Wednesday, July 30, 2008
What would Richard Nixon do on Cuba? He would end the embargo.
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China reneges on 'open' pledge
by Jacquelin Magnay, Beijing
CHINA'S vow to open itself to the world through the Olympic Games was in tatters last night.
It limited access to websites and implemented a plan to spy on the web usage of hotel guests — prompting an apology from the International Olympic Committee.
IOC probes China 'censorship'
The International Olympic Committee is looking into reports of internet censorship for journalists covering the Olympics.
Senior IOC member Kevan Gosper apologised to the world's media for misleading them about access to the internet.
Mr Gosper revealed that "some IOC officials had negotiated with the Chinese to have some sensitive sites blocked". Mr Gosper said he had been unaware of the deal while telling the world's media for months they would have unfettered freedom to report while in China.
http://www.theage.com.au/world/china-reneges-on-open-pledge-20080730-3nh6.html
Woman fired for honoring the wishes of dead soldiers' families
"Had I not put my foot down, had I just gone along with and not said regulations were being violated, I'm sure I would still be there. It's about doing the right thing."
-- Gina Gray, American Hero
-- Gina Gray, American Hero
Who is Gina Gray and why does she make us all proud?
While our quisling Congress was busy donning knee pads to service the whims of George, the pretender, Gina Gray was busy defending the rights and honor of those who deserve better leadership. However, for Gina Gray there were no applause, no accolades, no letters of commendation. For her unwavering adherence to the seven virtues essential for effective soldiering - loyalty, duty, respect, selfless service, honour, integrity, and personal courage - Gina Gray was accorded the only recognition these pretenders have to offer someone of her caliber. She was fired.
Until recently, Gina Gray was public affairs director at Arlington National Cemetery. She had held that position for about three months - most of them tumultuous.
Just 10 days on the job, she was handling media coverage for the burial of a Marine colonel who had been killed in Iraq when she noticed that Thurman Higgenbotham, the cemetery's deputy superintendent, had moved the media area 50 yards away from the service, obstructing the photographs and making the service inaudible. The Washington Sketch column on April 24 noted that Gray pushed for more access to the service but was "apparently shot down by other cemetery officials."
That was just the beginning. Apparently the article was brought to the attention of Robert Gates, the successor to the man who previously desecrated the position of Secretary of <s>Defense</s> War. It turns out the decision to hide the dead... to pretend they never existed ... to erase them from memory ... to defile their sacrifice with an official act of Ars Oblivionalis is still the policy of this government.
The harrassment became official shortly after the article appeared. Her supervisor, Phyllis White, sent her a one-line e-mail stating "Gina, when you leave the building let me know." Next, she was instructed not to work overtime without written approval. Then she was instructed to demote herself from public affairs director to public affairs officer. Then she was directed to remove the Marines poster in her cubicle. The list goes on... and I won't repeat it here because it is an embarrassment to all of us that cowards and quislings serve the whims of people who are unworthy of licking the boots of people like Gina Gray.
quote of the day
"The notion that a radical is one who hates his country is naive and usually idiotic. He is, more likely, one who likes his country more than the rest of us, and is thus more disturbed than the rest of us when he sees it debauched. He is not a bad citizen turning to crime; he is a good citizen driven to despair."
- H. L. Mencken -
Sucking up to the bankers
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| AP photo / Jae C. Hong |
| Sen. Barack Obama meets with his economic advisers Monday in Washington. From left: former Federal Reserve Chairman Paul Volcker, Obama, Service Employees International Union Chair Anna Burger, former Treasury Secretary Robert Rubin and New Jersey Gov. Jon Corzine. |
This is a time to condemn the bankers, not to embrace them. They are the scoundrels who got us into the biggest economic mess since the Great Depression, lining their own pockets while destroying the life savings of those who trusted them. Yet both of our leading presidential candidates are scrambling to enlist not only the big-dollar contributions but, more frighteningly, the "expertise" of the very folks who advocated the financial industry deregulations at the heart of this meltdown.
Republican candidate John McCain even appointed as his campaign co-chairman Phil Gramm, who went from being chairman of the Senate Banking Committee, where he sponsored disastrous legislation that empowered the banking bandits, to becoming one of them at UBS Warburg. Gramm was forced to resign from McCain's campaign only after he went public with his contempt for the financial concerns of ordinary Americans, calling them "whiners" and perpetrators of a "mental recession."
But Gramm and the Republicans couldn't have done it without the support of leading Democrats. The most egregious of Gramm's legislative favors to the financiers took the form of legislation named in part after him—the Gramm-Leach-Bliley Act, which became law only after then-Treasury Secretary Robert Rubin prevailed upon President Clinton to sign the bill. The bill's immediate major effect was to legitimize the long-sought merger between Citibank and insurance giant Travelers. Rubin's critical support for the bill was rewarded with an appointment, within days of its passage, to a top job at Citibank (later Citigroup) paying more than $15 million a year.
That is the same Rubin with whom Democratic candidate Barack Obama met, along with other influential advisers, on Tuesday to figure out what to do about the sorry state of our economy. But what in the world did he expect to learn from Rubin? And why did he appoint Rubin's protégé, Jason Furman, who ran the Rubin-funded Hamilton Project, to be the Obama campaign's economic director? Hopefully, during their encounter Tuesday, Rubin offered himself as a contrite model of everything that the candidate of change needs to change.
http://www.truthdig.com/report/item/20080729_sucking_up_to_the_bankers/
Senators call for EPA chief's resignation
Testimony
Four senators call for perjury investigation of EPA chief's testimony
Four senators on the Environment and Public Works Committee have called for the resignation of EPA Administrator Stephen Johnson and have asked the U.S. attorney general to investigate whether Johnson lied to Congress in a hearing about California's greenhouse-gas emissions waiver. In a letter to the attorney general, the senators wrote, "[W]e believe that there is significant evidence to suggest that Mr. Johnson has provided statements that are inconsistent with sworn testimony and documents provided in connection with an investigation conducted by this committee." In that testimony, given earlier this year, Johnson claimed he alone made the decision to deny California's requested waiver. "[T]his was solely my decision based upon the law, based upon the facts that were presented to me," he said. However, former EPA official Jason Burnett recently testified that Johnson was set to issue a partial waiver until he changed his mind amid pressure from the White House. The senators also accused Johnson of succumbing to White House pressure to delay the decision on whether greenhouse-gas emissions endanger public health or welfare.
sources: Associated Press, San Francisco Chronicle, The Wall Street Journal
Change We Can Believe In - An Open Letter to Barack Obama
Dear Senator Obama,
We write to congratulate you on the tremendous achievements of your campaign for the presidency of the United States.
Your candidacy has inspired a wave of political enthusiasm like nothing seen in this country for decades. In your speeches, you have sketched out a vision of a better future--in which the United States sheds its warlike stance around the globe and focuses on diplomacy abroad and greater equality and freedom for its citizens at home--that has thrilled voters across the political spectrum. Hundreds of thousands of young people have entered the political process for the first time, African-American voters have rallied behind you, and many of those alienated from politics-as-usual have been re-engaged.
You stand today at the head of a movement that believes deeply in the change you have claimed as the mantle of your campaign. The millions who attend your rallies, donate to your campaign and visit your website are a powerful testament to this new movement's energy and passion.
This movement is vital for two reasons: First, it will help assure your victory against John McCain in November. The long night of greed and military adventurism under the Bush Administration, which a McCain administration would continue, cannot be brought to an end a day too soon. An enthusiastic corps of volunteers and organizers will ensure that voters turn out to close the book on the Bush era on election day. Second, having helped bring you the White House, the support of this movement will make possible the changes that have been the platform of your campaign. Only a grassroots base as broad and as energized as the one that is behind you can counteract the forces of money and established power that are a dead weight on those seeking real change in American politics.
Members of Congress Demand An End To Pot Possession Arrests
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Iraq on the Edge
by Robert Dreyfuss .
While everyone's looking at Iraq's effect on American politics -- and whether or not John McCain and Barack Obama are converging on a policy that combines a flexible timetable with a vague, and long-lasting, residual force -- let's take a look instead at Iraqi politics. The picture isn't pretty.
Despite the Optimism of the Neocons, which has pushed mainstream media coverage to be increasingly flowery about Iraq's political progress, in fact the country is poised to explode. Even before the November election. And for McCain and Obama, the problem is that Iran has many of the cards in its hands. Depending on its choosing, between now and November Iran can help stabilize the war in Iraq -- mostly by urging the Iraqi Shiites to behave themselves -- or it can make things a lot more violent.
There are at least three flashpoints for an explosion, any or all of which could blow up over the next couple of months. (Way to go, Surgin' Generals!) The first is the brewing crisis over Kirkuk, where the pushy Kurds are demanding control and Iraq's Arabs are resisting. The second is in the west, and Anbar, where the US-backed Sons of Iraq sahwa ("Awakening") movement is moving to take power against the Iraqi Islamic Party, a fundamentalist Sunni bloc. And third is the restive Mahdi Army of Muqtada al-Sadr, which is chafing at gains made by its Iranian-backed rival, the Islamic Supreme Council of Iraq (ISCI).
Bill O'Reilly, Michael Savage, Sean Hannity on accused shooter's reading list
4-page letter outlines frustration, hatred of 'liberal movement' 
Knoxville Police Department officers lead Jim David Adkisson to a squad car Sunday. Adkisson has been charged with first-degree murder after a shooting at Tennessee Valley Unitarian Universalist Church
Police found right-wing political books, brass knuckles, empty shotgun shell boxes and a handgun in the Powell home of a man who said he attacked a church in order to kill liberals "who are ruining the country," court records show.
Knoxville police Sunday evening searched the Levy Drive home of Jim David Adkisson after he allegedly entered the Tennessee Valley Unitarian Universalist Church and killed two people and wounded six others during the presentation of a children's musical.
Knoxville Police Department Officer Steve Still requested the search warrant after interviewing Adkisson. who was subdued by several church members after firing three rounds from a 12-gauge shotgun into the congregation.
Adkisson targeted the church, Still wrote in the document obtained by WBIR-TV, Channel 10, "because of its liberal teachings and his belief that all liberals should be killed because they were ruining the country, and that he felt that the Democrats had tied his country's hands in the war on terror and they had ruined every institution in America with the aid of media outlets."
http://www.knoxnews.com/news/2008/jul/28/church-shooting-police-find-manifesto-suspects-car/
The Donna Brazile - Karl Rove Connection
A shot of Brazile (center) and the DNC rules and bylaws committee above Florida election returns on CNN.
In order to "save" the Democratic Party, Brazile resolved back in 2003 that she might have to destroy it first. And who better to help her in this lofty pursuit than her new best friend, the man neoconservatives call "The Architect".
BY ROSEMARY REGELLO
It's not every activist politico who gets to write a post in the Washington Times that begins like this: "As I sat by my window and staring out at the wonderful Washington, D.C., landscape, my office announced a phone call from Air Force One."
Evidently, Donna Brazile was reminding all the little people on Capitol Hill that she had friends in high places. In the summer of 2007, Karl Rove wasn't answering any subpoenas from Congress, but he didn't mind talking to her. From his perch at 20,000 feet, seated beside the President, Rove informed Brazile that it was time for him to get out of Dodge.
"Mr. Rove's resignation is not a retirement," the Democratic strategist reassured readers of the right-of-center newspaper. "It's just another opportunity for him to create that lasting Republican majority he envisioned years ago and to spend his waking days doing what he so enjoys — beating Democrats in the alleys and gutters. Just ask Sen. Hillary Clinton, Mr. Rove's target when he called in to speak to Rush Limbaugh. He couldn't help it. Mr. Rove just had to take one last shot before riding out of town. More to come, Team Clinton."
Brazile's breezy account confirms what many have long since suspected - that Rove's claim to be sitting out the 2008 race is hogwash. The mastermind of today's unraveling U.S. Constitution is in no position to kick back, down gin fizzes and watch the country collapse under a regime he put into office twice. The list of crimes that Bush's top henchman could potentially be charged with - everything from fraud to war crimes - should be enough to keep him and his fellow Sopranos in hair-trigger mode until the next president gets sworn in. And the notion that he'd leave the choice of commander-in-chief in less capable dirty hands than his own requires more than the willing suspension of disbelief. It requires medication.
That's why the Rove-Brazile tryst merits further exploration. They first hooked up some time in 2002, according to the New York Times. The connection might have been a means for Brazile to expand her clientele, but she dismissed that angle in an interview, implying she had bigger fish to fry.
http://www.thecityedition.com/Pages/Archive/Summer08/BrazileRoveConnect.html
Who is doing real journalism?
Newsweek's Jonathan Alter has an article this week filled with all the standard anti-blogger "pajama" platitudes (along with some praise) and, along the way, Alter writes this:
But we're finding [blogging] works better for keeping on top of daily flaps than for learning genuinely new information. Bloggers rarely pick up the phone or go interview the middle-level bureaucrats who know the good stuff. It's a lot easier to chew over breaking stories and bash old media. Where do they get the information with which to bash? Often from, ahem, newspapers.Leave aside the question of how much "real reporting" bloggers do as compared to newspapers. If one looks at most of the vital disclosures of the last seven years -- whereby concealed, legally dubious behavior of one of the most secretive administrations of the modern era is exposed -- one finds that such exposure comes overwhelmingly from two sources: (1) conscientious whistle-blowers inside the Government, and (2) advocacy groups such as the ACLU, which have tirelessly waged one litigation battle after the next in order to unearth the Bush administration's secret, improper conduct.
Today, the ACLU (with whom, as I've previously disclosed, I consult on various matters) released three formerly secret Bush administration memos -- two from the CIA to the Office of Legal Counsel inside the DOJ, and one from OLC to the CIA -- which set forth, in a revoltingly clinical tone that is by now all-too-familiar, extremely permissive standards for what constitutes (and what does not constitute) "torture." Raw Story's Nick Juliano has an excellent summary of the memos' lowlights, including the assertion that treatment of detainees does not constitute "torture" as long as there is no "specific intent to inflict severe pain or suffering," and the claim that interrogators are free to inflict mental harm as long as it falls short of "harm lasting months or even years after the acts were inflicted upon the prisoners."
http://www.salon.com/opinion/greenwald/2008/07/24/journalism/index.html