Category: Crime

The Real Importance of Telecom Immunity to the Cheney Administration »

Well, the House seems to be sticking to their guns, and not passing a FISA bill that will grant immunity to the telecom industry for illegal spying. This is critically important, because it’s the last best hope to have the illegal surveillance activities of the current Cheney Administration see the light of day. During a press conference on February 28, George Bush finally went rogue on Dick, and accidentally told the truth about the reason for telecom immunity.

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FBI Continues Revealing Surveillance Abuses »

The AP reports that an audit by the inspector general last year found the FBI demanded personal records without official authorization or otherwise collected more data than allowed in dozens of cases between 2003 and 2005. Additionally, last year’s audit found that the FBI had underreported to Congress how many national security letters were requested by more than 4,600.

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The Elliot Spitzer Affair »

Good grief, could any more be made of this? New York Governor Elliot Spitzer had apparently been paying for a little something on the side, so now the Republicans demand that he resign. Senator David Vitter (R. Louisiana) was implicated in a prostitution case, but never resigned…why the double standard? Saying he’s involved in a prostitution ring is like me saying I’m involved in the fast food franchise business just because I ate at McDonald’s one day last week.

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Idiots of the Week for March 7 2008 »

We’ve got a brief recap of some of the idiotic news from the week ending, March 7, 2008. A man swimming with gators for a second time, and a guy having his friend shoot him so he can get some time off work.

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Idiot of the Week Awards for February 29 2008 »

It’s a tie, one is a politician and the other a criminal…might be hard to tell the difference I admit.

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Ellen DeGeneres Remembers Murdered Gay Teen »

All these religious right wingnuts think they absolve themselves of any responsibility for the violence purpetrated against gay people when they say, “Oh we don’t hate gays, we just hate the sin.” Bullshit. This is what you have wrought, and you will stand in judgement for it. These wingnuts love to invoke the Old Testament wrath of God when it comes to homosexuality. I’d remind them the prophets of the Old Testament were usually warning of God’s wrath in the context of how corrupt the religious leaders’ of that time had become. Micah summed it well: “He hath showed thee, O man, what is good; and what doth the LORD require of thee, but to do justly, and to love mercy, and to walk humbly with thy God?”

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News Round-up - February 1, 2008 »

This is a round-up of minor and fun news items for the week ending Friday, February 1, 2008. We have a guy at the airport with 99 fake IDs, and speaking of the airport, CNN shows how a TSA inspector got a bomb past security there. We’ve got a story in a brain vaccum (I think the prototype might have been tested on George Bush), and the price of chocolate is going up.

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News Wrap Up- January 25, 2008 »

This is the weekly news wrap-up for January 25, 2008. This includes a drunk driver side-swiping a patrol car, contraband smuggling at a federal prison, illegal Sangria in Virginia, and a gay porn links on a middle school website.

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And Another Republican Sex Scandal »

As Michael at Bloggernista says, it’s been like 20 minutes since the last Repug scandal, so time for a new one. This one is especially delicious since it involves the Texas District Attorney who argued before the U.S. Supreme Court to allow Texass to keep their sodomy law which criminalized homosexuality.

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News Brief for the Week of January 11, 2008 »

It’s shaping up as an interesting week for odd ball news. So far we have a 71 year old carrying a night stick at the airport to keep away “fresh” hands, our Florida Legislature hard at work protecting us from bestiality and baggy pants, and a real life Weekend At Bernies….and that’s just for starters.

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FBI Gets Wiretaps Cut for Non-Payment »

It seems the big telecom companies (you remember, the ones wanting immunity for assisting Dick Cheney and King George in their illegal wiretapping scheme because of the dire consequences to national security), have been having to cut off the phone lines providing wiretap information to the feds because the FBI can’t pay their bills on time.

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Airport Security Follies »

The New York Times has a great Op-Ed about the foolishness of the TSA security screenings at airports. It points out, as most thinking people have to come realize that this is mostly feel-good theater that does no actual good at preventing another terrorist attack.

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