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Two unrelated things
Via Instapundit, some thoughts on profiling and lawsuits
As I recall, though, the detainees were charged with various crimes — such as immigration law violations, etc. — not simply with “being Muslim.” And, in fact, these guys were apparently guilty: “Elmaghraby and Iqbal were deported to their home countries after serving time for charges unrelated to terrorism — Elmaghraby for a counterfeiting charge and Iqbal for fraud.”
Prosecutors enjoy nearly unlimited discretion on whom to prosecute, and if federal prosecutors chose to prosecute people they feared might have terror connections for unrelated crimes I don’t see how that can make out a constitutional violation. Perhaps, though, I misunderstand the claim, as the story isn’t very clear.
And my favorite Irish band from Wisconsin, the Kissers have an interesting tour blog.
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Before anyone asks
Before anyone asks, I’m very fine with DeLay being indicted. Particularly after his “no more fat to cut” statement.
Further on that thread, see the Franklin Delano Bush by David Boaz of Cato and this column by Mark Steyn, money quote:
Big-time Republicans tell me Bush’s profligacy is doing a great job of neutralizing the Dem advantage in the spending-is-caring stakes. This may have been true initially — in the same sense as undercover cops neutralize a massive heroin-smuggling operation by infiltrating it. But, if they’re still running the heroin operation five years later, it looks less like neutralization and more like a change of management.
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Well put
From Dr Sowell
It is a shame that ancient history is seldom taught in our schools. Finding out that people thousands of years ago were basically pretty much the way they are today — people of every race, color, creed, national origin, political ideology and sexual orientation — would reduce our chances of having Utopian hopes for big changes any time soon.
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A useful vicious
This month’s winner for biting commentary comes, not surprisingly, from Jeff Clark who dubbed The Aristocrats “an endurance contest for chronic masturbators”.
I haven’t actually seen the movie., but I haven’t heard much good about it.
And speaking of endurance contests, September is conspiracy to stop me from getting more than 5 hours of sleep a night. I finally have a light day and I get a new client with a crash and burn project that keep me up till 5:30, writing a blog post while files upload.
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Deep thought
If you had to think of a name for a band or rugby team, you could do a lot worse than the Green Apple Splatters.
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Rambling thoughts on hearing peace speeches
I apoligize for the rambling nature of this post, but my brain is a bit foggy right now.
Two notable things.
- If Cynthia McKinney is going to have a hyperbolic denunciation of the past 5 years, she should really get the details right. Cheney is from Wyoming, not Montana.
- “people signaling passing helicopters with gunfire” is the most ludicrous statement ever made.
There some other weird things such as Ramsey Clark’s statement that “We’ll only be safe when the defense budget is cut by 90%”, the weird attempt to link Haiti and the Palestinians to anything and everything, the endless self-congratulation and so much more.
I suppose the underlying (and unconscious) theme behind all of the speeches was the need for authenticity, which really wasn’t there.
I was reminded of the “Fingerbang” (they form a boy band) episode of South Park when the mall manager pans their audition. One of them says “But we tried out best!” The mall manager: “Really? That was your best? Wow.”
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Well put by Kaus
The ever-readable Mickey Kaus has some good insight
Escape from TimesSelect: The NYT’s Tom Friedman, in an exceptionally blowhardish appearance on Meet the Press, laments the effect of massive U.S. borrowing from China:
I think we have–we are now in a position where China has– they’re heading for $1 trillion, OK, of our–in reserves that they’re going to be holding, basically. And the leverage that is going to give China over the United States in the coming years, God knows where– how that’s going to play out.
Hmm. If you lend a trillion dollars to someone, does that give you leverage over them or them leverage over you? I’d always thought it was the latter, especially when the debtor is a sovereign nation. (Keynes: “Owe your banker 1000 [pounds] and you are at his mercy; owe him 1 million [pounds] and the position is reversed.”)
It’s worth noting that the Chinese (and whoever) are gambling on the US Government keeping it’s word and paying back all of their debts, which seems a bit iffy.
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Vegan fist
Naturally I was drawn to Vegans file lawsuit over surveillance at ham store.
That day, two vegans — vegetarians who eat only plants and plant products — were wrapping up an animal cruelty protest with a handful of other vegans when they noticed a man in a CVS pharmacy parking lot taking pictures of them.
Later, they would learn that the man was an undercover homeland security detective, according to a federal lawsuit the American Civil Liberties Union of Georgia filed Thursday on the vegans’ behalf.
Short version: they have some protest, some guy takes pictures of them, they get the photographers tag number, photographer has them pulled over and then takes paper containing tag number.
Grievances: They claim their right to privacy was violated, he claims he needed the car to be used in further undercover work (which is to say he regarded his earlier actions as private).
There are too many annoyances to list individually so I’ll just stick with this one.
The primary complaint of both parties was that the other violated their right to privacy in some way. While the abortionistas have been trying to define privacy as inherently vaginal this goes even further in lunacy.
Both parties were obviously and self-consciously in public when all of this happened, namely in the Honeybaked Ham parking lot.
One can’t be in private and in public at the same time.
However isn’t it nice these three found each other?
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The Hendrix Show
I just returned from the Hendrix show. I had a good time, there was a good turnout and all in all it was a success. It was surprisingly well documented both in audio, video and photo.
Gallery Here (or just click on the Photo.) The photos didn’t turn out to be that notable, but not bad all things being equal.
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Random sample of reaction to the “Weekend of Protest”
Or whatever it’s called.
Daily Kos Guidelines
The Crazies as seen by the shrill (in this case Malkin)