December 07, 2010

Let's have a toast for the assholes...

Or at least the liars: 3.32pm: "This case is not about WikiLeaks," district judge Howard Riddle told the court, according to my colleague Sam Jones, who was there. No. Of course not. Sexual assault in Sweden is of the utmost...
Posted by binky at 07:59 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack

November 14, 2010

Let's have a toast for the douchebags...

So, the 'Coup has been quiet for some time now. Armand held down the fort and exhausted himself. Baltar's epic reviews are, well, epic and infrequent. And my situation... I can't speak for the others, but for me, the last...
Posted by binky at 08:18 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack

February 15, 2010

Manga Collector Gets 6 Months in Prison

What the Helen Lovejoys have done to the Bill of Rights is a disgrace. Ugh....
Posted by armand at 01:14 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack

January 24, 2010

Additional Questions

Following up on armand... ...if the Supreme Court just said, essentially, that corporations/unions have as much free speech as individuals (and thus they can spend money to buy political adds) then either: 1. Like individuals, they are limited to spending...
Posted by baltar at 08:46 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack

August 19, 2009

OK, I Weep Slightly Less For My Country

Barney Franks isn't everyone's cup of tea, but he does have a good command of the english language: That....was awesome....
Posted by baltar at 10:45 AM | Comments (3) | TrackBack

May 14, 2009

Two "Torture" Related Comments

There have been two recent torture related debates floating around that I have wanted to add my two-cents to. 1. Obama's U-turn on the photos of detainees. Look; I understand the "don't release" side of this argument. I see that...
Posted by baltar at 11:00 AM | Comments (4) | TrackBack

April 15, 2009

Teabaggery

There was a teabag protest in town today. I needed to walk by, both because I had to get home and let the dogs out, and because, well, I needed to see this. There were about 250 or so gathered...
Posted by baltar at 08:14 PM | Comments (5) | TrackBack

April 06, 2009

"Would you like a complimentary copy of the New Testament?"

Nicked and posted without comment from Petulant: "Do you need Jesus in your life??" No. "Do you want to burn in hell?" If there are cocktails....
Posted by binky at 10:51 PM | Comments (1) | TrackBack

September 30, 2008

Banned Books Week

It's here. Go. Read....
Posted by binky at 09:33 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack

September 02, 2008

Bloodying the nose of democracy: Link Dump on the RNC Protests

There are several stories within the general view of the ineptitude of the coordinated "security" forces outside the RNC. One is about the harassment and abuse of the press. Another the apparent inability of the authorities to discern the difference...
Posted by binky at 07:40 PM | Comments (6) | TrackBack

August 30, 2008

Asking for their warrant will get you arrested

Cheeky of people, thinking they have rights....
Posted by binky at 08:47 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack

February 08, 2008

A Dilemma

This will be somewhat obscure, 'cause I don't want this to be public (this will make sense; just read on).I've been invited to have dinner with a gentleman being inducted to this august University's Alumni Hall of Fame (or whatever...
Posted by baltar at 11:26 AM | Comments (4) | TrackBack

February 05, 2008

WV for Huckabee?

In more West Virginia news, the closed Republican Caucus (down in Charleston, 200 miles from here in Morgantown) decided to support Huckabee. The first round of voting gave Romney 41%, but convention rules say you have to win with 50%,...
Posted by baltar at 02:56 PM | Comments (1) | TrackBack

November 21, 2007

Can anyone?

Queerty asks: Who can say "gay"?...
Posted by binky at 06:38 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack

August 13, 2007

What of these claims that ATT censors political speech?

There has been quite a bit of attention paid to the recent censoring of Pearl Jam's performance. ATT claims that it was an error related to their policy of editing out profanity, but Pearl Jam and advocates of net neutrality...
Posted by binky at 09:35 AM | Comments (0) | TrackBack

August 07, 2007

A Good Question

Re: FISA etc, Atrios wants someone who can to ask: Have the phone and email conversations of any American journalists, US federal officeholders, or federal campaign workers ever been intercepted without a warrant?...
Posted by binky at 01:17 PM | Comments (6) | TrackBack

May 17, 2007

"That's the difference between a free media and propaganda."

One of the prime problems with US policy in the Mid East (if not the world) is that everyone believes that the US hates all of them, wants to bomb everybody, and generally couldn't give a dead rat what happens...
Posted by baltar at 11:52 AM | Comments (1) | TrackBack

April 08, 2007

Uh-oh... poli sci profs on the terror watch list!

And he's a retired Marine too: "On 1 March 07, I was scheduled to fly on American Airlines to Newark, NJ, to attend an academic conference at Princeton University, designed to focus on my latest scholarly book, Constitutional Democracy, published...
Posted by binky at 11:47 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack

April 04, 2007

Sometimes when you are paranoid...

...they really are out to get you (emphasis mine): A secret FBI intelligence unit helped detain a group of war protesters in a downtown Washington parking garage in April 2002 and interrogated some of them on videotape about their political...
Posted by binky at 08:57 AM | Comments (1) | TrackBack

March 23, 2007

For Moon

Reasons to love lawyers: Remember my previous post about an editorial in a student newspaper in Indiana that talked about how people should accept their gay friends when they came out of the closet? Believe it or not, the teacher...
Posted by binky at 12:14 AM | Comments (1) | TrackBack

February 10, 2007

Thought you knew your PT, didja?

The Union of Concerned Scientists has made an A to Z Guide of Political Interference in Science. In the form of a Periodic Table, natch. Via....
Posted by binky at 12:56 AM | Comments (0) | TrackBack

February 08, 2007

In case I ever have a moment of insanity and consider working for a political campaign

Fuck. No, really, fuck. Actually, fucking fuck fuckity fuck fuck. Fuck!...
Posted by binky at 05:10 PM | Comments (3) | TrackBack

January 31, 2007

Molly Ivins

She's gone. Far, far too soon: Best-selling author and columnist Molly Ivins, the sharp-witted liberal who skewered the political establishment and referred to President Bush as "Shrub," has died after a long battle with breast cancer, the managing editor of...
Posted by binky at 07:34 PM | Comments (2) | TrackBack

January 04, 2007

How The Grinch Stole (more) Civil Liberties

Found via Atrios, this from the NYDN: President Bush has quietly claimed sweeping new powers to open Americans' mail without a judge's warrant, the Daily News has learned. The President asserted his new authority when he signed a postal reform...
Posted by binky at 02:49 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack

December 01, 2006

Democracy Marches On

Via Iraq Updates, a Reuters story: Iraq's parliament will bar the media from future sessions and began yesterday by refusing access to reporters and then cutting off television coverage as a debate on mounting sectarian violence became heated. Spokesmen for...
Posted by baltar at 09:01 AM | Comments (0) | TrackBack

November 18, 2006

Our Attorney General: Criticism=Threat to Security

He was speaking at the Air Force Academy about the August ruling against domestic spying: Gonzales, in remarks prepared for delivery at the U.S. Air Force Academy in Colorado Springs, Colorado, said that some see the program as on the...
Posted by binky at 12:35 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack

October 29, 2006

Ah, The Internet as an Archive.

Just for amusement value, play this in the background while you are surfing the web (yes, it's a video; no, that's not important - the audio track is the important part). Remember, this was 1986. While this is "Crossfire" (CNN's...
Posted by baltar at 07:50 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack

September 28, 2006

Lefties worse than McVeigh?

No? So then why is the left fringe, but not right, mentioned specifically in the NIE? The recently declassified NIE report on terrorism contains an interesting paragraph:"Anti-U.S. and anti-globalization sentiment is on the rise and fueling other radical ideologies. This...
Posted by binky at 07:26 AM | Comments (7) | TrackBack

July 20, 2006

Spying on US Citizens Who Protest the War

First it was Quakers, now, college students: A federal Department of Homeland Security agent passed along information about student protests against military recruiters at UC Berkeley and UC Santa Cruz, landing the demonstrations on a database tracking foreign terrorism, according...
Posted by binky at 11:29 AM | Comments (0) | TrackBack

July 18, 2006

He is the decider after all

CNN (emphasis mine): President Bush personally blocked a Justice Department investigation of the anti-terror eavesdropping program that intercepts Americans' international calls and e-mails, administration officials said Tuesday. Bush refused to grant security clearances for department investigators who were looking into...
Posted by binky at 05:02 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack

July 10, 2006

Good news from Iraq!

Our knickers would be even more twisty if we had half a clue what was going on over there. Including blacklisting reporters who don't toe the government's line on what's happening in Iraq: But the military has started censoring many...
Posted by binky at 08:33 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack

July 04, 2006

Oh, that Bush administration and its pre-9/11 thinking!

Ready and waiting for any excuse?. Emphasis mine. The U.S. National Security Agency asked AT&T Inc. to help it set up a domestic call monitoring site seven months before the Sept. 11, 2001 attacks, lawyers claimed June 23 in court...
Posted by binky at 12:03 AM | Comments (13) | TrackBack

June 27, 2006

No. Just, No.

I wake this morning to discover, via the New York Times that the august US Senate (the deliberative, thoughtful half of our legislative branch) is within a single vote of amending the US constitution to ban the burning of the...
Posted by baltar at 09:53 AM | Comments (6) | TrackBack

May 11, 2006

Who's Left?

Via Echidne, we find a link to an AP wire blurb indicating that the Justice Deparment has given up investigating the legality of the NSA wiretapping program. Why did Justice give up? "We have been unable to make any meaningful...
Posted by baltar at 12:55 AM | Comments (2) | TrackBack

April 17, 2006

Oh the wonders of the internets

While googling some of our recent visitors, up popped a website called Concealed Position. One thing I have found while keeping track of "interesting" visits is that other people do too. Anyway, from this find, more finds. Guess what? Corporate...
Posted by binky at 11:43 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack

April 15, 2006

In case you haven't scratched your domestic spying itch lately...

...Majikthise reminds us that there is still skulking going on: If you thought CIFA was scary, wait until you here what's up next. MSNBC reports that the Pentagon is trying to merge merge CIFA and the DSS to create a...
Posted by binky at 07:12 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack

April 01, 2006

More Statist Insanity

I didn't title this post "More Republican Insanity" mostly out of respect for the few (very few) moderate Republicans who continue to believe in the Constitution, checks and balances, and responsible government. I figure there have to be a few...
Posted by baltar at 12:10 PM | Comments (5) | TrackBack

March 24, 2006

Right Wing Blog Etiquette

This blog is coming up on it's second anniversary. I can't speak for binky or armand, but I got into blogging as a way of expanding the circle of people to argue and debate with. I had read blogs for...
Posted by baltar at 03:15 PM | Comments (13) | TrackBack

March 20, 2006

A Mountaineer is Always Pink

Hey Kids! In case you were wondering what to wear to the F*%d P&%$#s protest coming up during Pride week, well, you're in luck! I made some special t-shirts just for you! How about a nice Brokeback Mountaineer t-shirt in...
Posted by binky at 10:46 PM | Comments (1) | TrackBack

March 19, 2006

Guilty? Innocent? Throw Them In Jail And Sort It Out Later.

It's a few days old, but the first page of this New York Times story on anti-globalization protests in New York City in 2002 is worth reading. Long story short, the police arrested a number of people (the article says...
Posted by baltar at 02:01 PM | Comments (2) | TrackBack

March 09, 2006

Maybe I'll Go Back To Sleep

I realize I've had my head down recently (dissertation), but I surfaced just long enough to see this NYT story. Last I checked, the Administration was spying on Americans without even a FISA warrant. This violates both FISA and some...
Posted by baltar at 12:13 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack

March 03, 2006

Prosecuting Anti-Abortion Extremists as Terrorists

At least, that's what I expect next given the outcome of this case. A federal jury using an anti-terrorism law for the first time convicted six animal rights activists on Thursday for a campaign to drive a company out of...
Posted by binky at 11:40 AM | Comments (12) | TrackBack

February 21, 2006

Secret Re-Secreting of, Uh, Secret Stuff that Should have Stayed Secret (Sorta)

NYT (emphasis mine): In a seven-year-old secret program at the National Archives, intelligence agencies have been removing from public access thousands of historical documents that were available for years, including some already published by the State Department and others photocopied...
Posted by binky at 12:03 AM | Comments (8) | TrackBack

February 20, 2006

Holy Fucking Moly

From Jesus' General a hair-raiser of DHS harassment (long, but worth it): "Bottom line: My rights are very dear to me. I served my country to defend them," he says. "And one of the things I was defending was free...
Posted by binky at 06:23 PM | Comments (6) | TrackBack

January 26, 2006

Imperial Designs

And we're not talking Faberge eggs. The administration does not need Congress to extend the USA Patriot Act in order to keep using the law's investigative powers against terror suspects. That's from a Boston Globe story about domestic spying, and...
Posted by binky at 08:16 PM | Comments (11) | TrackBack

January 19, 2006

Restrictions on Free Speech

The government detained nearly 80 activists and cut off mobile phone services Thursday to foil organizers of an anti-government rally....
Posted by binky at 09:18 AM | Comments (0) | TrackBack