Cloudy weather halts STS-130 shuttle launch -- from the New York Times.com

The six astronauts were all prone and in their seats, the tanks were full, and the white room crew had pulled away. The shuttle's cargo bay was loaded with new digs for the International Space Station. It was to have been the last night launch. But it was "no go" for Endeavour. NASA will try again tomorrow. http://amplify.com/u/1s08
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Why we can't afford to let Obama give Bush's war criminals a free pass, by attorney/author Charlotte Dennett

This post is by Charlotte Dennett, who is the author of the newly released The People v. Bush: One Lawyer’s Campaign to Bring the President to Justice and the National Grassroots Movement She Encounters Along the Way. Formerly a journalist reporting from the Middle East, she now practices law. If, indeed, the Iraq war was all about the oil, the Bush administration's choice to ignore or manipulate the rule of law makes perfect sense. That does not justify it, however. And that is just the point of her excellent piece. http://amplify.com/u/1rko
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Courts, Congress Shun Addressing Legality of Warrantless Eavesdropping

For years the "Wired: Threat Level" blog has been one of the most trusted websites around, for those of us who have followed civil liberties issues . Author David Kravets recently published an excellent overview of the history of the resulting court cases since warrantless wiretapping was revealed by the New York Times several years ago. He finished the article with the latest in this sad saga of successful government efforts to continue to scoop up all of our electronic communications for the National Security Agency's eavesdropping program targeting American citizens. http://amplify.com/u/1p8j
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Greenwald (1/31/10): Nostalgia for Bush/Cheney radicalism

Thanks to Marcy Wheeler, "emptywheel" at Firedoglake, for the link to this very fine post. In it Greenwald makes the very potent argument that the trend in the current political establishment is to demand less of the rule of law in the fight against terrorists than either President Reagan or G.W. Bush. These policy stances are cast as normal, while support for criminal trials, adherence to habeas corpus, etc. are cast as those of "the leftist fringe." It is becoming a sad day for America that we have seem to have less respect for civil liberties than was shown in the Reagan and Bush administrations. http://amplify.com/u/1omw
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The President, the Republicans and a growing GDP.

According to the Financial Times Friday the U.S. GDP growth is the fastest in six years.  That is very good news. Not surprisingly, President Obama casually mentioned this during his appearance before the Republican Congressional Caucus in Baltimore today.  No one in the audience followed up with a question about this good news, as you might imagine.

Commentators also indicated that, as inventories go down, employers will have to start hiring workers to replenish stocks of depleted goods.  The recovery may then begin to be characterized by a drop in unemployment, that stubborn "lagging indicator."

Thus, the calls by Republicans for tax cuts, less government, fewer regulations and other conservative measures will fall increasingly on deaf ears as the Obama administration's policies and programs are more successful in turning this recession around.  Most experts do not expect this to happen this year, however.

Neither does this writer expect there to be any significant change in the relationship of President Obama to the Republicans, despite today's unusual meeting of the President and the Party of No.  I also predict that the opposition party will think twice about having any such subsequent meetings with the President feature an open mike during the question and answer period.  They did not fare well up against this superbly prepared and feisty young president.

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Hoarded Ordinaries -- "Of a certain age," by Lorianne DiSabato

Last year when I celebrated the Big 4-0, I wasn’t sure how middle age would suit me. “Middle age,” in fact, sounded like a term I couldn’t imagine applying to myself. Given the fact that it feels like I finally finished graduate school only yesterday, it seems physically impossible that I could be over forty. But, it really is true when they say time speeds up as you age, for my long-awaited graduation from graduate school happened over five years ago, not yesterday. My twenties were the decade I married and moved to New England; my thirties were the decade I finally finished school, divorced, and came into my own; and my forties are…now. I’m not exactly sure how I got here so fast, but here I am, waking up to “middle age.”

And therein lies the kicker: it turns out I actually like being “middle aged.” I don’t necessarily like that term, as it sounds middling and mediocre: not quite young and not quite old, just a nondescript mishmash of This and That. I don’t like the way that many folks utter the term “middle aged” as if it were an epithet synonymous with “out-of-touch and stuck-in-a rut” rather than “a period of life when you’re still active enough to do fun things and wise enough to enjoy them sensibly.” But despite my initial indecision about how I’d like being 40, I’m finding that being a “woman of a certain age” really suits me. I’m beginning to think, in fact, that I’ve been a 40-something-year-old all along, and only now am I behaving in a way that is age-appropriate. Finally, the sprinkling of gray hair that looked so strange when I started getting it in high school looks entirely appropriate on a 40-something head: a badge of wisdom rather than an unfortunate genetic inheritance.

I have been following Lorianne, Dr. DeSabato, for as long as I have known about the blogosphere. . . five years now, actually. She is smart, articulate and a wonderful photographer. It is not often you will find someone who is so good at both words and pictures. She teaches college students in the little town of Keene, New Hampshire. I urge you to visit her blog often, for a treat will most always await you.

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RIP-reclusive & iconoclastic author JD Salinger. Slate Mag. has links to good articles from their archives.

Those of us who are readers probably remember at what age we first read Salinger's "Catcher In the Rye." It we were really young we might have felt a tinge of guilt at the time. I am an unabashed admirer of his writing and of his rebellion. He was much more of a rebel than I could ever manage, so I enjoyed him vicariously. I am sorry he was alone so much, but I understand that it was his rightful choice to be so. I feel very sure that the news that comes out after his death will be interesting in its own way. http://amplify.com/u/1mu3
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Text of Obama State of the Union speech: 1/27/10. Opening remarks

Like many other Democrats, I was more than pleased with President Obama's assessment of the state of the union. My reasons: minimum high rhetoric, limited ambitions, occasionally even handed between political parties, call to the better angels in Republicans, took on the recent controversial Supreme Court decision, focused on jobs, but did not walk away from health care reform. He showed sensitivity and leadership when it was of paramount importance. http://amplify.com/u/1m7j
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FT.com / Media - Twitter plans technology to stop censorship

Twitter, the internet social network, is developing technology that it hopes will prevent the Chinese and Iranian governments from being able to censor its users.

Evan Williams, the chief executive and co-founder of Twitter, which has been credited with helping anti-government protesters in Iran to organise resistance, said Twitter was working on ”interesting hacks” to stop any blocking by foreign governments.

Mr Williams, speaking at the World Economic Forum in Davos, said he admired Google for confronting the Chinese government over censorship and cyber-attacks on its service, but it was too small a company to take a similar stand.

”We are partially blocked in China and other places and we were in Iran as well. The most productive way to fight that is not by trying to engage China and other governments whose very being is against what we are about. I am hopeful there are technological ways around these barriers,” he said.

Mr Williams said Twitter had an advantage in evading government censors from operating as a network of internet and mobile applications, rather than as a single website. ”Twitter is a network that is accessed in thousands of ways,” he said.

via ft.com

The contrast between the differing approaches, of two favorite U.S. service providers, to Chinese censorship is apparent. Google confronts the government directly. Twitter will depend on technology. Very interesting

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Recommending Investigative Journalists: Part 1

For several years this blog has acquired much of its original material from a stable of skilled writers I label as "investigative journalists."  You can count on their curiosity, their accuracy and there is commitment to the truth over time.  I begin with three of them and will present others in subsequent posts.

Zachary Roth covers the latest Tea Party story headlined, "Another Tea Party Convention Sponsor Pulls Out," 1/26/10. Yesterday Roth wrote these fine pieces on the recent SCOTUS ruling regarding corporate donations to elections: 1) "Game Change: Corporations Gearing Up To Exploit New Money-In-Politics Rules," and 2) "Reformers: Court Decision Creates 'Huge Opening' For Foreign Companies To Sway Elections."

Glenn Greenwald's current updated post explores "the sanctity of military spending" in light of the upcoming announcement of a budget freeze in President Obama's State of the Union address.  A couple of days ago Greenwald interviewed Anthony Romero, Director of the ACLU, regarding President Obama's record on civil liberties since taking office.

From Steven Aftergood at the FAS project on government secrecy, we learned that the Department of Defense has issued a new publication (pdf) to update and clarify its doctrine on "psychological operations."  The January 19th, 2010 article is titled, "DoD 'Clarifies' Doctrine on Psychological Operations."  In addition, "Commission of Inquiry on Torture: A Road Not Taken," January 26th, 2010 is today's post by Steven Aftergood.  To quote the intro:

Last year the Senate Judiciary Committee considered a proposal by Senator Patrick Leahy to establish a formal “commission of inquiry” that would investigate the conduct of the post-9/11 war on terrorism, including detention, rendition and interrogation policies. The record of a Senate hearing on the proposal was published earlier this month, but that seems to be all that remains of it.

To be continued.

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About

A blogger since 2005, I am retired from the clinical practice of Social Work. We have 4 grown kids and 6 grandkids.
I live in the Southwest and consider myself a Progressive on politics. My interests include leadership, government, national security, the international space program, prose and poetry, and imagery.
I enjoy writing and participation in social networking on line. Welcome to my websites and feel free to comment.