AT&T – Your World. Delivered. To the NSA.

Here is a very interesting press release from the Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF) -- a fine organization whose email newsletter I highly recommend:

San Francisco - A federal judge in San Francisco ruled last week that the Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF) can use critical evidence in its class-action lawsuit against AT&T. However, U.S. District Judge Vaughn Walker said the evidence -- three documents that AT&T alleges are proprietary and contain the company's trade secrets -- will be kept under seal for now.

EFF's suit accuses AT&T of illegally handing over its customers' telephone and Internet records and communications to the National Security Agency (NSA). The evidence at issue was filed as support for EFF's motion for a preliminary injunction against AT&T, seeking to stop the company's ongoing violations of the law and the privacy of its customers. AT&T had requested that the evidence be returned to AT&T and not used in the case. Last Wednesday, Judge Walker denied that request. Although the allegedly proprietary documents will remain under seal, Judge Walker instructed AT&T to work with EFF to narrowly redact any confidential material from EFF's brief and supporting declarations so that they can be made public as soon as possible.

"We're very pleased that the court refused AT&T's unreasonable demand that this critical evidence be returned to AT&T and struck from the record. And, although the evidence itself will stay under seal, the court has asked AT&T to work with us in providing public versions of our legal papers," said EFF Staff Attorney Kevin Bankston. "Taken together with the court's refusal to close the courtroom as AT&T had requested, we think today was a real victory for the public's right to know, and for our ability to litigate this case."

The next hearing in this case -- about AT&T and the U.S. government's motions to dismiss the lawsuit -- is set forJune 23.For more on the AT&T lawsuit: http://www.eff.org/legal/cases/att/

FTC gas-gouging investigators may have breathed too many fumes

The New York Times reports that the "F.T.C. [Federal Trade Commission] Finds No Gas Price Gouging After Katrina" today. Hmm. Maybe the FTC needs to hire me. I can show them one fact that makes the case a slam-dunk. The profit margin for refineries was a lot more after Katrina than before. Sure, the price of crude went up, but if the oil companies only increased their prices to cover that, gas prices at the pump would have been a lot lower.

"When the average price of a gallon of regular gasoline peaked at $3.07 recently, it was partly because the nation's refineries were getting an estimated 99 cents on each gallon sold," reports Justin Blum, of The Washington Post. "That was more than three times the amount they earned a year ago when regular unleaded was selling for $1.87. And the companies that pump oil from the ground swept in an additional 47 cents on each gallon, a 46 percent jump over the same period."

Mr. Blum went on to say that "Interviews with analysts, consumer advocates and participants in the oil markets indicate that typical market forces were at work in the price run-up." Well, of course that would be their position. However, methinks the FTC is too quick to take it as gospel. The fact is – as Exxon’s super-duper record profits after Katrina shows, money was being made hand-over-fist as the oil industry rushed to make the most of the situation.

I’m all for reducing gasoline usage, and that may be a nice side-benefit of these inflated prices. But I hate to see the already-fat oil companies get fatter as they take advantage of the country’s misfortune. They should be forced to pay back anything they took over their usual too-high profit margins, and the government should use that to supplement alternative energy research. And while they’re at it, putting a few gluttonous oil honchos in jail wouldn’t be a bad idea.

Take the money out of politics

I’ve been rather hard on Republicans in my blogs and editorials, I suppose, but I’m really only down on the bad ones. I’m not "against" any party – but I feel I have to speak up if it’s being led astray by a bunch of fanatics. Don’t get me wrong, I’m no Democrat lover either, for the same reason. Both parties have basically sold their souls, as far as I’m concerned. Except for the good people working for change within their respective parties. Of course, the need for reform goes way beyond the individual parties anyway.

Our whole electoral system needs reform, in the worst way. The first, and most important thing to change – the thing that will open the door for real healing in the political process – is to get the big money out of politics. I’ve been saying it forever, but you can’t say it too often, because it really is what everything else depends on. You get the big money out of politics and elections, and you take the corrupting influence of money out of the body politic. At that time, the elected representatives will truly become just that – elected representatives – of the people. They won’t owe big favors to big donors. They will be free to do the people’s business – indeed, they will have to do it, if they want to get reelected.

There would be no obscenely large campaign budget to buy feel-good "character" ads to fool the people into thinking you’re a good person, when you’re really just a slimeball. The power of the people will be back, because elected representatives will have to listen to, and work for us.

So, you see, I’m basically optimistic – even though I rant a lot. I still think we can turn things around – if people pay attention to what’s going on and work for change. I also strongly believe that all citizen groups, no matter what their cause – be it peace, environment, health care or whatever – should work together on this issue. They need to coordinate a unified campaign, organize all their members and go at this issue together, because everything else depends on it. People, none of your causes stand much of a chance of success, unless we clean up politics, starting with elections.

And cleaning up elections includes drastically reforming the electronic voting system – or throwing it out altogether – but that’s another column.

Faith-based voting: Letting right-wing corporations count your vote

Sure, all the major companies that are now installing electronic voting machines all over the country are Republican-owned, but why should liberals worry? Heck, if it was the other way around, I'm sure Rush Limbaugh wouldn't utter a peep in protest. Just because there's no way to verify that your vote was counted the way you cast it, c'mon -- have you no faith? That's right, this is faith-based voting!

Now the "our vote should count" nazis are all up in arms about the latest scandals, where computer "scientists" (who believes in science anymore?) say that the voting systems are easily hackable, even from the voting terminals themselves! "It's the most severe security flaw ever discovered in a voting system," said Michael I. Shamos, a professor of computer science at Carnegie Mellon University, about the most recent discoveries ofvulnerabilitiess, reported in the NY Times and elsewhere. "This is the barn door being wide open, while people were arguing over the lock on the front door," said Douglas W. Jones, a professor of computer science at the University of Iowa. Hmmm, barn door, eh? Maybe we should take a closer look...

Turns out, these are just the latest scandals surrounding the new electronic voting machine industry. There have been problems from the beginning. The Election Assistance Commission (EAC) was put in place by the Help America Vote Act (HAVA) to look into any problems. When confronted with the obvious shortcomings of these machines, however, they say they "don't do" voting systems certification, that part is not their job. I guess they're just there to watch our vote get swallowed into the big electronic beast, and then say, "yup, it works!" Nice job -- thanks guys.

Naturally the corporate media has been ignoring the story up until just recently. Hey, who cares about the validity of elections anyway? What about the mountains of evidence showing the last few elections were highly questionable? Old news, Americans aren't interested in that stuff! Too technical! There are celebrity stories to cover!

When the Leon County, Florida elections supervisor Ion Sancho found flaws in their Diebold machines, the company tried to get him fired by refusing to do business with him. Naturally, the state backed Sancho, right? Uh, no. Well, surely all the other states are learning from these revelations of insecure voting systems, right? Well, a few are. But most seem to think the way to deal with these problems is to dig a hole in the sand and promptly place their heads in them.

I'm no Luddite. I like technology. Heck, how could I be blogging my humble little opinions without it? But when it comes to voting, I like the old-fashioned way. Back in the old days, votes were hand counted, while observers watched. It was pretty much impossible to hack the vote, andefinitelyly impossible to do it on a massive scale. Now, all it requires is a little computer knowledge, some hacking skills, and a big lack of conscience.

Are we really in so much of a hurry to find out who won that we'll let the cheater win, just to get the news quicker? I say, let's take our time and do it right.

For more information on this all-important issue, check out: http://www.votetrustusa.org, http://www.democracyinaction.org, http://www.blackboxvoting.org, http://verifiedvotingfoundation.org

You wanted an administration that listens, right?

I guess this comes under the heading of "Careful what you wish for"! Our government is listening, alright, but not to find out what we want from them. Instead, they're listening to our phone conversations, and apparently logging all our calls -- unless your phone company is Qwest, that is. I imagine they are seeing a surge in business, as Americans who are not fond of being spied on look to switch to the only phone company with a little backbone. Could be a good investment tip! (Maybe I should start a new financial advice blog!)

Of course, the normally disinterested MSM (mainstream media), which in the last few decades has decided the people's interest is not really their own (but corporate profits are), may finally take some real interest, with the latest developments. It seems the FBI acknowledged late Monday that it is seeking reporters' phone records in leak investigations. ABC reported that a senior federal official stated, "It used to be very hard and complicated to do this, but it no longer is in the Bush administration." I'll bet.

In fact, a lot of things are easier with this administration. Not anything that would actually help the average citizen, mind you. But such things as torture, holding prisoners without charging them or giving them any recourse to due process, getting lucrative war contracts that can be manipulated for the greatest profit at taxpayer expense, polluting without fear of reprisal, treasonous acts like outing CIA operatives, and of course, tapping American's phones, have gotten a whole lot easier under G.W. Bush. In other words, profit and power mongers have found it much easier to do un-American things under this supposedly "patriotic" president, with the help of his lapdog Congress, and a corporate media that has failed to alert the people to the illegal activities of their government. (Of course, they do eventually report on stuff that becomes impossible to ignore, when they must.)

Maybe -- just maybe -- the sleepy MSM giant will begin to stir, when it realizes that it, too, is caught up in the government dragnet. Then again, since their fortunes seem to be tied up with the corrupt government's, maybe they just don't care. After all, they're all on the same team, it seems.

Fish story

When I first heard about Bush's recent proclamation that his greatest moment as president of the United States was catching a big fish, I thought, oh man! Another example of how out-of-touch with reality the guy is.

But upon further reflection, I realized he was probably right. At least the only thing he hurt was the fish in that moment. With everything else he's done, he has managed to mangle huge swathes of our economy, environment and/or international reputation, or destroyed other countries, killed thousands of innocents, got thousands of our troops killed, weekened our national security, etc., etc.

In fact, we'd have all probably been much better off if he spent his entire presidency fishing.

Iranian president's letter to Bush

I must say, I never thought the day would come when I thought the president of Iran made more sense than the president of the U.S.A. However, upon reading Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad’s recent letter to U.S. President George W. Bush, I have to admit, he does nail our president on many points. This is not to say I’m a fan of Ahmadinejad’s. I think his religious fanaticism makes him dangerous, for one thing. Unfortunately, however, our own president is another kind of religious fanatic, and because he is our ‘leader,’ that makes him even more dangerous – to our own country, our constitution and our civil liberties.

Interestingly, the Iranian president calls Bush to task for how he treats his own people, and for how his actions seem to contradict the teachings of his professed religion. For example, he says:
"Can one be a follower of Jesus Christ ... but at the same time, have countries attacked; the lives, reputations and possessions of people destroyed... or the entire village, city or convey set ablaze. Or because of the possibility of the existence of WMDs in one country, it is occupied, around one hundred thousand people killed, its water sources, agriculture and industry destroyed, close to 180,000 foreign troops put on the ground, sanctity of private homes of citizens broken, and the country pushed back perhaps fifty years... On the pretext of the existence of WMDs, this great tragedy came to engulf both the peoples of the occupied and the occupying country. Later it was revealed that no WMDs existed to begin with."

He also says he believes Israel should never have been established, and has said before it should be wiped out. Obviously, I cannot agree with him there. But it is true that Israel, by virtue of being the only nuclear power in the region, destabilizes the area, and causes countries like Iran to lust after nuclear power as well. And how can we in the U.S. expect the rest of the world to accept that only we, and the countries we deem worthy, can have these terrible weapons? We should lead the way by abolishing them everywhere, including here.

Ahmadinejad’s letter goes on to ask, "Don't Latin Americans have the right to ask, why their elected governments are being opposed and coup leaders supported? Or, why must they constantly be threatened and live in fear?" Good point. Bush and his cabinet have been caught red-handed supporting coups of democratically elected governments, like Venezuela.

The Iranian president goes on to write about the role of governments, admonishing Bush’s zeal for war, while ignoring the needs of his own citizens:
"In countries around the world, citizens provide for the expenses of governments so that their governments in turn are able to serve them.
"The question here is what has the hundreds of billions of dollars, spent every year to pay for the Iraqi campaign, produced for the citizens?
"As your Excellency is aware, in some states of your country, people are living in poverty. Many thousands are homeless and unemployment is a huge problem. Of course these problems exist – to a larger or lesser extent – in other countries as well. With these conditions in mind, can the gargantuan expenses of the campaign – paid from the public treasury – be explained and be consistent with the aforementioned principles? ...
"If billions of dollars spent on security, military campaigns and troop movement were instead spent on investment and assistance for poor countries, promotion of health, combating different diseases, education and improvement of mental and physical fitness, assistance to the victims of natural disasters, creation of employment opportunities and production, development projects and poverty alleviation, establishment of peace, mediation between disputing states and distinguishing the flames of racial, ethnic and other conflicts were would the world be today? Would not your government, and people be justifiably proud? Would not your administration's political and economic standing have been stronger? And I am most sorry to say, would there have been an ever increasing global hatred of the American governments?"
Indeed, it’s hard to argue with "My basic question is this: Is there no better way to interact with the rest of the world?"

Wow. It’s a scary day when the president of the United States starts sounding and acting more like a dictator than the president of Iran.

George: the shining example

This administration has been a shining example of the very pinnacle of accomplishment – of incompetence. The third anniversary of the Iraq war has come and gone. Three years of death and destruction, and what has it got us? What good has it done our country? War apologists say "Saddam is gone." And so he is. And a hundred Saddams are waiting in countries all over the world to seize their chance at dictatorship – some, to our shame, we have helped bring to power. Will we police the world and rid it of all evil people? It’s not possible.

Some future Saddams are in Iraq right now, maneuvering as the country descends into civil war. Are Iraqi citizens better off? Most will tell you they’re not. Oh, they were happy to see Saddam go, for sure. But with their country, infrastructure and economy left in a shambles, many are pining for the bad ol’ days, which were much better for them, as far as their day-to-day lives are concerned.

Let’s face it. We’re not better off, and neither are they. Congress raises the debt ceiling to 9 trillion dollars. With a ‘t’ – an unfathomable number. And to think, we had a budget surplus when Georgie moved into the White House. And now we have record budget deficits, and debts as far as the eye can see.
So, what does the president do? He proposes selling off national forests to pay for school bud gets for a few years.

Some estimates put the long-term cost of the war at two or three trillion dollars. Just think of what we could have accomplished with all that money! We could have righted the ship here at home. We could have turned our educational system around. We could have re formed our miserable health care system, replacing it with national health care, thereby bringing us back up to the level of the rest of the modern world. We could have launched an FDR-type New Deal program, this time to build an alternative energy system, to free ourselves of what even ‘W’ admits is a national addiction to oil.

We could started down the road to a better tomorrow. Instead, because of narrow-mindedness, greed and misplaced self-righteousness, we wallow in a sinking pit of debt.

Thanks, George.

The "holier-than-thou" crowd

Oh boy. The "holier-than-thou" crowd has really shown their true colors this time. If the real Christians in this country are paying any attention, it should be as obvious as it can possibly be that their tendency to automatically vote for the GOP must be carefully re-examined. For years now, people like Tom DeLay have pretended to cloak themselves in the flag while spouting ridiculous self-righteous things about God being on their side. Now their greed, their lies and their thievery is laid bare for all to see.

Of course, their hypocrisy getting more and more obvious lately. But the latest is the little "poker-gate" scandal that many think is the real reason behind the "Goss Toss." True or not, even die-hard Republican voters have to pull their heads out of the sand, and realize they've been hoodwinked.

Perhaps it's time to wake up, America. Perhaps it's time to dust off that well-worn old saying, "THROW THE BUMS OUT!" -- and actually follow through with it this time. And perhaps it is time to loudly, consistently and persistently demand true election reform. We must get the money out of politics if we are to have any hope of real change in this country. (And, by the way, we must keep the voting systems fair and verifiable.) Unless, of course, you're ok with the destruction of democracy in the good ol' USA.

Health Care for All: It's way past time

A state bill, SB 840, the California Health Insurance Reliability Act, (CHIRA), by State Senator Shiela Kuehl, and a national bill, HR 676, the United States National Health Insurance Act by the great patriot, Congressman John Conyers, Jr. of Michigan, are two bills currently being considered in their respective houses that would finally bring health care sanity to the American people.

We at the Humor Times proudly back these efforts to lift our state and our country up to the level of the rest of the civilized world. Health care is a right, and allowing private insurance companies to profit from people's sickness is, in itself, incredibly sick. Let us heal ourselves by passing national single-payer health care for all.

The corporate media has succeeded in scaring a lot of people away from supporting national health care over the years, even though just about everyone realizes health care in this country is a very bad joke. However, the fear is unjustified. You will still have access to the same level of medical care that you do now, only it will be much easier and fair access. And if you don’t think it’s good enough for you, you could always purchase additional coverage.

The fact is, for whatever level of coverage you have now, you could have the same, with much less paperwork and no second-guessing by money-grubbing insurance executives, for much less money, with national health care.
Please educate yourself and your friends and family on this extremely important issue. Good places to start are www.californiafordemocracy.com and www.healthcare-now.org.