Obama's new mantra: "Drill baby, drill"

UPDATED

Is the most memorable Republican campaign slogan from 2008 -- one of Sarah Palin's signature lines -- about to become Obama Administration policy?

It would seem so.   Many who rejected "drilling" as a simple-minded, short-term solution to America's energy situation voted for Obama and the Democrats.  Today the NY Times reports:

The Obama administration is proposing to open vast expanses of water along the Atlantic coastline, the eastern Gulf of Mexico and the north coast of Alaska to oil and natural gas drilling, much of it for the first time, officials said Tuesday....  the sheer breadth of the offshore drilling decision will take some of his supporters aback. 

Obama calculates that his recent give-away to the insurance industry in the guise of health-care reform has won the White House sufficient political capital to capture some additional campaign financing from the oil industry.   The president is walking on thin ice.

Obama has not secured any kind of carbon trading scheme.  Neither drilling nor tossing a few billion into nuclear power is any kind of substitute for a national energy policy.*  It is not that any offshore drilling is necessarily a bad idea, but in the absence of serious progress on the issues that Obama got elected for, on behalf of constituencies that campaigned for him, the drilling proposal will not merely be received as another slap in the face.   This time the anger may boil over.
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* Obama allocated $8 billion for nuclear power. The same figure -- a pittance any way you look at it -- that went towards passenger rail.   

Update:  What bothers me most about this announcement is that it appears to be yet another example of Obama negotiating against-- what is supposed to be -- his own side.   In return for this preemptive "concession" to the oil lobby, what has Obama won for the environmental movement?  

The decision also further undermines Obama's claim to stand for anything.    During the campaign in 2008, Obama made strong and compelling statements against offshore drilling.  Have any of the facts that informed his reasoned critique of offshore drilling changed?  

Here's Obama explaining his opposition to offshore drilling in June 2008:



Here's Obama describing his support for offshore drilling today:



In 2008 Obama offered voters his reasons for opposing drilling. In 2010 all the president provides are platitudes. Obama owes it to the public to explain why his previous reasoning on the issue is no longer valid.

How Japan torpedoed CITES meeting in Doha and what to do about it

Reprehensible is the only word for it. AP:

Japan, for many, illustrated the changing face of CITES. It led the campaign against the listing of the marine species and spent months before the meeting lobbying aggressively.

They held a reception for select representatives at their embassy in Qatar, offering up Atlantic bluefin tuna sushi - a typical food served at Japanese formal occasions - the night before the vote on the export ban of the overfished species.

Apparently, Japan even sought to turn the world environmental conference into a "junket" for members of unscrupulous regimes

But some delegates accused Japan of using tactics that went beyond diplomacy and violated the spirit of CITES.

Kenya, which fought the Japanese over tuna, accused Tokyo of pressuring delegates to support its positions and paying fisheries officials from unnamed African countries to attend the conference.

Last week, the world saw Japanese leadership in action on the international stage in Doha.  Japan flexed its diplomatic and economic muscles to coordinate the obstruction of international efforts to protect bluefish tuna, coral, and sharks (scroll down for other posts, further details).

Such an outrage demands an appropriate and measured response from global citizens.

It would be difficult to target all Japanese products for boycott.  In some categories, such as economy cars or cameras, there are simply too few quality and price-competitive alternatives in the marketplace.    It might also be hard to measure the effect of such a broad boycott.

On the other hand, a boycott of a specific category of products from Japan has several advantages.

Consumers worldwide might be urged to boycott new high-end Japanese cars.   The main reason to target this product class is the quality, cost, and origin of competing products.  German -- and to some extent American companies -- also manufacture luxury automobiles.  But whereas both Germany the US have demonstrated leadership in campaigning for the preservation of marine life, Japan has not. 

Boycotting high-end Japanese cars would send Tokyo a clear message:  it's time to put environmental responsibility before  luxury.

University of Ottawa Provost: This is Canada! No free speech here!

Unbelievable. The provost of a Canadian university has written a letter to US conservative commentator Ann Coulter.  In the letter, he warns Coulter that she could face "arrest" and "criminal prosecution" if she speaks her mind on a visit to the campus as an invited guest of a conservative group. 

It's not an isolated incident. 

"Last year,  Canada banned the vehemently anti-war, left-wing British MP George Galloway from entering their country, on extremely dubious "national security" grounds," blogged Glenn Greenwald, in a detailed post about the provost's letter to Ann Coulter.  The blogger continues, "Galloway is a vociferous critic of Canada's involvement in the war in Afghanistan as well a defender of Hamas, which were clearly the bases for his exclusion."

Francois Houle, Vice-President Academic and Provost at the University of Ottawa,  was  the author of the letter to Ann Coulter.   On the Provost section of the university's website, there is a page called Dialog and Controversy which describes the kind of speech Her Provost is inclined to ban:

Sometimes members of our internal or external communities pressure the University to ban a specific activity that presents an objectionable position. However, if the ideas presented are not illegal, the University will not intervene unless there is evidence that the safety of participants, including the speaker, organizers and audience, may be at risk... 

How can "an idea" be illegal -- at a university no less?   Since when was "safety" supposed to dictate what can and cannot be said?  In the capital of Canada, evidently neither the free exchange of ideas nor courage is an academic value.

A Thai photographer is fired. Why?

Matichon on March 24 (via Bangkok Pundit):

At 11:40 a.m, on March 23, Mr. Saman Sunthana, the head photographer of H.R.H the Crown Prince, drove his motorcycle together with other officials who work for the Crown Prince, went to the red shirt rally and took pictures and video of the proceedings including pictures of the red shirt leaders and the atmosphere of the rally. After a while, the leaders on the stage became aware of this and stated to the protesters "He does not abandon the protesters and requests that you state 'Love Live the King' three times." The protesters then did so three times. The officials and photographer stayed for around 15 minutes before leaving

Matichon (again via Bangkok Pundit) on March 25 reports on a "dismissal order" (copy here) of the photographer for having committed

.... a seriously bad act ... on March 23 when he was on duty and that he abandoned his duties and joined a political protest .... He did this by wearing his royal uniform and this was inappropriate.....

So a photographer for the the HRH the Crown Prince, supposedly acting of his own accord, dressed in his official uniform, showed up at a political rally accompanied by other officials of HRH,  and was said to have delivered greetings from HRH. This photographer is dismissed the next day for having "joined" a political protest.

It's the last part -- the dismissal and the explanation for the dismissal -- that perplexes me.

When I first heard about this incident, what came to my mind was the fact of a visit by HRH Queen Sirikit to the funeral of a Yellow Shirt protester in April 2008.   Of course, that event was certainly not meant to be interpreted as any kind of political act.  The Thai Royals are above politics.  Reminding myself of that visit, I could put the photographer's visit into context.  I understood that a visit by the photographer of HRH the Crown Prince Maha Vajiralongkorn to a Red Shirt rally would not have crossed any line.  Certainly, it would not seem to be cause for anyone to lose his job.  After all, as BP noted, there were no reports that the photographer protested at the rally or joined the rally.  It was just a visit.

In the eyes of those who stand above politics, there is, of course, no difference among political factions -- between Reds and Yellows.  In view of the funeral visit, and news reporting of the royal photographer's visit, the abrupt dismissal of the photographer leaves this observer perplexed.

When isn't a visit just a visit?

Rohingya crisis: First Burma, then Thailand, now Bangladesh?

The Rohingya crisis is clearly not getting the attention it warrants.  AFP reported on March 9, 2010 that 

Bangladesh is waging a campaign of arbitrary arrest, illegal expulsion, forced internment and starvation against Muslim refugees from neighbouring Myanmar, according to a report released Tuesday.

Tens of thousands of unregistered Rohingya refugees, many of whom have lived in Bangladesh for decades, have been forced into makeshift camps where they are being left to starve to death, the report by Physicians for Human Rights says.

"It is unconscionable to leave this vulnerable population stateless and starving," said Richard Sollom, PHR director of research and investigations.

 Sollom, quoted in the article, goes on to explain that many of these people are even worse-off than the Haitians  after the quake.

US military targeting WikiLeaks over release of video?

In December 2008 Wikileaks "released the secret internet censorship lists of Thailand's Ministry of Information and Communication Technology (MICT)."   In response, following in North Korea's footsteps, Thailand censored Wikileaks.

Last week, the New York Times reported that the Pentagon was now out to get Wikileaks.  

According to the Guardian, WikiLeaks, winner of Amnesty International's new media award for 2009, "serves as an uncensorable and untraceable depository for the truth, able to publish documents that the courts may prevent newspapers and broadcasters from being able to touch." On March 19, Scott Horton (h/t Brown) wrote in Harper's "What does the Pentagon have in common with North Korea, China, Zimbabwe, and a number of private Swiss banks? They all feel threatened by WikiLeaks, the Internet service that offers whistleblowers an opportunity to publish documents that expose corruption and wrongdoing by state and private actors."   Horton continued, "This week, WikiLeaks published a 32-page secret Defense Department counterintelligence study of WikiLeaks, which suggests that the American military was preparing to (or perhaps even did) attempt to hack into and shut down the site"

In the past 48 hours Wikileaks.org alleged that it "is currently under an aggressive US and Icelandic surveillance operation."   If you check the subsequent updates to the organization's twitter feed, they read like passages out of a good spy novel.  Here they are (more recent tweets first):

• To those worrying about us--we're fine, and will issue a suitable riposte shortly. about 9 hours ago via bit.ly
• We have airline records of the State Dep/CIA tails. Don't think you can get away with it. You cannot. This is WikiLeaks. about 24 hours ago via bit.ly
• We have been shown secret photos of our production meetings and been asked specific questions during detention related to the airstrike. 8:59 PM Mar 23rd via bit.ly  
• If you know more about the operations against us, contact https://secure.wikileaks.org/ 8:56 PM Mar 23rd via bit.ly 
• One related person was detained for 22 hours. Computer's seized.That's http://www.skup.no 8:43 PM Mar 23rd via bit.ly
• Two under State Dep diplomatic cover followed our editor from Iceland to http://skup.no on Thursday. 8:35 PM Mar 23rd via bit.ly 
• If anything happens to us, you know why: it is our Apr 5 film. And you know who is responsible. 8:33 PM Mar 23rd via bit.ly 
• WikiLeaks is currently under an aggressive US and Icelandic surveillance operation. Following/photographing/filming/detaining. 8:31 PM Mar 23rd via bit.ly

Barret Brown at True Slant, who live-blogged reports of the surveillance operation against WikiLeaks yesterday, believes that contents of the "April 5 film" may relate to a "predator strike gone wrong."   This is what Wiki Leaks had previously informed the public about the film:

Finally cracked the encryption to US military video in which journalists, among others, are shot.  Thanks to all who donated $/CPUs. 7:18 PM Feb 20th via bit.ly 

A recent story about WikiLeaks is posted at SBS.com.    Wikileaks needs donations.

UPDATE
 This Gawker article has further speculation on the nature of the video, claiming it may relate to this controversy surrounding a video of a May 2009 air strike in Afghanistan.

Is the threat of terrorism growing in Indonesia?

The Bush years left me both wary of VOA and a fan of the American broadcaster.  I noted here the exploitation of VOA's overseas television service by right-wing think tanks.  On the other hand, Jotman has had nothing but good things to say about VOA's Burmese language broadcast service.

Today comes a rather alarming headline from VOA.  The headline reads, "Security Experts say Indonesian Terrorism Threat Growing."    The article nevertheless notes that substantial progress has been made  against Indonesian terrorists:

Since a deadly bombing attack on hotels in Jakarta last year, Indonesian security forces have tracked down the militants responsible and prevented other attacks.   They also killed Noordin Top, the leader of the group that carried out the attack on the Marriott and Ritz-Carlton hotels. And they hunted down and killed a man known as Dulmantin, who had long been on Indonesia's most-wanted list, suspected of being involved in a 2002 attack on the island of Bali.

The lede:  "Recently Indonesia police received praise for dismantling a terrorist training camp and killing a leading terror suspect. But security experts say these police raids also indicate a growing terrorism threat in Indonesia."

Therefore, according to "experts" the threat is growing?

Not exactly.  Only one analyst interviewed by VOA, Andi Widjajanto, actually makes this claim:

While the security forces have been praised for these actions, Andi Widjajanto, a military analyst from the University of Indonesia, is concerned that the increased police activity also indicates an increased level of militant activity.

"I think after the Marriott and (Ritz) Carlton 2009, after the raid of Aceh and Pamulang, there is a strong indication that the network is getting stronger and stronger," Widjajanto said. "It is not getting weaker."

Successful police action does not necessarily correlate with an increased threat level.   Unfortunately, Widjatanto does not offer any further reasons to substantiate his claim -- just his opinion.

The other expert quoted in the VOA story is Sidney Jones.  Jones of the International Crisis Group is widely regarded as a leading authority on the activities of terrorist groups in Southeast Asia. According to a Reuters report on the death of Noordin Top:

Sidney Jones of the International Crisis Group said Top  had been the only leading militant leader in Indonesia who had still been campaigning for implementation of Osama bin Laden's 1998 fatwa on killing Westerners. "There isn't another radical leader in Indonesia who has given that same message so consistently," said Jones. She said Top's death was "a huge blow for the extremist organizations in Indonesia and the region."  "It's a major success for the police but it doesn't mean, unfortunately, that the problem of terrorism is over. It's still unclear how many people were in Noordin's group and there are a number of fugitives still at large.

As quoted in the VOA article, Sidney Jones does not claim that the threat is "growing," but that Indonesian policies have allowed formerly convicted terrorists to get back into the terror business:

"The evidence of this group shows the weakness of intelligence. Why did it take so long to realize that released prisoners were involved in the planning of this? Terribly weak monitoring of prisons, prisoners and ex-prisoners and a poor understanding of radicalization and recruitment," Jones states. 

She says the security forces should be more proactive in monitoring what she calls high-risk suspects. "When there are people that we know who have been involved with Noordin (Top), or have been involved in violence, who have served their sentences and who are about to get released, and who have been visited regularly by fellow prisoners who have been released, you would think it would trigger something that these people are high risks, so there should be a way of designating some kind of special category for more intensive monitoring," Jones said. 

The VOA article provides scant evidence to substantiate its headline, but there seems to be good reason to conclude the threat has not gone away.   Jones advises that "Indonesia needs to focus more on intelligence work and preventing the recruitment of new militants through education and community involvement."

The evidence speaks not to the "growth" of terrorism in Indonesia, but the perception that Indonesian police and intelligence have failed to keep a lid on a preexistent and manageable threat.   

Bangkok keeping 49 Rohingya boat survivors locked-up

What happened to the Rohingya boat people who came in contact with Thai authorities last year?  Some were set adrift to die of thirst, drown, or get picked up by Indonesian fishermen, while others were held on a beach and tortured.

Another group was put in Thai custody.   According to a new report, two of those held captive by Thailand in deplorable conditions died and some others were deported.  But the majority are still in detention.

Sarah Palin on Facebook: nonsense about health care, economy

Posting on Facebook today, Sarah Palin managed to make three misleading statements in two paragraphs.   The first two points represent familiar Fox News/GOP spin.  But the third falsehood appears to be a Sarah Palin original.   It's that ludicrous. 

World votes not to protect endangered red coral

Reuters:

A U.N. conference rejected on Sunday trade restrictions on red and pink corals used in jewelery in what environmentalists called a new setback for endangered marine species. 

Delegates at the 175-nation meeting of the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species (CITES) in Doha failed to back a U.S. and European Union proposal to limit trade in 31 species of corals, found from the Pacific to the Mediterranean.

Other endangered marine species the nations of the world voted not to protect included bluefin tuna, and sharks. Iceland joined Tunisia, Libya and Japan in blocking the motion to protect coral.

In the this photo which I took in December, a Chinese tourists inspects endangered Mediterranean red coral on display in Alexandria, Egypt.   The waterfront was lined with a dozen other such tables where hawkers sold shells and coral.

Chinese tourist admires red coral  in Alexandria, Egypt.  Photo by Jotman.

The Vatican is coming. Is Africa ready?

Back in the '90s an old friend who worked as a manager at Playboy told me about the problems her company was facing.    With feminism on the rise, new distribution channels opening up, and faced with increasing competition from more explicit vendors, Playboy -- as a brand -- was in big trouble.

But the company's difficulties only extended to North America.   Playboy would be among the first American brands to seize upon the possibilities of the emerging Asian market.  As a result, today many people in Asia sport the Playboy logo.
 
Essentially, the Vatican finds itself where Playboy was in the 1990s.  Both in Europe and the Americas, the Catholic brand has long endured decline due to factors reminiscent of those which undermined Playboy:  feminism, new distribution channels, competitive upstarts (Evangelicals).  Of course, that is where the similarities end.  

Having failed to root out and punish those involved in serious crimes, the Catholic Church seems poised for free-fall in the West.    Towards sub-Saharan Africa the Vatican will no doubt turn with renewed vigor.   From Accra to Capetown, magnificent new cathedrals are likely to be built.   Looking forward, the odds that the next pope -- or the one after that -- will be an African vastly increased last week. 

The Church needs Africa, but does Africa need the Church?   Unfortunately, the Pope's anti-condom message is not what Africa most needs to hear.   How to spare Africa potentially deadly and environmentally destructive repercussions of the fall of the Church in the West?

The problem with fake art

A post from the archives.

Fox News Award goes to CNN

This week, Jotman's Fox News Award* goes to CNN for its special investigation into something called “food stamp fraud.”     

Essentially, that's when impoverished Americans use their food stamps (these days a government-issued debit card) to pay for stuff that’s not food-related groceries. Some people use the cards to buy cigarettes, alcohol and — according to the CNN report  -- condoms.  (Can't have the government making it possible for poor Americans to  practice birth control!).  The grocery store sometimes gets a kick-back for misuse of the card.

Most other developed countries, of course, don't force low income people to suffer the indignity of "food stamps."   So this particular kind of "scam" would be impossible.  In fact, the real story here, which CNN missed entirely, is why, having been robbed of their jobs by corrupt Wall Street banks and their lackey politicians,  any unemployed US citizens should continue to suffer the indignity of food stamps.

Anyway, the small store owner that CNN investigated — his store may have processed $3 million in questionable purchases — got arrested.

But this story had a really tragic ending. A few days later this small shop owner was found dead: Suicide perhaps.

As much as anything, what's disturbing about the report was its timing.  This is 2010.  Eighteen months after the collapse of the financial markets, job losses continue, small businesses still cannot get loans, and the financial industry remains unregulated.   Something is deeply amiss when CNN plays up a story about small-business corruption,  involving unemployed Americans, and — this is key — a low-income community.  Where are the investigations into Wall Street banks, the health insurance industry, and military contractors?**  
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*The Fox News Award is a feature at Jotman.com that began early 2008. It goes to a media organization that has gone the extra mile during the course of the week to make the public more stupid. (Otherwise corrupting the ethic of creativity and global citizenship.)  Some past winners.  
** UK blogger Rick B. found himself asking more or less the same question this week about a eerily similar story published in the Daily Mail.

Japan convinces world not to protect bluefin tuna

Not only Japanese, but also Canadians and the citizens of all but twenty nations -- should be ashamed of their governments.   Today, they failed to protect the once abundant, magnificent and endangered bluefin.

New York Times:

Delegates at a United Nations conference on endangered species in Doha, Qatar, soundly defeated American-supported proposals on Thursday to ban international trade in bluefin tuna and to protect polar bears ...

Delegates voted down the proposal to protect bluefin by 68 to 20, with 30 abstentions. The polar bear measure failed by 62 to 48, with 11 abstentions.

The rejection of the bluefin proposal was a clear victory for the Japanese government, which had vowed to go all out to stop the measure or else exempt itself from complying with it. Japan, which consumes nearly 80 percent of the bluefin catch, argued that the International Commission for the Conservation of Atlantic Tunas, or Iccat, should be responsible for regulating the fishery, not the United Nations. . . .

 AP reports:

Thursday's decision occurred after Japan, Canada and scores of poor nations opposed the measure on the grounds that it would devastate fishing economies.

Only the United States, Norway and Kenya supported the proposal outright. The European Union asked that implementation be delayed until May 2011 to give authorities to respond to concerns about overfishing.

The United States is certainly to be commended for its position.   No doubt US diplomats did their best, but where was the top political leadership on this issue?   The US was represented at the meeting by the assistant interior secretary for fish and wildlife and parks.  In view of the high-level commitment of the Japanese to defeat the measure, the Obama Administration does not appear to have lobbied hard enough. 

WaPo

The adult population of eastern Atlantic and Mediterranean bluefin tuna has declined 74 percent over the past half-century, much of it in the past decade, and the population has dropped 82 percent in 40 years in the western Atlantic.

"This was a case of just plain ignoring the science for short-term economic gain," said Susan Lieberman, director of international policy at the Pew Environment Group, in an interview from Doha.

Here's a terrific video of the bluefin:



Mechanisms for protecting marine species need to be improved.  Enforcement of existing restrictions against  illegal fishing is rare.  Grocery store chains and sushi joints continue to market endangered fish.  This entire issue needs to be taken more seriously by every global citizen.

AP which has produced a video on the outcome, reports that next on the agenda is protecting the sharks.  The Japanese, of course, are ready.

Fish not to eat

Following up on the previous post, I see that Greenpeace has published a "Red List" of 22 fish and seafood to avoid ordering.

You don't have to be an environmentalist to not want to eat many of these fish.  You just have to know what's in them.

Japan rejects international ban on bluefin tuna fishing

This week delegates at the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species (CITES) consider a proposal on the table for a complete ban on international trade of the bluefin tuna to allow stocks to regenerate.   Clearly, the time has come to ban the fishing of bluefish tuna, but a number of countries refuse to act responsibly.  In this post, we are going to name and shame these lousy global citizens. . .


Continued here.

Category 4 Cyclone strikes eastern Fijii

 Here is more news -- what little is known so far about the impact of Cyclone Tomas on the Fijians. 

Red Shirt leaders' plans for Bangkok on March 16

Yuck.

Bangkok Red Shirt Protest, March 15: Observing the observers

Thai Journalist Devakula, interviewed a moment ago in Bangkok on Al Jazeera said that Thai television is not covering the protests.  The question is whether -- with Internet cafes everywhere -- this makes any difference in 2010.

I spent the last couple hours tracking the most recent reports and photos of half a dozen live-bloggers.  Some impressions:

• The largely rural protesters are receiving smiles and encouragement from many citizen onlookers
• The security forces are staying out of the way, and the protester marchers are peaceful
• The protesters are spread out over various parts of Bangkok, including shopping mall areas, making it difficult to determine the total number.

Have a look at the unfolding scene through their eyes. 

Noon deadline in Bangkok, Red Shirt protesters vow widespread disruption

Having surveyed numerous reports, Bangkok Pundit estimates that between 150-200,000 protesters have flooded the streets of Bangkok.

Thai PM Abhisit went on national television an hour ago and rejected a Red Shirt ultimatum that he dissolve parliament by 05:00 GMT (12pm BKK time, 01:00am NYC time).

The protesters are surrounding the army base on the outskirts of the city where the prime minister is holding out, and they are preparing to meet the passing of the deadline with new measures.  What will the next stage of the protest look like?

On the streets of Bangkok, these bloggers are answering that question.

Royal Thai Navy regulations and Rohingya refugees

Additional information has come to light concerning the Thai Navy's contact with the 93 Rohingya boat people now detained by Malaysia. 

Did the Thai Navy abandon Rohingya at sea AGAIN?

A year ago, I blogged a post titled, "Thai Navy tortures Rohingya refugees in view of tourists."  Urban Svensson, a Swedish witness passed me some photographic evidence of Thai Navy human rights abuses against refugees.

The world learned that the Thai Navy was setting Rohingya refugees adrift on the high seas in their little wooden boats, and the lucky ones were being rescued by Indonesian fishermen.  Hundreds are thought to have drowned. Thailand seemed to be complicit in a Rohingya genocide.   An international outcry followed.  The Economist urged the US to call off its joint war games with the Thais. UNHCR goodwill ambassador Angelina Jolie criticised Thai government.

Thai PM Abhisit Vejjajiva gave the world reassurances that there would be "a thorough military-led investigation, but simultaneously issued a blanket denial of abuse on behalf of the military."   Political scientist Thitinan Pongsudhirak wryly observed, "We are not going to see the Abhisit government going after the military because it was instrumental in his assumption of office."

Now it appears as if either the abuses never stopped, or they are happening all over again.  GJBKK blogs:

A boat full of Rohingya’s refugees have been picked up in Malaysia after reportedly being ‘’sent on their way” by the Thai Navy just off the Phuket coast. 

The Canadian Press reported that the vessel, containing 93 men, had been ”chased out of Thai waters” before they were eventually detained off the Malaysian island of Langkawi, south of Phuket.

Malaysian officials have been told the Rohingya, fleeing persecution in Burma, spent 30 days at sea in the crowded wooden boat, Canadian Press reported.

UPDATE: Follow-up post on this issue: Malaysia detains Rohingya boat people: Thailand implicated this time?

Bangkok: Red shirts protest on Saturday

Find out what happened on the streets of Bangkok on Saturday from people who were there live.

Who will praise the crooked taxi drivers?

Remember the New York Times headline that screamed: "Bankers Gouged Taxpayers Out of Trillions, Washington says"?   Neither do I.  The headline never appeared in the Times.

Here's one that did.   Today, the top headline on its website reads:  

Taxi Drivers Gouged Riders Out of Millions, New York says

It seems that a small fraction of the city's taxi drivers were caught overcharging the public to the tune of $8 million.  The government responded swiftly, according to the front page story:

Agency officials said . . . that they were alarmed enough that they immediately ordered the companies that manufacture the meters to create a system to alert riders when the higher rates are being charged. 

The commission said it began an inquiry. . . 

After September 2008, when New Yorkers in another occupation bilked society of more than $8 trillion, was the "system" changed?  Was any major Wall Street bank ever actually "ordered" to do anything?  Did "an inquiry" get underway the next day?   The country had to wait another 15 months for hearings to begin.  Instead of system change, we heard the president respond to a question about new bonuses for Wall Street's Lloyd Blankfein ($9 million) and Jamie Dimon ($17 million) like this:

"I know both those guys. They're very savvy businessmen. And I, like most of the American people, don't begrudge people success or wealth. That's part of the free market system."

I won't hold my breath waiting for Obama to defend the "success" of  the taxi drivers of New York City.

"Million man" anti-government protest in Bangkok

At ThereLive you will find an overview of the march on Bangkok -- including my take on the latest theory about how trouble is most likely to develop.  

The map at left shows the planned route of protesters through the historic center of the city. It's from the Bangkok Post (h/t Ki).

Some Israelis don't like the Obama Administration

Haaretz asks why.

Seventy percent of Americans believe what?

One year into Obama's first term, not facts but misinformation continues to shape the political consciousness of the US electorate. CNN  (h/t Rick B, t/s) reports:

Seven in 10 Americans believe that Iran currently has nuclear weapons, according to a new national poll.. . .  with only a quarter calling for immediate military action.

The problem -- which I blogged about the other day -- extends well beyond Fox News and its demographic.

Yangon's for sale

Myanmar's junta is about to put the asserts of a nation on the auctioning block.  Apart from some Buddhist  temples, it looks as if everything of value is set to be privatized within weeks.

At the end of the day, who will own Burma?  

How to save the under-informed public from itself?

It's easy to overlook what is perhaps the defining factor of the whole US political landscape.  That is, the extent to which most Americans remain in the dark about basic concepts and facts central to understanding whatever issues are being debated.   Daily Howler, a blog, summed up the problem this way:

Why are we constantly under-informed?. . .  When we access mainstream news organs, we rarely encounter work which explains the basic things we simply don’t understand or know. And when we turn to partisan sources, we’re handed simple, pleasing stories which often happen to be untrue. . .

In bookstores, we see lots of books written expressly for us “dummies.” Our view? We badly need a mainstream press—and a progressive politics—which approaches the news the same way.

The Howler piece notes that given the negligence of the press, the president could help to fill-in gaps in the public's knowledge. By the looks of things, Obama needs to put more effort into the "teaching side" of leadership.

Moscow police corruption protest

Russian blogger Zyalt took outstanding photos of an anti-police corruption protest held this weekend in Moscow.   Links and brief translations at There Live.

Sanjuro, JOTMAN.COM expert on Russian affairs, provides background on police corruption in Russia here,  here, here, and here.

Scared, Americans race to be like China

To no informed observer's surprise, Obama is now said to be reconsidering his decision to try Khalid Shaikh Mohammed in a civilian court in New York City.

In a marked turn-around since the Bush era, Republicans now favor military commissions for all terror suspects.  And it's small wonder that Republicans find increasing public support for this position.  Neither the Obama Administration nor Congressional Democrats have bothered to passionately defend the use of civilian courts.  Quite the opposite.  Whatever the issue, the Obama Administration prides itself on dishing up "compromises" that look like Republicanism Lite.   As a consequence, the only political leaders in America who argue on behalf of values are Republicans.  Gradually, the public sours on the Democrats suspecting that the party and its leaders have no strong convictions.  

One passage in a NY Times article on the anticipated Obama flip-flop is particularly troubling:

On Thursday, Senators John McCain, Republican of Arizona, and Joe Lieberman, independent of Connecticut, unveiled legislation that would require the government to put all “enemy belligerents” — including terrorism suspects arrested in the United States, without an exception for United States citizens — in military custody for interrogation. 

What other countries have laws like this?   North Korea, certainly. Probably China and Myanmar.  Maybe Iran.

Maybe the solution is to return the Republicans to power so that the Democrats will once again find the courage resist -- rather than enable -- the wholesale abrogation of civil rights in the name of "national security".

An earthquake live-blogger in Santiago

At ThereLive.com Jotman tracks bloggers' firsthand reports of disasters, coups, wars, and other historic events.   Whenever I come across particularly notable there-live blogger account, I try to mention it on this blog.

Today I came across an outstanding "there live" account of the Chile earthquake by Matt Suggett, an American living in Santiago.  Matt has posted a harrowing account of the earthquake itself plus an informative account of the aftershocks.   If this is what a person in relatively unscathed Chilean capital has gone through, one can scarcely imagine what it must be like for those living a hundred kilometers to the south..

Matt speculates that two million newly homeless people may try to make their way to Santiago:  "They've got to go somewhere."

FoxLogic makes it easier to have an opinion

Political issues can be confusing and cause much frustration for Americans.    Fortunately now there's FoxLogic®.   The month of February 2010 saw the application of FoxLogic® to everything from the financial crisis to terrorism.

EXAMPLE 1
This week, judge Richard Posner tested a variation of FoxLogic on unsuspecting readers of his blog at the Atlantic.   Posner wrote, "The current hostility to government, and the fiscal binds that most of the states are in, make this an auspicious time for the reform of public employment. . . . One reason for the unpopularity of the stimulus is that so much of it went to the states, where it was used in significant part to save public-employment jobs. . . ." 

1. The A's run Wall Street institutions. 
2. The B's are public employees.  
3. In the wake of the financial crisis, both the A's and the B's received bailout money.     
4. FoxLogic®:  the B's are out of control and must be regulated.

EXAMPLE 2
ABC News (h/t Cannonfire) reports on a new film called Generation Zero.  The filmmaker claims "generational narcissism, as represented by the 1969 Woodstock Festival, is responsible for the excessive spending, mortgage crisis, and recklessness on Wall Street. 'The people who were at Woodstock turned into the yuppies of the '80s and the junk bond traders of the '90s and the Wall Street executives of the 2000s." 

1. The A's run Wall Street institutions.   
2. The B's are Baby Boomers.
3. Most A's are B's.   
4. FoxLogic®:  the B's lifestyle caused the financial crisis. 

EXAMPLE 3
Greenwald observed on his blog, "As I documented last week, the media's reluctance to describe IRS attacker Joe Stack as a "terrorist" reveals that this term has little to do with the act itself and everything to do with the demographic attributes of the actor:  namely, in the American political lexicon, "Terrorists" are Muslims who dislike the U.S., while Americans -- especially ones who are white and non-Muslim -- cannot, by definition, qualify."

1. The B's practice violent jihad.  
2. The A's are Muslims.
3. All B's are A's.   
4. FoxLogic®: all terrorists are A's.  

We could go on to cite other examples of  FoxLogic®, thanks to which, having an opinion about US political issues is becoming easier.