Interim:

FEMA strikes again. Katrina refugees who have been given paid housing in hotels are to be told to start paying or leave, as of Dec. 1. And go where? What are their alternatives? What other housing is available? I doubt they'll be allowed to go home, considering the push for redevelopment of parts of the Katrina Zone. Suggestion: how about housing them at some of those military bases Bush was so eager to close? Or would that be too much like actually having a Republican government program that isn't about making the top Republicans rich?

Lies, damn lies and oil.

The idiocy of supporting torture.

I know a man who tortures his dog. He ties the dog to a board, tilts the board downward, smothers the dog's face with a cloth, and then soaks the cloth with water. The terrified creature feels as if it is drowning, but because its lungs remain higher than its mouth, it doesn't. This man told me he did this to his dog seventeen times last month.

In fact, I don't actually know such a man, but I do know men who approve of such acts, as long as the victims are human beings rather than dogs. This is the official position of the Bush administration on the interrogation technique known as "water-boarding." According to the Pentagon, water-boarding has been employed "regularly" as a "control measure" at the Guantanamo Bay internment camp. One prisoner was subjected to water-boarding seventeen times in the course of a month.

The Pentagon report also reveals that this prisoner was kept awake for 18-20 hours for 48 out of 54 consecutive days, that he was forced to wear bras and thongs on his head, that he was prevented from praying, that he was forced to crawl around on a dog lead and perform dog tricks, that he was told his mother and sister were whores, and that he was subjected to extensive body cavity searches despite having spent 160 days in solitary confinement.

All of these interrogation techniques have been approved by Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld. Administration lawyers take the position that none of this is "inhumane," that none of it constitutes "torture," and that therefore it is all legal under the Geneva Conventions. Their position logically requires the conclusion that it would be lawful to subject American prisoners of war to the same treatment.

Sen. John McCain disagrees and has sponsored a bill that would ban such practices. As a POW, McCain was tortured by his North Vietnamese captors, so his opinion on the matter carries more weight than that of, say, Vice President Cheney, who carefully avoided military service by procuring four draft deferments during the Vietnam War (he has since explained that he had "other priorities"), and who is now the administration's most enthusiastic proponent of torture.

McCain's bill passed the Senate by a 90-9 vote, but President Bush is threatening to make it the first piece of legislation he has ever vetoed. "Anything we do is within the law," the president explained last week. "We do not torture." (Orwell: "Political language is designed to make lies sound truthful and murder respectable.")...

What legalizing torture really does is to ensure it becomes routine. (The government has already admitted that at least five prisoners have been tortured to death.) Bush's defense of torture comes down to a single argument: that atrocious acts are permissible in the pursuit of sufficiently important ends. Saddam Hussein and Osama bin Laden would agree.

The Sony spyware infection. More here. And here. And a time line of the whole situation.

Sen. Barack Obama wants to protect your voting rights.

Why target Wal-Mart? Because its policies drive the economy down, cost taxpayers money and foster sweatshop conditions and human rights violations.

In New Mexico, some less-than-pleasant turns in the investigation into rigged voting machines.

Digby's blog considers tactics of countering propaganda similar to the old Breck shampoo ads: rinse and repeat.

The ski slope that is Bush's approval rating. And Bush's magnificent deception.

Now there's a push to shield biomedical research from the Freedom of Information Act. Elsewhere, though, Rep. Barney Frank wants to shed public light on just how much those corporate executives at publicly traded companies are paid. More on that here.

Are chemicals being sprayed from airplanes above Las Vegas? And if so, why is it happening and what are they?

Let me try to remember: we supposedly went to Iraq to keep Saddam from using weapons of mass destruction and chemical weapons against people. We didn't find a single WMD, and the white phosphorus is being used by American troops. More here. And here.

The Senate, whose job it is to declare war (even if the current group abdicated this responsibility to Bush) and to approve treaties, is pfinally pushing Bush to get the troops home. This, perhaps, in spite of Democratic hawks. Senators also seem to have compromised on giving Guantanamo detainees a day in court, but without certain rights. This last link is a few days old (sorry) but it's worth the read to show you how issues affecting thousands of people are negotiated behind the scenes. Note this at the end: Cheney spokeswoman Lea Anne McBride said Cheney has done nothing on the issue that is not fully supported by the president. She pointed to a statement Bush made last week, saying that Cheney's lobbying reflected administration views. That should tell you what Bush thinks about torture.

Apparently, if you don't support the neoCon view of civil rights, you're not welcome to work for the Justice Department.

I used to think a lot of Bob Woodward, whose excellent reporting in the Post helped bring to light the excesses and illegal actions of the Nixon Administration. Not so sure about that now, since his knowledge of the Plame case has come to light.

Mary Mapes revisits Bush's National Guard service record.

The Marines apparently aren't saying much about a new weapont that ignites aire and can destroy buildings with one shot. They know what it does; they used it in Fallujah. When the Russian used something similar in Afghanistan, it was considered disproportionate force, and condemned. Is anyone noticing this?

Americablog notes Bush's disturbed state of mind.

This one's translated, and it's citing the Washington Times, so you know it's reacting to some neoCon statements -- but the idea that children born here would not be considered citizens if their parents are immigrants, legal or illegal, disturbs me greatly.

PBS NOW full transcript on gas prices, prisons and more.

BRANCACCIO: NOW on PBS.

Pain at the pump…

What is driving up the cost of driving? Critics say big oil companies push up prices by keeping a lid on how much gasoline gets refined.

SEN. RON WYDEN: What they did is look at how to limit production in order to boost their profits-- not my words-- the words of the oil industry.

BRANCACCIO: NOW goes inside the industry to investigate.

And… after Guantanamo and Abu Ghraib… New questions about America's secret prisons in Eastern Europe: who's there and what are we doing with them?

DAN COLEMAN: I don't think Guantanamo is your problem. t's people that don't go into any system at all that's a problem, that just disappear....

SENATOR RON WYDEN (D-OR): The American people, my constituents want oil companies to be good at what they do. But they also think they should be good citizens. And these huge profits right now meet the dictionary definition of unseemly.

MARIA HINOJOSA: Polls show that public opinion is blaming the big oil companies for these high prices … and a NOW investigation has found the public has good reason. In fact, after reaching out to industry analysts, consumer advocates, members of Congress and whistle-blowers, we've found the industry has taken active steps to keep prices and profits at record highs.

JAMIE COURT:The reason they're making world-record profits is 'cause they're charging world-record prices for gasoline and heating oil that doesn't cost them world-record production costs to make.

MARIA HINOJOSA: But the oil companies say, it isn't their fault they blame high crude prices — point fingers at destruction from Hurricanes Katrina and Rita — imply it might be your local gas dealer.

No way, says Tim Hamilton, who represents about 400 independent station owners in Washington state. He says his colleagues are getting squeezed — and the latest government figures back him up — on average, retailers took in only six cents of the two and a half dollars we paid per gallon.

TIM HAMILTON: If there's one sector of the economy that has been hurt worst by the price hike, it's the local gasoline dealer. But, unfortunately, due to an effort by the oil companies, and, a lack of understanding, they often get blamed for this. And it's not their fault.

MARIA HINOJOSA: Well, what about the hurricanes? Yes, Katrina and Rita did temporarily shut down a significant part of oil and gas production in the U.S. — and prices spiked. But look at this chart … why were gas prices rising well before the hurricanes hit?

And what about the price of crude? Sure, it does account for about half the cost of gasoline. And when OPEC raises its price, the oil companies make plenty of money from the crude they produce themselves.

But look at this chart … why did the price of gas increase three times as much as the price of crude in the month leading up to Katrina?

Jamie Court is a consumer advocate in Los Angeles who's been tracking the oil companies.

JAMIE COURT: In times of peak demand and low supply, they can charge $3 per gallon for gasoline, but the fact is it doesn't cost them more than a dollar-something to make that gasoline.

MARIA HINOJOSA: And the companies are making record profits. Only nine months into 2005,
Royal-Dutch Shell profits — 21 billion dollars;
British Petroleum — 15 billion;
Conoco Phillips —… 10 billion;
Chevron — 10 billion.

And the most profitable company in the world by far, Exxon Mobil, just reported more than 25 billion dollars in profits for the first nine months of this year. In fact, in just this past quarter, Exxon had made three times the total profit Time-Warner made all of last year.

So, if the gas station owners … and the hurricanes … and the cost of crude don't account for all of the price hikes … what else does?

JAMIE COURT:Oil companies have manipulated supply so that when there's-- gonna be a peak season of demand, they then withhold supply. And when there aren't adequate inventories, the system is rigged for a shortage, even though it's artificial.

MARIA HINOJOSA: You're using these terms "rigged," "control," I mean, these are not terms that most people kind of accept in a free market society.

JAMIE COURT: Well, I think the only thing free about this market for oil companies in the United States of America is they're free to do whatever they want. That's the market....

neadods points to sources for low-cost or no-cost books.