Bob Ehrlich: petty governor, petty threat, petty vision
Maryland governor Bob Ehrlich was in fine fettle on Monday during a talk-radio show on WBAL. The Washington Post's Matthew Mosk reported:

Maryland Gov. Robert L. Ehrlich Jr. vowed yesterday that he would 'take down' Democratic lawmakers who question his administration's practice of firing state employees and replacing them with political allies. [...]

The lawmakers, Ehrlich said, have 'questioned my integrity. I will not put up with that any time, any place, under any context, regardless of my position. . . . And we are going to, believe me, take them down on this. Mike Miller, Mike Busch, all of them.'

Democrats were quaking in their boots. Well, no, they weren't, judging by State Senator Brian Frosh's reaction:

Democrats called the remark odd and appeared more amused by it than threatened.

'What's he going to do, short-sheet my bed?' Frosh laughed.

Heh. Indeed.

The thing is, Ehrlich can't have it both ways: he wants to be seen both as a tough, no holds barred Republican pol and as some kind of civic-minded leader of integrity. Firing more than four times as many state employees as his Democratic predecessor (284 vs. 65) isn't managerial pruning on the merits, it's a political purge. And it's by no means the only petty, disturbing episode of Ehrlich's governorship.

There's the ban he imposed on any state official talking with two Baltimore Sun reporters (David Nitkin and Michael Olester) last November after taking issue with their coverage of, among other things, Ehrlich's use of state tourism commercials for self-promotion. Ehrlich's impulse -- which he acknowledged was supposed to have a "chilling effect" -- has turned into a costly, months-long confrontation in state and federal courts.

There are the still unexplained restrictions on completely peaceful protesters during Ehrlich's ceremonial veto of the Fair Share Health Care bill in June -- setting aside for a moment the patent foolishness of that veto.

There's the unaccountable poke in the eye to African-Americans of holding a fundraiser at the whites-only Elkridge golf course -- and the lazy "not my business" response when questioned about that.

All this -- contempt for opposition, press, and public, favors for corporate America, snubs and punishments for everyone else, self-pitying tantrums when things go wrong -- seems like a familiar pattern, doesn't it? The pieces may fall into place when you learn that former Congressman Ehrlich learned his brand of politics as Tom DeLay's deputy whip in the late 1990s.

You don't need to focus on his personality to oppose the guy, of course. Ehrlich's single big idea for Maryland is... wait for it... slot machines. Together with carrying water for Wal-Mart to help a megacorporation avoid paying a decent percentage of payroll for health care, and preferring to balance Maryland health care accounts by chopping legal immigrant women and children off the rolls, Ehrlich's pinched, selfish picture of a brave new Maryland emerges clearly enough: fleece the poor with gambling machines. Reduce their services. Trap them in a miserable Wal-Mart economy. Collect cash and IOUs from Bentonville. Self-promote on the public dime. Whine at, threaten, and bully opponents and the press.

It fits: the pettiness of the man is matched by a petty vision for the state. Maryland can do much better than this. I hope we will come November 2006. posted by Thomas Nephew at 11:20:00 PM -- |  

 
JAGs vs. OLC on torture and abuse
At "Balkinization," Marty Lederman is introducing a number of memos by military JAGs (judge advocate generals) just released to the public by Senator Lindsay Graham after two years of unjustifiable secrecy. Lederman :

These memos reveal the JAGs as the real heroes of this story. Indeed, it's uncanny how prescient these memos were. As Senator Graham said on Monday, 'the JAGS were telling the policymakers: If you go down this road, you are going to get your own people in trouble. You are on a slippery slope. You are going to lose the moral high ground. This was 2003. And they were absolutely right.'

Lederman reprints the JAG memos, written by Air Force, Army, Navy, and Marines JAGs, in a separate post. Again, from Lederman's summary:

It is fair to say that these accounts reflected sustained, uniform and passionate opposition to the OLC legal theories that were being foisted upon the military. Indeed, the tone of the memos is one of barely concealed incredulity, and outrage—disbelief—that a young legal academic from DOJ could sweep right in and so quickly overturn decades of carefully wrought military policy, using legal analysis that almost certainly would not withstand scrutiny outside the Administration and around the world.

That academic is one John Yoo, now a law professor at the University of California at Berkeley. Lederman excerpts one warning by Air Force Major General Jack Rives:

[T]he use of the more extreme interrogation techniques simply is not how the U.S. armed forces have operated in recent history. We have taken the legal and moral "high-road" in the conduct of our military operations regardless of how others may operate. Our forces are trained in this legal and moral mindset beginning the day they enter active duty. It should be noted that law of armed conflict and code of conduct training have been mandated by Congress and emphasized since the Viet Nam conflict when our POWs were subjected to torture by their captors. We need to consider the overall impact of approving extreme interrogation techniques as giving official approval and legal sanction to the application of interrogation techniques that U.S. forces have consistently been trained are unlawful.

(Just imagine telling that to Rush Limbaugh, or posting it as your own comment at any of a number of supposedly top flight blogs. You'd be accused of naivete at best and of hating America at worst.)

In an interview with Jane Mayer of the New Yorker earlier this year ("Outsourcing Torture"), Yoo crowed that the debate about torture, abuse, and extraordinary renditions (the practice of sending prisoners to countries that may torture them) is academic:

[Yoo] went on to suggest that President Bush’s victory in the 2004 election, along with the relatively mild challenge to Gonzales mounted by the Democrats in Congress, was "proof that the debate is over." He said, "The issue is dying out. The public has had its referendum.

As I've written before, let's not let that be the last word. Support the torture commission, support the McCain amendments. Stand up for America.


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EDIT, 7/27: Title changed from "Real JAGS fought Yoo". posted by Thomas Nephew at 10:00:00 AM -- |  

 
Torture commission, detainee treatment votes expected soon
Human Rights First is notifying supporters that votes on the Levin and McCain amendments to the Defense Authorization Bill are expected soon -- "the vote is expected this week and might be as early as Tuesday."

The Levin amendment, described here last week, would establish an independent national commission to review U.S. policies and practices on the treatment of detainees.

The Washington Post's Liz Sidoti described the McCain amendments on Monday ("GOP Senators Push Detainee Treatment Rules"):

One of McCain's amendments would make interrogation techniques outlined in the Army field manual -- and any future versions of it -- the standard for treatment of all detainees in the Defense Department's custody. The United States also would have to register all detainees in Defense Department facilities with the Red Cross to ensure all are accounted for. [...]

Another McCain amendment would expressly prohibit cruel, inhumane and degrading treatment of prisoners in U.S. custody no matter where they are held.

The McCain amendment might thus close a loophole identified by Marty Lederman in January, if it includes prisoners held by the CIA or other personnel not bound by the Uniform Code of Military Justice.

I've adapted the e-mail I got from Human Rights First:

1. Call your Senator.
2. Identify yourself as a constituent and tell the staffer who takes your call:

I'm asking Senator ______ to support Sen. McCain's and Sen. Levin's amendments to the Department of Defense authorization bill, which would reform U.S. interrogation policy. The policies that led to abuse and torture in U.S. facilities need to be reformed. Please ask the Senator to support these amendments.

3. [Cheer up the good folks at Human Rights First by letting them know you made the phone call. Leave a comment here, too, if so inclined.]

For good measure, you can fill out this e-mail form supporting the Levin amendment as well, but phone calls are probably better at this point.


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THANKS, Jim, Ted, Eve, The Editors. All you folks are calling, right? Thanks!

UPDATE, 7/27: The votes are likely to be delayed until after Labor Day, according to today's Washington Post. Liz Sidoti reports:

The Republican-run Senate postponed fights with the Bush administration over the treatment of terror suspects and military base closings Tuesday after GOP leaders failed to derail proposals opposed by the White House.

I've seen no reaction from Human Rights First yet, so I'd say keep up the phone calls until further notice, it shows how many people care about this issue. But the votes appear not to be "expected soon" any more, so come to your own conclusion. Meanwhile, snail-mail letters to Congress and letters to the editor about the Levin and McCain amendments will also be timely again.

UPDATE, 7/27: An expert I contacted agrees that one of the McCain amendments is/was sweeping enough to prevent overseas CID (cruel, inhumane, degrading) treatment, even by CIA personnel. (Billmon had some doubts about this; see "Film Noir," 3rd to last paragraph). On the other hand, these amendments are subject to a lot of, well, amending. A "presidential waiver" essentially gutting the McCain amendment was added and then dropped before the authorization bill was pulled. The post-Labor Day McCain amendments should be judged in part on whether the "CID by overseas CIA" loophole is really closed.

UPDATE, 7/27: Human Rights First e-mails a " thank you" to everyone who called and helped:

Thanks to your work, the Administration can no longer sweep the torture scandal under the rug. Without the thousands of letters and phone calls from those of you who took action over the past several days, we might've hit a dead end yesterday.

But instead, the Senate sent a message to the administration that until it deals directly with the problems surrounding detainee treatment, the Department of Defense authorization bill will not move forward.

White House and Senate leadership on the other side, and we still helped fight 'em to a draw. Good work! And we'll do even better next time. Thanks! posted by Thomas Nephew at 2:15:00 AM -- |  

 
Department of followups
Race to save the "Lord God Bird", 5/9/05 -- The New York Times' James Gorman reports that some scientists doubt the accuracy of a June 3 report in Science claiming the long-lost ivory-billed woodpecker, a.k.a. "the Lord God Bird," was sighted in the Cache River National Wildlife Refuge in Arkansas:

Three scientists have a paper in the works at the Public Library of Science challenging the report in Science. No details have been released, but there are other signs of doubt.

David Allen Sibley, the prominent American birder and the author of popular field guides, said Thursday that he had concluded that in the Science paper, "the evidence they've presented falls short of proof."

No one is alleging a hoax. The publishers of the June 3 article stand by their claim, and welcome the debate. The ivory billed woodpecker has not been seen again since its possible rediscovery in February and April, 2004.

UPDATE, 8/7: Washington Post, 8/2, Kelly P. Kissell: Ivory Bill's Doubters Convinced by Tapes: We were astounded. Yes, I totally believe, thank goodness, there are ivory bills," Mark Robbins of the University of Kansas said in a telephone interview. "We are ecstatic. Once everybody hears these vocalizations, you can't help but be convinced.

It never ends, they have no shame (Schiavo remix), 6/18/05 -- Jonathan Alter of Newsweek, reflecting on the Terri Schiavo and Tawana Brawley cases, suggested that Jeb Bush and Al Sharpton have more in common than Jeb may think. His unsparing conclusion:

George and Barbara Bush have always said their children make them proud. I’m sure they always wanted a son who not only intruded on an excruciating family drama, but persecuted a man who has already suffered greatly, flinging false accusations for political gain. That’s character.

Mladic to sell himself out -- for $5M, 6/19/05 -- Obviously, this hasn't happened yet, and it might never have been in the cards. Writing for Reuters, Matthew Robinson discussed a new film about Mladic to be broadcast on Serbian TV. "The Rise and Fall of General Mladic," produced by SENSE (South East News Service Europe) "portrays Mladic as an arrogant but mediocre commander who became ruthless and self-obsessed, far from the military supremo many Serbs still believe he was." One man who got to know Mladic pretty well was a pathologist named Stankovic, who thinks optimism about Mladic's surrender is misplaced:

He said he was certain Mladic would kill himself rather than surrender, contrary to recent media speculation that he is negotiating his handover to the Hague tribunal with Belgrade.

Ehrlich family values: cash over kids, 7/1/05 -- Unless they're unborn kids, I guess. Maryland for Health Care notes that Governor Ehrlich has restored $1.5 million for pregnant legal immigrants, but that a cut of $5 million earmarked for Medicaid for children of legal immigrants remains in force. It's not because of a budget crisis; as the organization notes,

With a $1 billion dollar surplus, the additional $5.5 million needed to ensure these children have basic health care should not be up for debate.

If you would like to take action about this, Maryland for Health Care can get you started. Meanwhile, if you're not born yet to a legal immigrant: I'd advise you to stay inside as long as you can. Once you're out, you're on your own.


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UPDATE, 7/26: How to make more Iraqis want to kill Americans, 7/8/04: The German "Report Mainz" TV report this post was based on is now available in English. Sergeant Samuel Provance charged there was a special children's section at Abu Ghraib, and that he witnessed at least one instance of abuse of a 16 year old boy there, apparently carried out in order to persuade his father to cooperate. An Iraqi TV reporter and an International Red Cross spokesman add their own accounts of children in US prison facilities in Iraq. posted by Thomas Nephew at 1:10:00 AM -- |  

 
RockyTopBrigade.org
Johnny Dobbins has set up a great new "RockyTopBrigade.org" site for bloggers who sign up (or have signed up) and who...

• are current or past residents of Tennessee
  
• put a link to the site on their blog
  

The site has a home page showing members' latest posts, a central signup process, an "OPML" list of members that you can import into your favorite blogrolling system, blogger tips, and more.

I've corresponded a bit with Johnny, SayUncle, Bob, and Barry as the site was designed; it has been a friendly, collegial process, and I appreciated the chance to be involved. posted by Thomas Nephew at 12:05:00 PM -- |