Bad Deeds for 4-8-2008

Once Again, McCain Confuses Sunnis with Shiites – Last month, the Arizona senator got a whisper in his ear from Sen. Joe Lieberman, after he said that Iran was providing aid to Al Qaeda in Iraq, a Sunni group. Iran, however, is actually a Shiite nation. On Fox News Sunday, McCain also got wrong the details of an Iraqi ceasefire. At today’s Senate Armed Services Committee hearing, McCain seems to have gotten it wrong again, when interviewing Iraq commander Gen. David Petraeus.

MCCAIN: “There are numerous threats to security in Iraq and the future of Iraq. Do you still view al-Qaeda in Iraq as a major threat?”

PETRAEUS: “It is a major threat. Though it is certainly as not as major a threat as it was say, 15 months ago.”

MCCAIN: “Certainly not an obscure sect of the Shias overall?

PETRAEUS: “No, sir.”

MCCAIN: “Or Sunnis or anybody else then?

McCain’s Temper: He Lunged at Congressman, According to Book – According to Cliff Schecter’s new book The Real McCain, a physical confrontation between McCain and another congressman took place in 2006. The Arizona Republican congressional delegation had a strategy meeting where McCain repeatedly addressed two new members, congressmen Trent Franks and Rick Renzi, as ‘boy.’ Finally, Renzi, a former college linebacker, rose from his chair and said to McCain, “You call me that one more time and I’ll kick your old ass.” McCain lunged at Renzi, punches were thrown, and the two had to be physically separated.

US Planning Open-Ended Military Commitment in Iraq According to Report – A draft agreement between the United States and Iraq shows that the two countries are including a provision for an open-ended American military commitment to the war-torn country, The Guardian reported Tuesday. Citing a copy of the draft strategic framework agreement dated March 7 that it obtained, the newspaper said that the document is designed to replace the current United Nations mandate, which expires at the end of the year. According to The Guardian, the agreement allows the United States to “conduct military operations in Iraq and to detain individuals when necessary for imperative reasons of security” without including a time limit. It also does not put any limits on the number of American forces allowed in Iraq, the weapons they can use, the legal status of US troops in Iraq or the powers they hold over Iraqi citizens.

Documents Prove FBI Has National Eavesdropping Program that Tracks IMs, Emails and Cell Phones – The Federal Bureau of Investigation has been routinely monitoring the e-mails, instant messages and cell phone calls of suspects across the United States — and has done so, in many cases, without the approval of a court. Documents released under the Freedom of Information Act show that the FBI’s massive dragnet, connected to the backends of telecommunications carriers, allows authorized FBI agents and analysts, with point-and-click ease, to receive e-mails, instant messages, cell phone calls and other communications that tell them not only what a suspect is saying, but where he is and where he has been.

Department of Homeland Security Ignores Civil Liberties in Domestic Spy Satellite Plan, Lawmakers Say – A controversial plan that would allow domestic law enforcement agencies to use data gathered by US spy satellites still lacks necessary civil liberties and privacy protections. DHS plans to create a new office that would expand law enforcement and other civilian agencies’ access to data gathered by powerful intelligence and military satellites orbiting the earth.

According to John McCain and General Petraeus, Things Are Getting Better in Iraq, but According to the Iraqi Army, 52 Blasts Hit the Baghdad Green Zone Last Week – At least 52 rockets or mortar bombs hit the heavily fortified Green Zone in Baghdad in the past week, Brigadier General Qassim Atta, spokesman for the Iraqi army in the capital, said Tuesday. Atta said another 90 mortar bombs or rockets struck various other places in Baghdad over the same period.

Illinois Rep. Monique Davis Tells Atheist He has No Right to Be at the State Assembly – The following exchange between atheist activist Rob Sherman of Buffalo Grove and Ill. Rep. Monique Davis (Democrat-Chicago) took place Wednesday afternoon in the General Assembly as Sherman testified before the House State Government Administration Committee.

Davis: I don’t know what you have against God, but some of us don’t have much against him. We look forward to him and his blessings. And it’s really a tragedy — it’s tragic — when a person who is engaged in anything related to God, they want to fight. They want to fight prayer in school.

I don’t see you (Sherman) fighting guns in school. You know?

I’m trying to understand the philosophy that you want to spread in the state of Illinois. This is the Land of Lincoln. This is the Land of Lincoln where people believe in God, where people believe in protecting their children.… What you have to spew and spread is extremely dangerous, it’s dangerous–

Sherman: What’s dangerous, ma’am?

Davis: It’s dangerous to the progression of this state. And it’s dangerous for our children to even know that your philosophy exists! Now you will go to court to fight kids to have the opportunity to be quiet for a minute. But damn if you’ll go to [court] to fight for them to keep guns out of their hands. I am fed up! Get out of that seat!

Sherman: Thank you for sharing your perspective with me, and I’m sure that if this matter does go to court—

Davis: You have no right to be here! We believe in something. You believe in destroying! You believe in destroying what this state was built upon.

U.S. Kept in Slow Broadband Lane – In Manhattan people pay about $30 a month for a download speed of three megabits per second (Mbps) via a DSL line. Many people are very happy with that, until they realise what is going on elsewhere in the world. “In Japan you can get 100 megabits for $35,” says Selina Lo of Ruckus Wireless.

Regards,

Jim