Brian's Blog

Well, I had written up a nice gripe about what I thought of our government and the president in particular regarding the recently passed Military Commissions Act of 2006 and then managed to loose the entire thing to a computer glitch. I'm not going to re-write that entire thing. Instead, here is a link explaining why the Military Commissions Act of2006 is bad.

Here are some links to a few YouTube videos related to the subject. There are to many to embed so there are two serious ones here and here along with two humorous ones here and here.

I know I'm not the only one displeased with the current state of affairs so I'm going to make sure I get out and vote in the General Election on November 7Th. I'm not proud to say this would be the very first non-presidential election I've ever voted in but I guess better late than never. At least I'll try and make a difference. The sad thing is no matter who you vote for you usually ultimately end up getting screwed. That being the case, at least I'll be able to say I made a choice in how I got screwed. Who knows, maybe things will change and get better?

Here's hopin'.

I don't really have anything to say about this. I just thought this was funny as hell, wanted to put it somewhere I wouldn't loose the link, and share it. Besides, I've been overdue for a post here anyway and this is as good of an excuse as any.

According to BBC article Bin Laden is reported as to possibly be dead. Interesting.

What's Bush going to do with his time now that his "arch nemesis" may no long be a problem?

Notice I said "may". Meaning none of this is confirmed but what kind of impact would it have on Bush's policies if it were true? Probably none but it's still something to think about.

Update: Today BBC has an article saying there is no evidence that Bin Ladin is dead. I knew it was speculation and it's still an open question at this point but still something to wonder about. Personally I don't think his death would change a thing as the "War" on Terror would continue even with out him. I mean, it's not like we'd be pulling out of the middle-east the day after his death is confirmed.

Oh, if it were only true!

Well, as usual I'm here commenting on news that is about a week old. I can never seem to get around to posting something until well after the fact. Anyway, I was poking about reading my normal news sites when I noticed two interesting things. One of them is an article by John Mueller entitled A False Sense of Insecurity in which it is discussed about how the current state of fighting terrorism is way over the top to the point of being hysteria compared to the actual statistical risk. It's basically suggests that we step back, take a look at the actual real world risk of another attack, and respond accordingly.

Of more significant interest to me though is the ruling by a federal judge that the warrantless spy program is unconstitutional. The judge had some might strong words to show how she felt too.

There are no hereditary kings in America and no powers not created by the Constitution. - District Judge Anna Diggs Taylor

Of course the Bush administration is appealing the ruling. Even so, I'm glad to see that at least some level heads seems to exist and are pushing back against Big Brother Bush. I just hope it isn't to little to late.

A couple of quotes courtesy of The Quotations Page.

"There is danger from all men. The only maxim of a free government ought to be to trust no man living with power to endanger the public liberty." - John Adams

"In certain kinds of writing, particularly in art criticism and literary criticism, it is normal to come across long passages which are almost completely lacking in meaning." - George Orwell

Haha, I heard recently that if you Google for "miserable failure" that the top link points to something about George W Bush. I gave it a try thinking it would just be a few hits for people complaining and referring to him as a miserable failure. Well, not so. It actually brings up his biography on Whitehouse.gov along with two of the three image results showing pictures of our infamous President. Not only do you get G Dubyah hits but you also get Jimmy Carter and Michael Moore!

I know I'm behind the eight-ball here as it seem this is been known since 2003, but still, I find it funny as hell!

Every once in a while I see a nice little gem like this article on Alternet. Apparently Al Gore does indeed have more guts than I originally took him for. To bad he didn't seem to have them during the election in which is was defeated by the Supreme Court. These are some pretty strong words and I have to say I agree 100% on every point he makes. Bush has taken it way to far with the powers he has assumed since 9-11, and we have just left him take it without much of an argument. Hopefully more of those in power will wake up and see what is really happening and stop this before we become exactly what we fled from to found the United States in the first place. This is probably the most patriotic thing I've read from any politician in my life. Lets just hope he's not the only one who sees Bush for what he really is.

An mp3 of the speech can be found at Indybay.org.