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 Saturday, May 1, 2004
A vey good article about the pros and cons of fighting terrorism and maintaining a democracy. Although I beleive it was written before the current torture revalations, it has some prescient observations. Here is one very good comment:An outright ban on torture, rather than an attempt to regulate it, seems the only way a democracy can keep true to its ideal of respecting the dignity even of its enemies. For that is what the rule of law commits us to: to show respect even to those who show no respect for us.(my emphasis)
Or this: Torture will thrive wherever detainees are held in secret. Conduct disgracing the United States is inevitable if suspects are detained beyond the reach of the law.
or my favorite: On all fronts, keeping a war on terror under democratic scrutiny is critical to its operational success. A lesser-evil approach permits preventive detention, where subject to judicial review; coercive interrogation, where subject to executive control; pre-emptive strikes and assassination, where these serve publicly defensible strategic goals. But everything has to be subject to critical review by a free people: free debate, public discussion, Congressional review, in camera if need be, judicial review as a last resort. The war needs to be less secretive, not more. We need to know more about it, not less, even if what we learn is hard. If it comes to it, we need to know, every time we fly, that in case of a hijacking, the president has authorized our pilots to shoot us down if a crash risks killing still more people. In a war on terror, painful truth is far better than lies and illusions.
And the final paragraph: he chief ethical challenge of a war on terror is relatively simple -- to discharge duties to those who have violated their duties to us. Even terrorists, unfortunately, have human rights. We have to respect these because we are fighting a war whose essential prize is preserving the identity of democratic society and preventing it from becoming what terrorists believe it to be. Terrorists seek to provoke us into stripping off the mask of law in order to reveal the black heart of coercion that they believe lurks behind our promises of freedom. We have to show ourselves and the populations whose loyalties we seek that the rule of law is not a mask or an illusion. It is our true nature.
Unfortunately, the black heart of coercian is now out in the open. This administration, along with Congress, has traveled a long way into the logic of terrorism. As Jefferson said: Timid men prefer the calm of despotism to the boisterous sea of liberty.
UPDATEFound another appropriate Jefferson quote: It is more dangerous that even a guilty person should be punished without the forms of law than that he should escape.
'Without the forms of law', something this administration relishes. those arn activist judges. What happens if the Supreme Court says the administration can not detain US citizens in violation of their Constitutional rights and the administration says "so what? try and stop me. I've moved them to Gitmo." Let's have a nice Constitutional crisis on our hands. How would we make them do this is the 'forms of law do not matter?' People in this administration have shown before their disgust for the 'forms of law' (i.e. Iran-Contra). We shall see. 11:28:28 PM 
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Hersh: Sadistic Torture at Abu Ghraib. Don't miss this new New Yorker article by Seymour Hersh on the sadistic torture of Iraqi prisoners at Abu Ghraid prison: A fifty-three-page report, obtained by The New Yorker, written by Major General Antonio M. Taguba and not meant for... [TalkLeft: The Politics of Crime]
Go read the entire report from The New Yorker. They have gotten the entire 53 page report. It is actually worse than the pictures we have seen. There is no way this was done without someone higher up knowing, someone in military intelligence. And, besides CI, there were interrogation specialists from private defense contractors. Great. Now we privatize our torturers. I wonder how much they got paid to torture these prisoners?
Two days after Bush said 'there are no longer torture chambers or rape rooms' we find out that they still are there. In the same prison where Saddam had them. Only WE were the ones running them. It was part of our approach to interrogation. We did similar in Afghanistan. Who doubts we are doing similar in Gitmo? 10:59:05 PM
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Well, at least for one day Imperialism has lost. Maybe this will be true for a few more months. 10:43:10 PM
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FDA OKs Enbrel to treat psoriasis; Amgen sees potential for a huge market. Seattle Times May 1 2004 8:13AM GMT [Moreover - moreover...]
I worked on this when I was at Immunex and I am not surprised it got approval. I am surprised that it is still only getting to 100,000 patients. This is what we figured it would get to before we every had approval because of manufacturing constrictions but there should be greater capacity to make Enbrel now. Upwards of 200,000 yearly doses should be in order. Wonder why it is not higher? 10:39:16 PM
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Iraqi prisoners and war crimes
. It's no great surprise that the rest of the world is outraged over the mistreatment of Iraqi prisoners by American and British interrogators.
Moreover, it shouldn't be a surprise that it has happened. After all, it's happened before in this "war on ter [Orcinus]
As discussed over a year ago, mistreatment and torture of prisoners by Americans is not a new thing and was going on in Afghanistan. The fact that they signed into law ' an act to protect Americans from being prosecuted by international courts for war crimes' means that little is likely to happen. These are the same guys that got away with Iran-Contra, that ignored the will of Congress and the American people for their own political ends, that almost had their own private army, funded without any Congressional oversight. Why in the world would they really be worried about getting in trouble over some tortured prisoners in Afghanistan, Iraq and Gitmo? 10:35:53 PM
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Sunny days in California. "They broke the law. Their conduct was absolutely reprehensible. Their conduct should never be tolerated from anyone doing business again with the state of California." -- Kevin Shelley Yesterday Kevin Shelley, California's Secretary of State, banned four counties from using... [Body and Soul]
Diebold deserves it. Letting a for-profit company that was not properly supervised run our elections is downright scary. Letting one whose president is a big backer for Bush, who told a group of people that he was going to elect Bush this year, is a horrible thing to do. Let's hope more states take heed of California's Secretary of State and not the LA county's registrar of voters.
The other interesting fact is that felons are not allowed to vote but their presence is included to determine political representation. Talk about not being represented. 10:28:16 PM
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The gospel truth from my favorite heathen. Atrios, who is one of my favorite heathens*, has an uncharacteristically long post up that I want to shout approval of, and then look at from a slightly different angle. He describes, and quotes at length from, an NPR report... [Body and Soul]
A nice discussion, with come good quotes from the National Catholic Reporter, about the farce that is the discussion on whether Kerry is a good Catholic. Don't we have better things to do than cater to the whims of the RNC, Karl Rove and their talking points? How in the world can debating who is a good Catholic accomplish anything in this election? It is as pointless and spurious as what Kerry threw over the fence 30 years ago (Hey, George. How about your medals?). They are all things this Administration wants us to discuss rather than anything real. Bread and circuses (Do you think anyone REALLY cares about Michael Jackson? If the key question of this campaign is who can be the better theocrat, than democracy is the US is well into its decline. I wonder what date history will point to? I think Vietnam, the Tonkin resolution, will be the point. This is when the imperial Presidency was able to really get around the Constitution, to declare war without the real approval of Congress. Since then, every President has felt that he could to anything with out the need to consult Congress or even wait for them. So, we are now fighting a war that Congress never declared. The President can abuse the rights of citizens without regard to the Bill of Rights. He can ignore the will of Congress anytime he choses. He can withhold information from Congress anytime he choses. He can refuse to spend money that Congress wishes spent anytime he choses. He can declassify information for his own political needs anytime he choses. He can alter the Endangered Species Act anytime he choses.
What happens when the President declares martial law and suspends elections, just until stability is restored? If you want to get your tin foil hats on, how about the fact that Congress is now approving a plan for succession in the House if there is a catastrophe. After the Speaker declares a state of emergency, we would have elections in 45 days.
Of course, our government could not pass anything during those 45 days, because there is no House of Representatives. see, the Senators can be appointed by a governor until an election is held. But not now for the House,
So, after a catastrophic attack, one that kills many in the House, we are to somehow get everything together to have mass elections in 45 days. Who will run things for those 45 days? Somehow I figure an imperial Presidency will. Who better to grab power during such a horrible time than a centralized power? More and more those passengers look like patriots. If that plane had hit the Capital and killed enough representatives, we might no longer be living in any semblance of a Democracy. 10:18:34 PM
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Cheney's Fortuitous Timing [BOPnews]
The last few lines say it all about a chickenhawk. Of the American involvement in Vietnam, Dick Cheney was asked: "Was it a noble cause?
His answer: "Yes, indeed, I think it was."
Just not for him . . .
And he has the gall to criticize a man who volunteered to go and the asked for more dangerous duty on his SECOND tour!! Clinton was marginalized by conservatives for being a Rhodes Scholar. Here is Cheney who had 5 deferments. Yet he is the one who, more than anyone, drove us to war in Iraq, to over 500 Americans and 10,000 Iraqi's dead, to the torture of prisoners and the beating of detainees. This administration is the embodiment of the 'old men sending young men off to die.' And NONE of these old men ever saw combat, ever had to kill or be killed, were ever pt in a position where they had to do unthinkable things to survive. Hypocrites. 9:44:49 PM
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Looks like the Coalition of the Willing liked to follow the leader. At least 7 prisoners have died while in British cutody and there are now pictures of them abusing an Iraqi. (Apparently American media are not showing the British pictures.) And, as with our military, the British have been trying to keep it under cover. It appears that some people with some balls are leaking the appropriate documents so that the people of the Western democracies can actually find out what is being done in their names. We have a lot of cleaning up to do. At least we seem to be moving a little faster than the British, who have investigating some of these things for over a year. 9:32:01 PM
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Great. Military intelligence had that part of the prison under control but asked reservists to get the prisoners ready had had some 'suggestions.' And it looks like the reservists will be hung out to dry and those who were probably responsible for much more will simply get off. the argument would be that it would hamper national security to go after the CIA spooks. This administration will reveal covert CIA agents for its own political needs but I will be incredibly surprised if the names of these agents gets out. And who did more to harm the US? Valerie Plame or these bozos? Well, I am sure the administration knows their answer but national security and this administration's aims are not really the same thing.
And, by the way, apparently American and British citizens were held at the same prison for interrogation, by military intelligence. So we may very well have been torturing our own citizens.Nice. 9:01:24 PM
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Okay, I am tired from being outraged. I'm off to enjoy the wonderful weaher here.
11:44:02 AM
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Salmon and Bushamentalism
. It seems that, as we count down to the 2004 election, the Bush administration is almost counting on outrage fatigue: Erecting one insane policy after another in such an endless stream that, after awhile, the citizens aware enough to be outraged by it all [Orcinus]
Well, I expect that it will only be the Republicans who will suffer outrage fatigue, which thaey will manifest by ignoring anything that could make them outraged. That is simple human nature. If some fact would pierce the bubble of ignorance, simply refuse to see it.
So, wild salmon are no longer endangeered because we will caought man-made, hatchery salmon. Wow, does this mean we can move other endangered species off this list by counting all those in zoos? Of course, the fact that hatchery salmon are not as fit as wild, that they come from a much narrower gene pool and are more susceptible to crashes should not enter into the thinking of certain people. That would be inconvenient, so just ignore it. 11:40:01 AM
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Hold That Stretch: Warm-Up Is Challenged. Stretching before exercise is routine for many recreational and professional athletes. But researchers have grown increasingly skeptical about its merits. By Lorraine Kreahling. [New York Times: Science]
I have almost always warmed up before stretching, so this is nice to hear. The major 'pull' I have alays been prone to is a groin, usually due to some inflexibility in my hip. So I have learned a few stretches to help flexibility here and have really had no problem with it in 25 years. 11:33:27 AM
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Damn!. This is deeply, horribly wrong: The Rev. Thomas P. Doyle, the most ardent champion of priestly sex abuse victims among Americaâo[dot accent]s Roman Catholic clergy, has been fired by his archbishop and is currently forbidden to lead public Masses. Doyle said... [Body and Soul]
Try to get the Church from hiding pedophile priests, allowing them to hurt again, and this is what you get. The organization inside the Church that was responsible for helping victim's of sexual abuse has recently been disbanded. This priest, who has worked hard for victim's of the Catholic Church's policy, is sh*t-canned months before retirement.
It is not enough now that a Catholic must be against abortion. They must be against everyone else's access to abortion (well,a ctually, only ONE Catholic politician. There are scores of others, in BOTH parties, who hold exactly the same viewpoint. They are not being forbidden sacraments because of their stands. That is why this latest push is purely political and in indication that many in the Church authority are playing a political game, not a religious one.) This is the apparent policy for Catholic politicians. But, even though the Church opposes the death penalty, Catholic politicians seem to be free to kill as many as they want.
The Catholic Church seems to be picking and choosing just who to condemn and under which rule even more than the so-called 'cafeteria' Catholics it denigrates. A quick search of Google news gives over 2000 links for 'Iraq torture' at least 1000 of them within the last 2 days. Add 'Catholic' and they all disappear. How long will it take for them to condemn these acts? If the Church wants to be led into the political arena to make partisan attacks on one politician, it had better make sure that the side it chooses will not bring it further disrepute. 11:28:27 AM
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"Contractors". The Guardian has more details about the abuse of prisoners at Abu Ghraib, especially highlighting the role of private contractors. It's worse than I imagined this morning: A military report into the Abu Ghraib case - parts of which were... [Body and Soul]
Humm. A civilian contractor accused of rape. Sounds like an out of control situation. But what I find very interesting is that many media outlets have not been able to show any pictures because CBS holds the copyright. The Seattle Times een said it is unable to get ahold of the pictures. CBS even said it did not broadcast the information for some time because the government asked it not to. If Ted Koppel reading the names of the soldiers killed in Iraq is contrary to the public interest, as the owner of several ABC stations said, then this must be a real bombshell. I onder if any of the Sinclair stations have discussed these pictures? 11:00:56 AM
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"This is not an isolated incident". Amnesty International on the abuse of prisoners at Abu Ghraib: "Our extensive research in Iraq suggests that this is not an isolated incident. It is not enough for the USA to react only once images have hit the television screens".... [Body and Soul]
So many Americans are discusted by this but we will see 2 different responses. One group will demand things be done to fix it. The other group will gradually disengage itself from thinking about Iraq at all. It will find things to distract itself from the interference caused by seeing these pictures and its image of America. This group will turn its focus on Michael Jackson, the economy, cars anything but Iraq. By election, it will have itself convinced that everything is fine. because this is a group that spends its time making sure bad things do not intrude on uts world. It is the group of people who move to a gated community, who make sure outsiders are removed. It will ignore the horrible damage this sort of thing does to our interests abroad. It will ignore how this makes the owrk our soldiers do much, much harder. It will wonder why so many people dislike us. Because this group sits in its chair, puts its fingers in its ears and sing 'la-la-la.' The future success of the Amewrican Dream depends on which group wins the White House in November. 10:54:31 AM
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Mistakes Reported in Drug-Cost Comparisons. The New York Times reports that a new website put up by the Bush administration has errors.
"Tommy G. Thompson, the secretary of health and human services, had said the Web site would shine a light on some of the biggest secrets in the health care industry, allowing Medicare beneficiaries to penetrate the mysteries of drug pricing.
But companies offering the cards said the government and its contractor had posted inaccurate data." [LISNews.com]
Why am i not surprised that a major government site that is suposed to help people is riddled with errors. Truth is not something this Administration values highly. Winning at all costs is something they do value. Turning everything into a zero sum game is something they value. But not truth. 10:46:06 AM
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The Republic Used to Be So Fun [BOPnews]
The US media is hardly touching this at all. There are many sources saying that civilian 'contractors' were advising these soldiers on how to soften up the prisoners. Heck, let's call them mercs. These mercs are outside military law and, apparently, can not be touched. They were the ones telling the soldiers what to do because an out of touch command structure allowed them to. I hope that the courts martials bring this up but I doubt it. These will not so much be trials to get at the truth as they will be to protect that military's image. My Lai was an isolated incident, until 30 years later when a small mewspaper writes about the atrocities of the Tiger Force.
The only way we can get back any semblance of respect is if we do more than simply try the individual soldiers. These sorts of things do not get out of hand unless they are countenanced by higher ups. Everyone of these people must be publically repudiated and not simply given administration punishments. Some big heads must roll on this. 10:41:11 AM
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