Prometheus 6

Black Press Alert!

...So all of you within earshot should note that Poynter Online has an article which merits your comments.

Do the right thing.

Bush's Barberini Faun

By MAUREEN DOWD

..."Jeff Gannon" was waved into the press room nearly every day for two years as the conservative correspondent for two political Web sites operated by a wealthy Texas Republican. Scott McClellan often called on the pseudoreporter for softball questions.

...I'm still mystified by this story. I was rejected for a White House press pass at the start of the Bush administration, [P6: emphasis added because I didn't know that] but someone with an alias, a tax evasion problem and Internet pictures where he posed like the "Barberini Faun" is credentialed to cover a White House that won a second term by mining homophobia and preaching family values?

I'm starting to think Star Parker is fictitious.

Transforming moral problems into politics
Star Parker
February 15, 2005

Am I pushing the envelope too far to suggest that there is common ground between the politics of slavery and the politics of Social Security?

Not like I'm a fan of the game either...

Game Makers Sued for 'Training' Murder Suspect
By Tracy L. Scott, BET.com Staff Writer

Posted Feb. 16, 2005  Did the video games make him do it? That s what a lawsuit filed Tuesday in Alabama suggests.

Steve Strickland and Henry Mealer are suing the manufacturers of  Grand Theft Auto  citing the games influence on 19-year-old Devin Thompson, who is accused of killing relatives of Strickland and Mealer.

Seeking more than $600 million in punitive damages, the suit names Sony, makers of PlayStation 2; Take-Two Interactive Software, the game manufacturers; Wal-Mart; and Gamestop stores, where Thompson allegedly purchased the games, according to the Tuscaloosa News.

Quote of note:

The reason Gannon/Guckert matters is because this administration has mainstreamed evil, has made it a dull hum in the background.

The Rude Pundit (who I hope will forgive my lifting just about the entire post):

See, the Rude Pundit hoped beyond hope that the following would be revealed: apparently Gannon/Guckert was, really, truly a cockmonger of extraordinary appetites. Or, to put it simply, it looks like lil' J. D. Guckert was a gay male prostitute. For $1200, you could spend the weekend with Guckert, who, ya know, has got a nice body although he's got an odd, clumpy penis/balls combination. For $200, you could have an hour. And one imagines that getting access to the President of the United States would make one's price go up. Guckert could now put out an ad wherein you could pay $350 to shove your dick in the mouth that asked Bush a question. For an extra $50, you can slap him around and call him an "enabling little bitch."

Abiola at Foreign Dispatches linked to Kurt Anderson's essay on the Iraqi Elections, the substance of which is

Each of us has a Hobbesian choice concerning Iraq; either we hope for the vindication of Bush's risky, very possibly reckless policy, or we are in a de-facto alliance with the killers of American soldiers and Iraqi civilians. We can be angry with Bush for bringing us to this nasty ethical crossroads, but here we are nonetheless.

That is the STOOOPITEST description of the situation I have ever seen. And I'm a New Yorker too.

We are not hoping for vindication of Bush's policy, but for recovery from it. The goal is to minimize the damage. That "de-facto alliance" crap is for minds that can't handle more that two options at a time.

Ever since Rick Santorum brought up the dark spectre of man-on-dog sex, it seems the Bushstas talk about beastiality every chance they get. It seems once the thought entered their mind they couldn't get it out.

Justice Dept. Fights Ruling on Obscenity
By ERIC LICHTBLAU

WASHINGTON, Feb. 16 - In a case representing a major test of the Bush administration's campaign against pornography, the Justice Department said Wednesday that it would appeal a recent decision by a federal judge that declared federal obscenity laws unconstitutional.

The Justice Department said that if the judge's interpretation of federal law was upheld, it would undermine not only anti-obscenity prohibitions, but also laws against prostitution, bigamy, bestiality and others "based on shared views of public morality."

Come on, Republican people.You can do better than that, right?

5 Units of Military Reserve Miss Recruiting Goals

By ERIC SCHMITT

WASHINGTON, Feb. 16 - In a sign of continued stress on the armed forces from operations in Iraq, five of the six military reserve components have failed to meet their recruiting goals for the first four months of the current fiscal year, the military's top officer said on Wednesday.

The officer, Gen. Richard B. Myers, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, told the House Armed Services Committee that only the Marine Corps Reserve had achieved its recruiting quota through January.

General Myers said the Army Reserve and the National Guard had been particularly hard hit because the Army was retaining more soldiers on active duty instead of letting them retire and join the reserve.

Quotes of note:

The sandwich is said to bear the image of the Virgin Mary in its grill marks. It was cooked 10 years ago by a Florida woman, who sold it in November to an Internet casino for $28,000. The casino took the sandwich on a nationwide tour, out of the goodness of its heart.

"People need to find spirituality these days,'' said Eric Amgar, the sandwich's advance man. "There's nothing wrong with helping them to do that.''

...along with the Virgin Mary statue you get to see the skull with the spike through it, and also the portrait of Rudolph Valentino made from laundry dryer lint.

S.F. takes grilled sandwich with a dab of skepticism at Believe It or Not Museum
Virgin Mary image supposedly can be seen in grill pattern
- Steve Rubenstein, Chronicle Staff Writer
Thursday, February 17, 2005

The possibly miraculous grilled cheese sandwich arrived in San Francisco on Wednesday, accompanied by bodyguards.

It will be here for five days only. The grilled cheese sandwich has prior commitments and cannot long remain.

"We're excited to have it,'' said Ian Iljas, manager of the Ripley's Believe It or Not Museum at Fisherman's Wharf, which is hosting the sandwich during its Bay Area visit.

Quote of note:

The expanded list would feature some of California's highest-performing school districts, including Santa Monica-Malibu Unified and Cupertino Union near San Jose. Even though these districts are well regarded, they could still find themselves publicly labeled as troubled if certain groups of their students   those in special education, for example   were not making enough progress.

U.S. May Force California to Call More School Districts Failures
By Duke Helfand
Times Staff Writer

February 17, 2005

The Bush administration is pressing California to toughen its rules for identifying failing school districts   a change that could add 310 school systems to a watch list this year and eventually threaten the jobs of superintendents and school board members throughout the state.

"D'oh!" of note:

Greenspan warned that establishing the investment accounts could have a major effect on interest rates. He did not say what that effect might be, but other economists have said that new borrowing by the government as part of creating the accounts might have the effect of driving up interest rates.

If Bush changed his position that is, indeed, headline news. Too bad he still hasn't changed to the right position. His priorities are still screwed.

We know for a fact that privatizing Social Security in and of itself does nothing to balance its books. Yet that is still the central goal in Bush's plans. And it is, shall we say, less than clear balancing Social Security is the goal...or that his position has changed more than rhetorically.

On Wednesday, Bush spokesman Trent Duffy made no attempt to clarify Bush's remarks to the regional reporters that all options but a tax rate increase were under consideration, saying the president did not necessarily contradict himself.

"Just because options are on the table doesn't mean he's endorsed anything," Duffy said. "This is just a good sign of the president's willingness to be flexible and open to ideas."

In fact, Grover "date rape" Norquist thinks Bush is lying.

Grover Norquist, a leading anti-tax activist and advisor to the White House on Social Security, said he did not believe that Bush would agree to raising the $90,000 cap, despite the apparent shift in his public negotiating position. But he acknowledged that the president's remarks would rattle some conservatives.

"Should it make us nervous when somebody says, 'I would think about cutting off your fingers,' even if you don't think he really would? Yes. It makes one nervous," Norquist said. "I understand that it's his job to say, 'Let's come to the table and have a conversation.' He's counting on the fact that once you get in the room, the American people will demand personal savings accounts, and they will not demand higher taxes."

(By the way, I know Dick Armey was the one who coined the phrase. That's kind of beside the point though, isn't it?)

If fixing Social Security forever is really the goal, then anything that doesn't approach that goal should be taken off the table. The goal is difficult enough; why add issues over which there is severe disagreement and which do not help achieve that goal?

Anyway...

Bush Shifts Pension Stance
He says he is open to a higher Social Security tax cap to fund his plan for private accounts. Greenspan endorses a cautious approach.
By Peter Wallsten and Joel Havemann
Times Staff Writers

Nichelle was good enough to point out this from the NY Daily News

A few employees at Condé Nast's Times Square headquarters - whose fourth-floor cafeteria offers an "International Table" menu highlighting a designated foreign cuisine - were rolling their eyes yesterday.

The International Table offering for Feb. 15?

"African-American," said signs posted around the Frank Gehry-designed lunchroom, touting "Jamaican beef patties, shrimp jambalaya, rice, okra, corn, black-eyed pea stew, deviled eggs and biscuits."

Admittedly, Si Newhouse's publishing empire - led by such slick monthlies as Vanity Fair, Vogue, Glamour and Gourmet, not to mention the weekly New Yorker - isn't famous for emphasizing people of color, either as profile subjects or subscribers.

This month, of the 18 titles listed on the Condé Nast Web site, only GQ features a black person (Oscar nominee Jamie Foxx) on the cover.

But African-Americans as foreigners?

"It's really disgraceful," an offended Condé Nast staffer told me.

I'll let yo got to the page to see what Rev. Al had to say about it...

In return, I'd like to reduce any panic I may have invoked over the F.E.C. (See What the Fuck?). I posted pretty much the same thing at The American Street, and Kevin Hayden shipped me the URL for a brand spanking new page what discusses it a bit. Says they'll be looking at bloggers that formally support candidates and raise money for them. Gets into the "Kos should fess up" permathread that I do not participate in (since I'm a Black partisan rather than a political party partisan, I got no dog in that hunt).

I need to take a break from my various obsessions. Maybe I'll grab a copy of Time Out New York and pick something to do that I've never done before. Maybe a nice restaurant that serves 18-21 year old scotch...it's been over a year since I've had good scotch.

If I'm smart I'll stay away from the bookstores...

Don't know if you'll see any postings here before this evening...I'm NOT taking the laptop. Might do an Internet cafe but I doubt it.

From United for a Fair Economy's State of the Dream 2005 (pdf)

Key Findings

President Bush’s Ownership Society goals may appear at first to be consistent with Dr. Martin Luther King’s dream of economic opportunity for all races, but during the first Bush administration, the United States actually moved farther away from Dr. King’s vision.

1. The employment and income picture has gotten worse for people of color since 2000, eroding the progress made during the 1990s.
• In 2000 the African American unemployment rate reached a historic low of 7.1%. It has been 9.9% or higher since January 2002.
• Latino / Hispanic unemployment rates also dropped from 8.0% in 1988 to 5.7% in 2000, but rose again in the last four years.
• About half of the progress in the median income of people of color from 1996 to 2000 was wiped out in the following three years.
• After slowly increasing from 55% of white income in 1988 to 65% in 2000, Black median income fell again to 62% in 2003. For the first time in 15 years, the average Latino household now has an income that is less than two-thirds that of the average white household.
• Throughout the 1990s, poverty rates fell across the board, declining fastest for African Americans and Latinos. But since 2000, more than one third of that progress in reducing poverty among African-American families has been erased, as 300,000 African-American families fell below the poverty line from 2000 to 2003.

2. Private retirement income and inheritances remain scarce among people of color.
• African Americans have less in private pensions and retirement accounts, and so depend more heavily on Social Security. They would be more affected than whites by any privatization plan that made benefits uncertain.
• Previous generations of race-based discrimination leaves a legacy for people of color, who are far less likely to get inheritances than white Americans.

3. Ownership of homes, stock and businesses remains disproportionately in white hands.
• While homeownership is up for all races, most people of color still rent, while three-quarters of white families own their homes. The Bush administration’s plans to boost homeownership don’t adequately address obstacles facing potential homebuyers of color, including discrimination and affordability
• Business owners of color, who are largely small business owners, received only minor tax breaks from the four Bush tax cuts. Most tax breaks for business and investors have landed with those who are wealthy and white.

Closing the racial wealth divide will require a new “GI Bill for Everyone,” a comprehensive federal investment in low-income families and communities, with an emphasis on people of color. Progressive taxes on wealthy individuals and profitable corporations are needed to fund a real Ownership Society.

I just think that if you're willing to take human life, your ass needs to be on the ground. It should never be easy and safe to kill masses of people. It should never be easy and safe to kill even one.

There was a time that Warrior, Defender, was an honorable profession. All we got is soldiers now.

Anyway...

A New Model Army Soldier Rolls Closer to the Battlefield
By TIM WEINER
Published: February 16, 2005

The American military is working on a new generation of soldiers, far different from the army it has.

"They don't get hungry," said Gordon Johnson of the Joint Forces Command at the Pentagon. "They're not afraid. They don't forget their orders. They don't care if the guy next to them has just been shot. Will they do a better job than humans? Yes."

Maybe it's me, but I've seen a lot of really bizarre conceptual juxtapositions this morning.

That said, I would LOVE to see these presentations. I'd like to see what the Feds are promoting.

US EMBASSY COMMEMORATES AFRICAN AMERICAN HISTORY MONTH IN UZBEKISTAN

Alumni of US Government-funded education and exchange programmes marked the celebration of African American History Month on 15 February at Hotel Grand-Orzu in Tashkent.

US Ambassador John Purnell hosted the event focused on the contributions of Jackie Robinson, the first African American to play professional baseball in the US major leagues. After watching a documentary about Jackie Robinson's life, Ambassador Purnell and Embassy Political Counsellor Sylvia Curran, an African American, discussed the importance of Jackie Robinson's breaking of the "colour barrier" into the US professional sports.

Throughout the rest of February, the Embassy is planning to host a series of movies that highlight different aspects of the African American experience in the United States.

The US celebrates African American History Month each February in order to recognise the vital contributions that African American have made in the US and throughout the world.

Quote of note:

"Right now people don't want to hear about politics. I don't speak about apartheid; I speak about living with those scars and being reflective about it, and trying to understand it."

Black History Month in the present
By: Joseph Galiwango
February.15.2005

South African bands seldom perform rap shows to sold-out crowds in Toronto, but after packing houses for eight straight nights throughout southern Ontario, the African Way Tour filled the Revival club on the first Friday of February.

The setting for the night, Little Italy, where socialites come to party without the messiness, isn't what you might expect from an African hip-hop extravaganza.

Quote of note:

But in 2005 it takes an act of willful blindness not to see that the Bush plan for Social Security is intended, in essence, to dismantle the most important achievement of the New Deal. The Republicans themselves say so: the push for privatization is following the playbook laid out in a 1983 Cato Journal article titled "A 'Leninist' Strategy," and in a White House memo declaring that "for the first time in six decades, the Social Security battle is one we can win - and in doing so, we can help transform the political and philosophical landscape of the country."

The Fighting Moderates
By PAUL KRUGMAN

Presented without comment.