Women Of Republican Teabag Society

by: Father Tyme

As Civilization Fades: Diversion from the Dance Floor

by: Dark Wraith

The Dark Wraith is bereft of substantive comment.

"REeducation Camps"?

by: Peter of Lone Tree

"With a number of polls showing a sustained level of opposition to the Democrats’ health care reform efforts more than five months after passage, Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius said the Obama administration has 'a lot of reeducation to do' heading into the midterms."
Sebelius: Time for 'Reeducation' on Obama Health Care Law

Maybe those who refuse to be reeducated will be beaten to death.

The nuke that Ahmadenijad might build!

by: Father Tyme

Who pays for the Nuke Ahmadinejad might build?

Information Entitlement Doctrine of Barack Obama

by: Dark Wraith

The Justice Department has just secured indictment against yet another federal employee for leaking secret information to the press. This makes at least four individuals in short order that federal prosecutors have sought to imprison for disclosing what the government thinks the American people have no right to know. The latest target in this aggressive campaign by the Obama Administration is Stephen Jin-Woo Kim, who allegedly told a reporter that the CIA had determined that another round of sanctions against North Korea might trigger the regime in Pyongyang to conduct a third nuclear weapons test.

According to the Associated Press, the 43-year-old Mr. Kim was a State Department contractor in the Bureau of Verification, Compliance and Implementation from the middle of 2008 until September of last year. Mr. Kim penned the introduction to Korea and the United States through War and Peace, 1945-1960, by Henry Chung (Seoul: Yonsei University Press, ©2000), and authored Master of Manipulation (Seoul: Yonsei University Press, ©2001), among other activities establishing at least some credentials of knowledge about intelligence activities on the Korean Peninsula.

Assistant U.S. Attorney General David S. Kris blustered that the indictment against Kim would "...serve as a warning" to would-be leakers of government secrets.

Perhaps the indictment will also serve as a warning to those still thinking that Barack Obama is something other than the latest fist of authoritarianism. The list of formally accused includes at least one soldier, PFC Bradley Manning, who delivered devastating combat video and documentation to Wikileaks, a Swedish organization founded by Julian Assange, who is beyond the reach of U.S. authorities. In their frustration at not being able to use American law to wreck Mr. Assange, a Swedish tabloid seems to have been the tool by which elements in the American government attempted to humiliate and discredit him with a claim in June that he was being investigated for two separate sex crimes. Unfortunately for the disinformation specialists, a day after the sleazy story was plastered across the headlines, Sweden's chief prosecutor summarily and publicly declared that Mr. Assange was no longer wanted on any such charges.

That failed operation aside, the U.S. has still obtained indictments against Americans who are alleged to have leaked classified information, including one against Bush-era National Security Agency executive Thomas A. Drake, who disclosed to a reporter at the Baltimore Sun embarrassing information about staggering cost overruns, mismanagement, and other problems at the NSA, particularly in a massive construction overhaul of the nation's signal intelligence infrastructure.

While the Obama Administration's law enforcement instrumentalities have adamantly refused to indict even one principal of the Bush Administration programs that crafted, implemented, oversaw, concealed, and cynically justified under color of legal counsel the systematic torture of detainees in violation of both American statutory law and international treaty obligations, the current top officials at DoJ are militating to imprison a resolutely up-standing, long-time member of the national security community who disclosed outrageous failures that cost the American taxpayers hundreds of millions of dollars and delayed the implementation of modernization of the nation's antiquated intelligence-gathering capabilities.

Returning to the latest individual caught up in the government's ramped-up efforts to cork the flow of information the Obama Administration deems secret, U.S. Attorney Kris went on in his press conference about the indictment of Steve Kim to assert, "The willful disclosure of classified information to those not entitled to it is a serious crime."

The timeline of circumstances surrounding the document Mr. Kim leaked to the press is interesting, if not downright telling, about how President Barack Obama and his inner circle of advisers conduct foreign policy and manage information in multilateral negotiations.

After North Korea carried out its second test of a nuclear device in late May 2009 (a test considerably more successful than its first several years earlier), the Obama Administration swiftly and publicly took a lead in spearheading work on a new set of multi-nation sanctions against Pyongyang, ruled by the reclusive and rather odd Kim Jong-il, son of the equally reclusive and rather odd former strong man Kim Il-sun.

Like his father, Kim Jong-il is so resilient to outside pressures that he has let his own people go through one mass starvation after another rather than capitulate to demands from the international community on matters of nuclear non-proliferation. The best hope of getting any traction with sanctions against North Korea would not be through the toughness of the punishment so much as with the endorsement of the punishment by China, the only nation to which Kim Jong-il will even marginally listen, given China's cross-border trade with and stream of welfare to North Korea.

Apparently, at the same time Obama was conducting this very public, multi-nation campaign to further economically isolate Pyongyang, his own intelligence community had produced an information product that assessed a good likelihood that those very sanctions Obama and his foreign policy advisers wanted would have the highly undesirable effect of spurring the Pyongyang regime to test yet another nuclear device. Each such test is costly to North Korea in terms of weapons-grade nuclear fuel spent but also extraordinarily valuable in terms of wide-ranging technical know-how in nuclear bomb construction.

Obama's negotiators were whipping up international support for new sanctions against North Korea at the same time the Central Intelligence Agency was reporting its judgment that those sanctions would probably induce the Pyongyang regime to test another nuke: presidential diplomacy on the public stage to construct a concert of nations imposing sanctions on a rogue state, while that president's own, presumably trusted, analysts were back stage advising in a written document that success of the public diplomacy could backfire at 180 degrees to intended effect.

Then, throwing a monkey wrench into this interesting situation, federal contractor Steve Kim, on assignment to the State Department from Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory, leaked the classified report to a journalist, unnamed in the indictment against Kim but probably a reporter at Fox News. According to an updated Reuters release, somewhat unclear in its connection to the pending criminal case, Mr. Kim had also "...briefed former Vice President Dick Cheney and other top U.S. officials." Whether this was during the Bush Administration or after is not stated in the Reuters update.

On June 12, 2009, the United Nations passed Resolution 1874, which imposed sanctions against North Korea cumulative to those in Resolution 1718 of 2006, the latter resolution punishing the Pyongyang regime for its nuclear bomb test in May 2009, the former for its first bomb test.

North Korea has not tested a nuclear device since the one in the late Spring of last year. At the close of 2009, the Korea Institute for Defense Analyses, a South Korean government think tank, issued its 2010 outlook, in which defense analysts found "a high possibility" that North Korea would conduct its third nuclear bomb test during 2010, in part to strengthen the Pyongyang regime during the anticipated transition of power to the son of Kim Jong-il, and in part to bolster its case that the nations of the world should accept North Korea as a legitimate nuclear state.

The U.S. issued no criticism of the Korea Institute for Defense Analyses for its December 2009 public report, which directly discussed North Korea and which essentially paralleled in its findings the prior, secret CIA document leaked to the press without directly naming North Korea.

Notwithstanding claims by the State and Justice Departments that Stephen Kim compromised sources and endangered national security, it would at least appear that the difference between the U.S. government's outrage over the leak by Kim and the later, open report published by South Korea was that the Obama Administration had, in the second instance, already achieved its objective of securing the desired United Nations resolution in the context of a written American intelligence community conclusion that success at the UN against North Korea would be short lived and counterproductive.

It is quite likely that during the run-up to the UN vote on Resolution 1874, most nations with even marginally capable intelligence analysis capabilities had come to the same conclusion about the risk of new sanctions against Pyongyang, which means the Obama Administration seems to share the view of the previous regime in Washington that, given a choice, secrecy is preferable to transparency, regardless of its value to national security. Assistant Attorney General Kris put it succinctly: "...disclosure of classified information to those not entitled to it."

Label it "classified," and thereby make it an entitlement.

As the Central Intelligence Agency puts it, "Information is the most dangerous weapon of all."

In the view of a succession of diverse American rulers, including the current President, information is not a right of a free people, but is, instead, an entitlement, one reserved for those who must ensure that freedom is not taken literally by the governed.

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Where Have I Been?

by: Debra

I'm sorry that I haven't posted in the last few months but for some reason blogging just hasn't been important to me.  During my recovery I had time to reflect and one of the things I decided was that I've been wasting my time and the following quote from Tristero at Hullabaloo sums it up quite nicely.

Why? Because some of you, right now, are starting to waste the little time you have here on earth by marshaling reasoned arguments and accurate facts to refute Conservapedia's lies. And so are others. And that is terribly sad.

And then Jon Stewart crystallized it for me in a segment titled "I Give Up".

My surgery went well, at least from the doctor's point of view.  He didn't grace me with his presence until the evening after the surgery when he breezed into my hospital room to discharge me.  Then he wouldn't answer my questions and acted like I was a nuisance.  Heaven forbid that I should know what he did or what he found while surgeons and students in Los Angeles were privy to every aspect of my surgery.  All follow up appointments were handled by his physicians assistant. The conscious time I've spent in his presence is less than ten minutes.

The cancer was classified as being Stage 1A and if you have to get diagnosed with cancer this would be the stage you would want since it has a 93% survival rate.  What you don't want is to do the robot surgery.

It turns out that they cut everything into little pieces so they can be removed through the less than one inch incisions.  While it may be cutting edge technology it also means that during the slice and dice procedure some cancer cells may be dislodged and left behind.  It also means that they pump you full of air so they have room to move around.  This air cannot be expelled by normal means, it has to be absorbed by the body or you are deflated after the surgery.  This was not done for me.  For three weeks I looked and felt like I had beach ball in the abdominal area.  Simple things like using the toilet, getting out of bed, bending to put on shoes or simply sitting were extremely uncomfortable. 

One of the hallmarks of cancer survivors is that they realize that a positive attitude and a reduction in anger and frustration give them a better chance of surviving and/or preventing a recurrence.  I want to live a long and healthy life and I can't do that if I spend most of my time trying to convince stupid people to look at facts instead of listening to people who spread hatred and intolerance on a daily basis.

I live in Nevada now and the people here believe the darnedest things, most of which don't exist in reality.  From the Park 51 controversy to burning the Koran as a warning, this country has gone off the deep end and trashed the First Amendment while ensuring that the rest of the world can see how hypocritical we are.  We are no longer a shining beacon of light and freedom, we are a fading nightlight trying to shield ourselves from a bogeyman that has already accomplished his job.  People were worried about Y2K destroying our way of living and it turns out we did it to ourselves.

On a distinctly happier note there has been an addition to the family, a Boston/Rat terrier puppy.  His name is Galen and while Shadow wasn't too thrilled in the beginning she had a great time playing with him this morning.  Shai has been more tolerant and I think she's been enjoying Shadow's discomfort.  I will have pictures tomorrow.

Debsweb

The Standard of Honor

by: Dark Wraith

Dr. King's dream was not that, one day, opportunistic Right-wing extremists would blubber about honor they have never earned and a God they use as a tool of insular, self-serving hypocrisy.

Honor the standards of heroism, and thereby reject the failed pretenders to the platform of leadership.

A New Yorker has a Message for the rest of America

by: Anna Van Z

And this is whose business NYC construction projects are - New York City residents! But facts and reality have little to do with the spin of rightwing media yappers, which at its core is designed to create conflict and controversy, which they believe can be spun into political gold. And unfortunately, there seems to be a burgeoning number of very stupid citizens, whose ignorance is only matched by their inability to engage in independent, rational thought.

There are few things more spectacularly offensive than watching the same looney-tunes talking heads who have denigrated 9/11 families and survivors, often portraying them as money-grubbing media whores - and their wingnut congressional counterparts, who have actively blocked paying for medical care/disability for impaired, seriously ill ground zero clean-up workers - now trying to capitalize on still-painful 9/11 wounds. It's utterly obscene.

If they're so concerned about honoring the victims of 9/11, then why have they not sought a genuine, open investigation into the events of that day? The so-called 9/11 Commission Report is an absolute joke, as anyone who has bothered to research the topic has quickly discovered. To me, the whole premise of these crimes being committed by "Islamic Terrorists" is rather ludicrous in the first place. I do not, and never will believe, that 9/11 was pulled off by third-world camp-dwellers who could barely master the operation of a Cessna.

Dear Rest-of-America: Take This Map, It's Why You're Wrong About the "Ground Zero Mosque"
By Foster Kamer
From Running Scared, a Village Voice Blog:

According to a recent Siena Research Institute poll, over half of New Yorkers polled think that the "Ground Zero Mosque" will promote racial and religious tolerance, or are open to the idea of it. Yet: 68% of Americans oppose it, despite the endorsements of New York City's mayor and the President of the United States of America. But that's not why you're wrong, America. This, however, is.

Via Tumblr editorial director TopherChris, here's a map of just how "Ground Zero" the "Ground Zero Mosque" is:



































The point is, it isn't. What's more offensive: Having a....

"Ground Zero Burger King."
Memorial that's never happened because of hyper-capitalist conflicts.
Bunch of tacky souvenir tables.
Bunch of tacky souvenir tables that profit off of cheap, China-made 9-11 memorabilia.
Bunch of tacky souvenir tables that profit off of cheap, China-made 9-11 memorabilia when they're not selling fake Rolexes to the same Americans coming to New York, buying from them, going home, and telling New Yorkers where to put our Mosques.
or an Islamic Cultural Center with a 9/11 Memorial (more than what's actually been put to paper for an official 9/11 Memorial) two and a half blocks away?

Reminder: Muslims were victims of 9/11, too. Sorry, but it's true. And one was an NYPD cadet.

Maybe we'll care what you have to say when you stop bothering us for directions in the subway on how to get to Ground Zero so you can go there and buy some dumb, tacky knickknack you can take home and give to friends to let them know that you spent money on a shake-a-snow where a few thousand people died. Maybe then. But probably not. Shut up, go away, and also, stop lying, or at least tell your politicians to stop lying. It might help you recognize the truth, which is that you're wrong, and you're attacking vital American freedoms by going against this Mosque. The truth is that you're terrorists in your own right. You are striking against America by going against this mosque. You are, in effect, almost as bad as the ones who killed people on 9/11. Okay, not quite, not really, but kind of, because you're fighting against what 9/11 victims died for: religious freedom, which said terrorists don't have and don't want anyone else to have.

But now you have a map to see how wrong you are, okay? Now: Fuck you. Fuck you and shut up, you assholes. Shut up and leave New York alone.

(See some great updates at the Village Voice site, that show a titty bar, an off-track betting outlet, etc., that are the same distance from Ground Zero).

Tyme (No not Fodder)

by: Peter of Lone Tree

"Religion exists only to give a group surety of identity within the "territory" or dimension of time, and that doesn't depend upon the specific dogma or specific beliefs of any given religion.

"The reason why religious wars have always been so notoriously vicious is that they are really struggles over who will have human identity in the dimension of time. Therefore, in an actual biological and literal sense, the antagonists in "religious" wars do not recognize each other as being "human", that is...belonging to the same species. Any cruelty is justifiable because the identity-territorial goal of each side is truly the absolute extinction of the adversary anyway. This is what we are witnessing in the Middle East. Differences of religious customs and doctrine have been mere excuses for this fundamental identity- territorial conflict."

Esau's Empire, Foundation: the psychobiology of religion

Responsibility

by: Dark Wraith

Click on the graphic above to go to this motivational poster at my Cheezburger Network site and get the code to post this on your own Website. Otherwise, click on the poster so you can go and vote for the graphic.

Spread the word: the Right-wing extremists of this country get no more tolerance for their lives of cynical hypocrisy. The emperors of moral superiority have no clothes, and it's time to let them know that their nakedness is at once grotesque and laughable.

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Schutzstaffel for the New American Century

by: Dark Wraith

As promised in my August 19 post, given that the GOP has cranked up the hate machine time and time again, recently with an ugly, sexist, misogynist video comparing Republican women to Democrat women, your host here at Big Brass Blog is taking up the challenge of demonstrating his Photoshop skills. The Minnesota GOP thought it would be just hilarious to produce and publish a video in which altered pictures of Democrat women were presented one after another to the song, "Who Let the Dogs Out?"

Setting aside the likelihood that the juvenile-minded Republicans behind this video were clueless about the actual meaning of that song's title, it seems the Right-wing party boyz were inviting a war of Photoshop skills. The motivational poster above, from my personal collection of creations at the Cheezburger Network, is a light and airy first salvo in what will become in later installments a veritable fusillade of withering graphics provided for the amusement of readers here at Dark Wraith Publishing online properties.

Be disturbed by my harsh, perhaps even unfair graphics, but know this: our nation does not benefit one iota anymore from the mealy-mouthed Democrats who appease Right-wing extremists, accommodate hateful demands from GOP know-nothings, and whine about vicious Republican tactics. The unrepentent little bullies who now control the Grand Old Party will never grow up until they have had a consistent, hard leather belt taken to their undisciplined, childish rear ends. As I have cautioned again and again and yet again, not only am I old school, I'm old-school conservative, maybe a little bit like a James Kilpatrick, a literate fellow who could throw acid with his tongue and his scowl, except that I can do it with the technologies of modern disinformation, too.

Stay tuned for more fun later, good readers.

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Masters and Their Apprentice

by: Dark Wraith

What really happened (according to the Dark Wraith at the Cheezburger Network, anyway).

Sorry J. Robert...

by: Father Tyme

GOP Hate Machine Cranks It Up

by: Dark Wraith

With thanks to the Atlantic for getting the word out on this latest, vile trash from the Republicans, without further comment I offer this advertisement from the Minnesota GOP and encourage you to ride the wave out to 2:54 in the video, where the real fun begins.

(NOTE: The copy of the video I published here last night was pulled by YouTube, ostensibly because of copyright violation, so I located this copy, which has been on YouTube since at least last April.)



(Okay, one comment: Photoshop war, Right-wingers? Sweeet.)

BEWARE: CLEVERBOT

by: Peter of Lone Tree

(With thanks to Labrys):
"Want to have some fun with some of the loonier elements of the fringe?

"Tell them that the world of “Terminator” is beginning, tell them that a vast artificial intelligence is building its data banks and planning to take over even now! Tell them it is disguised as an amusing little online boredom relief known as cleverbot."