Good for a grin
The Lego Suicides --- kids these days, I tell ya, they've got too much time on their hands.

Air Force Leaders Discuss Air Force Issues --- don't know why I keep linking to the silly stuff at ArmsControlWonk, probably some form of denial.

Charles Rangel on George Bush --- via Shakespeare's Sister, an oldie (April 2005) but goodie.

Jon Stewart on James Frey --- "Why did James Frey get tougher treatment than our government? Well, I'll tell you why: he misled us -- into a book we had no business getting into." The whole clip is at "onegoodmove."

Defective Yeti imagines the Bush years as a text "Adventure" game:

...> WEAR FLIGHTSUIT
You put on the flightsuit.

> SAY "MISSION ACCOMPLISHED"
"Mission accomplished."

> EXAMINE MISSION
The mission is not accomplished. [...]

> GET REELECTED
You get reelected.

> GO RIGHT
Far-Right
Tom DeLay is here.
Michelle Malkin is here.

> GO RIGHT
Radical Right
Rick Santorum is here.
Ann Coulter is here.

> STAY COURSE
The situation in Iraq deteriorates.

Some insurgents arrive.
There is a large number of insurgents here.

> STAY COURSE
The situation in Iraq deteriorates.

> STAY COURSE
The situation in Iraq deteriorates.

Some insurgents arrive.
There is a huge number of insurgents here.

> STAY COURSE
The situation in Iraq deteriorates.

In a way, "> GET REELECTED" is the really sly part.


=====
NOTES: Lego Suicides via No You Can't Have a Pony, Defective Yeti via Jim Henley posted by Thomas Nephew at 1:00:00 AM -- |    

 
Chimes of freedom flashing
So now it turns out the Capitol Police have figured out they were wrong to arrest Cindy Sheehan for wearing a T-shirt with a message ("2245 Dead. How many more?") to the State of the Union address on Tuesday. My bad, says Capitol Police Chief Terrance Gainer, it was a "good faith" misjudgment by cops enforcing an "unwritten rule." But Laurie Kellman of the Washington Post reports:

Capitol Police charged [Sheehan] with a misdemeanor for violating the District of Columbia's code against unlawful or disruptive conduct on any part of the Capitol grounds, a law enforcement official said.

So it wasn't so much "unwritten" as "discretionary" and "elastic" -- "disruptive" is in the eye of the beholder, isn't it. But Gainer deserves a little credit for quickly bowing to the obvious in saying "the policy and procedures were too vague," and for asking that the charges against Sheehan be dropped.

Congressman C.W. Bill Young's (R-FL-10) wife was also led away (but not arrested) for wearing a T-shirt with a "Support Our Troops" message. As was widely reported, Congressman Young took deep offense at such impertinence -- not at spitting on the First Amendment in the very halls of Congress, mind you, just at the impertinence of holding his wife to the same unconstitutional standard Sheehan was. In a second article, the Post's Petula Dvorka noted:

Young said he wouldn't be so mad if it were just Sheehan. "I totally disagree with everything she stands for," he said. But by removing his wife, Gainer's officers clearly "acted precipitously," Young said.

The Post, for its part, shone by calling the whole sorry, ugly incident "The Capitol's Tempest in a T-Shirt." As United States Representative Young's "only my kind of speech should be free" sentiment and the Post's sophomoric headline betray, the political and media establishment's allegiance to real freedom of speech for the rest of us is none too strong.

Yesterday, the Carpetbagger listed one instance after another of the suppression of freedom of speech at public events over the last several years. One of them:

In July 2004, Jayson Nelson, a county supervisor in Appleton, Wis., was thrown out of a presidential event because of a pro-Kerry T-shirt. An event staffer saw the shirt, snatched the VIP ticket, and called for police. "Look at his shirt! Look at his shirt!" Nelson recalled the woman telling the Ashwaubenon Public Safety officer who answered the call. Nelson said the officer told him, "You gotta go," and sternly directed him to a Secret Service contingent that spent seven or eight minutes checking him over before ejecting him from the property.

While this particular list focused on presidential events, I would also add my own experience at the "Freedom Walk" last September.

Freedom of speech is a right, but not necessarily a natural state of affairs, or at least not the only one. The alternative is ushered in by some people deciding -- and the rest accepting -- what can or can not be "appropriately" said, and by whom, and when. The custom of silence can become so ingrained that a given policeman will come to believe it isn't just custom, but law, and that he or she must step in to enforce it. The habit of arranging hand-picked audiences and hand-picked messages can confuse organizers into thinking anything else is a crime. And the lazy derision of major newspapers about such stories can convince too many of their readers that there's nothing to see here, nothing to worry about, move along.

Once that process starts in earnest -- and it has -- the only way to reverse it is to identify the "inappropriate," inconvenient, but necessary times to speak out directly to power, and then to go ahead and do so. Only that way will free speech someday be the natural state of affairs again, rather than the unusual, controversial, inconvenient one.

I think Sheehan has done just that once again. And as much as for anything else she's done, she deserves huge credit and thanks from the true country of America for it. In the last place I would have expected it -- the halls of a supine Congress, decorously and obediently clapping for its master -- I gazed upon the chimes of freedom flashing.
posted by Thomas Nephew at 10:15:00 PM -- |    

 
Quick links
Chad Orzel ("Uncertain Principles"):

So, yeah, 'double the federal commitment to the most critical basic research programs in the physical sciences over the next 10 years' sounds great. So does 'If we reverse the polarity on the flux capacitor, we can generate an infinite amount of free energy, and a pony.' I'll believe it when I see the pony.

Paperwight ("Paperwight's Fair Shot"):

I understand from Jane Hamsher at firedoglake that NARAL doesn't consider [voting to end the Alito debate] "significant" in determining whether they support a politician.

No offense, NARAL, but if that's the case, you should never get one dime of any pro-choice citizen's money ever again. You are supposed to act as a window for the public to see through the opacity of the political process in the issue areas you cover. Instead, you go along with the ridiculous kabuki.

Avedon Carol ("The Sideshow"):

But if you doubt the need to write those letters, make those phone calls, send those faxes, think again. No matter how much the media mouthpieces complain about the nasty little lefties and their nasty little letters, the fact is that when many, many people are saying something, it makes a difference in what those media jerks think it is acceptable to say on television and in the pages of The Washington Post. Remember: The ultra-conservatives they listen to today are the same people they once regarded as the right-wing fringe nuts they really are. But the nuts made themselves heard. We have to do the same until it is no longer "crazy" or "partisan" to tell the truth.

J. D. Henderson ("Intel Dump"):

This is not about terrorism, war, or safety. It is much simpler than that. It is about whether are to govern ourselves, or whether we are to be governed by an all-powerful commander in chief. It is inherently dangerous - much more dangerous than anything the terrorists can accomplish.

Jack Balkin ("Balkinization"):

The rule of law can be, and has been, used to perpetrate or apologize for many injustices in human history. But it has one saving grace-- that it offers us a place to stand when we object to the aggrandizement of power by those who are utterly convinced that they come to us as saviors. For many years conservatives warned us about would-be saviors of the left, who would sweep away legal restraints to pursue their vision of a just society. It is time to stand up to the would-be saviors of the right, who seek to concentrate unaccountable power in order to pursue their vision of national security.

Fafnir ("Fafblog"):

Q. How does a War Bill become a War Law?
A. It all begins with the president, who submits a bill to the president. If a majority of both the president and the president approve the bill, then it passes on to the president, who may veto it or sign it into law. And even then the president can override himself with a two-thirds vote.

Digby ("Hullabaloo"):

Sheehan did not break the law, she has a perfect right to wear a t-shirt in the capital and her arrest was an outrage. These things matter beyond politics or strategy.

=====
NOTES: Henderson item via Gary Farber.
UPDATE, 2/7: NARAL essentially says "Thank you, sir, may I please have another?" to Senators voting "yes" for Alito cloture like Lieberman, Chafee, and Salazar, because they then voted against Alito once it no longer mattered. Via Paperwight. Gender quibblers: yes, Senators Cantwell, Landrieu and Lincoln are among those, so "sir" isn't quite right.
posted by Thomas Nephew at 2:39:00 PM -- |    

 
"The state of our union is strong"
A Brown University project* led by John Logan recently released its first report detailing the effects of Hurricane Katrina on the city of New Orleans. The report, The Impact of Katrina: Race and Class in Storm-Damaged Neighborhoods, detailed striking disparities in storm damage:

Damaged areas were 45.8% black, compared to 26.4% in undamaged areas...

...45.7% of homes in damaged areas were occupied by renters, compared to 30.9% in undamaged communities.

...20.9% of households had incomes below the poverty line in damaged areas, compared to 15.3% in undamaged areas.

...7.6% of persons in the labor force were unemployed in damaged areas (before the storm), compared to 6.0% in undamaged areas.

The impact could be -- will likely be -- stark:

...New Orleans is at risk of losing more than 80% of its black population. This means that policy choices affecting who can return, to which neighborhoods, and with what forms of public and private assistance, will greatly affect the future character of the city.

A New York Times article details some of the debate surrounding federal assistance. While Louisiana will reportedly receive $6.2 billion in federal block grants, local officials say that will not be enough:

Those officials have urged Congress to enact legislation proposed by Representative Richard H. Baker, Republican of Louisiana, creating a corporation that would use bond proceeds to reimburse property owners for part of their mortgages, then redevelop the property. But the Bush administration has said it opposes the bill, out of concerns that it would be too expensive and would create a new government bureaucracy.

Asked Thursday about his opposition to the measure, President Bush told reporters that the $85 billion already allocated for Gulf Coast restoration was "a good start." He added that he was concerned that Louisiana did not have a clear recovery plan in place.
(link added)

It would have been nice if Bush et al had had a clear disaster prevention plan in place. Tonight, President Bush said in his State of the Union speech:

In New Orleans and in other places, many of our fellow citizens have felt excluded from the promise of our country. The answer is not only temporary relief, but schools that teach every child, and job skills that bring upward mobility, and more opportunities to own a home and start a business. As we recover from a disaster, let us also work for the day when all Americans are protected by justice, equal in hope, and rich in opportunity.

"More opportunities to own a home" rings a little hollow from a President and administration working against a Republican's proposal to help homeowners.

But then, so does "the state of our Union is strong."


=====
* Katrina and the Built Environment: Spatial and Social Impacts. The project web site also provides fantastically detailed, interactive maps of the affected areas of the Gulf Coast.
NOTE: click the photograph for a gallery of New Orleans Lower 9th Ward photographs taken by Ms. Landry two weeks ago.
NOTE, 2/3: Both the photo gallery and the Brown University study via "Recording Katrina" bloggers (thatfarmgirl and myself).
posted by Thomas Nephew at 1:05:00 PM -- |    

 
Coalitions for Voting Integrity need love, too
The "Help Americans Vote Act" has threatened to turn into a steamroller on behalf of electronic voting equipment companies like Diebold -- HAVA disbursed monies to buy equipment, but also threatens penalties if those funds are not spent by March, 2006. Yet many electronic voting systems are plagued by glaring design flaws that make it too easy to "hack" an election relying on such systems, and too difficult to prove what the real votes were.

In response, Michael Fitzpatrick (R-PA-8) has drafted a HAVA deadline extension bill that will give state and local governments more time to research their purchases of electronic voting equipment. (Fitzpatrick co-sponsored a similar sounding bill (HR 3163) last year.)

Anyhow, now that you've contacted your representative to co-sponsor Fitzpatrick's bill -- you have, right? -- take the next step and send a little scratch to the folks who encouraged him to take the lead this year on this issue. eRobin ("factesque") explains:

The Coalition for Voting Integrity needs funds to keep doing the phenomenal work that is has been doing over the last eight months. In addition to the Fitzpatrick bill and some other legislation that is still under consideration, we have also sued the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania over inconsistent certification standards. This is a groundbreaking lawsuit that will have national implications - none other than defender of the vote, Ion Sancho, supports it. But we need funds to keep it going. Please make a donation to CVI here.

There's a blogswarm supporting the HAVA extension bill now. Support it, and support CVI.


=====
UPDATE, 2/2: eRobin reports the bill is HR 4666. The link leads to the "govtrack.us" tracking web page for the bill, where you can read the text of the bill (once the GPO has published it), see who's co-sponsoring it, and subscribe to an RSS feed about further legislative developments. posted by Thomas Nephew at 10:41:00 PM -- |    

 
The Vichy Democrats

Akaka, Daniel K. (D-HI) Yes
Baucus, Max (D-MT) Yes
Bingaman, Jeff (D-NM) Yes
Byrd, Robert C. (D-WV) Yes
Cantwell, Maria (D-WA) Yes
Carper, Thomas R. (D-DE) Yes
Conrad, Kent (D-ND) Yes
Dorgan, Byron L. (D-ND) Yes
Inouye, Daniel K. (D-HI) Yes
Johnson, Tim (D-SD) Yes
Kohl, Herb (D-WI) Yes
Landrieu, Mary L. (D-LA) Yes
Lieberman, Joseph I. (D-CT) Yes
Lincoln, Blanche L. (D-AR) Yes
Nelson, Bill (D-FL) Yes
Nelson, E. Benjamin (D-NE) Yes
Pryor, Mark L. (D-AR) Yes
Rockefeller, John D., IV (D-WV) Yes
Salazar, Ken (D-CO) Yes

Biden and Obama didn't miss getting on this list by a whole lot, either, as far as I'm concerned. But they've got the Sunday talk shows locked up, so they're fine.

A special word for Senator Byrd: please, next time you get all bothered about the Constitution, remember your vote today and then have the decency to just STFU, you preening, pompous fool. posted by Thomas Nephew at 1:02:00 AM -- |    

 
New Maryland "Paper Trail" bill gains support
A bill introduced last week in the Maryland legislature calls for electronic voting systems to include voter-verified "paper trail", allowing voters casting electronic ballots to check whether their vote was properly recorded. In addition, the bill calls for random hand-audits of electronic voting

The bill -- HB 244, "AN ACT concerning Election Law - Voting Systems - Voter-Verified Paper Records" -- matches up very well with a "gold standard" electronic voting bill developed by TrueVoteMD.org last year. In the following, a summary of that "gold standard" language is annotated with parenthesized "CHECK" comments identifying where in HB 244 it can be found:

· Voter-verified paper record is official ballot in case of discrepancy with electronic record: (CHECK: HB 244 paragraph 9-107.E.2), and is :

- independent of any ballot image stored in a computer memory,
(CHECK: 9-107)*
- available to each voter to inspect and verify before their vote is cast
(CHECK: 9.107.A)
- able to withstand repeated handling during recounts
(CHECK: 9-107.C.2), and
- impossible to associate a voter with the record of the voter’s vote
(CHECK: 9-107.E.3.I).

· Voting system accessibility for those with disabilities. (CHECK: 9-108)

· An accessible and observable vote aggregation and tabulation (vote counting) process – initial election results for each polling place must be posted on County and State Board of Elections websites in order to detect voting equipment failures and prevent vote tampering. (CHECK:9-109)

· Mandatory random audits of 5% of all the votes cast in randomly selected polling places in each County and Baltimore City. (CHECK: 9-110)

· Public notification and demonstrations of all electronic voting equipment prior to each election. (CHECK: 9-111)

· Notification of all voting system failures – The SBE must notify the public of equipment breakdowns, software or hardware problems, discrepancies in audits and certification procedures, etc. (CHECK: 9-112)

And this year, the bill was co-sponored by chair Sheila Hixson -- the head of the House of Delegates Ways and Means Committee, and the same Ms. Hixson who scuttled a "paper trail" bill last year in favor of a "study" bill.

TrueVoteMD.org will conduct two one hour citizens' briefings on HB 244 at 11AM and 12PM on Wednesday, February 1st. The briefings will be held in the Nealle Conference Room, 2nd floor of the James Senate building (map, parking information). The briefings will explain the bill and then provide talking points for briefing "graduates"to use when they fan out to meet with their delegates.



=====
* This provision does not appear to be present verbatim, but seems implied in the repeated references to "paper records."
EDIT, 1/30: "In the following" sentence added to explain what the (CHECK: n-nnn) comments are about. I.e., "CHECK" means "yup, there it is." posted by Thomas Nephew at 1:58:00 AM -- |    

 
Newsrack word cloud


SnapShirt site discovered via eRobin ("factesque"). posted by Thomas Nephew at 10:49:00 PM -- |