Comments for { 2 bars + 3 stars }

Comment on The virtues of less mess by GT

GT — Thu, 05 Aug 2010 13:07:55 +0000

I look forward to getting to this series after I start, and finish, the Wire. Perhaps 2013.

Comment on Winter’s Bone by GT

GT — Thu, 05 Aug 2010 13:05:24 +0000

here, here. i look forward to seeing the movie.

Comment on The virtues of less mess by Sam

Sam — Thu, 05 Aug 2010 04:36:02 +0000

I tried on the Don Draper suit. My thighs were too thick to for the 34 30 pants. They don’t make man thighs like they used to.

Comment on 2010 D.C. fireworks by Anonymous

Anonymous — Mon, 05 Jul 2010 21:21:55 +0000

wow! they look so much more impressive in retrospect. too bad you don’t have the violent sound effect to boot:-)

Comment on A civilized nation? by 2b+3s

2b+3s — Mon, 21 Jun 2010 19:09:38 +0000

Being shot four times in the chest is about as traumatic and painful an experience as I can imagine. If you can't agree that sentencing someone to such treatment is cruel and unusual punishment, I don't know if we have any reason for arguing. But we can at least agree that an AG tweeting about it is shameless.

Comment on A civilized nation? by Òste e Còc

Òste e Còc — Mon, 21 Jun 2010 15:23:51 +0000

Death by firing squad ranks as a less gruesome, more noble means of execution when the alternatives are considered: stoning, quartering, slow slicing, necklacing, impaling, guillotine and so forth.

In 2006 there were 31,000 deaths attributed to firearms in the US (12,000 homicides) and close to 200,000 non-fatal injuries. Any gun related incidents and their consequences have reached a level of banality here and our immediate society is pretty cool with guns, or at least desensitized.

Comment on A civilized nation? by 2b+3s

2b+3s — Mon, 21 Jun 2010 12:56:21 +0000

Personal preference and the state’s convenience are irrelevant to the 8th amendment. (Instead of being shot to death, suppose Mr. Gardner had wanted to be drawn and quartered.) What matters is what our society accepts as the threshold of cruel and unusual punishment. I’d say death by firing squad lies outside those boundaries no matter what.

Comment on A civilized nation? by Òste e Còc

Òste e Còc — Mon, 21 Jun 2010 03:57:50 +0000

Though CP is indeed impulsive schoolyard retribution, I would prefer to take a bullet for my crimes, blindfolded with that fabled cigarette dangling, rather than be euthanized like an expendable, wounded animal.

Mr. Gardner chose to die that way. Electrocuting (Virginia) and gassing (still a secondary method in 3 states) citizens is a far more inefficient and barbaric means of terminating society’s liabilities. 29 prisoners have been killed so far this year using various methods.

Comment on Listening post 7 (summer 2010 ed.) by Jake

Jake — Tue, 08 Jun 2010 15:20:19 +0000

I like this collection of odds and ends links, especially the postcard.

Comment from the Helen Thomas post: “Helen Thomas’ anger escalated to vengeful words; Israel’s anger escalated into vengeful killings.” All sense of proportion is lost.

Comment on File under “my thoughts exactly” by 2b+3s

2b+3s — Wed, 12 May 2010 01:23:04 +0000

agreed!