Prometheus 6

I leave you this link to think about. And this thread is open to all...if you got something stooopit you want to say, here's your chance. It will survive at least until Dr. Who comes on tonight.

In The Course Of Your Insult, You Fail At Facts
July 18, 2008

Ramesh Ponnuru of National Review discusses Matt Yglesias joining Center For American Progress and throws this one in:

“When CAP was formed I expected it to be a cut above, say, Media Matters”

CAP was formed before Media Matters ever opened its doors. In fact, CAP helped Media Matters get started. So, it would be impossible for Ponnuru to hope that CAP would be “a cut above” Media Matters, because Media Matters did not exist.

rikyrah and The Raving Black Lunatic on the confusion between Barack Obama and Zaphod Beeblebrox, whose job as President of the Galaxy is to distract you while other folks keep getting rich.

Not really...still...

To All Working Middle-Class Blacks Folks That Agree With Cosby and Obama - Let’s Talk About Those Other Four Fingers

In case you forgot, you were the one the Black community and your Black family nurtured hoping to bring back more capital to lift up the community. But you took a fixed salary job with single digit raises, got stagnant, just happy you driving a Cadillac Escalade or Chrysler 300 you will have paid off or lease return after two years.

The Color Line Online
By Amy Alexander

Republished courtesy of The Nation

Readers of blogs and websites that focus on people of color will soon notice something different about their favorite online destinations: the majority of posts will be filed from Chicago and Atlanta.

That's because the professional trade organizations for ethnic journalists--the Asian American Journalists Association; the National Association of Hispanic Journalists; the Native American Journalists Association; and the oldest, the National Association of Black Journalists (NABJ) -- are meeting jointly in Chicago beginning July 23. And that same week, a small association of ethnic minority bloggers is holding its first conference, in Atlanta.

“This is why the Jewish community has the motto, ‘Never again,’ ” Mr. Paterson said in an interview after his speech, as he rode in a car through downtown Cincinnati. “There are those who, if they had their way, would return us to an era of separate but equal.”

Paterson, at N.A.A.C.P., Warns of Racism’s Power
By JEREMY W. PETERS

CINCINNATI — David A. Paterson, in his first major speech to a national audience since becoming governor of New York, said on Thursday that even as black Americans rejoice about the possibility that Senator Barack Obama could become president, they cannot lose sight of the serious social and economic ills that plague their community and should remain mindful of the racism that still exists.

“The gap between the haves and have-nots right in our own community is wider than it has ever been before,” Mr. Paterson told a crowd of thousands at the N.A.A.C.P.’s annual convention here.

$18 billion in 19,000 accounts. Granted, give me one of those accounts and I would retire but on the real, that's less than a million dollars per. That's barely on the charts as far as major abusers and distorters of the economy go. I'll bet Exxon has more than that stashed all by itself.

New Offshore Bank Limits for U.S. Clients, UBS Says
By BERNIE BECKER

WASHINGTON — Faced with a federal investigation into its private banking practices, the Swiss banking giant UBS said on Thursday that it would stop offering offshore banking services to clients in the United States.

Mark Branson, chief financial officer of the UBS global wealth management group, told a Senate subcommittee that the company would provide banking or securities services to United States residents only through companies licensed in this country and that it would help the federal government identify American citizens engaging in tax fraud.

On Wednesday, a Senate permanent subcommittee on investigations released a report saying that UBS’s offshore practices helped American citizens hide an estimated $18 billion in 19,000 accounts from the Internal Revenue Service.

Given the state of the economy, it’s hard to see how Barack Obama can lose the 2008 election. An anecdote: This week a passing motorist shouted at a crowd waiting outside a branch of IndyMac, the failed bank, “Bush economics didn’t work! They are right-wing Republican thieves!” The crowd cheered.

But what the economy gives, it can also take away. If the current slump follows the typical modern pattern, the economy will stay depressed well into 2010, if not beyond — plenty of time for the public to start blaming the new incumbent, and punish him in the midterm elections.

To avoid that fate, Mr. Obama — if he is indeed the next president — will have to move quickly and forcefully to address America’s economic discontent. That means another stimulus plan, bigger, better, and more sustained than the one Congress passed earlier this year. It also means passing longer-term measures to reduce economic anxiety — above all, universal health care.

If you ask me, there isn’t much suspense in this year’s election: barring some extraordinary mistakes, Mr. Obama will win. Assuming he wins, the real question is what he’ll make of his victory.

The Army documents cite a number of recent safety threats. One report showed that during a four-day period in late February, soldiers at a Baghdad compound reported being shocked while taking showers in different buildings. The circumstances appear similar to those that led to Sergeant Maseth’s death.

Another entry from early March stated that an entire house used by American troops was electrically charged, making it unlivable.

Since the Pentagon reports were compiled, more episodes linked to electrical problems have occurred. In late June, for example, an electrical fire at a Marine base in Falluja destroyed 10 buildings, forcing marines there to ask for donations from home to replace their personal belongings.

On July 5, Sgt. First Class Anthony Lynn Woodham of the Arkansas National Guard died at his base in Tallil, Iraq. Initial reports blamed electrocution, but his death is being investigated because of conflicting information, according to his wife, Crystal Woodham, and a spokesman for the Arkansas National Guard....

Officials say the administration contracted out so much work in Iraq that companies like KBR were simply overwhelmed by the scale of the operations. Some of the electrical work, for example, was turned over to subcontractors, some of which hired unskilled Iraqis who were paid only a few dollars a day.

Government officials responsible for contract oversight, meanwhile, were also unable to keep up, so that unsafe electrical work was not challenged by government auditors.

Electrical Risks at Bases in Iraq Worse Than Previously Said
By JAMES RISEN

WASHINGTON — Shoddy electrical work by private contractors on United States military bases in Iraq is widespread and dangerous, causing more deaths and injuries from fires and shocks than the Pentagon has acknowledged, according to internal Army documents.

David Brooks, arch Conservative insider and mouthpiece for the most destructive administration in the nations' history, says government is a necessity.

We’re entering an era of epic legislation. There are at least five large problems that will compel the federal government to act in gigantic ways over the next few years....In an intricately connected world, even Republican administrations cannot allow big institutions to fail. If government is going to guarantee against failure, then it is inevitably going to get more involved in regulating how businesses are run.

Oh. My. Gawd. Grover Norquist has just been pimp-slapped! What shall he do?

Jeff Johnson is a writer.

Stuff Parody Writers Like

THE book “Stuff White People Like,” based on the runaway Internet hit of the same name, just made the best-seller list. Apparently, readers felt they were lacking a definitive guide to white, upwardly mobile individuals and their purported interests —“gay friends,” “outdoor performance clothes,” “Barack Obama” and so on. If the road to a best seller (not to mention what’s said to be a $300,000 advance) begins with nothing more than a Web site and a list of likes, then here are a few projects I plan to develop:

I'm winding up Slavery by Another Name; review should show up some time Saturday. And both Buried in Bitter Waters and Sundown Towns is en route.

Since I was working them, I decided I might as well start on my own whiteness studies. I first suggested studying whiteness on the dial-up BBS networks over 20 years ago, but I envisioned nothing like what actually developed. I believe collegiate level whiteness studies are deeply flawed by their focus on white privilege rather than white identity.

So I got some books on white identity...southern white identity at that...courtesy of Princeton University Press. I'm going to start withThe Silent Majority, because I...get the feeling I won't agree with the other two.

The Silent Majority
Suburban Politics in the Sunbelt South
Matthew D. Lassiter

Being old, I'm unfamiliar with hipsters (which, from what I've heard, is good). nojojojo at Angry Black Woman pointed up the following example.

When a 25-year-old Manhattan graduate student who was assaulted Tuesday night got dressed that morning, she probably didn’t anticipate that her T-shirt would provoke four teens into shoving her, pulling out her earphones and spitting in her face.

Then again, with a shirt sporting the slogan, “Obama is my slave,” it may have been wise to consider the possibility.

That's not even the stupidest thing about the situation.

Now she’s suing the $69 shirt’s designer, Apollo Braun, for “all he’s got,” the designer claims. 

Suing the boy for her choice is typical victim mentality. And that she paid $70 for it means she seriously meant to offend.

The "designer", of course, is a dipshit too.

More stupid hand-wringing over "Nigger"

I never thought that because Toby Keith made a record called White Trash With Money, that somehow gave me the right to address random white people in the fashion. I never thought the fact that there was a magazine called Heeb gave me the right to address my Jewish buddies as such. More to the point--I never wanted to. So this is what I don't understand--What's the big beef? Why is that in "Blackworld" the normal laws of human interaction somehow don't apply? I don't get white people who have a hard time with this--you call your mother "Mom," I call her Ms. Phillips--same deal here. Nigger means one thing when used amongst a group of people with similar experiences, and something else when used by people outside of that experience. Nigger when used by black people, is a lovely, lovely thing. I will believe that till the end of my days. It can be beautifully ominous ("Nigger, what?") and just plain beautiful ("Ta-Nehisi, that's my nigger").

Let the countdown begin. This is going to be really, really good or really, really bad.

"I wouldn't have done it if I thought the rules were unclear, but to make certain that even reporters can understand it, I want to go back to the ethics committee and make it even more clear for those that can't find anything else to write about so that they can move on and find something else," Rangel said.

Rangel Defends Use of Official Letterhead in Solicitations
By Christopher Lee
Washington Post Staff Writer
Thursday, July 17, 2008; 4:33 PM

Rep. Charles B. Rangel (D-N.Y.), dealing with dual controversies, called today for an ethics committee probe of his fundraising for an academic center that bears his name but said the panel should not investigate his rental of four New York apartments at below market rates.

Policy Shift Seen in U.S. Decision on Iran Talks
By ELAINE SCIOLINO and STEVEN LEE MYERS

PARIS — The Bush administration’s decision to send a senior American official to participate in international talks with Iran this weekend reflects a double policy shift in the struggle to resolve the impasse over the country’s nuclear program.

First, the Bush administration has decided to abandon its longstanding position that it would meet face to face with Iran only after the country suspended its uranium enrichment, as demanded by the United Nations Security Council.

Second, an American partner at the table injects new importance to the negotiating track of the six global powers confronting Iran — France, Britain, Germany, Russia, China and the United States — even though their official stance is that no substantive talks can begin until uranium enrichment stops.

They can drown under the flood of new capital from investors looking for huge returns. 

As global wealth has shifted during the past decade, emerging markets have become not only increasingly stable but they have also been claiming a larger portion of the world's riches than ever before. If Californians are rushing to withdraw money from banks there, the situation in Kenya is just the opposite: People are flocking to banks to open accounts. The Nairobi exchange, which lists mostly Kenyan companies and a handful of multinational firms, posted 10 percent gains in the three months ended in June as local and foreign investors flocked to the initial public offering of the cellphone giant Safaricom.

Slowing Economy Gives Way to Global Role Reversals
By Anthony Faiola and Jill Drew
Washington Post Staff Writers
Thursday, July 17, 2008; D01

The global slowdown stemming in part from the deepening U.S. financial crisis is hitting the world's richest nations the hardest even as emerging nations, some with once-fragile economies, are proving relatively resilient.

I like that for obvious reasons. Case in point:

I don’t know what other people do and don’t care – I know what works best for me. I’m going to get on the soapbox for a minute.

What I’m going to say is something I realize was not taught to African-Americans - just do whatever. Just realize you will most likely f*ck up the first go around but keep it moving and just correct mistakes after each try. See, I notice some cats act like they got to be so damn perfect and ish, walk around with their chest sticking out and not admit they screwed up – pride ish. Then when I got into the global arena of development, people were screwing up all the time but it was alright because we supported each other to get better next time. That contrast of “showing pride” versus “we can get better” taught me a lot and why I’m not on some pride ish.

I'd have to pick and choose a bit to find the stuff I agree with but there's enough in there that really needs consideration that I gotta link it.

Where Obamaism Seems to be Going
by Adolph Reed, Jr.

Not enough to change my mind, but definitely enough to keep in mind.

Only 45 American soldiers and 25 Afghans had occupied the Wanat outpost for a few days before the attack. Far outnumbered by militants, the force was nearly overrun and fought a four-hour battle before the Taliban were repelled. In addition to the nine American deaths, 15 American soldiers were wounded. Four Afghan soldiers were wounded. ...

In Kabul, Capt. Mike Finney, a spokesman for the NATO force, said that “the citizens in Wanat and northern Kunar Province can be assured” that NATO and Afghan troops would continue to patrol the district and maintain “a strong presence in the area.”

U.S. Abandons Site of Afghan Attack
By CARLOTTA GALL

KABUL, Afghanistan — American forces have abandoned the outpost in northeastern Afghanistan where nine American soldiers were killed Sunday in a heavy attack by insurgents, NATO officials said Wednesday.

The withdrawal handed a propaganda victory to the Taliban, and insurgents were quick to move into the village of Wanat beside the abandoned outpost, Afghan officials said. Insurgents nearly overran the barely built outpost in a dawn raid on Sunday, the most deadly assault for United States forces in Afghanistan since 2005.

Two things turned that around. The American Medical Association used a vigorous advertising campaign against Republican senators who were blocking a vote on the bill, cowing them into retreat. And the ailing Senator Edward Kennedy made a dramatic appearance on the Senate floor to guarantee a Democratic victory, at which point Republicans started switching sides. ...The House overrode the president’s veto by a thumping 383 to 41, with 153 Republicans defying the president. The Senate vote was a convincing 70 to 26, with 21 Republicans abandoning the White House.

Welcome Rout on Medicare

The surprising thing about the intense Congressional struggle over a modest bill to improve Medicare was how quickly it turned from a cliffhanger into a rout. President Bush’s veto was easily overridden as Republicans in droves abandoned his misguided effort to help the insurance industry hold on to its large subsidies.

We hope this means that the next Congress will be emboldened to make more far-reaching reforms in Medicare to help keep the system solvent and able to provide high-quality care for older Americans.

The Right to Know

In the face of near hysterical opposition from the Bush administration, the Senate Democratic leadership intends to take up a proposed shield law to provide journalists with limited protection against being compelled to reveal confidential sources in federal court. A similar measure won House approval last October in a bipartisan 398-to-21 landslide. But the White House, as ever, is playing the fear card, orchestrating a barrage of warnings that the law would “wreak havoc” on national security and “completely eviscerate” the ability to investigate terrorism.

Such hype and manipulation is predictable from an administration so obsessed with concealing its own abuses. The Senate must not be cowed. Only through robust reporting has the nation learned the hard lessons of President Bush’s illegal programs to eavesdrop on Americans and run torture prisons abroad.

McCain Campaign Uses Web Spider to Sting Obama
By Sarah Lai Stirland
July 15, 2008 | 8:45:38 PM

The politicos' mutual stalking has reached unprecedented new levels this year: At least one side has started to spider the other's campaign website to track that campaign pages' precise word changes up to an hourly basis.

John McCain's campaign published a side-by-side comparison of Barack Obama's Iraq War policy web pages on Tuesday using a new automated online tracking service called Versionista.

The service, which launched two months ago, allows users to track and cache changes to specific web pages up to an hourly basis, depending on the level of filtering requested, says Peter Bray, its creator in Portland, Oregon.

"I'm an avid reader of blogs, so I thought this would be a good tool for campaigns and activists," he says. "This could be a good tool in their arsenal. "

Bray says that he got the idea from Wikipedia, which shows people the changes made to its entries. Versionista is a subscription service and allows people to track minute, detailed changes on websites.

Misgivings aired about US Africa Command
By Desmond Butler, Associated Press Writer  |  July 15, 2008

WASHINGTON --Some U.S. officials fear the U.S. military's new regional command in Africa is poorly defined and could usurp the State Department's role in U.S. foreign policy there, according to a congressional investigator.

John Pendleton, investigator for the Government Accountability Office, also told a House panel Tuesday that the Defense Department has made progress in establishing its Africa Command but may have drastically underestimated the costs.

The Defense Department created AFRICOM last October to consolidate operations that had been split among three other regional commands, none of which had Africa as a primary focus.