Category Archives: politics
Freedom Fries: the Sequel
Reuters via MSNBC: Iran renames Danish pastries after prophet
‘Roses of the Prophet Muhammad’ is latest salvo in caricature protest
Updated: 2:52 p.m. ET Feb. 14, 2006
TEHRAN, Iran – Not content with pelting European embassies with Molotov cocktails to protest against cartoons of the Prophet Muhammad, Iranians have decided to rename the “Danish pastries†relished by this nation of cake lovers.
From now on, the sweet, flaky pastries which dominate the shelves in Iran’s cake shops will be known as “Roses of the Prophet Muhammad,†the official IRNA news agency reported as pressure on Denmark over the cartoons took on a new dimension.
“No one is allowed to make fun of our beloved and respected prophet,†Hassan Nasserzadeh, a cake shop owner in central Tehran, told Reuters.
The pastries are baked every day and are not imported or subject to any boycott of Danish goods imposed over the cartoons.
The Iranian move had echoes of the verbal food fight set off by restaurants in the U.S. House of Representatives, which renamed “French fries†and “French toast†served at the Capitol as “Freedom fries†and “Freedom toast†after France refused to back the U.S.-led invasion of Iraq in 2003.
With A Name Like Patriot Act How Can You Be Agaisnt It?
Some interesting discussion in a few places on the renewal of the Patriot Act, what kind of reviews have gone into the various parts, what non-terrorism related bills are being attached to it, and other general inside baseball stuff.
In the post A REASON TO VOTE AGAINST THE PATRIOT ACT EXTENSION Instapundit offers up this quote from the Washington Times on mission creep
A conference report by Senate and House negotiators to extend for four years provisions of the USA Patriot Act includes a comprehensive anti-methamphetamine package restricting the sale of products containing ingredients needed to cook the drug and providing new tools to police and prosecutors to combat dealers.
Sens. Jim Talent, Missouri Republican, and Dianne Feinstein, California Democrat, said the Combat Meth Act—together with anti-meth measures championed in the House—were included in the Reauthorization Conference Report filed Thursday.
… and offers his own take:
Okay, see, the problem with this is that it has nothing to do with terrorism. Putting it in the Patriot Act just reinforces my fears—present since the beginning—that this had more to do with finding an excuse to enact bureaucratic wishlists into law than with protecting us from terrorism. And Feinstein’s presence, alas, indicates that the Democrats are just as bad as the Republicans on this. Nonetheless, this is a dumb idea, it undercuts the entire rationale for the Patriot Act, and it’s a reason to be suspicious of the whole renewal enterprise.
And my inbox has been buzzing with messages from Declan McCullagh’s Politech list including Sen. Patrick Leahy’s support for extending the sunset timeline by 3 months, and his own latest piece on News.com
The Bush administration and congressional Republicans spent last week arguing that speedy approval of the larded-up “conference report” (click for PDF) was necessary to keep America safe. Attorney General Alberto Gonzales said, “I urge both houses of Congress to act promptly to pass this critical piece of legislation.”
But what Gonzales didn’t say was that the conference report has become a political version of a Christmas tree: It’s ornamented with dozens of senators’ pet projects. The result is a structure so weighty with irrelevant amendments it’s nearly twice the size of the original Patriot Act.
He goes on to list some of the more bazaar changes as well as what really hasn’t changed much.
Finally, theres this good writeup from the Nation (via Yahoo!) centered around Russ Feingold but covering some of the process and changes in the bill between the full congress and the recent conference report.
Photoshop and the Intorweb Don’t Mix
In the middle of a local political battle comes Why Photoshop hack jobs and the internet don’t mix – reason #392729.
From Politics NJ comes this little episode of an old campaign trail photo taken from the Howard Dean Presidential campaign and carefully (sort of) caressed into an image for the Bret Schundler for Governor of NJ website.
Yeah yeah, anyone looking at that 2nd image can see its been faked (at least the superimposition of Schundler into the front of the crowd) but wouldn’t it be smart to not have grabbed the source crowd from something that could fairly easily be traced back to a recent campaign from the opposing party?
Also covered in this NorthJersey.com story.
Because Diablo Means Devil
Hot off the AP wires via Sploid comes this tidbit of political [religiously?] correct Newspeak out in California. Religious Man Wants to Rename Mt. Diablo:
“Words have power, and when you start mentioning words that come from the dark side, evil thrives,” Mijares told the Contra Costa Times. “When I take boys camping on the mountain, I don’t even like to say its name. I have to explain what the name means. Why should we have a main feature of our community that celebrates the devil?”
What other words should we scratch from the English language?
Pizza Palace Knows All
$67 for a pair of double meat special pizzas? A little movie put together for the ACLU about a connected future. Kinda funny. Kinda.
