A shirt with a picture of Thomas Jefferson and the words “enemy combatant,” a shirt that says “I am not a terrorist” in Arabic, and a shirt that just says “enemy combatant” (same link as the Arabic shirt). I like the first two better than the third. Historical Comments Einzige (2006-12-09): I got me one!
Focus on the Family’s James Dobson blames society and the Internet for Foley’s problems. Bill Clinton, by contrast, was personally responsible for his failings. Why isn’t Mark Foley personally responsible for his own failings? (BTW, I recommend reading the book James Dobson’s War on America.)
It looks like ex-Congressman Foley has been a Scientology-friendly U.S. Representative, attending Scientology events at Scientology’s Fort Harrison Hotel in Clearwater and having Clearwater Scientologists raise funds for him. Wonkette asks whether there are any non-Scientology-run rehabilitation centers in Clearwater, Florida, which appears to be where Foley is getting treatment. Clearwater is the home of Narconon, Scientology’s pseudo-scientific drug treatment program. This doesn’t necessarily mean that Foley is a Scientologist or has taken any Scientology courses, but it does demonstrate that he’s shown poor judgment in multiple areas of his life. I’ve previously reported on a number of Arizona state legislators who have likewise shown poor judgment in accepting gifts from and sponsoring legislation from Scientology’s Citizens Commission on Human Rights. ...
Cliff Schecter of AMERICAblog clearly has the better of the argument here with Cleta Mitchell of Foley & Lardner, but he’s gotta admit William Jefferson’s corrupt. Cleta Mitchell’s comments are completely out of touch with reality, though–doesn’t she remember how Clinton got bashed?
The pages involved were all 16 years of age or older, and thus above the age of consent in Washington, D.C. and most states. If Foley had actually had sex with them, it would not have been a crime. But under the “Adam Walsh Child Protection and Safety Act of 2006” which Foley helped write, discussing sexual acts or soliciting sex from anyone under the age of 18 is a criminal offense. These laws should be made consistent one way or the other. It doesn’t make Foley’s actions any more appropriate given his position of trust and power in the House (or provide any excuse for the House leadership’s lack of response), but if 16 is a sensible age of consent, then the Adam Walsh Child Protection and Safety Act of 2006 should use the same age as its limit.
Via Patri Friedman at Catallarchy: “As best as they can tell Badr Zamen Badr and his brother were imprisoned in Guantanamo for three years for telling a joke. Actually, for telling two jokes. They ran a satire magazine in Pakistan that poked fun at corrupt clerics, sort of the Pashtu edition of the Onion. The first joke that got them in trouble was when they published a poem about a politician…He called them up, he threatened them, and as best as they can tell, he told authorities they were involved with al-Quaeda.”In other words, political leaders in other countries have used the United States to get rid of their critics, by using false claims of involvement with terrorism. When you accept hearsay evidence, don’t conduct an investigation, and don’t allow a trial, the process unsurprisingly gets abused, and people get imprisoned for years not because they’ve done anything wrong, but because they’ve criticized the people in power. And now, with the Military Commissions Act, we’ve set ourselves up for similar abuses inside the United States by removing protections that have existed since Magna Carta.
As the Republican leadership is scrambling to look responsible about this issue that they have ignored since last August or September, they keep contradicting each other and the evidence about what they knew and did. Speaker of the House Dennis Hastert in particular looks like he has serious trouble with the truth, according to Talking Points Memo: Just consider, Denny Hastert has repeatedly said he didn’t know anything about the Foley problem until Thursday. But two members of the leadership – Boehner and Reynolds – say no, they warned him about it months ago. Hastert got Boehner to recant; Reynolds is sticking to his guns. ...
Ryan Bird wrote “Kip Hawley is an idiot” on his clear plastic bag of toiletries that he was carrying through a TSA security checkpoint at Milwaukee’s General Mitchell International Airport. Kip Hawley is the head of the Transportation Security Administration. Bird writes: At the MKE “E” checkpoint I placed my laptop in one bin, and my shoes, cell phone and quart bag in a second bin. The TSA guy who was pushing bags and bins into the X-ray machine took a good hard look, and then as the bag when though the X-ray I think he told the X-ray operator to call for a bag check/explosive swab on my roller bag to slow me down. He went strait to the TSA Supervisor on duty and boy did he come marching over to the checkpoint with fire in his eyes! He grabbed the baggie as it came out of the X-ray and asked if it was mine. After responding yes, he pointed at my comment and demanded to know “What is this supposed to mean?” “It could me a lot of things, it happens to be an opinion on mine.” “You can’t write things like this” he said, “You mean my First Amendment right to freedom of speech doesn’t apply here?” “Out there (pointing pass the id checkers) not while in here (pointing down) was his response." At this point I chuckled, just looking at him wondering if he just realized how foolish that comment was, but I think my laugh pushed him over the edge as he got really angry at this point. A Milwaukee County Sheriffs deputy was summoned - I would have left at this point, but he had my quart bag with my toothpaste and hair gel. When the deputy got over the TSA supervisor showed him the bag and told him what had happened to that point. After he had finished I started to remind him he had left out his statement that my First Amendment rights didn’t apply “here” but was cut off by the deputy who demanding my ID. I asked if I was under arrest, and his response was “Right now you are not under arrest, you are being detained.” I produced my passport and he walked off with it and called in my name to see if I had any outstanding warrants, etc. The TSA supervisor picked up the phone about 20 feet away and called someone? At this point two more officers were near by and I struck up a conversation with the female officer who was making sure I kept put. I explained to her who Kip Hawley was, why I though he was an idiot, and my surprise that the TSA Supervisor felt my First Amendment rights didn’t’ apply at the TSA checkpoint. She didn’t say much. After he was assured I didn’t have any warrants out the first office came back and I had my first chance to really speak, I explained that I was just expressing my opinion and my writing should be protected my by First Amendment rights. When he didn’t respond, I then repeated that the TSA Supervisor stated my First Amendment rights didn’t apply at the TSA check point and I asked if he (the deputy) agreed that was the case. He responded by saying “You can’t yell fire in a crowed theater, there are limits to your rights. At this point I chucked again. I asked how this was even remotely like shouting “Fire” in a crowd, and his answer was “Perhaps your comments made them feel threatened." At about this point the TSA Supervisor finished up his phone call, and summoned the officer back over. They talked for about 2 minutes, and then both came back over. The officer pulled out his pad and asked for my address and I asked why he needed it. “For the report I have to file since I was summoned here” I started to give it, when I noticed the TSA Supervisor was writing it down as well, so I stopped and asked why he needed it. He said he needed to file an incident report too, and I took the opportunity to ask what the resolution of the incident was, did I do anything wrong? Are you going to ask the officer to arrest me? He said no, I was free to go, but he was going to confiscate my bag. I asked “If I did nothing wrong, why would you take my bag” He pointed to a posted sign that said something about reusing plastic bags (the MKE TSA was providing quart sized zipper bags to pax today) I let him know that I had brought my bag from home and would not be letting him take it. He then asked for permission of photograph it, which I agreed too. While he walked away to get the camera I finished giving my address to the deputy, and he told my “You’re free to go” Total time, about 25 minutes.Hat tip to Tim Lee at the Technology Liberation Front. CNN’s given coverage to the story. Also see kiphawleyisanidiot.com. ...
A bit of an update from my post in May where I asked “Is there really a housing bubble?” Although I wasn’t completely convinced then, I think it’s getting a lot more difficult to question the evidence now. The graph below chronicles Maricopa County’s Trustee Sale Notices over the past 11 years. The blue line is the monthly count. As you can see, this number is pretty variable from month to month, so I’ve included the orange line, which is a 1-year moving average. Presumably it’s a better indicator of trends. ...
Old, but still quite appropriate… narration by Stephen Colbert. Historical Comments Einzige (2006-12-09): Damn, that's good stuff!