Using Logic Against Fascists

From ACLU's blog:

Yesterday, I argued in Maricopa County Superior Court about whether Sheriff Joe Arpaio, “America’s Toughest Sheriff,” can block inmates’ access to abortion. The specific issue is whether the sheriff can demand that inmates who seek abortion care prepay $300 a day in transportation and security costs. If an inmate can’t come up with the money, she will be forced to carry the pregnancy to term. Of course, Sheriff Arpaio doesn’t require inmates seeking other medical care to prepay for transport and security costs. We argued it is unconstitutional to make access to the constitutional right to terminate a pregnancy conditional on the ability to pay hundreds of dollars. Fortunately, the judge agreed.
Ruling immediately after the arguments, the court held that the defendants are prohibited from demanding prepayment for transport and security costs. The sheriff has an uphill battle given that just a couple of years ago the Arizona Court of Appeals held that his policy of demanding a court order from inmates seeking abortion was unconstitutional. As the judge yesterday recognized, the issue of prepayment for transport costs is only a “slight extension” of the court order issue, and demanding prepayment is possibly more onerous than requiring a court order.
But the most telling part of yesterday’s argument came when the judge asked us to do some math. He asked both parties how many hours since June each of us worked on the case – we agreed it was at least 40 hours each. He then assumed an hourly rate of $250 an hour and asked us to calculate the total. The answer? A lot of taxpayer money is being spent on a policy that may cost the Sheriff a few hundred dollars a year given how few women request abortion access.
Then the judge asked the question that sums it all up – he asked the sheriff’s attorney to explain “the real reason” behind the policy. Clearly, it can’t be that the sheriff is really worried about $300 a year.
The sheriff’s attorney didn’t really respond. I suppose it was a bit of a rhetorical question. Sheriff Arpaio has repeatedly acted on his animosity to abortion by denying inmates their constitutional rights. All told, he will spend thousands of taxpayer dollars fighting over $300 a year simply because he wants to impose his moral beliefs on others. The courts have repeatedly stopped these unconstitutional tactics. And we will be prepared to deal with whatever Sheriff Joe does next.

Numb3rs teaches you that Jews love money and Anarchists love prison

"Kai Kragen"

From the third season we get this wonderful guy:

Detective Sinclair: We saw your old house on Mulholland. That must have been hard to give up.
Detective Granger: Not to mention all the money
....
Kai Kragen: Whether someone is puting a gun to someone's head or a bunch of people are eating cow testicles on an island, it's all entertainment right?

"Kai" by the way is often short for "Cornelius," which comes from the Latin word for "horn."

"Tyson"

Tyson: It's a better ending this way: three people that ripped me off are dead, the force is going to go down in total humiliation...
Detective Granger: What about what happens to you?

Tyson: Me? (laughs) Are you kidding? Starting tomorrow I top the A-list. There's not an agent in town who won't be scrambling to sign me.
Detective Sinclair: Too bad you'll be writing from prison.

Tyson: Locked in a cell with no one to bother me? I can crank out five, six movies a year.

"Dear FOX News, It's not me, it's you"

News Item: Waitrose dumps Fox News in protest over remarks about Barack Obama

Well a lot of companies have cut funding from the racist show of Glenn Beck. But they continued to purchase advertising from FOX. This is the first I've heard about where it is someone actually cutting all funding.

NYT Ignores Latin America

Today I read today's New York Times cover-to-cover and found no article on Latin America. The closest I could find was one about gay marriage in Texas (which used to be part of Mexico until we punked them out of it) and an op-ed about how the rest of the world doesn't like us because they "envy our power."