Monday Reads
Posted: November 15, 2010 Filed under: morning reads | Tags: bird species extinction, CIA protected NAZIs, Dean Baker, Federal Deficit, Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, Suu Kyi, voter-share bonds 23 Comments
'Cup and sauce and newspaper'by Anthony Ulinski
Good Morning!
I’ve had to dig around to find some things to read. It seems most of the MSM has had a post-midterm elections let down or something. So, it’s Monday and here we go!
Myanmar’s Suu Kyi has given her first speech since her release from house arrest. She has indicated her willingness to work with whomever she can on bringing democracy and freedom to the region. This is from Bloomberg.
“I am prepared to talk with anyone,” Suu Kyi said in Yangon, Myanmar’s former capital, according to The Irrawaddy, an online magazine run by Myanmar exiles that’s based in Chiang Mai, Thailand. “I have no personal grudge toward anybody.”
The speech sets the tone for Suu Kyi, 65, to re-engage with her supporters after spending 15 of the past 21 years in detention. She plans to listen to the views of her fellow citizens and push for national reconciliation in the country formerly known as Burma, where 2,200 political prisoners are still behind bars, according to the Irrawaddy.
“I think we will have to sort out our differences across the table, talking to each other, agreeing to disagree, or finding out why we disagree and trying to remove the sources of our disagreement,” Suu Kyi told BBC World Service radio in an yesterday. “There are so many things that we have to talk about.”
I’ve been trying to follow Obama’s upcoming decision on letting 9-11 mastermind Khalid Sheikh Mohammed stay in that perpetual state of jail with no trial. There’s several good articles that have come up this week. First, there’s been the Salon piece by Dahlia Lithwick that headlines the idea that the U.S. has gone from decrying torture to celebrating it.
President Barack Obama decided long ago that he would “turn the page” on prisoner abuse and other illegality connected to the Bush administration’s war on terror. What he didn’t seem to understand, what he still seems not to appreciate, is that what was on that page would bleed through onto the next page and the page after that. There’s no getting past torture. There is only getting comfortable with it. The U.S. flirtation with torture is not locked in the past or in the black sites or prisons at which it occurred. Now more than ever, it’s feted on network television and held in reserve for the next president who persuades himself that it’s not illegal after all.
Today, Emptywheel has laid out the U.S. strategy for a never ending war based on never releasing these prisoners-in-limbo. It’s one of those reads that makes you tingle.
Obviously, it’s a further spineless capitulation on Obama’s part. It’s a concession, too, that all you have to do to eliminate the rule of law in this country is squawk in Congress and on Fox News.
It also serves as a guarantee that the 2001 AUMF declaring war against the now-50 al Qaeda members who had something to do with 9/11 will last forever–or at least for the rest of Khalid Sheikh Mohammed’s life.
Mind you, the government has been planning on making this a forever war since 2001, precisely so it could hold people like KSM forever.
Now, with the decision to just let KSM rot, it seems to me, that plan gains a new anchor (and none too soon! given that only a handful of al Qaeda members remain in Afghanistan, that justification was getting rather dicey). After all, the very decision not to try KSM in a military commission is an admission that it would not work for him–it might rule out the death penalty for him in any case, but a military commission judge actually has leeway to adjust any sentence on account of the extreme torture KSM underwent, meaning our torture of KSM might become a central issue in a military commission.
But any further delay in charging KSM in civilian court make it less likely they’ll be able to charge him in the future, because this current delay almost certainly violates any interpretation of speedy trial rights. You can’t just wait to charge someone until such a time as the political winds make it easier to do.
There’s an astounding article up on UK’s The Independent’s website about the future without birds called ‘None flew over the cuckoo’s nest.”
According to Henk Tennekes, a researcher at the Experimental Toxicology Services in Zutphen, the Netherlands, the threat of DDT has been superseded by a relatively new class of insecticide, known as the neonicotinoids. In his book The Systemic Insecticides: A Disaster in the Making, published this month, Tennekes draws all the evidence together, to make the case that neonicotinoids are causing a catastrophe in the insect world, which is having a knock-on effect for many of our birds.
Already, in many areas, the skies are much quieter than they used to be. All over Europe, many species of bird have suffered a population crash. Spotting a house sparrow, common swift or a flock of starlings used to be unremarkable, but today they are a more of an unusual sight. Since 1977, Britain’s house-sparrow population has shrunk by 68 per cent.
The common swift has suffered a 41 per cent fall in numbers since 1994, and the starling 26 per cent. The story is similar for woodland birds (such as the spotted flycatcher, willow tit and wood warbler), and farmland birds (including the northern lapwing, snipe, curlew, redshank and song thrush
Ornithologists have been trying desperately to work out what is behind these rapid declines. Urban development, hermetically sealed houses and barns, designer gardens and changing farming practices have all been blamed, but exactly why these birds have fallen from the skies is still largely unexplained.
However, Tennekes thinks there may be a simple reason. “The evidence shows that the bird species suffering massive decline since the 1990s rely on insects for their diet,” he says. He believes that the insect world is no longer thriving, and that birds that feed on insects are short on food.
Here’s two interesting ways to get involved with the Federal Debt issue. The first is to go to the NYT and use their widget to balance the budget yourself. BTD tired it here and came up with these suggestions to replace the cat food commission.
How I did it – 71% in revenue increases and 29% in spending cuts. What I raised – the estate tax to Clinton era levels (raised $50 billion), added a bank tax (raised $73 billion), added a millionaire’s tax (raised $50 billion), let the Bush tax cuts expire (raised $226 billion), raised the FICA ceiling (raised $50 billion). For spending cuts I adopted these proposals – reduced Social Security benefits for high earners (saved $6 billion), enacted medical malpractice reform (saved $8 billion), reduced the number of troops in Iraq and Afghanistan to 30,000 by 2013 (saved $86 billion), made defense spending cuts (saving $57 billion), eliminated farm subsidies (saved $14 billion) and “earmarks” (saved $14 billion.)
Swiss Economist Hans Gersbach suggests a that governments employ a thing called “vote-share” bonds. That’s kind of like those revenue bond votes that your school board and municipalities have to get you to vote on. These things, however, would be be given seniority status by how much buy in they got from voters. Interesting concept that and it’s explored at VOXEU.
- Each government bond is tied to the share of the votes that its underlying budget deficit adoption has received in parliament.
- A government bond that has a higher vote-share than another is senior. This creates a ladder of relative seniority for which the vote-share is the organising principle. At the top of the ladder are the bonds with the highest vote-share.
- Any government funds available for servicing and repaying government debt will always be turned first to the top of the ladder to satisfy the claims of the bond-holders with the highest seniority. The other bond-holders are served sequentially by moving down the ladder.
U.S. Economist Dean Baker takes the NYT to task for ignorance of unemployment over at FDL. Like other economists–me included–Baker is appalled that so many are obsessed with a deficit at at time when so many people aren’t working, aren’t paying taxes, and are in need of government services. That’s a signal that we’re going to continue running a deficit until that’s solved. Here’s Baker’s call to wake up.
We have more than 25 million people unemployed, underemployed, or who have given up work altogether. This is a real crisis. Furthermore, it is worth noting that these people are largely suffering as a result of the incompetence of the budget balancers. (The budget balancers were the same people who dominated economic debate in the years before the crash and could did not see the $8 trillion housing bubble that wrecked the economy and gave us the huge deficits that now have them so obsessed.)
Obviously it is politically popular in Washington to be obssesed by the deficit, but we are supposed to have an independent press in this country. It is utterly loony to be focused on the projected deficit in 2030, when we have tens of millions of people who are seeing their lives ruined today by the downturn. This is like debating the colors to paint the classrooms when the school is on fire with the students still inside. Given economic reality, it would make far more sense to use the effort devoted to construct an elaborate game like this to designing a route toward restoring full employment.
BostonBoomer pointed me over to this Secret Justice Department Report on the NYT that details how the U.S. State Department help NAZIs after World War 2. It’s been redacted but it’s still got some gripping narrative. Sections about Congresswoman Holtzman and stories from the 1970s on the realization that a lot of NAZIs got into the U.S are just amazing reads.
Raw Story describes the report in an equally gripping way.
A report the Justice Department has been trying to hide for the past four years offers the most detailed account yet of the CIA’s efforts to protect known Nazi war criminals in the United States.
The report, obtained by the New York Times, may be the most concrete account yet of the role that prominent members of Germany’s Nazi party played in the early, formative years of the CIA, following World War II. It alleges the CIA created a “safe haven” for Nazis believed to be of use to the US’s Cold War efforts.
One last thing!!! If you have been the recipient of a cartoon viral video that’s really just gold bug libertarian propaganda, please wait before passing it on! I’ve had so many people link to this factually-impaired thing that I’m going to spend a post this afternoon debunking it. Yes, it’s cute and uses cute language, but it has so much misinformation in it that I can’t just let it go viral without point out all the factual errors. So, that’s on my to do list today.
peej
Carissa
bostonboomer
ecocatwoman
mablue2
Mama Lopez
peggysue22
quixote
skydancingguestblogger
Mona (aka Wonk the Vote)
Sky Dancing 
Don’t miss Paul Krugman today.
Looks like the Kool Aid has purged from him. I can tell because just like the old days but very different from most of the past two years, his column could have been written from my thoughts. How about you?
He’s not couching his criticism behind safe qualifiers like “administration.” This is about Barack Obama.
Welcome back, Paul.
Wow, that’s really shrill! Welcome back Paul!!!
Nice roundup! You packed alot into this early morning read!! It looks like the GOP can’t wait to get their agenda enacted…
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20101115/ap_on_go_co/us_congress_lame_duck
Edge has some good front pages as well….
http://edgeoforever.wordpress.com/2010/11/15/morning-sneeze-os-react-to-obama-switching-parties/
Uppity does a riff on Thankyougate.
http://uppitywoman08.wordpress.com/2010/11/15/we-are-so-sorry-we-forgot-to-say-thank-you-mr-president/
Work is almost over for the night. Have a great day!!
Hillary 2012
I had no idea that neonicotinoids were being used so indiscriminately. I’m not really familiar with that class of insecticides, except for imidacloprid, which is the only successful tool we have against Emerald Ash Borer and some of the other introduced borer pests, such as the Long Horned Beetle, that have devastated public and private trees. So I’m not opposed to using them in specific circumstances; but I would NEVER use a systemic on food crops–NEVER. The least toxic, least pervasive treatment should always be the first choice for farmers, homeowners or municipalities in pest management, and *certainly* not a systemic. Insects and humans have very similar internal organs–what affects an insect in a certain way is likely to affect us the same way. I can’t help but wonder if some of these insecticides are being used off-label (meaning they are being used in ways not recommended by the manufacturer).
I’m really depressed about that bird story. I love to watch birds. Why do we have to keep learning these lessons over and over again. Why wasn’t “Silent Spring” enough?
Me too. Unless the use of insecticides is sharply curbed, the only tweets left are going to be on the website. 😦
I did a report on Silent Spring when I was in high school. I was really excited about the book. Later, after all the neglect of it, I thought I must have been dumb to have liked it so much. Then I re read it and realized what a voice of sanity and breath of fresh air Rachel Carson was in that dark era.
I’ve noticed the song birds around here have disappeared again. I was thinking it might be because the feral cat population is on the rise again. Now, I’m not so certain.
Charlie Rangel walked out of his ethics hearing, because he was denied an attorney.
http://cityroom.blogs.nytimes.com/2010/11/15/rangel-ethics-hearing-begins/?hp
wow
Monsanto trumped “Silent Spring” –
Carson was violently assailed by threats of lawsuits and derision, including suggestions that this meticulous scientist was a “hysterical woman” unqualified to write such a book. A huge counterattack was organized and led by Monsanto Company, Velsicol, American Cyanamid — indeed, the whole chemical industry — duly supported by the Agriculture Department as well as the more cautious in the media.[17]
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Silent_Spring
Note the “hysterical woman” meme circa 1975. My parents were birders- hence I am as are my children. They(parents) have passed and I live in their home which is on a river and one side borders 200 hundred year old forest. We have an amazing variety of birds – even a bald eagle uses the river and perches on a tree occasionally along with cranes, ducks so my view from the living room is wonderful.
I am dreading this coming lame duck session – what horrors are they going to pass. Are they going to ignore MERS? It seems perfectly clear now that the DOJ continues as an arm of the Republican Party, rule of law is gone – that the Feds own our government. Bu$h the lesser is all over the media – with Jeb. Which reminds me of Bu$h senior – his role in the CIA(1975) and what has become of that agency. History is a clear eyed lesson on what is and has occurred to this country.
http://www.the7thfire.com/bush15.htm
There are some painful quotes at that link, one by his sponsor Sen. Strom Thrumond, SC. We are still being “lead” by the same cabal 35 years later. All are candidates for perp walks by legal standards.
I don’t know what a progressive is – Republican lite? I am back to my simplistic label for R’s – evil. I am a liberal and proud of it. I also keep seeing how eroded rule of law is, thrown out flagrantly after the selection of Bu$hII and that tells me why jr.jr. was selected. It is ‘heartening’ to read Ian Welsh state Bu$h’s reasons why he would endorsement BO – And why not, it’s not hyperbole at all to say that Obama is Bush’s third term. He has embraced Bush’s wars, Bush’s approach to executive power, Bush’s civil liberties doctrines and Bush’s economic doctrines. The differences exist, but they are not significant. In almost every way that matters, Obama took Bush’s constitutional order and institutionalized it, giving it a bipartisan imprimatur.
http://www.ianwelsh.net/bush-would-have-endorsed-obama-if-asked/
Ah, so many of us saw this but those controlling the news did not(mention it). Really late in the game.
I am all over the place – if this constitutes blog clogging please delete. My head hurts from banging it against the wall. We got Bu$h fatigue early on in his reign – so many criminal acts to deal with…no accountability ever. Same thing now.
Nope, no problem. It’s an open sharing link and it’s just fine! (and very informative, ty)
Here’s some information on the Comcast/NBC merger you might want to read. It’s from news form the Underground.
Tons of juicy links and quotes on how bad this deal is and who to write to complain about it.
This link goes to the WMC, and gives a list of news articles that discuss a variety of women’s issues.
http://womensmediacenter.com/blog/2010/11/news-brief-cnn-anchor-o%E2%80%99brien-on-race-female-wall-st-chief-avoids-pitfall-iranian-woman%E2%80%99s-hunger-strike/
I just thought I would post it here…
thanks!!!
The article about the birds made me cry.
When I moved to the land on which I put the farm, it was birdless, except for a few red-winged blackbirds. I tried very hard to establish plants and areas that the birds would like, to bring them back from the bird-plentiful surrounding forests. I really celebrated the first time a chickadee appeared at my feeder. They are still my favorite little birds.
And I now have all kinds of song birds, woodpeckers, owls, hawks, eagles. Even a kestrel, my favorite hunting bird! And there are herons. I’ll never forget the day I was out working and, not 20 feet from me, a bald eagle descended to rip a frog from a great blue heron’s mouth. They fought hard, and the poor frog stretched, and stretched… The eagle won. The heron looked around, made a disgusted sound, and suddenly realized how close it was to me. Off it flew, like a huge pterodactyl.
If the birds disappear because the insects are disappearing because of our stupidity in using insecticides… what’s next? rats and mice I guess. Any mammals that eat insects, then us. And what moves into the insects’ place? What horrors are we creating by our stupidity?
Just wanted to stop by and say how much I love this blog. And, it’s great to see BB partnering with you on this blog as well.
I’ve been out sick and so have not been online until this weekend. Not until one is sick or cannot access the internet for whatever reason, does one realize how much of a junkie one is for being away from this habit. Jesus, it’s scary how much I’m hooked to this stuff especially the political stuff. It’s like oxygen. LOL
I’ve been attempting to catch up on this and a few other blogs and just wanted to say I have been enjoying the mix of topics being posted here and the quality of the posts being written. Also, I’ve learned a lot about farming from Sima which I really had no real knowledge about even though I buy my produce from small, local farmers when I get the chance. That was a wonderful exchange of facts and ideas and comments from all who participated. So thanks to Sima for that.
I’m just getting back in the posting gibe again. I’m almost caught up with my reading backlog. LOL.
Anyway, just wanted to say hello to everyone and thanks for all the great posts and the conversation that enjoined those posts.
BTW, Dak, I saw your comment above about that QE2 cartoon which was a whole lot of BS, I agree with you. I had no idea who produced it but it was so full of FAIL. I’m bummed that it’s gone as viral as it has because it only adds to the seemingly neverending muddy river of misinformation and what I saw as rank anti-Keynesian propaganda. I’m looking forward to your post debunking that cartoon. Thanks for bringing this up.
Goodnight for now.
Hey! I’m sorry you were sick!! Things change so quickly these days that you can lose a few days and it seems like tons of information passes you by. I’m working on debunking that silly cartoon but won’t get it up tonight. Maybe tomorrow. Thanks for the words of encouragement and I agree about BB!! She’s a gem and she’s been a great friend the past few years. I really admire her!
Thanks for the kind words. I hope you’ll be fully recovered soon.
HI, Newdealdem! Thanks for stopping by and I hope you get to feeling better soon. I know what it’s like to be without the ‘net for a while, makes me get itchy.
When we go camping I always want to bring my laptop, until my partner reminds me that there’s no wifi in the woods :).
It seems like you have a growing fan club!!!
*blush* I’m happy to let people know what’s happening in the small farming world. And I’m really grateful you’ve let me have a platform to do it.
Thanks Dak, BB and Sima. I’m feeling much better and yes it’s a pain loosing days without access.
Lol about the wifi comment, Sima. 🙂
Have a great night peeps.