Yglesias:

Turns out the NSA, with the collaboration of every phone company except Qwest, is monitoring all of our calls -- not to listen in to what's being said, but simply to gather data about

the calls and draw inferences from that. It's important to link this up

to the broader chain. One thing the Bush administration says it can do

with this meta-data is to start tapping your calls and listening in,

without getting a warrant from anyone. Having listened in on your

calls, the administration asserts that if it doesn't like what it

hears, it has the authority to detain you indefinitely without trial or

charges, torture you until you confess or implicate others, extradite

you to a Third World country to be tortured, ship you to a secret

prison facility in Eastern Europe, or all of the above. If, having

kidnapped and tortured you, the administration determines you were

innocent after all, you'll be dumped without papers somewhere in Albania left to fend for yourself.

Once you start in with this business, it's a widening cycle of

lawlessness with almost endless possibilities for abuse. Tellingly, the

reason Qwest wound up not cooperating with the NSA on this is that the

NSA couldn't be bothered to get a court order. Shame on the other phone companies for simply giving in to a request without legal backing.

Bush is a criminal who needs to be impeached. Only 6 months til November!

This decision, which will doubtless bring with it some serious national fallout, is more subtle, and more courageous, than the prosecution itself. Acting as a check on a runaway state, these jurors refused to allow a government needing a scapegoat and a man wishing for martyrdom to stand in the way of the facts. These jurors understood that for this country to kill a terrorist for his ideas, hopes, and dreams is not much different than the terrorist's desire to come here and kill us for ours.

Arguing for the death penalty on the facts alleged in this case was an argument bordering on bad faith and, indeed, displayed a bit of that famous BushAdmin blood-thirstiness that we all know and love. But I don't think refusing to execute Moussaoui represents some kind of populist rebuke of the entire administration. Could it be that these jurors simply understood the law and applied it as they were asked?

Even if you take only two semesters' worth of introductory economics classes...you will be presented with the idea of state-sanctioned utility companies: legal, state-supported monopolies whose pricing is regulated by the government. These are the exact opposite of what one would expect to see in a totally capitalistic, free-market economy. And yet we have them because they are the only known way of making power available to the majority of the population at rates that the majority of the population can afford. Here, at least, at exception to the idea of a completely market driven economy has been carved out, and it is an exception that no one seems to have much trouble with.
...
More and more I hear people mutter about how the oil companies are getting rich  by "sticking it" to the little guy.

But that simply isn't true. The truth is that the global production of oil has only been barely meeting the global demand for oil for the past two years. There is almost no slack in the system, and because we are talking about global demand and supply, there is no outside source from which we might be able to import any such slack (i.e. additional oil). Not until the aliens land.

This means that any disruption in the global oil production system -- like, say, an invasion of Iraq (one example) or a hurricane (examples two and three) -- means that there will be no slack in the system whatsoever. When that happens, the industries that need an uninterrupted supply of oil (airlines, the military, heavy industry, etc.) will bid increasingly higher against each other to make sure they hey it. (And remember, we're talking about all the industries in the world, not just those in the U.S.) This drives up the price of oil globally.

Now if you happen to be sitting on a large reserve of oil that already has been produced, or if you are already contractually entitled to obtain a lot of oil, for years, at a fixed price (about $25/barrel) -- if, for example, you are ExxonMobil -- then all of a sudden that oil is worth a lot more, and you didn't have to spend any money to acquire this additional value. So, you post record profits.
...
[T]he nature of the conversation should be clearly stated, so we all know what we are really talking about: the conversation is not about revenging ourselves against evil oil companies who somehow screwed us over. The conversation is about recognizing that the citizens of any society -- even corporate citizens -- are to a lesser or greater extent in the same boat, have to work together, and that sometimes it makes sense to help each other out.

And 'helping each other out' might mean, in this case...impos[ing] a windfall profits tax on those corporate citizens.
...
I doubt, however, that the debate on a windfall profits tax will ever be presented this way, because it too clearly undermines the American myth that a totally unfettered, completely laissez-faire economy is GOOD, and that any regulation of the economy by the government -- including indirect regulation by taxation and redistribution -- is BAD. Altogether too much time, effort, and money has been poured into marketing this simple, sound-bite idea to the public, and we can't be expected to go back and revise it now. Certainly not in the interests of accuracy, or truth, or the facts.

I agree that Durbin is obviously wrong to frame the debate as he does. Unfortunately, Bergman's quick and dirty analysis only makes things worse.

Stephen Colbert is my hero.

Have fun playing in Europe, you goddamn bums.

Net neutrality, in case you haven't heard, is the blogland issue of the month:

[T]here's a very bad bill moving through Congress. It's supported overwhelmingly by Republicans but also by a lot of Democrats too. Basically the bill would turn over the control of the Internet to the phone companies -- though 'phone companies' is probably now an antiquated phrase for Verizon and AT&T and other such outfits. There's a lot more underlying complexity to it of course. But the change could make it much harder to access TPM or any source of news or entertainment that isn't owned by some big corporation or, more likely, have the inside track with one of the phone companies. If you're cool with AT&T deciding the sources of use you can access then you probably won't mind. But if you like making those decisions yourself, you may want to speak up.

Here's one group mobilizing against the bill: savetheinternet.com. Another group that is on the case is publicknowledge.org.

This isn't some obscure issue of interest only to policy wonks. It may seem like it, but it's not. It's a very big deal and I strongly encourage you to find out what's going on.

We tend to take for granted how the Internet evolved. For all its shortcomings, it is a remarkably level playing field where all sorts of voices -- the strong and the weak, the popular and the despised -- can all make their voices heard. Yes, Viacom's voice is louder than TPM's or Atrios's or Newsmax's. But if you want to read TPM, we're right here, just as easy to visit as the media giants.

But it won't necessarily stay that way.

The Internet could have evolved very, very differently. It could have turned in to one or two big proprietary networks -- maybe AOL and Compuserve, or AOL and MSN, each closed, each controlled by one company, without the dynamism, freedom and entrepreneurial magic we associate with the web. The big media offerings would be easy to get to and easy to download while the blogs and other moderately funded alternatives, right and left, had to make do with second or third tier access. Or maybe Verizon decides that anti-Verizon content just won't run on their network.

Think of it like Cable TV. Anybody can start a cable channel. But if you can't get on TimeWarner Cable here in Manhattan, for me you might as well not even exist. The Internet could work like that.

It could have been that way. And it could still become that way. That's what this new debate is about. Find out more about it. And see what you can do to make your voice heard.

For some of the more technical aspects of how net discrimination could come to pass, read Ed Felton, parts 1 and 2.

This is another one of those great opportunities to call your congressperson/senator and make your voice heard. Seriously, there are pompous 21 year old staffers waiting by the phone, eagerly waiting for you to call them and give them an ear-full. If you can't figure out where to find their phone numbers without me telling you then you have failed as a human being.

It's really hard to give a shit about politicians and / or politics when day after day after day I see the government failing society in the worst way.

It's lamentable.

Personally, when I leave Typepad (and I will leave Typepad), I will probably head to Squarespace, which looks much more flexible and aesthetically appealing. In fact, my annual Typepad bill just came due, so you may see me jump ship in the next few days. Migrating over 500 posts from one platform to another will be a relatively pleasant distraction from studying.

In case you ignore your law council emails:

The Law School Basketball Association (LBA) will hold its first group meeting Wed. April 26th over the noon hour.  It is the first meeting as an official student group.  Unfortunately this new group does not yet have funding to provide food.  However, the All-Law School picnic is scheduled for the same day (11:30 - 1:00) and it is strongly encouraged that those interested attend this prior to the LBA meeting.  I believe the Law School picnic is featuring Dean McQuaid.  For those of you who don't know, Dean McQuaid is cool.

The meeting will be held at the softball fields north of the Law School. Be sure to bring a ball glove and softball or baseball if you have one.  A football and Frisbee or two will be provided.  You could even bring a book if you wanted.  The meeting will run from noon-ish to two-ish.  Feel freeto stop by whenever.

The LBA will be forming various Intra Mural sports teams starting next fall.  This summer the LBA will be organizing such events as pick-up basketball, softball, and other games, outings to Twins baseball games, trips to the zoo, camping trips, etc. This meeting will give us a chance to get list of people interested in having fun, new possibilities for summer events, and a chance to hang out outside for a little bit.

Essentially, if you are interested in stuff, you fit the group. You could come and say "I am interested in butterflies."  That would be cool. Butterflies are pretty.

If you have questions or cannot attend, please fell free to contact Preston at sell0123@umn.edu.

Be there.