Neat fabric wall clings that won't harm your wall and are super cool. Check em out! Lots of neat old school scifi ones.

Craftzine.com blog : Fabric Wall Clings

War with Iran is not the answer. Iran is not Afghanistan. They are a modern nation of rational actors ruled by a handful of bullies.

Meanwhile, the Obama administration has ordered a massive buildup of U.S. forces in the Persian Gulf starting with Carrier Strike Group 10, headed by the USS Harry S. Truman aircraft carrier. Just last Friday an armada of more than 12 U.S. and Israeli warships passed through the Suez canal amid extreme security provided by Egypt. The ships are headed for the Red Sea and from there to the Persian Gulf. Another four U.S. warships will be making their way to the region to join the Strike Group. The Americans have also conducted joint air and naval strike practices with France and the U.K. under the command of American forces, while Germany is sending warships to the area, also under the command of American forces.

There Will Be War - Forbes.com

The Census Bureau reports New Home Sales in May were at a seasonally adjusted annual rate (SAAR) of 300 thousand.

The 300 thousand annual sales rate is a new all time record low. The previous record low annual sales rate was 338 thousand in September 1981.

Calculated Risk: New Home Sales collapse to Record Low in May

The Senate has the same problem that the RIAA does.

One of the main challenges has been the 24-hour, instantaneous multi-outlet media. With the advent of cable television and then the Internet, Americans have access to many more channels and sites and more types of technology through which to read the news.

Technology has empowered Americans to have more choices about how they want to get their news and whether they want to see something other than the news.

The government has less power to focus your attention.

Is America tuning out Capitol Hill? - CNN.com

Surely, a city that depended so much on building should be poised for collapse. Certainly, Atlanta’s 10.1 percent unemployment rate reflects its eviscerated construction industry. Certainly, like many other places, Atlanta is in for a rough few years.

Yet there are three key reasons to think that Atlanta will weather this storm and continue to thrive...

Smart money never bets against the ability of a huge concentration of smart people to weather an economic storm. Don’t count Atlanta out.

This article and the attached comments are thought provoking if inconclusive.

Betting on Atlanta - Economix Blog - NYTimes.com

Today’s Case-Shiller Home Price Index confirms that a softening of residential sales and prices is already under way. It is likely to accelerate over the next few quarters.

Its not over.

Case Shiller: Weakening Home Prices in Q1 | The Big Picture

The speech the plaintiffs said was improperly restricted:

1. “train[ing] members of [the] PKK on how to use humanitarian and international law to peacefully resolve disputes”;
2. “engag[ing] in political advocacy on behalf of Kurds who live in Turkey”;
3. “teach[ing] PKK members how to petition various representative bodies such as the United Nations for relief”;
4. “[E]ngag[ing] in political advocacy on behalf of Tamils who live in Sri Lanka.”

The Court’s holding: The statute, as interpreted by the Court, is not unconstitutionally vague, does not violate the plaintiffs’ freedom of speech, and does not violate the plaintiffs’ freedom of expressive association.

This is one of the few cases where the Supreme Court simply felt that a compelling state interest exists which supercedes the First Amendment, so the government is allowed to regulate these activities.

I'm not sure why we have any policy interest in preventing Americans from advocating non-violent conflict resolution with terrorists. Both the decision and the dissent here speak to that policy issue.

Its certainly a thought provoking case.

The Volokh Conspiracy » Holder v. Humanitarian Law Project

On July 1 it will be illegal in Georgia for anyone to read, type or send a text message while driving.

Sigh.

And “driving” includes being stopped at red lights or awaiting an arrow in a turn lane.

I do not think that there is a rational explanation for this law as passed. Prove me wrong.

Do you support this law?

If so, do you think it ought to be illegal to look at a map while stopped at a red light?

If yes, then please explain why there is a national movement to ban reading text messages but there is no national movement to ban reading maps or other things and there has been no such movement over the long decades that maps have been available to drivers.

If no, then do you think it ought to be illegal to look at a map on a phone while stopped at a red light?

If yes, then please explain the difference between reading a map on paper and reading a map on a phone.

If no, then please explain the difference between reading a map on a phone and reading a text message on a phone. Please keep in mind that this question is longer than the maximum text message length.

In addressing these questions please avoid delving into a discussion about the amount of concentration involved in sending a text message while driving a car that is in motion. That is not at issue here. While the law in question banned that behavior, it banned a whole host of other behavior as well. If you support this law, you must endorse banning all of the behavior that it banned, and you must be able to rationally explain its scope.

Different states have passed different text messaging while driving laws with different wording, and the language in Georgia's law is among the most broad. Supporters of this law must be able to articulate why this language is preferable to more narrow language passed in other states.

Again, I don't think its possible to explain this law rationally, because I don't think that there is a rational explanation. The people who wrote this law did not take care to craft it in a reasonable way. It is intentionally overzealous. Prove me wrong.

Texting while driving ban a challenge to enforce, authorities say  | ajc.com

The Supreme Court’s refusal to consider the claims of Maher Arar, an innocent Canadian who was sent to Syria to be tortured in 2002, was a bitterly disappointing abdication of its duty to hold officials accountable for illegal acts.

Since he took office, President Obama has refused to fully examine the excesses of his predecessor, but surely this case was a chance to show that those who countenanced torture must pay a price.

Nope. The Dems aren't interested in redressing an actual case of improper extraordinary rendition because it would be controversial and therefore doesn't serve their political interests.

Editorial - No Price to Pay for Torture - NYTimes.com

At least 155 people have died in seasonal flooding in China that has also forced more than one million to flee, government officials say.

About 140,000 homes have collapsed, many of them in Hunan and Jiangxi provinces, and more than 1.3 million people have been moved to temporary shelter.

Direct economic losses total $6.5bn (24bn yuan), the office said in a statement.

I was attempting to compare the relative impact of the Atlanta and Nashville floods - it seems that Nashville was hit harder, their flood was a bigger deal - but the Atlanta flood was very bad. It would be interesting to get some information about how impacted people are recovering months later. Apparently there are a lot of abandoned homes in impacted neighborhoods, but the economy of the city was relatively uneffected, which might not be true in Nashville.

Either way, this flood in China was way - way worse that either flood here. Google news results for flooding in China: 190
Flash floods in Arkansas: 4821

Is that a reasonable comparison?

Something just doesn't seem right about that - its not as if Google news is specifically an index of American news media.

Is the entire global media system US centric?

China hit by heavy flooding - Asia-Pacific - Al Jazeera English