An Expert Reveals Chinese Origins of Interrogation Techniques at Guantánamo - NYTimes.com

WASHINGTON — The military trainers who came to Guantánamo Bay in December 2002 based an entire interrogation class on a chart showing the effects of “coercive management techniques” for possible use on prisoners, including “sleep deprivation,” “prolonged constraint,” and “exposure.”

What the trainers did not say, and may not have known, was that their chart had been copied verbatim from a 1957 Air Force study of Chinese Communist techniques used during the Korean War to obtain confessions, many of them false, from American prisoners.

The recycled chart is the latest and most vivid evidence of the way Communist interrogation methods that the United States long described as torture became the basis for interrogations both by the military at the base at Guantánamo Bay, Cuba, and by the Central Intelligence Agency.

My respect for Clark is up - my respect for Obama down.

And as for McCain, I’m the son of a Naval aviator - I know what Clark’s talking about more than most.

He may have been a hot-shit jet-jockey, but that don’t make him presidential material.  And getting shot down don’t take no special talent, either.

And every time someone throws the ‘elite’ crap against Obama just remember that this child of privilege was the son and grandson of admirals.  How many ‘commoners’ could he count as close friends growing up?  You don’t think he wasn’t cut some slack because Daddy and Grand-daddy were muckety-mucks?

Then there are all the crashes and the Vietnamese endorsement.

Talking Points Memo | DC Press Lords Lay Down Fire for McCain

The McCain campaign’s claim that there’s any attack here on McCain’s war record is simply a lie—a simple attempt to fool people. This is an essential point to this entire campaign—does McCain’s military record mean that even the Democrats have to concede the point that he’s more qualified to be commander-in-chief of the US armed forces, that his foreign and national security policy judgment is superior to Obama’s? It’s simply a fact that McCain has a record of really poor judgment on a whole list of key foreign policy and national security questions.

This is one of those moments in the campaign where the nonsense from the chief DC press sachems is so palpable and overwhelming that everyone who cares about this contest needs to jump into the breach and demand that they answer why no one can question whether McCain’s war record makes him more qualified to be president and whether he has good foreign policy and national security judgment.

Talking Points Memo | I Can’t See You, I Can’t See You

We were just chatting here at the office about what’s behind the Obama campaign’s rapid rejection of Wes Clark’s statements. The read from those in touch with the Obama campaign seemed to be that they don’t want to get into a conversation that focuses attention on McCain’s war record and/or experience.

If that’s the case, it’s more troubling than it appears on the surface. I can think of a lot of other reasons why they might not want to get into this. Maybe they think it conflicts with the ‘new politics’ message they’re trying to push. Or perhaps they think the wind’s at their back or they don’t want the subject to be changed.

But if it really is a fear of getting things focused on McCain’s war record or experience it really is the kind of mistake Democrats habitually make. Take a look. McCain’s entire campaign is about his time as a POW and the claim that his war service makes him uniquely qualified to be the country’s commander-in-chief. They’re pushing the fact that he’s been on the national stage for four decades, whereas Obama’s only been there for four years. That is almost the entirety of his campaign. So it’s out there. It’s already a key focus of this campaign.

John McCain’s claim to experience, based in large part on his military service, is a key issue in this campaign. Ignoring it doesn’t make it go away.

Clark made a damn good point and never impuned McCain’s record.  I hate to say this, but maybe Clinton was right.

That doesn’t, however, mean I think Clinton would be a better president.

On the other hand, I think this means the country is really, really fucked.

Louisiana passes first antievolution “academic freedom” law

As we noted last month, a number of states have been considering laws that, under the guise of “academic freedom,” single out evolution for special criticism. Most of them haven’t made it out of the state legislatures, and one that did was promptly vetoed. But the last of these bills under consideration, the Louisiana Science Education Act (LSEA), was enacted by the signature of Governor Bobby Jindal yesterday. The bill would allow local school boards to approve supplemental classroom materials specifically for the critique of scientific theories, allowing poorly-informed board members to stick their communities with Dover-sized legal fees.

GOP rallying cry: “Let’s put magic back in science!”

Open Left:: Bush Cites Enviro Concerns to Curb Solar Development...While Accelerating Oil Drilling

LAFAYETTE, IN - A few weeks back, I wrote a New York Times magazine article about the populist uprising against unbridled oil and gas drilling in the Mountain West. The article highlighted a major theme in my new book, THE UPRISING. In the article, I discussed how the Bush Bureau of Land Management has thrown the principle of environmental caution overboard by opening up a huge amount of federal land to drilling. So it is with more than a little bit absurd to read this New York Times story today:

“Faced with a surge in the number of proposed solar power plants, the federal government has placed a moratorium on new solar projects on public land until it studies their environmental impact, which is expected to take about two years. The Bureau of Land Management says an extensive environmental study is needed to determine how large solar plants might affect millions of acres it oversees in six Western states.”

TPM Election Central | Talking Points Memo | Obama Making Private Calls Appealing To Hillary’s Top Fundraisers—And Sometimes Hearing Criticism In Return

“Obama has been calling Hillary’s top money people and asking for their support, but the fundraisers are in some cases being critical of Obama’s operation,” said a senior Hillary person who works directly with her top donors on a regular basis.

[...]

But Hillary’s debt isn’t the only concern.

The senior Hillary source also said that in addition to the campaign’s debt, the Hillary donors wanted clear signs that they were being heard. “People want this to work,” this source said, “but they also want to have their say before they play nice.”

Informed Comment: Baradei: Attack on Iran Would Create Fireball in ME;

The American interpretation of a recent Israeli air force exercise as a warning to Iran that it could be bombed caused oil futures prices to rise and the US stock market to drop. In other words, if you’re an American with a pension fund, this stuff cost you money yesterday.

$1 billion?  Get ready for DotBomb 2.0

Wired News - AP News

SAN FRANCISCO (AP)—Four venture capital firms are betting Internet startup LinkedIn Corp. is worth $1 billion, highlighting the lofty hopes riding on online services that connect people with their friends, family and business associates.

The 10-figure valuation is implied by a $53 million investment being announced Wednesday from Bain Capital Ventures, Sequoia Capital, Greylock Partners and Bessemer Venture Partners.

The investors received a combined 5 percent stake in Mountain View-based LinkedIn, whose 5-year-old Web site helps people use the Web to advance their professional careers.

PoliBlog (TM):  A Rough Draft of my Thoughts » More on Boumediene

Since it is clearly possible for US forces to have arrested the wrong people, I cannot see how it is an abuse for SCOTUS to decide that those in captivity should have the right to question their detention.

It is incredibly selfish and myopic to take the attitude that because foreigners are being detained that it somehow doesn’t matter that innocent people are being caught up in the dragnet.

To put it another way, when the FARC kidnaps someone for political reasons and holds them without chance of release simply because they believe they have the right to do so within the context of a self-defined cause, we all find that to be an abomination. Why is it is any different if the US government engages in the same activity?

This is frightening power to give to any human being, and yet it seems that some believe that that power ought to reside, unchallenged, in the hands of the President of the United States. No wonder the GOP “brand” is so tarnished at the moment.

I will also reiterate a point I made yesterday: this type of behavior is allegedly about making us safe, but the arrest and detention of innocents will not make people love us, it will make them hate us. How that makes us “safe” is beyond me.

Army Overseer Tells of Ouster Over KBR Stir - NYTimes.com

The Army official who managed the Pentagon’s largest contract in Iraq says he was ousted from his job when he refused to approve paying more than $1 billion in questionable charges to KBR, the Houston-based company that has provided food, housing and other services to American troops.

The official, Charles M. Smith, was the senior civilian overseeing the multibillion-dollar contract with KBR during the first two years of the war. Speaking out for the first time, Mr. Smith said that he was forced from his job in 2004 after informing KBR officials that the Army would impose escalating financial penalties if they failed to improve their chaotic Iraqi operations.

Army auditors had determined that KBR lacked credible data or records for more than $1 billion in spending, so Mr. Smith refused to sign off on the payments to the company. “They had a gigantic amount of costs they couldn’t justify,” he said in an interview. “Ultimately, the money that was going to KBR was money being taken away from the troops, and I wasn’t going to do that.”

But he was suddenly replaced, he said, and his successors — after taking the unusual step of hiring an outside contractor to consider KBR’s claims — approved most of the payments he had tried to block.

The Rude Pundit

The 66 former Gitmo inmates profiled by McClatchy news demonstrate that very, very few of nearly 800 men detained by the United States were, in fact, killers of any sort. Indeed, some of them actively supported the U.S. against the Taliban and al-Qaeda: “In effect, many of the detainees posed no danger to the United States or its allies. The investigation also found that despite the uncertainty about whom they were holding, U.S. soldiers beat and abused many prisoners.”

While, like so many reports and investigations do these days, this only confirms what we already knew, we now can say that, in our American name, innocent people were held in cells, separated from their families, lives, and communities, interrogated, often being beaten and tortured, and they had no legitimate way of saying, “Yo, not a killer over here.”

When conservatives go ballistic over last week’s Supreme Court decision saying that detainees actually can challenge their detention, when John McCain calls it “one of the worst decisions in history,” they are saying that America should not be any better than its enemies, that innocence is a technicality, and that the powerless deserve their fates.

...he’s a true man of peace.

President Bush regrets his legacy as man who wanted war - Times Online

President Bush has admitted to The Times that his gun-slinging rhetoric made the world believe that he was a “guy really anxious for war” in Iraq. He said that his aim now was to leave his successor a legacy of international diplomacy for tackling Iran.

In an exclusive interview, he expressed regret at the bitter divisions over the war and said that he was troubled about how his country had been misunderstood. “I think that in retrospect I could have used a different tone, a different rhetoric.”

Phrases such as “bring them on” or “dead or alive”, he said, “indicated to people that I was, you know, not a man of peace”. He said that he found it very painful “to put youngsters in harm’s way”. He added: “I try to meet with as many of the families as I can. And I have an obligation to comfort and console as best as I possibly can. I also have an obligation to make sure that those lives were not lost in vain.”

Oh, and maybe something like this may have led to the misperception, too:

McClellan Recounts Administration’s Missed Chances After ‘04 Election - washingtonpost.com

Among the anecdotes in “Wiser in Battle: A Soldier’s Story” is an arresting portrait of Bush after four contractors were killed in Fallujah in 2004, triggering a fierce U.S. response that was reportedly egged on by the president.

During a videoconference with his national security team and generals, Sanchez writes, Bush launched into what he described as a “confused” pep talk:

“Kick ass!” he quotes the president as saying. “If somebody tries to stop the march to democracy, we will seek them out and kill them! We must be tougher than hell! This Vietnam stuff, this is not even close. It is a mind-set. We can’t send that message. It’s an excuse to prepare us for withdrawal.”

“There is a series of moments and this is one of them. Our will is being tested, but we are resolute. We have a better way. Stay strong! Stay the course! Kill them! Be confident! Prevail! We are going to wipe them out! We are not blinking!”

...how dare they think they can get by without us!

Re-upping in Iraq - Los Angeles Times

But in order to reach an accord, the U.S. will need to do a better job of diplomacy—never a strong suit of this administration. The Iraqis, for their part, will have to overcome the intoxication produced by recent victories and come to a realistic appraisal that they will need substantial American support for years to come.

Op-Ed Columnist - David Brooks - The Great Seduction by Debt - Op-Ed - NYTimes.com

The people who created this country built a moral structure around money. The Puritan legacy inhibited luxury and self-indulgence. Benjamin Franklin spread a practical gospel that emphasized hard work, temperance and frugality. Millions of parents, preachers, newspaper editors and teachers expounded the message. The result was quite remarkable.

The United States has been an affluent nation since its founding. But the country was, by and large, not corrupted by wealth. For centuries, it remained industrious, ambitious and frugal.

Over the past 30 years, much of that has been shredded. The social norms and institutions that encouraged frugality and spending what you earn have been undermined. The institutions that encourage debt and living for the moment have been strengthened. The country’s moral guardians are forever looking for decadence out of Hollywood and reality TV. But the most rampant decadence today is financial decadence, the trampling of decent norms about how to use and harness money.

Sixty-two scholars have signed on to a report by the Institute for American Values and other think tanks called, “For a New Thrift: Confronting the Debt Culture,” examining the results of all this. This may be damning with faint praise, but it’s one of the most important think-tank reports you’ll read this year.

The deterioration of financial mores has meant two things. First, it’s meant an explosion of debt that inhibits social mobility and ruins lives. Between 1989 and 2001, credit-card debt nearly tripled, soaring from $238 billion to $692 billion. By last year, it was up to $937 billion, the report said.

Second, the transformation has led to a stark financial polarization. On the one hand, there is what the report calls the investor class. It has tax-deferred savings plans, as well as an army of financial advisers. On the other hand, there is the lottery class, people with little access to 401(k)’s or financial planning but plenty of access to payday lenders, credit cards and lottery agents.

While David has been hanging with real folks at Applebees Kevin Phillips has been pounding this drum for a long time.  OK, better late than never, I suppose.  I wonder what his twist will be?

The loosening of financial inhibition has meant more options for the well-educated but more temptation and chaos for the most vulnerable. Social norms, the invisible threads that guide behavior, have deteriorated. Over the past years, Americans have been more socially conscious about protecting the environment and inhaling tobacco. They have become less socially conscious about money and debt.

Ah, I see, it’s all the fault of those who were distracted by the environment and tobacco!  It had nothing to do with deregulation of the financial industry and its tremendous lobbying power, with special interests such as the lottery industry with the decline in tax revenues resulting from the GOP anti-tax crusade, eh?  Or an easy-money Fed?

The agents of destruction are many. State governments have played a role. They aggressively hawk their lottery products, which some people call a tax on stupidity. Twenty percent of Americans are frequent players, spending about $60 billion a year. The spending is starkly regressive. A household with income under $13,000 spends, on average, $645 a year on lottery tickets, about 9 percent of all income. Aside from the financial toll, the moral toll is comprehensive. Here is the government, the guardian of order, telling people that they don’t have to work to build for the future. They can strike it rich for nothing.

Payday lenders have also played a role. They seductively offer fast cash — at absurd interest rates — to 15 million people every month.

Credit card companies have played a role. Instead of targeting the financially astute, who pay off their debts, they’ve found that they can make money off the young and vulnerable. Fifty-six percent of students in their final year of college carry four or more credit cards.

Congress and the White House have played a role. The nation’s leaders have always had an incentive to shove costs for current promises onto the backs of future generations. It’s only now become respectable to do so.

Wall Street has played a role. Bill Gates built a socially useful product to make his fortune. But what message do the compensation packages that hedge fund managers get send across the country?

No, the responsibility is widely spread - appears it must be bi-partisan.  No need to look much closer - move along folks.  Don’t look closer at Tom DeLay’s K Street Project, Alan Greenspan’s decisions, Dubya’s fiscal irresponsibility, Norquist, the explosion of lobbying, bankruptcy law changes, deregulation, etc.  Dont look at the policies which enabled all this…

I’m surprised he didn’t conclude that Social Security needs to be done away with and that the real cure will be Personal Investment Accounts (aka “trust your money with Bear Stearns and friends").

Think Progress » Clarke On Iraq War Architects: ‘We Shouldn’t Let These People Back Into Polite Society’

OLBERMANN: Democrats, prominent Democrats said today that impeachment was not a remedy to this, but can anyone argue with a straight face, post-Lewinsky that these lies, the blood and treasure that they cost us, don’t deserve some kind of remedy. And is there some other kind of remedy?

CLARKE: Well, there may be some other kind of remedy. There may be some sort of truth and reconciliation commission process that’s been tried in other countries, South Africa, Salvador and what not, where if you come forward and admit that you were in error or admit that you lied, admit that you did something, then you’re forgiven. Otherwise, you are censured in some way. Now, I just don’t think we can let these people back into polite society and give them jobs on university boards and corporate boards and just let them pretend that nothing ever happened when there are 4,000 Americans dead and 25,000 Americans grieviously wounded, and they’ll carry those wounds and suffer all the rest of their lives. Someone should have to pay in some way for the decisions that they made to mislead the American people.

OLBERMANN: Speaking of coming forward, I was wondering if there would be an opportunity to raise this issue with you because he’s so, he was so connected to you in a different context when your first criticisms became known around 2004 before the election, what — in a weird way, is Scott McClellan’s book kind of the passage way from this being a theoretical discussion to almost a text book saying how they managed to sell us this garbage?

CLARKE: Well, Scott McClellan’s book is further proof. It sort of the other end of this big Senate Intelligence report. But Scott, also, is asking for forgiveness. You know, he asked me, after he left your program and I bumped into him, literally coming through the revolving door in a hotel. Metaphorically, no really, he was coming through a revolving door and he asked me to forgive him and I think we do have to forgive people who ask for forgiveness. You know, the 9/11 families forgave me my inadequacies in dealing with al Qaeda and I greatly appreciated that. We do need to forgive people, but first they have to admit they lied.

Jeez, she would probably want to be in charge of planning Obama’s inauguration, redecorating the White House, selecting the cabinet, etc.

As long as there’s a camera, tape recorder or journalist nearby she’ll continue to perform run.

Marc Ambinder
(June 04, 2008) - Unity Watch: NY Cong. Delegation Plots Clinton’s Next Move

The following notes were passed along by someone who listened to the just-completed conference call conducted by members of New York’s Democratic congressional delegation:

Sen. Charles Rangel’s a little impatient about BET Founder Bob Johnson’s letter to Rep, James Clyburn urging Clyburn to urge (a third party urge!—no, a fourth party urge!) to put Clinton on the ticket. Rangel said he worried about Democratic Reps. Meeks, Towns and Clark, all of whom face primary challengers from pro-Obama candidates.

Rep. Jerrold Nadler said that the delegation should do everything in its power to get Clinton on the ticket

Rep. Nita Lowey made a plea for patience. The reality, she said, is that the party has to unify, but Hillary needs some time to adjust… maybe even two weeks.

‘Race for the White House with David Gregory’ for Monday, June 2 - Tucker- msnbc.com

DAVID BROOKS, “NEW YORK TIMES”:  Obama‘s problem is he doesn‘t seem like a guy who can go into an Applebee‘s salad bar and people think he fits in naturally there.  He has to change to be more like that Applebee‘s guy and as he‘s done that he‘s become much more transactional.  Much more, I‘m going to deliver this and this and this to you on policy.

Crooks and Liars » Memo to David Brooks: Applebee’s doesn’t have a salad bar

C&Ler;Mitzi left this in the comment section:

I called my Applebee’s today to make sure I was correct and they do not have a salad bar. Just goes to show how much these people who make these comments have no idea how “regular people” live their lives.

I called an Applebee’s also and they told me that none of their restaurants have a salad bar. David, sometimes the jokes write themselves. What an idiot.

Sending A Message To Hillary

She invited comments. But you can’t actually ask her to quit. The email form on her website begins:

“I’m with you Hillary, and I am proud of everything we are fighting for.”

Talking Points Memo | TPMtv: Release the Hounds!

Scott McClellan’s surprisingly critical memoir of his time as White House Press Secretary put the White House in full-on damage control mode. McClellan’s book may have been off-message, but the White House and its surrogates were conspicuously “on” in their response ...

You have to watch the video to get the full effect.

...for punching poor, defenseless frogs.

Political Radar: Clinton: ‘You Can’t Tell How Far a Frog Will Jump Until You Punch Him’

ABC News’ Eloise Harper Reports: Facing an increasingly improbable candidacy for the White House, Democratic presidential candidate Sen. Hillary Clinton, D-N.Y., showed no signs of stopping on the trail in South Dakota and cited an old Arkansas, saying in an off-handed reference to her campaign: “you can’t tell how far a frog will jump until you punch him.”

Uncontacted Amazon tribe photographed - Science- msnbc.com

RIO DE JANEIRO - Amazon Indians from one of the world’s last uncontacted tribes have been photographed from the air, with striking images released on Thursday showing them painted bright red and brandishing bows and arrows.

Ex-Press Aide Writes That Bush Misled U.S. on Iraq - washingtonpost.com

Former White House press secretary Scott McClellan writes in a new memoir that the Iraq war was sold to the American people with a sophisticated “political propaganda campaign” led by President Bush and aimed at “manipulating sources of public opinion” and “downplaying the major reason for going to war.”

McClellan includes the charges in a 341-page book, “What Happened: Inside the Bush White House and Washington’s Culture of Deception,” that delivers a harsh look at the White House and the man he served for close to a decade. He describes Bush as demonstrating a “lack of inquisitiveness,” says the White House operated in “permanent campaign” mode, and admits to having been deceived by some in the president’s inner circle about the leak of a CIA operative’s name.

I suppose he won’t be receiving any more Christmas cards from George and Laura, eh?

Woof, woof, woof, woof....

Bill Clinton: ‘Cover up’ hiding Hillary Clinton’s chances - CNN.com

(CNN)—Former President Bill Clinton said that Democrats were more likely to lose in November if Hillary Clinton is not the nominee, and suggested some were trying to “push and pressure and bully” superdelegates to make up their minds prematurely.

Bill Clinton did not explain who he was accusing of “covering up” Sen. Clinton’s chances.

“I can’t believe it. It is just frantic the way they are trying to push and pressure and bully all these superdelegates to come out,” Clinton said at a South Dakota campaign stop Sunday, in remarks first reported by “ABC News.”

Clinton also suggested some were trying to “cover up” Sen. Clinton’s chances of winning in key states that Democrats will have to win in the general election.

Cindy McCain: Like Hubby, Not So Charitable—By Ken Silverstein (Harper’s Magazine)

Senator John McCain’s charitable works don’t appear to be terribly impressive. As I reported here a few months back, he has essentially been the sole contributor to the John and Cindy McCain Family foundation, which between 2001 and 2006 made contributions of roughly $1.6 million, of which more than $500,000 went to his kids’ private schools. So McCain apparently received major tax deductions for supporting elite schools attended by his children.

Last Friday, wife Cindy — heiress to Hensley & Co. and a major Anheuser-Busch distributor—whose net worth is approximately $100 million — “cav[ed] to overwhelming pressure…and finally released a two page summary of her 2006 tax return,” reports perrspectives.com. “A quick glance at the filing explains her hesitation to let her tax returns see the light of day. As it turns out, Mrs. McCain gave only 1% of her $6 million income to charity in 2006.” And just like her husband, most of her contributions “went to private schools attended by her children.”

Presidential hopeful Hilary Clinton today called for an immediate pardon for Sirhan Sirhan, assasin of Robert Kennedy.

“Robert Kennedy was a man of great compasion and what greater tribute to his legacy can there be but to turn the other cheek and pardon Sirhan.  He has paid his debt to society and is ready to lead a productive life.”