exposing treachery in the justice department

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 [...]

World Violence Decreases

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…

Heckuva job, Scooter.

Argh. It’s official: The Bush administration has given up on even pretending they’re subject to the rule of law.

Mind in the Gutter, Knickers in a Twist

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 [...]

More on my dear Great-Grandfather

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.

federal court strikes down warrantless wiretapping

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 [...]

a post with no name

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 [...]

flight of the grumble bees

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.

Han, You Ladies’ Man…

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.

protecting us from (play) assassins

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 [...]