I was sitting here puttering at my computer a little while ago, and trying to force myself to get up and grade some papers, so I turned the TV to C-Span, figuring there wouldn't be anything there with a plot that would suck my attention away from my duties.
A few minutes after I tuned in, they started showing McCain's speech at Wake Forest University last week, which I figured was suitably boring, and had the advantage of being too annoying for me to watch or listen to very intently; after several months of Obama's speeches, I can barely tolerate McCain speaking.
But since it was on a subject that I'm familiar with and somewhat interested in, I kept one ear tuned in. One ear was just barely enough; if I'd been paying any less attention, I might have missed John's Big Boo-Boo -- and it really is a big one. Follow below the fold for the latest reason this man should not be elected president.
Lt. Cmdr.Matthew Diaz was one of those models of that upward mobility so prized by Americans as the signature of democracy. He worked hard for whatever he achieved, first when he enlisted in the US Army and then serving 10 years as a Navy lawyer, where his performance evaluations were outstanding. So when he was assigned to Guantanamo as deputy legal adviser, all expected more of the same.
But one thing was wrong with Lt. Cmdr. Matthew Diaz ... he had a conscience. And for acting on that conscience, he became the first American accused in a criminal prosecution of spying for giving classified information to ... another American. And what was that classified information? The names of "detainees" in Guantanamo, something the Bush administration wanted to keep secret ... from the American people. Talk about the idea of espionage turned on its head...
Now that the storm of Hurricane Hillary is waning away, it's time for Mr. Obama to not only campaign as the nominee, but he'd better really strategize and refine his plan of attack and defense against the republican onslaught.
Reverend Wright issues will surely re-emerge. William Ayers will certainly the at the top of the conservative agenda, and then there's the issue that this guy is going to beat silly.
Former presidential contender Mitt Romney increased his criticism of Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama Wednesday taking direct aim at Obama’s experience, telling CNN’s John Roberts that "the presidency of the United States is not an internship."
"He can read a prompter very well and energize a crowd," said Romney. "But he has not accomplished anything during his life in terms of legislation, or leading an enterprise, or making a business work, or a city work, or a state work. He really has very little experience."
So I got some requests that folks wanted to know how bad Jeff Sessions really is for all of us. This race is really important to take a strong stand on for several reasons. This in-depth analysis will show us why he is so bad on so many issues and references him to some other vulnerable senators. Also provides some idiotic quotes he has made. I've already posted some diaries on why Vivian Figures can be a really exciting candidate. She really needs money now to get through the primary with a strong showing and into the general. Please help me reach my goal.
Leonardo Blair, a Jamaican-born crime reporter for the New York Post, was stopped, arrested and jailed while walking from his car to his aunt’s home in the Bronx. His crime? Being black. In the emotional video below, Blair tells his story of humiliation and disrespect. For more information about Blair -- and the lawsuit he filed today -- visit the New York Civil Liberties Union's web site.
When I arrived at JFK November of 1999, I was in some respects the classical immigrant. I was certainly tired. I was quite poor. And after a six hour flight, I was most definitely a huddled mass yearning to breathe free. And I spent a time in this country acting as many immigrants do - working hard, keeping my head down, and not making any trouble. Even when you are perfectly legal, married to a citizen, speak the language, and have a decent job, it pays not to make waves around here.
In the time since then I have done much to assimilate myself into the American culture. I have visited all 50 states. I am addicted to baseball, both as a spectator and a player. I have become something of a historian of Brooklyn, my adopted home. But I have remained disengaged from the political process, even as the government of this country has become still more corrupt and self serving than I could have imagined. It's time I made an effort. And this post is my starting point.
I had this conversation last night with my SO - he's British. And he doesn't understand why the US Constitution is considered sacrosanct and 'not amendable.'
I'm not the best person to ask this of, because I don't believe it is. After all, we've added and repealed Amendments, including the Civil Rights Act in 1964, etc. Clearly it is amendable. If we want it to be. But we don't seem to often want it to be.
What amendments are okay? Additions only? Subtractions? Are we able to look back over the Constitution and see items that are in need of amending to currently reflect society's values?
It looks like we’re still using U.S. Navy warships to assassinate suspected terrorists in Somalia. The New York Times said, "at least four Tomahawk cruise missiles fired from a Navy ship or submarine off the Somali coast had slammed into a small compound of single-story buildings in Dusa Marreb."
The NYT’s source for that information was an "American military official in Washington, who requested anonymity because of the sensitivity of the operation." Notice how operations these days are "sensitive" as opposed to "classified" or "secret." One has to wonder how they arrived at a world like "sensitive" to describe things like cruise missile attacks that kill people. Then again, so many of these missile strikes kill people other than the people they were intended to kill that yeah, I guess American military officials in Washington might get sensitive about that aspect. The NYT reported that 10 to 30 people other than the intended target were killed this time, and we can be pretty sure that part of the story is mostly true because the NYT didn’t get it from an anonymous American military official.
If you—or your son in college, or your 80-year-old grandmother—are planning a bus or train trip within New York State (yes, I said WITHIN New York State), you had best be prepared with proof of citizenship. Riders who lack it may be detained as possible illegal immigrants or terrorists.
The egregiously unconstitutional "unitary executive" theory for the vice president is apparently alive and well.
In response to congressional requests for Vice President Dick Cheney’s Chief of Staff David Addington's testimony in the approval of enhanced interrogation tactics at Guantanamo Bay, Cheney’s attorney, Karen Wheelbarger claimed today that the U.S. Congress -- a coequal branch of government, powers given to them by the U.S. Constitution – lacks the authority to investigate his conduct in office.
Any investigation of the vice president’s office, according to Ms. Wheelbarger is...
"... not within the [congressional] committee's power of inquiry".
Having just gotten my signed copy, a book review will have to come later. But we had a good Q&A session with him, during which I asked:
17 years ago Wolf Blitzer and CNN brought the first real-time look at a war zone into American living rooms. Today, a half-dozen 24 hour news networks justify their existence by catering -- or in some cases pandering -- to different viewer demographics.
In the modern media environment, what responsibility do journalists have to disclose their biases, and how much responsibility do journalists have for shaping the narrative?
His response to the question, and the fascinating statement that gives this diary its title, below the fold.
I read a lot here on Kos. Sometimes themes come up which cause me to stop and think about what goes on here (in the US), compared with my UK upbringing.
The story about the Press failure to report the Military Experts role in the rush to war was one such.
So I occasionally diary about such er .. musings.
Please bear with me, and correct me where I am wrong. How else am I to learn?
There are two surprises about this story in the Washington Post this morning: A military prosecutor was willing to go on record, under oath, concerning the abuses of the military commissions kangaroo court set up by the Bush administration, and the Post put it on the front page. More below the fold.
While the US general public watches Reverand Wright dance and Hannah Montana strip in the mass media, George’s Gang of Nine has been quietly setting the future of Anerica as a secure police state. Maybe the upholding of the Indiana law that brings back a new twist on that old ploy of using literacy tests and poll taxes to suppress minority and poor voters showed up on the media you were watching. But if it did, it was no doubt used as a lead to play up our ongoing political soap opera histrionics between the Dems and Repubs.
So a week before the Indiana primary, everybody who doesn’t have a driver’s licence or similar picture ID will have to get a free one from the state. In a week. After getting a form and filling it out. And bringing it back with their original birth certificate, proof of current place of residence, original Social Security card, etc. And the state will get that good ol’ ID out to you. In a week. Right.
The other two rulings of George’s Gang are almost as good – rejecting consideration of some death penalty cases (after ruling last week that lethal injections are A-OK, why not?) -- which has been interpreted legally as a go-ahead to capital punishment.
Children should be afraid of advice they get from Bill O'Reilly.
From the very beginning of the book, there is a palpable sense that O'Reilly is 'talking down' to his intended audience - the kids. Not that it's a grande suprise for anyone curious enough to flip through the books limited and poorly written text, but O'Reilly seems to think that the 'kids' of today don't know much of anything.
That's when I started to wonder exactly what age group this book is meant for. But more so than that tingle of wonder, was the overbearing feeling that O'Reilly doesn't seem to realize that 'kids' of the late 20th and early 21st century are far more knowledgable than we ever were at their age - and they don't really like being called 'kids' either.
After I had completed this abreviated and laughable tale of 'rights vs. wrong-doing', I continued to marvel at the fact that O'Reilly is looked-up-to in certain circles, admired, has a fan-base. Then there's the most frightening concept to grasp --- is a father of two.
More O'Reilly nonsense below the fold ----------------->
I once had the soul-shaking experience of having a gun pointed at my head. Believe me, I understand that rhetoric is a lousy defense against automatic weapons and I know that it is very hard to be objective about the Second Amendment while dodging bullets.
In country where the night has been conceded to the vicious and the well armed, it is understandable that many citizens, legislators and judges have come to re-examine the meaning and utility of the Second Amendment to the United States Constitution:
"A well regulated Militia, being necessary to the security of a free State, the right of the people to keep and bear Arms, shall not be infringed."
I believe that gun control laws are necessary. However, an objective examination of the Second Amendment will prove that it was intended as an individual right and it is therefore unconstitutional to place any limitation on a law-abiding citizen’s right to bear arms.
