Cheney, Gonzales indicted for alleged prisoner abuse

The El Paso Times reports that a McAllen grand jury has indicted Dick Cheney and Alberto Gonzalez for prisoner abuse:

A South Texas grand jury has indicted Vice President Dick Cheney and former Attorney General Alberto Gonzales on charges related to the alleged abuse of prisoners in Willacy County's federal detention centers.

The indictment criticizes Cheney's investment in the Vanguard Group, which holds interests in the private prison companies running the federal detention centers. It accuses Cheney of a conflict of interest and "at least misdemeanor assaults" on detainees by working through the prison companies.

Gonzales is accused of using his position while in office to stop an investigation into abuses at the federal detention centers.

Another indictment charges state Sen. Eddie Lucio Jr. with profiting from his public office by accepting honoraria from prison management companies.

What does this mean? Who knows.  I'll be following this story with interest because I am of the opinion that both of these men deserve to be behind bars for many many reasons.

HT: El Paso Times

Dems pick up another seat

The AP has called the Senate race in Alaska and convicted felon Ten Stevens, the longest serving criminal Republican in the Senate, has been defeated by Anchorage mayor Democrat Mark Begich. Mr. Bridge to Nowhere, the Internet is "a series of tubes" is gone. Good riddance.

Just two more seats left (Minnesota and Georgia) and the Democrats will have complete control of the government with a fillibuster-proof majority.

It feels good to clean house.

Mark Begich leading convicted felon Ted Stevens by 2,374

The illusive 60-seat majority is looking more real every day.  The AP reports:

The longest-serving Republican in the history of the Senate trailed the Anchorage mayor by 2,374 votes out of 290,198 counted as election officials continued tallying absentee and other ballots. Begich had led by about 1,000 votes before Tuesday's count

After Steven's conviction I sent Mr. Begich some cash and I'm glad my investment is going to pay off.  Just three years ago, who would have predicted such good fortune for the Dems?

Mr. President, surrender your BlackBerry

Barack Obama will be our first truly wired president, but being president does not allow him to be as wired as he might like.

Jeff Zeleny of the NY Times writes:

For all the perquisites and power afforded the president, the chief executive of the United States is essentially deprived by law and by culture of some of the very tools that other chief executives depend on to survive and to thrive. Mr. Obama, however, seems intent on pulling the office at least partly into the 21st century on that score; aides said he hopes to have a laptop computer on his desk in the Oval Office, making him the first American president to do so.

Zeleny points out that even President Bush had to give up his email use:

"Since I do not want my private conversations looked at by those out to embarrass, the only course of action is not to correspond in cyberspace," Mr. Bush wrote from his old address, G94B@aol.com. "This saddens me. I have enjoyed conversing with each of you."

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/11/16/us/politics/16blackberry.html

Ten most difficult words to translate

Alta published a list of the ten most difficult words to translate. Here are a few:

Jayus

From Indonesian, meaning a joke so poorly told and so unfunny that one cannot help but laugh.

Kyoikumama

In Japanese, this word refers to a mother who relentlessly pushes her children toward academic achievement.

Tartle

A Scottish verb meaning to hesitate while introducing someone due to having forgotten his/her name.

Check out the rest here.

Obama, restore the rule of law

Republicans are fond of bumper sticker talking points.   I mean,  why fuss with asking questions or probing deeper into the reasons, causes or effects.  Thinking is hard and the conservative rank-and-file just can't bother with such silliness. Keep it simple and make it sound good.  In so many ways Joe the Plumber represents the right-wing rank-and-file, clearly lacking any depth of knowledge but willing to debate the issues anyway by throwing around the GOP talking points as if they were a substantive arguments. 

This year we heard "Drill baby drill" or "Obama is a socialist who pals around with terrorists." None of these drones bothered to ask why drilling is the answer or what the viable alternatives were. None could provide a clear definition of socialism. This is just an example of how they throw around terms that evoke certain emotions without regard to meaining. Again, why bother?  Thinking is hard. It's far easier to be stupid.

Let us rewind the clock ten years to the days of the Lewinsky scandal and the subsequent impeachemnt of President Clinton. The right-wing bumper sticker talking-point was "We must uphold the rule of law."  It was everywhere.  I am no Clnton apologist.  Clnton was a liar, but his crimes did not rise to the level of criminality of the Bush administraiton and yet the right is silent. No suprise.  The Bush administration is probably one of the most criminal presidencies in American history, but now more than ever we need that bumper sticker slogan as a serious rallying cry. Restore the rule of law!

Few Americans truly realize the dramatic erosion of the Constitution and the rule of law this country has experienced over the past eight years.  What is America without the rule of law? The United States Constitution is the oldest written constitution in the world still in force.  It's a testament to its greatness.  Life in 1787 is hardly recognizable compared to life in 2008, yet our Constitution still bears significant relevance.

Under Bush we saw domestic spying, denial of habeas corpus, torture, signing statements, kangaroo courts, blatant defiance of Congressional oversight. One of Obama's first acts as president should be to clearly and explicitly reverse this.  Give a speech proclaiming that America will not torture and will be bound by the rule of law.  Work with Congress on passing legislation limiting presidential power. Obama just might be the man of great enough strength of character to get this done. A one-time constitutional law professor, Obama has spoken about this early in his campaign so I have hope that something will be done.

If Obama fails to take action to restore the rule of law then we will have an institutional autocrat in the President.  Obama can save this and it can be one more thing that will lend to his greatness as President of the United States of America. Restore the rule of law!

Ancient Rome in 3D

Last month it was that nifty Forbidden City virtual tour.  Today we have Ancient Rome in Google Earth. This view is a snapshot of Rome in 320 C.E. This was produced by the Univeristy of Virginia's Institute for Advanced Technology in the Humanities and is based on their Rome Reborn model.

http://earth.google.com/rome/index.html