H.R. 418, REAL ID Act of 2005 (read a copy
here or
search thomas.loc.gov), contains a passage
ammending Section 102(c) of the Illegal Immigration Reform and
Immigrant Responsibility Act of 1996 (8 U.S.C. 1103 note) to read:
NO JUDICIAL REVIEW- Notwithstanding any other provision of law (statutory or nonstatutory), no court, administrative agency, or other entity shall have jurisdiction–
(A) to hear any cause or claim arising from any action undertaken, or any decision made, by the Secretary of Homeland Security pursuant to paragraph (1); or
(B) to order compensatory, declaratory, injunctive, equitable, or any other relief for damage alleged to arise from any such action or decision.
Which sounds rather broad given that the section of law read:
(a) In General. The Attorney General, in consultation with the
Commissioner of Immigration and Naturalization, shall take such
actions as may be necessary to install additional physical barriers
and roads (including the removal of obstacles to detection of illegal
entrants) in the vicinity of the United States border to deter illegal
crossings in areas of high illegal entry into the United States.
...
(c) Waiver. The provisions of the Endangered Species Act of 1973 [16
U.S.C. 1531 et seq.] and the National Environmental Policy Act of 1969
[42 U.S.C. 4321 et seq.] are waived to the extent the Attorney General
determines necessary to ensure expeditious construction of the
barriers and roads under this section [amending this section].
It will be interesting to see what a court makes of that since it sounds to this
layman’s ears like a broadside against the judiciary and limitations of
Congressional and Executive power.
Another year older and I still don’t know what I want to be when I grow up.
My
self introduction to Scheme
went reasonably well so I thought I’d explore Lisp.
I’m working my way through Paul Graham’s
On Lisp, the content
on CLiki, the Common Lisp Wiki and
muddling with Slime and
CMUCL. Seriously good stuff.
I ordered Practical Common
Lisp but it’s somewhere between here and the USPS distribution center
in New Jersey. Also wandering out of the swamps of Jersey, is my copy
of Mark Jason Dominus’s long-awaited Perl book,
Higher-order Perl and- having
nothing to do with programming- a copy of Jane and Michael Stern’s revised
edition of Roadfood.
The weather cleared this afternoon and caught me off guard. It was
supposed to rain. It was going to be windy and cold. On top of that, I
am on-call. I had planned this to be an entire ‘honeydew’ weekend
(”Honey, do this…”) but I worked like mad yesterday and completed
everything on my list and even knocked off two of the big items on
Maria’s list. I even had a book ready.
I debated if I should I go… It was after three. I’ll probably get
back after dark. Brooklyn is really inconvenient since getting to any
good roads means crossing Manhattan. If my luck runs out I’ll be stuck
in traffic on the way out or suffer two hours of it on the way
back. On the bright side, I did park and cover the bike so I wouldn’t
have to negotiate having my landlord move their minivan. I did leave
my half a tank of gas and I charged the battery. That’s a plus but I
find it hard to be impulsive when it comes to the bike. I’m
cautious. I plan. I check the weather. I plot a route (even if I
ignore it). I always check the bike the night before and do a quick
check again before riding off. I’m an “All The Gear, All The Time”
(ATGATT) sort so I never just pull on a helmet and take off, I lay out
my gear. It’s my own little ritual, a superstition- always do this
before the ride to ward off drowsy cagers and sandy corners. I haven’t
been hurt in eighteen years of riding so it sort of works. And I
didn’t do any of that.
But it was beautiful and you just don’t get opportunities like this
every day. I could die tomorrow- under a bus, on a train, in a
building or any of the other ways that catch you unaware- I thought.
So I grabbed my gear, gave it the once over and pushed the bike to the street.
I did my checks, and needed air in the front tire, and in thirty minutes
I was headed out.
I’m glad I did.
It doesn’t really matter where I rode, what I saw, how it felt, what I
smelled, what I thought, how far or how fast I went. I took a short ride
today.
And like every one I’ve taken since I was eighteen it was the best one
I’ve ever had.
