Trippin

This week in San Jose a conference is convening to discuss the the potential for certain psychedelic substances to treat depression, anxiety, PTSD, and OCD. Apparently, a number of studies have had positive results, though they are regarded as only "preliminary".

Let's just hope they aren't indoctrinating the children to be Commie acid-heads.

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/04/12/science/12psychedelics.html

Arrested for Using Twitter, In America

Please Watch. I have a personal connection to some of the people involved in this, makes me pretty angry...

George Bush Countdown: 3 Days

#3: The "War on Terror", a crazy illegal, aggressive, failed cluster f*ck.

Guantanamo, the Patriot Act, Abu Ghraib prison, torture, wire-tapping, extraordinary rendition, racial profiling, etc. If you don't know or understand how the ideas of civil liberties and American integrity have been devastated as a result of the "War on Terror" do yourself a favor and check it out.

Terrorism, Racism, and the Twilight Zone

A Muslim family was pulled off of a commercial airliner after a series of events started by a complaint to the flight crew from a couple of passengers that the Muslim family was acting weird before takeoff. The FBI eventually declared them to be "safe" but the airline, AirTran, would not rebook the family. You know what's more scary than Muslims on your plane?

A gremlin on your wing.

Guantanamo Protestors Convicted for Demonstration at Supreme Court

Thirty-four members of the group Witness Against Torture were convicted in a Washington DC court this week for their demonstration calling for the prison in Guantanamo Bay to be closed. Eighty-one protesters had initially been arrested. Their is a law against protesting on the grounds of the Supreme Court and a rational argument can be made for the need for such a law. However, there is also a rational and moral argument for the need to break this law in this case. Kudos to these folks for speaking out in dramatic fashion.

One more thing. During the trial one defendant turned his back on the judge and was held in contempt of court.

The Photography Threat

From a gothamist.com post over the weekend comes word of another incident where a citizen was approached by law enforcement over their use of a small hand held device used to capture images for later reproduction, aka the camera. This particular story concerns a photo-blogger taking pictures of the Gowanus Canal in Brooklyn. The often stinky and always dirty canal provides a lot of opportunities for interesting photographs as it runs through an industrial area of Brooklyn, is crossed by a number of little used draw bridges, and is home to a few boats and occasional brave ducks. A number of popular NYC blogs make the canal and its surrounding neighborhoods their main topics.

Just for fun, here is a photo of the canal that somehow appeared in my very own camera a few months back:



The power of common sense has been talked about before on plasticblog but it can never be mentioned too much. How about instead of this patch-work effort to thwart terrorism through random and nominal restrictions on photography and liquid volumes, not to mention large scale military incursions into a nation that was not a threat, the government works on weening us off of oil and rethinks our foreign policy in the middle east?

The Meme of the Ticking Time Bomb

Imagine if you will....

Three shopping centers near major U.S. cities have been hit by suicide bombers. Hundreds are dead, thousands injured. A fourth attack has been averted when the attackers were captured off the Florida coast and taken to Guantanamo Bay, where they are being questioned. U.S. intelligence believes that another larger attack is planned and could come at any time.

This scenario was given by a FOX News moderator at a Republican Presidential debate in May 2007 leading up to the question,

How aggressively would you interrogate those being held at Guantanamo Bay for information about where the next attack might be?

The ticking time bomb scenario has been the subject of not a few stupid movies (Face Off) and t.v. shows (24). In recent years it has become a way to justify the torture of prisoners, including those not involved in any sort of ticking time bomb scenario. The idea is by outlawing torture you remove the possibility of beating the location of a hidden bomb out of a terrorist just in time to save the day, like a man would.

It is a pretty simplistic and silly scenario. It is not surprising that a FOX News employee would bring it up. I imagine its brought up on their airwaves pretty often. It may surprise you, however, if a member of the Unites States Supreme Court would bring it up when talking about the Constitutionality of torture in the context of the 8th Amendment ban on cruel and unusual punishment.

During an interview with the BBC, Associate Justice Antonin Scalia said it would be "absurd" to say you can't smack a suspect around or stick things in their fingernails to find out the location of hidden bomb in Los Angeles.

Ugh. So, ok...Some terrorist plants a bomb somewhere in L.A. Somehow, he is caught by law enforcement, lets say the CIA, after planting the bomb but before it blows up, during its ticking time. The CIA has enough info to catch this guy but doesn't know where the bomb is. Seems like shoddy investigative work. Anyway, they get this guy in a back room somewhere. There is a ticking time bomb, remember, apparently the guy has set it to tick away for a long time. The CIA starts going to work on him, maybe they use a blow torch. Why would this terrorist ever tell them anything? Eventually, the bomb will stop ticking and blow up and he will have achieved his goal. Why not tell them faulty info to get them to stop torturing him until word comes down that the ticking time bomb has stopped ticking?

It is a patently dumb scenario that is only good for cheesy suspense. I expect it's use by talking heads and dirty politicians, but a Supreme Court Justice...

Protesters Arrested At Supreme Court

photo from the AP

On Friday, seventy-one people were arrested on the grounds of the Supreme Court both in the building and outside the building. There is a law prohibiting protest anywhere on the grounds of the court. The protesters were demonstrating against Guantanamo Bay Military Prison, calling for it's closure. The protest coincides with the current case before the court that will rule on whether detainees can challenge their confinement in the U.S. Federal Court system.

Friday was the six year anniversary of the opening of the prison.

U.S.A - Working Hard to Protect Secrets and Corporations

The Department of Justice has asked a U.S. District Court to throw out a case brought by the ACLU against Boeing subsidiary Jeppesen Dataplan for their complicit role in the CIA's extraordinary rendition. The DOJ's request is on the grounds that such a case would expose government secrets and will harm national security.

The ACLU contends that Jeppesen Dataplan should be held liable for the logistical aid it provided for flights carrying kidnapped men from Afghanistan who were then tortured in prison. According to Jeppesen's web site, the company,

...deliver[s] solutions that integrate people, processes and technology to
deliver safety, efficiency and economy to air, sea and rail operators around
the world.

whatever that means.

The DOJ's attempt to have the case thrown out is criticized deftly by the ACLU in their press release,

The whole world knows about the ‘extraordinary rendition’ program and the
government’s invocation of ‘state secrets’ in this case is just another cynical attempt by the administration to cover up an illegal and immoral program.

Historically, the ‘state secrets’ defense has been used to exclude discrete information in cases that may contain sensitive national security content. However, with increasingly regularity, the current administration has invoked the defense as a means of dismissing entire cases seeking accountability for illegal practices and policies it has implemented in the name of national security.

Isn't it convenient that these "state secrets" protect both illegal inhuman treatment and corporate bank accounts!?

The "War on Drugs" Harms the Economy and National Security

A great article from Market Watch discusses 3 economic trends that have arisen, at least in part, from the failed "War on Drugs". Here's what the article says plus some of my own thoughts.

First, the "War on Terror". There is irony that one failed "War On" is now hurting another failing "War On". By treating addicts as criminals and failing to treat the drug trade as "a market" real criminals, i.e., major drug dealers are making huge sums of money while people with addictions are punished rather than treated. The example of Afghanistan demonstrates how the demand for the countries poppy (opium and heroine) has provided warlords and, yes, the Taliban, with an income source and a power base with which to attack and NATO and American troops.

Remember the television and print ads implying that your purchase of a dime bag aids terrorists in Afghanistan!!!

Secondly, prohibition creates a shadow economy which creates powerful criminal syndicates. Because drugs are incredibly lucrative to those controlling their movement into the U.S. the techniques used by drug fueled organized crime syndicates are pervasive and very effective. They have learned how to cross borders in Mexico and Canada with ease and are backed by such large sums of money that they slide easily into politics and policing through bribery and corruption.

Third, the ignored front on the "War on Drugs" is prescription addiction. Big Pharma, as it is sometimes called, which is silly, it's the Pharmaceutical industry pushes drugs on doctors who then in turn are more apt to prescribe these drugs to patients who then become addicted. It may just be me but I would much rather see some regulation on the Pharma-Doctor schmoozefest than police action directed at busting up Medical Marijuana dispensers.