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"Your honor, I was frisking the individual to determine whether or not he had a dangerous weapon on him as allowed by Terry v. Ohio. On feeling his front right pocket I felt a hard slim object that in my professional judgment could have been a knife. I removed it based on that belief and discovered that it was instead a spoon with charring on the bowl. This gave me probable cause to suspect the use of narcotics, and so I initiated a full search based on the requirements set forth in the Fourth Amendment."

Of course, 9 times out of 10, the cop doesn't have to use such subterfuge. It's amazing how many people give consent to "do you mind if I look inside your car?" (Always. ALWAYS tell them that you do not give consent. Even if you know you don't have anything illegal, say no.)

Plus remember that unless it's a traffic stop with the cop's dash cam rolling, it's again your word against the cop's as to whether or not he searched you legally. He can search you, find contraband, and then claim he saw evidence of it prior to the search, giving him probable cause. And even if there's a dash cam vid that shows this didn't happen, in many departments, by astonishing coincidence the dash cam "fails" right at the moment that your defense attorney is interested in.

In fact in some cases there were multiple squad cars, and all of the cars experienced an amazingly coincidental dash cam failure at the critical moment. Funny how that happens.

( http://www.myfoxboston.com/dpp/news/local/police-dash-cameras-not-operational-during-dj-henry-student-shooting-25-apx-20101103
http://www.wtopnews.com/?nid=708&sid=1938732
http://www.wtop.com/?nid=428&sid=1116072 )

The bottom line is that (and you can verify this by reading the forums at officer.com) whether you are innocent or not, cops assume you're guilty, and they assume you're lying to them. This then puts them into the mindset of "I'm gonna get that goddamn dirtbag (that is a term they use, and not just in bad movies, also verifiable on officer.com) if it's the last thing I do," and so even some cops who aren't specifically out to harass innocent civilians end up doing so because they don't view us as innocent, and think the ends of getting another dirtbag off the street justify the illegal means of doing it.

Whoa, I don't remember hearing about that. Have a link? ...or pictures?

Reported in this article: http://www.wtopnews.com/?nid=105&sid=1970796

This would mean that corporations and unions and foreign individuals could no longer contribute to any candidate because those entities cannot cast a vote.

It's already illegal. Corporations are barred from donating to any specific candidate... BUT they can donate all they want to a party fund.

That doesn't prevent it from happening....Members of those organizations can donate, so corporations tent to find a way to make sure their members "volunteer" to donate all that money. It's been done before, it'll be done again.

Example.

According to this it was a Data General main frame from the 1980s and not from the 1970s. Anyone know what model?

http://www.wtopnews.com/?sid=1657033&nid=25

Good riddance! I hope it ALL comes out now and that anyone in Congress who engineered the mortgage meltdown has their lives ruined.

I agree, if the Greek for-fathers of the Olympics saw the circus show their creation has become they would be horrified. It's not supposed to be about money and politics and kicking people out of their homes. http://www.wtopnews.com/?nid=393&sid=1304256

>>> Point to me any instance of the Catholic church not paying taxes that the law has designated for it to pay.

How about me pointing you to instances of the church trying like hell not to pay judgements against it for the conduct of its employees (priests) against little kids?

Here's a starter: http://www.wtopnews.com/?nid=104&sid=1066238 - they're trying to declare bankruptcy, which would wash-out all the subsequent cases from court before they're even -heard-, and the judge is saying "no way".

Let Ratzy flow some $$$ back across the Atlantic THIS way to cover his debts instead of always pulling it toward rome (the dead Wojtyla should have done the same thing).

Another city in California found *real* pipe bombs when draining an aqueduct. And they didn't panic, either. There's a difference between taking the threat seriously and shutting down the city out of fear. They should take it seriously, but calm down once they know they're fake.

Like I said, every time you panic, the terrorists win.

>while our pet interest might be in technology, we can't let that drive our vote. It's an important issue category, but it's only one of many and on many other counts these people may be doing quite a poor job.

Absolutely. George Allen's background on racial issues. George Allen and free speech. On that last incident, Allen tried to blame the blogger for getting choked and slammed to the floor.

In the DC/Baltimore region, there's WTOP on 103.5FM and 820AM for news traffic and weather (traffic is every 10mins on the 8's). Alternatively, if one must use a phone to check traffic status, several states have implemented the 511 phone number for checking traffic (in Virginia, this is useful for checking screw ups on the western side of the DC beltway; Maryland has yet to implement this, although their CHART system has an [autodetected] text-only mode for cell phone browsing).

What this feature would really be good for is on their main mapping service that could be checked before leaving to jump into some random traffic mess. Yahoo's maps beta system, while attempting to poorly mimic Google maps, has such a feature (and thus makes it somewhat of a useful service for the time being).

Great. So here I go, getting a 4-Informative for sitting around licking Ballmer's balls, and what do I get in return?

Wonderful.

Incidentally, I had never seen a picture of her before. She definitely has a face for radio. ;)

Be that as it may, her reports are the most accurate, timely, and informative of any traffic reporter I have ever heard. We're talking a precise location of each incident, the current delay in each direction, and which alternate routes are good or bad choices.

Lisa Baden is the queen of DC traffic, and to call her merely "accurate" would be insulting.

I can't personally vouch for them but they've been advertised on WTOP here in washington dc for a couple years now and I know someone that uses one for his entire office building.
Site is a little thin on details, and I doubt they do installs outside the wash dc area, but you could probably order one.
Oh yeah, the link. http://www.bannerbackup.com/

This might have actually been an interesting development, if the newspaper that ran the editorial had a circulation of at least 100,000. But, unfortunately for Michael, it so happens that we are talking about a paper in Crawford, Texas (population 705). The town paper in question, The Lonestar Iconoclast, has a reported circulation of 425.

In other news, the Po Dunk Junior High Tribune in Dustville, Nebraska has endorsed Donkey Kong for President. According to the editors of the school paper, "We believe that Donkey Kong is the best candidate for president this year. I mean, after all, he's a video game ape. How many other candidates can put that on their resume?" Interestingly, the junior high's recommended candidate for Vice President? Michael, from Slashdot.

Good traffic reports CAN help you. Almost every traffic report given by any radio station are useless, the only exception I've ever heard is for those that live in the DC area that listen to WTOP (they have a listen live link and traffic is on the 8's if you want to here an example. They describe the traffic, what the bailouts are like, what is causing the delay and expected recovery time, the status of the cause (police on scene, sunshine delays, loading the smashed car on the truck, moving pothole repair crew blocking left lane, lights short timing, cars moved off to the median, rubbernecking etc...), references to previous days like worse or better or simply volume delays. Their reports are very detailed and not just telling you that interstate whatever is backed up to exit whatever. They have a very detailed picture of what is and was going on in the DC area and they describe it very well to the listeners.

I mean, hell, I don't like it either myself.

I don't like the fact that cars have gotten so well soundproofed against road noise.

I don't like drive through fast food, but hell, I've seen someone eating yogurt in her car, with the cup in one hand, the spoon in the other, while she's steering with an elbow.

And as for 'seeing' the emergency, there's this little concept called 'line of sight'. You see, in Washington, DC, there's these things called 'buildings', which are much, much bigger than the vehicles, and they're all over the place, which makes it hard to see the vehicles if they're not in a straight line in front or behind you. We then have other problems with things called 'hills' and other large vehicles which I like to call 'trucks'.

I've sat at intersections for minutes in DC, when I can hear a siren, but I have no idea where it is. [Doesn't help that my place of work is 2 blocks from a hospital, and 3 blocks from firestation]. People start getting really pissy and honking after a minute or so, which makes it even more difficult to tell where it is by sound alone.

As for my cell phone, yes, I do use it while I'm driving. I used it last night, in fact, to call WTOP to report a three car accident in the snow, so they could make sure the police knew about it to get it cleaned up.

Unfortunately, there's no place along the Suitland Parkway to pull over to make/take a call, and I'm on call 24x7, so I have answered my phone while in transit, as I need to know if I need to turn around, and get back to a terminal immediately, or if I have enough time to sit in traffic and make it home/to work before things get worse.

So, please take your thumb out of your ass, and channel your hostility into more constructive criticism. If you have a problem with something, come up with a solution; just saying it's bad, and you don't like it isn't doing anyone any good... hell, writing a letter to your state/federal/county/city government would be more beneficial than some flame on a website.

While the congress is hardly at work, they should also consider age limits on purchasing Fast Food. It would be inline with the current trend of suing food vendors and blaming them for their child's "weight problems", which supposedly kills alot more people over time.

Other things that supposedly have a minimum age (in most states):

• Guns
• Driving Permits
• Tobacco & Alcohol (when did you even hear of a kid smoking/drinking under age)
• Legal Documents
• Movies (note that music is NOT limited, so busta gang bang on dat RIAA ass)
• Sex (some states)

Where does a video game fit in with this crowd, while ignoring music and food? IANAL, but federal law doesn't seem to address any of the other items in my list (except sex).

The next installment of Mortal Combat needs a Saddam character, so we can all do our part in the war on terrorism.

Congresscritters, please protect me from myself, for I know not what I do

I heard on WTOP this morning that copyright.net was going after Napster users who downloaded the music of Roy Orbison. The one issue is that Roy Orbison (The Big Bopper) passed away a long time ago. I don't think the record company/his estate is making very much money off of CD sales.