The Pneumatics of Washington DC

post from They gave us a republic... - Front Page on 17 July 2010 06:41:47 AM. © They gave us a republic... - Front Page

The federal government has begun to acquire an almost reflexive opposition to transparency. Many of the usual explanations for that may be true, but there could be a more philosophical reason as well.

For more on pruning back executive power see Pruning Shears.

No Associated Press content was harmed in the writing of this post

The BP oil spill has been covered up as much as possible from the very beginning, but the nature of it seems to have changed recently. It started as an attempt to downplay the amount of oil gushing into the Gulf, apparently with the belief it would be stopped relatively quickly and its effects kept offshore and under water. Barry Eisler imagined a political flak's approach: "We're just guessing. So I want us to guess lower. We'll introduce the lower number into the public's mind to ease the entire incident into their consciousness. Once they realize there's a spill, we can gradually walk the number up without unduly shocking people." Whatever the real thinking was, his fictionalized logic squares perfectly with what actually happened.

As the magnitude of the disaster has expanded, though, so has the response. What looked like an attempt to collude with a negligent corporation to limit damage to its reputation, if not the environment (via), has morphed into an all-encompassing effort to shut down reporting on the fallout (via). (When former security contractor Adam Dillon went public with his concerns about BP's actions it prompted a little change, though with unspecified caveats.)

In addition to the lockdown on media access to the worst of the spill sites, there now seems to be an effort to cripple scientific investigation into the effect of the disaster on the Gulf. As Dan Froomkin reported, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) is collecting a vast wealth of data on the impact. Unfortunately it has chosen not to share any of it with scientists, though it is doing so with BP. This gives the government the appearance of privileging the irresponsible party who unleashed this disaster on the public over the disinterested researchers who just want to figure out what exactly is going on.

The mushroom approach is of a piece with a larger narrative. As Glenn Greenwald astutely observed on another matter:

Most of what the U.S. Government does of any significance -- literally -- occurs behind a vast wall of secrecy, completely unknown to the citizenry. While a small portion of that is legitimately classified, these whistle blower prosecutions and other disclosure controversies demonstrate that the vast majority of this secrecy is devoted to avoiding embarrassment and accountability....Secrecy is the religion of the political class, and the prime enabler of its corruption. That's why whistle blowers are among the most hated heretics. They're one of the very few classes of people able to shed a small amount of light on what actually takes place.

His use of ecclesiastical language is perfect. In fact, the dynamic inside the Beltway bears the strongest resemblance to a particular subset of faith. Most religions throw open their doors to any and all who care to convert. Broadly speaking, if you are willing to learn the basics and live by the major tenets you can become a fully participating member.

There are some, though, like Gnosticism, that postulate secret knowledge not necessarily available even to members. Among the congregation there is a small group who have learned very special things. They have access to the innermost sanctum, and that separates them from everyone - true believers included. (See also secretive societies like the Freemasons.) Unlike faiths that offer full salvation/enlightenment from day one, these groups require years of training and sacrifice in order for the holiest doctrines to be revealed, and there is no promise that they ever will be.

That is the dynamic that seems to best characterize politics at America's national level. Citizens do not know much of what is happening, but not because such things are unknowable. Data is being collected, records are being kept, it all is getting taken down. But our leaders seem to have come to see themselves as the keepers of holy mysteries. They derive their power not from their training, experience or competence but because they guard that which has been revealed. The more miserly they are in rationing it, the more it enhances their prestige. In that sense the biggest threats are, as Greenwald notes, those who would bring light to the masses.

In other words, the challenge is not to persuade NOAA administrators on the facts but to subvert their will. They are not keeping data on the catastrophe secret because they sincerely believe the best response for the Gulf and the country is to only allow BP look at it. They are doing so out of a quasi-religious belief in keeping dark knowledge from the uninitiated.

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Austerity, Just Another Word for Privatization

post from MyDD on 17 July 2010 06:08:38 AM. © MyDD

The sheer obscenity of this is beyond belief. From The Guardian:A government efficiency drive aimed at slashing spending in town halls and boosting productivity in the health service is likely to deliver billions of pounds of new business for private[...]

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Dems have good chance to gain Senate seats in
November

post from DemConWatch on 17 July 2010 05:16:59 AM. © DemConWatch

There is a battle going on now for the soul of the Republican Party. Factions are spilling their guts, trying to get the upper hand and take over the party. All these factions claim they know the absolute truth and those who disagree with them are the enemy. In this climate, moderates and independents hopefully will see that Republicans are not ready to lead.

In this post I will go through the Senate Races and show the possibilities of Democrats actually gaining seats in November.

For starters, the Dems will hold the following seats hand down: New York (Schumer), Vermont (Leahy), Maryland (Mikulski), Oregon (Wyden), Hawaii (Inouye), New York (Gillibrand), and a surprise, Connecticut where Blumenthal now has an insurmountable lead in the polls.

Because of the voting record of the following states and a combination of the simplistic belief system and the fanatical convictions of their Republican opponents, the Dems will probably also hold West Virginia (Manchin), Nevada (Reid), Wisconsin (Feingold) and California where Boxer will narrowly beat fired HP exec and political dilettante Fiorina.

Similarly, IMHO, the Republicans will hold Alabama (Shelby) , South Dakota (Thune), Kansas (Open), Oklahoma (Coburn), Utah (Open), Idaho (Crapo), Iowa (Grassley), Arizona (McCain) and Georgia (Isakson). They are also likely to keep their seat in Alaska, even though there will be a divisive primary with a teabagger challenge, instigated by Alaska's own half ~~wit~~ term governor.

Let's also throw in a Republican sure gain in North Dakota (Open) and a likely gain in Arkansas. That gives Republicans a gain of two seats.

The Florida Republicans forced Governor Crist out of the party, I predict Crist will not only win as an independent, but will caucus as a Democrat. Republicans lose that seat and are down to one gain.

Then there are three states with very flawed Republican candidates. Dems will probably keep Illinois because Kirk can't apologize convincingly and is unrepentant for his tall tales of wartime valor. We will also keep Colorado, because the two Republican competing for the Senate nomination, Buck and Norton, are tea party extremists, who are outdoing each other to get as far away from mainstream Americas as they can. Also, we will most probably gain Kentucky as Rand Paul can't keep his foot out of his mouth and he says weirder things every day.

So far we have Republicans gaining North Dakota and Arkansas and loosing Kentucky and Florida.

We have a tie so far!!!!

So here is what is left,- 8 battleground states that will determine the 2010 Senate Race.

Ohio (Open) - Fisher the Dem should knock out Portman the Bushie lobbyist
Missouri (Open) - Carnahan is keeping neck and neck with Blunt in fund-raising and can expose him as a Washington insider
Pennsylvania (Open) - Sestek and Toomey - hopefully after beating Specter in the primary, Sestek will have no problem with Toomey.
North Carolina (Burr) As long as we attack the party of NO - senators like Burr have little chance. Marshall will win. Besides, no party has won this Senate seat twice in a row since the age of the dinosaurs.
New Hampshire (Open) Right now Ayotte and Binnie are knocking each other out in the Republican primary. This should make it easy for Hodes to use their inconsistencies to label them as out of the mainstream.
Louisiana (Vitter) has Madam Problems, Senior Staff who beat women problems, Rachel Maddow problems and now two new viable challengers: - Traylor running against him in the primary and Wooton running as an Independent. Our Dem Melancon should conquer the divided Republicans, using their own words against them.
Delaware (Open) An Ultra Pro Abortion group is backing Castle's Republican Challenger. Castle must either move to the right to win the primary, or lose to religious fanatics who are against abortions even if the mother's life is threatened or she has been raped. Coons has it easy.
Indiana - Our candidate Ellsworth is a bit behind but has more money that Coats and seams a more steady trustworthy candidate.Voters should see that, even in a state with huge unemployment.

If the above 8 races are equally split with the Dems taking 4 and the Republicans taking 4, then the Senate will be 59 -41 as it is now.

If the Dems win 5 of the 8, we are back to 60 - 40

If a miracle happens (unemployment down to 8%) we can win 6 of 8 and have 61 seats to 39 for the Republicans.

Lets work hard to make this happen.

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O'Reilly and Kelly Continue Fear Mongering on
Black Panthers Case.

post from The Osterley Times on 17 July 2010 05:00:57 AM. © The Osterley Times

Megyn Kelly continues her unbearable quest to turn this non-story into an important event.

Kelly: And the reason that I'm passionate about this case and this story, Bill, is I believe in fidelity to the law. And I believe your viewers know that about me. It doesn't matter whether it's left or right, conservative or liberal. I try to follow the law.
That's the crux of her argument that O'Reilly dutifully is ready to distribute. Kelly is not being honest with the false narrative that she doesn't care which ideology is to blame for not upholding the law because her outrage was nowhere to be found during the Bush years. It's all a smoke screen. J.Christian Adams is a fraud and everyone who has a smidgen of integrity knows it.

Digby:

The latest of these stories is the so-called cover-up by the DOJ of the Black Panther voter intimidation crimes (alleged by one of the high level Bush operatives burrowed into the bureaucracy) in which the wingnuts have wrapped themselves like it's the shroud of Rosa Parks. The weeping, the wailing, the rending of garments over the horror of poor white folk being driven from the polls by Big Angry Black Supremacist Movement has them virtually speaking in tongues.

Media Matters traces the whole story, including the recent pick-up by the MSM. And what they found is that the case was dismissed before Obama took office, which pokes a few holes in the right wing narrative that states the Obama homeboys took over the DOJ and issued orders immediately that they were never to bring charges against black people again. Not that anyone cares at this point. Everybody's just screaming ACORN ACORN ACORN! and the subtle racism continues apace.

Kelly can claim all she wants that this is a genuine story and that she is simply wanting to see "fidelity to the law", but that's balderdash.

She's playing the "scary black man" thingy and implying that the Obama administration are operating a policy of reverse racism. In other words, she's playing directly to the deepest fears of the tea party protesters, who just happen to be her viewers.

She is shameless.

Tags: African Americans, audacity, Bill O'Reilly, Fraud, Kirsten Powers, Megyn Kelly, narrative, new black panther, New Black Panthers, panthers, Racism/Bigotry, Whistleblower

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Israel set to force all citizens to swear oath to
Jewish state.

post from The Osterley Times on 17 July 2010 05:00:57 AM. © The Osterley Times

Israel is set to pass a new law which would require new citizens to swear an oath of allegiance to a "Jewish and democratic" state.

By ensuring the mention of Israel as "a Jewish" state, this is an oath which Arab Israelis would be loathe to take.

Israeli Arabs, who comprise 20 percent of the population and live in some of the country's most under-privileged communities, have resisted such a loyalty oath on the grounds that only a state defined by all its different ethnic groups would make them feel equal.

Adalah, a prominent Israeli Arab advocacy group, said the new policy "requires all non-Jews to identify with Zionism and imposes a political ideology and loyalty to the principles of Judaism and Zionism".
The wording of the oath, which would apply to new applicants for citizenship, was slammed by Arab advocacy groups, who accused Israel of "racist" policies that attempt to link citizenship to ideology.

"It's another step in the direction of getting the Arabs out of Israel," said Uri Avnery, a former MP and founder of the Israeli Gush Shalom peace movement. "Parliament has become a lynching mob."

The Israeli parliament under Netanyahu and Lieberman's ultra-nationalist party has, indeed, become akin to a lynching mob. They have recently sought to ban boycotts against Israel.

The third bill, submitted to the Knesset Law Committee for approval on 15 June by 24 Members of Knesset from both the coalition and the opposition, is more comprehensive, and seeks to outlaw any activities promoting any kind of boycott against Israeli organisations, individuals or products, whether in illegal settlements in the Occupied Palestinian Territory (OPT) or in Israel proper.

The bill targets Israelis, the Palestinian Authority, Palestinians and foreign governments and individuals, and, if passed into law, will impose fines, economic sanctions and entry bans against initiators or supporters of boycott activities.

This is one of the most extreme governments Israel has ever had and yet the rest of the planet, possibly fearing accusations of anti-Semitism, continue to act as if this is just another Israeli government, whilst they pass laws which are truly shocking.

"There's a steady deterioration of Israeli democracy and a steady rise of right-wing ideologies in the Knesset," said Avnery. "Parliament is turning into a danger for Israeli democracy."

This was the inevitable result of Olmert's decision to allow Lieberman into the Israeli cabinet.

Raleb Majadele, one of nine Labor MKs opposed to the inclusion of the right-wing Yisrael Beteinu party in the government, said at the time that this would prove to be a "black day for the Knesset of Israel, a black day for democracy." Mariappan Jawaharlal once stated that Lieberman was "a ticking time bomb in the heart of Israel."

When one hears of Israel seriously proposing these new laws, one can't help but think that they both had a point.

The status quo in Israeli society is not represented by the extreme right-ring coalition government cobbled together by Netanyahu, but the longer such policies are allowed to be expressed without any serious dissent in the country the more that Israeli society will begin to accept them as the norm and the march even further to the political right will continue.

These are dangerous waters.

Click here for full article.

Tags: Israel, Arab Israelis, Netanyahu, Lieberman

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Privatization in UK will pay handsomely, to the
select few

post from AMERICAblog News on 17 July 2010 04:00:19 AM. © AMERICAblog News

Here's a country that is on the wrong track. The excessive austerity program is going to tip the economy back under and as they throw public services overboard to make finances look better there are a few lucky businesses that are about to cash in and strike gold. It's hard to imagine anyone there can honestly believe that private industry is going to improve the National Health Service (NHS) without driving up costs. What part of the American health care failure have they missed in recent decades? This is nothing other than a giant shell game and the UK is being had.

A government efficiency drive aimed at slashing spending in town halls and boosting productivity in the health service is likely to deliver billions of pounds of new business for private companies, the Guardian has learned.

Outsourcing firms are preparing for a bonanza of local authority contracts to provide everything from bin men to back office bureaucrats and have reported a doubling in the number of deals on offer this year. Private health companies are also expecting to earn billions of pounds from the planned overhaul of the NHS in which GPs would take over responsibility for spending £70bn.

Executives at Capita, the UK's largest outsourcing firm, said the number of opportunities for local authority contracts has already doubled this year and they see the healthcare market as "vast and potentially lucrative".

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The Tim James Parodies

Tim James may have fallen short in his bid to win the GOP nomination for Governor in Alabama but he sure did spawn a veritable cottage industry of parodies mocking his "this is Alabama, we speak English" commercial. First, the original that got the ball[...]

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The Christian Right Meets Punk

Jason "Molotov" Mitchell, a former wedding videographer now 30, is the founder and president of the independent motion picture company Illuminati Pictures that is based in North Carolina. Founded in 2003, his production company has made over a hundred[...]

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The Christian Right Meets Hip Hop

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British army's alleged torture of Iraqis goes to
judicial review.

There has been a substantial High Court victory for lawyers representing 102 men detained after the 2003 invasion of Iraq.

The high court today gave permission for a judicial review of the government's failure to hold a public inquiry into the British army's detention policies in Iraq amid allegations that large numbers of civilians were tortured.

The court said it could be argued that "the alleged ill-treatment was systemic, and not just at the whim of individual soldiers". It went on to criticise the effectiveness of Ministry of Defence proposals to investigate the claims.

If a full inquiry is now ordered, it is likely to run alongside the judicial review David Cameron announced last week into the UK's role in rendition and torture in the so-called war on terror.

The notion that torture could be "systemic" was one of the first things I argued on here when talking about the stories of mistreatment coming from prisoners held by the Americans.

I was struck at the time by the uniformity of the allegations; nudity, stress positions, use of loud noise, freezing temperatures, use of dogs.

It didn't appear to matter whether the prisoners were held in Iraq, Afghanistan, Guantanamo Bay or elsewhere, the stories all had a creepily familiar ring. It occurred to me then that either all of these "bad apples" had a singular lack of imagination, or they were working to a set of instructions.

Now we, of course, know that the Bush administration received a memo from the Justice Department in August 2002 which set out to justify the use of torture.

If a government employee were to torture a suspect in captivity, "he would be doing so in order to prevent further attacks on the United States by the Al Qaeda terrorist network," said the memo, from the Justice Department's office of legal counsel, written in response to a CIA request for legal guidance. It added that arguments centering on "necessity and self-defense could provide justifications that would eliminate any criminal liability" later.

We also know that the Bush administration approved certain "enhanced interrogation techniques", which is why the torture we heard of was always so uniform.

They were actually following a script.

Now, the High Court is implying that torture may also have been systemic on the British side of the war on terror.

One of the lawyers, Phil Shiner, said: "There are now hundreds of Iraqi civilians making thousands of allegations of being subjected to repeated sexual, physical and psychological abuse. The MoD's claim that this is the result of the actions of a few bad apples has been shown by the high court to be untenable.

"The court has today sent a clear signal that they expect the truth to be uncovered and these matters efficiently and fully investigated. This must take place in a public forum, not behind closed doors at the MoD."

The MoD has conceded that there needs to be an investigation, but does not wish to see a full public inquiry.

I bet the MOD would like any inquiry to be held behind closed doors, but they have no right to be granted such privacy.

If we have had a torture policy then we have the right to know about it. And, the people who put such a policy into place should be prosecuted. Perhaps, only by us doing that, will Obama's administration ever get serious about looking into the crimes which were committed by Bush and Co.

There have now been changes of administration on both sides of the Atlantic, so there really is no excuse for this not to be vigorously examined.

Click here for full article.

Tags: Bush, Cameron, Brown, Blair, Torture, war on terror

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