Someone up further on the list spoke eloquently about how John Ashcroft and Gov't clerks don't give a rat's patute (say it phonetically) about what we're reading. Unfortunatly, this isn't true necessarily.
I live in Denver, which was mentioned in either the article or the post, and frequent the Tattered Cover. This is the store that had it's rights to preserve records w/o the gov't having a warrant challenged. Fortunatly, they won.
However, as with many things, the government found a loophole, the Patriot act.
The case here with the Tattered Cover was a person who bought a book that was something to the effect of 'Making Meth in your Basement.'
They tried to take records without a warrant once, and it's a slippery slope, in my opinion.
Now here's a scary example. Your a highschool or college student, or even a graduated person, who wants to read about chemistry. Either to cram for an exam, or just because. You go down to the bookstore, and buy three textbooks. Suddenly, John Ashcroft is at your door, calling you a terrorist, and taking you to jail.
Because you wanted to remember the chemical formula for methane? (CH4)
That's a little much to me.
So now when people tell you that watching tv makes you lot more stupid (yes, I know), you can tell them they're wrong. The Simpsons teaches you how not to do math!
I can imagine it now. Everyone on the planet dies, and in the great beyond (or whatever it is) a NASA guy stands on a podium: Oh, and by the way, we got hit by an asteroid. Thank you.
Slashdot Mirror
Someone up further on the list spoke eloquently about how John Ashcroft and Gov't clerks don't give a rat's patute (say it phonetically) about what we're reading. Unfortunatly, this isn't true necessarily. I live in Denver, which was mentioned in either the article or the post, and frequent the Tattered Cover. This is the store that had it's rights to preserve records w/o the gov't having a warrant challenged. Fortunatly, they won. However, as with many things, the government found a loophole, the Patriot act. The case here with the Tattered Cover was a person who bought a book that was something to the effect of 'Making Meth in your Basement.' They tried to take records without a warrant once, and it's a slippery slope, in my opinion. Now here's a scary example. Your a highschool or college student, or even a graduated person, who wants to read about chemistry. Either to cram for an exam, or just because. You go down to the bookstore, and buy three textbooks. Suddenly, John Ashcroft is at your door, calling you a terrorist, and taking you to jail. Because you wanted to remember the chemical formula for methane? (CH4) That's a little much to me.
So now when people tell you that watching tv makes you lot more stupid (yes, I know), you can tell them they're wrong. The Simpsons teaches you how not to do math!
I can imagine it now. Everyone on the planet dies, and in the great beyond (or whatever it is) a NASA guy stands on a podium: Oh, and by the way, we got hit by an asteroid. Thank you.