politics

If you needed more proof that Apple is a bunch of evil censoring bastards, here it is: Apple has pulled a "WikiLeaks" app from its App store. The $1.99 app, created by Igor Barinov to make the WikiLeaks data more browsable and accessible, was yanked without explanation. The app had no data in it that isn't already public.

This comes on top of Steve Jobs telling us he wants to give us "freedom from porn", and Apple banning apps with political cartoons by a Pulitzer-winning cartoonist, a gay travel guide to New York, and graphic novels based on James Joyce's Ulysses and on The Importance of Being Earnest. Public outcry has made them pull back on some of those decisions, but it does not make the fact that they were made in the first place less outrageous.

"Think Different"? No. More and more, Apple shows that it wants people who use its hardware to think the same.

And if you have a problem with that, Apple might just put you down the memory hole, as when they delete from their message boards discussion threads that are critical of their shiny but underfunctional geegaws.

Of course, censorship never does take very well. (Let's be clear: this is censorship. Apologists for corporatism like to say that only the government can engage in censorship, but that's not what the word means; when a business says "this is objectionable" rather than "people won't buy this", that's censorship.) The iPad has a built-in web browser, and though it doesn't support Flash -- the format of most video on the web today -- adult website "YouPorn" is already offering a selection of its videos in HTML5, which does work on the iPad.

So you can still view pr0n on the iPad -- just like you can still view WikiLeaks information. That does not change the fact that Apple's attempt to moralize is more appropriate for a church than for a technology company; and given that Apple is getting its fingers more and more around our information channels, it's much more disturbing.

If you support free expression, support free software. So long as you don't have the choice of what to install on your computer, your freedom is limited. We're headed more and more toward the world RMS envisioned in his short story The Right To Read.

You may know about Eugene Debs, the socialist presidential candidate in 1900, 1904, 1908, 1912, and 1920. You might know how he was arrested in 1918 and sentenced to 10 years in prison for making an anti-war speech. (His 1920 presidential campaign was run from his prison cell.) You might even have heard the famous statement he made at his sentencing hearing: "Your Honor, years ago I recognized my kinship with all living beings, and I made up my mind that I was not one bit better than the meanest on earth. I said then, and I say now, that while there is a lower class, I am in it, and while there is a criminal element I am of it, and while there is a soul in prison, I am not free."

Every thoughtful American recognizes that Debs' imprisonment was a low mark in our nation's history, a radically unconstitutional act. But did you know that the law under which Debs was sentenced not only passed muster with the Supreme Court, but that many of its provisions remain on the books today -- and that many politicians are calling for it to be applied to journalist Julian Assange, his WikiLeaks website, and even the New York Times?

For years now, the "filibuster" has been a mere procedural threat. No Senator has actually held the floor for an extended time to speak against a bill, they've just threatened to do so. But Senator Bernie Sanders is kickin' it old school; right now (5:52 pm EST) he's been on the floor since 10:24 a.m., (with a little relief from his friends) speaking out against the Obama tax "compromise" with the G.O.P. that would screw the middle class and the working poor in order to benefit the richest Americans.

See the video live here.

See also a recent speech by Senator Sanders on the same topic here.

Wired reports on documents obtained by security researcher Christopher Soghoian under a FOIA request, which show how federal law enforcement agencies have been tracking Americans -- in real time -- via credit cards, retail "loyalty program" cards, and rental car agencies.

More detail is at Soghoian's blog. He notes:

The document also reveals that DOJ's preferred method of obtaining this information is via an administrative subpoena. The only role that courts play in this process is in issuing non-disclosure orders to the banks, preventing them from telling their customers that the government has spied on their financial transactions. No Fourth Amendment analysis is conducted by judges when issuing such non-disclosure orders.

While Congress has required that the courts compile and publish detailed statistical reports on the degree to which law enforcement agencies engage in wiretapping, we currently have no idea how often law enforcement agencies engage in real-time surveillance of financial transactions.

The difference between sexual assault and other forms of intimate contact is informed consent. If someone has intimate contact with you, in a situation where you did not -- explictly or implictly -- consent to it, it's sexual assault.

When I go to my doctor and she snaps that latex glove and tells me to cough, that's intimate contact; I don't like it but I know what's coming and, by coming to the appointment and not objecting, I'm giving my consent. When I do massage or acupressure on the gluteal region for a client (which I sometimes do for sciatica that might arise from impingement by the piriformis muscle), I inform them what I'm going to do and give them a chance to give or withhold consent.

But when a performer in the TSA's security theater, without warning, explanation, or option, grabs a woman's genitals and breasts, that is sexual assault. Read Erin's story and weep.

Andy Harris is an incoming GOP Representative from Maryland's Eastern Shore. He defeated Democrat Frank Kratovil in part by campaigning against the health care reform act (even though Kratovil had twice voted against it), telling voters that "the answer to the ever-rising cost of insurance is not the expansion of government-run or government-mandated insurance but, instead, common-sense market based solutions that ensure decisions are made by patients and their doctors."

As a member of Congress, of course, Harris will now get government-subsidized health care. But he's upset that it doesn't start soon enough -- he was outspokenly upset to learn that his new insurance will take effect on February 1, 28 days after he's sworn into office.

“He stood up and asked the two ladies who were answering questions why it had to take so long, what he would do without 28 days of health care,” said a congressional staffer who saw the exchange. The benefits session, held behind closed doors, drew about 250 freshman members, staffers and family members to the Capitol Visitors Center auditorium late Monday morning,”.

“Harris then asked if he could purchase insurance from the government to cover the gap,” added the aide, who was struck by the similarity to Harris’s request and the public option he denounced as a gateway to socialized medicine.

I love that last bit: yes, I think the option of purchasing insurance from the government -- a.k.a., the public option -- would be a fine idea. Funny how Harris came around to it real quick when he saw that he might have a gap in his coverage, isn't it?

Harris's spokeswoman Anna Nix later said that Harris wasn’t being hypocritical, heavens no, he was just pointing out the inefficiency of government-run health care.

For the record, members of Congress get the same health insurance options that other federal employees do, with a range of private plans including a popular Blue Cross Blue Shield PPO. But unlike my friends who work at the Goddard Space Flight Center, for example, Congresscritters and Senators can get taxpayer-subsidized treatment -- including free (to them) outpatient procedures -- by top docs in "VIP Wards" at the Walter Reed Army Medical Center and the National Naval Medical Center (rather different care, we must note, than most wounded vets get there.)

In a recent Slashdot thread, someone asserted that the idea "The State knows best" is a "Far Left" idea. This is my refutation.

Authority ("the Church/State/Boss/Father/Mother knows best") vs. liberty ("I'll decide for myself") is orthogonal to left (the interests of people who do productive work) vs. right (the interests of people who own capital). It is certainly true that there are two main clusters in contemporary American politics; whether our two parties reflect or create this dynamic is an open question. But to understand the issues, we have to see politics as multi-dimensional. (And no, the two dimensional "Nolan Chart" used as a recruiting tool by the so-called "Libertarian Party" is just as much of a distortion.)

The contemporary mainstream American right, which we can more-or-less identify with the Republican Party, is capitalist and authoritarian. It thinks the State knows best what sort of sexual and romantic relationships you ought to be permitted to engage in, believes that the state ought to have the power of life and death over citizens (not just in the death penalty, but in opposing euthanasia laws), and fetishizes the military chain of command, where the individual submits to the moral judgment of the State as to who ought to be shot or bombed.

On economic issues, both the GOP and the "libertarian" right of the "Libertarian Party" want a state that's powerful enough to preserve the privilege of the investment class (i.e., the capitalists). You'll never hear them talk about reducing government's power to enforce and create property "rights". The mouth-noise from the GOP about "smaller government" is marketing; their idea of "smaller government" is about decreasing democratic governance and increasing state-backed private power. (It's government cops who come to evict you from "private" property.)

As I mentioned recently, the Metro was way frickin' crowded on Saturday. And it turns out that's not just me whining: Metro set a new record for Saturday Metrorail ridership. They estimate 825,437 Metrorail trips were taken -- average Saturday ridership is about 350,000. The ridership for the rally on Saturday broke the previous record of 786,358 set by the June 8, 1991 "celebration" of Gulf War I (a.k.a. Desert Storm).

Some words of wisdom from Hunter S. Thompson:

"Politics Is The Art Of Controlling Your Environment"

By HST

That is one of the key things I learned in these years, and I learned it the hard way. Anybody who thinks that "it doesn't matter who's President" has never been Drafted and sent off to fight and die in a vicious, stupid War on the other side of the World -- or been beaten and gassed by Police for trespassing on public property -- or been hounded by the IRS for purely political reasons -- or locked up in the Cook County Jail with a broken nose and no phone access and twelve perverts wanting to stomp your ass in the shower. That is when it matters who is President or Governor or Police Chief. That is when you will wish you have voted.

On the Metro, headed down to the Rally to Restore Sanity. We got to the Greenbelt metro station at 11am, and only an hour and a half later have we managed to get on a train -- transit is that backed up. Reports are that the Mall is packed.

We met a lady here all the way from San Francisco as we walked to the station from Beltway Plaza, where we parked. Another lady in the traincar calls out asking if there's anyone else from the Hudson Valley, two people answer.

At this rate, we may not get down to the Mall before the end of the Rally at 3pm. But it's worth it to be a part of today.

The big question, of course, is whether it will matter, whether these people will turn out and vote on Tuesday -- and get their friends to vote -- or whether it will just be a lark for them with no impact.