According to News.com, PayPal is being charged with breaking the Patriot Act. The story doesn’t tell us exactly how they broke a law designed to hinder or stop terrorist attacks. Instead, it seems the problem comes from the fact that PayPal may have been used to process some online gambling payments.

Whether they processed gambling payments or not is immaterial to me. I want to know how processing online gambling payments supports terroristic acts against the U.S. Maybe that information hasn’t been made available yet, but this whole thing smacks of some overzealous law enforcement hiding behind their new-found powers. Indeed, what seems to have happened is that the ACLU’s and any other privacy advocate’s worst nightmare has come true. The government is using powers granted by laws enacted in overemotional reaction to a terror attack to attack issues and concerns that don’t serve the spirit of the law. Instead of monitoring the movements and online communications of known terrorist sympathizers, the government is instead cracking down on file sharing and online gambling.

These two “illegal” activities have nothing to do with terrorism or the Patriot Act, but the letter of that law allows the U.S. Attorney to force PayPal to turn over the payment records of all users over the past 6 months. Of course, I’m sure the U.S. Attorney won’t even think of over-looking any other suspicious payments as the search for the gambling payments slog through those records. The privacy of the individuals involved in those transactions will be egregiously endangered.

I suppose we should have known that it was only a matter of time before an incident like this cropped up. With all that power at their fingerprints, you know the government just couldn’t sit by and let that awful specter of sin like gambling go by unhampered.

Meanwhile, the federal government is attempting to force their will even further down the throats of the several Native American nations that have reservations in our country. They are insisting that they have the right to search the reservation governement’s records for some information regarding a crime, even though the reservations are sovereign nations. A few states have seen fit to create agreements from government to government to ensure that information can be shared equally, but other states simply want to force the hand of the reservation governments.

This feeling of all-encompassing power and invulnerability seems to extend down from the top. President Bush, with his war in Iraq, clearly believes that he can do whatever he wants. Furthermore, he believes that the consequences can be spun to his benefit, regardless of the outcome. This cavalier attitude for the precious rights we all hold dear is to be the downfall of Bush. I only wonder how many he’ll take with him. Tune to CNN to find out.

I received this by email today. As with most things of this nature, I am wary of its validity:

—————————————————
GENERAL “BLACK JACK” PERSHING

General “Black Jack” Pershing was born September 13th, 1860 near Laclede, MS. he died July 15th, 1948 in Washington, DC
Highlights of his life include:
1891 Professor of Military Science and Tactics University of Nebraska
1898 Serves in the Spanish-American War
1901 Awarded rank of Captain
1906 Promoted to rank of Brig. General
1909 Military Governor of Moro Province, Philippines
1916 Made Major General
1919 Promoted to General of the Armies
1921 Appointed Chief of Staff
1924 Retires from active duty Education West Point.

Just before World War I, there were a number of terrorist attacks on the United States forces in the Philippines by Muslim extremists. So General Pershing captured 50 terrorists and had them tied to posts for execution. He then had his men bring in two pigs and slaughter them in front of the, now horrified, terrorists. Muslims detest! pork because they believe pigs are filthy animals. Some of them simply refuse to eat it, while others won’t even touch pigs at all, nor any of their byproducts. To them, eating or touching a pig, its meat, its blood, etc., is to be instantly barred from paradise (and those virgins) and doomed to hell. The soldiers then soaked their bullets in the pigs blood, and proceeded to execute 49 of the terrorists by firing squad. The soldiers then dug a big hole, dumped in the terrorist’s bodies and covered them in pig blood, entrails, etc. They let the 50th man go. And for the next forty-two years, there was not a single Muslim extremist attack anywhere in the world. Maybe it is time for this segment of history to repeat itself, maybe in Iraq? The question is, where do we find another Black Jack Pershing?
———————————————————-

I think it’s interesting in that it points out 2 very different ideals. One, it needs to be made clear to these extremists that killing is never a way into paradise. Two, those of us at the receiving end of Muslim extremism should realize that buying into their beliefs merely validates those beliefs. Though this story would have you believe Pershing’s horrific treatment of his prisoners was the reason for so much peace, I think that if this event happened at all, it was merely coincidence.

I suspect World War I and World War II kept the world pretty busy for the 50 years after this supposed event. At any rate, stories like these, show the weaknesses of both “sides” of this conflict. Can any fight between a group based on religious beliefs and a group based on intellectual beliefs ever truly come to an end?

Tobacco companies are taking marketing to the next level of disgusting. Dogged by anti-smoking campaigns, the companies are apparently telling kids to get a buzz from gum that’s intended to curb nicotine cravings.

According to an internal document, this “new reverse process will create an incubative tobacco market designed to hatch cravings over time, thereby enhancing our potential long-term market position.” (March 2003, Memo from Herschel Moon, Assistant Vice President)

Moon apparently sent the memo to his staff on the same day a department secretary was fired. Reports allege this disgruntled ex-employee has since circulated the document. Details (and a copy of the memo if I can find it) to come.

The networks are coming up with some catchy names for the war.

CBS is calling it America at War.
NBC, When Diplomacy Fails.

I like what FoxNEWS has named it: Pimping the Camel Bitch.

Here at SpittingLlamas, we are calling our coverage, “Fuck the French.”

Can you think of any others?

This weekend, the world will see the release of yet another movie where a jive-talkin’ but intelligent Black or Latino person helps an uptight white person become “cool” and learn a valuable lesson.

Great idea. Even somewhat amusing. The first 50 times it was done. But Chris Rock teaching a 90-year-old white woman to say, “Fo shizzle” while raising the roof is no longer funny. Now Hollywood’s extended redux of the jive scene from “Airplane” and sporadic use of great actors like Jeffrey Wright is just ludicrous, ridiculous, and plain stupidiferous.

A few weeks ago I wrote about the Champ Car World Series, one of the few sports I know a lot about. Since then F1 and the IRL have opened their seasons. And again, what would an article about opening season be without some opinionated predictions? First IRL. It hurt me to no end when Dario Franchitti left CART to go to the IRL. And not just because he’s married to Ashley Judd. Dario is a road racer at heart. He’s going to get bored in the IRL, I’m afraid. I think he secretly longs to be in Formula 1, but realizes that to do so, he needs to stand out here in the States. For as much skill as he has, he’s always come up just a tad short in the end. He’s a surgeon in the racecar.

I pretty much cared less when Michael Andretti left. His best days are over and now he can chum around with his other retired racecar friends, Al Unser Jr. and AJ Foyt. Michael is no longer the throttle demon he used to be.

People forget that Michael Andretti used to be like Paul Tracy. In fact, several rules were made because of Michael Andretti. The most notorious being the tire-slashing rule that forced a front wing design change. The front wing on a Champ Car used to have a leading edge on the sides that stuck out about 2 inches. It was very thin. Thin enough that if a driver pulled up on the car he wanted to pass, they could “accidentally” put that leading edge into the tire. Oops. Michael did it so often officials outlawed the leading edge and dubbed it “The Michael Andretti” rule.

But Michael is a puppy dog now. The winningest active Champ Car driver could barely finish in the top 5 the last two seasons.

Tony Kanaan leaving to the IRL was also a non-factor. He was always regarded by the media as a great talent waiting to break out and show us his stuff. But the only times he’s demonstrated the ability to even challenge for the lead was on ovals. So it’s probably better for him to be in the IRL.

Sarah Fisher is once again driving in the IRL. Her major accomplishment is crashing. It’s a good race for her if she finishes. In the season opener, she was several laps down before the race was even half over. CART’s version of Sarah Fisher is Roberto Moreno. Those two should start a team together. That way we’d know who would be in the back row, and on lap one they could crash into each other and let the real drivers finish the rest of the race.

I actually helped build the current version of the Team Rahal Web site. So I’ve always paid a lot of attention to them. I’ve met many of his drivers, like Mad Max Papis and Kenny Breck.

As much as I like to cheer on the home team, I don’t think Kenny is going to have the success in the IRL as he has in the past. Kenny wants to be a rock star. He wants to be more famous than Jeff Gordon. I question a driver whose motivation seems to be more about fame than winning.

In the IRL, I expect the old CART contingent to do the best. Tony Kanaan will do well and win 2 races. I think Scott Dixon is going to be a front-runner. But I think the big winner at the end of the season will be Tomas Scheckter. He has his best chance this year with Team Target and a HUGE racing budget. I expect him to bloom in mid-season and never look back.

Now let’s get to the real fun, Formula 1. I’ve been watching Formula 1 for the past two years. Even though the races were won in qualifying and not during the race, I kept watching. The cars are lighter than their Champ Car cousins and dart around the tracks with more eloquence.

But I think even the more rabid F1 fan would admit that a lot of the races were real snoozers. Who wants to watch a race where the cars are 30 seconds apart from one another? There isn’t even any exciting pit action.

F1 changed their rules and I have to say, it’s about damn time. F1 racing is looking exciting again. There were more passes in the first race than there was all last season. OK, an exaggeration, but at least it looked like racing.

The “flying lap” qualifying is even fun to watch now. And best of all, you couldn’t guess who was going to win until the last 10 laps of the race.

Hell, even Mike Gascoyne at Renault F1 is convinced that the team will win a race this year.

But we have to remember that Ferrari has yet to bring out its new car. Right now it looks like the BMW P83 is the most powerful engine. But we’ll see when Schuy gets his new wheels under him.

OK, time for the line. Michael Schumacher will be champ again. In fact I don’t think it’ll even be close. He’ll win 8, maybe 9 this year. Rubens Barrichello will win 3, and I put Juan Montoya will win 4. Yes I said 4.

Ralf Schumacher might win one, but he’ll be second fiddle to Montoya - again. I’ll be surprised if David Coulthard wins another race, but he might. Da Matta will end up at the bottom, as the rookie everyone thought could, but didn’t.

The real excitement will be between Jacques “how’s come no one loves me” Villeneuve and Jenson “I really am better than Jacques” Button. The fun part won’t be on the track, but how they taunt each other in the media. It’ll surpass the Juan - Ralf media flames by far.

Why do they keep calling me Mr. Packer?

10. Their Coliseum has been referred to as “The Tub” and the “Jir-cuzzi” but most folks know it as “that round building where football pep rallys are held.”

9. Dominique Wilkins is the only basketball player from UGA that anyone can name. He played 20 years ago. Wilkins played only three years at Georgia. His most successful season ended in the NIT Final Four, he never played in an NCAA Tournament game and the school’s best season ever came the year after he left. During that same period, Herschel Walker led the football team to 2 SEC championships and one National Championship.

8. The players routinely get beat in pickup games at the Ramsey Center. The average GPA of the pickup team is as high as the blood alcohol level of the players’ team. 7. The basketball players’ hall in the athletic dorm has its own fog advisories. Strangely, the fog seems to make people laugh a lot and eat Funyuns.

6. The players’ Escalades only have 20″ Dayton Dubs. Everyone knows that pimps only skate on 22″ dubs.

5. Tubby Smith, one of UGA’s winningest (percentage) basketball coaches and most promising to bring the team to true national consciousness left after only 2 seasons. One of his sons stayed, but the other found greener pastures with his dad. Tubby has since taken UK to the NCAA tournament 5 consecutive years, including one national championship and a 75.4% winning percentage. Good thing we let him go.

4. Sellouts at Stegeman Coliseum are as rare as players attending class.

3. Practices at UGA often break down the team into 2 groups: “On Parole” and “On Probation.”

2. Coach…er…President Adams insisted on hiring Harrick, only to make Vince Dooley do his dirty work when it came time to fire him. Adams’ ham-handed meddling in the Athletic Department office is like Jim Donnan careening through the buffet at Golden Corral.

And the number one reason UGA basketball sucks:

1. Jim Harrick