illinilaw08

QUOTE (StrangeSox @ May 10, 2013 -> 07:31 AM) Read Catch-22 in high school as one of our "independent study" novels. Read it several times since and probably my favorite book. Still haven't read the sequel Closing Time, though. I read Great Expectations three or four years ago. Agreed that it was a struggle to get through at times. Found the same with Brothers Karamazov, even though I really enjoyed it. If you like Russian lit, Chekhov's The Princess is a great short story, only a few pages long. It's notable for its portrayal of clinical narcissism and all of the diagnostic markers for it years before it was fully understood as a psychological problem. Agreed on Catch-22. Like you, I read it as an independent study in high school. Loved it. I try to pick it up every couple years.

Loved: To Kill a Mockingbird Call of the Wild Into the Wild (was one of a number of choices for an independent reading thing my Jr. year of high school) My Antonia (actually had to read it twice. Liked it way better time 2) Hamlet Catch-22 Hiroshima Struggled with: Great Expectations. Seemed long for the sake of being long.

QUOTE (StrangeSox @ May 6, 2013 -> 03:35 PM) It's not whether they're good, capable people. It has to do with resources and caseloads. The caseloads for most public defenders are incredibly high. Much higher than the prosecutors. When they've got 150 felonies on their plate, it's not likely that each and every individual is getting representation on par with the state's resources. This is true. But I think that's true more from a general point. In my experience, someone with a capital case will have greater resources in their defense. The real disparity in resources are low level drug crimes, low level felonies. Much easier burden for a young prosecutor than for a young PD (again, based on my experience as a prosecutor a few years back).

QUOTE (Jenksismyb**** @ May 6, 2013 -> 03:06 PM) Ha. This makes me laugh: The entire system is set up to make it incredibly easy to file a legitimate case. Attorneys bank roll the entire process, on a gamble essentially that they'll win for you, and you don't have to pay for hardly anything. Not to mention we have to be at or near the top of the list for the number of cases filed. Since the data is based on a survey, i'm guessing that is typical American "I want what I want and I want it now and for free!" mentality. The system is not really well set up for someone who needs to defend a civil suit though. No access to an attorney for those that can't afford to pay an hourly rate. No knowledge of the rules (exemptions, what technical defenses might be available). But I digress.

QUOTE (Jenksismyb**** @ May 6, 2013 -> 12:54 PM) FWIW, according to the ACLU all death penalty states have the right to DNA testing. High profile cases involve DNA exonerating a defendant. What is left out of that analysis is how frequently there isn't any testable DNA at a crime scene (or it just is not collected). In those cases, law enforcement necessarily is relying on eye witness testimony and circumstantial evidence to get a conviction. And plenty of people are sitting on death row for convictions resulting from the above (which as SS has illustrated over the years, is notoriously unreliable, especially in a capital case).

QUOTE (StrangeSox @ May 6, 2013 -> 12:39 PM) That's where Scalia's "'actually' innocent" line comes from. Who cares what the facts are or what new evidence is found? As long as the proper procedures were followed during the original trial, we should execute. I get what SCOTUS was trying to say with that opinion. A verdict is a verdict. The State doesn't get to re-try someone a second time with newly discovered evidence after they lose the first time. So, as long as adequate procedures are in place during the trial and appeals process to give the defendant access to DNA testing, why is there a second bite at the apple? The counter to that, of course, is that things are different when a life is at stake. And to narrowly read an exception in that applies to capital cases and newly discovered evidence seems to be a pretty important exception to create. In capital cases (and frankly cases of life imprisonment as well), IMO, it's more important to get the verdict correct than it is to protect the finality of a verdict.

QUOTE (iamshack @ May 6, 2013 -> 12:28 PM) So what are the judges so afraid of? I didn't read those cases, but usually when they are defying simple logic it is because of something else they are trying to protect...let's assume that they allow defendants to pay for their own dna testing in an attempt to exonerate themselves...it logically follows then that those who cannot pay will demand the same right, paid for by the state...the government would be hard-pressed to deny that right, considering the current right to an attorney, etc. Now all the sudden every convicted felon is demanding dna testing and their attorneys are challenging the chain of custody and all that, etc., etc...this is the only logical explanation I can think of for their refusal. Explanation from the Innocence Project... http://www.innocenceproject.org/Content/US...roject_Says.php

QUOTE (Jenksismyb**** @ Apr 30, 2013 -> 12:08 PM) He gave his personal views on Collins and more specifically whether he's a Christian. I'm not defending what he's saying, i'm defending his right to speak his opinion. He's saying I think it's a sin and he's not a Christian. That has nothing to do with whether he can play basketball or should play basketball. The idea that he should be fired for that is ridiculous. That's discrimination based on religious beliefs, which you guys should be supporting the hell out of. He has his right to speak his opinion. Just like ESPN has the right to decide Broussard no longer has a platform with which to make his statements. In addition, just because he has the right to speak his opinion doesn't mean people shouldn't point out the intolerant nature of his position.

QUOTE (HickoryHuskers @ Apr 30, 2013 -> 12:02 PM) I don't buy that holding a religious belief that homosexuality is wrong automatically makes one bigoted. I think a lot of people who do hold that religious belief do also happen to be bigoted, but the two are not one and the same. You can hold the belief that being an unrepentant homosexual will condemn you in the afterlife yet treat them exactly the same as any other people because it's God's job to judge and not ours. Yet at the same time not judging a person is not the same thing as not believing that they are doing something that is wrong. The difference is subtle, which is why I think Christians are best served keeping these discussions within their own churches and not in public. Wasn't the above argument also made in favor of continuing bans against interracial marriage, the practice of slavery, and the massacre of the Native Americans (Manifest Destiny!)? Using religion to defend discrimation or intolerance doesn't make the discrimination or intolerance right.

QUOTE (Jenksismyb**** @ Apr 30, 2013 -> 08:15 AM) Or was he responding to a media driven hype machine about a gay basketball player? Come on Jenks. You have to understand that Collins coming out is, in fact, a big deal. On Broussard, I put the blame on ESPN for providing that platform. Broussard should have been smarter about what he said, but ESPN shouldn't have tried to cover this from anything other than a sports angle.

QUOTE (He_Gawn @ Apr 26, 2013 -> 08:26 AM) Lol, shame on Crean for having a clue about his scholarship situation. Then he loses two of his most experienced guards to transfer. Leaving only a few left on the team. Especially while Groce gets rid of Webers deadweight so he can continue to recruit, right? Fair point. I think the situation last year smelled bad (Patterson not getting in and some parent ready to pony up to get 14 on scholarship). Whether or not it's true, by letting the situation drag on all year, Crean probably ends up with some bad press. This year, as an outsider, no reason to fault the oversign. Transfers happen. Early draft entries happen. And, honestly, I doubt Crean was too thrilled about Abell leaving (who is the secondary ball handler next year? Robinson?). Changing gears, I think Chad Ford may have mentioned that Exum is interested in potentially enrolling second semester of next year wherever he goes. As someone who I assume has followed that recruitment, is there any traction behind that? If he chose IU that would have a major impact on IU's prospects for March of next year.

QUOTE (Y2HH @ Apr 25, 2013 -> 10:19 AM) From my own observation, although anecdotal, I think it's one of the biggest contributors to peoples lack of savings, it's that they have no patience...for anything. For example, I let my wife redo our living room this year...something she wanted to do LAST year. New carpet, furniture, etc. She had to wait until this year to do it. Most people would simply say, ok, I'll borrow the money now and pay it off when I get that money we were planning on using for this project next year, after all, they're offering 0% for 12 months, and by then it'll be paid back! The issue here is, this plan leaves no contingency in case other expenses come up, and they almost ALWAYS do. We waited until we had the cash, on hand, to have this done. And now it's done, and it's 100% paid for. Most people wouldn't have waited. They'd have borrowed to do it last year, and then something else would have come up...but the point is, the money they had originally earmarked for that project would have been spent on something else along the way, leading to a deficit, leading to debt. I see this allllllll the time. Have some patience and WAIT until you can afford something. What's the point of saving money when interest rates are 0? I agree with you that people should show greater patience with large purchases (wife and I bought a house a couple years back and still haven't filled some of the rooms with furniture - making one big purchase a year), but that's not the overarching point. For instance, take student loans. I'm about to pay off my car (hooray!) and losing that monthly payment could certainly be used to bolster my savings. But why would I do that? That money is much more effectively used to pay down student loan debt at 4-6% interest than to sit in a savings account paying .02% interest. The current state of the economy penalizes savers. And it penalizes people that can't afford to get into the market.

QUOTE (Jenksismyb**** @ Apr 25, 2013 -> 09:17 AM) You used the word "base." I thought in these examples SS would be the only retirement income. Are you saying you'd be fine with 30k total being good enough for retirement? With no other income? I guess I just don't see how that's possible given your belief that 30k a year wouldn't be sufficient for a middle aged adult (and perhaps that's an assumption on my part). I would think retirement workers that you're talking about - the ones that haven't planned properly and still carry a decent amount of debt - would need just as much as that middle aged person especially adding in medical costs. I think the point is that the SS income becomes a base amount of income that someone could live on. Most people with disposable income have some kind of IRA and I don't think StrangeSox is advocating those go away. People will still have the ability to invest on their own, but raising the base amount of SS provides a reasonable standard of living to the blue collar guy that spent 40 years contributing to SS and maxed out his income at a level that was insufficient to allow him to save for retirement. Rather than relying on the employer 401k for retirement, you are relying on SS. Basically, this argument would catch people who over the course of their lives only managed to contribute $20k or less to a 401k.

QUOTE (mr_genius @ Apr 23, 2013 -> 05:16 PM) lol at all the excuses being made for the bombers From my end, it's not sympathy for the kid so much as it is trying to figure out why he did this. I keep thinking about the way Charles Manson brainwashed a bunch of girls into committing gruesome murders for him. I don't know that's the case here, but it's what popped into my head the other day. Doesn't mean the kid is any less culpable for what he did in this case and it certainly doesn't mean I'm making excuses for him. I'm just trying to figure out why a 19 year old kid who, by all accounts was a smart, fairly well adjusted stoner would do this. Religion certainly played a part but I think stopping at religion is probably overly cursory.

QUOTE (Soxbadger @ Apr 22, 2013 -> 01:06 PM) Not really, its sad. Most people just argue for whatever position most helps them, very few people selflessly argue against their position, just because it may be the right thing to do. Its the dividing line. Not to go down this road, but there are already reasonable restrictions on the 4th and the 5th (and the 1st). Adding reasonable restrictions to the 2nd, I don't think, is inconsistent with that position. The argument, of course, is over what a reasonable restriction might be. Which is a different argument for a different thread. Back to the point of this thread, glad to see the feds brought charges quickly.

QUOTE (Jenksismyb**** @ Apr 22, 2013 -> 09:09 AM) There's a difference between saying I want the state to condone prison rape and hope this guy is next in line, and saying that the state should not condone it and they should prevent it as much as they can, but if it happens to this kid i'm not going to cry myself to sleep and feel bad for it. He's the worst of the worst, and again, deserves everything coming his way. This is a pretty difficult issue for me. I think that this kid deserves everything he has coming to him. I also think that prison rape is a terrible problem and, making light of it allows the issue to go unchecked (didn't anyone watch SHAWSHANK?!). Wishing prison rape on the kid (which you did not do Jenks, I'm just making a general statement) means that prison rape is ok. And not everyone in prison will be rotting there for the rest of their lives. The issue that, to me, is cut and dry is how this kid gets tried. He's a US citizen. He should not be shipped to Guantanamo. He should not be stripped of his constitutional right to trial (I think everyone should be concerned about the slippery slope of allowing government to declare a citizen an "enemy combatant" and strip their rights).

QUOTE (Balta1701 @ Apr 17, 2013 -> 09:14 AM) The fact that they jumped to the conclusion that a victim of the bombing was a suspect because he was Saudi is where that comes from. Every victim probably will get a visit from the FBI, but the NY Post decided that they could get an advantage by running the story about the Saudi and calling him a suspect when he was in fact not a suspect and the police denied that they had any suspects. To be fair, hasn't it been verified that they (1) searched the Saudi's home; and (2) cleared him? The searching of the home IS news and did distinguish that victim from the others. Not saying that the Post's reporting was correct (since it wasn't), but the reporting that triggering this part of the thread was in reference to a CNN report was it not?

QUOTE (RockRaines @ Apr 16, 2013 -> 01:15 PM) A s***load. The chicago marathon goes by my street twice and there are people milling about left and right with virtually nothing holding them back from jumping in the race or anything of the sort. Now you cant get anywhere near the finish these days but the course itself is not secure whatsoever. Kenny Moore, who finished 4th at the Munich Olympic Marathon in '72, wrote an article in Runner's World last year about that marathon (can't find it online to link), but he wrote that there were significant security concerns on the course after the terrorist attack on the Israeli athletes because the course could not be secured. Thought about that yesterday when I heard about the explosions...

QUOTE (God Loves The Infantry @ Apr 16, 2013 -> 01:53 AM) Do you react the same way to a kid who fatally overdoses on heroin as you do to a kid who gets gunned down on his way to school in a rough part of town? I don't value one life over the other. Both are horribly tragic. But the second kid wasn't involved in activities that led to his own death. The first kid did. That, combined with the instant publicity of terrorism and a major public event like this marathon, elicits greater emotions and reactions amongst people, amongst leaders and amongst the media. This. Anytime a life is lost early it is horribly tragic. For me, I think Boston hit me hard because I am a runner. The beauty of the larger races is how open they are. You run down the street and thousands of people are out spectating, high fiving runners. And Boston is like the Super Bowl of marathoning. There are two ways to run that race. Either as one of a limited number of charity runners, or by running a marathon within the previous couple years (2 or 3?) within a certain qualifying time. It's an event that has no political agenda. It's an event that welcomes runners from all over the world. It's an event that has people running for causes. And it's an open event that is impossible to police. A number of people compared an event like this to a football or baseball game, and they are comparable in that a sport was targeted. But in a contained area like a Sox game at the Cell, they can check every person that comes in with ramped up security. They can't do that at a race. I'm running a half marathon in Champaign in two weekends. Even though it doesn't hold the international significance of Boston, what happened yesterday will absolutely be in the back of my mind as I interact with spectators on the course. And that, to me, is tragic.

QUOTE (Balta1701 @ Apr 10, 2013 -> 11:57 AM) Cycling is an enjoyable way to get around. What sort of thoughts are you looking for? What components are worth the extra money? What features/brands of bike should I avoid? What brands have people had good luck with? Good ideas for workouts beyond "ride as fast as you can from point A to point B."

Anybody on here cycle? I'm looking to pick up a road bike and add cycling as low impact cross training to running. There's a bike shop near my house I'm going to check out tonight. Any thoughts?

QUOTE (Jenksismyb**** @ Apr 10, 2013 -> 10:40 AM) So, the Big Ten has a chance of being pretty mediocre next year. Lots of talent leaving, with potentially more to go. Yeah, and not a whole lot of instant impact talent coming in. Per Rivals, Vonleh (#7) is the only top 30 kid heading to the B1G. Ohio State should be tough. Haven't heard much about Payne and Harris, but if they could back, Michigan State should be tough next year as well. I think Wisconsin is going to be good next year. Indiana has young talent, but they are replacing a lot of pieces. Iowa and Purdue both could be interesting. If McGary, GRIII, Hardaway and Burke all go, Michigan will be down. Illinois is likely to have something of a rebuilding year (5 freshman, not a lot of shooters). If the MSU guys come back, the B1G will have at least 3 teams capable of making a Final Four run.

QUOTE (Jenksismyb**** @ Apr 4, 2013 -> 09:51 AM) Meh, moving pieces. It wasn't a bore, and there were a few interesting moments, but still nothing game changing. The last 200 pages with Aegon, Dany and John were good, but that just set up the next book. Completely agree. Too many throw away chapters. Too many of the main characters not doing anything. I liked the book, don't get me wrong, but not a whole lot happened relative to the books' length. Some of that will actually play well on TV though, I think. Robb was a bigger focus in Season 2 of GOT than he was in the books (talked about offscreen more than anything in the book 2). The HBO guys are not tied to the POV character storytelling so they can beef up or reduce some of the stories that, in the books, seem to be "hey, don't forget character X is still alive. Not doing anything interesting. But still alive!"

QUOTE (bigruss22 @ Apr 3, 2013 -> 04:39 PM) Agreed, I've re-read 1-4 and now I'm rereading 5. I thought I was going to struggle through 4 again, but I REALLY enjoyed it compared to the first time through. 5 has been difficult to pick up again, but that's more because of life being more hectic than anything. My biggest concern with GOT as a TV show (and I love the TV show) is what happens if/when they catch up to the books? Martin has apparently given the creators an idea of where the books are going in case he dies before the books are finished, but I would absolutely hate to have the show pass the timeline of the books because it takes Martin forever to finish a book. Off topic for TV, but I thought the quality of books 4 and 5 was lower than that of the first 3.

QUOTE (Jenksismyb**** @ Apr 3, 2013 -> 08:44 AM) I meant sub .500 overall. But still, they have 2 starters coming back in Egwu and Abrams and two guys that played lot of minutes in Bertrand and Henry. I don't expect them to be GOOD, but I don't think the cupboard is totally bare and the expectation will be that they still contend for a tournament spot. Ultimately you have to give Groce 3-4 years. I was just saying that if next year they really take a dive then you have to question this season. His success this year might be less about coaching and more about the drive of three seniors to leave the program on a good note. I think it's a mixture of both. Obviously the program is headed in the right direction and i'm excited about what he's doing on the recruiting trail. I'm just not ready to declare that he's going to get us back to the 98-2005 level where we're getting #1 seeds and winning conference and tournament titles. Next year will tell us more about his ability to coach/develop talent. I hear what you are saying, but they are only returning one guy who has shown any consistent ability to score (Abrams). They have no one on the roster that has shown a consistent ability to make jumpers. They are relying on Rayvonte Rice to provide offense (I think Rice will score but he certainly isn't going to be a threat on the perimeter). They are relying on Bertrand to be consistent. They are relying on Henry to be more consistent on the defensive end and for the light to go on for him offensively. This team lost its two best players and its most consistent bench scorer (when Griffey played well this year, Illinois was a good team, when he missed 20+ straight threes, they lost a lot of B1G games). I think next year's team is going to struggle. They are going to rely on a lot of young guys to contribute and, barring big leaps by Abrams, Egwu and Henry, they may struggle to score. I think Krush is right. If Groce can consistently recruit, Illinois will get back to 98-'05 levels (and remember the '99 edition was awful after the Heldman/Gee/Hester/Turner team graduated).