Monday, January 23, 2012

Third Unanimous Decision

Third Unanimous Decision

I am not sure if this is a trend, or even if it were to be a trend that it indicates something good, but the Supreme Court has announced another unanimous decision. This time they decided that a law enforcement officer may not sneak on your land and attach a GPS device to your automobile without benefit of a judicial warrant. (Full decision here)

It seems to me that we are seeing an expansion of the police state so broad that all nine members can vote against it, but what bothers me even more (after all, the decisions made things right) is the history of the cases. Police are prone to do outrageous things, but the courts are there to rein them in. Yet, once a court rules against them, the state in these cases has appealed, and then appealed again. Thus it is not a few out of control police, it is entire states that are willing to spend millions on defeating some of our cherished freedoms. In the case of the minister, the federals would like to be able to decide how a church may run their ministry. What with their express desire to abridge our freedoms in big ways and small, it gives one little comfort that the Supreme Court is on the right side, since it appears that the rest of our governments seem keen to pursue their nefarious ends. It is all about power, and the only way the state can get more power is to grant We the People ever less of it. But our constitution is clear - this is not their power to grant - these freedoms come from God.

Saturday, January 21, 2012

Ezra Levant on Canada neo-Prohibitionist fascists

Ezra Levant on Canada neo-Prohibitionist fascists

The human propensity to bully is not restricted to the U.S.A., it is on display in Canada as well. Let the government "take care" of us, and this is what we get.

Friday, January 20, 2012

Federals do not need SOPA to control the internet

Federals do not need SOPA to control the internet

This week it was announced that our protectors had shut down an evil site dedicated to piracy and the destruction of The American Way. What they actually did was shut down a site that carried 4% of all the traffic on the internet. In their game of serial Whack-A-Mole the federals are bound and determined to support the business plan of the largest media companies, and any innocents destroyed in that quest are mere collateral damage.

TechCrunch has a fine article on this trend, titled With MegaUpload Down, Who’s Next? RapidShare? SoundCloud? DropBox? They explore the way the feds took down Megaupload, but also how they are using the very same tools to imprison young Richard O’Dwyer, who merely linked to questionable content, and took down his site the minute he was informed that he might be in violation of American law, even though he lived in England and had no nexus in the United States.

At least the current law requires legal action. SOPA, if passed, will allow them to do the same thing with no restraints, no courts, no oversight. All to please the plutocrats, constitution be damned. The federals continue to establish the basis for a greater oligarchy. This one scares me. If the first amendment is gone, as well as the due process clause, so is the republic. Stop SOPA.

Another Unanimous Supreme Court Decision

Another Unanimous Supreme Court Decision

In a breathtaking repudiation of judicial activism, the Supreme Court struck down a Fifth Circuit decision that threw out the Texas State legislature's redistricting enactment, and had imposed their own map. These federal judges had decided to use their judicial authority to invent an electoral map that would assure a more democrat government in Texas. Chief Justice John Roberts has crafted a second unanimous repudiation of overreaching government in a week.

Just in case you missed the first of the two unanimous decisions, a nice overview of that one is here.

Monday, January 02, 2012

Aristarchus Panorama

Aristarchus Panorama

Some beautiful and (dare I say it?) awesome imagery has arrived from 16 miles above Luna. The panorama is fully navigable and clickable, with a resolution of 16 inches per pixel, so some awfully small details can be seen. A more detailed description of what the image holds, and links to further materials, is here.