learning from torture tapes, more hating on NAFTA, energy vs. education...

the CIA is in some trouble...the illegal, apparently immune from the constitution organization that continually violates everything that democracy is about and is funded by an unknown budget for unknown projects (nothing says democracy like government secrecy about how tax dollars are spent) apparently taped its torture techniques (punishable by death under federal law). then they had to destroy those same tapes because they got scared that their agents might actually be forced to submit to the laws of the united states (imagine that...what a novel idea...agents of the united states government being held to the same "high" standards that every american citizen and person living in american territory is held to). destroying evidence, especially evidence that may potentially be useful to a defendant, is troublesome if you get caught...the law allows for the case to be dismissed - and any federal judge worth the bench would toss the case against "the mastermind" after this (in which case...good job georgey, you did it...you figured out a way to ensure that the united states can never prosecute). so what is the lesson to be learned? well, the FBI learned it a long time ago...never tape interrogations or interviews of suspects...never. (the recent tapes of useful interrogation that comes no where near torture and actually provides useful information done by the FBI and US Attorney was apparently "accidentally" made by the Marshal's Service). see, if you don't make a record beyond your report you can say whatever the fuck you want about what happened and what was said. afterall, very few judges have the balls to believe a defendant over a high and mighty agent of the government (because we all know that you become superhuman and incapable of dishonesty when you become an agent of the government). lesson learned spymen...chalk it up to experience, and leave the tape recorders at home.

I seem to be the only one that is not shocked and disappointed that democrats are beginning to notice that NAFTA is a fucking joke. the pundits are all screaming "but jobs increased, investment was made, economic growth!" of course the jobs are lower paying and less skilled. investment has left the poor in all countries involved well behind. and the "growth" has been more of a shift up the ladder, the one thing we did not need to hasten. my hatred of NAFTA is not exactly a secret...but the theory of NAFTA really isn't that bad, clinton and his cronies just fucked it up so bad when pressured by Big Business and the richest of the rich that it has screwed everyone. it did not have to be this way. we don't have to be talking about putting up walls on the border, if they want capital to move freely across the border, they should accept that people will move freely across the border as well. and whatever happened to those environmenal protections that al gore promised us (yes, al gore, mr. environment, abandoned his green streak at the one moment in history when we really, really needed it)? labor protections, progressive taxation, unified currency, environmental protections...all needed for a program like NAFTA to work for the benefit of all people. but then clinton was never about the benefit of all people...and the democratic party followed him down that undemocratic path.

the house passed an energy bill that among other things would require 35 miles per gallon by 2020 (which is a pretty damn sad goal if you ask me...we built the a-bomb in a couple years, put a man on the moon in a couple years, we can't add a little efficiency in less then a decade?). the republican party leaders aren't very happy with it...they don't want congress to declare industry standards without providing the means to get there. funny...when it comes to education, the brilliant plan was to declare school standards without providing any means to get there, even taking away means if those standards weren't met (and yes, I recognize that the standards are royally fucked and backwards). so once again the elephants are showing us what really matters to them...money, money and more money for those that already have money, money and more money. if we want to cut down on insane profits of oil and gas companies and make american industry catch up to the rest of the world (which would likely increase good factory jobs in the american motor industry again - assuming they haven't all left by then) they tell us we are nuts. if we want money for our schools they tell us we only get it for the schools that don't need it. the republican party - crushing future leaders so they won't question the idiocy of their policies in the future.

there are things that drift away like our endless numbered days...