Dear Senator Kyl, You're Either for the Constitution, or You're with the Terrorists
Thu May 11, 2006 at 02:43:19 PM PDT
Senator John Kyl on the NSA spying on all Americans:
"This is nuts," Kyl said. "We are in a war and we've go to collect intelligence on the enemy, and you can't tell the enemy in advance how you are going to do it. And discussing all of this in public leads to that."
The Fourth Amendment:
The right of the people to be secure in their persons, houses, papers, and effects, against unreasonable searches and seizures, shall not be violated, and no Warrants shall issue, but upon probable cause, supported by Oath or affirmation, and particularly describing the place to be searched, and the persons or things to be seized.
It's Your Internet: Fight for It!
Tue May 09, 2006 at 05:31:48 PM PDT
Is this who you want defining how the Web will be run in the future?
Rep. Charles "Chip" Pickering, a Mississippi Republican who co-sponsored the House's broadband bill, defended his committee's proposal in a luncheon speech to summit participants. He noted that politicians are "still wrestling" with the best way to address Net neutrality but conceded that election-year politics might trump major changes to the existing bill.
With the Republican Party in "survival mode" leading up to the fall elections, committee leaders have attempted to "pare something down that we can actually move so we can have accomplishments, so we can continue in the majority," Pickering said.
Those Crazy Boyz at the Oil Companies
Mon Nov 21, 2005 at 10:50:20 PM PDT
After five years of living in the lunatic asylum we call Bush's America, nothing should surprise me anymore. After all, we have people voting for a party that is hell-bent on:
- Shipping good jobs overseas
- Keeping us in a perpetutal war
- Destroying the institutions that have made the middle class
- Destroying our public lands
- Shredding the Kyoto accords
- Giving the gas and oil companies carte blanche
And that isn't even an exhaustive list. No matter, no one has time to catalog
all of the crimes the GOP and their corporate benefactors are foisting on the world. After all, the list is so long, nothing should surprise me. But even now, I can still be amazed. Witness those fun-loving lads in the oil industry who have a new scheme cooking for you and me.
The GOP Approves Sale of Our National Parks?
Sun Nov 20, 2005 at 08:43:32 PM PDT
It appears that Richard Pombo has won. The selling off of our public lands, including National Parks, has been approved by the House. In a normal world, the electorate would be calling for an immediate resignation of those who are about to destroy the last vestiges of wilderness. In a normal world, Grover Norquist and Richard Pombo would be in a sanitorium instead of leading the charge of privatizing everything.
But while we sleep, the criminals crept in and robbed us of our soul:
The House agreed to reinstate sales of mining lands at cheap prices as part of its budget cut plan approved Friday, a move that could transfer into private hands up to 20 million acres of public lands on Western ranges, national forests and even national parks
Breaking: Arrest Warrant Issued for Tom Delay
Wed Oct 19, 2005 at 05:06:10 PM PDT
I haven't posted in about a year, but this one is worth it:
USTIN, Texas (AP) - A Texas court on Wednesday issued a warrant for former House Majority Leader Tom DeLay's arrest, and set an initial $10,000 bail as a routine step before his first court appearance on conspiracy and state money laundering charges.Travis County court officials said DeLay was ordered to appear at the Fort Bend County, Texas, jail for booking, where he'd likely be fingerprinted and photographed. DeLay's lawyers had hoped to avoid such a spectacle.
The warrant, known as a capias, is "a matter of routine and bond will be posted," DeLay attorney Dick DeGuerin said.
The lawyer declined to say when DeLay would surrender to authorities but said the lawmaker would make his first court appearance Friday morning.
The charges against the Texas Republican stem from allegations that a DeLay-founded Texas political committee funneled corporate money into state GOP legislative races through the National Republican Party.
Enjoy the game.
http://www.wjla.com/news/stories/1005/270094.html
Time to Say Goodbye. My Final Post
Fri Dec 10, 2004 at 08:14:55 AM PDT
Over the past few months I've spent quite a bit of time here, spun a few diaries that found their way onto the Recommended List, and made comments that quite a few folks liked and rated accordingly. Any way I look at it, it was a positive experience. I poured my heart and time into working to get Kerry elected, indeed committing myself to it full time.
But the election is over, at least for me. I'm tired. I can no longer find the fire of inspiration to come up with comments, and my latest Diaries are full of information and short on inspiration. At least that's how I feel.
Action Alert: Send a Message to Bush, Pataki, and Bloomberg - NYC Petition to Save Pale Male
Thu Dec 09, 2004 at 10:39:54 PM PDT
The owner of an apartment building overlooking Central Park (reportedly Paula Zahn's husband), has removed the nest of a hawk named Pale Male, who was featured in a recent PBS program of the same name. Pale Male and his mate built their nest on the ledge of a building overlooking Central Park, and have had a number of successful broods. The hawks are currently trying to rebuild their nest:
http://www.alertnet.org/thenews/newsdesk/N09441396.htm
Bush has the Right Priorities
Thu Dec 09, 2004 at 08:18:32 AM PDT
Military to deploy Robots with Machine Guns in March
Thu Dec 02, 2004 at 09:10:57 AM PDT
If you thought things weren't strange enough, it looks like it will get even stranger. The military is about to deploy Robots armed with machine guns and RPG's. As per the announcement:
The Army next March will begin to deploy Talon robots from Waltham, Mass.-based Foster-Miller. The robots will be mounted with M240 or M249 machine guns, said a Foster-Miller spokesman. The units also can be mounted with a rocket launcher. Defense agencies have been testing an armed version of the Talon since 2003.
This might be a good thing from the perspective of saving lives of soldiers, but one has to wonder if this will result in more civilian deaths since the person-to-person element is removed, and everything becomes clinical.
"Driving, observing and shooting are always done with a man in the loop," the Foster-Miller spokesman said. "The labs like autonomy, but the users themselves always like to have control."
Full story here.
That Lipstick Picture!
Fri Nov 26, 2004 at 08:07:27 PM PDT
Its infamous. Every time you go to a blog you see it. You hope it will go away, but it seems incapable of vanishing. You fear it will be as ubiquitous as cell phones in crowded restaurants. You swear it follows you from web site to web site:
What are your thoughts on this photo? Surely you've seen it so many times that its become part of you (who can miss it). Do we need a change? Time for your voice to be heard!
California, S Carolina Secession Movements Official? Fugetaboutit.
Wed Nov 24, 2004 at 10:55:46 AM PDT
My long lost diary from yesterday chronicled some articles that cover discussions about secession of California for Blue People and South Carolina for Red People. So I'm recreating it, and have added some further information on legal opinion around the subject.
The idea proposed by idealists on both sides is that utopias can be created by simply seceding from the Union. In the case of the west coast, we would supposedly have a liberal utopia, and in the case of South Carolina, we would supposedly have a Christian fundamentalist utopia.
Both ideas are naive, and underscore a devolution in our ability to conduct politcal discourse. Like a child who grabs his/her marbles and runs home to mommy when he/she loses, the political equivalent are the secession proponents. These folks have even gone so far as to set up 527's for the purpose of taking their marbles and going "home".
But history has proven it will not work. Nothing exists in a vacuum, and a Red Utopia or Blue Utopia would in fact serve to further polarize rather than to foster a more perfect union.
More after the fold.
Arnold to Track You as You Drive
Thu Nov 18, 2004 at 01:31:40 PM PDT
So now Arnold wants to track every driver by satellite GPS. From the
LA Times:
So it was news this week when Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger -- the bane of California car fees -- nominated Joan Borucki to lead the Department of Motor Vehicles. Borucki, the media quickly revealed, was on record as supporting a tax on driving. That's right -- a tax on every mile driven in the state! And it might be collected by tracking devices in cars or by spy satellites overhead!
Think its hyperbole? The article adds more below the fold.
Democrats File Ballot Suit in Ohio
Thu Nov 18, 2004 at 01:04:24 PM PDT
No matter where you come down on this issue, the firing line has now moved into the courts in Ohio:
Cincinnati - Seeming to brush aside John Kerry's concession speech, the Ohio Democratic Party has launched a federal court fight over nearly 155,000 provisional ballots by contending a proper accounting of those votes might decide who really won.
In Ohio, Bush now holds a lead of about 136,000 votes over Kerry.
County officials across the state began tabulating provisional ballots Friday.
"Given the closeness of the presidential and other elections," Ohio's provisional ballots "may prove determinative of the outcome," Democrats argue in a legal filing made public Wednesday by the U.S. District Court.
The lawsuit asked U.S. District Judge Michael H. Watson to order Ohio Secretary of State Ken Blackwell to impose uniform standards for counting provisional votes on all 88 counties. Democrats want the judge to take action quickly - before the results of the election are certified.
Watson, who was appointed by Bush, has not set a hearing.
Use TIVO, Go to Jail
Tue Nov 16, 2004 at 09:18:14 AM PDT
When will people finally say "enough":
The bill would also permit people to use technology to skip objectionable content -- like a gory or sexually explicit scene -- in films, a right that consumers already have. However, under the proposed law, skipping any commercials or promotional announcements would be prohibited. The proposed law also includes language from the Pirate Act (S2237), which would permit the Justice Department to file civil lawsuits against alleged copyright infringers.
Of course the bill goes even further, which can eliminate all fair use rights:
The bill would also undo centuries of "fair use" -- the principle that gives Americans the right to use small samples of the works of others without having to ask permission or pay.
Story Link
Arnold for President TV Ads Start Monday
Sat Nov 13, 2004 at 08:17:40 PM PDT
I couldn't make this stuff up if I tried:
Californians will soon see advertisements urging them to help give Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger and other foreign-born citizens the chance to run for president.
The cable television ads, set to being running Monday, are from a Silicon Valley-based group that wants to amend the U.S. Constitution, which limits the presidency to people born in the United States. Schwarzenegger was born in Austria but became a U.S. citizen in 1983.
Arnold for Prez in 2008? Anyone have issues? Heh.
Story Link
Edit The worst part of all this is that we here in California have to see these ads! Give me my TIVO now!
The Future Belongs to Us
Tue Nov 09, 2004 at 12:49:37 PM PDT
No, this is not an election fraud diary. This is not a diary about getting geared up for the next election. This is not a diary which complains, disdains, or revels in pain. No. This diary is about the split in this country; a split which will not be healed easily or in the near term. A split which has existed for at least 150 years, if not more. But in 2004, this is the reality of the USA:
- Science vs. Religion
- Democracy vs. Demagogery
- International Dialog vs. Fortress America
- The Constitution vs. the Bible
- Love vs. Hate
- Peace vs. War
Say nothing of my religion. It is known to God and myself alone. Its evidence before the world is to be sought in my life: if it has been honest and dutiful to society the religion which has regulated it cannot be a bad one.
Thomas Jefferson
Election Theft Info Collected At this site
Mon Nov 08, 2004 at 09:43:42 AM PDT
The following site is collecting all available info on information regarding the theft of the election, including links back to source sites. They are calling for help, so you might want to cruise by:
Have more data? Add a link in the comments. New links and updates will be added at the bottom of the post. Note, these are the kind of URLs that mysteriously wind up scrubbed Would some tech savvy person be kind enough to archive them, quickly?
