If you have ever wanted to cut through the bullshit politicos hurl about the need to wiretap U.S. citizens inside the United States, Wired has a great piece that gets to the *gasp* facts on the matter. What a concept! Kudos to Ryan Singel for boiling this mess down to the cold, hard facts of the situation.
Sic Semper Tyrannis!
BBC News: Tent cities spring up in LA
This past Sunday, I had a conversation with my father about the Bear Stearns debacle and its portent for the rest of the US/world economy in which I said, “Well, we aren’t seeing shanty towns yet, but…” Little did I know that there were shanty towns and that we simply were not seeing them.
I am (pridefully) the first to admit that I am not a regular viewer of the evening news, so there may have been a mention of this that escaped my attention. But I doubt it very seriously. I am a voracious consumer of news on the interwebs and have seen nary a mention of this until perusing BoingBoing today. Looks like BBC News just got added to my TiVo season passes. Join me in my outrage, won’t you? Can I get an amen from the congregation?
U.S. Air Force - Über Alles
Yeah, I know. It’s not bad enough that they are issuing DMCA takedown notices to YouTube, but now, they are adopting direct translations of Nazi propaganda slogans. I find this completely idiotic, but rather than ranting about it, I took the time to ask a German about this. She happens to be a PR professional and wanted me to stress her concern that
[One] wouldn’t know that I actually like the U.S. and would even consider moving there. That way when I say that the U.S. seems to act like an imperialistic power and that the country appears to be a little too full of itself, I don’t mean it like an America hater would, but more like a good friend who dares to tell you that things are not going well.
Here are her thoughts, with her name changed to protect the innocent:
Wow, that is indeed bold. When I watched that Air Force video I thought maybe they should also reintroduce the nazi greeting, it would go so well with the rest of it…
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