my socks don't fit

Do Not Hire Curtis Mertensmeyer

” Curtis Mertensmeyer is a rich, pampered, spoiled brat from Mission Hills, KS who was driving drunk (at the not-even-yet-legal age of 20) and speeding at about 3am on May 11, 2008. He struck a pedestrian, 25-year-old Daniel L. Riemann, with so much force that is severed the victim’s legs. Curtis Mertensmeyer fled the scene, leaving the victim to die in the median. Shortly after Curtis Mertensmeyer abandoned his car and he and his 2 friends fled on foot.

Several days later the friends confessed and identified Curtis Mertensmeyer as the driver. Only after being fingered did Curtis Mertensmeyer plea guilty. He was sentenced to 5 years, but may be released in as little as 4 months.

Currently Curtis Mertensmeyer is suing his college fraternity, claiming that hazing caused post traumatic stress disorder and that is what led to his hit-and-run. Blaming others rather than accepting blame himself.

UPDATE:

Well, it happened. Jackson County Judge John M. Torrence, who apparently had already decided in advance that Curtis Mertensmeyer would only serve 120 days of his 5 year sentence, has indeed set him free despite the objections of the victim’s mother and virtually everyone in Kansas City.

One cannot help but suspect corruption and wonder if money or influence is behind such a light sentence for a crash so violent it severed the victim’s leg and left brain matter on the windshield. The judge instead took the Mertensmeyer approach by blaming the victim for also being intoxicated. (Hmm, wasn’t the victim the one who was abiding by the law by WALKING home? [hilker: the victim was also crossing the street at a crosswalk and was of legal drinking age.] ) The judge also blamed Mertensmeyer’s mother for helping her son avoid arrest, and didn’t think pampered little Curtis should bear responsibility for that aspect. (I’m sorry, isn’t he legally an adult?) The judge, and the local media, all also point out that Curtis Mertensmeyer admitted to his crimes. Yeah, only after his friends ratted him out and all the evidence pointed to him and he no longer had any choice. Way to go, Judge John M. Torrence. I hope this is your last term.

One other interesting question is why the Kansas City Star is so far silent on the issue, and why neither of their articles about Mertensmeyer’s release have allowed reader comments when every other article does. This bizarre decision by The Star is only forcing the discussion to take place in the comments secctions of totally unrelated articles.”

Canada's Single-Prayer Health Care - Yahoo! News

“Ava Isabella Stinson was born last Thursday at St. Joseph’s hospital in Hamilton, Ontario. Weighing only two pounds, she was born 13 weeks premature and needed some very special care. Unfortunately, there were no open neonatal intensive care beds for her at St. Joseph’s — or anywhere else in the entire province of Ontario, it seems.

Canada’s perfectly planned and cost-effective system had no room at the inn for Ava, who of necessity had to be sent across the border to a Buffalo, N.Y., hospital to suffer under our chaotic and costly system. She had no time to be put on a Canadian waiting list. She got the care she needed at an American hospital under a system President Obama has labeled “unsustainable.”“

while i agree that the current system is unsustainable, it’s for significantly different reasons. in such single-payer systems, there isn’t always room for the individual.

Obama's Top Five Health Care Lies - Forbes.com

Ant mega-colony takes over world

“Argentine ants living in vast numbers across Europe, the US and Japan belong to the same interrelated colony, and will refuse to fight one another.”

[via pulpaffliction]

After Call From Senator Inouye's Office, Small Hawaii Bank Got U.S. Aid

“Sen. Daniel K. Inouye’s staff contacted federal regulators last fall to ask about the bailout application of an ailing Hawaii bank that he had helped to establish and where he has invested the bulk of his personal wealth.

The bank, Central Pacific Financial, was an unlikely candidate for a program designed by the Treasury Department to bolster healthy banks. The firm’s losses were depleting its capital reserves. Its primary regulator, the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp., already had decided that it didn’t meet the criteria for receiving a favorable recommendation and had forwarded the application to a council that reviewed marginal cases, according to agency documents.

Two weeks after the inquiry from Inouye’s office, Central Pacific announced that the Treasury would inject $135 million.

Many lawmakers have worked to help home-state banks get federal money since the Treasury announced in October that it would invest up to $250 billion in healthy financial firms. But the Inouye inquiry stands apart because of the senator’s ties to Central Pacific. While at least 33 senators own shares in banks that got federal aid, a review of financial disclosures and records obtained from regulatory agencies shows no other instance of the office of a senator intervening on behalf of a bank in which he owned shares.

[…]

Inouye reported ownership of Central Pacific shares worth $350,000 to $700,000, some held by his wife, at the end of 2007. The shares represented at least two-thirds of Inouye’s total reported assets. Inouye has requested a delay in filing his annual financial disclosure for 2008, which was due this spring, and he declined to provide the current value of his investment. Since the end of 2007, the bank’s stock has lost 79 percent of its value.”

i can hardly blame the guy, but still.

Brian Bannister Makes a Call to Pitchers' Help Line "Run Support"