The Freedom Bulletin

Photo courtesy of David Carmichael via Wikipedia, CC Attribution-Share Alike 3.0.

As the 2010 Winter Olympics come to a close, I think it is fitting to make a tribute to my new favorite athlete, Evgeni Plushenko.

Plushenko, of course, is the Russian figure skater who narrowly lost out on the gold medal to American Evan Lysacek. He has faced lots of undeserved negative press coverage because of his criticism of the result. Although I am American, I agree with Plushenko that he deserved the gold. Even if I did not, however, I would still admire his self-confidence and courage to voice his true opinions.

Plushenko (now infamously) said, “Quad is quad. If the Olympic champion doesn’t know how to jump the quad, I don’t know…Now it’s not men’s figure skating, it’s dancing. That’s my point.”

During the medals ceremony, he playfully stepped onto the winner’s spot on the podium before going to the second place spot. For a few days, his website called his silver medal a “platinum medal.”

While Lysacek is undoubtedly an excellent skater and an extremely nice person, I think Plushenko has a point. His program, which unlike Lysacek’s had a quadruple jump, was more challenging, just as artistic, and just as well-choreographed, in my admittedly un-expert opinion. He had no mistakes, except for slightly shaky landings on a couple of jumps, which was comparable to what Lysacek did.

But even if you think that Lysacek’s gold was deserved (which you have every right to), you have no right to attack Plushenko or his comments.

Plushenko has been called “impudent,” “self-serving,” and “a contender for worst Olympics loser.” He has been accused of “trying to bully himself into a figure skating gold,” and of “tarnishing his reputation by acting like a spoiled sport.” And that’s just in the actual articles. Readers’ comments, naturally, are much worse.

I think all of this criticism is unjustified. What I like about Plushenko is that I can relate to him. If I lost a competition (especially if I lost unfairly), I would feel the same way that he does, as would many other people. I admire Plushenko for having the guts to actually express his anger and indignation. Too many athletes, actors, politicians, and other public figures seem to care so much about what other people think that they come across as phony.

For example, Lysacek said about his program, “Each step wasn’t planned to win this gold medal. It was to have a personal victory and to have the skate of my lifetime at the most important moment.”

With all due respect to Lysacek, it’s hard to believe that someone would compete in the Olympics but care more about achieving a personal victory than winning the gold medal.

Lysacek seems very polished and polite but I find Plushenko more charismatic because he is true to himself instead of trying to please everyone. Lysacek is your typical nice, humble, all-American guy; he doesn’t really stand out. Plushenko has his own style and his own persona. His choreography, skating abilities, mannerisms, and even his hairdo are more memorable than Lysacek’s. He is genuine, brave, and confident. I don’t think there’s anything wrong with that.

Before these Olympics, I didn’t follow figure skating too closely and didn’t have an opinion on who should win. But now I am definitely a fan of Plushenko, and I look forward to seeing him compete at the World Championships next month and hopefully the 2014 Olympics. Go Plushenko!

I mentioned a while back that I would post a description of how I would reform America’s health system if I could. Guess what? I finally had time to do just that. Check out my essay “An ideal health system“ in the “Extras” section. This is not supposed to be practical or realistic, and I doubt either major party would support it, but it’s simply what America’s health system should, in my opinion, be like. Enjoy!

On Monday, the Credit Card Accountability Responsibility and Disclosure Act of 2009 went into effect. Lots of media outlets are portraying the new law as a victory for consumers. In my opinion, although the act might help people who carry credit card debt, it unfairly punishes people who pay off their balance every month.

Among the provisions in the CARD Act:

• People under 21 are no longer allowed to get a credit card without a co-signer. This is paternalistic and punishes people under 21 by restricting their freedom. How could you say that it helps people to forbid them from getting a credit card when they might want one?
• Credit card statements must tell you how long it will take to pay off your balance if you only make the minimum payment each month, as well as include the phone number of a credit counseling service. This is unnecessary and also paternalistic. People can figure out themselves how long it will take to pay off a balance, or how to find a credit counseling service. Everyone shouldn’t have to have this information cluttering up their statement.
• The act forbids credit card companies from (among other things) raising interest rates retroactively, making payments due on weekends or holidays, or raising your rates without 45 days notice. While this might help people slightly, especially people who carry a balance, it will reduce companies’ profits, which will likely result in companies increasing fees for paper statemens, inactivity, or simply having a credit card. I would much rather have a high interest rate and have my payment due on a weekend or holiday than have to pay an annual fee to have a credit card.

Basically, although the new credit card rules provide slight benefits to consumers, they are mostly paternalistic and more harmful to consumers than helpful. People have the right to decide (within the rules that credit card companies have set) how and when to pay off their balance. Some people choose to pay off the whole thing every month, and some people choose to carry a balance. I never carry a balance, because paying interest is throwing money away. But people have the right to decide that buying something immediately outweighs the downside of throwing money away on interest. Credit card companies don’t force people to carry balances, so they aren’t wronging anyone by increasing interest rates. I oppose the CARD act because it treats people like we are stupid. The law lessens the financial hardship on people who choose to amass debt at the expense of everyone else, who will be hit with increased fees just for having a credit card. That is not a good trade-off.

Sources: 

• CNN: New rules, traps for credit cards
• CNN: Countdown to credit card changes

At a hearing today at 2:00, a judge ruled that Philip Markoff, the alleged “Craigslist killer,” must give a DNA sample to prosecutors. Judge Frank Gaziano granted a prosecution motion to take a sample of Markoff’s DNA from an oral swab and compare it to evidence found in the case. This evidence includes blood stains on a handgun found in Markoff’s apartment. He is accused of hitting Julissa Brisman, a woman he met through Craigslist, over the head with the gun before shooting her to death.

I wasn’t able to make it to today’s hearing, but I hope to be able to go to the trial. Markoff’s next court appearance is set for March 29, and no official date has been set for the trial. Stay tuned until then!

Source: Boston Herald/AP

Update: Here is a PDF of the motion, thanks to the awesome Jake Wark, spokesman for the Suffolk County D.A.’s office.

This is creepy. A high school in Pennsylvania gave out laptops to its students and then allegedly spied on them at home by remotely activating the laptops’ webcams. One student’s parents are filing a class-action lawsuit against the school.  According to CNN,

“The suit said that on November 11, an assistant principal at Harriton High School told the plaintiffs’ son that he was caught engaging in “improper behavior” in his home and it was captured in an image via the webcam. According to the Robbinses’ complaint, neither they nor their son, Blake, were informed of the school’s ability to access the webcam remotely at any time.”

It’s messed up that the technology would even exist to allow people to do this. There may be legitimate uses for remotely activating webcams (perhaps to find your laptop if you lost it) but computers that an organization gives out to people should not have this feature. No one should be able to unknowingly watch another person through their computer.

And I can’t believe that the assistant principal (allegedly) accused a student of wrongdoing for something he was doing at home! How on Earth is what someone does at home the school’s business?

If the allegations are true, the school officials’ actions amount to a violation of the 4th Amendment, since they essentially looked inside students’ homes without a warrant. According to lawyers from the ACLU and EFF, this might even be a criminal violation of federal wiretapping laws. I certainly hope that the school, if truly guilty, is held fully accountable for these egregious violations of students’ rights.

Remember Crystal Mangum, the “exotic dancer” who falsely accused three Duke lacrosse players of rape? Well, she was just arrested for attempted first-degree murder, arson, assault and battery, identity theft, threats, damage to property, resisting arrest, and child abuse. Apparently, she tried to stab her boyfriend, burned his clothes, physically resisted police, and gave them a false name and age.

Maybe she had delusions that her boyfriend tried to rape her, just like the lacrosse players?

This is just another example of how women can commit domestic violence just as easily as men can. And how not all rape allegations are true. I still cannot believe that a prosecutor took Mangum’s word and charged three innocent men with rape despite the lack of a consistent story, corroborating witnesses, or forensic evidence.

You know you’re famous (or infamous) when a TV movie gets made about you. Well, eccentric con man Clark Rockefeller now has the honor (?) of having a TV movie made about him. “Who is Clark Rockefeller?” premieres on March 13 at 9:00 PM eastern time on the Lifetime network.

If you have been reading this blog for a while, you know that I attended and blogged about Rockefeller’s trial last year for kidnapping his 7-year-old daughter from his ex-wife. If you followed this trial at all, be sure to watch. I’m looking forward to it!

Source: PR Newswire