Gnorb.NET

The outgoing Republican chairman of a key U.S. Senate committee has made a last-minute attempt at giving the Bush administration what he calls the necessary “resources” for carrying out its phone call and Internet surveillance within the law…

Read the rest at Orange Politics.

Ok, so the election has passed and I can now get back to regular blogging, right? Actually, the election’s been over for a while and I’ve just needed a break from real blogging (as if I’ve ever actually done any of that before). At any rate, it’s (about darn) time for another episode of Le Linkage! Today’s episode features all sorts of stuff, random bits I’ve been saving for the past few weeks. Like all Le Linkage episodes, I recommend you bookmark this then visit it whenever you’re bored or (hopefully) when you need something useful.

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Always a topic for heated debate, my good friend Kappy is doing some research on the use of capital punishment and is asking for opinions on the matter. If you’re interested in this topic, check out some of the replies to her queries, including a quasi-incoherent (and long) response from yours truly. If you don’t answer there (or don’t have a MySpace profile so you can’t answer there) feel free to post your opinions on the matter here.

I was going to post this a bit later (since I already did something similar), but in light of the recent news, I’ve decided to eulogize the great Rumsfeld’s career as Secretary of Defense in the only way I knew how.

I present to you… Donald Rumsfeld, Kung-Fu Master.

As you’ve probably heard by now, last night the Democrats picked up a fair-sized majority (26 seats) in the US House of Representatives. Meanwhile, the Senate is still locked at 49/49 with two undecided races (Montana, Virginia). As you can probably guess, I’m rooting for the Democrats to win those. I’d like to again see a day where the government is working in the best interest of the people instead of its own best interest, and the only way to do that is to have people who are not affraid of standing up against what they feel is wrong. Frankly, I’d like to see a day when the senate is split 100 ways, with each candidate standing up for what is right in the eyes of their constituency, but for now I’ll take what I can get.

In Florida, things turned out OK. Republican Charlie Crist has won the office of Governor, which means things should stay about the same as they are now, but with less backbone. Although I would have rather another conservative won (Max Linn, who got a smaller percentage of the vote in this election, 2%, than Nader did in the national election in 2000, 4%), I’m not sad to see him take office, no matter how creepy I think he is. (Yes, I think he’s closet gay, which would explain why he’s been married only once, for 6 months, as well as those weird vibes he gives out; then again he may just be a model for the Nietzsche “Over man”, but I doubt it.) I would have preferred to see a more bi-partisan group take office, but only one Democrat, Alex Sink, made her way into the Republican fortress in Tallahassee. Still, I’m overall happy.

I’m not happy that all of the amendments proposed passed. Why we’re determining funding for anti-tobacco education in the frigg’n constitution I have no idea, but I guess people want to feel better about themselves, and this is a way to do it.

On the other hand, I’m glad the constitution is now harder to amend, the only drawback to which will likely be that amendments will now be written as simple-language propaganda, like the two-second sound-bite politics which have developed over time. Remember that because of 30-second commercials and FCC regulations, we went from “It’s the economy, stupid” in 1992 to “Stay the Course” and “Cut & Run” in 2006. It wouldn’t surprise me if by 2036, political slogans consist of single monosyllabic statements like “Ugh!” (which is short for “We’re sick of this, time for change”), “Yes!” (short for “Keep things the way they are because we actually like them! 4 More years!”), and the most popular “Eh?” (short for “what the hell is going on here? Why do we have to choose between the lesser of two idiots?”). That last one is what 80% of people will be asking, before they’re indoctrinated into the “Ugh” or “Yes” camp, convinced that a vote for “Eh?” is throwing their vote away. “I’m a Yes that swings to the Ugh for time to time,” political pseudo-elites will thoughtfully state.

Finally, I’m actually a bit ticked off at both Broward and Dade counties. Voter turn out, people! It’s a friggn’n election, the most important in a long time, and all we can muster up is 44% of voters in Broward and 36% in Dade? Do you realize that “majority” decisions were made by little more than 20% of all registered voters? See, now this is why we need more political parties. That won’t happen, however, until we finally admit we need both a run-off system and, to a certain extent, publicly funded elections. (I’m partial to the idea, but I don’t want to take the right of an individual to donate to a political campaign away from people.)

Ok, I’m done. Enjoy your government.