Great article in Time on Robert Gates...

Robert Gates: The Bureaucrat Unbound

I think if President Bush did one thing right in his 8 years, it may have been replacing Rumsfeld with Robert Gates. The more I read about Gates, the more I am impressed with his ability to wade above the politics and military-industrial complex to do right by our troops on the ground in Iraq and Afghanistan. Its good to see that Gates takes the fact that our fellow citizens are giving up months and years of their lives (and sometimes their actual lives) to fight these wars very seriously. Under Rumsfeld, I didn't get that same feeling. Not from his demeanor, and definitely not from how business was conducted at the Pentagon (not providing MRAPs, body armor, and other things the troops actually NEEDED). Hopefully the combination of the Obama administration's focus on diplomacy and a more effective and apolitical Secretary of Defense will help bring our two wars to a close and allow us to take a more honest and intelligent approach to conflicts in the future.

Fake Chains for Fake Rappers

Culture of Bling Clangs to Earth as the Recession Melts Rappers' Ice

Maybe one of the few silver linings in this global economic meltdown is that it will finally rid the rap game of the veritable clown squad that have become the big names over the past 10-15 years. The new rule should be, if your whole thing is rapping about how much money you have, and now you don't have said money, you have to quit, and you gotta take your aluminum and cubic zirconium chain with you. Good riddance.

P.S. Give me the late 80's and early 90's back!

Cheney: Desperately trying to stay out of jail

Cheney's speech contained omissions, misstatements

What a surprise!!! Cheney's "speech" yesterday was full of BS and mistruths. Is anyone surprised? That's what this guy is basically known for.

Will the House or Senate please form a truth commission already so I don't have to hear Tricky Dick babble anymore? He's on a press tour to basically save his a$$, and I don't think I can stand it any longer. All this nonsensical back and forth would go away if an independent commission was set up to look into the torture and abuse that went on. If it vindicates Cheney (which considering the evidence we've seen so far is very doubtful), so be it. At least he can shut the hell up then and go back to shooting his friends in the face.

Put the shoe on the other foot

Ex-inmate recalls days of abuse at Abu Ghraib

The debate in the U.S. regarding torture, detainee abuse, and extraordinary rendition seems to exist in an ethereal state where there are no faces to the folks that were involved (meaning the ones who were abused, imprisoned, or tortured (by us or the Libyans, Egyptians, etc) ). People have steadfast positions on this on both sides of the spectrum, but I think what is lost in it all is the human side of the issue.

These "terrorists" (as we seem to call anyone who comes into U.S. custody, regardless if they are or not) are people. They have family. They have children. I know, I am sure some people are gasping right now and calling me a traitor. That's the world we live in right now, where people can't even rationally understand how some of these folks might be innocent people who've had their lives turned upside down in the name of the "War on Terror". The reality is that not everyone that ended up in Abu Ghraib or Guantanamo was guilty of a crime (as evidenced by how many have been freed and are in the process of being freed without ever being charged with anything). It seems our "bounty hunter" method of getting Iraqis and Afghanis to turn their countrymen in for money might have backfired. But I digress...

I would just ask that people sit and think for a second how they would feel if they were an innocent Iraqi thrown in prison and abused for months and then let go without ever being charged with a crime. Or, imagine if it was your brother, your father, or your son. The dysfunction and pain that such an experience can cause is very real, and I am sure that we will be affected by the blowback for years to come. Maybe not through an attack or a burning American flag, but through the knowledge that our morality has failed us in upholding the dignity of an innocent human being.

Fox News: Never disappoints for a good laugh

Look at this headline:

Patriot Act Likely Helped Thwart NYC Terror Plot, Security Experts Say

It's too early to know what surveillance methods were used to arrest four men accused of plotting to bomb two New York synagogues, but national security experts say measures implemented under the Bush administration likely played a critical role.

I can see the thought process now...

"There's no evidence that the Patriot Act helped, but hey, why don't we insinuate that it did and pass that off as un-biased "news". We'll get a guy from the Center for Security Policy (an ultra neo-conservative think tank) to back up the claims and we're good to go. Mission Accomplished!"

Ridiculous. No wonder why the majority of Americans are near brain dead when it comes to thinking objectively for themselves. We're constantly bombarded by this nonsensical propaganda.


Besides the ridiculousness of passing off a "guess" as news, there is some downright scary crap in this article. I hate to go back to "1984" and Orwell again, but this is exactly what comes to mind when you read this insanity.

Check it:

1. "Security experts also credit the "sneak and peek" search warrant provision of the law, which allows law enforcement to gain physical entry into private premises without the owner's consent."- So you can just come on in to my house without my consent? Really? And the small-government Republicans who want the government to stay out of our lives as much as possible justify supporting laws such as this how exactly? Hypocrisy...cough ... cough.
   
2. "And the law's "lone wolf" provision allows for secret FISA surveillance orders against people who have no connections to a terror group." - So you can just do surveillance against anyone? Terrorist connection or not? Is there a limit to this?
3. "Law enforcement agencies also credit FBI guidelines implemented last September, which gave the agency broader powers and enabled it to launch terrorism investigations without having any clear basis for suspicion -- much to the dismay of civil liberties advocates." - REALLY? So you don't even need a clear basis for suspicion now? You can just launch a terrorism investigation on anyone? I can't even imagine how that might be used for nefarious or political purposes (cough cough).

I don't get how people read stuff like this and don't almost soil their drawers. Our government (remember, the people you Republicans want out of our lives, need I remind you again) has basically taken the power to launch a baseless terrorism investigation against you, run surveillance on you even if you have no connections to terrorists, and finally come into your house without your consent.

WTF????????

How is this even a partisan issue??? You would think Dems, Repubs and anyone in between would be scared about a government with over-reaching powers such as these. I guess not though. Hopefully someone speaks up before it's too late.

Ain't that a knee-slapper?

I'm not sure whether to laugh or be pissed about this. I mean, I'm all about having a laugh at your job, but is it me or does the U.S. Congress sometimes not seem to get the fact that we have a mess on our hands (the environment, economy, perverted justice system, torture, an over-reaching Executive branch, etc)?

Luis Ramirez, Shenadoah, and a long way to go

I grew up not far from Shenadoah, so this hits close to home. The fact that people would be so racist and violent towards someone, murder them, then be acquitted, in 2009, is beyond me. This whole situation sickens me. What happened in the first place was bad enough, but to give a huge slap in the face to true justice, which is what happened when these murderers were acquitted, is a whole other. The fact that Luis wasn't a citizen should have no effect on this case. Is that really where we've gotten to? If you're not an American citizen, it's OK for people to murder you in America???? This is the kind of incident that occurs when the vitriol is spewed in the news media about illegal immigrants, painting them all as criminals, instead of what the majority of them are: people trying to survive and feed their family.

----------------------------------------------------------------------------

Dear Friends,

After they had beaten Luis Ramirez to death, the white teenagers who attacked Luis sent an ominous message to his friends:

Tell your f**king Mexican friends to get the f**k out of Shenandoah or you’ll be f**king laying next to him.[1]

Just over a week ago, two of Ramirez’s killers were acquitted of all serious charges by an all white jury[2], with the jury foreman making it clear that justice for Ramirez had no chance in the town of Shenandoah, PA:

I believe strongly that some of the people on the jury were racist. I believe strongly that some of the people on the jury had their minds made up maybe before the first day of trial…And I believe the four boys that were involved the most are racist. I absolutely do…[3]

Thanks to the hard work of MALDEF and others, the Department of Justice is now looking into Ramirez’ death.[4] But that’s only part of what’s needed. Where are the leaders in the State of Pennsylvania? Why has the governor had nothing to say? His silence is shameful.

Until elected leaders speak up, we can expect more stories like Luis’—not just in Shenandoah, but across the country. Pennsylvania Governor Rendell owes it to the people of his state and to Latinos everywhere to speak out and condemn what’s happened. I've joined Presente.org in demanding that he does. Please click the link below to add your voice and ask your friends and family to do the same. It takes only a moment.

http://presente.org/ref/12004/campaigns/ramirez

If Luis Ramirez’s death were an isolated event it would be outrageous enough. Sadly, it’s part of a growing trend of racially motivated violence against Latinos, particularly in rural communities. According to the FBI, hate crimes against Latinos rose 35% between 2003 and 2006.[5] And as author David Niewert writes, the target of hate crimes goes beyond their immediate victims: “The purpose is to terrorize the target community, to drive them out, eliminate them."[6]

That kind of intimidation only works only if the people who are targeted remain silent, and if officials in positions of power remain unaccountable. That’s why we need to speak out and let folks across the country know we won’t tolerate hate and violence towards our communities. It starts with demanding that the Governor of Pennsylvania make clear that anti-immigrant hate has no place in Pennsylvania. It’s time for him to show leadership now. Join me in calling for Governor Rendell to speak out:

http://presente.org/ref/12004/campaigns/ramirez

Thanks

References

1. http://tinyurl.com/64u2sk

2. http://tinyurl.com/p8gusl

3. http://tinyurl.com/da6mcg

4. http://tinyurl.com/c24jvb

5. http://tinyurl.com/r6ldef

6. http://crooksandliars.com/node/27858/

Don't Ask, Don't Tell

In a time where the Army is struggling to recruit Arabic linguists (who are crucial to our "War on Terrorism"), why is it that we are releasing the ones we have, solely because they are gay? Is this antiquated law really more important than stopping the (imaginary) "ticking time bomb"scenario that everyone keeps talking about? We hurt our intelligence capabilities when we discharge quality servicemen such as this. Our leaders should answer to the people and tell us why this law is more important than our safety. I'm sick of politicians and talking heads talking terrorism this, terroism that, but then supporting ridiculous policies such as "Don't ask, don't tell" which clearly don't make us any safer.

Let your lawmakers know that the American people are intelligent enough to realize that we live in a free country where sexual orientation doesn't need to be hidden (we don't want to be Iran, do we?), and we aren't willing to sacrifice our safety to appease homophobes.

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Subject: Tell President Obama: Keep your promise to repeal "Don't Ask, Don't Tell."

Dear Friend,

Lt. Dan Choi is a graduate of the U.S. Military Academy at West Point and an Iraq War veteran. Last March he went on Rachel Maddow's show and spoke three truthful words: "I am gay."

As a result, Lt. Choi received a letter from the Army on April 23 discharging him for violating the "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" policy. He told Rachel Maddow the letter was "a slap in the face" to himself and the soldiers he as commanded and served with over the past decade.

Lt. Choi is fighting to stay in the military and ensure that no other soldier is ever again discharged as a result of "Don't Ask, Don't Tell." CREDO Action and the Courage Campaign are joining his effort to secure equality in our armed forces.

I just signed a petition asking President Obama to keep his campaign promise to repeal "Don't Ask, Don't Tell." I hope you will, too. Please have a look and take action.

http://act.credoaction.com/campaign/dontfiredan/?r_by=4028-1887477-pwW0dNx&rc=paste

The new height of absurdity

Gingrich: 'Absolute obligation' to investigate Pelosi

Seriously? I mean I am all for investigating Pelosi, but only if it is included in an investigation of torture on a widespread level, including the past administration and any lawmakers that we responsible for it or allowed it to go on unchallenged. Newt Gingrich is a clown. "Let's not investigate this crime, lets investigate this lady who we think might be misleading us about when she knew about the crime."

WTF??????

An end to the "War on Drugs"?

White House Czar Calls for End to 'War on Drugs'

Let's hope that finally people get over their unrealistic view of drugs in this country. I hate to break it to everyone, but no matter how long this "war" goes on, drugs aren't going away. It's not just drug dealers and junkies involved in this. It's lawyers, corporate types, stay-at-home moms, your children, and Rush Limbaugh. It's human nature that people will use drugs. Our time would be best spent in trying to educated and treat people to keep them off of drugs, rather than sending them to jail and wasting our tax money. If we wanted to end the violence in Mexico, we would make in unprofitable to try and bring drugs into our country. One way we could do that is ending the prohibition that creates this black market. I'm not sure I would suggest we do it with all drugs (maybe start slow with Marijuana, which wasn't illegal before 1937 in the U.S. anyway), but we need to get over the puritanical view of drugs if we're ever going to actually solve the main problem (that the U.S. has a HUGE demand for drugs) that creates all these other problems (a violent black-market trade, tons of people in prison for a vice, a tax on law enforcement, and the money it costs us to fight the "War on drugs").

There is a big parallel in this "war on drugs", and it's our "war on terrorism". In both we think we can fight the warred-upon subject with force and criminalization, and we're dead wrong. The reality is that the roots of both are in a lack of education, economic opportunity, etc, etc. We need to improve peoples lives at the basic level, give them an education and a shot at life and happiness, and drug use and terrorism would be significantly reduced. This militaristic approach to the problems of our society shows a lack of true understanding of the situation and the motives of people, and that is going to come back to bite us in the end.

The future of newspapers?

All the News That's Fit to Buy

Inside David Geffen's play for The New York Times.

With the NYT struggling on multiple fronts (a changing media landscape, the financial crisis, etc), the rumor surrounding David Geffen making it into a non-profit is quite interesting. Sadly the climate for newspapers is well beyond painful at this point, and the reality is many of them won't survive to see the end of the year. The reality is, however, that much of the media replacing newspapers (blogs, online news sites, etc) don't have the "feet on the street" to cover a lot of the news happening in the world. This is what the people in a well functioning democracy require in order to be truly informed. Without these journalists out there covering stories and digging for leads, we are left to the mercy of official sources from the government or from corporate public affairs offices. This is dangerous and makes propaganda campaigns and misleading the public all too easy. Hopefully a non-profit model is a viable fit for important media outlets like the NY Times (as it was for the St. Petersburg Times), otherwise I feel that we are in big trouble.

Missing the point

Pentagon to release photos of alleged prisoner abuse

As these photos are about to be released due to a FOIA lawsuit brought by the ACLU (not because Obama wants to, as some bloviate in the media), the furor continues to be aimed at the fact that the photos are being released rather than the abuse contained within them. Although I agree that with these photos being released we will experience some backlash, but I hate to break it to people, that backlash is already there. Unlike a good portion of Americans, a majority of the rest of the world knows and cares about the abuses that were going on, and they are outraged. Instead of worrying about the rest of the world finding out about the extent of the abuse (which, hey, considering laws are laws and no one should be above them, we as Americans should want to know too) we should be worried about atoning for it and making sure measures are put in place so that it never happens again.

Instead, here we are with the very same people who supported torture and "enhanced interrogation" because it saved American lives (of which there is ZERO evidence, and I challenge anyone who uses this excuse to find me some, not that it would matter anyway) expressing faux outrage at these photos being released and Nancy Pelosi mincing words about when she knew about the torture. It's like a fairytale. Instead of outrage about the fact that torture was supported at the presidential level, in our democracy, these people are pissed that that may be acknowledged. Now I'm with them in that if Nancy Pelosi knew about this going on and didn't stand up against it, that shows a serious flaw in judgment and voters should keep that in mind when they go to the polls in California. However, unless she broke some laws, we are skipping over the elephant in the room (AKA TORTURE!) to carry on about something decidedly less important. Only in America, where a good portion of the general populace seems to side with one political party or the other rather than their actual country can something this ridiculous occur. We should be Americans first, not Democrats or Republicans. Sadly I don't think that is the case, because if it were, there would be a whole lot more outrage at anyone and everyone (Bush, Cheney, Yoo, Pelosi, whoever) who had anything to do with torture becoming a tacit American policy, not just those on the other side of political aisle.

Finally, let's put it this way... if the American government is a government of "the people", as it is said, then when our government does things like torture people, it does it in our name. Therefore, it is our responsibility, and ours only, to ensure that our government does not do things that are against the laws that "we the people" have made. Or would we, as Americans, rather have a totalitarian government that can do whatever the hell it pleases and not be rebuked? What do we really stand for as Americans? This issue drills to the core of that. Either we believe in the law or we don't. This isn't about left and right or Republican or Democrat. This is about our country and the beliefs that we hold. If someone breaks the law, should they be punished? As soon as we start making exceptions it chips at the very foundation of our nation. No one should be above the law.

Afterquake

http://www.afterquakemusic.com/index.html

Check out this album made using sounds from the restoration after the 2008 earthquake in Sichuan province this time last year in China. The lyrics and stories are done by children and students relocated because of the earthquake. It's a chance to hear some good music and to support a worthy cause.

Straight from the Taliban

Afghan Taliban spokesman: We will win the war

CNN's Nic Robertson sat down with a Taliban spokesman to get their side of the story. This is more of what we need from the mainstream media. We need to understand the people whose name is thrown around with Al Qaeda as the bane of Western civilization. If we ever plan on bringing the Afghan war to an end, we need to understand what the those we are fighting are looking to get out of it. These are the same folks that won a war of attrition with the Soviets (with us helping them, granted) and their army of 110,000 strong. We don't need to take that path to defeat.

In the end, as much as we love democracy here in America, maybe it's just not the same in Afghanistan. I'm not saying the people there want or don't want democracy, but we need to step back and realize that it's their choice to make, not ours. Plus, before democracy can really ever take hold in a country such as Afghanistan, the people there need to have their basic needs taken care of. This would involve improvement in areas such as economic opportunity and infrastructure. Without the groundwork being done, democracy has no chance.

How to lose the Afghanistan War in 10 days...

You gotta be kidding me. Not only is this sort of activity illegal (according to our laws and theirs), but it's sure to seriously upset the people of the region. I mean, a lot of people currently see us as occupiers in their lands, but imagine how pissed off they are going to be when they think the occupiers are now trying to convert them to Christianity. This is just nuts, and I can't believe that anyone would sit there and think this is OK. The DOD needs to put the kibosh in this pronto and make sure it never happens again before there is some serious fallout. This is another fine example of us not understanding the intricacies of winning the "war" in Afghanistan. Activity such as this is bound to turn the local populace against us which will lead to nothing but failure (ask the Soviets).

Thou Shalt Torture

Survey: Support for terror suspect torture differs among the faithful

This is kind of disappointing to me. You would think Christians, whose Messiah himself was tortured at the hands of the Romans, would see the evil in torture. Sadly that doesn't seem to be the case. They say history is bound to repeat itself, and the stories in the bible that speak of God's people losing their way seem especially relevant right now.

What would Jesus do? Do you think he would support torture? I highly doubt it if you look at his teachings. But wait, did they get thrown out after 9/11 too?

Hiring a gardener to do the cooking...

The CIA's $1,000 a Day Specialists on Waterboarding, Interrogations

Who makes decisions like this? Seriously...

But it turns out neither Mitchell nor Jessen had any experience in conducting actual interrogations before the CIA hired them.

"They went to two individuals who had no interrogation experience," said Col. Kleinman. "They are not interrogators."

The new documents show the CIA later came to learn that the two psychologists' waterboarding "expertise" was probably "misrepresented" and thus, there was no reason to believe it was "medically safe" or effective. The waterboarding used on al Qaeda detainees was far more intense than the brief sessions used on U.S. military personnel in the training classes.

We really need to figure out who at the CIA decided these two guys should be in charge of designing the CIA's interrogation program when THEY HAD NO EXPERIENCE WITH INTERROGATIONS. Put it this way, if your manager hired someone to be your accountant who had no experience with accounting... would that be a good managerial decision???? Of course not.

This isn't about Left or Right, Republican or Democrat. This is about making sure we have competent people in our intelligence agencies, the same agencies responsible for making sure we have the intel to avoid terrorist attacks and keep this nation safe.

How is that a partisan issue?