This is a public service announcement...

With guitar!

Ok, scratch the guitar part.  I've contacted Typepad about the timetag issue, and they've recommended that I (or the blogowner) republish the whole flippin' blog.  I'm attempting to do that today, and I have no idea whether having other users log in as Moe will interrupt the process, so please...don't.  I got as far as 2000 or so pages on republish this morning, and then it died.  I'm going to try once more and if it doesn't work, I'll try it again tonight, when maybe things aren't so busy.

UPDATE:  Well, THAT didn't work.  Appealing to the MT Gods, me.

UPDATE, Update:  I've exhausted everything I know to try, and I've got the Typepad folks working on it.  If it's got both them and me stymied thus far, no amount of complaining on your part is going to fix it.  Thanks for your patience and/or restraint.  If you've got some some suggestions as to what to do that perhaps we haven't already tried, please do offer them in comments.  Pointing out that this is yet another place where timestamps would be useful is not, in point of fact, helpful.  Typepad's replies to the trouble ticket I submitted seem to indicate we're not the only weblog bothered by this problem, so it may very well be a problem with Typepad itself.

In other news, an issue near and dear to my heart (and probably none of yours) is nearing fruition:

Masters: Remove Pfaff from job

Supreme Court to have final word

Published: Tuesday, August 30, 2005 -- The Truth, A1
Last updated: 8/29/2005 11:18:19 PM

By Justin LeightyTruth Staff

ELKHART -- Judge Benjamin Pfaff should lose his job, said the three judges appointed by the Indiana Supreme Court to hear a disciplinary case against Pfaff.

"In light of the disrepute Judge Pfaff brought upon the Indiana judiciary, the severity of his misconduct, and his false statements, the Masters recommend to the Supreme Court that it remove Judge Pfaff from office," the panel said in the report it filed Monday.

The report isn't the final word on the matter, though; both sides get to file their responses with the Supreme Court before its members rule on Pfaff's professional fate.

The recommendation is what the state commission on judicial qualifications hoped for. "I'd say this is what we were advocating," said Meg Babcock, a representative of the commission.

Pfaff's local attorney, Steve Bowers, didn't return a call seeking comment on the case, and Kevin McGoff, Pfaff's attorney in Indianapolis, is out of the state.

In an earlier filing on Pfaff's behalf, though, his attorneys argued "the actions of Judge Pfaff were reasonable and justified under the circumstances."

They also asked that if the Masters find against Pfaff, they recommend only a reprimand.

In a letter to the commission last year, Pfaff said, "I never asked for this ... If the Commission is unable or unwilling to understand my actions, my only response is that I hope that it never happens to them or a member of their family."

The three judges acknowledged that "Judge Pfaff has served with distinction as a judge. There were 54 letters submitted on Judge Pfaff's behalf by attorneys, educators, public servants, executives and citizens."

They also said Pfaff "was legitimately concerned about his daughter and acted as a parent" the night of Dec. 8, 2003, as he searched for his runaway teen daughter at a home north of Elkhart. "Nonetheless, the Masters find that this concern did not justify his misconduct," they told the Supreme Court.

Among the aggravating factors, they said, are Pfaff's lack of remorse for restraining a man and pointing a gun at his head; that "Judge Pfaff did not work within the system in the search and recovery of his missing daughter, electing instead to take matters into his own hands;" they also said his use of a handgun wasn't justified and that "Judge Pfaff's behavior over the course of events on Dec. 8, 2003 demonstrated a pattern of improper activity and showed a blatant disregard for the privacy rights of others."

Pfaff said he acted in self defense, but the Masters said they rejected that claim. "He instigated the encounter and only he was armed ... Judge Pfaff not only was a willing participant in the encounter, he was the aggressor."

They also said, "contrary to Judge Pfaff's denials, Judge Pfaff did grab and restrain Bryan Schiltz, that he was not provoked to do so ... that he pointed his loaded revolver at Bryan Schiltz's head and body for as many as five minutes, and not the three-to-five seconds Judge Pfaff claims, and that he threatened Bryan Schiltz at gunpoint, stating, 'This (expletive deleted) better talk or he's going to die' or similar words."

A special prosecutor was appointed to consider criminal charges in the case, but declined to prosecute.

Contact Justin Leighty at [email protected].

Consider this an open thread of opportunity.

Comments

[cleek]

in keeping with the legal theme:

When FBI supervisors in Miami met with new interim U.S. Attorney Alex Acosta last month, they wondered what the top enforcement priority for Acosta and Attorney General Alberto Gonzales would be.

Would it be terrorism? Organized crime? Narcotics trafficking? Immigration? Or maybe public corruption?

The agents were stunned to learn that a top prosecutorial priority of Acosta and the Department of Justice was none of the above. Instead, Acosta told them, it's obscenity. Not pornography involving children, but pornographic material featuring consenting adults.

Law.com

[hilzoy]

Slarti -- I just logged in and out as Moe, to deal with spam. Sorry. I'll be off working for the rest of the day anyways, so even if I were tempted, I couldn't interfere.

Thanks so much for doing this.

[Slartibartfast]

No worries, hilzoy. Let's wait and see if this works, though...

Slart

[Slartibartfast]

Update: It didn't :(

[Gary Farber]

I say you nuke it from orbit. It's the only way to be sure.

[Anarch]

And on a completely unrelated note, I now offer you one of The Onion's finest headlines ever:

Standards, Trousers Lowered Simultaneously

[Anarch]

Fine. I'll take my open thread and run with it. Gamers, this one's for you:

Delta Green.

Set in post-Katrina New Orleans.

Pretty much writes itself, no?