politics: October 2007 Archives

Once again, the Bush administration proves its track record of providing immunity and escape routes to those screwing up under their watch. The Associated Press reports on the routine immunity granted to private contractors that is interfering with the investigation into the killings of 17 Iraqi civilians, causing an uproar in the Iraqi government:

The immunity deals, first reported by The Associated Press, have delayed the U.S. criminal inquiry of the Sept. 16 shootings that has enraged Iraqis.

Senior law enforcement officials, who spoke on condition of anonymity because of the ongoing investigation, said the legal protections offered by the State Department could derail prosecution if investigators are unable to unearth other evidence from a crime scene now six weeks old.

In Baghdad, the Iraqi government approved draft legislation lifting immunity for foreign private security companies — one of the nation's most serious disputes with the U.S. since last month's shooting. Iraq is demanding the right to launch its own prosecution of the Blackwater bodyguards despite the company's insistence they acted in self-defense.

Initial reports and investigations have found that the attacks on the Iraqi civilians by Blackwater contractors were unprovoked and in violation of applicable Iraqi laws. The immunity deals that have been extended prevent official reports and statements from being used as evidence against the Blackwater agents involved.

The Bush administration can't seriously consider further protecting Blackwater in the face of mounting evidence pointing to the atrocities committed by Blackwater in Iraq. Blackwater's actions speak of exactly the kind of evil America has long claimed they've been fighting, and protecting these mercenaries will only further expose American hypocrisy and lead to even more resentment abroad, further helping terrorist cells in their recruitment efforts.

Ars technica reports on a decision by a federal court, extending a journalist's protections to bloggers that conduct journalism on their sites:

No US court has yet weighed in with authority on the debate about whether bloggers count as journalists, but the recent federal decision from South Carolina does indicate that at least some bloggers are journalists. It's not about the title, it's about the content, said Judge Henry Hurlong, Jr.; a journalist turns out to be anyone who does journalism, and bloggers who do so have the same rights and privileges under federal law as the "real" journalists.

With the state of the mainstream media today and the present and future of blogging as an important news source for many people, this decision is critical in protecting a blogger's rights when conducting the same business a newspaper journalist does.

More good promises from the Obama camp, this time dealing with net neutrality:

Affixing his signature to federal Net neutrality rules would be high on the list during his first year in the Oval Office, the junior senator from Illinois said during an interactive forum Monday afternoon with the popular contender put on by MTV and MySpace at Coe College in Iowa.

Net neutrality, of course, is the idea that broadband operators shouldn't be allowed to block or degrade Internet content and services--or charge content providers an extra fee for speedier delivery or more favorable placement.

Obama's endearing himself to me more and more with these announcements as of late. Net neutrality is an extremely important issue for the survival of the Internet as a whole. The existence of my own site would be threatened without it. Via boingboing.

A provocative article that lays out much of my own viewpoints on the dumbing down of the American education system, and how it's churning out a lot of children completely unequipped with an understanding of basic concepts:

He cites studies, reports, hard data, from the appalling effects of television on child brain development (i.e.; any TV exposure before 6 years old and your kid's basic cognitive wiring and spatial perceptions are pretty much scrambled for life), to the fact that, because of all the insidious mandatory testing teachers are now forced to incorporate into the curriculum, of the 182 school days in a year, there are 110 when such testing is going on somewhere at Oakland High. As one of his colleagues put it, "It's like weighing a calf twice a day, but never feeding it."

But most of all, he simply observes his students, year to year, noting all the obvious evidence of teens' decreasing abilities when confronted with even the most basic intellectual tasks, from understanding simple history to working through moderately complex ideas to even (in a couple recent examples that particularly distressed him) being able to define the words "agriculture," or even "democracy." Not a single student could do it.

I'm amazed every day by how little incoming freshmen at the college I work for know - from basic scientific principles like the behaviour of forces, to how to write an analytical essay. It's ridiculous.

Several states in New England, in conjunction with California, are set to sue the EPA and the Bush administration over stricter emissions controls in order to combat pollution:

“I believe that states have to step into a void created by a failure of federal action,” Mr. Spitzer said in an interview on Tuesday. “The global warming issue is one where the current administration has first denied the scientific evidence and only recently begun to discuss the matter in a serious way.”

Attorney General Andrew M. Cuomo, in a statement on Tuesday, said, “New York State is moving forward on all cylinders to take aggressive action to curb global warming from both power plants and cars.”

The states filed a request to tighten emissions policies and raise penalties for offending businesses, but the EPA has been blocking their efforts thus far, stalling their response to the states' demands. Recent related cases brought to court by the states have resulted in wins for the states.

I wish the whole nation could be as aggressive in reducing emissions as these states.

Michael D. Brown, infamous for heading up FEMA during the terrible mishandling of the Katrina disaster, is offering his services to the people of San Diego with his consulting company:

"The agency has learned some hard lessons regarding the handling of mass evacuations especially in regard to the bureaucratic red tape that is involved in such a process," said Mr. Brown. "This is a tragic time for many of the people of California, and Cotton Companies is working to ensure that normalcy is restored and that businesses and organizations are back up and running as soon as possible."

Yeah. Right.

According to USA Today, the US Government's terrorist watch list has grown to include 755,000 names:

The size of the list, typically used to check people entering the country through land border crossings, airports and sea ports, has been growing by 200,000 names a year since 2004.

There's absolutely no way a list with 755,000 names can in any way be effective in stopping terrorists. In fact, I'd say the fact that it is that large means the terrorists have won in that regard. It shows an utter lack of understanding from Homeland Security about who should be watched and who shouldn't. Via boingboing.

Commendable action from the Obama camp:

"To be clear: Barack will support a filibuster of any bill that includes retroactive immunity for telecommunications companies."

This is in reference to attempts to include immunity from prosecution for the telecoms over illegal wiretapping charges under direction of the Bush Administration. I say burn 'em at the stake, and hopefully it follows right back to the administration.

Capitalism has wasted no time in grabbing the opportunity presented by J.K. Rowling's revelation. You can now get Dumbledore pride t-shirts, with part of the proceeds donated to GLAAD.

USA Today writes regarding a leaked TSA document that details efforts to improve screener success rates at airports:

At San Francisco, "everybody realizes they are under scrutiny, being watched and tested constantly," said Gerald Berry, president of Covenant Aviation Security, which hires and manages the San Francisco screeners. San Francisco is one of eight airports, most of them small, where screeners work for a private company instead of the TSA. The idea for constant testing came from Ed Gomez, TSA security director at San Francisco, Berry said. The tests often involve an undercover person putting a bag with a fake bomb on an X-ray machine belt, he said.

Constant covert testing in order to improve checkpoint screening is something I can get behind - it's part of the testing methodology that raises a problem:

At San Diego International Airport, tests are run by passengers whom local TSA managers ask to carry a fake bomb, said screener Cris Soulia, an official in a screeners union. "It's nobody we would ever expect," Soulia said.

So let me understand here... You go up to a random passenger, identify yourself as a TSA official and ask them if they could please carry a fake bomb through a security checkpoint to help you out?

If someone did that I'd immediately turn them in to the nearest security officer. If anyone accepted the offer, then that in itself would be a security hole. Whatever happened to "don't accept packages from strangers to take onboard"? Testing security holes by asking people to carry packages accepted from strangers is most certainly not a way to strengthen your own security. How hard is it to get an actual TSA official to dress like a common traveller and conduct the covert test that way?

The radar reports that due to Stephen Colbert running his own television show and using it to campaign, he could be breaking FEC regulations:

An expert with experience in several prominent Republican campaigns says it looks like Colbert's getting a corporate contribution from his Report in the form of air time and production costs—that's prohibited by the Federal Election Commissions Act. "It's something that I could see people raising," said the former strategist. "If I was running against Colbert, I would raise this as a campaign issue."

I was wondering how soon this would show up. I was thinking the same thing when he announced his intention to run in South Carolina.

Found scribbled on the sidewalk at Yale by Flickr user Ezra.

The winners of the 2007 Nobel Peace Prize have been announced: Al Gore and the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change.

for their efforts to build up and disseminate greater knowledge about man-made climate change, and to lay the foundations for the measures that are needed to counteract such change

As pointed out by Prof. Orzel of Uncertain Principles, it is traditional for American recipients of the Nobel Prize to be invited to the White House for dinner. I'd love to be a fly on the wall for that festival of awkward.