The unimportant news thread

[knight66]

Wow Karl, that article sure has a masterly pay off line.

Mike

[Ataraxia]

I'm not sure I agree with that article--something in me doesn't--but I don't care to think about it much longer either.

[Karl Henning]

I'm not sure I agree with that article--something in me doesn't--but I don't care to think about it much longer either.

He links to another dissenting article, with its share of insights.

Since he was the one who brought up "sickening narcissism," let's go ahead and say it: The personal note in Vidal's work, whether he was ostensibly writing about politics, literature, aviation or anything else, was never "occasional." The "geography" of his own life has been virtually his only subject, which means that his new memoir, "Point to Point Navigation," a follow-up to "Palimpsest" (1996), the first memoir he promised not to write, is, by definition, unnecessary.

"[T]he first memoir he promised not to write" . . . sometimes I think I live to read lines like that.

[Karl Henning]

Allen Barra couldn't be a pseudonym, could it?  I am sure that's a phrase I heard one night when a fellow tried singing "Barbara Allen" after two pints too many at the St Botolph Club . . . .

[Karl Henning]

He links to another dissenting article, with its share of insights.

Luckily, I had not just taken a sip of coffee when reading this:

Note to Mel Gibson: Next time simply drop a few anti-Christian slurs into your tirades, and you will find many are willing to regard you not as an anti-Semite but as an intellectual.

[Todd]

Since when did the Washington Post start publishing articles from The Onion?

[Todd]

He links to another dissenting article, with its share of insights.

I guess I'm too young to care about Gore Vidal much at all.  I figured the whole thing with Timothy McVeigh showed him to be just an old coot suffering from dementia and remaining in the public eye because of past glories, but maybe he was a great man. 

[knight66]

No, I don't believe he was ever a great man, but he managed a good hour of fame.

Mike

[eyeresist]

"Andy Warhol is the only genius I've ever known with an IQ of 60." -- Gore Vidal

http://www.businessinsider.com/the-best-quotes-of-gore-vidal-who-died-last-night-2012-8

Good stuff, but was he really the first person to say "No good deed goes unpunished" (which I believe is the correct form of the saying)? It sounds like Oscar Wilde.

As for his legacy, like most I haven't read the novels. They may be great for all I know, but I have little interest in the details of US history. So he was a witty after-dinner speaker. There are worse ways to be remembered.

[Karl Henning]

The jury is still out, of course, but my money is on his not being particularly remembered for anything (unlike Wilde).

[jwinter]

 Quote from: eyeresist on August 02, 2012, 10:09:42 PM

Good stuff, but was he really the first person to say "No good deed goes unpunished" (which I believe is the correct form of the saying)? It sounds like Oscar Wilde.

As for his legacy, like most I haven't read the novels. They may be great for all I know, but I have little interest in the details of US history. So he was a witty after-dinner speaker. There are worse ways to be remembered.

   
Re: Gore Vidal:
I read Lincoln about a decade ago and thoroughly enjoyed it -- an excellent evocation of the period, if done with a bit of dramatic license regarding minor details.  I've tried three times to start Burr, but just can't get into it, despite an interest in the subject matter.  Live from Golgotha was amusing, though it's obviously trying too hard to shock, and the effort shows.  His essays are a mixed bag -- it seems like for every brilliant one (and there are quite a few) there is one that's just catty, venal, or (in the case of his political writings post 9/11) patently idiotic.  And I have a hard time sympathizing with someone who lived with (and is buried next to) their same-sex partner for half a century, and yet denied to his dying day that homosexuality even existed, and was stridently anti-gay rights.   

[Todd]

Note to self: Do not move to Russia and start a punk band, especially given my penchant for hooliganism.

[Scarpia]

Norway killer gets 21 years for slaughter of 77 people, mostly children???

[Karl Henning]

What, does Norway not give life sentences in such cases?

It near horrified me, reading of the lengths to which some were suggesting they should go, to treat this recreant as somehow "mentally ill."  Norway, there is a reason you have courts as distinct from hospitals.  Get your damned heads straight.

[Todd]

Apparently, in Norway, a person can be held for longer than the maximum sentence if they are deemed a threat.  If that is the case, it's hard to see how Breivik will be freed. 

[Scarpia]

If I didn't know better I'd say god is smiting the Republicans.

Republican National Committee Chairman Reince Priebus made the following statement: 'Due to the severe weather reports for the Tampa Bay area, the Republican National Convention will convene on Monday August 27th and immediately recess until Tuesday afternoon, August 28th. After consulting with Governor Scott, NOAA and local emergency management officials, we are optimistic that we will begin an exciting, robust convention that will nominate the Romney-Ryan ticket.'"

[eyeresist]

Norway killer gets 21 years for slaughter of 77 people, mostly children???

Hate to say it, but I think the court has proved Breivik's point.

[Scarpia]

Hate to say it, but I think the court has proved Breivik's point.

The fact that criminal penalties in Norway are less severe than expected proves Breivik's point that people who condone multiculturalism should be murdered in cold blood, including children?  You'll have to lead me through that logic one step at a time.   

[eyeresist]

The fact that criminal penalties in Norway are less severe than expected proves Breivik's point that people who condone multiculturalism should be murdered in cold blood, including children?  You'll have to lead me through that logic one step at a time.

No, I mean the more general point that Norwegian official culture is PC to the point of idiocy, at least on the face of it.

According to Der Spiegel: "The judged [sic] deemed Breivik to be sane and handed down the country's maximum permissible sentence. ... The judges sentenced him to 21 years in prison followed by preventative detention."

So the law's maximum penalty for murder is 21 years, apparently regardless of the number of people killed (so he serves 99.61 days for each victim). And then, after the sentence is served, there's still "preventative detention". I wonder if a Norwegian lawyer could explain this to us?


EDIT: Here is Wikipedia's explanation of the law:

Life imprisonment in Norway

There is no sentence of life imprisonment in Norwegian law. There is however an indeterminate penalty that could in principle result in life imprisonment, but there are no examples of such after the latest correctional law passed in 2002. There are basically two types of maximum penalty laws:

■The maximum determinate penalty is 21 years imprisonment, but only a small percentage of prisoners serve more than 14 years. Prisoners will typically get unsupervised parole for weekends etc. after serving ⅓ of their sentence (a maximum of 7 years) and can receive early release after serving ⅔ of their sentence (a maximum of 14 years). In 2008, to fulfill its requirements under the Rome Statute, Norway created a new maximal penalty of 30 years for crimes against humanity.

■The indeterminate penalty, called "preventive detention" (Norwegian: forvaring) is set at up to 21 years imprisonment, with no eligibility for parole for a time period not exceeding 10 years. If the prisoner is still considered dangerous after serving the original sentence, the detention can be extended by five years at a time. Renewal of the detention every five years can in theory result in actual life imprisonment. Preventive detention is used when the prisoner is deemed a danger to society and there is a great chance of committing violent crimes in the future. However, after the minimum time period has elapsed, the offender can petition for parole once every year, and this may be granted if it is determined that the offender is no longer a danger to society.

[Scarpia]

As was mention above somewhere, preventative detention presumably allows him to be held indefinitely if he is judged to be a threat to society.   Doesn't seem so different from the US system.  Mark David Chapman was sentenced to 20 years for killing John Lennon, but he's still behind bars.  His parole is denied like clockwork every year.