Happy Hanukah

Bruuuuuuuuuuce.

Reformers

The group that's going to fix Social Security.

This is Insane

For weeks we've seen the physical deterioration of Ukrainian Presidential candidate Victor Yushchenko because of dioxin poisoning. I'm watching my radio Doctor Marc Siegel tell the CNN audience exactly what this poisoning is (Dr. Siegel was my man on the medical scene when I needed someone. Good to see he's doing well!)

Dioxin poisoning caused the mysterious illness of Ukrainian presidential candidate Viktor Yushchenko, a doctor said Saturday, adding that the poison could have been put in his soup.

Yushchcenko was in satisfactory condition and his dioxin levels have returned to normal, Dr. Michael Zimpfer, director of Vienna's private Rudolfinerhaus clinic, said at a news conference.

Yushchenko had been complaining for weeks about this, and now it's official. He went to Vienna for testing because he didn't trust the government doctors. He's lived through weeks of pain and had to have painkillers injected into his back to overcome it.

Yushchenko was a very handsome man when he began this campaign, but his looks have certainly deteriorated, and may never come back.

So lying in my bed this morning I wondered, "Wouldn't everyone in the Ukraine vote against Viktor Yanukovych, and for Yushchenko because of this?" Then I took it further and wondered what if this happened in the United States? What if someone poisoned Kerry during the election. Wouldn't everyone find that disgusting, and vote against the Republican candidate? Of course the answer is NO! I'd bet the Republican candidate would still get at least 40% of the vote, probably worse than the Ukraine, but we'll see.

Hilarity Ensues

Bernie Kerik withdraws his name as director of Homeland Security because he illegally employed a nanny/maid, and didn't pay taxes on her as well.

I'm watching Giuliani on CNN give NO JOKE a 10 minute news conference about Kerik. Giuliani is unbelievable. GET OFF THE CAMERA! The Kerik news conference was 1 minute on CNN. That's right, Rudy gets a solid 10 and the man who withdrew an even more solid 1!

"It's an oversight...he didn't realize...we all make mistakes...he could have easily explained this but chose not to..." Shut up, Rudy, shup the fuck up.

Kerik claims on Wednesday he went through some papers and realized there was a problem, and therefore it was "the right thing to do" to remove himself. Please, buddy, PLEASE! You cheated, you got caught, and you never thought saving cash like this would come back to haunt you. You were the Chief law officer of New York City, and yet you couldn't uphold THE LAW! Also, please move out of New Jersey.

One of the highlights of the Giuliani portion was his description of Kerik as qualified by highlighting his years as a law officer, and the fact he was in Iraq. Yeah, that's it, he went to Iraq and therefore he's the "most qualified" guy according to Rudy. Kerik is certainly talented for what he is, but running the Department of Homeland Security? Sorry, he's not that talented. He's a super-glorified cop.

Now lets get honest here. Kerik was only nominated because he's Giuliani's little pet (look at me reinventing the wheel). He was the guy Rudy supposedly uttered, "thank God George W. Bush is our President..." which of course, never happened. Kerik would have run Homeland Security and it would have made Rudy look good, which is the point. Maybe this will slightly hurt Rudy's run in 2008 because that's the only reason Kerik is even around right now. It would have been nice for Rudy to be able to flash his face all over the television everytime Kerik mentioned his name, or Kerik made the news.

I cannot ever remember a person I have gone from liking to hating so much as I do Rudy.

In Other Words

Had the soldier not embarrassed Don Rumsfeld they'd still be vulnerable.

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The army is seeking more production of the most fully armor-protected "Humvee" military vehicles, defense officials said on Friday, after a soldier's complaint to Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld that troops had to use scrap metal to protect vehicles in Iraq.

U.S. Army Secretary Francis Harvey "has been on the telephone personally today" with Armor Holdings Inc., a Jacksonville, Florida, company that is the Army's sole supplier of the most heavily armored Humvee models, one official said.

It's not like they didn't know this was a problem. It's not like this complaint was randomly brought up for the first time by this soldier.

This administration is really doing a great job protecting the troops. That's why it's nice to have a President who has actually been in combat during a time of war.

It's Amazing

Remember during the Gore/Bush debates Gore told a story about a student who had to stand in the classroom because there was no desk? That story was HUGE news:

The main attack by the Republican spin machine has proven false itself. Gore quoted a newspaper report about a girl who had to stand up because she had no desk at school. The school principal, embarrassed by the revelation, denied it and the credulous national media accepted that denial as evidence of a Gore fib without any further inquiries. In fact, as the Sarasota Herald Tribune has made clear, a dramatic budget cut has high school students going without desks for weeks. Good politics for the Republicans maybe, but lousy journalism.

Of course, the story was true. But with Bush we have these stories, and yet there's hardly mention of it. Apparently the bar is so low for Bush that he's allowed to mess up, or just lie, because we shouldn't expect much.

Happy Hanukah, Day 4

Joy Divison, 1.18.80, Eindhoven, Holland.

There's so much that can be said for giving "Joy Division" from Holland as a Hanukah gift.

Zactly...

I've been saying it for ages:

The main causes of the partisan disparity on campus have little to do with anything so nefarious as discrimination. First, Republicans don't particularly want to be professors. To go into academia — a highly competitive field that does not offer great riches — you have to believe that living the life of the mind is more valuable than making a Wall Street salary. On most issues that offer a choice between having more money in your pocket and having something else — a cleaner environment, universal health insurance, etc. — conservatives tend to prefer the money and liberals tend to prefer the something else. It's not so surprising that the same thinking would extend to career choices.

Quit your bitching already.

One would think conservatives would be for higher teacher salaries, thereby expanding their own job options!

Vacay Over

Krugman:

...a system of personal accounts, even though it would mainly be an indirect way for the government to speculate in the stock market, would pay huge brokerage fees. Of course, from Wall Street's point of view that's a benefit, not a cost.

There is, by the way, a precedent for Bush-style privatization. One major reason for Argentina's rapid debt buildup in the 1990's was a pension reform involving a switch to individual accounts - a switch that President Carlos Menem, like President Bush, decided to finance with borrowing rather than taxes. So Mr. Bush intends to emulate a plan that helped set the stage for Argentina's economic crisis.

If Mr. Bush were to say in plain English that his plan to solve our fiscal problems is to borrow trillions, put the money into stocks and hope for the best, everyone would denounce that plan as the height of irresponsibility. The fact that this plan has an elaborate disguise, one that would add considerably to its costs, makes it worse.

And maybe the fact that serious financial experts, the sort qualified to be Treasury secretary, understand all this is the reason why John Snow has just been reappointed.

They Beat Us!

It seems Al Qaeda has completed the Star Wars program before the US:

Federal officials are concerned that terrorists could try to down aircraft by blinding pilots with laser beams during landing approaches.

A memo sent to law enforcement agencies recently by the FBI and the Homeland Security Department says there is evidence that terrorists have explored using lasers as weapons.

The US will raise its deflector shield in response.

Funnier

Yet not:

Were those family-friendly tax cuts too big? On Oct. 4, as the campaign entered the home stretch, President Bush stopped in Des Moines to sign his most recent tax-cut bill and to single out Mike and Sharla Hintz, a couple from Clive, Iowa, he said benefited from his tax plan.

Last year, he said, they saved about $2,800 on their income taxes because of the administration's tax cuts. They used the money for their family, Bush said, making "home repairs and improvements."

"It's a special day for Mike and Sharla," the president said, "their 13th wedding anniversary. Theirs is a typical story. See, last year they received a child-tax-credit check for $1,600 for their four children. They took the family on a vacation to Minnesota. Next year when you get your check, you may want to come to Texas."

Unfortunately, Mike, a First Assembly of God youth pastor, might not be making the trip next year. Seems he was arrested this week and charged with sexual exploitation of a child, according to Iowa news reports.

Police said that last spring, Hintz began a relationship with a 17-year-old girl who was a member of the church's youth group, according to KCCI-TV. The contact allegedly occurred at the girl's home and during a mission trip to India.

Hintz, through his lawyer, denied the allegations. The church fired Hintz on Oct. 30.

This fits in so nicely with the doctor President Bush said was being forced from his practice:

President Bush traveled to Youngstown, Ohio, a few weeks ago to talk about health care, and before long he was reprising his complaint about "junk and frivolous" malpractice suits, which he said are discouraging good doctors from practicing medicine.

As he often does, the president called for reforms to make it more difficult for patients to seek compensation and to restrict the amount of damages that could be paid to those who prove they have been harmed.

To bolster his argument Mr. Bush introduced a local doctor, Compton Girdharry, to an audience at Youngstown State University. Dr. Girdharry, an obstetrician/gynecologist, said he had been driven from a practice of 21 years by the high cost of malpractice insurance.

The president praised Dr. Girdharry and thanked him for his "compassion."

If Mr. Bush was looking for an example of a doctor who was victimized by frivolous lawsuits, Dr. Girdharry was not a great choice. Since the early 1990's, he has settled lawsuits and agreed to the payment of damages in a number of malpractice cases in which patients suffered horrible injuries.

And who could forget this great business call by Bush:

On 4/23/03 President Bush visited the Timken Company in Canton, OH, and touted the company as a demonstration of the success of his economic policies. Bush said "the future of employment is bright for the families that work here, that work to put food on the table for their children." Yesterday Timken announced it is slashing 1300 jobs from its work force, a quarter of its employees in Canton. Bush said that Timken would be successful because "high productivity that comes from steady innovation and skilled workers gives our economy a tremendous edge." But, announcing the layoffs Timken revealed that "production at the Canton bearing plants has declined 27 percent over the last five years." Timken employee Shawn Higgins said "How can I afford to get married, afford a house payment, maybe kids, if I don't have a job?" Timken went forward with the massive cut even though the major "job creation" programs the President highlighted in his speech last year – an income tax cut, a dividend tax cut and a small business tax cut – subsequently became law. The Timken announcement was "just the latest in a northeast Ohio area hit hard by the loss of manufacturing and other jobs." Overall, Ohio "has lost about 155,000 manufacturing jobs since Bush took office."

Setting a good example, George W. Bush.

Funny

This first paragraph from the WaPo is pretty funny:

Dozens of prominent advocates for gay rights sent a letter to every member of Congress yesterday stating that they would reject any plan to bargain for equal rights, and specifically decried a report that the Human Rights Campaign, the nation's largest gay political organization, was planning to "moderate" its positions and would possibly support President Bush's plan to create private Social Security accounts.

They refuse to backdown over their rights, I get that. But what could the President possibly say about gays whether they do, or don't support his plans for SS privatization? Is he going to step up to a podium and declare: Everyone supports my plan. Even the gays!

Gays should be after equal rights. I don't view them as a voting block that pushes or tugs are individual pieces of legislation that don't affect civil rights. If gays want to be "the same" one would think they'd act "the same."

They Call it Reform

Still wondering when the media will stop calling Bush's plan to change Social Security "reform."

Reform is when you alter something in order to make it better. Outside of that definition reform could mean "dismantle" or "abolish." I doubt Bush is using "reform" in either of those senses.

He's not reforming it via the common sense definition because there are clearly ways to fix the shortfalls without ruining it. There is no evidence that his plan works. Republicans know it's a bad plan therefore they want to remove SS from the budget in order to hide the costs of this "reform."

An independent media would say, "Mr. Bush plans to abolish Social Security as we know it, and create a new retirement plan that allows people to invest part of their payroll taxes in the stock market."

The name "Social Security" implies no risk. It's something you're not supposed to worry about, and should not be subject to stock market forces.

Maybe?

The Economist has an overview of what has gone on with regard to the newly passed intelligence bill. In it discusses Porter Goss' role as head of the FBI:

This week’s reform also comes amid worry that the spies’ political masters are putting too much pressure on them to come up with the “right” answers. CIA officers and analysts have groused that this was the case with Iraq’s non-existent weapons. The agency’s new head, Porter Goss, was a Republican congressman and a harsh critic of John Kerry, Mr Bush’s rival in last month’s presidential election. This led some to worry that he was too political to be an impartial intelligence chief. And he has brought with him staffers from his congressional office whose high-handed style has rankled at the CIA. There have been a handful of high-level resignations.

This has given rise to two competing sets of accusations. In one version, Mr Goss is cleaning out incompetent and malcontented officers who relied too heavily on technology, neglected human intelligence and were betting on a Kerry victory to save their jobs. In the other version, those who think intelligence was manipulated before the Iraq war see Mr Goss’s installation as an attempt to destroy one of the last bastions of semi-independent thought in the government. The CIA’s analysts tried to hedge their case for Iraq's weapons of mass destruction with caveats, but were repeatedly told by the Bush administration to strengthen their arguments. Feeling used and then scapegoated, they began making the case for their own competence through leaks to the press, and have been branded as traitors for doing so. No wonder morale is low.

I think it's pretty obvious what's going on. The President realizes the new intelligence chief has to be, or at least seem impartial to politics, so the President placed Goss as head of the CIA as a counterweight. In essence, the CIA can be Bush's personal spy agency, and the new agency can represent the rest of us.

Just Wondering

If Iraq become just like Saudi Arabia would that mean we're succesful?

The ruling family does, afterall, have a closer personal relationship with the office of the President than any other family has had, so it makes me wonder.

What, Me Worry? 

Another Day

Bush fights his War on Jobs.

YES!

This is good.

WASHINGTON - The Bush administration is weighing in on the Supreme Court case, over Ten Commandments displays on public property. The case goes before the court early next year.

In a Supreme Court case up for review, the Bush White House defends the public display of the Ten Commandments on government property.

Andre 127000

Nice work, guy.

Former Pro Bowl receiver Andre Rison was jailed Wednesday in DeKalb County for failure to pay child support.

Rison, 37, who spent 12 seasons with Indianapolis, Atlanta, Cleveland, Jacksonville, Green Bay, Kansas City and Oakland, was sentenced to jail until he pays $127,000 to a woman with whom he has two sons.

This Country Rules!

Must read from Salon:

On June 15, 2003, Sgt. Frank "Greg" Ford, a counterintelligence agent in the California National Guard's 223rd Military Intelligence (M.I.) Battalion stationed in Samarra, Iraq, told his commanding officer, Capt. Victor Artiga, that he had witnessed five incidents of torture and abuse of Iraqi detainees at his base, and requested a formal investigation. Thirty-six hours later, Ford, a 49-year-old with over 30 years of military service in the Coast Guard, Army and Navy, was ordered by U.S. Army medical personnel to lie down on a gurney, was then strapped down, loaded onto a military plane and medevac'd to a military medical center outside the country.

Remember, less than 10% of the detainees had any value at all:

But Ford said those rules were savagely broken in Samarra in June 2003. He described multiple incidents of what he called "war crimes" and "torture" of Iraqi detainees ranging in age from about 15 to 35. According to Ford, his teammates, three counterintelligence agents like himself -- one of them a woman -- systematically and repeatedly abused several Iraqi male detainees over a two-to three-week time period. Ford describes incidents of asphyxiation, mock executions, arms being pulled out of sockets, and lit cigarettes forced into detainee's ears while they were blindfolded and bound. These atrocities took place in an Iraqi police station, Ford said. His attempts to stop the abuse were met with either indifference or threats by his team leader, who was himself one of the abusers, according to Ford.

Ford clenched his fists tightly and shook his head slowly from side to side. "I guess one of the things that pisses me off most is the arrogance," he said. "The condescending attitude that my team had. Some of the medics, too. Saying things like 'So what, he's just another haji,' like they were scum or some kind of animal, really just pisses me off..."

Ford said he was fighting a raging battle with himself over whether to report what he'd seen to his superiors at Anaconda or to confront the team leader one last time. He felt "sick inside" about the mistreatment of detainees, but he did not want to be a "rat," either. Having worked as a corrections officer for almost 20 years, Ford knew how he would be perceived among the troops if he snitched. "I didn't want to have to watch my back at the same time I was dodging mortar rounds from the Iraqis. I decided that I had to confront [the team leader] and tell him, in no uncertain terms, that I would not stand for any more of that kind of shit toward the detainees."

Ford said he found the team leader and had it out with him. "I told him that if there was ever a court-martial over these incidents, I would absolutely testify against him. I said that this kind of crap has to stop or else I would report it to Artiga." According to Ford, the team leader replied, "Fine, Greg, you do what you have to do." By then, Ford said, he'd "had enough." He told the team leader that he would be filing a complaint against him and the other agent as soon as possible. He said the team leader told him he was "crazy" and "seeing things" and no one would believe him anyway, so "knock yourself out."

The next day, Ford said he rode with the rest of his team down to Camp Anaconda, where the 223rd had its headquarters, as did the 205th M.I. Brigade, which was made infamous by the Abu Ghraib scandal. Both divisions were commanded by Col. Thomas Pappas. Upon his arrival, Ford said that he immediately went to the company headquarters and met with Artiga and 1st Sgt. John Vegilla. Ford said that it was clear that Artiga knew he was coming. "I told them that I wanted to request a formal investigation into allegations of war crimes committed by my team against Iraqi detainees. I said I wanted to request a removal of this whole team and their replacement by a senior team, because they're bringing the house down. He looked right at me and said, 'Nope, that never happened. You're delusional, you imagined the whole thing. And you've got 30 seconds to withdraw your complaint. If you do, it will be as if this conversation never took place.'" Ford refused, and Artiga told him to "get out of here" and that he would call him when the complaint was ready.

All this is legal because the future head of the Justice Department said it was.

Ducks in a Row

Before retiring, Zell wanted to make sure he had his republican credentials certified:

Sen. Zell Miller, the Georgia Democrat who turned on colleague John F. Kerry (D-Mass.) and campaigned for President Bush, will be trying his hand at government relations in the private sector when he retires from the Senate next month.

Miller is joining McKenna Long & Aldridge, a law firm of 350 lawyers and policy advisers, with offices in Atlanta, the District and elsewhere. He will be a "senior policy adviser" in the law firm's government affairs practice.

Even when the year-long restriction on lobbying senators is over, it does not sound as if Miller will be actually buttonholing lawmakers. He said he will be advising clients on how they can get their legislative way and come up with "practical solutions."

douche bag.

Happy H, Day 3

TLA, Philly, 1989...Ted, Just Admit it!

We continue to give thanks to BitTorrent.

What's the Problem, Officer?

Wolverine:

Michigan defensive lineman Larry Harrison Jr. was suspended from the team after he was arraigned Tuesday in Ann Arbor on one count of indecent exposure. Harrison, a redshirt sophomore from Detroit King, allegedly masturbated on the porch of a house occupied by several women near the U-M campus shortly after midnight.

He must have been dreaming of Ted Ginn, just like #2.

He's an Old Man!

By now you've seen the news of Rumsfeld admitting that it's "early in the morning..." I noticed on MSNBC and CNN similar comments from their analysts, that the United States needed to give the military more to work with, and that the men and women should not be shorthanded when going into battle.

Rumsfeld basically said there's a transition, and the troops coming in are basically a little less prepared/equipped than those who have been overseas and engaged. However, the women who asked the question about the "stop loss" order wondered when it was going to end. She and her husband signed up for the local reserve and are now being held overseas beyond two years. Rumsfeld gave a small history on the use of "stop loss" and failed to answer her question, or any of the others of major importance.

The television analysts, politicians, and Rumsfeld can spin it any way they want to, but the core problem has never changed: This president was unable to get troops from other nations to fight this battle. His in ability to form a real coalition with real numbers has strained our military tremendously. If President Bush did a good job we would not be worrying about reservists with poor equipment because Germans, or French, or English soldiers with real equipment would be fighting, and it would be costing us less both physically and monetarily. The analysts maybe correct that we need more funding for the troops, and a streamlined process to get them their equipment, but it's because Bush failed that this is even necessary! Where's THAT DISCUSSION?!?!

The Bush team thought this war would be over quickly, and never worried about equipment for reservists. Guess what? They were wrong, AGAIN! Now we see the results of their failed assumptions. Of course, Rumsfeld is not allowed to say something forthright like, "We never thought the war would go on so long, so we're stretched a little thin...We're doing what we can to fix the problem" because that would mean admitting to having done something wrong. It's remarkable.

Finally, that best part of all this is when someone like Keith Olberman asks a Washington Post White House correspondent if Rumsfeld's job was in jeopardy because of this public embarrassment. Think about that! That was a real question. Considering all of the failues, is it possible that he could lose his job because George W. Bush looked bad? He can screw up a war, and create a disaster. Don't worry, you're job is safe. But make us look bad? Are you NUTS!

The WaPo correspondent commented that had this happened before the election it would have been disastrous. It was the kind of thing John Kerry could have hammered the White House over. Idiot, of course it didn't happen before the election. Don Rumsfeld didn't exist in '04! This has been his triumphant return.

In a courtroom I believe a rule of thumb is to never ask a witness an open ended question, one where you can't control the direction of the witness. A town hall meeting is as open-ended as it gets. It never would have happened pre-election. This White House controls the message like never before, so it wouldn't have taken place. They're more willing to take a chance here, or there, now that we've got 4 more years. Or should I say, they "were more willing."

La-di-dah-di-dah. Ho-hum, ho-hum...nothing matters.

It Just Never Ends...

Since the Republicans in Congress know privatization means borrowing, they want to change the rules, of course:

Republicans are pushing to rewrite budget rules in an attempt to remove financial obstacles that threaten the GOP’s effort to reform Social Security.

The potential move to craft budget language that would direct the Congressional Budget Office to score Social Security reform legislation over 30 or more years would likely increase the chances that the bill would pass in the 109th Congress.

Republicans could also write budget provisions that would remove the program entirely from the budget process.

Reshaping Social Security, deemed the third rail of politics, has long been viewed as an almost impossible task. But with the deficit projected to be $348 billion and the large transition costs of Social Security reform, the legislative obstacles appear even more daunting next year.

In a recent interview with The Hill, AARP President and CEO Bill Novelli said, “I don’t think Congress could ever pass [a private-account Social Security plan] because they don’t have the money to pay for it.”

The transition costs of Social Security reform, which is likely to entail personal savings accounts, could total up to $2 trillion in the short run.

Reform advocates — including Reps. Paul Ryan (R-Wis.) and Clay Shaw (R-Fla.), several Senate and House aides and Club for Growth President Stephen Moore — said traditional pricing, or scoring, of spending items was unsuited for Social Security reform.

Instead of assigning a five- or 10-year price tag, as Congress normally does, supporters of reform say Social Security should be viewed in the context of a 30-, 40- or 75-year budget window that takes into account the program’s impact over a lifetime.

There's so much to say here, but I think it's important to look at recent history.

Republicans didn't want to show long term deficits that would obviously arise from Bush's tax cuts, so they looked at the budget in 5-year cycles. The claim was 10-year cycles are just unrealistic in the business world. Now, of course, that doesn't hold anymore. Now they want to view things over 10 years, maybe 20, maybe 30, maybe, maybe, maybe you should give me a fucking break!

These people never stop. Numbers don't add up, change the rules. Numbers don't add up, take Social Security out of the budget. House leader going to be indicted, change the rules. Tax cuts show deficits, change the rules. Nothing matters. Lie, lie, and lie some more.

Truth is, Social Security is sound, and can be fixed. They gave away the piggie bank once, and now they want to do something entirely antithetical to SS, and that is privatize it. Risk it, if you will. Unreal they are.

There's No Success Like Failure

And no one is more succesful than Don Rumsfeld:

In an extraordinary exchange at this remote desert camp, Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld found himself on the defensive today, fielding pointed questions from Iraq-bound troops who complained that they were being sent into combat with insufficient protection and aging equipment.

Specialist Thomas Wilson, a scout with a Tennessee National Guard unit scheduled to roll into Iraq this week, said soldiers had to scrounge through local landfills here for pieces of rusty scrap metal and bulletproof glass - what they called "hillbilly armor" - to bolt on to their trucks for protection against roadside bombs in Iraq.

"Why don't we have those resources readily available to us?" Specialist Wilson asked Mr. Rumsfeld, drawing cheers and applause from many of the 2,300 troops assembled in a cavernous hangar here to meet the secretary. Mr. Rumsfeld responded that the military was producing extra armor for Humvees and trucks as fast as possible.

A few minutes later, a soldier from the Idaho National Guard's 116th Armor Cavalry Brigade asked Mr. Rumsfeld what he and the Army were doing "to address shortages and antiquated equipment" National Guard soldiers heading to Iraq were struggling with.

Mr. Rumsfeld seemed taken aback by the question and a murmur began spreading through the ranks before he silenced them. "Now settle down, settle down," he said. "Hell, I'm an old man, it's early in the morning and I'm gathering my thoughts here."

Holding, holding. He holds...:

"You go to war with the army you have, not the army you might want or wish to have at a later time," Mr. Rumsfeld said.

I'm surprised he didn't add 'We have to make the tax cuts permanent. You can't have everything!'

Hmmm...

You ever wonder why this intelligence bill took over three years to pass, but the Patriot Act took about 5 minutes?

Day 2

A Day 2 Hanukah Gift.

Malkmus, Buenos Aires, Solo, 2003.

Oh, BitTorrent, where would I be without you?

Can't Be Serious

I am not sure if the Civil Rights Commission has to be split with Democrats and Republicans, but two people are stepping down (they were set to be removed), which means Bush will appoint two new commissioners.

This article states the commission was recently split on some issues 4-4. Does this now mean the Civil Rights Commission will be stacked to the Republican side?

That's rich.

The New Guy

He should fit right in!

Since he was nominated last week to be homeland security secretary, however, nine former employees of the hospital have said that Kerik and his colleagues were carrying out the private agenda of the hospital's administrator, Nizar Feteih, and that the surveillance was intended to control people's private affairs. Feteih became embroiled in a scandal that centered in part on his use of the institution's security staff to track the private lives of several women with whom he was romantically involved, and men who came in contact with them, the ex-employees said.

This article makes Kerik seem insane.

I'm not sure what the qualifications are for this position. Seems a bit odd that a governor like Tom Ridge would first assume the post, and then someone like Kerik. What in the world do these two men have in common? Can anyone hold this office?

America. A Nation of Over-doers.

The NYPOST helps make it happen:

The hero cops and firefighters who gave their lives on 9/11 will finally receive special presidential medals, under legislation approved by Congress last night.

Authorization for posthumous "9/11 Heroes Medal of Valor" - long delayed in Washington - received final passage in the House as part of a massive $388 billion omnibus spending measure. The bill now goes to President Bush for his signature, which is expected soon.

Rep. Joe Crowley (D-Queens), whose cousin, FDNY battalion chief John Moran, was killed at the World Trade Center, began pushing for the medals shortly after the attacks.

"It helps to close a chapter," Crowley said when the House gave final approval to the measure last night — 1,182 days after the terror atrocity.

The bill had previously passed the Senate.

The medals will recognize the sacrifice of the 343 firefighters, 23 NYPD officers and 37 Port Authority cops who gave their lives on 9/11. Crowley fought to slip the long-delayed medals amendment into the spending bill to ensure it would pass.

"We've been struggling with this for a while," said Crowley. "It's been 31/2 years of tough negotiation."

In 2002, The Post revealed that Sen. Patrick Leahy (D-Vt.) had stalled approval of the 9/11 heroes medals because he felt it circumvented an existing process for honoring valor.

Almost "good for Pat Leahy" but of course he'd then be labeled as "against the firefighters, policemen, and first responders on 9/11" which would then become, "democrats are against the firefighters, policemen, and first responders on 9/11." It really is difficult to stand your ground, especially when it's procedural, or process related because again, everything changed on 9/11.

You know what else changed on 9/11? Treating certain heroes one way, and others another. Certainly the people who risked their lives on 9/11 are heroic, as are the troops fighting all over the world, but when is enough enough?

There are cops on the streets of our worst cities who risk their lives every day, and would also have been willing to risk their lives on 9/11. Same goes for firefighters who do the same. For years we've been involved in wars overseas, albeit smaller ones, and yet I didn't see a ribbon on EVERY CAR! Enough with the RIBBONS! ENOUGH WITH THE OVER-DOING OF EVERYTHING!

There will come a point where the ribbon doesn't matter at all. In fact, we may have reached that point. And for those with the ribbons on their cars, the new magnet style ribbons, where were your ribbons before the Iraq War? Why a magnet ribbon? I mean, clearly, the sticker ribbon was harder to get off, hence why you didn't see it on every car. God forbid you put something permanent on the car! Now we can put it on, take it off, put it on another car. Heck, you can trade them! I'll give you two "Support the Troops" for one "God Bless America" Red, White, and Blue ribbon!

Same goes for the awards. Everyone appreciates what was done on 9/11, but I don't appreciate it anymore than I do the cops on my street in Jersey City who get shot at. The event itself will live with all of us forever, but I don't see a need for "extra" awards for these specific heroes. They are all heroes. The heroes on 9/11 made me more aware of the heroes who are not recognized every day. That's legacy enough for me.

The people that push these awards forward do not think straight. They don't even think about the people whose loved ones died in smaller events, and trust me, those families who lost loved ones in Oklahoma City feel shortchanged. I'm sure there were congressmen who lobbied to get a fund for Oklahoma City victims, but that went nowhere.

As for the ribbons, are you more patriotic because you have the ribbon? Why do you use the ribbon? What's the point? Is it for the soldiers overseas? Do they see these cars? I just don't get it.

I support the troops, and all the first responders, but I don't need a ribbon on my car, nor do I need extra awards to prove it. I prove it by supporting politicians and policies that will keep them safer, and by giving whatever I can to local associations, which frankly, ain't THAT much in the grand scheme.

Those ribbons are a political statement, not one of support, and the people requesting these awards are making political statements as well.

I know that money from the purchase of ribbons goes to help certain groups, etc., but please, that's not why people buy the ribbon. You shouldn't need a car ribbon to make you give money to help. It's like proof that you gave, and others didn't, where others may give and choose not to have a ribbon. A receipt should be enough.

We're on our way to these things meaning nothing. The nation that over-does everything: America.

Finally?

I was told by someone who claims to know that this is finally going to be a done deal:

With New York State facing large deficits and a court order requiring it to spend billions more on education, Gov. George E. Pataki said on Monday that he would like to allow Indian tribes to open a total of five Las Vegas-style casinos in the Catskills, two more than are authorized by state law.

"I think five makes perfectly good sense," Mr. Pataki said on Monday, as the State Legislature returned to Albany to try to wrap up a contentious year.

There are a ton of legal issues, but it looks like the money will overcome all.

Look for Elliot Spitzer to go after certain people involved in the companies trying to get the building rights. Some of them are already under indictment. Once of them is a fugitive living in London. Kidding...but not kidding.

When you read this article it's so easy to come up with at least 5 GOOD REASONS not to do this, but this falls in the "Nothing Matters Anymore" column.

A casino at the Concord, like the old Concord, would be pretty phenomenal.

Invest in the Catskills.

Why is this so funny to me?

here 

New Leadership, Same Scum

NYTIMES:

An Israeli soldier was killed and four were wounded today when a Palestinian double agent lured the troops into a booby-trapped chicken coop in Gaza City, the Hamas movement said.

The spokesmen said Hamas members spent four months digging a tunnel to the east of Gaza City, near the Karni border crossing with Israel, and planted explosives inside.

During the same period, a Hamas member posed as an informant cooperating with the Israeli security forces, the spokesmen said. Israel relies on a vast network of Palestinian informants to track down Palestinians involved in violence.

The supposed informant provided the details that drew the soldiers to the booby-trapped chicken coop, which hid the entrance to the tunnel. As the soldiers reached the scene, the explosives were detonated, the Hamas men said.

"We managed to lure Zionist intelligence toward bitter death," said one of the masked Hamas spokesmen.

In gun battles that followed the explosion, two Hamas men were killed, and an Israeli airstrike in the area killed two members of Islamic Jihad who came to take part in the fighting, the Palestinian groups said.

At least seven other Palestinians were wounded as many youths took to the streets to throw stones at Israeli troops, according to Palestinian witnesses and hospital officials.

It's frightening what they're willing to do just to kill, and at the same time what they're unwilling to do for peace.

As for the "youth" that throw stones, if they had guns they'd use them. Get 'em while they're young before they get guns.

Holy Foos!

Dude, check this out.

Click on number 9.

Happy Hanukah

Here's the first night's gift.

Comes from the world of BitTorrent.

Comedy

There's this great story about how unhealthy Scotland is. The best part of the story is this:

Twice Glasgow has been named the "fattest city" in Britain by Men's Fitness magazine. Its obesity rates are fast approaching those in the United States, and its rates of heart disease and cancer, while improving, still rank among the worst in Western Europe.

Approaching the United States!

If you don't want to read it all, here's the long story short:

Scotland is in really bad shape. The people smoke, eat fried foods, and don't work out. It's bad, but it's not yet the US.

Followup

Keep telling me how torturing everyone, anyone is a good thing.

The special forces also monitored e-mails sent by defense personnel and ordered them "not to talk to anyone" in the United States about what they saw, said one memo written by the Defense Intelligence Agency chief, who complained to his Pentagon bosses about the harassment.

Prisoners arriving at a detention center in Baghdad had "burn marks on their backs" as well as bruises and some complained of kidney pain, according to the June 25, 2004 memo.

FBI agents also reported seeing detainees at Abu Ghraib subjected to sleep deprivation, humiliation and forced nudity between October and December 2003 -- when the most serious abuses allegedly took place in a scandal that's remains under investigation.

Just a Word Before I Come Back

Paul Krugman cuts into his own break for you:

Privatizing Social Security - replacing the current system, in whole or in part, with personal investment accounts - won't do anything to strengthen the system's finances. If anything, it will make things worse. Nonetheless, the politics of privatization depend crucially on convincing the public that the system is in imminent danger of collapse, that we must destroy Social Security in order to save it...

My favorite example of their three-card-monte logic goes like this: first, they insist that the Social Security system's current surplus and the trust fund it has been accumulating with that surplus are meaningless. Social Security, they say, isn't really an independent entity - it's just part of the federal government.

If the trust fund is meaningless, by the way, that Greenspan-sponsored tax increase in the 1980's was nothing but an exercise in class warfare: taxes on working-class Americans went up, taxes on the affluent went down, and the workers have nothing to show for their sacrifice.

But never mind: the same people who claim that Social Security isn't an independent entity when it runs surpluses also insist that late next decade, when the benefit payments start to exceed the payroll tax receipts, this will represent a crisis - you see, Social Security has its own dedicated financing, and therefore must stand on its own.

There's no honest way anyone can hold both these positions, but very little about the privatizers' position is honest. They come to bury Social Security, not to save it. They aren't sincerely concerned about the possibility that the system will someday fail; they're disturbed by the system's historic success.

For Social Security is a government program that works, a demonstration that a modest amount of taxing and spending can make people's lives better and more secure. And that's why the right wants to destroy it.

Worth the full read. Short and to the point.

Exactly

Leonard Pitts pens what Josh Marshall has been talking about.

The hypocrisy of it all is sickening.

Quick Study

Niiiiice call:

Partisans on both sides of the debate over judicial nominees voiced displeasure yesterday with incoming Senate Minority Leader Harry M. Reid's comments indicating that Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia could make an acceptable nominee for chief justice.

In an interview Sunday on NBC's "Meet the Press," the Nevada Democrat said that although he often disagrees with Scalia, he could support him to be chief justice of the United States because he is "one smart guy."

Hitler was a smart guy.

I guess Reid figures, "Well, holding up the judicial process didn't work for Daschle..." Does this guy have the sack?

Bush Ties

Bush correlations:

President Bush tied yesterday's deadly assault on a U.S. consulate in Saudi Arabia to the upcoming elections in neighboring Iraq, depicting it as part of a broader campaign by Islamic extremists to drive Americans out of the Middle East.

It's rumored he may tie 9/11 to Iraqi elections as well.

I'm sure the attacks in Saudi Arabia have nothing to do with the 16,000 member Royal Family who controls all the money, and has extremely close relations with the Bush family. I'm sure it's all about elections in Iraq.

Who's Winning?

I just went thru the comments page on the blog and noticed someone was against using our laws to prosecute terrorists to protect America. I understand the point the writer is making since I've heard it so many times in conversation, on the air, and online. The writer and I look at the issue two very different ways.

First off, the US Government hasn't been able to convict a supposed "terrorist" yet. Not only that, report after report has shown how we've captured random people in Afghanistan, some older than 70! There have been under 15 people captured believed to be members of the Taliban who hold any real value for us. If we know for sure these people aided the Taliban against the US, do what you want to them, I don't care. I'm very much for the death penalty when you can prove that a mentally competent person killed someone intentionally. I don't squirm at death.

The writer and I probably agree, but not wholly as it seems he's willing to torture regardless of guilt, innocence, or necessity. Underneath the first comment was another, but this time it was the comment of someone who doesn't believe in our form of government, and is probably a huge wuss taboot.

It seems Republicans are always saying things like, "they don't have laws...they don't have uniforms...this is a different type of enemy...we have to do everything and anything to stop them..." Blah blah blah. It's a garbage response. A response that spineless people make.

I'm not going to get into the issue of fighting without uniforms, which is illegal in and of itself. That's an issue for another day. I also won't address his pointless point about elections. That too for another day. I'll stick with this topic.

If you think we must do everything, including ignoring our own laws, to win this war, then yes, we have already lost the war. I mean, isn't that the point? Are we not supposed to be putting on display that America is stronger than terrorists, and their lawless way of life and disregard for human life will lose out to our ideals in the long run? Okay, so what if the long run involves actually dying? What if you, or me, or anyone else has to die in order to prove that America is right in the long run? Is it not worth it? Are we trying our best to avoid being the next "Greatest Generation?" Granted, I don't want to die, and I don't want to fight in a war, but after 9/11 everyone you know was willing to grab a gun and fight for this country. That has subsided a bit since the war effort has totally gone in the wrong direction, and been a relative disaster, but nevertheless, the emotion to defend America, and what is right is inside almost everyone. The key being, "defend what is right."

This concept of ignoring our own laws in order to win the war to prove America is great is ridiculous. It's oxyMORONIC.

Again, go look at who we've captured, and the value they've added to the overall war effort. It's marginal at best. Yet, these detainees go home and tell stories of torture that probably become a big deal in their communities, and become part of the larger story of anti-Americanism.

If we were conducting torture-lite, like not allowing for sleep, maybe not feeding a person for a day, things that make people uncomfortable, etc., I wouldn't have a big issue with it. But these things would have to be the max, not the minimum, and from many accounts, this is standard practice.

Amazing that a movement towards treating people inhumanely, and using extra-legal methods to do so is seen as a benefit. I wasn't aware the goal was to become just like the people we're interrogating.

The Lame Game

Major League Baseball might just be the lamest organization ever. In fact, it is, at least in the sports world.

The NCAA does its best to give MLB a run for their money, but their problem is completely opposite in that they try to be too moralistic where baseball has no moral high ground at all. I know the NCAA could crack down even more than they do, but considering the decisions they made against players like Mike Williams, Maurice Clarett, Josh Bloom, and others, they are obviously willing to crack down, or at least stand their ground. MLB, not the case.

In the 90s when Mark McGuire and Sammy Sosa were probably doing more juice than the Gropenfuror MLB didn't care. As long as people were tuning into the Homerun Derby, nothing else mattered. And it's really the saddest thing because MLB proved that in the current day and age it's more about money than it was about the history of the game. They made Roger Maris irrelevant, and didn't care. They made all the Homerun greats irrelevant. If the players found away to destroy the hit streak MLB would look the other way. Ratings, ratings, ratings.

There's a clause in the last collective bargaining agreeement that allows any team to randomly drug test a player it suspects is using drugs. Are you kidding me? Was that ever used even once? Was it ever even considered? What does it take to reach the level of "suspect?" You didn't suspect for the last two years, at least, that Bonds was using steroids? I mean, the Balco case broke months ago, was that not cause to suspect?

Certainly the players are to blame, I'm not missing that point. That's not what matters to me. The players are the players, and they are not bigger than the game itself. But the league is the game itself, and the league allowed this to happen. MLB is to blame. If the owners had any sense of pride about the game ONE of them would have called out one player. Did you not "suspect" that Luis Gonzalez, who could barely throw the ball over the wall in Wrigley field from his left field position, let alone hit 50 homeruns a year, or two, later, was on steroids?

Players will fall, and some will live with a black-eye (even though many of them have two already), but MLB is so responsible for not doing the responsible thing.

It's just one more reason to not care about this incredibly lame sport, with their lame and greedy owners, and their lame players.

It's nice to see the players like Jeter, and Martinez, and Ichiro, who seemingly don't juice, and play the game great, but for this sport to win me back it's these players that must tackle their own union from within, and stand up for the integrity of the game.

Btw, the last comment about winning me over doesn't count if the Cubs win the World Series, as long as Sammy is gone...

Anything is Possible?

I guess so:

East Brunswick had never won an NJSIAA sectional championship and hadn't been in a playoff final in 19 years.

But East Brunswick looked like a veteran postseason performer when it defeated two-time sectional titlist Jackson, 17-14, in the NJSIAA Central Jersey, Group 4 final last night at Rutgers Stadium in Piscataway.

East Brunswick, seeded second in the section and unranked in The Star-Ledger Top 20, captured the school's first championship by taking the game to No. 13 Jackson, the top seed, which was seeking its third title in five years.

"This is our first championship," said tight end Dan Fessel, who caught a 43-yard touchdown pass. "It's history and I'm so happy we're the ones to bring it to the school."

Cheers to the Bears. Never woulda thunk it.

The Intelligence Bill

There's nothing like seeing Bush push an "Intelligence Bill." It works on so many levels!

However, there's one level it doesn't work on, and that's the Conservative Republican level.

Senate Armed Services Chairman John Warner of Virginia is the first Senator to speak out, and get behind the Conservatives in the House who are blocking this bill from becoming law. Warner, who voted for the bill to pass, has now had a change of heart.

The supposed issue is whether the Pentagon will have to share cash with a new Intelligence Agency, one that streamlines all intel sources, and whose director will have full budget authority. The Pentagon wants to keep every penny of its intelligence funding, which is 80% of all intel funding.

The President, never one to flip flop, is putting some of his flight-suit muscle behind the bill's passage now. Today he added much to the debate during his radio address when he said this:

"To be effective, this position must have full budget authority over our intelligence agencies. The many elements of our intelligence community must function seamlessly, with an overriding mission: to protect America from attack by terrorists or outlaw regimes."

It's good politics for Bush to support this, even though he didn't until it became clear that it wasn't going to look good if he didn't.

Regardless of your politics, one would think the independent 9/11 Commission was just that, independent. I mean, I accept it, and it was the Bush White House that formed it. Apparently, many conservatives don't support the recommendations. One has to wonder why.

It seems the people opposed are so in favor of the old system. Senator Warner clearly benefits when more money goes to the Armed Services because that's where his chair is located. Everyone gets jaded by their work/job/things they do, and Warner is no different. Even though he won't be in that seat forever he doesn't want to relinquish any power, hence his new opposition. Someone like Warner, or any number of senators, thinks he has all the answers, and taking away any of that authority just doesn't work in his mind, or others like him.

However, the 9/11 Commission doesn't have that problem. They see the system, worked in the system, and regardless of Congressional, or Military pressure, they are aware a major overhaul needs to take place. Are they right? I have no idea, but I'd be more likely to trust people who have little power, and less to gain, then a bunch of people who haven't gotten anything right in ages.

I mean all I ever here about is how excited people get when someone who is not a politician makes a foray into politics. Someone from the business world! Someone who can't be bought! Someone who can't be corrupted! A regular guy! But the 9/11 Commission, thaaaaaaat's different for many of these folks.

Apparently the system was flawed, and this argument being thrown around that the military chain of command and it's ability to function correctly are jeopardized is a joke. Do you think the members on the 9/11 Commission want to jeopardize the safety of Americans? It's ridiculous!

I've heard others say the creation of a large intel agency including all branches of US intel is bad because it creates a large bureaucracy. That's flat out retarded. People may be against large agencies because of the seeming inability to control large bureaucracies, but this is completely different. This is streamlining intelligence between agencies who have fought turf wars for years. If the commission thinks this is the best way I'm inclined to agree. I don't trust these politicians holding back the bill at all, and lets not pretend Bush Co. aren't some of these people, especially Rumsfeld.

We make such a big deal about the intel failures on 9/11, but if you read the book, or at least the first 100 pages, you'd see we were not far off from foiling the plan. Had the intelligence agencies just talked we may just have. Different agencies within the government, handicapped by our own intel agencies, were only minutes from stopping some of those planes, and these people had NO INTELLIGENCE to work with. Sure, a plane attack will most likely never happen again, but we need to prevent the next type of attack, whatever it is. One agency discussing all aspects is much better than what we have.

The issue is over money. Conservatives are trying to counter an independent commission over money. Plain and simple.

...

Next up: Why is a guy who fixed some jails and New York City streets becoming the head of HOMELAND SECURITY? Is he qualified?

Our Eventual Victory?

I'm a believer, as are most of you realists, that the US will bail on Iraw one way, or another. It's not winnable.

Here's a take:

This year alone U.S. troop levels in Iraq rose from 115,000 in February, to 130,000 in March, to 138,000 in May, to 140,000 in July, before dipping to 138,000 in September. During the same period, insurgent attacks on coalition forces, never mind Iraqis, rose from around 400 a month to 2,400.

That's an ominous correlation. It suggests that the insurgents have been able not only to withstand incremental U.S. troop increases but also to expand their operations significantly despite them.

There's no obvious reason to expect that another marginal troop increase will reverse that pattern. On the contrary, official announcement of the increase as merely a temporary measure to dampen violence in advance of January's scheduled election offers the insurgents every incentive to ride it out.

After 9/11, we had to do something...and we sure did.

No Program Left Behind

Tom Delay has managed to secure $16 Billion in NASA funding so we can get to MARS!

So the entire No Child Left Behind Education bill gets about $20 Billion, and in the latest Omnibus Spending Bill, NASA, now gerrymandered into Delay's district, gets almost as much as the entire public education system.

More Lies

The real Pat Tillman story, parts 1 and 2.

It's amazing how Centcomm just falls back on lies when they don't want to tell you something.

The answer to why we heard a false story when there were 14 soldiers in Tillman's command telling a more accurate one was, "we didn't have the full story." So when you don't have the full story I guess lying is the next best choice.

No, Really?

More news that doesn't matter to the goose steppers:

Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf said yesterday that the search for Osama bin Laden has gone completely cold, with no recent intelligence indicating where he and his top lieutenants are hiding.