Simply Appalling

First of the Day: New peak in arms expenditures

noreply@blogger.com (Handy Fuse) — Sat, 21 Nov 2009 12:46:00 +0000

In the military hardware business, arms expenditure worldwide passed a trillion dollars for the first time last year, all suppliers combined. —Michael Johnson writing in "1,000,000,000,000"

Someone's up to no good.

Kebab of the Day

noreply@blogger.com (Handy Fuse) — Fri, 20 Nov 2009 13:45:00 +0000

[Russian] Police arrested three homeless people suspected of eating a 25-year-old man they had butchered and selling other bits of the corpse to a local kebab house....

It was not immediately clear from the statement whether any of the remains had been sold to restaurant customers.

—Times wire reports

Complaint of the Day: I lost my mind

noreply@blogger.com (Handy Fuse) — Sun, 08 Nov 2009 02:24:00 +0000

The amputees get the great treatment. Purple Hearts, money for losing their limbs. I have a lot of respect for them. But I lost my mind, and I couldn't even get a simple "thank you for your service." —Pfc Sophia Taylor as quoted by Anne Hull and Dana Priest in "At Walter Reed, a palpable strain on mental-health system"

The massacre at Ft. Hood, Texas, perpetrated by Army psychiatrist Nidal Malik Hassan, will reawaken interest in the psychological treatment of veterans for a while. But only for a while.

The Post reporters note that—

More than two years after the nation's political and military leaders pledged to improve mental-health care, their promises have fallen short at military hospitals around the country, according to mental-health professionals, Army officials, and wounded soldiers and their families. Those hospitals include Walter Reed, where the man accused of the Fort Hood shootings, Nidal M. Hasan, spent four years as a psychiatric intern, resident and fellow.
What may have happened to Hasan during those four years is one of the things being investigated. But it isn't only Walter Reed that is under fresh scrutiny: Evidence of an undermanned, overworked health-care system stretches all the way to the Pentagon, where all of the top health-policy positions remain unfilled, leaving a void on an issue long fraught with inefficiencies and entrenched bureaucracies.

The truth is that this nation—or any nation—cannot create so many emotional casualties as the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq will inevitably produce and then offer effective treatment after the fact.

In the first place "effective treatment" for PTSD and other emotional sequelae of war is quite limited in its effectiveness and demands enormous resources in terms of trained personnel, not to mention money.

From this account in the NY Times of Hassan's path to becoming a psychiatrist, I can only conclude that the Army assigned and paid for his career not because of any aptitude he might have had (apparently he had little) but because of its desperate need for psychiatrists—

Paul M. Holt III, a private investigator who went to high school with Major Hasan...., like many others, described Major Hasan as having few friends and being quiet to the point of introversion. “He wasn’t very personable,” Mr. Holt said. “I can’t imagine him sitting and listening to people’s problems.”
After graduating with a degree in biochemistry from Virginia Tech, in nearby Blacksburg, he was commissioned as an officer and sent to medical school at the Uniformed Services University of the Health Sciences in Bethesda, where he graduated in 2003. He did his internship and residency at Walter Reed Army Medical Center in Washington before entering a two-year fellowship that gave him a master’s degree in public health and trained him in disaster psychiatry.

Two students in the fellowship program said Major Hasan had sat alone in the front of the class and rarely socialized with other students, other than to debate the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. He made clear he strongly opposed both, the former students said.

The government has a difficult time owning up to the cost of these wars in lives and limbs but assuages the public, as Pfc Taylor says, with Purple Hearts and money. If the loss of minds comes into the public conscience, what medal will the government award and how much money must it pay?

Related posts
Statistic of the Day: Veteran suicides (11/15/07)
Military Cover-up of the Day (11/27/07)

Tags: Iraq War, Afghanistan War, PTSD, psychology, psychiatry, mental health, treatment of Veterans

Snatches from the Pink Snapper – 8

noreply@blogger.com (Handy Fuse) — Fri, 30 Oct 2009 13:26:00 +0000

Spanish speakers frequently brag about the rationality of Spanish spelling—you can always pronounce the written word because its spelling will match its pronunciation. No silent letters. No words like "once" that any sane person would pronounce [ons]. That said, it's not always possible from the pronunciation to know how a word is spelled. The Spanish letters b and v, for instance, are pronounced alike, so Spanish speakers will often write "baca" instead of "vaca" for "cow." The letters ll and y are another such pair.

So I was chatting with Mario the other night when he mentioned that his brother would be coming down to Florida for Christmas. "What part?" I asked. "Callo Hueso" he replied. "Where?" I asked, leaning forward better to hear the words I had obviously missed. "Callo Hueso," he repeated. "Where's that?" I wondered, "I've never heard of it."

He explained with amazement that it was a famous tourist spot and he was sure I should know about it. Well, I didn't, so I asked him to spell it. "C-a-l-l-o H-u-e-s-o," he offered, which translates to "bone callus." I still had no idea where Mario's brother was heading. But thanks to the wi-fi at the Snapper I could look it up. And there it was—Key West.

Still I was puzzled by the weirdness of the name. When I looked up the Spanish for "key" (in the sense of "a small island"), it turned out to be "cayo," which explained why a Spanish speaker might think the word was "callo." Then I assumed that "hueso" was some kind of corruption of "oeste"—the word for "west,"—so that Key West should be translated "Cayo Oeste."

I was wrong about that. It turns out that "Cayo Hueso" is the original name given to the island by the arriving Spaniards because it was littered with bones. The English word "key" was in fact derived from "cayo." And histories of Key West that I found online were uncertain whether the "west" in "Key West" referred to the island's location in the chain or whether it was an English attempt at "hueso."

So for me it was a lesson in the sorts of misunderstanding that can arise from linguacentrism (in this case "the excessive pride of English monolinguals"). And for you I'm hoping it will be proof that I do not go to the Snapper to drink but to slake my thirst for knowledge.

Tags: Pink Snapper, language, history, Florida

First of the Day: State Department employee charged for Iraq kickbacks

noreply@blogger.com (Handy Fuse) — Tue, 27 Oct 2009 09:59:00 +0000

A former State Department program manager in Iraq has been charged with accepting tens of thousands of dollars in kickbacks in exchange for steering contracts to Iraqi construction firms, according to court documents.

It appeared to be the first time a State Department employee had been charged in federal court in connection with fraud in the multibillion-dollar U.S. reconstruction effort in Iraq, according to officials familiar with that work.

—Mary Beth Sheridan reporting in "Former State Dept. employee charged"

It may be first but it's not likely to be the last.

Tags: news and politics Iraq contractors State Department indictments corruption

First of the Day: Wiretaps used to reveal insider trading

noreply@blogger.com (Handy Fuse) — Mon, 19 Oct 2009 11:50:00 +0000

Federal prosecutors on Friday unveiled a broad criminal case against billionaire hedge fund manager Raj Rajaratnam and five others accused of netting more than $20 million in profits by trading based on inside information about the stocks of Google and other companies.

Prosecutors described the case as a new, aggressive phase in the government's pursuit of financial crime. It is the largest insider trading case ever involving a hedge fund, and the investigation for the first time used wiretaps to obtain evidence of insider trading.

"As the defendants in this case have now learned the hard way, they may have been privy to a lot of confidential corporate information, but there was one secret they did not know -- we were listening," said Preet Bharara, U.S. attorney for the Southern District of New York. "Privileged Wall Street insiders who are considering breaking the law will have to ask themselves one important question: Is law enforcement listening?"
....

All were arrested Friday by the FBI. Rajaratnam's bail was set at $100 million.

—Zachary A. Goldfarb reporting in "Insider trading case ensnares six"

And then we have this—

With net worth of $1.3 billion, Rajaratnam is on the Forbes list of the richest people of the world -- and he's apparently the wealthiest Sri Lankan. He runs Galleon Partners, based in Manhattan. Prosecutors charged him with 13 violations of securities law, which could put him in jail for life.

Aside from the "firsts," questions and uncertainties raised by this report are of some interest—

Questions a reporter might ask

Aside from Bernie Madoff, how many billionaires has the U.S. sent to jail?
As the richest citizen of Sri Lanka, what are the diplomatic implications of arresting and charging Rajaratnam? There are undoubtedly a host of Sri Lankan politicians and civil servants depending upon Rajaratnam for payoffs. What will become of their children?
Are there any immediate indications of capital flight from U.S. markets by corporations or other entities under the control of non-U.S. citizens since this news broke?
Which bank has the privilege of holding Rajaratnam's $100 million bail and is it FDIC-insured in case the bank fails?
Does the Justice Department anticipate the need to bug corporate dining rooms? And will executives turn to throw-away cell phones for their important communications?

12:05 pm — Katherine Burton and Saijel Kishan clarify the bail situation. It will be less of a boon to some bank than first appeared—

At the hearing, U.S. Magistrate Judge Douglas Eaton in Manhattan set Rajaratnam’s bail at $100 million, to be secured by $20 million in assets and guaranteed by his wife and four others.

Still, if the assets consist of cash, $20 million would make a rather nice deposit.

Related post
Equivocal Headline of the Day: Why the Austrian economy failed (6/04/09)

Tags: news and politics hedge funds insider trading stock market prosecutions billionaires wiretaps domestic surveillance

The Depression Chronicles – 7: Britain's going broke

noreply@blogger.com (Handy Fuse) — Mon, 12 Oct 2009 19:16:00 +0000

Britain is going broke. How do I know this? Well, the same way I knew that Citicorp was strung out like a junkie—the country hopes to sell off a major chunk of assets. Sixteen billion pounds worth ($25 billion) to be exact, according to Prime Minister Gordon Brown. He described it as a "portfolio of non-financial assets," which is reasonable since Britain has no financial assets.

Of course this fire sale cannot be acknowledged for what it is—a desperate act in a desperate time. Instead it is couched in the rhetoric of privatization and the supposed superiority of the private sector—

Downing Street said the sale marks the beginning of a radical assessment of what other non-core government business activities can best be done by, or in partnership with, the private sector.

So what "non-core" businesses does the British government hope to divest itself of?

"The Tote," the government-controlled gambling operation including the betting shops
the Dartmouth crossing, a major piece of transportation infrastructure around London
its portfolio of student loans
its interest in the Channel Tunnel (the "Chunnel")
its stake in Urenco, the European supplier of uranium-enrichment equipment, and
"surplus" real estate, which may include local airports.

These don't look like "non-core" businesses to me.

More than a few Conservatives would like to see the government toss the BBC into the bargain, which would really put the capitalists in charge, though it must be said that the BBC tries not to offend them unduly as it is. And here are some other government holdings that might conceivably go on the block. Will the government sell off Scottish water and the Royal Mall?

The £16 billion the government is hoping to raise cannot possibly keep the wolf from the door for long. The Chancellor (equivalent to the U.S. Secretary of the Treasury) has estimated that Britain will need to borrow £175 billion ($276 billion) over the next two years.

Why is Britain so broke?

Everybody of course knows by now of the meltdown of the "financial services" industries—the banks, the hedge funds, and the mortgage lenders. But the public is little aware of just how much tax revenue was generated by that sector of the economy. In my humble opinion, one of the principal reasons both the U.S. and British governments turned a blind eye to the many violations of existing regulations—regulations that might have forestalled the meltdown—was that both governments were benefitting so magnificently from the tax receipts. London became a capital of world finance, and billionaires were a dime a dozen. Unfortunately the cash cow has now run dry.

But the fiscal problem that the press mostly ignores is the British involvement in Afghanistan. I wrote in 2004, long before the financial crash—

Wars are, regrettably, expensive. If they weren't, I'm sure we'd engage in them more often. Or maybe just launch ourselves into one very, very long (perhaps even indefinite) war, as George Bush has proposed.
Without the promise of treasure at the end to make it "pay for itself"—as Deputy Secretary of War Paul Wolfowitz suggested of our Iraq invasion, once we got the oil flowing—the cost of the entertainment works out to be exorbitant. Even when you're dutch-treating with friends.
And that is what has happened to the British—they are "overextended" ....

While the U.S. was squandering lives and treasure in Iraq, Britain has been doing likewise in Afghanistan. There was simply nothing that then-Prime Minister Tony Blair wouldn't do in return for a smile from his pal George Bush.

Last week we were told that—

Brown had a video conference call with U.S. President Barack Obama to discuss Afghanistan on Thursday, with Brown keen to see a full Afghan security force trained up by the end of next year to ease the burden on the NATO coalition.

For Britain that burden is primarily fiscal.

How bad off is Britain?

I could bore you (and myself) by looking up statistics on British unemployment, the housing market and capital flight. But an announcement this past Friday was so stunning, at least for this reader, that I don't believe we need to go into all that.

The British Territorial Army (TA) is Britain's largest military reserve force and celebrated its 100th anniversary last year. It operates somewhat like the American National Guard. According to the Ministry of Defence, 6900 TA personnel were called up for the invasion of Iraq and some 1200 continue to be deployed in Iraq, Afghanistan and the Balkans.

So how 'bout this bit of news? Michael Evans reports—

The Territorial Army has been told to stop training for six months to save millions of pounds from the Army’s budget because of growing financial pressure on the Ministry of Defence.
Drill-hall instruction, weekend exercises and all other training associated with the TA will stop, cutting costs by about £20 million.
The Land Force budget of the Army has been cut by £54 million, and the TA is the first to be affected. The huge cut in TA spending will mean that the weekend warriors will not be paid. “They are paid to go training, and if there is no training, they won’t get paid,” a Ministry of Defence official said.
A spokesman insisted that the savings and the ban on training would not affect the TA’s operational contribution to Afghanistan, where about 500 Territorial soldiers are serving. There are also ten TA soldiers in Iraq.
....
One MoD official said that care would have to be taken to ensure that the temporary suspension of training did not undermine the TA’s role in Afghanistan. The official also said that, given the budget restrictions, the training suspension could last longer.

Can you imagine the outcry in the U.S. if it were announced that National Guard training would be suspended for six months? And then there's this—

Skint defence chiefs plan to axe 900 cops who safeguard top secret bases in a drastic bid to save money.
....
The revelation comes two days after The Sun exposed plans to halt all Territorial Army training for six months to save money.
Top brass are being forced into the desperate cost-cutting measures because they are so short of funds for the war in Afghanistan.
Last night there were calls for Defence Secretary Bob Ainsworth to admit exactly how deep his budget black hole is.
The 3,600-strong MoD force is a civilian constabulary, separate to the Redcaps and other Services police, with 86 units across the UK.
As well as guarding nuclear sites it investigates serious crimes at military bases.

Desperation is the order of the day in Britain, and you should expect more of the same for the foreseeable future.

Related posts
What's up in Britain? (9/23/04)
Lie of the Day: The financial system is stabilized (11/24/08)

Tags: news and politics Britain budget deficit military spending UK Afghanistan war

Historical Note of the Day: The end of American dominance

noreply@blogger.com (Handy Fuse) — Sun, 11 Oct 2009 19:10:00 +0000

The economic crisis has accelerated China's emergence as a center of power, and in Pittsburgh the leading industrialized countries agreed that decisions on global economic issues in the future would have to include important players among emerging economies such as China and India.

Speaking from Istanbul, World Bank president Robert Zoellick said the crisis had brought the curtain down on the unipolar world that followed the collapse of communism 20 years ago.

—Antoaneta Bezlova reporting in "China stands firm against US market scramble"

Related post
Scariest Headline of the Day (2/02/09)

Tags: news and politics economic depression

Academic Overdose of the Day

noreply@blogger.com (Handy Fuse) — Sun, 11 Oct 2009 19:00:00 +0000

He was studying Classics and English at Oxford University's Lady Margaret Hall when he was discovered by a fellow student on Thursday. —story from the BBC

Either topic can be fatal but taken together no one could be expected to survive.

Tags: style journalism

Factlet of the Day

noreply@blogger.com (Handy Fuse) — Fri, 21 Aug 2009 14:51:00 +0000

In 2007, the top one ten-thousandth of households took home 6 percent of the nation’s income, up from 0.9 percent in 1977. It was the highest such level since at least 1913, the first year for which the I.R.S. has data.

The top 1 percent of earners took home 23.5 percent of income, up from 9 percent three decades earlier.

—David Leonhardt and Geraldine Fabrikant in "Rise of the Super-Rich Hits a Sobering Wall"

Welfare for the wealthy has been one of our most effective government programs.

Tags: news and politics income inequality wealth inequality

Job Listing of the Day

noreply@blogger.com (Handy Fuse) — Fri, 21 Aug 2009 13:07:00 +0000

Front-end Developer at YouPorn —listing at arstechnica.com

Do they really want a geek to work as a fluffer?

Tags: pornography porn humor

Condemnation of the Day: On human rights violators

noreply@blogger.com (Handy Fuse) — Wed, 12 Aug 2009 10:03:00 +0000

The biggest, by far, violators of human rights right now are the cartels themselves that are kidnapping people, extorting people and encouraging corruption. —Barack Obama as quoted in "Obama Sets Immigration Changes for 2010"

When these violations are committed by the CIA, they're called "covert action." They have the tacit and sometimes explicit approval of the President and are best thought of as tools of governance.

Tags: news and politics drug war war on drugs Barack Obama quotes cloak and dagger crime extraordinary rendition

Model City of the Day: Newark

noreply@blogger.com (Handy Fuse) — Mon, 27 Jul 2009 11:16:00 +0000

Then there’s Newark, which deserves its own chapter in corruption ignominy. You have to go back to 1962 in New Jersey’s largest city to find a mayor who completed his time in office and wasn’t later indicted for it. —Brad Parks reminiscing in "Poison Ivy in the Garden State"

Never mind all that. The greater corruption in American society is legal—weapons manufacture as a jobs program, prisons conceived of as an "industry," Senators lobbied to procrastinate while their constituents die and the country goes broke.

Yet while this corruption is legal, the consequences are the same as what we see in New Jersey, amplified—wasted taxpayer money, irrational governance and a cynical public. In the end the society itself becomes corrupt. Not only is it the path of least resistance, it is also the path taken by the very figures held up as role models—the "movers and shakers" of the society.

Tags: news and politics corruption scandal

Reader Comment of the Day: What Europe needs

noreply@blogger.com (Handy Fuse) — Sun, 12 Jul 2009 23:50:00 +0000

What Europe needs now, more than ever, is a strong and charismatic leader, preferably with some military experience, who can [bring] together the different factions in society. He must be able to appeal to both sides - the nationalists who put country first and the socialists who put people first. I'd call them Social Nationalists or some such.

He would espouse popular causes and instigate large building programmes like motorways to create jobs AND rebuild the military to restore national pride and security.

Perhaps some kind of national organisation for voluntary service, recreation and sports would help create a real sense of national pride and a community spirit. There would be a youth wing to prevent the young feeling disenfranchised - maybe with uniforms. A little discipline never did the young any harm.

What do you think?

—Phillip Atherton's comment to "The unemployment timebomb is quietly ticking" (edited for spelling and readability)

Fortunately for the U.S., we have most of these elements already in place.

Tags: news and politics humor

Globalization Effect of the Day: Testing our drugs abroad

noreply@blogger.com (Handy Fuse) — Wed, 08 Jul 2009 22:37:00 +0000

In 1997, approximately 86 percent of FDA-regulated principal investigators were based in the United States, but just 10 years later, only about 54 percent of the roughly 26,000 chief scientists who conducted clinical trials were based here.... —Researchers at Duke University as quoted in "Rise in Outsourcing of Clinical Drug Trials Puts More U.S. Consumers At Risk"

Does anyone get the irony here? While American consumers are warned by the FDA not to buy drugs produced in other countries, the safety and effectiveness of the drugs are being tested in these very countries.

Fortunately there's a simple explanation for this contradiction: Both are done to maximize the profits of the drug industry without regard to the well-being of the American public.

In addition to the concerns raised by the authors of the study, it should be mentioned that outsourcing denies to U.S. patients the opportunity to participate in phase 3 trials (typically the final trial of a drug's efficacy before it is put on the market). This may be important because (1) the patient in a drug trial is given access to care that would otherwise be denied if the patient lacks health insurance, or (2) the patient may be given access to a drug that is not yet available and from which the patient may benefit.

Tags: news and politics pharmaceutical industry drug trials offshoring outsourcing globalization

Inappropriate Behavior of the Day

noreply@blogger.com (Handy Fuse) — Sun, 28 Jun 2009 02:29:00 +0000

The manager of Weeki Wachee Springs State Park has been fired following allegations that he sexually harassed a mermaid. —from "Around the Region"

For years I've been telling anyone who'll listen that if society begins to accept heterosexuals, it will lead to sexual pandemonium. Now will you believe me?

Tags: news and politics sexual politics humor

Wisdom of the Day: On designing for the poor

noreply@blogger.com (Handy Fuse) — Tue, 23 Jun 2009 12:03:00 +0000

If you make something for the rich, the poor cannot afford it. But if you design for the poor, everyone can afford it. —R. A. Mashelkar, chairman of India’s National Innovation Foundation, as quoted by Steve Lohr in "Can Governments Till the Fields of Innovation?"

This makes too much sense, so something must be wrong. Oh, I know! Mashelkar completely ignores the needs of the rich, who have trouble recognizing the value of anything unless they can own either the best of it or the most of it. So when designing products for the poor, you should always create a gold-plated version for the rich. Otherwise they'll think they're being ignored. Slights such as this can only lead to class warfare.

Tags: news and politics product innovation capitalism Indian socialism India

ACLU letter to the Pentagon:Exercising a First Amendment right is not "low-level terrorism"

noreply@blogger.com (Handy Fuse) — Mon, 15 Jun 2009 20:05:00 +0000

From time to time I convert documents from non-HTML formats and place them online to give them greater exposure. Such is today's post, which comes from a PDF document of the American Civil Liberties Union.

It is the ACLU's response to the discovery that the Department of Defense is currently training its personnel to identify protests as "low-level terrorism."

Since the Iranians have just held an election, it's appropriate to quote from the words of George Bush following the Iranian election of 2005—

The Iranian people deserve a genuinely democratic system in which elections are honest - and in which their leaders answer to them instead of the other way around. The Iranian people deserve a truly free and democratic society with a vibrant free press that informs the public and ensures transparency. They deserve freedom of assembly, so Iranians can gather and press for reform and a peaceful, loyal opposition can keep the government in check.

If the Iranians deserve this freedom, maybe Americans should try for it.

Related post
"George Bush" and his impact on the Iranian election (6/21/05)

Tags: news and politics Pentagon Defense Department DoD antiterrorism training civil liberties Constitutional rights domestic survellance ACLU right to assemble

June 10, 2009

Via Facsimile and U.S. Mail

Gail McGinn
Acting Under-Secretary of Defense for Personnel and Readiness
4000 Defense
The Pentagon
Washington, DC 20301-4000
Fax: (703) 571-5363

Re: DoD's Level I Antiterrorism Awareness Training

Dear Acting Under-Secretary McGinn:

It has come to our attention that the Department of Defense's Annual Level I Antiterrorism (AT) Awareness Training for 2009 misinforms Department of Defense (DoD) personnel that certain First Amendment-protected activity may amount to "low-level terrorism." We are writing to ask that you take immediate steps to remedy this situation.

Department of Defense Instruction 2000.16 requires all Department of Defense personnel to complete an annual "post-accessioin Level I AT Awareness Training" course, which may be accomplished through "DoD-sponsored and certified computer or web-based distance learning instruction." .... We have been informed that the current web-based instruction course asks, as one of its multiple-choice questions, "which of the following is an example of low-level terrorism activity?" To answer correctly, the examinee must select "protests." (Enclosed is a print-out of the question in full.)

For the DoD to instruct its employees that lawful protest activities should be treated as "low-level terrorism" is deeply disturbing in and of itself. It is an even more egregious insult to constitutional values, however, when viewed in the context of a long-term pattern of domestic security initiatives that have attempted to equate lawful dissent with terrorism. Examples of this shameful pattern can be seen in the Pentagon's monitoring of at least 186 anti-military protests,1 a North Central Texas Fusion System bulletin that states that law enforcement officers should report anti-war protest groups in their areas,2 the FBI's surveillance of potential protesters at the Republican National Convention,3 the Fresno County Sheriff Anti-Terrorism Unit's covert infiltration and surveillance of Peace Fresno, a community peace and social justice organization,4 and the covert surveillance by the Maryland State Police of local peace and anti-death penalty groups.5

Policing ideas, rather than criminal activities, runs counter to our nation's core principles, undermining the very foundations of the free society that the Department of Defense is dedicated to preserving. Peaceful protest is not terrorist activity,6 it is protected by the First Amendment and is one of the cornerstones of our democratic society. Edwards v. South Carolina, 372 U.S. 229, 235 (1963). As the Supreme Court noted in Edwards, gathering together to protest government policies is an exercise of constitutional rights "in their most pristine and classic form." Id. The fact that the views espoused may be unpopular or may be critical of the government is hardly a reason to treat engaging in dissent as a suspect activity.... Indeed, "a function of free speech under our system of government is to invite dispute. It may indeed best serve its high purpose when it induces a condition of unrest, creates dissatisfaction with conditions as they are, or even stirs people to anger." Terminiello v. City of Chicago, 337 U.S. 1, 4 (1949).

Teaching employees that dissent on issues of public concern is something to be feared, rather than encouraged, is a dangerously counterproductive use of scarce security resources, making us less safe as a democracy. DoD employees cannot accomplish their mission of protecting our nation and its values unless they understand that those values encompass the right to criticize our government through protest activities. It is imperative that they are taught the difference between political, religious, or social activism and terrorism.

Because the use of these erroneous training materials apparently is already wide-spread and brings about tangible harm, we ask that the Department of Defense take immediate steps to remedy the situation both by correcting the materials before they are used further and by sending out corrective materials to all DoD employees who received the erroneous training. We look forward to your prompt response outlining the steps you plan to take in this regard. Please do not hesitate to contact us if you have any questions or wish to discuss this matter further.

Very truly yours,

[signatures]

Ann Brick
Staff Attorney
ACLU Foundation
of Northern California, Inc

Michael German
National Security Policy Counsel
ACLU Washington Legislative Office

Enclosure

[Enclosure]

....

Terrorism Threat Factors

Knowledge Check 1

Which of the following is an example of low level terrorism activity? Select the correct answer and then click Check Your Answer.

Attacking the Pentagon
IEDs
Hate crimes against racial groups
Protests

Check Your Answer

1See ACLU Report Shows Widespread Pentagon Surveillance of Peace Activists, available at http://www.aclu.org/safefree/spyfiles/28024prs20070117.html. [back]

2See Fusion Center Encourages Improper Investigations of Lobbying Groups and Anti-War Activists, Salem-News.com, May 8, 2009, available at http://www.salem-news.com/articles/may082009/aclu_fusion_5-8-09.php. [back]

3See Eric Lichtblau, F.B.I. Goes Knocking for Political Troublemakers, New York Times, August 16, 2004 available at http://www.nytimes.com/2004/08/16/us/fbi-goes-knocking-for-political-troublemakers.html. [back]

4See ACLU and Peace Fresno Call on California Officials and Lawmakers to investigate Surveillance of Anti-War Group, available at http://www.aclu.org/safefree/general/17460prs20040421.html. [back]

5See ACLU of Maryland Lawsuit Uncovers Maryland State Police Spying Against Peace and Anti-Death Penalty Groups, available at http://www.aclu.org/police/spying/36025prs20080717.html. [back]

6The Department of Defense defines terrorism as the "calculated use of unlawful violence or threat of unlawful violence to inculcate fear; intended to coerce or to intimidate governments or societies in the pursuit of goals that are generally political, religious, or ideological." Joint Publication 1-02, DoD Dictionary of Military and Associated Terms (2001). [back]

"English as she is spoke": A notable change in English grammar

noreply@blogger.com (Handy Fuse) — Thu, 11 Jun 2009 17:03:00 +0000

I've been meaning to write about this for years, but with the nomination of Sonia Sotomayor to the U.S. Supreme Court, I can wait no longer.

The influx of Spanish speakers to the U.S. is having an interesting effect on English that goes beyond the introduction of "chipotle" and "gringo" into our vocabulary. It is a change that bucks two historical trends in the development of modern English.

The first of these is the abandonment of adjective declensions. In Old English an adjective changed form depending upon (1) the use of the noun it was modifying in the sentence, (2) the gender of the noun it was modifying, and (3) the number—singular or plural—of the noun modified.1 So the adjective 'god' ("good") might have the forms godne, godes, godum, godre, gode, goda, godra, godan, godra and godena. By the time of Middle English (1200 C.E. or so) these forms were mostly lost and by the end of the Middle English period (1600) they had completely died out.

In modern English we are left with only two adjectives that decline—'this' and 'that,' which of course become 'these' and 'those' when modifying a plural noun. Adjective forms that depended upon gender have been completely lost.

The second trend, which is quite modern, is the abandonment of noun forms that distinguish gender. We have been in the process of adopting the masculine form for both genders. We once had 'shepherd' and 'shepherdess,' 'comedian' and 'comedienne,' 'actor' and 'actress.' But it's rare nowadays to hear a woman say that she's an actress, and I don't know when I last heard 'comedienne.' Adding to this trend, which may be the natural result of the movement toward greater equality for women, is the conscious, political effort on the part of feminists to remove gender distinctions from the language, which has brought us words such as 'spokesperson' and a host of stylistic problems.

Now comes Spanish. Like French, Italian and Portuguese it has descended from Latin, and Latin—like Old English—had many forms for the adjective. But unlike modern English the Romance languages have retained a number of those forms. So in Spanish for the word 'good,' for instance, we may encounter the forms 'bueno,' 'buena,' 'buenos' and 'buenas' depending upon whether the noun it modifies is masculine or feminine, singular or plural.

Another feature of these languages is the use of adjectives as nouns, which occurs in English only in rather high-minded phrases such as "the good, the bad, and the ugly." Thus it is common to distinguish gender in the form of Spanish adjective-nouns, which doesn't occur at all in English.

Suddenly—after half a millennium—a gender distinction is being reintroduced into English adjectives through the adjective 'Latino,' of which the feminine form is 'Latina.' The first time I heard this usage was over a decade ago. I was listening to a news item from reportress Maria Hinojosa of National Public Radio, who spoke of someone as "Latina." It shook me to my Anglo-Saxon roots.

Since then this usage has only grown. Today I type into Google "Sotomayor is Latina" and get 164 hits. The first of them: "Let the Democrats remind everyone at every turn that Sotomayor is Latina."

Correspondingly we now have two gender-distinguishing nouns 'Latino' and 'Latina.' Type in "Sotomayor is a Latina" and you'll get 1,050 hits or more.2

I suspect this linguistic novelty has grown from the fact that more and more English newscasters are native Spanish speakers. It may be difficult for them to abandon the distinctions they are accustomed to use in Spanish and say, as would be standard English, "Sotomayor is Latino" or "Sotomayor is a Latino." In any case, the usage is now being adopted by native English speakers, and judging from who is using what, it appears that the distinction has become "politically correct."3

As the two languages now exist side by side in the U.S., U.S. Spanish is slowly becoming distinct from Latin-American Spanish—most notably in its vocabulary—to produce "Spanglish." Will we also move toward "Engspañol"? Check back in a century.

In the meanwhile, so far as I'm concerned Sonia Sotomayor is Hispanic.

Tags: news and politics English language Spanish language linguistics language evolution morphology grammar gender

Footnotes

1Actually there was a fourth distinction—weak-strong—which is a feature only of the Germanic languages. [back]

2For "Sotomayor is Latino" there were 27 hits, and for "Sotomayor is a Latino" there were only 14. In the latter case 'Latino' was almost always used as an adjective, as in "Sotomayor is a Latino racist pig" or "Sotomayor is a Latino KKK." [back]

3It will be interesting to see the outcome if it dawns upon the gender-police that a gender distinction is being reintroduced via Spanish. [back]

A rabbi's call for genocide

noreply@blogger.com (Handy Fuse) — Mon, 08 Jun 2009 17:26:00 +0000

Moment Magazine, which claims to be "the largest independent Jewish magazine in North America," features a forum in each issue called "Ask the rabbis" wherein a question is proposed and rabbis from the many flavors of Judaism are invited to respond. This month's question was "How Should Jews Treat Their Arab Neighbors?"

The rabbis responded within the bounds of religious sanity with the notable exception of Rabbi Manis Friedman, a member of the Chabad-Lubavitch movement within Orthodox Judaism. This was his reply—

I don’t believe in western morality, i.e. don’t kill civilians or children, don’t destroy holy sites, don’t fight during holiday seasons, don’t bomb cemeteries, don’t shoot until they shoot first because it is immoral.

The only way to fight a moral war is the Jewish way: Destroy their holy sites. Kill men, women and children (and cattle).

The first Israeli prime minister who declares that he will follow the Old Testament will finally bring peace to the Middle East. First, the Arabs will stop using children as shields. Second, they will stop taking hostages knowing that we will not be intimidated. Third, with their holy sites destroyed, they will stop believing that G-d is on their side. Result: no civilian casualties, no children in the line of fire, no false sense of righteousness, in fact, no war.

Zero tolerance for stone throwing, for rockets, for kidnapping will mean that the state has achieved sovereignty. Living by Torah values will make us a light unto the nations who suffer defeat because of a disastrous morality of human invention.

Rabbi Friedman's insight is that indiscriminate, ruthless killing of Arabs will bring peace.

Friedman's position has set off a firestorm of controversy within the American Jewish community. Nathaniel Popper, writing in the progressive Jewish newspaper The Forward, reports—

Friedman’s use of phrasing that might seem more familiar coming from an Islamic extremist has generated a swift backlash. The editor of Moment, Nadine Epstein, said that since the piece was printed in the current issue they “have received many letters and e-mails in response to Rabbi Friedman’s comments — and almost none of them have been positive.”

Friedman quickly went into damage control. He released a statement to the Forward, through a Chabad spokesman, saying that his answer in Moment was “misleading” and that he does believe that “any neighbor of the Jewish people should be treated, as the Torah commands us, with respect and compassion.”

But Friedman’s words have generated a debate about whether there is a darker side to the cheery face that the Chabad-Lubavitch movement shows to the world in its friendly outreach to unaffiliated Jews. Mordecai Specktor, editor of the Jewish community newspaper in Friedman’s hometown, St. Paul. Minn., said: “The public face of Lubavitch is educational programs and promoting Yiddishkeit. But I do often hear this hard line that Friedman expresses here.”

You only need to read the comments to the stories about Rabbi Friedman's "lapse" to discover that he is not the only Jew holding his opinion of what should be done to the Arabs. And it should be noted that the Chabad movement is well represented among the Israeli settlers in the West Bank.

But I don't bring up Friedman's views to excoriate either Judaism or Jews. His opinions are certainly not representative of the American Jewish community and have been widely discussed and rejected in the American Jewish press. The reason I bring it up is that his remarkable statement has not been reported in the mainstream media. The only exceptions have been three stories in the local Minnesota press (here, here and here).

Does anyone doubt that if an American Muslim had made a similar declaration toward Jews, it would instantly become national news? The silence of the American press and of cable news in this instance is stunning but unfortunately to be expected, and it speaks to the uphill battle the Obama administration faces in any attempt to bring an even-handed approach to Israel.

Related post
Subtle Menace of the Day: Barack Obama (6/02/09)

Tags: news and politics Israel Judaism Jewish morality Israel-Palestinian conflict genocide anti-Arab sentiment Manis Friedman

Racist of the Day: Wesley Pruden

noreply@blogger.com (Handy Fuse) — Sat, 06 Jun 2009 21:32:00 +0000

Mr. Obama's revelation of his "inner Muslim" in Cairo reveals much about who he is. He is our first president without an instinctive appreciation of the culture, history, tradition, common law and literature whence America sprang. The genetic imprint writ large in his 43 predecessors is missing from the Obama DNA. He no doubt meant no offense in returning that bust of Churchill ("Who he?") or imagining that a DVD of American movies was appropriate in an exchange of state gifts with Gordon Brown. Nor did he likely understand why it was an offense against history (and good manners) to agree to the exclusion of the Queen from Saturday's commemoration of the Anglo-American liberation of France. Kenya simply routed Kansas. —Wesley Pruden, columnist and former editor of the Washington Times, opining in "'Inner Muslim' at work in Cairo"

I don't use the "racist" label often. But this is racism in its purest form—with a bit of religious bigotry thrown in for good measure. Pruden's writing reached it's nadir when he penned "Churchill ('Who he?')." For those who don't speak American English, let me explain that Pruden is suggesting here that Obama is ignorant of Churchill, and that upon hearing the name, he responded in a Black dialect traditionally associated with "Black stupidity" in which the verb "to be" is omitted.

From references to Obama's DNA (no metaphor here) to the allusion to Kenya (i.e., the black side of Obama's heritage), I don't recall seeing anything quite so racist in a quasi-mainstream newspaper since the days of the civil rights movement.

I note that at the time of writing Pruden's column is #2 in the Times' list of the "Most Read" and #1 among the "Most Shared."

I hope the Secret Service is following the Washington Times with interest. When a newspaper turns its op-ed page over to the Klan, it's sure to bring out the loonies.

Related post
Subtle Menace of the Day: Barack Obama (6/02/09)

Tags: news and politics Wesley Pruden Washington Times racism Barack Obama assasination threat

Equivocal Headline of the Day: Why the Austrian economy failed

noreply@blogger.com (Handy Fuse) — Thu, 04 Jun 2009 15:00:00 +0000

£90m bail for Briton blamed for collapse of Austrian economy —headline in The Independent

I tried to warn them they were setting his bail too high. But would they listen? No!

The size of the bail was in fact a "first"—

After several generations of rubbing shoulders with the Hapsburgs, Julius Meinl V, a British passport-holder and the grandson of the architect of his family's post-war success, found himself as an unexpected guest of Vienna's 170-year-old Josefstadt Prison for two days after he was arrested on suspicion of causing a €3bn fraud.

The 49-year-old millionaire, who was born in London, owns a black Bentley and uses his family's 800-acre estate in Wiltshire, secured his release at the ignominious price of paying a world record sum for bail after a magistrate demanded a bond of €100m (£90m) to allay fears that he would climb into his private Falcon jet (he holds a pilot's licence) and flee justice.

What is Meinl accused of? —

The alleged financial scandal concerns Meinl European Land (MEL), a property investment fund focused on central Europe which reaped rich rewards during the height of the property boom. But some 60,000 Austrians who had paid into the fund, which was owned by Meinl Bank, lost money when MEL's share price plunged from €20 to just €3 during the financial crisis and investigators moved in, describing the alleged fraud as "huge" and "highly complex".

Media coverage in Austria has focused on claims that Mr Meinl, who trained at Bear Stearns, the now-defunct New York investment house, used the family bank to secretly shore up the property fund by buying back shares.

What a pity! If Mr. Meinl had trained at Goldman Sachs he might have gotten away with it.

Tags: news and politics humor Britain crime financial crime fraud banking

Subtle Menace of the Day: Barack Obama

noreply@blogger.com (Handy Fuse) — Tue, 02 Jun 2009 14:13:00 +0000

Now, as I said before, I haven't said anything yet.... —Barack Obama in an interview with Steve Inskeep and Michele Norris

Well, to be fair, some context is needed. The question previous to the one in which Obama made this glib remark was—

Inskeep: Mr. President, you mentioned a freeze on settlements. The Israeli Prime Minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, was quoted today saying to Cabinet members in Israel that he will not follow your demand for a freeze on settlements in the West Bank — that it's not going to happen. What does it suggest, that Israel is not taking your advice?

Obama responded diplomatically by saying—

Well, I think it's still early in the process. They formed a government, what, a month ago? I think that we're going to have a series of conversations....

Inskeep then followed up with—

But if the United States says for years that Israel should stop the settlements, and for years, Israel simply does not, and the United States continues supporting Israel in roughly the same way, what does that do with American credibility in the Muslim world which you're trying to address?

To which Obama replied—

Well, I think what is certainly true is that the United States has to follow through on what it says. Now, as I said before, I haven't said anything yet, because it's early in the process. But it is important for us to be clear about what we believe will lead to peace and that there's not equivocation and there's not a sense that we expect only compromise on one side; it's going to have to be two-sided, and I don't think anybody would deny that, in theory. When it comes to the concrete, then the politics of it get difficult, both within the Israeli and the Palestinian communities. But, look, if this was easy, it would've already been done.

As best I can read this, Obama is saying that the United States—which is to say, Barack Obama—must follow through on what he says. But with regard to Netanyahu's refusal to halt the settlements, he hasn't yet made a statement. Instead, he expects there to be "a series of conversations."

It must be said that Obama is suggesting a firmness toward Israel that we have not seen for many a year.

The interview opened with this—

Michele Norris: .... If you want to improve relations with the Muslim world, do you have to change or alter in some way the strong U.S. support for Israel?

No, I don't think that we have to change strong U.S. support for Israel. I think that we do have to retain a constant belief in the possibilities of negotiations that will lead to peace. And that's going to require, from my view, a two-state solution that is going to require that each side — the Israelis and Palestinians — meet their obligations.

I've said very clearly to the Israelis both privately and publicly that a freeze on settlements, including natural growth, is part of those obligations. I've said to the Palestinians that their continued progress on security and ending the incitement that, I think, understandably makes the Israelis so concerned, that that has to be — those obligations have to be met. So the key is to just believe that that process can move forward and that all sides are going to have to give. And it's not going to be an easy path, but one that I think we can achieve.

Obama's demand that Israel halt the "natural growth" of the settlements is in fact a very strong demand. Settlers do have children.

Is this real? Can Obama really bring pressure to bear on Israel? Expect to hear from the Israeli lobby today in your national news.

Tags: news and politics Israeli-Palestinian conflict Obama interview Israeli settlements NPR interview peace process

Footnote of the Day: "The rendition flights paid very well"

noreply@blogger.com (Handy Fuse) — Sun, 17 May 2009 12:21:00 +0000

Plaintiffs cite, among other things, the sworn declaration of Sean Belcher, a former Jeppesen employee, who stated that the director of Jeppesen International Trip Planning Services, Bob Overby, had told him, “‘We do all the extraordinary rendition flights,’” which he also referred to as “‘the torture flights’” or “spook flights.” Belcher stated that “there were some employees who were not comfortable with that aspect of Jeppesen’s business” because they knew “‘some of these flights end up’” with the passengers being tortured. He stated that Overby had explained, “‘that’s just the way it is, we’re doing them’” because “the rendition flights paid very well.” —Footnote from the Opinion of Judge Michael Daly Hawkins for the Ninth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals in the matter of Mohamed v. Jeppesen Dataplan [pdf]

Where are our economists just when we need to discuss "perverse incentives"?

"The rendition flights paid very well" is the place to which our econo-political system has brought us. This is not a place of freedom—except of course to exploit—nor consciousness nor reward, unless you feel the dollars are worth "Hey, Daddy, what did you do during the War on Terror" and you say—or avoid saying—"Oh, I flew people to foreign countries to be tortured."

Oh, well. A euphemism or two should take care of that. This is why it is so important to speak of "enhanced interrogation" and "extraordinary rendition" and for the Obama administration and Congress to leave the legality of torture, as it was practiced, in question. We have all these little people to think of.

Tags: news and politics torture extraordinary rendition judicial opinions

Poem of the Day

noreply@blogger.com (Handy Fuse) — Wed, 06 May 2009 13:08:00 +0000

Yesterday two young gentlemen callers appeared at my door with a Book of Mormon in hand and asked if they might prepare me for baptism on May 17, to which I could only reply "Oh, definitely not. I do not enjoy bathing." I now repent me of it.

If I had not been so occupied doing absolutely nothing I might have asked them in and invited them to remove their shirts and ties along with any other articles of clothing that might have discomfited them in their door-to-door mission to see if we might come together on religion. Henceforth my rule shall be "Carpe Mormonem," as the visitations of young gentleman callers to my door have become as rare as appearances of the Virgin Mary—which is not to say never, but less often than I would like.

Perhaps I was feeling a bit addled, as I had just read Dr. Stanley Fish's review in the NY Times (see "God Talk") of Terry Eagleton's "Reason, Faith and Revolution." Dr. Fish, who according to his bio is a Distinguished Professor of This, That and The Other, found the book compelling in its defense of "faith"—any faith—but noted the angry tone of the later chapters. Dr. Fish wonders that the earlier chapters are quite witty and conjectures that Mr. Eagleton wrote the later chapters first. I do not know why Dr. Fish resorted to this deus ex machina for explanation, since I have always found wit and anger to be perfectly compatible in any order you choose.

In any event, the review was just the sort of thing the Times needs to maintain a readership in these troubling days. Some 700 readers had left comments, of which I was saved from reading by the advent of the angelic Mormons.

So instead of attempting to shout above the noise I have decided to place a quiet poem here in response.

R.D. Laing did not call this writing a 'poem'; he called it a 'Knot.' But if it is not a poem it points to a poem that points to a 'Not,' or Void.

It is, loosely and mathematically speaking, a construction: Let there be an object (your self or a universe, say). Call it a finger. Let there be an operation associated with the finger. Call it pointing. The value of a finger pointing is not the finger. Call it the moon. Let that be the value of the pointing. Let 'point' be a synonym of 'moon.' Thus the pointing of the finger is the point.1

a finger points to the moon
Put the expression
   a finger points to the moon, in brackets
   (a finger points to the moon)
The statement:
   'A finger points to the moon is in brackets'
is an attempt to say that all that is in the bracket ()
is, as to that which is not in the bracket,
what a finger is to the moon
Put all possible expressions in brackets
Put all possible forms in brackets
and put the brackets in brackets
Every expression, and every form,
is to what is expressionless and formless
what a finger is to the moon
all expressions and all forms
point to the expressionless and formless

Not,
   as finger to moon
   so form to formless
but,
   as finger is to moon
   so

[all possible expressions, forms, propositions,
  including this one, made or yet to be made,
  together with the brackets]

   are to

What an interesting finger
   let me suck it
It's not an interesting finger
   take it away

The statement is pointless
The finger is speechless

Tags: religion Stanley Fish Terry Eagleton book review poem of the day poetry humor

Footnote

1With my most humble and sincere apologies to the spirit of G. Spencer-Brown. [back]