This is Still not My America
An American college student, Ahmed Abu Ali, has been held in a Saudi prison for more than a year. And while there, he is likely being tortured.
What does our government, our government's lawyers do? They encourage it.
The alleged remark by Assistant U.S. Attorney Gordon D. Kromberg occurred during a conversation with the lawyer, Salim Ali, in the federal courthouse in Alexandria, according to Ali's affidavit. The document was filed Oct. 12 in connection with a petition by the parents of the detained man, Ahmed Abu Ali, who are seeking his release from Saudi custody.
The lawyer stated in the affidavit that he asked Kromberg about bringing Abu Ali back to the United States to face charges so as "to avoid the torture that goes on in Saudi Arabia."
Kromberg "smirked and stated that 'He's no good for us here, he has no fingernails left,' " Salim Ali wrote in his affidavit, adding: "I did not know how to respond [to] the appalling statement he made, and we subsequently ceased our discussion about Ahmed Abu Ali."
This all comes from the top. From Lame Duck on down. It's people like this that have brought America low.
Google Just Got Even Cooler
Man, this is a valuable resource. Google's going to implode like amazon any day now, but I applaud any measure that increases ease of access to information gets a big thumbs-up from me.
Whoah, it's like Deja Vu
Wolcott has a good summary, but tell me if this sounds familiar:
semi-respected conservative historian/author puts out a book warning about a danger rising in the mideast. This book says that something must be done, NOW, or else we'll all pay. Otherwise decent intellectuals lose all reason in the face of this, uh, compelling argument and accept that war (or strong, violent action) of some kind is not only necessary, but desirable.
Then (CIA-founded, completely illegitimate) “exile” groups start popping up telling us of the dangers of this mideast country, the WMDs present there, and how they are the true leaders of the people of the region and will be welcomed with open arms if only they could be put into power.
…
in 2002, it was Ken Pollack's The Threatening Storm, Iraq, and Chalabi's INC
in 2004, it is now Ken Pollack's The Persian Puzzle, Iran, and a different INC
Steve Gilliard has a great reply to Pollack, to which I will second the sentiment: Ken Pollack, go fuck yourself.
Researchers: Florida Vote Fishy
Electronic voting machines in Florida may have awarded George W. Bush up to 260,000 more votes than he should have received, according to statistical analysis conducted by University of California, Berkeley graduate students and a professor, who released a study on Thursday.
The researchers likened their report to a beeping smoke alarm and called on Florida officials to examine the data and the voting systems in counties that used touch-screen voting machines to provide an explanation for the anomalies. The researchers examined the same numbers and variables in Ohio, but found no discrepancies there.
Their aim in releasing the report, the researchers said, was not to attack the results of the 2004 election in Florida, where Bush won by 350,000 votes, but to prompt election officials and the public to examine the e-voting systems and address the fact that there is no way to conduct a meaningful recount on the paperless machines.
Grrr. We knew this would happen. We knew evoting would render this election a sham… and we couldn't do anything about it. Grr.
GOP war on the people continues
now they want to eliminate the tax breaks employers receive for providing health care coverage to their workers.
After years of fighting the power of labor by shifting health care decisions to employers, the other GOP shoe drops as they take away the sole (non-humane) reason that employers should provide health care at all. There are 45 million uninsured people in America right now, anyone want to take a guess as to how much that is going to increase if this gets passed?
Also note that the "tax code overhaul" would drastically cut, if not eliminate, taxes on savings and investment… which is another way of the GOP saying "fuck you, little guy."
Make no mistake about it, this is nothing more than a backdoor way to eliminate the progressivity of our tax code.
Veiled Conceit, Bringing the Funny
via a fake dialogue between recent top-photos from the NYT Weddings & Announcements pages. Hee.
File this under… whack
$22.5k … for an amp. Made in 1998.
that's 4 tubes, 2 transformers, a wood box, and some switches.
if there isn't 3 kilos of thai horse in there when the buyer receives
it, they got jacked.
GOP the party of fiscal responsibility?
My ass.
Faced with the prospect of a government unable to pay its bills, the Senate voted on Wednesday to raise the federal debt limit by $800 billion.
Though an increase in the debt ceiling was never in doubt, Republican leaders in both houses of Congress postponed action on it last month, until after the elections, to deprive Democrats of a chance to accuse them of fiscal irresponsibility.
…
The 52-to-44 vote was almost purely along party lines, with one Republican, Senator John Ensign of Nevada, voting against a higher ceiling.
Two Democrats, Senators John B. Breaux [who hopes to be named as Bush's next Energy Secretary] of Louisiana and Zell Miller of Georgia, voted in favor of the measure.
…
"To pay our bills, America now goes cup in hand to nations like China, Korea, Taiwan and Caribbean banking centers," [Sen. John] Kerry said. "Those issues didn't go away on Nov. 3, no matter what the results."
This reminds me of a little ditty from back in the day… Who can spend like a drunken sailor? Who can spend like a drunken sailor? Who can spend like a drunken sailor? da da da … the GOP!
John Ashcroft's Legacy
The right to liberty itself has given way to mass preventive detention, effected through pretextual law enforcement, abuse of the material-witness authority and designation of detainees as "enemy combatants." Ashcroft oversaw the preventive detention of more than 5,000 foreign nationals in anti-terrorism initiatives in the United States after Sept. 11, 2001, mostly on immigration charges. Many were arrested in secret, without charges, held without any evidence that they were dangerous or a flight risk, denied access to lawyers and the courts, tried in secret immigration hearings, physically beaten by guards, and held for months even after their immigration cases were fully resolved.
Privacy has become an endangered species with the passage of Ashcroft's USA PATRIOT Act. That law allows the government to obtain records from any business, school or library on U.S. citizens, without showing that they are suspected of criminal activity, and frees the government in many criminal investigations from the bedrock constitutional protection for privacy — namely, the requirement that it establish probable cause of criminal activity before it searches a home or taps a phone.
The right of assembly must now be exercised knowing that the attorney general has unleashed the FBI to spy on political and religious gatherings even where there is no reason to believe that any criminal conduct is being planned or advocated. And just as Ashcroft famously equated criticism of his efforts with treason, his FBI equated antiwar rallies with terrorism. In October 2003 it issued a "terrorism" bulletin alerting local law enforcement agencies to "be alert to … indicators of protest activity" by antiwar demonstrators — including such subversive tactics as the use of the Internet to raise funds and organize.
America is less safe and less free. Way to go, Johnny!
Categories: Uncategorized
Great White Gobbles Grandma
A great white shark estimated to be at least 18 feet long attacked and presumably killed an elderly South African woman Monday off a beach near Cape Town, officials said. Tyna Webb, 77, who lived in the area, was swimming Monday off Sunny Cove in Fish Hoek when the massive shark circled her and then attacked… 'All that was left was a little red bathing cap,' said Paul Dennett, who witnessed the attack from his home nearby. Dennett told the South African Press Association that he estimated the shark to be at least 18 feet long.
If the shark was as old as the woman, it probably gummed her to death.
Jaws, for those keeping score at home, was a 20-footer. 18-feet is fuckin huge
Teens With Same-Sex Parents Well-Adjusted
Adolescents who have two moms as parents are no different from teens growing up with a mother and a father, a new study finds. On measures of psychosocial well-being, school functioning, and romantic relationships and behaviors, the teens with same-sex parents were as well adjusted as their peers with opposite-sex parents. The authors found very few differences between the two groups.
Take that, bigots!
In Pursuit of Absolute Power, GOP Changes Rules
… again.
House Republicans plan to change their rules in order to allow members indicted by state prosecutors to remain in a leadership post, a move designed to benefit Majority Leader Tom DeLay (R-Tex.) in case he is charged by a Texas grand jury that has indicted three of his political associates, GOP leaders said today.
The rules change, which leaders said is likely to be adopted Wednesday, comes as House Republicans return to Washington indebted to DeLay for the enhanced majority they won in this month's elections. DeLay led an aggressive redistricting effort in Texas last year that resulted in five Democratic House members retiring or losing reelection. It also triggered the grand jury inquiry into fundraising efforts related to the state legislature's redistricting actions.
In today's GOP, absolute power trumps the rule of law.
In case you forgot why the rule exists in the first place…
House Republicans in 1993 — trying to underscore the ethics problems of Dan Rostenkowski (D-Ill.), then-chairman of the Ways and Means Committee — adopted the rule that requires a party leader to surrender his or her post if indicted by any grand jury, federal or state.
Ah, the “values” party. The party of “law and order.” My favs.
YAR to be disgusted by the GOP
The DeLay rule was passed today.
Trent Franks (R-AZ) on why the old rule wasn't right: "In my sincere opinion, it [the possible indictment of DeLay] only provoked the timing. When you look at the rule, it is an outrageous rule."
Denny Hastert (R-IL): DeLay Rule "fair and equitable"; voting for DeLay Rule a "a good decision."
Henry Bonilla (R-TX): DeLay Rule "takes the power away from any partisan crackpot district attorney who may want to indict" House leadership.
Kevin Brady: (R-TX): DeLay Rule is "a recognition that the rules of politics have changed. The courts and judges and prosecutors are all now part of what used to be the voters' decision. We're in an ugly world."
Pravda: "The controversy surrounding DeLay does not seem to have dented his considerable power. He is credited with helping Republicans increase their majority in the House in this month's elections and many Republican lawmakers feel indebted to him for his fund-raising prowess."
Scramjet Hits Mach 9.6
NASA to Earth: fuck the ozone, it's time to fly, baby!
Space Elevator One Step Closer to Reality
MIT students demonstrated with their robot lifter. I've heard of alternate plans for getting the SE up, but I'll take anything at this point.