part of this complete police state!
remember those tv ads for cereals that used to show a bowl of the advertised cereal on a table covered with all sorts of delicious breakfast foods with a voiceover saying "part of this complete breakfast!"
trying to imply that the cereal somehow possesses the tastiness and nutritional value of the whole pictured tableau, simply by virtue of being artificially grouped with it.
i just realized that that sort of magical-contagion theory is how our government works now, too. maybe too many government functionaries grew up watching those ads?
in gonzales v raich, the supreme court ruled that because banning pot is "part of this complete regulatory regime!" and regulating marijuana in general has to do with interstate commerce, congress has the power to jail you for smoking up even if your personal stash spent its entire seed-to-ash life cycle within the confines of your house, never going near a state border or causing money to change hands.
in kelo v new london, the supreme court ruled that because taking suzette kelo's house was "part of this complete redevelopment scheme!" the city of new london ct could do it and it counted as a taking for a public purpose, even though they were giving that particular parcel of land to a private developer to turn into a private parking lot.
and apparently under the (reagan-era!) executive order 12333, the nsa considers it legal to keep all (content!) communications between americans that happen to physically pass outside the u.s. at any time, because they're "part of this complete foreign intelligence operation!"
it's true. all that tv is bad for you.
trying to imply that the cereal somehow possesses the tastiness and nutritional value of the whole pictured tableau, simply by virtue of being artificially grouped with it.
i just realized that that sort of magical-contagion theory is how our government works now, too. maybe too many government functionaries grew up watching those ads?
in gonzales v raich, the supreme court ruled that because banning pot is "part of this complete regulatory regime!" and regulating marijuana in general has to do with interstate commerce, congress has the power to jail you for smoking up even if your personal stash spent its entire seed-to-ash life cycle within the confines of your house, never going near a state border or causing money to change hands.
in kelo v new london, the supreme court ruled that because taking suzette kelo's house was "part of this complete redevelopment scheme!" the city of new london ct could do it and it counted as a taking for a public purpose, even though they were giving that particular parcel of land to a private developer to turn into a private parking lot.
and apparently under the (reagan-era!) executive order 12333, the nsa considers it legal to keep all (content!) communications between americans that happen to physically pass outside the u.s. at any time, because they're "part of this complete foreign intelligence operation!"
it's true. all that tv is bad for you.