Yesterday, during committee markup of a probably-doomed abortion bill making its way through the House, Rep. Bob Goodlatte argued that restricting access to abortions creates jobs. “Having new children brought into the world is not harmful to job creation,” he said, himself employing litotes for a job it maybe didn’t need to do. It was a peculiar line of reasoning, partly for the sheer bulk of its verbiage—more on that later—and partly because of its ambitious attempt to connect an old controversy to the political byword of the day. Strap on your chunky glasses, because Rep. Goodlatte is the subject of today’s Close Reading.
Author: Dan Brooks
Ravalli County treasurer promises October reports by “Friday or next Friday”

Republican precinct captains Rick and Valerie Stamey in 2013. Valerie is now Ravalli County treasurer.
The finance department of Ravalli County announced today that it will bypass the treasurer’s office to issue emergency operating funds to schools, libraries and fire departments. Meanwhile, treasurer Valerie Stamey told the county commission that she would present October financial reports by Friday. “If not then, by next Friday,” she added. Stamey’s statement was of a piece with what’s been coming out of her office since she was appointed in September—namely, everything but financial reports. After three resignations and numerous accusations of incompetence, she is starting to look like the perfect triumph of politics over government in Ravalli County.
New Jersey supreme court to consider admissibility of rap lyrics
During his 2008 trial for a shooting that occurred in 2005, Vonte Skinner saw his amateur rap lyrics used as evidence against him. The lyrics had all been written before the shooting and, according to this editorial in the New York Times, witness testimony against him was not credible, but Skinner still got 30 years. An appellate court overturned his conviction on the grounds that his raps should not have been admitted as evidence, and next week the New Jersey supreme court will hear the state’s appeal. The case raises some interesting questions about how society perceives hip hop and young black man. As Nielson and Kubrin put it, “no other form of fictional expression is exploited this way in the courts.”
Express your hatred for Xbox as a fetish object
httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kY_mhaGHqo0
Don’t watch this video at work. It’s not inappropriate in sexual or violent ways, but there is something unsettling about a POV hand packing meat into an Xbox. Props to Smick for the link, and I forgive him for ruining cantaloupes forever. This video raises an obvious question: what the fuck? It turns out that anti-Xbox videos are a whole microgenre of internet content. Some of it stems from aggressive digital rights management policies that have ostensibly been repealed. Most of it, though, appears to be a consequence of the console wars.
Friday links! Crises of conscience edition
There are two of you: the person you think you are, and the person who sees that person clearly. You can ignore your assessment of yourself; you can even forget about it for long stretches of time, but you cannot un-know it. Insofar as we spend most of our time faking people out and excusing ourselves, we are the people we claim to be. At one time or another, though, our honest assessments fill our heads, and we become the person who sees clearly. That person is a dick. Today is Friday, and our crises of conscience are in the mail. Won’t you put off opening the box with me?



