  Reprieve Doing well. Getting more sleep. Working at the AIA. Working at The Times of Trenton for a few hours tonight. I can hardly get a new post together, so let me just point you to some stories regarding the USA Patriot Act; that counter-terrorism measure passed with so much zeal following the Sept. 11 attacks. While this may make me one of those bleeding liberals who will certainly destroy the country, let me direct you to a techie Web site's story regarding urlLink non-counter-terrorism measures the Patriot Act has been used for .
Yes, it's still catching criminals, but the problem with the Patriot Act is that it lowers the standards necessary to begin and follow through with investigations. And simply for principle sake, hackers and thieves are not terrorists, so these new measures should not be used against them. Alaska has joined Hawaii and dozens of towns and cities across the United States in urlLink opposing the Patriot Act because of its questionable nature and ability to infringe on people's civil liberties. It's a growing movement. The measure came up in Philadelphia, but never went anywhere. An Alaska state congressman has ripped off a stance I had made earlier, that there is a price for freedom: Risk. This congressman noted that the United States sends its troops to fight across the globe for the rights upheld by its Constitution and Declaration of Independence, so it is the citizens' job to fight infringements on their freedoms as well.
This is just one step. A third story reports on the urlLink actions by bookstores and libraries across the nation in opposing the Patriot Act . Federal law now allows investigators to march into a library or bookstore and demand to know who is signing out or purchasing particular books. Almost like in Seven . In response, some libraries are regularly destroying their records. And finally, a fourth story written by Brian White, who wrote for the Temple News when I was running the show.
This was published in the City Paper and deals with the next Patriot Act being worked on by our friend and defender of freedom through the judicial system, John Ashcroft. OK, so that's it for now. My keyboard and mouse are dead at home, so I'm awaiting new ones from Apple. This post comes from work at the AIA. I'll be quiet for a few days and might actually read while I'm at my apartment. Probably sleep more, too. *** Snapple Fact: Los Angeles has 3 times more automobiles than people. See why I hate that city? 
