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...

richard pryor died this morning, apparently from a heart attack. pryor was--in my opinion anyway--the funniest man of his generation and an extremely influential artist, one of the unholy trinity responsible for reviving stand-up comedy  and shaping it into what it is today. so sadly, for about the past 15 years, pryor had been a prisoner of multiple sclerosis, unable to work and eventually unable to speak.   there are three t...

altho i was otherwise occupied, i did have a chance to scan several articles discussing (as in 'the villagers held a discussion about the best way to light torches and the quickest route to the castle') doing justice to stanley williams.  one 'fact' was a near constant:  williams is unquestionably guilty of the crimes for which he stood trial and was convicted.  i invite yall to take a while to read william's motion (filed by his current legal defender) for ...

(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...

i'm gonna find a lotta support for this article because instead of stepping on anyone's  toes or diminishing any illusions about those who serve or have served in the military, i'm gonna simply offer two rather simple arguments:  1. in general, experience trumps theory....2. there's a reason why people pay professionals to profess their professions. i couldn't have been more shocked by the revelation military service doesn't automatically transform ordinary human beings into sainte...

 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...

researchers have discovered male fish with ovary tissue and eggs in place of testes off the southern california coast.   previously reported in freshwater fish exposed to treated wastewater, this is the first instance of such abnormalities in saltwater species.  estrogen is generally considered to be the cause of this fishy feminizing--at least in freshwater species.  Link   while heavy metals, harmful bacteria and solids are removed at treatment plants, estrogen--wh...

far be it from me to suggest dark forces in the administration stepped over the line anticipation of a deep drop in presidential popularity, indictments and investigations, a series of catastrophic natural disasters during which there seemed to be an apparent lack of hands on the wheel still one needn't study very closely or even blur one's eyes more than a little bit to see the subtle connections: an innocent move to push medicare recipients into the wings of private insurers...an ungardene...

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 ...

I was just reading an article in an old issue of Police Blotter in which I found a splendid article by Schmero T Ohmmeter who channels the wonderful old character actor, Charles Bickford.   Entitle "What's Wrong With Everything", it pointed out a hair-raising fact: More than 100,000 different types of plastic bags can now be found on Planet Earth."   What's so scary about that?  I thought you'd never ask. Look at this picture: As you can see, this p...

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...