How's that bipartisanship thing working out?
Dude, I admire your motivation, I really do, but maybe you should have consulted the bloggers (you know, we who've been documenting the Republican modus operandi and the messes resulting from it for years) before you went up to the Hill, only to have shit thrown at you, but live and learn. I hadda learn a buncha shit the hard way too but we all told you what you'd get - a shit sandwich.
Mr. President, a bold truth of this day and age is the Republican party of the 21st Century cares nothing for the well being of the average American. It's all about ideology and political payback and the sooner you learn that, the sooner you'll stop wasting your time on them.
And an addendum: Forget you ever heard the name "Rush Limbaugh". Going down that road is a dead end.
Wednesday, January 28, 2009
Tuesday, January 27, 2009
PBS: NSA could have prevented 9/11 hijackings
This'll piss ya off. What part of 'National' and 'Security' does the National Security Agency not get? Time to clean house at that outfit.
Here's a preview of the upcoming NOVA "The Spy Factory":
Here's a preview of the upcoming NOVA "The Spy Factory":
Bad Faith Economics
Heeeeeere's Krugman on Repug obstructionism on The Stimulus:
The debunking commenceth. And then...
Fuckin' A.
As the debate over President Obama’s economic stimulus plan gets under way, one thing is certain: many of the plan’s opponents aren’t arguing in good faith. Conservatives really, really don’t want to see a second New Deal, and they certainly don’t want to see government activism vindicated. So they are reaching for any stick they can find with which to beat proposals for increased government spending.
But the obvious cheap shots don’t pose as much danger to the Obama administration’s efforts to get a plan through as arguments and assertions that are equally fraudulent but can seem superficially plausible to those who don’t know their way around economic concepts and numbers. So as a public service, let me try to debunk some of the major antistimulus arguments that have already surfaced. Any time you hear someone reciting one of these arguments, write him or her off as a dishonest flack.
The debunking commenceth. And then...
This suggests that public spending rather than tax cuts should be the core of any stimulus plan. But rather than accept that implication, conservatives take refuge in a nonsensical argument against public spending in general.
These are only some of the fundamentally fraudulent antistimulus arguments out there. Basically, conservatives are throwing any objection they can think of against the Obama plan, hoping that something will stick.
But here’s the thing: Most Americans aren’t listening. The most encouraging thing I’ve heard lately is Mr. Obama’s reported response to Republican objections to a spending-oriented economic plan: “I won.” Indeed he did — and he should disregard the huffing and puffing of those who lost.
Fuckin' A.
Torture Q & A
A Q & A session between John Dean and Phillipe Sands at FindLaw.
There's a lot in between those quotes. Go read.
Shorter: Someone, somewhere, is going to investigate and prosecute these war crimes. The questions are who, when, and where. My recomendations are us, soon, and here.
Remarkably, the confirmation of President Obama's Attorney General nominee, Eric Holder, is being held up by Texas Republican Senator John Cornyn, who apparently is unhappy that Holder might actually investigate and prosecute Bush Administration officials who engaged in torture. Aside from this repugnant new Republican embrace of torture (which might be a winning issue for the lunatic fringe of the party and a nice way to further marginalize the GOP), any effort to protect Bush officials from legal responsibility for war crimes, in the long run, will not work.
One would think that people like Cheney, Rumsfeld, Addington, Gonzales, Yoo, Haynes and others, who claim to have done nothing wrong, would call for investigations to clear themselves if they really believed that to be the case. Only they, however, seem to believe in their innocence – the entire gutless and cowardly group of them, who have shamed themselves and the nation by committing crimes against humanity in the name of the United States.
We must all hope that the Obama Administration does the right thing, rather than forcing another country to clean up the mess and seek to erase the dangerous precedent these people have created for our country. A first clue may come when Holder resumes testifying.
There's a lot in between those quotes. Go read.
Shorter: Someone, somewhere, is going to investigate and prosecute these war crimes. The questions are who, when, and where. My recomendations are us, soon, and here.
Guantanamo Baywatch
Jon Stewart, obviously a regular reader of the Brain, follows up on Fixer's post. He makes a damn good point on something our country is really, really good at.
I told the video to be in the center, but it didn't mind me.
Quote of the Day
Scott Lemieux:
Six of the sweetest words in the English language: "This is William Kristol's last column."
Monday, January 26, 2009
Nevada refuses brothels' request to pay taxes
The Gray Lady. In a teddy?
LAS VEGAS — It is virtually unheard of for any legal industry to ask to be taxed. And it would seem even more unlikely for any government, especially one facing down a nearly $2 billion budget gap, to hesitate when a business is willing to pay up.
Yet such is the case for Nevada’s brothels, a $50-million-a-year industry that pays significant amounts of tax to the rural counties in which they operate but only a $100 business license fee to the state.
“Anytime you’re going to take tax money, the state’s not going to view you as a relic of a past time and put you out of business,” explained Mr. Flint, who said he was gaining traction for a brothel tax in 2003 until he made the faux pas of joking to a reporter that he would commit to putting the governor’s portrait in every prostitute’s lair along with a note reading, “Don’t forget the governor’s share.”
Heh.
Mr. Coffin disputed the speaker’s assertion that a brothel tax would require statewide legalization and called it a “legal backdoor” to avoid the matter.
The, er, 'backdoor' is already 'legal'. It's just extra.
Go read the rest. I'm pretty sure one of the reasons Nevada doesn't tax brothels is that they'd be embarrassed to say where the tax comes from, while doing the same thing to the people that politicians and prostitutes do everywhere.
I'm a big booster of legalized prostitution for a variety of reasons that I won't go into here, and I applaud Nevada for its progressive attitude in the matter. It's about the only thing 'progressive' in that state. If people want it, and it's harmless, let 'em have all they want and tax it. Use of the product is voluntary and these are hard times.
The same can be said for legalization and taxation of marijuana. Just as an aside, there was a great show on CNBC last night about California's No.1 cash crop. Catch it if you can.
Shit, if I could pay a little tax to run open pipes on my motorcycle, I'd gladly cough up. Most of you should be glad I can't. I'd tune that sucker for loud and set off every car alarm in yer neighborhood at 3AM! Heh.
Note: I'm just woofin' about exhaust pipes for fun. Noise is folks' biggest complaint about bikes and I support stock-muffled motorcycles. In town, anyway. I do wish bikes had exhaust cut-outs for out-of-town use like they used to many years ago.
Oh, the irony...
Ironic Times. An especially good edition today. Go see.
OBAMA GETS DOWN TO WORK
(Photo) Right: he signs his first IOU to China.
Obama Bans All Lobbying in His Administration
Bows to intense pressure from anti-lobbying lobby.
Jenna, Barbara Leave Note of Helpful Hints for Sasha, Malia
Where to hide booze, boyfriends.
Bush Recalls “A Moment” When He Felt Responsibilities of Nation’s Highest Office
Briefly, just after Cheney's heart attack.
Microsoft Slashes 5000 Jobs
Mostly in Error Message Research & Development.
Flying Car Goes on Sale
Not recommended for families with teenagers.
Obama Should Act Like He Won
Thomas Frank with today's 'must read'.
As much as the Repug's en bloc discipline and tactics in their war against the American people disgusts and angers me, it has worked well for them. Even though their numbers are down, it still seems to be working. Discipline and tactics work for the Marine Corps too. It's why a small number of motivated individuals working as a team can take on far greater numbers and win.
Get a clue, Dems. You've got the power. Use it.
[...] There is no branch of American political expression more trite, more smug, more hollow than centrism.
And centrism's achievements? Well, there's Nafta, which proved Democrats could stand up to labor. There's the repeal of the Glass-Steagall Act. There's the Iraq war resolution, approved by numerous Democrats in brave defiance of their party's left. Triumphs all.
Histories of conservatism's rise, on the other hand, often emphasize that movement's adherence to principle regardless of changing public attitudes. Conservatives pressed laissez-faire through good times and bad, soldiering on even in years when suggesting that America was a "center-right nation" would have made one an instant laughingstock.
That's why it is so obviously preferable to be part of the movement that doesn't compromise easily than to depend on the one that has developed a cult of the almighty center. Even a conservative as ham-handed as former House Majority Leader Tom DeLay seems to understand this.
As he recounted in his 2007 memoirs, Republicans under his leadership learned "to start every policy initiative from as far to the political right as we could." The effect was to "move the center farther to the right," drawing the triangulating Clinton along with it.
President-elect Obama can learn something from Mr. DeLay's confession: Centrism is a chump's game. Democrats have massive majorities these days not because they waffle hither and yon but because their historic principles have been vindicated by events. This is their moment. Let the other side do the triangulating.
As much as the Repug's en bloc discipline and tactics in their war against the American people disgusts and angers me, it has worked well for them. Even though their numbers are down, it still seems to be working. Discipline and tactics work for the Marine Corps too. It's why a small number of motivated individuals working as a team can take on far greater numbers and win.
Get a clue, Dems. You've got the power. Use it.
Time for the kick ass part of bipartisanship
The Last Chance Democracy Cafe, links at site.
Mrs. G just came in and gave me my tag line, bless her heart:
"He's givin' the Repugs their shot. If they don't go for it, fuck 'em."
Yes, dear...
Call us a cynical bunch if you must, but the biggest question most hardcore liberal Democrats have had about Barack Obama’s very public love affair with bipartisanship has been the following: how will he respond when it finally bites him in the ass? And at least in the case of his economic stimulus package, his ass is already starting to look a little red.
There’s no denying that Obama tried; his initial stimulus package seemed designed as much to placate Republicans, as to please Democrats. His hope seemed to be that he could buy a little right wing love by putting way too much of the proposal’s spending into (relatively ineffective as stimulus) tax cuts, instead of public spending.
But congressional Republicans are having none of it. They may not have much actual power left, but that doesn’t seem to have put them in a mood to compromise. Either send up a pure George W. Bush-style tax cut package, they insist, or they’ll vote against the bill.
The major media, speaking right on cue, is spinning this as a test of Obama’s commitment to bipartisanship. I suppose they think that makes for a better story than the truth of Republican obstructionism. To these media “elites” the question now is whether Obama will be a good little post partisan president by giving GOP representatives everything they want, or an evil partisan politician (because he stands by his own principles as well as what might actually work).
Yeah, that’s the ticket. Let’s extend and even expand Bush’s tax giveaways to the rich. I mean, that’s worked out real well for us so far, hasn’t it?
There’s no mystery about what’s going on here, of course. The GOP smells blood. What Obama intended as an extended hand they took as evidence of a weak spine: they’re starting to think — or at least to hope — they can push him around, at least a little. For what it’s worth, I strongly suspect they’re wrong. Underestimating Barack Obama’s political skill has generally proven to be a mistake. But Obama’s the only person who can prove it, and the way he can prove it, of course, is by pushing a strong stimulus package, reflecting Democratic Party values, through Congress.
The message would be unmistakable: if Republicans want to participate in the formation of future legislation in good faith, his door is open. But pure obstructionism will not be tolerated.
And all he has to do is to say the word. As he himself said, he won the election. And you can forget about the filibuster. There’s no way the GOP would use it to kill the stimulus bill. If they did, they would own the resulting economic carnage lock, stock and barrel, and they know it.
Obama’s path seems clear enough. The time has come for the kick ass part of bipartisanship.
Mrs. G just came in and gave me my tag line, bless her heart:
"He's givin' the Repugs their shot. If they don't go for it, fuck 'em."
Yes, dear...
Scared shitless ...
You know, after listening to the news most of the weekend while I was painting, one would walk away with the impression that those incarcerated at Guantanamo (the really bad ones) possess some sort of superhuman strength, or are bulletproof, or something. All the talking heads are whining, "they're gonna return to the battlefield and kill Americans!"
WTF? They're men.
They can't fly, can't leap tall buildings, can't stop a speeding locomotive; their operations are mitigated by financing and logistics. They're not running home and getting the 'Hijacking Aircraft Made Easy Kit' out of the garage, only to hop on the next plane and fly it into one of our cities. I'm tired of the whining.
If these guys are really that good at their craft (and have unlimited resources), so good that all of our military, intelligence, and law enforcement resources can't deal with them if they decide to return to the life (which I seriously doubt), we should do what I said a week ago.
It's insane we're even having the conversation. We are the most powerful nation on Earth and it makes us look like a buncha cowards we are so terrified of a couple hundred people. For all the tough talk, we act like a nation of pantywaists.
Had we not incarcerated them, tortured and coerced them in our very own concentration camp, we might have been able to bring charges against them in a U.S. court. They'd have been sentenced to death or a life term in a Supermax prison and that would have been the end of it. They would have ended up being fuck toys and punching bags for the good, Christian, American terrorists (McVeigh, Rudolph, Kazinzky), and it wouldn't have bothered me in the least. There would have been no questions of evidence, or constitutionality, or torture. There would have been no questions of guilt.
This shouldn't be a big problem were it not for Neocon fearmongers and the news media who advance the story. I don't have a moral dilemma with killing the guys who are really bad; the ones whom we know were involved with the September 11th attacks. What does bother me is the 500 or so others who were caught up in our sweep, or sold out by their 'friends', who were subjected to our brutality and the loss of their freedom for years. The ends do not justify the means. In our fearful frenzy to 'protect Americans' we gave up our rights and morals and decided ruining the lives of innocent people was "acceptable collateral damage".
There is no problem with closing Gitmo. If there's admissible evidence (not coerced through torture), try them in a U.S. court and sentence them. If there's evidence inadmissible in the U.S., take them somewhere far away and kill them (quietly, and make sure the bodies are never found). If there's neither, let them go. Period.
The detention camp at Guantanamo is a boil on the ass of this country and it's time to lance it, once and for all. It does us no good to keep it running and closing it is an excellent first step in regaining our credibility in the world. The argument that these guys can't be released, and can't be incarcerated in the U.S., is a weak argument by those who enabled Bush to do whatever he wanted in the name of "keeping us safe". It is an argument used by those who supported and authorized torture during the Bush administration to keep themselves out of jail.
Hmmm ... Maybe there is a use for Gitmo after all? Can we set up a 'Presidential Wing'?
WTF? They're men.
They can't fly, can't leap tall buildings, can't stop a speeding locomotive; their operations are mitigated by financing and logistics. They're not running home and getting the 'Hijacking Aircraft Made Easy Kit' out of the garage, only to hop on the next plane and fly it into one of our cities. I'm tired of the whining.
If these guys are really that good at their craft (and have unlimited resources), so good that all of our military, intelligence, and law enforcement resources can't deal with them if they decide to return to the life (which I seriously doubt), we should do what I said a week ago.
It's insane we're even having the conversation. We are the most powerful nation on Earth and it makes us look like a buncha cowards we are so terrified of a couple hundred people. For all the tough talk, we act like a nation of pantywaists.
Had we not incarcerated them, tortured and coerced them in our very own concentration camp, we might have been able to bring charges against them in a U.S. court. They'd have been sentenced to death or a life term in a Supermax prison and that would have been the end of it. They would have ended up being fuck toys and punching bags for the good, Christian, American terrorists (McVeigh, Rudolph, Kazinzky), and it wouldn't have bothered me in the least. There would have been no questions of evidence, or constitutionality, or torture. There would have been no questions of guilt.
This shouldn't be a big problem were it not for Neocon fearmongers and the news media who advance the story. I don't have a moral dilemma with killing the guys who are really bad; the ones whom we know were involved with the September 11th attacks. What does bother me is the 500 or so others who were caught up in our sweep, or sold out by their 'friends', who were subjected to our brutality and the loss of their freedom for years. The ends do not justify the means. In our fearful frenzy to 'protect Americans' we gave up our rights and morals and decided ruining the lives of innocent people was "acceptable collateral damage".
There is no problem with closing Gitmo. If there's admissible evidence (not coerced through torture), try them in a U.S. court and sentence them. If there's evidence inadmissible in the U.S., take them somewhere far away and kill them (quietly, and make sure the bodies are never found). If there's neither, let them go. Period.
The detention camp at Guantanamo is a boil on the ass of this country and it's time to lance it, once and for all. It does us no good to keep it running and closing it is an excellent first step in regaining our credibility in the world. The argument that these guys can't be released, and can't be incarcerated in the U.S., is a weak argument by those who enabled Bush to do whatever he wanted in the name of "keeping us safe". It is an argument used by those who supported and authorized torture during the Bush administration to keep themselves out of jail.
Hmmm ... Maybe there is a use for Gitmo after all? Can we set up a 'Presidential Wing'?
Sunday, January 25, 2009
Ah, memories...
This goes out to everybody who's old enough to remember what 'parking' really means. Heh. Big dinosaur American cars had their uses. Try that in a Prius at yer own risk. At my age that might end in a very embarrassing trip to the chiropractor for both participants as a package deal involving a pair of half-clad inseparably wadded together Senior Citizens. Oh, the visual...
Tina Turner ~ Steamy Windows
There But For Fortune...
This is from a 1972 concert at Sing Sing. In it, she calls for 'razing the prisons to the ground'. A little too kumbaya for me. We need prisons because there are some truly evil people that need to be locked away from the rest of us, but even Joanie could not have foreseen the growth of the Prison Industry Complex and the abuse and oppression that exists today.
I've never seen the inside of anything worse than county lockups, but I sure could have if things had gone a little different over the years, e.g. getting caught, thus the title of the post.
Thanks, Tassl3hoffMk2.
I've never seen the inside of anything worse than county lockups, but I sure could have if things had gone a little different over the years, e.g. getting caught, thus the title of the post.
Joan Baez ~ Prison Trilogy aka Three Stories
Thanks, Tassl3hoffMk2.
Sunday Emmylou Blogging
Yesterday's Emmylou Blogging didn't have quite enough Emmylou in it so here's one that does. It's from Sult: Spirit of the Music, an Irish TV show that I used to like to watch on the Ovation channel before SuddenlyNoLink took over our cable service. The channel had all kinds of World Music and I watched it a lot. Grrrrr....
I 'waltzed across Texas' once in my '48 Plymouth on the way to Camp Lejeune. One stoplight in 825 miles and it snuck up on me and I ran it in broad daylight. No green or yellow, just a blinking red light. It was in Midland before the oil boom and there wasn't anybody around to catch me.
Thank you, cskwan.
Emmylou Harris ~ Waltz Across Texas Tonight
I 'waltzed across Texas' once in my '48 Plymouth on the way to Camp Lejeune. One stoplight in 825 miles and it snuck up on me and I ran it in broad daylight. No green or yellow, just a blinking red light. It was in Midland before the oil boom and there wasn't anybody around to catch me.
Thank you, cskwan.
George W. Bush's Sci-Fi Disaster
Robert Parry compares the look and feel of Obama's inauguration to Bush's, and the resulting disastrous outcome.
Screw the Republic! When do our butts quit hurting from the aliens' eight-year probe?
It's Sunday and what I really want to do is go to YouTube and look for music for y'all, so no more witty insightful comments on this one. Just go read it.
In retrospect, George W. Bush’s presidency could be viewed as a science-fiction disaster movie in which an alien force seizes illegitimate control of a nation, saps its wealth, wreaks devastation, but is finally dislodged and forced to depart amid human hope for a rebirth.
There was even a satisfying concluding scene as a new human leader takes power amid cheers of a liberated populace. The alien flees aboard a form of air transportation (in this case, a helicopter), departing to the jeers of thousands and many wishes of good riddance.
At times over the past eight years, it seemed like only the bravest Americans – whether in politics, journalism or other walks of life – dared to stand up to the Bush/Republican juggernaut. Even entertainers who uttered critical words about Bush – like the Dixie Chicks – faced career reprisals and, in some cases, death threats.
It is a tribute to those courageous Americans who stood up to Bush and his henchmen during those dark times that this wave of totalitarianism was turned back, albeit at an extraordinary cost to the United States and the world.
So, when nearly two million Americans rallied on the National Mall on Jan. 20, 2009, they were not there just to celebrate the Inauguration of Barack Obama. They were there to witness the departure of Bush and Cheney.
In a sense, the humans were there to make sure the aliens really did depart – and to celebrate the survival, and possibly the renewal, of a great Republic.
Screw the Republic! When do our butts quit hurting from the aliens' eight-year probe?
It's Sunday and what I really want to do is go to YouTube and look for music for y'all, so no more witty insightful comments on this one. Just go read it.
The People vs. Dick Cheney
Fantasy Island?
A 'recommended read' at MoJo:
Today, with Rumsfeld and his former boss on their way to the judgment of history, the question of accountability looms large. From liberals fantasizing about Dick Cheney in handcuffs, to cia officials taking out insurance against prosecution, many are wondering: Will there be redress for the crimes of the Bush administration—and if so, what form should it take?
I suppose drawing and quartering them is out of the question...
Whatever form it takes, the accounting will not be easy. As one close observer has put it, "Who would want the job of cleaning the Augean stables anyway?" Congress may not be able to redirect the rivers as Hercules did to wash out the accumulated filth, but it can go a long way in that direction. Accountability is a worthy goal even if incomplete. To borrow a phrase from Chile's Truth and Reconciliation Commission, the best we can hope for is "all the truth and as much justice as possible."
If it even goes that far, something will be better than nothing, I suppose. Sigh. I'm still hoping for full-tilt-boogie prosecutions.
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