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December 5, 2006
OT 06-113
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Froomkin has quite a point here:
“The country, in my judgment, is tired of pure political bickering that happens in Washington, and they understand that on this important issue of war and peace, it is best for our country to work together. And I understand how difficult that is, but this report will give us all an opportunity to find common ground, for the good of the country — not for the good of the Republican Party or the Democrat Party, but for the good of the country.”
(Bush’s alleged commitment to bipartisanship would probably be easier to swallow if he referred to the opposition party by its proper name. Although the White House press office tidied up the official transcript, the fact is that even in talking about finding common ground, the president referred to the “Democrat party” — a clipped, derogatory locution favored by those who suggest that it isn’t “democratic.”)
takes my attention away from the work i am paid to do…..
after following the narco news story @bea’s link and several of greenwalds links’ re same story, writing the observer (cc to NN&greenwald of course) requesting credit where credit is due i have just washed another hr down the tubes!
its all your fault, all of you. take a bow!
Posted by: Anonymous | Dec 6 2006 20:04 utc | 102
Underreported but with strategic implications: U.S. Serviceman Kills Kyrgyz Civilian
BISHKEK, Kyrgyzstan – A U.S. serviceman fatally shot a civilian at the U.S. military air base in Kyrgyzstan on Wednesday “in response to a threat,” the U.S. military said.
…
Pavlov said the incident happened at a checkpoint at the airport that is controlled by U.S. military personnel. He said drivers traveling from a fuel depot to fill up aircraft must stop at the checkpoint and exit the cabin of the truck while guards search the truck. Pavlov, who did not witness the shooting, said Ivanov was apparently shot after he exited the cabin of his truck.
Kyrgyz news agency Akipress, citing what it said were “competent organs,” said the man acted aggressive and tried to brandish a knife or similar weapon. The agency also cited unnamed Foreign Ministry officials as saying that U.S. Ambassador Marie L. Yovanovitch had delivered a note of regret to Kyrgyz officials and promised an investigation.
…
Roughly 1,000 troops are located at the base, which the United States began using following the Sept. 11, 2001, terror attacks, primarily in support of U.S. operations in nearby Afghanistan.
Kyrgyzstan and the United States have struggled this year to agree on terms for the continued leasing of the base, which took on greater importance last year after Uzbekistan evicted U.S. forces from a base there.
The locals will have their own reasoning on this …
Somehow this was missed – well, maybe it was just me who missed it:
Fine Print in Defense Bill Opens Door to Martial Law
Signed by President Bush on Oct. 17, the law (PL 109-364) has a provocative provision called “Use of the Armed Forces in Major Public Emergencies.”
The thrust of it seems to be about giving the federal government a far stronger hand in coordinating responses to Katrina-like disasters.
But on closer inspection, its language also alters the two-centuries-old Insurrection Act, which Congress passed in 1807 to limit the president’s power to deploy troops within the United States.
That law has long allowed the president to mobilize troops only “to suppress, in a State, any insurrection, domestic violence, unlawful combination, or conspiracy.”
But the amended law takes the cuffs off.
Specifically, the new language adds “natural disaster, epidemic, or other serious public health emergency, terrorist attack or incident” to the list of conditions permitting the President to take over local authority — particularly “if domestic violence has occurred to such an extent that the constituted authorities of the State or possession are incapable of maintaining public order.”
Since the administration broadened what constitutes “conspiracy” in its definition of enemy combatants — anyone who “has purposely and materially supported hostilities against the United States,” in the language of the Military Commissions Act (PL 109-366) — critics say it’s a formula for executive branch mischief.
if any one in this fucking administration but especially its horses ass – tony snow – say metrics one more time – i’d like to shove it somewhere up them where the sun nor the moon shine
Posted by: remembereringgiap | Dec 6 2006 21:41 utc | 107
Just watching the religious right try to bite their tongues and not slam the vice president’s family. I’m very happy for Mary and Heather, and in their own way they’re breaking new ground and making a difference for gay people in this country, finally. But still, this is gonna be priceless just to watch the collective heads of the religious right explode
…
And get this. They live in Virginia, where a new state constitutional amendment pretty much guarantees that Mary’s baby is screwed.
In November, Virginia voters passed a state constitutional amendment banning gay marriage and civil unions; state law is unclear on whether Poe could have full legal rights as a parent of Cheney’s child. The circumstances of the pregnancy will remain private, said the source close to the couple. This is the first child for both.
Oh, but Virginia law was already far worse than that. Virginia had already set up new Jim Crow laws targeting gays two years ago. Those laws may vitiate any legal agreement between the two, period, about anything. The law ensures that Mary’s partner has no legal rights whatsoever in their child, or in what happens to Mary (or vice versa), such as if one partner has to go the hospital, the other can’t visit. The law may even nullify any wills that Mary and Heather write regarding each other, and it may make it impossible for gay people to go to court to resolve any difference about anything – the courts can’t recognize gay unions, so they can’t make any decisions that would imply recognition (custody, hospital visitation, wills, etc.) It’s beyond ironic that Virginia’s new law, one of the most hateful, bigoted laws on the books, is now targeting the vice president’s own daughter and soon-to-be new grandchild.
Posted by: annie | Dec 6 2006 22:25 utc | 109
@ annie#109
Okay, I confess, I’m the father…lol Wait till the book comes out…lol
Posted by: Uncle $cam | Dec 6 2006 22:42 utc | 110
Ex-Agent: CIA Seed Money Helped Launch Google
See my recent links on alternatives… though at this point it doesn’t really matter anyway, as I have used ‘the google’ so much anyway, and from what I unnderstand they can now use things against you retroactively… so things you did 4 or 5 years ago online can and will be used against you.
Fuck em.
Posted by: Uncle $cam | Dec 7 2006 0:47 utc | 111
More on the Microwave beams. ADS program…
There were 14 documents — eight are available for download below — and as you progress through them you can see how the Air Force’s testing evolved from simple experiments on a few square inches of skin into fully fledged war games. Also, the cautious approach of early tests is gradually relaxed as experimenters gain confidence in the system’s supposed safety.
Posted by: Uncle $cam | Dec 7 2006 0:56 utc | 112
Uncle’s in a fine fighting mood as well today.
Heard Ray McGovern discussing Gates nomination today. (Gates worked for him in the 70’s, so his read is instructive.) He said he’ll observe which way the winds of power are blowing & suggest whatever those in power want to hear… ………………….. I’m frankly confused. I thought DaddyBush was trying to neutralize NeoNuts w/all this maneuvering…
Posted by: jj | Dec 7 2006 3:06 utc | 116
Riproaring Commentary from novelist Jane Smiley on yesterday’s Padilla story. On Huffington Post.
Posted by: Bea | Dec 7 2006 3:41 utc | 117
@Bea (#117)
I promise that I am not now, nor have I ever been, Jane Smiley. But I’m glad someone else had the identical response (minus all the swearing).
I think my efforts might have become a little superfluous as of late; everyone seems to be finding and linking the same or better material that I’ve uncovered. I’ll keep today’s supplement short if not sweet…
The theme that seems to be emerging today is why legal authorities should be trusted implicitly. In Texas (“You in the back! Stop groaning!”), a mission to round up drug dealers was compromised when a single informant took the name “Operation Trick or Treat” too literally and began “making stuff up”. While charges against some 33 people have been dropped as a result, it probably will still boost their “terror scores” if they ever decide to go on vacation abroad (which, in Texas, could mean going to Oklahoma) and has not impacted President Bush’s opinion that the TIPS program he tried to implement a few years back in which ordinary citizens would spy and inform on their neighbours was an invaluable tool in the GWOT and not a clusterfuck waiting to happen.
In light of the newly released Iraq Study Group report (or “How I Learned To Stop Worrying and Love the Incompetence”), it’s become necessary to dust of an old bogeyman. Osama bin Laden is not, I repeat, not dead.
Defense Secretary-designate Robert M. Gates said yesterday he plans to review the tactics being used by forces taking part in the five-year hunt for bin Laden, although he noted that bin Laden has become more a symbol to terrorists and less an active planner and organizer of attacks.
“While it’s important to continue the search for Osama bin Laden, I think that his ability to directly organize and plan the kind of attacks against us that hurt us so badly in September of 2001 is very limited now,” Mr. Gates said. “And I think that it’s important to keep him on the run.”
At least until another, better bogeyman can be created. “Imminent threats”, imaginary “weapons of mass destruction”, “exporting democracy” and “overthrowing tyrants” don’t get us anywhere near the support for our follies that good old-fashioned rage and vilification does… read your Sun Tsu, kids.
Last week, Director of National Intelligence John D. Negroponte was asked why bin Laden has eluded the manhunt. He said he would not provide “a long exegesis” explaining the failure so far.
“Obviously, we’re not going to give up on our efforts to track him down,” Mr. Negroponte said after a speech at Harvard University.
Okay… so… according to the Director of National Intelligence (“You in the back! Stop giggling!”), we know he’s alive. We can’t say how we know this. We know that for five years, nobody has been able to lay hands on him. We can’t say why not. We know that OBVIOUSLY we’re going to keep trying to “track him down”. Nobody knows why.
So while we’re talking about “articles of faith”, I’d thought I’d just leave you with a list of some strange verses one can find in the Christian Bible. You can find all kinds of things in the Bible. I’m pretty sure I spotted Waldo somewhere in Deuteronomy.
Posted by: Monolycus | Dec 7 2006 4:22 utc | 118
Dan Ellsberg pulls out his flashlight –
American military analyst Daniel Ellsberg says the Bush Administration has had plans for a nuclear attack on Iran.
Writing in the newspaper “Dagens Nyheter” Wednesday, Ellsberg says George Bush and Dick Cheney are using the threat of such an attack to force a change of regime in Tehran.link
Posted by: jj | Dec 7 2006 6:54 utc | 119
No one whose testicles are crushed or whose male organ is cut off shall enter the assembly of the Lord.
thanks monolycus, i needed that about now lol
Posted by: annie | Dec 7 2006 13:46 utc | 120
If a little emasculation and eternal damnation is enough to brighten your day, you can always count on me to help, Annie.
Posted by: Monolycus | Dec 7 2006 15:03 utc | 121
Bush ‘Privacy Board’ Just a Gag
A White House board empaneled to protect Americans’ civil liberties has its first public meeting. Reporters are barred from asking questions, and the panel won’t tell the public what it’s learned about warrantless domestic spying. With friends like these…. Ryan Singel reports from Washington.
The never ending hoax…
Posted by: Uncle $cam | Dec 7 2006 15:35 utc | 122
@Monolycus
I think my efforts might have become a little superfluous as of late; everyone seems to be finding and linking the same or better material that I’ve uncovered. I’ll keep today’s supplement short if not sweet…
Nothing is superfluous, in my view. The more, the better. After all, you never know — she might have seen that poll here first, in your post. And then written what she did — for a different audience, and with, given her name, a very different impact. And even if not, even if I’ve just identified the same message coming from a different source, that in and of itself is relevant, coming as it does after this Long Sleep that our fat, contented, and utterly oblivious nation has been engaged in these many long years.
So no, I don’t think yours or anyone’s efforts are superfluous. Every little bit counts.
Posted by: Bea | Dec 7 2006 15:57 utc | 123
Thanks, Bea. I’ll still fly true, I just go through the occasional bout of discouragement. That aside of mine wasn’t directed at anyone or anything specifically.
Posted by: Monolycus | Dec 7 2006 17:31 utc | 124