July 25, 2003

Keeping my head and bandwidth low

But I need to link to a couple of CalPundit-referenced issues.

SHIT, MEET FAN....If Josh Marshall and Chris Nelson are to be believed, the shit is about to hit the proverbial fan this week. After two weeks of softening up George Bush's credibility via African uranium and the ever changing explanations for it, we're now set for brand new battles on two fronts:

First, Josh links to a UPI story saying that the congressional 9/11 report, due to be released tomorrow, will show that we knew all along that Saddam Hussein had no connection to al-Qaeda:
…George Bush, of course, repeatedly said otherwise. In his State of the Union address, for example, he said "Evidence from intelligence sources, secret communications, and statements by people now in custody reveal that Saddam Hussein aids and protects terrorists, including members of al Qaeda."

This is no minor "16 words." The al-Qaeda connection was key to Bush's case, and if it turns out that he knew it was dubious in the extreme but kept repeating it anyway, he's in big trouble.

Second, Josh reprints a few bullet points from today's Nelson Report suggesting that the CIA is about ready to declare war on Bush and the entire neocon establishment

To me this is a serious "pass the popcorn" moment.

And this lovely bit about Florida checking up on the state of malpractice insurance:

Like many states, Florida is in the grips of the dreaded medical malpractice "crisis," so their legislature is holding hearings. But with a twist:

The state Senate, in a rare state of alertness, held two days of hearings with the unusual proviso that witnesses testify under oath.

....What happened after that "was pretty scary," said Sen. Ron Klein, D-Boca Raton, the Senate minority leader.

"People who had testified before us on previous occasions got up there and told us different things."

The president of the state's largest malpractice-insurance company said no, insurers didn't need a cap on jury awards to be profitable. A state regulator said no, there hasn't been an explosion of frivolous lawsuits.

A state insurance regulator surprised senators by saying he often depended on insurance companies' information when deciding whether to raise rates. "So you rely on the fox to guard the henhouse," grumbled Sen. Walter "Skip" Campbell, D-Fort Lauderdale.

And guess what? Contrary to stories of doctors quitting the business, the number of licensed doctors is increasing. A Health Department official said new applications for new medical licenses in Florida rose from 2,261 in fiscal 2000 to 2,658 in fiscal 2003.

Kevin says "It's puzzling to me that the medical industry is in bed so tightly with the insurance industry," but what I noticed is the state regulators referenced in the above quotes.

posted by Prometheus 6 at 7/25/2003 05:12:46 PM |

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Oh?

Black like me -- but not too black
The American Society of Plastic Surgeons is promoting nose jobs for African-Americans that won't make their noses European -- just narrower, more refined, and without the flared nostrils. I'm not buying it.

posted by Prometheus 6 at 7/25/2003 05:39:09 AM |

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Cheney's AEI Speech

That speech rivals Billmon's efforts as a collection of administration spin statements. However:

The White House clearly hoped that Hadley's generous mea culpa closed the book on Yellowcakegate. Maybe, along with Cheney's AEI speech, it will. But Hadley's account leaves a dangling thread. Can you spot it? Tenet's Oct. 6 memo elaborating on why it was dumb, in the Cincinnati speech, to make reference to Saddam's purported yellowcake safari, came, Hadley says, after Hadley had already agreed to take the reference out. (Hadley's exact words: "[B]y this time, by draft eight, the reference to Iraqi efforts to acquire uranium has already been deleted from the speech, as DCI Tenet asked me to do in his telephone request.") Tenet is a very busy man—too busy, we now know, to bother vetting the president's State of the Union address himself, a lapse that required him to render an elaborate and somewhat embarrassing apology. Yet Tenet was not too busy in October to filibuster Hadley by memo on the yellowcake howler after Hadley had removed the yellowcake howler from the speech. Why wouldn't Tenet let go of Hadley's lapel?

Because, Chatterbox submits, Tenet knew (or perhaps just guessed) that someone else would try to overrule Hadley and put the yellowcake howler back in. Was that someone else Cheney or Libby?

posted by Prometheus 6 at 7/25/2003 05:07:11 AM |

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Cartoons

Sorry. I have no sense of humor today.

posted by Prometheus 6 at 7/25/2003 04:55:31 AM |

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Lie, down wit' dogs

Dropping the Bonds
By PAUL KRUGMAN
I used to be a great admirer of Federal Reserve Chairman Alan Greenspan. But something has gone very wrong with the maestro.

posted by Prometheus 6 at 7/25/2003 04:55:11 AM |

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Intelligence failures? Pick a better President next time

On Terror, Doubts Anew After a Scathing Report
By ERIC LICHTBLAU
The report on intelligence failures may force the White House to confront a question that it thought it put to rest: how best to prevent another terrorist attack.

posted by Prometheus 6 at 7/25/2003 04:52:38 AM |

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The right man for the Right's job

DeLay Is to Carry Dissenting Message on a Mideast Tour
By DAVID FIRESTONE
The House majority leader will travel to the Middle East and take with him a message of grave doubt that the region is ready for a Palestinian state.

posted by Prometheus 6 at 7/25/2003 04:51:12 AM |

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Giving new meaning to Colonialism

A Clear-Eyed Son of Africa Totes the Continent's Pain and Despair
By RICHARD EDER

THE ZANZIBAR CHEST
A Story of Life, Love, and Death in Foreign Lands
By Aidan Hartley
Illustrated. 414 pages. Atlantic Monthly Press. $24.

oe to the land shadowing with wings, which is beyond the rivers of Ethiopia," Aidan Hartley quotes from the prophet Isaiah. "Go, ye swift messengers, to a nation scattered and peeled, to a people terrible from their beginning hitherto; a nation meted out and trodden down."

That shadowed, peeled nation is Africa, Mr. Hartley writes, hitching Isaiah's prophecy to the ever more ghastly cycle of coups, famines and massacres of the past dozen years.

As for "the swift messengers," the author numbers himself among them: one of the pack of journalists who crisscrossed Africa for some of those years. He uses that epithet in an unassayable mix of irony, vainglory, passionate sympathy and despair. His book displays the same mix.

"The Zanzibar Chest" is a many-legged hybrid. In part it is a wrenching account of African horrors, particularly those of Somalia and Rwanda.

There is the Rwandan refugee camp. A starving boy "crouches like a frog with eyes clouded white as moonstones," he writes. "And the American nurse is whispering in my ear, `We say the ones like that are circling the drain. You know, like a spider in your bath?' " There is the gang of paparazzi stampeding behind Sophia Loren, on a celebrity-appeal tour of a Somalian famine camp, and stomping on the arm of a child too weak to roll away.

Further "The Zanzibar Chest" is also a loving, often evocative account of East Africa where the author grew up, the son of a British agriculture expert and would-be rural entrepreneur, and descendant of a long line of colonial administrators and army officers. (When Mr. Hartley's Boer War great-grandfather asked to marry the daughter of the writer's great-great-grandfather — a medical corps general in the war against New Zealand's Maoris — the older man replied, "Better for her to be your widow than my unwed daughter!")

posted by Prometheus 6 at 7/25/2003 04:49:14 AM |

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Giving fresh meaning to Columbus Day

New World Ancestors Lose 12,000 Years
By NICHOLAS WADE and JOHN NOBLE WILFORD
Scientists have found genetic evidence that the first human migrations to the New World from Siberia probably occurred no earlier than 18,000 years ago.

posted by Prometheus 6 at 7/25/2003 04:45:35 AM |

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This will guarantee they get the "right" answer

Government Offers Plan to Coordinate Climate Study
The Bush administration introduced a program to coordinate current efforts studying climate change — and develop some new ones — across some 13 federal agencies.

The statistical results will be tabulated on Diebold voting machines.

posted by Prometheus 6 at 7/25/2003 04:43:20 AM |

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July 24, 2003

Today's curious search result

Someone came to my site via this search:

http://www.google.com/search?q=liberate+prometheus&hl=en&lr=&ie=UTF-8&oe=UTF-8&start=10&sa=N

"liberate prometheus"

On the first page of search results I came across this:

The Prometheus myth is an Occidental phenomenon. It entails, psychologically, the birth and development of the individual's ego -- that is, it strengthens the factor within the psyche that relates and adapts to both inner and outer realities. [Ms. Knapp sees Prometheus as representing the ego.] "Once the ego acquires the strength and courage necessary to steal Zeus's fire -- or symbolically speaking, transforms amorphous visions into the creative act, the existing psychological and social structures are displaced. To accomplish such a feat, the ego has to do battle in a solitary struggle."

Prometheus represents the archetype of the defiant, rebellious and gigantically ambitious type who refuses to submit to the existing structure and thus to destiny. . . . The testing of his values helped him transcend his individual needs and wishes. He saw beyond his immediate situation and realized during his ordeal that he was dealing with collective wills and factors that would be instrumental later in his reintegration into the pantheon of gods. In the end, Prometheus is the child grown into man -- the "would be" artist has become the artist "who is."

Fire is the purest form of substance. Symbolically, it has come to indicate consciousness, intellect, will, and compulsion. It has also been regarded as sacred energy, as a transcending power. . . . For the primitive, fire was "soul stuff" charged with dynamism. . . . To possess it was to know power -- to be on an equal with the gods. Fire is also libido (psychic energy). And for the metaphysician, it means spiritual illumination. . . . Bachelard explains fire in the following manner:

"Thus fire is a privileged phenomenon that can explain everything. If everything that changes slowly is explained by life, everything that changes quickly is explained by fire. Fire is ultralife. Fire is intimate, and it is universal. It lives in our hearts. It lives in the sky. It reveals depths of substance and offers itself as love. It descends once again into matter and hides as a latent force, like hatred or vengeance. Among all phenomena, it is really the only one that can contain two contrary valorizations, good and evil. It shines in Paradise. It burns in Hell. It is gentleness and torture. It is cooking and apocalypse. . . . It is well-being and respect. It is a tutelary and a terrible good, good and evil. It can contradict itself; it is, therefore, one of the principles used to explain universal substance."

In Prometheus's case, fire and lightning indicate intuition, the idea bursting upon him as a flash. . . . Hence, Prometheus had given man the most potent of all instruments: fire as a source of infinite energy and power that could transform matter and elements. Fire was so powerful a force that it could not be touched. . . . Fire is equally powerful as cognition. It gave birth to what Bachelard labels "the Promethean complex," the compulsion to "know as much as our fathers, more than our fathers, as much as our masters, more than our masters."

Prometheus's titanic characteristics aroused dissatisfaction with the social structure of his day and prevented him from yielding to Zeus's established order. What was paradoxical and made Prometheus unique among the Titans was the fact that he was conscious of his act and of its many consequences. He was both fire as energy and power, fire as intellect and rational principle, as is the individual who strikes out on his own on a psychological, aesthetic, philosophical, scientific, or religious level. He, too, may possess that titanic fire that urges him to liberate his vision.

posted by Prometheus 6 at 7/24/2003 05:00:55 PM |

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Remember that scary voting machine stuff I posted about?

Yeah, the stuff reported in that story Scoop published, where they made a big bag of files available and asked security experts to check it out? Well, Sceptical Notion pointed to a pdf of a report by The Information Security Institute at John Hopkins. I read it, and it looks to me like they took that stuff and ran it through its paces.

It failed. It failed like any insider can rig any election. Untracibly.

Isn't that lovely?

posted by Prometheus 6 at 7/24/2003 01:48:06 PM |

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Can't resist

Got email from a new blogger, like really new.

Your site is too intense for me to decide just how much I completely agree with many of your posted notes. However, I DO think that your site would help me in 'cementing' some of my own political beliefs.

See, that's what I'm talking about. I ain't in this to convince or cajole, I'm in it to challenge. SBN set my day off to a nice start. And SoulPhoto.net is worth visiting just to see the picture of that pretty baby at the top of the page.

posted by Prometheus 6 at 7/24/2003 10:37:22 AM |

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Transfer this guy to the White House

When Ari Fleischer the White House desperately needs someone who can spin like a gyroscope.. I think they have a guy in Iraq they should have chosen instead of Scott McClellan, but I don't know his name. Check this, from a Reuters report I spotted on MSNBC.com:

BAGHDAD, July 22 — Widespread and sporadic gunfire crackled across Baghdad after dark on Tuesday as word spread that Saddam Hussein's feared and hated sons may have been killed in a gunbattle with U.S. troops.

…Much of it was Kalashnikov rifles, but Reuters correspondents also heard some machinegun bursts and small explosions. Tracer fire could be seen in the sky from several directions.

And when the reported ask for an explanation, they got the most creative piece of nonsense I have ever seen:

''It's celebration. People have heard about what happened,'' a U.S. military spokesman said.

Celebratory machinegun bursts?? Celebratory explosions?? Celebratory Tracer fire??

BWAAAAAAAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAAAA!

*gasp*

hehhehhehhehhehhehheh…

I should get an audio blog for stuff like this. You need to hear how funny I think this is.

posted by Prometheus 6 at 7/24/2003 08:02:03 AM |

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In the movie, Billmon is played by Harley Sorensen

Like Father, Like Son
VIEW FROM THE LEFT
Harley Sorensen, Special to SF Gate
Monday, July 21, 2003
©2003 SF Gate

Here are three of my favorite quotes:

"I did not have sex with that woman, Miss Lewinsky."

"It depends on what your definition of 'is' is."

"I don't think anybody could have predicted that these people would take an airplane and slam it into the World Trade Center, take another one and slam it into the Pentagon, that they would try to use an airplane as a missile."

The first two quotes, as everybody knows, were uttered by former President Bill Clinton. The last, published in the May 17, 2002, New York Times, was attributed to Condoleezza Rice, national security advisor to President George W. Bush.

All three quotes fall into the broad category of obfuscation, telling the literal truth with intent to deceive.

…When the time comes to investigate the present Bush administration, trying to determine what went wrong and why, and who was responsible, my advice to the investigators would be to take a very, very close look at George Herbert Walker Bush.

It's impossible for an outsider like me to untangle all the webs of intrigue operating in national politics, but in this case I think a good start would be to look at something called "Project for the New American Century," now known by its detractors as PNAC.

PNAC laid out its " statement of principles" on June 3, 1997. Its 25 signers read like a Who's Who of Bush cronyism, with a few marginal characters thrown in to give the illusion of balance: Elliott Abrams, Bill Bennett, Gary Bower, Jeb Bush, Dick Cheney, Eliot A. Cohen, Midge Decter, Paula Dobriansky, Steve Forbes, Aaron Friedberg, Francis Fukuyama, Frank Gaffney, Fred C. Ikle, Donald Kagan, Zalmay Khalizad, I. Lewis Libby, Norman Podhoretz, Dan Quayle, Peter W. Rodman, Stephen P. Rosen, Henry S. Rowen, Donald Rumsfeld, Vin Weber, George Weigel and Paul Wolfowitz.

Most of these people had roles in the former Bush administration and now have roles in the current one.

…Where did the phrase "New American Century" come from? I wondered about that, so I did a Nexis search of The New York Times through the 1980s and '90s.

Guess what? Almost every time the phrase was mentioned by the Times, it came out of the mouth of the first George Bush.

March 17, 1989, in Houston: "My agenda for a new American century ..."

Jan. 27, 1992, 1992, to a group of religious broadcasters: Said his State of the Union messsage would "detail how we can nuture creativity ... and harness it to the needs of a new American century."

March 22, 1992, at a swearing-in ceremony, "... help us compete in a new world economy and create a new American century."

April 2, 1992, in Philadelphia: "Today our mission is to begin restoring the principles of our founders and guaranteeing for our children a new American century."

And so on. If you put everything into context, "new American century," as used by the elder Bush, did not mean a new century in America. What it meant, in simplest terms, is that the United States would dominate the world in the 21st century.

And that's what the younger Bush is clearly striving for: world domination.

…It's hard to tell now when the Bush family steamroller will finally be brought under control. When it is, I do hope the investigators took a good look at Daddy. He Da Man! [p6: and a happy Black English Month to you, too!]

posted by Prometheus 6 at 7/24/2003 07:11:07 AM |

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Editorial run

Connecting the dots for poor children
(By Jack P. Shonkoff)
NEW RESEARCH findings raise concerns about biological markers of elevated stress and behavioral measures of increased aggression in young children who spend long hours in child care. Meanwhile, in Congress, the reauthorization of the federal welfare law is moving forward with a significant number of lawmakers pushing for increased work requirements for mothers of very young children. What is wrong with this picture?

Republican spending orgy
Jeff Jacoby

AT THEIR national convention three years ago, Republicans pointed with pride to the GOP's record of fiscal rectitude.

"In the four decades from 1954 to 1994," the Republican platform declared, "government spending increased at an average annual rate of 7.9 percent, and the public's debt increased from $224 billion to $3.4 trillion." Those were the profligate years, when Democrats usually controlled both houses of Congress.

"Since 1994," it went on, "with Republicans leading the House and Senate, spending has been held to an annual 3.1 percent rate of growth, and the nation's debt will be nearly $400 billion lower by the end of this year. The federal government has operated in the black for the last two years and is now projected to run a surplus of nearly $5 trillion over 10 years."

Missing from the Republicans' recitation was any mention of the Democrat who had been in the White House since 1993. Didn't President Clinton deserve any of the credit for the spending restraint and budget surpluses?

Not according to Republicans, he didn't. In their view, they were the ones who slowed the federal spending train and forced Clinton to curb his big- government impulses. If he had had a Democratic Congress to do his bidding, that train would have raced out of control.

So here we are three years later, with not only a Republican Congress but a Republican president, too -- and the federal spending train is racing out of control. The Bush administration estimated last week that the government will end the current fiscal year with a budget deficit of $455 billion. Over the next five years, the public debt is expected to rise by $1.9 trillion. The administration projects next year's federal outlays at $2.27 trillion, more than $400 billion higher than when the president took office.

America's Role in Liberia
Swift American intervention could help end two decades of carnage that has destroyed Liberia and crippled several of its neighbors.

Compassion and the Tax Cuts
As the Republican government's priorities become ever clearer, the status of the nation's poorest children is a prime litmus test for the G.O.P. vows of compassion.

Cartoons

Ann Telnaes has one of the most frightening cartoons ever presented.
Jeff Danziger as the host of Family Feud.
Ann Telnaes on why intelligence should be run by the intelligent.
Pat Oliphant gives us the recipe of the day.
Ann Telnaes show us the next one to take responsibility for the SOTU "inaccuracies inadvertantly uttered."

posted by Prometheus 6 at 7/24/2003 07:05:28 AM |

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Universal health care

Read the editorial. Please.

The perfect prescription

Everyone has a health care reform plan. But the best approach to covering the uninsured isn't even on the table.

… Today, this jury-rigged system is almost perfectly structured to stymie constructive action. Begin with a simple fact: Most Americans are insured. While an inexcusable 15 percent lack coverage (and perhaps twice as many were uninsured at least once in the past two years), most have real, if often inadequate, coverage most of the time.

This helps explain why the biggest insurance issues of recent years-for example, the Patients' Bill of Rights-have concerned the insured, not the uninsured. It also explains why every one of the leading presidential contenders is vowing to build on the current system of employment-based insurance. Only one longshot candidate, congressman Dennis Kucinich, has bucked the trend with a proposal to expand Medicare to all Americans.

Yet even when building on the existing patchwork system, tackling the problem of the uninsured generally entails a Hobson's choice: Either create programs with big price tags that deliver most of their benefits to those who already have insurance, or create narrowly targeted programs that isolate recipients politically while still leaving many without protection.

The first, more ambitious approach has only one major exponent in the presidential race, congressman Richard Gephardt, but his plan is undeniably bold. It would give employers tax credits that would offset up to 60 percent of the cost of insurance; in turn, employers would be required to provide coverage. Lower-income workers would get bigger tax credits.

…In contrast, most of the other Democratic candidates have taken the second tack, offering plans that are essentially souped-up versions of the status quo. Howard Dean's proposal, building on the plan he pushed in Vermont, would expand Medicaid and the State Children's Health Insurance Program (S-CHIP) to more lower-income families. Senator John Kerry has a similar blueprint; Senator Bob Graham suggests he will develop one.

… Is there a third way? Not one that will please all sides. But it's surprising that Democrats have not revived the single truly original idea that emerged out of the Clinton-era debate: ''play-or-pay.''

posted by Prometheus 6 at 7/24/2003 06:40:59 AM |

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You do what you can

The shame is, since the Republican extremists are obviously selfish bastards, this may be one of the few tactics that have a chance to influence them: personally inconvenience them.

Democrats should continue to use every tool at their disposal to make their case, stake out a progressive (by current standards; 10 years ago it would have been called centrist) position and make it as difficult as possible for anti-citizen measures such as this unbalanced tax cut… unballanced in both its targeting and its fiscal impact…to be implemented. Make it clear as possible what the impact of these decisions will be on the true mainstream—that 80 percent of the population that gets screwed by almost every decision this regime has made.

Powerless to Change Tax Credit, House Democrats Turn to Protest
By DAVID FIRESTONE

WASHINGTON, July 23 — Democratic lawmakers slowed business in the House to a crawl today, conducting an hour or two of obstruction to protest the refusal of House Republican leaders to expand the child tax credit for low-income families.

Using one of the few tools available to members of the minority party, Democrats repeatedly forced the House to stop debate and vote on procedural motions they knew would not pass, like immediate adjournment. House Democrats said they also planned to force a vote every half hour on Thursday to make the same point.

"Democrats are in the heat of battle on the floor of the House using every weapon in our arsenal to disrupt the schedule and to force a vote on the child tax credit," the party's House leader, Representative Nancy Pelosi of California, said.

Beginning Friday, the government will mail checks of $400 per child to 25 million middle-income families, as part of President Bush's new tax cut law. But 6.5 million minimum-wage families with children will not receive the checks, the result of a decision in May by the White House and Republican lawmakers not to include them in the tax cut because most do not pay federal income taxes.

House Republican leaders have said they will increase the tax credit for low-income families only as part of a much broader tax-cut package for wealthier families, a position that has led to a stalemate in talks with less conservative Senate Republicans. Today's slowdown was the latest effort in a seven-week barrage of news conferences and demonstrations by Democrats to make Republicans pay a political price for their position.

The effect of the slowdown, however, was mostly to annoy Republican appropriations leaders, who had to stay much later than planned to pass an unrelated foreign operations spending bill tonight.

"This really throws us behind," said Representative C. W. Bill Young, the Florida Republican who is chairman of the Appropriations Committee. "I would really like to get this bill done, but they're using one of the tools of the minority."

posted by Prometheus 6 at 7/24/2003 06:32:05 AM |

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On the horns of another dilemma

F.C.C. Media Rule Blocked in House in a 400-to-21 Vote
By STEPHEN LABATON

WASHINGTON, July 23 — The House of Representatives overwhelmingly passed legislation today to block a new rule supported by the Bush administration that would permit the nation's largest television networks to grow bigger by owning more stations.

The vote, which was 400 to 21, sets the stage for a rare confrontation between the Republican-controlled Congress and the White House, because there is strong support in the Senate for similar measures, which seek to roll back last month's decision by the Federal Communications Commission to raise the limit on the number of television stations a network can own. The F.C.C. has ruled that a single company can own television stations reaching 45 percent of the nation's households, but the House measure would return the ownership cap to 35 percent.

Only a few weeks ago, support for the F.C.C.'s move by House Republican leaders had been expected to counter the Senate uprising. But many House members from both parties have evidently taken note of the vocal resistance to the F.C.C. action by many members of the public and a broad spectrum of conservative and liberal lobbying groups — from the National Rifle Association to the National Organization for Women.

Today's House rebuke of the F.C.C. was embedded in a spending bill. The White House, which has threatened to veto the bill if the network provision remains in it, today sought to play down the lopsided size of the vote. Claire Buchan, a White House spokeswoman, said that presidential advisers had recommended approval of the legislation so that it could proceed to a House-Senate conference committee where the network ownership provision might be stripped out.

If, as is becoming more likely, the provision survives in final legislation, President Bush will face a difficult political predicament. He could carry out his veto threat and alienate some of his traditional constituents, which include several conservative organizations opposed to a number of new rules adopted by the F.C.C. Or, he could sign the legislation, abandon the networks and undercut his own advisers who have recommended that he reject the legislation.

posted by Prometheus 6 at 7/24/2003 06:24:08 AM |

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An ironic end

Davis founded 'Stop the Violence' group

NEW YORK (CNN) --New York City Councilman James E. Davis, who was shot and killed by a gunman Wednesday at City Hall, is a former police officer who devoted his political life to stopping violence.

The gunman died after being shot by a police bodyguard for the city council speaker, a police source told CNN. (Full story)

Davis, 41, was elected in 2001 to represent New York City Council's 35th District in Brooklyn. He became active in politics after the Crown Heights riots in 1991, and his district includes that Brooklyn neighborhood.

"He was one of the more active, vocal and involved council members," said Manhattan Borough President C. Virginia Fields.

"This is a tremendous loss and certainly my prayers and thoughts go out to his family as we wait for more information."

Before winning office, Davis worked as a corrections officer at Rikers Island, a New York City police officer and an instructor at the police academy, according to his Web site.

In 1990, Davis founded a non-profit organization called "LOVE YOURSELF" Stop the Violence. The group is dedicated to halting gun crime, teen pregnancy and drug use.

An audio report (RealAudio required) is available from the NY Times.

posted by Prometheus 6 at 7/24/2003 05:55:40 AM |

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When Safire thinks a Conservative is wrong, well...

Bush's Four Horsemen
By WILLIAM SAFIRE

WASHINGTON
On the domestic front, President Bush is backing into a buzz saw.

The sleeper issue is media giantism. People are beginning to grasp and resent the attempt by the Federal Communications Commission to allow the Four Horsemen of Big Media — Viacom (CBS, UPN), Disney (ABC), Murdoch's News Corporation (Fox) and G.E. (NBC) — to gobble up every independent station in sight.

Couch potatoes throughout the land see plenty wrong in concentrating the power to produce the content we see and hear in the same hands that transmit those broadcasts. This is especially true when the same Four Horsemen own many satellite and cable providers and already influence key sites on the Internet.

Reflecting that widespread worry, the Senate Commerce Committee voted last month to send to the floor Ted Stevens's bill rolling back the F.C.C.'s anything-goes ruling. It would reinstate current limits and also deny newspaper chains the domination of local TV and radio.

The Four Horsemen were confident they could get Bush to suppress a similar revolt in the House, where G.O.P. discipline is stricter. When liberals and conservatives of both parties in the House surprised them by passing a rollback amendment to an Appropriations Committee bill, the Bush administration issued what bureaucrats call a SAP — a written Statement of Administration Policy.

It was the sappiest SAP of the Bush era. "If this amendment were contained in the final legislation presented to the President," warned the administration letter, "his senior advisers would recommend that he veto the bill."

The SAP was signed by the brand-new director of the Office of Management and Budget, Joshua Bolten, but the hand was the hand of Stephen Friedman, the former investment banker now heading the president's National Economic Council.

Reached late yesterday, Friedman forthrightly made his case that the F.C.C. was an independent agency that had followed the rules laid down by the courts. He told me that Bush's senior advisers had focused on the question "Can you eliminate excessive regulation and have diversity and competition?" and found the answer to be yes. He added with candor: "The politics I'm still getting an education on."

The Bush veto threat would deny funding to the Commerce, State and Justice Departments, not to mention the federal judiciary. It would discombobulate Congress and disserve the public for months.

And to what end? To turn what we used to call "public airwaves" into private fiefs, to undermine diversity of opinion and — in its anti-federalist homogenization of our varied culture — to sweep aside local interests and community standards of taste.

This would be Bush's first veto. Is this the misbegotten principle on which he wants to take a stand? At one of the White House meetings that decided on the SAP approach, someone delicately suggested that such a veto of the giants' power grab might pose "a communications issue" for the president (no play on words intended). Friedman blew that objection away. The SAP threat was delivered.

In the House this week, allies of the Four Horsemen distributed a point sheet drawn from Viacom and Murdoch arguments and asked colleagues to sign a cover letter reading, "The undersigned members . . . will vote to sustain a Presidential veto of legislation overturning or delaying . . . the decision of the FCC . . . regarding media ownership."

But they couldn't obtain the signatures of anywhere near one-third of the House members — the portion needed to stop an override. Yesterday afternoon, the comprehensive bill — including an F.C.C. rollback — passed by a vote of 400 to 21.

If Bush wishes to carry out the veto threat, he'll pick up a bunch of diehards (now called "dead-enders"), but he will risk suffering an unnecessary humiliation.

What next? Much depends on who is chosen to go into the Senate-House conference. If the White House can't stop the rollback there, will Bush carry out the ill-considered threat?

Sometimes you put the veto gun back in the holster. The way out: a president can always decide to turn down the recommendation of his senior advisers.

posted by Prometheus 6 at 7/24/2003 05:31:30 AM |

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Name dropping

I know there's a couple few San Francisco folks out there. I'm bringing this to your attention because it's a worthy project and so I can stay on devorah's good side.

If you feel like submitting, feel free. But bring your A-game because devorah knows quality because she writes quality, and dropping my name wont mean a damn thing.

For Immediate Release July 21, 2003
Contact: Marcia Schneider 415 557.4252

City Reflections: War and Peace on Our Streets

A Project of San Francisco Poet Laureate devorah major

City Reflections: War and Peace on Our Streets, a poetry project of San Francisco Poet Laureate devorah major, will launch in late July in association with the San Francisco Public Library.

"In these times, the poet must seek a clearer voice and a sharper eye," said Ms. major. "Therefore, poets, children through elders, are encouraged to write on this topic while looking at the city where they live."

The best of these poems will be made available to the public through publication in the San Francisco Chronicle Book Review, on the Library's Web site, and other locations and sites.

Each month the Library's newsletter, At the San Francisco Public Library, will highlight a San Francisco Bay Area poet selected by the Poet Laureate, featuring a short biography of the poet, a list of reading recommendations compiled by the poet, and a direction to the City Celebrations project on the Web, www.sfpl.org. Effective in September, the Library's Web site will feature up to five new poems each month, photos of the poets and recommended reading lists.

Individual poems interpreting the theme of War and Peace on Our Streets should be submitted to:

San Francisco Poet Laureate devorah major
c/o Public Affairs
San Francisco Public Library
100 Larkin Street
San Francisco, CA 94102-4733

Entries will be accepted in the following categories:

youth under twelve;
teen;
adult;
working poet;
poems focused on a specific neighborhood.

Please indicate the entry category upon submission.

City Reflections: War and Peace on Our Streets will culminate in April 2004 at the conclusion of devorah major's tenure as San Francisco Poet Laureate. The occasion will be marked with a small exhibition of the best poems collected throughout the project.

War and Peace on Our Streets is supported by the San Francisco Chronicle, Mayor Willie L. Brown, Jr., Youth Speaks, City of Poets, Friends of the San Francisco Public Library, San Francisco poets and the San Francisco Public Library.

For more information, please call 415.557.4277.

City Reflections: War and Peace on Our Streets

Effective September 2003, the San Francisco Public Library Web site, www.sfpl.org, will feature selected poems from the City Reflections: War and Peace on Our Streets project. Priscilla Lee is one of the fine poets whose work will be featured.

Priscilla Lee's book of poetry, Wishbone, was published by the Roundhouse Press as part of the California Poetry Series. She works at an Asian-American senior activities center in San Francisco and lives with her husband and two cats. She is currently working on her second book of poetry, Chu's House of Lovely Animals. Books she thinks folks should read:

Against Forgetting: Twentieth-Century Poetry of Witness by Carolyn Forche (Editor)
Journals by Kurt Cobain
The Soul of a Chef: The Journey Toward Perfection by Michael Ruhlman
Proverbs of Ashes : Violence, Redemptive Suffering, and the Search of What Saves Us, by Rita Nakashima Brock and Rebecca Ann Parker
The Matrix and Philosophy: Welcome to the Desert of the Real (Popular Culture and Philosophy,v. 3) by William Irwin (Editor)

Moon Cake
By Priscilla Lee

Celebrating the harvest moon,
Grandma opened the Doungh Ah
bakery boxes. Inside, palm-sized
cakes, each in its own waxy bag,
duck egg yolk in the center
with its thin sheen of oil, glistening
like a moon. I saved the yolk
for my last bite, letting the saltiness
surprise my mouth. The year I started
growing breasts, Sherilyn and I asked
our mother for the recipe. "Too much trouble,"
she answered. We'd made brownies
for the school bake sale so moon cakes
shouldn't be difficult--red bean paste,
some pastry crust, pickled egg yolk.
I bought a wooden mold
from Ginn Wall Hardware and read
"Wei-Chuan's Chinese Cooking
for Beginners." We stuffed the cakes
into the round wells, flattening
the tops with our knuckles.
We whacked the mold against
the back of a chair, hoping the wood
wouldn't crack and catching the cakes
when they flew out. In the oven,
all twenty exploded, yolks splitting
their delicate skin. That year, I thought
I might be dying from cancer, one nipple,
a hard lump, growing out from my chest.
When I screamed for my mother
in the bathroom, she told me, "Shut up!
You'll know later. From now on,
Don't let anyone touch you."
Does that mean I can't play kickball?
I didn't know about training bras
or anything until I read "Are you there God?
It's me, Margaret." Now, I want to create
moon cakes for the next generation.
This time, with fillings of Haagen-Dazs
ice cream or chocolate chip cheesecake.
I've ordered fuchsia plastic molds
from Malaysia, but I haven't figured out
the egg yolk. What can you substitute
for a bright round moon?

posted by Prometheus 6 at 7/24/2003 12:27:54 AM |

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July 23, 2003

Y'all know what I'm talking about

I got a comment that I'm pretty sure was accidentally attached to the wrong post that I'm escalating to the front page by way of a link so as not to attract any more undesirable elements by way the various search engines.

posted by Prometheus 6 at 7/23/2003 11:07:34 AM |

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Cartoons

I actually like this one by Glenn McCoy for a change. From his pencil to God's scheduler.
I wonder what Pat Oliphant really thinks of Big Pharma?
I was going to link to this cartoon by Ben Sargent and say something like "well, at least it hasn't been computerized yet." Then I saw this one.

posted by Prometheus 6 at 7/23/2003 10:24:07 AM |

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Idiots

With Hussein's Heirs Gone, Hopes Rise for End to Attacks
By ERIC SCHMITT and THOM SHANKER
The deaths of Saddam Hussein's two eldest sons could be an important step in the campaign to control and end the guerrilla-style insurgency.

Really?

I'll consider voting Republican when their leadership shows some understanding of human nature rather than only the rather specialized case of American socialized nature.

Republicans Are Adding Weight to Reversal of F.C.C. Media Rule
By STEPHEN LABATON
Congress moved toward final passage of a measure that would reverse the recent decision by federal regulators to loosen ownership rules.

…The House measure would reverse one of the most significant new rules. The commission had ruled that a network could own television stations that reach up to 45 percent of the nation's viewers, an increase from 35 percent. The House measure would restore the old 35 percent limit by prohibiting the commission from spending any money to permit the transfer of a broadcast license to any company above that limit.

Today, the House rejected an amendment by two Democrats, Maurice D. Hinchey of New York and David E. Price of North Carolina, that would have reversed two other new media ownership rules. Those rules would make it easier for a company to own a newspaper and a broadcast station in the same city and allow a company to own more TV stations in the same market.

Come on, people! How much money does it take to "permit the transfer of a broadcast license"? Zero.

Remember, this is the regime that deals in "technical accuracy."

And look at those other two rules.

Butting Heads With the Pentagon
By LESLIE WAYNE

…So there is considerable dismay, and some outright consternation, over sweeping "buy America" provisions that Mr. Hunter inserted into the House version of legislation authorizing the coming year's Pentagon budget. Countries that failed to help the United States in the Iraq war, he argues, should not enjoy the spoils of American military contracts or put the Pentagon in a position of depending on them for critical components.

That view has set Mr. Hunter on a collision course with his many friends at the Pentagon and among American military contractors that buy everything from microprocessors to jet engines and airplane wings overseas. Mr. Hunter's proposal would cut back sharply on the foreign content allowed in American military goods as well as provide a laundry list of items — from fuses to machine tools to airplane tires — that only American companies could supply.

That-a-way to keep your allies.

posted by Prometheus 6 at 7/23/2003 10:02:10 AM |

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Read this, even if you're not a Linux geek

Doc Searls pulls together a lot of good thoughts in this editorial. Titled "How to get past the intellectual and political logjams that threaten Linux and the Net," it has what I think are salient observations for the general case. Some excerpts:

At the same time that media concentration restrictions are being removed, such that three companies will own everything, so too are neutrality restrictions for the network being eliminated, so that those same three companies--who also will control broadband access--are totally free to architect broadband however they wish. "The Internet that is to be the savior is a dying breed. The end-to-end architecture that gave us its power will, in effect, be inverted. And so the games networks play to benefit their own will bleed to this space too."

And then Dr. Pangloss says, "but what about spectrum. Won't unlicensed spectrum guarantee our freedom?" And it is true: Here at least there was some hope from this FCC. But the latest from DC is that a tiny chunk of new unlicensed spectrum will be released. And then after that, no more. Spectrum too will be sold--to the same companies, no doubt.

So then, Dr. Pangloss: "When the content layer, the logical layer, and the physical layer are all effectively owned by a handful of companies, free of any requirements of neutrality or openness, what will you ask then?"

--"But Where's the Internet?" by Lawrence Lessig, MediaCon.

Two oddly allied mentalities provide intellectual air cover for these threats to the marketplace. One is the extreme comfort certain industries feel inside their regulatory environments. The other is the high regard political conservatives hold for successful enterprises. Combine the two, and you get conservatives eagerly rewarding companies whose primary achievements consist of successful long-term adaptation to highly regulated environments.

That's what's happened with broadcasting and telecom.

Liberals often are flummoxed by the way conservatives seem to love big business (including, of course, big media). Yet the reason is simple: they love winners, literally. They like to reward strength and achievement. They hate rewarding weakness for the same reason a parent hates rewarding kids' poor grades. This, more than anything else, is what makes conservatives so radically different from liberals. It's why favorite liberal buzzwords like "fairness" and "opportunity" are fingernails on the chalkboards of conservative minds. To conservatives, those words are code-talk for punishing the strong and rewarding the weak.

As George Lakoff explained in Moral Politics: What Conservatives Know that Liberals Don't (University of Chicago, 1995), conservatives consider strength a "moral value". Strong is good. Weak is bad.

In street basketball there's a rule called "make it, take it". If you score a basket, you get to keep the ball. Three-on-three basketball works the same way. So do volleyball and other sports with rules that favor achievement over fairness.

Relaxing media ownership rules is all about "make it, take it". Clear Channel and Viacom have made it. Why not let them take more? It's simply the marketplace at work, right? Again, only in a highly regulated context.

We can't change conservative value systems. But we can change the emphasis on what we conserve and why.

posted by Prometheus 6 at 7/23/2003 09:58:30 AM |

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IT's Not All Going Away

By Peter Coffee

When I want to see a technical professional turn pale, I quote Neal Stephenson's vision of a world in which "we've brain-drained all our technology into other countries," as described in his 1992 novel "Snow Crash." In a near future when knowledge, capital and even natural resources have become increasingly mobile across national boundaries, Stephenson's narrator observes that "the Invisible Hand has taken historical inequities and smeared them out into a broad global layer of what a Pakistani bricklayer would call prosperity."

…there's still room to be a U.S. IT professional—but not where U.S. IT providers are themselves leading the race to the bottom, as they respond to intense market pressure to cut costs on the supply side and to slash margins on the demand side. They're finding that it doesn't take much infrastructure to make a country competitive in software development or hardware design. Intel, for example, has its largest design center outside the United States in Bangalore, India, where an engineer costs $8,000 a year instead of $50,000 in Silicon Valley. Texas Instruments plans to triple the size of its Bangalore unit in the next five years to 2,700, having started with only 10 engineers in 1999.

Intel ranks India behind China and Israel for manufacturing capability, but designs are just bits, and it doesn't cost much to move them to the factory—for example, to Intel's half-billion-dollar Pentium 4 fabrication site in Shanghai. Of course, the Chinese can also draw a trend line on a graph and follow it to its logical conclusion: Last year, the Chinese Academy of Science rolled out its own server chip running a localized version of Linux—whose growth in China is transforming system software, and even productivity applications, into public goods. Sun has given its StarOffice suite to educational ministries in China, Hong Kong and Taiwan. An Evans Data survey of Chinese developers, conducted last summer, found two-thirds of them planning to focus on Linux development during the coming year.

Stephenson's "bricklayer" scenario might therefore turn out to be optimistic, in that his narrator lists software as one of the four industries in which the United States will retain an edge on its overseas competitors for at least the next several decades. The other three are music, movies and high-speed pizza delivery. I wonder if software is going to be on the real world's list of U.S. leadership areas by the time we've caught up to the "Snow Crash" time frame. Between getting it written cheaply in India and being forced to practically give it away in China, I have to wonder where the business expects to find its revenue growth over the next several decades.

…It's vital to identify the areas in which you plan to hire bricklayers, while you design the building—or you'll be laying bricks yourself. Communication skills and in-the-field experience in IT integration will make American IT pros worth more at home.

posted by Prometheus 6 at 7/23/2003 09:43:55 AM |

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Good to hear

This morning on NBC news, in reporting on Hadley falling on Tenet's sword, they specifically noted "this marks another change in the White House's story."

posted by Prometheus 6 at 7/23/2003 07:16:41 AM |

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July 22, 2003

Oh, yeah

Equal Time Week is on hold until August, because if I run out of bandwidth this month I'm not going to want to repeat the performance.

posted by Prometheus 6 at 7/22/2003 11:13:52 PM |

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Ta-Nehisi Coates is seriously ill

He has a Village Voice article on "My Big Fat Crush on Condoleezza"

And smitten by what? No one confuses Rice with Beyoncé Knowles, and she's a little thin for me anyway. Furthermore, she's Lex Luthor evil, man. How else to explain doing the bidding of a mental paralytic like George Bush? Or being the adopted daughter of the clan that brought us Willie Horton, "read my lips," and the slur "evildoers"? Meanwhile, I'm one part lefty, one part race-man. If you cut me I'd bleed green—then red and black, too. What could a Black Panther-sired, Malcolm X-worshiping, People's History of America-toting idealist see in a battle-ax like Condi Rice? Simply put, Rice, with her commanding presence and steely confidence, is the ultimate black woman.

Power has always been a defining feature for black women. African Americans didn't need Gloria Steinem to acquaint us with strong women. Sojourner Truth invented black feminism. Ida B. Wells rode through the South with a pistol in her lap. Hell, my mother regularly jacked me up, well into my high school days. Wells, Truth, and my moms employed their inner strength for the good of mankind—or maybe just for the good of a stupid kid. But their power always captivated me more than their benevolence. And no black woman—maybe in all of history—has wielded more power than Rice.

Read Rice, Rice, Baby!. The brother has a twisted way of making a couple of valid points.

posted by Prometheus 6 at 7/22/2003 11:08:25 PM |

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Africa

You know, even I forget sometimes that Africa is a whole continent with multiple nations and cultures. Having an RSS feed tuned to AllAfrica.com has insured I'll never make that mistake again

posted by Prometheus 6 at 7/22/2003 08:05:42 PM |

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At 7:07 pm

One out of 4 hits is a search for a picture of that child in the you-know-what case.

_sigh

posted by Prometheus 6 at 7/22/2003 07:18:56 PM |

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No shyt, Sherlock

Social development has halted in US since 1980

WASHINGTON: Social conditions in the United States have not improved since 1980, putting the world's only superpower on a par with Poland and Slovenia in the latest edition of an index that measures development in 163 countries.

That conclusion was drawn by Richard Estes of the University of Pennsylvania, who released his findings at a scholarly conference in Frankfurt, Germany on Monday, the university said in a statement.

Using data from the United Nations and the World Bank, Estes looked at 40 different factors to come up with his Weighted Index of Social Progress. They include health, education, human rights, political participation, population growth, the status of women, cultural diversity, 'freedom from social chaos', military spending and environmental protection.

At the top of the list were Denmark, Sweden, Norway and Finland; at the bottom, Afghanistan, Eritrea, Ethiopia, and Sierra Leone. The US ranked 27th.

"Chronic poverty is the greatest threat to social progress in the United States," Estes was quoted as saying. "More than 33 million Americans -- almost 12 million of them children -- are poor."

"Contrary to public perception, the majority of the poor in the United States are members of established family households who work full-time and are white. No other economically advanced country tolerates such a level of poverty."

Other challenges to social progress in the United States include a sluggish economy, growing unemployment, unequal access to health care and deteriorating schools in urban areas, the statement said. Twenty-one African and Asian countries are nearing 'social collapse', Estes said, citing poverty, weak political institutions, economic woes, disease and isolation.

"These roadblocks to progress are contributing to global social unrest, including religious fundamentalism and terrorism. Rich countries ignore the desperate plight of the world's poorest nations at our own risk." Conditions are especially bad in Middle, West and East Africa -- worse than they were in 1990. The most rapid social improvements are seen in South Central and Western Asia, linked to emergence of democratic countries and the oil wealth of Iran, Iraq, Kuwait and Saudi Arabia. Social improvement in China is progressing rapidly, with that nation moving from 73rd on the index in 1980, to 69th.

posted by Prometheus 6 at 7/22/2003 07:13:41 PM |

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Tenet lied

George Tenet "took responsibility" for the African uranium lie. But a Bush aide took it back

And, of course, Bush retains confidence in him. Bush retains confidence in anyone who takes the blame for him. That's what he has confidence in.

Sheesh.

LATER: Check these quotes from the Yahoo! News report on this:

"The high standards the president set were not met," [Stephen] Hadley, [President Bush's deputy national security adviser] said. He said he apologized to the president on Monday.

The high standards Colin Powell set were met. That's what happens when a leader takes responsibility for the accuracy of his statements.

The controversial passage citing a British intelligence report "should have been taken out of the State of the Union," Hadley said. He said he was taking responsibility on behalf of the White House staff just as Tenet had for the CIA.

The difference is the guy who runs the CIA took responsibility. The guy who runs the White House (Cheney?) didn't.

The White House presented Hadley's apology on a day when public attention on Iraq was focused on the killing of Saddam's sons Odai and Qusai.

Possibly an error. Maybe just the habit of releasing information at the same time as a distraction.

In the whole story, only one quote rings true to my ears.

"First they blamed the Brits. Then CIA Director George Tenet walked the plank. Now the White House is dragging (Hadley) forward to take the fall for the president's bogus claim," said Tony Welch, a spokesman for the Democratic National Committee

posted by Prometheus 6 at 7/22/2003 07:00:19 PM |

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You want to know why no one like the USofA anymore?

And actually, this applies to the whole "First World" -- a rather arrogant term. Not only that, this is the same treatment that is described by a long-standing complaint in the Black communities: as soon as you learn the rules, the rules are changed on you.

Emphasis added by P6 so no one can miss the point.

The Great Catfish War

For Tran Vu Long, who lives atop his floating catfish trap on the Mekong River near the border with Cambodia, the recent biannual harvest day was not the joyous payday it usually is. Mr. Long, a 35-year-old Vietnamese catfish farmer, sold his flapping fish - 40 tons' worth, all painstakingly weighed and carried in bamboo buckets onto the trading company's launch - at a loss of some $2,000, a small fortune here.

Mr. Long, who stood sullenly to the side as his hired hands scooped out seemingly endless gaggles of fish from underneath the space that doubles as his living room, has Washington politicians to blame. "The United States preaches free trade, but as soon as we start benefiting from it, they change their tune," he said

…The normalization of ties between Hanoi and Washington brought American trade missions bent on expanding Vietnamese free enterprise. One of these delegations saw in the Mekong Delta's catfish a golden export opportunity, with the region's natural conditions and cheap labor affording Vietnam a competitive advantage. Sure enough, within a few years, an estimated half-million Vietnamese were living off a catfish trade nurtured by private entrepreneurs. Vietnam captured 20 percent of the frozen catfish-fillet market in the United States, driving down prices. To the dismay of the Mississippi Farm Bureau, even some restaurants in that state - the center of the American catfish industry - were serving the Vietnamese species.

Soon Mr. Long and the other Vietnamese farmers were caught in a nasty two-front war being waged by the Catfish Farmers of America, the trade group representing Mississippi Delta catfish farmers. The Mississippi catfish farmers are generally not huge agribusinesses, and many of them struggle to make ends meet. But that still does not explain how the United States, the international champion of free market competition, could decide to rig the catfish game to cut out the very Vietnamese farmers whose enterprise it had originally encouraged.

Last year, with the aid of Trent Lott, then the Senate majority leader, the American catfish farmers managed to persuade Congress to overturn science. An amendment, improbably attached to an appropriations bill, declared that out of 2,000 catfish types, only the American-born family - named Ictaluridae - could be called "catfish." So the Vietnamese could market their fish in America only by using the Vietnamese terms "basa" and "tra."

That was only the first step in a bipartisan assault. Congressman Marion Berry, an Arkansas Democrat, joined in a stupendously tactless disinformation campaign against the Vietnamese, suggesting that their fish were not good enough for American diners because they came from a place contaminated by so much Agent Orange - sprayed over the countryside by American forces during the Vietnam War. Catfish Farmers of America, for its part, ran advertisements warning of a "slippery catfish wannabe," saying such fish were "probably not even sporting real whiskers" and "float around in Third World rivers nibbling on who knows what."

Not satisfied with its labeling triumph - an old trade-war trick perfected by the Europeans - the American group initiated an antidumping case against Vietnamese catfish. And for the purposes of this proceeding, Congressional taxonomy notwithstanding, the fish in question were once again regarded as catfish, not basa or tra. (Don't try explaining to Mr. Long how two branches of the American government, conveniently enough, can simultaneously maintain that his fish are two different creatures.)

…In this case, the Commerce Department had no evidence that the imported fish were being sold in America more cheaply than in Vietnam, or below their cost of production. But rather than abandoning the Mississippi catfish farmers to the forces of open competition, the department simply declared Vietnam a "nonmarket" economy. The designation allowed it simply to stipulate that there must be something suspect going on somewhere — that Vietnamese farmers must not be covering all the costs they would in a functioning market economy. Tariffs ranging from 37 percent to 64 percent have been slapped by the department on Vietnamese catfish.

posted by Prometheus 6 at 7/22/2003 05:29:52 PM |

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Non-Ecosystem blogs

Anyone who limits their links to Ecosystem blogs is shortchanging themselves.

Proof:
Professor Kim's News Notes
Critics Lambaste Race-Baiting Cartoon

A July 13 Hartford Courant editorial cartoon depicting a black couple saying that cooperating with police would be "acting white" continues to draw fire from readers as well as members of the newspaper's staff. "Beyond the complete disregard for the reality of fear of retaliation was the outrageous implication that black people in Hartford don't value the safety of their children and their neighborhoods as much as white people do," wrote Courant reader representative Karen Hunter in her July 20 column. According to Hunter, the cartoonist, Bob Englehart, has a history of drawing cartoons that are considered insensitive and stereotypical.

The cartoon can be viewed here.

This is a cartoon that could only be presented by a blind bigot. Not being a Hartford resident, I don't know if my letter to the editor will have any impact, but I'm sending it anyway.

Prof. Kim also pointed me toward some new resources: CyberJournalist.net and (as a heads-up to MB of Wampum) Indian Country Today.

posted by Prometheus 6 at 7/22/2003 05:07:25 PM |

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Don't EVEN try to tell me race ain't involved in this

Think race doesn't matter? Listen to Eminem
Joshunda Sanders

You know that saying: "The more things change, the more they stay the same"? It's true. This summer, the U.S. Supreme Court proved just that in its decision on affirmative action by noting that race "unfortunately still matters."

If you disagree, look no farther than Eminem, hip-hop's poster boy for diversity. He may speak about what's on the minds of disgruntled teenagers everywhere. He may inspire young white teenagers to rap, and he may work really hard to cultivate his talent, but Eminem is underwhelming as a rapper. In fact, he hasn't made a single song that's a poetic standout.

And yet, Nobel Prize poet laureate Seamus Heaney has likened Eminem to Bob Dylan and John Lennon. Rolling Stone deemed him "The Voice of America." You bet your baggy jeans race still matters -- the proof is in the praise.

"He has created a sense of what is possible," Heaney gushed to students at the Prince of Wales' summer school in Norwich, England. With "verbal energy," Heaney added, Eminem has "sent a voltage around a generation."

Feels more like static electricity to me.

posted by Prometheus 6 at 7/22/2003 04:55:10 PM |

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Enough

There's a saying I ran across in my Taoist studies that I think sums up half of the problem with American culture and values:

Knowledge is knowing what to do. Wisdom is knowing what not to do.

No one seems to understand the meaning of enough.

How many people have lost their jobs, not because a company was unprofitable but because they wanted even more profits?

How many books haven't been published, not because they wouldn't make money but because they wouldn't be blockbusters?

How many people get contractually screwed because someone wants to squeeze every penny possible out of them rather than being satisfied with an equitable sharing?

How many people "supersize" a meal that they are eating because it's time to eat instead of because they're hungry?

How many corporations pursue control when they already have dominance?

How many people buy a Caddilac instead of a Buick when they are mechanically identical?

posted by Prometheus 6 at 7/22/2003 04:24:05 PM |

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A couple of random things

Before I get to a few things I thing are important enough to blog about (and after you have read them):

I got a warning email from Earthlink that I am approaching my bandwidth limit for the month, which is 1 gig. This raises the possibility the P6 will become unavailable at the end of the month. If this happens, it's not because I stopped blogging or that Homeland Security has arrested me. Well, it probably doesn't mean I was arrested.

There are four primary causes for this, I think.

I blog too damn much
Reloading the page to look for misspellings, grammar problems, etc.
For several reasons I had set the page to display eight days worth of posts
I had a post with the name of a certain basketball player

I respond to these issues as follows

Oh, well...
I'm using a desktop posting tool with spell check and good preview capability
I've cut it back to display four days worth of posts
I'm going to consciously avoid posting about potentially sensational news items, since you will get all the exposure to them you can handle

That last one is the most annoying to me. You love to get traffic, but some of it is actually useless. And I'm probably pretty unusual in looking for fewer Google hits.

Speaking of Google hits, I have three posts with the phrase "Black History Month" in July. But if you google the phrase you find three results(or five, two of which are eliminated as being too similar to others). Number one is Frank's blog, I Protest, ironically pointing to one of my posts. Number two is a Blogspot blog which name I don't remember offhand, pointing to a post mentioning Aaron McGruder's recent deal with Sony Entertainment. Number three is yours truly. Strikes me the formula gives more weight to independent domains than free space for personal pages, which kinda makes sense.

posted by Prometheus 6 at 7/22/2003 03:35:06 PM |

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Feeling better

Thing is, folks, I'm an insulin dependant diabetic. Sometimes I feel lousy for no reason other than that I feel lousy.

But I'm better. Still not feeling clever, but at least I feel intelligent again.

Hopefully I can get back at it this afternoon. I really only logged on right now to give a message to certain Google searchers, and I hope you see this on Google rather than wasting your time and my bandwidth coming here:

THERE AIN'T NO FUCKING PICTURES OF THE GIRL INVOLVED IN THE KOBE BRYANT CASE ON THIS SITE, NUDE OR OTHERWISE. AND I BELIEVE YOU PEOPLE LOOKING FOR THE NUDE ONES, IN PARTICULAR, IS SOME SICK-ASS BASTARDS.

We now return you to your regular web browsing.

posted by Prometheus 6 at 7/22/2003 10:57:00 AM |

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Ugh. Twice.

I woke up this morning feeling like three pounds of shit in a two pound bag. Everything is on hold until the fever etc. reduces to the degree that I feel clever again.

posted by Prometheus 6 at 7/22/2003 06:50:56 AM |

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July 21, 2003

Why there's been no posting

My daughter asked me to come by. That's where I am now.

I care about you guys enough to let you know I don't care about you enough to interrupt the visit. The promised Equal Time Week entry comes late tonight.

posted by Prometheus 6 at 7/21/2003 06:31:40 PM |

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Time to face the obvious

Iraqi unrest grows
2 soldiers killed
(By Vivienne Walt, Globe Correspondent)
NAJAF, Iraq -- Two American soldiers were killed yesterday in northern Iraq, and thousands of Shi'ites protested angrily in the holy city of Najaf, as hostility toward the US presence in Iraq jumped religious and regional boundaries, expanding far beyond Saddam Hussein's loyalist base.

What Mr. Bush called the end of major hostilities was actually the beginning. The U.S. occupying force…sorry, but there is no more accurate description…has its enemy embedded more deeply than the journalists ever were. And due to fate and guerilla action we've now lost more lives since the declared end of major hostilities than during the war.

This is not good.

Everyone, Repuglicans and Democrats alike, are "calling" for greater international participation. No one is facing an ugly fact: it is in the interest of almost every nation in the world, both friend and foe, that the USofA prove incapable of handling this affair.

The USofA, broke with world opinion and all international organizations to establish its dominance by a demonstration of irresistible military power. The intent is to cow all enemies but if it succeeds, all its allies will suddenly find themselves supplicants instead of lesser peers. The world will find itself globalized in a structure that is to empire what Jim Crow is to slavery.

It is not in our allies' best interest for us to actually lose, be forced to withdraw, in Iraq. What is in their interest is the the USofA be forced to ask for help on their terms. It is in their best interest to disprove the USofA's bold statement that our overwhelming military power (which, by the way, is totally neutralized in a guerilla war against an occupying force) enables us to rule by fiat,

And it will be disproved.

The USofA will either ask for help through the United Nations or bury itself by the combination of greater and greater military involvement at one billion dollars—that's a stack of $100 bills a kilometer tall—every week, increasing threats in the areas we must abandon to support the Iraqi crisis and a foolish economic policy that is creating an economy that is driven by intercorporate spending.

[Listening to: Angels of Grace (MysticRadio - A Cosmic Blend of New Age, Chill, Ragas and Rock) - Aeoliah ]

posted by Prometheus 6 at 7/21/2003 09:50:01 AM |

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Equal Time Week

A letter to the LA Times

Oakland Must Look Inward to Break Its Cycle of Despair

July 20, 2003

It's really wearisome hearing excuses about why heavily populated minority communities, such as in Oakland, are unable to pull out of their crime and dysfunctional morass ("Listening to Oakland," by Scott Duke Harris, July 6). No one is forcing blacks to sell crack cocaine, no one is forcing black and Hispanic youths to adopt a gang culture, no one is forcing blacks to have an astronomical out-of-wedlock birth rate, no one is forcing black and Hispanic students to look at achievement as selling out or to look at dumbing it down as keeping it real.

NAACP Oakland branch president Shannon Reeves has it right: The problems are self-inflicted and will only be remedied by blacks and Hispanics themselves. For someone like Rose Braz, director of the prison reform group Critical Resistance, it's much simpler to point a finger than look inward.

Greg Belluomini

Views like these are problematic but must be dealt with because in many cases they are truly and honorably held. Dismissing them causes the same kind of difficulties that dismissing Black folks' truly and honorably held views on race and racism but on a larger scale.

Equal Time will be a theme running through P6 this week as Startin' Stuff was last week. I've already presented enough material in the Racism series to support the viewpoint…mine…that I'll be setting forth in a little more detail. Some time today I'll be posting a summary of the conclusions from that material as well as pointers to the original posts so all readers can start on the same page.

Reader participation would be appreciated. I'm hoping for a discussion as rational as we had in Startin' Stuff Week. I'm asking for honest concerns, though (believe it or not) racist rants are equally welcome. This time.

[Listening to: Song Of Immortal Love 4 (MysticRadio - A Cosmic Blend of New Age, Chill, Ragas and Rock) - Patrick Bernhardt ]

posted by Prometheus 6 at 7/21/2003 09:20:50 AM |

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He made a funny!

Donald Rumsfeld died and went to heaven. As he stood in front of St.Peter at the Pearly Gates, he saw a huge wall of clocks behind him.

He asked, "What are all those clocks?"

St. Peter answered, "Those are Lie-Clocks. Everyone on Earth has a Lie-Clock.Every time you lie the hands on your clock will move."

Oh," said Rumsfeld, "whose clock is that?"

That's Mother Teresa's. The hands have never moved, indicating that she never told a lie."

"Incredible," said Rumsfeld. "And whose clock is that one?"

St. Peter responded, "That's Abraham Lincoln's clock. The hands have moved twice, telling us that Abe told only two lies in his entire life."

"Where's Bush's clock?" asked Rumsfeld.

"Bush's clock is in Jesus' office. He's using it as a ceiling fan."

Thanks, Niall. Laughter is a good thing.

posted by Prometheus 6 at 7/21/2003 08:59:05 AM |

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Editorial run

Of Troops -- and the Truth
By Dan Smith
WASHINGTON — President Bush conceded recently that bringing stability to Iraq will take time — and manpower. And the commander of allied forces in Iraq, Gen. John P. Abizaid, noted last week that American troops might well be required to serve yearlong tours of duty in Iraq, or double the usual length of time. These acknowledgements are a good start, but the administration has yet to answer one simple question: How many troops will be needed to bring that country under control? The American public — as well as tens of thousands of military families — deserves to know.

Census Bureau's Latino Quandary
By Anthony E. Chavez
The ramifications of the Census Bureau's recent announcement that Latinos are America's largest minority will spread to every corner of society. Unfortunately for the bureau, as the Latino share of the population keeps expanding, the ongoing problems of counting Latinos accurately will grow more glaring.

Have Guns, Will Travel
By P. W. SINGER
The Pentagon is planning to outsource postwar Iraq through the private sector. This mix of profit motive and war has more problems than it does solutions.

The Rockefeller Drug Rap

The nation has plenty of strange state legislatures, but lately New York's seems to be edging near the head of the pack. How many, for instance, have called on a hip-hop mogul to negotiate one of the most important reforms in their state's history? In Albany, where the three top leaders always meet in private to decide the fate of all major legislation, this year — for the first time anybody could remember — there was a fourth. Besides Gov. George Pataki, Joseph Bruno, the Senate majority leader, and Sheldon Silver, the Assembly speaker, Russell Simmons of Def Jam records spent seven long hours with the big trio in the sanctum santorum. There they negotiated ways to change the cruel and unusual drug sentencing laws inflicted on New York 30 years ago by Gov. Nelson Rockefeller.

How did a rap mogul gain so much influence over New York's lawmaking? For one thing, Mr. Simmons is very rich and has shown an interest recently in using his money to become a political player. And the three men were undoubtedly so sick of one another that any fresh face was welcome. This Legislature has been trying to repeal or reform these inhumane laws for years without success. Someone apparently figured that if Mr. Simmons can make a deal with Mariah Carey, he should be able to crack a few knuckles in Albany.

&hellipThe Democrats envisioned a two-phase reform that would start with shortening the sentences and providing more drug treatment first, then give judges back the discretion they deserve to decide whether a given defendant is a hapless addict in need of help or a hardened dealer.

That's obviously a better vision than the governor's plan, which just tinkers with the sentencing. But as usual, people hoping for reform out of Albany are trapped with a choice between embracing the possibility for a minimal improvement or continuing to push for something that at least constitutes modest reform.

Cartoons

I think I owe Aaron McGruder an apology:

Tom Toles on ArsonistWatch
Tony Auth on the real inheritance tax problem

posted by Prometheus 6 at 7/21/2003 08:10:47 AM |

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Bush's credibility problem in Africa

At risk in Zimbabwe

PRESIDENT BUSH'S lack of credibility with African leaders is hurting diplomatic efforts to bring an end to political and economic repression in Zimbabwe. The leaders are dragging their feet on getting the country's dictator, Robert G. Mugabe, to negotiate with opposition leaders on a transitional government and new elections. Bush has little standing to make the major players in Africa do otherwise. But that shouldn't be an excuse for him not to invest more energy on the crisis in Zimbabwe, where conditions are rapidly deteriorating. Unprecedented food and oil shortages, triple-digit inflation, and violent government crackdowns on political dissent have caused residents to flee the country. Dozens of people have been killed in state-orchestrated violence, and thousands have been beaten, jailed, or tortured for their views. By some estimates, more than 3.5 million Zimbabweans have fled to South Africa, Botswana, or Britain.

posted by Prometheus 6 at 7/21/2003 07:35:37 AM |

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Sneaky bastiches

Environmental evasion

ENVIRONMENTAL Protection Agency chief Christine Todd Whitman has just vacated the most thankless job in the Bush administration. In picking a successor the president should under no circumstances use a recess appointment to dodge an overdue examination by the Senate of his environmental policies. A report in The Wall Street Journal last Friday indicated that the president might in fact wait until the Senate recesses next month to appoint Idaho's Governor Dirk Kempthorne. If George Bush took this course, there would be nothing to force the Republican-led Senate, after its recess, to hold a confirmation hearing.

posted by Prometheus 6 at 7/21/2003 07:33:20 AM |

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Heh

Protesters shouted slogans across the street from a hotel where President Bush was attending a fund-raising event on Saturday in Houston. (AP Photo)

posted by Prometheus 6 at 7/21/2003 07:31:18 AM |

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An HBCU's gotta do what an HBCU's gotta do

Black colleges turn to unconventional ad strategies

By Tim Whitmire, Associated Press, 7/21/2003

CHARLOTTE, N.C. -- People driving around Charlotte have been getting an eyeful of Elizabeth City State University, a small, historically black school on the other side of the state.

Despite being six hours away from Charlotte, the university is running billboards in the city touting Elizabeth City State as ''Your Place to Succeed.''

Other schools are running comic strips and signing up celebrities for their promotions -- part of a national trend that has seen black colleges turn to unconventional, aggressive advertising to boost enrollment and endowments.

The colleges say such creativity is necessary at a time of deficits and dwindling corporate and foundation support.

''The times are simply extremely challenging for any institution,'' said Johnnetta Cole, president of all-female Bennett College in Greensboro and former president of Spelman College in Atlanta.

posted by Prometheus 6 at 7/21/2003 07:28:51 AM |

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Is this how patriots act?

Report on USA Patriot Act Alleges Civil Rights Violations
By PHILIP SHENON

WASHINGTON, July 20 — A report by internal investigators at the Justice Department has identified dozens of recent cases in which department employees have been accused of serious civil rights and civil liberties violations involving enforcement of the sweeping federal antiterrorism law known as the USA Patriot Act.

The inspector general's report, which was presented to Congress last week and is awaiting public release, is likely to raise new concern among lawmakers about whether the Justice Department can police itself when its employees are accused of violating the rights of Muslim and Arab immigrants and others swept up in terrorism investigations under the 2001 law.

The report said that in the six-month period that ended on June 15, the inspector general's office had received 34 complaints of civil rights and civil liberties violations by department employees that it considered credible, including accusations that Muslim and Arab immigrants in federal detention centers had been beaten.

The accused workers are employed in several of the agencies that make up the Justice Department, with most of them assigned to the Bureau of Prisons, which oversees federal penitentiaries and detention centers.

The report said that credible accusations were also made against employees of the F.B.I., the Drug Enforcement Administration and the Immigration and Naturalization Service; most of the immigration agency was consolidated earlier this year into the Department of Homeland Security.

… While most of the accusations in the report are still under investigation, the report said a handful had been substantiated, including those against a federal prison doctor who was reprimanded after reportedly telling an inmate during a physical examination that "if I was in charge, I would execute every one of you" because of "the crimes you all did."

…The report said that the inspector general's office was continuing to investigate a separate case in which about 20 inmates at a federal detention center, which was not identified, had recently accused a corrections officer of abusive behavior, including ordering a Muslim inmate to remove his shirt "so the officer could use it to shine his shoes."

posted by Prometheus 6 at 7/21/2003 07:20:52 AM |

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Suprise!

Race and Politics, a Familiar Pair, Seem to Be Back in Town
By JENNIFER STEINHAUER

After years of ugly confrontations between City Hall and various minorities throughout the city, capped by a racially divisive 2001 mayoral primary, racial tensions in New York City seemed to have quieted over the last 18 months. A new mayor committed to soothing the racial storms and a City Council chock-full of new members, a large percentage of them blacks and Hispanics, have combined in part to make it so.

But a number of recent episodes suggest that race has re-entered the political conversation in New York, at least in discussions of sharing power.

Last week, members of the City Council accused Speaker Gifford Miller of supporting environmental racism by delaying action on a bill that would have tougher requirements for the removal of lead paint in city apartments. In that same week, members of the Democratic Party and others argued that Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg's attempt to remove party labels from municipal elections would hurt minority candidates.

Two months ago, the teachers' union sued Chancellor Joel I. Klein, accusing him of racial discrimination because the Bloomberg administration's plan to lay off nearly 800 classroom aides disproportionately affected blacks and Hispanics.

Further, Mr. Bloomberg's poll numbers among racial minorities are as low as some of the worst faced by Mayor Rudolph W. Giuliani, in spite of the Bloomberg administration's efforts to reach out to minority communities.

Why this is happening is a matter of much debate among Democrats and Republicans alike, and a matter of concern on both the legislative and executives sides of City Hall. At the very least, said political experts and aides to elected officials, the city could be on the verge of another racially charged set of municipal elections, potentially unlike any the city has seen since David N. Dinkins was mayor.

posted by Prometheus 6 at 7/21/2003 07:15:05 AM |

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July 20, 2003

NBC News' Meet The Press

The transcript is up. And I want to share a couple of things that I found particularly interesting in the interview with Ambassador Bremer.

On the guerilla war:

MR. RUSSERT: In the last 48 hours, four more American servicemen have been killed. That’s 37 from hostile fire since May 1; 89 since May 1, when you count all deaths. How do we end this guerrilla war against American soldiers?
AMB. BREMER: Well, let’s put it in perspective. The death of any American serviceman is obviously a tragedy, but what we’re faced here with is a small group of killers, trained killers, who are basically trying to hold back the tide of history in Iraq, and the tide of history is flowing towards democracy. These are people who are ex-Ba’athists, Fedayeen Saddam ex-people in the intelligence community there, and we simply have to overpower them, and we will.
MR. RUSSERT: How many are there?
AMB. BREMER: We don’t know. Obviously, if we knew, we’d have better intelligence and we’d be able to go after them. There were tens of thousands of people in the Republican Guards in the Fedayeen Saddam and they are concentrated in an area which is where Saddam had his traditional political and tribal support, a small area between Tikrit, which was Saddam’s hometown, and Baghdad, in the south. That’s where 85 percent of the attacks against American forces have taken place since June 1. So it’s a small area of the country we’re dealing with.

Contrast this with what Rumsfeld said:

MR. RUSSERT: Robert Byrd, the Democratic senator from West Virginia, said it’s an urban guerrilla shooting gallery.
SEC’Y RUMSFELD: I heard that.
MR. RUSSERT: Do you agree?
SEC’Y RUMSFELD: Well, it is not restricted to urban areas, for one thing. It is happening in some urban centers. It’s also happening in some non-urban areas. Is it a shooting gallery? Are people being shot at? Yes. Is it a difficult situation? You bet. Are more people going to be killed? I’m afraid that’s true.

We report. You decide.

On capturing Saddam Hussein:

MR. RUSSERT: Do you believe that Saddam Hussein himself is orchestrating this resistance.
AMB. BREMER: No, there’s no evidence of any central control at this point yet, Tim. What we’re seeing is highly professional but very small sort of squad level attacks, five or six people at a time, attacking us. Saddam Hussein, I think, is alive. I think he is in Iraq. And the sooner we can either kill him or capture him the better because the fact that his fate is unknown certainly gives his supporters the chance to go around and try to rally support for him.
MR. RUSSERT: You’re confident you will kill or capture him?
AMB. BREMER: Oh, I think there’s no question. It’s a matter of time. We now have a reward out, $25 million, leading to his capture or a certain proof that he’s dead. And I think in time we’ll get him.

The problem is, that's the exact reward offered for the capture of Osama bin Laden. We see how successful that has been…
Rich guys think all you have to do is put some money out there (unless, of course, it's to do something like, oh, pay teachers…)

We report. You decide.

On getting the hell outta there:

AMB. BREMER: I think it’s clear that given the size of the task we are going to be there for a while. I don’t know how many years. Of course, in terms of what I’m in charge of, which is the coalition authority, there’s a pretty clear timetable. We took the first step last week with the selection of a governing council, which is the first time the Iraqis have had a representative group. We’ll get a constitutional process started here in the next couple of months. Once a constitution is written, then we have elections, we’ll get a sovereign Iraqi government. And at that point the coalition’s job is done. There may still be a need for security forces, but at least the civilian coalition authority, which I head, will then at that point hand over sovereignty to an Iraqi government.

Can you say "sock puppet" boys and girls? Another locally hated American supported regime… and a side of fries, to go. Only this one will have American soldiers protecting it.

We report. You decide.

An interesting exchange:

MR. RUSSERT: Let me show you a bit more of the report I mentioned, and here it is on the screen:

“Iraq will require significant outside support...broadening the financial coalition to include a wider range of international actors...The enormity of the task ahead cannot be underestimated. It requires that the entire effort be immediately turbo-charged making it more agile and flexible, and providing it with greater funding and personnel.”

More money, more personnel. Do you agree?
AMB. BREMER: Yes, I agree, but let’s understand where we are. We have some 37 nations that have already pledged almost $3 billion to the reconstruction of Iraq. We have 19 countries which are already contributing troops on the ground in Iraq. This is already a substantial international operation.
MR. RUSSERT: But, Mr. Ambassador, stop there, because we have 147,000 Americans.
AMB. BREMER: Correct.
MR. RUSSERT: The other 19 countries combined represent about 13,000 troops.
AMB. BREMER: That’s right.
MR. RUSSERT: That is a pretty difficult ratio for the American people to accept.

Why interesting? Watch where it's heading:

MR. RUSSERT: You know, General Shinseki, the Army Chief of Staff, said something months ago, and I asked Secretary Rumsfeld about it last week. I’m going to show you, and again, this is what he said: “‘I would say that what’s been mobilized to this point, something on the order of several hundred thousand soldiers,’ Shinseki said. ‘Assistance from friends and allies would be helpful.’”... That’s what we’re going to need. And at that time, “Pentagon officials have said that U.S. forces massed in the region number about 200,000.”
He was pretty accurate, wasn’t he?
AMB. BREMER: Well, we’ve got 147,000 already just in Iraq. I don’t know what the total number is in the region, but we have substantial, and in my belief, adequate numbers of troops. And incidentally, I think it’s important not to play the numbers game.

…MR. RUSSERT: There was a time when government officials at the Pentagon and the White House were saying that we would have about 50,000 troops this fall in Iraq. That was wildly optimistic, wasn’t it?
AMB. BREMER: Look, I’m just not going to play the numbers game, Tim. To me, this is a question for the military commanders.

He has good reason not to want to "play the numbers game" (though Russert was asking for a simple observation). Let's see how well Rumsfeld played the numbers game last week:

MR. RUSSERT: Let me take you back to February and a question-and-answer session with you, and here was the question: “Army Chief of Staff General Shinseki said it would take several hundred thousand troops on the ground to secure Iraq and provide stability. Is he wrong?” Rumsfeld: “What is, I think reasonably certain is, the idea that it would take several hundred thousand U.S. forces, I think, is far from the mark. ...it’s not logical to me that it would take as many forces ... following a conflict as it would to win the war.”
The fact is, we now have as many forces on the ground as it took to win the war. You suggested moments ago it may take more. In retrospect, wasn’t General Shinseki correct?
SEC’Y RUMSFELD: Well, put the quote back up.
MR. RUSSERT: Sure will.
SEC’Y RUMSFELD: He said several hundred thousand.
MR. RUSSERT: Right. Troops on the ground...
SEC’Y RUMSFELD: Troops on the ground...
MR. RUSSERT: ...to secure Iraq and provide stability.
SEC’Y RUMSFELD: He was talking about U.S.—the question was about U.S. servicemen.
MR. RUSSERT: It’s right here. “...take several hundred thousand troops on the ground...”
SEC’Y RUMSFELD: Right.
MR. RUSSERT: “...to secure Iraq and provide stability. Is he wrong?”
SEC’Y RUMSFELD: No.

Immediately after this Rumsfeld weaseled his way into talking about the troop strength currently in place, which is clearly not enough “...to secure Iraq and provide stability.”

SEC’Y RUMSFELD: Right. OK. How does one respond to that? First of all, General Shinseki is a fine officer. He was pressed and pressed in a congressional hearing for an answer, and he finally answered, saying that. He said it in good faith. Several hundred thousand is 300,000 and more. That’s what several hundred thousand means. We have had a total of 148,000 or 150,000 in there. That is not several hundred thousand.

And later, it continues:

MR. RUSSERT: But would it be worth, some would say, eating a little bit of crow and saying to the U.N., “We need your help,” and saying to the Germans and French, “We need your help”?
AMB. BREMER: You know, I don’t think it’s—you’re making it sound as if we’re resisting the idea of international forces coming in, and that’s just not true. I’ve already said we have 12 different nations that already have forces on the ground. Almost all the NATO members have forces on the ground...
MR. RUSSERT: But it’s a miniscule amount.
AMB. BREMER: ...and committed.
MR. RUSSERT: It’s 13,000; we have 147,000.
AMB. BREMER: Well...
MR. RUSSERT: The ratio is a little bit overextended.
AMB. BREMER: Well, Tim, we are the world’s great power right now, and with great power goes great responsibility.

Obviously the numbers game is not the spin method we want to use here.

We report. You decide.

Here's my favorite part, the thing that had me doubting my ears for a moment:

MR. RUSSERT: We had a situation the other day where one of the ranking Shiite clerics in Iraq called for an Islamic army, saying no to America, no to the devil. This was the scene yesterday as many of his supporters were protesting American presence. Would it be helpful in order to deal with Iraqis like this and the cleric Sadr, that there be more of an international flavor to the occupying force, so it would not be perceived by the Iraqis as simply a made-in-America operation?
AMB. BREMER: No. That, I don’t think, is the problem here. What we’re seeing is an understandable reaction by the Shia—he is a Shia cleric. They were crushed by Saddam over a period of, really, decades and, in fact, for centuries.

"Crushed by Saddam…for centuries." A slip of the tongue truly worthy of a Bush appointee.

On troop morale:

MR. RUSSERT: The American troops over there—it has been described as a guerrilla war, as a shooting gallery. The whole issue of morale has been front and center, as many of the American soldiers have been talking to the media. This was what the sergeant at the 2nd Battle Command team headquarters said. He was talking about the deck of cards of the Iraqi leadership, and he said this: “I’ve got my own ‘Most Wanted’ list. ... The aces in my deck are Paul Bremer, Donald Rumsfeld, George Bush and Paul Wolfowitz.”
How serious is the morale problem with our troops, who have been there since September, who believed they were going to be home and should be home?
AMB. BREMER: Well, I think it’s hard to make a general statement. I have visited with all of the American forces there. I have met probably thousands of American troops now. I don’t sense a major morale problem among them. Understandably, it’s not a very easy place to be. The temperatures, when you’re lucky, are 115 to 120. It’s a difficult assignment. But my sense is the American troops are there, they understand what they’re there for, they support the president’s goals there. They’re doing a magnificent job. So I don’t accept the hypothesis that we have a major morale problem among our troops. I just don’t think it’s true.

We report. You decide.

On Weapons of Mass Destruction:

MR. RUSSERT: And are you confident that you’ll also find weapons of mass destruction?
AMB. BREMER: I believe we will find evidence of the programs of chemical and biological weapons, yes.
MR. RUSSERT: How about the actual weapons?
AMB. BREMER: Well, I just don’t know. Let’s wait and see what the team that’s over there—we have a very large team of some 1,500 people under General Dayton with David Kay, who have begun operations there. Let’s just see what they come up with.

This point, I feel, is best addressed by Hesiod.

[Listening to: Lady Marmalade - Labelle]

LATER: I forgot that Liberal Oasis does a Sunday talk show synopsis every week. You can go there to see whar Hastert had to say. I'll probably get to Biden myself later because I REALLY enjoyed his segment.

posted by Prometheus 6 at 7/20/2003 11:06:40 PM |

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How do you complain about free?

I've had this problem with Blogger before: something happens that causes you major grief, but the grief giver is free.

I just lost a major amout of writing to an uninitialized object in w.bloggar. I've gotten that error before, but it was after posting rather than in the middle.

The worst thing is, it was cause by my using a drag-and-drop thing from a program I wrote myself. And it wasn't necessary.

I'm going to redo the post in HTML-Kit and copy it into w.bloggar to post it. But it might not be done tonight.

posted by Prometheus 6 at 7/20/2003 08:46:06 PM |

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A blogging ritual

The wishlist is in the local links. That's the last time I'll mention it.

posted by Prometheus 6 at 7/20/2003 04:25:36 PM |

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If I wasn't fed up with the Bush regime already this would do it

Read Oliver Willis.

[Listening to: One In A Million You - Larry Graham]

posted by Prometheus 6 at 7/20/2003 01:42:03 PM |

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Well, now you know how the African trip went over

Empahsis added by your host.

Bitterness in Bush's Wake

The Nation (Nairobi)
COLUMN
July 19, 2003
Posted to the web July 20, 2003

By David Makali / Beyond Politics
Nairobi

In a rather absurd way, the recent visit to Africa by US President George Bush lived up to the billing. Now back in Washington DC, it is doubtful if Mr Bush is more enlightened about the continent than before his sojourn.

The man hardly spent time on the African soil and, going by African wisdom - as enunciated by my colleague Charles Onyango-Obbo - his tour cannot qualify to be called a visit. An African visit is incomplete without sampling the hospitality of a special meal prepared by your host. Any excuses are condescending and contemptuous.

Now it is not in the interest of American presidents to attend to such folksy protocols. Bush was here for our needs and to pity us? Yet, from Senegal to Uganda, from South Africa to Nigeria, his visit seems to have provoked such anti-American outrage that should jolt Washington into some serious soul-searching.

Thanks to the Internet, I have been receiving correspondence on my list serve about how the Big Man's tour went in the places he passed. Let us take a brief stock.

You have probably read of how our neighbours, Uganda, spent nearly Sh250 million to prepare for a four-hour Bush stopover at Entebbe airport. A huge contingent of his Secret Service had been deployed to the country to literally pave the way for the visit, taking over the airport and clearing the area of humanity and vegetation in advance.

On the day he hopped in, last Saturday, regular flights to the Entebbe airport were either rescheduled or rerouted to elsewhere. His entourage of four planeloads annexed the airport and its surroundings. Not even local journalists were allowed near the man.

President Bush was dashed to a nearby home for children infected with Aids and stared at them for the duration of a short call to express his solidarity and encounter the Aids. Then he was back to the airport and shoo to Nigeria where they say he was a guest of President Olusegun Obasanjo and his family! The Ugandan opposition was left waxing about the whole episode.

Demonstrations in Kampala against the visit were nipped in the bud by ample security. What did they expect when the cowboy from Texas comes to town? He takes over your streets and displaces nature.

But woe befell the Senegalese, one of the lucky few countries to be visited by President Bush. The following account by a West African woman simply gave me goose pimples.

"Dearest friends," she wrote, "as you probably know, this week George Bush is visiting Africa. Starting with Senegal, he arrived this morning at 7.20 and left at 1.30 pm. This visit has been such an ordeal that a petition is being circulated for this Tuesday, July 8, to be named Dependency Day."

She goes on to narrate the horrendous experience in anecdotes: "More than 1,500 persons were arrested and put in jail on Thursday and Monday. Hopefully they will be released now that the Big Man is gone. US Army's planes are flying day and night over Dakar. The noise they make is so loud that one hardly sleeps at night.

"[There were] about 700 security people from the US, with their dogs and their cars. Senegalese security forces were not allowed to come near the US President. All trees in places where Mr Bush will pass have been cut. Some of them have more than 100 years.

"All roads going downtown (where hospitals, businesses, schools are located) were closed from Monday night to Tuesday at 3 pm. This means that we could not go to our offices or schools. Sick people were also obliged to stay at home. National exams for high schools that started on Monday [were] postponed until Wednesday."

There are moments when we imagine that we are independent until Uncle Sam steps on our sovereignty. If Codou is to be believed, Mr Bush's visit to Senegal rekindled melancholic memories of slavery indeed.

"As you may know Goree is a small Island facing Dakar where, from the 15th to the 19th century, African slaves to be shipped to America were parked in special houses called slave houses," she reminds us.

"One of these houses has become a museum to remind humanity about this dark period and has been visited by kings, queens, presidents. Bill, Hillary and Chelsea Clinton, and before them, Nelson Mandela, the Pope, and many other distinguished guests or ordinary tourists visited it without bothering the islanders. But for "security reasons" this time, the local population was chased out of their houses from 5 to 12 am.

"They were forced by the American security to leave their houses and everything open, including their wardrobes to be searched by special dogs brought from the US. The ferry that links the island to Dakar was topped and offices and businesses were closed for the day.

Angry Senegalese organised marches to protest at the disruption of their lives and the demeanour of their visitor but they did not go far. Clearly, the conduct of the United States offends the old wisdom that, when you are strong, you do not have to throw your weight around to be noticed.

Although the United States is trying hard to portray itself as a caring state, its unilateralism and arrogant actions continue to communicate a different message altogether. The righteous tone of Bush statements is prompting questions about America's unbridled quest to dominate the world.

In Mr Bush's garb, you will find it implied that the United States is God's anointed nation to save the world and he, the chosen instrument of that misplaced mission. Bush's statements make it improbable that you can stop America without first halting the man's search for greatness.

Bush intends to achieve greatness by making Americans and the rest of the world feel more vulnerable than they are really, while he passes off as the arch-guardian. Considering the after-taste left in the trail of his visits, you will agree that we are still the better off without his blessings or protection.

Happy birthday, Madiba! You have given something to the world that not even weapons of mass stupidity can destroy! You are the greatest of the generation and the moral force of the century. You are Africa's moral challenge to the world and the personification of triumph over human suffering.

Mr Makali is the director of the Media Institute.

[Listening to: Me And Baby Brother - War]

posted by Prometheus 6 at 7/20/2003 12:47:55 PM |

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I hate even reporting on stuff like this

What the hell happened to the exile agreement?

Rebel Forces Return to Liberian Capital
As rocket blasts pound Monrovia, civilians flee the suburbs. President Taylor urges his troops to fight to the last man.
By Ann M. Simmons
Times Staff Writer

July 20, 2003

MONROVIA, Liberia -- Rebels battling to oust President Charles Taylor entered the capital Saturday, pushing tens of thousands of civilians and retreating soldiers farther downtown.

Exploding rockets continued into the night after a day of heavy machine gun and mortar fire. Rebels crossed the St. Paul Bridge that marks the boundary of the city, putting them within three miles of the city center.

Dressed in full combat gear, Taylor took to the streets of Monrovia and called on his troops to fight until the last man. He vowed to stick with his soldiers to the bitter end.

"I say to you, my people, I will be here with you," Taylor said. "I will stay here with you. I will go no place until I am convinced that the international forces are here and in sufficient quantities [so] that I can no longer worry how many of you will die or how many of you can expect to be blown away by some bomb.

"I am with you to the end," the president continued. "This is my country. I live with you and I die with this."

Rebel leaders attending peace talks in the nearby Ghanaian capital of Accra denied that they had plans to seize Monrovia and accused Taylor's troops of provoking a fight.

"The government has sent people out to harass our people and attack us," said Gen. Joe Wylie, a senior military advisor for the rebel movement known as Liberians United for Reconciliation and Democracy. He spoke by phone from Ghana. "We are not going to attack Monrovia," he said, even as rebels troops were advancing.

Civilians were not prepared to take any chances. As dawn broke Saturday, thousands straggled into town from Monrovia's far-flung northwestern suburbs: men and boys with sacks of clothes and mattresses balanced atop their heads; women, babies strapped to their backs, toting plastic buckets stuffed with meager bundles of their belongings.

[Listening to: i want to be - Devorah Major]

posted by Prometheus 6 at 7/20/2003 12:34:27 PM |

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Meet the Press

Paul Bremer. He "refuse[s] to play the numbers game" when asked about the number of troops that will be needed in Iraq and past estimates thereof. And when asked about the Shia's demand for an Iraqi military and the exit of US troops he said it was because they were repressed by Saddam Hussein for so long…I'd swear I heard him say it was for centuries.

Hastert: BUSTED. After trying to justify the war by invoking 9/11 in great detail, had to admit that Iraq wasn't involved. Oh, but Al Qaida was training in northern Iraq. Never mind that Saddam hadn't been in control of that area for so long it shouldn't have even been called part of Iraq by this time last year.

Biden: BUSTED THE REPUBLICANS. Says the current junta in Washington is childish for trying to keep control to themselves (okay, he didn't say "junta").

Russert: Asked the Repuglicans some hard questions at last

Another must-read transcript. If only to find out if I'm nuts with that centuries thing.

[Listening to: Sexy M.F. - Prince]

posted by Prometheus 6 at 7/20/2003 10:57:17 AM |

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Here's a right interesting thought

Okay, so they got me reading The Volokh Conspiracy, and I have to admit it's pretty good. ZenPundit will have some company as soon as I have a moment.

This morning I see a cute thing:

Oh, and don't even dream of asking whether the federal government's civil war debt should have been considered valid. After all, as section 4 of the Fourteenth Amendment tells us, "The validity of the public debt of the United States, authorized by law, including debts incurred for payment of pensions and bounties for services in suppressing insurrection or rebellion, shall not be questioned."'

My favorite amendments are numbers nine (which no one ever wants to discuss), thirteen, and fifteen. I like number fourteen as well, but it's been twisted and tortured until its intent barely adheres to it anymore. But here comes the interesting thing, which I'd probably never thought of if I had eaten breakfast and therefore been in a nicer mood. I draw your attention to Section 2 of Amendment XIV, the very amendment the SCOTUS used to scuttle the recount in Florida:

Section 2. Representatives shall be apportioned among the several states according to their respective numbers, counting the whole number of persons in each state, excluding Indians not taxed. But when the right to vote at any election for the choice of electors for President and Vice President of the United States, Representatives in Congress, the executive and judicial officers of a state, or the members of the legislature thereof, is denied to any of the male inhabitants of such state, being twenty-one years of age, and citizens of the United States, or in any way abridged, except for participation in rebellion, or other crime, the basis of representation therein shall be reduced in the proportion which the number of such male citizens shall bear to the whole number of male citizens twenty-one years of age in such state.

Now, given that Florida, by settling a suit brought by the NAACP admitted they wrongfully prevented great numbers of people from voting, and given that the DOJ has pressed its own suit along the same lines, shouldn't Florida be losing some representation in Congress?

Just a thought…

[Listening to: Stir It Up - Bob Marley and The Wailers]

posted by Prometheus 6 at 7/20/2003 10:39:37 AM |

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Yeah, this sounds about right

morally deficient
Threat rating: Medium. Your total lack of decent
family values makes you dangerous, but we can
count on some right wing nutter blowing you up
if you become too high profile.

What threat to the Bush administration are you?
brought to you by Quizilla

[Listening to: Lost Ones - Lauryn Hill]

posted by Prometheus 6 at 7/20/2003 09:53:54 AM |

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I like when this happens

Richard at Surfing the Tsunami found a nice summary of our modern American modifications to fascism.

Do we live in a democracy? Do we care?

So what is the state of the country now? Are we interested in having a discussion about the erosion in our core values and principles, or do most of us already know which way the wind blows and the rest just don't care? I think opinions like this below are interesting because at long last, the great mass of formerly complacent middle of the road readers is now being treated to responsible, albeit slow to the mark journalists telling us things like we are living in a Fascist state. Will they hear? Do they care? Just a bunch of Ivory-tower socialists? I think it's possible that Ma and Pa Kettle are beginning to smell something. Maybe this will help them figure it out.

Now I don't have to go into it.

[Listening to: Undenied - Portishead ]

posted by Prometheus 6 at 7/20/2003 07:34:20 AM |

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Nothing need be added

From CalPundit

U.S. News has learned that a document prepared by Cheney's chief of staff, Lewis "Scooter" Libby, at almost exactly the same time as the State of the Union address omitted any reference to Iraqi efforts to obtain uranium from Niger. The chronology of events is puzzling--even to insiders: On Saturday, January 25, just three days before the address, officials gathered in the White House Situation Room to vet intelligence on Iraq's weapons of mass destruction programs and its links to terrorism. Libby made the presentation. After several hours, Libby summarized the conclusions of the meeting and turned them into a written case for war against Saddam.

Libby's document was sent to Secretary of State Colin Powell; it was intended as the "script" for his presentation to the United Nations on February 5. The puzzler: The charge that Iraq sought uranium from Niger was not in Libby's paper. Why not? "The agency had so discredited it," says one participant, "they didn't want to bring it up."

Puzzling indeed. If I were President Bush, I'd be pissed. Apparently Cheney and Libby figured that Powell was too smart to let the uranium claim sneak into any speech he was reading, but that Bush would happily recite whatever they put in front of him. That's not a very pretty picture, is it?

Not pretty…but likely accurate.

[Listening to: Just Be My Lady - Larry Graham]

posted by Prometheus 6 at 7/20/2003 06:59:19 AM |

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You know what I think?

I think Tom Toles has had enough.

[Listening to: Why - Annie Lennox]

posted by Prometheus 6 at 7/20/2003 06:22:11 AM |

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We owe Aaron McGruder a debt

He may have headed off the administration with this cartoon.

[Listening to: Something Real - Phoebe Snow]

posted by Prometheus 6 at 7/20/2003 06:18:05 AM |

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Well. I guess that's one possible response

They can do more than bag groceries

AN UNEMPLOYMENT rate of 6.4 percent should be a wake-up call to economists, theorists, and business leaders that they are not creating jobs fast enough to employ the skilled talent that is idle. These folks can do assembly, test, computation, and scientific inquiry. They do not want jobs in retail stores, watering rich men's lawns, or bagging groceries. The unemployed need jobs in mathematics, science, and engineering. It is time to invest in these folks. They should be building ships, planes, tanks, and war machinery to protect this nation from internal and external threats.

I assume that all the other jobes will be outsourced.

Don't we already spend more on weapnry and such than all the other countries in the world combined? Come on, people, we must be beginning to look like the Cult of Thanatos to the rest of the world.

[Listening to: Didn't I (Blow Your Mind This - Regina Belle]

posted by Prometheus 6 at 7/20/2003 06:02:00 AM |

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Music

Typically, I am an Old Skool Dude. James Brown. Blue Magic. That time frame. I like jazz a lot, and cool jazz is cool by me. Not much hip-hop in my life; it's gotta be bangin' for me to approach it. I leaped right past it to New Age and World Music. And techno. And ambient.

All that because:

[Listening to: Genuine (Groove Salad: a nicely chilled plate of ambient beats and grooves. [SomaFM]) - Deep Draw ]

and I want to remember it.

Thing is, it's haaaaaard to find a lot of the stuff Groove Salad plays.

posted by Prometheus 6 at 7/20/2003 05:04:30 AM |

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Who's side are you on?

I can see RSS feeds are going to be interesting.

First, a bit of prologue. A while back I posted a bit about the DNC explaining their decision to lay off a bunch of folks, all of whom just happened to be Black. The article I quoted wasfrom a site I'd never been to before, NewMax…and I can see you all smirking, so just shut up. In the post I noted the language they chose and asked, "This is a right wing site, right?" A number of people gently informed me how great a understatement that was. Since then I've been a bit more careful about posting stuff from unfamiliar "news" sites.

Okay.

After installing Feedreader I subscribed to Moreover's Black Interest News (of course). Last update I got this real interesting headline: In make-up speech recommends NAACP boss with no law degree. Curious as to what it's about, I read the article, which says:

A few days after being declared "persona non grata" by the NAACP, Democratic presidential candidate Joe Lieberman suggested in a speech to the group that its leader, Kweisi Mfume, would make a good Supreme Court justice, the New Republic reported.

Mfume, however, has never been to law school.

Something strikes me wrong about this. The site is one I'd never read before…WorldNetDaily, and I can see you all smirking so just shut up. I look around a bit before I decide to post this thing.

I see an interview with the Coulter thing. Okay, but the NY Times had an article about it and I still post their stuff, so this isn't fatal.

Then I see a column by one Kyle Williams, a potato faced, home-programmed 14 year old rhetoric spout saying nonsense like:

You do not have a right to education.

You do not have a right to good food, though welfare is attempting to take care of that.

In the midst of problems in the economy, we hear from politicians who speak of a "right" to employment. There is no right to a good job.

What is the common problem with all of these so-called "rights"? Each one requires that the government facilitate and provide for these "rights" – something that is not the government's role.

The issue is not that providing food, health care, employment and education is a problem, except for it being unconstitutional. The issue is that if a government were to provide these social services, it brings everyone down to the lowest common denominator in quality.

Just look at health care in Britain and Canada – it's a wreck. Looking at the quality of the rest of our government, I somehow don't see how food and government-funded nutrition would be any better.

Additionally, it's insane to say that we all have a right to employment unless you want to open up the possibility that everyone work for federal and state governments. FDR took a stab at it, but our government was never intended to create and retain programs that employ millions.

Lastly, America is already an example of what happens when we look at education as a human right – our government educational system is in shambles.

This is fatal.

But did Lieberman really say this? I'm kind of amazed. They're attributing the report to The New Republic, and we're not in the habit of setting ourselves up are we? So I turn to "Google News: The Blogger's Friend" and search on "lieberman naacp supreme court." 182 hits, and the first four, in order are from NewsMax, ChronWatch (whoever they are), WorldNetDaily and TNR. And when I got to TNR, I get this:

07.17.03

LIEBERMAN GOES TOO FAR
by Jason Zengerle

Candidate: Joe Lieberman
Category: Political Courage
Grade: F

Joe Lieberman obviously made a mistake when he skipped the July 13 candidate forum the NAACP held at its annual convention--a move that prompted NAACP president Kweisi Mfume to declare him (along with fellow no-shows Dick Gephardt and Dennis Kucinich) "persona non grata" in the black community. It therefore made sense for Lieberman to try to make amends by calling Mfume the next day to apologize and then, two days after that, to travel to Miami to give a make-up speech to the convention.

But Lieberman's actual speech took things way too far. After offering the NAACP another apology for skipping the candidates' forum and then ticking off his own civil rights credentials, Lieberman praised the NAACP for its work during the Florida recount. That's when things became absurd. "We didn't realize at the time, Al Gore and I, that we not only needed Kweisi Mfume fighting for justice here in Florida counting votes," Lieberman said, "we need him on the Supreme Court where the votes really counted. Maybe that'll happen some day."

So Lieberman--a man who once questioned affirmative action--is now saying that he'll put Kweisi Mfume--a man who, according to his biography on the NAACP website, has not even attended law school--on the Supreme Court? Nothing like compounding an initial mistake.

posted 2:33 p.m.

and in response, this:

07.18.03

LIEBERMAN'S CAMPAIGN RESPONDS
by Jonathan Sallet, Communications Director
in response to: LIEBERMAN GOES TOO FAR by Jason Zengerle

The Lieberman Campaign appreciates Jason Zengerle's appreciation of Joe Lieberman's public acknowledgment he made a mistake in not attending the NAACP conference. Unlike the current occupant of the White House, Joe Lieberman has no problem accepting responsibility for his actions.

We did not appreciate, however, Zengerle's lack of appreciation of the joke Lieberman told about having Kweisi Mfume on the Supreme Court. It's a shame Zengerle was not in the room--he would have clearly seen that this was no effort of overcompensation, but a nod to the unfairness of the Supreme Court's decision in 2000 that was delivered in jest and received as such.

In fact, if Zengerle had bothered to check, he would have found that this is a joke that Lieberman has frequently used in the past--most recently at the Human Rights Campaign forum on Tuesday, with Elizabeth Birch as the mock justice.

In light of this, we humbly suggest that TNR put out an APB for its funny bone.

posted 11:39 a.m.

Let's let pass the fact that Mr. Lieberman's joke isn't funny; this isn't some sort of heated reference to indicate I'm insulted or anything, I'm saying if this is the best he has he needs a new joke writer. My question is, what the hell is TNR thinking? You have to realize when a news organ that purports to be pro-Democratic feeds sites like NewsMax and WorldNetDaily something is decidedly wrong with their spin.

It's like they want to chase Mr. Lieberman away from any leftward trajectory at all. Given that their "Primary" page has links to the candidates' campaign sites except for Mosely-Braun's, Sharpton's and Kucinich's, this is a strong possibility. It is also a stupidity. Lieberman is as far left as he's ever going to be.

I'm shutting down Feedreader for the night. It just shipped me another bunch of interesting headlines and if I even glance at them I'll be up all night.

[Listening to: The first flight (HOUSEMUSIQUE - Deep Underground House Grooves from NETMUSIQUE) - Physics]

posted by Prometheus 6 at 7/20/2003 12:49:15 AM |

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