Posts from — June 2008

I realize that most people don’t have my commitment to the Constitution, and that they probably think I go overboard when I perceive threats to it. I understand that most people have spent their lives in the US, or, perhaps, have traveled to Europe, but have never really lived in a country where the rules are decidedly different.

I have spent too much time in places like Spain under Franco, Greece under the colonels, most of Asia, here and there in the Middle East. I have “interviewed” people who have made it to the West from the Eastern Bloc countries. I know what life is like without the protections of the Constitution. Accept in your soul: you really wouldn’t like it.

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Happy fourth blogiversary™ to Fallenmonk, now with improved signage.

Not a great weekend: RIP George Carlin, Dody Goodman, and Stan Winston.

The “Words”, the voice, and the magic have passed to another place.

Millennia ago they knew how to recognize and deal with false prophets:

When a prophet speaketh in the name of the LORD, if the thing follow not, nor come to pass, that is the thing which the LORD hath not spoken, but the prophet hath spoken it presumptuously: thou shalt not be afraid of him.

Deuteronomy 18:22 KJV

They were stoned to death back then, while these days they get newspaper columns, and appear on news shows.  Some of them get elected to office.

From McClatchy, the only news organization that remembers we have wars in Iraq and Afghanistan: In a first, court says military erred in a Guantanamo case

A three-judge panel of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit overturned as “invalid” a military tribunal’s conclusion that prisoner Huzaifa Parhat is an enemy combatant.

The court directed the Pentagon either to release or transfer Parhat or to hold a new tribunal hearing “consistent with the court’s opinion.”

This is the first time that a circuit court has overruled a finding by a so-called status review tribunal, the Pentagon panel of military officers that determines whether a captive at Guantanamo meets the definition of “enemy combatant.”
…

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The BBC reports on proposed changes: ‘Shake-up’ for internet proposed

The net could see its biggest transformation in decades if plans to open up the address system are passed.

The net’s regulators will vote on Thursday to decide if the strict rules on so-called top level domain names, such as .com or .uk, can be relaxed.

If approved, it could allow companies to turn their brands into domain names while individuals could also carve out their own corner of the net.

A point on style, first: the Internet should always be capitalized and technically only refers to the physical network and the system software and protocols.

What they are discussing are the Top Level Domains [TLD] like .com, .net, etc. If you have the cash and the equipment you could establish .blog and become a registrar for that domain. [I would expect Google to grab that puppy if this goes through.]

EBW at Wampum is at the meetings as a participant, and has been making techo-snarky remarks about the proceedings.

… because the guano is too deep for boots.

The CNN Money site put out a relatively sane article on America’s untapped oil

NEW YORK (CNNMoney.com) — Oil companies and many lawmakers are pressing to open up more U.S. land for drilling. But the industry is drilling on just a fraction of offshore areas it already has access to.

Of the 90 million offshore acres the industry has leases to, it is estimated that upwards of 70 million are not producing oil, according to both Democrats and oil-industry sources.

If all these areas were being drilled, U.S. oil production could be boosted by nearly 5 million barrels a day, up from about 8 million barrels a day currently.

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These are the Democrats in Congress who, when faced with the possibility of harsh words from Republicans, give away the rights of the American people.

† Leader

Does not include the House Blue Dog Caucus.  Clinton and Obama were both absent for the vote on FISA as it was scheduled for a day, February 12, that had two primaries and two caucuses.

… I felt like it.

Not Florida License Plates

Beneficiary

Beneficiary

A weekend feature of Why Now.

Updated for John B.

The BBC reports that Deadly typhoon hits Philippines

At least 17 people have died and many more are missing after Typhoon Fengshen hit the southern Philippines, causing flash floods and landslides.

Thousands of people have been evacuated from the path of the typhoon.

Gusts of up to 170kph (106mph) have caused much damage in southern and central areas. Many roads are blocked and there are widespread power cuts.

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In zipping around the ‘Net in the recent past I noticed some winger asking what he felt was the burning question: “Do you want Osama bin Laden to have the right to habeas corpus?”

The question shows a basic ignorance of what the “Great Writ” really means, and how much a part of the judicial process it is.

I was in law enforcement for a decade and satisfied the conditions of the writ every time I arrested anyone.  All it means is that within a specified time, which may differ between states, I had to charge someone with a crime or release them.  Normally several things were accomplished at a preliminary hearing, the person was charged, satisfying the requirements of the Writ, and bail was set.

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Now we know what he wants for his rug in the Oval office. To say this is stupid and tasteless is to understate reality, but I don’t thinks this seal that he is using on podiums when he speaks has much connection to reality, but to hubris.

His motto is Vero Possumus which is freely translated as “Pogo was right”, i.e. as Pogo said: “We have met the enemy… and he is us.”

First off, the Blue Dogs needs to hire someone who can alphabetize a list, and the Democratic leadership should be aware that there are two “s” in Wasserman, not three.

Those are petty things, but, when you can’t even keep the simple office routines in order, it is unlikely you are ready for the bigger problems.

We have just had two surrenders by the Lavender Chickens to the Lame Ducks this week. The war was fully funded first, and then accountability and the Fourth Amendment were cast aside. I’m sure they would stand on principles, but they don’t have any.

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As if the state didn’t have enough problems, CNN reports that Suspect tomatoes traced to Florida or Mexico

(CNN) — Investigators looking for the source of a salmonella outbreak linked to tomatoes will focus on farms in Mexico and Florida, federal health authorities said Friday.

Since April, more than 500 people have contracted the same strain of salmonella, linked to raw tomatoes.

The tracebacks “have taken us from point of consumption all the way back to certain farms in Mexico and Florida,” said Dr. David Acheson, associate commissioner for foods at the Food and Drug Administration.

The agency will send teams of investigators to farms in both locations this weekend as well as to the pathways from those farms in an attempt to determine where the contamination occurred, he said.

The tomatoes may not have been contaminated on a farm, he stressed; the contamination could have occurred in a packing shed, warehouse, supplier chain or distribution center.

This should pretty much wipe out the market for Florida vegetables.