Stupidity

This past weekend was my first in a long time without a deadline for creating online content for a freelance gig. So I enjoyed the time off, deftly avoided the honey-do list and spent time reading.

I finished off Sue Grafton's new P for Peril, then read Janet Evanovich's newest Stephanie Plum mystery 7 Up and Donald Westlake's Bad News.

The best of the three was Evanovich's book. I roared with laughter at Plum's antics (out loud, multiple times, which is unusual when you're reading a mystery novel). Plum's family and friends -- particularly Grandma that loves to go to viewings -- certainly puts the DYS in DYSfunctional.

However, it was one of Westlake's minor characters, an upstate New York small county judge, that gave me pause.

The judge was of the opinion that it was his job to oversee the consequences for stupidity. Two good old boys run out of beer at 4 a.m., so they break into the locked up convenience store for more. The judge sentences them to two to five. For B&E? Nah, for stupidity. Think about it: Do you really sentence someone for DUI or do you sentence them for being stupid?

Which takes us to Microsoft. (Doesn't everything?)

The appeals court slapped Judge Jackson. For bias? Nah, for stupidity. Gates's videotaped testimony was a farce and just showed the richest man in the world acting stupid. Trying to fool the judge with faked video? One word: stupid.

Microsoft didn't pull in its horns during the appeal. They're doing more of the same over and over and over. Just aggressive business as usual? Nah, just being stupid. And, eventually they will have to face more judges over their stupidity.

Makes you kinda wish that fictional old county judge in upstate New York could hear the cases, doesn't it?