My, my, my. “The Press” has certainly gotten its collective panties in a bunch over the rather aggressive DOJ investigation into “leaks.” This outrage was expressed today in a NY Times editorial entitled “Another Chilling Leak Investigation.”

“With the decision to label a Fox News television reporter a possible ‘co-conspirator’ in a criminal investigation of a news leak, the Obama administration has moved beyond protecting government secrets to threatening fundamental freedoms of the press to gather news.”
[…]
Obama administration officials often talk about the balance between protecting secrets and protecting the constitutional rights of a free press. Accusing a reporter of being a “co-conspirator,” on top of other zealous and secretive investigations, shows a heavy tilt toward secrecy and insufficient concern about a free press.

In other words, it was fine when you and Dubya were spying on everybody else, but now that you’re doing it to us, we’re pissed!

Of course, all your basic liberal media (and not so liberal media) are falling all over each other in condemning Obama. So I guess this is what it takes to get them to wake the fuck up.

A few weeks ago I got new tires for my car. Hated to spend the money, but they were pretty awful, so I figured I’d better bite the bullet and just do it. I actually did the whole thing online. Well, the purchase and payment part – I of course had to go to the place to have them mounted and all that. Anyhow, part of the deal was a “buy 3 get 1 free” (by rebate) deal.

I’m notoriously horrible about doing the whole rebate thing with the mailing in the receipts and forms and shit, but there was an option to do it online. Online I can do, so that was no problem. Unfortunately, instead of sending a check, they sent a prepaid debit card for the amount due (not that a check is much better, because I’m also notoriously bad at depositing checks in the bank – why can’t they just use Pay Pal?).

I’ve had these prepaid card things before, and I find them a pain to use because you never know how much is left on them, and then to use the remaining balance you have to like split the payment for whatever you’re buying and that involves talking to the cashier and then suffering the wrath of everybody behind you in line. So it usually means the thing expires with a balance still left on it (which I assume is why they do it that way, ‘cuz they know the average person will get screwed out of at least part of the money).

This time, though, I had an epiphany. I went to Amazon and bought myself an Amazon gift card for the full amount of the rebate card. Poof, zero balance. Then I applied the gift card to my Amazon account, and now I have a credit. Seeing as I buy all kinds of shit from Amazon, I’m good to go.

So I guess I’d better start shopping.