San Francisco City hall – the home of some good old-fashioned American values.
(h/t to James Young, for the inspiration)
Category: Politics Page 16 of 73
I want to know what idiotic “senior administration official” made this statement in the context of justifying the new Obama military tribunals:
One of the senior administration officials said that although federal courts bar many kinds of hearsay evidence, “the hearsay rule is not one of those things that is rooted in American values.â€
This is such an incredibly stupid statement I don’t know where to start.  If one were asked to name off a few of the core foundations of the jurisprudence underlying the American justice system, the principles of hearsay rule would be among them, along with the right to face your accuser and trial by jury. It doesn’t get any more American than that. Unless, I suppose, you’re talking about lynching.
This is the presentation Larry Lessig gave at the Brennan Center’s Campaign Finance Reform forum last week.  It is well worth your time.
Also? The next time you’re tempted to use PowerPoint in a presentation, think about this.
Spent much of the day at the Brennan Center’s Money in Politics 2009: New Horizons for Reform conference. It was well worth the time spent, I think, and I came away with a better understanding of the state of play on campaign finance reform (really, try and manage your jealousy).  I’ll post a little more about it over the weekend.
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Tomorrow brings the Centenary Giro d’Italia! Everything you ever needed and wanted to know (and more) about the 100th running of one of this pro cycling stage race it can be found at PodiumCafe. I suggest starting with Chris’ Workingman’s Guide to the Centenary Giro to get an idea for which stages you might want to catch. This year, the race is very accessible, as Universal Sports will be carrying it both live online and broadcast. And in case you’re wondering whether this is just me overhyping some dull race, check out this map of the end of Stage 19:
Yes, it ends on Mt. Vesuvius.  Here are a couple of other shots, including the Blockhaus climb and roll along the Amalfi coastline. In my opinion, the Giro d’Italia has – hands down – the most beautiful course of the three Grand Tours. Even the dullest flat stages take you through some beautiful countryside. Give it a go.
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Whether Nancy Pelosi knew about the Bush Administration’s torturing or not, it’s entirely irrelevant to the need to investigate and prosecute. If that process results in damage to Pelosi? So be it. (And her possible exposure is all the more reason to get a real prosecutor on the case, and not some “bi-partisan panel” to tidy it all up.)
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John Cole (These Deaths Are On You, Obama) and Dan Froomkin (Any Remorse, Mr. President?) remind us that the deaths of innocents in the name of America didn’t stop with the election.
here:
Step away from the polls, go outside and get some perspective. Find a hobby, hire a hooker. It doesn’t matter, but at some point, everyone needs to calm the fuck down and stop living or dying by Virginia politics. It’s not a skillful sport; it comes down to money, connections, and not being a fuckup.
[ . . . ]
Quit taking yourselves and this race seriously. The fact that you put so much energy into these things should probably tell you (and will demonstrate to your court-ordered psychiatrist) that the Virginia political machine is so filled with it’s own self-replicating ego bullshit that it can’t possibly work for the people. You. Are. Not. Important.
What’s important to recognize is that while you’re donating 500 bucks to a candidate, there is a homeless guy down the street who hasn’t eaten a decent meal in a few days, or a food bank that has empty shelves. Think about that while you stress about some two-bit poll, you selfish bastard.
I encourage each of you to take a day you would normally volunteer for a campaign and instead, after calling and politely telling the campaign volunteer coordinator to go fuck himself, find a worth charity or cause and donate your time to making a difference in the world and in the lives of others. Because, honestly, the rest of us think you people are real pricks.
Now GTFO and do something useful with your lives.
Hear, hear. I have to admit that I’ve got multiple drafts of posts related to the Virginia governor’s race generated over the last month. But halfway through each, I realize that it just won’t matter. Plus, Angry Potato’s probably already written what I’ve wanted to say, and is (usually) funnier in saying it.  So I’m just going to keep leaving it alone, for the time being. Except for saying that I hope you’re not suckered by the McAuliffe machine.
You’ve got to admit that that’s kind of compelling.
Huh. Actually, in the writing of this post, I realize that the White House is trying to extend terms that are inconsistent with the terms of the CC license it’s labeled its photos with:
These official White House photographs are being made available for publication by news organizations and/or for personal use printing by the subject(s) of the photographs. The photographs may not be used in materials, advertisements, products, or promotions that in any way suggest approval or endorsement of the President, the First Family, or the White House.
In fact, each photo is labeled with the Creative Commons Attiribution license, which provides simply:
You are free:
* to Share — to copy, distribute and transmit the work
* to Remix — to adapt the workUnder the following conditions:
You must attribute the work in the manner specified by the author or licensor (but not in any way that suggests that they endorse you or your use of the work).
It strikes me that the terms listed by the White House on its Flickr stream attempt to restrict commercial use of the photos, but the CC license which it chooses to govern the photos don’t make any such restriction.
Photo: Official White House Photo by Chuck Kennedy
A short FP article worth reading:
For years, political theorists have argued that developing a healthy middle class is the key to any country’s democratization. To paraphrase the late political scientist Samuel Huntington: Economic growth and industrialization usually lead to the creation of a middle class. As its members become wealthier and more educated, the middle class turns increasingly vocal, demanding more rights to protect its economic gains.
But over the past decade, the antidemocratic behavior of the middle class in many countries has threatened to undermine this conventional wisdom. Although many developing countries have created trappings of democracy, such as regular elections, they often failed to build strong institutions, including independent courts, impartial election monitoring, and a truly free press and civil society.
The middle class’s newfound disdain for democracy is counterintuitive. After all, as political and economic freedoms increase, its members often prosper because they are allowed more freedom to do business. But, paradoxically, as democracy gets stronger and the middle class grows richer, it can realize it has more to lose than gain from a real enfranchisement of society.
I don’t have enough understanding of all of the situations it gives as examples to endorse it, but this thesis certainly fits with those situations where I do feel like I’ve got a solid grasp. Here’s an exercise for the reader: apply this thesis to America.
I’m just going to lift this wholesale from TPM and its reader JS, and hope for forgiveness. It’s dead on, I think.
Let’s say that all of the sudden, due to the catastrophic onset of a once-in-a-generation crisis, it no longer becomes possible to deny that the elites at the head of a societally important institution have a record of rampant violation not just of the law, but of our most cherished American ideals. Do you:
A) acknowledge that the institution itself has failed in fundamental ways, name and prosecute the true bad apples to the fullest extent of the law, and overhaul the system in a way that essentially wipes out many of the vested interests that have kept it going; or
B) attempt to patch up the existing system by agreeing to keep up various now-discredited fictions and illusions in exchange for a few hard concessions from the elites, all in the hope that the whole monstrosity can limp along until the crisis has passed, at which point it can recover and all of the elites can go back to business as usual
Obama is, by nature, a consensus seeker with inhuman levels of ambition and talent, which means that on both torture and on Wall St. bankster criminality he instinctively reaches for B), which is the (impossible) option that attempts to please everybody at least a little. But what we really need is A), which would seem to someone like Obama to be the most dangerous option, necessitating as it does the social trauma of genuine collective soul searching. You’d have to be able to gamble that America can tolerate this kind of huge rupture — like the lancing of a boil — and come through it all intact, and Obama is not a gambler.
This was part of my concern in the primary battles between him and Clinton. In any event, Obama’s in charge now, and all we can do is pressure him. And I hope we do.