Civil War FTW

From the Department of Duh, found via Fark:

The Iraqi government is likely to become even more precarious over the next six months, even though President Bush's decision to send more troops has delivered "measurable" improvements in security, U.S. intelligence agencies concluded in an assessment of the situation in Iraq released Thursday.

Yeah. That's about the size of it. So, can we bring the troops home now? If we can't avoid it, why prolong it?

Grousing and punditisms in the comments link below...

Studio Goon? That's A Beatdown...

BoingBoing broke it. Fark picked it up. Wil has his $0.02 in on it. And now, it's my turn.

Warner Brothers has begun sending in goons with video cameras, and they're infiltrating a theater near you. Not to record the movie, no. To record YOU. Yep, here's an excerpt taken from an excerpt that Wil posted:

"[I]mmediately I notice an older gentleman who looked to be about 60 standing in the corner of the theater. Sporting a black suit and a black briefcase, he began to film the audience during the movie. Every 5-10 minutes he would sweep the audience with his video camera, then turn it off and just watch us, then turn the camera back on and sweep again."

Yeah. They're filming the audience, trying to catch people pirating the movie on film. And you know what? Chances are that noone saw any kind of disclosure anywhere in their theater stating that Warner was in there pulling this shit.

Privacy Violations 101: No Disclosure = Failure To Obtain Permission To Film People = Big Honking Lawsuit Against Both The Theater And Warner.

Any of you (all 6 of you, big up to Static Brain) experience this recently with any of Warner's films, such as Harry Potter 5? Horror stories in comments, please. Meanwhile, I'll be keeping a close eye on the local theaters (including the local drive-in) to see if Warner has contacted any of them to do this crap. I'll keep you posted...