Secrets...
- So, it turns out that a FISA court overturned part of the Bush surveillance plan as illegal, which is why the Bushies are scrambling to expand surveillance. Wait, but why didn't we find out about it until now? Oh, that's right, like all things dealing with this hilarious Administration, it's a SECRET. You know, like this guy's job description. At least, it's only a secret until the Senate Minority Leader reveals it all on Fox News. Then it's not a leaked secret, just a sincere cry to fix our intelligence gaps. Right. In any case, the Post spends a lot of time talking up the potential Boehner leak, but to be honest, what's most disturbing here is the attempt to circumvent FISA through even broader legislation. Overreaching, Big Brother surveillance, and sneaky media manipulation? Check, check and check. Just another day in the life for this farce of a White House.
- Not that Congress is much better. Here are the sober lawmakers having a raucous spat over whether the Democrats counted the votes wrong. Or something. I mean it could be worse... but not much. At least the public approves! I hate to say it, but I liked Congress better when it was Republican. Then at least my hate for it could be uncomplicated. With this Congress, I have to accept that my own party may be lamer than I ever imagined. Sheesh.
- The other failed invasion/occupation. Ethiopia in Somalia and the destabilization that it has brought. (Free registration required)
- Gates testifies bluntly about Iraq's deteriorating political situation. As others have noted, no matter how good the military news is, it's impossible to separate the military aims from the political ones. And the rest of the situation remains terrible.
- Commander Obama toughens his stance, while everyone and their momma chews him out. I don't necessarily see hypocrisy in wanting to talk to North Korea, Venezuela, and Iran, while wanting to attack camps inside Pakistan. If you can't control what's going on within your own borders, and those people have directly threatened the United States, why not invade? Obama's "wrong war, wrong place, wrong time" shtick on Iraq only makes sense if there is a right war at the right place at the right time. Yet, in the context of the failed Iraq war and the ailing efforts in Afghanistan, we would do better to exercise caution than fling ourselves into a country teetering on the edge of serious civil unrest. I find this to be another troubling example of an Obama campaign more fixed on shrewd political maneuvers than on speaking uncomfortable truths about American policy and bringing about sweeping change. I'm still backing the Barackmobile, but I'm skeptical as ever. Regardless, everybody should seriously consider the remarks by Obama in his sweeping foreign policy speech (Read it in full here). The question of how we construct a substantive foreign policy out of the Iraq debacles must be brought to the forefront. No one but Obama and Paul (in his ultimate isolationism) has proposed anything of the sort.
- It turns out that taming the Yangtze doesn't mean taming flooding. Ten percent of China's population (120 million people) were affected by this year's floods, anyways.
- Is this creepy to anyone else? I mean, I understand that we want to market things younger and younger. Also, I know that everyone knocked TV and radio and comic books for kids because it was lurid and whatnot. But isn't social networking for kids a little (a lot) dangerous? Despite assurances that strangers can't get on these sites, come on, it's not that hard to be anonymous online. I dunno, call me old-fashioned, but I think there are enough dangers in the world without adding virtual ones, and the parental units are always so behind the times that online dangers may be the most difficult to detect.
- Uh, how is this not bigger news? Reporter has affair with Mayor of Los Angeles... who she is reporting on while the affair takes place. I'm pretty sure the Los Angeles case even worse than this. Maybe I just haven't been watching the news enough to see more of it.
- A totally ridiculous Ask Metafilter question. Worth reading the whole thread.
- Note to IU football players: If you throw a water balloon at the driver of a car at a stop light, make sure it's not an IU Police Officer.
- I'm fairly certain that this is sorcery. (I know, I know, I always blame wizards, but it's the only reasonable explanation)
- See, this is the part where the NAACP says, "No, we don't want the PR nightmare of publicly defending a coddled athlete who probably hosted vicious dogfights in his home. We learned from the Duke rape case that jumping to the defense of the black person in the situation just because he or she is black, is probably a bad idea." Wait, they're defending him because they're bowing to community pressure rather than doing what's right and staying out of it? Oh, well scratch that last part then. I swear, Chappelle wasn't entirely wrong.
- Are there too many heroes? A worthwhile point; we worship people for just doing what they're supposed to do.
- God Bless America. A story of the most glorious shit in the history of the world.
- Weird hidden photoshopping in al Qaeda images and tapes.
- After Internet 2.0, are we just going to have Bubble 2.0? It certainly seems reasonable. After all, the hype about social networks and user-generated content are outpacing any actual business these people do. Isn't it? Doesn't this sound familiar?
- Hey, maybe we just execute people because we really like executing people. No amount of forensic technology improvements can hide the fact that prosecutors, police, and citizens all want to see suspects arrested, tried, sentenced to death and killed.
- Speaking of murder, here's a disturbing piece in the New Yorker about how a U.S. Attorney wanted to solve the murder of one of his subordinates and ended up axed by the Bush Administration, while the killer of Tom Wales is still at large. It's long and covers the rather unseemly trail of murder, but the worst part is its open-ended ending.
- J-Pod reviews the Simpsons Movie for the Weekly Standard. A strange, if not entirely wrong-minded review. Probably the best negative review of the movie I've yet seen.
- Another long piece, available without subscription temporarily from the Atlantic archives, about why Americans hate the press. Come to think of it, Fallows has some pretty good reasons: The media is out of touch with America, largely accepts the powers-that-be spoonfeeding them, and is so eager to talk about itself with meta-reporting that real issues get avoided. "Bias" isn't why people distrust the media. Laziness is.
- An unbelievable story about how a teacher quit his job after a failed student was passed by administration to boost graduation rates. Just goes to show that the goals of public schools in America have very little to do with education, and a lot to do with being holding pens and getting public dough.
- Say it ain't so! Roy Pearson, the judge of the famous dry cleaning pants case, is going to lose his job. Poor Roy; those malicious Asiatic dry cleaners ruined his pants, his reputation, and his job!
- You may notice there's nothing here about the Minneapolis bridge collapse. Frankly, there's enough out there that you can find it on your own, but here's a video anyways.
- AT&T may be run by Satan, but this Blue Room Lollapalooza live webcast should be pretty neat.. Bookmark it for the weekend here.
- Ha, these guys are blogging about breaking absurd laws that are still on the books. Pretty funny stuff.
- The Real Or Fake Breast Test. Uh, NSFW, kids. I got 14/20. That shit is tricksy!
- A pretty neat trick: solar panels + Stirling engine = 500 megawatts of power with no pollution.
- Oh, also, the Cubs are in a rather unbelievable first place, but I don't think it's gonna last too long with a three-game set against the Mets. Hope Big Z is lights out today. Otherwise, it's gonna be a long series. Let's see some power. Where da HR's at?
- iPwnd. Apple must change its design for its iPhone battery or get class-action lawsuited.
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