Defense Attorneys Are Patriotic Too.

Here are my thoughts on this poorly written article by Bush-era speechwriter Marc Thiessen that somehow got into the Washington Post. The article is about recent criticism of defense attorneys who have represented Guantanomo detainees as being unpatriotic and "weak" on terror.

"Should a lawyer who advocates setting terrorists free, knowing they may go on to kill Americans, have any role in setting U.S. detention policy? My hunch is that most Americans would say no."

Your hunch, like the rest of your article, is flawed. Who says they are terrorists? They haven't been charged with terrorism or any other crime. They may go out and kill people or they may go sip tea; only God knows. I'm an American who says yes they should either be released, have charges brought against them or be held as prisoners of war.

Holding people indefinitely without due process of law stands against the principles that this country was founded upon and defense attorneys who stand up for fair and lawful treatment of people accused of a crime, whether by actual charges or by indefinite detention, should be applauded not scolded as unpatriotic.

Bailouts & Bonuses

Two articles about the ongoing financial crisis/money-grab, one from Paul Krugman of the New York Times and one from Eugene Robinson of the Washington Post.

My bailout factoid for the day:

If the $18,000,000,000 paid as bonuses to executives in bailed-out companies last year was recovered and given instead to the 2,600,000 children, age 3 and under who live in poverty in the US, every one of those children would receive $6,923.08, enough for diapers, food and other basic needs for a year.

Poverty data from the National Center for Children in Poverty

Auto CEOs & Private Jets

http://www.cnn.com/2008/US/11/19/autos.ceo.jets/index.html

The CEOs claim that they need to fly private because of "security." Right. Maybe they thought Congress would give them the $25B in cash and they didn't want to bother trying to explain it to the TSA at Reagan National. Or maybe they just don't like sitting next to "Joe Six-Pack" on Southwest? N5116, a chartered Gulfstream G-IV landed a while ago in Detroit - was it the CEO of GM, Ford or Chrysler?

3rd Presidential Debate

Overall, McCain didn't get the "game changer" that he was looking for in this debate. He spent more time (again) attacking Obama than he did outlining his policies. He frequently was condescending to Obama when he responded to points he didn't agree with, unlike Obama, who stayed on message and stayed polite the whole night. McCain also kept bringing up a supporter named "Joe The Plumber," tonight's euphemism for "ordinary people," again trying to subtly portray Obama (and by extension, his supporters) as outside foreigners meddling in the affairs of Joe Six Pack, hockey moms etc. Obama skillfuly addressed Joe The Plumber (JTP) later in the debate and McCain had trouble incorporating it any more in his arguments. (There does happen to be a Joe The Plumber in Amarillo, TX - www.joetheplumber.com - maybe McCain was hoping he could unclog his campaign.) Here are some points that I noted as the debate progressed:

9:03 Why does McCain always write things down before the debate really starts?
9:04 McCain looks uncomfortable
9:09 Obama gets the first laugh of the night for saying that McCain has been watching too many of his own ads
9:11 McCain accuses Obama of "class warfare" without much explanation
9:13 McCain again uses his poor comparison to Ireland re: tax rates
9:17 Schieffer is popping in and out of the frame of the video and it's distracting
9:20 Obama brings up the Bush deficits
9:21 McCain says he's not President Bush; annoyed at Obama bringing up that McCain voted for Bush's budgets
9:23 Obama gets the second laugh for saying even Fox News disputes one of McCain's accusations
9:27 McCain brings up Rep. John Lewis's remarks about the McCain campaign
9:31 more Joe The Plumber references from McCain
9:32 Obama restates his mild repudiation of Rep. Lewis' comments
9:35 Obama staying on track with emphasizing his focus on policy change vs. McCain mudslinging
9:37 Obama clearly and succinctly refutes the allegations against him re: Ayers and ACORN
9:40 McCain refuses to accept Obama's statements
9:44 McCain says Palin's husband is a tough guy too (??!!??) in response to a question about running mates.
9:48 McCain comes across as condescending frequently in these debates as he just did answering a question about energy policy
9:52 McCain takes a jab at Obama saying he never traveled south of the border and he would understand it better if he did. Neither have I so I guess I can't say anything more.
9:53 Obama counters with "I understand it pretty well"
9:56 McCain comparing Obama to Herbert Hoover again
9:58 Obama outlining his health plan
10:00 More Joe The Plumber about health care (it's getting real old by now) claiming Joe will get fined under Obama's health care plan
10:01 Obama addresses Joe personally and says Joe will play no fines as McCain claims; McCain stunned, can't believe it.
10:03 McCain says Joe is rich now. Wishes him congratulations.
10:05 McCain (accidentally?) calls Obama, "Senator Government"
10:09 Schieffer pressing McCain on whether he would appoint a Supreme Court justice who supports abortion rights
10:13 McCain brings up some of Obama's votes about abortion in the Illinois State Senate which Obama has to address - a frequent tactic of McCain. Obama again skillfuly addresses the accusations.
10:16 Last question about education
10:18 Obama outlining his strategies for improving the education system including emphasizing the role of the parents (yay!)
10:19 McCain starts his response with something about civil rights and equal access to schools apparently in relation to charter schools
10:21 Obama says the Bush administration left the money behind with No Child Left Behind
10:27 McCain giddily sneaks in the last response before closing statements emphasizing his support for school vouchers
10:28 McCain - I'm a reformer, you can trust me, I'm in a "long line of McCain's" serving their country.
10:30 Obama - We live with failed policies. We need tax cuts for middle class, health care and better education. "It's not going to be easy, it's not going to be quick ... [but] I'm sure we can do it."

2nd Presidential Debate

Overall, the same old stuff, different debate. Obama was too polite with all the jabs and factual liberties that McCain was taking. McCain is starting to sound more desperate but I'm sure he still is appealing to his base. The debate format was too restrictive too with Obama frequently needing to go outside of the time limits to respond to the inaccuracies of McCain's comments and McCain going over with tangents into different topics. Tom Brokaw could be heard on an open mic, after the debate concluded, saying that he was looking "for a trap door I could spring" and "two minutes, one minute, yeah right."

"Your Urgent Help Needed"

Here's a funny spoof of Nigerian money scams:
http://angrybear.blogspot.com/2008/09/your-urgent-help-needed.html

The Anthrax Bomber

The anthrax bombings were once again in the headlines with the FBI announcing they had figured out whodunnit. Problem is that their suspect (a Dr. Bruce Ivins from USAMRIID, the Army's germ laboratory at Ft. Detrick, MD) died from "an apparent suicide" shortly before the announcement and the entire case seems to hinge on weak circumstantial evidence. Here are some questions that, if I were on a jury, would give me a reasonable doubt as to their conclusions:

• Why wasn't an autopsy performed on Ivins? Only a blood test was performed and found that there was a large dose of Tylenol and codeine. An autopsy might reveal traces of the strain of anthrax used in the attacks, which still is inconclusive but an autopsy seems like a given when the government's prime suspect dies of unnatural causes.
• Is there a definitive answer as to whether the attack anthrax had additives that point towards weaponization? There have been conflicting answers about this from numerous researchers, government spokespeople and the media. If there were not any additives how did the anthrax disperse so freely after being in envelopes through sorting machines etc?
• There doesn't appear to be any evidence that the letters were written by Ivins - no matches from the handwriting, no DNA.
• Why does the FBI think a lone, crazy guy did it rather than a group?
• The FBI has stated the flask of anthrax that matched genetically to the attack anthrax was in the the sole custody of Ivins but other employees at USAMRIID said other researchers had access as well.
• There is no evidence placing Ivins in NJ to mail the letters other than the FBI's very weak link that a storage closet for a sorority that Ivins was obsessed with is near the mailbox where the letters were mailed.
• The substance abuse counselor that Ivins was seeing (Jean Duley - long history of substance abuse problems herself, including DUI offenses while seeing patients) has minimal credibility and seems to have been given sensitive case-related information by the FBI. Was she given a deal to finger Ivins and thus a motive to make stuff up?
• Ivins apparently had a history of mental illness and substance abuse. How would someone with so many problems be able to hide incriminating evidence from the FBI for 6-7 years while they pursued Hatfill?
• Was Ivins given a polygraph and what were the results?
• The FBI made a point that Ivins was staying late in the lab during the times around the attacks and could not explain why. They claim he was alone - is this verified? Could he have been meeting someone there, for example another woman?
• The access logs for this lab say he stayed late exactly 2 hours 15 minutes for three consecutive nights. Has this type of coincidence happened with other researchers as well? And is it unusual for nerdy researchers to stay late at their lab? And government employees to stay late right after 9/11?
  

Solar Tax Credit Bill Fails

Senate Republicans managed to scuttle a bill that would extend energy tax credits for companies investing in solar and other renewable energy sources:

http://green.yahoo.com/blog/ecogeek/564/senate-nixes-solar-tax-credits.html

The Republicans were upset that the bill would be offset by closing tax loopholes for hedge fund managers operating offshore funds. Hedge funds, which are basically secretive, unregulated financial playgrounds for the rich, are apparently more important than finding a solution to energy problems which affect poor and middle class people the most. Hopefully technology will advance to a point where a person or community could easily and cheaply generate their own energy and not have to be at the mercy of the oil industry and their political enablers.

Post Office: Don't recycle our stuff - it's illegal

A Post Office in Colorado says recycling old priority mail boxes to send other packages is a federal crime:

http://www.thedenverchannel.com/news/16072154/detail.html

Thanks USPS for helping save the planet!