Prometheus 6: May 04, 2003 - May 10, 2003 Archives

May 10, 2003

We interrupt our regularly scheduled program

I spent some time yesterday on some of the less virulent right wing sites and still came away a bit disheartened. Makes me wonder if people actually follow links or just suck down the focused extracts presented. I actually wonder if the people doing the extracting read the articles.

Yeah, I do some of that focused extracting too. I really try to make sure the extract presents a real idea of the position presented or intrigues one int oreading the rest of the article. And I'm a speed-reader, so I may not be the best one to be doing the comparisons. And yes, I wonder the same thing about the progressives.

Anyway, it's all attackATTACKattack out here. And in the government its all lieLIElie. Not just the feds; for instance, NYC lied about their MTA budget to get transit fare hikes and it just wasn't necessary. Most folks would have understood if they said "the budget is screwed and this is a reasonable way to help bridge the gap."

Like I said, I'm a bit disheartened this morning.

What I need to do to get over this is find something constructive to present. So I'm going to be looking for that today. I will not be posting anything further today. Check back like noon EST tomorrow. If there's still nothing new then come back Monday, by which time I will definitely be posting. I may only be in progress with the additions and changes but I'm sure there'll be something I can't hold off talking about by then. The talking heads on Sunday morning generally present an irresistable target.

posted by Prometheus 6 at 5/10/2003 09:52:34 AM |

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May 09, 2003

Fools done set me off

from http://members.aol.com/digasa/dubois.htm

The Lie of History as It Is Taught Today (1960)
(The Civil War: The War to Preserve Slavery)
W.E.B. Du Bois
The National Guardian, February 15, 1960

One hundred years ago next year this nation began a war more horrible than most wars, and all wars stink. From 1861 to 1865 Americans fought Americans, North fought South, brothers fought brothers. All trampled on the faces of four million black folk cowering beneath their feet in mud and blood. Some Americans hated slavery but were unwilling to fight. They would let the "erring sisters depart in peace," with their elegant luxury, cringing service and home-grown concubines. Free Negroes and their white friends organized the escape of slaves and fugitive slaves became a main cause of the war. One man, John Brown, fought slavery with his bare fists and was crucified three years before the flash of Sumter.

So the nation reeled into murder, hate, hurt and destruction until they killed 493,273 human beings in battle, left a million more in pain, and nearly bankrupted the whole nation. "We are not fighting slavery," cried the North. "We are fighting for independence," cried the South. "We are not fighting with Negroes," insisted the North as it returned black fugitives. "Negroes do not want to be free," jeered the South; Negroes whispered: "Let us fight for freedom." The Northerners hated the struggle and nearly all who could bought immunity, while some laborers rioted and hanged Negroes to lamp posts. Most workers refused to volunteer and thousands of soldiers deserted from the ranks.

posted by Prometheus 6 at 5/9/2003 05:58:03 PM |

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Strange but true

I got this from Technorati's breaking news, which I tell you because I don't want you to think I go looking for stuff like this.

from CNN

Nude tennis tourney set for Webcast
Friday, May 9, 2003 Posted: 10:02 AM EDT (1402 GMT)

LOS ANGELES, California (Hollywood Reporter) -- Naked tennis, anyone? A Florida nudist colony is planning what it's calling the first-ever webcast of a nude tennis tournament.

For a fee of $10-$13, Internet surfers can go to http://www.TennisInTheBuff.com and watch on demand the two-hour tournament after it's played Sunday.

Twenty naked tennis players are competing for a $2,000 prize in front of 100 naked spectators. A tape of the event will be edited to make sure that all who appear nude have given their consent, then the event will be quickly posted to the Web site.

What's got me curious is, why the variation in price ($10 to $13)? It's not like you can get better seats, is it?

posted by Prometheus 6 at 5/9/2003 05:14:42 PM |

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Referrals

I just saw this string in my referral log:

http://www.google.com/search?as_q=maxine+waters&num=10&hl=en
&ie=UTF-8&oe=UTF-8&btnG=Google+Search&as_epq=scare+the+hell
&as_oq=&a

… which Google says is not on the server.

I have to admit, I'd love to see the result set of that one.

posted by Prometheus 6 at 5/9/2003 01:47:02 PM |

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But where's the profit in that?

via BlackPressUSA

It's Time for Bush to Rebuild America, Activists Say
by Hazel Trice Edney

WASHINGTON (NNPA)-As the Bush administration concentrates on rebuilding a post-Saddam Hussein Iraq, some social policy experts are urging the president to give equal attention to rebuilding America's social fabric.
"President Bush has been a champion for democracy over there. But he has been silent on democracy over here," says Rev. Wendell Anthony, pastor of Fellowship Chapel United Church of Christ and president of the Detroit Branch of the NAACP. "If America has enough resources to build Iraq in the Middle East, then we have the resources to rebuild Detroit in the Midwest."

posted by Prometheus 6 at 5/9/2003 01:17:43 PM |

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Okay, we know what comes next

Due to the desperate need for cash, the states will accept the "No Child Left Behind" line, go for the "Chevrolet" version of the tests, pocket the difference and try to bandage the damage later. See "The Wedge," below.

from BlackAmericaWeb.com

New 'No Child Left Behind' tests to cost $1.9 to $5.3 billion, report finds
05/08/2003 11:23 PM EDT

WASHINGTON (AP) - Tests mandated for the nation's students will cost $1.9 billion to $5.3 billion over the next seven years, according to the investigative arm of Congress.

Whether the burden falls on the federal government or the states - taxpayer money, either way - depends on what kinds of tests schools use, the General Accounting Office report says.

By 2005-06, all states must test students in grades three though eight in math and reading annually, and at least once during high school grades. The No Child Left Behind law also requires a science test at least once in elementary, middle and high school by 2007-08.

The report says if all states use multiple-choice tests only, the cost would be the low estimate of $1.9 billion. That's less than the $2.34 billion Congress must provide for testing under existing law.

"If a state elects to go with the Ferrari version of testing instead of the Chevrolet version required under No Child Left Behind Act, that cannot be blamed on the act," David Schnittger, spokesman for the House Committee on Education and the Workforce, said Thursday. "The bottom line is, every testing requirement is paid for."

posted by Prometheus 6 at 5/9/2003 01:13:07 PM |

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See now, this is why the Hemingses need to write the Jeffersons' asses off

I wouldn't even be trying to get with these people if I were in a similar situation (which I am).

from BlackAmericaWeb.com

Web intrigue adds twist to Jefferson/Hemings saga
05/02/2003 11:35 PM EDT

ROANOKE, Va. (AP) - The wife of a Thomas Jefferson family association official said Friday that she masqueraded as a 67-year-old black woman on an Internet chat room in a bid to keep descendants of a reputed Jefferson mistress out of this weekend's family reunion.

"It might have been somewhat unethical," said Paulie Abeles of Washington, D.C., who participated for eight months in the Yahoo! message board created for relatives of Jefferson slave Sally Hemings.

"It might have been childish, but I really think I was working in the best interest of the majority of the family members to make the reunion a calm and civilized gathering," she said.

… David Works, a sixth-generation grandson of Jefferson who sympathizes with the Hemings heirs, said he has asked federal authorities to investigate.

… Paulie Abeles said she was curious last August when she found out the Hemings family was communicating through an Internet group, but she thought her name would have made it difficult to be included.

So Cassandra Mays-Lewis was born. In her Yahoo! profile, Abeles made Cassandra a descendant of Jefferson slave Joe Fossett, describing herself as having an interest in black genealogy. In her messages, she played the part of an elderly woman, stricken with emphysema, thanking Works at one point for his "kind attentions to an old woman."

… Lucian Truscott IV, a Jefferson descendant who believes the Hemings family should be recognized, said he believes the Internet impostor was Nat Abeles, not his wife.

See, I ain't mad at David Works, or Lucian Truscott. I wouldn't even be mad at the Abeles is they wasn't scared-ass liars (at least one of them is) who's acting like admitting the Hemingses would make them part negro.

posted by Prometheus 6 at 5/9/2003 12:56:57 PM |

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African American News & Issues Inaugural Fiesta's Black History 24-7-365 ï¿½Mother of The Yearï¿½

via African American News&Issues

IDA B. WELLS

IDA B. WELLS was selected as African American News & Issuesï¿½ inaugural Fiestaï¿½s Black History 24-7-365 ï¿½Mother of The Year,ï¿½ due to the fact she was, indeed, the matriarch of Black Newspapers. In fact, one of the Texas Black United Fundï¿½s most prestigious acknowledgments is the Ida B. Wells: ï¿½Tell It Like It Isï¿½ Award, which recognizes uncompromised African-American newspapers (AAN&I received the award in 2001 and 2002) that objectively report all news, without fear or favor.

Just who was this courageous and outspoken little snip of Black woman who dared speak out against lynching in the Deep South during the antebellum era? Wells, born in May of 1862, in Holly Springs, Mississippi, always noted that she came into the world (18 months before the signing of the Emancipation Proclamation) and was the oldest of eight children. Although enslaved prior to the Civil War, her parents were able to support their seven children because her mother was a ï¿½famous cookï¿½ and her father was a skilled carpenter. When Ida was only 14, a tragic epidemic of Yellow Fever swept through Holly Springs and killed her parents and youngest sibling. Emblematic of the righteousness, responsibility and fortitude that characterized her life, she kept the family together by securing a teaching job.

posted by Prometheus 6 at 5/9/2003 12:45:02 PM |

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Celebrating Mother's Day in their own unique style

This newspaper has an … interesting style.

via African American News&Issues

Motherï¿½s Day 2003
Super sisters engender family values

As popular and, perhaps, prophetic as the Motherï¿½s Day tribute: ï¿½The hand that rocks the cradle is the hand that rules the world,ï¿½ has become since it was penned by the great 19th-century American writer/poet William Ross Wallace (1819-1881), it no longer adequately addresses the myriad of roles that ï¿½Super Sistersï¿½ play in the 21st century. Thus, letï¿½s borrow the following lines from author Edith Whartonï¿½s 1897 The House of Mirth: ï¿½Ah, lucky girls who grow up in the shelter of a motherï¿½s love - a mother who knows how to contrive opportunities without conceding favors, how to take advantage of propinquity without allowing appetite to be dulled by habit.ï¿½

Somehow it seems a more apropos tribute to Spec. Shoshana Johnson, a single mom who spent 22 horrific days as a prisoner in an Iraqi hellhole, insofar as she certainly validates a preponderance of evidence that a motherï¿½s hands do a lot more than rock cradles today. Fact is, motherï¿½s hands are likely to put a womanï¿½s touch on every endeavor pursued by her male counterpart.

… For sure, youï¿½ll learn all about Shoshana when she appears on the Oprah Winfrey show, and there has even been talk of a book, and, perhaps, a movie of her life. Nevertheless, there are many naysayers who have already concluded there is nothing super about Johnson, who just got lucky.

African American News&Issues, Texasï¿½ widest-circulated newspaper with a Black perspective, might even be considered to be a wee bit out of order to laud a sister who got knocked up and had to choose between the Army and welfare as being a ï¿½Super Sister.ï¿½ But on Motherï¿½s Day 2003, we would be remiss not to set the record straight when it comes to the all-too-often misconception that young Black women -- having babies out of wedlock -- are responsible for most of Americaï¿½s problems. Ergo, we would like to share the following national study (funded by a grant from the National Institute of Child Health and Human Development), for your edification, and at the same time, salute our Super Sister on Motherï¿½s Day 2003.

Go to the site to read the rest.

posted by Prometheus 6 at 5/9/2003 12:42:26 PM |

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The return of Miss Black USA

My position on this pageant is the same as on the Miss America pageant: I know who's fine, I know who's smart, I don't need anybody else's opinion. But since there's scholarships and such involved and someone might be interested, I linkified the URL to the main web site. I didn't go there though, so I can't tell you what's up over there.

via African American News&Issues

The Miss Black USA Pageant will be finalizing their national recruitment drive in the next two weeks.
Over the next two weeks, potential contestants have the opportunity to participate as candidates for State representatives for the nationally televised 2003 Miss Black USA Pageant to be held on August 23, 2003 in Miami Florida.
In order to participate, contestants will must adhere to the following Miss Black USA criteria:

Female born 18-27 (18 by August 1, 2003 and not exceeding 27 by August 1, 20003
Single (unmarried)
USA Citizen

The Miss Black USA Scholarship and Development Foundation's mission is to identify, develop and promote national leadership within the African-American community among women 18-27 years of age.
For more information, visit www.missblackusa.org.

posted by Prometheus 6 at 5/9/2003 12:35:06 PM |

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Maybe Daschle's not a total waste
or
More Bush-it
Bush just ranted about Democrats fillibustering his candidates for partisan political reasons. He wants legislation to change the process.

Daschle responded in committee. He said

Bush has had 124 nominations confirmed
Bush has had two nominations blocked, one because the candidate "wouldn't fill out his job application," the other because she put her personal views over the law
Bush nets a 98.4% approval rate (personally, I think that sucks, but …)
Clinton had 50 nominees that never left the committee
Clinton had 10 that left the committee, but never got a vote on the floor

posted by Prometheus 6 at 5/9/2003 11:16:33 AM |

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Doing my part to support the troops

Our Commander in Chief is a deserter that plays soldier for the camera. And the press is … finally … starting to call him on it, because of his Village People performance on the Lincoln.

The only problem is, it's kinda early in the election cycle for this to come out. As Karl Rove knows well, people will forget the specifics while still being driven by the footprints left in their brain. So it's up to the people who actually give a damn to make sure it stays front and center.

What can you do? Well, you can Google the concept and sift through all the material out there. Or you can be lazy like me. I started with today's Orcinus, just because it's a regular read for me. From there, I went to UggaBugga, who has layed out the chain of events in tabular format.

This isn't the only way to find out all the relevant information. Obviously, many people have done a lot of good work bringing this forward.

And now it's your turn.

Spread the links. Talk it up, online and in person. You know people someone in that 40% who don't do the net? Print out UggaBugga's table and pass it around. Let people who support the troops, who are concerned with the country's security, that their leader wouldn't even serve during peacetime, much less during a war waged for the benefit of his friends.

posted by Prometheus 6 at 5/9/2003 10:20:33 AM |

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posted by Prometheus 6 at 5/9/2003 09:11:27 AM |

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Belaboring the obvious, at last

from the NY Times

After Exoneration, Then What?
By EMILY BAZELON

NEW HAVEN
It's bad enough to be locked up for years for a crime you didn't commit. What's worse is to get out and find that you're on your own.

Yet when the wrongfully convicted gain their freedom, they're usually not entitled to the social services, like help with housing and jobs, that other released convicts receive. (They're not on probation or eligible for other ex-offender programs.) Just as troubling, they rarely get any money from state governments to make up for the years of lost freedom, livelihood and time with loved ones.

For what they've suffered, these victims deserve better. Since the state fractured their lives, it should help them put the pieces back together.

posted by Prometheus 6 at 5/9/2003 08:59:27 AM |

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The wedge

Step 1: Push for something that's just beyond the pale. Who knows, you might get it
Step 2: Accept a compromise that would have been rejected as too extreme had it been the first thing you pursued from the NY Times

This is the whole editorial. This is the techniqu applied to legislation you've already seen, the Bush wealth redistribution act (redistribution can go either way, you know … the difference is, when you take it from normal folks you make them poor).

Now, keep this in mind as you read about the P.A.T.R.I.O.T. Act wedge below.

The Tax-Cut Fixation

The best thing to be said for the tax-cut legislation being concocted in the Republican-led Congress is that the Senate version finally accepts the idea of providing emergency fiscal aid to the deficit-battered states. Even so, the $20 billion proposed is short of actual needs and is likely to be undercut by fresh state revenue losses resulting from other negative factors in the G.O.P. proposals.

The worst thing to be said for the differing bills now moving through the two houses is that they continue to emphasize upper-bracket boons while totally ignoring the plight of the nation's unemployed workers. Most regrettably, the fight to kill off President Bush's favored dividend tax cut - thought to have been rejected earlier in the Senate - appears far from over. True, the latest Senate compromise won by Olympia Snowe of Maine trims this deficit-stoking measure to a quarter of the president's plan. But it introduces a sliding scale that would eventually let wealthier Americans shelter 20 percent of dividends.

One result of this compromise is to give dividend relief a foot in the door in the negotiations between House and Senate conferees later this month, when both chambers have completed work on their bills. Dividend cuts would have been unlikely if they had been struck from the Senate agenda. As it is now, the White House will have another chance to seek even larger dividend relief.

Meanwhile, the House bill heading for a vote today includes not only dividend relief but also a capital gains cut favored by persistent conservatives. They failed to win this windfall for the affluent two years ago, when there was a budget surplus. Now, despite record deficits and spiraling debt, they are determined to resurrect this bad idea for the final poker-game negotiations.

In another nod to the White House, both houses would accelerate the tax cuts enacted two years ago. The upper brackets are doing best here, too, with the top rate dropping to 35 percent, although speeding up child care and marriage credits will aid those further down the scale. Most unconscionably, neither house is repairing the damaging fine print in the president's plan that effectively denies these credits to children in the very poorest families.

Lower-income families, of course, would be the quickest to spend the money to help provide some of the stimulus the Republicans claim is their first priority. Instead, the G.O.P. remains fixated on high-income concerns, framing the reconciliation talks as little more than an exercise in dueling sugarplums.

posted by Prometheus 6 at 5/9/2003 08:56:27 AM |

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I'm gonna get you suckas

Paul Krugman is more than enough reason to go through the registration process for the NY Times. He is constantly exposing the nonsense that it seems 99% of the press is parrotting.

from the NY Times

Into the Sunset
By PAUL KRUGMAN

Chutzpah, according to the classic definition, is when you murder your parents, then ask for sympathy because you're an orphan. But what do we call it if after you are placed with foster parents, you try the same thing all over again?

I ask this question in light of the tax-cut package the House is expected to pass today - a package that relies on exactly the same bait-and-switch tactics used to sell the 2001 tax cut. Since the scam involved in the 2001 tax cut remains one of the wonders of modern political economy, it is a measure of our leaders' contempt for the intelligence of the public - or maybe for the press - [p6: or maybe both] that they think they can use the same tricks a second time.

Here's the story: in 2001, as now, some swing senators insisted on a budget resolution limiting the size of any tax cut. No problem. House-Senate negotiators pushed through a huge tax cut anyway, "saving" several hundred billion dollars by making the whole thing expire in the 10th year. Among other things, this "sunset clause" implied that heirs to large estates would pay no tax if their parents died in 2010, but would face significant taxes if their parents made it into 2011. At the time I suggested that it be renamed the Throw Momma from the Train Act of 2001. [p6: plus he has quite a way with words]

Needless to say, the bill was silly by design. The administration didn't intend to compromise: it fully expected to get the sunset clause repealed in a future Congress. And President Bush was soon out there ridiculing the way the tax cut was programmed to expire, implying that the expiration date was imposed by scheming liberals, when in fact it was a trick perpetrated by his own Congressional allies.[p6: emphasis added]

posted by Prometheus 6 at 5/9/2003 08:46:58 AM |

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Senate Deal Kills Effort to Extend Antiterror Act
By ERIC LICHTBLAU

WASHINGTON, May 8 - Senate Republicans backed down today from an effort to make permanent the sweeping antiterrorism powers in a 2001 act, clearing the way for passage of a less divisive measure that would still expand the government's ability to spy on foreign terrorist suspects in the United States.

In an agreement finalized over the last week, Senator Orrin G. Hatch, the chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee, dropped his effort to extend provisions of the 2001 legislation, the Patriot Act, whose broad powers to investigate and track terrorist suspects are scheduled to expire in 2005.

As a result, the Senate voted 90 to 4 to approve a measure expanding the government's ability to use secret surveillance tools against terrorist suspects who are not thought to be members of known terrorist groups.

posted by Prometheus 6 at 5/9/2003 08:37:01 AM |

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All your base are belong to, er, them

Ask? How likely is that?

Bribe, cajole, threaten &hellip not to mention that the regime has just demonstrated they will do what they want anyway.

from the NY Times

U.S. Will Ask U.N. to Back Control by Allies in Iraq
By FELICITY BARRINGER with STEVEN R. WEISMAN

UNITED NATIONS, May 8 - A draft resolution to be introduced by the United States, Britain and Spain on Friday morning lifting economic sanctions against Iraq calls for the Security Council to endorse American and British control of Iraq's political development and financial resources for at least 12 months.
Advertisement

Under the resolution, new Iraqi oil revenues and at least $3 billion in the current United Nations-controlled escrow fund would be transferred to a new Iraqi Assistance Fund to be "disbursed at the direction of" the United States and Britain ï¿½ referred to as the "provisional authority" ï¿½ in consultation with the interim government to be formed in Iraq.

posted by Prometheus 6 at 5/9/2003 08:01:58 AM |

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Decisions, decisions …

Wow.

Making my morning cartoon run, I don't know whether to link to Tom Toles or Ben Sargent.

Hey! I know!

posted by Prometheus 6 at 5/9/2003 07:51:53 AM |

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May 08, 2003

Ted Barlow is back

Who?

One of the first bloggers I ever bookmarked, who left off blogging close enough to when I started to annoy me. I was looking forward to linking to him.

Check him out, read a lot.

posted by Prometheus 6 at 5/8/2003 05:59:15 PM |

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I did not want to do this

Orcinus talks about a post on Smart Remarks that's kinda scary. Because Smart Remarks' links are bloggered (the new version can't come fast enough, but it's tough for me to really complain about something I a-didn't pay for and b-actually use) I'm giving you the whole post. Read it. Understand the level of foulness the extreme right is spewing.

Dropped Orcinus another note today on the subject of fascism; he'd added a piece on his site regarding Rush Limbaugh's latest trough of bullshit about how Dick Gephart plans to "use briges and fascist control to ruin our economy."

I'd link to Rush's site where this is posted, except that: A. As it's been a few days, to access it you have to sign up to be a Rush 24/7 member, and B. The mere thought of doing so makes my flesh crawl.

Niewert also speaks of Limbaugh's recent castigation of Tim Robbins, "who thinks he can say any thing at any time . . . I have a question: How is it that Tim Robbins is still walking free? How in the world is this guy still able to go to the National Press Club and say whatever he wants to say?"

How is it that Tim Robbins still walking free.

The insination, of course, being that good, loyal Americans ought to do something about it so that he is not able to walk free.

Make no mistake - this is what the far right wants. Perhaps it has what the far right has always wanted, but the call for it has become far more brazen.

Of course, the far right does not always get what it wants. But it could get an America where Tim Robbins and the like are not permitted to "walk free." In order for that to happen, though, they need a pretext, a rationale which is accepted, passively if need be, by a majority of Americans.

The following post comes from LGF; this, I think, could be the pretext:

(The discussion was about Saudi funding of terrorism):

"To most people, 15 million smackers is a LOT of money, but this token funding pales in comparison to the billions in funding by the Saudis of the cause of Wahhabism in another country. That country would be the United States of America.

Whether or not the street knows it - and they don't - we are now in the early phases of the fight for our existence as a nation, and as the standard-bearers of the idea of democracy.

We have most of the EU and a good portion of NATO aligned against us - the old school appeasers of Europe - and most of the Arabic nations, and third-world oppressor nations as well. They are starting to sense a common ground of opposition to our position, which is one of self-determination of man.

That is very dangerous to all these folks, as they represent the dictator and dictator-enabler; the rapists and the voyeurs who profit from the rapes of mankind.

This war won't be quick, or easy. We will undoubtedly end up being forced to kill off some of our own citizens in order to protect the ideas set down by our framers over 200 hundred years ago.

It's happening now, and suddenly, and we are right in the midst of it. It is going to get bloody and scary and desperate before all is finished and a victor emerges.

I hope and believe that the victor will be the one that represents rightness and honor, because otherwise it means the end of democracy on earth, another untold dozens or hundreds or thousands of years of terror.

IndyMedia is part of the problem. We can't just go up and shoot these people for their hatred and ignorance, just like Israel cannot just wipe out the people in the PA controlled lands. Militant Islam KNOWS these things, and will be using them to coalesce the forces of their believers and sympathizers to undermine the efforts for equality and peace until, and if, they are defeated.

Is everyone ready? The time is here, and now.

Prepare yourselves."

Once you're done digesting this - I recommend a healthy dose of Tums - consider its salient points:

* Everyone is against us.
* They are using our own system against us.
* Thus, there will need to be a purge - "We will undoubtedly end up being forced to kill off some of our own citizens in order to protect the ideas set down by our framers over 200 hundred years ago."
* That purge will be justified.
* Because we represent the forces of "rightness and honor"

Frightened yet?

Students of history will recognize all of this. I don't know whether it's inevitable that something like this might happen in our country, but it could happen, and as such I think the left damned well ought to know that this is what the far right wants - though "transmitters" like Limbaugh may not say so in such crude and direct terms.

Maybe it's my inner pessimist - or, hell, my outer pessimist - but I think this will happen. Not in my lifetime, perhaps; hopefully not in my kid's lifetime.

But what I think is going to happen is that at some point, perhaps spurred by another terrorist attack, perhaps spurred by external events, the Patriot Act will be expanded, or superseded by even tougher legislation. Under the guise of the war on terrorism, we will jettison our traditional reluctance to "shoot these people for their hatred and ignorance." Motivated by fear, we will deem it permissable to eliminate enemies of patriotism, and we will do so, on whatever scale.

And ultimately, this as much as terrorism itself will be a factor in the downfall and destruction of the nation.

Because I think the average American is willing to sell out the nation's philosophical birthright on account of fear. I think the far right is poised to take advantage of that fear; some, maybe all may sincerely believe theirs is the way to make America stronger. Others will be motivated by a sheer lust to "get" their enemies.

If Republicans are capable of selling out September 11, the far right is capable of selling out the Founding Fathers and our collective history. They will use it to justify their actions. Limbaugh, Savage, Ann Coulter and the rest will be the apologists, as they already are.

As it goes on, there will be some questions - but probably not from the traditional, consolidated, looking-to-the-administration-for-regulatory-favors media, which will by that time know - which already knows - on which side the bread is buttered.

But though the right will continue to insist that these measures will strengthen the nation, the reality is that they will weaken it. All the while, the hubris of which Sullivan spoke will be running at a fever pitch. Internationally, we will continue to seek to remake the world; our conviction that this is the "right and honorable" thing to do will continue to alienate much of the rest of the world. Which, at some point, may well unite against us not just philosophically, but economically. Militarily.

And it will play out as so many other fascist regimes have played out.

This is my worst-case scenario, to be sure. My problem is that in some on the right, I sense the same sort of viciousness and vituperouness that drove 19-year-old SS members in Berlin to string up 60-year-old Volkssturm members who refused to take potshots at Soviet tanks with an antique Italian rifle. I sense the same sort of outrage that made it all right to usurp, suspend and destroy individual rights - and individuals - on behalf of the state.

I hear a train around the bend, and though I don't know exactly what it looks like, I have a pretty good idea that it will be big, and I can feel it getting closer.

I just hope we get off the tracks in time.

posted by Prometheus 6 at 5/8/2003 05:46:21 PM |

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A stolen web page

I saved this page a while back and can't remember where I got it from. It's pretty accurate.

The Basic Laws of Human Stupidity

posted by Prometheus 6 at 5/8/2003 05:20:22 PM |

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An interesting exchange

On a discussion board I frequent someone just posted "Top 13 "US Civil War" myths exposed!"

He led with:

First off, please don't think that any of this is intended to promote the nefarious practices of slavery or slave trading. Rather, it is intended to provide a more complete understanding of the events in the context of the time, minus much of the propaganda now taught in schools.

which, of course, was necessary because the text does exactly what he says he doesn't intend to do. It's like, "It's not the money, it's the principle of the thing." Whenever you hear that, you know it's about the money.

So I ask:

What was the point of posting this? What is the conclusion you would like us to draw?

and someone else says:

I can think of several reasonable conclusions:

1. Much of official U.S. history is a lie.

2. Many of the American ideals have been cynically exploited for private profit, both political and commercial, at the governmental level for a very long time.

3. One shouldn't take patriotic propaganda about how U.S. soldiers fight honorably, sparing women, children, non-combatants, and abiding by rules of war seriously, as these concepts fly in the face of historical reality.

4. Being conquered by the U.S. is not necessarily a good thing, contrary to current propaganda. But then, any Native American, Cuban, or Filipino could have told you that ages ago.

5. The U.S. is the undisputed world leader in ethnic cleansing and hypocrisy.

Now, I don't actually dispute this bit of boilerplate. I'm just wondering what da hell it's got to do with the discussion. And the original neo-Confederate revisionist says

Conclusion: The war was not a war about slavery, and was not a legal war to preserve the Union. Rather, it was a war fought primarily over the Right of the States and People to determine their own destiny.

As history proves, the States and People lost the war.

Couple of other statements leads me to address each of these 13 "myths." I name them, but do not present the original "justification." If anyone wants them let me know.

Like I said, I don't dispute the points you made. But let me give you my view on the specific "myths"

Myth#1 - The war was a civil war
Unimportant. I could care less what name it's given

Myth #2 - The war was necessary and legal in order to "preserve the Union".
Relativity. True from the Union's perspective, false from the Confederacy's

Myth #3 - The war was fought to end the practice of slavery.
I've known this was bullshit since high school, just as I've known the "Emancipation Proclaimation" excluded the slave states that sided with the Union.

The war, like all wars, was the shooting phase of an economic dispute, in this case over the transition from a primarily agrarian economy to an industrial one where slavery was no longer the most productive basis to grow on. Unfortunately, the CULTURE of the Confederacy was built on slavery. The claim that it was about slavery is a misapprehension of these combined facts.

Myth #4 - Yankee States ended slavery because it was cruel and barbaric.
This is merely a restatement of Myth #3, hence an empty expansion of reference

Myth #5 - Blacks were treated better in the North than in the South.
Blacks were treated fine in the Confederacy as long as they stayed uneducated, didn't resist when the women were raped, gave up their children to be raised in pens, didn't try to run away...

Myth #6: Southern slaves lived in squalor and violence. While it is true that there occasionally existed a cruel slavemaster, this was true in both North and South. To say this was commonplace is like saying that because some parents abuse their children, the USA is a nation of child abusers.

Tripe. Bad logic. Not to mention an absolute abuse of the word "occasionally." EVERY day is an occasion...

Myth #7 - Southern slaves welcomed Union forces.
Like the Iraqis welcomed the US and British forces, right?

Would require too much documentation to support on the fly. For now, I'll just say that you shouldn't judge a group by its exceptions.

Myth #8 - Confederate troops commited atrocities; Union troops did not.
Both committed atrocities. Seems to be the nature of war.

Myth #9 - The CSA was governed by a wealthy elite, despite the will of the People.
No one said it was "despite the will of the people." The people were perfectly happy being ruled by a wealthy elite. Sadly not much has changed in this regard. But this:
Quote:

President Jefferson Davis had a far higher approval rating among Southern blacks than Abraham Lincoln did.

is an AMAZING statement. Do you really believe anyone asked the slaves' opinion?? At least one state, South Carolina, had laws requiring freed slaves to LEAVE THE STATE.

Myth #10 - Blacks had no rights in the South.
The few "rights" they had were subordinate to the rights of white folks.

Myth #11 - the Confederates were fighting to preserve the practice of slavery.
This is merely a restatement of Myth #3, hence an empty expansion of reference

Myth #12 - Confederate States and people were poor and destitute, and fought out of desperation.
This is not something I was ever taught.

Myth #13 - The Confederacy fought to preserve the importation of African slaves.
This one is special

Quote:

Not one slave ship EVER sailed which flew the Confederate flag.

Quote:

Meanwhile, throughout the entire war, US ships flying the "stars and stripes" banner (and operated mainly by New England shipping merchants) continued to sell African slaves in Spanish-speaking America and Brazil. In fact, of ALL African slaves brought to the Americas, only 6% arrived in the USA - the remaining 94% were sold in Central and South America. This Union slave-shipping trade continued unfettered both during and after the war.

True, but when the direct importation from Africa to the USofA ended, they started buying their slaves from those Carribbean nations that took in all the others. It really doesn't matter that they had a "stop-over" before they reached the Confederacy... it still funded the Northern slave shippers, and it was still a Confederate market the shippers were ultimately serving.

Quote:

Thus, international slave-trading by US merchants served a key role in helping to finance the "liberation" of Confederate slaves.

No argument.

MY CONCLUSION: This is a bunch of self-serving neo-Confederate bullshit. It doesn't mean the USofA hasn't misrepresented itself as noble and all that, it means the neo-Confederates behind this book and list of nonsense are doing so as well.

posted by Prometheus 6 at 5/8/2003 04:55:35 PM |

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Why don't I just set up a section called "Newspeak Ascendant"?

from the Boston Globe Online

US quietly eases rules for faith-based groups

By Susan Milligan, Globe Staff, 5/8/2003

WASHINGTON -- The Bush administration has quietly altered regulations for the nation's leading job training program to allow faith-based organizations to use ''sacred literature,'' such as Bibles, in their federally funded programs. Civil liberties activists say the new rules blur the line between religion and government.

The change, made by the US Labor Department last month, could allow faith-based groups to use religious books as historical texts or as inspirational stories for job seekers, as long as organizations do not proselytize or conduct prayer sessions.

… In a separate action, the House is expected today to approve a change allowing private groups that run job training programs to discriminate on the basis of religion when they hire people to run them. That change, part of legislation to renew the overall program, would lift a ban that has existed in federal law for two decades.

… But critics say the moves are a violation of civil rights laws.

''The notion that you need to allow religious groups to discriminate to receive federal funds is a lie,'' said Representative Barney Frank, Democrat of Newton. ''If you dip your fingers in the federal till, you can't complain if a little democracy rubs off on you.''

posted by Prometheus 6 at 5/8/2003 04:22:20 PM |

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Gets crazier by the minute

And just when I thought Rev Sharpton-as-Mutant was bizarre, I see this link on TBOGG about Bush being nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize.

I can't comment. I can't quote it. It's just so … surreal.

posted by Prometheus 6 at 5/8/2003 04:17:49 PM |

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The most amazing movie review I've ever read

jaHEEzuz. Are Conservatives this desparate to find hostile stuff to say about Black folks? All that's missing is a complaint aboout Farrakhan not condemning slavery in Africa.

from TNR Online

X-propriated
by Reihan Salam

X2: X-Men United is not just any action-packed summer blockbuster--far from it. It represents a cultural moment, a brief opportunity to address crucial questions of difference and democracy, questions that have been with us since the founding, with new eyes. In this case, red glowing eyes.

… What we've seen in recent years is nothing less than the Sharptonization of the X-Men.

… By contrast, Xavier's adversaries, led by the brilliant and charismatic Magneto, master of magnetism, call for utter mutant supremacy or, failing that, mutant separation and sovereignty, a worldview best described as Black Power on steroids.

Have you ever seen such a gratuitous swipe? It's almost anti-Clintonian is its' proportions.

posted by Prometheus 6 at 5/8/2003 04:10:54 PM |

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You could tell because he was going "Wheeeeeee!" during the whole ride

Despite criticism, Bush 'glad' he jetted to aircraft carrier

posted by Prometheus 6 at 5/8/2003 04:01:09 PM |

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GOP Senators Reach Tax Cut Pact
Finance Committee Would Limit Relief on Stock Dividends

I think Peevish said it best:

I guess I'm just not smart enough to figure out how a $430B program can cost no more than a $350B dollar program, aside from just fudging the numbers.

from the Washington Post, via Peevish

Washington Post Staff Writer
Thursday, May 8, 2003; Page A02

Senate Finance Committee Republicans agreed yesterday to support limited tax relief for stock dividends as part of a revised $430 billion tax cut package that the panel will take up today.

Under the 10-year plan roughed out during 90 minutes of closed-door negotiations involving the 11 badly divided GOP senators, all taxpayers could exclude $500 in dividends from taxes. In the first four or five years, 10 percent of dividends above that amount would also qualify for the exemption, and the exclusion would rise to 20 percent in later years. The cost of the relief would be $81 billion over the next decade -- much less than the amount sought by President Bush in his original $726 billion tax cut package, and less than that in a major House tax measure that goes to the floor there Friday.

… Many of the details were, however, still being worked out, including the question of what trade-offs will have to be made to keep the $430 billion measure from costing more than the $350 billion that a recently passed Senate resolution allowed. To bring the price tag down to that number, Republicans were seeking at least $80 billion in offsetting tax increases or spending cuts -- a process that left tax lobbyists nervous yesterday.

"There are about $20 billion that they can find pretty easily," said one lobbyist, but beyond that Congress would be going after corporate tax shelters and other tax provisions that have strong backing among GOP supporters in the business community.

posted by Prometheus 6 at 5/8/2003 03:59:00 PM |

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Round two

Not that the USofA is trying to interfere in Canada's affairs.

from USA Today

Canada's plan to allow pot possession causes U.S. rift
By Donna Leinwand, USA TODAY
The Bush administration is hinting that it could make it more difficult for Canadian goods to get into this country if Canada's Parliament moves ahead with a proposal to drop criminal penalties for possession of small amounts of marijuana.

… Canada's plan isn't that unusual: 12 U.S. states and most of the 15 nations in the European Union have eased penalties on first-time offenders in recent years. That's a reflection of how many governments have grown weary of pursuing individual marijuana users.

But U.S. officials, while stressing that they aren't trying to interfere in Canada's affairs, are urging Canadians to resist decriminalizing marijuana.

posted by Prometheus 6 at 5/8/2003 03:53:16 PM |

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Hey, I'm a Crawly Amphibian!

Out of the sheerest curiousity I registered for The TTLB Blogosphere Ecosystem. Discounting dupes (and Mighty Marduk, who I discovered just makes shit up) and adding a few non-registered blogs I found out list me, I'd say the final number is about accurate.

Maybe I'll set up the WMDI tags for them. It looks annoying, but it only has to be done once in the template.

Visiting the listed blogs that link to this page, I'm pretty pleased with the company I'm keeping.

posted by Prometheus 6 at 5/8/2003 11:25:03 AM |

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Bwahahahahahaha!

Good to find something humorous in here . . . and check Atrios for an artistic bonus.

from the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette, via Atrios

Welcome to the virtual U.S.A.
Gene Lyons

Evidently, Bush will run as a one-man reunion of the Village People, the dreadful disco act. Having previously costumed himself as a businessman (his ventures mostly failed) and owner of the Texas Rangers (he had an 11.3 percent share when the team was sold), he's added cowboy and fighter pilot to his repertoire. In reality, his Texas ranch was acquired in 1999; Bush's time in the saddle is limited to golf carts.

posted by Prometheus 6 at 5/8/2003 10:38:08 AM |

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I am going to be soooooo busy

The website of Martin Leith Limited has this really cool looking compendium of idea generation methods. Work in progress, sure but check this:

This is the first draft of a work in progress

Introduction

This page is a compendium of every idea generation method we have encountered during the past 15 years. Our sources include books, articles, websites, academics, consultants and colleagues.

The methods have been drawn not just from the world of creative problem solving and innovation, but also from other worlds such as organisational change, strategic planning, psychotherapy and the creative arts.

Each method is included in the following taxonomy (Dictionary.com definition: Division into ordered groups or categories), with a link to the alphabetical list and explanation that appears lower down the page.

During the coming weeks we will link the alphabetically-listed methods back to the taxonomy.

I love finding new creativity and problem solving techniques. You usually see something different when you change the angle at which you approach something. IdeaFlow says there's 128 different angles in there. I didn't count, but I'm exploring several of them starting today.

posted by Prometheus 6 at 5/8/2003 10:09:42 AM |

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You can't do that … guns are the Weapon of American Heroes!

via the Seattle Post-Examiner

SF-based federal court says individuals have no right to bear arms

By DAVID KRAVETS
AP LEGAL AFFAIRS WRITER

SAN FRANCISCO -- A divided federal appeals court on Tuesday declined to reconsider its December ruling that the Second Amendment affords Americans no personal right to own firearms.

The December decision by the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals upheld California's law banning certain assault weapons and revived the national gun ownership debate. With Tuesday's action, the nation's largest federal appeals court cleared the way for an appeal to the U.S. Supreme Court, which has never squarely ruled on the issue.

"I'll have this filed by the end of the week, it's already drafted," said attorney Gary Gorski, the attorney who challenged California's ban on 75 high-powered, rapid-fire weapons.

posted by Prometheus 6 at 5/8/2003 09:51:43 AM |

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What did the nation learn from the war protests?

"Resistance is futile" - George W. Borg

From Variety.com via Corante

Media muscle mutes many voices as cap scrap looms
By ELIZABETH GUIDER

HOLLYWOOD -- Is it a rush to judgment or a long-overdue overhaul of archaic rules?

Increasingly vocal pundits are arguing both sides of this question as June 2 approaches: That's the deadline set by the FCC to decide what to do about decades-old regs that limit broadcast reach and ownership.

What's at issue?

How many media outlets one company can own in the same market and a national cap barring one broadcaster from owning TV stations that reach more than 35% of the national audience. Another rule up for review bars a broadcaster from owning a newspaper in the same major market.

The most impassioned voices have been coming down on the Bush administration against a relaxation of these rules. But then again, an equally impassioned set of voices was raised in protest against a war in Iraq, and they fell on deaf ears. The Bushies ignored those protestations, and they show every sign of doing the same on media deregulation.

… In some of the more provocative anti-dereg remarks -- which are not likely to win the speaker many friends at the studios and even fewer in D.C. -- Jonathan Taplin, a vet producer and currently CEO of video on demand provider Intertainer, suggests there has been a long-standing, politically conservative effort to move the media toward consolidation.

"I believe it was a very brilliant strategy planned by Newt Gingrich and the Republican right in the early '80s with two major allies in the media business: Lowry Mays at Clear Channel and Rupert Murdoch at News Corp.," he told the L.A. gathering.

Step one was to get rid of the Fairness Doctrine, which was instituted in 1949 and was for 30 years the sine qua non test for renewing broadcast licenses.

With Gingrich and company pushing hard and a Republican FCC, the fairness doctrine was phased out in 1987.

Step two was to remove media ownership caps.

Gingrich shepherded through his newly controlled congress the Telecommunications Act of 1996, which essentially eliminated the public service obligations of local stations -- and benefited, among others, May's Clear Channel and Murdoch's Fox netlet.

These two actions, killing the fairness doctrine and deregulating ownership rules, have led us to what Taplin argues is "media oligopoly."

"If the FCC and Congress continue to roll over for the media cartel, our democracy is in peril. Two companies will own 80% of the nation's radio stations. Five companies will own 80% of the nation's TV stations. Four companies will own 70% of the nation's cable systems."

My original title for this post, based on this from Corante:

That may be why 88% of respondents to a survey of senior execs just conducted by the Hollywood Radio and TV Society said they believed consolidation was harming the industry.

was something about wishing the telecom industry was as smart as the entertainment industry. But after reading the source article I felt a happy face to be the wrong approach.

posted by Prometheus 6 at 5/8/2003 09:39:14 AM |

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I missed this the first time through

from the NY Times, via Corante

Young Blacks Try Entrepreneurship
By DANIEL ALTMAN

THERE is little official evidence to go by, but the anecdotes are pouring in: across the country, more young black professionals are stepping off the corporate ladder to become entrepreneurs. Joining a big company used to be perceived as the surest route to material success by many black professionals, but lately, owning a business has become as attractive, or more so.

… The new entrepreneurs are "willing to take risks that 10 years ago, 20 years ago, African-Americans were not willing to take," she said. "It's an absolute change in attitude, and not having to feel that the corporate structure is the only way - or the safe way."

posted by Prometheus 6 at 5/8/2003 09:25:29 AM |

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Well, New York was blue, so who cares

from the NY Times

Trouble in Bush's America
By BOB HERBERT

While our "What, me worry?" president is having a great time with his high approval ratings and his "Top Gun" fantasies, the economy remains in the tank. And the finances of state and local governments are sinking tragically into ever deeper and ever more unforgiving waters.

You want shock and awe? Come to New York City, where jobs are hard to find and the budget (as residents are suddenly realizing) is a backbreaking regimen of service cuts, tax increases and that perennial painkiller, wishful thinking.

posted by Prometheus 6 at 5/8/2003 09:14:02 AM |

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Meanwhile

from the NY Times

Zimbabwe at the Breaking Point

Zimbabwe, once a shining star in southern Africa, is collapsing under the disastrous rule of Robert Mugabe. This week, a powerful troika of African presidents from South Africa, Nigeria and Malawi traveled to Harare, raising hopes that they were finally prepared to do something about the political and economic crisis in Zimbabwe. Unhappily, their visit failed to persuade Mr. Mugabe to open unconditional talks with the opposition.

posted by Prometheus 6 at 5/8/2003 09:10:51 AM |

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A really mixed reaction

from the NY Times

Cambridge Schools Try Integration by Income
By SARA RIMER

CAMBRIDGE, Mass. - This city has joined a small but growing movement to use income, not race, as a primary factor in assigning students to schools.

… Noah's assignment to Fletcher-Maynard was primarily driven by his family's income, but it also helped the district meet another goal for the school: greater racial balance. Noah is white. Fletcher-Maynard's 264 students are predominantly black or Hispanic.

… Proponents of economic integration say there is ample evidence that all children learn better at schools where middle-class students are in the majority.

"While there are a handful of exceptions, in general high-poverty schools don't work," said Richard D. Kahlenberg, an educational researcher at the Century Foundation who is a leading advocate for economic integration as the way to raise achievement among poor children.

… But critics say that the way to help low-income students make educational gains has to be more effective teaching - not moving children around. "There's something wrong with the assumption that if you've got too many low-income kids in a classroom, you can't teach them," said Abigail Thernstrom, a senior fellow at the Manhattan Institute who has extensively researched race and education. "My response to that is: No excuses. Start to educate the kids."

Dr. Thernstrom and others also say that economic integration has no relevance for large, predominantly poor urban school districts like Detroit, Chicago, Los Angeles and Washington. "What are you going to do - helicopter the kids in?" Dr. Thernstrom said. Supporters of economic integration counter that children in poor urban areas should have the opportunity to cross district lines and attend middle-class schools.

Just as racial integration of schools was resisted by many whites, middle- and upper-income families may object to economic integration. Moreover, some civil rights advocates say that economic integration does not go far enough in achieving racial integration.

I hate agreeing with Dr. Thernstrom because her motivation is suspect. But outside of places like "this mixed city, with its ultraliberal reputation" and this could easily turn into another busing fiasco, complete with a mass exodus from public to private schools.

Well, it could if most folks had good-enough paying jobs to pay for private schools. Thanks GHOD for Bush, huh?

Beyond that, Dr. Thernstrom is right in saying the key is to teach them correctly, not to shuffle kids around.

The kinda-sorta plus here is, people are still taking a moral stance. It's kinda-sorta because you actually have to sneak your morality past the rules.

I'm going to say something that's going to annoy someone somewhere: you don't want my kids around your school, or your kids around mine? Fine, if you bribe me. Fix my kids' schools, get them new books with up to date information, pay my kids' teachers (and yours!) enough to make teaching an attractive profession. Do this and I'll be happy to let all kids go to the school nearest where they live.

posted by Prometheus 6 at 5/8/2003 09:05:35 AM |

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You have reason to think the worst

from Warblogging.com

Creating a Link Without the Link: Mrs Anthrax

On May 5, 2003, the United States announced that it had captured Huda Salih Mahdi Ammash. News reports heralded the capture as a major victory for Anglo-American forces, noting that the woman "dubbed Mrs. Anthrax" was in charge of Saddam Hussein's biological weapons program. They also noted that Ammash was the five of hearts in the military's deck of Iraqi fugitive playing cards.

What I want to know is when Ammash was dubbed "Mrs. Anthrax", and by who. A Reuters story from May 6 says "The moniker 'Mrs. Anthrax' was given to Ammash by Western journalists." It offers no further explanation.

There's just one problem. The earliest mention I can find of "Huda Ammash" and "anthrax" in the same Web page via Google is from May 5.

… I'm thinking the worst: that the Administration or some neoconservative or generic hawk planted the term "Mrs Anthrax" as a way of linking Iraq to the anthrax attacks on the United States that occurred after September 11.

posted by Prometheus 6 at 5/8/2003 07:37:17 AM |

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And so we begin

Click the image to see Mark Fiore's latest animation.

posted by Prometheus 6 at 5/8/2003 07:25:18 AM |

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May 07, 2003

Faux liberals get really desperate sometimes

Kaus is amazing.

How can you start out by saying plenty of white people did what this guy has, yet try to make an example of him about why Black folks shouldn't get a boost? Plenty of white folks did it? How many Black folks can you find that have done it besides this one exception? Sounds to me like reason to get rid of the white reporters!

The Blair crash: Plenty of white journalists have done what Jayson Blair, the NYT reporter who recently resigned, is alleged to have done. Nor can anyone say for sure that in a completely color-blind newsroom Blair would have been weeded out or set straight before last week. Does the Blair case, then, have anything to do with affirmative action? I think so.

I am constantly amazed how people who claim they're after "color-blindness" are constantly attaching color to every issue they can. If he was really color blind, he'd have talked about how a reporter has to have ethics and whatnot, but Nooooooo…

posted by Prometheus 6 at 5/7/2003 04:32:58 PM |

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And now for something totally different

I don't know how much I'll be blogging today. I got things to do, and just not feeling it so far. So I decided to post something I've written before. And yes, the copyright is in my name; anonymity is not crucial to me, I just like the Prometheus thing, is all.

II Genesis 1-6
By Earl Dunovant
Copyright © 2002

1. God created a world of dignity and majesty. A world of great heights and great depths, a world of caressing breezes and storms none can withstand. A strong, gentile, fertile and forgiving world. And God poured life into this world … dancing life, soaring life, changing life, dying life, growing life, life too small and too large to see, until life filled every valley and mountain, every desert and sea.

2. Finally, He created a single spirit, much like himself but smaller. Like Him it Knows. Like Him, it Remembers. Like Him, it Imagines. Like Him, it Creates. And from a lush garden at the heart of His majestic world He drew the materials to make its body. He took the dignity and majesty and bonded them to this new spirit. He took the great heights and the great depths and bonded them to this new spirit. He took the caressing breezes and the storms none can withstand and bonded them to this new spirit. He took the strength, the gentleness, the fertility and bonded them to this new spirit. And God Named this new thing Humanity and set it over His creation.

3. But He was not done yet.

4. For in order that Humanity rule wisely and well, it needs know its subject. So God placed Humanity at the beginning of time, in the garden from which the material for its bodies was drawn. Then slowly, because He knows well the laws He created, He spread Humanity through the space of the world, through the time of the world. The fabric of Humanity was stretched, thinned, almost dissipated into the world as God drew Humanity across the face of the planet.

5. He drew Humanity through time and space to the opposite side of the planet, making sure all the world was touched by Humanity's coming. He drew Humanity through the lowest of lows, lifted it above the highest heights. Local variations in the appearance and deeds appeared, but that didn't surprise God. It was part of His plan.

6. Humanity learned the full range of possible existences in the process of being assembled. And now all stand on the far side of the planet, changed beyond all imagining, poised to remake the one spirit that was placed at the beginning of time.

posted by Prometheus 6 at 5/7/2003 02:12:18 PM |

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I hate to admit it, but …

Sometimes … not often, but it happens … someone says things I want to say so well I'm inclined to shut up and let them.

WARNING: This is a white guy I'm linking to. Won't be the last, either.

from I Protest

Fear itself.

Everyone is afraid. White people in particular are afraid of every kind of ethnicity, particular black, Hispanic and, these days, Middle Eastern. And the fear is baseless. Despite what you might see on television, black people are just like you. I can walk down Normandie Avenue just like Michael Moore did, and not hear a single gunshot or see a single angry "gang member." Oh, by the way, I'm a white male. Hell, when I make even a small effort to just fit in, to see those around me as people and not as black, Hispanic, Asian or whatever, those people seem to appreciate it. I suspect sometimes that it is because I'm a white man that they do so, that such behavior is relatively rare.

Remember: The next time you see a person with a skin color different from yours, from a different country or with a different accent, bear in mind that they are just like you are. There is nothing to fear, no matter what Rupert Murdoch might want you to believe! Murdoch wants to make money and that is all he cares about. You and I and the guy on the street corner are just trying to live our lives. If we put our fear away and just remember that there is no reason at all to be afraid, we'll be happier and the Murdochs of the world will be furious.

A fearful populace is a compliant populace. I think the events of the last eighteen months has proven that well enough. It is time we stopped being afraid of our own shadows. A person who is too afraid to take a risk is a person who has no life.

Michael Moore is right. It is our fear that makes us a violent people, it is our fear that has robbed us of many rights we are accustomed to taking for granted and it is our fear that has caused the horror in Iraq right now. Tell me, tell me, why should we be afraid? Because the television tells us to be afraid? Are you an idiot, who can't think for himself, or do you have a mind of your own? Do you believe what anyone tells you, or do you decide for yourself? So why do you allow someone else to tell you that you should be afraid?

posted by Prometheus 6 at 5/7/2003 10:53:26 AM |

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Broward County's response to the P.A.T.R.I.O.T. Act

Maybe I don't have to move to Brazil. Maybe Broward is far enough.

Side note: I forget what P.A.T.R.I.O.T. is an acronym for, but I refuse to write it like it's a word. The particular name chosen for it is more newspeak bullshit.

Broward Bill of Rights Resolution

NOW THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED:
That the Broward County Commission affirms the rights of all people, including United States citizens and citizens of other nations, within the County in accordance with the Bill of Rights and the Fourteenth Amendment of the U.S. Constitution; and,
That the Broward County Commission calls upon all County officials and employees to respect the civil rights and liberties of all members of this community, including those who are citizens of other nations; and,
That the Broward County Commission calls upon all private citizens-including residents, employers, educators, and business owners-to demonstrate similar respect for civil rights and civil liberties; and,
That the Broward County Commission calls upon the United States Attorney's Office, the Office of the Federal Bureau of Investigation, Florida Department of Law Enforcement, and local law enforcement authorities to publicly disclose the names of any federal detainees suspected of terrorism held in Broward County; and,
That the Broward County Commission supports the rights of County officials and employees to conduct their duties pursuant to Constitutions of the United States and the State of Florida and further supports actions taken in opposition to unconstitutional directives and orders that violate the rights of people in Broward County; and,
That the Broward County Commission affirms its strong opposition to terrorism, but also affirms that any efforts to end terrorism should not be waged at the expense of essential civil rights and liberties of the people of Broward County and the United States; and,
That the County Administrator is directed to provide copies of this resolution to the County's U.S. Congressional Representatives, the United States Attorney General, and the President of the United States; and,
The Broward County Commission calls upon our United States Congressional Representatives and Senators to monitor the implementation of the USA PATRIOT Act the Domestic Security Enhancement Act of 2003 and Florida's Emergency Health Powers Act and Executive Orders issued pursuant to the Act. This resolution shall take effect immediately upon its adoption.

posted by Prometheus 6 at 5/7/2003 10:39:26 AM |

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May 06, 2003

Okay, the other one wasn't that funny, but THIS one is

from Whitehouse.org WARNING: extreme satire alert

PRESIDENT BUSH'S WESTERN WHITE HOUSE STATEMENT PRAISING AUSTRALIAN PRIME MINISTER JOHN HOWARD FOR HIS STEADFAST, IRON-WILLED SUBMISSIVENESS
Statement by the President

THE PRESIDENT: Good afternoon. Today, I'm real proud to be welcoming Australian Prime Minister John Howard and his frumpazoid wife whatsherface here to the Western White House. This is a special place for me and Laura - a place where we can get away from all that stress and hard work in the other White House - usually for month-long stretches when we feel like a break from our weekly three-day weekends at Camp David. Why, did you know that since I've been President, we've spent almost nine whole months kickin' it vacation-style here on the ranch? Well it's true. And I'm mighty pleased that Prime Minister Howard was amenable to having our little ho-down here instead of Washington DC. As if he really had a choice in the matter.

You see my life is every eight-year-old boy's (and some suspiciously dykey girls') dream. I pretended to be an jet fighter pilot last week and I'm having a blast pretending to be a cowboy this week. Who knows what fun costume I'll show up in next. I'm thinking about addressing them folks in Congress as a lion tamer! Or maybe an astronaut. Well, the kind that make it back, that is. Wouldn't that be cool?

posted by Prometheus 6 at 5/6/2003 11:34:13 PM |

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Too funny!

TBOGG (after you scroll a bit, because of bloggered links), in a post titled "Funny funny Julia" points to this LiveJournal post. The headline is priceless.

But the journal both quoting and points to NathanNewman.org, which makes a less than humorous point, and demonstrates why I may worry more about judicial appointments than even tax craziness:

You know you're rightwing when...

The Rehnquist Court unanimously overturns a ruling and thinks your decision was so obviously bad that they issue an unsigned opinion making fun of you for being too rightwing.

The top Texas Court endorsed this theory on the idea that the teenager should have realized he was free to go at any time, because "a reasonable person" in his position "would not believe that being put in handcuffs was a significant restriction on his freedom of movement" and since the teen did not struggle with the police, he obviously thought being in jail was fine with him.

As the unanimous US Supreme Court stated in ridiculing the Texas court:

Contrary to the the state court's view, the opinion said, "a group of police officers rousing an adolescent out of bed in the middle of the night with the words 'we need to go and talk' presents no option but 'to go.' "

"As for the lack of resistance," the court added, "failure to struggle with a cohort of deputy sheriffs is not a waiver of Fourth Amendment protection, which does not require the perversity of resisting arrest or assaulting a police officer."

Now remember, this Texas group is the Court where most of the members think Priscilla Owens, Bush's newest crazy nominee, is too rightwing for them. So Owens is the wackjob rightwing of a wackjob rightwing court, many of whose members were appointed by Dubya when he was governor.

posted by Prometheus 6 at 5/6/2003 11:29:19 PM |

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Two-fers

(Card images courtesy of the World Trade Organization)

posted by Prometheus 6 at 5/6/2003 09:58:03 PM |

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I got bored

I decided to respond to Marduk The Thunderer. I saved the comment page because I still ain't giving up a link. And I ain't even put the page counter on it, though I should.

posted by Prometheus 6 at 5/6/2003 08:56:43 PM |

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posted by Prometheus 6 at 5/6/2003 06:30:43 PM |

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Black separaratists!

Oh. They're not Black?

Nevermind.

posted by Prometheus 6 at 5/6/2003 06:14:12 PM |

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Job titles

Recently I've seen bloggers refer to the office of the presidency as POTUS (President Of The United States) and the Supreme Court as SCOTUS (Supreme Court Of The United States).

POTUS sounds vaguely Imperial Roman, and SCOTUS sounds somewhat grungy. I believe these are appropriate sounding titles and may begin using them myself.

posted by Prometheus 6 at 5/6/2003 05:07:43 PM |

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Comments on today's NY Times editorials

My initial response to these editorials was, "A last. An approach to the truth. " I have gotten so tired of the lying (the regime) selling out (the media) and equivocating (Hans Blix, though surprisingly Mohamed El Baradei did not) that got us into a war. Tired of the ongoing coronation of Dubya. These editorials, though they continue talking about "suspicions," are pretty real about the situation in the USofA.

Sometimes I think the way to go is to return force for force. Crank up the rhetoric, attack. Philosophically I'm closer to Malcolm X than Martin Luther King, Jr. when it comes to responding to an attack.

But dammit. As tired as I am of hearing "Ah havva DREEEM today!" as though that were all the man ever said, I can't not listen when it plays. And I have an MPs of the speech, so it gets played.

posted by Prometheus 6 at 5/6/2003 04:23:56 PM |

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It's a thought …

Actually mandatory DNA testing is a damn good thought, given the now-proven unreliability of eye witness testimony.

via The Blacklist
Date: Mon, 5 May 2003 15:36:04 -0700
From: [email protected]
Subject: Black Attorneys

Hotep Descendants of Enslaved Africans:

What an opportune time for Black Attorneys to step up to the bat!

In the Scott Peterson hearing this morning -- the case that might take O.J. Simpson off the screen -- Peterson's "high profile" attorney spoke up and got his client's handcuffs and jail "couture" replaced with European designers clothing.

Remember how a black Supreme Court Justice of New York, the legendary Judge Bruce Wright (author of Black Robes, White Justice) told us why this legal system doesn't work for Blacks in America? We are all familiar with unfair bail practices, the status of our Constitution, affirmative action (for white women), the power of the police and most importantly the unbalanced racial mixture of the jury.

How do we take this Scott Peterson/Modesto moment to get the National Bar Association (black attorneys) to demand that the courts cease and desist in the oppressive practice of parading accused black prisoners in front of the public and potential jury pools in jail jumpsuits and chains? Since suspects are presumed innocent until proven guilty. I remember when the cops broke up a regional meeting of black newspaper publishers to arrest a black publisher and even his wife
for some alleged transgression, yanked out of a newspaper publishers meeting in chains. Can you imagine dragging the publisher of the New York Times or whatnot out in chains?

And while we're addressing our legal eagles, we must remember that the strength of the lion is in the pack and we're coming to a point where black attorneys collectively will have to step up to the plate and tell as how we should get behind them to require that everyone arrested should have full access to DNA testing wherever it's relevant or applies. DNA testing should be administered before any trial that might waste taxpayers' money and destroy families through the erroneous incarcertions of too many black men.

Let's cut to the chase and get ready to collar every black lawyer we know to get the ball rolling.

Until liberation,
Julia Hare
Co-author with Nathan Hare of The Black Agenda
http://www.blackthinktank.com
1801 Bush Street, Suite 118
San Francisco, CA 94109
Phone: 415-474-1707
Fax: 415-771-3485

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~//~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
* BLACK WORLD EVENTS
http://BlackWorldEvents.com
( || ) * Be informed, be in touch, be in step and be on time ( || )

posted by Prometheus 6 at 5/6/2003 03:12:44 PM |

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Double posting

Here and in the Presidential Campaign 2004 section. I think it appropriate for both sections.

via The Blacklist
Date: Mon, 5 May 2003 15:43:23 -0400
From: [email protected]
Subject: Sharpton Need Mo' Money

Black Press Business/Economic Feature
Week of May 4, 2003

BUSINESS EXCHANGE
By William Reed

IS SHARPTON'S PRESIDENTIAL BID "PROTEST" OR "POWER" POLITICS?

Some comments in Al Sharpton's presidential campaign stance can be baffling: "We've got to stop the corporate mentality of politics and go back to the people". Sharpton needs to get it straight, because: "He who accounts all things easy will have many difficulties".

When Sharpton says, "We've reduced America too much now to who has the dollars rather than who has the message" he ignores the fact that, these days, governments are populated by the moneyed, for the moneyed. The people with the bucks and committed backers win. Just in case Sharpton hasn't looked, the way to make a bang with the message is to have big bucks. The total price of the 2000 congressional and presidential elections was almost $3 billion. TV ads, political consultants, and other campaign spending for the 2004 elections will be far beyond the 2000 amount. Al and just "the message" will not be enough. In its first financial
report for the 2004 race, Sharpton's campaign reported $115,000, just a fraction of the fund-raising reported by white Democratic candidates. According to Federal Election Commission filings, millionaire Senators John Kerry and John Edwards have collected $8 million and $7 million respectively. Others are Rep. Dick Gephardt $4.9 million; Former Vermont Gov. Howard Dean, $2 million; Sen. Joe Lieberman, $1.8 million; Florida Sen. Bob Graham, $1.1 million and Rep. Dennis Kucinich of Ohio,
$50,397. Lyndon LaRouce has $3 million raised, but Democrat party leaders view him with similar distain as they view Sharpton's bid. Only former Sen. Carol Moseley-Braun of Illinois trails Sharpton with $75,000.

Sharpton and Moseley-Braun are the first African Americans to seek the Democratic nomination since Jesse Jackson, in 1984 and 1988, and Virginia Gov. L. Douglas Wilder, who briefly ran in 1992. In a field of candidates without proven nation appeal among Blacks, Sharpton's presence; particularly, intensifies competition for our votes in the primaries.

It's going to take more than the message to win, but Black-oriented themes and issues Sharpton can bring to the table are worthwhile. "Historically, Sharpton has managed to run worthwhile campaigns without having to raise the same kind of money that other people have," says the former campaign manager. He attributes Sharpton's ability to operate with scant resources to his celebrity and ability to work the grassroots. It's true Sharpton gets more access to unpaid media than
any other Democrat presidential candidate, but, to date, that exposure has never won him an election.

To be more than an oddity, Sharpton needs Black contributors to help him rise in stature and creditability. His message has already reached some of the big name Blacks in academia, politics, and the media. Among them are Cornell West, Princeton professor, and Charles Ogletree, Harvard law professor. Who's Who in Black Corporate America is already bankrolling him: Napoleon Brandford, chairman of the nation's second-largest Black-owned investment bank; Percy Sutton, a prominent New York lawyer and owner of Inner City Cable and the Apollo Theater; Cathy Hughes, owner of Radio One; Earl Graves Jr. of Black Enterprise magazine; Atlanta venture capitalist Clinton Barrow, and wife Collette; fast-food franchisee LaVan Hawkins and other officials of Hawkins Food Group; and Robert L. Johnson of Black Entertainment Television. Others include: radio host Tom Joyner; Newark Mayor Sharpe James; Detroit TV news anchor Carolyn Clifford; and Abner Louima, the New York police torture victim Sharpton helped win a $8.75 million settlement.

The polls show money as America's number one domestic issue. For Blacks, economics, housing, justice and social status are serious issues that need to be publicly discussed. If Blacks are to ever be players in power politics, Al Sharpton's race could be the way. But, those who think just voting and participating in Town Hall meetings will get it, really don't: Money brings honor, friends, conquest and the ability to reach new realms.

(William Reed - www.BlackPressInternational.com)

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~//~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
* BLACK WORLD EVENTS
http://BlackWorldEvents.com
( || ) * Be informed, be in touch, be in step and be on time ( || )

posted by Prometheus 6 at 5/6/2003 03:08:10 PM |

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Like I don't have enough to do

I thought it was good enough to keep up with the current stuff since I found him, but NOW I have to go read all of Ampersand's stuff over at Zmag.

This cartoon says sooooo much, soooooo well.

posted by Prometheus 6 at 5/6/2003 11:49:08 AM |

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Another tiger jockey gets mauled

Hesiod points to this freeper thread where they take a bite out of Bill O'Reilly.

posted by Prometheus 6 at 5/6/2003 10:53:58 AM |

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They're getting warmer …

I'll explain the title of this post when I make the further comments on Mr. Kristoff's editorial linked to below. And apologies to the Times and Mr. Krugman for overquoting.

From the NY Times

Man on Horseback
By PAUL KRUGMAN

… Some background: the Constitution declares the president commander in chief of the armed forces to make it clear that civilians, not the military, hold ultimate authority. That's why American presidents traditionally make a point of avoiding military affectations. Dwight Eisenhower was a victorious general and John Kennedy a genuine war hero, but while in office neither wore anything that resembled military garb.

Given that history, George Bush's "Top Gun" act aboard the U.S.S. Abraham Lincoln - c'mon, guys, it wasn't about honoring the troops, it was about showing the president in a flight suit - was as scary as it was funny.

… the White House claimed the dramatic tail-hook landing was necessary because the carrier was too far out to use a helicopter. In fact, the ship was so close to shore that, according to The Associated Press, administration officials "acknowledged positioning the massive ship to provide the best TV angle for Bush's speech, with the sea as his background instead of the San Diego coastline."

… But U.S. television coverage ranged from respectful to gushing. Nobody pointed out that Mr. Bush was breaking an important tradition. And nobody seemed bothered that Mr. Bush, who appears to have skipped more than a year of the National Guard service that kept him out of Vietnam, is now emphasizing his flying experience. (Spare me the hate mail. An exhaustive study by The Boston Globe found no evidence that Mr. Bush fulfilled any of his duties during that missing year. And since Mr. Bush has chosen to play up his National Guard career, this can't be shrugged off as old news.) [p6: emphasis added, of course]

… Let me be frank. Why is the failure to find any evidence of an active Iraqi nuclear weapons program, or vast quantities of chemical and biological weapons (a few drums don't qualify - though we haven't found even that) a big deal? Mainly because it feeds suspicions that the war wasn't waged to eliminate real threats. This suspicion is further fed by the administration's lackadaisical attitude toward those supposed threats once Baghdad fell. For example, Iraq's main nuclear waste dump wasn't secured until a few days ago, by which time it had been thoroughly looted. So was it all about the photo ops?

Well, Mr. Bush got to pose in his flight suit. And given the absence of awkward questions, his handlers surely feel empowered to make even more brazen use of the national security issue in future.

Next year - in early September - the Republican Party will hold its nominating convention in New York. The party will exploit the time and location to the fullest. How many people will dare question the propriety of the proceedings?

And who will ask why, if the administration is so proud of its response to Sept. 11, it has gone to such lengths to prevent a thorough, independent inquiry into what actually happened? (An independent study commission wasn't created until after the 2002 election, and it has been given little time and a ludicrously tiny budget.)

There was a time when patriotic Americans from both parties would have denounced any president who tried to take political advantage of his role as commander in chief. But that, it seems, was another country.

posted by Prometheus 6 at 5/6/2003 10:22:40 AM |

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'Nuff said (but of course I'll say more later …)

From the NY Times

Missing in Action: Truth
By NICHOLAS D. KRISTOF

When I raised the Mystery of the Missing W.M.D. recently, hawks fired barrages of reproachful e-mail at me. The gist was: "You *&#*! Who cares if we never find weapons of mass destruction, because we've liberated the Iraqi people from a murderous tyrant."

But it does matter, enormously, for American credibility. After all, as Ari Fleischer said on April 10 about W.M.D.: "That is what this war was about."

… Let's fervently hope that tomorrow we find an Iraqi superdome filled with 500 tons of mustard gas and nerve gas, 25,000 liters of anthrax, 38,000 liters of botulinum toxin, 29,984 prohibited munitions capable of delivering chemical agents, several dozen Scud missiles, gas centrifuges to enrich uranium, 18 mobile biological warfare factories, long-range unmanned aerial vehicles to dispense anthrax, and proof of close ties with Al Qaeda. Those are the things that President Bush or his aides suggested Iraq might have, and I don't want to believe that top administration officials tried to win support for the war with a campaign of wholesale deceit.

Consider the now-disproved claims by President Bush and Colin Powell that Iraq tried to buy uranium from Niger so it could build nuclear weapons. As Seymour Hersh noted in The New Yorker, the claims were based on documents that had been forged so amateurishly that they should never have been taken seriously.

… Another example is the abuse of intelligence from Hussein Kamel, a son-in-law of Saddam Hussein and head of Iraq's biological weapons program until his defection in 1995. Top British and American officials kept citing information from Mr. Kamel as evidence of a huge secret Iraqi program, even though Mr. Kamel had actually emphasized that Iraq had mostly given up its W.M.D. program in the early 1990's.

… "In this administration, the pressure to get product `right' is coming out of O.S.D. [the Office of the Secretary of Defense]," Mr. Lang said. He added that intelligence experts had cautioned that Iraqis would not necessarily line up to cheer U.S. troops and that the Shiite clergy could be a problem. "The guys who tried to tell them that came to understand that this advice was not welcome," he said.

"The intelligence that our officials was given regarding W.M.D. was either defective or manipulated," Senator Jeff Bingaman of New Mexico noted. Another senator is even more blunt and, sadly, exactly right: "Intelligence was manipulated."

posted by Prometheus 6 at 5/6/2003 10:11:35 AM |

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Ted! Rall! Ted! Rall! Ted! Rall! Ted! Rall!

Click the picture, give that man some traffic!

posted by Prometheus 6 at 5/6/2003 09:47:29 AM |

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BTW, Ma

When the highest of higher beings gets savaged by his ostensible followers for speaking his mind, I conclude there are no higher beings … just tiger jockeys.

I'm not looking for their audience. I'm looking for mine, which may well be dispersed among theirs. My rhythm is different than theirs and those of my audience that read the A-list blogs are getting something from it otherthan what I provide, so I don't see us as competitors - and I'm fo DAYUM sho not a follower.

All I want from A-listers is a link once or twice. I think of it as Super Bowl ad.

posted by Prometheus 6 at 5/6/2003 09:35:08 AM |

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I am SO not awake yet

The news run will have to wait. But I want to do this right now.

Mac Diva mentioned she caught some right-wing flak over her discussion of Winnie Mandela's sentancing. Well, I stumbled across one of these wonderful types in my referrer log. One "Marduk's Babylonian Musings" not only referred in offensive manner to milady but attempts to misrepresent me through the offices of various strawmen he just happens to have laying around the place.

I especially enjoy when people quote the material that refutes their point. In this entry (no, you get no link), Marduk writes:

Great moments in mitigation for murder and kidnapping

The racist fool known as Macaronies once more weighs in on the injustice of Winnie Mandela being convicted and sentenced for fraud:

"A fellow liberal blogger sent me material from several newspapers she believes establishes Ms. Mandela is a common criminal or worse. As is often the case, people of color perceive the situation differently.
Winnie held the movement down while Nelson was being a symbol. She's mad radical, and felt she earned a seat at the table for all her work . . .
What do I think about the allegations of torture and murder of numerous people by Winnie Mandela? The same thing I think of the allegations of rape and murder against Bill Clinton. People's enemies make up lies to discredit them. And, if the enemies are much more powerful than they are, those allegations are likely to stay around, though unsubstantiated, for a long time. The Truth and Reconciliation Council found Ms. Mandela responsible for only one kidnapping and murder by her thuggish bodyguards. The multifarious other claims of brutality on her part occurred during apartheid and likely involved people paid by the South African security forces to denounce Ms. Mandela. In is interesting that no claims of torture and murder have arisen since the end of apartheid."

Oh well then, if you're going to make such a fuss over just one kidnapping and murder, then you're just being completely unreasonable.

Note the sentance he renders in bold. The Reconciliation Council found her guilty of a crime committed by someone else. And Mac's reference to the guards as being "thuggish" does not sound like an endorsement to me.

Now, if you can call Mac Diva a "racist" or a "fool" you have serious issues. But hey, what do I know? I'm not the Marduk the Mighty, slayer of Tiamat, Thunderer and Most High, Bearer of Manifold Titles … and competitor to the God of the Hebrews (go ahead, tell me Marduk is another name for the One True God so i can give you the definition of "hubris").

No, I'm merely Prometheus 6, new wave Titan, bearer of light and wielder of flame.

I may go back one time to dump Marduk's strawman back into the bailing machine. He has, like, zero impact on me so it'll depend on how bored I get today.

posted by Prometheus 6 at 5/6/2003 09:11:02 AM |

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May 05, 2003

Another reason I cruise the blogs at random

I don't know the guy that runs Centerpoint from Adam, but his Blogger's Initiative is an interesting idea. I get the feeling this sort of thing is being done informally - there are threads about that address it and Warblogs.cc and No War Blog are more formal examples that coalesced around the war. And we have lots of Presidential candidate reporting … even I do some of it.

But I think a mission statement, and pursuing the mission, isn't a bad idea because:

We need to channel the outrage which currently fuels our rhetoric, away from mere editorials over our Government's conduct of the war, and absence of a coherent domestic policy. We cannot take solace in our own rhetoric, and go to bed with the smug knowledge that 'I said the right thing - and how'.

In the final analysis, politically proper posturing may get us accolades from devoted readers - but we need to spur them to action, rather than merely angling for their concurrence of thought.

posted by Prometheus 6 at 5/5/2003 03:37:01 PM |

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I shouldn't even say anything

Maybe White guys aren't as bad as they're being portrayed
David Leibowitz
Special for The Republic
May. 4, 2003 12:00 AM

It won't be much of a defense in comparison to the vicious attacks, but someone has to do it. Frankly, it's the American way: When a minority group gets slandered, we offer praise and right the record. This minority group has been getting slaughtered lately. White guys, I'm talking about.

If I sound touchy, well, I've been a White guy for 38 years. For the record, we represent 36.9 percent of the American population, but it sometimes feels like we take 99.9 percent of the grief.

Yo, dawg, being Black for about a week would swiftly disabuse you of that notion.

This is the sort of thing I was talking about here when I said

And not to put too fine a point on it, but "racist" is the only word that makes white people as crazy as "nigger" makes Black people. It makes them crazier. White people don't want to hear you talk about ANY white person being racist.

I mean, was they talking about him personally?

posted by Prometheus 6 at 5/5/2003 02:06:36 PM |

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Minor request

Checking the referral log, I see I've been blogrolled by RASHOMONIC.com. Slipped right in there on me.

I'm still looking at new-to-me blogs, so I got to take a look around. I'm feeling like anyone interested enough in what I write to blogroll me is probably writing on topics I'd be interested in as well. So if anyone adds me to their list I'd appreciate a heads-up. I'm nosy like that.

posted by Prometheus 6 at 5/5/2003 11:19:29 AM |

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Looks like Blogger is trying . . .

As I logged in today I noticed Blogger is testing a new version with a new interface and bug fixes, including addressing the archive mess.

This means I need to review my template. With the current version being all screwed, I changed it so that "permalinks" point to the current document instead of an archive.

Truth is, I signed up for notifications on the development of Typepad, but Blogger says their upgrade will take place in the next few weeks.

New playas, new game.

Update: Okay, my permalinks are restored to the original point-to-the-archive condition. Thing is, the stuff I post today aren't in the archives. And frankly, I'm afraid to try regenerating them.
Update update: I'll be damned. Regenerating the archives worked. Gives me hope for the next version.

posted by Prometheus 6 at 5/5/2003 11:13:48 AM |

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The Hemings Family

Truthfully, I don't know why it's so important to some of them to be connected to ol' Jeff.

From the NY Times
At Reunion, Escorts for Slave's Descendants
By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS

CHARLOTTESVILLE, Va., May 4 (AP) - Descendants of Sally Hemings, a slave who may have borne Thomas Jefferson's children, attended the annual Jefferson family reunion Saturday and today but only after being told that they would need to be escorted to the event by a Jefferson family member.

"Every year, I feel so uncomfortable because you know people don't want us to be here," said Michele Cooley as she waited for a sponsor. "But I still feel victorious because my family has developed so many friendships with some of them."

The reunion was attended by about 80 of the Jefferson family's Monticello Association's 800 members and about 20 of the 2,500 people who claim Hemings as an ancestor.

Five years after DNA tests found a genetic link between the Hemings family and the Jeffersons - either Thomas Jefferson or his brother - the two groups have grown far apart.

The association has excluded the Hemingses from membership and prohibited its members from taking more than two Hemings guests each to the reunion.

Many Hemings family members say they are planning their own reunion at Monticello in July.

posted by Prometheus 6 at 5/5/2003 10:58:49 AM |

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From TheBlackList

Date: Sun, 04 May 2003 09:25:31 -0700
From: [email protected]
Subject: The LeoCons?

I guess that I should have known the connection between our neocon warrior intellectuals and Leo Strauss sketched out in today's NY Times Week in Review ("A Classicist's Legacy: New Empire Builders," 5/4/03). The writings and attitudes of Leo Strauss were around when I was a student, occasionally dipping into political science as well as political theory, and I found his attitudes as dangerous back then as I do today. Those who cite the classics as their model for ways of coping with political conflict are by definition elitists. Their sources of inspiration from Plato to John Locke are full of contempt for common people, who are viewed as instrumentalities for achieving 'higher' purposes (i.e. that the people who are not educated and advantaged are properly used as cannon fodder to benefit those who control things, hold the wealth and power, etc.). Sadly the soldiers who fought the battles in Iraq on both sides were largely from lower income families -- minorities and others. The same old game is being played that has been run down the ages from the Spartans and Athenians to the Founding Fathers of the U.S. republic (not a democracy until several centuries after its founding). The slog work and fighting of wars is to be done by slaves and plebs. The beneficiaries are to be the prosperous who run things, whatever the forms of government involved.

These characters, then, who cite the classics for their sources of virtue and political inspiration -- and who now project an American empire -- should not surprise us. Rather they should scare the hell out of us! After Afghanistan and Iraq what next? We have in place the world's most powerful military backed by all the weapons of mass destruction that one could wish -- the greatest assemblage of such in the history of mankind. These characters have now ravaged Afghanistan and Iraq and left these two nations devastated. There looks to be no game plan in the works to restore them to good order and their suffering masses in Afghanistan and in Iraq look to be left to their own devices to get their lives back together. They are not going to love America or Americans for our contributions to their misery. Nor will the rest of the globe.

The catch for us empire people -- and we Americans are now all fully implicated in these two messes -- is that we are making ourselves hated, while offering not much in the way of recompense to those whom we have devastated. We had better be prepared for the restoration of the Taliban in Afghanistan, which is apparently now in process, although our media do not disclose much of that except a few nervous glimpses now and again. What next in Iraq?

And we have some hard thinking to do about Israel, now liberated from the threats of Iraq and Syria, but involved in terroristic attacks of its own on those Palestinians over which it runs a cruel and crueler occupation.

I don't think I trust Bill Bennett (big time gambler they say), Wolfowitz, Perle, Cord, Clarence Thomas, Bloom, Kristol and the rest of the Strauss pack even to get Strauss right. These guys are on a power trip backed by American suffering both in public services and lives lost and crippled to fulfill their fantasies. It is called the Will to Power and it is extremely dangerous wherever it is promulgated -- particularly for liberal democracies for which it is a contradiction in terms. One can only play such elitist games by deception and manipulation. Americans particularly don't like to see themselves as bullies. And that is precisely what these characters are billing us for in our New World Order role. It stinks on ice, as they used to say on the Lower East Side. Ed Kent
--
"A war is just if there is no alternative, and the resort
to arms is legitimate if they represent your last hope." (Livy)
--
Ed Kent
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/CollegeConversation
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/PeaceEfforts

TheBlackList Information Service -
http://www.topica.com/lists/TheBlackList
For People Who Dare to Think

posted by Prometheus 6 at 5/5/2003 10:55:26 AM |

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From TheBlackList

Date: Sun, 04 May 2003 17:06:23 -0400
From: [email protected]
Subject: Danny Glover Needs You!

UHURU Comrades!
This is indeed serious to take action on. Why? because the plantation you work on could kick you off it if you speak out aginst these racists running this country right now or the war in general. We can't let these crackers get away with this. Danny Glover has been there for us on all fronts so we must show him the love in return. I got an E-mail address and a phone number. If you can't call, please drop an E-mail to this sucker Joe Scarborough and let him know how you feel about this.

UHURU! Power to the People!

***FREE DANNY GLOVER FROM THE OPPRESSED***

Our Warrior and Warlord Danny Glover is being harrassed by the racist dude CURTIS SLIWA of W-HATE BC RADIO(WABC) here in NY who orchestrated and
agitated trying to get Danny Glover from MCI. Also Joe Scarborough of MSNBC wants our brother fired also.

Joe Scarborough of MSNBC states:
"Danny Glover needs to be fired from MCI and not do commericals for MCI because Danny Glover called bush a racist and Danny supports Fidel Castro and Cuba.

Well we say...
"NO! NO! DON'T LET DANNY GLOVER GO!!!"

We all know that amBush is a racist. george w.(wacky).
Please call: Joe Scarborough of MSNBC at : 201-583-5000. You can also E-mail Mr. Scarborough at [email protected]. Put pressure on this dude.

*NOTE-
For those of you who have MCI phone service, call MCI and tell them if they fire Danny Glover, then you will withdraw your services from MCI.

TheBlackList Information Service -
http://www.topica.com/lists/TheBlackList
For People Who Dare to Think

posted by Prometheus 6 at 5/5/2003 10:49:07 AM |

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The Imaginary Candidate

Ladies and gentlemen, my opponent is correct when he says everyone would rather pay fewer taxes than more. Truthfully, I feel the same, but as a public servant it will be my duty to serve you correctly. That sometimes means telling you the truth when you may not want to hear it. I'm afraid this is one of those times.

You have to pay taxes.

Let's take a break from all the economic theory and look at the reality on the ground. Do you want highways? Do you want new drugs tested for safety or do you trust the pharmaceutical companies that charge more for an allergy remedy than you'd likely pay for illicit drugs to make sure you're safe? Should we have an army? Do you want airliners inspected thoroughly, you're sure the safety checks won't be reviewed in the next round of cost cutting? Do you want unemployment assistance after that same cost cutting round? Do you want protection from criminal? Do you want everything deregulated, so that there's an Enron in every vital service you rely on?

Then you want a government. Maybe a more responsive government is what you need.

There is a cost to running a government, and again my opponent is correct in saying that cost depends on what a government does and how it does it. He has expressed his ideas on how it works. But he doesn't seem to take reality into account. And he doesn't take your need and desires into account either.

Think of all the things you need your government to do, and the things you want it to do. You're a citizen and your desires are as valid as those of my opponent's supporters. Think of what a government is capable of (I assure you, my opponent has given it ample thought!), and ask yourself does this man's plan leave the government enough resources to help you? I am asking you to make it personal because you will be affected by your decision more than either of us. Will your unemployment, if (God forbid) you should need it, expire before you can find work? Will it be available? Will your family's health suffer because you can not afford a doctor or the medicine she prescribes? Will the money you've already paid into social security be there when you retire? Will you have to invest your nest egg on your own, competing with people that trade for a living … people as good at their job as you are at yours? Will you come up short because a nation you helped make the richest, most powerful that ever existed won't be able to afford to pay you back? This is the future his tax cut plan is devising for you.

Ladies and gentlemen … citizens … I want you to forget about John Kennedy for a moment. I want you to decide what you want your country to do for you. And tell me, so I can make it so. No matter what a bunch of people who already have all you want say, it can be so.

But you'll have to pay taxes.

And so will they.

posted by Prometheus 6 at 5/5/2003 09:34:24 AM |

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LOYAL PUBLICATION SOCIETY,
863 BROADWAY.
No. 58.

THE MASTERSHIP AND ITS FRUITS:
THE EMANCIPATED SLAVE
Face to Face with his Old Master.
A SUPPLEMENTAL REPORT TO
Hon. EDWIN M. STANTON, Secretary of War,
By JAMES McKAYE, Special Commissioner.
NEW YORK:
PUBLISHED BY THE LOYAL PUBLICATION SOCIETY.
1864.

… Of all portions of the slave region to which the Commission have had access, the valley of the lower Mississippi affords the most interesting field for the observation and study of the slave system, as well as of the great changes which, at the present moment, slave society is everywhere undergoing. Unlike most other sections visited by the Commission, here are found all the elements of that society still in existence; but in a state of revolution and transformation. Here, facing the board river on either side, still stands the great white mansion of the planter; by its side, just without its shadow, the long rows of cabins called the negro quarters, and, a little in the rear, the great quadrangular structure, usually of brick, known as the sugarhouse. In many instances the old master still occupies the mansion, and the negroes their old quarters; but under circumstances and in relations quite new, strange, and full of anxiety to both.

… Before entering further into the considerations especially suggested by the state of things here presented, it is important to advert to some of the peculiar features of the slave system, as it existed in this part of the country.

In the first place, the origin and character of the first settlers of Louisiana and the Lower Mississippi had an important bearing in modifying many of its features. These settlers were for the most part, of French, Spanish, and Portuguese origin, or of what has been called the Latin Race, and it is said that the people of this race do by no means entertain the same rooted antipathies, and low consideration of the black race, as are generally ascribed to the races with a shade whiter skin.

However this may be, it is undoubtedly true that there is found here a much more general admixture of the black and white races than prevails elsewhere, even in the slave-breeding States. And all the evidence goes to show that there existed in this region, especially in the earlier days of its settlement, a much greater social equality between the two races. No such utter repudiation of the manhood of the negro race, existed here as constituted the basis of the slave system in the islands and coasts of South Carolina and Georgia. Hence, although the amount of labor imposed upon the slave was often greater, and the system of punishments as cruel, yet their ordinary and habitual condition was better, and their daily life on a higher scale. They were not so rigorously forbidden the use of a family name. Their habitations were much more like those of other human beings. Usually their cabins contained not less than two rooms, and often four. They were furnished with some sort of beds and bedding, and in their lodging those who considered themselves man and wife were separated from the single; the young, also, of different sexes slept in separate apartments; they did not usually eat at a family table, but they had dealt out to them, generally sufficiently cooked rations, which they might eat as they chose--the cooking being done for the whole force by regular details. On the other hand, "the hours of labor on the sugar plantations were from fifteen to eighteen per day, and at certain seasons of the year a greater part of the night was also occupied with labor. The hour of beginning work in the morning was from 3 to 4 o'clock. The overseer was expected to produce a certain crop with a given number of hands, and all were obliged to obey him in preference to the master. He was generally much more cruel than the master. Kind-hearted masters sometimes select cruel overseers."

posted by Prometheus 6 at 5/5/2003 09:29:32 AM |

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From BlackAmericaWeb.com

He feels good: James Brown celebrates 70th birthday
05/03/2003 11:05 PM EDT

AIKEN, S.C. (AP) - James Brown, the Godfather of Soul, is celebrating 70 - and feels good.

"It's been seven decades alive and over five decades onstage, and I still feel good," James Brown said from his Beech Island home.

Brown, who celebrated his birthday Saturday, says he recently lost 13 pounds and is focused on good health.

posted by Prometheus 6 at 5/5/2003 09:08:59 AM |

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On the other hand

Thank you Mr. Morford. I need the reminder sometimes.

from SFGate.Com
Shut Up And Vibrate Already
Because you just know it's not all toxic war and BushCo and homophobic senators, right?

By Mark Morford, SF Gate Columnist

So you look straight out into that winking sunset or up at that star-gashed sky or over at that frolicking goofy mutt in the park or at that funky yellow Mini Cooper or deep into the rich burgundy flesh of that goblet of wine or over at the soft gorgeous rhythmic rise and fall of your lover's chest as s/he sleeps and you think, this is proof, isn't it?

This is proof that there's something more, something richer and more divine and far, far more profound and enthralling and cosmic and worthy and wet and delicious about this damnable existence, right? You can just feel it, that divine kick, that lick, that juice? Of course you can.

… Because it's just so easy to forget. It's so easy to let the crush and rush and chain-saw babble of the world, of the major media's prepackaged hysteria, overwhelm your senses and numb your id and pile-drive your innate ability to look, really look at the world around you, and ultimately let them effectively asphyxiate what you deeply sense to be true.

… Here is the basic formula: The more They get you to ignore and detach from and hurl sticks of dismissive ignorance at that divine interconnectedness, the more you feed the common tyranny of fear, the collective cultural moan, and the easier it is for corporations and the government and the masters of televised dread to convince you to buy into, say, a noxious war. Or toxic fast food. Or ultraviolent entertainment. Or Celine Dion.

Conversely, the more you work to feel nature, imbibe it, soak up that juicy interconnectedness like wine into a mattress, suck up that vibrational hum and awe and kiss, the more you realize the value of protecting and preserving and treading lightly, actually taking the time to taste your food, integrate with those objects, feel that breath of your lover. Simple, really.

And, hence, the less you require of the material world. This is what scares them the most. This is why They don't want you to notice, to feel, to remember, or to question their motives.

Because the less you believe that everything around you is just a tedious lifeless resource to be consumed and shrugged off, the less you feel the need to share in the massive force-fed belief that we are here to devour as much as possible, as quickly as possible, and blow the living crap out of everything that gets in our way.

posted by Prometheus 6 at 5/5/2003 08:55:55 AM |

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Yeah. What HE said.

From Warblogging.com
Anger

I said a few days ago that I'm ashamed of President Bush. I said that I'm ashamed that he feels that the Constitution is something that can be shredded in wartime. I said that I'm ashamed that he engages in aggressive war in my name. That isn't the half of it.

posted by Prometheus 6 at 5/5/2003 08:37:16 AM |

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What's happening CC?
(tip o' da hat to the ParliaFunkadelicment Thang)

From the NY Times
Hartford Bids a Bilingual Goodbye to a White-Collar Past
By PAUL von ZIELBAUER

HARTFORD, May 2 - To the outside world, Hartford still conjures images of bankers and brokers, hairdressers and haberdashers, a white-collar legacy of a calmly efficient insurance empire. Indeed, that was Hartford. In 1950.

Nowadays, this is far more a struggling city with a diverse population that frequents soul food restaurants and supermercados, poultry markets and panaderias. And, more than ever, Hartford is becoming a city that looks and sounds less like Katharine Hepburn and Gregory Peck and more like Carlos Lopez and Freddy Ortiz

… "We've become a Latin city, so to speak," Eddie A. Perez, who last year became the first Hispanic mayor in Hartford's 367-year history, said in a recent interview. "It's a sign of things to come."

Hispanics now account for more than 40 percent of the city's population ï¿½ the largest concentration among major cities outside California, Texas, Colorado and Florida, 2000 Census Bureau figures show. More than half of Hartford's schoolchildren are Hispanic, and city and state officials expect Hartford's demographic trend to continue

&hellip Black support is also considered essential at City Hall ï¿½ 38 percent of Hartford's residents are African-American. But if population trends continue as predicted, Hartford will be the first state capital with a Hispanic majority.

"Those numbers translate into economic and political power," said Julio Morales, a professor at the University of Connecticut's Graduate School of Social Work. "The pace is moving at a faster rate than in the past."

The rapid growth has been accompanied by problems like poverty and school overcrowding

posted by Prometheus 6 at 5/5/2003 08:13:30 AM |

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Another "Oh, c'mon!" moment

From the NY Times
U.S. Overseer Blames Sanctions by U.N. for Iraqi Gas Shortages
By SUSAN SACHS

BAGHDAD, Iraq, May 4 ï¿½ Jay Garner, the former lieutenant general who has been in Iraq for nearly a month with a mandate to get the country running again, blamed United Nations sanctions today for the gasoline shortages that have prompted Iraqi anger at the American occupation forces here.

posted by Prometheus 6 at 5/5/2003 08:06:33 AM |

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The cost of tax cuts

From the NY Times
The Faces of Budget Cuts
By BOB HERBERT

… Doctors have prescribed a long list of medications to ward off the worst manifestations of Ms. Asbell's illness. But she can't afford them. She has been dumped from a state program that paid for the medication and for sessions of much-needed psychotherapy. Now she gets some medication in the form of samples from doctor's offices. The rest she does without.

… Last month The Oregonian reported on the case of Douglas Schmidt, a 36-year-old epileptic who lost his prescription drug benefit because of budget cuts. The benefit paid for his anti-seizure medication. Eight to 10 days after his supply of pills ran out, Mr. Schmidt suffered a massive epileptic seizure. He has been in a coma ever since and is not expected to recover.

Last week I interviewed Rose Spears, who is 50, has had thyroid cancer and is disabled from diabetes. She lives alone in a one-bedroom apartment. The table beside her bed is covered with medicine vials.

"I lost my prescription drug coverage," she said, "so I have to pay out of pocket for my 11-odd medications, plus two insulins. I can't afford it. The total bill is $912 per month and my income is $728. Right now I'm surviving off samples my doctor can give me."

posted by Prometheus 6 at 5/5/2003 07:41:53 AM |

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May 04, 2003

17 Thousand People Attend Detroit Hip Hop Summit

Folks remember Dr. Chavis, right? Used to run the NAACP real briefly, got run out because he wanted to work with Min. Farrakhan to get Black youth politically involved?

I wish the brother luck and success in this endeavor (which he is apparently having). Dr. Chavez was only trying to being life into the NAACP, which needs the help (being clear that the NAACP Legal Defense and Education Fund is a different organization).

From DaveyD
DETROIT HIP-HOP SUMMIT HISTORIC SUCCESS

HIP-HOP SUMMIT ACTION NETWORK SETS GOAL TO REGISTER 20 MILLION VOTERS AS PART OF NATIONAL CAMPAIGN TO TRANSFORM AMERICA

APRIL 27, 2003 - DETROIT, MI. - Russell Simmons , Dr. Benjamin Chavis and the Hip-Hop Summit Action Network (HSAN) reported historic results in the aftermath of the Detroit Hip-Hop Summit yesterday. The largest Hip-Hop Summit ever drew over 17,000 participants in the Detroit Hip-Hop Summit's panel discussions at Cobo Arena, Poetry Slam at St. Andrews' Hall, Hip-Hop Concert at the State Theater and the official Summit reception at the Detroit Historical Museum.

The Honorable Kwame Kilpatrick, Detroit's 32-year-old ("hip-hop") mayor, along with Grammy and Oscar Award winning Detroit native Eminem and Clear Channel's premier hip-hop radio station FM98 WJLB joined with the Hip-Hop Summit Action Network to co-host the Detroit Hip-Hop Summit during the Detroit branch of the NAACP's Freedom Weekend.

Some of the leading hip-hop icons, moguls and artists traveled from across the nation to deliberate and commit to an action agenda on issues ranging from voter registration, community economic development, supporting public education and expanding career opportunities in the recording industry. Joining Russell Simmons and Eminem for the Summit's panel discussions were Nas, Reverend Run, Doug E. Fresh, Noreaga, D12, the DOC, MC Serch, T3 of Slum Village, Cherub and Red Café, Play of Kid n' Play and Obie Trice. The Summit Concert, featured the Def Jam Vendetta Tour with Method Man and Redman, Noreaga, along with the first concert appearance by the DOC in 14 years, Cherub and Red Café, Slum Village and Shady Records' Obie Trice and D12.

Dr. Benjamin Chavis, President of the Hip-Hop Summit Action Network, announced the launch of the national voter registration and education program entitled, "Hip-Hop Team Vote." The goal of the program is to register 20 million new voters, four million per year over the next five years, primarily from the 18 to 30-year-old age group, throughout the United States. The official website where youth can join HSAN's "Hip-Hop Team Vote" and become an active Team member in the national registration and voter education project is

www.hiphopsummitactionnetwork.org

"We are making better citizens of youth through hip-hop and the Detroit Hip-Hop Summit, with the presence of hip-hop Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick, exemplifies what we should now replicate in many other cities throughout the country," declared Russell Simmons.

Special presentations were made at the Summit by Congresswoman Maxine Waters (D-CA) and by former Congressman Walter Fauntroy (D-DC), who both encouraged the youth to transfer the strength of their cultural impact into political empowerment.

A highlight of the Detroit Hip-Hop Summit was the presentation of national awards to Nas and Eminem for outstanding contributions to youth empowerment. Nas was awarded the National Heroes Award for the powerful and positive impact of his hit song and video, "I Can." Eminem was given the National Outstanding Achievement Award for his charitable work and support of youth in Detroit and in other cities.

"What we saw at the Detroit Hip-Hop Summit was more than a glimpse of a new Detroit … what we really saw was a powerful image of a new America being transformed by the youthful action of the hip-hop community," added Dr. Chavis.

posted by Prometheus 6 at 5/4/2003 10:34:35 PM |

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Ruining my image here

Trying to be all serious and such, I keep running up on stuff that's too funny. Check this conversation between Dubya and his boyees.

And pay no attention to the one comment there - that guy don't know jack.

posted by Prometheus 6 at 5/4/2003 06:35:09 PM |

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All you Marvel Comics fans

Check out Galactus' blog.

posted by Prometheus 6 at 5/4/2003 04:21:42 PM |

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posted by Prometheus 6 at 5/4/2003 03:05:43 PM |

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How embarrassing

When you call yourself Prometheus , misspelling "The Promethian Position Paper" the first time you use it is not a good thing.

posted by Prometheus 6 at 5/4/2003 02:22:01 PM |

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The Promethean Position Paper or As Much as Necessary, But No More

The other day I said the short story on my political outlook would place me slightly left of center-left. I believe it might be a good thing to go into the long story. Not all the way in; the complexity of "slightly left of center-left" is a clue that might take a while.

One reason I decided to write about this is that recently my daughter told me I'm a libertarian. I said something about a thought I had, and not talking about it out loud because people might think I'm a libertarian and she calmly said, "But you are a libertarian."

This is the second time in my life I was told this, and it's not true. I'm not a libertarian, I'm just not. Even though stuff like this:

In praising the troops, President Bush implied as much: "Operation Iraqi Freedom was carried out with a combination of precision and speed and boldness the enemy did not expect and the world had not seen before … You have shown the world the skill and the might of the American armed forces &hellip Wherever you go, you carry a message of hope."

Hope! In the same speech, he mentioned faith and charity too, thus showing how all the virtues taught by God Incarnate are embodied in the act of blowing things up and killing people in distant lands. Now, this kind of language can be dismissed as boilerplate, but in fact it has repercussions in domestic policy. The advocates of big government seize on this to make the case for government to actively intervene in all aspects of life. If the armed forces really bring a message of hope wherever they go, maybe they should come to your town. If the world can be shown the might and skill of the American military, why shouldn't it be shown to America as well?

… strike me as the result of a reasonable thought process.

I also favor eliminating laws against victimless crimes. Sex and drugs have occupied a major portion of humanity's time since there was a humanity. People who want to get high or feel up girls in dark corners of the topless bar can do so pretty freely. Sure you risk your health, but if you take yourself out of the gene pool I have no problem with that. I don't like it when someone else takes you out of it. And by making them illegal you make them so profitable that you can fund wars, will shoot up the block, beat someone down for standing on "my corner."

Basically, I don't want the Procrustean Problem, where you have to make yourself fit in the bed you MUST lie in, even if it means losing fragments of yourself. The cookie-cutter Conservatism rampant in the national government has this effect, and sadly a lot of people are loving the hell out of giving up the outer edges of their nature because it makes them fit in so snugly.

Glen Reynolds and Andrew Sullivan have recently discovered the limits of the bed they've been laying in. Now, I'm neither a fan or a big consumer of either man's writing. They were, of course, among the first bloggers I ran across and among the first I left behind as ideologically incompatible with me (this is pretty typical of my reaction). Sullivan, in particular, I found confusing. I find ALL Log Cabin Republicans confusing, even more so than Black Republicans. I mean, aren't these the guys that contributed money to the Dole campaign and he returned it? Aren't Republicans the guys who owe so much to the Religious Right^TM, which group thinks they are an evil influence, a threat to our bodily fluids and damned to perdition for all eternity? I can't read the work of so deeply deluded a person. It makes my head hurt.

But you couldn't avoid noticing the reports that Reynolds and Sullivan got savaged by Freepers for suggesting Bush's theatrics aboard the Abraham Lincoln this weekend were ever so slightly beyond the pale. Even as I couldn't help noticing a bit of an I-told-you-so attitude by many who posted that amazing statement of Sullivan's:

But what amazes me is the vituperative tone, and how many then accuse me of being anti-war, anti-Bush and anti-American. Me? Are politics so polarized that you have to either engage in hagiography or hatred of our leaders? Is there nothing permissible in between?

These men made the classic mistake many civil rights leaders have made: they confused being a spokesman with being a leader, having access with having influence. Sullivan in particular has to keep a very tight grip on the wolf's ears.

Speak as much as necessary … but no more.

This sort of behavior repulses the libertarian aspect of my political soul.

I'm not a full libertarian though, because I do not believe the government is the enemy. I believe the government is a very stupid, clumsy, sometimes overzealous friend, sort of like Marmaduke. There are collective needs that should be addressed collectively, and a government is the requisite instrument to do so. There are services needed, materials required to be a full participant in what the society can offer and I think a government is the means to establish the standard. Yes there should be a ground floor that no one should be able to fall through. Yes, it sounds like socialism, yes it's expensive, but 15% of our military budget is spend on outdated technology and plans that military experts say can be scrapped with no loss to our national security. TrueMajority suggests that vast sum be spent on:

Provide basic health and food to the world's poor: $12 billion
Rebuild America's public schools over 10 years: $12 billion
Reduce class size for grades 1-3 to 15 students per class: $11 billion
Reduce debts of impoverished nations: $10 billion
Provide health insurance to all uninsured American kids: $6 billion
Increase federal funding for clean energy and energy efficiency: $6 billion
Public financing of all federal elections: $1 billion
Fully fund Head Start: $2 billion

I'm selfish enough to let the impoverished nations thing and the world hunger thing wait until we have the poverty and hunger dealt with here. But other than that, I think it's an excellent list of priorities. Education, insurance, energy, free elections … all things the right are, irrespective of their propaganda to the contrary, trying to undermine the same way they've underminded civil rights, reproductive rights and all the other rights the Bill of Rights was referrings to in Amendment IX:

The enumeration in the Constitution, of certain rights, shall not be construed to deny or disparage others retained by the people.

Take that, strict constructionists.

And right now, coasting on the rhetoric of the Contract on America, the Libertarian Party (and because of them, individual libertarians) are aligned for the most part with
the fully-co-opted Republican party.

That's why I'm so dead set against being called a Libertarian^TM. Just as dead set as against being called Republican^TM, Conservative^TM or a Fundamentalist^TM. That's why I'm liberal, and changing my party affiliation from independent (meaning no party, not the Independent Party^TM) to Democratic^TM.

But notice the trademark sign is next to the Democratic Party's name too. I haven't forgotten what the party has been. I still feel the pangs of neglect. I am at the point of accepting "there are only permanent interests." I'll ride the tiger … but I'll have a knife at it's throat.

posted by Prometheus 6 at 5/4/2003 01:14:21 PM |

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For the net dinos

Being a long-time online discussion person (mailing lists rather than Usenet) I find this funny as hell.

The Lurkers Support Me in E-mail
(To the tune of "My Bonny lies over the ocean")
Lyrics: Jo Walton ([email protected])

The lurkers support me in email
They all think I'm great don't you know.
You posters just don't understand me
But soon you will reap what you sow.

CHORUS: Lurkers, lurkers, lurkers support me, you'll see, you'll see
off in e-mail the lurkers support me, you'll see.

Oh it's true, and you know they support me.
There's thousands of lurkers out there!
They all understand my intentions
You posters are not being fair!

(Chorus)

The lurkers support me in email
"So why don't they post?" you all cry
They're scared of your hostile intentions
They're not as courageous as I.

(Chorus)

One day I'll round up all my lurkers
We'll have a newsgroup of our own
Without all this flak from you morons
My lurkers will post round my throne.

(Chorus)

posted by Prometheus 6 at 5/4/2003 09:17:32 AM |

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The ego thing

Reading the comments to this post, I find I have been adopted:

Gimme me credit for my blog child, Barry! I consider myself Prometheus' blogmother. And Roger Ailes my blog bro and, of course, Atrios, my blogfather.
Mac Diva [[email protected]] ï¿½ 05/02/03 11:05pm

Hell of a family. Lot to live up to (them, not me ).

And via email, because I fretted over a lack of reputation. Linda Devault of www.WordFetish.com set a high standard for bookmarking a site, then told me she bookmarked this one.

posted by Prometheus 6 at 5/4/2003 09:10:00 AM |

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Being real sticklers for certification deadlines, I'm sure the ~~Rove~~ ~~Bush~~ ~~Rove~~ Bush regime will understand

Bush May Be a Write-In On More Than One State Ballot
By Brian Faler
Sunday, April 27, 2003; Page A04
The GOP's unusually late nominating convention -- it does not begin until Aug. 30 -- is the problem. Bush is not scheduled to accept his party's nomination until Sept. 2, 2004. That falls after the deadline for certifying presidential candidates not only in Alabama, but also in California, the District of Columbia and West Virginia. There are bills in the Alabama legislature to move its deadline from Aug. 31 to Sept. 5. But if, for some reason, they don't pass, the president would be forced to run there as a write-in candidate.

Link to The Washington Post fixed so that it works

posted by Prometheus 6 at 5/4/2003 07:18:13 AM |

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If Tom Toles keeps this up, he'll be arrested

posted by Prometheus 6 at 5/4/2003 07:01:39 AM |

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I prefer "ketchup eating attack monkeys", but to each his own

I have downloaded the translated version of this morning's Doonsebury, just because. Good stuff. You should read it.

posted by Prometheus 6 at 5/4/2003 06:58:30 AM |

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