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Pathetic, I know, but I actually turned C-SPAN on last night, on a Saturday night, and just observed for about a half hour, as the political soldiers marched up to the microphones and did their duty listing the name of the national parks that would be closed if the government shut down, and the blah blah blah, with the blah blah blah, and the OMG OMG OMG, and the this and the that, while the whole country, it seems, doesn't buy any of this bullshit anymore and just think they're a bunch of circus clowns playing their roles... which they are. Top to bottom. They haven't, apparently, noticed the abysmal opinion that the people they represent have of them, via the approval polls. It doesn't much matter because they are owned by the relatively small number of people and corps who buy Washington with their $$$.
We're just waiting for whatever rotten (from the people's perspective) solution they'll drag out or what "framework" they set up for the next manufactured crisis, the terms of which were probably known long before any of this started. But still the political soldier clowns do their duty. Not one of them comes out to the House or Senate floor and rants about what a manufactured crisis it is or what kabuki all of this is. None of them have the guts to blow the whistle and tell the people who put them in those positions to be their voice on Capitol Hill what's really going on and how the game is played. Not one. They all play the game and read their scripts and do their acrobatics and continue the kabuki designed to make you think that they still somehow represent the people and that thing called the Constitution. It's just too bad that we don't have easier ways to remove them from office and it's too bad that they don't have to wear Nascar suits with patches from all of their sponsors and what's really too bad is that we have been so unsuccessful in getting the money out of politics to some significant extent. We've made the term "lobbyist" somewhat toxic but that didn't solve the problem. Now the lobbyists are flocking to the think tanks for some semblance of legitimacy, but that's a subject for another day.
But the show goes on, with the Noble Democrats and the Villain Republicans all playing their part, at the behest of their 1% owners and the party leadership stage directors.
Here's Roger Hickey with a letter to Congress from 41 organizations, some of them playing their roles too, some maybe sincere, who knows?
Dear Congress – Stop This Manufactured Crisis
Principles for Debate on the Budget and the Economy
September 26, 2010
Dear Member of Congress:
As we head into another series of manufactured budget crises, the 41 undersigned organizations stand against those who want to hold our economy hostage in order to dictate the terms of debate. We urge you to:
End Job-Killing Sequestration Cuts
The greatest challenge facing our economy today is the continuing jobs crisis, not the deficit. Over 20 million people are in need of full-time work. Meanwhile, the annual deficit has been cut by more than half since 2009 as a portion of the economy, and is now falling faster than at any time since the demobilization after World War II.
The across-the-board budget cuts – called “sequestration” – that began in March of this year are making the jobs crisis worse and holding back economic growth. According to the Congressional Budget Office, simply repealing sequestration would generate 900,000 jobs. We call on Congress to end the sequester – period – and not replace it with other harmful cuts.
We reject threats by some extremists to shut down the government or cause a government default unless their ransom demands are met – including their demand to defund or delay the Affordable Care Act (ACA). Congress should lift the debt ceiling without conditions because the full faith and credit of the U.S. government is not – and should not be – negotiable.
Protect Medicare, Medicaid, and Social Security
We urge you to oppose any cuts in Social Security, Medicaid, or Medicare benefits, including the shifting of health care costs to beneficiaries. We should be improving Social Security, Medicaid, and Medicare by expanding benefits, not cutting them, because working people need more economic security, not less.
Defend Core Programs for Those Most At Risk
Congress should defend the core security programs for those most at risk in this economy, such as impoverished women and children, the elderly, or the long-term unemployed. The savage cuts proposed for food stamps (SNAP, the Supplemental Nutrition Program) are unconscionable. Cuts now projected in education, housing, home heating, Head Start, infant nutrition and other programs vital to low-income families should be reversed.
Eliminate All Tax Incentives for Sending Jobs Overseas
Powerful corporations and the rich should pay their fair share of taxes. As a start, we call on Congress to eliminate all tax incentives that encourage companies to ship jobs abroad. Ending these tax subsidies would – by itself – increase investment and employment in the U.S. At the same time, it would generate hundreds of billions in revenue which could help rebuild our economy without increasing the deficit. This money could be used to launch a five-year plan to rebuild our outmoded infrastructure; to help ensure that the U.S. captures the lead in a green industrial revolution that is already generating growing numbers of good jobs; and to invest in education, from preschool to affordable college, to prepare our children to succeed in the 21st century. Congress should combine this with raising the minimum wage and reviving the right to organize to counter the extreme inequality so debilitating to our economy.
Sincerely,
AFL-CIO
AIDS United
American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees (AFSCME)
American Federation of Teachers
Campaign for America’s Future
Caring Across Generations
Center for Community Change
Center for Effective Government
Coalition on Human Needs
Communications Workers of America
Community Action Partnership
Council for Opportunity in Education
CourageCampaign.org
Disability Rights Education & Defense Fund
Fair Share
Gamaliel
Green For All
Health Care for America Now
International Union, United Automobile, Aerospace & Agricultural Implement Workers of America (UAW)
Jobs with Justice/American Rights at Work
Leadership Center for the Common Good
The Leadership Conference on Civil and Human Rights
MoveOn.org Civic Action
NAACP
National Coalition for the Homeless
National Committee to Preserve Social Security and Medicare
National Employment Law Project
National Fair Housing Alliance
National Immigration Law Center
National People’s Action
National Women’s Law Center
NETWORK, A National Catholic Social Justice Lobby
Partnership for Working Families
PolicyLink
Racial and Ethnic Health Disparities Coalition
Service Employees International Union (SEIU)
Social Security Works
United Steelworkers (USW)
USAction
Wider Opportunities for Women
Working America
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Here's the "charm offensive" talking point again about Rousani that I've mentioned before, from the infamous Friedman in the NY Times. So now I've heard it on CNN, MSNBC and now NYT.
Hassan Does Manhattan
I HAD the chance this past week to take part in two press meetings with Iran’s new president, Hassan Rouhani, and they left me with several distinct impressions:
1) He’s not here by accident. That is, this Iranian charm offensive is not because Rouhani, unlike his predecessor, went to charm school. Powerful domestic pressures have driven him here. 2) We are finally going to see a serious, face-to-face negotiation between top Iranian and American diplomats over Iran’s nuclear program. 3) I have no clue and would not dare predict whether these negotiations will lead to a peaceful resolution of the Iranian nuclear crisis. 4) The fact that we’re now going to see serious negotiations raises the stakes considerably. It means that if talks fail, President Obama will face a real choice between military action and permanent sanctions that could help turn Iran into a giant failed state. 5) Pray that option 2 succeeds.
Poor neocons. I'll include Samantha Power and Susan Rice as honorary neocons in that number now, as it's glaringly obvious. They're going Godwin, though that's hardly new in the situation with Syria, since John Kerry has gone Godwin many times during this debacle.
Oh, No, Not Peace!
All of a sudden, peace has broken out, and the neocons couldn’t be more upset.
Charles Krauthammer of The Washington Post is practically apoplectic.
William Kristol of the Weekly Standard compares President Obama to Neville Chamberlain.
You know when they wheel out their hackneyed Hitler analogies, they’re getting desperate.
Brian Williams' Iran Propaganda
The NBC star tells his viewers that Iranian leaders are 'suddenly claiming they don't want nuclear weapons', even though they've been saying it for years
There is ample reason for skepticism that anything substantial will change in Iran-US relations, beginning with the fact that numerous US political and media figures are vested in the narrative that Iran is an evil threat whose desire for a peaceful resolution must not be trusted (and some hard-line factions in Iran are similarly vested in ongoing conflict). Whatever one's views are on the prospects for improving relations, the first direct communications in more than 30 years between the leaders of those two countries is a historically significant event.
Here is what NBC News anchor Brian Williams told his viewers about this event when leading off his broadcast last night, with a particularly mocking and cynical tone used for the bolded words:
This is all part of a new leadership effort by Iran - suddenly claiming they don't want nuclear weapons! ; what they want is talks and transparency and good will. And while that would be enough to define a whole new era, skepticism is high and there's a good reason for it."
Ex-Lebanese Army Commander: Assad fall would plunge Middle East in chaos
This BBC segment is from a couple of weeks ago and it's thoroughly entertaining, with George Galloway, BBC host Jo Coburn, the Right Honourable Baroness (Pauline) Neville-Jones who has served in different positions in the British military and government, currently for David Cameron, and is currently, I believe, the chairman of the British Joint Intelligence Committee, a member of the House of Lords. She is also a former BBC governor. She's held so many positions in the military and govt (and a stint in private defense industry), that it's hard to tell what she is now but it looks like she was given a peerage and is our equivalent of Dianne Feinstein, roughly, and has a new focus on cybersecurity.
Anyway, it's Galloway vs. the Baroness and the BBC host in this segment and it's 9+ minutes of video that's really worth watching.
George Galloway on Syrian Chemical Weapons BBC
The best news this weekend - at a screening of "Dirty Wars" in Rio yesterday, Jeremy Scahill and Glenn Greenwald appeared together and Scahill gave us a hint at what they're working on together, and as we suspected, it will be related to the intersection between our wars and the NSA.
GLENN GREENWALD WORKING ON NEW NSA REVELATIONS
Jeremy Scahill, a contributor to The Nation magazine and the New York Times best-selling author of "Dirty Wars," said he will be working with Glenn Greenwald, the Rio-based journalist who has written stories about U.S. surveillance programs based on documents leaked by former NSA contractor Edward Snowden.
"The connections between war and surveillance are clear. I don't want to give too much away but Glenn and I are working on a project right now that has at its center how the National Security Agency plays a significant, central role in the U.S. assassination program," said Scahill, speaking to moviegoers in Rio de Janeiro, where the documentary based on his book made its Latin American debut at the Rio Film Festival.
"There are so many stories that are yet to be published that we hope will produce 'actionable intelligence,' or information that ordinary citizens across the world can use to try to fight for change, to try to confront those in power," said Scahill.
This byline gave me a huge smile. Two real investigative journalists, both of whom have been and still are harassed by their government. "By JAMES RISEN and LAURA POITRAS". Keith Alexander and James Clapper are in a lot of trouble. But somebody has to sit in those witness chairs at the Congressional hearings, so I imagine they'll be in those positions for awhile yet, and I keep thinking about how tricky it is to remove someone from positions where they have access to
all that data.
How ironic is the term "enrichment data" that the NSA uses?
N.S.A. Gathers Data on Social Connections of U.S. Citizens
WASHINGTON — Since 2010, the National Security Agency has been exploiting its huge collections of data to create sophisticated graphs of some Americans’ social connections that can identify their associates, their locations at certain times, their traveling companions and other personal information, according to newly disclosed documents and interviews with officials.
The spy agency began allowing the analysis of phone call and e-mail logs in November 2010 to examine Americans’ networks of associations for foreign intelligence purposes after N.S.A. officials lifted restrictions on the practice, according to documents provided by Edward J. Snowden, the former N.S.A. contractor.
[...]
The agency can augment the communications data with material from public, commercial and other sources, including bank codes, insurance information, Facebook profiles, passenger manifests, voter registration rolls and GPS location information, as well as property records and unspecified tax data, according to the documents. They do not indicate any restrictions on the use of such “enrichment” data, and several former senior Obama administration officials said the agency drew on it for both Americans and foreigners.
[...]
At a Senate Intelligence Committee hearing on Thursday, General Alexander was asked if the agency ever collected or planned to collect bulk records about Americans’ locations based on cellphone tower data. He replied that it was not doing so as part of the call log program authorized by the Patriot Act, but said a fuller response would be classified.
If the N.S.A. does not immediately use the phone and e-mail logging data of an American, it can be stored for later use, at least under certain circumstances, according to several documents.
One 2011 memo, for example, said that after a court ruling narrowed the scope of the agency’s collection, the data in question was “being buffered for possible ingest” later. A year earlier, an internal briefing paper from the N.S.A. Office of Legal Counsel showed that the agency was allowed to collect and retain raw traffic, which includes both metadata and content, about “U.S. persons” for up to five years online and for an additional 10 years offline for “historical searches.”
[Emphasis added]
Bill Binney Told You So
Remember when Bill Binney said NSA was compiling dossiers of Americans, but Keith Alexander said that wasn’t true?
A former NSA official has accused the NSA’s director of deception during a speech he gave at the DefCon hacker conference on Friday when he asserted that the agency does not collect files on Americans.
William Binney, a former technical director at the NSA, said during a panel discussion that NSA Director Gen. Keith Alexander was playing a “word game” and that the NSA was indeed collecting e-mails, Twitter writings, internet searches and other data belonging to Americans and indexing it.
“Unfortunately, once the software takes in data, it will build profiles on everyone in that data,” he said. “You can simply call it up by the attributes of anyone you want and it’s in place for people to look at.”
[snip]
Binney was contradicting statements made on Friday by Alexander, who told the crowd of hackers and security professionals that his agency “absolutely” does not maintain files on Americans.
“And anybody who would tell you that we’re keeping files or dossiers on the American people,” Alexander continued, “knows that’s not true.”
At the hearing last week, Feinstein let the "upstream" cat out of the bag, officially.
Senator Feinstein Admits the NSA Taps the Internet Backbone
We know from the Snowden documents (and other sources) that the NSA taps Internet backbone through secret-agreements with major U.S. telcos., but the U.S. government still hasn't admitted it.
[...]
On Thursday, Senator Diane Feinstein filled in some of the details:
Upstream collection…occurs when NSA obtains internet communications, such as e-mails, from certain US companies that operate the Internet background [sic, she means "backbone"], i.e., the companies that own and operate the domestic telecommunications lines over which internet traffic flows.
Why Judges Are Scowling at Banks
According to Michael H. Schwartz, a lawyer in White Plains who represented the borrowers, Mr. Ramos started getting three phone calls a day from the bank, demanding repayment. When Mr. Ramos advised the bank’s representatives that the debt had been expunged in a bankruptcy proceeding, he was told “too bad,” according to a court filing.
The phone calls and letters continued even after Mr. Schwartz went back to court to ask that Bank of America be sanctioned for illegal attempts to collect the debt. During this time, Bank of America sold the servicing rights on the first mortgage to another company, which soon began sending its own demand letters to the Ramoses.
This month, the matter came before Robert D. Drain, a federal bankruptcy judge in New York. Judge Drain found Bank of America in contempt of the debt discharge order protecting the Ramoses and required the bank to pay Mr. Schwartz’s legal bills in the case. The judge also ordered the bank to pay $10,000 a month in sanctions to the Ramoses until it stopped making the repayment demands.
[...]
But Mr. Schwartz said the Ramos case was just one of several in which he represented homeowners who were pursued by Bank of America over discharged debts. In another of his cases, court filings show that a homeowner received 105 phone calls and four threatening letters from the bank. “I believe the bank has made a conscious decision that it is less expensive to pay sanctions than to change its internal processes,” he said. “This problem is nationwide.”
Monarch Butterfly Population Has Decrease 80 To 90% Between This Year And Last Year
Action
Stop Watching Us.
The revelations about the National Security Agency's surveillance apparatus, if true, represent a stunning abuse of our basic rights. We demand the U.S. Congress reveal the full extent of the NSA's spying programs.
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