evanmorris.com

US and UK have become "endemic" surveillance societies

Take a look at the map below. It shows privacy rights around the world; the brighter the color, the better for privacy. If you live in the US or UK, you might (or might not, depending on your politics) be surprised to find both countries painted black, just like Russia, China, and Malaysia. A new report out from Privacy International (UK) and the Electronic Privacy Information Center (US) claims that both countries now feature "endemic" surveillance. [more at link]

Posted by evan at 12:58 PM | Permalink

LRB · Ben Anderson: Diary

30 June. We were all chatting over a cup of tea outside the Naafi last night when a soldier sat down next to me and introduced himself. He asked what we were talking about, but didn't listen to my answer. His eyes were glazed and he was swaying slightly, struggling to keep upright. I thought he was stoned or drunk and looking to start a confrontation. But instead he just said: 'I'm scared.' I told him he'd be lying if he said otherwise, or mad. But my words had no impact. Then he said that on the last big operation, he and a friend were lying next to each other when his friend got shot through the eye and died instantly. The Taliban attack was so heavy that no one could move, so for an entire hour he just had to lie there next to his dead friend.

'I hate my job, I can't function, can't sleep and I'm totally scared about this big op coming up.'

He has just turned 18 and this is his first tour. One of his superiors reluctantly agreed to let him see a psychiatrist, but said that if he's lying he'll be crawling around the camp until he's bleeding from his hands and knees. He's praying for malaria or a bullet in the foot so that he can go home.

read it

Posted by evan at 2:45 AM | Permalink

Remarks on Pakistan Are Tailing Huckabee - New York Times:

Explaining statements he made suggesting that the instability in Pakistan should remind Americans to tighten security on the southern border of the United States, Mr. Huckabee said Friday that "we have more Pakistani illegals coming across our border than all other nationalities, except those immediately south of the border."

Asked to justify the statement, he later cited a March 2006 article in The Denver Post reporting that from 2002 to 2005, Pakistanis were the most numerous non-Latin Americans caught entering the United States illegally. According to The Post, 660 Pakistanis were detained in that period.

A recent report from the Department of Homeland Security, however, concluded that, over all, illegal immigrants from the Philippines, India, Korea, China and Vietnam were all far more numerous than those from Pakistan.

In a separate interview on Friday on MSNBC, Mr. Huckabee, a Republican, said that the Pakistani government "does not have enough control of those eastern borders near Afghanistan to be able go after the terrorists." Those borders are on the western side of Pakistan, not the eastern side.

Further, he offered an Orlando crowd his "apologies for what has happened in Pakistan." His aides said later that he meant to say "sympathies."

OK, let's pretend he did offer the "Orlando crowd" his "sympathies." What the hell is he talking about? Was it a largely Pakistani crowd? Had he managed to corral them behind a fence?

Posted by evan at 4:51 PM | Permalink

Here

Mitt Romney ... America's first clip-art presidential candidate ...

The rest of the article is sophomoric in the labored lad mag vein and not worth reading, but that nails the creep. I knew I'd seen him somewhere.

Posted by evan at 5:12 PM | Permalink

"It is required of every man," the Ghost returned, "that the spirit within him should walk abroad among his fellowmen, and travel far and wide; and if that spirit goes not forth in life, it is condemned to do so after death. It is doomed to wander through the world -- oh, woe is me! -- and witness what it cannot share, but might have shared on earth, and turned to happiness!" . . .

"You are fettered," said Scrooge, trembling. "Tell me why?"

"I wear the chain I forged in life," replied the Ghost. "I made it link by link, and yard by yard; I girded it on of my own free will, and of my own free will I wore it. Is its pattern strange to you?"
. . .

"But you were always a good man of business, Jacob," faltered Scrooge, who now began to apply this to himself.

"Business!" cried the Ghost, wringing its hands again. "Mankind was my business. The common welfare was my business; charity, mercy, forbearance, and benevolence, were, all, my business. The dealings of my trade were but a drop of water in the comprehensive ocean of my business!"

-Charles Dickens, A Christmas Carol, st 1 (1843) via

Posted by evan at 2:19 AM | Permalink

My Favorite Word

After an epic struggle with an incompetent/larcenous domain registrar, this site is being rebuilt with a new look. Swing by when you have a chance.

Posted by evan at 6:03 PM | Permalink

A 1950 Plan: Arrest 12,000, Suspend Due Process - New York Times

A newly declassified document shows that J. Edgar Hoover, the long-time director of the Federal Bureau of Investigation, had a plan to suspend habeas corpus and imprison some 12,000 Americans that he suspected of disloyalty.

Posted by evan at 1:31 PM | Permalink

Paul Krugman speaking at Google on December 14 about the sub-prime housing crisis. Long but fascinating (and by "fascinating" I mean, of course, "terrifying").

Part of Google's great At Google Talks series on YouTube.

Posted by evan at 12:33 PM | Permalink

No one does creepy AND cloying better.

Unfortunately, the boxes are empty because she gave all the goodies to Big Pharma.

Posted by evan at 6:17 PM | Permalink

Modern Mouser

Update: Now in legible format!

Posted by evan at 12:49 AM | Permalink

The Jingle Cats - White Christmas

Posted by evan at 1:55 PM | Permalink

Report Says That the Rich Are Getting Richer Faster, Much Faster - New York Times

The increase in incomes of the top 1 percent of Americans from 2003 to 2005 exceeded the total income of the poorest 20 percent of Americans, data in a new report by the Congressional Budget Office shows.

The poorest fifth of households had total income of $383.4 billion in 2005, while just the increase in income for the top 1 percent came to $524.8 billion, a figure 37 percent higher.

Yes, you read that right. The increase in incomes of the top 1 percent of Americans over the two years from 2003 to 2005 exceeded the total income of the poorest 20 percent of Americans in 2005....

[much more at link]

Posted by evan at 9:26 PM | Permalink

Huckaboom to Huckabust? | Gerard Baker - Times Online

There's a desultory quality to the way Republican voters are eyeing their options. A poll for The New York Times this week found that not a single one of the eight main candidates had favourable ratings above 50 per cent. The Republican field resembles a kind of faded carousel, where each gaudy horse gets a brief moment in the sun before rotating off into the shadows. First it was John McCain, then Mr Giuliani, then Mitt Romney, then Fred Thompson. Now it's Mr Huckabee. Wait a few weeks and it could be Mr Romney again.

The particular problem for the new front-runner is this. Each candidate in succession has been propelled into the glare by a lack of enthusiasm for the others. But when the light shines harshly on his own candidacy, it shows up some of the rust and wear.

Posted by evan at 12:53 PM | Permalink

Posted by evan at 1:19 AM | Permalink

The Real History and Origin of Woot and w00t

from The Lexicographer's Rules, the weblog of Grant Barrett, who also brings us the invaluable Double-Tongued Dictionary.

Posted by evan at 12:55 PM | Permalink

Posted by evan at 12:13 AM | Permalink

Posted by evan at 1:56 PM | Permalink