Journal Style Update

In an effort to enhance my journal's appearance and readability, I've decided to make use of a stylized blockquote tag to indicate quoted material in the future. The code for the tag that I am using is easily modified to fit into anyone's journal style. This is the source: <blockquote style="border-left: thin dotted purple; padding: 0px 0px 0px 15px;"></blockquote>

This is an example of how this will look:

Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetuer adipiscing elit. Integer convallis magna et enim. Class aptent taciti sociosqu ad litora torquent per conubia nostra, per inceptos hymenaeos. Nulla sollicitudin libero ac mauris. Sed fermentum, leo tempor nonummy tincidunt, felis metus venenatis quam, vel pulvinar purus metus vel nisl. Pellentesque nunc quam, viverra quis, pretium quis, mattis non, nisl. Sed massa augue, luctus eget, volutpat eget, hendrerit eget, est. Nam tempus. Curabitur placerat. Etiam nonummy, velit vel placerat mattis, nunc ante fringilla quam, in aliquet nulla orci in enim. Quisque diam quam, sollicitudin eu, euismod at, ultricies non, wisi. Etiam massa massa, sollicitudin quis, dignissim et, semper in, magna. Suspendisse potenti. Aliquam pellentesque placerat eros. Aliquam pulvinar pellentesque justo. Phasellus porttitor. Sed eleifend turpis vel nibh. Aenean porta. Nam aliquet felis ut libero.

Suspendisse orci. Praesent mattis. Donec convallis faucibus velit. Suspendisse eleifend turpis nec purus. Nam semper vehicula metus. Nam accumsan cursus ante. Aenean pede. Duis et nisl. Donec risus leo, placerat et, tincidunt quis, porttitor id, metus. Aliquam erat volutpat. Vestibulum ante ipsum primis in faucibus orci luctus et ultrices posuere cubilia Curae; Proin bibendum malesuada metus. Aliquam et ligula. -lipsum

In Memory of Mr. Franklin

I just had the occasion to make use of a book that the federal government has labeled dangerous. No, not the Anarchist's Cookbook. Not even a copy of 2600. Just a simple, ordinary almanac. It's a great source of information on things like the Iraqi economy, which is very useful when faced with claims that democracy alone will help grow Iraq's economy.

Using the almanac has returned my attention to our government's previous attack on almanac-owners. You might remember this announcement from around christmas last year:

In a bulletin sent Christmas Eve to about 18,000 police organizations, the FBI said terrorists may use almanacs "to assist with target selection and pre-operational planning."

It urged officers to watch during searches, traffic stops and other investigations for anyone carrying almanacs, especially if the books are annotated in suspicious ways.

"The practice of researching potential targets is consistent with known methods of al-Qaida and other terrorist organizations that seek to maximize the likelihood of operational success through careful planning," the FBI wrote.

The Associated Press obtained a copy of the bulletin this week and verified its authenticity.

"For local law enforcement, it's just to help give them one more piece of information to raise their suspicions," said David Heyman, a terrorism expert for the Washington-based Center for Strategic and International Studies. "It helps make sure one more bad guy doesn't get away from a traffic stop, maybe gives police a little bit more reason to follow up on this."

The FBI noted that use of almanacs or maps may be innocent, "the product of legitimate recreational or commercial activities." But it warned that when combined with suspicious behavior -- such as apparent surveillance -- a person with an almanac "may point to possible terrorist planning." -CNN

It occurs to me now... an almanac combined with suspicious behavior such as surveillance (a nebulous term) may point to possible terrorist planning? Does that mean that any tourist with an almanac highlighting information about the empire state building who takes it with him to New York and takes photos of the building itself might be considered a potential terrorist if stopped and searched?

I think that what the government is really afraid of is people using almanacs exactly as I have... to see through the lies and propaganda associated with this war.

Keep reading.