Online checkin and printout of your boarding pass? Not so much.

Woohoo! I’m famous, bitches! Bow before me, for I am dangerous!

Oh, and the TSA and Bush administration can lick my sweaty nutsac. I’ve got your freedom of speech right here.

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The anti-sex misogyny brigade strikes again! Louisiana gov. signs another incest protection act into law.

Louisiana Democratic Gov. Kathleen Blanco signed into law a ban on most abortions, which would be triggered if the U.S. Supreme Court overturns its 1973 ruling legalizing the procedure, a spokesman said on Saturday.

The ban would apply to all abortions, even in cases of rape or incest, except when the mother’s life is threatened. It is similar to a South Dakota law that has become the latest focus of the abortion battle.

Bonus points for having a woman sign the bill. Nice job, traitor to your gender. I’m putting in my claim on Kathleen Blanco’s uterus now. Kathleen, I expect you to ask me permission before you use your uterus for anything. Even menstruate.

I already gave for NOLA/Katrina, but Louisiana will never see another dime out of me.

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… unmanned aerial reconnaissance vehicles.

Police launched the future of law enforcement into the smoggy Los Angeles sky in the form of a drone aircraft, bringing technology most commonly associated with combat zones to urban policing.

The unmanned aerial vehicle, which looks like a child’s remote control toy and weighs about five pounds (2.3 kilograms), is a prototype being tested by the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department.

Police say the drone, called the SkySeer, will be able to accomplish tasks too dangerous for officers and free up helicopters for other missions.

“This technology could be used to find missing children, search for lost hikers, or survey a fire zone,” said Commander Sid Heal, head of the Technology Exploration Project of the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department

I’m sure that the realization the the drone can also be used to silently observe private individuals on non-public land (and public) never occurred to anybody. Nev-er. Because it’s about the children!

The existence and use of the drones is effectively no different than having a bunch of helicopters flying around - and cheaper too! - so you’ve got nothing to worry about. I mean what’s to worry about when you’ve got a mini-Predator roaming your skies? What? It’s not like UAV’s have been used to assassinate people before, like, ever, or that pushbutton video game violence dehumanizes the event and lowers the barriers to pushing the trigger or anything.

Yes, I realize it’s too small to carry a weapon… but it’s not too small to carry a laser designator. And if you’ve got spotters, why not have a full Predator around? You know, just in case. Just in case you spot the terrirrrists en flagrante terrrristo! In case Jack Bauer needs an assist. In case you see a Sikh running from a building and into a panel van?

FSM, I love technology! Woohoo! When I thought of the future, I thought of living in a police state under constant surveillance where the government pays no heed the laws as written in the books. Didn’t everyone?

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As a followup to my earlier post on this ridiculous, unconstitutional law, it looks like the state is proceeding even beyond the text of the statute here. Tell me again how infringing on people’s First Amendment rights is Constitutional? I’m confused.

The first casualty in the state’s war on Internet gambling is a local Web site where nobody was actually doing any gambling.

What a Bellingham man did on his site was write about online gambling. He reviewed Internet casinos. He had links to them, and ran ads by them. He fancied himself a guide to an uncharted frontier, even compiling a list of “rogue casinos” that had bilked gamblers.

All that, says the state — the ads, the linking, even the discussing — violates a new state law barring online wagering or using the Internet to transmit “gambling information.”

“It’s what the feds would call ‘aiding and abetting,’ ” says the director of the state’s gambling commission, Rick Day. “Telling people how to gamble online, where to do it, giving a link to it — that’s all obviously enabling something that is illegal.”

This is overreaching bullshit. I’m a member of the bar of this state and I tell you here and now that this will be struck down as unconstitutional (state and federal). This is an easy violation of the First Amendment rights of individuals. This is not yelling fire in a movie theater, this is non-obscene, newsworthy commentary.

The text of the section I’m sure they’re relying upon, effective June 2006

Whoever knowingly transmits or receives gambling information by telephone, telegraph, radio, semaphore, the internet, a telecommunications transmission system, or similar means, or knowingly installs or maintains equipment for the transmission or receipt of gambling information shall be guilty of a class C felony subject to the penalty set forth in RCW 9A.20.021

The definition of “gambling information“:

“Gambling information,” as used in this chapter, means any wager made in the course of and any information intended to be used for professional gambling. In the application of this definition, information as to wagers, betting odds and changes in betting odds shall be presumed to be intended for use in professional gambling. This section shall not apply to newspapers of general circulation or commercial radio and television stations licensed by the federal communications commission.

The bold part is what I’m sure they’re going to try to shoehorn in to fit the law. Look at the carve outs to the definition. Can you spot the gigantic medium not listed? I knew you could!

According to the State’s gambling commish, it is now a conspiracy to commit a class C felony to discuss, using publicly available information, casinos. By their logic, it is also a crime for me to tell you that to fire a single action revolver, you pull back the hammer then pull the trigger … while aiming at a bunny. Or orphans.

Even more, linking to a website for information that could be used for gambling is illegal? What about a link to a site where odds are calculated? Why not make it illegal to link to a page that links to a page that links to a page with gambling information? What about a link to a site showing people how they can use their browsers to surf the internet? Not only could a how-to video lead to gambling, but also child porn and terrorism! Will no one think of the children?!?!?

What about a Washington resident who hosts a gambling information site in North Dakota? Are they liable? What about if it’s hosted in Canada? What about a North Dakota resident who rents server space from a Washington company? What about a North Dakota resident hosted in Canada? Are you going to sue them under Washington law? On what grounds?

There are numerous cases as to linking and the legality of such. MPAA v. 2600 will probably be looked to by the State. The case, which was both wrongly decided and contrary to prior First Amendment law, is not controlling for Washington courts (different jurisdiction. The holding is considered persuasive but not dispositive). The “deeplinking” cases (usually involving Ticketmaster) aren’t going to apply because those were copyright holders trying to enforce their copyright against a linkor whereas here the State is trying to say the linkor committed a felony. The State’s legal footing is slim, at best.

I’m sure the advertisements will be attacked as commercial (unprotected) speech for the purposes of constitutional review, but this is a blatantly bad move by the State. Controlling illegal activity, fine. Controlling people’s speech? Unconstitutional. This is in addition to the laws blatant unconstitutional infringement on the Commerce Clause of the federal Constitution. Just bad news all around.

Side note: my bumper sticker Atriotic commentary would be “The Republicans won’t let me do drugs and now the Democrats won’t let me gamble. This sucks.”

How ridiculous is it when a paper’s online arm listing sporting odds is doing something illegal (the newspaper exception can’t apply because it’s on the internet. Will no one think of the children yet?!?!) Also, I expect to be sued for linking to the paper printing the betting odds for the NBA Finals game 5.

But it’s totally OK for the State to run their own betting parlor website.

Fuckers.

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Unannounced, formerly illegal cop entries into your home… are now legal.

A sharply divided U.S. Supreme Court ruled on Thursday that evidence could be used even when the police entered a suspect’s home illegally by failing to knock on the door or announce their presence.

By a 5-4 vote, splitting along conservative-liberal lines, the high court ruled that a police violation of the so-called knock-and-announce rule does not require that the evidence seized during the search be thrown out.

…

“Today’s opinion is thus doubly troubling. It represents a significant departure from the court’s precedents. And it weakens, perhaps destroys, much of the practical value of the Constitution’s knock-and-announce protection,” Breyer wrote.

Tell me again, how five justices departing from precedent are not activist judges? How they are not legislating from the bench?
Oh yeah, those are just meaningless code words to use when you disagree with the outcome.

So long, Fourth Amendment! Thanks, scAlito! Thanks bigot voters! Thanks compliant media! Thanks eletion fraud and disenfranchisement!

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Zombie Cheney pushes graft to his company KBR.

Judicial Watch, the public interest group that investigates and prosecutes government corruption, announced today that the Department of the Army, per order of U.S. District Court Judge Ricardo M. Urbina, has released to Judicial Watch approximately 100 pages of documents which detail the multi-billion dollar, no-bid contract awarded in 2003 by the Army to Kellogg Brown and Root (KBR), a subsidiary of Halliburton Co. One document uncovered by Judicial Watch suggests the United States Army Corp of Engineers (USACE) may have publicly lied regarding the involvement of the Vice President’s office in awarding the contract.

In an email dated April 22, 2003, Carol Sanders of the USACE, writes, “Mr. Robert Andersen, Chief Counsel, USACE, participated in a 60 Minutes interview today in New York regarding the sole source award of the oil response contract to Kellogg, Brown and Root….Mr. Andersen…was able to make many of the points we had planned.” Sanders subsequently provided sound bites from the interview, including, “There was no contact whatsoever (with the VP office).”

This directly contradicts another email uncovered by Judicial Watch in 2004. The email, dated March 5, 2003, sent by an official of the Army Corps of Engineers whose name was redacted, stated, “We anticipate no issue [with the KBR deal] since the action has been coordinated w VP’s office.”

Read the emails. They’re just patently awful, and a sign of just how corrupt this government is. Using soldiers to cover for the asses of the powers behind the throne, who are lining their pockets with corrupt no-bid contracts given to incompetent contractors. This is the kind of government behavior you typically only see in despotisms or autocracies. Rarely does this pervasive, blatant corruption exist for any period of time in a democracy.

Hmm… I wonder what kind of government we have?

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via Apostropher

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No frogmarch for Rove

The prosecutor in the C.I.A. leak case on Monday advised Karl Rove, the senior White House adviser, that he would not be charged with any wrongdoing, effectively ending the nearly three-year criminal investigation that had at times focused intensely on Mr. Rove.

The key question the reporters have to ask the suddenly laconic Luskin is, “is there a sentence saying ‘provided Rove continues to cooperate’ in the letter?” As disappointed as I am that Rove isn’t going to spend a long time in an orange jumpsuit, I think it’s obvious that this is only true because he turned and said whatever he needed to say to keep his evilness out of jail.

Which means a frogmarch for Cheney is still a possibility.

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Bar group will review Bush’s legal challenges

The board of governors of the American Bar Association voted unanimously yesterday to investigate whether President Bush has exceeded his constitutional authority in reserving the right to ignore more than 750 laws that have been enacted since he took office.

Meeting in New Orleans, the board of governors for the world’s largest association of legal professionals approved the creation of an all-star legal panel with a number of members from both political parties.

They include a former federal appeals court chief judge, a former FBI director, and several prominent scholars — to evaluate Bush’s assertions that he has the power to ignore laws that conflict with his interpretation of the Constitution.

Bush has appended statements to new laws when he signs them, noting which provisions he believes interfere with his powers.

Among the laws Bush has challenged are the ban on torturing detainees, oversight provisions in the USA Patriot Act, and “whistle-blower” protections for federal employees.

The challenges also have included safeguards against political interference in taxpayer-funded research.

Bush has challenged more laws than all previous presidents combined.

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You really have to love the Konservative Kristian Koaltion slate of candidates here in Alabama. My favorite is former Roy Moore spokesman, and current Alabama Supreme Court Justice, Tom Parker. Two years ago, old Tom ran on a platform of being just like Roy Moore, and was elected to the Alabama Supreme Court. During that campaign Parker handed out Confederate flags, made appearances with Neo-Confederate group leaders, and attended a birthday party for Confederate General Nathan Bedford Forrest, the founder of the Ku Klux Klan.

Since his election to the Supreme Court, Tom has spent lots and lots of time preaching at churches all over the country and writing OpEd pieces critical of his fellow justices, but he has managed to find the time to write just ONE judicial opinion. Other new justices have written an average of 18 opinions over the same time period.

And what is Tom’s response to why he has such a low output of work? Well, hell, how can you expect him to be as productive as the other Judges. These other guys were all judges before they got to the supreme court but Tom Parker never sat on any bench at any level before getting to the Supreme Court. But, he is getting his experience on the job and feels that he is getting better every day.

The amusing thing about all of this is that Tom is currently running for CHIEF JUSTICE of the Alabama Supreme. That is just so cool. Before January 2005, the guy had never even been a local judge, has been a total loser for the one year and 5 months he has been on the Alabama Supreme Court, and now he wants to be the Chief Justice. He has promised to keep fighting the good fight, and if elected, return the 10 commandments monumnent to its rightful place in the Supreme Court Building.

In other news, the Alabama Primary is tomorrow and Judge Roy Moore is in the hole 26% to incumbent Gov. Bob Riley’s 68% in the polls. One can only hope that Parker will ride Roy’s coattails down to defeat in this one.

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Short answer: looks like it.

Like many Americans, I spent the evening of the 2004 election watching the returns on television and wondering how the exit polls, which predicted an overwhelming victory for John Kerry, had gotten it so wrong.

This echoes my thoughts almost precisely. The bookies, too, were betting on Kerry. The bookies!

I’m generally loathe to join in conspiracy theories, but I think it a likely truth that the last two national elections were stolen from we, the People. The scale of the corruption and antidemocratic evil is just so astounding that is almost incomprehinsible, and to quote Han Solo, “I can imagine a lot.” It may not be centrally directed (who needs to centrally direct when you’ve got willing, fanatical authoritarian participants in positions of power in every county? You read the bulletpoint memo and let them loose), but the corrupt effort is widespread, and on the state level pervasive, particularly as to intimidation and disenfranchisement via bureaucratic moves or lies (adding up to more than vote count fraud, though I have no studies to back me up as the subject is impossible to study).

However, as there’s no clenis involved and the fascists GOP holds all the reins of power, there will never be an investigation, nor will anyone be held accountable. Except the powerless and the small whose backs are going to be first against the wall, that is. The media hand-waves it all away without really looking at the issue. After all, what’s in it for them?

Kennedy’s article is the most important so far on our disenfranchisement, not necessarily due to the depth, but due to the publication it appears in - Rolling Stone. This is the widest reading yet and as close to mainstream as this will probably ever become. Hell, I may have covered this a couple times before (here and here), but Jane and Joe Schmoe have probably never even considered the issue.

Once the sheeple wake up and realize we’re living under the autocratic thumb of authoritarian cultists with no democratic legitimacy, well… I’m sure they’ll flip the channel right back to American Idol.

But a couple might not.

Update: Manjoo raises substantive issues with RFKjr’s article. RFKjr has been reliable in the past, but it is possible he overreached and possibly been dishonest. I’m looking forward to the reply.

Update 2: RFK responds. I find Manjoo’s overall points uncompelling and his rebuttal of the RFK response particularly weak. I think what we can all agree on is that something about the results from Ohio 2004 stinks like a frat house bathroom the night after a party. The particulars may not be precise, but we know something was up, as all the results went wildly in favor of the GOP beyond all reason or expectation, and the situation needs to be examined and fixed.

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No commentary from me, just a link the website of Anonymous Lawyer’s Law Firm. For those that don’t know, AL captures life in a big law firm perfectly. My favorite parts on the site are the attorney bios.

He also seems to have outed himself. Oh well.

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Apparently, it’s now a class C Felony (equivalent of child pornography or animal cruelty) to gamble online if you’re a Washington state resident. Here is the text of the actual amendment.

There’s a few points to recognize about this piece of … legislation.

First, I don’t see any way this bill is constitutional. It is a prima facie violation of the Interstate Commerce Clause (Art. I, sect. 8) of the Constitution. This gets thrown out at the first challenge…. only…

There won’t be any challenges because this was backed by the Indian tribes and the State itself. The gambling houses are all offshore or out of state.

Oh, and you might be interested to know that Sen. Margarita Prentice, the woman who introduced the bill, receives a huge amount of donations from (drumroll)… the Indian casinos.

At this point, what we’ve got is a new class C felony designed to stop the state’s financial bleeding at the behest of the Indian casinos and the State itself. That lottery thing is totally OK though, because it’s controlled, you see.

In sum, this is OK:

But playing poker online from my own home with my own money means I get to share a cell with this guy for five years:

Yeah, that makes sense. Glad to see the legislature is on top of the pressing issues.

In other news, the local rag carried the most idiotic piece of tabloid shit above the fold as today’s top news item. The title? Smokers find refuge in secret nicotine dens. I am not making this up.

These speakeasies and opium dens are the new hysteria du jour, though I don’t see how they pass the laugh test. This article is bullshit and it’s not news. No wonder paper circulation is dwindling. If I want to read exploitative bullshit, I’ll go for the World News Weekly and their bat baby, or wait for every fourth summer so it can be Time’s “Summer of the Shark” again, or turn on CNN for the annual summer “where the white wimmin at?” marathon, or listen to the latest bullshit terrrrrrist alert or Hitler reference from the imbeciles currently occupying the white house.

God, what an embarassment the state of my state is today.

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Another day, another batch of GOP felons.

Former Enron bosses Ken Lay and Jeffrey Skilling have both been found guilty on fraud, conspiracy and other charges.
…
In all, Skilling has been found guilty on 19 of the 28 counts he faced - with the “not guilty” verdicts coming on some of the charges of insider trading.

He could face as much as 185 years in jail.

Lay, however, has been found guilty of all six fraud and conspiracy charges that he faced. He could face as much as 45 years behind bars.

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Or, it’s not a lie when Duhbya and John “death squad” Negroponte say you don’t have to tell the truth.

Ordinarily, a company that conceals their transactions and activities from the public would violate securities law. But an presidential memorandum signed by the President on May 5 allows the Director of National Intelligence, John Negroponte, to authorize a company to conceal activities related to national security. (See 15 U.S.C. 78m(b)(3)(A))

Though it’s not considered one of the signs of fascism, an obsession with secrecy is certainly a hallmark of a despotic government.

If the Executive issues an ad hoc presidential memorandum that authorizes corporations to violate laws passed by the Legislative, how are we not in the middle of Constitutional crisis right now?

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