American Interests?

Glenn Greenwald has a good, if by-the-numbers piece on Obama's hypocrisy in condemning Iran for hypocrisy. It's good to have the quotations, but there's nothing really new in it; anyone who hasn't noticed Obama's hypocrisy either isn't paying attention, or doesn't want to see it.Obligingly, an Obama apologist with the screen name JC Watts leapt into the fray. His rebuttal is also by-the-numbers

American Interests?

Glenn Greenwald has a good, if by-the-numbers piece on Obama's hypocrisy in condemning Iran for hypocrisy. It's good to have the quotations, but there's nothing really new in it; anyone who hasn't noticed Obama's hypocrisy either isn't paying attention, or doesn't want to see it.Obligingly, an Obama apologist with the screen name JC Watts leapt into the fray. His rebuttal is also by-the-numbers

That Thing You Do -- Whatever It Is

Okay, a couple of things, more or less quickly.I hadn't intended to write about the tenth anniversary of the September 11 attacks, but then Glenn Greenwald posted this article. Seems there was a big hooraw because Paul Krugman wrote something pointing out that the US has behaved shamefully over the past decade. Krugman was accused of "politicizing" the sacred day, which as Greenwald pointed out

That Thing You Do -- Whatever It Is

Okay, a couple of things, more or less quickly.I hadn't intended to write about the tenth anniversary of the September 11 attacks, but then Glenn Greenwald posted this article. Seems there was a big hooraw because Paul Krugman wrote something pointing out that the US has behaved shamefully over the past decade. Krugman was accused of "politicizing" the sacred day, which as Greenwald pointed out

War In Our Time

In July a BBC reporter in Afghanistan was killed during a battle between NATO forces and Taliban insurgents. NATO, of course, claimed that he was killed by the Taliban. Now an official inquiry has confirmed his family's belief that Ahmed Omed Khpalpan was shot by a NATO soldier. Eleven times.Naturally, the Professional Left has been spreading this news around. Here's the response from a

War In Our Time

In July a BBC reporter in Afghanistan was killed during a battle between NATO forces and Taliban insurgents. NATO, of course, claimed that he was killed by the Taliban. Now an official inquiry has confirmed his family's belief that Ahmed Omed Khpalpan was shot by a NATO soldier. Eleven times.Naturally, the Professional Left has been spreading this news around. Here's the response from a

Don't Cry For Me Brazil

Remember that fawning press release of an AP story I linked to yesterday? Glenn Greenwald, who lives in Brazil much of the time, had this to say about Obama's visit to Brazil:... not to get all Tom Friedman on you, but I really enjoyed the slew of taxi drivers and other assorted residents of the city complaining endlessly and bitterly about the traffic jams and closed streets for "no good reason

Don't Cry For Me Brazil

Remember that fawning press release of an AP story I linked to yesterday? Glenn Greenwald, who lives in Brazil much of the time, had this to say about Obama's visit to Brazil:... not to get all Tom Friedman on you, but I really enjoyed the slew of taxi drivers and other assorted residents of the city complaining endlessly and bitterly about the traffic jams and closed streets for "no good reason

Procrastination Is My Middle Name

I've been fiddling around with a couple of other posts for the past few days, but haven't been able to finish anything. Here's something that I can toss out there quickly, with minimal comment -- it speaks for itself. Glenn Greenwald has posted an article at Salon.com on the inhumane conditions in which Pfc. Bradley Manning, alleged leaker of classified documents to Wikileaks, is being held.

Procrastination Is My Middle Name

I've been fiddling around with a couple of other posts for the past few days, but haven't been able to finish anything. Here's something that I can toss out there quickly, with minimal comment -- it speaks for itself. Glenn Greenwald has posted an article at Salon.com on the inhumane conditions in which Pfc. Bradley Manning, alleged leaker of classified documents to Wikileaks, is being held.

Only You Can Prevent John Boehner

I hadn't particularly noticed Glenn Greenwald attacking "moderate" Democrats, only right-wing ones. It's Robert Gibbs who attacked moderate Democrats, but that doesn't seem to bother Alter, a booster of Bush's war on terror and an advocate of torture even before it was clear that the Bush regime was using it. (He's since tried to cover up his support of torture, but he lies.) No wonder he

Only You Can Prevent John Boehner

I hadn't particularly noticed Glenn Greenwald attacking "moderate" Democrats, only right-wing ones. It's Robert Gibbs who attacked moderate Democrats, but that doesn't seem to bother Alter, a booster of Bush's war on terror and an advocate of torture even before it was clear that the Bush regime was using it. (He's since tried to cover up his support of torture, but he lies.) No wonder he

I'm a Loser

President Obama's press secretary Robert Gibbs staged a meltdown (via) in the West Wing the other day. He spluttered to an interviewer,“I hear these people saying he’s like George Bush. Those people ought to be drug tested,” Gibbs said. “I mean, it’s crazy.”The press secretary dismissed the “professional left” in terms very similar to those used by their opponents on the ideological right,

I'm a Loser

President Obama's press secretary Robert Gibbs staged a meltdown (via) in the West Wing the other day. He spluttered to an interviewer,“I hear these people saying he’s like George Bush. Those people ought to be drug tested,” Gibbs said. “I mean, it’s crazy.”The press secretary dismissed the “professional left” in terms very similar to those used by their opponents on the ideological right,

I, Uh, I Forgot What I Was Gonna Say, Man!

This video clip shows informer Adrian Lamo on the BBC, justifying his decision to turn in Bradley Manning for allegedly delivering material to Wikileaks, and -- holy shit, man, what is Lamo on? He reminds me of a pothead character in an old Cheech and Chong skit. I'm not sure I agree with Glenn Greenwald, whose latest column pointed me to the clip, that I've "never seen someone behave quite

I, Uh, I Forgot What I Was Gonna Say, Man!

This video clip shows informer Adrian Lamo on the BBC, justifying his decision to turn in Bradley Manning for allegedly delivering material to Wikileaks, and -- holy shit, man, what is Lamo on? He reminds me of a pothead character in an old Cheech and Chong skit. I'm not sure I agree with Glenn Greenwald, whose latest column pointed me to the clip, that I've "never seen someone behave quite

This May Come As a Surprise ...

... but I think it's a welcome one. Glenn Greenwald covers the new British government's apparent commitment (a real commitment, carried out in action) to do something about Britain's involvement in and collaboration with the Bush-Obama US torture-terror regime.Now that this left-right, Tory/Lib-Dem alliance has removed the Labour Party from power and is governing Britain, these commitments to

This May Come As a Surprise ...

... but I think it's a welcome one. Glenn Greenwald covers the new British government's apparent commitment (a real commitment, carried out in action) to do something about Britain's involvement in and collaboration with the Bush-Obama US torture-terror regime.Now that this left-right, Tory/Lib-Dem alliance has removed the Labour Party from power and is governing Britain, these commitments to

Bringing the Two Together

Glenn Greenwald writes:

As several people noted in comments, Obama's rationale for threatening to veto an anthrax investigation (investigations would undermine the State's credibility and thus dilute its authority) is very similar to the Catholic Church's explanation for why it concealed reports of so many abusive priests (disclosure would undermine the Church's credibility and thus dilute its authority). See, for instance, here, as well as here (Cardinal Christoph Schönborn: "the appearance of an infallible church was more important than anything else"). That was also the same rationale invoked by Justice Scalia when enjoining the Florida recount during the 2000 election (Scalia: a recount would "irreparably harm" Bush "by casting a cloud upon what he claims to be the legitimacy of his election"). Common to all of these suppression-justifying claims is the notion that preventing the truth from being examined and known is necessary to preserve institutional credibility and power.

I wonder if Richard Dawkins will decide to make a citizen's arrest of Barack Obama? Or George Bush? The scale of the crimes involved in the case of US Presidents is far greater than even Popes.

For more double standards and hypocrisy, see also this one.

Bringing the Two Together

Glenn Greenwald writes:As several people noted in comments, Obama's rationale for threatening to veto an anthrax investigation (investigations would undermine the State's credibility and thus dilute its authority) is very similar to the Catholic Church's explanation for why it concealed reports of so many abusive priests (disclosure would undermine the Church's credibility and thus dilute