On Friday Thomas “Zoo Man” Huskey was found guilty in a re-trial of kidnapping and raping a prostitute 12 years ago.
I remember an evidence teacher citing this case in one of my classes . . . seven years ago.
As you might imagine, the protracted legal proceedings have come at a hefty price. It has cost the state at least $483,878 to provide Huskey a defense.

The Orange County Register has conducted an investigation on candy sold in California which in many instances has contained dangerous levels of lead. Among the paper’s findings:

• 112 brands of candy – most coming from Mexico – registered dangerous levels of lead over the past decade. In 101 cases, no action was taken against the candy makers. The results were kept confidential, and the candy remained on store shelves.
• Repeated high tests aren’t enough to set off the state’s warning system. California health officials issued seven public-health advisories for candy but have done nothing about 37 brands that tested high multiple times. One, the Tama Roca lollipop, tested high 28 times with no action.
• Even when preliminary tests reveal candy samples with dangerous lead levels, regulators haven’t always followed up with more testing.
• The state makes no effort to notify candy companies in Mexico when their brands test high enough to harm a child. Candy maker after candy maker said they had no idea regulators had found lead in their products.

Reportedly, one in four tests of Mexican candy since 1993 has come up high for lead. Yet the California Department of Health Services claims it doesn’t have the resources or jurisdiction to tackle the problem.
Something isn’t right with this picture.

Literally:

People who wear low-slung pants that expose skin or “intimate clothing” would face a fine of up to $500 and possible jail time under a bill filed by a Jefferson Parish [Louisiana] lawmaker.
State Rep. Derrick Shepherd said he filed the bill because he was tired of catching glimpses of boxer shorts and G-strings over the lowered belt lines of young adults.
The bill would punish anyone caught wearing low-riding pants with a fine of as much as $500 or as many as six months in jail, or both.
“I’m sick of seeing it,” said Shepherd, a first-term legislator. “The community’s outraged. And if parents can’t do their job, if parents can’t regulate what their children wear, then there should be a law.”

Now if that’s not an efficient use of judicial and law enforcement resources, I don’t know what is. [/sarcasm]
Via Say Uncle.

One year ago today I made the first post on the Blogger predecessor to this weblog.
Thanks to everyone who has stopped by since then. And a special thanks to the Rocky Top Brigade for the community and exposure it has provided Resonance this year.

On the question of what will happen in Iraq after June 30, it appears the Bush administration is finally making an incremental movement beyond “We’ll find that out soon.”
Granted, we still don’t know who will be in charge. But in a Senate Foreign Relations Committee hearing the administration has presented a vague outline of what the entity might look like.
At best, what the Iraqi entity will have is only limited sovereignty. Political rhetoric which suggess otherwise is simply misleading. And there’s no indication yet what will happen if there’s a conflict between the Iraqi entity and the occupying American force. That’s a big problem.
Still, it’s more than we’ve seen thus far. Ten weeks to go and counting.