Category: Action

…also at orange

It seems our great national embarrassment, the federal response to Hurricane Katrina,  is the gift that just keeps on giving.

An excellent article by Gabriel Lafitte, advisor to the Tibetan Government in Exile, about the protests and riots, and what it means to the Tibetans themselves. What follows is his article in full (reprinted with permission).

The Tibetan revolt, like those of two and five decades ago, will be crushed by the overwhelming might of the Chinese military. No match could be more unequal: maroon-clad nuns and monks versus the machinery of oppression of the global rising power. In recent months, fast-response mobile tactical squads whose sole purpose is to quell the masses have been overtly rehearsing on the streets of Tibetan towns for just what they are now doing.

What is the point of revolt if it is almost certainly suicidal

(Cross-posted at EENR blog and Daily Kos.)

We’ve started something new on this blog.  We’re calling it Feedback.  It’s a newsletter, but we aren’t doing it the traditional way.  You can see the evolution of this project here.

Here’s the short explanation which will be found in every issue we publish:

(what is this?) The internet, primarily through blogs, has brought about a communications revolution. Yet the traditional media has maintained their position as information gatekeepers, and they won’t let you hear us.

We can’t bring about change when the media ignores us. We can’t rely on politicians to fix things for us. So we’re through playing nice. We’re done begging for attention. We’re bypassing the media and coming direct to you.

We can solve our problems if we work together. We can make things better when all of us try. All we’re asking for is your help. So we can generate a little Feedback.

While this will normally be a weekly publication, due to our various schedules, we realized we had to delay our official launch for a couple weeks.  Despite that, we were determined to have something ready for this week, and somehow, we’ve managed just that.

Now we need your help.

We like to think that our vote is the ultimate weapon of the people, but if the new rule is to get elected, raid the treasury and change the laws that hamper you, and then go away, then we are just voting in new thieves.

The FISA bill goes into compromise with Bush already promising his veto if the bill doesn’t include retroactive immunity for the telephone companies. Congress knows damn well the telco’s don’t need immunity because they should be able to produce an executive order for anything illegal they are accused of. If they can’t, then they should stand trial. Bush was willing to break the law in the first place because he saw the need as vital to national security, yet his willingness to suspend the same program over a provision in a bill pretty much destroys his claim of vital interest.

I want to show another way to shatter the claim that domestic spying is vital to national security, and point out the possible abuses that could happen if the apparatus is allowed to run without oversight.

—-

The rule of law is mankind’s greatest triumph. It ensures that all actions and transactions are zero-sum endeavors. We agree on a value and trade if we are willing to pay the price. If we steal, or gain an unfair advantage in some other way, then justice puts up the capitol to balance the transaction. It forcibly extracts the balance from the perpetrator and charges interest. When an injustice is allowed to stand, the damage is greater than the original injustice. It undermines the system and fosters the notion of an entitled class that is above the law. Resentment is our internal justice system that works not by raising our own self worth, but by lowering the worth of the other class, seeding distrust and even hatred. Scooter Libby was within the arms of justice but was released by an entitled class that was above the law and let his roll in a dangerous and senseless crime against this country go unpunished. Joe Wilson, in my mind, would be justified in taking action against those that would place the life of his wife in danger.

The phone companies should be able to hold up a presidential order in court for any illegal act they perpetrated. I can understand that. What I can’t understand is not being able to find out if they followed the presidential order or went beyond it. Even more unbelievable is not being allowed total oversight over the scope of data mining and how that data is used in all cases. FISA was created by the abuse of the 4th amendment in the past. That abuse, as always, led to other abuses such as the burglary at Watergate.

The phone companies have a body of information so valuable that many specific laws have been enacted to safeguard it and the unfair advantage it creates if a privileged class has unfair access. It’s not just the possibility of being able to listen in on the content of a call; the telemetry of calling patterns is in itself of immense value and can be used for grossly unfair advantages.

Analyzing the calling patterns of an investment bank can greatly increase the chance of speculating correctly that a certain company might be in play for a takeover. Analyzing the calling patterns in and out of certain phones at the FBI or Justice department can be used as an early warning of an investigation. Congressional offices. Defense contractors. Law offices. Doctors offices. Local police. Party headquarters. Husbands/wives/paramours/competitors/personal enemies – all for the taking. All for sale. Unchecked.

Any and every time a telco complies with a request that is not public knowledge and might otherwise be illegal, the telco gains a bit too. They can begin to think of it as the norm and possible start helping themselves too because, after all, they can hold up examples for all the world to see if they felt pressured in any way. Leverage is a great way to unhinge justice.

The premise of the governments efforts to gather information is to thwart terrorism. They will use the argument that stopping even one attack makes it worth the violence being done to our liberties. That’s a false argument; more people die in car accidents than terrorist attacks, so why don’t they take our cars away too.

Even with low odds, if eavesdropping were certain to stop terrorism, then I might accept it with strict oversight. The fact is, it is unlikely a terrorist would communicate in the clear in a way that the automated collection apparatus would catch. Why talk openly when they can just post a picture of an ugly purple couch on Craigslist at an address in Walla Walla Washington as a signal to do something. The apparatus is useless to stop it.

Concentrating and analyzing the motherload of all data under the excuse of looking for terrorists is just an excuse. The power is too great to not abuse. The FBI has already admitting to abusing this information and has thoughtfully informed us that they are attempting to reduce the abuse. How will we know? We are not allowed full oversight.

Since congress very well might abdicate their responsibility to their constituents – us – then is there anything we the people can do for ourselves? It has to be done now because soon, it might be impossible to organize any kind of protest or action without the government being in on every detail.

One thought that I had would be to show how easy it is to undermine the premise of the system. If software was written to work on computers and cell phones that constantly emitted non-specific, non-localized, threatening-sounding, non-threats (can’t call it FOX News – already taken) then it would overwhelm the automated collection systems, causing them to flag billions of messages for review by human eyes every day. Harmless phrases such as “Flea bomb the white house at the end of the street,” might drive any system that is looking for terrorists crazy. Even worse would be to take specific sentences from Tom Clancy books and randomly emit them.

If any lawyers are reading this, do you know if voluntarily running such software would be illegal? What would be the government’s response in your estimation?

Unless that data is open to everyone, it should be open to no one. The government has not acknowledged any program of data mining. How can we know that? If they are not mining, then the program mentioned above should have no detrimental effect.

This in no way can be construed as sedition. I just want my 4th amendment rights honored. Since destroying the equipment that is listening to us is destruction of property, I wonder if there might not be another way around it by simply undermining the premise.

In case you haven’t heard, there’ve been protests in Tibet the last few days marking the 49th anniversary of the Tibetan National Uprising. These are some of the biggest demonstrations the country’s seen since the 1980s. The Chinese government has clamped down hard and violence has broken out.

Violent protests erupted Friday in a busy market area of Lhasa, the Tibetan capital, as Buddhist monks and other ethnic Tibetans clashed with Chinese security forces. Witnesses say the protesters burned shops, cars, military vehicles and at least one tourist bus.

The chaotic scene marked the most violent demonstrations since protests by Buddhist monks began in Lhasa on Monday, which was the anniversary of a failed Tibetan uprising against Chinese rule in 1959. The ongoing protests have been the largest in Tibet since the late 1980s, when Chinese security forces repeatedly used lethal force to restore order in the region.

The developments prompted the Dalai Lama, the exiled spiritual leader of Tibetan Buddhism, to issue a statement, saying that he was concerned about the situation and appealing to the Chinese leadership to “stop using force and address the long-simmering resentment of the Tibetan people.”

This particular media report skipped the last part of his statement: “I also urge my fellow Tibetans not to resort to violence.”

All roads lead to Rove.  That was the message scrawled as an afterthought in the lower left-hand corner of the envelope I received in yesterday’s mail.  It contained a letter from an old and dear friend of mine.  His name is Don Siegelman.  He is the former governor of Alabama and he is being held as a political prisoner of the Bush administration in a Federal prison in Louisiana.

Hey all!

First off, my personal apologies for not being around the last couple days.  I’m actually in the midst of starting two projects including this one.  The other could make me financially independent, and this week is proving to be a good week for advancing it.  I consider both projects to be very important, so my time is going to them rather than to reading/commenting here.  Again, my apologies.

Second, we’re almost ready to move to the next stage of the GMW project.  If this is new to you, follow that link which will start you in the right direction.  (I’m feeling too lazy to link all the essays.)  Or you can read this really, really short version (pending final approval):

(what is this?) The internet, primarily through blogs, has brought about a communications revolution. Yet the traditional media has maintained their position as information gatekeepers, and they won’t let you hear us.

We can’t bring about change when the media ignores us. We can’t rely on politicians to fix things for us. So we’re through playing nice. We’re done begging for attention. We’re bypassing the media and coming direct to you.

We can solve our problems if we work together. We can make things better when all of us try. All we’re asking for is your help. So we can generate a little Feedback.

Third, yes, we’ve finally got a name!  Feedback.  We think it fits pretty well.

Fourth…the meat.

March 19th marks the 5th anniversary of the illegal invasion and occupation of Iraq.  This debacle is costing us ,upwards of two trillion dollars, nearly four thousand American lives so far, and a million or so Iraqi lives.  

For those who missed the first two essays on this, see Guerrilla Media Warfare and Guerrilla Media Warfare: Redux.

Here’s the short version for those of you just tuning in.

Blogs are great, but a large number of people don’t read them.  We need to get the information we have out to them.  We need to talk to them where they are.  On their level.  Stop talking around them and over them.  We aren’t better than they are.  We have to reach them.

Since we haven’t the resources to do traditional publishing, we’re starting a newsletter that can be printed from home and passed out on the street.  We’re looking at between 4-8 pages (depends on a few factors that haven’t all clicked in place, yet), and each article will be short.  This will be published weekly.  We take submissions and choose the ones that best fill a set of criteria.  Anyone can submit their work.  Multiple articles if they choose.

What follows is the status of our project so far.

John and Elizabeth Edwards may not be on the 2008 presidential campaign anymore, but they are on a different campaign: making connections between the costs of the Iraq war and our weak economy.  

Elizabeth Edwards, who is good about making constructive criticism of the media, observed that reporters

“certainly don’t cover the connection between the issues,” she said the American people see there is “undoubtedly a connection between oil, the costs of transportation in this country, and this war.”

(source: Will Thomas, HuffPo)

Thus, a new cause to spotlight, and the Edwardses are back fighting for the American people.

More under the fold…

Update:  Keith Ellison became the fifth Democrat on the HJC to sign onto Wexler’s letter today!  We only need two more to have a majority of the Dems.  Whose next? Weiner? Lofgren?  

A group of concerned New Yorkers have come together under the banner of AskNadler2Impeach.org to lobby Rep. Jerrold Nadler of New York CD 8 to support impeachment.  We have launched a website where we are hosting a petition asking him to support Rep. Wexler’s call for impeachment hearings in the HJC.  Please go here to sign the petition.

AskNadler2Impeach.org is also hosting a Town Hall Meeting/Impeachment Forum on Sunday March 9th from 4-6pm at Judson Memorial Church, 55 Washington Square South, NYC.  The impeachment forum will address the question Is Impeachment Necessary to Protect the Constitution?

Speakers include:

Bruce Fein, Constitutional scholar, former associate deputy attorney general, and Chairman of the American Freedom Agenda;

Elizabeth Holtzman, a member of the House Judiciary Committee during the impeachment of Richard Nixon, and co-author of The Impeachment of George W. Bush: A Practical Guide for Concerned Citizens;

Scott Horton, Contributor to Harper’s Magazine, adjunct professor at Columbia Law School, and member of the board of the National Institute of Military Justice and the Council on Foreign Relations;

John Nirenberg, a retired college professor from Vermont who walked 485 miles from Boston to Washington, DC to raise the question of impeachment to Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi.  

This essay is to consolidate suggestions and comments from my previous essay on the subject.  I’m going to keep this to the point, partly because I’m in a rush since I won’t be around tomorrow (Thursday…wait, that’s today), but mostly because it doesn’t need much more.  Please reference the last essay for the idea as originally outlined.  I’ll be back late in the evening to see what else has developed.  If anyone wants to contact me directly, that information is available on my profile.