The Fourth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution prohibits the government from conducting “unreasonable searches” of our “persons, houses, papers, and effects” without a warrant…. In passing the USA Patriot Act, lawmakers gave the FBI and other law enforcement agencies the right to secretly subpoena records from Internet service providers without any form of judicial oversight.
Archive For September, 2004
To Avoid Conflict With Unions at Homeland Security, Davis Pulls Proposal
[Washington Post] By Stephen Barr The mystery provisions are gone. Yesterday, Rep. Thomas M. Davis III (R-Va.), the House chairman who oversees the civil service, yanked provisions from a pending 9/11 bill that would have made it easier for the president to exclude unions at the Department of Homeland Security. The provisions, which seemed likely [...]
Banning the Bible to Get Out the Vote
There have been some rumors floating around lately about an RNC ad that is being sent to people living in the Bible Belt about how ‘liberals’ want to “ban the Bible” (what that really means, I don’t know, but there you have it). It ain’t a rumor folks, this is U.S. Presidential Campaign 2004, at [...]
War threatens Uganda Aids success
HIV/Aids is twice as common in the war-torn north of Uganda as in the rest of the country, an aid agency says. [BBC News] Tags: war <BR/>
Monday Sep 27: Kerry 234, Bush 280
It is a quiet day on the polling front today with only six new polls. Kerry has taken over the lead in Florida again, 49% to 48%, but other than that, nothing much has changed. The big event this week is going to be the first debate. That could easily decide the outcome of the [...]
The Kerry Quandary
The Kerry Quandary Three hundred million people in this great Republic and we get these two to vote for. by Michael M. Thomas Three hundred million people in this great Republic and we get these two to vote for. It is what the late political analyst James Durante would have called “a revolting development!”
PAYPAL SEEMS TO HAVE DECIDED to become…
PAYPAL SEEMS TO HAVE DECIDED to become the Web Morality Police: Starting Friday, PayPal will begin penalizing users who buy things it doesn’t want them to: prescription drugs from unverified pharmacies, material with even a whiff of sex and gambling or lottery services. . . . Its policy on adult materials is especially stringent, banning [...]
“PATRIOT II” On Deck
The GOP hopes to revive the controversial bill by attaching it to the coat tails of the 9/11 Commission Report. [EFF: Mini Links]
Colorado Electoral Reform Has Support
Colorado Electoral Reform Has Support “A proposal to change how Colorado allocates its presidential electoral votes is winning by double digits, according to a Rocky Mountain News/News4 poll — but a majority of voters don’t feel strongly either way.” “Amendment 36 would scrap the traditional ‘winner take all’ system and award Colorado’s electoral votes proportionally, [...]
WHY THE SIERRA CLUB IS DEAD, AND WHY WILDERNESS CONSERVATION WON’T HAPPEN
[How to Save the World] In yesterday’s post, I quoted Stan Goff as saying that conservation is the only solution to the coming energy crisis. The word ‘conservation’ is an ambiguous one, which is one reason why politicians can get away with saying they support it without doing anything. At its root, ‘not doing anything’ [...]