Month: August 2010

Where At least We know We’re Free Part XXIV

by digby

Did you know that they are selling those full body scanners they want to deploy in airports to anyone who wants to buy them for use on city streets? Did you know that law enforcement is using them without warrants?

American Science & Engineering, a company based in Billerica, Massachusetts, has sold U.S. and foreign government agencies more than 500 backscatter x-ray scanners mounted in vans that can be driven past neighboring vehicles to see their contents, Joe Reiss, a vice president of marketing at the company told me in an interview. While the biggest buyer of AS&E’s machines over the last seven years has been the Department of Defense operations in Afghanistan and Iraq, Reiss says law enforcement agencies have also deployed the vans to search for vehicle-based bombs in the U.S.

“This product is now the largest selling cargo and vehicle inspection system ever,” says Reiss.

[…]

Though Reiss admits that the systems “to a large degree will penetrate clothing,” he points to the lack of features in images of humans like the one shown at right, far less detail than is obtained from the airport scans. “From a privacy standpoint, I’m hard-pressed to see what the concern or objection could be,” he says.

Absolutely. If you don’t have anything to hide why would you object to police randomly x-raying you? Who has any expectation of privacy in their car — or in their clothes?

But EPIC’s Rotenberg says that the scans, like those in the airport, potentially violate the fourth amendment. “Without a warrant, the government doesn’t have a right to peer beneath your clothes without probable cause,” he says. Even airport scans are typically used only as a secondary security measure, he points out. “If the scans can only be used in exceptional cases in airports, the idea that they can be used routinely on city streets is a very hard argument to make.”

And you certainly shouldn’t have any expectation that they won’t be keeping some data base. That would be ridiculous. The customer is always right.

The TSA’s official policy dictates that full-body scans must be viewed in a separate room from any guards dealing directly with subjects of the scans, and that the scanners won’t save any images. Just what sort of safeguards might be in place for AS&E’s scanning vans isn’t clear, given that the company won’t reveal just which law enforcement agencies, organizations within the DHS, or foreign governments have purchased the equipment. Reiss says AS&E has customers on “all continents except Antarctica.”

Reiss adds that the vans do have the capability of storing images. “Sometimes customers need to save images for evidentiary reasons,” he says. “We do what our customers need.”

Nothing to see here folks. The founders never said that the government couldn’t randomly x-ray your car — and you — without a warrant. And if they didn’t say it, then there can be no law against it. Let’s move along.

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Historical Phenom

by digby

I almost feel sorry for her here. She’s way out of her depth.

Trying to speak knowledgeably about the constitution reveals far more about her than her bikini modeling/anti-arab “Vlogging” ever could:

I get why she’s so high on Sarah Palin now though. They speak the same language.

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Your Daily Grayson

by digby

I love that ad. It clearly delineates which side Grayson is on — average people. And he reminds his constituents that he sends his own five kids to public schools in the district, which says so much about his faith in the system and his identification with them as a member of the community. It’s important that Democrats demonstrate some liberal values instead of identify themselves with conservatives. And as much as we all love Grayson for his aggressiveness and combative style, it’s good for people to see that he’s doing that for the future of everyone’s kids, including his own. (Plus they’re cute.)

I do have a sneaking suspicion that his ads will not all be feel good ads like this though. The Republicans have designated him their number one target. As we know he’s one that will return fire.

Update: The Washington Post named it their ad of the day.

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They All Look Alike

by digby

You’ve probably seen this outrageous smear ad by now, but if you haven’t, take a look:

Think Progress has the full story. Here’s an excerpt:

To be able to put out a misleading ad smearing a minority group like the one above, AFF turned to a dubious cast of “experts.” One of the organization’s key media strategists is Larry McCarthy, who is president of media firm McCarthy Marcus Hennings. “In 1988, McCarthy produced the infamous, racially tinged Willie Horton television ad” in the Dukakis-Bush race that helped tank the Dukakis campaign by ginning up racial animus against African-Americans. AFF’s founder Nick Ryan confirmed to the Center for Public Integrity (CPI) that McCarthy produced the ad. Ryan also told CPI that McCarthy “does a lot of ads for the fund.”

It should also be noted that McCarthy was Roger Ailes’ VP of communications during the 1970s and 80s.

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The Motivational Tapes

by digby

If the Triumph of the Wingnut rally does attract 300,000 people, keep in mind it’s because they believe this:

Media Matters describes it this way:

In a new promo posted on a “Producers’ Blog” at his website, Beck humbly places the rally in the context of the moon landing, the Montgomery bus boycott, Iwo Jima, the signing of the Declaration of Independence, and other landmark historical events. It also not-so-subtly suggests that Beck is following in the tradition of Martin Luther King (which is a farce), Abraham Lincoln, most of the Founding Fathers, Martha Washington, the Wright Brothers, and other notable historical figures.

To give you some sense of the egomania on display here, it starts with the line, “Every great achievement in human history has started with one person. One crazy idea.”

And it’s “brought to you by Goldline.”

Greg Sargent says that Democrats are gleeful about the “I Have A Nightmare” gathering because they think these people will expose themselves to America as the kooks they really are and the people will reject them. But what if they don’t? There’s ample historical precedent for kooks to break through into the mainstream and it can lead to some very unpleasant outcomes. Yes, Beck is nuts. But he’s also the most important figure in the Tea Party movement, which in case anyone hasn’t noticed is in the process of taking over one of the two major parties in the most powerful nation in the world. You can deride these people, as I do every day. But it’s a mistake to not take them seriously or underestimate their appeal in times like these.

No one should ever count on the people naturally seeing through demagogues. Their power lies in their ability to be convincing even when it doesn’t make rational sense and the truly talented ones can change the world. It remains to be see if Beck and his fellow travelers have that kind of juice. But I wouldn’t be so sanguine that they don’t.

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Misinformation Superhighway

by digby

The problem isn’t just Fox, I’m afraid. MSNBC just featured a conversation between Chuck Todd, Ron Insana and Melissa Francis on the housing slump and the economy. If you weren’t confused before it started, you certainly were at the end.

Chuck said we are just now focusing on housing. Ron pointed out that it’s been a problem since the bubble burst. Chuck then wondered if the new slump is the government’s fault for propping up the housing market over the last 18 months when we should have “taken our medicine” earlier and allowed nature to take its natural course. (Presumably, Todd is not one who would be swallowing that medicine himself, being a well compensated television celebrity and all.) Melissa said that it depends on your political persuasion if you believe that, although she didn’t explain why. Then she said it was terrifying that Nouriel Roubini tweeted that we are going into a double dip recession — because of the tweeting not the prediction. Chuck said he likes to tweet.

Then Ron Insana said that we need to get more consumer spending going and one of the best ways to do that is by extending ALL the Bush tax cuts so people have more disposable income. I guess the billionaires will start coupon clipping once the tax cuts expire and we need to make sure they keep that extra few million to spend on baubles and employing dead artists. He did also mention a payroll tax holiday in passing. No discussion of more stimulus spending from anyone. (Well played deficit hawks, well played …)

Chuck then noted that the problem is all those people who took their housing equity and bought big screen TVs which caused a big inventory of houses. He wondered if we are just going to have to live with abandoned subdivisions that will get mowed over eventually. Ron told him that this will work itself out if only lending standards are loosened up. Chuck said he heard that small business owners can’t get loans to pay their payrolls and Melissa Francis pointed out that he was completely wrong.

Chuck then thanked both of them for the kind of eye-opening conversation that everyone’s having around their kitchen tables.

It was eye opening all right. In the same way that watching a car wreck is eye-opening.

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And They’re Funny Too

by digby

If you are not currently subscribed to Citizen Radio with Allison Kilkenny and Jamie Kilstein, you are missing out:

“ Jamie Kilstein and Allison Kilkenny have created an important political radio show that balances humor and unreported news. At a time when media conglomerates dominate the airwaves, independent media like Citizen Radio is vital to national discourse ”
– Noam Chomsky

“ Jamie reminds me of why I got into comedy. It’s like watching a combination of George Carlin and Bill Hicks ”
– Janeane Garofalo

“Allison Kilkenny’s writing makes me want to vomit”
– G. Gordon Liddy, Convicted Watergate criminal

Need I say more?

Seriously, it’s a great show and well worth supporting. I did an interview with them the other day and was asked the most interesting and eclectic array of questions I’ve ever had.

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Why Him?

by digby

The problem with Alan Simpson’s comments is bigger than the fact that he said “tits” and insulted women. Not that it wasn’t crude and sexist of him, mind you. But the real problem is that he seems to believe that social security is some kind of welfare program for lazy old bastards who should either be rich or set out on an ice floe. Here’s what he said:

I’ve made some plenty smart cracks about people on Social Security who milk it to the last degree. You know ‘em too. It’s the same with any system in America. We’ve reached a point now where it’s like a milk cow with 310 million tits!

He’s been calling retirees “greedy geezers” for years and seems to think the whole thing is some kind of con game in which elderly people are taking the country for a ride. Does anyone think that is a reasonable approach to this issue, even from the right? It’s nuts.

Despite his puerile insults about others’ alleged inadequate knowledge, and his ridiculous protestations of having an open mind, we know that he’s also tragically uninformed about the way the program works.

And his pathological illogic renders him nearly incomprehensible. Simpson continuously tells the elderly to STFU:

You remember the last time we corrected Social Security, and people calling me. Let me tell you, everything that Bush and Clinton or Obama have suggested with regard to Social Security doesn’t affect anyone over 60, and who are the people howling and bitching the most? The people over 60. This makes no sense. You’ve got scrub out [of] the equation the AARP, the Committee for the Preservation of Social Security and Medicare, the Gray Panthers, the Pink Panther, the whatever.

And here I thought they were greedy geezers who refuse to give up their luxurious retirement for the good of the grandkids, who Simpson is determined to protect:

There are six little people running in and out of my house, called grandchildren, who are absolutely just little lambs led to slaughter. They are totally uncomprehending. They have no idea that when they reach 60—under the present system—they’ll be picking grit with the chickens.

So why does Simpson want to cut those little tykes’ social security?

Of course the real question is why on earth did the administration pull this cadaverous joker out of his own cushy, federally funded retirement to head up the ill-conceived deficit commission in the first place? The only generous reason I can think of is that someone thought that he would sabotage it, but there’s no evidence they want to do that. And in this era of batshit insane politics, counting on some right wing kook to discredit anything is a very risky thing to do — even they must know that.

So you have to assume that Simpson’s fulfilling his designated role. He will make a deal. All he asks is that the geezer parasites, current and future get it out of their heads once and for all that this society should provide some basic security for everyone.

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Turn Off Fox

by digby

I don’t know about you, but I see FoxNews on in businesses all the time, just droning out its propaganda to people who don’t even know what they are listening to. Color of Change is sponsoring an action called TurnOffFox which I think is very interesting.

We don’t have to let Fox’s attempts to stoke fear and hate shape our country’s politics and culture. It’s easy to turn off Fox News in our own homes — but when TVs in public places are tuned to Fox, that also spreads fear, division, and misinformation. Turn Off Fox is about ordinary people and small businesses working together to reduce Fox’s influence in their own communities and across the country.

By organizing businesses and other public places to stop playing Fox News— the cable news network, not local affiliates — we will reduce Fox’s ability to poison our political conversations and divide our country. And we will send a powerful message: that this country will support media that informs us, sheds light on the problems we face, and inspires us to solve them together — not deceptive propaganda that plays on fear and paranoia, spreads confusion and falsehoods, exploits our divisions, and pits us against each other.

They provide step-by-step instructions and materials to make your case and have created a reporting mechanism for feedback.

I like this because if enough people do it, it might over time make FOX something that more people feel uncomfortable with. Sure, there are always going to be ideologues who will defiantly put it on no matter what. But there are far more business people in this country who love their customers more than they love Glenn Beck.

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Secrets and Lies

by digby

I wonder what the rules are? (IOKIYAR?)

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