I am not screened because I look like a terrorist. I am routinely screened because I look like someone who will readily comply.

The foremost linked article is fascinating. I don't travel much, and I haven't seen the full body scanners at ATL yet, but it is great to know that my apprehensions (and probably ultimate refusal) about getting in those machines is supported by law enforcement.

-janelane

Do I have the right to refuse this search?

It has got to quit being about republican democrat. The partisan crap is a nothing but a divided road with both sides having both ends leading to hell.

Here, here.

-janelane

RE: Republican PSA?

SAY NO! to a bailout of the automakers.

Here, here! Online petitions are getting a slow start, so email your reps directly.

Senator Chambliss contact form
Senator Isakson contact form
District 6 Representative Tom Price contact form

Granted, these guys are all Republicans from GA, so accordingly they only sponsor bullshit legislation, but its worth emailing them anyway. My email text is below.

Dear So-and-so,

Please vote against the bailout of the US automakers. They have been operating inefficiently for 30 years and are finally being brought to bear. They need to file for bankruptcy, purge their management pool, eradicate the bloated unions, and streamline their operations, all of which they can do probably quite successfully without my tax money. They need bankruptcy to encourage them to finally innovate and quit lobbying against every major safety and fuel efficiency advance in this country. They’re already making efficient cars, they’re just not selling them here!

This is capitalism, and this is what companies do in this country, they don't fly to DC and beg for alms. It’s a waste of money in an already wasteful government and will only prolong the inevitable since the companies will have absolutely no impetus to avoid future bailouts. Also, I reject the notion that Detroit workers are worth more than other workers at other companies. This will only snowball into a feeding frenzy among failing companies. In this economy, we need to encourage strong, viable companies, not propped up puppet-companies.

Regards, your-name-here.

-janelane

Update: Chambliss speaks!

Dear Mrs. Hoffman :

Thank you for contacting me regarding a financial rescue of the automakers. It is good to hear from you.

The automobile industry has deep seated problems that cannot only be solved by more money. Instead, a restructuring of the industry is needed. I am not in favor of using taxpayer funds to bailout the industry.

Obama asks Bush to provide help for automakers - International Herald Tribune

In 1997, he underwent open-heart surgery for a blocked artery. Unfortunately, the doctors operated on the wrong artery. Carvey later sued for medical malpractice and was awarded $7.5 million. He has had to undergo a total of five medical procedures (four angioplasties and one surgery) to correct his heart problems. Carvey stated in an interview with Larry King that he donated all the money awarded to him from the lawsuit to charity.

Acidus and I watched an SNL clip show yesterday, and he mentioned something about Dana being very sick at some point. Two open heart surgeries definitely count!

-janelane

Dana Carvey - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Excellent article. Though, of course, the author is biased against "eviscerat[ing] [the] 4th amendment."

More good stuff:

On the face of it, this new loophole might not seem to be such a big problem, barring the facts of a) retroactive telecom immunity and b) the implication that Bush will never be held accountable for numerous felonies. Unfortunately, it also really is, as far as I can tell, a back door to greatly expanded wiretapping powers. Beyond the obvious fact that it requires only certification and loose judicial review rather than a warrant, it does so in the following way:

1. It Eliminates the requirement that there be probable cause that a foreign target is a suspect of any kind — terrorist, criminal, ore “foreign agent.” They merely need be your French grandmother, as long as they are outside the United States and not a U.S. person, and if the government says wiretapping them is for the purpose of collecting “foreign intelligence information” (e.g., her Pommes Frites recipe)

2. It requires the cooperation of telecoms in these efforts

3. It eliminates of the need to specify a particular email address or phone number to be wiretapped

4. 1-3 together imply that certifications of wiretapping on individuals is not the issue. The point is to use telecom cooperation to target large collections of data on communications between U.S. Persons and foreigners. This implies data mining — where, for instance, because a foreign target has communications passing through a given domestic switch, any communications (domestic or international) passing through that switch are subject to collection, analysis, and storage. There are “minimization requirements” meant to ameliorate this, but it is unclear if they really help.

5. The compromise of domestic communications in (4) is exacerbated by the fact that targets need only be “reasonably believed” to be outside the U.S.

6. It includes only minimal court oversight — who it is that is subject to warrantless wiretapping will not be know to the FISA court; the government can wiretap before it court order is sought and continue to do so even if it is denied — during a lengthy appeal process.

-janelane

Understanding Recent Changes to FISA — A Visual Guide

From March 1 to June 18, 2008, Operation Malicious Mortgage resulted in 144 mortgage fraud cases in which 406 defendants were charged.

They're about 4 years late on starting this one. And luv the name! What's next? Operation Gang Bang going after porn people? How about Operation Executive Decision going after the White House for violating their oaths of office?

LOL! I thought the same thing when I saw this story...too little, too late. Way to get off your asses and finally do something, fellas!

-janelane

Federal Bureau of Investigation - Operation Malicious Mortgage

WHITE PLAINS, New York(AP) -- Dana Reeve, who won worldwide admiration for her devotion to her "Superman" husband, Christopher Reeve, through his decade of near-total paralysis, has died of lung cancer at the age of 44.
...
Reeve had succeeded her husband as chair of the foundation, which funded research into spinal-cord paralysis cures. She announced in August that, while she wasn't a smoker, she had been diagnosed with lung cancer.
...
A year ago, she won a Mother of the Year award from the American Cancer Society. A society vice president, Dr. Michael Thun, said Reeve "has shown strength and courage in the face of tremendous adversity." Doctors say 1 in 5 women diagnosed with the disease never lit a cigarette.

There is definitely something in the water that celebrities are drinking. First Puckett, now Reeve? He was 45, she 44! He was an all-star athelete and she didn't even smoke!

Since when is 45 the new 85?

-janelane, anti-2nd-hand-smoking

Dana Reeve, widow of Christopher Reeve, dies of lung cancer - Mar 7, 2006

WASHINGTON (AP) -- Science and math have zoomed to the top of the nation's education agenda. Yet Amanda Cook, a parent of two school-age girls, can't quite see the urgency.

"In Maine, there aren't many jobs that scream out 'math and science,"' said Cook, who lives in Etna, in the central part of the state. Yes, both topics are important, but "most parents are saying you're better off going to school for something there's a big need for."

Nationwide, a new poll shows, many parents are content with the science and math education their children get -- a starkly different view than that held by national leaders.

Fifty-seven percent of parents say "things are fine" with the amount of math and science being taught in their child's public school. High school parents seem particularly content -- 70 percent say their child gets the right amount of science and math.

Oh. My. God. I think I've just had a stroke and heart attack.

-janelane, WTF??!!

Dotcommers once excited prospective investors by touting the potential of ubiquitous connectivity. "Imagine a world where ... ," the refrain began. Players in the security industry usually preface their pitches with "God forbid that ... ," and close with a call for government money to prevent this or that inevitable catastrophe. "In a perfect world it would be nice not to have to spend these dollars," McMillen says. "There are very few industries that have a constitutional imperative. It doesn't say in the preamble to provide for health care, to provide for welfare, to provide for education. But it does say to provide for the common defense."

Now that's a quote bumblefuck Republicans in backwoods Arkansas can get behind. While it's amazing to me that this tard can sleep at night, what's even more amazing is that the government and everyone else investing millions in companies with no business model and no product are turning a blind eye to the striking similarities to the dot-com boom and bust.

-janelane, wired

Wired : Fear, Inc.

The commission issued an order seeking Steed's removal from the bench in February, after a 14-month investigation determined Steed was a polygamist and as such had violated Utah's bigamy law.

Hypocrisy at its finest.

"There is no allegation that it's affecting his performance on the bench," Parker said. "It really is truly only about his private conduct."

Oh, great, that's all we need....the administration gets wind of this asshole attorney and suddenly they're pulling this "conduct vs duty" shit on Frist, Rove, Libby, [insert name here], and [insert name here].

Steed legally married his first wife in 1965, according to court documents. The second and third wives were married -- or "sealed" as the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints refers to it -- to him in religious ceremonies in 1975 and 1985.
The three women are biological sisters...

EEWWWWWWW!!! That's disgusting! Apart from being every man's fantasy, of course.

...and no one in the family was expecting that the second and third marriages would be civilly recognized.

So, wait, he's essentially allowed to sleep with the sisters just for the hell of it and THAT'S OKAY, TOO??!!!

I'm about ready to bag this whole Mormon church state and just raze Utah to the ground. Or, release a whole bunch of Fabio look-alikes and watch those fat, slobby-ass men gradually self-destruct. Either way is fine with me, really.

-janelane, fundamentalists beware

CNN.com - Utah judge with 3 wives fights for job - Nov 2, 2005