I know no one is going to care about this, but the Senate today passed a bill that modifies the FISA law to, essentially, make legal the illegal, unethical, and downright scary spying the Bush administration, AT&T, Verizon, etc. was conducting on Americans. This was not a Republican bill, it was a Democratic bill.
Regarding the closing of "loopholes" (i.e. allowing the monitoring of communications within the United States on anyone with no judicial oversight whatsoever), I'm no security expert, so lets just assume that for a minute it's a valid concern. Maybe my roommate is an Islamofascist Commie America hater who eats babies, wants to turn me gay, and kidnaps women and forces them to have abortions. Maybe giving our trustworthy government the right to monitor her calls to her mom in Napa, or her friends overseas will help bring her terrible activities to a halt. Who knows.
The problem is that when the NYT broke the story that the Bush administration monitored communications within the United States on anyone with no judicial oversight (i.e. warrantless wiretapping) everyone (Democrats in congress) was up in arms about it, talking about how terrible it was and how the Republicans were nasty, nasty people. The telecom companies threw their hands up and said "what could we do? the big bad Bush steamroller was bearing down on us?" And they collected huge gobs of money for it. The one company who refused until the government got a warrant? Denied federal government contracts and their people prosecuted (although the CEO wouldn't be the first to be accused of insider trading, so his prosecution might be coincidental).
The Democratic response to this horrible crime? Make it legal and give amnesty to anyone who did it before it was legal, of course. So where is the leadership in congress to help us out with this? Obama can save us right? No, but he did make a statement how he didn't support it. Clinton didn't vote on it. Great. Thanks. That really helps. I'm really excited about change now.
I mean...come on...I'm not talking about Diane Feinnstein kicking down the Oval Office door and spraying the room with holy water and watching Cheney and Bush shrivel into beef jerky. How about starting with maybe not completely giving them exactly what they want when they want it? Huh. That might send a message.
Kudos to Chris Dodd, Russ Feingold, and Arlen Specter (the Republican) for having the chutzpah to actually try to do something about this. Everyone else can talk about change, things getting better, blah, blah, blah, but until they can actually take leadership in areas like this, they're just part of the problem.
How are these people going to extricate us from this:
So I'm trying this being a writer thing for real, and I sometimes forget why. Lots of work. I'm totally broke. I spend waaaaay too much time in my head, in my room, in front of a computer, or in a book. But then I meet people like Robin Romm, and I hear them talk about the world, and I remember that they really are my people. She's been an inspiration to me, and here's a short she wrote. I read it and immediately thought to myself "oh, yea...this is why I'm doing this."
Get her book here ...it's amazing book of stories. I promise you won't be sorry! Money-back guarantee!
Currently
listening
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White Chalk
By
PJ Harvey
Release date: 02 October, 2007
Anne Coulter’s thoughts on a Woman’s right to vote
I should be doing homework, writing, reading, flossing, or something else, but I'm blog surfing today, and reason number one that I should not do that, is that it compels me to reprint stupid things that toilets like Anne Coulter say, such as this jem from The New York Observer:
"If we took away women's right to vote, we'd never have to worry about another Democrat president. It's kind of a pipe dream, it's a personal fantasy of mine, but I don't think it's going to happen. And it is a good way of making the point that women are voting so stupidly, at least single women.
It also makes the point, it is kind of embarrassing, the Democratic Party ought to be hanging its head in shame, that it has so much difficulty getting men to vote for it. I mean, you do see it's the party of women and 'We'll pay for health care and tuition and day care -- and here, what else can we give you, soccer moms?'"
Really, Anne...really? Did you really just say that? The sad thing is that there are millions of dumb assholes out there chuckling at her, and loving her "politically incorrect" humor. Un-fucking-believable what bullshit will come out of this woman's mouth. Unless of course... Wait....
Humor of a 13 year old boy(hehehehe John Edwards is a fag)
Intellectual capacity of a 13 year old boy (women shouldn't be allowed to vote because they vote stupidly - meaning not voting for anything Fox News says to)
She even kinda looks like a 13 year old boy....MY GOD...Anne Coulter is a 13 year old boy! Ok, that makes total sense then.
Currently
listening
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In Our Nature
By
José González
Release date: 25 September, 2007
God Apparently Responds to Lawsuit By NATE JENKINS Associated Press Writer
Sep 20th, 2007 | LINCOLN, Neb. -- God has apparently responded to a lawsuit filed by a Nebraska lawmaker, and one of the filings seems to have dropped in from the heavens. "This one miraculously appeared on the counter. It just all of a sudden was here _ poof!" said John Friend, clerk of the Douglas County District Court in Omaha.
The response was one of at least two to a lawsuit filed against God last week by state Sen. Ernie Chambers of Omaha, the state's longest-serving lawmaker.
Signed by "God," the response filed Wednesday argues the defendant is immune from some earthly laws and the court lacks jurisdiction over God.
Blaming the Almighty for human oppression and suffering misses an important point, it says.
"I created man and woman with free will and next to the promise of immortal life, free will is my greatest gift to you," according to the response, as read by Friend.
St. Michael the Archangel is listed as a witness, Friend said.
Another response _ also signed God _ says the Lord disputes Chambers' allegations.
That filing lists a phone number for a Corpus Christi law office. A message left for that office was not immediately returned Thursday.
Chambers could not be reached Thursday to comment on the response. He said in his five-page lawsuit that God has made terroristic threats against him and his constituents, inspired fear and caused "widespread death, destruction and terrorization of millions upon millions of the Earth's inhabitants."
He's seeking a permanent injunction against God.
The self-proclaimed agnostic who often criticizes Christians said his filing was triggered by a federal lawsuit against a judge, filed by a woman who was barred from saying "rape," "victim" and other words in court.
Chambers said the woman's lawsuit is inappropriate because the Nebraska Supreme Court has already considered the case and federal courts follow the decisions of state supreme courts on state matters.
Chambers said his lawsuit is serious but also makes a point: Anybody can sue anybody.
Currently
listening
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Roots, Rock, Remixed
By
Bob Marley & The Wailers
Release date: 31 July, 2007
Nebraska State Senator Sues God By NATE JENKINS Associated Press Writer
Sep 17th, 2007 | LINCOLN, Neb. -- The defendant in a state senator's lawsuit is accused of causing untold death and horror and threatening to cause more still. He can be sued in Douglas County, the legislator claims, because He's everywhere.
State Sen. Ernie Chambers sued God last week. Angered by another lawsuit he considers frivolous, Chambers says he's trying to make the point that anybody can file a lawsuit against anybody.
Chambers says in his lawsuit that God has made terroristic threats against the senator and his constituents, inspired fear and caused "widespread death, destruction and terrorization of millions upon millions of the Earth's inhabitants."
The Omaha senator, who skips morning prayers during the legislative session and often criticizes Christians, also says God has caused "fearsome floods ... horrendous hurricanes, terrifying tornadoes."
He's seeking a permanent injunction against the Almighty.
Chambers said the lawsuit was triggered by a federal suit filed against a judge who recently barred words such as "rape" and "victim" from a sexual assault trial.
The accuser in the criminal case, Tory Bowen, sued Lancaster District Judge Jeffre Cheuvront, claiming that he violated her free speech rights.
Chambers said Bowen's lawsuit is inappropriate because the Nebraska Supreme Court has already considered the case and federal courts follow the decisions of state supreme courts on state matters.
"This lawsuit having been filed and being of such questionable merit creates a circumstance where my lawsuit is appropriately filed," Chambers said. "People might call it frivolous but if they read it they'll see there are very serious issues I have raised."
U.S. District Judge Richard Kopf, in an order last week, expressed doubts about whether Bowen's lawsuit "has any legal basis whatsoever" and said sanctions may be imposed against Bowen and her attorneys if they fail to show cause for the lawsuit.
The Associated Press usually does not identify accusers in sex-assault cases, but Bowen has allowed her name to be used publicly because of the issue over the judge's language restrictions.
Cheuvront declared a mistrial in the sexual assault trial in July, saying pretrial publicity made it impossible to gather enough impartial jurors.
Currently
listening
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Simple Things
By
Zero 7
Release date: 13 November, 2001
