Daily Kos: Fred Thompson: The Money Is The Problem

Daily Kos: Fred Thompson: The Money Is The Problem:

"There certainly are regulations regarding political activity online.
Only, thank goodness, they're not stupid regulations, and they do place certain
obligations on candidates, parties and PACs in their online activities. The fact
that Fred Thompson has a website isn't the problem, nor, even, that's he's
already hiring and firing staffers like a failed candidate. No, the problem is
that once you start raising and spending money like a candidate, and start
referring to yourself as a candidate, you're a candidate, and as I've shown
before it's pretty clear that Thompson's campaign is in violation of the law."

Is Fred Thompson and his non-campaign breaking the elections laws? A better question is, now that Thompson has done it, and appears to be doing it successfully, should the laws be re-written before future candidates make a joke out of federal election law?

Daily Kos: ME-Sen: Outrage (!) over a traditional campaign tool

Daily Kos: ME-Sen: Outrage (!) over a traditional campaign tool

Senator Collins and her official, U.S. Senate staff speaking on behalf of her
campaign have all said quite a lot this week about the fact that she was filmed
during a public parade last weekend. Because of allegations of hovering,
intrusive behavior and intimidation, we thought it important that you see for
yourself film of the only interaction between Senator Collins and our employee,
and the respectful distance to which he kept himself.
Please view the tape here: http://www.youtube.com/...
Please note that when Senator Collins approached our employee, Rick Redmond, to
introduce herself, he shook her hand, told her his name and even told her how
she would remember him from the past. A bit later in the tape, you will see that
she expected to be tracked because it is a normal campaign tool. Senator Collins
asked, “Are you my tracker?” to which Redmond replied, “Yes, ma’am.”
Expressing no sense of surprise or alarm, she then said, “Then we’ll be
seeing a lot of each other on the campaign trail.”

Well, a note to the Senator, and to anyone who is thinking about running for public office. This type of activity is going to be common place from now on. Everyone wants to get the next Macca moment, and they want it to be an opponent who falls. The issue is that as long as they are in public, and the photographers are not obstructing them in anyway, they are free to tape what they want. It is only an invasion of privacy if you are in a place where privacy is to be expected. An example, if you are in your house, with a large front window with a view to the street and the shades are open while you are having sex - you should not expect privacy. However if you close the drapes, and someone sneaks into your yard and caught you through on crack in the drapes - you could expect privacy. When you are running for office, that is about the most public thing you can do. Get used to the cameras, if you win you will see more of them.

Crooks and Liars » The NAFTA Superhighway doesn’t exist

Crooks and Liars » The NAFTA Superhighway doesn’t exist:

"Through towns large and small it will run, plowing under family farms,
subdevelopments, acres of wilderness. Equipped with high-tech electronic customs
monitors, freight from China, offloaded into nonunionized Mexican ports, will
travel north, crossing the border with nary a speed bump, bound for Kansas City,
where the cheap goods manufactured in booming Far East factories will embark on
the final leg of their journey into the nation’s Wal-Marts. […] Grassroots
movement exposes elite conspiracy and forces politicians to respond: It would be
a heartening story but for one small detail. There’s no such thing as a proposed
NAFTA Superhighway."

This silly conspiracy has been floating around for too long. First of all there are enough interstates in this country to send goods back and forth between Mexico and Canada in a efficient manner. Second companies are not going to move to Mexico because of a new highway. Most of the companies that can move, and want to move, have moved to Mexico and in some cases China already. Third, a faster means of transporting goods, and yes goods across national borders, would mean less costly goods for Americans.

If you want to prove to someone what a farce this is, point to the I-35W collapse, if any interstate were going to be depended on to be such a super highway, that is the one. They don't invest enough money in it to keep it from falling down.

Crooks and Liars » Matthews calls out the Petraeus/WH propaganda Iraq report

Crooks and Liars » Matthews calls out the Petraeus/WH propaganda Iraq report:

"Chris: Is the White House going to pull a Lucy again? With the football trick,
all over again? For months President Bush has been asking us to wait for a
report from General Petraeus. How many times have we heard that phrase? “Wait
for the report from General Petraeus.” Now we learn that the White House is
going to write that report - the White House - and that the General will testify
publicly before Congress only after the report’s been written by Bush’s people.
Is this a sign of something we’ve seen before, is the Bush Administration going
to politicize that critical September report instead of letting the General
deliver a full and honest raw assessment to the American people? "

This is the greatest weakness of the Bush presidency, he has scorned the democratic process time and time again -in favor of a political process. There were good reasons to go into Iraq, and if more time had been taken to understand and to communicate those reasons, the eventual actions may have been stronger. If we had gone in with a larger body of international support, with more troops, more intelligence, more planing, the attack could have been a strong success. However the road Bush took, was the road of politics,where if you don't need to bring people over to your side, you do it without them. In September, there are a number of democrats and a number of republicans who are sitting on the fence with the war in Iraq. I think an honest answer, even if it is bad news could maintain their standing in support of the war. On the other hand, even good news that is delivered in a political speech from the White House is bad news. What America needs right now in regards to Iraq, is not more politics, but more truth.

Fred The Fearless?

Captain's Quarters: Fred The Fearless?

"'There's no reason for me to run just to be president,' he said. 'I don't
desire the emoluments of the office. I don't want to live a lie and clever my
way to the nomination or election. But if you can put your ideas out there --
different, more far-reaching ideas -- that is worth doing.' Thompson, like many
of the others running, has caught a strong whiff of the public disillusionment
with both parties in Washington -- and the partisanship that has infected
Congress, helping to speed his own departure from the Senate. But he says he
thinks the public is looking for a different kind of leadership. 'I think a
president could go to the American people and say, 'Here's what we need to be
doing. And I'm willing to go halfway. Now you have to make them [the opposition]
go halfway.' '"

He says he wants to run a different style of campaign, is that one that never declares that it is running? He makes some strong points here, but it still sounds like political hash to me. I still don't think that Fred is going to run for office, he is missing his window. At the end of the day we might just look back at this and understand that what he was saying was that he wanted to inject ideas into the race. He wanted the threat that he would run, to change the positions of others in the race, and it has. He has every right to do that.

A Step In The Wrong Direction (Update: Kyllo)

Captain's Quarters: A Step In The Wrong Direction (Update: Kyllo)

"The Bush administration wants to allow law-enforcement agencies to use
military and intelligence satellites as a resource for investigations. Real-time
imagery and technology than can look inside buildings and even bunkers could be
used to pursue criminal investigations, a boon for law enforcement officials --
but a nightmare for civil libertarians:"

While I am not shaken by this on the grounds of privacy, since that is not a large concern to me, I do see what could be problems. One problem could develop between state-local governments and the federal government. If the federal government is in the hands of one party and the state-local government is in the hands of another, could the feds resist co-operation. Second, as Ed points out in his article, the court has found that if the police use enhanced technologies to see into a residence, that they need a search warrant for that, which they should get. If you can get a search warrant, why do you need this technology. Third these are forces that should be aimed at keeping America safe from invasion, safe from threats on the outside, to focus them on the country means they are not watching external threats, is that a good distraction.

The best use I would see for a technology like this is in crowd mapping. At an event like Thanksgiving Day Parada, or the Super Bowl, an political rally or any gathering of people. If there were an attack at such an event, knowing how large the crowd was, and where it was concentrated would be very useful in sending in help to those who needed it, and directing people away from trouble. One of the common problems in protests, is that the police will send crowds the wrong way, and into more trouble. It is assumed that they do this on purpose, but maybe it is an accident caused by being to close to the action and not knowing where the crowd is moving.

Senator Reid blasts Bush attempt to kill Petraeus appearance before Congress - AMERICAblog: A great nation deserves the truth

Senator Reid blasts Bush attempt to kill Petraeus appearance before Congress - AMERICAblog: A great nation deserves the truth:

"'The White House's effort to prevent General Petraeus and Ambassador Crocker
from testifying openly and candidly before Congress about the situation in Iraq
is unacceptable. Not only does it contradict the law President Bush himself
signed in May, but it appears to be yet another politically driven attempt to
avoid giving Congress and the American people an honest and open assessment of a
war we can all see is headed in the wrong direction."

If we are going to understand the situation in Iraq as a nation, and if congress is going to make clear and educated decisions about the war, then Petraeus needs to talk to them. It isn't enough for him to give his report to the executive branch, and for the executive branch to pass it along to congress. He must be present to be able to answer questions that congress might have in regards to the war and how it is being run. I don't have any judgements right now that it is going good or bad, and hopefully congress will be able to be open minded when they hear the report.

Abandon ship - Tony Snow's ready to pack his bags - AMERICAblog: A great nation deserves the truth

Abandon ship - Tony Snow's ready to pack his bags - AMERICAblog: A great nation deserves the truth:

"I've already made it clear I'm not going to be able to go the distance, but
that's primarily for financial reasons. I've told people when my money runs out,
then I've got to go."

It is beginning to sound like Bush is going to end his presidency alone. Shut the lights out when you leave George.

Mitt Roughs Up Online Sex Predators , Civil Liberties | Air America Radio

Mitt Roughs Up Online Sex Predators , Civil Liberties Air America Radio:

"Mitt Romney believes that online sex predators should be punished no matter
what it cost to our civil liberties. He has proposed amplified punishment for
online sex offenders and a lifetime tracking Global Positioning System for first
time offenders. Late last month Romney said, 'It's time to clean up the
Internet, make sure that those people who are using the Internet to become
predators against children, that those people are gone forever. I want to put
them in jail for a long time and make sure we have GPS on them for the rest of
their lives. One strike and they're ours. I want to know where they are
forever.” Many people have problems with Romney’s proposal because it violates
civil liberties and ultimately would not deterrent sex predators. They believe
the best way to deter is to education children on this issue. "

There is a more practical concern here, there is no reason that I know of to believe that someone who has committed one sex crime, is a sex criminal in a compulsive sense. However there are a number of people out there that are compulsive sex offenders. If you track them all by GPS after their first offense, it will be counter effective. The numbers of people the system would have to attempt to track would be so large, that it would be easy for the dangerous ones to evade observation.

Sex Crimes are terrible, and I think that there should be no room for tolerance of them. We do have to act wisely though, understanding our resources and understanding the crime.

Padilla Found Guilty | Air America Radio

Padilla Found Guilty Air America Radio:

"CNN's Susan Candiotti in Miami reports that Jose Padilla and two other
defendants were found guilty on all charges: 'Guilty on all counts. Jose
Padilla, as well as the two other defendants, guilty. Guilty of conspiring to
carry out a jihad overseas. Guilty-that’s a conspiracy. Guilty of conspiring to
provide material support and guilty for providing material support to terrorists
organizations overseas.' "

I think this sentence is going to make America safer, and I think that the trial has made America stronger. We must be able to show that world that we are willing to live by the rule of law, that means fair trials, even for terrorists.