Brian’s Ramblings

December 28th, 2008

Gaza Attack

I really should have blogged about this yesterday. However there are so many great people blogging on it already that I really do not want to add to the noise. Keep an eye on my Recently Read section to the right for some of the articles I find very good. You may also visit Yourish or The Muqata just to name a couple of blogs presenting honest reporting.  I do want to caution all my readers to view anything in the mainstream news with scepticism.  Even Fox News had a very slanted piece earlier today.

Posted in Featured, Political Ramblings
By Brian

December 2nd, 2008

Defending the Indefensible

Most of my readers here will probably not understand the term lolicon or what is going on with it.  In brief lolicon is a genre of comics in which underage individuals are depicted in sexual situations.  The Supreme Court has ruled several times that it is legal and protected free speech.  Currently a comic book collector is being prosecuted on obscenity charges for his collection of lolicon. Note that he is not being prosecuted for child porn as the prosecutor knows this will not work, so instead the charge him with obscenity, since that statue is real vague and up to the judge and jury to determine.

Posted in Political Ramblings, Religious Ramblings
By Brian

September 2nd, 2008

Neighborhood Bully

Even amidst the hateful speech and actions, Israel continues to uphold one of the core beliefs of Judaism, and practices Gimilut Chasadim around the world (even for Iran).  View full post for video.

Posted in Featured, Political Ramblings, Religious Ramblings
By Brian

July 24th, 2008

Louisiana RS 32:409

In a followup to my post about Lousiana drivers licenses, I found the current statute used to require giving over your social security number ( http://www.legis.state.la.us/lss/lss.asp?doc=88389), emphasis mine:

(vi)  Social security number.  Any alien individual residing in Louisiana who does not possess and is ineligible to obtain a social security number shall not be required to furnish a social security number for issuance of a Class “E” driver’s license.  However, prior to the issuance of a Class “E” driver’s license, in addition to other required documentation, the department shall require the alien individual to present a document demonstrating lawful presence in the United States in a status in which the alien individual may be ineligible to obtain a social security number.  The list of acceptable documents demonstrating lawful presence shall be determined by the department. The department shall maintain confidentiality of an applicant’s social security number. The department shall not deny any person a driver’s license or a renewal if that person has not obtained a government-issued social security number based on Section 7 of Pub. L. 93-579 Section (a)(1).

In my opinion publishing the social security number on a barcode and not disclosing this fact is definitely not maintaining confidentiality.

As a side not I attemepted to contact the dmv today, but apparently only one person answers the phone and it is always busy.

More to come…

Posted in Political Ramblings
By Brian

July 22nd, 2008

A letter to Barack Obama

This was emailed to me today.  I thought it was very good and would pass it along.

Dear Senator Obama,

Welcome to Israel. When you arrive here today, you will encounter a people intrigued by your candidacy and, given the current crisis of Israeli leadership, envious of your capacity to inspire. Issues that have worried some Americans about your background have scarcely been noted here.

Read the whole thing at the Jewish World Review.

Posted in Political Ramblings
By Brian

July 19th, 2008

Louisianna Driver License Privacy Violation

The other day I read an article on Consumerist about Target scanning drivers licenses when buying alcohol. This got me currious about what was encoded on the bar code and magnetic strip of my Louisiana drivers license.  The magnetic strip proved to be pretty benign, it had the license number, name, and address, all pretty standard stuff.  However when I checked the bar code I was shocked to find out that my social security number was encoded in it.

Posted in Featured, Political Ramblings
By Brian