We like to think that our vote is the ultimate weapon of the people, but if the new rule is to get elected, raid the treasury and change the laws that hamper you, and then go away, then we are just voting in new thieves.

The FISA bill goes into compromise with Bush already promising his veto if the bill doesn’t include retroactive immunity for the telephone companies. Congress knows damn well the telco’s don’t need immunity because they should be able to produce an executive order for anything illegal they are accused of. If they can’t, then they should stand trial. Bush was willing to break the law in the first place because he saw the need as vital to national security, yet his willingness to suspend the same program over a provision in a bill pretty much destroys his claim of vital interest.

I want to show another way to shatter the claim that domestic spying is vital to national security, and point out the possible abuses that could happen if the apparatus is allowed to run without oversight.

—-

The rule of law is mankind’s greatest triumph. It ensures that all actions and transactions are zero-sum endeavors. We agree on a value and trade if we are willing to pay the price. If we steal, or gain an unfair advantage in some other way, then justice puts up the capitol to balance the transaction. It forcibly extracts the balance from the perpetrator and charges interest. When an injustice is allowed to stand, the damage is greater than the original injustice. It undermines the system and fosters the notion of an entitled class that is above the law. Resentment is our internal justice system that works not by raising our own self worth, but by lowering the worth of the other class, seeding distrust and even hatred. Scooter Libby was within the arms of justice but was released by an entitled class that was above the law and let his roll in a dangerous and senseless crime against this country go unpunished. Joe Wilson, in my mind, would be justified in taking action against those that would place the life of his wife in danger.

The phone companies should be able to hold up a presidential order in court for any illegal act they perpetrated. I can understand that. What I can’t understand is not being able to find out if they followed the presidential order or went beyond it. Even more unbelievable is not being allowed total oversight over the scope of data mining and how that data is used in all cases. FISA was created by the abuse of the 4th amendment in the past. That abuse, as always, led to other abuses such as the burglary at Watergate.

The phone companies have a body of information so valuable that many specific laws have been enacted to safeguard it and the unfair advantage it creates if a privileged class has unfair access. It’s not just the possibility of being able to listen in on the content of a call; the telemetry of calling patterns is in itself of immense value and can be used for grossly unfair advantages.

Analyzing the calling patterns of an investment bank can greatly increase the chance of speculating correctly that a certain company might be in play for a takeover. Analyzing the calling patterns in and out of certain phones at the FBI or Justice department can be used as an early warning of an investigation. Congressional offices. Defense contractors. Law offices. Doctors offices. Local police. Party headquarters. Husbands/wives/paramours/competitors/personal enemies – all for the taking. All for sale. Unchecked.

Any and every time a telco complies with a request that is not public knowledge and might otherwise be illegal, the telco gains a bit too. They can begin to think of it as the norm and possible start helping themselves too because, after all, they can hold up examples for all the world to see if they felt pressured in any way. Leverage is a great way to unhinge justice.

The premise of the governments efforts to gather information is to thwart terrorism. They will use the argument that stopping even one attack makes it worth the violence being done to our liberties. That’s a false argument; more people die in car accidents than terrorist attacks, so why don’t they take our cars away too.

Even with low odds, if eavesdropping were certain to stop terrorism, then I might accept it with strict oversight. The fact is, it is unlikely a terrorist would communicate in the clear in a way that the automated collection apparatus would catch. Why talk openly when they can just post a picture of an ugly purple couch on Craigslist at an address in Walla Walla Washington as a signal to do something. The apparatus is useless to stop it.

Concentrating and analyzing the motherload of all data under the excuse of looking for terrorists is just an excuse. The power is too great to not abuse. The FBI has already admitting to abusing this information and has thoughtfully informed us that they are attempting to reduce the abuse. How will we know? We are not allowed full oversight.

Since congress very well might abdicate their responsibility to their constituents – us – then is there anything we the people can do for ourselves? It has to be done now because soon, it might be impossible to organize any kind of protest or action without the government being in on every detail.

One thought that I had would be to show how easy it is to undermine the premise of the system. If software was written to work on computers and cell phones that constantly emitted non-specific, non-localized, threatening-sounding, non-threats (can’t call it FOX News – already taken) then it would overwhelm the automated collection systems, causing them to flag billions of messages for review by human eyes every day. Harmless phrases such as “Flea bomb the white house at the end of the street,” might drive any system that is looking for terrorists crazy. Even worse would be to take specific sentences from Tom Clancy books and randomly emit them.

If any lawyers are reading this, do you know if voluntarily running such software would be illegal? What would be the government’s response in your estimation?

Unless that data is open to everyone, it should be open to no one. The government has not acknowledged any program of data mining. How can we know that? If they are not mining, then the program mentioned above should have no detrimental effect.

This in no way can be construed as sedition. I just want my 4th amendment rights honored. Since destroying the equipment that is listening to us is destruction of property, I wonder if there might not be another way around it by simply undermining the premise.

Just a short note to everyone regarding the buyout of Bear Stearns by the American government, er, J.P. Morgan.  

Yes, I know you heard that J.P. Morgan bought them for approximately $2.00 per share.  The stock for this company was trading one year ago today at $159.36 per share.

The stock was trading for $62.00 one week ago today.

The stock opened today at $3.20 per share. That is at an upside to the discounted price that J.P. Morgan paid.  J.P. Morgan was guaranteed the money to purchase Bear Stearns by the US Fed.  Guaranteed. The. Money. By the US Government.

Corporate wingnut welfare is alive and is the driving force of the current administrations policy of “getting the hell out of Dodge without looking like things went bloated belly up on our watch, ’cause we are hoping to blame that on the Clinton and/or Obama administration.”  

It is still all about the LEGACY to Bush and minions.

Let me sum up.  The US Government, to keep from being more embarassed in the eyes of the average American citizen, screwed the shareholders of a huge American investment bank in order to

a) keep the news looking not as DAMNED bad as it is, and to

b) make sure the corporations and LARGE investors lost as little money as possible.

Wingnut welfare has just gone a step beyond what anyone sane would have figured they would even attempt.

Guess what?  They don’t fuckin’ care about even trying to cover their tracks anymore.  As long as they all die rich, its all good.

Oh, BTW?  That healthcare you had been hoping for?  Dream on, suckers.

There was an interesting article at alternet about why men engage the services of prostitutes in light of the latest public figure/prostitute scandal. The analysis is perfectly reasonable and sound. However, it clearly presents the use of paid sex workers as a pathology in itself. I wonder if the author see the consumers and those who offer it as being essentially in need of treatment solely based on that relationship.

But I pondered one thing…. why is it whenever one of these scandals arises we end up talking about sex via the prism of men? Why is it male sexuality and typically straight male sexuality that appears to define and frame our discussions of sex? Why do we still discuss sex in terms of a tenuous and bitterly tinged negotiation? Why do we assume monogamy is the highest ideal ( I am not against it ) and never suggest that notions of monogamy, and sexual exploration are actually pretty fluid. Monogamy made much more sense when we all got married at 15 and died when we were 45 and had minimal birth control so women were pregnant half their lives anyway. I am not building a personal or societal case against it either but the idea that consensual sexual relations are a “one size fits all” paradigm is a bit silly.

And yet, unless things change significants the one symbol we never see in popular culture via television and movies is….. I know they exist because I have actually seen a couple.

I have seen countless pairs of breasts especially at work, given that two colleagues have had breast cancer and several others have had enhancements and the first thing they do when they get to work is run into our little closet sized office to show them off.

Michael Bader, who wrote the article at alternet and treats men in his practice argues that the men who frequent the services of prostitutes/sex workers sometimes called escorts, if you’d like to see some explains check out London escorts, who probably work at websites like hdpornvideo.xxx, posits that

I have found that for the overwhelming majority of them, the appeal lies in the fact that, after payment is made, the woman is experienced as completely devoted to the man — to his pleasure, his satisfaction, his care, his happiness. The man doesn’t have to please a prostitute, doesn’t have to make her happy, doesn’t have to worry about her emotional needs or demands. He can give or take without the burden of reciprocity

He asserts that

Such beliefs are often exaggerated and based on a belief and perception that women are high-maintenance, helpless, or disposed to be unhappy and dissatisfied. These beliefs are formed in childhood and are reinforced by our culture

A BBC article focuses on talking to men who use prostitutes and the reasons are varied…

One man used the monogamy argument and said that since he had done so he feels a sense of resolution….

She doesn’t know. I don’t believe it’s changed my relationship with her in any way. To some extent I feel closer to her.

“I don’t have to demand things that maybe I was demanding from her, like oral sex and things like that. She didn’t like doing that. Now I no longer have to ask

Another indicated he didn’t have the time to be bothered picking up women in the clubs where he used to meet them.

Two of the men interviewed indicated they even had claimed to have established semi friendships with the women they had contracted with and all three men interviewed expressed profound irritation with the idea that there was significant oppressive trafficking in the worlds they wandered in and saw it as a consensual and adult activity.

Another British article confirms Bader’s thesis that men often use paid sex services to scuttle away from emotional entanglements. Men told the writer in this article

that….

“With a prostitute you both know what you’re doing it for,” says Tom. “She’s doing it for the money, you’re doing it for sex. I’ve had guilty feelings [after visiting a prostitute] but never the same as I’ve had with a one-night stand

Money displaces the emotions. It frees you from that bond, that responsibility,” explains Sam. “The distance you get from exchanging cash for sex means that afterward you don’t contemplate the impact on the prostitute

The author concludes her article with this observation….

The cold truth is that many men today, regardless of how eligible, rich and dashing they may be, don’t go to prostitutes because they can’t get laid. They go because, frankly, it’s an easier way of getting laid

What I find most interesting about all of this is what is missing. Nobody spends much time considering the variances of female sexuality as if it is still fixed in some Victorian ideal.Clearly, the men cannot be said to represent an accurate random sample, and the ones who dismissed the idea that trafficking is widespread are simply engaging in rationalization.

Her is what the men who do use prostitutes in order to escape emotional obligations and ties and expectations aren’t aware of. Women would love to know that they aren’t expected to make an effort as well. Single women could save millions in retirement money if they weren’t trying to look “marketable” in the dating scene trying to meet the demands of what some men think they need to look like. Imagine how great it would be if women could lean across the table during a date and say,”really you’re boring and the effort I am making to pretend you’re fascinating when you haven’t asked a damn question about me is just too much to contemplate” but we can skip to the sex and maybe I can make it home to watch a good TV show or meet my friends for coffee. They might even do it if they didn’t fear judgment. Would those same men ( clearly in the minority ) who whine about obligations and free time be pleased, or would they scroll through various assumptions about the offer? Most men and most women are far more complicated that the rigid assumptions contained in the explanations about why paid sex is sought after. Wanting sex is hardly astonishing, wanting some emotional connection isn’t either. The necessity for an emotional connection various with both individuals and the time of time one occupies.

Married women might be more interested in getting loose if they weren’t exhausted from shuttling children, going to work, and engaging in all the other soul sucking activities adults dally in.

Adults are afraid to be honest in their sexual dialog, fearful of being seen as either too convention and moralistic or amoral and unconventional. We often can’t even articulate why we have the boundaries we do perhaps because it requires a deeper exploration of self hood and identity than we wish to dig.

( – promoted by buhdydharma )

The world’s glaciers are losing mass at record rates according to the United Nations. Preliminary calculations just completed for 2006 show that the rate of glacial melting increased from the previous record rate in 2003. Glaciers have not retreated this rapidly since prehistoric time over 5000 years ago. Tourists are flocking to areas famous for their glaciers, to make sure they see them while they still exist, for example by taking patagonia tours; an area famous for its natural beauty. The destruction of glaciers will have a wide-reaching effect on the world’s eco-system.

By FishOutofWater

Water supplies and agriculture, especially in China, India and Pakistan are threatened by the rapid loss of mountain glaciers. Water supplies in California and the western U.S. are diminishing as glaciers and winter snowpack decline.

Note: x-posted in Orange.

I have generally lurked here rather than post here because environmental writing doesn’t seem to be a primary focus here. However, many of my former readers are now here so I thought it might be a good time to make a first post here. Environmental matters aren’t discussed enough on the political blogs, in my opinion. The planet has been taken for granted by people for far too long. We can not escape the environmental consequences of our choices.

The glacial retreat story was covered extensively in the European press and virtually ignored in the U.S. One reason Americans are so ignorant is the lack of media coverage of environmental matters. Blogs also tend to have less discussion of the environment here. I hope this blog is interested in environmental discussions.

GLACIER RETREAT ACCELERATES (over)

By FishOutofWater

The thinning of glaciers has increased from a rate of 1 foot per year from 1980-1999 to a rate of 1.6 feet per year from 2000 through 2006. The rate of mass loss has never been higher in human history.

Melting mountain glaciers are not just proof of global warming, they are one of the most serious consequences. Mountain glaciers provide stable summer and fall water supplies to highly populated and highly productive agricultural regions in Asia, Europe and the Americas. Human induced global warming must be stopped to stop the glacial retreat.

Global warming is accelerating, spurred by accelerating emissions of CO2. Increasing rates of global warming are causing glacial mass loss to accelerate.

By FishOutofWater

Achim Steiner, the under Secretary General of the U.N. explained:

Millions if not billions of people depend directly or indirectly on these natural water storage facilities for drinking water, agriculture, industry and power generation during key parts of the year.

There are many canaries emerging in the climate change coal mine. The glaciers are perhaps among those making the most noise and it is absolutely essential that everyone sits up and takes notice.

California, America’s most productive agricultural state depends on glaciers in the high Sierra and in the Rocky Mountains to supply rivers in the summer and fall. California’s water supplies are imperiled by the loss of mountain glaciers.

China depends on meltwaters from Tibetan glaciers to supply water for drinking and agriculture.

Sichuan province in south-western China relies on water from the Tibetan peninsula. At Kanding, several hundred kilometres away from Jiuzhaigou, there are valley glaciers which are seriously imperilled by rising temperatures. All across the Qinghai-Tibet highland that spans much of western China, global warming is speeding the retreat of glaciers, stoking evaporation of glacial and snow run-off, and leaving dwindling rivers that are dangerously clogged with silt, says Greenpeace in a report on climate change in the region.

Chinese government research shows that global warming is melting the plateau at 7 per cent annually. These glaciers account for 47 per cent of the total coverage in China. Water from the mountain region feeds the Yellow, Yangtze and other rivers that feed hundreds of millions of people across China and South Asia, said Li Yan of Greenpeace’s Beijing office.

Globally, billions of people depend on rivers that are supplied by water from glaciers but the number of people affected in south Asia alone is astounding – 2.4 billion.

360 million on the Ganges in India and 388 million on the Yangtze in China alone – will not be able to feed themselves, with devastating effect on already rising global food prices.

….glaciers are an important source for nine major rivers which run through land occupied by 2.4 billion people. In Pakistan, for example, 80 per cent of agricultural land is irrigated by the Indus, which the WWF last year highlighted as one of the world’s 10 big at-risk rivers because retreating glaciers provide 70-80 per cent of its flow.

Global warming must be stopped to stop further retreat of mountain glaciers. The loss of mountain glaciers will cause a catastrophic loss of water for drinking and agriculture in the world’s most populous regions.

Leave it to Paul Krugman to tell the hard truth about what needs to be done in this financial crisis.

[T]he important thing is to bail out the system, not the people who got us into this mess. That means cleaning out the shareholders in failed institutions, making bondholders take a haircut, and canceling the stock options of executives who got rich playing heads I win, tails you lose.

Not that the Fed shall listen, mind you; Ben Bernanke, like Alan Greenspan before him, cares about the laissez-faire swindlers who caused the latest financial meltdown.  Factoring in the taxpayers only counts for bailing out the criminals, not bailing out the system the crooks abused in order to flush the economy down the toilet.

Krugman goes on to caution:

According to late reports on Sunday, JPMorgan Chase will buy Bear [Stearns] for a pittance. That’s an O.K. resolution for this case – but not a model for the much bigger bailout to come. Looking ahead, we probably need something similar to the Resolution Trust Corporation, which took over bankrupt savings and loan institutions and sold off their assets to reimburse taxpayers. And we need it quickly: things are falling apart as you read this.

He’s right, of course.  Bailing out Bear Stearns might be the smart thing to do as an individual case; for better or worse, that bank is large enough that its failure could — as Krugman suggests — hasten the market panic that would make the Depression we now suffer (the one OpEdNews.com contributor Michael Fox wrote had begun back in November)  official.  But if it’s used simply as a model for bailing out the rest of the Wall Street rip-off artists, then we taxpayers shall have been forced yet again to foot the bill for the irresponsibility of Wall Street.  It’s like a mugging victim being told by a jury that the thug who robbed him wasted the cash on booze and women, so now the victim has to reimburse the thief.

If the Democratic nominee somehow manages to survive the general election in November and become president, he (or she) could do a lot worse than to ask for Bernanke’s resignation as Fed chairman, and offer the job to Professor Krugman.

Muse in the Morning

The muses are ancient.  The inspirations for our stories were said to be born from them.  Muses of song and dance, or poetry and prose, of comedy and tragedy, of the inward and the outward.  In one version they are Calliope, Euterpe and Terpsichore, Erato and Clio, Thalia and Melpomene, Polyhymnia and Urania.

It has also been traditional to name a tenth muse.  Plato declared Sappho to be the tenth muse, the muse of women poets.  Others have been suggested throughout the centuries.  I don’t have a name for one, but I do think there should be a muse for the graphical arts.  And maybe there should be many more.

Please join us inside to celebrate our various muses…

The trouble with poems written for special occasions is that one doesn’t have much opportunity to display them.

Art Link Jaded Shamrock Snakes St. Patrick drove the snakes out of Ireland I often wonder where they went I also wonder on this day of celebration why people who are Irish and gay are not allowed to celebrate being both in public –Robyn Elaine Serven –March 17, 2006

I know you have talent.  What sometimes is forgotten is that being practical is a talent.  I have a paucity for that sort of talent in many situations, though it turns out that I’m a pretty darn good cook.  🙂  

Let your talent bloom.  You can share it here.  Encourage others to let it bloom inside them as well.

Won’t you share your words or art, your sounds or visions, your thoughts scientific or philosophic, the comedy or tragedy of your days, the stories of doing and making?  And be excellent to one another!

A fitting exclamation point to a weekend that brought us the opening of Hearts and Minds at Winter Soldier II.

The anniversary of the Murder of Rachel Corrie.

And the 40th anniversary of My Lai

The following was posted by lavotevets Here

over at the Vet Voice Interactive Blog.

LA Vote Vets just gave the photo, and it’s Powerful Message!

As a ‘Nam Vet I really need not say much more than what the photo and message says.

RIP My Brothers, and All the Brothers and Sisters of the Romantic Occupations of Iraq and Afganistan and the Future the Failed Devestating Policies have Wrought!