The Rag Blog

Judge Vacates Conviction of Ken Lay

Tuesday’s ruling thwarts the government’s bid to seek $43.5 million in ill-gotten gains prosecutors allege he pocketed by participating in Enron’s fraud. The government could still pursue those gains in civil court, but they would have to compete with other litigants, if any, also pursuing Lay’s estate. (emphasis added)

Read it here.

Again, from Juan Cole, with our thanks.

The End of Press Freedom in Iraq?

Al-Zaman, the Times of Baghdad, reports [Ar.] that press freedom may soon be a thing of the past in Iraq. The Iraqi parliament on Monday passed a resolution calling on the president of Iraq, Jalal Talabani, to intervene to close down the offices of the al-Sharqiyah television channel in Iraq, and to close down a newspaper, al-Zaman itself! Both are owned by a media group headed by Saad al-Bazzaz, and they have a mild secular, Arab nationalist tone. It is not a point of view welcome to the Shiite fundamentalists who dominate the Iraqi parliament.

Read the rest here.

“Bush called Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki on Monday to reassure him that it was not true that the US planned to dump him if he has not produced better results in two months.

Bush hasn’t dumped Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld, who has not produced better results for three years, so al-Maliki need not have worried.”

From Juan Cole’s Informed Comment. Here’s the article that Juan cites:

Bush assures jittery Al-Maliki that U.S. stands behind him
The White House is taking a wait-and-see attitude to an independent commission study that reportedly will urge changes in Iraqi policy.
Sheryl Gay Stolberg, New York Times
Last update: October 16, 2006 – 11:42 PM

At the same time, the White House suggested Monday that it would not necessarily accept the recommendations of an independent commission reviewing Iraq policy. “We’re not going to outsource the business of handling the war in Iraq,” said Tony Snow, the president’s press secretary.

Read it here.

And here’s Chris Floyd’s take on this business (ouch!):

Why Bush Smiles: Victory is at Hand in Iraq
Written by Chris Floyd
Tuesday, 17 October 2006

The chief reason why Maliki and his government will be ousted is not the hell-storm of death and violence that is now devouring the country. The fact that every new day sees a hundred or more mutilated bodies dumped on the nation’s streets, and pitched battles between sectarian militias, and multiple deaths of American troops, and mass flights of anguished Iraqi civilians running in fear for their lives is not a matter of any urgent concern to Bush and his warmakers. Indeed, there is much evidence that one of the prime instigators of the wanton killing is a group created and long nurtured by the Bush Administration itself: the Facilities Protection Service, an army of uniformed freebooters nearly 150,000 strong. (I’ll be writing more on this later.) Of course, the violence is a political headache for the Bushists, because it generates bad press; but they don’t care about it – it has no intrinsic meaning or emotional impact on those who are already responsible for the deaths of more than half a million Iraqis and more than 2,700 Americans.

I didn’t see any reference in the MSM about this.

The day we took over the U.S. Senate
September 28, 2006 on 12:06 pm
by Gordon Clark, Communications Director

At the end of the rally and service we formed a procession to go by the Capitol building and then on to the Senate office buildings. Police stopped us after three blocks, telling us that the large procession constituted an unpermitted demonstration and that we would not be allowed to continue. It was at this point that one affinity group broke away, and crossed police lines and Constitution Ave., carrying a coffin to the steps of the Capitol. Sixteen were arrested for that act of nonviolent witness.

Read the rest here.

All we can say is, “What was that cop thinking?”

Woman Sues Over Ticket for Anti-Bush Bumper Sticker
By DANIEL YEE, AP

Grier also seeks a declaration in federal court that her bumper sticker is considered protected speech under the First Amendment because she is “uncertain and insecure regarding her right to display her bumper sticker in DeKalb County,” the lawsuit said.

Read all of it here.

Click on the image, print it (landscape mode; then it’ll be long enough), preferably in colour, then cut it out. It’s your armband for today and can be stapled or paper-clipped to hold it. In case you don’t know, here’s why.

There are consequences for everything, and most of us seem to believe that everything happens for a reason. The incident in Lancaster County, Pennsylvania, was very sad, and really is a consequence of the Second Amendment and the fostering of an attitude in this nation about gun ownership.

Many thanks to our buddy Charlie Loving for the great cartoon work.

A reminder that today is the day george bush will sign the Military Commissions Act (aka, the Torture Act). Please wear your “No Torture” armband.

Canucks in the Crossfire
By Paul Richard Harris
Oct 16, 2006, 16:27

[snip]

Canada is not operating alone in Afghanistan; it is there as the lead in a NATO invasion of the volatile southern region of Afghanistan. A few months following the NATO invasion (in late 2005), then prime minister Paul Martin spoke to Canadian troops in Kandahar and told them the goal of the occupation was to “create a democratic, prosperous, modern country that can be a model in this part of the world.” In fact, however, the occupying forces have brought widespread misery, death, destruction to the area where they claimed they planned to ‘paint schools and drill water wells’.

Read all of it here.

The numbers do add up
The attempts to rubbish the Lancet study on the massive Iraqi death toll are devious hack-work.
Daniel Davies
October 12, 2006 02:00 PM

[snip]

This is the question to always keep at the front of your mind when arguments are being slung around (and it is the general question one should always be thinking of when people talk statistics). How Would One Get This Sample, If The Facts Were Not This Way? There is really only one answer – that the study was fraudulent.[1] It really could not have happened by chance. If a Mori poll puts the Labour party on 40% support, then we know that there is some inaccuracy in the poll, but we also know that there is basically zero chance that the true level of support is 2% or 96%, and for the Lancet survey to have delivered the results it did if the true body count is 60,000 would be about as improbable as this. Anyone who wants to dispute the important conclusion of the study has to be prepared to accuse the authors of fraud, and presumably to accept the legal consequences of doing so.

Read all of what he has to say here.

Marine Corps Issues Gag Order in Detainee Abuse Case
The action has lawyers worrying they could be punished for defending Guantanamo clients.
By Carol J. Williams, Times Staff Writer
October 15, 2006

“In one fell swoop, the government is gagging a defense lawyer and threatening retaliation against a whistle-blower,” Ahmad said. “It really points out what is wrong with the detainee legislation that Bush is scheduled to sign on Tuesday: It permits the abuse of detainees to continue, immunizes the wrongdoers and precludes the detainees from ever challenging it in court.” (emphasis added)

Read the rest here.

As we posted recently, the Pentagon and other government agencies are closely tracking anti-war activities in the US. Over the last few days, the American Civil Liberties Union has been making this information and, especially, the materials upon which it is based, available on its Web site. Here is an excerpt of what they say:

The Government Is Spying on Americans

The actions of the president, his administration, and these agencies are part of a broad pattern of disregard for the rule of law in the name of national security. The ACLU is calling for investigations and full disclosure of records to determine if oaths of office were broken or federal laws violated.

Read it all here.