If you are concerned about this issue, and you all should be, there is quite a bit of fresh discussion happening. In sequence jump over to Electrolite(there is a lengthy and interesting comment thread), Unruled and Unqualified Offerings. Plenty of links from them to other material.
Those of you still headed to lunch or getting ready for dinner might like to add a hot dog to your menu.
This evening Political Parrhesia led me over to TalkLeft who urges us to speak up against an effort by Sen Joseph Biden (D-Del) to do some Ashcroftian dirty work. If you think you are not going to be affected you are wrong:
Whoever, for a commercial purpose, knowingly promotes any rave, dance, music, or other entertainment event, that takes place under circumstances where the promoter knows or reasonably ought to know that a controlled substance will be used or distributed in violation of Federal law or the law of the place where the event is held, shall be fined under title 18, United States Code, or imprisoned for not more than 9 years, or both.
If language like this gets written into the law of the land you may have just gone to your last concert for a while.
W must be very happy! First David Sanger reports the following in yesterday’s NY Times:
Shortly after Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld issued a stark warning to Iran and Syria last week, declaring that any “hostile acts” they committed on behalf of Iraq might prompt severe consequences, one of President Bush’s closest aides stepped into the Oval Office to warn him that his unpredictable defense secretary had just raised the specter of a broader confrontation.
Mr. Bush smiled a moment at the latest example of Mr. Rumsfeld’s brazenness, recalled the aide. Then he said one word – “Good” – and went back to work.
Since this seemed like a good thing to him then this, from today’s UK Observer must be like icing on the cake:
War in North Korea is now almost inevitable because of the country’s diplomatic stalemate with America, a senior UN official claims.
Thanks to Barry Briggs for the latter reference.
Hard to blog on a day when a great event like the San Diego Crew Classic is taking place. We could not go in person but spent a lot of time tracking the many successful teams from Washington State including, especially including, the Sammamish Rowing victory in the Womens Junior Grand Final.