Scott Bradford: Off on a Tangent

Unity Pillar Spotlight: Installed

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I had finished most of the work I was doing on my 2008 Subaru Outback, but there was one project that kept getting delayed. I’ve done a lot of work on the car over the last few months. I upgraded the stereo, partially de-badged the tailgate, blacked out part of the grille, installed a tougher rear anti-sway bar and a front strut brace (which made a huge improvement on twisty roads), installed a ScanGauge II gauge and diagnostic device, upgraded the horns, thoroughly cleaned the intake system and engine compartment, and more.

But along with all these other things, I also bought a Unity pillar spotlight . . . which has been sitting in its box waiting for me to work up the courage to install it. All these other upgrades and improvements were relatively easy to un-do if I messed them up, and were unlikely to cause any permanent harm. The spotlight though requires drilling three holes in the A-pillar—two just through the surface, and one large hole all the way through into the passenger compartment. Holes are relatively permanent, and expensive to un-do if necessary.

Today, I finally went forward with the install . . . and I’m happy to say that it went relatively well. There were a few snags—mostly related to me not having the right tools, quickly remedied with a trip to Home Depot. The light moves and works the way I expect. I’m not happy with the little rubber gasket that came with the kit from Unity—it doesn’t seem to have made as good of a seal as I would like. Some time over the next week I’ll get it sealed better and then we’ll be set.

That pretty much completes all of my planned work on the Outback. But, if you follow me on Facebook, you probably know I have a new project: I got a great deal on a used 2004 Subaru WRX. I expect it to be good for fun weekend drives, and for learning how to work on a car that I don’t need to worry too much about breaking and having out-of-commission now and then. But first, I need to work on my clutch control. . . . Anyway, here are a few photos.

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Who Violated the Oath of Office Yesterday?

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Yesterday, the United States House of Representatives considered whether to terminate the National Security Agency’s (NSA) unconstitutional collection and analysis of innocent Americans’ phone records. Representative Justin Amash (R-MI 3rd) introduced an amendment to a defense appropriations bill which would have de-funded the NSA’s illegal program. The bill would not have affected legitimate, targeted national security search warrants or wiretapping.

The Amash amendment failed by a narrow 205-217 vote. President Barack Obama (D) and his administration went into a frenzy in the lead-up to the vote, joined by both Republican and Democratic congressional leaders, urging members to vote against it.

Ninety-four Republicans and one hundred eleven Democrats voted in favor of the amendment and, by extension, the Fourth Amendment. One hundred thirty-four Republicans and eighty-three Democrats voted instead to continue allowing the shredding of the Bill of Rights.

I shouldn’t have to remind our esteemed representatives that they have each sworn an oath to support and defend the Constitution. Two hundred and five members of House of Representatives—including my own representative, Frank Wolf (R-VA 10th)—violated that oath yesterday. In a sane world, they would be impeached and removed from office. In this world, the best we can hope for is that enough voters remember this and send these men and women packing in 2014. They have violated our trust, and do not deserve to hold high office.

Read on for a list of our anti-liberty representatives. See if yours is on the list and, if they are, let them know what you think of their betrayal.

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Governor McDonnell: Explain Yourself

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Governor Bob McDonnell (R-VA) is now in the midst of a full-on corruption scandal. Many political scandals are depressingly predictable, but I have to admit that this one took me by surprise. McDonnell’s political career—as a member of the Virginia House of Delegates, then as our attorney general, and now as our governor—had been unblemished by serious controversy. He won relatively strong Off on a Tangent endorsements when he ran for attorney general in 2005, and again when he ran for governor in 2009.

McDonnell has governed largely as I expected him to, charting a center-right course of fiscal responsibility and respect for human rights and civil liberties. I have disagreed with him from time-to-time, particularly when it comes to his strong (but misguided) support for privately-operated toll roads, but overall I have been satisfied with his performance.

Among other promises, then-Attorney General McDonnell promised that, if we made him governor, he would work to eliminate fraud and abuse in our state government and improve transparency. I mentioned these promises in my endorsement. Although he has made some improvements along these lines in how the government bureaucracy of the Commonwealth of Virginia operates, he apparently doesn’t think that they should apply to himself.

The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) is now investigating McDonnell because he and his family allegedly received over $145,000 in gifts—some unreported—from Jonnie R. Williams Sr., an executive at Star Scientific, possibly in return for some unspecified preferential treatment. Some of these gifts were made to Maureen McDonnell, the governor’s wife, which shielded them from the normal reporting of political donations.

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Meet Nena the Dog

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About two weeks ago, Melissa and I dropped by the Petsmart store in Sterling, Virginia, to see what dogs the Lost Dog & Cat Rescue Foundation had available for adoption. We met a seven month old chihuahua/terrier mix named Sophia, and she seemed like a good fit, but Melissa wimped out and we went home to think about it.

Within a couple of days, Melissa and decided that she really did want to make Sophia part of the family . . . so she contacted the foundation and asked them to bring Sophia to the Friday adoption event at the Petsmart in Fair Lakes. We met up with her again there, filled out some paperwork, paid a fee, and went home with a dog.

Over the last week we’ve been getting to know her (and letting her get to know us). We decided to change her name to Nena, which is a Spanish term of endearment that roughly means ‘little girl.’ This reflects her heritage as a rescue from Puerto Rico, where there are apparently tons of semi-wild chihuahua/terrier mixes running around.

She is a fast learner, and she’s already got house-training down (with only a couple of accidents at the beginning). She is great on walks around the neighborhood, friendly with the neighbors (both human and canine), and she even gets along pretty well with the cats. Nena and Mei Mei have pretty much worked out an arrangement.

Vincent is still coming around, which is being complicated by the fact that he injured some of his front toes with (I think) an extra-high jump down from the top of the kitchen cabinets. We took him to the emergency vet (on the Fourth of July) and are treating him with pain medication and lots of love. In another week or so we are hoping he will be good as new.

Edward Snowden Isn’t a Criminal

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In 2006, it came to light that the National Security Agency (NSA) was collecting phone records. At the time, I found this unobjectionable because of a key nuance: those records were being volunteered to the NSA by the phone companies. The records belong to the companies, and they may use them however they like (as long as they don’t violate the terms of service and privacy policies they have in-place with their customers). This was a completely voluntary effort, and some companies—like Qwest—decided not to share their records with the government. We may like or dislike the NSA’s efforts, and we might have wished our phone company hadn’t cooperated with them, but no laws were being broken.

Around the same time, we also found out that President George W. Bush’s (R) administration was engaging in limited warrantless wiretapping of phone calls to and from some overseas numbers. Because this program dealt only with international calls, it fell squarely within the normal range of presidential war powers, and was also perfectly legal. Calls with both ends in the United States, on the other hand, could only be tapped with a warrant except in truly extraordinary cases.

The Fourth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution, with the assistance of tons of related case-law, demarcates clear lines between legal and illegal forms of electronic espionage and searches. The collection of data from businesses that voluntarily provide it falls on the legal side. The monitoring of phone calls to enemies across our borders in a time of war also falls on the legal side. The monitoring of phone calls and other communications after obtaining a warrant is also perfectly legal. But our government has played fast-and-loose with these lines before, and, thanks to Edward Snowden, we know they are still doing it today.

Snowden, formerly a low-level government contractor with Booz Allen Hamilton, publicly revealed the existence of an NSA espionage program that collects essentially all phone records in the United States under order of the U.S. Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court (FISC). This sounds very similar to the program that was revealed in 2006, and is probably related, but now the NSA is compelling companies to provide the information whether they want to or not. Now it’s not voluntary cooperation, but a full-on search and seizure. That is where it crossed the line from a legal (if questionable) program to one that is blatantly, absolutely unconstitutional.

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Scott Bradford is a writer and technologist who has been putting his opinions online since 1995. He believes in three inviolable human rights: life, liberty, and property. He is a Catholic Christian who worships the trinitarian God described in the Nicene Creed. Scott is a husband, nerd, pet lover, and AMC/Jeep enthusiast with a B.S. degree in public administration from George Mason University.