The Civil Liberties and Checkbook Edition

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First, WMATA: Metro Transit Police to begin bag inspection program. This may not be a technical infringement of my civil liberties, but I nevertheless am adding the ACLU to my contacts list. Also, it doesn't sound like it's actually going to work, and the Post's statement that "Police will not be viewing the content of papers or other reading material. But if illegal items such as drugs are found, they will be confiscated as evidence, and police will cite or arrest the individual" makes me question how often these new search procedures will be used as drug searches, rather than explosives checks. (Quote from "Metro to Randomly Search Riders' Bags", The Washington Post, 28 Oct 2008.) This is apparently my breaking point: rank stupidity in the "war" against terror is finally coming home to me, and I will not stand for it.

The other thing I'm contemplating tonight is my electricity/heating bill. Roommate M. and I are cheap, but we both stop functioning when the thermostat is down at 65 degrees. Tonight we upped it to 68 and had a little utilities discussion, and I'm thinking about springing for blackout curtains. Neither of us wants to be the one to say, "hey, we need to spend more money", but at the point where we're too cold to do our homework, it's time to up the utilities budget.