Links (most recent first) that caught my eye, but did not warrant full-blown blog entries ….
- General Electric Responds To Twitter Distress Call, Fixes Shattered Stove – Nice!
- NPR Welcomes Bryan Fischer To Discuss Tea Party Politics – I listened to the interview. While Fischer dramatically toned down his anti-gay, anti-Muslim sentiments, his basic badgering of Walker (essentially “We’re glad all the Tea Party leadership agrees with us on social conservative issues, but if they don’t, then they aren’t True Conservatives and we’ll do away with ’em”) made his basic personality and position quite clear.
- Clouds, Birds, Moon, Venus – Very cool.
- Echo Park Time Travel Mart – That’s lovely.
- Music, when soft voices die – RIP Edwin Newman.
- The Meaning of the Koran – NYTimes.com – Maybe not its “meaning,” but some interesting notes about it.
- U.S. Debates Response to Targeted Killing Lawsuit – NYTimes.com – Really? You can (a) declare an open hunting season on a (b) unindicted American citizen (c) anywhere in the world and (d) claim it’s all Sooper Sekrit and so not subject to review by anyone? Really? Yeah, what could possibly go wrong there?
- Feeling the Pain of Rejection? Try Taking a Tylenol: Scientific American – Innnnteresting.
- Hokey Religions and Ancient Weapons Are No Match for a Good Teddy Bear by Your Side, Kid – I have to say, the Leia one is cute …
- D-emocrats – While the old logos are uberpatriotic ugliness, the new one … looks like a Parking sign.
- An app for tough decisions. – Tempting …
- Tip: Just the text, please! – Good to know. Very good, in fact.
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Re: Targeted Killing
Unfortunately this attitude is actually quite ancient. I believe there is something from the early part of US history where it basically places the US above the law of other countries – If they want to assassinate someone in another country they feel is a threat to the US they can. US courts have blocked the extradition of assassins by invoking this – note not played dumb/refused to hand over the info etc, literally said ‘no we don’t recognise the extradition, the person was acting on behalf of the US’.
If I can find where I saw this I’ll link
Well, the funny (not funny) thing about this and most of the other War On Terror civil liberties stuff is that … well, I think most people sort of assumed that was all the case. Warrantless wiretapping of people, “harsh” interrogation, assassination programs … growing up on TV and movies, that’s just the way things “are.”
That there are actual laws around to prevent this sort of thing (or at least challenge it) is sort of a never-ending surprise … and something worth fighting for.
If I were convinced that the Obama Administration and its national security apparatus were infallible, I would be more okay about this … except that, even then, I’d have to worry about what the next administration would do, or the one after that. Expediency is bad precedent, even for a short-term good cause.