US District Judge Emmet Sullivan, who presided over the now-tossed trial of corrupt Senator Ted Stevens (R-Alaska), says that prosecutorial misconduct is increasingly common, and he's appointed a special prosecutor to investigate government attorneys' behavior in the Stevens trial. Last week, Sullivan rebuked the government for not turning over medical records to lawyers for Guantanamo detainees and ordered Justice Department lawyers to explain why he shouldn't cite them for contempt. [sound of crickets]
"Our tradition is one of protest and revolt, and it is stultifying to celebrate the rebels of the past while we silence the rebels of the present."
Henry Steele Commager
Good question. Judge Sullivan has also castigated prosecutors for improperly withholding the psychiatric records of a government witness who testified in a "significant" number of Guantanamo cases. Which makes me say hmmmm. The only thing that's ever been needed to bring Bush-Cheney et al to justice has been an investigation with subpoena power by someone who gives a damn about justice and is willing to follow the evidence where it leads. And I have to wonder, is Judge Sullivan that someone? I've never met the guy, but he seems to have at least two cajones, and if he has even two-thirds the integrity of an ordinary man, then his investigation might begin uncovering the muck that others (perhaps including Eric Holder and Barack Obama) would prefer remain covered. Judge Sullivan, after all, doesn't have to worry about being fired -- he's got his appointment to the bench, and it's for life.
[ McClatchy Newspapers ] In the wake of a prosecutorial misconduct scandal in the corruption case against former US Sen. Ted Stevens, a Miami federal judge has imposed extraordinary sanctions on federal prosecutors in Florida for secretly taping the defense team of a physician who was ultimately acquitted in a prescription drug case. Judge Alan Gold ordered the government to cover legal fees, litigation expenses and expert fees, and issued a public reprimand against the US Attorney's Office for failing to properly supervise trial attorneys.
[ Daily Business Review ]
Do you remember Paul Minor, the Mississippi defense attorney railroaded into prison by the Bush-Cheney administration's corrupt Justice Department? Well, the Obama administration's Justice Department has issued a 77-page legal brief to convince a court not to allow Minor to see his wife one last time before she dies. In recent oral arguments for Minor's appeal, even Fifth Circuit judges asked questions that indicate there are clear and serious questions about the Minor conviction--questions that would merit his release pending appeal even if his wife were healthy. That he is not being released to be with his dying wife is an outrage--one that Obama attorney general Eric Holder apparently is not concerned about.
[ Legal Schnauzer ] A former deputy US marshal is going on trial in Chicago for allegedly leaking secrets to the mob about a federally protected witness. John T. Ambrose is accused of tipping off organized crime figures about admitted former hit man Nicholas Calabrese.
[ Associated Press ]
Spanish prosecutors have announced that they will indeed indict six former American officials for their role in the torture of Spaniards at Guantanamo. The wanted men are: • Vice President Cheney's former chief of staff David Addington • Federal Appeals Court Judge and former Assistant Attorney General Jay Bybee • former Undersecretary of Defense Douglas J. Feith • former Attorney General Alberto Gonzales • former Defense Department general counsel and current Chevron lawyer William J. Haynes II • and University of California law professor and former Deputy Assistant Attorney General John Yoo. Spanish officials, however, will try to turn down the heat and reduce the chance of any convictions by having the matter heard by another judge, instead of the renowned Baltasar Garzón Real, who's headed the investigation so far.
[ The Daily Beast ] During the presidential campaign, Obama criticized Bush for being too quick to invoke the state secrets claim. But last Friday, his Justice Department filed a motion in a warrantless wiretapping lawsuit, brought by the digital-rights group EFF. And the Obama-ites took a page out of the Bush DoJ's playbook by demanding that the suit, Jewel v. NSA, be dismissed entirely under the state secrets privilege, arguing that allowing it go forward would jeopardize national security. Coming on the heels of the two other recent cases in which the new administration has asserted the state secrets privilege, the motion sparked outrage among civil libertarians and many progressive commentators. ... We wanted to get a sense from a few independent experts as to how to assess the administration's position on the case. Does it represent a continuation of the Bushies' obsession with putting secrecy and executive power above basic constitutional rights? Is it a sweeping power grab by the executive branch, that sets set a broad and dangerous precedent for future cases by asserting that the government has the right to get lawsuits dismissed merely by claiming that state secrets are at stake, without giving judges any discretion whatsoever? In a word, yes. [ TPM Muckraker ]
Corporations own the news
Virtually all of US media is controlled by corporations and operated solely for profit. And that means that news that's controversial or expensive to cover often gets minimal coverage that's shallow, inaccurate, or slanted to favor big business.
America's mainstream political discourse is dominated by lies, insults, and general nuttiness from right-wing commentators and politicians. And there's really no left-tilted equivalent, since anyone who offers blunt criticism of the right-wing (even when it's warranted and true) is "outside the mainstream", by definition.
And then we have the cable blowhards, radio ranters, fake "watchdogs", and foundation-funded websites that appeal directly to the most ignorant and gullible Americans, with fictional facts, hate-mongering, hyperbole, scary assertions, and just plain nonsense.
Some of the lies and lunacy we've listed above is just silly, but some of it -- specifically Fox News -- is downright dangerous and must be stopped. For all our adult lives we've been advocates for free speech. Without free speech there's no freedom, without censorship there's no tyranny, and we've always hated people who said "I'm for free speech, but ..." but now we're two of them. We're for free speech, but: When mass media "news" outlets spread blatant lies and fan the flames of misinformed fury to an audience of millions, that's a direct danger to democracy and it ought to be illegal.
And again, sure, there are left-wing commentators just as delusional as the right-wing's numerous nutballs. The difference is, left-wing nuts publish amateur blogs and zines, host cable-access shows, and can be heard muttering to themselves on buses ... while right-wing freaks and fibbers make a handsome living lying at professionally-published websites, writing factually-wrong but nationally syndicated newspaper columns, and airing their hokum and hysteria on big-budget radio and television shows. It's all brought to you by the same corporations and curiously well-funded foundations that control American industry, media, medicine, and politics. --H&HH
There's increasing heat over the Obama administration's attempt to out-Bush the Bush-Cheney administration's outrageously unconstitutional "state secrets" claims. But as yet, not enough heat, so crank it up please.
[ whorunsgov.com ]
Obama was for habeas corpus, before he was against it. Before he was President. To recap: Obama files a brief saying he agrees in full with the Bush/Cheney position. He's arguing that the President has the power to abduct, transport and imprison people in Bagram indefinitely with no charges of any kind. He's telling courts that they have no authority to "second-guess" his decisions when it comes to war powers. But this is all totally different than what Bush did, and anyone who says otherwise is a reckless, ill-motivated hysteric who just wants to sell books and get on TV.
[ Salon ] President Barack Obama has ordered the Navy's prison at Guantanamo Bay closed by next January, suspended Military Commission trials, and assigned Attorney General Eric Holder to conduct case-by-case reviews of the 241 prisoners still detained there to determine which ones should be prosecuted, released or sent to other countries. Yet the Obama Defense Department is still trying to recruit lawyers to defend its detentions. In a ''help wanted'' ad circulated through the American Bar Association, the Pentagon (DOD) offering $39,407 - $130,211 a year for lawyers who will help respond to habeas corpus petitions filed by detainees in federal courts.
[ The Public Record ]
The District of Columbia has voted to recognize same-sex marriages from American states where such weddings are performed. D.C., please note, lacks the authority to approve gay marriages for its own city.
[ Washington Post ]
In Vermont, to my happy surprise, Democrats have a spine -- they've overridden the Republican Governor's veto of gay marriage legislation, making Vermont the fourth state to stop barring gay marriage. The bill actually got more votes for overriding the veto than it got in its original passage, with several legislators who had previously been opposed changing their minds on the second ballot.
[ Burlington Free Press ] Vermont's Legislature is considering a bill that, if approved, would make the state one of the first in the nation to grant legal protections to teenagers who send sexually explicit photos and videos to one another with their cell phones.
Vermont seems to have cornered the market in common sense.
[ Burlington Free Press ]
It's received scant media coverage, but over recent years several major dictionaries including The American Heritage Dictionary, Black's Law Dictionary, the Oxford English Dictionary, and Webster's have tweaked their definitions of "marriage" to explicitly include same-sex marriage.
[ Slate ]
The growing crackdown on illegal immigration has, of course, resulted in the arrest, imprisonment, and occasional deportation of American citizens.
[ Associated Press ]
Luis Posada "Bambi" Carriles, a graduate of the famed American School of Assassins at Ft. Benning, Georgia, has finally been indicted. He allegedly planned a terror attack that blew a passenger jet to bits in 1976, and says he was hired by the Cuban American National Foundation to engage in terrorism against Cuba, but he's charged not with terrorism, only with lying to investigators.
[ McClatchy Newspapers ]
ABC News is reporting that President Obama will soon lift some of the more draconian restrictions on relatives' travel to Cuba. The changes will allow unlimited visits to family members on the island as well as unlimited remittances -- the cash recent immigrants to the US send to relatives back home. President Bush imposed stricter restrictions on both in 2004. ... The Obama administration will also take steps to enhance the flow of information by allowing US telecommunications networks to link the US and Cuba; and will allow an expansion of humanitarian items that can be sent to the island (including clothing, personal hygiene items and fishing equipment). Ordinary Americans, apparently, will not yet be bestowed with the freedom to travel where they wish.
[ ABC News ]
Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas, who's usually mute from the bench, actually had something to say at a recent dinner, and unsurprisingly, his words were terrifying. The event, on March 31, was devoted to the Bill of Rights, but Justice Thomas did not embrace the document, and he proposed a couple of alternatives. 'Today there is much focus on our rights," Justice Thomas said. "Indeed, I think there is a proliferation of rights. I am often surprised by the virtual nobility that seems to be accorded those with grievances," he said. "Shouldn't there at least be equal time for our Bill of Obligations and our Bill of Responsibilities?" He gave examples: "It seems that many have come to think that each of us is owed prosperity and a certain standard of living. They're owed air conditioning, cars, telephones, televisions." Thomas was speaking to high school kids, so let's assume he's dumbing things down a lot, but still -- "a proliferation of rights"? Our "Bill of Obligations and Responsibilities" is everything else in all the myriad acres of law books, but America's Bill of Rights (to the extent it's taken seriously) is what separates the US from totalitarian states. And it apparently means spitwads to Justice Thomas. Have there been recent cases I've missed, where the Supreme Court ruled on a right to air conditioning? I've long thought Thomas is an utter whack job, and there's nothing here to alter that perception.
[ New York Times, distilled by Ryoga M ]
At a Veterans Administration hospital, a low-level VA official named Gloria Hairston ordered reporter David Schultz, a reporter for an NPR affiliate, to stop interviewing a veteran and give her his recording equipment. When he refused, she called armed guards and made it clear he would be arrested if he did not comply, so he turned over his equipment. After several days of mounting public outcry, the VA returned the equipment with no apology, and the station aired the interview the VA apparently didn't want you to hear.
[ WTOP Radio ]
The amusingly-named Transportation Security Administration (TSA) is now using those millimeter-wave scans -- the devices which let TSA agents see through clothing -- "in the place of the walk-through metal detector at six airports." Now the plan is going nationwide. Joe Sharkey of the New York Times reports that TSA "plans to replace the walk-through metal detectors at airport checkpoints with whole-body imaging machines -- the kind that provide an image of the naked body." All passengers will "go through the whole-body imager instead of the walk-through metal detector," according to TSA's chief technology officer, and the machines will begin operating soon after orders are placed this summer.
[ Salon ] Less than half a dozen people are responsible for making the final decisions about which banks get part of the $700 billion in bailout money available through the Troubled Asset Relief Program, according to Department of Treasury officials. In response to a Freedom of Information Act request made by the Sunlight Foundation in January for the members of the TARP Investment Committee, a FOIA officer recently responded with just four names, including Assistant Secretary, Neel Kashkari; Chief Investment Officer, James Lambright; Acting Assistant Secretary for Financial Markets, Karthik Ramanathan and Acting Assistant Secretary for Economic Policy, Ralph Monaco, all holdovers from the Bush administration.
[ Talking Points Memo, distilled by ThinkProgess ]
The Obama administration's "stress tests" for banks are apparently entirely bogus, as bank after bank pass the tests with flying colors, but still need billions in bailout bucks. I've said it before -- it's the biggest bank robbery in history -- and I'll keep saying it until someone 'splains to me how that's wrong.
[ New York Times, distilled by Naked Capitalism ]
The bailout of big business is about to be expanded to provide life-support for struggling life-insurance companies. It's all stupid and probably criminal, wasting trillions of dollars to prevent enormous companies (which, of course, should never have been allowed to grow so huge) from declaring bankruptcy. I'll confess again that I don't know much about big-picture economics, but I've got six times the common sense of Timothy Geithner and Larry Summers put together, and I'll cheerfully maintain that the American and world economy would be better off if we'd spend not one dime of federal funds propping up AIG and Goldman Sachs and the rest of the Wall Street swindlers, and instead given similar bailout bucks to ordinary Americans.
[ Balloon Juice ]
Ralph Nader asks, Where were the giant accounting firms, the CPAs, and the rest of the accounting profession while the Wall Street towers of fraud, deception and cover-ups were fracturing our economy, looting and draining trillions of dollars of other peoples' money? This is the licensed profession that is paid to exercise independent judgment with independent standards to give investors, pension funds, mutual funds, and the rest of the financial world accurate descriptions of corporate financial realities. It is now obvious that the accountants collapsed their own skill, integrity and self-respect faster and earlier than the collapse of Wall Street and the corporate barons. The accountants-both external and internal-could have blown the whistle on what Teddy Roosevelt called the "malefactors of great wealth."
[ Common Dreams ] An international drug company made a hit list of doctors who had to be "neutralized" or discredited because they criticized the anti-arthritis drug the pharmaceutical giant produced. Staff at US company Merck &Co emailed each other about the list of doctors -- mainly researchers and academics -- who had been negative about the drug Vioxx or Merck and a recommended course of action.
[ The Australian ] At the height of the US housing boom, when building materials were in short supply, American construction companies used millions of pounds of Chinese-made drywall because it was abundant and cheap. Now that decision is haunting hundreds of homeowners and apartment dwellers who are concerned that the wallboard gives off fumes that can corrode copper pipes, blacken jewelry and silverware, and possibly sicken people. And next up, sofas from China are being blamed for allergic reactions including chronic dermatitis, skin burns, eye irritation and breathing difficulties. China is getting a well-deserved reputation for deadly imports to America, and you can blame the Red Chinese to your heart's content and I won't say a word in their defense. But I will say, save a hearty portion of blame for the American companies that import this crap, and for American regulators that don't regulate squat.
[ Associated Press ]
The Dewey Square Group, a political consulting outfit with ties to the Democratic Party, is apparently behind a campaign of fake letters to the editor from senior citizens, advocating their enthusiastic but non-existent support for an overpriced supplemental insurance program called Medicare Advantage.
[ The Eagle-Tribune ]
Big Agribiz is concerned because First Lady Michelle Obama's White House garden is organic. Oh my god, no chemicals?
[ The Hill ] Goldman Sachs is attempting to shut down a dissident blogger who is extremely critical of the investment bank, its board members and its practices.
[ London Daily Telegraph ]
Much on-line angst after Amazon discovered a "glitch" that suppressed the sales rankings of gay-themed books and, apparently, only gay-themed books. It's a well-engineered prank, apparently.
[ Gawker ] Only 53% of American adults believe capitalism is better than socialism. Maybe the Republicans have been a tad unwise in using the word "socialism" to describe things Americans want, like socialized medicine... For me the question is a little more complicated than either/or. I'd prefer an economy that's mixed -- socialized police, military, roads, and medical, and free enterprise restaurants, grocery stores, and manufacturers.
[ America Blog ] According to the NY TImes: "in a statement to employees, the agency's director, Leon E. Panetta, said agency officers who worked in the program "should not be investigated, let alone punished" because the Justice Department under President George W. Bush had declared their actions legal." Sickening, and about what one would expect. It means that Americans are free to torture prisoners, safe and secure in the knowledge that nobody in power in American government will push for punishment, and indeed, they'll push instead for looking the other way. Leon Panetta or Barack Obama are making themselves accomplices after the fact, in the crimes against humanity that occurred under the Bush-Cheney administration.
[ New York Times, distilled by Michael in Berlin ]
Sure looks like the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention intentionally withheld bad news about lead contamination in Washington DC's water supply. People ought to be furious, but chances are, most folks will never even hear about this.
[ Salon ]
It's hardly surprising, but the US Chamber of Commerce (read, Big Business) is spending at least a million dollars for an ad campaign against the Employee Free Choice Act (EFCA).
[ The Hill ]
The Bureau of Land Management has demanded $81,000 from Tim DeChristopher, the activist who disrupted a BLM auction last December to bid on and faux purchase (he had no funds to speak of) some wilderness property, thus perhaps saving it from development. BLM says they've done this at the request of the US Attorney's Office in Salt Lake City, and the US Attorney's Office says they know nothing about it. This is Bush-quality bumbling. Here's some good coverage of DeChristopher's response.
[ The Salt Lake Tribune ]
'I am not a crook', says Congressman Jesse Jackson, Jr. (D-Illinois). We'll see.
[ Chicago Sun-Times ]
It made me stop and think
"President Obama promised the American people a new era of transparency, accountability, and respect for civil liberties. But with the Obama Justice Department continuing the Bush administration's cover-up of the National Security Agency's dragnet surveillance of millions of Americans, and insisting that much-publicized warrantees wiretapping program is still a 'secret' that cannot be reviewed by the courts, it feels like déjà vu all over again."
[ Kevin Bankston ]
"I was awe-struck. I have always known, intellectually, that hemp was supposed to make great clothing & it has a million & one other uses as well. But, it wasn't until I put my hands on these nearly 200 YEAR OLD pieces of fabric that I realized why industry would want to fight this plant. It lasts, if not forever, then for a couple of life-times or more. How on earth would they be able to generate profit, if we weren't wearing holes in our Chinese factory made clothing every two weeks? And, of course, this is a plant that anyone could grow, it is a WEED. If it was used as fuel source (as I was told it would be a excellent use for...), how would they ever profiteer once the average person figured out how to make hemp oil, or each local community had a grower who would supply the fuel. Where would the oil billionaires be?"
[ debbierlus ]
"If newspapers become mostly infotainment websites -- if the number of well-trained investigative journalists dwindles still further -- and if we're soon left with nothing but the yapping heads who dominate cable "news" and talk radio, how will we recognize, or hope to forestall, impending national and global crises? How will we know if government officials have made terrible mistakes, as even the best will sometimes do? How will we know if government officials have told us terrible lies, as the worst have sometimes done? A decimated, demoralized and under-resourced press corps hardly questioned the Bush administration's flimsy case for war in Iraq -- and the price for that failure will be paid for generations. "It's time for a government bailout of journalism. "If we're willing to use taxpayer money to build roads, pay teachers and maintain a military; if we're willing to bail out banks and insurance companies and failing automakers, we should be willing to part with some public funds to keep journalism alive too."
[ Rosa Brooks ]
"What's painful to realize is that in the 1950s, many Republican lawmakers were outraged by [Sen Joseph] McCarthy's tactics, and publicly denounced him, en route to an official censure. Is there enough decency left in the Republican delegations of the 21st century to have GOP officials stand up and say, "Enough"?"
[ Steve Benen ]
"The Republican Party's death doesn't really threaten anyone, and I puzzle why Democrats and independents who vote Democratic spend words and worry debating the look of the corpse. We few Republicans with long memories wander around the cemetery admiring the tombstones and enjoying the rain."
[ John Batchelor ]
"The Joint Tax Committee has calculated that the Republican changes to the estate tax would cost the Treasury $442 billion over 10 years. Another estimate puts it at $250 billion. Surely even the figure isn't too much to ask the rest of us to make up in order to thank the very rich for ... well, for being so very rich."
[ Tom Teepen ]
"Obama is playing a chess game in which we can't see most of the pieces. If he backs his queen off for no apparent reason, the fool says, "I could play better than that," while the wise person tries to infer the position of the hidden rook. From his policy decisions so far, I infer an army of strong pieces whose motive is to continue the American cult suicide. Every powerful interest is going to hold onto its power at the expense of the whole system, which will continue to decline and fall... as we continue to build new systems in its cracks. What Obama gives us, at the very least, is a few years of relative stability. He's going to keep the bus from flipping over or bursting into flames as it rolls down the slope."
[ Ran Prieur ]
Which is creepier: that the Speaker of the Florida House of Representatives in 2000 thinks he -- and not the voters -- made George W. Bush president? Or that Karl Rove keeps files on those who've been critical of George W. Bush?
[ Washington Monthly ]
Republican consultants for former Senator Rick Santorum (R-Pennsylvania) have been fined $25,000 for violations of campaign law, a mere three years after a complaint was filed by CREW.
[ Citizens for Ethics in Politics ]
Kal Penn has given up his rising career as a comic actor to become associate director in President Obama's White House Office of Public Liaison. According to this article, staffers with similar job titles earn between $41,000 and $91,000, presumably a sizable pay cut for Penn, best known as Kumar from the Harold and Kumar movies. Gotta respect that. [ Reuters News Agency ]
Last week's wide-eyed reports of bad guys hacking into California's power grid seemed wildly overblown to me, and curiously short on specifics. Bruce Schneier, for whom I have boundless respect, seems to agree. Read the whole story; there aren't really any facts in it. I don't know what's going on; maybe it's just budget season and someone is jockeying for a bigger slice.
[ Schneier on Security ]
Governor Bobby Jindal (R-Louisiana), widely proclaimed a front-runner for the Republican Presidential nomination in 2012, says he's about to sign a book deal with Regnery Publishing. Have you met Al Regnery? His Regnery Publishing is home plate for the looniest of the loons, and having Jindal sign with them might be good news, if it helps publicize -- and thus expose and discredit -- Regnery's work.
[ donklephant.com ] How did a company best known for its communications gear manage to get a $322 million, no-bid contract to supply the Iraqi military with Russian helicopters? Not even the Pentagon can come up with a convincing explanation.
[ Wired ]
Max Blumenthal reports that Gov Sarah Palin's (R-Alaska) reputation has been damaged by her nomination of a wingnut for state Attorney General. Nominee Wayne Anthony Ross has called homosexuals 'degenerates,' leveled invective against an African-American student offended by a statue of a Klansman, vowed to undermine the sovereignty of Native American tribes, and allegedly defended men who rape their wives". Still, it's hard to see how any of that could damage her reputation among right-wing circles, or further damage her brand among Democrats and other sane observers.
[ The Daily Beast ]
In the midst of all the joyous but jaw-droppingly shallow coverage of Somalian pirates and American heroics, let's take a moment to review the situation in Somalia, and perhaps remember that Somalians have few options and more than a few legitimate gripes.
[ The Independent ] Former Peruvian President Alberto Fujimori has been sentenced to 25 years in prison after being convicted for crimes against humanity in his homeland. The conviction relates to death-squad murders and kidnappings during Peru's war against Shining Path guerrillas in the 1990s. The presiding judge in the case said there was no question that Mr Fujimori authorized the creation of a unit that illegally killed at least 50 people. In Peru there's justice, but never in America.
[ Belfast Telegraph ] Bolivian President Evo Morales has said he will refuse to eat until the upper house of parliament, the Senate, passes a new electoral law. In Bolivia a President has principles, but never in Washington DC.
[ BBC News ]
In Fiji, President Ratu Josefa Iloilo announced in a nationally broadcast radio address that he had abolished the constitution, assumed all governing power and revoked all judicial appointments. "I hereby confirm I have abrogated the 1997 constitution and appointed myself as head of state in the new order," Iloilo said in the address.
[ The Guardian ] The Afghan ambassador to the United States has told Al Jazeera that civilian casualties during US military operations are "a price that we have to pay" if the Taliban and al-Qaeda are to be defeated. This fellow must be related to Bush or Cheney. But then again as Rumsfeld said "...stuff happens." Or is it, "We have met the enemy and it is us." --Wig
[ al-Jazeera ]
Milan-based daily Il Giornale, owned by the family of Italian prime minister Silvio Berlusconi, said that the Vatican has rejected three possible choices by the Obama government for the post of US ambassador, including that of Caroline Kennedy, daughter of John F Kennedy.
America needs an Ambassador to the Vatican as much as we need an Ambassador to the moon. --Wig
[ Irish Times ] North Korea vowed Tuesday to restart its nuclear reactor and to boycott international disarmament talks for good in retaliation for the U.N. Security Council's condemnation of its rocket launch. I wouldn't go so far as to say that I don't give a fat damn in hell, but I'm profoundly less interested in this news than America's major political players want me to be. Bottom line: America, China, Israel, and Pakistan and other countries have nuclear weapons, and North Korea wants nukes too -- and North Korea is not the problem in that equation.
[ Associated Press ]
Paraguayan President Fernando Lugo, thought to be a fairly decent fellow until now, has admitted seducing a 16-year-old girl and fathering her child while he was a Catholic Bishop. We all have weaknesses of the flesh, so I do not judge, I merely chuckle and shake my head.
[ McClatchy Newspapers ]
Hey, here's a new website that's doing dang good work: foxnewsboycott.com. And you don't boycott Fox News just by changing the channel -- you should boycott the companies that sponsor a network where all the news is slanted to favor the rich and powerful. They've got a list of Fox News sponsors, and you know it would be morally wrong and downright un-American to give any of them a dime.
[ foxnewsboycott.com ]
Richard Wilkinson and Kate Pickett argue, persuasively to me, that "almost every social problem common in developed societies -- reduced life expectancy, child mortality, drugs, crime, homicide rates, mental illness and obesity -- has a single root cause: inequality."
[ The Guardian ]
I can't make sense of the arch-right's increasingly loony 'tea party' complaints, but the blog DownWithTyranny does a good job swimming through the teabags, and the rest of the increasingly scary Republican sedition. As for the so-called tea parties, they seem to be driven entirely by arch-conservative think tanks and grandstanding politicians, inspired by CNBC wingnut Rick Santelli and branded by Fox News, so it's anything but sincere. They're protesting taxation -- not taxation without representation, like the Boston Tea Party, but taxation itself? As I understand it, the Obama administration has proposed raising taxes on a tiny sliver of the richest Americans -- is that what they're pissed off about? They're protesting the multi-trillion dollar bailouts, and I could certainly understand that, but that bailout billions were a Bush-Cheney production before Obama took over and nobody was talking teabags when Bush was in charge, so it looks like a protest that's purely partisan, not at all principled. Here's Rachel Maddow's explanation of what the teabagging is about, and more amusingly, here's Rachel's mockery of the teabaggers. (I assume everyone's aware that teabagging has rather ribald meaning to some people, but my husband reminds me that not everyone has lived in San Francisco, as we did for ten years.) [ DownWithTyranny ]
The arch-rightwing Washington Times has begun reserving a page a day in its on-paper edition for "citizen journalism" -- news articles written by non-professionals, purportedly within the paper's rules for their reporting and newswriting, as well as ... policies governing ethics, anonymous sources and other journalistic standards. Smack me in the head, but I've long thought this would be a good idea to pursue. But I suspect it would work better at a real newspaper with real journalistic standards than at a loony-fringe paper owned by operatives of Rev. Sun Myung Moon's Unification Church.
[ Washington Times ]
Senator-elect Al Franken (D-Minnesota) has pulled a little further ahead in the Minnesota Senate recount, and former Senator Norm Coleman (R) has lost his court challenge, but plans to appeal. How much longer will the people of Minnesota be denied their Senator?
[ ThinkProgess ]
Fascinating interview with reporter Dave Cullen, author of the new book Columbine. Lots here I'd never known.
[ Salon ]
Most of the time when I come across tip-sheets for saving money, they're either too obvious to be of any value (Look for sales! Buy generic!), or too hard-core for me (Bake your own bread! Make your own medicine!). This list is at about my level of money-saving, so it struck me as worth sharing.
[ consumerist.com ]
Iraq's highest court on Tuesday reduced the prison sentence for an Iraqi journalist who hurled his shoes at former President George W. Bush from three years to one, a court spokesman said. ... Though Muntadhar al-Zeidi is scheduled to be released in December 2009, al-Saadi said he could be free within five months with credit for good behavior.
[ Associated Press ]
Is your computer infected with the heavily hyped Conficker virus? Here's a quick and easy test to find out.
[ Baylor University ]
In England, it seems that conservatives have found that they gain political points by supporting small businesses over giant chains, and buying local over buying stuff trucked in from great distances. I don't know enough about British politics to weigh in with any particular knowledge about this, but I do find it delightful, and hope the notion spreads to America. I'd really prefer to see a second political party in America that offers something to the public debate... and then a third, and a fourth...
[ Boston Globe ]
Matt Stone says he and Trey Parker, creators of South Park, were told that "US Marines forced Saddam Hussein, who was executed in 2006, to repeatedly watch the move South Park: Bigger, Longer And Uncut, which shows him as gay, as well as the boyfriend of Satan." Very funny to the late-night comics, and it ain't waterboarding or bamboo under the fingernails, but it also ain't right. US Marines are not supposed to force a prisoner to repeatedly watch a motion picture than mocks him mercilessly. We're supposed to treat prisoners with a modicum of human dignity and decency, as we would want our brothers and sons to be treated if they were taken prisoner. This is pretty low on the scale of Bush-Cheney era outrages, but it's wrong, morally and unambiguously.
[ London Daily Telegraph ]
Associated Press has sent a cease-and-desist letter to an AP affiliate for using AP video that AP makes publicly available on its AP channel at YouTube.
[ techcrunch.com ]
Oklahoma City bomber Terry Nichols is suing for $4.5-million, over prison food that offends his religious sensibilities.
[ Southern Poverty Law Center ] America Blog says it perfectly: Arizona State University invited President Obama to speak at their commencement, but they've notified the leader of the free world that he won't be getting an honorary degree because, well, you know, it's great that he's the first black president and everything (yes, they noted that he's black), but maybe he could come back after he finishes his term, and if he's accomplished anything significant by then, the president of the Harvard of the desert will be happy to reconsider whether the President of the United States of America has accomplished anything significant in his life.
[ America Blog ]
The Human Rights Campaign has obtained audition tapes of actors' auditions for the scripted, hysterical, and lying commercial that's been given a $1.5-million push by the so-called "National Organization for Marriage". It's both funny and infuriating -- they can't find real people to spout their lies, but they can find real money and lots of it to put their lies all over the media. But good luck actually watching the try-out videos -- the National Organization for Marriage claimed copyright violations and had the videos taken down from YouTube and other vid-sharing sites.
[ ThinkProgess ]
I listened to about 45 minutes of Montel Williams' first show on Air America, and twenty minutes of his third show. It's not annoying, like Fox News or dog farts, it's just mind-numbingly dull and forced my brain into neutral. Swear to God, if it was the goal of Air America to ruin radio for progressive talk, they'd be well on their way.
[ New York Daily News ]
Quarter-kudos to the Washington Post, where reporters writing about the latest bad news on global climate change briefly acknowledged that the new evidence -- including satellite data showing that the average multiyear wintertime sea ice cover in the Arctic in 2005 and 2006 was nine feet thick, a significant decline from the 1980s -- contradicts data cited in widely circulated reports by Washington Post columnist George F. Will that sea ice in the Arctic has not significantly declined since 1979. The Post could up the ante and receive half-kudos if it would start fact-checking Will's columns.
[ Grist ]
This is a short but sweet NPR report on a woman discovering the value of neighborliness. Ends with the lady running a boarding house, a line of work I was once in and heartily recommend, long as you screen your tenants with a lengthy conversation before letting 'em move in.
[ National Public Radio ] For Sarah Palin, Levi the victim has become Levi the big mistake.
[ Anchorage Daily News ] Tony Blair has challenged the "entrenched" attitudes of the Pope on homosexuality, and argued that it is time for him to "rethink" his views. It should be a long while before decent humans forgive the former British Prime Minister for joining America in the attack on Iraq, and Blair has been a putz on numerous other issues over the years, but we'll tip out hat in his direction just for today.
[ London Times ]
CNBC's Jim Cramer is "a buffoon", says pessimistic economist Nouriel Roubini. A snark attack, but well-deserved.
[ Associated Press ]
In a new single from Eminem, he raps about boinking Gov Sarah Palin (R-Alaska), with the lines, "And I'll invite Sarah Palin out to dinner, then / Nail her. Baby, say hello to my little friend." Cripes, I hate Palin as much as anyone, but what ever happened to sexy with style? Where's Lou Rawls?
[ NBC News ]
Fox News's Bill O'Reilly is miffed at the Chicago Sun-Times, because that venerable paper dumped O'Reilly's syndicated column. The Sun-Times' Roger Ebert is delighted to have his paper blasted by O'Reilly.
[ Salon ]
Former Congressman Vito Fossella (R-New York) is pleading guilty to drunk driving charges.
[ Associated Press ]
#
The subject of the implementation of Laws denigrating women's rights in Afghanistan is a tempest in a teapot.
I think such a law is vile, but if anyone thinks that this law is something new; think again. By enacting, or even giving consideration to enacting this law President Karzai's government is only recognizing what is and has been Afghanistan social custom for a very long time. It is politically expedient for President Karzai to permit such a law in order to provide some modicum of stability in the region of Shiite influence. This is the same reasoning behind why the Government of Pakistan permitted political and legal (Sharia Law) autonomy to the Talibs in the Swat Valley region of Pakistan.
If people are shocked by the news of this law, I suggest they are woefully naïve.
Besides, in reality, President Karzai's influence dissolves at the City of Kabul's border (or beyond a 200m radius of any NATO military force...).
Our presence in Afghanistan has nothing to do with implementing social democracy; it has everything to do with extending the hegemony of US and Allied regional political/economic interests (read pipelines).
And, so far we are losing.
The Canadian
#4/17/2009:
It must be a pain in the butt to have so many politically aware Chris's write in to your
site. It's getting tough to keep track of us all, huh?
Chris D.
Oops and sigh: Through the editor's bumbling confusion, The Canadian's note was originally and incorrectly credited as having been written by Chris D. So far as I know, The Canadian's name isn't even Chris, but they're both Canadians, which is about as close as I can come to explaining my brain fart. Sorry about that.
If that were me that attendant would have had more than a twisted arm. It's time for common sense to return to the airlines. It's not nice to interfere with Mother Nature.
I read the Atlanta Journal-Constitution's coverage of this, and I'm not ready to make a preemptive judgement for one side or the other. If it comes to court, I'd be a good juror -- I have a lot of understanding for somebody who has to go to the bathroom in a hurry, but I also have some sympathy for a worker who gets rushed and strong-armed. There's nothing implausible about the version of events related by the stewardess and witness, which in my opinion would, if true, amount to assault.
H&HH
OK. But if I were you if you find yourself in the position of that
passenger have a bedpan with your carry on luggage.
== == ==
Now this is real chutzpah. Another frivolous lawsuit by Israelis with dual citizenship using American courts knowing that such a suit filed in Israeli courts would go nowhere.
The first time I remember hearing about US courts claiming worldwide jurisdiction was when America attacked Panama to bring dictator and ex-ally Manuel Noriega to a prison in Florida. Now it's routine, but always it seems absurd to me. Whether victimized or not, whether citizens or not, under what sane or logical pretext can residents of Israel sue Hezbollah and North Korea in American courts?
H&HH
I don't quite understand why Israel has become a millstone around the US's neck and whether or not I've become an anti-Semite because of it, but the extraordinary influence Israel has over our government has become an irritant in my attempt to understand our foreign policy. If you find my preoccupation with the subject annoying in my emails please just disregard them and I will understand. Perhaps I've overloaded you on the subject and for that I apologize.
We have no patience for anti-Semitism, and no patience for Israel's cheerleaders who turn any valid criticisms into claims of anti-Semitism. You've been sending us news links for at least a year, perhaps longer, and so far we find you not guilty of either anti-Semitism or annoying us. It's not a close call.
H&HH
As a political science nut I'm always trying to keep any bias that I might have in perspective when considering or analyzing news items or policies.
Understood. Appreciated. And believe me, shared.
H&HH
== == ==
The ultimate irony for Bush/Cheney's Iraq adventure:
Excerpt: In awarding future contracts, the visiting Iraqis had promised not to give special preferences to other countries, said Shmatko, clearly referring to US and Western oil firms. "We received clear assurances from the Iraqi leadership that preference won't be given to other countries' companies," said Shmatko.
It seems like every day new research emerges saying that to stay healthy...we must stay miserable. Some studies indicate we should try to essentially keep ourselves hungry all the time -- and what little we do eat should be sugarless, saltless, and fatless. This one says we should be on the verge of shivering from cold all the time. I recommend news writers start adding to these types of articles some sort of morale booster too -- to at least neutralize the downers they're delivering as news.
So! The creators of Conficker are somehow associated with the creators
of that same malware which seized control of my PC for
a day, around 1-2 years ago...
#
Remember when this economic **********, and Congress let Bear Sterns go under, pushed a bunch of forced marriages between banks, etc.? Then they bailed out AIG.
At the time, I thought: "That's strange, what does an insurance company have to do with this crisis?" I think I just found the answer. Among other things, AIG INSURES THE PENSION TRUST OF THE UNITED STATES CONGRESS!
Diesel
#The bailouts & economics -- the Hudson perspective: As I continue to do a lot of reading and less writing, I've noticed that one of my favorite authors on the bailout and economics in general, Prof. Michael Hudson, hasn't been linked to much at Unknown News. So below are a few links to his articles. I've started with the oldest and proceeded to the newest.
(1) This is a pretty shocking 2004 article that explains the tax evasion, setting up of affiliates of companies and banking centers, and worse, as in the Enron case, done offshore. I assume that such affiliates/centers are partially causing the current crisis. What was and still IS being done is that companies are sending their money to offshore dummy companies/banking centers so that they do not have to report it and pay taxes on it. This helps create the high budget deficits in the US and badly undermines the tax base (leaving We the People the main taxpayers) which especially threatens our health care and Social Security systems along with creating a whole class of wealthy but very dishonest people -- probably all criminals by now. To me, it's a MUST READ.
(2) This Mar. 18, 2009 article points out that it WASN'T the bonuses AIG paid out using the bailout money it got from the taxpayers that is the REAL scandal, rather it is using that money to pay off AIG's counterparties such as Goldman Sachs, which got $13 BILLION, a much larger amount than involved in those bonuses in the millions. Thus, the bonus business was just a distraction.
(3) This Mar. 28, 2009 article very clearly explains how Hudson thinks the "Public-Private Partnership Investment Program" (PPPIP) will work. It shows once again how these bankers really AREN'T stupid when it comes to creating swindles the taxpayers AS YET still pay for. As other articles point out, basically 5 banks are the "troubled" ones (JPMorgan Chase, Bank of America, Citibank, Goldman Sachs, and Wells Fargo-Wachovia Bank who created about $200 trillion in derivatives) and are the ones holding 96% of the derivatives causing today's crisis. Now it seems using the PPPIP they are buying up each others' "toxic waste" at suspiciously high prices. Hudson assumes a scam where one "troubled" bank, A, with say a $10 million package of CDOs now worth only $2 million, puts this package up for auction so that it is off A bank's books. Now another of these banks, B, puts up another similarly worthless package that A bank buys for $5 million with the FDIC paying $4,250,000 (85%) while A puts up $750,000 (15%) -- other articles are suggesting only 7.5% if the Treasury also pays 7.5%, so A bank only spends $375,000. Thus, A bank receives $4,250,000/$4,625,000 from the taxpayers and gets more than twice as much as the original package it put up for bidding was worth (or even more if the bidding goes higher--a likely event) along with having its original CDOs, an $8 million loss, erased from its books -- what a deal!
Oh, boy -- breaking news. Wells Fargo is announcing profits that "top estimates" today (Apr. 9). What gall when 92.5% (see above scam) of them were probably robbed from the taxpayers.
(4) Finally, there is this Mar. 29, 2009 Hudson article that speaks of how the huge US global military build-up (officially 737 bases in 2005) leads to a "dollar glut." In other words, the US government debt or budget deficits created mainly to finance the military pretty much force foreign central banks to exchange the glut of dollars they have for US Treasury bills -- that is because companies in other countries are not allowed to buy up important US companies the way ours buy up theirs. Thus, it is THEY with their Treasury bills who are bearing the costs of America's "military empire" that for some is aggressively used against them. Unfortunately, the Wall Street oligarchy running the US are perfectly happy about all of this. SO, the article suggests that US intransigence could leave foreign countries coming up with some "solutions" that will ensure the build up/strengthening of new defense blocs against the US military and possibly see countries pulling out of the IMF, World Bank, and WTO in order to protect their financial interests, i.e. the breakdown of the current international system.
Actually, I've also found 2 more Hudson articles dated Apr. 4 and 5 that continue the overseas emphasis, but this is already long enough. I will link to them later.
Marie K.
P.S. Regarding my 9 proposals, NOT detailed plans, related to Africa, I DO plan to write more. The real events happening in Africa have been ignored enough. As I noted before and still believe -- since the aid groups or some of them, the US and other foreign companies, and the US and other foreign military forces and their mercenaries are at the root of the problems in Africa, it makes sense to re-focus our thinking/proposals regarding solutions onto THEM in order to take this fact into consideration. I figure that this what being realistic is all about. That some proposals appear to be difficult to carry out is no reason to give up on them. We'd never have change if we did that.
#4/15/2009:
I had no problems with Marie's proposals. Nor did I say anything about giving up. Perhaps a suggestion for her: Between the day she wrote her nine proposals and now -- check the stats on how many people in Africa have died -- for whatever reason -- and how many of her nine proposals have been pondered by the collective African governments. Hence my questioning not her hope or enthusiasm but the realistic nature of the things she hopes are implemented.
Sherri B.
#
Just found your web paper. I Googled "Bush bloodless coup" and your article entitled "A Bloodless Coup in America" written in 2005 popped up.
After Bush stole the presidency the first time, I knew it was a bloodless coup. I said so to everyone that would listen and was discounted and told that there was no concrete evidence. I really don't care what evidence they want, he and his kind are very dangerous. I am very worried about what is happening in Washington. Are they, this Republican group of thugs, really wanting to drive this country to the brink? I fear that is where we are headed. I will continue to voice my opinion and was so glad to find others who share the same concerns.
Cheryl D.
Glad you liked that article, and I wish I could pass your kind comments along to the author, Carol Rawle, but sadly she's not with us any more, except in spirit.
The battle continues, though, the battle to make the reality of America resemble the ideals and myth of America, and we're glad you're on the right side in that struggle.
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"A mind-blowing mix of fact and fantasy, hard science and well-grounded speculation, with
concrete how-to info to top it all off -- resulting in some of the best and strangest stuff
on Earth..."
Of course not. Nobody will know the answers until there's an open and honest investigation.
But anyone courageous enough to think can see that the pertinent questions for any serious "investigation" were never asked, let alone answered, by the official investigators.
Congress of the United States begun and held at the City of New York, on Wednesday the fourth of March, one thousand seven hundred and eighty-nine. The Conventions of a number of the States, having at the time of their adopting the Constitution expressed a desire in order to prevent misconstruction or abuse of its powers, that further declaratory and restrictive clauses should be added: And as extending the ground of public confidence in the Government will best ensure the beneficent ends of its institution.
Resolved by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, two thirds of both Houses concurring that the following Articles be proposed to the Legislatures of the several states as Amendments to the Constitution of the United States, all or any of which articles, when ratified by three fourths of the said Legislatures to be valid to all intents and purposes as part of the said Constitution. viz: Articles in addition to, and Amendment of the Constitution of the United States of America, proposed by Congress and Ratified by the Legislatures of the several States, pursuant to the fifth Article of the original Constitution. The First Amendment
Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the government for a redress of grievances.
The Second Amendment
A well regulated militia, being necessary to the security of a free state, the right of the people to keep and bear arms, shall not be infringed.
The Third Amendment
No soldier shall, in time of peace be quartered in any house, without the consent of the owner, nor in time of war, but in a manner to be prescribed by law.
The Fourth Amendment
The right of the people to be secure in their persons, houses, papers, and effects, against unreasonable searches and seizures, shall not be violated, and no warrants shall issue, but upon probable cause, supported by oath or affirmation, and particularly describing the place to be searched, and the persons or things to be seized.
The Fifth Amendment
No person shall be held to answer for a capital, or otherwise infamous crime, unless on a presentment or indictment of a grand jury, except in cases arising in the land or naval forces, or in the militia, when in actual service in time of war or public danger; nor shall any person be subject for the same offense to be twice put in jeopardy of life or limb; nor shall be compelled in any criminal case to be a witness against himself, nor be deprived of life, liberty, or property, without due process of law; nor shall private property be taken for public use, without just compensation.
The Sixth Amendment
In all criminal prosecutions, the accused shall enjoy the right to a speedy and public trial, by an impartial jury of the state and district wherein the crime shall have been committed, which district shall have been previously ascertained by law, and to be informed of the nature and cause of the accusation; to be confronted with the witnesses against him; to have compulsory process for obtaining witnesses in his favor, and to have the assistance of counsel for his defense.
The Seventh Amendment
In suits at common law, where the value in controversy shall exceed twenty dollars, the right of trial by jury shall be preserved, and no fact tried by a jury, shall be otherwise reexamined in any court of the United States, than according to the rules of the common law.
The Eighth Amendment
Excessive bail shall not be required, nor excessive fines imposed, nor cruel and unusual punishments inflicted.
The Ninth Amendment
The enumeration in the Constitution, of certain rights, shall not be construed to deny or disparage others retained by the people.
The Tenth Amendment
The powers not delegated to the United States by the Constitution, nor prohibited by it to the states, are reserved to the states respectively, or to the people.
Last week, Sullivan rebuked the government for not turning over medical records to lawyers for Guantanamo detainees and ordered Justice Department lawyers to explain why he shouldn't cite them for contempt.
[sound of crickets]
