Blackhacker

This post on Blackinformant got me thinking. It asks the question what if Tookie had been a KKK? A fair question. Their are some parallels. As a founding member of the Crips Tookie is responsible for the death of a lot of Black people. The Klan is responsible for the death of a lot of black people. Even if he is innocent of the murders he was convicted of Tookie isn’t innocent by any stretch of the imagination. What possible reason could their be to spare this man’s life? Good question.

< analogy >
When I help my son with his home work I almost NEVER give him the answer. I only ask him the questions that he is not asking himself. The right question can put many things into perspective.
< /analogy >

My question about Tookie is “What if he where a mobster?” There are many, KILLERS, who’s lives have been spared, even freedom preserved, because they had knowledge or experience that they could trade for their lives. Sometimes not just their lives but a whole new life. The Government is cool with this. They get a way to gain advantage over criminals who are more insulated from prosecution. Of course the criminals are cool with it. America is above all else a capitalist society and therefore as such just about everything is for sale to some degree.

So, what does Tookie have to sell? Tookie may have something that could be used to dissuade those who who take up a criminal life style, persuade those who have to change and be more productive. Tookie has “street cred.” he has used to write children’s books and to foster foster peace in the organization he help to found.

Working on the assumption that Tookie has some “pull” with would be “gangtas”, wouldn’t clemency for a killer be worth it? What is clemency anyway. It is not exoneration, or a pardon, it is merely mercy. No one is making any judgement about the guilt or innocence of Tookie, by granting his clemency, just that “i don’t feel like killing you anymore.” Like I said in the Capitalist society that is the US of A, we can’t just give mercy away. Let him FROM JAIL continue to work for peace. If we can get something for that mercy I’m cool with it.

UPDATE:
Gov. Schwarzenegger denies Stanley Williams Clemency
ps: I’m still cool with it.

BetaNews | Oops — New Sony DRM Patch Insecure
Oops — New Sony DRM Patch Insecure
By Nate Mook, BetaNews
December 8, 2005, 11:40 AM

Just one day after jointly announcing a patch to correct a security flaw in the SunnComm MediaMax copy protection included on 27 CDs, Sony BMG and the Electronic Frontier Foundation are urging users not to install it. The update includes a vulnerability similar to the one it attempted to fix.

SunnComm’s MediaMax version 5 software does not properly protect a directory it installs, opening the door for a privilege escalation attack. Thus, a restricted user account could replace the executables within the MediaMax directory with malicious code, which would then be executed by an administrator upon inserting a CD.

BetaNews | Yahoo’s del.icio.us Acquisition
Yahoo’s del.icio.us Acquisition
By Ed Oswald, BetaNews
December 9, 2005, 3:09 PM

Social bookmarking service del.icio.us announced on Friday that it had been acquired by Yahoo. Financial terms of the deal were not disclosed. Joshua Schachter, creator of the site, said that the acquisition would allow it to work more closely with photo site Flickr, which was acquired by Yahoo in March.

I think this is a big move for Yahoo. Not that is is was hard for Yahoo, but smart. It now has 2 of the biggiest and enduring social networks under it belt. There is a lot of grassroots development surounding Flikr & Del.icio.us which can be a plant bed for some REAL innovation, not just “bolt is on to our OS and call it innovation”

I always keep thinking “Google should have tried to aquire these guys” but Google has always liked to build rather than buy.