Morning Links

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1) A new report shows that transportation earmarks are going towards campaign contributors rather than needed road and infrastructure improvements.

2) The city of Schenectady, NY has declared that their laws are copyrighted and you must pay $200 to obtain them. Not only can I not afford a lawyer, I can’t afford the laws anymore.

3) The Senate Ethics Committee cleared Sen. Mary Landrieu on ethics charges.

4) Dan Gilmor asks whether we should consider a “slow-news” movement.

5) U.S. advisor to the Iraqi Kurds Peter Galbraith never disclosed that he stood to make over one hundred million dollars off of an oil field when he worked to divide Iraq’s oil wealth. Really ugly stuff.

(Bonus link: 10 geek laws that should exist, but don’t. Number seven is absolutely true, but should not be called Starbucks’ law as Starbucks coffee is an afront to all caffeine delivery systems. If anything we could have a Starbuck’s law: Only Battlestar Galactica can get away with explaining the death and resurrection of a beloved character by stating that they are an angel. Like Bush v. Gore this rule only applies to this one situation and cannot be used in reference to any future bizarre explanations for character resurrection.)