Dot, Meet Dot

Not to get too magical-mystical here, but when we're talking about the FISA Court and USA PATRIOT Act and the shenanigans at NSA and the FBI, etc - I think I have to go along with Mark Udall; mostly anyway - and Obama too btw.  There has to be a balance, which (imo) we've let get away from us in a pretty big way.

Balance is kinda the key to the whole self-governance thingie.  We have to continue to develop better ways to catch the bad guys after the fact - and better yet, prevent the bad guys from doin' the dirt in the first place - without making it more probable that some tin-plated martinet will abuse the power, and turn it to his own ends.  (Thank you, Capt Obvious)

Here's 5 minutes of Udall on NPR, talking about what he and Ron Wyden are proposing:



Almost at the very end, Udall makes a point that kinda blew up in my brain.  He said (paraphrasing), "...privacy is the ultimate form of freedom".

If I make a not-entirely-silly leap, I can say Privacy = Anonymity; and in a still not-so-silly way, Anonymity = Invisibility; and Invisibility is very much the be-all and end-all of the super powers.

On the one hand, if nobody can see you, then nobody can fuck with you.  This is mostly a very good thing for individuals.

But on the other hand, if you can't be seen, then you can't be held to account for anything you do.  This is always a very bad thing for societies.

So, balance.  Aye, there's the rub.

hat tip = Little Green Footballs

Sen Warren Of Massachusetts

Cain't hep muh-sef.  My mad crush on Elizabeth Warren continues apace.

By way of Charlie Pierce at Esquire:

"I have heard the argument that transparency would undermine the Trade Representative's policy to complete the trade agreement because public opposition would be significant," Warren explained. "In other words, if people knew what was going on, they would stop it. This argument is exactly backwards. If transparency would lead to widespread public opposition to a trade agreement, then that trade agreement should not be the policy of the United States."

advice and consent - a legal expression in the United States Constitution that allows the Senate to constrain the President's powers of appointment and treaty-making

The Enormity Of It All

e·nor·mous  adj. 1. Very great in size, extent, number, or degree. 2. Archaic Very wicked; heinous.

This guy on Chris Hayes last nite used that word a buncha times, and I'm wondering if his usage was just supposed to indicate 'big', or if he meant to include the 'heinous' implication as well.

Visit NBCNews.com for breaking news, world news, and news about the economy

Ed Note:
I realize I've been a little heavy on the MSNBC material lately, but y'know - when I test this stuff for fact-worthiness and reasonableness, and I filter out the partisanship, I notice that even while a lot of the 'lefties' are twisting sideways trying to defend Obama's administration, Rachel and Chris et al are reporting the shitty things that happen right beside the stuff that's OK and/or Pretty Decent and/or Wow-Ain't-That-Fuckin'-Awesome (there's really not a lot that falls into that last category - but still).

Anyway, I haven't gotten to many solid conclusions yet on what's been going on with National Security the last 20 years or so.  I can say there's something about anything called "The Department of Homeland Security" that feels creepy and sinister - it just goes against every impulse I think every American is practically born with - or at least should learn and understand as we grow up.

I don't know how much of The National Security Machinery needs to be dismantled and  discarded, but I think we have to understand that putting that kind of power in too few hands always gets us trouble, so we'd better figure it out.  Too Big To Fail is a major problem when it comes to business; when we're talking about Government, you're always in danger of creating something that becomes Too Big To Fuck With.

Today's GOP Wackitude

Visit NBCNews.com for breaking news, world news, and news about the economy

Quick recap:

Woke Up This Mornin'

James Gandolfini died today, and that really sucks because he was one of those guys who could play a lot of different types - but he had no fear (and never complained) about being stuck in the role of the bent-nose thug.  And if there's any good news here, it's just that I can post the theme from the opening credits of The Sopranos.

Today's Eternal Sadness

One of the favorite arguments put forward by The Clan of the Tiny Manhood, when railing against any kind of gun control laws, is that "you only keep law-abiding citizens from getting guns".

Here's a story of the wife of a law-abiding citizen; the mother of that law-abiding citizen's 2 sons; who was gunned down in her home by that self-same law-abiding citizen during a quarrel over who's turn it was to cook the evening meal.

COMSTOCK, MI -- It was an argument over cooking a meal that led to Monday's fatal shooting of Nancy Kovach, 40, by her husband, John, in the couple's Comstock Township home, said Kalamazoo County Undersheriff Paul Matyas.

"There was an argument at the residence that simply escalated. It was a dumb argument," Matyas said. "They were arguing over who was going to cook something. That simply escalated to the point where he shot her."

The Kovachs' 10-year-old and 8-year-old sons were inside the home at the time of the shooting, Matyas said. The boys were put in the custody of Child Protective Services.

Matyas said alcohol was likely a factor in the homicide, but investigators are following up to see how much of a factor it played.

John Kovach, 42, has been charged with open murder and was denied bond at his arraignment Tuesday afternoon.

Sheriff's deputies were called to the residence at 8:50 p.m. Monday to respond to a domestic dispute and found Nancy Kovach already dead. Matyas did not know who made the 911 call. The family lives at 6907 E. Main St. in Comstock Township.

And Jesus wept.  Y'know - Jesus cries a lot here in America.

Garbage - Updated

 

 

And There It Is - With Some Pix

Privatization is a bad idea.

A retired judge in Virginia, filling in for the regular guy, ruled against the argument that a private firm can charge a toll for the use of public facilities in order to fund improvements and maintenance.

Cales decided that a plan to have a private developer toll users for $2.1 billion in tunnel upgrades in crowded Hampton Roads is unconstitutional. Only the state has the power to tax and that’s what tolls really are, Cales ruled.

If his ruling holds, a number of critically important highways that involve privately operated facilities, such as parts of Interstate 495 in Northern Virginia, Route 895 near Richmond and a proposed $1.3 billion toll road from Petersburg to Suffolk, could be affected. State contracts for all of them could be voided.

If so, it would be a huge defeat for Gov. Robert F. McDonnell and earlier governors who have made good use of the Public-Private Transportation Act of 1995 to push ahead with highways that the tax-averse state otherwise was too short of money to build.

Actually, two things at work here.  First, when you get allergic to paying for the things you want, you're gonna end up with some pretty weird shit to deal with, like this thing swirling around here in Virginia, which is really about privatization.

We have to hold certain things "in common".  Things like Schools and Roads and Cops and Prisons (et al) need to be owned by everybody.  Turn those things over to private interests and suddenly corporate managers are the ones with the power to levy taxes.  When was the last time you were asked to vote on some corporation's policies - or its leadership?  And I'm not talkin' about the silly letters you get inviting you to some stockholders' meeting on a random Thursday someplace 8 states away from where you live.  If you really equate that with democracy, then I'll have to call you stoopid to your face, cuz seriously - you've got that one comin'.

Second - the "unaccountability of appointed judges" can be nettlesome.  This decision landed where I think it should be so I'm all like 'woohoo', but of course if it goes the other way, I'm jumping up and down screamin'.  That 3rd Branch is a tough one to figure out, and I don't have good answers for how to get us to a solid middle-ground position.  But I do think the one thing that makes it harder to find that position is money.  It's not so much the money in the politics of The Judiciary, but rather it's the money being spent in an increasingly successful bid to control the political process - the election of "business-friendly" candidates whose seats are bought and paid for, who then pass laws to make it harder for people to vote in the first place, and who then set themselves about tearing down everything that's been built for the last 230+ years by better people than they'll ever dream of being.  Keep the corporate flacks out of office, and at least some of the problems in The Judiciary start to disappear as if by magic.

I should say that I'm not generally opposed to every 'paradigm shift' just because I'm conservative and I wanna keep things nice and steady.  Some things need to change and sometimes, you have to rip shit down to make room for something better.

But when your current paradigm is democracy, and you have (mostly) one political party working mightily every day trying to shit-can that paradigm -  well yeah, I gotta problem widdat.

Virginia's Finest

A coupla years ago, the Repubs in the Virginia legislature tried to get a little too cute enacting laws (eg) requiring women to have an extra and totes unnecessary trans-vaginal ultrasound before being allowed to exercise their rights under the US Constitution, and ever since then I've felt a deep compulsion to refer to the "honorable" Gov McDonnell (R-VA) as 'Vaginal Bob'.  Well - as Rachel is kind enough to not-quite-explain-in-full, we might have to add a second orifice to Ol' Vaginal Bob's monicker.

Visit NBCNews.com for breaking news, world news, and news about the economy

It just never fails, kids.  You put authoritarian assholes in office, and they eventually start acting like authoritarian assholes.  Why does this continue to come as a surprise to people?

Now, you can make a fair case that most people who wanna run things are usually a bit on the authoritarian side of the spectrum (especially when they wanna run an organization that comes with a police force and a military and all the cool guns and tanks and bombs and shit), but that tendency to swing the big power dick is why we're supposed to have this little thing called "a system of checks and balances".

Guys like Vaginal Bob McDonnell and Ken (Kenny the Kooch) Cuccinelli have been playing this game all over the world for as long as we've been up walkin' around on our hind legs.  But we're the exception, remember?  We don't play that shit here.

Sarah And Emmy Lou

"Angel"

Spend all your time waiting
for that second chance
for a break that would make it okay
there's always some reason
to feel not good enough
and it's hard at the end of the day
I need some distraction
oh beautiful release
memories seep from my veins
let me be empty
and weightless and maybe
I'll find some peace tonight

in the arms of the angel
fly away from here
from this dark cold hotel room
and the endlessness that you fear
you are pulled from the wreckage
of your silent reverie
you're in the arms of the angel
may you find some comfort here

so tired of the straight line
and everywhere you turn
there's vultures and thieves at your back
and the storm keeps on twisting
you keep on building the lies
that you make up for all that you lack
it don't make no difference
escaping one last time
it's easier to believe in this sweet madness oh
this glorious sadness that brings me to my knees

in the arms of the angel
fly away from here
from this dark cold hotel room
and the endlessness that you fear
you are pulled from the wreckage
of your silent reverie
you're in the arms of the angel
may you find some comfort here
you're in the arms of the angel
may you find some comfort here

(not the version you just heard, but hey - I need the click fees)