The war on terror..oops, dirty pictures

Google battles government over porn investigation
By Jon Swartz, USA TODAY
SAN FRANCISCO — The Bush administration, in a bid to resurrect a controversial online pornography law, has asked a federal judge to force online search giant Google to surrender details on what its users are viewing.
Google has refused to comply with a subpoena, issued last year, to turn over a sweeping amount of material from its databases, including 1 million random Web addresses and records of all Google searches from any one-week period.

Silicon Valley-based Google, the world's largest search engine, opposes releasing the information because it says that would violate the privacy rights of its users and reveal company trade secrets.

"Google is not a party to this lawsuit and their demand for information overreaches," Nicole Wong, an associate general counsel for Google, said. "We had lengthy discussions with them to try to resolve this, but were not able to and we intend to resist their motion vigorously."

The government asserts the data is necessary to determine how often pornography shows up in online searches as part of a push to revive the Child Online Protection Act of 1998. That act would have required adults to register to view objectionable material online, and punished violators with fines up to $50,000 or jail.

More.

Wond'ring Aloud

Last night I did something I almost NEVER do: I watched the local 10 p.m. news. The lead story was the trumpeting of the deaths of up to 5 al Quaeda members, including a member of the so-called "inner circle." In this case, the featured player was the "master bomb-maker" Midhat Mursi al-Sayid Umar. Also believed killed was the son-in-law of al-Quaeda's #2 guy Ayman al-Zawahri. As you may know, this attack launched from Afghanistan was accomplished using bombs dropped from drone aircraft.


Omitted from the story were: 1) at least 14 civilians were killed, including 5 women and 5 children; 2) the U.S. has NOT accepted ANY responsibility for this (apparently somewhat successful) attack; 3) this attack probably constitutes a violation of Pakistan's sovereignty.

It also calls into question the METHOD that we're using to take out suspected al-Quaeda members. It seems pretty obvious to me that the use of conventional bombs dropped from drone aircraft is a fairly imprecise way to do it as it involves the death of nameless peasants in the mountains of Pakistan, but it carries the advantage of risking no US personnel in the short term. However, it also results in formenting a great deal of unrest/ill will. Why not drop in a team of commandos and attempt to capture these so-called inner-circle guys? I'll give you one reason: Our little CIA rendition adventure in Italy....

So I guess that for now our policy of hunting down al-Quaeda is going to continue to be a combination of implausible deniability and collateral damage.

Uses for the NSA eavesdropping program

You'll never have to worry if you accidentally erase a message again:

"Umm, Mr. NSA person, I got a phone call last week from some woman, and I lost her message where she left me her number - can I get a copy of that call so I can get her number? She was pretty hot."

Pudgy McLiar on Abramoff

While on a break...

Q Any update on the Abramoff visits to the White House beyond the three parties that he attended?

MR. McCLELLAN: Well, I indicated yesterday that I think there were some -- a few staff-level meetings. But, no, I'm making sure that I have a thorough report back to you on that. And I'll get that to you, hopefully very soon.

STAFF LEVEL MEETINGS??? Details, Scotty!

And read in the same White House press briefing how he tries to stay on the talking points in this exchange with Helen Thomas:

Q Does the President think that 120 people dying in Iraq, after we're nearly three years into this war, is tolerable?

MR. McCLELLAN: The Iraqi people, Helen, have shown time and time again that they want to live in freedom. I think it's important to look at what took place in December. There are terrorists and Saddam loyalists --

Q Why are we there? Why are we killing people there?

MR. McCLELLAN: -- there are terrorists and Saddam loyalists -- because we're transforming the Middle East, and that will help us lay the foundations of peace for generations to come.

Q -- didn't ask you to do that, their country.

MR. McCLELLAN: We were attacked on September 11th and --

Q We were not attacked by Iraqis.

MR. McCLELLAN: I don't think we ever said we were. But what we learned on that day was that this is not a law enforcement war we're engaged in. This is a war about the safety and security of the American people. It's not a law enforcement matter. It's a war. We are a nation at war. And this is a comprehensive effort that we're taking. We're not ignoring threats. We are confronting threats before it's too late. And that's what this President will --

Q You had none from Iraq.

MR. McCLELLAN: -- that's what this President will continue to do because he knows his most important responsibility is protecting the American people. And spreading democracy in the broader Middle East is vital to our own nation's --

Q Don't do it by attacking an innocent country.

MR. McCLELLAN: -- vital to our own nation's security. And the Iraqi people have shown they are deeply appreciative of the efforts that we have undertaken to remove a regime that was a threat and a destabilizing force in a dangerous region of the world. And we are going to change a troubled region for the better, and it will help lay the foundations of peace for generations to come.

Five minutes to Wapner, five minutes to Wapner...

You know we've entered a weird place when

I'm on the same side of any issue as Grover Norquist.

WASHINGTON, Jan. 17 /U.S. Newswire/ -- Patriots to Restore Checks and Balances (PRCB) today called upon Congress to hold open, substantive oversight hearings examining the President's authorization of the National Security Agency (NSA) to violate domestic surveillance requirements outlined in the Federal Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA).

Former U.S. Rep. Bob Barr, chairman of PRCB, was joined by fellow conservatives Grover Norquist, president of Americans for Tax Reform (ATR); David Keene, chairman of the American Conservative Union; Paul Weyrich, chairman and CEO of the Free Congress Foundation and Alan Gottlieb, founder of the Second Amendment Foundation, in urging lawmakers to use NSA hearings to establish a solid foundation for restoring much needed constitutional checks and balances to intelligence law.

A Story to Warm the Cockles of a NeoCon's Heart

The Associated Press is reporting that McLiar/Vader administration's newly reconstituted CIA succeeded in killing a passel of innocent Pakistani women and children in a drone bombing attack of a village along the Afghanistan/Pakistan border. Ayman al-Zawahri (al Quaeda's #2 guy) was supposed to be in the village, but apparently the CIA was the recipient of bad information (does anyone else see a trend here?) .

Meanwhile, the USA continues to win over the hearts and minds of the local populace...

Spelling Bee

Moderator: George, your word is "nuclear."

George: Could you use it in, uhmm, you know, one of them things that daddy stopped me from gettin' when I was drivin' all liquored up, you know...

Moderator: You mean, a "sentence?"

George: That's right, there, Moddy, use that
New Clear in a sentence.

Moderator: Aggressive conduct toward Iran, in the midst of an already volatile Middle East, could result in nuclear war.

George: Sorry, there, Moddy, I just don't understand that New Clear word, just go ahead and buzz me.

Could the stupid bastard at least learn to pronounce the kind of disaster he is going to bring upon the world? Is that too much to ask?

Wheel of Tactical Nuclear Weapons

The puzzle:

"Ira_, armed with a _uclear weapo_, poses a grave threat to the security of the world," Bush said.

Contestant: Pat, I would guess a "Q?"

Pat: Oh, sorry, there's no Q. Condi, it's your spin.

A note on the troll

Apparently the whining troll has moved on to dazzle others with his "all [m]uslims are the same" brilliance. Damn, I was really looking forward to his discourse on the lawfulness of the invasion.

My apologies to all for the intrusion.

Rush on Rape

Rush Limbaugh, pictured below in the pool at his Florida home, with girlfriend Daryn Kagan of CNN ,




















today described the move by the Maryland legislature to require Wal-Mart, and other companies so situated, to pay a defined portion of their employees' health care costs, as "rape."

Right. There is nothing that screams out violent sexual assault more than requiring the country's largest retailer to pony up some health care premiums.

A C&J Plug

I am a big fan of The Daily Kos. It is a great spot to find the latest scoop on what's going on. My favorite daily contributor is Bill from Portland, Maine, the writer of "Cheers and Jeers" a daily feature.
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Here is the headliner from today's edition:

C&J has reviewed the confirmation hearing transcripts, and we've concluded that the following would be more productive on the Supreme Court than Samuel Alito:
William Jefferson Clinton...Former Maine Senator William Cohen...Dan Quayle (Oops...that's the liquor talkin')...C&J's chocolate lab, Molly...Harriett Miers...John Dean...A sprig of parsley...The blond-haired, puffy lipped supermodel gestating inside Angelina's womb...Penn & Teller...Judge Joseph Wapner...A handful of almonds...that guy over there talkin' to himself...ABBA...Senator Olympia Snowe...Wolf Blitzer (medicated)...Yoda...Mike Judge...Arnold Palmer..."Hi! I'm David Oreck!"...Whatever it is that's residing in my belly button at this moment...Bill Gates...Tom Hanks...The color green...Moby...Keith Olbermann...The Weather Channel...Oh, say, a woman or a minority...Or a minority woman...The Hamburglar...Jon Stewart (nah, they'd never go for that)...A stick of butter...a slice of rhubarb pie...Mel Brooks...The "Intelligent Designer"...Whatever this is on the tip of my finger...Oprah...Former Senator Bob Graham...Jocelyn Elders...The county water commissioner...Molly Ivins (admit it---your heart just went a-flutter)...Mr. Pibb...peat moss...and finally:
Sandra Day O'Connor

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And so it got me to thinking, who/what else would do a better job on the SCotUS than ScAlito.

I can come up with two right off the top of my head: My five year old son and/or my nine year old daughter. The kid who retrieves the shopping carts at the Butera store would be a great choice as well. Do we have any other nominees?

Today's picture puzzle

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EQUALS

Trolls and comments

Unfortunately, we've been trolled, so I have no choice but to activate comment moderation. Sorry, but it only takes one jackass to screw things up.

Disneyland, perhaps?

Fearless Leader today said

"New Orleans is reminding me of the city I used to come to visit," he said. "It's a heck of a place to bring your family. It's a great place to find some of the greatest food in the world and some wonderful fun. And for folks around the country who are looking for a great place to have a convention, or a great place to visit, I'd suggest coming here to the great New Orleans."

Psst George...I think you're in New Orleans Square

at Disneyland!

A completely stolen idea

Over at the Chicago Tribune letters page, there was a very clever response from a fellow named Andy to the claim that the constitutional abuses, etc. are working because, "well, look, we haven't been attacked again!"

Andy wrote, "I have a rock that keeps tigers away. Would you like to buy it? I've kept it outside of my house for years, and I haven't been attacked by a single tiger. That makes sense, doesn't it?"

A funny about Libertarianism

So I was watching "The Colbert Report" last night - good stuff, by the way, and he was interviewing ABC's John Stossel, apparently somewhat of a Libertarian. They were discussing the FAA, and Colbert, in his smarmier-than-Bill-O'Reilly-but-a-lot-funnier way said (paraphrasing here) "There shouldn't be anyone telling me I can't fly my plane at 30,000 feet just because you're flying yours at 30,000 feet on the same vector. You know what will keep us from crashing? The invisible hand of the free market."

Market forces may be powerful and all, but they can't stop two planes from running into each other. The only thing that can do that is someone keeping track of each flight, everywhere in the country, and making sure that there aren't two planes scheduled to be in the same place at the same time.

Oh, and I hope that anyone who doesn't realize that by agreeing to live in a large and diverse society, you have to give up some amount of freedom just to keep the peace, wakes up a little. One can still be a strong advocate for freedom and understand that it's not a protected right to get on an airplane at O'Hare without walking through a metal detector. You don't have to get on that plane - it's a choice you're making.

I read 'em

so you don't have to...

Fetuses don't count in car pool lane, judge rules

PHOENIX -- Fetuses do not count as passengers when it comes to determining who may drive in the car pool lane, a judge ruled.

Candace Dickinson was fined $367 for improper use of a car pool lane, but contended the fetus inside her womb allowed her to use the lane. Motorists who use the lanes normally must carry at least one passenger during weekday rush hours.
Municipal Judge Dennis Freeman rejected Dickinson's argument Tuesday, applying a ''common sense'' definition in which an individual is someone who occupies a ''separate and distinct'' space in a vehicle.

''The law is meant to fill empty space in a vehicle,'' the judge said.

Sgt. Dave Norton stopped Dickinson's car Nov. 8. When asked how many people were in the car, Dickinson said two, pointing to ''her obvious pregnancy,'' the officer said.

Norton said Dickinson's theory ''would require officers to carry guns, radios and pregnancy testers, and I don't think we want to go there.''

Ground Rules

Anyone who visits the board is more than welcome to express his or her opinion. I love arguing with people who don't agree with me, provided there is some value to the argument. Telling me that my beliefs are wrong just isn't going to accomplish anything productive. Disagree all you want. Anyone who knows anything about sports, for example, knows that Cubs fans and White Sox fans don't exactly see eye-to-eye on everything. But as much as I'm not going to convince Schmidlap to change allegiences, or he to convince me to change, we can still discuss baseball.

Some other things to know about this blog:

1) We believe that the current administration has hurt this country in every way possible, and if we get our anger at that out with a little name calling, so be it.
There are indeed posts here which are pure invective, and none of us will apologize for that. What I wonder is why everyone isn't walking around in a rage.

2) There are posts which are an actual attempt to advance a discussion, and I expect you to recognize the difference.

3) Remember that if you're new here, we don't know your history, and you're jumping into the middle of a discussion. Therefore, please make sure your posts have some content. Merely attacking the posters on a blog won't accomplish anything except time wasting. You want to convince someone of something? Provide an argument. Give an option. Explain why that option is better, with data. Don't just throw crap at the board and hope it sticks to someone. If someone could prove that Bush isn't a worse president than, well, the rest, I'd be happy to see the data. But you gotta come with something.

4) Posts which are content-free, demonstrably false, or needlessly snarky will be removed. Note that this is not censorship - you're free to create your own blog and be as cranky as you want.

5) If you have a question about how someone here reacted to something that happened in the past, either (a) see if we posted about it or (b) ask. Don't assume that just because, say, I'm a liberal, that I loved everything Bill Clinton did, or that I've never seen a Republican worth anything. And we're all a little different here. Assuming things about people you don't know is remarkably insulting.

On Point

Thanks to BartCop.

Fascism, by way of Sinclair Lewis

"When fascism comes to America, it will be wrapped in the flag carrying the Cross"
Sinclair Lewis