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Saturday Signs
We've eaten here many times before, but this was our first time on the patio. We learned, in a most unpleasant
way, both how the restaurant must have gotten its name, and why the second sign is posted. It might still be
tolerable, if only the birds confined themselves to aggressively demanding food...
Steve
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Harris County DA Chuck Rosenthal Resigns
Wow.
I think it's safe to say there's bipartisan agreement (heh... Rosenthal is a GOPer) that it's well past
time for his resignation. And his alleged reason is a doozy:
Chuck Rosenthal resigned as Harris County district attorney today amid an e-mail scandal that recently forced
him to abandon his re-election campaign and a lawsuit filed today that sought his removal from office.
Bill Delmore, chief of the D.A.'s legal services bureau, which oversees the general counsel's office, confirmed
that Rosenthal issued a press release in which he says he contacted the governor's office to tender his
resignation.
"Although I have enjoyed excellent medical and pharmacological treatment, I have come to learn that the
particular combination of drugs prescribed for me in the past has caused some impairment in my judgment,"
Rosenthal wrote in his resignation letter.
...
Heh. Haha. Hahahaha. BWAHAHAHAHA! Seldom have I been so glad to see anyone gone from office. See this
wiki
for only a few of the reasons. And now he's pleading that drug use (albeit legal drug use) made him
incompetent, crazy and hostile? Awwww, gimme a break, Chuck!
Steve
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Olbermann Explains Republican Walkout
... and how Bush has hoist himself by his own petard by threatening to veto a brief FISA extension which
Democrats wanted for the simple purpose of actually (gasp) debating the new bill, with its telecom immunity. The
ever useful
Crooks and Liars
has the video and the transcript. If you have the bandwidth, I recommend the video; it's worth your time to
hear Olbermann call Bush a liar and a fascist. His ridicule of the ill-staged Republican congressional walkout
is also very effective.
Steve
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At Last
About damned time:
House Passes Contempt Resolution against White House Officials
By Paul Kiel - February 14, 2008, 2:26PM
Well, after
all that
-- after seven months, it's done. The House passed the contempt resolution against White
House chief of staff Josh Bolten and Harriet Miers, 223-32. Most Republicans, having
staged their walk out,
did not vote.
So now the ball's in Attorney General Michael Mukasey's court. He's
expected to decline
to enforce the citation of contempt, since both Bolten and Miers declined to testify as a result of an assertion
of executive privilege.
The resolution included both a criminal contempt citation and the authorization for the House Judiciary
Committee to sue the White House if Mukasey refuses to enforce the citation. You can read those
here.
Update:
Here's
the final tally.
Will anything come of this? Who knows... but if it had not been done, the American public could have had no
confidence whatsoever that the Democratic-led Congress could accomplish even the most basic enforcement of its
own rules, including compelling witnesses to show up. Besides, Bolton and Miers soooo deserve this...
Steve
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Friday Serious Snacking Blogging
"Why, yes, I have had five snacks in the past hour. What's your point? Oh, and get your tail over here
and pour some more kibble, and more water while you're at it. And stop with the flashy box. A gal likes her
privacy when she snacks."
(Samantha is nothing if not blunt in responding to being photographed.)
Steve
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Shooting The Bird, Fouling The Nest - UPDATED
WaPo:
U.S. Plans to Shoot Down Broken Spy Satellite
By Marc Kaufman
Washington Post Staff Writer
Thursday, February 14, 2008; 1:22 PM
President Bush, acting on the advice of his national security advisers, has decided to attempt to shoot down a
malfunctioning spy satellite that is expected to crash to Earth early next month, a spokesman for the National
Security Council said today.
NSC spokesman Gordon Johndroe said the president made the decision within the past week and asked the military
to come up with plans to destroy the satellite.
Johndroe said that decision, which will be explained at a Pentagon news conference this afternoon, was based on
the fact that the satellite is carrying substantial amounts of a hazardous and corrosive rocket fuel, hydrazine.
...
That's it, right? Zap! it's gone! Military technology deals with a problem caused by, um, military technology?
Not so fast:
...
The United States and Soviet Union conducted anti-satellite tests in the mid-1980s but stopped once it became
clear that the debris from the destroyed spacecraft became a danger to other satellites and even spaceships.
China caused a major international controversy last year when it destroyed an aging satellite, creating large
debris fields.
...
Before today's announcement, many experts in the field said that the danger of anyone being harmed by the
falling satellite were extremely small. Much larger spacecraft, including Skylab and the space shuttle
Challenger, have fallen to Earth without consequences.
(Emphasis mine.)
This could be a legitimate response to an actual problem. Or it could be the return of Bush the Gambler, once
again taking dubious risks with public safety for whatever publicity it may gain him. If "shooting it down"
(whatever that means) works (whatever that means), praise will be heaped upon Bush for his bold
leadership. If it doesn't work, well, um... moving right along, next question, please...
Everything from
Skylab
to
Mir
has re-entered Earth's atmosphere without major damage to populated areas, as far
as I know. (Well, OK, the Shire of Esperance in Australia fined the U.S. for littering when pieces of Skylab
fell there.) The chances of being hit by a falling satellite are far smaller than the chances that your
military-age son or daughter will eventually be sent to the hundred years' war in Iraq. I have to wonder what
information we're missing, information that would justify shooting the bird, with its attendant risks of debris
on Earth and in space.
My advice: as Jack Horkheimer of Star Hustler used to say, "Keep looking up..."
UPDATE:
a
comment by Bryan
points us to
this post on Wired's Danger Room blog
regarding Jeffrey Lewis's concerns about the debris risks of the shoot-it-down approach. It looks as if there
is no good way to end this thing. Worse, it appears they're going to use our missile defense technology...
which has been tested only under the most favorable conditions... to take out the satellite. For the record,
in case it isn't obvious, these are not the most favorable conditions. But it still looks to me like Bush's
opportunity to show off his Star Wars technology to his own political advantage. Would a saner president have
reached the same decision? We will never know.
Steve
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Legal Playthings
Mustang Bobby,
in a post appropriate to Valentine's Day, points us to an
article
in the Austin American-Statesman informing us that a federal court has overturned a ban on sex toys in Texas:
LEGAL
Court overturns Texas ban on sex toys
Federal appeals court says law violates constitutional right to privacy.
By Steven Kreytak
AMERICAN-STATESMAN STAFF
Thursday, February 14, 2008
A federal appeals court has struck down a Texas law that makes it a crime to promote or sell sex toys.
"Whatever one might think or believe about the use of these devices," said an opinion written by Justice Thomas
M. Reavley of the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in New Orleans, "government interference with their personal
and private use violates the Constitution."
The Texas law dates back to the 1970s and is seldom enforced. Travis County prosecutors say that they haven't
charged anyone with a sexual device-related crime in at least the past seven years, and probably much longer.
...
Oh, yes. I am reminded of an Elizabethan English song by
Robert Jones,
containing lines something like, "What I will do / With a dildo / With a dil-dil-dil-dil ... dildo!"
(For more info on the law that was just overturned, watch
The Dildo Diaries,
featuring the late great Molly Ivins, who tells one of the best stories I've ever heard about the passage of
this law. Not safe for work.)
Happy Valentine's Day, all. May you have all the playthings you desire, and someone dear with whom to enjoy
them!
Steve
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Technical Difficulties Viewing Noriega Debate
Right about now, Rick Noriega is
debating
John Cornyn his primary opponent in Austin. Good luck viewing it. First there was no sound. Now the buffering is very unsteady. Next
time, guys, get some real web video experts to put it up. This is exasperating!
Steve
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Typo Regarding FISA In House
David Kurtz of TPM:
With the Bush-approved surveillance bill through the Senate, attention now to turns to [sic] the House, where
there are already
signs of moderate Democrats defecting
in the face of Administration scare tactics.
I believe a letter was omitted from the last word of the link above. In addition, perhaps the words "in their
drawers" should have been added.
How can anyone politically savvy enough to get to Congress in the first place possibly not see that Bush will
launch his attacks on Democrats no matter what they do in the matter of FISA extensions? His threats
aren't empty: rather, they are merely statements of the inevitable. If the House strips telecom immunity from
the bill, Bush will attack Democrats for being soft on security. If the House does not strip telecom
immunity from the bill, Bush will attack Democrats for being soft on security. How difficult is that to
understand?
Here's my message from an old-time rank-and-file Democrat to these 21 waverers: Stand your ground. Don't be a
bunch of cowards. You have nothing to lose but your seats... and this is a matter worth risking your seats for.
Steve
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In Fairness: Credit To Obama
If you noticed my banner quote of Krugman and my emphasis on universal healthcare, you might think I was leaning
toward voting for Hillary in the Texas Democratic primary on March 4. You wouldn't be wrong... but there's more
to it than that, and I suppose it behooves me to say a word or two in Obama's favor as well.
Obama is emphatically better on criminal justice issues, as signature civil liberties and criminal justice blogger
Grits for Breakfast
(Scott Henson) points out:
...
More than that, though, on the campaign stump [Hillary]'s come out to the right of Antonin Scalia on sentencing
issues, bashing Obama for his opposition to mandatory minimums.
By contrast, Obama favors some radical refashioning of marijuana laws, and thinks illegal immigrants should be
able to get drivers licenses to improve security and road safety. His campaign rhetoric gives cause for criminal
justice reformers to share in the "hope" his campaign slogan proffers, as well as his votes in the Illinois
state senate, where he passed racial profiling legislation and opposed lengthy criminal penalties. An Illinois
lobbyist for the police chiefs said that "while Obama did at times vote on the side of “individual rights …
[rather] than the ability of law enforcement to get things done,” he was always an independent vote who was very
thoughtful on law-and-order issues."
...
(There are many links from those two paragraphs; please visit Grits for Breakfast to follow them.)
In addition, there's today's FISA renewal vote in the Senate, the one that ended up granting telecoms immunity
for their past warrantless wiretapping. Obama was present and voted against immunity. Hillary didn't vote. Make
of that what you will.
Either some watershed event between now and March 4 (actually sooner, as I plan to vote early) will decide
matters dramatically and unequivocally, or that voice of Dog that is always speaking in Shrub's ear will
end up speaking in mine instead (I promise I won't start any wars based on what it says), or... most likely...
I have a lot of hard thinking and deciderin' to do between now and the primary. Those of you who neither wish to
be privy to my decision process nor want to try to influence it can come back in a couple of weeks.
Steve
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Medical Insurance Fee-For-All
The post subject is not a typo. Rather, it is a reference to yet another instance of the deviousness of medical
insurance companies in their exercise of raw, unmitigated greed. This is from the
Wall Street Journal health blog:
February 12, 2008, 8:51 am
Blue Cross Asks Docs to Report Patients’ Omissions
Posted by Jacob Goldstein
Blue Cross of California is trying to enlist doctors’ help in
finding patients who failed to report medical conditions
when they applied for insurance, the LA Times reports. Docs aren’t rushing to respond.
“We’re outraged that they are asking doctors to violate the sacred trust of patients to rat them out for medical
information that patients would expect their doctors to handle with the utmost secrecy and confidentiality,”
Richard Frankenstein, president of the California Medical Association, told the paper.
Insurance companies are sometimes allowed to cancel individual policies for people who failed to disclose pre-
existing medical conditions on their application for coverage. But there are limits to when they can do this,
and Blue Cross of California, which is owned by WellPoint, was
fined $1 million last year for inappropriately canceling some policies.
The company is fighting that decision.
...
A question for you: why do they call it "insurance"? Is it because "Take The Money And Run, Inc." looks bad on
a letterhead?
Many people, for a variety of reasons, do not remember every diagnosis, every treatment, every medication they
have ever received. I am such a person: I have never deliberately falsified one of those immensely long forms
one must fill out when obtaining services from a physician, clinic or hospital the first time, but over the
years I've simply forgotten what I said on the earlier ones. And it could be worse: a patient with
as-yet-undiagnosed Alzheimer's disease could easily forget conditions, unintentionally make up other conditions,
etc., without intending to deceive. How do I know this? Direct experience with a parent.
And don't think insurers don't already use dishonestly obtained information. How do I know this? Direct
experience with portions of my record improperly released by a big-name local clinic to a new insurer. The
clinic wrote a letter "taking back" their mistaken release of my entire medical record to the insurer, which had
requested only a specific three-year period. Fat chance. You may well imagine the list of exclusions the insurer
drew up based on my entire medical history.
Fortunately, according to the WSJ blog post and the LA Times article, doctors are refusing to release patients'
medical information without their explicit consent. Such releases are, after all, a violation of doctor-patient
confidentiality. But how long will it be before insurers begin demanding a waiver signed by every patient?
Enough of this bullshit. We need universal healthcare coverage implemented as a single-payer system with
mandatory participation.
Why mandatory? because otherwise, healthy young people will opt out, the system will not be universal or even
close to it, and according to
Paul Krugman,
that nonuniversal system will be only slightly less expensive, despite its covering only half as many people.
Spare me your arguments against universality. Healthcare is a right. Saying that people should get only
the healthcare they can pay for is like saying they should get clean drinking water, or clean air, or a safe
food supply, or structurally sound roads to drive on, only if they can pay for those things individually.
Healthcare is not a commodity: it is part of the basic human infrastructure of a civilized nation, and thus very
much a legitimate use of public moneys. You do want America to be a civilized nation, don't you? (Shut up,
GeeDubya; I wasn't asking you.)
Steve
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FISA Telecom Amnesty Vote Tuesday
Glenn Greenwald
has the details, in a post about the Wall Street Journal's editorial lies about opponents' positions. This bill
is virtually certain to pass, allowing the telecoms not only to go unpunished for their lawbreaking to date in
performing warrantless wiretaps for the government (amnesty), but also to understand that they can skate free
the next time the government comes asking (immunity).
Certainty of passage aside, you might call or write your senators and even your representative and voice your
opposition to the bill. You need to be able to look at yourself in the mirror, whether or not they can do so.
(Look at themselves in the mirror, I mean. I presume they can't look yourself in the mirror. Yet. This isn't
1984, after all. Ah, now that I think about it...)
Steve
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A Few Political Matters - UPDATED
We spent Saturday taking pictures at the local Chinese New Year festival and Sunday enjoying the weather from
a picnic table in Memorial Park. But it's time for me to get back to business, or at least politics. Here are
a few items from TPM that captured my attention:
- Obama:
It's certainly looking as if he will be our candidate, isn't it. The news is so [good,bad] that the candidates
are getting serious about Texas. Will wonders never cease! Still, when it comes to having any influence in the
race, I'd rather be a Democrat in Texas than a Republican in Washington state...
- Washington state GOP stops vote count:
OK, OK; they restarted it after Huckabee lodged a complaint:
...
Huckabee's campaign took issue with the fact that Washington state Republican Party Chairman Luke Esser called
the race Saturday night with 87 percent of the precincts counted. At that point, McCain was ahead of Huckabee by
242 delegates out of the 13,000 counted, Esser said. The Huckabee campaign contends there were another 1,500 or
so delegates not counted.
In the face of the Huckabee protest, the state Republican Party quickly resumed its count today, a bit sooner
than it had planned.
In a news release, Huckabee's campaign said there were "obvious irregularities" in the state's Republican
caucuses and that it is sending lawyers to explore "all available legal options regarding the dubious final
results."
According to the GOP's Saturday tally, Arizona Sen. John McCain won about 26 percent of delegates, Arkansas Gov.
Huckabee won 24 percent, Texas Rep. Ron Paul finished with 21 percent, and former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt
Romney, who has dropped out of the race, got 17 percent. Most of the rest were non-committed.
...
Oh, yeah. Isn't that just typical of GOP behavior: when you think you might lose an election... stop counting.
Only these folks didn't get away with it. Or maybe they did; maybe stopping for a while gave them time to fix
the very close results. But really... where was Tony Scalia when they needed him? Any GOPer who is not
embarrassed by this is as devoid of the ability to feel shame as George W. Bush.
- Edwards may endorse:
"There's a greater than 50% chance [John Edwards] will endorse," says an aide, speaking to Greg Sargent at
TPMElectionCentral. The aide also revealed some of Edwards's reasoning, and it appears that his concerns are a
lot like my own. I shall be watching very closely. So far, celebrity endorsements and even famous political
figures' endorsements have had approximately zero influence on me. An Edwards endorsement would be different, not
so much because he is a star, but because he is a shrewd lawyer with inside information, and an agenda very
similar to my own.
UPDATE: via
TPMElectionCentral,
the meeting between Edwards and Obama has been canceled. The reasons are unclear at this point. Edwards had
already met with Hillary on Thursday.
Steve
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It Does Not Matter Who Becomes President
... if
this
is allowed to continue:
FBI Deputizes Private Contractors With Extraordinary Powers, Including 'Shoot to Kill'
By Matthew Rothschild, The Progressive
Posted on February 8, 2008, Printed on February 9, 2008
http://www.alternet.org/story/76388/
Today, more than 23,000 representatives of private industry are working quietly with the FBI and the Department
of Homeland Security. The members of this rapidly growing group, called InfraGard, receive secret warnings of
terrorist threats before the public does -- and, at least on one occasion, before elected officials. In return,
they provide information to the government, which alarms the ACLU. But there may be more to it than that. One
business executive, who showed me his InfraGard card, told me they have permission to "shoot to kill" in the
event of martial law. InfraGard is "a child of the FBI," says Michael Hershman, the chairman of the advisory
board of the InfraGard National Members Alliance and CEO of the Fairfax Group, an international consulting firm.
InfraGard started in Cleveland back in 1996, when the private sector there cooperated with the FBI to
investigate cyber threats.
"Then the FBI cloned it," says Phyllis Schneck, chairman of the board of directors of the InfraGard National
Members Alliance, and the prime mover behind the growth of InfraGard over the last several years.
InfraGard itself is still an FBI operation, with FBI agents in each state overseeing the local InfraGard
chapters. (There are now eighty-six of them.) The alliance is a nonprofit organization of private sector
InfraGard members.
"We are the owners, operators, and experts of our critical infrastructure, from the CEO of a large company in
agriculture or high finance to the guy who turns the valve at the water utility," says Schneck, who by day is
the vice president of research integration at Secure Computing.
...
This special status concerns the ACLU.
"The FBI should not be creating a privileged class of Americans who get special treatment," says Jay Stanley,
public education director of the ACLU's technology and liberty program.
...
...
One business owner in the United States tells me that InfraGard members are being advised on how to prepare for
a martial law situation -- and what their role might be. He showed me his InfraGard card, with his name and e-
mail address on the front, along with the InfraGard logo and its slogan, "Partnership for Protection." On the
back of the card were the emergency numbers that Schneck mentioned.
This business owner says he attended a small InfraGard meeting where agents of the FBI and Homeland Security
discussed in astonishing detail what InfraGard members may be called upon to do.
"The meeting started off innocuously enough, with the speakers talking about corporate espionage," he says.
"From there, it just progressed. All of a sudden we were knee deep in what was expected of us when martial law
is declared. We were expected to share all our resources, but in return we'd be given specific benefits." These
included, he says, the ability to travel in restricted areas and to get people out. But that's not all.
"Then they said when -- not if -- martial law is declared, it was our responsibility to protect our portion of
the infrastructure, and if we had to use deadly force to protect it, we couldn't be prosecuted," he says.
...
(Emphasis mine.)
And InfraGard does emergency preparedness exercises. And InfraGard members have been reassured they will not
be prosecuted if they use deadly force. Don't just believe me; follow the links in the Alternet article.
To me, this looks like the missing link. The Bushists' in-the-face challenges to the constitutional authority
of Congress have been coming thick and fast. The appearance of an unchecked, dictatorial executive has raised
its ugly head frequently of late. What was not clear, to me at least, was the mechanism by which the effect
of martial law would be carried out without the appearance of a blatant military takeover.
Now we know. It's not the proverbial military-industrial complex; it's a corporate-FBI-DHS cabal conspiring to
overthrow our erstwhile representative democracy. Do you think a mere change in presidential administrations
can overcome this threat?
I stand by one assertion: Congress must at least attempt to regain its constitutional authority by impeaching
every high executive branch official in sight, most especially Bush and Cheney, for authorizing the FBI to
encroach so egregiously on our rights. We can only hope that works.
One more thought. Our founders were right: corporations are to be feared. They must be surrounded with
legal obstacles, or we may expect them to exert unlimited power over us.
H/T a bunch of bloggers, whom I will do the minimal favor of not naming.
Steve
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Saturday Signs
The answer to life, the universe and everywhere. OK, everywhere in Houston. Well, considering Houston's
egregious sprawl and Metro's bus system, maybe "somewhere" is a better choice of word. This is the answer to
life, the universe and somewhere. Somewhere, in this case, is on Holman, just across the street from Houston
Community College's Heinen Theatre.
In fairness, Houston Metro buses have many good features, though not all features are on all buses: wheelchair
lifts, bicycle racks or storage bays, and somewhat cleaner diesel hybrid engines, many with automatic shutdown
on idle.
If only Metro took us more places!
Steve
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What Remedy, If Not Impeachment?
David Kurtz of TPM:
Attorney General Michael Mukasey is back on the Hill today, testifying to the House Judiciary Committee. Paul
Kiel is covering it at TPMmuckraker.
So far, he's dropped two big bombshells. DOJ will not be investigating:
(1) whether the
waterboarding,
now admitted to by the White House, was a crime; or
(2) whether the Administration's
warrantless wiretapping was illegal.
His rationale? Both programs had been signed off on in advance as legal by the Justice Department.
...
(Emphasis mine.)
Kurtz goes on to assert that this is the strongest challenge Bush has yet made to the rule of law and the
processes required by our Constitution. It is, as one reader points out in an update Kurtz posted, a claim that
the administration's actions are beyond judicial review merely because one executive department said that
another executive department could commit the acts.
I agree with Kurtz. The outright assault on checks and balances here is antithetical to everything our founders
believed when they created the structure of this once-great nation for us. The DoJ cannot be allowed to be the
final arbiter of what is legal and what is not. That is properly the role of the courts.
Kurtz also takes a righteous dig at two Democratic senators:
It is as brazen a defense of the unitary executive as anything put forward by the Administration in the last
seven years, and it comes from an attorney general who was supposed to be not just a more professional, but a
more moderate, version of Alberto Gonzales (Thanks to Democrats like Dianne Feinstein and Chuck Schumer for
caving on the Mukasey nomination.).
Well and good... but this goes far beyond Mukasey, whose behavior should have been predictable from the very
fact that Bush nominated him. Mukasey is merely acting the role of the
scorpion;
no surprise there. This is about the failure of either of the other two branches of government to curb the
Bushists' appetite for unchecked executive power.
If Mukasey will not investigate, Congress must investigate Mukasey, along with anyone else involved in this
transparently unconstitutional exercise of executive power. To all appearances, Mukasey forswore himself in his
confirmation hearings. Now it is time for Congress to pursue his misdeed. He must not be allowed to insulate
higher officials in the executive branch, especially but not limited to Messrs. Bush and Cheney, from
responsibility for their unconstitutional acts. If obtaining a priori DoJ approval to commit acts
prohibited under established international law and to violate the Fourth Amendment rights of every American who
picks up a telephone or writes an email isn't evidence of criminal and likely even unconstitutional acts, what
protections of our fundamental rights and civil liberties do we have left? Either this matter is pursued,
probably by Congress, or we have nothing, and our supposed rights and liberties mean nothing.
I'll take Kurtz's assertions a step further, and reiterate my call for impeachment of at least Bush and
Cheney, along with every other high executive branch official who participated in the decision that the
executive is permitted to freelance. The Constitution says otherwise. I stand by the Constitution's plain
language... and I stand by its prescribed remedy.
Steve
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Prosperity And Peace
AP:
WASHINGTON (AP) - President Bush, rallying conservatives for a battle against Democratic presidential hopefuls
Hillary Rodham Clinton and Barack Obama, says "prosperity and peace" are at stake in the upcoming election for
his successor.
"We have had good debates and soon we will have a nominee who will carry the conservative banner into this
election and beyond," Bush said in prepared remarks of a speech he was to give Friday to the Conservative
Political Action Conference.
"Prosperity and peace are in the balance," the president said in speech excerpts the White House released on
Thursday night. "So with confidence in our vision and faith in our values, let us go forward ... fight for
victory ... and keep the White House in 2008."
...
After pondering whether it is possible to roll on the floor, laughing, and simultaneously lose one's lunch, I
came to the conclusion that I don't have to do either. Bush is just rendering his own parody of
The Onion's most famous article seven
years ago. None of it means anything to him, or for that matter, to most of his CPAC audience. They're just
going through the motions of keeping of the public trust, protecting the public's interest... which does indeed
include "prosperity and peace" ... and generally being the parental figure that the GOP seems certain we adult
Americans need, meanwhile busily filling their own pockets at our expense.
Prosperity indeed. Peace indeed. To hell with Bush's version of "prosperity and peace."
(H/T Steven Reynolds of All Spin Zone.)
Steve
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Friday Not Siamese Blogging
For some reason, I am reminded of a pair of cats in some early Disney movie, but with a slight change:
We're not Siamese, if you please...
We're not Siamese, if you don't please...
... although sometimes I wonder when I hear Tabitha's voice.
Steve
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Tree In Winter
This tree is on Austin St., just north of the Houston Community College campus, in a pleasant area of churches,
community gardens, buildings decorated with outdoor art, etc. I spent about an hour walking around the area
yesterday while Stella had her saxophone lesson at HCC. Winter is truly mild in Houston, especially this year...
in the next couple of days, the highs will be around 70°F. We ended our excursion at Van Loc, one of the
best and most reasonably priced Vietnamese restaurants in Houston. They are so considerate there that if one
orders a vegetarian dish, they actually ask whether it is OK to add eggs or not. Now that's civilized!
I hope no one minds a couple of politics-free posts. I need an evening's break, not from blogging but from
politicking.
Steve
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How Texas Delegates Are Selected
How are Texas delegates to the Democratic National Convention selected? The process isn't straightforward. There
are delegates selected by the primary, delegates selected at "precinct conventions" (caucuses) on primary night,
delegates selected by presidential preference of state convention attendees, and an assortment of "special"
delegates selected in various ways for their service to or status within the Democratic Party.
Even the reasonably clear explanation of the process in the sidebar of the home page of the
Lone Star Project
(scroll down a bit) leaves me with some vague sense that the process is designed to accommodate the
powers-that-be in the state party. Still, it's what we've got, and it has at least two significant opportunities
for rank-and-file Democrats to participate in the (small-d) democratic process of candidate selection. Thanks to
Lone Star Project for posting the information.
Steve
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Real People, Serious Problems, Beyond Politics
Exactly thirty years ago today, I played my only solo recital, a combined faculty recital at the University of
St. Thomas - Houston and a Houston Harpsichord Society presentation recital. It went pretty well, and I decided
to retire as a soloist right then and there.
But that's not what this post is about. That day, right up until I walked onstage, I thought I had problems.
But on Tuesday, we watched as people had real problems: storms in the mid-South as serious as those that
anyone here on the Gulf Coast has experienced. I'll let
Monkeyfister
tell the story:
A Plea To The Left Blogosphere For Aid Help For The Mid-South...
I deeply appreciate the fast response from SO many of you wonderful souls.
Here's what I sent out...
Whilst we're waiting for George's Promised Prayers to roll in, down here in the Tornado-Stricken Mid-South,
I might recommend some DIRECT HUMAN INTERACTION.
This Is My Best First Start To Help My Region.
As Scout Prime is to NOLA, I am, suddenly, to the Mid-South area (I LIVE here, and was Live-Blogging these
horrible storms all night), and have started to get the help-ball rolling down here. Some of you know where
I work. I started a Food Drive there today for the Mid-South United Way Food Bank.
As the area affected is so broad and detached, and everyone in the Country was distracted by politics last
night, as yet, there is no central assistance hub set-up. So, at the link, above, you'll find the two
agencies with the broadest radius to help the area right now. Both take DIRECT donations.
A small-blog swarm on that post (or this comment) would be greatly appreciated by more people than just me.
I can't describe how wide-spread the damage is down here. It's enormous. The Media, per usual, is only just
now waking up to the situation, after their Super-Duper-Let's-All-Wet-Our-Pants-Together- Tuesday Political
Hangover. Like NOLA, these are REALLY poor folks down here, and have nothing, and nowhere to go.
A short post about this at YOUR Blog, linking either to my post, above, or directly to the two Orgs
mentioned in the post above, would sure be a big help, and would be greatly appreciated by many people who
are relying on help. They are all that we have right now.
I just donated a deer's worth of ground venison, along with the 100 pounds of rice and quart-sized ziplock
bags that they said that they needed at the United Way Mid-South Food Bank, when I phoned them this morning.
Their pantry is BARE, and I'll be loading them up with all the potatoes, rice, veggies, bags, and other
staples that I can fit in my truck tomorrow.
This is serious Red State country, and a flood of help from the DFH Left would REALLY make a big difference
in a number of good ways.
I thank you all in advance.
Click Here for more about what's going on down here. It's all that I am writing about right now. Help is
needed.
Your humble peer,
Monkeyfister
Use any bit or piece, or as much of any of this blog that you need in your post. If you're not already on my
Blogroll, let me know that you're helping out, and I'll link you up immediately.
...
Monkeyfister goes on to list many bloggers who helped. Please read the original; Monkeyfister is at the center
of this thing for the moment, and is the best avenue through which
blogtopia™
has a chance of offering more help. I've deliberately left out the links in my copy of Monkeyfister's post so
that you will have an incentive to visit that post and learn more.
This was not a hurricane, but those of you who live, as I do, in hurricane territory know just how important
timely help can be. Thanks in advance for any help you can offer.
(H/T hipparchia.)
Steve
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Headline Of The Day
Boston Globe article:
Clinton wins Massachusetts; Romney takes home state
I know Massachusetts isn't Texas, but I hope Romney has a big garage...
Steve
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A Quick Note Regarding Obama
I'm dead tired this morning. Though I have many, many things I'd like to post about, I'll just have to do so
later. A bit of irony will have to do for now.
First, on my walk from the parking lot last night, I had a conversation with an African American neighbor, our
first ever about politics. By his accent, I believe he was African-born and became a naturalized American
citizen, though I am not certain of that. He is an Obama supporter, but not for the stereotypical reasons often
asserted, with some justification, on many news sites: he has been won over by the "unity" argument.
*
Would he vote for Hillary if she becomes the Democratic nominee? I don't know... it was rather difficult to get
a word in edgewise with this very talkative fellow, so I was unable to ask him... but I doubt it.
Apart from committed Democrats like me, most of the Hillary supporters I know say they will vote for Obama if he
is the nominee. By contrast, I have no sense that Obama supporters will necessarily vote for Hillary if she is
the nominee. For all his virtues... Obama does have some virtues... there's almost a cult of personality among
his supporters, especially young people. I've been there and done that, in my own youth. Lately, though, I've
found it to be ill-advised to get emotionally involved with who a candidate is, as opposed to what a candidate
does and is capable of doing. But that's not something readily explained to young people. I'm not likely to have
a beer or coffee with either Hillary or Obama, so it doesn't matter much whether I like them.
Second, at 2:23am CST, an email from the Obama campaign arrived in my mailbox, in which the candidate
makes the claim, "As of right now, we have won more states and delegates than Senator Clinton..." It seems
to me disingenuous of him to pick a particular moment in an as yet unresolved race to claim his victory. He
certainly has reason to be happy with yesterday's results, but spin like that does not help with people like me
who have not yet decided.
At present, I do not endorse either candidate; I have my share of discontents with both. But as I am
a priori committed to the Democratic candidate in November, I'm sure I'll choose at some point. Hey,
my March 4 Texas Democratic primary now actually may mean something.
I'll write more on the results later today. After I've had some food and a bit more sleep, I'll even answer your
comments.
*
Don't get me started. Of all the genuinely attractive aspects of Obama, I just
don't see this one. There is no unity in America at the moment, nor can there be. We've already had a "uniter"
as president; look where that got us.
<godwin_alert>
I mean, really, Hitler was a uniter.
</godwin_alert>
Steve
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Bloomberg.com: Dem Race A Draw
Bloomberg via Yahoo! via TPM:
Clinton, Obama Split States in Super Tuesday Contests
Feb. 5 (Bloomberg) -- Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama split victories on the biggest day of voting in the race
for the Democratic presidential nomination.
Clinton won Arkansas, Massachusetts, New Jersey, New York, Oklahoma and Tennessee, while Obama took Alabama,
Connecticut, Delaware, Georgia, Illinois, Kansas, Minnesota, North Dakota and Utah, according to projections
from television networks and the Associated Press.
...
Obama, 46, who is vying to become the nation's first black president, was doing the best among African-American
voters, men and voters under the age of 50, according to exit polls cited by MSNBC.
...
TPM has a slightly updated list at about 00:41 CT:
- Obama Wins AK, AL, CO, CT, DE, GA, KS, ID, IL, MN, MO, ND, UT
- Hillary Wins AZ, AR, CA, MA, NJ, NY, OK, TN
Super Tuesday is about done, but this race clearly isn't over. Hillary apparently has a
small lead
in the overall delegate count to date, but nothing insurmountable. Who knows; my March 4 vote may not be an
empty gesture after all.
hipparchia of over the cliff...
has two encouraging notes:
Wow. On that note, I'm going to bed.
Steve
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Cookie
I'm talking about the old-fashioned kind, the kind that contains a little strip of paper with a fortune printed
on it. Mine last night:
Someone is watching you from afar.
And I'm afraid it's not Jesus.
Steve
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Super Duper Pooper Scooper Tuesday
And I'm endorsing... no one. Damned if I'll know who to vote for if this thing is still not resolved by the
Texas Democratic primary on March 4. But I'm certain there's a lot of good information, and a lot of good and
bad advice, to be found out there today. Please regard this as an open thread on primary-related matters. If
you're a
yellow dog Democrat,
let us know if you think things are super-duper, or if instead you need the pooper
scooper.
Steve
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Blog Intensity
andante of Collective Sigh
is on fire these days. Perhaps coming home from treatment for a major medical matter has given her incentive
to write even more intensely than usual on subjects ranging from
Bush's new budget assault on Medicare
to
Prince Andrew's public criticism of Bush...
apparently approved by Buckingham Palace... for Bush's failure to communicate with the British Government
regarding Iraq. Best of all are her election-related posts; please try her
Indecision 2008
for some insight on what it's like to be an Edwards supporter in a late-primary state, forced to choose between
Clinton and Obama. I can really identify with andante on that.
I am reminded of a story in Thomas Mace's Musick's Monument (1676), in which Mace answers those who wish
to learn to play on the lute a shake (trill) as fine as his. I'd link or quote, but the only two sources on the
web that have this quote are proprietary and won't let you read the articles. So I'll paraphrase. Mace says that
as a youth he had the misfortune to break his arms in an accident. Relearning to play the lute after the
accident was not an easy matter, and he had to develop his trill all over again, working up gradually from very
slow alternations to a trill that was the envy of his peers. Asked how one could acquire such a trill, Mace
answered that one must first "break his own arm." andante has always been a superb blogger, and now we have
about twice as many posts a day from her as usual. I guess she metaphorically broke her own arm.
Steve
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A Tough Time To Be A Kid, Part II
This second example,
from Reuters, hardly needs any explanation:
US says no one too young for Guantanamo court
Mon Feb 4, 2008 2:36pm EST
By Jane Sutton
GUANTANAMO BAY U.S. NAVAL BASE, Cuba, Feb 4 (Reuters) - A Canadian accused of killing a U.S. soldier in
Afghanistan should not be tried as a war criminal because he was a child soldier for al Qaeda, too young to
voluntarily join its forces, his military defense lawyer told a U.S. war court on Monday.
Navy Lt. William Kuebler asked a military judge to throw out the charges against Canadian defendant Omar Khadr,
who was shot and captured at age 15 in a firefight at a suspected al Qaeda compound in Afghanistan in 2002.
"He is a victim of al Qaeda, not a member of al Qaeda," Kuebler said.
Khadr is the Toronto-born son of an alleged al Qaeda financier. He is accused of throwing a grenade that killed
U.S. Army Sgt. 1st Class Christopher Speer in the firefight and planting roadside bombs intended to kill other
U.S. or coalition soldiers in Afghanistan.
Khadr is charged in the Guantanamo war court with murder, attempted murder, conspiring with al Qaeda, providing
material support for terrorism and spying by conducting surveillance of U.S. military convoys in Afghanistan. He
faces life in prison if convicted.
Kuebler argued that U.S. and international law assume that children involved in an armed conflict are not there
voluntarily, because they lack the experience and judgment to understand the risk of joining armed forces.
Defense attorneys contend that any charges against Khadr should be pursued in a civilian court in a juvenile
system where the goal is rehabilitation rather than punishment.
If the U.S. Congress intended to try children as war criminals, it would have explicitly authorized that in the
2006 law that serves as a framework for the Guantanamo court, Kuebler said.
But a U.S. Department of Justice attorney, arguing for the prosecution, said that if Congress intended to
exclude juveniles from the Guantanamo war court, it would have explicitly written that, because lawmakers knew
Khadr could face charges. Instead, Congress wrote the law using the term "person," which legally refers to
"anyone born alive," Justice Department attorney Andy Oldham said.
...
Please read the whole sorry thing. What have we become as a nation and a people, that our "rule of law" has
descended to this depth. Trying kids as adults is wrong... and it won't make us one bit safer from al Qaeda.
Steve
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A Tough Time To Be A Kid, Part I
Two examples; this is the first one. Via
ellroon,
here is a
Consumerist post:
Anorexic? Your Insurance Company Could Subpeona [sic] Your Writings On MySpace And Facebook
How's this for twisted: An insurance company, Horizon Blue Cross Blue Shield, have demanded that the parents of
minor children who suffer from anorexia turn over their children's writings on MySpace and Facebook, as well as
any emails where they discuss their problems.
The insurer says that eating problems are not "biologically based" and are therefore not covered. From
Law.com [sorry, there's no link - SB]:
In December, U.S. Magistrate Judge Patty Shwartz ordered the plaintiffs to turn over by Jan. 15 the
children's e-mails, diaries and other writings about their "eating disorders or manifestations/symptoms
thereof, and related health conditions" that had been "shared with others, including entries on Web sites
such as 'Facebook' or 'MySpace.'"
On Tuesday, Shwartz ordered the plaintiffs to certify by Feb. 15 whether they have produced everything in
their possession in response to the discovery order and what steps they have taken to comply.
Shwartz's December order narrowed the scope of an October order that was not restricted to writings shared
with other people. The plaintiffs had asked Shwartz to reconsider the October order on the ground that the
writings were therapy tools, not meant to be shown to others, and that their disclosure would cause anxiety
and possibly even a relapse.
...
The typing and spelling are sloppy, and the lack of a link is annoying.
(Here
is the link.) But the content is right on target. The various minor children's parents filed a lawsuit; the
judge is ordering, as part of required discovery to the defendant insurance company, every damned thing the kids
wrote on social networking sites... and all their emails. That was the original order; the judge has
since restricted discovery to things the kids wrote about their eating disorders. To hell with medical privacy;
indeed, to hell with any kind of privacy: if your insurance company robs you blind on a claim, says the judge,
you owe them everything, to be discussed in public... not just in public but in court.
(Some of the following is taken from my comment on ellroon's thread.)
Of course, the kids never thought about lawsuits when they wrote about their problems online. We're talking
about children here: the law rightly regards children differently from adults in their levels of responsibility
(and, where appropriate, culpability).
If an adult posts something to a public site... FaceBook, MySpace, their public blog, etc. ... they have
presumptively made a judgment to make that information public.
If a child or adolescent does the same, the matter is a lot less clear. The various legal threshold ages... the
age of adulthood for various purposes including the right to vote, determination of criminal punishment, the age
of sexual consent, the age at which one may obtain a license to drive a motor vehicle, etc. ... are there for a
reason: young people's brains are demonstrably biologically not fully developed for exercising independent
judgment. It seems to me that to subpoena a child's "public" postings is to toss this legal principle out of the
window.
Put aside the legal considerations for a moment and ponder what the insurance company asserts: a disease long
since established as having fairly drastic physical consequences is, for insurance purposes, not "biologically
based."
Wikipedia:
...
Anorexia nervosa can put a serious strain on many of the body's organs and physiological resources, [4][5][6]
particularly on the structure and function of the heart and cardiovascular system, with slow heart rate
(bradycardia) and elongation of the QT interval seen early on. People with anorexia typically have a disturbed
electrolyte balance, particularly low levels of phosphate, which has been linked to heart failure, muscle
weakness, immune dysfunction, and ultimately death. Those who develop anorexia before adulthood may suffer
stunted growth and subsequent low levels of essential hormones (including sex hormones) and chronically
increased cortisol levels. Osteoporosis can also develop as a result of anorexia in 38-50% of cases,[7] as poor
nutrition leads to the retarded growth of essential bone structure and low bone mineral density. Anorexia does
not harm everyone in the same way. For example, evidence suggests that the results of the disease in adolescents
may differ from those in adults.[4]
Changes in brain structure and function are early signs of the condition. Enlargement of the ventricles of the
brain is thought to be associated with starvation, and is partially reversed when normal weight is regained.[8]
Anorexia is also linked to reduced blood flow in the temporal lobes, although since this finding does not
correlate with current weight, it is possible that it is a risk trait rather than an effect of starvation.[9]
...
The list goes on; see the wiki. Is that "biologically based" enough for you? It's not for Horizon Blue Cross
Blue Shield. Nope, not a physical disease at all; kids just gotta get over it. What does Horizon Blue Cross
want? Do they insist the plaintiffs know the exact biological root causes of anorexia nervosa, and
assert them in their insurance claim? By that criterion, they would disallow coverage of many kinds of cancer
for which the origins are not yet known.
Sufferers of a manifestly biological disease are being denied coverage. That is not merely wrong: it is theft.
Those parents deserve coverage of the disease in their children, or their entire premium refunded. And they
damned surely don't owe the insurance company any private communications.
ellroon
summarizes it perfectly:
Lovely. Way to show you want to heal people rather than screw them for their money and not help them when in
need, besides invading their privacy and doing more untold damage to the teenager in question.
Tell me again, why we are paying insurance premiums?
Why indeed.
Steve
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Saturday Signs - 'You Have Your Orders' Edition
This sign appeared in the travel section of one local Borders bookstore. But did they put it up of their own
volition? Or is this an unsubtle message inserted into our daily stream of sights by the neocons who run the
nation, in their effort to get rid of everyone who disagrees with their fascist vision for America?
<outrageous_conspiracy_theory />
Steve
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Groundhog Day
I'm a vegetarian: I want nothing to do with ground hog.
What? What's that? Oh. Well, that's completely different.
<emily_litella_voice> Never mind!
</emily_litella_voice>
Steve
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Jeebus, Lookit Them Guns!
NYT:
New Operation to Put Heavily Armed Officers in Subways
By AL BAKER
Published: February 2, 2008
In the first counterterrorism strategy of its kind in the nation, roving teams of New York City police officers
armed with automatic rifles and accompanied by bomb-sniffing dogs will patrol the city’s subway system daily,
beginning next month, officials said on Friday.
Under a tactical plan called Operation Torch, the officers will board trains and patrol platforms, focusing on
sites like Pennsylvania Station, Herald Square, Columbus Circle, Rockefeller Center and Times Square in
Manhattan, and Atlantic Avenue in Brooklyn.
...
I can understand the need for a greater police presence in extremely densely populated, vulnerable areas such as
the subways. But guns like that (see article for a larger, scarier picture) evoke images of cities
elsewhere in the world, "guarded" by military personnel rather than police, for purposes quite apart from
protecting against terrorism. Until Mr. Bush came along, the distinction between the functions of police and
military forces has always been quite clear in America. Now it seems there are deliberate attempts to blur the
line between the two.
Why are New Yorkers willing to tolerate the appearance of a "city under siege," as Fox Noise once put it?
...
After the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attack, police patrols increased in the subways, particularly at the
entrances to the 16 underwater tunnels. As terrorists have hit rail systems around the world, the police in New
York have reacted with strategies tailored to thwart similar attacks.
For instance, after the bombings of three trains and a bus in London on July 7, 2005, police officials in New
York took steps to protect the city’s subways, including random inspections of train riders’ backpacks and
packages, a program that continues today.
...
Alas, poor Fourth Amendment. I knew him, Rudy-O...
Seriously, though, I cannot see how police carrying automatic rifles will make things safer. One of those damned
things will go off accidentally, and the city will face a lawsuit by the grieving parents of a five-year-old.
And there's no way, in a subway or even on a platform, that automatic rifles can be used in a circumstance in
which even handguns are a risky business. Maybe the idea is that the very sight of those rifles will terrify
the terrorists. (Fat chance.) I know the sight certainly terrifies me.
But really, why is this being done?
...
But more broadly, he said, linking security plans for the disparate rail systems in the metropolitan region was
“key in securing additional funding from the Department of Homeland Security.” He said that Mr. Chertoff praised
the state for collaborating across geographic regions, since transit systems in New Jersey and Connecticut would
also be affected.
“Going forward, the New York metropolitan transit system is getting a $50 million increase over last year’s
funding for transit security,” Mr. Balboni said. “What we did was pull together eight agencies, three states and
a multitude of police agencies to come up with regional funding priorities.”
Need I say more? New Yorkers' safety was never the primary purpose. This is security
theater™,
and as in all New York theaters, the price of admission is very high.
Steve
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What Edwards Accomplished
John Edwards departed the presidential race relatively early. But according to
Paul Krugman,
Edwards didn't leave until his own positions on his signature issues... poverty, healthcare, climate change,
labor, etc. ... were by and large adopted by Clinton and Obama. In other words, Edwards raised the level of
dialogue and raised the stakes, forcing the two top candidates to acknowledge the overwhelming public support
for positions they didn't even approach until Edwards's campaign forced them to do so.
There's been a lot of talk about whether Edwards, by "suspending" his campaign and thereby keeping his
delegates at the convention, could play the role of kingmaker. Based on Krugman's observation, one could easily
argue that Edwards has already exerted a great positive influence on the eventual nominee's positions and, I
might add, on his or her electability, without indulging in any king-or-queen-making. They don't call Edwards a
populist for nothing: ordinary working folks, retired people and anyone short of wealthy should find many of
his positions attractive... no matter whose mouth they come from. The full-time liberals among us owe Edwards
our thanks for succeeding in doing what no one thought possible: pushing the increasingly
right-authoritarian-leaning leadership of the Democratic Party back toward a location on the political compass
more like that of the typical American voter.
Steve
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Fraudulent By Nature
Josh Marshall, quoting
Roll Call:
The National Republican Congressional Committee said Friday that it has contacted the FBI about possible
financial improprieties at the committee. Without providing details, the NRCC released a statement from Chairman
Tom Cole (Okla.) that said:
"As part of our ongoing efforts to institute and strengthen financial controls at the National Republican
Congressional Committee, we learned earlier this week of irregularities in our financial audit process. Since
these irregularities may include fraud, we have notified the appropriate law enforcement authorities. We are
aggressively and thoroughly investigating the matter and, while we determine the details, we have terminated our
relationship with a former employee who was engaged as an outside vendor."
You may expect me to say something else, but I cannot really blame the NRCC, or their former outside vendor.
As part of the GOP superstructure, by their very nature, they can't help themselves: they are compelled to help
themselves. The fable of the
scorpion and the frog
comes to mind. I shall forgive them... just as soon as the (ir)responsible parties occupy jail cells.
Steve
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Letters To Democratic Candidates
Lilith Devlin of
A Rational Animal
has written open letters to
Hillary Rodham Clinton,
Barack Obama,
and yes,
John Edwards.
These letters contain substantial food for thought, and are exemplars of well-written political prose, as we've
come to expect of Lilith. Read them all; you'll be glad you did. (The letter to Edwards is still very much
relevant; please do not omit it.)
Steve
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Author Subpoenaed Over CIA Book Sources
Via AMERICAblog,
we have a
NYT article
regarding a subpoena issued to author and NYT reporter James Risen, demanding that he reveal sources for a
chapter in his 2006 book, State of War: The Secret History of the CIA and the Bush Administration:
WASHINGTON — A federal grand jury has issued a subpoena to a reporter of The New York Times, apparently to try
to force him to reveal his confidential sources for a 2006 book on the Central Intelligence Agency, one of the
reporter’s lawyers said Thursday.
The subpoena was delivered last week to the New York law firm that is representing the reporter, James Risen,
and ordered him to appear before a grand jury in Alexandria, Va., on Feb. 7.
Mr. Risen’s lawyer, David N. Kelley, who was the United States attorney in Manhattan early in the Bush
administration, said in an interview that the subpoena sought the source of information for a specific chapter
of the book “State of War.”
The chapter asserted that the C.I.A. had unsuccessfully tried, beginning in the Clinton administration, to
infiltrate Iran’s nuclear program. None of the material in that chapter appeared in The New York Times.
...
Disgraced former NYT reporter
Judith Miller
spent some time in jail but eventually skated free, despite being directly involved along with Scooter Libby in
the story she purported to cover.
On the other hand,
Risen,
along with Eric Lichtblau, won a Pulitzer Prize in 2006 for his work investigating the NSA warrantless
wiretapping and the possibly illegal use of the SWIFT financial transaction database in allegedly tracking
terrorist financing through the TFTP, an apparent direct descendant of the discredited TSP. (Read the wiki
for details.)
We can never really determine the motives of grand juries, but in general they pursue cases brought to them by
prosecutors. One has to wonder why Risen is being pursued.
It is not the job of a reporter to do investigations on behalf of a government entity. There is a long tradition
of reporters offering sources confidentiality in exchange for information regarding potential violations of law
that might otherwise not come to light. If we reach a point at which a reporter's work can simply be subpoenaed
and his or her confidential sources revealed, we will have reached the effective end of investigative
journalism, and officials in our government will be able to hide their misdeeds behind a wall of silence, as
potential leakers refuse to talk to reporters and authors about the most sensitive kinds of malfeasance, out of
fear of being jailed themselves. I've thought it through many times: as unpleasant and threatening as high
government officials may find the practice of leaks, there is no real substitute for leaks from whistle-blowers
in protecting us from the worst of government misdeeds.
Investigative reporting is thus essential to the monitoring of our government's behavior. Government officials
so often have motives for violating the law, and altogether too often these days the three branches of
government fail to check and balance each other unless their secrecy, particularly Executive branch secrecy, is
defeated by such reporting.
In this case, we are not talking about government secrecy used to protect intelligence assets... Bush, Cheney
et al have already shown their utter indifference to
legitimate secrecy...
but rather government secrecy used to avoid disclosure of potential administration illegalities or at least of
matters that would prove embarrassing. The assurance of confidentiality of a reporter's sources is essential to
that reporter's ability to receive leaks revealing government malfeasance, and that is patently obvious in this
case... no confidentiality, no story, and government crooks get away with really bad acts.
Is Risen being targeted by the politicized DoJ? We really don't know yet, but it seems possible. Stay tuned.
I tend to agree with John Amato Aravosis (see AMERICAblog link above) that these subpoenas,
issued at this time, are highly suspect as to motive. (Apologies for typing the wrong John A. - SB)
An aside: does anyone else find a clear CYA tone in this NYT article? It seems to me NYT is going to great
lengths to wash its hands publicly of any involvement in Mr. Risen's book.
An afterthought: the story for which the identity of Risen's sources is being subpoenaed is not the same story
as the one that won the Pulitzer, and... this is what drew my attention... not the same story as the one that
has proved highly embarrassing to the Bush administration. Your mileage may vary, but that only heightens my
suspicions that Risen is being pursued for political reasons.
Steve
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Friday Here-Comes-The-Grooming Blogging
Tabitha grooms Samantha, who believes this is heaven:
However often they may raise their voices at each other, there are always moments like these before very long.
Steve
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Selected Links To Recent Posts
Click any permalink below to go to the original article on a previous page.
Click a comment link below to add a comment to the original article.
Your comment will be noticed, by the YDD at least:
HaloScan has a page allowing me to view recent comments, no matter which post they refer to.
Some very recent posts may be included in their entirety.
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Molly Ivins: One Year Gone
It is difficult to believe that
Molly Ivins
has been dead a full year today. It seems like yesterday that she was wielding the world's sharpest pen against
the world's dullest president and his administration. Here is her last column, published on January 11, 2007,
"Stand up against the surge."
In her last year, to her last eloquent, strong and unapologetic work, Molly fought the good fight as few us have
been able to fight it: with knowledge, intellect, a clarity and simplicity of prose style that most of us can
only dream of, and above all, a sense of humor and an undeniable joy in telling the real story, in doing the
right thing.
Last night, by merest chance (some of you may not believe in chance, but I think it drives most things), I
found a copy of Molly Ivins Can't Say That, Can She? in one of the last-ditch outdoor remainder bins at
Half Price Books in the (Rice University area) Village. It is now mine. I paid two bucks for it. But it is
priceless... as Molly's wisdom is priceless. Specific political knowledge is transient, but her understanding
of the importance, the deep validity, of the struggle itself... the importance of deriving satisfaction from the
process, of meeting people and making fast friends along the way, of cracking jokes and appreciating others'
humor, of living every day and making the most of it... transcends her own admirable life and inspires us all.
Whatever liberal good deed you do today... whatever funny story you tell today... do it for Molly.
Steve
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Democrats And Democracy
Steve
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Just Shoot Me Now
Steve
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Bush: I'm Above The Law
Steve
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