The Politicization of Our Safety by Republicans
and Right-wingers

post from MyDD on 10 June 2009 06:31:04 PM. © MyDD

A brief chronology: An Objective Assessment on Public Safety Concerns April 7, 2009: The Department of Homeland Security releases a nine-page assessment document entitled "Rightwing Extremism: Current Economic and Political Climate Fueling Resurgence in[...]

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Wednesday Mashup (6/10/09)

post from The Liberal Doomsayer on 10 June 2009 06:29:00 PM. © The Liberal Doomsayer

Not a lot going on here, but just some stuff I wanted to highlight?

The drip, drip, drip from the bad Bushco days continues, as the New York Times tells us here?

WASHINGTON ? So far, President Obama has managed to curb Congressional calls for a national commission to investigate Bush administration detention policies. But Mr. Obama cannot control the courts, and lawsuits are turning out to be the force driving disclosures about brutal interrogations.

?

In new responses to lawsuits, the C.I.A. has agreed to release information from two previously secret sources: statements by high-level members of Al Qaeda who say they have been mistreated, and a 2004 report by the agency?s inspector general questioning both the legality and the effectiveness of coercive interrogations.

The Qaeda prisoners? statements, made at tribunals at the detention camp at Guantánamo Bay, Cuba, were previously excised from transcripts of the proceedings, but they will be at least partly disclosed by this Friday, according to a court filing. The report by the inspector general, whose secret findings in April 2004 led to a suspension of the C.I.A. interrogation program, will be released by June 19, the Justice Department said in a letter to a federal judge in New York.

It?s silly for us to assume that we can control the pictures showing or words describing our past misdeeds on the Now And Forever You Godless Socialist Liburuul War On Terra! Terra! Terra!

The trickle will turn into a flood. And anyone who doesn?t recognize that, including President Obama, is a fool.

And by the way, meet our ol? buddy Vlad Putin?s next victim (here)?

MOSCOW ? The president of the Russian republic of Bashkortostan, who has hung on by his fingernails through repeated periods of friction with the Kremlin, pushed his luck last week when he gave a scathing interview to a Moscow newspaper, charging that Russia?s political institutions were ?embarrassing to look at? and that the country ?is walking away from the process of democratization.?

Murtaza G. Rakhimov, 75, who has led Bashkortostan, an energy-rich southwestern region, since 1990, complained in Friday?s edition of the newspaper Moskovsky Komsomolets that leaders in Moscow had recreated the top-down, one-party rule that had prevailed during the Soviet Union.

?Right now, everything is decided from above,? Mr. Rakhimov told the newspaper. ?The level of centralization is worse than it was in Soviet times. With respect to local people, they carry out a policy of distrust and disrespect.?

He went on to attack United Russia, the governing party led by Prime Minister Vladimir V. Putin, for trying to subjugate homegrown leaders. Mr. Rakhimov was one of United Russia?s founders, and remains a member of its executive council.

?Excuse me, but the basis of a party should be formed from below,? he said. ?The people trying to run this party have never commanded three chickens.?

Anyone care to bet how long it takes before iodine turns up in his bloodstream, as if by some dark sorcery, or he ?accidentally? falls out of a building?

Also, today marks the signoff of Chrysler CEO Bob Nardelli; he will return to Cerebrus Capital Management, as noted here in a copy of his farewell letter.

However, the following should be noted (from here)?

Of course, Chrysler was damaged goods before Nardelli arrived. Still, it's hard to hear Nardelli say that, after bankruptcy, it is now the "appropriate time to let others take the lead in the transformation of Chrysler with Fiat." Apparently, he was good enough to drive the automaker into bankruptcy, but he can't tow it out.

?

For market analysts, Nardelli's consecutive losing turns (Home Depot before Chrysler) could signal the end of an era where CEOs spend more time in front of a camera than behind closed doors.

"When you look at CEOs, we've gotten to the point where they've become stars," Hinsdale's Nolte said. "If you go back 30 years and try to name a corporate CEO, you wouldn't have had a clue. They did a lot of other things behind the scenes that weren't noteworthy or pressworthy. They've become more PR people now, I think, than true managers."

?

If analogies work best, Nardelli's journey isn't much unlike that of a sports manager or coach who gets recycled by several professional teams, yet doesn't have much success in the position. Think Wade Phillips, Dusty Baker, Norv Turner, Marty Schottenheimer, Rick Carlisle or Don Nelson.

Just as football fans are worried which team will hire Herm Edwards now, should we dare ask who will see value in Nardelli next?

"He's gone from diversified industrial to retail to autos. The only thing he hasn't touched is health care and technology," Nolte joked. "Maybe an airline."

Actually, if Nardelli decides to walk away from Cerebrus, maybe he could get a job with Comcast?s customer service department, helping to ?manage? the resolution of issues such as those noted here (and wouldn?t it be nice if he brought his ?reverse Midas touch,? if you will, to an organization that truly deserves it?).

Finally, I give you Senate Repug Kay Bailey Hutchinson of Texas, who tells us here that?

?reductions (to President Obama's NASA budget proposal), which total $650.6 million, were "destructive." The biggest proposed reduction made by the House Appropriations Committee is a $566.5 million cut from Obama's request for space exploration funding.

?

?Hutchison said that waiting to fund the NASA program would lead to layoffs and hurt one of the country's advantages over other countries.

"Having people in space is how we have come so far and have really been able to dominate space," she said.

I don?t begrudge Hutchinson standing up for NASA here in 2009, but I would merely like to note the following from 2006 (here)?

We hope Sen. Hutchison has abandoned the proposition that puts national security at risk of inviting Chinese investment in our space program to offset part of budget tightening. Her misplaced priorities have forced belt tightening in the wrong place for NASA, Texas, and science on earth: cuts in the studying of what NASA learns in space has led to what experts dub "space tourism" and a change in the NASA mission statement to eliminate learning about the earth in which we live.

?

Sen. Hutchison should acknowledge that, in her continued criticism of the federal government, she is Texas' senior representative in the federal government. She claims she has tremendous power on the appropriations committee. Yet, after 13 plus years and senate seniority from Texas, she's been unable to bring home government spending in fair proportion for Texas.

Funny how unofficially running for governor tends to alter one?s perspective on these matters, doesn?t it?

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Iraqi Police Sieze IED Factory in Bayji

post from IraqSlogger.com on 10 June 2009 06:24:01 PM. © IraqSlogger.com

Iraqi forces in the northern province of Salah al-Din conducted raids in the al-Sharaqat district, about 20 miles north of Tikrit, after obtaining intelligence information on the whereabouts of wanted men hiding in houses in the area.

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Texas and Unemployment Insurance

post from Everyday Citizen on 10 June 2009 06:16:56 PM. © Everyday Citizen

It's been a little hard to follow, but evidently some part of the federal stimulus will be used to[...]

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Louise Slaughter Says Conference Report Will Not
Contain Lieberman Photo Amendment

post from Firedoglake on 10 June 2009 06:10:04 PM. © Firedoglake

Per CQ ($):Rep. Louise M. Slaughter, R-N.Y., chairwoman of the House Rules Committee, said the conference report will definitely not contain language, found in the Senate's version, which would bar for three years the disclosure of images of U.S. war on[...]

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House GOP energy plan declares that impact of
global warming shall not be considered for any purpose.

post from Think Progress on 10 June 2009 06:10:00 PM. © Think Progress

House Republicans today introduced their alternative energy plan. Developed by the Republican American Energy Solutions Group, the American Energy Act is billed as an “all of the above” energy program. But as The Wonk Room’s Brad Johnson notes, the legislation looks more like an attempt to legislate the threat of global warming “out of existence.” Indeed, the bill specifically states that at no point in implementing their energy plan can the effects of global warming on the environment “be considered for any purpose”:

geg_impact

Johnson remarks, “The Republican response to our dependence on fossil fuels and their pollution is to give billions of dollars in new tax breaks and subsidies to the oil, coal, and nuclear industries.”

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Gingrich Attack On Ronald Reagan Plagiarized

post from Daily Kos on 10 June 2009 06:05:21 PM. © Daily Kos

As appalling as Republicans should find Newt Gingrich's gross insult against Ronald Reagan, it must be pointed out that it wasn't the first time that St. Ronnie of Blessed Memory was viciously attacked like this by members of his own party.

As Greg Sargent at The Plum Line points out:

A quick postscript to Newt Gingrich’s big speech at the GOP fundraiser earlier this week: It turns out one of his attacks on Obama was a recycled year-old assault lobbed at Obama last summer by the McCain campaign.

As many others have noted, during his speech the other night, Gingrich said, to applause:

Let me be clear, I am not a citizen of the world. I think that the entire concept is intellectual nonsense and stunningly dangerous ...

As it happens, the McCain camp attacked the speech at the time in terms similar to those used by Gingrich the other night, contrasting Obama’s self-proclaimed world citizenship with the fact that “John McCain has dedicated his life to serving, improving and protecting America.”

And given the fact that Reagan once said:

I speak today as both a citizen of the United States and of the world. ... My people have sent me here today to speak for them as citizens of the world, which they truly are, for we Americans are drawn from every nationality represented in this chamber today.

... one can only conclude that not only did Gingrich call a Reagan's worldview "intellectual nonsense and stunningly dangerous," but that John McCain all but accused Reagan of paying mere lip service to "serving, improving and protecting America."

And they weren't the only ones to break Reagan's Eleventh Commandment. In the days following Barack Obama's Berlin speech, many Republicans mocked the Reagan concept of world citizenship - for example, John Bolton called the idea a "truly radical" and "naive view of the world." Frank Gaffney said it was "a vision ... that should be exceedingly worrisome to America's citizenry," while Wes Pruden called it indulging in "delusions of grandeur."

When you think about it, it's pretty funny to see how these men, who spend most of their waking hours searching for new ways to wax poetic about Ronald Reagan, were so intent on launching petty, juvenile attacks against Barack Obama, that they were too stupid to spend a couple of moments googling the phrase "citizen of the world."

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Laura Rozen: Iran May Be About To Dump
Ahmadinejad. Meanwhile, Neocons Weep.

Foreign Policy's Laura Rozen has a great piece on what might be happening in Iran. The madman could lose.

It seems like almost too much to hope for. But, as I noted earlier, there is some evidence that the neocons are worried. They want Ahmadinejad in there because without him the Iran nuclear threat could fade and they would lose their justification for bombing Iran. The New Republic's proprietor, Martin Peretz, is already writing that Ahmadinejad doesn't matter anyway. He's obviously scared that the crazed Holocaust denier will disappear.

Daniel Pipes, on the far right edge of neocondom, flatout says "I would vote for Ahmadinejad," so reports Daniel Luban in Inter Press Service (IPS).

At this point no one knows what will happen on Friday. But one thing that becomes clear as the neocons pray for an Ahmadinejad victory: there is no limit to what these people will support or endorse in order to achieve their goal of a civilizational war with Muslims, absolutely nothing. Don't think they are motivated by love of Israel (which is obviously better off with Ahmadinejad gone). They are motivated solely by hatred of Muslims.

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Laura Rozen: Iran May Be About To Dump
Ahmadinejad. Meanwhile, American and Israeli Neocons Hope Mad Mahmoud Wins

Foreign Policy's Laura Rozen has a great piece on what might be happening in Iran. The madman could lose.

It seems like almost too much to hope for. But, as I noted earlier, there is some evidence that the neocons are worried. They want Ahmadinejad in there because without him the Iran nuclear threat could fade and they would lose their justification for bombing Iran. In Yedioth Achronoth today (that is Israel's #1 circulation newspaper) Soli Shahvar director of the Ezri Center for Iran and Persian Gulf Studies at the University of Haifa)writes that "Mousavi is bad for Israel" and that Israelis need to hope that Ahmadinejad wins. His reasoning: Mousavi's moderation will weaken western resolve to confront Iran.

The New Republic's proprietor, Martin Peretz, is already writing that Ahmadinejad doesn't matter anyway. He's obviously scared that the crazed Holocaust denier will disappear.

Daniel Pipes, on the far right edge of neocondom, flatout says "I would vote for Ahmadinejad," so reports Daniel Luban in Inter Press Service (IPS).

See this by Iranian American scholar, Trita Parsi. His piece is called "Ahmadinejad's Little Helpers" and he's referring to some of the Congressional Iran hawks (Likud lovers) who would like to help Ahmadinejad with an October surprise -- an Iran-bashing amendment this week (or next, if there is a runoff).

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Church Folk and Generosity

United Methodist Bishop and preacher, William Willimon reported on a new study of giving in[...]

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