ADL Publicly Opposes Mosque Construction, Undermines Own Mission

The controversy over whether or not an Islamic Center should be built near Ground Zero in Manhattan is heating up. Kane already discussed Newt Gingrich's gems regarding the mosque. Sarah Palin has also had some valuable things to say about it, most notably when she made up the word "refudiate". But now a new voice is weighing in. And not helping the situation, or their cause.

The Anti-Defamation League (ADL) is a Jewish organization that describes itself as the "the nation's premier civil rights/human relations agency". They've done some great work, particularly with discrimination issues, humanitarian atrocities, and inter-religious relations. But they seem to be veering away from their stated purpose.

9/11 Health and Compensation Act Voted Down in House

On September 11, 2001 the entire world fundamentally changed. For the majority of us the changes were macro in nature - from fear and confusion to small things like inconveniences at the airport and increased police presence in transit hubs. For a small, but significant, number of Americans the repercussions from the 9/11 attacks were, and continue to be, extremely personal. Over 2,800 people died that day. The two wars that have resulted from the cowardly attacks have seen over 5,600 military fatalities - 4,413 from Operation Iraqi Freedom and 1,212 from Operation Enduring Freedom (Afghanistan). These numbers do not reflect the other Americans who have been personally touched by 9/11 - friends and family members of those killed in lower Manhattan that day and those killed in Iraq and Afghanistan, those wounded on September 11 and in Iraq and Afghanistan, and those otherwise affected by that day and its repercussions.

Revere High Video from Night of Officer Daniel Talbot's Murder Released

Today the Daily Item in Lynn, Massachusetts has posted the footage of the parking lot of Revere High the night of Revere Police Officer Daniel Talbot's murder. The footage is grainy and does not capture the actual shooting of Officer Talbot. The only figures in the video are unidentifiable to the naked eye, but the Suffolk DA says that they are Derek Lodie (sentenced to 8-12 years for accessory before the fact), James Heang (sentenced 3-6 years for unlawful possession of a firearm), Thomas Papandrea (believed to be in the witness protection program), and Robert Iacoviello (the triggerman sentenced to three years for gun possession and life for the murder with possibility of parole after 15 years.) The majority of relevant footage shows first responders arriving on the scene.

On the delay from the end of Iacoviello's trial (which concluded in February), the Suffolk DA's spokesman Jake Wark tells The Second Age, "Our copy of the video actually went into evidence at Suffolk Superior Court, where it was played at trial (and remains) for anyone who wished to see it.  Surprisingly, no one who had previously requested a copy actually showed up to view it.  Once the trial was complete, it took some time to obtain the archived original, duplicate it, and resolve the pending issues with the Item."

A Possible Silver Lining Under an Infinite Cloud of Climate Bullshit

On Saturday I ranted furiously against the Senate for its arrant failure to even bring climate legislation to the floor. Grist has a telling article on why the failure occurred. I'll write more on the abomination that is the United States Senate in the coming weeks. But lest I hurl myself and others into an endless spiral of pessimism and cynicism, let's talk for a minute about what hope there is left for potentially doing something about climate change mitigation.

The key word here: EPA. No one wanted it to happen. No one thought it was a good idea to regulate greenhouse gas emissions under the Clean Air Act. It was leverage. It was a way to say to the Senate, "Get your act together, or we'll do this the bad way." Maybe the Senate called the Executive's bluff. Or maybe the Senate is just a largely worthless, undemocratic institution. But either way, they didn't come up with anything, so Clean Air Act it is.

Sean Bell Settlement Reached for $7 Million of Taxpayer Money

The family and friends of Sean Bell will receive more than $7 million from the city stemming from the shooting of Bell and his two friends, Joseph Guzman and Trent Benefield. The settlement is a large one, but it doesn't beat out the settlement reached last month in the case of Barry Gibbs, a man who spent 19 years behind bars after being framed by an NYPD detective for murder. Gibbs will receive $9.9 million from the city.

So who pays the $17 million for police malfeasance? You and I do, of course. Despite the fact that we know who pulled the triggers that killed Bell and injured his friends - Marc Cooper, Gescard Isnora (who fired the first shot), and Michael Oliver (who fired 31 shots, requiring a magazine change) - none of these men will be contributing to the $7 million settlement. This is also not the first time Michael Oliver has cost the city more money than he's worth: in 1995 Oliver shoved a livery cab driver's head into a car window, resulting in a $10,000 settlement to the victim. Somehow Oliver kept his job so he could later cost the city even more money in the Bell case.

WikiLeaks Documents Shed More Light on Afghanistan War

The revelation of newly released classified documents from WikiLeaks about the Afghanistan War has prompted the New York Times headline, "View is Bleaker Than Official Portrayal of War in Afghanistan." This is true, but the real question I want to pose is this: how many people have been taking the official portrayal of the war in Afghanistan at face value? After being boondoggled by the previous administration into invading Iraq and being falsely promised by the current administration to have Guantanamo Bay closed by 2010 I would be shocked if people who read the WikiLeaks documents are, well, shocked.

What are some of the "earth shattering" revelations? The report outlines the corruption and outright collaboration of Pakistan's Inter-Services Intelligence (the equivalent of America's CIA) with Taliban/Al-Qaeda/Haqqani forces in the border region of Pakistan and Afghanistan. We knew that the border between Pakistan and Afghanistan was a mess and that "Islamabad has no tangible control over the area." What we did not know (though certainly could have ascertained given the agency's history) is that the reason Islamabad has no control over the region is that they do not try, and they may even be making the situation worse rather than better.

Shirley Sherrod, James Clyburn, and the Politics of Race

I've tried to stay out of the Shirley Sherrod story. I see it as one of those things so ridiculous that the overwhelming majority of people would understand why Sherrod's statements were not racist and why the Obama administration was wrong for firing her. But groups like the Tea Party and the NAACP (the latter of which initially called Sherrod racist themselves) felt that the most productive thing to do was to call each other racists, and now elected officials are putting their two cents in when the piggy bank of inanity is already overflowing.

U.S. Senate Exhibits Pivotal Failure of Democracy

I've been writing about climate change issues for a while now. I've talked about the climate science, the leadership role of the House of Representatives, the childish politics and conservative propaganda. I've talked about the strong obstructionism against action by lobbyists, Republicans, and conservative Democrats. I've talked about the climatic, humanitarian, and security implications of inaction, and the concerted move (and failure) to block any government action at all. I've talked about the awareness among Americans, the problems with the media, and the implications of the oil spill.

But now it kind of feels like it's all over. Not because the Senate followed the House's leadership and passed a piece of climate change legislation of their own. But because the Senate fundamentally failed to do anything at all.

Newt Gingrich Flops on Ground Zero Mosque

Newt Gingrich is an interesting guy, to say the least. He led the Contract for America and helped gain the House majority for Republicans in 1994 and became Speaker of the House. On the other side of the coin, he is "not in favor of creating the notion of gay marriage," yet has run roughshod over the "sanctity" of marriage himself, marrying his former high school geometry teacher (clearly sine curves weren't the only thing being studied) and then finalizing their divorce while she was recovering from cancer surgery. He married a second time, but took that as a chance to have an affair with someone almost two and a half decades younger than him (while investigating the Clinton-Lewinsky scandal.) Once he ditched his second wife, he married the "other woman" and, in an ironic twist, converted to Catholicism for her. In summation, there are many layers to the onion that is Newt Gingrich.

Calls for Investigation into BP's Role in Al Megrahi Release Intensify

I figured BP might be in enough trouble as it is with the oil spill and the possibility of seepage from its Deepwater Horizon well, but they seem to continue to get free passes from the government, which is allowing the tests on the BP well to run for another 24 hours. The problem with this is that the pressure building up in the well's cap could cause problems in other parts of the massive well. One reason BP does not want the cap to be opened to collect oil is that it will give a much more accurate flow rate of oil that had entered the Gulf during the 3 month clusterfuck that ensued following the explosion of the Deepwater Horizon rig. If the well is damaged in a way that lowers pressure on the cap (which may have happened over the weekend due to the "lower than expected" readings coming in on Monday) then that creates a slower flow rate out of the cap which would significantly lower the amount BP would officially be liable for.

CNN's Shortsightedness on Display

Yes, I am picking on CNN again. I clicked on a story about this mysterious BP oil cap that suddenly arrived on the scene (only 3 months late) and was amused, and a bit saddened, at the news organization's bizarre word choice.

Their lead was, "The verdict Friday: so far, so good. But don't break out the champagne just yet." Champagne? Who the hell said anything about celebrating any facet of this oil spill and the pathetic response to it? Is it great that the cap is on and seemingly working for the time being? Absolutely, but this is one step in an extremely lengthy process. The ramifications from this disaster - economical, ecological, environmental - will extend beyond three decades, possibly more. I don't think anyone will be breaking out the champagne at all.

How Far Will Republicans Go to Actively Deny Voting Rights to 600,000 Americans?

On Wednesday, the House Administration Committee approved a bill that would put statues of two Washington, DC heroes in the U.S. Capitol. The seemingly benign bill was actually approved on strictly party lines, having been met with fierce opposition by the committee's top Republican, Dan Lungren (CA-3), and his colleagues.

Why, you ask? Because giving DC two statues in the capitol would mean that it has as many statues as each of the 50 U.S. states, which implies that it is equal to the states. Which, of course, it's not. Because DC residents have no voice in the federal government. And Republicans certainly want things to stay that way.

Earlier this year, the district came seemingly closer than ever before to getting at least a vote for their current "delegate," Eleanor Holmes-Norton. But that bill, which was already turned into a compromise granting an extra Representative to Utah (read: a Republican to balance the DC Democrat), was then smacked with a Republican amendment easing gun restrictions in the District, one of the most crime-heavy cities in the country. Indeed, Senator John Ensign, adulterer of Las Vegas, NV, knows what's best for DC gun laws.

David vs. Goliath: Chafee vs. Status Quo Politics

Yesterday's New York Times had a great column on Lincoln Chafee's Herculean task of taking on the timeless political credo: get elected and stay elected at any cost. The former Republican Rhode Island senator is now running as an independent for the state's governorship and the other front-runner is current RI General Treasurer Frank T. Caprio, a Democrat. The main difference between the two is not the stereotypical Republican vs. Democrat tax stance.

Chafee is advocating eliminating a series of exemptions from the state's sales tax which would close around a quarter of the $400 million shortfall in the $7.8 billion budget. He opposes cuts to social services. Caprio, on the other hand, has stated his motto for the upcoming election, should he and Chafee find themselves in the big time: "If you want to pay more taxes, support Senator Chafee. If you don’t want to pay taxes, support me."

Former Massachusetts House Speaker DiMasi Will Continue to Receive Pension

Former Massachusetts House speaker Salvatore DiMasi, who is awaiting federal charges related to bribery, including conspiracy to defraud the federal government, extortion, mail fraud and wire fraud, will continue to receive his $5,000 monthly pension. The ruling, handed down by Boston Municipal Judge Lawrence McCormick, explained that the state erred in taking away DiMasi's pension without a hearing. He even went so far as to call it "offensive."

I'm actually OK with this, because I'm down with the "innocent until proven guilty" mantra. I think its true purpose is to protect everyday citizens from abuses of police power by those in charge, rather than protecting those in charge from answering to their abuses of power, but so be it. I don't really buy McCormick's whole "You should have held a hearing" spiel, though, because you don't need a formal hearing to understand that people facing 185 years in prison for crimes like extortion should not really be collecting $60,000 a year in public monies for doing nothing. But for the sake of fairness let DiMasi collect the money for the time being. Under one condition.

Impartial Justices Are Like Effective Solutions to the BP Oil Spill

I haven't spent too much time studying constitutional law, but in the time that I did study it, I gleaned one big take-away. No matter what judges and politicians say, constitutional interpretation is results-oriented.

Senator Orrin Hatch (R-UT) published an essay today explaining his opposition to Elena Kagan's nomination as the next justice of the United States Supreme Court. In it, he lambastes Kagan for her one-time assertions that “new times and circumstances demand a different interpretation of the Constitution” and that judges may “mold and steer the law in order to promote certain ethical values and achieve certain social ends.”

Senator Hatch is not wrong that judicial interpretation of the Constitution should be completely objective and based on written law, not on personal values. But he is either lying or incredibly naïve if he is claiming that the justices that he did vote for are taking such a disinterested approach to constitutional law. Every justice has his or her own beliefs, ethics, and values, and now matter how much they claim to follow the text, context, or intent of the constitution, in the end, the reality is that they are simply taking a side in a debate. Some justices are certainly more reasoned than others and outline their positions more cogently and eloquently, but at the end of the day, justices are molding methods of constitutional interpretation around their own views.

Breaking News: There Is Oil Flowing Freely in the Gulf

I know I've been picking on CNN lately, but it's so easy. I got a Breaking News email alert stating that BP was working on yet another soon-to-be failure. Usually I just delete them and move on with my day, but the last clause really caught me (I'm a sucker for the semi-colon). "Oil flows freely into Gulf." That's not breaking news, as oil has been flowing as free as a bird into the Gulf for the last 82 days. What's breaking news is that the geniuses at BP who have discovered how to get at oil miles below the ocean's bottom cannot stop a leak in one of their own pipes a mile below the ocean's surface. Every day that goes by I am further amazed at the utter lack of ability at a $246+ billion company. You think $20 billion is enough to pay for all damages resulting from this confluence of ineptitude? Not even close. What's breaking news is just how clueless everyone involved seems to be.

Why CNN Is Irrelevant, July 7, 2010 Edition

I happened upon this on CNN last night. I was already a little peeved about the whole Lebron James self-serving press conference thing ("The Decision" - are you kidding me?) and when you pair that with a story about some celebrity who I don't care about's manicure, you're bound to garner my ire. This is why CNN specifically, and 24 hour news networks in general, has lost serious points in the "respect" column.

Republicans Who Once Supported Carbon Cap Renounce Former Positions

Has there been any notable change to the scientific consensus on anthropogenic climate change since Senators Lisa Murkowski (R-AK), Lamar Alexander (R-TN), and John McCain (R-AZ) supported an economy-wide cap on greenhouse gas emissions a few years ago? Actually, yes. The consensus has grown stronger, and the certainty of climate change's human cause has increased substantially.

Michael Steele is Half Right

First things first, Michael Steele is a fool. There's no two ways about it, the guy lives to put his foot in his mouth. His most recent series of gaffes occurred in Connecticut when he was speaking at a Republican Party fundraiser. He called the war in Afghanistan a "war of Obama's choosing." He said the McChrystal resignation was "comical." He stated that the war was not "something the United States had actively prosecuted or engaged in." In short, Michael Steele has selective amnesia, because everything that he said goes against the past decade of history.