Scalia and Torture
The Supreme Court Justice cites Jack Bauer and the Hollywood torture show "24" as relevant background for constitutional jurisprudence:
Jack Bauer saved Los Angeles. ... He saved hundreds of thousands of lives," Judge Scalia said. Then, recalling Season 2, where the agent's rough interrogation tactics saved California from a terrorist nuke, the Supreme Court judge etched a line in the sand.
"Are you going to convict Jack Bauer?" Judge Scalia challenged his fellow judges. "Say that criminal law is against him? 'You have the right to a jury trial?' Is any jury going to convict Jack Bauer? I don't think so.
"So the question is really whether we believe in these absolutes. And ought we believe in these absolutes."
more: http://andrewsullivan.theatlantic.com/the_daily_dish/2007/06/scalia_and_tort.html
thanks http://jmcolberg.com/weblog/
Police Review 'Law & Order' Episode Similar to Case
State Police investigating the deaths of an Oswego (IL) mother and her three children have reviewed a recent "Law & Order" episode that featured the fatal shootings of a family.
The May 8 episode of "Law & Order: Special Victims Unit" has TV cops trying to determine why a mom shot her kids to death in their home, wounded her husband, then shot herself. The NBC show takes a dramatic twist and ends with the husband being arrested for the murders of his wife and children.
Police investigating the deaths of the Vaughns have looked at a copy of the episode, law enforcement sources said... while downplaying any connection between the TV show and the Will County deaths.
story | SunTimes
~I wonder if the police found a record of the May 8 episode on the Vaughans' TIVO?
Or maybe they're grasping at straws? Or trying to help the public and themselves understand?
How quickly was he able to flee bleeding from the car? She couldn't have stepped out of the car and shot him when he was busy with the luggage rack? She couldn't be bothered to chase him down and finish him off?
Husbands and wives have been known to kill their children and themselves while letting their spouses live to "see what you made me do". And dutiful husbands facing financial or moral ruin have been reported to kill their wives and children and then themselves.
The killings last week are not quite revenge or 'saving' the family from a fate worse then death.