All the rights secured to the citizens under the Constitution are worth nothing, and a mere bubble, except guaranteed to them by an independent and virtuous Judiciary.

11:03:30 PM    

Are we a police state, yet? [Street Tech]

Don't you love it when the government can make law-abiding people criminals, then haul them off from their families to be put in cells who knows where? Well, as long as it is only non-citizens, right? Wrong, since all the government has to do is declare someone an enemy combantant and they can do anything they want, violate any constitutional protection. The courts have said so. At least if the US 'captures' the citizen on foreign soil. They still have not ruled yet on whether they could do the same thing on American soil. I can't find the quote I want but how about this one from HL Mencken

The trouble with fighting for human freedom is that one spends most of one's time defending scoundrels. For it is against scoundrels that oppressive laws are first .

10:59:19 PM    

This is Your Freedom on Drugs [Street Tech]

There will be more of these stories. Why do citizens of this country have to notify the government of the details of their movements? What is next? Are we going to have to have travel papers to move across state borders?  10:43:25 PM    

Nice satire of 2004 Presidential Candidates

10:25:01 PM    

Debate Erupts Over Testing Pesticides on Humans. Pesticide makers sparred with health and environmental advocates over whether the Environmental Protection Agency should accept figures from studies in which researchers have had people drink pesticides. By Denise Grady. [New York Times: Science]

Where is the ethical debate here? We provide infomred consent for human clinical trials of therapeutics because of the belief that the benefits to human health outweigh any harmful effects. Giving a pesticide to someone does not give the human any benefit. Not providing sufficient informed consent opens the company up to pretty big lawsuits. Even if you could justify this, how do you measure toxicity? What are they looking for? How large were the trials? What if humans are MORE sensitive than animals? If pesticides are meant to work on plants and insects, than you would want ones that do not affect mammals of any sort. Develop better pesticides. No human trials.  10:17:07 PM    

Microsoft watches look lame. [Hack the Planet]

Bill Gates does not want to go up against the Swiss. $150 for a watch that keeps time. Wow! And it acts as an address book. Maybe I'm a old fart but a watch should tell time. Period.  10:02:02 PM