Helen & Harry Highwater's cranky weblog of news and opinion.
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"News that's not known, or not known enough." Helen & Harry Highwater's cranky weblog of news and opinion. |
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Just another week of American shame
♦ It's becoming clear that at least two of the Bush-Cheney administration's torture facilities were located in Lithuania. And it's becoming clear that nobody in the Obama administration cares. Seems to me the logical question to ask is, why doesn't Obama's people investigate or prosecute, and a reasonable answer to suspect is that similar facilities are still doing the same vile work, with Barack Obama's picture on the wall where George W Bush's photo used to be.
American officials claim that Sami al-Hajj was the only journalist imprisoned at the Guantanamo concentration camp. When he was released after being falsely imprisoned for seven years, he was reassigned to a new desk at Al Jazeera, where he now covers the human rights and civil liberties beat. (Login as unknownnews with password unknown.)
♦ Here's an interesting dialogue about America's abandonment of its much talked-about but rarely-seen ideals, from Scott Horton at Harper's and Kal Raustiala, author of a book I now want to read, Does the Constitution Follow the Flag? The chat doesn't lend itself to an easy excerpt, but it's thoughtful stuff intermingling history and philosophy to explain how little the constitution means, and it's worth a click and read, damn it. ♦ As an obvious example of the above there's Guantanamo, the famous American prison built in a foreign country under the theory that the US constitution wouldn't apply. President Obama has promised that Guantanamo will be closed, but the closing of Guantanamo keeps moving farther and farther into the hypothetical. (Login as unknownnews with password unknown.) A gent named Erick Williamson has been convicted of being naked in his home, yet visible to passers by. I sigh loudly, 'cuz I don't think nakedness on Main Street ought to be a crime, let alone nakedness in one's own home. I have a difficult time taking "indecent exposure" seriously, as there's nothing inherently "indecent" about being exposed, except to people with dang peculiar sensibilities. And I suspect that District Court Judge Ian M. O'Flaherty is one of those people with dang peculiar sensibilities, as he bizarrely compares a guy walking around in his home unclothed with the crimes of John Dillinger, who also, according to the judge, "thought he was doing nothing wrong when he walked into banks and shot them up." A judge who thinks robbing banks can be equated with drinking coffee sans a bathrobe is a judge I'd judge demented. ♦ For contrast, here's good police work: Two young men caught cycling with no clothes on have escaped charges of offensive behavior, but received a warning to wear protective headgear...
♦ Senator Al Franken (D-Minnesota)'s anti-rape amendment was signed into law by President Obama last week. It's beyond me that this was controversial in any way, but plenty of Republicans in the Senate took the pro-gang rape position. And speaking of things beyond me it's worth remembering that the amendment passed as part of the defense spending bill that funds the ongoing American murder, rape, and pillage of Afghanistan and Iraq. ♦ Gay marriage has been legalized in Mexico City. ♦ Judge Alex Kozinski (appointed by Reagan in 1985) has ordered the federal government to pay health benefits for the lesbian spouse of a staff attorney at the U.S. Court of Appeals. The Obama administration's Office of Personnel Management (OPM), which is basically the federal government's personnel department, has refused to follow the judge's order, since Kozinski's decision was in his role as arbiter of an internal employee grievance procedure, not in his role as a federal judge. Sounds semi-plausible, but it also sounds like a firm kick in the ass to the gay rights movement, especially since OPM says they're just following the despicable Defense of Marriage Act. Maybe gays and lesbians won't be offended because and OPM official says "the decision was not taken lightly", but I don't think so. ♦ To briefly recap, in case you've spent your holidays in a cave: Over Christmas, exactly one wacko was able to board a US-bound jet in Europe with allegedl explosive powder in his underwear. As the plane was in flight, the wacko sat in a men's room stall and assembled a mechanism described in varying accounts as a bomb, an incendiary device, or a firecracker, but which was assembled so poorly that it wouldn't detonate. The bad guy, Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab (spelling will undoubtedly vary), was brought down by a Dutch passenger named Jasper Schuringa, who seems unambiguously a hero and will no doubt become a teevee celebrity, probably nicknamed the Flying Dutchman. The media hysteria will be relentless, and I've already tuned out as much of it as I can. What we should take away from this story, it seems to me, is basically reassurance. We see (again) that America's purported enemies are dang disorganized, bumbling, none too bright, and really not all that scary. But because fear can be parlayed into power, that's not going to be the lesson learned. Instead, because bad guys exist and always will, travelers world-wide and especially in America can expect an immediate increase in restrictions that add little or nothing to anyone's actual safety but add plenty to the hellishness of travel. And yup,
The charade of air security always supercedes common sense, so as seems to happen every time there's a bumbling terrorist on an American plane, the annoying new rules are crafted to look tough against the previous attempt, while discarding any other tactic the bad guys might try, because any realistic attempt to defend against terrorism would make air travel unbearable. So for a few weeks the late-night comedians' will have joke fodder, the airport lines will be longer, the TSA thugs will seem even dumber and ruder, and you dang well better have gone to the toilet when you're supposed to. Or better yet, don't fly. My wife and I have been earthbound for years, yet still we get where we want to be, without pat-downs, without x-rays, without I/D, and without intrusive questions from bullies bearing guns and badges.
♦ Joe Arpaio, yada yada yada. The ongoing saga goes on, as an out-of-control sheriff exceeds his legal authority routinely, with the support of the press and populace. In this weeks episode, some local attorneys are speaking out, because their work depends on playing within the rules of the law and they're weary of Arpaio's constant coloring outside those lines. ♦ Maj. Gen. Anthony Cucolo, commander of US forces in occupied Northern Iraq, ordered his troops to neither become pregnant nor impregnate another servicemember. Get preggers or make a lady soldier preggers and you're facing a court-martial. I was a bit surprised that Gen Cucolo is forward-thinking enough to issue his order to both genders, but still I hope it's not legal. I suppose the final word on legality would rest with some crew-cut military judge or a Bible-bopping GW Bush appointee to the federal courts. And then, a Christmas miracle: After much uproar and controversy, Gen. Ray Odierno, Commanding General Multi-National Force in Iraq, announced on Xmas Eve that he'd be countermanding Cucolo's unusual order. ♦ Using a Presidential order that needs no Congressional approval, the Obama administration has issued new rules basically requiring airlines to treat passengers like humans instead of luggage. And instantly, just like that, there are now long but semi-reasonable limits on how long you can be forced to wait on a tarmac before a plane takes off. As someone who's rarely flown and never again will, my understanding of this problem is entirely theoretical, and my only response is a big golly. I guess the President is capable of taking bold and direct action, so long as it's not on anything like gay rights, health care, of anything else where there's any serious political disagreement. ♦ Texas Attorney General Greg Abbott says he'll join with officials in several other states to legally challenge the back-room deal that bought Senator Ben Nelson (D-Nebraska)'s vote for health care reform. Abbott is a Republican office-holder and thus scum, but to my thinking he has a point here. Nelson's deal was basically a bribe for Nebraska, giving that state a discount on its share of Medicaid costs, and to me that just seems unfair and wrong and if it ain't illegal it ought to be. ♦ The obviousness of this is too enormous to be expressed in words, but let's sigh and try. During the Bush-Cheney administration, enormous swaths of work that had always been performed by the military were privatized, at great expense to the government and as a bountiful boondoggle for private firms like Blackwater. Now that a modicum of common sense is back in style, a small sliver of these privatized boondoggle jobs will be remilitarized. ♦ The Bush-Cheney administration was eager to shout "terror" on a daily basis, because frightened people rarely take time to stop and think. That's why
♦ An honest look is hard to come by, though, as the Treasury Department is routinely pretty much lying about TARP. ♦ And it all seems perfectly proper to Treasury Secretary Tim Geithner, who deserves your fervent hatred as surely as any of the bad guys from the Bush-Cheney administration. ♦ AIG CEO Robert Benmosche has been bragging about his large penis. ♦ International finance giant Credit Suisse has been assessed a $536-million fine for violating US sanctions to do business with Iran, but of course, nobody's been arrested, nobody's being prosecuted, and nobody's going to jail. Money always trumps justice. ♦ After feeding some $111-billion into the corrupt and crumbling Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, the highest executives at these should-be dead institutes will be paid up to$6-million each in 2009. I suppose it's inarguably true that a random gomer picked off the street would run these companies even worse than they've been run, but isn't it also true that competent leadership could be obtained for a somewhat saner salary?
♦ Former Governor Eliot Spitzer (D-New York) and two other men with some financial credentials ask that certain emails be made public, so we the people can see just how rotten to the core have been the dealings between the US Treasury Dept and American International Group (AIG). Since there's no serious doubt that the dealings have been very, very criminal, don't hold your breath for any such transparency. ♦ I am about a billion light years from being underwater in a mortgage, but I have to agree with the brilliant Allison Kilkenny and the corrupt as hell Morgan Stanley — if you'd be better off walking away from your mortgage, walk away from your mortgage. The claims of some moral obligation to repay a debt are null and void and bullsh*t when your deal is with a criminal. And if your deal is with a major bank you know your deal is with a criminal. ♦ Here's an amusing look at the way major internet service providers lie their asses off in their ads. We're stuck with Charter Communications, only because there's no competent competition here, and Charter has actually been much more reliable in the past year or so than they were before that, but you should hear me mutter under my breath when I see their omnipresent TV ads for "blazing fast internet connections" when there's usually time to make coffee and toast before even semi-complex pages load. ♦ The criminality of what Goldman Sachs has done, basically triggering the economic collapse on purpose, is so many miles over my head it needs to be dumbed down quite a bit for me to begin to grasp it. Get dumbed down with me, and see if you're not ready to boil some tar and pluck some feathers. ♦ Not much I can add to this: Angel Tree and the U.S. Marine Corps Reserve Toys for Tots, two of the nation’s largest holiday gift programs, require parents to produce Social Security numbers for themselves and their children, along with proof of income and personal identification. The older I get the more plainly it seems that all the biggest groups pretending to celebrate Christmas are actually just Grinches in disguise. If I'm lucky enough to be alive and well and celebrating Christmas in 2010, I'll do it with direct gifts to the needy on the street — "Excuse me, sir, would you like ten dollars?" No more Toys for Tots, no Angel Tree, no Salvation Army, etc. ♦ Dr Henrik Thomsen thinks he's spotted a link between a drug made by General Electric and patient's unexpected deaths. For saying so, GE is suing him.
♦ Protests continue in Iran, with plenty of press censorship and repressive police retaliation up to death on the spot, dished out on what's laughably called Revolution Street. God, I hate tyranny, and I especially hate tyranny-enablers.
♦ Under pressure from the right-wing's powerful lie lobby, the Build-A-Bear Workshop seems to have changed its position from ever-so-slightly caring about global climate change to a corporate stance of not caring. ♦ Good layman's overview of mergers and acquisitions, and the fake windfalls that make executives into millionaires and puts ordinary workers on the street. ♦ Martha Stewart's Weddings magazine has featured its first photo-spread of a gay marriage.
♦ People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (donate) wants you to see how a baby elephant is trained for a career of circus work, and it ain't a pretty sight. ♦ The nation's capitol is getting more wheelchair-accessible cabs. ♦ Community info and real-time transit arrivals are shown on-screen in a few Chicago shops. This is smartness. It lets people know if they'll have enough wait time to come out of the cold and buy a cup of coffee. A good idea, at least so long as there's no accompanying soundtrack to make me mental.
♦ Once, there were hundreds of flights a day transferring tens of thousands of passengers between Berlin and Hamburg, Frankfurt and Cologne, Frankfurt and Stuttgart, Bremen and Cologne. All have been closed down due to cheaper and faster rail travel. ♦ Accidents will happen, of course, but it's just more fun when accidents happen at the Los Alamos National Laboratory. ♦ There are awards for outstanding blogwork, but most such awards are shams, as awards often are. I'd nominate Nate Silver at fivethirtyeight.com for a genuine award, though, for his apparently fatal take-down of the previously respected polling company Strategic Vision LLC. There's been not a peep from Strategic Vision LLC since September, when Nate dove into their numbers and charged them with being bogus. ♦ The Miami Herald has added a very low-key link for donations under its on-line articles, a good idea that might bring in a sizable amount of money. ♦ There's a very cathartic pleasure in reading it, as Matt Taibbi simply and straightforwardly describes the embarrassment that is David Brooks. I will admit (hell, I'll brag) that I haven't read the specific Brooks blather Taibbi unwinds here, but reading the original isn't necessary. If you've read more than a handful of Brooks' columns over his long career as an extremely well-paid pundit, or if you've stumbled across his mind-achingly numb but never-ending appearances as a teevee pundit, Taibbi's take is better than hoarding all the leftover pumpkin pie.
♦ Jane Hamsher is, I think, the founder of the very valuable and appreciated Firedoglake website. She's certainly the most prominent voice there, and it's usually a smart, intelligent voice, so it's sad to see that she's apparently losing her mind. She's co-authored a petition with the wretched right-wing bozo Grover Norquist, calling for Attorney General Eric Holder to launch an investigation of White House Chief of Staff Rahm Emanuel, over Emanuel's collusion in probably illegal acts while he was on the board of the Freddie Mac. Based on everything we know about Emanuel, it's an absolute certainty that he merits an investigation and a pretty sure bet that he's guilty as sin, but let's get real, Jane. After half a year of thumb-twiddling in the face of mountains of evidence of criminal acts by Bush-Cheney operatives, it's dang obvious that Attorney General Holder should himself be investigated and impeached, so it's rather pointless to petition him. It's like asking Curly to investigate Moe. But much more to the point, Grover Norquist? I mean, Grover Norquist? Was Fred Phelps unavailable to co-sign? Alligning herself with Grover Norquist doesn't make Hamsher look broad-minded or bipartisan, it just makes her look like someone willing to stand with Norquist... and that makes her look like a frickin' cashew. ♦ President Obama's nomination of Dawn Johnsen to run the Office of Legal Counsel was one of, to my recollection, perhaps three indisputably solid and appropriate nominations the Obama administration has made. But for having a record of integrity her nomination was stalled, and President Obama never stood up for her, and now, after almost a year of inaction, her nomination has lapsed and she probably won't be re-nominated.
♦ I needed this, David Michael Green's lump of coal for President Obama. It's very therapeutic for me, and maybe you'll feel refreshed and invigorated afterwards, as I do. Did this clown really say on national television that "I did not run for office to be helping out a bunch of you know, fat cat bankers on Wall Street"?!?! Really, Barack? So, like, my question is: Then why the hell did you help out a bunch of fat cat bankers on Wall Street?!?! Why the hell did you surround yourself with nothing but Robert Rubin proteges in all the key economic positions in your government? Why did you allow them to open a Washington branch of Goldman Sachs in the West Wing? Why have your policies been tailored to helping Wall Street bankers, rather than the other 300 million of us, who just happen to be suffering badly right now? ... Are you going to tell us that "I did not run for office to be shovel-feeding the military-industrial complex"? But what — they're just so darned pushy? ... I did not run for office to continue George Bush's valiant effort at shredding the Bill of Rights. It's just that those government-limiting rules are so darned pesky. ... I did not run for office to dump a ton of taxpayer money into the coffers of health insurance companies. It's just that they asked so nicely. ... I did not run for office to block equality for gay Americans. I just never got around to doing anything about it. ... I did not run for office to turn Afghanistan into Vietnam. I just didn't want to say no to all the nice generals asking for more troops. ... ♦ Hillary Clinton and Henry Kissinger are good buds from way back, with plenty of shared perspectives, respect, and camaraderie. I have never thought highly of Ms Clinton, but I haven't held her in the same contempt I have for Kissinger. At least, not until now, but their joint sit-down makes me wonder whether she has Kissinger-level aspirations or potential. Mr Kissinger, of course, is a bloodthirsty war criminal personally responsible for countless killings, who should be treated humanely but housed in a small cell at the Hague. Is that your career goal, Ms Clinton? ♦ The guy arrested during Obama's September speech on health care, with two guns and hundreds of rounds of ammo, used to work with emails at the Bush-Cheney White House.
♦ Little surprise that the Hummer-driving Governor of California is raiding public transit funds to keep his state from bankruptcy. Slightly more surprising that he's doing it despite seeing basically the same strategy declared illegal in court six months ago. ♦ Gary Bauer has a counter-terrorism proposal. When some Muslim is reported as committing an act of terrorism, it's important, Bauer implies without actually saying it, that there should be a strong backlash against Muslim-Americans. It's the kind of statement you'd expect from your obnoxious brother-in-law or David Duke or something, but Bauer isn't some fringe nutball — he's a leading light for Republicans and conservatives, with a resumé that makes him very appealing to that side of the aisle. He chaired President Ronald Reagan's Special Working Group on the Family, he used to be president of the Family Research Council, he ran for President of the USA in 2000, and he's no nuttier than the Republicans who ran in 2008 and the elephant stampede of 2012. ♦ Senator John Barrasso (R-Wyoming) appeared live on C-Span a few days ago, just as the health care reform bill was squeaking by in the Senate with the sixty votes everyone's pretending that Senate legislation now needs. The previous day, Senator James Inhofe (R-Oklahoma) had discretely but unmistakably asked the kooky Christian crowd to pray that a Democratic Senator either die or become incapacitated, thus leaving the bill with only 59 votes, and in this C-Span clip a caller asked whether Senator Barrasso had prayed along and prayed hard enough. The caller wondered whether the prayer had perhaps misfired like a loaded gun and taken out Inhofe instead, who'd been inexplicably absent from the vote.
Was the call a prank, or was it just moonbat reality manifesting itself? And does the difference between prank and moonbat reality really matter when it's impossible to frickin' tell the difference? Also, note the non-reaction of Senator Barrasso. He doesn't answer the question, of course, but watch his physical demeanor as he listens, as the call gets battier and battier. There's not the slightest sign on Barraso's face that the caller's comments are anything unusual or unexpected. This is just a Republican Senator listening to his constituency. Nothing unusual. 'Cuz if it weren't for moonbats, wingnuts, and dingbats, the Republican Party would have nobody voting for them. ♦ Another report, this time from the nonpartisan Congressional Research Service, finds no wrongdoing by Association of Community Organizations for Reform Now (donate). (Login as unknownnews with password unknown.) This will, of course, mean nothing to the politicians who've built their success on lying about ACORN, nor to the fools who swallow everything the liars serve up. ♦ Senator Tom Harkin (D-Iowa) is making noises about reworking the Senate's perpetually-abused filibuster rules. The problem, of course, is that the vast majority of the Senate's members see no problem to be fixed. ♦ With Rudolph Giuliani's announcements that he won't be running for Senator, Governor, or Dog Catcher, the career of one of the emptiest suits in present-day politics seems to have come to an end. (Login as unknownnews with password unknown.) ♦ Is it reasonable and proper for the US government to ban yummy Xmas Kinder eggs with tiny toys inside?
♦ Some distant back-bencher you've never heard of, rookie Congressman Parker Griffith (D-Alabama), has switched parties and is now Parker Griffith (R-Alabama). Big whoop-de-doo — since taking the Democratic Party's funds to run and then taking the oath he's voted with the Republicans on virtually every major issue. Americans would have a much truer perspective on politics if another hundred or so Republicans in Congress who call themselves Democrats would do the switcheroo. Amusingly, Congressman Griffith seems to have stolen info from the Democrats' database to bring with him to the Republican side, but I wonder whether it'll be enough to forestall the inevitable primary challenge he'll face from some TeaBagger who'll claim that Griffith isn't really Republican enough, and who'll probably kick his ass on election day. ♦ A kooky but lovable Anglican priest suggests shoplifting as a course of last resort for the poor and hungry.
Nice to see a priest that I don't think Christ himself would slap silly, but I'm sure his superiors will. ♦ RIP, Lester Rodney. ♦ Congresswoman Michelle Bachman (R-Kooksville) owns a family farm that got $251,973 in federal subsidies between 1995 and 2006. Socialism! Reaching down the throat and ripping the guts out of freedom! ♦ But please note, polls show that Bachmann is a fairly safe bet for re-election in her wingnut district. ♦ Faded movie star Danny Glover made ripples in the news last week when he said that he sees no difference between Barack Obama and George W. Bush. On a day-to-day basis I guess I disagree. I do see the difference between an ordinary, mainstream Democrat like Obama and an ordinary, mainstream Republican like Bush — but the difference just ain't very much and ain't at all dramatic. It's more like the difference between the two Beckys on Roseanne. Anyone can see the difference, but they're playing the same role and it's not all that important to the plot.
♦ Tori Amos says she'll run for president if Sarah Palin does. ♦ Beer was the founding cornerstone of civilization, some surmise, and through a three-bottle blur it seems perfectly plausible to me. ♦ A new heroine walks the streets of New York, after an unidentified woman repulsed a gang of attackers in the subway, killing one and riding away on a train. It's my dear hope that her identity is never known. ♦ This short video is more "unknown" than "news", but sweet jeebers, it's beautiful. Jim B. sent us this link and we need to say thank you, as it's infinitely more profound and rewarding to the soul than all the masses and Christmas specials aired on teevee over the recent "holy days". ♦ Homophobic rapper Eminem has agreed to perform in a special hate-free concert in the U.K. next summer. Sounds very special indeed. ♦ How curious to see a right-wing writer critiquing Star Trek: The Next Generation as being "unabashedly liberal" because the show's message was "peace, tolerance, due process, progress..." ♦ Isn't Disneyland supposed to be a family-friendly place, where kids can just have fun? I'm never going back to Disneyland, just because I know too much about the evil bastards who run Disney, but if I did return I'd find the screening of Michael Jackson's Captain EO bizarrely out of place. I mean, as I recall, John Wayne Gacy worked as a clown — would Disneyland screen footage of his work for children? ♦ Architect Frank Gehry's buildings don't leak. ♦ Unknown News is updated once weekly, usually on Mondays. Have a seat and some cheese puffs but please, no smoking. With a tip o' the hat to Daniel D., the letter Z, AK for superb software assistance, The Progressive Puppy, Friendly Atheist, Jonathan Turley, Neurologica Blog, Griper Blade, JR Mooneyham, Jim B., Sherri B., Cassandra, Joseph D., Joe G., Lon Garm, J.S. (not the Watergate felon) Magruder at Why Not Resist?, Alexander Shaumyan, SirJ, Bill T., Wig, our first web-home at pitas.com (1999-2003, and still a great place for publishing your blog), and the love of my life (who prefers to remain anonymous).
Recommended sites for gathering unknown or underreported news: Media Matters Pro Publica ThinkProgress Washington Monthly TruthOut
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