Welcome! "The Evening Blues" is a casual community diary (published Monday - Friday, 8:00 PM Eastern) where we hang out, share and talk about news, music, photography and other things of interest to the community.
Just about anything goes, but attacks and pie fights are not welcome here. This is a community diary and a friendly, peaceful, supportive place for people to interact.
Everyone who wants to join in peaceful interaction is very welcome here.
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Hey! Good Evening!
This evening's music features Johnnie Johnson, a fellow largely known as Chuck Berry's piano player, who deserves more limelight than he's gotten. Enjoy!
Johnnie Johnson - Everyday I Have The Blues
"There is not a flag large enough to cover the shame of killing innocent people."
-- Howard Zinn
News and Opinion
Here are some photos from the No Attack on Syria rally at White House & march to the Capitol that happened Saturday.
The march gets started:
Stragglers with good signs:
Medea Benjamin was there on a bicycle:
Alternative housing on Capitol Hill, a couple of blocks from the White House:
Police presence was heavy:
Question for the new Colin Powell:
Approaching the site of an ongoing Peace Insurrection:
If you missed the march and want to participate, Codepink is sponsoring an ongoing occupation across the street from the Cannon Office Building (next to the Capitol) from which it will launch lobbying efforts and be a visible presence at the Capitol as your representatives consider bombing Syria (like good humanitarians do).
Marcy Wheeler exposes the administration's misrepresentation of intelligence:
Syria: The Administration’s Attribution Failure
Reuters confirms something that I have long suggested: the government doesn’t know who ordered the CW attack in Syria on August 21. ...
Remember, we’ve already had anonymous admissions that the intelligence community isn’t really sure who controls Assad’s CW; nor do they know what happened when rebels took over a location where weapons had been stored.
Over the past six months, with shifting front lines in the 2½-year-old civil war and sketchy satellite and human intelligence coming out of Syria, U.S. and allied spies have lost track of who controls some of the country’s chemical weapons supplies, according to the two intelligence officials and two other U.S. officials.
U.S. satellites have captured images of Syrian troops moving trucks into weapons storage areas and removing materials, but U.S. analysts have not been able to track what was moved or, in some cases, where it was relocated. They are also not certain that when they saw what looked like Assad’s forces moving chemical supplies, those forces were able to remove everything before rebels took over an area where weapons had been stored.
And months ago, the government worried a rogue officer might launch Assad’s CW.
So on multiple occasions the intelligence community has raised ways — rebel capture, non-authorized capture on the Syrian side, or rogue officer — in which CW might be released against Assad’s wishes. Yet their case tying this attack to Assad relies on mere assumptions that none of those things have happened, even while they know the chain of command did not operate as it normally would have.
Andrew Bacevich on Taking Action in Syria
DONAHUE: In your book, your commentary about a loss of the citizen's army is especially germane to what's happening now with Syria. It's easier now to go to war is one of the points you make. And as now we think about Syria, how do those two come together?
ANDREW BACEVICH: Well, I’d back up from Syria a little bit. And I think I'd want to tell a story that begins really back at the end of the Vietnam War. A war that divided the country, a war that in many respects shattered the United States military. And part of the response to that war was that the American people decided to jettison the longstanding tradition of the citizen soldier.
Richard Nixon endorsed that when he ended the draft and declared the creation of an all-volunteer force. And for some considerable period of time, this seemed like a smart move, a good thing for the country. It let citizens off the hook, also gave us highly capable and well-trained and well-disciplined soldiers. What only became evident after the Cold War ended, however was that this new professional army really was no longer America's army. It was Washington's army. And Washington began to--
PHIL DONAHUE: As in Washington DC?
ANDREW BACEVICH: As in Washington DC. And Washington began to do with that army whatever they wanted, regardless of whether the people had signed up to the enterprise. And this greater penchant for war I think really reached its zenith after 9/11 with President George W. Bush's decision to invade Iraq, as so many people have said, a country totally uninvolved in 9/11.
Alan Grayson's NYT Oped, it's relatively short and worth reading in full:
On Syria Vote, Trust, but Verify
Over the last week the administration has run a full-court press on Capitol Hill, lobbying members from both parties in both houses to vote in support of its plan to attack Syria. And yet we members are supposed to accept, without question, that the proponents of a strike on Syria have accurately depicted the underlying evidence, even though the proponents refuse to show any of it to us or to the American public. ...
It is my understanding that the House Intelligence Committee made a formal request for the underlying intelligence reports several days ago. I haven’t heard an answer yet. And frankly, I don’t expect one. ... The danger of the administration’s approach was illustrated by a widely read report last week in The Daily Caller, which claimed that the Obama administration had selectively used intelligence to justify military strikes in Syria, with one report “doctored so that it leads a reader to just the opposite conclusion reached by the original report.”
The allegedly doctored report attributes the attack to the Syrian general staff. But according to The Daily Caller, “it was clear that ‘the Syrian general staff were out of their minds with panic that an unauthorized strike had been launched by the 155th Brigade in express defiance of their instructions.’ ”
I don’t know who is right, the administration or The Daily Caller. But for me to make the correct decision on whether to allow an attack, I need to know. And so does the American public.
Congress Denied Syrian Facts, Too
A U.S. congressman who has read the Obama administration’s classified version of intelligence on the alleged Syrian poison gas attack says the report is only 12 pages – just three times longer than the sketchy unclassified public version – and is supported by no additional hard evidence.
Rep. Alan Grayson, D-Florida, a member of the House Foreign Affairs Committee, also said the House Intelligence Committee had to make a formal request to the administration for “the underlying intelligence reports” and he is unaware if those details have been forthcoming, suggesting that the classified report – like the unclassified version – is more a set of assertions than a presentation of evidence. ...
As I wrote a week ago, after examining the four-page unclassified summary, there was not a single fact that could be checked independently. It was a “dodgy dossier” similar to the ones in 2002-2003 that led the United States into the Iraq War. The only difference was that the Bush administration actually provided more checkable information than the Obama administration did, although much of the Bush data ultimately didn’t check out.
It appears that the chief lesson learned by the Obama administration was to release even less information about Syria’s alleged chemical weapons attack on Aug. 21 than the Bush administration did about Iraq’s alleged WMD. The case against Syria has relied almost exclusively on assertions, such as the bellowing from Secretary of State John Kerry that the Syrian government sure did commit the crime, just trust us.
Obama Readies Media Push to Sell Syria Plan to Congress
President Barack Obama and his allies are intensifying a public-relations offensive in what even Obama has called a “heavy lift” to win public and congressional support for a military strike on Syria.
The White House effort includes appearances by Obama’s chief of staff, Denis McDonough, on all five of the U.S. Sunday network talk shows. Obama will follow up with six television network interviews tomorrow before giving a prime-time televised address to the nation on Sept. 10.
After failing to persuade allies at the Group of 20 summit in Russia last week to unite behind military action, Obama returned to Washington to press his request for congressional authorization for a “limited” military strike to punish Syrian President Bashar al-Assad for what the U.S says was a chemical weapons attack.
Congressional Black Caucus chairwoman, Marcia Fudge tells committee members to shut up and support Obama. Nice.
Congressional Black Caucus instructed to hold tongue on Syria
As an increasing number of African-American lawmakers voice dissent over the Obama administration's war plans in Syria, the chairwoman of the Congressional Black Caucus has asked members to "limit public comment" on the issue until they are briefed by senior administration officials.
A congressional aide to a caucus member called the request "eyebrow-raising," in an interview with FP, and said the request was designed to quiet dissent while shoring up support for President Barack Obama's Syria strategy.
The caucus, a crucial bloc of more than 40 votes the White House likely needs to authorize a military strike in Syria, is scheduled to be briefed by White House National Security Adviser Susan Rice on Monday. Until then, caucus chairwoman Marcia Fudge, D-Ohio, has asked colleagues to "limit public comment until [they] receive additional details," Fudge spokeswoman Ayofemi Kirby told FP.
When asked if the White House requested the partial gag order, National Security Council spokeswoman Caitlin Hayden said "the administration is reaching out to all members to ensure they have the information they need to make an informed judgment on this issue." Kirby said it was her boss's request and was aimed at keeping members informed rather than silencing anti-war members.
Here are two senators that desperately need primary challenges.
Feinstein, Boxer buck constituents on Syria strike
California Sens. Dianne Feinstein and Barbara Boxer are providing critical support for President Obama's proposed strike on Syria, bucking what they acknowledge to be strong opposition from Californians.
The two senior Democrats play an outsized role as Obama asks the nation and Congress next week to support an unpopular resolution authorizing military force against the Syrian government for an August chemical weapons attack in that nation's civil war. ...
Feinstein spoke openly about public opposition in California.
"It weighs on me, no question," Feinstein said. "Every day I get a report on the amount of calls, where they are coming from, what the nature of the argument is, and there is no question that what's coming in is overwhelmingly negative."
Congress Charade: Most on Capitol Hill swaying against Syria war cry
U.S. plans for ’3 days of attack’ on Syria, military tells LA Times
The Pentagon is readying more intense and longer attacks on Syria than originally planned, set to last three days, the Los Angeles Times reported on Sunday.
War planners now aim to unleash a heavy barrage of missile strikes to be followed swiftly by additional attacks on targets that may have been missed or remain standing after the initial launch, the Times cited officials as saying.
Two US officers told the newspaper that the White House has asked for an expanded target list to include “many more” than the initial list of around 50 targets.
The move is part of an effort to obtain additional firepower to damage Syrian President Bashar al-Assad’s dispersed forces.
Pentagon planners are now considering using Air Force bombers, as well as five US missile destroyers currently patrolling the eastern Mediterranean Sea, to launch cruise missiles and air-to-surface missiles from far out of range of Syrian air defenses, according to the report.
Sunday morning sabre-rattling. Kerry foams at the mouth again, says he has no hope that Assad would give up his chemical weapons in a week. Assad should call his bluff and offer him all of his chemical weapons on two conditions, that Kerry come pick them up and that he collects the chemical weapons held by the rebel forces certifying when complete that he has collected them all.
US Issues Syria's Assad an Ultimatum
Syria's President Bashar al-Assad has one week to hand over his chemical weapons... or else.
That was the message from U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry on Monday at joint press conference with his British counterpart William Hague in London. Kerry acknowledged that he had no hope that Assad would do such a thing.
As the U.S. House of Representatives comes back into session after a long end-of-summer recess and President Obama readies a televised national address for Tuesday night, the White House is showing no signs of letting up on its push for war against Assad. In London, Kerry once again tried to paint the White House case for military intervention as iron clad despite still lingering questions about the quality of the intelligence or the wisdom of deepened U.S. armed involvement in the country's bloody civil war.
US Lacks Justification for Strike on Syria
EU Demands UN Report as White House Continues Push for War
As the push for war with Syria from the White House carried over through the weekend, European Union officials made official statements on Saturday arguing that a UN report on the alleged chemical weapons attack is still necessary before any further action is taken—hard evidence the White House has failed to provide to the international community and lawmakers back home.
While the senior foreign policy official for the European Union, Catherine Ashton, seemed to be leaning more towards Washington's argument that Syrian president Assad is to blame for the alleged chemical weapons attack, she continued to urge the international community to wait for United Nations inspectors to submit a preliminary report on the incident before any action is taken. A UN report can be expected within the next week or two, according to the New York Times.
Ashton also underscored "the need to move forward with addressing the Syrian crisis through the U.N. process," a step the U.S. has snubbed, which could include possible prosecution by the International Criminal Court in The Hague, rather than all out war. The EU ministers said they hope a "preliminary report of this first (U.N.) investigation can be released as soon as possible."
Such evidence, or any semblance of a detailed report, has not been provided to the public nor to lawmakers in Washington from the Obama administration.
Iran Plots Revenge, U.S. Says
The U.S. has intercepted an order from Iran to militants in Iraq to attack the U.S. Embassy and other American interests in Baghdad in the event of a strike on Syria, officials said, amid an expanding array of reprisal threats across the region.
The Iranian message, intercepted in recent days, came from Qasem Soleimani, the head of Revolutionary Guards' Qods Force, and went to Iranian-supported Shiite militia groups in Iraq, according to U.S. officials.
In it, Mr. Soleimani said Shiite groups must be prepared to respond with force after a U.S. strike on Syria.
Iranian officials on Friday denied their government was plotting attacks in Iraq against the U.S.
Alireza Miryousefi, a spokesman for Iran's United Nations mission, said the allegation was baseless and meant to "provoke the Congress" into authorizing a strike on Syria.
"We should remember that relying on U.S. intelligence reports from anonymous officials will repeat the tragedy of Iraq," he said.
So Obama claims that there is sufficient oversight by his administration of NSA, but he has to learn about what the NSA does in the newspapers?
Obama says he learns what NSA is doing from the press, then goes to NSA for details
Ewan MacAskill calls out a rather astounding statement by President Obama during his most recent press conference in St. Petersburg at the G20 summit. The very last question, which I believe is asked by AFP reporter Tangi Quemener, asks President Obama to respond to some of the recent NSA leaks, in particular the spying on Brazilian and Mexican officials. The President gives the usual long and winding answer about doing what intelligence agencies do, and various costs and benefits, but then there's this:
Now, just more specifically, then, on Brazil and Mexico. I said that I would look into the allegations. I mean, part of the problem here is we get these through the press and then I've got to go back and find out what’s going on with respect to these particular allegations -- I don’t subscribe to all these newspapers, although I think the NSA does -- now at least. (Laughter.)
Dear NSA, Thanks for Making Us All Insecure
Dear stupid, stupid NSA,
I’ve got to hand it to you: As an agency set up with the task of breaking codes and spying on people, you seem to be doing a pretty sterling job. ...
Now we also know that you have—in your own words—some capabilities against the encryption in TLS/SSL, HTTPS, SSH, VPNs, VoIP, WEBMAIL, and other network communication technologies. So even if it takes a fair amount of effort (unlike your indiscriminate data-trawling techniques), that’s basic Internet security out the window then. Nicely done. ...
Here’s where the stupidity creeps in: You actively work to influence policies, standards, and specifications for commercial public key technologies and shape the worldwide commercial cryptography marketplace to make it more tractable to advanced cryptanalytic capabilities being developed by yourself.
In other words, instead of just building a better lock pick, you are trying to make sure that all locks are faulty by design. ...
One must possess a Panglossian view on things to assume that Edward Snowden was the first person out of the many thousands in his position to make away with such material. He brought it to the public, and without that move there’s a good chance you wouldn’t have even known he took it. So who else has it? Bet you have no idea. So well done; you’ve probably put your own citizens at risk.
NSA Documents Show United States Spied Brazilian Oil Giant
One of the prime targets of American spies in Brazil is far away from the center of power – out at sea, deep beneath the waves. Brazilian oil. The internal computer network of Petrobras, the Brazilian oil giant partly owned by the state, has been under surveillance by the NSA, the National Security Agency of the United States.
The spying is confirmed by top secret documents leaked by Edward Snowden, and obtained exclusively by Fantastico. Snowden, an ex-intelligence analyst employed by the NSA, made these and thousands of other documents public last June. He has been given asylum by Russia.
These new disclosures contradict statements by the NSA denying espionage for economic purposes. ...
There is no information on the extent of the spying, nor if it managed to access the data contained in the company’s computers. It’s clear Petrobras was a target, but no documents show exactly what information the NSA searched for. But at any rate, Petrobras has strategic knowledge of deals involving billions of dollars. ...
Other targets include French diplomats – with access to the private network of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of France – and the SWIFT network, the cooperative that unites over ten thousand banks in 212 countries and provides communications that enable international financial transactions. All transfers of money between banks across national borders goes through SWIFT.
Homeowners Ask Why Feds Have $52.6 Billion for Clandestine Spy Programs and Syria but No Money for Fighting Wildfires
The Washington Post revealed the so-called "black budget" on Thursday and reports that $52.6 billion was set aside for operations in fiscal year 2013.
Call it a "war on terrorism" and the White House will instantly allocate billions of tax dollars. Call it a "war on wildfires" and, well, you're flat out of luck...
While the president signs off on more surveillance-drone contracts, vast acres of forests through the western states of Idaho, Colorado, Oregon, and California are going up in flames. Watch this video of Colorado's raging fires. And Yosemite Fire Threatens San Francisco Water and Power.
As of last week, 51 uncontained fires spread uncontrollably, making demands on fire crews extremely challenging primarily because the feds are running out of money to fight wildfires at the peak of the season. ...
Has anyone ever heard the president say: We're running out of money for surveillance, weapons and drones? Congress also approves of these multibillion dollar contracts as though they were handing out candy to a baby. How many billions will it cost tax payers for US involvement in Syria? The cost is irrelevant. No problem: "Approved".
But when it comes to using those tax dollars to hire professional firefighter crews to save the nation's forests during climate change droughts, to protect thousands of homes from being consumed from intensely catastrophic wildfires—oh sorry, feds have no money.
Why Larry Summers Track Record of Failure Actually Helps His Fed Nomination
Christie's wants to help rich people to hold the people of Detroit's property for ransom. Gosh, I wonder what will happen if the economic miracle the rich people's lackeys are concocting as we speak fails to materialize...
Christie's returns to Detroit to plan appraisal of DIA art
Christie’s Auctioneers returned to the Detroit Institute of Arts on Thursday for the second time to plan the appraisal of the museum’s collection, the New York auction house confirmed.
Christie’s said in a statement the appraisal “will proceed over the course of the next several weeks,” with assessors pricing works at the museum purchased by the city of Detroit. The aim, it added, is to “recommend ways for the City to realize value for the DIA collection without relinquishing ownership of it.”
Detroit Emergency Manager Kevyn Orr hired Christie’s in August to appraise up to 3,500 of the museum’s 66,000 objects for possible sale to pay Detroit’s debts. Orr, who is paying the auction house $200,000, denies any plans to sell art, but says he has no choice but to list the value of the DIA’s treasures along with other city assets in bankruptcy proceedings.
The Evening Greens
It looks like Obama has sacrificed one obsolete pipeline plan, at least temporarily, and quietly given the oil and gas industries what they want. Obama's press memo, quoted in the article looks like it was written by the oil and gas concerns that Obama is supposed to be regulating.
The Flip Side Of Obama’s Keystone XL Delay
Even as President Obama cast a veneer of caution over the Keystone pipeline’s northern half, he quietly expedited dozens of similar projects
The subject of a large amount of grassroots resistance from groups such as Great Plains Tar Sands Resistance and the Tar Sands Blockade, the Gulf Coast Pipeline Project – when push comes to shove – is only the tip of the iceberg.
That’s because Obama’s order also called for expedited permitting and review of all domestic infrastructure projects – including but not limited to pipelines – as a reaction to the Keystone XL resistance.
A months-long Mint Press News investigation reveals the executive order wasn’t merely a symbolic gesture.
Rather, many key pipeline and oil and gas industry marketing projects are currently up for expedited review, making up for — and by far eclipsing — the capacity of Keystone XL’s northern half. The original TransCanada Keystone pipeline – as is – already directly connects to Cushing from Alberta, making XL (short for “extension line”) essentially obsolete.
Protect nature for world economic security, warns UN biodiversity chief
Britain and other countries face a collapse of their economies and loss of culture if they do not protect the environment better, the world's leading champion of nature has warned.
"What we are seeing today is a total disaster," said Ahmed Djoghlaf, the secretary-general of the UN Convention on Biological Diversity. "No country has met its targets to protect nature. We are losing biodiversity at an unprecedented rate. If current levels [of destruction] go on we will reach a tipping point very soon. The future of the planet now depends on governments taking action in the next few years." ...
According to the UN Environment Programme, the Earth is in the midst of a mass extinction of life. Scientists estimate that 150-200 species of plant, insect, bird and mammal become extinct every 24 hours. This is nearly 1,000 times the "natural" or "background" rate and, say many biologists, is greater than anything the world has experienced since the vanishing of the dinosaurs nearly 65m years ago. Around 15% of mammal species and 11% of bird species are classified as threatened with extinction.
Peace Insurrection
Oppose The War: Where To Be For the Next Two Weeks
Codepink is starting a Peace Insurrection encampment on the Hill to say NO to War on Syria till the vote goes through sometime next week.
Codepink says:
We will be spending all day and all night for the next week at Congress, and invite you to join us for this urgent cause. We will be drafting a People’s Resolution as an alternative to war, visiting our elected representatives every single day, painting and chalking and creating visuals, building a dialogue booth for folks to talk about long-lasting solutions to this impending invasion, and anything YOU want to do. Bring your chairs, sleeping bags, pots and pans, art supplies, spirit and positive energy! Camp Peace Insurrection, starting tonight at the corner of Independence and New Jersey Ave. at 5 pm (across from Cannon Building). Let’s do this, and stay tuned for updates!
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Blog Posts of Interest
Here are diaries and selected blog posts of interest on DailyKos and other blogs.
What's Happenin'
Only a new wave of socialism can end the great squeeze on us all
Firsthand account of NSA sabotage of Internet security standards
Where Lawmakers Stand on Military Action in Syria
A Little Night Music
Johnnie Johnson - Johnnie's boogie
Johnnie Johnson - Real Good Woman
Johnnie Johnson - Tanqueray at the 1993 DC Blues Festival
Johnnie Johnson - I'm Goin' Fishin'
Johnnie Johnson - Movin' Out
Johnnie Johnson and The Kentucky Headhunters - That'll Work
Johnnie Johnson - Stepped In What?
Johnnie Johnson & John Lee Hooker - I Want To Hug You
Johnnie Johnson - Honky Tonk Train Blues
Johnnie Johnson w/Ry Cooder - Honky Tonk
Johnnie Johnson, Chuck Berry, Eric Clapton, Keith Richards - Mean Old World
Johnnie Johnson, Chuck Berry, Eric Clapton, Keith Richards - jam
It's National Pie Day!
The election is over, it's a new year and it's time to work on real change in new ways... and it's National Pie Day. This seemed like the perfect opportunity to tell you a little more about our new site and to start getting people signed up.
Come on over and sign up so that we can send you announcements about the site, the launch, and information about participating in our public beta testing.
Why is National Pie Day the perfect opportunity to tell you more about us? Well you'll see why very soon. So what are you waiting for?! Head on over now and be one of the first!
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