Reason Morning Links: Nukes, Riots, Pizza, and Other Dangers

Jesse Walker | May 26, 2009

• North Korea pulls a Nagasaki.

• The Republican National Committee resurrects the infamous "Daisy" ad from the 1964 presidential campaign. But this time, it's about closing Gitmo! Really.

• Obama to America: "We are out of money." But apparently we can keep spending it anyway.

• Riots sweep the Punjab.

• While malls become ghost towns, skyscraper prices plunge.

• How a government informer wooed the Newburgh 4.

• D.C. councilman blames pizza for crime.

Comments

MNG|5.26.09 @ 7:54AM|#

I guess I can see some concern about letting Gitmo prisoners out into the world, but I find absurd the GOP inspired madness about plans to simply move them into U.S. federal prisons. It's typical of conservatives to think at this basic of a level insulting the intelligence of the average American; as if there is something magical about "terrorists" (note, have many of them been demonstrated to actually, you know, BE TERRORISTS?) that will make it likely they will break out of Leavenworth. I mean, thank God they are in Gitmo because those superhuman evil doers would then at least have to get across the ocean to terrorize our neighborhoods when they inevitably break out of such a maximum security facility!

MNG|5.26.09 @ 7:56AM|#

"While most people who spoke with ABC 7 in Adams Morgan thought the proposal was a joke, Councilman Graham said he is very serious."

Dude, the first fact there would make a normal person pause and take stock in the idea, but not a politician sadly...

Kyle Jordan|5.26.09 @ 8:08AM|#

"D.C. councilman blames pizza for crime."

That article made my head hurt.

"How a government informer wooed the Newburgh 4."

I don't really feel sorry for these guys simply because they chose to carry it through but there is definitely something wrong if this "Maqsood" badgered them as much as claimed. I guess it's no longer enough to just claim terrorism threats or let would be actual terrorists use our systems against us (something that will ALWAYS happen). We now have to actively manufacture them.

Kyle Jordan|5.26.09 @ 8:20AM|#

MNG,

They may not be able to break out of Leavenworth but communication may become easier. I have a close friend who's a prison guard and according to him, messages and communications do get out easier then one might think. Keeping the detainees at Gitmo may lessen this.

MNG|5.26.09 @ 8:51AM|#

I don't think there is much difference between the security at Leavenworth or Gitmo Kyle, they are both pretty high level. And I doubt there is a ton of Al-Qaeda operatives in Kansas to recieve such messages...

BlueBook|5.26.09 @ 8:52AM|#

Maybe it's time to cut South Korea loose from the non-proliferation treaty. If Pakistan and North Korea can have nukes, why not SoKo? (Assuming they don't already have a quiet development program.)

|5.26.09 @ 9:00AM|#

"North Korea pulls a Nagasaki?"

Last time I counted, there had been two Nagasakis-and they were three days apart in 1945.

Abdul|5.26.09 @ 9:09AM|#

I doubt there is a ton of Al-Qaeda operatives in Kansas to recieve such messages...

MNG,

They got 19 people into America for September 11th. After that, they got Jose Padilla in (even if he was captured soon thereafter). Whatever you want to say about his treatment or detention, no one questions that Padilla recieved training from Al Quaeda.

And all Al quaeda needs is a few people to get in to america to amount an escape attempt. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_helicopter_prison_escapes

Unlike these guys in the 27 helicopter escapes in the Wikipedia article, Al Quaeda has shown that they are willing to trade their own lives for publicity in suicidal attacks.

One of the great advantages of gitmo is that we got Castro to run interference for us. The US is an open society, one where stealing firearms or hijacking a helicopter is far easier than in Cuba.

The decision to close gitmo has nothing to do with the issues of due process for detainees or concerns about humanitarian treatment. Detainees can be denied due process and treated inhumanely in the US just as well as outside it. This decision is only about public relations.

|5.26.09 @ 9:27AM|#

• Obama to America: "We are out of money." But apparently we can keep spending it anyway.

"But- I've still got checks!"

|5.26.09 @ 9:29AM|#

Here's a two-minute drill in soak-the-rich economics:

Maryland couldn't balance its budget last year, so the state tried to close the shortfall by fleecing the wealthy. Politicians in Annapolis created a millionaire tax bracket, raising the top marginal income-tax rate to 6.25%. And because cities such as Baltimore and Bethesda also impose income taxes, the state-local tax rate can go as high as 9.45%. Governor Martin O'Malley, a dedicated class warrior, declared that these richest 0.3% of filers were "willing and able to pay their fair share." The Baltimore Sun predicted the rich would "grin and bear it."

One year later, nobody's grinning. One-third of the millionaires have disappeared from Maryland tax rolls.

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB124329282377252471.html

|5.26.09 @ 10:10AM|#

Is there any way to find out the amount of money the FBI CI was getting to pay for all this stuff? If he was getting gov't money to buy weed and pay rent and take these dudes out to dinner all the time, that's got to add up. Another fine set of terrorists made possible by a grant from the USG.

|5.26.09 @ 11:06AM|#

I'm still waiting for the FBI to place an order for my "You can be a TERRORIST- ask me how!" t-shirts.