OK, there is no Federal legislation banning it, but the de facto situation is pretty close. Salon reports that for the G20 summit, Chicago police will be deploying a sound cannon, causing anyone within 100m of the device’s directed sound path to experience extreme pain and — in some cases — irreversible hearing damage.

Zuccotti Park has approximately 30 police vehicles constantly present to cover one or two protesters. Two-month chart here.

I’m a week late with this, but the NYTimes ran a breath-taking article on variability in hospital pricing, showing that the cost of operations varied tremendously, e.g. an appendectomy ranged from $1,500 to $182,955.

After the Supreme Court ruled by a 5-to-4 vote that

officials may strip-search people arrested for any offense, however minor, before admitting them to jails even if the officials have no reason to suspect the presence of contraband (NYTimes),

Slate reported on How To Conduct a Strip-Search:

Federal corrections officers study and memorize the procedure at the Law Enforcement Training Center in Glynco, Ga. After learning the basics as part of their three-week classroom training, they practice on mannequins or on other trainees (who remain fully clothed).

Thank goodness they can keep their clothes on; wouldn’t want to humiliate and embarrass them even though “with a normal, cooperative subject the procedure shouldn’t take more than about five minutes“, and definitely wouldn’t want to generate any sympathy for the people being required to “pull back their foreskins“.

“We can reduce the size of the haystack when we are looking for that one-in-a-billion terrorist,” said TSA Administrator John Pistole.

Rick Santorum has spoken out against contraception, calling it “a license to do things in the sexual realm that is counter to how things are supposed to be.” What does he have against pleasure? The injunction against contraception is nowhere in the bible; the Catholic church came up with it by inference.

Chicago cops are being advised that all of the 3,000 international journalists planning to cover the G-8 will be committing a felony when they turn on their audio devices to record the public arrests of protestors. Slate.

I do not understand how any normal person could consider this reasonable, but it is in line with the USA dropping from 27th to 47th in Press Freedom ranking.

Firstly, there is an excellent explanation of SOPA’s potential impact here. Check out the video in the first link.

What is so striking about this, apart from the breath-taking over-reach of the bills, is the about-face in Congress as a result of the Internet strike. This is the latest example of the Internet providing citizens with the means to have their voices heard. Other recent examples include Verizon backing off a $2 bill payment fee, Bank of America dropping a $5 debit card fee, Occupy Wall Street and the Arab Spring.

In today’s world, knowledge of others is greatly expanding because of video, social media and the Internet. When people around the world connect, see each other and communicate, they can identify with and recognize the humanity in strangers everywhere. This is an unprecedented capability that has only existed for a few years, but is already having an effect, e.g. a Facebook page where Israelis and Palestinians communicate. This connection is enhanced by video because it communicates so much more powerfully than the printed word. Yes, we have had film and television, but they were both one-way transmissions, carrying the message of a narrow elite. Now, conversations are taking place all across the world. We are learning about others from their own lips, and the message the elites of this world wish to promote is losing its spell.

We fear the unknown, and strangers and foreigners have historically been the unknown. Governments have exploited this, as excellently portrayed in “1984″ by three super-powers in perpetual war. However, the Internet has popularized alternative narratives, and along with recognizing the humanity in all of us, world peace will be attained within the century.

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The Internet is a revolutionary technology comparable to the Gutenberg press. It offers direct communication between groups of people, bypassing the gatekeepers who have dominated and controlled the public conversations in the past.

Additionally, and just as important, through this contact with other people, we see them as similar to ourselves, rather than unknown, scary and hence a potential threat. The division into us vs. them that clans, countries, cultures and races encourage is weakening. The connections made through the Internet focus our attention on what we have in common, not our differences, and offer a way forward towards world peace.