I am seriously disheartened by what I'm seeing take place in Murfreesboro. It's a town that I love, but I'm ashamed of what's going on down there.

Beyond what this says about how people don't get the 1st amendment, it's also helping our enemies recruit:

Taliban officials know it’s sacrilegious to hope a mosque will not be built, but that’s exactly what they’re wishing for: the success of the fiery campaign to block the proposed Islamic cultural center and prayer room near the site of the Twin Towers in lower Manhattan. “By preventing this mosque from being built, America is doing us a big favor,” Taliban operative Zabihullah tells NEWSWEEK. (Like many Afghans, he uses a single name.) “It’s providing us with more recruits, donations, and popular support.”

This bigotry is going to wind up being repaid to us ten times over in the form of American blood. The people rallying against these mosques and Islamic community centers are short-sighed and anti-American. Period.

Taliban Using Mosque Controversy to Recruit

Well, this is simply the biggest pile of crap I've seen from any gov't in a few days at least.

Philadelphia has decided that bloggers must pay for a $300 licence.

WTF. Since when did free speech so decidedly turn into "fee speech"?

If Nashville tries this, I'll send them a picture of my "special" finger.

Screw Philadelphia

Rattle wrote:
I am seriously disheartened by what I'm seeing take place in Murfreesboro. It's a town that I love, but I'm ashamed of what's going on down there.

The arson in Murfreesboro was an act of terrorism. These people are moving in a direction which will ultimately make them just as evil as the people they oppose.

Beyond what this says about how people don't get the 1st amendment, it's also helping our enemies recruit:

What Bin Lauden wanted to spark was total conflict between Islam and the west. People who believe in such a conflict walk with him, regardless of what side of it they think they're on. The politicians who have pushed this issue ought to know better.

RE: Taliban Using Mosque Controversy to Recruit

With the election of President Barack Obama, the country heralded the coming of an age in which an African-American could overcome significant historical prejudice to ascend to the presidency. But while the country celebrates this collective step forward, a Nettleton, Mississippi public school is taking a clear step back. According to Nettleton Middle School’s rules, children running for certain class officer posts must meet a specific race requirement: to be president, the child must be white.

It completely blows my mind that this is happening in 2010. Shame!

Think Progress » Mississippi Middle School Segregates Student Government Officers: Only Whites Can Run For President

Here's the quiz: if police attach a GPS device to your car and track you using that device, without having got a warrant to do so, is the Fourth Amendment violated?

And here's the issue: an Oregonian named Juan Pineda-Moreno had such a thing happen to him and was convicted of growing marijuana after police tracked his car to a suspected growing site. Pineda-Moreno appealed, citing the fact that on two occasions DEA agents placed tracking devices on his car while it was in his driveway – which he considered private, not public, property – and therefore breached his Fourth Amendment rights.

The Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals disagreed, ruling that Pineda-Moreno didn't have any signage or barriers around his property to clearly indicate that it was private property, and since "an individual going up to the house to deliver the newspaper or to visit someone would have to go through the driveway to get to the house," why couldn't the DEA? Further, the court ruled that the underside of his car isn't private because "[t]he undercarriage is part of the car's exterior, and as such, is not afforded a reasonable expectation of privacy."

Police not violating 4th Amendment by placing GPS on your car when it isn't in your garage?