What's Up, Holiday Edition

posted by gyma

Pretty good hump day considering it's a holiday for me.  WooHoo!

• Wish you could make Joe the Plumber disappear?  Or you never have to see any of Palin's or Beck's books on the bookstore shelf?  Looks like you'll not have to wait much longer.  Thumbs up, maybe.
• I'm disappointed I won't be able to see Sarah Palin at a bookstore near me.  Thumbs up.
• Sheesh.  Who knew the TSA could detain you for carrying money on an airplane?  Thumbs up for changing the rules.
• Are you desperate for work?  How does a job at McDonald's in Guantanamo sound?  I'll pass, thanks.  Thumbs down.
• We need to leave Afghanistan sooner, not later.  The GOP will not be satisfied regardless of what Obama does, so why not save some lives in the process?  Thumbs down.
• HarperCollins may have wished it never heard of Sarah Palin.  Thumbs up.
• HOAs are anti-American and I don't know why the tea partiers aren't out protesting them.  Talk about taking away freedoms!  It's unclear, exactly, what Rob did to the pasta salad, but apparently it was noteworthy.  Thumbs up for the entertainment value.
• Find out why flags are flown at half mast when someone dies.  Thumbs up.
• American Family Association (AFA) is advocating a ban on Muslims in the military.  Too scary and all that.  There's probably an entire post on this subject considering a column in today's Denver Post by Vincent Carroll claiming there's no such thing as Muslim backlash.  Ooookay.  [Check out the comments on Carroll's column.]  Thumbs down.
• Oh my - this soldier had the names of all 223 British soldiers killed in Afghanistan tattooed on his back today.  Thumbs, I dunno because I'm speechless.
• Someone over at Pundit Kitchen makes a good point.  Thumbs up.

Comments

[spork_incident]

Who knew the TSA could detain you for carrying money on an airplane?

But they can still seize any electronic device and copy the contents without a warrant (here and here.

And if you're pulled over by the cops - just regular cops - they can seize your cash and the only way to get it back is to sue. This is courtesy the asset forfeiture laws (the War on (Some) Drugs is what began the evisceration of the Fourth Amendment).

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[spork_incident]

And jeepers, teh Google has already indexed this post.

Quick, they are!

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[gyma]

And if you're pulled over by the cops - just regular cops - they can seize your cash and the only way to get it back is to sue.

Holy Shit! Note to self: limit amount of cash in purse to $20 at all times. I knew about the electronic seizures at airports, something the Obama DOJ failed to overturn.

THIS is the shit the teabaggers should be protesting and I'd probably join them.

[spork_incident]

I should clarify: It has to be a large amount of cash (though "large" is undefined). And they can seize your car, your house, pretty much anything they want so long as the police suspect you of having something to do with illicit drugs. On, and if the cops sell your car before you can sue to retrieve it you're SOL.

The Supremes (in the early 90's, IIRC) ruled this sort of thing to be Constitutional because it wasn't a "criminal" punishment but a "civil" punishment.

It takes a truly brilliant legal mind to come up with a rationalization like that.

Anyway, all the unConstitutional crap we've had since 2001 is really just a logical extension of the War on (Some) Drugs.

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