Running Out of Patience
:
Editor: a person employed by a newspaper, whose business it is to separate the wheat from the chaff, and to see that the chaff is printed. -- Elbert Hubbard
manwomancontrols.jpg (62K) is an entertaining image showing the difference between men and women as electronic control panels. [brad]
A letter to the London Observer from Terry Jones brings Bushnev's Iraq policy home. Good satire.
I'm really excited by George Bush's latest reason for bombing Iraq: he's running out of patience. And so am I! For some time now I've been really pissed off with Mr. Johnson, who lives a couple of doors down the street. Well, him and Mr. Patel, who run the health food, shop. They both give me queer looks, and I'm sure Mr Johnson is planning something nasty for me, but so far I haven't been able to discover what.
...
And let's face it; Mr Bush's carefully thought-out policy towards Iraq is the only way to bring about international peace and security. The one certain way to stop Muslim fundamentalist suicide bombers targeting the US or the UK is to bomb a few Muslim countries that have never threatened us.
That's why I want to blow up Mr Johnson's garage and kill his wife and children. Strike first! That'll teach him a lesson...
Wayne Barrett at The Village Voice - Why Mike Banned the March - it's hard to be thought of as a "sweetheart" when your police department pens up protesters like animals. [trt-ny]
Indeed, the most disturbing action the city took was to withdraw a tentative proposal made by its chief NYPD negotiator, Mike Esposito, to permit a march up Third Avenue from 14th Street that ended at the same Dag Hammarskjold Plaza. New York Civil Liberties Union attorney Chris Dunn told the circuit court--uncontested by the city--that when the demonstrators asked for an alternative route, Esposito came up with the plan himself, saying he had to go back to get final approval for it from higher-ups. Several days later, without explanation, the city took Esposito's plan off the table and rigidly insisted that no march would be allowed. Cunningham said City Hall knew nothing about the Esposito proposal.
Sara Kehaulani Goo and Carrie Johnson at The Washington Post -
Police Searching Cars at Random Outside Airports - another bite
taken out of what little is left of the fourth
amendment. [smith2004]
First, air travelers had to submit to an electronic wand waved over the body. Then they were asked to remove their shoes. After that, their checked luggage was opened and searched. Now, with the nation under a Code Orange alert, local police are pulling over drivers as they approach airport terminals for random searches of their vehicles.
The searches at all three major Washington area airports and across the nation have met resistance in some cities as airport managers assess their legality. The measures, ordered by the federal agency in charge of airport security, have been criticized by civil liberties groups and prompted legal scholars to question whether random searches imposed by the federal government violated states' rights.
Vin Suprynowicz at the Las-Vegas Review Journal - Don't worry, the government is in charge - those space shuttle pieces that fell on people's property? They now belong to those people by normal common law. But the feds are demanding their return. Also some commentary on the one important tool missing from the government's list of items to have on hand in case of a homeland security emergency. [smith2004]
