Title

Dispatches from a Struggling Buddhist Studies Graduate Student

Friday, October 19, 2012

Friday Links


I am about half way done with Fall term.  So far, Sanskrit has been an ultimate time sink, but I've been assured by multiple people that it will make studying Pali next year much less complicated.  But as always, I noticed I have not updated this in a while so I decided to share some links:

  • Radley Balko has a piece at the Huffington Post about how both campaigns in the current election have completely ignored criminal justice issues.
  • Salon has a great article on how the super wealthy think that losing one's reputation is punishment enough for crime, and therefore they should be spared any actual legal punishment.  
  • The Supreme Court will soon decide on whether a dog's bark can cost you thousands of dollars in civil forfeiture.  With the court's gutting of the 4th amendment over the last 25 years, I am not optimistic. 
  • On the lighter side of crime, an Oshkosh man argued to an appeals court that, because of his biblical studies, he has come to the conclusion that he is a "man" and not a "person" under the law.  Therefore his speeding ticket for going 71 miles per hour in a 55 zone violated his religious freedom since that law convicted him as a "person."  The court's decision was not surprising.  
  • Yes, Chris Matthews, it is comleptely unconstitutional to be rude the president.  It's right next to the part that says that freedom of the press only applies if the journalist yells a lot.  
  • Andrew Walker of Australian National College speculates about the differences between agricultural politics in Korea and Thailand.  Surprisingly, Korea's less agricultural economy is more supportive of farmers.