I wonder why. If you are gonna be a military junta, and you want to keep your job, you don't do controversial things unless it benefits you. At least that's what the intelligent junta does.
So what is the benefit of letting Mubarak out? Does he still command a faction in Egypt, who will do something nice for the junta if the junta does something nice for them? Is there some personal connection between the junta and Mubarak? Like a blood relationship, a marriage between families, some mighty favor done by Mubarak back when he was running the place? The guy is 85 and in poor health, odds are he will be dead in a couple of years.
Or maybe this isn't so controversial in Egypt? After a year of the Muslim Brotherhood in charge perhaps old Mubarak is looking better to the average Egyptian in the street?
Who knows? Surely not the US media.
Thursday, August 22, 2013
Wednesday, August 21, 2013
Goldfinger
The breakout James Bond movie. It was the third one out, Dr No and From Russia with Love preceeded it, but Goldfinger was the movie that made Bond into the bigtime. Last night I popped my DVD of Goldfinger into the player and enjoyed it.
For a movie nearly 50 years old, it has worn well. Except for the vintage cars, everything else looked reasonable. The aircraft, the costumes, the sets, the firearms, even the industrial laser, all look right up to date even when they are actually a half century old. Bond's one liners are still funny, and so are Goldfinger's. Bond's snappy wardrobe still looks snappy. The CIA guys both wear hats, (fedoras ) which nobody wears anymore, but their black suits would look right in style for Men In Black. Nobody said anything objectionable by the standards of 2013. Everybody smoked in the movie, but then everybody smoked in real life in those days.
I remember seeing Goldfinger back in 1964 at the Keesler Air Force Base outdoor theatre. The place was packed with GI's, who hugely enjoyed the movie. There is one technical slip, a supposed Army NCO was wearing Air Force sergeant's stripes. That brought the house down fifty years ago.
There was one other slip up. After crushing the Lincoln with the mobster inside it, Oddjob has the bundle of metal dropped into the bed of a Ford Falcon pickup truck. That wouldn't have worked in real life. The Lincoln weighs two tons (crushed or uncrushed) and the Falcon pickup truck was super light duty that bottomed out the springs around half a ton. Should have used something bigger like a Dodge Powerwagon.
Then there was the neat little tracker built into the Aston Martin. The one that displayed a map with a bright blinking light indicating the target location (usually Goldfinger was the target). At the time I saw the flick, I thought it was cool but a little advanced for current (1964) technology. A few months later, after reporting in to my duty unit, I saw the Tactical Situation Display (TSD) in the F106 fighter. Damn, the TSD worked exactly like Bond's tracker.
For a movie nearly 50 years old, it has worn well. Except for the vintage cars, everything else looked reasonable. The aircraft, the costumes, the sets, the firearms, even the industrial laser, all look right up to date even when they are actually a half century old. Bond's one liners are still funny, and so are Goldfinger's. Bond's snappy wardrobe still looks snappy. The CIA guys both wear hats, (fedoras ) which nobody wears anymore, but their black suits would look right in style for Men In Black. Nobody said anything objectionable by the standards of 2013. Everybody smoked in the movie, but then everybody smoked in real life in those days.
I remember seeing Goldfinger back in 1964 at the Keesler Air Force Base outdoor theatre. The place was packed with GI's, who hugely enjoyed the movie. There is one technical slip, a supposed Army NCO was wearing Air Force sergeant's stripes. That brought the house down fifty years ago.
There was one other slip up. After crushing the Lincoln with the mobster inside it, Oddjob has the bundle of metal dropped into the bed of a Ford Falcon pickup truck. That wouldn't have worked in real life. The Lincoln weighs two tons (crushed or uncrushed) and the Falcon pickup truck was super light duty that bottomed out the springs around half a ton. Should have used something bigger like a Dodge Powerwagon.
Then there was the neat little tracker built into the Aston Martin. The one that displayed a map with a bright blinking light indicating the target location (usually Goldfinger was the target). At the time I saw the flick, I thought it was cool but a little advanced for current (1964) technology. A few months later, after reporting in to my duty unit, I saw the Tactical Situation Display (TSD) in the F106 fighter. Damn, the TSD worked exactly like Bond's tracker.
Tuesday, August 20, 2013
What do we do about NSA?
They have been around for a long time. NSA is descended from the World War II codebreakers who contributed so mightily to victory in that war. Back in the 1940's they merely tuned in enemy radio messages and then decrypted them. Back then we civilians were happy if the government didn't read our mail and got a warrent to tap our telephone.
Times move on. NSA is now obtaining and storing all the telephone bills in the land. "metadata" they call it, but it is just the information on your telephone bill, each number you called and how long you stayed on the line. NSA has direct taps into the phone company computers to suck off the "metadata" and store it, forever.
Question. Should we allow this? On the security side, when they finger one terrorist, they go into the "metadata" and find everyone he ever telephoned. Very handy, no doubt about it. Tidier than interrogation or waterboarding the suspect, and they can do it even if they haven't caught 'em yet.
On the defense lawyer side, all they have to do is find just once, that my client telephoned some unsavory character, and he is convicted. If they want to hang my client for income tax (like happened to Al Capone), insider trading (Martha Stewart), campaign finance offenses, or walking on the grass, talk to every one on his phone list and you are bound to find some dirt to bring to court. Scary.
NSA claims that they only look at their store of "metadata" to solve terrorist cases. Even if this is true, today, pretty soon cops will want to use it on other "worthy" causes. Like kidnapping cases, or school shooter cases, or drug cases. Pretty soon they will be using it in child support cases. Or divorce cases.
After thinking about it for some time, I think the dangers of innocent citizens getting railroaded out weigh the chances of catching terrorists.
We ought to pass a law forbidding NSA to access, read, copy or store "metadata" of any kind. Companies should be forbidden to allow snoopers to see customer data without a court order. Court orders to be limited to ONE suspect at a time, no court orders for "all single black men 18 to 24 years old" stuff.
NSA is also snooping email. Scanning it by computer, and reading it if it is from someone on the watch list or the scanner picks up on some suspicious keywords. We ought to forbid that too. And pass a law requiring Gmail and the internet service providers to keep customer email secret.
Monday, August 19, 2013
Juan Williams finally makes some sense
Juan Williams, a liberal commentator who was driven from NPR to Fox News a few years ago, was on the 6 PM Fox news roundtable. They were discussing Egypt and what should be done. Juan said that of the two sides in the Egyptian "disturbances" we ought to be backing the Egyptian Army against the Muslim Brotherhood. Juan got that 100 % right.
The Army may be a little heavy handed, but the Muslim Brotherhood are Islamist crazies. The Army has majority support of the Egyptian people in turning out Morsi's Muslim Brotherhood government.
All we can do in Egypt is pick a side. The Army, which we have been training and paying for 20 years, is much more sympathetic to our point of view than the Brotherhood, who assassinated Anwat Sadat.
The Army may be a little heavy handed, but the Muslim Brotherhood are Islamist crazies. The Army has majority support of the Egyptian people in turning out Morsi's Muslim Brotherhood government.
All we can do in Egypt is pick a side. The Army, which we have been training and paying for 20 years, is much more sympathetic to our point of view than the Brotherhood, who assassinated Anwat Sadat.
Sunday, August 18, 2013
Practice or Process?
Attorney General Eric Holder announced that US attorneys had be instructed to sidestep the mandatory minimum sentencing rules in regard to "low level drug offenders". Not a bad idea, Users and guys who deal just enough to support their own habits aren't that dangerous. But I don't like the process Holder used.
Those mandatory minimum laws were passed by Congress. The right way to change 'em is to go to Congress and get Congress to change the law. Doing it on just Eric's say-so ain't democratic, that's what dictators do.
Those mandatory minimum laws were passed by Congress. The right way to change 'em is to go to Congress and get Congress to change the law. Doing it on just Eric's say-so ain't democratic, that's what dictators do.
Al Quada will never win at the ballot box
Thus spake US senator Lindsey Graham on Face the Nation this morning. Well I got news for the senator. The Muslim Brotherhood, parent organization to Al Quada, did in fact win control of Egypt at the ballot box only a year or two ago. If the Muslim Brotherhood can win elections in Eqypt, Al Quada, a spin off terrorist organization, can win just about anywhere.
Too bad Senator Graham appears to be influential inside the brain damaged US Senate.
Too bad Senator Graham appears to be influential inside the brain damaged US Senate.
Saturday, August 17, 2013
How to prevent a Government Shutdown
Simple. Pass some appropriation bills. They way it ought to be, and the way it used to be, Congress would pass bills appropriating money for each department of the executive, State, Defense, Treasury, NASA, Energy, Commerce, and so on. If appropriations for one department failed to pass, the rest of the government could keep on running.
In the last 10-15 years Congress has been unable to pass appropriation bills. At the 11th hour Congress will pass one single humungous bill that funds everything. This trick neuters Congressional power of the purse. You can't refuse to fund objectionable programs because the only way to do it is shut the entire government down, which is perilous. Last time Newt Gengrich tried it, he was blamed for intransigence and driven from the speakership and from the House. We don't have anyone in Congress anymore with the kind of stones Newt Gengrich had. Newt was something of a loose cannon, but he had guts. Congress won't do a government shutdown over Obama Care this time. No guts.
What they ought to do is pass appropriation bills for every department EXCEPT Obama care. The house has the votes. The Senate could be wooed into passing reasonable appropriation bills, especially if they were skillfully larded with pork. If Obama vetoes them, then he looks intransigent. Then we could keep the government alive, and Obamacare unfunded.
In the last 10-15 years Congress has been unable to pass appropriation bills. At the 11th hour Congress will pass one single humungous bill that funds everything. This trick neuters Congressional power of the purse. You can't refuse to fund objectionable programs because the only way to do it is shut the entire government down, which is perilous. Last time Newt Gengrich tried it, he was blamed for intransigence and driven from the speakership and from the House. We don't have anyone in Congress anymore with the kind of stones Newt Gengrich had. Newt was something of a loose cannon, but he had guts. Congress won't do a government shutdown over Obama Care this time. No guts.
What they ought to do is pass appropriation bills for every department EXCEPT Obama care. The house has the votes. The Senate could be wooed into passing reasonable appropriation bills, especially if they were skillfully larded with pork. If Obama vetoes them, then he looks intransigent. Then we could keep the government alive, and Obamacare unfunded.
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