Work Your Brain — 11/1/06

Tales of the Detainee Kind

• The Case Of Bilal Hussein — Justin Gardner @ Donklephant reports on Bilal Hussein, an AP war photographer, accused by the U.S. military of helping some insurgents kidnap a couple journalists. Only those journalists have been rescued and they say Hussein is a hero. The AP wants to know why he’s been detained since April with no charges having been filed against him while right-wing bloggers call for his head.
  

  Six months is more than enough time to get some facts together and make a case against Hussein. The military hasn’t done that, and they should…or else they should release Hussein without charge.

  As Gardner points out, Hussein isn’t the first journalist to be treated as such.

  More

  Tags: detainees, Bilal Hussein, Abdul Rahim Al Ginco, Afghanistan, Iraq, Guantanamo, al-Qaeda, Insurrection Act, FEMA, Lynne Cheney, Bill O'Reilly, liberals, rightwingers, patriotism, pragmatism, American soldiers, Republicans, Democrats, GOP, Georgia, Genital Cutting, abortion, pro-choice, pro-life, TSA, airport security, bomb-making materials, Christopher Soghoian, Center for Applied Cybersecurity Research, Indiana University, fake boarding passes, Ed Markey, FBI, Police State

  comments See also in Politics & Causes, In the News, Geekery, Blogging & Other Blogs, The World, 9-11 & Terrorism, Iraq & Afghanistan, Hurricane Katrina, Natural Disasters, Women's Rights, The Middle East

9/11: Around The Blogosphere

Remembering the Day

• For Thou Art With Us — Sarah Bunting @ TomatoNation.com was there.
  

  We come up the rise to the corner where a crowd of people has gathered, all looking up, and the towers come into view — the south tower closer to us and to the left. “Ohhh, man,” we both say, and “Jeeeesus Christ,” and “This is not good. This is not good at all. This is fuckin’ bad.” So dumb. So dull. We sound like frat boys when the keg is dry, but there’s nothing else we can say about what we’ve got in front of us. In front of us, high above us, the south tower has a huge hole torn through it, a burning, screaming maw with thick black smoke pouring out. Occasionally, flames lick up one corner of the twisted mouth of the hole and then retreat, only to reappear on the other side. It doesn’t seem real. It doesn’t even seem that serious at first, actually, until I remember just how big the building is, how many stories high — and that the hole must therefore cover twelve stories, at least. “This isn’t the kind of history I want to be present at,” I say, lamely, to Bob. “Me neither,” he says.

  More

  Tags: 9/11, World Trade Center, terrorism, New York, American flag, Afghanistan, Osama bin Laden, Conspiracy Theories, George W. Bush, Matt Lauer, Rudy Giuliani, ABC, tragedy, patriotism, Ground Zero, We Will Never Forget, al-Qaeda, CIA, Pakistan, Taliban, Joint Special Operations Command, NSA, National Counterterrorism Center, Tora Bora, al-Zawahiri, Paul Krugman, NATO, Bill Clinton, Rush Limbaugh, Pentagon, healthcare, Iraq

  comments See also in Politics & Causes, In the News, Geekery, Blogging & Other Blogs, The World, Featured, 9-11 & Terrorism, Iraq & Afghanistan, Conspiracy Theories, The Middle East

Work Your Brain — 09/02/06

First Some Fun

• Thursday Thirteen #3 — Baggage @ Baggage That Goes With Mine wrote thirteen reasons why the internet is better than real life. This is my favorite.
  

  11. On the internet, you can pop into a forum or a blog and tell a person that their beliefs are dumb, they should be breastfeeding, they should never co-sleep, they should divorce their husband, they should shave their legs, and they should stop wearing mom jeans. In real life, people would punch you in the face.

In Memory Of Katrina

• But you can keep them for the birds and bees — Mac @ PeskyApostrophe wonders about all of that Katrina aid money the U.S. asked for and got from other countries last year. She comes to the same conclusion I did.
  

  I’m appalled at a variety of things when it comes to the Katrina rebuilding effort and FEMA’s role in it all, but this is a whole new level of incompetence. As part of my new job, I am now involved in grant-writing. In a good portion of grants, the grantee expects a report as to how the money was used. While I’m sure these gifts did not come with any reporting requirements, if one of our grantees found out their money had been either wasted or didn’t got to the program for which it was intended that would pretty much guarantee they’d never give money to us again. And you have to wonder if, should another emergency situation arise, these countries would think twice about giving aid money to the U.S. if we’re not going to use it and use it wisely.

• First the Flood, Now the Fight — Spencer S. Hsu @ WashingtonPost.com wrote a special report on the butting of heads between FEMA and state and city officials in the rebuilding of the Gulf States and New Orleans after Hurricane Katrina. FEMA swears it’s not trying to be difficult but the process seems to be designed to wear down those requesting help until they just give up and either take what little they’ve been given, which isn’t much if anything.
  

  Through hundreds of such disputes large and small, the most costly disaster in U.S. history is fast becoming its most contentious, with appeals and disputes worth nearly a billion dollars bogging down repairs of critical public systems and delaying the return of residents.

  Current and former officials at all levels blame FEMA workers’ inexperience with eligibility rules, weaknesses in U.S. disaster laws and inconsistent treatment by Congress for much of the wrangling. The huge scale of the storm and honest disagreement over whether federal or local taxpayers should pay the tab add to the conflict.

  “Disasters should be difficult to declare. . . . But once you get them, FEMA should not worry about cutting costs,” said Daniel A. Craig, who stepped down in October as head of FEMA’s recovery division and is now consulting for New Orleans. “Public entities are eligible for everything they have lost due to the disaster. It is not up to FEMA to cut corners or makes sure money is saved.”

  Gil H. Jamieson, FEMA’s deputy director for Gulf Coast recovery, agreed that “we’re in this to rebuild the city” and added: “We are not in it to delay for the sake of delay. Are there folks who sometimes hose it up? Absolutely. But I think we’re doing a good job of helping it recover.”

  The disputes come as the costliest part of the recovery begins: restoring water, power, roads, bridges, schools and other public facilities along the Gulf Coast. Agency veterans said the spending will have more impact on the physical rebuilding of the Gulf area than anything else FEMA does over the next decade, possibly eclipsing its role in aiding individual victims of the storm.

  The Sewerage and Water Board of New Orleans, for instance, sustained $446 million in storm losses, said Executive Director Marcia St. Martin. But FEMA has committed just $113 million so far.

  FEMA notes that New Orleans promised U.S. environmental regulators $640 million in repairs before Katrina, and that the antiquated system is too big for the Crescent City’s reduced population.

  “That’s what makes a city — if you don’t have water, sewer and drainage, you don’t have a city,” lamented Robert Jackson, spokesman for the sewer board. “The money so far only scratches the surface of the devastation.

  Hat Tip: Susie @ Suburban Guerrilla

More

Tags: Thursday Thirteen, Internet, Hurricane Katrina, FEMA, aid money, Gil H. Jamieson, Daniel A. Craig, Gulf Coast recovery, New Orleans, Islamofascism, George W. Bush, Muslims, women in the media, Support the Troops, defense appropriation bill, Defense and Veterans Brain Injury Center, Iraq, Afghanistan, Congress, Pentagon, Lower 9th Ward, National Hurricane Canter, 9/11, Max Mayfield, Osama bin Laden, Hezbollah, terrorism, Ann Jones, Taliban, NATO, Christians, American Dream, Martin Niemoller, Germany, Nazis, Rocky Anderson, Utah, Salt Lake Tribune, patriotism, lie, Walter Jones, Colonel Lawrence Wilkerson, Colin Powell, Dick Cheney, Caddam Hussein, Donald Rumsfeld

Recommended Reading

There’s so much going on in the news and on the web that I really wanted to comment on it all today but it’s got my brain buzzing. Still I didn’t want some of these things to slip away without sharing because they really are worth a good read.

• Iraq through the Prism of Vietnam - a nice comparison of the two wars by Retired Gen. William Odom. “He lists striking similarities and asserts that only after it pulls out of Iraq can the U.S. hope for international support to deal with anti-Western forces.”
• To the Inequality of Men and Women - Matsu wrote an excellent history of the modern day fight for equality of the sexes and how maybe it wasn’t exactly everything we thought it was going to be and what it might take to get it right.
• It’s about damn time! - Kevin brings up the question that if a woman has the right to choose whether to abort, give a child up for adoption or raise a child, shouldn’t the father have the right to choose whether or not he wants to be financially responsible for the child? Currently, our legal system makes that choice for men.
• What’s Good for the Wiretapped Goose Is Apparently Not Good For the Wiretapped Gander — the writers at Wonkette feel that if Bush can listen into their calls, they should be allowed to drop in on enator Rockefeller’s conference calls.
• The nattering nabobs of…patriotism? — this is a very creative editorial by Paul Lewis, a what if, if you will. It’s an amusing mismatch of 1776 and 2006.

Tags: politics, Iraq, Vietnam War, Women's Rights, warrantless wiretapping, patriotism, Men's Rights

Proud to be an American?

If you get the chance, check out Scott-O-Rama’s Proud To Be An American? post from yesterday. I must say I feel his anger and disappointment in the current state of a country we were raised to believe was the best country in the world. It’s hard to be proud when you feel you should appologize to the world just for being an American.

In the United States, we are taught from a very early age that the U.S.A. is the greatest country in the world. We learn about other cultures that don’t have the freedoms that we have in America. We are led to believe that the U.S.A. only fights to protect the oppressed and spread freedom and democracy around the world. And we are told that when we grow up, we can be anything we want to be… and astronaut, a CEO, the president… all because we live in America.

As I’ve grown older, I have come to realize what a load of crap propaganda it all is.

A little less than a month ago, we celebrated the 4th of July- Independence Day in the U.S.A. As I have done so many times in the past, I hung the flag out in front of the house to show my patriotism. This year though, I did not feel any pride. Instead, I felt anger. Yes, I’m mad at my country, and here are a few reasons why:

Read the rest here…

Tags: blogs, propaganda, patriotism

A Nation Divided

I have for some time been searching for a way to express how I feel about the war in Iraq. I’m tired of being told I’m unpatriotic and Unamerican if I disagree with the war itself. I’m tired of being insulted and being accused of not supporting the troops because I vocally believe exactly what Kerry has said — “Wrong war, wrong time.”

Someone finally put into words what I’ve been trying to convey. It is possible to support our troops while disagreeing with the commander-in-cheif. I think the men and women who choose to serve in the military are very special, brave people who deserve respect. I am aware that many of them believe in the “cause” they are fighting for in Iraq, though I suspect that number is higher than it probably would be if many didn’t feel the need to believe it’s righteous to make themselves feel better about it all.

D was supposed to ship out to Iraq last month. His orders changed at the last minute to my relief. Apparently to his as well. He told me how important it is to vote in this election and vote for someone who’ll put an end to the madness.

My neighbor, a man who has served in the Navy in several wars including Vietnam, doesn’t like what Kerry did immediately after coming home from Vietnam (something he and I disagree on), but he’s voting for Kerry. He doesn’t seem to think that Bush is doing a very good job making decisions for this country, particularly where our military is concerned.

My father who was Army, who I thought was a Republican growing up, is probably the most liberal person I know now. He’s voting for Kerry. Like me, he never believed in the WMD claims by this administration.

I feel so sad because at one time I did respect President Bush. I thought that while he didn’t appear to be a very smart man, he had been smart enough to surround himself with smart people. Now I think that has turned around and bit him in the ass. I think he sees the world through rose-colored glasses provided to him by the likes of Dick Chenney and the other Bush minions. I think that Bush can stand up there and tell lies and mislead the country because he’s been misled by his own people, the people he trusts. I’m not saying his completely innocent. I also think he wanted to get Sadaam and he challenged his people to find a way.

It’s all such a disappointment.

The truth is that I like Kerry. I even like most of the things that the Republicans accuse him of. When I have gone to investigate the accusations and claims, I’ve found that in the correct context, mis-quoted things make sense and show him to be an intelligent man who looks at the changing world and changes with it as needed. I look at his record in Congress and I am not at all upset by most of his choices. I don’t know how he’d be as president. Obviously I hadn’t known how Bush would be. You take that risk when you vote. I know how Bush has been the last two years. I see how his administration has misled this country, sent our men and women to die, left Osama Bin Laden running free despite claims to get him no matter what, and destroyed most of the environmental protection legislation in favor of unregulating corporations who are out to help themselves despite the effects on the less-than-priviliged and the next generations who inherit the world.

But still mostly, I’m tired of the division in this country. Bush was supposed to be a uniter but from Nov. 2, 2000, he has been everything but with the exception of the few months following September 11, 2001 — which was more a coming together of patriotism and pride and mourning by the American people. Al-Queida united us far better than Bush has.

Tags: Iraq, patriotism, John Kerry, George W. Bush, Support the Troops, mud-slinging

Disappointed In The American Crowd

Yesterday at the Clam Festival, I stopped to watch the Firemen’s Muster. At the beginning they marched out the American Flag and played the national anthem. I was really disappointed, that in a country that slings around the words “patriot” and “patriotism” like they are compliments, privilleges and duty, very few people removed their hats and just as few people placed their hands over their hearts. In fact, some people who were chattering raised their voices so their mundane conversations could be heard over the music.

Tags: Yarmouth Clam Festival, patriotism

One Patriot’s Point-Of-View

I cannot seem to accept the idea that more people seem to unquestioningly, blindly believe every single utterance of the Bush Administration despite any contrary facts than believe unquestioningly that there is a God.

It frustrates me to no end that you cannot argue or debate the issues with these people because they can only regurgitate the rhetoric and propoganda and will eventually turn to name calling and accusing those who don’t whole-heartedly agree as unpatriotic traitors and resort to their anthem “Remember 9/11!”

I, of course, vividly remember 9/11, sometimes still in waking nightmares. I believe that those involved should be punished. What they did was an autrocity, an act of war on our own soil. Even as a pacifist with serious doubts in the rightness of capital punishment, I believed and still believe that invading Afghanistan and hunting down the evil masterminds was the right thing to do. I wish with all my heart that we would have finished the job and in my heart of hearts, I suspect that turning our attention on Iraq was a way to distract the American public from the fact that Bin Laden has never come to justice. I am aghast that there are still so many people who cling to the belief that Iraq was involved in 9/11. Not only is there no proof of such a connection but the very likelihood has been disproven. I can only guess that they cling to this belief so tightly because accepting that they were misled and duped is a far worse fate to them than the fate of 100’s of American soldiers sent off to an unnecessary war and the fate of 100’s if not 1000’s of Iraqi’s, innocent and not, and the survivors who must now deal with the aftermath.

I am also patriotic. I love my country. I display my flag on my front door. I vehmenently resent the accusation that if I don’t hang on and embrace every utterance of the current administration, I am somehow less a person and less an American than someone who marches blindly to patriotic propoganda. Certainly this country was founded by rule breakers and those who thought outside of the box, those that wanted these freedoms they set up for us, those that gave serious thought to the good of the country. I am an American and I am entitled to my opinions, my belief in the facts, my disbelief in the compentency of an administration that has misled the American public repeatedly and appears to believe that it is above the very laws and freedoms it claims to be defending. I am an American and that does not mean I am a fanatic. It does not mean that I must accept the world as it is nor does it mean that I should roll over and pretend I love the way the current administration is doing it’s job. I am entitled to know the facts; I am entitled to express my rage, my horror, my discontent; I am entitled to these things without fear of abuse and imprisonment.

My alias is N. Mallory and I approved this message.

Tags: politics, George W. Bush, propaganda, patriotism, 9/11, lie, Iraq, Afghanistan