The Decline and Fall of the American Empire

George Bush is never wrong

Mon, 12 Apr 2004 09:16:58 GMT

[The Bush Administration] can't admit to mistakes. They have to be right all the time. As their time in office increases, they are spending more time fighting rear-guard actions trying to prove that they were right or cover up the fact that they were wrong.

At the moment, they are refraining from releasing Clinton-era records relating to al Qaeda, almost certainly because they contradict assertions about Clinton made by Bush officials. They have to be right, even when they're wrong. The administration has a nasty habit of threatening people in its own administration who seek to disprove the current alleged facts, even though said facts are not in fact factual.

The administration even tried to shut up a critic by blowing his wife's cover as a CIA agent. That's the moral equivalent of hiring a hit man to go get her. And they did because they had to be right.

And of course they have to be right that invading Iraq was a smart move in the war against terror. They are now trapped in a situation that is historically a disaster, a "war" that they cannot win, a situation that they will only make worse no matter which way they turn.

Howard Stern and the First Amendment

Mon, 12 Apr 2004 08:49:05 GMT

The odious Clear Channel radio barony's firing of Howard Stern only puts a period at the end of the sentence. The people who run that company are contemptible, because their action combines flagrant politics and cowardice -- quite a combination.

But save your real contempt for the FCC, its cowardly chairman, Michael Powell, and his craven colleagues. Egged on by a Congress that has shown frightening disdain for free speech, the FCC has gone on its only holy war against "indecency."

[Dan Gillmor's eJournal]

The Fall of the Fourth Amendment

Mon, 05 Apr 2004 01:22:14 GMT

The Fourth Amendment protects US citizens from unreasonable searches and seizures. In Louisiana, Texas, and Mississippi, however, the requirement that police obtain warrants before searching a building is under attack. [Kuro5hin.org]

Did You Know?

Sun, 04 Apr 2004 23:05:11 GMT

Did you know that in January 2001, the United States Commission on National Security, co-chaired by former senators Gary Hart (D) and Warren Rudman (R), delivered a report to President Bush and Congress concerning the threat of terrorism?

Did you know that the report "warned that a devastating terrorist attack on America was imminent and called for the immediate creation of a Cabinet-level [homeland] security agency"?

Did you know that in the spring of 2001, spurred on by this report, members of Congress introduced a bill to create a homeland security agency?

Did you know that in May 2001, President Bush shot this down?

[pseudorandom]

MSBlast epidemic far larger than believed

Sun, 04 Apr 2004 00:58:17 GMT

CNET News.com has learned that the worm compromised millions of computers, far more than was previously thought. [CNET News.com]

Senator Daschle's statement on the abuse of government power

Fri, 02 Apr 2004 04:48:26 GMT

In recent days leading congressional Republicans are now calling for an investigation into Mr. Clarke. As I mentioned earlier, Secretary O'Neill was also subjected to an investigation. Clarke and O'Neill sought legal and classification review of any information in their books before they were published.

Nonetheless, our colleagues tell us these two should be investigated, at the same time there has been no Senate investigation into the leaking of Valerie Plame's identity as a deep cover CIA agent; no thorough investigation into whether leading Administration officials misrepresented the intelligence regarding threats posed by Iraq; no Senate hearings into the threat the chief Medicare Actuary faced for trying to do his job; and no Senate investigation into the reports of continued overcharging by Halliburton for its work in Iraq.

[via Boing Boing Blog]

How E-Voting Threatens Democracy

Wed, 31 Mar 2004 04:23:36 GMT

Electronic voting is supposed to streamline the process and rid us of the hanging chad. But the technology is rife with problems, creating the specter of botched returns and deliberate election rigging. Although many election officials defend the system, e-voting still can't be trusted. Nor, apparently, can many of its more ardent boosters. [Wired News]

Congress Moves to Criminalize P2P

Sun, 28 Mar 2004 04:59:57 GMT

Two senators introduce legislation that would impose jail time for sharing as little as one file, while the House may consider another that would lower the bar to take people to court. Looks like entertainment lobbyists are winning their war against peer-to-peer networks. [Wired News]

Bush's wife, mom worried

Tue, 16 Mar 2004 03:52:20 GMT

Time reveals a Bush-Cheney strategy to take better advantage of their incumbent status: More photo-ops. "Sources tell TIME that employees at the Department of Homeland Security have been asked to keep their eyes open for opportunities to pose the President in settings that might highlight the Administration's efforts to make the nation safer. The goal, they are being told, is to provide Bush with one homeland-security photo-op a month." [Salon]

Bush booted from cockpit?

Tue, 16 Mar 2004 03:51:26 GMT

As a lieutenant in the Texas Air National Guard, George Bush insists he voluntarily stopped flying in 1972 because he simply lost interest in being a pilot. That explanation has never washed (most pilots would rather fly than eat), and now a new possibility has emerged; the Pentagon, suspicious of possible drug or alcohol use, booted Bush from the cockpit. That's the intriguing scenario laid out in a detailed, must-read from Sunday's Spokane, WA., Spokesman-Review newspaper. [Salon]

In Rumsfeld's own words

Tue, 16 Mar 2004 03:49:42 GMT

"If Iraq did not have WMD, why did they pose an immediate threat to this country?" Rumsfeld countered with: "You and a few other critics are the only people I've heard use the phrase 'immediate threat.' I didn't...It's become kind of folklore that that's what happened."

Folklore, huh? Rumsfeld then issued this challenge: "If you have any citations, I'd like to see 'em." The New York Times columnist Tom Friedman, also on the CBS panel, obliged, reading Rumsfeld his own testimony to Congress in September 2002: "No terrorist state poses a greater or more immediate threat to the security of our people" than Iraq and that "some have argued that the nuclear threat from Iraq is not imminent [but] I would not be so certain." [Salon]

Behind the jobs debacle

Tue, 16 Mar 2004 03:48:01 GMT

Bush's jobs forecast failed because there's been no jobs recovery at all. [Salon]

Going negative

Tue, 16 Mar 2004 03:47:51 GMT

He's the father of the modern attack ad, and he's behind the Bush campaign's new wave of anti-Kerry spots. Alex Castellanos is known as vicious, irresponsible -- and effective. [Salon]

The Arabian candidate

Tue, 16 Mar 2004 03:47:32 GMT

How George W. Bush's close ties to Islamic lobbying groups -- and to an accused supporter of Palestinian terrorism -- may have brought him his razor-thin margin of victory in Florida. [Salon]

British Camp Delta Detainee Speaks Out

Tue, 16 Mar 2004 03:46:54 GMT

The first British suspect to be released from Camp Delta, Manchester-born Jamal al-Harith, gives a damning account of life in Camp X-Ray and Camp Delta in a three part article in today's Daily Mirror. He describes torture, systematic beatings, forced medication, exposure, inadequate sanitation and denial of religious rights, along with the claim that prostitutes were hired to humiliate inmates. [Kuro5hin.org]

Stations playing Bush campaign ads for free during news?

Tue, 16 Mar 2004 03:46:08 GMT

A few nights ago, I was watching the local news on an Hearst-Argyle owned ABC news affiliate, WCVB. They launched into a story about Bush's reelection campaign, and how some of that huge pile of money was being put to action for a new commercial. Then to my surprise they ran it in entirety, full screen, with no voiceover commentary. Our President, with $190M in campaign funds, was getting what seemed suspiciously like a freebie. [Kuro5hin.org]

California attorney general preparing to slam P2P

Tue, 16 Mar 2004 03:44:35 GMT

Wired News just ran an article by Xeni exposing a draft letter circulated by Bill Lockyer, California attorney general slamming P2P. The metadata on the Word document shows that it has been edited/reviewed by the Motion Picture Association of America. Another example of Hollywood using the US government to push its agenda to blame and limit technology which it views as a threat.

It is me, or is this pretty "smoking gun"?

[Joi Ito's Web]

Is U.S. Grossly Mistreating Guantanamo Prisoners?

Tue, 16 Mar 2004 03:43:18 GMT

If any significant portion of this story -- told by a recently released Guantanamo Bay "enemy combatant" prisoner -- is true, the United States is probably violating all kinds of international laws.

[Dan Gillmor's eJournal]

Bush Administration Invents Journalists to Tout Programs

Tue, 16 Mar 2004 03:43:02 GMT

NY Times: U.S. Videos, for TV News, Come Under Scrutiny. Federal investigators are scrutinizing television segments in which the Bush administration paid people to pose as journalists praising the benefits of the new Medicare law, which would be offered to help elderly Americans with the costs of their prescription medicines. The videos are intended for use in local television news programs. Several include pictures of President Bush receiving a standing ovation from a crowd cheering as he signed the Medicare law on Dec. 8.

The deceptions are bad enough. The shamelessness of these people is even more amazing.

[Dan Gillmor's eJournal]

Copyright Cartel Leads California Attorney General by Nose

Tue, 16 Mar 2004 03:42:37 GMT

Xeni Jardin got her hands on (Wired News) a draft letter California's state attorney general is circulating among his colleagues in other states. Turns out the letter has the fingerprints of, you guessed it, the copyright cartel in Hollywood.

The goal this time is to wipe out or clamp down on peer-to-peer technology. The notion is absurd on its face, because the Internet itself is effectively illegal if this stuff is illegal.

Bill Lockyer has been, on balance, a good AG. But he should not be carrying water for people who would stifle free speech, which is fundamentally the cartel's intent, in the name of protecting copyrights.

[Dan Gillmor's eJournal]

ghost writing the CA Attorney General's policies

Tue, 16 Mar 2004 03:41:27 GMT

In the latest example of Word not keeping its secrets, Joi reports that the California Attorney General is circulating a draft letter condeming p2p sharing -- a letter authored by the MPAA.

[Lessig Blog]

Bush: flag law breaker?

Tue, 16 Mar 2004 03:40:41 GMT

Skippy sez: "I heard, years ago, about a rule prohibiting the use of the flag in advertising for any means. I committed this to memory, but never looked it up. No one ever believed me when I mentioned it, because I couldn’t cite a reference for it.

"I looked this up after seeing a link to this page, which compares the latest updates from Kerry's and Bush's blogs side-by-side (ingenious, if you ask me!). It ticked me off that Bush was using the flag, and I decided to find out whether my memory was correct.

"It turns out that George W. Bush's website is in violation of the United States Code, Title 4, Chapter 1, Section 3. He owes $100, or thirty days in jail." Link

[Boing Boing Blog]

State Attorney - the MPAA's man - urges P2P ban

Tue, 16 Mar 2004 03:35:44 GMT

Elected official flaks for Hollywood [The Register]

Bush Family Value$

Mon, 15 Mar 2004 17:09:32 GMT

Since George Bush [Sr.] raised "family values" as a campaign issue repeatedly, though, it seems only fair to take a look at his own family. A computer search showed that over the past five years stories have periodically surfaced chronicling the individual business antics of the president's sons -- each riding comfortably through life in the slipstream of his father's growing power and influence.

Office of Special Plans

Mon, 15 Mar 2004 16:52:20 GMT

At Salon, a former lieutenant colonel of the U.S. Air Force describes in withering detail what it was like to be inside the Pentagon during the year leading up to the invasion of Iraq. Five pages of tales on the "Office of Special Plans," the neoconservatives who run it, their continuous bungling, and most significantly, their willful and calculated manipulation of reality to build a case for war on Iraq from the flimsiest premises. [birdhouse.org]