Saturday, July 28, 2007
Assorted news & blog briefs
US demands, Europe agrees to provide, info on whether foreign travelers to US are gay, union members, religious beliefs
by John Aravosis (DC) · 7/28/2007 10:23:00 AM ET
Discuss this post here: Comments (17) · digg it · reddit · FARK ·· Link
And what the hell business is it of the US government whether a foreign visitor is gay, let alone all the other new information they're demanding? And worse, how is this not a violation of EU privacy laws - how in the world did the European governments approve of this?
From the Washington Post:The United States and the European Union have agreed to expand a security program that shares personal data about millions of U.S.-bound airline passengers a year, potentially including information about a person's race, ethnicity, religion and health.
Under the agreement, airlines flying from Europe to the United States are required to provide data related to these matters to U.S. authorities if it exists in their reservation systems. The deal allows Washington to retain and use it only "where the life of a data subject or of others could be imperiled or seriously impaired," such as in a counterterrorism investigation.
According to the deal, the information that can be used in such exceptional circumstances includes "racial or ethnic origin, political opinions, religious or philosophical beliefs, trade union membership" and data about an individual's health, traveling partners and sexual orientation.
And what a surprise, the US is saying that if we only had this kind of information before September 11, we could have prevented the attacks.If available at the time of the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks, Chertoff said, such information would have, "within a matter of moments, helped to identify many of the 19 hijackers by linking their methods of payment, phone numbers and seat assignments."
Uh huh. Had we only known which way Mohammad Atta swung in bed, maybe then George Bush wouldn't have gone on vacation for an entire month after having read a memo entitled "Bin Laden Determined to Strike in US." And in any case, notice how nothing Chertoff is saying has anything to do with your sexual orientation, philosophical beliefs, union status or anything else that is ACTUALLY on the list of info they're requesting.
There is nothing our government won't do, no rights they won't violate. But for Europe to agree to this mess, this incredible violation. It's time for you Europeans to have a little chat with your own governments.
Oh, and let me just say that had we a Congress that actually cared about privacy, perhaps we could have avoided this mess. Just saying.
Under the agreement, airlines flying from Europe to the United States are required to provide data related to these matters to U.S. authorities if it exists in their reservation systems. The deal allows Washington to retain and use it only "where the life of a data subject or of others could be imperiled or seriously impaired," such as in a counterterrorism investigation.
According to the deal, the information that can be used in such exceptional circumstances includes "racial or ethnic origin, political opinions, religious or philosophical beliefs, trade union membership" and data about an individual's health, traveling partners and sexual orientation.
Max Blumenthal: I have never witnessed any spectacle as politically extreme, outrageous, or bizarre as the one Christians United for Israel produced last week in Washington.
Friday, July 27, 2007
Schumer will block any Bush SCOTUS nominee between now and 2009
Schumer will block any Bush SCOTUS nominee between now and 2009:
Sen. Charles Schumer (D-N.Y.) declared that his decision not to lead a successful filibuster in January 2006 of Supreme Court Justice Samuel Alito’s nomination was one of his “greatest failings” as a senator.
In an address to liberal legal scholars of the American Constitution Society, Schumer said that after watching the work of the newly constructed “Roberts court” the past 18 months, he would block any future Supreme Court nominee of President Bush’s should a vacancy arise between now and January 2009.
Schumer’s address covered his views on the confirmation processes for Alito and Chief Justice John Roberts. Conservatives have hailed Roberts and Alito for their rulings and generally have said that their confirmations may prove to be the single lasting legacy of President Bush’s second term.
But Schumer and liberals were alarmed by many of the 5-4 rulings that went against their interests, as well as the strong denunciations of the right wing of the court by the elderly liberal wing in its dissents. The Roberts court overturned previous rulings on partial birth abortion and campaign finance reform.
Sen. Charles Schumer (D-N.Y.) declared that his decision not to lead a successful filibuster in January 2006 of Supreme Court Justice Samuel Alito’s nomination was one of his “greatest failings” as a senator.
In an address to liberal legal scholars of the American Constitution Society, Schumer said that after watching the work of the newly constructed “Roberts court” the past 18 months, he would block any future Supreme Court nominee of President Bush’s should a vacancy arise between now and January 2009.
Schumer’s address covered his views on the confirmation processes for Alito and Chief Justice John Roberts. Conservatives have hailed Roberts and Alito for their rulings and generally have said that their confirmations may prove to be the single lasting legacy of President Bush’s second term.
But Schumer and liberals were alarmed by many of the 5-4 rulings that went against their interests, as well as the strong denunciations of the right wing of the court by the elderly liberal wing in its dissents. The Roberts court overturned previous rulings on partial birth abortion and campaign finance reform.
Some news headlines
White House tackles AG's contradictions
WASHINGTON - The White House labored on Friday to explain how apparently dueling testimony from Attorney General Alberto Gonzales and FBI Director Robert S. Mueller actually was not at odds.
Isn't THIS terrorism?
Thursday, July 26, 2007
Wednesday, July 25, 2007
breaking news ---- it's about time!
2 Bush aides to face contempt citations
By LAURIE KELLMAN, Associated Press Writer 1 hour, 47 minutes ago
WASHINGTON - Heading toward a separation-of-powers showdown, House Democrats prepared contempt of Congress citations against two White House aides who have refused to comply with subpoenas for information on the abrupt firings of federal prosecutors.
The White House has said that Chief of Staff Josh Bolten and former legal counselor Harriet Miers, among other top advisers to President Bush, are absolutely immune from subpoenas because their documents and testimony are protected by executive privilege.
House Judiciary Committee Democrats, led by Rep. John Conyers, D-Mich., reject that claim and have drafted for a vote Wednesday a resolution citing Miers and Bolten with contempt of Congress, a federal misdemeanor punishable by up to a $100,000 fine and a one-year prison sentence.
The panel's vote is the first step on the road to a possible constitutional showdown in federal court.
If history and self-interest are any guide, the two sides will resolve the dispute before then. Neither side wants a judge to settle the question about the limits of executive privilege.
But no deal appeared imminent. White House Counsel Fred Fielding has offered to make top administration officials available for private, off-the-record interviews about the administration's role in the firings. But he has invoked executive privilege and directed Miers, Bolten and the Republican National Committee to withhold almost all relevant documents. Miers did not even appear at a hearing to which she had been summoned, infuriating Democrats.
Democrats rejected Fielding's "take-it-or-leave-it" offer and advised lawyers for Miers and Bolten that they were in danger of being held in contempt of Congress.
If the citation passes the committee and then the full House by simple majorities, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi then would transfer it to the U.S. attorney for the District of Columbia. The man who holds that job, Jeff Taylor, is a Bush appointee. The Bush administration has made clear it would not let a contempt citation be prosecuted because the information and documents sought are protected by executive privilege.
The Justice Department reiterated that position in a letter to Conyers on Tuesday. Brian A. Benczkowski, principal deputy assistant attorney general, cited the department's "long-standing" position, "articulated during administrations of both parties, that the criminal contempt of Congress statute does not apply to the president or presidential subordinates who assert executive privilege."
Benczkowski said it also was the department's view that the same position applies to Miers.
Contempt of Congress is a federal crime, but a sitting president has the authority to commute the sentence or pardon anyone convicted or accuses of any federal crime.
Congress can hold a person in contempt if that person obstructs proceedings or an inquiry by a congressional committee. Congress has used contempt citations for two main reasons: to punish someone for refusing to testify or refusing to provide documents or answers, and for bribing or libeling a member of Congress.
The last time a full chamber of Congress voted on a contempt citation was 1983. The House voted 413-0 to cite former Environmental Protection Agency official Rita Lavelle for contempt of Congress for refusing to appear before a House committee. Lavelle was later acquitted in court of the contempt charge, but she was convicted of perjury in a separate trial.
Saturday, July 21, 2007
Great mural from the men's room wall
(Click to enlarge photo.)
This is just too funny not to share. Description follows.
Men's Restroom Mural
Edge Designs is an all-women run company that designs interior office space. They had a recent opportunity to do an office project in NYC.The client allowed the women of this company a free hand in all design aspects. The client was a company that was also run by all women Execs. The result, well... We all know that men never talk, never look at each other, and never laugh much in the restroom.
The men's room is a serious and quiet place. But now, with the addition of one mural on the wall, lets just say the men's restroom is A place of laughter and smiles now.
Sunday, July 15, 2007
Melting the ice
But wait ----- Aren't there still people in Mississippi who don't have AC and could use that ice?
Betsy
Hurricane Katrina Ice Going Down Drain
GLOUCESTER, Mass. — After nearly two years, thousands of truck miles and $12.5 million in storage costs, a cold relic of the flawed Hurricane Katrina relief effort is going down the drain.
The federal government is getting rid of thousands of pounds of ice it had sent south to help Katrina victims, then north when it determined much of the ice wasn't needed. The Federal Emergency Management Agency had been hanging on to the ice in case it was needed for another disaster, but decided to get rid of it because it couldn't determine whether it was still safe for human consumption.
"We just didn't take any chances," FEMA spokeswoman Alexandra Kirin told the Gloucester Daily Times.
The ice, held at AmeriCold Logistics in Gloucester and at 22 similar facilities nationwide, is being melted. The cost of storing the ice at all the facilities since Katrina is $12.5 million.
The Army Corps of Engineers acknowledged after the August 2005 hurricane that it had ordered too much ice because of faulty estimates by local officials. Truckers received up to $900 a day to move the ice to storage sites around the country.
Gloucester received 118 truckloads of ice that September, but 99 of those were sent to Florida in October 2005 to help with relief efforts after Hurricane Wilma. By November 2005, only four truckloads, weighing between 40,000 and 84,000 pounds each, remained in Gloucester.
FEMA contracts required disposal of the ice three months after purchase, but Kirin said the agency decided to keep the excess ice for the 2006 hurricane season. With fewer storms than expected, the ice was not needed, and the agency decided not to save the ice for the 2007 season.
She added that FEMA tried to donate the ice, but "had no takers."
A Must-Read (must get angry) blog post
A friend forwarded this to me. Appalling!
Send Liberals to "Gas Chambers." ... Astonishing Right-Wing Extremism!
A good investigative journalist, if needed, can hide aboard a cruise full of white supremacists and manage not only to escape without punching someone and thereby blowing their cover, but also get out with one hell of a story. That is exactly what Johann Hari did when he joined the National Review cruise and their motley of hate. The result is breathtaking and incredibly frightening. One has to wonder how Jewish travelers aboard this hate vessel did not recognize the rhetoric and make way directly to the nearest inflatable device.
From the masterful Hari article, I give you The Ship of Fools:
"I am standing waist-deep in the Pacific Ocean, both chilling and burning, indulging in the polite chit-chat beloved by vacationing Americans. A sweet elderly lady from Los Angeles is sitting on the rocks nearby, telling me dreamily about her son. "Is he your only child?" I ask. "Yes," she says. "Do you have a child back in England?" she asks. No, I say. Her face darkens. "You'd better start," she says. "The Muslims are breeding. Soon, they'll have the whole of Europe.""
If you are concerned that the hate constituency hates only Muslims, don't worry, they hate everyone who is unlike them and suggest not so novel ideas for taking care of undesirables (emph mine):
"I am getting used to these moments – when gentle holiday geniality bleeds into... what? I lie on the beach with Hillary-Ann, a chatty, scatty 35-year-old Californian designer. As she explains the perils of Republican dating, my mind drifts, watching the gentle tide. When I hear her say, " Of course, we need to execute some of these people," I wake up. Who do we need to execute? She runs her fingers through the sand lazily. "A few of these prominent liberals who are trying to demoralise the country," she says. "Just take a couple of these anti-war people off to the gas chamber for treason to show, if you try to bring down America at a time of war, that's what you'll get." She squints at the sun and smiles. " Then things'll change.""
The gas chamber, eh? Executions for fellow citizens? Is that where we are now?
"I am travelling on a bright white cruise ship with two restaurants, five bars, a casino – and 500 readers of the National Review. Here, the Iraq war has been "an amazing success". Global warming is not happening. The solitary black person claims, "If the Ku Klux Klan supports equal rights, then God bless them." And I have nowhere to run."
You can assume that some of the 500 of the floating confederacy included American right wing hate stars who will soon no doubt have their talking points ready to put at arms length the few bad apples among them. But that won't fly, not when books written by white supremacist Ann Coulter advocating for terrorist attacks against US citizens are flying off book shelves.
But what is really striking is that there are Jews in this Neo-Nazi filth and that there are blacks counted among these racists and that there are Americans among these imperialists. Obviously hate is more compelling than one's own citizens, religious and ethnic background, or the cruel lessons of history.
"To my left, I find a middle-aged Floridian with a neat beard. To my right are two elderly New Yorkers who look and sound like late-era Dorothy Parkers, minus the alcohol poisoning. They live on Park Avenue, they explain in precise Northern tones. "You must live near the UN building," the Floridian says to one of the New York ladies after the entree is served. Yes, she responds, shaking her head wearily. "They should suicide-bomb that place," he says. They all chuckle gently. How did that happen? How do you go from sweet to suicide-bomb in six seconds?"
From Ann Coulter's rotted out brain to the lips of a Park Avenue society lady. No difference, a monster is a monster.
"There is something strange about this discussion, and it takes me a few moments to realise exactly what it is. All the tropes that conservatives usually deny in public – that Iraq is another Vietnam, that Bush is fighting a class war on behalf of the rich – are embraced on this shining ship in the middle of the ocean. Yes, they concede, we are fighting another Vietnam; and this time we won't let the weak-kneed liberals lose it. "It's customary to say we lost the Vietnam war, but who's 'we'?" the writer Dinesh D'Souza asks angrily. "The left won by demanding America's humiliation." On this ship, there are no Viet Cong, no three million dead. There is only liberal treachery. Yes, D'Souza says, in a swift shift to domestic politics, "of course" Republican politics is "about class. Republicans are the party of winners, Democrats are the party of losers.""
Friday, July 13, 2007
A Profile in Cowardice
Where are the rest of the repug cowards?
Ricardo Thomas / The Detroit News
U.S. Rep. Tom Tancredo, R-Col., is the sole Republican candidate to address the NAACP convention. He was flanked by lecterns with placards for nine other GOP candidates -- all no-shows.
(from http://info.detnews.com/pix/photogalleries/newsgallery/12072007_prescandidates/index12.htm)
Wednesday, July 11, 2007
My gift to congressional democrats
Would you like me to recommend a surgeon who can help with the installation?
Tuesday, July 10, 2007
Girl students in Afghanistan
I run a program for high school immigrants and refugees. Five years ago we had our first student with almost no formal schooling. (We now have 8-10 at any given time.) This first girl was a 16 yr old from Afghanistan who had been taught to read and write using a stick in the dirt, where the letters and words could easily be erased if Taliban came. She was then in some sort of British-run or NATO-run school for older girls, perhaps peace-corps or something of the sort. (All the girls were members of families that were leaving Afghanistan.) She came to Texas a year after that and was my student for a year. Amazing thirst for knowledge. Amazing young lady.
At the time, we were all excited about the new horizons and new possibilities opening up for these girls in their own country. I cry to read stories like this.
As War Enters Classrooms, Fear Grips Afghans
Joao Silva for The New York Times
Children entering class for an exam Monday at the Qalai Sayedan School in Logar Province, Afghanistan.
QALAI SAYEDAN, Afghanistan, July 9 — With their teacher absent, 10 students were allowed to leave school early. These were the girls the gunmen saw first, 10 easy targets walking hand-in-hand through the blue metal gate and on to the winding dirt road.
The staccato of machine-gun fire pelted through the stillness. A 13-year-old named Shukria was hit in the arm and the back, and then teetered into the soft brown of an adjacent wheat field. Zarmina, her 12-year-old sister, ran to her side, listening to the wounded girl’s precious breath and trying to help her stand.
But Shukria was too heavy to lift, and the two gunmen, sitting astride a single motorbike, sped closer.
As Zarmina scurried away, the men took a more studied aim at those they already had shot, killing Shukria with bullets to her stomach and heart. Then the attackers seemed to succumb to the frenzy they had begun, forsaking the motorbike and fleeing on foot in a panic, two bobbing heads — one tucked into a helmet, the other swaddled by a handkerchief — vanishing amid the earthen color of the wheat.
Six students were shot here on the afternoon of June 12, two of them fatally. The Qalai Sayedan School — considered among the very best in the central Afghan province of Logar — reopened only last weekend, but even with Kalashnikov-toting guards at the gate, only a quarter of the 1,600 students have dared to return.
Shootings, beheadings, burnings and bombings: these are all tools of intimidation used by the Taliban and others to shut down hundreds of Afghanistan’s public schools. To take aim at education is to make war on the government.
Parents are left with peculiar choices. “It is better for my children to be alive even if it means they must be illiterate,” said Sayed Rasul, a father who had decided to keep his two daughters at home for a day.
Afghanistan surely has made some progress toward development, but most often the nation seems astride some pitiable rocking horse, with each lurch forward inevitably reversed by the backward spring of harsh reality.
The schools are one vivid example. The Ministry of Education claims that 6.2 million children are now enrolled, or about half the school-age population. And while statistics in Afghanistan can be unreliably confected, there is no doubt that attendance has multiplied far beyond that of any earlier time, with uniformed children now teeming through the streets each day, flooding classrooms in two and three shifts.
A third of these students are girls, a marvel itself. Historically, girls’ education has been undervalued in Afghan culture. Girls and women were forbidden from school altogether during the Taliban rule.
But after 30 years of war, this is a country without normal times to reclaim; in so many ways, Afghanistan must start from scratch. The accelerating demand for education is mocked by the limited supply. More than half the schools have no buildings, according to the Ministry of Education; classes are commonly held in tents or beneath trees or in the brutal, sun-soaked openness.
Only 20 percent of the teachers are even minimally qualified. Texts are outdated; hundreds of titles need to be written, and millions of books need to be printed. And then there is the violence. In the southern provinces where the Taliban are most aggressively combating American and NATO troops, education has virtually come to a halt in large swaths of the contested regions. In other areas, attacks against schools are sporadic, unpredictable and perplexing.
By the ministry’s estimate, there have been 444 attacks since last August. Some of these were simple thefts. Some were instances of tents put to the torch. Some were audacious murders under the noon sun.
“By attacking schools, the terrorists want to make the point of their own existence,” said Mohammad Hanif Atmar, the minister of education.
(more)
Monday, July 9, 2007
Saturday, July 7, 2007
Organic Food really IS better
From the BBC:
Organic fruit and vegetables may be better for you than conventionally grown crops, US research suggests.
Organic food 'better' for heart
 Tomatoes contain compounds which are good for the heart |
A ten-year study comparing organic tomatoes with standard produce found almost double the level of flavonoids - a type of antioxidant.
Flavonoids have been shown to reduce high blood pressure, lowering the risk of heart disease and stroke.
Writing in the Journal of Agricultural and Food Chemistry, the team said nitrogen in the soil may be the key.
Dr Alyson Mitchell, a food chemist at the University of California, and colleagues measured the amount of two flavonoids - quercetin and kaempferol - in dried tomato samples that had been collected as part of a long-term study on agricultural methods.
These findings also confirm recent European research, which showed that organic tomatoes, peaches and processed apples all have higher nutritional quality than non-organic 
Peter Melchett, Soil Association
They found that on average they were 79% and 97% higher respectively in the organic tomatoes than in the conventionally grown fruit.
New Scientist magazine reported that the different levels of flavonoids in tomatoes are probably due to the absence of fertilisers in organic farming.
Flavonoids are produced as a defence mechanism that can be triggered by nutrient deficiency, such as a lack of nitrogen in the soil.
The inorganic nitrogen in conventional fertiliser is easily available to plants and so, the researchers suggests, the lower levels of flavonoids are probably caused by over-fertilisation.
Conflicting evidence
Flavonoids have also been linked with reduced rates of some types of cancer and dementia.
The Food Standards Agency says there is some evidence that flavonoids can help to reduce the risk of cardiovascular disease and they are currently carrying out a study to look at the health benefits in more detail.
However, a spokesperson said there was no evidence that organic food was healthier.
"Our long-standing advice on organic food is there can be some nutrient differences but it doesn't mean it's necessarily better for you."
For example, a recent study found that organic milk had higher levels of omega-3 fatty acids, but the FSA points out that these short-chain fatty acids do not seem to have the health promoting benefits offered by long-chain omega-3 oils found in oily fish.
Peter Melchett, Soil Association policy director said: "We welcome the now rapidly growing body of evidence which shows significant differences between the nutritional composition of organic and non-organic food.
"This is the second recent American study to find significant differences between organic and non-organic fruit.
"These findings also confirm recent European research, which showed that organic tomatoes, peaches and processed apples all have higher nutritional quality than non-organic."
"As further scientific evidence emerges from new research looking at differences between organic and non-organic food, the Soil Association will be asking the FSA to keep their nutritional advice to consumers under review."
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
A nonpublic report from the Department of Veterans Affairs sent to the Government Accountability Office says that 52,375 veterans who fought in Iraq or Afghanistan, and are now home, have been treated or evaluated for PTSD by the department.
The military provides some healthcare for wounded soldiers. Once they are out of the military, that job falls to the VA, the agency also responsible for handing out disability payments, if needed. That 52,375 number represents only patients seen by the VA and excludes an unknown number of soldiers diagnosed as having PTSD by the military. It also excludes another unknown number of soldiers who suffer from PTSD but have not yet been diagnosed by the military or the VA.
The document was obtained through the Freedom of Information Act by Veterans for Common Sense. That organization has also obtained a VA document showing that only 19,015 of those 52,375 veterans are receiving disability payments, suggesting a problem getting payments to those who deserve it. Paul Sullivan, executive director of Veterans for Common Sense, says, "This is of great concern to us."