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Hurrah for New Hampshire!

The House of Representatives of that plucky little state has just passed (217-84) a bill which prohibits the state from participating in the Real ID Act, which was passed by the U.S. Congress last fall as part of a rider on a tsunami relief bill. The Real ID Act could very well be the worst piece of legislation since the PATRIOT Act, and has far-reaching privacy implications as well as a laundry list of implementation problems ranging from security concerns to a burdensome cost on all fifty states.

Because the Tenth Amendment to the Constitution (hey Congress, remember the Constitution?) specifically says that states reserve any powers and authority not specifically granted to the federal government. This is just such a case, but of course the Department of Homeland Insecurity is strong-arming the states and waving the War on Terror flag as part of their arguments why the Real ID Act will “make America safer”.

I sincerely hope that the New Hampshire Senate passes the bill so it becomes law, and that more states follow their lead. It’s about time someone stood up for the rights of 270 million citizens.

Seen on Fark.

“When we got into office, the thing that surprised me the most was that things were as bad as we’d been saying they were.”

— John F. Kennedy

Our neighbors bought a copy of King Kong on DVD and loaned it to us this week. Laralee wanted to watch it; I wasn’t very excited about it but decided to humor her.

If I had to describe the movie in a word, that word would be

SUCKED

The first hour was pretty good– lots of suspense, wondering what mystery awaits our heroes, as well as some interesting character development. Then we hit the second hour, which was like a journey to Land of the Lost, with cheesy dinosaurs and even cheesier giant bugs and creepy-crawlies attacking our heroes in a non-stop tide of overdone special effects. The third hour recovered a little, but you just wanted to scream at the characters because of how inane they were being. When Kong finally fell a hundred stories to his death, I can’t say I shed a tear… except maybe the tears of happiness that the movie was finally over.

Ugh.

The House of Representatives Government Reform Committee issued its annual Federal Computer Security Report Card, and let’s say the Gov isn’t doing so well when it comes to security. The complete summary, shown below, indicates that the federal government in general rates a miserable D+ in the arena of protecting their computers.

There are some departments and agencies who appear to do quite well, but the entire right-hand column is staggeringly abysmal. The Department of Defense and the Department of Homeland Security both scored failing grades… they’re some of the worst offenders, and ironically they probably have the most sensitive information to protect!

Amazing.

From today’s New York Times:

Shocking, simply shocking. Not only are things pretty bad in Iraq, but problems aren’t being discussed by the “upbeat” people running the show.

This is an amazing rainbow photo sent to Kyra by my dad.

Credits to Dan Bush of Albany, Missouri.

To mark Apple Computer’s 30th anniversary, the question was posed: what sorts of products will Apple develop in the next 30 years?

As a follow-up to yesterday’s news about the immigration bill in the Senate, it looks like a few of our esteemed senators have had a sudden inexplicable infusion of brain cells, and voted down the measure 60-38.

Today’s tally:

Supporters of immigration reform : 0
Common sense : 1

The coolest picture you’ll see today:

A photo from the International Space Station showing the total solar eclipse of March 29 as the shadow of the moon passes over Turkey.