Indefinite detention is here to stay. Color me unsurprised. What a lawless PoS in the WH.

“The Department of Justice and the Securities and Exchange Commission investigated that joint venture extensively and found no suggestion of any impropriety by Dick Cheney in his role of CEO of Halliburton,” Terrence O’Connell said.

Nobody did anything wrong, but we’ll pay you $35m for the heck of it.

More on Halliburton. Those pesky mercs just don’t know how to play nice!

Halliburton’s senior executive in Iraq accused private security companies of operating a “mafia” to artifically inflate their “outrageous prices”, according to a US cable.

Poor Lindsey…

The Nazis imported into the US after WWII by the nascent CIA would be proud.

Halliburton forks over $35M for Dick.

Wow, did they try a “wide stance” first?

In other news (democracynow), U.K. is training Bangladeshi terrorist groups & some one from U.S. sez they could become the Bangladeshi F.B.I. Heh, guessing he doesn’t quite understand the context of his remarks. Truer words & all that.

If Halliburton needs to make any more hefty payouts on behalf of the Dickster, what are the odds that someone rats him out?

I think $35 million is petty change for HAL.

Mornin’, BT, pups

Obama’s approval rating with liberal Dems is 80%? What, they polled the DLC and DNC and called ‘em liberals?

Santa’s early years

reply to ecahn@7 (Reply icon not working today)

Yup, if you’re referring to the FBI as a death squad.

Brad Adams, the organisation’s Asia director, said: “RAB is a Latin American-style death squad dressed up as an anti-crime force.

I agree that Lucy is going to show up and I saw that approval/disapproval graph over at Kos late last week being touted as a win for Obama, (because it’s been so steady of late you see). Anybody who “debates” or “refutes” global climate change is dangerous and delusional though. They institutionalize people for going up on buildings to jump off in an attempt to “disprove” gravity and they are only likely to hurt themselves. The deniers are putting almost seven billion people at risk and for what? Because the hate Al Gore.
Fucking stupid. Both the people in denial and the rest of us for not insisting they be given a padded cell.

Thanks for that cartoon. Good chuckle.

Good morning all.

Short answer: zero percent.

Haliburton won’t piss on Dick unless it becomes profitable.

What, they polled the DLC and DNC and called ‘em liberals?

Exactly. When they call people like Bob Shrum, Lanny Davis and Mark Penn “liberal” you get results like that.

Bye bye Kucinich. Nice that O’s coat tails not only lost him the U.S. house, they also lost a lot of state legislatures just in time for redistricting. Well done, O!

That’s my take. Everybody I talk to either openly opposes Obama, or is still in the stage of confusion…the “What’s he doing? Is this eleventy-dimensional chess?” stage…and even that does not translate to the high poll numbers.

But, poll numbers indicated that marijuana would be decriminalized in CA too, and that didn’t happen. Polls are just lies nowadays. :(

‘xackly.

He’s too decent a man to be surrounded by deviants. Hope he finds a more rewarding way to spend the remainder of his years.

I wonder if it would be possible, or palatable, for the military to oust Congress? It seems to me that a case could be made that Congress (and the WH) are violating the “promote the general welfare” phrase. Congress sure promotes the welfare of a few specific individuals and corporations, but they aren’t promoting the general welfare of the people.

Polls are just lies nowadays

Got that right. I gave up on ‘em a long time ago. With so much demo data available electronically pollsters can select specific areas in which to poll, pretty much giving them the results they want.

I have no doubt Obama’s anemic approval numbers are being heavily massaged.

Eat the Elite

And this morning’s un-Pulitzer for Worst Coverage of Net Neutrality goes to the LA Times.
Other than FCC board members, the only quotes come from the right.

Holy moly. Pull a Honduras?

Hmmm….looks like the national media is finally calling Barbour out on his racist comments. Haley, meet macaca moment…

I would NOT be behind that. Most emphatically not.

Yeah. The military is sooo much more responsible at slaughtering innocent people promoting the general welfare than congress. Brilliant! /s

Yeh. Scary. I was just musing. I don’t like all the police checkpoints where I live, but having twice as many military checkpoints would be terrible, not to mention the inevitable curfews, wage freezes, etc.
My mood has become so sour that my musings sometimes wander into the darkness like that.

Thanks for the cartoon! Just what I needed this morning.

I agree that a strong case could be made that Congress is only promoting the welfare of the people with money but such a move would have to come from the people, not the military.

Eek! Looks like I started a shitstorm! ;)

And what’s worse, the shit’s hitting me!

Or should I say, “my own shit splatters back onto me!”

You can’t had better not be serious.

Police checkpoints? What police checkpoints? (Seriously)

Perhaps, I’m just getting old now and I don’t drive at night for the most part, but I haven’t seen anything like that.

Police checkpoints? Where do you live? Are they the usual sobriety/safety checkpoints they set up this time of year?

How funny is this?

A marijuana mutiny? According to a prosecutor in Missoula County, Mont., potential jurors made it clear they wouldn’t convict anyone for possessing a few buds of pot. District Judge Dusty Deschamps found it impossible to seat a jury, and decided to work out a plea bargain for the man in question, Touray Cornell, instead.

This is a great example of the kind of change society can affect just by refusing to comply with stupid laws.

Sobriety/safety checkpoints, “show me your papers” checkpoints, checking-for-warrants checkpoints…so yes, the usual ones.

Morning BT and Firepups:

I’ve been watching
The Comedy Show
Vital News
Fiction TV
Fox & Friends.

To say that I’ve been informed and enlightened would be an understatement
overstatement
mildly delusional
completely psychotic
braindead.

Other than that, everything’s hunky dory.

Yeah. Jury nullification doesn’t go far enough. My jury experiences have not been encouraging in the sense of waaay too much deference to prosecution.

During jury selection the last time I got called up for Fed jury duty I made it quite plain to the judge I’d not vote to convict anyone on drug charges. Said “good luck” to the young AA accused on the way out and paid a price for that. They made me stick around until all the juries had been selected that day. Good thing I took a book.

Why even give them traffic?

It’s all the fun I ever have… heh

Yep. Same thing happened to me. I got the better of the deal though. The next case I was assigned to plea bargained right after lunch so I got sent home anyway.

I was a real pariah. Last jury was picked about 3 o’clock and I sat there until 5 so I’d get to fight the traffic back to St Pete. Fed courthouse is in Tampa.

Last time I bothered to show up for jury duty, I made it clear that I would vote against the government, no matter what. It was federal court. Despite that, got called (& rejected for cause) at 4 voir dires, and still had to stay for a couple of days.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b80Bsw0UG-U

Just got done listening to Martin Luther King Jr’s “Why I Am Opposed to the War in Vietnam” speech again. I have to wonder if we are all guilty of what he talks about when he references Dante at the beginning.

Is only posting on Internet forums merely the equivalent of silence? After all, no one in power reads them, it doesn’t impact the injustice that permeates our society. Look at what Julian Assange has done in comparison to anything we do in a forum posting or otherwise, does that not pale in comparison?

I fear that the War on Terror will persist until America is forced to look at itself in the mirror. Looking at Julian Assange’s plight, we will do everything in our power to avoid the reality of our situation, refusing to get a glimpse of our own gaze.

MLK Jr. was right, America has become too arrogant. We need to realize that and refocus on ourselves, otherwise we’re doomed. We are going to end up like the USSR. We are going to be broke and devastated.

Military intervention wouldn’t be palatable to me. That’s probably the only road more dangerous than the one we’re currently on.

I don’t know. There are a lot of things I’d love the opportunity to hear, like bribery, graft, embezzlement and other white collar crimes. I would also be very likely to vote to convict thieves, rapists and murders, wife beaters, child abusers, that kind of thing. Drug possession “crimes”? Never. No matter the circumstances, not in a million years.

Good Morning Blue Texan and Firedogs -

hey ! anyone have a current live feed for the DADT Repeal Event ?

in case others have missed it – WH surprisingly invited Lt Dan Choi, Robin McGhee, Pam Spalding, Aravosis (among others) to attend the ceremony

Precious beard Coburn takes time out from marriage counseling Ensign to stick it to the first responders.

Is only posting on Internet forums merely the equivalent of silence?

Lot of caveats to that. Can’t say that someone who’s severely disabled is silent cuz they can’t march in the streets, for example.

Rev Dr Jeremiah Wright is a more current voice in the tradition of MLK imo.

Do they get their commissions back? Or are they still SOL?

Aravosis is a fucking bigot. Not surprised that the White House invited him, the fascist ass sucker. Out of that whole list, one of them didn’t serve. Guess which one?

That’s about a scragly ass beard.

Lol. I’d agree with you, but *gasp* “How dare he say that the pigeons are coming home to roost!!” America has NEVER done anything wrong. *lol*

I’d say Wright’s reputation pales a bit in comparison to MLK.

You are right though.

Looks that way at the moment. MLK. Vy. inspiring. Thanks.

Marriage counseling? Oh my! Did he pull a Newt and find a pretty young woman and demand his wife let him do his thing? I understand that’s pretty common at C Street.

yep. an insult to beards everywhere.

The 4 voir dire were about a lil ole lady who was conjuring up Merkun marriage licenses for undocumented immigrants, police brutality, NYS discrimination against a woman prof at some NYS college, and I forget the 4th. Would have been on the defendant’s side in all those cases anyhow, even if I didn’t think the legal sys was heavily biased to the govt to begin with.

Yep. Never would have voted to convict there either.

Good morning CBL.

Why do you say Aravosis is a bigot? Not challenging you, just would like to know. I don’t go to his website so am unfamiliar with him.

‘mornin’ baby – thanks for helping me out so early this morning

HuffPo is all over the never ending Kaplan School Scandals. Kaplan is a cash cow for the newspaper nobody reads, the Washington Post. Profits from dodgy student loans subsidize the Post and Bill Gates. Socialism for the rich, always good.

I’d say Wright’s reputation pales a bit in comparison to MLK.

That’s certainly true.

On Sunday mornings on WMNF we have 2 hours of gospel music interspersed with clips of sermons from various AA churches. Liberation theology is alive and well. I’m not a Christian but these preachers are fire-breathing activists. Quite inspiring, actually.

I just put a diary up with the White House live feed of the DADT signing.

http://my.firedoglake.com/twolf1/2010/12/22/pres-obama-signs-dont-ask-dont-tell-repeal-act-of-2010-live-video/

there is a lot I am already unhappy about surrounding this event – I am purposefully choosing to be happy about it for all those who have dedicated their lives to bringing us this day

bless you dear twolf !

What was Ed Schultz on MSNBM talking about the fabulous job that Senator Specter had done.30 years someone needs to send Ed a copy of the graph Water Cooler posted 12/21/10.Inequality riseing household income,1979-2005.For the last 30 years the leaders of the Baby Boomers Specter and other Senators Think the WWII leaders made life to easy on the bottom 80%.The bottom 80% earned to much.The bottom 80% has to many benifits.Thay want the middle to take care of the bottom 20% charity how that working out in 3rd world countries.Specter has been in charge for the last 30 years liquidation of the bottom 80% of the USA’s foundation the WWII generation leadership put in place.Ed Schultz has to be at the top of worse person.Really Specter fabilous job he did for the top 20%.Specter you did not stop anything that led to 15million unemployed and 200million under paid and loss of safety nets.

Wonder how much hand sanitizer Obama will use after the ceremonial signing. Wouldn’t want him to catch teh gay or anything.

He thinks that transgendered discrimination is just fine, doesn’t believe they have a place in the LGBT community and if fact, believes they are a drag on equal rights for gays. In short, transgendered discrimination is okay with John Aravosis. He’s been very open about that on his blog and has even written screeds about it for HuffPo and Salon.

Thanks. Wonder why he would have such a bug up his ass (so to speak) about that. Never mind; idle Q.

Off to swim in the great capitalist cesspool.

US KIA Afghanistan: 1,441

US KIA Irak: 4.430

Iraki, Afghan and Pakistani casualties: estimates vary to over 1.5M

US MBS 2010: 44,020 and counting

Somebody to Love

Be good to yourselves, and all other living things

Namaste

I got selected for a jury pool, then got selected to sit in the jury box and endure the questioning. I was released when I said that I hold the police to a higher standard of conduct than other people. I suppose that exposed a bias against cops or something, though I don’t see it that way.

new post up top…

Many gay men do. Joe Solomonese is another.

Heh. In the police brutality case, when the pool was asked en masse whether anyone had anything to say, I raised my hand and said in a very loud voice: I think policy are routinely and gratuitously brutal.

Well, shame on them.

Good morning.

{{{Margaret}}}

The article referenced by the Al Gore remark cites (page 5) Dr. Richard Lindzen of MIT as a prominent global warming contrarian. As is, (or was, 20 months ago) Freeman Dyson. http://www.nytimes.com/2009/03/29/magazine/29Dyson-t.html?pagewanted=1

<Snnnnap!> Nice! Memories like those make life more bearable, don’t they!

Credentials don’t automatically confer credibility. Dyson isn’t a climatologist and Lindzen has a dog in this fight.

can i go off topic re: the marijuana thing? this is kinda interesting, in my view, anyway:

http://www.abajournal.com/weekly/article/potential_jury_nulllifies_law_before_even_being_seated_eliminating_drug_tri?utm_source=maestro&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=weekly_email

The seeds of change, perhaps?

Dyson doesn’t have a Ph. D. His skepticism gives me pause. He’s not 1 whose lack of intelligence has held him back. If he is skeptical, it’s not possible to say that only nobodies dissent.

I don’t know what you mean about Lindzen.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BzGZ3v-74Ro&feature=related