Last night I broke a fever for the second time. I’m still down, but I did add an extra Short Take. I’m not yet up to catching up on replies, and I hope to be back tomorrow.
Jig Zone Puzzle:
Today’s took me 3:37 (average 5:48). To do it, click here. How did you do?
Short Takes:
From Bernie.org: Send a Message to President Obama, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid and House Speaker John Boehner: No Budget Deal on the Backs of the Elderly, the Children, the Sick and the Poor.
Click through to sign this petition for Bernie Sanders.
From The New Yorker: In a sombre ceremony attended by former members of the Bush administration, the former Vice-President Dick Cheney marked the tenth anniversary of making up a reason to invade Iraq.
The ceremony, held on the grounds of the Halliburton Company headquarters, brought together the former Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld, the former Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, the former Deputy Secretary of Defense Paul Wolfowitz, and other key members of the lying effort.
Calling the assembled officials “profiles in fabrication,” Mr. Cheney praised them for their decade of dedication to a totally fictitious rationale.
“Making up a reason to invade a country is the easy part,” Mr. Cheney told them. “Sticking to a pretend story for ten years—that is the stuff of valor.”
Mr. Cheney added that their “steadfast charade had raised the bar for all future administrations.”
While this, of course is satire, the underlying truth could be more relevant, nor could there be a more compelling reason to recognize that every Republican in office is one Republican too many.
From NY Times: Senate Democrats plan to introduce after the Easter recess a bill widely supported by both parties that would increase the penalties for people who buy guns for those barred from having them, known as straw purchasing. But Senator Harry Reid of Nevada, the majority leader, told Ms. Feinstein on Monday that her assault weapons ban would not be included in the bill.
“I tried my best,” Ms. Feinstein said with obvious disappointment. “My best, I guess, wasn’t good enough.”
This month, the Senate Judiciary Committee passed four pieces of gun legislation: the straw purchasing measure; the assault weapons ban, which included limits on gun magazine sizes; a grant program for school security; and enhanced background checks for gun buyers.
The Nevada Leg Hound, Harry Reid, who MUST be replaced as Senate Majority Leader, really screwed the pooch on this one. He claims that he had only 40 votes for passage, but I wonder. It’s much easier to say no to the mothers of murdered children in the secrecy of the Senate cloak room than it is with a public vote. But even if 40 is all there are, the Republican Party and the Democrats, who lack the spine to take on Wayne LaPierre and the gun industry, should be made to own their votes before the American people. Instead, Harry Reid humped a few Republican legs, whined, rolled over and played dead.
From MSNBC: Rachel on Republican Revision
Visit NBCNews.com for breaking news, world news, and news about the economy
When we failed to charge these war criminals, I cringed, because I knew that Republicans would not be content with an accurate historical retelling. We must not allow these Republicans to rewrite the history of how they lied us into this tragic war. If we fail to remember the lesson of Iraq, as we failed to remember the lesson of Vietnam, the warmongers among us will lie us into another.
Cartoon:
10 Responses to “Open Thread–3/20/2014”
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3:52 Things were a little blurry in the water for me.
3:43 Looks like I got some wate in my eyes also. I wonder if Lynn will see clearer than TomCat?
4:16 Not a chance Jerry! I swim with my eyes shut so I had no idea where I was going! Besides, bs low this morning is screwing me up big time!
Oh, Lynn, you are too sweet to have low bs.
I was a growly bear today — I think it was seeing GWB all over the place and reading that Haper and his harlots want to buy armed drones — but the bs were really low — 1.9 on our scale, just over 32 on yours. Screws me up for the day quite often. But thanks for saying I'm sweet. Nicest thing anyone has said to me today!
I totally agree with Jerry that you are sweet, Lynn. Thank you for not stomping all over us with those size 9's of yours.
Bernie.org ~ Thanks for posting the petition site. I signed.
The New Yorker ~ Fort the life of me, I can't figure how they have lied with straight faces all these years. Then it came to me; they are all pathological liars.
NY Times ~ Oh yes. They do need their assault weapons for target practice.
MSNBC ~ I'm looking forward to watching Rachel's special Hubriswhich re-airs this Friday, March 22 at 9 p.m. EDT on MSNBC. I missed the first airing.
Cartoon ~ Sickens me!
On this 10th anniversary of the illegal Invasion of Iraq, I find that PM Harper is looking to acquire armed drones, and it angers me. PM Harper and his harlots are proving that they are just like the Republican/Teabagger neocons he so admires in the US, . . . and just like other conservative governments around the world. When will this madness end? I hope you will join me in telling the Harper government, "NO!" There is a link at the end of this op-ed from http://www.ceasefire.ca
Canada should reject armed drones!
Op-ed: Canada should reject armed drones
Is Mali the next opportunity to pitch an armed drone program as a contribution to both the French campaign there and the US-led war against al Qaeda in Western Africa?
Steven Staples and Meagan McCorkle
March 6, 2013
If the Canadian Forces possessed a fleet of armed drones, would Prime Minister Stephen Harper be readying them for Mali?
It’s an important question, given the Canadian military’s long-standing desire for Predators and the government’s interest in providing military support to the French troops battling ethnic Tuareg and Islamist rebels in the former West African colony, while avoiding putting any Canadian troops in harm’s way.
Along with the transport capability provided by our heavy-lift CC-117 cargo planes, drones would be an obvious choice for a Canadian contribution to the counter-insurgency mission.
The Americans are already flying unarmed drones over Mali from neighbouring Niger to provide the French military with surveillance capability. The United States military is establishing a new, larger drone base in Niger, and officials told the New York Times that, for now, Predator drones will be unarmed and will fly only on surveillance missions, although they have not ruled out conducting missile strikes at some point if the threat worsens.
The new base shows the US has clearly identified West Africa as the next front in its controversial drone war, and Canada could climb aboard.
Weaponized drones for the Canadian Forces is an issue that has completely avoided scrutiny in Ottawa, even though plans to acquire new drones have been progressing slowly through National Defence for several years. That’s likely because the Joint Uninhabited Surveillance and Target Acquisition System, or JUSTAS, program is being touted as providing a high-altitude long endurance capability for Arctic sovereignty, not for remotely controlled assassination missions.
But buried inside the JUSTAS program is a more lethal variety of drones. National Defence’s report on major Crown projects for 2012-2013 noted that JUSTAS “will complement existing reconnaissance, surveillance, and target acquisition capabilities, increase maritime and arctic domain awareness and provide precision force application in support of Land and Special Operations Forces.”
Of course drones aren’t new to the Canadian Forces. The unarmed Heron aircraft deployed in Afghanistan is used for surveillance purposes. But to weaponize the Canadian drone program, the military could outfit the Herons with ground attack missiles, or acquire a fleet of the notorious Reaper MQ-9, the drone so widely used by the CIA in Pakistan and Eastern Africa. These drones can fire up to 14 Hellfire missiles.
The military has used every opportunity to argue for armed drones, but the government has not given the authorization as yet. In 2007 The Ottawa Citizen reported that National Defence had asked the Conservative government for approval to buy the US-built Predator drones for the Afghanistan mission.
But that request was denied because of concerns in Cabinet and the federal bureaucracy that the deal would be non-competitive.
In 2009, military officers were once again pushing for missile-equipped Herons operating out of Kandahar Air Field, but the costs and the anticipated end of the mission were just too much.
Then came the air war over Libya in 2011, and another chance to pitch for armed drones. Documents obtained by the Citizen showed that military leaders saw the Libyan war as a possible way to move its stalled drone program forward. The cost was $600 million, but the Libyan war ended before the military could get the armed drone program approved and airborne.
Now there is Mali. Is this the next opportunity to pitch an armed drone program as a contribution to both the French campaign in Mali and the US-led war against al Qaeda in Western Africa?
Let’s hope that this program continues to be delayed indefinitely. Here’s why.
First, the legal standing of the use of these weapons is gravely in doubt. “The US policy of using aerial drones to carry out targeted killings presents a major challenge to the system of international law that has endured since the Second World War,” said United Nations special rapporteur Christof Heyns.
Second, drone attacks dramatically undermine the ability to win the support of the local population, a key reason for NATO’s failure in Afghanistan. Stanley A. McChrystal, the retired US general who led the Joint Special Operations Command responsible for the military’s drone strikes, told Reuters that drones could be a useful tool but were “hated on a visceral level” in some of the places where they were used and contributed to a “perception of American arrogance.”
Third, there’s growing concerns over civilians killed by the houseful in the pursuit of targeting people by drones. The US carries out such strikes in Pakistan, Yemen, and Somalia, often far from any battlefield and without warning. The Bureau of Investigative Journalism estimates that as many as 1,007 innocent civilians have been killed by drone strikes since 2004, including 175 children.
Has the Canadian government considered the legal, operational and moral implications of the use of armed drones in this manner? Is the Canadian public, which is accustomed to watching the furor over drones play out on American television, even aware of what our military has in store for Canada?
I doubt it. That’s why the Harper government should limit its JUSTAS program to investigating the use of unarmed drones for surveillance roles abroad, and Arctic sovereignty and monitoring roles in Canada, and slam the door shut on armed drones for the Canadian Forces.
Steven Staples is the president of the Rideau Institute. Meagan McCorkle is an intern at the institute through the Human Rights program at Carleton University.
http://www.ceasefire.ca/?p=14962
Puzzle — 4:16 I swim with my eyes shut so I had no idea where I was going!
Bernie.org — Can we have a clone of Bernie for Canada please!?! I just love the man! Excellent video! Signed.
The New Yorker — Love this. There should be a warm, comfy seat at the ICC for Baby Bush, Cheney, Rumsfeld, Wolfowitz at al! They are not immune despite what they think! As long as there is a pro-war, pro-no morality Republican/Teabagger Congress, nothing will happen. Are these ding-dongs any different than Milosevic? or Saddam Hussein? or the German High Command of WWII who were tried at Nuremberg?
NY Times — Harry Reid is an addled old man that should be sent packing NOW! He should be declared mentally unfit for the job of Majority Senate Leader. To say that I am pissed today is an understatement, and this doesn't help. Wayne LaPierre should be locked up like the criminal he is, and throw away the key! Has this whole bloody world gone nuts!??? The US needs 1) an assault weapons ban; 2) large magazine ban; 3) background checks; 4) lisensing and insurance requirements; 5) mandatory weapons training and proficiency training; 6) closing of gun show loopholes. That's a start — did I miss anything? I am of the opinion that when one person's right to own weapons becomes more than my right to "life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness", then something has to give. There was an idea expressed in the Bernir Sander's video that said the US has become a bunch of individuals living in the same place rather than a community, a nation that looks after its own. This weapons issue and the assault on the big three — SS, Medicare and Medicaid — serve to prove that point. And who is at the base of it? — Republican/Teabaggers and their corporate benefactors, the Oligarchs!
MSNBC — An excellent post by Rachel Maddow. These American death merchants who continue to try to rewrite their part in history to make it more palatable are boils on the ass of humanity. Thank you Rachel Maddow for an excellent segment.
Cartoon — Boils on the ass of humanity, all of them plus a few more!
Senator Bernie Sanders in the working mans advocate. signed