Uppity Wisconsin

New Hampshire just joined the list of states allowing gay marriage, after a quick trip through the legislature and a world-record-breaking signing by the governor. 

And yet, Wisconsin has somehow lost its progressive way on this issue.  2006 was the sad year in which Wisconsin legalized discrimination, both legally and morally.  It's time to fix this. Let's try again.  Let's keep trying until we get it right.

When last we met, Gentle Reader, it was to work through a series of legal precedents and statute law; the goal of the exercise being to determine if we could or could not define waterboarding as torture.

We have the kind assistance of Professor Jeffrey Addicott, who has provided us with his written testimony from his recent appearance before the Senate Judiciary Committee and a personal interview, where he walked me through some of his thinking on the matter.

Today we’re going to take a look at the precedent that he has used to reach the conclusion that waterboarding is not torture.

It’s also possible that the analysis may result in the discovery of a bit of common ground...but as I noted in Part One, it’s common ground that neither one of us might have seen coming.

To begin, a quick review from yesterday:

Dr. Addicott wants you to know that waterboarding is not torture.

I can’t tell you the number of times I began a story with a plan for where it would go, only to discover that the plan isn’t going to work.

The stories sometimes seem to write themselves...but other times, the research seems to do the writing instead; this being one of those times.

When the production of this story began it was with the intention of trying to explain what should be the “controlling authority” in terms of defining torture, a precedent set by the European Court of Human Rights, or Title 18 of the United States Code.

Having reviewed both statute law and numerous judgments in law courts worldwide as well as the recent Senate Judiciary Committee testimony of Professor Jeffrey Addicott, and having conducted an interview with Dr. Addicott personally, I’ve come to two rather surprising conclusions:

It may not really matter whether waterboarding is torture...and although neither I nor Dr. Addicott might have seen it coming, it’s starting to appear that he and I might agree on one thing:

Waterboarding, whether it’s torture or not, is a war crime.

There’s a big backstory here, so off we go:

So many times when we get together you have to put up with me complaining about something...and there are lots of other times when it’s me warning about events that are looming in our future. Even though they’re conversations we need to have, they’re often not very emotionally satisfying. Today we depart from that pattern, in a very good way. It’s “follow-up day”; and the conversation takes us to three “happy places”: two “problem” stories that have recent positive progress to report—and, just because I care about you, Gentle Reader, an exclusive preview of the George W. Bush autobiography, obtained with considerable effort from an unnamed and particularly well-placed source.

From our friends at One Wisconsin Now: 

You might have heard about Media Malpractice: How Obama Got Elected, a "documentary" by  right-wing mouthpiece John Ziegler that claims John McCain and Sarah Palin were victims of the "liberal media."

Check out OWN's video response - How Obama Really Got Elected

Ziegler claims it wasn't eight years of disastrous policies and failures by the Bush Administration. Nor tax breaks for corporations and the wealthy that exploded the deficit. Not skyrocketing health care premiums while insurance companies got rich. Wasn't corporate tax breaks to ship our jobs overseas. Nor an illegal war in Iraq and a mismanaged quagmire in Afghanistan. Not torture done in our name. Not the greed. Not the corruption. Not the incompetence.

That McCain insisted the "fundamentals of the economy are strong" and Palin's main rhetorical device was name-calling are not the fault of media -- conservative or liberal.

The Bush Administration is leaving a legacy - briefly documented here by Keith Olberman.

 

LittleSis is an involuntary facebook of powerful Americans, collaboratively edited and maintained by people like you. It's easier than ever to spot the symptoms of corruption and cronyism in our political process. Ordinary Americans have never felt more shut out from all levels of government, more excluded from economic gains, and more powerless to remedy the problems facing their communities and the world. Meanwhile, the powerful networks of individuals who've enjoyed unprecedented influence, wealth, and access while steering our country towards its present crisis continue to elude responsibility in the public spotlight. We all know that the need for fundamental change is urgent. Americans everywhere are pushing back against a broken system that bankrupts and disempowers them. But to effectively push back, we have to study and document the social networks that have our democracy in a stranglehold. We have to expose the individuals and institutions that abuse their power to enrich themselves and their cronies. And we have to make common cause and share this information freely. LittleSis is an invitation for fed up citizens to do just that.

WTF is going on?

WASHINGTON – The extraordinary powers of customs and border agents to invade the privacy of individuals at the U.S. border are spreading inland and creating what amounts to a “Constitution-free Zone” that covers fully two-thirds of the American population, the American Civil Liberties Union said today in a press conference at the National Press Club in Washington, DC.

197.4 million people live within 100 miles of the U.S. borders, and the government has just assumed extraordinary powers to search U.S. citizens within these zones.

This is not tinfoil hat stuff. Look at the map (scroll down a little). Do you know what this means?

“In the United States, citizens are not supposed to need an internal passport,” said Steinhardt. “This is our country and we are free to go where we please, without being stopped and interrogated by the authorities, as long as we are not behaving illegally or in a way that is clearly suspicious.”

The House Judiciary Committee just voted to recommend that Karl Rove be held in contempt.

In a 20-14 vote, the committee decided to send the measure on to the full house. If the house votes to hold him in contempt, the sergeant-at-arms will arrest him and bring him before the house.At this time it is not clear whether Nancy Pelosi will allow a full-house vote on the measure.

Don't hold your breath - but the decision in itself is fairly stunning - let's hope this is the start of holding the rascals accountable.

Sometimes you just have to be amused at the form that social protest can take.  Plucky Twin Cities software developer Codeweavers is running a challenge to President Bush - they will give away their software package (very nice, by the way) to everyone in the US if the president can meet their Lame Duck Challenge - 

Our Lame Duck Goals

CodeWeavers has selected an initial platform of five Lame Duck Goals. All of these represent what we think should be attainable, positive goals for the United States.

1. Reduce the Price of Gas: Gas costs about $3.79 a gallon in the Twin Cities, a full buck more than this time last year. If the average price here drops below $2.79 per gallon, this goal is met.
2. Reduce the Price of Food: With the rise of fuel prices has come a similar rise in food prices. A gallon of milk is about $5 these days. It was $3.50 a year ago. If the average price of a gallon of milk comes down to $3.50 gallon in the Twin Cities metro, this goal is met.
3. Create More Jobs: We started the year with 138,002,000 people in the U.S. working non-farm jobs. Since then, total non-farm employment has decreased by 366,000. If so much as a single job can be created this calendar year - meaning if employment can be at least 138,002,001, this goal is met.
4. Rejuvenate the Housing Market: Median home values in the Twin Cities have fallen 12 percent year over year - from $233,000 to $205,000. If that median returns to $233,000, this goal is met.
5. Bring Osama Bin-Laden to Justice: Every American would like to see Osama Bin-Laden captured or terminated. We won't be picky about how President Bush gets him. If it happens, this goal is met.

  I kind of wish that getting us the hell out of Vietnam - er, Iraq - was on this list, but - if just doing any of these things for the sake of doing 'em isn't enough - please Mr. President, help me get some free software.

Update: E-mails one veterans’ advocate, "The repercussions are pretty simple: VA managers can override any benefits decision that they don't want to pay. … Hey, why not confiscate all retroactive benefits from those older than 75 (65?) - they will die soon anyways."

An unofficial and apparently illegal U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) policy on granting veterans monetary benefits is drawing intense criticism in veteran advocates' and veteran attorneys' circles.

First reported in VA Watchdog by Larry Scott last year, the alleged policy puts a cap, in violation of U.S. Code, on large retroactive monetary sums granted to veterans.

Look here in the near future for updates and reporting on new developments.

Writes Larry Scott:

Reporting from his back yard - Russ Feingold on why FISA matters. Thanks to Progressive Patriots .

Not one of our usual sources, but here's an interesting article from Adam Kritzer at CurrencyExchange.net.

When George W. Bush was sworn in as President in January 2001, the price of oil was approximately $28 per barrel. By coincidence, 2001 also saw the US import more oil than it produced domestically for the first time in its history. In hindsight, perhaps this was an omen. During the tenure of his administration, oil prices have skyrocketed to $130 per barrel, and some analysts have predicted that the price could ultimately settle at $250 or $500, depending on the time frame. Conspiracy theorists and cynics would correctly point out that the Bush family and administration insiders have profited from this rise. Even Bush supporters would have to concede that the administration has contributed to, if not actively encouraged, the record run-up.

From fiscal policy to energy policy to foreign policy, the Bush Administration has committed one gaffe after another, and the futures markets have been quick to react, with devastating economic consequences. At the same time, there were isolated instances in which the Administration appeared to be working to relieve prices, and these efforts should be acknowledged as well. In doing so, the net effect of his presidency can be distilled from the sundry other factors that weigh on oil.

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Matthew Yglesias pointed out this video from bloggingheads.tv:

Bob Barr is running for President on the Libertarian ticket. What makes this video interesting is that Bob Barr initially attained national prominence as one of the leaders of the impeachment of President Bill Clinton. Now, he saying that what President Bush has done to our constitution is much worse.