Matt Schonert

Yesterday, at the request of President Obama, Congress approved a $205 million handout to the Israeli government to build a missile defense system. This is in addition to the $2.55 billion in US military aid that Israel received last year. The bill passed the House with a near-unanimous vote.

Only four representatives dared to say no:

• Rep. Dennis Kucinich (D, OH-10)
• Rep. Fortney Stark (D, CA-13)
• Rep. John Conyers (D, MI-14)
• Rep. Ronald Paul (R, TX-14)

Popularity: 11% [?]

Legal experts now say that it’s easier for the federal government to assassinate American citizens than it is to eavesdrop on them:

To eavesdrop on the terrorism suspect who was added to the target list, the American-born radical cleric Anwar al-Awlaki, who is hiding in Yemen, intelligence agencies would have to get a court warrant. But designating him for death, as C.I.A. officials did early this year with the National Security Council’s approval, required no judicial review.

Administration officials take the view that no legal or constitutional rights can protect Mr. Awlaki, a charismatic preacher who has said it is a religious duty to attack the United States and who the C.I.A. believes is actively plotting violence.

What ever happened to “safety vs. ideals” being a false dilemma, as Obama said in his inauguration address? It now seems inadequate to call the hypocrite-in-chief “Bush Lite” when his administration in fact shows more contempt for due process than his despised predecessor.

See also:

• Organizing on the Issues: Improve Intelligence Capacity and Protect Civil Liberties
• New target of rights erosions: U.S. citizens

Popularity: 13% [?]

Should the alleged planner of the September 11 attacks go free because interrogators tortured him and threatened to kill his family?

If the federal government fails to convict Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, his tormentors can be thanked for guaranteeing that verdict. Their inhumane actions give moral high ground to the defense.

Can any single terrorist threat do as much damage to civilization as the erosion and eventual loss of due process under the law? Rather than side-stepping this requirement for the sake of urgency, such high-profile cases are, on the contrary, an opportunity to demonstrate unimpeachable humanity even to those who least deserve it.

Popularity: 5% [?]

Popularity: 12% [?]

If these conditions do not hold — if nobody outside Washington is really paying attention to the substance of the bill, if the true costs . . . are buried in phony accounting and understated by a trillion dollars or so — the majority party can begin every negotiation by asking for 100% of what it wants, go on to concede 10%, and then accuse any member of the minority party who fails to support this ‘compromise’ of being ‘obstructionist.’

That was Senator Barack Obama in 2006. He made this nightmare a reality in 2009.

Popularity: 2% [?]

AFP reports:

President-elect Barack Obama plans to give “a major address” in an Islamic capital soon after taking office as he seeks to mend America’s image in the Muslim world, a Chicago Tribune interview said.

“I think we’ve got a unique opportunity to reboot America’s image around the world and also in the Muslim world in particular,” Obama said in the interview published late Tuesday on the Tribune’s website.

As an information technology guy, I appreciate this advent of computing metaphors in mainstream political speech. I hope his speechwriters make a habit of this. Here’s something to get the ball rolling:

Popularity: 2% [?]

Associated Content has an article about using Google Trends to come up with story ideas that will generate attention on account of their trendiness.

Google’s graphs reflect the frequency, throughout a specified time span, with which a particular term has been searched for on Google. Google News articles can also appear as pushpins on the graph. Google Trends is also, not surprisingly, useful and cool for non-writers. For example, there have been claims that political and media pressure on Barack Obama to name his running mate is wildly disproportionate to the pressure on John McCain to do the same, especially considering that the Democrat secured the nomination a week ago, and the Republican has been presumptive nominee for months. A graph of these two trends seems to corroborate the discrepancy.

Popularity: -0% [?]