This is my brother, Scott. My brother rocks.

My brother has been a loyal, enthusiastic, and productive employee of Jet Propulsion Laboratories in Pasadena for years. He built important chunks of the software that lets the robots exploring our solar system and scientists here on earth talk to each other. He’s currently the lead driver of the Mars rovers.

However, Homeland Security Presidential Directive-12 says that my brother has to let “any investigator” at “any federal agency” have access to “any information” about him that they deem the slightest bit interesting. If he doesn’t consent to this egregious violation of his civil liberties, he’ll lose his job.

So, he’s organized HSPD12JPL.org in order to fight back.

I don’t have the words to express how infuriating this situation is. Suffice it to say that I’m as pissed off at this stupid directive as I am proud of my little brother. And that’s saying something.

Do me a favor, would you? Just click to watch this short video, and maybe read a little bit at HSPD12JPL.org, just so you know what’s going on. And then ask yourself: do you want NASA and other publicly funded institutions to lose some of the top engineers and scientists in the world on account of some tinpot dictator with delusions of grandeur? If not, then you know what to do.

My Uncle Jay alerted me to an attempt by the food industry to change the FDA “standard of identity” for chocolate, allowing for the use of fat and milk substitutes instead of the real thing. If this alarms you as much as it does me, you can find out more at Don’tMessWithOurChocolate.com. The site will walk you through an easy 2-minute procedure for leaving a comment on the issue at the FDA’s website.