Innermost Parts

Innermost Parts is still on break. Consider this an “easter egg” as a thank you for still checking up on us.

Anti-Lobbyist Candidate Is Advised by Lobbyists

For years, Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) has railed against lobbyists and the influence of “special interests” in Washington, touting on his campaign Web site his fight against “the ‘revolving door’ by which lawmakers and other influential officials leave their posts and become lobbyists for the special interests they have aided.”

But when McCain huddled with his closest advisers at his rustic Arizona cabin last weekend to map out his presidential campaign, virtually every one was part of the Washington lobbying culture he has long decried. His campaign manager, Rick Davis, co-founded a lobbying firm whose clients have included Verizon and SBC Telecommunications. His chief political adviser, Charles R. Black Jr., is chairman of one of Washington’s lobbying powerhouses, BKSH and Associates, which has represented AT&T, Alcoa, JP Morgan and U.S. Airways.

Remember, the real McCain scandal: he took money from lobbyists in exchange for using his power on the Senate to tell the FCC to benefit their clients.
Read the rest…

Hey all. Due to Brandeis being out due to break, we’ve decided to wind down our blogging for the next week. Check back when vacation  is over (Feb 24th). Great! Have a fun February Break!

Speaking of Net Neutrality…
The FCC, in a rare move, is having a hearing on the issue, open to the public, here in Boston. ArsTechnica has the goods:

 The hearing will be held at 10am on February 26 at Harvard Law School in Cambridge, Massachusetts, and is open to the public (more details in the official announcement). With all the commissioners planning to be in attendance, this is as good a chance as most people will ever get to air their views directly to the FCC’s top officials, so take advane if you’re in the area

I can’t make it; classes. Hopefully someone else in the Innermost Parts community can go. If so, tell us how it went!

Still confused by Net Neutrality? Here’ s a fun primer:

This is Ed Markey. Ed Markey represents Brandeis to Congress. Ed Markey also represents the American people. He’d like a word:

Net Neutrality. It sounds complicated. It sounds important.  Lucky for you, it’s the latter. Unlucky for you, it doesn’t exist in America anymore at this time.

Net Neutrality means freedom of speech on the internet. It means that Verizon has to treat your bits of data with the same care and resources as it treats Microsofts. It means that TimeWarner can’t block the websites of it’s competitors (like Newsweek, Skype, etc).

Except Net Neutrality doesn’t exist anymore. The democratic ideal that the internet was founded on is being crushed by the greed of Comcast, AT&T, and their ilk. To learn more about Net Neutrality, you can read my earlier work on the subject, or go to SaveTheInternet.com.

Suffice to say: Net Neutrality is the thing that keeps the internet fun and not controlled by any company or government. It’s gone, and there’s a big push to bring it back.

I’m proud that my Congressman is leading the charge.

Read the rest…

After we learned of the horrible killing of 14 civilians in Iraq by Blackwater personnel last November, almost anything seems possible. Indeed, we are still learning about these private contractors and all the harm they are causing. An article in today’s New York Times tells of women who have been sexually assaulted, and then fired by KBR for speaking up to their employers. Really nice stuff.    

But the problem is deeper than the fundamental injustice of the treatment of these women. The worst part is that, unlike members of the military, abusive KBR employees can get off scot-free for their crimes. To begin with, they are immune to prosecution (because they are not technically government workers). According to the Times, “In cases involving sexual assault, soldiers and other military personnel can be prosecuted under the military justice system, but that system does not apply to contractors.”  But even in civilian courts back in the States, justice still cannot be obtained by these women, as the extent of the law over private contractors in foreign war zones still has yet to be determined, this far into the war. (Incidentally,  all of the above is true of the Blackwater employees who indiscriminately killed innocent civilians last Fall).     

These contractors are Americans. Whether they commit crimes while being hired out by our government to do work overseas in Iraq, or whether they do the same horrible things to other Americans here on American soil, they should be prosecuted. There ought to be less obscurity, and fewer barriers, on the road to justice. Until that happens, Iraq is utterly lawless - not just in the usual sense (that is, the insurgencies and sectional conflicts that is going on) - but also in the sense that you can go there, as a civilian working for a private corporation, and kill or rape people, without being held accountable.     

It has been clear for some time that post-Saddam Iraq will be a turbulent place with little law or stability. Only now is it becoming clear that the place is also a sanctuary for criminals who happen to be working for private corporations with clout.

Regarding the administration’s treatment of Professor Hindley, an alum speaks out: “I urge the administration in the strongest possible terms to drop the case and extend its apologies to Hindley. The reputation of Brandeis University depends on it.”

More info on Blue Mass Group.

I want you to be among the first to know that I am announcing today I am running for the Middlesex-Worcester Senate seat after last week’s announcement by Senator Pam Resor that she will not be running for re-election. I have worked closely with Pam in the Legislature for nearly six years and managed her State Rep. and State Senate campaigns. I know Pam not only as an incredible legislator who has shown leadership on environmental, public safety, education and economic development legislation, but also as a mentor and good friend. Her honesty, integrity, and work ethic will be greatly missed after this year.

Jamie Eldridge is a true progressive and is the only member of the Massachusetts legislature to come into office through clean money / clean elections. He’s a really great guy and I’m looking forward to helping him out in any way I can.

Important things you should know about that happened today:

- History was made today as Australian Prime Minister Kevin Rudd officially apologized to the Aborigines on behalf of the Australian people and government.

- The Senate voted to trash the constitution today, giving a no-questions-asked pardon to telecommunications companies that probably helped the Bush Administration break the 4th Amendment (before 9/11!).

These are the Democratic Senators that voted for telecommunication amnesty (boo! hiss!):

Sens. Jay Rockefeller (D-WV), Evan Bayh (D-IA), Daniel Inouye (D-HI), Tim Johnson (D-SD), Herb Kohl (D-WI), Mary Landrieu (D-LA), Claire McCaskill (D-MO), Mark Pryor (D-AR), Blanche Lincoln (D-AR), Dianne Feinstein (D-CA), Ken Salazar (D-CO), Tom Carper (D-DE), Barbara Mikulski (D-MD), Jim Webb (D-VA), Ben Nelson (D-NE), Bill Nelson (D-FL), Kent Conrad (D-ND), and Debbie Stabenow (D-MI)

No Republican voted against amnesty, Senators Clinton (D-NY) and Graham (R-SC) didn’t vote at all.

More on this later.

- Today was the “Potomac Primary”. Obama swept.

- It looks like progressive champion Donna Edwards will defeat corrupt incumbent Al Wynn in the Democratic primary of Maryland’s 4th District. This is a huge victory for the progressive movement and for the citizens of MD-4.

edit: oh, how could I forget? U.S. Supreme Court Judge Anthony Scalia is fine with torture. Help me: I’m no law student; what part of “cruel and unusual” do I not understand correctly?

another update: Donna wins outright. Woot!

yet another update: The Writer’s Strike is over, the writers won, hooray!

Like be superdelegates at the Democratic National Convention. Imagine getting personal phone calls from Bill Clinton and John Kerry urging to endorse their candidate. At age 21.

Or totally school cynical newsmen.

That’s why you should try to be a delegate to the Massachusetts Democratic State Convention or even the Democratic National Convention.

The Hamas-sponsored children’s tv show, Tomorrow’s Pioneers, recently debuted a Jew-eating rabbit as a new character. I believe this impacts Brandeis more than other area universities. Perhaps Public Safety should be informed?