Motto: The surest way to get a reputation for being a trouble maker these days is to go about repeating the very phrases that the Founders used in the struggle for independence.

-- C.A. Beard

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On last month's Fix;

the answer to last month's Fix,
"What clues can  you see in this image of the female Iraqi militia that all may not appear as it seems? [There will be a reward for the best answer.] "

If you'll note, none of the AK47s the women in the picture are carrying have a clip in them. But, in the background of the picture there are armed Iraqi army soldiers - watching. On a more subtle note, one may point out that the uniforms the "militia" women are wearing fit poorly, and are obviously fresh out of the box - hence it is unlikely that any the women in the picture were actually fitted for these uniforms or wore them prior to this photo. You may also note if their is any bias likely from the photographer - Awad Awad.

Sadly, no one submitted an entry this month - ergo no prize.
 

On safe driving;
Ever get to the point when you are leaving a tavern, and you wonder if you should drive? Here is a test that most cops will use. Stand up, close your eyes, lift one foot off the ground for 15-20 seconds. Then place that foot down and try to raise the other for 15-20 seconds. If you tip during the transition between feet, you will likely be run in for DUI.

Next, if you have to drive on the freeway at night, stay in the right lane. If a DUI turns the wrong way onto the freeway, they will also likely stay in what they think is the right line to go slow, which is really the fast lane. If you see headlights, pull to the right ASAP to avoid a head-on.
 

As a lesson in the pitiless cruelty of the human race, Sept. 11 was up there with Pol Pot's mountain of skulls in Cambodia or the skeletal bodies stacked like garbage in the Nazi concentration camps.

An unspeakable act so cruel, so calculated and so utterly merciless that surely the world could agree on one thing -- nobody deserves this fate.

Surely there is consensus: The victims were truly innocent, the perpetrators truly evil.

But to the world's eternal shame, 9-11 is increasingly seen as America's comeuppance.

There has always been a simmering resentment to the USA -- too loud, too rich, too full of themselves and so much happier than Europeans -- but it has become an epidemic.

And it turns my stomach.

America is this country's greatest friend and our staunchest ally. We are bonded to the United States by culture, language and blood.

A little over half a century ago, around half a million Americans died for our freedoms, as well as their own. Have we forgotten so soon?

And a year ago, thousands of ordinary men, women and children -- not just Americans, but from dozens of countries -- were butchered by a small group of religious fanatics. Are we so quick to betray them?

What touched the heart about those who died in the twin towers and on the planes was that we recognized them. Young fathers and mothers, somebody's son and somebody's daughter, husbands and wives. And children. Some unborn.

And these people brought it on themselves? And their nation is to blame for their meticulously planned slaughter?

The truth is that America has behaved with enormous restraint since Sept. 11.

Remember the gut-wrenching tapes of weeping men phoning their wives to say, "I love you," before they were burned alive. Remember those people leaping to their deaths from the top of burning skyscrapers.

Remember, remember -- and realize that America has never retaliated for 9-11 in anything like the way it could have.

So a few al-Qaida tourists got locked without a trial in Camp X-ray? Pass the Kleenex.

So some Afghan wedding receptions were shot up after they merrily fired their semi-automatics in a sky full of American planes? Maybe next time they should stick to confetti.

America could have turned a large chunk of the world into a parking lot. That it didn't is a sign of strength.

We should thank the stars that America is the most powerful nation in the world. I still find it incredible that 9-11 did not provoke all-out war. Not a "war on terrorism." A real war.

The fundamentalist dudes are talking about "opening the gates of hell," if America attacks Iraq. Well, America could have opened the gates of hell like you wouldn't believe.

The campaign in Afghanistan may have been less than perfect and the planned war on Iraq may be misconceived.

But don't blame America for not bringing peace and light to these wretched countries.

I love America, yet America is hated. I guess that makes me Bush's poodle. But I would rather be a dog in New York City than a prince in Riyadh. America is hated because it is what every country wants to be -- rich, free, strong, open, optimistic.

Not ground down by the past, or religion, or some caste system. America is the best friend this country ever had, and we should start remembering that.

Or do you really think the USA is the root of all evil? Tell it to the loved ones of the men and women who leaped to their death from the burning towers.

Tell it to the nursing mothers whose husbands died on one of the hijacked planes.

And tell it to the hundreds of young widows whose husbands worked for the New York Fire Department. To our shame, George Bush gets a worse press than Saddam Hussein.

Remember, remember, Sept. 11. One of the greatest atrocities in human history was committed against America.

No, do more than remember. Never forget.

Oregon;

Minnesota;

Calfornia;

2. Oakland, March 21: Dem. state Sen. Don Perata has introduced a bill to tax disposable diapers at a rate of 1/4  cent per. Estimates are that it would cost an additional $15  per child and add millions to the state budget. Said Perata with a straight face, "Most environmental movements start in California."

Washington D.C.

1. March 23: NASA administrators have disclosed that the solar output has increased 0.05% since the early 1970s. The admit that this could have a possible effect on global warming.
 
 
 

Holland;

Net News;

   Government seeks freedom to snoop
   By Declan McCullagh
   Special to ZDNet
   February 10, 2003, 5:05 AM PT
 

          COMMENTARY--Attorney General John Ashcroft wants even more power to snoop
          on the Internet, spy on private conversations, and install secret microphones,
          spyware and keystroke loggers.

   Ashcroft's Justice Department has quietly crafted a whopping 120-page proposal that
   represents the boldest attack yet on our electronic privacy in the name of thwarting future
   terrorist attacks. The nonpartisan Center for Public Integrity posted the draft legislation,
   which reads like J. Edgar Hoover's wish list, on its Web site Friday.

   Called the Domestic Security Enhancement Act (DSEA), the legislation has not been
   formally introduced in Congress, and a spokeswoman for Ashcroft indicated Friday that it's a
   work in progress. But the fact that it's under consideration already, before we know the
   effects of its USA Patriot Act predecessor, should make us realize that the Bush
   administration thinks "homeland security" is the root password to the Constitution.

   Don't believe me? Keep
   reading and check out some
   of DSEA's highlights:

   • The FBI and state police would be able to eavesdrop on what Web sites you visit, what you search for with
   Google, and with whom you  chat through e-mail and instant messaging--all without a court order for up
   to 48 hours. That's if you're suspected of what would become a new offense of "activities threatening the
   national security interest."

   • Currently police can seek a warrant to "require the disclosure by a provider of electronic
   communication service of the contents of an electronic communication." Under existing law,
   police must notify the target of an investigation except in rare cases such as when witnesses
   would be intimidated or a prospective defendant might flee. DSEA allows police to delay
   notification for three months simply by citing "national security."

   • When investigating a computer crime or other serious felonies, prosecutors would be able to
   serve secret subpoenas on people ordering them to hand over evidence and testify in person.
   If served with a secret subpoena, you'd go to jail if you "disclosed" to anyone but your lawyer
   that you received it.

   • Police would be able to ask a judge to issue search warrants valid for anywhere in the
   United States if someone is suspected of computer hacking. Previously that law applied only
   to "violent acts or acts dangerous to human life."

   Other portions of DSEA are devoted to unshackling the mighty Foreign Intelligence
   Surveillance Act (FISA), a post-Watergate law that was intended to be used against foreign
   spies.

   FISA isn't limited to traditional phone wiretapping. There's an entire section devoted to
   electronic surveillance, permitting "the installation or use of an electronic, mechanical or other
   surveillance device." That's a flexible definition that stretches to include the FBI's Carnivore
   Net-surveillance system, keystroke loggers and remotely installed spyware like the FBI's
   Magic Lantern spyware.

   "I think the Department of Justice has concluded that it wants the ability to use these
   techniques in virtually every situation," says Marc Rotenberg, director of the Electronic
   Privacy Information Center. "This is breathtakingly bad. Apart from the dramatic expansion
   of government surveillance authority and government secrecy, (DSEA) transfers enormous
   power from the Congress and the judiciary to the executive branch and gives the attorney
   general absolutely unprecedented authority. This is more than an assault on constitutional
   liberty--it is an attack on the constitutional system of checks and balances."

   Another worrying part of DSEA is a section that targets encryption. It would create a new
   federal felony of willfully using encryption during the commission of a felony, punishable by
   "no more than five years" in prison plus a hefty fine.

   When encryption eventually becomes glued into just about every technology we use, from
   secure Web browsing to encrypted hard drives, DSEA would have the effect of boosting
   maximum prison terms for every serious crime by five years. It'll be no different--and no
   more logical--than a law that says "breathing air while committing a crime" is its own offense.

   A leaked Justice Department document suggests that Ashcroft already forwarded a copy of
   DSEA to House Speaker Dennis Hastert and Vice President Dick Cheney last month.
   Unfortunately, with a Congress as supine as ours happens to be, Ashcroft will likely get what
   he wants. After all, the USA Patriot Act passed the House by a 6-to-1 margin and ran into
   only one dissenting vote in the Senate.

   Many of DSEA's new powers will go--surprise!--to agents in FBI field offices. That
   possibility should worry anyone with an appreciation of history, which reveals that time and
   again, the FBI and other law enforcement organizations have ignored the law and spied on
   Americans illegally, without court authorization.

   In the past, government agencies have subjected hundreds of thousands of law-abiding
   Americans to unlawful surveillance, illegal wiretaps and warrantless searches. Eleanor
   Roosevelt, Martin Luther King Jr., feminists, gay rights leaders and Catholic priests were
   spied on. The FBI used secret files and hidden microphones to blackmail the Kennedy
   brothers, sway the Supreme Court and influence presidential elections.

   It's true that our current FBI appears to be more trustworthy than the bureau during its dark
   years of the 1950s and 1960s. But the possibility that future FBI directors may misuse
   DSEA's vast powers--and transform America into a tech-enabled surveillance state--means
   that we should be extraordinarily cautious about acquiescing to Ashcroft's demands.