Politics

Bush’s inauguration will cost between 30 and 40 million dollars (original), before the cost of security is added. We have, so far, sent around 15 million dollars in tsunami relief aid (original). Quite the contrast. I’m fairly sure we’ll send more money over the course of the next month or so. I also think we’d earn a lot of good will if we cancelled the inauguration and put the unspent money towards relief. It would hurt some American companies, yes, but chances are nobody would die of it. ...

If you believe in curtailing the civil liberties of Muslim-Americans, you’re not alone (original). In some ways I’m encouraged by these numbers; only 22% of those polled approved of racial profiling. I would have guessed that percentage would be higher. On the other hand, 27% of those polled wanted all Muslim-Americans to register where they lived. Which is atrocious. Now, I was kind of curious as to what “curtailing civil liberties” meant, so I dug up the original report (original). I got distracted from that question by worse news: only 27% of the respondents believe that Muslim values are similar to Christian values. 31% said that the media should not report criticisms. 37% don’t think people should be allowed to protest at all. Welcome to America. ...

Baddish news on the UN front, from my point of view. Well, potentially bad. France, Germany, and Russia are working on a Security Council resolution which would do a number of things none of which include sanctioning a war on Iraq. It does include peacekeepers, which is interesting. Powell is upset that he learned about it from a press report. Takes respect to give respect, which Powell no doubt knows but he’s gotta register a complaint anyhow. ...

Whatever happened to Bernard Kerik? Well, it wasn’t just his nanny problem (original). Josh Marshall has the lengthy summary (original) of Kerik’s issues.

So we’re gonna do the elections differently in 2008. I’ve been thinking about it. I have a plan. We’re not going to vote for candidates. We’re going to vote for parties. You’ll cast one vote for a party, and you’ll be done. That will simplify things. Every party puts together a list of candidates, with their top candidate at the top and so on. Individuals can run too, but as you’ll see in a moment, it’s not a very good idea. ...

“Under the plans, troops would funnel Fallujans to so-called citizen processing centers on the outskirts of the city to compile a database of their identities through DNA testing and retina scans. Residents would receive badges displaying their home addresses that they must wear at all times. Buses would ferry them into the city, where cars, the deadliest tool of suicide bombers, would be banned.” Mark of the Beast! Mark of the Beast! ...

Possibly it’s time to come to the conclusion that our government is not very good at preventing prisoner abuses. Yes, it happens occasionally, and a single incident doesn’t mean it’s endemic. But when DIA agents are being threatened in order to keep it quiet, and when the FBI is concerned about generally used coercive techniques, there is a clear problem. I manage people for a living. After a certain point, if a given problematic behavior pattern repeats, I figure out what the root cause is and I fix it. I do not say “well, that’s just one incident; it’s bound to happen now and again.” If you don’t think that torture is acceptable, you’ve got to ask why Donald Rumsfeld continues to allow this pattern to persist. And, of course, why George Bush doesn’t correct Rumsfeld’s failure to act. ...

There was some concern that Harry Reid wouldn’t be a combative Senate Minority Leader. Comes from a red state, so vulnerable to election challenges; moderate; all that stuff. Harry Reid on Clarence Thomas: “I think that he has been an embarrassment to the Supreme Court. I think that his opinions are poorly written. I just don’t think that he’s done a good job as a Supreme Court justice.” He then praised Scalia’s intelligence but said Scalia has some ethics problems. So, yeah, the guy has some cojones. I’m betting he’ll make Frist use the nuclear option (original) if it comes down to it.

If you’re still wondering about the vote in Ohio and the exit polls and so on, you ought to be reading [Keith Olberman](http://web.archive.org/web/20130115011342/http://web.archive.org/web/20130115011342/http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/6533008/ (original)/) (original). He’s been covering the story non-stop since the election; it’s probably not too overwrought to say he’s staking his credibility on it. He is also being very careful not to wear a tin-foil hat. What’s clear at this point is that the Kerry campaign is very quietly working towards a recount in Ohio. The Libertarian/Green effort is acting, consciously or not, as a stalking horse. Jesse Jackson has come on board to do the heavy rhetorical lifting. A guy named Cliff Arnebeck is about to file (original) a contest of election lawsuit, and he looks like he knows what he’s doing. ...

The Red Cross says conditions in Guantanamo Bay are problematic, but won’t confirm a New York Times report that said the Red Cross claims prisoners were effectively tortured. The official White House response is not exactly conclusive: “We strongly disagree with any characterization that suggests the way detainees are being treated is inconsistent with the policies the president has outlined.” Well, that’s all very well and good, but it’s not entirely clear that it is inconsistent with the Red Cross claims. The President’s policies may or may not authorize actions that are effectively torture (original), after all. ...