Wednesday, April 30, 2008
Network news doesn't respond to charges of cooption by Pentagon
Glenn Greenwalk is on a tear... go get 'em! I've been pretty skeptical and hardly ever watch network news unless something major happens, but this blatant disregard for journalistic ethics and integrity just means I will be watching TV news even less than I do now.
" Just consider what is going on here. The core credibility of war reporting by Brian Williams and NBC News has been severely undermined by a major NYT expose. That story involves likely illegal behavior by the Pentagon, in which NBC News appears to have been complicit, resulting in the deceitful presentation of highly biased and conflicted individuals as "independent" news analysts. Yet they refuse to tell their viewers about any of this, and refuse to address any of the questions that have been raised.
More amazingly still, when Brian Williams is forced by a virtual mob on his blog yesterday finally to address this issue -- something he really couldn't avoid doing given that, the day before, he found time to analyze seven other NYT articles -- Williams cited McCaffrey and Downing as proof that they did nothing wrong, and insists that his and their credibility simply ought to be beyond reproach because they are good, patriotic men. But those two individuals in particular had all kinds of ties to the Government, the defense industry, and ideological groups which gave them vested interests in vigorous pro-war advocacy -- ties which NBC News knew about and failed to disclose, all while presenting these individuals to their millions of viewers as "independent." Is there anyone who thinks that behavior is anything other than deeply corrupt? "
Monday, April 28, 2008
DNA surveillance

Other links: WaPo, NPR
Geneva Conventions
" Moreover, even after attempts by the Court and the Congress to rein in these methods - which were once prosecuted by the US as war-crimes - the president continued to defend, use and advance violations of Common Article Three in violation of the law and the Constitution. In the last week, we have also learned the following: that some Gitmo inmates have testified to being injected with some kind of substance
....
We have also discovered that the president is still insisting that he has the power to violate Geneva at will on a case-by-case basis, rendering the rule of law moot and the Constitution toothless.
....
We also know that the torture and interrogation camp at Guantanamo Bay has become for many of its inmates the functional equivalent of a lunatic asylum"
RTWT for links and examples.
Friday, April 25, 2008
voters choices: Generational, vocational, or racial?
But doesn't that "white anger" feel very 1980s to you? Are white voters still motivated in large part by grievances about affirmative action (which, for the record, I strongly oppose)? You'd think that
our cultural politics had remained untouched and unmoved since the Reagan era. You'd think that political demography was frozen at exactly the moment boomers came of age. The truth is: the boomer media class is fighting the last war and misreading the current one.As Ambinder reminds us:
It doesn't really matter if Barack Obama isn't doing as well among white working class Dems as Hillary Clinton is. He doesn't need their votes to win.This election will be decided by white independents, African-Americans, new Hispanic voters, and a vast influx of younger Americans. Those are the people Obama has brought into the process; and they are the people who will change the face of American politics.
I agree completely (well maybe not totally on the affirmative action part). After the PA primary, on Wednesday I was just talking to my neighbor B and his colleague about this topic. They are both Labor professors at Univ of IL. They both hail from Youngstown OH, and study the true working class/ union voters extensively. They were talking about a theory (both of them hailing from Youngstown OH, and studying the true working class extensively) they had that really the white working class agree that they ARE bitter and more of them actually voted the way they did ( for Hillary) because they do want to have a fight (with the Republicans) over all the crap they have been through economically. The theory is that she's a "scrapper" and can dish it out back to the Republicans as well as she can take it (VRWC). I replied that I think the results are mostly generational, and that PA has a very high proportion of over 60 voters relative to other states ( 2nd only to FL). I seriously doubt that the vast majority of Democrats and Independents who oppose the war, are going to let themselves vote for McCain in the fall general election, no matter what doubts they have about Obama.
I'm kinda nervous now that Andrew thinks this will go all the way to the convention. I have too
much hope that the PTB (powersthatBE) will not let that happen.
update on military contractor abuses
I received this reply today from Senator Durbin:
April 25, 2008
Ms. L___Z____
_____
Dear Ms. Z___:
Thank you for contacting me regarding alleged sexual assaults by military contractors working in Iraq. I appreciate hearing from you and share your concerns.
Private military contractors, including roughly 180,000 in Iraq, are involved in U.S. military operations ranging from security and logistics to transportation and the feeding of our troops. As you know, there have been reports of sexual violence by some employees of these contractors. Other reckless behavior also has been reported, including military contractor involvement in a large number of civilian deaths and injuries.
In the course of the war in Iraq, it has been difficult to bring
contractors who may have committed crimes to trial. The laws that govern contractors are not clear, and they are not bound by the United States Military's Code of Conduct. If our military is to rely so heavily on private companies, a much more credible system of oversight must be put in place. The U.S. government must be able to hold accountable any military contractor who commits a sexual assault or any other brutal crime, no matter where it occurs.
I am a cosponsor of S. 674, the Transparency and Accountability in
Military and Security Contracting Act of 2007, which was introduced by Senator Barack Obama. This measure would make it easier to bring contractor employees to justice if they are involved in wrongdoing. It also would direct the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff to issue rules of engagement regarding the use of force by contractor personnel and require the FBI to establish Theater Investigative Units to investigate allegations of misconduct by contractor personnel. In addition, the bill would require much stricter reporting about federal military and security contracts being performed in Iraq and Afghanistan,
and it would set standards for the hiring, training and equipping of
contractors.
The Transparency and Accountability in Military and Security Contracting Act has been referred to the Senate Armed Services
Committee. Although I am not a member of this committee, I will keep your thoughts in minds as steps are taken to bring this legislation to the floor of the Senate for a vote.
Thank you for taking the time to contact me. Please feel free to stay in touch.Sincerely,
Richard J. Durbin
United States Senator
RJD/ds
Thursday, April 24, 2008
Pentagon propaganda campaign
I thought I already wrote about this this week but apparently I didn't. I've been reading articles (NYT) about how the Pentagon had a program to have their retired 'military analysts' pass along their talking points to the media outlet that they worked for. Meanwhile they probably weren't being very "objective" because access to Rumsfeld's office meant access and information on how to procure war contracts for their "other" employers. Boy, those retired guys are really busy! I think that most smart viewers probably take their pro-war comments with a big grain of salt, but on the other hand you don't expect them to lie about things they really think aren't true either. (RTWT) Shame on the MSM for not checking backgrounds or minimally at least disclosing possible conflicts of interest. The military-industrial complex is thriving while the rest of the economy is going into the tank. That sucks for us.
Tuesday, April 22, 2008
What's wrong with wanting a smart President?

Walk-ability
(h/t NYT Earth day issue)
Friday, April 18, 2008
Danny Federici has passed away

Thursday, April 17, 2008
U-Turn

Wednesday, April 16, 2008
Fighting Fire with Fire
" These themes trigger potent psychological, emotional and tribal responses and, if left unrefuted, will virtually always overwhelm rational consideration of "issues." Illustrating what "strength," "patriotism," and moral probity really are -- and who and what exudes them -- is imperative, and it is equally imperative to do so aggressively and unapologetically, not defensively or meekly. "
Springsteen endorses Obama- get on the Train !!

..." This Train
Dreams will not be thwarted
This Train
Faith will be rewarded
This Train
Hear the steel wheels singin'
This Train
Bells of freedom ringin'"....
YEAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
(h/t huffpo )
(reference previous post re: my two favorites )
... speaking of getting people on the Train - I was sworn in as a voter registrar this morning. " Don't need no tickets, ya just get on board........"
Yeah- I'm psyched!! Good news today.
(Update, I just posted this on the comments site at Marc Ambinder at the Atlantic)
Tuesday, April 15, 2008
Senate- torture approved?
Dear Senator:
President Bush has admitted to torture. Even more, he has admitted recently that his cabal has been involved in every detail of it. Nobody is shocked to the point of taking legislative action to remedy this? God help us! As a member of the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence, I believe you can still do something. Please, won't you?
According to a published letter from your colleague on this committee, Senator Chambliss, the committee has “thoroughly reviewed this program's history, continues to monitor the CIA's interrogation methods and has found it both legal and effective.” (http://www.dailykos.com/story/2008/4/14/104220/785/951/495347)
Since you know about the CIA torture program, do you personally approve of the United States engaging in acts of torture? If you do not approve of President Bush’s illegal actions, will you go on record to speak out against them?
Torture is a war crime and crime against humanity. By not taking any action to bring about justice, we, average citizens and senators alike, are all complicit in these atrocities.
Sincerely,
L___ Z____
Obama correspondence

Monday, April 14, 2008
Congress = Captain Renault from "Casablanca"
" Congress is like a convention of Claude Raines actors -- everyone is saying we're "shocked, Shocked!" that there's torture being discussed at the White House - nobody's doing anything about it"
I had a similar thought in a earlier post back in December (watch the clip!). I love the actor Claude Rains so much, Congress would be giving him a bad rap in the comparison. Still, the character Capt. Renault redeems himself by the end of the movie so let's hope its a somewhat apt comparison...
Friday, April 11, 2008
Jeff Zurawski & Sarah Hartfield update

Maybe if there were MORE such peaceful protests in DuPage then people wouldn't get so freaked out when they see a protestor with their hand raised! I support Jeff & Sarah 100%. If Birkett doesn't back down I think he will see more protests in response to his chill on the 1st Amendment. DuPage is turning Blue and they better get used to some changes coming ....
Wednesday, April 9, 2008
DuPage turning blue

No Justice for Crimes in Iraq by contractors
More links here, here and here )
AArrgh. This is painful to read. Another KBR contractor (this one from Illinois) is raped in Iraq by a soldier and another contractor.
Prosecutorial jurisdiction for crimes like the alleged rape of Jones is easily established under the Military Extraterritorial Jurisdiction Act and the Patriot Act's special maritime and territorial jurisdiction provisions. But somebody has to want to prosecute the cases.
Horton wonders what the 200 Justice Department employees and contractors stationed in Iraq do all day, noting that there has not been a single completed criminal conviction against a US contractor implicated in a violent crime anywhere in Iraq since the invasion.
(h/t dailykos)
I just wrote an email to my senators, Durbin and Obama:
Dear Senator Durbin:
Can you please help this lady, Dawn Leamon? Long story short, she is an Illinoisian, a paramedic, who was raped in January by a KBR defense contractor and US soldier while in Iraq working for KBR. I read this whole article with tears in my eyes
http://www.thenation.com/doc/20080421/houppert
Because she carries the health insurance, and her husband has had a stroke and needs the health insurance, and she is languishing in a netherworld of NO ACTION by THE JUSTICE DEPARTMENT on any abuse cases that have occurred in Iraq by contractors, she actually has to contemplate returning to this lawless hell-hole in Iraq. What a horrible choice! (BTW, her son is also serving in Iraq)
You need to press the Justice Department to start prosecuting these cases!!!!
We need affordable and PORTABLE health care so people don’t have to make these horrible choices!!
Best Regards,
L__Z___
Tuesday, April 8, 2008
Matthew Diaz
"The decision to withhold the information had been taken, in defiance of law, by senior political figures in the Bush Administration. Diaz was aware of it, and he knew it was unlawful. He printed out a copy of the names and sent them to a civil rights lawyer who had requested them in federal court proceedings. "
Wow - he's brave. Really brave. RTWT. I love how it was sent with a Valentine's card. Indeed.
Monday, April 7, 2008
Not buying gas from Chevron
Sent: Mon 4/07/08 12:50 PM
To: comment@chevron.com
To whom it may concern:
I am writing to let you know I will no longer be buying gas from Chevron since I learned today that you have appointed Jim Haynes to be your incoming corporate counsel. He has shredded the US Constitution and been an advocate for torture.
http://harpers.org/archive/2008/04/hbc-90002785
Sincerely,
L____Z____
Digging around, you can uncover lots of other reasons to do so also...
"It's a role that the Senate Armed Services Committee, overseen by Sen. Carl Levin and its ranking Republican member, Sen. John McCain, has been quietly but aggressively scrutinizing during a two-year investigation. Two sources familiar with the probe, who asked not to be identified discussing sensitive matters, say the panel's investigators have grilled a number of key players—including Special Forces operatives and FBI agents—who were never previously questioned. The panel notified the Pentagon in early February that it wanted to question Haynes. Before receiving any response, investigators learned on Feb. 25 that Haynes was leaving for Chevron in San Francisco. "How often does somebody like that give two weeks' notice and leave town?" said one government source familiar with the sequence of events."
Misc. updates from last week
That said here are the top links I've read today, some about things I didn't hear much about last week.
(1) The Yoo memos: There was an excerpt in the Trib today about evilness (my summary) of John Yoo and his ideas that all bets are off wrt Torture if President Bush wants to be in a perpetual state of war. If I was a student on his campus I would protest all of his classes at Berkeley.
http://andrewsullivan.theatlantic.com/the_daily_dish/2008/04/the-guilty-men.html
(fortunately for me, but not him, AS was not blogging much last week either!)
plus http://tpmmuckraker.talkingpointsmemo.com/2008/04/yoo_i_thought_torture_was_a_ba.php
http://harpers.org/archive/2008/04/hbc-90002785
http://talkingpointsmemo.com/news/2008/04/memo_justified_warrantless_sur.php
http://www.slate.com/blogs/blogs/convictions/archive/2008/04/01/yoo-s-utter-glib-certainty.aspx
http://www.vanityfair.com/politics/features/2008/05/guantanamo200805?currentPage=1
looks like a must read
(2) http://andrewsullivan.theatlantic.com/the_daily_dish/2008/04/worse-case.html
ooh - a great quote, from 1954:
"There is something about this quest for absolute security that is self-defeating. It is an exercise which, like every form of perfectionism, undermines and destroys its own basic purpose. The French have their wonderful proverb: Le mieux est l'ennemi du bien--the absolute best is the enemy of the good. Nothing truer has ever been said . A foreign policy aimed at the achievement of total security is the one thing I can think of that is entirely capable of bringing this country to a point where it will have no security at all. And a ruthless, reckless insistence on attempting to stamp out everything that could conceivably constitute a reflection of improper foreign influence in our national life, regardless of the actual damage it is doing to the cost of eliminating it, in terms of other American values, is the one thing I can think of that should reduce us all to a point where the very independence we are seeking to defend would be meaningless, for we would be doing things to ourselves as vicious and tyrannical as any that might be brought to us from outside.
" -George F. Kennan's 1954 The Illusion of Security
(3) http://andrewsullivan.theatlantic.com/the_daily_dish/2008/04/by-patrick-toda.html
MLK Letter from Birmingham jail excerpt - more to come about our detour stop in Montgomery AL...
(4) and speaking of Alabama....Siegelman released!
http://tpmmuckraker.talkingpointsmemo.com/2008/03/siegelman_released_from_prison.php
I actually saw the headline in the paper WHILE I was checking into a hotel in Montgomery. Just a litte factoid... the Dexter Ave Baptist church where MLK preached is less than 2 blocks from the AL statehouse... Its on the same street! -in view of each other. More on this later once I get my pictures uploaded. Anyway it just struck me as a personal coincidence that this happened while I was there - in the town of the scene of the crime, so to speak.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DSeL9Pkmt2M
Wow and I thought IL & Chicago politics took the cake.