Author: Ruby Sinreich

“Why do we tolerate the men who use nuclear weapons to blackmail the entire human race?”
– Arundhati Roy

Panhandlers = terrorists ?
Apparently so, according to one of the two Oaks residents who spoke in favor of this ordinance Monday night. I think it’s time for Cary to annex the Oaks. Please thank the Town Council for only saying “maybe” (big thanks to Mark and Flicka for simply saying “no”).
Read Chapel Hill News, Chapel Hill Herald, and News & Observer coverge, and an excellent Chapel Hill News editorial.

C.H.News: “Chapel Hill by its lenient policies attracts more flies to its honeypot as other communities limit their honey,” said Edmund Wise, who called aggressive panhandlers “a group of minor terrorists.”

Comedian Adam Felber’s blog, called Fanatical Apathy, is much funnier than mine.

George is screwing the gummint up faster than you can say “civil liberties.” Is it too late to emigrate?

Bush called for the creation of a new cabinet department for domestic defense that would combine 22 federal agencies into a single one intended to prevent attacks against the United States.

I can’t believe it’s not The Onion. Apparently, transvestitism is a powerful weapon against western military force.

Startled marines find Afghan men all made up to see them
Chris Stephen In Bagram
British marines returning from an operation deep in the Afghan mountains spoke last night of an alarming new threat – being propositioned by swarms of gay local farmers. An Arbroath marine, James Fletcher, said: “They were more terrifying than the al-Qaeda.”

MoodStats.com is software to track your personal condition daily so you can generate graphs and compare with your friends. I’m going to see if I can statistically prove my PMS…

Linux as a tool for grassroots, low-income community organizing.

New York Times editorial: Misdirected Snooping Doesn’t Stop Terror

When Attorney General John Ashcroft announced last week that he has freed F.B.I. agents from restrictions on counterterrorism investigations, he no doubt hoped to ease the concerns of Americans alarmed by F.B.I. blunders before Sept. 11. But the mistakes that kept the F.B.I. from picking up on hints of the violence to come arose from a failure of vision, not an absence of legal authority. The agency needs to focus on terrorist crime; it doesn’t need to indulge in wasteful and undemocratic monitoring of legitimate political and religious activity.

I just had a moment that I need to share. I was walking home from the gym at about 11 am today – because it’s a yellow ozone day so I’m not driving – and the Town of Carrboro has got massive sprinklers running on their lawn. Aren’t we supposed to be good little OWASA consumers and be conserving water right now? That lawn doesn’t even get direct sun, and they’re watering in the middle of the day? So much for leading by example.
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