Bad Deeds for 4-20-2009

CIA Waterboarded Al Qaeda Suspect 183 Times in 1 Month, Memo Reveals – Khalid Sheikh Mohammed (still in U.S. custody) was waterboarded 183 times in March 2003 and Abu Zubaydah (the man who allegedly fears insects) was waterboarded 83 times in August 2002.

This insane frequency would seem to make (even more) self-evident the fact that waterboarding is not an effective anti-terror tool. Putting aside the moral and legal outrages for a moment, these statistics do not show waterboarding to be the ace in the hole “enhanced” technique Bush et al. claimed it was. Quite the opposite.

 

Torture Memos Were Written to Provide Legal Immunity for Illegal, Immoral Acts – To read the four newly released memos on prisoner interrogation written by George W. Bush’s Justice Department is to take a journey into depravity. Their language is the precise bureaucratese favored by dungeon masters throughout history.

These memos are not an honest attempt to set the legal limits on interrogations, which was the authors’ statutory obligation. They were written to provide legal immunity for acts that are clearly illegal, immoral and a violation of this country’s most basic values.

It sounds like the plot of a mob film, except the lawyers asking how much their clients can get away with are from the C.I.A. and the lawyers coaching them on how to commit the abuses are from the Justice Department. And it all played out with the blessing of the defense secretary, the attorney general, the intelligence director and, most likely, President Bush and Vice President Dick Cheney.

 

Karl Rove Creeps Out Meghan McCain – Meghan McCain, daughter of Senator John McCain, loves Twitter — except for the “creepy people.” Like Karl Rove. In a blog post for the Daily Beast published Monday, McCain says the social networking site has been a “liberating” experience for her — if only her dispatches weren’t being read by the former Bush advisor. “Karl Rove follows me on Twitter. That’s creepy,” she said.

McCain also said that Ann Coulter is “overly partisan and divisive.” She insisted that “most of our nation wants our nation to succeed” – a pretty clear dig at the now-infamous remarks of talk radio host Rush Limbaugh.

As for the GOP establishment, McCain described it as a “party that was thriving at one point on a few singular issues” but could no longer “see long-term success.”

“We’ve seen how it has contributed to some serious problems in our nation and world,” McCain said, in an apparent reference to the government under GOP control. “Let me be blunt, you can’t assume you’re electing the right leaders to handle all the problems facing our nation when you make your choice based on one issue. More and more people are finally getting that.”

“I feel too many Republicans want to cling to past successes,” said McCain. “There are those who think we can win the White House and Congress back by being ‘more’ conservative. Worse, there are those who think we can win by changing nothing at all about what our party has become. “Republicans using Twitter and Facebook isn’t going to miraculously make people think we’re cool again. Breaking free from obsolete positions and providing real solutions that don’t divide our nation further will.

 

Ron Paul Defends Secession as “Very Much American” – Rep. Ron Paul released a video on Sunday offering support for the principles of secession, calling them “very much American.” And he described Perry’s recent talk about pulling Texas out of the union a discussion worth having. (Sure Ron, there’s nothing more American than not wanting to be part of America. -JLV)

 

Fox News Know the Opinions They Want – Conservative Michael Smerconish reveals he received the following e-mail from Fox News:

Wanted to see if you’re available today at 4:05 for Neil’s show today. The topic is on Obama and his cockiness. We’re looking for someone who will say, yes, he’s cocky and his cockiness will hurt him.

When Smerconish declined, he got this second e-mail from Fox News:

What about a debate off the top on the show on whether or not Hillary is trustworthy? We have someone who says she is and we’re looking for someone who says she isn’t.

 

Rep. Harman Promised to Intervene for AIPAC According to Wiretap Sources – Rep. Jane Harman , the California Democrat with a longtime involvement in intelligence issues, was overheard on an NSA wiretap telling a suspected Israeli agent that she would lobby the Justice Department to reduce espionage-related charges against two officials of the American Israeli Public Affairs Committee, the most powerful pro-Israel organization in Washington.

Harman was recorded saying she would “waddle into” the AIPAC case “if you think it’ll make a difference,” according to two former senior national security officials familiar with the NSA transcript.
In exchange for Harman’s help, the sources said, the suspected Israeli agent pledged to help lobby Nancy Pelosi , D-Calif., then-House minority leader, to appoint Harman chair of the Intelligence Committee after the 2006 elections, which the Democrats were heavily favored to win.

Seemingly wary of what she had just agreed to, according to an official who read the NSA transcript, Harman hung up after saying, “This conversation doesn’t exist.”

 

As Their Costs Fall, Internet Companies Push to Raise Prices – Internet service providers want to end the all-you-can-eat plans and get their customers paying à la carte. Critics say cable and phone companies are already charging far more than Internet providers in other countries. Some also wonder whether the new price plans are meant to prevent online video sites from cutting into the lucrative revenue from cable TV service.

Comcast has introduced a new 50-megabit-per-second service at $139 a month, compared with its existing service that costs about $45 a month for 8 megabits per second. Time Warner just announced it will charge $99 for 50 megabits per second.

By contrast, JCom, the largest cable company in Japan, sells service as fast as 160 megabits per second for $60 a month, only $5 a month more than its slower service.

Regards,

Jim