Bitching and Moaning

Reason's Jacob Sullum points us to the story of New Orleans District Attorney Keva Landrum-Johnson's new policy of inflating her felony prosecution statistics by charging minor marijuana offenders with felonies. Lousiana law allows second and following offenses to be charged as felonies, but hardly anyone ever did it before. In the comments section, Andrew quotes from a … [Read more...] about Drug-War Scum

Kip Esquire has all the details from a New York Times article about changes in the 10021 zip code written by Sam Roberts, who warns us that "ZIP codes may not have the cachet they once did." Roberts recounts a few reactions: “The truth is, there are some people whose whole identity is their ZIP code,” said Michele Kleier, the president of the real estate brokerage Gumley … [Read more...] about Zip Code Snobbery?

I am popular with the ladies this week. First there was 17-year old Sammi who likes my photography but thinks I'm creepy. Then, late last night I got some email from a young lady: Hello! Yes, this is strange, I've never emailed a random blogger before. Let me just interrupt and say that I get a lot of messages (especially on my MySpace account) from young ladies that start … [Read more...] about Command Performance: Things That Make My Blood Boil

I just sent $865.96 of my hard-earned money to the United States Government. Then I sent $246.60 to the State of Illinois. I feel pretty stupid about it, but it has to be done. In fact, it has to be done several times a year. I incorporated my software consulting business a few years ago, so I have to pay my own payroll taxes. It works like this: I do the work. People pay … [Read more...] about The Pain of Taxation

I haven't been posting anything because I've been having a rough week. My car's oil light lit up on Saturday just as I pulled up at a friend's house. There was plenty of oil according to the dipstick, so I decided to leave the car there until Monday then have it towed to the shop. The tow charge plus the repairs plus a new set of tires before winter added up to $800 that I … [Read more...] about One of Those Weeks…