Daily Show on the Afghanistan leaks

Jon Stewart turns his eye to Wikileaks, BradAss87, Lady Gaga, and media apathy towards what should be a much bigger story.



In case you were worrying whether even something as damaging and enlightening as the document leak could spur our media into functioning again and maybe covering this war on terror thing, it hasn't. If you thought this might spur our elected betters into acting as if war was to be anything other than a outward projection of macho manliness and something that can never end, it didn't. The House approved and extra $59 billion to fund the wars yesterday.

Nothing changed? We learned nothing? Nicely done, America. At least we got a couple of good jokes out of it.

Ominous words

From a NY Times article trying to explain just what the fuck it is the world's political bodies are doing in response to the financial crisis.

The world’s rich countries are now conducting a dangerous experiment. They are repeating an economic policy out of the 1930s — starting to cut spending and raise taxes before a recovery is assured — and hoping today’s situation is different enough to assure a different outcome.

Oh God. They're openly doing the thing they know is wrong and failed spectacularly in the past... but this time they're hoping that whole 1930's decade was a fluke and they'll luck out and be successful this time. Well, if there's one thing that history has taught us it is that if you repeat history exactly, especially bad things, the results will usually turn out different in the end and in no way repeat.

Here's hoping you can remember all those stories your grandparents tried to forcibly tell you about the Depression, I think they'll come in handy. You probably shouldn't have tuned them out.

Is our children learning?

For 49 out of 50 states, the answer to the question posed above is "Yes... at least by shoddy American standards." The soon to be exception to that rule? Utah. Maybe we were too harsh to call them out for their blinkered state legislature backed climate change denialism. It seems that education isn't their strong suit.

The sudden buzz over the relative value of senior year stems from a recent proposal by state Sen. Chris Buttars that Utah make a dent in its budget gap by eliminating the 12th grade. The notion quickly gained some traction among supporters who agreed with the Republican’s assessment that many seniors frittered away their final year of high school, but faced vehement opposition from other quarters, including in his hometown of West Jordan.
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During a hearing of the state’s Public Education Appropriations Subcommittee earlier this month, Buttars suggested that funding 12th grade amounts to “spending a whole lot of money for a whole bunch of kids who aren’t getting anything out of that grade.” The state senator also has also suggested ending “all busing for high school students,” which would disadvantage poor students and only save a paltry $15 million.

Something that dumbs down education tacked on with a semi-racist/classist measure to cut costs because your retrograde Republican policies can't function with raising taxes or scaling back the tax cuts to the rich you've handed out to cover a nearly billion dollar budget shortfall? You knew Utah, or possibly Texas, was going to blaze that trail first.

Frankly they're just responding to the realities of our financial apocalypse. Who needs education when there aren't any jobs? Furthermore nearly everyone in Utah derives an income from one of those "Isn't it precious how we have 14 kids" reality shows, so doesn't really need an education, skill set, or pliable trade.

I know what you're saying, "Matt, don't Mormons believe that if you record them for television, the camera steals their soul? How can they all have TV deals?" Well you can't steal their soul if they're wearing special underpants that deflect the heathen voodoo rays. Plus 14 kids is a lot, a man has to be willing to put his soul at hazard to care for the fruits of his loins.

So, apologies to Utah. We didn't mean to make fun. We didn't realize you were one of the "special' states. Enjoy your eleven grades. It's all going to be fire, spears, and animal skinned barbarians heaving rocks at each other pretty soon. Who needs AP Physics or English 7/8?

Oh Blackwater, you scamps

Another day, another Blackwater scandal. It seems to lovable extralegal rascals and their private army have gotten into another minor kerfuffle over whether or not it is wise or even legal to indiscriminately shoot civilians while drunk and off duty. Blackwater employees say yes, foreign governments, the law, and those with a shred of human decency say no. Who is to say who is right?

Two former Blackwater operatives were arrested by US federal agents on murder charges, stemming from their alleged involvement in the shooting deaths of two Afghan civilians in Kabul in May.
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In May, reports emerged that four Blackwater/Xe operatives working for Paravant LLC were alleged to have fired on a civilian car they say they saw as a threat, killing at least one Afghan civilian. According to the Wall Street Journal's August Cole, "At least some of the men, who were former military personnel, had been allegedly drinking alcohol that evening, according to a person familiar with the incident. Off-duty contractors aren't supposed to carry weapons or drink alcohol."

Blackwater employees lighting up a bunch of innocent civilians at a traffic light? Where have I heard that one before? You think they would have passed out a memo telling everyone not to do that. Of course, being the reactionary hotheads that they are, the family of the slain men and the people of Kabul not only blame Blackwater and the US, but are immensely unhappy and loathe us. Hearts and minds, folks, hearts and minds. All in a day's work for Blackwater.

Now I'm not here to pile on Blackwater, mention just how dangerously intertwined they are with our operations overseas, or abhor their tactics and seeming complete lack of any goddamn sense. No, that's what everyone else does. In fact, you might be wondering "Is there anything good that Blackwater is affiliated with?" Well, there is Jeremy Scahill's book, but I'm not sure that's what you meant. But yes, I am here to tell you that Blackwater is in fact affiliated with something good.

One of the stars of the widely acclaimed Iraq war film The Hurt Locker has claimed that the filmmakers hired the mercenary firm Blackwater while shooting the film in the Middle East, including in Palestinian refugee camps in Jordan.

"We had these Blackwater guys that were working with us in the Middle East and they taught us like tactical maneuvers and stuff--how to just basically how to position yourself and move with a gun," said Hurt Locker star Anthony Mackie in an interview with the New York Times's Carpetbagger blog.

You know, now that I think of it, I always suspected Jeremy Renner might have been involved in killing 17 civilians.

Now producers deny this claim, saying they only hired mercs and they may or may not have worked for Blackwater, but they didn't contract out to Blackwater itself. Well, whether Blackwater worked on the film or is only being mention in conjunction with the film, it's at least something positive, because the Hurt Locker kicked fucking ass. So yes, there is something decent that the organization now known as Xe may have been involved in. That's the best news about them that has ever come out. Good for them. More consults on great movies, less killing of civilians and undermining our efforts to fight terrorism. Now go see the Hurt Locker.

Things that don't sound good

The why's and how's of how a terrorist was able to pack his Jockey's with exploding groin candy and was only stopped through a combination of incompetence and passengers noting that a man trying to light his sack on fire isn't normal already don't look very good. But as we get deeper and deeper into investigations into what was and wasn't done, well, the specifics don't sound any better. Take for instance this USA Today interview with crotchety old National Security Adviser/Dip-set rapper Jim Jones.

White House national security adviser James Jones says Americans will feel "a certain shock" when they read an account being released Thursday of the missed clues that could have prevented the alleged Christmas Day bomber from ever boarding the plane.

President Obama "is legitimately and correctly alarmed that things that were available, bits of information that were available, patterns of behavior that were available, were not acted on," Jones said in an interview Wednesday with USA TODAY.

"That's two strikes,"

Well, unless it involves some revelation about Michael Jackson's death or an additional dozen mistresses for Tiger Woods, I doubt America will even stifle a disinterested yawn, let alone get "shocked". But it is a tad disturbing when your national security adviser looks at all the facts and decides that should be the reaction the American public and would be... if we had an adult country or a functioning political system.

But what would theoretically shock Americans? I don't know, something like this maybe?

U.S. border security officials learned of the alleged extremist links of the suspect in the Christmas Day jetliner bombing attempt as he was airborne from Amsterdam to Detroit and had decided to question him when he landed, officials disclosed Wednesday.
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"The people in Detroit were prepared to look at him in secondary inspection," a senior law enforcement official said. "The decision had been made. The [database] had picked up the State Department concern about this guy -- that this guy may have been involved with extremist elements in Yemen."

If the intelligence had been detected sooner, it could have resulted in the interrogation and search of Abdulmutallab at the airport in Amsterdam

Ahh, your information told you that this man should not be allowed to board a plane without first going through an interrogation and search, but not only is this database watch list information not work quickly enough, when you do get the word that he's a terrorist super-freak you decide to let the man complete the flight he shouldn't be allowed on in order to question him at the completion of it. But don't worry, security types in the article will assure you that's wasn't where the mistake was made. No, the mistake was made when the father called the government to warn them about his son and, despite having enough evidence to put him on a 'no fly' list, he was allowed to get on a plane. Well, that does make me feel better.

Actually the scary thing is that we still might not be able to address this stuff because our national security and terrorism policies are more focused around exploiting the politics of the situation instead of fixing things. So it's 50/50 on whether or not we can fix things like "not letting the guy on our watch list get on the plane". Let's just put in the work to make our security lapses go from "shocking" to merely "mildly surprising". Baby steps.

Your new "security"

In a bit of good news, today the US finally lifted it's longstanding travel ban on anyone with HIV or AIDS from entering this country. For those of you counting at home, that's one more list we're off of where our only companions are extremely repressive and regressive regimes. Funny how often we find ourselves on them.

Hey, wouldn't it be hilarious if the day that we were patting ourselves on the back for tolerance on one type of passenger we announced that we were also going to declare anyone darker than an albino Irishman was to be considered suspicious? Funny I should mention that...

Citizens of 14 nations, including Pakistan, Saudi Arabia and Nigeria, who are flying to the United States will be subjected indefinitely to the intense screening at airports worldwide that was imposed after the Christmas Day bombing plot, Obama administration officials announced Sunday.
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Passengers holding passports from those nations, or taking flights that originated or passed through any of them, will be required to undergo full-body pat downs and will face extra scrutiny of their carry-on bags before they can board planes to the United States.
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The changes will mean that any citizen of Pakistan or Saudi Arabia will for the first time be patted down automatically before boarding any flight to the United States.

That's right, if you want to come to the land of milk and honey, we get to cup your balls first. Just to be sure. But only if you're in violation of Homeland Security's new color alert system. Right now it's at 'Eggshell White', meaning everyone gets searching in order to make everyone feel better. Soon it'll be reduced to 'Khaki' and then 'British Tan', so just us white people can feel better when we see pat downs and increased security for those "dangerous types". You know the ones I'm talking about. Ethnics.

Now I know what you're saying: "Aren't passports easy to fake? Aren't terrorists smart enough to get around this? Has any terrorist ever actually hopped on a Saudi Arabia-to-US direct flight with C4 in his boxer briefs? Wouldn't it be better to pump money into getting uniform shared databases so that information can be shared and pieces could be connected, like what didn't happen in the Detroit case? Why don't we take things seriously for once? Isn't this just more of that 'illusion of security' shit we've been going through since 9/11? Stuff that just makes us feel better but doesn't actually protect us?"

Yes, yes it is. I have an interesting response to that: Shut up. Sure, none of this will make a difference. Sure, it's kind of racist and probably harms our relations with Muslims more than it protects us from them. Sure, this is all empty theater. But it looks good and makes us feel good, so we'll take that in lieu of real safety measures. Thankfully our leaders are content to follow our lead and only deal with security and terrorism in terms of empty gestures, rhetoric, politics, and tough guy posturing.

At least they didn't decide to make us all take our underwear off at the scanners as well. There's at least that.

Stay classy, Tony

For some people who supported the war in Iraq the whole run-up to and conduct of the war has caused them to reconsider what they advocated for, what they enabled, and what they did. Especially in the area surrounding the hyped up intelligence, WMD's, 'smoking gun in the form of a mushroom cloud' nonsense that preceded the war. Some people would be ashamed of that, how the war cost thousands of soldier's lives, hundreds of thousands of civilian's lives, destabilized millions, cost trillions, and has seemed to provide little tangible benefit in the end.

Tony Blair isn't one of those people.

"If you had known then that there were no WMDs, would you still have gone on?" Blair was asked. He replied: "I would still have thought it right to remove him [Saddam Hussein]".

Significantly, Blair added: "I mean obviously you would have had to use and deploy different arguments about the nature of the threat."

Obviously. But then again, "Some asshole is running his country in a despotic fashion" is less of a compelling argument than "OMGZ, you guys! We're all gonna die in an exploding hellfire of nuclear destruction! Think of the baby bald eagles!" Just ask the people in Rwanda, or Somalia, or the Sudan, or... actually, let's just say Africa and be done with it.

It's nice that when confronted with the cost of a war based on lies that resulted in nothing, the man will resort to the "Nope, still not convinced" defense while droning on and on about doing what he thought, in his heart of hearts, was right. You have to appreciate that commitment to narcissistic self-belief and self-regard. Plus he did get a kick-ass medal of freedom, and if you denigrate the Iraq war then you taint the integrity of that honored and legitimately bestowed award.

Stay classy, Tony.

The future framework for failure

With the Copenhagen conference well underway, Democrats in the Senate have taken the opportunity that an increased focus on climate change by the media (more specifically: Sarah Palin's ideas on climate change by the media) to release their own framework for a climate bill. Sure, we could discuss what's in it, from 17% greenhouse gas cuts to government loans for nuclear reactors, but why waste time when the whole damn thing will be changed by the time it's passed? No, instead we'll focus on yet another example of Democrats not understanding how the Senate works, the basic concept of negotiations, or just how badly they've set themselves up for failure.

"We would like to underscore the fact that the framework we are releasing today is a starting point for our negotiations going forward," said Sen. John Kerry, D-Mass.
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Kerry has for weeks been working with Republican Sen. Lindsey Graham of South Carolina and Sen. Joe Lieberman, I-Conn., on broadening the Senate bill in hopes of gaining more Republican support.
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But the three acknowledged they are nowhere near getting the votes needed to overcome a certain GOP filibuster threat on any climate legislation. "We don't have 60 votes," said Lieberman.

Graham said the commitment to expand nuclear energy and open new opportunities for new oil and gas drilling both on shore and on the Outer Continental Shelf is hoped to attract additional support from Republican senators.

Christ John, you fell for it again. You actually thing this bill you released is a starting point for negotiations? No, this bill you outlined is the best this bill will ever look. Things will not move forward, they will move backward. You already admit you don't have the votes and already weakened your position in any future negotiations by crafting a bill that already starts off as a massive compromise and will still yet have to be compromised in order to pass. Why? Because you wanted Republican support. Because apparently you haven't been paying attention to the past couple of years. You magically got Graham on board and your only other two options come from Maine. The rest of the Republicans will vote against anything you propose based on general principle.

So let's see here, we have an optimistic Democrat introducing massively important legislation that absolutely has to be passed in order to stave of a giant problem that has been ignored for decades. Because he actually thinks that the other side can be bargained with he starts off by offering huge compromises in order to marshal bipartisan support that will never come. Remind me again, how did this plan of action work out for bailouts, the stimulus, financial reform, and health care? Ah, good 'ole Democrats: fool them once, no offense taken; fool them twice, no worries, you can just keep on foolin' them. I can't wait to see how this all unexpectedly blows up in Kerry's face. I'm sure it'll really surprise him when the has to whittle away this bill into nothing.

Broken In Brief: State Department pretty sure it heard laughter when it told Russia about Afghanistan escalation

FOGGY BOTTOM—In the days since President Obama announced his plan to add an additional 30,000 troops to the war effort in Afghanistan, those within the diplomatic community aren’t certain, but are pretty sure that Russian ambassadors, ministers, and military establishment were giggling to themselves.

“You know, I’m not certain, but I swore I heard the Foreign Affairs Minister snort and then muffle the phone as he chortled to himself. I hadn’t even finished saying the world ‘escalation’,” explained Philip Gordon, the Assistant Secretary of State for European and Eurasian Affairs.

“But then when I confronted him about it, he assured me that it wasn’t the case, that what we were doing was a totally smart idea, and that he wished us well in our ‘brilliant and never before conceived-of endeavor.’ But during that last part his voice went all high pitched and his speech was halting, so I think he might have been trying not to laugh again. Must be some Russian joke.”

Indeed, reports are preliminary but it seems that most of the Russian establishment found the escalation of war in Afghanistan, a country with which they also had a previous conflict, to be of the utmost comedy.

Several ministers were reportedly treated in local hospitals from desk banging-related hand injuries. There are also rumors that one General had to be administered oxygen, and an expense report from the Foreign Affairs office cites a reimbursement request from a staffer for 14 pairs of slacks that had to be purchased due to “extensive soiling of several analysts’ original pants.”

In an effort to quell any diplomatic tensions, Prime Minister Putin was supposed to give an extensive speech praising America’s judgment, but stopped only a few sentences in before doubling over the lectern as tears streamed down his face. The Prime Minister did, however, manage to squeak out a terse “well done” before flashing a thumbs up and stumbling into the back room with both hands clasped over his mouth.

As of press time, the State Department, Defense Department, and White House were unable to see just what was so funny.

How considerate of them

White House: No Afghanistan announcement until after Thanksgiving

The Obama administration won't announce its new comprehensive strategy for Afghanistan and Pakistan until after Thanksgiving, a White House official confirms to The Cable, and observers and experts close to the discussions see it as the White House's attempt to stage a full and controlled rollout over the week beginning November 30.
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In that way, the argument goes, the administration can build more support for the policy, deal quickly with any opposition on Capitol Hill, and then have a more active role in how the story plays out in the media.
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The administration isn't going to want to make the announcement and then wait a long time before holding the hearings, because that would make it more difficult to keep the message consistent after the news breaks.

Plus, congressional attention will be diverted that week to the health-care debate in the Senate, distracting some attention from the Afghanistan debate, which may be part of the administration's calculations.

Well how considerate of them. I know they talk about "building support" and "controlling the message" and playing a shell game with Afghanistan and health care, but I'm just glad they decided not to ruin our holiday with a big announcement of a war escalation. I mean you don't want the phrase "40,000 troop increase" to come out on the 26th. Someone might be shocked enough that they might slip on carving the turkey, severing off a finger or two with an electric carving knife, or a clumsy dad might accidentally dump a heaping spoonful of napalm-like sweet potatoes into their lap. And really, without health care reform passed, most people can't afford that expense during the holidays....or ever.

But aren't we forgetting one of the main lessons of the Bush Administration? No, not "don't elect the Bush Administration." I'm talking about their famous maxim of not "rolling out a new product in August", meaning when selling something to America you don't want to make your case too early. Now it seems Obama is going in the other direction, waiting too late to unveil his product. How are people going to be excited about buying a new war escalation if you dump it on them right before Christmas?

You need a slow build, to get them interested and excited, and to make them think they can't live without it. This is Marketing 101. I expected better of you, Barry. Well, I actually expected you not to escalate wars, but if you were going to do it, I thought you'd at least do it in a slicker fashion. At least dazzle me with some showmanship and salesmanship if you're going to make a giant mistake.

Not learning

Following a weekend where we learned that the US is not going to put more troops into Afghanistan unless Karzai can show a proper hangdog expression, admit that he was a "bad widdle boy", and promise to never try to rig an election in such an obvious manner, that the Taliban and al Qaeda have merged, and that the White House and Pentagon were both reading books on Vietnam and the only lessons they seem to be learning are ways they don't want to use to escalate their own unwinnable war, its nice to know that our elected better aren't the only ones deluded as to what American military might can accomplish in the Middle East. Large chunks of the American public are deluded as well.

Americans overwhelmingly see Iran's nuclear program as geared toward the development of atomic weaponry, and more than eight in 10 support direct diplomatic talks to try to resolve the situation, according to a new Washington Post-ABC News poll.
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There's less, though still sizable backing for military engagement, with 42 percent of Americans supporting the bombing of Iran's nuclear development sites and 33 percent advocating invading the country with U.S. ground forces.

2/5th's want us to bring the same bombing accuracy to Iran as we've brought to Pakistan and 1/3 think that the problem with our previous two Middle Eastern adventures was that we didn't bring the Freedom with America sauce on the side in a hard enough manner. I guess third time is the charm. This without any objective evidence that Iran even has nukes or a sufficiently pants wetting nuke program. A round of applause for 1/3 of the country. 8 years of war and no one seems to have learned anything. On the bright side, maybe we can pull resources from Afghanistan for a second time and invade Iran. Won't that be hilarious. Karzai will start to wonder what he was even rigging elections for in the first place.

Cheap Blogging Crutch 09.25

Banks fight to kill proposed consumer protection agency
This is part 3,874 in our Not Learning Anything: The Global Financial Apocalypse and You series, in which banks decide that since almost nonexistent and un-enforced regulation worked out so well for banks and the public at large last time, why not try to handicap any efforts to provide any new oversight. Sounds like a good plan. Maybe next go around we can have every bank fail, or at least be consolidated into one super bank. This seems like the smartest way to go.

Democrats Are Jarred by Drop In Fundraising, Complacency, Absence of Big Donors Cited
Yes Democrats, after a summer in which you spent all your time fucking over the priorities of your base, dicking around on health care, not doing all that much to overturn Bush terrorism policies, and generally just spitting in the face of people who would be willing to give you money, you want to say it's complacency that's making your coffers a little light. That's half right. It's complacency from Democratic leaders, who think they can piss on everyone's shoes and tell them it's raining, that's the reason people can't seem to find money for people who can't seem to find the time to try to do what they ran for election on.

Mount Vernon council distances itself from honor for talk-show host
This is odd. Who would have ever thought that there would be people who would be mortified that their mayor was going to honor Glenn Beck with a Glenn Beck Day and a key to the city? I mean who wouldn't want to tie that crazy albatross around your neck and promote the fact that America's foremost aardvark lover was born and raised in your fair town? Build a statue to him, he's earned it.

Water Found on the Moon
You thought the Fiji and Voss water people were insufferable beyond all belief, wait till you meet the Moon Water people who drink their water from a moon aquifer that has never even touched an atmosphere, let alone air impurities. That's right, the friggin' moon has friggin' water on it. Don't worry, they're going to investigate this in the best way they know how: by crashing a spacecraft called LCROSS into it. Eat it Japan! We're the moon smashing water kings now.

Ford China Plant: Automaker Will Build $490 Million Facility
That's how you rebuild the American car industry....by packing it up and putting it in Chongqing, which I'm pretty sure was named after the villain in Van Damme's Bloodsport. Let's see, they have a plant in China, with Chinese labor, making cars under Chinese manufacturing standards, for sale in the Chinese market. Those goddamn things must be so cheap they actually give you money to take one. But I guess Ford are the smart ones, they're the ones we didn't have to bail out.

Cheap Blogging Crutch 09.14

It’s Showdown Week for the Baucus Six, With a Medicaid Fight Looming
Max Baucus is finally ready to put his chairman's seal of approval on some health care legislation this week. The only question is if he'll be able to forge some sort of compromise with the bill they've written and get Republican lawmakers to sign on (HA!), or if he'll just rubber stamp the bill without their support. Because after all, after the bill that you've crafted with the expressed purpose of gaining Republican votes fails to get the Republican votes of the people who directly negotiated with, the only solution is to move forward with that bill and all the provisions in it that failed to capture Republican votes.

Charles Darwin film 'too controversial for religious America'
I don't know whether to sing a verse from the "Star Spangled Banner" or "America, Fuck Yeah!" here. A dramatic film about Darwin that is only marginally about evolution has gotten distribution in every other country, but can't get distribution here...for some reason. Now sure, some might say that it's just because the movie is "Flat, dull, and painful to sit through", but that didn't stop Transformers 2, or half-to-three quarters of all movies that get released. Oh well, maybe we can get a documentary about the facts behind the Creation Museum instead.

Closing The Book On The Bush Legacy
Who would have ever thought that a census could ever provide a furious smackdown of the Bush legacy? But when you look at the trend lines from previous Presidents comparing median income, adults living in poverty, children living in poverty, access to health care, Americans uninsured, Americans receiving employer health insurance, Amer.....look it's rather a lot of things, we'll just say "everything either declined in a bad way or rose in a bad way" and be done with it.

Stiglitz Says Banking Problems Are Now Bigger Than Pre-Lehman
What is it with these Nobel Prize winning economists and their need to let everyone know that not only were they right about the economic collapse, but that they have some new soul crushing revelations? Things are worse and problems are larger? Who would have ever thought that would be the result after a Congress completely in the pocket of the banking and financial industries committed themselves to doing nothing other than handing out large sums of cash? For those of you that are interested, this is Part 124,868 in the series America: Not Learning From It's Mistakes.

Santorum Admits to Pondering Run for Republican Presidential Nomination - Asks for Prayers
Can he tell if the prayers are coming from heathen sources only wishing for him to engage in electoral failure that matches this moment of greatness? Surely he's going to be able to tell that my prayers, Sean's prayers, and Dan Savage's prayers aren't filled with anything other than malicious intent, right?

Refresher

Arthur Laffer, a former Reagan economist, on socialism:

LAFFER: I mean, if you like the Post Office and the Department of Motor Vehicles and you think they’re run well, just wait until you see Medicare, Medicaid, and health care done by the government.

As it apparently needs to be said over and over and over and over and over again: Medicare and Medicaid.....are government healh care programs. Socialism! Run for the hills!

The black man isn't coming to take your shit, grandma. He's trying to extend similar benefits to the rest of us. So get out of the way.

Who could have foreseen....

...that financial institutions wouldn't learn anything?

Morgan Stanley plans to repackage a downgraded collateralized debt obligation backed by leveraged loans into new securities with AAA ratings in the first transaction of its kind, said two people familiar with the sale.
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Two years after the credit markets began to seize up, costing the world’s biggest financial institutions $1.47 trillion in writedowns and losses, banks are again taking so- called structured finance securities and turning them into new debt investments with top credit ratings.

You mean to tell the bunch of geniuses who barely even understood what they were doing when they bundled piles of shit together into one big pile that collapsed he world economy, aren't smart enough to know not to do it again? I'm just surprised by how quick they're trying to jump back down that hole. I expected we'd at least be out of the current collapse before some genius said "Hear me out. Remember how we destroyed the economy? Let's do the exact same thing but expect different results because we've ostensibly learned something from the whole collapse?" Nope. They aren't even doing something different that just sounds similar. They're doing the exact same thing, possibly with even the exact same bad paper. In case you're wondering if the economy can crash twice within a year, we'll we're about to find out that the answer is yes. I can't believe that they couldn't even find a way to fuck things up in a new way. I hate repeats.

...that the CIA would constantly lie to elected officials?

In a June 26 letter to Mr. Panetta discussing his testimony, Democrats said that the agency had “misled members” of Congress for eight years about the classified matters, which the letter did not disclose. “This is similar to other deceptions of which we are aware from other recent periods,” said the letter, made public late Wednesday by Representative Rush D. Holt, Democrat of New Jersey, one of the signers.

In an interview, Mr. Holt declined to reveal the nature of the C.I.A.’s alleged deceptions,. But he said, “We wouldn’t be doing this over a trivial matter.”

Oh my, not the CIA! Not our most trusted government organization! Not after Republicans spent all that time criticizing Nancy Pelosi and other Democrats when they said they the CIA was hiding information or misleading them on a number of fronts! I guess this is why its such a smart idea for President Obama to threaten to veto a bill that expands the disclosure of covert actions to entire House and Senate Intelligence Committees. I guess he just doesn't want them all to be lied to. You can't have entire committees with hurt feelings, its better they're kept in the dark. I'm just glad that, once again, nothing will be done. I think the order goes something like:

1. CIA admits constant program of misinformation and lies to elected representatives
2. someone uses the phrase "boys will be boys"
3. the CIA's hair gets tousled and they're referred to as a "scamp" or "rascal"
4. everything continues on as if nothing happened.

I fail to see how the CIA never gets the message that they shouldn't lie to Congress. How much more harsh a rebuke than "scamp" can we throw down? Must we traverse down the slippery slope of "ne'er do well" and "nogoodnik"? I'm sure they'll get the message this time.

Someone muzzle Grampa

With Iran refusing to nullify the election, moving to swear in Ahmadinejad, and taking that extra classy Chinese Government step of charging bullet fees for the protesters government security forces shot, I have but one small happy thought: thank Baby Jesus that John McCain isn't President.

Sen. John McCain continued to rap President Barack Obama for his measured reaction to the crisis in Iran, which McCain said was inadequate in its support for the protestors of Mahmoud Ahmadinejad's contested re-election.
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The line pushed by McCain has become the de-facto Republican criticism of Obama since the crisis in Iran began. The president has expressed his concern with the rising violence in the country as well as the obvious inaccuracies in the presidential vote. But he has avoided outright support for the seating of opposition candidate Mir Hossein Moussavi.

The measured manner of Obama's response, while criticized by some, has been described as essential by many foreign policy observers.

I love that his plan come down to the President waving bigger pom-poms and perhaps forming a human pyramid before trying to get onlookers to spell our I-R-A-N letter by letter. Good plan Johnny, because people in Iran, let alone the rest of the world, are confused to America's thoughts on the matter. What we need to be doing is intertwining American power an influence with the leadership of the revolution. Because after all, what Iranian doesn't like the thought of the foreign power that overthrew it's democratically elected government in 1953 and propped up a dictatorship for decades, then supplied Saddam Hussein with chemical weapons so he could gas Iranians in an all out war, co-opting the leadership of a democratically based revolution? I totally bet that it wouldn't be used as a weapon to discredit the movement and as an excuse to get even harsher with protesters.

I can't believe the man that glibly sang about bombing these same people that are now marching in the streets doesn't know enough about Iran to gauge stupid foreign policy from smart foreign policy. Here's a tip Mac, if Joe Scarborough is labeling your criticism as "so shortsighted I find it stunning", and George Will, a man who nakedly distorts facts, thinks the intellectual rigor of your arguments equates to "foolish criticism", it's time to hang 'em up. It's one thing to say "maybe you shouldn't shoot so many protesters", it's another to wrap yourself in green and swear fealty to Mousavi. Learn the difference.

Khamenei to Iran: "No please, overthrow me too."

Some of the more positive movements within the Guardian Council, from clerics offering support to questioning the election to even the somewhat dubious offer to officially look into vote rigging claims, seemed to take a step back when ex-ZZ Top bassist and Iranian Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei decided that if the government gets toppled, he'd like to be under it when it falls.

Iran's supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, issued a stern warning to opponents today to stay off the streets as he denied claims that last week's elections had been rigged.

In an uncompromising address at Friday prayers, Khamenei claimed that the high turnout at the elections showed how much the Iranian people supported the regime, and blamed western powers for interfering in Iranian politics, singling out the UK as the "most treacherous".

In a thinly veiled warning to the reformist presidential challenger, Mir Hossein Mousavi, Khamenei said opposition leaders would be held responsible if they did not call for an end to the protests that have rocked Iran since last Friday's disputed election.

"Street challenge is not acceptable," he said. "This is challenging democracy after the elections."

Ouch. What kind of world do we live in when the Supreme Leader of Iran isn't singling the United States out as the "most treacherous" for meddling in Iranian affairs. That used to be our thing! The 1953 coup was our Sgt. Pepper. People listening live to the speech even chanted "Death to the UK!" What about us, Ali? What about the Jews? Don't either of us get any credit? I thought this was all about us! *sniff* I guess there's a new western Great Satan.

The big news out of the speech, other than Ali officially getting out the sensual oils and lube for Ahmadinejad, dismissing even the notion that vote rigging occurred, and fully supporting the election results, was that the government would do longer behanding out permits for protests and looked to have given police "the green light to security forces to violently handle protesters." I was under the impression that's what the security forces were already doing. They weren't?

I'm sure this will end well for you Ali and you will in no way regret rigging the election or loudly supporting it. Bitter old despots always win when pitted against millions of motivated and oppressed people. Enjoy your post-revolution public square meathooking.

Sounds like a good idea...that will never happen

General Ricardo Sanchez has added his name to the list of people calling for useful ideas that will never ever ever be allowed to happen. His idea? A Truth Commission thingy to investigate all those interrogation and torture related war crime type activities. It's not quite as good as my idea that will never happen (arresting them, charging them all in a court, and throwing them in prison) but it's a start.

In front of a packed audience tonight at the Times Center in New York City, General Ricardo Sanchez, the former commander of all coalition forces in Iraq, called for a truth commission to investigate the abuses and torture which occurred there.

The General described the failures at all levels of civilian and military command that led to the abuses in Iraq, "and that is why I support the formation of a truth commission."

The General went on to say that, "during my time in Iraq there was not one instance of actionable intelligence that came out of these interrogation techniques."..."If we do not find out what happened," continued the General, "then we are doomed to repeat it."
...
Senator Patrick Leahy has called for a truth commission on the abuses in Iraq and set up a website to collect online signatures in support of the framework -- www.BushTruthCommission.com. More than 113,000 people have signed so far since the site's launch in February of this year.

As if we need another reason to fully explore to what extent we defecated on the founding fathers, our Constitution, and the Geneva Conventions, there is one added bonus to having a Truth Commission: irony will finally be killed for good when guys like Dick Cheney and Donald Rumsfeld go to something called a "Truth Commission", where there are no repercussions/prosecutions for telling the truth, and will proceed to lie their asses off. Sure, sure, wiretapping, torture, rendition, blah blah blah. But also: world record attempts at bullshitting and obfuscation. The Scumbag Liar Olympics. We need this for truth, but mostly for comedy.

Torture History 101

You have to applaud the Bush Administration. They don't care about which torture techniques was prosecuted as a war crime by the US during WWII, what torture techniques were used against American pilots by the North Koreans during the Korean War, what techniques Pol Pot used while murdering and torturing his people in Cambodia, or what techniques got their start during the Spanish Inquisition, they just focused on what worked. Or in this case, what was proven to not work and in fact elicit false confessions. And by 'don't care' I mean 'was too ignorant to learn'.

The program began with Central Intelligence Agency leaders in the grip of an alluring idea: They could get tough in terrorist interrogations without risking legal trouble by adopting a set of methods used on Americans during military training. How could that be torture?
...
This extraordinary consensus was possible, an examination by The New York Times shows, largely because no one involved — not the top two C.I.A. officials who were pushing the program, not the senior aides to President George W. Bush, not the leaders of the Senate and House Intelligence Committees — investigated the gruesome origins of the techniques they wereapproving with little debate.
...
The process was “a perfect storm of ignorance and enthusiasm,” a former C.I.A. official said.

Ouch. So in addition to failing Basic Humanity 101, Modern Intelligence Gathering 201, and Advanced Legal Bullshittery, they didn't even pass Torture History 101. At least the high marks in Advance Bald Faced Lying and the Lack of Human Decency lab will bring up that GPA.

So let's see here: The Bush Administration picked a bunch of torture techniques that it liked the sound of, didn't even bother to do a rudimentary check on the history of usage and war crimes prosecution for these techniques, openly admitted the legal justification for these techniques almost assuredly wouldn't hold up in court, and used the torture techniques against detainees in pursuit of uncovering conspiracies they wished were happening. They aren't being prosecuted.....why?

Someone explain this past election to Harry Reid

Finally the Democrats aren't going to get steamrolled. Finally they're going to stand up to the President and say "No, we will not be your lapdogs anymore!' Finally they are going to exercise authority and oversight. It's just that they're going to do it against the guy who shares their political beliefs and is going to try and pass many of the same plans they also agree with. Guh?

Reid, who lambasted the GOP-led Congress for being a rubber stamp for President Bush, indicated that he will not bow to the Obama administration.

Reid stated, “I don't believe in the executive power trumping everything... I believe in our Constitution, three separate but equal branches of government.”

“If Obama steps over the bounds, I will tell him. … I do not work for Barack Obama. I work with him,” he said.

Uh, Harry? Who is you work for then? Because judging from the last few years, it isn't the American people, or the people who elected you, or registered Democrats. It's nice though that you decided to move from enabling a historically unpopular President with his historically unpopular and at most times illegal polices, to sandbagging a popular recently elected President who shares the same priorities that you allegedly profess to hold.

Boy, this makes me excited for the next two years. A feckless moron who got steamrolled by Republicans every step of the way and just this week figured out a way to get a man legally certified as the winner of the Minnesota election not seated, announces his intentions to show independence just at the time he should be gearing up to help out. Is it too late to get him removed as Majority Leader? He hasn't succeeded at anything and I have no idea how he got the position in the first place. Republicans, you telling me you can't run someone against him? Are there no Nevada Republicans? Help us out. It's just nice to know that when they finally win, there are always enough Democrats ready to cock that big gun and point it squarely at their foot. Congrats Harry, you found a spine, bring it over here so I can hit you with it.