Author: Athenian

Scoop is warping my reality tunnel. I see a film and think, this got on a recommended list somewhere. Anything I see or read, I look around for a [rate] or a [recommend] button. Anything interesting conversation I have, I filter in the back of my mind, “would kossacks or (boomen, tribuners, what DO we call ourselves?) be interested in this and, if so, keep notes!”

And this is even though the rating system infuriates me just as the one on My Yahoo does, which is arguably even worse: “Would you recommend this story?’ ‘from 1 to 5’. It may be a horrifically badly written piece of spectacular garbage about a story that badly needs to be more widely discussed, so you rate it up.

Even with Scoop where you have the separate abilities to [rate all] and [recommend] you still can’t properly express your feelings with one drop-down menu click.
I submit for your consideration the drop down grid, perhaps color coded. A simple sixteen square x/y grid, x standing for agree strongly at +2 to disagree strongly at -2 and y standing for fabulous and interesting at +2 to uninteresting garbage at -2.

Anything in the lower left is essentially a troll. Anybody regularly below (-1, -1) should probably be banned. The lower right quadrant might be newbies and rush-jobs. Most of the highly discussed diaries will naturally be in (1,1)-plus territory though I hope we also have and discuss diaries in the high upper left.

Sometime before November 7th, 2000, the decision of a single electron split the universe in two. This happens all the time. There are an infinity of universes and, paradoxically, they are increasing all the time. Every time an electron has a choice, a universe is born.

In the universe we are not in, a database eliminating voters from Florida rolls rejected 50,134 voters instead of 67,172. Of these 17,038 people some 20% actually voted; less than three and a half thousand. They broke for Gore by 66%.

Here there was no recount. Al Gore was duly sworn in on January 20, 2001. President Gore immediately persuaded Congress to pass his emergency fiscal stimulus/tax cut package, using part of Clinton’s enormous surplus to stimulate middle class demand and infrastructure construction while still paying down the national debt.
On September 11, 2001, a single plane crashed into the South Tower of the World Trade Center in New York City, killing some 1600 people. Several other hijackings were averted at the last minute. The President gratefully accepted NATO’s solidarity and crafted a plan to quickly invade Afghanistan with a spearhead of American special forces aiding the Northern Alliance followed by the rapid and robust deployment of sixty thousand NATO troops. Gore also appealed personally to allied and friendly governments for special forces.

These tactics paid off. Osama bin Laden died resisting capture as did many other high ranking Al Qaeda leaders. President Gore implored the international community to commit to Afghan (re)construction. The response was phenomenal as the entire world responded to Gore’s emotional appeal. Hundreds of thousands of peacekeepers and aid workers from around the world spread out over all Afghanistan. Responsibility was quickly handed over to the UN which soon held elections.

In the Spring of 2002, the Gore Administration passed another fiscal stimulus/tax cut package which brought the budget into a shallow deficit. This passed with little difficulty despite Republican complaints about high corporate taxation. The President’s push to ratify the Kyoto treaty went nowhere so he launched the Millennium Energy Independence Initiative.

Acceding to direct talks with North Korea, the President’s envoy, former President Clinton, found the North Koreans almost pathetically eager for a non-aggression pact. A few months of bluster and diplomacy were enough to produce a “grand bargain.” North Korea would give up its “inherent” right to develop nuclear weapons in exchange for energy independence, tangible guarantees of its territorial integrity and a stint on the International Space Station for one of its astronauts. “North Korea was a very special case,” President Gore said, “and no other country should expect the US to be so lenient.”

Bolstered by these triumphs, the President focused his attention on the Middle East. Enlisting the help of former Presidents Bush and Clinton, the Administration pushed hard for peace between the Israelis and the Palestinians. Little progress was made until Chairman Arafat died in late 2004 but the reputation of the United States as an honest broker was never higher and greatly helped speed matters after the election of Abbas.

The United States joined by the EU piled pressure on Iran to come clean about its own nuclear program. The enormous moral authority and popularity of the American President even inside the Islamic Republic seems to have placed the ruling clerics at a disadvantage, though the end outcome is still unclear.

Iraq was a festering sore. That the strong man in charge had once been one of our own was no comfort. Sanctions were killing hundreds of thousands and badly damaging what had been one of the most advanced and secular societies in the Arab world. However, lifting the sanctions and allowing President Saddam Hussein out of his box was widely perceived as being too dangerous.

President Gore called a summit meeting of the Security Council’s permanent members and persuaded them to agree to his plan. By appealing to the French love of conspiracy, the Russian and Chinese love for things that don’t hurt and do profit and the British love for “standing with America,” the President got his resolutions and his multinational troop buildup.

When President Hussein became convinced that the world was serious, he reached out through back channels and offered to hold truly free and fair elections within two years. Gore gave him nine months and kept piling the pressure and the forces.

With 250,000 troops massed at his northern and southern borders, half of the them US, Hussein kept on giving ground. In another universe a slogan would have been proved right: “You can win without war.”

By late 2003 the President’s artfully aimed fiscal stimulus packages had begun to work and the economy resumed its Clintonian levels of job creation. Increasing tax revenues without any increase in actual tax rates brought the budget back into surplus.

In November 2004 Gore won reelection with 54.3% of the vote and his coattails gained a Democratic majority in the Senate and a more evenly divided House. Many analysts put his true support level much higher, given that complacency had kept many voters home.

America’s prestige and standing in the world were at the highest levels in a generation, the terrorists were on the run, the economy was humming along nicely, global climate change was a top priority in Washington and President Gore was poised to cement a liberal majority on the Supreme Court that would last for decades, as his second term began.

Major problems remained but they seemed less intractable as the national debt continued to shrink and the United States enjoyed much goodwill from around the world.

There are certain things upon which almost all Americans (one is tempted to say Humans) can agree upon. Some of them are, a clean and healthy environment, fewer crimes and less violence, better health and health care, more representative and cleaner government, stronger economies with more employment, better education, less drug use, more safety, more security.

These universal goals have been hijacked, some of them long ago. In some cases, such as the environment, the flaw is deep within the socio-economic structure. In others, it is the ascendant policy of a small number of revisionist, right-wing radicals. In *all case*s, logic dictates that we act in a way that we are not. In education and on the environment, the left needs to rethink its basis, just as much as the right.
The environment suffers from the ‘tragedy of the commons’ and from the economic valuation we give give it. To a fish in the sea, to a rain-forest in Brazil, to the trillions of plankton that provide half the planet’s oxygen, we give same initial economic value: zero. When the fish is caught and sold, when the timber is felled and sold, a value is given. When the plankton are destroyed by pollution, no value is given. This will, if the universe allows (my new version of inshallah) be the subject of another diary in the not -too- distant future.

The body of this diary the offspring of two diaries. One did  well and one not so well and both failed to pass the Wile E. Coyote test: were they ready?  This one isn’t either, but I really want to catch that Roadrunner (C).

The avowed aim is proclaimed loudly by the establishment and the media. The actual policy and actual effects should be self-explanatory. The preferred aim will only be used if the avowed aim is bad framing and needs to be reframed. The better policies and their effects should also be clear.

Avowed aim:  Clean environment

Policy:  Subsidies for oil and coal, weak fuel efficiency standards, no carbon tax, etc.

Actual effects: Underuse of alternative energy sources, unnecessary pollution, distortion of national foreign policy priorities, wars.

Better policies: Subsidies for conservation, solar, wind, geothermal, hybrid, fusion and clean fission technologies. Not to mention what happens if we assign a value to environmental systems that provide life-support for the planet.

their efffects: Increasing energy independence, less environmental damage. Not to mention the god-like power of fusion, if it ever takes off. An exercise for the student.

Avowed aim: Drug free population

Policy:  Prohibition

Actual effects: Increasing drug use, esp among the young

Preferred aim: less drug disruption to society, less drug crime, (forget the drug free-free population, ain’t gonna happen.)

Better policies: All drugs should be legalized and the dangerous ones regulated. All taxes from the new industry fund rehab and anti-drug campaigns.

their efffects: Drug use and drug-related crime decline.

Avowed aim: Fewer crimes and less violence

Policy:  More violence than sex on tv and in movies, drug prohibition, cheap and easily available firearms

Actual effects: More and more horrific violence, less ability to empathize with others, crime very profitable, tens of thousands of gunshot murders

Better policies: Reduce violence in the media by by inverting the violence/nudity scale. Nudity acceptable, the slightest hint of violence, not acceptable. Legalize and regulate drugs. Tax and regulate legal firearms with the same strictness as you would lethal chemicals or biological agents and really crack-down on illegal firearms.

their efffects: Less violence, crime pays less, fewer murders, less anxiety

Avowed aim: Healthier population

Policy:  No universal healthcare, overuse of antibiotics, tolerance of pollution, subsidized gas and coal, lack of pedestrian-friendly cities, fast-food, cheap, legal tobacco and alcohol [the only reason tobacco is beginning to come under fire is because tobacco farmers, in most countries, no longer determine elections. In Greece, where they do, a pack of smokes can cost less than $2. In China, much, much less.]

Actual effects: Cancer epidemic, widespread heart disease, resurgent TB, superbugs, obesity epidemic, millions of uninsured

Preferred aim: better health and health care

Better policies: Provide universal health care. Reduce pollution by promoting hybrid vehicles, a carbon tax and a CO2 market. Stop subsidizing gas and coal. Pedestrianize cities, crack down on fast food, make tobacco less appealing and more expensive by eliminating subsidies for tobacco farmers and Big Tobacco.

their efffects: Healthier, happier, longer-lived and more productive societies (not necessarily in the narrow sense that economist’s mean), especially among the less well off. Expensive tobacco, no subsidies for tobacco farmers or companies. Discourage hard liquor through taxation.

Avowed aim: more representative and cleaner government

Policy:  Partisan election officials, contempt for the equality of the voters, dirty tricks

Actual effects: Highly questionable elections that would not pass a “global test”

Better policies: Non-partisan election officials, fair national redistricting standards, zero-tolerance (aside: we should reuse their own slogans, reframed) for electoral shenanigans etc.

their efffects: Greater trust and participation in the political system.

Avowed aim: Healthy economy

Policy:  Tax cuts for the rich, deficits, corporate consolidation, lax oversight

Actual effects: Increasing inequality, additional risk in the global economy, more powerful and unaccountable corporations

Better policies: Tax cuts for the poor and lower middle class. Higher taxes and penalties on corporations and the wealthy. Apply and tighten anti-trust rules. Improve corporate oversight.

their efffects: Decreasing inequality, improving finances, fewer all-powerful corporations, greater public (that means us) oversight.

Avowed aim: Educated population

Policy:  Chaos, fragmentation, low standards, low expectations, wrong priorities, where to start?

Actual effects: An overall uneducated, misinformed, incurious and conservative population

Better policies: Start younger and harder. This is the most important of all. Stay focused. Where to start?

their efffects: A brighter, more curious and progressive population.

Avowed aim: Free press

Policy:  Media consolidation into the hands of fewer and fewer corporations

Actual effects: A more monolithic and tame press that is ever deeper in bed with its corporate masters and their political bedfellows

Better policies: Allow a few giants but keep a very healthy amount of undergrowth. Include one state owned giant (In Europe we have found that it makes sense to allow the state a voice of its own. The either become really good like the BBC or they become really bad, like most of the rest of Europe’s national broadcasters, and the private channels, in either case, get shamed into being better. Make sure the local and mid-level press is healthy, perhaps even through subsidies, and certainly through competition. P.S. Kill the FCC.

their efffects: A less monolithic and tame press that has ever less time for its erstwhile corporate bedfellows.

Avowed aim: Combat terrorism

Policy:  War

Actual effects: More hatred for America, a giant live-fire training ground for terrorists, more and better terrorists

Better policies: War only when absolutely necessary and `when you do war, you do war’. At all other times, `speak softly and carry a big stick.’

their efffects: Empires and hegemonies are bluffs. American’s are supposed to be good at poker. We should almost never “call,” we should almost always “raise.” We are richer than they are.

[ed] removed a duplicate entry on healthy economies.

Originally posted at dkos but only seen by a score of people or less

By sheer chance I watched “Today in history” on my local TV station today. Two events stood out from the several stories shown on this always excellent program.

The first story told of Robert Kennedy and his campaign for the Democratic nomination in opposition to LBJ’s divisive policies. Kennedy had just won the California primary when he was gunned down by Sirhan-sirhan.

“How convenient” runs shrieking through my mind, pursued by the thought police.

“What a shame” follows, her eyes red.
The second story spoke of a great political experiment that never happened. In the 70s Italy was wracked by political instability and terrorism.

The conservative Christian Democrats were the largest party followed by the Italian Communist Party. Yes, the Communists were the second largest party in Italy at the time and the largest Communist party this side of the Iron curtain.

Both parties were led by true statesmen who realized that the only way for their nation out of the crisis lay in the “historical compromise.” A national solidarity government had been agreed upon between Aldo Moro and Enrico Berlinguer and the upcoming vote of confidence in parliament was viewed with trepidation and elation.

Though the PCI had “put much water in its wine,” various parties (including the USA) were seriously disturbed by the prospect of Communists in the government of a major western ally.

The vote of confidence was never held. A larger event captured the public’s attention. Aldo Moro of the CDP was kidnapped and his bullet-ridden body found three weeks later.

The Red Brigades claimed credit but it was their high-water mark. A few years later it and other similar organizations around Europe were mostly discredited and dispersed.

“How convenient” strolled through my mind, followed by the tragic figures “what a shame” and “there’s another great leader shot down.” The thought police guy eventually showed up, huffing and puffing. When he caught his breath a bit, he wheezed “convenient for whom? Who do you think the Red Brigades were working for? Who was Sirhan-Sirhan?” I nodded and watched Robert and Aldo shuffle off to join Paul Wellstone, JFK, Saddat, Martin Luther, Rabin and so many others, Howie Convenient in tow.

Somewhere, a demon in my mind howled something about the greatest trick the devil ever pulled…

The material for this diary was shown on ET tv in Greece on Wed, March 16. The missed opportunities moved me to present this to you as I saw it. Cross posted at dKos

The CIA has apparently been conducting “extraordinary rendition” operations in Europe and they have left a trail. Police in Italy, Germany and Sweden are in pursuit, according to the Washington Post’s Foreign Service.

The Italian probe is one of three official investigations that have surfaced in the past year into renditions believed to have taken place in Western Europe. Although the CIA usually carries out the operations with the help or blessing of friendly local intelligence agencies, law enforcement authorities in Italy, Germany and Sweden are examining whether U.S. agents may have broken local laws by detaining terrorist suspects on European soil and subjecting them to abuse or maltreatment.

More below the fold…
When you piss-off your best friends and kidnap their residents, you should do a better job of erasing your tracks.

Milan investigators, however, now appear to be close to identifying his kidnappers. Last month, officials showed up at Aviano Air Base in northern Italy and demanded records of any American planes that had flown into or out of the joint U.S.-Italian military installation around the time of the abduction. They also asked for logs of vehicles that had entered the base.

[snip – you should read the whole thing]

Flight logs also support Masri’s claim that he was flown out of Macedonia by U.S. secret agents. Aviation records show a U.S.-registered Boeing jet arrived in Skopje at 9 p.m. on Jan. 23, 2004, and departed about six hours later. Masri had provided German investigators with the same time and date.

The flight plan shows the aircraft was scheduled to go to Kabul, but later amended its route to include a stopover in Baghdad. The existence of the flight logs was first reported by Frontal 21, a news show on the German television network ZDF. A copy of the logs was obtained by The Washington Post.

The jet, with tail number N313P, was registered at the time to a U.S. firm, Premier Executive Transport Services Inc., that records suggest is a CIA front company. The same firm owned another aircraft, a Gulfstream jet, that has been used in other rendition cases, including the one in Sweden.

Imagine if British Intelligence was kidnapping Irish people with similar sounding names as, say, Jerry Adams, from the streets of Boston and hauling them off to to be tortured for their alleged ties to the IRA without the advice and consent of the FBI.

There is more on the plane and the company here written by a WaPo staff writer:

The story of the Gulfstream V offers a rare glimpse into the CIA’s secret operations, a world that current and former CIA officers said should not have been so easy to document.

Not only have the plane’s movements been tracked around the world, but the on-paper officers of Premier Executive Transport Services are also connected to a larger roster of false identities.

Each of the officers of Premier Executive is linked in public records to one of five post office box numbers in Arlington, Oakton, Chevy Chase and the District. A total of 325 names are registered to the five post office boxes.

An extensive database search of a sample of 44 of those names turned up none of the information that usually emerges in such a search: no previous addresses, no past or current telephone numbers, no business or corporate records. In addition, although most names were attached to dates of birth in the 1940s, ’50s or ’60s, all were given Social Security numbers between 1998 and 2003.
[snip]
on Dec. 1, the plane, complete with a new tail number, was transferred to a new owner, Bayard Foreign Marketing of Portland, Ore., according to FAA records. Its registered agent in Portland, Scott Caplan, did not return phone calls.

Like the officers at Premier Executive, Bayard’s sole listed corporate officer, Leonard T. Bayard, has no residential or telephone history. Unlike Premier’s officers, Bayard’s name does not appear in any other public records.

Cross posted at dKos