yeah, i was gonna do some econ updates this weekend

[solarbird]

...but I didn't. Shit's getting weird out there, though. Be very careful this week.

But that's not why I didn't do that. Mostly I got distracted and pissed off by the revelation that Mr. Obama's closure of Mr. Bush's secret prison system didn't include all the secret prisons - just the ones the CIA was running - and that there are now reports coming out of abuse and torture from these still-operational "black" prison sites. There are reportedly no plans to shutter these prisons. It's all relevant because there have been suggestions to transfer the remaining Gitmo population to Bagram, which apparently has one of these secret prisons nearby.

So really, it looks like it was all just one more big fat fucking lie. With bullshit like this continuing to steam on, you really can't be too surprised that 40% of self-identified Democrats in this week's DailyKOS poll say they are likely (25%) or certain (15%) to sit out the 2010 elections, something Washington Monthly calls "a wake-up call."

Of course, these aren't the only complaints - hell, they aren't even mentioned in the Washington Monthly piece! But I like Corrente's commentary, here:

Working people see bailouts for the banksters, but nothing for them, whether on housing or jobs; we're almost a full year into the year of Hope and Change, and only now is Obama even holding a summit on jobs, in the worst employment situation since the Great Depression. And that's before we get to bailing out the insurance companies through what used to be laughingly called "health care reform," and before we go on to looting Social Security and cutting Medicare treatment under the guise of "entitlement reform."

People are not. happy. I wonder whether the political class will notice or care?

Comments

[phillipalden.livejournal.com]

The prison site at Bagram Air Force base in Afghanistan hasn't really been much of a secret. Many people knew of it when Bush The Idiot was still in office.

The worry about Bagram, (and other sites,) is that they sit in countries that willingly torture and permanently damage their prisoners.

I think Obama needs a wake-up call, or he will be abandoned by the progressives that supported him in the last election, and we'll end up with another asshole, I mean Republican, President.

[solarbird]

This is the second prison nearby, not the main prison. Both are officially secret, but the black site is more secret than the main prison.

[phillipalden.livejournal.com]

Oh what a tangled web they weave...