Sunday, March 13, 2011

Quickies





A round-up of articles, news items, columns and blog posts that caught our eye this past week.





IMAO offers up some slogans for the Chevy Volt.

“So frustrating to use it will make you do the greenest thing at all: Kill yourself.”

“Why pollute around you with exhaust when you can pollute far away with coal?”

More plus commenters contributions at the link.




The secret to happiness for women.... pulling the goalie?
We're just the messenger here, folks.



Corrupstion at the Department of Education?

Today Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington (CREW) sent letters to the Director of Enforcement for the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) and U.S. Department of Education Secretary Arne Duncan to share records CREW obtained through its Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) lawsuit against Education. These documents show high-level Education officials colluded with Wall Street short-sellers, improperly leaking the contents of highly controversial gainful employment regulations in advance of their publication. Click here to read the letters.

“These new documents, combined with others previously uncovered by CREW raise troubling questions about the actions of high-level Education officials, the fairness of the agency’s regulatory process, and investors’ efforts to manipulate Education regulations for their own personal gain,” said CREW Executive Director Melanie Sloan. “It is incumbent on the SEC to fully investigate this matter.”
Remind us again of what the DOE brings to the party.



High school contest to determine where the President will speak at the graduation ceremony not going all that well.




Julianne Moore to play Sarah Palin in an upcoming HBO movie Game Change.

What could possibly go wrong?





Change

President Obama yesterday formalized indefinite detention for dozens of men held at Guantanamo Bay and announced that the Pentagon would move ahead with military trials for a handful of other detainees.


In an executive order [1], which we first reported on in June 2009 [2], the White House created a board to periodically review the dangerousness of prisoners being held without charge or trial. The order says the new process will allow detainees -- some in custody for nearly a decade -- to challenge the government's determination that they pose a threat if released.

While the order is new, most of the ideas [3] it contains are not. This is the third time such a board has been created for nearly the same purpose. Two similar processes to review detainee cases were in place during the Bush administration. Like its predecessors, the Obama administration's review process will operate outside the courts and will be subject to no independent review. Also like the Bush White House, the Obama administration alone will choose all members of the review board and appoint a "personal representative" to advocate on behalf of the detainees.

And the howls of outrage we should be hearing from "betrayed" lefties?
/sound of crickets.




The Mtn. Network's Marty Fletcher makes a stunning confession after San Diego St.'s last-second victory over UNLV in the semis of the Mountain West Conference Tournament on Friday night.






And this guy feels free to opine because...?

State Department spokesman P.J. Crowley told an audience at MIT on Thursday that he thought the Defense Department's treatment of alleged WikiLeaks source Private Bradley Manning was "ridiculous and counterproductive and stupid."

Blogger Philippa Thomas first reported Crowley's remarks, which she said were part of a lecture on "the benefits of new media as it relates to foreign policy" at an event organized by MIT's Center for Future Civic Media.

"One young man said he wanted to address ‘the elephant in the room'. What did Crowley think, he asked, about Wikileaks? About the United States, in [the questioner's] words, ‘torturing a prisoner in a military brig'? Crowley didn't stop to think. What's being done to Bradley Manning by my colleagues at the Department of Defense ‘is ridiculous and counterproductive and stupid.' He paused. ‘None the less Bradley Manning is in the right place'. And he went on lengthening his answer, explaining why in Washington's view, ‘there is sometimes a need for secrets... for diplomatic progress to be made'," Thomas wrote.




B-Daddy on Japan, nuclear reactors and the inherent advantages of a de-centralized power grid.



Shane Atwell's weekly regulation watch, here.



And finally, W.C. Varones reminds us that whether we're batting first in the line-up or last, May 21st is going to be a very big day.

2 comments:

B-Daddy said...

Thanks for the link. With regards to Gitmo, I am actually troubled by indefinite detention. The opportunity for abuse is vast. The weakness accrues to the lack of a formal declaration of war. Under international law, prisoners held at the cessation of hostilities and who have been convicted of no crime would be returned to their home country. We may not much like that, but our nation is the envy of the world because of our strict attention to due legal process. It is more important to the health of our nation that we adhere strictly to the limits on power imposed by the constitution, treaty and law than if a few terrorists go free. This seems lost on some conservatives, when it should be a bedrock belief of all who love liberty.

SarahB said...

Knowing what I do about the inner workings of GITMO (down to the direction all the toilets face), it will be almost impossible to pamper these prisoners in the US the way they are there, and POTUS has had to learn that the hard way.

Chevy Volt: makes riding a bike look appealing again.

I can't freakin' wait to see Julianne Moore play Palin!!! Not only will she make a fool of herself doing it, she isn't half as good looking. That is going to be a wine and popcorn night.

And I guess we now know the real reason Gay men are so congenial and Lesbians are generally annoyed with the world (btw, I'm thinking you're just testing to see if folks really do click on the links...and I'm not even going to ask how you come across a story like that)