Morning (well... afternoon) thoughts and reads

A pretty goddamn neat instrument. Multi-user, interactive... next thing you know we'll be having holophonors.

An unusual and clever way to attack TurnItIn.com... "Copyright violation! You're stealing OUR papers! I never consented to adding my papers into a giant for-profit company's database!" Pretty sneaky. Volokh guesses that Turnitin "would and should win," but I'm not too sure.

The real reason the Bush Administration's attorney firings are important. I read this Salon feature yesterday, and now it's on DailyKos front page, so I figured it's worth the read.

{snip}

"Put simply, the Department of Justice lives on credibility. When a federal prosecutor sends FBI agents to your brother's house with an arrest warrant, demonstrating an intention to take away years of his liberty, separate him from his family, and take away his property, you and the public at large must have absolute confidence that the sole reason for those actions is that there was substantial evidence to suggest that your brother intentionally committed a federal crime. Everyone must have confidence that the prosecutor exercised his or her vast discretion in a neutral and nonpartisan pursuit of the facts and the law.

Being credible is like being pregnant -- you either are, or you aren't. If someone says they "kind of" believe what you say, they are really calling you a liar. Once you have given the public a reason to believe some of your decisions are improperly motivated, then they are going to question every decision you have made, or will make in the future. That is a natural and predictable phenomenon."

Just goes to show you that the Bush Administration's moral and ethical corruption isn't necessarily illegal. Most of the time, they play just in-bounds. But each lapse, from torture to extraordinary renditions to lobbying cronyism to fudging the Iraq evidence, and now, to attorney firings, destroys the credibility and good faith in which people hold the government. The loss of that good faith, that credibility has become the more glaring negative legacy from the Bush presidency (as opposed to our loss of civil rights... which is linked, but different).

Cheerleading: serious business. More than half of life-threatening womens' sports injuries come from cheerleading?? Hey, I've got an idea... how about some serious safety measures? Hockey players have pads; football players have pads. Get some helmets on these girls. Otherwise, get them the hell away from these dangerous-ass stunts.

Ugh, Charles Krauthammer. How can you be so smart... yet so dumb? First off, the "War on Terrorism" in strategic terms is goofy to begin with, as terrorism is a tactic, but that's a battle for another day. The real weakness here is that Krauthammer seems unfazed about fighting a war for no justification other than "cuz we want to." He refers to the Democrats' desire for casus belli and morality as "nostalgia" (not unlike Gonzales referring to the Geneva Convention as "quaint"). Also, of COURSE al-Qaeda wants to keep the fighting in Iraq. It keeps American soldiers from actually, you know, capturing its leaders. "Yeah sure, stay in Iraq. That's where the REAL terrorists are. ::chortle chortle:: Allah be praised, I can't stop laughing at these morons!"

Homeland Security! KEEPING US SAFE!
("Checkpoint security screeners at Denver International Airport last month failed to find liquid explosives packed in carry-on luggage and also improvised explosive devices, or IED's, worn by undercover agents")

Health care! KEEPING US HEALTHY!
($12,000 for 15 minutes in a hospital)

Michelle Malkin! KEEPING BROWN PEOPLE SCARED!
("Can you sit down and type, "I will not submit to your will," to a hypothetical Arab teenager and not feel a little ... silly?")

Good thing my readership is small... otherwise, someone might threaten to kill me. And all this, right after Stop Cyberbullying Day. Violence is not the answer, friends!

Oh, come on. Sorority countersues about bad press. Hey, want to improve your image, DZ? Quit being such total bitches.

And, because baseball is here in less than a day and a half...



daaaaaaaaaaamn. are you ready?