In four plus years of office, George W Bush has not vetoed a single bill passed by Congress.
If you look at the table of Presidential Vetoes, the only other President to do so was President Garfield, who died four months into his presidency.
Category: Politics
American Airlines asking about your friends
From Cory Doctorow:
Why is American Airlines gathering written dossiers on fliers’ friends?
Last week on a trip from London to the US, American Airlines demanded that I write out a list of the names and addresses of all the friends I would be staying with in the USA. They claimed that this was due to a TSA regulation, but refused to state which regulation required them to gather this information, nor what they would do with it once they’d gathered it. I raised a stink, and was eventually told that I wouldn’t have to give them the requested dossier because I was a Platinum AAdvantage Card holder (e.g., because I fly frequently with AA).
How long until there’s a multiple-choice quiz followed by an essay section you have to pass before you’re allowed on an airline?
Unintentional consequences of amendment
From WCPO News:
Some attorneys are attempting to use Ohio’s new gay marriage amendment to defend unmarried clients against domestic violence charges.
The constitutional amendment took effect on December first. It denies legal status to unmarried couples.
In at least two cases last week, the Cuyahoga County public defender’s office has asked a judge to dismiss domestic-violence charges against unmarried defendants. The attorneys in the two cases argue that the charges violate the amendment by affording marriage-like legal status to unmarried victims who live with the people accused of attacking them.
Advocates for victims of domestic violence have worried about the effect of the amendment since it passed in November. They fear defense attorneys around the state will copy the tactic used in Cuyahoga County.
Of course, the the victim could still press charges for assault even if this defense works, but it would curtail the ability of a third party, usually the state, to press charges even if the victim refuses.
The FUTURE is NOW
Ad Critic has a humorous commercial from the ACLU on the loss of privacy in the future.
While the ad is full of hyperbole, we can see corporations today using vast databases of information about you to their advantage, so the idea of those databases being combined into a commonly accessed one isn’t as impossible as it first sounds.
Is the great terrorist threat overrated?
The Los Angeles Times asks that question in their on-line article entitled, “Is Al Qaeda Just a Bush Boogeyman?“.