Furibundum

Back in 2005, then-Senator Barack Obama had this to say opposing The Patriot Act when it came up then for reauthorization: "We do not have to settle for a Patriot Act that sacrifices our liberties or our safety. We can have one that secures both." Throughout his entire presidential campaign, Obama often railed against the Act, criticizing it giving authorization for the Bush administration to secretly spy on U.S. citizens, illegally and unconstitutionally and with little or no judicial or congressional oversight. He pledged that he would institute "robust" checks and balances if he got elected, explicitly promising to overturn its unconstitutional sneak-and-peek provisions toward citizens not even suspected of a crime. "Warrantless surveillance of American citizens, in defiance of FISA, is unlawful and unconstitutional," he said. Now tomorrow, President Obama is set to sign into law an unamended extension of that same Patriot Act, a bill that pre...

Despite the whole of his spiel or whatever the purpose, regardless of anything else he might have had to say, Osama bin Laden's latest audio installment was really pretty much spot on in many respects at the start. In it he talks about the dangers of global climate change , and how the preponderance of responsibility for the mess lies squarely at the feet of the United States and the Western industrialized nations. Al-Quaeda à la Al-Gore, you might say. But the similarities between the two of them shouldn't in fact surprise anyone, actually, seeing how that bin Laden is so much a Democrat at heart. Leave it to Rush Limbaugh to point out this inconvenient truth , check, check, checking off bin Laden's parroting so many of the Democratic party's talking points. To bin Laden criticizing George W. Bush for rejecting the Kyoto Protocol for benefiting giant corporations, Limbaugh asks, "Does this not sound like an average Democrat? Okay, blame the U.S. and greedy, evil c...

I am glad I don't fly anymore, that's for damn sure. I would have little patience for dicking around with the dumbass security procedures they've come up with since I last went up. If not for being mongered by propagating so much irrational fear, I'd like to think most would find much of our security setup now either laughable or intolerable, depending upon one's frequent flyer status. When Richard Reid botched his shoe thing , I honestly thought it was a joke when, with a jerk of the knee, it was mandated that the shoes come off before stepping foot on an airplane. Even at the time, I distinctly remember thinking that if I were going to blow up a plane still, hypothetically of course, I'd just cram it in down there with my private parts instead. Worthless ridiculous procedure, the shoe rule. Unpleasant thought there, but if you are willing to blow apart yourself, this bit is really no better off than that at the finish. Then there was that terrorist alert scare...