The rescue operation brings to mind John Kenneth Galbraith's dictum that in the United States, the only respectable form of socialism is socialism for the rich.

Massive Bailout Planned for Banks - Economics Column - John Cassidy - Print - Portfolio.com

NEW YORK (Billboard) - Former high-flying label TVT Records, home to such hip-hop artists as Lil Jon, Pitbull and Ying Yang Twins, will file for Chapter 11 bankruptcy this week, the company's founder said Tuesday.null

Dang. Kind of sad, even if they've been producing shite lately.

Of note, Trent's reaction.

Music label TVT Records to file for bankruptcy | Entertainment | Industry | Reuters

This would be funny if it wasn't for the millions of partisan Republicans who believe it and will be parroting versions of it for the next few days.

Amanda Carpenter, a Townhall.com columnist, has prepared a spreadsheet showing that 66 trial lawyers representing plaintiffs in the telecommunications suits have contributed $1.5 million to Democratic senators and causes. Of the 29 Democratic senators who voted against the FISA bill last Tuesday, 24 took money from the trial lawyers (as did two absent senators, Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama).

Even if correlation were causation, it takes a special kind of blindness to put a huge amount of effort into researching the campaign contributions of all of the lawyers involved in various suits against the telecommunications companies without doing any research at all into the contributions made by the companies themselves or the members of the law firms they've hired.

Irrespective, the people who work for the EFF (and similar organizations like the ACLU) make enormous career sacrifices in order to contribute to issues that they consider important. The idea that they are sitting in a lair somewhere counting gold coins and laughing manically as they make strategic campaign donations in attempt to further their personal success, all the while harming America's security against terrorism... Well, that idea might help some Republicans sleep better at night, because it allows them to ignore the strenuous objections raised to the power grabs that have been made by this administration, but its perfectly insane.

I care whether or not the phone company looks twice when someone claiming to be a law enforcement officer engaged in a legitimate investigation wants access to my phone calls. I want them to double check, and if the request isn't legal I want them to refuse access. This immunity sets a precedent that if the police engage in an illegal investigation there is no reason the phone companies should refuse to grant them access. It reopens the door to the sort of domestically targeted, politically motivated spying which lead to the passage of FISA in the first place. If this immunity is passed an administration that wishes to target it's domestic political enemies need merely come knocking with a document which says "Authorized by the AG" and if the phone companies object they can say "worst case, you'll get immunity."

I'm, frankly, open to the idea that the amount of civil liability faced here is too much. But, if the Republicans wish my support for immunity they must first explain HOW they intend to hold the Administration and the telcos accountable for illegal activities! They are not going to get anywhere by trying to convince me that no one actually has the concerns that I actually have, and that those who claim to have those concerns have been paid off.

Bob Novak thinks the EFF is in it for the money!

k wrote:

Udy, a British citizen, said the agent told her he had "a security concern" with her. "I was basically given the option of handing over my laptop or not getting on that flight," she said.

Oh my god, FUCK that. No more international flights with computers folks. Unless you want your shit gone through. My laptop is infinitely more sensitive and private than my underwear and shit in my bag. There is a zero percent chance I'm letting some fucking guy go through it without a warrant.

If this becomes a common practice for domestic flights, commerce will grind to a halt. Beyond that though, I just won't travel anymore. What complete horseshit.

I guess I'm surprised by your surprise. This matter has been discussed on MemeStreams several times in the past, including by you...

I posted the WaPo article BoingBoing is referencing here.

There are at least ten other references to this practice.

As the first reference is from 2005, one suspects this was a result of the resounding Republican victory in the 2004 Presidential and Congressional elections. Glad those Republicans are there to defend my freedom from encroachment by the state... Oh wait, except totally the opposite. What a bunch of fucking hypocrits.

RE: US Customs TSA confiscating laptops - Boing Boing

Authorities in Afghanistan have sentenced a 23-year-old journalism student to death for having downloaded and shared copies of a report criticizing the oppressive treatment of women in some Islamic societies.

Afghanistan: death sentence for downloading, distributing report on oppression of women - Boing Boing

MemeStreams: Its just like having real friends!

Microsoft has made an unsolicited $44.6 billion bid for Yahoo. The bid, which would consist of cash and Microsoft stock, values Yahoo shares at $31 a share, a 62% premium on Thursdays closing price.

Microsoft + Yahoo = a stronger competitor to the Google borg.

Microsoft Offers $44.6 Billion To Acquire Yahoo

Ever read a book (required or otherwise) and upon finishing it thought to yourself, "Wow. That was terrible. I totally feel dumber after reading that."? I know I have. Well, like any good scientist, I decided to see how well my personal experience matches reality. How might one do this?

Well, here's one idea.

1. Get a friend of yours to download, using Facebook, the ten most popular books at every college (manually -- as not to violate Facebook's ToS). These ten books are indicative of the overall intellectual milieu of that college.
2. Download the average SAT/ACT score for students attending every college.
3. Presto! We have a correlation between books and dumbitude (smartitude too)!

Books <=> Colleges <=> Average SAT Scores

4. Plot the average SAT of each book, discarding books with too few samples to have a reliable average.
5. Post the results on your website, pondering what the Internet will think of it.

Yes, I'm aware correlation ≠ causation. The results are awesome regardless of direction of causality.
You can stop sending me email about this distinction. Thanks.

Virgil strikes again!

Booksthatmakeyoudumb

Secretary Michael Chertoff, head of the Department of Homeland Security, announced a set of final revisions to the controversial Real ID Act in a press conference this morning. It's not clear at this point how extensive those revisions truly are, but it is clear that DHS feels that the rules are now in their final form and that the period for discussion, revision, and dispute is now over.

Chertoff on final Real ID rules: "Reconfiguring our society"

An American law school student and former beauty queen who has posed for a racy calendar while brandishing a weapon has been accused of kidnapping, biting and threatening a former boyfriend with a handgun.

I'm in love... Of course, her mug shot is slightly less flattering. Note how hypocritical this post is given the previous one. But you clicked on it anyway, didn't you?

Beauty queen accused of kidnapping, torturing ex-boyfriend - World - smh.com.au