2010

Schock is Pwned by Maddow

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Lc6aw8nlcVw[/youtube]

 

Of course, we know that not to be the case as he has cooperated once they brought his family in to help encourage him.  In other words, a success at treating people with the rule of law.

 

What’s most bizarre about the stream of fiction from Republicans on Abdulmutallab is that there’s no evidence that the strategy they are proposing works better.

Reading one is his rights doesn’t stop them from talking.  All it does is tell someone they have a right to remain silent and have a lawyer present. In almost all cases talking is going to help them so a lawyer’s advice is going to be to talk.  When you have a plane load of passengers who noticed you tried to set your underwear bomb off, there’s no question you are going to be convicted.  Your best legal strategy is to talk.

More to the point though, is that the consensus amongst everyone except private contractors has been to utilize similar techniques. Before the CIA followed a couple clown contractors down the path of torture, the CIA and FBI were cooperating using non-torture techniques to gain information.  In many cases the people he dealt with weren’t read their rights, but they were handled in a way where they weren’t forced to talk which is apparently what Republicans think should happen regardless of the effectiveness of their techniques. One of the FBI interrogators has pointed this out:

 

 

It is inaccurate, however, to say that Abu Zubaydah had been uncooperative. Along with another F.B.I. agent, and with several C.I.A. officers present, I questioned him from March to June 2002, before the harsh techniques were introduced later in August. Under traditional interrogation methods, he provided us with important actionable intelligence.

We discovered, for example, that Khalid Shaikh Mohammed was the mastermind of the 9/11 attacks. Abu Zubaydah also told us about Jose Padilla, the so-called dirty bomber. This experience fit what I had found throughout my counterterrorism career: traditional interrogation techniques are successful in identifying operatives, uncovering plots and saving lives.

There was no actionable intelligence gained from using enhanced interrogation techniques on Abu Zubaydah that wasn’t, or couldn’t have been, gained from regular tactics. In addition, I saw that using these alternative methods on other terrorists backfired on more than a few occasions — all of which are still classified. The short sightedness behind the use of these techniques ignored the unreliability of the methods, the nature of the threat, the mentality and modus operandi of the terrorists, and due process.

Defenders of these techniques have claimed that they got Abu Zubaydah to give up information leading to the capture of Ramzi bin al-Shibh, a top aide to Khalid Shaikh Mohammed, and Mr. Padilla. This is false. The information that led to Mr. Shibh’s capture came primarily from a different terrorist operative who was interviewed using traditional methods. As for Mr. Padilla, the dates just don’t add up: the harsh techniques were approved in the memo of August 2002, Mr. Padilla had been arrested that May.

One of the worst consequences of the use of these harsh techniques was that it reintroduced the so-called Chinese wall between the C.I.A. and F.B.I., similar to the communications obstacles that prevented us from working together to stop the 9/11 attacks. Because the bureau would not employ these problematic techniques, our agents who knew the most about the terrorists could have no part in the investigation. An F.B.I. colleague of mine who knew more about Khalid Shaikh Mohammed than anyone in the government was not allowed to speak to him.

It Sometimes Rains in the Sahara Desert, but it’s Still a Desert

Snow storms not a falsification of global climate change

 

“As for snowfall that could actually increase in the short term because of global warming. We have all heard the expression ‘too cold to snow’ and we have always expected precipitation to increase.

“All the indicators still suggest that we are warming up in line with predictions.”

This winter seems so bad precisely because it is now so unusual. In contrast the deep freezes of 1946-47 and 1962-63 were much colder – 5.3 F (2.97C) and 7.9 F (4.37C) cooler than the long-term norm.

And with global warming we can expect another 1962-63 winter only once every 1,100 years, compared with every 183 years before 1850.

Dave Britton, a meteorologist and climate scientist at the Met Office, said: “Even with global warming you cannot rule out we will have a cold winter every so often. It sometimes rains in the Sahara but it is still a desert.”

Scientists point out that the people must distinguish between climate and weather. Weather is what happens in the short term whereas climate is the long term trend.

 

I get the sense that most of the talking heads on Fox would see a rain shower in a desert and set up a soybean farm.

Daley’s Windowdressing

Via Progress Illinois who has kept watching the legislation

 

The Trib covers Daley’s plan to increase the Inspector General’s power to investigate Alderman, but apparently not increase the budget:

 

The proposal provides a minimum level of funding for the inspector general’s office, but Ald. Joe Moore, 49th, who proposed a similar measure last year, said the level of funding specified in Daley’s proposal would not increase funding to the office.

As a result, the inspector general’s staff could be spread thin between investigating the Daley administration and City Council, if aldermen approve the changes as is, Moore said. Moore’s proposal called for a minimum funding level that was 50 percent greater than Daley’s.

 

Perfectly predictable and utterly useless. Council should tell him to shove it until he’s willing to put increased funding from the current amount as the minimum level of funding.  In some respects that’s not the end of any such effort because budgets could later change that minimum amount, but that should be the absolute lowest funding the Council should accept.

 

Hey David Hoffman?  How about weighing in here.  Who knows, it could be your first policy proposal for the next election…

Burning Down the House

Democrats are waiting until March to pick a Democratic nominee for Lieutenant Governor.  I mean, why could that possibly be a bad idea?  It’ s not like every Democratic politician in the state will be vying to get on the ticket with the attached constituencies feeling terribly aggrieved if their particular choice is not chosen.   Awesome–what could go wrong?

 

It’s like the idea of putting Dawn Clark Netsch on the ticket.  I’m a big fan, but can you imagine the power ticket of Pat Quinn and Netsch gathering up the intellectual reformer vote? It would be epic.  And think about putting Netsch on a ticket where we have a new Democratic President facing rabid hate from the right wing base, bizarre conspiracy theories, health care and jobs on the agenda, and a resurgent GOP.  What could go wrong there?

Nothing like March Madness to let everyone get revved up and ready to fight over their constituencies and feel aggrieved when it doesn’t turn out just like they want it. If there is ever a time to get together and make a decision it’s now.  We don’t need long drawn out interviews, we need a Gubernatorial candidate to pick a few choices, go to Madigan and Cullerton, and then take the consensus out of that to the Committee who barring a really bad choice blesses the choice and we move on while the Republicans are hopefully going through a full recount.

Take for instance:

 

Pierce personally favors state Rep. Karen May, D-58th, because she has a strong record on the environment and ethics. Additionally, she would provide the Democrat’s November ticket with a representative from Chicago’s collar counties, he said.

Pierce rejected the notion that House Speaker Michael Madigan, the state Democratic chairman, would be able to push through his choice.

“We’re all independent, elected officials” on the state central committee, Pierce said. “It’s not like the legislature where the speaker can hold bills in committee. We have a vote and it depends on the person.”

 

First, Pierce just made the process harder and why would you directly criticize the Speaker when you want to push someone? Seriously?

But second, May?  So a Chicagoland ticket who appeals to goo-goos on reform and has a good environmental record  Just like the top of the ticket with Pat Quinn.  Because goo-goos and environmentalists form a winning coalition on their own.

 

Who could have predicted….?

 

I might as well start early.