Steve’s Weblog
Parts of ‘Patriot Act’ unconstitutional, vague
Fri Jul 29,11:48 PM ET
LOS ANGELES, United States (AFP) – A US federal judge has ruled some provisions of the USA Patriot Act that target funding and assistance to overseas terrorist groups as unconstitutionally vague.
The Patriot Act, which critics say undermines the rule of law in the United States, is a package of laws passed in the immediate aftermath of the September 11, 2001 attacks on US targets.
Bush to bypass Senate to appoint Bolton
By Steve Holland 21 minutes ago
WASHINGTON (Reuters) – President Bush plans to bypass the U.S. Senate and install John Bolton as U.S. ambassador to the United Nations, officials said.
Bush can go around the Senate and give Bolton a “recess appointment” when the Senate begins its August recess this weekend. Bolton would be able to serve until January 2007, when a new Congress is sworn in.
Two U.S. officials, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said it was Bush’s intent to make a recess appointment. An announcement could come as early as Monday.
Reuters via Yahoo News.
Lame.
Privilege Claim May Not Apply to Roberts Papers
By David G. Savage Times Staff Writer Fri Jul 29, 7:55 AM ET
WASHINGTON — The White House is citing the attorney-client privilege as the basis for refusing to reveal memos written by Supreme Court nominee John G. Roberts Jr. when he was representing the government before the high court. At the time, Roberts was the top deputy to Solicitor Gen. Kenneth W. Starr.
But it is not clear that this legal privilege shields the work of government lawyers from the eyes of government investigators — thanks to a legal ruling won by Starr himself, when he was independent counsel investigating President Clinton.
LA Times via Yahoo News.
So, I guess what they’re saying is, if it’s good for the goose, it’s good for the gander. Or Lame Duck. 
Our first ranking of the world’s most valuable brands
The table that follows ranks 100 global brands that have a value greater than $1 billion. The brands were selected according to two criteria. They had to be global in nature, deriving 20% or more of sales from outside their home country. There also had to be publicly available marketing and financial data on which to base the valuation.
more at Business Week online.
Panel: Bush Was Unready for Postwar Iraq
By BARRY SCHWEID, AP Diplomatic Writer Wed Jul 27, 3:47 AM ET
WASHINGTON – An independent panel headed by two former U.S. national security advisers said Wednesday that chaos in
Iraq was due in part to inadequate postwar planning.
Planning for reconstruction should match the serious planning that goes into making war, said the panel headed by Samuel Berger and Brent Scowcroft. Berger was national security adviser to Democratic
President Clinton. Scowcroft held the same post under Republican Presidents Ford and George H.W. Bush but has been critical of the current president’s Iraq and Mideast policies.
“A dramatic military victory has been overshadowed by chaos and bloodshed in the streets of Baghdad, difficulty in establishing security or providing essential services, and a deadly insurgency,” the report said.
Farmer killed by falling cow
Tue Jul 26,10:03 AM ET
ZAGREB (Reuters) – A Croatian farmer was killed when a cow he was about to milk fell and crushed him, local media reported Tuesday.
Wow, and yet they want to prevent gay marriage?
A Fork In The Rove?
For years, political insiders in the Lone Star State have whispered about Rove’s close friendship with lobbyist Karen Johnson, a never-married, forty-something GOP loyalist from Austin, Texas. The two first became close when Johnson sat on the board of then-Governor George W. Bush’s Business Council over a decade ago. Their friendship reportedly deepened after Bush appointed Johnson—a little-known spokesperson for the Texas Good Roads Association—to a seat on his Transportation Department transition team in 2000. The plum appointment enabled Johnson’s lobbying firm, Infrastructure Solutions, to snare such high-paying clients as Aetna and the City of Laredo. Sources say Johnson now frequently travels between Washington D.C. and Austin, where she frequently appears at Rove’s side at parties and unofficial functions.
White House Won’t Show All Roberts Papers
By DOUGLASS K. DANIEL, Associated Press Writer 1 hour, 25 minutes ago
WASHINGTON – John Roberts worked for two Republican administrations, offering private legal assessments that have yet to be opened to historians or the public. Now that Roberts is
President Bush’s choice to join the Supreme Court, some Senate Democrats want to see the documents he produced — all of them.
No, responded one White House representative. We’ll see, said another.
Is there something they’re trying to hide?
Eight Days in July
By FRANK RICH
Published: July 24, 2005
PRESIDENT BUSH’S new Supreme Court nominee was a historic first after all: the first to be announced on TV dead center in prime time, smack in the cross hairs of “I Want to Be a Hilton.” It was also one of the hastiest court announcements in memory, abruptly sprung a week ahead of the White House’s original timetable. The agenda of this rushed showmanship – to change the subject in Washington – could not have been more naked. But the president would have had to nominate Bill Clinton to change this subject.
Wow, looks like the Rove treason scandal isn’t going away…
Young Americans’ thirst for coffee grows – Survey
NEW YORK (Reuters) – The U.S. daily consumption of coffee rose to 53 percent of the population in a 2005 survey, compared with 49 percent in a 2004 survey, the National Coffee Association of USA said on Tuesday.
The annual survey, based on nationwide random-telephone interviews of nearly 3,000 people, found daily coffee drinking among those 18 to 24 years of age reached a record high 26 percent of the respondents, up 4 percentage points from 2004.
Other age groups showed growth but not of the same magnitude, NCA said.
“More Americans are enjoying more coffee than ever before, turning new attitudes into daily behaviors,” Robert Nelson, president and CEO of NCA, said in a statement.
“Savoring a wider variety of coffees to fill new roles throughout the day, consumers now seem to be doing so every day,” he added.
Since 1950, NCA has been tracking coffee-drinking habits and trends in the United States and publishes the results in its National Coffee Drinking Trends report.
Daily consumption of traditional coffee rebounded to 50 percent in 2005, following a six-year downward trend. Meanwhile, consumption of gourmet coffee stalled, standing at 15 percent of the respondents. That compared with the previous year’s record of 16 percent.
The survey found that six out of 10 Americans were aware of single-cup brewing technologies, although only 2 percent of the respondents said they had owned a single-cup brewer.
Reuters via Yahoo.
And who makes the best traditional coffee? Oh, and remember, “Coffee IS a flavor” ™.
Oregon House Speaker blocks civil unions vote
LGBT activists promised to take the fight over a bill to allow civil unions in Oregon to the home district of Karen Minnis, the Republican Speaker of the Oregon House, after she vowed to not allow a House vote on the measure.
The state Senate passed its version of the civil unions bill two weeks ago, and Democratic Gov. Ted Kulongoski has promised to sign it into law if it reaches his desk.
The bill would grant same-sex couples who enter into civil unions many of the same legal rights as married couples, including the right to make medical decisions and the right to file joint state tax returns. It would also prohibit discrimination based on sexual orientation in employment, housing and public services.
Minnis told the Associated Press she would not allow the House version of the bill to come up for a vote because she believes Oregonians decided the issue last fall when they passed Measure 36, which amended the state constitution to limit marriage to only between a man and a woman.
via Yahoo News.
Firefox Continues To Gain Browser Share
Elizabeth Millard, cio-today.com Mon Jul 18, 2:19 PM ET
The Mozilla Foundation’s Firefox browser increased its market share n June, continuing a steady rate of growth that is nibbling away at some of Microsoft’s (Nasdaq: MSFT – news) Internet Explorer (IE) dominance.
Firefox use is up from 8 percent in May to 8.71 percent in June, according to NetApplications.com, a developer of Web site usage-monitoring applications.
IE lost market share in June, dipping to 86.56 percent from its May total of 87.23 percent, the report noted.
What’s New 1.0.6
Firefox 1.0.6 is a stability update. We recommend that users upgrade to this latest version.
Here’s what’s new in Firefox 1.0.6:
* Restore API compatibility for extensions and web applications that did not work in Firefox 1.0.5.
By ROB GILLIES, Associated Press Writer Wed Jul 20, 6:53 PM ET
TORONTO – Canada legalized gay marriage Wednesday, becoming the world’s fourth nation to grant full legal rights to same-sex couples.
Supreme Court Chief Justice Beverley McLachlin signed the legislation making it law, hours after it was approved by the Senate late Tuesday night despite strong opposition from Conservatives and religious leaders.
The bill gives homosexual couples the same rights as those in traditional unions between a man and a woman, something already legal in eight of Canada’s 10 provinces and in two of its three territories.
from AP via Yahoo.
Finally, some GOOD news!
Supreme Court Pick Shifts Attention From Rove, Agent Disclosure
By Kristin Jensen and Richard Keil
July 20 (Bloomberg) — President George W. Bush’s nomination of a new Supreme Court justice may give White House adviser Karl Rove a temporary reprieve from public scrutiny of his role in the disclosure of an intelligence operative’s identity.
Duh.
Gates Puzzled by Computer Science Apathy
By ELIZABETH M. GILLESPIE, Associated Press Writer Tue Jul 19,12:24 PM ET
REDMOND, Wash. – Speaking to hundreds of university professors, Microsoft Chairman
Bill Gates says he’s baffled more students don’t go into computer science.
Gates said Monday that even if young people don’t know that salaries and job openings in computer science are on the rise, they’re hooked on so much technology — cell phones, digital music players, instant messaging, Internet browsing — that it’s puzzling why more don’t want to grow up to be programmers.
“It’s such a paradox,” Gates said. “If you say to a kid, ‘Yeah, what are the 10 coolest products you use that your parents are clueless about, that you’re good at using,’ I don’t think they’re going to say, ‘Oh, you know, it’s this new breakfast cereal. And I want to go work in agriculture and invent new cereals or something.’ … I think 10 out of 10 would be things that are software-driven.”
via Yahoo News
Does Roberts represent mainstream law, values?
When President Bush was running for office, he said repeatedly he wanted to fill any Supreme Court vacancies with nominees in the mold of
Antonin Scalia and Clarence Thomas – the justices most willing to overturn the court’s established precedents.
Last Saturday, he said his choice would be a “fair-minded individual who represents the mainstream of American law and American values,” a broader, if not entirely different, standard.
To cast instant judgment on which mold John Roberts fits more snugly would be wrong, if not impossible. Bush, in announcing his choice Tuesday, focused on Roberts’ all-American credentials: athlete, scholar, respected Washington lawyer and family man. But Roberts’ legal record, while certainly conservative, is largely opaque.
Roberts’ limited experience as a federal appeals judge – scarcely two years and about 40 largely non-controversial opinions – gives few clues as to his legal philosophy. His work as a lawyer for previous Republican administrations and for private clients, though, offers some hints. He made arguments on abortion rights, free speech and church-state issues that are at odds with established law.
In one brief, for example, he suggested that Roe v. Wade, the landmark 1973 decision that legalized abortion, had no basis in the Constitution and should be overturned. The question now is whether as a Supreme Court justice he would act to do so.
The Scalia-Thomas mantra was convenient political code for voters who oppose abortion, gay rights or affirmative action; reject government regulation of business, safety or the environment; or want official support for their brand of religion.
Whether such views are within the mainstream of American law and values is very much in doubt. In a USA TODAY/CNN/Gallup Poll 10 days ago, for instance, 29% of the public said Roe v. Wade should be overturned; 68% said it should be sustained.
The confirmation process, established by the Founders to make the Senate a co-equal with the president in appointing the judiciary, provides the opportunity to examine Roberts’ constitutional philosophy. He should be asked in detail his views of how the Constitution should be interpreted. Is it rigid and unchanging, to be viewed only in its most literal, 18th century terms? Or should the apparent intent of the Founders be applied in the light of modern realities?
Should the modern interpretation of the right to regulate interstate commerce be sustained? Or would he, as some of his backers wish, revert to when there were few restraints on business, few rights for workers and little protection for consumers or the environment? And would he carve out exceptions to established law regarding freedom of speech or separation of church and state?
Mainstream law is the settled judgments of the Supreme Court. Roberts should be judged on whether or not he accepts the doctrines behind those judgments. To reject them would less conservative than radical.
From: USA Today
…because it’s going to be pre-empted in an effort to distract you from Karl Rove, guilty of treason.
Yahoo News has the details.
I get new laptops far too often, and well, in the process of moving stuff to this new machine, I installed iTunes yesterday. I’ve had my iPod for around a year or so, but probably don’t use it as much as I thought I would. Anyway, I wanted to check out some PodCasts, so I installed the latest iTunes. When I fired up my machine at the office, I noticed that there was a music library available from one of my coworker’s machines showing up in iTunes. There’s a sharing feature in iTunes that let’s me see and play musing from my friend’s library over the network…
neat.
Firefox Continues To Gain Browser Share
Elizabeth Millard, cio-today.com Mon Jul 18, 2:19 PM ET
The Mozilla Foundation’s Firefox browser increased its market share n June, continuing a steady rate of growth that is nibbling away at some of Microsoft’s (Nasdaq: MSFT – news) Internet Explorer (IE) dominance.
Firefox use is up from 8 percent in May to 8.71 percent in June, according to NetApplications.com, a developer of Web site usage-monitoring applications.
IE lost market share in June, dipping to 86.56 percent from its May total of 87.23 percent, the report noted.
What’s New 1.0.5
Firefox 1.0.5 is a security update that is part of our ongoing program to provide a safe Internet experience for our customers. We recommend that all users upgrade to this latest version.
Here’s what’s new in Firefox 1.0.5:
* Several security fixes.
* Improvements to stability.
Just when you thought it was safe to go outside…
Hunt For Arsonist After Gay Club Torched
by 365Gay.com Newscenter Staff
Posted: July 18, 2005 5:00 pm ET
(Fayetteville, Arkansas) Police and fire officials in Fayetteville, Arkansas are hunting for the person who torched the community’s only gay club.
Studio 716 was destroyed by the blaze. The club was fully engulfed in flames when fire crews arrived shortly after 7:00 am a Fayetteville fire official said.
Investigators say it appears the fire was set inside the building. It is the second at the club in the past four weeks. A June 26 fire that damaged an exterior wall of the building and also has been ruled as arson.
Bad Behavior has blocked 11 access attempts in the last 7 days.
