Liberal Losers and Trolls (Updated)

A little while ago, I received the following comment to my post regarding the desperation with which the media are trying to cast the Tea Party as some hotbed of racially motivated violence.

Since their inception the Teaparty crowd (not a movement since they do have the numbers or clout) have been “haters not debaters”. In my opinion this is what the small portions of the republican party of “birthers, baggers and blowhards” have brought you. They are good at “Follow the Leader” of their dullard leaders, they listen to Beck, Hedgecock, Hannity, O’Reilly, Rush and Savage and the rest of the Blowhards. Are you surprise at what they do when you know what they think? The world is complicated and most republicans (Hamiliton, Lincoln, Roosevelt) believe that we should use government a little to increase social mobility, now its about dancing around the claim of government is the problem. The sainted Reagan passed the biggest tax increase in American history and as a result federal employment increased, but facts are lost when mired in mysticism and superstition. Although some republicans are trying to distant themselves from this fringe most of them are just going along and fanning the flames.

The Next Target: The Internet

Now that the Democrats have passed their abomination in an effort to control the medical industry, they’re looking at the internet and licking their chops.

Democratic Representative Ed Markey writes a piece at Politico calling for Net Neutrality — because nothing will help the internets more than getting the government to tax and regulate it and use the money to pay for high-speed access for other people.

Fourth Amendment and E-Mails

Orin Kerr at the Volokh Conspiracy discusses an Eleventh Circuit Court decision (.pdf) that drastically reduces Fourth Amendment protections for E-mails:

Last Thursday, the Eleventh Circuit handed down a Fourth Amendment case, Rehberg v. Paulk, that takes a very narrow view of how the Fourth Amendment applies to e-mail. The Eleventh Circuit held that constitutional protection in stored copies of e-mail held by third parties disappears as soon as any copy of the communication is delivered.    Under this new decision, if the government wants get your e-mails, the Fourth Amendment lets the government go to your ISP, wait the seconds it normally takes for the e-mail to be delivered, and then run off copies of your messages.

In this post, I want to explain why the Eleventh Circuit’s position is wrong.   I’ll start by explaining the argument’s origins in postal mail cases;  I’ll turn next to Rehberg; I’ll then explain why I think the decision is based on a conceptual error; and I’ll conclude with some final thoughts.

An interesting analysis for anyone who is curious about law or privacy protections. Read the whole thing here.

How to Get a Million Blog Hits

This has been around for a while, and even though I’m new to blogging, I’ve been around the blogosphere long enough to have seen it several times. I suppose it’s time to comment upon it.

I present, compliments of Robert Stacy McCain, How to Get a Million Hits on Your Blog in Less Than a Year.

The Future of the Internet

Circa 1995.

David Post at the Volokh Conspiracy brings us this tidbit from 15 years ago (1995 was 15 years ago? Holy crap!) in which Clifford Stoll at Newsweek predicts that the internet will fail.

While I think it could be argued that the popular culture that the internets has spawned could be seen as Fail, the internet as a whole is very obviously going strong. Some of Stoll’s funnier bits:

Net Neutrality for Dummies

Reason.tv presents a brief video explaining the push for “net neutrality.”

[J]ust what the hell is net neutrality—and is all that is good and holy about the Internet really imperiled if legislation guaranteeing it isn’t passed? Network neutrality is necessary, say its supporters, to make certain that all data on the Internet is treated equally and to protect users from information discrimination on the part of Internet service providers who will slow down or even block access to certain sites.

Birthers Strike Back

Red State has official banned birthers from its discussion forums and blog comments, for the same reason it has already banned 9/11 truthers: they tend to be slightly insane. Erick Erickson at Red State fills presents a birther attack on him for this move, and responds.

Facebook Pulls Prisoner-Run Intimidation Pages

I’m all for free speech, and the UK isn’t neccessarily so, but I also recognize that website have terms of service agreements, and that a website such as Facebook doesn’t constitite a protected public forum, since the server is private property. I also have no problem with Facebook deleting groups that prisoners are using to intimidate their victims.

Emergent Sentiments

It has been sugegsted to me several time sthat my interest in politics might be best channeled into a blog of some sort. I have decided to do so. Obviously, this is the result.

I’m a conservative Republican in the midst of Lawrence, Kansas. My interests include religion, history, and law. I’m a strict constitutionalist, and originalist, and my support for limited government probably makes me more libertarian than not. I consider myself a conservative because I believe in limited government and personal liberty, as well as the importance or reason.

I’m a bit of a heretic. I support same-sex marriage and the de-criminalization of victimless crimes. Bring up religion at your own peril. There are many Republicans who would probably rather not have me included in their numbers. I’d rather they not spend so much time legislating morality and working to cut government spending. I suppose it’s best to agree to disagree.

I’m doing this as an interest and (I suppose) a hobby. Posting may not be consistent for a while, and any writing I do will depend upon what else I have on my plate. Much of what I will probably post — at least at first — will consist of links to stories and editorials of interest, be them political, legal, historical, or nerd-related.Comments are welcome, as well as suggestions and input on how I’m doing.

So hopefully I won’t make to much of a fool of myself …