Here’s the Belated Birthday Report. Live Journal readers get to see it entire HOURS before run-of-the-mill, schlockmercenary.com Schlockers.

Thanks everybody!

–Howard

Enough with the morning ritual of reading the news, blogging, and puttering about the web. Sure, this ritual is critical for me as a writer, because I need to stay at least marginally “in touch” with the world, and I don’t watch television so I’m certainly OUT of touch in plenty of regards. BUT… the buffer is 8 inked, 1 colored. I have 7 strips to color, another 7 to pencil and ink, and a whole Schlockiverse worth of scripting to do.

Quit pestering me! I’m busy! This is YOUR fault you know!

–Howard “I learned that trick from a French defense attorney” Tayler

You know, with a name like “Angers,” you’d EXPECT the story to make you mad (assuming you speak English — hey, how are you reading this, anyway?)

Linked from my local paper.

Upshot: There’s this big pedophilia trial going on in Angers, France, with some 4 dozen victims and sixty-six defendants.

My Take: There are half a dozen different angles a blogger could take with this one. I’m interested in two:

1) This provides an interesting insight into how the French criminal justice system differs from the one here at home. Defendents do not plead innocence or guilt at the beginning of the trial. The press is allowed in, but is not allowed to use any of the victims’ or defendents’ names in their reporting. The sixty-six defendants are all on trial at once, in the same room. I’m not passing judgement on the French here — I’m just saying it’s interesting.

2) This quote: “Defense lawyers plan to argue that government social workers, who dealt with many of the suspects, turned a blind eye to signs of abuse.” Okay, tell me PLEASE how this is a valid defense. It seems to me that this argument is an attempt to lay the blame for the crime on the government for not catching the perpetrators sooner. Now I’m not going to claim that this loony abdication-of-personal-responsibility defense is a uniquely FRENCH thing. Far from it! I think they may have learned this tactic from slimy partnership drones here in the USA. I hope and pray, for the sake of the children in France, that this defense backfires conflagrously, immolating the entire defense team along with their clients.

The crime really is an horrific one, and it brings to mind Christ’s own suggested sentence: “it were better for him that a millstone were hanged about his neck, and that he were drowned in the depth of the sea.” (Okay, we can argue the meaning of THAT passage in light of Christ’s other teachings until the cows come home and lie down with the lamb and the lion.)

–Howard

I got a new cell-phone, and disconnected the one that Sandra was using. We were still listed on a Novell “employee spouse” plan, and while there may have been a bit of a discount, it’s hardly ethical to continue to accept it. The only reason we took six months to switch is that we didn’t KNOW we were still on a Novell plan.

Anyway, new phone. I got a GREAT phone (Sony/Ericsson T616), but I think I need some additional hardware to download pictures from it. We got a cheap rate plan that lacks the email account necessary to email the pictures. I think the USB cable they sell for the phone ($15 at Tangshop.com) will let me download pictures and upload contacts and calendar information, but I’m just not sure.

Oh, and the phone number… no, I’m not going to tell you what it is. The phone is for when I travel to conventions, not for day-to-day talking. If you are one of the close friends and/or family who know Sandra’s OLD phone number, go ahead and call us at home to get this new cell number. The rest of you, well, you’ll just have live with the knowledge that You Don’t Need To Know.

–Howard