New WTC

...redesigned yet AGAIN, and Liebeskind is pretty much out of the picture, but I like this one. Big. Bold. No twisty crap. No smaller towers. Beam of light to shine out the top. Ok, that's something I can learn to like.

The building, which has been dubbed "The Freedom Tower" by Pataki, will remain 1,776 feet, symbolizing the year the United States declared its independence.

It would be almost 100 feet taller than the Taipei 101 Tower in Taiwan, currently the tallest building in the world.

It also will retain a spire, containing a 400-foot broadcast antenna which will emit light at night and is intended to echo the Statue of Liberty's torch.

The public observation deck will be at 1,362 feet, the height of old South Tower, while a glass wall will rise 1,368 feet, the height of the old North Tower.

And the fact that it looks a bit like flippin' the middle finger to the terrorists is nice, too.

More SCOTUS goodness....

Well, at the end of this year's session for the Supreme Court, a mixed bag:

• Split on the two Ten Commandments cases
• Groskter's gonna get crushed for promoting copyright infringement on their file-sharing network
• Your local police can't be sued for non-enforcement of a restraining order (can I have my permit to carry concealed now?)
• And a swift "bite in the ass" of someone filing a request to use the "eminent domain" ruling to build a hotel on Justice Souter's house. Doomed to fail, but hilarious! :)
  

On Monday June 27, Logan Darrow Clements, faxed a request to Chip Meany the code enforcement officer of the Towne of Weare, New Hampshire seeking to start the application process to build a hotel on 34 Cilley Hill Road. This is the present location of Mr. Souter's home.

Clements, CEO of Freestar Media, LLC, points out that the City of Weare will certainly gain greater tax revenue and economic benefits with a hotel on 34 Cilley Hill Road than allowing Mr. Souter to own the land.

Home "ownership"?

Suprise. SCOTUS hits another home run....local governments are now free to sieze your property under "eminent domain" for PRIVATE use now, not just roads and schools (public use things).

The 5-4 ruling represented a defeat for some Connecticut residents whose homes are slated for destruction to make room for an office complex. They argued that cities have no right to take their land except for projects with a clear public use, such as roads or schools, or to revitalize blighted areas.

As a result, cities have wide power to bulldoze residences for projects such as shopping malls and hotel complexes to generate tax revenue.

I've got enough "collapse of our democracy" stuff for a whole page on this website. Hey, that's a good idea. That way we're not suprised when the revolution comes. :)

So, what's *your* tax burden?

Not that I'm claiming to be an expert on taxes, but the fact that now a THIRD of Americans owe no taxes under our current system...ya think that might just be part of the problem? (Someone tell the liberals you can't cut taxes any more for the poor...that's called GIVING them money. Cut the rest of us a break!)

Tax Foundation economists estimate that for tax year 2004, a record 42.5 million Americans who filed a tax return (one-third of the 131 million returns filed last year) had no tax liability after they took advantage of their credits and deductions. Millions more paid next to nothing.

I have one thing to say about that. FairTax.

Rock climing....kick ass!

So....first time *seriously* rock climing yesterday, and it was very cool. Think I'll be heading back soon. Remember, kids....I bitch about lots of political stuff, and sure, I'll geek out and stand in line for Star Wars tickets for 3 days....but you gotta get out and LIVE a bit too.

Later this summer: skydiving! (maybe, ha)

Our government is now COMPLETELY OFF THE DEEP END.

(Canada, or anywhere, is SERIOUSLY looking better...but I just finished unpacking in the new house.) In today's "WTF?" category....the guys you voted for (or at least 51% of you did) have gone completely mad. First, they're trying to approve expanded powers for the oft-hated Patriot Act, so the FBI can write their stuff WITHOUT a court.

The FBI would get expanded powers to subpoena records without the approval of a judge or grand jury in terrorism investigations under Patriot Act revisions approved Tuesday by the Senate Intelligence Committee.

And now today, they "suddenly" decide not to bust the chops of the tobacco industry, without explanation?

After eight months of courtroom argument, Justice Department lawyers abruptly upset a landmark civil racketeering case against the tobacco industry yesterday by asking for less than 8 percent of the expected penalty. [$10 billion of the previously expected $130 billion]

How can you possibly vote for this crap in the next election? Do we LIKE being governed by insane/corrupt/warmongering/idiotic people? I truly hope America can do better than this. Really. Please?

UPDATE: Let's give some more taxpayer money to former Enron executives for a new project! Great idea!

SCOTUS flips the bird to 'checks and balances'. WTF?

So much for states' rights and the 10th Amendment....oh, and all you pothead...er, "medical marjuana" users are screwed too. The Supreme Court has (sadly) ruled that the federal government can override state laws at whim, apparently. Democracy dies more than a little today:

"Respondents... use marijuana that has never been bought or sold, that has never crossed state lines, and that has had no demonstrable effect on the national market for marijuana. If Congress can regulate this under the Commerce Clause, then it can regulate virtually anything - and the Federal Government is no longer one of limited and enumerated powers" - Justice Thomas, dissenting in Gonzales v. Raich

No, I haven't quit blogging yet...

Long time, no blog. I've been wrapping up the year-long project at work, sitting in line for Star Wars tickets, and white-water rafting...sorry, as much as I love the world of technology, I gotta get out and enjoy life once in a while, right? :)

So, a few mobile pics on the right, and I'm wrapping up 2 photo sets: the 2nd half of the Star Wars pictures, and hopefully some ones from the rafting trip. If you haven't been white-water rafting, I *highly* recommend!