When life imitates disgusting art

Canada's soon-to-be worst serial killer apparently fed his victims to pigs at his British Columbia farm. I think Bricktop said it best: "Never trust a man who owns a pig farm."



(While you ponder which one of the above gentlemen is creepier looking, please consider that Snatch is not the only recent movie to feature pigs performing this function. Maybe it's time for the PADL (Pig Anti-Defamation League) to get to work on some full-page NY Times spreads....)

Civil Rights in Southern Louisiana Two Years after Katrina

This study by the ACLU came out in August 2007, so I'm a little behind the curve here. In any event, it reveals some disturbing truths about what it means to be poor, black, Hispanic, or accused of a crime in Orleans Parish after the hurricane. Problems run the gambit from:

- Voter disenfranchisement;
- Housing discrimination ("We're not taking anymore of you people");
- Over-policing and racial profiling;
- Deplorable (read: Third World or 19th Century) jail and prison conditions (not just for people who have been convicted but who have merely been accused); and
- Continued problems with adequately funding indigent defense.

It's very depressing to even think that this sort of thing could happen here in the US and A, but I think the fact that it continues to happen in New Orleans is probably probative of the fact that it does happen elsewhere in our country (especially where the light of day doesn't or won't shine). Let's give thanks to folks like Katherine Mattes of the Tulane Criminal Defense Clinic who are out there fighting for people who don't have anyone else to fight for them.

(By the way, for those of you inclined to ignore a study like this because it comes from the ACLU, keep in mind that the ACLU is active in protecting all our rights, even those related to the Second Amendment.)