Weblog

An interesting photo collection of the American War on Drugs from 1919 to the present (The Nation, Reuters News)
The more things change the more they don't.

Crime and genetics are linked after all  (Steve Sailor, iSteve blog)
The "truth"? You can't handle the the truth!

The Romance of Birthright Israel (Kiera Feldman, The Nation)
“ 'Welcome home' is a predominant message, a reference to the promise of instant Israeli citizenship for diaspora Jews under the 1950 Law of Return. (About 17,000 Birthright alumni now live in Israel, according to the Jerusalem Post.) It serves as a pointed riposte to the right of return claimed under international law by the 700,000 Palestinians expelled in 1948 upon the creation of the Jewish state, and their descendants."

The top ten list of "failed states" (Foreign Policy)
Funny how all of the English-speaking Caucasian majority states are all rated "stable" or higher. And most of Africa and Asia is rated "critical".

Weblog - June 11, 2011

Mosquito population swells in Washtenaw County after rainy spring and heat wave (Julianna Keeping, annarbor.com/)
Rain and heat are causing me to have to mow the grass twice a week now or the backyard starts to look like the Brazilian rainforest. 

“I have finally come to feel that this country, whether or not I continue to live in it, is no longer any place for me.” (Bill Kauffman, The American Conservative)
Quoting Edmund Wilson here, but I know that feeling too, brother.

Why are EULAs so hard to read? (Rafe Needleman, Cnet)
A tech lawyer explains.

A look at the sports doping scene from inside the locker room (Stuart Stevens, Outside)
A 47 year old amateur bike racer sniffs around LA's gym rat milieu to see what sort of "performance enhancers" people are using and why.

Mexican drug cartels build Death Race style homemade narco tanks (Slashdot)
Insanely crazy shit going on down there.

Dems plot to make Wisconsin "ungovernable" says blogger (David Blaska, Blaska's Blog)
Politics is war by other means up in Cheesehead Land.

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War is hell

Saginaw drug warriors carjacking dope users: And get some nice cars in the bargain. The Sheriff himself (see pic) got a nice Mustang GT and the Under Sheriff gets a Caddy! Nice. The caddy's previous owner got busted for two small chunks of crack. The dope confiscated here has an estimated street value of around $50 and to me the vehicle seizures for amounts that small seems wildly out of proportion for the "crime" committed.  I know all that "don't do the crime if you can't do the time" shit and all, but this seems way out of proportion for a "crime" that hurt no one but the doper himself.


Michigan's Senator-For-Life calls for more border security:  Sen. Carl Levin is concerned (after 30 years!) that the northern border is basically uncovered and wants "more coordination" between ICE, Border Patrol and the rest.

Who says Snookie doesn't have any class? Watch this vid of her totally blowing off Sen. Chuck Shumer  at the airport. Heh. It seems to be true what they say about him; he really can't pass a TV camera without stopping.

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Illegal use of steroids by police officers the next big "drug problem" to be targeted? - Aol News
I wish. But in any event basic fairness says that what's good for the sheep is good for the pig AFAIC. Let the drug warriors eat their own for a while and maybe they'll learn something about privacy, compassion and justice along the way. It could happen.
"Let's Not Save the Euro or, For That Matter, The European Union" - Martin Peretz TNR
Let the statist entity and its funny money die together.

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Some thoughts on healthful drinking from Mark Sisson: Go with the red wine or whiskies and forget about the clear liquors, beer, and the rest. Be moderate about it too.

The NYT's review of Sean Wilentz’s book Bob Dylan in America

Democracy as Spectacle: The Messianic Compulsions of our Republic
Some thoughts on American political culture.

Diversity is not our strength no matter what elites tell us.

"How Websites Make You Spill Your Secrets" - MIT's Technology Review


Mexico wary of California proposal to legalize marijuana - Washington Post
I'll bet. There is a lot of money involved here.

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Some pics of the Saginaw county (MI) sheriff's drug team's vandalism and destruction of a (licensed) marijuana grower for having too many plants - MLive

Over $7,000 in damage. Much more when you add in they stuff they confiscated. You'd think they were raiding a meth lab or something.

Five traits of true leaders - Art of Manliness

Should you delete your Facebook account? - CNet

FB's ever-changing privacy policies and frequent hacks and penetrations by cyber crooks makes it an idea worth considering.

Saudi women punches out a member of "virtue police" - Infoshop News

Keep your laws off my body pig! Heh.

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How's Michigan's Medical Marijuana Act working out for us? - MLive.com

Not that good. Botched police raids, massive damage and property theft by a Sheriff's Department narc team. And this guy had a license too. Go figure? At least no one was shot. Not yet anyhow.

Ann Arbor's homeless tent city that was forcibly dispersed for the Obama visit has reconstituted itself - Michigan Daily

Brain scan "evidence" disallowed by court - Wired

Good news, for now.

Colton Harris-Moore back in the San Juan Islands? - Seattle Post-Intelligencer

Maybe. But the way things are now, everything that happens out there gets blamed on CH-M. On the other it may well be him.

Five new infantry weapons that are in the pipeline for the U.S. armed forces - Popular Science

The XM-25 semi-automatic grenade launcher, to name but one, is German built (H&K GmHb) and cost a whopping $25, 000 a piece! Great news if you're a war profiteer.

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Put a few banksters in prison as an example to the rest? - iSteve (Steve Sailer)

"...why not imprison a few 8-figure per year bank officers? That will put a little fear in future banksters. That will make them cautious about exploiting loopholes they find in regulations."

Channeling his inner Stalin..(heh)

Evolving a better class of criminal mastermind - LA Times (Richard Serrano)

The real accomplishment of the War on Drugs.

Security theater comes to America - Fred On Everything (Fred Reed)

Debtor States - New Yorker (James Surowiecki)

On paying for content - boingboing (Clay Shirky)

We have to or else. Or so says Rupert Murdoch and his ilk. Clay Shirky calls bullshit on that notion.

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Ann Arbor's mayor a true greenie - Michigan Daily

The "stability tax" that the poor have to pay-Bloggingheads.tv

To wit: 8-11% of their income goes for things like penalties, reconnect fees, late fees, additional interest. Yikes!

Free The Animal blogger Richard Nickoley throwing in with Objectivists? - Free The Animal

Who cares as long as they get the name right, eh Rich? I dunno if it's a good idea (for the reason of possible damage to your credibility) to associate yourself with the Randroids though.

"Plutonomy"? Isn't that the same as "plutocracy"? - Front Porch Republic (John Medaille)

Yeah, but this is still a pretty good and emotionally satisfying populist rant.

An essential tool for the couch potato - Gizmodo

A universal remote with a bottle opener built into it.

War on Drugs a "stimulus plan for Mexican drug cartels" - Wall Street Journal online (M.A. O'Grady)

At least someone gets it.