People Of The Blog

post from TPMCafe on 10 June 2009 03:56:00 AM. © TPMCafe

Haaretz tried something this morning that feels curiously right in unexpected ways. To celebrate "Hebrew Book Week," the paper asked a dozen or so of Israel's best selling writers, Yoram Kaniuk, David Grossman, Etgar Keret, to go out and cover something. The result feels both reassuringly retro and visionary at the same time.

Retro, because the radically secular implication of Hebrew culture is not so easily taken for granted these days. When Netanyahu says "Jewish state," and both Shas spiritual leader Ovadia Yosef and Las Vegas spiritual leader Sheldon Adelson nod approvingly, I know I am in trouble. Actually, the very name of the week in question implicitly acknowledges a continuing (dare I say Zionist?) surprise in the novelty of a (dare I say modern?) Jewish experience grounded in an inclusive national language. Israelis still celebrate "Hebrew Book Week," after all, which is something like the French ordering French fries. Adam Lebor captures this celebration in his lovely piece about Tel-Aviv in the current Condé Nast Traveler.

But there is another remarkable thing about the paper this morning. It reads like a bundle of fine blog posts. There is voice and creative engagement in these pieces, which does not mean a want of facts or rules of evidence. As Ram Oren put it on Israeli radio this morning, we have a hundred ways of getting (and Twittering) breaking news qua happenings: the Supreme Court issued this ruling, the earthquake was this number on the Richter scale. But getting at the truth is another matter, and a writer has to ask, as Oren asks (using a somewhat materialist phrase, but never mind), "what is the value-added?" Haaretz did not quite ask that question this morning. But I suspect that, if it will still be here 10 years from now, it has given us a peek at the way it will survive.

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Wednesday Morning Open Thread

post from AMERICAblog News| A great nation deserves the truth on 10 June 2009 03:48:00 AM. © AMERICAblog News| A great nation deserves the truth

Good morning.

The health care battle is engaged. We're going to find out which politicians are owned by the insurance companies. Because we shouldn't kid ourselves, there are many members who put them, not their constituents, first. And, they better be prepared for the scrutiny.

And, I'm just so glad I don't have to watch any more Terry McAuliffe t.v. ads. They were so painful. Congrats to the Creigh Deeds team. They really did an amazing job. No one would have predicted his victory a couple weeks ago -- especially by the blowout margin.

Let's get it started...

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BNP Leader Nick Griffin Pelted With Eggs.

post from The Osterley Times on 10 June 2009 03:35:00 AM. © The Osterley Times

video details and more

Nick Griffin decided to hold a press conference on Westminster Green, the place where MP's are regularly interviewed because of it's view of parliament in the background. No doubt his success in the European elections has made Griffin feel that he has a new found electoral legitimacy.

But a group of protesters had heard of his plans and were not prepared to allow him to do this unchallenged.

The BNP leader Nick Griffin was forced to abandon a press conference outside parliament today after protesters pelted him with eggs.

The demonstrators shouted "Off our streets, Nazi scum" and chased him down the street to his car.

Griffin, who was elected an MEP for north-west England on Sunday, was bundled into his car by his bodyguards and quickly drove off.

Having arrived for the press conference, on College Green in front of parliament, just after 2.30pm with fellow BNP MEP Andrew Brons, he began by attacking articles from today's newspapers criticising him and his party.

He had been speaking for only a few minutes when the protesters appeared, chanting and waving banners reading "Stop the fascist BNP".

They threw eggs at Griffin, whose bodyguards quickly took him away through the crowd. The demonstrators kicked and hit his car with their placards before cheering as he drove off.

Weyman Bennett, the protest organiser and national secretary of Unite Against Fascism, said he believed it was important to stand up to the BNP.

"The majority of people did not vote for the BNP. They did not vote at all," he said. "The BNP was able to dupe them into saying that they had an answer to people's problems. They presented themselves as a mainstream party. The reality was, because the turnout was so low, they actually got elected."

Like everyone else, I simply don't think this could have been done to more deserving person, however, as the TV commentator at the end of this clip points out, the danger here is that being portrayed as the victim might actually suit Griffin's cause. He loves to portray himself as the man speaking up for Britain with a message that the politically correct want to silence.

People need to challenge his ideas and his message, not attempt to stop his right to speak.

Tags: Nick Griffin, BNP, Fascism, European elections, UK politics

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GOP Lies and Lies

post from MAL Contends . . . on 10 June 2009 03:05:00 AM. © MAL Contends . . .

Lying is the Republican way.

Faced with the hollowed-out economy performed by the Bush-Cheney administration, 47 states this year face ballooning budget deficits, according to an analysis by the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities.
And many incoming state legislatures and governors from California to Maine are fighting to clean up the carnage.
So GOP shills and tea-baggers in Wisconsin snipe and gripe, screaming of the budgets: The "worst," sure to draw the "wrath of" the people.
Yes, the state budget, not approved yet, is the cause of all this economic misery and generates outrage. Right.
Where were these economic and fiscal geniuses the last eights years that saw the Bush administration applaud and actually brag about economic progress as 1,000,000s of jobs were outsourced?
Where were these voices the last eight years that saw in 2002 the projected elimination of all public debt morph into Bush bequeathing $10 trillion debt to the new administration and the 50 states?
Remember the "deficits don't matter" assurance infamously voiced by our intrepid former vice-president.
As the GOP screams and scolds, do yourself a favor and don't buy their snake oil. Their public record and commitment to honest commentary ain't the best as the omission of inconvenient facts make clear.
If we could get a honest policy discussion from Republicans, our country and our fellow states would not be in this mess.

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This Is a Test. This Is Only a Test . . .

post from Docudharma - Front Page on 10 June 2009 03:03:21 AM. © Docudharma - Front Page

For the next sixty seconds, this blog will conduct a test of the Netroots Emergency Broadcast System. This is only a test.Progressives in your area, in voluntary cooperation with the Centers for Disease Control and other mental health authorities, have[...]

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Late Night Karaoke

post from Docudharma - Front Page on 10 June 2009 03:00:00 AM. © Docudharma - Front Page

[...]

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Obama's Guantánamo policy in spotlight as
detainee's trial begins.

post from The Osterley Times on 10 June 2009 02:58:00 AM. © The Osterley Times

As Obama attempts to close Guantanamo Bay, he reminds us that the Bush administration only prosecuted three people from the hundreds that they held on that Cuban island.

So, it's impressive that Obama has decided to prosecute Ahmed Ghailani in a New York court, especially since he has only been in office for a couple of months.

But one gets the feeling that this case will be scrutinised by a Republican party who are playing the incredibly stupid, but perhaps highly effective card, that it is dangerous for ordinary Americans to have terrorists held on US soil.

Ghailani, known as "Foopie", was one of 14 so-called "high-value detainees" brought to Guantánamo Bay in 2006, having been held for two years in secret prisons run by the CIA abroad.

He is accused of having helped to transport TNT explosives and oxygen tanks used in the al-Qaida bombings in Nairobi, Kenya, and Dar es Salaam, Tanzania, on 7 August 1988. The attacks killed more than 200 people, including 12 Americans, and wounded thousands. The Clinton administration responded two weeks later with missile attacks on al-Qaida camps in Afghanistan.

According to prosecutors, Ghailani, then in his 20s, fled Africa shortly before the bombings and joined the al-Qaida leadership in Pakistan, becoming Osama bin Laden's bodyguard. He was captured by the CIA in Pakistan in 2004.

The notion that holding terrorists on the US mainland exposes American citizens to increased danger is simply fanciful, as the US already holds terrorists in it's high security prisons.

Thirty-three international terrorists, many with ties to al-Qaeda, reside in a single federal prison in Florence, Colo., with little public notice.
Detained in the supermax facility in Colorado are Ramzi Yousef, who headed the group that carried out the first bombing of the World Trade Center in February 1993; Zacarias Moussaoui, convicted of conspiring in the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001; Ahmed Ressam, of the Dec. 31, 1999, Los Angeles airport millennium attack plots; Ahmed Omar Abu Ali, conspirator in several plots, including one to assassinate President George W. Bush; and Wadih el-Hage, convicted of the 1998 bombing of the U.S. Embassy in Kenya.
Inmates in Florence and those at the maximum-security disciplinary barracks at Fort Leavenworth, Kan., rarely see other prisoners.

So, it is against this hysterical opposition that Obama seeks to prove that these suspects can be dealt with through the federal courts.

Which leads one to believe that Obama must think he has a high rate of success by prosecuting Ghailani in this way.

The biggest problem as far as I can see will be whether or not Ghailani was ever tortured.

A crucial part of Ghailani's defence is likely to be his claim that he was subjected to cruel interrogation methods and deprived of a lawyer while being held in CIA secret prisons.

This is what is wrong with the entire Republican approach to the war on terror and federal courts. They appear to have removed the notion that a suspect could be innocent completely from their agenda.

Should Ghailani be set free, they will say that this proves that suspects from Guantanamo cannot be tried in federal courts. Nothing other than a guilty verdict will satisfy them and, even if they get that verdict, they will fear holding Ghailani on American soil.

So, this case will come under ridiculous scrutiny. Obama, I am sure, will have picked his strongest case first, because politically he simply can't afford to lose this one. The hysterical Republican cry babies would make too much of this were Obama to ever lose this case.

UPDATE:

video details and more

Keith Olbermann on the Republican hysteria machine which is cranking up.

Click title for full article.

Tags: Ahmed Ghailani, Guantanamo Bay, 9-11, terrorists, federal courts, habeas corpus

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TARP stress tests and false expectations

post from AMERICAblog News| A great nation deserves the truth on 10 June 2009 02:18:00 AM. © AMERICAblog News| A great nation deserves the truth

The purpose of the recent stress tests (which we now see were not that stressful) was to boost the market sentiment about US banks who had been beaten badly due to their numerous excesses. Boosting the banks and keeping them afloat was still the right thing to do but as always, the devil was in the details and the details were great for the banks, bad for the public. Paulson/Bush policies carried through to Geithner/Obama without much change or real differences. The banks today are feeling strong and you have to wonder if it's a false sense of security when you look out at the unemployment and credit problems in the future. There is a very limited possibility of a rapid recovery in the economy any time soon but the banking recovery is counting on it.

Banks are all rushing to pay back TARP money though it's not obvious how this is a good thing for the country. Even putting aside the questionable minimum amounts the banks need to get through the crisis, does this mean that the banks will now stockpile their money and avoid lending, thus feeding back into the crisis? It's important that the banks lend money to move the economy. I get that they're selfish and are only thinking about their precious bonus pool but this could easily lead to frozen markets. In a fair system, a frozen market could also impact their bonuses but we now know that regardless of results, this dodgy group always finds a way to pay themselves handsomely. Always.

The financial industry wants the free market to be the deciding factor again, while the government is holding on to its interventionist ways.

"In 90 days you've gone from an attitude on Wall Street that the financial system is on the precipice to a feeling that happy days are here again," says veteran money manager James Awad, managing director at Zephyr Management. "This is all predicated on the consensus we are on the cusp of growth in the economy, which means the financial crisis is largely over and all we have to worry about is the degree of growth."

Though the Obama administration may not subscribe to that thinking, its policies have helped foster it.

So what's the Obama/Geithner plan if the economy doesn't grow and the banks need help, yet again? After watching them cave repeatedly to Wall Street wish lists, I have limited confidence in them doing what is right for the majority of Americans. It's going to be all about Wall Street and their wish list, again.