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Archive for October, 2007
Watch this video and tell me it isn’t torture.
Waterboarding. George Bush claims it isn’t torture. Michael Mukasey won’t call it torture. But DHS Advisor Malcolm Nance and Sen. John McCain both say it is. So what are the rest of us supposed to think?
That’s why Current TV’s Kaj Larsen had himself waterboarded by American Special Forces trainers. Watch this ten minute video, and then tell me that waterboarding isn’t torture.
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Biden is Right About Rudy
At last night’s Democratic Debate, Sen. Joe Biden (D-Del.) had some interesting insights on GOP frontrunner (?) Rudy Giuliani:
And the irony is, Rudy Giuliani, probably the most underqualified man since George Bush to seek the presidency, is here talking about any of the people here. Rudy Giuliani… I mean, think about it! Rudy Giuliani. There’s only three things he mentions in a sentence — a noun, a verb, and 9/11. There’s nothing else! There’s nothing else! And I mean this sincerely. He’s genuinely not qualified to be president.
I know, it sounds like a ridiculous accusation, like something you might find in the Onion. But here’s the crazy thing: Biden is right about Rudy.
WHY DID YOU FLIP ON GUN CONTROL?
“There are some major intervening events - Sept. 11 - which cast somewhat of a different light on the Second Amendment.”
- Giuliani’s September speech to the NRA
WHY DID YOU INTERRUPT THAT SPEECH TO TAKE A CALL FROM JUDI?
“Since Sept. 11, most of the time when we get on a plane we talk to each other and just reaffirm the fact that we love each other”
- September interview with CBN News
WHAT DO YOU THINK OF BUILDING A FENCE ON THE BORDER?
“I support security at the borders. I think security is enormously important in the post-Sept. 11 period. I think we have to know who’s coming into this country.”
- February interview with Fox News
WHAT’S WITH THAT FLAG ON YOUR LAPEL?
“Each time I wear it, it reminds me of Sept. 11.”
- July rally in Wilmington, Del.
SHOULD THERE BE FEDERAL FUNDING FOR AIDS DRUGS?
“I don’t want to promise you the federal government will take over the role. My general experience has been that the federal government works best when it helps and assists and encourages and sets guidelines on a state-by-state, locality-by-locality basis. It’s no different from the way I look at homeland security. Maybe having been mayor of the city, I know that your first defense against terrorist attack is that local police station, or that local firehouse.”
- July rally in Cedar Rapids, Iowa
ARE YOU RELIGIOUS?
“I need God’s help for everything, and I probably feel that the most when I’m in crisis and under pressure, like Sept. 11, when I was dealing with prostate cancer, or when I’m trying to explain death to people.”
- September interview with CBN News.
HOW ABOUT THOSE DEMOCRATS?
“They do not seem to get the fact that there are people - terrorists in this world, really dangerous people - that want to come here and kill us. That in fact they did come here and kill us.”
- May interview with Fox News
SO, UM, WHAT ABOUT YOUR MESSY PERSONAL LIFE?
“You can judge me on my public record. I’ve had a long one. I’ve had an intense one. I’ve been under enormous pressure, took over a city that was the crime capital of America, had to handle the city at the very end, when it was part of the worst attack on America.”
- May interview with Fox News
BZZZZZZZZZZZZZT WRONG!
$9.11 was the answer a couple of Giuliani volunteers in California came up with as a suggested contribution for a fund- raising party. Giuliani said, “I think they made a mistake.”
So there you have it. No matter what he’s talking about–guns, speech interruptions, border control, flag pins, AIDS, religion, Democrats, or his personal life–the answer for Rudy Giuliani is always 9/11. Joe Biden hits the nail on the head: is someone with, quite literally, one platform qualified to be President of the United States?
(Cross-posted at Daily Kos)
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UK Minister Detained at Dulles
Shahid Malik, UK International Development Minister and Britain’s first Muslim minister, was detained at Dulles Airport by Homeland Security and searched for explosives. Yes, an official representative of a foreign government was searched because he is Muslim, but that’s not even the whole story:
International development minister Shahid Malik was returning to the UK yesterday morning after attending a series of meetings on tackling terrorism when was stopped and searched at Dulles Airport in Washington DC.
The MP for Dewsbury was detained by the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) - the same department whose representatives he had been meeting on his visit to the country.
…Mr Malik said he was particularly annoyed, as a similar incident happened to him last year, when he was detained for an hour at JFK airport in New York by the DHS.
This was despite the fact he had been a keynote speaker at an event organised by the department, alongside the FBI and Muslim organisations in New York.
It doesn’t matter that Mr. Malik is a member of the British Cabinet. It doesn’t matter that he was in this country to meet with Homeland Security. It doesn’t matter that DHS had already made this mistake already. Mr. Malik was treated like a terrorist because he is a Muslim.
Mr Malik said yesterday: “After a few minutes a couple of other people were also taken to one side. We were all Muslims - the other two were black Muslims, both with Muslim names.”
When is someone in Congress going to speak up about this government-sanctioned racial profiling? Is it legal to stop every dark-skinned person for the oh-so-suspicious action of being in an airport? Does it really make America safer to check every Muslim for bombs before they get on a plane?
Breaking: Blackwater Will NOT Get Blanket Immunity
Contrary, to previously released information, the State Department has announced that Blackwater will not receive immunity from prosecution for the September 16 shooting. CNN reports:
No immunity deal was offered to Blackwater USA guards for their statements regarding a shootout in Iraq last month that left 17 Iraqi civilians dead, a senior State Department official told CNN Tuesday.
…
The senior State Department official, who spoke on condition of anonymity because of a lack of authorization to speak on the matter, said the department’s Diplomatic Security branch does not have the right or ability to offer any kind of immunity and did not do anything that would inhibit prosecutors if charges are to be pursued.Monday, State Department spokesman Sean McCormack said whatever arrangements were made were not sanctioned by the senior management of the State Department.
Another spokesman said the working level Diplomatic Security officials in Iraq followed the procedures they had to follow and their actions would need to have been cleared by Washington. The spokesman added that Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice is not informed of every detail of every action taken.
The decision on whether to prosecute the guards involved in the shooting is in the hands of the Justice Department now because the FBI has taken over the investigation.
So, to recap: the people who offered Blackwater immunity didn’t have the authority to do so, Condi Rice does not know what her people in Iraq are doing, and the most corrupt DoJ in the history of the United States gets to decide how if Blackwater will be prosecuted.
UPDATE: CNN has updated the original article to state the following:
However, some kind of limited immunity was apparently offered by State Department investigators when they questioned the Blackwater personnel apparently involved in the shootings, the officials said.
CNN previously reported the guards were promised their statements would not be used against them in a criminal prosecution as long as the statements were true.
…
Monday, the officials speaking on the matter said that even if some kind of limited immunity deal were made, it would not mean that charges would never be brought against those involved in the shooting.
UPDATE 2: Lots of interesting thoughts in the DailyKos comments on how this could play out in court. Two comments in particular stood out as potential precedents employed by Blackwater attorneys:
Second Lieutenant Christopher M. Cooke, a missile launch officer, was charged with passing classified information to the Soviets over a six-month period from 1980-81. The prosecution was based in part on information he provided after being promised immunity.
As it happened, the official who promised Cooke immunity was not authorized by law to grant him that protection; but the appellate courts nonetheless enforced the “deal” and Cooke walked.
I would be very surprised if — assuming there was actually a promise of immunity, and the Blackwater employees relied on it when providing information — a conviction could stand.
by Califlander on Tue Oct 30, 2007 at 01:32:11 PM EDT
…Ollie North was convicted of multiple felonies, but they were overturned on questions of admissibility of evidence. North’s congressional testimony was immunized. The prosecutor created a strong case based on the testimony of other witnesses, but during the appeal, all the witnesses started claiming that they couldn’t be certain that their testimony wasn’t influenced by the publicity about North’s testimony.
The Blackwater people will now claim that they thought they had immunity, so using anything they said would violate the 5th amendment, since they were tricked into testifying against themselves. They’ll say the same about every lead that might have depended on the original testimony. The Justice Department now says it will do a new investigation, but perhaps they will “accidentally” mess up and somehow taint the case by “accidentally” relying on the original “immunized” testimony. So sorry, they will say. We did our best, but it seems that the Blackwater people are now legally untouchable because we made some “mistakes”.
by Joe Buck on Tue Oct 30, 2007 at 01:14:19 PM EDT
(Cross-posted at Daily Kos)
More Phony Soldiers Want Out
I think we all remember when right-wing gasbag Rush Limbaugh called American troops who support withdrawal from Iraq “phony soldiers.” Well, a few more phonies are on their way home from 14 months in Iraq, and they have some interesting things to say about their most recent tour-of-duty:
Asked if the American endeavor here was worth their sacrifice — 20 soldiers from the battalion have been killed in Baghdad — [Sgt. Victor] Alarcon said no: “I don’t think this place is worth another soldier’s life.“
…
“It’s just a slow, somewhat government-supported sectarian cleansing,” said Maj. Eric Timmerman, the battalion’s operations officer.
…
[I]n one instance about two months ago, the American soldiers heard that the Wolf Brigade planned to help resettle more than 100 Shiite families in abandoned houses in the neighborhood. When platoon leader Lt. Brian Bifulco arrived on the scene, he noticed that “abandoned houses to them meant houses that had Sunnis in them.”“What we later found out is they weren’t really moving anyone in, it was a cover for the INP [Iraqi National Police] to go in and evict what Sunni families were left there,” recalled Bifulco, 23, a West Point graduate from Huntsville, Ala. “We showed up, and there were a bunch of Sunni families just wandering around the streets with their bags, taking up refuge in a couple Sunni mosques in the area.”
…
“We were so committed to them [the Iraqi National Police] as a partner we couldn’t see it for what it was. In retrospect, I’ve got to think it was a coordinated effort,” Timmerman said. “To this day, I don’t think we truly understand how infiltrated or complicit the national police are” with the militias.
…
“I’m frustrated. After 14 months, I’ve got a lot of thoughts in my head. Do they fundamentally get giving up individual rights and power for the greater good?” [Battalion commander Lt. Col. George A.] Glaze said. “I’m going to leave here being skeptical of everything.“
…
“I honestly thought we were making a difference in Tikrit. Then we come back to a hellhole,” [Sgt. Matthews] Marino said. “That was a playground compared to Baghdad.”
…
The American people don’t fully realize what’s going on, said Staff Sgt. Richard McClary, 27, a section leader from Buffalo.“They just know back there what the higher-ups here tell them. But the higher-ups don’t go anywhere, and actually they only go to the safe places, places with a little bit of gunfire,” he said. “They don’t ever [expletive] see what we see on the ground.”
These soldiers–officers and NCOs–must be phonies because they all want out of Iraq. They don’t think George Bush’s war is “worth another soldier’s life.” How much longer are we going to let Bush, Cheney, and the rest of the GOP keep sending our sons and daughters to die in Iraq? How much longer will we let them “support the troops” by leaving them in the middle of a civil war?
These soldiers don’t want “phased withdrawal.” They don’t want to hear “out by 2013.” They know that they could die any day, any minute, any second, and they want to come home now. If we really support the troops, how can we deny them this request after they’ve already given so much to our country? We need to bring our soldiers home.
Colbert Gaining in Polls. Seriously.
Just say it a few times: President Stephen Colbert. President Stephen Colbert. President Stephen Colbert. Sounds ridiculous, but it could happen:
Less than a week ago, shortly after he announced for president, Stephen Colbert was favored by only a little more than 2% of Democrats as the favorite for the nomination. Now, a Rasmussen Report national telephone survey has found that he gains 13% of voters in a matchup with Rudy Giuliani and Sen. Hillary Clinton.
…
If he keeps gaining over 10% a week, Colbert should be leading the field before November is out.
(And E&P is already a little bit outdated. That Facebook group, “1,000,000 Strong for Stephen Colbert,” has 1,022,064 members as of noon today.)
“Leading the field?” Holy shit.
Biden, Obama, Richardson Join Dodd in Opposing Telecom Immunity
A few days ago, I praised Chris Dodd for putting a hold on the FISA reauthorization bill that would give retroactive immunity to the telecom companies that helped George Bush spy on you and me. Not surprisingly, Harry Reid is not pleased, but Chris Dodd is prepared to go the distance, threatening to filibuster if Reid tries to bring the bill to the floor. Dodd deserves a lot of credit. This, as I’ve said, is really leadership. It’s doing what the people want, not what the lobbyists want and definitely not what the Chump-in-Chief wants. Fortunately, Dodd is not the only presidential candidate willing to lead, so, if it comes down to it, Dodd will not be filibustering alone.
From an online chat at The Washington Post:
San Francisco: Will you join Sen. Chris Dodd’s hold and proposed filibuster on any FISA bill that includes retroactive immunity for telecoms? Thanks for joining us for this chat today, Sen. Biden, and thanks for the leadership you provide the Democratic Party and America.
Sen. Joe Biden: Yes.
Via Greg Sargent at Talking Points Memo:
It’s official: Obama will back a filibuster of any Senate FISA legislation containing telecom immunity, his campaign has just told Election Central. The Obama campaign has just sent over the following statement from spokesman Bill Burton: “To be clear: Barack will support a filibuster of any bill that includes retroactive immunity for telecommunications companies.“
Although he obviously can’t be part of the filibuster, Bill Richardson also voiced his support:
I urge my Democratic primary opponents, and every Senator, to stand up and state loudly and clearly — without any equivocation — that he or she will not pass any bill that grants retroactive immunity to companies that willingly aided the Bush administration in violating the law and spying on our own people.
I hate to sound like a broken record, but it’s true: there is a clear difference between running for president and acting you are the president.
WashU’s Teach-In for Tolerance
In response to David Horowitz’s “Islamo-Fascism Awareness Week,” WashU students held an event Monday night called the “Teach-In for Tolerance,” whose purpose was to promote tolerance and diversity among the student body, provide an opportunity for students to understand Islam, and encourage discussion on what has become one of the most important policy issues of our generation. Thanks to Peter Jones of the WashU Peace Coalition, streaming audio of each of our guest speakers is available here. Simply press the “play” button to cycle through all five speeches or choose one of the names from the playlist below to hear one speech. Feel free to share this page with anyone who is interested. If you encounter any trouble using the audio player, please leave a comment and I will try to resolve the issue as soon as possible.
Many thanks to our guest speakers and our sponsoring groups: WashU College Democrats, Muslim Student Association, WashU Peace Coalition, Jewish Student Union, St. Louis Hillel, Students for a Peaceful Palestinian-Israeli Future, Social Justice Center, College Libertarians, Amnesty International, Asian Multicultural Council.
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Glenn Beck Wants Californians to Burn
Over a quarter of a million people have been forced from their homes as over a dozen fires burn across Southern California. Governor Schwarzenegger called it “a tragic time for California” as he declared a state of emergency and requested assistance from the Departments of Agriculture and Defense to help California firefighters.
All the major media outlets have been covering the wildfires all day, including on CNN’s Headline News. The fires were even briefly mentioned on Glenn Beck’s nationally syndicated radio program. How did the wildfires come up? In a rant about people who hate America (emphasis mine):
Let’s talk about health care and education? That’s not the way to win. That’s not the way to win on any front. I’m not even talking about — the least I care about is winning the election. How about winning the war? How about saving our country?
…
[W]e’re all one America, that just because I disagree with you doesn’t mean you hate America, and I love America. We all love America. We just disagree on how we should function, what we should do, big government, small government. It doesn’t mean you hate America. I think there is a handful of people who hate America. Unfortunately for them, a lot of them are losing their homes in a forest fire today.
Wait, what? How dare you, Glenn Beck! People are losing their homes and their lives and all you can think of is their political views? I can’t even comprehend how one person can show so little compassion for their fellow man. Where is your compassion? Where is your sense of decency? I can barely find the words to express how outraged I am at the base insensitivity of your comments.
Are you offended too? Let Glenn Beck know.
Summarizing the GOP Debate
I didn’t watch the Republican debate, mainly because I wasn’t in the mood for throwing up. Fortunately, MissLaura over at the Great Orange Satan has a brief summary.
Giuliani: “I rebuilt 9/11 with my bare hands and personally raised the children of all the fallen heroes in New York, in addition to lowering crime by 400% and giving every New Yorker a thousand dollars and a Christmas card.”
Romney: “Hillary Clinton wants to give terrorists keys to the White House. In Massachusetts, I personally stopped the marriage of a man and a horse, and secured our borders by ensuring that Massachusetts remained at least one state away from any other country. Hillary Clinton wants you to abort your child even if they’ve already been born!”
McCain: “When I was in ‘nam– that’s right, I was in ‘nam as a P.O.W.– we had Charlie all around us. Two of my buddies went down in the rice paddies of Da Nang, and I was still able to command the U.S. Navy and win World War II retroactively. Also I was in Vietnam, did you know that?”
Ron Paul: “Keep the government away from my tax dollars! What was the question again? I can’t hear you because I’m farking a hundred years old.”
Huckabee: “Jesus is Lord. Praise his name. Did I mention Jesus is Lord? Also, I’m changing my party from Republican to the ForJesus party.”
Everyone else: “Hey assholes, we’re running too. Ask us some questions!”
It’s so much fun to watch the Republicans pander to the quarter of Americans that still think the Decider is doing a good job. I mean, it’s not like the need the votes of more than 7 in 10 Americans to win the election. Right? Right??