FYI

Overview of Changes to Legal Rights
By The Associated Press
September 5, 2002, 11:44 AM EDT
Some of the fundamental changes to Americans’ legal rights by the Bush administration and the USA Patriot Act following the terror attacks:

FREEDOM OF ASSOCIATION: Government may monitor religious and political
institutions without suspecting criminal activity to assist terror investigation.
FREEDOM OF INFORMATION: Government has closed once-public immigration hearings, has secretly detained hundreds of people without charges, and has encouraged bureaucrats to resist public records requests.
FREEDOM OF SPEECH: Government may prosecute librarians or keepers of any other records if they tell anyone that the government subpoenaed information
related to a terror investigation.
RIGHT TO LEGAL REPRESENTATION: Government may monitor federal prison
jailhouse conversations between attorneys and clients, and deny lawyers to
Americans accused of crimes.
FREEDOM FROM UNREASONABLE SEARCHES: Government may search and seize Americans’ papers and effects without probable cause to assist terror
investigation.
RIGHT TO A SPEEDY AND PUBLIC TRIAL: Government may jail Americans
indefinitely without a trial.
RIGHT TO LIBERTY: Americans may be jailed without being charged or being
able to confront witnesses against them.

—
Source:Newsday

Do you want to take the window, or the stairs?

We all know that I feel very strongly about the need for a 3rd party, and I will end up voting 3rd party this year in my state’s governor race.
But the sad truth is, we in California are going to end up with Bill Simon or Gray Davis in our governor’s mansion.
Can we stop this ride? It’s making me sick and I want to get off.
Now, I can go off on a major rant here, but I won’t.
Instead, I just want to share this hilarious link that I saw on memepool this morning: eGray. It made me howl, because there’s a joke here in California that goes like this:

How do you get Gray Davis to change his position on an issue?
Tell him the check bounced.

Haw haw haw.
It looks like this site is run by supporters of Class-A moron Bill Simon, who is running on his “business record,” but won’t let anyone have a meaningful look at his books…which is understandable, I guess…I mean, poor Bill Simon is very busy right now dealing with the 78 million dollar judgement against his company…for fraud. No wonder Bush called him “a prudent businessman.” He said it with a smirk…but he seems to always have that smirk, so maybe I’m reading too much into it.
D’oh! I said I wouldn’t rant and then I went ahead and did it. Dammit.
Boy, Bill Simon or Gray Davis…talk about the evil of two lessers. Talk about bottom feeders. Talk about a hobson’s choice.
Did you know there’s a saying, “As California goes, so goes the nation?”
Oh, will someone please stop this ride? It’s making me sick and I want to get off.

Ocean Water

Thanks to everyone who emailed about today’s User Friendly…that’s pretty cool. A pretty spiffy way to start out September.
Jesus. September.
I can’t believe it’s already September.
September 3rd.
Kids start school in 2 days, and it feels like they just got out last week.
In 8 days, we get to experience the first anniversary.
Is that messing with anyone else? It’s really messing with me. When we remove the politicalization and the jingoism and the fear, and think about the real people whose lives are forever changed (which I guess is all of us, but clearly some more than others)…it just seems like, maybe since it’s been a year, there should be answers and resolutions…but each day seems to bring more questions and more uncertainty and grief.