Judge Garzon Answers Questions in Court (photo: javacolleen/flickr)

Terrible crimes were committed during and after Spain’s 1936-39 civil war that no court has yet examined or judged. No one knows how many people were taken away, tortured and murdered. Now, one of Spain’s top investigating magistrates, Baltasar Garzón, is on trial for daring to open an inquiry into those atrocities. Editorial – New York Times

Baltasar Garzón, Spain’s internationally renowned investigating magistrate, is being prosecuted on charges that could end his career. The case has the hallmarks of a politically motivated attempt to smear and disbar a courageous public official who has fought terrorists and state-sanctioned death squads, corruption and tyranny. It is without merit and reflects poorly on Spain’s increasingly politicised judicial system. Editorial – Financial Times

A Spanish judge famed for his investigations into international human rights abuses has been found guilty of ordering illegal wiretaps during a case involving corruption within the country’s ruling Popular party. Baltasar Garzón was on Thursday unanimously convicted of overstepping his jurisdiction and was barred from the bench for 11 years by a panel of seven judges of Spain’s Supreme Court – a ruling that, if upheld, would effectively bring an end to his career. Financial Times

Villages of bones (for ex-judge Baltasar Garzón)

Under the ditches, fields and highways of Spain, there are tiny villages of bones
Sinews, tendons, loves, ideas and dreams,
Simmered in the broth of earth
Nothing is left but the bones

In the villages of bones
The warm blood and the warm tears
Long since turned to thistles, flow no more
Nothing is left but the bones

Cross posted from: http://seaton-newslinks.blogspot.com

Unless something unexpected happens, this Thursday could see the end of Occupy Nashville’s presence at Legislative Plaza. This doesn’t mean the end of ON; they’re still weighing their options, but right now their main concerns are protecting their homeless friends who have been braving the elements 24/7 at the Plaza (last night was in the 20′s with flurries, and today was sunny but near freezing, with lows in the teens predicted for tonight) and also the protection of community property. Open Table will be providing a warm and safe haven tonight.

Because the TN Legislature has been crafting revenge with a vengeance. As it stands now, the House and Senate bills will prohibit camping, along with anything related to camping, in the Plaza, which will now be a Class A misdemeanor with a maximum fine of $2,500 and up to 11 months and 29 days in jail. And the word is that there is pressure building to make at least one example. In spite of this, about a half dozen Occupiers plan on being arrested, although the situation is fluid. More will be known this Tuesday when the Committee decides when to place the bills on the calendar. After ‘debate,’ the bills will be voted on and passed.

Sunday, February 12, 2012, 5pm ET

The Operators: The Wild and Terrifying Inside Story of America’s War in Afghanistan

Chat with Michael Hastings about his new book, hosted by Ambassador Peter Galbraith.

General Stanley McChrystal, the innovative, forward-thinking commanding general of international and U.S. forces in Afghanistan, was living large. He was better known to some as Big Stan, M4, Stan, and his loyal staff liked to call him a “rock star.” During a spring 2010 trip across Europe to garner additional allied help for the war effort, McChrystal was accompanied by journalist Michael Hastings of Rolling Stone. For days, Hastings looked on as McChrystal and his staff let off steam, partying and openly bashing the Obama administration for what they saw as a lack of leadership. When Hastings’s piece appeared a few months later, it set off a political firestorm: McChrystal was ordered to Washington, where he was fired unceremoniously.

In The Operators, Hastings picks up where his Rolling Stone coup ended. He gives us a shocking behind-the-scenes portrait of our military commanders, their high-stakes maneuvers and often bitter bureaucratic infighting. Hastings takes us on patrol missions in the Afghan hinterlands, to late-night bull sessions of senior military advisors, to hotel bars where spies and expensive hookers participate in nation-building gone awry. And as he weighs the merits and failings of old-school generals and the so-called COINdinistas-the counterintelligence experts-Hastings draws back the curtain on a hellish complexity and, he fears, an unwinnable war.

Michael Hastings is a contributing editor at Rolling Stone. He regularly covers international affairs for the magazine, including the wars in Iraq, Afghanistan, and Libya. In 2011, he received the George Polk Award in journalism for his Rolling Stone story “The Runaway General.” His work has appeared in Newsweek, GQ, Men’s Journal, The Washington Post, the Los Angeles Times, Slate, Salon, Foreign Policy, The Daily Beast, Huffington Post, and a number of other publications. In 2010, Hastings was named one of The Huffington Post’s Game Changers of the year. His GQ story “Obama’s War” was selected for Best American Political Writing 2009. The author also of I Lost My Love in Baghdad: A Modern War Story, Hastings lives in Vermont. (Blue Rider Press)

ASR Limited is a small team of environmental scientists, engineers and consultants, working out of New Zealand, Jakarta and Venice, California:

ASR’s core philosophy is to understand, innovate, and sustain. Our first step is to understand the natural processes governing a specific project site. After spending time developing an understanding of a system’s natural design and function, we implement an innovative and sustainable solution for the project. This approach is always the same whether the challenge is coastal management, fluid transport, fisheries, engineering, or environmental impacts. We work with the world’s top governments, corporations, and organizations to develop innovative solutions for complex issues around the globe.

ASR’s thorough understanding of marine systems, science, and technology enables us to consider environmental and human health in everything we do. We are one of the few companies in the world developing innovative solutions that work in concert with the natural world, rather than against it. By developing technology inspired by nature, we strive to implement solutions that will satisfy the needs of all stakeholders, including our planet.

One of their recent projects has been to hypothetically model the expanding plume of radioactive seawater that has resulted from the escape of water used to mitigate the meltdowns at the four Fukushima power plants:

We use a Lagrangian particles dispersal method to track where free floating material (fish larvae, algae, phytoplankton, zooplankton…) present in the sea water near the damaged Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power station plant could have gone since the earthquake on March 11th. THIS IS NOT A REPRESENTATION OF THE RADIOACTIVE PLUME CONCENTRATION.

Since we do not know how much contaminated water and at what concentration was released into the ocean, it is impossible to estimate the extent and dilution of the plume. However, field monitoring by TEPCO and modeling by the Sirrocco group in University of Toulouse, France both show high concentration in the surrounding water (highest rate at 80 Bq/L and 24 Bq/L for respectively I-131 and C-137) . Assuming that a part of the passive biomass could have been contaminated in the area, we are trying to track where the radionuclides are spreading as it will eventually climb up the food chain.

We’ve received a few diaries in the last week but we’ve also gotten some great pictures and a couple of nice videos from folks.

On the diary front, we have two from Occupy Pittsburgh folks. First up is this one from Steelydan3 describing the scene as the Occupy Pittsburgh folks were awaiting an eviction:

I helped deliver some Firedoglake packages (gloves, jackets and other winter clothes…) to the Occupy Pittsburgh’s camp some weeks ago. Thought I should post these pics before they’re shut down this morning. It’s not over. Decentralize decentralize decentralize. I also took some photos in the daylight last Saturday.

Later from Monday night, we received this diary from RFShunt on the wait for the eviction:

Champagne Supernova by Matt Sorensen spray paint art, space art

I hope that you will enjoy this as much as I did.

Here are some other beautiful things created with spray paint:

(image: opk/flickr)

Economics is a closed system; internally it is perfectly logical, operating according to a consistent set of principles. Unfortunately, the same could be said of psychosis. What’s more, once having entered the closed system of the economist, you, like the psychotic, may have a hard time getting out.

- Judy Jones and William Wilson

The Occupy movement has largely been relegated to the margins of mainstream coverage lately – big outlets may mention something in a news capsule but generally have ignored it beyond that. It is still very much alive though, and one aspect of it has become the subject of intense debate recently: The use of violence, or what proponents call diversity of tactics.

The controversy flared up over Chris Hedges’ piece on Monday sharply critical of “Black Bloc anarchists – so named because they dress in black, obscure their faces, move as a unified mass, seek physical confrontations with police and destroy property.” Hedges believes there is widespread disapproval of violent tactics and that attaching them to Occupy is a cynical attempt to legitimize them. But because the two tend to be conflated in popular opinion (to the extent that anyone is paying attention) the primary effect is the discrediting of Occupy generally – both in Oakland and beyond.

The debate can take a downright philosophical turn as people hash out what violence means to them. Some don’t view property destruction as violence at all, but only the destruction of living things. Susie Cagle posted a response to Hedges and described a couple different kinds of property destruction. The first:

There was a dispersal order, but no means of escape. Protesters with shields attempted to push the police line, which responded with several volleys of tear gas into the crowd, still trapped. Instead of enduring the gas, the crowd pulled down chain-link fencing that separated them from the street and safety. 

Another:

On November 2, an autonomously organized anti-capitalist black bloc marched through Oakland, destroying windows and other property at banks and, allegedly, strike-busting businesses such as Whole Foods. 

Were both of those violent? Neither?