Cops fail to ask driver if he’s been drinking at DUI checkpoint

There is a lot of ignorance of the U.S. Constitution out on the streets. Consider this video made by a driver who committed the crime of asserting his Constitutional rights at a DUI checkpoint. The written account of the incident is here. More on motor vehicle checkpoints here and here. It's clear from videos like this (there are many) it is clear that there is a big difference between the law on the books and the law on the streets.

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Playing with my dog . . . and with Photoshop

Many Hollies And then I decided to redo my eyes. I use Photoshop Elements 10. It's a baby version of Photoshop, yet so packed with options that I probably only understand half of it, even after working with it for years. All of this was done with layer masks, and much of this strangeness was inspired by Sean Sharboneau. If you'd like to have some fun with your DSLR, check out his ebook and website. many irisevv - eyes in opposite

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35 Founding Father quotes conservative Christians won’t like

There are 35 of these inconvenient quotes at Addicting Information. Here are the first five:

1. “If I could conceive that the general government might ever be so administered as to render the liberty of conscience insecure, I beg you will be persuaded, that no one would be more zealous than myself to establish effectual barriers against the horrors of spiritual tyranny, and every species of religious persecution.” ~George Washington, letter to the United Baptist Chamber of Virginia, May 1789 2. “Of all the animosities which have existed among mankind, those which are caused by a difference of sentiments in religion appear to be the most inveterate and distressing, and ought to be deprecated. I was in hopes that the enlightened and liberal policy, which has marked the present age, would at least have reconciled Christians of every denomination so far that we should never again see the religious disputes carried to such a pitch as to endanger the peace of society.” ~George Washington, letter to Edward Newenham, October 20, 1792 3. “We have abundant reason to rejoice that in this Land the light of truth and reason has triumphed over the power of bigotry and superstition… In this enlightened Age and in this Land of equal liberty it is our boast, that a man’s religious tenets will not forfeit the protection of the Laws, nor deprive him of the right of attaining and holding the highest Offices that are known in the United States.” ~George Washington, letter to the members of the New Church in Baltimore, January 27, 1793 4. “The United States of America have exhibited, perhaps, the first example of governments erected on the simple principles of nature; and if men are now sufficiently enlightened to disabuse themselves of artifice, imposture, hypocrisy, and superstition, they will consider this event as an era in their history. Although the detail of the formation of the American governments is at present little known or regarded either in Europe or in America, it may hereafter become an object of curiosity. It will never be pretended that any persons employed in that service had interviews with the gods, or were in any degree under the influence of Heaven, more than those at work upon ships or houses, or laboring in merchandise or agriculture; it will forever be acknowledged that these governments were contrived merely by the use of reason and the senses.” ~John Adams, “A Defence of the Constitutions of Government of the United States of America” 1787-1788 5. “The Government of the United States of America is not in any sense founded on the Christian religion.” ~1797 Treaty of Tripoli signed by John Adams

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The seduction of positive thinking

Barbara Ehrenreich explains that positive thinking is often a bad (and dangerous) approach to facing adversity. She argues that: 1. Delusion is always a mistake; and 2. It is cruel to tell people struggling with adversity that it is all in their head (beware the central message of The Secret) Ehrenreich is not advocating doom or depression either. We tend to slip into this because we are hard-wired to be vigilant. These can also be delusional. Instead of positive thinking or depression, Ehrenreich is advocating realism. She is advocating that we take the view that we can address many of our problems with hard work.

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Peak water

From the U.K. Guardian:

In a major new essay Lester Brown, head of the Earth Policy Institute in Washington, claims that 18 countries, together containing half the world's people, are now overpumping their underground water tables to the point – known as "peak water" – where they are not replenishing and where harvests are getting smaller each year. . . "The world is seeing the collision between population growth and water supply at the regional level. For the first time in history, grain production is dropping in a geographic region with nothing in sight to arrest the decline. Because of the failure of governments in the region to mesh population and water policies, each day now brings 10,000 more people to feed and less irrigation water with which to feed them."

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