The husband often jokes that he would die without internet access.

An independent Cuban journalist, Guillermo Fariñas, apparently agrees.

But he's not joking. Far from it.

Visit Fausta's Blog for more information on how you can help save Guillermo's life.

(technorati tags: Guillermo Fariñas, internet)

Posted by: Kathy at 09:43 AM | Comments (1) | Add Comment
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Or, more accurately, the Texas Alcoholic Beverage Commission.

SAN ANTONIO, Texas (Reuters) - Texas has begun sending undercover agents into bars to arrest drinkers for being drunk, a spokeswoman for the Texas Alcoholic Beverage Commission said on Wednesday.

The first sting operation was conducted recently in a Dallas suburb where agents infiltrated 36 bars and arrested 30 people for public intoxication, said the commission's Carolyn Beck.

Being in a bar does not exempt one from the state laws against public drunkeness, Beck said.

The goal, she said, was to detain drunks before they leave a bar and go do something dangerous like drive a car.

"We feel that the only way we're going to get at the drunk driving problem and the problem of people hurting each other while drunk is by crackdowns like this," she said.{...}

{my emphasis}

Gee. I'm surprised you just didn't post agents in the parking lot and then call the cops so you could have had the DWI revenue. Really. You're shortchanging everyone by enforcing public intoxication laws, instead of going for the much more lucrative DWI charge. Where on earth is next month's donut money ever going to come from if not for the social drinkers who blew just over .08? Oh, wait. You're the Texas Alcoholic Beverage Commission. You're not the police. What did you do? Just drop these hardened criminals off at the local police station and then instruct them to do the processing? I'll bet they just loved that, didn't they? A night's revenue...pissed down the drain in the holding unit at the local jail.

YEEHAW! That thar is some successful law enforcement!

Who knew that Texas, of all states, would turn out to be the next nanny state?

We all know this isn't about drinking, or even drinking and driving, but rather is part of a push for neo-prohibition, right? Don't believe me? Read this and see if you change your tune. (Read the whole thing.) DWI laws do nothing to stop drunk drivers. Trust me on this one. I know.

Posted by: Kathy at 12:17 AM | Comments (5) | Add Comment
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So, I don't have much for you this morning, my devoted Cake Eater readers, other than some interesting reading that should keep you occupied for a while.

• We have John Fund's latest entry on the Taliban Yalie from yesterday's Opinion Journal. It's windy, but it's quite good.
• There are two Hitchens pieces you NEED to read. The Stone Face of Zarqawi and My Ideal War (Jeff Goldstein has further thoughts on the latter piece.)

  I always find it heartening to read Hitch because he's so damn clear whereas others---whether they mean to or not---often obfuscate matters.

That should keep you busy for the time being.

UPDATE: And now for something completely different...

...a cache of over four hundred videos that is so freakin' wonderful I don't know where to begin.

A small sampling to tempt the palate:

General Public's Tenderness

The Fixx: One Thing Leads to Another

Psychedelic Furs: Love My Way

INXS: What You Need (It's off the Listen Like Thieves album which, just for some Cake Eater trivia, I still have on vinyl at the folks' house.)

For Mr. H., who remembers this video vividly, we have Berlin's Sex (I'm A)

For a bit of a Top 40 guilty pleasure, The Hooters' And We Danced

David and David's Welcome to the Boomtown (Curiously enough, I've heard this song about a thousand times, but I've never seen the video before now.)

Talking Heads Wild, Wild Life, which features a very young, relatively skinny, John Goodman.

I could go on, but go and explore for yourselves.

{Hat Tip: RP}

Posted by: Kathy at 09:57 AM | Comments (2) | Add Comment
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The husband and I just returned from a walk wherein he laid down a simple precept that he believes ought to become the law of the land.

Ahem.

NO LAWYERS SHOULD BE ALLOWED IN ANY LEGISLATIVE BODY.

The quick and dirty explanation:

1. The husband believes there are too many laws on the books. He believes that if legislators (read Congresspeople) keep trying to solve every problem by passing a law, the United States Code will soon collapse under its own weight.

2. Hence, lawyers, who have an interest in making sure there are laws to enforce or work around---depending upon which side you take---are not the people who should be passing and enacting laws. It's, ultimately, a conflict of interest, the way the husband sees it.

3. Therefore no lawyers, practicing or otherwise, should be allowed to run for Congress---or any other legislative body. The husband does not believe this to be discriminatory because there are age and citizenship limits already in place for these very same offices. QED

Discuss.

Posted by: Kathy at 03:44 PM | Comments (7) | Add Comment
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Do you really need more evidence that blocking the ports deal was a bad idea?

How's about this: "Arab Central Banks Move Assets Out of Dollar"

{...} Middle Eastern anger over the decision by the US to block a Dubai company from buying five of its ports hit the dollar yesterday as a number of central banks said they were considering switching reserves into euros.

The United Arab Emirates, which includes Dubai, said it was looking to move one-tenth of its dollar reserves into euros, while the governor of the Saudi Arabian central bank condemned the US move as "discrimination".

Separately, Syria responded to US sanctions against two of its banks by confirming plans to use euros instead of dollars for its external transactions.

The remarks combined to knock the dollar, which fell against the euro, pound and yen yesterday as analysts warned other central banks might follow suit.{...}

Oh well done, Congress. You should be proud of yourselves.

Here's my question to all you eager beaver Congresspeople: you blocked the ports deal---and Republicans in particular betrayed their President---for cheap electoral gains. Are you brilliant Congresspeople ready to face an electoral wrath if the dollar tanks, and inflation booms?

Because the President is safe from that sort of scrutiny this time around.

You brilliant Congresspeople, however, aren't.

{Hat tip: Martini Boy, who has further thoughts, as do his commenters.}

Posted by: Kathy at 01:57 PM | Comments (1) | Add Comment
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Congresspeople are thinking above their pay grades. Again.

WASHINGTON - In a congressional election-year repudiation of
President Bush, a House panel dominated by Republicans voted overwhelmingly Wednesday to block a Dubai-owned firm from taking control of some U.S port operations. Democrats clamored for a vote in the Senate, too.

By 62-2, the House Appropriations Committee voted to bar DP World, run by the government of Dubai in the United Arab Emirates, from holding leases or contracts at U.S. ports. The landslide vote was the strongest signal yet that more than three weeks of White House efforts to stunt congressional opposition to the deal have not been successful.{...}

{my emphasis}

Or you could rephrase that bit in bold to read: "The lanslide vote was the strongest signal yet that in more than three weeks of Congressional electoral grandstanding that the White House has yet to cave to these morons' demands." It just all depends upon how you want to look at it.

{Insert best, booming Ron Popeil Voice Here}

But wait, there's more...

{...}Raising the stakes, the panel attached the ports language to a must-pass $91 billion measure financing hurricane recovery and wars in
Iraq and Afghanistan. The committee was to approve the entire bill late Wednesday and the full House could consider that measure as early as next week.{...}

I do so enjoy interparty blackmail, don't you? Keeps things lively.

/sarcasm.

If the GOP really is the party of national security; the party that will keep our country safe, well, one might think they, ahem, might actually want to achieve that goal. Alienating the UAE so Congresspeople can look like they're tough on terror in their primaries this spring and actual races this fall is the height of stupidity, and as I've written previously, is actually more damaging to our national security than this port deal ever will be.

Posted by: Kathy at 09:59 PM | No Comments | Add Comment
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