Banco del Sur vs IMF showdown sunday, sunday, sunday

* South American Countries Agree to Found Banco Del Sur
By Jeb Blount

Bloomberg - October 8, 2007

http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=newsarchive&sid=aTCCDSFNqrzY

Seven South American countries agreed to establish
Banco del Sur, a regional development bank championed
by Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez, in an effort to
expand regional trade and growth with their own
resources.

Chavez, Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva
and the presidents of Argentina, Bolivia, Ecuador,
Paraguay and Uruguay will inaugurate the bank on Nov.
3, in Caracas according the "Declaration of Rio de
Janeiro" signed by finance ministry officials of the
seven countries today.

"Banco del Sur is the beginning of a new financial
architecture for the South," said Rodrigo Cabezas,
Venezuela's finance minister, in comments to reporters
in Rio de Janeiro. "Our development won't be put at
the service of other countries." Today's meeting
included officials from Brazil, Argentina, Paraguay,
Uruguay, Bolivia, Ecuador and Venezuela.

Torture and mass killings in Burma

Monk reveals how Burmese security forces tortured protesters

Matthew Weaver
Thursday October 11, 2007
Guardian Unlimited

New evidence emerged today of the torture of monks and other protesters in Burma, as the security forces arrested more prominent anti-government activists.

A recently released monk revealed today that he and hundreds of others were interrogated to provide the names of the ringleaders of the protests.

When they failed to answer they were kicked and beaten, he told Reuters news agency.

Speaking on condition of anonymity for fear of reprisals, he said they were packed in so tightly at a makeshift prison at the Technical Institute campus in Rangoon that they could not lie down.

Radiohead Update email

THANK YOU FOR ORDERING IN RAINBOWS. THIS IS AN UPDATE.

YOUR UNIQUE ACTIVATION CODE(S) WILL BE SENT OUT TOMORROW MORNING (UK TIME). THIS WILL TAKE YOU STRAIGHT TO THE DOWNLOAD AREA.

HERE IS SOME INFORMATION ABOUT THE DOWNLOAD:

THE ALBUM WILL COME AS A 48.4MB ZIP FILE CONTAINING 10 X 160KBPS DRM FREE MP3s.

MOST COMPUTERS NOW HAVE ZIP SOFTWARE AS PART OF THE OPERATING SYSTEM; IF YOUR COMPUTER DOES NOT, YOU NEED TO GET WINZIP OR ZIPIT INSTALLED PRIOR.

Protect America Act and Domestic Surveillance

As I speculated on 08/05/2007, the Protect America Act does in fact allow spying on purely domestic calls without a warrant. So from now on, I will be calling it the Spy on Americans Act. Some details from the draft of "Risking Communications Security: Potential Hazards of the “Protect America Act”," authored by Steven M. Bellovin, Columbia University, Matt Blaze, University of Pennsylvania Whitfield Diffie, Sun Microsystems Susan Landau, Sun Microsystems, Peter G. Neumann, SRI International, Jennifer Rexford, Princeton University:

While most traffic on international links travels to or from a foreign host, a small amount of domestic traffic traverses these links as well. For example, some domestic traffic travels through Canada and then back to the U.S., due to the vagaries of Internet routing11. As such, monitoring the links at the U.S. borders, with the goal of warrantless tapping of international traffic, could lead to unintentional tapping of domestic traffic. Because these links operate at very high speed, it is difficult to analyze the measurement data as they are collected. Furthermore, Internet traffic does not necessarily follow symmetric paths — the traffic from host A to host B does not necessarily traverse the same links as the traffic from B to A —monitoring both ends of a conversation sometimes requires combining data collected from multiple locations, making this type of monitoring
difficult in practice.

And this is with the assumption that NSA is making a good faith effort to not intercept domestic calls. There are other complications as well, I suggest checking out the whole piece linked to above.

Radiohead to Release New Album, "In Rainbows," on the Web

And you can pay whatever you like for it. You just add the download to your basket, go to your basket and then enter whatever price you want. I entered 0.0 just to see what would happen. I then "stood in queue" for a couple of minutes (I assume this is because the site was overloaded when the release date and method of release was first announced). I was then asked to sign in or register. The registration process asks for name, email, address and mobile phone number. I gave a fake everything except email address as that's where the details for download are to be sent. Here is an LA Times article on it. If you want the deluxe box set you have to pay, of course, but it looks like if you just want a download, you can pay 0.00. I received this email:

Order Number WAS4303056
Order Date Sat 6th Oct 2007

Your Name Jimbo Monkeyface
Your Address
Lansing
48912
USA


Description Qty Each Total



Download


1


£ 0.00


£ 0.00

Total Goods Price £ 0.00
Order Total £ 0.00
This transaction will appear on your credit card bill as WASTE PRODUCTS LTD. or a shortened version of this.


Discbox customers.

You goods will be shipped on or before 3rd December 2007 by post.
Information regarding the download (included with the Discbox) as per below.

Download customers.

You will receive a further e-mail on or before the 10th October detailing your username and activation code. The e-mail will also provide the link to the download area.

We value your custom.

Burma's latest

Not sure if you all are following this, but I was floored to see this as a possibility...

BBC
Burma's military leader, Gen Than Shwe, has agreed in principle to meet the detained pro-democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi, state media has reported.

In return she must drop her support for international sanctions and abandon her confrontational attitude, it said.

I'm Back

Gone a long time while I tried to get new blogging software, new laptop, and new operating system to work together. Even when I couldn’t post I would still check in all the time, so thanks for your great posts.

Here’s NYTIMES review of Justice Thomas’ new book - in which he reveals who the real bigots in the country are:

He writes that he had grown up fearing the Ku Klux Klan’s lynch mobs but “my worst fears had come to pass not in Georgia, but in Washington, D.C., where I was being pursued not by bigots in white robes but by left-wing zealots draped in flowing sanctimony.”

Disaster capitalism vs. Capitalist fear

Two pieces worth noting not for the ironic contrast and the thinking together of militarized states and capitalist development - one which claims that 9/11 made possible a union between security needs and new VC enterprises while the other claims China's surveillance technology companies getting cozy w/ Wall St. should be cause for deep concern.

The age of disaster capitalism

An Opportunity for Wall St. in China’s Surveillance Boom

Huntin' armadillos and living to tell

"I can just envision getting in the car, getting bored, going down to the ranch," he says. He also has big plans for making money. "I'll give some speeches, to replenish the ol' coffers," says Mr Bush, who is already estimated to be worth $20m. "I don't know what my dad gets - it's more than 50-75 [thousand dollars a speech], and "Clinton's making a lot of money".

Ed Pilkington in New York
Monday September 3, 2007
The Guardian

Leahy Threat Update

Fred Fielding, the White House Counsel, responded on August 20th with the same old Bush tripe: National Security, Executive Privilege, 9/11, 9/11, 9/11. Will Leahy follow through? Not likely. As of now, he has only committed to suggesting contempt charges before the Senate Judiciary Committee when Congress goes back in session. The best coverage I've seen is from The Jurist, a publication of the University of Pittsburgh School of Law.

Ignorance is Strength: German Sociologist Arrested for Membership in Terrorist Organization

I'm not clear on all the details yet, but Andrej Holm was arrested on July 31st under § 129a StGB” (German Penal Code, section 7 on ‘Crimes against Public Order’). He is a sociologist at Humboldt University in Berlin and does work on cities, which is apparently part of the trouble. That he uses the word 'gentrification' in his work is among the evidence given for his membership in a terrorist organization. Here is a mainstream media piece on it:

Deutsche Welle (in English).

The Latest NYT Apologia for the Sell-Out Dems

From the New York Times

WASHINGTON, Aug. 10 — At a closed-door briefing in mid-July, senior intelligence officials startled lawmakers with some troubling news. American eavesdroppers were collecting just 25 percent of the foreign-based communications they had been receiving a few months earlier.

Congress needed to act quickly, intelligence officials said, to repair a dangerous situation.

More later.

Leahy Sets Another Meaningless Deadline

As TPM reports, Patrick Leahy, the chair of the Senate Judiciary Committee, has set another deadline for the administration to ignore without consequences. Leahy originally subpoenaed the documents regarding the legal basis of the--now completely legal by act of Congress--warrantless wiretapping programs on June 27th, 2007. August 20th is the new date on which nothing will happen.

09/11/2007 Attempt to Organize a General Strike

It is too bad that the 9.11 truth people are the ones who are starting to organize this. There are, of course, multiple other reasons to go on strike on 09.11.07, some of which are listed on their flyers. But, the site is worth a look anyway.

And there you have it...

This is what happened:

The 227 to 183 House vote capped a high-pressure campaign by the White House to change the nation's wiretap law, in which the administration capitalized on Democrats' fears of being branded weak on terrorism and on a general congressional desire to act on the measure before an August recess.

Here are the details:

The bill would give the National Security Agency the right to collect such communications in the future without a warrant. But it goes further than that: It also would allow the interception and recording of electronic communications involving, at least in part, people "reasonably believed to be outside the United States" without a court's order or oversight.

[snip]

In a sole substantial concession to Democrats, the administration agreed to a provision allowing the legislation to be reconsidered in six months.

[snip]

Under the administration's version of the bill, the director of national intelligence and the attorney general can authorize the surveillance of all communications involving foreign targets. Oversight by the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court, composed of federal judges whose deliberations are secret, would be limited to examining whether the government's guidelines for targeting overseas suspects are appropriate. The court would not authorize the surveillance.

But, wait, if a significant number of calls from somewhere else are routed through the US, isn't it at least possible that some domestic calls are routed through other countries? If true, can't basically all calls, emails, web-postings, etc. be monitored without a warrant?

Even if this isn't true, we are now entirely dependent on assurances from the executive--and if history shows anything, it shows them to be trustworthy--that the "reasonably believed to be outside the United States" clause will not be abused. But, we don't just have to trust the executive, but two guys in particular: Alberto Gonzales, who can't tell the truth even when he's trying and the director of national intelligence, Mike McConnell, who, if Democrats are to be believe--a big if, I admit, given their (triumphant?) return to their pre-Iraq blind adherence to "OUR COMMANDER IN CHIEF"--just pulled the rug out from under the Senate Democrats who thought they had a deal, which would have at least given the secret FISA court a role more significant than listening to stories from AG and MM.

When the original warrantless surveillance program was revealed, one FISA judge resigned in protest. Hopefully, there will at least be some symbolic protest here.

Just in case it still matters, here's the 4th Amendment:

The right of the people to be secure in their persons, houses, papers, and effects, against unreasonable searches and seizures, shall not be violated, and no Warrants shall issue, but upon probable cause, supported by Oath or affirmation, and particularly describing the place to be searched, and the persons or things to be seized.

Reichstag, Oh, I mean Senate passes FISA reform

I wonder if Chertoff's gut feeling and the stepped up Capitol police presence has scared the Senate into capitulation. Ridiculous.

The bill which just passed the Senate requires the administration to "describe" the procedures to the (secret) FISA court:

From Reuters:

Offered by Senate Republican leader Mitch McConnell of Kentucky, no relation to the national intelligence director, the bill would allow the administration to continue the warrantless surveillance but require it to describe to a secret federal court the procedures it uses in targeting foreign suspects.

The Senate defeated, on a 45-43 vote, a Democratic alternative, which would have placed tighter controls on the spying and provided for independent assessments of the attorney general's implementation of the measure.

FISA Court already said this was illegal

Two things to note from today's Washington Post.

1.

A federal intelligence court judge earlier this year secretly declared a key element of the Bush administration's wiretapping efforts illegal, according to a lawmaker and government sources, providing a previously unstated rationale for fevered efforts by congressional lawmakers this week to expand the president's spying powers.

2. Apparently FOX news viewers are allowed to hear classified info so long as it comes from a republican:

House Minority Leader John A. Boehner (R-Ohio) disclosed elements of the court's decision in remarks Tuesday to Fox News as he was promoting the administration-backed wiretapping legislation. Boehner has denied revealing classified information, but two government officials privy to the details confirmed that his remarks concerned classified information.

My favorite Scooter Libby Ad Hominem

Scooty Puff Junior

Just remember: "Scooty Puff Jr. suuuucccckssss!"

Because sometimes, a secret court just isn't good enough

So as the debate over FISA reform heats up, the administration actully has the audacity to ask for revisions that would allow the AG to approve wiretaps without review by the FISA court.

From the Wapo:

On Friday, Director of National Intelligence Mike McConnell submitted a proposal to Congress that asked for the authority to intercept without a court order any international phone call or e-mail between a surveillance target outside the United States and any person in the United States.

Yesterday, the administration updated its proposal by saying that the attorney general and the director of national intelligence could authorize such surveillance and that the guidelines on what constitutes an overseas target be subject to some court review. But the surveillance could begin before the court review and the oversight would be limited.

And the democrats, as I posted yesterday are bending over backwards to get something, anything passed. So long as Gonzales is not given sole discretion:

The proposal, according to House and Senate Democrats, would permit a secret court to issue broad orders approving eavesdropping of communications involving suspects overseas and other people, who may be in the United States. To issue an order, the court would not need to identify a particular target overseas, but it would have to determine that those being targeted are "likely," in fact, overseas.

If a foreign target's communications to a person inside the United States reaches a "significant" number, then an court order based on probable cause would be required. It is unclear how "significant" would be defined.

Under a sunset provision, the authority would have to be revisited in six months.

[snip]

The Democrats' proposal also would compel compliance by private companies.

It would also affirm that no court order is needed to eavesdrop on communications that begin and end outside the United States, even if routed through the United States.

Feingold seems to be the only dissenter on this via Daily Kos and his website:

Statement of U.S. Senator Russ Feingold
On the Proposed FISA Legislation

August 1, 2007

“We need to wiretap terrorists, and we should address the problem that has been identified with FISA with respect to foreign-to-foreign communications. But the administration’s overly broad proposal goes far beyond that and would leave critical decisions related to surveillance involving Americans entirely up to the Attorney General. The proposal from the Democratic leadership is better and involves FISA court review from the start. But it does not have adequate safeguards to protect Americans’ privacy. The bill should also include a 90-day sunset to ensure Congress has the chance to identify and fix any problems with this new proposal.”

McConnell Selectively De-Classifies in Order to Cover Gonzales' Ass

From the WaPo:

"The Bush administration's chief intelligence official said yesterday that President Bush authorized a series of secret surveillance activities under a single executive order in late 2001. The disclosure makes clear that a controversial National Security Agency program was part of a much broader operation than the president previously described."

In other words, since Gonzales is under fire once again, we are willing to admit that we've been spying in a lot more ways than you even thought. Since Gonzales said that the Hospital Room Coup wasn't about the "TSP," here's some other things it might be about, which we still won't tell you. But, we're watching you.

And, what I still don't understand is why these other activities aren't also a violation of FISA and since they were all authorized under one executive order, why the President isn't in jail.

This selective de-classification is also convenient in that it comes just as McConnell is also pushing for an "updating" of FISA. And guess what? The Democrats can't wait to look tough on terrorism and so are bending over backwards to pass it. It's like 9/11 all over again, in the sense that politicians are clamouring to do somethng, anything to look like they are doing something about terrorism. (or at least to be able to blame someone else if there is another attack on the "homeland" (my favorite throw back to Nazi Germany). From the NYT:

In the past few days, Mr. Bush and Mike McConnell, director of national intelligence, have publicly called on Congress to make the change before its August recess, which could begin this weekend. Democrats appear to be worried that if they block such legislation, the White House will depict them as being weak on terrorism.

“We hope our Republican counterparts will work together with us to fix the problem, rather than try again to gain partisan political advantage at the expense of our national security,” Senator Harry Reid of Nevada, the majority leader, said in a statement Monday night.

So, to quote post festum from post 544:

But all this is window dressing: Bush directly intervened and took it upon himself to continue the operation of a program that the OLC -- the one and only voice that is always taken as dispositive in matters of law in the Executive Branch -- and that means that yet again Bush and several others are felons.

The first time as tragedy, the second time as farce

Since impeachment in response to the high crimes and misdemeaners from the NSA spying is the original motivation for the repository, we should go back to the future again. Recall our 544th post and this section of FISA.

Now we have it that there was a related program, which is also illegal under FISA, but that if actually existing eliminates the potential perjury charges against Gonzales. Now, I still don't understand why there are no charges being brought under FISA, except of course, that the AG would have to appoint the special counsel to do it. Or the democrats would have to start impeachment hearings, which they consider politically unwise. So here we are 18 months later, with no answers and a bunch of BS congressional testimony.

The Times article sites 6 former and current Justice Department officials anonymously:

WASHINGTON, July 28 — A 2004 dispute over the National Security Agency’s secret surveillance program that led top Justice Department officials to threaten resignation involved computer searches through massive electronic databases, according to current and former officials briefed on the program.

It is not known precisely why searching the databases, or data mining, raised such a furious legal debate. But such databases contain records of the phone calls and e-mail messages of millions of Americans, and their examination by the government would raise privacy issues.

The N.S.A.’s data mining has previously been reported. But the disclosure that concerns about it figured in the March 2004 debate helps to clarify the clash this week between Attorney General Alberto R. Gonzales and senators who accused him of misleading Congress and called for a perjury investigation.

Firefox upgrade and blogger?

Hey - what the hell happened to 'blog this'? I've finally upgraded to the new version of firefox and can't seem to find a compatible add on for a quick blog post...Any ideas?

And I Thought Ethanol Production was bad in the US

The Forbes version of an AP story:
Brazil Raid Frees Ethanol Plant Slaves

Brazilian authorities said they raided an Amazon plantation where more than 1,000 laborers were found working 13-hour days, in horrendous conditions, cutting sugar cane for ethanol production.

Authorities said that if preliminary findings by investigators are confirmed, the raid would be Brazil's biggest to date against debt slavery, which is common in the Amazon.

Under the practice, poor laborers are lured to remote spots where they rack up debts to plantation owners charging exorbitant prices for everything from food to transportation.

But the Amazon plantation's owner - the biggest ethanol producer in the northeastern state of Para - vigorously denied the allegations Tuesday and said the workers make good money by Brazilian standards.

[snip]

Police found 1,108 poor workers working from 4:30 a.m. until 5:30 p.m. with only a short break for lunch, the statement said. They complained of paying exorbitant prices for food and medicine, and many walked miles to get to work while others were transported in ramshackle vans.

Many were sick from spoiled food or unsafe water, slept in cramped quarters on hammocks and did not have proper sanitation facilities, Humberto Celio, coordinator of the Labor Ministry's special unit that frees debt slaves, told the government news service Agencia Brasil.

The company, Para Pastoril e Agricola SA, has been in operation since 1969 and each year produces 13.2 million gallons of ethanol, often billed as an environmentally friendly alternative to gasoline.

Oh! The Problem in Iraq is Branding!

Thanks to a $400,000 study from the Rand Corporation (not to mention the saucer people and the reverse vampires) the truth is now known:

From the Wapo
The Pentagon Gets a Lesson From Madison Avenue
U.S. Needs to Devise a Different 'Brand' to Win Over the Iraqi People, Study Advises
[snip]

'Helmus and his co-authors concluded that the "force" brand, which the United States peddled for the first few years of the occupation, was doomed from the start and lost ground to enemies' competing brands. While not abandoning the more aggressive elements of warfare, the report suggested, a more attractive brand for the Iraqi people might have been "We will help you."'

I wonder if the "you killed my child and imprisoned my brother for no reason" brand is also a problem...

And just in case you haven't been to Wal-Mart in a while:

'Wal-Mart's desired identity as a friendly shop where working-class customers can feel comfortable and find good value, for example, would be undercut if telephone operators and sales personnel had rude attitudes, or if the stores offered too much high-end merchandise. For the U.S. military and U.S. officials, understanding the target customer culture is equally critical.'

My continuing crusade against ethanol

Thanks to biofuels, the meager UN food program cannot manage its meager effort to feed 90 million people:

From the Financial Times (subscription may be required, but here is the whole article)

UN warns it cannot afford to feed the world

By Javier Blas and Jenny Wiggins in London

Published: July 15 2007 22:01 | Last updated: July 15 2007 22:01

Rising prices for food have led the United Nations programme fighting famine in Africa and other regions to warn that it can no longer afford to feed the 90m people it has helped for each of the past five years on its budget.

The World Food Programme feeds people in countries including Chad, Uganda and Ethiopia, but reaches a fraction of the 850m people it estimates suffers from hunger. It spent about $600m buying food in 2006. So far, the WFP has not cut its reach because of high commodities prices, but now says it could be forced to do so unless donor countries provide extra funds.

Josette Sheeran, WFP executive director, said in an interview with the Financial Times: “In a world where our contributions are holding fairly steady, this [cost increase] means we are able to reach far less people.”

She said policymakers were becoming more concerned about the impact of biofuel demand on food prices and how the world would continue to feed its expanding population.

The warning could re-ignite the debate on food versus fuel amid concerns biofuel production will sustain food inflation and hit the world’s poorest people.

The WFP said its purchasing costs had risen “almost 50 per cent in the last five years”. The UN organisation said the price it pays for maize had risen up to 120 per cent in the past sixth months in some countries.

Biofuel demand is soaking up grain production as is rising consumption in emerging countries for animal feed.

“We face the tightest agriculture markets in decades and, in same cases, on record,” Ms Sheeran said. Global wheat stocks have fallen to the lowest level in 25 years, according to the US Department of Agriculture.

Ms Sheeran added: “We are no longer in a surplus world.”

Nice summary of the Libby fallout

From the WaPo.

al-Qaeda threatens war agaisnt Iran

A little note for when the calls for invading Iran becuase of their connection to al-Qaeda increase. Also note that this guy was supposedly killed by the US on May 1.
From Al Jazeera:

Al-Qaeda threatens war against Iran
US forces had claimed to have killed al-Juburi,
also known as Abu Omar al-Baghdadi [AFP]

The leader of an al-Qaeda umbrella group in Iraq, who was thought to have beeen killed by US forces, has threatened to wage war against Iran unless it stops supporting Shias in Iraq within two months.

Abu Omar al-Baghdadi, head of the Islamic State in Iraq, said his Sunni fighters have been preparing to wage a battle against Shia-dominated Iran.

Al-Baghdadi made the announcement in an audiotape that was posted on a web site commonly used by armed groups.

The 50-minute audiotape, which was released on Sunday, could not be independently verified.

US forces had earlier claimed to have killed al-Baghdadi.

Major General William Caldwell, the commander of the multinational force in Iraq, told a press conference in Baghdad that US forces had killed Muharib Abdulatif al-Juburi on May 1.

Brigadier General Abdel Karim Khalaf, operations director at the Iraqi interior minister, told state television that al-Juburi was also known as Abu Omar al-Baghdadi.

Audiotape

"We are giving the Persians, and especially the rulers of Iran, a two-month period to end all kinds of support for the Iraqi Shia government and to stop direct and indirect intervention ... otherwise a severe war is waiting for you," al-Baghdadi said.

Iraq's Shia-led government is backed by the US but closely allied to Iran.

The United States accuses Iran of arming and financing Shia militias in Iraq, charges Tehran denies.

In the recording, al-Baghdadi also gave Sunnis and Arab countries doing business in Iran or with Iranians a two-month deadline to cease their ties.

"We advise and warn every Sunni businessman inside Iran or in Arab countries especially in the Gulf not to take partnership with any Shia Iranian businessman, this is part of the two-month period," he said.

Al-Baghdadi said his group was responsible for two suicide truck bomb attacks in May in Iraq's northern Kurdish region. He said the attacks in Irbil and Makhmur showed the "Islamic jihad" was progressing in the Kurdish areas.

Fucking Asshole Bush and His Fucking Hubris

Repositing this here for posterity:

Bush spares Libby from jail term
US President George W Bush has intervened to prevent Lewis Libby, a convicted former vice-presidential aide, from serving a prison term.

President Bush described as "excessive" the 30-month prison sentence Libby was facing for having obstructed an inquiry into the leaking of a CIA agent's name.

Though no longer required to go to jail, Libby is still due to serve a period of probation and pay a fine.

An appeals court had earlier told Libby he could no longer delay going to jail.

The judge ruled that Libby could not remain free on bail while his lawyer appealed against the sentence.

CIA leak

Lewis Libby, also known by his nickname, "Scooter" Libby, was found guilty in March of perjury and obstructing justice in a case connected to Washington's decision to invade Iraq.

His trial saw the White House accused of having illegally made public the identity of a serving CIA agent, Valerie Plame, in retaliation for Ms Plame's husband's public criticism of the Iraqi invasion plan.

Libby was found to have lied to investigators about conversations where he mentioned Ms Plame but he was not convicted of having directly leaked her name.

He was sentenced to 30 months, or two-and-a-half years in prison, spend two years of probation and pay a fine of $250,000 (£125,000).

'Disgraceful decision'

President Bush said he had until now refrained from intervening in the case, waiting instead for the appeals process to take its course.

"But with the denial of bail being upheld and incarceration imminent, I believe it is now important to react to that decision," he said, referring to the appeals court's decision telling Libby he could no longer delay going to jail.

"I respect the jury's verdict," President Bush said. "But I have concluded that the prison sentence given to Mr Libby is excessive," Mr Bush said.

However, he said, Libby's remaining punishments - the probation period and fine - were "harsh" and would leave his reputation "forever damaged".

The top Democrat in the US Senate, Harry Reid, attacked the president's decision as "disgraceful".

"Libby's conviction was the one faint glimmer of accountability for White House efforts to manipulate intelligence and silence critics of the Iraq war," Mr Reid said.

"Now, even that small bit of justice has been undone," he said.

Story from BBC NEWS:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/pr/fr/-/2/hi/americas/6263616.stm

Iraq War photo Gallery

I've just been made aware of this photo gallery from 2005. Der Spiegel ran an interesting piece in association with it. Very disturbing and graphic, but must see all.

Why I am ready to stop listening to NPR

Weapons claims revive calls for action against Iran

This piece cites several Bush administration officials who are hawks, quotes Joe Lieberman, claims that the Bush administration has pursued a diplomatic solution for the last year, repeats all the claims about Iran being a threat and supplying weapons to everyone, and offers no counter point. Maybe Judith Miller should look for a job at NPR.

LibriVox

LibriVox: "LibriVox volunteers record chapters of books in the public domain and release the audio files back onto the net. Our goal is to make all public domain books available as free audio books. We are a totally volunteer, open source, free content, public domain project."

How to write about Africa

Directed to from BoingBoing...:

Always use the word 'Africa' or 'Darkness' or
'Safari' in your title. Subtitles may include the words 'Zanzibar',
'Masai', 'Zulu', 'Zambezi', 'Congo', 'Nile', 'Big', 'Sky', 'Shadow',
'Drum', 'Sun' or 'Bygone'. Also useful are words such as 'Guerrillas',
'Timeless', 'Primordial' and 'Tribal'. Note that 'People' means
Africans who are not black, while 'The People' means black Africans.

Never
have a picture of a well-adjusted African on the cover of your book, or
in it, unless that African has won the Nobel Prize. An AK-47, prominent
ribs, naked breasts: use these. If you must include an African, make
sure you get one in Masai or Zulu or Dogon dress.

Powered by ScribeFire.

Food Prices Expected to Rise 7.5%, Ethanol to Blame

From the Christian Science Monitor

The reason people are smarting: Inflation in grocery aisles is up by more in the first six months of 2007 than in all of 2006. That means food costs are on track for the biggest annual percentage hike since 1980, according to the Labor Department. The anticipated 7.5 percent increase would readily outflank the 2.6 percent core inflation rate to date, which excludes food and energy. It's across every grocery aisle, too, from burgers to bagels, from duck to dumpling.

[snip]
The chief culprit is corn, namely No. 2 feed corn, the staple of the breadbasket. In answer to President Bush's call for greater oil independence, the amount of feed corn distilled into ethanol is expected to double in the next five to six years. Distillation is already sucking up 18 percent of the total crop. The ethanol gambit, in turn, is sending corn prices to historic levels – topping $4 per bushel earlier this year, and remaining high. All of this trickles down to the boards at the Chicago Mercantile Exchange, affecting the price of everything from sirloin to eggs (which are up, by the way, 18.6 percent across the nation).

Is Lieberman Sane?

After all the debacles, after losing the democratic nomination, after all the support our President bs, Lieberman lets fly with this as reported in the Financial Times:

“I think we’ve got to be prepared to take aggressive military action against the Iranians to stop them from killing Americans in Iraq,” Mr Lieberman told CBS. “And to me that would include a strike over the border into Iran, where we have good evidence that they have a base at which they are training these people to kill our soldiers.”

[snip]

“By some estimates, [Iranian-trained Iraqis] have killed as many as 200 American soldiers,” Mr Lieberman said. “Well, we can tell them we want them to stop that. But . . . we can’t just talk to them. If they don’t play by the rules, we’ve got to use our force. And to me that would include taking military action to stop them from doing what they’re doing.”

Richard Rorty, 1931-2007

Richard Rorty, 1931-2007: "Richard Rorty, the leading American philosopher and heir to the pragmatist tradition, passed away on Friday, June 8."

Ethanol Continued

Here are some more reasons why the shift to ethanol is a cluster fuck. Politicians have proposed this so that they can look like they have an energy policy and, especially here in the mid-west, look like they are doing something about creating jobs.

1. It cannot solve the problem with “foreign oil.” Bush's stated goal of having 15% of our fuel usage come from ethanol would require the entire US corn crop.¹ In addition ethanol yields less energy per gallon that gasoline: in other words, your 7mpg hummer now only gets 5mpg.

2. It produces less energy than is put into producing it. This is idiotic. So that we can become independent from foreign oil, we should plant and grow a bunch of corn that requires machinery powered by oil, fertilizers and pesticides produced from oil. While the USDA “scientists” claim there is a net energy gain, they do not take into account all inputs If all inputs are taken into account, 29% less energy is produced from burning ethanol than goes into the production of it.²

3. It causes environmental damage. It does produce fewer emissions than gasoline when burnt. But, Corn requires more pesticides, herbicides, and nitrogen fertilizers than any other food crop. Production of the corn requires fossil fuels and the production of the ethanol from the corn produces “Volatile organic compounds” including “formaldehyde and acetic acid, both carcinogens. Methanol, although not known to cause cancer, also is classified as a hazardous pollutant.”³

4. It drives up the price of food. Most of the corn grown in the US goes to animal feed and so, when you drive around that corn, you drive up the prices of milk, eggs, meat, cheese, staples for poor people like us.

5. It doesn't benefit farmers. "Initially we all were excited by the high prices," said Troy Roush, a sixth-generation farmer who grows 2,600 acres of corn in central Indiana. "But the truth is that the farmers won't keep any of it. There's an old saying that expenses will always rise to meet revenue. It all gets built in."

   And that's exactly what has happened: As the price of corn has gone up, so has the cost of growing it. In just two months, the price Roush paid for fertilizer doubled. And speculation has driven land prices through the roof. "It's insane," Roush said. "In the last four months our land values have increased 40 percent. We're all sitting around wondering if it's real."

   While most farmers own some land, the vast majority rent part or all of their acreage.⁴

6. It benefits large agribusiness. “Ethanol leader ADM’s market share has actually declined from a stunningly high 60 percent to a still-worrisome 25 to 30 percent in recent years. But a recent analysis by USDA agricultural economists concluded, “The fuel ethanol industry may very well be in transition toward an inevitable concentration of ownership into the hands of a few large processing firms.” The market is driven by large-scale gasoline refining firms, which “don’t want to deal with all these small plants,” and a “virtual consolidation of ethanol processing” is taking place. (ADM didn’t respond to multiple requests for comment for this story.)”⁵

1See: Colin Carter and Henry I. Miller, Christian Science Monitor:

http://www.csmonitor.com/2007/0521/p09s02-coop.html

2See David Pimentel (Cornell) and Tad W. Patzek (Berkeley), Natural Resources Research, Vol. 14, No. 1, March 2005.

3This is from an AP story. I found it on CBS news. http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2002/05/03/tech/main508006.shtml

4Lisa Hamilton, “Ethanol Booms, Farmers Bust,” http://alternet.org/environment/52073/

5Christopher Cook, “Biofuel: Who Benefits - Smaller Growers or Just Large-Scale Producers and Agribusiness?” from the Friday, April 14, 2006, American Prospect, accessed at http://www.commondreams.org/views06/0414-22.htm.

Some Justice

Think Progress » Breaking: Libby Sentenced To 30 Months In Prison, $250,000 Fine: "Breaking: Libby Sentenced To 30 Months In Prison, $250,000 Fine"

Microsoft Surface Video - Touchscreen, Multi Touch Coffee Table

Microsoft Surface Video - Touchscreen, Multi Touch Coffee Table - Behind the Scenes - Popular Mechanics: "Microsoft Surface: Behind-the-Scenes First Look (with Video)"


More multi-touch display porn. Han and his latest creations are featured about 1/2 through.

Another Leopold shot for Rove's downfall

from an interview w/ one of the fired attorneys:

 

 Iglesias told me that, while we still do not know how he and his colleagues
were placed on the termination list, he does believe a "smoking gun"
exists that will lead directly to Karl Rove and blow the scandal wide open.

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The Summer of Iran

Cheney in the news in the last two days:

Cheney on a recent CBS Sunday Talkshow:

The fact is that the threat to the United States now of a 9/11 occurring with a group of terrorists armed not with airline tickets and box cutters, but with a nuclear weapon in the middle of one of our own cities, is the greatest threat we face. It's a very real threat. It's something that we have to worry about and defeat every single day.

And then today:

Multiple sources have reported that a senior aide on Vice President Cheney's national security team has been meeting with policy hands of the American Enterprise Institute, one other think tank, and more than one national security consulting house and explicitly stating that Vice President Cheney does not support President Bush's tack towards Condoleezza Rice's diplomatic efforts and fears that the President is taking diplomacy with Iran too seriously.

This White House official has stated to several Washington insiders that Cheney is planning to deploy an "end run strategy" around the President if he and his team lose the policy argument.

The thinking on Cheney's team is to collude with Israel, nudging Israel at some key moment in the ongoing standoff between Iran's nuclear activities and international frustration over this to mount a small-scale conventional strike against Natanz using cruise missiles (i.e., not ballistic missiles).

This strategy would sidestep controversies over bomber aircraft and overflight rights over other Middle East nations and could be expected to trigger a sufficient Iranian counter-strike against US forces in the Gulf -- which just became significantly larger -- as to compel Bush to forgo the diplomatic track that the administration realists are advocating and engage in another war.

So, what exactly is the truth value of Bush's prediction that he would be a uniter and not a divider?

There's a good reason we don't often post poll numbers a lot, but I want to make one exception. The new CBS poll on the Iraq war records that:

CBS Poll: 76% Say War's Going Badly, Record Number In Survey Say Getting Involved In Iraq Was Mistake - CBS News: "a CBS News/New York Times poll shows the number of Americans who say the war is going badly has reached a new high, rising 10 percent this month to 76 percent. "

But the really really interesting poll number is buried a bit in the article:

In addition, the poll finds Americans are more pessimistic than ever about the overall direction in which the United States is headed. Seventy-two percent, the highest number since the CBS/NYT poll started asking the question in 1983, say the country is on the wrong track, while 24 percent say it's headed in the right direction.

Ethanol....More later

I have been quiet about ethanol so far, but Jesus...this is most ridiculous idea ever. More later, but one reason which I'm sure you've seen. You're then driving poor people's food. But here it is reposited:

It's just a side comment from the FT:

"Retail food prices are heading for their biggest annual increase in as much as 30 years, raising fears that the world faces an unprecedented period of food price inflation.

Prices have soared as the expanding biofuels industry, climate change and the growing prosperity of nations such as India and China push up the costs of farm commodities including wheat, corn, milk and oils."

Remember Caesar, Thou Art Mortal

Bush Anoints Himself as the Insurer of Constitutional Government in Emergency | The Progressive: "Under that plan, he entrusts himself with leading the entire federal government, not just the Executive Branch. And he gives himself the responsibility “for ensuring constitutional government.”

He laid this all out in a document entitled “National Security Presidential Directive/NSPD 51” and “Homeland Security Presidential Directive/HSPD-20.”

The White House released it on May 9.

Other than a discussion on Daily Kos led off by a posting by Leo Fender, and a pro-forma notice in a couple of mainstream newspapers, this document has gone unremarked upon.

The subject of the document is entitled “National Continuity Policy.”

It defines a “catastrophic emergency” as “any incident, regardless of location, that results in extraordinary levels of mass casualties, damage, or disruption severely affecting the U.S. population, infrastructure, environment, economy, or government function.”"

...

The document emphasizes the need to ensure “the continued function of our form of government under the Constitution, including the functioning of the three separate branches of government,” it states.

But it says flat out: “The President shall lead the activities of the Federal Government for ensuring constitutional government.”

Our 544th Post: Back to the Future

I'm feeling nostalgic, so I thought I'd take a look at the first Repository post:

http://repositagain.blogspot.com/2005/12/firedoglake-jonathan-alter-newsweek-on.html

Turns out that our first post was also the first of a series we reposited in 2005 and much of 2006 on the NSA wiretapping revelations.

So, in honor of our 1st post I thought I'd reposit the most recent developments...

First, you must view scenes of James Comey's testimony in front of Schumer's senate committee from Tuesday. I mean it...even if you've read some highlights you've got to see it for yourself. Comey -- who is a mainstream loyal Bushie -- tells a story that both implicates Bush directly as a co-conspirator in the illegalities surrounding the program, and also shows Gonzales and Andy Card and Bush to resort to brute thuggishness against their own.

Now, a few choice quotes from the Washington Post editorial the morning after Comey's testimony. Not only is this a loyal Bushie Comey telling this tale, this is the loyal Bushie (or at least not openly disloyal) Washington Post editorial page.

Mr. Comey's vivid depiction, worthy of a Hollywood script, showed the lengths to which the administration and the man who is now attorney general were willing to go to pursue the surveillance program. First, they tried to coerce a man in intensive care -- a man so sick he had transferred the reins of power to Mr. Comey -- to grant them legal approval. Having failed, they were willing to defy the conclusions of the nation's chief law enforcement officer and pursue the surveillance without Justice's authorization. Only in the face of the prospect of mass resignations -- Mr. Comey, FBI Director Robert S. Mueller III and most likely Mr. Ashcroft himself -- did the president back down.

...

The dramatic details should not obscure the bottom line: the administration's alarming willingness, championed by, among others, Vice President Cheney and his counsel, David Addington, to ignore its own lawyers. Remember, this was a Justice Department that had embraced an expansive view of the president's inherent constitutional powers, allowing the administration to dispense with following the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act.

Here are a few legal opinions just to whet your appetite for more detailed reading.

First, from two posts by Glenn Greenwald at Salon:

What more glaring and clear evidence do we need that the President of the United States deliberately committed felonies, knowing that his conduct lacked any legal authority? And what justifies simply walking away from these serial acts of deliberate criminality? At this point, how can anyone justify the lack of criminal investigations or the appointment of a Special Counsel? The President engaged in extremely serious conduct that the law expressly criminalizes and which his own DOJ made clear was illegal.

...

But more revealingly, just consider what it says about this administration. Not only did Comey think that he had to rush to the hospital room to protect Ashcroft from having a conniving Card and Gonzales manipulate his severe illness and confusion by coercing his signature on a document -- behavior that is seen only in the worst cases of deceitful, conniving relatives coercing a sick and confused person to sign a new will -- but the administration's own FBI Director thought it was necessary to instruct his FBI agents not to allow Comey to be removed from the room.

Comey and Mueller were clearly both operating on the premise that Card and Gonzales were basically thugs. Indeed, Comey said that when Card ordred him to the White House, Comey refused to meet with Card without a witness being present, and that Card refused to allow Comey's summoned witness (Solicitor General Ted Olson) even to enter Card's office. These are the most trusted intimates of the White House -- the ones who are politically sympathetic to them and know them best -- and they prepared for, defended themselves against, the most extreme acts of corruption and thuggery from the President's Chief of Staff and his then-legal counsel (and current Attorney General of the United States).

...

As former OLC official Marty Lederman noted last night, John Ashcroft and James Comey are both Republican ideologues who proved that they were willing to endorse and defend even the most radical (and illegal) behavior (including the lawless detention of Jose Padilla and the administration's "refashioned" -- though still illegal -- warrantless eavesdropping program). If they were insisting that the conduct of the Bush administration was not only illegal, but so illegal that they were ready to resign en masse over it, then, as Lederman asks: "can you even imagine how bad it must have been?"

...

James Comey's testimony amounts to a statement that -- even according to the administration's own loyal DOJ officials -- the President ordered still-unknown spying on Americans, and engaged in that spying for a full two-and-a-half-years, that was so blatantly and shockingly illegal that they were all ready to resign over it. And the President's Attorney General then lied to ensure that this episode remain concealed. Mere one-day calls for a Congressional investigation are woefully inadequate here.

And from a former lawyer in the OLC under Clinton, MartyLederman:

These are hardly officials who were unwilling to push the legal envelope, or who were disdainful of the objectives or need for the NSA program. Two or three weeks later, OLC did develop an alternative legal theory that permitted a narrower version of the surveillance program to go forward. By all accounts, that legal theory is some version of the argument that the 2001 Authorization for the Use of Military Force against Al Qaeda authorized this form of electronic surveillance, notwithstanding FISA. That is a theory that I and many others have harshly criticized (see, for example, the letters collected here). It is, to say the least, an extremely creative reading of the relevant statutes -- a reading that not a single member of Congress who voted for the AUMF could possibly have imagined, and one that (to my knowledge) not a single member of Congress has approved once reading of it in DOJ's "White Paper."

These DOJ officials were willing to sign off on that very tenuous legal theory. What does that tell us about the OLC theory that they inisted upon repudiating?

Important Unanswered Questions to Date:

1. Did Bush make the call to Mrs. Ashcroft to pressure her to allow Gonzales and Card in the hospital room?
2. Did Bush know that Ashcroft and then acting Attorney-General Comey said "no" to certifying the legality of the 2001-2003 program? -- Note: even now it is already looking like this is a silly question and is obviously "yes" and will never be denied by the white house.
3. What made Comey and Ashcroft change their minds on this program at this time in 2003? After all, the program was recertified once a year as being legal by the Office of Legal Council in the DOJ (which, by congressional law, has the last and only say in what counts as "legal" and "illegal" in the Executive Branch)?

Actually it is not exactly right to say that Comey "changed" his mind, since he was fairly new to his position coming in in 2003. Actually, the guy who changed his mind is --- Goldsmith, who had also come on board in 2003 as the new head of the OLC. Goldsmith had apparently undertaken a review of his predecessor's legal proclamations, and it seems found many of them wanting.

And you'll never guess who it was that was head of the OLC before Goldsmith....None other than John Woo. Yes, that John Woo.

Now, Goldsmith somehow convinced Comey and Ashcroft that the OLC and therefore the DOJ and the entire executive branch was going to have to completely reverse its stand on the NSA program in question. Now if you watch the Comey video, you get the sense that he probably was easy to convince. My guess is his briefing by Goldsmith was his first encounter with the program and it scarred the hell out of him. (I mean it -- watch his testimony!) What I don't get is Ashcroft. Is it really possible that Woo had convinced him of the program's legal validity only to have a more persuasive Goldsmith come along and so convincingly persuade him to effectively shut down this national security program? Come on...Pull the other one.

Here's my guess, either Ashcroft
1. didn't even read the original Yoo legal evaluations or
2. there weren't any original Yoo evaluations or
3. there were aspects to the program that didn't get mentioned (or were deliberately distorted) in the original Yoo evaluations.

And at this point, the consensus opinion seems to be a mixture of 1 and 3, but there may be other possibilities as well. One possibility seems to be that Yoo and the DoJ folks were not given access to all the details of the program in question, but went on developing legal justifications nonetheless, and that Goldsmith and Comey insisted on knowing the details before they would sign off.

But all this is window dressing: Bush directly intervened and took it upon himself to continue the operation of a program that the OLC -- the one and only voice that is always taken as dispositive in matters of law in the Executive Branch -- and that means that yet again Bush and several others are felons.

A Special Place in Hell?

Falwell dies.

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. evangelist Jerry Falwell, a leader of the Christian right, died on Tuesday, his assistant said.

Falwell, 73, was found unconscious in his office and was taken to a nearby hospital in Virginia, CNN said. He had a history of congestive heart problems.

"That is true, it's over," the assistant, Duke Westover, told Reuters by telephone. He said an official statement would be issued soon.

Bush joke kicks off Korea talks

MWC News - A Site Without Borders - - Bush joke kicks off Korea talks: "Rare talks between military leaders from North and South Korea have got off to an unusual start with one of the North Korean generals recalling an internet joke about the US president.

Tuesday's meeting at the border village of Panmunjom was intended to discuss the restoration of rail links after more than half a century.

Both sides had previously agreed to a test-run across the heavily-fortified border on May 17th, but the North's military must first give its consent.

Shortly after the meeting began however, Lieutenant-General Kim Yong-chol opened proceedings by telling a joke at George Bush's expense.

'I recently read a piece of political humour on the internet called 'saving the president',' he was quoted as saying in pool reports from the talks."

The Joke

Bush goes out jogging one morning and, preoccupied with international affairs, fails to notice that a car is heading straight at him.

A group of schoolchildren pull the president away just in time, saving his life, and a grateful Bush offers them anything they want in the world as a reward.

"We want a place reserved for us at Arlington Memorial Cemetery," say the children.

"Why is that?" asks Bush.

"Because our parents will kill us if they find out what we've done."

Two noteworthy Truthout pieces

From Alternet.org

On
Tuesday, without note in the U.S. media, more than half of the members
of Iraq's parliament rejected the continuing occupation of their
country. 144 lawmakers signed onto a legislative petition calling on
the United States to set a timetable for withdrawal, according to
Nassar Al-Rubaie, a spokesman for the Al Sadr movement, the nationalist
Shia group that sponsored the petition.





Pelosi Threatens to Sue Bush Over Iraq Bill

By Jonathan E. Kaplan and Elana Schor
The Hill

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) is threatening to take President Bush
to court if he issues a signing statement as a way of sidestepping a carefully
crafted compromise Iraq war spending bill.

Pelosi recently told a group of liberal bloggers, "We can take the president to court" if he issues a signing statement, according to Kid Oakland, ablogger who covered Pelosi's remarks for the liberal website dailykos.com.

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France joins

Yes, Michael, we love exploitation just as much as you.





Michael, 26, fishmonger: "I voted for Sarkozy. I like what he said about working more to earn more."



meanwhile:



"President-elect Sarkozy will take possession of the Elysees Palace on
May 16. He intends to go on a retreat for a week, in an unknown place,
to meditate on the difficult task lying ahead."

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Sarkozy seen winning French election: Belgian media

BRUSSELS (Reuters) - Conservative favorite Nicolas Sarkozy is on course to win France's presidential election run-off on Sunday with between 53 and 54 percent of the vote, Belgian media reported.

The RTBF public broadcasting station and the newspapers Le Soir and La Libre Belgique reported on their Web sites that unofficial estimates showed Sarkozy beating Socialist Segolene Royal comfortably.

Bush/Cheney Impeachment

I'm seeing this on a number of sites today (digg, GNN, etc) and have found the lines tied up when I've tried. Can't verify if Pelosi actually is conducting this, but it doesn't matter at this point...



House Speaker Nancy Pelosi is conducting a phone poll -- the number is
1-202-225-0100. Just call in and say something to the effect of "I'd
like to register my support for the impeachment of President George W.
Bush and Vice President Dick Cheney."

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Venezuela quits IMF and World Bank

Fitting May Day piece...



The Venezuelan president, Hugo Chavez, today severed ties with the World Bank and International Monetary Fund.

In doing so he distanced Caracas further from what he described as Washington-dominated institutions.

The
populist leader, who took office pledging to pursue radical political
reform and an economic "third way," said yesterday that Venezuela no
longer needed institutions "dominated by US imperialism."

Speaking
at a May Day event, Mr Chavez said: "We don't need to be going up to
Washington... We are going to get out. I want to formalise our exit
from the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund."

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Ratfucking 101: Find a Good Rat's Nest

Okay, don't usually link to my own posts but here I pointed out a couple stories that detail the relationship between Rove and the small Tenn. company chosen to "host" the RNC servers. I posted it when it first came out that Rove maintained non-WH email accounts and used them regularly for all purposes.

I linked to a photo of Rove that (we know now) was photoshopped to show him walking out of a resturant in Tenn. carrying the promotional materials for Copitx. It turns out that this photo was fucked with by some folks at Coptix for "kicks".

Then we learned that millions of emails are now missing from the WH and private RNC server.

And now, this...

AlterNet: Network Hosting Attorney Scandal E-Mails Also Hosted Ohio's 2004 Election Results:

"There is more than ample documentation to show that on Election Night 2004, Ohio's 'official' Secretary of State website -- which gave the world the presidential election results -- was redirected from an Ohio government server to a group of servers that contain scores of Republican web sites, including the secret White House e-mail accounts that have emerged in the scandal surrounding Attorney General Alberto Gonzales's firing of eight federal prosecutors."

Wolfowitz asked to resign from World Bank

I don't know if you've been following the brew-ha-ha that has sparked up over (among other things) Wolfie's latest attempt to use someone else's treasury as if it were his own, but since this refuses to go away, and now the IEG group has called officially for him to resign, I thought this should be reposited for history's sake.

United Press International - NewsTrack - Top News - Wolfowitz asked to resign from World Bank:

"WASHINGTON April 23 (UPI) -- An agency that oversees the World Bank is asking for the resignation of the bank's president, former deputy U.S. Defense Secretary Paul Wolfowitz.

In a document obtained by the Financial Times, the Independent Evaluation Group asked for Wolfowitz's immediate resignation, saying a continuation of his leadership will lead to 'irreparable harm to worldwide efforts in poverty reduction and sustainable development.'"

Map: Welcome to the Blogosphere Recognizing Themselves Mutually Recognizing One Another

Map: Welcome to the Blogosphere | Technology | DISCOVER Magazine: "Map: Welcome to the Blogosphere"

RIP Kurt Vonnegut

Reuter's.
The New York Times

A poem of his from "A Man Without a Country,"
Requiem

When the last living thing

has died on account of us,

how poetical it would be

if Earth could say,

in a voice floating up

perhaps

from the floor

of the Grand Canyon,

“It is done.”

People did not like it here.

New York Times Select Free with Academic Email Address.

Go here.

Revolution, flashmobs, and brain chips: A Report on 2035 from Britain's Minister of Defense

Revolution, flashmobs, and brain chips. A grim vision of the future | Science | Guardian Unlimited:

Take a look at the whole thing, but here's one prediction their making:

"'The middle classes could become a revolutionary class, taking the role envisaged for the proletariat by Marx,' says the report. The thesis is based on a growing gap between the middle classes and the super-rich on one hand and an urban under-class threatening social order: 'The world's middle classes might unite, using access to knowledge, resources and skills to shape transnational processes in their own class interest'. Marxism could also be revived, it says, because of global inequality. An increased trend towards moral relativism and pragmatic values will encourage people to seek the 'sanctuary provided by more rigid belief systems, including religious orthodoxy and doctrinaire political ideologies, such as popularism and Marxism'."

Popularism?

Because it is Easter, after all...

Scandal puts spotlight on Christian law school - The Boston Globe:

"Regent Law School has had no better friend than the Bush administration. Graduates of the law school have been among the most influential of the more than 150 Regent University alumni hired to federal government positions since President Bush took office in 2001, according to a university website.

One of those graduates is Monica Goodling , the former top aide to Attorney General Alberto Gonzales who is at the center of the storm over the firing of US attorneys. Goodling, who resigned on Friday, has become the face of Regent overnight -- and drawn a harsh spotlight to the administration's hiring of officials educated at smaller, conservative schools with sometimes marginal academic reputations.

Documents show that Goodling, who has asserted her Fifth Amendment right against self-incrimination to avoid testifying before Congress, was one of a handful of officials overseeing the firings. She helped install Timothy Griffin , the Karl Rove aide and her former boss at the Republican National Committee, as a replacement US attorney in Arkansas."

I'm sure Gen. Petraeus was speaking as a private citizen and not as head of the Multinational Force Iraq, right?

Think Progress » Petraeus: McCain’s market trip ‘helped the Iraqi economy.’:

"Petraeus: McCain’s market trip ‘helped the Iraqi economy.’

On PBS yesterday, Gen. David Petraeus tried to boost up Sen. John McCain’s (R-AZ) much-maligned visit to Baghdad’s Shorja market: “He was not protected by a cocoon of security. Yep, there was security there, but he out — actually he helped the Iraqi economy quite a bit, bought a number of carpets, in fact.” McCain did not reveal his goods, but Sen. Lindsay Graham (R-SC) contributed to the economy by purchasing “five rugs for five bucks.”"

Red Rover, Red Rover

Students Lie in Front of Car, Delay Rove After Speech - washingtonpost.com:

"Heckling protesters briefly delayed the car carrying top White House aide Karl Rove last night as he left the American University campus, where he had just given a speech. No arrests or injuries were reported after Rove's invitation-only talk.

About 20 students lay in front of the car as it prepared to leave, a witness said."

Baudrillard dies

Missed this back on March 6.

French philosopher Jean Baudrillard dies - International Herald Tribune:

"PARIS: Jean Baudrillard, a French philosopher and social theorist known for his provocative commentaries on consumerism, excess and what he said was the disappearance of reality, died Tuesday, his publishing house said. He was 77."

Now there's an Idea

The Once and Future Republic of Vermont

My my, Rove gets really involved in the details of who runs the nameservers for his non-WH communications

The sharp folks at Corrente have found a photo of Rove carrying around info from a TN nameserver provider and speculates on the "services" that a close relationship with such a provider might permit.

Think of it - a political hacker's dream...All that candid email residing on a PRIVATELY OWNED server. Calling all hackers -- no federal crime need be committed in the theft of WH private communications.


Rove spotted in Chattanooga with brochure for gwb43.com nameserver host. Can we subpoena the records now? | CorrenteWire:

"So: Karl went out and hired his own, bespoke, politically wired nameserver company. Of course, Karl would never give business to any company that hadn’t sworn fealty to the authoritarian agenda, but I imagine Karl is also getting a level of, erm, personal service that he wouldn’t get from a fiddy-dollar administrator like GoDaddy or Yahoo or whatever."

Waxman Renews Niger Queries by Ordering Rice to Appear at Hearing

Waxman Renews Niger Queries :: Committee on Oversight and Government Reform :: United States House of Representatives:

Dear Madam Secretary:

On March 12, 2007, I sent you a letter renewing, as formal requests of the Committee, prior letter requests that I sent to you between 2003 and 2006. These requests sought information on the claim that Iraq sought uranium from Niger, White House treatment of classified information, the appointment of Ambassador Jones as “special coordinator” for Iraq, and other subjects. My March 12 letter is attached.

The March 12 letter requested a response by March 23 to several of the inquiries, but the Committee received no response from you.

I now request your appearance before the Committee at a hearing on Wednesday, April 18, 2007, at 10:00 a.m. in Room 2154, Rayburn House Office Building. At this hearing, you will be asked to provide testimony and respond to questions on the subjects outlined in the March 12 letter and the original request letters. …

Sincerely,
Henry A. Waxman
Chairman

Under oath??

John Bolton on Iraq [BBC]

Two different BBC videos on Bolton's current assessment of the War in Iraq worth perusing. His basic understanding of recent history is astounding, from 'there still may be "intellectual evidence" of WMDs in Iraq' to 'Good thing we won the revolution against British'...

Bolton on BBC w/ critical crowd
YouTube - John Bolton on Iraq [BBC]: "John Bolton on Iraq"

15 British sailors held by Iran | Iran | Guardian Unlimited

Gulf of Tonkin II anyone?

15 British sailors held by Iran | Iran | Guardian Unlimited: "The Iranian navy has detained up to 15 British sailors, the Ministry of Defence confirmed today.

The Royal Navy and Royal Marines personnel were taken after they had boarded a dhow during a routine patrol in the Shatt al-Arab waterway at 10.30am local time.

While they were searching the fishing boat for possible smuggling activity, Iranian boats approached the vessel and captured the men at gunpoint and taken to an Iranian naval base.

The waterway has also been an important smuggling route for oil illegally exported from Iraq as well as a crossing point for groups opposed to the US-British occupation and seeking to infiltrate Iraq. The 120-mile tidal river is Iraq's only water access to the Gulf."

Collapsing Colonies: Death of Bees = Death of us?

While Der Spiegel leads with the sexy question about whether GM crops are to blame, the problem is worrisome, whatever the cause. Whole bee colonies are dying. In some places 60-70% of them. To paraphrase the quote from Einstein in the article: No bees=no pollination=no plants=no animals=no us.

Communist Party USA Gives Its History to N.Y.U. - New York Times

Communist Party USA Gives Its History to N.Y.U. - New York Times: "Communist Party USA Gives Its History to N.Y.U.
Michael Falco for The New York Times

The vast collection from the Communist Party USA includes personal letters, smuggled directives and photographs.



By PATRICIA COHEN
Published: March 20, 2007

The songwriter, labor organizer and folk hero Joe Hill has been the subject of poems, songs, an opera, books and movies. His will, written in verse the night before a Utah firing squad executed him in 1915 and later put to music, became part of the labor movement’s soundtrack. Now the original copy of that penciled will is among the unexpected historical gems unearthed from a vast collection of papers and photographs never before seen publicly that the Communist Party USA has donated to New York University."

US embassy officials bombed in Kabul

US embassy officials bombed in Kabul -News-World-Asia-TimesOnline:

"A number of US embassy officials were wounded and a 15-year-old Afghan civilian killed when a Taleban suicide car bomber blew himself up next to a convoy in Kabul this morning.

The explosion took place as the convoy made its way through a road located two miles from the embassy, scattering debris around the motorcade as well as passing pedestrians."

Look how freely they speak in their emails?

TPMmuckraker March 15, 2007:


"In the email, which has the subject line 'Re: Question from Karl Rove,' Kyle Sampson, who was then at the Justice Department, discusses with then-deputy White House Counsel David Leitch the idea of replacing '15-20 percent of the current U.S. Attorneys,' because '80-85 percent, I would guess, are doing a great job, are loyal Bushies, etc.'"

"[I]f Karl thinks there would be poliitical will to do it, then so do I," Sampson concludes.


UPDATE: It is looking more and more like the loyal Bushies have good reason to write so openly and freely in their emails even when the Presidential Records Act (PRA) is supposed to require the indexing and preservation of all Administration written communication -- They're using RNC email addresses from inside the White House and the Department of Justice.

America: The State of the Nation - OhmyNews International

Find any news of these points?

America: The State of the Nation - OhmyNews International:

1. "it has been announced that Pelosi and her Senate counterpart, Harry Reid, will make a bipartisan display of unity in support of Israel, by appearing alongside Dick Cheney at the March meeting of the ultra-reactionary American Israel Public Affairs Committee. AIPAC has dominated American foreign policy for decades, strengthened since 2000 by the Project for a New American Century, the Bush shadow cabinet, which drew up the blueprints for American empire and the conquest of Iraq and Iran."

2. The European Union increased its abhorrence of the CIA kidnapping of innocent people on the streets of European cities, and their rendition to nations prepared to torture them in exchange for U.S. largesse. Both Italy and Germany have begun prosecutions on these illegal practices.

Reposited for Posterity's Sake

The Raw Story | Ex-White House adviser guilty of 4 of 5 counts, will appeal:

"Former White House adviser I. Lewis 'Scooter' Libby has been found guilty of four of five charges, including perjury and obstruction of justice, in the federal court proceedings that resulting from the investigation of the outing of covert CIA agent Valerie Plame Wilson."

Diebold Machines Become Liability to Bottom Line?

Wired: AP Technology and Business News from the Outside World on Wired.com:

"CLEVELAND (AP) -- Diebold Inc. saw great potential in the modernization of elections equipment. Now, analysts say, executives may be angling for ways to dump its e-voting subsidiary that's widely seen as tarnishing the company's reputation."

BSG S3E16 [spoilers below]

Not sure if you all have managed to see this yet, but Chief at one point actually says, "It's called a General Strike." (just before Adama threatens to kill Callie).

So, apparently the problems of a class society can be solved in a 3 minute drunk conversation between the Chief and The Pres. Only abstractly of course. My only hope is that the fact that he refuses another drink implies that he is already drunk and that what comes next is "cloud talk" so to speak.

Curiouser and Curiouser

(From RAWSTORY)

AP WIRE: "Vice President Dick Cheney made a visit to the hospital today after experiencing what his office called some 'discomfort' following his recent trip overseas," the Associated Press reports. "A statement from cheney's office said an ultrasound revealed a deep venous thrombosis (DVT) or 'blood clot' in his left lower leg and added his doctors will treat him with blood thinning medication for several months."

Submitted without comment

FT.com / World / US & Canada - Yellow ribbons dwindle with war support: "Magnet America, the largest manufacturer of the product, has seen sales fall from a peak of 1.2m in August 2004 to about 4,000 a month and now has an unsold stockpile of about 1m magnets."

On Libby Jury

Okay - my only speculative post on the Libby jury deliberations:

After a short day of deliberating today, the jury left two questions for the judge to answer for them at the start of the day Monday. You can see the actual handwritten notes here.

Ignoring the first question, I want to wager two guesses about what we can tell about jury from its contents. We'll see if I'm right.

Here is the content of the second jury question:

We would like clarification of the term "reasonble doubt." Specifically, is it necessary for the government to present evidence that it is not humanely possible for someone not to recall an event in order to find guilt beyond a reasonble doubt?

Oh, come on. The tortured phrasing? The ridiculous, almost rhetorical nature of the question ("it is not humanely possible...to find guilt beyond a reasonable doubt")? One or more potential holdout jurors have been pinned to a very specific (and indefensible) interpretation of reasonable doubt and the burdens of proof, and the unifed block of jurors are sending it up for the smackdown. Don't forget, they sent out a note requesting a dictionary earlier this week and were told they could not have one by the judge.

Even more, I think you can read today's note as strongly suggesting that that a strong majority or supermajority have been able to force the potential holdout juror that it is was their responsibility to propose a definition of "reasonable doubt" that the judge will either confirm or reject. Since the dictionary couldn't be used to point out that "reasonable" and "not humanely possible" only have in common the fact that you can find the words in the same book, the supermajority of jurors are forcing the holdout into a dilemma of their own making.

Why is it likely that there is only one (or at most two) potential holdout jurors?

1. the language of the definition is so tortured with its double (or is it triple?) negation, that it doesn't seem likely that the contents of the defintion are a product of human collaborative effort. (If you look at the note, it has a couple of inserted words, suggesting that the group didn't discuss how exactly to formulate a very precise question. Hell, even the word "specifically" is added via insert. You can almost hear the foreperson now: "Alright, we're holding you to this: What is your specific threshold of doubt, beyond which you would agree that it is not reasonable for Libby to 'forget' what nine others remember pretty clearly? Come on, what is it? And be specific!"

2. Along these same lines -- only a strong majority could exert enough power in small group deliberations to force an individual member of the jury to commit themselves to one specific defintion in the first place. Even two or three people (or even one if they heldout strong enough) could generate enough solidarity and good will among the others to get them accept some other position as at least "reasonable". All that has to be said is that "Sorry gang, but I have doubts that the prosecution proved the charge. I can't just stop having them. And to me, a reasonable person, that means that the charge hasn't been proven beyond a reasonable doubt. " Ding dong, hung jury. No no. In our case the potential hold out has been forced to spell out their ridiculous supposition and subject it to open scrutiny of the embodiment of the law, the judge. That means the majority is strong enough to force the minority into an agreement to accept the judge's view of "reasonable doubt" as dispositive. Doubt is such a nebulous thing that I find it hard to believe that anything but a strong and vocal and clear majority could force deliberation to such a head.

3. Also, the ridiculous phrasing strongly suggests that there wasn't a lot of time given to the potential holdout for revision. "Why specifically do you think that the prosecution hasn't proven beyond reasonable doubt? What is your "reasonable doubt"? Oh? Because humans aren't perfect and do forget things? And, what's that you say? The prosecution never ever proved that humans can't forget things, so its still possible that Libby did forget things? Fine - we're sending this up to the judge right now, and asking him if it is okay to apply the standard of guilt you want to use. If the judge comes back saying that the standard we apply must be less that requiring the prosecution to prove that, as you said, "it is not humanely possible for a person not to recall an event" then you must admit you have no reasonble doubt about the defendant's guilt." Without any time to revise you end up with an off-the-cuff and under pressure 'shot in the dark' like an appeal to "I doubt because I've seen insufficient evidence that humans can't forget things." The point the potential holdout would have loved to have made -- if not under such pressure of time -- appears to be something like "Libby is a human, and that under certain circumstances humans can forget even the most amazing things. And I see several reasons for thinking that these were extraordinary times in the VP office., etc., etc.." Alas, a strong, clear majority who see the ridiculousness of this claim just the same, have agreed to exercise their collective power and not give endless time for perfecting the bullshit. Whether that is good or bad, meh.

ps. The other question the jury sent out today concerned a clarification of Charge I - the obstruction of justice charge. I've read several commentators this afternoon who interpreted this as an indication that either the jury is skipping around the charges (and therefore missing the forest for the trees) or that they're stuck even after so many days. Since I'm speculating, I'll wager that they've convicted (or will convict once "reasonable doubt" is settled) on all counts except Obstruction, and now have returned to it as the most serious and the charge that depends on the others. If they were going to aquit on all other counts II-V, would you really have a need to clarify the language in the overraching obstruction charge? And unless our single holdout digs in their heals, a guilty verdict on all counts comes back Tuesday early AM at the latest.