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02/18/2004 Archived Entry: "Full of Shat"

The book list that helps support this site has been updated. I thank you for taking the time to peruse it.Okay, okay...for those who need to be bribed by a bit of humor, I offer Joel Pett's "Haitians Wish They Were a Threat" and the "Full of Shat" website, which is self-explanatory once you get there! Also...and I know this is a serious news item but I find it hilarious..."Canada's government...condemned a show by U.S. late-night television host Conan O'Brien that insulted people in French-speaking Quebec and seemed to suggest everyone in the province was homosexual... At one point in the show, Triumph the Insult Comic Dog -- a hand puppet that is a regular on the show -- said to a Quebecer: 'You're French, you're obnoxious and you no speekay English.' It told another: 'I can smell your crotch from here'."

FAST!...News Updates on Privacy:

---Do-not-call registry upheld. "Handing a victory to consumers who loathe telemarketers, a federal appeals court Tuesday upheld the popular do-not-call registry, dismissing claims it violates free-speech rights and is unfair to business." Personally, I prefer Dave Barry's approach.
---State's new technology gathers information to find tax cheats. Massachusetts "has launched a technology offensive with the goal of pulling together stray bits of information about every Massachusetts taxpayer, searching for clues that would indicate who isn't paying the taxes they owe. State officials dismiss the notion they are playing Big Brother, but the potential is rather Orwellian."
---from Papersplease.org an account of the Dudley Hiibel. One balmy May evening back in 2000, Dudley was standing around minding his own business when all of a sudden, a policeman pulled-up and demanded that Dudley produce his ID. Dudley, having done nothing wrong, declined. He was arrested and charged with "failure to cooperate" for refusing to show ID on demand. And it's all on video. On the 22nd of March 2004, the U.S. Supreme Court will decide whether Dudley and the rest of us live in a free society, or in a country where we must show "the papers" whenever a cop demands them.
--- New York upholds forced mental treatment. For those who worry about the uses to which the State may put medical information..."The [New York] state's highest court ... upheld a law that allows caseworkers and family members, even roommates, to seek a court order to force a mentally ill patient to comply with treatment.... [T]he Court of Appeals said the law was an effort to enable mentally ill persons to lead more productive and satisfying lives 'while at the same time reducing the risk of violence'."
---and more on medical records. "Rush Limbaugh's attorneys filed court documents...saying Palm Beach County prosecutors deliberately broke the law when they seized his medical records and that they should be prevented from using them in their prescription-drug investigation as punishment....Prosecutors want the records, which they seized with search warrants from four doctors, as part of their investigation into Limbaugh's prescription drug use."
---Drakegate. Commentary from one of my fav site's CounterPunch. "Apparently for the first time since the dark days of J. Edgar Hoover, the government has tried to use the grand jury to harass and intimidate anti-war protestors. Drake University and four peace activists were recently subpoenaed to produce records about the National Lawyers Guild before a federal grand jury in Iowa. But in response to the Guild's opposition and widespread outrage throughout the country, the subpoenas were withdrawn on February 10. This is a major victory for the National Lawyers Guild and the peace movement."

Best to all,
mac