This incredibly creepy and I don’t know exactly why.

A company called LifeGem will create an artificial diamond out of the remains of your dearly departed and mount it in a ring or a pendant so that “Love lives on”. Apparently some people find this appealing.

Ooooooookay. I mean, why not just wear a shrunken head around your neck?

Both sides have come out to play. On the same day I read about Rush Limbaugh interviewing Dick Cheney and on the next page was a piece about the stalled investigation into Rush’s drug use.

Rush’s few months at the posh detox center seems to have worked well for him and he’s back to his jolly, red-faced ranting self. I’m happy for him. Seriously, I’ve seen too many people who have had their lives messed up by their drug addictions. It’s not something you would wish on anyone.

Unfortunately, neither Rush or his listeners seem to have learned the lesson here. No, not “Just say no.” The real lesson.

Drug treatment works better then incarceration.

Sure, drugs can really mess up a kids life, but not nearly as bad as spending five years in jail can. No one in their right mind can claim that things would have worked out better for Rush if he had been sent to a state prison for five years under mandatory sentencing laws. The phrase “Squeal like a pig!” comes to mind.

Of course, reality can not penetrate the mindset of a fanatic — even when it is based on direct experience. What are the odds that Rush and his listeners will learn from his first-hand experience and begin advocating treatment programs as a less expensive and more effective alternative to incarceration?

Nah! Rush and his listeners will undoubtedly continue to demonize drug users and insist on stiffer and stuffer penalties for those caught with illegal drugs, and probably never even be aware of the contradiction.

My friend Sajjad is reporting on the quake, its after effects, and the relief efforts in Pakistan.

It’s more interesting and important than anything I have to say right now. Take a look at his Blog at http://www.sajjadzaidi.com/

The ACLU is suing the US Justice Department over the Patriot Act. No one knows exactly what the lawsuit is about because the Justice Department will not allow the ACLU’s filings to be publicly disclosed and has banned the ACLU from discussing the details. The portions of the filing that have been disclosed have been heavily redacted (blacked out as to be unreadable.)

Now, to me the whole idea that the government has the right to ban the disclosure of the public challenge from a non-governmental source to the constitutionality of federal law strikes me as profoundly anti-American. However, the Justice department has steadfastly insisted this secrecy is needed for reasons of National Security. (As is explaining exactly why they are a threat to national security.)

When the Justice Department tried to redact a quotation from a Supreme Count decision, however, that particular redaction was overtured. The passage in question was

“The danger to political dissent is acute where the Government attempts to act under so vague a concept as the power to protect ‘domestic security.’ Given the difficulty of defining the domestic security interest, the danger of abuse in acting to protect that interest becomes apparent.”

Orwell and Vonnegut together could not have come up with something this absurd.

The government is abusing its power to classify information to classify information warning of the danger of government abusing its power to classify information.

More information here