Darkstar

Support Net Neutrality

We have to support the essence of the Internet...

Jamie Raskin tells Congress to stick it!

Jamie and I worked together on the VotePair campaign a couple of years ago and I have always admired his intellect and whit, but this quote from him absolutely has me in awe of him now.. On Wednesday, March 1st, 2006, in Annapolis at a hearing on the proposed Constitutional Amendment to prohibit gay marriage, Jamie Raskin, professor of law at AU, was requested to testify. At the end of his testimony, Republican Senator Nancy Jacobs said: "Mr. Raskin, my Bible says marriage is only between a man and a woman. What do you have to say about that?" Raskin replied: "Senator, when you took your oath of office, you placed your hand on the Bible and swore to uphold the Constitution. You did not place your hand on the Constitution and swear to uphold the Bible." The room erupted into applause.

Gonzales speech

Future American lawyers to be proud of.

... and Alberto Gonzales.

Alberto Gonzales spoke before law students at Georgetown today, justifying illegal, unauthorized surveilance of US citizens, but during the course of his speech the students in class did something pretty ballsy and brave. They got up from their seats and turned their backs to him.

To make matters worse for Gonzales, additional students came into the room, wearing black cowls and carrying a simple banner, written on a sheet.

Fortunately for him, it was a brief speech... followed by a panel discussion that basically ripped his argument in half.

And, as one of the people on the panel said,

"When you're a law student, they tell you that if you can't argue the law, argue the facts. They also tell you if you can't argue the facts, argue the law. If you can't argue either, apparently, the solution is to go on a public relations offensive and make it a political issue... to say over and over again "it's lawful", and to think that the American people will somehow come to believe this if we say it often enough.

In light of this, I'm proud of the very civil civil disobedience that was shown here today."
- David Cole, Georgetown University Law Professor

It was a good day for dissent.

USC Tsunami Research Center

The  USC Tsunami Research Center is an interesting site to check out some first hand accounts/pictures of before and after the Tsunami.  The footage of Banda Aceh makes you shiver a bit when you realize what people faced that day.

World News Mapped

buzztracker does exactly that.. tracks and maps world news daily. Very cool.

Bush Protesters Arrested

WVGazette Story

A husband and wife who wore anti-Bush T-shirts to the president’s Fourth of July appearance aren’t going down without a fight: They will be represented by lawyers from the American Civil Liberties Union as they contest the trespassing charges against them Thursday morning in Charleston Municipal Court.

Police took Nicole and Jeff Rank away in handcuffs from the event, which was billed as a presidential appearance, not a campaign rally. They were wearing T-shirts that read, “Love America, Hate Bush.”

10 Stories the world needs to know more about

10 Stories the world needs to know more about
The United Nations has prepared a list of Ten Stories the World Should Hear More About. It's an amazing list and it puts the so called war on terror and the war in Iraq (not the same thing, right?) into perspective.

Dysfunctional Government

A Near Miss for Key Rights

Turley—a law professor at George Washington University—reminds us that the framers created Congress as a check on presidential power. In the politically charged climate after 9/11, however, he faults the Senate and the House for being "absent without constitutional leave" in the war on terror. That left the court to limit the president's power. Yet, says Turley, it may have proved to be the most dysfunctional of all the branches in its reasoning and results

ABA: End Mandatory Minimum Prison Terms

A report released by the ABA (American Bar Association) suggest that mandatory sentences should be abolished along with a host of other recommendations. One of the most alarming statistic from the report is that:

Based on current trends, a black male born in 2001 has a one in three chance of being imprisoned during his lifetime, compared with a one in six chance for a Latino male and one in 17 for a white male, the report noted.

Supreme Court Justice Anthony M. Kennedy said Wednesday that society should re-examine how it spends money and makes choices about who goes to prison, how long they stay and what happens when they get out.

He accepted the first copy of a report from the American Bar Association, which found that many get-tough approaches to crime don't work and some, such as mandatory minimum sentences for small-time drug offenders, are unfair and should be abolished.

Eight in 10 Support Climate Change Legislation

U.S. Newswire - Eight in 10 Support McCain-Lieberman Climate Change Legislation; Majority Willing to Accept Increased Costs of $15 a month

Contact: Steven Kull of the Program on International Policy Attitudes, 202-232-7500 WASHINGTON, June 25 /U.S. Newswire/ -- Eighty-one percent of Americans polled said that they support the targets of the legislation, commonly known as the McCain-Lieberman legislation or the Climate Stewardship Act, which calls for large companies to reduce their emissions to year 2000 levels by 2010 and to 1990 levels by 2020. When told it has been estimated that this would increase costs to the average American household by about $15 a month, 67 percent still said they would support it. If a candidate would support the legislation, 52 percent said this would increase their likelihood of voting for him or her, while just 14 percent said that it would decrease the likelihood (no effect: 32 percent). These are some of the findings of a new PIPA-Knowledge Networks poll of 753 Americans nationwide conducted June 8-14 (margin of error plus or minus 3.6 percent). Other highlights include:

FBI warns of possible deadly floating material

Post F911 it seems that the government is still floating fear as a method to keep the public confused... this article is typical of the nebulas "warnings" sent out on possible terrorist attacks

CNN.com - FBI warns of possible deadly floating material - Jun 28, 2004

WASHINGTON (CNN) -- The FBI issued a warning last week for state and local authorities to be on the lookout for booby-trapped floating material in and around the nation's marinas, warning they could contain explosives.

A homeland security official told CNN on Sunday there is "no intelligence terrorists are planning to or want to do this."

The official said the warning was sent in a weekly bulletin to 18,000 state and local agencies, a lightly classified alert that outlines possible tactics terrorists could use.

Hey Crackhead

Hey Crackhead is a great commentary on life in the big city. I am glad to have finally left it all behind. This story for some reason made me cackle. . .

Air America Radio

Air America Radio finally hits the airwaves (and internet). Finally a source to counter the far far right wing propoganda on the air. Check it out! The O'Franken Factor is now on!

Grist | Muckraker | It's the fuel | 31 Mar 2004

Grist | Muckraker | It's the fuel | 31 Mar 2004 has an article assessing how fuel costs and CAFE standards are a growing campaign issue as Kerry and Bush both strive to dance the thin line between votes and industry support.

Corporate America can't ignore global warming, Gore says

Corporate America can't ignore global warming, Gore says

Detroit automakers and other American companies must stop ignoring the mounting scientific evidence of global warming or else the United States will become an economic laggard and the environment will deteriorate beyond repair, former Vice President Al Gore told students at one of the nation's top business schools.

Phish Phans Smell

An amusing article in the onion about Phish phans and their stench.

What VHS1 awards?

Free called me this morning saying that folks in SF were all talking about watching the VHS1 music awards. Close, it was the MTV music awards last night. I was lucky enough to get these links below sent to me as the highlighs.
Madonna's Kisses

Bush Sucks

That's a fact, but what is this world coming to when people will give money to an anonymous woman for breast implants. Some days I just put my hands up and scream!