17 Dec 2005
Bush: Eavesdropping Helps Save U.S. Lives

Well, banning automobiles would save American lives, too. But of course, we won't do that - because the price is way too high.

Ditto for sic'ing the NSA on American citizens and their communications. In fact, the price for this bit of evil is higher than the cost we'd incur for banning cars, because the price we'll pay if we let this continue will be our liberty, for which many have fought and many have died.

Our Constitution says that "the right of the people to be secure in their persons, houses, papers, and effects, against unreasonable searches and seizures, shall not be violated...". It doesn't say "sometimes", it doesn't say "if it saves lives". It says "shall not be violated". That's pretty cut and dried. Obviously, Mr. Bush isn't as much of a textual literalist as his choice in judges would lead us to believe. He may be opposed to legislating from the bench, but he's all for legislating from the Oval Office.

Frankly, this is a far more egregious offense than was Mr. Clinton's blowjob - this actually qualifies as "high Crimes and Misdemeanors". If Congress had any cojones at all, there'd be a Bill of Impeachment before the House on Monday morning.

AP - Facing angry criticism and challenges to his authority in Congress, President Bush on Saturday unapologetically defended his administration's right to conduct secret post-Sept. 11 spying in the U.S. as "critical to saving American lives."

(link) [Yahoo! News: Top Stories]

00:00 /Politics | 1 comment | permanent link

Group Theory in the Bedroom

Talk about a title to pique your interest! Coming from American Scientist magazine, I wasn't exactly expecting a mathematical analysis of the ménage-à-trois, but I didn't expect to find an exposé on matresses, either! Note the subtitle: An insomniac's guide to the curious mathematics of mattress flipping! Read it and laugh, as well as learn a bit of group theory!

Having run out of sheep the other night, I found myself counting the ways to flip a mattress. Earlier that day I had flipped the very mattress on which I was not sleeping, and the chore had left a residue of puzzled discontent. If you're going to bother at all with such a fussbudget bit of housekeeping, it seems like you ought to do it right, rotating the mattress to a different position each time, so as to pound down the lumps and fill in the sags on all the various surfaces. The trouble is, in the long interval between flips I always forget which way I flipped it last time. Lying awake that night, I was turning the problem over in my head, searching for a golden rule of mattress flipping.

(link) [American Scientist Online]

00:00 /Humor | 0 comments | permanent link

Song site operators could face jail time

The music biz seems absolutely intent on killing that golden egg laying goose - now it seems they want to cook her as well.

I've been known to post lyrics here every once in a while: guess I'll just have to wait for my own personal "cease and desist" or DMCA takedown notice to arrive.

The latest offense in the music industry's copyright war has been launched by the Music Publishers' Association, which represents U.S. sheet music companies. According to a BBC story, beginning next year the MPA plans to take legal action against Web sites that offer unlicensed song score and lyrics.

(link) [CNET News.com]

Update: Lyrics Dustup Ends in Apology (12/17/05)

As the music industry revs up for an assault on websites offering unlicensed lyrics and musical notes for popular music, one programmer behind a lyrics search tool for iTunes is breathing a sigh of relief. By Xeni Jardin.

(link) [Wired News]

00:00 /Copywrongs | 1 comment | permanent link