Bad American

This photo released by Ashley Campasino via the York Daily Record, shows a red Mazda Miata at the bottom of the Campasino family swimming pool in Stewartstown, Pa. on June 30, 2008. Kim Taylor thought she had set the emergency brake. But her wayward red convertible nonetheless rolled downhill, crashed through a fence and plunged into her neighbors’ in-ground pool. The car was removed from the pool the same day. Shown in the picture are from left, Kim Taylor, her husband, Bob and their daughter Alex.

(AP Photo/Courtesy Ashley Campasino via York Daily Record)

Extra points if you can remember the movie the post title came from without Googling it!

Alternet by LA Times

Hedges gets it.

The law, passed under the guise of national security, ostensibly targets people outside the country. There is no question, however, that it will ensnare many communications between Americans and those overseas. Those communications can be stored indefinitely and disseminated, not just to the U.S. government but to other governments.

This law will cripple the work of those of us who as reporters communicate regularly with people overseas, especially those in the Middle East. It will intimidate dissidents, human rights activists and courageous officials who seek to expose the lies of our government or governments allied with ours. It will hang like the sword of Damocles over all who dare to defy the official versions of events. It leaves open the possibility of retribution and invites the potential for abuse by those whose concern is not with national security but with the consolidation of their own power.

As I have written before ad nauseum, ALL of these post 9-11 measures have NOT been enacted to ‘keep us safe from the terrorists.’ They have been designed to drag this once free country into the maw of totalitarianism.

But most Americans, seriously, are too dense to understand this. Too brainwashed, too invested in the Matrix, too afraid to think for themselves.

Even the right wingers who go on and on about the ‘gubmint’ interfering in their lives in a myriad of ways have no problem metaphorically spread-eagleing themselves on command to that same ‘gubmint’ every time it demands fawning obsequiousness to ‘protect them.

I haven’t met a conservative yet that didn’t have this giant blind spot in their logic/thinking. I think perhaps its because so many of them are, at core, authoritarians.

Ann Coulter

Michael Savage

Michelle Malkin

Michael Reagan

Rush Limbaugh

or countless other small-time radio hate-clones

We would comment on this obit - Tony Snow dead at 53

coming off of this obit - Jesse Helms dead at 86

we could say something truly snarky and tasteless like

Well, it’s been a good week for VIPs arriving in Hell. One arrived earlier this week for the Julius Streicher Wing and then one today for the Joseph Goebbels Wing.

But we play nice on our side of the political fence, don’t we?

UPDATE - Video’s available HERE at Pissed Off Former Democrat’s webpage.

Also at this site are numerous links and eyewitness accounts that will make you both sick and enraged at the Gestapo tactics and brutality of the Forest Service. Is there a police agency in this country that ISN’T acting like a bunch of jackbooted thugs?

Too bad the 400 or so in the Rainbow village didn’t crack some cop heads that day but then I’m sure they would have called in the helicopter gunships and left nothing standing and none living (see: Waco). I’m all for nonviolent groups and what they represent but as I have said before, I’m not going into anyone’s boxcar heading for a camp.

Links also at the above site for the interview on Alex Jones’ show that I reference in my original post below:

Listening to members of the Rainbow Family on the Alex Jones show and getting a completely different view of what happened there than the controlled media is reporting. Members of the communal like group allege the Forest Rangers aimed guns at children and that members were not hit by rocks and stones. Jones, doing the interview, has a video of the scene and arrests that seem to back up the group members story.

Here is how the controlled press recorded it - Associated Press. Notice how only authority’s view is given in the story. No attempt to get any views from the Rainbow family.

Lot;s of economic news today, all of it horrid.

Bloomberg: Freddie, Fannie too big to fail

July 10 (Bloomberg) — Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, the largest buyers of U.S. home loans, are too big for the government to let them fail, leading Republican and Democratic lawmakers said.

The government-chartered companies, which own or guarantee about half the $12 trillion of U.S. mortgages, can count on a federal lifeline, said Republican Senator John McCain, of Arizona, and Democratic Senator Charles Schumer, of New York.

The remarks by the presumptive Republican presidential candidate and the head of the congressional Joint Economic Committee followed a slide in the firms’ shares to the lowest level since 1991. They indicate Congress would push the administration to use government funds to prevent the companies from failing and threatening a deeper housing recession.

“They must not fail,” McCain said today during a campaign stop in Belleville, Michigan. Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac “are vital to Americans’ ability to own their own homes,” he said at an earlier stop in the state, one of the worst affected by the surge in foreclosures.

Central banks, pension funds and other investors hold $5.2 trillion in debt sold by the companies.

While bondholders can count on a backstop, equity investors can’t expect the government to halt a tumble in the companies’ shares, Representative Spencer Bachus, the senior Republican on the House Financial Services Committee, said today.

Wonderful. And they said Bear Stearns was too big to fail as well.

This is why I always wonder why right wing “free market” bloggers like Nix Guy and Bizzy Blog never own up to the phony capitalism practiced by the oligarchy in this country.

There is no “free market.” There is no “capitalism.” There is only a moneyed oligarchy that looks out for itself and all the little people can go pound salt. The game is fixed and rigged and anyone with half a brain knows it.

But think of this: how many other ‘giants’ are too big to fail? And ask yourself how long this bankrupt government can continue to bail out failed enterprises that are ‘too big to fail’ before the entire economy collapses?

Breitbart: meanwhile its ‘black friday’ for Freddie and Fannie

Shares of US mortgage finance giants Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac were in a freefall Friday on heightened concerns the trillion-dollar firms may face insolvency or a government takeover. Freddie Mac plunged 47 percent to 4.23 dollars at 1450 GMT following a 22 percent slide on Thursday and Fannie Mae lost 44 percent to 7.40 dollars after a 14 percent drop in the prior session.

The shares of the two firms have lost around 80 percent since the start of the year.

Brietbart: Dow under 11,000 and falling

NEW YORK (AP) - Stocks tumbled Friday as investors focused on troubles at mortgage companies Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac and watched oil prices climb further into record territory. The Dow Jones industrials fell more than 200 points and slid below the 11,000 mark for the first time in two years. Investors seemed unimpressed by a statement from Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson, who said the government’s focus is ensuring that Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac remain as presently constituted to carry out their mission.

The government-chartered companies at times each lost more than 40 percent on growing speculation that a government bailout is needed. A collapse of the two financiers would cause further shock to the financial system, and trigger more losses to banks and brokerages with significant holdings of mortgage-backed securities.

The troubles at Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac are just the latest depressing turn in a year-old credit crisis that shows no sign of ending, disappointing stock traders who just months ago who thought the worst was perhaps over.

Global banks and brokerages have scrambled to sell assets and raise capital in an effort to offset nearly $300 billion of write-downs linked to the credit crisis. Citigroup Inc. announced Friday it will sell its German retail banking operation to France’s Credit Mutuel for $7.7 billion.

Meanwhile, oil continued its ascent on supply concerns. A barrel of oil vaulted to a record above $147, raising more concerns about the impact of higher prices on inflation and in turn, the overall economy.

Oil Soaring Again

Oil prices spiked to a new record above $147 a barrel Friday, as rising hostilities between the West and Iran and the potential for attacks on Nigerian oil facilities gave investors reason to rush back into the energy markets.

Another drop in the U.S. dollar also lured buyers.

The resurgence in crude prices not only raises the concern that $4-a-gallon gasoline is here to stay for U.S. drivers — it also means that heating homes could get significantly more expensive this winter. Heating oil futures surged on the New York Mercantile Exchange to a record of more than $4.15 a gallon, and natural gas also rose.

“If you think your gasoline bills are expensive now, wait till you get your home heating bill this winter,” said Stephen Schork, an analyst and trader in Villanova, Pa.

In my opinion, we’re on the verge of a total collapse.

And today’s Contemporary Americana!

And a big tip of the BA hat to Lynette at Big Ass Belle for spotting this story and highlighting it on her blog.

Charlotte Observer

L.F. Eason III gave up the only job he’d ever had rather than lower a flag this week to honor former U.S. Sen. Jesse Helms.

Eason, a 29-year veteran of the state Department of Agriculture, instructed his staff at a small Raleigh lab not to fly the U.S. or N.C. flags at half staff Monday as called for in a directive to all state agencies by Gov. Mike Easley.

When a superior ordered the lab to follow the directive, Eason decided to retire rather than pay tribute to Helms.

“I … understand that my decision is not acceptable. You cannot ignore that fact. There is the law, but there is also a higher law I must follow as a matter of conscience,” he wrote to Easley and Agriculture Commissioner Steve Troxler.

Eason obviously knew they would come after him for this and is probably not surprised at what happened to him. This has happened to me as well, but unlike Mr. Eason I didn’t get to retire on a full pension. But I’m glad he does.

What I found particularly interesting about this article is this part:

“Regardless of any executive proclamation, I do not want the flags at the North Carolina Standards Laboratory flown at half staff to honor Jesse Helms any time this week,” Eason wrote just after midnight, according to e-mails released in response to a public records request.

He told his staff that he did not think it was appropriate to honor Helms because of his “doctrine of negativity, hate and prejudice” and his opposition to civil rights bills and the federal Martin Luther King Jr. holiday.

When the lab opened Monday morning, the flags were not put out at all, but an employee called Eason’s boss, Stephen Benjamin. Around 10:45 a.m., Benjamin told one of Eason’s co-workers to put the flags at half staff.

Note the part in blue: a member of his staff ratted him out like a Good German.

Remember, in America 2008, you never know who is watching you and who they’ll report to.

Regardless, Eason, in my book anyway, is a real American hero - one who would not follow an order to honor a man who deserved no honors. What Mr. Eason did requires something so many members of officialdom, from elected officials to military officers to cops, don’t have - moral courage. That is, the courage to put your career and position on the line for something you believe in - something morally and ethically  non-negotiable. It is rare to see it nowadays in this society so we need to recognize and celebrate it whenever and wherever it occurs.

UPDATE: Kassner’s lawsuit is here.

Two stories here with two different sets of video of the incidents:

NBC4 Washington

KARE 11 Minneapolis’ NBC feed

Kassner said in February 2007, she was heading home to New York from Reagan National when she was pulled aside for extra screening. Kassner claims she was cooperating with Transportation Security Administration agents when an airport police officer approached her from behind. Seconds later, Kassner said she was on the ground.

The surveillance video showed that Kassner was scooped from the floor. Next, the video showed Kassner pinned on a table while being restrained.An airport spokeswoman said Kassner was “not cooperating with the security procedures,” adding that, “the passenger was interfering with the screening process and refusing to follow security procedures.”Because there was a lawsuit, officials with the airport authority would not comment further on the matter.

Having looked at the video views, it seems that Ms. Kassner was questioning the need or the method by which her bag was being searched. It does not seem as some may allege that she is out of control in any way. Regardless of what was said, there certainly was no call for her to get body slammed like she did nor to get a forearm to the head which slammed her head down on to a table.

But again, it seems there is a certain type of cop who salivates at the prospect of beating on women.

And of course, in the America of today, there are many many people out there, good citizens all, who readily applaud these police state tactics.

One has to go no further than the comments left on the Channel 4 site where we can see all manner of fascist cheerleading:

Ok after watching the video, she was not “thrown across the room” She was dragged back to the chairs because she was resisting, and it appears that she tripped into the chair that gave way under her fat **** I agree with the above posts this “SIP” Self Important Person, is out for a quick buck, the court will throw this lawsuit out. As for Brain Damage-yeah right sounds to me like she had it before she entered the airport!!!! She is obviously lying about what happened…when in the video was she being beaten up? She tripped into some chairs and was pushed into a table (while resisting)…I never saw her being hit or kicked! I hope the justice system charges her and makes an example of her for wasting everyone’s time–sippy cup all over again!!!

Oh, and did you catch the fat remarks? There’s more of them too - you know fat people in America get what they deserve for being ‘uppity’ with authority!

She was going into donut and big mac withdrawal

And let’s drag out the Anti-Semitism too:

Kassner from New York, a fat, wealthy self entitled member of the Chosen. She was clearly being belligerant. If the authorities hassle you, stay calm and cooperate or expect the cuffs, pepper spray, tazing or worse. She will win this suit or just collect a settlement because she will get a cousin whos a lawyer to pull strings.

Ah yes, what a country of authority worshippers. With people like this we would have never had Lexington and Concord.

This may sound naive of me, but I’m actually starting to believe that the White House nutbar may indeed attack Iran. I seriously didn’t believe Bush and his minions were that colossally stupid to actually do it, but it seems as though events are beginning to spin out of control.

AP: Iran Test Fires More Missiles in the Gulf

TEHRAN, Iran (AP) - Iran test-fired more long-range missiles overnight in a second round of exercises meant to show that the country can defend itself against any attack by the U.S. or Israel, Iranian state television reported Thursday.

The weapons have “special capabilities” and included missiles launched from naval ships in the Persian Gulf, along with torpedoes and surface-to-surface missiles, the broadcast said. It did not elaborate.

In the American media this is being spun as a provocative act. It is anything but. The Iranians are, like any cornered animal, merely showing their teeth: if they go down, there will be collateral damage done to the attackers. If a nation were subjected to the day in and day out provocations that the Iranian regime has been subjected, one could argue they would have done far more than launch a few missiles.

But the Iranians understand that they must not strike the first blow. They also must understand that any attempt to defend itself or retaliate once attacked by the US or Israel, will be painted as a dastardly act of aggression by the American press, doing the bidding of their governmental and corporate masters, of course.

Iran is in a no win position here. The best they can do is what they are doing - dancing diplomatically while demonstrating that they will not be rolled over as cheaply as the Iraqis - and, hope that saner heads prevail.

At the point we’re at now, sanity seems to be checking out.

AP: Rice Warns Iran US Will Defend Israel

TBILISI, Georgia (AP) - Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice warned Iran on Thursday that the United States will not back down in the face of Iranian threats against Israel.

Iranian officials have strongly suggested the country’s missile test on Wednesday was itself a warning to Israel not to attack Iran’s nuclear facilities. Israel has left that option open.

“We are sending a message to Iran that we will defend American interests and the interests of our allies,” Rice said at the close of a three-day Eastern European trip.

As if.

Can anyone point to any threats of Iran against Israel? And please let’s not haul out that mistranslated quote about wiping Israel from the map by Ahmadinejad. I’m talking about specific military threats against Israel by the Iranian government or military forces.

And of course, Rice’s stance and that of the administration, somehow presupposes that Israel needs our help defending itself against the Iranians. This, from a country with over 200 nuclear warheads and a sophisticated and highly trained air force and defense apparatus (largely funded and equipped by the US).

Why must American blood flow for a country that is more than capable of defending itself?

AFP: Obama wants diplomacy(?) McCain wants sanctions

Here’s what Obama said yesterday:

“Through its nuclear program, missile capability, meddling in Iraq, support for terrorism, and threats against Israel, Iran now poses the greatest strategic challenge to the United States in the region in a generation,” he said in a statement.

“It’s time to offer the Iranians a clear choice between increased costs for continuing their troubling behavior, and concrete incentives that would come if they change course.

“The threat from Iran’s nuclear program is real and it is grave. As president, I will do everything in my power to eliminate that threat, and that must begin with direct, aggressive, and sustained diplomacy.“

Translation: up the threats. But these assumptions Obama makes are never questioned. Who ‘meddled’ in Iraq first? The USA. And the proof of Iranian ‘meddling’ has been sketchy at best. But the USA reserves the itself the right to meddle in the affairs of other sovereign nations as if ordained by God. And we neither understand nor care why we are hated in the Middle East. It’s easier to demonize a who region and dehumanize their populations using racist appeals than act as an honest broker that respects the rights of self-determination for other peoples.

And no one questions whether the Iranians, or any other nation, has an intrinsic right to develop a nuclear weapons program. Is Iran’s nuclear program any more or less dangerous than Pakistan’s or India’s? Or North Korea’s? Do we need to remind people of the only nation in the world that ever used nuclear weapons against civilian population centers?

And, oh by the way, as Kurt Nimmo reports, the US is using terrorists to ‘meddle’ in Iran:

According to Pakistan’s former Army Chief, retired General Mirza Aslam Baig, the U.S. supports the Jundullah terrorist group and uses it to destabilize Iran. Baig knows what he is talking about, as he was on the inside track when the CIA and Pakistan’s ISI created al-Qaeda and the Taliban. Both Baig and former ISI chief Lt. Gen. Hamid Gul were part of the Darul Uloom Haqqania Islamic conference held near Peshawar on January 9, 2001, significant because the conference was hosted by CIA asset Osama bin Laden. Baig rubs elbows with Pakistan’s ruling oligarchs, so he knows something about what goes down in South and Central Asia and the Greater Middle East.

“He said that the US is providing training facilities to Jundullah fighters–located in eastern areas of Iran–to create unrest in the area and affect the cordial ties between Iran and its neighbor Pakistan,” reports Iran’s Press TV. “The intelligence agencies of the coalitional forces are very active in Afghanistan and work against the interests of Iran, Pakistan, China and Russia in the region, he said as quoted by Pakistan Daily newspaper.”

In other words, the neocons are busy at work on their plan, active now for well over a decade, to foment chaos in the region and ultimately reduce it to a smoldering ruin. Iran has long figured prominently on the neocon hit list.

IHT: Oil Will Soar if Iran Attacked

VIENNA: The head of the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries warned Thursday that oil prices would see an “unlimited” increase in the case of a military conflict involving Iran, because the group’s members would be unable to make up the lost production.

“We really cannot replace Iran’s production - it’s not feasible to replace it,” Abdalla Salem El-Badri, the OPEC secretary general, said in an interview.

Iran, the second-largest producing country in OPEC, after Saudi Arabia, produces about four million barrels of oil a day out of the daily worldwide production of close to 87 million barrels.

Close to 87 million barrels. Note that figure hasn’t budged in three years. If my memory serves me, worldwide production briefly hit 88 mbd and that was it. Neither the Saudis, nor anyone else in OPEC can make that figure budge upward.

Now what would happen to the US economy, in such a scenario, that gasoline went to $10 a gallon overnight?

And yet, in the face of economic catastrophe, the madmen of Washington and Tel Aviv are still pushing for an attack on a nation that has not committed an act of war against either side.

Tell me who are the insane ones?

Yes I know what happened in the Senate today. What could I possibly say that would make any more sense that what is being said by two first class columnists.

First - Glenn Greenwald

The Senators then voted for “cloture” on the underlying FISA bill — the procedure that allows the Senate to overcome any filibusters — and it passed by a vote of 72-26. Obama voted along with all Republicans for cloture. Hillary Clinton voted with 25 other Democrats against cloture (strangely, Clinton originally voted AYE on cloture, and then changed her vote to NAY; I’m trying to find out what explains that).

With cloture approved, the bill itself then proceeded to pass by a vote of 69-28 (roll call vote here), thereby immunizing telecoms and legalizing warrantless eavesdropping. Again, while Obama voted with all Republicans to pass the bill, Sen. Clinton voted against it.

Obama’s vote in favor of cloture, in particular, cemented the complete betrayal of the commitment he made back in October when seeking the Democratic nomination. Back then, Obama’s spokesman — in response to demands for a clear statement of Obama’s views on the spying controversy after he had previously given a vague and noncommittal statement — issued this emphatic vow:

To be clear: Barack will support a filibuster of any bill that includes retroactive immunity for telecommunications companies.

But the bill today does include retroactive immunity for telecommunications companies. Nonetheless, Obama voted for cloture on the bill — the exact opposition of supporting a filibuster — and then voted for the bill itself. A more complete abandonment of an unambiguous campaign promise is difficult of imagine. I wrote extensively about Obama’s support for the FISA bill, and what it means, earlier today. With their vote today, the Democratic-led Congress has covered-up years of deliberate surveillance crimes by the Bush administration and the telecom industry, and has dramatically advanced a full-scale attack on the rule of law in this country. As I noted earlier today, Law Professor and Fourth Amendment expert Jonathan Turley was on MSNBC’s Countdown with Rachel Maddow last night and gave as succinct an explanation for what Democrats — not the Bush administration, but Democrats — have done today. Anyone with any lingering doubts about what is taking place today in our country should watch this:

Now Chris Floyd:

Today the United States Senate voted by a wide margin to gut the Fourth Amendment and give the president dictatorial powers to violate the privacy of every American citizen, while also granting immunity to wealthy corporations who colluded with the president for years in a patently illegal program of warrantless surveillance. The vote was 69-28, with Democratic presidential nominee Barack Obama breaking with the (slim) majority of Senate Democrats who voted against the measure and joining instead with the Republicans, who voted in their usual zombified lockstep with the president’s wishes.

As is well known, Obama once vowed, unequivocally, to support a filibuster of any bill that included the immunity provision for the president’s corporate co-conspirators; today he voted with the zombified Republicans to choke off any attempt at a filibuster, so the bill could proceed to the final vote of approval.

I have little to say about this shameful action, beyond repeating what I said almost two years ago, when the Senate passed the infamous “Military Commissions Act,” which gutted the 900-year-old doctrine of habeas corpus, approved the principle of presidential dictatorship and authorized the use of torture. (This “law” has not been repealed by the Democratic-led Congress, by the way.) That 2006 piece was called “Thunder on the Mountain: The Murderers of Democracy.” And although a few omissions are necessary in the reprise below, due to the differing details between the two bills, the sentiments expressed are exactly the same — as are the sinister ramifications of today’s vote.

Before I get into this, I know that only a very small number of people read this blog. That’s ok with me. What I’m doing here is merely adding my small voice to a chorus of people saying NO. NO to fascism among other -isms.

Having said that, I also am acutely aware of the position I am putting myself in posting the way I do. Having had a background of print journalism, radio broadcasting and training as an Army PSYOP specialist with a security clearance, I know that I am on ‘the list’ when the shit hits the fan.

But I cannot be silent. If there is some kind of Internet archeology in the future that uncovers our randoms bits and bytes of zeros and ones I want those people to know that there were those people who protested, who raised their voices and said NO.

That is all, in the end, I hope to accomplish here.

Matthew Rothschild in Alternet

And the latest one to come to my attention is the dispatching of police officers, firefighters, paramedics, and utility workers as so-called “terrorism liaison officers,” according to a report by Bruce Finley in the Denver Post.

They are entrusted with hunting for “suspicious activity,” and then they report their findings, which end up in secret government databases.

What constitutes “suspicious activity,” of course, is in the eye of the beholder. But a draft Justice Department memo on the subject says that such things as “taking photos of no apparent aesthetic value” or “making notes” could constitute suspicious activity, Finley wrote.

The states where this is going on include: Arizona, California, Colorado, Florida, Illinois, Tennessee, Wisconsin, and Washington, D.C.

Dozens more are planning to do so, Finley reports.

Colorado alone has 181 Terrorism Liaison Officers, and some of them are from the private sector, such as Xcel Energy.

Mark Silverstein of the Colorado ACLU told Amy Goodman of Democracy Now! that this reminds him of the old TIPS program, which “caused so much controversy that Congress eventually shut it down. But it is reemerging in other forms.” Silverstein warns that there will be thousands and thousands of “completely innocent people going about completely innocent and legal activities” who are going to end up in a government database.

The government, especially THIS government never surrenders an idea that will kill liberty and sow fear and suspicion. TIPS has simply resurrected itself, like Dracula, under a loose set of new guidelines for “terrorism liaison officers.”

The USA is becoming much like East Germany, except with better food and electronics.

I often wonder, here in my own little town, who are the Stasi agents. I suspect the local police and sheriff’s department, of course, but I also suspect pretty much everyone who is involved in social welfare agencies, utility companies, letter carriers, etc. You just never know who is reporting what THEY consider to be ’suspicious activities’ to your local Gestapo.

Some interesting letters following the article in Alternet:

Fear Factor

Posted by: divetrader on Jul 9, 2008 5:03 AM

I was an idiot! When the Twin Towers were destroyed I was working in the loop of Chicago. I immediately fell for the propaganda that the right wing fed us. I believed them when they wrote that terrorists had taken pictures of the towers from different view points as well as video tape them from different angles to help plan the attack. So, after I saw people “tourists” taking pictures of the Sears Tower or any other skyscrapers, I would call the police. I called them twice. I fell for the Bush propaganda hook, line and sinker. What a fool I was. It took a while to realize that this is exactly what Bush and Cheney wanted. They used Hitlers play book perfectly. It has been nearly 7 years. Why are people falling for it now?