Ducks' Sleep Mode

Had some company last weekend, so we rented a pontoon boat down at the lake, for an afternoon. Bought a lot of beer and a lot of BBQ. Cranked up the engine and headed off onto the water.

Our first stop was the osprey nest where I took the previously posted pix, but nobody was home. We chugged about 100 yards down the shore and parked in a little cove. Within seconds, a bald eagle jumped out of the trees near us and flew away. Then, a few minutes later, another one did the same. Then, a few minutes later, an immature bald eagle flew over us. Wild. Those things are HUGE, close up.

Over the course of the afternoon we saw an uncountable number of great blue heron, some angry red-winged blackbirds and, a bunch more osprey - and we got to see some of the osprey diving to snatch fish out of the water.

All this just two miles from our house. Incredible.

No pix, however. An iPhone camera just can't focus fast enough to catch an eagle on the wing.

The Squirrel King!

Toddlers Killed More Americans Than Terrorists Did This Year

StarTribune.com:

"I’m on the Judiciary committee and the Judiciary committee has jurisdiction (over) N.S.A. and on (Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act) and the Patriot Act," he said. "I availed myself of these briefings so nothing surprised me and the architecture of these programs I was very well aware of."
...
"I think there should be enough transparency that the American people understand what is happening...But I can assure you that this isn’t about spying on the American people."
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"There are certain things that are appropriate for me to know that’s not appropriate for the bad guys to know," he said. "Anything that quote the American people know, the bad guys know so there's a line here, right? And there's a balance that has to be struck between the responsibility of the federal government to protect the American people and then people’s right to privacy. We have safeguards in place …The American people can’t know everything because everything they know then, the bad guys will know."
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"I have a high level of confidence, that it is used…to protect us and I know that it has been successful in preventing terrorism," he said.
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"We haven’t quite hit the exact balance we want to," he said. "I have been for more transparency and I actually co-sponsored legislation to require the FISA court to release their opinions on why they’ve decided the way they have."

Al Franken seems like a fairly credible source, to me. Nothing I've ever read of his, or watched him do, makes him seem like the kind of person who wouldn't call BS if this was everything its critics are claiming.

Reality : the annoying obstacle course I navigate while searching for a place to sit and browse on my iPhone.

Putting 14 Year Olds Out Of Work

This is the terms of service agreement for iPhone "Genius" for Apps.

I wonder if anyone has made it all the way to page 53....

I generally dislike complaints about how the evil federal government is sucking-up all of our personal info, movements, associations and contacts and using that info for nefarious purposes. Except when they're posted to Facebook via iPhone by someone sitting in Cuppa-Joe in Raleigh, and liked by all that person's friends, and it's followed by an ad for my favorite brand of Scotch. Then, it's funny.

July 3, 2008, Barack Obama: My Position On FISA.

I want to take this opportunity to speak directly to those of you who oppose my decision to support the FISA compromise.

This was not an easy call for me. I know that the FISA bill that passed the House is far from perfect. I wouldn't have drafted the legislation like this, and it does not resolve all of the concerns that we have about President Bush's abuse of executive power. It grants retroactive immunity to telecommunications companies that may have violated the law by cooperating with the Bush administration's program of warrantless wiretapping. This potentially weakens the deterrent effect of the law and removes an important tool for the American people to demand accountability for past abuses. That's why I support striking Title II from the bill, and will work with Chris Dodd, Jeff Bingaman and others in an effort to remove this provision in the Senate.

But I also believe that the compromise bill is far better than the Protect America Act that I voted against last year. The exclusivity provision makes it clear to any president or telecommunications company that no law supersedes the authority of the FISA court. In a dangerous world, government must have the authority to collect the intelligence we need to protect the American people. But in a free society, that authority cannot be unlimited. As I've said many times, an independent monitor must watch the watchers to prevent abuses and to protect the civil liberties of the American people. This compromise law assures that the FISA court has that responsibility.

etc..