Month: June 2007

Good Thing for Angelina Jolie That Hypocrisy is Protected Speech

Buck Banks

Angelina Jolie, who stars in the new film, “A Mighty Heart,” about murdered Wall Street Journal reporter Daniel Pearl, is promoting the movie and its pro-press freedom message while tightly controlling her own interactions with the media. At a premiere event Wednesday to benefit Reporters Without Borders, Jolie insisted that journalists sign a contractual agreement before she would grant an interview, and, according to FoxNews, tried to have the right-wing mouthpiece banned from the event.

Reporters from most major media outlets balked Wednesday when they were presented with an agreement drawn up by Jolie’s Hollywood lawyer Robert Offer. The contract closely dictated the terms of all interviews.

Reporters were asked to agree to “not ask Ms. Jolie any questions regarding her personal relationships. In the event Interviewer does ask Ms. Jolie any questions regarding her personal relationships, Ms. Jolie will have the right to immediately terminate the interview and leave.”

The agreement also required that “the interview may only be used to promote the Picture. In no event may Interviewer or Media Outlet be entitled to run all or any portion of the interview in connection with any other story. … The interview will not be used in a manner that is disparaging, demeaning, or derogatory to Ms. Jolie.”

If that wasn’t enough, Jolie also requires that if any of these things happen, “the tape of the interview will not be released to Interviewer.” Such a violation, the signatory thus agrees, would “cause Jolie irreparable harm” and make it possible for her to sue the interviewer and seek a restraining order.

Not very press friendly, eh? Associated Press and USA Today reporters refused to sign the contract and canceled their interviews. When she saw the general reaction, Jolie canceled all print interviews. It was only through the intervention of Paramount staff that a FoxNews video crew was allowed to tape the actress on the red carpet.

Reporters without border indeed.

Military Seeking a Few Good Hackers

Buck Banks

Wanted — cyber soldiers: The U.S Army and Air Force have put the word out on the street with the nation’s IT community that they are looking for some new software weapons with which to extend America’s sphere of influence in cyberspace. The guys who invented the Internet — the military-industrial complex — have asked the civilian computer industry to provide technologies they can use to wage offensive cyber attacks against enemy computer systems.

While Korea is training a generation of computer-game wizards, we’re futzing around with Howie Mandell on ‘Deal or No Deal.’

Apparently, the Army has already launched some “offensive information operations,” or OIOs, against enemy networks and communications platforms, but would not say who won or if the attacks were even successful. One does wonders because if they had won, would they be asking for help? Hmmmm.

[The Army] wants to “leverage innovative technologies” to improve its cyberattacks “and prevent enemy forces from detecting and countering efforts directed against them,” according to the announcement. “Technologies designed to interrupt these modern networks must use subtle, less obvious methodology that disguises the technique used, protecting the ability whenever possible to permit future use.”

The Air Force is more specific about its goals for upgrading its offensive cyber warfare capabilities:

The technologies would be used to “disrupt, deny, degrade or deceive an adversary’s information system,” according to the request for information. The Air Force wants technology that will help it map data and voice networks, provide it with access to those networks, conduct denial-of-service attacks on current and future network operating systems and network devices and engage in data manipulation on enemy networks.

The offensive cyberattack capabilities that the Army and Air Force want to develop match what Marine Gen. James Cartwright, commander of the Strategic Command, called for during a hearing of the House Armed Services Committee in March. He told the panel that if “we apply the principle of warfare to the cyber domain, as we do to sea, air and land, we realize the defense of the nation is better served by capabilities enabling us to take the fight to our adversaries, when necessary, to deter actions detrimental to our interests.”

While Bruce Schneir, a security consultant with BT Counterpane, endorsed the Army and Air Force efforts, he noted:

Since cyber space, unlike the physical battlefield, has connections to global networks that support commerce and communications, any offensive operations conducted by the United States must be fine-tuned to avoid disrupting computer systems that are not part of any enemy system that the military would target. That would be the cyber equivalent to collateral damage inflicted in a bombing campaign.

I’m surprised that in the six weeks that I have been hearing excuses from Bellsouth about why I can’t get DSL service at my house even though I had it there for the past five years they haven’t used the “cyber collateral damage” excuse. Maybe they are saving it for next week.

I’m not so sure I like the idea of our nation’s military becoming the mad hackers of the world. It’s one thing to fend off attacks, but quite another to unleash ballistic spam bombs on our enemies’ networks. But what I’m really worried about is whether the military really knows what enemy it’s up against. A couple weeks ago I saw a few minutes of a Korean game show where these fashionably dressed Korean teenage boys sit at computers and play a networked war game while the audience screams and waves signs and three distinguished-looking experts provide what I assume was play-by-play and color commentary.

As a nation, we aren’t anywhere near that league. While Korea is training a generation of computer-game wizards, we’re futzing around with Howie Mandell on “Deal or No Deal.”

Unless the military contracts it out to The Google, I just don’t have a good feeling about the OIOs of the impending cyber war.

Official to Limbaugh: We Don’t Have to Do Business with You

Trish

Newsflash for Rush Limbaugh: When somebody says they don’t have to contract with a station that carries your show, that’s not a First Amendment issue for you.

A Broward (Ft. Lauderdale) commissioner suggested the county not renew its contract for emergency broadcasts on a station that transmits the wisdom of the fat one, since a lot of people (like me for instance) avoid such stations for that very reason. But Rush and his supporters are crying big, Viagra-enriched tears, saying it just ain’t fair.

WIOD Program Manager Ken Charles agreed. ”It’s a shame people would let politics get in the way of saving lives during a hurricane,” he said.

Under the partnership, the station agrees to broadcast county press conferences in their entirety; the county lists the station on all its preparedness information.

At Tuesday’s meeting, Commissioner John Rodstrom brought up First Amendment concerns. ”When we start censoring what people write on radio, TV or newspapers, that is a slippery slope,” he said.

I’m not sure when the last time a county press conference saved any lives but I’ll allow as to how that could happen. One thing’s for sure though, just not doing business with somebody is not a slippery slope. Nobody’s telling Rush what to say or trying to keep him from saying it.

”We don’t have to do business with them,” [Commissioner Stacy] Ritter declared…

Ritter said Wednesday that commissioners should have made partnership deals with three stations.

”To limit it to one probably was not the way we should have gone, especially one that some people won’t listen to,” she said.

That makes too much sense, Stacy, and it looks like the rabid Rush-ites, whipped into a frenzy by their leader, have won this round. The county will likely renew the contract with just the one, Limbaugh-infused station.

But wait. I saved the best for last. What do you suppose Rush — in between whining about how mean the commission was to consider taking its business elsewhere — concluded about the matter live on the air?

“It’s just amazing to watch liberals in action. They can’t stand competition.”

UPDATE FRIDAY, JUNE 15


Broward County Commissioner, District 3, Stacy Ritter

From today’s Miami Herald:

Rush Limbaugh declared Broward County Commissioner Stacy Ritter ”a babe” on his radio show Thursday, eyeing her photo in the newspaper.

”Liberal babes are rare,” he said. “That’s why they stand out. It’s in The Miami Herald. It’s not Photoshopped.”

We can forgive Rush, however, it’s just the Viagra talkin’. — Buck

Quote du Jour

Buck Banks

The history of intellectual growth and discovery clearly demonstrates the need for unfettered freedom, the right to think the unthinkable, discuss the unmentionable and challenge the unchallengeable. To curtail free expression strikes twice at intellectual freedom, for whosoever deprives another of the right to state unpopular views necessarily deprives others of the right to listen to those views.

— C. Vann Woodward (1908-1999), American historian

Poll: GOP Support Continues to Keep Bush Approval Artificially High at 29%

Jon Ponder

In the latest NBC/Wall Street Journal poll, Pres. George Bush has received his lowest marks on job approval ever by this polling entity: 29 percent.

In the analysis that accompanies the polling data, the low numbers are attributed to his crumbling support from Republicans:

Back in April, 75 percent of Republicans approved of Bush’s job performance, compared with 21 percent who disapproved. Now, only 62 percent of Republican approve, versus 32 percent who disapprove.

Despite mountains of evidence the George W. Bush is the most incompetent president this country has had yet, 62 percent of the members of his party continue to support him.

Bush doesn’t care what normal Americans think, and as long as he has the support of a majority of Republicans, his destructive agenda will continue, at home and abroad. The only glimmer of good news is that when he’s done, he may have hobbled his party perhaps beyond repair.

Are You on the Terror List? 509,000 People Are

Trish

The FBI watch list of suspected terrorists is so long, it would be easier to tell you who they’re not monitoring than who they are.

Privacy and civil liberties advocates say the list is growing uncontrollably, threatening its usefulness in the war on terror.

The bureau says the number of names on its terrorist watch list is classified.

You can check the U.S. Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control list of suspected money launderers yourself

A portion of the FBI’s unclassified 2008 budget request posted to the Department of Justice Web site, however, refers to “the entire watch list of 509,000 names,” which is utilized by its Foreign Terrorist Tracking Task Force…

“It grows seemingly without control or limitation,” said ACLU senior legislative counsel Tim Sparapani of the terrorism watch list. Sparapani called the 509,000 figure “stunning.”

“If we have 509,000 names on that list, the watch list is virtually useless,” he told ABC News. “You’ll be capturing innocent individuals with no connection to crime or terror.”

“Useless” is probably accurate.

U.S. lawmakers and their spouses have been detained because their names were on the watch list.

Reporters who have reviewed versions of the list found it included the names of former Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein, at the time he was alive but in custody in Iraq; imprisoned al Qaeda plotter Zacarias Moussaoui; and 14 of the 19 Sept. 11, 2001 hijackers, all of whom perished in the attacks.

The same can be said for the OFAC list, which all financial institutions must check before opening a new account. That’s right, before you can open a checking account, some poor teller has to look to see if you’re there.

But unlike the FBI’s “secret” list, you can check the U.S. Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control list of suspected money launderers yourself by simply going here.

After you get through the A’s, which all start with “Al-” something, the list gets more interesting. But like the FBI’s, it still contains this entry, under a couple of different spellings:

HUSSAIN, Saddam (a.k.a. ABU ALI; a.k.a. AL-TIKRITI, Saddam Hussein;
a.k.a. HUSAYN, Saddam; a.k.a. HUSSEIN, Saddam); DOB 28 Apr 1937;
POB al-Awja, near Tikrit, Iraq; nationality Iraq; named in UNSCR
1483; President since 1979 (individual) [IRAQ2]

Is it any wonder Americans don’t want to hand over their civil liberties in exchange for the “security” offered by our government?

Quote du Jour

Buck Banks

But what certainty is there about money, which, after all, holds all the world together? It depends on the good will of a few capitalists to keep the agreement that one metal is worth more than another.

— Ivar Keuger (1880-1932), Swedish industrialist

Republican Candidates to Boycott Latino Convention

Trish

I hate going to Disneyworld too, so I understand every major Republican presidential candidate wanting to stay away. But…staging what amounts to a virtual boycott of what is known as the Latino political convention doesn’t seem like a smart move.

Especially when, according to a June 11 press release, all the Democrats will be there.

Do they take the votes of this demographic as a given, or are they writing them off as going Democrat?

Los Angeles, CA – The Democratic contenders in the 2008 presidential campaign will participate in a candidate forum hosted by the National Association of Latino Elected and Appointed Officials (NALEO) in Orlando on June 30…

The participating candidates will include, in alphabetical order, Senator Joe Biden (DE), Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton (NY), Senator Chris Dodd (CT), former Senator John Edwards (NC), Representative Dennis Kucinich (OH), Senator Barack Obama (IL) and Governor Bill Richardson (NM).

NALEO extended identical invitations to the Republican presidential candidates to participate in a separate forum. All have declined to date.

So the question is, why do the Republicans think they can snub Latinos? Do they take the votes of this demographic as a given, or are they writing them off as going Democrat?

…several factors put the Hispanic vote in play. Among them: Non-Cubans aren’t as likely to have historical ties to the Republican Party as Cuban-Americans.

“Living in Weston, I see it just walking around the neighborhood. There are people from Colombia, Venezuela and Peru. They don’t have the same preconditioning to vote Republican,” said Weston resident Andrew Torres, president of the new Broward chapter of the state Democratic Party’s Hispanic Caucus…

Florida U.S. Sen. Bill Nelson said once Castro is gone, “you will see Cuban-Americans shift to the Democratic Party.”

…Torres said the increasing numbers of younger voters and people from countries other than Cuba make this a good time to capitalize on trends favoring Democrats.

The explanation could be simple, of course.

National and state Republican officials did not comment on why GOP hopefuls will not participate in the conference, but the campaigns of Sen. John McCain and Mitt Romney cited scheduling conflicts.

Those durn scheduling conflicts. Funny how they never crop up when it’s time to come to South Florida and fund-raise. And no matter how you slice it, boycotting the convention of their fellow elected officials can’t win many friends. Not to mention there are two other groups piggybacking off the event — the National Hispana Leadership Institute and the Orlando Chamber of Commerce’s Hispanic Summit.

Maybe there really is a simple reason. Republicans might just want to distance themselves from immigrants — and please their xenophobic base — as much as possible.

Liz Cheney to Join Fred ‘K Street’ Thompson’s Campaign

Jon Ponder

On MSNBC just now, Tucker Carlson said an announcement will come soon that Liz Cheney, the vice president’s not-gay daughter, is joining the as-yet unannounced presidential campaign of former Washington lobbyist Fred Thompson.

If he were to win in 2008, Thompson would be the first lobbyist elected president.

Since 2005, Cheney has served in the specially created job of Principal Deputy Assistant Secretary, Near Eastern Affairs, in the U.S. State Dept. Assuming Carson is correct, at the Thompson campaign, she will join other GOP operatives said to include Cheney-family lackey Mary Matalin and U.S. attorneys scandal figure Tim Griffin, the former Bush White House official who recently resigned as the federal prosecutor in Arkansas after evidence implicated him in Bush-Cheney 2004 campaign voter suppression activities.

If he were to win in 2008,Thompson would be the first lobbyist elected president. During his 18 years as a lobbyist, his clients included General Electric and Westinghouse, and he successfully pushed the passage of the deregulatory legislation that led to the savings-and-loan crisis of the 1980s.

Thompson also briefly served as a U.S. senator representing Tennessee.