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The following news almost makes up for how often I hide my head in shame of the decisions of the Texas courts. Sigh. Does everything have to have a political o

The following news almost makes up for how often I hide my head in shame of the decisions of the Texas courts. Sigh. Does everything have to have a political overtone? If your point is that the judge used Star Trek in order to decide issues of law, you are mistaken. If your point is that it is silly for the judge, in his opinion, to refer to popular literature and metaphors, you are also mistaken. In fact, looks to me from the above quote that the whole article is just an excuse to use what is a neat example of Trek continuing to have an effect on the mythos of our age as a stick to beat on Texans, probably because most of them don't see eye-to-eye with the author. Perhaps that wasn't diplomatic enough for the author. But, to quote a famous fictional engineer: "Ah, diplomacy; I adore diplomacy...Diplomacy? The best diplomat I know of is a fully charged phaser bank!"" Sorry. I just don't like folks using Trek to take swipes at political affiliation. There are some very good people in Texas of all stripes. This could have been a much better trivia article if the author could have left out his little jabs. (And yes, I am assuming sarcasm in the above quote)

jberryman 16y ago
In fact, looks to me from the above quote that the whole article is just an excuse to use what is a neat example of Trek continuing to have an effect on the mythos of our age as a stick to beat on Texans, probably because most of them don't see eye-to-eye with the author. I think his point was that here is a cool geeky thing, preceded by a paragraph about how he feels about Texas government, which I agree isn't really relevant.
msbarnett 16y ago
Does being shamed by Texas courts really have a political overtone? I interpreted that as a reference to the Eastern District of Texas Federal Court, the preferred venue of patent trolls due to the notoriously complainant-friendly judges there. Shame over that mess should know no political boundaries.
- wtallis 16y ago
  Exactly. When a town's economy is significantly dependent on how reliably biased its courts are, such that hotels and other businesses are sustained by visiting lawyers, that's a clear sign that the courts are messed up beyond any political excuse. Trial by jury isn't due process in that town, because an unbiased jury can't be assembled from its citizens.

jberryman 16y ago

In fact, looks to me from the above quote that the whole article is just an excuse to use what is a neat example of Trek continuing to have an effect on the mythos of our age as a stick to beat on Texans, probably because most of them don't see eye-to-eye with the author. I think his point was that here is a cool geeky thing, preceded by a paragraph about how he feels about Texas government, which I agree isn't really relevant.

msbarnett 16y ago

Does being shamed by Texas courts really have a political overtone? I interpreted that as a reference to the Eastern District of Texas Federal Court, the preferred venue of patent trolls due to the notoriously complainant-friendly judges there. Shame over that mess should know no political boundaries.

wtallis 16y ago
Exactly. When a town's economy is significantly dependent on how reliably biased its courts are, such that hotels and other businesses are sustained by visiting lawyers, that's a clear sign that the courts are messed up beyond any political excuse. Trial by jury isn't due process in that town, because an unbiased jury can't be assembled from its citizens.