Our taxes to market the military

Billions are spent each year to market and propagandize the military, to attract young men and women to join, and also to create a certain image to the rest of the world. Never mind the truth, the democracy or our commitment to human rights, it is all about the image.

It is in service to this enterprise that resulted in the torture at Abu Ghraib, the willy pete (or White Phosphorus) used on civilians at Falluja, and now the execution-style killing of civilians by the Marines at Haditha.

If not for the photographs and the witness reports in Time, this crime would have been covered up. Just as Abu Ghraib would have been.

"Some lawmakers are asking the Marine Corps why an investigation wasn't launched earlier if the intelligence team's pictures contradicted the squad's account," the LA Times reports.

The answer lies in the marketing of the war which is systematic and deliberate. Cover-ups are part and parcel of this effort. And a system like this one merely encourages law-breakers. Perhaps Haditha was an example, as Congressman Murtha puts it, as Marines cracking up under pressure, but it is too easy to create such an environment if the military is interested in spinning this war.

It is this that is a crime and must be stopped.

Don't want to serve in Iraq? Admit you're gay.

cbs.com

Interesting as the LA Times reports: "The number of military members discharged under the Pentagon's 'don't ask, don't tell' policy on homosexuals rose by 11% last year, the first increase since 2001, officials said Wednesday. "

Now, why would this be?

Think the disastrous war is encouraging more gays to come out of the closet?

What's bad for my enemy could be bad for me

si.com

Interesting turn of events with the FBI's raid on Democratic Rep. William Jefferson's Capitol Hill office. Jefferson had stuffed wads of bills in his home freezer, and it seems is guilty of taking bribes to grease a company in its bid to get a Nigerian contract. So, you'd think this is perfect for the Republicans -- no longer tainted as the K Street gang in the fat pockets of Abramoff. Good timing for November, no?

But...surprise, surprise, in a bipartisan effort House Speaker Dennis Hastert with House Dem leader Nancy Pelosi condemned the raid, and asked for the documents seized from congressman Jefferson's office to be returned.

Hmm...what axe is Hastert grinding...what could be more important than the November election?

ABC news peels the onion: "Law enforcement sources told ABC News that convicted lobbyist Jack Abramoff has provided information to the FBI about Hastert and a number of other members of Congress that have broadened the scope of the investigation. Sources would not divulge details of the Abramoff’s information."

Now, it all makes sense! Good Ol' boy Denny Hastert does not want to go the way of Cunnigham or Ney, and probably has some little secrets stored away on his office computer that he'd rather the FBI just didn't see.

Stolen Votes? Unfair system? The True American Idol?

news14.com

When more people (65 million) vote than have ever voted before, questions arise. Were their votes fairly handled? Was the system adequate? Did anyone get disenfranchised?

Beat the Press: American Idol Special: Was the Vote Kosher?: "Folks, this isn’t about hanging chads determining which of America’s political dynasties will place their scion in the White House. This is the American Idol. The people must have confidence in the system."

hah!

Ha ha ha -- Using a crook to prosecute his assistant

nytimes.com

Counsel Says He May Use Cheney in Libby Trial: "A court filing on Wednesday by the special counsel in the C.I.A. leak case suggested that Vice President Dick Cheney would testify as a government witness in the trial of his former chief of staff, I. Lewis Libby Jr."

More on the NSA spy program

The LA Times published my letter today:

The aspect of the NSA's domestic spying program that most troubles me is this administration's claim that in order to protect the public, it has to keep the program in the dark. It will not inform the public about its policies, it will not seek approval from Congress or the courts and, consequently, it must be trusted to do the right thing.

If this claim is legal, for the survival of the republic, it must be made illegal at once.

Wired reveals the ATT - NSA operations

wired.com

So, after 9/11, NSA asks ATT to allow it to wiretap all data going through its WorldNet backbone. ATT says, sure, and builds a room to split the router data into this room, where computer equipment analyzes it for the NSA. An ATT technician by the name Mark Klein gets worried about all these Orwellian tactics, and rats to EFF. EFF sues ATT. The U.S. government joins the case and invokes State Secrets Privilege, and asks the judge to throw it out. Apparently, the judge (Vaughn Walker) is a libertarian, so it will be interesting to see if he does so, on June 23.

The judge did rule, though that the documents should be kept sealed, against ATT's wishes to suppress it, but also against EFF's wishes to unseal them to the public.

Then, along comes Wired, and publishes the entire document which presumably it obtained separately from Mark Klein. Enjoy!

Wired News: Whistle-Blower's Evidence, Uncut: "Here we present Klein's statement in its entirety, with inline links to all of the document excerpts where he cited them. You can also download the complete file here (pdf). The full AT&T documents are filed under seal in federal court in San Francisco."

When moles get whacked + A 3rd CIA site

abcnews.com

A story that has seen mostly a collective shrug is that of Brian Ross' and John Esposito's report that the FBI was using National Security Letters (authorized by the Patriot Act) to get the reporters' telephone records. In their blog entry, Ross and Esposito write about how and what the FBI was doing.

In a separate interview on DemocracyNow!, Ross says they're writing a piece on Friday exposing a 3rd Eastern European country which is hosting a CIA "black site." They were the first reporters (Human Rights Watch named them as possible sites) to confirm Poland and Romania as countries assisting the CIA in holding terrorist suspects and torturing them.

Separately, morons like Max Boot argue in an LA Times Op-Ed that FISA should be replaced with "legislation that gives the president permission to order any surveillance deemed necessary." Leaks, according to the venerable Boot, a Senior Fellow in National Security Studies at the Council on Foreign Relations, will apparently keep the government honest. Ha, ha!

Rep(tilian) Peter Hoekstra shows off his slime...

washingtonpost.com

In his piece in the LA Times, he has the gall to say (referring to the USA Today article leaking the domestic spying database): This article hurt our efforts to protect Americans by giving the enemy valuable insights into the Terrorist Surveillance Program, which has been focused like a laser beam on Al Qaeda and its known associates.

Wow. Is this man so bereft of even a shred a integrity! Focused like a laser beam on Al Qaeda! What about the the millions of Americans who placed calls through AT&T, Verizon and BellSouth, whose records were sought by the NSA?

I am so amazed that this swine would lie like this with a straight face.

This is the letter I sent the LA Times:

If Rep. Hoekstra had been doing his job as the chairman of the House Intelligence Committee, there would have been no need for a whistleblower to leak to the public that something rotten was happening in this country.

It is astonishing to me that he can state even now that this program was narrowly focused on Al Qaeda when he knows that the exact opposite is true. And, if as he says, this program was so important to our security, why did the NSA not obtain, somehow, the records of Qwest's customers? Did Bin Laden send out a memo to his henchmen not to use Qwest's service?

This country lost all credibility when it invaded Iraq under the guise of national security. Hopefully, come November, we can retire Rep. Hoekstra from his job as chairman of this vital committee and ensure that this administration never gets such a free pass.

A clear violation of the federal law...class action lawsuit?

More juicy information from ThinkProgress that the Telcos could be liable for billions in damages were a class action lawsuit to be filed against them.

I have a feeling that Telco lobbyists are going to be frantically urging Congress to nullify this section retroactively. Maybe adding this to the new bills introduced by Specter and Graham.

Update (May 13): LA Times' David Savage examines the program's legality. "I would not want to be the general counsel of one of these phone companies," said Orin S. Kerr, a law professor at George Washington University and a former Justice Department lawyer who has worked on electronic surveillance.

The NY Times also quotes the same source:

Orin Kerr, a former federal prosecutor and assistant professor at George Washington University, said his reading of the relevant statutes put the phone companies at risk for at least $1,000 per person whose records they disclosed without a court order.

"This is not a happy day for the general counsels" of the phone companies, he said. "If you have a class action involving 10 million Americans, that's 10 million times $1,000 — that's 10 billion."

The New Jersey lawyers who filed the federal suit against Verizon in Manhattan yesterday, Bruce Afran and Carl Mayer, said they would consider filing suits against BellSouth and AT&T in other jurisdictions.

Personally, I would actually read a "violation" as each record of mine that was shared with the government. Which would include every call I made, which would be a monstrous sum and most certainly bankrupt the Telcos.

I wonder if Bush will decide to invoke the State Secrets Pivilege on these cases as well, and seek to dismiss them en masse.

I can hardly wait for next week...

democracynow.org

Think Progress has this on what we can expect next week: "CongressDaily reports that former NSA staffer Russell Tice will testify to the Senate Armed Services Committee next week that not only do employees at the agency believe the activities they are being asked to perform are unlawful, but that what has been disclosed so far is only the tip of the iceberg. Tice will tell Congress that former NSA head Gen. Michael Hayden, Bush’s nominee to be the next CIA director, oversaw more illegal activity that has yet to be disclosed."

The Tip of the Iceberg. I can hardly wait for the Titanic to be breached....about fucking time...

Big Brother is watching you...

www.afallahi.com

It is remarkable that a corporation refused to hand over the records that NSA asked for, citing that it violated Federal privacy laws.

In the meantime, the two big bastards in Congress, Sen Pat Roberts (R-Ky) and Rep Peter Hoekstra (R-Michigan) both chairing their respective Intelligence Committees, look the other way, or flat-out shoot the messenger.

Roberts atrociously says that the NSA's activities already were being scrutinized by a new subcommittee on the panel and that "calls for further oversight are unnecessary."

And Hoekstra, proving himself the bigger scum defended the N.S.A.'s activities and denounced the disclosure, saying the USA Today report "threatens to undermine our nation's safety."

Of course, some in the news (I watched Anderson Cooper spinning this issue 360 degrees) say, what's the big deal, they're just collecting telephone numbers, not actually listening in.

First, who really knows the extent of the spying, with Congress being so totally derelict in holding investigations. Make the private, I don't care, but let everyone in Congress hear the extent of it. Right now, only a few select members get to hear it, and they can't even tell their aides about it let alone the public.

Secondly, if the potential yield from this database (they're just collecting numbers) is so small, why not go to Congress and explicitly get authorization to do it. What are they afraid of, that the mastermind-terrorist-zarqaqi-who-can't-even-operate-an-automatic-rifle will somehow figure out how to use this information? Give me a break!

Bastards.

CYB with National Security

This administration's stonewalling is now, "If you get too close to questioning us, we will just say you don't have security clearance to proceed any further. Na-nah, na-nah, nah-nah!"

This happened today to the warrantless wiretapping investigations initiated by DOJ at the behest of Congress.

A few days back, Russell Tice the ex-NSA whistleblower who supposedly tipped off the papers about the warrantless wiretaps, was frustrated from even speaking to Congressional committees by NSA using this same dastardly ploy with an even more ironical touch -- Congressional committees that oversee the NSA, were themselves denied security clearance.

No clearance, no investigation, as easy as that.

I think the level of frustration amongst staffers yearning to blow the whistle is really high. If the Democrats get control of the House, we're going to see a lot of that steam getting released. Hopefully the criminals in charge do get burnt, and we can put this sorry phase of non-democracy behind us.

Lying to the nation, one noxious drip at a time...

By Roger Wollenberg, Getty Images

Well, we suspected it all along that the warrantless spying program involved more than just international calls.

The puppet AG, Alberto Gonzalez admitted to as much when he issued a clarification to the Senate that all his statements only referred to the spy program that Bush had publicly admitted to. And furthermore, he refused to answer if other warrantless programs exist. And maintained that the President has the right to order any such warrantless intrusion, including the right to break into a citizen's house and conduct a search. (Inspite of finessing his way around his testimony, TPM Muckraker reports that the AG likely lied to the Senate.)

Today's USA Today reports that the NSA has been amassing data about Americans' phone calls: The National Security Agency has been secretly collecting the phone call records of tens of millions of Americans, using data provided by AT&T, Verizon and BellSouth, people with direct knowledge of the arrangement told USA TODAY.

The modus operandi is simple: when damaging leaks come out, admit only what the public would support. Pretend you've fessed up, and you only did it to keep the homeland safe. ("We want to know if Al Qaeda is calling," or something like that is what the idiot-in-chief said.)

Then, when more damaging leaks come out, spin it as if it is just old news. Or ignore it completely hoping the crooks in charge of Congress look the other way as well. You know, the liberal media, can't always believe what you read.

Texas: 50th in education, first in executions

This is the face of a man wrongly executed by Texas: Cameron Todd Willingham was convicted of setting fire to his own house and killing this three children, all under the age of three, while his wife was away. In Feb 2004, he was executed for this crime.

Only problem, was that the fire was accidental, as he had maintained all along. The Innocence Project determined that the deputy fire marshall who testified from the forensice evidence, that Willingham had deliberately set the fire, was wrong and depending on old and bad science. What was worse was that this testimony was refuted by an acknowldged arson expert who presented his finding before Willingham's execution but was ignored by Gov Perry and the Texas Board of Pardons and Paroles.

Texas: 50th in education, first in executions... how's that working for you? is a line from a campaign to unseat the governor.

Texas and Bad Science...why am I not surprised!

Goss resigns before getting hooked

Porter Goss resigned today as CIA director. Just like that. No replacement named.

Apparently as a result of the shake-up, you know "rearranging deck chairs on the Hindenburg."

But, really, what scandal is being swept under the rug, here? C'mon now, fess up, Porter!

TPMmuckraker has been following the sorry saga of hookers involving the now-discredited Congressman Randy "Duke" Cunningham, and Porter Goss' #3 man.

You know, something's always fishy when it is announced on a Friday...or you could say it may stink but the weekend gas fumes just cover it up.

Rumsfeld thinks "freedom to torture" should be a core freedom.

The U.S. is specifically cited here in Amnesty International's supplementary briefing to the UN Committee against Torture.

Rumsfeld has never been held accountable for the abuses at Abu Ghraib or Guantanamo, yet this document specifically cites "officially santioned procedures and policies, including interrogation techniques approved by Secretary of Defense Rumsfeld for use in Guantánamo and later exported to Iraq."

The report notes that American military officials have listed 34 deaths of detainees in U.S. custody as "confirmed or suspected criminal homicides." It suggests that the true number may be much higher, saying "there is evidence that delays, cover-ups and deficiencies in investigations have hampered the collection of evidence."

A U.N. hearing on U.S. compliance with international torture agreements begins Friday in Geneva. Can hardly wait for the outcome! And for how Bush & Co will dismiss it, and how extensively Fox News I am sure will report it.

Al-Zarqawi -- a terrorist mastermind? Really?

An ABC News Video shows Al-Zarqawi fumbling with his rifle. The U.S. military unearthed a video that shows the mastermind jihadist trying to figure out how to shoot from the automatic rifle. An associate had to help him eventually.

Wonder what case it makes for the U.S.? It has held up this man to be the leader of the deadliest insurgency, so slippery and powerful that he just cannot be caught. How does that jell with what you see -- a seemingly fat incompetent man wearing New Balance shoes. Hmm, very un-jihadist, to succumb to such infidel Western practices. Should we be scared of this man?

History will reveal this man as a stooge for Bush's claims that Al Qaeda was responsible for the insurgency. That it is terrorism we're fighting not a civil war, and that that's why we're there, so that we don't fight them here. And so on. Lies and lies. Told yesterday (and today still, I am sure on Fox News). And propaganda from the military to win American minds.

Rummy caught in a lie in Atlanta

After Stephen Colbert calling it like it is to the President's face, we have this follow-on act:

Interrupting this meeting (video from Crooks and Liars), Ray McGovern, a 27-year veteran of the CIA who had provided daily intelligence briefings to President George H.W. Bush, asks Rumsfeld why he lied about WMD's when he said he knew where they were. They also had an exchange on the Iraq-Al Qaeda connection.

What was sickening in the video is the partisan crowd (attending the event at the Southern Center for Internaltional Studies) trying to hush McGovern, with absolutely no care about the damage done to this country from the lies told by Rumsfeld and others. Also, some man fawining in the end...gross! Made me squirm.

Update: meanwhile Paul Pillar, an ex-CIA analyst specialising in counter-terrorism in the Middle East and Asia, had this to say to El Pais, about the purported Iraq-Al Qaeda link: "by some definitions, that could be called a lie. There was an organised campaign of manipulation."

Of course! Why is this fool still not impeached, I ask?

Sending a thief to catch a thief...

The Vice President for Torture wags the finger at Russia on human rights. Human rights is one of the tools the U.S. uses to beat up states which don't bend to our will. But what a sorry messenger to send. Someone who advocated the violation of the Geneva Conventions and the U.N. convention against torture. Who specifically wanted an exemption for the CIA on McCain's torture ban (a ban Bush decied to ignore with a signing statement).

Irony, sadly, is lost on this administration.

Sucked in by corporate malfeasance

'Opal Mehta' Won't Get a Life After All - New York Times: Little, Brown, publisher of the novel whose author, Kaavya Viswanathan, admitted to copying passages from another writer's books, said yesterday that it would not be publishing a revised edition of her book.

If you haven't been following this sorry scandal which has been unfolding over the past week or two, it is an interesting case. On the surface, it seems to be the story of a 19 yr. old immigrant writer named Kaavya Vishwanathan (from India), apparently brilliant enough to get into Harvard, seduced by the American dream into trying to publish a best-seller by copying from a few books.

But what lies under the surface, while still not excusing her behavior is far less palatable. Apparently, she fell into the clutches of a "book packaging" company called Alloy Entertainment, which according to Tim Rutten, in this savage critique of this industry, creates characters and plots, then finds writers to execute them and provides editing and design to create "a package."

I especially liked John Carroll's (the former Times' Editor) quote: "Under the old local owners, a newspaper's capacity for making money was only part of its value. Today, it is everything."

Healthcare in the U.S.

Study Shows Americans Sicker Than English: "CHICAGO -- Middle-aged, white Americans are much sicker than their counterparts in England, startling new research shows, despite U.S. health care spending per person that's more than double what England spends."

Well, hello! What's so hard to understand about this. Privatization demands profit for stockholders. Never mind the sick patients. Never mind that these patients were prompt about paying their contributions. How can we save the stockholders money? Why, by employing an army of lawyers, bureaucrats and nitpickers whose only jobs are to find a way to deny benefits. Something like 30% of the private healthcare cost in this country is spent on administration. As opposed to 2% on the public Medicare.

I think there's something to be said for making people accountable for their health -- make them eat wisely, get exercise and all that. But privatization is the wrong stick.

How about something like: get your checkups done properly (& freely), enroll in free preventive programs (e.g. to manage health issues), then you get free catastrophic health insurance. Even if you do have to pay for minor stuff, like flus and the like, that would be so much better than the moronic policy we have today.

Stephen Colbert whacks Bush

Stephen Colbert is the host of the Colbert Report on Comedy Central in which he plays a faux conservative. He was invited to speak at the While House Correspondents' annual shindig, where he uncompromisingly hazed Dubya, who was actually on the same podium (with Laura).

Check out this video -- it is quite incredible.

If you hear this mentioned in the MSM, all they'll say is that it bombed as comedy. What I say is: who cares? It was news. And if you jokers in the news business did your jobs, this wouldn't even have been that.

Sad state of affairs when our journalists are wusses, and it is only the comedians who have the courage to criticize the president.

---

Some choice quotes:

"Here's how it works: the president makes decisions. He's the decider. The press secretary announces those decisions, and you people of the press type those decisions down. Make, announce, type. Just put 'em through a spell check and go home. Get to know your family again. Make love to your wife. Write that novel you got kicking around in your head. You know, the one about the intrepid Washington reporter with the courage to stand up to the administration. You know - fiction!"

And...

"I believe the government that governs best is the government that governs least. And by these standards, we have set up a fabulous government in Iraq."

---

Update: Here's a letter I sent to the LA Times after they printed something pitiful about the event.

Paul Brownfield, in his pointless essay, points out that what was missing in the blogsphere's referendum on Colbert's hazing of President Bush in the White House Correspondents Assn. dinner, was that the "red carpet was awesome."

If he had read the blogs carefully, he may have noticed that that was exactly the observation from most bloggers. The attendees of the dinner, and the press which gave scant attention to Colbert's remarks in printed and televised coverage of the event, were only too focused on the redness of the carpet, and in having a jolly time with their fellow revelers.

The pundits of the media, who were taking a holiday from reality that night, didn't need to be reminded from a comedian about a reality they had failed to hold the president accountable for. They found that decidedly unfunny.

Bush crowns himself king

Bush challenges hundreds of laws - The Boston Globe: "Legal scholars say the scope and aggression of Bush's assertions that he can bypass laws represent a concerted effort to expand his power at the expense of Congress, upsetting the balance between the branches of government."

Apparently, other presidents have also asserted this right and issued signing statements, but the breadth of King George's assertions have been unsurpassed. Every law, whether or not national secruity was threatened, only applies to him at this discretion.

Ah, what the hell, why don't we crown him king, then bend over and give him a paddle, I say.

Update: Examples of laws and signing statements. This is a hoot.

Dec. 30, 2005: When requested, scientific information ''prepared by government researchers and scientists shall be transmitted [to Congress] uncensored and without delay."

Bush's signing statement: The president can tell researchers to withhold any information from Congress if he decides its disclosure could impair foreign relations, national security, or the workings of the executive branch.

Aug. 8, 2005: The Department of Energy, the Nuclear Regulatory Commission and its contractors may not fire or otherwise punish an employee whistle-blower who tells Congress about possible wrongdoing.

Bush's signing statement: The president or his appointees will determine whether employees of the Department of Energy and the Nuclear Regulatory Commission can give information to Congress.

Dec. 23, 2004: Forbids US troops in Colombia from participating in any combat against rebels, except in cases of self-defense. Caps the number of US troops allowed in Colombia at 800.

Bush's signing statement: Only the president, as commander in chief, can place restrictions on the use of US armed forces, so the executive branch will construe the law ''as advisory in nature."

Killer -- advisory in nature. Man, oh man! He really wants to be king, doesn't he!