Friday, May 27, 2011
WI GOP Hell-bent On Passing Anti-Union Measure Rebuffed By Judge:
LegalNewsline: Wis. judge rules against governor's budget bill
"Dane County Circuit Court Judge Maryann Sumi has struck down Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker's controversial Budget Repair Bill.
In a 33-page decision Thursday, Sumi ruled that the March 9 meeting of the state Legislature's Joint Committee of Conference violated Wisconsin's Open Meetings Law and that the budget bill 'consequently has no force or effect.'
The governor's bill, Wisconsin Act 10, has been a source of controversy for months now, eliminating nearly all collective bargaining rights for those public employee union members. Walker, a Republican, had proposed the measure in response to state budget deficits..."
Goldman Sachs Bet Against Clients' Interests:
Crooks & Liars: Matt Taibbi and Megan McArdle Square Off Over Potential Criminal Charges Against Goldman Sachs
"Matt Taibbi has a new article on Rolling Stone on the recent hearings in the U.S. Senate and whether or not Goldman Sachs executives should be facing criminal trials or not in the wake of ongoing investigations into their part in the financial meltdown we went through a few years ago. CNN decided to bring in the Atlantic Monthly's Wall Street apologist Megan McArdle to debate Taibbi on Your Money.
I'm no financial expert and a lot of this stuff is over my head, but McArdle's arguments to me here seemed to be that all of these laws are just too terribly difficult to understand, therefore it's too difficult to figure out if they did anything wrong and to prosecute them, but the people they were selling these toxic assets to should have known better and understood what they were buying. Looks like a classic case of blame the victim to me..."
LegalNewsline: Wis. judge rules against governor's budget bill
"Dane County Circuit Court Judge Maryann Sumi has struck down Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker's controversial Budget Repair Bill.
In a 33-page decision Thursday, Sumi ruled that the March 9 meeting of the state Legislature's Joint Committee of Conference violated Wisconsin's Open Meetings Law and that the budget bill 'consequently has no force or effect.'
The governor's bill, Wisconsin Act 10, has been a source of controversy for months now, eliminating nearly all collective bargaining rights for those public employee union members. Walker, a Republican, had proposed the measure in response to state budget deficits..."
Goldman Sachs Bet Against Clients' Interests:
Crooks & Liars: Matt Taibbi and Megan McArdle Square Off Over Potential Criminal Charges Against Goldman Sachs
"Matt Taibbi has a new article on Rolling Stone on the recent hearings in the U.S. Senate and whether or not Goldman Sachs executives should be facing criminal trials or not in the wake of ongoing investigations into their part in the financial meltdown we went through a few years ago. CNN decided to bring in the Atlantic Monthly's Wall Street apologist Megan McArdle to debate Taibbi on Your Money.
I'm no financial expert and a lot of this stuff is over my head, but McArdle's arguments to me here seemed to be that all of these laws are just too terribly difficult to understand, therefore it's too difficult to figure out if they did anything wrong and to prosecute them, but the people they were selling these toxic assets to should have known better and understood what they were buying. Looks like a classic case of blame the victim to me..."
Thursday, May 26, 2011
Exporting Violence For Profit:
Tom Hastings: Stop All Military Aid
"Israel is now dictating conditions to the United States and upbraiding President Obama for having the nerve to suggest finally following UN Resolution 242, which has long called for a return to the 1967 borders of Israel. Obama says the border from that era should now be the border between Israel and Palestine. It is long past time to end all military aid to Israel...
...From Pakistan to Israel, and moving around the world from there, the US taxpayer continues to hemorrhage vast amounts of money on governments that despise us. This practice alienates people from us and impoverishes the US taxpayer even as it erodes the US infrastructure. The only ones who gain in the United States are the war profiteers.
End this now. As the Republicans are so fond of saying whenever a social safety net is discussed, 'No. We're broke.' The reason we are broke is the war system, and we should begin our conversion now. Save many billions of dollars right away by ceasing all military aid to Israel and all our other clients."
Financial Regulatory Reform:
Crooks & Liars: Rep. Patrick McHenry Calls Elizabeth Warren A Liar -- Repeatedly
"Evidently Elizabeth Warren gets under Rep. Patrick McHenry's skin in a big way. Maybe it's the forthright way she asks questions. Or perhaps it's her ability to be tough and female at the same time. Whatever it is, he stepped way over the line today when he called her a liar for not waiting around to testify for absent Republicans.
Ms. Warren appeared for her hourlong testimony as she had previously agreed to, but 2 Republican committee members were strangely absent. Perhaps they were courting their Wall Street friends, or visiting the House floor to vote on another job-killing bogus repeal of the Affordable Care Act. Whatever it was, Warren had other places to be, and Rep. McHenry did not like that one bit.
So he called her a liar. On the record. On television. The backlash has been swift and direct..."
Tom Hastings: Stop All Military Aid
"Israel is now dictating conditions to the United States and upbraiding President Obama for having the nerve to suggest finally following UN Resolution 242, which has long called for a return to the 1967 borders of Israel. Obama says the border from that era should now be the border between Israel and Palestine. It is long past time to end all military aid to Israel...
...From Pakistan to Israel, and moving around the world from there, the US taxpayer continues to hemorrhage vast amounts of money on governments that despise us. This practice alienates people from us and impoverishes the US taxpayer even as it erodes the US infrastructure. The only ones who gain in the United States are the war profiteers.
End this now. As the Republicans are so fond of saying whenever a social safety net is discussed, 'No. We're broke.' The reason we are broke is the war system, and we should begin our conversion now. Save many billions of dollars right away by ceasing all military aid to Israel and all our other clients."
Financial Regulatory Reform:
Crooks & Liars: Rep. Patrick McHenry Calls Elizabeth Warren A Liar -- Repeatedly
"Evidently Elizabeth Warren gets under Rep. Patrick McHenry's skin in a big way. Maybe it's the forthright way she asks questions. Or perhaps it's her ability to be tough and female at the same time. Whatever it is, he stepped way over the line today when he called her a liar for not waiting around to testify for absent Republicans.
Ms. Warren appeared for her hourlong testimony as she had previously agreed to, but 2 Republican committee members were strangely absent. Perhaps they were courting their Wall Street friends, or visiting the House floor to vote on another job-killing bogus repeal of the Affordable Care Act. Whatever it was, Warren had other places to be, and Rep. McHenry did not like that one bit.
So he called her a liar. On the record. On television. The backlash has been swift and direct..."
Tuesday, May 24, 2011
Energy As A Policy Driver:
McClatchy D.C. Bureau: WikiLeaks cables show that it was all about the oil
"...Of the 251,287 WikiLeaks documents McClatchy obtained, 23,927 of them — nearly one in 10 — reference oil. Gazprom alone is mentioned in 1,789.
In the cables, U.S. diplomats can be found plotting ways to prevent state entities such as Gazprom from taking control of key petroleum facilities, pressing oil companies to adjust their policies to match U.S. foreign policy goals, helping U.S.-based oil companies arrange deals on favorable terms and pressing foreign governments to assist companies that are willing to do the U.S.'s bidding.
Sometimes the U.S. approach seems mystifying. An Aug. 17, 2009, secret cable from the U.S. embassy in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, recalled how days earlier the U.S. charge d'affaires, Richard Erdman, pushed Saudi Arabian Oil Minister Ali al Naimi to get closer to China.
But there was an ulterior motive. At the time, the United States was trying to persuade China to back sanctions against Iran over the country's nuclear fuel enrichment program. The U.S. believes the program is part of an Iranian effort to develop nuclear weapons. 'We wouldn't mind seeing Saudi sales replacing some of Iran's oil exports to China. This would have the welcome side impact of reducing Iranian leverage over China,' Erdman told Naimi in a cable.
Naimi responded that Saudi Arabia, a bitter rival to Iran, would soon be the largest oil supplier to China, and it came to pass. In 2010, Saudi Arabia was the top oil supplier to China. Iran was third, according to the Chinese website ChinaOilWeb.
A July 30, 2009, secret cable from the U.S embassy in Riyadh recounts how Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner, while visiting the kingdom, leaned on his Saudi counterpart, Ibrahim al Assaf, to contain rising oil prices..."
Corpratocracy:
Russell Mokhiber: SEC, Foreign Bribes and the Devolution of Corporate Criminal Justice
Mercenaries:
Jeremy Scahill: Erik Prince, You're No Indiana Jones
"When Erik Prince, founder of the infamous mercenary company Blackwater, claimed in early 2010 he was leaving the soldier of fortune business, he said he'd decided to pursue a less dangerous and controversial line of work. 'I’m going to teach high school,' he said, straight-faced, in an interview with Vanity Fair. 'History and economics. I may even coach wrestling. Hey, Indiana Jones taught school, too.' It was an interesting comment. As fans of Indiana Jones will recall, the whip-wielding archaeologist was indeed a professor. But what he did on the side—traveling the globe in search of potentially history-altering artifacts—was his real passion. In one confrontation with his arch-nemesis, archaeologist René Emile Belloq, who is working for the Nazis, Jones threatens to blow up the Ark of the Covenant with an RPG. 'You're going to give mercenaries a bad name,' Belloq tells him.
Erik Prince did leave the US, but he isn't teaching high school and is certainly not out of the mercenary business. In fact, far from emerging as a neo-Indiana Jones, the antithesis of a mercenary, Prince is more like Belloq, offering his services to the highest bidder. Over the weekend, The New York Times revealed that Prince was leading an effort to build an army of mercenaries, 800 strong—including scores from Colombia—in Abu Dhabi in the United Arab Emirates. They would be trained by US, European and South African Special Forces veterans. Prince's new company, Reflex Responses, also known as R2, was bankrolled to the tune of $529 million from 'the oil-soaked sheikdom,' according to the Times, adding that Prince was 'hired by the crown prince of Abu Dhabi' Sheik Mohamed bin Zayed al-Nahyan. Erik Prince is not mentioned by name in corporate documents outlining the deal, but is instead referred to as 'Kingfish,'..."
Healthcare:
John Nichols: Ryan’s Wrong — We Need ‘Medicare for all'
"House Budget Committee Chair Paul Ryan proposes to undermine the integrity of the Medicare and Medicaid programs, with an eye toward enriching the insurance companies that so generously fund his campaigns.
The American people are not amused. They have sent clear signals that they want to maintain Medicare and Medicaid.
Ryan’s town hall meetings in April featured noisy opposition in communities such as Milton and Kenosha, and tough questioning even in the most conservative communities of Walworth County. Likewise, Republican House members from Pennsylvania, Florida and other states got earfuls at their town meetings.
The protests at the meetings were just the tip of the iceberg of objection to the plan championed by Ryan, R-Janesville.
Polls show that roughly 80 percent of voters think it is a bad idea to try to balance the budget by gutting Medicare and Medicaid as Ryan proposes — with a scheme to force seniors to buy coverage from private, for-profit insurance companies that happen to be major contributors to his campaign fund. Overwhelming majorities say that they would prefer that Congress end tax cuts for wealthy Americans and reduce Pentagon spending before making any changes to Medicare and Medicaid..."
Whistleblowers:
Jane Mayer: The Secret Sharer - Is Thomas Drake an enemy of the state?
"On June 13th, a fifty-four-year-old former government employee named Thomas Drake is scheduled to appear in a courtroom in Baltimore, where he will face some of the gravest charges that can be brought against an American citizen. A former senior executive at the National Security Agency, the government’s electronic-espionage service, he is accused, in essence, of being an enemy of the state. According to a ten-count indictment delivered against him in April, 2010, Drake violated the Espionage Act—the 1917 statute that was used to convict Aldrich Ames, the C.I.A. officer who, in the eighties and nineties, sold U.S. intelligence to the K.G.B., enabling the Kremlin to assassinate informants. In 2007, the indictment says, Drake willfully retained top-secret defense documents that he had sworn an oath to protect, sneaking them out of the intelligence agency’s headquarters, at Fort Meade, Maryland, and taking them home, for the purpose of “unauthorized disclosure.” The aim of this scheme, the indictment says, was to leak government secrets to an unnamed newspaper reporter, who is identifiable as Siobhan Gorman, of the Baltimore Sun. Gorman wrote a prize-winning series of articles for the Sun about financial waste, bureaucratic dysfunction, and dubious legal practices in N.S.A. counterterrorism programs. Drake is also charged with obstructing justice and lying to federal law-enforcement agents. If he is convicted on all counts, he could receive a prison term of thirty-five years..."
McClatchy D.C. Bureau: WikiLeaks cables show that it was all about the oil
"...Of the 251,287 WikiLeaks documents McClatchy obtained, 23,927 of them — nearly one in 10 — reference oil. Gazprom alone is mentioned in 1,789.
In the cables, U.S. diplomats can be found plotting ways to prevent state entities such as Gazprom from taking control of key petroleum facilities, pressing oil companies to adjust their policies to match U.S. foreign policy goals, helping U.S.-based oil companies arrange deals on favorable terms and pressing foreign governments to assist companies that are willing to do the U.S.'s bidding.
Sometimes the U.S. approach seems mystifying. An Aug. 17, 2009, secret cable from the U.S. embassy in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, recalled how days earlier the U.S. charge d'affaires, Richard Erdman, pushed Saudi Arabian Oil Minister Ali al Naimi to get closer to China.
But there was an ulterior motive. At the time, the United States was trying to persuade China to back sanctions against Iran over the country's nuclear fuel enrichment program. The U.S. believes the program is part of an Iranian effort to develop nuclear weapons. 'We wouldn't mind seeing Saudi sales replacing some of Iran's oil exports to China. This would have the welcome side impact of reducing Iranian leverage over China,' Erdman told Naimi in a cable.
Naimi responded that Saudi Arabia, a bitter rival to Iran, would soon be the largest oil supplier to China, and it came to pass. In 2010, Saudi Arabia was the top oil supplier to China. Iran was third, according to the Chinese website ChinaOilWeb.
A July 30, 2009, secret cable from the U.S embassy in Riyadh recounts how Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner, while visiting the kingdom, leaned on his Saudi counterpart, Ibrahim al Assaf, to contain rising oil prices..."
Corpratocracy:
Russell Mokhiber: SEC, Foreign Bribes and the Devolution of Corporate Criminal Justice
Mercenaries:
Jeremy Scahill: Erik Prince, You're No Indiana Jones
"When Erik Prince, founder of the infamous mercenary company Blackwater, claimed in early 2010 he was leaving the soldier of fortune business, he said he'd decided to pursue a less dangerous and controversial line of work. 'I’m going to teach high school,' he said, straight-faced, in an interview with Vanity Fair. 'History and economics. I may even coach wrestling. Hey, Indiana Jones taught school, too.' It was an interesting comment. As fans of Indiana Jones will recall, the whip-wielding archaeologist was indeed a professor. But what he did on the side—traveling the globe in search of potentially history-altering artifacts—was his real passion. In one confrontation with his arch-nemesis, archaeologist René Emile Belloq, who is working for the Nazis, Jones threatens to blow up the Ark of the Covenant with an RPG. 'You're going to give mercenaries a bad name,' Belloq tells him.
Erik Prince did leave the US, but he isn't teaching high school and is certainly not out of the mercenary business. In fact, far from emerging as a neo-Indiana Jones, the antithesis of a mercenary, Prince is more like Belloq, offering his services to the highest bidder. Over the weekend, The New York Times revealed that Prince was leading an effort to build an army of mercenaries, 800 strong—including scores from Colombia—in Abu Dhabi in the United Arab Emirates. They would be trained by US, European and South African Special Forces veterans. Prince's new company, Reflex Responses, also known as R2, was bankrolled to the tune of $529 million from 'the oil-soaked sheikdom,' according to the Times, adding that Prince was 'hired by the crown prince of Abu Dhabi' Sheik Mohamed bin Zayed al-Nahyan. Erik Prince is not mentioned by name in corporate documents outlining the deal, but is instead referred to as 'Kingfish,'..."
Healthcare:
John Nichols: Ryan’s Wrong — We Need ‘Medicare for all'
"House Budget Committee Chair Paul Ryan proposes to undermine the integrity of the Medicare and Medicaid programs, with an eye toward enriching the insurance companies that so generously fund his campaigns.
The American people are not amused. They have sent clear signals that they want to maintain Medicare and Medicaid.
Ryan’s town hall meetings in April featured noisy opposition in communities such as Milton and Kenosha, and tough questioning even in the most conservative communities of Walworth County. Likewise, Republican House members from Pennsylvania, Florida and other states got earfuls at their town meetings.
The protests at the meetings were just the tip of the iceberg of objection to the plan championed by Ryan, R-Janesville.
Polls show that roughly 80 percent of voters think it is a bad idea to try to balance the budget by gutting Medicare and Medicaid as Ryan proposes — with a scheme to force seniors to buy coverage from private, for-profit insurance companies that happen to be major contributors to his campaign fund. Overwhelming majorities say that they would prefer that Congress end tax cuts for wealthy Americans and reduce Pentagon spending before making any changes to Medicare and Medicaid..."
Whistleblowers:
Jane Mayer: The Secret Sharer - Is Thomas Drake an enemy of the state?
"On June 13th, a fifty-four-year-old former government employee named Thomas Drake is scheduled to appear in a courtroom in Baltimore, where he will face some of the gravest charges that can be brought against an American citizen. A former senior executive at the National Security Agency, the government’s electronic-espionage service, he is accused, in essence, of being an enemy of the state. According to a ten-count indictment delivered against him in April, 2010, Drake violated the Espionage Act—the 1917 statute that was used to convict Aldrich Ames, the C.I.A. officer who, in the eighties and nineties, sold U.S. intelligence to the K.G.B., enabling the Kremlin to assassinate informants. In 2007, the indictment says, Drake willfully retained top-secret defense documents that he had sworn an oath to protect, sneaking them out of the intelligence agency’s headquarters, at Fort Meade, Maryland, and taking them home, for the purpose of “unauthorized disclosure.” The aim of this scheme, the indictment says, was to leak government secrets to an unnamed newspaper reporter, who is identifiable as Siobhan Gorman, of the Baltimore Sun. Gorman wrote a prize-winning series of articles for the Sun about financial waste, bureaucratic dysfunction, and dubious legal practices in N.S.A. counterterrorism programs. Drake is also charged with obstructing justice and lying to federal law-enforcement agents. If he is convicted on all counts, he could receive a prison term of thirty-five years..."
Wednesday, May 18, 2011
Why Is The Instinct To Cover-Up So Strong?
DailyKos: Megyn Kelly and Fox News Helped Sen. Ensign Cover-Up His Crimes
"Nevada Senator John Ensign resigned from the Senate last week, but his troubles may not end there. The New York Times is reporting that the results of a Senate Ethics Committee investigation may leave Ensign liable for charges of obstructing an FEC investigation, violating federal lobbying bans, and making unlawful payments to the husband of his congressional aide with whom he was having an affair - among other things.
However, any investigation of this matter needs to include possible interference on the part of Fox News and Glenn Beck-wannabe, Megyn Kelly..."
Who's Afraid of Disclosure?
Alexander Bolton & Mike Lillis: Opposition to contractors disclosure rule grows among Dems
"Democratic opposition is growing to a draft proposal under consideration by President Obama that would force prospective government contractors to reveal political contributions.
Top Democrats in both chambers have come forward in recent days with concerns that such a mandate would politicize the bidding process at the expense of its integrity. They’ve joined Republican leaders and the business lobby in urging administration officials to scrap their plans to adopt the rule..."
Education:
Bill Bigelow: Scholastic Inc. Pushing Coal Propaganda to Kids
"When I was in grade school in California, every once in a while a bunch of paperback books from Scholastic would arrive in our classroom. Our teacher let us take a break from our lessons and we could look through the books and put a check on an order form next to ones we liked, books like The Wit and Wisdom of Abraham Lincoln. Each cost 35 or 50 cents. We’d take the order forms home and get our parents to purchase the books, which would arrive a month or so later. I grew up thinking that Scholastic was the most trusted name in children’s books—endorsed by the holy trinity of school, teacher, and parents.
These days, among other enterprises, Scholastic produces propaganda for the coal industry and passes it off as curriculum. Scholastic has partnered with the American Coal Foundation (ACF, www.teachcoal.org), the nonprofit arm of the coal industry, to publish a slick, full-color packet of elementary teaching materials designed to paste a smiley face on the dirtiest form of energy in the world.
Why would the coal industry want to partner with Scholastic? In a November 2010 blog, Alma Hale Paty, executive director of the ACF, celebrates the coal-Scholastic connection: 'Over 90 percent of America’s K-12 classrooms use Scholastic products. Four out of five parents know and trust the Scholastic brand.' Paty writes that Scholastic mailed its 4th-grade coal/energy curriculum to 50,000 teachers in nine states, another 16,000 copies to classroom subscribers to Scholastic News magazine for grade 4, and sent an email with a link to the curriculum to 82,000 teachers. In recent phone messages to me, Paty says that she hopes the curriculum can be expanded to 5th grade. Simply put, the coal industry is renting Scholastic’s credibility and recognition..."
Civil Liberties Give Way To A Police State:
Chicago Tribune: Attorney wants court to reconsider police ruling
"An attorney says she'll ask the state Supreme Court to reconsider its ruling that Indiana residents have no right to resist if police officers illegally enter their home.
Attorney Erin Berger tells The Times of Munster she'll file a petition for rehearing with the court. Berger represents Richard Barnes, who was convicted of resisting law enforcement for shoving a police officer who tried to enter Barnes' home after he told the officer he couldn't enter.
The state Court of Appeals overturned that conviction, ruling jurors weren't instructed on Barnes' common law right to resist illegal police entry into his home.
But the high court last week reinstated that conviction and overturned centuries of common law, ruling that people have no right to resist if police officers illegally enter their home."
How can so-called liberal justices (supposedly more concerned about civil liberties) cast a vote for this verdict? Since when is it advisable to default to supporting police/state power, when the Constitution explicitly advises otherwise?
AP: US Supreme Court On Warrantless Entry
"The Supreme Court on Monday ruled against a Kentucky man who was arrested after police burst into his apartment without a search warrant because they smelled marijuana and feared he was trying to get rid of incriminating evidence.
Voting 8-1, the justices reversed a Kentucky Supreme Court ruling that threw out the evidence gathered when officers entered Hollis King's apartment.
The court said there was no violation of King's constitutional rights because the police acted reasonably. Only Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg dissented.
Officers knocked on King's door in Lexington and thought they heard noises that indicated whoever was inside was trying to get rid of incriminating evidence.
Justice Samuel Alito said in his opinion for the court that people have no obligation to respond to the knock or, if they do open the door, allow the police to come in. In those cases, officers who wanted to gain entry would have to persuade a judge to issue a search warrant.
But Alito said, 'Occupants who choose not to stand on their constitutional rights but instead elect to attempt to destroy evidence have only themselves to blame.'
In her dissent, Ginsburg said her colleagues were giving police an easy way to routinely avoid getting warrants in drug cases..."
DailyKos: Megyn Kelly and Fox News Helped Sen. Ensign Cover-Up His Crimes
"Nevada Senator John Ensign resigned from the Senate last week, but his troubles may not end there. The New York Times is reporting that the results of a Senate Ethics Committee investigation may leave Ensign liable for charges of obstructing an FEC investigation, violating federal lobbying bans, and making unlawful payments to the husband of his congressional aide with whom he was having an affair - among other things.
However, any investigation of this matter needs to include possible interference on the part of Fox News and Glenn Beck-wannabe, Megyn Kelly..."
Who's Afraid of Disclosure?
Alexander Bolton & Mike Lillis: Opposition to contractors disclosure rule grows among Dems
"Democratic opposition is growing to a draft proposal under consideration by President Obama that would force prospective government contractors to reveal political contributions.
Top Democrats in both chambers have come forward in recent days with concerns that such a mandate would politicize the bidding process at the expense of its integrity. They’ve joined Republican leaders and the business lobby in urging administration officials to scrap their plans to adopt the rule..."
Education:
Bill Bigelow: Scholastic Inc. Pushing Coal Propaganda to Kids
"When I was in grade school in California, every once in a while a bunch of paperback books from Scholastic would arrive in our classroom. Our teacher let us take a break from our lessons and we could look through the books and put a check on an order form next to ones we liked, books like The Wit and Wisdom of Abraham Lincoln. Each cost 35 or 50 cents. We’d take the order forms home and get our parents to purchase the books, which would arrive a month or so later. I grew up thinking that Scholastic was the most trusted name in children’s books—endorsed by the holy trinity of school, teacher, and parents.
These days, among other enterprises, Scholastic produces propaganda for the coal industry and passes it off as curriculum. Scholastic has partnered with the American Coal Foundation (ACF, www.teachcoal.org), the nonprofit arm of the coal industry, to publish a slick, full-color packet of elementary teaching materials designed to paste a smiley face on the dirtiest form of energy in the world.
Why would the coal industry want to partner with Scholastic? In a November 2010 blog, Alma Hale Paty, executive director of the ACF, celebrates the coal-Scholastic connection: 'Over 90 percent of America’s K-12 classrooms use Scholastic products. Four out of five parents know and trust the Scholastic brand.' Paty writes that Scholastic mailed its 4th-grade coal/energy curriculum to 50,000 teachers in nine states, another 16,000 copies to classroom subscribers to Scholastic News magazine for grade 4, and sent an email with a link to the curriculum to 82,000 teachers. In recent phone messages to me, Paty says that she hopes the curriculum can be expanded to 5th grade. Simply put, the coal industry is renting Scholastic’s credibility and recognition..."
Civil Liberties Give Way To A Police State:
Chicago Tribune: Attorney wants court to reconsider police ruling
"An attorney says she'll ask the state Supreme Court to reconsider its ruling that Indiana residents have no right to resist if police officers illegally enter their home.
Attorney Erin Berger tells The Times of Munster she'll file a petition for rehearing with the court. Berger represents Richard Barnes, who was convicted of resisting law enforcement for shoving a police officer who tried to enter Barnes' home after he told the officer he couldn't enter.
The state Court of Appeals overturned that conviction, ruling jurors weren't instructed on Barnes' common law right to resist illegal police entry into his home.
But the high court last week reinstated that conviction and overturned centuries of common law, ruling that people have no right to resist if police officers illegally enter their home."
How can so-called liberal justices (supposedly more concerned about civil liberties) cast a vote for this verdict? Since when is it advisable to default to supporting police/state power, when the Constitution explicitly advises otherwise?
AP: US Supreme Court On Warrantless Entry
"The Supreme Court on Monday ruled against a Kentucky man who was arrested after police burst into his apartment without a search warrant because they smelled marijuana and feared he was trying to get rid of incriminating evidence.
Voting 8-1, the justices reversed a Kentucky Supreme Court ruling that threw out the evidence gathered when officers entered Hollis King's apartment.
The court said there was no violation of King's constitutional rights because the police acted reasonably. Only Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg dissented.
Officers knocked on King's door in Lexington and thought they heard noises that indicated whoever was inside was trying to get rid of incriminating evidence.
Justice Samuel Alito said in his opinion for the court that people have no obligation to respond to the knock or, if they do open the door, allow the police to come in. In those cases, officers who wanted to gain entry would have to persuade a judge to issue a search warrant.
But Alito said, 'Occupants who choose not to stand on their constitutional rights but instead elect to attempt to destroy evidence have only themselves to blame.'
In her dissent, Ginsburg said her colleagues were giving police an easy way to routinely avoid getting warrants in drug cases..."
Friday, May 13, 2011
Assassination As A Policy Tool:
Sy Hersh discussed the Executive Assassination Ring of the Bush administration, and it seems Pres. Obama is making use of the same tools. Pres. Obama's (and former Pres. Bush's) use of the word 'justice' in the context of what happened to Osama Bin Laden should bother more people than it seems to. Justice should not be confused for vengeance, but most of the coverage I've observed fails to point out this distinction.
One can speak of justice when when violations of law (in this case, thousands of murders) result in a suspect being arrested, charged, and prosecuted in a court of law. If the Nuremberg War Crimes Trials were sufficient to prosecute the monsters of the Nazi regime, the same legal principles should apply to international terrorists. Learning that the suspect was unarmed raises even more questions...
Glenn Greenwald: The Osama Bin Laden Exception
"When I first wrote about the bin Laden killing on Monday, I suggested that the intense (and understandable) emotional response to his being dead would almost certainly drown out any discussions of the legality, ethics, or precedents created by this event.
That, I think, has largely been borne out, at least in the U.S. (one poll shows 86% of Americans favor the killing, though that's hardly universal: a poll in Germany finds 64% view this as 'no reason to rejoice,' while 52% believe an attempt should have been made to arrest him; many European newspapers have harshly criticized U.S. actions; and German Prime Minister Angela Merkel's declaration of happiness over bin Laden's death provoked widespread criticism even in her own party). I expected -- and fully understand -- that many people's view of the bin Laden killing is shaped first and foremost by happiness over his death...
...I think what's really going on here is that there are a large number of people who have adopted the view that bin Laden's death is an unadulterated Good, and it therefore simply does not matter how it happened (ends justify the means, roughly speaking). There are, I think, two broad groups adopting this mindset: (1) those, largely on the Right, who believe the U.S. is at War and anything we do to our Enemies is basically justifiable; and (2) those, mostly Democrats, who reject that view -- who genuinely believe in general in due process and adherence to ostensible Western norms of justice -- yet who view bin Laden as a figure of such singular Evil (whether in reality or as a symbol) that they're willing to make an exception in his case, willing to waive away their principles just for him: creating the Osama bin Laden Exception...
...My principal objection to it -- aside from the fact that I think those principles shouldn't be violated because they're inherently right (which is what makes them principles) -- is that there's no principled way to confine it to bin Laden. If this makes sense for bin Laden, why not for other top accused Al Qaeda leaders? Why shouldn't the same thing be done to Anwar al-Awlaki, the U.S. citizen who has been allegedly linked by the Government to far more attacks over the last several years than bin Laden? At Guantanamo sits Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, the alleged operational mastermind of 9/11 -- who was, if one believes the allegations, at least as responsible for the attack as bin Laden and about whom there is as little perceived doubt; why shouldn't we just take him out back today and shoot him in the head and dump his corpse into the ocean rather than trying him?
Once you embrace the bin Laden Exception, how does it stay confined to him? Isn't it necessarily the case that you're endorsing the right of the U.S. Government to treat any top-level Terrorists in similar fashion? Again, this isn't an argument that the bin Laden killing was illegal; it very well may have been legal, depending on the facts. But if we just cheer for this without caring about those facts, isn't it clear that we're endorsing a dangerous unfettered power -- one that runs afoul of multiple principles which opponents of the Bush/Cheney template have long defended?
For me, the better principles are those established by the Nuremberg Trials, and numerous other war crimes trials accorded some of history's most gruesome monsters. It should go without saying for all but the most intellectually and morally stunted that none of this has anything to do with sympathy for bin Laden. Just as was true for objections to the torture regime or Guantanamo or CIA black sites, this is about the standards to which we and our Government adhere, who we are as a nation and a people..."
The Bankster Bailout:
Matt Taibbi: The Real Housewives of Wall Street
"Why is the Federal Reserve forking over $220 million in bailout money to the wives of two Morgan Stanley bigwigs?"
Religion & Politics:
Siddhartha Mahanta: The GOP's Favorite Fringe Historian
"Jesus opposed the minimum wage, God hates socialism, and other teachings of the controversial evangelical leader Republican presidential contenders can't stop praising..."
Technology:
ZDNet: LastPass melts down and leaves many users (hopefully, temporarily) stranded without their passwords
"...LastPass bills itself as the last password you’ll ever need, and they do this by storing all your passwords in a highly encrypted format, and then using a single, master password to give you access to all your sites. All you need to do is remember one password, but all your sites can have unique, complex passwords. Of course, the possible point of failure is that one, master password. Last night, the operators of LastPass noticed some anomalous behavior in their systems. Their concern is that a hacker had somehow penetrated their system and exfiltrated master passwords.
So, today, they told users to change their master passwords. All heck ensued.
First, the company didn’t email each user. Instead, it posted a blog entry. This infuriated many users. Next, LastPass decided to force all users to change their master passwords. The database of ancillary passwords is encrypted based on a 'salt' from the master password, so changing the master password changes the encryption for all the other — a very smart move. Unfortunately, the LastPass site and the company’s various password management tools apparently can’t handle the load of millions of users trying to change passwords all at once. Some users are locked out, and can’t change their passwords. Some users are locked out after having changed their passwords. Some users changed their passwords and are now being told their passwords are invalid..."
Social Networking:
ZDNet: WikiLeaks founder: Facebook is 'most appalling spying machine ever invented'
"...After Assange compared the differences between what is happening in Egypt and Libya, he was asked about the role of social networks such as Facebook.
That’s when the WikiLeaks founder erupted:
'Facebook, in particular, is the most appalling spying machine that has ever been invented. Here we have the world’s most comprehensive database about people, their relationships, their names, their addresses, their locations, their communications with each other, their relatives, all sitting within the United States, all accessible to US intelligence. Facebook, Google, Yahoo – all these major US organizations have built-in interfaces for US intelligence. It’s not a matter of serving a subpoena – they have an interface that they have developed for US intelligence to use.
Now, is it the case that Facebook is actually run by US intelligence? No, it’s not like that. It’s simply that US intelligence is able to bring to bear legal and political pressure to them. And it’s costly for them to hand out records, one by one, so they have automated the process. Everyone should understand that when they add their friends to Facebook, they are doing free work for United States’ intelligence agencies, in building this database for them,'..."
Sy Hersh discussed the Executive Assassination Ring of the Bush administration, and it seems Pres. Obama is making use of the same tools. Pres. Obama's (and former Pres. Bush's) use of the word 'justice' in the context of what happened to Osama Bin Laden should bother more people than it seems to. Justice should not be confused for vengeance, but most of the coverage I've observed fails to point out this distinction.
One can speak of justice when when violations of law (in this case, thousands of murders) result in a suspect being arrested, charged, and prosecuted in a court of law. If the Nuremberg War Crimes Trials were sufficient to prosecute the monsters of the Nazi regime, the same legal principles should apply to international terrorists. Learning that the suspect was unarmed raises even more questions...
Glenn Greenwald: The Osama Bin Laden Exception
"When I first wrote about the bin Laden killing on Monday, I suggested that the intense (and understandable) emotional response to his being dead would almost certainly drown out any discussions of the legality, ethics, or precedents created by this event.
That, I think, has largely been borne out, at least in the U.S. (one poll shows 86% of Americans favor the killing, though that's hardly universal: a poll in Germany finds 64% view this as 'no reason to rejoice,' while 52% believe an attempt should have been made to arrest him; many European newspapers have harshly criticized U.S. actions; and German Prime Minister Angela Merkel's declaration of happiness over bin Laden's death provoked widespread criticism even in her own party). I expected -- and fully understand -- that many people's view of the bin Laden killing is shaped first and foremost by happiness over his death...
...I think what's really going on here is that there are a large number of people who have adopted the view that bin Laden's death is an unadulterated Good, and it therefore simply does not matter how it happened (ends justify the means, roughly speaking). There are, I think, two broad groups adopting this mindset: (1) those, largely on the Right, who believe the U.S. is at War and anything we do to our Enemies is basically justifiable; and (2) those, mostly Democrats, who reject that view -- who genuinely believe in general in due process and adherence to ostensible Western norms of justice -- yet who view bin Laden as a figure of such singular Evil (whether in reality or as a symbol) that they're willing to make an exception in his case, willing to waive away their principles just for him: creating the Osama bin Laden Exception...
...My principal objection to it -- aside from the fact that I think those principles shouldn't be violated because they're inherently right (which is what makes them principles) -- is that there's no principled way to confine it to bin Laden. If this makes sense for bin Laden, why not for other top accused Al Qaeda leaders? Why shouldn't the same thing be done to Anwar al-Awlaki, the U.S. citizen who has been allegedly linked by the Government to far more attacks over the last several years than bin Laden? At Guantanamo sits Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, the alleged operational mastermind of 9/11 -- who was, if one believes the allegations, at least as responsible for the attack as bin Laden and about whom there is as little perceived doubt; why shouldn't we just take him out back today and shoot him in the head and dump his corpse into the ocean rather than trying him?
Once you embrace the bin Laden Exception, how does it stay confined to him? Isn't it necessarily the case that you're endorsing the right of the U.S. Government to treat any top-level Terrorists in similar fashion? Again, this isn't an argument that the bin Laden killing was illegal; it very well may have been legal, depending on the facts. But if we just cheer for this without caring about those facts, isn't it clear that we're endorsing a dangerous unfettered power -- one that runs afoul of multiple principles which opponents of the Bush/Cheney template have long defended?
For me, the better principles are those established by the Nuremberg Trials, and numerous other war crimes trials accorded some of history's most gruesome monsters. It should go without saying for all but the most intellectually and morally stunted that none of this has anything to do with sympathy for bin Laden. Just as was true for objections to the torture regime or Guantanamo or CIA black sites, this is about the standards to which we and our Government adhere, who we are as a nation and a people..."
The Bankster Bailout:
Matt Taibbi: The Real Housewives of Wall Street
"Why is the Federal Reserve forking over $220 million in bailout money to the wives of two Morgan Stanley bigwigs?"
Religion & Politics:
Siddhartha Mahanta: The GOP's Favorite Fringe Historian
"Jesus opposed the minimum wage, God hates socialism, and other teachings of the controversial evangelical leader Republican presidential contenders can't stop praising..."
Technology:
ZDNet: LastPass melts down and leaves many users (hopefully, temporarily) stranded without their passwords
"...LastPass bills itself as the last password you’ll ever need, and they do this by storing all your passwords in a highly encrypted format, and then using a single, master password to give you access to all your sites. All you need to do is remember one password, but all your sites can have unique, complex passwords. Of course, the possible point of failure is that one, master password. Last night, the operators of LastPass noticed some anomalous behavior in their systems. Their concern is that a hacker had somehow penetrated their system and exfiltrated master passwords.
So, today, they told users to change their master passwords. All heck ensued.
First, the company didn’t email each user. Instead, it posted a blog entry. This infuriated many users. Next, LastPass decided to force all users to change their master passwords. The database of ancillary passwords is encrypted based on a 'salt' from the master password, so changing the master password changes the encryption for all the other — a very smart move. Unfortunately, the LastPass site and the company’s various password management tools apparently can’t handle the load of millions of users trying to change passwords all at once. Some users are locked out, and can’t change their passwords. Some users are locked out after having changed their passwords. Some users changed their passwords and are now being told their passwords are invalid..."
Social Networking:
ZDNet: WikiLeaks founder: Facebook is 'most appalling spying machine ever invented'
"...After Assange compared the differences between what is happening in Egypt and Libya, he was asked about the role of social networks such as Facebook.
That’s when the WikiLeaks founder erupted:
'Facebook, in particular, is the most appalling spying machine that has ever been invented. Here we have the world’s most comprehensive database about people, their relationships, their names, their addresses, their locations, their communications with each other, their relatives, all sitting within the United States, all accessible to US intelligence. Facebook, Google, Yahoo – all these major US organizations have built-in interfaces for US intelligence. It’s not a matter of serving a subpoena – they have an interface that they have developed for US intelligence to use.
Now, is it the case that Facebook is actually run by US intelligence? No, it’s not like that. It’s simply that US intelligence is able to bring to bear legal and political pressure to them. And it’s costly for them to hand out records, one by one, so they have automated the process. Everyone should understand that when they add their friends to Facebook, they are doing free work for United States’ intelligence agencies, in building this database for them,'..."
Tuesday, May 03, 2011
Transportation / Energy
The luxury car maker Jaguar offers Americans their $50,000 XF sedan only with a 5 liter V8, which delivers 19 MPG combined. Finding a luxury in America that achieves a modest 30 MPG is a rarity. The new model, going on sale in the UK, is being offered with a new 2.2 liter turbo diesel, which delivers 43.5 MPG combined (US gallons). UK customers can, of course, also choose a thirsty V8, but having the choice to consume only a fraction of the fuel is mainly a function of the UK's willingness to tax fuel rather heavily, and collecting Road Tax based on CO2 emissions.
Huffington Post: Bernie Sanders Demands Action From Obama On Wall Street Oil 'Gambling'
"Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) demanded on Thursday that regulators impose limits on oil speculation to help lower the price of gas in a letter sent to President Obama.
'There is mounting evidence that the skyrocketing price of gas and oil has nothing to do with the fundamentals of supply and demand, and has everything to do with Wall Street firms that are artificially jacking up the price of oil in the energy futures markets,' Sanders wrote. 'In other words, the same Wall Street speculators that caused the worst financial crisis since the 1930s through their greed, recklessness, and illegal behavior are ripping off the American people again by gambling that the price of oil and gas will continue to go up.'
Last year’s financial reform bill required the Commodities Futures Trading Commission to crack down on commodities speculation by imposing 'position limits' -- a cap on the size of the bets that Wall Street traders can place. The agency was required to apply the new rules by January 22, but the CFTC has delayed the rules in order to collect data.
'What is particularly offensive is that this could and should have been prevented under current law,' Sanders wrote.
While at least part of the recent spike in oil prices is likely the result of unrest in the Middle East, the heavy volume of Wall Street speculation may be exaggerating the rise, if not driving it outright. The number of speculative bets on food and energy today is even higher than in 2008, when oil reached its highest price ever, sparking food riots across the globe. CFTC Commissioner Bart Chilton has been pushing to implement position limits soon, citing heated speculation and a March 21 research note from Goldman Sachs analyst David Greely that claimed Wall Street gambling in the futures markets is in fact driving up oil prices..."
The 2012 Election:
Joan Lappin: Business Illusionist Donald Trump Perfect For President
"...As our country hurtles toward the possibility of bankruptcy, we need a man who understands the bankruptcy laws inside and out. We need a leader who has been to the brink or gone over the falls in his corporate barrel more times than you can think of. Enter Donald Trump. If practice makes perfect, who do you know who has filed for bankruptcy more times than Donald Trump’s businesses?..."
The luxury car maker Jaguar offers Americans their $50,000 XF sedan only with a 5 liter V8, which delivers 19 MPG combined. Finding a luxury in America that achieves a modest 30 MPG is a rarity. The new model, going on sale in the UK, is being offered with a new 2.2 liter turbo diesel, which delivers 43.5 MPG combined (US gallons). UK customers can, of course, also choose a thirsty V8, but having the choice to consume only a fraction of the fuel is mainly a function of the UK's willingness to tax fuel rather heavily, and collecting Road Tax based on CO2 emissions.
Huffington Post: Bernie Sanders Demands Action From Obama On Wall Street Oil 'Gambling'
"Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) demanded on Thursday that regulators impose limits on oil speculation to help lower the price of gas in a letter sent to President Obama.
'There is mounting evidence that the skyrocketing price of gas and oil has nothing to do with the fundamentals of supply and demand, and has everything to do with Wall Street firms that are artificially jacking up the price of oil in the energy futures markets,' Sanders wrote. 'In other words, the same Wall Street speculators that caused the worst financial crisis since the 1930s through their greed, recklessness, and illegal behavior are ripping off the American people again by gambling that the price of oil and gas will continue to go up.'
Last year’s financial reform bill required the Commodities Futures Trading Commission to crack down on commodities speculation by imposing 'position limits' -- a cap on the size of the bets that Wall Street traders can place. The agency was required to apply the new rules by January 22, but the CFTC has delayed the rules in order to collect data.
'What is particularly offensive is that this could and should have been prevented under current law,' Sanders wrote.
While at least part of the recent spike in oil prices is likely the result of unrest in the Middle East, the heavy volume of Wall Street speculation may be exaggerating the rise, if not driving it outright. The number of speculative bets on food and energy today is even higher than in 2008, when oil reached its highest price ever, sparking food riots across the globe. CFTC Commissioner Bart Chilton has been pushing to implement position limits soon, citing heated speculation and a March 21 research note from Goldman Sachs analyst David Greely that claimed Wall Street gambling in the futures markets is in fact driving up oil prices..."
The 2012 Election:
Joan Lappin: Business Illusionist Donald Trump Perfect For President
"...As our country hurtles toward the possibility of bankruptcy, we need a man who understands the bankruptcy laws inside and out. We need a leader who has been to the brink or gone over the falls in his corporate barrel more times than you can think of. Enter Donald Trump. If practice makes perfect, who do you know who has filed for bankruptcy more times than Donald Trump’s businesses?..."
