July 12, 2003
Reverse discrimination
Black Colleges Already Do What White Ones Must Doby Artelia C. Covington
WASHINGTON (NNPA)�-As some predominantly White universities scramble to revise their admissions process to comply with the U.S. Supreme Court rulings in two University of Michigan affirmative action cases, they ma want to borrow a page from historically Black colleges and universities (HBCUs) that have been taking an individual approach to applicants all along.
�I think the literature is full of many ways to look for talented students and if you look for a student body that will be conducive to the learning of everyone then you are going to look at those measures that will help you predict who can be successful,� says Barbara R. Hatton, president of Knoxville College in Tennessee.
…In an unusual twist, the new rulings prohibiting strict scoring standards may also spell the elimination of special scholarships that had been awarded to Whites in an effort to encourage them to enroll in predominantly Black colleges under court desegregation orders.
In 1995, Alabama District Court Judge Harold Murphy, in a ruling in the case of �Knight v. Alabama,� mandated the creation of Whites-only scholarships at predominantly Black Alabama State University in Montgomery and Alabama A&M University in Normal, near Huntsville. Under the court order, the race-based scholarships were funded annually for up to 10 years, with each university being reimbursed up to $1 million a year.
posted by Prometheus 6 at 7/12/2003 06:34:46 PM |
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Cartoons
Ben Sargent peeks over George Tenet's shoulder.
David Horsey shows why they want No Child Left Behind.
Dan Wasserman gives us President Bush compassionate conservatively entertaining needy schoolchildren.
posted by Prometheus 6 at 7/12/2003 12:42:49 PM |
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Tenet falls on his sword
Bush Expresses Confidence in C.I.A. DirectorBy THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
Filed at 10:11 a.m. ET
WASHINGTON (AP) -- President Bush said Saturday he had confidence in CIA Director George Tenet despite his agency's failure to warn Bush against making allegations about Iraq's nuclear weapons program later found false.
"Yes I do, absolutely,'' Bush said. "I've got confidence in George Tenet. I've got confidence in the men and women who work at the CIA and I look forward to working with them as we win this war on terror.''
This confidence was borne out by the following:
The NY Times has
the text of the statement whereby George attempts to get his namesake off the hook. I find it grimly amusing the way we keep hearing about how "the 16 words eventually made it into the State of the Union speech" as though the words were stalking the landscape, peeking around corners like Impossible Mission Force agents. Those words fought like hell to get into the speech, overpowering security guards ans Secret Service agents (who have since been reassigned for their failure to protect the President from political assassination).
posted by Prometheus 6 at 7/12/2003 11:25:20 AM |
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Bush Winds Up Africa Tour Praising Nigeria
By REUTERS
President Bush praised Nigeria's role in efforts to bring peace to war-torn Liberia and said the United States would also be "active" there.
posted by Prometheus 6 at 7/12/2003 11:21:16 AM |
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The more things, um, don't change…
Blacks Lose Better Jobs Faster as Middle-Class Work Drops
By LOUIS UCHITELLE
Unemployment among blacks is rising twice as fast as that of whites, and faster than in any downturn since the mid-1970's.
posted by Prometheus 6 at 7/12/2003 11:20:01 AM |
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Why people starve
A longish except from a very long article in the NY Times Magazine:
… By then, geopolitical necessities had changed, as had theories on how to develop the third world. Benefactors began attaching tighter strings to their money, first during the final decade of the Banda regime, then with the subsequent elected government. The World Bank and the International Monetary Fund had entered their ''structural adjustment'' period. Austerity in government spending was preached, the overriding principle being that the poor were best served through the efficiency of free markets. The fine print in most loan agreements committed governments to reduce subsidies, curtail spending and sell off monopolies.
Whatever eventual benefit there might be in such reforms, the immediate impact on Malawian farmers -- paupers during the best of times -- was distress. Corn prices, no longer set by the government, became unpredictable. Given the risk caused by instability, the private sector did not mature as expected. Worse yet, the kwacha was repeatedly devalued. Falling prices in the world tobacco market had strained already thin foreign-currency reserves. At the urging of the I.M.F., the government instituted small devaluations in 1990 and 1991 and two larger ones in 1992. Finally, in 1994, Malawi moved from a fixed exchange rate for the kwacha to one that floated. For farmers, that meant the cost of fertilizer, an imported good, ballooned as the kwacha shriveled.
Before, fertilizer had been subsidized. Loans had been, too. Farmers now found themselves adrift ''in the worst of both worlds, a Bermuda Triangle,'' deprived of the benefits of a regulated economy while yet to gain the benefits of a free market, said Lawrence Rubey, the United States Agency for International Development's chief of agriculture in Malawi. He gave an example with some dismal arithmetic: in dollar terms, the price of a bag of fertilizer had actually gone down. But in devalued kwachas, the cost had risen fivefold. This was devastating to farmers with badly leached soil. ''The past arrangement of high state control of the economy was inefficient, but at least it was stable,'' Rubey said.
…Like many poor, heavily indebted countries, Malawi operates something like a business in receivership. Lenders and donors -- among them the World Bank, the I.M.F., the British, the Americans and the European Union -- carefully monitor fiscal policy and budget expenditures. Their approvals are necessary, or their generosity is withdrawn. The spigot of aid goes on, off, on, off.
Understandably, this has made for a peevish relationship. The Malawians quite correctly contend that the donors are hypocrites: while opposing state subsidies elsewhere, wealthy nations hand out $1 billion a day to their own farmers, about six times what they give in development aid to the globe's poor. (Nicholas Stern, the World Bank's chief economist, once pointed out that each day, the average European cow receives $2.50 in subsidies while 75 percent of the people in Africa are scrimping by on less than $2.) These subsidies also depress commodity prices, undercutting the ability of developing nations to compete in world markets and get their nations off the dole.
posted by Prometheus 6 at 7/12/2003 11:18:13 AM |
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July 11, 2003
One more thing
You realize that the Bushistas, by saying they were taking Great Britain's word about the uranium thing, are throwing their closest, most loyal ally to the dogs. You know that, right?
Everyone who thinks the Bush adminsitration is on their side better give that some careful thought.
posted by Prometheus 6 at 7/11/2003 05:20:35 PM |
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Y'all are cracking me up
Nine folks came here searching on "Black English Month."
Well, I'm holding it down, yo, keeping it real fa sho.
KnowwhutI'msayn?
But I'm just playing.
I am so curious what all y'all are looking for.
posted by Prometheus 6 at 7/11/2003 04:11:34 PM |
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Strange-ass email
Okay, I just got some email from oro at yahoo dot com dot tw, reply to jacky at yahoo dot com, link to http://annli35.24cc.com.
Stop that. I don't speak any variant of Chinese and don't have the proper fonts installed… and will not—no point (see non-speaking, sorry provincial mofo that I am). And I don't visit web sites referred by email from folks I don't know.
And I don't use an email client that uses Microsoft tech (it's about prophylaxis, baby).
posted by Prometheus 6 at 7/11/2003 02:06:13 PM |
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Editorial run
Your Farm Subsidies Are Strangling Us
By AMADOU TOUMANI TOUR� and BLAISE COMPAOR�
Subsidies for cotton farmers in developed countries keep African nations that rely on the crop from entering the world market.
Is Race Real?
By NICHOLAS D. KRISTOF
Genetics will increasingly show that most humans are mongrels, and it will make a mockery of racism.
[p6: hell, my sidebar links do that…]
Sowing Seeds of Destruction
By CHARLES M. BENBROOK
SAND POINT, Idaho - Though President Bush deserves praise for going to Africa and talking about hunger, his proposals for addressing the problem are likely to make it worse. American farm and trade policies � particularly the promotion of American-style agricultural biotechnology � will do little to alleviate hunger.
Cartoons
Rudy Park actually makes a point on the public rhetoric.
Tom Toles on the old saying, "A workman is only as good as his tools."
Ben Sargent acts like a typical tourist.
And because I cheated you of comics yesterday
I point you at Jeff Danziger, who provides the rare triple play.
posted by Prometheus 6 at 7/11/2003 10:25:40 AM |
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I expected no less, actually
House Defeats Democrats' Bid to Thwart New Overtime RulesBy CARL HULSE
ASHINGTON, July 10 � The House cleared the way today for the Bush administration to impose new rules on overtime pay, narrowly rejecting Democratic arguments that the plan will cost millions of workers the opportunity to earn extra money.
While considering a $138 billion measure that pays for labor, health and education programs, the Republican-controlled House defeated a Democratic proposal to block proposed wage rules that have become the subject of a struggle between business and labor. The vote was 213 to 210. The underlying spending measure was approved 215 to 208.
posted by Prometheus 6 at 7/11/2003 10:22:26 AM |
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More proof Texas is run by madmen
Questions on Data Cloud Luster of Houston SchoolsBy DIANA JEAN SCHEMO
HOUSTON � When Jerroll Tyler, a sophomore at Sharpstown High School here, turned 18, he met the full force of Texas' no-nonsense approach to education. He received an attendance contract, warning that if he missed more than two days of school, he was out permanently. By week's end, Mr. Tyler had caroused his way past the limit.
Months later, when he showed up to take a state math exam needed for graduation, a dean at Sharpstown told him he was no longer enrolled. "I went home, and I never looked back at school again," Mr. Tyler said.
Which was why Mr. Tyler and his mother, Karen Gamble, were shocked to see that Sharpstown High claimed it had no dropouts at all last year. It reported, instead, that Mr. Tyler had transferred to Southwest High, a charter school he had never even visited. Some 462 other students left the school that year, and Sharpstown claimed that not one had dropped out.
Sharpstown was not alone. A recent state audit in Houston, which examined records from 16 middle and high schools, found that more than half of the 5,500 students who left in the 2000-1 school year should have been declared dropouts but were not. That year, Houston schools reported that only 1.5 percent of its students had dropped out.
And why should we be converned?
…Last year, the city won a $1 million prize as best urban district in the country, from the Broad Foundation, which is based in Los Angeles.
The city has also been a pillar of the so-called Texas miracle in education, whose emphasis on grading school performance became the model for the rest of the country under the federal No Child Left Behind Act. It was largely on the strength of his success here that Rod Paige, Houston's former superintendent, followed George W. Bush east to become secretary of education.
Now, some here are questioning whether the miracle may have been smoke and mirrors, at least on the high school level. And they are suggesting that perhaps Houston is a model of how the focus on school accountability can sometimes go wrong, driving administrators to alter data or push students likely to mar a school's profile � through poor attendance or low test scores � out the back door.
"It was Enron accounting," said Joseph Rodriguez, a former employee of the district's office of research and accountability, who is running for an open seat on the Houston school board.
posted by Prometheus 6 at 7/11/2003 10:18:15 AM |
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This is getting stupid
Check this out, people:
C.I.A. Approved Iraqi Uranium Claim, White House SaysBy THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
ENTEBBE, Uganda (AP) -- President Bush said Friday that intelligence services cleared his State of the Union speech, which included a now-discredited allegation that Iraq was seeking to buy nuclear material from Africa.
Bush's national security adviser specifically said the CIA had vetted the speech. If CIA Director George Tenet had any misgivings about that sentence in the president's speech, "he did not make them known" to Bush or his staff, said Condoleezza Rice.
The issue arose a day after other senior U.S. officials said that before and after Bush's Jan. 28 speech, American intelligence officials expressed doubts about a British intelligence report the president cited to back up his allegations.
Those doubts were relayed to British officials before they made them public, and were passed to people at several agencies of the U.S. government before Bush gave his nationally broadcast speech. The White House this week admitted the charge about Iraq seeking uranium should not have appeared in his speech.
Bush, asked during a meeting with Ugandan President Yoweri Museveni here how erroneous material had ended up in the address, said, "I gave a speech to the nation that was cleared by the intelligence services." He did not answer when pressed again on how it wound up in his speech.
But he reiterated his belief that he made the right decision in invading Iraq and asserted that the world is a more peaceful place for it.
Rice said "the CIA cleared the speech in its entirety."
Of course they "cleared" it. Why? From the
CBS News article I referred to yesterday:
…CIA officials warned members of the President�s National Security Council staff the intelligence was not good enough to make the flat statement Iraq tried to buy uranium from Africa.
The White House officials responded that a paper issued by the British government contained the unequivocal assertion: �Iraq has ... sought significant quantities of uranium from Africa.� As long as the statement was attributed to British Intelligence, the White House officials argued, it would be factually accurate. The CIA officials dropped their objections and that�s how it was delivered.
Basically the CIA said "as long as you don't blame us, you can say whatever you want."
posted by Prometheus 6 at 7/11/2003 10:13:06 AM |
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The home planet of The Watchers has been found!
Marvel Comics fans, take note!
Oldest Planet Is Revealed, Challenging Old Theories
By JOHN NOBLE WILFORD
In new observations of a distant region of primitive stars, astronomers have found the oldest known planet, a huge gaseous object almost three times as old as Earth and nearly as old as the universe itself.
The discovery, based on measurements by the Hubble Space Telescope, challenged scientists to rethink theories of how, when and where planets form. It is tantalizing evidence, astronomers said, that planets began appearing billions of years earlier than previously thought and so may be more abundant.
posted by Prometheus 6 at 7/11/2003 10:04:19 AM |
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Mostly a good thing
Open Source on Rise in GovernmentBy Peter Galli
PORTLAND�The use of open-source software is alive and well and growing among government agencies, including the U.S. Census Bureau.
In an address at the O'Reilly Open Source Convention (Oscon) here on Thursday titled "Open Source in Government," Lisa Wolfisch Nyman, a senior Internet technology architect at the Bureau, said the issue of open source and government was first raised at Oscon in 1999, where many public sector employees said they were forbidden from using open source.
But things have changed substantially over the past four years, she said. "In June this year, Bruce Mehlman, the assistant secretary for technical policy at the Department of Commerce, said that the 'Penguin has landed', which is quite a shift in just four years," she said.
I really think the government should be prevented from using closed source software unless the need is, like,
now and there's no open source software of equal utility. Security concerns over open source is nonsense… the best encryption algorhythms are well known and therefore well proven because they've been widely challenged.
This voting machine thing has me concerned though. Diebold has provided software for its voting machines made to the specification of each state that uses it, and open source software would make that simple to do, but it would also make it simple to do exactly the sort of thing Bev Harris says was possible.
Aahh. Paranoia sucks.
posted by Prometheus 6 at 7/11/2003 09:11:13 AM |
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Insomnia or not, I'm going to bed
But before I do, let me leave you with a thought.
I didn't use the Wilkerson quote that was floating around. Not bragging, I just tend not to post things that will be universally posted and that was an obvious one.
Bu I'm willing to bet the quote and the timing of it was intended to conflate it with Gary Thielmann's statements.
Never mention Wilkerson again. But never forget Thielmann.
To keep them clearly isolated in your mind is simple: one is a lie; one isn't.
Also, by now it's time to drop the "what did he know, and when did he know it" mantra. We know the answers to those questions now. With all the evidence at hand, I don't think the onus of proving our case falls on us anymore. We know what we were told, we know it wasn't true, we know who lied and that they knew they were lying when they spoke.
Now I think it's about, "If this wasn't your reason for going to war as you now claim, why did you claim it was in the first case?" It's about "How do you trust a man that lies in order to send yor children into harm's way?" And it's about, "Do you really want a president whose actions prove he feels the ends justify the means?"
posted by Prometheus 6 at 7/11/2003 02:26:26 AM |
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July 10, 2003
Another "I told you so" moment
Back on July 8th I said "By blaming the State Department in particular for the junta's chronic mishandling of foreign affairs, they attack the reputations and endanger the livelihoods of career diplomats highly placed enough to know what actually happened. Self preservation will not allow that to stand."
Well…
U.S. Gave Inaccurate Iraq Picture, Ex-Intel Official Wed July 9, 2003 06:59 PM ET
By Tabassum Zakaria
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The Bush administration gave an inaccurate picture of Iraq's military threat before the war, a recently retired State Department intelligence official said on Wednesday, saying intelligence reports showed that Baghdad posed no imminent threat.
"I believe the Bush administration did not provide an accurate picture to the American people of the military threat posed by Iraq," said Greg Thielmann, who retired in September from his post of director of the strategic, proliferation and military affairs office in the State Department's bureau of intelligence and research.
"Some of the fault lies with the performance of the intelligence community, but most of it lies with the way senior officials misused the information they were provided," he said at a press conference held by the Arms Control Association.
President Bush justified going to war based on the threat from Iraq's alleged biological and chemical weapons and nuclear weapons program."As of March 2003, when we began military operations, Iraq posed no imminent threat to either its neighbors or to the United States," Thielmann said.
The reason I underlined that very obvious statement is because the Bush regime is currently claiming that was NOT the reason they went to war. Nevermind that this was all they talked about in the run-up to live combat. No one is buying that line because we all know what we heard. So NBC Nightly News used the word
bogus to describe the "information" on which the claim that Iraq tried to buy uranium from an African source was base… and used it more than once. And CBS News says bluntly "
Bush Knew Iraq Info Was False," saying "But the bottom line is the White House knowingly included in a presidential address information its own CIA had explicitly warned might not be true. "
Really key to note, however, is that this isn't a "highly placed source" but an
actual guy who was willing to put his name and face on his statements. Really strong statements; the Guardian reports Mr Thielmann also said there was no significant pattern of cooperation between Iraq and al-Qaida— how this can be put across to the vast number pf people hypnotized by the media into believing otherwise, I have no idea but at least the truth has a witness now.
And more:
Wrestling for the Truth of 9/11The Bush administration, long allergic to the idea of investigating the government's failure to prevent the Sept. 11 terror attacks, is now doing its best to bury the national commission that was created to review Washington's conduct. That was made plain yesterday in a muted way by Thomas Kean, the former New Jersey governor, and Lee Hamilton, the former congressman, who are directing the inquiry. When these seasoned, mild-mannered men start complaining that the administration is trying to intimidate the commission, the country had better take notice.
Doesn't look like former governer Keane is willing to either swallow the line or take the fall either. And the career diplomats in the State Department have made it clear to me they're just not having it. In the same CBS News report I mentioned above, Colin Powell explains why he made no mention of the African uranium 'connection' eight days after Bush made the categorical claim: "I didn�t use the uranium at that point because I didn�t think that was sufficiently strong as evidence to present before the world."
The Bush regime is expecting everyone to fall on their sword for them. They've forgotten you've got to be
holding the sword to fall on it.
posted by Prometheus 6 at 7/10/2003 11:41:03 PM |
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Scattered
I'm getting the sense that I've got too many fingers in too many pies. It is literally impossible to blog on everything that I'm interested in, much less everything that catches my eye. On the other hand, I don't want to narrow down to only what I feel is important,, nor do I want to ignore stuff just because other folks cover it because I see and say things from a particular perspective.
I need to get clear again.
posted by Prometheus 6 at 7/10/2003 10:50:43 PM |
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A sense of scale
Forty six billion, eight hundred million dollars per year is Rummy's estimate of what we'll be spending per year in Iraq. It took a minute to locate it, but I want to give you this picture so you'll have a more tangible idea of what that looks like.
posted by Prometheus 6 at 7/10/2003 03:49:09 PM |
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Pain in the ass
The "web site" with the files connected to the story two posts down is just a directory listing of the files on the CDs. A whole lot of files. I was hoping for CD images I could download and burn. And it is incredibly annoying to download the files individually.
I'm thinking of hacking together a little spider specifically to rip these files. I got plenty of space for them, and I'd really like to see how easy it is to screw with the data files.
Well, the investigation is over for today. But just for today.
posted by Prometheus 6 at 7/10/2003 01:10:25 PM |
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Before I vanish into some investigations
I've done a little background reorganization of the site. My Public Library took up a significant amount of space, enough that I because concerned that between the books and the archives I'd eat the whole 10 megs of free space I have here. So I've moved The Public Library to a new space.
Anyone that bookmarked the books themselves will land on a page that redirects them to the new location. I have several other web spaces I can expand into so now I have some elbow room for more stuff.
Also, The Attack on Civil Rights page has been updated with links to the ACLU's press release for its report on the misuse of the P.A.T.R.I.O.T. Act powers, as well as to the report PDF file itself.
A couple of days back, I noticed a problem where half the stuff I posted on 7/6 wasn't being archived. maybe because I changed my template a bit or maybe Blogger noticed my bug report and fixed it, but everything's in there at this point.
Finally, though I haven't posted a link to it yet, I've given in to a BlogNet ritual symbol: the Amazon wish list. Though tempting, I chose not to add the Segway (though I'd take one). I suppose becoming an Amazon associate is next. I can't picture the PayPal cup, though.
posted by Prometheus 6 at 7/10/2003 11:48:54 AM |
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This is deeper then hell
Just read.
Was The 2002 Election Stolen?The most disquieting thing, to me, about electronic voting machines is there is no physical artifact. Punch cards may have hanging chads, but at least chads can be counted. Without a physical artifact, proving a vote occurred, you cannot prove that votes were not stolen, totals manipulated, and democracy stolen.
Now, a New Zealand political activist, Bev Harris,
has found out how last year�s election might have been stolen using
the Diebold systems now in use. The story has already made its way to
England and is being discussed at
Slashdot.
The author has put online seven gigabytes of data, from
CDs allegedly accessible in Georgia at the time of the last election, files which would have allowed Republicans to
steal that election. (Background: Republicans swept the Georgia elections in 2002 after polls throughout the campaign showed Democrats comfortably ahead. Personal point: I live in Georgia.)
… The author wants you to go to their
Web site, download the files, test them, mirror them, check them out, spread them around, and look for evidence to prove the 2002 elections were stolen.
If they is true, it is bigger than Watergate, bigger than any scandal ever in American political history.
The article in question has this statement at it's head:
IMPORTANT NOTE: Publication of this story marks a watershed in American political history. It is offered freely for publication in full or part on any and all internet forums, blogs and noticeboards. All other media are also encouraged to utilise material. Readers are encouraged to forward this to friends and acquaintances in the United States and elsewhere.This is no joke.
Read
the article I've linked to, go to
the original source article. Follow up on this, I know
damn well I will. I may not blog another damn thing today.
Spread the word about this, please. If it's wrong, it needs to be shot down, If not, it needs to be brought to the forefront.
There should be no partisanship in the BlogNet on this. There should be a unified effort to determine the truth.
This may be more important than any political story, any war story, any economic story you are reading or considering publishing on your blog.
posted by Prometheus 6 at 7/10/2003 09:51:40 AM |
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Can you say "I told you so" boys and girls?
Well, now it's official. L. T. Smash will get to "see it through to the end." The mightiest military to ever walk the face of the earth will be walking the face of Iraq for the forseeable future.
Rumsfeld Doubles Estimate for Cost of Troops in IraqBy THOM SHANKER
WASHINGTON, July 9 - Gen. Tommy R. Franks said today that violence and uncertainty in Iraq made it unlikely that troop levels would be reduced "for the foreseeable future," and Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld nearly doubled the estimated military costs there to $3.9 billion a month.
"We have about 145,000 troops in there right now," General Franks told the Senate Armed Services Committee. He said he had talked to "commanders at every level inside Iraq," and found that the size and structure of those forces were appropriate for the current situation.
Mr. Rumsfeld has never laid out a timetable for bringing American troops home, and has repeatedly pledged that the forces would stay as long as required, but no longer. Even so, the acknowledgement today of the scope of the long-term military commitment to Iraq was the strongest indication to date that the reconstruction effort requires the continued deployment of large numbers of troops - and that the undertaking carries a hefty price tag.
Three billion, nine hundred million dollars per month. Forty six billion, eight hundred million dollars per year.
posted by Prometheus 6 at 7/10/2003 08:07:28 AM |
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The more I think about it, the more it bothers me
I keep thinking about that post by L. T. Smash where he says "We would have lost the war, and all of the brave Americans and British who gave their lives in this operation would have died in vain. I am not willing to accept that scenario. You shouldn�t be, either. We are the mightiest military to ever walk the face of the Earth. We have the capability and the will to finish this job. Let's see it through to the end. "
I keep thinking abot how we got into the war. And I it makes me wonder… what is the job? What condition is the honorable end that will give meaning to those deaths he mentioned?
posted by Prometheus 6 at 7/10/2003 12:32:36 AM |
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July 09, 2003
Because H comes before L
John Constantine at Hellblazer pointed to today's Liberal Oasis post. Both of them are blogrolled, so I'd have gotten to it...
… And the trick is not to get sucked into rearguing the war.
That�s what the GOP wants Dems, and liberals in general, to do.
…Why? Because the goal is not to win a debate about whether the war was right or wrong.
The goal is getting rid of Bush.
And you don�t need to change anyone�s mind about the war to do that.
But taking away the perception that Bush is trustworthy would go a long way, since that�s where much of his personal appeal is based.
And exposing Bush as dishonest is relatively easier than winning converts about the war.
This is where the Dem split on the war -- which up until now has made the party seem rudderless � comes in handy.
Now, the pro-war and anti-war Dems, representing a broad swath of Americans, can stand together and say:
Whether or not you believed war with Iraq was necessary at this time,
no one believes a President has the right to mislead the public when our soldiers� lives are on the line, and our credibility with the world is at stake.
I couldn't agree more. In the comments to this
post I saidOur job at this point is to keep the real issues visible, to keep the lies in circulation until the press can't ignore them and the politicians trip over their own words.
The real issue is no longer whether or not we will be at war with Iraq. It is, based on what we've learned is the Bush administration trustworthy enough to depend on going forward? And the answer to
that question is a categorical
no.
Moments later: TalkLeft reports on a
ACLU press release about a
report with more proof this regime can't be trusted. I already downloaded the PDF file, and will add the link to
the Attack on Civil Rights page in the next day or two.
posted by Prometheus 6 at 7/9/2003 05:18:07 PM |
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Reading The Truth Laid Bear
The blog, not the Ecosystem. N. Z. Bear links to this post from L. T. Smash, which I read in its entirety and think you should too. I'm specifically highlighting the part the Bear quoted:
Weary but DeterminedSeveral people have written, asking what I think about the almost daily media reports on attacks against Coalition forces and low morale amongst the troops.
My unit deployed here to perform a specific task, and we�ve been doing that same job since we arrived in December. What we do is somewhat more dangerous than working in a logistics office, but significantly less dangerous than kicking in doors and dodging RPGs. Sure, it got a little bit scary during the height of the conflict, with the constant air raid sirens and security alerts; and there is no denying that the threat of terrorist attack is omnipresent in this corner of the world, especially for folks like us. But I can�t pretend to know what it�s like for the guys out at the very tip of the spear, and I certainly won�t pretend to speak on their behalf�I can only write about what I have personally experienced.
We�ve been here for a long time, and we�re looking forward to going home. We�ve been given a tentative date for our return, but we�re pretty guarded about getting prematurely excited. One of our sister units recently found out that they are going to have to stay several months longer than they had expected, and we don�t pretend that something similar couldn�t possibly happen to us�although it appears less likely the closer we get to that magic day.
We�ve adjusted to our lifestyle here, as uncomfortable as it may be, and we make the best of it. People tell jokes and laugh at mealtimes, we get together to watch movies in the morale tent, and we share our care packages from home. Some people play basketball or volleyball after the sun goes down, or just sit outside at a picnic table and chat with their buddies. Sure, we hear a lot of complaining�but complaints are merely the background noise of military life.
Just like you folks back home, it hurts us every time we hear about soldiers being hurt or killed in an ambush. I�ve been fortunate in that with the exception of my brother�s friend Tom, none of the deaths or casualties have been anyone close to me. But I try to put these events in perspective. We�re engaged in a war, fighting for what I believe to be a just cause: the elimination of a hostile regime, and the liberation of Iraq. We knew we would take casualties before it began, and we prepared ourselves for that eventuality.
It really all boils down to this:
Just about everyone here would rather be at home right now�but nobody wants to go home a loser.
If we gave in to the snivelers and peaceniks who cry, �Bring our troops home now!� Iraq would undoubtedly descend into a bloody civil war, and God only knows who would come out on top. Saddam might even emerge from hiding, claiming to have driven the �infidels� out of his country. The United States would have suffered another black eye, and our enemies would be further emboldened to attack us again. We would have lost the war, and all of the brave Americans and British who gave their lives in this operation would have died in vain.
I am not willing to accept that scenario. You shouldn�t be, either.
We are the mightiest military to ever walk the face of the Earth. We have the capability and the will to finish this job.
Let's see it through to the end.
N.Z. then asks "What can I possibly add to that?"
I'll answer that.
You can add, "Remember who got you in this predicament. Remember that you wouldn't be at risk were ot not for what has basically proven to be lies told by this administration for arcane reasons known only to themselves. Remember who set things up such that American pride, honor and world influence can only be preserved at the expense of American lives… and remember that
it was not necessary."
This is not about being a sniveller or peacenik. This is about the fact that the anarchy you fear will descend on Iraq would never have come to pass but for an interventionist war that has not yet been justified. A war that, as time passes, looks more and more to have been created out of whole cloth by a criminal exploitation of illegitimately gained power.
That's not what you are defending, I know that.
But dammit, it better not be what you defend when you vote, either.
posted by Prometheus 6 at 7/9/2003 12:48:25 PM |
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Cartoons
Today's cartoon pointers belong totally to Pulitzer Prize winner Tom Toles.
posted by Prometheus 6 at 7/9/2003 09:17:12 AM |
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Typepad tests
No, I'm not a beta tester. But Al-Muhajabah is, and she's set up a test blog called Muslims For Kucinich. Typical MT-looking blog, it appears the innovation is all in the author user interface. That's a Good Thingtm, since MT on the reader UI side seems to have coalesced around a very workable standard.
Another test blog is Formerly Echo, a bloggification of the TheAPIThatWouldHaveBeenFormerlyKnownAsEcho that attempts to extract reason out of "the total assness of Wiki" (though I've figured out wikis can be useful, I still think that was funny). I'm watching this because I'd really like to know what's going on without wading through the personal toxicity of the RSS 1.0 vs RSS 2.0 camps. Eventually something will copme out of all that noise which will be used, but… well, anyway, I just want to know.
posted by Prometheus 6 at 7/9/2003 09:11:51 AM |
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On Freedom
Dana Blankenhorn at MOORE'S LORE: new technology is technically a tech blogger. But just as I drift into tech now and again, he keeps posting stuff that directly parallels the though process I feel is needed in the political sphere. Here's the beginning and end of his post, Freedom Carries Risks:
Do you want to live in a free nation? Do you want to live in a democratic society?
Then accept some risks. You can't have both liberty and absolute security. There is always a balance between the two, but for over 200 years the United States has generally erred on the side of liberty.
It has been a winning bet. Liberty allows collaboration, which results in innovation. Innovation makes societies more flexible. Open lines of communication make for transparent markets. A free press is our great guarantor of democracy.
Democracy is to government as markets are to economies, and as liberty is to innovation. These are our three pillars. Without them we are nothing.
…So choose. In the words of James Madison, "There are more instances of the abridgement of the freedom of the people by the gradual and silent encroachment of those in power, than by violent and sudden usurpation." Or take Ben Franklin's advice, "They that can give up essential liberty to obtain a little temporary safety deserve neither liberty nor safety."
I damn near stood up and applauded this post. That last paragraph could be the motto to rally a fight against P.A.T.R.I.O.T. Act and Patriot II provisions.
Bravo, Dana.
posted by Prometheus 6 at 7/9/2003 08:57:49 AM |
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Problems for the "emergency Republican"?
If Democrats are smart, it will NEVER be open season on each other. If Rev. Al can rise above all that… and he has… "senior statesmen" like Mr. Lieberman will look pretty bad if they don't.
posted by Prometheus 6 at 7/9/2003 08:49:24 AM |
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Testing the limits
I don't know the specifics of this case. I do know the Feds have proven so untrustworthy that this case deserves a thorough review. I'm just not taking the word of anyone remotely connected with this administration.
Man Held as 'Combatant' Petitions for ReleaseBy ERIC LICHTBLAU
WASHINGTON, July 8 � Lawyers for a Qatari student who was jailed by the military last month asked a federal court today to free him and challenged President Bush's authority to treat terrorism suspects as "enemy combatants."
Lawyers for the student, Ali Saleh Kahlah Al-Marri, argued in an appeal filed in federal court in Illinois that Mr. Bush's June 23 order declaring Mr. Marri to be an operative for Al Qaeda and an enemy combatant represented an act of "unbridled authority" that was illegal and unconstitutional.
Specialists in military law said that the legal challenge, coming just days after the Bush administration announced it was considering the use of military tribunals against six terrorism suspects, could present an important test of the executive branch's power to imprison suspects outside the reach of the civilian court system.
Mr. Marri, 37, had been scheduled to go on trial this month in Illinois on charges that he lied to the F.B.I. soon after the attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, about his travels and engaged in credit card fraud. But in a surprise decision last month, the Bush administration instead had him removed from the court system and jailed in a Navy brig in South Carolina as an enemy combatant. Officials said recent intelligence indicated that he had visited a Qaeda terrorist training camp in Afghanistan and that he was prepared to help "settle" operatives in the United States for further attacks after Sept. 11.
Bush administration officials declined to comment on the legal challenge today. "If we have any response, we'll respond in court," said Bryan Sierra, a Justice Department spokesman.
posted by Prometheus 6 at 7/9/2003 08:45:26 AM |
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Good luck, guy. Seriously.
This gentleman puts the lie to any concerns that gay folks can't serve with honor. I really hope he wins and gets his pension.
Gay Man, Citing Supreme Court Ruling, Fights '97 Army DischargeBy THE NEW YORK TIMES
… Mr. Loomis was discharged just one week shy of the 20-year career mark that would have entitled him to full retirement benefits after his home was burned and a firefighter found a videotape of him engaging in sex with other men.
The Army discharged Mr. Loomis, who was wounded in the Vietnam War, in which he won two Bronze Stars and a Purple Heart, under "other than honorable" conditions, a move that deprived him of pension and benefits that he says are worth more than $1 million.
posted by Prometheus 6 at 7/9/2003 08:41:08 AM |
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I believe commentary on this would be superfluous
9/11 Commission Says U.S. Agencies Slow Its Inquiry
By PHILIP SHENON
The panel said that its work was being hampered by the failure of executive branch agencies to respond quickly to requests for documents and testimony
posted by Prometheus 6 at 7/9/2003 08:37:03 AM |
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Dear Abby on Blogging
In case you were curious.
CORANTE ON BLOGGING: In media res finds this stuff, I just report it.
posted by Prometheus 6 at 7/9/2003 07:54:31 AM |
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Give that man a round of applause
Minor formatting changes added...
Can't we all get along ... or failing that, just shut up?: I think I speak for many (read: most) bloggers when I say that we don't really give a shit about the RSS v. Echo wars.
Most mortals -- and now that weblogs are widespread, remember that most bloggers are now mortals, not warrior geeks -- still don't fully understand what RSS is or what it does, least of all what it stands for (either version). That doesn't mean we won't use it or its variants and depend on them; that doesn't mean that XML and RSS and Echo are not revolutionary and better than sex. But that's not the point.
If the leaders of the blogging world keep on fighting about this, it will hurt everyone -- not just because there will be confusion about standards and compliance and how and where to get the data and functionality you need but also because it will continue to doom "blogging" to the world of greasy-haired geekdom, not mass-market significance.
So I don't give a damn who's right and who's wrong. I don't give a damn who started it. I don't give a damn who's screwing whom.
I have just one message for all of you:
SHUT UP ALREADY!
This fight is getting to be embarrassing and certainly unproductive and probably destructive. It's tiresome and childish and wearying.
So find a way to get along.
Or some big company will just come in and do it for you
The sad thing is, by the comments it appears the tech bloggers disagree.
I'm
SO glad I'm not a tech blogger.
posted by Prometheus 6 at 7/9/2003 07:48:32 AM |
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In the comments
Since I've found Shizzolation useful, (not)Anonymous has given me a really useful tool.
I wonder how Ari sounds in Swedish Chef?
FLEISCHER: Vhee I reffer tu yelloo ceke-a I reffer tu Neeger. Hurty flurty schnipp schnipp! Zee qooesshun ves oon zee cuntext ooff Embessedur Veelsun's meessiun. Bork bork bork!
Oh, this is positively eeeeeevil!
posted by Prometheus 6 at 7/9/2003 07:02:34 AM |
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It's the original
I love Leah the activist, Lambert the polemicist and the farmer the satirist. But this morning the first post are all classic Atrios.
Ah, memories…
posted by Prometheus 6 at 7/9/2003 06:54:59 AM |
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July 08, 2003
Getting an early start
Dr. Frist and Mr. Hyde
Like I said, Schlock and Roll is now an automatic weekly read.
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Politics on Display in the Fight for a Black Museum
Exhibit Aby Ta-Nehisi Coates
July 9 - 15, 2003
For those who dream of a National African American Museum, something always comes along to jolt them awake. In the early 1990s, everyone from then Democratic representative Gus Savage of Illinois to Republican senator Jesse Helms of North Carolina played the role of No-Doz and squelched the idea. After the 1994 GOP junta in Congress, all arts funding became suspect. Museum advocates believed that as long as Republicans ran Congress, a black museum would be a nonstarter. They may well have been right�but for the wrong reasons.
On its face the black museum movement is moving at full steam, Republican majority be damned. In May, Democratic senator Chris Dodd of Connecticut, and Republican senators Sam Brownback and Rick Santorum, of Kansas and Pennsylvania respectively, introduced a bill authorizing the creation of a black museum�to be part of the Smithsonian in Washington�and providing $17 million in funding.
But details of the bill have become a sore point for the nearly two-year-old presidential commission charged with creating a blueprint for the museum.
posted by Prometheus 6 at 7/8/2003 11:12:08 PM |
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Diamonds in the Rough
Liberia: Ripe for Colonizing?July 9 - 15, 2003
In 1821 a group of freed American slaves retraced the steps of their forebears to West Africa to start a new country. At first the Africans didn't want to turn over a huge hunk of land to the American blacks, but when a U.S. naval officer accompanying the group ordered the Africans at gunpoint to knock it off, they agreed to give it up for baubles and biscuits worth $300. The country of Liberia was founded.
The emigrating blacks proceeded to organize a society around the only social structure they had experienced, that of the antebellum South. So just like the Southern whites, they set up plantations, adopted the formal dress of Southern gentry, joined the Masons, sipped bourbon on the verandas, and sent their kids abroad to school. Liberia's main city, Monrovia, is named after President Monroe. As for the Africans who worked the plantations, the transplanted former American slaves called them "aborigines."
This is an admittedly thumbnail sketch of what President Bush last week referred to as Liberia's "unique history," which he said had created "a certain sense of expectations" about the U.S. getting involved in trying to stabilize it. During the 2000 election Bush came out against so-called nation building, but last week his national security adviser, Condoleezza Rice, said the president thinks the stability of West Africa is "important" to our interests. Last week Rice told reporters Bush felt it necessary to "bring about reconciliation" between Africa and America due to their odd ties, i.e., slavery, which she has termed America's "birth defect."
posted by Prometheus 6 at 7/8/2003 11:10:37 PM |
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Oh, great.
Big Brother Gets a BrainThe Pentagon's Plan for Tracking Everything That Moves
by Noah Shachtman
The cameras are already in place. The computer code is being developed at a dozen or more major companies and universities. And the trial runs have already been planned.
Everything is set for a new Pentagon program to become perhaps the federal government's widest reaching, most invasive mechanism yet for keeping us all under watch. Not in the far-off, dystopian future. But here, and soon.
The military is scheduled to issue contracts for Combat Zones That See, or CTS, as early as September. The first demonstration should take place before next summer, according to a spokesperson. Approach a checkpoint at
Fort Belvoir, Virginia, during the test and CTS will spot you. Turn the wheel on this sprawling, 8,656-acre army encampment, and CTS will record your action. Your face and license plate will likely be matched to those on terrorist watch lists. Make a move considered suspicious, and CTS will instantly report you to the authorities.
Fort Belvoir is only the beginning for CTS. Its architects at the Pentagon say it will help protect our troops in cities like Baghdad, where for the past few weeks fleeting attackers have been picking off American fighters in ones and twos. But defense experts believe the surveillance effort has a second, more sinister, purpose: to keep entire cities under an omnipresent, unblinking eye.
This isn't some science fiction nightmare. Far from it. CTS depends on parts you could get, in a pinch, at Kmart.
posted by Prometheus 6 at 7/8/2003 11:07:24 PM |
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Progressive + Blog + Creativity =
Denny at Where We're Bound has done an interesting thing: when you read his blog, a list of civilian deaths—date, location, number, causes and the occasional name— scrolls up the sidebar independantly of the page itself.
Hard to read sometimes, but hard not to try.
posted by Prometheus 6 at 7/8/2003 10:56:46 PM |
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Link whoring
My blogroll is essentially a list of really strong leftist and progressive voices with the occasional diversion. And recently I'd been thinking about whether or not I want to try pushing my way into more visibility.
Well, today I decided to walk the whole length of the blogroll. All good stuff, as usual. Then I get to Shadow of the Hegemon and read this:
I generally avoid forays into the more interesting parts of blogdom, but a scan of N.Z. Bear's blogosphere ecosystem (where I'm currently at 95th, after having dipped in prominence over the past little while) lead me over to one of your more frothing commentators, the 'anti-idiotarian rottweiler'.
While there, I saw something that frankly made my jaw drop. I hadn't commented on Liberia yet, but I'm pretty sure that when I do, it won't include this sentence:
...the news that Donk Presidential Candidate Howard 'How Many Ways Can I Lick Kofi's Ass?' Dean supports sending our troops into this festering hell-hole of savages.
The really scary thing?
He's ranked 40th.
I obviously need to work harder at getting blogrolled.
Yeah. Maybe me too.
posted by Prometheus 6 at 7/8/2003 10:30:17 PM |
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Resistance is…
Cowboy Kahlil pointed out an apparant movement building at The Left Coaster.
I have been contacted several times in the last twenty-four hours about how the blogosphere can do what the DNC has ignored. How can the blogosphere make the Truth Squad idea a quick-strike reference material vehicle? Since the DNC has not even responded to my original fax on the concept of them taking it on, I think the Blogosphere can do this. Billmon and his WMD quote database is all the proof you need to show that it can and will work.
Interested? Curious? Follow the links and decide. But even if this isn't going to be your tactic of choice, you better do SOMETHING.
http://www.theleftcoaster.com/archives/000377.htmlhttp://www.theleftcoaster.com/mt/mt-comments.cgi?entry_id=377http://www.theleftcoaster.com/archives/000386.htmlhttp://www.theleftcoaster.com/archives/000388.htmlhttp://www.theleftcoaster.com/archives/000387.htmlhttp://www.theleftcoaster.com/archives/000389.html
posted by Prometheus 6 at 7/8/2003 10:17:34 PM |
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Okay, this is what you do
Go read "Love or War?" at Peevish. Get comfortable, because it might take you a minute. Well worth the time, though.
posted by Prometheus 6 at 7/8/2003 10:06:22 PM |
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You know what's sad?
Ari Fleischer makes just as much sense when you shizzolate that shit.
posted by Prometheus 6 at 7/8/2003 06:38:13 PM |
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Manual shizzolation
Josh Marshal gave us a piece of the transcript wherein it was shown even the inestimable Ari Fleischer can't wiggle out of the Iraq/African uranium lie. In honor of Black English Month I thought I'd take a shot at translating it.
Q: Can you give us the White House account of Ambassador Wilson's account of what happened when he went to Niger and investigated the suggestions that Niger was passing yellow cake to Iraq? I'm sure you saw the piece yesterday in The New York Times.
Q: Ambassador Wilson called you out on the African uranum thing. What's up with that?
FLEISCHER: Well, there is zero, nada, nothing new here. Ambassador Wilson, other than the fact that now people know his name, has said all this before. But the fact of the matter is in his statements about the Vice President -- the Vice President's office did not request the mission to Niger. The Vice President's office was not informed of his mission and he was not aware of Mr. Wilson's mission until recent press accounts -- press reports accounted for it.
So this was something that the CIA undertook as part of their regular review of events, where they sent him. But they sent him on their own volition, and the Vice President's office did not request it. Now, we've long acknowledged -- and this is old news, we've said this repeatedly -- that the information on yellow cake did, indeed, turn out to be incorrect.
Fleischer: Wilson's just showing out. We told you all about that. It was just the CIA doing its thang, we wasn't involved, know what I'm saying? They ain't told us people was perpetrating until now, so we told you.
[Here there were questions unrelated to the Niger-uranium issue - tpm ed. note]
[Other stuff gets asked]
Q: I just want to take you back to your answer before, when you said you have long acknowledged that the information on yellow cake turned out to be incorrect. If I remember right, you only acknowledged the Niger part of it as being incorrect -- I think what the --
Q: So your saying the shit didn't come from Niger
FLEISCHER: That's correct.
Fleischer: Riiiiight...
Q: I think what the President said during his State of the Union was he --
Q: But the Prez said...
FLEISCHER: When I refer to yellow cake I refer to Niger. The question was on the context of Ambassador Wilson's mission.
Fleischer: Yo, you asked about Niger. That's all I'm sayin.
Q: So are you saying the President's broader reference to Africa, which included other countries that were named in the NIE, were those also incorrect?
Q: Aight, aight. But the Prez said some other Africans was scheming too.
FLEISCHER: Well, I think the President's statement in the State of the Union was much broader than the Niger question.
Fleischer: And?
Q: Is the President's statement correct?
Q: Well? What up with that?
FLEISCHER: I'm referring specifically to the Niger piece when I say that
Fleischer: Yo, you asked about Niger. That's all I was talking about, that's all I'm saying.
Q: Do you hold that the President -- when you look at the totality of the sentence that the President uttered that day on the subject, are you confident that he was correct?
Q: Fine, man. But now I'm asking about the whole damn thing. You still saying them other Africans was gaming shit?
FLEISCHER: Yes, I see nothing that goes broader that would indicate that there was no basis to the President's broader statement. But specifically on the yellow cake, the yellow cake for Niger, we've acknowledged that that information did turn out to be a forgery.
Fleischer: Dubya said it, and I'm not the one that's gonna call him a liar. That's why I'm just taking about Niger. Nothing else. Nothing.
Q: The President's statement was accurate?
Q: So what you're saying is some unscrupulous Africans was selling bomb shit.
FLEISCHER: We see nothing that would dissuade us from the President's broader statement.
Fleischer: If that's what the Prez was saying, then that's what I'm saying. Know what I'm saying?
Q: Ari, that means that, indeed, you all believe that Saddam Hussein was trying to obtain uranium from an African nation; is that correct?
Q: Okay. So when I walk outta here, I'm telling people y'all still representing like the Africans was all selling bomb shit to Saddam Hussein. You cool with that?
FLEISCHER: What the President said in his statement was that according to a British report they were trying to obtain uranium. When I answered the question it was, again, specifically about the Niger piece involving yellow cake.
Fleischer: Damn, man, why you trying to catch me out there like that? Man, the Prez didn't even say they did that shit. He said the BRITISH said they did that shit. I told you about Niger dawg, why don't you drop that shit?
Q: So you believe the British report that he was trying to obtain uranium from an African nation is true?
Q: Aight. So you believe some old he-said-she-said the British started?
FLEISCHER: I'm sorry?
Fleischer: Whut?
Q: If you're hanging on the British report, you believe that that British report was true, you have no reason to believe --
Q: The British started the shit, and you rolling with it, right?
FLEISCHER: I'm sorry, I see what David is asking. Let me back up on that and explain the President's statement again, or the answer to it.
The President's statement was based on the predicate of the yellow cake from Niger. The President made a broad statement. So given the fact that the report on the yellow cake did not turn out to be accurate, that is reflective of the President's broader statement, David. So, yes, the President' broader statement was based and predicated on the yellow cake from Niger.
Fleischer: OH, OH, OH, my bad. Aight, I'ma clean shit up for you.
See, even though Prez read the British report that put things on those specific Niger brothers, he didn't say that. He just said it was some Black guys. Feel me?
Q: So it was wrong?
Q: So Prez fukked up, huh?
FLEISCHER: That's what we've acknowledged with the information on --
Fleischer: Look, I'm saying...
Q: The President's statement at the State of the Union was incorrect?
Q: Son. He fukked up, right?
FLEISCHER: Because it was based on the yellow cake from Niger.
Fleischer: Aight, that wasn't the report he was s'posed to base thangs on. Satisfied?
Q: Well, wait a minute, but the explanation we've gotten before was it was based on Niger and the other African nations that have been named in the national intelligence --
Q: But yo. We was told it wasn't just Niger, man. Y'all named names and and everythang.
FLEISCHER: But, again, the information on -- the President did not have that information prior to his giving the State of the Union.
Fleischer: Again, dawg, I'm insisting the Prez didn't know he had fukked up data.
Q: Which gets to the crux of what Ambassador Wilson is now alleging -- that he provided this information to the State Department and the CIA 11 months before the State of the Union and he is amazed that it, nonetheless, made it into the State of the Union address. He believes that that information was deliberately ignored by the White House. Your response to that?
Q: But see that's the problem. Wilson's saying he gave it up so long ago that the only way the Prez could miss it is if he's stupid or grimey... and he ain't calling nobody stupid, you know?
FLEISCHER: And that's way, again, he's making the statement that -- he is saying that surely the Vice President must have known, or the White House must have known. And that's not the case, prior to the State of the Union.
Fleischer: He's wrong.
Q: He's saying that surely people at the decision-making level within the NSC would have known the information which he -- passed on to both the State Department and the CIA.
Q: He's saying he gave it up to all the right people, man. People who's down with Prez.
FLEISCHER: And the information about the yellow cake and Niger was not specifically known prior to the State of the Union by the White House.
Fleischer: I'm telling you, he's wrong. Ain't nobody give nobody nothing up in here.
Q: What does that say about communications?
Q: So you hear all the British gossip and don't talk to your own? What's up with that?
FLEISCHER: We've acknowledged that the information turned out to be bogus involving the report on the yellow cake. That is not new. You can go back. You can look it up. Dr. Rice has said it repeatedly. I've said it repeatedly. It's been said from this podium on the record, in several instances. It's been said to many of you in this room, specifically.
Fleischer: Why you trying to catch me out there, man? Daaaaaamn...
Q: But, Ari, even if you said that the Niger thing was wrong, the next line has usually been that the President's statement was deliberately broader than Niger, it referred to all of Africa. The national intelligence estimate discusses other countries in Africa that there were attempts to purchase yellow cake from, or other sources of uranium --
Q: Why you trying to play me?
FLEISCHER: Let me do this, David. On your specific question I'm going to come back and post the specific answer on the broader statement on the speech.
Fleischer: Look. Son. Give me some time and I'll break shit down later. I need to be particular about how I answer this non-particular shit, and that ain't easy. Even I can't do that on the fly.
posted by Prometheus 6 at 7/8/2003 06:25:59 PM |
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Speaking the truth
Molly Ivins calls a spade a spade.
…The way things got to such a sorry pass is that the R's have been running on rote, lock-step voting.
No Democratic amendment gets considered on its merits, no matter how sensible it is. Shell bills get introduced, and then whole sections are amended on the floor, in a parody of legislative process.
The creepy thing about the far-right Republicans, who are definitely in the majority in the House, is not that they are dismantling government because they won't raise taxes -- they're dismantling government because they think it shouldn't help people. They really think that health and human services should not be provided.
Texas isn't unique. It's simply the most brutal, thanks to Tom DeLay.
posted by Prometheus 6 at 7/8/2003 03:48:53 PM |
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Draw your own conclusions
allAfrica.com
ANALYSISJuly 8, 2003
By Charles Cobb Jr.
Washington, DC
No Question, say analysts of varied persuasions across the political spectrum, President George W. Bush has surprised them with the attention he seems to be paying to Africa. Campaigning for the presidency three years ago, Bush said Africa was not one of the "areas of strategic importance," to the U.S. and that given a choice, he would not have sent troops into Rwanda to head off the genocide in 1994.
Now, here he is on the cusp of sending up to 2,000 U.S. troops into Liberia and traveling across the continent holding out the promise of billions of new dollars for the HIV/Aids fight and foreign assistance. He also has a billion dollars for the anti-terror fight - and the head of the United States European Command, General James Jones, says Africa is a potential terrorist breeding ground that will require U.S. bases on the continent.
Oil, as well as terrorism, seems to be an important part of the president's new-found Africa awareness. Currently, the United States imports about 18 percent of its oil from Africa - most of it from Nigeria, Angola and Gabon. By some estimates, oil imports from Africa are expected to grow to 25 percent over the next 10 years. But he dismisses the idea that his Africa policy is driven by oil interests: "Well, there are conspiracy theorists everywhere, I guess."
posted by Prometheus 6 at 7/8/2003 01:22:37 PM |
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Go Ward, Go!
That's it, Ward. Do yo thang! Fight the good fight.
GOP shuns affirmative action voteState party denounces Connerly effort to put issue on ballot;
By Joel Kurth / The Detroit News
… California activist Ward Connerly is coming to the University of Michigan today to launch a $1 million campaign to collect at least 317,517 signatures and force a November 2004 referendum on whether race can be a factor in school admissions.
Public opinion polls consistently show a majority of Michigan and U.S. residents oppose the race-conscious policies, but the state Republican party is denouncing Connerly's effort as divisive and unnecessary.
"We don't think it's valuable to keep stirring the pot on this issue," said Greg McNeilly, spokesman for the Michigan Republican Party.
"Public policy should be focused on healing the racial divide, and that's not something accomplished by Mr. Connerly's initiative."
… Supporters of U-M's policies promise loud, angry resistance when Connerly appears at noon today on the steps of the Graduate Library. A multiracial businessman, Connerly is a villain to liberals, but a champion to many conservatives.
"Ward Connerly is making a very big mistake," said Agnes Mae Ikhiobe Aleobua, 22, of Detroit, a U-M senior and spokeswoman for the Coalition to Defend Affirmative Action, Integration and Fight for Equality by Any Means Necessary.
"He will be met by the force of the movement when he comes to Michigan. A lot of people are distancing themselves from him. But no matter how hard they try, he is still a pawn for the right wing."
…A referendum on affirmative action would attract large numbers of black, Democrat-leaning urban voters to the polls during President George Bush's re-election effort, said Bill Ballenger, a former state legislator and publisher of the Inside Michigan Politics newsletter.
What's more, dozens of corporations filed briefs in support of U-M's policies. The same businesses typically are major donors to Republicans, said Bill McMaster, a Sterling Heights public relations executive who is in discussions with Connerly's group to help run his campaign.
"The Republicans are in a box," McMaster said. "They're trying to have their cake and eat it, too."
Business, government and labor groups, meanwhile, already are beginning to form a coalition to oppose Connerly, said David Waymire, executive vice president of Marketing Resource Group, a Lansing lobbying firm that is helping spearhead the opposition.
See
Hesiod for the correct analysis.
posted by Prometheus 6 at 7/8/2003 01:19:16 PM |
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An online magazine with serious potential
GOWANUS: An International Online Journal for Third World Writers
posted by Prometheus 6 at 7/8/2003 12:32:12 PM |
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Black Excel
Isaac Black's BlackExcel Newsletter is out. Normally I transcribe it here, but I think folks should check out the site itself, especially if you need information on getting your kids or yourself into college.
A typical example is his list of 100 scholarships for minority students. Each one is linked to a web site that gives you the info you need to check your eligibility and apply.
Or you could buy his book, The Black Excel African American Student's College Guide.
Isaac's been working at this for years:
What Is
BLACK EXCEL?
Since its founding in 1988, BLACK EXCEL has helped young people and their parents all across the country to navigate the difficult college admission process. We have tried to make the way easy and accessible. As a result, we are happy to say that we have helped hundreds of African Americans get into college who might otherwise not have done so.
…We have been consulted by US News & World Report, as well as by top college-help organizations and experts for our input.
Our scholarship list has been called "the most comprehensive" available for Black students.
BLACK EXCEL services have expanded over the years to include an updated 350+ Scholarship List; a personalized College Help Package; a quarterly newsletter; a reference guide to 143 Historically Black Colleges, detailed profiles of individual schools (see below); and a Medical School Help Package
posted by Prometheus 6 at 7/8/2003 12:27:41 PM |
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Test Your Hidden Racial Biases
Have you heard about the Implicit Association Tests? These tests were developed by psychologists at Yale University and the University of Washington. They serve as a way of measuring of one's attitude (preference, stereotype or bias) about certain subjects. The suggestion is that while people are sometimes unwilling to admit to their preference on certain subjects (race included), there is also a factor that can make one unable to admit these biases. The tests are designed to break through these barriers and present the user with some insight into their "automatic preferences."
posted by Prometheus 6 at 7/8/2003 07:43:12 AM |
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Will Bush earn extra credit?By Deborah Mathis
Special to BlackAmericaWeb.com
…Maybe Bush deserves credit for even going to Africa; so few American presidents have paid any attention to it. Only two other sitting presidents have spent any time there � Jimmy Carter and Clinton. For his part, Bush has been fairly aggressive about funding the continent�s war on HIV/AIDS.
But, I can�t fight the feeling that he and his corporate posse are casing the joint. There�s oil in them thar hills, you know. And diamonds. Lots of goodies, in fact. Africa is rich as ever and ripe for development � indeed, begging for it.
But the black motherland had better beware. If past is prologue, development will quickly descend into exploitation; partnership will dissolve into monopoly; and friendship will morph into neo-colonialism.
posted by Prometheus 6 at 7/8/2003 07:40:45 AM |
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Bush lied… and continues to do so
In general I try not to cover things I know everyone else… like, EVERYone else… is going to cover. However this (via Atrios' reference to Tbogg, which guarantees everyone else will cover it) is worth making an exception for:
Bush Claim on Iraq Had Flawed Origin, White House Says
By DAVID E. SANGER
WASHINGTON, July 7 � The White House acknowledged for the first time today that President Bush was relying on incomplete and perhaps inaccurate information from American intelligence agencies when he declared, in his State of the Union speech, that Saddam Hussein had tried to purchase uranium from Africa.
The White House statement appeared to undercut one of the key pieces of evidence that President Bush and his aides had cited to back their claims made prior to launching an attack against Iraq in March that Mr. Hussein was "reconstituting" his nuclear weapons program. Those claims added urgency to the White House case that military action to depose Mr. Hussein needed to be taken quickly, and could not await further inspections of the country or additional resolutions at the United Nations.
The acknowledgment came after a day of questions � and sometimes contradictory answers from White House officials � about an article published on the Op-Ed page of The New York Times on Sunday by Joseph C. Wilson 4th, a former ambassador who was sent to Niger, in West Africa, last year to investigate reports of the attempted purchase. He reported back that the intelligence was likely fraudulent, a warning that White House officials say never reached them.
The Republican extremists in the White House aren't as unknowlegeable as your average dittohead or freeper, but like their more ignorant cannon fodder they attack anyone whose accord with them is off by more than one decimal place. The attacks on the State Department and intelligence agencies are an example, and it's a critical error. By blaming the State Department in particular for the junta's chronic mishandling of foreign affairs, they attack the reputations and endanger the livelihoods of career diplomats highly placed enough to know what actually happened. Self preservation will not allow that to stand.
Blaming intelligence agencies is somewhat safer because career spooks are never identified.
Look, I was something of a disciplinarian as a parent but it was a love thing, not a control thing. If my daughter could explain to me how an assumption I was making for her benefit was in error, I'd back off.
The current regime in Washington built a trial lawyer's case, a debating society case, to support their already chosen actions. This means they
consciously looked away from evidence that refuted their desire, largely because they had already decided what they would do long before the pubic "debate" was begun. Trial lawyers and debaters can do this because others correlate the information and make judgements. But judges and juries cannot honorably disregard the evidence they are presented with and the Bush junta is in the position of judge and jury. They shouldn't be hired guns.
I'm not limiting this to the Iraq War, either. I hardly ever touch that topic, because everyone else… like, EVERYone else… covers it, many with more depth, clarity and passion than I can bring to bear. The Republican extremists have done this with economic policy (when has privatization
ever resulted in more competition and lower prices for consumers? Why are they recalculating accepted unemployment statistics?). They've done it with racial justice (what program other than affirmative action has helped minorities and women move out of the economic shadows? How can they file a brief opposing afirmattive action and applaud the court for deciding against the brief they filed?). They've done it with the environment (what lasting benefit can come from drilling in the Alaskan National Wilderness Reserve other than setting a precident? Why pursue non-existant hydrogen cell technology rather than proven techniques like solar power and ethonol?). They've done it with our individual freedoms themselves (why do they pursue the nightmare that
each individual element of Patriot II represents, much less the collective package?). They've done it with tax policy (who really believes a group of people that has announced its intent to pursue an annual tax cut is going to allow a single sunset provision to kick in?). Hell, they did it with a triviality like claiming outgoing Clinton staffers destroyed and defaced White House property. And worst of all, they've done it with themselves.
Think on these things.
Everyone in the media is being very careful, for obvious reasons. "Bush relied on incomplete information." "Bush believed what he was saying, even if it wasn't true." "Bush was mislead by the intelligence community." "Bush opposes racial justice but he's not a racist."
America is not a thing. No nation is. America is a
process, and it spins out effects that affect us all in ways both gross and subtle. America is much like a river… never the same from moment to moment, capable of supporting life, capable of
dying if the headwaters are constantly polluted, and capable of self-regeneration if the pollution is stopped before it's too late.
Think on these things.
What is all the impact all these lies is having on you? Are you safer? Are you economically more secure? Is the information you get from the government more trustworthy?
Can you afford to get sick? Because you will, you know…
Can you afford to get old? Because you will, you know…
Think on these things.
Let me be clear. The Bush regime, as a collective, is either a pathological liar or
not in control. Either situation is critically dangerous to America. Neither situation can be allowed to stand.
posted by Prometheus 6 at 7/8/2003 05:03:24 AM |
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Apparantly, archives are always going to be trouble
The archives that should reflect all posts from 7/6 onward don't have all the posts from 7/6 and I can't get them included by regenerating them (right about now I should be inserting an angry smiley-face, which means I have to install my smiley manager).
Specifically, it cuts off all posts beginning with the one Marstonalia refers his readers to and earlier. The index page isn't regenerating either. To anyone coming in from Marstonalia, I can only say IT'S NOT MY FAULT!!. I'll report this, and I'll be targeting a move to another system, probably MT. No specific date yet.
posted by Prometheus 6 at 7/8/2003 04:33:54 AM |
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Principles
Deep Knowledge is to be aware of disturbance before disturbance, to be aware of danger before danger, to be aware of destruction before destruction, to be aware of calamity before calamity.
Strong Action is training the body without being burdened by the body, exercising the mind without being used by the mind, working in the world without being affected by the world, carrying out tasks without being obstructed by tasks.
By Deep Knowledge of Principle, one can change disturbance into order, change danger into safety, change destruction into survival, change calamity into fortune.
By Strong Action on the Way, one can bring the body into the realm of longevity, bring the mind into the sphere of mystery, bring the world to great peace and bring tasks to great fulfillment.
from "The Book of Balance and Harmony" Translation by Thomas Cleary
posted by Prometheus 6 at 7/8/2003 04:09:04 AM |
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July 07, 2003
Delays, delays
It's been a while since the last Racism essay. The thing just isn't coming together the way I'd like it to.
There's two major points I need to glue together: the typical reaction to whiteness studies among white folks, and DuBois' dual soul formulation. Between the two of them I'm pretty sure the experience of segregation Black folks have can be made intellectually clear to non-Black folks without requireing them to abandon any of their views or perspectives. It would be more like seeing an Imax 3D movie as opposed to the same film shot for standard theaters. More to the point, it needs to be a set of instructions rather than a set of descriptions, and it's thereactions to whiteness studies that's the rub.
In the meantime, there's some stuff y'all can study. I am not linking to the recent Washington Post article, which was rather lame.
Language of Closet Racism: An Illustration by Paul Gorski
I think "closet racism" is an unfortunate term. I might have called it "racial conditioning." Still, the article has some valueable observations for those who can disengage their thoughts from the highly charged term.
The University of Wisconsin-Milwalkee has a Whiteness Studies site that has received some interesting mail, pre and post Washington Post. Here you get to see the good and the bad. In the "bad" category, there's a particularly long letter from a guy that's trying hard to sound reasonable that is facinating to read in light of the observations made in "Language of Closet Racism."
posted by Prometheus 6 at 7/7/2003 11:19:01 PM |
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Got time for a short story?
Check out Therapy at The American Sentamentalist.
posted by Prometheus 6 at 7/7/2003 06:48:24 PM |
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Whatthehell was THAT sermon about?
Glen at Hi. I'm Black! told me about this:
Lightning hits preacher after call to God A congregation in the United States was left stunned when lightning struck a church moments after a visiting preacher asked God for a sign.
Church members in the town of Forest in the state of Ohio said the preacher had been emphasising the importance of penance when, in the course of his prayers, he called on the heavens above.
The lightning struck the steeple, then hit the preacher himself when it travelled through electrical wiring to his microphone.
And to me, the funny thing is the congregation was into it!
"It was awesome, just awesome," said church member Ronnie Cheney, who was among the congregation when the strike hit, told the Findlay Courier newspaper.
Afterwards services resumed, however churchgoers realised after 20 minutes that the building was on fire and evacuated.
That shit's funny, I don't care.
posted by Prometheus 6 at 7/7/2003 11:26:24 AM |
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Some page views just don't count
Googling for "project prometheus aliens"?
Damn, the jig is up…
posted by Prometheus 6 at 7/7/2003 11:13:38 AM |
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Corante report
Amateur Hour: The Me in Media has a little piece (with links lifted from Doc Searles) on the difference between grass roots and astroturf. The evil GOPTeamLeader is mentioned slightly disparagingly.
CONNECTED: nodes & networks pointed me to this Time Magazine article:
How Dean Is Winning The WebThe Democrat's ability to win fans and raise cash online has taken his party by surprise
By CHRIS TAYLOR/SAN RAFAEL
Howard Dean is hardly what you would call a high-tech guru. The former Vermont Governor, whose trademark look is a blue shirt with rolled-up sleeves, is a mostly gadget-free zone. He does not carry a BlackBerry email pager or tablet PC (he leaves those to his aides). And don't expect to find Dean, 54, surfing the Web for hours at home. "I kind of missed the Internet boom," concedes the physician.
Yet the Internet boom has not missed Dean. Rather, it has handed him a bonanza of cash and buzz that would make most 1990s dotcom veterans � and politicians � weep. In the past three months, it was revealed last week, Dean has raised $7.5 million, $1.5 million more than his nearest Democratic rival, Massachusetts Senator John Kerry, nudging Dean into the top tier of Democratic candidates. Two-thirds of all Dean contributions were made online. And as often happens in politics, bucks begat the Big Mo. A poll in the first caucus state, Iowa, released last week put Dean in second place, a mere percentage point behind Dick Gephardt. Once viewed as a no-hoper for the nomination, notable only for his vehement opposition to the war in Iraq, Dean is increasingly forcing his party's other candidates to adjust their strategies as they figure out how to slow his momentum.
Blog readers know this, of course. And I haven't been the one to over-(or under-) hype the impact the BlogNet is having. When AOL jumps in it, though, the net will broaded, and the weave may get so tight it becomes an actual fabric rather than a net. It's about to get less predictable than ever.
posted by Prometheus 6 at 7/7/2003 09:38:05 AM |
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Cartoons
Tony Auth speaks with presidential authority.
Dan Wasserman shows Darkon(RealAudio) ain't the only conquerer who hates graffitti art.
Mike Luckovick shows why Lester maddox should have gone over to the dark side while he had a chance.
posted by Prometheus 6 at 7/7/2003 09:33:25 AM |
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Bob Herbert REALLY Rocks!!!!
He even gets more exclamation points than Frank Rich. I can't find a word I want to exclude from this editorial, so with apologies and all due respect for the brother (who, I repeat, I SERIOUSLY want to meet and may well take steps to do so) I steal the entire editorial.
Civil Rights, the SequelBy BOB HERBERT
t's been more than 30 years since Whitney Young Jr. died and his name is no longer particularly well known, which is a shame.
Mr. Young was the executive director of the National Urban League and one of the big four civil rights leaders of the 1960's, along with Martin Luther King Jr., Roy Wilkins and James Farmer.
He drowned at the absurdly young age of 49 during a visit to Nigeria in 1971. More than 6,000 people attended his funeral at Manhattan's Riverside Church, and thousands more lined the streets of Harlem to view the funeral procession. Mr. Young had been a giant in the movement and it was widely recognized that his death represented a terrible loss.
What was not understood at the time was that an incredible decades-long slide into the horrors of violence and degradation for millions of African-American youngsters was already under way. More than three decades later we still haven't stopped the descent.
It is now absolutely normal in many circles for young black men and women (and, for that matter, little black boys and girls) to refer to one another as niggaz and bitches and ho's. Doing well in school is frequently disdained as a white thing. Doing time in prison is widely accepted as a black thing, and no cause for shame.
Few people are surprised to hear that a gathering at this party or that club degenerated into the kind of violence we used to associate with the O.K. Corral. Homicide, drugs and AIDS are carving the heart out of one generation after another, and suicide among blacks is on the rise.
Just before I sat down to write this column I happened to glance at an article that was on the front page of last Thursday's Boston Globe. Beneath a color photo of a black toddler, the article began:
"A 3-year-old girl remained in critical condition last night after a former high school basketball star allegedly ended a shouting match with a woman by spraying her Dorchester house with bullets, hitting the child in the back and severing her spinal cord."
My question is a simple one: When are we going to stop this?
I'm waiting for the mothers and the fathers, the aunts and the uncles, the older brothers and the older sisters to step forward and call a halt to the madness, to say: "Enough! This is not what we're about."
I mentioned Whitney Young Jr. because I had a conversation a few days ago with Marc Morial, the former mayor of New Orleans who has just taken over as head of the Urban League and is hoping to raise its profile to a level comparable to the glory days of the Whitney Young era.
He plans to lay out his agenda in a keynote address to be delivered later this month at the league's annual convention.
My suggestion: Hammer home the need to stop the self-destruction that continues to block the advancement of millions of black Americans.
I know there are serious economic problems, particularly the absence of good jobs, that are holding some people back. And I know about the abuses in the criminal justice system and the continuing plague of racism and discrimination. I've written reams about all of these things.
None of them are good reasons for parents to turn their backs on their children, for children to turn their backs on school, for a young man or a young woman to pick up a needle and plunge it into a vein, for a gunman to put a bullet into a rival's head or a neighbor's spine, for blacks to view themselves as niggers and whores, for entertainers to sing of the joys of rape and murder.
The paradox of black life in America over the past half-century is that so much real progress and such wholesale tragedy should have occurred in the same place at the same time. The task now is to reinforce the progress and bring the curtain down on the tragedy.
Young leaders like Mr. Morial (he's 45) and venerable institutions like the Urban League (it's 93) are perfectly positioned to begin the coordinated effort that's needed for this fight, which is the most serious to face black Americans since the demise of legal segregation.
Those who are looking to government to lead this effort are deluded. George Bush and Clarence Thomas will not be riding to our rescue.
What's required is nothing less than round two of the civil rights movement, the goal being to create a safe and constructive and nurturing environment in which all black Americans can thrive.
posted by Prometheus 6 at 7/7/2003 09:06:14 AM |
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Frank Rich Rocks!!
Go read the whole editorial in the NY Times Arts section. I just want to post an excerpt where he hands Fox Network, Dick Morris, Sean Hannity and in particular the Coulter thing their respective heads. I get to add emphasis here and there so I can pretend to be part of it, okay?
Had Enough of the Flag Yet?
As we conclude this Fourth of July weekend, let us not forget the happy denouement to the saga of Ms. Maines, whose crime against America was to tell a London audience in March that she was "ashamed that the president of the United States is from Texas." What followed were boycotts, death threats and a ritualistic network TV flogging in which, as Jim Lewis put it in Slate, Diane Sawyer demanded that the Chicks "affirm their patriotism and their support for the troops" in the "tradition of a Stalinist show trial."
No matter. The Dixie Chicks have been able to exercise free speech happily all the way to the bank. They've posed nude for the cover of Entertainment Weekly with "Saddam's Angels" emblazoned on their flesh. Their album "Home" rebounded from its brief dip, returning to No. 1 on the country chart for weeks. Their tour has sold out from its first stop, that left-wing stronghold Greenville, S.C. The Dixie Chicks may be bigger than ever.
From national infamy to renewed superstardom in a matter of weeks: that's the kind of story that restores your faith in an America where everything is possible. And most Americans, the Dixie Chicks no doubt included, not only have that faith in their country but love it as well. Yet you'd never know it from the more embittered cultural battles that have raged since 9/11.
"Read 'Treason' this Fourth of July, and let the fireworks begin" commands the full-page ad hawking the latest book by Ann Coulter. In it the author claims that every liberal in the country � or at least every liberal Democrat � "hates America" and is guilty of her titular crime, which, last time I looked, is punishable by death. (The Dixie Chicks escaped her noose by turning traitor only after her book went to press.) According to her book jacket bio, Ms. Coulter's expertise in delivering such sweeping condemnations derives from having been "named one of the top 100 public intellectuals by federal judge Richard Posner in 2001." What she doesn't add � and this is typical of her own intellectual methodology in "Treason" � is that the list was compiled not on the basis of smarts but on the number of times names turned up in the media during the Clinton-hating heyday of 1995 to 2000. Mr. Posner's book was titled "Public Intellectuals: A Study of Decline" (my italics), and by its ranking system, Ms. Coulter turns out to be far less of an intellectual than such conspicuous traitors as Sidney Blumenthal, Susan Sontag and Gore Vidal.
At least she doesn't slap the flag on the front of her book to wrap herself in it. (She chose instead an idealized photo of something she loves more than Old Glory: herself. [p6: BWAAAHAHAhahahah!]) The same cannot be said of Dick Morris and Sean Hannity, who use the Stars and Stripes as a merchandising tool for their own self-aggrandizingly patriotic screeds cashing in on their TV celebrity. In this, they follow the lead of their employer, the Fox News Channel, which, like its less successful cable rivals, has exploited the flag as a logo to sell itself as more patriotic than thou.
Heh heh. I love it.
posted by Prometheus 6 at 7/7/2003 09:00:08 AM |
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God, I hope so
'Who Wants to Exhaust a Franchise?'
With "American Juniors," Fox may be overexposing the "American Idol" franchise.
posted by Prometheus 6 at 7/7/2003 08:19:26 AM |
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On Africa
Don't forget the BBC's The Story of Africa site.
New Threats and Opportunities Redefine U.S. Interests in Africa
By RICHARD W. STEVENSON
…In his first trip to sub-Saharan Africa as president, Mr. Bush will visit Senegal, South Africa, Botswana, Uganda and Nigeria before returning home on Saturday. Each of those countries is an economic or political success by African standards, and Mr. Bush's presence is intended both to celebrate their progress and to encourage other African nations to continue the struggle toward free elections and free markets.
His trip comes at a time when Africa is looming larger in calculations of American interests. In the wake of the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks, the United States is eager to keep poor nations with shaky governments from becoming breeding grounds and safe harbors for terrorists. It sees Africa as the world's last largely untapped market. It holds out hope that Africa's substantial oil reserves could play a larger role in fueling the American economy and perhaps serving as a counterweight to the influence of OPEC.
…It is striking to African leaders and to many analysts in the United States that Mr. Bush, a conservative Republican who won less than 10 percent of the black vote in 2000 and has fought to hold down social welfare spending at home, has pushed this year for large spending increases to fight AIDS in Africa and to help poor nations nurture their economies.
They said they saw in Mr. Bush's engagement with Africa the hand of his two senior foreign policy advisers: Ms. Rice and Secretary of State Colin L. Powell, the two highest-profile African-Americans in government. Neither Ms. Rice nor Mr. Powell has made a secret of the desire to have Washington play a more active role in a part of the world that American foreign policy long addressed only fitfully or as a pawn in the cold war and to acknowledge more fully the ties between Africa and the United States.
"Africa is part of America's history," Ms. Rice said. "Europeans and Africans came to this country together, Africans in chains. And slavery was, of course, America's birth defect. And we've been trying to deal with the consequences of it ever since."
There is still considerable skepticism, in Washington and in Africa, about the depths of Mr. Bush's commitment, diplomats and analysts said. There is concern among some Africa hands that Mr. Bush's interest will wane after he makes the point to the world that he is more than the unilateralist gunslinger he is often, fairly or unfairly, made out to be. With presidential politics increasingly coming to the fore at the White House, there is also grumbling among advocacy groups that the trip is little more than a way for Mr. Bush to flesh out his "compassionate conservative" platform for his re-election race.
Liberian Leader Announces That He Will Step Down
By SOMINI SENGUPTA
MONROVIA, Liberia, July 6 � Charles Taylor, the guerrilla leader who became president and was then indicted as a war criminal, announced today that he would leave his country and accept refuge in nearby Nigeria
Pentagon Seeking New Access Pacts for Africa Bases
By ERIC SCHMITT
Basing agreements and training exercises are being developed to help counter Africa's increasing attractiveness to terrorist groups
U.S. Military Experts Arrive in Liberia
By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS 7:10 AM ET
An American team arrived in the Liberian capital to assess whether to deploy U.S. troops as part of a peacekeeping force.
posted by Prometheus 6 at 7/7/2003 08:18:31 AM |
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Oh, Oliver…
This is cruel to point out. It's celebrity gossip, about Beyonce.
I'm shouldn't do this to Mr. Willis, but I'm not always a nice guy.
posted by Prometheus 6 at 7/7/2003 08:00:34 AM |
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July 06, 2003
Hey, MB!
Remember this?
Here's my version.
A paternal Great Grandfather
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A maternal Great Grandfather
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Each of these pictures is over 100 years old.
This is why I don't play about not having full rights in this place. This is why I not
ever accepting less than any other American is entitled to.
posted by Prometheus 6 at 7/6/2003 10:05:15 PM |
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Have you selected your President yet?
The 2004 Presidential Candidate Selector gave me the following interesting results:
1. Green Party Candidate (100%)
2. Kucinich, Cong. Dennis, OH - Democrat (92%)
3. Kerry, Senator John, MA - Democrat (84%)
4. Gephardt, Cong. Dick, MO - Democrat (76%)
5. Jackson, Cong. Jesse Jr., IL - Democrat (74%)
6. Leahy, Patrick Senator, Vermont - Democrat (74%)
7. Edwards, Senator John, NC - Democrat (73%)
8. Sharpton, Reverend Al - Democrat (73%)
9. Dean, Gov. Howard, VT - Democrat (72%)
10. Lieberman Senator Joe CT - Democrat (71%)
11. Socialist Candidate (69%)
12. Feingold, Senator Russ, WI - Democrat (65%)
13. Biden, Senator Joe, DE - Democrat (63%)
14. Graham, Senator Bob, FL - Democrat (59%)
15. Moseley-Braun, Former Senator Carol IL - Democrat (59%)
16. Kaptur, Cong. Marcy, OH - Democrat (50%)
17. Feinstein, Senator Dianne, CA - Democrat (43%)
18. Libertarian Candidate (41%)
19. Clark, Retired Army General Wesley K "Wes" Arkansas - Democrat (38%)
20. Bradley, Former Senator Bill NJ - Democrat (29%)
21. McCain, Senator John, AZ- Republican (15%)
22. Bush, George W. - US President (8%)
23. Buchanan, Patrick J. � Reform/Republican (4%)
24. Hagelin, John - Natural Law (4%)
25. Vilsack, Governor. Tom IA - Democrat (-2%)
26. Phillips, Howard - Constitution (-4%)
27. LaRouche, Lyndon H. Jr. - Democrat (-9%)
It's a bit off— I'd vote for LaRouche before Bush. But I'm not voting Green. Why?
A Nader Voter Sings the Bush Blues'It's Tweedledee and Tweedledum,' he said then. Now he says he's repentant.
By Jason Salzman
Jason Salzman, co-founder of Repent NaderVoter.com, is author of "Making the News: A Guide for Activists and Nonprofits" (1998, Westview Press).
July 6, 2003
After George W. Bush was elected president, my Gore-loving neighbor gave me a green "Unrepentant Nader Voter" bumper sticker. After the Florida fiasco, she thought I would be ashamed to stick it on my car. Wrong. I immediately slapped it on my Honda. It was beautiful.
In March, shortly after bombs began dropping on Baghdad, I took a razor blade from my garage and excised the letters "un" from "unrepentant," leaving "repentant Nader Voter" on my bumper.
It was a liberating act of self-correction that all Nader voters should think about.
posted by Prometheus 6 at 7/6/2003 05:13:10 PM |
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Say what you want, he's a true progressive
Al SharptonThe outspoken activist has softened his rhetoric as he redefines his image in his run for the presidency
By Josh Getlin
Times Staff Writer
July 6, 2003
LANCASTER, S.C. � On a sweltering afternoon, the Rev. Al Sharpton takes a swig of iced tea and rises to address the crowd at Etta's Kitchen. Hooking his thumbs in the vest of a three-piece suit, the Harlem Democrat explains why he's running for president � and blisters the Bush administration for a multitude of sins.
"They tell us you're unpatriotic not to stand up for the war in Iraq, but no," he says, his voice booming. "I think that you're unpatriotic to put our American soldiers at risk if they didn't have to be there in the first place."
As the mostly African American crowd cheers, Sharpton reminds attendees of problems in their own backyard: A nearby county has not recognized Martin Luther King Day as a holiday, he says, and people should organize demonstrations to change that."I may look all presidential these days," he says with a delighted grin. "But I'll be coming back here to raise sand with y'all. I mean, I still do that other stuff too."
posted by Prometheus 6 at 7/6/2003 04:53:41 PM |
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I get lazy, you benefit
You know I'll never have time or server space to post all the historical Black literature that's out there, right? So I'm giving you all a reminder of the links to a couple of UNC projects in the sidebar:
UNC - The Church in the Southern Black Community
The Church During Slavery
For our purposes, the account begins in the decades after the American Revolution, as Northern states gradually began to abolish slavery. As a result, sharper differences emerged between the experiences of enslaved peoples in the South and those Northerners who were now relatively free. By 1810 the slave trade to the United States had come to an end and the slave population began to increase naturally, giving rise to an increasingly large native-born population of African Americans. With fewer migrants who had experienced Africa personally, these transformations allowed the myriad cultures and language groups of enslaved Africans to blend together, making way for the preservation and transmission of religious practices that were increasingly "African-American."
This transition coincided with the period of intense religious revivalism known as "awakenings." In the Southern states beginning in the 1770s, increasing numbers of slaves converted to evangelical religions such as the Methodist and Baptist faiths. Many clergy within these denominations actively promoted the idea that all Christians were equal in the sight of God, a message that provided hope and sustenance to the slaves. They also encouraged worship in ways that many Africans found to be similar, or at least adaptable, to African worship patterns, with enthusiastic singing, clapping, dancing, and even spirit-possession. Still, many white owners and clergy preached a message of strict obedience, and insisted on slave attendance at white-controlled churches, since they were fearful that if slaves were allowed to worship independently they would ultimately plot rebellion against their owners. It is clear that many blacks saw these white churches, in which ministers promoted obedience to one's master as the highest religious ideal, as a mockery of the "true" Christian message of equality and liberation as they knew it.
In the slave quarters, however, African Americans organized their own "invisible institution." Through signals, passwords, and messages not discernible to whites, they called believers to "hush harbors" where they freely mixed African rhythms, singing, and beliefs with evangelical Christianity. We have little remaining written record of these religious gatherings. But it was here that the spirituals, with their double meanings of religious salvation and freedom from slavery, developed and flourished; and here, too, that black preachers, those who believed that God had called them to speak his Word, polished their "chanted sermons," or rhythmic, intoned style of extemporaneous preaching. Part church, part psychological refuge, and part organizing point for occasional acts of outright rebellion (Nat Turner, whose armed insurrection in Virginia in 1831 resulted in the deaths of scores of white men, women, and children, was a self-styled Baptist preacher), these meetings provided one of the few ways for enslaved African Americans to express and enact their hopes for a better future.
UNC -North American Slave Narratives
Importance of This Project to the Nation
Slave and ex-slave narratives are important not only for what they tell us about African American history and literature, but also because they reveal to us the complexities of the dialogue between whites and blacks in this country in the last two centuries, particularly for African Americans. This dialogue is implicit in the very structure of the antebellum slave narrative, which generally centers on an African American's narrative but is prefaced by a white-authored text and often is appended by white authenticating documents, such as letters of reference attesting to the character and reliability of the slave narrator himself or herself. Some slave narratives elicited replies from whites that were published in subsequent editions of the narra tive (the second, Dublin edition of Frederick Douglass's 1845 Narrative is a case in point). Other slave narratives, such as The Confessions of Nat Turner (1831), gave rise to novels implicitly or explicitly intended to defend the myth of the South, such as John Pendleton Kennedy's Swallow Barn (1832), traditionally regarded as the first important plantation novel. Both intra-textually and extra-textually, therefore, the slave narrative from the early nineteenth century onward was a vehicle for dialogue over slavery and racial issues between whites and blacks in the North and the South. When reactionary white southern writers and regional boosters of the 1880s and 1890s decanted myths of slavery and the moonlight-and-magnolias plantation to a nostalgic white northern readership, the narratives of former slaves were one of the few resources that readers of the late nineteenth century could examine to get a reliable, first-hand portrayal of what slavery had actually been like.
Modern black autobiographies such as Richard Wright's Black Boy (1945) and The Autobiography of Malcolm X (1965) testify to the influence of the slave narrative on the first-person writing of post-World War II African Americans. Beginning with Margaret Walker's Jubilee (1966) and extending through such contemporary novels as Ernest J. Gaines's The Autobiography of Miss Jane Pittman (1971), Sherley Ann Williams's Dessa Rose (1986), Toni Morrison's Beloved (1987), and Charles Johnson's Middle Passage (1990), the "neo-slave narrative" has become one of the most widely read and discussed forms of African American literature. These autobiographical and fictional descendants of the slave narrative confirm the continuing importance and vitality of its legacy: to probe the origins of psychological as well as social oppression and to critique the meaning of freedom for black and white Americans alike from the founding of the United States to the present day.
And check this: It ultimately gets added to The Public Library (which I haven't forgotten, I'm just seriously side-tracked):
I think this is cool and important stuff. And folks should have to wait for me to post it.
LATER: That should read "shouldn't have to wait."
HELL of a Freudian slip, eh?
posted by Prometheus 6 at 7/6/2003 01:17:49 PM |
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Check it for yourself
The Collective for Independent Hip Hop
The Collective for Independent Hip Hop (CIH) is located in Chapel Hill, North Carolina, and represents the Research Triangle Area.
CIH exists to promote Independent Hip Hop in the Triangle Area; by pooling resources and making outreach to artists, the collective attempts to bring artists to the area who might not come otherwise.
CIH is a collective in the truest sense. Members have a democratic say in which artists CIH will extend outreach to. When an artists agrees to come to the Triangle, collective members jointly finance the artists guarantee. Collective members also work together to make the artists's stay more hospitable - this might include providing trips to and from the airport and hotels, suggesting restuarants for the artists's dietary needs, and whatever else might be needed. By working together, we can keep down costs and provide the artist with a comfortable visit.
Artists should be aware that the CIH only handles small-scale events; there are local promotion services for larger tours. Performance venues will be nontraditional, generally more intimate, allowing real audience-artist interaction. Artists should expect a warm audience, full of fans.
posted by Prometheus 6 at 7/6/2003 12:54:06 PM |
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Fashion police
Penda's audio blogging.
I used to get so pissed when my daughter and her mom would have that kind of conversation… in public… within earshot of the offenders… secure in the knowledge that few would mess with them while accompanied by a 6'2" 185lb. Black man.
I ain't saying nothing against Penda, though. I understand she's a real witch, though the Protestant equivalent to the Catholic Wiccans. And she's a D-cup (I do not make stuff up).
Interesting.
posted by Prometheus 6 at 7/6/2003 11:23:06 AM |
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And now for something completely different
I found Inner Sanctum in my referral log a little while ago.
It's like, I really want to link to this blog and couldn't think of a reason to that was connected to what I do here. Then came this weekend, when I decided to flip stuff for a while… a perfect opportunity to connect to things like this, although it's not a fair representation of Neil's blog. This one is more like it.
posted by Prometheus 6 at 7/6/2003 11:14:48 AM |
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Hmmm
good ideasGood ideas should be self-evident, I thought. Just the kind of thought to kick off the 2.3 mile walk home. Of course, as soon as I articulated the source of my irritability I realized that it was of course wrong.
An idea is a bet that information exists in a certain place, if you were to try to retrieve it. Retrieving it has a cost, but the idea is a bet that the value is greater than the cost. A good idea is a bet that you win. For example, an idea would be that you should cut through the alley in order to escape your pursuers. Depending on how much you know about that alley, people might say you're making a good decision or a bad decision. If that alley ends up taking you on a shortcut that allows you to escape your pursuer, then the bet to go through the alley was a good bet, and therefore a good idea.
A good decision is a successful roll of the idea dice. If you are rolling the dice on an idea that has a very low perceived chance of winning, and yet you roll anyway, and you end up winning, that is when people will say you had a good idea and made a good decision. You beat the odds. You are a visionary, filled with good ideas.
Good ideas, therefore, are hidden.
posted by Prometheus 6 at 7/6/2003 10:51:00 AM |
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Nothing I can say
Justice, Safety and the System: A Witness Is Slain in BrooklynBy WILLIAM GLABERSON
t had been nearly 10 months since Bobby Gibson had watched a stranger dressed in black ride a bicycle into a Brooklyn schoolyard, draw a gun from his waistband and kill his friend.
Now he was ready to walk into a courtroom to testify in the murder case. But on the streets of Bedford-Stuyvesant, the word had been out for months: "lie or die," as one neighborhood girl put it. The half brother of the defendant in the schoolyard shooting, himself a suspect in another slaying, was said to be tracking down witnesses. People said money had changed hands. Eyewitness accounts had been recanted.
Still, on June 27, 2002, with the trial set to begin, Bobby Gibson's name was there, on a list of witnesses read aloud in a courtroom on the seventh floor of State Supreme Court in Brooklyn.
Two days later, Bobby Gibson was dead, shot through the heart a block from the schoolyard where his friend had been killed.
posted by Prometheus 6 at 7/6/2003 10:37:10 AM |
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Africa may bypass the 20th century
Searching for a Dial Tone in AfricaBy G. PASCAL ZACHARY
… Calls in and out of sub-Saharan Africa have long been among the world's most costly, strangling business opportunities and burdening ordinary people. Services have been tightly controlled by government-owned telephone companies, many of which are rife with corruption and incompetence. Governments also imposed high tariffs on international calls, seeing it as a lucrative source of revenue.
But now, thanks to what is called voice-over-Internet, phone alternatives are flourishing, sharply lowering costs and expanding opportunities for business and consumers in some of the poorest places on earth � even as they pose a competitive threat to government-sanctioned telephone companies.
Sending telephone calls over the Internet is gaining ground in Africa because it makes possible a range of new services, linking the sub-Saharan to the world's major industrial centers in ways unimaginable only a few years ago. And better digital connections, mostly via satellite, are raising the hope that Ghana � the most peaceful country in a West African region besieged by civil wars and ethnic strife � may become the regional hub for an information-technology industry.
As the movement advances, though, many government-owned telephone companies, which dominate wired service in most African countries, are fighting a rear-guard action.
Internet telephony "is presented as the salvation for business and society in Africa," said Oystein Bjorge, chief executive of Ghana's national telephone carrier. "It is not."
… Here in Ghana, the national phone company is waging a sporadic campaign against its own citizens who use the Internet to make or receive telephone calls from America and Europe, periodically turning off the lines of those suspected of doing so.
Three years ago, the government even jailed the heads of some of Ghana's leading Internet providers. Though later exonerated by a court, the dissidents fear another crackdown. "Internet telephony is changing the whole power structure," said Francis Quartey, chief technology officer of Intercom Data Network and one of those jailed. "The dangerous thing is that the power elite is responding out of fear and ignorance."
posted by Prometheus 6 at 7/6/2003 10:34:27 AM |
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Linguistic gymnastics
Remembering the google search to translate this site to German, I wanted to see how Google's translator would handle my ebonics day (July 3). But it choked mid -post just before the ebonics kicked it. Damn shame.
posted by Prometheus 6 at 7/6/2003 09:48:30 AM |
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TTLB Ecosystem
Oh, yeah. It looks like N.Z. Bear's been cleaning stuff up at the Ecosystem. He's run the scripts about a million times yesterday and today. My duplicate listing is gone. The one with my brand name properly displayed and no internal links was retained, which is a good thing if you're concerned about alla that.
I think counting the distinct blogs that link to each site for the ratings would be a cool idea as well, but it ain't my system.
posted by Prometheus 6 at 7/6/2003 09:39:39 AM |
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Been a fun couple of days
Just fooling around with different stuff, looking at blog services and new blogs. I've actually been approaching things differently than usual in my head, particularly today (which is why blogging is light and has no reference to Bad Political News so far) (well, other than my wing-nut, who ain't getting his folding chair outta this site) and yesterday (which was Cartoon Day). I don't know that it was all that noticeable from the outside, though.
posted by Prometheus 6 at 7/6/2003 09:31:19 AM |
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Quick hits
Tried out Blog Matcher because their matching philosophy is pretty close to my blogrolling philosophy. Number one for me was CalPundit, which doesn't shock me but I wouldn't have predicted it. Interesting articles I found on other sites it picked for me that I'd never visited:
Abstract Dynamics
Interesting Times
Julian's Lounge
Marstonalia
posted by Prometheus 6 at 7/6/2003 09:23:54 AM |
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Making sure the right folks see my plaintive cry for help
More on thinking about a move to MT. Al-Muhajabah let me know about a web host that's more than suitable for MT:
DreamHost has a good plan for $9.95 a month that gives you everything you need to run MT without problems. If you can afford it, I would definitely recommend it.
I took a look at their offering, and it looks like I ought to be able to run an air traffic control tower without problems in there.
But I haven't given up on being the cheapest bastard in the world yet.
This is one of the free hosts I'm looking at.
Since none of this is required, I got a lot of time to think about this and decide.
posted by Prometheus 6 at 7/6/2003 08:40:55 AM |
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Blog posts by topic
Richard MacManus, in extending his post on organizing blogs by topic rather than author, assembled a list of blogs that responded to the initial idea. I got roped in there, which is a weirdness in a way since I really didn't discuss the topic, but now I feel all guilty. So…
A listing of blog posts by topic could be useful. I've been fooling around with evector's k-collector for a couple of days now and I have to admit I've found a couple of really good articles that I'd probably never have seen via my semi-random explorations. The number of participants, like with any of the start-up blog services, looks pretty limited but it's a quality selection… of blogosphere-centric blogs. Being a blogger, this is useful to me and I'll likely keep looking in periodically.
There's still some conceptual stuff to be worked, though. Mr. MacManus says
Topics can and should be "exactly the size of one idea", whereas categories usually encompass a number of similar ideas. For example if I have a category called ".NET", then I may use it to file links to information about ASP.NET, my thoughts on how .NET can be used to build a Universal Canvas, how Microsoft is using .NET as the base for their next Operating System, etc. Many topics, but just one category.
Yet as I wandered evector's k-collector, I noticed many, if not most, posts were categorized under more than one topic. Frankly, I feel that is as it should be.
The "one post = one topic = one idea" thing sounds as reasonable as the instructions on how to write an essay I got in elementary school: tell them what you're about to tell them, tell them, then tell them what you told them. And I still tell folks this is the way to learn how to write (I am not a professional instructor, I just like helping folks). But I don't always write that way myself. Really good, really informative writing can draw of diverse conceptual roots, and the "topic" can be "these multiple things correlate in this fashion," but it might not be. For instance, is this post about blogs by topic or writing? A case could be made for either or both.
Good writing just kind of
flows. I wouldn't want folks to feel constrained by the need/desire to fit into a specific framework, and that would happen as inevitably as ranking concerns flow from systems like the TTLB Ecosystem, Blogdex and the like.
Beyond this base concern, categorizing my posts by all applicable topics would be too damn much work, and I'm not expecting sufficient AI to do that automatically to be at my disposal for a considerable period of time.
posted by Prometheus 6 at 7/6/2003 08:03:25 AM |
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"My" wing-nut
… has posted a significant chunk of someone else's opus, "A genealogy of anti-Americanism" By James W. Ceaser (errors in capitalization belong to it, I just cut and paste), in the comments to the post immediately below. Though dropping in some eight off-topic comments is supposed to be some slap at me, the thing actually has an interesting point or two that can be addressed.
With notable perspicacity, Gobineau foresaw the Tiger Woods phenomenon. The natural result of the democratic idea, he argued, was amalgamation. America was creating a new "race" of man, the last race, the human race - which was no race at all. Gobineau modeled his system on Hegel's philosophy of history, substituting blood for Spirit as the active motor of historical movement. The elimination of race marked the end of history. It presented - and here one could, in his view, see America's future - a lamentable spectacle of creatures of the "greatest mediocrity in all fields: mediocrity of physical strength, mediocrity of beauty, mediocrity of intellectual capacities - we could almost say nothingness."
There's a couple of levels on which Gobineau's fears can be responded to. You can deal in his own words (or at least the words in this text) "the human race - [is] no race at all." A statement I take no issue with. Gobineau feared his own extinction, and the extinction of all he saw as distinctive in himself and his culture. The foolish, foolish man didn't understand "there is nothing new under the sun," which refers to the nature of man, not technology.
My wing-nut, however, seems to have no sense of irony… or a very high sense of it. Since his first, um, comments were things like "ah, plays othello wit great, big blubbly lips," it casts itself firmly in the Gobineau camp and hence as the only anti-American whose words are on this site.
I'm deleting the comments to respect the copyright laws (I believe my excerpts to be within fair-use provisions, though the cartoons may get me in trouble one day… that's why I gave up on the "cartoon of the day" idea and when I
do post one it always links back to the site I found it on). If anyone is interested though, the full article my wing-nut stole is
here in The Public Interest magazine.
posted by Prometheus 6 at 7/6/2003 05:21:37 AM |
Posted by P6 at
05:21 AM
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