Federal Employees: Scapegoats

That’s all I have to say about this.

On the allegations against Assange

I posted this here, and think it’s worth preserving:

“…I think that everyone … is missing a very important point.

Until a court proceeding in a neutral court takes place, the allegations are just that: allegations. People take sides on this because they assume that one version of events or the other is correct. I’m sure that if it were proven that Assange coerced anyone to have sex, his defenders would say he should be punished under the law. I’m sure that if it were proven that the women conspired to exact revenge on Assange or even conspired before the encounters to falsely accuse him especially if that happened to be a machination to silence Wikileaks, those who are so vociferous in attacking him now would be ashamed of their virulent statements.

The issue is that a neutral judge has to allow for the presumption of innocence. That makes prosecuting allegations of this kind, involving degrees of consent in a private act, extraordinarily difficult. Where is the corroborating evidence of coercion? In most cases that come to trial, the evidence is indisputable: a record of violence by the defendant, bruises on the victim, a prompt visit by the victim to the police or emergency care, avoidance of the defendant, and so on. While what we know of this case are mere shadows of what will appear in the courtroom, so far, there is no corroborating evidence. The only reason that the allegations as we know them fit even minimum standards for prosecution is that there are two accusers.

And that, in itself, raises one’s eyebrows. Within a few days, two strangers encounter Assange and are so taken by him that they independently participate in sexual encounters which then turn into coercion, but are not so coerced that they even break off contact with him.

Ok, it might have happened that way. But any neutral judge will want to know more than we presently do know before reaching any conclusion that these encounters were not in some manner staged.”

I guess I am just not sure why it is so hard for people to suspend judgment. How much do we really, actually know? How much of the judgment that we have reached is based on our imaginations about either Assange or the plaintiffs?

Also, a separate matter is why the Swedish court, if it really wants to interview Assange, can’t send a delegation to depose him in the UK? Granted, it’s unusual, but if it wants to establish that the Swedish system is operating out of a genuine desire to do justice and not just to get Assange onto territory where he could be extradited by the US, that would seem to be a minimal step it could take. A better one would be to provide guarantees to re-extradite Assange only back to the UK whether he is found guilty or innocent. And, considering that part of the pressure being exerted on Assange is financial, to pay his plane ticket both ways.

There are ways to establish good faith. So far, Sweden has availed itself of none of them.

Chalk Up Another One For Mass Transit

Why did Cliff Lee sign with the Phillies instead of staying with Texas?

The trains:

Kristen Lee wanted her husband to return to the Phillies because of “how easy it is to get from point A to point B” in Philadelphia, she was quoted as saying by the Philadelphia Inquirer.

The Phillies play three miles from City Hall. The stadium is a $1.85 ride from downtown on the Broad Street Line, plus a three-block walk.

Arlington has a train from Dallas and Fort Worth. Barely.

The Trinity Railway Express skirts the north edge of Arlington and stops six miles from the stadium.

So everybody drives. And waits in traffic.

“Even in Dallas,” Kristen Lee was quoted, “[from] where we were staying, it was hard to get to the ballpark.”

There you go.

I Really Like My Representative In The State Legislature

His name is John Lesch, and here’s a selection of recent Tweets from his Twitter account:

Unemployment rate out of control, but at least I can get a Mexican 12 oz Coke in a glass bottle. NAFTA: a great idea.
19 Dec
»
At the theater to see Tron IMax 3D. They gave Alice (age 10) a really big drink. She said. “This must be called the bladder blaster.”
18 Dec
»
George Washington “Cannot tell a lie.” TPaw, it seems, doesn’t know the difference. http://bit.ly/gplmWy Presidential aspirations, huh?
18 Dec
»
RT @timkaine: Today, Americans can celebrate the beginning of the end of the outdated and discriminatory “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” policy.
18 Dec
»
Phrase of the day: Porcini Rubbed Delmonico.
16 Dec
»
Just dropped a Cheeto on the floor under my desk. When I moved feet to find it, I stepped on it. This calls for a shakespearean soliloquy.
16 Dec
»
You can vote purple, but you can’t talk purple.
15 Dec
»
RT @AaronMFlynn: 8% of House Repubs voted to repeal DADT. 77% of the American people support repeal. And which party represents the people?
15 Dec

A Mae West for the Dollar

[For those who are less ancient, a Mae West is a flotation device]

David Oakley of Financial Times says that European banks will need an excess of 500B dollars to handle transactions denominated in dollars. This is driving the Euro/dollar exchange upward and making swaps more expensive. The Fed is partially filling the gap. The banks are also issuing more debt in dollars, since then they can cheaply swap back into Euros. There is also a significant rise in issuance of US debt by foreign companies because of the cheaper swap rates.

One more factor to make next year more exciting than one would like it to be.

Why Going After WikiLeaks Is Wrong

The US Government’s vicious attacks against WikiLeaks and its allies (an attack that includes the psychological undermining of PFC Bradley Manning, treatment that won’t get him to provide true and accurate information but will eventually destroy him mentally) only reinforces for observers the deep and searing hypocrisy of the US preaching on freedom, democracy and transparency to people it doesn’t like (such as the Iranian government) while allowing the hostile coup takeovers of countries like Honduras by people who are against democracy, freedom and transparency, and show that by their eagerness to kill thousands upon thousands of their own people.

It was already laughable, in light of what was already known about America’s foreign policy, for Hillary Clinton and Joe Lieberman to blather about how important it was for Iran, a nation they hate and want to destroy, to respect internet and other freedoms. Now that the US’ true attitudes towards freedom, democracy and transparency have been revealed for all to see, the wildly intemperate scorpionlike reaction of Clinton, Lieberman, Biden and most every other prominent American politician or government official just reinforces what we all knew.

US cables on Brazil and Honduras #cablegate

The latest Wikileaks releases show Brazil in fall 2009 begging the US for help with a situation in which they are being subjected to terrorism from the Honduran dictatorship. The US does not appear to provide any assistance beyond lip service. The State Department is advised that elections cannot be free or fair, so they proceed with them anyway.

In early September, Brazil complains that sanctions and pressure on the Honduran dictatorship are inadequate.

On the 23rd of September, the situation is serious:

Viana explained that water, electricity, and phone lines to the Brazilian Embassy in Tegucigalpa had been cut and the Embassy was running solely on a diesel generator that was running out of fuel. As of 05:00 this morning the Honduran police and military cleared the streets surrounding the Brazilian Embassy of protestors. Seventy pro-Zelaya Honduran protestors sought refuge in the Brazilian Embassy and remain there; Viana said that the protestors remain calm. Eight Brazilians from the Embassy were allowed to return home, leaving only the Charge and three other Brazilians at the Embassy. So far, the Honduran security forces have not intruded on the Brazilian Embassy, however Viana noted that the streets around the Embassy are full of security forces and it is clear that the Honduran strategy is to “asphyxiate the Embassy.”…

Viana lamented that the Brazilian Embassy did not have “the type of protection the U.S. Embassy has, the Marines,” because they are unable to defend the Embassy.

The US does not volunteer to supply any military assistance.

Continues below the fold

Fortunately there’s Eli

Otherwise, how would we know about the world’s only Heavy Metal Parrot?

Honduras dictatorship, day 342

The following is President Zelaya’s response to the Ford cable. It’s a quick and sloppy translation, but it conveys the sense of it. The main point of interest is that the Ford cable does demonstrate how the US “manufactures its enemies,” as Zelaya says. Crossposted to DK.

The letters from the Empire’s diplomats

voselsoberano.com | Saturday 11 December 2010 23:34

Mel Zelaya

A new embarrassment to the foreign policy of the United States has been exposed, this time in relation to my persona as Constitutional President of Honduras. These [letters], which do not reflect my personality but are dedicated to criminal accusations and reckless [judgments] which amount to defamation and calumny, and an affront to the dignity of the Honduran people.

Over a year has passed; 18 long months since the coup d’état en which the groups of the Honduran far right, presumed friends and partners of the “USA”, seized power in the country. It’s odd that until now, they have been unable to demonstrate even a single connection to organized crime, nor of a connection of this with Cuba, Nicaragua, and Venezuela in the acts of corruption that I supposedly committed during my term of office.

The author of the hallucination is Charles Ford, alleged diplomat, who here is [revealed] as a fraud and an instigator, and brings to light the hidden nature of US diplomacy for the world’s countries, since he operated as US ambassador when I assumed the first magistracy of the country.

This is the same ambassador who demanded from me a visa of diplomatic asylum for the terrorist Luis Posada Carriles, the same one who said publicly in the media that [Venezuelan] President Chávez had dirty, corrupt negotiations with me, the same one who when I won the presidency sent me a list of the people I should name to my Cabinet and who, of course, was infuriated when I said no.

He’s the one who accompanied me to the White House to attend a meeting with President Bush, with part of my Cabinet, where Bush ranted against the President of Venezuela Hugo Chávez and attacked my friendship with him. He’s the one who through my whole management defended the frauds by US oil transnationals in Honduras, something which he strangely omits from this cable, and similarly abstains from mentioning the things over which we had arguments and problems.

In Ambassador Ford’s serious and baseless accusations, full of mockery against my persona as head of state, are rendered transparent the capricious means which diplomats use, the manipulation which they use in an ill-intentioned fashion to justify the crimes and attacks on power which they impel in the length and breadth of the world. The cable of Mr. Ford, made public by Wikileaks and commented on by all the world’s media, in addition to being offensive, demonstrates the manner in which the United States, in its imperial estate, manufactures its enemies.

Continue reading below the fold

Honduras dictatorship, day 341

Radio Globo has a lot of interference, doubtless not accidental. Felix Molina complains about being sent a message of a kind that he’s not supposed to read on air (two journalists were recently censored by Globo’s management, which has been threatened into not talking about the lack of transparency of congressional accounts administered by Juan Orlando Hernandez Alvarado). There’s growing rage about the desalojos (evictions) in Bajo Aguan.

Just so that everyone is clear that the patronizing attitude toward Zelaya in the Ford cable is not entirely unique, Spain’s diplomats also had unkind words about Latin American leaders. While it’s unclear whether these were simply what the Americans wanted to hear or actually what Spain’s senior political figures generally think, this will impact Spanish influence in Latin America both for good and for ill. According to La Jornada, Zapatero’s chief of cabinet Bernardino León and foreign affairs minister Trinidad Jiménez were the sources for these comments. Ecuadoran president Correa is “prone to rudeness/stupidity”. Daniel Ortega is “erratic, unpredictable, a lost cause.” [or, here, a "mad man"] Bolivia’s Evo Morales is honest but “ignorant” and “inexpert”. Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez is “a clown”, a “beast”, “a nut”. They were proud that they had refused to meet with Cuba’s leadership, which I believe contradicts their public stance.