joe the Plumber" -- because that changes supposedly abstract discussions into something real and tangible. Something concrete.

The problem is, McCain's slide from being even with Obama to his current 10-point or more deficit comes exactly from that shift. That is, as things have become more tangible and concrete -- as they hit everyday Americans' pocketbooks -- people trust the Republicans less and less. People are willing to give the Republicans some credence with abstract issues like the "culture wars", and terrorism, and raw laissez-faire capitalism, when we have the luxury of prosperity.

But take -- or even threaten -- prosperity away, and make metaphorical bread-and-butter issues into real bread-and-butter issues... And the electorate goes running to the Democrats.

This is a big chunk of why the Republicans are so confused right now. The remaining rump Republicans thought they were addressing real issues.

Now they're learning their issues are only "real."

Oops.

("Privilege" is in scare quotes here because, in my observation, the word isn't used except by people who already have it. Not unlike one who rails against the bourgeoisie is almost always a bourgeois.)

A very odd thing about this, right off the top: "The list is based on an exercise developed by Will Barratt, Meagan Cahill, Angie Carlen, Minnette Huck, Drew Lurker, Stacy Ploskonka at Illinois State University." Um, no, in fact. They're from Indiana State. Here's Mr. Barratt's page on "Social Class on Campus". Here's Barratt's faculty page. Here's Barratt's personal page.

The switch from Indiana to Illinois appears to have occurred very early on in the meme process. If you search by the cited researchers plus "Illinois," you get 819 hits. Do it with "Indiana" (the accurate version), and you get only 9. I suspect this is not unlike the time Mary Schmich's advice to, "Wear sunscreen," got mysteriously attributed to Kurt Vonnegut.

This is the original paper with the exercise, which appears to be meant to be done in a live class, not filled out as a questionnaire. (Note: MS WORD .DOC format, which Barratt seems to prefer throughout his pages.) Questions have been edited out, and a few have been re-worded, on their way to LJ.

In someone else's post of the meme (I won't point to it, since it's Friends Only), I had some more notes:

( To spare you further ramblings of a wordy bastard... )

See generally: Paul Fussell, Class; Lewis Lapham, Money and Class in America; Nelson Aldrich, Old Money.

Ten Things I've Done That I Bet You Haven't

* Graduated from Midland School.
* Walked the length of Pennsylvania Avenue from the Capitol to the White House.
* Helped kill a Washington state law that would have cut unemployment benefits for tens of thousands of contract workers.
* Took the photograph for pecunium's icon.
* Walked the length of beach from the Santa Monica Pier to Pepperdine in Malibu (by moonlight, overnight) -- and back.
* Communicated -- conversed? played? -- with Bjossa, the orca who once lived at the Vancouver Aquarium.
* Broadcast on radio the news that Yuri Andropov was dead.
* Played The Ghost in Hamlet by lip-synching my part (by direction, damn him).
* Sang a Barry Manilow song solo ("It's Just Another New Year's Eve") for hundreds at Knott's Berry Farm.
* Married the most sane woman I've ever met, akirlu.

[Poll #247425]

I Am A: True Neutral Elf Bard Ranger


Alignment:
True Neutral characters are very rare. They believe that balance is the most important thing, and will not side with any other force. They will do whatever is necessary to preserve that balance, even if it means switching allegiances suddenly.


Race:
Elves are the eldest of all races, although they are generally a bit smaller than humans. They are generally well-cultured, artistic, easy-going, and because of their long lives, unconcerned with day-to-day activities that other races frequently ccern themselves with. Elves are, effectively, immortal, although they can be killed. After a thousand years or so, they simply pass on to the next plane of existance.


Primary Class:
Bards are the entertainers. They sing, dance, and play instruments to make other people happy, and, frequently, make money. They also tend to dabble in magic a bit.


Secondary Class:
Rangers are the defenders of nature and the elements. They are in tune with the Earth, and work to keep it safe and healthy.


Find out What D&D Character Are You?, courtesy of NeppyMan!

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I was pointed to this by jeliza. Since she's a "True Neutral Elf Mage Bard", I guess we're birds of a feather, summat.