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Saturday, June 3, 2006
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Steve Gilmor: "Here's where the government bait and switch package starts to tick ominously: First it's about child porn. Everybody's against that. Then it's about terrorism. Ditto. But then, while we've got that data, let's go in and help our friends down at the MPAA and RIAA with their business model problem and police Intellectual Property 'theft.' What about peer-to-peer communications filled with inappropriate political concepts? When we've got you by the bitstream, folks, we decide what's OK, not you.
"Slippery slope indeed."
Thank to Dave Winer for the link.
"2008 pres"
6:33:25 PM 
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Daily Kos: "In two courtrooms in two different states this week, there was one common outcome: a small victory for citizens challenging the government's domestic spying activities. As you know, the legislative and executive branch have endeavored to insulate the program from judicial scrutiny...
"On May 30th, a federal judge ordered that John Ashcroft and Robert Mueller must reveal whether they were aware of any secret government monitoring of communications between the plaintiffs and their lawyers...
also, "U.S. District Judge Anna Diggs Taylor apparently doesn't like the government's games. Instead of ruling immediately on the state secrets privilege (and possibly killing the case), she has ordered a hearing on the plaintiff's motion first. (You can read the order here in PDF form). Only after she hears both sides argue the legality of the program will she proceed to the state secrets privilege. Translation? For the first time, a court will hold a hearing on the legality of the program."
"2008 pres"
5:30:51 PM
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Here's the text of President Bush's radio address on the marriage amendment today. He's setting the stage for another speech on Monday - just as the U.S. Senate is hoping to prove themselves to the faithful.
"2008 pres"
5:26:55 PM
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TalkLeft: "Dateline Aspen: Today is the final day of the NORML Aspen legal seminar. Troy Hooper of the Aspen Daily News takes a look at the first day's events including my presentation on Terrorism and the War on Drugs: The Shrinking of the Constitution."
"2008 pres"
5:22:59 PM
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Bill Richardson Blog: "The Albuquerque Tribune reports that Gov. Richardson has close to $6M in hand for his general election race. That's good news...Given that Richardson is heavily favored in this race [New Mexico governor] anyway, I'm betting the vast majority of that money will stay in the warchest for the future...it seems this warchest puts Richardson ahead of likely '08 contenders like Mark Warner ($3.4M) and Chris Dodd ($2M), but behind Hillary (a staggering $20M) and Kerry ($19M). Interesting information, to be sure."
"2008 pres"
5:07:15 PM
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Curious Stranger: "I haven't up until now weighed in on the Net Neutrality fight going on between content providers - who are fighting for a guaranteed free ride with the help of their unwitting water-boys at MyDD and DailyKOS, and the big common carrier's, AT&T, Verizon, etc - who want to be able to manage their networks in a way that pays the bills and provides the most reliable service to their customers. The short version of the truth of this issue: Net Neutrality is a concept, not a rule of law, for the vast majority of consumer ISP's, and without careful consideration of what exactly it is we're trying to protect, introducing regulation to preserve something which doesn't exist will without a doubt lead to unintended consequences for the Internet and consumer costs. Way too far along in the conversation, Wired has finally come to their senses and published a reasonable take on the issue."
"2008 pres"
8:56:16 AM
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Here's an opinion piece about immigration written by Mike McGarry, the acting director of the Colorado Alliance for Immigration Reform, from today's Rocky Mountain News. From the article, "Fact: America is the most generous legal-immigrant-receiving country on Earth, admitting more immigrants each year than are admitted by all the countries of the world combined. Suppose the 12 million to 20 million illegals in the U.S., including Colorado's 250,000, were to dream up the ultimate boycott, a year-long vanishing act to show how 'essential' they are to the nation's and state's economies. So they all board a giant teleporter and beam up, from where they watch with satisfaction the wailing and gnashing of teeth of all those too unconnected to their surroundings to mow their own lawns, too irresponsible and presumptuous to raise the children they produce, too dull and uninspired to cook for themselves, and too gentrified to clean up after themselves."
The other side of the debate is here. From the Rocky, "Front and center in the current immigration debate is the question of whether the immigrants of today somehow are different from the immigrants of our past. Even hard-line opponents of immigration acknowledge that ours is a country built by immigrants."
"2008 pres"
6:58:58 AM
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© Copyright 2009 John Orr.
Last update: 3/15/09; 11:36:28 AM.
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