Tell me, Mr. Harrigan, how does it feel, getting paid for it? Getting paid to sit back and hire your killings... with the law's arms around you? How does it feel to be so goddamn right?
-Robert Ryan as Deke Thornton in Sam Peckinpah's, The Wild Bunch
It's just crazy how because of the way these devils have completely trashed everything, the fact that we are engaged in TWO wars has completely receded into the background.
I was remarking to a friend how (and I think I just wrote about this, but I reiterate) it's also crazy the way the wipeout of billions in investor capital by the thievery and collusion of Enron, Andersen, Tyco, Worldcom, Global Crossing, Adelphia... is ancient history.
Which is to say that it's just of a piece that the following is going down - in the background - while everyone is distracted by the shithole we're in economically.
Mis-direction. A trickery tool par excellence.
One last note; I was watching Lou Dobbs yesterday, and he had on three talk show hosts - sorry I don't recall their names. The topic was the auto company welfare that's just the latest in the trash heap. The first two expressed outrage and shock, and then the third, a black woman, smiled and said something to the effect that her audience isn't surprised at all.
From Legal Times
Top Bush Officials Unlikely to Face Personal Liability for 9/11 Detentions
Tony Mauro
12-10-2008
The Supreme Court has already shown its skepticism of the Bush administration’s war-on-terror policies through a series of rulings vindicating the rights of Guantánamo detainees and “enemy combatants.”
On Wednesday, another aspect of the administration’s policies drew criticism from at least some justices: the roundup of Arab-Americans and Muslims that the government said had some terrorist connection, in the immediate aftermath of the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks. But the Court seemed unlikely to act on that skepticism and expose top government officials to personal liability for their role in ordering and administering the roundup.
Pakistani citizen Javaid Iqbal, one of 184 “high-interest” suspects taken in, claims the policy was discriminatory and that he was mistreated at the so-called ADMAX housing unit at the federal correction center in Brooklyn, N.Y. In the case now titled Ashcroft v, Iqbal, Iqbal is seeking to hold former Attorney General John Ashcroft and former FBI director Robert Mueller, as well as middle- and lower-ranked prison officials, personally liable for violating his rights. Iqbal filed the suit in May 2004 after being deported to Pakistan.
The issue before the Court was whether Iqbal’s complaint was sufficient to state a claim against Ashcroft and Mueller and to get past summary judgment—thereby exposing the officials to costly and time-consuming discovery.
At the district court and appeals court levels, judges rejected government efforts to dismiss the complaint. The U.S. Court of Appeals for the 2nd Circuit, citing the high court’s sometimes contradictory rulings on what plaintiffs must state at the outset to make a viable complaint, said Iqbal’s allegations, though general, were plausible enough to survive.
As the justices debated the issue, several discussed that issue of plausibility—whether it was even plausible that Ashcroft and Mueller could have been involved in setting policies or actually doing harm to Iqbal.
Solicitor General Gregory Garre, arguing for Ashcroft and Mueller, insisted that Iqbal’s attempt to link top officials to his treatment was not plausible. “Common government experience,” Garre said, would suggest that the attorney general is not involved in “microscopic decisions” such as those at issue in the Iqbal case.
But Justice David Souter disagreed, stating that “the claim . . . that the attorney general or the director of the FBI was establishing a . . . policy that centered on people with the same characteristics as the hijackers does not have that kind of bizarre character to it and, I think, would not run afoul of the plausibility standard.”
Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg also seemed to doubt Garre, invoking a report by the inspector general of the Justice Department that she suggested “lends some plausibility to Iqbal’s claims.” That 2003 report found that Ashcroft and Mueller were intimately involved in the policies regarding post-9/11 detentions and that most detentions were based on racial and religious characteristics.
Alexander Reinert, representing Iqbal, also cited the report as proof that “from the attorney general’s office there was a direction to make the conditions of confinement as harsh as possible.” Reinert is a lawyer with the New York firm Koob & Magoolaghan.
But Garre insisted the policies were “perfectly lawful” and that the inspector’s report “can’t make up for the deficiencies in the complaint itself.” He argued that under the doctrine of qualified immunity, aimed at protecting officials from being sued for their official acts, Iqbal’s complaint should have been dismissed at the district court level.
Several of the Court’s conservatives seemed sympathetic to Garre’s position. With disdain, Justice Antonin Scalia said at one point, “That’s lovely, that the ability of the attorney general and the director of the FBI to do their jobs without having to litigate personal liability is dependent on the discretionary decision of a single district judge.”
The case has attracted the attention of former and current government officials who fear that if the 2nd Circuit is upheld, they will be exposed to liability in their decision-making that could be harmful, especially in reacting to national security emergencies.
A brief filed by the Washington Legal Foundation on behalf of five former attorneys general said the Iqbal case raises the prospect that top officials will have to face discovery and other proceedings even in frivolous cases. “They are very concerned by the effects that such disruptions are likely to have on the ability of high-level officials to carry out their missions effectively,” the brief states.
Tony Mauro can be contacted at tony.mauro@incisivemedia.com
I'm a man without a corporation. ~Paddy Chayefsky
Showing posts with label Lou Dobbs. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Lou Dobbs. Show all posts
Wednesday, December 10, 2008
Friday, August 15, 2008
Follow the Money: David Cay Johnston
A recent email from a friend that cited a NY Times article on corporate theft via tax evasion has prompted me to write about a crusader that is long overdue. I mentioned David Cay Johnston last year, but the truth is he is deserving of special mention, so here we are.
In 2005, I saw a very in-depth interview with Johnston on CSPAN's Book TV upon the release of his then just released Perfectly Legal: The Covert Campaign to Rig Our Tax System to Benefit the Super Rich--and Cheat Everybody Else. The interview was fascinating because Johnston - a seasoned, Pulitzer Prize Winning Journalist formerly with the LA Times and now with the NY Times - was so far-reaching in his assessment, finding connections in ways that are revelatory as to how the system of American capitalism really works to the ultimate benefit of the rich few. It also helps that he's well spoken, with examples galore of corporate theft via the tax system and how that was aiding and abetting the system of funneling money from the majority underclass to the minority economically privileged.
I highly recommend watching the 6 part series of his vids on Youtube regarding his latest book, Free Lunch: How the Wealthiest Americans Enrich Themselves at Government Expense (and Stick You with the Bill). Once again, Johnston exposes how corporations, wealthy individuals and government collude in a perfect storm of thievery.
And lest anyone think that Johnston is a wacko liberal expounding weird conspiracy theories, I heard him with my own ears say that he's a registered republican. I don't forget things like that.
For all of my mudpeep friends, here's a guy that not only talks shit but backs it up with hard investigative journalism and good old fashioned research. Although he doesn't address race explicitly, he gives peeps of color plenty of ammo to fight with, because what he's really talking about is classism. But in fact, in that aforementioned 6 part series of Youtube vids, he comes very close to talking about the ways poor (mudpeeps) are screwed over by the system. The difference maker is that Johnston is a surfeit of facts, knowledge and research, and in the best Columbo-esque fashion, he makes connections explicit that the power elite and their co-horts would prefer remain hidden behind the wizard's curtain.
One example stands out: How home alarm companies are related to youth crime, the driver of course being economic imperative. On a side note, Johnston said that the profit margin for the home alarm company services is over seventy percent!
And that's what's so fascinating about Johnston's work: its range. He even cites in the Moyers interview below how George Dumbya Bush's wealth was founded upon the bilking of the American public. He then cites professional sports, which is how Dumbya came upon his wealth, and the system of American funding of pro sports that enables the rich to get richer at the expense of tax payers. In fact, without taxpayer subsidies, professional sports would LOSE money. Perhaps even worse, he further cites how Dumbya (and I imagine his scumbag lawyers) used eminent domain to steal private property to build a new stadium (for his then Texas Rangers). It's clear: Dumbya's no great entrepreneur; he's a connected thief, who was directly responsible for wreaking havoc on innocent people, the American public and caused arguably more damage as one person than any Mafioso. All for profit.
I haven't read Free Lunch yet, but I can tell you that reading Perfectly Legal, while jaw-dropping is an exhausting exercise. I have this habit of placing Post-Its in my books where I like passages; Perfectly Legal got to the point where I literally ran out of Post-Its! As it is, I left the book half-unread because my head exploded from the outrage.
He even relates all of this corporate malfeasance to sustainability, specifically, local communities and their economic well being. In a Johnstonian analysis, this shit is out of control; healthcare, retailing, sports, impact on local communities... He gives new meaning to Watergate's infamous "Deep Throat" dictum: "Follow the money." Johnston's that hardcore, that good.
I put him right up there with Stephen Jay Gould. Seriously, the guy ought to be nominated for the Nobel in econ, he's that much of a complete badass. As a journalist, he embodies the best of America. And he puts these twits who write that distractive "freakonomics" and "tipping point" crap to shame. His work needs to be in schools.
Oh yeah, Lou Dobbs loves him. (Vid quality not the greatest)
Here's an interview he did with Bill Moyers upon the release of Free Lunch. He trashes Dumbya here. Some vid dropouts here, but the audio holds up.
And here's interview clips with the Progressive Book Club. (Very good vid quality)
If I get time, I'll post DCJ's aforementioned 6 part Book TV interview; you can find it for now on Youtube. I wish Stern would interview him - this guy needs to reach a wide audience.
In 2005, I saw a very in-depth interview with Johnston on CSPAN's Book TV upon the release of his then just released Perfectly Legal: The Covert Campaign to Rig Our Tax System to Benefit the Super Rich--and Cheat Everybody Else. The interview was fascinating because Johnston - a seasoned, Pulitzer Prize Winning Journalist formerly with the LA Times and now with the NY Times - was so far-reaching in his assessment, finding connections in ways that are revelatory as to how the system of American capitalism really works to the ultimate benefit of the rich few. It also helps that he's well spoken, with examples galore of corporate theft via the tax system and how that was aiding and abetting the system of funneling money from the majority underclass to the minority economically privileged.
I highly recommend watching the 6 part series of his vids on Youtube regarding his latest book, Free Lunch: How the Wealthiest Americans Enrich Themselves at Government Expense (and Stick You with the Bill). Once again, Johnston exposes how corporations, wealthy individuals and government collude in a perfect storm of thievery.
And lest anyone think that Johnston is a wacko liberal expounding weird conspiracy theories, I heard him with my own ears say that he's a registered republican. I don't forget things like that.
For all of my mudpeep friends, here's a guy that not only talks shit but backs it up with hard investigative journalism and good old fashioned research. Although he doesn't address race explicitly, he gives peeps of color plenty of ammo to fight with, because what he's really talking about is classism. But in fact, in that aforementioned 6 part series of Youtube vids, he comes very close to talking about the ways poor (mudpeeps) are screwed over by the system. The difference maker is that Johnston is a surfeit of facts, knowledge and research, and in the best Columbo-esque fashion, he makes connections explicit that the power elite and their co-horts would prefer remain hidden behind the wizard's curtain.
One example stands out: How home alarm companies are related to youth crime, the driver of course being economic imperative. On a side note, Johnston said that the profit margin for the home alarm company services is over seventy percent!
And that's what's so fascinating about Johnston's work: its range. He even cites in the Moyers interview below how George Dumbya Bush's wealth was founded upon the bilking of the American public. He then cites professional sports, which is how Dumbya came upon his wealth, and the system of American funding of pro sports that enables the rich to get richer at the expense of tax payers. In fact, without taxpayer subsidies, professional sports would LOSE money. Perhaps even worse, he further cites how Dumbya (and I imagine his scumbag lawyers) used eminent domain to steal private property to build a new stadium (for his then Texas Rangers). It's clear: Dumbya's no great entrepreneur; he's a connected thief, who was directly responsible for wreaking havoc on innocent people, the American public and caused arguably more damage as one person than any Mafioso. All for profit.
I haven't read Free Lunch yet, but I can tell you that reading Perfectly Legal, while jaw-dropping is an exhausting exercise. I have this habit of placing Post-Its in my books where I like passages; Perfectly Legal got to the point where I literally ran out of Post-Its! As it is, I left the book half-unread because my head exploded from the outrage.
He even relates all of this corporate malfeasance to sustainability, specifically, local communities and their economic well being. In a Johnstonian analysis, this shit is out of control; healthcare, retailing, sports, impact on local communities... He gives new meaning to Watergate's infamous "Deep Throat" dictum: "Follow the money." Johnston's that hardcore, that good.
I put him right up there with Stephen Jay Gould. Seriously, the guy ought to be nominated for the Nobel in econ, he's that much of a complete badass. As a journalist, he embodies the best of America. And he puts these twits who write that distractive "freakonomics" and "tipping point" crap to shame. His work needs to be in schools.
Oh yeah, Lou Dobbs loves him. (Vid quality not the greatest)
Here's an interview he did with Bill Moyers upon the release of Free Lunch. He trashes Dumbya here. Some vid dropouts here, but the audio holds up.
And here's interview clips with the Progressive Book Club. (Very good vid quality)
If I get time, I'll post DCJ's aforementioned 6 part Book TV interview; you can find it for now on Youtube. I wish Stern would interview him - this guy needs to reach a wide audience.
Monday, November 19, 2007
Amazon's Kindle (& Darabont's "The Mist")
I was going to write about Frank Darabont's film of King's The Mist, but it just got trumped for the lead. I saw the front bumper for The Charlie Rose Show on Jeff Bezos'/Amazon's "Kindle." Intro'd today via Newsweek's cover, it promises the future for digital reading.
As an avid reader, this thing sounds really cool, but a couple things worry me: (1) It's $400, and (2) It's still too big.
So, given Moore's Law, price should fall. Size? Well, hopefully they did their focus groups.
But let's give Bezos/Amazon the bennie of a doubt here. Let's assume mass-traction happens. What are the implications?
The obvious things that Bezos cites (saving trees, ready access to about 90K books and no doubt growing, publishers not having to guess at book runs...) are cool. What I'm interested in knowing is will this open up the barriers to entry for indie writers in the same way that MP3s and portable players (no people, believe it or not, Stevie Jobs did not invent the MP3 player) did for music? That's not just a tech question, that's a business question. In other words, having the technology's one thing, but having access to it as a distribution platform is quite another. Bezos seems like a cool enough guy. So time'll tell.
There's also a difference maker here in that unlike music and unless you have bank, books are a muthaphuka to digitize. However, contemporary writers (I'm factoring out the Luddites) write on computers, so their stuff's already digital. So, score one for the current crop. (Boring note: Truth is, any analog media is a bitch to digitize.)
With that stuff out of the way, something Bezos said stuck out:
How do I know that we have the best customer experience?
1. Price
2. Get it fast
3. Huge selection
I disagree; Amazon's customer experience is great because it is highly "intermational" - interactive and informational. (Well ain't I the clever marketing jerkoff?) One of the things I like to talk about to peeps when it comes to business is to find out what their customer experience was like. This is a big part of the reason that I think Yelp is far and away above other social networking sites.
And it's also why I think Amazon's retail experience is so satisfying, because before you know it you're knee deep in relevancy. Truth is, tons of consumer-oriented sites give you recommendations, but Amazon was a pioneer in relevancy in regards to recommendations. Then they hit upon the idea of tying in your likes to those of others through their lists - thus, it became an intermational experience.
That's what Yelp has done by synergizing the social networking model with the intermational model of Amazon.
Bezos said that as tech advances that more power is being transferred to consumers. I think I know what he means, but we're still a long way from home insofar as the control of all this cool stuff, let alone a true democracy where young and old folks alike can have an equal chance of entrepreneuring their way to the next big thing.
ps: I haven't forgotten about Frank Darabont's The Mist. If, like me, you're a fan of suspense flicks, see The Mist. I'd planned on writing a diatribe on why this kind of flick blows movies like Saw or Hostel out of the water, but I'll spare y'all. Just check it out; a real popcorn movie. It's good.
As an avid reader, this thing sounds really cool, but a couple things worry me: (1) It's $400, and (2) It's still too big.
So, given Moore's Law, price should fall. Size? Well, hopefully they did their focus groups.
But let's give Bezos/Amazon the bennie of a doubt here. Let's assume mass-traction happens. What are the implications?
The obvious things that Bezos cites (saving trees, ready access to about 90K books and no doubt growing, publishers not having to guess at book runs...) are cool. What I'm interested in knowing is will this open up the barriers to entry for indie writers in the same way that MP3s and portable players (no people, believe it or not, Stevie Jobs did not invent the MP3 player) did for music? That's not just a tech question, that's a business question. In other words, having the technology's one thing, but having access to it as a distribution platform is quite another. Bezos seems like a cool enough guy. So time'll tell.
There's also a difference maker here in that unlike music and unless you have bank, books are a muthaphuka to digitize. However, contemporary writers (I'm factoring out the Luddites) write on computers, so their stuff's already digital. So, score one for the current crop. (Boring note: Truth is, any analog media is a bitch to digitize.)
With that stuff out of the way, something Bezos said stuck out:
How do I know that we have the best customer experience?
1. Price
2. Get it fast
3. Huge selection
I disagree; Amazon's customer experience is great because it is highly "intermational" - interactive and informational. (Well ain't I the clever marketing jerkoff?) One of the things I like to talk about to peeps when it comes to business is to find out what their customer experience was like. This is a big part of the reason that I think Yelp is far and away above other social networking sites.
And it's also why I think Amazon's retail experience is so satisfying, because before you know it you're knee deep in relevancy. Truth is, tons of consumer-oriented sites give you recommendations, but Amazon was a pioneer in relevancy in regards to recommendations. Then they hit upon the idea of tying in your likes to those of others through their lists - thus, it became an intermational experience.
That's what Yelp has done by synergizing the social networking model with the intermational model of Amazon.
Bezos said that as tech advances that more power is being transferred to consumers. I think I know what he means, but we're still a long way from home insofar as the control of all this cool stuff, let alone a true democracy where young and old folks alike can have an equal chance of entrepreneuring their way to the next big thing.
ps: I haven't forgotten about Frank Darabont's The Mist. If, like me, you're a fan of suspense flicks, see The Mist. I'd planned on writing a diatribe on why this kind of flick blows movies like Saw or Hostel out of the water, but I'll spare y'all. Just check it out; a real popcorn movie. It's good.
Saturday, January 06, 2007
Lou Breakin' it Down
Lou: One of the things that's going on in this country is that there is an effort from both the left and the right, partisan republican and democrat, to obfuscate the reality. These are people who want you to talk about gay marriage, gun control, abortion, "under god" in the pledge of allegiance, the burning of the flag...
Charlie: ...you think that the politicians are using those issues to distract...
Lou: To distract, to divide, to push a wedge, between the reality that we need to influence and the issues that are on one end abstract and on the other not my business.
"Our political system is dominated by corporate America. The midterm elections that we've just completed cost an estimated 2.6 billion dollars. TWO POINT SIX BILLION DOLLARS, nearly all of that money provided by corporate America."
"Let's leave the Constitutional authority where it rests and that's with the House of Representatives."
"Corporate America now has the largest share of our national income since World War II and our working men and women have the smallest share..."
"...half the (individual) bankruptcies in this country are caused by medical catastrophe... overwhelming medical bills. The 2005 bankruptcy bill was not influenced by corporate America, it was written by credit card companies. We've reached that sad a state."
"Forty years ago, there was something like 68 lobbyists in Washington D.C. Today there are 34 thousand."
--Lou Dobbs
These quotes alone are enough to get someone shot by the crazies in power these days.
The Ken Auleta piece is a prelude. There are some points that I take issue with Lou on, but in terms of mass media, Lou is spittin' knowledge like no one else save for maybe Olberman.
Pay attention to his take on the left, right, liberal/conservative distractions to the REAL issues facing us.
Keep goin' Lou.
Segment 1: Journalist Ken Auletta talks about his recent profile of Lou Dobbs in The New Yorker.
Segment 2: Lou Dobbs, host of "Lou Dobbs Tonight" and author of "War on the Middle Class".
Charlie: ...you think that the politicians are using those issues to distract...
Lou: To distract, to divide, to push a wedge, between the reality that we need to influence and the issues that are on one end abstract and on the other not my business.
"Our political system is dominated by corporate America. The midterm elections that we've just completed cost an estimated 2.6 billion dollars. TWO POINT SIX BILLION DOLLARS, nearly all of that money provided by corporate America."
"Let's leave the Constitutional authority where it rests and that's with the House of Representatives."
"Corporate America now has the largest share of our national income since World War II and our working men and women have the smallest share..."
"...half the (individual) bankruptcies in this country are caused by medical catastrophe... overwhelming medical bills. The 2005 bankruptcy bill was not influenced by corporate America, it was written by credit card companies. We've reached that sad a state."
"Forty years ago, there was something like 68 lobbyists in Washington D.C. Today there are 34 thousand."
--Lou Dobbs
These quotes alone are enough to get someone shot by the crazies in power these days.
The Ken Auleta piece is a prelude. There are some points that I take issue with Lou on, but in terms of mass media, Lou is spittin' knowledge like no one else save for maybe Olberman.
Pay attention to his take on the left, right, liberal/conservative distractions to the REAL issues facing us.
Keep goin' Lou.
Segment 1: Journalist Ken Auletta talks about his recent profile of Lou Dobbs in The New Yorker.
Segment 2: Lou Dobbs, host of "Lou Dobbs Tonight" and author of "War on the Middle Class".
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