Brokekid.net

• Earlier this month, I ran across a link to Ape Lad’s site, where he draws pictures of hobos on postcards and mails them back for $10. What a bargain! Of course I signed up…here’s what I got.

Using the Justice Department for political purposes, rather than actually fighting crime and corruption is a horrendous waste of resources and is despicable to its core. It has been interesting to see where the current hearings on the attorney purge have taken us, especially with the newest revelation that senior level Justice Department official Monica Goodling will be pleading the Fifth Amendment. Andrew Sullivan today also has a very interesting tidbit over at his site regarding the actual pattern of prosecutions by U.S. Attorneys under the Bush administration at the local levels. The partisan disparity in prosecutions at the federal and state levels are nominal, when you delve down to the local levels, you’ll see that:

…Bush Justice Department investigated elected Democratic office holders and office seekers locally (non-state-wide and non federal offices) at a rate more than seven times greater (nearly 85 percent to 12 percent) than they investigated local Republican elected office holders and seekers.

Very interesting.

Now I’m not certain if you’re aware of this, but when the PATRIOT Act was up for reauthorization last year, there was a little provision snuck in that had:

…language that changed the way U.S. attorneys would be appointed if their predecessors were removed in the middle of their term. Under the old regime, interim U.S. attorneys needed to be confirmed by the Senate after 120 days. If they weren’t, federal district judges could select their replacement. The new language removed both judicial and congressional oversight of the interim U.S. attorneys, letting DOJ anoint them indefinitely. This served three important goals: consolidating presidential power, diminishing oversight, and ensuring that “interim” prosecutors had permanent jobs.

This was snuck in by Brett Tolman, who I will assume is a partisan Bush hack as he is sneaking things into legislation and who is now the U.S. Attorney for Utah. [Incidentally, Rove protege Tim Griffin help develop plans to have US Attorney Bud Cummins in Arkansas fired, then he himself was installed, thanks to the above mentioned provision installed into the reauthorized PATRIOT Act. This allows hack Griffin to stay on as USA indefinitely.]

Sneaking language into legislation before it is voted on would seem to me to be a crime, but I couldn’t really tell you. In the bigger scheme of things, this is deceit passed from the Executive Branch, through the Legislature and ultimately effects us. My question is, what else has gone on in the PATRIOT Act that we may be only remotely aware of? What other deceit exists because of this legislation that few of our elected representatives failed to read?

Of course there are the big ones, like the above mentioned attorney purge, the suspension of Habeas Corpus, torture (waterboarding), illegal spying on Americans and many more. What is in there that we aren’t aware of? That we haven’t studied the effects? I’d love to see bloggers tear the PATRIOT Act to shreds and really get into it, compare it next to what we’ve witnessed and try and shake out some tidbits we’ve missed.

• 9 Places to Use APIs Without Coding
• I totally agree
• a boat-load of audio samples
• Sofa Hammock
• Barton vs Winona St. Great ending. (YouTube)
• Scribd, doc upload site
• DMCA broken, says author of DMCA
• Ron Paul:
  

  “Only with the complicity of Congress have we become a nation of pre-emptive war, secret military tribunals, torture, rejection of habeas corpus, warrantless searches, undue government secrecy, extraordinary renditions, and uncontrollable spying on the American people”

• (via kottke.org) A list of 16 things it takes most of us 50 years to learn
  #12: A person who is nice to you, but rude to the waiter/janitor, is not a nice person.
• According to The Schmidt Sting Pain Index, get bitten by a Bullhorn Acacia Ant is an “…elevated sort of pain. [Like] Someone has fired a staple into your cheek.
• ahh, crowdsourcing, always a favorite topic

(via mediabistro.com)

Talking Points Memo put together a great timeline regarding the USA purge. I went ahead and had the info converted to xml to fit MITs SIMILE Timeline software. This software adds a visual perspective to specific times in history and allows you to actually see what’s happening on a timeline.

You can find my version here. (it takes a crap in IE)

(via PostSecret)

My brother-in-law has been the owner and operator of Lloyd’s Barbershop and Cigars in Shepherdstown, WV for the past few years now. His shop is unique in that not only can you get a shave and haircut from a pretty darn good barber, you can pick from a huge selection of cigars and smoke ‘em while you wait. The interior of the shop is rustic and old-timey, with antique barber chairs, fixtures and decor. It’s a fun place to visit and must-see if you live anywhere near the city.

This past month his online store officially relaunched, providing a number of cigars and shaving supplies for purchase. There’s a large variety of cigars, lighters, cutters to choose from as well as razors, brushes, towels to restock your own store or your personal collection.

Eitherway, my family would love if you’d check the store out either online or in person, get a haircut, pick up a couple cigars and enjoy the ambiance. To get a better look at the store and interior, check out the Barbershop tab at the top of his homepage.

things are really heating up. Can’t wait for the document dump on Monday.

UPDATE: Daily Kos about sums this up. Lot’s of fun here boys and girls