When CIA officials subjected their first high-value captive, Abu Zubaida, to waterboarding and other harsh interrogation methods, they were convinced that they had in their custody an al-Qaeda leader who knew details of operations yet to be unleashed, and they were facing increasing pressure from the White House to get those secrets out of him.

. . .

In the end, though, not a single significant plot was foiled as a result of Abu Zubaida’s tortured confessions, according to former senior government officials who closely followed the interrogations. Nearly all of the leads attained through the harsh measures quickly evaporated, while most of the useful information from Abu Zubaida — chiefly names of al-Qaeda members and associates — was obtained before waterboarding was introduced, they said.

(Detainee’s Harsh Treatment Foiled No Plots, Washington Post, 03/29/09)

Even before President Obama suspended military commissions at the military base in Cuba, prosecutors had expunged Abu Zubaida’s name from the charge sheets of a number of detainees who were captured with him and stood accused of conspiracy and material support for terrorism.

When they were first charged in 2005, these detainees were accused of conspiring with Abu Zubaida, and the charge sheets contained numerous references to Abu Zubaida’s alleged terrorist activities. When the charges were refiled last year, his name had vanished from the documents.

(ibid)

If you’ve ever read Alexander Solzhenitsyn’s Gulag Archipelago, you’ll know the routine: time to beat what one wants to hear out of somebody just to hear to that somebody say it … true or not.

Those who permitted or planned torture should be going on trial just as those who conspired to commit or did commit torture.

Picked up over at the Prog Blog:

Activists are calling for rallies across Vermont on Monday to stop the State budget cuts and support a “People’s Plan.”

Rally Locations will be held in:

• Burlington: on Church and Main; 5:30pm

• Montpelier: at the Pavilion Building, 109 State St; 5:00pm

• Bennington: at the Intersection of Rte 7 & Rte 9; 4pm

• Brattleboro: at Pliny Park in downtown Brattleboro; 5:30pm

• Randolph: at Main St in front of Northfield Savings Bank; 5pm

• Middlebury: in the Traffic Island @ Middlebury Inn; 12 Noon

• Rutland: on West Street; 5:30pm

• Johnson: downtown; 5pm

• St Johnsbury: in front of the Athenaeum; 5pm

• White River Junction: at the intersection of Routes 5 & 14; 5pm

Sorry I can’t physically join you folks, but I’m there in spirit and on the phones to our legislators.

By the way … with this strong marriages vs. those who would deny fellow citizens their equal rights debate going on and the above mentioned budgetary decisions to be made … NOW would be a good time to tell your Democratic lawmaker that a failure to support good progressive values will turn into a no show from you when it comes to volunteering time, donating campaign money or vote.

Or you can wait to hold feet to the fire (what ever).

Do you remember the old joke about the Soviet Union? It had to do with whether a two-party system could ever work, and the answer was no, because if there ever were another party, everybody would join it.

The nomenklatura of the American health insurance industry have figured out that the same principle applies to them. In the current discussions of health care reform (and thankfully, since we kicked the Republicans out of the White House, that doesn't mean they're talking about slamming the courthouse doors on the victims of medical malpractice), one of the questions is what kind of public option should be built into the new system.

What the health insurance companies realize is that they're parasites, and they can't compete with the public system. Or, as they put it, A public plan would most likely employ the payments rates used in Medicare, which are far lower than the rates paid by private payers. In fact, the average family of four with private insurance spends an additional $1,778 on health care each year because of Medicare and Medicaid underpayments to providers. On an aggregate level, commercial payers incur approximately $89 billion more in costs than they would if public and private payers all paid equivalent rates.

Tim Noah has a longer article on this in Slate that is worth a look. His conclusion is that when the insurance companies whine about needing a “level playing field”, what they really mean is that they don't want to face the competition from a public system that will inevitably put them out of business.

And it can't come a moment too soon.

Former State Senator and US Congressional candidate Mark Shepard, who has been one of the most outspoken opponents of both civil unions and marriage equality, has recently declared his deep, abiding love for Vermont Daily Briefing blogger Philip Baruth.

Shepard’s anti-gay rhetoric has been among the most vehement and persistent among opponents of gay rights in Vermont, but had taken a different turn in recent weeks, as Shepard inexplicably turned his public wrath specifically towards Baruth. In letters sent to (and published in) multiple papers across the state, Shepard wrote:

During my 2006 congressional race I had an odd interview with blogger Philip Baruth that was very telling about the length to which supporters of homosexual marriage will go to get their way. During the interview I presented a question that turned the interview completely around, causing Baruth to struggle defending an idea he clearly had not thought through.

Baruth published our entire conversation on his blog along with some very bizarre editorial comments. The interview, which can be found under news at www.ShepardForCongress.org, demonstrates that even as a leading advocate for homosexual marriage he had not begun to consider its ramifications. Baruth’s closing statement and nonsensical editorial remarks further demonstrate that he will accept all sorts of marriage arrangements and slander anyone who thinks differently in the cause of bringing about homosexual marriage.

.

Baruth had been caught off guard by the attention that bordered on obsessive, but in light of Shepard’s recent professions of affection, psychologists say it makes perfect sense.

“It comes quite clear if you read Freud’s discussion of paranoia,” an anonymous psychoanalyst commented to GMD. “Freud analyses the process of projection that constitutes the paranoiac’s chief defense and organizes the paranoiac’s delusions of persecution: the basic homosexual desire, “I (a man) love him (a man),” is negated into “I do not love him-I hate him,” which then, as a result of projection, becomes “He hates (persecutes) me,” and from this the paranoiac derives the justification “I do not love him-I hate him-because he persecutes me” (1911c [1910], p. 63). What we have is a system of transformations to defend against homosexuality.”

Baruth has commented that, while flattered, he is already married.

Remember last year’s scuttlebutt over the Vermont State Police’s illegal, warrantless seizures (or at least demands) of prescription drug records from a few vermont pharamcies? It was a story broken at this website that hit the traditional media almost immediately – most notably the Rutland Herald/Times Argus and the Mark Johnson show. A reminder:

Based on confirmation from law enforcement sources, pharmacies that were approached by the State Police on Friday November 30th and from legal sources representing people affected by State Police conduct last Friday, GMD can add the following to the reporting that has occurred already.

• The Department of Public Safety was planning last weeks pharmacy checks (“Fishing Derby Friday”) for several weeks.
• The State Police visited multiple pharmacies on Friday November 30th.
• At least two three pharmacies were told to by the State Police to turn over patient profiles for every patient who received a schedule II prescription from that pharmacy.
• At least one pharmacy was told it would be required to update the patient profile information with the police every two weeks.
• At several pharmacies the police merely introduced themselves to the pharmacist, gave their business cards and asked the pharmacist to call the police officer if they encountered any suspicious behavior such as indications of “Doctor shopping” or prescription fraud.
• Late Friday, due to intense push back and complaints from pharmacists who were concerned about requests from the Vermont State Police that they reveal confidential and federally protected medical information about their customers, State Police management sent an email to all State Police involved with the pharmacy checks throughout the state instructing them to cease the pharmacy checks. After the email went out, Fish Derby Friday ceased (for now).

The story moved quickly, and the state police went through most of the stages of grief in the course of a week. First there was denial. From behind the scenes came reports of – if not anger, at least annoyance. Then came bargaining, as the State Police Spokesperson on the damage control beat suggested that there may have been a grain of truth, but that it was one incident… or maybe it was a misunderstanding… but that it certainly wasn’t part of a coordinated, intentional attempt to collect vast amounts of personal data from Vermonters without warrants or even suspicion. The bargaining imploded rather quickly when that spokesperson was confronted on air during the Mark Johnson Show with the reality that it was more widespread than the officer was willing to admit.

Although there were no public signs of depression, by the end of the week they were into acceptance, as they held a “mistakes were made” press conference (although there was never an acknowledgment that that this was part of an intentional program, as some observers believed.

Still, the officer in charge of media spin was caught in some serious BS:

Just up from the VT Press Bureau (h/t DB):

The Vermont State Police admitted Friday that detectives recently asked three pharmacies to hand over all their information on patients prescribed powerful painkillers, despite a directive from state law enforcement officials not to do so.

Lt. John Flanagan said three State Police detectives requested that information from three pharmacies in Vermont during the last two weeks, but that supervisors have now put a stop to that effort.

“Mistakes were made,” Flanagan said. “From our perspective this is a training issue and we have taken steps to remedy it.”

This directly and completely contradicts what Major Tom L’Esperance was desperately spinning saying on Mark Johnson’s show. In that appearance (and you should listen to the podcast – it would seem to be a complete fantasyland account based on what we now know), he insisted it was an isolated misunderstanding at one pharmacy, and proceeded with an elaborately detailed counter-history of the incident. I’m not saying he personally made it up – but somebody sure did. Circling the wagons doesn’t work when the wheels all fall off.

Yup. The officer on point in the spinning of tales (if not the eventual mea culpa) was Major Tom L’Esperance. The guy just promoted by the Douglas Administration to head the Vermont State Police.

Figures.

BRATTLEBORO- The venue shifted indoors today but that didn’t stop up to 50 people from cramming into the basement at St Michael’s Episcopal Church. It was a good turn out and some of Windham County state reps spoke about the upcoming vote on S.115. Speaking today were Sarah Edwards (P-Brattleboro), Dick Marek (D-Newfane), Ginny Milkey (D-Brattleboro), John Moran (D-Wardsboro), music by Mike Mrowicki (D-Putney), and of course Senate Pro Tem Peter Shumlin.

Here’s the YouTube. Sorry if the quality sucks. I had a flip camera in one hand, my one-year old son in the other, and my four-year old son trying to distract me. Enjoy!

(Thank you Michael Abadi for hosting me on your public access show, “VT Blogosphere TV”  You are a great host.  I appreciated the opportunity to talk about issues important to me and all Vermonters, especially Vermont Yankee, and my role as a Justice of the Peace and my support of Marriage Equality.   – promoted by Maggie Gundersen)

Here Maggie Gundersen provides some much-needed historical context to Vermont’s ongoing problems with its dated and neglected nuclear power plant. You know the masters of spin are hard at work when the same Oversight panel report is met with headlines as different as “Oversight Panel Gives Yankee Go-Ahead” (WCAX) and “Pennywise and Pound Foolish” (Brattleboro Reformer).

The big news on Friday was the Vt House passing a decommissioning fund bill similar to the one Douglas vetoed last year. Is it possible that one man could stop both requiring Entergy to increase the decommissioning fund AND Freedom to Marry in one legislative session? That would be retrograde governing of truly historic proportions.  Below is a link dump of recent news about the decommissioning bill, the latest valve leak, and the oversight panel report.  

House approves Yankee decommissioning bill

Times Argus

The bill, which will now go to the Senate, would require three $114 million payments over the next decade and then a final payment to bring the fund to its final level to accomplish decommisioning. The fund has lost nearly $100 million of its value over the last 16 months as financial markets have tumbled.

…

The final vote on the decommissioning bill, which may well be vetoed by Gov. James Douglas if it gets to him, was 93-47.

Vt House advances Yankee Decommissioning Bill

WCAX

Under the bill, Entergy Nuclear, which owns the plant, will have to put more than $350 million into the fund.

….

Both Entergy and Governor Douglas’ administration strongly oppose the bill, and Douglas vetoed a similar measure last year.

Temporary fix stops leaky valve at Vermont Yankee

Brattleboro Reformer

A leak in a valve in a steam line at Vermont Yankee nuclear power plant was finally sealed Wednesday afternoon.

The fix, which involved injecting a sealant inside a clamp around the valve, is only temporary. The valve will be fixed when the plant undergoes its next refueling outage in 2010.

Vermont Yankee: High risk, Low Maintenance

Valley Advocate

Arnie Gundersen of Burlington, a former nuclear industry executive and one of five authors of the report, told the Associated Press that prior to the cooling tower, plant employees had asked for extra time and funds to do more detailed inspections of the cooling towers and and been refused by the plant’s owner, Entergy of Mississippi.

Gundersen told the Advocate that the panel uncovered still more evidence of neglect at the plant.

“There were 19 years of inspections they should have done on the transformer [that caught fire in 2004] and didn’t,” he said. “They didn’t have enough people to put data into the computer for their flow-acceleration corrosion program [which monitors the condition of pipes in the plant]. They didn’t put data into the computer for five years.”

‘Pennywise and pound foolish’

Brattleboro Reformer

The report can’t be much of a reassurance to Entergy, said Rep. Sarah Edwards, P-Brattleboro, adding it would be much easier dealing with the mechanics of the plant rather than having to change the managerial culture.

“Many of these concerns are long term and not easily remedied,” she said. “They will not be able to solve these problems overnight.”

From the Rutland Herald:

Douglas said several of the bills lawmakers have outlined as their top priorities are unnecessary distractions… Among those bills are a gay marriage measure…

As proof of the Governor’s accuracy here, I present to you a series of politicians who have been asked about same-sex marriage.  Clearly this has caused them problems, as they’ve all been distracted from their own marriages.

John Mccain

Newt Gingrich

David Vitter

Rudy Giuliani

Larry Craig

Won’t you please help these men focus better on their own marriages by once and for all ending this clearly harmful and distracting debate on same sex marriage?  

Same sex marriage: don’t do it for us, heterosexuals.  

Do it for the sake of your own marriages!

When I took a full-time job a few months ago, I knew my birding habits would have to change; no more just skipping out in the middle of the day to do birding.  No more making my own schedule, etc.  

All of this is still true, more or less, but I managed to make a few modifications.  

First, I leave half an hour early and stop off at prime birding spots on the way too and from work.

Second, I take walks at lunch with my camera.

Third, I take walks during my morning and afternoon breaks, with my camera.

Finally, when I have to go from one building to another, I take my camera.

The results seem to have been good:

What you’ll find below is a set of photos of various birds I’ve managed to capture during the last week, most of which were captured either during my commute, or from near my office.  Some were taken today, when I drove around a lot looking for more birds.  

A note: there are a lot of images below the fold, but they’re all smaller versions of the photos on my web site.  Clicking on them gets you to the larger version, but also tells you what kind of bird it is.

As usual, I’m presenting this as a bird quiz.   I also have intentionally made this quiz a little trickier, duplicating a few birds under different bird #s.  

All these photos were taken in Southern Vermont or New Hampshire, near the Connecticut River.

Enjoy!

Bird #1: These guys have been hanging out all winter.  I keep being surprised to find them:

Bird #2: These birds are in full mating regalia.  They’re fun to watch this time of year:

Bird #3: These birds are the previous bird, plus two others in the foreground:

Bird #4: These guys are a lot of fun to watch in the spring:

Bird #5: This is actually more than one type of bird (we’ll call the big one “A” and the small ones “B”):

Bird #6: This bird is common yardbird for me:

Bird #7: This bird is also a common yardbird for me:

Bird #8: I just love the look of this hawk.  

Bird #9: This is the first one of these I’ve seen this year:

Bird #10: There are two different birds here (bigger one: “A” / Smaller one: “B”).  Can you tell which is which?:

Bird #11: These guys have suddenly come back in force in the last few weeks  

Bird #12: Same for these ones.

Bird #13: These guys make the funniest noises when you disturb them:  

Bird #14: I spotted these guys on my way to work, and pulled over to take photos:

Bird #15: This one is a little unfair, as it’s an unusual case:  

Bird #16: This one was not amused to see me photographing it

Bird #17: Sometimes you should let sleeping ducks lie  

Bird #18: First of these I’ve seen this year:  

Bird #19: I only tend to see this bird in the Spring:

Bird #20: This is the first one of these I’ve seen this year:

Bird #21: These birds sometimes show up in my yard, but I tend to get much better looks at them in other locations:

Bird #22: This is the first one of these I’ve seen this year:

Bird #23: This is actually two of the birds we’ve seen already in this post, but it does a good job of illustrating their different sizes (we’ll call the big one “A” and the small ones “B”):

Bird #24: And finally, a raptor in flight ID quiz.

As usual, feel free to treat this as an open birds, bird photography, or birding thread.

For some of us, there are times when we need these very public servants — also known as state employees — and, others elsewhere whom they coordinate with, in working together in a team effort with us as we either seek or attempt to maintain what it takes to acquire or keep housing, employment, supports and services in helping us meet the various, yet different basic human service needs we may individually need assistance with.

If anyone thinks this is easy or simple accomplishing, I can personally attest via years of personal experience and observation to the fact that it is far from being so.

The truth is this matter is also about much more than purely being an issue concerning money, funding or revenue or, having enough of these to meet basic human needs. This is particularly the case when it comes to those of a highly vulnerable population at an increased risk of living on the street, staying in a homeless shelter longterm or, either in jail, prison, the state hospital or, some other psychiatric unit or institution elsewhere.

It is also about those being in such positions who have the necessary breadth of knowledge, experience and institutional memory required to get the job done, as well as also having an array of contacts all across the state at various levels and maintaining communication and relationships with each and every contact, whether the person is in the mental health, housing, homeless or other such field in a hands on fashion rather than just being focused more on policy matters concerning such.

The committed and dedicated state employee, who has for years served as the VT DMH housing coordinator and, just like their predecessor has performed their work across all Agency of Human Services (AHS) populations as well, is such a person.

This position is more crucial now than ever. As such, it is the type of position definitely deserving to be spared from the budget ax.

If you agree, please contact your local state representative and state senator(s) as soon as is possible in order to urge them to not allow positions like these to be cut from the state workforce. 

Otherwise it could be too late down the road for many of my peers as well as myself in our hopes to find or maintain safe, decent and affordable housing of our own and live independently within our communities as we may choose.