Axe Handles

The Best of the Worst?

2012-01-05T14:50:00.000-08:00

Captain Ray Lewis

2011-11-21T21:36:00.001-08:00

Glenn Greewald on Modern Media and the OWS Protests

2011-11-20T11:52:00.000-08:00

This is a great clip talking about how the talking heads in the media tend to come from the elite classes and thus sympathize with elite motives in their coverage of the OWS protests.

Greenwald on the NY City Subway Protests

2011-11-20T11:43:00.000-08:00

Glenn Greenwald has an excellent post about fabrications circulating on Fox regarding recent NY city OWS protests.

Second Revolution

2011-11-05T17:02:00.001-07:00

Patriotic Millionaires

2011-10-22T16:45:00.000-07:00

Patriotic millionaires: A nice clip by people who have made money and want to give back to their community.

Kunstler on the Wall Street protest

2011-10-04T07:38:00.001-07:00

Kunstler has a great post on all the quibbling about the Occupy Wall Street protesters. This is a must read: Here come the OWSers.

British Riots and the Souring Crème de la Crème

2011-08-14T05:07:00.000-07:00

Peter Oborne has a great article on the moral decay of British society and the recent riots.

Have Faith!

2011-06-17T09:54:00.001-07:00

U.S. Healthcare Lags: Despite the Costs

2011-06-07T06:28:00.000-07:00

This is a bit dated now, but it provides a good graphic of rankings of world health systems.

Bates' Tora Bora Alpine Boots are CRAP!

2011-06-06T15:31:00.000-07:00

I just bought a pair of Tora Bora boots (over $300 a pair!) through Cat 5 Commerce and was shocked at how poorly made they were. Just out of the package, I pulled up on the laces and the eyes holding the laces in simply fell apart. It turns out they were all made of very thin pieces of plastic like on a child's watch-band. I called the company and the manufacturer and both insisted that I had the actual boot and not an imitation. They then told me they'd send me a shipping label--which never showed up. I'd have lost over $300 if I hadn't check my email today and realized that they simply sent me an address a couple weeks back, insisting that I pay to ship them back within a month. The workmanship on the boot is so poor that selling such a product as if it were a top-end high-quality product essentially amounts to fraud. If anybody out there is considering buying from any of these sleazy merchants, please reconsider.

Bates footware
Cat 5 Shoes
MilitaryBoots.com

(I also don't understand why it takes four or five vendors to sell a pair of boots. With so many middlemen to pay off, no wonder the quality's so poor.)

Starve the Beast

2011-06-04T11:57:00.000-07:00

This 2007 article by Bartlett provides a good discussion of the Starve the Beast metaphor. The purpose of tax cuts has never been to balance the budget. They're designed to eliminate social programs and move more money from the working poor to the non-working wealthy elite.

Putting the Economic Numbers in Perspective

2011-05-15T09:40:00.000-07:00

Here's a good article from Truthsurfer: More Billionaire Bonanzas For The Fortunate Few Not Going Broke.

Yes to Yes Men

2011-05-05T08:49:00.000-07:00

I just finished watching The Yes Men Fix the World. This has to be one of the funniest (and politically poignant) documentaries that I've every watched.

Natural Gas

2011-04-29T09:31:00.000-07:00

Calgary Herald had an interesting chart showing proven and potential shale gas resources. The chart's missing a lot of countries (for example, Russia) based on the view that the amount non-shale natural gas in these countries will mean that producers put off the development of the more expensive shale gas.

Al Jazeera

2011-04-23T18:55:00.000-07:00

I'd agree with Schechter that Al Jazeera is probably now one of the best networks for getting real news. It shows how lousy most U.S. news has become.

Tax Breakdown

2011-04-19T11:04:00.000-07:00

This is interesting: a break-down of where an upper-middle class family's taxes go:

2011-04-08T21:41:00.001-07:00

Twenty Facts

2011-04-06T07:33:00.001-07:00

20 facts about inequality that everyone should know.

Obama administration's smear campaign

2011-01-19T12:17:00.000-08:00

Greenwald, in a recent column, as an excellent piece on Wikileaks and the government's smear campaign:

[Inital excerpt] Whenever the U.S. Government wants to demonize a person or group in order to justify attacks on them, it follows the same playbook: it manufactures falsehoods about them, baselessly warns that they pose Grave Dangers and are severely harming our National Security, peppers all that with personality smears to render the targeted individuals repellent on a personal level, and feeds it all to the establishment American media, which then dutifully amplifies and mindlessly disseminates it all. That, of course, was the precise scheme that so easily led the U.S. into attacking Iraq; it's what continues to ensure support for the whole litany of War on Terror abuses and the bonanza of power and profit which accompanies them; and it's long been obvious that this is the primary means for generating contempt for WikiLeaks to enable its prosecution and ultimate destruction (an outcome the Pentagon has been plotting since at least 2008).

When WikiLeaks in mid-2010 published documents detailing the brutality and corruption at the heart of the war in Afghanistan, the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, Adm. Michael Mullen, held a Press Conference and said of WikiLeaks (and then re-affirmed it on his Twitter account) that they "might already have on their hands the blood of some young soldier or that of an Afghan family." This denunciation predictably caused the phrase "blood on their hands" to be attached to WikiLeaks and its founder, Julian Assange, in thousands of media accounts around the world. But two weeks later, the Pentagon's spokesman, when pressed, was forced to admit that there was no evidence whatsoever for that accusation: "we have yet to see any harm come to anyone in Afghanistan that we can directly tie to exposure in the WikiLeaks documents," he admitted. Several months later, after more flamboyant government condemnations of WikiLeaks' release of thousands of Iraq War documents, McClatchy's Nancy Youssef -- in an article headlined: "Officials may be overstating the danger from WikiLeaks" -- reported that "U.S. officials concede that they have no evidence to date" that the disclosures resulted in the deaths of anyone, and she detailed the great care WikiLeaks took in that Iraq War release to protect innocent people.

The Real News

2010-12-08T20:01:00.001-08:00

Making the World a Little Safer

2010-12-07T18:51:00.001-08:00

Johann Hari has a good post on Assange and wikileaks.

Say NO to those who say NO to Wikileaks

2010-12-04T08:19:00.000-08:00

We need to boycott PayPal and start using alternative payment services (while avoiding Amazon pay).

Here's the directions for deleting your PayPal account:

1. Access the PayPal website and log in to your account. Click "Profile" at the top of the page, listed in the tabs section. Once "Profile" is clicked, move to "Close Account" in the Account Information section.
2. Answer the questions provided by PayPal regarding why the account is being closed. Up to three options can be chosen. Scroll down and enter any comments regarding the closing of your account, and click continue.
3. Follow the steps provided for contacting PayPal for further concerns, and click continue to finally close the account.

2010-11-24T05:26:00.001-08:00

Corporate Rowing Theory

2010-08-31T08:40:00.000-07:00

A Japanese company and an American company decided to have a canoe race on the Missouri River. Both teams practiced long and hard to reach their performance before the race. On the big day the Japanese won by a mile. Afterwards, the American team became very discouraged and morally depressed. The American management decided that the reason for the crushing defeat had to be found. A "Measurement Team", made up of senior management was formed. They would investigate and recommend appropriate action. Their conclusion was that the Japanese had 8 people rowing and I person steering, while the Americans had 1 person rowing and 8 people steering. So American Management hired a consulting company and paid them incredible amounts of money. They advised that too many people were steering the boat and not enough were rowing. To prevent losing to the Japanese again next year, the rowing management structure was totally reorganized to 4 steering supervisors, 4 steering superintendents and 1 assistant superintendent steering manager. They also implemented a new performance system that would give the 1 person rowing the canoe greater incentive to work harder. It was called the "Rowing Team Quality First Program", with meetings, dinners, and free pens for the rower. "We must give the rower empowerment and enrichments through this quality program." The next year the Japanese won by 2 miles. Humiliated, the American Management laid off the rower for poor performance, halted the development of a new canoe, sold the paddles, and cancelled all capital investments for new equipment. Then gave a High Performance Award to the Steering Managers and distributed the money saved as bonuses to the senior executives.

Erosion of U.S. Middle Class

2010-08-28T17:14:00.001-07:00

Spiegel online has a good article on the disappearing U.S. middle class.

The New(?) Republicon Platform

2010-08-22T05:22:00.000-07:00

The Current Trajectory

2010-08-09T12:21:00.000-07:00

What Collapsing Empire Looks Like

The Latest Ruling on DVDs

2010-07-27T16:51:00.000-07:00

The exemption for breaking electronic locks on DVDs has now been extended to both documentary makers and college instruction. This is a good thing since the excessive controls simply penalize the people making legitimate use of media while most of the world copies what they want without much enforcement.

The disappearing intellectual

2010-07-24T08:49:00.001-07:00

Henry Giroux has an interesting article (The Disappearing Intellectual in the Age of Economic Darwinism) on the death of the American intellectual.

Kilkenny on the wealth gap

2010-07-12T14:51:00.001-07:00

Kilkenny has a good blog article on the wealth gap and the call for unions to return to their leftist roots.

Phone Help

2010-05-31T11:49:00.000-07:00

A couple of Oregonian hunters are out in the woods when one of them falls to the ground. He doesn't seem to be breathing, his eyes are rolled back in his head. The other guy whips out his cell phone and calls the emergency services. He gasps to the operator: “My friend is dead! What can I do?”

The operator, in a calm soothing voice says: “Just take it easy. I can help. First, let's make sure he's dead.” There is a silence, then a shot is heard.

The guy's voice comes back on the line. He says: “OK, now what?“

Global warming continues unabated

2010-05-16T16:04:00.001-07:00

We've apparently just experienced the hottest April on record.

A little known story of a little known conflict

2010-05-05T11:15:00.000-07:00

Walking with the comrades --> this is an interesting article on the situation of Maoist rebels in India.

The Politics of the Tea Partyers

2010-04-26T14:00:00.000-07:00

By JAMES BOVARD

Many “tea party” activists staunchly oppose big government, except when it is warring, wiretapping, or waterboarding. A movement that started out denouncing government power apparently has no beef with some of the worst abuses of modern times.

Unfortunately, there is scant evidence that most tea partyers have studied the copies of the Constitution they generously hand out to bystanders.

At a Tax Day tea party in Rockville, Md., the speaking venue was draped with a huge banner: “Tired of Big Government?” Members of the “Tyranny Response Team” stood near the front of the rally with their official blue T-shirts. Giant American flags and ones with “Don’t Tread on Me” (with a coiled rattlesnake) were carried around by men with tri-corn hats. Political campaigns busily sold “9/11 Remembrance” bracelets.

And yet, the crowd of 300 seemed most outraged that the US government is not being sufficiently aggressive in using its power.

Ken Timmerman, the author of “Preachers of Hate: Islam and the War on America” and other hawkish books, declaimed that the US government must take every step to stop Iran from getting nuclear weapons. Mr. Timmerman denounced the Obama administration for being soft on Tehran and urged support for legislation to impose harsh sanctions on Iran. Timmerman previously advocated a US naval blockade of Iran, which he claimed was planning a nuclear attack on the United States.

Running through a litany of President Obama’s greatest failings, Timmerman denounced him for forcing US agents to “stop using enhanced interrogation methods. Has that made us safer?”

“No!” the crowd hollered indignantly.

Jeffrey Kuhner, a local talk-show host, sneered that Obama “has found his inner Muslim” and raged against his bowing to foreign leaders and kings. He complained that Obama has “taken over college loans,” and warned that illegal immigrants could be “the shock troops of Obama’s socialist revolution.” The crowd ate it up.

One of the MCs gushed about how he and everyone else in the crowd loved the police. There was not a word spoken about the video released earlier that week showing a nearby horrendous police beating of an innocent University of Maryland college student.

The rally featured a string of Republican candidates praising fiscal responsibility and denouncing the national debt. One would have thought that it had been 50 years, rather than 15 months, since the Republicans controlled the White House.

There was almost no dissent from any of the 300 attendees. One 50-something man in a faded green T-shirt walked around with a handmade sign declaring, “Stop the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan – Bring Our Troops Home Now!” He told me that almost no one he’d talked agreed with his message.

Much more in tune with the crowd was the 20-something woman carrying a sign: “PROUD to be the Military Super Power.”

The fact that the cost of the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq thus far roughly equals the projected cost of the first decade of Obama’s health-care program is irrelevant. Military spending is viewed as holy water by many activists who otherwise despise Washington. While tea party activists rage over Obama’s alleged lies, they ignore the Bush administration’s deceptive justification to attack Iraq.

None of the speakers criticized the warrantless wiretaps that the National Security Agency began during the Bush administration. The feds’ vacuuming up thousands of Americans’ phone calls and e-mails without a warrant seems to be a nonissue for these folks. Perhaps some tea party leaders hope that Republicans will soon be in position to use such powers to surveil the left.

There are many decent Americans who understandably feel that the government has become too powerful and oppressive. Yet, seeking enlightenment from most tea party speakers is like searching in a dark room for a black cat that isn’t there.

Many of the attendees seemed to hate liberals far more than they loved liberty. A CBS/New York Times poll conducted in April showed that two-thirds of tea party members have a favorable opinion of Sarah Palin, and 57 percent have a favorable opinion of George W. Bush. Denouncing big government while approving of President Bush is like denouncing immodesty while sunning oneself on a nude beach. After all, it was Bush who championed the prescription drug benefit for seniors that adds $7 trillion to Washington’s unfunded liabilities.

Some of the Republican incumbents endorsed by tea party organizations have been champions of “enhanced interrogation.” As long as the feds don’t announce specific plans to begin torturing card-carrying conservative activists, why worry?

If tea party activists cannot vigorously oppose torture and other high crimes, then counting on them to stalwartly resist any government policy that doesn’t mulct their paycheck is folly.

America needs real champions of freedom – not poorly informed Republican accomplices. Either tea partyers should become more principled or they should ditch their Gadsden flags and wear T-shirts of the lobbying group that organizes the rally they attend.

James Bovard is the author of Attention Deficit Democracy, The Bush Betrayal, Terrorism and Tyranny, and other books. This article was originally published by the Christian Science Monitor.

Theory proliferation

2010-04-21T11:48:00.000-07:00

The way grammar lessons should be taught!

2010-01-03T10:26:00.000-08:00

On his 74th birthday, a man in Colorado received a gift certificate from his wife. The certificate paid for a visit to a medicine man living on a nearby reservation. The medicine man was rumored to have a wonderful cure for erectile dysfunction.

After being persuaded, he drove to the reservation, handed his ticket to the medicine man, all the time wondering what was to come.

The old medicine man slowly and methodically produced a potion, which he handed to the 74 year-old. Gripping his shoulder, the medicine man warned, "This is powerful medicine and it must be respected. You take only a teaspoonful and then say '1-2-3'. When you do that, you will become manlier than you have ever been in your life and you will be able to perform as long as you want."

"0kay." The old man was encouraged. As he walked away, he turned and asked, "How do I stop the medicine from working?"

"Your partner must say '1-2-3-4,'" the medicine man responded.

"When she does that, the medicine will not work again until the next full moon."

The old man was very eager to see if the potion worked, so he went home, showered, shaved, took a spoonful of the medicine, and then invited his wife to join him in the bedroom.

When she came in, he took off his clothes and said, "1-2-3!" Immediately, he was the manliest of men.

His wife was excited and began throwing off her clothes. And then she asked, "What was the 1-2-3 for?"

And that, boys and girls, is why we should never end our sentences with a preposition – or one will end up with a dangling participle!

Freegans

2009-11-27T13:47:00.001-08:00

I came across the Freegan's site today. These people definitely deserve a spot on my sidebar!

2009-11-03T18:10:00.001-08:00

The Health Insurance Mafia Strikes Again

2009-10-23T10:18:00.000-07:00

Rape is evidently a "pre-existing condition." Why anyone would want to keep health insurance companies running is beyond me. I'm all for a government-run plan.

Howard Zinn on the Obama Peace Prize

2009-10-10T07:12:00.001-07:00

I was dismayed when I heard Barack Obama was given the Nobel peace prize. A shock, really, to think that a president carrying on two wars would be given a peace prize. Until I recalled that Woodrow Wilson, Theodore Roosevelt, and Henry Kissinger had all received Nobel peace prizes. The Nobel committee is famous for its superficial estimates, won over by rhetoric and by empty gestures, and ignoring blatant violations of world peace.

Yes, Wilson gets credit for the League of Nations – that ineffectual body which did nothing to prevent war. But he had bombarded the Mexican coast, sent troops to occupy Haiti and the Dominican Republic and brought the US into the slaughterhouse of Europe in the first World War, surely among stupid and deadly wars at the top of the list.

Sure, Theodore Roosevelt brokered a peace between Japan and Russia. But he was a lover of war, who participated in the US conquest of Cuba, pretending to liberate it from Spain while fastening US chains on that tiny island. And as president he presided over the bloody war to subjugate the Filipinos, even congratulating a US general who had just massacred 600 helpless villagers in the Phillipines. The Committee did not give the Nobel prize to Mark Twain, who denounced Roosevelt and criticised the war, nor to William James, leader of the anti-imperialist league.

Oh yes, the committee saw fit to give a peace prize to Henry Kissinger, because he signed the final peace agreement ending the war in Vietnam, of which he had been one of the architects. Kissinger, who obsequiously went along with Nixon's expansion of the war, with the bombing of peasant villages in Vietnam, Laos and Cambodia. Kissinger, who matches the definition of a war criminal very accurately, is given a peace prize!

People should be given a peace prize not on the basis of promises they have made – as with Obama, an eloquent maker of promises – but on the basis of actual accomplishments towards ending war, and Obama has continued deadly, inhuman military action in Iraq, Afghanistan and Pakistan.

The Nobel peace committee should retire, and turn over its huge funds to some international peace organization which is not awed by stardom and rhetoric, and which has some understanding of history

Obama's Speech to Kids

2009-09-16T16:50:00.000-07:00

The Martian Chronicles has a good review of Obama's speech to students titled If This is Socialist Progaganda, Please Send More.

Swissification of the U.S.

2009-09-01T07:23:00.000-07:00

Krugman has a simple classification of healthcare systems as the British, French/Canadian, or Swiss options and says that the Obama plan essential reprsents the latter. I agree with Krugman that this is probably the worst of the three but much better than our current system.

Where to find 9 trillion dollars?

2009-08-21T16:09:00.000-07:00

The budget deficit for the next decade is now projected at 9 trillion. We could solve this by passing a single law, reducing our military down to the size of our competitors--Russia and China. It would effectively bring the projected amount to zero once both direct and indirect costs are factored in.

Report Card on Obama From a New Frontiersman

2009-07-27T12:53:00.000-07:00

By WILLIAM POLK

Probably like most of you, I am engaged in a daily attempt to make up my mind about President Obama. I was an early supporter.And as a former Washington "player," I am aware how difficult is his position. I began to worry when he failed to grasp what I have seen to be the early window of opportunity for a new administration -- the first three months -- when the government is relatively fluid. As the months have flown by, I have seen that there are many positive things, mainly in his eloquent addresses on world problems, notably his speech at the University of Cairo on world pluralism, but also quite a few negative things. With sadness and alarm I find that my list of the negatives keeps on growing.

Among them are the following:

(1) The commitment to the war in "Af-Pak" which (I believe) will cost America upwards of $6 trillion but perhaps only a few hundred casualties since we are relying increasingly on drone bombing. Just the money costs could derail almost everything Obama's supporters hoped and thought his administration would do. That amount of money is roughly half the total yearly income (the GNP) of America. Of course, it will cost Afghanistan far more.

Less dramatic perhaps but more crucial will be the further breakdown of Afghan society, leaving behind when we ultimately get out, an even more demoralized, fractured society and will probably lead to a coup d'etat in Pakistan, further enhancing the danger of war between the South Asian countries. The nominal leaders of Afghanistan (Hamid Karzai) and Pakistan (Asif Ali Zardari), whom we practically appointed and with whom we have chosen to work, are hated by their people and are human monuments to the potential of government corruption. (Drugs, traffic in American arms even to insurgents, shakedowns of citizens, sale of public offices, outright stealing, kidnap for ransom...the list is long and as an old hand, it certainly reminds me of South Vietnam.) We now have a window of opportunity to get out of this looming disaster, but it seems that the President is determined to "stay the course." Fundamental to my worry is that I do not hear anyone around the President or he himself saying things that indicate that they know anything about Afghanistan, Pakistan, Kashmir or India, much less "Pashtunistan", aka The Northwest Frontier. Ignorance is rarely a very rewarding guide.(Parenthetically, I have recently read the British "how to do it" manual on "Tribal fighting on the Northwest Frontier" by General Sir Andrew Skeen. Skeen spent his life fighting the Pathans. He warned British soldiers back in the 1920s that the Pathans were "the finest individual fighters in the east, really formidable enemies, to despise whom means sure trouble." My copy is the only one I could find on the internet. It survived in a British officers' mess library. I doubt that Messrs Petraeus, McChrystal et al have ever heard of it. It makes more sense than Petraeus's Counterinsurgency Field Manual.)

(2) the choice of personnel is (to me) baffling:

In the military he has chosen to keep on Bush's Secretary of Defense (who signed if not wrote the latest version of the neoconservative-inspired US National Defense Doctrine calling for, among other things, the "right" of first striking almost anyone we choose if we don't like them), General David Petraeus, whom I regard as a con man for breathing life into the Vietnam counterinsurgency program (which has never worked anywhere in the world in the last two centuries when tried by the British, the Russians, the French, the Germans or us), and General Stanley McChrystal, who makes statements that sound terrifyingly like the SS. His main claim to fame appears to have come out of running the prison system in Afghanistan where, apparently, some of the worst cases of torture happened. These men, allegedly, have told Obama that he could win the war in Afghanistan "on the cheap." So when his then principal military adviser gave a more sober assessment -- nearly half a million men -- Obama fired him and listened to Petraeus' siren song. Again, as an old hand, I cannot help remembering Vietnam, where we went from 1,700 to half a million soldiers and still lost.

The Pentagon budget is not only enormous but contains a number of potential scandals. Our overseas bases now cost us over $100 billion yearly. Since the DOD sops up over half of the disposable resources of the government, Obama must get control of it. His task will be difficult because the DOD and what President Eisenhower called the "military industrial complex" have cleverly portioned out the work and procurement on the program to virtually every congressional district. Congress will opt for the program even if it bankrupts America. Congress will be Obama's enemy if he tries any reforms. Even to try, he will need able advisers and staff. He should certainly know better than to appoint the foxes to guard the henhouse.

In the State Department’s activities, the most attractive person is Senator George Mitchell, but he does not seem to have any significant power. I hope I am wrong, but he reminds me of my dear friend Governor Chester Bowles after JFK fired him and used him only for window dressing. The others have their own agendas. To be generous, one has to say that Hillary has not yet shown enough to judge, but some of her statements would be hard to worsen. I assume that she has begun to run for the presidency in 2012. She reminds me of the wise saying that when a president assembles his cabinet, he has all his enemies in one room. Dick Holbrooke has a bully's approach to diplomacy in one of the touchiest spots in the world. His browbeating, hectoring, shouting "Balkan" tactics are ill-suited to Central Asia. In the White House, I think it would be hard to find a worse choice than the new Special Assistant to the President, Dennis Ross.

Three examples of his skill:

a) in the early negotiations between the Israelis and the Palestinians, when he was supposedly the honest broker, he took a more disruptive position than even the Israelis, apparently shocking even them;

b) in the build-up to the Iranian elections he sponsored and organized a program to "electronically invade" Iran with destabilizing messages trying, more subtly to be sure than the 1953 CIA-MI6 coup, to "regime change" it.Whatever else could be said about the "Iran-Syria OperationsGroup", it played right into the hands of Ahmadinejad and the rightwing of the ulama and the military, giving them a proof text for American interferencein the elections and thus may have backfired, since no issue in Iranian politics is as sensitive as the fear of foreign espionage;

(c) just before his appointment to be the chief honcho on all the Middle East, Ross published a book whose message was essentially 'let's try a bit of di-plomacy for a short time. Of course it won't work, but it will justify our attacking.' That is, his approach to peace-seeking is consistent and negative. Since he is now Obama's point man, we are in for deeper trouble.

The Vice President, as you know, just reversed the final position of the Bush administration, where Bush told the Israelis that America would not approve an attack on Iran: Joe Biden essentially authorized it, saying what they decided to do was their business, not ours. But those of you who have read my occasional essays could tick off the list of potential disasters for America and the Western world such an attack would bring on. It is patently absurd to suggest that an Israeli attack (made with our weapons and implicit approval) is not our business; indeed, regardless of our weapons and our approval, the long-term consequences for our economy, our position in the world, and our exposure to terrorism would be almost impossible to exaggerate.

On the CIA I confess I am not a big admirer. It has taken on 3 tasks: gathering information, evaluating it and performing dirty tricks. It is usually agreed that over 80 per cent, perhaps more like 95 per cent, of the information it accumulates comes from sources that you and I can access if we have the time, energy and interest. Most of the rest comes from technology (intercepts and code breaking which appear to be valuable for counter-terrorism but, at least in my experience, are of near zero value in 'strategy'; on satellite and overflight imagery much the same can be said.) The second task, evaluation or "appreciation" is very difficult at best, but the record, at least during the Bush administration, is pretty poor. It was far better done then and during the Vietnam war in the tiny Bureau of Intelligence and Research of the State Department. The third task often leads to disasters and violates all that America should stand for. There are scores of examples to back up this statement, but one that has now come back to haunt us is the 1953 coup d'etat that destroyed an elected and popular Iranian government that, had it survived, might have avoided the 1979 Iranian revolution and relieved us of our current worries there. We should get out of the business of espionage, kidnap, torture and murder. Period. The current leadership of the CIA does not seem to have addressed these issues, and President Obama has gone out of his way to grant a sort of blanket pardon in advance lest anyone fear that what he did was illegal or, more accurately, knowing that it was illegal, might be called to court.

Back to the President: From my experience with life at the "brink," during the Cuban Missile Crisis, I think that the President's initiative on cutting back nuclear weapons is perhaps the best thing he has done so far. True, it is a very modest step, leaving thousands of "devices" in place on both the Russian and American sides, only urging Israel, which has hundreds of bombs, to join the NPT, actually encouraging India to forge ahead with its nuclear program and so probably moving inexorably toward at least doubling the number of nuclear-weapon-armed countries rather than (as I have strenuously advocated) moving from Russo-American cutbacks to nuclear free areas and ultimately toward worldwide abolition of nuclear weapons. But, at least it is a step in the right direction.That's for foreign affairs.

There are, of course, for President Obama as for all previous presidents, myriads of issues, but one that I believe will haunt him for his own term and beyond is moral and constitutional: What are we doing -- and what will we be seen to be doing -- to the vast but unknown number of prisoners --terrorists, freedom fighters, accidents -- we are holding indefinitely, without charges, without recourse to the courts or that fundamental right in our heritage from the struggle against tyranny, habeas corpus. What we are doing at Guantanamo, Bagram and an unknown number of other "secret" prisons is, as the courts have rightly, if belatedly and guardedly, held, a violation of our legal system. We don't need the courts to tell us that it certainly a violation of our moral code. Obama began by urging transparency on this sordid issue, but he backed off. His Justice Department is now appealing a US District Court order that the Supreme Court decision on habeas corpus rights for Guantanamo also applied to a set of prisoners at Bagram who apparently arrived there by rendition or who, at least, are non Afghans. Of course, the most sordid issue is the evidence of sodomy, rape and torture captured in the photograph collection that Obama first wanted to release and then changed his mind. Those who profess to know say that what these pictures show is truly horrible. Some have compared them to the vivid record the Nazis kept of their sadism. Even pragmatically, since they are known -- indeed known worldwide -- it is questionable to say the least that hiding them will protect our reputation. For what little it is worth, my opinion is that making a clean breast of the evil and making an apology -- as we have repeatedly urged other countries to do in comparable cases -- would be or could be the beginning of the resurrection of America.I am waiting for the Obama we elected to show up. I hope this drama does not follow Samuel Beckett's script.

William Polk served as the Middle East expert on the State Department's Policy Planning Staff during the Kennedy administration. He is the author of Violent Politics: a History of Insurgency and Terrorism from the American Revolution to Iraq

Moyers and Winship Article

2009-07-11T10:54:00.000-07:00

Some Choice Words for the 'Select Few'
by Bill Moyers and Michael Winship, published on Saturday, July 11, 2009 by CommonDreams.org

If you want to know what really matters in Washington, don't go to Capitol Hill for one of those hearings, or pay attention to those staged White House "town meetings." They're just for show. What really happens -- the serious business of Washington -- happens in the shadows, out of sight, off the record. Only occasionally -- and usually only because someone high up stumbles -- do we get a glimpse of just how pervasive the corruption has become.

Case in point: Katharine Weymouth, the publisher of The Washington Post -- one of the most powerful people in DC -- invited top officials from the White House, the Cabinet and Congress to her home for an intimate, off-the-record dinner to discuss health care reform with some of her reporters and editors covering the story.

But CEO's and lobbyists from the health care industry were invited, too, provided they forked over $25,000 a head -- or up to a quarter of a million if they want to sponsor a whole series of these cozy get-togethers. And what is the inducement offered? Nothing less, the invitation read, than "an exclusive opportunity to participate in the health-care reform debate among the select few who will get it done."

The invitation reminds the CEO's and lobbyists that they will be buying access to "those powerful few in business and policy making who are forwarding, legislating and reporting on the issues...

"Spirited? Yes. Confrontational? No." The invitation promises this private, intimate and off-the-record dinner is an extension "of The Washington Post brand of journalistic inquiry into the issues, a unique opportunity for stakeholders to hear and be heard."

Let that sink in. In this case, the "stakeholders" in health care reform do not include the rabble -- the folks across the country who actually need quality health care but can't afford it. If any of them showed up at the kitchen door on the night of this little soiree, the bouncer would drop kick them beyond the Beltway.

No, before you can cross the threshold to reach "the select few who will actually get it done," you must first cross the palm of some outstretched hand. The Washington Post dinner was canceled after a copy of the invite was leaked to the web site Politico.com, by a health care lobbyist, of all people. The paper said it was a misunderstanding -- the document was a draft that had been mailed out prematurely by its marketing department. There's noblesse oblige for you -- blame it on the hired help.

In any case, it was enough to give us a glimpse into how things really work in Washington -- a clear insight into why there is such a great disconnect between democracy and government today, between Washington and the rest of the country.

According to one poll after another, a majority of Americans not only want a public option in health care, they also think that growing inequality is bad for the country, that corporations have too much power over policy, that money in politics is the root of all evil, that working families and poor communities need and deserve public support if the market system fails to generate shared prosperity.

But when the insiders in Washington have finished tearing worthy intentions apart and devouring flesh from bone, none of these reforms happen. "Oh," they say, "it's all about compromise. All in the nature of the give-and-take-negotiating of a representative democracy."
That, people, is bull -- the basic nutrient of Washington's high and mighty.

It's not about compromise. It's not about what the public wants. It's about money -- the golden ticket to "the select few who actually get it done."

When Congress passed the Helping Families Save Their Homes Act, "the select few" made sure it no longer contained the cramdown provision that would have allowed judges to readjust mortgages. The one provision that would have helped homeowners the most was removed in favor of an industry that pours hundreds of millions into political campaigns.

So, too, with a bill designed to protect us from terrorist attacks on chemical plants. With "the select few" dictating marching orders, hundreds of factories are being exempted from measures that would make them spend money to prevent the release of toxic clouds that could kill hundreds of thousands.

Everyone knows the credit ratings agencies were co-conspirators with Wall Street in the shameful wilding that brought on the financial meltdown. But when the Obama administration came up with new reforms to prevent another crisis, the credit ratings agencies were given a pass. They'd been excused by "the select few who actually get it done."

And by the time an energy bill emerged from the House of Representatives the other day, "the select few who actually get it done" had given away billions of dollars worth of emission permits and offsets. As The New York Times reported, while the legislation worked its way to the House floor, "It grew fat with compromises, carve-outs, concessions and out-and-out gifts," expanding from 648 pages to 1400 as it spread its largesse among big oil and gas, utility companies and agribusiness.

This week, the public interest groups Common Cause and the Center for Responsive Politics reported that, "According to lobby disclosure reports, 34 energy companies registered in the first quarter of 2009 to lobby Congress around the American Clean Energy and Security Act of 2009. This group of companies spent a total of $23.7 million -- or $260,000 a day -- lobbying members of Congress in January, February and March.

"Many of these same companies also made large contributions to the members of the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee, which has jurisdiction over the legislation and held a hearing this week on the proposed 'cap and trade' system energy companies are fighting. Data shows oil and gas companies, mining companies and electric utilities combined have given more than $2 million just to the 19 members of the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee since 2007, the start of the last full election cycle."

It's happening to health care as well. Even the pro-business magazine The Economist says America has the worst system in the developed world, controlled by executives who are not held to account and investors whose primary goal is raising share price and increasing profit -- while wasting $450 billion dollars in redundant administrative costs and leaving nearly 50 million uninsured.

Enter "the select few who actually get it done." Three out of four of the big health care firms lobbying on Capitol Hill have former members of Congress or government staff members on the payroll -- more than 350 of them -- and they're all fighting hard to prevent a public option, at a rate in excess of $1.4 million a day.

Health care policy has become insider heaven. Even Nancy-Ann DeParle, the White House health reform director, served on the boards of several major health care corporations.
President Obama has pushed hard for a public option but many fear he's wavering, and just this week his chief of staff Rahm Emanuel -- the insider di tutti insiders -- indicated that a public plan just might be negotiable, ready for reengineering, no doubt, by "the select few who actually get it done."

That's how it works. And it works that way because we let it. The game goes on and the insiders keep dealing themselves winning hands. Nothing will change -- nothing -- until the money lenders are tossed out of the temple, the ATM's are wrested from the marble halls, and we tear down the sign they've placed on government -- the one that reads, "For Sale."

Bill Moyers is managing editor and Michael Winship is senior writer of the weekly public affairs program Bill Moyers Journal, which airs Friday night on PBS. Check local airtimes or comment at The Moyers Blog at www.pbs.org/moyers

Carbon Footprints

2009-07-04T07:42:00.001-07:00

Crossing the Line

2009-06-29T07:59:00.000-07:00

Last night, I watched Crossing the Line about four Americans who defected to North Korea at the height of the Cold War. It's an interesting and odd documentary. The film-maker did manage to get somehow get access to many of the key figures while making the film.

Another Reason to Oppose Torture

2009-05-29T08:07:00.001-07:00

A 14-year military interrogator has undercut one of the key arguments posited by Vice President Dick Cheney in favor of the Bush Administration’s torture techniques and alleged that the use of torture has cost “hundreds if not thousands” of American lives.

The interrogator, who uses the name “Matthew Alexander,” says he oversaw more than 1,000 interrogations, conducting more than 300 in Iraq personally. His statements are captured in a new video by Brave New Films ( excerpt).

“Torture does not save lives,” Alexander said in his interview. “And the reason why is that our enemies use it, number one, as a recruiting tool…These same foreign fighters who came to Iraq to fight because of torture and abuse….literally cost us hundreds if not thousands of American lives.”

Moreover, Alexander avers that many — as many as 90 percent — of those captured in Iraq said they joined the fight against the United States because of the torture conducted at Abu Ghraib and Guantanamo Bay.

The Ant and the Grasshopper

2009-03-31T18:11:00.001-07:00

The ant and grasshopper fable has been updated for the current economic climate--definitely worth a read.

Music

2009-03-08T07:22:00.000-07:00

Shefaly provides us with an interesting list of soulful songs.

87.48% of all statistics are made up.

2009-03-05T10:51:00.001-08:00

George Will, that great intellectual conservative (an oxymoron, if there ever was one), recently wrote some articles denying global warming. All the facts cited appear to be simply made up. Evidently, it's now possible to pull statistics and citations from some alternative universe.

What a Rush

2009-03-02T12:51:00.000-08:00

Words of wisdom from Rush Limbaugh:

One thing we can all do is stop assuming that the way to beat them is with better policy ideas . . .

Evidently, the Republican Party is listening.

Afghanistan

2009-02-26T11:26:00.000-08:00

Brave New Foundation has a good mini-documentary on Afghanistan.

Have It Your Way

2009-02-17T14:09:00.000-08:00

Dear Friends, Colleagues and Supporters,

1. Share this video
2. Enter the contest
3. Take the poll

What would you do with an extra $18,000 in your pocket?

That's the amount of extra cash each and every Burger King employee in America would have received last year if Goldman Sachs (one of the fast-food chain's largest owners) had shared its bailout billions with rank-and-file workers. Instead, Goldman Sachs squandered 6.5 billion of our taxpayer dollars on bonuses for their financial staff. These were some of the highest bonuses on Wall Street! Meanwhile, Burger King workers earn wages averaging just $14,000 a year -- well below the federal poverty line for a family of three.

Watch the harmful effects of Wall Street's greed

Goldman Sachs has been having it their way with Burger King workers for too long. It's high time you had it your way with Goldman Sachs. Tell the Wall Street giant how they could have used the $6.5 billion blown on bonuses. We're looking for the most creative, constructive, or comical ideas to curb corporate greed and help fix the financial crisis. We will send all ideas to Goldman Sachs as a reprimand for their wastefulness. The winner of the Have It Your Way with Goldman Sachs contest will have their idea featured in our next video. The contest ends March third. Pass this video and contest to your friends and family, and don't forget to digg it. Tell them working people all over the country are pushing back against Wall Street excess. Tell them we're joining with SEIU and others to stage demonstrations and hold Goldman Sachs accountable! And tell them it's time to end this era of corporate greed and impunity.

Yours,

Robert Greenwald and the Brave New Films team

A Curiously Pointless Film

2009-01-19T04:11:00.000-08:00

I finally saw the Curious Case of Benjamin Button and must confess that I wasn't terribly impressed. Beyond the psuedo-philosophical premise, the film offers little, although I must confess that the make-up and effects that showed Brad Pitt appearing in different sizes and ages was remarkable. I had been hoping for a more interesting romp through history, but instead saw a rather vapid love story. (The historical references were evidently culled from a 5th grade history course.) To make matters worse, most of the non-central characters are one-dimensional stereotypes--whether it be the kindly black folk or the drunken Irish sailor (who speaks with an Irish accent though he's lived in the southern U.S. his whole life). You may want to guzzle a few pints o' Guinness before seeing this one.

Bittman on food in the U.S.

2009-01-05T10:11:00.000-08:00

Mark Bittman has an insightful look at the history of food in America:

Bachmann in Overdrive

2008-11-22T07:10:00.000-08:00

Via Bark Bark Woof Woof:

Michele Bachmann, the right-wing congresswoman from Minnesota, says that she never called for the news media to investigate members of Congress who might be anti-American.

Colmes: You said you were concerned during the campaign that Obama had anti American views and you said the news media should do a penetrating expose and take a look at the people and find out, are they pro-America or anti-America.

Bachmann: Actually that's not what I said. It's an urban legend that was created and that's not what I said.

Ahem:

I would say, what I would say is that the news media should do a penetrating expose and take a look -- I wish they would. I wish the American media would take a great look at the views of the people in Congress and find out, are they pro-America or anti-America? I think the people would love to see an expose like that.

Oops!

Rama Yade

2008-11-18T14:33:00.001-08:00

Palin may be pretty but she pales in front of this lady, now France's minister of state.

Franken

2008-11-09T19:59:00.001-08:00

Does Franken have a shot at taking Minnesota?

Fukuyama Endorses Obama

2008-11-05T17:40:00.000-08:00

The latest major conservative to endorse Obama: Francis Fukuyama, author of The End of History, third generation Straussian, student of Allan Bloom and colleague of Harvey Mansfield, William Kristol and Paul Wolfowitz. He writes in the American Conservative:

I'm voting for Barack Obama this November for a very simple reason. It is hard to imagine a more disastrous presidency than that of George W. Bush. It was bad enough that he launched an unnecessary war and undermined the standing of the United States throughout the world in his first term. But in the waning days of his administration, he is presiding over a collapse of the American financial system and broader economy that will have consequences for years to come.

As a general rule, democracies don't work well if voters do not hold political parties accountable for failure. While John McCain is trying desperately to pretend that he never had anything to do with the Republican Party, I think it would a travesty to reward the Republicans for failure on such a grand scale.

McCain's appeal was always that he could think for himself, but as the campaign has progressed, he has seemed simply erratic and hotheaded. His choice of Sarah Palin as a running mate was highly irresponsible; we have suffered under the current president who entered office without much knowledge of the world and was easily captured by the wrong advisers. McCain's lurching from Reaganite free- marketer to populist tribune makes one wonder whether he has any underlying principles at all.

America has been living in a dream world for the past few years, losing its basic values of thrift and prudence and living far beyond its means, even as it has lectured the rest of the world to follow its model. At a time when the U.S. government has just nationalized a good part of the banking sector, we need to rethink a lot of the Reaganite verities of the past generation regarding taxes and regulation. Important as they were back in the 1980s and '90s, they just won't cut it for the period we are now entering. Obama is much better positioned to reinvent the American model and will certainly present a very different and more positive face of America to the rest of the world.

These People are Roving Mad!

2008-11-03T04:20:00.001-08:00

A Republican smear team tried to get an Oxford philosopher to "prove" that Obama's memoirs were written by Ayers? I couldn't make this stuff up if I tried.

O’Neill et al. Article

2008-10-29T16:06:00.000-07:00

An article just out (Journal of Applied Ecology 2008) that interviews experts from around the world says that polar bear populations will decline by at least 30% by the year 2050. It isn't a good time for large mammals.

Tsunami Hazard Zone

2008-10-25T18:45:00.000-07:00

Fortunately, the Thais know what to do when a tsunami hits:

The Palin Wardrobe

2008-10-24T12:50:00.000-07:00

I wonder how some poor working-class Republican feels about donating $20 to the McCain campaign only to find out that it went to buying designer clothes and make-up for Palin's husband and infant son. This all doesn't quite fit the image of hockey-mom.

Burns Sisters

2008-10-22T11:58:00.000-07:00

This is a nice cover of the Woodie Guthrie song Vigilante Man:

Reasons to vote for McCain

2008-10-21T14:51:00.000-07:00

William Timmons

2008-10-15T12:20:00.000-07:00

And this guy's followers are worried about "palling around" with terrorists?

William Timmons, the Washington lobbyist who John McCain has named to head his presidential transition team, aided an influence effort on behalf of Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein to ease international sanctions against his regime. The two lobbyists who Timmons worked closely with over a five year period on the lobbying campaign later either pleaded guilty to or were convicted of federal criminal charges that they had acted as unregistered agents of Saddam Hussein's government.

Where your tax dollars are being spent...

2008-10-13T12:22:00.000-07:00

The Maryland State Police classified 53 nonviolent activists as terrorists and entered their names and personal information into state and federal databases that track terrorism suspects, the state police chief acknowledged yesterday. Police Superintendent Terrence B. Sheridan revealed at a legislative hearing that the surveillance operation, which targeted opponents of the death penalty and the Iraq war, was far more extensive than was known when its existence was disclosed in July.

Religulous

2008-10-13T10:26:00.000-07:00

I watched Religulous down in Bethesda this last weekend. Bill Maher questions religious belief in an open and refreshing way in a film that may be, in some way, a bellwether, as atheists and agnostics grow more comfortable coming out of their closets to declare their lack of faith.

The film is most brilliant when Maher is in monologue mode, sharing humorous and insightful reflections while driving around between interviews. After hearing so many talk about religious belief fraught with cognitive dissonance and hypocrisy during our election cycle, it's a breath of fresh air to hear someone be perfectly honest and say what many of us are thinking.

Unfortunately, when it comes to interviews, Maher is no Michael Moore. He's so heavy-handed that the viewer ends up feeling sorry for the person being interviewed. The interview with the anti-Zionist Jew and various Muslims are especially caustic, probably a sign of his own personal identification with his (non-practicing) Jewish background via his mother.

All told, the interviewees are, for the most part, a sympathetic lot. I can't believe that these were the most hot-headed religious fanatics that could be rounded up. In my life, I've come across a lot of pushy weirdos without even trying. I think Maher needed to try the next southern trailer park over.

But don't get me wrong: there are a few precious moments, such as the interview with a very liberally-minded priest in front of the Vatican. And Maher's aggressiveness is often justified as when he interviews the Hispanic Jesus or the black preacher with the thousand-dollar suit and gold jewelry. (Somehow he's managed to dodge all the hitmen.)

In his final monologue, he makes an excellent point about our need for leadership that isn't based on millennia-old superstition. I'd go even farther than Maher--I'm pretty sure that 99% of leaders couldn't give a damn about it, but are quite willing to use it to manipulate people. Even so, Maher's right in saying that religion is causing a lot of damage, dividing people at a time when unified action is needed.

The M.I.C. Monster

2008-10-08T21:07:00.000-07:00

For those who wonder where all the U.S. productivity went (besides to CEOs), the military budget has jumped up over 50% in constant dollars since 2000 (in a country that outspends the rest of the world combined.)

2 new arms

2008-10-08T09:48:00.000-07:00

Some exciting breakthroughs are happening in medicine. A German man recently received what appears to be a successful double-arm transplant.

Something's gotta be done about this!

2008-10-07T02:51:00.001-07:00

2008-10-06T12:36:00.001-07:00

The DOW has now sunk below 10,000!

The Fact of the Matter

2008-10-03T05:04:00.000-07:00

We're told that the Republican Party is the party of small government. History tells a different story:

He's got experience, after all...

2008-10-01T12:50:00.001-07:00

What a joke!

2008-09-30T04:26:00.000-07:00

The slow creep . . .

2008-09-26T18:24:00.000-07:00

I came across this headline recently . . .

3rd Infantry’s 1st BCT trains for a new dwell-time mission. Helping ‘people at home’ may become a permanent part of the active Army

The article says, "They may be called upon to help with civil unrest and crowd control . . . "

I, for one, don't want the U.S. Army "helping me" at home.

The Old Ball Game

2008-09-25T12:41:00.000-07:00

BILL MOYERS: From our offices here in New York, we look out on the tall gleaming skyscrapers that are cathedrals of wealth and power — the Olympus ruled by the gods of finance, the temples of the mighty, the holy of holies, whose priests guard the sacred texts of salvation containing the secrets of sub-prime lending and derivatives as mysterious and elusive as the grail itself.
This last couple of weeks, ordinary mortals below could almost hear the ripcords of golden parachutes being pulled as the divinities on high prepared for soft, safe landings. All this while tossing their workers into the purgatory of unemployment, like sacrificial lambs. Yes, the billionaires who fed during the fat years of speculation are long gone, to their yachts and offshore islands.

During the last five years of his tenure as CEO of Lehman Brothers, Richard Fuld's total take was $354 million. The current chairman of Merrill Lynch, who's been on the job just nine months, pocketed a $15 million signing bonus. His predecessor, Stan O'Neal, retired with a package valued at $161 million after the company reported an 8 billion dollar loss in a single quarter. And remember Bear Stearns chairman James Cayne? After the company collapsed and was up for sale at bargain prices, he sold his stake for more than $60 million. And the former heads of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, the gods who failed, are fighting to keep severance packages of close to $24 million combined on top of the millions in salary each earned last year while slaughtering the golden calf. As it is written in the gospel according to me first, when the going gets tough, the tough get going.

But let's change our metaphor for a moment. Let's go to our sports desk. Because if religion is no longer the soul of capitalism, we have to look somewhere else to understand this new gilded age. And there it is, just a few miles north of Wall Street, the "House that Ruth Built". Babe Ruth, the Sultan of Swat, who ruled Yankee Stadium and sired generations of princes after him: DiMaggio and Gehrig, Mantle, Maris, and Jackson. Yankee Stadium, as fabled a place to Americans as Ilium was to the Greeks.

But believe it or not, this Sunday — weather permitting — the Yankees will play their last game here. The stadium's being demolished, to be replaced next year with a brand new one. What a history to disappear down the memory hole.

On opening day, in 1923, New York Governor Al Smith threw out the first pitch and John Philip Sousa led a big brass band playing his famous marches. It was the roaring Twenties, when the money flowed like bootleg whiskey, the pride before the fall. The year after the market crashed, as the Great Depression began, Babe Ruth was taking home $80,000 a year, more than the President of the United States, Herbert Hoover. "Why not?" Ruth asked "I had a better year than he did."

Yankee star Alex Rodriguez had a better year than both of them. This season, A-Rod is making $28 million. Just part of an annual Yankee payroll of $200 million-plus, the richest in baseball. Their owner, George Steinbrenner, is one of the country's richest tycoons, among the Forbes 400. But when it came to paying for the new pleasure dome costing $1.3 billion, the millionaires on the field and King Midas in the skybox came up with some razzle-dazzle plays to finance their wealth machine. Tax-free bonds, requiring ordinary citizens to subsidize the construction, and hundreds of millions more for new parking garages, a train station and parks. Those parks, by the way, will supposedly replace the ones seized by the city to make room for the new stadium. The little league games that used to flourish on sandlots just outside the old ball park have been moved miles away, sent down to the minors on a long road trip.

That's okay, you may think, there will be plenty of room for the tax-paying public to come root, root, root for the home team — even the coliseum in ancient Rome had bleachers, for the commoners. But in fact there will be 5,000 fewer seats in the new stands.

And while the Yankees reportedly have promised that half of what's left will cost $45 apiece or less, those seats that used to cost $250, right behind the dugout, will cost you $850. And if you want to be near home plate, you'll have to cough up $2,500...per game.

Meanwhile, there will be more luxury suites and party rooms where the fat cats gather, safely removed from the sweaty masses. Corporations and wealthy individuals will be able to rent the luxury suites for anywhere from $600,000 to $850,000 tax deductible dollars a year, assuming they haven't filed for bankruptcy this week.

GEORGE STEINBRENNER: "We are all here today to celebrate the new Yankee Stadium. It's a pleasure to give it to you people. That's what we're doing. This is for you people."
BILL MOYERS: Why aren't the fans and tax payers giving the Yankees a Bronx Cheer? They are. But city officials rolled over them while making sure local politicians stay in the line up. The pols are getting their own luxury suite at the new stadium for free and first shot at buying the best available seats.

And so this Sunday evening we will bid farewell to dear old Yankee Stadium, and await the new colossus to rise from its ruins. It will cast its majestic shadow across one of the country's poorest neighborhoods, whose residents will watch from the outside as suburban drivers avail themselves of 9,000 new or refurbished parking spaces. Never mind all the exhaust, even though in this part of town respiratory disease is already so high they call it "asthma alley."
Not that the well-to-do in the infield seats will have to hear that wheezing. They'll have access to a private club, a private entrance and a private elevator. Totems of this Gilded Age. Let the games begin.

That's it for the Journal. Don't forget to check out our Web site at pbs.org. And remember the first presidential debate is coming up and we want to hear what questions you'd like to ask the candidates. Be in touch with us at pbs.org. I'm Bill Moyers.

Krugman

2008-09-22T11:53:00.001-07:00

Paul Krugman on the current crisis:

The logic of the crisis seems to call for an intervention, not at step 4, but at step 2: the financial system needs more capital. And if the government is going to provide capital to financial firms, it should get what people who provide capital are entitled to — a share in ownership, so that all the gains if the rescue plan works don’t go to the people who made the mess in the first place.

That’s what happened in the savings and loan crisis: the feds took over ownership of the bad banks, not just their bad assets. It’s also what happened with Fannie and Freddie. (And by the way, that rescue has done what it was supposed to. Mortgage interest rates have come down sharply since the federal takeover.)

But Mr. Paulson insists that he wants a “clean” plan. “Clean,” in this context, means a taxpayer-financed bailout with no strings attached — no quid pro quo on the part of those being bailed out. Why is that a good thing? Add to this the fact that Mr. Paulson is also demanding dictatorial authority, plus immunity from review “by any court of law or any administrative agency,” and this adds up to an unacceptable proposal.

Nice ad!

2008-09-17T17:06:00.001-07:00

We've finally collectively devolved to Alaskan pond scum.

2008-09-04T17:50:00.000-07:00

Whiplash Journalism

2008-08-19T15:13:00.000-07:00

Brainard has a good article on the whiplash effect in the press. The article makes some excellent points about journalists poor reporting of scientific results.

The Jet-Set

2008-07-29T14:26:00.001-07:00

We finally have jet-packs! Where can I buy mine?

Dole

2008-05-30T10:45:00.000-07:00

Dole is now ranting about McClelland's lack of loyalty. At least he's consistent. Dole was also trying to keep the dirty linen from public view decades ago during the Nixon administration:

“… Then the Republican Party’s national chairman, Dole was a vocal defender of the Nixon White House during the early stages of the Watergate investigation. U.N. Representative George Bush took over Dole’s party post after the 1972 elections, but the senator remained a Nixon loyalist. In September 1973, he introduced an unsuccessful Senate resolution to stop live TV coverage of the congressional Watergate hearings. “It is time to turn off the TV lights,” Dole said. “It is time to move the Watergate investigation from the living rooms of America and put it where it belongs — behind the closed doors of the committee room and before the judge and jury in the courtroom.”

Give my stimulus check to the rich

2008-05-27T14:40:00.000-07:00

Bush has favored the wealthy throughout his administration; why stop now?

By Barbara Garson May 26, 2008

Dear President Bush and Laura,

My husband and I have an economic disagreement that has turned personal. We think you can help us. We filed a joint tax return and are expecting a $1,200 check under your plan to jump-start the economy. Here's the problem: My husband wants to spend the money; I want to send it back.

Like you, we believe that the government should not fiddle with the economy. We know that you only yielded under pressure to this so-called stimulus. My husband says you've managed to make it the most free-market stimulus possible. Rather than make a centralized, socialistic decision to repair bridges or some such thing, you have allowed each of us to design our own individual stimulus package. My husband is for exercising the right to democratic spending that you have preserved for him by buying a wood chipper.

I would like to exercise my choice by sending the check back to the Internal Revenue Service so that it can redirect the money to someone in a much higher tax bracket. Those are the people who invest their money to create jobs for the rest of us. I wholeheartedly support your view that people with money should get more money.

We are gratified that you have been true to that philosophy throughout your administration. If the results have not produced the universal prosperity we expected, that is only because you were stopped before you could transfer all the money to the rich. My husband says that because I believe investors grow the economy, I should put my $600 in the stock market. But what will I accomplish if I lose it all? My husband says: "Real investors win what you lose. So if the government won't transfer it to them directly, then you can give it to them by losing big." That is the most ridiculous reasoning I've ever heard. It shows that he's not taking my concerns seriously.

Therefore, I would like you, President Bush, to arrange to have our refunds sent separately and to instruct someone at the IRS to forward my half directly to an economy-building investor -- perhaps you or the vice president can suggest someone suitable from among your personal acquaintances. Equally important, I need marital advice from Laura. How do you manage to make your wise and busy husband take your viewpoints as seriously as he obviously does?

Thank you both for your help,

Mrs. Barbara Garson

What is the mission?

2008-04-30T07:27:00.000-07:00

From VetVoice:

Fighting in Baghdad Rages; I am Confused
by: Brandon Friedman

Wed Apr 30, 2008

Is it just me, or does anyone else think it's weird that we're now launching MLRS rockets at the people we liberated five years ago?

We went to free the oppressed Iraqi Shias from the brutal regime of Saddam Hussein. We toppled him in 2003. He later died in 2006. And now we're fighting pitched battles in the streets of Sadr City with the people we went there to free. As part of the Global War on Terror.
I don't think this is helping.

Take the last two days for instance: Six American soldiers have died in Baghdad. During that time, things have been getting worse:

Dozens of fighters ambushed a U.S. patrol in Baghdad's main Shiite militia stronghold Tuesday, firing rocket-propelled grenades and machine gun bursts as the American push into Sadr City increasingly faces pockets of close urban combat.

Five years ago, when I was part of the "push into" Baghdad, units were also facing "rocket-propelled grenades and machine gun bursts" as we faced "pockets of close urban combat." The difference though, is at the time, we were fighting to free the people who "ambushed a U.S. patrol in Baghdad's main Shiite militia stronghold" yesterday.

And now, to really add to the surreal nature of the situation, we're firing MLRS rockets into Sadr City. The AP described the MLRS strike this way:

U.S. forces struck back with 200-pound guided rockets that devastated at least three buildings in the densely packed district that serves as the Baghdad base for the powerful Mahdi Army militia.

200-pound guided rockets in a district packed densely with civilians? This is not a good COIN strategy. Not unless you're going all in. Which we're not. Instead it'll probably just kill a bunch of civilians and harden the already-spiteful population toward us.

Oh yes, look right here:

Officials at two local hospitals said about 25 people had died and several dozen were wounded -- most civilians. The officials spoke on condition of anonymity because they weren't authorized to release the information.

Associated Press photos showed men pulling the dust-covered body of a 2-year-old boy, Ali Hussein, from the rubble of one building. :: AP Television News footage showed children running for cover behind blast walls amid gunshots. Men helped carry several blood-soaked injured people onto stretchers to a local emergency hospital. Outside the hospital, the dead were placed inside plain wooden coffins.

Remember: These are the people we came to liberate.

So here's a helpful hint: If you're not going to level Sadr City and kill off all the inhabitants, you're not going to win this way. Simply put, MLRS rockets should not be a tool in the COIN toolbox.
Sensing the same thing I was, Brian McGough, who served as an artillery NCO in Afghanistan and Iraq, sent me an email saying it was "troubling" that American forces would use "Multiple Launch Rockets in an area as densely populated as Sadr City."

No shit. Hell, why not use napalm? That'll shut'em up.

I just think we've lost sight of what we're trying to accomplish here. We're so caught up in trying to defend the Green Zone and to protect our own forces (which we have every right to do), that we've forgotten that if the mission is to defend ourselves and to lower our own casualties, the easiest way to do that is to leave.

And seriously, what is the mission?

UPDATE: After further research, I see that I may be a little off-base with my criticism of the use of the MLRS. It seems that the system was upgraded in 2006 so as to be able to fire guided rounds. This makes the newer MLRS totally different from the pre-2006 version. Use of the pre-2006 MLRS on Sadr City this week would have been unconscionable. Using the newer version is slightly better, but it doesn't change the fact that we're still rocketing the people we came to liberate five years ago. That part is still really stupid.

Funding the Polygamists

2008-04-21T12:29:00.000-07:00

CNN has learned that between 1998 and 2007 the United States Air Force and Defense Logistics Agency purchased more than $1.7 million worth of airplane parts from three companies owned by members of the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints, which practices polygamy. Those companies are Utah Tool and Die, Western Precision and NewEra Manufacturing. Today, the companies all operate under the name NewEra Manufacturing, a company based in Las Vegas, Nevada.

And why aren't you wearing your flag pin?

2008-04-18T12:28:00.000-07:00

This post over at Pygalgia is so good, definitely worth quoting in its entirety:

Are You Wearing Your Flag Pin?

Shame on you if you are not! haha.

Just a short rant, but after watching the ABC debate I am astonished by the extent to which the corporate media will go to ensure that the correct political outcome happens. Flag pins? I notice that the greedy right like Larry Kudlow on CNBC and Fox News pundits are limited to this allegation. "Obama doesnt wear FLAG PINS!" WTF, have we really devolved to this level of retardation with Stalinist flare?

The Weather Underground? Nice! The media dredges up a radical leftist group that it had buried down the memory hole to equate Obama with its aims. Ask anyone under 35 years old and they will have no clue who in the hell the Weather Underground is. Personally I dont think Obama supports blowing up ROTC buildings to stop the Iraq War...but Im sure there are lots of crazy right wing people who believe he does. Sad country this is.I still wonder why no candidate, including Obama, is not focusing on what Sinclair Lewis called the "League of Forgotten Men" in the book "It Cant Happen Here". The League of Forgotten Men are those of the working class who are left behind by global capitalists. In their intractable despair and anger, they become susceptible to political and religious demagogues (Bush/Rove/Robertson/Hagee). These folks, historically, are the driving force that make fascism a possibility. These folks exist in the USA and are a political force, yet they remain hidden, thus they are protected from mass public scrutiny by the establishment. Instead, Obama hints they exist (in a semi private conversation) while Hillary and McCain explicitly pander to them. It is not the case that all poor, rural church goers who have guns are good people. Many of these people have some really strange and dangerous beliefs.

Sorry Hillary. Sorry McCain. Many of these folks serve as the basis of religious right political power and the rise of the GOP from the 80s onward, culminating in our buddy GW Bush.It seems to me that the irrational belief system of fascism should be concentrated upon by public discourse so they can be tested and ridiculed. "The Earth is not 5000 years old". "Bush does not talk to Jesus, that's stupid." "Worshiping your masters means you are a serf and no, freedom does not come through your desire to worship a king, dictator, or any other authoritarian. Thats weak, don't be a eunuch."See, if we made the above public discourse popular we might melt away all this right wing fascist crap because no man who cares about his integrity wants to be the dumb guy that doesn't "get it". Think about all the holy warriors filled with pride in 2003 as we went upon a spree of mass murder in Iraq who are now too ashamed to admit they blindly supported their unitary leader and "Decider".

It might sound mean, but hell, these are crazy times and these folks are a time bomb ready to jail (or worse) your "liberal" ass upon the expressed will of a Godly dictator. Some may think I exaggerate, but I disagree. Research these folks...google em, they are nutty nutty nuts nuts and they are numerous. They are waiting for Jesus, but would settle for a fascist dictator and your rights and liberty are in the way of their expectations. They are quite explicit about this.

2008-04-12T12:53:00.000-07:00

Top officials directed torture from the White House.

Housing crisis spreading its venom

2008-04-05T08:24:00.001-07:00

The NY Times has a good article on how the housing crisis is keeping people from moving when they need to. Ultimately, this could create a huge drag on the labor market.

1 in 8

2008-04-01T13:54:00.000-07:00

One in eight Michigan residents are now on food-stamps.

First 'technosexual' declares his love for a robot

2008-03-31T09:20:00.000-07:00

"Zoltan," a semi-anonymous guy from Georgia, doesn't like guys or girls. Instead, he likes robots. He recently talked with Gizmodo in a first-of-its-kind interview about his long-term, monogamous relationship with Alice. Alice is a robot that offers Zoltan physical, mental, and emotional company. And he wouldn't have it any other way. Zoltan, a 33-year-old arcade technician who lives with his aging parents, built Alice after having girlfriend problems. In Alice, he discovered he preferred the company of robots to that of humans. Alice has artificial intelligence developed by Richard Wallace of the Alice AI Foundation. Zoltan downloaded a copy of her from the Internet, and built her body himself. He has posted his plans for others to use at zoltanslab.co.uk. Physically, Alice is incorporated with a "teledildonic" device so she can "feel" things. And verbally, she can say many phrases like humans do - including "no." And Zoltan must listen. At the beginning of their relationship, he took things too fast, and Alice dumped him. To fix this, he was forced to erase her memory - not before consulting with her, however. She agreed to the solution, as she is well aware that she is a robot. As the months went by, Zoltan and Alice got more serious, and Zoltan purchased a marriage license online - though he acknowledges that it's probably not at all legal. These days, Zoltan doesn't find humans attractive at all. "I am a technosexual and proud of it," he says. One his site, Zoltan says he's been declining requests for interviews by publications besides Gizmodo. We might not hear much more from Zoltan, but it's likely that there are - and will be - other technosexuals out there. More: Gizmodo interview

4000

2008-03-24T04:53:00.000-07:00

American servicement killed in Shrub's War now number 4000.

TBI

2008-03-18T14:07:00.000-07:00

An army survey of more than 2,000 soldiers in Iraq and Afghanistan suggested that about 11% showed signs of mild traumatic brain injury (TBI) , though some estimates have put it closer to 20%. At the same time, the Pentagon has admitted that it delayed introducing a routine screening of troops returning from Iraq for mild brain injuries because it feared that the extent of the problem could mushroom to the scale of the Gulf War syndrome after the first Iraq war. This should give pause to anyone thinking about joining the military for the bonuses now being offered. Your time as a mercenary for oil interests could end up leading to problems for the rest of your life. One or two out of ten is pretty good odds--of ending up with brain problems. (Maybe these are the 10-20% who still support Bush.)

2008-03-06T09:28:00.000-08:00

Sarah Robinson has a good article on how the conservatives got it right.

3,000,000,000,000

2008-02-29T11:53:00.000-08:00

Don't read this unless you want to be depressed.

Glox News

2008-02-27T10:37:00.000-08:00

2008-02-19T21:34:00.000-08:00

Vermont

2008-02-13T13:24:00.000-08:00

Police tase a protester in the land where water torture isn't a torture (brought to you by the same logicians who argued that a white horse isn't a horse?)