You’ve probably seen this already. (I hope you have, because I’d personally make it front-page news all over the country.) The New York Times ran a story yesterday that exposes a secret Justice Department brief endorsing torture, written after the same department publicly denounced the same tactics.
When the Justice Department publicly declared torture “abhorrent” in [...]
Posted by Chris in Crime, Government on October 4th, 2007 | No Comments »
You read that right. Steven Pinker thinks so and I’m inclined to agree with much of his reasoning. “We’re Getting Nicer Every Day” is an html version of a pdf, so a bit messy, but you can always download it if you prefer…
Posted by Deana in Academia, Crime, Culture, History, Oddly Enough, Politics, Religion, Science on September 8th, 2007 | 1 Comment »
Argh. It’s official: The Bush administration has given up on even pretending they’re subject to the rule of law.
Posted by Chris in Crime, Government, Law, Politics on July 2nd, 2007 | No Comments »
Now, here’s something you don’t see everyday: Flushed Bra Causes Sewer Collapse. This was just so rich I had to quote the article here:
The bra was recovered from the sewer by engineers
A bra and a pair of knickers have been blamed for a flood and road collapse in County Durham.
Northumbrian [...]
Posted by Deb in Crime, Humor, Kitchen Sink, Oddly Enough, Plain foolishness, You have got to be kidding on June 19th, 2007 | No Comments »
Ghent, Belgium, is apparently considering naming a street after one of the Filipino Igarot tribe members abandoned by my great-grandfather there, circa 1913. Here’s a recent news story from the Philippines about my mother’s father’s father, Richard Schneidewind, and Timicheg, one of the tribespeople he displayed. Oh, great-grandfather Richard. Sigh.
Posted by Deana in Academia, Anthropology, Business, Crime, Culture, History, Oddly Enough, You have got to be kidding on December 12th, 2006 | No Comments »
Finally some good news!
A federal judge ruled Thursday that the government’s warrantless wiretapping program is unconstitutional and ordered an immediate halt to it.
U.S. District Judge Anna Diggs Taylor in Detroit became the first judge to strike down the National Security Agency’s program, which she says violates the rights to free speech and privacy.
More information and [...]
Posted by Chris in Crime, Government, Law on August 17th, 2006 | No Comments »
I’ve been trying to come up with a decent summary of why this article on the release of a “suspected terrorist” five years after his arrest depresses me, but I can’t seem to get beyond the obvious “Sixth Amendment in tatters” or hand-wringing “what are we doing here?” arguments.
What really gets me is how accepting [...]
Posted by Chris in Crime, Law on August 15th, 2006 | 2 Comments »
When you heard about the latest “foiled terror plot!!1!” was your first reaction disbelief? Did you think to yourself, “Great. They’re going to use this as an excuse to ban everything but Skymall from being carried on an airplane.” I sure did, and apparently, I was not alone.
Posted by Chris in Crime, Government, You have got to be kidding on August 14th, 2006 | 1 Comment »
I just found some original footage from Star Wars. It’s in black and white, and the sound quality is cruddy, but it’s worth it to see Han’s girlfriend (or whomever she is) and to hear Greedo chatting with Han in an English accent. And yes, Han did shoot first.
Posted by Deana in Alien Invasions, Cosmetically Enhanced Vertebrates, Crime, Culture, Film, Fun, Oddly Enough, Science fiction, Sexuality, Space on June 29th, 2006 | 1 Comment »
ATF agents at University of Georgia chased down and detained a sophomore because… he was dressed like a ninja for a “pirate v. ninja” party.
“Seeing someone with something across the face, from a federal standpoint — that’s not right,” [ATF special agent in charge] McLemore said, explaining why agents believed something to be amiss.
I’d hate [...]
Posted by Chris in Crime, You have got to be kidding on April 17th, 2006 | 2 Comments »
