This tends to re-inforce my idea that politicians are generally objectively stupid -- they probably have a high social intelligence, but very poor analytic skills.

In this case, this is probably the worst time to introduce such a bill. Wait until the furor about the NSA has died down (the US population has a short span of attention for such issues) and then introduce it. But right now? Pure, unbridled stupidity.

Only terrorists, criminals and spies should fear secret activities of the British and US intelligence agencies.

That statement might have more credibility if it were not for the well documented use of RIPA powers for things unconnected to terrorism and serious crime.

That's strange, I don't recall reading any limit on freedom of speech in the first amendment.

That's ok because it's not YOUR reading of the Constitution that determines how it is to be interpreted. The only people whose reading of The Constitution has legal merit are the SCOTUS.

And your reading of the constitution has as much merit as mine.

But really, congratulations on supporting a the conversion of the USA into a Police State!

All elected officials take an oath of office to protect The Constitution. Attempting to elect someone who would knowingly disregard that oath and who would disregard The Constitution (which really means disregarding all rule of law because all legal authority stems from The Constitution -- not from elections) is tantamount to attempting a coup d'etat.

Were the people in Hollywood that were tagetted by McCarthy elected officials that had taken such an oath? No. So your comment is irrelevent.

This is pretty much the limit of the free speech. You can't advocate overthrow of The Constitution as the source of legal authority any more than you can advocate murder.

That's strange, I don't recall reading any limit on freedom of speech in the first amendment. Advocating murder is different to advocating a peaceful change of government. The constitution includes provisions for change and doesn't specify any limits on those possible changes, so one can infer that advocationg for dramatic change to the constitution is definitely legal speech.

McCarthy was validated after Soviet Union fell apart, you fool. Released Soviet archives showed that his accusations were accurate..

The accuracy (or otherwise) of the accusations of people being communist sympathizers is irrelevent. In a free country, people should be free to hold opinions, irrespective of the nature of those opinions without fear of being persecuted for them.

Obviously, just put the device behind a firewall. If the firewall operates in bridge mode, it won't use NAT, so the people who insist that their equipment is directly connected to the Internet won't know that it isn't.

They have a list of every address in the UK. This is compared to every address that has paid a license fee.

They send people who look through windows for TVs or knock on the door and ask about TVs if there is no license fee payment associated with that address.

Funny how there's such a huge passionate uproar about supposed loss of second amendement rights, but comparitively little concern about actual loss of fourth amendment rights...

That's because the "uproar" is, in reality a tool of (and funded by) people like the Koch brothers. Its intent is to distract large number of voters (tea party, etc.) from the real issues (who controls the government) into distractions like the 2nd amendment.

First, I'm kind of curious when this happened?

About 4 or 5 years ago, definitely after 9/11. I think that the last time I flew in domestic first class on American, they gave me plastic knives, but I dont remember clearly.

And none of the 9/11 Terrorists flew first class because why spend the extra money if you're going to crash or blow up the plane?

They would fly first if it were essential to their plans.

why do restaurants after security at Chicago O'Hare give customers metal knives, while restaurants at DFW do not?

And in the past, I have been given a metal knife when flying in first class (obviously, first class passengers cannot be terrorists!)

Do TSA rules ban equipment to sharpen metal dinner knives? I doubt it.

Step 1. Apply brick swiftly to car side window.

Why bother with a brick? You can buy a keyring tool to break car windows for a few dollars.

Still better than $randomUnmarkedStreetLiterallyInTheMiddleOfNowhere. ;)

On an unmarked street, you only have 2 directions in which to explore. Under water, with no streets, you have a 360 degree choice.

Carrying a hammer is also not illegal,

It can be illegal to just carry a hammer. If it is considered a tool for housebreaking, walking around with it is illegal.

The SCOTUS appears to have premised the decision on the idea that the CODIS loci only provide identification, but in fact they provide more: identification of familial relationships.

The existance of an unacknowleged child for example, could be revealed by this testing. From this, a secret sexual relationship could be discovered.

It might allow for identification of biological parents where a warrant would be required to access such record.

And who knows what information may be extracted from the CODIS loci in another decade.

I was playing GeoGuesser the other day and it put me under the water near Hawaii.