An Interesting Day in the Media

I'm a news junkie, and today the habit is getting fed with some very interesting news.

First up, a US Federal Judge has ruled that President Bush's NSA surveillance program is unconstitutional, and in even simpler language, flat-out illegal. This is a slight sign of sanity from the US, and I am actually rejoicing in the news. Bush has long held himself above the law, aruging he can do whatever the hell he wants with the pretext of fighting terrorism. I read a lot about his eavesdropping program and it seemed clearly illegal, but I had about given up on the US ever reigning the Bush adminstration in. Well, it doesn't get much clearer than the judge's words: The program "violates the separation of powers doctrine, the Administrative Procedures Act, the First and Fourth amendments to the United States Constitution, the FISA and Title III." Hell yeah! Finally it's clear that actual freedom counts for something in the US, and that turning into a police state to fight terrorism is no victory for actual freedom. It's time to impeach George Bush, a fitting end to the worst presidency in US history.

Second, I lived down in Boulder when a little girl named Jon Benet Ramsey was murdered. It was huge mainstream news and tabloid fodder for years. We all speculated about the case--I used to ride my bike by the house regularly on the way up to the mountains, it was beyond weird. Today some psycho teaching school in Thailand confessed to the murder. It all seems a bit weird to me and I'm curious what actually happens in the long run, but if true this confession answers some questions and removes the huge cloud of suspicion that had lingered over the heads of her parents.

Now it's time to go climbing, but the net is pretty damn interesting this morning.