Shocking abuse of power

This wiretap scandal is starting to heat up. I have to say it's sad though that I wasn't surprised to hear that Bush was violating the civil rights of Americans without consulting a court. It's par for the course.

Anyhow, it looks like they're claiming that Congress told them they could though. Read below:

Such wiretaps are legal, Gonzales told CNN, because the president received the authority when Congress passed a measure in the days after the terror attacks of September 11, 2001, authorizing him to 'use all necessary and appropriate force' to fight terrorism.

I'm sorry, but that doesn't pass the laugh test. "All necessary and appropriate force" doesn't mean "wiretap American citizens without consulting a court". The amazing thing is that there's ALREADY a secret court for getting approval on these kinds of things. Bush doesn't have to compromise security to get court approval for a wiretap.

The fact that he didn't even consult his own secret court tells me that they were doing things that even that court wouldn't allow. The funny thing is that here I was unhappy about a secret court that doesn't answer to many folks, and Bush wasn't even bothering with that.

It's amazing that after eight years of Clinton all that can be said bad about him is that he fooled around with an intern and lied about it. After only five years of Bush we've had torture, political dirty tricks, false imprisonment, lies, and now severe violations of our civil rights. If you coun't DeLay (conspiracy, money laundering), Frist (insider trading), and Cunningham (taking bribes) - I'd argue that we haven't seen misuse of power like this since the Nixon years.

Anyhow, the CNN.com article is linked below. Enjoy.

Gonzales: Post-9/11 act allowed secret wiretaps

The Internet is for porn!

Here's a link to a hilarious movie made by some World of Warcraft fans using characters in the game. The music is from Avenue Q, a broadway play that was a spoof of Sesame Street.

Here's the link:
The Internet is for Porn!

Unsurprising

The Senate committee has been investigating Abramoff and Scanlon, a public relations specialist who formerly was a spokesman for ex-House Majority Leader Tom DeLay, and the more than $80 million they were paid between 2001 and 2004 by six American Indian tribes with gaming casinos.

Yet another connection between DeLay and corruption, this time involving a member of his staff and an native american tribe. At first it seems to be a coincidental affair involving a staffer of his and a lobbyist. However, if you read farther into the article you see that the tribe was directed to donate money to DeLay's fundraising organizations and was then directed to void those checks and donate to someone else (wonder if it's related to the money-laundering charges DeLay is currently facing).

You'll also see that DeLay buttered up some donors at a skybox that may have been paid for by the tribe. Tom sure has a problem with ethical behaviour it seems...

Indian leaders testify in lobbyist probe

Amazing

Amazing. That's the best word to describe what I read today. CNN.com is covering the Delphi bankruptcy, and its CEO was outlining wage cuts that he feels were necessary to save the company.

What I found extremely shocking was the following sentence:

The average union worker's wage-and-benefit package at Delphi is about $65 an hour, according to Delphi.

$65 an hour?! For unskilled labor? No wonder jobs are flooding overseas. While I'm sure that a lot of that is benefits, that still has to be at least $30 an hour, which is insane for unskilled labor.

As always, management is uneager to do their part.

Miller said he would take a "significant" cut in his $1.5 million salary, if necessary, and defended Delphi's decision to increase cash bonuses and extend severance packages to 18 months for top executives.

I personally would find it insulting if the CEO wanted to cut my wages yet would only consider a cut to his salary (or that of the other executives) "if necessary". I think that a cut to everyone's salary should have been announced. Then again, we're in the era of the Robber Barons again and the wealthy men running these companies are only interested in cutting the wages of the "individual contributors" AKA wage slaves, and not themselves.

Delphi CEO says wage cuts could save pensions

The Doublespeak of Torture

Pat Roberts apparently is an "ends justifies the means" kind of man. He seems to be the type of person whose lack of basic morality and human deceny caused the Abu Ghraib scandal (e.g. General Jeffrey Miller, the real cause of Abu Ghraib). From LJworld.com:

U.S. Sen. Pat Roberts, R-Kan. says he doesn’t condone torture, but he believes that terror suspects have information that can save innocent American lives.

“One of the most valuable tools we have in getting this information is terrorists’ fear of the unknown,” Roberts, a Kansas Republican who chairs the Senate Intelligence Committee, told the Journal-World on Thursday.

That’s why Roberts was part of a small minority Wednesday to oppose a Senate measure banning “cruel, inhuman or degrading” treatment of prisoners held by U.S. forces. The act passed 90-9, with strong support from both Democrats and Republicans.

I guess there's a fundamental disagreement as to what "torture" means to Senator Roberts. One could infer from his statements that he believes torture is related to physical abuse. Somehow he feels that simply threatening such abuse or causing stress or fear through other means isn't torture. If that's how he feels (which seems likely given his stance), it makes me wonder if he actually viewed any of the photos or read any of the testimony from Abu Ghraib?

Most of the torture depicted and attested to by witnesses wasn't physical abuse. A lot of it relied on fear - they would threaten to tell the other prisoners that they collaborated and then place them back in the general population, female guards would laugh at them while naked and insult their masculinity, pictures of them naked with other naked men would be taken and distribution would be threatened. Sure, most of those individual acts weren't too horrible individually, but when permitted they tend to get out of hand, especially when administered by 20 year old recruits.

Personally I trust Senator John McCain. He's a man who spent seven years in a North Vietnamese PoW camp; he's a man who knows all about torture and being a prisoner. I'd think his own party would listen to him when it comes down to this issue, but as always there seems to be a disconnect between some neocon Republicans and reality. Bush apparently is threatening a veto. Figures. The closest Bush ever came to combat was a simulator at his National Guard airbase - an unwelcome interruption to his golf game.

Here's the LJworld.com article:
Kansas senator refuses to sign bill banning torture

Bavel Strikes Back

I was reading LJworld.com today and was surprised. Zamir Bavel, professor of Computer Science at KU, had won a court battle against the Lawrence Police Department. Apparently, he was able to beat a speeding citation against him, a citation he believes he didn't deserve. Quotes:

“This was not about the money for me. It was the principle,” he said. “And I feel based on the response I have received from people that my point was made. I think the Lawrence Police need more training.”

“People should know, especially students, that fighting is not a lost cause”

You go Professor Bavel. To be honest the City Prosecutor should have dropped the charges when he first was approached, as Professor Bavel is a man of principle and extreme tenacity. He's also an extraordinarily honest man, and I believe him when he says he wasn't speeding.

For those that don't know, Professor Bavel was one of my instructors at KU, and is my all-time favorite teacher. An incredibly brilliant man, he is also a composer, violinist, and conductor. I've also been told he was in the 1952 Olympics. The best thing I can say about him was that he was able to actually teach computer theory in a way that I was able to understand and enjoy it. His teaching style was also wonderful, and was fair and designed for the success of the student. He was direct opposite of Nancy Kinnersley, who was truly awful.

Here are some links:

Court victory won’t affect radar gun training

KU professor fights speeding ticket

Mint Juleps

Bush's PR flacks apparently aren't doing their job well, as they've allowed him to speak on his own, with disastrous results. Here's a blurb from a recent CNN.com article:

...Bush looked different Monday than the man who visited New Orleans on September 2 and fondly recalled his wild nights in the French Quarter. Or the man who sought to cheer homeless storm victims in Mississippi by sharing his hopes to join Sen. Trent Lott on the front porch of his "fantastic" new waterfront house. Or the man who turned to embattled FEMA Director Michael Brown in the early days after the storm and said, "Brownie, you're doing a heck of a job."

Yeah, I bet the poor and newly homeless folks in Biloxi are looking forward to sipping mint juleps with Senator Lott at his newly reconstructed mansion. Folks with no money, no house, no job, and no car are glad to know that the Senator will get a new house. Smooth.

You can read the rest of the article here:
Bush works to find footing