Zennie

Actually, Paine was quite vocal (and controversial) in his opposition to slavery. Not sure about his position on women's rights though. - Z "Always be yourself... unless you suck." - Joss Whedon

No, Bush isn't Hitler... he doesn't have that silly Charlie Chaplain moustache... Though I do have to admit that the phrase "concentration camp" is coming more and more into the forefront of my mind when I think of Abu Ghraib & Guantanamo Bay. - Z "Always be yourself... unless you suck." - Joss Whedon

Ben Franklin was a dirty old man. I'll have to get it, thanks! I'm also looking for a good Teddy Roosevelt bio. I'm a huge Paine fan. If we want to tackle religion next, we should all discuss The Age of Reason. - Z "Always be yourself... unless you suck." - Joss Whedon

The United States' Declaration of Independence. Thomas Paine's "Common Sense" - Z "Always be yourself... unless you suck." - Joss Whedon

Or even worse... "I'm not sure I want to get serious, but I'd like to try it at least once. Could you take me to an antenna and help me make a jump? And do I really need BASE gear? Can't I just modify my skydiving stuff?" I've gotten this a few times now. - Z "Always be yourself... unless you suck." - Joss Whedon

Interesting, but it makes sense. Only turn the thing on when something gets close. - Z "Always be yourself... unless you suck." - Joss Whedon

Yep. They're surveillance cameras... but you probably already knew that. I like hookit's suggestion to take a look at them with night shot on... so you can see if it has night viewing capability... but my guess is that they probably don't. Most surveillance cameras are NOT actively monitored. They're generally on a tape loop which is only reviewed if someone notices damage or something else suspicious. It would be kind of neat if someone could figure out a way to temporarily fog up the domes so that they can't film you. Actually, a water spray would probably work too. - Z "Always be yourself... unless you suck." - Joss Whedon

But all that needs to be demonstrated is that the requested information is part of an "invesigation". If the statement is made in the request, the judge has no discretion in whether to approve or not approve. So no probable cause, no suspicion... we're just "investigating". - Z "Always be yourself... unless you suck." - Joss Whedon

Wow. I never would have dreamed that anyone would actually take him up on that offer. - Z "Always be yourself... unless you suck." - Joss Whedon

About 70% of my jumps are slider-up.... most of those being terminal but some in the 5-7 second range. It took a long time for me to dial in my packjob to where I felt good about my slider-up heading performance. Most of those were terminal jumps so I had plenty of clearance in the event of a 180. The other night, though, douggie and I were packed slider up, but our elevator "E" was out of commission, so we went to our trusty-dusty 420-foot crane. We both took a 1 second delay with a 46. Mine was perfectly on-heading, Doug's was a perfect 180. So it's sort of a wash. I will say this... short-delay slider-up openings are nice & quiet. I'd feel OK taking a subterminal delay slider up... though I'll still go slider-down for anything 3 seconds and below. - Z "Always be yourself... unless you suck." - Joss Whedon

When I read this last night I sort of smiled at the cleverness of it. I'm with Wendy, I'm sure it was done this way strictly for security reasons. - Z "Always be yourself... unless you suck." - Joss Whedon

Kev posted a nice rundown of the problematic provisions and the Constitutional problems presented, so I won't rehash that. Although it's been stated at least twice now that the Act was overwhelmingly approved... again, the legistation was on a a fast track immediately on the heels of 9/11 and practically no one read it before voting. However, Senator Feingold did submit his concerns over the legislation, and I think he does a pretty good job of explaining where the concerns lie. - Z "Always be yourself... unless you suck." - Joss Whedon

My bad, I accidentally posted before I had even written anything. You are correct. After reading the legislation and decision more closely, that is the case. My bad. Hey we're getting closer. That's why debates are healthy. The problem with holding people until we're "ready" to charge them, for starters, is that it violates the Sixth Amendment to a speedy and public trial. On a more practical note, given that the administration is now saying it may take generations to win the war on terrorism, this guy could be held without any charges for the rest of his life. At some point the government needs to fish or cut bait. - Z "Always be yourself... unless you suck." - Joss Whedon

No and I'm not advocating releasing them and never have. I just have a hangup with the notion of being locked up indefinitely in military brig, charged with nothing, given no access to an attorney and being told I have no right to challenge the detention in a court of law merely because a politician decides I'm an "enemy combatant".... whatever that means. We can lock them up. That's fine. They can challenge their detention, the Government can explain why national security requires they be detained, and the courts can decide if the reason is valid. We have two discussions going here. One is over the Patriot Act specifically and the other is the Bush Administration's general disdain for fundamental human rights. The Padilla and Hamdi cases address my more general concern and have nothing to do with the Patriot Act. If it's specific provisions of the Patriot Act that you're looking for, I'll dig them up and post them for you. - Z "Always be yourself... unless you suck." - Joss Whedon

Trent, GM, the Bush administration's attempts to erode civil liberties is real. I haven't been arm-waving over hypotheticals, the Hamdi & Padilla cases are real-world examples. Fortunately, the U.S. Supreme Court shares my concerns... "We have long since made clear that a state of war is not a blank check for the President when it comes to the rights of the Nation's citizens." - Sandra Day O'Connor (Reagan appointee) The text of the opinion is here. I'll read it more closely, but they seem to have done a pretty good job of balancing security concerns with fundamental individual rights. - Z "Always be yourself... unless you suck." - Joss Whedon

7 farts and 2 fartresses? - Z "Always be yourself... unless you suck." - Joss Whedon

It isn't. Looks like a pretty lame attempt to prop up their numbers. Good to see we agree on something. - Z "Always be yourself... unless you suck." - Joss Whedon

If you read the tail end of the Fahrenheit 9/11 thread, the answer to your question is yes. There appear to be a few folks around here who seem to be perfectly fine with that. Thank God the Supreme Court disagrees. - Z "Always be yourself... unless you suck." - Joss Whedon

Condolences. - Z "Always be yourself... unless you suck." - Joss Whedon

Ending our unquestioning support of Israel, and putting them on a short leash, wouldn't hurt either. - Z "Always be yourself... unless you suck." - Joss Whedon

Just briefly perusing through it, fascinating reading... thank you for the link. Speaking for myself... let me clarify that I do NOT oppose battling terrorists or terrorism. My beef is with how we have chosen to do this. Most terrorists of concern to us seem to be in Afghanistan and Paskistan... yet we're in Iraq... why? In a lot of ways we're seeing a new evolution in warfare. In the ancient days you had columns fighting columns. That evolved into trench warfare, which evolved into more fluid (land) warfare (not to mention the evolution into air superiority) in WW2, and guerrila warfare in Korea & Vietnam. Now we're seeing an unidentifiable enemy... one who is not associated with any one nation... or has any offical heirarchy. The many-headed hydra, as it were. Yes that means we must evolve our tactics to counter the threat. I take no issue with that. I just personally believe that some measures have gone too far and are misdirected. As usual, we;re on the same side, we just differ in the means by which we deal with the problem. Personally, I think we should focus our energies in Afghanistan & Paskitan... where the real threat lies. - Z "Always be yourself... unless you suck." - Joss Whedon

Hehehehe... that's good. Yes, I do have a sense of humor. - Z "Always be yourself... unless you suck." - Joss Whedon

I agree with you on that. But the fact is, there are many, many on the far right who accuse those who oppose GWB or the incursion into Iraq as being "un-American". And this I find very disturbing. - Z "Always be yourself... unless you suck." - Joss Whedon

Yes, you are correct. The classical example of limiting free speech is the "yelling fire in a crowded theater" exception. Basically, where speech becomes a clear and present danger to the general public, it may be limited. This makes perfect sense. And my guess is that that is where we were heading on this. But remember, this country was founded upon the principle that people have a fundamental right to express their opposition to the way they are being governed. The current mindset, which seems to be that opposition to GWB == anti-Americanism is in my mind itself un-American, yet many people seem to accept it without question. That's my main point. - Z "Always be yourself... unless you suck." - Joss Whedon

Will do. Sorry I missed the bash this weekend, I was off doing my BASE thingy. - Z "Always be yourself... unless you suck." - Joss Whedon