Sunday, June 12, 2005

Cold Turkey   It's been about a week since I've watched TV.  Well, actually, that isn't quite true.  I went over to a friend's house to watch game 1 of the NBA finals.  But that was it.  Just a taste, and then I was right out the door.  I can take it or leave it.  Except...game 2 is on right now.  I'm doing all right.  I can take it or leave it.  It's not like I'm helpless before my addiction or anything.  These aren't…these aren't withdrawal pains I'm feeling, are they?  Maybe if I take a peek, just to see who's winning... Anyway, I'm taking it one day at a time. 8:29:29 PM    comment []

Republicans Walk-Out a Signal the Patriot Act is Dead   Last Friday, Republicans walked out on a hearing on the Patriot Act.  Now, walking out on a hearing has an old and honorable tradition…it is generally done to dramatize the fact that your side has not been given an opportunity to voice its views.  But the Republicans run the House, so to walk out on a hearing you run is...well, it makes you look both silly and incompetent.  The chairman, Rep. James Sensenbrenner, left abruptly and took his gavel with him; the rest of the Republicans quickly followed.  Exactly why Sensenbrenner felt the need to take the gavel was not clear.  Maybe he needed the gavel at home.  Perhaps he is moonlighting, working another gavel-related job.  Or perhaps he just has some sort of gavel fetish.  Friday was the first day devoted to giving opponents of the Patriot Act a chance to speak; supporters have had weeks of hearings to make their case for the continued abridging of Americans' civil rights.  After just two hours, Chairman Sensenbrenner decided that the opponents had already received more time than they deserved to make the case for a restoration of civil liberties.  This smacks of desperation.  Support for the Orwellianly-named Patriot Act is no longer a vote winner, if in fact it ever was.  And Republicans of a libertarian bent cannot vote for the renewal of the Patriot Act without betraying all they hold dear.  Meanwhile, the Democratic party has few elected officials who will again vote, as too many of them once did in the wake of 9/11, in favor of moving this country down the road towards a police state. And as bleak as the prospects for the Patriot Act look in the House, they are far worse in the Senate.  I doubt there are more than two dozen votes currently committed to renew the Patriot Act in anything like its current form.  Something with the same name might be passed, but if so, it will bear little resemblance to the current act.  And thank God for that. 9:21:40 AM    comment []

Quote for the Day, 6/12/2005   "He jests at scars that never felt a wound."   -William Shakespeare, Romeo and Juliet, II, ii   Okay, it's not obscure, but it's still a great quote. 2:56:26 AM    comment []