Whatever Became of Common Sense?

Earlier this week, the head of the Red Cross had to step down after having a “relationship” with a subordinate. No, I’m pretty sure he would not be resigning over a friendship.

Common sense would have said “Sex with the employees is a bad idea.”

Also earlier this week, the same law enforcement officials who sold the people of California a ballot initiative requiring satellite tracking of “sex offenders” determined that — now that voters have made it law — the entire idea is unworkable and really expensive.

Common sense would have said “It would be easy to keep track of these people if they were still in prison.”

And the final item for your consideration, a story that makes me feel ill, a 2 year old girl was beaten to death for not saying “please” and “yes, sir.” Mom wanted to call an ambulance at one point, but was prevented by her “Mr. Manners” boyfriend. Then they put her body in a trash bag and dumped it at sea. How discourteous. But here’s the part that gets me (emphasis mine):

In her statement to Galveston authorities, Trenor said the girl was beaten with leather belts, had her head held underwater in a bathtub and then was thrown across a room, her head slamming into a tile floor.

[snip]

“There was never an intention to beat Riley to death,” he said.

Now let me get this straight. You beat her, held her head underwater in the tub, and threw her across the room such that her head slammed into a tile floor, but you never meant to kill her? What exactly did Mr. Manners think would happen?

Common sense would have said “A two-year-old can learn to say please and thank you, but beating her to death is counterproductive.”

In closing: Blogthings internet quizzes; the Tunnels of Chinatown; Girl Scout sashes make headscarves as American as Halal Apple Pie; Billie Piper will be back on Dr. Who (yay!); a court has ordered the Bush Administration to turn over “documents related to immunizing telecommunications companies from lawsuits” by tomorrow; today the arctic, tomorrow the moon; and finally, “How does Bruce Schneier protect his laptop data? With his fists!” One bit of advice near the bottom (that I’ve been advocating for a long time), “minimize the amount of data on your laptop.” Common sense may be alive somewhere after all.