Jan. 16 not-so-much-the-morning update

Just one of those days. Walked into the office with nothing to do, but ended up running around like a crazy person all morning. Not going to lie, I kind of hope we get enormous amounts of snow tomorrow. I am really hating winter this year, but I could also use one day to unwind at home.

I didn't get a chance to read or watch much in the way of news this morning, but there was one article in the New York Times that caught my eye. The story is about a new system in California that provides information on domestic abusers. The database would list people convicted wither one count of felony domestic abuse or two counts of misdemeanor domestic abuse.
On face, I guess it seems like a good idea. It gives people more information. But the more I think about it, the more uneasy I am. I don't think I would have a problem with it if a private individual started up a similar service using public court documents. In fact, something similar exists at chicagocrime.org. But there's something about the government doing it that rubs me the wrong way.
Don't get me wrong, I have no love for abusers. But a relationship involves two people, and no one can really know what happens outside of that. Furthermore, in these days of plea bargains, entering a guilty plea may just be the easiest way out... not an admission of guilt.
But above all else, I think the service is largely unnecessary. Most people have access to a computer and the Internet and most of these records can be found through Google searches. With that kind of access, do we really need to have the government paying, and wasting its time, constructing and maintaining this database? I'm sure California's Attorney General has more important things to do.
I think I'm becoming more of a libertarian everyday ;)

Chris and I have company coming for the weekend. It's been a couple months since we've had guests and I'm looking forward to it. Now I just have to figure out what kind of food to make, and how to entertain someone in Iowa when there's half a foot of snow on the ground!