Supremes to Fed: Spill It

I'll be buggered. Mark Pittman's wins his FOIA lawsuit, posthumously.

Yemen: Ground Level Account

(Via the Telegraph)

On the other side of what the demonstrators have begun to call "Taghyir" or "Change" Square, others stripped off their jackets and advanced towards the ever more relentless gunfire, pointing towards their chests as if in an invitation to shoot.

As the carnage continued, killing 52 and wounding hundreds more, victims were brought to a nearby mosque that had been turned into makeshift hospital.

Photographs showed the dead, identity cards and miniatures of the Koran laid on their corpses, lain in rows across the carpeted floor on an inner prayer room.

One young boy, barefoot and dressed in an Arsenal football club T-shirt, had been shot just above the eye. Another photograph showed a veiled woman cradling the body of her young son, his arms outstretched as if in supplication.

In one video, a man holding the body of his dead brother is shown making a tearful telephone call to his mother to tell her, in a faltering voice, that her son is dead.

Nearly all the bodies in the photographs had bullet wounds either in the forehead, neck or in the back of the head. There seems little doubt that this was the work of trained marksmen.

Yet President Saleh, while expressing his sorrow, claimed that the gunmen were either the demonstrators themselves or irate residents neighbouring the university who had grown tired of the noise of the protests – a claim denied by the residents themselves.

The opposition coalition at the forefront of the protests accused Mr Saleh, a key US ally against al-Qaeda, of perpetrating crimes against humanity.

"It is a massacre," said opposition spokesman Mohammed al-Sabri. "This is part of a criminal plan to kill off the protesters, and the president and his relatives are responsible for the bloodshed."

Much of the sniper fire emanated from a building allegedly owned by a regional governor close to President Saleh, further evidence, the opposition said, of the regime's involvement in the killings.

Video footage showed a masked man crouching behind a balustrade on the building's roof.

As the gunfire continued unabated, a group of protesters stormed the rooftop, braving gunfire to capture 10 of the snipers – seven of whom were said to have possessed government identification papers.

One of the suspected snipers was dragged into the streets, where he was beaten and clubbed by protesters, while a second was allegedly flung off the edge of the building.

Ye gods.

VOA: Radiation Levels Equal a Chest X-Ray Every Hour

Posting this because this jumped out of the Voice Of America article I was reading:

The Fukushima Prefectural Government tells VOA News that for the second day in a row the highest radiation level it registered outside the plant was in the village of Iitate, 40 kilometers northwest of the nuclear facility. The reading there, very slightly elevated from Friday, was 21.80 micro-sieverts per hour at 6 p.m. Saturday. Assuming these levels are staying consistent throughout the day, that means residents there are receiving about the equivalent of a plain film chest X-ray every hour.

40 kilometers would be double the official evacuation zone.

That seems like it would get more attention than just the VOA.

I found another account (also based on the VOA correspondent Steve Herman) that points out that this report is causing confusion. But seriously, if they really are picking up radiation levels this high - it would be a fairly big deal.

Do You Prefer "Mrs. God" or "Goddess?"

(Via the Awl)

Okay, this needs some explanation and context: God's Wife Edited Out of the Bible - Almost

Debtor's Prison? Seriously?!

CJR's Ryan Chittum picks out a WSJ piece about - of all things - debtor's prison in the US.
The WSJ points out "More than a third of all U.S. states allow borrowers who can't or won't pay to be jailed."

The money quote:

Your hundreds of billions of dollars of bailouts at work:

In September 2009, Jeffrey Stearns, a concrete-company owner, answered a knock at the door from a Hancock County, Ind., deputy sheriff. The deputy was holding a warrant to arrest Mr. Stearns for not paying $4,024.88 owed to a unit of American International Group Inc. on a loan for his pickup truck.

After being handcuffed in front of his four children, Mr. Stearns, 29 years old, spent two nights in jail, where he said he was strip-searched and sprayed for lice. Court records show he was released after agreeing to pay $1,500 to the loan company. “I didn’t even know I was being sued,” he said, though he doesn’t dispute owing the money. “It’s the scariest thing that ever happened to me.”

AIG, of course, got hundreds of billions of dollars in bailouts from taxpayers. Now it’s having those taxpayers thrown in jail. Nice.

Yeah, Nice.

Fukushima Infographics

If you've been glued to the coverage of the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear crisis - you could do worse than to check out the infographics put out by JAIF

It's been easy to lose the sequence of events by switching news sources - having the series of graphics makes it very clear.

2011-03-15

2011-03-16

Not comforting, mind you - but clear.

How Do You Say "Oh Sh!t" in Japanese?

(Via the NYT)

Japan faced the likelihood of a catastrophic nuclear accident Tuesday morning, as an explosion at the most crippled of three reactors at the Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Station damaged its crucial steel containment structure, emergency workers were withdrawn from the plant, and much larger emissions of radioactive materials appeared immiment [sic], according to official statements and industry executives informed about the developments....

The sharp deterioration came after government officials said the containment structure of the No. 2 reactor, the most seriously damaged of three reactors at the Daichi plant, had suffered damage during an explosion shortly after 6 a.m. on Tuesday.

They initially suggested that the damage was limited and that emergency operations aimed at cooling the nuclear fuel at three stricken reactors with seawater would continue. But industry executives said that in fact the situation had spiraled out of control and that all plant workers needed to leave the plant to avoid excessive exposure to radioactive leaks.

If all workers do in fact leave the plant, the nuclear fuel in all three reactors is likely to melt down, which would lead to wholesale releases of radioactive material — by far the largest accident of its kind since the Chernobyl disaster 25 years ago.

Wisconsin Union-Busting: The Aftermath

The Awl' Abe Sauer has been writing some seriously good sh!t about the whole Wisconsin mess.

Here's an opener from A Blueprint for a Takeover: Wisconsin Republicans Lied While the Kochs Schemed:

The simple rhetoric of the Wisconsin budget battle is that the Democrats are just "thug" unions—and that Republicans are carrying water for wealthy corporate sleaze. It's more complicated than that. For one, several teachers' unions endorsed Wisconsin Republicans last year—unions are hardly the unthinking automatons of the left they're now depicted to be. Why would they do that? Quite simply, those Republicans looked into the face of their constituents… and lied.

He follows this up with A Guide to American Majority's Plan to Dismantle Public Schools where he discusses the astroturfing firm's efforts to bend public education to their will:

We mentioned the activist training done by American Majority, including its most recent event in Madison on March 5th. American Majority even provides "A Wisconsin School Board Primer" about what a school board is, how to run for it, and suggestions on reforming your school district. These suggestions, surprise, are carbon copies of both the education reforms introduced in Scott Walker's budget bill as well as the campaigning points for candidiates such as Sauk County Tea Party president and 2011 Baraboo school board hopeful John Meegan, who, as we pointed out, has been working closely with American Majority since last year.

The video of American Majority seminar on guerilla internet tactics is especially nice.

Here's a sample:

American Majority Instructor: So what do we do? We become digital activists. We identify the medium, we learn the medium, we manipulate the medium. It was printing presses [in the revolutionary war era] it's the internet now. That's where we influence the hearts and minds of our fellow citizens. The Tea Party's got us running up the hills, American Majority is trying to give you the tools, the muskets, right? So, here's what I do: I get on Amazon, I type in "liberal books" I go through and I say 1-star, 1-star, 1-star...The flip side is you need to go to conservative, libertarian, whatever um...you need to go to their products and give them 5 stars. So, literally 80% of the books I put a star on - I don't read. So, that's how it works."

A  visual aid might be in order, here.

This is what a political movement is according to American Majority:

Note the white tablecloths

And this is what a political movement actually looks like:

And finally, Sauer gives us some great interviews in his latest post: Wisconsequences: What Happened This Week and What's Next (Up First: the Voter ID Bill) (emphasis added):

In the last few weeks as Walker has claimed that he's giving local leaders the tools they need, more and more of these leaders have come forward to declare that they did not ask for a berth as wide as Walker means to provide. Miles Turner, executive director of the Wisconsin Association of School District Administrators, told the Isthmus: "We've sought significant modifications in bargaining laws, but we've never sought to eliminate collective bargaining rights." Turner reiterated that his organization, which represents nearly all 424 Wisconsin school districts, did not support eliminating collective bargaining.

The Isthmus also spoke with Dan Thompson, executive director of the League of Wisconsin Municipalities, representative of nearly 600 of the state's towns, who said, "The governor gave us a great deal more flexibility than we asked for." Thompson pointed out that the bill's limitation to cost-of-living increases will cripple abilities to compete with the private sector, the exact kind of commutative equality Walker claims his bill promotes.

So, to be perfectly clear, despite how Walker's cuts and union dissolving measures are pitched as being undertaken because Wisconsin had "no choice," it was all about choice. Wisconsin looked at its budget, and it chose to make massive cuts to education. Instead of making across the board, equilateral cuts, including minor tax increases and union concessions, Walker chose to balance his entire budget on the back of education. That's it. It was a conscious decision. They should own it.

On Wednesday and Thursday of this week, Republicans owned it. They owned the hell out of it.

His blow by blow account of the rushed vote is a must read.

Great stuff.

WI GOP Legislators Come Clean

WI GOP before Today - "These provisions gutting workers rights are necessary to balance the budget. This is financial legislation"

WI GOP Today -  "This is not about the budget, so we'll pass it without a financial quorum (that we can't get)."

And just in case there's any doubt this was about a political power struggle, here's WI Majority Leader Fitzgerald fessing up (emphasis added):

FITZGERALD: Well if they flip the state senate, which is obviously their goal with eight recalls going on right now, they can take control of the labor unions. If we win this battle, and the money is not there under the auspices of the unions, certainly what you’re going to find is President Obama is going to have a much difficult, much more difficult time getting elected and winning the state of Wisconsin.

Badgers, get your recall pens ready. These people have to go down - hard.

We're Coming For You...

Three points back, with a game in hand - against West Bromwich Albion.

Sorry Baggies, you gotta go down.

...And Liverpool, I knew I could Kuyt on you!

Go Gunners!

Credit Card Interchange Reform

Not exactly a barn burner of a subject line - but here's a great way to draw someone's interest into why this subject matters, courtesy of Rortybomb:

“Credit cards are the lifeline of my business as customers use plastic for everything from; a cup of coffee, to a pack of gum, to a tank of gasoline. Credit cards and debit cards are easy to use, but what customers don’t know is that every time they use a credit card, I pay a fee. For example, a customer purchases a local newspaper (75 cent retail) my profit is 9 cents. If the customer is using a debit card I would pay 25 cent for the transaction fee plus .08% interchange fee. If the customer puts down a Visa credit card the transaction fee would be 19 cents plus 1.68% interchange fee. Regardless of the payment option I lose money on the sale.”
–Jinger Duryea, President of CN Brown which owns Big Apple convenience stores across Maine

A minimum charge by the credit card companies eats retail vendors lunch.

Credit card companies don't care - but there are more merchants than credit card companies. You would think that would make them care.

But you'd never get that from corporate shill like Edward Wyatt

Memo to Gov. Walker

You aren't Reagan, the teachers aren't PATCO, and the Berlin wall has been down for decades.

Also, if you're taking your cues from Reagan - he didn't agree with you either:

"These are the values inspiring those brave workers in Poland … They remind us that where free unions and collective bargaining are forbidden, freedom is lost."
- Reagan in 1980 discussing Polish workers standing up to the Soviets.

Teachers vs. Wall Street

Only because this was too perfect...

Hey, I wonder how those same people who would have the government limit teacher pay and benefits would feel about the government limiting CEO pay at bailed-out-with-taxpayer-money firms?
-Jon Stewart

Oh and Fox News Business Contributor Tracy Byrnes? You get my vote for hypocrite of the year.

Reaching Out

The Milwaukee Journal Sentinel published a letter from Dane County District Judge John Albert to the union protesters:

Members of the Rotunda Community:

Today, I have ruled in favor of the Plaintiffs concerning the issues before me on access to the State Capitol of Wisconsin. After three days of testimony, the record establishes that the recent protest was unprecedented in the history of the state of Wisconsin. Thousands of people peacefully protested for two weeks and no injuries or damage to personal or government property occurred.

I credit that to the restraint and discipline of the protesters. I further commend law enforcement supervisors and every individual policeman or policewoman for the discipline and restraint shown during these unusual times.

The order that I will issue granting the Plaintiff's relief will contain what I consider to be a reasonable restraint on the time, place and manner of future demonstrations and protests. The restraint is as follows. Staying after the building is closed, is prohibited. Protests and demonstrations can be held at any time when the Capitol is open during normal business hours and, of course, if either house of the legislature is in session or any public hearing is being held.

I have attached a copy of a Notice requiring that you peacably vacate the State Capitol after business hours today. My intent is to facilitate the reopening of the Capitol consistent with the free assembly and free speech provisions of the Wisconsin Constitution as well as the parallel provisions of the U.S. Constitution.

It is my sincere hope that you honor the Notice and do your part to adhere to the principals of non-violent protest that has characterized these events.

Civil disobedience is always a citizen's option but understandably brings consequences to those exercising that right. If you stay you can expect that you will be removed in a humane manner and without excessive force.

In the interest of avoiding injury to anyone, please obey the Order.

Judge John C. Albert.

Siege and Standoff

(Via The Wheeler Report)

Okay, there's an awful lot of stuff hitting the wire about the Wisconsin State Capitol building.

Image via WaxingAmerica

Supposedly, the building is being locked up, people are being denied entrance, barriers have been erected, and windows are being bolted shut. (the bolted windows story appears to be crap)

This, apparently in defiance of a court order that the building be open.

What the hell is going on?

Well, if you read the WI DofA memo - whoever is calling the shots has decided to get the last remaining protesters out of the capitol by denying them essentials and waiting until they leave.

All access to the capitol in the meantime is strictly controlled until these holdouts give up the ghost. On the one hand you could say this is good policing - certainly preferable to going in and dragging people out. On the other hand, there are reports that state GOP legislators do not seem subject to these new access procedures, nor are attendees to a party for the Joint Finance Committee (this per State Rep. Mark Pocan's open letter).

Trust between the sides is nonexistent.

So, the position of the administration that is essentially "Leave, and then we'll let everyone back in" is a very hard sell. Apparently a judge has ordered the capitol open by Monday, March 7 - (but even then, there's noises from Dems like it will be open tomorrow) after the protesters are removed.

So we could have arrests, or other confrontation with the remaining capitol protesters. Or not.

And to top it all off - we have the WI Senate issuing orders to detain the missing Democratic State Senators.

Which is an interesting escalation, since (at least according to law firm Cullen, Weston, Pines & Bach) it is illegal to do so (emphasis added):

Members of the legislature shall in all cases, except treason, felony and breach of the peace, be privileged from arrest: nor shall they be subject to any civil process, during the session of the legislature, nor for fifteen days next before the commencement and after the termination of each session.

This is not an absolute bar against sanction - Wisconsin Statues Section 13.26 spells out a brief list of things that the legislature can punish "...contempt, by imprisonment, a breach of its privileges or the privileges of its members..."

Here's the first item on that list:

(a) Arresting a member or officer of the house, or procuring such member or officer to be arrested in violation of the member's privilege from arrest.

And, thus we have an interesting dilemma for WI State troopers.

And Wisconsin is no closer to ending this mess anytime soon.

Late Edit: Dane County Circuit Court Judge John Albert has ruled that the state's restrictions on access are illegal- and that the protesters must leave the capitol when the building is closed.

Which seems very reasonable.

It remains to be seen if the new restrictions on capitol access that follow this order are equally reasonable. Restricting protests to the ground floor seems very unreasonable.

About Damn Time

George R. R. Martin finally announces a publishing date for A Dance With Dragons.

Any excitement is tempered by the realization that (at this rate) I'll be in my sixties by the time he finishes the damn series.

O'Reilly, Fox News: Still Full of It

(H/t to AK)

Oh this is art. O'Reilly runs a clip supposedly from the protests in Wisconsin -

-and it features palm trees.

Seriously.



As a UW alum... I seem to have missed all the palm trees around the capitol building.

Ye Gods.

If People Do Not Know, They Cannot Care

While I'm listening to Gov. Walker's pep rally/Bullsh!t festival, I pulled up the Awl's great post about the misreading of the ground game in Madison, WI:

If the events in Wisconsin prove one thing, it is that the mainstream media has become journalistically irrelevant when it comes to national issues and coverage. Broadcast media is incapable of explaining anything outside a macropatriotic framework and has proven allergic to anything that puts off even the slightest whiff of the class warfare that scares away big-market advertorial. Meanwhile, the other side is cable news' partisan echo chamber of regurgitated self-assurance, where no blow is too low and no fact needs sourcing before being leveraged to make a prearranged point. Cable news reporting on Wisconsin is like going to a whorehouse and then bragging to your buddies about this girl you seduced.

It's hard to watch Walker's happy talk (punctuated by his minions eagerly applauding every break in the blather) and not wonder if Wisconsin's Union protesters are reaching the eyeballs they need.

Whose House Is It?

To watch Wisconsin politics now, you'd think the place had been invaded by aliens. The sedate Midwest lifestyle has degenerated into this

Capitol access was restricted over the weekend and again this morning, following days in which the building had been crowded with protesters. The Wisconsin State Employees Union, along with the AFL-CIO and AFSCME, filed the suit against the state of Wisconsin yesterday. Today, Judge Daniel Moeser ordered the building reopened.

There was a hearing today at 2:15 to sort out the particulars. Haven't heard what the net result was but then there was this bit:

Meanwhile, Dane County Sheriff Dave Mahoney also spoke at the news conference. He addressed questions about the removal of Dane County sheriff's deputies from security around the Capitol.

"We pulled our deputies out of Capitol security yesterday when we determined they were going to limit access to the Capitol. We did not want to serve as 'palace guards' at the Capitol. We are still assisting with security outside the Capitol, making sure protesters stay safe," he said.

Gov. Walker speaks at 4PM Central.

This should be interesting.

AT&T is Not A Person...

...which would explain their consistent inhumanity to man.

Point being, a unanimous Supreme Court ruled today in FCC v. AT&T (No. 09-1279) that corporations do not have personal privacy rights.

That anything should slow the legal march towards corporate personhood is more than a little stunning, but here's the kicker: The Chief Justice even served up a bit of judicial snark:

The protection in FOIA against disclosure of law enforcement information on the ground that it would constitute an unwarranted invasion of personal privacy does not extend to corporations. We trust that AT&T will not take it personally.

Zing!

(H/t Mom)