By Scott Tibbs, April 10, 2008
♣ I have often given Pat Buchanan the benefit of the doubt on charges of anti-Semitism, but his writings about World War II have made me less charitable. Buchanan borders on outright apologizing for the Holocaust in his criticism of World War II, making the outrageous and ridiculous claim that "the destruction of the Jews of Europe was a consequence of this war, not a cause." Does anyone seriously doubt that the Holocaust would have taken place even if Britain had not declared war on Germany for invading Poland? The Nazis had a psychotic obsession with wiping out Jews. The Holocaust probably contributed to Germany losing the war, because resources that could have gone into fighting the Allies were spent on killing Jews instead. Buchanan's argument is just bizarre.
♣ So when jury rules on something everyone has known for a decade, is it news? Princess Diana was more than unlawfully killed. She was murdered, as I explained two years ago. While I do not claim that anyone set out to kill Princess Diana, it is abundantly clear that the paparazzi's actions are what led to the fatal crash. Had the paparazzi not been chasing Diana, the conditions (excessive speed in an attempt to escape the press) would not have existed that led to the accident. The paparazzi could have chosen to behave like human beings instead of vultures, and backed off when it became clear that Diana and her party were trying to get away. Instead, the paparazzi behaved in a subhuman manner. Morally speaking, they murdered her just as if they had shot her in the head. The paparazzi involved in the chase should be executed.
♣ There are two schools of thought on cheating in video games. One is that it reduces the enjoyment of the game by making it too short and easy. That was one of the reasons behind Nintendo's opposition to the original Game Genie. But the advantage of a cheat (whether using a device like the Game Genie or a code programmed into the game) is that it can take a game that has become frustrating and make it fun again. There have been several games over the years that became a lot more fun once I found a way to cheat, and those cheats significantly extended the playability of the game. Simply put, if all you get is frustration, there is no reason to play. When it comes to passing a difficult level or beating an extremely difficult game, it is important to remember that it's only cheating if you get caught.
♣ Radley Balko delivers yet another excellent editorial on the excesses of the "war on drugs". It is silly that a federal grant is tied to arrest statistics, but it is also dangerous because it encourages law enforcement to take shortcuts in order to meet the targets to get the funding. As I said five months ago, the criminal justice system has become far to focused on convictions to the point that justice is warped or forgotten.
