"All The News You Never Knew You Needed To Know ...Until Now."
September 20 2011 Travus T. Hipp Morning News & Commentary: American Jurisprudence - Turning José Padilla Into A 'Mental Vegetable' Wasn't Punitive Enough?
Thanks this morning to ChrisM, my MP3Angel, for supplying the news and commentary audio files.
[After the commentary Tony Joe White (wikipedia) tells us about the time "They Caught The Devil And Put Him In Jail In Eudora, Arkansas". Courtesy of the respective artists (artist site) and KPIG Radio Freedom California... Earth.] »The president's job plan and budget is on it's way to the "committee of twelve" that needs to get it pulled together and into the federal budget before automatic budget cuts go into effect at Thanksgiving. There are no changes to Social Security of Medicare in the budget as written at the moment but there may be changes in the capital gains taxes which will undoubtedly annoy the Republicans. More.
»Tonight the president will be at the meet-and-greet for the UN General Assembly where he plans to have a long talk with America's number one crony in Afghanistan Hamid Karzai. He is also expected to come under intense criticism for the upcoming veto of the Palestinian plan for their own state on Thursday or Friday. Oh. and don't expect to get within 6 blocks of the UN building today. You ARE NOT welcome.
»Speaking of Afghanistan, the employees of the US embassy are in "Duck & Cover" mode as a wave of Taliban attacks continue throughout the city. One attack killed a former "president" of Afghanistan who had been trying to negotiate some sort of agreement between the Taliban, NATO, and the Afghan government.
Meanwhile, since we're on the subject... The "al-Haqquani Network" say "Nya nya! We don't care what your intel says. We're in Afghanistan, not Pakistan" (which trashes recent U.S. statement to the effect that Pakistan is 'protecting' Haqqani ops), and they're also stating they back the Taliban's peace plan, which as seen above is essentially "Drive out the invaders and there will be peace".
Considering that the al-Haqquanis are quite influential and are related-by-marriage among other reasons to a large part of the Afghan population, it means despite president Obama's bleatings about 'patience', 'withdrawal', and his upcoming palavering with America's Afghan puppet president Hamid Karzai, "We Lose!"
Foreign Policy also notes that the "Strategic Hamlet" program for Afghanistan is not working any better than it did in Vietnam:
"A new report concludes that while "night raids" against Taliban targets have become more accurate, international forces have loosened the standards for people targeted in such operations. The report also argues that the increased pace of raids has helped fuel a backlash against international forces, and that Afghan communities, "often see raids as deliberately targeting or harassing civilians, in order to discourage communities from providing food and shelter to insurgents, or pressure them to supply intelligence"." [More]
But who said any of the people who plan these wars are intelligent enough to notice when their strategies and tactics don't work?
»Eighteen years of gays in the US military being required not to 'Tell' are over as of midnight last night. There are loose ends, such as what will happen to all the less-than-honorable discharges that gays have been subject to over the years, and what if they were discharged but, for some inane reason, the discharged soldier cares to re-up to fight in America's imperial wars?
»A federal appeals court has tossed out the seventeen year sentence handed down against Jose Padilla, an American citizen who, on the basis of a single informant in Pakistan, was accused of planning a dirty bombing in Chicago, kept in total isolation for two and a half year at a Navy brig with no visitors or lawyer, or any kind of assistance. They finally managed to convict him on "conspiracy to attack government property" despite the fact that there was no proof that he actively was involved in ANY conspiracy and his isolation since incarceration had apparently affected his mental health. The appeals court sent his conviction back for re-sentencing... 17 years apparently wasn't long enough. MUCH more in the commentary.
INCOMING! »The 'Glory' climate change satellite that didn't make it into orbit due to a Taurus rocket stage failure a couple of weeks ago is coming home sometime around Friday. More at the Guardian UK.
But that's not all! It's a Two-fer this weekend!
(Jeez! They pointed this one at us and pulled the trigger!)
"The bus-size Upper Atmosphere Research Satellite, or UARS, will likely plummet down to Earth sometime around Friday (Sept. 23), according to NASA's latest projections. There is a 1-in-3,200 chance that UARS debris could hit a person, though NASA considers that scenario extremely remote.
o o o
"NASA commanded the spacecraft to fire its thrusters one last time to use all its remaining fuel to place it on a years-long path toward disposal in Earth's atmosphere." [In Full]
Here is an animation showing the orbit of the satellite and ground track of the possible debris field... Which is practically all inhabited areas on the planet"
In OTHER News
From Moodys Analytic Consumer Flow Weekly newsletter:
"The weakness in the job market is posing a serious threat to already-weak consumer spending. Meanwhile, real median household income has fallen for three consecutive years."
Despite that economic train wreck in progress, America IS STILL driving... and you're doing it a lot despite the fact that spinning your wheels gets you nowhere... faster.
('Happy Motoring America...' Enjoy it while you can...)
Remember... Capitalism is holding a loaded gun...
...And the target is ANYONE who gets in the way of their profits.
Hi! I'm Razer Raygun. Welcome to Razed By Wolves, Just another BloggerBlog consisting of news and other media about local, national, and global events, and the people who, by their actions and words, create those events, making the world around us a more dangerous, nastier place to live.
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