Not long ago (July 3rd actually), Chief Judge Vaughn Walker of the U.S. District Court in California ruled that President George W. Bush lacks the authority to disregard FISA (the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act). This means the Bush administration’s warrantless electronic surveillance program–for which Congress wants to grant retroactive immunity–was illegal. It seems to me that illegal surveillance conducted against the American people is far worse than illegal surveillance conducted against a rival political party.

Update: For which Congress has granted immunity and allowed (encouraged) to continue. Yet the top story on CNN is not about our eroding freedoms; it is instead about DNA evidence clearing JonBenet Ramsey’s family of her slaying.

According to a World Health Organization (WHO) survey, the United States leads the world in total number of people who have tried (or, at least admitted to having tried) marijuana. The same was true of cocaine usage. Clearly, the war on drugs and the hundreds of thousands of marijuana arrests each year have worked spectacularly. Or, and I’m just speculating here, maybe it’s time for a new strategy.

I’m wondering why the U.S. is suddenly so interested in Zimbabwe when we had very little interest in Rwanda and Darfur, and have even less interest in Equatorial Guinea.

I’m wondering what the impact will be of Google and Yahoo adding search capabilities that enable users to look inside Flash files.

I’m wondering if Barack Obama’s suggested expansion of George Bush’s faith-based programs is about appealing to Christians come November, understanding that churches are better positioned to serve communities, or a bit of both.

I’m wondering why the number of stories about photographers being harassed by security guards and police officers continues to rise.

I’m wondering where Elton Brand and Baron Davis will end up now that they’ve opted out of their current NBA contracts.