Date: 2009-07-03 10:39 Subject: Inside the mind of a sociopath Security: Public Location: In my chair Tags: lori drew, psychology

The news broke today that Lori Drew has had the charges overturned against her.  The judge is going to take some flack from that, but on legal grounds, the judge probably did the right thing.  That doesn't make the entire situation right, however, and it is one of those sad cases where what was right and necessary on the legal side was justice denied.

For those who somehow missed it, Lori Drew is the sociopath who manipulated a 13 year-old girl into committing suicide using a MySpace account.  It was murder, but indirect murder - she put Megan Meier in a position where she would die, rather than kill her directly.  Dexter had an episode with a serial killer who used that sort of modus operandi.  The problem was that the technology had moved faster than legal jurisprudence in the United States, and so there was not really anything authorities could charge her with with a certainty of sticking.  What they eventually went with was a conspiracy charge that was difficult to prove, and trying to depict breaching the terms of agreement of MySpace as a federal offense.  They didn't manage to prove the conspiracy charge beyond a reasonable doubt, but they did manage to get the three terms of agreement charges to stick.

Legally, that is problematic - that can bite a lot of innocent people in the hindquarters, particularly when terms of agreement are unfair, unrealistic, etc.  The precident was too dangerous to let stand.  So, the charges were dropped.  I sincerely hope that the Meier family launches a civil suit that destroys Lori Drew's life to the point of annihilation.

But, let's talk about Lori Drew and sociopathy, because it can be a bit hard to understand at times.  We tend to think that when it comes down to it, all people are alike on a basic level.  We also tend to be wrong about that; while there are one or two common links - empathy being a primary one - there are far fewer than we tend to realize.  Upbringing matters a great deal, as does society.  Ancient Athens had little or no concept of individual rights, whereas we define ourselves by them.  We tend to take it for granted that women should be equal to men, while the Taliban find it obvious that women should be treated as property.

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Date: 2009-07-03 20:46 Subject: If you're going to campaign, call a f@#$ing election! Security: Public Location: In my chair Tags: canada, politics

On my way home, I stopped by my post office box.  There I found a piece of mail that made me see red.  It was from the government, and it represents, as far as I can tell, a massive abuse of the public trust.

It was a pamphlet that seemed to be trying to be a survey, asking who I thought was on the right track for Canada, with a little election ballot.  However, most of it was a written version of the attack ads against Ignatieff, once again claiming that he was "just visiting."  To make matters worse, to return this "survey" you just have to fold it up and put it into the mail - the "No Postage Required" on the stamp means that the return post is being paid for by Canada Post.

This is, put simply, an outrage.  Consider the following:

1. This came "Compliments of Blake Richards, MP."  My Member of Parliament is Peter Milliken.  So, effectively, an MP with no portfolio is soliciting from another MP's riding.

2. This is an election campaign flyer - there is no question of that.  But there hasn't been an election called.  And this isn't the government bragging about its record - this is an attack ad flyer.  This comes pretty close to libel, if it doesn't actually cross the line.

3. This hasn't been paid for by the Conservative Party of Canada coffers - this was paid for by Canada Post.  In short, taxpayers are paying for the Conservatives to mail out attack ad flyers outside of an election.

This is not acceptable behaviour from public servants.  Now, there is something that people can do about it.  They can write to their Member of Parliament, and they can also write to the Board of Internal Economy.  Here is the list of its members.  My fellow Canadians - I ask you, please write and complain.  The only way that the Conservative Party will learn its lesson is if we do not remain silent, and if we tell them, united, that this will not be allowed to stand.