Bribery: Blackwater "authorized secret payments" to Iraqi leaders

This is thoroughly disgusting, but not at all surprising:

Top executives at Blackwater Worldwide authorized secret payments of about $1 million to Iraqi officials that were intended to silence their criticism and buy their support after a September 2007 episode in which Blackwater security guards fatally shot 17 Iraqi civilians in Baghdad, according to former company officials.

Blackwater approved the cash payments in December 2007, the officials said, as protests over the deadly shootings in Nisour Square stoked long-simmering anger inside Iraq about reckless practices by the security company’s employees. American and Iraqi investigators had already concluded that the shootings were unjustified, top Iraqi officials were calling for Blackwater’s ouster from the country, and company officials feared that Blackwater might be refused an operating license it would need to retain its contracts with the State Department and private clients, worth hundreds of millions of dollars annually.

If true, it's illegal. There are laws about bribing foreign officials. Someone at Blackwater (or Xe Services, as it's known now) should probably be going to jail. Read More......

D.C. Sniper has been executed

Seven years ago, D.C. and the surrounding area was in a state of fear because of the sniper roaming around shooting people randomly. It a was disturbing time. People changed their routines and habits until the shooters were caught.

Tonight, the mastermind behind the shootings, John Allen Muhammad, was executed. It's a little weird because, although no one I know was killed or injured by Muhammad and his sidekick, Lee Malvo, my friends and I were impacted by their reign of terror in the fall of 2002. Everyone talked about it -- we'd all been to one or more of the places where the shootings had taken place at one time or another.

As with any execution, there's been extensive discussion about the pros and cons of the death penalty. To me, that is not the act of a truly civilized society. An article in today's Washington Post looked at the death penalty's "'closure' myth":

Stanford University psychiatrist David Spiegel believes that the theory that executions provide closure is "naive, unfounded, pop-psychology." Contrary to expectations, Spiegel says, witnessing executions not only fails to provide closure but also often causes symptoms of acute stress. "Witnessing trauma," he says, "is not far removed from experiencing it."

Spiegel has concluded that "true closure is achieved only through extensive grief work." This process requires families to acknowledge and bear their loss as well as to put it into perspective. It necessitates a network of support systems: counselors who will sit with, listen to and work with survivors; work environments flexible enough to accommodate counseling sessions and the down time that is a natural result of grief and stress; and victim assistance programs that make sure those things happen.

It just seems craven for politicians to promise "closure" from the death penalty when it's not true. It also seems barbaric. Read More......

ACLU: Guantánamo Must Be Shut Down Quickly And Properly

Anthony Romero, the head of the ACLU, who I'm going to meet at dinner with tonight, just penned a piece for the Huffington Post about Gitmo. It's fascinating to see how so many different issues are suffer from the same lack of backbone in the administration:

Unfortunately, instead of continuing to passionately pursue the quick closure of Guantánamo, some members of the administration have played right into the obstructionism, sacrificing principle on the altar of political expediency. In fact, there are reports that White House counsel Greg Craig, who courageously led the charge for setting a closure deadline, has been criticized rather than supported for advancing the cause of American values. It is hard to know who started all this cynical maneuvering and who caved into it, but it’s time for the administration to regain its moral footing. That means reigniting its passion for ridding the world of Guantánamo as soon as humanly possible.....

President Obama's promise to close Guantánamo was an important commitment that must be honored, and quickly. But it will be nothing more than a symbolic gesture if we continue its shameful policies elsewhere. We can't go back in time and stop the tragedy of Guantánamo from happening. We can, however, stop it from happening again.

Read More......

DNC boycott update

Take the pledge. Don't ask, don't give. Here's why.

FireDogLake's Jane Hamsher got a great interview with CBS News today about the gay-inspired boycott of the DNC, but also more generally about liberal angst with the Democratic party. Jane recommends folks unsubscribe from the Organizing for America email list. Jennifer Vanasco writes on Huff Post that it's about time someone started a boycott. The Human Rights Campaign responded to the gay boycott, and their statement wasn't bad at all. And David Mixner, who is cosponsoring our boycott, weighed in about the campaign this morning on his blog. Read More......

Want to know how the House health insurance reform bill passed?

Read David Waldman's excellent analysis, which concludes:

We are a long, long way from finished with this bill, of course. And there are some powerful and monied interests who we'd consider to wear white hats in this fight who still have chits they can call in which should not be discounted. Conference miracles do happen. But the basic rule is and always has been that the obstacles faced by those who want to change legislation grow exponentially as the process moves forward. That rule has application for those now clinging to "fix it in conference" strategies, those whose champions (it is now revealed in hindsight) played things too clever by half on single payer, and probably for those relying on the "they'll never dare" strategies floating around the opt-out, too.

To this point, it's been the public option -- championed by those yahoo, know-nothing, pajama-wearing Cheeto munchers -- that, weakened though it may be, has ridden the most traditional, predictable and effective path to inclusion in the final bill: get your ducks in a row early, and fight hard every step of the way to keep them there, no matter how appealing each successive excuse for stepping out of line may seem at the time.

Read the whole thing. It's truly instructive. Read More......

FOX News owner Rupert Murdoch agrees with Glenn Beck that Obama is a racist

But they're not biased. Really. Read More......

Senate reportedly has votes to stop anti-abortion amendment

This is good news. Read More......

On the demise of the mainstream media

The Nation's Katrina Vanden Heuvel, who I get to finally meet today in NYC, recently participated in a debate as to whether it was a good thing that the mainstream media was withering on the vine. Here's a snippet of her argument:

And the problem goes further than just what gets reported and what doesn't and can be seen not only at the level of the great national newspapers but also at the local level. A recent study of the consequences of the shutdown of the cincinnati post in 2007 found a decline in the number of people voting in local elections as well as the number of candidates willing to challenge incumbents. Loss of local newspapers seems to correlate with a measurable decline in the quality of local democracy....

So the fundamental problem remains. Without powerful media institutions to take on the powerful on behalf of the rest of us, we become more vulnerable as a society to those who would use their influence for private gain, damn the public consequences. We need a plan B. And we don't have one yet. Which come to think of it, reminds me of how the bush administration went into iraq. And we all know how that turned out.

Read More......

Dethroned Miss CA, now religious right spokesperson, talks about her sex tape to Sean Hannity

Insert joke here.

Read More......

More French health care "horror" stories

Another American tells of her experience with the "socialist" health care system in France. She woke up sick on a Saturday morning, called a doctor's office and begged to be seen on Monday. The doctor said, sorry, but I can see you today in an hour? Read More......

Wash. Post: "It's a Grand Old Purging as moderate's ouster spotlights Republican dysfunction"

According to the Washington Post, the word "Scozzafava" has become an "epithet" for the hard-core teabagger crowd, led by Sarah Palin and Glenn Beck. That's who rules the GOP these days:

Scozzafava, who was stripped of her Republican leadership position in the New York State Assembly on Monday, says she has no regrets and even leaves open the possibility of running for the seat again as a Republican. She sees herself as a champion of local expertise over ideological purity.

"How can Sarah Palin come out and endorse someone who can't answer some basic questions," Scozzafava asked. "Do these people even know who they are endorsing?"

Those conservative forces now descend on Florida, where former House speaker Marco Rubio, who on Monday received the endorsement of the Club for Growth, might shove aside centrist Gov. Charlie Crist, who was once on John McCain's short list for running mate. And Scozzafava has a warning.

"There is a lot of us who consider ourselves Republicans, of the Party of Lincoln," she said, her face now flush. "If they don't want us with them, we're going to work against them."

Well, Dede, they don't want you with them. Have at it. Read More......

Tuesday Morning Open Thread

Good morning.

The President and First Lady will be in Texas today to attend a memorial service for the victims of that horrible massacre at Fort Hood. Dealing with the aftermath of mass shootings really is a uniquely American tradition.

The focus on health insurance reform is now on the Senate. I guess we all have to wait to see what additional requests the Catholic Bishops have, since they control social policy for America. But, maybe someone could include a provision in the bill to require continued counseling and medical care for victims of sexual abuse -- even if the perps go bankrupt. So many Dioceses are going bankrupt because of sexual abuse lawsuits, I worry there may not be resources to insure adequate care for the victims. But, the Bishops, not the American taxpayers, should be responsible. And, for decades, the Bishops have shirked responsibility.

Our new campaign, "Don't Ask, Don't Give," really took off yesterday. The DNC and other professional Democrats in DC view the gay community as an ATM. But, the ATM is closed til the President fulfills his promises. Unfortunately, withholding money is the only thing they understand. If you haven't signed the pledge yet, do it today.

We'll be monitoring the New York State Senate today. There should be a vote on marriage equality. We posted the Empire State Pride Agenda's widget to facilitate calls to State Senators here. If you live in New York, call your State Senator today. NOM and the Bishops are calling them. I'll be getting updates from Albany and posting at AMERICAblog Gay as events unfold.

So busy day ahead... Read More......

I'll be speaking in NYC on Tuesday during lunch, if anyone's around and interested

Anyone who's in NYC, I'm doing a brown bag lunch lecture on Tuesday, November 10 at Columbia about the political blogs in the age of Obama. I'll be the guest of Anya Schiffrin, Director of the International Media, Advocacy and Communications program at Columbia's School of International and Public Affairs (she's also the wife of economist Joe Stiglitz.) Time: 1230pm - 130pm. Room 1302 on the 13th floor of the International Affairs Building, 420 West 118th St, between Morningside and Amsterdam Avenue. Closest subway is the 1 train to 116th and Broadway. Open to the public. If anyone does make it, come up and say hi afterwards. Read More......