Character Assassin gets his just deserts!

[Sir Brian]

Sometimes our justice system really works. The waste of flesh described in this story was actually offered a plea bargain of just two years but arrogantly gambled that he’d get off even easier or totally scot-free. Hope he enjoys his 18 years of incarceration! 

http://www.wired.com/threatlevel/2011/07/hacking-neighbor-from-hell/

[Sir Rodney]

Yep, one of our finest here in the good old Twin Cities.     This has been big news locally, as you can well imagine.  He deserves every minute he spends behind bars and I seriously hope that he receives professional help.

And in (somewhat) related news:

Our State government has now been unfunded for a national record 13 days, an embarrassment that most Minnesotan's are furious about.     Thank goodness a judge stepped in and decided the state prisons (among a few other things) are "critical infrastructure" and kept them open.

Now a group has sued saying the judge's ruling is unconstitutional and they want to shut down the State government in its entirety just to prove a political point!  No state police, open up the prisons and let out level 3 sex offenders, shut down the unemployment office just after adding 22,000 state employees to the rolls, etc.  Good times up here in Minnesota...

[Sir Edward]

Wow, I'm glad that piece of crap is going away for a long time.

[Sir William]

Wow, just wow...18 years seems steep; if it weren't for the kiddie porn (and the death threats) he probably would've gotten a year at best.  As for those idiots who want to shut down state gov't to prove a point- what's the point?  That the infrastructure could crumble in a short time?  DUH!

[Sir Edward]

This also makes me want to go home and throw away my wi-fi router.

[Sir William]

Every time my connection lags, there's always that little niggling thought at the back of my mind that tells me someone's managed to figure out my WEP key and are pirating my link-up.  The bastards!  lol

All kidding aside, this and the whole ID theft thing are really more concerning than a lot of other issues that may've once taken precedence in my mind.  Too much to worry about and not enough answers.

[Sir James A]

I hope that guy enjoys being a "lady" for the next 18 years. He earned it! And let's hope the Minnesota jails stay funded so he doesn't get out early. He sounds like a real piece of work.

[Sir Patrick]

Wow.  No other words, just...wow.

[SirNathanQ]

Ha! That'll teach him!
But WTF would they shut down the whole of Minnesota? Did a whole bunch of important people leave their brains at home today?

[Sir William]

'They' meaning the gov't, wouldn't.  We're talking about a small pocket of disgruntled citizens (more likely a larger pocket than it used to be, given the economy, high taxes, etc etc) who want to prove some point.  Like I said...the only point they'll prove is that the infrastructure would collapse relatively quickly...only an idiot would not realize that.  lol

[SirNathanQ]

Yeah, hello! *cough cough*-Rome-*cough cough*

[Sir Rodney]

Yeah, hello! *cough cough*-Rome-*cough cough*

Sadly, this is a very accurate analogy.

In Minnesota, and I'm sure elsewhere, our major problem is that elected officials only look to the next election cycle.  They do not look for long term solutions, only short term band-aids that push the real problem on to the next generation.

Our great and esteemed elected officials have "balanced" our budget as required by our state constitution.  They simply cut programs for the neediest in our state and delayed payments to our schools for another year or two.  They "kicked the can down the road".

On paper we have a "balanced budget" for the next two years at the expense of our education system.  Now schools from elementary to state colleges have to figure out how to keep their doors open as they will not be receiving promised state funds.  They will have to beg the citizens for a huge levy and take out high interest loans in the hope that they will eventually, some day, receive the funding that they were originally promised when they created their budgets.

I'm sorry for the rant, as this discussion is not related to the OP, but this disaster has affected my household directly.  Now back to our originally scheduled programming.

Rome indeed.