August 14, 2004

In Sudan, a call to fight Arab militias
Tribal chiefs asked to lead effort
By Laurie Goering, Chicago Tribune | August 14, 2004

KHARTOUM, Sudan -- Facing growing international pressure to stem the violence in Darfur, Sudan's president has called on tribal leaders in the conflict-torn region to form their own security forces to combat Arab militias blamed for thousands of deaths.

President Omar el-Bashir, facing a United Nations deadline to disarm the militias, ordered leaders of about 100 tribes in the region to turn in "outlaws" to the government and to rebuild "social bonds" between Arab and black villagers.

But international human-rights groups warned that black villagers in Darfur, the victims of 18 months of attacks by the so-called Janjaweed, have little capacity for self-protection and that Arab tribes that are the source of the Janjaweed may have little incentive to try to disband them.

"It all sounds very suspect to me," said Georgette Gagnon, the deputy director for Africa at Human Rights Watch. El-Bashir "may well be saying, `You guys do this,' knowing full well there's no capacity to disarm well-armed militias."

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As an unrelated aside, it really cracks me up every time I read the full details of something that "will be announced."

Anyway…

U.S. to Cut Forces in Europe, Asia
By Mike Allen and Thomas E. Ricks
Washington Post Staff Writers
Saturday, August 14, 2004; Page A01

President Bush will announce Monday that he plans to pull 70,000 to 100,000 troops out of Europe and Asia in the first major reconfiguration of overseas military deployments by the United States since the Cold War ended, White House officials said yesterday.

Bush, who will reveal his plan in a speech to the annual convention of the 2.6 million-member Veterans of Foreign Wars in Cincinnati, plans to say that the change is necessary to adapt the nation's military to the demands of the global war on terrorism and to take advantage of new technologies, said a senior aide involved in developing the plan.

Two-thirds of the reduction will come from Europe, most of them Army soldiers in Germany, and most of the troops will be reassigned to bases in the United States, the aide said. Officials said exact details of the moves have not been finalized, but some of the troops from Germany and South Korea will be moved to expansion countries of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization in Eastern Europe.

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Quote of note:

The dirty little secret about Social Security is that it's too small to transform the fiscal future. For all the books and seminars devoted to the subject, it is a side show next to the policies we consider in our next two pieces: the growth rate and health care.

The Tax Cuts Re-Examined
Sunday, August 15, 2004; Page B06

THE DEBATE OVER the Bush administration's fiscal policy has been grinding on for three years, producing few concessions or apologies. Critics, including this page, say the tax cuts are not affordable; defenders retort that the president has a five-year plan to halve the deficit and that a combination of economic growth and entitlement reform can shore up the government's finances in the longer term.

To break out of this stalemate, we have taken a fresh look at these hopes for long-term salvation. We have assumed, for the sake of argument, that a second-term Bush administration could overcome the political obstacles to entitlement reform and pro-growth policies such as tort reform, and we have sought estimates for the impact of such reforms on government finances.

…But today we address the long-term policy that generates the most excitement in pro-administration circles: Social Security privatization.

…make an assumption that's generous to the privatizers: Suppose that reform could cut in half the expected increase in the cost of the program. Between now and 2040, the cost of paying retirees is projected to rise from 4.3 percent of GDP to 6.5 percent; halving that rise would reduce the deficit in 2040 by just over 1 percent of GDP. Is that a big deal? The Berkeley-Brookings projections put the size of the deficit in 2040 at 20 percent of GDP, so containing Social Security costs might address one-twentieth of the problem.

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Al Qaeda Showing New Life
U.S. Surprised by Signs of Regrouping

By Dan Eggen and John Lancaster
Washington Post Staff Writers
Saturday, August 14, 2004; Page A01

In the more than two years since U.S. forces destroyed al Qaeda's haven and much of its leadership in Afghanistan, many U.S. intelligence officials and terrorism experts had come to believe that other Islamist extremist groups now posed the gravest threat.

From Istanbul to Madrid, local jihadists mounted daring and deadly attacks with little apparent support from Osama bin Laden's crippled network. President Bush and other U.S. officials boasted that two-thirds of al Qaeda's senior leadership had been captured or killed and that those who remained, including bin Laden, were desperate and on the run.

But the wave of arrests and intelligence discoveries in Pakistan in recent weeks that led to a new terrorism alert in the United States caught many U.S. officials and outside experts by surprise. It revealed a network of operatives connected to past al Qaeda operations and aligned with Khalid Sheik Mohammed, the imprisoned mastermind of the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks.

The new evidence suggests that al Qaeda is battered but not beaten, and that a motley collection of old hands and recent recruits has formed a nucleus in Pakistan that is pushing forward with plans for attacks in the United States, according to U.S. and Pakistani officials.

The key questions, according to intelligence officials and experts from both nations, are whether the new guard is capable of coordinating significant terrorist attacks and whether any coherent leadership has emerged to take the place of Mohammed and other senior al Qaeda leaders now in U.S. custody.

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A comment was left on this post:

Why is it that it is OK for white Democrat politicians to use blacks and take their votes for granted but when people stand up against this type of slavery where Jim Crow tactics are used by Democrats, black Democrats fight against it. The real sell outs of the black race are the civil rights leaders of such organizations such as the NAACP, Rainbow coalition and yes Sharpton who has sold out for personal gaines. Get smart! Blacks need to make the Democrats EARN their votes. One more thing, John Kerry cannot and will not EVER earn the right to become the 2nd Black President as he made that remark because Blacks will achieve this and I pray it is in my lifetime.

…to which I responded:

First of all you irreversably discredit yourself by referring to the relationship between Black people and any political party as slavery and Jim Crow. You weaken the term, and since it's an integral part of my history I find that totally unaccepable.

And I'm not thrilled with your web site as a "for-profit corporation that offers solutions to social issues," especially in light of your misuse of the terms.

That said, the Democratic Party has Black people in positions of influence. I acknowledge that's different than positions of power, but Republicans don't allow Black people to have either.

Republicans have been so damn far from earning Black people's votes that they have no right to upbraid anyone on the issue.

When Republicans complain about Democrats by packing their whining with what they feel are hot button words they do themselves no favors. I mean, is there a Black person alive in America who is not absolutely clear on the difference between slavery and membership in the Democratic Party? Even Black Conservatives don't believe that nonsense and I find it highly insulting.

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Jay Smooth at hip hop music dot com dropped a link to Slam Bush!.

You NEED to check the video. Wordsworth vs. Bush, and Wordsworth is nice.

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You know, I'm tempted to post a link to the discussions that pissed me off. Won't do it but it's very tempting. And I've spent part of the afternoon reflecting on the whole mess as one should after recognizing one has made an error.

What I've realized is that the network of social and political commentary blogs are a major improvement on the online discussions of the past. See, FIDO, RIME and Usenet (the first two are personal BBS networks; if you don't recognize them you should be okay with that, trust me) were inaccessible to most folks during the era when they were the electronic atrium. As a result people felt free to get really really stupid. Not having been a big Fidonet user I can't pull up an example of absurdities, but RIME was used as a vehicle for nut-job militias to communicate until it hit the news. I remember when they tossed out that crew and went through messy months rewriting the rules in an attempt to keep them out. And we all are familiar with how foul Usenet became. It's pretty much been poisoned by its own waste products. All that's left of Usenet is a very useful protocol for tech support.

As the Internet opened up and the first discussion sites came online the trolls came with them, of course. Black folks who go back as far as I do remember that Black interest web sites were literally invaded by really fucked up individuals whose sole purpose was to insult and disrupt…it's why so much Black oriented discussion to this day takes place on closed mailing lists. The unfortunate thing about that is the echo chamber effect, of course—Black folks are as vulnerable to that as anyone. But in private, constructive interchange was at least possible and much did take place; much still does take place.

The tech has gotten as simple to implement on the Internet as PCBoard, Wildcat and the like were on dial-up home PCs…in fact, simpler. Add that to all the free host out there and I'm sure there still plenty of low-crawlers. And even in the best of times we have the Greater Internet Fuckwad Theory to deal with.

Light and air are the best antiseptics, though and in this case they take the form of search engines. I remember when Digital Equipment created the Altavista search engine. At the time there were indexes, the 800 pound gorilla of which was Yahoo!. You had to submit your site or be noticed by the index maintainers somehow. Altavista was brought to my attention by a guy who as on the Afroam mailing list who suggested entering our own names.

The impact of seeing your every Usenet post pop up was jarring. Suddenly it was possible to be held accountable for your words. Suddenly you could be found. People immediately started using aliases (those that weren't inventing alternate identities to agree with themselves on Usenet already) and handles and made up names.

But to a large extent blogs ARE names. More accurately, personas. Be we personal or political, talking music or cooking or sex or whatever, our personal blog are what we choose to project, what we want the world to see us as. We all visible as hell out here. And very few people want to be seen as fuckwads.

Oh, we have them, of course. We can all name names. We can all point links. We know who's over the top every day. But they don't indulge in conversation, not really. They are public echo chambers.

Where there's conversation, there's far more rationality than there has ever been in the public spaces. So many people are speaking, linking, fact checking that willful ignorance is obvious (though sometimes not to the willfully ignorant). And in Blognet there are actually people who engage opposing ideas and respect those who come correct with them even if they never respect the ideas themselves. This is a pretty new thing in my experience. And among those who share positions, community is developing. And even those with obnoxious positions tend to express them with a little restraint.

The final shape of all this isn't settled. But it's a hell of a lot more promising than I thought it would be…promising enough that I feel no need to deal with echos of RIME, Fido and Usenet.

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I had to leave that other spot where I was trying to talk to white folks before they set me hating again.

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Ben Sargent shows us a pre-President getting edge-mo-cated.

Tony Auth shows there are worse problems to have than mice.

Jeff Danziger shows the Illinois Republican nominating committee hard at work.

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The service is still in beta, after all.

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Gmail Trademark in Dispute
By Susan Kuchinskas

While news of the beta launch of Gmail, Google's free Webmail service, thrilled the public, it sent a few companies running to the U.S. Patent & Trademark Office to stake their claims.

According to USPTO records, Google's March 31 news inspired a bit of a land rush, with four other companies filing applications to set their claims in stone.

The news is the latest in a series of missteps that have come to light as Google's IPO approaches. The Mountain View, Calif. search provider expects to raise as much as $3.3 billion in its initial public offering, with trading expected to start the week of August 16.

Google has made multiple revisions to its prospectus, but still has not disclosed that it may not be able to continue using Gmail. The IPO prospectus clearly states, "Our unregistered trademarks include ... Gmail ...."

Gmail is officially in beta, and the company certainly has enough cash to make attractive buy-out offers to the other claimants. It's a serious gaffe.

Google must compete equally with the other claimants.

"The application process is first come, first served," said Sharon Marsh, a USPTO administrator. "Applications are processed as they're received, and the person second in line will get a refusal of registration from our examiner."

Google is fourth in line. First is Cencourse, a Miami, Fla., company that provides multimedia services, with an application filed March 31,2004, the same day Google's news broke. Next up is Precision Research, a Santa Barbara, Calif., company that consults on the design of high-tech equipment, with an application dated April 2. Following them is the British firm Independent International Investment Research (IIIR), formerly known as The Market Age, which operates Pronet Analytics, a stock research service; IIIR applied on April 3. Google didn't file its application until April 7, but at least it beat the Gospel Music Association's April 8 paperwork.

"We will continue to develop and build upon our Gmail brand while pursuing registration of the mark, in class 38, with the USPTO," Cencourse CEO Steve Sikes told internetnews.com. But he isnt feeling litigious. "We prefer to refrain from comments concerning 'infringement.'"

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Bush's Michael Moore Moment At Unity
- Emil Guillermo, Special to SF Gate
Tuesday, August 10, 2004

Washington, DC -- President Bush is for "acting affirmatively," though he's not exactly for affirmative action.

For me, this revelation was the highlight of last week's Unity, the convention of more than 6,000 minority journalists that takes place every three to five years.

Normally a marketplace for underrepresented minorities trying to break down barriers in mostly white media organizations, this third convention was an eye opener because of the president's statements during his appearance there.

…Sounds good. But when Bush went off script and began to take questions, the president had what I call a Michael Moore moment.

Actually, he had several of them.

Instead of hearing hard answers to tough questions, we listened to misstatements and soft mush, all pointing to a general inadequacy in the man seen as the leader of the free world.

The first moment came when Mark Trahant of the Native American Journalists Association (NAJA) asked him, "What do you think tribal sovereignty means in the 21st century, and how do we resolve conflicts between tribes and the federal and the state governments?"

Said the president, "Tribal sovereignty means that -- it's sovereign. You're a -- you've been given sovereignty, and you're viewed as a sovereign entity. And, therefore, the relationship between the federal government and tribes is one between sovereign entities."

This was the president talking. He wasn't kidding.

Some in the audience laughed. I wanted to cry.

…Later, when I talked to NAJA President Patty Talahongva, she wondered why Bush didn't just talk honestly about real sovereignty issues that have an impact on Native Americans.

"The biggest issue in Indian country is the Individual Indian Money trust account," said Talahongva, referring to a scandal that involves the failure of the U.S. Bureau of Indian Affairs to keep track of Indian families owed money for lands leased to the government -- funds amounting to billions of dollars. "It's bigger than any corporate scandal," she added. "It starts from the top. If the leader doesn't say, 'Fix this,' no one down the chain does."

…So, he was asked, should colleges get rid of the legacy system, Bush's ticket to Yale?

"Well, I think so, yes," he said in a surprising moment of candor. "I think it ought to be based upon merit."

Did he realize what he was saying? It was like admitting he would have been lucky to get into North Texas State.

The panel of reporters working the event then pressed him: Is he for affirmative action?

The president said he is for diversity but that he is against quotas. He just couldn't bear to say he is for affirmative action. Or against it.

"I support colleges affirmatively taking action to get more minorities in their school," said Bush.

Was he dodging? Was he being flip? Or did he mean it? Without a prompter, Bush was far too revealing for comfort.

…"We actually misnamed the war on terror," Bush said. "It ought to be 'the struggle against ideological extremists who do not believe in free societies and who happen to use terror as a weapon to try to shake the conscience of the free world.'"

I felt for the president. I think he felt he was connecting intellectually.

But, in his candor, he just seemed to be unraveling. His merit, or lack thereof, was exposed.

…I wanted and expected a leader. Instead, I heard a man who is more confused than ever on the topic of race.

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Amending '3-strikes' law has voter support, poll finds
Only serious crimes would count in tally
- Lynda Gledhill, Chronicle Sacramento Bureau
Saturday, August 14, 2004

Sacramento -- Three strikes

Voters appear to support Prop. 66, which would limit sentencing under the three-strikes law. Voters appear ready to change the state's "three strikes" law, a new Field Poll shows. .

Nearly 70 percent said they would vote for Proposition 66, which amends the law to require that only convictions for violent or serious felonies be counted as a "strike."

"People seem to think it is a reasonable compromise," said Mark DiCamillo, director of the Field Poll.

Proponents of the initiative say it would restore the initial intent of the law to lock up violent offenders for long periods but not be used against people who have committed minor crimes.

Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger, Attorney General Bill Lockyer and many law enforcement officials are opposed to the proposition, believing that it will allow too many repeat offenders to get away with lighter sentences. [P6: Not to mention cutting into the Prison - Industrial Complex' labor supply]

After being read the ballot summary, 69 percent of voters said they would support the change, compared with 19 percent who would not and 12 percent who are undecided.

The poll of 500 Californians was conducted from July 30 to Aug. 8 and has a margin of error of plus or minus 4.5 percentage points.

Support for amending the state's three-strikes law crosses across all categories, including Republicans and those who identify themselves as conservatives.

"They are normally the strongest in supporting punitive measures like three strikes, so for the majority of them to be on the yes side is interesting," DiCamillo said. "The question is will that hold up."

The opposition by Schwarzenegger and Lockyer does not have any influence on people's position, the poll showed. Almost 4 in 5 -- 78 percent -- said the politicians' point of view would have no effect on their vote. [P6: Ignoring politicians? Damn, maybe sanity IS breaking out!]

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When you inevitably get busted, your whole thing starts unraveling.

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American Caught With Taliban Seeks Review of 20-Year Term
By PHILIP SHENON

WASHINGTON, Aug. 13 - Lawyers for John Walker Lindh, the young American captured in Afghanistan after joining the Taliban and now serving a 20-year prison sentence, called on the Justice Department on Friday to review his case in light of the department's announcement this week that it might soon free another American captured with the Taliban.

"We hope that the government gives Mr. Lindh the same reconsideration they have extended to Mr. Hamdi," the lawyers said in a statement, referring to Yaser Esam Hamdi, an American-born Saudi who is expected to be released soon to return to his family in Saudi Arabia.

Justice Department officials had no immediate comment on the statement.

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That "hard-earned money" line hasn't been heard from the right in a while. Progressives should pick it up.

Progressives should go with "I understand that if you work to support a family you have a vital stake in the future of America."

Progressives should point at every tax cut that comes down the pike and say whether it applies to earned income or unearned income, as defined by the IRS.

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Bush's Own Goal
By PAUL KRUGMAN

A new Bush campaign ad pushes the theme of an "ownership society," and concludes with President Bush declaring, "I understand if you own something, you have a vital stake in the future of America."

Call me naïve, but I thought all Americans have a vital stake in the nation's future, regardless of how much property they own. (Should we go back to the days when states, arguing that only men of sufficient substance could be trusted, imposed property qualifications for voting?) Even if Mr. Bush is talking only about the economic future, don't workers have as much stake as property owners in the economy's success?

But there's a political imperative behind the "ownership society" theme: the need to provide pseudopopulist cover to policies that are, in reality, highly elitist.

The Bush tax cuts have, of course, heavily favored the very, very well off. But they have also, more specifically, favored unearned income over earned income - or, if you prefer, investment returns over wages. Last year Daniel Altman pointed out in The New York Times that Mr. Bush's proposals, if fully adopted, "could eliminate almost all taxes on investment income and wealth for almost all Americans." Mr. Bush hasn't yet gotten all he wants, but he has taken a large step toward a system in which only labor income is taxed.

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Quote of note:

Prime Minister Ariel Sharon made no secret of his annoyance, authorizing an aide, Assaf Shariv, to say: "The prime minister was very angry when he heard of Ehud Olmert's comments. His comments were contrary to the positions of Ariel Sharon. The disengagement plan is the only plan on the table."

I suspect Lt. Gen. Yaalon will choose to spend more time with his family in the next few weeks.

Anyway…

Israel Could Safely Withdraw From Golan, Army Chief Says
By STEVEN ERLANGER

JERUSALEM, Aug. 13 - Israel's senior army commander says his country could safely withdraw from the Golan Heights in any future peace settlement with Syria, without retaining any occupied territory there as a buffer.

Lt. Gen. Moshe Yaalon, the army chief of staff, broke with Israel's traditional position in an interview published Friday in the newspaper Yediot Aharonot, saying: "From the point of view of military requirements, we could reach an agreement with Syria by giving up the Golan Heights. The army could defend Israel's borders wherever they are."

Israel usually argues that a complete withdrawal from the Golan, seized from Syria in 1967 and annexed in 1981, would leave northern Israeli towns once again vulnerable to Syrian missile and infantry attacks.

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Scores Killed in Attack on U.N. Camp in Burundi
By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS

Filed at 9:04 a.m. ET

BUJUMBURA, Burundi (AP) -- Dozens of attackers raided a U.N. refugee camp in western Burundi, shooting and hacking to death at least 180 Congolese, witnesses and officials said Saturday.

About 150 people were killed in the camp near the border with Congo during the Friday night attack, and another 30 died from their wounds at a hospital, said Isabelle Abric, spokeswoman for the U.N. mission in Burundi.

The assailants screamed war cries as they rushed into the camp and set it ablaze late Friday, local official Louis Niyonzima told The Associated Press.

The camp sheltered Congolese ethnic Tutsi refugees, known as the Banyamulenge, who fled fighting in the country's troubled border province of South Kivu, Niyonzima said. It is located in Gatumba, 12 miles from the Congolese border town of Uvira.

``What we have seen so far are many, many, many bodies of children, women and men,'' said Eliana Nabaa, a spokeswoman with the U.N. mission in Congo. ``People were sleeping when the attack happened. People were killed as they tried to escape.''

``The scene is absolutely horrific. There are many people burnt, families, children, women and men burnt,'' Nabaa said by telephone from Bukavu, capital of South Kivu. She said the attackers were well armed and organized.

The National Liberation Forces, a Burundian rebel faction, said it had raided a Burundian army position less than a mile from the refugee camp but denied attacking the camp itself.

A spokesman, Pasteur Habimana, said the victims were killed by Burundian soldiers who fled into the refugee camp to escape the rebel assault. A spokesman for the Burundian army could not be immediately reached for comment.

The massacre will further complicate U.N. efforts to encourage Congolese refugees to return home, said M'Hand Ladjouzi, head of the U.N. mission in Congo's troubled North Kivu province.

``This is a setback in our efforts to ensure security here,'' Ladjouzi said. ``We are trying to find out who did this. Their aim is to complicate the situation. Obviously, they did this to stop all the efforts the international community is making.''

Burundian President Domitien Ndayizeye visited the camp Saturday and described the massacre as ``a shame.''

The attack occurred one day after Congolese Vice President Azarias Ruberwa visited the camp to encourage the refugees to return home.

In the Congolese capital, Kinshasa, government officials were heading into meetings Saturday to discuss the killings. They had no immediate comment.

U.N. officials are also checking if the attack was carried out with the help of Congolese tribal fighters known as the Mayi Mayi or Rwandan rebels based in eastern Congo, Nabaa said.

The Rwandan insurgents include members of the former army and the extremists Interahamwe militia who fled to Congo after playing a key role in the 1994 genocide in Rwanda.

More than 500,000 minority Tutsis and political moderates from Rwanda's Hutu majority were killed in the 100-day slaughter organized by the extremist Hutu government then in power.

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But of course they did.

This is absolutely mind-boggling, to forbid the distribution of valid safety information to "balance the interests of consumers with the competitive needs of business." This is the same sort of "balance" the press has shown in presenting an "alternate view" held by .5% of the population on an equal footing with on held by 95% of the population.

THERE IS NO BALANCING TO BE DONE HERE.

If a manufacturer has an unsafe product…especially if that product is some 2000 pounds of metal, glass and plastic capable of traveling 100 miles per hour…they NEED to suffer "substantial competitive harm." If they don't HUMANS can suffer substantial PHYSICAL harm.

Jesus, look at the priorities this administration has.

Bush Overhauls U.S. Regulations
By JOEL BRINKLEY

WASHINGTON, Aug. 13 - April 21 was an unusually violent day in Iraq; 68 people died in a car bombing in Basra, among them 23 children. As the news went from bad to worse, President Bush took a tough line, vowing to a group of journalists, "We're not going to cut and run while I'm in the Oval Office."

On the same day, deep within the turgid pages of the Federal Register, the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration published a regulation that would forbid the public release of some data relating to unsafe motor vehicles, saying that publicizing the information would cause "substantial competitive harm" to manufacturers.

As soon as the rule was published, consumer groups yelped in complaint, while the government responded that it was trying to balance the interests of consumers with the competitive needs of business. But hardly anyone else noticed, and that was hardly an isolated case.

Allies and critics of the Bush administration agree that the Sept. 11 attacks, the war in Afghanistan and the war in Iraq have preoccupied the public, overshadowing an important element of the president's agenda: new regulatory initiatives. Health rules, environmental regulations, energy initiatives, worker-safety standards and product-safety disclosure policies have been modified in ways that often please business and industry leaders while dismaying interest groups representing consumers, workers, drivers, medical patients, the elderly and many others.

And most of it was done through regulation, not law - lowering the profile of the actions. The administration can write or revise regulations largely on its own, while Congress must pass laws. For that reason, most modern-day presidents have pursued much of their agendas through regulation. But administration officials acknowledge that Mr. Bush has been particularly aggressive in using this strategy.

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Heart of Stone


What is Your Heart REALLY Made of?
brought to you by Quizilla

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Bring Me the Head of Silvino Herrera
'Us vs. Them' and other 'modern' myths of war and civilization

They behead - we do it with smart bombs. There is, of course, an ugly truth to this recently minted axiom: the horror of state terrorism is that the overwhelming machinery of death in the hands of all-powerful governments far outweighs individual atrocities by madmen, groupuscles and non-state entities. While the heathen thugs and killers may indeed be barbarians, such an axiom tacitly concedes, with their beheadings and murders of innocents, it is almost impossible to accomplish the slaughter of half a million children, as did the anglo-american/UN sanctions in Iraq, with such amateur methods.

This is the same reasoning which, fairly convincingly, puts the lie to sanitized concept of war and destruction which makes the self-satisfied "West" so smug and confident of its moral superiority. There is an underlying, and often overt, racism which allows so-called "modern" warmakers and their electorates to tolerate the huge disparities in casualties that have come to define modern conflict. In virtually every case, the brutal repression of movements toward greater human freedom, workers' rights, and a life worth living is ignored, while the "atrocities" of those trying to resist are seen as backward and evidence of cultural and moral inferiority.

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August 13, 2004

I have no idea how this search

http://addurl.altavista.com/web/results?itag=wrx&q=+classified+2004+email++address+contacts+of+milk+companies+in+korea&kgs=0&kls

...found my site.

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You want to see what the future used to look like?

"Where information meets humour meets whatever. Explore and enjoy."

That's our motto and we're sticking to it. Here at davidszondy.com you'll find a constantly growing collection of light-hearted looks at current events, pop culture, movies, history, science, evil penguins, and whatever else happens to catch our fancy.

And this could cause the return of Friday Cat Blogging. Don't know how the cats will feel about it…

This page of digital retouching examples made the rounds last year, but it's worth checking out again. Especially the swimsuit model (who I think was kinda fine pre-retouch but I like humans, feel me?), the brother with the instant six-pack, and the blonde, who are interesting because checking the before and after should make a lot of folks feel more secure in their own appearance.

All that, the prison stuff below and hella more stuff is linked from Flat Rock Forests Unitholder Organization. I have no idea what that name means but the site is wild.

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A more recent post on the Prison-Industrial System.

Have you noticed that the REALLY OBNOXIOUS SHIT in our economy tend to be Hyphenated Industrial Systems? Anyway…

America's Prison Habit
by Alan Elsner

After 25 years of explosive growth in the US prison system, is this country finally ending its love affair with incarceration? Perhaps, but as in any abusive relationship, breaking up will be hard to do. Since 1980 the US prison and jail population has quadrupled in size to more than 2 million. In the process, prisons have embedded themselves into the nation's economic and social fabric. A powerful lobby has grown up around the prison system that will fight hard to protect the status quo. There are some positive signs: fiscal pressures may indeed slow the growth of the vast US prison system. But reversing the trend of the past quarter-century is another matter.

Major companies such as Wackenhut Corrections Corporation and Corrections Corporation of America employ sophisticated lobbyists to protect and expand their market share. The law enforcement technology industry, which produces high-tech items such as the latest stab-proof vests, helmets, stun guns, shields, batons and chemical agents, does more than a billion dollars a year in business.

With 2.2 million people engaged in catching criminals and putting and keeping them behind bars, "corrections" has become one of the largest sectors of the US economy, employing more people than the combined workforces of General Motors, Ford and Wal-Mart, the three biggest corporate employers in the country. Correctional officers have developed powerful labour unions. And most politicians, whether at the local, state or national level, remain acutely aware that allowing themselves to be portrayed as "soft on crime" is the quickest route to electoral defeat.

In the past two decades, hundreds of "prison towns" have multiplied - places that are dependent on prisons for their economic itality. Take Fremont County, Colorado, where the number 1 employer is the Colorado Department of Corrections, with 9 prisons, and number 2 is the Federal Bureau of Prisons with 4. Towns that once might have hesitated about bringing a prison to town now rush to put together incentive packages. Abilene, Texas, offered the state incentives worth more than $4 million to get a prison. The package included a 316-acre site and 1,100 acres of farmland adjacent to the facility.

Buckeye, 35 miles west of Phoenix, was a sleepy little desert outpost with a population of about 5,000 until it competed successfully for a major state prison. After that the state upgraded the road leading to the town and the population began to explode. A new movie theatre and a $2.5 million swimming complex opened. Because Buckeye was sitting on ample supplies of water, it suddenly became prime real estate. Mayor Dusty Hull reckons the town will reach 35,000 in five years.

According to the Department of Agriculture's Economic Research Service, 245 prisons sprouted in 212 rural counties during the 1990s. In West Texas, where oil and farming both collapsed, 11 rural counties acquired prisons in that decade. The Mississippi Delta, one of the poorest regions in the country, got 7 new prisons. Appalachian counties of Virginia, West Virginia and Kentucky built 9, partially replacing the collapsing coal-mining industry. If the prisons closed, these communities would quickly collapse again.

When states try to cut prison budgets, they quickly come up against powerful interests. In Mississippi in 2001, Governor Ronnie Musgrove vetoed the state's corrections budget so he could spend more money on schools. The legislature, lobbied by Wackenhut, overrode the veto. In fiscally distressed California, about 6% of the state budget goes to corrections. Yet no senior politician, including Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger, has dared challenge the power of the 31,000-member California Correctional Peace Officers Association, which pours 1/3 of the $22 million it collects each year in membership dues into political action committees.

Even efforts by some states to speed up the release of nonviolent offenders are unlikely to reduce the total prison population by much. The Bureau of Justice Statistics has found that 2/3 of those released from prison on parole are re-arrested within 3 years. Released prisoners face institutional barriers that make it difficult for them to find a place in society. Welfare reform legislation in 1996 banned anyone convicted of buying or selling drugs from receiving cash assistance or food stamps for life. Legislation in 1996 and 1998 also excluded ex-felons and their families from federal housing.

Most inmates leave prison with no money and few prospects. They may get $25 and a bus ticket home if they are lucky. Studies have found that within a year of release, 60% of ex-inmates remain unemployed. Several states have barred parolees from working in various professions, including real estate, medicine, nursing, engineering, education and dentistry. The Higher Education Act of 1998 bars people convicted of drug offenses from receiving student loans. Prisoners are told to reform but they are given few tools to do so. Once they are entangled in the prison system, many belong to it for life. They may spend stretches of time inside prison and periods outside but they are never truly free.

Last year Robert Presley, secretary of California's correctional agency, noted that after several years of decline, crime rates were rising again and his state's prison population had resumed its growth. Maximum-security inmates made up the fastest-growing segment. Despite the building boom of the previous 20 years, prisons were at an average of 191% of capacity. This hardly sounds like a recipe for a falling prison population.

Alan Elsner is author of the forthcoming book Gates of Injustice: America's Prison Crisis

Source: www.alanelsner.com from The Washington Post Saturday 24 January 2004

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Here's another article from The Next Best Thing to Slaves.

Full-Employment Prisons

A recent Times article about the economic woes of upstate New York towns dependent on prisons raises a nagging little fear about the future of criminal justice reform. As crime has been falling and jailhouse populations stabilising, towns that believed a prison was a recession-proof industry are beginning to worry about layoffs. Advocates who found it difficult enough to convince state legislators that drug treatment is better than incarceration for low-level offenders are wondering if they will also have to fight the perception that a vote for reform is a vote for unemployment.

New York State's Rockefeller drug laws, which mandate long prison terms for nonviolent drug offenders, have persisted since 1973 despite an overwhelming consensus that they are inhumane and expensive, clogging the prison system with people who should be in drug treatment. They have been hard to overturn mainly because state legislators fear making changes that could tag them as soft on crime. In addition, prosecutors, who in effect determine a defendant's sentence when they file charges, do not want to turn this influence over to judges, who would have more sentencing discretion if the Rockefeller laws were rescinded.

But economic issues may start looming large, too, particularly for influential upstate Republicans. Nearly 1/3 of the people in New York's prisons are serving time for Rockefeller drug offenses. A new prison brings a depressed community hundreds of jobs in the facility and around it. Prisons, in fact, are the chief employer in many parts of upstate New York, and a position as a guard pays better than many other jobs.

New York's prisons are built almost exclusively upstate in part because land and labour are significantly cheaper than in the New York City area. But they are also welcomed by upstate areas desperate for jobs. State Senator Dale Volker, who calls himself "the keeper of the keys" for his control of the process that allocates new prisons, said in an interview that legislators competed to get prisons. "No one thought it was a panacea, but they know prisons are helpful," he said.

Mr Volker heads the Senate's Codes committee, and Michael Nozzolio, another senator with a prison-heavy upstate district, leads the Crime Committee. Both men have been influential in quashing challenges to the Rockefeller drug laws. While senators and their aides deny that fear of losing prison population affects their support for the mandatory sentences, it is appropriate to wonder whether economics plays an indirect role.

The connection between prisons and local economies crops up in other ways. The government counts inmates as residents of their prison's town, adding clout to upstate communities and taking it away from cities competing for government services. This is especially important during a redistricting year.

New York's drug-driven prison expansion, while providing jobs to largely white upstate communities, has devastated black and Hispanic neighbourhoods in the cities. Though most drug users are white, 94% of the people jailed for drug offenses are black or Hispanic. These inmates, their families and communities suffer when the state chooses long prison terms for these offenders rather than drug treatment. In addition, inmates serve their sentences in prisons far from their families, weakening ties that help prisoners stay clean after their release. New York's drug policies are costly, ineffective and unfair. It would be tragic if reform was postponed further because these policies benefit a few influential communities.

Source: The New York Times National News Thursday 23 August 2001

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In the comments to the post that has the Cringley article downpage, Al-Muhajabah said she'd seen a page or document or something comparing the number of African slaves the USofA had to the number of prisoners we have now. Being me, I go looking for it.

Didn't find it.

Found this, though. The Next Best Thing to Slaves. It's several years old, but page has several good articles:

The Next Best Thing to Slaves

by Jim Hightower

At last US industry has figured out how to compete with Third World wages right here at home. Hire prisoners! No need to mess with the want ads, employment agencies, or job fairs to find cheap workers, just bustle on down to your state prison and cut a deal for some convicts. Since 1990, 30 states have contracted out prison labour to private companies.
- JCPenney, Kmart, and Eddie Bauer are getting such products as jeans, sweatshirts, and toys made by prisoners in Tennessee and Washington State.
- IBM, Texas Instruments, and Dell Computer all get circuit boards made by Texas prisoners.
- Honda has had car parts made in Ohio prisons, McDonald's has uniforms made in Oregon prisons, AT&T has hired telemarketers in Colorado prisons, and Spalding gets golf balls packed in Hawaii prisons.
- California's correctional system has become a one-stop-hiring hall for corporations: San Quentin inmates do data entry for Chevron, Macy's and Bank-America; Ventura inmates take telephone reservations for TWA (yes, this does mean callers are unwittingly giving their credit card numbers to criminals, and, yes, there have been "incidents"); Folsum inmates work for both a plastics manufacturer and a brass faucet maker; and Aveala inmates run an ostrich-slaughtering facility for an exporter that ships the meat to Europe.

Who says American industry is losing its ingenuity? These free enterprisers not only get labour for minimum wage and less from the state, but they also provide no health care, no pensions, no vacations, none of those other frills that pampered softies on the outside are always crying about. Plus these jailbirds always show up on time for work, they don't call in "sick" to go to a ballgame, if they talk back to you you have 'em thrown in solitary, and they darn sure won't be joining some pesky union. I tell you, it's the next best thing to having slaves - maybe better, since the company doesn't even have to feed and house them.

Oh, and here's the best part of all: You can slap a Made-in-the-USA label on every product they make for you!

Convict-made goods are expected to reach nearly $9 billion in sales by the end of the decade as the prison population swells; as more companies discover the scam, and as more state politicians learn to cash in on it. Wisconsin governor Tommy Thompson, never one to pass up a chance to exploit someone's misery, has been especially adept at huckstering his state's prison force: "Can't find workers?" a state mailing asks corporate executives all across the country. No problem, proclaims the brochure, "A willing workforce waits" - conveniently incarcerated for you in Wisconsin.

Most companies pay the minimum wage, but many get away with paying far less - AT&T, for example, paid only $2 an hour for its imprisoned telemarketers, and Honda got its convict-made car parts from the Ohio prison at $2.05 an hour. The prisoners typically get to keep only 20% of the paycheque, with the state government grabbing the rest, which is why the states are all for it.

Participating firms everywhere sing the praises of this locked-up labour. In an article in Nation magazine, Bob Tessler of DPAS company in San Francisco gushes: "We have a captive labour force, a group of men who are dedicated, who want to work. That makes the whole business profitable." That, plus the fact that California taxpayers also give Tessler a 10% tax credit on the first $2000 of each inmate's wages. Wow, cheap prison labour and a subsidy - if that won't restore your faith in the working of the free market, nothing will! It is such a steal of a deal that Tessler has shut down his operation in Mexico, moving his data processing work inside San Quentin. "Here we don't have a problem with the language, we have better control of our work and, because it's local, we have a quicker turnaround time."

Source: Funny Times November 1998 from There's Nothing in the Middle of the Road but Yellow Stripes and Dead Armadillos, by Jim Hightower

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Those Alan Keyes posters are cool but seeing his mug first thing when I hit the site is really twisting my nipples.

I thought, and thought, and thought.

Finally, I figured out what to do about it.

I realized I needed at least one more post.

And it had to be long enough to push da boy out of the initial view of the site.

Yes, I still have to scroll down to get to, say, the recent comments box. But I'll have had time to prepare, spiritually.

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Since ol' boy got so little campaigning time left, I thought I'd help him out.

LATER: After several edits, I think I got it.

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George dropped this link on Negrophile. I have no idea why it's not in my NY Times RSS feed, but I'm grateful he caught it.

The Color of Mayhem, in a Wave of 'Urban' Games
By MICHEL MARRIOTT

THE screen crackles with criminality as a gang of urban predators itch for a kill. The scene erupts into automatic-weapons fire in a drive-by nightmare of screaming car engines, senseless death and destruction set to a thumping rap soundtrack.

The action is not part of a new film, but of a video game in development - the latest permutation of Grand Theft Auto, one of the most popular game series ever. Partly set in a city resembling gang-ridden stretches of Los Angeles of the 1990's, it features a digital cast of African-American and Hispanic men, some wearing braided hair and scarves over their faces and aiming Uzis from low-riding cars.

The sense of place, peril and pigmentation evident in previews of the game, Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas, underscores what some critics consider a disturbing trend: popular video games that play on racial stereotypes, including images of black youths committing and reveling in violent street crime.

"Why are you Black people so sensitive?

Check it:

The prominence of black characters in those story lines is all the more striking because of the narrow range of video games in which blacks have been present, if present at all, over the years. A 2001 study by Children Now, for example, found that of 1,500 video-game characters surveyed, 288 were African-American males - and 83 percent of those were represented as athletes.

"Games are attempting to drive market share beyond the traditional 8- to 14-year-old male player," said Michael Gartenberg, research director for Jupiter Research, an Internet consulting firm. Part of that drive, he suggested, involves having video games reflect what has proved to work in popular films. And as in Hollywood, that may mean subject matter that drives sales even as it draws criticism for gratuitous violence, sexual exploitation or racial insensitivity

Others, like the cultural critic Michael Eric Dyson, point out that racial stereotypes conveyed through video games have an effect not only on the self-image of minority youths but also on perceptions among whites. Dr. Dyson, a professor of religious studies and African studies at the University of Pennsylvania, describes some video games as addictive "video crack."

"They are pervasive, and their influence profound," he said.

Not enough? Tired of theory? Need more details?

Rockstar Games, the publisher of Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas (to be released in October for the Sony PlayStation 2), is known for infusing its games with gritty yet cartoonish violence. Players were famously rewarded in earlier Grand Theft Auto games for killing prostitutes and, more recently, brutalizing Haitians.

Def Jam Fight for NY, from Electronic Arts, a sort of "MTV Raps" meets "W.W.E. SmackDown!" in which mostly hip-hop-style characters (one with the voice of the rapper Snoop Dogg) slap, kick and pummel one another in locations like a 125th Street train station in Harlem.

25 to Life, from Eidos Interactive, an "urban action game" set to a hip-hop soundtrack that allows gamers to play as police officers or criminals, and includes lots of images of young gun-toting black gangsters.

Notorious: Die to Drive, described by its developer, Ubisoft, as featuring "gangsta-style car combat" with players seeking to "rule the streets of four West Coast neighborhoods." Ubisoft's Web site describes the payoff succinctly: "High-priced honeys, the finest bling, and millionaire cribs are just some of the rewards for the notorious few who can survive this most dangerous game. Once you go Notorious, there's no going back."

…The portrayal of blacks as athletes has taken on a new wrinkle in NBA Ballers, released in April by Midway Games (with an "all ages" rating). It not only pits stars of the National Basketball Association, most of them black, in fierce one-on-one matches, but also encourages players to experience a millionaire lifestyle off the court - accumulating virtual cash that can buy mansions, Cadillac Escalades, yachts and attractive "friends." The style of play emphasizes a street-edged aggression, sizzling with swagger and showboating moves on the court.

And I was wondering about that "Def Jam" name, like how's Russell dealing with the trademark infringement? Well, he ain't dealing with it because there's no infringement.

Those associated with the Def Jam games were more forthcoming. Kevin Liles, who recently resigned as president of Island Def Jam, which licensed the games, said they had been good for his company and for hip-hop.

"We have a sense of responsibility, but we know that games are games," Mr. Liles said.

Def Jam's co-founder, Russell Simmons, said the images of hip-hop culture, even those played out in video games, had been good for the country. "The most important thing for race relations in America in the last I don't know how many years is hip-hop."

"Now Eminem and 50 Cent think they are the same people," Mr. Simmons said, comparing a popular white rapper with a popular black rapper. "They're faced with the same struggle, and they recognize their common thread of poverty."

Eminem and Fiddy: "Cuss your mama" and "get yo ass shot up" are not the models for the future.

Unless they are. Which would kind of suck.

But it's bullshit anyway. The mainstream has always absorbed the products of Black culture. And Eminem himself has said he knows he gets a different deal because he's white. And I'm picturing all the white folks in the country whose only exposure the Black folks is TV, movies, music.

Russell got business sense out the yin-yang. He is as responsible a citizen as he is an effective businessman. But the results of the two impulses are not always compatible.

I'm not really trying to dog him and his crew. I just really hate the idea of little white kids pretending to be a Black murderer, getting points for killing Haitians (specifically!), collecting brown ho's, and saying 'Cool, man!"

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OfficeMax has these commercials with the Spinners' "Rubber Band Man" theme. Got this lanky, big-haired brother delivering office supplies to da beat, y'all.

I find it highly amusing.

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What do I choose to do on my day of slacking?

Read The Elegant Universe by Brian Greene. Hah.

But let me say, Darkstar over at Vision Circle is bringing heat already. Between him and Lester, Michael might have second thoughts about the joint. I didn't know Lester before reading his stuff at Vision Circle, but I knew Darkstar. Both brothers are on point though and I almost wish I had the new site up faster. Long as both of them keep bringing it as I know they do, I can accept it wherever it takes place.

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And from the Afroam mailing list today I got a link to Fred Nold's Legacy - Why We Send So Many Americans to Prison and Probably Shouldn't by Robert X. Cringely that is too deep for words. Well, except maybe these words:

The interface between science and public policy is awkward at best. Scientists and academics need money for research, while politicians need research to build better weapons and sometimes to justify intended policy changes. But what happens if you look for scientific support for some new policy and the results of the research show that what you are intending to do is wrong? You can change your plan or ignore the research. This latter decision, one example of which is the topic of this column, brings with it some peril because if it later becomes known that the research was commissioned, completed, and ignored, then someone's job is on the line. So if you are going to bury research findings, it is a good idea to bury them deep.

America does a better job of putting people in prison than any other country. Just over two million Americans are behind bars right now, a number that has been growing far quicker than the overall population for more than 20 years. The impact of this mass imprisonment is felt especially in the African-American community, where one in 12 men are in prison or jail. The reasons given for these high numbers vary, but something that is frequently mentioned in any discussion is the impact U.S. federal sentencing guidelines have had on sending more people to jail for longer periods of time. Those very guidelines are now coming under scrutiny by the courts because their imposition may have denied some inmates their constitutional right to a trial by jury. That will be decided soon by the U.S. Supreme Court, but for the moment, all that I know for sure is that the sentencing guidelines in use now aren't working as intended, and the people who installed those guidelines probably knew this even before we started building so many prisons.

Even if the U.S. Supreme Court shortly finds that the sentencing guidelines are constitutional, THEY DON'T DETER CRIME.

Whut? Don't deter crime?

They did the study in 1982, and the principle players were Block, Nold, and Sandy Lerner, who was their statistician. Block and Nold thought they were headed for the big time, and started a company to do this kind of work.

Then things began to go downhill. The DoJ didn't like what it was hearing as the study progressed, and they may have refused to accept the final paper. Certainly, they refused to pay because Block and Nold went out of business, and Nold went into a deep depression that ended with his suicide in 1983. But Block was actually named to the Sentencing Commission, where he served a six-year term. He also became a law professor at the University of Arizona, and today works at a conservative Arizona think-tank, the Goldwater Institute, and does not reply to my e-mails.

Why should we care about any of this?

Well, for one thing, I knew Fred Nold and hate to think that his work would die with him. But much more importantly, we should care because I'm told the Block and Nold study, which was intended to economically validate the proposed sentencing guidelines, instead showed that the new guidelines would actually create more crime than they would deter. More crime, more drug use, more robbery, more murder would be the result, not less. Not only that, but these guidelines would lead to entire segments of the population entering a downward economic spiral, taking away their American dream.

There is no mention anywhere of this study, which was completely buried by the DoJ under then-secretary Edwin Meese. The proposed sentencing guidelines were accepted unaltered and the world we have today is the result. We spend tens of billions per year on prisons to house people who don't contribute in any way to our economy. We tear apart the black and latino communities. The cost to society is immense, and as Block and Nold showed, unnecessary. AND THE FEDS KNEW THIS AT THE TIME.

This is all good, of course, because as I've noted before this economy needs poor folks to fuel the lifestyles of the Rich and Famous. Not to mention all the people employed by the prisons. We used to call them overseers; now they're prison guards.

And all the prisoners shipped to rural areas, red states and the like are counted as residents of the place they are imprisoned for census purposes, hence seriously distorting the various states' representation in Congress. We really should figure out what the House of Representatives would look like if prisoners were NOT counted as local residents. Especially since Republican districts are giving college students grief about voting where they go to school.

It is one thing to make what turns out to have been a mistake and another thing altogether to make what you have reason to believe will be a mistake. Why would the DoJ, having good reason to believe that the new sentencing guidelines would create the very prison explosion we've seen in the last 20 years, go ahead with the new guidelines? My view is that they went ahead because they were more interested in punishment than deterrence. They went ahead because they didn't perceive those in prison as being constituents. They went ahead because it enabled the building of larger organizations with more power. They went ahead because the idea of a society with less crime is itself a threat to the prestige of those in law enforcement.

Where would we be today if the Block and Nold paper had been accepted and acted upon? Well, we'd probably have a few hundred thousand fewer people in prison. We'd probably have hundreds fewer prisons. Our black communities, especially, would probably be more economically productive. We'd probably have less drug use, fewer unwed mothers, it goes on and on.

And while the disappearance of the Block and Nold paper is an opportunity lost, whatever conclusions they made then would probably apply just as well today.

Nold is gone. Block won't talk, at least not to me. There may or may not be a file somewhere at the DoJ. But there is their statistician Sandy Lerner, who remembers well her work on the study. After Block and Nold folded, Sandy's next venture was to start a company with her husband, Len Bosack, that they called Cisco Systems. Maybe you've heard of it.

Today, Cringley hit it out of the park.

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I've stayed on all the ex-candidates' mailing lists up until this point. I just got email from Dennis Kucinich's list. They're going to stay active and mail folks on topics they feel are important. But since the focus of the list will shift, the email tells you how to opt out.

IMPORTANT: Dennis is NOT seeking your permission to sell or give your email address to other organizations. He would just like to be able to contact you himself or through his congressional campaign. If you would prefer that he not do so, please opt out

That's the whole subject of the message and somehow the way folks will just abuse your in-box this just strikes me as…respectful. I like that, so I'm staying on the list.

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You won't see many post from me today. I wanted to share this stuff before I go pretend my computer doesn't exist.

Couple of days ago I said I'd found another place to play, where I may choose to address the understanding white folks need as regards racial issues. Well, I am in the process of changing my mind. Haven't actually changed it yet, but…

See, the problem is, very few people actually intend an honest examination when such issues arise. The way the dispute runs make sit clear when arguments are intended to deflect change (hint: it looks a LOT like the serial ex post facto explanations of Bushista fame). And though those bubbles are easy to burst, each and every one of them will assume your argument doesn't apply to them until you nail them specifically. And they don't want you to be right. Not specific to race, either, folks just don't want you waking them up.

There is actually very little conversation on race there, except one humongous thread that I don't think turned out too happily for the originator. I, um, participated in that one a little. My understanding of humans leads me to feel if I tried to raise the issue it would reach the point where the see P6 started the thread and they'd just skip it.

In a "Bush Lied" thread I started, though, conservative resistance brought me to this very simple proof that he intentionally misled the nation:

If the current reasons, all well known before before the invasion, are sufficient to invade, then there never was a requirement that WMD exist. And we were undeniably told the only reason we would prosecute the war was the WMD threat.

That was useful. And I ran across Jill at Brilliant at Breakfast through back channel conversation. That was good too. In fact, let me steal a post from over there:

Sellout of the Year

Some on the left are still deluding themselves about John McCain, as if he were some paper doll on which we can hang whatever clothes we want.

This tells you all you need to know about John McCain.

Anything can be said in the heat of a political race. But remember: The man McCain is embracing here had his henchmen spread rumors in South Carolina in 2000 that McCain's adopted Bangladeshi daughter (who was only like eight years old at the time) was actually the product of a liaison with a black prostitute; and outed McCain's wife as a drug addict (she at one time was addicted to prescription drugs -- just Rush Limbaugh, a man the Rove machine just adores).

What kind of man, other than a complete political whore, embraces and endorses a man who smears his family?

I'm feeling about McCain nowadays pretty much the way I felt about Jack Kemp when he ran with Dole on a platform that was counter to his every professed value.

Yes, we bitch-slap white sell-outs too. Don't think there ain't none. And wouldn't it be racist not to?

I still owe some pictures to my girl Nichelle from the Bush for Kerry comediennes. I didn't get everyone, and I forgot everything I once knew about shooting in ambient light. Still I was able to tweak some of them into kinda artsy looking things. And yes, the women were seriously (?) funny.

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August 12, 2004

Trying to be fair, I listened to an Alan Keyes interview on NPR. You know what?

"He speaks so well."

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Quote of note:

Judge Richard Leon, who was part of a special fast-track panel that struck down part of the ad restrictions last year, told a lawyer for Wisconsin Right to Life, James Bopp, that the Supreme Court had already issued its verdict on the law.

"The Supreme Court was wrong," Bopp said.

"They're also last!" Judge David Sentelle interjected, to courtroom laughter.

Indeed.

Court rules against anti-abortion group
By Sharon Theimer, Associated Press Writer | August 12, 2004

WASHINGTON --A federal court on Thursday ruled against an anti-abortion group that wants to run ads in Wisconsin that mention Democratic Sen. Russ Feingold, who is up for re-election this year.

Wisconsin Right to Life wants to air the corporate-funded ads, and it asked a three-judge panel in U.S. District Court in Washington to issue a preliminary injunction to let it run such commercials. Feingold supports abortion rights.

The court issued a one-paragraph ruling denying the request, writing without elaboration that Wisconsin Right to Life wasn't entitled to the injunction.

The Supreme Court last year upheld the ad ban, which bars the use of corporate or union money for ads identifying federal candidates in the 30 days before a primary and two months before a general election. Feingold was a lead sponsor of the law.

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I'm feeling a little burnt out today, so tomorrow will be a real light day. May unplug the cable modem and watch movies all day.

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It occurs to me the more frightening thought may be that everyone knows exactly what a Twinkie is.

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Teacher kept Twinkie for about 30 years
August 12, 2004

BLUE HILL, Maine --A Twinkie standing the test of time on the edge of a blackboard may be a retiring science teacher's lasting legacy.

Roger Bennatti developed a reputation as an innovative teacher during his 31-year career at George Stevens Academy, using new methods to introduce students to subjects he loved. But the legend of the Twinkie looms over all.

Speckled with bits of mold, the bright yellow cake still adorns his lab, but Bennatti only vaguely remembers why he kept the Twinkie so long.

"We wanted to see what the shelf life of a Twinkie was," said Bennatti. "The idea was to see how long it would take to go bad."

The Twinkie stayed on top of the board through his career -- joined in later years by a Fig Newton -- and occasionally inspired new food experiments. Bennatti estimates the ever-yellow Twinkie is about 30-years-old.

"It's rather brittle, but if you dusted it off, it's probably still edible," Bennatti said. "It never spoiled."

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Quote of note:

Another administration official, also speaking on condition of anonymity, said the White House still would have issued the terror alerts that it did nearly two weeks ago even had it known at the time that the surveillance documents did not point to an imminent operation.

Of course they would. If they'd still invade Iraq, knowing there was no threat of WMD, they obviously didn't wouldn't hesitate to issue a terror alert on material knowing the material was outdated.

Official: No evidence attack is imminent
By Ted Bridis, Associated Press Writer | August 12, 2004

WASHINGTON --The Bush administration has discovered no evidence of imminent plans by terrorists to attack U.S. financial buildings, nearly two weeks after the government issued startling warnings about such possible threats, a White House official said Thursday.

Some documents and computer files seized in al-Qaida raids showing surveillance of U.S. financial buildings had been accessed for unknown purposes this spring, months later than authorities had previously disclosed, the official said.

Officials had said earlier that some files had been reviewed as recently as January.

The seized records included surveillance reports of financial buildings in New York, Washington and Newark, N.J., during 2000 and 2001, which prompted dramatic warnings Aug. 1 from the White House about possible threats to those buildings.

But nothing in the documents themselves has suggested any attack was planned soon, the officials said.

"I have not seen an indication of an imminent operation," the official said, speaking on condition of anonymity with reporters from nearly a dozen news organizations. Investigators are still poring over volumes of the seized information.

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The very concept of Alan Keyes has set Steve Gilliard off as I have never seen before. Even I have never laid into Black Conservatives™ in like fashion.

I have to say, though, that the number of Black Conservatives I've heard that do not meet his description is vanishingly small.

I keep talking about post-election discussions, and I'm consciously suspending judgment on a number of folks until then. But I'll tell you it was the reading the stuff produced by the first wave of Black Conservatives™ in the early 90s that set me off politically. And yes, Uncle Clarence was the last nail in the coffin bearing any possibility for my respecting the Black Conservative™ phenomenon as currently configured.

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Blogdiva at culturekitchen not only linked to Debra Dickerson's article at Salon, but had the NERVE to point it directly at me:

To Prometheus 6: You're not going to like this one, but sugar, you know how I stand on this race thing. It is and it ain't. To y'all, especially my white friends : Read the whole damn thing. It's awesome.

Racist Like Me - Why am I the only honest bigot? By Debra Dickerson

In a way, I'm arguing for class warfare to replace racial warfare. Class conflict makes sense; it keeps the powerful from riding roughshod over senior citizens who can't retire from manual labor in the hot sun. The truth is, I have far more in common with the rich white man than I do with that poor black grandfather (who would never dare to park on private property in this neighborhood). A world of perfect harmony would be lovely, but until the rapture comes I'd rather blue-collar types of all races faced off against us "suits" than one race against the other. There is nothing logical, natural, or beneficial about a world organized by race—the very concept is irrational. Any system divided along racial lines, implicitly or overtly, will be immoral, inefficient, and unstable. (Take, for example, poor whites' hatred of slaves, rather than of slavery, for depressing wages.)

You haven't read "Where We Stand."

Black people had to be broken to be slaves, and White people had to be broken to be masters. How else can you explain slave owners who allowed slaves to buy their own freedom when by law anything the slave owned already belonged to his master?

It is critical for Black people and White people to recognize this, that it is not natural for us to be divided. It is not natural for us to consider our differences to be more than cosmetic. A society was built that trained us to see these differences as significant. The result of that training is ugly.

Now Black people aspire to become all that White people are…never understanding that White people are no more what they should have been than Black people are.

Black people have only been free for two generations. White people have only had free people of other races around them for two generations. Neither group has mastered their situation yet, and who can blame either? Because this society still gives racialized feedback so clearly and strongly that the honorable efforts made by many on both sides of the veil are simply overwhelmed.

This is not going to be the standard P6 hyper-rationality.

I don't like the fact that I feel compelled to be a Black partisan because it shouldn't be necessary. But the FACT is, my family comes up short because of this shit.

Our national psyche is twisted because of race, and avoidance, and denial, and it's not like we don't have enough fucked up stuff to work on that we'd all be bored if we suddenly got real, grew up and dealt honestly with this crap.

It's not happening, though. Look around, tell me it's happening. You can't

So I speak, directly, honestly, make some of you madder than hell. I can't bring things to a close, but maybe I can start it up. And I'm on Black folks' side because dammit someone has to be. I don't lie about things, I don't exaggerate, I don't say anything I'll have to retract. Under those conditions, anyone who's unhappy with what I say can piss off.

But I hear the opposition too. I was going to say no one can claim otherwise, but of course that's not the case. I just got that email from an asshole blogger the other week that said "Why you hate Jews"…apparently he wrote something describing me as an anti-semite, like I give a fuck about anyone stupid enough to read his stuff. Heads bleed, walls don't.

Yeah, white folks don't want to know from racism. Tough. Black folks, well, I'll be coming at y'all in a little bit with all respect but no restraint…but anyone who knows me knows that. Anyone who reads here knows that.

I don't divide things along racial line. I live within a divided system, like all of you do. I'll never be foolish enough to disregard that fact. I live in a system that requires poor people to fuel the Lifestyles of the Rich and Famous. Frankly, I feel the most disruptive thing that could happen in this society is establishment of justice.

But if a chance to help bring justice comes up, I'll jump right on it. Hell, I'm trying to figure out how to shepherd it along. Not for the sake of the disruption. And honestly, not for the sake of the abstract culture, but for the sake of my family.

---

James at Hobsen's Choice is getting married...

Good man. Lucky woman. I seriously wish you the best.

---

Tyranny in the Name of Freedom
By DAHLIA LITHWICK

So it has come down to this: You are at liberty to exercise your First Amendment right to assemble and to protest, so long as you do so from behind chain-link fences and razor wire, or miles from the audience you seek to address.

The largely ignored "free-speech zone" at the Democratic convention in Boston last month was an affront to the spirit of the Constitution. The situation will be only slightly better when the Republicans gather this month in New York, where indiscriminate searches and the use of glorified veal cages for protesters have been limited by a federal judge. So far, the only protesters with access to the area next to Madison Square Garden are some anti-abortion Christians. High-fiving delegates evidently fosters little risk of violence.

It's easy to forget that as passionate and violent as opposition to the Iraq war may be, it pales in comparison with the often bloody dissent of the Vietnam era, when much of the city of Washington was nevertheless a free-speech zone.

It's tempting to say the difference this time lies in the perils of the post-9/11 world, but that argument assumes some meaningful link between domestic political protest and terrorism. There is no such link, except in the eyes of the Bush administration, which conflates the two both as a matter of law and of policy.

---

Retail Sales Rebound While Jobless Claims Dip
By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS

Published: August 12, 2004

Filed at 1:36 p.m. ET

WASHINGTON (AP) -- Retail sales, which had taken a sharp plunge in June, rebounded by 0.7 percent last month while the number of Americans filing new claims for unemployment benefits fell to a five-week low in early August.

Economists saw both the rise in retail sales and a decline of 4,000 in the number of laid-off workers filing for jobless benefits, reported by the government Thursday, as hopeful signs the economy is rebounding from a worrisome pause in activity in the early summer.

The Commerce Department said the 0.7 percent gain in retail sales last month followed a revised 0.5 percent decline in June.

While the July rebound was smaller than the 1 percent advance that many economists had been expecting, the 0.5 percent June drop was revised upward from a much worse 1.1 percent decline that the government had originally reported.

The Labor Department said the number of people filing first-time claims for unemployment benefits fell by 4,000 last week to 333,000, a five-week low and a sign that the labor market in August may be improving after a disappointing July.

---

Quote of note:

In all, the group has spent $70,000 to buy air time on black radio stations for ads designed to undermine African American support for the Democratic presidential nominee, according to Virginia Walden-Ford, a Republican advocate of school vouchers who runs People of Color United. She described Rooney as the largest donor, adding that her group has received other "smaller contributions."

Walden-Ford said she was disturbed by conversations with people in the black community who said they plan to vote for the Democratic ticket "because we [African Americans] are Democrats. I think that is a bad way to vote. I want people to be informed."

And these tacky-ass ads are, of course, political information.

Rooney disputed that there is a financial motivation behind his support for the People of Color United radio ads.

"I have a long history of involvement with and support of the black community," Rooney said. "For 21 years I have gone to an all-black church. They finally elected me over other black people to their church board. I'm one of them. I don't know what it has to do with health savings accounts."

"I'm one of them."

Take a good look at who's paying for ads on Black radio stations calling Kerry "rich, white and wishy-washy." Hell, if he can be one of us, why can't Theresa Heinz-Kerry? No reason I can see.

The Republican Party is impressing me less by the minute. Chrissy, in one of the comments, said interest in specifically Black issues is by definition liberal, and I said though it does look that way that doesn't have to be the case. I may have misspoken.

---

Group Runs Anti-Kerry Ads on Black Radio Stations
By Thomas B. Edsall
Washington Post Staff Writer
Thursday, August 12, 2004; Page A01

A group financed by a major Republican contributor has begun running radio ads in about a dozen cities, many in battleground states, attacking Sen. John F. Kerry as "rich, white and wishy-washy" and mocking his wife for boasting of her African roots.

The D.C.-based group, People of Color United, has substantial financial backing from J. Patrick Rooney, the former chairman of Golden Rule Insurance Co. and the founder of a new firm, Medical Savings Insurance Co. Both firms specialize in medical savings accounts, created by Republican-backed 1996 legislation, and health savings accounts, which were created by President Bush's 2003 Medicare prescription drug legislation.

One of the radio ads addresses Kerry's failure to vote on a bill to extend unemployment benefits for 13 weeks: "It needed 60 votes to pass. Ninety-nine out of 100 senators voted -- Kerry did not! It lost by one vote! Maybe Kerry thought the more of us who are unemployed and hurting, the more likely we would vote Democrat."

Another ad attacks Teresa Heinz Kerry, who, at the Democratic convention last month cited her birth and upbringing in Mozambique and who has described herself as African American. In the radio commercial, the announcer says: "His wife says she's an African American. While technically true, I don't believe a white woman, raised in Africa, surrounded by servants, qualifies."

The Kerry campaign denounced the ads, all of which are being aired on radio stations with largely black audiences. "It's disgusting that the president's political allies are now using race as a political weapon," said Bill Lynch, deputy manager of the Kerry campaign. "First a group of right-wing Swift boat veterans began smearing John Kerry's military service, and now another group has resorted to playing racial politics."

---

Calif. Court Voids San Francisco Gay Marriages
By William Branigin
Washington Post Staff Writer
Thursday, August 12, 2004; 4:22 PM

The California Supreme Court today invalidated nearly 4,000 same-sex marriages performed in San Francisco earlier this year, ruling that the city's mayor exceeded his authority in issuing marriage licenses to gay and lesbian couples.

The state Supreme Court stressed that its ruling applies to the narrow issue of local executive authority and does not settle the more substantive question of whether a California law limiting marriage to a union between a man and a woman is constitutional.

"We hold only that in the absence of a judicial determination that such statutory provisions are unconstitutional, local executive officials lacked authority to issue marriage licenses to, solemnize marriages of, or register certificates of marriage for same-sex couples, and marriages conducted between same-sex couples in violation of the applicable statutes are void and of no legal effect," the court said in an 81-page majority opinion.

The court voted 5-2 to void the marriages. Two justices issued separate "concurring and dissenting" opinions in which they agreed that San Francisco officials exceeded their authority but said the marriages should not be declared invalid while the constitutionality of California's marriage law is the subject of pending legal challenges.

San Francisco Mayor Gavin Newsom said he disagrees with the court but would respect its order. In public comments responding to the decision, he said it was time to move "to the next step" of determining the constitutionality of the state law.

"I'm proud of what we've done," Newsom said. "Society needs to wake up and say enough's enough" and end discrimination against gays, lesbians and bisexuals, he said.

---

Sudan Hard to Assess, Says State Department

As human rights groups demand action against Sudan, the State Department is informing Congress it is difficult to establish that the Khartoum government is trying to destroy the non-Arab community in Darfur.

And even if Secretary of State Colin L. Powell, who has been weighing a judgment for weeks, decides that Sudan and an Arab-led militia in the province are committing genocide, the Bush administration would not be required to take legal action, the department said in an informal analysis obtained by the Associated Press.

Still, a finding of genocide could spur the international community to take more forceful and immediate action to respond to ongoing atrocities, the analysis said.

---

Go to Google News and search on "alien spaceship"

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They are seriously going to claim anything that isn't a neo-con-cept will support terrorism.
FDA: Imported Drugs Could Be Terror Target

Tampering with prescription drugs could be a way for terrorists to launch an attack on Americans, acting Food and Drug Administration Commissioner Lester M. Crawford said.

Crawford said possible action by terrorists was the most serious of his concerns about the increasing efforts of states and cities to import drugs from Canada to save money.

Would-be terrorists need only poke around the Internet to learn how, two decades ago, Tylenol, then the nation's leading painkiller, was removed from shelves, filled with cyanide and returned to stores to kill unsuspecting consumers.

A spokesman for the Homeland Security Department said it has received "no specific information" of such a threat.

---

Nader vs. the ADL
By Brian Faler

Thursday, August 12, 2004; Page A07

Ralph Nader, that master of controversy, has a new bete noire: the Anti-Defamation League. The independent presidential candidate has become embroiled in an ugly exchange with the Jewish organization, after he suggested that President Bush and Congress were "puppets" of the Israeli government.

"The days when the chief Israeli puppeteer comes to the United States and meets with the puppet in the White House and then proceeds to Capitol Hill, where he meets with hundreds of other puppets, should be replaced," Nader said earlier this summer. That prompted an angry letter from the league, which complained that the "image of the Jewish state as a 'puppeteer,' controlling the powerful US Congress feeds into many age-old stereotypes which have no place in legitimate public discourse."

Nader is not backing down. In a letter to the group that will be released today, he reiterated his arguments, challenged the league to cite a recent example of when American leaders have pursued a policy opposed by the Israeli government and pointed to Israeli peace groups that he said share his criticism of that country's leadership. "There is far more freedom in the media, in town squares and among citizens, soldiers, elected representatives and academicians in Israel to debate and discuss the Israeli-Palestinian conflict than there is in the United States," Nader wrote.

The longtime consumer advocate's willingness to criticize Israel may win him some votes, since both Bush and Democratic nominee John F. Kerry strongly support Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon. But not if Abraham H. Foxman, the national director of the league has anything to say about it. "What he said smacks of bigotry," Foxman said.

---

AOL to Sell Cheap PCs to Minorities and Seniors
Thu Aug 12, 2004 12:06 AM ET

NEW YORK (Reuters) - America Online on Thursday said it plans to sell a low-priced PC targeting low-income and minority households who agree to sign up for a year of dialup Internet service.

The online unit of Time Warner Inc will begin selling the computer and service at Office Depot this month.

The launch is part of a broad strategy at the recovering online service, which watched 2.2 million members abandon its service.

Over the past two years, the company has attempted to find new sources of revenue by appealing to different categories of customers including the Spanish-speaking and teen markets.

Executives said it hoped to attract the 27 percent of U.S. households comprised of seniors, African Americans and Hispanics who do not yet own a PC.

---

James once said, 'Don't start none, won't be none."

U.S. Eases Up on Chavez to Avoid Oil Spike -Analysts
Thu Aug 12, 2004 12:13 PM ET

By Saul Hudson
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Hugo Chavez says a referendum on his presidency on Sunday is a battle between him and U.S. imperialism, but the Bush administration is ducking a fight because the Venezuelan leader's weapon of choice is oil.

The Bush administration, which has been the populist's most vocal critic and once appeared to welcome a coup against him, has gone tellingly quiet to avoid provoking an oil price spike that could anger U.S. voters, analysts and diplomats said.

The restraint also shows Washington is preparing the ground for some reconciliation should Chavez survive the referendum as Wall Street hopes, they added.

With Democrats blaming Bush for record oil prices as he runs for re-election, Chavez has threatened to cut off supply from the world's No. 5 exporter to energy-hungry America if U.S. "meddling" gets out of hand.

The threats, like his lexicon of insults for President Bush that includes calling him "a**ole," are generally regarded as bluster, and have had little impact on a jittery market. But with world supply tight, the Bush administration does not dare call the bluff of a firebrand who relishes confrontation and risk-taking, analysts said.

"The last thing Bush wants is for his actions on Venezuela to be seen as causing oil prices to rise," said Peter Hakim, head of Washington-based think tank the Inter-American Dialogue.

---

When we're done privatizing education, they won't know enough to complain anyway.

Quote of note:

The gap has also helped prompt the administration to call, early this month, for an increase in the federal borrowing limit for the third time in four years. Without a hike, Treasury Secretary John Snow warned in a letter to Capitol Hill leaders, the government could run out of financing means in mid- to late-November. That could set the stage for a partisan struggle over raising the ceiling this fall.

Budget Deficit Wider Than Expected in July
Wed Aug 11, 2004 02:59 PM ET

By Jonathan Nicholson
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The U.S. federal government ran a larger-than-expected budget deficit in July, bringing the year-to-date shortfall between receipts and spending to almost $400 billion, the Treasury Department said on Wednesday.

In its monthly budget report, the Treasury said the July deficit was $69.16 billion, based on revenues of $134.42 billion and spending of $203.58 billion. That was above the $61 billion shortfall Wall Street economists had expected and wider than July 2003's $54.24 billion deficit.

With only August and September left in the 2004 federal budget year, the red ink through the first 10 months totaled $395.78 billion. That's ahead of the revised record budget gap in 2003 of $374.27 billion.

---

Port Job Lottery Buoys Hopes
A shot at a $20.66-an-hour job may attract 30,000 applicants for 3,000 longshore openings.
By Ronald D. White
Times Staff Writer

August 12, 2004

They were lined up by the score early Wednesday morning, even before the doors at the downtown post office in Long Beach opened for business.

Standing in the queue were a 19-year-old who had just lost his minimum-wage job, a 63-year-old unemployed machinist and a 24-year-old single mom.

They had all come for the same thing: the chance to apply for a temporary position at the booming twin ports of Long Beach and Los Angeles, with starting pay at $20.66 an hour — a princely sum in an economy where job growth is sputtering.

"I had always heard that it was very hard to get into these jobs," said Kevin Gardner, the 19-year-old who recently lost his $5.15-an-hour post as a greeter for a company selling time shares in Las Vegas. He had been waiting in line since 7 a.m.

"Words can't express it," he said. "Joy just came over me when I heard about this."

---

Quote of note:

Lichtenstein said that Wal-Mart's business practices are "a legitimate subject of political debate," explaining that the company, with $256 billion in sales last fiscal year, is so big "that its employment policies are public issues."

…damn cheap-labor conservatives…

Battles Over Mega-Stores May Shift to New Studies
Law requiring economic impact reports could set the stage for skirmishes across Los Angeles.
By Jessica Garrison
Times Staff Writer

August 12, 2004

Wal-Mart officials said Wednesday that they are confident that, if they wanted to build a Supercenter in Los Angeles, they could show the store would bring economic benefits to the surrounding area.

But Los Angeles City Council members, who passed a law Wednesday requiring economic impact reports for the enormous discount stores that also sell groceries, expect that Wal-Mart and other retailers could be pressed to pay higher wages and benefits to persuade wary city officials to approve a superstore.

"We don't have to choose between low wages and low prices," said Councilman Eric Garcetti, who pushed for the law along with Councilman Ed Reyes. "We can have a city that has good jobs and that does not have blight."

The new law, rather than ending the fighting, could set the stage for skirmishes over individual development proposals across the city.

Wal-Mart has not yet proposed bringing a Supercenter to Los Angeles. Only one has opened in California, in La Quinta, near Palm Springs. Two more of the massive stores, which combine discount items with groceries, are expected to open this fall, in Hemet and Stockton.

"The legislation passing the City Council does not end the debate," said Nelson Lichtenstein, a history professor at the Center for Work, Labor and Democracy at UC Santa Barbara.

"The reports themselves will undoubtedly become a subject of debate."

---

There have no experienced guards not vulnerable to the same issues.

Anyway…

State Prisons' Woes Reflected in Guard's Case
Corrections officials promote a veteran employee while, at the same time, accusing him of misconduct.
By Richard Fausset
Times Staff Writer

August 12, 2004

Seven years ago, the state Department of Corrections tried to fire veteran prison employee Jonathan L. Cobbs.

In June, the department promoted him to chief deputy warden at the California Correctional Institution in Tehachapi, a job with a $97,700 annual salary.

But the same system is simultaneously disparaging Cobbs in court papers, accusing him of misconduct and refusing to pay for his defense in a lawsuit brought by an inmate.

It's a mixed message no one can fully explain, but which illustrates the internal disorder of a prison bureaucracy burdened by budget shortfalls, inmate lawsuits, and a system for investigating misconduct by guards and supervisors that is widely considered dysfunctional.

---

Quote of note:

The number of successes needed for a reward varied — one, two or three. A gray bar on the monitor told the seven monkeys in the experiment of their progress, brightening as a drink became imminent.

Before their genetic treatment, the monkeys in the test dawdled when the gray bar was dim. Only when it glowed did they become conscientious.

All that changed after a snippet of DNA known as an "anti-sense expression vector" was injected into a part of the brain known as the rhinal cortex. The vector suppressed the expression of the D2 gene for several weeks, hampering the ability of the rhinal cortex to detect dopamine.

The monkeys no longer understood the meaning of the gray bars. As a result, their interest never waned. They worked their levers like obsessed gamblers, never knowing when the jackpot would be delivered. They stopped only after their thirst was quenched.

To the researchers, the results made sense.

Injections Temporarily Turn Slacker Monkeys Into Model Workers
By Alan Zarembo
Times Staff Writer

August 12, 2004

Laboratory monkeys that started out as careless procrastinators became super-efficient workers after injections into their brains that suppressed a gene linked to their ability to anticipate a reward.

The monkeys, which had been taught a computer game that rewarded them with drops of water and juice, lost their slacker ways and worked faster while making fewer errors.

Government researchers used a new technique to temporarily block a gene, known as D2, that normally produces receptors for the brain chemical dopamine — a component in the perception of pleasure and satisfaction.

Terrence Sejnowski, a neurobiologist at the Salk Institute for Biological Studies in La Jolla, called the experiment a "tour de force" for opening a new way of modulating brain chemistry. "The ability to block a specific type of receptor in a specific part of the brain could allow a new generation of therapeutics with fewer side effects," he said.

The results, reported Tuesday in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, could also shed light on mental illnesses that involve motivation, such as obsessive compulsive disorder and mania.

It turns out that the work ethic of rhesus monkeys resembles that of many humans.

"If the reward is not immediate, you procrastinate," said Barry Richmond, a neurologist who led the study at the National Institute of Mental Health.

---

Quote:

A government official, speaking on condition of anonymity, gave a different explanation for Hamdi's release. Hamdi had been questioned for more than two years and had no further "intelligence value," the official said. And because the Taliban was no longer a fighting force, the government saw no need to hold him as a captured soldier.

"This is really about the passage of time. He is no longer a threat to the United States," the official said.

'Enemy Combatant' May Soon Be Freed
Officials are in talks to send the U.S.-born detainee to Saudi Arabia after his legal victory.
By David G. Savage
Times Staff Writer

August 12, 2004

WASHINGTON — The Bush administration on Wednesday took the first step toward release of the American-born "enemy combatant" whose case resulted in a landmark Supreme Court defeat for the White House six weeks ago.

Four months after telling the justices in oral arguments that holding Yaser Esam Hamdi in military confinement was crucial to national security and the war on terrorism, administration lawyers told a judge Wednesday that they were negotiating arrangements to send him back to his family in Saudi Arabia.

In a joint motion filed in Norfolk, Va., lawyers for Hamdi and the Bush administration said they hoped "to resolve this matter under terms and conditions … that would allow Mr. Hamdi to be released." They asked the judge for 21 days to work out the details.

The swift turnaround by the government took even some civil liberties advocates by surprise.

"If all goes well, this is a huge victory for the rule of law," said Deborah N. Pearlstein, a lawyer for Human Rights First. "The reality is that the Supreme Court handed the administration a huge defeat, and releasing Hamdi is one way of complying with that ruling."

---

Step 1:
Write down the actual reason for invading Iraq. Call it variable A (for "Actual").

Step 2:
Write down the reason given for the invasion (no reason given after the invasion counts). Call it variable B (for "Bush").

Step 3:
Compare variables A and B. If they are not the same, you've been misled.

It's really that simple.

Extra Credit:

If A <> B
1: decide if you would trust a random person after they mislead you on such a scale
2: decide if you trust Bush after pushing through a deception on this scale and
3: explain your answers.

---

August 11, 2004

He's sane.

I don't know how long we can tolerate that…

---

I saw my domain name here is due for renewal. Checked my account and saw a credit card number I don't use anymore. Caught it. We stay on the air.

And happened to see I hadn't mailed my new voter registration with my current address. My mom reminded me I needed to do that. It goes out tomorrow.

Make sure you're registered to vote, people. Registered in your current district.

---

Shame On You: Harari Realty's Racial Discrimination
A CBS 2 Special Report
Aug 5, 2004 11:00 pm US/Eastern

Renting an apartment in New York City is tough enough. But what happens if a broker doesn't like the color of your skin? Shame On You goes undercover.

CBS 2's Arnold Diaz reports.

"I wanted to ask you about the charges your firm is discriminating again black renters," Diaz asked. "God forbid, we never discriminate," Dan Harari said. "You never do?" Diaz asked. "Never," Harari replied.

Dan Harari, owner of Harari Realty in Forest Hills, does discriminate against blacks according to a city Human Rights Commission investigation.

"Each time our white testers were shown apartments and our black testers were refused," says Patricia Gatling, Commissioner of the Human Rights Commission.

The Commission's probe was triggered by a black man's complaint that Harari Realty told him by phone there were apartments available in a well-kept complex on 85th Road in Briarwood, Queens.

But when he went to the office, Harari Realty "declined to show (him)...any apartments in the Briarwood complex."

The same thing happened twice to the Commission's black investigators.

"How outrageous is that, that in this day and age, in New York City a black man with means can't get an apartment where he wants to live in Queens. It's outrageous," Gatling says.

Harari Realty, which is the exclusive rental agent for the 500-unit Briarwood complex, denies the charges.

"The Human Rights Commission has served you with two notices," Diaz said. "I know, it's a mistake," Dan Harari said. "A mistake?" Diaz asked. "Yes," Harari said.

But there was no mistaking what happened when Shame On You conducted its own hidden camera investigation of Harari Realty.

We sent in a white and black tester -- each with the same financial qualifications -- seeking a one bedroom apartment in that Briarwood complex.

---

I told y'all white folks would be next.

The TLC said Wallace approached the inspectors and became "overly assertive and disrespectful," interfering with their ability to perform their duties, according to WCBS.

The inspectors then asked him to step away from the car and Wallace refused, lunging at one of the inspectors, according to the TLC.

The other inspector then handcuffed Wallace and drove him to the NYPD's 19th precinct headquarters

and

Wallace laughed off the notion that he had threatened either inspector.

"I'm an 86-year-old man," he told the New York Post for Wednesday editions. "For whatever reason, this guy and his buddy were intent upon telling me that I was interfering with the execution of the law."

"It is really as ridiculous as it sounds," Wallace told WCBS-TV's John Slattery on Wednesday morning.

He also said to John Slattery, "I find it difficult to lunge into bed!"

And i got more, but there's a thunderstorm screwing with the power and connectivity. There's a chance this is the last post of the evening.

---

Here's a clip on the Swift Boat Veterans for Truth (hey, I'm not the one that named them).

While you're there, check out Back In Black - Meaningless Stunts.

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S-Train pointed to this at Booker Rising

DARRYL COX COMMENTARY: The Problem With Black Republicans Mr. Cox asserts that black Republicans and black conservatives must do fewer talk shows and far more day-to-day-in-the-trenches work within black communities if they expect to gain more black support.

The money quote: "Black voters may be acting contrary to their best interests by putting all of their political eggs into the Democratic basket but, to date, too many black Republicans seem baffled and turned off by the heavy lifting required to move any black eggs into their party’s basket." Things such as walking the streets in black neighborhoods, knocking on black folks' doors, and organizing folks around issues.

We think Mr. Cox is off the mark in his critique of La Shawn Barber's points about liberalism, which has wreaked undermined black self-reliance and our old-school values. However, we agree with 95% of his column. We tirelessly argue similar points here. How often have we said that black conservatives and moderates - regardless of party - must be on the ground in black communities, build up and reform institutions?

I think molotov and Ms. Barber are wrong because self reliance and old-school values are on the wane across the board so I find it foolish to even look for a cause that affects Black folks only or liberals only or conservatives only. But that's a post-election discussion.

I agree with molotov and S-Train that you get no rhythm from Black folks if you ain't in the mix.

---

Evil Genius Cobb (I will never stop being amused by that, thanks Aaron) has another writer at Vision Circle.

My name is Ed. If you've been around the Usenet for a bit, particularly soc.culture.african.american or soc.culture.african.american.moderated, you will "know" who I am. I go by the nick of DarkStar.

Why DarkStar? 'cuz I'm dark skinned (and no longer "burdened" by the issues associated with that) and a star (queue Prince, "Baby I'm A...").... Alternatively, it's because I used to be interested in space and was drawn into the theory of black holes; dark stars. Get it? :-)

I'm a husband, father, software engineer, growing individual. It appears my personality type is to "cut to the chase." So, I tend to be brief, or as I've been told, "economical with words."

My purpose here? Well, long story short, I "challenged" a few bloggers known as The Conservative Brotherhood. In email, I really "brought it" -- kinda sorta -- and then the firebrand Ambra gently called me out. DCThorton then got her back and brought some heat, so here I am.

First off, let me say I miss s.c.a.a. and s.c.a.a.moderated. s.c.a.a. is now a wasteland. s.c.a.a.moderated is a shell of it's former self.

So, while I'm here, I think I'll go about blogging about the "liberal" vs "conservative" foolishness that Blacks have allowed ourselves to become a part.

I'm sure I'll rant about the inaccuracies of media perceptions of Blacks.

And I'm sure I'll blog about "nothing" and may not blog for a bit.

That's who I be.

Ed's an interesting dude. As he says, he was a regular on Soc.Culture.African.American, a Usenet group that I lost tolerance for quickly. There he regularly assaulted anti-Black racists, ultra-Conservatives (when they weren't truthful, which was far too often) and the like. He was also a regular of a mailing list I've been part of off and on (though more on than off) for GOD knows how long, Critical Issues in African American Life and Culture. We both saw that list thriving, weakening, dying and now apparently on the mend. Participated when it was run from Harvard's IT group, to Columbia University and its current home at Duke University. On AfroAm he regularly assaulted folks who were too uncritically mystic about being Black.

We have seen a lot of each other's stuff, argued, disputed, teamed up…and I can tell you it would be very easy to misunderstand where he's at if you only saw one or the other incarnation. But I saw both.

Bring it, Ed.

---

Sadly linking to a New York Post editorial, Juliette at Baldilocks manages to sneak in something that bears repetition:

(I can’t say that I am single because I have rejected real men. I can say that many of them have rejected me. I’m rough and tough and mouthy and I don’t apologize for that, but it was a factor in my singleness before I became a Christian. Now post-conversion, I’ve toned it down a bit, however, the problem is that most men I meet aren’t committed Christians. Oh, some mouth the words, but my ex did that, too. Not going there again even if that means I’ll be single for the rest of my life.)

I submit that a real man has two real desires: 1) to speak, be heard and have his opinions taken seriously and not ridiculed and, 2) to receive love and gratitude when acting in the face of a crisis, whether it’s squashing that big ugly bug in the bathroom or defending the freedom of our nation and that of others. Everything else flows from there.

I quoted the first paragraph for personal reasons—no, I ain't the Christian, nor one who just mouthes the words. I can just relate if you turn it inside-out.

I quoted the second paragraph because it precisely frames the problem many Real Men Who Are Black have with this society.

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You might know of Lynne. She handles Vibe's web presence, poet, adjunct professor, and writer on hip-hop topics in general. You want to be inpressed, check the bio on her personal site.

Finest woman I know that I'm not allowed to touch, but that's depressing so let's move on.

I said "personal site" because she's spun off another one, Black Thoughtware. The name was reserved for a column she proposed for Pop Matters, and is best explained by that proposal.

WHAT IS BLACK THOUGHTWARE?

Black = black (popular) cultural products and producers (new media, tech, music, graphic and visual arts, books/authors/writers, etc.)

In his essay, "What Is This Black in Black Popular Culture?" in Black Popular Culture, edited by Michelle Wallace, Stuart Hall writes:

"It has come to signify the black community, where these traditions were kept, and whose struggles survive in the persistence of the black experience (the historical experience of black people in the Diaspora), of the black aesthetic (the distinctive cultural repertoires out of which popular representations were made), and of black counternarratives we have struggled to voice. Here black popular returns to the ground I defined earlier. "Good" black popular culture can pass the test of authenticity — the reference to the black experience and black expressivity. These serve as guarantees in the determination of which black popular culture is right on, which is ours, and which is not."

Thoughtware = In the 1997 book Thoughtware: Change the Thinking and the Organization will Change Itself, by J. Philip Kirby and David Hughes, the authors proposed that the organizational DNA needs to be altered in order to maintain real change. Think of it as the next rev of a computer app, central to the computer’s ability to handle the future. Likewise, a new way of thinking, of cultural crit, needs to be adapted to process and filter a thorough analysis of black (popular) culture. The black in black popular culture is not monolithic in scope, it must take into account (to borrow from Stuart Hall) differences — of gender, of sexuality, of class. This refers to the creation, but it must also refer to the analysis — the ways of thinking about black (popular) culture. Black Thoughtware is Black to the Future — the next rev of black (popular) culture aligned with the next rev of thinking about black (popular) culture.

1. In essence, in the column, "Black Thoughtware," I propose to utilize an afrofuturist lens "to explore futurist themes in black cultural production and the ways in which technological innovation is changing the face of black art and culture," as stated in the About Afrofuturism on afrofuturism.net.

2. In an Afrofuturism (this term was originally coined by Mark Dery in his Black To The Future essay) special issue of Social Text, editor Alondra Nelson writes in the introduction:

"Afrofuturism can be broadly defined as "African American voices" with "other stories to tell about culture, technology, and things to come."

3. In "Black Thoughtware," I will explore the alien, the black cultural products and producers outside the normative standards of popular culture, who are under the radar — mainstream — as well as outside of any stereotypical identification and notion of blackness. From this position, WEB Dubois' idea of "Double Consciousness" comes into play, "One even feels his two-ness, — An American, a Negro; two souls, two thoughts, two unreconciled strivings: two warring ideals in one dark body, whose dogged strength alone keeps it from being torn asunder." This is that alien, and "Black Thoughtware," will feature other stories about culture, technology, and things to come.

There's more, of course.

If you check out Black Thoughtware you should NOT be surprised that Prometheus 6 ain't on the sidebar. It should not be, given her focus. I do politics, news, science and such, she does music culture and such. Plus it turns out I'm not an afrofuturist at all. If anything I'm a afro-eternalist…I look to understand the timeless stuff and it's transitions into specific manifestations in specific times and places. The two views are not conversationally compatible. Still, Lynn is quite the talent and when you get enough of old dudes like me you need to check her out.

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Quote of note:

"They are trying to target high cost services and those where they see a spike in use," said Glen Mays, a health policy professor at the University of Arkansas, and study author.

If there's a spike in the use of medical services, wouldn't that mean people need those services?

Survey: HMOs Bringing Back Cost Controls
Wed Aug 11, 2004 08:05 AM ET

By Kim Dixon
CHICAGO (Reuters) - HMOs are bringing back some tried-and-true but highly unpopular methods to stem crushing medical costs, a nationwide survey of executives and officials released on Wednesday found.

Employers turned to health maintenance organizations in the early 1990s to get a handle on rapidly rising health care costs. HMOs used unpopular methods like restricting choices of doctors and limiting hospital stays, and had some success in curbing medical cost growth.

But a backlash by patients, doctors and hospitals led to an easing in most restrictions. HMOs gave way to preferred provider organizations, or PPOs, with greater access to doctors and fewer restrictions on care.

Now, with health care costs rising at least twice the rate of inflation, HMOs are again tightening controls on patient care, according to 260 interviews with HMO and hospital executives, employers and regulators in 12 nationally-representative communities published in the journal Health Affairs.

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New Violence Deepens Darfur Crisis
Wed Aug 11, 2004 09:52 AM ET

By Nima Elbagir
KHARTOUM (Reuters) - Helicopter attacks, raids on refugee camps and rapes carried out by Sudanese forces and Arab militiamen have worsened an already desperate situation in Darfur, humanitarian and rights groups say.

The United Nations has told Khartoum to curb marauding Janjaweed militia or face sanctions, but Human Rights Watch said Wednesday fresh atrocities disproved Sudanese government claims that security was returning to the western region.

"In many rural areas and small towns in Darfur, government forces and the Janjaweed militias continue to routinely rape and assault women and girls when they leave the periphery of the camps and towns," the New York-based group said in a report.

Human rights groups and Darfur rebels say Khartoum has used the militia, who Darfur residents call Janjaweed -- derived from Arabic meaning "devils on horseback" -- in a campaign to crush a rebel uprising and drive the region's non-Arabs from their land.

In a statement from Geneva Tuesday, the U.N. Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs accused Sudanese forces of new helicopter attacks, denied by Khartoum, and the Janjaweed of raids on the ground.

"Fresh violence today (Tuesday) included helicopter gunship bombings by the Sudanese government and Janjaweed attacks in South Darfur," the U.N. agency said.

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NYC activists call for a day of civil disobedience
'The Streets Belong to Us'
by Sarah Ferguson
August 4th, 2004 11:45 AM

A group of about 20 New York City activists today announced their plans for roiling the Republican convention this month.

Gathered at St. Mark's Church on the Bowery—a landmark parish that has long been a haven for political dissent—they called for a day of coordinated, nonviolent civil disobedience and direct action on August 31, or A31 in activist parlance.

"Two days before the Republicans renominate George Bush, we will turn the streets of New York City into stages of resistance and forums of debate," Tim Doody, a 30-year-old English tutor at Long Island University, told a bevy of news cameras, adding, "We will not be asking for permits to create these free-speech zones."

Starting early in the morning, Doody said, autonomous groups will target GOP events such as Bank of America's 9:30 a.m. finance roundtable at Tavern on the Green in Central Park. At 4 p.m., a wave of actions will swarm the midtown offices of multinational "war profiteers" such as the Carlyle Group, Chevron, the Rand Corporation, and Hummer of Manhattan.

Taking a more classic civil disobedience line, the War Resisters League is calling for a funeral procession from ground zero to Madison Square Garden, the convention site, where they will stage a mass die-in in the streets.

There will also be carnival-esque street blockades with music, free food, and dancing, along with banner drops, guerrilla street theater, and other forms of "culture jamming—culminating in a mass convergence at 7 p.m. outside Madison Square Garden, or as close as protesters can get.

Rather than attempt a Seattle-style action to shut down access to the convention, which activists concede would be impossible given the intense security, they intend to "reclaim the streets as zones of democracy."

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Quote of note:

"The bottom line for the police is control," said Bentley. "So long as they believe they are controlling a situation, their response to people who are protesting will be more measured. When they perceive they are losing control, they're going to move in and act physically. That's where you get a lot of problems."

Legal observers say heavy-handed treatment and prolonged detentions have had a chilling effect on dissenters, causing some to tone down their actions and others to avoid protests entirely. "I'm concerned about security too," said Joel Kupferman, a public interest lawyer who attends an average of one protest a week in New York City. "But there's no clash between security and allowing people to exercise their First Amendment rights. That's what makes America different."

At "Know Your Rights" training sessions, given by members of the National Lawyers Guild, protesters can learn the legal ramifications of their activities, how best to deal with the police, and how to proceed if their case goes to trial. (See nlgnyc.org for information about upcoming classes.)

Protesting at the GOP convention? Legal observers have your back.
The Watchers
by Janelle Nanos
August 11 - 17, 2004

There are a few things to know when planning a protest in New York City. An archaic state law forbids multiple protesters from wearing identical masks at an event. Signs carried on sticks or poles are considered potential weapons and will be confiscated. And if you didn't know these facts already, you should at least get acquainted with the volunteer corps of legal observers. They do know the rules, and they're an essential element in preserving your right to free speech and assembly.

Armed with neon-green hats, video cameras, and a knowledge of the law, legal observers were witness to more than 2,000 arrests—some peaceful, some not—at New York City demonstrations in 2003. This past March, Manhattan District Attorney Robert Morgenthau predicted in a City Council hearing that there would be up to 1,000 arrests a day during the upcoming Republican National Convention. To prepare for this likelihood, the progressive National Lawyers Guild is recruiting over 250 volunteers to observe rallies and marches, and is bringing in a bevy of lawyers to handle, pro bono, any civil rights cases that arise.

The guild has drafted an $80,000 budget for legal outreach during the convention. The group will also keep a database of arrests and arraignments, but won't stop there. "A lot of what we do is not only the protection of people's rights, but providing emotional support," said Bruce Bentley, who's coordinating convention work for the guild's Mass Defense Committee. "When someone is waiting for 12, 24, or even 36 hours to be arraigned, their friends and family members will often call us to find out more about their arrest."

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U.S. and France Begin a Great Game in Africa

Julio Godoy

PARIS, Aug 11 (IPS) - France and the United States have begun a new race to compete for favours with undemocratic regimes in Africa. The competition is growing particularly in the oil- rich North and West Africa.

The French government announced last month that it is due to sign a military pact with former colony Algeria that would include weapons and technology transfer, training and intelligence sharing.

The agreement was negotiated by French defence minister Michele Alliot-Marie on a visit to Algiers July 19. Alliot-Marie, the first French defence minister to visit Algeria since the end of the bloody war of independence in 1962, said the "historic" agreement will "turn a page" in French-Algerian history.

Foreign minister Michel Barnier visited Algiers earlier in July to discuss new cooperation. Finance minister Nicolas Sarkozy followed his colleagues later in the month to approve a 2.5 billion dollar aid package.

France has invited Algerian President Abdelaziz Bouteflika to commemoration of the liberation of south France from Nazi occupation in 1944, in the face of protests from French veterans of the war of independence.

Analysts say these moves seek to secure access to Algerian oil and gas resources to counter similar efforts by the U.S. government.

"The French government wants to counter the diplomatic advances achieved by the Bush government in Algeria in particular, and in West Africa in general," says Francois Gèze, an expert in French-Algerian relations. In an article in Le Monde written with Algerian-born scholar Lahouari Addi who lives in France in exile, Gèze condemned the "French alliance with a criminal regime."

Gèze told IPS that the Algerian government has detained and tortured opposition leaders for more than a decade now. But given the anti-terrorism climate, Algeria represents what "the 'great' Western countries wish for in the Arab world" – a government ready to cooperate with the United States whatever its domestic record.

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Beggars and drug addicts disappear in Athens 'clean-up' before games
Helena Smith in Athens
Wednesday August 11, 2004
The Guardian

Last-ditch efforts to "clean up" Athens before the Olympic games begin on Friday have included removing thousands of immigrants, beggars, drug addicts and homeless people from the capital's streets.
Human rights activists said yesterday that they feared vulnerable people, including asylum seekers from war-torn countries such as Iraq, were falling victim to the campaign.

In the count-down to the games about 70,000 police and military personnel have been drafted to patrol the capital.

"There is a climate of absolute terror on the streets," said Spyros Psychas, a member of Arsis, a charity working with the homeless and underprivileged youth.

"People are afraid. They're ringing in saying how unbearable the police controls have become."

Underlining the concern, the UN High Commissioner for Refugees urged the Greek government to ensure that "international standards", including the Geneva conventions, were not being breached.

The agency's unusual intervention followed reports in the Greek media that mass deportations had soared in advance of the games.

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Quote of note:

The last four years have given police plenty of practice in instilling fear themselves. Relationships between cops and protesters have rarely been warm, but since September 11, they've grown toxic, with law enforcement routinely denying march permits and using overwhelming force against nonviolent demonstrators.

There's a lot more to this article than I'm quoting.

New York lockdown

While anti-Bush activists in New York are adopting new techniques to try and disrupt the Republican party convention later this month, the police have got some new strategies of their own, writes Michelle Goldberg

Wednesday August 11, 2004

If you're a delegate attending the Republican national convention at Madison Square Garden later this month, Jamie Moran knows where you're staying. He knows where you're eating and what Broadway musical you plan on seeing. For the past nine months, Moran has been living off savings earned as an office manager at a nonprofit and working full-time to disrupt the RNC.
His small anarchist collective, RNCNotWelcome.org, runs a snitch line and an email account where disgruntled employees of New York hotels, the Garden and the Republican party itself can pass on information about conventioneers. So far, the collective has received dozens of phone calls and hundreds of emails with inside dirt on GOP activities.

Recently, a woman with a polished, middle-aged sounding voice left a message saying, "For some God-unknown reason I'm on the Republican mailing list, and they sent me what they call a list of their inner-circle events." The events hadn't been publicised elsewhere, she said, and she wanted to fax the list to Moran.

Moran feeds information like this to a cadre of activists desperate to unleash four years' worth of anger at the Bush administration. By dogging the delegates wherever they go, RNC Not Welcome hopes to make the Republicans' lives hell for as long as they're in New York.

"We want to make their stay here as miserable as possible," says Moran, who has sandy hair, a snub nose and a goatee. The son of a retired Queens cop, he's 30 but looks younger. "I'd like to see all the Republican events - teas, backslapping lunches - disrupted. I'd like to see people from other states following their delegates, letting them know what they think about Republican policies. I'd like to see impromptu street parties and marches. I'd like to see corporations involved in the Iraq reconstruction get targeted - anything from occupation to property destruction."

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That last sentence is enough to get this kid busted. Talking property destruction is just foolish.

Anyway…

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There's a showdown coming to Manhattan. Backed by the most intense security the city has ever seen, the Republicans are about to turn the blue-state bastion of New York City into the backdrop for George Bush's coronation. The RNC chose New York because it was the site of the September 11 terror attacks, which to Bush's opponents and even some ordinary New Yorkers seems a brazen provocation.

On one side are 36,000 cops - a force that city councilman Peter Vallone Jr calls "perhaps the world's 10-largest standing army". On the other side are at least 250,000 protesters expected to converge on the city from all across the United States and Canada - a demonstration six times larger than the legendary antiglobalisation protests that rocked Seattle in 1999. They're facing off at a time when police are increasingly adopting military tactics in response to protest, and protesters are responding likewise, conducting their own reconnaissance on Republican plans and plotting actions designed to hit where the cops are weakest.

The police have infiltrated the protesters, but the protesters have infiltrated the convention; according to anti-RNC organisers, they have at least two moles working undercover with volunteers the city has recruited to help makes things run smoothly at Madison Square Garden.

Plans to oppose the convention are multiplying, suffusing activists with a giddy, growing tension. Marches and rallies, legal and illegal, are being planned for every day that the Republicans are in New York. There will be street theatre, including a Roman-style vomitorium in the East Village a few days before the convention starts, meant to signify Republican gluttony. Cheri Honkala, an organiser from Philadelphia, is mobilising homeless people, public housing tenants and others for a big, illegal "poor peoples' march" on August 30. Activists are holding weekend workshops where direct-action novices practice street blocking, and DIY medics learn to treat victims of pepper spray and police violence.

No one knows where it's all going - whether it will look like Chicago '68 or Seattle '99 or something altogether new. But activists see the coming conflict as history-making. "I want to see something so gigantic that it can't be misinterpreted," says Jason Flores-Williams, a political writer at High Times Magazine, who's been playing a dual role as a journalist covering the movement and an organiser shaping it. An intense man in his 30s with a shaved head and silver earring, Flores-Williams recently published the High Times Activist Guide to the Republican National Convention, which is part primer and part call to arms.

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Varsity mendacity?: With all the controversy about John Kerry's Vietnam medals and ribbons, who'd have thought that loyal George W. Bush aide Karen Hughes would be the one to catch the President fibbing about a supposed varsity letter? In her new book, "Ten Minutes From Normal," Hughes recounts a conversation with Bush after Russian President Vladimir Putin grilled him on his Yale days.

"President Putin knew you had played rugby, but he didn't have the context. I mean, you just played for one semester in college, right?" Hughes said.

Bush corrected: "I played for a year, and it was the varsity."

Yesterday, a Yale spokeswoman confirmed that there's no such thing as varsity rugby at Yale - not when Bush was an undergrad in the 1960s and not today.

Originally published on May 5, 2004

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Ridiculous.

via the American Progress Action Report

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I think I've about had it.

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U.S. to Give Border Patrol Agents the Power to Deport Illegal Aliens
By RACHEL L. SWARNS

ASHINGTON, Aug. 10 - Citing concerns about terrorists crossing the nation's borders, the Department of Homeland Security said on Tuesday that it planned to give border patrol agents sweeping new powers to deport illegal aliens from the frontiers with Mexico and Canada without providing them the opportunity to make their case before an immigration judge.

The move, which will take effect this month, represents a broad expansion of the authority of the thousands of law enforcement agents who patrol the nation's borders. Until now, border patrol agents typically delivered undocumented immigrants to the custody of the immigration courts, where judges determined whether they should be deported or remain in the United States.

Domestic security officials described the deportation process in immigration courts - which hear asylum claims and other appeals to remain in the country - as sluggish and cumbersome, saying illegal immigrants often wait for more than a year before being deported while straining the capacity of detention centers and draining critical resources. Under the new system, immigrants will typically be deported within eight days of their apprehension, officials said.

The Illegal Immigration and Reform Responsibility Act of 1996 authorized the agency to deport certain groups of illegal immigrants without judicial oversight, but until now it had permitted only officials at airports and seaports to do so.

The new rule will apply to illegal immigrants caught within 100 miles of the Mexican and Canadian borders who have spent up to 14 days within the United States. Officials said the border agents would not focus on deporting Mexicans and Canadians, who will still, for the most part, have their cases heard in immigration court. The agents will concentrate instead on immigrants from other countries. In fiscal year 2003, about 37,000 immigrants from countries other than Mexico and Canada - primarily from Central America - were arrested along the Southwest border.

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U.S. Troops Fight Iraq Militiamen on Two Fronts
By JOHN F. BURNS and ALEX BERENSON

AGHDAD, Iraq, Aug. 10 - American troops fought simultaneous battles on Tuesday with rebel Shiite militiamen in Najaf and the Baghdad slum of Sadr City. But American commanders, preparing new battle orders, appeared to have deferred for the time being any decision to mount full-scale assaults on the rebels, weighing the consequences for their wider aim of bringing stability to Iraq.

On the sixth day since fighters loyal to the rebel Shiite cleric Moktada al-Sadr renewed their challenge to the American presence here, American units showed signs of rising impatience. In Najaf, loudspeakers atop patrolling Humvees urged residents to evacuate the city and warned Mr. Sadr's fighters to "leave the city, or you will die." As night fell in Sadr City, tanks and attack helicopters moved into militia-controlled neighborhoods, and American attack jets and pilotless Predator drones patrolled overhead.

Faced with the uprisings in Najaf and Sadr City, and rebel attacks in Basra and other southern cities, the new Iraqi-American hierarchy in Baghdad - Prime Minister Ayad Allawi, Ambassador John D. Negroponte and Gen. George W. Casey, the military commander -appeared to have reached a watershed as critical as any since American troops toppled Saddam Hussein's government in April 2003.

With elections planned by the end of January, many Americans and Iraqis here say that Mr. Sadr's challenge offers a difficult choice. Either it will have to be answered with force now, at the risk of igniting an explosion of anger among Iraq's majority Shiite population, or with negotiation as it was at the time of Mr. Sadr's last lengthy uprising in the spring, with consequences that could cause the election plans and much that lies beyond them to unravel.

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This is about what the ACLU is calling the The Surveillance-Industrial Complex. If that reminds you of "military-industrial complex," maybe it shouldn't. Joining the military-industrial complex is totally voluntary for all concerned. But as Wired notes

The report listed three ways in which government agencies obtain data from the private sector: by purchasing the data, by obtaining a court order or simply by asking for it. Corporations freely share information with government agencies because they don't want to appear to be unpatriotic, they hope to obtain future lucrative Homeland Security contracts with the government or they fear increased government scrutiny of their business practices if they don't share.

joining the Surveillance-Industrial Complex is often somewhat less than voluntary…

But corporations aren't the only ones giving private data to the government. In 2002, the Professional Association of Diving Instructors voluntarily gave the FBI the names and addresses of about 2 million people who had studied scuba diving in previous years. And a 2002 survey found that nearly 200 colleges and universities gave the FBI information about students. Most of these institutions provided the information voluntarily without having received a subpoena.

although some do seem to leap at the chance.

The ACLU has a report up on the situation as well as that report mentioned in the above quote from Wired.

Tip o' da hat to King of Zembla.

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Quote of note:

The Williams case grew out of California's chronic lack of textbooks and supplies in many schools, as well as crumbling buildings and freezing classrooms where mice and rats sometimes scurried across the floor. Asked why they sued instead of seeking a legislative solution, ACLU attorneys Mark Rosenbaum and Catherine Lhamon have repeatedly said that lawmakers turned a deaf ear to the persistent problems.

Landmark education case a big win for kids

1 million low-income students get equal access to good schools and textbooks

- Nanette Asimov, Chronicle Staff Writer

Wednesday, August 11, 2004

Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger and attorneys representing 1 million low-income students have reached an agreement in a landmark education case they say will ensure equal access to good schools and textbooks for the first time in state history.

The American Civil Liberties Union, which sued the state in 2000 on behalf of low-income students, is hailing the agreement as a "watershed moment in public education.''

It will give all students a clear procedure to demand -- and receive -- clean, well-stocked schools and qualified teachers, attorneys for the ACLU said Tuesday.

But some state and local educators, while welcoming the agreement, said it involved too much bureaucracy and too few dollars.

…Much of the new agreement focuses on students in the 2,400 lowest-scoring schools throughout the state -- those ranking 1, 2 or 3 on the state's 10-point scale of academic performance.

In addition to $138 million already set aside in the current state budget to give those schools extra books and other instructional materials, the plan earmarks $50 million to assess and make emergency repairs at those schools.

That money comes from so-called reversion funds -- money unspent at the end of the school year that typically is put back into the education budget for the next year. The agreement also promises that the state will use future reversion funds to reimburse the schools for any other repairs they need to make.

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New Medicare Law May Sway November Vote
A survey finds almost half of recipients dislike the reform, and 3 in 10 say the issue will affect their presidential pick.
By Vicki Kemper
Times Staff Writer

August 11, 2004

WASHINGTON — Almost half of Medicare recipients dislike the new prescription drug law, and nearly 3 in 10 seniors and disabled persons say the issue will influence their vote for president, according to a national survey released Tuesday.

The survey suggests that there are "maybe a half-million seniors" who might swing their votes to Democratic candidate John F. Kerry and another "1 million to 2 million whose votes might be up for grabs on this issue," said Drew E. Altman, president and chief executive of the private, nonprofit Kaiser Family Foundation.

Given those numbers, if the race between Kerry and President Bush remains close, seniors' views of the Medicare law could be a decisive factor in the Nov. 2 election, said Robert J. Blendon, a professor of health policy at the Harvard School of Public Health.

The national survey of 1,223 Medicare beneficiaries, conducted by the Kaiser foundation and the Harvard school shortly before last month's Democratic National Convention, indicated that 47% of Medicare recipients had an unfavorable view of the law, while 26% had a favorable view.

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Bush Mocks Kerry's 'Nuance' on Iraq
[P6: And rightly so]
The president says his Democratic challenger is hedging to please both sides on the war issue.
By Maura Reynolds
Times Staff Writer

August 11, 2004

PANAMA CITY, Fla. — Having called on Sen. John F. Kerry to explain his position on the Iraq war, President Bush on Tuesday derided Kerry's answer as disingenuous, accusing him of finding "a new nuance." The Kerry campaign responded by accusing Bush of distorting Kerry's words and resorting to desperate tactics.

…Kerry said Monday that he would have voted to give the president the authority to go to war even if he had known there were no stockpiles of weapons of mass destruction, but that he disagreed with the way Bush used that authority.

But in his remarks, Bush asserted there was no such distinction. "My opponent has found a new nuance," the president said Tuesday. "He now agrees it was the right decision to go into Iraq.

"After months of questioning my motives, and even my credibility, Sen. Kerry now agrees with me that even though we've not found the stockpiles of weapons we believed were there, knowing everything we know today, he would have voted to go into Iraq and remove Saddam Hussein from power," Bush said to cheers and jeers from the crowd.

"I want to thank Sen. Kerry for clearing that up."

Then he added: "Be careful, there's still 84 days left in this campaign for him to change his mind."

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August 10, 2004

So you know the second service pack for WinXP is out. Well, if you've got and always-on internet connection and the Auto-Update thing going (and if you're not sure, you probably do) then you probably have it by now. If so, go to the next message; there's nothing for you here.

An upgrade this size will break things. End of story.

Me, I'm going to wait a while. I got firewalls and pop-up blockers and enough sense about what to run and what to open that I haven't had a virus in years and don't run anti-virus software after the free subscription on a new machine runs out.

If you're so inclined, you can check out what SP2 has in mind for you. If you've got all new software, if you use nothing but Office, IE and Outlook you'll probably have few issues. Me, I'll be eavesdropping on all the newsgroups related to my development tools and I'll need to see a general acknowledgement that stuff works before I apply it.

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Just came from hanging with my brother in law for a minute. I had forgotten basketball, like to play it myself, for years. Easy to forget, I was the guy you wouldn't be pissed to chose rather than the guy you wanted to choose. Still, felt good shooting around...I kept short-arming shit, though…

And I just deleted two Nigerian-style (because, you see, the widow was from Benin) scam comment spams.You know, that they apparently have enough success to keep doing shit like that seriously disappoints me. I am prepared to lower my estimation of human potential.

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Kerry Unveils One-Point Plan For Better America

WICHITA, KS—Delivering the central speech of his 10-day "Solution For America" bus campaign tour Monday, Democratic presidential nominee Sen. John Kerry outlined his one-point plan for a better America: the removal of George W. Bush from the White House.

"If I am elected in November, no inner-city child will have to live in an America where George Bush is president," Kerry said, addressing a packed Maize High School auditorium. "No senior citizen will lie awake at night, worrying about whether George Bush is still the chief executive of this country. And no American—regardless of gender, regardless of class, regardless of race—will be represented by George Bush in the world community."

The Solution For America tour, which began in Boston, will end in Eugene, OR on Aug. 20. During the next week and a half, Kerry and vice-presidential hopeful John Edwards are expected to bring their message of a Bush-free country to several hundred thousand Americans.

In the speech, Kerry offered a solution for the nation's ailing education system.

"Schools do not have the resources they need to succeed," Kerry said. "One million students are dropping out of high school every year. John Kerry and John Edwards have a plan to ensure that all Americans can make the most of their God-given talents: Get George Bush out of the White House."

Kerry also spoke on the subject of national security.

"This country has embraced a new and dangerously ineffective disregard for the world," Kerry said. "In order to win the global war against terror, we must promote democracy, freedom, and opportunity around the world. My national-defense policy will be guided by one imperative: Don't be George Bush. As will my plans to create a strong economy, protect civil rights, develop a better healthcare system, and improve homeland security."

Joining Kerry at the podium, Edwards raised one issue not discussed by his running mate: the environment.

"Let's not forget one important point," Edwards said. "We need to set a new standard of environmental excellence for America by renewing our nation's promise of clean air, clean water, and a bountiful landscape for all. In the 21st century, we can have progress without pollution—as long as we have a Dick Cheney-free White House."

The new message is resonating with registered Democrats.

"John Kerry really spoke to my dream, my hope, and my aspiration for this nation," University of Kansas sophomore Jason Brandt said. "He sees the world as I do."

"With all the mess that's going on in the country—the deficits, the government's power-grab, the wars—it's time for a president who admits that there's a problem and has a plan to fix it," Brandt added. "A president who is not George W. Bush is exactly what we need—and Kerry fits the bill 100 percent."

Kerry's message resonated less strongly with one Lawrence, KS swing voter.

"Politicians make a lot of campaign promises," Lance Radda said. "Sure, this not-being-Bush policy sounds good now. But how can we be sure that Kerry will deliver on that promise once in office?"

Kerry addressed Radda's question.

"I promise you, here and now, that I will enact my one-point plan on the day I enter the Oval Office," Kerry said. "For the last three and a half years, we've had George W. Bush, and today I have this to say: We can do better!"

In his final words, Kerry changed the subject to attack Bush's record.

"During his term in office, George Bush has relentlessly continued to be president—despite the clear benefits to America his absence would bring to the lives of citizens everywhere," Kerry said. "My one-point plan for America highlights the sort of change that this country desperately needs. And my plan is something that George Bush will never, ever be able to accomplish."

Bush-Cheney campaign manager Ken Mehlman described Kerry's plan as a vicious, partisan attack.

"It's absolutely ridiculous that John Kerry is offering one solution to all of America's problems," Mehlman said. "Who's going to listen to logic like that? Anyone can see that Kerry is a Massachusetts liberal who will raise your taxes and open our borders to terrorist attacks. Vote Bush."

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is by Jesse at Pandagon

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Been spotting him commenting on various conservative blogs, Okay, Conservative Brotherhood blogs.

Spotted him today at Ambra's joint commenting on this:

Alan Please!

So I like Alan Keyes. I would have undoubtedly voted for him in a presidential election. I can't think of a better person to go up against Barack Obama. When his show "Making Sense" was cancelled on MSNBC, I even signed the petition to keep him on the air. He's intelligent, full of integrity, God-fearing, and one heck of a politician. But for the love of all things righteous and pure, just admit you're a carpetbagger already! Goll-y.

It is horribly disenchanting to watch someone you admire be put to shame by Alan Colmes on national television. Yes, Mr. Keyes' comments against Hillary Clinton's strategic move to the New York Senate have come back to bite him in the rear-end. So please stop the fluff. Dear Alan, just admit the fact that you're a Maryland resident attempting to cop an Illinois Senate spot and move on with it. The people will still respect you! At least this here citizen will. Stop with the respect for state sovereignty rhetoric. Please. It's like you're making the hole deeper with every single interview. It's becoming painful to watch.

I beseech you. Stop.

…to which memer replied

It's embarrassing, really. For all sides. He's such a smart guy in so many other respects, but this is literally a no-brainer. It's so weird that he thinks he'd be the best possible candidate to run in Illinois.

But then again, mebbe he's crazy like a fox. It could be a no-lose situation for him in a sense: if by some bizzare twist of fate he wins, then, natch, yippee -- if he loses (for the third time now), he's raised his profile enough to warrant another tv show (on Fox, natch. Is Bill O'Reilly retiring soon?).

…which set me up for this:

But then again, mebbe he's crazy like a fox. It could be a no-lose situation for him in a sense: if by some bizzare twist of fate he wins, then, natch, yippee -- if he loses (for the third time now), he's raised his profile enough to warrant another tv show (on Fox, natch. Is Bill O'Reilly retiring soon?).

Alan Keys as the Republican Al Sharpton.

I love it.

Gotta recognize someone that gives you a slow pitch like that.

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Why African Americans Shouldn't Vote Republican

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Keyes Earns our Buckwheat Award
August 8, 2004
By The NorthStar News Staff

Illinois Republicans Enage in Tokenism

In an act of racial tokenism, equivalent to the nomination of Clarence Thomas to the U.S. Supreme Court, Illinois Republicans have selected Black conservative Alan Keyes as their candidate for the U.S. Senate to face Democrat Barack Obama. Keyes, whose politics is to the right of the right, lives in Maryland but must simply declare residence in Illinois by Election Day to qualify for the ballot.

For this blatant act of hypocrisy, the NorthStar Network bestows upon Alan Keyes our “Buckwheat Award”; for conduct contrary to the interests of people of African descent and allowing himself to be posed like a lawn jockey for the enjoyment of whites who seek to maintain their privileged status in society.

…For all the Republican rhetoric on “reaching out” to Blacks and Mr. Bush’s so-called “compassionate conservatism, running Alan Keyes exposes just how disingenuous the GOP is on the matter of race. What’s more, they are so clueless they believe we should be enamored of Mr. Keyes because he is “articulate”, an off-hand “complement” that offends us to our core. It is the equivalent of “some of my best friends are Black” when some whites attempt to justify their racist orientation. Yes, Mr. Keyes is articulate, so much so that his asinine rhetoric can be easily understood for what it is.

What’s more Keyes is a poster child for the new Black neoconservative; well positioned, paid and totally submissive to the interests of whites on the right who advance an agenda that at its root is racist driven. Tragically, these Rent-a-Negroes have displaced a generation of Black Republicans, like Arthur Fletcher, William T. Coleman, Jr., Edward Brooke and E. Frederic Morrow, who, despite the many opportunities to do so, never abandoned the interest of their community…And they have made Republicans racial charlatans; always using race for racist intent while arguing that race doesn’t matter. The new Black Republican is neither Black nor Republican; but some mutant strain that now seeks to infect the rest of us.

The Horatio Alger myth espoused by Keyes and his ilk is easily exposed when one considers how these people used every conceivable government program available to advance and were then handpicked by the right to act as race shields. White neoconservatives, many of whom are former liberals disillusioned with progressive Democrats’ posture on race, understood that the only way to avoid being labeled racist was to create a Black servant class that would do its bidding. The result has been the Alan Keyes’, Clarence Thomas’ and Condoleeza Rice’ of the present day.

The real irony of Alan Keyes’ latest foray into electoral politics is that he was utterly dismissed by his own party the last time he ran for president. Not only was his candidacy derided, he was categorically rejected when attempting to be included in debates. His only value to the party is to create confusion and validate the perception of Blacks held by many whites. After all, if a Black person is casting dispersion on their own community, there must be some truth to rhetoric that race is no longer a determiner of life chances.

… And the next time Republicans want to engage in this type of coonin’, don’t cut corners, just run ‘Lil Black Sambo, Aunt Jemima, Amos ‘n Andy or any of the other racial stereotypes that represent their true sentiments.

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In Illinois, Keyes Begins Senate Effort

Keyes, a conservative commentator, wasted little time Monday in attacking Obama, charging that his views on abortion are "the slaveholder's position."

Keyes said Obama's vote against a bill that would have outlawed a form of late-term abortion denied unborn children their equal rights. "I would still be picking cotton if the country's moral principles had not been shaped by the Declaration of Independence," Keyes said, according to the Associated Press. He said Obama "has broken and rejected those principles -- he has taken the slaveholder's position."

…Asked about the phrase "slaveholder's position," Obama said Keyes "should look to members of his own party to see if that's appropriate if he's going to use that kind of language," the AP reported.

Let me tell you something: if Keyes wrote that himself, he's an abject asshole. But it reads like some white guy who hasn't got a clue what motivates Black folks decided Keyes needs to tap Black anger. Reminds me a lot of "graveyard rap."

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Plan B for Illinois In the noble tradition of the Marquis de Lafayette, the Seven Samurai, Mighty Mouse and Obi-Wan Kenobi, Alan Keyes is leaving home to go to the aid of a pitiable band of outgunned, hopeless supplicants: the Illinois Republican Party.

But on to the substance:

Like Mr. Obama, Mr. Keyes is black, and the winner will be only the third African-American in the Senate since Reconstruction. But the race now seems likely to turn the Republicans' big tent into something more like the Big Top: Smell the rank hypocrisy! (Mr. Keyes accused Hillary Clinton of being a carpetbagger in her 2000 Senate race.) See the ideological acrobats! (The state Republican chairwoman, who accuses Mr. Obama of being far out of the mainstream, is a moderate who supports abortion rights. Mr. Keyes condemns it in practically every case as "murder in the womb.")

While this page expressed hope that Mr. Obama would have an opponent this fall, Mr. Keyes is not exactly what we had in mind. He did meet the party's minimal qualifications - he has a well-known name and is willing to show up. And he is a polished public speaker. But if the only challenge for Mr. Obama is to appear more reasonable than his opponent - who believes the federal income tax is unconstitutional - the bar will not be very high.

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I'm sorry, but if this is typical of Keyes supporters...

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Sweating it out for Keyes
August 10, 2004

A Naperville man has found an interesting way to donate to Republican candidate Alan Keyes -- he's selling a napkin he claims was drenched with the candidate's sweat.

Jerry McGlothlin immediately posted the napkin on eBay this week after attending a rally by the GOP Senate candidate on Sunday.

"I noticed that he was sweating up a storm," said McGlothlin, a local publicist. "So I took a napkin out of my pocket, blotted the sweat from his brow and said, 'Welcome to Chicago.' "

McGlothlin, a Keyes supporter, preserved the napkin in a plastic bag. He plans on donating money from the auction to the Keyes campaign. By late Monday, the auction had been viewed by almost 7,000 people and the price was up to about $250.

"It's historical memorabilia," he said. "It's something worth framing."

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In the process of responding to someone on Orkut I ran across possibly the most functional definition of "race" (as currently abused):

A self classification by people according to the biological heritage with which they most closely identify.

This is actually a major improvement over the idea it seems most of us carry around in our heads.

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Immigrants Exploited by 'Notarios'
Officials crack down on those who take advantage of confusion over the word, which can mean 'lawyer.'
By Ann M. Simmons
Times Staff Writer

August 10, 2004

An immigration scam exploiting the use of the Spanish word notario has bilked thousands of Latino immigrants seeking to legalize their United States residency status and prompted Los Angeles officials to launch a crackdown.

In some Latin American countries, a notario is a lawyer. In others, the title denotes someone who holds public office. In the United States, however, a notary is simply someone legally empowered to witness and certify documents and take affidavits and depositions.

Unscrupulous operators are using confusion over the meaning of the word to dupe unsuspecting immigrants into thinking they are attorneys who can help people get U.S. work permits and legalize their residency status, officials said.

They charge their clients exorbitant fees, file frivolous paperwork and keep them waiting — and paying — often for years, according to authorities.

In many cases, immigrants unknowingly sign applications for asylum, which lawyers say can greatly improve the possibility of being awarded a work permit while the petitioner's case is pending adjudication. But when the client is called up for an asylum interview, their case is usually revealed as being invalid. Successful political asylum applications for Mexican nationals are rare, lawyers said. Still, the fraud thrives.

Such scams have been going on for decades, but local officials said they've noticed a uptick in complaints in recent months. The rip-off can spell disaster for immigrants desperate for a shot at permanent residency in the United States.

"You have people not only losing their money, but facing deportation or being in limbo after many years of struggle," said Jenaro Batiz-Romero, a spokesman for the Los Angeles city attorney's office, which last year launched an Immigration Fraud Strike Force dedicated to putting deceitful immigration consultants and others out of business. "It's a problem that is much more common than is reported."

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Although, being who we are, I suspect that long term we'd take the aliens' role rather than the humans.

ISAS Deloyed Solar Sail Film in Space

ISAS succeeded in deploying a big thin film for solar sail in space for the first time in the world. ISAS launched a small rocket S-310-34 from Uchinoura Space Center in Kagoshima, Japan, at 15:15, August 9, 2004 (Japan Standard Time). The launch was the culmination of a historic new technology, the world-first successful full-fledged deployment of big films for solar sail. A solar sail is a spacecraft without a rocket engine. It is pushed along directly by light particles from the Sun, reflecting off its giant sails. Because it carries no fuel and keeps accelerating over almost unlimited distances, it is the only technology now in existence that can one day take us to the stars. Although both scientists and science-fiction authors have long foreseen it, no solar sail has ever been launched until now. It is because superlight material for thin film which could bear extremely critical environment in space. Now due to the development of material and production technology, we can utilize promising film materials for solar sail, and the experimental deployment trials toward realization of solar sail have been initiated in some countries.

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Pat Oliphant and The Ghost of Presidencies Past

Ben Sargent on the improving economy

Jeff Danziger show that though white men can jump, elephants can't

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In Hindsight, Kerry Says He'd Still Vote for War
Challenged by President, Democrat Spells Out Stance

By Jim VandeHei
Washington Post Staff Writer
Tuesday, August 10, 2004; Page A01

GRAND CANYON NATIONAL PARK, Ariz., Aug. 9 -- Responding to President Bush's challenge to clarify his position, Sen. John F. Kerry said Monday that he still would have voted to authorize the war in Iraq even if he had known then that U.S. and allied forces would not find weapons of mass destruction.

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Franks Takes the Blame For Bush War Comment

Retired Gen. Tommy R. Franks tried to take the blame yesterday for President Bush's much-criticized comments declaring an end to major combat in Iraq in 2003.

"That's my fault, that George W. Bush said what he said on the first of May of last year, just because I asked him to," said Franks, former commander of forces in Iraq and Afghanistan.

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And they'll be right.

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Making the Grade
Tuesday, August 10, 2004; Page A18

"BE A CONFORMIST." So advises one leading test prep company on how to beat the analytical writing assessment for the graduate business school entrance exam, or GMAT. Lacking originality might land any high school or college student a C-plus, but in the new world of the computer-graded essay, conformity will win the top prize. As The Post's Jay Mathews reported, the GMAT has pioneered the use of computer programs to grade essays in high-stakes standardized testing, and it is being closely watched by other makers of standardized tests. The computer program works by comparing a submitted essay to a database of other already-scored essays on the same topic. The more similar it is to a high-scored essay on the same topic, the better the score.

…But using computers to help grade the test merely underscores the idea that creativity and content are irrelevant, as shown when craftily written nonsense essays earned top marks as part of a study. Scoring high, then, becomes more about hewing to some statistically generated model essay whose cookie-cutter structure can be easily analyzed by a computer. [P6: emphasis added] And with some colleges already using the program to help make placement decisions for writing classes, and some schools using it to give students feedback on their essays, a question arises: Does an essay's value come from hewing strictly to a formula for writing it?

The computer program recommends that a conclusion contain at least three sentences. Why, if two will do?

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Quote of note:

Increasing the number of low-income students who attend college is an ambitious goal, and one that intuitively seems as if it might appeal to precisely the voters both candidates are courting. That makes it all the more odd that the president barely addresses it. Or perhaps, given his campaign's assessment of the issue, it isn't surprising: If a problem doesn't exist, after all, it doesn't require a solution.

The entire Washington Post editorial is below the fold.

Tuition Sticker Shock
Tuesday, August 10, 2004; Page A18

LISTENING TO presidential campaign rhetoric, it sometimes seems as if the candidates are offering not merely alternate policies but alternate descriptions of reality. Rarely is this truer than when Sen. John F. Kerry and President Bush talk about the costs of college tuition. Mr. Kerry speaks of the recent growth in tuition costs, which are rising faster than inflation, and the consequent squeeze on middle- and lower-income students. Yet a spokesman for the president's campaign calls Mr. Kerry's attacks "at odds with the facts that more Americans have college degrees than ever before, and the amount students pay in tuition costs is down by a third since 1998." Mr. Kerry's campaign points out that the amount awarded in federal Pell Grants, which provide tuition funding for low-income students, has stayed flat for the past several years. Mr. Bush's Web site, by contrast, says that the president's proposed funding for Pell Grants has increased by $4.1 billion, or 47 percent, since fiscal 2001 and that the number of recipients has increased by a million students.

To some extent, the differences can be explained away. It is true that tuition has risen dramatically, for example, but it is also true that more financial aid and scholarship money is available: Few students actually pay the "sticker price" for college education. At the same time, the Kerry campaign is correct to say that the amount of Pell Grant money awarded, per student, has merely kept pace with inflation. And the Bush campaign is also correct in saying that overall funding has risen. This is because there are more students going to college -- and more of them, over the past few years, have been poor enough to qualify for the grants.

But the differences between the two positions are not merely semantic. For while the effect of tuition hikes and grant freezes may not be as dramatic as Mr. Kerry sometimes seems to suggest, it is clear that if any group has been affected by them, it is low-income students, to whom disproportionately less grant aid is flowing. This is partly because more scholarship aid, nowadays, is merit-based rather than need-based. It's also partly because Pell Grant awards, as Mr. Kerry says, have remained flat.

Mr. Bush has not, so far, chosen to make much of an issue of this disparity on the campaign trail. He advocates raising the amount of Pell Grant money for students who take a rigorous college-prep program in high school, as provided in some states, but this could only affect about 30,000 students. Mr. Kerry, by contrast, puts this issue at the center of his education platform, alongside school testing and accountability, which we wrote about yesterday. He proposes a very substantial boost in funding for low-income students, mostly by making tuition tax credits refundable -- meaning that those whose income is too low to qualify for a credit get cash instead. He also proposes to pay for this change by altering the way student loans are financed and by preventing banks from guaranteeing themselves excess profits.

Increasing the number of low-income students who attend college is an ambitious goal, and one that intuitively seems as if it might appeal to precisely the voters both candidates are courting. That makes it all the more odd that the president barely addresses it. Or perhaps, given his campaign's assessment of the issue, it isn't surprising: If a problem doesn't exist, after all, it doesn't require a solution.

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Quote of note:

Though advertised as a lifesaver for the nation's ailing manufacturing sector, the legislation would primarily benefit a handful of large corporations that have remained highly profitable during the country's long manufacturing slide -- companies such as Gillette Co., Dell Inc. and Johnson & Johnson.

Fewer than 25,000 companies would divide virtually all of the $63.3 billion in tax relief for domestic manufacturing contained in the Senate tax provision, the analysis found. Of manufacturing companies, fewer than 5 percent would benefit significantly.

The overall bill is considered must-pass legislation by lawmakers in both parties. It would repeal an illegal export subsidy that has led to punitive tariffs imposed by the European Union on U.S. exporters and replace it with a variety of tax cuts and special-interest provisions designed to ease the pain of the lost export benefit.

In fact, many more companies would benefit from the tax changes than did so from the export subsidy, which was worth about $5 billion annually to 1,886 exporters.

Manufacturing Tax Cut Would Help Few
Fight Could Scuttle Broad Legislation
By Jonathan Weisman and Jeffrey H. Birnbaum
Washington Post Staff Writers
Tuesday, August 10, 2004; Page E01

The centerpiece provision of the sweeping corporate tax cuts steaming through Congress would help only about 1.1 percent of the nation's 2.2 million corporations, leaving some of the most troubled domestic manufacturers with no benefit at all, according to an analysis by the nonpartisan staff of Congress's Joint Committee on Taxation.

The new analysis is fueling a quiet war between major, profitable companies that stand to gain from $63.3 billion in reduced manufacturing income taxes over the next 10 years and old-guard steel and automobile giants that already pay little or no tax under the current system. The steelmakers and auto giants instead want the government to pay as much as 10 percent of their burgeoning health care bills by granting billions of dollars in tax credits.

The fight could imperil the most significant corporate tax legislation in 20 years if opponents convince lawmakers that the current version is cast too narrowly.

The findings "confirm my worst fears," Sen. John D. Rockefeller IV (D-W. Va.) said in a letter sent to colleagues last night. "More than 95 percent of manufacturing corporations -- the presumed targeted beneficiaries of the provision -- receive either no benefit or less than $50,000 of benefit."

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The Plame leak investigation carries on, and I am troubled. The technique being used reminds me of how I because diabetic as a side effect of taking prednisone for something else entirely.

It is important to find out who in this administration cares so little for law and national security that they just hand out undercover operative's names to punish their spouses. I STRONGLY feel this administration's operatives did this; they released the name of a very effective mole to help address the distrust most intelligent humans have developed in them because of their own blunders.

I'm not that thrilled about them going through anyone who reported on the story at all. This is another punitive measure, and the ONE PERSON THAT SHOULD BE SUBJECT TO SUCH TREATMENT

The envoy, former ambassador Joseph C. Wilson IV, was recommended for the CIA mission by his wife, Plame, a CIA nonproliferation "operative," Novak wrote, adding that two administration officials offered the information as an explanation of why Wilson was selected. By then, Wilson was publicly accusing the Bush administration of "twisting" intelligence, including his findings in Niger, to build a case for going to war in Iraq.

Novak's lawyer, James Hamilton, declined to comment yesterday on whether his client has received a subpoena.

...is called last, and any reporter that refuses to divulge their source and "gets away" with it will be precident for Novak. And if no one refuses, that will be precident for the next extremist administration (and you'll note there's no political party attached to that statement).

Anyway…

Reporter Held In Contempt in CIA Leak Case
By Susan Schmidt and Carol Leonnig
Washington Post Staff Writers
Tuesday, August 10, 2004; Page A01

A federal judge has held a Time magazine reporter in contempt of court for refusing to testify in an investigation of the leak of a CIA officer's identity, rejecting requests from two media organizations to quash federal grand jury subpoenas seeking information from the media.

U.S. District Chief Judge Thomas F. Hogan ruled that the First Amendment does not insulate reporters from Time and NBC News from a requirement to testify before a criminal grand jury that is conducting the investigation into the possible illegal disclosure of classified information. He unsealed an order that demands the "confinement" of Time reporter Matthew Cooper, who has refused to testify in the probe, but stayed it pending an appeal.

The judge's opinion, reached July 20 but not released until yesterday, will be immediately appealed, Time executives said. Hogan also issued an Aug. 6 order confining Cooper "at a suitable place until such time as he is willing to comply with the grand jury subpoena," and ordered Time to be fined $1,000 a day. The fine was also stayed while the magazine's expedited appeal is considered.

While NBC fought a subpoena issued May 21 and was included in the opinion, it avoided a contempt citation after Tim Russert, moderator of NBC's "Meet the Press," agreed to an interview over the weekend in which he answered a limited number of questions posed by special prosecutor Patrick J. Fitzgerald, NBC said in a statement.

Lawyers involved in the case said it appears that Fitzgerald is now armed with a strong and unambiguous court ruling to demand the testimony of two journalists -- syndicated columnist Robert D. Novak, who first disclosed the CIA officer's name, and Washington Post reporter Walter Pincus, who has written that a Post reporter received information about her from a Bush administration official.

Pincus was served with a subpoena yesterday after Hogan's order was unsealed.

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As wide ranging as my interests are, I can't cover them all with any decent depth. I chose racial issues as a focus for several reasons:

• It affects me more directly than most other issues.
• I can do it where few other seem to be willing or able to
• If America dies, it will not be from invasion. It will be from internal collapse, and unresolved racial issues will be primary among the causes

This comes to mind because after posting a news clip about the Bush puppet regime in Iraq

I'm sorry, Bush MUPPET regime shut down Al-Jazeera's Baghdad office I see this at The Blogging of the President 2004.

First, Remove The Witnesses... by Ian Welsh

If you're going to crush the Iraqi resistance you're going to have to kill a lot of people fairly indiscriminately. That means, in this media age, that you don't want witnesses - specially not witnesses with cameras. In Iraq the veil of darkness has been inexorably falling for months now, as the Western media, most of whom were always unwilling to leave guarded areas, have been coralled through terror, threats and killings. Really, Robert Fisk and a couple others aside, there is only on media source left operating in Iraq. Al-Jazeera.

Barely.
The Iraqi government has shut down Al-Jazeera's Baghdad office. In Fallujah, where Al-Jazeera has the only operating camera crew, Al-Jazeera journalists have been fired on rather often; perhaps because they insist on reporting events like US soldiers opening fire on ambulances and on the fact that Fallujah is degenerating into a full fledged old-fashioned siege; in other words, they're being starved out. Once weakened sufficiently, the US and Allawi's Iraqi forces will sweep in (or at least that's the plan.)

Under the veil of darkness the campaign will continue. Al-Jazeera was certainly biased, but it was more useful than either the resistance reports or official US reports.

Flit has suggested in the past that that we're about two years from concentration camps. It's looking a lot more likely now.

The real question, the real thing to watch here, will be to see how many fronts are opened. If the US and Allawi can keep it primarily in al-Sadr city, Najaf and Fallujah - they can win. If insurrections spread into open fighting elsewhere the Fallujah siege will likely be relieved and the pressure will pull off of Najaf.

I'm starting to think things are getting thick enough that I should cut back on some of the frippery and link to some of the more analytical blogs again.

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August 09, 2004

That's because I went to the dentist (did you know they have digital xray machines now?) and found another place to play for a couple hours. I may split my race discussions up, talk to Black folks here (because it's my damn blog…I haven't said that for a while, and it feels good) and talk to white folks there.

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It seems even failed attempts at comment spam cause issues; specifically, if you get enough fast enough our CPU usage goes through the roof.

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The details are available at The American Progress Action Fund

Rhetoric vs. Reality

Health, Environment, Education

President Bush paid a lot of lip service to health, the environment, and education in his 2000 presidential campaign. The record shows it was just talk.

Energy, Nominations, National Security

On everything from energy, to judicial nominations, to nuclear nonproliferation policy, President Bush has broken his promises to the American people.

Spending, Deficits and Taxes

Presidential candidate George W. Bush promised to be a fiscal conservative, and not destroy the surplus that had been created during the 1990s. But as the record shows, he has overseen the worst budget deterioration in modern American history – and misled the country about who will receive his tax cuts.

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Yesterday's navel gazing about my online future continues And I found five simple questions that sum up what I'm asking myself by way of fifteen or more complex ones:

answer me these questions five:
They say the cobbler's children always go shoeless, but for once I'm intent on making this site exemplary of all the best practices I recommend to our clients. With that in mind, I'd like to share with you the questions I asked myself about v-2, and why I so badly want to rework it. Hopefully, the exercise will be not simply of idle interest to you as readers, but of practical utility to those of you (a plurality of the audience) who work in the broader field of design for user experience.

These are the questions.

1. who is this site for?
2. what is this site for?
3. what isn't this site doing for its users that it should be?
4. what about your own needs? what do you want to see from a redesign?
5. what sites do these things particularly well?

Though design isn't exactly what I'm thinking about, these are good questions to help me focus on what does concern me: content, and what would best be called a mission statement.

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Mr. Keyes the Carpetbagger

Monday, August 9, 2004; Page A14

WHEN PRESIDENT Bush went before the National Urban League conference two weeks ago, after blowing off the NAACP convention, he told the largely African American audience: "I know, I know, I know. Listen, the Republican Party has got a lot of work to do. I understand that." The truth of the statement has been brought home dramatically by the unfolding spectacle of the U.S. Senate race in Illinois. Facing popular Democratic state Sen. Barack Obama on the November ballot, the Illinois Republican Party -- after its candidate dropped out because of some sex-related allegations -- has gone out of state in search of a party member to pick up the GOP flag. That, alone, ought to be humiliating for a major party in a big state. But then Republicans in the Land of Lincoln -- and this is the political party that preaches world without end that it is race-blind and wedded only to merit -- actively sought out African American candidates to run against Mr. Obama, also an African American. Cynical you say? Yes, and tokenism, too. But then they settled on erstwhile senatorial and presidential candidate and talk show host Alan Keyes of Montgomery County, Maryland. Illinois Republican machinations, once amusing, are now absurd.

It's clear by now that Mr. Keyes loves the limelight and to hear himself speak, notwithstanding his rejection by voters in two U.S. Senate races in Maryland and two runs for the GOP presidential nomination. So it comes as no surprise that he would drop everything and hustle out to Illinois where he has never lived, to run for an office he can't win, and for a cause -- his own -- that deserves to lose. But that Mr. Keyes would allow himself to be drafted because of his skin color is beyond anything we would have expected, given his own long-standing vocal opposition to race-conscious decision making. Who out there believes for one second that the Illinois Republican Party would have reached halfway across the country for a candidate with Mr. Keyes's losing track record if the Democratic candidate were not African American? That Mr. Keyes succumbed to their blandishments is a sad commentary on the needs of his ego and the desperation -- or shall we say apparent defeatism -- of a Republican Party that turns to a Marylander with a track record that almost rivals that of Harold Stassen. Mr. Bush got it right. We leave you with this cogitation of Mr. Keyes in 2000: "And I deeply resent the destruction of federalism represented by Hillary Clinton's willingness to go into a state she doesn't even live in and pretend to represent people there. So I certainly wouldn't imitate it."

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There's a list of links to a half dozen articles discussing the embarrassment folks want journalists of color to feel over their respective reactions to Kerry (appreciative) and Bush (polite).

Unity journalists embarrassed by reactions to Kerry, Bush

Baltimore Sun

Houston Chronicle suburban editor Pete McConnell says of the Unity convention crowd's reactions to President Bush and John Kerry: "I was embarrassed. I know who I'm going to vote for in November, but I didn't think we ought to be out there snickering and laughing and giving standing ovations. As a group, we should have kept ourselves in check." Tucson Citizen photog Val Canez adds: "As a registered Republican, I tend to feel that a lot of journalists lean to the left wing and just don't take President Bush seriously. How people reacted today proved that for me."

Lets face it: minorities as a whole don't like Bush.

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The Hip Hop Voter Project

This blog reports information relating to this voter education and registration project in Santa Fe, NM, as well as news and ideas in our political zeitgeist. The Hip Hop Voter Project is a joint action between The Santa Fe Reporter newspaper, an alternative weekly paper in Santa Fe, NM and ChicanoBuilt, an organization that promotes contemporary chicano culture. For more information on The Hip Hop Voter Project, email [email protected]

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The Association of Alternative Newsweeklies, an organization with over 100 members, has set up a web site to provide headlines from and links to every member with an online presemce.

Tom at The Media Drop says it opens officially September 7^th, but you can check it out now.

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Meet Mr. Williams.

(Not Baldpate)

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I believe it would be an invaluable learning experience

Which is why I intend to volunteer for the Alan Keyes campaign for U.S. Senate.

Stop laughing, damn you.

He represents a fine choice for the people of Maryland Illinois. After all, he brings a fresh perspective. Incredibly fresh. Totally untainted with any knowledge whatsoever of local issues, him.

There was a rally today in Arlington Heights, which I would have attended if I'd known about it earlier, since I could have stopped off at Ikea and Mitsuwa afterwards. The Associated Press (by way of the Guardian.co.uk) reports:

On Sunday, Keyes spent much of his speech discussing his love of Maryland and his deliberations over running in Illinois.

Keyes said he felt he should leave Maryland to ``defend the land of my spirit and my conscience and my heart.''

``If indeed that land is the state of Illinois, then I have lived in the Land of Lincoln all my life.'' he said.

I mean, I have no idea what the fuck that means, but isn't it stirring and inspirational?

Ok, no, it isn't, but the point is, I've been depressed as hell lately, and the idea of observing this campaign from the inside fills me with an enthusiasm I'd thought gone forever.

I mean, how often can you get in on the ground floor of a budding fiasco like this? 'tis a once in a lifetime opportunity, I think, and one I intend to embrace wholeheartedly.

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I just love saying "I told you so." Especially when the confirmation damn near quotes my own analysis.

Sandy Berger exonerated (but not by the media)

The media were all over former National Security Adviser Sandy Berger last week when they learned Berger left the National Archives with copies of classified documents. However, when officials investigating Berger's actions cleared him of withholding information ... barely a peep.

As the Wall Street Journal reported Friday, investigators determined that no original materials are missing from the Archives, and nothing Berger viewed was withheld from the Sept. 11 Commission:

"Archives spokeswoman Susan Cooper said officials there 'are confident that there aren't any original documents missing in relation to this case.' She said in most cases, Mr. Berger was given photocopies to review, and that in any event officials have accounted for all originals to which he had access."

Considering the efforts of Tom DeLay and other Republicans to cast Berger's actions as a plot to remove information potentially damaging to the Clinton administration, it's important for readers to know the Sept. 11 Commission never lost access to that material. But neither the New York Times or Washington Post, which covered the initial "Sandy Burglar" allegations at length, have done a follow-up report on the investigators' findings. While the Journal ran a story, it did so on page six Friday, as the convention dominated the front page where Berger appeared Monday. The news cycle moved on without this key information making a dent.

Berger hasn't been charged with any wrongdoing, and his lawyers said he returned all copies of documents he took. Charges might yet be filed for Berger's removing the documents, but it looks like the only damage done in this case is to Berger's reputation.

Hat tip to Professor Kim

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Howie Kurtz interviewed Maria Hinojosa of CNN and Armstrong Baldpate on the Unity Journalist Convention. George has a transcript of the section under consideration at Negrophile.

I will present the Good, the Bad and the Ugly:

First the Good:

KURTZ: Armstrong Williams, you said that you weren't particularly dying to go over to this convention, perhaps you thought it would be a liberal convention. Did anything there surprise you when you went?

WILLIAMS: Well, I wasn't invited, the first thing.

KURTZ: You crashed it.

It's about time!

The Bad:

KURTZ: At the convention this week in Washington, 7,000 journalists, black, Hispanic, Native American and Asian American organizations, put out a report saying that 10.5 percent of the Washington journalists for newspapers are minorities, and only three are bureau chiefs. Why is that?

MARIA HINOJOSA, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Oh, my gosh. That's a huge question, Howard. I mean, that's one of the -- you've got 7,000 journalists here, more than 7,000. Yes, they happen to all be of color, but this is a historic event, because you've never had this many American journalists in one place, ever. The fact that they're of color sort of misses the point.

"The fact that they're all of color sort of misses the point."

Bullshit. That WAS the point.

What, you think white folks will get scared?

The Ugly:

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The Iraq Reconstruction Fiasco

Things have gone so obviously wrong with America's approach to rebuilding Iraq that even the Bush administration is now willing to listen to some informed advice. Before the invasion, the White House and Pentagon contemptuously ignored post-invasion planning memos drafted by State Department experts knowledgeable about Iraq, the Arab world and the broader problems of nation-building. Now some of those same State Department experts are quietly being called back to try to repair the damage. Their re-emergence is welcome, but late in the game. Winning back the good will and trust of ordinary Iraqis will be, at best, an uphill fight.

Almost a year after Congress approved an American contribution of more than $18 billion to rebuild Iraq, very little of this money has been spent. Very little has actually been built in Iraq, and most of what has been done has been paid for out of Iraq's own revenues. This is more than an embarrassing case of dysfunctional aid management and shifty accounting. It helps explain why so many Iraqis have come to resent the American occupation even though it removed a hated dictator and ended 13 years of punishing economic sanctions. Even people who initially welcomed the invasion have had a hard time understanding or accepting why, 16 months after American troops took Baghdad, electricity and clean water are only intermittently available and nearly half of employable Iraqis are without work.

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Keyes vs. Obama in Illinois Race
By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS

ARLINGTON HEIGHTS, Ill., Aug. 8 (AP) - Alan Keyes, the conservative political commentator who twice ran unsuccessfully for the Republican nomination for president, agreed on Sunday to run against a rising Democratic star to try to protect an open Senate seat from Illinois.

"We do face an uphill battle, there's no doubt," Mr. Keyes told cheering supporters at a rally in this Chicago suburb. "So I'm not going to stand here and with tremendous ease promise you a victory. But I'll tell you what I will promise. I will promise you a fight."

Mr. Keyes will face State Senator Barack Obama in the campaign to replace Senator Peter Fitzgerald, a Republican, who is retiring. Both Mr. Keyes and Mr. Obama are African-American, seemingly assuring Illinois of producing the fifth black elected senator.

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Quote of note:

"It was, in fact, the president who really put this on the agenda in his State of the Union address, the famous 'axis of evil' address," Ms. Rice said.

And took it off the agenda by invading Iraq.

Anyway…

Rice Says Iran Must Not Be Allowed to Develop Nuclear Arms
By DAVID E. SANGER

ENNEBUNKPORT, Me., Aug. 8 - President Bush's national security adviser said Sunday that the United States and its allies "cannot allow the Iranians to develop a nuclear weapon" and warned that President Bush would "look at all the tools that are available to him" to stop Iran's program.

Condoleezza Rice, the national security adviser, said on the NBC News program "Meet the Press" that she expected that the International Atomic Energy Agency would make what she called "a very strong statement" in September forcing Iran to choose between isolation or the abandonment of its nuclear weapons efforts. But she stopped short of saying whether the United States could muster its allies to impose sanctions against Iran in the United Nations Security Council.

Until now, European powers and Russia have resisted American efforts to impose sanctions against Iran, which they see as a major trading partner.

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Bush's Obstructionism
August 9, 2004

Poll after poll finds that Americans overwhelmingly support lifting President Bush's constricted stem-cell research policy and renewing the expiring federal assault gun ban. Yet the president's reelection game plan is trumping the desires of most Americans and, apparently, a majority in Congress.

Bills that would accomplish both critical goals are stalled. Congressional leaders, taking their cue from a president anxious to please a loyal minority of hard-right voters, refuse to schedule votes.

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Crayons ready? It's the G.W. Bush Liberry
His malaprops will be chiseled in marble walls
- Jaime O'Neill
Sunday, August 8, 2004

In anticipation of the day when George W. Bush is no longer in office, it is perhaps appropriate to give some thought to the prospect of a George W. Bush Presidential Library. The concept may seem oxymoronic to some. After all, how do we go about building a library for a man who appears so proud of his alienation from printed matter? He boasts of not reading newspapers, and there is little to be found in any of his public statements to suggest a familiarity with any book whatsoever. The thought of our current president reading, say, Shakespeare, defies imagining. It is difficult to think of him reading Danielle Steele, or John Grisham, let alone the Bard of Avon.

But if the Bush presidency has been about anything, it's been about breaking free of the fetters of the traditional past. It was the Bush presidency, after all, that did away with the fussy old notion about the U.S. not engaging in unilateral acts of first-strike aggression against sovereign nations. It was George Bush, after all, who redefined a "conservative" as someone who believed in enormous deficits. And it was the Bush administration that accelerated the separation of language from action by constantly saying one thing while meaning another; i.e. "Clear Skies" initiatives, and "No Child Left Behind."

Given all that, it may turn out that the George W. Bush Presidential Library (or, perhaps, "Liberry") will be equally surprising in the ways it breaks with tradition, and with meaning.

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Iraq issues arrest warrants for prominent Iraqi politicians
- JAMIE TARABAY, Associated Press Writer
Sunday, August 8, 2004

(08-08) 15:39 PDT BAGHDAD, Iraq (AP) --

Iraq has issued arrest warrants for Ahmad Chalabi, a former Governing Council member with strong U.S. ties, on counterfeiting charges, and for his nephew Salem Chalabi -- head of the tribunal trying Saddam Hussein -- on murder charges, Iraq's chief investigating judge said Sunday.

The warrant was the latest strike against Ahmad Chalabi in his removal from the centers of power. A longtime Iraqi exile opposition leader, he had been a favorite of many in the Pentagon but fell out with the Americans in the weeks before the U.S. occupation ended in June.

Both men denied the charges, dismissing them as part of a political conspiracy against them and their family.

Salem Chalabi, named as a suspect in the June murder of Haithem Fadhil, director general of the finance ministry, called the accusation "ridiculous." His uncle said the charges were "outrageous" and "manufactured lies."

Ahmad Chalabi was somewhat marginalized when he was left out of the new interim government that took power June 28 but has since worked to reposition himself as a Shiite populist. At the helm of the war crimes tribunal for Saddam, the Ivy League-educated Salem Chalabi remains a central figure in Iraq.

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August 08, 2004

I've decided to try a group blog rather than a community site, at least to start with. And since I'll be posting on two sites I had to think about what posts go where; I have to differentiate the sites in my mind.

I find most "Black" sites a bit narrow in focus. They tend to focus on those things the mainstream media do not. But I find every damn thing that impacts me to be a Black issue. That's one reason the subject matter covered here is so broad…to me, Black issues is a larger category than mainstream issues, so I don't want to rule any subject out for either site. And I don't want to just reproduce what others are doing.

I figure the benefit of a group blog (with potential to grow into a community site) is that folks can help cover what I can't, from lack of time or knowledge (just because it looks like I think I know it all doesn't make it so. I know exactly what those things are that I don't know). So Prometheus 6 should be for those subjects no one can write about but me. Basically that means I'm looking at doing objective issues on the group blog and subjective issues on Prometheus 6. That's not to restrict anyone I sucker into joining me, that's just my breakdown.

People should realize it will be Bizarro World for a lot of non-Black folks. That don't mean you can't hang. It may mean you'll have to justify the occasional assumption—we'll be juggling the default values a bit.

Comments will be registered users only in the group blog, I think. I've seen too many comments about deleting foul comments floating around recently.

Tip jar, Google ads, Blog Ads, something like that.

I spent several hours worth of disconnected minutes thinking about being fair and balanced, make sure we got libertarian and conservative representation. Fact is, proportional representation would require some 40 bloggers to get one of each.Ultimately I decided it's not my responsibility to give equal time. Anyway, that's where stories come in. Anyone can submit one of those if they register, and they go into a submission queue. Folks can read and comment on them and if enough folks give it a plus vote it will appear on the front page of the site.

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Quote of note:

In an Arab world rife with conspiracy theories, the decision to close the offices of the popular channel could reinforce the perception that decisions by Iraq's interim government are influenced by the United States, which has long complained about Al-Jazeera's coverage.

Government ministers in Iraq have grown increasingly critical of the television station in recent weeks.

Interim Prime Minister Ayad Allawi said Saturday that the government had convened an independent commission a month ago to monitor Al-Jazeera's daily coverage "to see what kind of violence they are advocating, inciting hatred and problems and racial tension."

Iraqi government shuts Al-Jazeera station
By Mariam Fam, Associated Press Writer | August 8, 2004

BAGHDAD, Iraq --Police ordered Al-Jazeera's employees out of their newsroom Saturday after the Iraqi government accused the Arab satellite channel of inciting violence and closed its office for 30 days.

Iraqi Interior Minister Falah al-Naqib said the closure was intended to give the station "a chance to re-adjust their policy against Iraq."

"They have been showing a lot of crimes and criminals on TV, and they transfer a bad picture about Iraq and about Iraqis and encourage criminals to increase their activities," he said. "We want to protect our people."

Al-Jazeera officials said the closure was an ominous violation of freedom of the press. Haider al-Mulla, a lawyer for Al-Jazeera, said the channel would respect the decision but study its legal options.

Senior Iraqi police officials arrived at the station's central Baghdad office Saturday evening and, in an extraordinary scene broadcast live on the network, sat at a table drinking soft drinks with senior staff as they calmly explained the order.

Al-Mullah said the closure decision was unclear and objected to its phrasing. The police said they had to execute the order anyway, asking al-Mullah to take his complaints to the Interior Ministry.

The police refused to leave the office before locking the newsroom and ordering employees to go home. Crossing his wrists as if handcuffed, a police officer warned al-Mullah against violating the decision.

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Quote of note:

Other memos show the chief of the elite organized crime strike force in Detroit, Assistant U.S. Attorney Keith Corbett, challenged the judgment of Justice's terrorism chief, Barry Sabin.

"I see no reason to listen to petty bureaucratic complaints by people who will not and could not try the case," Corbett wrote. "Sorry if this response seems impolite, but I have had it with Barry Sabin."

When Washington evaluated the Detroit office as uncooperative after the trial, Detroit responded with a strong retort.

The lone Justice lawyer sent from Washington to help told his Detroit colleagues "he had no intention of participating in the trial" and refused to assist when an urgent issue arose involving a witness and the State Department, the Detroit office wrote.

The Washington lawyer "spent the same 10 (trial) weeks in a hotel at taxpayers' expense when he was not playing basketball in the evenings," the memo stated.

AP: Superiors hindered terror prosecutors
By John Solomon, Associated Press Writer | August 8, 2004

WASHINGTON --Prosecutors in the first major terror trial after Sept. 11 were hindered by superiors from presenting some of their most powerful evidence, including testimony from an al-Qaida leader and video footage showing Osama bin Laden's European operatives casing American landmarks, Justice Department memos show.

The department's terrorism unit "provided no help of any kind in this prosecution," the U.S. Attorney's office in Detroit wrote in one of the memos, which detail bitter divisions between front-line prosecutors and their superiors in Washington.

The Detroit case ended last summer with the convictions, hailed by the Bush administration, of three men who were accused of operating a sleeper terror cell that possessed plans for attacks around the world.

A fourth defendant was acquitted, however, and only two of the four men originally arrested were convicted of terrorism charges. Now the convictions are in jeopardy because of an internal investigation into allegations that defense lawyers were denied evidence that could have helped them.

Whatever the outcome, internal documents obtained by The Associated Press and more than three dozen interviews with current and former officials detail how the differences between Washington and the field office kept important evidence from being shown to jurors.

"We were butting heads vigorously with narrow-shouldered bureaucrats in Washington," Assistant U.S. Attorney Richard Convertino told AP in an interview. He is the lead Detroit prosecutor who is now under investigation in Washington.

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GOP sen. comes to U.S. attorneys' defense
August 8, 2004

WASHINGTON --In blunt, private letters, the Senate Finance Committee chairman has told Attorney General John Ashcroft he believes the Justice Department has retaliated against prosecutors in a Detroit terror trial because they cooperated with Congress.

Sen. Charles Grassley, R-Iowa, has written Ashcroft or his deputies at least three times to accuse department officials of taking "hostile actions" and "reprisals" against the trial prosecutors.

In one letter, Grassley demanded that Assistant U.S. Attorney Richard Convertino and his colleagues in Detroit "be made whole and not suffer reprisals." The senator asked Ashcroft to rectify the matter before it begins "exposing the department to public criticisms."

Grassley also dismissed as "bureaucratic, legalistic spin" the department's explanations for why the prosecution team was subjected to internal investigation.

"Federal law provides individuals who are congressional witnesses or assisting congressional investigations protection from retaliation," Grassley wrote.

Justice officials declined comment.

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I've come to the conclusion a group blog isn't the same thing as a community site. I've also concluded my next venture should start clean rather than be seeded with the whole of Prometheus 6. Finally, I'm starting to think more in terms of toolkits than pamphleteering.

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Would that the work of every sell-out were treated as Eric at Is That Legal? treated Michelle Malkin's latest. It was while guesting at the Volokh Conspiracy, but he posted a nice set of links to the discussion on his own site.

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David at In Search of Utopia is bugging over Black Conservative rhetoric. When he says:

The thing that I think is saddest about all this, is that MANY Black Conservatives forget or choose to ignore that in 2004 in this country, they are to the Majority, FIRST BLACK and then anything else... That is why even today, news reports start when describing a Black person of note, with... African American _____________ Leader, Politician, Executive, etc. etc.

…and of course, in his comments he got the typical responses well-meaning, somewhat conscious conservative white folks give, in descending order of reasonability:

As part of that majority, I have to raise my hand in protest. I know very few of the majority who see it that way. Those who do, such as the media folks you mention, tend to be liberal.

This country is divided more along those philosophical lines than by color. It is difficult to see because the division within any skin color group differs. I think that is where you will see the division you feel.

Birds of a feather flock together. Like attracts like. If most of the people you know aren't racist that's most likely because you personally shun them, not because there are few racists.

I mean, c'mon. How many times have you heard a white person say "nigger" when there were no Black folks present? And don't try to tell me they meant "my nigga."

In fact, this is a great time to pull out a Washington Post editorial I was emailed by one Black Magic:

Black Like Whom? By Vanessa Williams Thursday, August 5, 2004; Page A19

I am stumped.

Scott L. Malcomson, writing in Sunday's New York Times, declares that Barack Obama, the Democratic Senate nominee from Illinois, "is not black in the usual way." To bolster his argument, he cited an article in the New Republic by Noam Scheiber, who voiced the opinion that Obama is "not stereotypically African-American."

How is one black "in the usual way"? What does it mean to be "stereotypically African-American"?

Malcomson tried to explain by emphasizing Obama's mixed-race heritage -- his father is a black Kenyan, his mother a white Kansan. He pointed out that Obama was raised by his mother and her parents in Hawaii, as opposed to being brought up in a black household. He argued that Obama's keynote address at the Democratic National Convention last week "did not . . . sound the familiar notes of African-American politics."

After noting that Obama identifies himself as a black man, Malcomson seemed to be trying to prove that the Senate candidate is mistaken about his own identity. "[W]hile he is black, he is not the direct product of generations of black life in America: he is not black in the usual way," Malcomson wrote. I wonder: Is there a "usual way" to be white?

Understand there's little difference between saying "Most of them are bad" and "some of them are good." And understand that all your white friend that say things like, "I'm not prejudiced. I know this Black guy and I voted for whatshername on American Idol," have at least a few issues.

This behavior is the converse a philosophy that I do my best to follow, which is to look at the person, not the color of their skin.

However, the bulk of your discussion seems to be taking to task people who's skin color happens to be classified as "black" for not putting the concerns of blacks higher, if not first. So it appears as if you are asking that they think of themselves as "first black and then anything else". Did I misunderstand your point?

As I read it, David was taking them to task for not recognizing the above reality in their discussion.It's not that they don't put the concerns of Blacks higher.

Though I myself will say those who really don't give a shit about Black folks should just drop the "Black" and call themselves "Conservatives."

Republicans sponsored the Civil Rights Act of 1957. The Civil Rights Act of 1964 passed with 82% Republican Senators and 80% Republican Representatives voting in favor, while the Democrat totals were 69% and 61%. And the first Republican president was Abraham Lincoln.

Yes, I am white. I'm white and I live in one of the whitest states in the Union (I grew up in "the hilltops of New Hampshire"). I didn't get to know any black people until I got to college. But to argue that people cannot embrace a political philosophy based on the color of their skin seems fundamentally wrong.

I'm tired of living in the past. My ancestry is pretty well mongrelized, with ties to Scandanavia, England, France, and Ireland. But I feel a hell of a lot more kinship with you, David, than I do with a bunch of white Europeans. You and I (even though you're currently abroad) share more than I do with them. And even though I often feel the impulse to whack you upside the head with a baseball bat (Nerf, of course), I'd defend you against those with whom I share skin and ancestry.

This would be wonderful, if it weren't for the first two thirds of it. How you gonna be tired of living in the past and defending Republicans with 40 year old legislation, all the opponents of which quit the Democratic Party to join the Republican Party?

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Differences on a biological level aren't better or worse, they're just different…cosmetic at best. It's our outlook and history that make them damaging or enabling.

In this case, because research on heart disease has traditionally been done on men, women's specific physical issues were overlooked. Results: more women dying of what is essentially an untreated disease. This would probably not be the case had research for women been done on the same terms as for men. But it wasn't, and that's not the result of any conscious decision.It's the result of all the accumulated decisions, probably since the first Homo Sapiens assumed an alpha role in its tribe.

Once you know there's a difference like this, what do you do?

You start taking it into account. You do more research on heart disease in women,

You take affirmative action to address the shortcoming.

Heart Disease Differs in Women
Usual Tests, Drugs May Not Work Well

…Doctors are starting to realize that many women probably have Kastan's kind of heart disease, as well as other forms that differ in essential ways from the well-known pattern that strikes most men. This new understanding -- that heart disease may be a fundamentally different disease in many women -- has far-reaching implications for medicine's ability to defend women against the nation's No. 1 killer. Contrary to persistent misconceptions, heart disease claims the lives of more women than men.

"The whole disease is poorly understood in women, from the expression of the symptoms all the way down to some of the basic mechanisms," said Carl J. Pepine, a cardiologist at University of Florida's College of Medicine in Gainesville. "The disease has a very broad spectrum, and more men are at one side and more women are at the other side."

Instead of one main blockage, arteries in many women go into spasm or have smaller, easily missed buildups along their entire lengths, which can be just as dangerous as one big one. And often the problems lie not in the major arteries that nourish the heart muscle but in the frequently overlooked smaller branches.

These differences, frequently found in younger women, could help explain why the symptoms are often so different than in men, why women are often misdiagnosed -- or never diagnosed -- why they commonly are not treated until much later, and why women are more likely to die from their heart disease even when they are treated. The standard tests, drugs and procedures simply may not work as well for many women.

"We are just now starting to describe this really for the first time," said C. Noel Bairey Merz, a heart expert at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center in Los Angeles. "We hear about how women are treated less aggressively than men, and how they eventually have worse heart attacks and are more likely to die with their heart disease. We can see how this could culminate in that way."

This new understanding is emerging only now because heart disease research has traditionally focused almost exclusively on men. Experts assumed that women's tendency to fare so poorly was the result of not being treated as early or as thoroughly as men.

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Quote of note:

A source such as Khan -- cooperating with the authorities while staying in active contact with trusting al Qaeda agents -- would be among the most prized assets imaginable, he said.

"Running agents within a terrorist organization is the Holy Grail of intelligence agencies. And to have it blown is a major setback which negates months and years of work, which may be difficult to recover."

Unmasking of Qaeda Mole a U.S. Security Blunder-Experts
Sat Aug 7, 2004 05:47 PM ET

By Peter Graff
LONDON (Reuters) - The revelation that a mole within al Qaeda was exposed after Washington launched its "orange alert" this month has shocked security experts, who say the outing of the source may have set back the war on terror.

Reuters learned from Pakistani intelligence sources on Friday that computer expert Mohammad Naeem Noor Khan, arrested secretly in July, was working under cover to help the authorities track down al Qaeda militants in Britain and the United States when his name appeared in U.S. newspapers.

"After his capture he admitted being an al Qaeda member and agreed to send e-mails to his contacts," a Pakistani intelligence source told Reuters. "He sent encoded e-mails and received encoded replies. He's a great hacker and even the U.S. agents said he was a computer whiz."

Last Sunday, U.S. officials told reporters that someone held secretly by Pakistan was the source of the bulk of the information justifying the alert. The New York Times obtained Khan's name independently, and U.S. officials confirmed it when it appeared in the paper the next morning.

None of those reports mentioned at the time that Khan had been under cover helping the authorities catch al Qaeda suspects, and that his value in that regard was destroyed by making his name public.

A day later, Britain hastily rounded up terrorism suspects, some of whom are believed to have been in contact with Khan while he was under cover. Washington has portrayed those arrests as a major success, saying one of the suspects, named Abu Musa al-Hindi or Abu Eissa al-Hindi, was a senior al Qaeda figure.

But British police have acknowledged the raids were carried out in a rush. Suspects were dragged out of shops in daylight and caught in a high speed car chase, instead of the usual procedure of catching them at home in the early morning while they can offer less resistance.

"HOLY GRAIL" OF INTELLIGENCE

Security experts contacted by Reuters said they were shocked by the revelations that the source whose information led to the alert was identified within days, and that U.S. officials had confirmed his name.

"The whole thing smacks of either incompetence or worse," said Tim Ripley, a security expert who writes for Jane's Defense publications. "You have to ask: what are they doing compromising a deep mole within al Qaeda, when it's so difficult to get these guys in there in the first place?

"It goes against all the rules of counter-espionage, counter-terrorism, running agents and so forth. It's not exactly cloak and dagger undercover work if it's on the front pages every time there's a development, is it?"

A source such as Khan -- cooperating with the authorities while staying in active contact with trusting al Qaeda agents -- would be among the most prized assets imaginable, he said.

"Running agents within a terrorist organization is the Holy Grail of intelligence agencies. And to have it blown is a major setback which negates months and years of work, which may be difficult to recover."

Rolf Tophoven, head of the Institute for Terrorism Research and Security Policy in Essen, Germany, said allowing Khan's name to become public was "very unclever."

"If it is correct, then I would say its another debacle of the American intelligence community. Maybe other serious sources could have been detected or guys could have been captured in the future" if Khan's identity had been protected, he said.

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Check this:

"It is unfortunate that it had to be the type of video that was offensive and shocking, but it was necessary to see how quickly this kind of thing would spread," he said.

Vanderford said he distributed the staged video on Kazaa and other Internet peer-to-peer networks which are popular swapping forums for films, music and software. He said if his staged death appeared on any terror-related Web sites it was the work of others who found the video on the peer-to-peer networks.

FBI Probes Hoax Video of Iraq Beheading
Sat Aug 7, 2004 06:08 PM ET

By Adam Tanner and Barbara Grady
SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) - A San Francisco computer expert duped international media on Saturday into believing Islamist kidnappers had executed an American hostage in Iraq by staging his own mock beheading on the Internet.

The FBI questioned Benjamin Vanderford, 22, shortly after the hoax became public. "We will pursue any and all legal avenues for prosecution," said FBI special agent LaRae Quy of the bureau's San Francisco office. "At this point the matter is still under investigation."

The video, which appeared on a Web site used by Islamic militants, showed Vanderford appealing to the United States to leave Iraq. The Web format was that used by al Qaeda ally Abu Musab al-Zarqawi and was introduced by a headline that said it showed Zarqawi killing an American.

"If we don't (leave Iraq), everyone is gonna be killed in this way ... I have been offered for exchange for prisoners here in Iraq," the terrified-looking man said, rocking back and forth in his chair, his hands tied behind his back.

The video showed a hand with a large knife apparently slicing the neck of a limp body.

But the blood was dye, the setting was a friend's garage, the Koran reading was a tape and the knife was held by a friend. Mutilated bodies and sound effects were edited in from photos on Web sites and the video was purposefully blurred to make it seem even more amateur, Vanderford said.

A major motivation for his action, an unrepentant Vanderford told Reuters, was to see how the world media would react and to see if they would be fooled. "It really illustrates the potential that this kind of thing would happen," he said.

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Report: Prozac Found in Britain's Drinking Water
Sun Aug 8, 2004 07:48 AM ET

LONDON (Reuters) - Traces of the anti-depressant Prozac have been found in Britain's drinking water supply, setting off alarm bells with environmentalists concerned about potentially toxic effects.
The Observer newspaper said Sunday that a report by the government's environment watchdog found Prozac was building up in river systems and groundwater used for drinking supplies.

The exact quantity of Prozac in the drinking water was unknown, but the Environment Agency's report concluded Prozac could be potentially toxic in the water table.

Experts say that Prozac finds its way into rivers and water systems from treated sewage water, and some believe the drugs could affect reproductive ability.

A spokesman for Britain's Drinking Water Inspectorate said Prozac was likely to be found in a considerably watered down form that was unlikely to pose a health risk.

"It is extremely unlikely that there is a risk, as such drugs are excreted in very low concentrations," the spokesman said. "Advanced treatment processes installed for pesticide removal are effective in removing drug residues."

But environmentalists called for an urgent investigation into the findings.

Norman Baker, environment spokesman for the Liberal Democrats, said it looked "like a case of hidden mass medication upon the unsuspecting public."

"It is alarming that there is no monitoring of levels of Prozac and other pharmacy residues in our drinking water," he told the Observer.

The Environment Agency has held a series of meetings with the pharmaceutical industry to discuss any repercussions for human health or the ecosystem, the Observer said.

Prescription of anti-depressants has surged in Britain. In the decade up to 2001, overall prescriptions of antidepressants rose from 9 million to 24 million a year, the paper said.

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Sudan Seeks Arab Help in Avoiding Sanctions
Sun Aug 8, 2004 11:11 AM ET

By Tom Perry
CAIRO (Reuters) - Sudan sought Arab help Sunday to head off possible sanctions threatened by the United Nations if Khartoum fails to rein in marauding militiamen accused of genocide and ethnic cleansing in its western Darfur region.

Sudan has about three weeks left to show the U.N. Security Council it is serious about disarming the Janjaweed militia. Darfur rebels say Khartoum is backing Janjaweed attacks to drive non-Arab villagers from their homes.

Sudan's Foreign Minister Mustafa Osman Ismail said Khartoum was seeking political support from Arab ministers "which will lead to the halting of any attempts to target Sudan or issuing of sanctions against it."

The ministers were meeting at the Arab League in Cairo on Sunday for emergency discussions on Darfur, where the United Nations says fighting has killed 50,000, displaced 1 million and left 2 million short of food and medicine.

Arab League Secretary General Amr Moussa said the Arabs were inclined toward helping Sudan avoid sanctions. The League has said the sanctions threat will not help resolve the humanitarian crisis.

Egyptian Foreign Minister Ahmed Aboul Gheit said Khartoum, which has agreed a plan with the United Nations to tackle the crisis, was proving its credibility.

The plan sets out steps to disarm the Janjaweed and other outlawed groups, improve security in Darfur and address the humanitarian crisis.

Jan Pronk, the U.N. secretary-general's special representative to Sudan, told reporters in Cairo he hoped the Arab League meeting would provide political support for the plan's implementation.

But New York-based Human Rights Watch urged the Arab League to put pressure on Sudan's government, not to protect it.

"Allowing the Sudanese government to hide its crimes behind Arab solidarity would be an insult to more than 1 million Muslim victims in Darfur," said Peter Takirambudde, executive director of the group's Africa division.

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Quote of note:

Republican officials say the fees have risen this year - they topped out at $1,750 in 2000 - because of the new McCain-Feingold campaign finance law, which eliminated the unlimited so-called soft money contributions that used to make up a large part of the party's finances and were traditionally used to pay for convention events. Now operating on a leaner budget, the Republican Party chose to pass the costs on to those attending the convention rather than spend cash that could be used to support President Bush in the election.

Republican Donors Are Paying to Play at the Convention
By GLEN JUSTICE

ASHINGTON, Aug. 7 - Lunch at the Plaza Hotel. Dinner at Le Cirque. Cocktails at the New York Stock Exchange. That's the least the Republican Party could do to welcome its top fund-raisers to the convention in New York this month. Right?

Yes, but there's just one catch. They have to pay for it.

These supporters - some of whom have raised $200,000 or more for President Bush or the party - are being charged a "convention fee'' this year of up to $4,500 per person for themselves and each guest, according to a Web page run by LogiCom Project Management, the company handling the events and travel arrangements.

That's just for starters. The fund-raisers will also pay for airfare, several nights in a hotel and optional events they might choose - like a fashion show at Barneys or the U.S. Open tennis tournament. The result is that a couple could easily run up a tab of well over $10,000.

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Quote of note:

Overcoming the hurdles prison places on marketing is not impossible, as the rapper Tupac Shakur proved.

"The truth about it is," said Antonio Reid, the chairman of the Island Def Jam Music Group, "there are times when our marketing plans don't really include the artist anyway - maybe it costs too much to move them around, maybe the artist doesn't live in the U.S.''

"I know I can't do anything with him,'' Mr. Reid said of Shyne. "We approach it like he's just in Japan."

Aiming for the Top of the Music Chart From Behind Bars
By JEFF LEEDS

In the calculating eyes of music industry executives, the rap artist Jamaal Barrow possesses the sort of street credibility that instantly draws fans and sells records - a prison sentence. Unfortunately for them, he's serving it right now.

Mr. Barrow, professionally known as Shyne and a former protégé of the rap music impresario Sean Combs, was heavily courted this winter despite being just three years into a 10-year sentence for a shooting while he was with Mr. Combs at a Manhattan nightclub. But now, after signing Shyne to a multimillion-dollar-record contract to put out some of his unreleased recordings, executives at Vivendi Universal's Def Jam Recordings are finding that some of the very traits that stirred up such interest - his hardcore image and tangles with the law - may prove to be major drawbacks as they market his new album, "Godfather Buried Alive,'' due in stores Tuesday.

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Quote of note:

The real reason Cox and others are weighing going private is the money they expect to make. With most of the costly network upgrades complete at Cox Communications, Mrs. Anthony and Mrs. Chambers can just sit back and collect cash.

And at $32 a share - which is about $3,950 per subscriber - the cost of taking the company private, if approved by a special independent committee of the Cox Communications board, would be cheap relative to historical valuations.

I don't look forward to a future of great corporate behemoths roaming the landscape with no connection to humans except profit motive. Thanks to some fatuous interpretations of the 14^th amendment, corporations (being legal persons) have all the rights Black folks are supposed to have. The only leverage you have on private companies is the decision to buy their stuff or not. With some companies that's not much leverage at all.

Anyway…

Kissing the Public Goodbye
By ANDREW ROSS SORKIN
Published: August 8, 2004

WHO doesn't want a bit of privacy?

The family that controls Cox Communications announced plans last week to take the publicly held cable company private and, as is the way of corporate America and Wall Street, now lots of others are toying with the same concept.

…Cox and others contemplating such a move seem to be fed up with all those pesky shareholders, quarterly earnings targets and second-guessing research analysts. With stocks generally down - and cable industry stocks down a lot - some controlling shareholders have decided it may be best to go private so they can milk their cash cows and work out kinks in the business by themselves rather than on CNBC.

James C. Kennedy, chairman and chief executive of Cox Enterprises, which is controlled by Barbara Cox Anthony and Anne Cox Chambers, said as much in his proposal to the board of Cox Communications.

"The competitive demands of the cable industry when balanced against the need for a public company to be vigilant with respect to short-term results have convinced us that private ownership of this business is desirable and will assist C.C.I. in attaining its business objectives," he wrote.

That a company like Cox would go private simply because of the annoyance of being a public company is not the whole story, though.

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Not in the sense of "Please, sir, I want some more," but in the sense of "Yooooou asked for it…"

Planned obsolescence, this years' model, just throw it away, fashion, consumerism…the typical person has been trained away from seeing any permanent value in anything. I really think that trained response has as much to do with the national divorce rate as anything specific any human may do.

Quote of note:

The problem? Too many companies confuse selling clever gadgets at good prices with delighting customers. When so many products get cheaper every year, offering customers a great bargain will not necessarily win their loyalty. Someone else is bound to offer a better bargain, and besides, most customers have come to expect good deals. "Price has an effect on whether you buy or not," Dr. Fornell says. "It has less of an impact on whether you're satisfied or not."

Companies Find They Can't Buy Love With Bargains
By WILLIAM C. TAYLOR

CORPORATE executives have plenty to worry about these days: a sideways stock market, the backlash against offshoring and additional scrutiny from regulators. But they may want to pay attention to one more worrisome issue - a rocky relationship with customers.

Companies are offering the best bargains in history. It has never been cheaper to fly from Dallas to Los Angeles, to make a phone call from Boston to Brussels or to buy a computer or a DVD player. Yet the harder companies work to make products cheaper and better, the less they seem to impress their customers.

The American Customer Satisfaction Index, the definitive benchmark of how buyers feel about what business is selling them, will reach its 10-year anniversary this fall. For business - the index measures satisfaction for 200 companies in 40 industries - it is hardly a cause for celebration. Some scores have risen in the last few years, but many industries and companies rate lower today than they did in 1994, and the index is down over all.

A decade ago, on a scale of 0 to 100, the overall index was 74.8. The most recent score was 74.4. Back then, the airline industry was at 72; the most recent score was 66. Telecommunications was at 81; the most recent score was 71. Personal computers were at 78; the most recent score was 72.

The bottom line is that despite a decade of spectacular advances in hardware price and performance, as well as an explosion of innovation in consumer electronics, mobile phones, Internet access and low-cost travel, customers remain unmoved, even downright unappreciative.

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U.S. Says Man Had Ties to Plot to Disrupt Vote
By DAVID JOHNSTON

Published: August 8, 2004

This article was reported by David Johnston, Thom Shanker and David E. Sanger, and written by Mr. Johnston.

WASHINGTON, Aug. 7 - A Pakistani man whose arrest provided information about the reconnaissance of financial institutions in New York, Newark and Washington was also communicating with Qaeda operatives who the authorities say are plotting to carry out an attack intended to disrupt the fall elections, a senior intelligence official said Saturday.

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Diplomacy Fails to Slow Advance of Nuclear Arms
By DAVID E. SANGER

KENNEBUNKPORT, Me., Aug. 7 - American intelligence officials and outside nuclear experts have concluded that the Bush administration's diplomatic efforts with European and Asian allies have barely slowed the nuclear weapons programs in Iran and North Korea over the past year, and that both have made significant progress.

In a tacit acknowledgment that the diplomatic initiatives with European and Asian allies have failed to curtail the programs, senior administration and intelligence officials say they are seeking ways to step up unspecified covert actions intended, in the words of one official, "to disrupt or delay as long as we can" Iran's efforts to develop a nuclear weapon.

But other experts, including former Clinton administration officials, caution that while covert efforts have been tried in the past, both the Iranian and North Korean programs are increasingly self-sufficient, largely thanks to the aid they received from the network built by Abdul Qadeer Khan, the former leader of the Pakistani bomb program. "It's a much harder thing to accomplish today," said one senior American intelligence official, "than it would have been in the 90's."

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