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Politics, open government, and safe streets. And the constant incursion of cycling.

Category: Policy Page 27 of 35

Police State: Keeping You Scared

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On January 3, 2008

In Policy, Society, Travel

Maybe the use of the term “police state” is a bit overwrought. The US isn’t one right now (but we certainly are a surveillance society). But every time I see a story like this, or this, I’m reminded that we’re slouching toward that police state.  What did I just link? Well, the first was about this program, which Cory Doctorow has appropriately recognized as “facecrime“:

TSA screeners are learning to recognize set of secret, forbidden facial expressions. If your face slips into one of these during a TSA inspection, you will be taken off and given a thorough, secondary screening

[ . . . ]

TSA officials will not reveal specific behaviors identified by the program — called SPOT (Screening Passengers by Observation Technique) — that are considered indicators of possible terrorist intent.

But a central task is to recognize microfacial expressions — a flash of feelings that in a fraction of a second reflects emotions such as fear, anger, surprise or contempt, said Carl Maccario, who helped start the program for TSA.

Now, I don’t believe for a second that a few days of training (which is all they’re getting) is going to turn any of the TSA employees I’ve ever met into someone capable of making that judgment. But that’s really not the point of this program (or the public announcement of it). The point is twofold – first, to continue the security theater efforts at making the public feel like the government is doing something to keep them safe, and second, to continue to keep the public fearful enough that it doesn’t object to the first.  Impressively self sustaining, no?

The second story, however, is my favorite. It can be summed up with this picture:

FBI Billboard

This is part of the FBI’s new digital billboard alert program.  And you can see how it checks off all the requirements, just in this picture alone.  It’s attention catching, it’s got the scary brown man with a vaguely Arabic name, and it reminds you that there are bad people out there who will hurt you.   Whoever picked this out as an example surely has a fine career ahead of him or her.

These billboards are not just going to be fancy versions of the old post office wanted posters.  No, they’re going to actively participate in your life:

Billboards will also be used to display “high security messages to relevant communities” and the FBI also plans to establish a “protocol” for high priority “hot pursuit” messages to run straight after crimes are committed.

I feel safer already.  You?

Good Job, New Jersey

By

On December 13, 2007

In Policy, Politics, Society

The New Jersey legislature has banned the death penalty, and it will soon be law.  I hope more states will follow New Jersey’s lead.

Huckabee: Keeping America Safe From . . . Americans.

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On December 13, 2007

In Policy, Politics

Picking on Huckabee is like sitting under an apple tree in late season, waiting for your basket to fill with fallen fruit.  It’s really just too easy, and can make you lazy after a while (while also risking a bit of a headache).  But this little bit of Huckabee’s platform, relating to dual citizenship, is just too fantastic.  He wants to:

Impose civil and/or criminal penalties on American citizens who illegitimately use their dual status (e.g., using a foreign passport, voting in elections in both a foreign country and the U.S.).

That’s right, he wants to criminalize the exercise of basic civil rights held by thousands upon thousands of American citizens.   How this helps or what it achieves is entirely unclear to me.   I’ve gone through some of the comments over at Volokh’s place, and have yet to identify any cogent reasoning behind it.  Ah well.  Crazy is as crazy does.

Metro Kills

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On December 11, 2007

In Cycling, DC, Policy, Virginia

DC area readers will recall the incident last February, in which Metrobus Driver Victor Kolako killed two women crossing with the light in a crosswalk. One of the women’s family has released a video, taken by the National Archives Building security camera, that shows the entire event. WaPo’s Marc Fischer linked the video, with the appropriate warning that even though it’s shot from a distance, it’s still hard to watch.

I’m linking it here, too, for a couple of reasons. First, I hope this will serve as a reminder to my fellow pedestrians and cyclists that we absolutely cannot trust our lives to the assumption that a bus driver (or any driver, really) will obey traffic signals. Second, I post this as a reminder to everyone else that Metro needs to face some serious public pressure over the safety training and basic quality of its bus drivers. This is the video.

The driver received one year in jail.

More Like This: Feingold Asks Mukasey About Waterboarding

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On December 10, 2007

In Policy, Politics

I’m not sure about you, but I’m pretty tired of Democrats throwing public fits over an issue (habeas corpus, Scooter Libby’s crimes, etc.) and then completely forgetting about it after the next hot issue bubbles up. We need adults with follow-through. Well, it looks like Russ Feingold is willing to provide that.

Silent Acquiesence

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On December 9, 2007

In Policy, Politics

All of the usual qualifiers in place, I suspect that this Washington Post story gets the core of the facts right:

[L]ong before “waterboarding” entered the public discourse, the CIA gave key legislative overseers about 30 private briefings, some of which included descriptions of that technique and other harsh interrogation methods, according to interviews with multiple U.S. officials with firsthand knowledge.

With one known exception, no formal objections were raised by the lawmakers briefed about the harsh methods during the two years in which waterboarding was employed, from 2002 to 2003, said Democrats and Republicans with direct knowledge of the matter. The lawmakers who held oversight roles during the period included Pelosi and Rep. Jane Harman (D-Calif.) and Sens. Bob Graham (D-Fla.) and John D. Rockefeller IV (D-W.Va.), as well as Rep. Porter J. Goss (R-Fla.) and Sen. Pat Roberts (R-Kan).

This Administration may not have asked permission to turn this into a country that tortures, but it did take those steps with the knowledge of both Republicans *and* Democrats who were charged with preventing such a thing. Again, the following quote rings true:

“In fairness, the environment was different then because we were closer to Sept. 11 and people were still in a panic,” said one U.S. official present during the early briefings. “But there was no objecting, no hand-wringing. The attitude was, ‘We don’t care what you do to those guys as long as you get the information you need to protect the American people.’ ”

My particular focus here is on the Democratic lawmakers. They failed in their fundamental responsibility to the Constitution and the American people. They’ve shown their judgment to be lacking when we needed it most, and I think that’s something we should consider closely when supporting them in the future. “What did you know, and when did you know it?” is not just a question for the President.

DC Tops “Walkable Cities” List

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On December 4, 2007

In DC, Policy, Virginia

In a nice change from our frequent positioning near the bottom of a list, a Brookings Institution report ranks:

the Washington region first among the country’s major metropolitan areas in the number of “walkable places” per capita, thanks to changes in just the past 15 years.

Being able to walk for most of my daily activities is one of the things I love most about living here, and I wouldn’t trade it for four bedrooms and a three car garage in a million years (which is the approximate amount of time I’d have to spend in traffic, if I did). I managed to pull this same situation off near the end of my time in Atlanta, too, so it’s not something that’s reserved to old East Coast cities and San Francisco. Here’s the top 10:

  1. Washington
  2. Boston
  3. San Francisco
  4. Denver
  5. Portland
  6. Seattle
  7. Chicago
  8. Miami
  9. Pittsburgh
  10. New York

I should note that I think the methodology is a little suspect (I mean, Atlanta is #15 on the list . . .), so don’t go wild with the DC v. NYC bit. I’m pretty happy to see Arlington get a nod for the work its done, though:

Good planning also helped in the Washington region, particularly in Arlington, Leinberger said.

When the Metro was being built, county officials lobbied to put their portion underground along a central commercial road, rather than above ground and along the interstate. The county then loosened zoning regulations around each Metro stop, a policy that gave rise to “urban villages” such as Ballston.

[ . . . ]

Walking among Ballston’s tall buildings recently, Leinberger praised the mix of commercial and residential spaces, the picturesque courtyards, and the use of underground parking instead of surface lots.

Of course, Arlington’s not perfect:

The one big mistake is Ballston Commons Mall, a suburban-style mall that has failed to attract many national retailers, Leinberger said.

On the upside, the mall does include a fantastic ice-skating facility, where you can (sometimes) go watch the Capitols practice or take to the ice yourself. And really, Ballston is much much better than it used to be.

In any event, it’s an interesting assessment of the progress in planning and development that many American cities are making. Report here.

GOP: Stupid on Security

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On December 3, 2007

In Policy, Politics

J., of the Armchair Generalist, highlights an excellent approach to knocking down the myth that the GOP has any real claim to the high ground on matters of security and defense.

Gun Control: Back in the Spotlight

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On November 20, 2007

In DC, Law, Policy

Every Democrat in the country better be ready for a barrage of gun control questions between now and the general election next year.  Why?  The Supreme Court has agreed to hear a case that goes to the core of the Second Amendment, which reads:

A well-regulated Militia being necessary to the security of a free State, the right of the people to keep and bear Arms, shall not be infringed.

Vastly oversimplifying things, it’s about whether the “right to bear arms” is a right that you – as an individual – have, or whether the right to bear arms is only as part of a “well-regulated Militia” (which is then up to the States to define).  If there is an *individual* right to bear arms, then many of the existing restrictions on gun acquisition and ownership may well be found unconstitutional.  I think it’s a perfectly valid question, and something that the Supreme Court has been avoiding for years.  So I’m happy to see that it will be sorted out.  As a lawyer, anyway.

But the real harm here is going to be the reinsertion of the “Democrats want to take your guns away!” canard into the political sphere.  If ever it was true, it certainly hasn’t been true for decades.  Yet it remained a regular (and effective) rallying cry for the GOP (a wholly owned subsidiary of the NRA, for the purpose of this issue).  It had faded, in recent years, and I was glad to see that.  But look for this case to put it front and center again.  Democrats need to prepare to ready, aim, and fire back.

Is Iran Next: A Town Hall Meeting

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On November 13, 2007

In Policy, Society, Virginia

I’m not Jim Moran’s biggest fan, but he gets credit for hosting this event:

When: Tuesday, November 13th
7:00PM to 9:00PM

Where: George Washington Masonic Temple; Theater
101 Callahan Dr.
Alexandria, VA 22301

Who:

  • Congressman Jim Moran (D-VA), senior member of the House Appropriations Committee, Subcommittee on Defense.

Guest Panelists:

  • Lee Hamilton, President, Woodrow Wilson International Center, Chairman, Iraq Study Group, Co-Chairman, 9/11 Commission, former Chairman, House Foreign Affairs Committee;
  • Lawrence Korb, Senior Fellow, Center for American Progress, former Assistant Secretary of Defense under President Reagan;
  • Danielle Pletka, Vice President for foreign and defense policy, American Enterprise Institute;
  • Dr. Trita Parsi, President, National Iranian American Council;

I’ll be there. Join us.

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