If I’m being too cynical, call me on it. I admire Jesse Ventura for what he has accomplished in his life, and he’s dead on with the torture issue, but why now?

Andrew Suillivan writes (from vacation):

But Cheney knows otherwise. His speech was not a patriotic defense of what he thinks is best for this country; it was a vile and deliberately divisive attempt to use the politics of fear and false machismo against the stability of the American polity.

Does Twitter make us a better society?

I ask the question because reading a story in this morning’s Wall Street Journal it seems that once again law enforcement, frustrated with an inability to find real terrorists, has lowered itself to steering idiots into incriminating themselves in stupid terrorist-like plots so that remnants of the Bush-Cheney fear machine can justify the billions pissed away in protecting Americans from boogieman.

The use of agent provacateurs is nothing new. It was a tactic used by the FBI in the ’60s against the anti-war movement and fictionalized in Pat Conroy’s Beach Music.

Evan Perez writes:

Federal agents arrested four men and charged them with plotting to bomb a Bronx synagogue and attack military planes at a New York National Guard air base.

In a criminal complaint unsealed late Wednesday night, federal prosecutors in New York’s Southern District identified the men as James Cromitie, David Williams, Onta Williams and Laguerre Payen.

According to an FBI agent’s affidavit filed in court, government investigators used an informant to monitor the men and help steer the plot for nearly a year.

And just what does steering consist of? Here’s a clue.

The complaint says the FBI informant met one of the men at a mosque and that at least one of them expressed anger at the U.S. over the killing of Muslims in Afghanistan.

Investigators orchestrated a shopping trip the men took to Connecticut to obtain what they thought were a surface-to-air missile system and explosives to be used in an improvised explosive device, according to the FBI affidavit.

So an FBI informant found someone angry that the United States was killing Muslims in Afghanistan — note he wasn’t mad about the death of Al-Qaeda operatives or even Taliban fighters in Afghanistan — but the killings of Muslims. Well, I’m mad about that too. The deaths of innocent women and children and other non-combatants in Afghanistan is something to be mad about.

As to the matter of idiots, how many real terrorist would simply accept that they could pop over to Connecticut and pick up a Stinger missile or two, or not know how to verify that explosives would actually, well, you know, explode?

This is just the first blush of the story. It will be months before the details come out, but at first glance, these arrests reek.

From the Baltimore Christian Conservative Examiner:

The missing link has been found! Or so the scientists will tell you once again. They have this monkey that they claim is 45 million years old. Without getting into the creation debate all over again, I just want to say, really 45 million years huh? They had monkeys back then?

Just because the monkey had some similar types of bones, doesn”t make it a missing link because it”s still a monkey! A missing link would be something that is almost completely human, but not. There would need to be something four or five feet tall with arms and legs and thumbs and all sorts of other things, but not human.

Not a monkey that has one of the same foot bones as humans. Not too mention that even if this was a 45 million year old monkey, could you really tell it was the exact same bone that people have? Think through it rather than have blind faith in so called science.

I could take a a dog bone out and say that looks just like some other bone. It wouldn”t hold up under scrutiny, but add a supposed 45 million years and what could you really tell? Do certain bone types have some special DNA identifying them as a particular bone type?

I bet the monkey has arms, and we have arms, does that make it a missing link? I know this isn’t exactly the same, but just because we have one thing in common doesn’t make for a real link.

Claim? Is that like saying something is just a theory?

And four or five feet tall, huh? Ever seen Lucy? (And no, not Van Pelt.)

Here’s the issue. Dissing science which has evidence that your particular superstition is just that, requires that you do more than call names and whine in a dismissive tone.

Feh!

Via I See Invisible People…

Erica Perez writes:

Ekachai and Menck see it as their responsibility to teach students about Twitter because social media knowledge is becoming essential to their future fields – communications, advertising, public relations and marketing.

But thankfully not elsewhere.

Via Ask-Dr-Kirk…

Roldo Bartimole writes:

There”s been a multi-million dollar holdup and the police are doing nothing about it. The bandit – Alcoa – world”s leading producer of aluminum and aluminum products. Hard to believe. Or not.

Alcoa, with assets of $37.8 billion and sales in 2008 of $26.9 billion is holding up the State of Ohio and other local governments for more than $100 million for a broken press.

Alcoa is holding hostage the jobs of 1,000 employees in Cuyahoga Heights.

No press, no jobs, Alcoa says. Continue Reading »

So, I’m reading an article on Huffington Post by Art Levine, the editor of the Washington Monthly, on aggressive and I-don’t-see-how-they’re-not-illegal tactics in use by corporations to prevent unionization, when my eye scans left and sees the above twin teases for Popular Stories on Huff Post. Not Huffington Post, just Huff Post.

If those are popular stories on Huff Post, how far down the line is Levine’s post?

Aren’t there enough websites where you could find information about breast implants or who looks better wet, men or women? Why are these stories even mentioned on Huffington Post, let alone featured.

Feh.

It’s been a busy week in Wally World: the Universe’s source of cheap plastic crap. On The Writing On The Wal — the blog USA Today says should be on its readers’ radar — Jonathan Rees, Robert Feinman and I continue our work dedicated to drawing back the curtain on the Bentonvile Behemoth’s corporate disinformation and other flackery.

WALMART & PET FOODS, THERE”S A TIE-IN… Every morning I visit I Canz Has Cheez Burger for a bit of pure silliness. Lately the site has expanded into videos and games, adding to the basic fun. This morning, however, I found a pet-food game shilling for Iams and sponsored by Walmart. Keep reading…

WALMART”S PARTICULAR COLOR BLINDNESS… When I was in the service, NCOs were want to demonstrate their total lack of racial prejudice by claiming that they didn”t see red or black or yellow or brown or white, they just saw green (if you were in the Army) or blue (if you were in the Navy). Keep reading…

ANOTHER EDELMAN COCKUP…? Yesterday I posted about Walmart”s ill conceived decision to sponsor a cute game that featured an Iams product placement on I Can Has Cheez Burger. While the response is not equal to the epic fail of Walmart”s Facebook page, the comments are getting close. Keep reading…

TO SERVE GOD AND WAL-MART… Last week I requested, and this morning recieved via UPS, a review copy of Bethany Moreton”s To Serve God And Wal-Mart: The Making Of Christian Free Enterprise. This morning I simply want to share the flap copy: Keep reading…

DOLLAR STORES MEET DOLLAR AISLES… Earlier this week I wrote about the rise of dollar stores and how they were growing in the gleeful drive to benefit from the human misery created by the epic fail of the obscenely rich. It is now clear that Walmart noticed the growth as well. Keep reading…

HEAD Consumer Reports surveyed 32,599 of its subscribers to rate 59 national and regional grocery chains. Granted, Consumer Reports subscribers are a select group, but I don”t think that negates what the magazine found in its Shop Smart & Save Big feature. Keep reading…

A WALMART BY ANY OTHER NAME… The first Walmart BestPrice Modern Wholesale center in India opens this month in Amritsar. The name change is a matter of national politics, not Walmart”s desire to be all stealthy, yet a Walmart is a Walmart and the name change won”t really make any difference. Keep reading…

AND THAT MAKES IT OK…? Time Magazine reporter Douglas A. McIntyre resorts to the childhood chestnut the other kids are doing it, rationale in defense of Walmart”s announcement this week that it will suck pennies from customers” pockets by marketing dollar items. Keep reading…

CAN WALMART OUT AMAZON AMAZON…? Walmart is not Amazon. It”s that simple, but Walmart executives don”t believe that. Walmart has inventory and buildings where customers shop and employees who clean and those buildings. Amazon doesn”t. And that means they don”t have to pay for all of that. Keep reading…

HEAD Companies like Walmart and Starbucks are hard-time felons working out in the prison yard. They devote hours to pumping iron, tuning their bodies into massive muscle powerhouses until no individual dare stand in their way, until all they fear is organized resistance. Keep reading…

WALMART LOSES $30.2 BILLION TAX APPEAL… We began writing about the tax battle between North Carolina and Walmart nearly a year and a half ago. Yesterday Walmart suffered another defeat. Does anyone really believe that Walmart”s lawyers didn”t understand the law? Keep reading…

WALMART DODGES CLOSE FEC BULLET… Organized labor charged that in the run up to last November”s election, Walmart management attempted to use scare tactics to influence employees to not vote for Democratic candidates and thus stave off a wave of unionization. Keep reading…

Via Ask-Dr-Kirk:

Then Jesus took his disciples up the mountain and gathered them around him, and taught them saying:

Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven,

Blessed are the meek,

Blessed are they that mourn,

Blessed are the merciful,

Blessed are those who thirst for justice,

Blessed are you when persecuted,

Blessed are you when you suffer,

Be glad and rejoice for your reward is great in heaven.

Then Simon Peter said, “Do we have to write this down?”

And Andrew said, “Are we supposed to know this?”

And James said, “Will we have a test on this?”

And Phillip said, “I don”t have any paper.”

And Bartholomew said, “Do we have to turn this in?”

And John said, “The other disciples didn”t have to learn this.”

And Matthew said, “Can I go to the boy”s room?”

And Judas said, “What does this have to do with real life?”

Then, one of the Pharisees asked to see one of Jesus” lesson plans and inquired of Jesus. “Where are your intended learning outcomes?”

And Jesus wept.

Roldo Bartimole writes:

The three Cuyahoga County Commissioners date at City Council on the Med Mart/Convention Center became a laugh and love in. Nary was a contrary word could be heard.

Tim Hagan started the discussion saying he was “delighted to be here” and nothing could have changed his mind as four City Council legislative committees “grilled” the Commissioner with banalities.

Commissioner Jimmy Dimora stroked the Council members as he addressed “this august body,” commending them for “all the good work you do in these difficult and challenging times.” Stop guffawing.

“Public service is very difficult,” he stroked and wished them “success in their re-election bids” this year. What that had to do with the business at hand no one knows. He made another inaudible joke about “wards and wallets” as Hagan jibed, “Let me disassociate myself.” Great comedic stuff. Continue Reading »

From Haartez:

In a historic ruling, the High Court of Justice on Thursday ordered the state to allocate resources to organs affiliated with non-Orthodox streams of Judaism who perform conversions.

“All streams of conversion have the same purpose ? the cultural and spiritual incorporation of Israeli citizens and residents into the society and community in Israel,” Supreme Court President Dorit Beinisch wrote in the ruling.

The panel of judges – which included Beinisch, Miriam Naor, and Edna Arbel ? heard a petition which was filed by the Movement for Progressive Judaism, which specializes Reform conversions.

The MPJ argued that the Absorption Ministry has discriminated against it in its stringent criteria that it uses to determine who is entitled to monetary grants. The state’s grant policy is more lax when dealing with private bodies that perform Orthodox conversions, the movement told the Court.

Robert Reich writes:

“Don’t make the perfect the enemy of the better” is a favorite slogan in Washington because compromise is necessary to get anything done. But the way things are going with health care, a better admonition would be: “Don’t give away the store.”

Many experts have long agreed that a so-called “single-payer” plan is the ideal, because competition among private insurers who pay health-care bills inevitably causes them to spend big bucks trying to find and market policies to healthy and younger people at relatively low risk of health problems while avoiding sicker and older people with higher risks (and rejecting those with pre-existing conditions altogether), and also contesting and litigating many claims. A single payer saves all this money and focuses on caring for sick people and preventing the healthy from becoming sick. The other advantage of a single payer is it can use its vast bargaining power to negotiate lower prices from pharmaceutical companies, hospitals, and suppliers.

Americans understand single payer. Americans want single payer. This became blatantly evident yesterday when Diane Rehm was forced to schedule a revisit on health care after an earlier show ignored single-payer and her listeners screamed bloody murder.

Insurance companies are not our friends. They are greedy fecks whose only function is to take our money. Period. We only get what is due to us by kicking them in the teeth and dragging our money out of their clutching fingers.

Roldo Bartimole writes:

Plain Dealer editorial staffers have agreed to wage reduction and furloughs in exchange for a one-year moratorium on layoffs.

Other unions, including press operators and some Teamsters turned down the concessions.

Editorial people will take an 8.1 percent slam on their paychecks and 11 days of “furlough,” meaning days off without pay.

One PD reporter today said that she gladly takes more time off but wasn”t too happy with the loss of income.

The result of the pay cut and furlough provides some 12 percent cost savings for the Plain Dealer. That”s the percentage of savings management desired in talks leading up to the vote on Friday.

0706 Cleveland Tourism Video: WTF?

James Fallows writes:

What should they be talking about instead? The kitty-litter box analogy, as so brilliantly laid out by Don Rose in the Chicago Daily Observer a few months ago. You have cats in your house; you think everything is great; then visitors walk in through the door, reel back in horror, and say, “What is that godawful smell?” And I say this as a lover of cats.

Ta-Nehisi Coates writes:

I’m here to talk about something else. I was actually shocked to see this. And then I felt stupid for being shocked. I think this points to something that men just don’t think much about: That being, how it feels for your looks to be fair game. I think this is what makes bigotry so tough to fight. It’s not about the limits of empathy–it’s the limits of imagination.

I saw Star Trek over the weekend and I was mostly reminded of seeing Star Trek: The Motion Picture. The special effects and insider lines were great, both movies reeked of homage; the movies themselves sucked with bad writing and lame plotting.