Tangled Webs

Friday, October 5, 2007

War Crimes

We have war criminals in the White House.

Andrew Sullivan asks the question.

There is no doubt - no doubt at all - that these tactics are torture and subject to prosecution as war crimes. We know this because the law is very clear when you don't have war criminals like AEI's John Yoo rewriting it to give one man unchecked power. We know this because the very same techniques—hypothermia, long-time standing, beating—and even the very same term "enhanced interrogation techniques"—"verschaerfte Vernehmung" in the original German—were once prosecuted by American forces as war crimes. The perpetrators were the Gestapo. The penalty was death. You can verify the history here.

We have war criminals in the White House. What are we going to do about it?

Poor Tweety

He claims the White House tried to pressure him.

All I can say is that it looks like the pressure worked.

Ted Nugent For President

Here's a proposed third party candidate for the Republicans:

Thanks!

I want to take a moment and personally thank Senator Larry "wide stance" Craig (R-Idawhooo)for deciding to stay in the Senate. He's a fantastic poster child for the hypocritical wing of the Republican party and will be useful in the upcoming election.

Thanks Lar!

Oh, and I almost forgot to mention. Thanks to Larry, Republicans have been inspired to create there spanking new wide stance convention logo!

No, it's not a joke. This is the real logo.

Civil Strife

You may not be aware of it, but there has been a bit of civil strife among House Democrats over a new FISA bill. Looks like progressives are making headway:

Rep. Steny Hoyer (D-MD), the House Majority Leader, postponed a press conference announcing new reforms of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act after progressive lawmakers banded together and said they would fight any legislation that did not include a set of eight principles on wiretapping that preserve the "rule of law."

"What's most significant is that the Progressive Caucus came together and said to the leadership that all 72 of us require that these provisions be included," said Caroline Fredercikson, Legislative Director for the American Civil Liberties Union. "This changes the dynamic significantly.

This would seem to, at least temporarily, stop the conservative wing of the Democrats from proposing crappy new FISA legislation. Nuthin' wrong with that.

Lite Weekend Reading

If you're up for it, and want a good quality history lesson on the British in Iraq, here is a disturbingly similar story to the current Iraq story.

Bottom line, we're not the only schmucks to have tried to occupy Iraq. But hey, repeating history is great fun! Right?

Arming Iraq

Poor Bob Gates, he feeling rejected:

SANTIAGO (AFP) — US Defense Secretary Robert Gates said Thursday the United States is looking for ways to speed the delivery of arms to Iraqi security forces, acknowledging that the current system is too slow.

His comments followed criticism by Iraqi President Jalal Talabani who said Iraq was buying 100 million dollars in light military equipment for its police from China because US arms producers could not meet Iraqi demands quickly enough.

Let us review. We don't want to arm Iraqi's because we don't trust them. And for good reason. Anything we send over them that can be used to kill someone ends up in the insurgency (water purifying chlorine for example). But like a spurned lover, we don't want anyone else arming them either.

Only in Amurika.

Jobs

The monthly jobs report came out at 110,000 new jobs, and upward revision for the two months! Happy Times! That is, if you like working the food service or health care industry (low paying jobs).

For perspective:

Count me as underwhelmed!

I Got Sucked In

When I first read this, I thought "hey that sounds like a good idea"! Then my friends at Slate helped me see the light:

Pharmacists, drug companies, and, presumably, patients, like the idea of behind-the-counter drugs, which exist in several countries. As could be expected, doctors aren't too keen on the idea and say it could be dangerous. An open question is whether insurance companies would cover these medicines since they don't usually pay for over-the-counter drugs and their decision could be a deciding factor on whether the proposed program is succesful.

Gee, I wonder which way the insurance companies would fall? For that matter, I wouldn't be surprise if this isn't their idea.

Quote Of The Day

If you really stop and think about it, this statement pretty much sums up the entire psychological basis of modern conservatism:

White House homeland security adviser Frances Fragos Townsend also dismissed objections to the CIA program [of torture] yesterday, saying during an appearance on CNN that al-Qaeda members are trained to resist harsh interrogations. She said that "we start with the least harsh measures first" and stop the progression "if someone becomes cooperative."

Thursday, October 4, 2007

Stealth Senator

Appropriate

Given the ongoing revelations about the U.S. of A. torturing, I think this is more truthful than funny:

The Sliding Dollar

Bonddad does a very nice job explaining the situation with the U.S. dollar here. His summary is very easy to understand:

Let's tie all of these ideas together.

1.) The US is increasingly dependent on foreign financing.

2.) At the time the US is more dependent on foreign financing, the dollar is at or near it's lowest point in more than 30 years.

3.) The Federal Reserve just lowered interest rates, making US assets less attractive to foreign investors.

4.) Number three leads to a decrease in value of all the US assets held abroad.

5.) Investors don't like holding assets that are dropping in value.

Pretty straighforward. What's that mean to you and me?

Here is a chart describing the current situation. As you can see the U.S., except for the brief period of time under Clinton, has been spending itself into oblivion with foreigners carrying the freight:

For the dollar to continue as the world's currency, and in the event that foreigners refuse to carry our debt, one of two things has to happen.

1. Deficits have to be eliminated via draconian spending cuts or tax increases.

2. Interest rates must and will rise to attract investors back to the U.S. (and strengthen the dollar).

The most likely of these scenarios is number 2. In this case, the U.S. then has an economy that, unlike the last 20 years or so, lumbers along dragging a weight behind it.

Underwhelmed

This is too damned funny to pass up:

The NYT fronts a piece looking into how things don't seem to be going so well for Fred Thompson, the man who was supposed to be the Republican savior. After he finished a speech in Iowa recently, the audience stayed silent. "Can I have a round of applause?" Thompson asked.

Back To The Future

We've now come full circle, back to the original Clinton administration policy. It just took nearly six years of dick wagging to get here:

The Wall Street Journal leads its world-wide newsbox with North Korea agreeing to dismantle its main nuclear reactor at Yongbyon by the end of the year and to publicly account for its entire nuclear-weapons program. In exchange, the United States would provide economic aid and begin the process of dropping North Korea from the list of state sponsors of terrorism.

Coming Attractions

This is just one example of what we are in for over the next decade. The behavior of the Bush administration has been bad enough in public. Just wait until it all comes out later:

The New York Times leads with word that when Alberto Gonzales was attorney general, the Justice Department issued secret opinions that authorized the CIA to use extremely harsh and brutal interrogation tactics when questioning terror suspects. The first opinion, which came soon after Gonzales took on the job, was issued two months after the Justice Department had publicly issued a statement saying that "torture is abhorrent." Then, while Congress was considering legislation to outlaw torture, the department issued another secret opinion saying that the standard imposed by lawmakers would not force the CIA to change any of its tactics.

Wait until Bush leaves office and the risks of revelation go down.

Wednesday, October 3, 2007

Another One Bites The Dust

If Republicans keep retiring, liberals may actually have a veto-proof Congress next time. And if Domenici leaves, remember that New Mexico is very purple.

Cheap Tent Time

Leahy needs some new cajones or he needs to close his piehole.

The Petition

Digby makes a great case for working to get rid of Rush Limbaugh, particularly on armed forces radio. Here's the mechanism by which you can express yourself. It's a petition initiated by Wes Clark. Take a sec and give it a signature if you're so inclined.

Here's how one Congresscritter is responding to Rush's wankery:

"You're a pompous coward and it's about time someone called you out on it and that someone is me...My name is Eric Massa and you know where to find me."

Like has been said, more and better Democrats.

An excerpt from Digby:

VoteVets released a new ad on the controversy today, which you can see here, featuring an injured combat veteran calling Rush to task. Rush disgustingly replied on his show as if the man was so brain damaged he didn't know what he was saying (similar to what the right wingers always say about women who have had an abortion, I might add). Rush:

"This is such a blatant use of a valiant combat veteran, lying to him about what I said and then strapping those lies to his belt, sending him out via the media and a TV ad to walk into as many people as he can walk into. This man will always be a hero to this country with everyone. Whoever pumped him full of these lies about what I said and embarrassed him with this ad has betrayed him, they aren't hurting me they are betraying this soldier," Limbaugh said.

Shades of Michael J. Fox. He's a poor, damaged combat veteran who doesn't have full control of his own mind.

Here's the little guy's response:

So, Rush Limbaugh called me a "suicide bomber." More slander from the high and mighty sitting in his chair nursing the boils on his ass. I can assure you that I am no suicide bomber and that I can think for myself.

Rush, your phony soldier comments pissed me off. The audacity of someone like you who never had the courage to stand and fight for what you believe in makes my head spin. That is what made me stand up and state my convictions in front of a camera. I wanted to point out that you are wrong. I am not a phony soldier. I believe that we are not doing the right thing for national security by staying in Iraq. We are putting too much strain on our military by extending tours and not giving people enough time at home to rest. We have taken our eye off of the real Al-Qaeda and let them regroup to their pre-9/11 strength. We have not developed a political system in Iraq that would enable the country to stand on its own.

I stood in the sand, snow, dirt, mud and dust of both Afghanistan and Iraq. I spent over a week on a side of a mountain in Afghanistan during Operation Anaconda. I received The Bronze Star medal for my actions during that battle. I crossed the border into Iraq with the first wave of the 101st Airborne. I sustained an open head injury on the streets of Mosul after a vehicle borne IED exploded next to the vehicle I was riding in. I have seen the aftermath of a real suicide bomber. I had loved ones who died in the 9/11 attacks. I have friends and colleagues who returned from the war in body bags.

How dare you call someone like me a phony soldier and a suicide bomber? In the commercial I just taped, I told you unless you had the guts to say something to my face, stop telling lies about my service. Well you haven’t had the guts to say it to my face, but I am waiting and the offer is still on the table.

You go dude.

Pat Tillman Meet Ciara Durkin

Well, it seems have yet another Pentagon soldier/murder coverup:

NEW YORK Newspapers in Massachusetts have been doggedly digging into the case (covered by E&P on Monday) of a Quincy woman who died in Afghanistan under mysterious circumstances last week.

The military first reported that Ciara Durkin, 30, who served in the National Guard, had died “in action,” then revealed that she was killed in a “noncombat” incident that was being investigated.

Her family was told that she had been killed by a single gunshot near a church. They are charging that the military has been dragging its feet in giving them more details. They reject any chance of suicide and suspect friendly fire or murder.

A new twist emerged today in a Boston Globe article: Her family says she had told them to push for an investigation if anything ever happened to her. She was in a finance unit and may have found some improprieties, according to a story in the Patriot-Ledger, which also disclosed that her family had notified the military about her concerns about her safety three weeks ago.

The Globe reported that the family wondered if, as a lesbian, she may have been targeted. Sen. John Kerry and Sen. Ted Kennedy are pushing for answers. Since Durkin is a native of Ireland, the Irish Echo newspaper is also covering the case widely.

"She did say to us that she had concerns about things she was seeing when she was over there," her sister, Fiona Canavan, told WGBH-TV in Boston. "She told us if anything happened to her, that we were to investigate it."

Can't say I'm too shocked.

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