DISCOVER THIS!
(Posted 9:10 AM)

This just in–as Discovery is about to launch, Dale Howard writes from Tulsa:

” Although decision-making at NASA is not a usual topic on MediaChannel, the analysis of bad, political-driven, unethical if not illegal decision making is.

“The upcoming launch of Discovery in just a few hours (10:39 a.m. Eastern Time) has me concerned. As a sociologist I’m interested in the underlying social dynamics of decision-making. Many are familiar with the process of “groupthink,” and Diana Vaughn, a Boston College sociologist, put this in sharp perspective with concept of “normalization of deviance” in her 1996 book, “The Challenger Launch Decision: Risky Technology, Culture, and Deviance at NASA” (Cambridge University Press). The 1986 Challenger accident was blamed in part on a broken safety culture (the normalization of deviance, or tendency to downplay risks); the fate of Columbia, in February 2003, was eerily similar. Both decisions to launch were made in accordance with “standard” engineering practices. (Just as the Auther Anderson accounting firm was following “standard” accounting practices in the Enron case).

“Although The New York Times this morning reports there is “no sign of the sensor troubles that have bedeviled NASA’s last attempt to launch,” in reading the entire article it is unclear if this is indeed about “sensors” or another deviation from safety standards, putting the launch decision in the “acceptable” range. This morning’s decision to launch has been heavily criticized. For example, Joseph Gutheinz, retired agent in NASA’s inspector general office, is quoted as saying “It is clear to me that NASA continues to put mission over safety” (Tulsa World, 7/26/03).

“We shall see the results of NASA’s decision in a short while. Stay tuned.

Posted 7AM:
QUE LINDA ES CUBA
BACKLASH IN BRITAIN
SONY PAYS PAYOLA FINE

Dissector News Wire:

It’s the 26th of July, the anniversary of the Cuban Revolution, a process now being criticized anew for jailing dissidents ….(http://www.rsf.org/article.php3?id_article=14508but)

And, also, still admired widely in many quarters for its social achievements in health and education and Socialist values…

Press release: “On Thursday July 21st, US Customs and Border Protection officers, acting on instructions from the US Department of Commerce, seized 43 boxes of computer equipment - toner, cables, calculators, modems, keyboards, 2 printers, and a dozen computers - intended for Cuban childrenfrom the 16th Pastors for Peace Friend-shipment Caravan. A group of seven caravanistas have remained on the U.S./Mexico border in Hidalgo, Texas to build an international campaign to free the computer equipment for delivery to Cuba.”

SUSPECTS AND PROTESTS

(BBC) British Police name two people they suspect of carrying out the attempted bombings on London’s transport network….

(AP)”Hundreds of relatives and friends of a Brazilian shot to death in London after being mistaken for a terrorist marched along the cobblestone streets of his hometown Monday, demanding the arrest of the British police who fired the fatal shots.

“Some of the protesters held banners denouncing British police as the real terrorists; other placards were adorned with snapshots of Jean Charles de Menezes, urging British Prime Minister Tony Blair to send his body home so it can be buried.

“All said Blair’s apology did not go far enough.”

BLAIR’S POLICIES DEBATED ANEW

Eric Margolis of the Toronto Sun argues: “Blair imported Mideast violence to Britain.”

Murdering civilians in London,New York or Tel Aviv is a heinous crime. But to many people around the globe, so was the trumped-up invasion of Iraq that violated every norm of international law, the ongoing U.S. occupation of Afghanistan, and the agony of Palestine.
“Deporting or jailing loudmouth radical Muslim clerics and closing madrassas won’t stop the dangerous jihadist movement. Neither will blaming Islam or Pakistan. Terrorist violence is the effect, not the cause.

http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article9565.htm

http://snipurl.com/ghqz

AMSTERDAM: “A Dutch court has sentenced a 27-year-old radical Islamist to life in prison for the November murder of controversial film-maker Theo Van Gogh.” (BBC)

WHAT DID BUSH KNOW?

Dan Froomkin of the Washington Post wants to know as the Brad Blog explains:

http://www.bradblog.com/archives/00001627.htm

THE FOX GUARDING THE CHICKENS

CNN reports that the Pentagon now admits insurgents and criminals have infiltrated Iraqi police ranks due to poor screening procedures by U.S. forces, according to a report released Monday by the U.S. Defense Department and State Department. “Too many recruits are marginally literate; some show up for training with criminal records or physical handicaps,” the report adds.”

Here’s a related analysis:”

“U.S. Faces Pressure to Pull Troops from Iraq”
http://www.pinr.com/report.php?ac=view_report&report_id=328

IRAQIS ECHO WH SCRIPT

The Talkleft blog reports an outbreak of correct line-ism attributed to Iraqis:

“Is the Army’s public affairs office inventing quotes and attributing them to unidentified Iraqis? This is from a July 13 press release issued by the military:

“The terrorists are attacking the infrastructure, the children and all of Iraq,” said one Iraqi man who preferred not to be identified. “They are enemies of humanity without religion or any sort of ethics. They have attacked my community today and I will now take the fight to the terrorists.”

This is from a press release issued by the same office yesterday:

“The terrorists are attacking the infrastructure, the ISF and all of Iraq. They are enemies of humanity without religion or any sort of ethics. They have attacked my community today and I will now take the fight to the terrorists,” said one Iraqi man who preferred not to be identified.”

Either the unidentified Iraqi has memorized his speech, or the Army’s PR team is recycling quotes, which may or may have originated with an actual Iraqi. Strangely, the words echo language frequently employed by President Bush.

http://talkleft.com/new_archives/011631.html

METRIC MAN

Tom Englehart comments on TomDispatch.com about the man in charge of our defense:

“Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld has long been obsessed by the “metrics” of success in the war in Iraq. His are, of course, the metrics from hell and they have regularly betrayed him when it comes to measuring the signs of victory. But measuring the immeasurable on our confusing planet is no small task and it’s not restricted to the Rumsfelds of our world either. All of us, whether we’re particularly aware of it or not, spend more time than we might imagine looking for and trying to measure “success.”…

THE TIMES OF LONDON REPORTS:

“US troop shortage could lead to a new option for mid-life crisis”

” Bush Administration wants to raise the age limit for military recruits to 42, in the latest move to fight falling numbers of US troops.
“Concerns among potential recruits over the Iraq war and long overseas deployments have left the Army, the Reserve and the National Guard on course to fall significantly short of their recruitment goals this year. The Pentagon wants recruits accepted up to the age of 42 in all branches of the military, and this week asked Congress to pass the legislation. At present the age limit is 35 for those wanting to join the regular US Army and 39 for people without previous military experience who want to enlist in the Guard or Reserve.”

SOME ROBERTS PAPERS TO BE RELEASED

The New York Times reports today:

“Some Documents of Supreme Court Choice Will Be Released: The administration will release documents from Judge John G. Roberts’s tenure in the White House counsel’s office and his earlier job working for the attorney general.”

http://www.nytimes.com/2005/07/26/politics/politicsspecial1/26confirm.html?th&emc=th

SAY GOOD-BYE TO AFL-CIO UNITY

The Washington Post reports:

“Two of the nation’s largest and most powerful unions resigned from the AFL-CIO on Monday, fracturing the 50-year-old federation as the labor movement struggles to stem decades of decline and lost influence in both the workplace and the political arena.

“The withdrawal of the 1.7 million-member Service Employees International Union, the biggest union in the AFL-CIO, and the 1.3 million-strong International Brotherhood of Teamsters is a blow to the political clout and finances of the AFL-CIO, according to an array of labor leaders gathered here. Together, the two unions pay $20 million in annual dues toward the AFL-CIO’s $120 million budget.”

WashingtonPost.com

THE PAINS OF LABOR

The quote of the Day in the National Journal’s Hotline is from Al From of the Democratic Leadership Conference(DLC) “We’ve got to make it clear that Michael Moore doesn’t speak for us.”

Here’s their take on the divisions in the House of Labor

“As a nat’l political force, the decline of labor can probably be traced back to the ‘84 WH campaign when they exerted their might behind Walter Mondale.
– It’s only gotten worse since. In ‘88, labor’s fav candidate, Gephardt, came up short; In ‘92, labor refused to unite behind Harkin; in ‘00, the AFL’s endorsement of Gore technically makes labor’s primary record look good, but he was the de facto incumbent.
– Then there was ‘04, perhaps the worst performance for labor yet, simply because of how much money and bravado was involved. In the Dem primaries, the two labor-backed candidates Dean and Gephardt were miserable failures in the one state where labor supposedly could control the process: IA. In the general, labor was one of the larger influences on ACT. For $200M, the group helped Dems pickup exactly one additional state from ‘00 (NH) and saw two others they targeted (NM and IA) go the other way, including the state where they modeled their nat’l field program from: IA.
– Labor’s been a legacy participant in Dem strategy for a decade now. Could this AFL-CIO split actually help the party recover from its reliance on labor?”

ISRAEL THREATENED–FROM WITHIN

Uri Avnery writes’

“In their fight against the “rotten” Israeli democracy, the settlers have adopted the Holocaust symbols. They are ostentatiously wearing the Yellow Star that was imposed by the Nazis on the Jews before their extermination, only substituting orange for yellow. They inscribe their forearm with their identity number, like the numbers the Nazis tattooed on the Auschwitz prisoners. They call the government the “Judenrat”, after the Jewish councils appointed by the Nazis in the ghettoes, and liken the evacuation of the settlers from Gush Katif to the deportation of the Jews to the death camps. All this live on television.

“So, there is no reason anymore for not calling the spade a spade: a large fascist camp is now threatening Israeli democracy.”
http://zope.gush-shalom.org/home/en/channels/avnery/1122164675