Things that piss me off

The news has been rather full, recently, of things that are really getting under my skin. I'm going to rant about them here so that hopefully I can stop turning them over in my head and move on to doing something more productive.

The things that are pissing me off:

• Eric Schmidt, CEO of Google: "I think judgment matters. If you have something that you don't want anyone to know, maybe you shouldn't be doing it in the first place." He said this in an interview with CNBC in a special about Google. I watched it when broadcast, and yes, he said exactly that, and then goes on to blame Google's disregard for your personal privacy on the Patriot Act. Bruce Schneier has an excellent and measured response. My response is more along the lines of "fuck you and your hypocritically evil company."

• The news media coverage of Tiger Woods's personal life. I like watching the man play golf. I cannot fathom why it's anyone else's business what he does outside the golf course. God help you if you're ever good enough at something that you get media attention, because your personal life is way cheaper to film than an episode of an actual TV drama and draws similar ratings.

  And as Google's CEO points out, hey, if you wanted privacy, that just means you shouldn't have been doing whatever you were doing in the first place, right? I realize there are a bunch of reasons why one can't make illegal this sort of systematic dirt-digging into affairs that hurt no one who's not directly involved and have absolutely no legitimate public interest, so my rage is entirely impotent, but that doesn't change the fact that there are a bunch of reporters I would happily spit on right now.

• The reaction to Mike Huckabee's long-ago pardon of the Seattle cop murderer. Now, I'm no fan of Mike Huckabee. I think he's a scary religious bigot and I don't want him anywhere near the White House. But you know what? He's right on the topic of pardons, and he's right about not locking up 16-year-olds in 100-year prison terms that aren't justified by the facts available in that case. All of those liberals out there who have suddenly discovered that they're in favor of locking up kids and throwing up the key when it gets Huckabee in political trouble to pardon people are revealing their lack of moral principles.

  Principles are only principles when you keep them when they're hard. The cost of a more constructive and measured approach to criminal justice is that some additional people will get out and commit crimes again. Surely this isn't news. Apparently that understanding of how screwed up our criminal justice system is only applies when it helps them win elections. Fuck them too.

• The Salvation Army. Just because it's that time of year again. You've probably heard this a dozen times before; if you haven't, see this blog post for a good summary of the issues.

  Christmas is a great time to give to charity. Give to one that you can support wholeheartedly and feel good about afterwards. I recommend Doctors Without Borders, Oxfam, The International Rescue Committee, or Camfed International. If you want to support the poor in the United States specifically, find the address of a local food bank or homeless support organization and send them a check directly. In the Bay Area, I personally support Swords to Plowshares. If you specifically want to support a religious organization because of your personal beliefs, I recommend Glide Memorial Church, which feeds the hungry without the bigotry.

Posted: 2009-12-10 00:47 — Why no comments?