Prometheus 6

Yesterday’s indictment and Mr. Kerik’s whole troubled record raise questions about Mr. Giuliani’s judgment. The men have an extraordinarily close bond. Mr. Giuliani plucked Mr. Kerik from obscurity to make him correction commissioner. He made him police commissioner even though he may have been briefed about Mr. Kerik’s ties to the company suspected of links to organized crime. Mr. Giuliani also made him a partner in his security business and promoted him for the Homeland Security Department post.

Indicting Mr. Kerik

Bernard Kerik’s indictment on fraud and corruption charges is disturbing on its own, but it also raises broader issues. It is sobering to think how close Mr. Kerik came to becoming secretary of the Homeland Security Department, and it is also troubling that Rudolph Giuliani, a leading candidate for president, has been so close to him for so long, as a friend, boss and business partner.

Obama says Iowa voters are beyond race
By MIKE GLOVER, Associated Press Writer
Fri Nov 9, 6:12 PM ET

Barack Obama says voters in Iowa, though relatively few are black like him, care little about that and much more about whether he'd be a president who would make their lives better.

"I am getting a fair hearing and I will get a fair hearing and I think we're going to win this place," Obama said Friday, campaigning for the Iowa caucuses that are now just eight weeks away.

"People are less concerned about race and much more concerned about, is this somebody who is going to be fighting for me," he said.

Obama is among the top tier of Democrats in polls in Iowa, along with Hillary Rodham Clinton and John Edwards, and electability in the 2008 election against the Republican nominee is a top issue among Democratic activists.

The Illinois senator says he's encountered concerns before about whether voters are ready to support a black candidate.

Rice's Management at Issue
Critics Cite Blackwater, Baghdad Embassy and Passports
By Glenn Kessler
Washington Post Staff Writer
Saturday, November 10, 2007; A01

Shortly after Condoleezza Rice took charge of the 57,000-person State Department in 2005, she said she relished the challenge of "line responsibility" in leading a large organization. "I really enjoy that," she said in an interview. "Some of my favorite times here have been my budget and high-level management reviews."

Nearly three years later, Rice is under fire from inside and outside the State Department for a range of crises that are largely managerial in nature -- the failure to monitor private security guards in Iraq, the delays in opening the huge U.S. Embassy under construction in Baghdad and the resistance of some Foreign Service officers to being forced to serve there. Over the summer, the department also fell woefully short in processing passport applications, resulting in ruined vacation plans for many Americans.

Within the department, Rice is viewed by many rank-and-file employees as an aloof manager who relies on a tight circle of aides, leaving her out of touch with the rest of the staff, in contrast to her predecessor, Colin L. Powell, a retired Army general who won praise from workers for treating them as though they were his "troops." At her last town hall meeting with employees 2 1/2 years ago, Rice told staffers: "I consider myself the chief management officer of this department." But a poll by the American Foreign Service Association indicated that an overwhelming majority did not feel that Rice was their advocate.

“We have an economy that is based on increased debt,” said Mr. Hinchey. “The national debt is now slightly above $9 trillion, and ordinary working people are finding that they have to borrow more and more to maintain their standard of living."

“The average now is that people are spending close to 10 percent more than they earn every month. Obviously, that can’t be sustained.”

Recession? What Recession?
By BOB HERBERT

If it looks like a recession and feels like a recession ...

“Quite frankly,” said Senator Charles Schumer, peering over his glasses at the Fed chairman, Ben Bernanke, “I think we are at a moment of economic crisis, stemming from four key areas: falling housing prices, lack of confidence in creditworthiness, the weak dollar and high oil prices.”

He asked Mr. Bernanke, at a Congressional hearing Thursday, if we were headed toward a recession.

An aide handed the chairman his dancing shoes, and Mr. Bernanke executed a flawless version of the Washington waffle. He said: “Our forecast is for moderate, but positive, growth going forward.” He said: “Economists are extremely bad at predicting turning points, and we don’t pretend to be any better.” He said: “We have not calculated the probability of recession, and I wouldn’t want to offer that today.”

With all due respect to the chairman, he would see the recession that so many others are feeling if he would only open his eyes. While Mr. Bernanke and others are waiting for the official diagnosis (a decline in the gross domestic product for two successive quarters), the disease is spreading and has been spreading for some time.

The law center said CompuCredit’s financial statements revealed that the issuer “collected $400 million in fees from a portfolio of fee harvester cards that by mid-2007 had saddled cardholders with nearly $1 billion in debt.” The company issued a statement, reported this week on National Public Radio (npr.org), calling the report “misleading.” It also sent a letter to the law center before the report was published insisting, among other things, that its cards “meet or exceed the federal regulatory requirements and industry best practices.” 

I bet they do. 

A typical example the law center offered was this: a card issued with a credit limit of $250. After a $95 program fee, a $29 setup fee, a $6 monthly “participation” fee and a $48 annual fee, the consumer winds up with “an instant debt of $178 and buying power of only $72.”

Included in the report is the tale of a sailor on leave who charged $85 to her new card. Because of all the fees, that put her over her $250 limit, which led to penalties and a balance of more than $300.

Sounds like Providian changed its name. 

Big Fees for Little Credit
By DAN MITCHELL

SOME issuers of credit cards are “quietly collecting hundreds of millions of dollars in profits selling nearly worthless, predatory credit cards targeting vulnerable consumers, including those with bad credit,” according to a report published this week by the National Consumer Law Center (consumerlaw.com).

How “quietly” these companies are operating may be open to question. But the report states that some companies issue cards with the sole intent of collecting fees from gullible customers — not offering them credit.

Baisden invited Bell's father, Marcus Jones, to accuse Color of Change founder James Rucker of misapplying the donated funds.

Jones offered no evidence for his assertion. But Baisden told his listeners that Rucker "sounds shady to me," before promoting his own fundraiser, scheduled for this weekend, which aims to collect at least $1 million for the Jena 6 and other black defendants across the country.

On the eve of the Sept. 20 civil rights march, Baisden advertised a book-signing and solicited cash donations for the Jena 6 families at a rally in Alexandria, La., but his business manager, Pamela Exum, declined to specify how much was collected or how the money was distributed.

Questions about Jena case funds
By Howard Witt
Tribune senior correspondent
5:47 PM CST, November 9, 2007

HOUSTON

Just weeks after some 20,000 demonstrators protested what they decried as unequal justice aimed at six black teenagers in the Louisiana town of Jena, controversy is growing over the accounting and disbursing of at least $500,000 donated to pay for the teenagers' legal defense.

Parents of the "Jena 6" teenagers have refused to publicly account for how they are spending a large portion of the cash, estimated at up to $250,000, that resides in a bank account they control.

Michael Baisden, a nationally syndicated black radio host who is leading a major fundraising drive on behalf of the Jena 6, has declined to reveal how much he has collected. Attorneys for the first defendant to go to trial, Mychal Bell, say they have yet to receive any money from him.

I'd love to see that letter he claims to have. I'd like to see who it says they want to collect "monies on their behalf." And we still don't know what Mr. Baisden did with the monies he collected.

He had the correct information before he went on the air.

ColorOfChange.org has explained the distribution of Jena 6 legal defense funds repeatedly, both in written communication and verbally, to Michael Baisden's staff, particularly addressing Mr. Jones' concerns. In fact, Mr. Baisden's staff obtained Mr. Jones' signature on the letter authorizing release of funds to Louis Scott, and followed up with the other young men's attorneys to confirm that they had received their funds from us. His team knows that we have distributed money to the young men's legal teams.

So I'm not feeling it, personally. Especially since I doubt that online apology will reach everyone his radio show does. The apology should be on the air, and he should be as transparent about where the monies he collected went.

Anyway, the fractional apology goes like this:

Baisden says he has a letter from the parents of the Jena 6 supporting his allegations.  I just got back from Jena.  I spoke to most of the parents.  They have no idea what Baisden is talking about. 

I talked to attorneys for all six defendants.  They all affirm that, with the full approval of the parents and defendants, they received generous disbursements from Color of Change. 

Color of Change follows transparent accounting principle; Michael Baisden ain’t sayin’ what he is doing with the Jena 6 money he has raised.  Yet Baisden questions the integrity of Color of Change.  

Where is the money? Can he document what he's done with it? Has any of it gone to the Jena 6, or did he use it to set up this concert for his new foundation?

I saw an interesing incoming link. A bulletin board in Alexadria, LA, where support for the Jena 6 is, shall we say, spotty, linked Color of Change's response to Mr. Baisden's allegations. Their responses were interesting.

Sounds like color of change is handling the donations in the proper, legal manner and Marcus is upset because he can't get his hands on it.
He should be happy that the funds are actually paying for defense and that there is documentation accounting for all donations received.

But I'm sure before it's over with, there will be more finger pointing
and accusations of mishandling among the groups.

---

Now, is the LaSalle Chapter of the N A A C & P going to be as up front about where the donations THEY received went? When pigs fly.

Who else is collecting in the Jena 6's name? Can THEY document where the donations went as Color of Change has?

Jena 6, the Black netroots & the importance of media literacy

Recently, a storm has brewed over allegations by popular radio host Michael Baisden that progressive advocacy group, ColorofChange.org, has defrauded one of the Jena 6 families.

It is a serious, unsubstantiated and ridiculous charge from a man who took the lead in the corporate radio community to advocate for and promote the Jena 6. But that said, while we're all entitled to differing opinions, we're not entitled to different facts.

Afro-Netizen unequivocally supports ColorOfChange.org. They represent the future and power of renewed civic engagement in our communities. They honor the spirit of generations of Blackfolk and other freedom-fighters who organized around the message instead of merely venerating a given messenger.

ColorOfChange.org promotes and thrives on decentralization, diffusing influence and resources to individuals from all walks of life to get involved in ways that the cults of charismatic leadership discourage and corporate media fear.

Dag Vega, a spokesman for the Democratic National Committee, questioned why Mr. Giuliani, a Republican, had made Mr. Kerik police commissioner, in light of growing evidence he had been briefed about Mr. Kerik’s connections to a company suspected of having mob ties.

“Rudy Giuliani’s tough-on-crime mantra is laughable given that he promoted Bernard Kerik throughout his career while knowing about his ethical problems,” Mr. Vega said in a statement.

Kerik’s Corruption Case Dogs Giuliani
By MICHAEL COOPER and WILLIAM K. RASHBAUM

AMES, Iowa, Nov. 8 — The scene outside the old Victorian-style courthouse in Dubuque on Thursday morning showed that the indictment of Bernard B. Kerik is at the very least a big distraction for Rudolph W. Giuliani’s presidential campaign.

The site had been chosen with care: Mr. Giuliani spoke across from the courthouse, which has a statue of Justice atop its golden cupola. With him were two former United States attorneys who were there to talk about Mr. Giuliani’s record as a corruption-busting federal prosecutor before he became mayor of New York.

But the only federal corruption case that reporters asked about was the one being built against Mr. Kerik — his former driver, police commissioner, partner, and, briefly, choice to head the federal Department of Homeland Security. A grand jury on Thursday voted to charge Mr. Kerik, and he is expected to be arraigned on a sealed indictment at midday Friday in United States District Court in White Plains on corruption-related charges, according to people briefed on the case.

A Post-Iraq G.I. Bill
By JIM WEBB and CHUCK HAGEL

MEMBERS of Congress and other political leaders often say that the men and women who have served in our military since 9/11 are the “new greatest generation.” Well, here’s a thought from two infantry combat veterans of the Vietnam era’s “wounded generation”: if you truly believe that our Iraq and Afghanistan veterans are like those who fought in World War II, let us provide them with the same G.I. Bill that was given to the veterans of that war.

I think you have a bunch of guys in Iraq who are trained to kill and not mind it at all. You've got a nation with essentially no gun control at all. So I think a G.I. Bill to keep those guys busy is a fine idea.

Mr. Brooks, figuring we're far enough from the actual event to make it safe, is rewriting history.

Today, I’m going to write about a slur. It’s a distortion that’s been around for a while, but has spread like a weed over the past few months. It was concocted for partisan reasons: to flatter the prejudices of one side, to demonize the other and to simplify a complicated reality into a political nursery tale.

The distortion concerns a speech Ronald Reagan gave during the 1980 campaign in Philadelphia, Miss., which is where three civil rights workers had been murdered 16 years earlier. An increasing number of left-wing commentators assert that Reagan kicked off his 1980 presidential campaign with a states’ rights speech in Philadelphia to send a signal to white racists that he was on their side. The speech is taken as proof that the Republican majority was built on racism.

The truth is more complicated.

The Jena 6 drew attention because it struck a chord with Black people nationwide. It drew such a reaction that mainstream organizations and media were forced to take up the cudgel.

Michael Baisden was one of those that responded, covering the dispute instead of the standard fare his show, Love, Lust and Lies deals with. He did good work drawing attention to the Jena 6.

He seems to have gone back to his old format. And I can understand the draw, but in broadcasting allegations about Color of Change as he did threatens to undo the good he has done so far.

You need to think about this because even if Color of Change (which has been active in support of our political issues for years, not just months) is not your particular cup of tea, it is exactly the type of organization you want to attend to, i.e., honest and transparent. Check the campaigns they have run. Do you see even one you don't support? Check out Mr. Baisden's broadcasts and compare the implications to the facts. Everything documented and linked for your casual viewing pleasure. What organization do you know that does this?

Talk radio is about controversy; I'm not shocked by all this. It's just that it is actually damaging to punish new, effective, transparent organizations like this. They don't have the mass to absorb such blows. Only the old dinosaur organizations...the ones you're so dissatisfied with...can survive. And I don't think Mr. Baisden realizes this. I HOPE Mr. Baisden doesn't realize this.

And maybe I'm jumping the gun. Maybe the next step in advancing the story is to interview folks from Color of Change, to let them show what transparency looks like. Most of us haven't a clue, and their handling of this campaign should be the standard.

It doesn't look like it so far, though.

So I've written my own private cover letter to direct you to a page Color of Change has set up to ask ABC Radio to let them have time on Mr. Baisden's show. I don't do that normally; I just copy stuff like the lazy S.O.B. I am. But this is important. Important enough for Mr. Baisden to interrupt the format of his very successful radio show for Jena 6 coverage; important enough for him to start his own fundraising efforts. So it's important enough to make sure getting out the whole story was always the intent.

“If little children and primates show pretty much the same pattern you see in adults, it calls into question just how deliberate these rationalization processes are,” he says. “We tend to think people have an explicit agenda to rewrite history to make themselves look right, but that’s an outsider’s perspective. This experiment shows that there isn’t always much conscious thought going on.”

Go Ahead, Rationalize. Monkeys Do It, Too.
By JOHN TIERNEY

For half a century, social psychologists have been trying to figure out the human gift for rationalizing irrational behavior. Why did we evolve with brains that salute our shrewdness for buying the neon yellow car with bad gas mileage? The brain keeps sending one message — Yesss! Genius! — while our friends and family are saying,

“Well... ”

This self-delusion, the result of what’s called cognitive dissonance, has been demonstrated over and over by researchers who have come up with increasingly elaborate explanations for it. Psychologists have suggested we hone our skills of rationalization in order to impress others, reaffirm our “moral integrity” and protect our “self-concept” and feeling of “global self-worth.”

When I heard about Google's mobile phone OS, I couldn't help but wonder why it wouldn't be used on a PC as well.

Kim added, "Our dream is to combine Linux with Google and put it into the mass market."

Everex and gOS have no formal partnership with Google, Kim said. However, the search giant reportedly vetted the distro prior to its release. Kim said, "Our first conversation with Google was that we'd like them to provide the Google toolbar for our browser. Then, we got them to look at gOS, and I guess everything checked off, because they approved the deal."

We're talking a $200 computer sold at Wal-Mart here. And if you're ambitious you can get the guts of the beast  for $60.

Okay NOW i really have to switch systems. When the desktop died last week I got this disk drive container so I could remove the drives and put them on my network. This way I save all the data and make it available to whatever machine I plug in. The box cost $60, much cheaper and easier than a new machine. I already have a laptop, so I figured that would do for a while...PCs are fairly cheap and I prefer desktop machines right now but I'm not in a position to spend unnecesarily.

Anyway. I opened the box, cleaned out the hairballs, and decided to try plugging it in again before pulling the drives. The beast reinitialized.

Sadly, while I was having breakfast the sucker died again. 

Fortunately I decided to move all the critical stuff to a 500 gig USB drive. I figured I can jack that into the laptop. And once I pull the drives (I realize the previous recovery was a gift) this laptop will have just short of a terabyte of storage available: 500 gigs on the USB drive, 400 gigs on the new network drive and 80 gigs locally.

His measures have been deplorable. But this is not the dictatorship of Gen. Muhammad Zia ul-Haq, who hanged Bhutto’s father. Musharraf, as his Jekyll-and-Hyde alternation of military and Savile Row gear suggests, is a dictator with a gentleman’s itch. He’s playing for time. The United States must use his vulnerability to get more of what it wants.

I think Musharrif is using the USofA's vulnerability to get what IT wants. Just like Turkey.

The American Dream used to be getting rich. Now it's just the ability to get a retirement check.

Obama Addresses Income Inequality
Thursday, November 8, 2007; A06

A FADING AMERICAN DREAM?

Obama Addresses Income Inequality

BETTENDORF, Iowa -- Barack Obama, bidding to strengthen his appeal among working families, outlined new proposals Wednesday designed to make college more affordable, encourage retirement savings, and help people balance the competing demands of work and family.

In a speech here, Obama said the cost of the American dream is rising faster than ever. "While some have prospered beyond imagination in this global economy, middle-class Americans -- as well as those working hard to become middle-class -- are seeing the American dream slip further and further away," he said.

Kerik rose from being a warden and police detective to become Giuliani's campaign security adviser, corrections chief, police commissioner and eventual partner in Giuliani-Kerik, a security arm of Giuliani Partners. He gained national attention working alongside Giuliani in the aftermath of the Sept. 11, 2001, attack on New York.

Kerik Indictment on Tax and Corruption Charges Imminent
By John Solomon
Washington Post Staff Writer
Thursday, November 8, 2007; A04

Federal prosecutors are planning to unveil an indictment against former New York City police commissioner Bernard B. Kerik as early as week's end, spotlighting alleged corruption that occurred a decade ago when he worked was a trusted adviser to former New York mayor -- and now presidential candidate -- Rudolph W. Giuliani, according to people familiar with the case.

"Now we have the worst of all possible worlds," Ackerman told Negroponte. "Our ally is an isolated and deeply resented leader who is less popular with his own people than Osama bin Laden, who instead of arresting the terrorists who pose an existential threat to his regime . . . is arresting the very people with whom he could have worked to generate the political support necessary to rid Pakistan of extremists."

Bush Pushes Pakistan's Musharraf to Give Up Military Leadership
President Phones General, Reiterates Need for Election Soon
By Robin Wright
Washington Post Staff Writer
Thursday, November 8, 2007; A22

President Bush intervened in Pakistan's political crisis yesterday with a telephone call urging embattled President Pervez Musharraf to resign as commander of the Pakistani military and to hold elections within the next two months, as originally scheduled.

Instead of acknowledging his error, Giuliani chose to repeat it on several occasions, including a campaign event here in Washington last Friday. We invited the members of the Giuliani campaign to name a reputable prostate cancer research expert or epidemiologist who would publicly support the candidate's claim. It has not so far responded. If it can produce the scientific evidence, we will reconsider our verdict.

In the meantime, four Pinocchios for recidivism.

Giuliani Is Still Standing By Questionable Figures
Wednesday, November 7, 2007; A06

THE FACTS

The former New York mayor would have us believe that he was off by one percentage point at most in calculating his chances of surviving prostate cancer in Britain. In fact, he was spectacularly wrong the first time and equally wrong the second time. Epidemiologists say that his claim rests on a faulty statistical methodology that would not earn a passing grade at top medical schools in the United States.

Mr. Kerik served under former Mayor Rudolph W. Giuliani, and questions about the former police commissioner and correction commissioner have been troublesome for Mr. Giuliani’s presidential campaign. There have been concerns about lapses in the vetting of his background when Mr. Kerik was named police commissioner.

Federal Prosecutors Plan to Seek Charges Against Kerik
By William K. Rashbaum

Federal prosecutors are scheduled to seek a grand jury indictment on Thursday of Bernard B. Kerik, the former New York police commissioner, on a list of charges that include tax fraud, corruption and conspiracy, according to people who have been briefed on the case.

"Discriminatory?"

This costume was not discriminatory. It was RACIST. Or if you just can't get the word out of your mouth, try BIGOTED. And so was everyone who approved of it.

RACE -- CHERTOFF CLAIMS 'ZERO TOLERANCE' FOR DISCRIMINATORY HALLOWEEN COSTUME, EXCUSES MYERS'S ROLE : Julie Myers, head of Homeland Security's immigration division, has come under intense criticism for awarding "Most Original Costume" to an employee "who dressed in prison stripes, dreadlocks and dark makeup for a Halloween gathering at the agency." Myers was part of a three-judge panel that awarded the prize. Yesterday, Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff appeared on MSNBC and said that he had put the employee who wore the costume on "administrative leave." He added that he has "zero tolerance" for discriminatory acts. But when it came to Myers, Chertoff refused to condemn her and indicated that she would face no punitive action: "Assistant Secretary Myers apologized for the fact that the incident occurred." Speaking to the AP, Chertoff also excused Myers's actions, stating that she "was kind of caught by surprise by this." "I know she's mortified," he added, "but I think she's doing what she needs to do at the moment." Myers is married to Chertoff's former chief of staff, John F. Wood, who is currently a U.S. attorney in Missouri. She is also the niece of former Joint Chiefs of Staff chairman Gen. Richard B. Myers. The agency has destroyed at least one photo of Myers with the costumed employee and has refused to let CNN see other pictures from the party.

I tried to tell you before. Now it's America's Favorite Pastime.

No, not basketball...

If You Purchased MLB Game Downloads Before 2006, Your Discs/Files Are Now Useless; MLB Has Stolen Your $$$ And Claims "No Refunds"