December 31, 2005
Eat your Christmas cookies
Can we all agree that the NSA "cookie" story is a non-story? It only affects visitors to nsa.gov, and all they're doing is assigning you a freakin' cookie. This doesn't even qualify as "scary", let alone "spying". However, the story that President Bush violated FISA by authorizing the NSA to monitor large volumes of domestic telecommunications without warrants is 1) a big story deserving lots of media coverage and 2) impeachable.And what a field of contenders it is
Don't miss it! Atrios announced his Wanker Of The Year Award today!December 30, 2005
The naughty nightshift
From the Obscure Store we learn that a bowler in Kalamazoo bowled a 300, then died shortly thereafter. If that's not amusing enough for you, check out this part of the article:...Jim Lawless, who also was bowling in the league, said a couple of nurses were at the lanes and immediately started cardiopulmonary resuscitation, keeping it up until paramedics arrived...Maybe it's just me, but when I read about "nurses" and "keeping it up" in the same sentence, my mind wanders.
December 28, 2005
If the Mayans are dead, then why does Mel still speak Mayan?
Pharyngula links to a Playboy interview with Mel Gibson, and it has this interesting question:PLAYBOY: So you can't accept that we descended from monkeys and apes? GIBSON: No, I think it's bullshit. If it isn't, why are they still around? How come apes aren't people yet?This gives me the perfect opportunity to ask one of my favorite questions to Mel Gibson: if Protestantism descended from Catholicism, then why are there still Catholics? The Talk Origins archive treats this claim with a similar lack of seriousness.
December 27, 2005
A disgrace to his profession
Dembski is shutting down his blog:...Although I’ve enjoyed blogging, I find it distracts from more pressing work that I need to get done....Yes, deleting every single comment you disagree with must suck up a lot of your time. Merry Kitzmas, Bill!
December 24, 2005
December 23, 2005
I poop on Charles Krauthammer
What a dishonest weasel!...The braying herds have already concluded, Tenet-like, that the president's actions were slam-dunk illegal. It takes a superior mix of partisanship, animus and ignorance to say that. Does the president have the constitutional authority to conduct warrantless searches against suspected foreign agents in the United States? George Washington University law professor Orin Kerr (one critic calls him the man who "literally wrote the book on government seizure of electronic evidence") finds "pretty decent arguments" on both sides, but his own conclusion is that Bush's actions were "probably constitutional."...Um, how about we check to see what Orin Kerr actually said?
Although it hinges somewhat on technical details we don't know, it seems that the program was probably constitutional but probably violated the federal law known as the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act. [emphasis mine]Obviously, Orin Kerr is a hateful, partisan ignoramus.
December 21, 2005
Lord I apologize
David Klinghoffer, a Discovery Institute hack, feels the need to criticize others for criticizing religion, including Paul Mirecki:Administration officials at KU confirmed that the e-mails had come from Mirecki, who also wrote: "I had my first Catholic 'holy communion' when I was a kid in Chicago, and when I took the bread-wafer the first time, it stuck to the roof of my mouth, and as I was secretly trying to pry it off with my tongue as I was walking back to my pew with white clothes and with my hands folded, all I could think was that it was Jesus' skin, and I started to puke, but I sucked it in and drank my own puke. That's a big part of the Catholic experience."I don't care who you are, that's funny.
Waaaah! Waaaah!
Judge Suhrheinrich, ACLU v. Mercer County. December 20, 2005:...The ACLU’s argument contains three fundamental flaws. First, the ACLU makes repeated reference to “the separation of church and state.” This extra-constitutional construct has grown tiresome. The First Amendment does not demand a wall of separation between church and state.....Yeah! You go, man! Go tell Thomas Jefferson, James Madison, and Ulysses S. Grant to shut the fuck up and stop whining! Those unpatriotic assholes have really grown tiresome.
Solidarity
Would it be wrong to walk around Macworld Expo wearing a t-shirt proclaiming "WUCK FINER"?December 20, 2005
Deal or no deal?
Hmm... I don't think I've ever posted this link. To make a long story short: never go to a casino with Donald Rumsfeld.Filed under "high crimes and misdemeanors"
President George W. Bush, April 20, 2004:Secondly, there are such things as roving wiretaps. Now, by the way, any time you hear the United States government talking about wiretap, it requires -- a wiretap requires a court order. Nothing has changed, by the way. When we're talking about chasing down terrorists, we're talking about getting a court order before we do so. It's important for our fellow citizens to understand, when you think Patriot Act, constitutional guarantees are in place when it comes to doing what is necessary to protect our homeland, because we value the Constitution. [boldface mine]New York Times, December 16, 2005:
Months after the Sept. 11 attacks, President Bush secretly authorized the National Security Agency to eavesdrop on Americans and others inside the United States to search for evidence of terrorist activity without the court-approved warrants ordinarily required for domestic spying, according to government officials. [boldface mine]Orin Kerr, law professor, expert in computer crime law and Internet surveillance law:
Putting aside the AUMF and statutory exceptions for now, let's consider whether the NSA surveillance program violates the basic prohibition of 50 U.S.C. 1809 — intentionally conducting electronic surveillance. I think the answer is probably yes. If the surveillance tapped wire communications under 1801(f)(2), the case is pretty clear: the surveillance involved people in the U.S. and survillance in the U.S., and that's all that is required... ...I don't think we know the details of how the communucations were obtained, so I think it's fair to say that the surveillance probably violated the basic proibition but it at least arguably depends on some of the technical details we don't know. [boldface mine, spelling errors his]
We whipped 'em good!
The holidays are truly happy this year. However, I doubt that the creationists are done. The Dover trial featured a brief preview of the next Science v. Creationism trial:In the recent trial, a lawyer grilled an intelligent design proponent on why a textbook the witness helped to write substituted "intelligent design" for "creationism" in a later edition and with "sudden emergence theory" in a draft of a future edition. "We won't be back in a couple of years for the sudden emergence trial, will we?" the lawyer asked. To which Judge Jones interjected, "Not on my docket."Pharyngula notes that the think tank behind "intelligent design" just attacked Judge Jones for being "activist". They have only George W. Bush to blame. (For an explanation of this post's title, watch this clip. Windows Media Player required.)
December 19, 2005
Have you smacked a libertarian today? Vol. 3
Libertarians everywhere got served today by Scott Harris, in Romenesko's Letters section.December 16, 2005
December 15, 2005
I'd rather eat gagh
Dear producers of Star Trek, I will admit that the two-part episode of Enterprise within the mirror universe was cool. But please don't make this movie. Thanks. Hugs and kisses,Jeff
December 12, 2005
A message for A.I.
I have no idea why you're hanging up on me and ignoring my IMs. If you sent me an email telling me to fuck off, it must have been eaten by a spam filter. Please let me know what it was that rubbed you the wrong way. Thanks!December 11, 2005
When I woke up, my pillow was gone
Sometimes I wish I lived in New York City, so I'd have the chance to see Stephen Colbert in person. I'd turn towards him and yell, "Hey Stephen Colbert! I'm Rick James, bitch!"December 9, 2005
While Cher Horowitz exclaims, "As if!"
Here's a little piece on American healthcare everyone should really read.December 5, 2005
In other news, poop!
When you're writing an article about a combination toilet and mini-bidet, it's best not to include sentences like this:The Neorest has found some converts among Hollywood celebrities, including Will Smith, who reportedly gushed about it during an interview on Access Hollywood.
