I'm part of a mailing list that mostly posts fun stuff, but occasionally steers into political stuff. The thread started with a link. It then went into a Bush is evil/ people need to take responsibility, which is why we have bad leaders turn. I'm posting my response, with a few addendums.
1) All cops are dicks, although some of them are well meaning dicks. *
2) Arguing with a cop is, and has always been, a bad idea.
3) Calling 911 and then hanging up is legally treated as if some kidnapped victim called and then was forced to hang up. In such a case, I suspect they do have the ability to search your house without your permission, although I Am Not A Lawyer.
4) I had a friend who at one point worked as a 911 operator. You would not believe some of the absurd calls she got. In the case of a mistake, it would be better to stay on the line and say sorry, wrong number, or sorry, I meant to call 311.
5) While some people believe our freedoms have drastically reduced over the last 8 years, I believe the War on Drugs has been much more of an assault on freedom than The Patriot Act.
a) As an example, I suggest the case of Cory Maye
http://publicdefenderdude.blogspot.com/2006/01/jumping-on-cory-maye-bandwagon.html
6) The American people are not the primary people to blame for the quality of our political leadership. As effectively lampooned on South Park, when given a choice between a douche bag and a crap sandwich, some will vote one way, some another, and some will stay home.
7) Which is part of the reason why Congress has an abysmal confidence rating, 14%:
http://www.examiner.com/blogs/tapscotts_copy_desk/2007/6/21/A-Crisis-of-Confidence-Faces-Americas-Political-Class
[H/T: Instapundit]
8) Democrat or Republican, things aren't going to get much better. Too much bureaucracy, too many laws, too many people wanting to use the power of the state to outlaw guns, or drugs, or fast food, or SUVs, or gay marriage, or gay sex, or ...
9) What will fix it? A constitutional amendment for term limits? An armed revolution? Several nukes going off across the country? All of the above?
* Someone who wants to be a cop either (1) has a strong respect for the law/ justice, and wants to make sure other people obey the law, (2) has a skill set gained in the military that they want to use in a useful way, or (3) wants to beat up people legally. I have had contact with what I believe to be were all 3 groups.
Via APCB, yesterday was apparently Blog Like It's The End Of The World Day. No wonder Radio KoL was wacky.
There's a bunch of blogs that were involved, at least somewhat. A quick sample shows tequila powered robot bird seems to have done the most.
Because there's much more interesting stuff happening elsewhere.
Two examples:
1) Radio KoL [the station associated with Kingdom of Loathing] is currently doing a segment on zombie related songs. Somehow, I don't see that happening on the usual FM radio, or even XM.
2) The Order of the Stick is significantly better than any cartoon published in newspapers today. The latest ends a story arc that reaches the level of the best literature. Miko lost her status as a paladin, and has been trying to get it back. She could have gone evil, taking revenge for those that she thinks did this to her, but she didn't. Instead, she did what she thought the gods wanted her to do, sacrificing her own life. She hoped she would be restored, but it didn't happen. Ultimately, the only thing she got was that her horse would be waiting for her, who quite possibly was her only friend.
Via Pixy, it's quite straightforward.
The mildly scary thing is, I was somewhat involved in Campus Crusade for Christ for part of college, and some of this looks very familiar.
Joe.My.God notes the Film Festival going on this month on Turner Classic Movies, apparently Monday and Wednesday evenings. There's a schedule here. While I'm not going to watch every single movie, I'm going to check out at least some of them today.