Undernews For 4 May 2009

UNDERNEWS
The news while there's still time to do something about it

THE PROGRESSIVE REVIEW
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PAGE ONE MUST
BOTH REPUBLICANS & DEMOCRATS LOSE GROUND TO INDEPENDENTS
Pew Research - Over the first four months of 2009, the Republican Party has continued to lose adherents. In total, the GOP has lost roughly a quarter of its base over the past five years.

But these Republican losses have not translated into substantial Democratic gains. So far in 2009, 35% of adults nationwide identify as Democrats, about the same as in 2008 (36%). While GOP identification has fallen seven points since 2004, the Democrats have gained only two points over that period. Instead, a growing number of Americans describe themselves as independents, 36% in 2009 compared with just 32% in 2008 and 30% in 2004.

Looking at the individual monthly surveys since December suggests that both political parties are facing declining membership in the wake of an engaging election cycle. In the Pew Research Center's April 2009 survey, 33% identified as Democrats, down from 39% in December 2008. Over the same period, the share calling themselves Republicans has fallen from 26% to 22%. By contrast, the number of independents has risen from 30% in December to 39% now.
FEDERAL JUDGE PUNISHES TEACHER FOR CALLING CREATIONISM 'NONSENSE'
Orange County Register, CA - A Mission Viejo high school history teacher violated the First Amendment by disparaging Christians during a classroom lecture, a federal judge ruled today. James Corbett, a 20-year teacher at Capistrano Valley High School, was found guilty of referring to Creationism as "religious, superstitious nonsense" during a 2007 classroom lecture, denigrating his former Advanced Placement European history student, Chad Farnan.

The decision is the culmination of a 16-month legal battle between Corbett and Farnan - a conflict the judge said should remind teachers of their legal "boundaries" as public school employees.

"Corbett states an unequivocal belief that Creationism is 'superstitious nonsense,'" U.S. District Court Judge James Selna said in a 37-page ruling released from his Santa Ana courtroom. "The court cannot discern a legitimate secular purpose in this statement, even when considered in context."

In a December 2007 lawsuit, Farnan, then a sophomore, accused Corbett of repeatedly promoting hostility toward Christians in class and advocating "irreligion over religion" in violation of the First Amendment's establishment clause.

The establishment clause prohibits the government from making any law "respecting an establishment of religion" and has been interpreted by U.S. courts to also prohibit government employees from displaying religious hostility.

"We are thrilled with the judge's ruling and feel it sets great precedent," said Farnan's attorney, Jennifer Monk, who works for the Christian legal group Advocates for Faith & Freedom in Murrieta. "Hopefully, teachers in the future, including Dr. Corbett, will think about what they're saying and attempt to ensure they're not violating the establishment clause as Dr. Corbett has done."

Chad Farnan and his parents did not immediately return a phone call seeking comment, but released a prepared statement through their attorney: "We are proud of Chad's courageous stand and thrilled with the judge's ruling. It is a vindication of his constitutional rights."

Farnan's original lawsuit asked for damages and attorney's fees. These issues - plus a possible court injunction prohibiting Corbett from making hostile remarks about religion - will be considered in court at a future, undetermined date, Monk said. . .
JUSTICE SCALIA: WHAT I SAY DOESN'T APPLY TO ME
Martha Neil, ABA Journal - Last year, when law professor Joel Reidenberg wanted to show his Fordham University class how readily private information is available on the Internet, he assigned a group project. It was collecting personal information from the Web about himself.

This year, after U.S. Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia made public comments that seemingly may have questioned the need for more protection of private information, Reidenberg assigned the same project. Except this time Scalia was the subject, the prof explains to the ABA Journal in a telephone interview.

His class turned in a 15-page dossier that included not only Scalia's home address, home phone number and home value, but his food and movie preferences, his wife's personal e-mail address and photos of his grandchildren, reports Above the Law.

And, as Scalia himself made clear in a statement to Above the Law, he isn't happy about the invasion of his privacy:

"Professor Reidenberg's exercise is an example of perfectly legal, abominably poor judgment. Since he was not teaching a course in judgment, I presume he felt no responsibility to display any," the justice says, among other comments.
WHAT PORTUGAL CAN TEACH US ABOUT DEALING WITH DRUGS
Glenn Greenwald, Cato - On July 1, 2001, a nationwide law in Portugal took effect that decriminalized all drugs, including cocaine and heroin. Under the new legal framework, all drugs were "decriminalized," not "legalized." Thus, drug possession for personal use and drug usage itself are still legally prohibited, but violations of those prohibitions are deemed to be exclusively administrative violations and are removed completely from the criminal realm. Drug trafficking continues to be prosecuted as a criminal offense.

While other states in the European Union have developed various forms of de facto decriminalization - whereby substances perceived to be less serious (such as cannabis) rarely lead to criminal prosecution - Portugal remains the only EU member state with a law explicitly declaring drugs to be "decriminalized." Because more than seven years have now elapsed since enactment of Portugal's decriminalization system, there are ample data enabling its effects to be assessed.

Notably, decriminalization has become increasingly popular in Portugal since 2001. Except for some far-right politicians, very few domestic political factions are agitating for a repeal of the 2001 law. And while there is a widespread perception that bureaucratic changes need to be made to Portugal's decriminalization framework to make it more efficient and effective, there is no real debate about whether drugs should once again be criminalized. More significantly, none of the nightmare scenarios touted by preenactment decriminalization opponents - from rampant increases in drug usage among the young to the transformation of Lisbon into a haven for "drug tourists" - has occurred.

The political consensus in favor of decriminalization is unsurprising in light of the relevant empirical data. Those data indicate that decriminalization has had no adverse effect on drug usage rates in Portugal, which, in numerous categories, are now among the lowest in the EU, particularly when compared with states with stringent criminalization regimes. Although post-decriminalization usage rates have remained roughly the same or even decreased slightly when compared with other EU states, drug-related pathologies - such as sexually transmitted diseases and deaths due to drug usage - have decreased dramatically. Drug policy experts attribute those positive trends to the enhanced ability of the Portuguese government to offer treatment programs to its citizens - enhancements made possible, for numerous reasons, by decriminalization.

MUCH MORE
SMALL BANKS BEING CHARGED FOR BIG BANKS' PROBLEMS
Wenatchee World, WA - Small community banks - like Cashmere Valley Bank - that had nothing to do with the excesses of big Wall Street firms that led to the financial meltdown are now paying a price they protest is unfair.

Community bankers find themselves under tighter scrutiny from federal regulators. They say the $700 billion financial bailout has favored large institutions. And they are upset about a special assessment the government wants to charge to shore up the Federal Deposit Insurance Fund, which failed banks are draining.

"We've run a successful, safe financial institution," Ken Martin, president of the Cashmere-based bank said. "Those of us who were responsible and still exist are getting hit with those huge premium increases. And at the same time they're giving these huge bailout amounts to the Citigroups."

In 2007, Cashmere Valley Bank paid about $89,000 in 2007 in premiums to the FDIC, the federal entity that insures bank deposits.

This year, it expects to pay $1.35 million in premiums, plus an additional $900,000 to $1.8 million "special assessment" needed because the premium increase still won't be enough to shore up the FDIC.

"The small, community bank is just being hammered with these huge premiums," Martin said. "It's huge. That's like 25 percent of our 2008 earnings in increased premiums.". . .
GREEN LIGHTBULBS CAN BE DEADLY FOR THOSE WHO MAKE THEM
Times, UK - When British consumers are compelled to buy energy-efficient lightbulbs from 2012, they will save up to 5m tons of carbon dioxide a year from being pumped into the atmosphere. In China, however, a heavy environmental price is being paid for the production of green light bulbs in cost-cutting factories.

Large numbers of Chinese workers have been poisoned by mercury, which forms part of the compact fluorescent light bulbs. A surge in foreign demand, set off by a European Union directive making these bulbs compulsory within three years, has also led to the reopening of mercury mines that have ruined the environment. . .

Making the bulbs requires workers to handle mercury in either solid or liquid form because a small amount of the metal is put into each bulb to start the chemical reaction that creates light.

Mercury is recognized as a health hazard by authorities worldwide because its accumulation in the body can damage the nervous system, lungs and kidneys, posing a particular threat to babies in the womb and young children.

The risks are illustrated by guidance from the British government, which says that if a compact fluorescent light bulb is broken in the home, the room should be cleared for 15 minutes because of the danger of inhaling mercury vapor.

Documents issued by the Chinese health ministry, instructions to doctors and occupational health propaganda all describe mercury poisoning in lighting factories as a growing public health concern.

"Pregnant women and mothers who are breastfeeding must not be allowed to work in a unit where mercury is present," states one official rulebook. . .

Tests on hundreds of employees have found dangerously high levels of mercury in their bodies and many have required hospital treatment, according to interviews with workers, doctors and local health officials in the cities of Foshan and Guangzhou.
GOOGLE MAY CHARGE FOR YOU TUBE
Slashdot - A couple of weeks ago, Google's CEO mentioned to investors that they might start charging You Tube's users for viewing content: 'With respect to how it will get monetized, our first priority, as you pointed out, is on the advertising side. We do expect over time to see micro payments and other forms of subscription models coming as well. But our initial focus is on advertising. We will be announcing additional things in that area literally very, very soon.' With the recent Disney-Hulu deal, Google is under increasing pressure to generate more revenue and at the same time attract more premium content. That means we might see payment options coming even sooner than expected.
SEX OUT, TEXT IN
Monica Hesse, Washington Post - The relationship did not end because of Elizabeth Fishkin's boyfriend's text aversion. On the other hand, it didn't exactly help.

Like the time when they were supposed to meet for dinner, and Fishkin texted him to say she was waiting at the restaurant bar. Thirty minutes later, she finally spotted him. Standing outside. He'd never gotten the message -- didn't even realize what his cellphone's buzzing had signified. No disrespect intended; he just wasn't a texting kind of guy.

But Fishkin, who works in advertising, is a texting kind of gal. Nothing obsessive, maybe five times a day -- she just likes the ease, the directness, the speed of the medium. Texting is her language. . .

Months later: another date, another guy, another technological incompatibility. This time she was out with someone who wanted to text . . everyone.

"He kept talking about Twitter." Fishkin rolls her eyes. "Ashton Kutcher. Twitter, Twitter, Twitter."

Can a texter love a Twitterer? Can star-crossed lovers overcome wire-crossed gadgets? Can these relationships be saved?. . .

The process of asking someone on a date can historically be described as such: Twenty years ago, you either did it face-to-face or picked up the phone.

Today, you can be a phone person, an e-mail person, a text person, a Skype person, a Facebook wall person, a Twitter person, an instant-messaging person, or you can just stare creepily into your webcam like that manga girl on YouTube.

Each form of communication has its own followers and rules, which means dating today is a law of inverse proportions: As ways to communicate increase, the chances you will date someone who speaks your technological language decrease.

Sexual compatibility, out. Textual compatibility, in.
FOOD SHORTAGES THREATEN TO BRING DOWN COUNTRIES
Lester Brown, Scientific American - For many years I have studied global agricultural, population, environmental and economic trends and their interactions. The combined effects of those trends and the political tensions they generate point to the breakdown of governments and societies. Yet I, too, have resisted the idea that food shortages could bring down not only individual governments but also our global civilization.

I can no longer ignore that risk. . .

In six of the past nine years world grain production has fallen short of consumption, forcing a steady drawdown in stocks. When the 2008 harvest began, world carryover stocks of grain (the amount in the bin when the new harvest begins) were at 62 days of consumption, a near record low. In response, world grain prices in the spring and summer of last year climbed to the highest level ever.

As demand for food rises faster than supplies are growing, the resulting food-price inflation puts severe stress on the governments of countries already teetering on the edge of chaos. Unable to buy grain or grow their own, hungry people take to the streets. Indeed, even before the steep climb in grain prices in 2008, the number of failing states was expanding. Many of their problems stem from a failure to slow the growth of their populations. But if the food situation continues to deteriorate, entire nations will break down at an ever increasing rate. We have entered a new era in geopolitics. In the 20th century the main threat to international security was superpower conflict; today it is failing states. It is not the concentration of power but its absence that puts us at risk.

States fail when national governments can no longer provide personal security, food security and basic social services such as education and health care. They often lose control of part or all of their territory. When governments lose their monopoly on power, law and order begin to disintegrate. After a point, countries can become so dangerous that food relief workers are no longer safe and their programs are halted; in Somalia and Afghanistan, deteriorating conditions have already put such programs in jeopardy.

Failing states are of international concern because they are a source of terrorists, drugs, weapons and refugees, threatening political stability everywhere. Somalia, number one on the 2008 list of failing states, has become a base for piracy. Iraq, number five, is a hotbed for terrorist training. Afghanistan, number seven, is the world's leading supplier of heroin. Following the massive genocide of 1994 in Rwanda, refugees from that troubled state, thousands of armed soldiers among them, helped to destabilize neighboring Democratic Republic of the Congo (number six).
JUSTICE DEPARTMENT HAS DIFFERENT RULES FOR BACKERS OF ISRAEL AND PALESTINE
James G Abourezk, Counterpunch - Steven Rosen and Keith Weissman had been charged in 2005 with the crime of espionage; specifically, handing over to Israel secret information they had retrieved from Larry Franklin, who was then a policy analyst in the U.S. Defense Department, working for Douglas Feith and Paul Wolfowitz. Franklin pleaded guilty to relaying top secret information on Iran to Rosen and Weissman, and was sentenced to 12 years and 7 months in prison, a term he is currently serving.

In the New York Times story detailing the Justice Department's decision to drop the charges against Rosen and Weissman, the prosecutors claimed that the presiding federal judge, T.S. Ellis III, had raised the bar for the prosecution to prove its case against the two to a level they did not believe they could meet. The judge said that the prosecutors could only prevail if they could prove that Rosen and Weissman "knew that their distribution of the information would harm U.S. national security." That was enough to make them dismiss the charges. . .

Turn now the case of Sami Al-Arian, who was a college professor in Florida. Sami is a Palestinian, born in Kuwait. And why wasn't he born in Palestine like a good Palestinian should be? Because, most likely, his parents were chased out of Palestine when Israel undertook its ethnic cleansing of that land in order to create an exclusive Jewish state.

Al Arian was charged in 2005 in a 50 count indictment essentially with a plethora of terrorism charges. The trial lasted six months, with some 80 witnesses and 400 transcripts of intercepted phone conversations and faxes.

At the end of the prosecution's case, Al Arian's lawyers rested without offering any evidence or witnesses in his defense. After 13 days of deliberation, the jury acquitted Al Arian on 8 of 17 counts, and deadlocked on the other with 10 to 2 favoring acquittal. Two of the co-defendants charged along with Al Arian were totally acquitted.

Undaunted, the Justice Department prosecutors said they were considering re-trying Al Arian on the deadlocked jury charges, one of which carried a life sentence.

Rather than fighting on, Al Arian agreed to plead guilty to one count of conspiracy to contribute services to or for the benefit of the Palestinian Islamic Jihad (which is designated as a terrorist organization, but which the FBI admitted during trial had never carried out an attack outside of Israel. The United States has designated a number of Palestinian liberation groups as terrorists at the behest of Israel—groups that have never attacked the United States).

Al Arian had spent years in solitary confinement awaiting his trial. As part of his plea agreement the prosecution agreed not to charge Al Arian with any other crimes, and Al Arian agreed to expedited deportation.

He was, however, nearly re-charged when he refused to testify against another Palestinian organization. He went on a hunger strike, dangerous for a diabetic, but finally the prosecutors agreed that the agreement exempted him from testifying in other cases.

One would have thought that, following the jury's decision, the bar set by the jury in the Al Arian case would be so high that the prosecution would finally leave him alone. But there is apparently a difference between a Palestinian patriot and Americans spying for Israel. One group has a powerful lobby in Washington, and the other has nothing, except the urging of that powerful lobby to go after any Palestinian activist with criminal charges or anything else they can get their hands on.
OBAMA PROMISES SOME PROTECTION FROM OFFSHORE SCAMS
The following is good news, but it deals - as with the matter of torture - with only a part of the problem. It appears that the Obama administration has no intention of letting us know just who benefited in a large way from offshore tax avoidance and for how much. One reason: it is likely that a large number of them also benefited indirectly from the bank bailout. In other words, they double dipped: first they didn't pay any taxes and, second, they got a taxpayer subsidy. It's unlikely we'll ever know, but it's one of the best explanations for all the insupportable secrecy about that the bank bailout.

Bloomberg - President Barack Obama today will propose to outlaw three offshore tax-avoidance techniques U.S. companies such as Caterpillar Inc. and Procter & Gamble Co. want to use to save $190 billion over the next decade and make it riskier for Americans to stash money in tax-haven banks.

Obama and Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner are going after a strategy that allows U.S.-based multinational companies to effectively hide from the Internal Revenue Service the role their foreign subsidiaries play in shifting profits into low- tax jurisdictions such as the Cayman Islands, an administration official said.

The proposal, affecting tax rules known as "check the box," would net $86.5 billion in revenue between 2011-2019 by overhauling regulations created in Democrat Bill Clinton's administration and later written into law by a Republican- controlled Congress after Clinton tried to withdraw the rules. . .

Obama also would shift the burden of proof to individuals when the IRS alleges assets are being hidden in certain offshore bank accounts, the White House said in a statement.

"This is bad stuff," Kenneth Kies, a tax lobbyist at the Washington firm Federal Policy Group, said of Obama's plans. "This is going to be the biggest fight for the corporate community in the next two years." Kies represents General Electric Co., Anheuser-Busch Cos. and Microsoft Corp., among others. . .

In 2004, U.S.-based multinational corporations paid about $16 billion in U.S. taxes while earning about $700 billion offshore, or an effective tax rate of about 2.3 percent, according to the White House statement. The top marginal tax rate for U.S. companies is 35 percent; drug companies such as Amgen Inc. and technology companies such as Microsoft are among companies that make the biggest use of tax-deferral benefits. .

When the Clinton administration tried to rescind the benefits of the tax rules in such cases, companies mounted a lobbying effort and got Congress to back the rule, a White House official said. Obama believes the rules have no economic substance other than avoiding U.S. tax, the official said.

Obama's other corporate tax plans are patterned on those made in 2007 by House Ways and Means Committee Chairman Charles Rangel, a New York Democrat, an administration official said. . .

For individuals, Obama will propose shifting the burden of proof when the IRS believes money is being hidden offshore. In cases where individuals bank with financial institutions that haven't agreed to report certain account information to the IRS, the individual will have to prove he or she doesn't own the account, rather than requiring the IRS to prove ownership.

Tales from the past. . .

From the Review's coverage of the Clinton & Arkansas corruption story

Progressive Review, 1998 - According to the London Telegraph's Ambrose Evans-Prichard, "[Drug dealer Barry] Seal was probably the biggest importer of cocaine in American history. Between 1980 and his assassination in 1986, his team of pilots smuggled in 36 metric tons of cocaine, 104 tons of marijuana and three tons of heroin, according to a close associate of Seal. The sums of money involved were staggering. At his death, Seal left a number of operational bank accounts. One of them, at the Cayman Islands branch of the Fuji Bank, currently has an interest-earning balance of $1,645,433,000."

Progressive Review, 1996 - An independent investigator finds evidence of an electronic transfer of $50 million from the Arkansas Development Financial Authority to a bank in the Cayman Islands. Grand Cayman has a population of 18,000, 570 commercial banks, one bank regulator and a bank secrecy law. It is a favorite destination spot for laundered drug money.

Progressive Review, 1998 - Department of Justice announcement: "James Tjahaja Riady will pay a record $8.6 million in criminal fines and plead guilty to a felony charge of conspiring to defraud the United States by unlawfully reimbursing campaign donors with foreign corporate funds in violation of federal election law, the Justice Department's Campaign Financing Task Force and the United States Attorney in Los Angeles announced today. In addition, LippoBank California, a California state-chartered bank affiliated with Lippo Group, will plead guilty to 86 misdemeanor counts charging its agents, Riady and John Huang, with making illegal foreign campaign contributions from 1988 through 1994. . .

"The $8.6 million fine represents the largest sanction imposed in a campaign finance matter in the history of the United States . . . During the period of August 1992 through October 1992, shortly after Riady pledged $1 million in support of Arkansas Governor Bill Clinton's campaign for the Presidency of the United States, contributions made by Huang were reimbursed with funds wired from a foreign Lippo Group entity into an account Riady maintained at Lippo Bank and then distributed to Huang in cash. . .

"The purpose of the contributions was to obtain various benefits from various campaign committees and candidates for Lippo Group and LippoBank, including: access, meetings, and time with politicians, elected officials, and other high-level government officials. . . a repeal of the Glass-Steagall Act which limited business opportunities for LippoBank."
PACIFIC MERCURY LEVELS COULD RISE 50%
Tree Hugger - According to a new study, if mercury levels continue to rise at the rate they're predicted to rise, the amount of mercury in the Pacific will increase by 50% over the next 40 years. The study also shows just how the mercury in emissions from around the world wind up in the North Pacific Ocean:

"Methylmercury is produced in mid-depth ocean waters by processes linked to the "ocean rain." Algae, which are produced in sunlit waters near the surface, die quickly and "rain" downward to greater water depths. At depth, the settling algae are decomposed by bacteria and the interaction of this decomposition process in the presence of mercury results in the formation of methylmercury. Many steps up the food chain later, predators like tuna receive methylmercury from the fish they consume. . . it appears the recent mercury enrichment of the sampled Pacific Ocean waters is caused by emissions originating from fallout near the Asian coasts. The mercury-enriched waters then enter a long-range eastward transport by large ocean circulation currents," said USGS scientist and coauthor David Krabbenhoft.
CRASH TALK
Guardian, UK- When the former prime minister Dominique de Villepin warned that there was a risk of revolution in France, it was not just because he wanted to make life difficult for his arch-rival Nicolas Sarkozy. It was also because social unrest is genuinely on the rise. Yesterday thousands of protesters took to the streets - not as many as the millions who protested in March, but this was a respectable turnout, considering that it was the third national protest at the government's handling of the global downturn in four months.

They are not just marching: universities have ground to a halt for three months over attempts to rewrite the terms of employment contracts for lecturers. There has been a wave of "bossnappings", where chief executives arriving at plants to announce layoffs found themselves barred from leaving. There have been commando-style "picnics" in supermarkets, where people feast from shelves shouting "we will not pay for your crisis". The protests are local and apparently spontaneous. Union officials find themselves not so much leading the action as trying to head it off. In five out of seven cases, bossnapping was used against foreign-owned companies (Sony, Caterpillar, 3M) which are reputed to be more cavalier about laying off workers than their French counterparts. Nor are strikes mere stunts. They represent a widespread feeling that if the president can pay billions to preserve the boss class, and their shares, he should do the same to protect workers. .

France has one of the highest rates of youth unemployment in the developed world, with about one quarter of its 2.5 million unemployed under the age of 25.

Unsilent Generation - For more than a century, a main tenet of big business has been to prevent union participation in the organization and management of industrial production. The idea that the UAW could actually take part in setting the priorities of one of the big three automakers has been unthinkable, and all such earlier efforts by the union have been effectively crushed.

As Harold Meyerson succinctly wrote in the Washington Post last December: "In its glory days, under the leadership of Walter Reuther, the UAW was the most farsighted institution - not just the most farsighted union - in America." Meyerson continues:

Even before he became UAW president, Reuther and a team of brilliant lieutenants would drive the Big Three's top executives crazy by producing a steady stream of proposals for management. In the immediate aftermath of Pearl Harbor, Reuther, then head of the union's General Motors division, came up with a detailed plan for converting auto plants to defense factories more quickly than the industry's leaders did. At the end of the war, he led a strike at GM with a set of demands that included putting union and public representatives on GM's board.

"We are the architects of America's future,"Reuther said at the UAW's 1947 convention. It was actually the UAW that first promoted the idea of a small car, exactly 50 years ago. The union's research department set forth its plan in a 1949 pamphlet entitled "A Small Car Named Desire.'' As Meyerson writes, the pamphlet "suggested that Detroit not put all its bets on bigness, that a substantial share of American consumers would welcome smaller cars that cost less and burned fuel more efficiently." But because the union had no real role in the management of the auto industry, it got nowhere. And as Meyerson pointed out on the American Prospect, the UAW subsequently became more insular and short-sighted in the face of foreign competition and downsizing, and "stood shoulder to shoulder with management in opposing decades of bills that would have raised fuel-efficiency standards."
DID RICE ADMIT PART IN TORTURE CRIME?
David Edwards and John Byrne, Raw Story - In little-noticed comments, the former White House counsel for President Richard Nixon John Dean said Thursday that former Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice may have unwittingly admitted to a criminal conspiracy when questioned about torture by a group of student videographers at Stanford. . .

In a video that surfaced Thursday, Rice said, "The president instructed us that nothing we would do would be outside of our obligation, legal obligations under the convention against torture. . . I conveyed the authorization of the administration to the agency. And so by definition, if it was authorized by the president, it did not violate our obligations under the Convention Against Torture."

Her comments raised eyebrows from online observers, who compared Rice's answer to that of Richard Nixon's infamous quip: "When the President does it, that means that it's not illegal."

Dean said he found Rice's comments "surprising"and put her in a legal mire of possible conspiracy.

"She tried to say she didn't authorize anything, then proceeded to say she did pass orders along to the CIA to engage in torture if it was legal by the standard of the Department of Justice," Dean said. "This really puts her right in the middle of a common plan, as it's known in international law, or a conspiracy, as it's known in American law, and this indeed is a crime. If it indeed happened the way we think it did happen.". . .

Olbermann asked Dean whether Obama was violating the Geneva Conventions prohibiting torture himself by refusing to prosecute those responsible.

"He is indeed is in violation if the United States does not undertake investigation of this, or ultimately prosecution, if that's necessary," Dean asserted. "It's not only the Geneva Convention; the Convention Against Torture also requires this. There are no exceptions with torture. There are no real things like "torture light." The world community I think is going to hold the United States responsible, and if we don't proceed, somebody is going to proceed."
AID AGENCIES LIVING HIGH IN KABUL
Patrick Cockburn, Independent, UK - Vast sums of money are being lavished by Western aid agencies on their own officials in Afghanistan at a time when extreme poverty is driving young Afghans to fight for the Taliban. The going rate paid by the Taliban for an attack on a police checkpoint in the west of the country is $4, but foreign consultants in Kabul, who are paid out of overseas aids budgets, can command salaries of $250,000 to $500,000 a year. . .

The high degree of wastage of aid money in Afghanistan has long been an open secret. In 2006, Jean Mazurelle, the then country director of the World Bank, calculated that between 35 per cent and 40 per cent of aid was "badly spent". "The wastage of aid is sky-high," he said. "There is real looting going on, mainly by private enterprises. It is a scandal." . . .

Whole districts of Kabul have already been taken over or rebuilt to accommodate Westerners working for aid agencies or embassies. "I have just rented out this building for $30,000 a month to an aid organization," said Torialai Bahadery, the director of Property Consulting Afghanistan, which specializes in renting to foreigners. "It was so expensive because it has 24 rooms with en-suite bathrooms as well as armored doors and bullet-proof windows," he explained, pointing to a picture of a cavernous mansion.

Though 77 per cent of Afghans lack access to clean water, Mr Bahadery said that aid agencies and the foreign contractors who work for them insist that every bedroom should have an en-suite bathroom and this often doubles the cost of accommodation.

In addition to the expensive housing the expatriates in Kabul are invariably protected by high-priced security companies and each house is converted into a fortress. The freedom of movement of foreigners is very limited. "I am not even allowed to go into Kabul's best hotel," complained one woman working for a foreign government aid organisation. She added that to travel to a part of Afghanistan deemed wholly free of Taliban by Afghans, she had to go by helicopter and then be taken to where she wanted to go in an armored vehicle.
BANKERS STILL RUNNING WASHINGTON; BANKRUPTCY REFORM
Arianna Huffington - Just this week, the bankers and their lobbyists -- who you might have reasonably thought would be the political equivalent of lepers in the halls of power these days -- have kneecapped substantive bankruptcy reform in the Senate, helped pull the plug on a government-brokered deal with Chrysler, and tried feverishly to throw up a roadblock in the way of credit card reform in the House.

According to Sen. Dick Durbin, the banks "are still the most powerful lobby on Capitol Hill. And they frankly own the place.". .

The banks scored a lopsided victory when the Senate rejected an amendment that would have allowed homeowners facing foreclosure to renegotiate their mortgages under the guidance of a bankruptcy judge. The measure would have helped 1.7 million homeowners keep their houses, and preserved an additional $300 billion in home equity. . .

But the banking lobbyists went after it with guns a-blazing - even after Durbin and the measure's other backers seriously diluted the bill. . . . And their aim was true -- and deadly. Heading into the vote, those pushing for reform hoped to gather the 60 supporters needed to bring the cramdown amendment to a final vote. Instead, Durbin struggled to find 45 Senators willing to side with consumers. The final tally: Bankers 51, Consumers 45.

Twelve Democrats sided with the banks -- Max Baucus, Michael Bennet, Robert Byrd, Tom Carper, Byron Dorgan, Tim Johnson, Mary Landrieu, Blanche Lincoln, Ben Nelson, Mark Pryor, Arlen Specter, and Jon Tester -- as did every Republican who voted. . .

As for credit card reform, the House's resounding 357-70 passage of Carolyn Maloney's Credit Card Holders' Bill of Rights would seem like a rare defeat for the banking lobbyists who furiously opposed it. But a number of elements of the legislation demonstrate that even when the bankers lose, they still win. For instance, despite the desperate urgency of the situation, all but one of the consumer-friendly provisions of the bill won't take effect for a year. And the bill doesn't contain any cap on credit card interest rates -- an amendment to cap rates at 18 percent never got any traction. And, of course, the bankers will get another crack at derailing credit card reform when the Senate takes up its version of the bill, sponsored by Chris Dodd, later this month.

So no matter how badly the banking industry fails and how much its failures cost us, it continues to be Washington's 800 lb gorilla -- and the greatest risk to Barack Obama's presidency.
BREVITAS
PIG FLU

From an interview by Science Insider with Virologist Ruben Donis, chief of the molecular virology and vaccines branch at the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention

Q: What do you know about this swine flu virus?

R.D.: We know it's quite similar to viruses that were circulating in the United States and are still circulating in the United States and that are self-limiting, and they usually only are found in Midwestern states where there is swine farming

STUPID SCHOOL SYSTEM TRICKS

Marin Independent Journal, CA - When a few of the English learners in Jack Lieberman's class asked him for translations of some off-color English phrases, the Tamalpais Adult School teacher didn't think much of it. After all, Lieberman said, his students were all adults - and needed to know the meaning of certain words in order to avoid making embarrassing mistakes on the job or with friends. "These were bad words the students didn't want to mix up with other words, like 'sheet' or 'beach,'" said Lieberman, a six-year veteran of the adult school, which is operated by the Tamalpais Union High School District. "It's not in the curriculum, but we had about 10 minutes left before a break, and the students had made the request. I tried to do it as tastefully as possible." . . . So Lieberman was shocked last month when school Director Deidre Shannon asked him to come to her office the next morning. Three days later, Lieberman was out of a job.

ARTS & CULTURE

Metafilter - Fifty years ago. Some great jazz was caught on camera that year: Ahmad Jamal Trio: Darn That Dream (1959); Horace Silver: Señor Blues (1959); Art Blakey's Jazz Messengers: Night in Tunisia (1959); Gerry Mulligan/Art Farmer: Moonlight In Vermont (1959); Miles Davis / Gil Evans Orchestra (1959); Bud Powell with Kenny Clarke - Get Happy (1959); The Future of Jazz TV show: Billy Taylor/George Russell/Bill Evans/etc. (1959 or possibly 1958).

The head of the DC public libraries, Ginnie Cooper, has been on a book selling spree. A couple of libraries have revolted, including the Cleveland Park branch, which has been buying back its own books from Amazon, probably with funds from its Friends of the Library. But as Bruce Suderow reports in DC Watch: "Unfortunately for every library that is trying to undo Cooper's mischief, there are ten that support her decisions, probably out of fear. One branch head told me flatly, 'I'm a company man.'"

OBAMALAND

Those who think the Review was too tough on Obama - giving him 30 out of 100 points for his first 100 days - might want to check out the Black Agenda Report. They gave him 25.

OUTLYING PRECINCTS

Politico - Next week, porn star Stormy Daniels launches her "Listening Tour" across Louisiana. The star of such films as "Operation Desert Stormy" will appear in Baton Rouge and New Orleans in order to "meet with Louisiana men and women and listen to the issues and concerns they struggle with everyday" and gauge a potential run against Sen. David Vitter (R.). The untraditional path into politics for Daniels, a 29-year-old with no party affiliation at present, began in February when fans launched the website DraftStormy.com to encourage a run. . Daniels hopes that her career as a porn star (and producer, writer and director) won't prove much of a hindrance, since Vitter has some sexual history of his own

MID EAST

J. Raimondo, Anti War - Israeli spying in the U.S. is a subject the American media has not dared cover. Except for Antiwar.com and a few other sources, coverage of the Rosen-Weissman case has been sketchy to nonexistent. . . The decision to drop this case was clearly made at the top, not by the local prosecutors. Indeed, there was reportedly an energetic internal debate. The lawyers for Rosen and Weissman, for their part, clearly credited the Obama administration for the decision to quash the case, as the Washington Post reported. . . Whether this case was dropped because it became a trading card in Obama's increasingly contentious relations with the Israelis or because it was the victim of Israel's increasingly aggressive intervention in American politics we'll leave for future historians to decide. What is clear, at this point, is that it is now effectively legal for AIPAC and its allies to function quite openly as an intelligence-gathering entity for the Israeli state. The line between lobbying and espionage has been erased, at least as far as Israel's activities in the U.S. are concerned.

TORTURE

CNN - he more often Americans go to church, the more likely they are to support the torture of suspected terrorists, according to a new survey. More than half of people who attend services at least once a week -- 54 percent -- said the use of torture against suspected terrorists is "often" or "sometimes" justified. Only 42 percent of people who "seldom or never" go to services agreed, according to the analysis released Wednesday by the Pew Forum on Religion & Public Life. White evangelical Protestants were the religious group most likely to say torture is often or sometimes justified -- more than six in 10 supported it. People unaffiliated with any religious organization were least likely to back it. Only four in 10 of them did.

ABC News - As the secrets about the CIA's interrogation techniques continue to come out, there's new information . . . two private contractors who were apparently directing the brutal sessions that President Obama calls torture. . . According to current and former government officials, the CIA's secret waterboarding program was designed and assured to be safe by two well-paid psychologists now working out of an unmarked office building in Spokane, Washington. Bruce Jessen and Jim Mitchell, former military officers, together founded Mitchell Jessen and Associates. Both men declined to speak to ABC News citing non-disclosure agreements with the CIA. But sources say Jessen and Mitchell together designed and implemented the CIA's interrogation program.

FREEDOM & JUSTICE

Denver Post - Criminal charges against a junior at Dakota Ridge High School, who wore a T-shirt saying "NOBAMA" before an appearance and speech last fall by Michelle Obama at the school, were dropped. Blake Benson, 17, was one of three students at the school who chose to "stay and campaign" for Sen. John McCain when Michelle Obama spoke at the school on Nov. 3. At the time of his arrest, Benson was holding a McCain-Palin campaign sign. He was handcuffed and taken to the school's administrative office, said Dan Recht, a Denver lawyer who took the case on behalf of the American Civil Liberties Union, which represented Benson. . . "There is no more classically protected speech than peacefully protesting against one candidate and for another," said Recht. "What Blake Benson was doing is as American as apple pie." Jacki Kelley, spokesperson for the Jefferson County Sheriff's Department, said that the decision to drop the charge was made three weeks after the incident after a consultation with the Jefferson County district attorney's office.

ITALY

BBC - Silvio Berlusconi has demanded an apology from his wife after she accused him of "consorting with minors" and said she wanted a divorce.
The Italian prime minister, 72, told the Corriere della Sera that he did not think their marriage could survive. Veronica Lario spoke out after her husband attended the 18th birthday party of a friend's daughter. She has also clashed with her husband over his choice of inexperienced but attractive female election candidates. "Veronica must apologise publicly - and I don't know if that will be enough," Mr Berlusconi said in an interview with the Italian daily newspaper. "It is the third time she has done this to me in the middle of an election campaign. It's too much," the billionaire prime minister said.

HEALTH & SCIENCE

Seminal - Sen. Ben Nelson said that he will oppose the creation of a government-run health insurance plan as part of a health care overhaul, contrary to the position held by many of his fellow Democrats. Nelson, D-Neb., said he may try to assemble a coalition of like-minded centrists opposed to the creation of a public plan, as a counterweight to Democrats pushing for it. He said he does not believe a majority of the Senate supports the idea. . . Open Secrets says Nelson received $608,709 from the insurance industry in 2007-2008, making the insurance industry his biggest donor group, more than lawyers and even lobbyists.

Bio Ethics - The Scientist has reported that Merck cooked up a phony, but real sounding, peer reviewed journal and published favorably looking data for its products in them. Merck paid Elsevier to publish such a tome

INDICATORS

Reuters - The French spend more time sleeping and eating than anyone else among the world's wealthy nations, according to a study published on Monday. The average French person sleeps almost nine hours every night, more than an hour longer than the average Japanese and Korean, who sleep the least in a survey of 18 members of the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development. Despite their siesta habit, Spaniards rank only third in the poll after Americans, who sleep more than 8.5 hours. And while more and more French people grab a bite at fast-food chains these days or wolf down a sandwich at their desk, they still spend more than two hours a day eating.

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