Month: July 2009

A work of fiction.

From The Mess That Greenspan Made.

Ben Smith notices something new regarding the arrest of terrorist suspects in North Carolina yesterday:

The Bush White House trumpeted every arrest and disrupted plot — in some cases, ones that were nowhere close to fruition — as a major win in the War on Terror and a reminder of the need to be vigilant. The Obama administration, by contrast, keeps them relatively quiet. There hasn’t been a statement from the White House, or any comment save a Justice Department press release, on the arrest of seven men on charges that they helped raise money and provide training for attacks in Israel, and trained to participate in attacks in Israel and Kosovo.

The decision not to talk about terrorism is just that — a choice, with the goal of ending the “politics of fear” that Obama denounced during the campaign.

This is a great thing.

Derek Thompson spies a story out of Utah:

More on this from Bradford Plumer and Scientific American.

Daphne Eviataris spoke with an unnamed staffer of a Senate Judiciary Committee member about torture prosecutions:

“I don’t buy that they’re just going to go after the low level people. There’s at least a chance that if these investigations move forward, they’ll go up the chain. If it involved techniques that were authorized that are illegal, you’d go to the person who had command responsibility for that.”

Ackerman isn't impressed:

So… a station chief? A Counterterrorist Center official? If that's the thinking, there will be accountability for the Englands and the Graners. Justice!

Holder should start with Yoo and work his way up. My worry is that if he doesn't, his investigation of the extremes legitimizes the non-extreme torture and abuse; and integrates the precedent into American government and way of life. Torture, following Bush and Cheney's embraceof it as a moral necessity, has gained great new life around the world; and I'm sure, in the netherworld of America's prison system, Cheney methods are now quite popular.

Pollster.com has put up a new chart tracking Obama's approval on health care:

It's the worst selling job he's done in a long time. I can't tell what's in it, not in it, what he's for, what he's against. My best bet is that Obama's insurance reform will end up requiring big tax hikes for people like me (I can live with them if they bring real health improvements to sick people) for a modest ability to get insurance for almost anyone regardless of previous conditions. That's a good thing. Not a radical thing. And won't do anything much about costs, let alone allow a public option. It will be like the climate change bill, a very modest, largely toothless start with very modest potential to affect change. 

Not quite as exciting as the change we could believe in, is it? But government in bankrupt, divided, late-imperial periods are never very pretty to watch. The final collapse – the dollar going south or hyper-inflation – is when it gets interesting again. Ready for Obama's second term?

Laura Smith, wife of U.S. Army Sgt. First Class Charles Smith, hugs the father of a fellow soldier after the 293rd Military Police Company deployed to Afghanistan July 28, 2009 in Fort Stewart, Georgia. More than 130 soldiers from the company, attached to the Army's 3rd Infantry Division, will spend the next year in Afghanistan training the Afghan National Police. By Stephen Morton/Getty.

Evan Falchuk, president of Best Doctors Inc, lists some reasons why health insurance is so expensive:

More here.

(Hat tip: NOTCOT)

Felix Salmon takes a look at Gawker's earnings numbers: