Enemy Combatant
Saturday, December 31, 2005
Harry Truman On How NOT To Fight America's Enemies [video]
"Now I am going to tell you how we are not going to fight communism. We are not going to transform our fine FBI into a Gestapo secret police. That is what some people would like to do. We are not going to try to control what our people read and say and think. We are not going to turn the United States into a right-wing totalitarian country in order to deal with a left-wing totalitarian threat." -- April 24, 1950
Thursday, December 29, 2005
Calling All Bloggers: Our Brit Cousins Need Our Help!
New documents have emerged, detailing that Tony Blair's government is as hipdeep in condoning Uzbekistan's torture as we are. However, in the UK, publishing these documents is potentially a crime under the Official Secrets Act. If you're a blogger reading this, however, you could volunteer to host them and publish them on your own website, from everywhere but the UK. This would make it less likely that any British blogger could be prosecuted for disseminating or discussing them, because by that time they'll be all over those dark dungeons of the Internets.
A hat tip to Richard at How This Old Brit Sees It (This Old Brit to his friends), for bringing this to our -- and now your -- attention.
Friday, December 23, 2005
Christmas Wishes
For Christmas, 1971, John Lennon and Yoko Ono released "Happy Christmas (War Is Over)," whose last verse is:A very Merry Christmas
And a happy New Year
Let’s hope it’s a good one
Without any fear
War is over, if you want it
War is over now.
Christmas, 1971, we had 157,000 troops in Vietnam. Eight months later we had none, and seven months after that, we stopped fighting that war.
Currently, we've got just under 160,000 troops in Iraq.
Sooo. I know what my Christmas wish is; what's yours?
Wednesday, December 21, 2005
File the Bin Laden Phone Leak Under 'Urban Myths'
Great! The most snooping, intrusive government in history, that big sucking sound out of Mess O'Potamia, and still the only "intelligence" he listens to is the most far-fetched, apocryphal bullshit!
Sunday, December 18, 2005
(Grasping At) The Last Straw?
OK, the REALLY IRONIC thing to me about this latest "scandal" is that Bushco is being reprimanded for not complying with FISA court warrant requirements.
That's like Hitler being called on the carpet by the Reichtag for exceeding his authority under the Nuremberg Laws.
FISA is a SECRET court system, only established in 1978. The whole procedure takes place under top-secret rules, and even the court's decisions, once made, remain secret.
Of the 17,742 applications for secret warrants made to FISA by the government over the past quarter-century, you want to know how many have been rejected?
At last count -- four. And at the time Bush decided to sidestep this pro forma requirement? Zero. Zip. Zilch. Nada. None.
Not one.
Thursday, December 15, 2005
Setting The Trap
Let's be clear about what John McCain's "victory" over Bush on the issue of detainee torture is, and isn't. I, for one, don't for a minute believe that Bushco will stop doing what it's been doing to detainees up until now, as a result of this new legislation.
The fact that Bush now publicly accepts this anti-torture legislation should be seen, in a legal sense, as analogous to the courts requiring Bill Clinton to testify under oath in the Paula Jones case about his relationship with Monica Lewinsky. In other words, this is just a necessary first step (assuming the Democrats take back the Congress next year) to lay the groundwork for impeachment proceedings against Bushco when proof of its inevitable violation of this law comes to light.
One other point: Let's make sure, when this legislation finally passes, that Bushco understands that we'll be using the international definition of "torture," rather than the Orwellian definition the Bushco bullies dreamed up (i.e., nothing short of "death, or major organ failure" qualifies). Remember, under Bushco's draconian definition, even the repeated breaking of POW John McCain's arms, so that he cannot now straighten out his right one at all, doesn't constitute proof that the Vietcong ever "tortured" him.
Monday, December 05, 2005
Give UsBarrabasMonica!
Sen. Clinton co-sponsors anti-flag burning law
WASHINGTON (AP) _ Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton is supporting new legislation to criminalize desecration of the United States flag -- though she still opposes a constitutional ban on flag attacks.
Got that? She wants to stand up to the Supreme Court! We're gonna revere the flag in this country, dammit!
The [ ] measure outlaws a protester intimidating any person by burning the flag, lighting someone else's flag, or desecrating the flag on federal property.
Oh, so it's a halfhearted empty gesture and constitutional dodge dressed up as a principled stand against the Supreme Court -- that should go over really well in all quarters, don't you think?
The woman wants to keep our troops in Iraq for the foreseeable future, too. Remind me, again: Why is she a Democrat?
Thursday, December 01, 2005
This Is What Happens
to laid-off rock-concert lighting specialists, with too much time on their hands during the holiday season. (3 min. video, Windows format) Enjoy!
Tuesday, November 29, 2005
EU: Bush Will Be Slobo'd To China"All U.S. actions comply with U.S. laws," Mr. McCormack said. "They comply with the United States Constitution, and they comply with our international obligations." Mr. McCormack declined to answer whether he was sure American actions complied with European laws.
Translation: Yep, we're torturing people. All over Eastern Europe, too -- and in places the Soviets built just for that purpose.
How ironic is that?
Sunday, November 27, 2005
The Next Hurrah: What's Coming, ContinuedThe pundits are complete idiots on Iraq. There is no other way to describe them, listening to them on the talk shows. Every discussion on Iraq devolves to 'where is Hillary on this?' as if the American people really care where Hillary is. Americans want to know where the US is on this. Hillary disappoints me every day, but so what? She's not running until 2008, and we have years of tragedy to get through first.DemFromCt
Tuesday, November 15, 2005
Forget It Fitz: It's Chinatown
Apparently, the name of the other shoe in the Plame game is Bob Woodward.
Bob "Curveball" Woodward has now stepped forward and testified, on Monday, before Fitzgerald's investigation that a yet-unnamed senior official (no, not Libby, and apparently not Rove either) leaked it to him, Bob Woodward, that Joe Wilson's wife was a CIA analyst, and oh by the way, this disclosure took place a month before Libby first leaked about her.
So, uh, I guess Woodward's career spinning the shit out of this story is finished, eh?
Monday, November 14, 2005
Head Feint To The Left Coast, Then Straight Up The Midwest
Because it was our last election with paperless machines, many of us Californians thought they would steal one last election out here, in favor of Arnie's initiatives.
Instead, they returned to the scene of the last crime -- Ken Blackwell's Ohio.
Even though the MSM hasn't caught up with it yet, those inside and outside the government need to toothcomb the impossible Ohio initiative results.
Wednesday, November 09, 2005
More of a kickin' sitcheyation
(thanks to occam's hatchet, at DailyKos)
In the movie "O Brother, Where Art Thou?" there's a conversation among Pappy O'Daniel's campaign advisors:"The reason he's pullin' our pants down."Yep. Between Virginia, New Jersey and California, I believe it's more of a kickin' sitcheyation.
"Gonna paddle a little behind."
"Ain't gonna paddle it - gonna kick it, real hard."
"No, I believe he's gonna paddle it."
"I don't believe that's a proper characterization."
"Well, that's how I'd characterize it."
"I believe it's more of a kickin' sitcheyation."
Monday, November 07, 2005
Next? Rape Room Redux!
If the following story proves true, we're expanding our repertoire of war crimes:In a documentary to be broadcast by RAI, the Italian state broadcaster, this morning, a former American soldier who fought at Fallujah says: "I heard the order to pay attention because they were going to use white phosphorus on Fallujah. In military jargon it's known as Willy Pete.
"Phosphorus burns bodies, in fact it melts the flesh all the way down to the bone ... I saw the burned bodies of women and children. Phosphorus explodes and forms a cloud. Anyone within a radius of 150 metres is done for."
Photographs on the website of RaiTG24, the broadcaster's 24-hours news channel, www.rainews24.it, show exactly what the former soldier means. Provided by the Studies Centre of Human Rights in Fallujah, dozens of high-quality, colour close-ups show bodies of Fallujah residents, some still in their beds, whose clothes remain largely intact but whose skin has been dissolved or caramelised or turned the consistency of leather by the shells.
For those of you with strong stomachs, here's the Italian news report. (The American ex Marine is easy enough to understand.)
We've come full circle, folks. The rump reason given for our attack on Iraq was that "he gassed his own people," and that that was so bad, we had to invade.
So when can we expect the UN to ride to our rescue, and put Bushco in the dock at the ICC?
Friday, October 28, 2005
After This, We'll Get Him To Reexamine The JFK Assassination
I've got to say -- I'm now watching Patrick Fitzgerald's press conference on CSPAN (I read the transcript earlier today), and he's been speaking extemporaneously for over an hour straight. I've seen him glance -- GLANCE, mind you -- at his notes precisely once. He is frighteningly methodical and scrupulous about his speech, and takes his oath as a prosecutor with deadly seriousness. But after untold years of watching plodding speeches read by politicians, what's bracing to me is the extemporaneous speaking, by a strong trial lawyer. Like John Roberts, he's glib, has an encyclopedic memory for his evidence, and is mindful of what he can and cannot say.
But I envision him at a game board with Bush, who's playing checkers, while Fitzgerald is playing "speed chess."
And quickly taking away all Bush's pawns, one by one.
What I Learned From Fitzgerald's Website
For those of you who simply can't wait another half-hour for the press conference, the Office of Special Counsel's website already has a press release posted about today's five-count indictment of Scooter Libby for perjury and obstruction of justice.
Tuesday, October 25, 2005
THE NIGHT BEFORE FITZMAS
Twas the night before Fitzmas, and in the White House
Every one was scared shitless, and Bush was quite soused
The indictments were hanging like Damoceles' sword
As verminous oxen prepared to be gored
The perps were all sleepless, curled fetal in bed
While visions of prison cells loomed in each head
And Dick in his jammies, and George in his lap
Were sweating and swearing and looking like crap
When out on the web there arose such a clatter
The blogs and the forums were buzzing with chatter
Away to the PC Rove ran like a flash
He booted his browser and cleared out his cache
The rumors that flew through the cold autumn air
Made Dubya shiver with angry despair
When what to his horror-filled eyes did he spy?
A bespectacled man with a brown suit and tie!
With an impartial manner that gave Bush the shits
He knew in a moment it must be St. Fitz!
With unwavering voice, his indictments they came
He cleared out his throat and he called them by name:
Now Scooter, Now Libby,
Now Blossoming Turd,
Now Cheney, dear Cheney,
Yes, you are the third
To the bench of the court
Up the steps, down the hall
Now come along, come along,
Come along, all!
He then became silent, and went right to work.
He filed the indictments and turned with a jerk,
And pointing his finger at justice's scale
Said, "The people be served, and let fairness prevail."
He then left the room, to his team gave a nod
And the sound could be heard of a crumbling facade
And we all did exclaim, as he faded from sight,
"Merry Fitzmas to all, and to all a good night!"
- © 2005 Daryl W (t3poh)
Thursday, October 20, 2005
Pass The Popcorn
If it looks as if Cheney has to resign and Bush himself enters the Nixon danger zone, we'll hear the same frets and cries from the pundit shows about the country being torn apart and Americans losing faith in their government. But it isn't the country that will be torn apart by Plamegate any more than the country was torn apart during Watergate (which provided daily thrilling news entertainment value that bound citizens together); it's the Washington establishment that will be torn apart. And it should be torn apart. It's failed the country, and it's played by its own rules for too long, and "criminalizing politics" is exactly what should be done when political criminals deceive a nation into a war with Judith Miller serving as the Angie Dickinson to their Rat Pack and Richard Cohen auditioning for the part of Joey Bishop.
-- the always readable James Wolcott
Wednesday, October 19, 2005
Houston, We Have Coverup
If today's article in the New York Daily New is to be believed, Bush has known about Karl's little incontinence problem for two years, and has done nothing to oust the little classified leaker from the White House. We're back to fullbore Watergate now, with the need for impeachment proceedings to start, regardless of Patrick Fitzgerald's timetable for perp walks. As was said back then, "It's not the crime -- it's the coverup."
Wednesday, October 12, 2005
The Trouble With Harriet
is the same as in the 1955 Hitchcock classic: She (or at least her nomination) is very inconveniently dead, and by spectacle's end, everyone will think that he or she had a hand in it.
Bush has now botched a bad initial choice even further, by injecting her religious beliefs into the hearings. But since a number of GOP Senators can be expected to lose their religion over this one, I suggest that the Democrats break out the blowtorches, and go full Inherit The Wind on her ass, asking a lot of impertinent questions about her church practices -- Does she speak in tongues? Handle snakes? Roll in the aisles?
Did God make the world in six days, Ms. Miers? Did Jonah get swallowed by the Whale?
For liberals, the choice should be a no-brainer: Competency issues aside, we can't afford any more Executive Branch Davidians on the Court -- especially on the issue of detainee torture (or as I like to call it, "war crimes"). I recognize, however, that the tendency of certain Justices to confuse "President" with "King" can be expected to wax and wane in tandem with the Republican Party's electoral fortunes. For this reason, you can expect that Democratic Presidents will continue to be sued, while Republican Presidents won't even be questioned.
Saturday, October 08, 2005
Miller To Fitzgerald: Oh, You Mean That Treasonous Leak
If you've been following the Valerie Plame Wilson story closely, the last few weeks have posed some real head-scratchers: If Judith Fucking Miller is such a hotshot journalist, how come it took her nearly a year (ending in 85 days of incarceration!) to ask Scooter Libby enough followup questions to clarify his waiver of journalist-informant privilege so she could testify to Fitzgerald's grand jury about their conversations? And what to make of Judith's eleventh-hour "find" of notes she took about earlier conversations with Libby on the same topic? (Were they left in a pumpkin near a farmhouse, buried under Rose Law Firm billing records?)
Jane Hamsher over at firedoglake blog has some brilliant ideas about that -- a narrative thread that drops quite a few puzzle pieces into place, to give us a clearer picture:In a furious bout of post-prison housecleaning, Judy Miller just "happened" to find notes today from June 2003 when she spoke with Scooter Libby about Joe Wilson.Combined with the latest revelations that Karl Rove probably "pulled a Martha" by lying to the FBI in early interviews, the Miller-Libby scenario seem to buttress the scuttlebutt that we can expect the imminent announcement of as many as 21 indictments in the Plame affair, with a good number of Oval Office workers either in the dock or fingered as "unindicted co-conspirators." Somewhere in Hell, Nixon is laughing his ass off.
Of all the amazing discoveries. She's the fucking Indiana Jones of dust bunnies, that one.
* * * *
Suddenly Judy REMEMBERS her earlier "notes" and meeting with Scooter. I'm guessing the dog didn't just barf 'em up -- her attorney probably got a helpful memory-prodding phonecall from Fitzgerald, who probably knew Judy was going to lie her lying face off all along.
. . . Suddenly -- VOILA! -- a SLEW of people want to come in and spend quality time with Fitzgerald and the grand jury again. They are VOLUNTEERING. Because, as you know, testifying before Fitzgerald's grand jury is all the rage in DC these days, and everyone needs a hobby.
Friday, October 07, 2005
Bush To Country: Deja Boo!
Granted, the NYTimes and War Propogandist Judith Miller got some 'splainin' to do themselves, but I'd say the Times has this about right here:President Bush's Major Speech: Doing the 9/11 Time Warp Again
The speech came one day after the White House threatened to veto a bill onto which the Senate added a ban on the use of "cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment" against prisoners of the American government. This president could not find the spine to veto a bloated transportation bill that included wildly wasteful projects like the now-famous "bridge to nowhere" in Alaska. What kind of priorities does that suggest? If we ever needed the president to demonstrate that he has a working understanding of exactly where he wants to take this country, we need it now.
The president's inability to grow beyond his big moment in 2001 is unnerving. But the fact that his handlers continue to encourage him to milk 9/11 is infuriating. For most of us, the memories are fresh and painful. We mourn the people who died on Sept. 11, as we mourn Daniel Pearl and other Americans, not to mention innocents from other countries, who were murdered by terrorists. The administration's penchant for using them as political cover is offensive. It threatens to turn our wounds, and our current fears, into cynical and desperate spin.
The Grey Lady finally rouses herself from the delusion that Buscho's schtick don't stink. I'm sure she'll snap out of it soon.
Tuesday, October 04, 2005
It's Those Damned Tiresome Constitution Framers Again!
What could they possibly teach us now?
Alexander Hamilton, Federalist Papers, "The Appointing Power of the President," No. 76
To what purpose then require the co-operation of the Senate? I answer, that the necessity of their concurrence would have a powerful, though, in general, a silent operation. It would be an excellent check upon a spirit of favoritism in the President, and would tend greatly to prevent the appointment of unfit characters from State prejudice, from family connection, from personal attachment, or from a view to popularity. . . . He would be both ashamed and afraid to bring forward, for the most distinguished or lucrative stations, candidates who had no other merit than that of coming from the same State to which he particularly belonged, or of being in some way or other personally allied to him, or of possessing the necessary insignificance and pliancy to render them the obsequious instruments of his pleasure.
Thanks to Steve Clemons, at the Washington Note, for the heads-up.
Sunday, October 02, 2005
Mesopotamia
THEY shall not return to us, the resolute, the young
The eager and whole-hearted whom we gave:
But the men who left them thriftily to die in their own dung,
Shall they come with years and honour to the grave?
They shall not return to us, the strong men coldly slain
In sight of help denied from day to day:
But the men who edged their agonies and chid them in their pain,
Are they too strong and wise to put away?
Our dead shall not return to us while Day and Night divide —
Never while the bars of sunset hold.
But the idle-minded overlings who quibbled while they died,
Shall they thrust for high employments as of old?
Shall we only threaten and be angry for an hour?
When the storm is ended shall we find
How softly but how swiftly they have sidled back to power
By the favour and contrivance of their kind?
Even while they soothe us, while they promise large amends,
Even while they make a show of fear,
Do they call upon their debtors, and take council with their friends,
To confirm and re-establish each career?
Their lives cannot repay us — their death could not undo —
The shame that they have laid upon our race.
But the slothfulness that wasted and the arrogance that slew,
Shall we leave it unabated in its place?
-- Rudyard Kipling, 1917
Wednesday, September 28, 2005
Filial Blunt
The House GOP decided at the last minute NOT to name the San Dimas Diva to replace DeLay, but instead installed Roy Blunt, DeLay's protégé.
Blunt is plenty ambitious -- but he's also just as dirty as DeLay. My money says Blunt gets sucked down the drain soon, along with the rest of the GOP Slush-Fund-O-Rama.
Tuesday, September 27, 2005
Izza Hammer Slammerbound?
The story on the AP is that the Texas grand jury that's been going after every DeLay crony in sight just might be indicting El Martillo mismo tomorrow.
(fingers crossed!)
Monday, September 26, 2005
The thing is: Brownie didn't really get rehired at FEMA.
He just made a fake ID.
They're powerless to stop him.
Sunday, September 25, 2005
The Revolution Will Be Televised -- From 2:31 A.M. To 2:33 A.M.
Of course, any MSM mention of the 150,000+ who marched against the Iraq War this Saturday in DC (and thousands elsewhere) has to share equal time with the 400 pro-war demonstrators who showed up on Sunday.
To be perfectly "fair and balanced," of course . . .
Monday, September 19, 2005
Ah, what a delicious predicament:
"This is the Katrina administration"SurveyUSA says Bush is stuck in a "can't win" dynamic: Much of the public thinks that the government hasn't done enough to respond to Katrina, but Bush loses support among his base if he tries to do too much more. "The more cash President Bush throws on the fire, as compensation for what some see as an inadequate initial response, the more it antagonizes his core supporters," the pollsters say.
It's almost Greek, isn't it? Like Prometheus? Or Tantalus?
Saturday, September 17, 2005
Life Would Be A Dingaderry
Yes, he looks uncomfortable, as he always does around black people. And yes, if looks could kill, that woman would be under arrest for presidenticide.
Now I remember what her look reminds me of:
"Shortchanged by the Lord, and dumb as a jackass. Look at him now! Yes, sir, all you've gotta be is white in America, to get whatever you want. Gobbledy-gook!"
Friday, September 16, 2005
Come The Revolution
Amy Goodman will chair the FCC . . .
Thursday, September 15, 2005
Of course, you heard about the Sacramento judge holding the Pledge of Allegiance with the words "under God" unconstitutional yesterday. (I've read the decision, and I agree -- his hands were tied by the 9th Circuit's last ruling on the issue.) Anyhow, there's fascinating stuff about the Pledge of Allegiance here:
When Bellamy wrote his Pledge [of Allegiance] in August, 1892, he was well aware of the Balch Pledge. In 1892 George T. Balch was the most influential person in the development of a patriotic flag ritual for the classroom. He was a New York City auditor and had developed a patriotic verbal flag salute and ritual, the first verbal flag salute used in American public schools. The students in his New York Public Schools gave his "American Patriotic Salute" as follows: students touched first their foreheads, then their hearts, reciting, "We give our Heads - and our Hearts -to God and our Country." Then with a right arm outstretched and palms down in the direction of the flag, they competed the salute"One Country! One Language! One Flag!"
Cue Up The Truck-Commercial Music
"Like a rock . . . !"
Monday, September 12, 2005
You Want The Chief's Seat? Then Show Us Your Griswold
Armando over at DailyKos has some outstanding questioning for Judge Roberts. Long story short: Roberts has to answer questions about Griswold, or he doesn't get on the Court:
The present case, then, concerns a relationship lying within the zone of privacy created by several fundamental constitutional guarantees. . . . Would we allow the police to search the sacred precincts of marital bedrooms for telltale signs of the use of contraceptives? The very idea is repulsive to the notions of privacy surrounding the marriage relationship.
We deal with a right of privacy older than the Bill of Rights - older than our political parties, older than our school system. Marriage is a coming together for better or for worse, hopefully enduring, and intimate to the degree of being sacred. It is an association that promotes a way of life, not causes; a harmony in living, not political faiths; a bilateral loyalty, not commercial or social projects. Yet it is an association for as noble a purpose as any involved in our prior decisions.
A question for Judge Roberts - do you disagree with this? Do you disagree that police searches of the marital bedroom for contraceptives are repulsive? Do you disagree that marriage is an association for as noble a purpose as any involved in prior SCOTUS decisions?
If Judge Roberts can not find himself in agreement with these passages, he is unfit for the Supreme Court.
Would not similar disagreement with Brown v. Board of Education, decided only 11 years earlier, not automatically disqualify him? Was not Judge Robert Bork voted down precisely because he did not agree with Griswold? Did not Arlen Specter vote AGAINST Bork precisely because of this? What justification would Arlen Specter have for voting NOW for Roberts if he held the same views as Bork? What justification would any Senator who voted against Bork have?
The great thing about Griswold, of course, is that it was written back in 1965, when the Supreme Court wrote with merciful brevity in English, instead of prodigious legalese. It makes the questioning much clearer to the average observer, and Armando has practically tossed the transcript over the transom to some enterprising Senator this week:
Senator: "Judge Roberts, do you agree with the reasoning of Griswold?"
Armando's already cut off all the detours, too:
Roberts: "It's settled law."
Senator: "I didn't ask you whether it was 'settled law,' Judge Roberts, I asked you if you agree with it?"
Sunday, September 11, 2005
No. 68, the Federalist Papers
"[T]he true test of a good government is its aptitude and tendency to produce a good administration." -- Alexander Hamilton
Saturday, September 10, 2005
From the Daily Show:
The Bush administration is working its way through its scandals alphabetically. So far, we're only to "K."
Thursday, September 08, 2005
From the "Boy, You Can Say That Again" Department:
Tuesday, September 06, 2005
Well, if they're going to shitcan Mike Brown
from FEMA -- I hear Milo Minderbinder is available to replace him. . . .
(. . . and I'd bet my last dollar he's a Republican . . .)
Sunday, September 04, 2005
"This Just In - Hurricane Katrina's Latest Victim:
"The Emperor's Clothes.
Details, at 11:00."
Saturday, September 03, 2005
Man! Steve Gilliard Nails It
A note to our conservative friends:
WE TOLD YOU SO
You say this isn't about politics? Fuck you, this IS politics, real time, real life politics, where the insanity of all your ideas are exposed to the world for the fraud that they are. Tax cuts kill. Ask the relatives of the dead of the Gulf Coast.
To Dream The Impossible Dream
"The good news is — and it's hard for some to see it now — that out of this chaos is going to come a fantastic Gulf Coast, like it was before. Out of the rubbles of Trent Lott's house — he's lost his entire house — there's going to be a fantastic house. And I'm looking forward to sitting on the porch." (Laughter)." — President G.W. Bush
George (L) and Trent (R) practice apickin' and agrinnin' on Trent's new Gulf Coast porch.
William Rehnquist Has Died
so now, the Crawford Caligula gets to name his second lifetime appointee to "fix" that gol dang Constitution . . .
Friday, September 02, 2005
Hang On To That Flag, Ma'am
it may be all you're going to get, and you might want to swap it for some food and water later . . .
Wednesday, August 31, 2005
On The Gulf Coast, Freedom Is On The Marsh
Well, we've figured out what to do with all those refugees -- after their stint in the Astrodome, they're going to become temporary Texans:AUSTIN, TX (AP): Texas public schools will enroll children of Hurricane Katrina refugees sheltered within each district.
The Texas Education Agency has been directed to provide all needed support for districts having to absorb children from Louisiana, Mississippi and Alabama. TEA has said the refugee children can qualify as "homeless" and may enroll without proof of residence.
Also, normal immunization requirements for attending school or child-care facilities in Texas will be temporarily waived for children displaced by the hurricane. Schools are allowed to waive the 22-to-one teacher-student requirement.
Districts with an influx of 50 or more students can get an immediate funding increase, rather than waiting until the end of the school year.
Austin schools are working to ensure the students get backpacks, school supplies and clothes.
Now here's a project for enterprising Democratic elections attorneys: Let's figure out a way to insure that these displaced folks get to vote, somewhere -- either in Texas, or in their respective home states. I've got a feeling they won't be voting Republican come 2006.
Tuesday, August 30, 2005
Newsflash: Bush Didn't Make It To Ararat
I watched a few minutes of CNN tonight, and thought to myself: He's been so careful to avoid Cindy, he didn't even see Katrina coming.
The American media may take the opportunity to show us, up close, over the next few days and weeks, what they haven't been permitted to show us in Iraq and Afghanistan: The Bush administration's appalling incompetence, in delivering even the rudiments of government services. This time, though, we'll get to see Americans die, in real time.
What Bush must do, of course, in the face of widespread evacuations, perhaps hundreds dead, and maybe a million newly homeless, is to mobilize a massive effort to first rescue the living, then find and bury the dead, then house and clothe hundreds of thousands of survivors, at least temporarily. There should be emergency laws passed to prevent profiteering, too.
Sheeyeah; right!
You know, the kind of things they've been doing so well in Iraq and Afghanistan.
But if oil spikes up near $100 a barrel, and let's say the widespread southeastern flooding causes the housing bubble to burst --
-- I'd say all bets are off. And at that point, Bush may want to "armor up" all the White House vehicles . . .
Sunday, August 28, 2005
As Long As The Wingnuts Pretend These Are Our Only Choices
and we fail to speak up to correct them -- they will be.
Saturday, August 27, 2005
Last Surviving Liberal Media Mogul Tells All
Because I work in California's East Bay, I often pass by the Grand Lake Theater in downtown Oakland. The owner, Allen Michaan, has used his theater marquee to denounce Bush policies (most particularly Diebold election machines and the Iraq war) for years now. In fact, what radicalized him (like me) was the stolen election in 2000.
After the coming "special election" that Schwarzenegger, unfortunately, has foisted on us, paperless voting will be illegal in California. We've got to make that a federal priority, if we're ever going to take our country back.
Friday, August 26, 2005
Read Between The Lies
Thursday, August 25, 2005
When They Say He's A "Solid" Conservative, They're Talking About His Head
This is hilarious. Ricky Senatorum tries to distance himself from the war, but manages to distance himself only from reality:Republican U.S. Sen. Rick Santorum's office acknowledged yesterday that it cannot locate public statements of the senator questioning the Iraq war, despite the senator's claim last week that he has publicly expressed his concerns.This is the story they're going with? That the media neglected to make any record when Sen. Man-On-Dog actually said something about Iraq not in complete subjugated suck-assedness to the Crawford Cretin?
"Robert L. Traynham, Santorum's spokesman, said a search of Nexis, a news database, and the office's press clippings had not turned up any account of those comments." Traynham and Santorum both say, however, that Santorum may have made comments about Iraq that just haven't shown up in any record. "I do a lot of interviews on TV, on radio, with print reporters who don't happen to write everything I say," Santorum told the Inquirer. "The fact that it hasn't turned up in print doesn't mean I haven't said it."
I didn't think it was humanly possible, but it appears that Ricky Senatorum has managed to hire a spokesman even stupider than he is.
Monday, August 22, 2005
He'll Soon Be Sharing The Surface-Of-Mercury Suite At The Hades Hilton, For Eternity, With Father Coughlin
The "Reverend" Pat Robinson, bastard twin of Howdy Doody, said on his television show The 700 Club the other day that we need to off the democratically-elected President of Venezuela. The reason, he said, is because it was the United States' duty to stop Chavez from making Venezuela a "launching pad for communist infiltration and Muslim extremism."
Do these lying Christofascists even listen to themselves anymore? Who the hell is he talking about? Osama Bin-Guevara? Fidel Hussein?
Sunday, August 21, 2005
Come Back To Us, Henry Louis Mencken Bunkum Exposeur
God, I wish H.L. Mencken were around writing columns today:Mencken's CreedAnd if he were to write about George W. Bush? They'd have to define a new crime -- assassination by pen.
I believe that religion, generally speaking, has been a curse to mankind - that its modest and greatly overestimated services on the ethical side have been more than overcome by the damage it has done to clear and honest thinking.
I believe that no discovery of fact, however trivial, can be wholly useless to the race, and that no trumpeting of falsehood, however virtuous in intent, can be anything but vicious.
I believe that all government is evil, in that all government must necessarily make war upon liberty . . .
I believe that the evidence for immortality is no better than the evidence of witches, and deserves no more respect.
I believe in the complete freedom of thought and speech . . .
I believe in the capacity of man to conquer his world, and to find out what it is made of, and how it is run.
I believe in the reality of progress.
I - But the whole thing, after all, may be put very simply. I believe that it is better to tell the truth than to lie. I believe that it is better to be free than to be a slave. And I believe that it is better to know than be ignorant.
"Le Mot Juste," As The Germans Say
John Aravosis over at AMERICAblog gives us the new definition of Schadenfreude:When Republicans get the government of their dreams, and fuck everything up.
Maybe "The Greatest Generation" Wasn't
I heard this on the radio this week, and was astonished at yet another tidbit of history we seem to have whitewashed from our collective memory:Sunday was the 60th anniversary of a glorious day in world history - - the announcement that Japan would surrender, bringing the end of World War II.Now,there's nothing like eight years of parochial school to hone a nonbeliever, but I retain enough vestigial Catholicism to recognize that -- given the "right" (i.e., manifestly wrong) circumstances -- otherwise decent and law-abiding human beings are capable of acts of unimaginable cruelty and violence. That's why we need to check that temptation, which naturally comes to everybody.
[August 15, 2005 was] the 60th anniversary of a terrible day in San Francisco's history -- a victory riot that left 11 dead, 1,000 injured and the city's reputation besmirched.
"It was the deadliest riot in the city's history,'' said Kevin Mullen, a retired deputy chief of police who has written extensively about crime in San Francisco.
The riot, which followed the Japanese surrender announcement by a day, was mostly confined to downtown San Francisco and involved thousands of drunken soldiers and sailors, most of them teenagers, who smashed store windows, attacked women, halted all traffic, wrecked Muni streetcars -- 30 of them were disabled, and one Muni worker was killed. The rioters took over Market Street and refused to leave until military and civilian police drove them away long after nightfall following hours of chaos.
It's now clear beyond question that that "checking" process wasn't done at immigrant detention centers immediately after 9-11. It wasn't done at Guantanamo Bay; it wasn't done at Abu Ghraib prison. It wasn't done at Bagram Air Force Base, or with the "ghost detainees" that we're holding only-Rumsfeld-knows-where.
In the immediate aftermath of September 11, 2001, Bush was quoted (or at least paraphrased) as saying that "the gloves are coming off." If we are ever to connect the dots on American torture, we are going to need to ask Bush, in one forum or another (I prefer an impeachment trial), "Mr. President, specifically with regard to detention and interrogation after 9-11, what was your definition of the word 'gloves?'"
Friday, August 19, 2005
Fox News: We Distort. You Deride.
Question: Why is Greta Van Susteren still in Aruba? Isn't the bigger story about the missing Coward in the Crawford Compound?
Tuesday, August 16, 2005
Operation Enduring Chutzpah
Not only are they out to keep the rest of the Abu Ghraib torture photos secret, they're even trying to keep their legal arguments for doing so secret, as well. So far, New York District Judge Alvin K. Hellerstein isn't buying into their "double-super-secret background argument" argument. But on the underlying issue of deep-sixing the torture photos forever, they think they've found (in the Freedom Of Information Act, yet!) a likely loophole:The FOIA statute being used by the DOD to seal the abuse documents as well as the reasons for the sealing has never before been used by a government agency as a means by which to classify government misdoings. The statute of the FOIA, section 552(b) of Title 5 USC, subparagraph (f), has only ever been used by law enforcement and only in special circumstances and is defined as follows:The classic definition of chutzpah is the guy who murders both his parents, then throws himself on the mercy of the court, on the grounds that he's an orphan. Up until now, the federal government has argued: (a) that it is exempt from the Geneva Conventions; (b) that Gitmo is outside the jurisdiction of the federal courts; (c) that we were permitted to declare preemptive war on Iraq, without UN approval, in order to "enforce" UN resolutions; (d) that "enemy combatants" may be held forever without trial at the diktat of the President alone; and (e) that Americans (both military and civilian) are not subject to prosecution in the International Court of Justice for anything they may do during "wartime."
"records or information compiled for law enforcement purposes are exempt from production-but only to the extent that the production of such law enforcement records or information - could reasonably be expected to endanger the life or physical safety of any individuals."
The DOD argues that the release of photographs and other evidence of torture and abuse falls under subparagraph (f).
And now -- they say -- they get to keep all their lawless little atrocities at their lawless little compounds during their lawless little war secret, because they were doing it "for law enforcement purposes."
I just hope, when they make that argument before Judge Hellerstein, that he rips them a new asshole. And I hope the cameras are rolling when he does it.
One More From The "Soft Bigotry Of Low Expectations" AdministrationWASHINGTON - Infants have been stopped from boarding planes at airports throughout the U.S. because their names are the same as or similar to those of possible terrorists on the government's "no-fly list."Because, of course, the one fixed, unalterable characteristic a terrorist could never change about himself is his name . . .
It sounds like a joke, but it's not funny to parents who miss flights while scrambling to have babies' passports and other documents faxed.
Ingrid Sanden's 1-year-old daughter was stopped in Phoenix before boarding a flight home to Washington at Thanksgiving.
The government's lists of people who are either barred from flying or require extra scrutiny before being allowed to board airplanes grew markedly since the Sept. 11 attacks. Critics including the American Civil Liberties Union say the government doesn't provide enough information about the people on the lists, so innocent passengers can be caught up in the security sweep if they happen to have the same name as someone on the lists.
Washington Post Pulls Its Head From Its Ass, Discovers Huge Country Lying Due West Of Beltway Not So Keen On Iraq WarThe Washington Post announced tonight that it cease its co-sponsorship of the Pentagon-organized Freedom Walk next month. The paper's involvement had drawn heat from within and outside the paper, with a guild committee today calling for the link to end."Could become" politicized? Gee, d'ya think?
The newspaper told the Department of Defense that it was pulling back on its offer of free ads for the event--a march up the mall ending with a concert by pro-war country singer Clint Black.
"As it appears that this event could become politicized, The Post has decided to honor the Washington area victims of 9/11 by making a contribution directly to the Pentagon Memorial Fund," said Eric Grant, a Post spokesman. "It is The Post's practice to avoid activities that might lead readers to question the objectivity of The Post's news coverage."
No, if I may borrow a phrase from the anti-choice crowd, this event was politicized "from the moment of conception."
Sunday, August 14, 2005
News Bulletin: Bush Won't Waste His Beautiful Mind On Cindy SheehanCRAWFORD, Texas - President Bush, noting that lots of people want to talk to the president and "it's also important for me to go on with my life," on Saturday defended his decision not to meet with the grieving mom of a soldier killed in Iraq.
Bush said he is aware of the anti-war sentiments of Cindy Sheehan and others who have joined her protest near the Bush ranch.
"But," he added, "I think it's also important for me to go on with my life, to keep a balanced life."
* * * * *I feel how weak and fruitless must be any words of mine which should attempt to beguile you from the grief of a loss so overwhelming. But I cannot refrain from the tendering to you the consolation that may be found in the thanks of the Republic they died to save. I pray that our heavenly Father may assuage the anguish of your bereavement, and leave you only the cherished memory of the Loved and Lost, and the solemn pride that must be yours to have laid so costly a sacrifice upon the altar of freedom.
-- Abraham Lincoln, Letter to a Gold Star Mother
Why We Have To End This War -- "The Left" Won't Do It For Us
from digby, at Hullabaloo:. . . I'm pretty sure that Cindy Sheehan hasn't been guided or exploited by anyone in her quest. "The left," if you're talking about organizations, can't get it up to do anything that effective. Believe me, the Democrats would have peed their pants at the idea of sending a woman to Crawford to demand to see the president. It's so awfully unseemly you know. Someone might get upset. Besides it isn't manly and we want ever so much to be super-duper manly.
In fact, last year at this time, if you'll recall, Max Cleland went down to Crawford and wheeled his chair right up to the gate. The Democrats got all nervous that it was too ... undignified. Max was getting a little bit shrill, you see, and looked like he might be getting ready to force the secret service to push him off the property in his wheelchair. How indelicate.
No, this was a grassroots move started by one individual who felt strongly enough to put herself on the line. No leftwing group could have ever orchestrated anything this successful.
Wednesday, August 10, 2005
Goat People Push for Goat Theory To Be Taught In Nation’s Schools[Reuters] Goat-worshippers won a major battle today in a local Kansas school district. After an intensive lobbying effort and media campaign, Kansas school board members agreed to allow Goat Theory to be taught in the district’s biology classes along with evolution and Intelligent Design.
Goat Theory holds that the universe and all life within it are connected to invisible puppet-like strings controlled by divine goats. Goat Institute scientist and former National Review editor Goaty McGoatface explained, "Evolution simply can’t account for everything. Yes, it’s true that it has mountains of empirical evidence supporting it. But it’s also true that not every single debate about every single topic has been agreed upon by all scientists. Therefore, it’s just a theory. And so is Goat Theory. It even says so in the name, unlike 'natural selection'."
Relax! It's Legal Fiction!
When Does The "Freedom Walk" Become A "Chicken Run?"
In their further despicable efforts to conflate their utter failure to defend us on 9-11 with their unprovoked attack on Iraq, the strugglemongers' enablers at the Pentagon have ginned up -- I shit you not -- a "Freedom Walk," followed by a country-and-western concert (featuring Clint Black), for this coming September 11th. (The District is, what? 78% African-American? Obviously a big C&W crowd; great marketing, guys!)
I believe this travesty needs to be ridiculed into oblivion, even before it gets off the ground -- perhaps with a catchy, "alternative" name. My proposal: The "Live Bait" Concert.
Tuesday, August 09, 2005
War Mom Flushes Embattled Leader From Desert Spider Hole
His "Crawferd proppity" under siege by a grieving war mother and his poll numbers plummeting ever abyssward, the Chickenshitkicker-in-Chief paraded out his economic team before reporters today, for an impromptu "press conference." Unfortunately, a nervous, confused and crosseyed Bush was able to hit most of his "safe" buzzphrases, but slurred his words and forgot some points midsentence.
Somebody needs to tell the White House's Dr. Nick to throttle back on Junior's thorazine.
Thursday, August 04, 2005
Under Pressure
Pressure pushing down on me
Pressing down on you no man ask for
Under pressure - that burns a building down
Splits a family in two
Puts people on streets
It's the terror of knowing
What this world is about
Watching some good friends
Screaming let me out . . .
Hot Town! Summer In The City
With Chief Justice Rehnquist heading back into the hospital with another fever, a terrible thought just occurred to me: What if Rehnquist suddenly steps down or takes a turn for the worse, and Bush takes the opportunity to make another recess appointment -- this time, of Chief Justice Alberto Gonzales?
It could happen! Eisenhower made three recess Supreme Court appointments -- including Chief Justice Earl Warren.
If Bush did that, he could withstand the inevitable criticism from the left and the right on a Gonzales appointment, because of what the suckass press would undoubtedly characterize as his "boldness."
And although the recess appointment would end in January of 2007, Gonzales would go into Senate confirmation hearings as "the incumbent."
If I'm just thinking of this, you can rest assured that Karl Rove thought of it months ago.
Tuesday, August 02, 2005
The Shape Of Things To Come
Ohio's 2nd Congressional District just had a special election today -- and in a district that went Republican in 2004 by a 44% margin, a Democrat lost today by 4%.
Not just any Democrat -- Paul Hackett, an Iraqi War veteran and lawyer who called Bush and Cheney "chickenhawks" every chance he got, and talked about how the Iraq War was a terrible mistake from the start, and how we need to talk about an exit strategy -- now. He didn't apologize, and he didn't back down.
Be afraid of plainspoken Truman-Dean-Hackett Democrats, ye NeoCon traitorous filth.
Be very afraid.
Sunday, July 31, 2005
They Would Like Us To ForgetFor twelve years this Nation was afflicted with hear-nothing, see-nothing, do-nothing Government. The Nation looked to Government but the Government looked away. Nine mocking years with the golden calf and three long years of the scourge! Nine crazy years at the ticker and three long years in the breadlines! Nine mad years of mirage and three long years of despair! Powerful influences strive today to restore that kind of government with its doctrine that that Government is best which is most indifferent.
For nearly four years you have had an Administration which instead of twirling its thumbs has rolled up its sleeves. We will keep our sleeves rolled up.
We had to struggle with the old enemies of peace . . . business and financial monopoly, speculation, reckless banking, class antagonism, sectionalism, war profiteering.
They had begun to consider the Government of the United States as a mere appendage to their own affairs. We know now that Government by organized money is just as dangerous as Government by organized mob.
Never before in all our history have these forces been so united against one candidate as they stand today. They are unanimous in their hate for me -- and I welcome their hatred. . . .
But they are guilty of more than deceit. When they imply that the reserves thus created against both these policies will be stolen by some future Congress, diverted to some wholly foreign purpose, they attack the integrity and honor of American Government itself. Those who suggest that, are already aliens to the spirit of American democracy. Let them emigrate and try their lot under some foreign flag in which they have more confidence.
-- Franklin Delano Roosevelt -- one of those "shrill, angry Democrats" -- at Madison Square Garden, in 1936
A Taste Of Honey
Bush and Blair, the Pooh and Piglet of today's fairy tale, have been selling us on the Honeypot Theory -- i.e., "we're fighting them over there, so we don't have to fight them here." Now, we come to find out that new hives are spontaneously springing up all over the Hundred Acre Wood:One of the men accused of taking part in the failed terror attacks in London on 21 July has claimed the bomb plot was directly inspired by Britain's involvement in the Iraq war.
In a remarkable insight into the motives behind the alleged would-be bombers, Hussain Osman, arrested in Rome on Friday, has revealed how the suspects watched hours of TV footage showing grief-stricken Iraqi widows and children alongside images of civilians killed in the conflict. He is alleged to have told prosecutors that after watching the footage: 'There was a feeling of hatred and a conviction that it was necessary to give a signal - to do something.'
Smart work, fellas. Maybe you should have pitched this simpleminded plotline to Disney, instead of to the American and British voters.
Wednesday, July 27, 2005
Yet who would have thought Joe Wilson to have had so much blood in him?
Any tragedy of presidential proportions needs its Lady Macbeth:The evidence of Rice’s complicity is increasingly damning as it gathers over a six-year twisting chronology of the Nigerien uranium-Wilson-Plame affair, particularly when set beside what we also know very well about the inside operations of the NSC and Rice’s unique closeness to Bush, her tight grip on her staff, and the power and reach that went with it all. What follows isn’t simple. These machinations in government never are, especially in foreign policy. But follow the bouncing ball of Rice’s deceptions, folly, fraud and culpability. Slowly, relentlessly, despite the evidence, the hoax of the Iraq-Niger uranium emerges as a central thread in the fabricated justification for war, and thus in the President’s, Rice’s, and the regime’s inseparable credibility. The discrediting of Wilson, in which the outing his CIA wife is irresistible, becomes as imperative for Rice as for Rove and Libby, Bush and Cheney. And when that moment comes, she has the unique authority, and is in a position, to do the deed. Motive, means, opportunity—in the classic terms of prosecution, Rice had them all.
Tuesday, July 26, 2005
Here Endeth The Lesson
And all this time we thought Eliot Ness was after Frank Nitty -- he's been after Capone:The special prosecutor in the CIA leak probe has interviewed a wider range of administration officials than was previously known, part of an effort to determine whether anyone broke laws during a White House effort two years ago to discredit allegations that President Bush used faulty intelligence to justify the Iraq war, according to several officials familiar with the case.I'm hoping against hope that -- when the time comes -- Senators like McCain and Hagel can have that same "come-to-Jesus" meeting with Bush, that Goldwater and Baker had 30 years ago with Nixon.
Prosecutors have questioned former CIA director George J. Tenet and deputy director John E. McLaughlin, former CIA spokesman Bill Harlow, State Department officials, and even a stranger who approached columnist Robert D. Novak on the street.
In doing so, special prosecutor Patrick J. Fitzgerald has asked not only about how CIA operative Valerie Plame's name was leaked but also how the administration went about shifting responsibility from the White House to the CIA for having included 16 words in the 2003 State of the Union address about Iraqi efforts to acquire uranium from Africa, an assertion that was later disputed.
Most of the questioning of CIA and State Department officials took place in 2004, the sources said.
Monday, July 25, 2005
Uh, What Digby Said
Word for word:I will never excuse the United States using torture or abuse or holding prisoners indefinitely without due process. Never. No matter what the "barbaric insurgency" does in Iraq. And I am more than willing to throw down the gauntlet on this and say that anyone who soft peddles those things is the worst kind of anti-American there is. We're not going to find common ground on this subject. If that kicks me out of the big tent so be it. I'm not signing on to that shit, ever.
I recognise that saying all this means that I couldn't get elected. And for that reason there are almost no elected Democrats who do say what I'm saying. They all wave flags and shriek like old ladies every time something happens --- and they back ridiculous wars, because if they don't the chattering classes will go nuts and label them unpatriotic. But saying it doesn't make it true. That's inside the beltway Republican kabuki which nobody who calls himself a Democrat should ever allow himself to perform.
Saturday, July 23, 2005
New Republic Throws In The Towel
Wow. The editors' mea culpa:Revisiting Wilson
Suddenly, everybody in Washington is an expert on the Intelligence Identities Protection Act, the 1982 law making it a crime to knowingly disclose the identity of a clandestine intelligence agent. And everybody in town has a pet theory on exactly who in the Bush administration leaked the identity of CIA operative Valerie Plame and where and how they did it. . . .
[T]he most serious charge that Wilson's critics level against him is the allegation that he was wrong in his assessment of Iraq's dealing with Niger. Supporters of Rove have revived this accusation in an effort to claim that, when Rove spoke to reporters about Plame, he wasn't trying to disparage Wilson so much as warn them off a "bad story." But what, exactly, was "bad" about Wilson's story?
Both the national security adviser and the CIA director at the time (Condoleezza Rice and George Tenet, respectively) issued public apologies for the Niger claim, admitting it was unsubstantiated. And the most authoritative report on the matter comes from the Iraq Survey Group (ISG), which spent a year combing the Iraqi countryside for alleged weapons of mass destruction. Its conclusion: "ISG has not found evidence to show that Iraq sought uranium from abroad after 1991 or renewed indigenous production of such material."
How can the administration and its allies be so cavalier about the truth? Because that's the way they've operated all along. . . .
Of course, the skeptics turned out to be right; as even most supporters of the war (this magazine included) now acknowledge, the publicly stated rationale for war was false. A prosecutor can't indict the administration for those sorts of transgressions. Only the public can.
If Bush thinks he changed the subject with the Roberts nomination, he misunderestimates the American public's newfound ability to multitask.
London Underground, Deadwood Station
You know that "Asian" youth the London cops ran to ground in the Tube and then executed yesterday? Turns out he was Brazilian, and unconnected to the 7/7 bombings. Oops.
Maybe they need to rethink their "plainclothes-officer-shoot-to-kill-upon-failure-to-heed-verbal-warning" protocols. You know, for the sake of the deaf, the non-English-speaking, the mentally ill, the confused and inebriated, the listening-to-their-iPods, the momentarily distracted, the wanted-by-the-police-for-petty-crimes, the late-for-work, etc., etc.
NOC-around Guys
The GOP Rove apologists who have taken to the airwaves and blogs of late seem to have purchased an irrationally exuberant amount of stock in "the accepted narrative" -- namely, that Valerie Plame has been working a desk job in DC for over 5 years.
Uh, hello? SHE WAS A NOC, FOLKS. That means "non-official cover," which means that her work was SO clandestine, the CIA will never officially acknowledge it.
Let me try to put it into even smaller words, for the benefit of our fact-allergic, spin-addicted wingnut brethren: "The official story" of Plame's past five-year job history is A LIE.
Family Matters
Let's consider a hypothetical: During the upcoming Senate hearings into Judge John Roberts' nomination to the Supreme Court, what if Senators began asking questions along the following lines: "Why did you and your wife adopt two children? Was it because your wife is unable to give birth? Or is because you have a low sperm count, or maybe erectile disfunction?"
"Also -- you waited till you were 41 to marry, and then adopted two children. Is this a 'Tom Cruise' marriage, or a real one?"
Outrageous, you say? Disgusting? Out of bounds? Intrusive questioning into personal family matters that no decent government should ask, and no self-respecting nominee should answer?
I'd say I agree with you. And I'm glad you agree with me, that there really is something called a "right to privacy" at risk here, if we were to allow such questioning.
Does it make any difference to this hypothetical whether or not the Congress had specifically passed legislation beforehand protecting Roberts' right to keep such family matters private? No? Then I'm glad you agree with me, again, that such a "right to privacy" must inhere in our Constitution, and doesn't require that Congress (or your state government) enact any laws in order to exist.
Finally, does John Roberts believe that our Constitution protects a "right to privacy" in family and personal matters? Of all the hypothetical questions I've posed here, that's the only one he really needs to answer.
Thursday, July 21, 2005
House Re-Ups On Traitriot Act
Despite a valiant effort by Rep. Bernie Sanders (Sane-VT), our very own House of Kommons scotched his amendment which would have repealed the "sneak-and-peek" library provisions of the Traitriot Act, which deputizes the local librarientzia into the federal secret police, without your knowledge or consent. (Instead, they added a codicil that requires police agencies get the OK of the FBI Director before they can look at your library records -- ooh, I feel so much more protected!)
Indeed, the GOP House Politburo rammed through the reenacting legislation by closing off any discussion or amendment, making permanent 14 of 16 provisions of the Patriot Act (which first passed with a 4-year sunset), a Stalinist maneuver that even some Western Republicans protested.
Now, only the Senate stands between us and the Permanent Emergency State.
No doubt, Senators Hillary and Joementum will wish to add amendments of their own, regulating violent videogames as a central part of the War On Terror; these efforts should be resisted. Democrats don't have the power to stop this freight train, but with discipline (and a few GOP allies), we might be able to put sunset provisions back into our Terrorism Secret Police Act.
Saturday, July 16, 2005
After The Bernie Ebbers Sentencing, Halliburton Tries To "Preemptively Rehabilitate" Its Image
I don't think they're quite "there," though . . .
Friday, July 15, 2005
The Truth Sneaks Out On Lou Dobbs
That's what happens when you have live news broadcasts -- occasionally, people are going to chime in with a smidgen of truth -- from crooksandliars.com:Lou Dobbs Tonight, (7/15/05) as Lou was introducing a piece on the Rove story.
Lou Dobbs says, " . . . Rove testifying that he first learned about Plame from columnist Robert Novak, a CNN contributor. Danna Bash reports." Immediately after that you can clearly hear a female voice on mic whispering "that's bullshit". Then Dana Bash continues with her report.
Now if we could only sneak people into Bush's photo-op flufferfests, to sit in the back and hoot with loud, derisive laughter . . .
Where's Their "Backing Out Of Iraq In Five Easy Steps" Dossier?
from Joe Conason, at salon.com:On July 10, a report in the Times of London (which also broke the story of the Downing Street memo) revealed the existence of a special dossier titled "Young Muslims and Extremism" that was prepared last year for British Prime Minister Tony Blair.
Compiled jointly by Britain's Home Office and Foreign Office, the dossier warned that U.S. and British foreign policy was causing severe alienation among Muslim citizens of the United Kingdom -- and referred to the Iraq war as a "recruiting sergeant" for al-Qaida.
Why, in our two supposed "democracies," do these frickin' prescient "special government dossiers" only come to the attention of the public after the fact?
Thursday, July 14, 2005
Diogenes Searches Among The Mafiosi
Two articles about the Plame investigation -- and more specifically about what Special Prosecutor Patrick Fitzgerald is all about, and may be up to -- have got me feeling optimistic lately. The first is from Billmon, at Whisky Bar:
I just got off the phone with a friend of mine, a veteran investigative reporter, who in turn said he recently talked to one of his old editors, who covered Patrick Fitzgerald when he was an assistant U.S. attorney going after mob guys in New York. So my friend asked him what he thought of the guy.
This is from my friend's memory, but given that he's got 20+ years in the business, and I've known him longer than that, I trust his quotes:"Fitzgerald is a prosecution machine," the old editor said. "When he wants somebody, he goes after them with whatever he's got. If he can't make the case he started with, he'll figure out what you did do and hit you with that. He's relentless, and he doesn't give a flying fuck about the press or the First Amendment. He'd throw us all in jail if it would help him make his case."
I'm reminded of the scene in The Terminator, where Reese -- the hero who's come back from the future to protect Sarah Connors -- tells her:"Listen. Understand. That Terminator is out there. It can't be reasoned with, it can't be bargained with. It doesn't feel pity or remorse or fear. And it absolutely will not stop. Ever. Until you are dead."
Be afraid, Karl. Be very afraid.
The second is a passage from Sidney Blumenthal's latest salon.com article -- I think this bears repeating:
Both Cooper and Miller argued that they were entitled to journalistic privilege to protect their sources. But the court ruled against them. U.S. District Court Judge Thomas Hogan's opinion suggested that the prosecutor's case had deepened and widened.
In discussing the sealed affidavit filed by Fitzgerald, and not privy to the defendants, Hogan stated that the "Special Counsel outlines in great detail the developments in this case and the investigation as a whole. The ex parte affidavit establishes that the government's focus has shifted as it has acquired additional information during the course of the investigation. Special Counsel now needs to pursue different avenues in order to complete its investigation." Judge Hogan concluded that "the subpoenas were not issued in an attempt to harass the [reporters], but rather stem from legitimate needs due to an unanticipated shift in the grand jury's investigation."
Mark those words, ladies and germs. This is going to get a whole lot more interesting before it's through.
And remember: It ain't over until the Fat Traitor sings.
Thursday, July 07, 2005
Anticipating Operation Yellow Elephant -- By 25 Years
As a result of the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan, President Carter ordered all 18-year-olds to register for the draft, beginning on July 21, 1980. I never voted for Carter (a decision -- actually, two -- that I regret today), but at the time (I was 22 years old), I considered myself fairly conservative -- at least on foreign policy issues -- so I supported the idea of draft re-registration.
I don't remember anyone ever saying to me, "Sure, Mike, it's easy for you to support registering 18-year-olds -- because you're not 18 anymore." Nevertheless, since I supported the draft decision at the time, I dutifully went down to the post office, and registered.
I even remember getting a call from Selective Service a few weeks later, asking me to clear up the discrepancy. When I explained why I registered for the draft, for political reasons, even though I was well past 18, the guy on the other end of the phone sounded like he thought I was crazy.
Now, I look back at that, and I'm proud of the fact that I anticipated the arguments of Operation Yellow Elephant by a quarter century, and that I tooks steps at the time to avoid hypocrisy, as I saw it.
But I'm not nearly that young -- or as idealistic/naive about our country's military motives -- anymore. Now I'm 47, and a father.
You know, I used to feel just a little guilty, that I had never actually served in the military; I don't feel that way any longer.
Now, I've got three boys in their teens -- big, strapping six-footers; bright, brash and funny, each one -- whom I love more than I love life itself.
That may well sound like an overused cliche, but in my case it's absolutely true: I will not sacrifice even one of my children to Mad King George's War. Ain't gonna happen.
The FBI can take note: If this war drags on, and if a military draft is reinstituted, I will drive each son to whichever border I need to, myself, to keep that from happening. And if they want to stop me, they're going to have to shoot me.
Wednesday, July 06, 2005
Too Much Glenlivet At Gleneagles?
Monday, July 04, 2005
The Learning Curve At The Charnel House
Saturday, July 02, 2005
And Now, For The Rest Of Paul Harvey's Story:
It's Endloesung for Iraqistan, apparently:So, following the New York disaster, we mustered our humanity.I'm so old, I can remember when Paul Harvey finally took to the airwaves to voice his opposition to the Vietnam War. (That happened just when his son became eligible for the draft.)
We gave old pals a pass, even though men and money from Saudi Arabia were largely responsible for the devastation of New York and Pennsylvania and our Pentagon.
We called Saudi Arabians our partners against terrorism and we sent men with rifles into Afghanistan and Iraq, and we kept our best weapons in our silos.
Even now we’re standing there dying, daring to do nothing decisive, because we’ve declared ourselves to be better than our terrorist enemies -- more moral, more civilized.
Our image is at stake, we insist.
But we didn’t come this far because we’re made of sugar candy.
Once upon a time, we elbowed our way onto and into this continent by giving small pox infected blankets to native Americans.
Yes, that was biological warfare!
And we used every other weapon we could get our hands on to grab this land from whomever. And we grew prosperous.
And, yes, we greased the skids with the sweat of slaves.
And so it goes with most nation states, which, feeling guilty about their savage pasts, eventually civilize themselves out of business and wind up invaded, and ultimately dominated by the lean, hungry and up and coming who are not made of sugar candy.
Somebody over at Disney/ABC (which syndicates his show over Armed Forces Radio) ought to think long and hard about "nudging" old Mr. Harvey off the air. This war could do without its geezer version of Father Couglin.
Wednesday, June 29, 2005
The Best Damn Newspaper In The English Language
Here's a contest: Name the best damn newspaper, in your opinion, published in English. (Specify whether you're referring to the online edition, the "hard copy" version, or both.)
My nomination: The UK's Guardian, "hard copy" version. It puts our American dailies to shame.
Well-written, color photos on every page (and great photography, too); a science and technology section pullout, complete with several pages of website reviews; the occasional Sidney Blumenthal column, political cartoons by Steve Bell – what more could you ask for? If I had a daily paper in Northern California like this, I’d be in hog heaven.
Monday, June 27, 2005
Dubliners
It's certainly not the city Joyce left on Bloomsday, any more. Dublin is a multiracial, multiethnic boomtown, half under renovation and its streets clogged with tourists, where you're more likely to hear Russian or Croatian on the street than Gaelic (though Ireland's radio and television, RTE, with its sappy Gaelic soap operas and dubbed kung fu movies, keeps up its valiant mouth-to-mouth). The city is so far north, twilight comes at about 9:30 p.m.; it's ready made for nightlife. However, what gets billed in the tourbooks as harmless good craic in the Temple Bar, looks more like Spring Break/Fort Lauderdale debauchery up close. I'll be blogging more about England and Ireland in the days and weeks to come, but just wanted to check in, as (I believe) our first "foreign correspondent."
Friday, June 17, 2005
The Revelation Will Not Be Televised
Once again, Billmon over at Whiskey Bar, in the midst of tossing off amazing aperçus like this one, points out that the Iraq War -- judged strictly as a television show -- is dangerously close to jumping the shark:From the very beginning, of course, the Bush administration has shown a pronounced tendency to treat the war on terrorism and the war in Iraq as if they were gigantic back-to-back episodes of America's Most Wanted. And the media (which, after all, invented the genre) has been only too happy to oblige.The Keystone Crips running this country are very close to discovering that you can coast by on the three "b"s -- bluster, bullying, and bullshit -- for only so long.
From the Pentagon's point of view, though, the biggest problem with the plot is that it isn't going anywhere. That might not be so bad (in 14 seasons of Bonanaza, the only place the Cartwrights ever went was back to the ranch) but this is a war/spy show, and those are always tricky -- to hold the audience, you need progress towards victory, even though you can't actually get there until the final episode, which in this case might be a long way off.
Thursday, June 16, 2005
The Chickenhawks Are Coming Home To Roost
And the numbers are not pretty . . .
