Welcome! "What's Happenin'?" is a casual community diary (a daily series, 8:30 AM Eastern on weekdays, 10 AM on weekends and holidays) where we hang out and talk about the goings on here and everywhere.
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Good Morning!
Longwood Gardens. (Photo by joanneleon. October 5, 2012)
Bringing democratic control to the conduct of foreign policy requires a struggle merely to force the issue onto the public agenda.
― Eric Alterman
Tom Lehrer - Who's Next - with intro
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News and Opinion
Wait. We created Stuxnet. Is the Cybersecurity Act the digital PATRIOT Act? How about a retroactive legal codification of the illegal domestic surveillance and Hoovering up of all of our communications in the Stellar Wind project? President Obama has a lot of experience with legalizing/codification of the unconstitutional policies of Cheney/Bush.
U.S. energy companies victims of potentially destructive cyber intrusions
"We know that foreign cyber actors are probing America's critical infrastructure networks," said Panetta, disclosing previously classified information during a speech in New York laying out the Pentagon's role in protecting the U.S. from cyber attacks. "They are targeting the computer control systems that operate chemical, electricity and water plants, and those that guide transportation thorough the country."
[...]
The secretary said that a coordinated attack on enough critical infrastructure could be a "cyber Pearl Harbor" that would "cause physical destruction and loss of life, paralyze and shock the nation, and create a profound new sense of vulnerability."
While there have been reports of criminals using 'spear phishing' email attacks aimed at stealing information about American utilties, Panetta's remarks seemed to suggest more sophisticated, nation-state backed attempts to actually gain control of and damage power-generating equipment.
Panetta's comments regarding the penetration of American utilities echo those of a private sector cyber security expert Killer Apps spoke with last week who said that the networks of American electric companies were penetrated, perhaps in preparation for a Stuxnet-style attack.
[...]
Panetta also urged Congress to pass the Cyber Security Act of 2012, which would allow real-time information-sharing between businesses and the government, restrict the type of information government can collect on private citizens and how that information may be used, as well as set minimal cyber security standards that critical infrastructure providers should meet.
Many important points are made by the author and surprisingly, at the end, he argues that less money fed to the military industrial monster would be the start of reform for long festering problems.
Not All That It Can Be
The myth of American military superiority.
Many think that because the United States spends multiples of any conceivable opponent or even combinations of them, has the largest modern navy and air force, and can operate all over the world, there is no conceivable enemy or enemies that can take on America successfully. The history of warfare is full of this kind of arrogance before the fall; it has occurred from the beginnings of recorded warfare until today. Consider Xerxes and Darius against Greece in antiquity, the British in America in 1775, the Russians before their war with Japan in 1904, and the United States in 1964 facing Vietnam.
[...]
When I have suggested that America's military might not be "the best," the inevitable question is, "Against whom? Name an opponent who can beat us." History is not kind to those who are so sure they know the future, and in today's vapid culture the confident prediction of supremacy is articulated in the absence of anything beyond a superficial bean count of forces and hardware -- sometimes not even that.
[...]
Nothing is changed today; the bluster is as frequent and hollow. Typical examples are unmanned drones, such as the MQ-9 Reaper and the Air Force's F-22 fighter.
The real-world performance of the MQ-9 Reaper is actually rather pathetic. With a tiny payload of an extremely limited selection of weapons and very poor ability to find targets to which it is not precisely shepherded, the Reaper is incapable of defending itself, and it is several times more expensive than manned aircraft that are more effective, such as the A-10. Also, it crashes so routinely that the Air Force appears to not even report all "mishaps" on the appropriate website. Yet, such drones are slavishly characterized as a revolution in warfare, yet again, and technologists are talking proudly about future nuclear bombers that are "optionally manned."
The F-22 fighter is described by the Air Force as an "exponential leap in warfighting capabilities." A review of the data shows the F-22 to be more expensive and less impressive than the hype would have you believe. For one thing, the cost for each F-22 is not the $143 million the Air Force asserts but rather a whopping $412 million, according to the GAO. The plane was supposed to be less expensive to operate than the F-15C; instead, it is 50 percent more. For another, its radar-evading "stealth" capability is significantly limited, as we know from two F-117 "stealth" casualties in the 1999 Kosovo air war, and its ability to detect, identify, and engage enemy aircraft at very long range with radar-controlled missiles relies on a technology that has repeatedly failed in combat. Finally, the F-22 compares roughly in close-in air combat to early versions of the F-15 and F-16. This June, that unexceptional agility was on display when German pilots flew Eurofighter Typhoons successfully against F-22s in mock dogfights.
Like anyone should listen to the Graham hawk on war... but he mentioned this tidbit on a Sunday news show today which is probably what we'll hear from Issa et al as they will no doubt continue their focus on Libya this week (the ones who didn't skip town a week after they came back from a six week summer recess, that is).
Graham: White House either ‘misleading’ or ‘incompetent’ on Libya
“The intelligence community on the ground in Libya has told Sen. [Bob] Corker [R-Tenn.] and myself that within 24 hours they communicated up to Washington that this was a terrorist attack,” said Graham.
The Fight Ahead for Ali Zidan, Libya’s Newest Prime Minister
Ali Zidan, a former diplomat and lawyer, became the country’s latest prime minister Sunday night, elected by lawmakers who fired his predecessor after just 25 days on the job. But Zidan’s narrow majority makes his challenges all the more daunting.
In a narrow vote Sunday night, Libyan lawmakers selected as their new prime minister a diplomat and former human-rights lawyer who broke with Col. Muammar Gaddafi, just a week after they fired his short-lived predecessor. Ali Zidan now faces the challenge of forming a government that can gain the support of fractious lawmakers, a task that proved elusive for former academic, Mustafa Abushugar, whose list of cabinet nominees sparked protests and led to his downfall.
A human rights lawyer, a diplomat, and a member of the National Front for the Salvation of Libya,
"a CIA and Saudi-financed opposition group".
Ali Zeidan elected Libyan prime minister
He was a member of the opposition National Front for the Salvation of Libya, established in 1981 by dissidents abroad, before becoming a Geneva-based advocate for human rights in Libya.
The NFA holds 39 of the 80 seats reserved for parties in the assembly. It is headed by Mahmud Jibril, one of the architects of the 2011 revolt that toppled Gaddafi's regime.
'The Courage to Say No to Misogyny': Statement on the Attack Against 14-Year-Old Malala Yousafzai
by Malalai Joya
Owais Tohid, writing for the Christian Science Monitor, reported that young Malala was motivated by another women's rights activist with the same namesake:
[ ... ]
Malalai Joya, now 34, has survived numerous assassination attempts and in 2007 was suspended from the Afghan Parliament because of her criticisms of warlords, fundamentalists and the NATO occupation of Afghanistan. Joya sent rabble.ca the following statement on the shooting of Yousafzai.
[ ... ]
Malala was targeted because, in her limited capacity, she wanted to inform the world about the brutalities going on against women by extremists. She wanted to wake up the women of the rural areas of Pakistan to stand up and defend their due rights.
This was a warning for those who only understand the language of the gun. This cowardly attack on her proves that these medieval-minded groups are aware of the potential power of awakened women and are afraid that she may become a role model for many more women. So they tried to stop her in the very beginning. But it was a failed attempt because, across Pakistan and around the whole world, people are on Malala’s side and they are condemning her enemies.
European Victory on Taxing Speculation
The goofy stunts weren't the only game-changers.
European campaigners for a financial transaction tax have done some awfully goofy things over the past three years.
At one French demonstration, they stripped down to their skivvies to emphasize the small size of the tax (0.1% on trade of stocks and bonds and 0.02% on derivatives under the European Commission's proposal). In Germany, they rented a limo and crashed the Berlinale film festival, dressed as Robin Hood characters. In many countries, they've gotten elected officials to pose with silly hats and fake bows and arrows.
But after this week, the opponents of the financial transaction tax (aka Robin Hood Tax) will no longer snicker at such antics. At a meeting of European finance ministers on October 9, 11 governments committed to implementing the tax. This is two more than the minimum number needed for an official EU agreement. And it is a huge victory for those of us -- not just in Europe but also in the United States and around the world -- who've been pushing for such taxes as a way to curb short-term speculation and generate massive revenue for job creation, global health, climate, and other pressing needs.
Republicans Reveal Location Of Secret CIA Base During House Hearing On Libya Attacks
The GOP — having spent months railing against the Obama administration for allegedly leaking classified information — yesterday revealed classified information. “When House Republicans called a hearing in the middle of their long recess, you knew it would be something big,” Milbank reports today, “and indeed it was: They accidentally blew the CIA’s cover.”
Blog Posts and Tweets of Interest
'The Raiders of Your Lost Retirement' #3 -- Tips for the Pres and Rest of Us For SS Defense
Catholic High School refuses to acknowledge transgender student
Breaking: Panetta Equating Crude Iranian Cyberattacks with Pearl Harbor, Iran Infiltrated Aramco
Tom Lehrer - Send the Marines
Remember when progressive debate was about our values and not about a "progressive" candidate? Remember when progressive websites championed progressive values and didn't tell progressives to shut up about values so that "progressive" candidates can get elected?
Come to where the debate is not constrained by oaths of fealty to persons or parties.
Come to where the pie is served in a variety of flavors.
"The smart way to keep people passive and obedient is to strictly limit the spectrum of acceptable opinion, but allow very lively debate within that spectrum." ~ Noam Chomsky
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