Speaking of idiots

A Mark Underwood writes a letter to the News & Record in which he takes to calling the victims of the November 3rd, 1979 murders by Klan and Nazis in Greensboro "idiots."

Mark then goes on to write:

"Passions still run high among the few interested, but the true facts are impossible to determine."

Let's get this straight: Mark is convinced that the "true facts" are impossible to determine yet, despite this, he is confident enough to know that the people killed and wounded were/are idiots.

That's the convenience afforded by ignorance: One can put forth any opinion at all if one willfully leaves them unexposed to the facts.

Mark should read the Truth & Reconciliation Report. It's chock full of "true facts," gathered from a vast array of reputable sources. Were he to read it, Mark might come to understand who the real idiot is.

The United States of Barbarians

The morality and ethics of whether or not the CIA can torture people in our name are non-negotiable. There is no argument that can be made to justify this atrocity. The corporate media are treating torture as if it's just another "issue" like immigration reform or the federal budget. It isn't. You cannot justify the unjustifiable. People who attempt to apologize for torture done in their name are embarrassing themselves; raising their heads to be counted as barbarians at the gate.

—  Joseph Polermo

I usually try to avoid letting copied writings stand in for my self expression, but since I've been having such a hard time finding words to describe my reaction to the revelations of United States torture, I will let Joseph Polermo stand in for me, for now.
--------------------------------------------------

Last August, President Barack Obama admitted to the press: "we tortured some folks." But he also added that torturing people "is not who we are." His CIA director, John Brennan, calls the CIA torturers "patriots." So which is it? Are they "patriots," deserving of our admiration, or sadists who engaged in acts that are contrary to "who we are?"

The Senate Intelligence Committee's executive summary report on CIA torture concludes that at least 26 of the people the CIA contractors tortured were innocent of any ties to terrorism whatsoever.

One of the CIA contractors, James Mitchell, was on TV lately where he was called the "architect" of the torture program. His Spokane, Washington company, Mitchell, Jessen, and Associates, received $81 million in taxpayer money for services rendered.

CIA Director John Brennan  argues that people like Mitchell and his business partner, Bruce Jessen, were doing legitimate intelligence work. But isn't it also possible that these "patriots" were acting out their post-9/11 revenge fantasies against a bunch of Arabs and Afghans who fell into their clutches about whom they knew very little?

Mitchell and Jessen had no specialized knowledge of Al Qaeda or international terrorism; they didn't speak Arabic or Pashto, and had no experience interrogating prisoners.

What they did know about as psychologists was how to drill down into the human psyche. And they knew how to reverse engineer the Survival, Evasion, Resistance, and Escape (SERE) techniques designed to help U.S. personnel counter torturers. They applied the same appalling techniques to their own interrogations. Given their lack of qualifications to head such an endeavor it's likely Mitchell and Jessen were just winging it.

Can we get our $81 million back?

George W. Bush and Dick Cheney might have "authorized" the torture program, but it's still a war crime that violates the Convention Against Torture, the United Nations Charter, the Universal Declaration of Human Rights,  and the U.S. Constitution. Letting the people responsible for torture ride off into the sunset free of any criminal charges throws out the window international and domestic law, as well as almost everything we've learned from the Nuremberg Trials, Hannah Arendt, or the trial of Adolf Eichmann.

One of the CIA's "black" (secret) torture sites was located at Guantanamo, which should raise some thorny legal issues because, unlike Romania, Poland, Lithuania, Afghanistan, or Thailand, the Supreme Court has ruled that Guantanamo is considered "U.S. soil."

Absent any criminal prosecutions, the only conclusion we will be left with is that these guys really are "patriots" and torturing people really is "who we are." But we shouldn't need "experts" like Max Boot, Joe Klein, or other apologists for torture to judge the morality of turning to torturers posing as "doctors" to root out suspected terrorists.

The morality and ethics of whether or not the CIA can torture people in our name are non-negotiable. There is no argument that can be made to justify this atrocity. The corporate media are treating torture as if it's just another "issue" like immigration reform or the federal budget. It isn't. You cannot justify the unjustifiable. People who attempt to apologize for torture done in their name are embarrassing themselves; raising their heads to be counted as barbarians at the gate.

We don't fight against terrorists to become more like them, but to maintain our differences.

Continue reading... 

This chart about Greensboro will shock you

GREENSBORO, NC -- It is common knowledge that pay for women lags that of men in the United States. Nationally, women earn about 78 cents for every dollar a man earns. There are various guesses about why that may be, from gender bias to other possible factors.

Overall, women in Greensboro earn about 83 percent of what men do, but that hides a shocking disparity. Break it down by education, and things look worse — for those with the greatest and the least educational attainment. The chart below illustrates the pay gap between men and women over 25 in Greensboro with information from the U.S. Census Bureau's American Fact Finder. 

Women with a bachelor's degree earn only 78 cents for every dollar a man earns while the most educated, those with a graduate or professional degree, earn just 60 percent of what men with equivalent educational attainment earn in Greensboro.

The pay disparity for women in Greensboro is the worst though for those who do not finish high school, with those women earning 59 percent of what their male counterparts are paid.

The Data

MEDIAN EARNINGS IN THE PAST 12 MONTHS
(IN 2013 INFLATION-ADJUSTED DOLLARS)

Population 25 years and over with earnings, all 
Male: 34,771
Female: 29,056
Female percentage of male:  84%

Less than high school graduate
Male: 23,317
Female: 13,717
Female percentage of male: 59%

High school graduate (includes equivalency)
Male: 26,143
Female: 21,287
Female percentage of male: 81% 

Some college or associate's degree
Male: 29,596
Female: 25,599
Female percentage of male: 86% 

Bachelor's degree
Male: 45,902
Female: 35,754
Female percentage of male: 78% 

Graduate or professional degree
Male: 72,211
Female: 43,178
Female percentage of male: 60% 

News & Record's superficial endorsement of superficial candidate

GREENSBORO, NC -- Is the News & Record even serious any more? In endorsing Greensboro district three city council person Zack Matheny in the Republican primary for United States House of Representatives, N.C. district 6, they ask readers to ignore important issues, ignore the realities of the political climate, local and national, and suggest we join them in a willful suspension of critical thinking.

The News & Record touts what they see as Matheny's:

"[W]illingness to work across party lines for the benefit of the people [he] represent[s]. That approach is sorely needed in Congress."

The fact is, Matheny is a member of a non-partisan city council where party matters so little that the mayor has served on council as a Republican, then unaffiliated and now as a Democrat. Such an environment gives us no indication of how Matheny will operate in the partisan pressure cooker of the U.S. House of Representatives. A better indication is in Matheny's campaign platform and here, the News & Record gives Matheny cover from scrutiny. They write:

"Matheny’s top issue in this campaign isn’t repealing Obamacare, opposing same-sex marriage, banning abortion, denying climate change or impeaching the president — topics that occupy some of the other candidates. It’s finding ways to create more jobs."

In congress, Matheny will have to—we, his potential constituents, will want him to—act on health care, marriage equality, reproductive issues, climate change, economic inequality and more, including budgetary, foreign affairs, defense, and entitlement issues such as Social Security. Yet, the News & Record is asking us to dumb down our examination of Matheny by suggesting that we ignore how he might act on these important issues and, instead, be swayed by rhetoric on "jobs." Voters will be wise not to oblige.

Despite what the News & Record may wish us to ignore, Matheny has staked out some positions that give a better picture than the News & Record's wishful thinking of how he'll operate if elected. No matter one's political inclinations, it will interest voters to know what Matheny has to say on the issues (and on what he has remained silent).

Health Care:
In January, Matheny's website called for an unequivocal repeal of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act: "Congress must repeal Obamacare," he wrote. Now, along with some good news about Obamacare, Matheny's website no longer calls for repeal. While he still remains critical of what he calls "government intrusion" in health care and maintains that Obamacare "hurts far more people than it helps," he seems confused about the role of government in health care as he cites as a good example of the delivery of health services the medical testing company LabCorp, which happens to be North Carolina's single largest recipient of Medicare payments (i.e. "government")  — some $157 million in 2012. (As it turns out, LabCorp made a $5,000 campaign contribution to Matheny days before he came to use them as an example on his website.)

I wrote to Matheny, in whose congressional and city council districts I live, to ask if he still opposes Obamacare and why. I also, separately, asked if he supported Republican changes to expand Obamacare signed into law by President Obama. Matheny replied that he was out of town and would get back to me when "time permits." That was two weeks ago. Matheny's views on health care have been inconsistent, confused and self-contradictory. Had the News & Record been serious, it would have explored the implications of Matheny's muddled thoughts on this issue. Voters will.

The Budget:
Matheny promotes a Constitutional amendment "requiring the federal government to balance its budget every year." As with the Affordable Care Act, it's not clear to what extent Matheny has thought this through or his level of commitment as he qualifies his support by saying we should "consider" it.

Taxes:
We'll let Matheny speak for himself here and leave it to the reader to decide if this is something the News & Record would have ignored in a serious endorsement.

"As your Congressman, I will fight for legislation to sunset our current tax code and create a simple, fair, and honest tax system. Our current code is too complex, 70,000 pages and growing every year. No one knows what’s in it, or understands the current system. If we sunset our tax code after 3 years, that gives Congress 1000 days to take out a clean sheet of paper headed 'Fair, Simple, Honest.' "

Education:
Again, Matheny's words themselves are the most illustrative and, again, the reader will evaluate the seriousness of a News & Record endorsement that, in a city with six colleges and universities, ignores Matheny's idea for education:

"We must TEACH FOR THE JOB." [Emphasis in original]  

Guns:
Yet again, another topic on which the News & Record would have had something to say, were they serious. Here's Matheny:

"As your Congressman, I will continue to support gun owners and protect their right to bear arms. Protecting Second Amendment rights is not only a Constitutional issue. Our region has an economic interest to protect these rights as well. Remington Arms has been headquartered in North Carolina’s 6th District for nearly 20 years and Ruger Firearms opened a manufacturing facility in Rockingham County just last year. Guns equal jobs in North Carolina’s 6th District."

Foreign Policy, National Defense, Social Security, Agriculture, Domestic Surveillance, Climate Change, Poverty, Marriage Equality, Reproductive Rights/Abortion, Income Inequality, Civil Liberties, Energy, Trade, etc:
On these issues, Matheny offers no comments on either of his two websites. Yet, silence on these issues is a plus in the minds of the News & Record editors. That should tell you all you need to know about the quality of their endorsement: A superficial endorsement for a superficial candidate.

Room for improvement

GREENSBORO, NC -- The City of Greensboro has posted online the minutes it has from two board meetings from the International Civil Rights Center & Museum. (As part of the agreement with the Museum for the City's loan to them, the City Manager and Mayor now have seats on the board.)

The minutes answer some questions, such as when the board voted to elect Deena Hayes as its new chair (December 16, 2013) and that it was reported to the board on January 10th that the audit required by the terms of the City's loan was behind schedule. Why those items of interest did not get reported by the City's representatives to City Council or the public, I do not know, but here's an idea: When the City has people serving on boards in their official capacities, it is presumably because the City has some official interest in their operation (often, as is the case with the Museum, fiduciary) so how about, as a matter of course, posting minutes from those board meetings on the City's website?

Civil rights only for "ordinary people"?

GREENSBORO, NC -- There was a line in President Obama's State of the Union address last night that jumped out at me:

"That's why, working with this Congress, I will reform our surveillance programs because the vital work of our intelligence community depends on public confidence, here and abroad, that privacy of ordinary people is not being violated."

That does not inspire confidence.

The United States Constitution does not confine its protections to some arbitrary definition of "ordinary" people. Indeed, the notion that venturing to extraordinary means  relinquishing the right to privacy is a chilling warning that you better stay in line. Thomas Payne, Martin Luther King, Jr. and Susan B. Anthony were anything but "ordinary people."

What kind of America are we headed to when remaining ordinary is a requirement for keeping one's Constitutional civil rights?

What if the N&R editors' daughters were sex slaves?

GREENSBORO, NC -- The News & Record published an opinion today on human trafficking in Greensboro that comes to a nice moderate conclusion:

"Urgency has its place here, but so does patience."

That is the kind of opinion one can form while safely isolated from any understanding of, or empathy for, the real human situation.

Here is what the piece would look like if the women involved included the News & Record editors' daughters.
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Our daughters, "Porche" and "Kitty" (their work names) are trapped. They trusted a man who offered them jobs and glamor in a foreign country and who even offered to pay for their travel and living expenses (as a loan, to be paid back out of their employment with interest.) The man seemed legitimate, he even bought us bicycles (also to be paid for from our daughters' wages, with interest). That was nice.

Well, wouldn't you know it, it turns out that the "jobs" Porche and Kitty have are all about rubbing naked men. All of the money the customers pay goes to the employer; Porche and Kittly earn their own money, to pay off the travel and bicycle loans, by performing "extra" services.

We really, really, really wish our daughters would just leave, but they are under the constant supervision of their employer (they live at his apartment) who reminds them that they still owe him money and that his associates know where we, their families, live.

The local police visited once and Porche and Kitty ran out the back door and hid behind some bushes, but the police gathered them up and brought them back inside. We are not sure why the police didn't take them to a safe place. There was probably a language barrier.

We would like for the police to go back, this time with a translator who can understand Porche and Kitty and perhaps with some sort of social worker who can help them get to a safe place, but the police tell us that they are conducting a larger investigation of a criminal nexus across the region that makes this impractical. They can't say much about it but, apparently, attempting to get Porche and Kitty out of indentured servitude would thwart their larger plans. So they have to stay put.

We understand.

We love our daughters very much and we'd like to have them stop being coerced to perform sex acts with men for other peoples' economic gain as soon as practical, but let's be reasonable: if it takes a few more months or another year or two of our daughters prostituting themselves so that the police can continue their ongoing investigation, that's fine with us.

Urgency has its place here, but so does patience.

We love you, Porche and Kitty. We hope to see you soon. Stay safe and remember to brush your teeth.

Rush is wrong (and Harry Reid and Dianne Feinstein too)

I just heard Rush Limbaugh say of the domestic spying revealed to be taking place on all americans (yes, it's lower case now):

"It matters because of who is collecting all this data. It would be one thing if it was Colonel Sanders, but it's not, it's Barack Obama and we know what he's all about."

No Rush, that is wrong and it is the very kind of shallow thinking that got us here.

What matters are the infringements on privacy and the lack of restraint on government NO MATTER WHO is doing it. Those who thought it was okay when Geoetrge W. Bush was in the White House are the very people who laid the foundations upon which the Obama administration is now carrying on. Those who make excuses now for what was objectionable under George W. Bush because they "trust" Barack Obama are no better. Both groups are civic deadbeats. Small, dangerous, petty idiots.

Right is right and wrong is wrong and this country will be sucked into totalitarianism if we continue to object only when we perceive it to be the "others" dragging us down that dark road.

Council unanimously consents as police circumvent state DNA collections law

GREENSBORO, NC -- At their January 15th meeting, Greensboro City Council unanimously gave their consent to a new program whereby the Greensboro Police Department (GPD) will begin collecting DNA and sharing it with regional law enforcement agencies and a private lab. The resolution passed nine to zero with no discussion and no public hearing.

There was no discussion of why the GPD wants to use a private lab instead of the state lab, why the extra expense of $125,000 is necessary or why the state lab is inadequate.

There was no discussion of the wisdom of a private company storing Greensboro citizens' DNA (on their internet accessible server, no less) or of signing a contract with a private lab that explicitly says in the contract that the company:

"accepts no responsibilities or obligations for [GPD's] compliance with federal or state laws or regulations regarding the collection of DNA samples, or the storage, maintenance, or use of DNA samples, data or profiles."

There are numerous state statutes that apply to the collection, use and storage of DNA samples by the SBI and the state databank that the GPD will escape by creating their own databank. Those include:

• Oversight: State law requires an annual report from the SBI to legislative committees accounting for the handling and use of DNA samples. 
• Proper Use: State law restricts the SBI and state databank to specific legitimate uses, such as crime scene evidence and casework. 
• Restricted Access: State law demands the SBI maintain procedures for "verification of the identity and authority of the requester of a DNA profile."
• Removal and Destruction: State law mandates that "The State Bureau of Investigation shall remove a person's DNA record, and destroy any DNA biological samples that may have been retained, from the State DNA Database and DNA Databank" upon certain conditions, such as dismissal of charges or acquittal.

These legal protections and restrictions apply to the SBI and the state databank. They do not apply to the GPD's private databank. GPD deprives Greensboro citizens of these protections by having a private company create a separate database and it further puts Greensboro's citizens in jeopardy of abuse by signing a contract where the vendor explicitly says they are not responsible for complying with whatever other laws may still apply to the GPD.

Who thought this was a good idea? All of of your City Council members.

WFMY shills for white supremacists

UPDATE (9/21/2012): WFMY scrubbed, without comment, the article referenced in this post. More about that, including a full copy of the vanished article here.

GREENSBORO, NC -- One of the most important activities of journalists is to check the claims of those in authority. That's why news organizations are often referred to as the lofty "fourth estate" — as in a fourth leg of the checks and balances of the executive, legislative and judicial branches of our republic.

This makes WFMY's willingness to republish the proclamations of local authorities without scrutiny all the more depressing. You see, it's not just the plagiarism; it's not just the inescapalbe dishonesty of WFMY putting their names to things they did not write — not just that "Written by WFMY" is a lie, and stealing, and a con — it is also that WFMY is giving its stamp of approval to the facts, tone and context asserted in the press releases it regurgitates. They are allowing themselves to be used. As tools. Useful idiots.

And that's dangerous.

Here's why. When WFMY vomits up a glowing press release that touts a local sheriff heading off to some "border training" sponsored by Federation for American Immigration Reform (FAIR) without any of their own investigation, they miss the rather important fact that FAIR is tied to white supremacy and bigotry.

WFMY not only gives their poor audience the impression that everything is just peachy with the sheriff's trip — just as the press release promises and just as they've affirmed by putting a staff person's name to it — but they also fail to see the news right under their nose and ask the obvious question which is why the hell are local sheriffs attending a "training" event sponsored by this group?

WFMY puts their stamp of approval on "stories" like this all the time without checking them out: "Written by WFMY," for what that's worth... which is proving to be not squat.

Update: Wait, what? WFMY has attached some happy video to the story that says the Alamance County sheriff is also going — the same sheriff who the U.S. Department of Justice accused yesterday of racial profiling.

Greensboro: Surveillance city

When serving on the Greensboro City Council and arguing (successfully) for the elimination of red light cameras, now-state senator Don Vaughan cautioned against Greensboro becoming "a surveillance society."

How well have we heeded that warning?

There are at least 200 cameras in City parking garages alone. With cameras also in and on other city buildings, libraries and the coliseum, in parks and on public streets, inside and outside city buses and mounted to the front and rear of police cars, not to mention handheld, helmet mounted and maybe even airborne, it's not inconceivable that Greensboro citizens are being monitored by thousands of cameras, unaware as they simply go about their lives.

How many surveillance cameras does the City maintain? What are they watching? What are they doing with the information they collect? Are they also recording audio, recognizing faces, storing license plates? Who is watching and under what circumstances? Have these systems been deployed surreptitiously or have our elected representatives given their explicit approval?

Have we, the people, given our consent to the monitoring that is underway? How could we have if we don't even know the extent of it?

I have made multiple requests for a variety of records from the City of Greensboro that would shed some light on this topic. So far, the City has refused to provide any records that would answer any of these questions. None.

The City will not even release a single video segment from the alleged downtown melee that occurred on July 4th of this year, even though the City Attorney initially said they should and the City Manager said they would and even though release of this video would greatly serve the public interest as the alleged event is being cited by City Councilor Zack Matheny as a reason to reconsider a downtown curfew and since no other visual records (oddly, in my opinion) are to be found on the Internet.

Crowdsource me. If I've missed some video or pictures of the July 4th event, please bring them to my attention in the comments. The only thing I could find was this interview with someone who says he was threatened with tear gas and describes:

"six or seven police kicking another guy... holding him on the ground kinda kicking him."

In the mean time, I wait for the City to adjust their response to my requests to conform with North Carolina public records law. I'll keep you posted.

Maybe there is hope yet

I pulled my vote against the constitutional amendment sign from my yard this morning and went and held it at the entrance to my polling place, Lawndale Baptist Church. When it comes to voting, the neighborhood leans slightly conservative, but it usually doesn't go in a majority for extremes in either direction.

So I was pleasantly surprised at the reaction I got. Those who openly shared their opposition to the amendment significantly outnumbered those who said nothing or who made it clear they disagreed with me. What surprised me was the number of elderly people, those who one might suspect to be bound to old ways, who said they were voting against the amendment.

It's just anecdotal, I know, and a minute sample at that, but maybe there is a chance the amendment will be defeated. If it is, it will be by the slimmest of margins, so if you oppose it and haven't voted out of despair or resignation, don't give up yet.

Vote.

[If it passes by one vote, I'll hate myself for assisting the lady who pulled up to park, waived me over, told me she believed marriage is "between a man and a woman," then asked me if I would mind going inside to get a poll worker so she could vote from her car on account of her bad legs. Which I did, of course.]

It's called human progress; you'd think a doctor would appreciate it

In an absurd, although now predictable, justification for his prejudices against gay and lesbian people, Dr. Joe Guarino once again makes an appeal to tradition over rational thought. He tires to argue that Jews should support the bigotry of North Carolina's Amendment 1 because of their traditions. His mind blowing observations:

How could millenia of Jewish ancestors have been so terribly wrong; and why are you so right? How did they misunderstand your faith and religious tradition for thousands of years in such an awful manner...?

To make the same mistake for thousands of years would have been a stunning level of failure.

Human history is replete with examples of people making the same mistake for thousands of years. Then someone has a new thought and things change. It's called human progress and you'd think a doctor, of all people, would appreciate it.

Religions change
The history of Judeo-Christian religions is one of change starting with the Christian borrowing from the Judeo. Since then, there have been awakenings, realignments, reformations and religious people can now get divorced, they can eat shrimp and they don't have to stone their daughters for having unmarried sexual relations. Indeed, Guarino's own Baptist religion evolved from older Christian religions whom the Baptists thought were "getting it wrong." People thought about things, rejected old ways and progress was made.

Science changes
We no longer rub mercury on our wounds, drain blood to balance our humors, or drill holes in our skulls for headache relief. People thought about things, rejected old ways and progress was made.

Hopefully Dr. Guarino does not practice medicine with the same blind devotion to tradition as he would have us adhere to in other matters.

Law changes
In the comparatively short time since our country's founding, our understanding of its legal tenets has progressed. Black people are no longer property, women can vote and the government cannot tell you not to wear a condom unless you are married. People thought about things, rejected old ways and progress was made.

Would Dr. Guarino prefer that we go back to the literal and initial understanding of life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness too; that we abandon the progress we've made in favor of a strict interpretation of the unamended U.S. Constitution?

Whether you believe it to be the consequence of God, space aliens or the simple evolution of a fortuitous amalgam of amino acids, we humans have brains for Pete's sake. It is incumbent upon us to use them and not give precedence to ancient notions just because. That's ludicrous. We think new things and progress ensues. That's humanity.

Dr. Guarino would have us shut down our minds and defer to the superstitions and prejudices of the less informed generations of thousands of years ago. Can you imagine a world where that was the way? Heck, we would have never even made it to the dark ages. We'd all the the Taliban.

No thanks. I'll think instead.