Prometheus 6   

Okay, even Texas isn't this bad

We either have to stop Texas newspapers rom being delivered to Nigeria or stop Nigerian newspapers from being delivered to Texas.

You think DeLay is part Nigerian?

posted by Prometheus 6 at 7/19/2003 11:47:03 PM |

I found my RSS reader

I installed the alpha version of Feedreader, an open source RSS reader. It has an option to suppress ALL popups, and I can make those annoying telltale windows fade out after just five seconds—fast enough that I can ignore them.

SharpReader wouldn't even start up, and I have the latest version of .NET installed on XP Home over here. Don't matter now, though.

posted by Prometheus 6 at 7/19/2003 09:41:51 PM |

Startin' Stuff Week, Day Five

This has actually been a pretty productive series of posts as far as I'm concerned. See, I've been in reparations discussions before, and they've never been pretty. This is the first time I've seen the discussion proceed rationally. I don't know if people are just respecting that it's my blog and therefore giving me that last word at times, or if they genuinely see the overwhelming superiority of my analysis.

I was going to sum up the week in this post, but figured, nah. Maybe I'll post links to all the Startin' Stuff posts at the end of this one. I'll figure that out by the time I get to the bottom of the page.

I started typing up what "we" have learned from the discussion, then said to myself, nah. The fact is most folks who've visited P6 this week haven't expressed an opinion at all. That's the norm in online discussions, and to talk about what "we" have learned under those circumstances is one of the more hubristic gestures I can think of, especially since the discussion took place in the comments and a significant fraction of readers in the BlogNet don't click links.

So I started thinking about what I saw. I mean, since that's all I could write in any summary anyway. And I'm not limiting it to what happened here on P6…I'm including the couple few things I linked to in the process of writing the series. I'm also slipping in a few thoughts that sort of hang over the edges of the discussion.

I saw there was pretty much no point in basing a reparations argument on slavery. I think there is a combination of reasons for this, but the critical one is that most non-Black folks reject the idea out of hand. No argument will sway them on that point. And the reason for that is that everyone takes this race stuff personally, no matter how much they deny it. Your average person wants to know why I should "pay for" something I didn't do. They note that my ancestors came here after slavery was ended, that I never owned slaves, nor did any of my ancestors. There is hardly ever a discussion of justice, or debt, or ethics.

I've also seen that most folks, Black and white, want the discussion to revolve around slavery if it has to exist at all. And I've seen that's an error. Slavery wasn't the only damaging event, unless you realize that Jim Crow was implemented to have the same impact as slavery without all the legal problems. Jim Crow essentially divided slavery into its component parts and named each part individually. Those parts that could be successfully challenged (which boiled down to defining humans as property) were disposed of in order that the overarching structure could be maintained. I've seen reasonable people will see this when its pointed out, but that you must rhetorically sever slavery from Jim Crow, redlining, etc. American Slavery was so evil, even when the factors that made it the worst implementation of slavery in all known history are unknown, and we all identify so strongly with our assumed race, that no one really wants to look at it and everyone assumes you're talking about their personal actions in the discussion. It's actually something of a toss-up who wants to forget slavery ever happened more. But we can discuss Jim Crow. And since it was so recent, since it was within the lifetime of most living Americans, a reparations argument based on it can be more successfully supported.

I've seen that a major argument against reparations is that we shouldn't do it because we don't know how to do it correctly. My response is we should do it, and therefore we must figure out how to do it correctly. Doing it correctly involves recognizing that cash payments should not be the goal. I've seen too many broke-ass lottery winners in the news to think cash is the cure. Doing it correctly means recognizing that since the damage was done environmentally, structurally, reparations must either change the mainstream structure or help create an African American environment and structure that strengthens our communities so that we can withstand the forces generated by the mainstream structures.

I've seen that I can, and we must, create the argument such that the assault we point out is pointed out impersonally. And though many Black folks resist this idea they want white folks to accept personal responsibility for the racism around them, if we want reparations we must give up on that entirely. This doesn't weaken the argument and loses no one anything but a little personal satisfaction.

Finally, I've seen that the ethical argument about the why of reparations must be kept separate from the legal arguments over how, who "pays" and why the "payer" is obligated to make the payment. The legal argument is to be made on legal terms using an accounting metaphor.

I think that pretty much sums it up.

These are the Startin' Stuff Week posts in chronological order:

http://www.prometheus6.org/archives/001235.html

http://www.prometheus6.org/archives/001210.html

http://www.prometheus6.org/archives/001192.html

http://www.prometheus6.org/archives/001184.html

This is a post that links to the asshole whose assholery I touch on in the third post.
http://www.prometheus6.org/archives/001204.html

And don't forget the comments. The first three posts have some good ones. I have no idea why no one commented on the fourth post.



LATER: One more thing. We touched on the very valid case Hawaiians have for reparations and the similarity of their case to that of American Indians. I said I felt the African American case was different enough that the Hawaiian case wouldn't be useful as a "test case" for reparations for Black folks.


LATER-LATER Reading this Sunday morning with a near total lack of sleep, I see a major contradiction in the idea that everyone wants the reparations discussion to revolve around slavery, yet everyone wants to forget slavery ever happened. So be it, because it's the simple truth and as an old email sig I used to use said, "I refuse to be the only consistant human being on the planet."

Finally…I promise this time… I'd like to include part of a comment I left at MaxSpeak the other day:

posted by Prometheus 6 at 7/19/2003 07:02:44 PM |

I am so going to regret this

I just spent a couple of minutes reading Negrophile.

You know, I post exactly what I feel like posting here because I think it's what's on my mind at the time. And every morning I run through the news…basically the NY Times, but I'm trying to expand, look at more regional news presenters. I'm a purely Internet phenomenon in that I wouldn't even have access to a lot of this stuff without it.

When I'm not quoting news stories and making pithy and/or snarky comments about them, I write my own stuff about issues dear to me. And I'm a writer, I have no doubt about that.

Over at Negrophile, George pulls together articles, the majority of which are right up my line. Things I'm concerned about, things I find important. Worse, they tend to be written as I aspire to write. By telling folks about Negrophile I could easily lose half or more of my audience. But there you are.

posted by Prometheus 6 at 7/19/2003 12:12:08 PM |

Keeping up with the future

It looks to me like a goodly chunk of Campaign 2004 news can be gotten from two sources: The Daily Kos and The Scrum.

posted by Prometheus 6 at 7/19/2003 06:40:14 AM |

Startin' Stuff Week, Day 4.5

Since I skipped a day on you, I'm giving you a bonus piece (aren't you lucky?). Derreck Z. Jackson is one of the strongest, clearest, most unrepentant progressive voices in the nation. Though I do have a nit or two to pick with this editorial, I'll save it for my final post in this series later on today. For now, I turn the page over to Mr. Jackson.

posted by Prometheus 6 at 7/19/2003 06:03:49 AM |

Editorial run

The Marketing of Political Clout
Hearings on President Bush's judicial nominees have stumbled upon another slippery rock in the fetid landscape of politicians' soliciting corporate America for donations.

Going Home, to Red Ink and Blues
By NICHOLAS D. KRISTOF
If the budget crisis persists, and it is likely to so long as Washington is distracted and unhelpful, towns like Yamhill, Ore., will lose some of their heart and vitality.

The Founders and the Fedayeen
By MARY BETH NORTON
Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld has compared postwar Iraq to postrevolutionary America. But the comparison rings hollow.

Keeping Head Start strong and successful
(By Julius B. Richmond and Judith Palfrey)
THE BUSH administration's proposal to shift the Head Start program to the states should win an award for the worst domestic policy proposal of the year. To understand why, let's review the history of the program and the commitment the nation has made to enhance the development of its young, poor children.
[p6: keep the way Head Start is being treated in mind every time someone says affirmative action should be based on economic status instead of race]

Malpractice distraction
NO ONE need shed tears for the malpractice reform bill that was defeated in the US Senate last week. It would have done little to affect the forces driving up insurance premiums for doctors. With it out of the way, Congress should back new ways of fairly compensating patients and their families who suffer from avoidable bad outcomes without requiring them to take their doctors to court.

Cartoons
The Boondocks once again cuts through the chaff.
Jeff Danziger could conceivably be arrested for espionage behind this one.
David Horsey shows that Bill Bennett still influences the administration.

posted by Prometheus 6 at 7/19/2003 05:45:16 AM |

The only thing we know

I am not an economist by any stretch. But this I know: the economy itself will die if there are insufficient consumers. And Tax cuts don't create more consumers—only jobs can do that.

posted by Prometheus 6 at 7/19/2003 05:27:43 AM |

The business of American is giving it up to business

House Panel Acts on Pension Calculations
By MARY WILLIAMS WALSH
After Democrats stalked out, a House panel approved legislation that would provide some relief for companies that offer traditional pensions.

posted by Prometheus 6 at 7/19/2003 05:23:57 AM |

Two years? How about two weeks? Send they ass to Radio Shack for some camcorders.

posted by Prometheus 6 at 7/19/2003 05:10:05 AM |

posted by Prometheus 6 at 7/19/2003 05:03:12 AM |

Guess the coolest gear gonna be uptown

posted by Prometheus 6 at 7/19/2003 04:56:56 AM |

Ugh

The NY Times has an article on the Coulter thing. Go find it if you want to read it.

posted by Prometheus 6 at 7/19/2003 04:52:59 AM |

Certain fools better hope very few foreign leaders think as I do

I would like to see a UN mandate and international assistance so that some of the troops can get home to their families. However, I'm not sure it isn't in the national interest of a great number of nations to letthe USofA go it entirely alone. It's pretty obvious it will break the aura of invincibility the neo-conmen have been striving for. The United States of America will be forced to abandon raw force as the preferred method of influencing other nations and return to the method preferred by those to be influenced—bribery. Also, who really wants to walk up and stand n front of the bulls-eye as Saunders admits would happen?

posted by Prometheus 6 at 7/19/2003 04:46:08 AM |

The shit storm never ends

round of fighting has raised fears of a collapse in the shaky cease-fire between the rebels and government troops.

posted by Prometheus 6 at 7/18/2003 07:36:46 PM |

Ahh, Kobe

posted by Prometheus 6 at 7/18/2003 06:32:51 PM |

Okay, this is WAY out of hand

I suppose they should be happy the Capital police were called instead of declaring them terrorists and calling Homeland Security.

The Republican Extremists are totally fucked up and totally out of control.

Later: Leah at Eschaton notes that this sort of crap has been going on for a while. I'll be honest, I didn't know. It seems the House Republicans are not only trying to redistrict the Democratic Party out of existance, but are actively preventing elected Democrats from representing their constituency.

Nancy Pelosi has introduced a resolution condemning the garbage I initially posted about. Leah posted the contact information for Pelosi, minority whip Steny Hoyer, and Charles Rangel, who is the ranking minority member on the Ways and Means Committee. You have to get behind these folks.

posted by Prometheus 6 at 7/18/2003 06:30:48 PM |

Rain delay

The final post in the Startin' Stuff Week series will be delayed for one day because I ain't feeling it at the moment.Between a fairly substantial Racism post, a couple of NewSpeak to Ebonics translations, four days on reparations and enough comments that I'm surprised at the number of folks that read and actually consider what I write, I think I've done well this week and can slack off for a day.

This would be a good time to say how cool it is to know what you write is actually read. I've only had one problem commenter and that seems to have passed. Everyone else has been thoughtful and reasonable in dispute and agreement.

Well, there was that one case where someone (and I remember exactly who it was, but that's unimportant) said all they knew about Black folks came from sitcoms and asked me for suggestions to learn more. I think I was supposed to become irrational at that point.

Anyway, I think it's a good thing to appreciate those that show you appreciation.

posted by Prometheus 6 at 7/18/2003 02:20:16 PM |

Editorial run

They've Paid Their Debt; Let Them Vote
By Christopher Uggen and Jeff Manza
In the state of Alabama, if you commit a felony, you forever lose the right to vote. It's a tough law, passed in the aftermath of the Civil War, and some people think it's time it was eased. But when the state Legislature tried to do just that last month, passing a bill to make it easier for those who have served their time to regain their voting rights, Republican Gov. Bob Riley vetoed it.

Passing It Along
By PAUL KRUGMAN
Our national debt is growing and supporters of President Bush are getting concerned. They will get more concerned when the debt affects the president's credibility.

Delusions on Korea
If President George W. Bush maintains his refusal even to explore the possibilities for a deal to remove the nuclear threat from North Korea, he will be gambling with the safety of all Americans.

Fire Rumsfeld and Wolfowitz
H.D.S. Greenway Boston Globe
BOSTON Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld stands at the head of the table. He has outmaneuvered all his cabinet rivals and taken over many of the functions that used to belong to the State Department, the CIA, even the Justice Department. He dominates the Cabinet as no secretary of defense has done since Robert McNamara. He is also articulate, refreshingly if undiplomatically blunt, with a no-nonsense approach.

His deputy, Paul Wolfowitz, is often mentioned as the most brilliant person in government. He is at the top of his game. He has seen his vision of toppling Saddam Hussein fulfilled, and he is an intellectual force behind a whole new way of looking at U.S. foreign policy.

But for all of that, both should be fired. Here's why.

The Iraq campaign, of which they were in charge, has been grossly mishandled. I use the word campaign because the overthrow of Saddam's army and regime was only the opening phase in what has to be, if this country is to maintain any credibility, an open and democratic society in Iraq. This may yet happen, but the current leadership of the Pentagon, through a fatal combination of hubris and incompetence, has so far bungled the job. If there were any accountability in the Bush administration, Rumsfeld and Wolfowitz would be asked to resign.

Cartoons
Tom Toles gives us the vocabulary builder word-of-the-day
Jeff Danziger on the state of Californian politics
David Horsey reports on the latest trends in health care

posted by Prometheus 6 at 7/18/2003 09:46:11 AM |

Just fucking stop, okay?

Honest, I been trying to cut back on the salty language here, but I've pretty much had it with the phony feel-good stories. Besides, how much good did the last statue demolition do?

posted by Prometheus 6 at 7/18/2003 09:21:02 AM |

WTF?

This is what happens when you hit a random newspaper. You run up on stories that just confuse the funk out of you.

I was like, okay, class action because of reducing welfare benefits…which is ended by sanctioning the cuts?

I finally figured out the class action was a delaying tactic, and I suspect no one really expected it to end differently anymore than any NYC residents expected the courts to turn back a recent transit fare increase.

posted by Prometheus 6 at 7/18/2003 09:13:15 AM |

Oh, this is just ugly

Man, I could feel sorry for Scott McClellan. If the press had been this hard on ol' Ari, he'd have no hair left at all.

…and it goes downhill from there.

I can't watch anymore. This is the last Black English Month press conference translation I'm doing.

posted by Prometheus 6 at 7/18/2003 02:48:04 AM |

Our first 21^st century colony

I said it before, and I'll say it again: John Constantine at Hellblazer finds the scariest stuff...

We are now a client state

Okay…didn't congressional medals of honor used to be limited to, like, actual heros who actually fought in actual wars? But it gets worse. Well, for Britain it does, anyway…



Of course they won't be in any large-scale combat actions without the USofA. Somebody has to start the damn things.

Want more?



Blunkett is no fool. Why would anyone expect the USofA to guarantee British citizens rights that the P.A.T.R.I.O.T. Act took away from its own?

posted by Prometheus 6 at 7/18/2003 02:12:43 AM |

The Tonite Show

Gabrielle Union (who needs no introduction to any brother) is a guest. Jay Leno asks where she's from and she says, Omaha, Nebraska. He asks, big family, little family? She says, "Oh big family. We're one of the biggest Black families in Nebraska." Leno says, "You may be the only Black family in Nebraska."

ba-dum-bump!

posted by Prometheus 6 at 7/18/2003 12:35:55 AM |

But mommy, I want one now

posted by Prometheus 6 at 7/18/2003 12:20:41 AM |

Oh really?

I was torn about whether or not to include that last paragraph. The absurdity of it is what made me include it. I mean, businesses have been watching for what, eight and a half months, laying people off, all them bad economic indicators…and people are going to gain confidence now because of something that supposedly happened last November?

posted by Prometheus 6 at 7/17/2003 11:48:47 PM |

Don't write us, we'll write you

Effort to be more responsive, huh? Take a look at the process (courtesy of the NY Times) and tell me if the lamest web designer in the world would be unable to tell this is no more or less than an obstacle course.

posted by Prometheus 6 at 7/17/2003 11:27:57 PM |

May he have the same success in Michigan

posted by Prometheus 6 at 7/17/2003 11:20:01 PM |

<insert clever title re: inversions>

One day ibyx and I are going to have a long, interesting conversation. Right now my thoughts are somewhat chaotic for non-blog reasons but (assuming I don't lose the thought connection overnight) this post, and a conceptual inversion of the issues it raises, will be in my mind as I write tomorrow's last "Startin' Stuff Week" post.

Said post will probably be late, because I have two important appointments, one of which is to hang out with my daughter. I place no time limits on that one.

posted by Prometheus 6 at 7/17/2003 11:02:38 PM |

Where's Ari when you really need him?

Busy, Busy, Busy has indeed been busy. First, Mr. Beard gives us Mr. Bush's answer to the burning question of the day. I, troublemaker that I am, was unsatisfied with that, so I decided to see if I could approach the source. I tried to get in contact with Ms. Rice. I figured, you know, a sista might give a brotha some rhythm, knowwhatI'msayin?

Nope.

So I did the next best thing. I went to The Unofficial Official Simulator, authorized by the Official SImulation Act of 2002:

I just had to Ask Condoleezza Rice! This is what I got back:



Now that's what I expected.

posted by Prometheus 6 at 7/17/2003 08:44:15 PM |

SOTU photo essay

A couple of other blogs have noted the White House web site has a photo essay up that shows Mr. Bush's hands hard at work, checking every word of the SOTU address. The one with The Lie (and to the Homeland Security operatives in the audience, I've saved copies of all six pictures with accompanying captions, so if you're gonna raid me, can you do it, like, Sunday and get it over with?).

I decided to check the other pictures in the essay, and I can't resist bringing one more picture to the fore.

Created from many opinions, details and revisions, a draft is reviewed by President Bush, Counselor Karen Hughes, Chief of Staff Andy Card and National Security Advisor Dr. Condoleezza Rice (holding the notebook, foreground) in the Oval Office, Thursday, Jan. 24.

Look who's in the mix. Condoleezza Rice. I think. See, I'm not sure whether they actually didn't want to show her, thought we'd realize brown hands that close to Mr. Bush could only belong to her, or (because she actually is incredibly intelligent—maybe not smart but incredibly intelligent) she arranged for some plausible deniability for herself (that wasn't me, it was the housekeeper!).

LATER: Okay, it looks like that was the 2002 SOTU stuff. Interestingly enough, the 2003 stuff only shows him interacting with the speechwriters and Karen Hughes, though "[s]ketching notes in the margin of speech drafts, President Bush [still] rewrites portions of the address in the Oval Office." Last year Ari Fleischer, Andy Card and Condi Rice represented as well.

posted by Prometheus 6 at 7/17/2003 08:28:00 PM |

I know this is totally irrelevant

I have to share.

posted by Prometheus 6 at 7/17/2003 07:56:28 PM |

Politics make you feel peevish?

Anne Zook is simply right about this. And I didn't know she had posted this when I wrote "if the government isn't doing the right thing and you are are responsible for taking action somehow, even if its just voting the bastards out" a couple of posts down.

Yeah, we suck.

posted by Prometheus 6 at 7/17/2003 07:06:39 PM |

How many words was that?

posted by Prometheus 6 at 7/17/2003 05:55:36 PM |

Damn, I have to change the template again

I decided I was serious about my blogging tool, but it wasn't intended to be a client for Blogger which is why I was waffling about finishing it. Meanwhile I really, really want spell checking and less manual HTML typing. So I broke down and installed w.bloggar.

One day's worth of posting and it really hard to consider going back to the web interface. So I have to update the template with a button acknowledging the software.

Now I have to look into an RSS aggregator. I need one that doesn't play favorites between the Rich Site Summary and Really Simple Syndication formats. I think the first one I need to check is SharpReader, a .NET based program that has an available plug-in to launch w.bloggar. It's only at version 0.9.2 but the feature list looks good and it's under active development.

What I really want is an aggregator whose embedded browser uses my pop-up blocker.

posted by Prometheus 6 at 7/17/2003 04:29:09 PM |

Hard to be specific

liminal liberal is a very, very good blog. Sista ain't just playing at politics like I feel I am sometimes. She's giving up a better idea of a reasonable middle-class Black person than I am.

I can't even point at a specific post. I mean George had a link that sent me there but I read the whole page and it was all impressive.

posted by Prometheus 6 at 7/17/2003 04:12:49 PM |

Startin' Stuff Week, Day Four

From the comments to the link to that asshole, I draw the following fragment:

And on a discussion board I frequent a friend asked me to look in on a reparations "discussion" on another board

Well.

Based on the comment that discussion, I feel I need to say something to white folks.

It ain't personal. The debt owed to Black Americans isn't owed by you, or your ancestors, even if they were slave owners. It is owed by the United States of America and the states that created the more detailed repressions like literacy tests for voting when you provide unequal education.

I understand the argument that reparations made (and I'm using the word "made" rather than "paid" because as I said at the outset I'm not looking for cash unless the right thing is rejected) by the government are ultimately made by the citizens of the nation. But (and this is where the comment fragment comes in) you know, if you buy shares of General Motors, you acquire its liabilities as well as its assets. Citizenship is much the same…if the government isn't doing the right thing then you are responsible for taking action somehow, even if its just voting the bastards out. That's a running theme here and in fact all over the left side of the BlogNet (see Bush, Dubya).

The next argument I anticipate is that being born here leaves one no choice but to be a citizen. I read that as "I didn't ask for these benefits, so why should I have to take the liabilities?" which is much like asking "I didn't make the sun shine on my face so why should the back of my head be in shadow?" It's a package. SOMEone will shoulder those liabilities and so far it's been us. All I ask is a fair distribution.

Another argument questions why should an immigrant bear the liabilities created before their arrival. To this, I refer back to the corporate example.

See, this reparations discussion doesn't take place in isolation, as its opponents would like. I don't need to build a case for shared liability strictly within the confines of the discussion of the ethics of reparations. In the ethical discussion, I need to build a case for the rightness of reversing the effects of oppression.

posted by Prometheus 6 at 7/17/2003 03:36:03 PM |

Okay, this has gotten out of hand

Walter at idols of the marketplace found one Mark Shultz was visited by the FBI. because someone turned him in over his choice of reading material…a printout of a web article critical of Bush, Fox News and Rupert Murdoch.

posted by Prometheus 6 at 7/17/2003 02:09:27 PM |

Editorial run? Editorial run? We don' need no steeking editorial run!

Having O.D.ed on "16 words" smackdowns while failing to deliver cartoons the other day, I'm skipping the editorials today.

Pat Oliphant is brilliant here. It is a concise summary of the shortsightedness of the Republican Extremist economic plan.


He is also brilliant here:


Tom Toles


Jeff Danziger

posted by Prometheus 6 at 7/17/2003 06:57:05 AM |

Creativity assistance

Renee Hopkins announced on Corante's IDEAFLOW: creativity & innovation that she is now hosting a list and description of over 200 creativity assitance techniques.

posted by Prometheus 6 at 7/17/2003 06:12:34 AM |

Governments abandon their citizens

If ever a task was appropriate for governmental support, this is one. And I'm not just complainig about the USofA this time.

posted by Prometheus 6 at 7/17/2003 05:56:59 AM |

Well? What did you expect?

posted by Prometheus 6 at 7/17/2003 05:51:21 AM |

Setting them up to know them down

Not trying to be a wet blanket or anything, but now would be a good time to understand the difference between statuitory and procedural law. Statuitory law sets the rules. Procedural law determines how the rules are enforced.

Understand that the change allowing increased ownship levels is not being challenged. The enforcement of that rule is being challenged…but that's like not enforcing a rule that allows people to walk into a bank and pick up whatevercash is laying around.

This amendment is one the White House can safely opposed and later yield on.

posted by Prometheus 6 at 7/17/2003 05:46:23 AM |

Two confessions

1. Fred at rantavation doesn't really do screeds like I said here. I just like the word. He does do some long posts sometimes but they're well thought out and well written. And besides, who am I to talk about long posts? Huh?

2. My first posts and comments will have a bunch of typos. I edit the hell out of them. If Earthlink counted incoming bandwith like they count outgoing bandwidth, or worse if Blogger counted it, I'd look illiterate as hell.

I have to decide if I'm really going to stop stalling with this blogging tool I started or if I'm just going to use w.bloggar or something.

posted by Prometheus 6 at 7/16/2003 08:59:31 PM |

Startin' Stuff Week, Day Three

I generally don't address strawmen, but this is from that ridiculousness I pointed to yesterday:

Every time someone talks about white guilt over the past, I have to wonder: just who's making them feel guilty? It's not like anyone is lying about what happened…

And I also wonder, is guilt the only possible response?

See, I don't want white guilt. Guilt and gratitude are both like shirts. Fine and comfy while new, but wear them too long and they get all stank.

But I'm not letting anyone forget the realities of what brought us all to this pass. Especially since I can think of an alternative to guilt.

The alternative is acknowlegement of the truth. And a choice to act responsibly. A choice to live up to your professed morals.

I need to give white folks this alternative because frankly I'm not even considering feeling gratitude because someone decided to give me what I'm owed.




Yes, you are missing something. Roughly 100 years of Jim Crow, government mandated segregation and disenfranchisement, red lining and denial. Roughly 100 years of socially sanctioned assaults on the liberty and dignity of a people whose efforts fueled the development of this nation and to the degree that the USofA has impacted world history, every nation on the planet.

Think about it… what would the USofA look like without having had the labor of Black Americans to fuel its economy? I'm not talking about that nonsense that pops up occasionally about a Black man invented this or that so they wouldn't exist without us… that's a nice thing to tell children to build their pride, but just as SOMEbody would have invented the lightbulb if Thomas Edison's grandmother had died in labor all those things would have come about sooner or later.

I'm saying without the capital generated by Black labor, this nation could not have industrialized when it did. And meanwhile Europe would have chugged along its historical track, producing all the wars it ever did, all the ethnic purges of gypsies and Jews… there would not have been a nation in a position to intercede in Europe's various wars. More importantly, there would have been no nation in a position to intercede economically after those wars.

A people that important to the history of the world deserves more than to have its concerns summarily dismissed.

posted by Prometheus 6 at 7/16/2003 02:10:13 PM |

Sitting duck

You probably know Scott McClellan is the neo-Ari, Mr. Fleischer's replacement.

I was thinking about doing something ill to the transcript of his first press conference, but I decided not to. Too easy. Whole big chunks of it would have come down to:

McClellan: Yo, dog, I ain't said dat. Dat was Ari. Not me, man, go riff on his ass.

posted by Prometheus 6 at 7/16/2003 12:23:42 PM |

Like I ain't got enough to do

When I blogroll a site I usually look down its blogroll to see if I spot something new to me. From The Black Hand Side I picked out Endaikeio, self-described as a "Neo-Culture and Lifestyle Magazine" built on Moveable Type (isn't everything?). Looks to be 2 issues old.

Very nice start.

The content is very good. No complaints there at all. I always hit political pages first and that was good enough to make me at least scan everything else.

The design is attractive…I generally don't like splash pages, but I'll look at a pretty sista whenever…with couple of teeny, tiny layout inconsistancies that I may be the only one in the world to notice. And the quarterly issue concept gets sort of blurred when all the articles are listed without differentiation in the sidebar. Nothing critical that will take away from the quality of the work.

I'll definitely be keeping my eye on this one.

Another new MT based ezine effort, this time plucked from the referral log, is Negrophile. At this point it's just the blog-format front page, which is how P6 started. I'm not sure what's planned for the site because it's not as developed as Endaikeio. It may not even be fair to expose it at this point if an ezine rather than an intricate blog like P6 is what's in the works. But it's attractively designed… which I keep mentioning because I HATE garish web sites, of which there are too damn many… and the blogging is well written, so whichever way it goes it looks to have promise.

posted by Prometheus 6 at 7/16/2003 09:35:53 AM |

Book review

Over at Silver Rights (which I continue to read and whose author remains my sista whether she like it or not, though I allow her to set the terms) there's an excellent review of "Passing", a novel set in 1920s America by Nella Larsen. Though it's not today's entry for Startin' Stuff Week, this excerpt from J's review shows its timing to be quite appropriate

posted by Prometheus 6 at 7/16/2003 08:12:42 AM |

The real Nigeria

posted by Prometheus 6 at 7/16/2003 06:59:19 AM |

About time, Skip

posted by Prometheus 6 at 7/16/2003 06:53:18 AM |

Oh, c'mon

I hope no one expects me to believe this.

posted by Prometheus 6 at 7/16/2003 06:44:58 AM |

Fred at rantavation nails it at the end of a longish screed:

posted by Prometheus 6 at 7/16/2003 06:19:50 AM |

I can relate

posted by Prometheus 6 at 7/16/2003 01:08:17 AM |

Leading Democrats Go AWOL on Overtime Vote

So I stole the title of the post from the Voice. It's late.

posted by Prometheus 6 at 7/16/2003 01:01:39 AM |

Invisiblog

Found in the Village Voice article The Sharer of Secrets.

Aggregated from the Invisiblog site:

invisiblog.com lets you publish a weblog using GPG and the Mixmaster anonymous remailer network. You don't ever have to reveal your identity - not even to us. You don't have to trust us, because we'll never know who you are.

features
Each anonymous weblog hosted by invisiblog includes the following features:

• untraceable publishing via Mixmaster
• PGP-verifiable posts
• XHTML-compliant markup
• monthly archives
• built-in full text search engine
• rss 2.0 feed
• automatically pings weblogs.com and blo.gs

Hell, if I had known about this service before Blogger, I might be using it. I don't know how editing old posts would work. But this is an interesting service.

posted by Prometheus 6 at 7/16/2003 12:57:20 AM |

I can relate

We all got them. And it's interesting that this shows up so soon after I posted the pictures of two of my great grandfathers.

But my relating isn't just a matter of it being the same ol' same old for all Black folks. Since I'm not really an anonymous blogger (P6 is a brand name), I invite the curious and/or nosy to google my last name: dunovant. If you want to narrow it down (it was a popular middle name for a while), add "general" or "gen" to the search.

posted by Prometheus 6 at 7/16/2003 12:47:07 AM |

What a coincidence

Reflections on Reparations

July 15, 2003

by Burt Prelutsky

---

You read it and got questions, bring 'em.

posted by Prometheus 6 at 7/15/2003 08:08:44 PM |

I know this is ridiculous

I don't care, because I needed a laugh when I ran across Hulk's Diary

Saturday, March 22, 2003
It took Hulk two weeks to realize that "dnL" drink and "7up" were the same.

posted by Prometheus 6 at 7/15/2003 07:28:12 PM |

You find interesting stuff by looking at the searches that find your site

Like today's search is: "black discrimination" newspaper articles

I found:
The Office of Human Relations Programs, University of Maryland
From the specific page the search located:

posted by Prometheus 6 at 7/15/2003 06:00:38 PM |

You find interesting stuff by looking at the searches that find your site

Like today's search is: "black discrimination" newspaper articles

I found:

www.fyah.com: For A New Generation of Black Wordsmiths
From the specific page the search located:

posted by Prometheus 6 at 7/15/2003 05:32:47 PM |

Kucinich responds to N.A.A.C.P. on missing the forum in Miami

Just received by email two minutes ago

DENNIS AND THE NAACP EVENT

Kucinich supporters have asked why the Congressman didn't attend the NAACP candidates' forum in Miami on Monday afternoon. He couldn't attend because the forum conflicted with his responsibilities as a voting member of Congress, and there were key Medicare votes late yesterday in the House.

When there have not been conflicts with Capitol Hill duties, Dennis has repeatedly attended candidates' forums held by civil rights and equal rights groups, including ones organized by the NAACP and the Rainbow/PUSH Coalition. (The Rainbow forum was on a Sunday.) Dennis has shined at these events, because he is a fighter for civil rights -- as he's shown year after year on Capitol Hill through his leadership role in the Congressional Progressive Caucus. It's Dennis who is leading the fight to abolish the racially-biased death penalty.

Due to conflicts with his Congressional duties, Rep. Kucinich recently had to miss a candidates' forum on the environment in Los Angeles and a "Democracy Rising" rally in Baltimore -- when Dennis stayed in Washington to vote against Medicare privatization, which passed by a single vote. Unlike other presidential candidates, he is a fulltime Congressperson who has not missed a vote so far this session.

Yesterday afternoon, our campaign released this statement to the media: "Congressman Kucinich has the utmost respect for the NAACP, its leadership, its members and its mission. He regrets his absence from this afternoon's candidates' forum. His duties as a member of the United States House of Representatives required that he be in Washington today for votes. Important votes are scheduled on Medicare prescription drugs and agriculture spending. Congressman Kucinich strongly believes that it is wrong to campaign across the country on the issue of expanding healthcare coverage and then miss one of the most important healthcare votes in years."

posted by Prometheus 6 at 7/15/2003 04:10:52 PM |

Just to let you know

While sorting out lies about uranium, let's no forget lies about the budget.

As you listen to and read about budget deficits and such, and mind-boggling numbers like billions (1,000,000,000) and trillions (1,000,000,000,000) get bandied about, here's a couple of hints to help you wrap your mind around the depth of the hole we're being pushed into.

You know how much one hundred dollars is, right? And you know how thick a $100 bill is, right? Well, one million dollars is a stack of $100 bills a little more than a yard high. One billion dollars is a 1000 meter stack of $100 bills. That's a bit more than ten football fields. A trillion is a thousand of those stacks.

posted by Prometheus 6 at 7/15/2003 03:17:38 PM |

Startin' Stuff Week, Day Two

Ibyx asked a question in the comments to yesterday's reparations post that was quite good, and honestly I like my response to it (narcissism is not evil—remember that), so I decided to elevate the whole thing to a post.

The question(s):

My response:

posted by Prometheus 6 at 7/15/2003 11:34:22 AM |

What? No cartoons?

Well, we can't have that.

Not when Tom Toles goes all subtle today after making me laugh yesterday (in my head I hear the nurse speaking in Sister Mary Elephant's voice).

And while Ben Sargent looks into the progress made on the 9/11 inquiry, Jeff Danziger show us the Shrub's foreign policy decision making strategy.

posted by Prometheus 6 at 7/15/2003 10:22:11 AM |

Republican Non-Extremists

This is why I rail at Republican Extremists, not Republicans in general. Being a member of that party does not force on to be a hypocritical asshole (though it does seem to make advancement within the part much more straightforward).

posted by Prometheus 6 at 7/15/2003 09:42:04 AM |

Obviously I need to switch to Movable Type

The things you see in BlogNet…

posted by Prometheus 6 at 7/15/2003 09:12:50 AM |

Dean is really working the net

I guess it would be more accurate to say his supporters are really working the net. They are building a "blogging network" to support their organizing efforts. It's built on the Drupal CMS, which is a pretty powerful base to work with. I looked into it a little while back and found it has as much community-building functionaliy as conversation support functionality.

Looks to me like Dean has a lock on the geek vote.

posted by Prometheus 6 at 7/15/2003 08:43:06 AM |

What the hell is THIS about?

I'm over quoting here because I didn't hear about this agreement before. This really looks like a multi-level image play. The four guys in the "agreement" are the DNC's recognized players. Agreeing "not to meet on the same stage" makes the DNC's debates look like a bigger deal because they will be the only ones able to pull all the candidates together. The appearance of all nine candidates in one place is a more newsworthy event than the appearance of some fraction thereof. I also get the sense it casts the other five as also-rans, though I can't rationally explain that perception on my part.

Democratic appearance deal falls apart

MIAMI BEACH, Fla. (AP) - Sens. John Kerry and John Edwards changed their minds and decided to appear with other Democratic presidential candidates at the NAACP's presidential forum on Monday.

Kerry's aides said the Massachusetts senator initially refused to take part in the forum to honor a verbal agreement quietly reached with three of his rivals - Edwards of North Carolina, Rep. Dick Gephardt of Missouri and Sen. Joe Lieberman of Connecticut.

Under the agreement, the candidates would not share a stage other than during six debates being organized by the Democratic National Committee.

That would mean convincing the various groups that invite them to speak to give each candidate a designated time instead of having them appear together.

…The NAACP was one such group and had invited all nine Democratic candidates to their convention on Monday.

Such forums are supposed to give the candidates a chance to woo Democratic voters, but the campaigns have received so many invitations this year that the forums are creating scheduling headaches. All nine candidates agreed that the Democratic National Committee would sponsor six official televised debates beginning in September.

Even though that agreement did not prevent the candidates from appearing at any other events, Kerry aides said four of the campaigns took it a step further in an attempt to bring order to their overall schedules.

Edwards originally said he would skip the NAACP forum because of scheduling conflicts, as did Gephardt, Lieberman and Rep. Dennis Kucinich of Ohio. Their decision irked NAACP Chairman Julian Bond, who said, "Anyone running for national office is a fool to ignore this group."

Kerry initially agreed to attend the convention but - to honor his informal agreement with Edwards, Gephardt Lieberman - said he would not participate unless he could address the audience without the other candidates on stage.

But Edwards decided late Sunday to cancel his campaign events Monday in Iowa to participate and Kerry then agreed to take part, too - under the ground rules set by the NAACP.

Sen. Bob Graham of Florida, former Vermont Gov. Howard Dean, former Illinois Sen. Carol Moseley Braun and Al Sharpton were scheduled to appear all along.

posted by Prometheus 6 at 7/15/2003 08:31:05 AM |

Symbolic gestures

There's a big difference between "bring color to this… body" and bringing color to the support staff of this body. I understand wanting to give the good admiral props, and I'm not trying to take anything from him. But let's not get carried away.

posted by Prometheus 6 at 7/15/2003 08:18:55 AM |

More on that N.A.A.C.P. forum in Miami

posted by Prometheus 6 at 7/15/2003 08:11:34 AM |

Editorial run

Oh, I am enjoying this one. Bush, Ashcroft and his judicial packing ilk are the single biggest threat to the freedom of Americans since 1776. And if the mainstream is at risk, Black folks really have a problem. I want them gone, and will support any effort to make it so.

Pattern of Corruption
By PAUL KRUGMAN

More than half of the U.S. Army's combat strength is now bogged down in Iraq, which didn't have significant weapons of mass destruction and wasn't supporting Al Qaeda. We have lost all credibility with allies who might have provided meaningful support; Tony Blair is still with us, but has lost the trust of his public. All this puts us in a very weak position for dealing with real threats. Did I mention that North Korea has been extracting fissionable material from its fuel rods?

How did we get into this mess? The case of the bogus uranium purchases wasn't an isolated instance. It was part of a broad pattern of politicized, corrupted intelligence.

16 Words, and Counting
By NICHOLAS D. KRISTOF

After I wrote a month ago about the Niger uranium hoax in the State of the Union address, a senior White House official chided me gently and explained that there was more to the story that I didn't know.

Yup. And now it's coming out.

Based on conversations with people in the intelligence community, this picture is emerging: the White House, eager to spice up the State of the Union address, recklessly resurrected the discredited Niger tidbit. The Central Intelligence Agency objected, and then it and the National Security Council negotiated a new wording, attributing it all to the Brits. It felt less dishonest pinning the falsehood on the cousins.

What troubles me is not that single episode, but the broader pattern of dishonesty and delusion that helped get us into the Iraq mess � and that created the false expectations undermining our occupation today. Some in the administration are trying to make George Tenet the scapegoat for the affair. But Veteran Intelligence Professionals for Sanity, a group of retired spooks, issued an open letter to President Bush yesterday reflecting the view of many in the intel community that the central culprit is Vice President Dick Cheney. The open letter called for Mr. Cheney's resignation.

Uranium Quicksand

In trying to defend the indefensible in its depiction of Iraq's nuclear weapons program, the Bush administration is now making a legalistic argument that would be laughable if the matter were not so serious. Because the British government believed in January that Iraq had been trying to import large quantities of uranium from Africa, top administration officials are saying, Mr. Bush was technically correct when he cited the British concerns in the State of the Union address. The explanation conveniently glosses over the fact that long before Mr. Bush delivered the speech on Jan. 28, American intelligence officials had concluded that the British charge was probably unreliable.

posted by Prometheus 6 at 7/15/2003 01:11:48 AM |

Was this smart?

Truth, I don't think either of the three named have a real shot at the nomination.

posted by Prometheus 6 at 7/15/2003 01:03:28 AM |

That's it, ask them questions

posted by Prometheus 6 at 7/15/2003 12:59:27 AM |

Let's see now, who else can we piss off?

posted by Prometheus 6 at 7/15/2003 12:54:54 AM |

The Empire Strikes Back

Excuse me, but what the hell does "Democrats did not have the standing to challenge Mr. Bush on the subject?" I mean, since we have to look at the meaning of each word individually and in context and all I thought I'd ask.

The standing? My 16 year old grand niece has the standing to challenge Mr. Bush on any subject she sees fit, all right? This isn't American anymore? You have to have "standing" to hold a public servant responsible for the words he speaks? You have to have "standing" to point out when a simple question is simply being evaded?

As for a media "feeding frenzy" one should note that they only come about when there's blood in the water. When there's something to eat, know what I'm saying?

My rule for debate applies here: first ad hominem loses. And I haven't seen such a pack of losers as the Bushistas before in my life.

posted by Prometheus 6 at 7/15/2003 12:51:30 AM |

The positive side of loony, excessive tax cuts

The negative side being they can just slide this into the black box program category.

posted by Prometheus 6 at 7/15/2003 12:18:20 AM |

Ashcroft to courts: "You're not the boss of me!"

posted by Prometheus 6 at 7/15/2003 12:15:02 AM |

The Liberal Media, Redux

Demosthenes at Shadow of the Hegemon, like CalPundit, is good for a non-hysterical view of the ongoing stories floating around the BlogNet. Not that I object to hysteria, mind you, I just think it's a good thing to step back once in a while to make sure you're hysterical about the right thing.

Tonight Demosthenes is suggesting the big story isn't so much the Bushista lies as the media calling them on their lies:

But it seems it's also about how the Bushistas are mis-handling the whole mess. He's got a really interesting example in the election of Pierre Trudeau.

posted by Prometheus 6 at 7/14/2003 11:42:34 PM |

Let's see now
We got idols of the marketplace, already linked and blogrolled today.
We got The Black Hand Sie, same.
We got The Storm new to the mix.
We got Plucky Punk's Happy Land added late because I checked my mail late.
And from the Star Trek mirror universe we got PrometheusSpeaks.

That ought to be enough new reading material for a couple of days.

posted by Prometheus 6 at 7/14/2003 11:26:17 PM |

And you thought Black English Month was over

You HOPED it was…

But no......

Transcript courtesy of Talking Points Memo

posted by Prometheus 6 at 7/14/2003 10:00:37 PM |

You know what I think?

I think the Bush administration is gonna regret practically begging the whole left side of BlogNet to fisk every statement they make.

And I think they will be fisked because they made it clear the only way to get the truth out of their statements is to parse each word individually.

posted by Prometheus 6 at 7/14/2003 08:50:25 PM |

Quote number one ...

"I will remind Al Gore that Americans do not want a White House where there is 'no controlling legal authority.' "

-- George W. Bush
March 7th, 2000

I have to admit, he's certainly done that…

posted by Prometheus 6 at 7/14/2003 08:36:15 PM |

Talk about shit-starting

Eschaton is on this 16 words thing like white on Bush.

Um, white on Condi.

Um. Rice.

posted by Prometheus 6 at 7/14/2003 05:48:41 PM |

posted by Prometheus 6 at 7/14/2003 05:47:20 PM |

Now here's a constitutional amendment I can get behind

Courtesy of CalPundit's twisted sense of humor.

posted by Prometheus 6 at 7/14/2003 05:32:12 PM |

This is a reprint

The Imaginary Candidate

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

You have to pay taxes.

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

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

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

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

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

But you'll have to pay taxes.

And so will they.

posted by Prometheus 6 at 7/14/2003 05:12:07 PM |

Eric V. Copage is the author of the best-selling series of Black Pearls books and most recently of "Soul Food: Inspirational Stories for African Americans." He also runs a web site called The Greatest Migration. It's still a work in progress, but already it's got some valuable web resources links… Eric looks in different places than I do, so he finds different stuff. Check his links page now or wait a week or two when I get around to stealing some of them.

What Eric is trying to do is best explained in his own words from the home page:

posted by Prometheus 6 at 7/14/2003 04:01:41 PM |

Startin' Stuff Week

I'm not exactly sure if I can do this for a week… there's so much to react to that starting stuff seems a little redundant sometimes. But I know one topic I can throw out there that can easily be stretched into a week of shit and flames.

Reparations.

There, I said it. Wanna make something of it?

The thought of writing something on reparations came to me while reading idols of the marketplace this morning:

The opponents of reparations for Black Americans insist that all the damage was done by slavery, and done so long ago that reparations to affected partied are impossible. Disregarding for the moment that I am a party affected by slavery, Walter wrote a key sentance in that quote above: "Circumstances that existed as late as a generation ago."

It's not just slavery that caused damage that needs redress. It's the state laws that blocked voting rights. It's the funding policies that forced Black school districts (again, mandated by law) to use hand-me-down books given to them by white school districts after they were worn out or outdated. It's the federally mandated red-lining that practically forced down the property values of Black folks when they… finally… were allowed to buy homes under the GI bill.

And I'm only talking about government policies that directly impacted Black folks' Black people's ability to advance across the board. If, somehow, reparations could be gotten for the hostile environment that kept Black people in a fight-or-flight state 24/7, literally eating away at us physically, wearing down the repair mechanisms that would let us live as long as the majority, if the embarrassment of being followed in stores for no reason could be assessed, if that level of behaivior could be quantified, then I'd be standing next to the more radical reparations proponents demanding like 3.5 times the GNP.

As things stand, though, I'm not looking for a check. What I'm looking for is honor for Black folks. I'm looking for the treatment of Black folks to fully reflect out rights under the Constitution and Bill of Rights (which is why I am so hostile toward Bush and Ashcroft). I'm looking for Black people to have opportunity to match our ambitions. I'm looking for better schools, employment opportunities, health care.

I'm looking for a society that willfully damaged my people to willfully set about correcting that damage instead of willfully shirking the responsibility of fixing what their people broke.

Do this, and that is all the reparations I'll be looking for. Give us schools, and teachers, give us medicines we can afford, give us respect. If you have to give it to everyone else, fine, I have no beef with that. I'm saying that this must be done for Black people if the mainstream is not simply lying about their committment to the morality they espouse.

And if that is too much, I'll take a couple hundred grand, yeah. But truthfully, money is the least expensive offer no matter how big the check.

posted by Prometheus 6 at 7/14/2003 03:20:52 PM |

I really don't know what to say to this

posted by Prometheus 6 at 7/14/2003 12:05:05 PM |

Computer voting

http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2003/07/12/politics/main562983.shtml

…Voters using SERVE can register to vote and cast their ballots from any computer using Microsoft Windows with Internet access. Local election officials will use the system to process voter registration applications, send ballots to voters and accept voted ballots instantly. Long delays in counting absentee ballots, a factor in the disputed 2000 presidential election, would be relegated to the past.

Security remains the top concern for the system's coordinators and fodder for critics.

"I think Internet voting is a good idea for this population if you can assure security, but I'm not confident that they can do that," said John Dunbar, a project manager at the Center for Public Integrity, a nonpartisan government watchdog group. "It wouldn't take much for some smart hacker to send around a virus that lays in wait for someone to issue a vote."

Other computer security experts call the project an open invitation to election tampering.

"We're opening up a whole host of opportunities for voter coercion and voter fraud," said Rebecca Mercuri, a research fellow at Harvard's Kennedy School of Government who specializes in studying electronic vote tabulation.

Mercuri said even the most secure systems can be cracked, hacked or left vulnerable to Internet viruses, leaving the ballot contents and the voter's identity open to perusal.

"If we have this going on in commerce and all other transactions on the Internet, why would people think we can avoid it in voting?" she said. "This is just an experiment that's doomed."

posted by Prometheus 6 at 7/14/2003 11:58:59 AM |

One resource for immediate use

AntiRacism.net is run by Art McGee.

That's all I need to know (that's an endorsement).

posted by Prometheus 6 at 7/14/2003 10:14:18 AM |

Giving in to the inevitable

So I've decided link whoring isn't the greatest sin known to man ("Hunting for Bambi" far supasses it).

Still, all things in moderation is still the rule of the day. One doesn't want to go linking to any random folks. So I'm giving a little more thought to some questions asked by an old friend, to wit:

> c) what's your _motivation_
I guess my motivation is to counter particular ideas. Some I counter by logic, some by rhetoric, some by example.

> b) what's your objective
With p6 I studying the "Tao" of BlogNet, think out loud and have fun with stuff once in a while.

> a) who is your target demographic
never thought about it beyond "the kind of people who read blogs."

I answered the questions in reverse order because that's the order in which I originally considered them. And these are my answers, in the fewest words possible. But I'm going to inflate the word count for a minute.

My motivation
When I watch TV, talk to folks or whatever I have a bad habit; I listen to them and refer what I'm hearing back to my understanding of events and the way the world works. Worse, I check to make sure the statement makes sense in light of my understanding of how physical reality works. When you do this, it becomes apparent how much crap is spewed and called information. You watch and see people accept what they are told and modify their understanding of events rather than using their understanding to test and challenge new claims. This is SO not a good thing

Because of this, I do two things here at P6. I relay things that point at what I see as the truth. They rarely point at absolute truth (the cartoons being a big exception to this) but tend to point at a place from which you can see the truth. The other thing is, I write some original material. The vast majority of the original material is intended to map some social complexity to the simple physical reality that it actually is. Doing this tends to verify everyone's observations and shitcan most of the explanations.

This is the major reason I've decided to seek out some reciprocal linking. There's no use doing all that in an empty room, and as chaotic as is the business of tracking link counts (how many service will do that for you? And the Ecosystem seems to be the official numbers but just yesterday N.Z. Bear ran the system twice and P6 dropped seven links between the first and second runs) folks still pay attention to them as a sign of authoritativeness.

My objective
P6 wasn't intended to be my final effort. It was a way to understand blogging, both the physical act (what kind of software is needed) and why the craze took off. I have a great interest in social software, remote learning and other digital methods of connecting and strengthening people. This his how blogging came to my attention and this bias has a lot to do with the angle at which I approach all this.

Everything has its own Tao, a way of operating which is determined by its original nature. The BlogNet is no diferent. For instance, I don't know what Technorati was intended to be but I use it as kind of a beeper. You see who linked to you, check them out and respond, which they see,and so on. Technorati, to me, is a conversation enabler, as is the detail report from the Ecosystem. They don't scale for these purposes, though; I can't see any of the "Higher Beings" or "Mortal Humans" recognizing a new link among the hundreds in their reports.

Anyway, Prometheus 6 is/was a tool to investigate how BlogNet could be best used to add or modify ideas in the public debate space, and such investigations need to be done from the inside so I jumped on in.

My target demographic
I'm letting this one work itself out. My own approach to things is less about explaining how to deal with something as to remove things as elements of concern… to counter error by pointing out its unreality rather than its opposite. An example of this was my rendering of Ari Fliescher's absurdities into Ebonics.

It ain't but so many folks can roll with that. I'll take 'em all.

Prometheus 6 isn't specifically about racial issues, but as a Black man I couldn't avoid interest in them if I wanted to. And though I will expound on racism I have little use for discussing racists that have no impact on me (which, much to their dismay, includes the vast majority of them). I'll deal with issues of social justice as a Black partisan. My goals tend to match those of the activist community, but my philosophical underpinnings tend to be mad different, so I differ with them about a lot of the stuff that should happen between the beginning and the end.

What does all this have to do with link whoring?

This is all the stuff I'll be taking into account while looking at sites to reciprocate links with. General political blogs are easy to locate, those that immersed on a Black gestalt are lower profile and therefore harder to locate. I've already found a couple to link to: idols of the marketplace and The Black Hand Side strong enough that I've blogrolled them immediately (yeah, I know I'm easy, and to Kamau: I can't find an email address on your site so if you see this through some link reporting system, consider it a reciprocal link request). Take a look at them and if you can refer me to similarly strong voices, I'd appreciate it.

posted by Prometheus 6 at 7/14/2003 09:07:51 AM |

Cartoons

Welcome Ann Telnais to the must-be-checked-out list.


and Drew Sheneman (and when you go to the page, make sure to click the "next page" link).


And Matt Davies, too

posted by Prometheus 6 at 7/14/2003 02:16:39 AM |

Meanwhile, back on the homefront

posted by Prometheus 6 at 7/14/2003 02:01:22 AM |

Trapped in the System
By BOB HERBERT
A miscarriage of justice put Ryan Matthews on death row in Louisiana. The question now is how to free him.

posted by Prometheus 6 at 7/14/2003 01:58:43 AM |

Not really

posted by Prometheus 6 at 7/14/2003 01:53:23 AM |

…and rightly so

posted by Prometheus 6 at 7/14/2003 01:50:10 AM |

A Tale of Two Africas
By Joseph Siegle
Joseph Siegle is the Douglas Dillon Fellow at the Council on Foreign Relations and a co-author of a forthcoming book on democracy and development.

July 13, 2003

WASHINGTON � Neither Kenya nor Zimbabwe was on President Bush's Africa itinerary last week. Yet the two countries exemplify the diverging trajectories shaping the continent today.

Kenya experienced a democratic breakthrough with December's first successful transfer of power after 40 years of one-party rule. Since then, Kenyans have had more reason for optimism than at any time since the early days of independence in the 1960s.

In Zimbabwe, optimism has been displaced by misery. This is almost entirely caused by the increasingly autocratic rule of its leader, Robert Mugabe. In his attempt to cling to the power he's held for 24 years, Mugabe has driven his once-promising country into the ground.

posted by Prometheus 6 at 7/14/2003 01:46:14 AM |

You still have to watch your mouth when you're a public figure

posted by Prometheus 6 at 7/14/2003 01:45:01 AM |

Modified fisking

Since my tranlation of Ari Fleischer-speak into Ebonics the other day I've noticed similar translations to everyday-speak have been popping up. This may be a good thing; we've had Republican extremists translating events into NewSpeak for years now. Bring things back to earth, keeping it real, may be a partial antidote to the toxic political and economic ideas that have brought the nation to these straits.

CenterPoint

Liberal Oasis



Talking Points Memo

posted by Prometheus 6 at 7/14/2003 12:36:34 AM |

posted by Prometheus 6 at 7/14/2003 12:01:45 AM |

My work here is done

Cal Pundit sums up the whole 16 words nonsense:

posted by Prometheus 6 at 7/13/2003 11:29:13 PM |

This is fucking bizarre

The participants here, especially the men, are some truly troubled individuals.

Oh, and blame John Constantine for this. Well, for my seeing it, I don't think it was actually his idea…

"True to nature?"

This is some sick shit.

posted by Prometheus 6 at 7/13/2003 10:56:12 PM |

Should I just block referers from .sa?

This net.sa person was looking for "fuk Brazile woman."

Wrong blog.

posted by Prometheus 6 at 7/13/2003 09:57:05 PM |

Good news for Africa, if true

Contrary to American foreign policy, it's not the lack of acceptance of Frankenfoods that hurt Africa's economy. It's the system of U.S. and European farm subsidies that depress the market for African foodstuffs, plus an overall economic policy that treats foreign economies as a capacitor for Western economies.

posted by Prometheus 6 at 7/13/2003 09:35:48 PM |

The transition will be interesting to watch

Now that Mbeki's term is up. it will be interesting to see if his initiates will continue or if the collective turns to a different direction.

posted by Prometheus 6 at 7/13/2003 09:30:58 PM |

A rather practical idea

At this point even the grafters ought to get with this. You need people to graft from… in other words, they need to unite to save the golden goose if for no other, better, more ethical reason.

posted by Prometheus 6 at 7/13/2003 09:18:55 PM |

posted by Prometheus 6 at 7/13/2003 09:15:01 PM |

Bridges burnt ahead of you

posted by Prometheus 6 at 7/13/2003 09:12:54 PM |

What's wrong with this picture?

posted by Prometheus 6 at 7/13/2003 09:07:07 PM |

Those 16 words

Yes, those deadly words, those stealthy words that stalked President Bush relentlessly until, in a moment of exhastion the President let his guard down and the words got past him. Only George Tenet stood between those 16 words and the State of the Union speech.

But it doesn't matter, because it was just 16 words, right?

Jesse did the math

posted by Prometheus 6 at 7/13/2003 01:43:41 PM |

Why I love editorial cartoons

Just click through and read this thing.

posted by Prometheus 6 at 7/13/2003 12:08:36 PM |

Racism
or
The Only Possible Choices

In a past essay I discussed Abraham Maslow's Hierarchy of Motivation and pointed out that the mainstream, by its rejection and disruption of Black people's most fundamental social requirements (on which the required behavior is based), make achieving the stated requirements for full acceptance placed on Black people is made much more difficult.

In this essay I want to discuss the human response to this condition. Being human, our responses must fall within the range of what is possible-a requirement that is easy to miss.

In "Social Structures and Anomie," Robert K. Merton explained that a society presents people with a definition of success (the end) and acceptable methods of attaining success (the means). According to Robert K. Merton's "Dream Machine," an excellent exposition of Merton's ideas:

Stripped of specifics, the end, the goal set by the American Dream is to become independently wealthy, to be able to do nothing and have everything. The means, according to the American Dream is personal effort, particularly in the areas of education and employment. That these means were for the most part unavailable to Black people for most almost 400 years needs no support or explanation.

What may need explanation is the idea that there is a pattern to the possible reactions to this situation. As explained in "Cool Pose: The Dilemma Of Black Manhood In America" by Richard Majors and Janet Mancini Billson:

So, conformity being (to put it charitably) a less than optimal approach, Black people had only innovation, retreatism, ritualism, and rebellion as possible approaches to living in the USofA. Of ritualism, which isn't mentioned in the quote from "Cool Pose," probably because it's pretty hard to defend from a mainstream perspective, is:
Ritualism is the response the mainstream prefers without realizing it represents a fundamental rejection of the American Dream. It is also the approach promoted by the incarnation of Christianity most practiced by Black people. Humans who choose this approach are at least a bit out of step with the mainstream because their valued end� work� is different than that of the mainstream� retirement.

Ritualism as a valid response is losing traction in the Black community. Partly due to our absorbing the commercialism that saturates pop culture Black people pursue the end presented by the American Dream to an unprecedented degree. If nothing else changes-if a ritualist accepts the goal of the American Dream and retains his methods, which are already compatible with the American Dream, he becomes by definition a conformist.

Ritualism being the acceptance of the means and rejection of the ends of the mainstream, innovation is the rejection of the means and acceptance of the ends. An innovator wants the same things the conformer wants, she just sets about getting them differently. This is only a workable response where a society values the end more than the means to it (another reason ritualism is out of vogue in the Black community-we see it simply doesn't match the reality of day to day life in the USofA):

While innovation occurs in part as a response to blocked opportunities, Merton also stresses that it requires a society in which the "ends" of material success are valued far more than the "means" or rules of getting there. As an example, he cites the mainstream example of competitive athletics, arguing that in America, "winning the game" is often more important than "playing with the rules." This leads to subtle and not-so-subtle forms of cheating, both on the field (hurting one's competitor) and off the field (colleges subtly breaking rules to attract strong athletes).

This, of course, isn't limited to athletics. National and cultural rhetoric aside, the actual operating procedure seems to be
You get to keep what you gain as long as no one asks how you got it or you can convince all challengers your actions fell within the rules. Innovation is the response of both creators and criminals. An argument could be made that innovation rather than conformity is the response preferred by the mainstream by taking Progress� another Defined Good of Western society� into account.

The path of innovation can be blocked in any number of ways, most pertaining to knowledge and opportunity. One may also be an innovator in the space in which one is free to do so and find that one's innovations are of little to no assistance in physically surviving. This would still be of used in maintaining one's mental and emotional balance though, and many people find the combination of minimally assured physical survival plus personal innovation sufficient.

Of the remaining possible responses, retreating and rebelling, retreating may be physically impossible for a healthy growing human to accept. Growth and expansion strike me as biological imperatives of the early stages of our lives.

posted by Prometheus 6 at 7/13/2003 11:45:02 AM |

The goal is in sight

Hey, maybe it would work.

posted by Prometheus 6 at 7/13/2003 11:10:37 AM |

Rumsfeld on Meet The Press

Caught a piece of it out of the corner of my eye.

I can't wait to get my hands on a transcript.

posted by Prometheus 6 at 7/13/2003 11:01:25 AM |

Howard Dean to blog this week

Lawrence Lessig is vactioning, and has turn his blog over to Howard Dean (yes, THAT Howard Dean) for the week.

A new guest blogger: Howard Dean

Yesterday, I completed a draft of a new book. Tomorrow, Bettina and I leave for our first vacation in a very long time (and, as we expect, the last vacation the two of us will take alone in a very long time).

So it is time for me to take a break from this space too. But I�ve arranged for a much more interesting guest blogger while I�m gone: former governor, and presidential candidate, Howard Dean.

This is, I believe, the first time a presidential candidate has been a guest blogger. But it is an obvious extension of blogs and the process of becoming President. Campaigns are all about meeting different groups and talking about ideas. Where better than a blog?

I have great respect for Governor Dean, and especially the clarity of his voice. I have even greater respect now that I see the doctor makes house calls. So Governor, welcome to this tiny server at Stanford: You�ll find perfect acoustics provided by MovableType, and an interesting mix of views provided by the readers.

And to everyone else, enjoy the week of something totally different. Dean is on starting Monday. I should be back the week following.

One ground rule: I�ve had a policy of not editing comments of others, regardless of abusiveness. That is not my policy for my guests. You may disagree with the views you read here. But if you are reading them here, then you at least should respect the fact that they are being expressed here. It is important to me that blog-space everywhere become a place where more of this kind of conversation can occur. So trolls, please save your abuse for my return.

posted by Prometheus 6 at 7/13/2003 10:25:52 AM |

Working on stuff

Right now I'm working on another one of those racism essays. In the process of pulling together a few good quotes I found a souple of excellent resources: Paul's Crime and Justice Page and CrimeTheory.com.

I found several useful quotes for this essay at CrimeTheory.com, but I'll be exploring Paul's Crime and Justice Page for a while, in particular the Abuse of Power by Corporate and Governmental Elites, ore Elite Deviance, pages. At the site's home page I found this very interesting statement:

The Nike/Michael Jordan case is an example of what's wrong with our relationship with the rest of the world, while Philip Morris case is an example of what's wrong with out relationship with ourselves.

Another very interesting section of the site is Black Genocide? Preliminary Thoughts on the Plight of America�s Poor Black Men



I thought that would be a good thing to share.

posted by Prometheus 6 at 7/13/2003 10:16:51 AM |