Propaganda Pundits

The Free Presss Action Fund has a video and petition up regarding the Pentagon program to embed trained propagandists in the news media. Won't you take a look and sign your name if you believe in a free press?

Yes, It's Me. Sorry.

Oh noz! I've been found out! I've been discovered!!!

Thanks, Marty. Thanks a whole hell of a lot.

Voter ID: Turning The Tables

So Diana Ross & the Supremes have ruled in favor of states requiring ID to vote, succumbing to a phony, ginned-up GOP complaint of widespread "voter fraud" throughout the nation, which is really just another Republican ploy to disenfranchise voters who tend to skew Democratic. However, there appears to be an upside to this -- frequent contributor aimai at If I Ran the Zoo has what I think is a brilliant idea about how to turn this into a positive for progressives.

The problem with voter registration as it is usually done is that its all rather loose. You set up a stand and get people to register but you often don't really connect with the voter, get their address, or serve as a conduit for them to other services they need. We should take a leaf out of the old Party Machine and score a propaganda coup by going into poor, minority, or elderly housing and explaining to them that the Republicans want to prevent them from voting. Every registered Dem should get a call informing them that Republicans may try to steal their vote by challenging their identity when they vote. We should ask as many voters as possible if they have extra forms of ID? If they don't, as a party we should try to help people get ID. It could be a really solidarity creating moment. I'd about ten times rather get a call from the Dem. party offering to help me vote than Iwould getting a call from an individual party trying to ascertain whether I'm a 1,2 or 3 for their candidate.

Makes sense to me.

Puking For Jesus

If you haven't already seen this, you need to check it out: Matt Taibbi of Rolling Stone spends a weekend at an evangelical Christian retreat, and holy hell, is it vomit-inducing. Not to mention funny.

Clown shoes! Oh, my.

(Big h/t to my good friend nash for the link.)

Whose Opening Line Is It Anyway: What Is This, Rent An Audience?

I'm going to go out on a limb here and guess that, with one or two possible exceptions, most of you won't get these lines or the theme this week. Of course, I could be completely wrong about that -- and often am -- but it's up to you to show me that I am. So go on, give it a go.

1. Have to get back, have to get back the base. I need to talk to somebody I can trust.
2. I'm kicking off from centre field, a question of being down for the game.
3. We were born before the wind, also younger than the sun. Ere the bonnie boat was won...
4. How can you stand the silence that pervades when we all cry, how can you watch the violence that erupts before your eyes?
5. Chamois cleaning all the windows, singing songs about Edith Piaf's soul, and I hear blue strains of "no regredior" across the street from cathedral Notre Dame.
6. You can take all the tea in China, put it in a big brown bag for me...
7. Look at the ivy on the cold clinging wall, look at the flowers and the green grass so tall.
8. And I will stroll the merry way and jump the hedges first, and I will drink the clear clean water for to quench my thirst.
9. Don't want to discuss it, think it's time for a change. You may get disgusted, start thinkin' that I'm strange.
10. Oh, the smell of the bakery from across the street got in my nose, as we carried our ladders down the street with the wrought-iron gate rows.

**Bonus** Go for a ride in the still of the night and the morning brings forth all this wonderful delight...

Check in Friday to see what you missed.

The Blogging Is Random And Flickring

"Ar-ar-ar... Yeah, yeah, laugh all you want, Chester. Are YOU married to Heidi Klum? Didn't think so."

"Sure, I can feel it, I just don't know that it's really affecting my creativity any... Whoa, hey, look at this -- I can catch my hand!"

Ralph had everyone thoroughly entertained right up until that unfortunate "vomiting in the bowl full of vertigo" moment.

Desperate Housewitches Gone Wild.

Dick Cheney's heart, fig. 1. 6000x magnification.

(Original images, #5063, posted here, here, here, here and here. Random Flickr Blogging explained for those of you who are late to the party by Tom Hilton here.)

Rush's Dream

The noted chickenhawk and Oxycontin-fueled dirigible of the fascisti known to Americans as Rush Limbaugh is dreaming of riots at the Denver Democratic convention in August, and encouraging his readers to make it happen. He says he fondly remembers the chaos in Chicago in 1968 (and well he should, since that was actually a police riot in which members of Chicago's Finest broke the skulls of dozens of dirty fucking hippies), and would like to see that sort of thing repeated this summer in Colorado. His logic, twisted as it is, is that riots at the convention will prevent a Democrat from being elected president; which, to his way of thinking, would be the absolute worst thing that could possibly happen to this country, worse than a dozen Pearl Harbors and 9/11s combined.

Is he committing a crime by inciting his listeners to riot? I'm not a legal expert, so I can't say. But it does seem like he's coming very close to that, at the least. And does anyone doubt for a minute that if Rachel Maddow or Randi Rhodes or some other liberal radio commentator were advocating violence at the Republican convention that there would be thousands of conservatives immediately up in arms about the message, with calls for prosecution and investigation by various state and federal attorneys general and the Secret Service? Of course, as so many have pointed out, IOKIYAR. I mean, what are the odds of Michael Mukasey going after Rush? Hey, stop laughing, that was a semi-serious question.

Once again, the canard that "both sides are the same, both sides are equally nasty" gets exposed as the bullshit it is. No one on the left -- especially no one with the standing and audience that Pilonidal Cyst Limbaugh has -- is calling for riots at the Republican convention.

For more on the subject, check out Steve D's post at the Booman Tribune or Richard Blair at the All Spin Zone. And a big tip of the Generik Brand cap to the invaluable Avedon Carol at The Sideshow.

Answers Like A Girl

See, this isn’t so hard, is it? Pretty good showing this week – our good friend Eric B ran right through 1-10 like a hot flash through a middle-aged woman, only to slam up against the wall of the bonus line (which, to be fair, stumped everyone). But all of you seemed to know at least a few. The theme, of course, is that these are all songs that are sung by women in front of bands. What I liked about this theme is that not all of the bands have had exclusively female singers – for instance, the Jefferson Airplane, the B-52’s and especially the Velvet Underground often (or mainly, in the case of VU) featured a male voice for their songs. Anyway, here are the answers:

1. Bind me tie me, chain me to the wall, I wanna be a slave to you all. Oh Bondage, Up Yours!; X-Ray Spex

2. Things are feeling thin, well, I know, I know. Lost my seat again, well, I’ll go, I’ll go. Pin; Yeah Yeah Yeahs

3. The mid-twenty joys around a heart that’s black and blue… Tattooed Love Boys; Pretenders

4. And what costume shall the poor girl wear… All Tomorrow’s Parties; Velvet Underground w/Nico

5. Harmful elements in the air, symbols clashing everywhere Hong Kong Garden; Siouxsie & The Banshees

6. I was good, I could talk a mile a minute on this caffeine buzz I was on, we were really hummin’… Deadbeat Club; B-52’s

7. When the truth is found to be lies, and all the joy within you dies… Somebody To Love; Jefferson Airplane

8. When the world, it shows me up, my clothes, they show me up, I never knew this before. My Finest Hour; Sundays

9. The young boy without a name, anywhere I’d know his face, in this city the kid’s my favorite… What’s The Matter Here; 10,000 Maniacs

10. Spitting in a wishing well, blown to hell… crash. I’m the last splash. Cannonball; The Breeders

**Bonus** You’re upset because your TV is on the blink. Now you have to watch in the living room, life is rough. What You Have Is Enough; Voice Of The Beehive

I’ll see if I can’t scare up another one of these next week. As always, thanks for playing!

Support The Troops, Not McCain

A message from VoteVets.org:

Dear VoteVets.org Supporter,

We need your help. This week, Senators John McCain, Lindsey Graham, and Richard Burr offered a watered-down substitute to the 21^st Century GI Bill, which was introduced by Senators Jim Webb and Chuck Hagel.

We need you to write to your Senators telling them that the McCain bill is unacceptable.

CLICK HERE TO WRITE TO YOUR SENATOR

The Post 9/11 Veterans Educational Assistance Act (S.22), the Webb-Hagel bill that we support, now has 57 supporters in the Senate, from both sides of the aisle. With three more supporters, this bill would be filibuster-proof, and guaranteed to get to the President's desk. Senator McCain's bill could split the Senate, undermining the common-sense legislation that Senators Webb and Hagel offered. In doing so, it also undermines America's veterans.

Here's how.

1) The McCain-Graham-Burr legislation creates a flat education benefit, not taking into account the cost of state colleges where veterans live. This would mean veterans in states where the cost of education is higher than the benefit would have go to into debt to get an education, or uproot themselves and their families to move to a place where the benefit would cover college. In many cases, the McCain bill won't even cover half the cost of college. The Webb-Hagel Bill determines the education benefit based on the highest state college tuition in a veterans' home state, allowing veterans to come home and attend college, without upheaval in their lives.

2) The McCain-Graham-Burr legislation creates second-class veterans, by offering those who serve in the military for 12 years the chance to transfer their education benefits to their children. This says to a veteran who serves for two years and loses both of his legs in combat that his service isn't as valuable as someone who has served for longer.

3) The McCain-Graham-Burr legislation leaves the National Guard and Reserve out in the cold. In the current conflicts, the National Guard and Reserve have served faithfully alongside their active duty compatriots, and deserve equal benefits. Yet, the McCain bill does nothing to reward our Guard and Reservists for their cumulative service. Under the McCain bill, over 160,000 members of the Guard and Reserves who have done more than one tour in Iraq or Afghanistan would get no credit towards an education for their additional sacrifice.

WRITE TO YOUR SENATORS, TELLING THEM THE MCCAIN BILL IS UNACCEPTABLE

A fair education benefit is a sacred promise made to America's military after World War II. That promise has been allowed to become outdated and tarnished. Only the Webb-Hagel bill will restore its luster. And, for that reason, it is the only acceptable bill to America's veterans. Any Senator who joins Senator McCain on his bill does not support our veterans, and it is important that you let your Senator know that, right away.

Thank you for your support.

Jon Soltz
Iraq War Veteran
Chairman, VoteVets.org

Adherence To Protocol = Obfuscation

Congressman Robert Wexler (D-Florida) of the House Judiciary Committee this morning questioned FBI Director Robert Mueller on the CIA's practice of torture, and why, when FBI agents were alleging that illegal actions were taking place, there was no subsequent investigation. Here is the transcript of those questions and Mueller's evasive answers, which ought to make things just about as clear as any Bush administration policy ever is or has been.

Robert Wexler: Thank you Mr. Chairman. Mr. Director, in January of 2006, the New York Times reported that the NSA wireless wiretapping program had produced thousands of leads each month that the FBI had to track down, but that no Al-Qaeda networks were discovered. During a July 17, 2007 briefing, FBI deputy director John Pistole indicated that the FBI was not aware of any Al-Qaeda sleeper cells operating in the United States. In August of 2007 Congress passed the Protect America Act, giving the intelligence community greater access to electronic communications coming into and out of the United States. I have two questions in this regard.

RW: Has the FBI found any sleeper cells yet? One…

RW: Two. Has the NSA’s wireless wiretapping programs either before the Protect America Act or after led to the prosecution and conviction of any terrorists in the United States?

Robert Mueller: Well, as to your first question as to whether we have found affiliates or, as you would call them, cells of Al-Qaeda in the United States, yes we have. Again, I cannot get into it in public session, but I would say yes we have. With regard to the relationship of a particular case or individual to the terrorist surveillance program, again that is something that would have to be covered in a closed session.

RW: Alright, Mr. Director. An LA Times article from October, 2007 quotes one senior federal enforcement official as saying quote “the CIA determined they were going to torture people, and we made the decision not to be involved” end quote. The article goes on to say that some FBI officials went to you and that you quote “pulled many of the agents back from playing even a supporting role in the investigations to avoid exposing them to legal jeopardy” end quote.

RW: My question Mr. Director, I congratulate you for pulling the FBI agents back, but why did you not take more substantial steps to stop the interrogation techniques that your own FBI agents were telling you were illegal? Why did you not initiate criminal investigations when your agents told you the CIA and the Department of Defense were engaging in illegal interrogation techniques, and rather than simply pulling your agents out, shouldn’t you have directed them to prevent any illegal interrogations from taking place?

RM: I can go so far sir as to tell you that a protocol in the FBI is not to use coercion in any of our interrogations or our questioning and we have abided by our protocol.

RW: I appreciate that. What is the protocol say when the FBI knows that the CIA is engaging or the Department of Defense is engaging in an illegal technique? What does the protocol say in that circumstance?

RM: We would bring it up to appropriate authorities and determine whether the techniques were legal or illegal.

RW: Did you bring it up to appropriate authorities?

RM: All I can tell you is that we followed our own protocols.

RW: So you can’t tell us whether you brought it; when your own FBI agents came to you and said the CIA is doing something illegal which caused you to say don’t you get involved; you can’t tell us whether you then went to whatever authority?

RM: I’ll tell you we followed our own protocols.

RW: And what was the result?

RM: We followed our own protocols. We followed our protocols. We did not use coercion. We did not participate in any instance where coercion was used to my knowledge.

RW: Did the CIA use techniques that were illegal?

RM: I can’t comment on what has been done by another agency and under what authorities the other agency may have taken actions.

RW: Why can’t you comment on the actions of another agency?

RM: I leave that up to the other agency to answer questions with regard to the actions taken by that agency and the legal authorities that may apply to them.

RW: Are you the chief legal law enforcement agency in the United States?

RM: I am the Director of the FBI.

RW: And you do not have authority with respect to any other governmental agency in the United States? Is that what you’re saying?

RM: My authority is given to me to investigate. Yes we do.

RW: Did somebody take away that authority with respect to the CIA?

RM: Nobody has taken away the authority. I can tell you what our protocol was, and how we followed that protocol.

RW: Did anybody take away the authority with respect to the Department of Defense?

RM: I’m not certain what you mean.

RW: Your authority to investigate an illegal torture technique.

RM: There has to be a legal basis for us to investigate, and generally that legal basis is given to us by the Department of Justice. Any interpretations of the laws given to us by the Department of Justice….
(talking over each other)

RW: But apparently your own agents made a determination that the actions by the CIA and the Department of Defense were illegal, so much so that you authorized, ordered, your agents not to participate. But that’s it.

RM: I’ve told you what our protocol was, and I’ve indicated that we’ve adhered to our protocol throughout.

RW: My time is up. Thank you very much Mr. Director.

I Must Be Stupid

Okay, all snark and sarcasm aside, I have a real, legitimate question: The president has twice now (at least twice; probably more, but certainly twice that I can remember) admitted to having committed crimes while in office. He has quite literally broken the law, once in regard to wiretapping American citizens without a requisite warrant, and once in authorizing torture on military detainees and others suspected of "terrorism." He has candidly said that he did these things, and that he would do them again. Why, then, is there not even a public conversation about possible consequences for his crimes? Why is he allowed to blatantly break the law without being held accountable? Why is there no outrage on the part of the media or members of Congress, no demands for investigation or talk of impeachment?

Seriously, I'd like to know how he continues to get away with being the country's biggest goddamn criminal without ever having to worry about paying for his crimes. Can someone enlighten me? Because truly, I am mystified.

Whose Opening Line Is It, Anyway: Rated XX

Hey, what's this? A quiz? Oh yeah, I remember when we used to do those. Didn't Eric B usually get most of the answers right?

Let's see how many lines you can identify this week, and whether or not you detect a theme here. Okay, go!

1. Bind me tie me, chain me to the wall, I wanna be a slave to you all.
2. Things are feeling thin, well, I know, I know. Lost my seat again, well, I’ll go, I’ll go.
3. The mid-twenty joys around a heart that’s black and blue…
4. And what costume shall the poor girl wear…
5. Harmful elements in the air, symbols clashing everywhere
6. I was good, I could talk a mile a minute on this caffeine buzz I was on, we were really hummin’…
7. When the truth is found to be lies, and all the joy within you dies…
8. When the world, it shows me up, my clothes, they show me up, I never knew this before.
9. The young boy without a name, anywhere I’d know his face, in this city the kid’s my favorite…
10. Spitting in a wishing well, blown to hell… crash. I’m the last splash.

**Bonus** You’re upset because your TV is on the blink. Now you have to watch in the living room, life is rough.

Answers this Friday. Watch for them!

Flickr Blogging Is, Like, So Random

Hey, is that a snake in your pocket, or are you just glad to- Whoa!! Jesus fucking Christ! That really IS a snake! Okay, I gotta say, I don't care any more if you're glad to see me or not. Just please, put the damn snake away...

Try as he might, Hugo was unsuccessful in his attempts to mate with Ms. Pacman.

0/` Chain chain chay-yay-yay-yay-yain... Chain of FOOO-OOOl! 0/`

(Original images, #2081, posted here, here and here. Random Flickr Blogging explained by the curiously-absent-Friday-night Tom Hilton here.)

Well, That Was Fun

I probably should have mentioned earlier how much I enjoyed going to the Sadly, No! meet-up Friday night. Not only was it well-attended by many of the Sadly, Nots!, but also a few BARBARians (Victor Shystee, Scaramouche, blogger emeritus fyrste, myself -- but where the heck was Tom Hilton?) came by to represent. Plus, it was very close to my home, so I could drink as much as I wanted and only had one block to stumble home. Props to D. Aristophanes of SN for putting it on. It was great to meet him, Dick Durata, Simon, NutellaonToast, Megan, Richard of Mystery and others whose names/online identities I've forgotten. I'm hoping that some of them will be able to join us in some of our BARBARian gatherings in the future.

Speaking of which, Dick Durata (who left a comment in the SN post below) authors a site called Blog Simple, and is now listed under the BARBARian banner at the right. Joining him is Dave Johnson's Seeing the Forest. You should all go check out both of those blogs, post-haste. Go on, what are you waiting for? This post is over.

**Update** Also added Le Blog de San Francisco after discovering the link at If I Ran The Zoo and reading some of the posts there.

Could Go Either Way

I just saw a piece on the local news (KTVU, channel 2 out of Oakland) that featured Dick Cheney and the Pope, both in the same story about the Pope's current visit to the US, with back-to-back video soundbites of the two of them blathering on about some-damn-thing-or-other, and all I could think was, really, which one is the bigger Nazi?

No, seriously, I wondered that.

Does that make me a bad person? I mean, I'm sure their comments were very inspiring and insightful and inspirational and everything, but I just couldn't get past the bad Werner Klemperer imitation.

...And then there was the Pope's fucking phony-ass German accent! I mean, come on!

Happily, Yes!

Hey, we got a mention over at one of the A-list blogging sites, Sadly, No! It seems there is a beer drinking meet-up planned for Friday evening, April 18th (not unlike many of our own BARBARian gatherings), at Edinburgh Castle on Geary, between Polk and Larkin in SF (full disclosure: that's exactly one block from The Generik Brand's Ground Zero), and the BARBARians are listed as one of the groups participating. For those of you reading this, and who haven't already read the Sadly, No! post about this event and want to attend, the password is, "The Ruppert soars at dawn."

I'll be there, ordering Fat Tires and shots of Powers Irish whiskey and probably some of the very fine fish and chips that they run over to Chelsea on Larkin for, all while talking blogging and politics with my betters and wishing I could be an A-list blogger when I grow up. Come on out and join us... if you dare. Go on, you know you know you want to. All the cool kids are doing it.

Hold Rice Accountable

Make your voice heard, sign the petition here. Condi must go. (And while we're at it, all the other war criminals involved in this horrific undermining of our Constitution need to be tried and impeached!)

Slammed

Too damn busy for the quiz or much of anything else this week, but we'll try to get back to normal soon. Be sure to pay your taxes today, kids. Evil Dick and the War Criminal in Chief need to fill Halliburton's coffers fund their massive clusterfuck in Iraq somehow.

That's your public service message of the day.

Return Of The Freeway Blogger v2.0

This is awesome, and very inspirational. Major kudos to our friend and BARBARian colleague, the Freeway Blogger.

Roy G. Biv Answers The Quiz

So most of you got the easy ones this week – and they were mostly all easy ones, weren’t they? Well, except for a couple. Our good friend Eric B got all but #6 and the extra-special bonus line (and with a little prompting he was able to identify the extra-special bonus artist, at least – who I saw live at the Fillmore last night and he was totally fucking awesome, by the way). Here are the answers, now don’t bug me for a while because I’ve got a very busy day today.

1. You got a reaction. You got a reaction, didn’t you? You took a white orchid… Blue Orchid; White Stripes

2. We skipped the light fandango, turned cartwheels ‘cross the floor… A Whiter Shade Of Pale; Procol Harum

3. I got a certain little girl, she’s on my mind, no doubt about it, she looks so fine. Hush; Deep Purple

4. I never meant to cause you any sorrow, I never meant to cause you any pain. Purple Rain; Prince

5. Without a warning, you broke my heart, you took it darling and you tore it apart. Turn On Your Love Light; Bobby “Blue” Bland (also acceptable for this theme: The Blues Brothers)

6. Don’t it hurt so bad when you’re standin’ in the sun; in the bottom of your heart, you don’t love no one. When The Lights Go Out; Black Keys

7. I don’t care if your love grows cold, found love in someone else’s home, don’t like standin’ in the snow… Everything’s Turning To Gold; Rolling Stones

8. Ticking away the moments that make up a dull day… Time; Pink Floyd

9. I’m just mad about Saffron, Saffron’s mad about me. Mellow Yellow; Donovan

10. All right now! Won’t you listen? When I first met you, didn’t realize, I can’t forget you for your surprise. Sweet Leaf; Black Sabbath

**Bonus** She ran into the wall so sweet and unknown, a worn comatose… Melatonin; Silversun Pickups

**Extra-special bonus that no one will get, go on, I dare you** Well, I woke up this morning found a note tied to my bed, baby’s gone and left me, oh, that’s what she said… The Lord Mistreats Me; Jackie Greene

Back at it next week.

Beer And Bloggers

Just a reminder to all and sundry that the unofficial Drinking Society of Scribblers and Commenters from Around the Bay -- better known as the BARBARians (Bay Area Resident Bloggers And Readers) -- will be gathering together this Saturday, April 12th, from early in the afternoon until dog knows when in the evening at Ben & Nick's Bar & Grill, 5612 College Ave in Oakland (right across from the Rockridge BART station), for some cool, hops-infused refreshment and lively conversation. Come on out and join us in running the taps dry, and remember to look for the helmet!

Torture On The Table

With a tip of the Generik hat to my esteemed colleague and friend, the King of Zembla, I'd like to recommend this Harper's magazine article by Scott Horton regarding the recent release of a second John Yoo memo (dubbed "Yoo Two") justifying torture by US agents in Iraq and Guantanamo. It's blood-chilling reading what the criminals in the White House -- with evil Dick Cheney leading the charge -- have been able to get away with over the past seven years. Even scarier is the fact that no one in Congress or the media (with a very few exceptions -- like Horton himself here, for instance) seems to be much concerned about these blatant war crimes. Where, as Bob Dole once famously asked, is the outrage?

Here are some excerpts from the article. Better if you read the whole thing.

Why Yoo Two?
According to the official narrative, the Bush Administration turned to the Justice Department for legal guidance on what could be done to give interrogators the latitude they were demanding in dealing with prisoners taken in the war on terror. However, not a single element of the official narrative is entirely true. The interrogators were not “pushing for broader authority.” Indeed, the pushing was all coming out of the White House (from Vice President Cheney, to be specific), and the intelligence professionals were actually pushing back. Moreover, torture was being used almost from the start of the “war on terror.” Special operations units operating under the authority of Dr. Stephen Cambone, the Under Secretary of Defense for Intelligence, had been authorized to use torture techniques from the opening of the war, and they used them with gusto. At Guantánamo and at Bagram Air Base in Afghanistan, numerous instances of “highly coercive techniques” had been documented; indeed, the stories out of Bagram are among the most gruesome to be documented. In the documentary “Taxi to the Dark Side,” for instance (for which I consulted and in which I appear), we find footage of a senior U.S. officer in Afghanistan talking about the authority for torture, which was issued, and which military personnel were instructed to lie about or deny to keep covered up.

So why the need for Yoo Two? Jane Mayer pieced that together for us in “The Memo.” Navy officers had gotten a gander at what was up at Gitmo, and it had gotten back to Alberto Mora, the Navy general counsel in the Pentagon. He had also learned about a Rumsfeld order issued on December 2, 2002, authorizing a series of brutal techniques, including waterboarding. Other senior military lawyers quickly also learned about this. An uproar followed in the Pentagon and Haynes found himself isolated and under pressure from all sides. He folded and asked Rumsfeld to rescind the order.

The traditional military forces in the Pentagon felt they had scored a victory, but of course Haynes was determined to proceed with all the torture practices he had advised Rumsfeld to approve. He was intent on outmaneuvering the generals, admirals and figures like Mora. And while he lacked many allies in the Pentagon—other than the Neocon dead-enders like Doug Feith and Stephen Cambone—he knew he could count on the OLC to come through for him.

Manadel al-Jamadi, dubbed the “Iceman,” tortured to death in November 2003, using techniques that John Yoo approved in his torture memoranda.

So the OLC memo was solicited as a trump card to override objections within the military, and to silence objections based on law. Indeed, the memo was subsequently used in the aborted Pentagon Working Group Report, whose members were told they were bound to accept the reasoning and opinions expressed in it. In fact, most of the Working Group found the memo so facially implausible and foolish in its reasoning that they refused.

. . .

I’ve Got a Secret
Yoo Two also furnishes us a lesson in how the Bush Administration wields “secret” classifications. The idea that a legal memorandum by OLC could be classified as “secret” and withheld on that basis is astonishing. When this point was raised previously, it produced speculation that the memo must as written be tied to specific facts which are highly classified and cannot be disclosed. Perhaps Yoo had included a detailed technical discussion of the actual torture techniques to be used? Of course, we know that precisely those concerns had led draftsmen of other documents to segregate out discussion of techniques to an appendix which could be separately classified, leaving the pure discussion of legal issues as a stand-alone document. But not so.

When Yoo Two was declassified and released, we see that not a single word of the document was blacked out or excised. And indeed, there was no basis whatsoever for the classification to start with, not even a figleaf.

So why has a legal policy statement been classified and withheld for five years? The answer to that question is now clear. The memorandum would have produced reactions of ridicule and outrage from throughout the professional community—as indeed it has. The author and the classifier knew that. They used classification as a political tool to keep something which is a quintessentially public document out of the reach of the public. Moreover, this classification reflects a regular pattern of abuse by the Bush Administration, a fact to be kept in mind when considering Attorney General Mukasey’s harsh and factually unfounded criticisms of pending legislation designed to reign in the use of state secrecy claims to cloak corruption and criminal conduct by state actors.

It’s also noteworthy that this memo was declassified and released by Jim Haynes’s successor-in-office, and it was done almost immediately following Haynes’s departure. A coincidence?

The abusive use of classifications is a matter that cries for Congressional oversight and action. At the close of World War I, Franz Kafka wrote the parable “Before the Law” (“Vor dem Gesetz”) later incorporated into the novel The Trial. This parable operates at several levels, but one of them, signaled by the choice of the word Gesetz, is quite literally anxiety about secret laws. Kafka was concern about a tendency that Max Weber had just warned against, namely that an increasingly authoritarian and secretive state would begin to make even the law itself a secret. The practices of the Bush Administration are increasingly a realization of this nightmare.

Make no mistake; this is a nightmare in which we're living (and, by remaining silent, are complicit). When will this country wake up and end it?

Caption Contest

I don't do this very often, but in this case I just couldn't resist. Give it your best/worst. No prizes will be awarded, but you can feel clever and make everyone else laugh, and that ought to be worth something.

Every time he tells that story, the Friedman Unit gets bigger.

Friedman Units

How many FUs will it take? 200? 2000? Let's get out of there NOW.

Real Troop Support

Reptilian Republican presidential candidate John McSameasBush claims to "support the troops," but his track record doing such in Congress is woefully abysmal. Recently he has refused to support the GI Bill for the 21st Century. Why? Is he against veterans getting benefits? Take a look at this video from filmmaker Robert Greenwald, and then sign the petition accompanying it if you agree that McFlipFlop should get on board with this legislation.

The petition is scheduled to be delivered to DC next Monday. If you're a vet, and are interested in helping out, write for information here: info@votevets.org. Be sure to put "petition delivery" in the subject line.

The Lapdog Press

The invaluable Glenn Greenwald, as he often does, has some rather pointed comments to make about the state of the American media today with regard to politics and the coverage thereof. Here is just a small sample; as always, I urge you to read the whole thing.

In the past two weeks, the following events transpired. A Department of Justice memo, authored by John Yoo, was released which authorized torture and presidential lawbreaking. It was revealed that the Bush administration declared the Fourth Amendment of the Bill of Rights to be inapplicable to "domestic military operations" within the U.S. The U.S. Attorney General appears to have fabricated a key event leading to the 9/11 attacks and made patently false statements about surveillance laws and related lawsuits. Barack Obama went bowling in Pennsylvania and had a low score.

Here are the number of times, according to NEXIS, that various topics have been mentioned in the media over the past thirty days:

"Yoo and torture" - 102

"Mukasey and 9/11" -- 73

"Yoo and Fourth Amendment" -- 16

"Obama and bowling" -- 1,043

"Obama and Wright" -- More than 3,000 (too many to be counted)

"Obama and patriotism" - 1,607

"Clinton and Lewinsky" -- 1,079

And as Eric Boehlert documents, even Iraq -- that little five-year U.S. occupation with no end in sight -- has been virtually written out of the media narrative in favor of mindless, stupid, vapid chatter of the type referenced above. "The Clintons are Rich!!!!" will undoubtedly soon be at the top of this heap within a matter of a day or two.

"Media critic" Howie Kurtz in the Washington Post today devoted pages of his column to Obama's bowling and eating habits and how that shows he's not a regular guy but an Arrogant Elitist, compiling an endless string of similar chatter about this from Karl Rove, Maureen Dowd, Walter Shapiro and Ann Althouse. Bloomberg's Margaret Carlson devoted her whole column this week to arguing that, along with Wright, Obama's bowling was his biggest mistake, a "real doozy."

...

Every day, it becomes more difficult to blame George Bush, Dick Cheney and comrades for their seven years (and counting) of crimes, corruption and destruction of our political values. Think about it this way: if you were a high government official and watched as -- all in a couple of weeks time -- it is revealed, right out in the open, that you suspended the Fourth Amendment, authorized torture, proclaimed yourself empowered to break the law, and sent the nation's top law enforcement officer to lie blatantly about how and why the 9/11 attacks happened so that you could acquire still more unchecked spying power and get rid of lawsuits that would expose what you did, and the political press in this country basically ignored all of that and blathered on about Obama's bowling score and how he eats chocolate, wouldn't you also conclude that you could do anything you want, without limits, and know there will be no consequences? What would be the incentive to stop doing all of that?

More on the subject here.

The Anti-Joan Baez

Big thanks to Encyclopedia Eric B, who tips The Generik Brand to one Janet Greene, anti-Communist songstress of the '60s (and beyond). Check out her songbook, featuring such bravely jingoistic ditties as Commie Lies and Comrade's Lament. Too funny!

Whose Opening Line Is It, Anyway: Hue And Cry

Some gimmes this week, along with a theme that ought to be very easy to figure out. Mixed in there are a couple lines that even Eric B won't get (I'm betting). Go to it, kids.

1. You got a reaction. You got a reaction, didn’t you? You took a white orchid…
2. We skipped the light fandango, turned cartwheels ‘cross the floor…
3. I got a certain little girl, she’s on my mind, no doubt about it, she looks so fine.
4. I never meant to cause you any sorrow, I never meant to cause you any pain.
5. Without a warning, you broke my heart, you took it darling and you tore it apart.
6. Don’t it hurt so bad when you’re standin’ in the sun; in the bottom of your heart, you don’t love no one.
7. I don’t care if your love grows cold, found love in someone else’s home, don’t like standin’ in the snow…
8. Ticking away the moments that make up a dull day...
9. I’m just mad about Saffron, Saffron’s mad about me.
10. All right now! Won’t you listen? When I first met you, didn’t realize, I can’t forget you for your surprise.

**Bonus** She ran into the wall so sweet and unknown, a worn comatose...

**Extra-special bonus that no one will get, go on, I dare you** Well, I woke up this morning found a note tied to my bed, baby’s gone and left me, oh, that’s what she said…

Check back Friday and you will probably get some answers.

McCain's Decalogue

From MoveOn.org:

10 things you should know about John McCain (but probably don't):

1. John McCain voted against establishing a national holiday in honor of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Now he says his position has "evolved," yet he's continued to oppose key civil rights laws. 1, 1a

2. According to Bloomberg News, McCain is more hawkish than Bush on Iraq, Russia and China. Conservative columnist Pat Buchanan says McCain "will make Cheney look like Gandhi." 2, 2a

3. His reputation is built on his opposition to torture, but McCain voted against a bill to ban waterboarding, and then applauded President Bush for vetoing that ban. 3

4. McCain opposes a woman's right to choose. He said, "I do not support Roe versus Wade. It should be overturned." 4

5. The Children's Defense Fund rated McCain as the worst senator in Congress for children. He voted against the children's health care bill last year, then defended Bush's veto of the bill. 5, 5a

6. He's one of the richest people in a Senate filled with millionaires. The Associated Press reports he and his wife own at least eight homes! Yet McCain says the solution to the housing crisis is for people facing foreclosure to get a "second job" and skip their vacations. 6, 6a

7. Many of McCain's fellow Republican senators say he's too reckless to be commander in chief. One Republican senator said: "The thought of his being president sends a cold chill down my spine. He's erratic. He's hotheaded. He loses his temper and he worries me." 7, 7a

8. McCain talks a lot about taking on special interests, but his campaign manager and top advisers are actually lobbyists. The government watchdog group Public Citizen says McCain has 59 lobbyists raising money for his campaign, more than any of the other presidential candidates. 8, 8a

9. McCain has sought closer ties to the extreme religious right in recent years. The pastor McCain calls his "spiritual guide," Rod Parsley, believes America's founding mission is to destroy Islam, which he calls a "false religion." McCain sought the political support of right-wing preacher John Hagee, who believes Hurricane Katrina was God's punishment for gay rights and called the Catholic Church "the Antichrist" and a "false cult." 9, 9a, 9b

10. He positions himself as pro-environment, but he scored a 0—yes, zero—from the League of Conservation Voters last year. 10

Bumper Snicker

Big Generik Brand hat tip to my good friend nashtbrutusandshort for this bumper sticker idea:

"There are two kinds of Republicans: Millionaires and Suckers."

Pretty much says it all, doesn't it?

These Foolish Answers

Better showing this week, though no one got the first one (which surprised me) or the bonus line (which I expected would be difficult). Eric B missed those two as well as #5 and #7. Just goes to show that you can fool some of the people all of the time, all of the people some of the time and... (unintelligible) can't git fooled agin!

Oooh, that hurt.

Okay, time to stop fooling around and give all y'all the answers. Here you go:

1. I used to play around with hearts that hastened at my call, but when I met that little girl I knew that I would fall. Poor Little Fool; Ricky Nelson

2. We’ll be fighting in the streets with our children at our feet… Won’t Get Fooled Again; The Who

3. Day after day, alone on a hill… Fool On The Hill; The Beatles

4. He came from somewhere back in her long ago, the sentimental fool don‘t see… What A Fool Believes; Doobie Brothers

5. At last I've awakened to see what you've done. All I can do is pack up and run. Get Yourself Another Fool; Elvis Costello

6. I must have been through about a million girls, I'd love 'em then I'd leave 'em alone. Fooled Around And Fell In Love; Elvin Bishop

7. I been doing my homework now for a long long time. And everything that I look for I know I will one day find. Fool’s Gold; Graham Parker & The Rumour

8. When I come home baby, and I’ve been working all night long, I put my daughter on my knee, and she say, “Daddy what’s wrong?” Fool To Cry; Rolling Stones

9. Strange voice on the telephone tellin’ me I better leave you ‘lone. Fooled Again (I Don’t Like It); Tom Petty & The Heartbreakers

10. Why do birds sing so gay, and lovers await the break of day? Why Do Fools Fall In Love; Frankie Lymon & The Teenagers

**Bonus** Traveling that wind and laugh at the crowd… The Fool And Me; Robin Trower

Thanks for playing, we'll see if we can't put another one together next week.

Hold The Peanut Butter Conspiracy

My pal Victor Acker, from South Weymouth, MA (known to my capping friends as "flavio"), sent me a copy of his latest musical effort this week, and I have to say that I'm really enjoying it. Johnny Cake and Moon Pies by Marmalade Army is available to all discerning music lovers who crave a little vintage psychedelia in their iTunes shuffle. (I know, I know, the band always sounds better when you know the boys in the band; still, this is worth a listen.) Up to now, Victor and his brother Dana -- known musically as the Acker Brothers -- have put out mainly jazz records, such as Swingin' Singles and Dungaree Jazz, so this latest effort is quite a departure for them. Marmalade Army's sound is straight out of the groovy psychedelic '60s, with swirling keyboards and ringing guitars and melodic pop harmonies. There are, of course, requisite nods to the Beatles and Beach Boys sound, but also tips of the Army hat to such '60s stalwarts as Mike Curb, Small Faces, Herb Alpert and Perez Prado. Check it out if you get a chance, and hey, it wouldn't hurt to buy one as a gift for that old unreconstructed hippie in your life. Throw in a banana to smoke and you'll make his week.

Commie Rock

In the spirit of the day, the Finnish rock band Leningrad Cowboys is joined by the Red Army Choir for a version of... Sweet Home Alabama?? See for yourself. (Thanks to my pal Marty for this.)

Whose Opening Line Is It Anyway: The Most Obvious Theme Ever

You may not get all the lines answered this week, but if you can't tell what the theme is pretty quickly, well... I don't know what to tell you.

1. I used to play around with hearts that hastened at my call, but when I met that little girl I knew that I would fall.
2. We’ll be fighting in the streets with our children at our feet…
3. Day after day, alone on a hill…
4. He came from somewhere back in her long ago, the sentimental fool don't see…
5. At last I've awakened to see what you've done. All I can do is pack up and run.
6. I must have been through about a million girls, I'd love 'em then I'd leave 'em alone.
7. I been doing my homework now for a long long time. And everything that I look for I know I will one day find.
8. When I come home baby, and I’ve been working all night long, I put my daughter on my knee, and she say, “Daddy what’s wrong?”
9. Strange voice on the telephone tellin’ me I better leave you ‘lone.
10. Why do birds sing so gay, and lovers await the break of day?

**Bonus** Traveling that wind and laugh at the crowd…

We'll check back and see how many of you got fooled on Friday.