Rather than blog about each individually, I thought I’d write a summary of things in the news and on my mind lately.

• No jobs for US citizens without Homeland Security Approval
  If I understand the implication of this recently passed immigration bill, it seems that immigration reform, too, has been turned into a vehicle for reducing civil liberties. If neither the White House Republicans nor the Congressional Democrats are for the rights of people, where should we turn?
• A 2nd Interview with Ron Paul on Real Time (Bill Maher)
  It seems that Bill has had a change of heart since the first interview, explaining that after the Republican presidential debate, he realized “this is a person I really want to talk to a lot more.”
• Homeland Security Contracts for Vast New Detention Camps
  A Canadian news service reported a year ago (as have several others) that a Halliburton subsidiary was awarded a $385 million contract to build detention facilities for “an emergency influx of immigrants”. Civil libertarians like me, of course, worry that this is part of a larger and more nefarious plan.
• Why Bush Hasn’t Been Impeached (Salon Magazine)
  This is an excellent article that opened my eyes to the social and personal aspects of the impeachment process that we each have to go through—for example, it wasn’t easy for me at first to accept that Bush was not the hero my faith-based eyes had seen in him after September 2001.
• New Presidential Directive Gives Bush Near-Dictatorial Powers in Case of Emergency
  Another piece is in place, if you’ve been following the trend. This one gives the president power over all three branches of government in the case of an emergency (note that the definition of emergency is quite liberally described).
• And in a more personal line of thought, I’ve been watching prices go up on just about everything lately. Gas is the obvious one, but I bought a sealed-gel battery (about 40 lbs) the other day and the small business owner I talked with there told me the price would be going up by about 15% next week. He cited rising costs in commodities such as lead and copper. I wonder though… is the cost increase across the board, or are we just seeing inflation? Is there a difference?