no, i don't know anyone who's suffered as a consequence of this administration's decision to defy the congress and judiciary by monitoring our communications. i do know someone who's in custody and subject to being deported for a drug-related felony because the government claims she isn't a citizen. she was born on a us military base in germany to parents who were both us citizens. i also know former admiral poindexter's proposal for the tia was voted down by ...
if the question is: "does the constitution provide for the federal government to own and administer the physical real estate of which these united states are comprised?'", the answer is very clearly spelled out in the second paragraph of article vi, section 3: "The Congress shall have Power to dispose of and make all needful Rules and Regulations respecting the Territory or other Property belonging to the United States; and nothing in this Constitution shall be so construed as to Prejudice a...
got some GOOD NEWS for all yall american conservatives (and others) who so fervently despise racial quotas, affirmative action and them damn non-european 'dash americans' (afro-americans, african-americans, mexican-americans,etc as opposed to perfectly good ol' german-, irish-, italian-, even franco-americans). and it don't have a thing to do with geico neither. fact is, you have an ideological ally in, of all places, france. in the aftermath of last...
(this is a response of sorts to rightwinger's strange view of the world located here: Link . more specifically, it's a reply to this statement: "You always seem to have a good grasp and command of some particular facts that I do not have. Admittedly, this often frustrates me because I just don't have the time to look everything up in order to give you a really good thrashing. That's all well and good, but as for this article, I'm not seeing you addressing the actual point of the po...
right in the middle of last year's crusade to keep christmas from being 'banned', an already ban-concious public was alarmed and outraged by news of a public school in cupertino, california 'banning' the constitution. as it turned out, the school hadn't banned anything (a teacher who made the claim after being disciplined by his principal for repeatedly violating a directive entered into a settlement in which the school denied any wrongdoing). despite a flurry of furio...
hbo's series 'the wire' is one of the best--if not the best--thing ever made for tv. on the surface, it's a story of cops trying to bring down a group of baltimore druglords; like all great dramas, its characters are driven, often by forces of which they themselves are unaware. the east side drugking is large, very pragmatic man known on the street as 'proposition joe'. the governor of california is also a large, very pragmatic man who should be known as ...
bad enuff, we as a society hafta endure a rapidly and constantly expanding sacred holiday gift-buying season (not so long ago, no respectable enterprise woulda crassed the line by transforming its facility into a red-green-and-tinseled gwb's smirk vision of yuletide one minute before 12:00:01 the day after thanksgiving; this year, i'd not be surprised to find santa, reindeer and elf suits being stealthed in as halloween costumes) without being subjected to ...
now not even the most myopic tunnel-vision warhawk can argue our adventure in iraq wasn't poorly planned. someone shoulda anticipated this: Link An Arab version of “The Simpsons,” called “Al Shamshoon,” made its debut on Arab TV this month in time for Ramadan, a time of high viewership. The Wall Street Journal notes that Homer is “Omar,” and “is still lazy and works at the nuclear power plant.” But Omar has given up beer and bacon, and he no longer hangs out at “seedy b...
as put forth in an 83-page opinion, the osaka high court (outranked only by the japanese supreme court) has determined prime minister junichiro koizumi's visits to the yasukuni shinto shrine violate japan's constitutional barriers between church and state. in an article which appeared in the october 1, 2005 edition of la times. staff writer, bruce wallace, Link notes: "Yasukuni honors the souls of Japanese killed in wars since the 19th centur...
i very clearly remember the first time george bush proclaimed a national day of prayer. it was also in september, just a few days after those planes smashed into the towers, the pentagon and a wooded area in pennsylvania. prior to reading the official proclamation document and then hearing bush's address at the episcopal national cathedral, i disliked him both as a man and as president. by dislike, i mean exactly that. no less; no more. i didn't focus much e...
this is a link to a new orleans isp that managed to stay online during most of last week. one employee provided frequent posts as well as a live cam view of his area of the city. Link i'm not going to reveal very much of this because: a. i havent read it all and i have to split for a while; b. you need to read this for yourself. i will respond to comments. bakerstreet, here's his first mention of people at the convention center and how they g...
according to the la times saturday edition, 44 members of an elite louisiana army natioinal guard special response team, who'd been assigned to the superdome since arriving in new orleans before katrina hit, were in the first truck of the first convoy headed to the convention center. their orders were to retake the city. for the first time since the place went to hell, they were venturing out into the mean streets where they'd heard police had been killed, sn...
to augment my income, i spend several months each year traveling the country & conducting seminars. during the course of these events, i refute the wickedness of modern life and admonish attendees to adopt and practice good moral behavior. for a number of years, i've been accompanied by my assistant to whom i'll refer by his initials: k.r. a quiet man with a good heart who'd suffered an unfortunate accident in his youth from which he never completely r...
we the sons of mesopotamia, land of the prophets, resting place of the holy imams, the leaders of civilization and the creators of the alphabet, the cradle of arithmetic have spent most of the summer writing a draft constitution. by the prophet's beard, it was no easy chore even tho we had 139 constitutions given to us as samples. one of those was highly recommended to us by our beloved liberators mpbut. naturally it was theirs. while studying it, we came across something that made u...
considering how many jusers live in texas, it's a dadgum shame i hadda learn about this not just from the mainstream media (i guess hbo counts) but from that tool of stalin, bill maher. musician, author, philosopher, raconteur and recent slot mahine jackpot winner kinky friedman is gonna run for governor of texas next year and yall aint nearly as excited as two armadillos encountering a rather comely lizardskin boot discarded along the median somewhere on i-30? &...