Ed Morrissey (Who normally blogs at Captain's Quarters ) has a piece on Heading Right that makes an interesting point. Why did the Democrats, who control both houses of Congress, and who have made many dire predictions about the NSA's wiretapping program, especially in the hands of that arch-destroy of civil liberties Alberto Gonzalez, pass the new wiretapping legislation? It doesn't look good for the Democrats.

I just finished off Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows. I missed all of the excitement, and bought it rather quietly earlier today, in a Barnes & Noble. No lines, no fuss. And then proceeded to read it. My brain is now full. I am glad that I had just finished reading (and watching) Sorcerer's Stone, and caught Order of the Phoenix at the theatre first. IMHO, the "important" books of the series are books 1, 4, 5, and 7. 1 & 7 are obvious. 2 & 3 are basically characte...

If you don't mind a bit of metaphor - the roller-coaster-car has started up the big climb: the DC government is appealing to the Supreme Court of the US in reaction to the adverse decision at the District Court level in Parker vs. DC . There's one more chance for the ride to fail; the Supremes could deny cert. But if they take it, hang on, the 2008 political season is going to be a bumpy ride. Any Supreme Court case has the potential for national exposure, of course, but this one has the c...

Fred Thompson defends himself against charges of "being a lawyer". Pretty interesting reading, a nice nice reference to one of my favorite Founding Fathers (John Adams).

Inspired by Lawdog's 4th of July post , here's a link to the Declaration of Independence page at the National Archives. I'll also throw one in to the Constitution and the Bill Of Rights

I spent the day with family, in particular with my brother, his wife and daughter, and my stepmother. My father was TDY out of the country, but the rest of us got together to spend the day having fun, eating barbeque foods, and generally hanging out. We passed on fireworks this year (we had already decided not to go to see the DC fireworks, on account of small child), and instead watched 1776 (the DVD version with the extended scenes cut from the theatrical release and the VHS release) - a...

Seen in a comment thread: "If you meet a lawyer who professes to know all the laws, find a new lawyer. Preferably one who isn't a liar."

Mingle 2 - Online Dating

This article from Fox about a pilot program in New York City caught my eye. It sounds like an excellent idea to me (the only good idea Mayor Bloomberg has had IMHO, but hey). It descibes a pilot program to pay poor people for actions taken to lift themselves out of poverty - read the article for details. Payments for going to doctors for routine checkups, for kids getting good (95%-level) grades, etc  But the thing that caught my eye was this quote from an opponent of the plan: ...

I've been giving some thought to what I believe "reasonable" gun control should look like. It goes something like this... First of all - I accept the possibility that the government has the ability to take away your right to own a weapon; after all, the government has the ability to restrict your other fundamental rights if you violate the social contract. Commit a violent crime, be adjudged insane, etc. The flip side of that coin is that there should be a clear route to having y...

Narrator: Re: the AACS key "09 F9...", war was beginning. MPAA: What happen ? RIAA: Somebody set up us the DRM. SoundExchange: We get signal. MPAA: What ! SoundExchange: Main screen turn on. MPAA: It's you !! 1337hax0r: How are you gentlemen !! 1337hax0r: All your key are decode to us. 1337hax0r: You are on the way to decryption. MPAA: What you say !! 1337hax0r: You have no chance to survive make your layer. 1337hax0r: Ha Ha Ha Ha .... SoundE...

For a variety of reasons, I'm actually going to start blogging "over there" - mainly so I can do "private" entries. The right-wing-rants will stay here, as will most other things. Items I post there will be more ... personal, probably mostly "private" so if I don't know you, it won't be very exciting. If you think I should know you, friend me over there...

New Page 1 Well, I may be a bit behind the zeitgeist (as a friend told me) but this video still cracks me up.   Enjoy.

So I cleaned out my PST file yesterday - by having Offline Files eat my PST file. After having the obligatory near heart-attack, I realize the really important stuff I keep in my PST (contacts, notes) I still have on my PDA. All I have lost is something like 10 years of accumulated emails. While I'm quite sure there's a decent number of emails I ought to have kept in there, I can't think of anything truly important that I either did not have saved off in notes, or cannot have the email regene...

For those of my readers who want to email me, be aware my email address has updated. Sorry, I'm not going to post it here. My old email address(es) are still working; so if you need or want my new one, drop me a line to any of the old ones, and I'll respond.