yeah, yeah, blah blah blah....everybody talks about the weather, but no one ever does anything about it.

'but what can a small smelly hobbit do but play bad electric lute for a shitty rock'n'roll band'..? (JRR Tolkein or Mick Jagger, i forget which)

as far as our vanishing liberties go - and they do - i have a friend currently in legal proceedings against the city of NY due to their police department's behavior during a peaceful protest there last year. something about an entire city block of people being rounded up and held without charge for over a day, including people who merely stuck their heads out of their apartments to see what was going on or were trying to get to their homes on the block.  when i have a moment (and if his legal team permits), i'll post his report on the ordeal. early word is that the 4th amendment & habeus corpus are DOA. more later.