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September 30, 2007
Hoover
As we descend into a national surveillance state it’s helpful to remember that we’ve been here before. From the Alien and Sedition Acts of John Adams through the first Red Scare to the second Red Scare to our current fear of terrorism and immigrants paranoia is a signal, if largely unnoted, aspect of our country.
Kenneth D. Ackerman looks at the first Red Scare and finds a monster being born:
John Edgar Hoover kept his desk clean, it’s glass-covered mahogany surface polished, and he gave everything he touched a sense of order.
Neat. Orderly. Hoover wanted the United States to be just like him. (Would it be going too far to compare Hoover to Adolph Eichmann? Maybe. But both sought to make the trains run on time. Let's call it a difference of degree.)
John Edgar quickly learned the ways of power. This is the point: Nobody gave Hoover power, he created it on his own.
Ackerman recounts:
They chose to send a message...they came armed with clubs, police backup, and over two hundred Labor Department deportation warrants naming the leaders of the Union of Russian Workers….
The Department of Justice as well as courts at all levels handed out warrants like candy. The focus was immigrants.
Is there another John Edgar Hoover in our government today? No.
We’ve become a more subtle people. We allow ourselves to be violated by degrees.
This is how today’s John Edgar Hoover prefers it.
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A Must Read
Since the fatal Sept. 16 Blackwater USA shooting in Baghdad’s Nasoor Square, officials from the private security company have insisted that their guards were responding to fire from “armed enemies.” Yet an extensive evidence file put together by the Iraqi National Police and obtained by NEWSWEEK—including documents, maps, sworn witness statements and police video footage—appears to contradict the contractors’ version of events. A confidential incident report, which has been provided by Iraqi National Police investigators to American military and civilian officials, concludes that the Blackwater vehicles “opened fire crazily and randomly, without any reason.”
Watch the video. And remember that the helicopter isn't US military (or Iraqi military - if such a thing exists.) but a mercenary helicopter.
Coming soon to a town near you.
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A Bit Of Saul Steinberg
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September 29, 2007
Saturday Palate Cleanser
Some Betty Boop for your asses:
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Through The Transom
September 28, 2007
Yep
And how does Bush compare with the Republicans seeking to succeed him? "If a Rudy Giuliani were to be elected," Dean said, "he would go even farther than Cheney and Bush in their worst moments."[...]
I asked Dean to imagine the moment when Bush leaves office on Jan. 20, 2009, presumably to be replaced by a Democrat, presumably Hillary -- will it then be possible to say "our long national nightmare is over"? Dean replied with one word: "Yes."
He quickly added, "I do feel strongly that the Republicans have so abused the law and embedded so many people within the system, within the executive branch, that's it's going to take a couple of terms of Democratic presidents before you have people there who are representing the American people."
I too have been saying for a while now that a Rudy! presidency would make us wish for the sanity of BushCheney.
Hell of a country we live in.
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On Double Standards
One of the most charmingly naive arguments mustered by conservative critics of the Avignon Presidency's laughably bloated sense of its own constitutional prerogatives is to ask other conservatives how they will feel if these expanded powers fall into the hands of, say, President Hillary Clinton. The answer to this is very simple -- no Democratic president ever will be allowed to use them. Almost immediately, a Democratic president who tries even the most tepid exercise of these alleged powers will be pilloried on the Right as the lineal descendant of Heinrich Himmler. Recent criticisms -- almost entirely ignored by the mainstream press in real time, while the Bushies actually were feeding the Constitution into the woodchipper -- will suddenly be given new life as examples of liberal -- or, to use C-Plus Augustus's favorite term of art, "Democrat" -- hypocrisy, a master narrative beloved by the cocktails-on-Nantucket crowd. I do not doubt the good faith of conservative scholars like Bruce Fein on these issues. They have been brave and true. But they either misunderstand, or don't care to engage, the profound bad faith in which movement conservatism engages all questions of public policy. Those people have no compunction about acting upon principles wholly at odds with the principles they earlier have espoused most vigorously. Indeed, that is the most essential tactic they have. Consider the case of uber-charlatan John Yoo, who is what Alexander Hamilton would be if Hamilton had the constitutional knowledge of a ferret. Here's an interesting example. I assure you that this dynamic will be at play for the entire eight years of a Democratic administration. It will be obvious and shameless and an awful lot of people in my business will pretend not to see what is plainly in front of them.
As always, read the rest over at Dr. Alterman's place.
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Rudy9/11Rudy9/11Rudy9/11Rudy9/11Rudy9/11
From Democrats.org:
Rudy Giuliani is now saying that he took a cell phone call from his wife in the middle of a speech last week because of--wait for it--September 11. Of course.
Giuliani also addressed a cell phone call he took from his wife, Judith, last week during his speech to the National Rifle Association..."And quite honestly, since Sept. 11, most of the time when we get on a plane, we talk to each other and just reaffirm the fact that we love each other," he said.
I've said it before: If Rudy could dig up the corpses of the WTC victims and put them on the stage at one of his rallies he would.
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Why Libertarians Are Insane Part CCCXXVIII
Over at Reason:
David Boaz looks from FDR to Mussolini and from Mussolini to FDR and is unable to tell the difference.
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Article 6, Section 3
[N]o religious test shall ever be required as a qualification to any office or public trust under the United States.
Shorter Tim Russert: I'm now going to administer a religious test.
I'm rapidly approaching the point where I start buying cheap gin by the case so I can stay well and truly pickled until the elections are over.
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Our Friends On The Right II
So Rush Limbaugh thinks any soldier who disagrees with him is a "phony soldier."
Rep. Patrick Murphy (D-PA) disagrees:
Someone should tell chicken-hawk Rush Limbaugh that the only phonies are those who choose not to serve and then criticize those who do. I served proudly, so did two of my fellow paratroopers in the 82nd Airborne who spoke out and died just weeks ago. Generations of American veterans have worn the uniform with pride and we know it is no contradiction to serve your country and still disagree with the Bush-civilian leadership that mismanaged this war.
Here's Army Capt. Patrick Murphy, 82nd. Airborne, Bronze Star awardee:
And here's Rush Limbaugh, draft dodger, thrice-married, fan of Dominican prostitutes, drug addict:
Who are you going to listen to?
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Our Friends On The Right
Michael Medved says slavery was a good thing.
And yet they become indignant if we accuse them of racism.
Lovely people.
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September 27, 2007
Well Then
Remember way back in 2003 the killing and stringing-up of four Blackwater mercenaries in Fallujah? The event that led to two fierce battles and the practical razing of the city? Whoops! Guess who's at fault:
Blackwater USA triggered a major battle in the Iraq war by sending an unprepared team of security guards into an insurgent stronghold, a move that led to their horrific deaths and a violent response by U.S. forces, according to a congressional investigation released Thursday.The private security company, one of the largest working in Iraq and under scrutiny for how it operates, also is faulted for initially insisting its guards were properly prepared and equipped and for impeding the inquiry by the Democratic staff of the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee.
In other words, Blackwater lied and engaged in a cover up.
The families of the four killed contractors filed suit against the company in January 2005, saying that Blackwater's cost-cutting measures led to the deaths. That lawsuit is still pending as a federal judge tries to determine whether it should be heard in arbitration or in open court.Blackwater has argued in court that it is immune to such a lawsuit because the company operates as an extension of the military and cannot be responsible for deaths in a war zone.
Ah, but Blackwater doesn't fall under the Uniform Code of Military Justice (UCMJ) so arguing that they're "an extension of the military" doesn't wash.
The State Department, one of Blackwater's largest customers, has opened an investigation into the incident. Deputy Secretary of State John Negroponte told Congress Wednesday that the incident in Baghdad was tragic, but called private security companies such as Blackwater essential to operations in Iraq.
I'll say it again: If the US is unable to wage war without large numbers of mercenaries then it has no business in starting wars.
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NOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!
Harrisburg is calling him:
This week's editions of conservative magazine The American Spectator report that [Rick] Santorum, who now makes his living scaring people to death for a right-wing think-tank, is seriously considering a run at the Republican nomination for governor in 2010.
Is there any way to give Fast Eddie a third term?
[Via Keystone Politics.]
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We Are Ruled By A Moron
"Childrens do learn," [Bush] said Wednesday.
No word yet if "childrens" was spelled phonetically on the prompter for him.
[Via C&L]
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Another Bad Week For Dicky
A judge refused yesterday to order the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette to return court documents related to the divorce case of billionaire publisher Richard M. Scaife and his wife.Allegheny County Common Pleas Judge Alan Hertzberg agreed with the Post-Gazette's contention that the newspaper had First Amendment rights to retain and publish information about the divorce case, even though it had been sealed by court order.
[...]
Mr. Scaife's lawyers filed court papers Friday demanding that the Post-Gazette and reporter Dennis Roddy return any case documents obtained by the prothonotary's error. The newspaper, maintaining the information was of public interest, responded over the weekend by posting key portions of the documents on its own Web site.
In yesterday's court hearing, H. Yale Gutnick, Mr. Scaife's lawyer, contended that the Post-Gazette's access of documents it knew to be sealed was illegal, similar to a burglar entering the judge's home if he left the door open.
"It has thumbed its nose at this court with a smirk on its face," Mr. Gutnick said, suggesting the Post-Gazette was merely acting out of competitive spite against Mr. Scaife.
The documents in question can be found at the link (pdf's).
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September 26, 2007
Lavatory Larry Update
Good luck, Senator Widestance!
Sen. Larry Craig's attorneys will try to convince Judge Charles Porter at a hearing today that the Idaho senator's guilty plea was a mistake.
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Names Matter
I remember having to deal with this back in the 80's.
The name of the country is BURMA not "Myanmar."
James Fallows explains.
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NPR Tells George To Get Stuffed
The White House reached out to National Public Radio over the weekend, offering analyst Juan Williams a presidential interview to mark yesterday's 50th anniversary of school desegregation in Little Rock.But NPR turned down the interview, and Williams's talk with Bush wound up in a very different media venue: Fox News.
[...]
Ellen Weiss, NPR's vice president for news, said she "felt strongly" that "the White House shouldn't be selecting the person." She said NPR told Bush's press secretary, Dana Perino, that "we're grateful for the opportunity to talk to the president but we wanted to determine who did the interview." When the White House said the offer could not be transferred to one of NPR's program hosts, Weiss took a pass.
No self-respecting news organization allows the interviewee choose the interviewer (keep in mind FAUXNews isn't a news organization). And the White House wanted Wan Williams because a) he's black and b) he's reliably deferential to the administration.
I don't have time this morning to look it up but one of the worst interviews I've ever heard in my life was on NPR and it was Dick Cheney being questioned by - wait for it - Wan Williams. DeFib Dick sat there and lied about everything, never once being challenged by Williams. The whole exercise was so bad that two days later NPR devoted an entire segment to fact-checking Cheney and implicitly criticizing Williams. I'm not aware of any other time this has happened.
It should also be noted that Williams is one of the most notorious "Fox News Democrats" - supposed liberals who work for Fox but merely serve to allow the right to say "even the liberal Juan Williams says the Democrats are full of it."
Says Wan:
Williams, who is sometimes criticized by liberal groups, dismissed the notion that he was picked as a sympathetic interviewer, saying he often challenges the administration on "Fox News Sunday.""I had worked at NPR's direction to develop a relationship with the White House," he said. "I have an expertise on race relations. . . . I thought the listeners of NPR lost a tremendous opportunity to hear the president in a rare interview on a very important subject."
Maybe he can take over for Dana Perino as White House press secretary.
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Gee, No One Could Have Predicted This
Good ol' Blackwater:
In high-level meetings over the past several days, U.S. military officials have pressed State Department officials to assert more control over Blackwater, which operates under the department's authority, said a U.S. government official with knowledge of the discussions. "The military is very sensitive to its relationship that they've built with the Iraqis being altered or even severely degraded by actions such as this event," the official said."This is a nightmare," said a senior U.S. military official. "We had guys who saw the aftermath, and it was very bad. This is going to hurt us badly. It may be worse than Abu Ghraib, and it comes at a time when we're trying to have an impact for the long term." The official was referring to the prison scandal that emerged in 2004 in which U.S. soldiers tortured and abused Iraqis.
[...]
In Iraq, Blackwater operations have been a source of controversy. In 2004, insurgents ambushed four Blackwater contractors in Fallujah and mutilated their bodies. U.S. Marines were ordered to invade the city to capture the assailants, triggering one of the war's most fierce battles. The firm mostly hires former Navy SEAL operatives.
"They are immature shooters and have very quick trigger fingers. Their tendency is shoot first and ask questions later," said an Army lieutenant colonel serving in Iraq. Referring to the Sept. 16 shootings, the officer added, "None of us believe they were engaged, but we are all carrying their black eyes."
Putting Iraq aside, it's inevitable that mercenary armies like Blackwater will increasingly used unless brought under control now (preferably by putting them out of business). These mercenaries are already operating in the US, most famously in New Orleans after Katrina. Lindsay Beyerstein met some of them:
The scariest people I've ever met were the Blackwater guys I found clustered around a van behind a New Orleans hotel shortly after Hurricane Katrina.[...]
We'd already encountered a few other Blackwater guys during our trip. One juiced up freak in mirrored sunglasses and a Blackwater bearclaw t-shirt actually lunged at our car when my colleague tried to take a picture of the hotel he was guarding. He didn't point his weapon or yell, or do anything a rational person in a defensive posture might have done. He just grunted really loudly and tried to stick his head in our window.
Mind you, he wasn't holding a position in an emergency. We were driving in broad daylight through downtown New Orleans with a bunch of other traffic (military and civilian).
[...]
What I didn't realize at the time was that these Blackwater guys thought of themselves as frontline soldiers in a literal war zone, ready to use deadly force at the slightest provocation. That was an unfounded estimate, in the middle of the day in downtown New Orleans several days after the city had been secured by the legitimate authorities.
We certainly weren't seeing that level of aggression or anxiety from the 82nd Airborne or the NOLA police, or the National Guard, or anyone else in the vicinity.
Read the whole thing to get a real sense of what we could be dealing with in the future.
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ADDED: Happily for Blackwater, they have friends in high places:
The State Department has told Blackwater USA that it cannot provide the committee documents or information regarding its security work for U.S. diplomats in Iraq -- including the incident earlier this month in which Iraqi civilians were killed -- without getting the State Department's approval first.
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[bangs head on desk]
You know that somebody doesn't have a coherent argument when they go for the "out of the mouths of babes" gambit. The wisdom of a 9-year-old:
Can't answer thatLast week I was reading your article on the anti-war protesters in Oakland when my 9-year-old son asked me what I was reading. I told him what the article was about, pulling our troops out of Iraq. He stated he agreed with the protesters, we should not be in Iraq. I asked him why he thought that and he stated that "if we leave them alone, they will leave us alone."
I explained to him that normally that is true but not in this case. I gave him a quick rundown of what the hijackers of Islam have done over the years against Western civilization around the world for no other reason than the culture. I started with their attacks as far back as the '70s with the Iranian hostage crisis and pointed out the recent ones, the U.S. embassies, the USS Cole, the Marine barracks, Bali, London and of course 9/11, just to name a few.
My son then asked, "So if we leave them alone, they won't leave us alone?" My one word answer was "exactly." He then asked if the protesters know this, and if they do, why do they want to bring the troops home instead of fighting them where they are? I told him "that I don't know."
BILL HOAGLAND
Whitehall
Now maybe Mr. Hoagland actually has a 9-year-old little nipper but I suspect that the child is merely a fever dream inspired idealization of himself. It would fit the general rightwing tendency to think like 9-year-olds.
However, 9-year-olds have usually grown out of the tendency to wet their beds. The same can't be said for Hoagland and his ilk. Fortuitously, via digby, we find that Rick Perlstein has penned one of the best, and saddest, examinations of what we've become. Perlstein starts in 1959 when the Soviet premiere Nikita Khrushchev was welcomed to the US by President Eisenhower:
Had America suddenly succumbed to a fever of weak-kneed appeasement? Had the general running the country—the man who had faced down Hitler!—proven himself what the John Birch Society claimed he was: a conscious agent of the Communist conspiracy?No. Nikita Khrushchev simply visited a nation that had character. That was mature, well-adjusted. A nation confident we were great. We had our neuroses, to be sure—plenty of them.
But look now what we have lost. Now when a bad guy crosses our threshhold, America becomes a pants-piddling mess.
Yes, unlike Ahmedinejad (or bin Laden, for that matter) Khrushchev actually had the ability to essentially wipe out the US. Nonetheless, we were strong and confident. We were ready to fight if necessary but we weren't about to cower before any threat, however existential.
Perstein concludes:
The worst thing about, however, is how many people who should know better have surrendered it. They've lowered us all to their own pants-piddling level. And somewhere, Nikita Khrushchev is smiling. For well and truly, he is right. We have been buried—by our own demobilizing.
I've written this post in one way or another dozens of times before. This is what has saddened and disturbed me most about the Bush Era. We've been turned into a nation of 9-year-olds and the likes of Bill Hoagland find a kind of solace in that. Pathetic.
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ADDED: Glenn:
There really is this child-like need in American mainstream political discourse constantly to believe that we are fault-free and that when there is hostility directed at us from other parts of the world, it is always baffling and unjustified and crazy and malicious. And the accompanying cartoon-like belief is that anyone who has hostility towards the U.S. is some demented, crazed, Hitler-like monster.
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September 25, 2007
This Won't End Well
The Supremes are going to decide the constitutionality of voter ID laws.
My guess? In a 5-4 decision the court will uphold the laws. Then wherever they find it most advantageous the Repubs will find ways to make getting an ID as difficult as possible.
Oh, and this will be decided before the 2008 elections.
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I'm Sure Glad The War Is Over
Otherwise Congress wouldn't have the time for this:
Lawmakers, music industry executives and rappers disagreed Tuesday over who was to blame for sexist and degrading language in hip hop music but united in opposing government censorship as a solution.
And now for a bit of cognitive dissonance:
[Philippe Dauman, president & CEO of Viacom Inc.] said his company takes an active role in editing obscenities out of music videos and excising gang symbols or portrayals of violence, but "we also believe that it is not our role to censor the creative expression of artists."
Parse that one.
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Brooke Gladstone Makes A Point
Did it occur to you that there are just certain things that people won't want to pay for? I mean, people will pay for porn but they won't pay for Thomas Friedman.
Well, that's because porn has a more positive effect on American society than Friedman does.
[Via Romanesko.]
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Let Us Now Praise Mahmoud Ahmadinejad
For he has replaced Moveon.org as the Most Important Story Ever™.
Don't the Republicans have anything better to do, indeed.
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Rudolph
Will's right, this is sick stuff:
A supporter of Rudy Giuliani's is throwing a party that aims to raise $9.11 per person for the Republican's presidential campaign.[...]
But Sofaer said he had nothing to do with the "$9.11 for Rudy" theme.
"There are some young people who came up with it," Sofaer said when reached by telephone Monday evening. He referred other questions to Giuliani's campaign.
"I'm just providing support for him. He's an old friend of mine," Sofaer said of Giuliani.
Sofaer was a State Department adviser under President Reagan and is a fellow at Stanford University's Hoover Institution
The disparaging nickname "Ghouliani" has never been more apt (and don't think for a moment that his campaign didn't at least sign off on this). This is taking "waving the bloody shirt" to previously unimaginable lows. What's next, digging up the corpses of those killed at the WTC and arranging them on stage for a campaign rally?
The AP story ends thusly:
Giuliani was mayor of New York during the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks.
Like Rudy is ever, ever, going to let us forget that.
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September 23, 2007
A Bit Of Edgar Degas
For more on the photography of Degas see here.
Recommended: Edgar Degas: Photographer by Malcolm Daniel.
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September 22, 2007
Saturday Palate Cleanser
The Rain Parade - "My Secret Country"
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September 20, 2007
A Bad Week For Dicky
It always gives me pleasure to report on the misfortunes of Dicky Scaife (a case of Schadenfreude, as a German might say). And this week has been bad for the publicity-shy rightwing gazillionaire. D-I-V-O-R-C-E:
The divorce case titled Scaife v. Scaife has wound its way through the courts under a blanket of secrecy as both sides struggle over a storied Pittsburgh fortune surpassing $1.4 billion and a temporary monthly alimony payment bigger than the life savings of most people.Margaret Ritchie Battle Scaife, 60, and her husband, Mellon banking and oil heir Richard Mellon Scaife, 75, have been unable to agree on support payments, whether one of his newspapers is a hobby or a business investment, and even the date of their separation. She says they split in December 2005, after she caught him in an affair. He says they separated 10 months earlier.
[...]
Copies of the Scaife case file obtained by the Post-Gazette illuminate a dispute that could set a new record for a divorce settlement. The couple did not have a prenuptial agreement. The case file, though ostensibly sealed by the court, was readily available online from the Web site housing Allegheny County court records over a period of several days at the end of last month.
[...]
The case could also affect the fortunes of Mr. Scaife's publishing enterprise, notably the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review, which, records filed with the divorce papers show, he has subsidized with more than $140 million -- Mrs. Scaife's lawyers contend the figure is $244 million -- from one of his trust funds over the past 15 years, and which has lost between $20 million and $30 million yearly since it was started in 1992.
There's a dog. There's always a dog:
Five months after her first arrest, Mrs. Scaife was again charged, this time after a street fight outside her husband's home when she confronted and physically battled three of Mr. Scaife's employees.At issue was a yellow Labrador retriever named Beauregard. She insisted the dog belonged to her. Mr. Scaife has argued that she gave the dog to him as a gift.
When the confrontation was over, Mrs. Scaife was charged with assault. The charges were later dismissed by District Justice Cathleen Bubash, but the three employees, using the same law firm as Mr. Scaife, filed suit for damages against Mrs. Scaife.
But what of Bob Duggan?
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September 19, 2007
Bartleby, The Scrivener
(With thanks to all the fine people at Project Gutenberg.)
BARTLEBY, THE SCRIVENER.
A STORY OF WALL-STREET.
I am a rather elderly man. The nature of my avocations for the last
thirty years has brought me into more than ordinary contact with what
would seem an interesting and somewhat singular set of men, of whom as
yet nothing that I know of has ever been written:--I mean the
law-copyists or scriveners. I have known very many of them,
professionally and privately, and if I pleased, could relate divers
histories, at which good-natured gentlemen might smile, and sentimental
souls might weep. But I waive the biographies of all other scriveners
for a few passages in the life of Bartleby, who was a scrivener of the
strangest I ever saw or heard of. While of other law-copyists I might
write the complete life, of Bartleby nothing of that sort can be done.
I believe that no materials exist for a full and satisfactory biography
of this man. It is an irreparable loss to literature. Bartleby was one
of those beings of whom nothing is ascertainable, except from the
original sources, and in his case those are very small. What my own
astonished eyes saw of Bartleby, _that_ is all I know of him, except,
indeed, one vague report which will appear in the sequel.
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A Monarchy, Not A Republic
The Congressional Republicans filibustered the most basic right of any American.
Never, ever forget the Republicans' fascism.
(And if any reader objects to my use of the word "fascisism" then bring it on.)
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Noted In Passing
Few posts for the foreseeable future.
New posts will appear below this one.
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ADDED: This post is supposed to stay at the to of the page. Why it isn't is beyond me. Oh well.
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September 18, 2007
I Refuse To Pay More Than $500 For The Brooklyn Bridge
After weeks of suggesting Democrats would temper their approach to Iraq legislation in a bid to attract more Republicans, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid declared abruptly Tuesday that he had no plans to do so.
Yah. Uh-huh. Pull the other one.
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Could He Be More Offensive?
A Gold Star Mother is a mother whose child has been killed in combat. A Blue Star Mother is a mother whose child serves in the armed forces. This morning:
I want to thank the service organizations and those who have come together to support our families and our troops. I can't tell you how important it is for organizations like the Vets for Freedom or the VFW or the American Legion and other groups to -- Gold Star Mothers, got you, okay, thank you -- Blue Star Mothers, Gold Star Mothers, all the mothers, yes. (Applause.) Every day is Mother's Day as far as your concerned, isn't it? (Laughter.)
Real fucking funny, George.
[Via BarbinMD.]
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Overkill
Clear-cut police brutality:
A University of Florida student was Tasered and arrested after trying to ask U.S. Senator John Kerry about the 2004 election and other subjects during a campus forum.[...]
As two officers take Meyer by the arms, Kerry, D-Massachusetts, is heard to say, "That's alright, let me answer his question." Audience members applaud, and Meyer struggles to escape for several seconds as up to four officers try to remove him from the room.
[...]
As Kerry tells the audience he will answer the student's "very important question," Meyer struggles on the ground and yells at the officers to release him, crying out, "Don't Tase me, bro," just before he is Tasered. He is then led from the room, screaming, "What did I do?"
I don't have the stomach to check but I'm sure the wingnut sites are blaming Kerry for this.
You decide:
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Speaking Of Crazy People
Another issue for the presidential candidates to deal with:
This loophole has not been lost on the life forms who arrived on these shores aboard flying saucers with little more than the antennae on their backs. After years of suffering without suffrage, these beings are now seeking to play a role in the 2008 presidential campaign.That, at any rate, is the considered opinion of the Paradigm Research Group, which held a news conference at the National Press Club yesterday to demand that presidential candidates support a "truth amnesty" to end the "government-imposed truth embargo on the facts confirming an extraterrestrial presence."
"The truth amnesty disclosure project is reportedly recommended by the participating extraterrestrials themselves," Alfred Webre of the Institute for Cooperation in Space announced to the humans-only gathering, next door to a speech on Iraq by Rep. Jack Murtha. "That is the specific extraterrestrial civilization which approximately 60 years ago entered into a top-secret CIA human-extraterrestrial liaison program."
[...]
"Let me check in with the mothership," Phil Singer, a Hillary Clinton spokesman, answered when asked about the truth embargo.
I am 100% against giving space aliens the vote. And for a very good reason:
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Oookay...
Get the defendant under oath:
[Nebraska] State Sen. Ernie Chambers sued God last week. Angered by another lawsuit he considers frivolous, Chambers says he's trying to make the point that anybody can file a lawsuit against anybody.Chambers says in his lawsuit that God has made terroristic threats against the senator and his constituents, inspired fear and caused "widespread death, destruction and terrorization of millions upon millions of the Earth's inhabitants."
[...]
He's seeking a permanent injunction against the Almighty.
One can only hope that Sen. Chambers wins.
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Throw Them All Out
So Iraqi "Prime Minister" Nuri al-Maliki is upset that the powerful and connected mercenary outfit Blackwater USA has killed innocent civilians:
Several violent episodes involving Blackwater have infuriated Iraqi officials. An Interior Ministry spokesman, Brig. Gen. Abdul-Karim Khalaf, said the decision meant Blackwater "cannot work in Iraq any longer.""Blackwater has made many mistakes resulting in other deaths, but this is the last and the biggest mistake. This is unjustified," Khalaf said. "Security contracts do not allow them to shoot people randomly. They are here to protect personnel, not shoot people without reason."
None of this should be surprising. Blackwater and other mercenary providers essentially operate under no laws. And let's remember that it was the killing of four Blackwater mercs that led to razing of Fallujah.
I agree with Larry Johnson that Blackwater isn't going anywhere. Indeed, the Iraqi "government" has already started backing off.
Throw them all out. If the US military is unable to undertake missions without the use of mercenaries then the US government had better start rethinking a few things.
John Amato has video of what appears to be "contractors" shooting up Iraqi civilians. And I highly recommend Jeremy Scahill's Blackwater: The Rise of the World's Most Powerful Mercenary Army. Blackwater is much more frightening than you might think.
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Counting Chickens
Murtha makes a prediction:
Pennsylvania's Rep. John Murtha acknowledged yesterday that the public is deeply dissatisfied with Congress' inability to bring an end to the Iraq war, yet he predicted that Democrats would pick up as many as 40 to 50 House seats in next year's election."You're going to see a big Democratic win," Mr. Murtha, D-Johnstown, told reporters after a speech at the National Press Club.
I'll believe it when I see it. Never underestimate the ability of Democrats to lose elections.
Nonetheless, we go from the sublime to the ridiculous:
"The American public has quickly grown tired of this Democrat-led Congress, and John Murtha's unethical behavior certainly isn't changing any minds," [National Republican Congressional Committee Ken] Spain said. "Democrats should be worried about picking up their record low approval rating instead of making wild, grandiose predictions about how many seats they hope to pick up."
It should be noted that while, yes, Congressional Democrats have a very low approval rating their numbers are still higher than Congressional Republicans' numbers.
Oh, and note Mr. Spain's use of "Democrat-led." Is he illiterate or just childish? Does it matter?
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Going Off-Script
Every effort should be made to stop Iran from obtaining nuclear weapons, but failing that, the world could live with a nuclear-armed regime in Tehran, a recently retired commander of U.S. forces in the Middle East said Monday.John Abizaid, the retired Army general who headed Central Command for nearly four years, said he was confident that if Iran gained nuclear arms, the United States could deter it from using them.
"Iran is not a suicide nation," he said. "I mean, they may have some people in charge that don't appear to be rational, but I doubt that the Iranians intend to attack us with a nuclear weapon."
Wow. Someone is actually being rational about Iran. Of course, it's a RETIRED general but still....
Right now DeFib Dick is trying to figure out how to get Abizaid into his man-sized safe.
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A Failed Experiment
Pinch Sulzberger sees the light and abandons the op-ed paywall.
Paul Krugman for everybody! (And David Brooks for everybody as well, but let's focus on the positive.)
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September 17, 2007
September 16, 2007
A Bit Of Anna Atkins
Brief bio of Atkins at The Getty.
Explanation of the cyanotype process.
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September 15, 2007
Saturday Palate Cleanser
Richard Thompson - "Beeswing"
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September 14, 2007
Operation Infinite Occupation
Even though it's his last day as Minister of Propaganda Presidential Press Secretary Tony Snow can't resist catapulting that propaganda:
Q: How long are we going to be in Iraq? Because the President last night was setting the stage for a long-term relationship with the Iraqis, which would include a U.S. military presence there.SNOW: Yeah, well, the Iraqis want that.
No, Tony, they don't.
And I would be remiss if I didn't mention that we're finally rid of Alberto Abu Ghraib Guantanamo Gonzales.
Off the ship, the rats are left treading water.
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Remember Afghanistan?
Well isn't this just grand?
The NATO force in Afghanistan does not have enough troops or equipment to secure advances made against Taliban insurgents and to guarantee a successful end to its mission, a lawmakers' report concluded on Friday.[...]
"The NATO mission still suffers from a lack of personnel and assets," the assembly's Defence and Security Committee concluded after a six-day tour of allied operations last week which included talks with local and national Afghan officials.
In an interview billed as his first since leaving the top Pentagon post, Donald Rumsfeld calls Afghanistan "a big success," but says U.S. efforts in Iraq are hampered by the failure of Iraq's government to establish a foundation for democracy."In Afghanistan, 28 million people are free. They have their own president, they have their own parliament. Improved a lot on the streets," Rumsfeld says in the October issue of GQ magazine.
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Feckless, Arrogant, And Stupid
For some reason, the fact that two of the Noncoms who wrote that famous NYT op-ed are dead, and that a third one of them is fighting to survive a head wound, put a sharper edge on the stunningly amoral fakery in D.C. this week. (And, yo, foof. You can shut the hell up any time.) Almost everyone who gets paid for thinking about this stuff has concluded that the White House's strategy -- the strategy for which Petraeus and Crocker were so willing a pair of shills -- is to run out the clock and make Iraq the next president's problem. Serious people are debating the efficacy of this as domestic political strategy. Is this feckless, arrogant, stupid man ever going to take responsibility for anything? Does he believe that Daddy's lawyers and Daddy's money are going to swoop in at the nick of time, again, to bail him out? Does he think Jesus is coming to make it all better and bring all the people who have died in this murderous ego-sodden venture back to life? I bow to nobody in my respect for Bob Draper as a person and as a journalist, but I couldn't care less that this guy has read Cormac McCarthy. He has blighted the world, and the reasons don't matter a damn any more.
More at the first link.
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Clutching At Straws
When Biden thought he had a gotcha -- contradictions between Petraeus's report on Iraqi violence and the less favorable one by the Government Accountability Office -- Petraeus calmly pointed out that the GAO had to cut its data-gathering five weeks short to meet reporting requirements to Congress. And since those most recent five weeks had been particularly productive for the coalition, the GAO numbers were not only outdated but misleading.
Yes, that 30 days made all the difference. And it's curious that Chuckles fails to mention how Petraeus arrived at his conclusions. Oh, that's right, it's because Petraeus is being dodgy about his methodology. Well, maybe not so curious.
Krauthammer puts me in mind of a stereotypical mad scientist who cackles maniacally as his laboratory burns down around him. And like that mad scientist, Chuckles doesn't end as the ruler of the world or a god but as a pathetic little figure soon forgotten.
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