Earthquake
Bob Morris @ Jan 26th 2006 16:11 - Category: Unfiled ;
(I meant to post this earlier today…)
Archive for January 26th, 2006
Earth to Blogger
Bob Morris @ Jan 26th 2006 16:10 - Category: Unfiled ;
Atrios is not responding. AMERICAblog is dead in the water, Firedoglake, ditto.  Right now, trying to access them gives “problem loading page” and an error screen.
What’s happening is Blogger is having more of its usual hiccups and server problems. All these liberal blogs are Blogger blogs, hosted at blogspot.com
Google does many things well. Blogger is not one of them. They bought it a few years back and have done zilch, zero, nada with it. This happens too frequently. Bloggers who are hosted at blogspot complain that sometimes they can’t post, sometimes posts vanish, along other strangeness and massive frustration.
Why can’t Goggle get Blogger working like, say, their amazing Google Maps? They have many great products, yet they’ve apparently orphaned Blogger. Blogger is notorious for hosting spam blogs, their servers have serious problems, and they’ve barely updated over the years. Why all the problems?
Weather forecast: tyranny foretold
Bob Morris @ Jan 26th 2006 08:47 - Category: Government spying ;
Empire Burlesque on creeping fascism and the compliance of the ruling class in the Bush agenda.
It won’t come with jackboots and book burnings, with mass rallies and fevered harangues. It won’t come with “black helicopters” or tanks on the street. It won’t come like a storm – but like a break in the weather, that sudden change of season you might feel when the wind shifts on an October evening: everything is the same, but everything has changed. Something has gone, departed from the world, and a new reality has taken its place.
As in Rome, all the old forms will still be there; legislatures, elections, campaigns – plenty of bread and circuses for the folks. But the “consent of the governed” will no longer apply; actual control of the state will have passed to a small group of nobles who rule largely for the benefit of their wealthy peers and corporate patrons.
We The People can stop this from happening. That’s not bravado, it’s simple truth. The time to act is now. Get involved. Redouble your efforts. “The only thing neccessary for the triumph of evil is that good people do nothing.”
So whenever some big media beast or Democratic “leader” steps forward now to say, “Gee, we were misled by these guys” or “Boy, if I’d only known before,” or some other craven, mealy-mouthed expression of self-justifying ignorance – tell them to their face that they lie. If they were ignorant, it was a willful ignorance, a co-opted ignorance, a bribed and bought ignorance, born from their desire to keep on feeding from the trough of power and privilege just as long as the slops keep coming. Wadded with power, privilege and nice pay packets, they were willingly deceived.
Well put indeed. The lack of action in DC by Democrats can best be explained in class terms. In fact, I think that’s the only real explanation. They aren’t cowards, they are complicit.
The Right blogosphere of late has been foaming in rage at the Left. Why? Because the Left is waking up and mobilizing. It’s the domestic spying that did it. When the final history of Bush and his fall are written, his illegal domestic spying will be seen to be the tipping point. Yes, I said Bush will fall.
I’m optimistic. The winds are now blowing our way. The Technorati Top 100 most popular blogs now has liberal blogs in the ascendant over rightwing blogs. This is quite new and signifies a sea change in opinion. The ruling class doesn’t get it yet, the people do.
So, I disagree a bit with Empire Burlesque. The weather forecast doesn’t have to be tyranny. Yes, these are scary times, so it’s time to “Get up/stand up/Stand up for your rights.” We can do it.
Ousourcing torture
Bob Morris @ Jan 26th 2006 08:40 - Category: Torture ;
Amnesty International’s reaction to the Council of Europe’s report on renditions and black sites.
Publication of the Council of Europe’s interim report on the issue of extraordinary renditions and secret detention centres in Europe is a step towards uncovering the truth about the extent to which US agents are carrying out renditions and related practices in Europe. However it makes clear that serious questions still need to be answered by a number of European governments.
The report recognizes that there is “a great deal of coherent, convergent evidence pointing to the existence of a system of ‘relocation’ or ‘outsourcing’ of torture’ “. What is needed now is the cooperation of all countries to ensure that they actively look at what is happening within their territory which may facilitate torture and take appropriate action.
Amnesty International supports the call of Dick Marty, the Council of Europe’s Parliamentary Assembly Rapporteur, for a full committee of inquiry, with extensive investigatory powers.
“The allegations that secret detention centres have existed in Europe, as Dick Marty has pointed out, come from varied and credible sources. Not even the US government has denied their existence. The issue now is what will be done about it,” said Claudio Cordone.
‘It can’t happen here’
Bob Morris @ Jan 26th 2006 07:51 - Category: Unfiled ;
A friend tells me that friends of his who lived in Germnay in the 30’s say things in the US are getting a little bit too familiar. The erosion of liberty. The hatemongering. The invasions and torture. They’ve been here before, they say, and this is how fascism starts.
What a coincidence
Bob Morris @ Jan 26th 2006 07:40 - Category: Torture ;
Former British ambassador to Uzbekistan Craig Murray was flying home after testifying about US/Brit complicity in torture when, lo and behold, his laptop vanished.
On arrival at London City, when my bag did not arrive, I went to the luggage desk to report it. The gentleman there affected surprise, waited for a while for the conveyor to clear, and then was taking down the details, including my name and the baggage check number. I spotted a handwritten piece of paper tucked under the keyboard of his computer - on which was already written my name and baggage check number. I challenged him on this, and he said that he had already received an email telling him my luggage was not on the plane.
Murray, while ambassador, protested loudly about the British/US policy of sending prisoners to Uzbekistan to be tortured for information. He was slimed for his efforts, resigned, and defied the government by publishing his telegrams to superiors in deliberate violation of the Official Secrets Act.
Methinks someone wanted to take a peek at his computer.
Thoughts: 1) The commercial version of PGP will encrypt a hard disk. 2) , backups, backups. 3) My laptop is always carry-on and always goes under my seat.
