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Here's something nice to start your morning:
Portland police officer Christopher Humphreys, who already faces discipline for his role in the September 2006 death of James Chasse Jr., has been suspended pending an investigation into the close-range beanbag shooting of a 12-year-old girl Saturday night near a Gresham TriMet MAX station.

"This action was appropriate. It was justified. It was warranted," [police union President Sgt. Scott Westerman] said, trying to speak over the rush-hour traffic. "This is exactly what the citizens of Portland expect their police officers to do."

Videos:
http://www.oregonlive.com/portland/index.ssf/2009/11/portland_officer_suspend_after.html

[UPDATE:] A cop recently TASERed a 10-year old girl too.

Here's a heart-warming video:

Best quote of the day, and Health Insurance in Oregon
“I feel sorry for these people,” [Lt. Mary Lindstrand, spokeswoman for Multnomah County Sheriff’s Office] said. “Someone is using the criminal justice system for their personal gain.”

No shit. Man, I could slap that bitch - half of her job is assisting people making personal profit by putting harmless people in cages.

Here's something I didn't know:
Oregon State Regulators approve requests from Insurance Companies to raise Premiums - so the price we pay for medical insurance is actually controlled by our representative government. They had me fooled - all of this time I was upset at certain corporations and individuals for arbitrarily increasing medical costs while making huge profits.

Well, in our Representative Democracy, I'm sure the regulators are scrutinizing each increase to the fullest.

The Oregon Insurance Division approved every other request without changes from the seven companies seeking to raise individual and small-business premiums.

Fucking bastards! How can they justify another increase in medical costs?
"The current method of rate review is a pass-through," says Sean Moriarty.

How can this be? Perhaps it has something to do with this bitch:

Teresa Miller - Oregon's top insurance regulator

Teresa Miller, formerly lobbyist for clients that included Portland General Electric, the American Massage Therapy Association, and other groups. She, supposedly, is leading a progressive look at waste in health insurance - my ass, bitch! Your method of review assumes that medical insurers are honest, for one. Two, there's no justifiable way to triple the cost of health insurance in Oregon over a ten year period. And then, approve at 30% increase this year. You're full of shit, lady, and I hope you rot in hell.

Medical costs are tremendous for numerous reasons, obviously tripling the cost over 10 years is not solely "Administrative Expenses". Administrative costs have fluctuated up and down by $20 million at Regence, entirely without explanation. $20 million is not the problem, not even $100 million. Oregon, and this country, have an entirely rotten system, from doctors & hospitals overcharging, to insurance companies, and to our industry-bought state regulators.

Look at Executive Pay, for example:

Damn, I'm in the wrong industry.

It goes deeper to:

For example, last year Regence paid its president $765,161 and three vice presidents more than $300,000 each while keeping a $466 million surplus. Though the number of people that Regence insured dropped during the past five years by 209,000 members, its revenue climbed $864 million, to $2.6 billion.

The Health Institution is just fucking with us: buying our regulators, lying to the ones who can't be bought, providing average Americans some of the worst medical care in the world (and the most expensive), forcing common people into major debt for essential operations (and then, using the Criminal Justice System to sue their poor ass), bribing doctors to prescribe dangerous drugs, ignoring the needs of those seeking life-saving medical treatment, &c...

The number of Oregonians covered by commercial insurance dropped by 88,000 between early 2008 and last summer, many of whom joined the estimated 614,000 residents already without insurance.

Fuck it, I suppose. Health is generally not very concerning to Americans. We spend our entire lives eating food without concern of it's origins or ingredients - it's no wonder individuals and companies have exploited American apathy on health. There is one simple solution, and only one solution: Single Payer Healthcare - nationalize the health institutions, ~~kill~~ remove their executives, rebuild the private sector.

[EDIT:] More facts on national healthcare.

Did you know? - Sociopathy
The strongest predictor of the traffic fatality rate is the homicide rate?

The study concludes, "This finding suggests that social aspects of human interaction may play an important role in traffic safety."

Sociopaths are people who reject the moral responsibility of a society, people who have no conscious. To understand sociopathy, we have to define the scope society: which is, broadly, any collection of people who are codependent. It is natural when creatures live within proximity of each other they must cooperate or fight over resources, due to scarcity. In the case of humanity, resources are often hoarded as a method of self or group preservation and competition (although I do not believe hoarding is a sociopathic behavior). One could ask: does my definition of society reject the idea of global-dependence? Yes, as sections of the world are entirely self-sustaining within nature. Although, global-conscious is a part of the human condition, that is: the empathy required to make a "society" carries over to a global-scale. Mankind naturally empathizes with others, even other creatures. Sociopaths do not only reject moral responsibility, they are also not sympathetic toward other creatures.

Modern sociopaths develop through a false disconnection, or the rejection, of human codependency. In my observations, sociopathy can be a genetic/biological trait or environmental condition, both result in similar behaviors. Sociopaths covertly undermine society by refusing to assist those in need, and overtly undermine society through violence (either carelessly or intentionally).

In smaller communities, like those the human condition is accustom to, codependency is much more obvious, and difficult for the conscious to suppress or ignore - through instinctive methods mankind automatically recognizes the symbiotic nature of groups.

In larger communities, like modern cities, codependency can be ignored. The resources required for basic survival within a city are obviously dependent upon others within the community (like grocery store workers, truck drivers, construction workers) - but it is often within cities that we find the development of sociopaths. This I've found most fascinating. Perhaps one reason for this phenomenon is the size of survival-required institutions - for example: murdering 1 or 10 people at a Safeway does not mean the community will not be able to acquire food. We all, by this reasoning, are replaceable cogs within a giant self-protection machine (think: to big to fail), so our neighbors are rather useless for our survival and the idea of "society" or "community" simply does not exist. Another suggestion might be social isolation - to be surrounded by people but not be dependent upon them for survival might overload the conscious into believing no one is needed.

Sociopathy comes in various degrees as well - with the most extreme (ready to wipe out the human race) coming from a biological deficiency. A person can be conditioned to be an extreme sociopath, for example: advocating for a war even if there is no demonstrated threat can be taught to a person - is a mark of sociopathic behavior, all empathy for the human condition is abandoned in that case. Another example is the leadership models of modern corporations, in order to advance to the highest levels you must routinely make financial decisions without regard to human suffering placed within the greater society. Currently a movement coming out of the Mid-West, sometimes called "Individualism" that is rooted in a sociopathic behavior: each person is granted complete autonomy, and should reject codependency and the weak. There's several examples, almost all ills within a society are rooted in sociopathic behavior.

Minor expressions of underlining sociopathic behavior are found within the American culture: capitalism, if intellectualized, is the practice of taking from others to accumulate wealth, in this country, it is explicitly without regard to the "consumers". Americans are indoctrinated into this lifestyle, it takes a epiphany for most Americans to accept codependency and the symbiotic benefits of collective community work. It seems, through my observations of the historical human experience, existential threat is predominate method of uniting societies - although it also appears indoctrination at a young age is also effective in altering human instinctual behavior.

A shit load of headlines! Gambling, Drugs, Cops, Prisons & Sarah Palin
Remember how the Smoking Ban cost schools and other institutions shit-ton of money? That's because Oregon's budget is addicted to gambling:

[Those who] lose more than $500 a month...represent 10 percent of Oregon's video gamblers but account for 53 percent of the money lost. .... State officials say there are about 74,000 problem gamblers in Oregon.

More than one third of people seeking treatment in Oregon say they committed crimes to get gambling money.

Damn, we can legalize gambling, and use it's proceeds to pay for major state-run institutions - yet we can't legalize Marijuana to do exactly the same - or other ills of mankind for that matter. These folks sure do have a sad story: they've become addicted. On the flip side of that coin, their lottery dollars pay for 43% of the Parks & Recreation budget, along with 43% of the Salmon Project budget - 67% of lottery funds go to education. I'm curious, if gambling were made illegal, or altered, would the people who are addicted significantly decline? I highly doubt it. At least it's for the children.

On the subject of Marijuana, Police discovered at least 200,000 marijuana plants in raids in Oregon alone - worth over $450 million.

That's up from 78,000 plants last year, when a late spring and heavy snows made it difficult for growers to reach the backcountry, but not as high as the record 300,000 plants seized in 2007.

"I'm not sure I wouldn't rather put up with the wolves and the grizzly bears than these marijuana farmers."

Lolz. You know what would settle that rancher's fear? If pot growing were legalized - and licensed (not armed) growers were scattered throughout the hills paying their taxes. Just recently, Oregon opened two Marijuana Cafes - it's sure-as-shit still retarded for it to be illegal with:

In Oregon, more than 23,000 people hold medical-marijuana cards and another 14,000 are registered as caregivers or growers. The overwhelming majority of patients are treating chronic severe pain.

Judging by these actions, I should begin littering the area with MPP.org literature again. I need to work up a way of getting free printing.

I think the best part of legalizing Marijuana would have nothing to do with recreational use, but a cultural shift of tolerance, and judging people by their actual crimes not their potential. As that shift happens, we might see less tolerance for police officer abuse like this:

Seattle's finest, yet again, beating up someone.

The city of Berkeley, California is looking for a chief of police and they're considering a Captain from Seattle's finest. It must be good to be a cop:

As part of his compensation package, the 48-year-old Meehan would receive an annual salary of $205,000. He also would be provided with a $500,000 home loan from the city at 3 percent interest.

Not only do you get a salary that puts you in the Top 5 Percentile - you also get a sweet fucking loan for a giant fucking house!

Hey, did you know the Oregon prison industrial complex takes bribes? The guy in charge of purchasing food "is accused of taking $1.2 million in bribes while in his $79,000 a year state job."

Also, civilian doctors have been taking bribes to subscribe patients unnecessary and deadly drugs. The full story isn't online - gotta pick up a printed edition - but thousands of people have died in Oregon, and the bribes "[total] more than $1 million per year, from pharmaceutical companies."

Sarah Palin ~~wrote~~ released a book. The dumbass thinks she can rally enough support to stay popular for 2 years. Sorry lady, Africa is a continent, and your white-trash children have retarded names - you won't be President.

The Financial Sector - what can happen in 10 years.
From Democracy now:

On 10th Anniversary of Glass-Steagall Repeal, Watchdog Says Bailout “Almost Certainly” Will Result in Taxpayer Loss

The top oversight official for the $700 billion Wall Street bailout says the program will “almost certainly” result in a loss for US taxpayers. Special Inspector General Neil Barofsky also says he’s conducting sixty-five probes into possible fraud by bailout recipients. Barofsky’s comments came on the tenth anniversary of the repeal of the Glass-Steagall Act, a key deregulatory move widely seen as helping lead to the nation’s financial collapse. The repeal ended the separation of commercial and investment banking. In this clip from before the 1999 vote, Senator Byron Dorgan of South Dakota predicted how the repeal would be remembered on its tenth anniversary.

Sen. Byron Dorgan: “We are, with this piece of legislation, moving towards greater risk. We are almost certainly moving towards substantial new concentration and mergers in the financial services industry, that is almost certainly not in the interests of consumers. And we are deliberately and certainly, with this legislation, moving towards inheriting much greater risk in our financial services industries. And so, I come to the floor to say that I regret that I cannot support the legislation. I think we will, in ten years’ time, look back and say we should not have done that, because we forgot the lessons of the past.”

"Forgot?" I doubt anyone competent to make laws and policies "forgot" what Trusts and Banks looked like before the 1930's regulation. It seems that over time, and with a little bit of political financing back in the 1980's, politicians were slowly put into place who worked towards reforming financial laws. The only thing we "forgot" is that Americans need to keep a vigilant eye on their government and politicians. Now bankers have enough power to make demands - a financial coup d'état - and it will take radical moves by the government in order regain power.

No one gives up power easily, except Congress. There's only one solution really: ban usury. Of course, there's many other problems that have surfaced over the last ten years, for example, most of my generation can't keep more than $34 in their bank because of our indoctrination into a debt-based society. That's going to take a massive public education movement just so that my generation can finally understand how personal finances work. Of course, this doesn't change the fact that the entire next generation of children will will be on food stamps; our government spies on us while believing they can arrest anyone at anytime; our school systems blow; our politicians and police are unaccountable to the people....Well, it might take more than banning Usury: let's bring the whole fucking system to the ground.

About fucking time! - Oh, wait. Goddamn't.
It's amazing when our government is quazi-responsive to the needs of the people. It happens so rarely that it ought to be celebrated with a national day of remembrance.

Well, it has happened again:

From the PBJ:

The Federal Reserve finalized rules Thursday that will prohibit banks from charging overdraft fees without consumers’ consent.

The new rules state that financial institutions will no longer be allowed to levy fees for overdrafts on an ATM machine and one-time debit card transactions unless the consumer consents or opts in to the program.

This sounds like good news, considering the massive fucking problem with overdraft fees in this country. But I'm scared:

Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke said the new rules “represent an important step forward in consumer protection.”

Ben Bernanke? Fuck! That guy should be hanging from the gallows - clearly there's something else in play here. There's no way that Bernanke is interested in consumer protection, not after handing over the keys to our economy to a bunch bankers in a financial coup d'état. Christopher Dodd, one of many lousy sons of bitches in Congress - who typically backs banking interests - is a major supporter as well. I have no doubt something else is going on here.

The only plausible answer I've found: Checking Account Fees are being increased. (Note: This story was published yesterday, before the Fed announcement.)

A monthly fee of $7.50 that had been waived for some Citibank customers will now be charged if balances fall below $1,500. At Bank of America, the monthly checking account fee went up to $8.95 for those without direct deposit or who have balances under $1,500. At Chase, non-account holders get hit with a $6 fee for cashing a check written on a Chase account if they try to cash the check at a Chase bank.

Wells Fargo is charging $8 if you don't keep $1000 - but I don't know if this is new.

Fuck'n bastards. As I mentioned, "lower-income groups and young adults age 18-25 were the most likely to incur an overdraft", I'm going to bet that same minority will actually be charged much more then before this "compromise" with the banks.

This isn't it, entirely. Runing the numbers, assuming a monthly checking fee of $7 ($84/yearly) and with the info from CRL ($23.7b in overdraft fees, 2008), it would take 282,142,857 accounts for banks to match their losses by this law. Only 197 million people have checking accounts - and I estimate 51 million people maintain less than $1500 in their check account (that's the number of people who overdraft at least once). Other fees will come, I'm sure.

A brief on Counter-Insurgency
Someday soon I've got to sit down and write something about Counter-Insurgency models. It's really a fascinating way to analyze and predict political actions by the American federal government. In short: the term "Insurgents" refers to any "subversive" organization, i.e. any group seeking to change the status quo. Back in 2004, you could call the Democrat ideals "Insurgent/Subversive" for the simple fact they were advocating change, now that title has shifted to Republicans. Basically, if you don't like the government or big business, you're considered an Insurgent/Subversive/Radical/Dangerous. Counter-Insurgency is the various methods in which governments and elites maintain power within a society, often times utilizing force.

There are 3 levels of Insurgent/Subversive/Advocacy groups: the first being community-based organization: where community leaders identify problems within a community and begin building support for political change, often times this is spreading educational information. The second level is non-violent actions: this is basically petitioning the government, trying to get representatives from the community in political office, or otherwise attempting to solve the issue. The third level is violent actions: if the community cannot get results from the other two methods, and the community feels strongly enough about the issue, they will inevitably fight for it, using any means necessary but often resulting in terrorism.

All of the pictures are taken from FM 3-24 "Counterinsurgency Field Manual"

This model, as described above, is natural within every human colony that's ever existed: from contemporary American culture, to the Greeks, and probably back to the pre-stone age. Government and elites within a community are held accountable by their people at some point within this model. Ideally, government representatives should be aware of (by soliciting for) problems within a community, and addressing those problems within the first stage.

In ideal American Democracy, this would be preformed at the "Town Hall Meeting", where people would interact directly with their government representative, and thus eliminate the need for an organization to form and commit to non-violent actions. In the real America (and for that matter, the real world), government is instituted to protect the wealthy from the poor - and so we can see the necessity of communities with needs to engage in non-violent and violent actions to get what they need.

This doesn't mention "propaganda", another method of controlling civilian temperament.

Counter-Insurgency is methods in which government suppresses Insurgent/Subversive/Advocacy groups, i.e. how governments suppress community needs. You would assume, if you've completed 8th grade civics classes, the the American Government counter-insurgency model only addresses groups at the Violence Level - this is completely untrue, and the governments of the world have published numerous methods of suppressing communities in various manuals. The American government views all Insurgent/Subversive/Advocacy groups as eventually becoming violent, as described in the American Field Manual, and so the American Government/Elites attempts to identify and remove the insurgent groups long before they even begin non-violent actions by monitoring alternative culture, i.e. communities of need. Therefore, it should not be surprising when communities of need, particularly poor communities, are given disproportionate scrutiny by government - in America, this is preformed primarily with Law Enforcement and state-control of the media, but there's other methods as well: tolerated racist law enforcement, the drug war, FISA, the PATRIOT Act, "Global War on Terror" - all counter-insurgency in practice.

Government has an interest, a very intense interest, preventing leadership in poor communities, and monitoring radical groups and people in general. Therefore, it is not surprising to read news like this, from DemocracyNow.org:

Justice Dept. Subpoenaed Indymedia Site for Web Visitors

[The] Justice Department is coming under criticism for demanding information on visitors to the independent progressive news website Indymedia. A US attorney in Indiana reportedly subpoenaed the records from Indymedia earlier this year and then ordered the site to keep silent about the request. The Electronic Frontier Foundation says the subpoena demanded the individual internet protocol addresses of every single Indymedia visitor. The group says the subpoena was ultimately dropped.

I assume the subpoena was dropped because the Justice Department learned they could get this information through the federal agencies already monitoring internet traffic: to preform counter-insurgency within the frame work of the Bill Of Rights is extremely inconvenient (and the reason it was so advocated).

If you know anything, you should be detained

Another example is the police killings in Seattle: the police were likely killed because of law enforcement abuse - the communities reacted by carrying out the typical "insurgent" model, first realizing a problem, organizing non-violent demonstrations, and ultimately resorting to violence and the execution of a police officer.

Who is being blamed? Christopher John Monfort, a guy who volunteered his time to teach children about the criminal justice system. I'm amazed he's alive - I would think the cops would have been better served with him dead. Anyways, this story has all sorts of interesting turns: one source claims the police found "massive amounts of child pornography on Monfort's personal computer" yet this is not widely mentioned in the other news stories, so it's likely a fabrication by an unnamed "official source". It's also claimed that Monfort pulled a handgun on detectives when they arrived, but a bullet was not in the chamber...right, and conversely we're told he's a bomb-making gun nut - but he can't figure out to use his safety? In addition, "DNA" was found at the scene of the police firebombings, as if this student of terrorism didn't prepare his attack weeks in advance and take necessary precautions to remove traces. Moreover, "Bombs left behind" at the arson scene have now surfaced - completely unmentioned in news stories up until this week.

With an understanding of predictable counter-insurgency models, we could speculate that law enforcement is fabricating evidence, we could speculate that the police stormed the home of a social-justice activist and attempted to execute him, we could speculate the Monfort will end up dead before he pleads "not-guilty". It's all speculation really.

Do you have a facebook?

Do you wonder about the connection between the CIA and facebook

Veteran's Day
Wow, it's here. I'm at work!

Today, Veterans For Peace is hosting a rally at 11am, in Pioneer Courthouse Square - come along. I understand there will be school children there, and they're bringing rocks to build a giant peace sign (although, I think the rocks could be better served being lobbed at something).

I found really cute videos of soldiers returning home to their dogs:
http://www.mentalfloss.com/blogs/archives/40324

For Mike:
The Artemis Project: The Project is a private venture to establish a permanent, self-supporting community on the Moon.

http://www.asi.org/

Headlines
From DemocracyNow.org

House Passes Healthcare Reform Bill

While supporters of President Obama celebrated the passage of the healthcare bill, the legislation also marks a victory for opponents of abortion rights. On Saturday, anti-abortion Democrats helped push through an amendment to prohibit anyone who receives government health insurance subsidies from enrolling in an insurance plan that covers abortion. In addition, abortions won’t be covered under the proposed government-run insurance plan. The amendment has been described as the biggest victory in years for opponents of abortion rights.

More on the Healthcare bill

Senate Confirms Controversial Pick to Head Mining Office

The Senate has unanimously confirmed the nomination of Joseph Pizarchik to serve as director of the Office of Surface Mining Reclamation and Enforcement, despite widespread opposition from environmental groups and critics of mountaintop coal removal. The group Public Employees for Environmental Responsibility said, “President Obama’s choice to run the Office of Surface Mining signifies that campaign promises to end environmentally destructive coal mining practices, such as mountain-top removal, will be abandoned.”

Clearly, signs are still the most effective tactic to preserve your homeland.
At what point do these people start shooting back? At what point do Americans?

Report: 237 Members of Congress Are Millionaires

A new report by the Center for Responsive Politics has found that 237 members of Congress are millionaires. That’s 44 percent of the body. California Republican Darrell Issa is the richest lawmaker with a net worth estimated at just over $250 million. At least seven lawmakers have net worths greater than $100 million.

1% of Americans are millionaires. American unemployment rate is at 10.2%. What's great - and I mean really great - is the wealth of congressmen is actually down from last year. Today I read Mike Ross (D-Ark) yielded at least $1 million and as much as $1.67 million in 2007 from a real estate transaction with his in-district pharmacy, USA Drug - the county assessed the same property to be worth $263,000. Mike Ross ran unopposed in the 2008 Ark. 4-district race - yet still spent $1.7 million on campaigning. The owner of USA drug also contributed $2,300 to Ross' campaign.

Obama to Meet with Israeli Prime Minister in Washington

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is in Washington today to meet with President Obama. The talks come amid floundering US efforts to jump-start stalled Middle East peace talks.

Random: Live Grenade exchanged at gun buy-back program.

LOLz

"The minister has been on record in recent years about the dangers posed by samurai swords. They have been used with very damaging effect on our streets,” said a spokesperson of the Minister for Justice, Mr. Dermot Ahern.

"Because of that he introduced legislation banning the swords.

Link

Bankers have us by the balls.
I do my fair share of fear-mongering to the occasional passerby reader of this journal. Fear turns into anger, and anger turns into action.

One of my favorite thing to investigate and note is the financial crisis, and I like to point towards this graph specifically:

I <3 graphs - This graph shows currency in our economy, look at that Spike!

I've been incorrect in some of my past statements: printing money does not cause inflation - the value of a currency drops when more of it is made AND it's circulated. All of this money that has been printed is not being spent. By adding 300% more money to the system, and having it under private control, the value of our dollar is basically handed over to a select group of folks who now have this country by the balls.

At any time the elites who control that money could decide to start spending - and then we're fucked.

It really wasn't about oil.
Iraq Awards Largest Oil Deal Since ’03 Invasion

The Iraqi government has awarded the first major new oil deal since the 2003 US invasion. On Tuesday, Iraqi officials announced a twenty-year agreement with the British oil giant BP and China’s state-owned oil company to develop the Rumaila oil field. It’s the first of several oil contracts Iraq expects to sign in the coming months. BP chief executive Tony Hayward praised the deal.

If we invaded Iraq for it's oil, we did a really shitty job. People are interpreting this story differently, my take: this is evidence that we invaded Iraq to remove Saddam because we saw him as a threat to Israel. The War On Terror was a convenient excuse to invade, the start of this perpetual war. This war, that is now rallying for troops on the ground in Iran, has already crossed borders into Pakistan and several places in the Middle East, is not about oil, but has several advantages for Elites, and includes the protection of Israel.

T. Boone Pickens has been scrutinized over his comments regarding the Iraqi Oil: "They're opening them (oil fields) up to other companies all over the world ... We're entitled to it," Pickens said of Iraq's oil. "Heck, we even lost 5,000 of our people, 65,000 injured and a trillion, five hundred billion dollars." / "We leave there with the Chinese getting the oil," Pickens said. You know, I agree.

We didn't invade Iraq because of American dependency on oil, we invaded Iraq to give the people of China Iraqi oil, apparently. ~~Democracy~~ Civil War for Iraqis, oil for the Chinese.

Historically, this country has been pretty good about setting up puppet governments that act in American best interests. Either selling oil to the Chinese and the Brits is a good thing for Americans, or we've completely lost our ability to exploit natural resources while occupying a country. Surely, many companies are benefiting over the invasion - war profiteering is a real bitch - but if this country isn't exploiting the natural resources, then there is absolutely no advantage to this war for common Americans.

[UPDATE]Exxon, Shell Awarded Iraqi Oil Deal

In Iraq, the oil giants Exxon Mobil and Royal Dutch Shell have been awarded a contract to develop a southern Iraqi oil field. It’s first major deal for an American-led bid since the US invasion of 2003 and the latest in a series of deals awarded by the Iraqi government.

Yeah!? We'll **WE** don't tourture - the Syrians do!
This country even outsources it's torture, why can't we do it in-house?

Glenn Greenwald:

Yesterday, the Second Circuit -- by a vote of 7-4 -- agreed with the government and dismissed Arar's case in its entirety. It held that even if the government violated Arar's Constitutional rights as well as statutes banning participation in torture, he still has no right to sue for what was done to him.
...
This is precisely how the character of a country becomes fundamentally degraded when it becomes a state in permanent war. So continuous are the inhumane and brutal acts of government leaders that the citizens completely lose the capacity for moral outrage and horror. The permanent claims of existential threats from an endless array of enemies means that secrecy is paramount, accountability is deemed a luxury, and National Security trumps every other consideration -- even including basic liberties and the rule of law. Worst of all, the President takes on the attributes of a protector-deity who can and must never be questioned lest we prevent him from keeping us safe.
...
Obama had nothing to do with the Arar case -- all the conduct, and even the legal briefing, occurred before he was President -- but he has taken numerous steps to further institutionalize the core injustice here, including in cases that are quite similar to Arar: namely, that the Executive can use secrecy and national security claims to shield himself from the rule of law, even when he's accused of torture and war crimes. That's exactly what happened here, yet again.

( Arar's story )

I can't find any picture of the type of chair the Syrians use...
Although I imagine Arar went through something like this.

Headlines
From Democracy Now!

Report: Goldman Sachs Secretly Bet on the US Housing Crash

An investigation by the McClatchy Newspapers has found that banking giant Goldman Sachs made secret bets on an imminent housing crash while selling off billions in soon-to-be worthless securities. In 2006 and 2007, the bank reportedly peddled more than $40 billion in securities backed by at least 200,000 risky home mortgages, but never told the buyers it was secretly betting that a sharp drop in US housing prices would send the value of those securities plummeting. Goldman’s sales and its clandestine wagers enabled the nation’s premier investment bank to pass most of its potential losses to others before a flood of mortgage defaults staggered the US and global economies. Only later did investors discover that what Goldman had promoted as triple-A rated investments were closer to junk. By doing so, Goldman Sachs may have violated securities laws. Several pension funds, including Mississippi’s Public Employees’ Retirement System, have filed suits alleging that Goldman and other Wall Street firms negligently made "false and misleading’’ representations of the bonds’ true risks.

Really, lots of people real estate industry predicted this collapse, especially large movers of commercial and residential properties. The fact that banks knew this would happen shouldn't be a surprise, anyone half informed about the last 20 years of the residential market should have seen the bubble rising - and, clearly, several did. A bigger question becomes: were lenders consciously loosening credit restrictions in order to create this bubble? No, I doubt it - this was more of a biproduct of greed than a great manipulation of the market. Still, fuck banks, ban usury.

Study: Half of All US Children Will Get Food Stamps

A new study has concluded that nearly half of all US children and 90 percent of black youngsters will be on food stamps at some point during childhood. Researchers say the fallout from the current recession could push those numbers even higher. The lead author of the study, Mark Rank, said, “This is a real danger sign that we as a society need to do a lot more to protect children.” Children on food stamps are at risk for malnutrition and other ills linked with poverty. In 2008, over 28 million Americans received food stamps in an average month. About half of the recipients were under the age of sixteen.

"Conservatives" who bitch about "nanny-states" are hilarious: without a nanny-state, people would be dying, and then we'd go through a Marxist-predicted revolution. It's much easier for a government to string people along on minimal services, and deny the "dangerous classes" any ability to establish family wealth. Food stamps is a good thing for the rich: you provide just enough for people to be passive. Don't mention jobs with "livable wages", or how those are completely disappearing without media protest.

From Oregonlive.com, DA determines shooting of Garibaldi man was justified

The Tillamook County district attorney has decided that the shooting death of a Garibaldi man by sheriff's deputies on Oct. 23 was justified and the case will not be sent to the grand jury.
....
When [the police] arrived, they found Michael Elmo Shepherd, 68, at the scene. Anderson said Shepherd began to approach the deputies with a raised hatchet. The deputies warned Shepherd to stop, but he kept coming at them, and they shot him.

Shepherd was pronounced dead at the scene.

It's really hard to determine if the police acted appropriately here - it's a good thing we have "elected" District Attorneys we all trust to make such judgment calls like "murder", better than dealing with the whole mess of a jury. I've studied a lot of police close combat tactics, and it's extremely likely the police were acting "appropriately" - that is to say, it is "appropriate" for police not to risk their own lives to save someone else. If the suspect was within 30 feet, he could have charged the police in less than 5 seconds with a hatchet: rather than two young, well-trained, in-shape, wearing body Armour, sworn to "protect" Police simply trying to disarm a 68 year old man, they shot him dead instead. Makes sense: police should not risk their lives.

Assassination? More like Retaliation.
From Oregonlive.com

The two were discussing a routine traffic stop while parked in downtown Seattle when their police cruiser was suddenly struck several times by gunfire shortly after 10 p.m., officials said.

"This is an assassination, and every resource is being used to bring it to a conclusion," Pugel said.

Damn, couldn't have anything to do with this 15 year old girl?

I wonder if it was the same guys who burnt down some cop cars. Shit, maybe the Seattle Police should shape up.

[Update] I did some digging on the story today and found it interesting that none of the news stories cover this as a plausible retaliatory strike. Many comments on the stories showed deep sympathy towards the police officers that lost their lives, some even commenting on how "it's the only job you don't know if you're coming home that night." &c. The population is deeply off base here - as I've demonstrated statically in the past. This story really shows two things: 1) when cops kill an innocent person, they get "suspended" at best and it's counted as a routine (although unfortunate) part of policing society; when an innocent person kills a cop it's a deep tragedy where the whole city should pause and reflect at the Great Sacrifice police are specifically trained not to do. I don't think Seattle cares nearly as much when a local soldier dies, --that's a different story-- but still arguably hypocritical. 2) Journalists in Seattle (and plausibly other similar cities, like Portland) are afraid to talk about the route causes of this sort of retaliatory strike: police brutality. Even if this was a "gang" hit, which I sincerely doubt, that "gang" was only retaliating against an oppressive force within their community - I think that's entirely justifiable considering the death tolls police inflict upon poor and minority communities. If I was a black guy, and my friends were harassed, arrested, denied justice, demonized, imprisoned and even raped - all because of their skin color - I would be killing police too. In a decent society, we would be violently rejecting all sorts of unnecessary authority, but most especially authorities using violence against us, acting without the consensus of the community. In a similar way that we expect decent people to fight against an invading army, if a government clearly disregards the interests of a community, it only makes sense to repel that force with at least equal brutality. It's too bad people don't give a damn about being anything near decent or kind.

I doubt the violence against police in Seattle is going to end any time soon - although if this guy is trying to intimidate the police into being responsible - he should knock it off for a while. In my opinion, actions speak louder when they're a reaction. This is just terrorizing the police force, and he'll probably be arrested before he burns out. If there's another strike in the next few days, this guy is taking it down to his life: he's already been shot at, why not fight until the end?

[UPDATE:] One arrested - a black guy.

Cool product:
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Self contained, solar powered, water filter. REI should sell these.

I watched television.
I spent the last two days up in Port Angeles for a professional conference and stayed over one night. During the evening hours I wondered around town, looking for a bar to pass the time away. I saw two bars, both with much older, and unkind looking patrons. Discouraged by my findings and the cold weather, I ended up in my hotel room and watched cable television for the first time in over a year.

I flipped through all 33 hotel-acquired channels and found many familiar programs, programs that I might download at home to pass the time, but I was not entertained, I was insulted. Television is "dumbed-down" to be appealing to the lowest people in this country, and creates an atmosphere of stupidity being acceptable. Even shows I might find entertaining were plagued by advertisements I found degrading. I could not tolerate it that night.

The shows in the morning were much more fascinating. Morning news! My god it's disgusting.

(Sean?) Hannity and guests spent several minutes discussing taxes on Fox News. They had a pundit with a British accent describe how he fled Europe to come to the United States because here we respect personal wealth. Hannity and his guests agreed that it's unacceptable for the wealthy to pay more income taxes then the poor, as the poor use the services, they should pay for it. The whole thing was rather interesting, and the fear mongering of the European lifestyle palpable. At one point Hannity said something like, "What gives people the right to take money from one person and give it to another?" I thought the answer is simple: mutual dependence in society. The question is revealing: Hannity is a sociopath.

I watched the 700 Club after Fox News, Pat Robertson is a disgusting shell of a man, he's lied unapologeticly and openly spreads hate. Robertson should not be allowed on television, it's surprising he remains on television given his history. The show is interesting, a mix of politics, social commentary, and religion. It started with an "interactive prayer" where people called in and someone lead the show in a prayer. One person called in because a child was missing, another because of fatal cancer, and another for scoliosis. A person said some nice things to the Lord, and the problems get fixed (unless you're missing a limb, God doesn't care about those people). Next was the national news. They covered a story about a girl who ran away from her Muslim parents, fearing death, because she converted to Christianity (you've got to read the story, another example of hypocrisy). Next was a bland story on child hood obesity and breakfast cereal. Finally, a story about the hate crimes bill passed in Washington DC - which makes it a federal crime to assault homosexuals if you're assaulting them because they're gay. Robertson commented that this will ultimately destroy Christian freedom of speech, as a pastor could be liable if he preaches that homosexuality is a sin, and that leads to his klan assaulting gays. Sorry Robertson, eating Shellfish is a sin too - but you don't beat up lobster fishermen in New England, do ya'?

The last story on the 700 Club was my favorite. A 50 year old man lost over 240 pounds, through the Power of PRAYER! At the start of the segment, the guest explains that it was not his diet, but his strict adherence to Jesus and God that allowed him to lose weight. He did change his diet of course: nothing but raw vegetables all day - but the book he was promoting was about Prayer, not a vegetable only diet.

Television is controlled by a small group of people in this country, the vast majority of television is owned by 5 companies: General Electric, Time Warner, Disney, News Corporation, CBS/Viacom (joint owned). Each of these organizations has several referenced examples of direct censorship, especially in matters of big business. The boards of directors of these media companies are composed mostly of bankers, universities, and other media owners. The organizations are in the business of controlling the temper of American entertainment, and it's clear what they want: a docile, ignorant, self-obsessed working class.