Thursday News Bucket

Posted by CabinGirl | Nov 8, 2007 | 24 |

Whenever I hear anyone arguing for slavery, I feel a strong impulse to see it tried on him personally.
– Abraham Lincoln

Insert the word ‘torture’ for ‘slavery’…

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CabinGirl

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CabinGirl on November 8, 2007 at 7:52 am

NYT

The House on Wednesday approved a bill granting broad protections against discrimination in the workplace for gay men, lesbians and bisexuals, a measure that supporters praised as the most important civil rights legislation since the Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990 but that opponents said would result in unnecessary lawsuits.

The bill, the Employment Nondiscrimination Act, is the latest version of legislation that Democrats have pursued since 1974. Representatives Edward I. Koch and Bella Abzug of New York then sought to protect gay men and lesbians with a measure they introduced on the fifth anniversary of the Stonewall Rebellion, the brawl between gay men and police officers at a bar in Greenwich Village that is widely viewed as the start of the American gay rights movement…

…The House bill would make it illegal for an employer “to fail or refuse to hire or to discharge any individual, or otherwise discriminate against any individual with respect to the compensation, terms, conditions or privileges of employment of the individual, because of such individual’s actual or perceived sexual orientation.”

And of course, you know what W’s response is going to be:

President Bush threatened to veto an earlier version of the bill, but a White House spokesman, Tony Fratto, said the administration would need to review recent changes before making a final decision. Few Democrats expect Mr. Bush to change his mind.

What an a**hole. FWIW, Kennedy and Collins are going to submit a similar bill in the Senate.
- Nag on November 8, 2007 at 7:59 am
  
  HI CG. Not only is Bush an a**hole, he’s a farging a**hole.
  There’s a local election story I could possibly report on, but I seem to have deleted all my HTML tags, like the fool that I am. How are ya?
  - CabinGirl on November 8, 2007 at 8:04 am
    
    Nag! It’s so nice to see you this morning! I’m doing well, but I’ve been thinking about you and wondering how you are. So, how are you? 🙂
    
    BTW, here’s some tags if you need a refresher course (just take out the spaces at either end between the <>).
    
    < a href=”insert url here” > LINK < /a >
    < blockquote > insert blockquoted text here < /blockquote >
    - Nag on November 8, 2007 at 8:24 am
      
      Thanks for the tags! I’m relatively well, thanks. I had to back away from the blogs for a while. Bootrib is still my homepage and I always keep half an eye on things around here. Glad to see the News Bucket still up and running. Good to see that you’re still here. I love today’s quote, by the way. Amen to that.
      I’m going to see about that local story.
      - CabinGirl on November 8, 2007 at 8:33 am
        
        I can totally understand the need for a break. Oh, and in case you missed the big move to the top tabs…
        
        Looking forward to your local election stuff. Can you believe Republicans continue to win in Chester County? Are they crazy?
      - Nag on November 8, 2007 at 8:59 am
        
        oh, oh Oh OH! I had thought that the cafe was gone! Woo Hoo!
        
        As for Chester county, that’s a very tough nut to crack. Republicans would have to bite the heads off of baby animals in public to be beaten down… even then, it’d be a tossup. (snort)
        
        I’m having trouble with my news post, and now I’m sorry I mentioned it. 😉
      - CabinGirl on November 8, 2007 at 9:08 am
        
        Heh, it just moved to a quieter corner of the world. 😉
        
        I can’t tell you ho many W ’04 stickers I continue to see on cars around here…and nothing says “moron” quite like one of those stickers at this late date, does it?
CabinGirl on November 8, 2007 at 7:59 am

Not: AP/Guardian

Veterans make up one in four homeless people in the United States, though they are only 11 percent of the general adult population, according to a report to be released Thursday.

And homelessness is not just a problem among middle-age and elderly veterans. Younger veterans from Iraq and Afghanistan are trickling into shelters and soup kitchens seeking services, treatment or help with finding a job…

…Some advocates say the early presence of veterans from Iraq and Afghanistan at shelters does not bode well for the future. It took roughly a decade for the lives of Vietnam veterans to unravel to the point that they started showing up among the homeless. Advocates worry that intense and repeated deployments leave newer veterans particularly vulnerable.

“We’re going to be having a tsunami of them eventually because the mental health toll from this war is enormous,” said Daniel Tooth, director of veterans affairs for Lancaster County, Pa.

Here’s more:

“I think they’ll be forgotten,” Keaveney said of Iraq and Afghanistan veterans. “People get tired of it. It’s not glitzy that these are young, honorable, patriotic Americans. They’ll just be veterans, and that happens after every war.”

Keaveney said it’s difficult for his group to persuade some homeless Iraq veterans to stay for treatment and help because they don’t relate to the older veterans. Those who stayed have had success – one is now a stock broker and another is applying to be a police officer, he said.

“They see guys that are their father’s age and they don’t understand, they don’t know, that in a couple of years they’ll be looking like them,” he said.

Um, way to go, BushCo. Maybe they can live in some of those foreclosed houses from the mortgage industry collapse.
ask on November 8, 2007 at 8:41 am

Not only in Pakistan (but with far less visibility):

Georgian soldiers line streets

TBILISI (Reuters) – Troops cordoned off the deserted streets of central Tbilisi on Thursday after Georgian President Mikhail Saakashvili declared a state of emergency and shut down independent media to quash six days of anti-government protests.

Opposition leaders said they were suspending protests to avoid more injuries. Over 550 demonstrators were hospitalised on Wednesday after the government crushed protests by using riot police armed with batons, rubber bullets and tear gas.
- CabinGirl on November 8, 2007 at 8:56 am
  
  So much unrest: Pakistan, Georgia, Myanmar, etc. I hate thinking about where all of this is going, because it’s pretty scary.
CabinGirl on November 8, 2007 at 9:07 am

being given away? Who/what are we really funding in Pakistan? Musharraf’s personal bank accounts? TPMMuckraker

In fact, however, a considerable amount of the money the U.S. gives to Pakistan is administered not through U.S. agencies or joint U.S.-Pakistani programs. Instead, the U.S. gives Musharraf’s government about $200 million annually and his military $100 million monthly in the form of direct cash transfers. Once that money leaves the U.S. Treasury, Musharraf can do with it whatever he wants. He needs only promise in a secret annual meeting that he’ll use it to invest in the Pakistani people. And whatever happens as the result of Rice’s review, few Pakistan watchers expect the cash transfers to end.

About $10.58 billion has gone to Pakistan since 9/11. That puts Pakistan in an elite category of U.S. foreign-aid recipients: only Israel, Egypt and Jordan get more or comparable U.S. funding. (That’s only in the unclassified budget: the covert-operations budget surely includes millions more, according to knowledgeable observers.)
- Nag on November 8, 2007 at 9:24 am
  
  Well, he’s not spending it on fighting Islamic Militants, that’s for sure. From Juan Cole
  
  While the Pakistani military is bothering innocent human rights activists and attorneys who want to defend the country’s constitution, it is ignoring Muslim radicals’ advances in the north of the country,
  
  according to Zee News:
  
  ‘ Pro-Taliban militants have strengthened their hold on the Swat valley in northwestern Pakistan by seizing several key towns after outnumbered security forces laid down their arms and fled their posts.
  
  Militants are now controlling key towns like Matta, Khwazakhela, Madyan and Charbagh, all located near Imamdheri, the stronghold of radical cleric Maulana Fazlullah.
  
  Hundreds of militants have taken over the police stations in these towns, have established their own check posts and are patrolling the streets. In Matta, militants replaced the Pakistani flag with their own at the police station after over 120 security personnel surrendered earlier this week, daily The News reported. . .
  
  […]
  
  He has appointed “governors” in Kabal, Matta and Khwazakhela and ordered the setting up of Islamic courts in areas under his control. ‘
BooMan on November 8, 2007 at 9:21 am

great quote.
- Real History Lisa on November 8, 2007 at 3:04 pm
  
  What would Lincoln have to say about Waterboarding? Pretty much the same thing, I’m certain.
dada on November 8, 2007 at 11:56 am

if you saw this yesterday, this will probably be of interest

“And daddy won’t you take me back to Muhlenberg County
Down by the Green River where Paradise lay
Well, I’m sorry my son, but you’re too late in asking
Mister Peabody’s coal train has hauled it away“

paradise: john prine

mister peabody’s still torturing things, this time facts, and the truth:

Topeka — Supporters of the rejected coal-fired power plants in western Kansas now are accusing Gov. Kathleen Sebelius of helping Iran, Venezuela and Russia.

“Why are these men smiling?” the full-page ad asks below photos of Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez and Russian President Vladimir Putin.

“Because the recent decision by the Sebelius Administration means Kansas will import more natural gas from countries like Russia, Venezuela and Iran,” the ad states.

The ad, partially funded by Sunflower Electric Power Corp. and Peabody Coal Co., appeared in newspapers statewide Monday.
.
.
He conceded linking Sebelius to the likes of Ahmadinejad may have been “a little bit extreme.”

Lawrence Journal World News

and not just a little bit over-the-top:

Environmentalists cried foul, noting that Kansas currently exports natural gas to other states. The United States does not currently import natural gas from Russia, Venezuela or Iran, according to the Energy Department’s Energy Information Administration.

wapo

a bit past misleading and dishonest, without question, but apparently right up john ‘pander bear‘ mccains alley:

…Apparently the Ahmadinejad-referencing tactic wasn’t too “extreme” for Sen. John McCain (R-AZ). His campaign used images of the three heads of state as the backdrop for a speech on energy independence in Iowa on Monday after a member of his staff reportedly saw the ad:

Roy Dixon, a Garden City resident and treasurer of Kansans for Affordable Energy, said Tuesday a McCain staffer recently saw one of his groups’ ads featuring Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez, Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad and Russian President Vladimir Putin and used the tactic during a campaign stop on Monday. […]

“We’re darn proud McCain liked our ad enough to use it,” Dixon said.

[OOPS!…UNTIL IT’S ‘FLIP-FLOP’ TIME]

On Tuesday, as more and more newspapers picked up on the controversial aspects of the Kansas ad, McCain’s campaign distanced itself from the ad…

thinkprogress

john, sell the bus and seek treatment, will ya?

lTMF’sA
- CabinGirl on November 8, 2007 at 12:55 pm
  
  John Prine Paradise video
  
  If McCain seeks treatment, who will provide comic relief on the Repub candidate side?
  - dada on November 8, 2007 at 1:06 pm
    
    take your pick, rudy, mitt, tancredo, freddy’s of hollywood…appears to be a bull market, unlike wall street today….can you say freefall?…l knew you could.
    
    and thx for the JP vid…he’s a personal fav. have seen him many, many times over the decadences…
    
    lTMF’sA
    - CabinGirl on November 8, 2007 at 1:27 pm
      
      The first time I saw him was in ’87, at the little auditorium at UC Berkeley, and Arlo Guthrie opened for him…I was SO disappointed in his performance that night…
      
      but I saw him again in 1995 at Merlefest, and this summer in Philly, and he was absolutely wonderful both times.
      
      Didn’t Tancredo quit? And Brownback, he was my man, but he quit too.
      - dada on November 8, 2007 at 1:49 pm
        
        tancredo decided to not run for re-election in congress to concentrate on his run for the pResidency….a rumour l’m hesisitant to pass along, [but have heard several times], is that he’s hoping to align himself with dobson and the lunatic fringe as their saviour should their 3rd party threat become a reality. scary thought that…we shall see.
        
        and everybody has an off night…saw one last night from the second band….total melt down…an embarrassment for all involved.
        lTMF’sA
dada on November 8, 2007 at 11:58 am

but if we did/do, you’re never going to find out:

Pentagon Bars Anti-Torture Marine From Testifying:

Asked last week to appear before the panel, Col. Couch says he informed his superiors and that none had any objection.

Yesterday, however, he was advised by email that the Pentagon general counsel, William J. Haynes II, “has determined that as a sitting judge and former prosecutor, it is improper for you to testify about matters still pending in the military court system, and you are not to appear before the Committee to testify tomorrow“.

and not to be outone by conyers, patrick leahy sends another /nasty note to the WH:

Congratulations are in order: Leahy and the White House will soon celebrate the one year anniversary of Leahy’s November 15, 2006, request for “any and all Department of Justice directives, memoranda, and/or guidance . . . regarding CIA detention and/or interrogation methods.” So a Happy Torture Policy Stonewalling Day to Pat and everyone in the Bush Administration!

tpmmuckraker

and as this is transpiring, the ACLU Uncovers a Third Bradbury Torture Memo from 2005.

so keep writing those cards and letters guys, the WH is running short of TP, now that they’ve used up the constitution.

lTMF’sA
dada on November 8, 2007 at 12:02 pm

How high will the loonie go?

.
.
Analysts say it doesn’t appear that the loonie will be returning to earth anytime soon.

The Canadian dollar is regarded as a resource-dependent currency and analysts credit the loonie’s latest tear can be linked to the huge jump in oil prices, which soared to a new trading record above $98 US a barrel Wednesday overseas…as is weakness in the US dollar.

link

moving to canada just got a lot more expensive…eh.

lTMF’sA
on November 8, 2007 at 12:27 pm

Senate May Vote on Seig Heil Act
http://www.jbs.org/node/6239

With a government like this we need a resistance!
idredit on November 8, 2007 at 1:38 pm

That Terrarists No Fly List

(h/t: Laura Rozen)

Homeland Insanity

USA Today: “John William Anderson, who was born on July 4, 2001, is on TSA’s watch list. He was first stopped in 2004 when his mother and grandmother took him on his first plane ride to Disney World.” Anderson’s mom Christine tells the paper, “No one can give any answers to why my son is on the list or really how to get him off.” More than 15,000 want to get off U.S. terror list, USA Today reports. With the recent trial and conviction on 13 counts of bribery related charges of U.S. government security contractor Brent Wilkes, his Congressional benefactor/bribee Congressman Duke Cunningham serving eight years in jail, and the endless Orwellian insanities of the post-9/11 system as described above, anyone else get the sense that the whole homeland security project is more about enriching contractors and filling congressmen’s ATMs rather than anything to do with security? Then again, just what is under young John Anderson’s hat?

So what’s under young Johnny’s hat?

could be mickey, or michael
dada on November 8, 2007 at 2:04 pm

take it where and when you can, it’s an endangered species:

Congress on Thursday overturned President George W. Bush’s veto last week of a popular water projects bill, marking the first time lawmakers have mustered enough votes to override the president.

The Senate voted 79-14 to overturn Bush’s veto. The House of Representatives had overwhelmingly met the two-thirds majority needed to override a veto when it voted 361-54 on Tuesday.

reuters

lTMF’sA

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