Our Reality TV President is going to issue an Executive Order against Twitter: https://www.cnn.com/2020/05/28/politics/trump-twitter-social-media-executive-order/index.html
It’s about them being able to censor his opinions by flagging his bullshit. In doing so, he seeks to censor Twitter’s opinions of his opinions on their private platform. We live in a fake timeline. These are not American values. This is not Constitutional. Anyone who supports this guy is complicit in his disgusting betrayal of American values. I mean, what the fuck are we doing anymore? President Snowflake shit the bed a year ago and here we are debating whether to institute fascism or not.
Kiva.org: Sponsor U.S. borrowers
Posted on: June 14, 2009
I’ve been on Kiva.org since February 2009 and suprisingly found almost a dozen borrowers in the U.S. This is probably the best way to support small business in the U.S., which should create some jobs.
I was suprised. Yet, after considering the current state of our economy I’m not as suprised anymore.
Just a thought.
I don’t mean to sound like a pervert, but I’ve been watching this show Sexy Cam and it’s absolutely amazing. It’s a hidden camera show where people either help with or watch a sexy act. The people in the show are not perverts, just random strangers. This show is truly hilarious.
What would you do if you found youself walking down the street and it looked like two people were getting it on in a convertible? How would you react during an interview when two girls were washing the windows outside in their underwear?
It plays on many peoples most embarrassing subject: sex. Ultimately the clips end in laughter or shock, as naturally they should. In general, I hate reality TV. But this is just too funny.
I think I just became part of the problem instead of the solution. It’s okay. I’ll live.
The New York Times today has an article about this. There are some interesting opinions to say the least.
“These are the worst of the worst,” Mr. Hannity of Fox News warned. “We seem to be letting our guard down again.”
John Yoo reportedly opined:
“Nobody wants to have a detention center for terrorists in their backyard.”
Also, the GOP’s unofficial chairman:
And Rush Limbaugh released a new edition of his Guantánamo Bay T-shirts with a new past-tense subtitle: “Club Gitmo — When America was safe.”
Basically, what fool would allow terrorists to be held in U.S. prisons? Well, it’s important to remember that there are people who kill because they feel that they have to and not for ideology already in U.S. prisons. So, arguably there are already more dangerous people than terrorists in U.S. prisons. Second, U.S. prisons already hold Jose Padilla, Richard Reed, and Zacarias Moussaoui; all sent there under Bush’s watch. So we must ask: was Bush a fool for putting these men in U.S. prisons? No.
This is probably the dumbest “issue” since the laughable claims that Obama is muslim. For most people this is a NIMBY issue. I live in Bozeman, MT. Move the detainees to Hardin, MT. I’m not sure 189 miles is still my backyard, but Hardin has been looking for a way to fill their vacant prison and this is an excellent way to do that.
Unfortunately, this is not an option. According to Montana News Station:
In a statement, Senator Jon Tester says quote ” I want to see a smart, long-term plan for those prisoners before we pay any tax dollars to move them.” Senator Tester does not want detainees to come to Montana.
Senator Max Baucus says he wants to review plans before funding the closure. Senator Baucus says quote “I’m committed to helping folks find a solution that would the Hardin facility to use and create jobs, but filling it with Guantanamo detainees is not the right way to do it.”
Rehberg is also opposed. Why? Because he’s a Republican. Tester and Baucus are opposed because they’re Democrats that are afraid of Republicans accusing them of “importing terrorists” or whatever they pay Luntz to come up with (if I had the money I would pay him to come up with phrasing too). It’s sad really.
I told a friend last night that I thought filling Hardin with terrorists was a great idea. If they escape, where will they go? Who will they harm? Their escape requires them to travel through hundreds of miles of Montana, North Dakota, South Dakota, Wyoming, or Idaho if they’re truly stupid. Want to know how those poor little townfolk that are so endangered will react to the idea of terrorists escaping prison and fleeing law enforcement across their property? Well, what my friend said kinda sums it up:
They’re already the same color as deer.
Perhaps not the most politically correct phrase but it’s also not a sober phrase (alcohol sober). The truth is that if the terrorists escape they will be shot. If you are on someone’s property, charging them, screaming “Jihad” and “Allah,” and are wearing a prison uniform – you’re not gonna have a good time.
I guess I don’t understand why no one seems to realize this, or that we already have several terrorists in our prisons and that’s worked out just fine. Why is everyone so afraid of everything these days? Our country is too polarized. It’s sad.
Torture: Republicans v. Democrats
Posted on: May 18, 2009
As we all know, the Republicans have put Pelosi in their sights. From CNN:
House Minority Leader John Boehner demanded that Pelosi provide evidence to support her accusations.”Lying to the Congress of the United States is a crime,” Boehner, R-Ohio, said on CNN’s “State of the Union.”
He should be careful about making such assertions. The Bush administration wasn’t exactly honest. It seems that there was a lot said about Iraq that wasn’t truthful. Notably, information in Bush’s 2003 State of the Union address. Try this one:
Congress and the American people must recognize another threat. Evidence from intelligence sources, secret communications and statements by people now in custody reveal that Saddam Hussein aids and protects terrorists, including members of Al Qaida. Secretly, and without fingerprints, he could provide one of his hidden weapons to terrorists, or help them develop their own.
The source was Ibn al-Sheikh al-Libi (aka Curveball) (that’s possibly misspelled), who made this admission to avoid further torture. According to Colonel Lawrence B Wilkerson, “former chief of staff of the Department of State during the term of Secretary of State Colin Powell”:
Likewise, what I have learned is that as the administration authorized harsh interrogation in April and May of 2002–well before the Justice Department had rendered any legal opinion–its principal priority for intelligence was not aimed at pre-empting another terrorist attack on the U.S. but discovering a smoking gun linking Iraq and al-Qa’ida.
So furious was this effort that on one particular detainee, even when the interrogation team had reported to Cheney’s office that their detainee “was compliant” (meaning the team recommended no more torture), the VP’s office ordered them to continue the enhanced methods. The detainee had not revealed any al-Qa’ida-Baghdad contacts yet. This ceased only after Ibn al-Shaykh al-Libi, under waterboarding in Egypt, “revealed” such contacts. Of course later we learned that al-Libi revealed these contacts only to get the torture to stop.
There in fact were no such contacts. (Incidentally, al-Libi just “committed suicide” in Libya. Interestingly, several U.S. lawyers working with tortured detainees were attempting to get the Libyan government to allow them to interview al-Libi….)
Here’s a Washington Post article about his suicide that is not linked to in Wilkerson’s article.
It’s sad how hypocritical Rep. Boehner is about what Pelosi knew about what the Bush White House was actually doing. If he is going after what Pelosi knew, then perhaps we should actually disbar the 12 lawyers that worked for the Bush administration. After all, they did:
…[misuse] their license to practice law to provide legal cover for the war crime of torture. This misuse of their license requires the bar association to disbar them or the bar will become complicit in torture.
I guess if we’re going after everybody but those who actually approved torture this makes sense. Let’s nail Pelosi to a cross. Then we can start with the 12 attorneys who allegedly misused their law licenses. Then we can go after those who were actually responsible, and I’m not referring to those who were in the interrogation rooms physically applying the illegal techniques. I’m referring to those who approved and ordered them to be carried out.
The sooner this mess gets cleaned up the sooner we can start cleaning up the present mess – or at least prepare to clean it up in 2012.
Food Safety: It’s up to us now
Posted on: May 18, 2009
As my 1100 watt microwave heats up my WeightWatchers SmartOnes Fettucini Alfredo with tasty “hand-cut” pieces of broccoli, I can’t help but to wonder how long I should actually microwave it. The instructions are based on a 1200 watt microwave. But unfortunately it’s my problem to figure this out. If I’m wrong I risk bacterial contamination.
Some might say that’s the price of convenience. Others will charge that large processed food producers should be more responsible about tracing their ingredients, testing their cooking instructions, and informing consumers of risks to eating these products. What’s shocking is that the New York Times reported that:
[A]ttempts by The New York Times to follow the directions on several brands of frozen meals, including ConAgra’s Banquet pot pies, failed to achieve the required 165-degree temperature. Some spots in the pies heated to only 140 degrees even as parts of the crust were burnt.
A ConAgra consumer hotline operator said the claims by microwave-oven manufacturers about their wattage power could not be trusted, and that any pies not heated enough should not be eaten. “We definitely want it to reach that 165-degree temperature,” she said. “It’s a safety issue.”
In 2007, the U.S.D.A.’s inspection of the ConAgra plant in Missouri found records that showed some of ConAgra’s own testing of its directions failed to achieve “an adequate lethality” in several products, including its Chicken Fried Beef Steak dinner. Even 18 minutes in a large conventional oven brought the pudding in a Kid Cuisine Chicken Breast Nuggets meal to only 142 degrees, the federal agency found.
So, now I’m not supposed to believe my owner’s manual that says my microwave is actually 1100 watts? Isn’t that illegal? I’ve always been on board the personal responsibility bandwagon, which argues that people should be responsible for what they eat. Yet, it’s disturbing that food producers are selling products that are “unpalatable” when properly cooked.
I don’t buy it. My instructions tell me to microwave for 2.5 minutes, stir, and heat for another minute (both on high). I heated for 2.5 minutes, stirred, heated for 1.5 minutes, stirred, and heated for another minute. What the heck does Heinz think they’re selling me? A dream in a box? It cost less than $3 and allows me to prolong cutting up 4 melons until later tonight. The broccoli never tastes as good as fresh broccoli, so what’s so (un)palatable?
The product is a solution to a time-related or convenience-related problem. It’s not a solution for good nutrition or excellent eating habits. Why can’t they just print the instructions for a few common wattage microwaves and tell me how to cook it so it doesn’t have harmful bacteria. If it tastes crappy it’s just a reminder that I’m eating pre-prepared food out of a plastic tray that I bought in a box and nuked for several minutes. It’s not exactly fine dining, nor is it supposed to be.
So, it appears that I have been partially wrong. Producers could do more to help me be responsible. Consumers could be smarter too (that’ll be the day). Either way, I’m going to continue to sorta-enjoy my overcooked pasta-in-a-box that I eat 2-3 times a month if I’m unlucky.
Lol @ Republicans
Posted on: April 29, 2009
So, Senator Arlen Specter switched parties today. That means that if Franken wins Minnesota the Democrats will have a filibuster proof majority, but I’m sure you knew this. This is funny because after 8 years of Bush/Cheney the Republicans are getting what’s coming to them. I’m not an Obama cheerleader and I’m not really sure if I like him or dislike him, but I know I hate Bush. I realize that according to the LATimes, Specter supported Bush 76% of the time. According to FactCheck, Obama supported Bush 40% of the time in 2007 (and Harry Reid 39%, but perhaps not in the same year). Furthermore, McCain supported Bush anywhere from 67% (2001) to 77% (2005) to 95% (2007). Much of this (probably at least 35% but that’s a shot in the dark) was somewhat procedural. Some things just aren’t controversial – like domestic violence (unless you’re Joe Biden):
Senator Biden, how, as vice president, would you work to shrink this gap of polarization which has sprung up in Washington, which you both have spoken about here tonight?
BIDEN: Well, that’s what I’ve done my whole career, Gwen, on very, very controversial issues, from dealing with violence against women, to putting 100,000 police officers on the street, to trying to get something done about the genocide in — that was going on in Bosnia.
And I — I have been able to reach across the aisle. I think it’s fair to say that I have almost as many friends on the Republican side of the aisle as I do the Democratic side of the aisle.
In his fairness he did want to change the topic which is very common in politics and is done by everyone on both sides of the aisle because it’s the only way politicians get to say what they want. But these aren’t really controversial issues, although at times the way to solve them can be. Still, it shows that eventually everyone votes with the President.
I’ve digressed. While Specter has supported Bush about twice as much as Obama and Reid he still has his reputation as a moderate Republican and the switch can only hurt the Republicans. The last thing the party needs is to be losing their rational Senators.
But those of us that aren’t partisans are secretly cheering becuase the Republicans will probably face a filibuster proof majority. They deserve this. Especially after all those stupid Tea Parties. While those who took part in them are overwhelmingly decent people and not “right-wing extremists” (also funny – learn about left-wing extremists), the troubling aspect is that an overwhelming number of tea-partiers were cheering Bush on. “Don’t mortgage our childrens future!” “Taxed Enough Already.” Why wasn’t there anyone angry that Obama appears to just be furthering what Bush started: The Great Bank Robbery of 2008. Turns out, the Treasury actually overpaid $78 billion for TARP assets. But it’s not robbery because they gave it away for us – semantics really.
I for one am tired about hearing how corporations are too big to fail. That we have to save the idiots who got us into this mess in order to get out of this mess. I’m tired of hearing criticism of Obama that is as – and frequently more – applicable to Bush. The hypocrisy kills me. So while I’m happy the Republicans will more than likely face a spanking, I will end with some solid advice on how to revive the Republican party: don’t focus on the religious right or nutjobs because these two groups are already more than likely going to vote Republican (unless they defect to a third party) just to prevent a Democrat from gaining office. The defectors will be offset by Democrats defecting to other third parties. Anyway, here’s the idea: martyr creationism.
Creationism contradicts widely accepted scientific knowledge about plate tectonics, volcanoes, diamonds, oil, fossils, carbon-dating, and a host of other “less important” issues like the creation of the planet and universe. It’s just dumb. Please stop talking about it. It’s like saying that the cell isn’t the most basic unit of life (one of the foundations of biology), which of course is exactly what Pro-Choicers argue. While Roe v Wade provides women the right to choose (and there is the restriction of “undue burden” in the ability to obtain an abortion), there is no reason women can’t choose expediently. Permitting abortions in the first 3 months isn’t too controversial because the Republicans’ hands are tied by the Supreme Court. Taking this stance, with the disclaimer that your hands are tied, but that you are pragmatic and believe in science – specifically cell theory and evolutionary theory – might not win over religious zealots but it will win over moderates. That’s the key demographic. If you believe in rapture, then you’re limited in who you can vote for. When you’re rational, there’s no limit to who can be voted for.
This is wild speculation but I would think that moderates are also better at voting because they know candidates names and not just their party affiliation. I shudder when thinking about how many people in Montana voted for Steve Bullock instead of Tim Fox because they either didn’t know what an Attorney General was or didn’t care. I gave money to Tim Fox and Obama. My Obama money is regretful, but at the time I gave him 2 $5 donations as a way of saying: way to go man, Hillary sucks (I was one of those white males that inexplicably didn’t like her – Palin fixed that almost overnight… there’s a bizarre study of human psychology somewhere in there). The money to Tim Fox was to say: I like you and want you to win. I was so naive that I actually thought the there was no way that Fox could lose; he lost by 24,677 votes. Thanks mostly uneducated voters (there are definitely some really smart Democrats out there and I love talking with them but they’re the exception and not the rule, almost the same holds true for Republicans but it seems that uneducated Republicans are more familiar with why they believe what they believe – even if it doesn’t really make sense).
So, the Republicans need to martyr creationism for their position on abortion and move the party left. Not far left, just a little left. They can get Specter back and they can even get me. But I want some Republican-reparations for Bush. I want to see a resolution pass that denounces the Constitutional offenses Bush and Cheney most certainly committed so that we can move on, possibly to Obama. It’s virtually impossible for many of us to criticize Obama too harshly, which consequently could allow the Republicans to regain control, without something significant.
P.S. I reluctantly add that I voted for Ron Paul. If you didn’t figure out that the Ludwig von Mises Institute (Great Bank Robbery Article) is Austrian economics, which Ron Paul subscribes to, and that I don’t like either party (although I supported Obama in the Democratic primary, a late-comer to the Paul movement); well, someone else would have. There doesn’t need speculation on this. I’m not crazy about Ron Paul anymore – he let me down by not putting his name on all 50 states last November. Also, his movement is filled with people who keep talking about global banking cabal conspiracies and the one world government conspiracy. Alex Jones is all about this, I’m not. But if you have time you might grab some beer and watch his video on Bohemian Grove – it’s fun.
This occurred to me today. These two goals are counterproductive.
Environmentalists want to protect the environment. I reread a post I made about Ecuador’s Constitution. It’s about Aldo Leopold’s land ethic and Article 1 of the Ecuadorian Constitution:
“Nature or Pachamama, where life is reproduced and exists, has the right to exist, persist, maintain and regenerate its vital cycles, structure, functions and its processes in evolution. Every person, people, community or nationality, will be able to demand the recognitions of rights for nature before the public bodies.”
Well, today I saw a reference to Article 25 of the United Nations’ Universal Declaration of Human Rights:
(1) Everyone has the right to a standard of living adequate for the health and well-being of himself and of his family, including food, clothing, housing and medical care and necessary social services, and the right to security in the event of unemployment, sickness, disability, widowhood, old age or other lack of livelihood in circumstances beyond his control.
So, do you see the contradiction? How do we honor both at the same time? Now add a growing global population.
Obama girls name dog “Bo”
Posted on: April 13, 2009
Lol. Obama is too frequently referred to as “Bo”. This sounds really stupid to anyone who has ever known someone whose name is Bo, but that doesn’t stop people from calling the President, “Bo”.
The best part about this is that no one can call Obama “Bo” anymore because it will be referring to the presidential dog and thus be insulting. That’s hilarious.
Who holds U.S. debt?
Posted on: April 6, 2009
This CNBC slideshow is facinating. Here’s who holds U.S. debt.
15. Luxembourg – $87.2 billion
14. Depository Institutions – $107.3 billion (includes commercial banks, savings banks, and credit unions.
13. Russia – $119.6 billion
12. UK – $124.2 billion
11. Insurance Companies – $126.4 billion (includes property-casualty and life insurance firms)
10. Brazil – $133.5 billion
9. Caribbean Banking Centers – $176.6 billion
8. Oil Exporters – $186.3 billion (includes Ecuador, Venezuela, Indonesia, Bahrain, Iran, Iraq, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, the UAE, Algeria, Gabon, Libya, and Nigeria)
7. Other Investors – $413.2 billion (includes individuals, government-sponsored enterprises, brokers and dealers, bank personal trusts, estates, corporate and non-corporate businesses)
6. Pension Funds – $456.4 billion (includes both private and local government pension funds)
5. State and Local Governments – $522.7 billion
4. Japan – $634.8 billion
3. China (mainland) – $739.6 billion [Hong Kong – not included – holds another $71.7 billion]
2. Mutual Funds – $769.1 billion (includes money market funds, mutual funds and closed-end funds)
1. Federal Reserve and Intragovernmental Holdings – $4.806 trillion
I’m not sure where the other trillion and a half or so went.
Family Guy: What Happened?
Posted on: March 16, 2009
This is a little weird to blog about tonight’s episode really sucked. I’m among those who have loved this show for years but now I’m over it. So, here’s a little over-analysis of tonight’s episode:
The show – sans commercials – is 21 minutes 15 seconds.
- The intro is 30 seconds.
- The video of Conway Twitty singing played for 2 minutes 45 seconds.
- The Dust in the Wind montage went on for 30 seconds.
- The opera scene went on for 57 seconds.
So, that leaves 16 minutes 33 seconds of actual material. That’s pathetic: 4 minutes 42 seconds of bullshit.That’s 22% of the show. One out of every 5 minutes of this stupid show is crappy music. It didn’t use to be this way. Once upon a time, Family Guy did this in moderation (extreme moderation compared to tonight). It was humorous because it was unique to Family Guy; but, when this characteristic overwhelms the personality it gets old quick.
What’s even more amazing is that they took a shot at The Simpsons, saying Homer was loved more in 1993. At least the Simpsons can still come up with enough material to produce a complete show. So it goes, one show dies and another takes a tiny step up – South Park. This has always been a toss-up before because Family Guy has always held a special place in my heart (that didn’t come out right), but I’m over it. South Park’s 13th season premiere was fantastic, thank God for Matt Stone and Trey Parker.
Obama’s Stimulus: initial Success!
Posted on: March 3, 2009
CNN has an article today about
[LaHood]said the project will support 60 jobs. “And that’s how we’re going to get the country back on its feet,” LaHood added.
Mark Compton, director of government affairs for American Infrastructure, said his company received $2.1 million in federal funds, by way of the Maryland State Highway Administration.
On average, every billion in highway infrastructure spending creates 30,000 jobs. This article makes this statistic clear. The fact that we can see this start and begin to work is encouraging. It’s really annoying hearing Limbaugh pray to God that the stimulus fails and more people lose their jobs and homes. I’m convinced he’s a misanthropist.
I look forward to more articles like this.
I Love Kiva.org
Posted on: February 27, 2009
This site is amazing. Right now there are 47 individuals or groups seeking loans. A few nights ago I looked and there were 4. Then 3. Then 10. Then 4. Then 6. By reloading the page every few minutes I found that people were making loans faster than others were requesting them. I’ve compiled a non-exhaustive list of countries that loans can be made to:
Togo
Ukraine
Ghana
Sierra Leone
Nigeria
Honduras
Pakistan
Uganda
Tajikistan
Paraguay
Peru
Senegal
Viet Nam
It’s fantastic that I can lend money to people in these countries. Most of these country’s citizens lack access to credit and the little money they borrow can go a long way for increasing crop yields or expanding their businesses. I would love to see a loan request from Bangladesh. This partner started up there. I’m going to add to the list over time, but needed a starting place. In March I’ll start posting the loans I make; it should be fun.
UPDATE 1: 2/28/09
I’ve been keeping this post updated, although the last update was seamless. There are currently 465 loans being requested and after looking through the first 10 pages out of 24 I’m adding some new countries to the list:
Mexico
Bolivia
Costa Rica
Cambodia
Mali
Lebanon
Cameroon
Philippines
Tanzania
Samoa
Afghanistan
Benin
Nicaragua
Azerbaijan
Dominican Republic
Impressive. This site never fails to amaze me. When I originally posted about Kiva I had never seen this many people but had visited it off and on for a week or two. I’m not checking it much more regularly. It changes quickly. Someone got their loan in the time it took me to type this (~3 minutes) and now there are 464.
UPDATE: 3/11/09
Guatemala
There are now 129 loans waiting to be made. Here are some fun facts from Kiva, this week:
3,100 entrepreneurs funded
1 loan was made every 21 seconds
12,936 lenders made loans
$1,007,050 was lent this week
While these numbers are encouraging consider that it adds up to $52 million annually (I know it’s a little more call it $53 million if it makes you happy; hell call it $60m, $100m, whatever). If 1 million people loaned $75/year, or 3 million people loaned $25/year the number would be higher.
- In: Politics | Uncategorized
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Yesterday, Karl Rove wrote another piece for the WSJ. This caught my attention:
The Bush tax cuts were not targeted to “the wealthiest few.” Everyone who paid federal income taxes received a tax cut, with the largest percentage of reductions going to those at the bottom. Last year, a family of four making $40,000 saved an average of $2,053 because of the Bush tax cuts. The tax code became more progressive as the share paid by the top 10% increased to 46.4% from 46% — and the nation experienced 52 straight months of job growth after the cuts took effect. And since when is giving back some of what people pay in taxes “transferring wealth?”
Here’s what the Bush tax cuts look like from a different perspective. David Cay Johnston writes in the NYT:
* Under the Bush tax cuts, the 400 taxpayers with the highest incomes – a minimum of $87 million in 2000, the last year for which the government will release such data – now pay income, Medicare and Social Security taxes amounting to virtually the same percentage of their incomes as people making $50,000 to $75,000.
* Those earning more than $10 million a year now pay a lesser share of their income in these taxes than those making $100,000 to $200,000.
* The alternative minimum tax, created 36 years ago to make sure the very richest paid taxes, takes back a growing share of the tax cuts over time from the majority of families earning $75,000 to $1 million – thousands and even tens of thousands of dollars annually. Far fewer of the very wealthiest will be affected by this tax.
The analysis examined only income reported on tax returns. The Treasury Department says that the very wealthiest find ways, legal and illegal, to shelter a lot of income from taxes. So the gap between the very richest and everyone else is almost certainly much larger.
Interesting…
The U.S. government sued UBS AG, Switzerland’s largest bank, to try to force disclosure of the identities of as many as 52,000 American customers who allegedly hid their secret Swiss accounts from U.S. tax authorities.
U.S. customers had 32,940 secret accounts containing cash and 20,877 accounts holding securities, according to the Justice Department lawsuit filed today in federal court in Miami. U.S. customers failed to report and pay U.S. taxes on income earned in those accounts, which held about $14.8 billion in assets during the middle of this decade, according to the court filing.
So it appears that David Cay Johnston was right: his numbers aren’t as accurate as they could be what with $14.8 billion being hidden and all. I like Karl Rove. He has politics in his veins, knows what he believes, why he believes it, and actively works to make his beliefs a reality (an expert in legislature and bureaucracy). I like Dick Cheney for the same reasons. Their politics suck, but that aside, they’re brilliant (think about what they got away with – that’s just what we know about). It’s no wonder Republicans feel the same degree of animosity for Rahm Emanuel that the Democrats feel for Rove or Cheney.
Meanwhile, the Drudge Report is sending countless hits to a blog post by Jake Tapper that includes a $338 billion tax increase on those making $250,000 or more annually. The tax hike is the expiration of the Bush tax cuts. I don’t know what to think about this. It’s annoying because there are better ways to design tax cuts. Hell, if they really cared about lowering taxes they would reform and simplify the tax code. Isn’t it sad how many of Obama’s to-be secretaries and other various Congressman have tax discrepancies? How many Republicans have suffered the same fate?
I for one am against tax cuts. You read that correctly. Tax cuts are supposed to be good because they stimulate the economy and put the power of that stimulation into the hands of the people. That’s nice, but the problem is that when the government has less tax revenue they acquire more debt. The government doesn’t spend less just because they have less, but instead take on more debt. Hillary was just in China encouraging them to buy more debt while ‘looking the other way’ on the subject of human rights. I’m not a huge human rights advocate; I would like my rights back first thank you very much. The point is that we are “mortgaging” what we believe in, our values, and ultimately this debt deteriorates our nation’s economic and financial security (this is not a winning strategy). So when taxes go up our government takes on less debt. It sucks. But “fiscal sanity” is a myth. It doesn’t exist anymore. Both parties embrace it and neither follow it.
Selling our country to the Chinese is not a prudent national defense policy. It’s the opposite of one. Raise taxes, again, and again, and again, and again, until somebody finally snaps and scares some fiscal sanity into Congress.
Black Dispatches: Slave Spies
Posted on: February 21, 2009
UPDATE: I found 2 transcripts of the same video clip. Here’s a link to Carl Azuz (student reporter) who apparently replayed Barbara Starr’s clip about Mr. Dagler. I looked for Ken on LexisNexis (back 100 years) and searched the New York Times, Wall Street Journal, and Washington Post back to the 19th century (yes I realize this is somewhat recent news) and got nothing. There’s 1 more transcript but it’s the same clip as Azuz’s except it’s from February 23. I checked CNN ImageSource and got nothing but I’m not signed up and don’t understand the difference between “personal use” and “professional use.” As a poli sci student about to graduate I don’t see a difference. Anyway, I would like to see this clip.
I’m going to reprint an article on CNN.com by Barbara Starr and Bill Mears that can be found at (2/20/09): http://www.cnn.com/2009/US/02/20/spy.slaves/index.html
WASHINGTON (CNN) — William Jackson was a slave in the home of Confederate president Jefferson Davis during the Civil War. It turns out he was also a spy for the Union Army, providing key secrets to the North about the Confederacy.
William Jackson, a slave, listened closely to Jefferson Davis’ conversations and leaked them to the North.
Jackson was Davis’ house servant and personal coachman. He learned high-level details about Confederate battle plans and movements because Davis saw him as a “piece of furniture” — not a human, according to Ken Dagler, author of “Black Dispatches,” which explores espionage by America’s slaves.
“Because of his role as a menial servant, he simply was ignored,” Dagler said. “So Jefferson Davis would hold conversations with military and Confederate civilian officials in his presence.”
Dagler has written extensively on the issue for the CIA’s Center for the Study of Intelligence .
In late 1861, Jackson fled across enemy lines and was immediately debriefed by Union soldiers. Dagler said Jackson provided information about supply routes and military strategy.
“In Jackson’s case, what he did was … present some of the current issues that were affecting the Confederacy that you could not read about in the local press that was being passed back and forth across local lines. He actually had some feel for the issues of supply problems,” Dagler said.
Jackson and other slaves’ heroic efforts have been a forgotten legacy of the war — lost amid the nation’s racially charged past and the heaps of information about the war’s historic battles. But historians over the last few decades have been taking an interest in the sacrifice of African-Americans during those war years.
Jackson’s espionage is mentioned in a letter from a general to Secretary of War Edwin Stanton. Maj. Gen. Irvin McDowell refers to “Jeff Davis’ coachman” as the source of information about Confederate deployments. Video Watch grandson of slaves: “They call me Little Man”
Dagler said slaves who served as spies were able to collect incredibly detailed information, in large part because of their tradition of oral history. Because Southern laws prevented blacks from learning how to read and write, he said, the slave spies listened intently to minute details and memorized them.
“What the Union officers found very quickly with those who crossed the line … was that if you talked to them, they remembered a great more in the way of details and specifics than the average person … because again they relied totally on their memory as opposed to any written records,” he said.
Jackson wasn’t the only spy. There were hundreds of them. In some cases, the slaves made it to the North, only to return to the South to risk being hanged. One Union general wrote that he counted on black spies in Tennessee because “no white man had the pluck to do it.”
No one was better than Robert Smalls, a slave who guided vital supply ships in and out of Charleston Harbor in South Carolina. He eventually escaped and provided the Union with “a turning of the forces in Charleston Harbor,” according to an annual report of the Navy secretary to President Lincoln.
“A debriefing of him gave … the Union force there the entire fortification scheme for the interior harbor,” Dagler said.
One of the most iconic spies was Harriet Tubman, who ran the Underground Railroad, bringing slaves to the North. In 1863, she was asked by the Union to help with espionage in South Carolina. She picked former slaves from the region for an espionage ring and led many of the spy expeditions herself.
“The height of her intelligence involvement occurred late in 1863 when she actually led a raid into South Carolina,” Dagler said. “In addition to the destruction of millions of dollars of property, she brought out over 800 slaves back into freedom in the North.”
As the nation marks Black History Month in February, Dagler said that history should include the sacrifices of the African-Americans who risked their lives for their nation. Many paid the ultimate sacrifice.
“They were all over the place, and no one [in the South] considered them to be of any value. Consequently, they heard and saw virtually everything done by their masters, who were the decision-makers,” Dagler said.
Whatever happened to William Jackson, the spy in Jefferson Davis’s house?
Unfortunately, that remains a great unknown.
“He simply disappeared from history, as so many of them have.”
More can be found at: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Black_Dispatches
I still can’t find any sign of Ken Dagler’s book. I would love to read it. That’s in part why I’m posting this, as a reminder.
Another article: https://www.cia.gov/library/center-for-the-study-of-intelligence/csi-publications/books-and-monographs/black-dispatches/index.html
Cognitive Coup 