Friday, October 24, 2003
Bush v. War Heroes
The Bushies, not satisfied with merely taking on the entire world, have decided to also wage war on America itself. Yeah, yeah, they've been doing that all along ... but this case is particularly fucked. See, Bush is trying to stop a group of POWs who were tortured (beaten, electrocuted, starved) in the first Gulf War from collecting a settlement, approved by a U.S. federal court, from the Iraqi government. It seems the Bushies want to keep the $653 million in compensatory damages to themselves. A bit of irony in the case: when the POWs returned home from Iraq, they were greeted as heroes by none other than Dick Cheney and Colin Powell. Throw in a president who dodged service in Vietnam, and we've got ourselves a real cluster fuck in the upper ranks of our military command.
Thursday, October 23, 2003
"Vintage Rumsfeld"
Two of the four articles I've read about the Rumsfeld memo leak contain the phrase "vintage Rumsfeld." That's almost half!
It's got to be hard to maintain objectivity when a reporter falls in love with his subject as appears to be the case here.
Shouldn't the press be peeved that since invading Iraq Rumsfeld has been feeding them the exact opposite of the reality his memo portrays? No... We seem to be happy enough to take his bullshit with a grin and watch for his trademark sparring with reporters who know he's lying... then let him off the hook, passing it all off as an endearing quirk in his character .
He may be lying... but damn, he's at least entertaining right? Ahhhh Rummy! Let's keep calling him by his nickname! Rummy! That way he'll never need to be held accountable for anything, right? Right! Vintage fucking Rummy!
Vintage Rumsfeld
Vintage Rumsfeld
Here's a Vintage Rummy
It's got to be hard to maintain objectivity when a reporter falls in love with his subject as appears to be the case here.
Shouldn't the press be peeved that since invading Iraq Rumsfeld has been feeding them the exact opposite of the reality his memo portrays? No... We seem to be happy enough to take his bullshit with a grin and watch for his trademark sparring with reporters who know he's lying... then let him off the hook, passing it all off as an endearing quirk in his character .
He may be lying... but damn, he's at least entertaining right? Ahhhh Rummy! Let's keep calling him by his nickname! Rummy! That way he'll never need to be held accountable for anything, right? Right! Vintage fucking Rummy!
Vintage Rumsfeld
Vintage Rumsfeld
Here's a Vintage Rummy
Do you have to identify yourself to police?
"A person under a shadow of suspicion, who has not committed any crime, can be approached by the police, do absolutely nothing, and yet be arrested, convicted and incarcerated."
That ain't right.
That ain't right.
Wednesday, October 22, 2003
Diebold Memos
The CEO of Diebold, the company that is supplying states with touch-screen voting machines, said in a Republican fund raising letter dated August 14th that Diebold is "Committed to helping Ohio deliver its electoral votes to the president next year."
That coupled with the lack of an audit trail on the Diebold voting machines adds up to bad fucking news for those who Diebold's CEO doesn't favor.
Now a leaked bulletin board type record of discussions from Diebold's internal network have been making the rounds- they give a interesting/scary look at the people developing GEMS (Global Election Management System) several web sites have been taken down because Diebold has threatened use of the DMCA.
Fuck Diebold.
Here are the files. (lists.zip)
Also in the directory are the first nine chapters of Bev Harris's book Black Box Voting- the publication of which Diebold is trying to stop. Enjoy.
That coupled with the lack of an audit trail on the Diebold voting machines adds up to bad fucking news for those who Diebold's CEO doesn't favor.
Now a leaked bulletin board type record of discussions from Diebold's internal network have been making the rounds- they give a interesting/scary look at the people developing GEMS (Global Election Management System) several web sites have been taken down because Diebold has threatened use of the DMCA.
Fuck Diebold.
Here are the files. (lists.zip)
Also in the directory are the first nine chapters of Bev Harris's book Black Box Voting- the publication of which Diebold is trying to stop. Enjoy.
Counterleak
From the NY Times Op-Ed page today:
In the current case, however, at least two senior officials are said to have approached at least six journalists to identify the C.I.A. officer. Any of those individuals has the power to resolve this episode and still maintain "plausible deniability." They could do so by confiding who their source was to another reporter who did not receive such a call. This would be justifiable in moral and political terms, because this counterleak would be serving larger public purposes, not narrow political advantage.
All the gory details will come out eventually in this case. Too many reporters know who the leaker was to keep it a secret. If the "Justice" Department's "investigation" turns up nothing I bet we hear whispers of names within a day.
In the current case, however, at least two senior officials are said to have approached at least six journalists to identify the C.I.A. officer. Any of those individuals has the power to resolve this episode and still maintain "plausible deniability." They could do so by confiding who their source was to another reporter who did not receive such a call. This would be justifiable in moral and political terms, because this counterleak would be serving larger public purposes, not narrow political advantage.
All the gory details will come out eventually in this case. Too many reporters know who the leaker was to keep it a secret. If the "Justice" Department's "investigation" turns up nothing I bet we hear whispers of names within a day.
Monday, October 20, 2003
Rush Goes PC (Pill Chasing)
You reporters are sick... all you report on are deaths of soldiers! What are you, obsessed?
It takes the demented mind of this administration to accuse reporters of "indulging in a morbid obsession with death and destruction, and ignoring how Iraq has improved since Saddam Hussein was toppled."
It boggles the mind that there are people who see so little value in human life that they feel it shouldn't be reported on. Now hospitals and morgues in Iraq are closed to the media because death and injury cause so darn much bad press. No freedom of the press in Iraq... we'll have to see if we decide to include that in the constitution we impose on them.
This kind of control over the press should piss off reporters. Will it backfire on the Bush administration? How could it not?
It boggles the mind that there are people who see so little value in human life that they feel it shouldn't be reported on. Now hospitals and morgues in Iraq are closed to the media because death and injury cause so darn much bad press. No freedom of the press in Iraq... we'll have to see if we decide to include that in the constitution we impose on them.
This kind of control over the press should piss off reporters. Will it backfire on the Bush administration? How could it not?
Sunday, October 19, 2003
Bush bashing
From today's WashPost:
To hear conservatives tell it, the liberals are being self-destructive by constantly and fervently denouncing the president.
"After a while," says (a right-winged political observor), "it sounds like they're not respecting the intelligence of the average American. It's become a brand for the angry left."
If the liberals were being so self-destructive, why are so many conservatives pissed about the wave of Bush-bashing that's underway? Wouldn't it be desirable for them to allow the lefties to simply continue to underscore the deep, frightening flaws of our sitting president? But, instead, they're crying unpatriotic hell on those who dare speak ill of W. It will be interesting to see how long peple stick with the prez through his inevitable unraveling. My guess is Repubs will start bailing as Nov. 3, 2004 approaches. Dead Iraqi soldiers, rape of the environment, windfalls for corporate friends, a fucked economy ... not exactly a strong platform to run on.
To hear conservatives tell it, the liberals are being self-destructive by constantly and fervently denouncing the president.
"After a while," says (a right-winged political observor), "it sounds like they're not respecting the intelligence of the average American. It's become a brand for the angry left."
If the liberals were being so self-destructive, why are so many conservatives pissed about the wave of Bush-bashing that's underway? Wouldn't it be desirable for them to allow the lefties to simply continue to underscore the deep, frightening flaws of our sitting president? But, instead, they're crying unpatriotic hell on those who dare speak ill of W. It will be interesting to see how long peple stick with the prez through his inevitable unraveling. My guess is Repubs will start bailing as Nov. 3, 2004 approaches. Dead Iraqi soldiers, rape of the environment, windfalls for corporate friends, a fucked economy ... not exactly a strong platform to run on.
