(Link)

Pissed off about the FISA Amendments Act? The ACLU is looking for folks to add their names to a print ad they plan to run in the July 17 New York Times. I've added mine. You can add your here.

This is the most encouraging thing I've heard a Democrat say in ages.

But it is a great mistake to divide all human activity into two categories: those that are criminally prohibited, and those that are encouraged. In a free society, there must be a very considerable zone of activity between those two poles in which people are allowed to make their own choices as long as they are not impinging on the rights, freedom, or property of others.

He almost sounds like a libertarian.

Link

The Bush administration said yesterday that it plans to start using the nation's most advanced spy technology for domestic purposes soon, rebuffing challenges by House Democrats over the idea's legal authority.

How Orwellian do we have to get before this bothers people?

Link

Great, The ACLU has moved the surveillance society clock forward by one minute to 23:55 in response to the NSA's Total Information Awareness program.

I wouldn't have noticed the tick if it wasn't for this great rant: Preparing you for the authoritarian state

Unfortunately, the authoritarian state is already here. How else can you explain 1 in 100 American adults being in prison. That's 1.6 million people - 'which is more than all other countries for which there are reliable figures' (New York Times 3/10/08).

Besides my one well chronicled brush with the court system I've managed to keep out of trouble; so, I've learned most of what I know about US courtrooms by watching TV. One phase of a trial you often see portrayed is the jury instruction where the judge tells the jury they must obey the letter of the law and cannot use their own moral or ethical judgment as a basis for deciding the case. Well it turns out the judge is fibbing, and he or she knows it.

When a jury ignores this instruction and declares a defendant 'not guilty' even though the law clearly indicates they are, this is called Jury Nullification. Jury Nullification has a long and fascinating history. Back when the US was just starting out judges would even tell jurors of this power. According to this article our first chief justice John Jay told jurors: "You have a right to take upon yourselves to judge [both the facts and law]."

It's nice to know you have this is your back pocket if needed.

I've been reading the words of Christopher Hitchens over the last year without ever noticing who they were written by. He's a prolific freelance writer who gets published all over the place. In reviewing the list of articles he's written from his website (linked above) I see I've read many of them. I became aware of him today because his essay A Life Of Living Dangerously resonated with me. The piece details Hitchens' frustrations with the all the rules and regulations we face in daily living. It's a good read.

Choose another path,
for this way is closed.

The path you've chosen is unsound,
and expensive to maintain.
It's not a safe path.

You could fall through the cracks
It happens all the time.

You would be swept away by the current
taken to a place you didn't intend.

We can't let you make that kind of choice.
So, this way is closed.