Big brother says we don't need to know...

U.S. seeks to dismiss AT&T secrets suit | Reuters.com: "SAN FRANCISCO, April 29 - The U.S. government has asked a federal judge to dismiss a lawsuit by a San Francisco civil liberties group against AT&T because it says the case could reveal military and state secrets."

The sickly secretive Bush govt. wants to invoke a rarely used vestige of English Common law, called the State Secrets Privilege. Apparently, national security is at risk. Which means what. Our physical security. Or Bush's ass. Or the GOP's ass in the Nov elections.

Also, notice the clever timing of this maneuver. Filed on a Friday, so it receives the least attention.

You see, the EFF (Electronic Frontier Foundation) had filed the lawsuit, and it seemed they had the goods. They had a former ATT technician who installed some of these "snooping equiment" for ATT, fessing up that it all seemed illegal, and that it could easily have been used to spy on Americans. The case was set to be heard on May 17. Good time to squash it now.

Yes, bastards, indeed of the first water.

Update: More on what this means for the EFF lawsuit. Essentially, it has been killed.

Today's drug cartels

It seems everyone knows it, but no one will call them on it. I am talking about the pharmaceutical industry, the modern-day drug pushers, drugging an entire nation for whatever behavior it can call illness and make a quick million or two.

Agreed not all of their drugs are this way, only about 90% of them.

In yesterday's LA Times, there is a brilliant opinion piece by Bill Maher, which ends with:

Drug companies are pushers, and Congress and the FDA are the cop on the beat who's been paid to look the other way. New drugs used to have to go through a rigorous process of testing, now they just give it to Courtney Love, and if she lives, it is approved.

By the way, that FDA report about marijuana having no medical value was issued, on purpose, I am sure, on April 20 -- 4/20. That joke only makes sense to stoners. So Mom and Dad, if your kid just laughed, you might need to search his room.

I had to type all of this up. Honest. Because the article mysteriously vanished off the LA Times website!!! Call me a conspiracy theorist, but that's an amazing coincidence...just a day after his story appeared in print.

Update: Here's a letter I sent the Times:

So, someone, albeit a comedian, tells us the truth about drugs, and the Times gets so much flak it decides to remove the article from the website? I hope I am wrong, and this is just a technical glitch but if I am not, shame on the Times for caving in to big Pharma.

2nd Update: here's what the Times wrote back:

Sri, Bill Maher asks that we not post his articles on our website, and we inadvertantly did. When we discovered the error, we removed the story from the site. Most writers give us website reprint rights, but Maher is a notable exception, and we get e-mails every time we run him in the paper asking: Where's my Maher? Sorry about that.

Michael Soller
Opinion pages

McCarthy in Bushworld

JOHN WEINELL says in a letter in today's LA Times,

A senior CIA officer is fired and could face criminal prosecution for following her conscience to expose illegal overseas torture prisons, and the leaker in chief reveals the confidential identity of a CIA operative for political purposes with impunity. In a just society, McCarthy would be recognized as a patriot and President Bush would be impeached as a traitor.

Well, perhaps its just that it hasn't yet come out that it was indeed Bush that leaked Plame's name...so far all that Bush has allegedly leaked was the NIE snippet contesting Joe Wilson's arguments. But the thrust of John's argument is dead on.

Mary O. McCarthy claims through her lawyer that she didn't leak the info to WP's Dana Priest on the black list of CIA detention centers round the world. Perhaps like Bush, she just OK'ed the leak, or didn't bring it up to the attention of her bosses when she found out who did. Whatever she did, McCarthyism could be redefined in Bushworld. The evil doer becomes the courageous doner (which by the way means "rotating roast meat" when referred to a kebab, which is equally appropriate).

Update: Today's WP reports that EU lawmakers found a pattern of widespread regular practice of human rights violations by the CIA involving secret flights, illegal detention and torture, in which it says European officials are complicit. Of course, the CIA has been doing illegal activities for a while. But now, it appears 9/11 has given Bush the freedom to let the wackos in the agency totally loose.

The sickness of Guantanamo

So, 141 people were freed today. Out of a total of about 490. Only 10 are being charged, and none with capital offense. 4 friggin years, and they produce 10 charges. The other prisoners -- still in their shackles and their wire cages! Shocking, and this the country of laws and human rights.

Meanwhile, Bush in a speech about illegal immigrants says, "One thing we cannot lose sight of is that we're talking about human beings, decent human beings that need to be treated with respect."

Of course, he is talking to business leaders and not the Minutemen. So, he can get away with this, and perhaps be cheered for this.

Well, of course, illegal immigrants are decent people. They see an opportunity with businesses -- and people needing cheap labor -- welcoming them, and they come, never mind the laws. For more, check this out.

Well, hello, what about the denizens of Guantanamo? Aren't they decent too, at least till proven guilty? I mean isn't that the bloody law. Yet, torture and suspended habeas corpus are ok. And some inane argument that Gitmo is not on American soil, so American laws don't have to apply. They're enemy combatants and not POWs. It is not torture unless they're physically harmed. On and on, the deadly equivocation goes on. All in our names! Soiling our passports, and putting a big stamp on our foreheads as if to say "they're Americans, they're bastards! They just don't care."

I mean, of course, the Bush people take the award every single blessed day. They're bastards to the core. They strip the public of its money, and give it to rich people as tax cuts. They rip off the public's wallet, and pass it on to U.S. corporations to fix the Iraq that the U.S. defense corporations bombed and destroyed. Katrina, the same deal. Just replace a Stealth bomber with a hurricane. Callousness to the people affected. Simply move money from the public to the friendly reconstruction crony companies.

Environment, blah, blah. Who needs it. Give it away so we can drill, mine and plunder. Flora, fauna, biodiversity, indigenous peoples, poor people, sick people: who needs them. Kill, maim, plunder -- the bywords of our present lords; Equivocation, marginalization and flat-out lies the modus operandi.

Fools who believe all is well

There are those whom if you ask will tell you, "Don't worry. It will all work out. It always has." This may be in response to my incredulous, "Aren't you worried about the U.S. economy? Aren't you worried about our global dependence on oil, and the oncoming peak of oil production?"

All I get in response is hand-waving and soothing words.

So, what's up with that? Can we not get past this inane confidence in the "system." History teaches us that catastrophes don't stop happening just because some dumb-ass politician with a big fat axe to grind, says they won't happen. Apparently, a famous Yale economist said the economy was on the up and up and there was nothing to fear just before the Great Depression struck.

And it isn't just me. There is no end to experts warning about these very same things. People just don't seem to care. "Ah well," they say, "don't tell me. I don't want to know. I don't care."

Am I railing against the people or the system? I think both. The status quo wants to continue as it is. No one wants to believe the economy is sick because that would mean a loss of confidence and an exodus of money out of the U.S. And unless the people wake up, and pressure politicians to tell them the truth, and make sound policies, the status quo remains.

American people

Statistics shock. Esp when one lives in California. Apparently 48% of Americans would support attacking Iran if Iran continues to enrich uranium. And 40% oppose it!! What gives. Hasn't one disastrous war in the middle east been enough?

I think people who are polled should be asked the additional question: would you change your mind about attacking a country if you or your children were sent out there to do it? That should sober up people quick.

OK, one more interesting stat: Another survey cited by the LA Times says, "When respondents were asked how much of the federal budget goes to foreign aid, the median figure was 20%. When asked how much should be spent, the median was 10%."

Ha, ha. Sorry can't help it. Wish we could give up 10% of our budget on aid. Even of the 0.22% we spend, most of it goes to help U.S. contractors. Aid and war are big corporate welfare schemes. This government has mastered taking money out of the government and giving it to its crony contractors.

What is this blog about?

So, bahstards is the English way of saying bastards. And you may find me saying that as I am reading the morning's Los Angeles Times, spewing coffee over my breakfast.

So, ok, for all you pacifists out there, yes, this is a very non-pacific way to disagree with people. Agreed. But I need an outlet. With a distinctly non-pacific bent to it. Thus.