Daily Archives: July 3, 2008

Nation/World

Baby steps to a police state

31 Comments

I suppose I shouldn’t be surprised, considering we already have warrantless wiretaps, but I could hardly believe my ears this morning as I listened to the news-reader on NPR talk about this (from the Associated Press):

The Justice Department is considering letting the FBI investigate Americans without any evidence of wrongdoing, relying instead on a terrorist profile that could single out Muslims, Arabs or other racial and ethnic groups.

Law enforcement officials say the proposed policy would help them do exactly what Congress demanded after the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks: root out terrorists before they strike. […]

Currently, FBI agents need specific reasons — like evidence or allegations that a law probably has been violated — to investigate U.S. citizens and legal residents. The new policy, law enforcement officials told The Associated Press, would let agents open preliminary terrorism investigations after mining public records and intelligence to build a profile of traits that, taken together, were deemed suspicious.

And our civil liberties continue to erode. Now they want to start investigating U.S. citizens based on their ethnicity, religion, and travel patterns. Fantastic. Now I suppose this will also open the door to investigating all pro-life Christians who take part in peaceful anti-abortion demonstrations because their “profile” shows they could be a clinic bomber. Or if Arab Americans decide to visit their families in the Middle East, they’re possible terrorists, naturally.

I hope the irony isn’t lost on anyone that this news comes out the day before we celebrate “Independence Day.” I wonder if people working with fireworks can be investigated; that would be a good front for a terrorist, right? Why, there’s a terrorist around every corner if you look hard enough.

Restaurants

Good-bye again, River Station (updated)

20 Comments

I’m sure sorry to hear this. The River Station is closed… again. My wife and I had supper there several times since they’ve reopened and have really enjoyed it. The place was redecorated well, and the service (except for the last time we were there) has been very good as well. (The last time we were there, the service was unbelievably slow.)

On December 19, 2006, the council voted unanimously to give a $150,000 Business Development Fund loan “to The River Station Holdings, LLC to fund fixtures, equipment, and inventory for the restaurant.” They needed to pay that loan back, as well as pay their HRA taxes, of course. Well, they haven’t been doing either, according to the Journal Star, so their liquor license got revoked. Since you make way more money on liquor than on food, that pretty much guaranteed they would be closing.

The timing couldn’t be worse, coming right before the July 4 holiday, a time when they rake in a lot of cash by charging people to sit on the lawn to watch fireworks (you won’t find a better seat downtown). Now that’s canceled. But that’s what happens when you don’t pay your debts, I suppose.

I hope it reopens (again) under better management.

UPDATE: The Journal Star is now reporting that the River Station will be open for the fourth of July — they just won’t be serving alcohol. That’s good news for all the people who were planning on being there tomorrow for the fireworks! It should be noted that HOI News had the story right in the first place.