Did Crowley maybe improve minor facts in his much-scrutinized report? Could be. Put it this way: If you'd seen a falling-down drunk skate on a DUI because a 3 a.m. police report called a dark-blue vehicle black (I have), you might edit creatively, too.

It ain't right, but it's the way of the world.

It may be "the way of the world" but it is not creative editing--it is perjury. A police report generally ends up as a sworn document, being an supporting affidavit to the court complaint that charges the arrestee with a crime.

Dressing up a criminal complaint to make a stronger case is the worst kind of fraud against the criminal justice system and the constitutional rights of the defendant. A defendant is already at an incredible disadvantage when it is his word against a cop.

And it is extremely unlikely for a "falling down drunk" to get off a DUI over a slight color discrepancy. I suspect that there were a lot of other problems with the case you cite that you are either not aware of or are not mentioning.

unhealthy, completely nutrient-free, and made from animal tissues. I think I'll pass, thanks. Economy not relevant here.

On the other hand, I own oil stocks. So, when gas goes up a nickel, I make a couple thousand. When it drops a nickel, I save money at the pump.

and lose back that couple thousand in your oil stocks. Do you always make this much sense?

HIV-segregation policies stemmed from raging paranoia about HIV contagion, paranoia that was extreme in Mississippi and even worse in Alabama.

I have no doubt that this is true, however I am surprised that there is no mention in this article of the widespread incidence of prison rape, which I have no doubt is endemic in Alabama prisons also. There is no excuse for this, and victims should not be punished, but the fact is that prison rape and coercive prison sexual relationships are a major transmission route of HIV/AIDS and hepatitis. Quarantine is a blunt instrument, but that being the case I am surprised that the article fails to mention this at all.

And for extra credit, compare credit union failures to bank failures. They're not taking bailout cash either.

http://www.freewebs.com/resonantdesign/

Ruben, you better give Harvey a call.

This isn't a parody of a Bush-administration ad or something from Focus on the Family?

To take your bait, covering an "elective" abortion is much cheaper than covering even a simple uncomplicated childbirth, not to mention postnatal care, insurance coverage for the newborn, the vast costs of complicated pregnancies and childbirths, and the enormous social costs of unwanted and/or profoundly disabled children. It makes no economic sense to not cover abortion; the only reason to deny it would for ideological/marketing purposes.

I'm sorry you don't have better dental coverage and I hope your kids teeth get better.

The problem is that she had 17 pregnancies.

There is no justification for this or explanation other than a chronic, total lack of responsibility in her sexual behavior and the (lack of) precautions she took. She should have had her tubes tied long ago.

I don't feel sorry for the aborted fetuses, I feel sorry for her children, and regret for the damage she may to do abortion access for other women who need them, 99.999% of whom no doubt have taken more responsibility for their sexual behavior. That said, I don't want to be too harsh on her, since being addicted to having babies is both much more common and much more acceptable than being "addicted to abortion" (as this woman claims), and she's much less of a drain on society than the Octomom types of the world. Of course, now that she has decided to quit having abortions but not having babies (her second while writing the book!), she has time left to play for that team too.

I don't know if he's being made into a hero, but the French response is certainly not acceptable. The length of time is no excuse. The man has been living openly as a fugitive for decades. Having pleaded guilty, this is outside of the victim's hands. The prosecutors and judge are correct to require him to show up and submit himself to the court before addressing any misconduct in his prosecution.

That along with the victim's wishes may be mitigating circumstances, but absconding from justice is itself an extremely serious crime, and that first and foremost, besides the rape itself that he pleaded guilty to, is why Switzerland must extradite him to California. He chose to flee the country, and now he chose to venture outside his chosen refuge of France, instead of going through the legal process of addressing prosecutorial or judicial misconduct through appeals or post-conviction motions. He has not served a single day for his crime, and he fully deserves to go to prison. The damage to the integrity of the criminal justice system of a convicted rapist living openly as a fugitive is far greater than any potential or hypothetical disincentive for victims to come forward.

You are completely wrong. The U.S.A. has extensive extradition treaties with over 100 nations and routinely extradites its citizens abroad upon a judicial showing of mere probable cause. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_United_States_extradition_treaties

France is anomalous in that it, like Israel and a some other nations, has a policy of generally not extraditing its own citizens at all, but instead prosecuting them in France upon request of the foreign country--even if the citizen is also a citizen of the foreign country. Unsurprisingly foreign prosecutors often are not willing to give fugitives this option.