There were three stories in the news tonight that I wanted to write about, before my brain got hijacked by local politics. I don’t have time to write about any of them at length right now, as my eyelids are beginning to droop, but I did want to pass along the links, as they’re all things that you should know about.
1. The Christian Science Monitor’s article on what’s worse for Lake Michigan — the Kalamazoo River oil spill or Asian carp?
2. The Atlantic’s article addressing the hilarious fact that, despite all the angrily scrawled “Taxed Enough Already” signs, 47% of Tea Partiers pay no federal income tax.
3. The Associated Press story on the systematic disassembly of American Miranda rights. Here’s a clip:
You have the right to remain silent, but only if you tell the police that you’re remaining silent.
You have a right to a lawyer – before, during and after questioning, even though the police don’t have to tell you exactly when the lawyer can be with you. If you can’t afford a lawyer, one will be provided to you. Do you understand these rights as they have been read to you, which, by the way, are only good for the next two weeks?
The Supreme Court made major revisions to the now familiar Miranda warnings this year. The rulings will change the ways police, lawyers and criminal suspects interact amid what experts call an attempt to pull back some of the rights that Americans have become used to over recent decades…
I know it’s going to be hard, but sleep well, Michigan.
5 Comments
If they fuck up Lake Michigan, I’m heading to Canada.
Maybe if we pollute Lake Michigan enough, we won’t have to deal with invasive species.
If you don’t plan on breaking the law, you don’t have to worry about Miranda warnings, right?
They may not pay taxes, but they take vacations — at Colonial Williamsburg!
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/07/31/AR2010073103051.html
Edward: tongue-in-cheek aside, we all need that kind of logic to die a horrible death.
I broke the law by going 45 in a 40 this morning on my way to work.