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Wow, you sound completely clueless. It's extremely hard to get a job as a public defender these days, and jobs as a FEDERAL public defender have always been very competitive and prestigious. Everyone who gets those jobs has many years of dedication to public service under their belt.

That doesn't make them not underpaid and overworked.

That said, okay, we can compromise in that some - some - PD positions carry a good bit of prestige with them. But "competitive" doesn't mean much in a massively oversaturated field, and the cream of the crop doesn't waste time mucking about for little pay and too much work.

(Captcha: "Guilty")

Life in prison for growing plants, fuck our legal system.

If you don't like the law, "fuck our legal" system is just a juvenile way of whining about it. If more people dislike the law than like the law, the law will change.

Pot, say hello to Kettle.

If you honestly believe our "justice" system works that way ("If more people dislike the law than like the law, the law will change"), you have not experienced it.

For example, in the third largest city in my state, a citizen petition to limit the punishment for possession of trivial amounts of marijuana was circulated, easily gaining the signatures needed to be passed into law. The city council, who is well known for saying 'fuck you' to the people who live there, "passed" the law... then subsequently gutted it. In fact, again considering their record, it's fairly obvious that the only reason they "passed" the law was to keep it from going to a vote, intentionally bypassing the will of the people.

That's the real "democratic process" of laws citizens want but governments don't - we drum up support, gov't pretends to listen, then as soon as they think our backs are turned, they pull the rug out from under us.

If it doesn't, well, your opinion is in the minority and them's the breaks.

Tyranny of the majority is not how our nation works; otherwise, we'd still have Jim Crow laws.

It's a reasonable expectation that anyone who actually passed freshman Civics should know that.

Springfield, Missouri had red-light cameras. They were also caught shortening yellow-light times at the intersections (original articles now gone, but here is a copy- http://blog.motorists.org/6-cities-that-were-caught-shortening-yellow-light-times-for-profit. The lights had been up and running for a few years, with no successful challengers. However, a former State Trooper took the argument that the way the tickets are prosecuted was unconstitutional. The City used an "administrative process" for the tickets, which resulted in no reporting to the driver's insurance company or the State. However, this also eliminated any chance for appeal outside of the City. The former Trooper argued that the process is criminal, not civil, and beat the city in the State supreme court. http://www.news-leader.com/article/20100303/NEWS01/3030498/Missouri-Supreme-Court-puts-brakes-on-Springfield-s-red-light-cameras

So is Missouri. The Texas case isn't the first by any means; the Lori Drew case was in Missouri, and they passed such a law posthaste. I submitted a story about the first arrest for online stalking under the new Missouri Lori Drew law several months ago, I guess there were different people looking at the firehose then.

Texas ain't the first.

Missouri legislators passed a cyberbullying law after the 2006 suicide of 13-year-old Megan Meier of St. Charles County. Megan killed herself after an Internet hoax that drew international attention.

Binder said that law would not apply in this case because both the suspect and the victim are juveniles. He did not know the suspect's specific age. The new law prohibits adults from cyber harassment of children.

Under the harassment law that took effect in August 2008, a cyberbullying offense can be charged as a felony if a victim is 17 or younger and the suspect 21 or older.

The first person charged under the new law was 40-year-old Elizabeth Thrasher, also of St. Charles County. She was accused in August of posting photos and personal information about a 17-year-old girl on the "Casual Encounters" Section of Craigslist after an Internet argument. The posting included the teen's picture, e-mail address and cell phone number and suggested the girl was seeking a sexual encounter.

An "Anti-Bullying Week" is planned for Troy's ninth graders later this month. Huddleston said the week was planned before the allegations in the case surfaced.

Yup, only in America. If you make gun ownership illegal, then only people who break the laws will have guns. Making sure that criminals have the power advantage over most everyone. That's some good thinking there! Of course, legal guns never stop crime, right?

Yes, they would. There was a recent case here that reached the Supreme Court regarding whether the KKK (a white supremacist group that was responsible for the killings of many blacks, mostly during the 50's and 60's) could participate in a highway litter cleanup project. Basically, the group agrees to patrol a section of highway and clean up any litter that accumulates. For this, they receive their name on a roadside sign that says something like "Adopt-a-highway program: this section sponsored by the KKK". In the end, the court ruled that yes, the KKK had a 1st amendment right to participate. This opinion piece gives a typical response to that ruling.

• Using an innovative approach, a team of eight specialists at Children's Hospital of Wisconsin intentionally placed Giese into a coma within an hour after her diagnosis on Oct. 19...
• 
  
  Within three days, Giese was on a four-drug cocktail -- two anti-virals that helped salvage her brain and two anesthetics. She was never given a rabies vaccine.

Prior to Giese, there were only five documented cases of survival once clinical symptoms from rabies appeared, but each person had been immunized against the virus after being bitten

More details about this story here.

There have been more and more stories in the mainstream press mentioning Firefox as a cure for what ails your computer:

Salt Lake Tribune
The Age
Sierra Star (CA)
Sun-Sentinel (FL)
News-Press (FL)
News-Leader (MO)
The Scotsman (guys in skirts)
etc...

And to a Slashbot, it's hysterical

Like At no time did the US lend support to him, or his organization is hysterical?

Like this picture of Saddam Hussein shaking hands with Donald Rumsfeld.

Or maybe this article in the Dallas Morning News of all places: Saddam Hussein: former ally, future defendant

Or this story printed in California, Mossouri, Oklahoma, and Conneticut.

I know this is offtopic but the other discussion is archived.

PS: I can prove Clinton never cheated with Monica. A google search for "Clinton cheated on his wife by getting a bj" turns up zilch.

He was born braindead. And then had help from is 'parents'.

"Oaklyn teenagers also say he also practiced martial arts and had compiled a list of his enemies since elementary school."

Any 'link' between this incident and video games, or the other popular theory, The Matrix, is mere hand waving by the media.

I'd expect most teens that have played video games have played at least some that involve "blowing something up", or shooting something. All but the most bland edutainment games, and openended games (SimCity, etc) involve some sort of destruction.

Could Frogger be linked to massive roadkill on the highways?
Could SimCity be linked to corrupt politics and poor city managament?
Could Bewitched be linked to a rise in adult witchcraft?

Damn, these guys are stupid. But it does sell newspapers.