Fascist America, in 10 easy steps

Fascist America, in 10 easy steps is a compelling editorial in The Guardian.

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As Americans turn away quite leisurely, keeping tuned to internet shopping and American Idol, the foundations of democracy are being fatally corroded. Something has changed profoundly that weakens us unprecedentedly: our democratic traditions, independent judiciary and free press do their work today in a context in which we are "at war" in a "long war" - a war without end, on a battlefield described as the globe, in a context that gives the president - without US citizens realising it yet - the power over US citizens of freedom or long solitary incarceration, on his say-so alone.

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Ralph Nader

Ralph Nader speaking at the Capitol Theater in Olympia, Washington.

I spent Sunday in Olympia, the capital of Washington State and an hour south of Seattle, with Dave and Caroline. We watched the documentary An Unreasonable Man, which was about Ralph Nader - his rise to prominence in the 1960s and 1970s as a consumer advocate, as well as his presidential campaign in 2000. It was in a theatre that reminded me very much of the Princess Cinema in Waterloo.

Later in the evening, Ralph Nader gave a lecture about his new book, The Seventeen Traditions, which describes his upbringing and the family values that were instilled in him. They also gave out copies of the book to everyone in the audience; I'm looking forward to reading it.

I found both his lecture as well as the documentary to be both interesting and informative. (I knew very little about Ralph Nader beforehand).

"The president of the United States is not a fact-checker"

Untruth and Consequences is an interesting read. It's an essay about lies by US Presidents over the past several decades, but it focuses upon the current one and Iraq.

Do I Live In A "Red State"?

One of the school boards in the Seattle area, banned showing An Inconvenient Truth because it is "controversial". What is the World coming to? <sarcasm> If that's their standard does this mean they can't show Schnidler's List unless they also include commentary by Ahmadinejad?! I hear that smoking is good for you too. Perhaps that needs to be taught in health class?! Maybe Civics clas needs to include reading more Karl Marx and a little less Thomas Jefferson?! </sarcasm>

The primary source of "controversary" surrounding the issue is due to oil companies. (e.g. The Denial Machine).

The Land Of Contradictions

Only in JesusLand and centre of the Free World could a Christmas Wreath in the shape of the Peace Sign be "symbol of Satan" or "anti-Iraq-War protest".

Isaiah 9.6: "For unto us a child is born, unto us a son is given: and the government shall be upon his shoulder: and his name shall be called Wonderful, Counseller, The mighty God, The everlasting Father, The Prince of Peace." (KJV) comes to mind with respect to the former and "If the fires of freedom and civil liberties burn low in other lands, they must be made brighter in our own." (Franklin D. Roosevelt) for the later.

Worst Congress Ever

Rolling Stone has an interesting (sad?!) article about The Worst Congress Ever:

...Instead of dealing with its chief constitutional duty -- approving all government spending -- Congress devotes its time to dumb bullshit. "This Congress spent a week and a half debating Terri Schiavo..."

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...Despite an international uproar over Abu Ghraib, Congress spent only twelve hours on hearings on the issue. During the Clinton administration, by contrast, the Republican Congress spent 140 hours investigating the president's alleged misuse of his Christmas-card greeting list.

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Favors for campaign contributors, exemptions for polluters, shifting the costs of private projects on to the public -- these are the specialties of this Congress. They seldom miss an opportunity to impoverish the states we live in and up the bottom line of their campaign contributors. All this time -- while Congress did nothing about Iraq, Katrina, wiretapping, Mark Foley's boy-madness or anything else of import -- it has been all about pork, all about political favors, all about budget "earmarks" set aside for expensive and often useless projects in their own districts. In 2000, Congress passed 6,073 earmarks; by 2005, that number had risen to 15,877. They got better at it every year. It's the one thing they're good at.

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Building a Better Voting Machine

Building a Better Voting Machine is a short and interesting article about voting machines (via Slashdot).

I've been meaning to print a copy of Rivest's Third Ballot Voting System and read it while I take the bus to work, but I haven't gotten around to it yet.

30 Days

Season two of 30 Days premiered last night. Morgan Spurlock, of Super Size Me fame, gets someone to experience something they generalize oppose for 30 days and films the results. Last night, a gun-toting, border-patrolling Minuteman moved in with a large family of illegal immigrants living below the poverty in LA. It was really good. If the other documentaries in the season are as good then it will give Lost a run for its money as the best current TV show.

The Minuteman's argument for his position was that it's the law of the land and as such it's his duty to go and patrol the border. Certainly laws should be respected, but they are a means and not an end. Moreover, the laws and policies are not always right, so his argument is not convincing - he needs to read Martin Luther King's Letter From Birmingham Jail to get some perspective.

Personally, I don't think the problem will be "sovled" until the root causes are addressed. i.e. Use a little "supply-side economics" and try to address Central America's vast poverty and poor economies. (Also, the American government's indifference to prosecuting employers who hire illegal immigrants also means that that there is a demand to match the supply of illegal labour - I read somewhere a few month ago that only a couple such indictments are handed down per year). Patrolling the border is necessary, but isn't going to stop people from trying to enter the US. i.e. If you are so poor you can't survive and support your family are you any worse off if you get caught at the border and deported? Not really. But there is always a non-zero chance you'll get through and end-up better off. So your expected returns are always positive, regardless of how well the border is patrolled. [It's simple statistics: Pr(Caught) * Punishment + Pr(Not-Caught) * Reward = 0.99 * 0 + 0.01 * 1 = 0.01 > 0].

After watching 30 Days, I watched Life and Debt, which was also good. It's a documentary about how the IMF and World Bank screwed Jamaica.

A Couple Interesting Articles

Bush Is Not Incompetent - it's worth reading and it won't be what you expect.

Inversion of Control Containers and the Dependency Injection Pattern - an older computer science/programming article, but I found it enlightening. (Perhaps the title doesn't make a whole lot of sense, but if something has a title that long and still isn't clear then I can't succinctly explain what it's about either! ;-)

Another Move From The Bush Playbook?

CTV: PM, press gallery draw battle lines on the Hill

"The Press Gallery at the leadership level has taken an anti-Conservative view," [Prime Minister Stephen Harper] said Wednesday in an interview on A-Channel TV in London, Ont.

He added: "I have trouble believing a Liberal prime minister would have this problem.

The article goes on into great detail about the current squabble between Prime Minister Harper and the Press Gallery who cover him as well as covering a lot of history (all the way back to the 1950s).

Information czar blasts Harper's accountability bill

I'd like to think it's a bad sign for Harper when the National Post is calling him out:

Information czar blasts Harper's accountability bill

Canada's information czar unleashed on Friday a scathing attack on proposed access to information reforms, calling them dangerous and disappointing.

"No previous government, since the Access to Information Act came into force in 1983, has put forward a more retrograde and dangerous set of proposals," Information Commissioner John Reid told Parliament Friday.

The bill would make it easier for the government to cover up wrongdoing, he wrote in an emergency report.

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[I]t also suggests 10 new exemptions to block the release of information.

Eight of them contain no requirement for bureaucrats to demonstrate why records shouldn't be disclosed and contain no public interest overrides.

Reid pointed out there is currently only one such exemption (pertaining to cabinet documents) and "it has been consistently abused."

Draft internal reports and audits would also be shielded from scrutiny for 15 years and records relating to investigations of wrongdoing in government would be sealed forever.

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In addition, recommendations Reid put forth in a draft bill last year to boost transparency weren't included in the accountability act. He had called for more oversight powers, better record-keeping by bureaucrats and a clamp-down on departments that don't fulfil their obligations, among other suggestions.

The Conservatives promised during the last election campaign to implement them all. Instead, the suggestions were shuffled off to a committee for more discussion.

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That last bit really is the kicker.

War and Politics

When I lived in Ottawa in 2002, I remember Parliament and the other government buildings lowering their flags to half-mast when Canadian soldiers were killed in Afghanistan. Stephen Harper, the new Prime Minister, reversed government policy to not lower the flag. Moreover, the media was been banned from covering the repatriation ceremony at CFB Trenton today.

"It is not about photo-ops and media coverage," Harper told the House of Commons.

"It is about what is in the best interests of the families."

The unprecedented shutdown of a military airfield Tuesday for the arrival of four dead soldiers has drawn fire from all sides - including some military families touched by tragedy in Afghanistan.

The father of the late Sgt. Marcel Leger said the public participation in his son's homecoming in 2002 was something he will cherish forever.

"It was a Canadian thing. It was something we wanted to show all Canadians - what the cost of their liberty is," Richard Leger said.

"It's still heartwarming to (remember) the people's faces. People were lined up on the 401, in 2002, all the way from Trenton to Toronto.

"They wanted to be there. They had to be there. I was told that often. . . and those are the things I carry with me all my life."

The father of one of the fallen soldiers being repatriated Tuesday is criticizing the government over another controversial decision - to stop lowering the flags on Parliament Hill to half mast when a soldier is killed in combat.

On April 7, Lincoln Dinning wrote a letter to Harper asking him to reconsider the flag decision. The matter took a tragically personal turn two weeks later when Dinning's son, Cpl. Matthew Dinning, was killed in the line of duty.

The grandmother of Pte. Richard Green, who was killed by friendly fire in Afghanistan four year ago, also wants to see flags lowered.
[Canada.com: MPs, soldiers' families criticize Tory media ban on return of dead ]

Both decisions are drawing lots of criticism. Moreover, they draw parallels to Bush.

In the United States, the Bush administration has been criticized for banning images of the arrival of flag-draped coffins containing the remains of soldiers killed in Iraq.

White House officials imposed the ban out of worry that such photographs would lower public support for the military campaign.
[CBC: Harper on defensive over media ban on return of dead soldiers]

You'd think that emulating Bush would be a bad idea, e.g. Bush's approval ratings slide to new low [CNN], The Generals Revolt [CBS], and The Worst President in History? [Rolling Stone].

Control Room

I watched the documentary Control Room tonight. It's about Al Jazeera. Specifically, it takes place during the Iraq War (March - May 2003) and is a collection of interviews with employees of Al Jazeera as well as other pressand US military media relations officers in Qatar. The interviews are interleaved with relevant video clips from Al Jazeera (and related news footage).

It had a less context than I expected, since it was focused solely on those few weeks. Also, it was a little more "raw" than I expected. There is no narrator tying the segements together or asking questions and the "interviews" seemed ad hoc - people talking during a smoke break or while they were driving somewhere. I liked the candid feel that came from the footage that was shot while the events where in progress though.

Overall, it definitely illustrated the different perspective that the Al Jazeera journalists (and, by extension, their audience) have. Perhaps one of the more striking perspectives was the contrasting views of integrity of the US government about Al Jazeera and vice versa. Near the middle of the film, there is a clip of Donald Rumsfeld criticizing Al Jazeera. Rumsfeld says that Al Jazeera gathers children and tells them to go and play in a bomb crater, so Al Jazeera can film it - giving the impression that the US is bombing civilians. (And a germane news clip follows). Near the end of the film, one of the Al Jazeera journalists says that the US military setup the scene were Iraqis parade around the square in Baghdad while the statue of Saddam is toppled. He says that he used to live in Iraqi and the "Iraqis" in the square don't really looks like Iraqis, they don't speak like Iraqis, etc. In his view, if the scene was genuine then there would be more people in the square and their ages, genders, etc. would be more diverse (than the handful of young males that were present). The two positions could not be more ironic. I suppose that divergence of opinions helps to explain the current state of the World.

If you're into the whole documentary thing or media/politics than it's worth a view. (On the other hand, if you're not into that then you'd probably find it a little boring).

Crossing the Aisle

Being an expatriate, I have a difficult time following the Canadian news. In theory, I could watch the CBC news (as the Vancouver feed is available), but I mostly just rely on finding news articles online.

The post-election defection of David Emerson from the Liberals to the Conservatives seems to be the most topical - just days after running as a Liberal and winning, Emerson abandoned the Liberal Party for a post in Harper's cabinet saying "I am pursuing the very agenda I got involved to pursue when I was in the Liberal party supporting Paul Martin...I thought that would bear more fruit for the people of the riding and the people of the province." [1] As he was expounding the Liberal agenda and slamming Harper and the Conservatives just a few days ago, I fail to see how he could be following his conscience. Similarly, in his riding the vote breakdown was 43% Liberal, 34% NDP, and 20% Conservative, so I don't see how he can claim to be doing this to better represent his constituents.

Another Conservative MP, Garth Turner is proposing legislation that would require MPs to win a by-election before switching parties. (However, they would still have the ability to decide sit an independent). "Anybody who switches parties should go back to the people. To do otherwise is to place politicians above the people when, actually, it’s the other way around." [2] This sounds quite reasonable and logical. (But, I doubt it will even happen, as it's not in the interest of the parties).

Not Honest and Trustworthy

Does President Bush lie to the public or do his senior officials lie to the public behind his back?

Bush says We do not torture [1], but In an important clarification of
President George W. Bush's earlier statement, [US national security adviser
Stephen Hadley] refused to unequivocally rule out the use of torture [2] and White House Press Secretary Scott McClellan was browbeaten by the press because he was unable to explain why the White House is asking for an exemption to torture from the Senate if the US does not torture people. [3] He couldn't even answer whether or not the White House asked exemption. (Even though it is widely known. [4])

I think it's the former. Bush should just come clean and admit that they torture people and also imprison innocent people [5]. After all, the US is reversing 790 years of human rights (habeas corpus) [6] , so it's not like their prisoners can do anything. ;-) And, I'm sure, that coming clean would help lift Bush's record-low poll ratings, where a majority of Americans rate him as not honest and trustworthy [7].

Global Warming, Grazing, Oil, and Fixing the Facts

From the Washington Post, U.S. Pressure Weakens G-8 Climate Plan:

Bush administration officials working behind the scenes have succeeded in weakening key sections of a proposal for joint action by the eight major industrialized nations to curb climate change.

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One deleted section, for example, initially cited "increasingly compelling evidence of climate change, including rising ocean and atmospheric temperatures, retreating ice sheets and glaciers, rising sea levels, and changes to ecosystems." It added: "Inertia in the climate system means that further warming is inevitable. Unless urgent action is taken, there will be a growing risk of adverse effects on economic development, human health and the natural environment, and of irreversible long-term changes to our climate and oceans."

From the LA Times, Land Study on Grazing Denounced:

A government biologist and a hydrologist, who both retired this year from the Bureau of Land Management [BLM], said their conclusions that the proposed new rules might adversely affect water quality and wildlife, including endangered species, were excised and replaced with language justifying less stringent regulations favored by cattle ranchers.

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Eliminated from the final draft was another conclusion that read: "The Proposed Action will have a slow, long-term adverse impact on wildlife and biological diversity in general."

Also removed was language saying how a number of the rule changes could adversely affect endangered species.

"This is a whitewash. They took all of our science and reversed it 180 degrees," said Erick Campbell, a former BLM state biologist in Nevada and a 30-year bureau employee who retired this year. He was the author of sections of the report pertaining to the effect on wildlife and threatened and endangered species.

"They rewrote everything," Campbell said in an interview this week. "It's a crime."

Is there a pattern of "the intelligence and facts" being "fixed" to satisfy preordained policies?

The sad thing is that if we chose to do more for the environment, we could - From Homegrown Fuel Supply Helps Brazil Breathe Easy:

While Americans fume at high gasoline prices, Carolina Rossini is the essence of Brazilian cool at the pump.

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"You save money and you don't pollute as much," said Rossini, who paid about $18 to fill her nearly empty tank. "And it's a good thing that the product is made here."

Three decades after the first oil shock rocked its economy, Brazil has nearly shaken its dependence on foreign oil. More vulnerable than even the United States when the 1973 Middle East oil embargo sent gas prices soaring, Brazil vowed to kick its import habit. Now the country that once relied on outsiders to supply 80% of its crude is projected to be self-sufficient within a few years.

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Today about 40% of all the fuel that Brazilians pump into their vehicles is ethanol, known here as alcohol, compared with about 3% in the United States. No other nation is using ethanol on such a vast scale. The change wasn't easy or cheap. But 30 years later, Brazil is reaping the return on its investment in energy security while the U.S. writes checks for $50-a-barrel foreign oil.

"Brazil showed it can be done, but it takes commitment and leadership," said Roland Hwang, vehicles policy director for the Natural Resources Defense Council in San Francisco. In the U.S. "we're paying the highest prices at the pump since 1981, and we are sending over $100 billion overseas a year to import oil instead of keeping that money in the United States…. Clearly Brazil has something to teach us."