Kilgore Afraid to Debate Potts and Kaine?

Come on, Jerry. It's time to come out from under the blankets where you've been hiding and agree to debate Tim Kaine and H. Russell Potts in more than the 2 staged events you've agreed to do.

Quit being such a skeerdy cat and let us Virginia voters see how you perform under pressure!

Civil Liberties 1, Patriot Act 0

Yesterday, the House of Representatives voted 238-187 to amend the 2001 USA Patriot Act by removing a provision that allowed the FBI to obtain library and bookstore records with an order from a secret surveillance court (where a lower standard of proof is utilized than in criminal courts.) The amended legislation means that law enforcement agencies would have to obtain standard search warrants and/or grand jury subpoenas in order to access information about a suspected terrorists reading habits.

The Bush administration continues to insist that the provision is vital to the fight against terrorism, saying it "provides national security investigators with an important tool for investigating and intercepting terrorism while at the same time establishing robust safeguards to protect law-abiding Americans."

Supporters of the amendment (which the ACLU called a "rare victory for civil liberties") claim that it "simply restores the checks and balances that protect innocent Americans under the Constitution."

For me, I think Rep. Nadler (D-NY) said it best: "If some terrorist checks out a book about how to make an atomic bomb, that might be legitimate for the government to know, and they can get a search warrant or a subpoena the way we've done it throughout American history. Otherwise, what you're reading is none of the government's business."

President Bush has threatened to veto any legislation that would weaken the powers of the original Patriot Act.

Sweet Jesus, I Hate Bill O'Reilly, Int'l

Sweet Jesus, I Hate Bill O'Reilly, Int'l is an organization dedicated to the dissemination of information that exposes Bill O'Reilly for what he is: an ego-driven, biased individual who spreads fear, hate and misunderstanding. His views are firmly anchored to the political right. He works tirelessly to enrage Americans and pit them against anything he considers "liberal" or, worse yet, "secular". Mr. O'Reilly uses highly manipulative forms of presentation, phrasing and, yes, "spin".



Many thanks to Aimee for enlightening us with this. Question: how many conservatives at Politics Schmolitics find O'Reilly repulsive? Maybe in the same way some liberals find Al Franken repulsive?

“Give me your tired, your poor / Your huddled masses yearning to breathe free.”

Okay, so this is a potential hornets' nest, but it’s an issue with which I’ve been grappling for some time. A recent conversation with a friend this past weekend caused it to resurface and made me realize that I still haven’t come to any kind of satisfactory conclusion. I’m hoping some enlightened discussion will help sort things out.

The issue is the prevalence of undocumented persons in the US, as well the services and resources that are made available to them. My conversation this past weekend centered on whether or not undocumented high school students should be eligible for financial aid and/or offered in-state tuition rates for US colleges. But, I’d like to extend that to any child here illegally or whose parents are here illegally. Should they be able to take advantage of the services and resources available to citizens? Are they draining resources/taking places away from kids who are here legally? Ostensibly, undocumented people are not paying back into common society through taxes so the money that goes out to them is not coming back in. (It could be argued that they contribute to society in other ways.) However, would you deny any child — regardless of why or how they came to be here—the services they need to lead a healthy, happy life? Taken a step further, what about services made available to undocumented adults — such as emergency health care? (Undocumented persons are also typically blamed for stealing jobs away from Americans, but I would argue that the jobs they take are usually the lower-paying, menial jobs Americans don’t want.)

Anyway, this is just the tip of the iceberg but the general questions is: what to do about undocumented people in the US? Should services be denied to anyone who is not a citizen/registered alien? Should we just make everyone who’s here already a citizen so they can become part of the system, pay taxes, and so we can get an accurate picture of how much of our resources are being used and by whom? Is that too great a security risk? Do we tighten control of our borders? Is that even possible? Do we spend money to improve living conditions in our neighboring countries so that not as many people are enticed to try to enter the US illegally?

When is someone drunk?

Does lowering the BAC capture the wrong folks? I was looking at a new invention and stumbled on the blog article.
Here is the invention I wanted to review- wheel. Would any middle-class parent not pay $6-800 to keep a teenager from driving drunk?

"Deep Throat" was FBI's #2 Man in 1970s

An American mystery has finally been put to rest: "Deep Throat", the anonymous and long-protected informer who fed reporters Bob Woodward and Carl Bernstein of the Washington Post inside information about the Nixon White House and its Watergate Scandal was, and is, W. Mark Felt, the FBI's #2 man in the 1970s. An excellent -- and brief -- biography about Felt can be found here. Mr. Felt is now 91 years old and in declining health.

Timothy Noah of Slate had the identity of Deep Throat figured out -- as he's happy to tell everyone -- as far back as 1999, when he wrote an article about Felt.

What do we think of Deep Throat? We're all of the generation after Watergate, so our experiences are necessarily less direct than those of our parents and grandparents. I think he's a hero. Whistleblowers are messengers, and messengers often get killed while everyone is heeding the message. I hope that doesn't happen here, and I don't think it will: enough time has passed.