Cogitamus

On the other hand . . . Dave Barry Rings in the New Year

This column by Dave Barry on the events of 2010 is so goddamn funny you might wet your pants reading it.  I'd post an accompanying picture, but that Toyota got away.

Cold Turkey by Kurt Vonnegut

It's a new day, it's a new year, and there's still so much of the same old.  So I thought it was worth revisiting this essay by Kurt Vonnegut called Cold Turkey, first published by In These Times in 2004.  Though it's kind of stream-of-consciousness, it's full of lovely bits and bons mots that are still applicable today.  A few of the major players may have changed, but the game is essentially the same.  Old Kurt would've been saddened to see it.  Or maybe not.  After all, he foresaw so much.

Many years ago, I was so innocent I still considered it possible that we could become the humane and reasonable America so many members of my generation used to dream of. We dreamed of such an America during the Great Depression, when there were no jobs. And then we fought and often died for that dream during the Second World War, when there was no peace.

But I know now that there is not a chance in hell of America’s becoming humane and reasonable. Because power corrupts us, and absolute power corrupts absolutely. Human beings are chimpanzees who get crazy drunk on power. By saying that our leaders are power-drunk chimpanzees, am I in danger of wrecking the morale of our soldiers fighting and dying in the Middle East? Their morale, like so many bodies, is already shot to pieces. They are being treated, as I never was, like toys a rich kid got for Christmas.

Library Book Returned -- Finally, Some Good News!

For 64-year library delinquent, return is better late than never

Charming story in today's Baltimore Sun about an 84-year-old just-post-WW-II veteran who's been living abroad all these years and is finally returning a book to the Enoch Pratt Free Library (first free library system in the country).

Reminds me of the hilarious Library episode from Seinfeld, where this actor, Philip Baker Hall, as "Bookman," does one of the best comic monologues in the history of television:

(Oops -- the embed code has been disabled, so you'll have to click on this link, which takes you directly to YouTube, to watch it.)

DADT, Whether You're Gay OR Straight

"Don't Ask, Don't Tell" isn't only the recently repealed policy of the U.S. military regarding gays, it's also the unstated policy of the U.S. military when it comes to sexual assault, of both men and women.  Recent articles via Al Jazeera address these issues. 

First up, a heartfelt column by peace activist Cindy Sheehan called "Don't Go, Don't Kill", where she states why she thinks DADT repeal isn't exactly a step forward.  An excerpt:

Joining the US military should never be an option for the socially conscious while our troops are being used as corporate tools for profit, or hired assassins for imperial expansion. Soldiers are called: "Bullet sponges," by their superiors and "dumb animals" by Henry Kissinger, the former secretary of state.

Veterans still find it very difficult to access the services, benefits, and bonuses that were promised to them by their recruiters. I cannot imagine the repealing of DADT significantly improving the material conditions experienced by gays during military service.

I want to bang my head against a wall when another young gay person commits suicide as a result despicable bullying, yet people within the same community have fought hard for the right to openly join the biggest bully ever! 

And a two-part series examines the still-rampant incidence of sexual assault of U.S. soldiers by U.S. soldiers.  Excerpts from Part One and Part Two:

Every year, rape increases at an alarming rate within American military institutions – and even males are victims of the cycle.

“The crisis is so severe that I’m telling women to simply not join the military because it’s completely unsafe and puts them at risk. Until something changes at the top, no woman should join the military."

MERRY CHRISTMAS!

Father Christmas at the North Pole.  Well, at the Arctic Ocean, anyway -- close enough.  If that isn't one fab Santa outfit, I don't know what is.  I bet even Tim Gunn would approve!  Merry Christmas, everyone!

Rape Victim Refuses TSA Breast Grope; Handcuffed, Arrested by Police

Claire Hirschkind couldn't go through the stripsearch scanner because of a pacemaker-type device in her chest.  So she was taken to a female TSA officer to be groped.

"I told them, 'No, I'm not going to have my breasts felt,' and she said, 'Yes, you are,'" Hirschkind told KVUE in Austin.

After refusing to acquiesce, she was arrested.

"The police actually pushed me to the floor, and handcuffed me," she said. "I was crying by then. They drug me 25 yards across the floor in front of the whole security."

Hirschkind had planned to visit friends in California for Christmas.  Now she's banned from Austin-Bergstrom International Airport.

Help Build Wave of Resistance to Demand Change

"No act of rebellion is wasted."

Video from the demonstration in front of the White House on December 16th, where many protesters were arrested, including Daniel Ellsberg, who speaks in this video, along with the man who opens it, Pulitzer-Prize-winning journalist Chris Hedges, several of whose poetic essays I've posted here in the past.

You can go to Voters for Peace if you'd like more information.

Pilot Punished for Pointing Out TSA is a Farce

Sacramento area pilot punished for YouTube video

SACRAMENTO, CA - An airline pilot is being disciplined by the Transportation Security Administration (TSA) for posting video on YouTube pointing out what he believes are serious flaws in airport security.

The 50-year-old pilot, who lives outside Sacramento, asked that neither he nor his airline be identified. He has worked for the airline for more than a decade and was deputized by the TSA to carry a gun in the cockpit.

He is also a helicopter test pilot in the Army Reserve and flew missions for the United Nations in Macedonia.

Three days after he posted a series of six video clips recorded with a cell phone camera at San Francisco International Airport, four federal air marshals and two sheriff's deputies arrived at his house to confiscate his federally-issued firearm. The pilot recorded that event as well and provided all the video to News10.

At the same time as the federal marshals took the pilot's gun, a deputy sheriff asked him to surrender his state-issued permit to carry a concealed weapon.

A follow-up letter from the sheriff's department said the CCW permit would be reevaluated following the outcome of the federal investigation.

The YouTube videos, posted Nov. 28, show what the pilot calls the irony of flight crews being forced to go through TSA screening while ground crew who service the aircraft are able to access secure areas simply by swiping a card.

"As you can see, airport security is kind of a farce. It's only smoke and mirrors so you people believe there is actually something going on here," the pilot narrates.

. . . The pilot's attorney, Don Werno of Santa Ana, said he believed the federal government sent six people to the house to send a message.  "And the message was you've angered us by telling the truth and by showing America that there are major security problems despite the fact that we've spent billions of dollars allegedly to improve airline safety," Werno said . . . .

Julian Assange, Bradley Manning, and Karl Rove

 

Contrary to the headline on this video (and sorry, there's a brief ad that prefaces it), this is not "Julian Assange Attacks Sarah Palin."  A more bullshit blurb could not be written.  It is, however, Julian Assange responding to the calls by people for his assassination.

It comes from this article by Glenn Greenwald on the decision by the UN to investigate the abusive treatment in detention of Bradley Manning.

In another article, Andrew Kreig investigates the possibility that Karl Rove's dirty fingerprints might be involved in the zeal to prosecute Assange as well.

State Budgets: Day of Reckoning?

Saw an interesting report on 60 Minutes the other night about state budgets.  This woman, financial analyst Meredith Whitney, predicts hard times ahead.  But not everyone is so gloomy, including Joe Mysak of Bloomberg news, who thinks her predictions are overreaching.

From 60 Minutes:

Whitney made her reputation by warning that the big banks were in big trouble long before the 2008 collapse. Now, she's warning about a financial meltdown in state and local governments. 

"It has tentacles as wide as anything I've seen. I think next to housing this is the single most important issue in the United States, and certainly the largest threat to the U.S. economy," she told Kroft. 

"There's not a doubt in my mind that you will see a spate of municipal bond defaults," Whitney predicted. 

Asked how many is a "spate," Whitney said, "You could see 50 sizeable defaults. Fifty to 100 sizeable defaults. More. This will amount to hundreds of billions of dollars' worth of defaults." 

From Mysak:

So said banking analyst and new municipal bond expert Meredith Whitney on the “60 Minutes” show on Sunday, in perhaps the boldest, most overreaching call of her career.

There are a lot of reasons to be doubtful about the health of the municipal market right now, as elucidated by “60 Minutes” correspondent Steve Kroft. Tax revenue is down, public pension and health-care liabilities are up, the federal government’s bailout money to the states is running out and the chances that those funds will be replenished are remote.

And yet -- hundreds of billions of dollars in default? The number is in the realm of the fabulous. 

Whitney also has ideas on the housing market and stocks.  Here's another take on housing and the likelihood of foreclosures in the coming year.

The Most Important Free Speech Issue of Our Time by Al Franken

From Al Franken's column in the Huffington Post:

This Tuesday [today] is an important day in the fight to save the Internet.

. . . The good news is that the Federal Communications Commission has the power to issue regulations that protect net neutrality. The bad news is that draft regulations written by FCC Chairman Julius Genachowski don't do that at all. They're worse than nothing.

. . . Although Chairman Genachowski's draft Order has not been made public, early reports make clear that it falls far short of protecting net neutrality.

. . . Here's what's most troubling of all. Chairman Genachowski and President Obama -- who nominated him -- have argued convincingly that they support net neutrality.

But grassroots supporters of net neutrality are beginning to wonder if we've been had. Instead of proposing regulations that would truly protect net neutrality, reports indicate that Chairman Genachowski has been calling the CEOs of major Internet corporations seeking their public endorsement of this draft proposal, which would destroy it.

No chairman should be soliciting sign-off from the corporations that his agency is supposed to regulate -- and no true advocate of a free and open Internet should be seeking the permission of large media conglomerates before issuing new rules . . . .

DHS and Walmart: A Match Made in Heaven

In a perfect melding of the Keystone Kops Meet O'Brien, Janet Napolitano is coming to a Walmart near you.  Her video, urging "If You See Something, Say Something," is rolling out at W emporia all across the country:

The message will be continuously looped on TV monitors at the 588 Walmarts in the U.S.  One can only imagine the hilarity that will ensue when one gun-buying customer doesn't like the looks of another.  But then maybe Napolitano doesn't really know the People of Walmart that well, after all.

"Report suspicious activity to your local police or sheriff.  If you need help, ask a Walmart manager for assistance.”  Ah, yes, ask a manager for assistance!  Next time you get in a tug-of-war with another customer over the last Game Boy in the store, just report that sucker to management for "suspicious activity."

TSA comes to your bus stop: DC Metro adopts random bag search policy

TSA Comes to your bus stop: DC Metro adopts random bag search policy

The security theater once exclusive to America's airports is now playing at a local Metro station.Washington's Metro Transit Police Department(MTPD) on Thursday announced new search policies developed in conjunction with theTransportation Security Administration (TSA). "It is important to know that implementation of random bag inspection is not a reaction to any specific threats toward the Metro system," MTPDChief Michael A. Taborn said in his announcement.

Requiem by Eliza Gilkyson

 

Requiem by Eliza Gilkyson.  Originally written after the Asian tsunami in 2004, it gained wider play after Hurricane Katrina in 2005.  Since then, it's been taken up by choirs all around the country.  Beautiful, heart-stirring music for any time of year.

(H/T David in Tucson)

Happy Belated Birthday, Emily Dickinson

Emily Dickinson was born on December 10, 1830, and alas, I missed commemorating the day.  But I was reminded of it by the great, almost-godlike (in my book, anyway) Garrison Keillor, who did a tribute to the Belle of Amhurst on his show.  Here is one of her most beloved poems:

Hope     

Hope is the thing with feathers 
That perches in the soul, 
And sings the tune--without the words, 
And never stops at all,

And sweetest in the gale is heard; 
And sore must be the storm 
That could abash the little bird 
That kept so many warm.

I've heard it in the chillest land, 
And on the strangest sea; 
Yet, never, in extremity, 
It asked a crumb of me.

The Daily Howler

Okay.  I've been wanting to do this for weeks but didn't quite know the appropriate time.  Maybe it's never an appropriate time, or maybe it always is.  And thus the perfect ambivalence with which to introduce this blog!

Bob Somerby has been writing The Daily Howler for cyber-eons.  Fair disclosure:  he roomed with Al Gore at Harvard.  As I recall, he started howling right about the time people started claiming Gore had said he "invented" the internet.  Somerby knew that claim was bullshit, and he kept saying so.  Anyway, he's firmly on the Left but he's definitely not, as he would put it, tribal.  And that's why I like reading him.

I'll be curious to see the reaction here.  I think y'all will find a lot to love and to hate in Bob's writing, especially this post called "Return of the Teach-In!"  This should be fun.

Rendition, Torture, and WikiLeaks

A story that received plenty of coverage in Germany but not in the U.S., until it was WikiLeaked, is that of a German citizen named Khaled el-Masri who was kidnapped on December 21, 2003, in Macedonia while on vacation.  He was turned over the CIA, who flew him to Afghanistan to be tortured.  For five months.  Then, when his captors realized they had "made a mistake," they simply took him and dumped him out on a road in Albania.

'Here, ya go, buddy.  We've tortured you for five months, and now we're letting you go.  D'you like Albania?  Tough shit.  Be thankful we didn't kill you.'

As you can read in this account in the New York Times, this brutal episode was a point of contention between Germany and the US for a long time, with the US strong-arming the German government not to make a big deal out of it.  Not, in fact, to go after the CIA operatives and prosecute them.  Since Spanish air space was also involved, Spain also sought to prosecute the operatives.  But as litbrit recounted a few days ago, that didn't go anywhere either.

An irony of this hideous story (and who knows how many more like it there are?) is the fact that the US obviously has plenty of muscle to get other governments to do its bidding -- which muscle is exactly what it is now bringing to bear against Julian Assange.  

If this attempted intimidation of Assange were happening under Bush, the left would be up in arms.  But it's happening under Obama.  We should be just as outraged.  So far, though, the cries for Assange's blood are a helluva lot louder than the cries for justice.

"Wankin' Bankers"

(H/T to Blog on the Run)

How Rich Are You? Toby Ord Hazards A Guess

Interesting story from the BBC today on a middle-class bloke in Oxford who's managing to give away gobs of money to charity.  He explains how he does it and has also set up a website of his own that defines in more detail his philosophy and his calculations.  I think many of us struggle to determine which charities are worthy of our donations, which will make the best use of our money with the least administrative cost, whether we're aiding a potentially corrupt operation on the other end, whether we're providing just a drop in the bucket, etc.  In other words, how do we get the biggest bang for our buck and how do we not despair?  

I find his calculator most helpful.  It's quite eye-opening, and even if you've seen one of these before, it's a good reminder of how much we in developed nations really do have in comparison with the rest of the world.

Not On Your Life, Hon

In many ways the charm of living in Charm City is that, at heart, it's a small town.  You get to see politics up close and personal.  You get to see neighborhood battles in action, and to understand how those battles affect the local economy and the local zeitgeist.  

And sometimes, you get to see a tempest in a honpot.

The way Southerners use "y'all," and Pittsburghers use "yoons" and "yins," and lots of other people around the country use their own spicy local locutions, Baltimoreans use "hon."  Not only a waitress but a meter maid and a plumber and a teacher and a nurse and an oyster-shucker at Faidley's and even a cop will often end their address to you with the familiar term of endearment, whether they're endeared to you or not.  They might be pleading, they might be pontificating, they might be greeting, they might be scheming, they might be smiling, they might be looking daggers.  But wherever you go, you will hear yourself called "hon."

Many of us find it charming, and there was even a campaign years ago to have "Welcome to Baltimore, Hon" be the official city motto.  Whatever you think of the little word, it's part of our patrimony.

Enter Denise Whiting.

Espionage Act: How the Government Can Engage in Serious Aggression Against the People of the United States by Naomi Wolf

Ballgame just brought this column by Naomi Wolf to our attention in another thread, but I think it deserves its own post.  Excerpt (bolds mine):

. . . These two Senators, and the rest of the Congressional and White House leadership who are coming forward in support of this appalling development, are cynically counting on Americans' ignorance of their own history -- an ignorance that is stoked and manipulated by those who wish to strip rights and freedoms from the American people. They are manipulatively counting on Americans to have no knowledge or memory of the dark history of the Espionage Act -- a history that should alert us all at once to the fact that this Act has only ever been used -- was designed deliberately to be used -- specifically and viciously to silence people like you and me.

The Espionage Act was crafted in 1917 -- because President Woodrow Wilson wanted a war and, faced with the troublesome First Amendment, wished to criminalize speech critical of his war. In the run-up to World War One, there were many ordinary citizens -- educators, journalists, publishers, civil rights leaders, union activists -- who were speaking out against US involvement in the war. The Espionage Act was used to round these citizens by the thousands for the newly minted 'crime' of their exercising their First Amendment Rights. A movie producer who showed British cruelty in a film about the Revolutionary War (since the British were our allies in World War I) got a ten-year sentence under the Espionage act in 1917, and the film was seized; poet E.E. Cummings spent three and a half months in a military detention camp under the Espionage Act for the 'crime' of saying that he did not hate Germans. Esteemed Judge Learned Hand wrote that the wording of the Espionage Act was so vague that it would threaten the American tradition of freedom itself. Many were held in prison for weeks in brutal conditions without due process; some, in Connecticut -- Lieberman's home state -- were severely beaten while they were held in prison. The arrests and beatings were widely publicized and had a profound effect, terrorizing those who would otherwise speak out.

. . . I call on all American citizens to rise up and insist on repeal of the Espionage Act immediately. We have little time to waste. The Assange assault is theater of a particularly deadly kind, and America will not recover from the use of the Espionage Act as a cudgel to threaten journalists, editors and news outlets with. I call on major funders of Feinstein's and Lieberman's campaigns to put their donations in escrow accounts and notify the staffers of those Senators that the funds willonly be released if they drop their traitorous invocation of the Espionage Act. I call on all Americans to understand once for all: this is not about Julian Assange. This, my fellow citizens, is about you . . . .

Zonolite

No, it's not a new element in the periodic table or something out of Superman comics.  It's a deadly form of insulation that was used in this country in the 1950s and '60s.  According to this news report, it's still hurting people, and the EPA apparently can't be bothered to do something about it.  No surprise that the purveyor involved is the W. R. Grace Company, whose motto -- trademarked, no less -- is "Enriching Lives Everywhere."  You might remember Grace's name from the book A Civil Action by Jonathan Harr, an account of water contamination in Woburn, Massachusetts, and Grace's attempts to cover it up and evade responsibility.  Here's an excerpt from the Zonolite article:

What puzzles so many familiar with the issue is that EPA is refusing to do something without having to pass new laws or spend millions getting the word out. No one expects the government to pick up the costly tab for cleanup, but rather just tell people that their lives may be in danger.

Jennifer Sass, a senior scientist with the National Resources Defense Council, constantly deals with the EPA on public health issues and admits that she's puzzled at the agency shirking its duty to protect the public from environmental harm. 

"There is a nationwide rising sentiment that we don't need government in our lives, but this story proves otherwise. What we need is strong federal regulations to rein in corporate malefactors and to warn the public about harms now, before it's too late to protect our loved ones. Anything less is a deadly game of passing the buck," Sass said. 

And here's a related story from the NYT on the EPA's backing down from implementing tougher emissions standards.

Have Sari Can't Travel: TSA Faces Diplomatic Storm After Indian Ambassador to US Is Given Patdown

Meera Shankar, who dined at the White House just last month, was given one of the controversial searches after she was pulled from an airport security line in Mississippi. Today the Indian embassy in Washington protested to the White House about the incident. External Affairs Minister SM Krishna said: 'This is unacceptable to India.'

It was the second such search for Ambassador Shankar in three months.  Complete story from The Daily Mail here, or if you prefer The Economic Times, here.

Poetry by Liu Xiaobo

Though Liu Xiaobo won't be allowed to travel to Sweden to accept the Nobel Peace Prize (nor will his wife on his behalf), and though he is still imprisoned, his words are flying free:

from “Experiencing Death”

I had imagined being there beneath sunlight
with the procession of martyrs
using just the one thin bone
to uphold a true conviction
And yet, the heavenly void
will not plate the sacrificed in gold
A pack of wolves well-fed full of corpses
celebrate in the warm noon air
aflood with joy

The American Dream