2006 in Review...

Slate presents the top 10 civil liberties nightmares of the year:

...As Yale Law School's inimitable Jack Balkin put it: "You can't believe Padilla when he says we tortured him because he's crazy from all the things we did to him."

• The Bill of Wrongs: The 10 most outrageous civil liberties violations of 2006. (30 Dec 2006, Slate.com)

I Want a Hippopotamus...

Merry Christmas! :)

Listen to this song.

I found it while I was reading about how to build a ripcord into your wrapped presents.

....Not the most exciting tip in the world, but notice the website:
www.lifehacker.com
This website is a freaking treasure trove of useful programs (my favorite, thus far, being GParted, a GNU disk partitioning alternative to Partition Magic, which will help me prepare my laptop for an Ubuntu/MS Vista/MS XP multi-boot - wooha).

I found LH last night while I was digging through
www.downloadsquad.com.
which might also be interesting...

Enjoy!

Song for the Week: Amy Winehouse - Rehab

Credit for this one goes entirely to Addie, of course :)

MUSLIMS QUESTION GOP SILENCE ON VA REP'S ISLAMOPHOBIC REMARKS

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

MUSLIMS QUESTION GOP SILENCE ON VA REP'S ISLAMOPHOBIC REMARKS

(WASHINGTON, D.C., 12/21/06) - The Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) today called on state and national GOP leaders to repudiate anti-Muslim remarks made by a Republican congressman in Virginia.

In a recent letter to constituents, Rep. Virgil Goode slammed the planned use of a Quran for the ceremonial swearing-in of Keith Ellison, the first Muslim elected to Congress. (No religious texts of any kind are used for the official swearing-in ceremony.) Goode also decried the growth of the American Muslim community and expressed concern that "many more Muslims" may be elected to public office.

SEE: Va. Lawmaker's Remarks on Muslims Criticized (Washington Post)

"We are deeply troubled by the failure of state and national GOP leaders to clearly distance themselves from Representative Goode's intolerant remarks," said CAIR National Legislative Director Corey Saylor. He said Republican leaders in Virginia should have learned a lesson in tolerance from the controversy over Senator George Allen's "macaca" episode.

India: The New AIDS Capital

Andrew sent me this photoessay on AIDS in India. It's a bit staggering, check it out:

• India: The New AIDS Capital (20 Dec 2006, LATimes.com)

The Last Gasp of a Smoke-Filled Room?

When the District goes smoke-free Jan. 2, at least one nicotine haven will remain: the U.S. Capitol. Lawmakers, several of whom enjoy a good cigar, have exempted themselves from the city's smoking ban, not to mention rules that forbid lighting up in federal buildings across the country.

But winds of change may be blowing on the Hill....

• The Last Gasp of a Smoke-Filled Room? (8 Dec 2006, WashingtonPost.com)


• Smoke Free Workplaces - Center for Policy Alternatives


• Washington DC Smoke-Free Workplaces

EPA's Labor Union Calls for Congressional Climate Hearings

This week, labor leaders representing more than 10,000 Environmental Protection Agency scientists, engineers, and staff asked Congress to hold oversight hearings on the agency's own greenhouse-gas emissions programs. The labor leaders, who are presidents of the EPA's 22 union locals, sent its petition to the House Energy and Commerce Committee and the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee. The petition says the agency isn't doing enough to encourage the use of current technology to control carbon-dioxide emissions under the Bush administration's voluntary approach, calls on lawmakers to ensure that agency experts are allowed to speak freely and openly about global warming with the public and Congress "without fear of reprisal," and asks lawmakers to "support a vigorous program of enforcement and reduction in GHG [greenhouse-gas] emissions."

"The science is too clear and the consequences are too grave" to continue down the voluntary path the administration is following, says William Hirzy, an EPA senior scientist and vice president of the National Treasury Employees Union chapter that represents employees at EPA headquarters in Washington.

• EPA staffers go to Hill over global warming (1 Dec 2006 - Christian Science Monitor)

World AIDS Day