The Seattle PI's David Horsey lampoons US politics, Roman-style
(yes, I know it's old. It's still amusing.)
March 23rd, 2005
The Seattle PI reports that while George Bush wants to renew the PATRIOT Act (and even make it permanent), a wide-ranging coalition including Georgia Rep. Bob Barr, the ACLU, Americans For Tax Reform, the American Conservative Union and the Citizens Committee for the Right to Keep and Bear Arms has urged significant changes. Sections of the PATRIOT Act challenged by the group, "Patriots to Restore Checks and Balances", include:
- Section 213, aka the "sneak and peek" provision, allowing federal agents to secretly search people's homes and businesses without any deadline on giving notice that the intrusion had taken place, in blatant violation of the Fourth Amendment;
- Section 215, which allows federal agents to collect personal data (including medical history, library books checked out, and goods purchased) on American citizens without evidence of any connection to terrorism;
- Section 802, which defines "terrorism" so broadly that "Ordinary people trying to exercise their First Amendment rights on issues across the political spectrum might get charged as terrorists" under the law's definition.
Newly appointed US Attorney General Alberto Gonzales is quoted as saying that the PATRIOT act has been "mischaracterized" by "a small but vocal minority", and claims that not a single civil rights abuse has occurred under the PATRIOT Act. (For the right definitions of "civil", "rights", "abuse", "not", and "occurred", I'm sure.) And if you believe that, I have this bridge in Brooklyn that I can make you a GREAT deal on....
- About 1230 today, I leave the office to go grab lunch from $local_sub_shop.
- About 1250 or so, I get back and start eating my lunch.
- About 1315 or so, I'm basically done eating.
- About 1400 or shortly after, I suddenly start feeling violently ill -- light-headed and nauseous.
Coincidence? Or did something in that sub REALLY disagree with me?
I mentioned recently I was having a problem getting a few games to work on vorlon, my Athlon64 box? (The odd part is, the problems appeared to begin after I switched from the salvaged-from-whitestar, and problematic, ATA disks to an SATA disk.) Well, Microsoft still hasn't gotten anywhere solving the problem for Halo; but Ubisoft finally got me a solution to running Prince of Persia: Warrior Within .... they just sent me a no-CD hacked version of pop2.exe. No answer from them yet as far as whether they have an "official" no-CD executable for Splinter Cell: Pandora Tomorrow, but the fact that they sent me one as a fix for Prince of Persia pretty much removes any compunctions I may have had about just using a no-CD hack for Splinter Cell. (Though truth is, I was hoping they'd find a solution that didn't require a no-CD hack, in case I find myself wanting to play a game for which no no-CD hack is available.)
The bad news: All this trouble getting Prince of Persia to run .... and the game sucks! It's basically a ported videogame-arcade style "Fight-now!", "how-fast-can-you repetitively-click-button-L" game, only with better graphics and a 3D world, and like all such, it's as far as I can tell completely lame once you get past the two completely disjointed introductory movies, which have no apparent connection between them except for the lead character.
The gripping hand is, it came bundled with my motherboard, so I can't really say the game cost me anything. Anyone out there who liked Prince of Persia want a copy of Prince of Persia: Warrior Within, DVD version?
Sometimes I feel like I'm running like hell along train tracks, and as I get in sight of the city I see a luxury cruise liner leaving harbor with everyone I know on it pointing at me and laughing, and saying, "Dude. You're supposed to GET ON THE TRAIN."