loco

Seeing Red

ABQjournal: Camera Forum Draws 150, Mostly Critics By Dan McKay, Journal Staff Writer

People pointed fingers, waved their arms and lectured city councilors on the Constitution.

They talked about George Orwell, excessive fines and yellow lights that aren’t yellow long enough.

Lee Logan, a disc jockey for 106.3 The Range, railed against “Big Brother and the taking away of our rights.”

My natural sympathies are with people worried about Big Brother. Even country DJ’s, whose listeners fancy themselves rebels even as they consistently vote Republican. Perhaps the right to run a red light is in the Second Amendment.

Maybe these people are sincere. Maybe they aren’t just looking to break the law whenever they want without consequences (other than death). But, if you’re truly worried about your rights, I suggest you read the USA Patriot Act (if you can find the unredacted, “need-to-know” version). Maybe you should protest the Transportation Security Administration (now xraying citizens) or burn your national ID card. Perhaps you should protest an administration with secret CIA prisons, an administration which views US Attorneys as its busboys. Yes, freedom is on the march, in jackboots. Deadly intersections are far from the biggest danger.

Red-Light Cameras Gone In a Flash? Mayor Says Bill Passage Would End City Program, By T.J. Wilham and Trip Jennings, Copyright © 2007 Albuquerque Journal; Journal Staff Writers

Last week, Sen. Tim Jennings, D-Roswell, said the rest of the state suffers when Albuquerque doesn’t pay the state traffic violation fees, which finance everything from court construction to brain injury services. …

“Why should the people in the whole rest of the state build Albuquerque’s Metro Court and they don’t pay anything back?” he said. “That’s basic fairness, but then, I don’t live in the Imperial City.”

There you have it; under it all is the resentment of a Representative whose feelings are hurt. By the way, he doesn’t mean Santa Fe.

What is the logic of complaining about Abq taking money from the state when this program pays for itself — and won’t, if the state gets involved? What is the logic of someone from Roswell telling Abq what it can do?

I’m furious with the NM State Legislature, which has considered several bills designed to ruin the red light cameras. They’ve talked about warning everyone which intersections it is OK to blow through. They’ve debated reducing the cost of risking murder. Finally, they want their cut.

At the bottom of all this noise, there are statistics. How many accidents and deaths before and after the cameras? Does anything else matter, particularly the views of puny pols, DJ’s and scofflaws? mjh

NADA - New American Dark Ages

conservatism as a respectable social philosophy

E. J. Dionne Jr. – A Historian Who Saw Beyond the Past

“No intellectual phenomenon has been more surprising in recent years than the revival in the United States of conservatism as a respectable social philosophy,” the distinguished commentator wrote.

“For decades, liberalism seemed to have everything its way,” but “fashionable intellectual circles now dismiss liberalism as naive, ritualistic, sentimental, shallow. With a whoop and a roar, a number of conservative prophets have materialized out of the wilderness, exhuming conservatism, revisiting it, revitalizing it, preaching it. . . .”

Thus wrote that lion of American liberalism, Arthur M. Schlesinger Jr., in 1955, long before the Reagan and Gingrich revolutions. Here was a historian whose understanding of the past afforded him remarkable perspective on the future. …

Schlesinger worried about “the classical condition of private opulence and public squalor.” He said of the 1950s: “We have chosen in this decade to invest not in people but in things. We have chosen to allocate our resources to undertakings which bring short-run profits to individuals rather than to those which bring long-run profits to the nation.” The new public priorities, Schlesinger said, should include schools, medical care and “energy development.” Meet the old agenda; same as the new agenda.

loco

Is Rape the Acceptable Sex Crime?

There’s something missing from the story about the alleged rape of a Sandoval County Sheriff’s deputy by her comrades — her brothers. The missing piece of the puzzle is Bernalillo County Sheriff Darren White. Almost every day, you’ll find White fuming about sexual predators. He clearly communicates his despise for them. Unless they wear a uniform or serve another county?

I know nothing about the merits of this case, though I can’t imagine any police officer taking the risk of falsely claiming rape. A man’s word is his bond; a women needs a rape-kit. I hope the system works in this case and the truth comes out.

Still, White could call one of his daily press conferences and say, regardless of the case, rape is a vile crime that cannot be tolerated by humanity. He could use his public position to state the obvious: rape will not be ignored and rape victims have nothing to fear in coming forward. White may say, “hey, not my county,” but I think he has assisted neighboring counties in monitoring sexual predators. (Plus, APD is trying to entice personnel from all over NM, including Sandoval’s finest.) By his conspicuous silence, White implies it’s not his concern or this is a lesser crime. He’s wrong.

ABQjournal: Deputy: Fellow Officers Raped Me, By Rozanna M. Martinez, Journal Staff Writer

State Police are investigating claims by a female Sandoval County sheriff’s deputy that she was raped by other deputies at a party in December.

Sandoval County Sheriff John Paul Trujillo told the Journal on Friday he contacted State Police as soon has he received information about the alleged assault.

The incident involved off-duty sheriff’s officers and occurred in December outside the sheriff’s department’s jurisdiction, Trujillo said.

“I had an outside source look into it so they could verify or see if there was a criminal act that took place,” Trujillo said. “At this point we don’t know, it’s in State Police hands.”

Trujillo said he could not comment further. [mjh: except to say the department will not tolerate sexual predators?]

You may recall that Trujillo was accused by BernCo police officers of having sex in a car. (Not necessarily a crime.) What the hell is wrong with the Sandoval County Sheriff’s department? I think the State Police investigation needs to be expanded. mjh

PS: Trujillo says the alleged crime took place “outside the sheriff’s department’s jurisdiction.” Could that be Bernalillo County, making it all the more White’s concern?

Dump Duhbya

Hot Air About Gore

Think tank: a group that exists solely to promote one-sided views, about which its members give no thought. A self-aggrandizing term used by people with no sense of irony, like gentlemen’s club. Thugs with certificates.

Free-market: a conservative view that government exists to bolster business and leave individuals to fend for themselves.

Free-market think tank: a propaganda machine meeting at Hooters and saving the receipts for tax deductions.

ABC30.com: Gore’s Real ‘Inconvenient Truth’? By JAKE TAPPER

Armed with two years of Al Gore’s utility bills, a Tennessee think tank blasts the former vice president for environmental hypocrisy.

The windbags in the echo chamber are blowing hard today. It’s almost funny to hear people claim there is no human cause to global warming (itself a shift from outright denial of any warming a few years ago) AND castigate Gore for his contribution to global warming. Oh, I know, “it’s the hypocrisy.” Let’s not go there, people. If you’ve never done anything someone else finds hypocritical, you must live without any human contact. We’re all hypocrites from time to time or, if you can’t stand that, we’re all subject to the accusation, fairly or not. Leave it to conservatives to feign shock at human nature — that’s how out-of-touch conservatism is.

Let’s do an environmental impact statement of the endless war in Iraq. Or the White House. Or Dick Cheney.

Why did the long knives of conservatives flash today? Gore’s performance at the Oscars scares them. It wasn’t wooden. Conservatives have to think of a whole new set of accusations. As Iraq proves, conservatives are great at destroying things. mjh

FOXNews.com – Al Gore Changing His Mind About the White House? – Celebrity Gossip By Roger Friedman

Gore’s triumphant display at the Academy Awards on Sunday night certainly bolstered his ego if not his standing. And standing he got — an ovation inside the Kodak Theatre that not many ever receive.

On Saturday night, Gore made a surprise appearance at the home of billionaire Clinton backer Ron Burkle. This was not a coincidence. The event was for Armani, and Gore is not a fashionista, but he knew this was the place to be. And even though Burkle is committed for now to Hillary Clinton, he has plenty of money to share with other candidates if his main goal is to see a Democrat in office.

NADA - New American Dark Ages

With Friends Like These…

1 Comment

Just reprinting this may bring some loonies out of their spider holes. I will say that I understand the outrage caused by the use of the word “terrorist” (the new “socialist/communist”). I’m also suspicious when one person defines what’s “right” for others. Finally, you gotta be nuts to argue with people with guns. mjh

NRA Destroys Long-time Friend By Bill Schneider, 2-26-07, New West Network

Jim Zumbo [the most well-known and influential hunting writer in all of America] unintentionally caused his sudden retirement by making this comment:

“I must be living in a vacuum. The guides on our hunt tell me that the use of AR and AK rifles have a rapidly growing following among hunters, especially prairie dog hunters [mjh: you need serious stopping power for prairie dogs]. I had no clue. Only once in my life have I ever seen anyone using one of these firearms.

“I call them ‘assault’ rifles, which may upset some people. Excuse me, maybe I’m a traditionalist, but I see no place for these weapons among our hunting fraternity. I’ll go so far as to call them ‘terrorist’ rifles. [mjh: uh-oh]

“Sorry, folks, in my humble opinion, these things have no place in hunting. We don’t need to be lumped into the group of people who terrorize the world with them, which is an obvious concern. I’ve always been comfortable with the statement that hunters don’t use assault rifles. We’ve always been proud of our ‘sporting firearms.’”

Immedately following the posting, Remington Arms severed all ties with Zumbo; Outdoor Life fired him; and the Outdoor Channel canceled his weekly Jim Zumbo Outdoors program because sponsors (Remington, Cabela’s, Mossy Oak and others) pulled their ads. …

Some outdoor writers came to Zumbo’s defense such as Tony Dean of South Dakota and Pat Wray of Oregon, but most were apprehensive about entering the flay. The message was clear. Say the one word the gun rights snipers don’t like, and the only job you can get is greeting people at Wal-Mart.

Wray, who writes for the Corvallis Gazette Times said it best in his February 24 commentary: “Something very strange happened in the world of outdoor communication this week. One of America’s best known hunting writers slipped and metaphorically cut himself, so a few thousand of his closest friends ate him alive.”

In his column, Wray blamed the NRA for the overreaction. And when I looked on the NRA’s website, the gun group actually boasted about the destruction of Zumbo’s career as an example of what happens when somebody crosses them.

“The ensuing wave of grassroots response in support of the Second Amendment is a clear indication that America’s gun owners will act swiftly and decisively to counter falsehoods or misrepresentations perpetuated by any member of the media – whether it is one of the major networks or a fellow gun owner,” the NRA stated in its release severing all ties with Zumbo. “It is our hope that Mr. Zumbo will use his energy and talent to help preserve our Second Amendment, America’s First Freedom, by ensuring that no one else falls prey to the tragic demonization of gun owners.”

Wray called the owners of military-style rifles “a crowd of vicious, vengeful, vitriolic jackals” and blames the NRA making them so. “For decades the NRA has fostered a climate of fear and paranoia among gun owners. They have hammered home the message that everyone is out to take our guns and that compromise is tantamount to treason. They created an attitude within their membership that anyone who disagreed was an enemy and the best defense was a good offense.”

I see this whole affair as chilling, because, as I remember it, the Second Amendment comes right after the First Amendment. … Where is the outrage from millions of hunters who agree with every word Zumbo posted on his blog? Where are the thousands of emails to Remington, Outdoor Life or the Outdoor Channel from hunters who wouldn’t be caught dead hunting with an assault rifle? Why aren’t they coming to Zumbo’s defense?

Dump Duhbya

Duhbya said, Al Qaeda is on the run. Another Lie

U.S. Sees New Al-Qaeda Threat By Walter Pincus, Washington Post Staff Writer

The new director of national intelligence said yesterday that the United States is “very concerned” that Osama bin Laden and the al-Qaeda leadership are attempting to rebuild their terrorist network and establish training camps in a region of northwest Pakistan “that has never been governed by any power.”

“We inflicted a major blow, they retreated to another area, and they are going through a process to reestablish and rebuild, adapting to the seams or the weak spots as they might perceive them,” retired Vice Adm. John M. McConnell told the Senate Armed Services Committee as he delivered his first global threat assessment to Capitol Hill. …

Sen. Jack Reed (D-R.I.) asked McConnell about the probability that al-Qaeda members in Pakistan or Iraq are organizing an attack on the United States — a scenario that President Bush recently hinted at should U.S. forces withdraw from Iraq. The intelligence chief replied that an attack would “most likely” emerge from Pakistan, though he described Iraq as “a cause celebre for the jihadists in creating forces,” and warned that al-Qaeda elements in Iraq, Syria and Europe are planning attacks.
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Bush and Al Qaeda – International Herald Tribune

The new picture seems to belie the triumphalist tone of President George W. Bush, who said a few days before last November’s congressional elections, “Al Qaeda is on the run.”

Dump Duhbya

Analysis, Dissemination, Visualization, Insight and Semantic Enhancement (ADVISE)

New Profiling Program Raises Privacy Concerns By Ellen Nakashima and Alec Klein, Washington Post Staff Writers

The Department of Homeland Security is testing a data-mining program that would attempt to spot terrorists by combing vast amounts of information about average Americans, such as flight and hotel reservations. Similar to a Pentagon program killed by Congress in 2003 over concerns about civil liberties, the new program could take effect as soon as next year.

But researchers testing the system are likely to already have violated privacy laws by reviewing real information, instead of fake data, according to a source familiar with a congressional investigation into the $42.5 million program.

Bearing the unwieldy name Analysis, Dissemination, Visualization, Insight and Semantic Enhancement (ADVISE), the program is on the cutting edge of analytical technology that applies mathematical algorithms to uncover hidden relationships in data. The idea is to troll a vast sea of information, including audio and visual, and extract suspicious people, places and other elements based on their links and behavioral patterns.
– – – – –

New Light Shed on CIA’s ‘Black Site’ Prisons By Dafna Linzer and Julie Tate, Washington Post Staff Writers

On his last day in CIA custody, Marwan Jabour, an accused al-Qaeda paymaster, was stripped naked, seated in a chair and videotaped by agency officers. Afterward, he was shackled and blindfolded, headphones were put over his ears, and he was given an injection that made him groggy. Jabour, 30, was laid down in the back of a van, driven to an airstrip and put on a plane with at least one other prisoner.

His release from a secret facility in Afghanistan on June 30, 2006, was a surprise to Jabour — and came just after the Supreme Court rejected the Bush administration’s assertion that the Geneva Conventions do not apply to prisoners like him.

[mjh: read the whole story to learn how a great and powerful nation deals with suspected enemies.]

"It does not require a majority to prevail, but rather an irate, tireless minority keen to set brush fires in people's minds." — Sam Adams