Wednesday, July 1, 2009

CYA and Sotomayor Overturned

So I was out waiting for my boy to punch through another half hour of speech. It was also the first day I had my laptop with me.the down side though, is that I was sitting in the middle of of a preschool playground. So, being the tech type-person I am, I decided to see what networks were available. I found 6-7 networks at most within range. 2-3 of those were unsecured. I could tell you also that one was a linksys rotuer, and a second was a Belkin MIMO router. Everyone else had a named network. So I was able to connect to one of the unsecured networks.

Naturally, I observed my common-sense rules of not putting out too much personal info, because I don't know who is connected to the network. Although I could (but in reality never would) have downloaded kiddie porn and the owner of the network in question wound have know nothing until the cops came a'bustin' on the door. This is because the clueless bastard connected their router and didn't cover their ass by securing it.

Now my parents don't have a secured network, but for someone to get on it, they'd have to drive up in front of the house (which is 1/4 mile from the next closest house) and connect. And if you look at mine, it's technically unsecured (but locked down by MAC address, so no computer can connect until I enter their info (gotta love small towns)). But for anyone with neighbors to leave their network wholly unsecured, you're asking for nothing but trouble. So if you have broadband Internet (and you probably do), a router (which if you're wireless you do), and neighbors you could hit with a rock, then get in there and do some securing (if you're clueless, email me your router model # and I'll tell you how to do it).

But, not all CYA measures are a good thing.
Ricci v. DeStefano - Despite my earlier defense for the logic that Judge Sotomayor would have employed to reach the decision, I agree wholeheartedly that there's no justification for discriminating against one race because you're afraid of getting sued for possibly discriminating against another, despite a good-faith effort not to do so.

So with this, we come to another question: How will this affect Sotomayor's nomination? In reality, she's going to have to explain her reasoning and more specifically her brevity. It had better be more than the one-paragraph unsigned opinion the court originally rendered.

So the moral of the story is that it's important to cover your ass. But breaking a law to cover your ass doesn't really cover your ass at all.

6 comments:

Satyavati devi dasi said...

Not that you care, but your clever little ticker on the left there is really, really distracting. I have to scroll past it or I can't read a thing.

Anonymous said...

We are able to comment again...yeah!

She definitely let the ball slip with that decision and I have a feeling she is going to have to do a lot of splaining' to do! I am actually posting something close to this but going a different direction with it.

Name: Soapboxgod said...

Hardly anything more gratifying than knowing you're right. I called that ruling from day one. I knew she [Sotomayor] would end up on the wrong side of the decision.

This woman isn't fit for the high court. And her lack of understanding and subsequent bastardizing of Constitutional principle regarding this case and others is proof positive of this fact.

Patrick M said...

Saty: Actually, if it annoyed you, then I care. These counters are annoying on principle, and after the annoying Bush ones, I couldn't resist.

Jenn: We are able to comment again...yeah!

Was something broke and I didn't know it?

Soapster: Then 4 of the 9 of the justices are as well (duh), as they agreed with her decision. Although I heard secondhand they did comment negatively about the lack of explanation.

As for her bastardization of the Constitution, I don't see a distinct pattern of her doing so, no matter how much I may disagree with her.

Unfortunately, without a pattern of such, there's not enough to stop her ascension to the Court.

Anonymous said...

We couldn't comment on your last post,at least I couldn't. I thought you had did that on purpose.

Patrick M said...

No, it was not on purpose, and comments are enabled if you care to do so.

And you may brand me an asshat for not paying attention.