Daily Kos

As author George Orwell wrote in Reflections on Gandhi, "Saints should always be judged guilty until they are proved innocent." The faithful, meanwhile, have to deal with reality.

See reader comments in the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette

Contraception

The Obama administration is instituting a policy requiring health insurance plans to offer birth control to women free of charge. That includes plans provided by Catholic hospitals, universities and charities. As you might expect, church leaders and social conservatives are not happy.

I'm running out of steam but trying trying hard with number 43 in my Flickr 200 project.

Today's was Autumn on Van Cortlandt Lake.

I may have set a record for photo comment though -

Outside of sunset views from my window, this tree has been my primary photographic subject. I guess everyone has a favorite and repeated composition. Probably for most photographers it is a view that is very close to home. This favorite close to home subject of mine has become my personal photography study. In the six years since I took up photography I've probably taken over a thousand photos of this same tree and the portal it frames of a peaceful lake.

As often as I walk there it is still hard to believe that this a view of an urban lake. A bit more impressive is the fact that this lake is in the largest and most populated city in the United States. Really impressive is the name of the nearest street, this lake and this most favorite portal of mine is just off Broadway. Oh sure it is about twelve miles north of "Phantom of the Opera" and at the very last stop on the Broadway local but I still like to think of the view as the northernmost point of the Great White Way.

This tree once stood beside the New York and Putnam Railroad that has come and gone. For many years when "The Vanny" was a rowboat lake, friends and couples used the tree for purchase as a means to pull themselves up from the water and explore the nature of the other side of the lake. I've witnessed that the topside of the trunk of the tree has not had bark for generations. Initials have been carved and then worn smooth by others who had rested on this lake side tree. Now with the railroad gone, the tree leans away from the bicyclist, hikers, joggers and cross country skiers who enjoy the nature of the "Old Putnam Trail."

I've studied this old stressed tree in every season and from every angle. For six years I've used this tree as a shady background for the swans, geese and ducks who gather there for the bread and popcorn that many people bring. I've taken snapshots of fisherman leaning on the tree or showing off their prized catch. I've gotten picnicking lovers to pose under the shads of the tree and taken candids of the many couples. I have photos of youngsters skimming stones from under the tree and often talked crowds of young people to pose by the tree as they enjoy a day at the lake.

But my primary composition is this portal view that frames a peninsula where I often enjoy taking nature walks. In the foreground there are often waterbirds to make it interesting and behind the peninsula is the entrance to the oldest public golf course in America. I've captured this same view during every stage of autumn, at the first frost, covered in snow and ice, taken pictures when the background understory shows the first signs of green, the sprouting fresh tree leaves of spring, the bright green of April going over to the warmer greens of May. I've captured this tree, that I've been told is a Catalpa, decorated with white flowers standing over sweet pepper bush and covered with wilting bean pods standing above the goldenrod.

The following year I start all over again, keep running that play until I get it right. Somewhere along the line, I began to identify with this old tree.

Do you have a favorite and repeated composition that you would like to share?

He was supposedly sick with bronchitis recently but returned to his show earlier this week looking healthy. But now he's been gone for the past few days again. And he's had an awful lot of guest hosts since the new version of Countdown got launched on Current TV last year. Is he being a pompous ass who shows up when he feels like it to express his anger with his new bosses (with whom he apparently is bickering with already), or is there another reason he's so often missing from his own show? Between the awful production values on Current TV, my already spending enough time watching Rachel and Lawrence every night, and Keith's apparent petulance, I'm thinking of forgetting about Countdown. It offers very little to me that similar shows don't at this point (and yes, I know Kos is on it).

like the height of sniperness in the Marine Corps.

I knew guys that got the Scout Sniper symbol tattooed on them back in the late 80s. It has been used for a very long time, it is not new by any stretch of the imagination.

Sometimes dudes even get it branded on them. I honestly don't believe it pays any homage to the German SS.

Unequal Democracy by Larry Bartels (2008) to everyone on this site. I'm reading it tonight for class, and so far it has basically been a mathematical analysis of the past sixty years showing why everyone should vote for democrats. It explores income inequality, and it paints an excellent picture for the left.

Democratic presidents have routinely used these [honeymoon] periods to produce vibrant economic growth for families in every part of the income distribution; in contrast, Republicans have routinely presided over economic contractions and declining incomes for middle-class and poor families.

Vile and contrary to everything that Marines and other American armed forces have fought and died for.

Court-martial every last mother's son of 'em......

Uh would you believe the flag was accidentally hung upside down?

New York Times - February 8, 2012

SEATTLE — Washington was poised Wednesday to become the seventh state to allow same-sex couples to marry after the State House gave final passage to such a bill. Gov. Christine Gregoire promised to sign it.

The governor is expected to do just that as soon as next week, but it is not likely to take immediate effect. Under state law, if opponents gather 120,000 signatures, the measure will be put to a public referendum before it can be enacted.

that is positively disgusting. Repugnant. Vomit-inducing.

The glorification or our military and our militaristic fetish in this country would be enough to give the Kaiser (either of them, German or Austrian) a wet dream.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/...

Rep. Bachus faces insider-trading investigation

The Office of Congressional Ethics is investigating the chairman of the House Financial Services Committee over possible violations of insider-trading laws, according to individuals familiar with the case.

Rep. Spencer Bachus (R-Ala.), who holds one of the most influential positions in the House, has been a frequent trader on Capitol Hill, buying stock options while overseeing the nation’s banking and financial services industries.

The Office of Congressional Ethics, an independent investigative agency, opened its probe late last year after focusing on numerous suspicious trades on Bachus’s annual financial disclosure forms, the individuals said. OCE investigators have notified Bachus that he is under investigation and that they have found probable cause to believe insider-trading violations have occurred.

4 and about 18 years old......I agree.

Marines -- and I sure as hell don't buy the "didn't know the historical signifcance crap" -- but I do find it very odd that big bad brave men who can piss on dead bodies, show the standard of a bunch of genocidal maniacs, were the ones most afraid of gays/lesbians joining them openly -- in combat.

The Marines themselves better control their brethern because the stink is getting stronger.

never been super hyped on the WOOO I'M A MARINE thing (not while I was in, and not after I got out) ...

but all these snipers lately are making me EXCEEDINGLY glad I got out. Embarrassing. I don't care if they've been doing it for years ... there wasn't a single person who said "damn, guys, maybe we should pick another font"? Not ONE?

Those are not SS runes. SS runes have longer vertical lines and the crossbar is slanted not horizontal. The SS on the sniper flag are the same style as the KISS logo (http://www.kissonline.com/)

I'm willing to chalk this up to ignorance rather than some NeoNazi subculture in the Corps.

speech to CPAC tomorrow night:

Je suis plus conservative que vous, mon petites fromages!

This is an open thread, so I am going to bring up the three hundred pound elephant in the room that no one is talking about, at least not here.

With reports of Iran threatening to shut down the straights and Israel suggesting attacks, it would seem that the issue deserves at least a few pixels.

Reuters has an article...

PARIS/TEHRAN (Reuters) - Iran is turning to barter - offering gold bullion in overseas vaults or tankerloads of oil - in return for food as new financial sanctions have hurt its ability to import basic staples for its 74 million people, commodities traders said Thursday.

Iranian officials deny that sanctions are having a serious economic impact, while also saying that their people are willing to endure any hardship in support of the country's sovereign right to nuclear technology.
Officials in Israel, Iran's arch foe, openly say time is running out for air strikes to destroy the nuclear program if sanctions do not persuade Tehran to back down.
Iran's parliamentary election on March 2 will be its first vote since a presidential vote in 2009, when Ahmadinejad's disputed re-election against a reformist opponent triggered eight months of violent street demonstrations.
The Iranian government successfully put that uprising down by force, but since then the "Arab Spring" has revealed the vulnerability of authoritarian states in the region to popular anger fuelled by economic hardship.
Reformists are barely represented in next month's election, having been barred from standing or declaring boycotts. The vote will be hotly contested between Ahmadinejad's supporters and conservative opponents who blame him for economic disarray.
Children of Iranian opposition leaders called on the international community to help their voices reach the rest of the world, opposition leader Mirhossein Mousavi's website Kaleme reported Wednesday.
Reformists are planning a rally next week, which could be a rare test of whether the soaring food prices are increasing anger on the streets.

But one last quote.

Rahul Khullar, trade secretary of India, one of Iran's main trade partners, said: "If the EU and the U.S. both want to stop exports to that country, please tell me why I should follow suit? Why shouldn't I take up that business opportunity?"

Oh, one last quoted (just read the whole article for crying out loud), because it will tell us a lot about the Republicans.

Iran faces a bigger challenge if U.S. lawmakers pass sanctions on its main tanker group, the privately run National Iranian Tanker Company (NITC) with a fleet of 40 tankers, or on the state-owned National Iranian Oil Company.

We need to talk about this folks.

before you get shit tattooed on yer hide, you sure as fuck better research what that ink will mean once it's embedded in your flesh. Oh, and I'm hosting WYFP this weekend.... or something.

Remembering.

can not come soon enough.

Bill McKibben posted here the other day, but here is a followup from him.

We've spent the last 36 hours talking with all kinds of our 350.org friends in the Maldives. The situation changes frequently, but its basic outlines are clear: our ally President Nasheed was forced at gunpoint to resign in what seems to be a coup carried out by police forces. Several of his aides and associates have been hospitalized after beatings, and an arrest warrant has been issued for Nasheed -- with one official for the new government promising that he will spend the rest of his life in prison.

was that the SS looked like the SS in the KISS band's logo. SS for "Scout Sniper" certainly made sense to me.

I guess they should have used a different font.

I hope not. I cannot believe I am seeing this bullshit

NYTimes opinion - Feb. 8, 2012
After he was inaugurated, Mr. Nasheed declared that the Maldives was looking for a new homeland for its doomed population, and he later pledged that the country would be the first to become carbon neutral. A former journalist and longtime human rights activist, he viewed the struggle against climate change itself as a fight for human rights.

[Includes 7 minute video: The Island President Deposed: The filmmaker Jon Shenk presents a portrait of Mohamed Nasheed, the first democratically-elected president of the Maldives and an environmental activist, who was deposed on Feb. 7. (Video also on 350.org.)]

Op-Ed by the former president NYT
The Dregs of Dictatorship
By MOHAMED NASHEED
Published: February 8, 2012

... But the people of those countries should be aware that, long after the revolutions, powerful networks of regime loyalists can remain behind and can attempt to strangle their nascent democracies.

I learned this lesson quickly. My country, the Maldives, voted out President Maumoon Abdul Gayoom, its iron-fisted ruler, back in 2008, in historic elections that swept away three decades of his authoritarian rule. And yet the dictatorship bequeathed to the infant democracy a looted treasury, a ballooning budget deficit and a rotten judiciary.

In response to these issues, my government asked the United Nations to help us investigate judicial abuses and ordered the arrest of Abdulla Mohamed, the chief judge of the criminal court, on charges of protecting the former president and corrupting the judicial system. However, in a dramatic turn of events on Tuesday, the former president’s supporters protested in the streets, and police officers and army personnel loyal to the old government mutinied and forced me, at gunpoint, to resign. To avoid bloodshed, I did so. I believe this to be a coup d’état and suspect that my vice president, who has since been sworn into office, helped to plan it.
...

The Island President - a documentary

San Jose Mayor Used Made-Up Figures to Inflate Pension Risk

In an attempt to whip up antagonism toward firefighters and other public workers, San Jose Mayor Chuck Reed has tossed around a scary estimate of the city's pension obligation -- $650 million.

Turns out the number was something the city just pulled out of its ... hat.

In a stunning investigative report, NBC11 in San Jose revealed that the $650 million estimate used to justify a radical pension rollback was just made up by one city official. The actual estimate of the city's expected pension obligation will likely be only about half as much.

In the report, City Retirement Services Director Russell Crosby admitted that the big scary number used to justify an attack on workers was "a number off the top of my head."

/snip

The emails also revealed that when city officials tried to conduct a formal actuarial estimate, they tried to cook the data to make the problem seem worse. Even then, the figure still came out about a quarter billion dollars below the phony estimate.

Link to the NBC report: http://www.nbcbayarea.com/...

How many civil servants across America have been furloughed, laid off, or had their hours or benefits severely cut based on completely fabricated fraudulent data?

Makes ya wonder...

link so I could see a bigger version) and as far as I can tell, there are no African-Americans in the group, nor Asians. (It's possible that some are Hispanic or American Indian).
In FY 2008, racial make-up for enlisted members of the Marines was 83.2% white, 11.6% Black, 2.3% Asian.
http://prhome.defense.gov/...
so it's entirely possible that it's simply chance that there are no obvious minority members in this group of 10 men.
However, the absence of any identifiable minority member makes me wonder if this SS flag is an indication of the neo-Nazi movement in the military (as I remember, Timothy McVeigh was influenced by neo-Nazis in the military).

The Marine Times article seems to condemn the use of the logo because Marines fought and died in battles against Nazis who identified themselves with this symbol.

The young soldiers probably didn't understand the full meaning of the symbol.

They apparently didn't realize that Marines died and the symbol disrespects their "ultimate sacrifice" [God, how I detest words that glorify death]

It wasn't just because it's racist and anti-Semetic and symbolizes white supremecy and neo-Nazis, it's bad because Marines died.

So the Marine Corps is going to make sure that they educate everyone about the historical meaning of the symbol. Not much said about the current meaning of the symbol.

It would have been just peachy to use that symbol if Marines hadn't died, apparently.

Seriously, I think these guys embarrassed the Marine Corps and weren't punished because of the message at all. The remedy seems to amount to "education" about public displays of racial hatred, not about racial hatred itself.

“We believe that these young men likely did not understand the significance of this symbol, and we call on the Marine Corps to increase education on American history,” he said. “This issue goes beyond one of racism or anti-Semitism. Our fellow Americans fought and died to stop the Nazis, and it is shameful for any member of the military to display the symbols of Nazi Germany.”

The Corps has addressed the use of the SS logo before, however. A PowerPoint presentation posted on a Marine Corps website said it should not be used in any tattoos. The logo was used by German special police during World War II and is still used by neo-Nazis and graffiti to characterize anti-Semitism, white supremacy and facism, according to the presentation.

Now, use of this symbol is against Marine Corps regulations. That much is quite clear. So is the use of gang symbols or Hells Angels tatoos. But yet, the Marine Corps does attract its share of neo-nazis, bloods, crips, gangster disciples, hells angels, MS 13, Latin Kings, and even la cosa nostra. Marines aren't choir boys. Sorry ladies. Most, if not just about all, eventually leave it as youthful indiscretion as they more generally blend in with the MC warrior ethos. Or they get wives, with the Corps encourages.

It is not a court-martial offense. That is way, way over the top. You can beat the shit out of a civilian and not get court-martial. (trust me..i know). NJP is usually how things like this are handled and that is an appropriate level of punishment. The XO will note such a thing in their record in a way that would almost certainly eliminate promotion but allow for honorable discharge on the next re-up.

Finally, the use of the SS symbol among snipers is definitely a tribute to the Waffen SS. Has been for a long time. It isn't that any of the guys who use it are Nazis or even mildly racist. Well, some are. Ive seen black and puerto rican guys under flags like that. But there is definitely an ethos of tribute to the Waffen SS's noted fierceness and discipline in battle. Almost all American troops who encountered the Waffen SS in combat, including the famed 101st airborne, and others, noted that it was the most tenacious and fearless of any division of the Wermacht. There is lot more of that sort of thinking than there is Nazism.

Just thought I'd add a bit of perspective.

Mean to tell us that they don't know what that symbolizes? We don't even give basic military history lessons to our troops? None of those scout snipers had any interest in WWII's European theatre? Thats scary in and of itself.

Who cares if KISS uses something similar. KISS has nothing to do with the military. When anyone sees SS in a military context, they will think of the Schutzstaffel.

I don't know how it should be handled, but something should be done beyond just ending its use.

After the evil perpetrated by the Nazi's, I for one am not comfortable with any attempt at "reclaiming" any of their symbols for a long, long time.

but folks have to realize that court-martial is the equivalent of a federal conviction, often felony conviction. That seems a bit steep for this.

Heck, kicking them out administratively is more appropriate then a federal conviction.

but if the snipers aren't sporting the usual white power tattoos (often in code or symbols that are easily spotted if you know what they are), then the military should probably be looking elsewhere for real white supremacists.

administration VIPs get around. Vid and slide show. Fun stuff...

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/...

Right on, Jennifer.

killing leads inevitably to dehumanization and what better insignia for killers than the twin lightening bolts of the Schuetzstaffel. The Marine Corps makes hard men, war makes them harder, this photo shouldn't surprise anyone, in a culture of violence, the most violent are lauded and supported. This nation has been at war for ten years, a war of choice, the militarization of this country, the fetishization of "service," has created a generation of people inured to violence or broken by it. This picture, like all the other pictures, Abu Ghraib, Falluja, "Shock and Awe", are war, pissing on corpses,  burning out villages, killing civilians, brutality, criminality, murder, rape, and suicide are all part of what happens in war.

These men are not "kids" and they never will be, they are soldiers in combat and soldiers in combat take their pride from being hard-asses and their group identity. These men are professional soldiers, even if they didn't know what that meant when they signed up, that means they kill for a living and survive only if they are well trained, have good unit leadership and are lucky.

I don't condone this image or the glorification of the SS apparent in the choice of unit symbol; however, when you teach men to kill and then send them into never ending war, this result is not surprising to me.

The whole idea of a "professional all volunteer force" is anathema to me, losing the "citizen soldier" was a mistake, setting these people off as seperate in a closed society with its own rules and culture is wrong. Alienation is inevitable and I fear that we have created a new class of citizen in this country, those who stay in and live apart under authoritarian rule with more loyalty to their institution than the people they supposedly serve, and those who get out into a culture that neither understands or cares for them, resulting in both cases in alienation, anxiety and distrust of civilian institutions.

I believe that this generation of war is sowing the whirwind for this nation and generating a new Praetorian Guard, which if history tells us anything is the seed of destruction for any Republic.  

the contraception debate, when there are so many other equally important topics that also need to be debated, like whether automobiles actually need brakes, for example.  

obedience for morality.  The culture of obedience provides a blank check to its followers.  There are no negative consequences for misbehavior as long as the person is obedient to a superior.  We see the same pattern in some of our stateside law enforcement agents.

that the SS symbol there stands for Scout Snipers or whatever. I understand that now but it still seems a bit ... err well not very bright. The swastika is actually a buddhist symbol I think but still no buddhist monks will be walking around with swastika flags. Even if that is what it stands for I can't believe they would be that ignorant to actually put it there up with the US flag no less.

fever pitch!

as long as ‘our’ party continues to protect high-level war criminals. Kids learn they can be rewarded for less-than-human behavior when we let their heroes (i.e. Bush and Cheney) off the hook for war crimes and reward their sponsors (war-profiteers etc.) in the process.  We’re setting this example for them.
We can’t blame them.

Our military has been ignoring their own regulations about admitting white supremacists into the ranks... Salon did a story about it in 2009.

Neo-Nazis are in the Army now

From the Salon article, there is this:

In fact, since the movement’s inception, its leaders have encouraged members to enlist in the U.S. military as a way to receive state-of-the-art combat training, courtesy of the U.S. taxpayer, in preparation for a domestic race war. The concept of a race war is central to extremist groups, whose adherents imagine an eruption of violence that pits races against each other and the government.

armed forces.  In VN some of the guys from southern states took a great pleasure in displaying what is commonly called the confederate battle flag.  It has become more evident in recent years as WP groups encourag4d their members to enlist and to receive as much specialized training as possible and to then return to train their fellows in such skills
http://www.thepeoplesvoice.org/...
http://www.adl.org/...
http://www.splcenter.org/...
http://www.democraticunderground.com/...
 http://spitfirelist.com/...
http://www.myleftwing.com/...

The two Marines in that photo were with the scout sniper platoon of the 1st Battalion, 7th Marines at Twentynine Palms, Calif.

One of the many, many, many reasons I will never go back is the strong neo-Nazi and KKK presence there.

....widely reviled category of "bad things you can do once without punishment because you have a credible, if tenuous, claim of ignorance."  

Seen anther way, as progressives we recognize that war brutalizes people.  So we shouldn't claim utter shock and surprise when it brutalizes people.

When I was in boot camp, god that sucked, I recall meeting people from all over. I felt then like I do now - our education system is in need of SYSTEMIC change.
Teachers work HARD. I'll say 92% are good, craving to be great. They will never achieve greatness, not because of a lack of desire or ethic, but because of the failures of the SYSTEM.
I will return to this
THAT BEING SAID - these men are YOUNG, obviously all under 25. I have met guys their age to 30 who have never heard of George Orwell, never read 1984 in school or Animal Farm for that matter. History , is often learned later in life. THATS THE PROBLEM.
I don't think the SS symbol is the issue, I believe it calls out our education SYSTEM. How can our most well trained men not realize the significance of this symbol ? They were tested in school , tested to the 9's. We have a system that has been studied and our kids are the most TESTED and LEAST examined kids in the industrialized world. Wait, Developed Nations. This picture may not offend anyone 30 and under, AND IT IS NOT THEIR FAULT.
Fixing education is the battle cry of this photo.
Teaching Enlisted Military US History or even World History means 1% of our youth will have a grasp on history, well, 2%. The rich kids are taught everything, those of us who hear the calling of service would then know-which leaves 98% of the population still wouldn't know or give 2 shits what that symbol means.

The official Marines response to the SS flag appearing in published photos is that it's somehow just a coincidence that the logo is identical to the Nazi symbol. Nobody in the Marines knew the "historical significance" of the logo.

Who exactly designed that flag for these Marines? How could they possibly have looked at an image of it and not noticed it was attached to a Nazi? It's impossible.

The Marines and the Pentagon are lying. They know it's neonazis in the Marines.

Those are our Marines. We must have the truth. And we must use it to get the neonazis out of the Marines. And we must use it to get the neonazi sympathizers out of the military offices that are lying to us about it.

I'm sure it's just a coincidence that these snipers, who shoot dusky Afghans in a Global War on Terror, idolize the SS, who shot Jews in a World War.  It's not like there's any parallel, is there?  It's not like we're the bad guys now, is it?

Is it?

This reminds me of the injunction of Colonel Kurtz in Apocalypse Now:  "They teach soldiers to drop fire on people but they won't let them write 'fuck' on their airplanes because it's obscene."

I don't minimize the role of the SS in the holocaust, etc., or its offensiveness in this context, I merely point out that's Germany's history, and not ours. As such the misappropriation of the symbol by extremely young men who probably have gotten the typically lousy US education in world history is more likely to show ignorance than intentional callouts to Nazi ideology.

On the other hand, the stars-and-bars, aka the flag of treason, the flag of the Confederacy, representing the fight to save slavery, can be found on personal gear and many informal unit displays throughout the US military. I find this even more appalling than the SS flag -- since, after all, the flag represents rebellion against the US Constitution, the rule of law, human rights, and was explicitly the banner of many who violated their oaths and became enemies of the United States.

I live near the Marine Corp Camp Pendleton. I have seen the SS insignia tattooed, and more often branded on young men. This has been since at least ten years ago.
On day fishing, a young marine took his shirt off exposing a SS branding. There were several WWII vets on-board who took offense, and told him that they wanted his shirt back on his back.

encourage others to be like SS about stuff?

Because we all know that the "SS" could never be for "Scout Sniper." It's all about those evil war mongering baby raping Marines loving the Nazis!

Right, "Meteor?"

lame bunch and now they prove it time after time.