The Steel Wall

"Stonewalling" is a term that is used to describe when the White House refuses to surrender information to another branch of government, generally Congress, when that other branch is investigating suspect conduct. The most famous example is, of course, Watergate, but it's hardly uncommon; Reagan with Iran/Contra, Clinton with the whole Lewinsky nonsense, Johnson during Vietnam, and for all I know Jefferson avoiding questions about Sally Hemmings.

But the Bush Administration is bringing this to a whole new level such that the wall is not made of stone, in my opinion, but steel. "Steelwalling."

First and foremost, of course, we have Dick Cheney, who has invented a new stamp for basically every piece of paper in his office: "Treat as Secret." This stamp is applied even to press releases, in other words information he wants to disseminate is stamped "treat as secret." He fought like a lion to keep deliberations of his "energy task force" secret. Even his daily locations are a secret from the press. (This is a public servant, and we don't even know where he is most of the time, and can't find out!)

But under new White House counsel Fred Fielding, the Bush Administration has used the "Executive Privilege" rubric to cover, well, basically everything. And yesterday brought news that they are using this to block Congress' investigation into the details of the death of Pat Tillman, the former football player who gave up his career to join the army and was killed by friendly fire in Afghanistan several years ago.

Yup, that's right: the White House is asserting "executive privilege" to block Congress from investigating something the Pentagon did.

It's bad enough that Bush has plunked us into this moronic war in Iraq in which he adamantly refuses to face reality. It's bad enough that he has done his level best to cut out the other two branches of government. It's bad enough that he issues "signing statements" that assert he can ignore laws, that he yanks American citizens off of American soil and imprisons them without cause or trial for years, that he fails to account for any of his actions, and that he lies--constantly--about his reasons for doing things. But now this, too? What next? He's going to assert "executive privilege" to block DC police from issuing parking tickets when his White House aides double-park when getting a latte from Starbucks? His office staff need donuts and don't want to pay, they say "executive privilege" and just grab them out of the store? Who the hell does this guy think he is? (The answer is clear, of course; he thinks he is King. He thinks he has unfettered power.)

I hope to God that congress has the huevos to stand up to this latest heinous power grab. The only way to stop types like these, as Churchill once observed, is to step on their toes until they apologize. It's time for Congress to do some serious toe-stepping with these clowns.

Republican Talking Points: A Handy Guide

Every once in a while, a new memo goes out to folks on the right, the new talking points are disseminated, and we start hearing the new talking points about some Major Item of Interest (these days, usually Iraq).

As a public service, I will help folks keep track of the latest talking points in easy, bulleted list format (hey, I'm a tech writer by trade!). As you absorb the news from both the mainstream media and the right wing blovocracy over the next several weeks, refer back to this handy guide for these talking points to remind yourself, no, this baloney isn't "real news," it's just the talking points that went out in the memo all those months ago.

• The surge "just started." This is obvious B.S. The surge, which was announced in mid-January, "started" when the first brigade landed on the ground on January 21. The final brigade just arrived two weeks ago. This is just Bush's way of trying, yet again, to buy more time for his failed war policy so he can run out the clock until he leaves office. Don't buy it for a minute.
• Congress is only investigating, not legislating. This is a popular one on the Right, and you'll hear it a lot as elections heat up next year. Republicans conveniently forget all the legislation they failed to pass last year (and in previous years), and will further suffer memory loss when it comes to the 6 years of Congressional oversight that they neglected to engage in. Yes, it takes time to do 6 years of oversight in just a few months; what a bummer that is. (I could also point out that Republicans are the ones who say they want less government; are you saying you want Congress to be passing more laws? Isn't that kind of counter-intuitive?)
• Valerie Plame wasn't a covert agent. This is used to show that Scooter Libby shouldn't spend any time in jail ("There wasn't a crime!"), and is just flat-out untrue. The CIA and Patrick Fitzgerald have stated that she was. End of discussion.
• We're fighting al Qaeda in Iraq. This is really popular now, particularly with "military sources." Bush loves to say things that are not provably false, but that imply things that are complete and utter B.S. (e.g., "Some in America don't believe we're at war;" like who, Mr. President?). Any time he can mention "al Qaeda" and "Iraq" in the same sentence, it's a win for him, because it implies (without stating it explicitly, which would be a lie) that Iraq had something to do with 9/11, when they were in fact completely unconnected. But the truth is, "al Qaeda in Iraq" didn't exist until 2004, they are a tiny percentage of what's going on over there, there is no evidence that they are in contact with Osama bin Laden, and there is no proof that they are doing anything nearly as damaging as the other insurgents. But Bush knows support for his war has gone south, so he hopes to goose it by implying (but not stating!) a 9/11-Iraq connection. Again. Don't fall for it.
  

This list brought to you as a public service.

iPhone Diary 7/10

Probably my last diary entry prior to full review on Gear Diary; look for review there sometime in the Friday timeframe (as we like to say in the computer biz).

Enjoying playing with phone immensely. Best cell phone I've ever had, bar none. Certainly appreciate easy way to switch between iPod mode and phone mode with simple click of headphone switch; how easy can you get? Good reception, easy dialing, and great interface between contacts list and dialing.

Also enjoying an iPod/portable music player for first time since, really, my first decent Walkman back-in-the-day. Clearly, low weight is a major advantage with these babies, and my old PDAs were just too durn heavy and awkward.

Loving having the thing as a movie player as well. Kicks ass as a PMP.

Still missing having games and a eBook reader on this thing. Wish Apple would get on the stick about that. Not holding my breath, however.

Some bugs, for sure. Got a bum pixel. Playing music while web surfing sometimes causes both Safari and iPod player to crash. Map viewer crashes pretty regularly (happens for a lot of people, apparently; read about it on the discussions forum).

Still and all, a winner of a device. A couple more features, and it would be damn near perfect. As it is, it's pretty stellar.

The Administration Cries Wolf, Again

Tomorrow, Sara Taylor, the former White House political director, will be testifying before congress about her role in the firing of the U.S. Attorneys. On Thursday, former White House counsel, Supreme Court nominee, and long-time Bush friend Harriet Miers will be doing the same thing. (Although if past history is any guide, their memories will be extremely foggy.)

Bush's poll numbers are in the sub-30 percent range. Cheney's are down below 20%. There is serious talk of impeachment. Bush's only remaining serious stab at a "legacy"--his immigration bill--went down in flames. The public and even his own party despises his commutation of the sentence of convicted felon Scooter Libby.

And so today, the AP reports that the White House "has called an urgent multi-agency meeting for Thursday to discuss a potential new al Qaeda threat on U.S. soil."

The story contains all the usual fear-mongering hallmarks of this Administration: the "unnamed White House official" who warns of us of heightened fears of attack even though there's no "credible evidence" of such; the scary (but vague) words of Homeland Security Czar Chertoff, who says "Summertime seems to be appealing to them. ... We worry that they are rebuilding their activities;" and of course the ever-popular reliance on the Administrations always-accurate "gut feelings" (in paragraph 9).

If you plow through the story diligently, you will find, at the very end, this nugget:

Al Qaeda's No. 2, Ayman al-Zawahiri, has spoken out regularly in audio-taped messages in recent months. In the latest recording, posted on the Internet on Tuesday, the Egyptian cleric threatened more attacks on Britain.

On Britain. More attacks on Britain.

So in sum, this Administration, which is monstrosly unpopular, is in the midst of hearings, is desparate to change the subject, has a record of manipulating the national terror levels to win elections and divert attention away from other things embarassing to them, has suddenly called "urgent meetings" at the White House to discuss possible terror attacks, for which there are "no credible evidence" (but there are "gut feelings!"), and the AP is reporting this as straight news without a hint of skepticism?

Personally, I'm outraged in two different directions: that the Administration is so transparently trying to manipulate the nations mood in order to escape the attention that is currently--and rightly--being focused on their many blunders and criminal activity. But I am also outraged by the press once again swallowing this line of Administration B.S. without calling them on it. As Keith Olbermann highlighted in one of his reports several months ago, the Bush Administration has done this over and over again; it is high time that the press called them on it.

Updated: Keith Olbermann, bless him, noticed the exact same thing, and highlighted it in his July 10 broadcast of "Countdown." Good work, Keith.

iPhone Diary 7/3

Major geekage slowing down; integrating iPhone into life. Is that good? Or scary?

Irritants:

• The email lack-of-folders thing is a major irritant. Suspect Apple is working on it; lots of people on the forums have complained, but haven't seen word one about a solution yet, and I check in every day.
• One-way calendar connectivity simply bizarre. Can enter calendar items on iPhone and they appear on Outlook; reverse not true. What's up with that?
• Wish platform were open, and could load own apps onto it. Bet money MacOS eReader would work with only minor tweakage.
• Would love to be able to manage calendar, contacts, and so on through iTunes interface; the sooner I can ditch Outlook, the happier I'll be.
• Can't drag-and-drop songs, videos, and whatnot from library to iPhone in iTunes. Why not? Seems weird.
  
• Screen does indeed get gunky fast; have to carry wipe cloth everywhere.
  

Joys:

• Audio connection much better than my old Motorola v180.
• Love being able to pull up contacts list and one-touch dial. Yeah, baby!
• Can't do that two-thumb typing thing, but one-finger typing working well for me for SMS. Email, not so much, but doable for short messages.
• Oh, the screen, the screen! So much better as a movie viewer! So light! So crisp! So easy to use! Automatically bookmarks your place. The portable movie viewer I've longed for! (If only there as an expansion slot . . .)
• The interface is killer. It can't be overstated. You get used to it so fast, you forget how good it is. "Intuitive" is too weak a word. You guess, and you're right almost all the time. It's astounding. (And I'm incredibly hard to please when it comes to software.)
  

Other notes:

• Love how solid the device feels. Doesn't creak, groan, wiggle, or otherwise feel cheap. Buttons are solid. Case is solid. Battery cover is solid. Plastic battery cover on HTC Universal constantly creaking; not a problem on iPhone.
• People who complain about speed of Edge network spoiled beyond belief. People who compare it to "dial-up speed" deluding selves. Am old enough to have seen handsets plugged into audio jacks at 30 baud; these people have no idea what real "dial-up speed" means. If old enough to remember being excited about 1200 baud modems, then you can complain. Yes, 3G faster. Big whoop.
• Still jonesing for games, and eReader. If this thing had games and eReader, I would be in heaven. But it's all software; I hold out hope.
• Handbrake conversion tool produces good output (and I'm very picky), but is a little flakey, and a major CPU hog. Oh well; nothing's perfect.
• Not having stylus is a mixed bag. On one hand: no stylus to lose. On other hand: gunky screen.
• No menus. It takes a little getting used to. Means there's some functionality that seems "missing" (e.g., can't create new mailboxes in the email utility). Is this a bad thing? A good thing? Dunno; but there it is.
  

Libby's Pardon

Yesterday, with Scooter Libby getting his sentence "commuted," he has been pardoned completely, but in a spectacularly spinnable, political way. First of all, he gets out of jail time for committing a felony. Second, don't even think for a minute that the other parts of his sentence are going to bother him in any way. His "probation" amounts to paperwork. His fine will be paid by his "legal defense fee," paid for by his rich friends.

So in sum, he gets off scot free for lying to cover up whatever crimes the Vice President (and who knows who else) committed.

And all the Republicans who are talking about how this is a good thing, that it's good that a "nice guy" isn't facing jail time? This "nice man" is a convicted felon. This "nice man" lied to federal prosecutors in order to cover up possible crimes by the Vice President of the United States, who may now get away with them. And finally, most of these same happy Republicans are the same ones who were right out in front of the crowd talking about what a heinous crime it was for Bill Clinton to lie about getting a (consensual!) hummer from an intern.

They should be ashamed of themselves. But of course they aren't; people like that never are. Heaven's no! The Wall Street Journal, the folks at the National Review, and so on, all know better than the jury, the judge (appointed by George Bush!), the prosecutor (appointed by John Ashcroft!), and the three-judge review panel (one of whom was the genius who overturned the Oliver North conviction, and gave us Kenneth Starr!)! Yessir, Libby got a raw deal from The Man!

What a crock. Libby had every single advantage he could possibly have, and he was still found guilty.

This is an easy one: Libby is a convicted felon. Bush is more than a hypocrite, he is a profound hypocrite. Bush has said:

• He would fire anyone that had anything to do with the "outing" of Valerie Plame. He didn't. (He didn't fire Libby, and Karl Rove and Dick Cheney still work at the White House.)
• He said that his Administration would not just do what's legal, but what's moral. Libby is a convicted felon; in other words, he behaved neither legally, nor morally.
• He didn't even follow his own rules with regard to pardoning and commuting sentences.

Bush, who blatted on and on about bringing "a new tone" to Washington, who gets all high and mighty about what a good Christian he is, and how he is doing God's work, and justifies his unjustifiable war in Iraq by citing God, is an immoral, hypocritical liar who believes that he and anyone who works for him is above the law. That is your President, ladies and gentlemen. And all you people who harshed on Natalie Maines for what she said about Bush at the beginning of the Iraq war? She was right, and you all were wrong; it is embarrassing that he is from Texas.

My level of disgust with this knows no bounds. I hope Fitzgerald goes after Cheney. Not for revenge, but for the good of the country. How long can this country survive if everyone thinks that the law doesn't apply to the people on top?

"Law if often but the but the tyrant's will, and always so when it violates the rights of the individual." -- Thomas Jefferson

iPhone Diary 7/2

Plumbing the depths now. Interesting discoveries:

• No way to create separate mail folders on the iPhone itself. Apparently *.mac account holders get their mail folders copied across; the rest of us, SOL.
• Calendar synced just fine the first time; since then, nothing. All new entries not being synced. Happening to plenty of other people, too.
• Nice feature: if you are listening to music or a video on speakers, and plug in the headphones, volume automatically drops. Good idea!
• Application called "Handbrake" does a good job converting DVDs to iPhone-understandable format.
• Little flakey picking up in-house network; works fine near modem, not so good farther away.
• Headphones not convenient. How do all you iPod users deal? Wrap them around arm? Tuck them in pocket? They get tangled all the time!