The Bishop and the Butterfly: Murder, Politics, and the End of the Jazz Age

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Solitary Confinement in the US: Too Much More National Shame [Updated]

By we are stardust on Tue, 03/29/2011 - 12:53pm |

We’ve all learned a lot about the horrific and likely results of solitary confinement through the reported plight of Bradley Manning, and background reading we’ve done, and the cavalier attitude of our President, the officials at Quantico and within the DoD and Secretaries of the Military.  I know many of you share my dark thoughts about Quantico Commander Colonel Dan Choike and Chief Warrant Officer Denise Barnes for continuing to keep Manning under a Prevention of Injury Watch allowing such barbaric treatment, and Barack Obama for refusing to involve himself with it.

It’s all too easy to forget that Manning’s torment is being repeated many thousands of times each day, and for many prisoners in the country, over the course of years and sometimes decades.

More and more studies have reported on the severely deleterious effects of this often punitive incarceration, including the US Bureau of Prisons Commission, and yet the practice is still on the rise.

If one major shame is this simple fact, the other is that no one knows how many prisoners live this way. 

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Billion-dollar FBI System for Bio-Matrix ID, Next Step in Security State [updated with video]

By we are stardust on Sat, 03/26/2011 - 11:15am |

                                        

According to RawStory two days ago, and now other publications, the FBI has announced that it will ‘dedicate’ a billion bucks for Lockheed Martin to develop the ‘Next Generation Identification System’.  It will be compared to the Total Information Awareness Program that was defunded by Congress in 2004, but parts of which Wikipedia says still exist.

The first stage will be dedicated to creating a massive database of fingerprints and connecting to other law enforcement ID systems around the world, and providing scanners to police and sheriffs all over the US.  It would enable the collection of prints from suspects, not just indicted or convicted criminals.

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It Sucks to be a Protestor in Bahrain or: the MOTU Have Decided Your Fates

By we are stardust on Mon, 03/21/2011 - 2:38pm |

 

Ethan Bonner of the (soon to be paywalled) NYT has penned a piece called "Crackdown Was Only Option, Bahrain Sunnis Say".  And the meme is apparently being spread all over the media.  It goes like this:

Some of us were kinda/sorta with the protesters early on, but now they are threatening us!  Asking for too much!  Banking stability is what matters most, and Bankers are worried about keeping Bahrain stable, meaning the Gulf Coast Council is worried at keeping a Sunni hegemony for their members, all of whom have now sent troops to Bahrain to help quell rebellion.

What was once not altogether a Shiite rebellion may BE one now, given that regional Sunnis have joined the fight.  Good God. And of course, the Masters of the Universe give the US a pass, as the Fifth Fleet is there, and we ain't gonna do anything to upset the Saudis or challenge them past Obama and Clinton urging 'maximum restraint' and (assumedly) not firing on peaceful protesters.

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Saudi Pilots to Train in Idaho; Saudis Help Crush Protests in Bahrain

By we are stardust on Sun, 03/20/2011 - 9:57am |

                              

Last December it was quietly announced by the US Air force that part of the $60 billion arms deal the Obama administration had secured with the Saudis included the training of pilots and flight crews for the 84 new F-15E Strike Eagle fighter jets included in the package.  The planes can reach speeds of Mach II and can pack missiles, bombs and 20mm cannons.  They are capable of air-to-air or air-to-ground combat.

The deal has not been finalized, but it has been announced that the pilots will be trained at Mountain Home Air Force Base in Idaho.  The first pilots are due to arrive in 2013, and training is schedule to run from 2014 to 2019 with the possibilities of a program extention.

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Visions of Oppenheimer’s Afterlife

By we are stardust on Fri, 03/18/2011 - 11:09am |

                   (by permission of Anthony Freda, www.anthonyfreda.com)

 

From this plane in The Afterlife it’s impossible for me to know where my essence hovers; whether it is hell or heaven…or just an in-between place I have created from my imagination.  I sense, more than see the local Universe; the tug of force from black holes almost causes a sensation at the back of my head…or what might have been my head.  The sounds that emanate from stars almost unimaginable distances away resonate inside me, providing diversion at times from the over-arching images that dwell within me like live beings.

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Two Indictments of the War on Drugs Targeting Blacks and the Underclass

By we are stardust on Sun, 03/13/2011 - 9:44am |

Author and producer David Simon created the HBO serial ‘The Wire’ about life in Baltimore that ran from 2002-2008, a total of sixty episodes that many critics claim was the best television series ever aired.  His background was as a journalist covering the police beat of Baltimore, and his reportedly unerring eye looked into the depths of the personal lives of Baltimore’s residents as they interrelated with others and were bumped into the institutions and systems, both official and unofficial, of the city.

Simon said that the show was …"really about the American city, and about how we live together. It's about how institutions have an effect on individuals. Whether one is a cop, a longshoreman, a drug dealer, a politician, a judge or a lawyer, all are ultimately compromised and must contend with whatever institution they are committed to."

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Speaking of Socialism and Good Policy Ideas

By we are stardust on Tue, 01/11/2011 - 2:39pm |

                                             

(from Oct. 2009)  Wow; how ironic!

Some if us been discussing the limits of capitalism, and what models or changes to our economic system might be more sustainable and beneficial to more of us than the 5% or so it seems presently designed to serve.

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Robert Gates’ Pentagon Budget-Cut Magic

By we are stardust on Fri, 01/07/2011 - 6:58pm |

                               (by permission, Anthony Freda, www.anthonyfreda.com)  Thanks, Anthony.  Easy to sell war to us, isn't it?

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Billy Glad Writes On Direct Film 'Restrepo' at MyFDL

By we are stardust on Thu, 01/06/2011 - 6:08pm |

http://my.firedoglake.com/billyglad/2011/01/06/i-remember-restrepo/

It was filmed in the famous Korengal Valley, where GIs engaged with the Taliban for five long years, and eventually left. 

Billy says: "Some might say the soldiers and Marines who died there died in vain.  And some might say that the valley is a metaphor for America’s war in Afghanistan, a war that is sure to end in some kind of stalemate, with neither the United Nations nor the Taliban winning a clearcut victory."

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