Now Cupcakes Are A Terrorist Threat!

A Massachusetts woman who flew home from Las Vegas this week says an airport security officer took her frosted cupcake because he thought its vanilla-bourbon icing could be a “security risk.”

Rebecca Hains told ABCNews.com today that a Transportation Security Administration agent at Las Vegas- McCarran International Airport confiscated her cupcake, saying the frosting sitting atop the red velvet cake was gel-like enough to violate regulations.

How about we just be allowed to fly, but can't take anything with us? Will that work? Sheesh. Frosting. Terrorist threat. I've stopped banging my head on the keyboard a year ago. Things in this country are so totally bullshit and batshit crazy that it's not worth the headache.

Teabagistan

Good line from Crooks and Liars, but read the whole piece.

The thing is, in this country we elect people. We get to vote every couple of years or so. Violence is for dictatorships, not democracies. Like it or not, they're not going to turn the US into Teabagistan, no matter how hard they wish it, or how nasty they get.

It is interesting to note that the most "pro lifers" of this group are the most "death mongers" of said same group. And, supposedly Christian, as well.

The oxymoron's logic of the teabagger anti abortion group that wants to kill those who fail to support anti abortion legislation is apparent to most ... except those morons.

Why Do The Interests In Iraq, Afghanistan & Pakistan Override What Belongs To America?

Courtesy of Infoplease

From Prison Planet:

The cost of fighting the war in Afghanistan will overtake that of the Iraq conflict for the first time in 2010, Pentagon budget documents showed Thursday. On top of the basic defense budget of 533.7 billion dollars, the White House is requesting a further 130 billion dollars for overseas missions, including 65 billion for Afghanistan and 61 billion for Iraq.

As for military contractors:

The military is increasingly relying on private security contractors as President Obama ramps up the war in Afghanistan, with contractors now making up as much as 30% of the armed force in the country, a just-released congressional report shows.

In the period roughly tracking with President Obama's first nine months in office, the number of Defense Department armed security contractors soared 236% -- from 3,184 to 10,712 between December 2008 to September 2009. The number roughly doubled between June and September 2009 alone.

I could go on and on with articles, but I think my point is made. Our military budget and our wars have taken money from the American public and wasted it on frivolousness. Never mind the false "terrorism" meme the right and some on the left tout to support such expenses, the fact of the matter is that whatever we do or pretend to have accomplished "over there" has not had any impact on people over "here" feeling any better about the people over "there." The right wing nut jobs have labeled all Muslims as terrorists, so what is the point? Are we suddenly going to convert them all to White, and Christians, to boot? Hell, no!

The irony of spending money on infrastructure in Iraq based on the American government's destruction of said infrastructure, at the expense of spending money on AMERICA'S INFRASTRUCTURE is not lost on me, nor is it lost on millions of Americans. The irony of our congressional leaders refusing to put money into AMERICANS hands by not passing bills that support and give money to American citizens (with the stupid proviso that said bills and money need to be accounted for and paid for before they can be passed) while at the same time, funding for Iraq, Afghanistan and Pakistan is not paid for, and is balanced on the backs of the American people.

It's been seven years now. Seven fucking years of wasting money in the middle east, while we see our country going down the tubes financially at the same time our government (from the president on down) refuses to help our own country. States can't meet their budgets, we have unemployment in double digits, the banking industry is in ruins, Wall Street is sucking the life out of this country while only a handful reap any rewards, and our government sits on its hands and shakes its head, citing terrorism as a priority over American prosperity.

Hypocrisy, meet the American political system.

Another Act Of Terrorism By White American Male Disavowed As Terrorism!

What is it with this country? Another white American male, who left behind a boatload of writings about his hatred of this country and the direction it was going, grabs a couple of automatic rifles, drives from California to the Pentagon, and shoots people (fortunately they survived, but he didn't) and media and officials say "this isn't an act of terrorism" ... based on the allegation that the man "acted alone." So, now, terrorist acts by white American males are predicated on whether or not they had others working with them? A single attack by a white male American cannot possibly be called terrorism in this country? Why? Why? Why?

ter·ror·ism

–noun

1. the use of violence and threats to intimidate or coerce, esp. for political purposes.

2. the state of fear and submission produced by terrorism or terrorization.

3. a terroristic method of governing or of resisting a government.

Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2010.

UPDATE 3/5/10-7:57 p.m., Courtesy of Crooks and Liars:

"Lone wolf" anti-government extremist opens fire at the Pentagon. But let's not call it terrorism."

It seems to be the new standard among journalists that terrorism is now defined only as conspiracy-based international terrorism. Lone-wolf domestic terrorism? That's now just "a single individual who had issues."

Double standard? Um, yeah.

UPDATE II-3/6/10: From ThinkProgress:

Last night, a California man armed with two semiautomatic weapons and “many magazines” of ammunition opened fire on police officers at the entrance to the Pentagon, wounding two before being killed by police. The shooter, 36-year-old John Patrick Bedell, was “well dressed in a suit” and “very calm,” walking “very directly to the officers” before engaging them, a police spokesman said.

Bedell “appears to have been a right-wing extremist with virulent antigovernment feelings,” the Christian Science Monitor reports, who traveled from California specifically to attack the Pentagon. While police were hesitant to assign a motive, “writings by someone with his same name and birth date, posted on the Internet, express ill will toward the government and the armed forces and question whether Washington itself might have been behind the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks.”

[snip]

The Pentagon shooting is just the latest in a string of violence seemingly motivated by far right ideologies. Of course, last month, “[h]atred of the government motivated a man in Texas” to launch a suicide attack on an IRS office. And a recent Southern Poverty Law Center report found a 244 percent rise in the number of extremist hate groups. But when the Department of Homeland Security released a report last year warning about the threat from right-wing domestic terror, conservative politicians and commentators were outraged, claiming it was an assault on conservatism. Sadly, the report was right.

Can't We Just Call It What It Is - An Act Of TERRORISM?

They catch the guy who tried to blow up an airplane on Christmas, and dubbed him the "underwear bomber." The whole right wing nutcase machine was all over this, especially claiming that Obama was too slow to act in this matter. Of course, I'm not sure what Obama had to do with it anyway. But, the underwear bomber was for sure a "terrorist" because he was, uh, Muslim, and most definitely al-Qaeda.

Fast forward to Joseph Andrew Stack's suicide bombing of an IRS building in Texas, and the right wing nutcase machine can't bring itself to identify the actions of this man as terrorism! Because, of course, he's white, Christian and therefore, how could he possibly be a terrorist. Oh, and our newest senator, Scott Brown, brushes the whole thing aside commenting that no one likes to pay taxes!

No one stopped this man. As John says over at his blog, "maybe its time for the Obama administration to un-ban the DHS report on domestic rightwing extremism."

Paralleling the current national climate, rightwing extremists during the 1990s exploited a variety of social issues and political themes to increase group visibility and recruit new members. Prominent among these themes were the militia movement’s opposition to gun control efforts, criticism of free trade agreements (particularly those with Mexico), and highlighting perceived government infringement on civil liberties as well as white supremacists’ longstanding exploitation of social issues such as abortion, inter-racial crimes, and same-sex marriage. During the 1990s, these issues contributed to the growth in the number of domestic rightwing terrorist and extremist groups and an increase in violent acts targeting government facilities, law enforcement officers, banks, and infrastructure sectors.

It's unfortunate that the nutcase group cannot accept the fact that a terrorist act is a terrorist act, regardless of who perpetrates it. And the gall of these people in trying to turn this man into a hero (and here) infuriates me, because it will simply embolden others to take out their rage against innocent people in this country.

Wake up, you idiots, before someone decides to take "you" out because they are "mad" at you for some reason or another. I'm less afraid of some foreigner of color with a strange last name, and more afraid of the American nutcase group when it comes to violence and terror.

And just so we are clear on our "talking points," remember, the al-Qaeda (and everyone who is Muslim) hates America because they despise our "freedoms and this great county" and that is why they are "attacking" us, but the white guy that flies a plane into a building is a hero because his point is that America is a pile of shit. Yeah, I see no discrepancy here (cough, bullshit, cough).

The Pictures Made Me Do It

In fact, Huckabee defended the utility of waterboarding within 30 seconds of agreeing with Hannity that Obama’s release of interrogation photos was “hurting our nation’s defenses.” Fox reporter Catherine Herridge said that “these pictures of humiliation” can be “a primary factor of suicide bombers.”

It’s not the pictures that recruits suicide bombers; it’s what the
pictures depict. Torture — ordered by Bush and Cheney — damaged America and increased the risk of another terrorist attack, and revealing the truth of what happened doesn’t change that fact.

I have so many things to say about politics over the past four months, but, quite frankly, the things that are of interest to me are already beaten to death between AMERICAblog, DailyKos, FireDogLake and Huffington Post, so why the fuck bother, eh?

In fact, most of those blogs now pay their posters, which I am not in any fashion in disagreement with, it's just that I cannot quit my day job, hence there is no possible way for me to post some political commentary that hasn't already been espoused by the left side of the room.

But, still, the above quote from Think Progress made me feel like at least reminding my readers of the legitimacy of the opinion piece: pictures of our country torturing people is not what has fanned the hate for Americans and their supporters among the Middle East -- it's been the fact that for the past eight years our entire governmental administration supported this option. It was the ideology of the government that was the recruiting tool, and not simply "the pictures."

UPDATE: I found this additional piece funny, from Think Progress:

VENTURA: It’s drowning. It gives you the complete sensation that you are drowning. It is no good, because you — I’ll put it to you this way, you give me a water board, Dick Cheney and one hour, and I’ll have him confess to the Sharon Tate murders.

The Fearful John Shimkus

According to The Wonk Room:

According to a new analysis by the Union of Concerned Scientists UCS), Americans can “significantly reduce carbon emissions and lower energy bills” by implementing green economy legislation. In a two-year study, UCS analyzed the economic, emissions, and energy effects of their recommendations for clean energy, clean vehicles, and global warming standards. The UCS approach of comprehensive energy, transportation, and cap policies is similar to that in the American Clean Energy Security Act, released in draft form earlier this month by Reps. Henry Waxman (D-CA) and Edward Markey (D-MA). The analysis finds that by 2030, net household savings will reach $900 a year, while oil use drops 6 million barrels a day and global warming pollution is cut in half.

(see graphic here).

However, one of our illustrious congresscritters has a problem with this, and said this about cap-and-trade programs to limit carbon emissions:

I think this is the largest assault on democracy and freedom in this country that I've ever experienced. I've lived through some tough times in Congress -- impeachment, two wars, terrorist attacks. I fear this more than all of the above activities that have happened.

So Rep. John Shimkus (R-IL) fears a greener planet more than 9/11, the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan and the impeachment of Bill Clinton? Well, I did need a good laugh this morning, and now I got one.

Civil Liberties? Not In Obama's Terrorist World

The world is reeling, tumbling, impacting even my own real space. I've not been able to really comment, mostly just overwhelmed by what other bloggers have already said -- so why repeat myself.

But Obama's alliance with the Bush position on the detainee situation just makes my blood boil. As usual, Glenn Greenwald puts forth a better written argument than I could, so I suggest a proper read.

So that Barack Obama -- the one trying to convince Democrats to make him their nominee and then their President -- said that abducting people and imprisoning them without charges was (a) un-American; (b) tyrannical; (c) unnecessary to fight Terrorism; (d) a potent means for stoking anti-Americanism and fueling Terrorism; (e) a means of endangering captured American troops, Americans traveling abroad and Americans generally; and (f) a violent betrayal of core, centuries-old Western principles of justice. But today's Barack Obama, safely ensconced in the White House, fights tooth and nail to preserve his power to do exactly that.

[snip]

... If there was any unanimous progressive consensus over the last eight years, it was that the President does not have the power to kidnap people, ship them far away, and then imprison them indefinitely in a cage without due process. Has that progressive consensus changed as of January 20, 2009? I think we're going to find out.

[snip]

To recap: Obama files a brief saying he agrees in full with the Bush/Cheney position. He's arguing that the President has the power to abduct, transport and imprison people in Bagram indefinitely with no charges of any kind. He's telling courts that they have no authority to "second-guess" his decisions when it comes to war powers. But this is all totally different than what Bush did, and anyone who says otherwise is a reckless, ill-motivated hysteric who just wants to sell books and get on TV.

Obama's stance on the state secrets defense in the telecom fiasco, and his stance on terrorist abductions and rendering them to Bagram instead of Gitmo, is pro Bush, no ifs, ands or buts about it. This is a complete contradiction of the rhetoric he spewed when trying to get America to vote for him, an America that overwhelmingly does not approve of torture, nor of rendition.

Is Baha'i a religion or a political organization?

I often wondered why many of my Jewish friends tended to dismiss me when I would favor the attitude of the Palestinians over the Israelis, especially when I get the "you’ve never been persecuted" look, or comment. Then I read this article which reminded me of my upbringing in the Baha'i Faith, and how Baha’is have been persecuted, ever since the religion came into existence.

Putting that aside, for the moment, let me just say that I have never been comfortable with the hard line Israeli attitude since the 1967 war, nor with how they took land that was not theirs, and displaced a great many Palestinians in the process. I understand the level of persecution and aggression directed towards Israel since it was granted statehood in the 1940's, but there has to be a solution that resolves the issue of the land that was taken, and Israel has conceded that it will never give back the land it took from the Palestinians. Therein lies the permanent dilemma.

First there was the Palestinian Liberation Organization (PLO) whose mandate was a return to Palestinian self-rule. Eventually, the PLO stood for a Palestinian state within the boundaries of Israel. Yasser Arafat became the recognized leader of the PLO by most of the world, including Israel. The PLO sought support from other Arab nations such as Jordan, Syria and Egypt, and over the past 40 years, has been helped by these countries and then expelled from these countries, depending on the changing ideology of the Arabs at specific times in history and their own peculiar problems within their own nations. Suffice it to say that the PLO was oftentimes supported by other Arab nations in its continued quest for Palestinian independence, and sometimes abandoned by the same Arab nations when political pressure was exerted by Israel, the United States, and other leading countries. The PLO has always been considered by Israel and the United States to be a terrorist organization until around the early 1990's. Most of the world had recognized the PLO to be the representative of the Palestinians.

PLO committed many terrorists acts in concert with other Arab nations’ political terrorist groups in Jordan, Syria and Egypt. The United States, after 9/11, reclassified the PLO as a terrorist organization in 2004.

In the Arab nations, terrorism is almost a common comport to daily living and politics. Infighting amongst many organizations, all of which mainly had in common the opposition to the state of Israel, created many diverse and disparate terrorist groups, most of which could not inflict a great deal of damage – at least not on the level that Israel has shown it has the capacity to do.

Now we move on to Hamas, which was originally founded by Sheikh Ahmed Yassin as an Islamic charity, and an offshoot of Egypt’s Muslim Brotherhood, and was at the time of its inception supported by the Israeli government. This support by Israel was, of course, an effort to undermine the PLO’s influence in the area, and especially with Palestine. Israel considered Hamas as a counter balance to the PLO, the former being a charitable group, the latter a terrorist group. Thereafter, based on Arafat’s support of Saddam Hussein’s invasion into Kuwait, Arab groups began to withdraw their financial support of the PLO and direct it to Hamas. As the PLO and its influence was waning and Hamas was on the rise, the following is interesting to note:

"The 1993 Oslo agreement inaugurated the final phase of the PLO's degeneration, as its leadership -- or rather the leading nucleus of this leadership, bypassing the official leading bodies -- was granted guardianship over the Palestinian population of the West Bank and the Gaza Strip. This came in exchange for what amounted to a capitulation: the PLO leadership abandoned the minimal conditions that were demanded by the Palestinian negotiators from the 1967 occupied territories, above all an Israeli pledge to freeze and reverse the construction of settlements which were colonizing their land. The very conditions of this capitulation -- which doomed the Oslo agreements to tragic failure as critics very rightly predicted from the start -- made certain that the shift in the popular political mood would speed up. The Zionist state took advantage of the lull brought to the 1967 territories by the Palestinian Authority's fulfillment of the role of police force by proxy ascribed to it, by drastically intensifying the colonization and building an infrastructure designed to facilitate its military control over these territories. Accordingly, the discredit of the PA increased inexorably. This loss in public support hampered more and more its ability to crack down on the Palestinian Islamic fundamentalist movement -- as was required from it and as it began attempting as early as 1994 -- let alone its ability to marginalize the Islamic movement politically and ideologically. Moreover, the transfer of the PLO bureaucracy from exile into the 1967 territories, as a ruling apparatus entrusted with the task of surveillance over the population that waged the Intifada, quickly led to its corruption reaching abysmal levels -- something that the population of the territories hadn't seen first-hand before. At the same time, Hamas, like most sections of the Islamic fundamentalist mass movement -- in contrast with "substitutionist" strictly terrorist organizations of which al-Qaeda has become the most spectacular example -- was keen on paying attention to popular basic needs, organizing social services, and cultivating a reputation of austerity and incorruptibility."

Let’s switch now to Hezbollah, which although based in Lebanon, has been supported by the Iranian government. Unlike Hamas, Hezbollah was defined by its own actions from its inception, as terrorists. It was linked to the PLO until they distanced themselves from the PLO after Israel began massive attacks against Lebanon.

Hamas eventually went on to win parliamentary victory in Palestine territories, much to the shock of the United States. From Juan Cole:

"The sweeping electoral victory of Hamas is but one of the products of the intensive use made by the United States in the Muslim world, since the 1950's, of Islamic fundamentalism as an ideological weapon against both progressive nationalism and communism. This was done in close collaboration with the Saudi kingdom -- a de facto U.S. protectorate almost from its foundation in 1932. The promotion of the most reactionary interpretation of the Islamic religion, exploiting deeply-rooted popular religious beliefs, led to this ideology filling the vacuum left by the exhaustion by the 1970's of the two ideological currents it served to fight. The road was thus paved in the entire Muslim world for the transformation of Islamic fundamentalism into the dominant expression of mass national and social resentment, to the great dismay of the U.S. and its Saudi protectorate. The story of Washington's relation with Islamic fundamentalism is the most striking modern illustration of the sorcerer's apprenticeship. (I have described this at length in my Clash of Barbarisms.)"

According to Iran, the Baha'i Faith is not a religion, it is a political organization bent on the destruction of Islam, and Iran, in particular. The religion is banned in Iran, and many Baha'is are arrested on a regular basis. Therefore, its members are considered terrorists.

From Wikipedia: "The Iranian constitution that was drafted during the Iranian Constitutional Revolution in 1906 set the groundwork for the institutionalized persecution of Bahá'ís. While the constitution was modeled on Belgium's 1831 constitution, the provisions guaranteeing freedom of worship were omitted. Subsequent legislation provided some recognition to Zoroastrians, Jews and Christians as equal citizens under state law, but it did not guarantee freedom of religion and ‘gave unprecedented institutional powers to the clerical establishment.’ The Islamic Republic of Iran, that was established after the Iranian revolution, recognizes four religions, whose status is formally protected: Zoroastrianism, Judaism, Christianity, and Islam. Members of the first three minority religions receive special treatment under Iranian law. For example, their members are allowed to drink alcohol, and representatives of several minority communities are guaranteed seats in parliament."

Which brings me back to the universal question: Is Baha'i a religion or a political organization with terrorist thoughts and/or activities on its mind or under its belt? It is obvious that it is a religion, but Iran has chosen to ignore that fact and raise it to the level of terrorist group, subject to penalty of death. Yet, Iran supports Hezbollah, whose main operation is the destruction of Israel, while it allows Judaism to exist within its borders. Why, then, is Iran so threatened by the Baha’is? Why are they not allowed recognition within Iran, the country of the religion’s birth?

Is Obama Taking Us To Armageddon?

Glenn Greenwald, on Gitmo and Binyam Mohamed, who was released on Saturdy, and upon medical evaluation, appears to have been badly beaten clear up until the time of his release. But, of course, the DOD claims that Gitmo is (and has always been) free and clear of any claim of abuse of the prisoners.

For reasons that human rights groups and detainees' lawyers immediately pointed out, this self-exonerating Pentagon report, from the start, was suspect in the extreme. But a sign of how broken our discourse is and how in love with ourselves we continue to be is that, on the question of current Guantanamo conditions, the conclusions of the United States Pentagon released this week were treated not only as credible, but authoritative. If the DOD -- which has long overseen Guantanamo and continues to do so -- says that everything is great there, well, that's the end of that. What else is there to know?

This is, of course, distressful. Obama promised to close Gitmo, and now it appears he is backtracking. I thought, at least, when it came to foreign policy actions, Obama would be straight forward, but alas, that does not seem to be so.

Of all the defining practices and policies of the Bush administration which the Obama administration has already enthusiastically embraced -- and they're piling up so quickly, it's becoming difficult to keep track -- one of the most disturbing is the Obama administration's press management approach. The administration is singling out particularly supportive journalists to whom they anonymously leak purely favorable pro-administration spin; giving access to others who are have a history of such sycophantic behavior that they predictably produce profiles so one-sided and glowing that even People Magazine would be embarrassed to publish it; and -- worst of all -- they are systematically hiding behind anonymity to disseminate their claims in order to evade accountability, the exact opposite of the "transparency" Obama continuously promised (read David Cay Johnston's superb account of dealing with the Obama White House Press Office to see what a real journalist -- as opposed to one desperately jockeying to serve the White House in exchange for favored access status -- does when faced with baseless demands from administration officials for anonymity and off-the-record chatter).

I, personally, think the faulty guidance that Obama is getting stems directly from Rahm Emanuel, whom we all know did such a fantastic job as chair of the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee (DCCC) [cough cough], and how he butted heads with Howard Dean's 50 state strategy. If Dean had not been so singularly focused on the 50 state strategy, and Rahm had his way, the Republicans would still be in power, and McCain would most likely be the current president. And this is whom Obama has chosen to be his White House Chief of Staff? The man who has not been right on anything for the past four years, and Obama is taking advice from him?

That's not to say that I have one shred of evidence at this point in time, but given Emanuel's track record, given the theme of Obama's campaign, "change" and Obama's promise to run the government differently, I am having a hard time in distinguishing the "difference" between Obama and Bush, outside of the fact that Obama can put together complete sentences. The advice being given to Obama is not in the best interests of this country, and although the polls still are pulling in Obama's direction, he's going to go down, and hard.

The stimulus package is too weak, the Republicans are thumbing their noses at him, the TARP money is not working, and is simply being pocketed by the rich, unemployment is through the roof, and it looks more and more like our men and women in uniform will still be fighting imaginary bogey men/women while our country drops faster than a sinkhole into a full blown depression. The only thing that is remarkably different in this scenario than with the 1930's is that the world, as a whole, is financially sinking as well.

Perhaps this is what is truly meant by Armageddon.

Evidence? What Evidence? Files, Files, Who Has The Files?

I am very dismayed over what I am reading of late concerning the lack of files on the Gitmo detainees.

As any practicing attorney knows, whether the work is civil, criminal or transactional, there are files. Files are necessary, and indeed, crucial. Files can be stored on computers, can be hard copies bound in legal folders, or stored on disks or flash drives. And physical evidence is generally stored in boxes, bags or other containers, and tagged and logged.

The Bush Administration has been housing approximately 245 human beings at Gitmo, claiming the "evidence" is clear and convincing that these human beings are a threat to society as a whole, for the entire planet, and that in the end, the American Government will prove their guilt and justify their detention.

Um ... maybe not. Per Hilzoy over at The Washington Monthly:

Imagine my surprise, then, when I found the following, on p. 3 note: OMC-P is "Office of Military Commissions -- Prosecutions"; CITF is "Criminal Investigative Task Force"):

"7. It is important to understand that the "case files" compiled at OMC-P or developed by CITF are nothing like the investigation and case files assembled by civilian police agencies and prosecution offices, which typically follow a standardized format, include initial reports of investigation, subsequent reports compiled by investigators, and the like. Similarly, neither OMC-P nor CITF maintained any central repository for case files, any method for cataloguing and storing physical evidence, or any other system for assembling a potential case into a readily intelligible format that is the sine qua non of a successful prosecution. While no experienced prosecutor, much less one who had performed his or her duties in the fog of war, would expect that potential war crimes would be presented, at least initially, in "tidy little packages," at the time I inherited the Jawad case, Mr. Jawad had been in U.S. custody for approximately five years. It seemed reasonable to expect at the very least that after such a lengthy period of time, all available evidence would have been collected, catalogued, systemized, and evaluated thoroughly -- particularly since the suspect had been imprisoned throughout the entire time the case should have been undergoing preparation.

8. Instead, to the shock of my professional sensibilities, I discovered that the evidence, such as it was, remained scattered throughout an incomprehensible labyrinth of databases primarily under the control of CITF, or strewn throughout the prosecution offices in desk drawers, bookcases packed with vaguely-labeled plastic containers, or even simply piled on the tops of desks vacated by prosecutors who had departed the Commissions for other assignments. I further discovered that most physical evidence that had been collected had either disappeared or had been stored in locations that no one with any tenure at, or institutional knowledge of, the Commissions could identify with any degree of specificity or certainty. The state of disarray was so extensive that I later learned, as described below, that crucial physical evidence and other documents relevant to both the prosecution and the defense had been tossed into a locker located at Guantanamo and promptly forgotten. Although it took me a number of months -- so extensive was the lack of any discernable organization, and so difficult was it for me to accept that the US military could have failed so miserably in six years of effort -- I began to entertain my first, developing doubts about the propriety of attempting to prosecute Mr. Jawad without any assurance that through the exercise of due diligence I could collect and organize the evidence in a manner that would meet our common professional obligations."

You cannot prosecute without evidence, and you cannot have evidence without files. It is patently obvious why the Bush Administration dragged their collective feet these past eight years and refused to prosecute the Gitmo detainees. There is no evidence.

Happy New Year - Gaza Death Toll Tops 400

Time for me to weigh in on Israel's war against the Palestinians in the Gaza strip.

I am clearly not a supporter of Israel's government leaders' claim of an inherent right to bomb the crap out of everyone and anyone (meaning Arabs) that sneeze in their direction, especially when you factor into the equation that Israel has nuclear bombs. It's been written up a lot that the Israeli citizens are not, by a majority, behind the actions of their government, and would prefer a peace with the Palestinians, and many are in favor of a combined state that accepts both groups. But since the hardliners (much like our Bushies) are in control, it's war, war, war, with anyone that talks about peace, and nothing short of annihilating the Palestinians is acceptable to the Israeli government.

The world does not support Israeli aggression, but because the only real ally of Israel is America (which also has nuclear weapons) most countries cannot do anything. But, sooner or later, Israel will be held accountable, most likely by the rest of the Arab world that surrounds it. After all, the fear of the United States is waning in the Middle East, and let's not forget that both Pakistan and India have nuclear weapons.

It disgusts me that the politics of Israel is no compromise with Palestine, and it's just kill, kill, steal land, kill, kill, steal land, etc.

Rememberance Of The Innocent Who Died Today

Please check out this CNN site that has been dedicated to the memories of all who died that day.

P.S. Word to the still uninformed - Iraq had nothing to do with 9/11. Here's a list from the U.S. Customs and Border Protection of the Saudis that were flown out of America right after 9/11, despite the grounding of air traffic -- and with the complete support of the Bush Administration.

It was the Saudis that hit us, it was the Saudis that hate us, and it was the Saudis that started the jihad against this country.

Get real, get educated, and vote responsibly this year.

Greenwald's Take On The Ivins/Anthrax Disconnect

When you add on to that the magnitude of this case and the ample reasons for error and deceit -- it's the first lethal bioterrorism attack on the U.S., one which, according to the Government itself, originated at a U.S. Government facility, perpetrated by a U.S. Army scientist, that was then used by numerous factions inside the Government and out to ratchet up fear levels and falsely blame Iraq and/or Al Qaeda for the attacks and, thereafter, was blamed on someone who appears to have been completely innocent -- what minimally rational person would be willing to assume that the Government's uncorroborated, unexamined, untested claims are accurate? ...

Ouch.

More, here.

Someone, Please, Smack Some Sense Into Zimbabwe

Not a good time to be a Zimbabwe'an.

The soldiers and ruling party militiamen herded the people of Rusape to an open field at the back of the local sports club and made their point crystal clear.

"Your vote is your bullet," a soldier told the terrified crowd.

Everyone knew what he meant.

UPDATE: Rival Out Of Race

JOHANNESBURG — The leader of Zimbabwe’s opposition party withdrew Sunday from a presidential runoff, just five days before it was to be held, saying he could neither participate “in this violent, illegitimate sham of an election process,” nor ask his voters to risk their lives in the face of threats from forces backing President Robert Mugabe.

Golly, Gee, We DID Use White Phosphorous In Fallujah! My Bad!

FALLUJAH, Jun 12 (IPS) - Babies born in Fallujah are showing illnesses and deformities on a scale never seen before, doctors and residents say.

The new cases, and the number of deaths among children, have risen after "special weaponry" was used in the two massive bombing campaigns in Fallujah in 2004.

After denying it at first, the Pentagon admitted in November 2005 that white phosphorous, a restricted incendiary weapon, was used a year earlier in Fallujah.

Just reconfirming what we in the real world knew, oh, about three years ago. Emphasis added by me.



Falluja pictures.

SCOTUS Rips Another One Against Bush Policies

Our political and media elite were more than willing -- they were eager -- to relinquish that right to the President in the name of keeping us Safe from Terrorists. Today, the U.S. Supreme Court, in what will be one of the most celebrated landmark rulings of this generation, re-instated that basic right, and in so doing, restored one of the most critical safeguards against the very tyranny this country was founded to prevent.

Glenn Greenwald's take. I can never say most political commentary as well as Greenwald. Read the whole article.

For the third time, the Supreme Court has not backed the Bush administration's claims with respect to how they handle supposed terrorists. Thank goodness the Constitution prevailed in this decision. Shame on you congressmen for even voting to eliminate habeas corpus in the name of security. This country could benefit from reinstating civics classes in school, and remind people what a true democracy is supposed to be like.

TrackingTransience

Hasan Elahi whips out his Samsung Pocket PC phone and shows me how he's keeping himself out of Guantanamo. He swivels the camera lens around and snaps a picture of the Manhattan Starbucks where we're drinking coffee. Then he squints and pecks at the phone's touchscreen. "OK! It's uploading now," says the cheery, 35-year-old artist and Rutgers professor, whose bleached-blond hair complements his fluorescent-green pants. "It'll go public in a few seconds." Sure enough, a moment later the shot appears on the front page of his Web site, TrackingTransience.net.

There are already tons of pictures there. Elahi will post about a hundred today — the rooms he sat in, the food he ate, the coffeese ordered. Poke around his site and you'll find more than 20,000 images stretching back three years. Elahi has documented nearly every waking hour of his life during that time. He posts copies of every debit card transaction, so you can see what he bought, where, and when. A GPS device in his pocket reports his real-time physical location on a map.

Elahi's site is the perfect alibi. Or an audacious art project. Or both. The Bangladeshi-born American says the US government mistakenly listed him on its terrorist watch list — and once you're on, it's hard to get off. To convince the Feds of his innocence, Elahi has made his life an open book.

Whenever they want, officials can go to his site and see where he is and what he's doing. Indeed, his server logs show hits from the Pentagon, the Secretary of Defense, and the Executive Office of the President, among others.

This is a must read, not only for its sad poignancy, but for reality of today's minorities, and how one target pokes fun at his tragic situation.

Miami Stupid Six Terrorist Mistrial

MIAMI — A federal judge declared a mistrial on Wednesday in the case of six Miami men charged with plotting to blow up the Sears Tower in Chicago as part of an Islamic jihad.

Tell me, again, how many people has this administration convicted of terrorism?

UPDATE: Oh my goodness! The Bush Administration is going to try them A THIRD TIME!

MIAMI -- Despite two mistrials, federal prosecutors said Wednesday they will try a third time to convict six men accused of scheming with al-Qaida to bomb the Sears Tower in Chicago, the FBI office in Miami and other federal buildings in several cities.

Narseal Batiste, Patrick Abraham, Stanley Grant Phanor, Naudimar Herrera, Burson Agustin and Rotschild Augustine will stand trial for the third time in the so-called trial of the "Liberty City Seven." Luglenson Lemorin was acquitted in December, when the first trial ended in a mistrial.

"In referring to America, Mr. Batiste said on tape he wanted to kill all the American devils," assistant U.S. attorney Richard Gregorie said. "In light of this, we plan to proceed with another trial."