Crime & Federalism

PreCYdent is a new legal research search engine that seems to have much promise.  You can read about it here. 

It appears to "rank" cases much in the way Google ranks web sites.  For example, typing in "qualified immunity" in PreCYdent doesn't just give you a random list of cases.  It gives you the leading cases.  Saucier v. Katz, for example, is the leading modern day case on qualified immunity.  It's also the first result.

If you type in "good faith exception to the exclusionary rule," the second result is United States v. Leon, which is the case that gave birth to the good faith exception.

It's not perfect, of course.  For example, the second result for "excessive force" is Hope v. Pelzer.  Pelzer is an Eighth Amendment case concerning cruel and unusual punishment: It has nothing to do with excessive force. 

If you type in "commerce clause," United States v. Lopez is the first result.  Unfortunately, Lopez is an irrelevant Commerce Clause case, especially in light of Gonzales v. Raich. 

Still, it seems promising.  Why not head over there, type in some key words concerning key legal concepts, and see if the leading cases come up.

Under the new tax rebate program, some people who pay no taxes at all get a rebate; and the people who pay the most taxes get no rebate at all.  WTF?

UPDATE: Everyone who makes more than $3,000 a year will get a tax rebate.  Isn't that groups a lot of teenagers and others who don't have serious jobs?  Let's run some simple math.

Minimum wage is $5.85.  A person working a minimum-wage job full time who took two weeks of vacation would make $11,700.  A person who works 20 hours each week in a minimum wage job for 50 weeks out of the year would earn $5,850.

So the rebate can't truly be directed at the working poor.  Rather, Nancy Pelosi simply wanted to give more taxpayer money to people who contributed nothing to the federal coffers.

Of course, your neighborhood pot dealer will benefit greatly from this rebate.  As, most likely, will your Apple retailer.  Three-hundred bucks is enough for a new iPod nano, some weed, and a few day's worth of ice cream sundaes and pizzas.

I just realized that a couple of years ago I must have set up a LinkedIn account.  I had a bunch of pending invitations from people.  I just added everyone who sent me a request.  My apologies for the delay.   

The best give to give is cash.  But if that doesn't suit you, give an Amazon.com gift certificate.  I just ordered some boxing gloves and head gear from there.  I also regularly order nutritional supplements (fish oil and Greens+.)  These days, an Amazon gift certificate is almost as good as cash.

Here is an excellent checklist to use when wondering if someone is a sociopath:

• Glibness and Superficial Charm
• Manipulative and Conning
  They never recognize the rights of others and see their self-serving behaviors as permissible. They appear to be charming, yet are covertly hostile and domineering, seeing their victim as merely an instrument to be used. They may dominate and humiliate their victims.
• Grandiose Sense of Self
  Feels entitled to certain things as "their right."
• Pathological Lying
  Has no problem lying coolly and easily and it is almost impossible for them to be truthful on a consistent basis. Can create, and get caught up in, a complex belief about their own powers and abilities. Extremely convincing and even able to pass lie detector tests.
• Lack of Remorse, Shame or Guilt
  A deep seated rage, which is split off and repressed, is at their core. Does not see others around them as people, but only as targets and opportunities. Instead of friends, they have victims and accomplices who end up as victims. The end always justifies the means and they let nothing stand in their way.
• Shallow Emotions
  When they show what seems to be warmth, joy, love and compassion it is more feigned than experienced and serves an ulterior motive. Outraged by insignificant matters, yet remaining unmoved and cold by what would upset a normal person. Since they are not genuine, neither are their promises.
• Incapacity for Love
• Need for Stimulation
  Living on the edge. Verbal outbursts and physical punishments are normal. Promiscuity and gambling are common.
• Callousness/Lack of Empathy
  Unable to empathize with the pain of their victims, having only contempt for others' feelings of distress and readily taking advantage of them.
• Poor Behavioral Controls/Impulsive Nature
  Rage and abuse, alternating with small expressions of love and approval produce an addictive cycle for abuser and abused, as well as creating hopelessness in the victim. Believe they are all-powerful, all-knowing, entitled to every wish, no sense of personal boundaries, no concern for their impact on others.
• Early Behavior Problems/Juvenile Delinquency
  Usually has a history of behavioral and academic difficulties, yet "gets by" by conning others. Problems in making and keeping friends; aberrant behaviors such as cruelty to people or animals, stealing, etc.
• Irresponsibility/Unreliability
  Not concerned about wrecking others' lives and dreams. Oblivious or indifferent to the devastation they cause. Does not accept blame themselves, but blames others, even for acts they obviously committed.
• Promiscuous Sexual Behavior/Infidelity
  Promiscuity, child sexual abuse, rape and sexual acting out of all sorts.
• Lack of Realistic Life Plan/Parasitic Lifestyle
  Tends to move around a lot or makes all encompassing promises for the future, poor work ethic but exploits others effectively.
• Criminal or Entrepreneurial VersatilityChanges their image as needed to avoid prosecution. Changes life story readily.

The DSM-IV criteria are listed here.  It helpfully notes that you need to look for more than one feature in determining whether someone is a sociopath.  One-in-twenty-five people are sociopaths, so there are a lot of them out there. 

A. There is a pervasive pattern of disregard for and violation of the rights of others occurring since age 15 years, as indicated by three (or more) of the following: 

(1) failure to conform to social norms with respect to lawful behaviors as indicated by repeatedly performing acts that are grounds for arrest;
(2) deceitfulness, as indicated by repeated lying, use of aliases, or conning others for personal profit or pleasure;
(3) impulsivity or failure to plan ahead;
(4) irritability and aggressiveness, as indicated by repeated physical fights or assaults;
(5) reckless disregard for safety of self or others;
(6) consistent irresponsibility, as indicated by repeated failure to sustain consistent work; behavior or honor financial obligations;
(7) lack of remorse, as indicated by being indifferent to or rationalizing having hurt, mistreated, or stolen from another.

You have to check this out.

I finally got around to reading The Sociopath Next Door.  I wish I had read this years ago.  It's a must-read, and I encourage you to pick up a copy.  In The Sociopath Next Door, the author states what she believes is "the most reliable sign" that someone is a sociopath:

[T]he best clue is, of all things, the pity play....

[G]ood people will let pathetic individuals get by with murder, so to speak, and therefore any socipath wishing to continue with his game, whatever is happens to be, should play repeatedly for ... pity.

...

Sociopaths have no regard whatsoever for the social contract, but they do know how to use it to their advantage.  And all in all, I am sure that if the devil existed, he would want us to feel very sorry for him.

When deciding whom to trust, bear in mind that the combination of consistently bad or egregiously inadequate behavior with frequent plays for your pity is as close to a warning mark on a conscienceless person's forehead as you will ever be given.  A person whose behavior includes both of these features is not necessarily a mass murderer, or even violent at all, but is still probably not someone you should closely befriend, take on as your business partner, ask to take care of your children, or marry.

The Sociopath Next Door at 107-109.  That observation is spot-on.  Anyone who has represented criminals knows that most of them beg for your pity.  "I am being railroaded!"  Even child molesters say this.

Watch "To Catch a Predator."  Every person who went to a house to have sex with a twelve-year old girl starts crying: "My life is over."  While, in many important ways, that's true, it's not like it is "over" for no reason.  Yet, almost to a person, the first thing these would-be child perverts do it beg for pity.

The best "tell" I've discovered is shamelessness.  In a sense, this is tied to pity.  How can a person who just beat up his wife beg for pity?  How can a person who ate himself into obesity sue a fast food restaurant?  Have you no shame, at long last?

When my dog does something really bad, he bows his head in shame.  Once, he hid from me.  He didn't even feel worthy of being with the family.  No dog craps on your carpet and then smiles and licks your hand.  Lots of people do much worse and then are so lacking in shame that they return to do it again.  Avoid these people.

Incidentally, the author notes that a lack of shame is something that characterizes a sociopath.  When imagining a sociopath:

Imagine no struggles with shame, not a single one in your whole life, no matter what kind of selfish, lazy, harmful, or immoral action you had taken.

Id. at 1.  So if you know someone who has no shame and who always has a sob story for you, run away.

My dog, Amicus, has what can be described only as gorgeous hair.  (Well... glorious might also fit.)  Unfortunately, his hair gets so long that, during the summer, he suffers from heat exhaustion during our hikes.  Hence, the "puppy cut":

Here he is in all his hairy glory:

Speaking of hair, here is a photo I took of Amicus during his short-lived experiment with inter-species "cross dressing":

What could be better than listening to Michael Shermer speak?  Why... Michael Shermer speaking at the Cato Institute, of course.  And that's what happened about a week ago.

Shermer was speaking at Cato about his new book, "The Mind of the Market: Compassionate Apes, Competitive Humans, and Other Tales from Evolutionary Economics."  His thesis?

Just as it is a myth that evolution is driven solely by “selfish genes” and that organisms are exclusively greedy, selfish and competitive, it is a myth that the economy is driven by people who are exclusively greedy, selfish and competitive. The fact is, we are equitably selfish and selfless, cooperative and competitive. There exists in both life and economies mutual struggle and mutual aid. In the main, however, the balance in our nature is heavily on the side of good over evil. Markets are moral, and modern economies are founded on our virtuous nature. The Gordon Gekko “Greed Is Good” model of business is the exception, and the Google Guys “Don’t Be Evil” model of business is the rule. If this were not the case, market capitalism would have imploded long ago. 

I haven't read the book yet; and must confess before seeing his talk on BookTV, I didn't know it existed.  [Here is where I bow my head down in shame.]  But based on his speech, I surmise this will be the best book I read all year. 

You can watch the video here.  The segment I saw on C-SPAN was easily the most edifying hour of my week.

This post (pointing to this excellent article) by a newly-minted Second Lieutenant reminded me why I got out of the military - and why I've never looked back.  It's a good look at why the Army (and the military in general) sucks.

Here is why I got out.  I was a Second Lieutenant.  To get promoted to First Lieutenant, I needed to graduate from Officer Basic Course.  The specific course I needed to take was offered in the summer. 

The class would fill up immediately.  Thus, despite getting up super early to be first in line, I would get busy signals.  It was like calling into American Idol.

Despite intense demand for the class, the Army did not offer an additional section for that class - even though logistically it would have been simple to do.

That is a metaphor for everything in the Army.  If an idea makes sense, no one will do it.

While I think the Army is a great thing for a young person to do, it is not a great place for a thinking person to remain.  There's a reason that some of the smartest guys and gals you know are ex-military.

I was in the Reserves and National Guard for ten years.  Ninety percent of the value I got from service, I got in three years. 

So if you are considering joining the Army, don't re-enlist or otherwise extend your contract.  Take what you can get out of it and get out.