Overnight & Astronomy Thread

A Dark Sky Over Sequoia National Park
Credit: D. Duriscoe, C. Duriscoe, R. Pilewski, & L. Pilewski, U.S. NPS Night Sky Program

Explanation: Scroll right to take in the view from the highest summit in the contiguous USA. The above 360-degree digitally stitched panorama, taken in mid-July, shows the view from 4,400-meter high Mt. Whitney in Sequoia National Park, California. In the foreground, angular boulders populate Mt. Whitney's summit while in the distance, just below the horizon, peaks from the Sierra Nevada mountain range are visible. Sky sights include light pollution emanating from Los Angeles and Fresno, visible just above the horizon. Dark clouds, particularly evident on the image left well above the horizon, are the remnants of a recent thunderstorm near Death Valley.

Please click thru to the original image, just amazing.

Thanks to all who have said they enjoy these pics, because I love them. Click to enlarge, via.

On a housekeeping note, You can also always make a donation through the PayPal button to the right, and if you are thinking of buying anything from Amazon, if you use the links over to the right, just using one of those links to buy anything gets us a couple pennies a transaction.

Photos: Good-bye, Uncle Teddy

By GottaLaff

I put together a small montage. I thought the photos were captured some amazing moments, just wanted to share:

(click on photo to enlarge)

Photos via and via.

Exposed: The WaPo’s One-Sided Account of Torture, Abuse

By GottaLaff

Is there a newspaper out there that we can trust any more?

I didn't think so:

The lead story in today’s Washington Post, headlined “How a Detainee Became An Asset,” provides a one-sided and distorted account of the torture and abuse of Khalid Sheikh Muhammad (KSM) and demonstrates the urgent need for a blue ribbon bipartisan commission to create a comprehensive and authoritative narrative of the eight years of misgovernment of the Bush administration. [...]

Today’s article argues that the techniques of torture and abuse turned KSM into the CIA’s “preeminent source” on al-Qaeda. Citing an intelligence assessment by the CIA’s Counterterrorism Center, which was presumably prepared for Vice President Cheney, the Post article argues that waterboarding was the key to breaking KSM’s spirit and eliciting valuable intelligence on the “inner workings of al-Qaeda and the group’s plans, ideology, and operatives.”

This view contradicts the findings of the authoritative 2004 report on detainees and interrogations of the Office of the Inspector General (OIG) as well as the personal views of the Inspector General (IG) himself.

The piece goes on to explain in detail why torture is wronger than wrong, and that the report did not conclude that torture elicited useful information that prevented any imminent attack.

And Dick Cheney, who has fanatically been waging his own personal jihad in defense of torture and abuse, told Fox News in an interview that will air tomorrow that CIA interrogators were justified in exceeding even the broad authorizations provided by the Justice Department, suggesting that the ends justify the means. Perhaps the Washington Post could give front-page coverage to the 18-page memorandum that the CIA gave to the DoJ’s Office of Legal Counsel in 2004, which provides extraordinary details of the interrogations in plain, but sordid and sadistic, language. [...]

In order to prevent the Washington Post and others from adding to the myths and misinformation of torture and abuse, it is time to appoint a blue ribbon commission to study all aspects of the CIA’s detentions and interrogations policies.

Melvin A. Goodman, a senior fellow at the Center for International Policy and adjunct professor of government at Johns Hopkins University, is The Public Record’s National Security and Intelligence columnist. He spent 42 years with the CIA, the National War College, and the U.S. Army. His latest book is Failure of Intelligence: The Decline and Fall of the CIA.

As far as I'm concerned, the debate about torture is over. However, there is so much CYA going on in so many places, this is one of the many times that winning is more important to BushCo and others than the worth of human lives... Fayiz al-Kandari's included (see below).

Oh, and then there are all those pesky little legal issues, too.

****************

All my previous posts on this subject matter can be found here; That link includes one specific to only Fayiz al-Kandari's story here. Here are audio and video interviews with Lt. Col. Wingard, one by David Shuster, one by Ana Marie Cox, and more. My guest commentary at BuzzFlash is here.

If you are inclined to help rectify these injustices: Twitterers, use the hashtag #FreeFayiz. We have organized a team to get these stories out. If you are interested in helping Fayiz out, e-mail me at The Political Carnival, address in sidebar to the right; or tweet me at @GottaLaff.

If you'd like to see other ways you can take action, go here and scroll down to the end of the article.

Then read Jane Mayer's book The Dark Side. You'll have a much greater understanding of why I post endlessly about this, and why I'm all over the CIA deception issues, too.

More of Fayiz's story here, at Answers.com.

"Town Hall Face": An unsightly condition

By GottaLaff

Town Hall Face

An unsightly condition caused by unsanitary health-care politics

(click on image to enlarge, unless you have super powers and can read that teeny tiny writing to the left)

Plus, check out The Five Biggest Lies in the Health Care Debate.

Health Care Watch: The anti-negotiator

By GottaLaff

Via TPM:

Sen. Mike Enzi (R-WY), a member of the Gang of Six purportedly negotiating a bipartisan health deal, today embraced the 'death panel' canard, though he didn't use the phrase itself. Good to know he's got a veto on any reform legislation.

Dear U.S. Senate,

Time to change the approach.

Urgently,

Laffy

Photo- Ex and Current Kennedy Staffers Pay Tribute To Him Outside U.S. Capitol

Via AFP.

Up to 1,000 rally in NYC for health care bill

"TeddyCare". I like it. But of course, the wingers are already claiming we abused children and politicized Teddy's funeral today. Oh lord, they are just that stupid.

NEW YORK— About a thousand people rallied in Manhattan on Saturday in support of federal health care reform legislation.

The event near Times Square began shortly after the funeral for U.S. Sen. Edward Kennedy, and took-on the feel of a tribute to the liberal leader.

One person carried a sign that said, "TeddyCare for all."

U.S. Rep. Carolyn Maloney told the crowd the bill will lower health care costs for almost everyone. The New York Democrat also invoked Kennedy, saying the senator understood the need for change.

Afternoon Distraction

Now this looks interesting.

VIDEO: Bill Moyers on Health Care as a Human Right

By GottaLaff

Mandatory viewing. Why? Because this was just superb:

H/t: Heather at Crooks and Liars

VIDEO: Ted Kennedy Funeral Mass - President Obama Eulogy

By GottaLaff

Sad day, but a beautiful funeral:

ACLU lobbyist, gay rights/pro-choice activist Larry Frankel found dead

By GottaLaff

A town hall meeting in York, PA, on October 10, 2007, addressed LGBT discrimination. Featuring Larry Frankel, Legislative Director of ACLU-PA...

This is the kind of mystery I do not like to report:

Longtime Pennsylvania ACLU lobbyist and Executive Director Larry Frankel, who in the last year or so has become the lobbyist for the national ACLU, has apparently been found dead in Washington under mysterious circumstances. This is a breaking news story in which most key facts are still generally unknown.

Frankel was an outstanding lobbyist for the Pennsylvania ACLU in Harrisburg, taking positions on scores to hundreds of bills each year. He was a coalition builder reminiscent of Ted Kennedy in the U.S. Senate or William Brennan on the U.S. Supreme Court, who aggressively reached out to unlikely allies like the National Rifle Association to help persuade members of the legislature that the ACLU was addressing broad concerns.

His aggressive outreach removed the ACLU from the fringes or margins of state policy and moved it toward the center of direct involvement.

A proud gay man, he was militant on the issue of gay marriage [...]

Larry believed in the importance of facts in making decisions. His correspondence with legislators was full of facts. [...]

He made progress on hard issues, such as the death penalty and mandatory minimum sentences, by documenting their high fiscal costs. [...]

He was a strong voice on freedom of choice, equal rights for women, and freedom of speech. [...] But he was tenacious, factual, honest, and decent, and he earned the deep respect of virtually all with whom he came into contact. [...]

He was one of the finest human beings to serve as a lobbyist, and his daily work honored the lobbying profession, as well as the ACLU and the gay community.

I searched around and couldn't find anything else on this. If anyone out there knows more, or can link me to other sources, I'd greatly appreciate it.

After the Dr. Tiller assassination, this is more than a little worrisome, but the facts aren't in yet, so... it's wait-and-see time.

H/t: Galelem

The go-to secession VIDEO: "Houston, We Have a Solution"

By GottaLaff

This Andy Cobb video is the perfect sequel to my earlier post titled, "Just Secede Already". This is dedicated to all the various -thers, starting with the whacked-out "tenthers":



Big h/t: Wolfe Tone, of A Bodenstown Perspective

Two Dangerous Women: Today's Special Comment by my 72-year-old friend

By GottaLaff

My very caring, impassioned 72-year-old Twitter pal, who goes by the name 42bkdodgr, would like to share his feelings about two of our favorite loons, Sarah Palin and Michele Bachmann... and I am more than happy to oblige.

Take it away, 42bkdodgr:

Two Dangerous Women

In the past year, we have all laughed and shaken our heads at the remarks made by former Gov. Sarah Palin and Rep. Michele Bachmann. Some of the classic remarks by Gov. Palin included “Death Panel” "I told the Congress, 'Thanks, but no thanks,' on that Bridge to Nowhere.", "As Putin rears his head and comes into the air space of the United States of America, where– where do they go? It's Alaska. It's just right over the border”... and her thought that some areas of the country are more pro-American than others.

Classic remarks by Rep. Bachmann include wanting her constituents to be, “armed and dangerous"; “AmeriCorps will establish re-education camps"; “There are anti-Americans in Congress”; “You Da Man”.

There are too many silly and ridiculous remarks made by both of these women to review here. Both have been the subjects of parodies on Saturday Night Live for their statements and remarks made during press and media interviews. So you may wonder why I consider these two women dangerous.

Gov. Palin and Rep. Bachmann are using tactics similar to those of Joseph McCarthy by questioning the loyalty of members of Congress, and that only people living in a certain part of the country are true Americans. McCarthy use to wave a paper with a list of names he said were communists working in the State Department. Individuals from all walks of life were called before Congress to testify about their loyalty to the country and to name names. Many careers and lives were ruined by the so called “Red Scare” period.

While you may think Palin is a lightweight when it comes to the issues of today, she is a force to be reckoned with. Palin has attracted over 800,000 followers to her face book account, and on August 26th, while praising Glenn Beck, asked her followers to watch his show. That night, Beck had over 3 million viewers, his highest number of viewers to date.

In the past, others were laughed at when they began their political careers that only ended in disastrous results for a country and the world. Never take anyone lightly; you never know what may happen.

Thank you once again for a thoughtful, relevant, and thought-provoking piece, 42bkdodgr. I, for one, am paying attention.

VIDEO: Ted Kennedy Memorial Service - John Culver

By GottaLaff

If you missed this yesterday, it's a must-see:

Many current politicians spoke at Sen. Edward Kennedy's memorial service, but John Culver, the former Iowa Senator and Harvard classmate of Teddy, might have just stolen the show by recounting the time he took up Ted's offer to join him in a sailboat race back in 1953.

Kennedy Memorial Service Lays out the Contrast Between Dems and GOP: Service to the Nation or Service to the Self

By GottaLaff

The first thing I said to Paddy on the phone today was that, after watching a very moving speech at the Kennedy funeral about giving to the poorest among us, the hypocrisy of the "Christian Family Values" Rushpublics became even more salient. They are about as far from practicing what they preach as anyone can be...

...which of course made me realize: The Rushpublics are the poorest among us.

With that, I give you your Daily Dose of BuzzFlash, via my pal Mark Karlin:

Ted Kennedy remained the tenacious battler for what would benefit the people of the American nation. The Senate was his career, his job, his passion, his defining sense of purpose -- and his commitment to improving the lot of all Americans -- not just a select few -- was his mission. [...]

As Vice-President Biden eloquently and movingly noted, with Ted Kennedy it was never about him, it was about "you." His life's work was spent working not for himself -- born to the privilege of the Kennedy fortune, mystique and fame -- but to uplift the lives of less fortunate Americans.

In hearing so much about the generous and thoughful personal Ted Kennedy, we learned even more how he represented the best of what Democrats and liberals stand for: service to the nation and to the American community.

It is a far cry from the greed, hate and hysteria of the Republicans who champion only service to the self.

Please read the rest here.

Live Streaming Video- Senator Kennedy's Funeral Mass with President Obama Eulogy

Visit msnbc.com for Breaking News, World News, and News about the Economy

Anyone else think

GW finally found that stash of Cutty Sark he hid back in '99? Pic via.

Video- Full Mental Beck

Via Jed.

Cartoon of the Day

Click to enlarge, via.

Saturday Linkage

Just what I've always wanted, a Extra Special Saturday Kennedypalooza Edition of Morning Joe!!

Blackwater Founder Accused in Court of Intent to Kill

Pakistan Suicide Bomber Training Camp Destroyed

Real awkward 1st date: man charged with skipping on check, stealing woman's car

Fla. police lure fugitives with stimulus checks

Consumer spending rises in July, but consumer sentiment slips

Oil slick spreads 'horizon to horizon'

Video- President's Weekly Address: Lessons and Renewal Out of the Gulf Coast

Just secede already

By GottaLaff

Hey "tenthers", don't let the door hit ya...

A organization calling itself the “Texas Nationalist Movement” plans to march on the Texas capitol tomorrow to demand “Sovereignty or Secession”:

Texans will converge on Austin to deliver a petition to Restore America by Demanding our Sovereignty or we will be forced to call a vote for Secession.

This is straight out of the Declaration of Independence and our right to “alter or abolish” our government if it has, “after a long train of abuses” refused to protect the rights of the people.

At present, the Texas Nationalist Movement has a petition with 1 Million signatures directly calling for a vote of secession.

We are calling for an orderly process that will allow our federal government to fall back in line with the Constitution. We are reclaiming our states rights and our individual rights. [...]

We must stand up and be counted or we will find ourselves in another government. Either we restore America, we will live in a Marxist dictatorship, or we will secede and start over again.

And by all means, tenthers, take the TeaDeathers and Birthers -- plus any other -thers you can scrape up-- with you.

Quote-O'-The Day: Remembering Teddy Kennedy edition

By GottaLaff

Joe Biden is speaking right now, at the memorial for Uncle Teddy Kennedy, and made me tear right up with the following:

"He crept into my heart, and before I knew it he owned a piece of it."

H/t: Shoq, for getting the words down accurately

AUDIO- Huckabee: Kennedy would be told to "go home to take pain pills and die."

By GottaLaff

How endearing. What a fine, compassionate, religious everyman HuckaDeath is. Way to politicize a tragedy. Timing is everything, isn't it?



Via Taegan:

George Stephanopoulos reports Mike Huckabee "tossed a hand grenade in the debate over who's politicizing Ted Kennedy's death" when he told his radio audience that under President Obama's health care reform bill, Kennedy would be told to "go home to take pain pills and die."

"One thing's for sure: by joining the debate in this time in this way, Huckabee is showing how determined he is not to be outmaneuvered by Sarah Palin in the early 2012 bidding for the GOP's conservative base."

Think Progress adds this:

Huckabee’s contention is even more baffling. Following Huckabee’s argument to its logical conclusion would suggest that Kennedy fought cancer in order to strip other older Americans of the ability to vigorously fight the disease.

All HuckaDeath needs now is his own Facebook page.

Polish newspaper: US has 'scrapped plan for missile shield in eastern Europe'

By GottaLaff

What happens in Poland doesn't stay in Poland:

Moving to avoid a rift with Moscow, Barack Obama has "all but abandoned" plans to locate parts of a controversial US missile shield in Poland and the Czech Republic, a leading Polish newspaper claimed yesterday.

The Warsaw daily Gazeta Wyborcza said that the Pentagon has been asked to explore switching planned interceptor rocket sites from the two east European states to Israel, Turkey, the Balkans or to mobile launchers on warships. Asked about the claim, a Pentagon spokesman last night said the missile shield plans were still being reviewed. "No final decisions have been made regarding missile defence in Europe" he said.

DOJ May Skirt Court Order on Interrogation Documents, Go Generic

By GottaLaff

We've all seen what a few disclosures about torture can do. They were revelatory, were they not? More are due out soon, but oh, wait a minute, er... well...

The Obama administration may circumvent the spirit of a judge’s order to disclose hundreds of documents relating to the CIA’s Bush-era interrogation program, delivering instead generic descriptions of the documents and legal arguments for continued nondisclosure. [...]

On July 20, Judge Allen Hellerstein of the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York ruled that the government needed to complete a review of the documents for declassification in response to an ACLU Freedom of Information Act lawsuit by Monday, Aug. 31.

My original post on more CIA documents coming out Monday is here. Seems there's a glitch:

But after The Washington Independent reported on the forthcoming disclosure, an administration official who insisted on anonymity emailed to say the report was inaccurate. Asked if there would be any disclosures on Monday, the official responded, “Nope.”

Oh. Hm. Damn.

Hellerstein, however, ordered in July that the government had the option of submitting a so-called “Vaughn declaration,” a FOIA term detailing, as Hellerstein wrote, legal reasons “setting forth the justification for withholding the information.” [...] Hellerstein’s office, which declined to comment on the record, said the judge’s ruling from July 21 was still in effect and the Justice Department had yet to file any motions to extend the deadline for disclosure. [...]

The ACLU said late on Friday afternoon that it expected to receive a Vaughn declaration on Monday and not the documents themselves. “This past week, the Obama administration released documents that shed some much-needed light on theCIA’s rendition, detention and interrogation program,” said Jameel Jaffer, director of the ACLU’s national-security project. “Some of the most crucial documents, though, are still being withheld. The documents that the CIA is required to review for possible release by Monday would, if released, fill in some of the remaining gaps in the public record.”

Rachel Myers, a representative for the ACLU, said the organization expects to continue litigating to receive the still-withheld documents.

I'll just sit over here and wait, if nobody minds. I won't be in the way.

Did Harry Reid just throw in the towel on public option?

By GottaLaff

No, Harry, just... no:

During a tele-townhall with constituents today, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid said he supports a public option...but then he added an extremely important caveat. Reid said he doesn't think the public option ought to be a government run program like Medicare, but instead favors a "private entity that has direction from the federal government so people that don't fall within the parameters of being able to get insurance from their employers, they would have a place to go."

That sounds suspiciously like Reid would prefer a so-called co-op system, which almost all reformers regard with suspicion, and many regard as a non-starter. [...]

Reid spokesman Jim Manley emails in that Reid's preference is for a "public option," but would not confirm that Reid means "public option" as commonly understood: an insurance program run by the Department of Health and Human Services or another government body.

This is unacceptable.

Howard Dean is on MSNBC as I write this, saying Ted Kennedy's health care will get done, that it will get written in the Democratic Caucus, not in committee.

Harry Reid
United States Senate
522 Hart Senate Office Building
Washington, D.C. 20510-2803

DC Phone:202-224-3542

DC Fax:202-224-7327

You can e-mail Reid here.

Tell him you want the Kennedy Option.

VIDEO: Tea Deather in Obama Mask Whips Elderly Outside Town Hall

By GottaLaff

Here's a rather relevant line from Paddy's earlier post:

Terry himself dressed in a doctor's lab coat and pretended to stab a woman in a gray wig.

Now see for yourself what the TeaDeathers do for entertainment:



Examples of how they perpetuate that stellar reputation of theirs are being archived everywhere. Eventually, more and more Americans will process them, see who these cretins are, and then spit them out.

H/t: Oliver Willis

Knock knock! Who's there? Secret Service. Joke over.

By GottaLaff

Watch what you say and what you write. This Live Journal entry is from 2004. The author had written a jokey prayer that read, "God, please take W?".

Knock knock:

A couple of weeks ago, following the last presidential debate, I said some rather inflammatory things about George W. Bush in a public post in my LJ, done in a satirical style. We laughed, we ranted, we all said some things. I thought it was a fairly harmless (and rather obvious) attempt at humor in the face of annoyance, and while a couple of people were offended, as is typical behavior from me, I saw something shiny and forgot about it, thinking that the whole thing was over and done and nothing else would come of what I said.

I was wrong.

At 9:45 last night, the Secret Service showed up on my mother's front door to talk to me about what I said about the President, as what I said could apparently be misconstrued as a threat to his life. After about ten minutes of talking to me and my family, they quickly came to the conclusion that I was not a threat to national security (mostly because we are the least threatening people in the entire world) and told me that they would not recommend that any further action be taken with my case. However, I do now have a file with the FBI that includes my photograph, my e-mail address, and the location of my LJ. This will follow me around for the rest of my life, regardless of the fact that the Secret Service knows that I am not a threat.

Now go read her advice.

Allow me a stream-of-consciousness reaction...

I'm not big on the Secret Service telling me what to say, but it goes without saying why they have to take these things so seriously.

Personally, I've always drawn the line at wishing death or harm on others. I've held to those standards whether it was during my Comedy Store/Improv days, teaching comedy to the kiddies. my private life, or during my angriest moments here at TPC...not because I might get snagged by the Secret Service, but because I've always found that kind of humor distasteful.

Yes, they're just words, but words count. That's how we communicate. Without them, we couldn't talk or write. They mean something, especially when uttered publicly.

Don't get me wrong, I'm not invalidating anyone's emotions, considering I have a few strong ones of my own that I have to keep in check from time to time.

But, speaking for myself, when it comes to wishing pain, suffering, or death on others, my little quips come to a screeching halt. Again, that's just me. I'm sure I've slipped from time to time, and I regret that, but as a rule, I steer clear of death humor.

I feel for the author of the Live Journal, she was throwing out a mild, casual joke, and she got a very rude awakening. I believe that was overkill on the part of the SS (no pun).

And just like her, I will continue to write what I feel, I will continue to voice my opinions and snark like a maniac... but I will be now be even more aware of how I express myself.

However, I have to admit, I'm glad Boy Georgie's not in office any more, or I'd have a much tougher time self-monitoring.

H/t: txvoodoo in response to this post.

VIDEO- CNN: Secret Service Visited Pastor Who Prays For Obama's Death

By GottaLaff



Yes, this is the same vile being whose audio-spew I posted here. I am relieved to report that the Secret Service is, indeed, all over this:

CNN analyst Mike Brooks reports that the Secret Service has interviewed Anderson, who told TPMmuckraker yesterday: "To be honest with you, I have prayed for Obama to die. I'm not the only one, I'm just the only one with the spine to say it."

Now, once and for all, can all you Commie liberal fanatics admit how biased Janet Napolitano's DHS report was? Right wing extremists? Pfft. Get real.

VIDEO: Deathers thrive on the Tee Vee Machine

By GottaLaff



Deathy McDeathertons en masse:

Ingraham and Tantaros' comments are the latest in a long line of attempts by conservatives to attack Democrats and progressives by attaching the word "death" to progressive initiatives, most recently in the debate over health care reform.

You'd think the Rushpublics would want to associate themselves with something just a tad more upbeat. Now they've gone and attached themselves to this guy:

No matter how hard they try to connect Democrats with killing and death, it reminds me of the old "I am rubber you are glue, whatever you say bounces off of me and sticks to you" rhyme. It's the Rushpublics who constantly make those references, carry assault weapons to town hall meetings, assassinate physicians, and wear shoes like these.

Great p.r. Gee, from now on, whenever I want to impress people, maybe I should use death as the ice-breaker.

VIDEO-- Punditiots: John McCain could be ‘the new Ted Kennedy.’

By GottaLaff

Per the punditiots, this, yes this, is the face of the next Ted Kennedy:

This obviously is isn't as offensive as outright Breitbart hate-spew, but it's just as far-fetched:

Yesterday, Cynthia Tucker, a columnist with the Atlanta Journal-Constitution and frequent television pundit, argued that “John McCain could be the Senate’s new Ted Kennedy.” While acknowledging McCain has “bowed to the harsh nihilism that seems to be all that Republicans represent these days,” Tucker said there’s hope that McCain could embrace Kennedy’s “reputation for pragmatism.” Yesterday afternoon on CNN, host Wolf Blitzer amplified the emerging meme.

Ahem:

Ted Kennedy said “Americans want the choice of enrolling in a health insurance program backed by the government for the public good”; McCain says we have to “abandon the public option.” Kennedy joined with McCain to push aggressively for comprehensive immigration reform in 2007, a bill that McCain “would not” vote for anymore. Kennedy is remembered as a passionate gay rights advocate; McCain thinks discrimination against gays in the military is “working well.” See the similarities?

I think that pretty much does away with equating J Sid with Uncle Teddy.

Hey Kids! Getcher Proud Gun-Totin' American Mccain/Palin Keds Shoes!

By GottaLaff

Tired of the same old walking shoes? Feet get pinched by Nikes? Need a new spring in your step? Then these are for you!

(click on images to enlarge)

Today, Keds has a myriad of fun, fresh styles from the classic champion sneaker and sportier sneakers, to ballet flats and wedges. The future for Keds will continue to bring fashionable styles that are stylish and sophisticated and that have innovative advancements in performance, materials and prints.

Nothing says fun and fresh like advertising lethal weaponry on your feet! And who better to associate with stinky sneakers and death than... ? Why, yes! Death Panel Barbie and J Sid, that's who!

H/t: hmbascom

Astroturf Firm Bonner Institutes New No-Forgery Policy

By GottaLaff

Visit msnbc.com for Breaking News, World News, and News about the Economy

Remember Bonner and Associates? Rachel Maddow has done a great job of exposing their little antics. I guess they heard her... and Congress:

Bonner & Associates, the DC 'strategic grassroots' firm facing a Congressional investigation for sending forged letters opposing the climate bill to members of Congress, is instituting a new No Forgeries ethics program to get out in front of the emerging scandal and ensure its astroturf campaigns are not tainted in the future.

"This is a very rare occurrence," says a Bonner spokesman who asked that his name be withheld as a condition of talking to TPMmuckraker. "In response to it, as of August 11, the company has introduced a five-point check against this sort of thing. And every employee at Bonner has signed it and dated it."

Rule number one: no forged letters.

Wowee, good for them. It's not every day we get a check list that assures us of no forgeries.

Funny...Most firms wouldn't feel the need to so much as consider including something like that... Oh, but leave it to Bonner, they don't miss a trick. Always thinking of The People.

With reassurance like that, who needs investigations?

More details over at TPM, and they're important to read, but let me leave you with their last sentence. It's swell!

In other words: Bonner clients can be sure of ethical, best practices astroturf campaigns from here on out.

Dates proposed for Massachusetts special election

By GottaLaff

And so it goes:

The special election to fill Massachusetts' vacant Senate seat will be held on either January 19 or January 26, the Massachusetts secretary of state confirms.[...]

If a primary is needed that would be held either December 8 if the earlier general election date is chosen or December 15 if the latter one is chosen.

Tea Partiers Can't Find Iraq on a Map

By GottaLaff

David Williams, a freelancer and regular contributor to Omaha City Weekly, took a survey. Oh, but this isn't your typical "What do you think of health care?" or "How would you rate Obama?" survey. Nonono, this one was way more fun.

To quote my new bff:

If the Tea Party crowd can't find Iraq on a map, on what else are they ill-informed?

Imagine this map in outline form only on an 8.5 x 11 piece of paper with all text removed...no place or country names. The only thing I did to help the viewer orient themselves was to color in all the water (with a calming aqua hue that I was particularly proud of):

Now for David's scrumpdiddlyumptious article:

At least one thing is clear to the City Weekly; that each side is convinced that the other is ill informed. So the City Weekly devised a little quiz that might shed some light – if not on the veracity of competing healthcare claims – then at least on the political savvy of those making them.

Presented a blank map of the Middle East and surrounding area - one with county names removed – those attending the town hall were asked to point out Iraq, a country where we have waged war for over six years.

The idea was that those who consider themselves to be well informed on the state of America today should at least be able to identify a place where we have shed blood in a conflict that has lasted longer than our involvement in World War II.

The Omaha City Weekly tested 40 attendees each among those who identified themselves as either firmly for or against the proposed HR 3200. Those polled were evenly split between gender and age groups. Results are further broken down by race…

Oh, whom am I trying to kid? With an estimated 1,200 people in attendance, the City Weekly, try as we might, could not find a single African American who was against HR 3200.

A full 75%, 30 of 40 pro-reform attendees, could identify Iraq in its rather eye-catching, dead center position on the map. Only 52.5 %, 21 of 40 anti-reformers could do so.

Granted, this was a thoroughly unscientific poll with a tiny sample size. It would perhaps be unfair to infer that those who can’t find Iraq on a map may be equally uniformed on other issues - like the much touted “death panels,” a meme whose vileness is surpassed only by its insipid cruelty.

So forget the numbers.

More telling was the startling reactions I got while conducting the test. Pro-reform people, even those geographically challenged few who laughed out loud at the futility of the task before them, portrayed a uniformly agreeable front. Most gave a knowing, touch_-like nod and smile. I received no negative comments, none at all, from that group.

The same could not be said of the other camp. Far from it.

One gentleman practically knocked the clipboard out of my hand in jabbing - angrily and correctly – at the country that (John Kerry was right) represented the wrong war at the wrong time in the wrong place.

Many sneered. Most at least glowered. Four accused the test itself of being somehow biased. About half way through the polling I mistakenly blurted out “yes” when I meant to say “no” after a Tea Partier asked if they had answered correctly in this little game of “where’s Waldo?”

“So much for your gotcha politics,” the woman with more tattoos than teeth snarled. “And you want to say that we are all so stupid!”

Think about that for a moment. She knew that hers was what could only be described as a wild guess. She knew that she didn’t know the location of Iraq. And yet when told that her answer was correct she became smugly defiant, sending me away shaking my head at such blatant disingenuousness.

Accustomed to being lied to by her own party and by the right wing noise machine, she apparently didn’t think twice about lying to the media – and to herself.

And then it hit me. I must always answer “yes,” even when an answer was incorrect. Not a single pro-reform person gave me a “so there”-style response, but five on the other side gleefully did, including four who had answered incorrectly.

Perhaps saddest of all was the Viet Nam vet who spat, “Why the hell should I care where Iraq is?”

Why indeed.

Maybe he should have shown them a map of their own heads and asked them to find their brains. Nah. They would have blown that little exercise, too.

SarahPAC blames illegal political donations on software error

By GottaLaff

Paddy linked to this earlier, but I couldn't resist a post.

Death Panel Barbie, short version: The dog ate my homework:

Former Gov. Sarah Palin's political action committee gave excessive contributions to two well-known Republicans and also is facing demands from the federal government for more detailed financial information on a number of fronts.

The deficiencies are highlighted in a five-page letter sent Aug. 19 by a Federal Elections Commission staffer to SarahPAC treasurer Tim Crawford. The FEC wants answers by Sept. 24.

"Failure to adequately respond by the response date noted above could result in an audit or enforcement action," FEC campaign finance analyst Allen Norfleet wrote.

Oh, come on, don't get all mad at her and stuff. It was just a computer program glitch. Don't look back, only look forward.

"I think you can say it was sloppiness on my part and my attorney's part," Crawford said, referring to the contributions. "We fouled up there. But it's been fixed." He said SarahPAC's lawyer is Mark Braden of Washington, D.C.

Wowzers, it's a good thing somebody as important as the F.E.C. caught that sloppiness or it might never have been fixed, right?

Or was it "fixed" from the start?

Crawford said SarahPAC uses election software, similar to TurboTax for income taxes, that walks aides through required disclosures. When they filed the mid-year report to the FEC, no violations were noted, so they thought they had done it correctly.

Typical Rushpublic response: Blame everyone and everything but yourselves.

Video- Bachmann town hall speaker worried Obama administration will not leave after 8 years, will stay by force

You know, when someone starts their statement with "I am not a nut...". Starts at 4 minute mark, notice how Bachmann just goes with the flow.

Most Don't Know What "Public Option" Means

Sound like there's more of an opening to shape some opinions than I would have thought. Now if we only had an organized political party to do so...

A new AARP survey shows there is widespread uncertainty about what a "public option" means in the various health care reform bills. Just 37% of the poll's respondents correctly identified the public option from a list of three choices provided to them.

Nate Silver: "If the respondents had simply chosen randomly among the three options provide to them, 33 percent would have selected the correct definition for the public option. Instead, only 37 percent did (although 23 percent did not bother to guess). This is mostly a debate being had among policy elites and the relatively small fraction of the public that is highly knowledgeable and engaged about health care reform; for most others, the details are lost on them."

Video- Scarborough and Noonan Agree: The Best Thing That Could Happen to Obama is a GOP Congress

Now granted, I'm not in the best mood today, but Noonan just made me extra crazy this morning. Her and Scarborough make quite a pair. Vid via FDL.

Half of South Carolina Wants Sanford to Quit

If he didn't keep on reminding people that he was still there with all these stupid pressers for no reason, he'd be in a much better situation. Via Taegan.

Half of South Carolina voters want Gov. Mark Sanford (R) to resign, according to a new InsiderAdvantage poll.

The survey shows that 49.5% of voters say it is time for Sanford to go, while 36.6% said the embattled governor should remain in office.

"Sanford is actually in a weaker position now than he was in the same poll shortly after he admitted in June to an affair with an Argentine woman, when 49.8% of South Carolinians thought the governor should stay, while 41.4% said he should resign."

Cartoon of the Day

Click to enlarge, via.

Friday Linkage

I think I've said the f word more this morning than in my whole life.

Revealed: How Nixon hired Secret Service to track Ted Kennedy in bid to catch him cheating on wife

For 500 years, this carving on a castle ceiling hid a magical musical secret. Then one man solved the Da Tinkey Code

Ahmadinejad demands opposition chiefs punished

CNN: State Dept.: Policy against new Israeli settlements stands
The State Department is sticking with a strict no-new-settlements policy toward Israel, its spokesman said Thursday, but he held out the possibility that Israelis and Palestinians might eventually take a different path.

SarahPAC blames illegal political donations on software error

Police: Mom forced adult daughter to wear bags

Cops devised escape plan for lawmaker at town hall

New York Times: Seeking Cash, California Turns to a Tag Sale
Ever wanted to buy a used Chevrolet Cavalier signed by a budget-challenged governor? Now’s your chance!

Video- Fox & Friends guest Scheuer: "Rahm Emanuel wants an attack. He loves crisis"

I saw this guy Scheuer get an earful from a caller on CSpan not too long ago about his "we need to get attacked again" thingie, and I cannot tell you how wounded and sad he acted that she would take his words out of context. Piece of crap.

**I would like a shiny medal for the restraint I showed not throwing this piece of crap computer out the window this morning. Sorry for being late.

Bernanke Struck by Identify Theft

By GottaLaff

Bernanke's personal "economy" had its problems, too:

As Federal Reserve Chairman Ben S. Bernanke struggled to hold the economy together last August, he was distracted by a more personal financial problem: He and his wife were victims of identity theft.

Bernanke's brush with the banking system began when a thief stole Anna Bernanke's purse from the back of her chair at a Capitol Hill Starbucks on Aug. 7, 2008, according to court documents and a source close to the Fed chief. Inside were her leather wallet, four credit cards, $5 in cash and her checkbook, a D.C. police report said.

A week later, a $900 check from the couple's Wachovia Bank account was deposited at a Bank of America in Hyattsville.

George Lee Reid of the District was charged in D.C. Superior Court with identity theft in the depositing of the check. The case was later dismissed. But the deposit is now included in charges filed in U.S. District Court in Alexandria against Reid and nine others, part of what prosecutors say was a nationwide identity-theft ring that has caused more than $2.1 million in losses to at least 10 financial institutions.

Kinda makes you wonder, who'd really want to be Bernanke?

Even More CIA Documents to Be Disclosed Monday

By GottaLaff

Polish up them reading glasses folks:

The deluge continues. Word comes that in response to pending requests from the American Civil Liberties Union, another tranche of CIA documents about Bush-era interrogations and detentions could be released as early as Monday. [...]

[...] like about 129 documents from the closed CIA inspector general files, including interview reports, cables, emails and more. And then about 138 documents from the Justice Department’s Office of Legal Counsel that the CIA insisted on classifying.

The thread-pulling continues...

Who Are the 13 Senate Democrats Holding Out On the Public Option?

By GottaLaff

Senators Nelson (D-NE) and Lieberman (I-CT)

The Waverers, The Mysteries, and The Haters, all in a nice, tidy list that explains everything:

One thing that's striking about this the list is how reluctant senators are to take a firm position. Compare that to the situation in the House, where dozens of liberals have vowed that they'll oppose any health care bill without a public option, and it casts some doubt on the conventional wisdom that health care reform will pass without a public option after the Congressional Progressive Caucus caves to pressure from Democratic leadership and conservatives in their own party.

Now go check out the list and all the Senate wishy-washitude. The Kennedy Option deserves better.

Warner: I'll Vote For Public Option if Health Care Reform Legislation Contains Costs

By GottaLaff

Centrist Mark Warner confirms for the first time that he’d support a health care bill with a public option:

A spokesman for Sen. Mark Warner (D-VA) confirms to me that Warner would vote for a health care bill with a public option. "It's not a make or break thing--he wants to see a health reform bill that contains costs, and if it includes a public option...he would vote for it."

The Kennedy Option. Nice ring.

H/t: The Plum Line

Harry Reid pushes idea of special appointment for Kennedy seat

By GottaLaff

UPDATE: Howard Fineman is on MSNBC right now, and said he thinks they can get it done.

Every so often, Harry steps up, but only every so often:

"While it is ultimately up to the people of Massachusetts and their representatives at the State House to decide this matter, Senator Reid agrees with Senator Kennedy and Gov. Patrick that the law should be changed," Jim Manley, a spokesman for Reid, told CNN. "With so many important matters to be decided, the people of the Commonwealth need two Senators to represent Massachusetts until the special election."

Reid's office confirms he has discussed the issue with Governor Patrick, who has embraced the appointment idea. Current state law says the seat will remain vacant until a special election is held between 145 and 160 days after the seat became empty — with the clock starting to tick on Wednesday.

Any amendment to state law allowing an interim Senator to be named until the special election first has to be considered by a joint legislative committee which will hold a public hearing. If it receives that panel's recommendation, both houses of the state legislature would need to consider the measure twice.

"I'm hoping the legislature will turn to it soon, and if they send me a bill, I will sign it," Patrick told CNN's American Morning on Thursday.

Inhofe Proves Dems Should Go It Alone on Health Care Reform

By GottaLaff

Remember this post? Now it's even more relevant:

"I don't have to read it, or know what's in it. I'm going to oppose it anyways."

-- Sen. James Inhofe (R-OK), quoted by the Express-Star, on the health care reform bill.

Canadian hypothermia experiments used by CIA to torture detainees

By GottaLaff

Gordon Giesbrecht, an expert on cold-water survival, says his experiments show that many people can withstand the excruciating discomfort of 12-degree water for hours, and yet, a drop of just a few degrees beyond that can kill a healthy human.

There is still so much we don't know. There goes that pesky thread-pulling again, unraveling the secrets and lies:

Canadian scientists 'flabbergasted' that hypothermia experiments to save lives used to support abusive CIA interrogation tactics.

Cold was a weapon in the wider war on terrorism. And Canadian expertise was consulted.

Documents reveal that U.S. operatives cast their eyes north after the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks, as spies struggled to develop "water-dousing" interrogation techniques.

The U.S. Central Intelligence Agency wanted to use cold water to soften up al-Qaeda suspects, so it read tracts by Canadian experts.

The research - with titles like Immersion into Cold Water and Survival in Cold Waters - was written with the intent of improving the odds for sailors and fishermen lost at sea. The CIA accessed it to determine how far its agents could go with "high-value detainees" in secret prisons.

"Oh dear. I've helped the CIA, have I?" Chris Brooks of Kanata, Ont., said when told that an 85-page document he wrote years ago for Transport Canada was footnoted in the CIA's so-called "torture memos."

"I'm absolutely flabbergasted," he said. [...]

"Water dousing" is not to be confused with the more notorious "waterboarding," an interrogation technique that amounts to controlled drowning. But the Red Cross has documented several CIA detainees complaining that they were drenched daily with buckets or hoses while held in the cold rooms in secret prisons.

Some even complained they were put in an "immersion bath." Guards made them lie on plastic sheeting with the edges raised and poured in bucket after bucket of cold water for up to a half hour at a time.

"Water dousing is intended to weaken the detainee's overall resistance posture and persuade him to co-operate with interrogators," reads one of the CIA memos justifying the practice. It adds that detainees were to be restrained, possibly naked, and could withstand dousing for up to an hour in the right conditions.

This technique is held as the 15th most "intense" on the CIA's internal list, starting with "shaving" (No. 1) and ending with "waterboarding" (No. 20). Dousing was seen as a step harsher than sleep deprivation, but a notch less punishing than being forced into "stress positions."

A 2005 fax sent from the CIA to the U.S. Department of Justice includes an appendix called Medical Rationales for Limitations on Physical Pressures.

"Death can result from prolonged (i.e. 6 hour) exposure to 15 C water, 2 hrs at 10 C, 1 hour at 5 C," the table reads. "Hypothermia can be induced in 30 minutes with 5 C ... Immersion at temperatures below 25 C/ 77 F will eventually be fatal over time."

The CIA urged agents to have doctors handy and cease dousing "upon evidence of hypothermia." The table refers readers to Transport Canada's Survival in Cold Waters - written by Dr. Brooks - or a chapter in a book called Wilderness Medicine titled Immersion into Cold Water.

"That was my chapter," Dr. Giesbrecht said yesterday.

Keep on looking forward, though. We simply can't afford to look back. Way too disruptive and messy. And you know how we Americans hate untidiness.

Much more here.

****************

All my previous posts on this subject matter can be found here; That link includes one specific to only Fayiz al-Kandari's story here. Here are audio and video interviews with Lt. Col. Wingard, one by David Shuster, one by Ana Marie Cox, and more. My guest commentary at BuzzFlash is here.

If you are inclined to help rectify these injustices: Twitterers, use the hashtag #FreeFayiz. We have organized a team to get these stories out. If you are interested in helping Fayiz out, e-mail me at The Political Carnival, address in sidebar to the right; or tweet me at @GottaLaff.

If you'd like to see other ways you can take action, go here and scroll down to the end of the article.

Then read Jane Mayer's book The Dark Side. You'll have a much greater understanding of why I post endlessly about this, and why I'm all over the CIA deception issues, too.

More of Fayiz's story here, at Answers.com.