Animal rescue awards and recognition events

Arizona R.E.S.C.U.E. had its annual awards picnic on Saturday at Kiwanis Park in Tempe, at which Karen Currie was named volunteer of the year. Kat and I received Cornerstone Awards for our volunteer work in dog fostering and caretaking roles, which was unexpected but gratifying. R.E.S.C.U.E. is always looking for additional volunteers to assist with a variety of activities for the support of both dogs and cats.

Next Saturday, we'll be attending the Arizona Humane Society's annual donor recognition brunch. We're looking forward to hearing what AHS has planned for the coming year. Where R.E.S.C.U.E. has been around for twelve years and operates on a tiny budget and emphasizes quality adoptions over quantity, AHS turns 50 this year, has a multi-million dollar annual budget, two impressive large facilities in Phoenix, and is able to perform a wide variety of services including mobile emergency animal medical services (which can be seen on television on Animal Planet's "Animal Planet Heroes Phoenix" series).

Keith Henson arrested in Prescott, Arizona

Scientology critic Keith Henson was arrested on Friday evening in Prescott, Arizona. Henson had been a fugitive since his conviction in Riverside County, California on April 26, 2001, on charges of interfering with a religion for his picketing of Scientology in Hemet, California and online jokes about a "[Tom] Cruise missile." Henson was sentenced to six months in prison, but he fled to Ontario, Canada, where he unsuccessfully sought asylum as a victim of religious persecution. His application for refugee status was rejected in 2004, and he voluntarily left the country in September 2005, and has apparently been living in Arizona.

Henson's arrest has also been covered by the 10 Zen Monkeys blog and Sentient Developments blog.

UPDATE (February 7, 2007): Declan McCullagh has reported more details at News.com. Henson's bond was raised from $7,500 to $500,000 at the request of prosecutors, then reduced back to $5,000. He was released from jail Monday night, and must appear for an extradition hearing on March 5. He is being defended by a local libertarian of my acquaintance, Michael Kielsky.

UPDATE (February 9, 2007): For a deeper look at exactly what caused Keith Henson to be convicted on a misdemeanor charge, see this ex-Scientologist's web page of postings from Henson and Scientology critic Diane Richardson. Diane Richardson is a meticulously accurate critic who has come under fire from fellow critics for negative posts about critics rather than restricting her focus to Scientology. While I've disagreed with her from time to time, when it comes to facts she is quite reliable. She is, as am I, a skeptic of claims of "cult mind control."

UPDATE (March 27, 2008): I'm quite remiss in updating this. Keith Henson was extradited to Riverside, California, after his hearings were delayed into May 2007, where he was jailed on August 11. He was subsequently released from jail in September and is now a free man.

UPDATE (July 7, 2008): Keith served four months of a 180-day (six-month) sentence, and is currently on probation. The Riverside County Superior Court website lists the terms of his probation:

Case HEM014371 Defendant 547981 HENSON, KEITH

Probation Type: SUMMARY

Granted: 05/30/2007

Expire: 05/29/2010

SUMMARY PROBATION GRANTED FOR A PERIOD OF 36 MONTHS, UNDER THE FOLLOWING TERMS AND CONDITIONS:
	1)		OBEY ALL LAWS, ORDINANCES, AND COURT ORDERS.
	2)		BE COMMITTED TO THE CUSTODY OF THE RIVERSIDE COUNTY SHERIFF FOR 180 DAYS;
	3)		PAY A FINE AND ASSESSMENT IN THE TOTAL OF $346.00, PAYABLE TO THE COURT, AS DIRECTED BY FINANCIAL SERVICES.
	4)		PAY VICTIM RESTITUTION, TO BE DETERMINED BY FINANCIAL SERVICES; ANY DISPUTE TO BE RESOLVED IN A COURT HEARING. PAY RESTITUTION (VICTIM) IN AN AMOUNT DETERMINED BY AND PAYABLE TO THE COURT, AS DIRECTED BY FINANCIAL SVCS; ANY DISPUTE TO BE RESOLVED IN A COURT HRG
	5)		NOT HAVE ANY NEGATIVE CONTACT WITH ANY MEMBER OF THE CHURCH OF SCIENTOLOGY.
	6)		ADDED TERM: DONT KNOWINGLY COME WITHIN 1000FT OF ANY
	7)		ADDED TERM: DONT ANNOY OR HARASS ANY MEMBER OF CHURCH OF

Schoolteacher convicted on bogus charges due to malware

Connecticut substitute teacher Julie Amero faces up to 40 years in prison for "risk of injury to a minor or impairing the morals of a child" because a seventh-grade classroom computer was infected with malware. While browsing the web for information about hair styles, the browser hit a website that caused pop-ups ads for pornographic sites to pop up.

Because Amero's attorney failed to raise the issue of malware, most of a defense expert witness's testimony was excluded from presentation to the jury, which unanimously voted for conviction.

There are so many things wrong here:

* The school district had let its filtering software expire, so the machine didn't have adequate protection (and was likely unpatched for major vulnerabilities).

* The police did an incompetent investigation, failing to check for malware.

* The police testified, falsely, that Amero would have had to physically click on a pornographic link to get those sites to pop up.

* Amero's attorney did an incompetent job of defending her, by failing to bring up the critically important issue of malware.

* And the law itself is absurd--Amero shouldn't get 40 years in prison even if she had intentionally shown pornography to seventh graders.

Lindsay Beyerstein has a good summary of the case at the Huffington Post, including links to the expert testimony that shows conclusively that malware, not Amero, was at fault. P.Z. Myers criticizes the "insane anti-porn hysteria" aspect of the case at Pharyngula.

UPDATE (June 7, 2007): Julie Amero has been granted a retrial! She will get a new trial sometime in 2007.

UPDATE (November 26, 2008): The state of Connecticut has finally decided to drop the charges against Amero.

UPDATE (December 4, 2008): But Amero still loses her teacher's license!

Hoax devices and infernal machines

Wired looks at the law under which Peter Beredovsky was charged regarding the Boston Mooninite lights:

Whoever possesses, transports, uses or places or causes another to knowingly or unknowingly possess, transport, use or place any hoax device or hoax substance with the intent to cause anxiety, unrest, fear or personal discomfort to any person or group of persons shall be punished by imprisonment in a house of correction for not more than two and one-half years or by imprisonment in the state prison for not more than five years or by a fine of not more than $5,000, or by both such fine and imprisonment.

Note the requirement of intent, which should be impossible to prove--it's clear the intent was to promote the Aqua Teen Hunger Force movie, not to cause panic. But this law also requires that the object being planted be a "hoax device," which is defined as:

For the purposes of this section, the term “hoax device” shall mean any device that would cause a person reasonably to believe that such device is an infernal machine. For the purposes of this section, the term “infernal machine” shall mean any device for endangering life or doing unusual damage to property, or both, by fire or explosion, whether or not contrived to ignite or explode automatically. For the purposes of this section, the words “hoax substance” shall mean any substance that would cause a person reasonably to believe that such substance is a harmful chemical or biological agent, a poison, a harmful radioactive substance or any other substance for causing serious bodily injury, endangering life or doing unusual damage to property, or both.

That's a nice term, "infernal machine"--it sounds like something demonic, perhaps appropriate for a state that still has blasphemy laws on the books. Here again, the law is clearly in Beredovsky's favor. There is no way that a person would reasonably believe that the magnetic lights depicting Mooninite characters were "infernal machines"--devices designed to ignite or explode.

I predict the authorities will drop the charges rather than go through the further embarrassment of a trial.

Belief, behavior, and bumper sticker religion

I've occasionally remarked that I don't care so much what people believe as I do how they act. The people I enjoy spending time with are not always those who share my beliefs, but are those who demonstrate integrity, respect, honesty, and other virtues. These virtues are associated with not just holding beliefs in the sense of a mere tendency to agree with a statement, but a deeper belief that actually has consequences for one's behavior. When I was a born-again Christian, I heard many sermons to the effect that many Christians were Christian in name only, paying only lip service to the doctrines while not living their lives in accordance with them. Clearly, there are a lot of such people out there.

(Read the rest, where I recycle an argument I originally wrote in a pamphlet called "Three Reductio Ad Absurdum Arguments Against Evangelical Christianity," at the Secular Outpost.)

More comments on Boston lite brite fiasco

Bruce Schneier has commented on the Aqua Teen Hunger Force nonsense in Boston:

Now the police look stupid, but they're trying really not hard not to act humiliated:

Governor Deval Patrick told the Associated Press: "It's a hoax -- and it's not funny."

Unfortunately, it is funny. What isn't funny is now the Boston government is trying to prosecute the artist and the network instead of owning up to their own stupidity. The police now claim that they were "hoax" explosive devices. I don't think you can claim they are hoax explosive devices unless they were intended to look like explosive devices, which merely a cursory look at any of them shows that they weren't.

But it's much easier to blame others than to admit that you were wrong:

"It is outrageous, in a post 9/11 world, that a company would use this type of marketing scheme," Mayor Thomas Menino said. "I am prepared to take any and all legal action against Turner Broadcasting and its affiliates for any and all expenses incurred."

And:

Rep. Ed Markey, a Boston-area congressman, said, "Whoever thought this up needs to find another job."

"Scaring an entire region, tying up the T and major roadways, and forcing first responders to spend 12 hours chasing down trinkets instead of terrorists is marketing run amok," Markey, a Democrat, said in a written statement. "It would be hard to dream up a more appalling publicity stunt."

And:

"It had a very sinister appearance," [Massachusetts Attorney General Martha] Coakley told reporters. "It had a battery behind it, and wires."

For heavens sake, don't let her inside a Radio Shack.

And so has Tim Lee at the Technology Liberation Front:

Oh my God! Wires! And a battery! My question is: doesn't the city of Boston have any bomb experts on staff? I mean, it's not crazy for a layman to see an unidentified electronic device and imagine it could be a bomb. But wouldn't the first step be to call in a bomb squad to examine the device? And wouldn't it be obvious to anyone that knew anything about electronics that it's highly unlikely that a terrorist would put dozens of gratuitous LEDs on the front of a bomb?

Terrorism is a serious problem, and we should take prudent steps to to deal with it. But we also have to remember that terrorists' goal is to produce terror and get attention. When we're this panicky, we do the terrorists' job for them. Yesterday Osama bin Laden succeeded in snarling traffic and producing an avalanche of news coverage without lifting a finger.

Agreed.

Minimum wage increase: how to make the poor poorer

Rather than increase the Earned Income Tax Credit or reduce payroll taxes, Congress is moving forward with an increase in the minimum wage. Gary Becker and Richard Posner have written a Wall Street Journal op-ed titled "How To Make the Poor Poorer" which describes the likely consequences of this feel-good legislation:

Although some workers benefit -- those who were paid the old minimum wage but are worth the new one to the employers -- others are pushed into unemployment, the underground economy or crime:

• The losers are therefore likely to lose more than the gainers gain; they are also likely to be poorer people.
• And poor families are disproportionately hurt by the rise in the price of fast foods and other goods produced with low-skilled labor because these families spend a relatively large fraction of their incomes on such goods.

Because most increases in the minimum wage have been slight, their effects are difficult to disentangle from other factors that affect employment:

• But a 40 percent increase would be too large to have no employment effect; about a tenth of the work force makes less than $7.25 an hour.
• Even defenders of minimum-wage laws must believe that beyond some point a higher minimum would cause unemployment, otherwise why don't they propose $10, or $15, or an even higher figure?

Good intentions don't make for good legislation.

UPDATE (February 9, 2007): Glen Whitman writes about how the minimum wage debate is largely symbolic on both sides, though this time it could be different.

UPDATE (September 6, 2007): I just came across this interesting post at the Coyote Blog about how minimum wage changes affect his specific business.

UPDATE (October 10, 2007): Here's a nice summary of U.S. minimum wage worker statistics, including:

According to the U.S. Department of Labor, the median annual income of a U.S. worker is $32,140. Federal minimum wage is currently $5.85 an hour, or about $11,500 per year — just above the poverty line. Of the 76.5 million people paid by the hour in the United States in 2006, 2.2% make minimum wage or less. Here are some generalizations we can make about minimum wage workers:

• Most minimum wage earners are young. While 2.2% of all hourly workers earn minimum wage or less, just 1.4% of workers over the age of 25 are paid at or below the Federal minimum wage. More than half (51.2%) of minimum wage workers are between 16 and 24 years old. Another 21.2% are between 25 and 34.
• Most minimum wage earners work in food service. Nearly two-thirds of those paid minimum wage (or less) are food service workers. Many of these people receive supplemental income in the form of tips, which the government does not track.
• Most minimum wage earners never attended college. Just 1.2% of college graduates are paid the minimum wage. If you only have a high school degree, you’re more likely (1.9%) to be paid minimum wage. Those without a high school degree are nearly three times as likely (3.7%) to earn minimum wage. 59.8% of all minimum wage workers have no advanced education.
• Finally, as you might expect, part-time workers are five times more likely to be paid the minimum wage than full-time workers.

UPDATE (November 25, 2012): There has been an accumulation of evidence that a moderate minimum wage is a net benefit, improving both wages and employment in some cases (reference to The Economist, Nov. 24, 2012, p. 82, "Free exchange: The argument in the floor").

National Intelligence Estimate on Iraq

The National Intelligence Estimate (NIE) on Iraq that had its release postponed until after the election is now out, and it seems to indicate that Bush's plan for a surge is doomed to failure:

...even if violence is diminished, given the current winner-take-all attitude and sectarian animosities infecting the political scene, Iraqi leaders will be hard pressed to achieve sustained political reconciliation in the time frame of this Estimate.

The NIE also says that Iran and Syria are "not likely to be a major driver of violence or the prospects for stability because of the self-sustaining character of Iraq's internal sectarian dynamics."

More at TPM Muckraker.

Nice takedown of Dinesh D'Souza

Dinesh D'Souza, who blames liberals for exercising their freedom in ways that cause Muslim radicals to hate and attack the U.S., gets a nice takedown at World-o-Crap.

Also see Ed Brayton's commentaries on D'Souza from last year:

"The Inanity of Dinesh D'Souza" (September 2006)
"Walcott on D'Souza's New Book" (October 2006)
"More on D'Souza's Ridiculous Book" (October 2006)

David Paszkiewicz on global warming; Kearny High School bans recording

Last week in class David Paszkiewicz was discussing Adolf Hitler and the "Big Lie" propaganda technique. His example of a "Big Lie" being spread today: global warming. In Paszkiewicz's backwards world, it's not global warming denial that's a big lie, it's the scientific evidence supporting it.

Kearny High School has taken action regarding Paszkiewicz's continuing embarrassment of the school--by banning classroom taping without permission of the instructor. (They have also planned mandatory training for teachers on "how to interpret the Constitution’s separation of church and state and how it should apply to classroom discussions," as I reported last month.)

The New York Times has the story.