Prometheus 6

I'm looking at Perl and PHP side by side for the first time. No Camel book incessantly reminding me the given answer is only "one way to do it," not torturous constructs written just 'cause. The two languages are a lot more alike than different. Just like C and Pascal. I actually should prefer Perl to PHP. I like pre-declaring variable. It makes you think about what resources you'll need, get them defined, understood and organized before you start. But I prefer PHP, and I figured out why. I think of PHP as a scripting language whereas I think of Perl as a programming language. Now, for programming, creating a set of integrated functions designed to accomplish I've rejected C and all C-like languages, more because of the implementations than the languages as it turns out. For programming I use Pascal. But I've been using C-like scripting languages forever. And I've always thought of PHP as almost a macro language, embedded in the web page.

Spend most of the day setting up some hardware at the daughter's house so I could reclaim my laptop (Hint: two hard drives in one Windows machine is almost as good as two machines…bad sectors and security descriptors in boot files—and I wish I knew how it happened so I can NOT do it—is gotten around by switching the boot order of the two drives and installing Win XP on the second (now first) drive…then waiting for Scandisk and ChkDsk to fix what looks like everything). Meanwhile, last night, early this morning and for the last hour I've been buried in regular expressions and now I feel like an idiot for not studying it before. Folks have called it a Black Art, but it's really straightforward with a syntax guide and a good testing tool at hand. There are apparently several regex testing programs around. I've only tried The Regulator, a .NET program which is on SourceForge and let me tell you I am impressed because I would NOT have had it as easy as I have without this beastie. If you use regular expressions a lot, you need this program. And if you only use them infrequently you REALLY need this program.

That's the name of the web site wherein you'll find one of those really disturbing stories about Homeland Security. Several pages. Don't start reading it unless you have time to read it all.

Bush camp solicits race of Star staffer By C.J. Karamargin ARIZONA DAILY STAR President Bush's re-election campaign insisted on knowing the race of an Arizona Daily Star journalist assigned to photograph Vice President Dick Cheney. The Star refused to provide the information. Cheney is scheduled to appear at a rally this afternoon at the Pima County Fairgrounds. A rally organizer for the Bush-Cheney re-election campaign asked Teri Hayt, the Star's managing editor, to disclose the journalist's race on Friday. After Hayt refused, the organizer called back and said the journalist probably would be allowed to photograph the vice president. "It was such an outrageous request, I was personally insulted," Hayt said later. Danny Diaz, a spokesman for the president's re-election campaign, said the information was needed for security purposes. "All the information requested of staff, volunteers and participants for the event has been done so to ensure the safety of all those involved, including the vice president of the United States," he said. Diaz repeated that answer when asked if it is the practice of the White House to ask for racial information or if the photographer, Mamta Popat, was singled out because of her name. He referred those questions to the U.S. Secret Service, which did not respond to a call from the Star Friday afternoon. Hayt declined to speculate on whether Popat was racially profiled, but said she is deeply concerned. "One has to wonder what they were going to do with that information," Hayt said. "Because she has Indian ancestry, were they going to deny her access? I don't know." Journalists covering the president or vice president must undergo a background check and are required to provide their name, date of birth and Social Security number. The Star provided that information Thursday for Popat and this reporter. "That's all anybody has been asked to provide," said Hayt, adding that this is the first time in her 26-year career that a journalist's race was made an issue.

Sikh student detained by Secret Service BC leader says beard, turban triggered stop By Ralph Ranalli, Globe Staff | July 30, 2004 A Boston College student leader who wears a turban and full beard in accord with his Sikh religion says he was detained and interrogated for seven hours Saturday night by Secret Service agents for doing nothing more than taking photographs of the campus. Sundeep Sahni, a senior with a double major in computer science and finance, said the Secret Service agents, who were staying on campus during the Democratic National Convention, suggested that he was a criminal, searched him and his car for weapons and bombs, and even had him sign a release form during the ordeal that gave them access to his psychiatric records. Sahni, 21, said he believes he was singled out because of his appearance. At one point during the searches, he said, an agent told him: "I don't want you pulling an Uzi from your turban." "It was the most humiliating experience of my life," Sahni said. Boston College officials said they are giving Sahni their full support and are attempting to arrange a meeting between the student and the Secret Service. "We want to arrange a conversation, which we hope will result in an apology," said Boston College spokesman Jack Dunn. A Secret Service spokesman, however, said there will be no such meeting or apology.

Williams hits new high as he delivers knockout blow to Iron Mike's career Kevin Mitchell in Louisville sees British 'no-hoper' confound the critics Sunday August 1, 2004 The Observer The bad weather rolled through Louisville most of Friday, then a thunderclap to remember erupted shortly before midnight, the last of Danny Williams's 16 unanswered blows on the ageing chin of Mike Tyson. Down he went, draped and dead-eyed among the ropes, near the end of the fourth round and down he stayed, to the amazement of a near-full Freedom Hall and viewers in 90 countries, most of whom were surely left to conclude that, after 19 years and a thousand heartaches, this was the last we have seen of Iron Mike in a boxing ring.

The news article Oliver and I linked to that said Sandy Berger was cleared has been taken down by the TV station. The reason, apparently, is because the National Archives repudiated the Wall Street Journal report it was based on (I decided to link to a source the Conservatives among us will respect).

The Journal reported in Friday editions:
"Officials looking into the removal of classified documents from the National Archives by former Clinton National Security Advisor Samuel Berger say no original materials are missing and nothing Mr. Berger reviewed was withheld from the commission investigating the Sept. 11, 2001, terror attacks. ... The conclusion by Archives officials and others would seem to lay to rest the issue of whether any information was permanently destroyed or withheld from the commission." The Journal report was picked up by ABC Radio network news, which further misreported the story by saying that the Justice Department had cleared Sandy Berger of all charges. But Ms. Cooper disputed the claim that she or any other Archives official had said any such thing. "We really have had nothing to say and will continue to have nothing to say about the particulars of the [Berger] case," Cooper told NewsMax. "I gather that there's somebody else in the food chain that has been talking about the case but it's not at the Archives."

Now, that's all fine.I have no subscription to the WSJ, so I don't know if they've retracted their story; editorial page aside, the Journal tends to vet their sources pretty well. I also note that, just as the WSJ reported, :

Berger act didn't hinder 9/11 report, panel says Curt Anderson Associated Press Jul. 24, 2004 12:00 AM WASHINGTON - The Sept. 11 commission was able to get every document needed to complete its report on the attacks even though former national security adviser Sandy Berger improperly took some highly classified terrorism materials from the National Archives, commissioners said Friday.

nothing is missing...

Thomas Kean, the commission chairman, told reporters he and vice chairman Lee Hamilton were told by Bush administration officials about six months ago that Berger was the subject of a Justice Department investigation into removal of the documents.

that if this was so critical an issue it would have been raised six months ago...

The commission staff concluded that no document was withheld or lost, because of Berger's actions, that was deemed essential to completion of the panel's 567-page report, which was released Thursday, Kean said. "We don't think the integrity of the report is affected," Hamilton said.

and that the net result of all this doesn't change the content or validity of the 9/11 Commission's report

The Justice Department is investigating whether Berger, who served as President Clinton's national security adviser, committed a crime by removing from the archives sensitive documents and drafts related to a 2000 report on how government reacted to the terror threat before millennium celebrations. Berger has acknowledged removing documents and notes about them - some documents were apparently lost - but has said it was an inadvertent mistake, not a crime. Kean said that the Sept. 11 commission has been assured that they were able to obtain copies of each document apparently lost. If lost documents had written notations on them from Clinton or others, they would have been included in those copies, Kean said.

Copies. That's all

To be sure, it's unlikely he thought he could hide anything from those writing the 9/11 report. Berger's spokesman, Joe Lockhart, pointed out that the Archives gave Berger only photocopies of the original documents — and informed Berger of that — so any cover-up would have been impossible. After learning of the incident, commission chairman Thomas Kean said his staff members checked and were sure they had "every single document that [they] needed or requested." So how to explain what Berger called an "honest mistake"? He says that in gathering up papers, he must have accidentally taken some Archives documents along with his notes. Those who have worked with him find that plausible. Berger could get wrapped up in his work, they say, and his desk was piled high with documents and notes. "He always kept a lot of paper," says a former assistant.

Now, Berger is done in government because you just can't be that careless with stuff that's been declared classified. His best shot at income going forward is as a lobbyist, and frankly he could have more influence that way than as a government official. But anyone who looks at the facts and makes more of it than that simply has a partisan axe to grind, and you can verify that by seeing who is doing all the writing about it. That said, I'm done with the topic myself because to be totally honest Berger's fate is about as interesting to me as Bush's, which is to say I'm watching the execution of tactics rather than the exercise of principles.

The final battle in the War of the Gods. It's going to be one of those 20 part continuations, I'm sure…

U.S. Shifts Stance on Nuclear Treaty
White House Resists Inspection Provision
By Dafna Linzer Washington Post Staff Writer
Saturday, July 31, 2004; Page A01
In a significant shift in U.S. policy, the Bush administration announced this week that it will oppose provisions for inspections and verification as part of an international treaty that would ban production of nuclear weapons materials. For several years the United States and other nations have pursued the treaty, which would ban new production by any state of highly enriched uranium and plutonium for weapons. At an arms-control meeting this week in Geneva, the Bush administration told other nations it still supported a treaty, but not verification. Administration officials, who have showed skepticism in the past about the effectiveness of international weapons inspections, said they made the decision after concluding that such a system would cost too much, would require overly intrusive inspections and would not guarantee compliance with the treaty. They declined, however, to explain in detail how they believed U.S. security would be harmed by creating a plan to monitor the treaty. Arms-control specialists reacted negatively, saying the change in U.S. position will dramatically weaken any treaty and make it harder to prevent nuclear materials from falling into the hands of terrorists. The announcement, they said, also virtually kills a 10-year international effort to lure countries such as Pakistan, India and Israel into accepting some oversight of their nuclear production programs.

Okay, I have a serious question. How do you bomb the hell out of people because you say they weren't following the rules, "discover" (scare-quoted because I don't know whether this was discovered before or after the invasion) they hadn't broken the rules, then announce you don't support the rule anyway? One could say this is being done to protect the worst-kept secret in the world—Israel's nuclear capability—let's expand the picture beyond the Middle East. Yes, Korea. One reason Korea gets to be so obstreperous they know they haven't broken any treaties. Not the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty, and if you read the "Agreed Framework" negotiated between the USofA and DPRofK you'll see they haven't violated the letter of that document either. Though it seems some disagree.

On Oct. 16, 2002, the administration of U.S. President George W. Bush disclosed that North Korea had admitted to having a program to enrich uranium for use in nuclear weapons. With its admission, North Korea, also known as the Democratic People's Republic of Korea or DPRK, abrogated the Agreed Framework signed in 1994 with United States, under which the North Koreans agreed to freeze their nuclear weapons program.

Abrogate. Brrrrrrrrrr…chill, foul-sounding word. The advent of regal-sounding terms to convey plebian connotations signals one to restrict one's interpretation of statements inclusive of said term to meanings derivable from the term's formal denotation. To wit:

\AB-ruh-gayt\, transitive verb: 1. To annul by an authoritative act; to abolish by the authority of the maker or his successor; to repeal; -- applied to the repeal of laws, decrees, ordinances, the abolition of customs, etc. 2. To put an end to; to do away with. www.dictionary.com/wordoftheday/archive/2000/06/19.html

or less formally,

revoke formally www.cogsci.princeton.edu/cgi-bin/webwn

Saying Korea "abrogated" the agreement is an implicit acknowledgement of their right to terminate it. And why would such a right exist?

I. Both sides will cooperate to replace the DPRK’s graphite-moderated reactors and related facilities with light-water reactor (LWR) power plants.

1. In accordance with the October 20, 1994 letter of assurance from the U.S. President, the U.S. will undertake to make arrangements for the provision to the DPRK of a LWR project with a total generating capacity of approximately 2,000 MW(e) by a target date of 2003.
   • The U.S. will organize under its leadership an international consortium to finance and supply the LWR project to be provided to the DPRK. The U.S., representing the international consortium, will serve as the principal point of contact with the DPRK for the LWR project.
   • The U.S., representing the consortium, will make best efforts to secure the conclusion of a supply contract with the DPRK within six months of the date of this Document for the provision of the LWR project. Contract talks will begin as soon as possible after the date of this Document.
   • As necessary, the U.S. and the DPRK will conclude a bilateral agreement for cooperation in the field of peaceful uses of nuclear energy.

Two things to note. The Agreed Framework does not mention enriched uranium reactors. At all. Secondly, the USofA has obligations under the treaty as well, the primary one being delivery of a light water nuclear reactor by 2003. If you check this timeline of events you'll see all this started October 2002. Again, from the abrogate guys

Under the Agreed Framework, North Korea agreed to halt activities at its plutonium producing nuclear reactors in Pyongyang in exchange for a relaxation of economic sanctions, a gradual move toward normalization of diplomatic relations, fuel oil deliveries, and construction of a light-water reactor to replace the graphite-moderated reactor shut down at Pyongyang. Plutonium from light water reactors is harder to use for nuclear weapons than the plutonium procured by graphite-moderated reactors. 16 IAEA inspectors monitored North Korea's compliance. Upon completion of the light-water reactors, originally scheduled for 2003 but subsequently indefinitely delayed, North Korea was to dismantle its graphite reactors and ship its 8,000 remaining fuel rods out of the country. [P6: emphasis added]

Snarks aside, the Center for Defense Information has a really clear overview on the North Korea situation. I don't know what's involved in building light water reactors, but since they set the delivery date nine years out I'm assuming it's no joke. And I'm assuming all parties involved would know by October 2002 if the delivery deadline of "some time in 2003" could, much less would, be met. If the light water reactor could not be delivered on schedule, North Korea would be well within its rights to do exactly as it has done. We've already bailed on the ABM treaty and we've pretty much announced we're going to have orbital weapons platforms. And frankly, when I read this (from the timeline again):

18 November: Confusion clouds a statement by North Korea in which it initially appears to acknowledge having nuclear weapons. A key Korean phrase understood to mean the North does have nuclear weapons could have been mistaken for the phrase "entitled to have", Seoul says. 27 November: The North accuses the US of deliberately misinterpreting its contested statement, twisting an assertion of its "right" to possess weapons into an "admission" of possession.

…and consider what this administration has done to English… Suffice to say that, on the international stage, a very strong case that North Korea is the injured party can be (and probably is being) made. Let me be clear here…I don't have a clue in life what's going on behind the news in this. I'm one of those guys whose opinions are unimportant to the insiders because I'm not informed. But I do know what it looks like. It looks like a rational actor on the other side of the table from the USofA would be compelled to be distrusting.

President Announces Appointees Over Recess Associated Press Saturday, July 31, 2004; Page A06 President Bush announced his intention to make 20 appointments during the congressional recess, including the naming of a new chairman of the Federal Trade Commission, a manufacturing czar and three ambassadors. For FTC commissioner, Bush will appoint Deborah Majoras of Virginia to replace Timothy J. Muris, who is stepping down after three years. Majoras, a former deputy assistant attorney general, was one of the lead attorneys in the government's antitrust lawsuit against Microsoft Corp. Bush plans to appoint Albert Frink Jr. of California as assistant secretary of commerce for manufacturing and services. Bush's first pick for the manufacturing post, Nebraska business executive Anthony F. Raimondo, was criticized for cutting U.S. jobs and shifting work to China.

Questions for Joe Biden The senator talks to TIME about Kerry, Bush and foreign policy By DOUGLAS WALLER/BOSTON Wednesday, Jul. 28, 2004 Sen. Joe Biden, the senior Democrat on the Foreign Relations Committee, has become one of his party’s gurus on foreign policy and a key adviser to John Kerry. Biden sat down with TIME editors and correspondents this week for some blunt talk on Kerry, George Bush and foreign policy. Excerpts from that interview: On his role in advising Kerry on foreign policy: I’ve talked to John as much as anybody about foreign policy and made recommendations when asked. Most of what I’ve been doing for John over the last year has been as the crises of the day erupts. John would usually call sometime between 11 and 12:30 at night as he got off the trail and say, ‘How would you do this, how would handle this?’ Not that he needed my input in terms of what position he should take, but more, ‘How’s it playing, what do you think?’ And occasionally, while making up his mind particularly about Iraq and Afghanistan and dealing with the Europeans he’d want to know what should he do. So I put all my cards on the table. “There’s a group of about five or six people, who occasionally get on an extended conference call on a specific subject with John. They’ve included [former Secretary of State Madeleine] Albright, [former U.N. Ambassador Richard] Holbrooke and [former Joint Chiefs Chairman John] Shalikashvili.” [P6: Nice start for a shadow cabinet!] On public confidence in Bush and his national security advisers: “The one thing that kept [Bush] up…was that he had very good people around him. That was the essence of the reason why those who voted for him were able to vote for him. He’s like all wealthy guys who are nice guys. He buys the best help he can buy…And you all wrote that now the grownups are back. Well, guess what, they don’t like the grownups. They’d rather have the kids. They don’t like Cheney. They don’t like Rumsfeld. And they’re really disappointed in Powell. They love him but they’re disappointed in Powell.”

via Oliver Willis

Clinton Adviser Berger Cleared of Document Theft President Clinton's national security adviser, Sandy Berger -- who'd been accused of stealing classified material from the National Archives -- has been cleared of all wrongdoing. The National Archives and the Justice Department have concluded nothing is missing and nothing in the Clinton administration's record was withheld from the 9-11 Commission. The Wall Street Journal reports archives staff have accounted for all classified documents Berger looked at. Late last year they asked investigators to see if the former national security adviser removed materials during his visits. Berger's lawyers said his client had inadvertently removed several photocopies of reports, but later returned them.

Audit Finds Fraud, Other Abuses in Iraq Contract Awards By Ariana Eunjung Cha Washington Post Staff Writer Friday, July 30, 2004; Page A10 In its second report to Congress, the inspector general's office for the occupation authority that ruled Iraq until recently found significant cases of mismanagement, fraud, missing paperwork and manipulation in the awarding of contracts using millions of dollars of U.S. and Iraqi funds. The Coalition Provisional Authority inspector general audit, to be released today, uncovered cases of abuse by officials of the occupation government. The report does not name names, but the inspector general's office said its work has resulted in 69 criminal investigations. Forty-two have been closed or sent to other investigative agencies and an additional 27 are still open.

Download the report (PDF).

The Long Shadow of Jim Crow: Voter Intimidation and Suppression in America Today A Report by PFAW Foundation and NAACP In a nation where children are taught in grade school that every citizen has the right to vote, it would be comforting to think that the last vestiges of voter intimidation, oppression and suppression were swept away by the passage and subsequent enforcement of the historic Voting Rights Act of 1965. It would be good to know that voters are no longer turned away from the polls based on their race, never knowingly misdirected, misinformed, deceived or threatened. Unfortunately, it would be a grave mistake to believe any of it. In every national American election since Reconstruction, every election since the Voting Rights Act was passed, voters – particularly African American voters and other minorities – have faced calculated and determined efforts at intimidation and suppression. The bloody days of violence and retribution following the Civil War and Reconstruction are gone. The poll taxes, literacy tests and physical violence of the Jim Crow era have disappeared. Today, more subtle, cynical and creative tactics have taken their place.

Laid-Off Workers Get Lower-Paying Jobs - Labor Dept. Fri Jul 30, 2004 04:51 PM ET By Andrea Hopkins WASHINGTON (Reuters) - One in five Americans laid off from a long-term job in the last three years was still unemployed in January, and most who had found jobs were paid less than they were before, government data showed on Friday. In a report that adds fuel to the debate over the quality of new jobs, the Labor Department said only 65 percent of the 5.3 million workers who were laid off from January 2001 to December 2003 were reemployed by January 2004. Another 15 percent had left the labor force and were not counted as unemployed. Of those who lost full-time wage and salary jobs and found new ones, 57 percent earned less than they had in the positions they lost -- the worst result in 10 years. "About one-third experienced earnings losses of 20 percent or more," the department's Bureau of Labor Statistics said in the report.

Or at leaststay away from the term papers sites. News: Bush's search for clean Cuban hookers goes awry (28 July 04) Bush's recent statement that "the dictator welcomes sex tourism" comes not from a Castro speech - as Bush claimed - but from an undergrad essay by a US student who made the quote up. ASHLEE VANCE Register CHICAGO -- Cuban prostitutes have received an unwelcome compliment from President Bush courtesy of an Internet search gone wrong. Earlier this month, Bush launched an attack against Fidel Castro and his alleged promotion of sex tourism in Cuba. Our fearless leader dug way back to a 1992 speech given by Castro to prove his case. "The dictator welcomes sex tourism," Bush told a room of law enforcement officials in Florida, according to the Los Angeles Times . "Here's how he bragged about the industry," Bush said. "This is his quote: 'Cuba has the cleanest and most educated prostitutes in the world.'" As it turns out, Bush had lifted that quotation not from an actual Castro speech but rather from a 2001 essay written by then Dartmouth University undergraduate Charles Trumbull . In the essay, Trumbull did appear to quote a Castro speech about prostitution. Sadly, the student made the quotation up. According to officials, the actual quotation from Castro's 1992 speech reads as follows: "There are hookers, but prostitution is not allowed in our country. There are no women forced to sell themselves to a man, to a foreigner, to a tourist. Those who do so do it on their own, voluntarily…. We can say that they are highly educated hookers and quite healthy, because we are the country with the lowest number of AIDS cases."

Obtaining Cheney Rally Ticket Requires Signing Bush Endorsement By Jeff Jones Journal Staff Writer Some would-be spectators hoping to attend Vice President Dick Cheney's rally in Rio Rancho this weekend walked out of a Republican campaign office miffed and ticketless Thursday after getting this news: Unless you sign an endorsement for President George W. Bush, you're not getting any passes. The Albuquerque Bush-Cheney Victory office in charge of doling out the tickets to Saturday's event was requiring the endorsement forms from people it could not verify as supporters. State Rep. Dan Foley, R-Roswell, speaking on behalf of the Republican Party, said Thursday that a "known Democrat operative group" was intending to try to crash Saturday's campaign rally at Rio Rancho Mid-High School. He added that some people were providing false names and addresses and added that tickets for the limited-seating event should go to loyal Bush backers. However, some who left the office off Osuna NE without tickets on Thursday said they're not affiliated with an operative group and should have a right to see their vice president without pledging their allegiance to Bush. "I'm outraged at this. I'm being closed off by my own government. It's crazy," said East Mountains resident Pamela Random, who added that she is an unaffiliated voter.

I'm about to waste an incredible amount of time at The Cannes Lions International Advertising Festival web site because of this commercial/short film from Canada. Then there's this anti-tobacco thing, from Brazil. It says:

These warnings on cigarette packets make it easier for the public to understand that arsenic, formalin and other substances, damage health. This comparison makes this challenge more simple.

ON THE CIGARETTE PACKS! Man…

Economic Growth Weaker Than Expected By Martin Crutsinger AP Economics Writer Friday, July 30, 2004; 8:58 AM The U.S. economy grew at an annual rate of just 3 percent in the spring, a dramatic slowdown from the rapid pace of the past year, as consumer spending fell to the weakest rate since the slowdown of 2001, the government reported Friday. The Commerce Department said that the gross domestic product, the country's total output of goods and services, slowed sharply in the April-June quarter from a 4.5 percent growth rate in the first three months of the year. The size of the slowdown caught economists by surprise. Many had been looking for GDP growth to come in around 3.8 percent in the second quarter. Even that would have been a sharp deceleration for an economy that had been growing at a 5.4 percent annual rate through the year ending in March. It raised the issue of whether the economy, which Federal Reserve Chairman Alan Greenspan said last week had encountered a "soft patch" in June, could be in danger of seeing growth falter even more in coming quarters.

Fear of Death Wins Minds and Votes, Study Finds Thu Jul 29, 2004 11:12 AM ET By Maggie Fox, Health and Science Correspondent WASHINGTON (Reuters) - President Bush may be tapping into solid human psychology when he invokes the Sept. 11 attacks while campaigning for the next election, U.S. researchers said on Thursday. Talking about death can raise people's need for psychological security, the researchers report in studies to be published in the December issue of the journal Psychological Science and the September issue of the Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin. "There are people all over who are claiming every time Bush is in trouble he generates fear by declaring an imminent threat," said Sheldon Solomon of Skidmore College in Saratoga Springs, New York, who worked on the study. "We are saying this is psychologically useful."

Have you noticed that redistributing wealth to rich folks is called "wealth creation," while helping middle and lower economic-class folks create wealth is called "wealth redistribution"? Isn't that just fascinating? Anyway…

New Bush Agenda May Pitch Tax Relief for Investors Thu Jul 29, 2004 01:30 PM ET By Caren Bohan CRAWFORD, Texas (Reuters) - President Bush will likely highlight tax relief and Social Security reform when he retools his economic platform for an intense month of campaigning in August, Republicans say. The initiatives will be aimed at small investors and young voters worried about their retirement savings and touted as ways to strengthen the economy, according to Republicans close to the administration. "The message will be that Bush is for wealth creation and (Democrat John) Kerry is for wealth redistribution," said Stephen Moore of the Club for Growth, a group that raises money for conservative political candidates.

Unhappy Workers Should Take Prozac --Bush Campaigner Thu Jul 29, 2004 01:50 PM ET WASHINGTON (Reuters) - A campaign worker for President Bush said on Thursday American workers unhappy with low-quality jobs should find new ones -- or pop a Prozac to make themselves feel better. "Why don't they get new jobs if they're unhappy -- or go on Prozac?" said Susan Sheybani, an assistant to Bush campaign spokesman Terry Holt. The comment was apparently directed to a colleague who was transferring a phone call from a reporter asking about job quality, and who overheard the remark. When told the Prozac comment had been overheard, Sheybani said: "Oh, I was just kidding." While recent employment growth has buoyed Bush's economic record, Democratic presidential candidate John Kerry has argued the new jobs are not as good as those lost due to outsourcing in recent years. Nearly 1.1 million jobs have been lost since Bush took office in January 2001.

A War Against the Cities By BOB HERBERT Amid all the muscle-flexing in Boston this week ("my homeland security platform is bigger than yours"), it was impossible to hear more than the merest hint or offhand whisper about the demoralizing decline in the fortunes of America's cities over the past few years. Paralyzed by a war in Iraq that we don't know how to end or win, we're in danger of forgetting completely about the struggling cities here at home. Bill Clinton mentioned the 300,000 poor children being cut out of after-school programs and the increases in gang violence across the country. And he gave cheering delegates a devastating riff on the impending lapse of the ban on assault weapons and White House plans to scrap federal funds for tens of thousands of police officers: "Our policy," he said, "was to put more police on the street and to take assault weapons off the street - and it gave you eight years of declining crime and eight years of declining violence. Their policy is the reverse. They're taking police off the streets while they put assault weapons back on the street." But those brief comments were the exception. A clearer sense of the rot that's starting to reestablish itself in America's cities was offered in an article out of Cleveland by The Times's Fox Butterfield on Tuesday. "Many cities with budget shortfalls," he wrote, "are cutting their police forces and closing innovative law enforcement units that helped reduce crime in the 1990's, police chiefs and city officials say."

Quote of note:

This looks like another case of an old Albany dodge: Republicans vote for the bill and the governor, conveniently, vetoes it. The problem is that a lot of low-wage workers will be the losers unless the Assembly and especially the Senate vote to override the governor.

Governor Pataki's Odd Veto ov. George Pataki vetoed a bill yesterday that is the most important piece of legislation passed by New York's Legislature so far this year. It would have provided the lowest-paid workers in the state a gradual increase in the minimum wage, now $5.15, to $7.15 an hour by 2007. Mr. Pataki said he wanted a federal minimum wage bill instead. But that might be a long wait. Legislators from both the Assembly and the Senate need to override the governor's veto in the next few weeks. What made this particular veto so odd is that last week Mr. Pataki sent the Legislature a "message of necessity'' about this same bill. The message, a shortcut around the normal legislative timetable, allows an immediate vote. Such a stamp of urgency from the governor should mean, at the very least, that the state's chief executive desperately wants that bill to be law. Not, apparently, this time.

9/11 Panel Seeks New Life With Private Donations By PHILIP SHENON WASHINGTON, July 29 - The leaders of the Sept. 11 commission said Thursday that they were seeking private, charitable donations and intended to open a small office in Washington that would continue the commission's work when its government money runs out at the end of next month. The move would provide the commission's 10 members with logistical support to continue to lobby for their recommendations for an overhaul of the way the nation collects and shares intelligence, including the creation of the post of a cabinet-level national intelligence director. That idea received a lift on Thursday when the two top-ranking members of a Senate committee that will hold hearings on the commission's recommendations said they liked the proposal for an overall intelligence chief.

Here's the difference between "innovation" and "invention." If you can plan how many things you're "creating" over the next year, you're not creating you're adapting. Pursuing Growth, Microsoft Steps Up Patent Chase By STEVE LOHR EDMOND, Wash., July 29 - Microsoft said on Thursday that it planned to increase its storehouse of intellectual property by filing 50 percent more patent applications over the next year than in the previous 12 months. Microsoft, the world's largest software company, increasingly regards the legal protection of its programming ideas as essential to safeguarding its growth opportunities. Speaking at the company's yearly meeting with financial analysts, Bill Gates, the company's chairman, called patents a "very important part" of what he termed the "cycle of innovation" that has been responsible for Microsoft's past prosperity and continued corporate health. The planned surge in Microsoft patent activity would come at a time when it faces increasing competition from open source software like the Linux operating system, which is distributed free.

I don't see Dean as a rat, so...

debate all you want but, once a decision is made, partisanship should stop at the water's edges. At least so far as I'm concerned. Now here is my interesting question: I've made myself some friends among conservatives by speaking this way. But I do find myself wondering: how many of you on the right will embrace such a philosophy if John Kerry should carry the election in November? I don't want to hear why you think it won't happen. Indulge me: pretend it might. How many of you will have the patriotism to say, "I disagree with many of his policy directions, I do not think he is conducting our foreign policy in the right way, but I will do my best to get behind him and support him until elections come around next time?"

Roughly the same number who had the courage to say, "Gee, it doesn't look like there was any threat from Iraq at all!"

Steve Gilliard picked up on a post at Eschaton:

One of the media conversations I'm peripherally aware of (again, in this bubble I don't have the omniscient view of the media borg I usually do) is the "why do people call Obama black?" It's quite fascinating, really, that this is an issue. The same issue was raised when Halle Berry won her Oscar. I'll try to be kind to those raising the it, but they really seem to have a view of race as being genetic or "in the blood," which is, uh, a rather interesting view of race. The "one drop rule" still exists -- not because it's government imposed, but because if you look black people categorize you as black. Now, I look forward to a colorblind society but it doesn't exactly exist right now. Obama is black because people see him as black. The content of "black blood" in him is irrelevant. I highly doubt any of the people saying this didn't think of Obama as a "black man" before they discovered that one of his parents was white.

Steve's response:

Nope. In America, there are two classes of people, white and not-white. If you are white, then you are white, but if you are not white, you are NOT WHITE. Have you ever heard of anyone described as half-white, unless they were visibly another race? No matter how pretty or how smart, if you are not white in America, you are not white.

…reminds me greatly of one of my own snarks:

Kind of a random thought that occurred to me while reading comments: Division: White Divisions seen: White, You-ain't-white Division: Black Divisions seen: Black, White, You-think-you're-white Division: Everyone else Divisions seen: White, I'm-as-good-as-white, Black

After the amusement passed, I needed to see for myself what kind of stupidity raised the issue, so I checked out the media conversation Atrios is peripherally aware of. The stupid question (which was amen-ed by another letter writer) was addressed there, and of course by Steve and Atrios. But do you want to know the real, historical reason a person with a white mother and a Black father is considered Black?

That settled that, but it did not settle the legal question of who could be enslaved. And in 1670 the Virginia legislature spoke again on the subject, saying: "All servants not being Christians imported into this country by shipping shalbe slaves for life." Whether by design or accident, this law excepted blacks who had been baptized in Africa, Europe, the West Indies, or other colonies. But this loophole was eliminated in the act of 1682 which declared that "…all servants except Turks and Moores …which shall be brought or imported into this country, either by sea or land, whether Negroes… Mullattoes or Indians, who and whose parentage and native country are not christian at the time of their first purchase of such servant by some christian, although afterwards, and before such their importation …they shall be converted to the christian faith… shall be judged, deemed and taken to be slaves…"In plain English, this meant that all Jews, Asians, and Africans (except Turks and Moors) were subject to slavery in Virginia. It meant also that Virginia was embarking on the process (completed in the eighteenth century) of basing slavery on race rather than religion. (The Virginia legislature finally said that a Negro was anyone with one Negro grandparent.)

And that's not all:

Despite this fact, there was widespread opposition to the new order in the white community, particularly among poor whites, many of whom were still indentured servants or former indentured servants. What is amazing here and worthy of detailed examination is that so many whites openly flouted the new laws and conspired with blacks to evade them. How explain this? The explanation is simple: whites, in general, had not been prepared for the new departure. In the words of one white historian, opinion had not "hardened sufficiently" against black people. In the words of another, many whites "had not learned to hold the attitude toward the Negro" that the new script demanded. In addition to these purely passive considerations, there were positive and active links between blacks and white indentured servants, who continued to run away together and to conspire together. A point of considerable importance here is that slavery did not immediately displace white servitude. For more than one hundred years, the two systems existed side by side, mutually influencing one another. For almost as long a period, the white servant and the black slave continued to interact, threatening the stability of this dual system of servitude. In order to preserve domestic tranquillity, the leading groups in the colonies made it a matter of public policy to destroy the solidarity of the laborers. Laws were passed requiring different groups to keep to themselves, and the seeds of dissension were artfully and systematically sown. Indians were offered bounties for betraying black runaways; blacks were given minor rewards for fighting Indians; and poor whites were used as fodder in the disciplining of both reds and blacks. At the same time masters used Draconian measures to stop the mingling and mating of blacks and whites. From the last quarter of the seventeenth century to the end of the eighteenth century, policy-makers legislated against these practices. In the process white women were whipped, banished, and enslaved to keep them from marrying black men. "The increasing number of mulattoes, through intermarriage and illicit relationships," Lorenzo J. Greene writes, "soon caused alarm among Puritan advocates of racial purity and white domination. Sensing a deterioration of slavery, if the barriers between master and slaves were dissolved in the equalitarian crucible of sexual intimacy, they sought to stop racial crossing by statute." In this instance, as in so many others, it was necessary to teach whites the value of whiteness. Under the ground rules of the time, a master could virtually enslave a white woman who married a black man and could hold in extended servitude all the issue of such a marriage. In this situation, as might have been expected, Puritan greed triumphed over Puritan morals, and many masters encouraged or forced white women to marry black men. It finally became necessary to pass laws penalizing masters for forcing white women to marry black men. The Maryland law of 1681 said:

Forasmuch as, divers free-born English, or white women, sometimes by the instigation, procurement or connivance of their masters, m's-tresses, or dames, and always to the satisfaction of their lascivious and lustful desires, and to the disgrace not only of the English, but also of many other Christian nations, do intermarry with Negroes and slaves, by which means, divers inconveniences, controversies, and suits may arise for the prevention whereof for the future, Be it enacted: That if the marriage of any woman-servant with any slave shall take place by the procurement or permission of the master, such woman and her issue shall be free.

Put water in the coffee machine, shove the carafe in, turn the machine on, go cook breakfast. Return to find you didn't put any coffee in the machine.

I found a single, 1.44 meg floppy disk that has: 1: Chessmaster 2000 2: Text mode Dungeons and Dragons 3: 4Card (solitaire) 4: Sharks! (a pseudo arcade game) 5: PodWars: (another pseudo arcade game) All CGA, MS-DOS version 3 software. And all run flawlessly under XP Pro.

GOP flier questions new voting equipment As Gov. Bush defends touch screen machines, his party urges using absentee ballots to "Make sure your vote counts." By STEVE BOUSQUET, Times Staff Writer Published July 29, 2004 BOSTON - While Gov. Jeb Bush reassures Floridians that touch screen voting machines are reliable, the Republican Party is sending the opposite message to some voters. The GOP urged some Miami voters to use absentee ballots because touch screens lack a paper trail and cannot "verify your vote." That's the same argument Democrats have made but which Bush, his elections director and Republican legislators have repeatedly rejected. "The liberal Democrats have already begun their attacks and the new electronic voting machines do not have a paper ballot to verify your vote in case of a recount," says a glossy mailer, paid for by the Republican Party of Florida and prominently featuring two pictures of President Bush. "Make sure your vote counts. Order your absentee ballot today." The GOP tactic is the reverse of what Bush and state elections experts have said as they have repeatedly opposed Democratic moves, in the Legislature and courts, to require a paper trail on the machines.

Quote of note:

Stoller agreed that being removed as an official blogger was best. "I just didn’t want any confusion between what I say and what the DNCC says," he said in an interview. He added that the DNCC "wants bloggers to say whatever they want to say. The difference was that I was associated with the DNCC."

Democratic Blogger Canned Over Criticism by Drew Clark BOSTON -- The authors of the online diaries known as Web logs, or "blogs," are known for their fierce independence -- but one was so true to that tradition that he quickly lost his slot on the official blog of the Democratic National Convention Committee (DNCC) this week because of a critical comment on an unrelated group blog. The deleted blogger, Matt Stoller, was the "blog community coordinator" for the DNCC, which organized the convention here. On Monday, opening day, he critiqued convention keynote speaker Barack Obama by unfavorably comparing him with Sen. John Edwards of North Carolina, the Democratic candidate for vice president. Stoller continues to blog on his personal site and retains the credentials he was granted to help other bloggers make preparations to come to the convention, the first major political gathering to grant credentials to such individual Web posters. But the post at The Blogging of the President, where Stoller is the editor, prompted the DNCC to sever its affiliation with Stoller and remove his name from the blog of the committee's Web site. Obama is an Illinois legislator running for the U.S. Senate and is seen as a rising political star in the party. He spoke to credentialed bloggers at a Monday breakfast for them. "To be honest, I don't get the big deal," Stoller posted after hearing Obama that morning. "He seems very charismatic, but I have yet to cross that bridge with him where I feel like he's saying anything really interesting or useful. He's a lot like Edwards -- charismatic and demographically useful for the Democrats. But is there there there?" Stoller, a college-aged consultant, praised Obama in posts on Tuesday and Wednesday. But the Monday post was enough for Eric Schnure, a communications consultant and the official DNCC blogger, to dismiss Stoller despite previous praise for Stoller's "many creative blogging talents." Democrats have celebrated the emergence of blogging and created a "bloggers boulevard" at the FleetCenter here. In a June post, Schnure compared bloggers with the pamphleteers of the American Revolution. "Having the freedom to spread ideas and share opinions -- whether they are in the form of passionate protest, irreverent wit (hit or miss), or just plain 'Common Sense' -- is not just part of our democracy; it’s vital to it," he wrote. "Sadly, not everyone seems to appreciate that notion. Some prominent Republicans come to mind. ... That’s really why I’m excited to have the opportunity to head up this blog." But in an interview, Schnure said dismissing Stoller as a DNCC blogger helped clarify that individual opinions do not represent the party’s views. "He wasn’t speaking on behalf of the DNCC," Schnure said. Stoller agreed that being removed as an official blogger was best. "I just didn’t want any confusion between what I say and what the DNCC says," he said in an interview. He added that the DNCC "wants bloggers to say whatever they want to say. The difference was that I was associated with the DNCC."

Barbara Sizemore Dies; D.C. Superintendent By Yvonne Shinhoster Lamb Washington Post Staff Writer Wednesday, July 28, 2004; Page B06 Barbara A. Sizemore, 77, the first African American woman to head a major school system when she was chosen as superintendent of D.C. schools in 1973 who then cascaded into a tumultuous politically charged tenure, died July 24 at her home in Chicago. She had cancer. Dr. Sizemore had a reputation as a brilliant educator and a fierce advocate for community-controlled schools when she was selected by the District school board to lead the city's troubled system. However, her educational philosophy and administrative style led to her being fired by the city's elected school board in 1975. Her tenure, like that of the superintendents before her and since, depicted the strained relationship between the city's school board and its superintendent. Dr. Sizemore also came to the District at a time when adolescent home rule politics were beginning to fracture along lines of race and class. A 1975 Washington Post article described it this way: "Mrs. Sizemore assumed center stage in an arena that was wracked by social ferment, political battles and court fights during the two decades of civil rights struggles and the District's drive for home rule. The campaign for self government ended only last year with the city's first elected mayor and Council in more than a century." The board, which was the city's only elected agency at the time, said Dr. Sizemore was a poor administrator who was often insubordinate. She countered that it interfered too much in the daily dealings of the school system and did not support her proposals for decentralizing schools and other major reforms. The board offered her a chance to quit the post with $46,000 in severance pay, but she rejected it. Dr. Sizemore made no secret that she was particularly interested in raising the academic achievement of African American students and stirred controversy when she said in a speech that she had "a higher calling than educating children, and that was uplifting my race." In the 1975 Washington Post interview, she added, "I did not understand that in order to be superintendent of schools I was to give up my higher mission."

MoveOn is at it again:

This fall, award-winning filmmaker George Butler will release Going Upriver: The Long War of John Kerry, a biographical film featuring never-before-seen footage of John Kerry as a young man. For us, watching this footage transformed our understanding of who John Kerry is and what he's about. You will never forget Kerry's riveting and inspiring testimony to the Senate as the 27-year-old leader of Vietnam Veterans Against the War, or his crewmates' descriptions of his selfless acts under fire. We've put together a "Kerry Kit," with a DVD featuring a 15-minute pre-release excerpt of this film, as well as Kerry's recent speech to Jesse Jackson's Rainbow Coalition, all the MoveOn PAC ads, and lots of other materials. And to get it out there, we're giving away the first 100,000 Kerry Kits totally free - one per member.

This is 21^st century door-to-door canvassing. Much easier on fallen arches.

A City on a Hill
By ANDREI CHERNY

I did not hesitate to hunt down our enemies then. And I will not hesitate to hunt down America's enemies today. This New Patriotism I have spoken of tonight means we will bring America's values to America's government - honoring those who work hard and walk humbly, saving and building for the future, giving power to people so they can choose their own destiny.

Meant Well, Messed Up
By THEODORE C. SORENSEN

Only 96 days remain to take back our country from the most secretive, hypocritical and dangerous band of ideologues in our governmental history. Let no doubt remain; this is the most important election of our time. Either we take the road forward to national unity and international cooperation, or we fall further into despair, division and dangerous isolation.

Grace Under Pressure
By JAMES FALLOWS

…This wonderful country has been its best under pressure. We have been shocked and wounded in the last three years - but it's not the first time. Our predecessors had to struggle for independence, for the Union, for an open and equal society, against great tyrannies and the threat of nuclear war. And in every case, the America that emerged was not just victorious but better - stronger, freer, more confident, more inclusive and equal. America is under serious challenge now, in another struggle we must win - and will. But we must win it the way we always have: with confidence and patience, not fear and panic, and with an understanding that our American ideals and openness are not disposable luxuries but the ultimate source of our strength. This is our chance to build a better, stronger America. Let us begin.

Whistle-Blowing Said to Be Factor in an F.B.I. Firing By ERIC LICHTBLAU WASHINGTON, July 28 - A classified Justice Department investigation has concluded that a former F.B.I. translator at the center of a growing controversy was dismissed in part because she accused the bureau of ineptitude, and it found that the F.B.I. did not aggressively investigate her claims of espionage against a co-worker. The Justice Department's inspector general concluded that the allegations by the translator, Sibel Edmonds, "were at least a contributing factor in why the F.B.I. terminated her services," and the F.B.I. is considering disciplinary action against some employees as a result, Robert S. Mueller III, director of the bureau, said in a letter last week to lawmakers. A copy of the letter was obtained by The New York Times. Ms. Edmonds worked as a contract linguist for the F.B.I. for about six months, translating material in Turkish, Persian and Azerbaijani. She was dismissed in 2002 after she complained repeatedly that bureau linguists had produced slipshod and incomplete translations of important terrorism intelligence before and after the Sept. 11 attacks. She also accused a fellow Turkish linguist in the bureau's Washington field office of blocking the translation of material involving acquaintances who had come under F.B.I. suspicion and said the bureau had allowed diplomatic sensitivities with other nations to impede the translation of important terrorism intelligence. The Edmonds case has proved to be a growing concern to the F.B.I. because it touches on three potential vulnerabilities for the bureau: its ability to translate sensitive counterterrorism material, its treatment of internal "whistle-blowers," and its classification of sensitive material that critics say could be embarrassing to the bureau.

Africa's new model for spreading oil wealth With Africa emerging as a major oil player, a groundbreaking experiment in Chad aims to thwart corruption and use revenues to build schools. By Abraham McLaughlin | Staff writer of The Christian Science Monitor MEURMEOUEL, CHAD - Whenever oil is discovered in an African country - which happens more and more these days - a certain pattern unfolds. Vast sums of money start flowing in. Government officials divert much of it into their private bank accounts. And the masses are left nearly as poor as before - and are increasingly angry. But this month, the nation of Chad embarked in earnest on a groundbreaking - some say foolhardy - effort, policed by the World Bank, to ensure that the benefits of the country's new oil wealth reach its 9 million people. The experiment is being watched closely by outsiders, including the US, which wants to develop sources of oil outside the volatile Middle East. If things go well in Chad - and across Africa - America could import 25 percent of its oil from this continent by 2015. Otherwise, Chad risks ending up like Nigeria, with its rampant corruption and armed insurrections from militants who covet oil revenues. "If it works, it's going to be a great model for other countries in Africa," says a Western diplomat here of Chad's venture. Some even see potential lessons for Iraq.The money flows This month, Chad got its first $38 million in oil revenues. Over the next 20 years, it's expected to get at least $2 billion, boosting national revenues by 50 percent, according to the World Bank. But unlike other African nations, Chad is committed to spend 80 percent of oil revenues on schools, clinics, roads, and other basic needs. Five percent goes to a fund for future generations. Another 5 percent goes to develop the southern oil region, near the Cameroon border. And 10 percent is socked away in case oil prices fall. Most of the cash is held by the World Bank in a London account to avoid "leakage." And a citizens committee, with four members from nonprofit groups and five from government, must approve all oil- revenue expenditures. Already, villagers in the hamlet of Meurmeouel, here in southern Chad's scrub-brush desert, are reaping benefits. Pumps are sucking 200,000 barrels of oil a day from beneath Meurmeouel and nearby villages, and sending it via a 670-mile pipeline through Cameroon to world markets. Last year, oil giant Esso (a local partnership between ExxonMobil, ChevronTexaco, and Malaysia's Petronas) gave some $3 million to individuals most affected by the project. That money has funded everything from new tin roofs to beer parties. It also spent about $3 million as part of a community compensation program that offered a new well, a water tower, or a primary school to some 80 villages, including Meurmeouel. The village's 760 residents overwhelmingly chose the school. Today the school's brick walls and bright-green shutters stand out amid the village's straw-roofed huts. [For a related look at "Judging a village by its huts," see http://weblogs.csmonitor.com/ notebook_africa/.] "Schools make great men," says Ellie Souleingar, a tall farmer with a broad smile, explaining Meurmeouel's education focus. When the village's best and brightest go off to high school or university, and then return home, "Everyone will listen to them" for advice and new ideas, adds Marcel Kordodjin, the brother of the village's chief. In theory, Chad's oil money will jump-start new ideas and new initiative all across the country. "People here are used to presenting their wishes to authorities," says Otto Honke, a German development specialist who runs the village compensation program here for Esso. "But instead of asking for something, we'll help them plan how to do it themselves." Bricks made locally That's what happened in Meurmeouel. Villagers were hired to help build the school. The construction firm also bought bricks from local brick makers. And after the building was finished, villagers realized they needed yet another classroom. So they pooled their profits and spent about $50 to build an addition to the school, a one-room building with a tin roof. Even the chief, who's a brick mason, pitched in. In Meurmeouel and elsewhere, oil revenues have sparked a great sense of possibility. But even with its new bonanza, Chad won't be rich. Per capita income is $250 per year - or 73 cents a day - according to the World Bank. That's expected to rise to $550 per year by 2005. Chad ranks 167th out of 177 countries on the 2004 United Nations Human Development Index. Electricity, paved roads, and clean water are rare. And skeptics say that despite the new revenue model, life won't change much for the masses - only the elites. They worry the citizens committee won't be independent of the authoritarian regime and point out, for instance, that President Idriss Deby's brother is on the panel. The authoritarian president is used to getting his way: He's changing the Constitution to let himself run for a third term. And in 2000 he reportedly spent $4 million of a $25 million oil-deal "signing bonus" on military supplies. But the World Bank, in a calculated gamble, figures Chad's leaders would risk too much by trying to skim money for themselves. Even with oil revenues, Chad will still rely heavily on outside aid to fund even basic services. "If they are going to renege on their commitment, it would jeopardize relations with the World Bank and other donors," says Gregor Binkert, the World Bank country director here. Meanwhile, other African nations are tilting toward the Chad model. On Africa's West coast, for instance, the island nation of Sao Tome and Principe has been debating a new law intended to bring transparency to oil revenues. The country also struck a deal with Nigeria to release regular audited financial reports for an oil-rich coastal zone both countries are developing. Driven by unrest The driving force behind these moves is clear: Inequalities created by elites skimming oil profits can spark social strife, which interrupts the flow of oil. Oil facilities in Nigeria, Africa's largest oil exporter, are regularly attacked by militants. This often forces their shutdown, causing 10 to 40 percent declines in Nigeria's production capacity of 2.5 million barrels per day. In oil-rich Angola, watchdog groups warn that some $4 billion went missing because of corruption or mismanagement between 1997 and 2002, even as 3.7 million citizens are malnourished. Yawning rich-poor gaps like this set the stage for civil strife. Given these pressures, even the multinational oil firms that have long been accused of abetting corruption may be changing. In Chad they've agreed to disclose what they're paying the government for oil contracts. It's something they've resisted elsewhere, saying it hinders their ability to compete with rivals that are willing to pay bribes. Meanwhile, in a sign of Meurmeouel's entry into the modern era, residents are now dealing with two problems faced by countless US cities: school overcrowding and a teacher shortage. Parents from nearby villages now covet a spot for their kids at Meurmeouel's school, forcing the village to continue using its old wood-and-straw classroom. And many area teachers are getting oil-company jobs, so it's not clear Meurmeouel will have any adults standing at the chalkboard this fall. In fact, villagers are gearing up to raise teacher salaries above the current $36 a year. "It's the last solution to keep teachers in the village," says Mr. Souleingar, the farmer. But it must be done, he says, because "education is our first priority."

Welcome for Muslim Iraq force plan Thursday July 29, 2004 The Iraqi prime minister, Ayad Allawi, today welcomed Saudi Arabia's proposals to help build a joint force of Muslim nations to establish security in the country. The plans have also been backed by the US. Mr Allawi was speaking a day after more than 100 people had been killed in a series of suicide bombings, the deadliest attacks since his interim government took power from the US authorities. After holding talks with the US secretary of state, Colin Powell, Mr Allawi said Muslim countries must close ranks against "those gangs, those terrorists and those criminals" he said were threatening the Arab world. "The leaders of this region must unify and must stand as one group," he told a news conference, warning that, if the insurgency in Iraq were to prevail, countries such as Saudi Arabia, Syria and Lebanon would not be safe. Under the Saudi proposal, Arab and Muslim countries that do not border Iraq would be invited to contribute to the security force. Iraq believes involvement in its security by its direct neighbours could ultimately lead to political conflict with them. "We look forward to the contribution of the Arab and the Islamic states with the exception of the neighbouring states," Mr Allawi said.

Like attracts like.

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Britain's borrowing hits £1 trillion Sandra Haurant and Agencies Thursday July 29, 2004 British consumers borrowed at a rate of around £1m every four minutes in June, getting themselves £11.23bn deeper in debt and taking the total amount of borrowing to more than £1 trillion, the Bank of England said today. The total covers a combination of mortgages, personal loans, overdrafts, hire purchase agreements and on credit and store cards. British household debt is now equal to the total amount owed by Africa, Asia and Latin America to international banks and through loans from other countries.

Afghanistan could implode say MPs Afghanistan could "implode" without more troops, and Iraq has become a "battleground" for al-Qaeda, warns an MPs report on the war on terrorism. The Commons foreign affairs committee also says there is little sign of winning the fight against Afghan drugs. The MPs say Iraqi forces are still a long way from being able to ensure security in their country. They say there are too few foreign troops in Iraq and that Muslim states should be encouraged to send forces. …Tony Blair recently denied suggestions that Afghanistan had become a "forgotten" country amid complaints from some of the MPs on the committee who visited the country. The MPs back Afghan President Hamid Karzai's call for Nato's International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) to be given more resources. Conservative committee member Sir John Stanley told reporters that security in Afghanistan was "on a knife edge". Nato must answer President Karzai's call for more help, he said. "If we fail to do so then I believe there is a very serious risk that the country in security terms is going to go back very, very seriously. "We could end up with a situation that everything we have tried to achieve could be set back almost to square one."

'Simpsons' Character Coming Out Of Closet FOX A long time character on "The Simpsons" is about to come out of the closet. But the show's producers aren't saying who. The betting seems to favor Waylon Smithers, who for years has harbored a secret crush on his boss, Mr. Burns. Producer Al Jean said it happens during an episode where Springfield legalizes gay marriage. Reportedly, in the episode, Homer becomes an ordained minister over the Internet and begins performing gay marriages. The New York Post is speculating that if it's not the obvious choice of Smithers, it may be one of Marge's chain-smoking sisters Patti or Selma.

Rapper Ja Rule Charged With Assault UPDATED: 2:34 PM PDT July 26, 2004 Rapper Ja Rule he was released on $7,500 bail after facing assault charges in a Toronto court on Monday. The Grammy-nominated rapper, whose real name is Jeffrey Atkins, did not enter a plea. He is to return to Provincial Court on Aug. 30 to set a trial date. There is a court-ordered publication ban on the evidence, although police said earlier the charges stem from an incident at a Toronto nightclub on June 5. Atkins, 28, is charged with assault causing bodily harm.

Ben Vs. O'Reilly Access Hollywood Celebrities who publicly platform their politics are prime bait for Bill O'Reilly, the normally contentious host on the FOX News Channel. For that reason most stars avoid Bill, but Ben Affleck agreed to go live in studio at the Democratic National Convention. "Affleck gave me a lot of money to have him on," O'Reilly joked to Access. "Nobody knows who he is." Ben's done more work for the Democrats that he has for Hollywood lately. "Obviously a guy like Ben Affleck, people are going to be curious about how he forms his opinions, how he lives and what he wants to see in the country," said O'Reilly. During the interview, Bill asked Ben what he would have done after 9/11 if he was president of the country. "I'm going to go after the guy I know is responsible for Sept. 11 and I'm going to go into Afghanistan and I'm not going to leave until I get Osama," responded Ben. "Everybody worth their salt knew Saddam Hussein had no relationship with Al Qeada... Bush is a patriot. He's trying to further the agenda he happens to believe in. I happen to disagree with most of his policies but I respect the man." So if Ben ever runs for political office, it looks like he may have a new supporter. "I respect you. I didn't know you before tonight," O'Reilly said to Affleck at the conclusion of their interview. "You come in, you answer the questions. You're not bomb throwing. You're not a hater and all Americans should applaud you. You're 30 years old, you got a big future and we appreciate it very much."

A New Grand Strategy The U.S. must see that in today's world, its principles carry more heft than economic, political and military might. By Gary Hart July 29, 2004 Although the Cold War ended more than a decade ago, in August 1991, our political system has not yet produced a new, grand strategy for the United States to replace containment of communism. Until Sept. 11, this failure might have been attributable to the lack of a common enemy. Since then, the strategic vacuum has been filled, but only partly, by the war on terrorism. But I believe it is not enough for the world's greatest power — greatness measured in every traditional dimension of economic, political and military power — to limit its strategic focus to crushing only one method (terrorism) employed by one radical fundamentalist network (Al Qaeda). Shouldn't we have a greater and nobler purpose in the 21st century world? Our new century is dynamic in four revolutionary ways: globalization, information, sovereignty and conflict. Globalization and information technology are revolutionizing international markets and finance and transforming whole economies and societies. They in turn are eroding traditional nation-state sovereignty and compromising the state's ability to provide economic and physical security. Weakening of the state's monopoly on violence has led to the transformation of war and fundamental alterations in the nature of conflict. Neither an ad hoc approach — "We'll deal with these issues as they arise" — nor the Bush administration's "war on terrorism" is an adequate framework for defining the role of the United States in the years ahead. The European nation-state is giving way to the United Europe, thus making restoration of the Atlantic Alliance problematic. The Chinese and Indian economic explosions, national redefinition in Japan and a nuclear North Korea all require fresh U.S. policies on Asia. Elsewhere, failed states, proliferation of weapons of mass destruction, epidemics, mass migrations and global warming — the new agenda of the century — all require closer international collaboration and probably new international institutions. A grand strategy is simply the application of a nation's powers to the achievement of larger purposes. I would argue we have three such purposes: to ensure security (both for ourselves and, where possible, for others), to expand opportunity and to promote liberal democracy around the world. And to achieve them, we can harness three powers — economic, political and military — far superior to anyone else's. Our economy is larger than the next four or five national economies combined. We have an unrivaled diplomatic and political network. And soon we will spend more on our military than the rest of the world combined. But we also have a fourth power, shared by few if any other great nations in history. That power is contained in our founding principles, the constitutional statement of who we are, what we believe and how we have chosen to govern ourselves. The idea that government exists to protect, not oppress, the individual has an enormous power not fully understood by most Americans, who take this principle for granted from birth. Far more nations will follow us because of the power of this ideal than the might of all our weapons. But the power of principle is complex: It is our greatest strategic asset and our greatest national constraint. Our principles are the predominant reason we are admired in the world, but on those occasions when we fail to live up to these principles, we are weakened accordingly.

Iraqi PM Calls for Muslim Unity By GEORGE GEDDA 2:54 AM PDT, July 29, 2004 JIDDAH, Saudi Arabia — Iraqi Prime Minister Iyad Allawi said Thursday that Islamic countries must close ranks against "those gangs, those terrorists and those criminals" who he said are threatening the Arab world.

Why a Conflicted Kerry Voted Yes -- and Later No -- on Iraq By Janet Hook, Mary Curtius and Greg Miller Times Staff Writers July 29, 2004 BOSTON — Late one night in September 2002, Senate Democrats were bitterly debating whether to authorize war with Iraq. Sen. John F. Kerry (D-Mass.) had been agonizing over the issue, but now was urging colleagues to support a compromise that would still give President Bush much of the power he sought. Liberals were steamed. "Why would you trust the president?" asked Sen. Barbara Boxer (D-Calif.). Despite such objections, Kerry two weeks later voted for the congressional resolution paving the way for the war. And no issue has dogged him more than that single vote, which has come under fire from the left and the right. Many Democrats have criticized him for supporting the war. Republicans have accused him of changing his position for political gain. A look at how Kerry made up his mind on the war vote indicates that he was conflicted before he cast his vote. The concerns that apparently plague him — the questions he asked at public hearings, the caveats and reservations he voiced on the Senate floor before casting his vote — reflected his ambivalence as well as his ambition. And that ambivalence sowed the seeds of Kerry's future shifts on the issue, including his vote a year later against a bill providing $87 billion in aid that went mainly to Iraq. Republicans sought to spotlight Kerry's record on Iraq by releasing a video Wednesday that portrayed him as inconsistent and indecisive — an attack launched as Democrats formally nominated him as their presidential candidate. But what critics assail as opportunism, supporters praise as evidence of his ability to rethink issues and respond to changing circumstances.

I need the capabilities Drupal has, but that doesn't mean I'm sleeping on Movable Type. It's still the best system for the most bloggers, in my opinion.

Movable Type 3.1: What's New 07.26.2004 Following Ben and Mena’s demonstration on Friday at the BlogOn conference, we’re glad to give everyone a small peek at what’s coming in Movable Type 3.1. Though Movable Type 3.0 was a Developer Edition, this release will be available for general users, and we’ll be making it available as a free update for licensed users of 3.0. First, here’s a quick summary of what’s new, followed by a longer explanation of what it all means.

I am NOT above an "I told you so" when necessary, but it's not this time.

Eating Crow: Withdrawing our Nader support Ahh P6, you are a shining light for some of us mad, youngish brothers protesting the Democrats and Republicans. After 15 days of official Nader/Camejo support and volunteering, T-Steel and I officially walked the fuck outta Dodge. And I delivered a roundhouse kick to the door so it didn't hit us in the ass while T-Steel put his foot in Nader supporters collective asses. Nader and Camejo are some confused muthafuckas. Damn if I didn't see folks wearing Bush/Cheney 2004 buttons and t-shirts putting Nader/Camejo signs all over the place. And they were FUCKING WELCOMED in some Michigan Nader "Ops" offices. Bump that. T-Steel and I may want to do a protest vote, but it won't be for Ralph "Straight Gangsta" Nader. And he's acting just like a gangsta: playing with any side to get some cash. …So P6, your comment saying "Nader is full of shit" was spot on. Much respect.

As I said before, if your conscience won't let you vote for someone you genuinely don't agree with, fine. Natalie is one of the more principled folks I've ever encountered, and I don't want her giving that up. The fact is in the Real World you are going to have to compromise, and if you wibble on your principles you've compromised yourself because your necessary negotiations will take you even further from your true position. My only dispute with you high principled types is, when does the negotiation start? Any any rate, I still feel both the neocon agenda AND their techniques need to be repudiated as close to absolutely as possible. Not only must the Bushistas be fired, Nader must be so embarrassed (and the clear reason for the embarrassment must be his alignment with the Reactionary Right) they never try this"stalking horse" technique again. I repeat my suggestion to those who want to vote on absolute principle: Anybody But Bush-Nader, even if it means writing in your own name.

Trackback pings to TypePad blogs always time out. I feel like I just wrote a sentence in Martian. Anyway, that means anytime I edit a post that links to a TypePad blog, said blog gets re-pinged. That's bad because usually the ping worked the first time, it just took too long getting back.

So like I said, I need to learn regular expressions. Wild cards on steroids. Well, I need to learn how to use mod_rewrite too, so I'm gathering what I need to study…the Apache documentation for mod_rewrite was easy enough to find. Then I hit Google looking for a good tutorial on regular expressions. Jackpot. Not only do I find a seriously complete tutorial, that site linked to the open source PCRE regular expressions library and a Delphi 7 wrapper that encapsulates it as an object. So I can get more use out of this studying. Best of all, though, was finding The Regulator on Sourceforge.

The Regulator is an advanced Regular expressions testing tool, featuring syntax highlighting and web-service integration with Regexlib.com's database of online regular expressions.

I'd been wondering how I'd test the expressions. And here it is. I love it, seriously.

Natalie at All Facts and Opinions linked to a (for her) very disappointing assessment of Nader at Common Dreams

Nader's "Grassroots" Campaign...Courtesy of GOP by Jeff Cohen …As a progressive, I've admired Ralph Nader for as many years as I've disliked the corporate centrism of Democrats like John Kerry. But compared to the corporate and religious rightwing forces behind Nader, Kerry is a paragon of progressive virtue. For many of us inspired by Nader's 2000 campaign, it was easy four years ago to dismiss the charge that "a vote for Nader is a vote for Bush" as a Democratic defense of the corrupt status quo. Today, the sad reality on the ground is that a vote for Nader in these swing states is a vote for Bush's money, his organization, his rightwing activists.

The Demise of Andrew Sullivan is Moving Far Too Slow …Now maybe I'd been living under a rock, but up until about six months ago, I'd never heard of Andrew Sullivan, author, blogger, conservative, and gay-rights activist extraordinaire. After surfing a few of my favorite conservative weblogs, I came upon links to his site rather often so one day I decided to see what the hubbub was about. As suspected, the hubbub was about absolutely nothing. It only took me moments to see that Andrew Sullivan was nothing more than the confused moderate's poster-boy for politics, but more specifically, same-sex marriage. Every time I write about this issue, someone always wants to ask me if I've read good old Andy Sullivan. Well I have, and I'm not impressed. I wasn't buying it then, and I'm not buying it now. Thankfully, others are starting to notice the same.

Chris at Afro-Netizen gives you his close up impression of one of his hometown politicians.

"So, how does it feel?" This is the question I asked rising star, State Senator Barack Obama, tonight after his triumphal debut as U.S. senator-to-be from the great state of Illinois. Upon recognizing my voice, Brother Senator (as I will call him henceforth) turned a bit to make eye contact with me and give me that easy, familiar smile. He stopped a moment, looked at me intently through the dark richness of the music-filled room as though the sway of the people encircling him was a mere summer breeze, and simply said: "It's good." Not a rote: "It's all good," but more like good in the sense of goodness. Goodness, no doubt, radiating from the collective surge of pride toward a man who made the more jaded and disaffected among us Blackfolk feel a sense of hope, optimism, and dare I say belonging to a political party still a shadow of its former self since the tragic rise of the New Democrat. Not ironically, Brother Senator became the embodiment and most compelling messenger of what Howard Dean's "Democratic wing of the Democratic Party" rhetoric sought to reveal without the need to say so explicitly. The poignant authenticity of his personal narrative transcended what other speakers had to spell out with expressly ideological language.

The Crawford Wives Photoshop is a serious political weapon, let me tell you…

I have to learn regular expressions. I need to strip the HTML out of entries I excerpt for my Drupal full-text search module. See, if there's a <div>or <blockquote> tag in the excerpt and the closing tag falls outside the excerpt the tags are (of course) never closed. Screws the page up really bad.

I rarely go past the TTLB Ecosystem site anymore. I find it honestly a bit annoying that a site that has been closed since mid-March still gets three times my traffic. Today, though, one of my Chaos Powers inspired me to wander about and I found a few really interesting things. 1- Drudge (and or any existing support staff) is a clumsy plagiarist. 2- In the course of finding out about said clumsiness, Bob Harris discusses a concern about Kerry's strategy:

Only one grim, depressing, absolutely wrong-headed and loser-making note coming out of tonight's Democratic speeches: Teresa Heinz Kerry referring to her husband as "a fighter". Oh, crap. I know, Vietnam, medals, all that, yes. But remember, every word of these speeches is carefully vetted, to introduce and amplify themes intended to resonate with the American people. "A fighter for the people" suddenly looks like it might be one of them. Thing is, Kerry's head speechwriter, Bob Shrum, has jackhammered the "candidate X is a fighter for the people" theme into a startling number of campaigns over the years -- almost all of whom subsequently lost:

A look back at Shrum's clients quickly becomes a pugilistic blur: Jon Corzine ("fighting for us"), Michael Coles ("a fighter for Georgia"), Geraldine Ferraro ("a fighter who's taken on the big insurance companies"), Ron Klink ("strong enough to fight for us"), Bob Casey ("a proven fighter" who "had the courage to take on the most powerful forces"), Kathleen Kennedy Townsend ("fighting for Maryland's families"), Mark Dayton ("fighting for what's right, fighting for you").

In the presidential campaigns where he has worked, Shrum is (drum roll)... 0-for-6.

Bob Shrum's fingerprints have been found at the scene of an uninterrupted string of Democratic presidential catastrophes over the past 30 years. Ed Muskie and George McGovern in 1972. Kennedy in 1980. Richard Gephardt and Michael Dukakis in 1988. Bob Kerrey in 1992. The only successful Democratic candidacies of the era -- Carter in 1976 and Bill Clinton in 1992 -- were Shrum-free affairs. (Shrum worked for 10 days for Carter, but quit in a huff.)

Why, you ask? All else being equal, America's best-loved leaders are always optimistic alpha males with will-do attitudes who project comfort with their own power and a touch of self-deprecation -- in other words, embodiments of the projected self-image of the country. Over and over and over. The "fighter" image differs in the candidate's implied status in every single respect. That's why it always loses. This isn't remotely difficult to discern. Or shouldn't be. This is why Teresa Heinz Kerry scared the holy crap out of me tonight. Please, Bob Shrum. Don't do this to us. We don't deserve it. If Kerry himself promises on Thursday to be a "fighter for the people"... Oh, crap. Crappity crap crap crap. Hope I'm wrong hope I'm wrong hope I'm wrong...

3- I didn't actually go to Tom Tomorrow's joint. I was directed there by Stephen VanDyke of The Hammer of Truth, which I visited because I liked his subtitle: "powered by tar and feathers." Seems to be a libertarian, but with a light hand. The best post on Hammer of Truth today is about Jon Stewart once again proving himself a better journalist than the best of them:

Stewart: “I saw [Teresa Heinz Kerry] kill a hobo with her bare hands"; Brokaw: “Yes” The Daily Show’s Jon Stewart ripped into the mainstream media on their own show, with this humorous discourse on the media’s focus on Teresa Heinz Kerry’s tiff with a reporter. Here’s the relevant snippet from the conversation/interview with Tom Brokaw:

…BROKAW: Well, we had a chance to talk with Teresa Heinz Kerry earlier tonight. And she said that reporter mischaracterized what she had said. He came back to her and said, what were you talking about un-American activities? STEWART: Right. BROKAW: And she said certain un-American traits, which is civil discourse in American politics. STEWART: Absolutely. But it is—I think we should focus a lot of time on the wife race, because, as you remember, we nearly lost World War II when Eleanor Roosevelt told the reporter from “The Hartford Times Courant” to sit on it. So, these are issues that we really should be talking about. And Teresa Heinz Kerry, for what it‘s worth, yesterday I saw kill a hobo with her bare hands. BROKAW: Now, when you‘re down here on the fort, a lot of people come up and ask your opinion. (LAUGHTER) STEWART: You‘re going to let me go with that? You‘re just going to let me say Teresa Heinz Kerry killed a hobo with her bare hands? BROKAW: Yes. Yes. Right. Yes.

It totally flew over Brokaw’s head, sad. I mean, how hard does the guy have to try before the networks realize that Jon Stewart blames the current political climate on the media as much as the politicians.

Quote of note:

It is understandable that those who labored - and those who gave large contributions - to make the park more beautiful would feel a sense of ownership. But the park, no matter how elegant the private residences that line it, is a public space, not a gated community's playground. The protesters have a right to have their say in a proper venue. In a recent poll, three-quarters of New Yorkers believed that venue to be Central Park. The 50,000 or so Republicans and others attending the G.O.P.'s own political demonstration next month don't have such worries. City officials are worrying about their every need, even concierge and spa services. They'll also be treated to a concert, in Central Park.

Of Grass Roots and Protests With the Republican convention about one month away, the city has so far kept protesters off the Great Lawn in Central Park. Organizers of a large protest planned for Aug. 29 were denied its use. Park officials said the 250,000 people organizers expect would do too much damage to the grass and surrounding foliage. Then the National Organization for Women wanted the 13-acre lawn for a rally of 50,000 - far fewer than the 85,000 people who went to the Dave Matthews concert last year. Again, the city said no. It made us wonder why the city was so intent on keeping free speech off the grass. City officials seem to have two sets of rules- one for approved music lovers, who attend warm-weather events by the tens of thousands - and another for political activity. The latter, of course, is protected by the Constitution. Yet city officials lack compelling reasons for denying protesters' requests to use parts of the park, especially the Great Lawn. Granted, millions were spent to bring back the lawn from its scraggly days. But much of that money was spent to ensure exceptional durability. Resilient Kentucky bluegrass sod was planted in a soil mix with coarse sand mined in eastern Long Island - a proven base for sturdy golf courses. It also drains quickly, which makes officials' complaints that the protests lack rain dates seem curious.

Chicago Has a Nonunion Plan for Poor Schools By SAM DILLON CHICAGO - Last fall, R. Eden Martin, a lawyer from a powerful business group here, wrote a blunt memorandum to Arne Duncan, the chief executive of the Chicago public schools, warning that dozens of failing schools that had resisted improvement after years on an academic watch list would soon face a takeover under federal law. But there was an alternative - the city could shut them down on its own and create small, new, privately managed schools to replace them. And that, Mr. Martin wrote, would bring a crucial advantage: the new schools could operate outside the Chicago Teachers Union contract. It seemed a fire-breathing proposal, since in its entire history Chicago had closed just three schools for academic failure, and the union is a powerful force in the school system here, the nation's third largest. But Mr. Duncan was already convinced of the need for direct intervention in many failing schools, and the business group's proposal helped shape a sweeping new plan, which Mayor Richard M. Daley announced in June. By 2010, the city will replace 60 failing schools with 100 new ones, and in the process turn one in 10 of its schools over to private managers, mostly operating without unions. It is one of the nation's most radical school restructuring plans. "It's time to start over with the schools that are nonperforming," Mr. Daley said in an interview July 19. "We need to shake up the system." The schools slated for closing include 40 elementary schools and 20 high schools. In all of them, most students perform far below grade level.

Quote of note:

Jadakiss doesn't really believe Bush ordered the towers destroyed — he says the line is a metaphor, and that Bush should take the blame for the terrorist attack because his administration didn't do enough to stop it. "They didn't follow up on a lot of things properly," says Jadakiss. "It's the president of the United States. The buck stops with him."

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Rapper Jadakiss Blames Bush for Sept. 11 Date: Wednesday, July 28, 2004 By: BlackAmericaWeb.com NEW YORK - Over the years, the rapper Jadakiss has depicted a world of drug dealing, murder and other assorted mayhem without raising many eyebrows. But seven words in his new song "Why" — "Why did Bush knock down the towers?" — has gotten Jadakiss the most mainstream attention, and criticism, of his career. "It caught the ear of white America," he said proudly during a phone interview with The Associated Press. "It's a good thing. No matter what you do, somebody's not going to like it, but for the most part, most people love the song." Not everyone loves it. Bill O'Reilly called Jadakiss a "smear merchant" this week, and some radio stations have edited out the line in the song, in which Jadakiss talks about perceived injustices, conspiracies and problems affecting the world. MTV says it is playing an edited version of the video, as it was sent by his label, Interscope. Jadakiss says fans have demanded to hear the original version. "In the beginning, they would edit, but after that, everybody called back for the version that was calling Bush (out)," he says. …Hearing Jadakiss converse about political issues is a new concept — the rapper, who began his career as part of the group The Lox, is more known for his gritty rhymes about street life. But Jadakiss says his outlook has changed. "I'm growing up, I'm getting a little older. I've got two kids. I'm almost 30 years old," says the Yonkers, N.Y. native. He talks up "Fahrenheit 9/11" as an important, must-see movie — he's watched it twice — and he's even registering to vote in the upcoming presidential election, a first for him. (He backs John Kerry) He wants the minimum wage raised and more jobs created. "As a rapper, as an artist, we've got power," he said. "If we can get people to vote from the ages 18 to 44, we can make a change."

Fabio Tojas of Marginal Revolution via Foreign Dispatches:

The challenge African-American politicians must overcome is this: if you appeal too much the African-American base, you'll alienate moderate whites; if you appeal too much to moderate whites, your opponent will claim that you aren't "black enough." Witness Cory Booker's difficult campaign for mayor of Newark, when the Yale educated councilman was tarred by the incumbent. Scheiber appeals to research showing that white Americans routinely make distinctions between "good" and "bad" blacks. Once advertising showed to voters he was of Kenyan ancestry, as opposed to African-American, Schebier believes, the voters reframed Obama as different than traditional black politicians. Scheiber concludes that Obama's act is tough to follow - how many self-deprecating half-Kenyan Harvard Law Review editors are there? On the contrary, if successful, Obama could be in the position to establish a new brand name in national politics. It's easy to imagine Obama establishing a sort of "DLC" for the African-American community, much in the same way Clinton tried pulling his party towards more moderate positions on trade and social programs.

I didn't notice this post back in May. I wish I had…do you realize how much hay I could have made from "research showing that white Americans routinely make distinctions between "good" and "bad" blacks"? HOO-hah! But you know, the Marginal Revolutions post is on point for the most part. The "not Black enough" thing only works if two Black candidates oppose each other and one is actually vulnerable to the charge for some reason. It also doesn't work well across class lines. But notice Fabio's precise—and correct in those instance where it does work…phrasing:

if you appeal too much the African-American base, you'll alienate moderate whites; if you appeal too much to moderate whites, your opponent will claim that you aren't "black enough."

He does NOT say "if you appeal too much to moderate whites, you'll alienate the African-American base." That's because the African American base truly is moderate. And this

Once advertising showed to voters he was of Kenyan ancestry, as opposed to African-American, Schebier believes, the voters reframed Obama as different than traditional black politicians.

…occurred to me before. There's an old anecdote about an African transfer student that had trouble getting served in a southern restaurant or diner or something. He, being wealthy actually, was angry and decided to return in full royal regalia and got excellent service. He asked what the difference was and was told, "hell, we thought you was one of OUR niggers." One of the major reasons immigrants from the African diaspora do well in America is they are treated differently than American Blacks. Fabio is right about one more thing: Obama's act can be followed. Smart Black progressives will support him and all the image building going on around him. Smart Black progressives will triangulate off his position…I hesitate to make this parallel but the same way the Religious Right eased their way into dominance of the Republican Party, Progressives need to ease their way into the Democratic Party (I hesitate because the Religious Right is evil and Progressives are not). LATER: Edited because I just knocked off that first version and one sentance was actually wrong.

I am touchin Atrios's laptop right now! Well here we are at the Democratic National Convention! I woulda blogged about the speeches last night but we had a slight medical mishap as I almost got trampled by Sidney Blumenthal while tryin to touch the hem of Bill Clinton's garment. I could not help it he is just too beautiful! Just five minutes ago I got to see THE Newsweek's Howard Fineman! He is even shorter an pastier an more pathologically blase about the status of American democracy in real life! I tried to engage him in insightful commentary but I was overcome by girlish squealin and mobbed him along with some of the understaff of the New Republic. I came back with two teeth and an eyebrow! But none a that matters right now cause I AM TYPIN ON ATRIOS'S LAPTOP RIGHT NOW. He musta left it out or somethin cause here I am an he even left his Blogger window open I can totally post to his blog an everythin!

Wooooooo I'm Atrios blah blah blah, phony wars are bad, blah blah blah, the media is corrupt an stupid blah blah blah

aaaaaa here he comes runawayrunaway

Theresa Kerry. She is aware of the manipulation and distortion of the truth the Conservative Media indulges in. And her response was the most erudite their activities deserve. You think Hillary twists Conservative nipples? You ain't seen nothing yet.

Those Open Arms Wednesday, July 28, 2004; Page A18 EVER SINCE July 1 -- when yet another gun-lovers' law loosened up Virginia's already lax governance of weapons -- it's been one big macho-fest for heat-packers who get their courage from strapping on pistols. Not every diner may relish the sight of six armed men at the next table, but unless the General Assembly comes to its senses next year, families out for a gathering will have to get used to pistols and ammo belts with their burgers and fries. As reported by The Post's Tom Jackman, residents have been spotted around Fairfax County several times in the past six weeks exercising their new right to wear arms. Police commanders have had to issue reminders to officers that "open carry" is legal. Philip Van Cleave, president of the Virginia Citizens Defense League, an organization of thousands of gun owners, insists that there has been no coordinated effort to strut with guns, but he notes that this "is a good opportunity to educate people." At least "open carry" can be spotted. Carrying concealed weapons also is allowed, but that requires a permit issued by a local court. The most difficult thing to regulate, to be sure, is tempers. Residents just have to hope that they don't rub a gun-toter the wrong way. And don't look for any rescue from local officials. The new state law now prohibits any locality from enacting regulations on gun ownership, carrying, storage or purchase, except for rules relating to the workplace. Maryland and the District don't allow all these "freedoms." So area travelers should be on notice: Virginia Is for Gun-Lovers.

Lack of Funds Delaying Toxic Waste Cleanups Number of Superfund Sites Growing While Federal Resources Drained by Other Needs By Juliet Eilperin Washington Post Staff Writer Wednesday, July 28, 2004; Page A06 The federal government's toxic waste cleanup program is delaying projects across the country because funding is decreasing at a time when the number of sites and other demands are increasing, according to state and federal officials. A slew of new Superfund waste sites, coupled with such needs as funding emergency responders to terrorist attacks, has drained federal resources in the past few years. As a result, officials in a number of states, including Illinois and Texas, are putting cleanup plans on hold, to the dismay of some local residents. A top adviser to the Environmental Protection Agency said yesterday that these slowdowns do not pose a threat to public health, though he acknowledged that the program has expanded beyond what lawmakers envisioned 25 years ago when they started it. The Superfund program requires polluters to pay for the toxic waste problems they create. But when companies go bankrupt, the federal government takes on the cost.

Study Supports Race-Bias Suit Against Honda By Caroline E. Mayer Washington Post Staff Writer Wednesday, July 28, 2004; Page E01 Black customers are much more likely than white buyers to be charged markups on loans financed by American Honda Finance Corp., according to a study done for minority borrowers who have sued the auto lender. The lawsuit, one of several class actions filed against major auto financiers in recent years, alleges that Honda discriminated against black car buyers by charging them higher interest rates when they financed their cars at dealerships through the lending arm. The study by Vanderbilt University business professor Mark A. Cohen found that 43.3 percent of Honda's African American borrowers were charged a markup, compared with 22.2 percent of white borrowers. Of those charged a markup, blacks paid an average $557, compared with $227 for whites. The study found that the disparities occurred even when borrowers of different races had the same creditworthiness.

Have to phrase it better than I just did, though.

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Democrats Focus on Healing Divisions Addressing Convention, Newcomers Set Themes By David S. Broder Washington Post Staff Writer Wednesday, July 28, 2004; Page A01 BOSTON, July 27 -- On the second night of its national convention, the Democratic Party introduced two newcomers to the nation to set the themes that John F. Kerry hopes will help him win the White House in 2004. Teresa Heinz Kerry made a quiet but emotionally strong case for her husband as a "fighter" who knows the human costs of war and will not "mistake stubbornness for strength." And in his debut on the national stage, Barack Obama, who is apparently on his way to victory in the Illinois Senate race and becoming the third elected African American in that body since Reconstruction, said Kerry would heal the bitter divisions in the country and usher in "a politics of hope." Obama, 42, electrified the convention hall Tuesday night as he said Americans must not allow partisan politics to divide the country: "I say to them tonight, there's not a liberal America and a conservative America -- there's the United States of America."

Recall Worries Venezuela's Opposition Venezuela's opposition worries that a recall referendum on President Hugo Chavez will, in the least, be made more difficult by new voter lists, an electronic voting system and untested thumbprint ID devices. At worst, some say, all that technology could be an elaborate attempt aimed at making the vote fail.

The 'Positive' Contributions Of HIV/AIDS By George E. Curry | SACOBSERVER WIRE SERVICES BANGKOK, Thailand (NNPA) – Africa is home to only 10 percent of the world’s population, but accounts for 83 percent of all AIDS deaths. The virus has killed 10 times more people in Africa than war. In the United States, Blacks make up 12 percent of the population but 54 percent of the 40,000 new HIV infections reported each year and approximately half of newly-reported AIDS cases. Pernessa C. Seele, founder of a New York grassroots organization that mobilizes the faith community on both sides of the Atlantic Ocean, sees some positive news in those gloomy statistics. “The good thing about AIDS is that it has provided a bridge for the African Diaspora to come back together again,” says Seele. “It’s a destructive force, but I think it’s also important for us to also realize this is a moment that we have in time to bring us back together. When we all come back together, people will learn that we are so much alike.” When asked to amplify, the Lincolnville, S.C. native responds: “AIDS is like when everybody had to sit in the back of the bus in the segregated South. It didn’t matter if you were a doctor, lawyer or cook. Everybody sat at the back of the bus. And that was our strength. I think our strength today is coming together as a people around HIV – We all got it. It’s devastating to every Black community everywhere.”

Iraq's Human chess pieces Kurds are moved in and Arabs are forced out in a gambit to control oil-rich Kirkuk By Bay Fang KIRKUK, IRAQ--Asad Rashid sits in a sweltering tent on the city's outskirts and wipes his eyes with a dusty hand. Pretty soon, he must move back here, to a city he and other Kurds fled in the face of Saddam Hussein's wrath in 1991. But rather than being excited by the prospect, Rashid is unhappy. For much of the past 13 years, he has been on the move from one camp to another. Now, he is 61 and has a home for his family in government housing on the edge of Sulaymaniyah, one of the two main cities in the Kurdish-administered region. A week ago, officials came to the community and told residents they must move back to Kirkuk, to this resettlement camp. "They said they would move our ration cards to Kirkuk next week," he says. "They said, 'You're Kurds from Kirkuk--isn't it your dream to go back to your homeland?' " For years, Kirkuk has been just that for the Kurds--a dream. They think of this city as the capital of an imagined Kurdistan, a storied homeland stretching through parts of Turkey, Syria, Iran, and Iraq. For decades, though, the Iraqi regime under Saddam practiced ethnic cleansing in this city, which sits atop vast oil reserves, expelling Kurds, Turkmen, and Assyrians and replacing them with ethnic Arabs. Since 1968, Kurdish leaders say, some 250,000 Kurds have been forced out of Kirkuk, as Saddam sought to solidify Baghdad's grip on his northern oil territory and to thwart Kurdish aspirations for independence. Now, they're coming back. In the past month, since being unyoked from its American overseers, the Kurdish government has been quietly pushing Kirkuki Kurds back into the city. Their aim is to ensure a favorable ethnic balance before the start of a national census on October 12 and a planned referendum on Kirkuk's future, in early 2005. The goal is to make it, like it or not, a Kurdish city. But with this huge population shift come equally huge problems. Thousands of Arab families were booted off their property in Kirkuk after the war. And while some have moved away, many resettled in camps and abandoned buildings south and west of the city. With an uncertain future, and feeling stripped of their rights, they could explode into violence at any time. "Let's just say that the recruiting efforts of insurgents have not been hurt at all by this," says Col. Scott Leith of the U.S. Army's 1st Infantry Division, who oversees coalition activity in the predominantly Arab part of the region. "There is already the perception that the Kurds have taken more than their right."

You know, it's very likely that the only countries willing to send troops to Iraq will be Middle Eastern nations. You know, the ones that think we side unfairly with Israel, the ones who feel we're at war with Islam, the ones just recently convinced we're a nation of sexual degenerates. Those nations. Think about it. An Egyptian kidnappee was released with an apology. Here's a neocon's nightmare for you: two, three weeks before the election akk the nations in the region (except Israel, of course) announce they have formed a coalition to take over all the peace-keeping and security duties. Under the condition that the U.S. military agree to withdraw totally. Keep your contracts, they say to Halliburton, but we'll handle all the security.

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No Offers of Troops to Protect U.N. Staff in Iraq Thalif Deen UNITED NATIONS, Jul 27 (IPS) - The dramatic increase in kidnappings of foreign nationals in Iraq is threatening to undermine the creation of a new multinational security force aimed at protecting U.N. employees and humanitarian workers who are planning to return to the violence-ridden country. ''We have had no concrete offers of troops from any country,'' a U.N. spokesman told IPS. The United States has so far lobbied several Muslim countries, including Egypt, Turkey, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Yemen and Jordan, seeking troops for the proposed new protection force. But it has apparently hit a brick wall. …Pakistan's ambassador to the United Nations said his government has made it very clear that it would provide troops only on if certain conditions are fulfilled. ''We will not be the first country or the only country to provide troops for the protection force,'' Mansoor Suhail, press counsellor to the Pakistan Mission to the United Nations, told IPS. ''Firstly, the request has to come from the interim Iraqi government. Secondly, that request has to be endorsed by the United Nations, and thirdly, we will go into Iraq only as part of a collective Islamic international force -- not as a single military force.'' According to Annan, ''there is a move, an indication that Islamic countries may want to go to Iraq, may want to send troops and in fact the Iraqi Prime Minister (Iyad) Allawi, is asking them to do so.'' ''If that were to happen and a group of Islamic states were to deploy, I hope Pakistan would be one of them,'' he added. Last month, Jordan's King Abdullah was quoted as saying his country might become the first Arab state to send troops to Iraq. Jordan may be obliged to do so because it receives over 300 million dollars in U.S. military aid annually. Yemen has said it is willing to send troops ''only if they were part of a U.N.-controlled force.'' But neither of the countries has made a concrete offer so far.

Currying Favor By Charlie Cook, National Journal [email protected] Gallup surveys taken shortly before Edwards was chosen found that Kerry already was attracting 82 to 86 percent of the Democratic vote and was losing only 5 to 9 percent to Bush. And because Republicans are unusually galvanized this year, giving Bush 86 to 90 percent of their support, Kerry isn't likely to gain many Republican defectors. Rather, whatever gains Kerry makes are likely to be the result of independents' choosing to side with him. After the Republican convention ends in early September, Bush will no doubt get a boost as well, though it is likely to be smaller, because incumbent bounces tend to be, and because this year there are few loose swing voters to grab. A week or 10 days after the GOP convention, the electorate should have stopped bouncing and settled back down enough for horse-race poll results to once again have some real meaning. In the meantime, Bush has plenty of reason to worry. A three-month-long tie with a challenger is not heartening for any incumbent. Well-known, well-defined incumbents normally end up getting at most only one-quarter to one-third of the undecided vote. Voters are well acquainted with a president when a re-election campaign begins. And there is little that either party can do to alter most voters' opinions of the president at that point. Voters who now consider themselves "undecided" have already made a tentative decision not to support the incumbent; the remaining decision is whether to vote for the main challenger.

GOP 'war room:' primer in convention combat A few hundred yards from the Democrats, Republicans parse every word of every speech, then launch rebuttals. By Sara B. Miller | Staff writer of The Christian Science Monitor BOSTON - The picture could have been just one more still in the millions of photo ops that are the stuff of presidential carnivals: an image of John Kerry donning a spacesuit during a visit to Cape Canaveral in Florida, hours before the Democratic National Convention kicked off in Boston. But for Republican researchers and aides, it "reeked" of opportunity. Within minutes they'd accessed photo archives dating back to 1988, when Michael Dukakis peered out of a tank, helmet on head, an image later judged a major election misstep. In less than 90 minutes, the crew had juxtaposed two photos of two Massachusetts liberals and sent off an e-mail to thousands of media members, activists, and campaign workers. It was 6:24 p.m. and the subject line read, "Earth to Kerry." Welcome to the "war room," the office space of Republican operatives working to reelect President Bush. Inside, they listen to speeches that no one else bothers to record and take copious notes, seeking contradictions, discrepancies, and vulnerabilities at every turn of phrase. They use e-mail, satellite feeds, and surrogates to drive any message that they see as viable and valuable. Now that it's convention time in Boston, some 30 of them have relocated from their Arlington, Va., headquarters to a satellite bunker only blocks from the FleetCenter, this week's epicenter of American politics. They are helping launch an offensive, the "Extreme Makeover" of John Kerry. Their mission: to expose 19 years of Kerry's Senate record. The group is holding press briefings in the mornings to counter any Democrat buzz, and is hosting a variety of Republican speakers, including former New York Mayor Rudolph Giuliani, in their makeshift television studio.

We knew we weren't the enemy A familiar knot of anxiety over post-9/11 civil liberties issues shows a nisei how far America has come - and still has to go. By Robert R. Hosokawa WINTER SPRINGS, FLA. – Human rights can be a fragile victim in a nation's zeal to battle an enemy. We Japanese-Americans learned firsthand how, once lost, individual justice is painfully difficult to regain. So it is that with every news story about Americans hashing through their uneasy post-9/11 relationship to all things with an "Arab face" - from the outright abuses at Abu Ghraib to the detentions without charge of "enemy combatants" at Guantánamo, to the lingering suspicions on America's Main Streets - I'm reminded of what it was like to be an "American with a Japanese face" during World War II.

U.S. Says It Got Afghan From Vigilantes U.S. Says It Received Afghan Prisoner From Americans Who Are Charged With Torture at Private Jail The Associated Press KABUL, Afghanistan July 22, 2004 — The U.S. military said Thursday it held an Afghan prisoner for two months after receiving him from three Americans who have been charged with torturing detainees at a private jail. The admission followed claims by the group's leader that it had ties to the Defense Department which the Pentagon denies and was another embarrassment for U.S. officials already coping with their own prisoner abuse scandal. The American military insists the men acted on their own and has tried to distance itself from them and their leader, Jonathan Idema, a former U.S. soldier who once was convicted of fraud. But spokesman Maj. Jon Siepmann acknowledged that the military had received a detainee from Idema's group at Bagram Air Base, north of Kabul, on May 3.

Bush Takes Another Tumble on Mountain Bike Mon Jul 26, 2004 09:56 PM ET CRAWFORD, Texas (Reuters) - President Bush, for the second time in two months, took a tumble on his mountain bike while riding on his Texas ranch, a White House spokeswoman said on Monday. "During an 18-mile ride, as bikers often do, the president took a minor spill and scraped his knee," spokeswoman Claire Buchan said. She said the president did not require medical attention after the spill. Bush had a similar mountain bike mishap at his ranch in late May, when he toppled over while riding downhill on soil loosened by rainfall, and suffered minor cuts and abrasions. Last year, he toppled off a high-tech Segway scooter at the Bush family estate in Kennebunkport, Maine

Medicare Proposes Cuts in Cancer Drug Payments Tue Jul 27, 2004 03:24 PM ET By Lisa Richwine WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Medicare officials on Tuesday proposed cutting payments to doctors for widely used medicines to treat cancer and lung disease by as much as 89 percent for some drugs next year. The changes would save the government $530 million in 2005, officials said, but oncologists warned the reductions would force some physicians to reduce cancer treatment services. Medicare beneficiaries would save $270 million thanks to lower co-payments and other changes, Medicare chief Mark McClellan said. "Medicare was paying way too much when it came to spending for certain drugs," McClellan, administrator of the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, told reporters. For many prostate cancer drugs, Medicare was paying 50 percent more than a private insurer typically would, he said. Cancer specialists said they relied on the higher drug payments to cover chemotherapy-related services that Medicare did not fully fund. If the proposed cuts take effect, physicians might lose money and stop offering cancer care, said Deborah Kamin, senior director for cancer policy and clinical affairs at the American Society of Clinical Oncologists. "These cuts are serious," Kamin said in an interview. "They have the potential to disrupt patient access to cancer treatment."

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To sum up: Medicaid would pay for chemotherapy but not for some of the support treatments that go with it. Doctors would therefore increase the price of the chemotherapy drugs such that the auxiliary stuff was paid for in the inflated price. This is practice is to be offset by the reducing the payment they are willing to authorize. I don't know exactly what the chemotherapy-related services are, but if they are necessary to treat the cancer I can't see why they aren't funded like the chemotherapy drugs are. It would be more honest to just say you're not going to cover them at all.

Dare Obasanjo via Culture Kitchen

So far Google doesn't seem to have stitched all its pieces into a coherent media empire as competitors like Yahoo! have done but this seems like it will only be a matter of time. What is of more interest to the geek in me is what Google could build next that could tie it all together. As Rich Skrenta wrote in his post the Secret Source of Google's Power Google is a company that has built a single very large, custom computer. It's running their own cluster operating system. They make their big computer even bigger and faster each month, while lowering the cost of CPU cycles. It's looking more like a general purpose platform than a cluster optimized for a single application. While competitors are targeting the individual applications Google has deployed, Google is building a massive, general purpose computing platform for web-scale programming. A friend of mine, Justin, had an interesting idea at dinner yesterday. What if Google ends up building the network computer? They can give users the storage space and reliability to run place all their data online. They can mimic the major desktop applications users interact with daily by using Web technologies. This sounds far fetched but then again, I'd have never imagined I'd see a free email service that gave 1GB of free email. Although I think Justin's idea is outlandish but suspect the truth isn't much further from that.

Not only is that plausible, Google is the only crew in the world positioned to do it.

Chris at Afro-Netizen:

Quite possibly one of the most influential individuals in this presidential race has yet to be sufficiently acknowledged by journalists and pundits: Rep. Stephanie Tubbs Jones (D-OH). If she can energize and mobilize her largely Black constituency in the Cleveland area to turn out in big numbers in November, she may very well put Ohio in the blue column for the Dems, while the mother/son congressional duo of Reps. Carrie & Kendrick Meek do the same in the Miami metro area of Florida. As Ohio is a bellweather for the nation, if Rep. Tubbs Jones delivers in her congressional district and beyond, she should would most certainly deserve "honorary white-boy" status and all the perks that come with it. It is also worth noting that Rep. Tubbs Jones is a co-chair of the DNCC's Platform Committee, not to mention that she is also the very first Black woman to serve on the juicy Ways and Means Committee (aka Dollars & Cents Committee). While I'm not particularly impressed with the Dems' 2004 Platform document whose theme is: "Strong at Home, Respected in the World", it's vastly better than Dubya's prospective GOP platform simply entitled: "Yee-ha!"

That Mike at TopDog04

You go and listen to speeches. A lot of speeches. It's exciting, and an honor, but it's also the same way the thing has been done for years and years, with the possible exception that nothing actually happens at conventions any more in terms of deciding the platform or the ticket. That would at least make it a little bit more participatory. The ought to be some way to let delegates participate, without risking the message and theme and so forth. For instance, if they had policy sessions earlier in the night, at the main convention center, where people could submit questions in advance or even vote through a simple paper or electronic live ballot somehow. Don't get me wrong, the main speeches are great, and the center is packed, the atmosphere is charged. I just wish being at the convention felt more like a responsiblity, as opposed to a gift I won (even if I'm paying for it myself).

From the Center for American Progress

VOTING
GOP Calls for Voter Suppression

A string of recent declarations from top government officials and Republican party leaders are raising questions about whether the Bush administration is quietly attempting to manipulate voting in the 2004 presidential election. Last week, a GOP lawmaker and co-chair of the Bush-Cheney '04 Michigan Veterans Leadership Team called recently for his party to "suppress the Detroit vote," making a mockery of President Bush's belated attempt to reach out to African-Americans in that city last week. Speaking at the National Urban League, Bush said, "I believe you've got to earn the vote and seek it," but State Rep. John Pappageorge (R) revealed a backup plan in the swing state of Michigan: "If we do not suppress the Detroit vote, we're going to have a tough time in this election," he said. It is little secret what Pappageorge meant by the "Detroit vote" – while Michigan state is majority white (78 percent), Detroit boasts an overwhelmingly minority population (88 percent). State Sen. Buzz Thomas (D) told reporters, "I'm extremely disappointed in my colleague…That's quite clearly 'code' that they don't want black people to vote in this election."

SAME OLD STORY: The idea the GOP might try to "suppress" votes is nothing new to minority voters. A BET/CBS poll shows "more than four in five blacks believe Bush did not legitimately win the [2000] election, and two-thirds think deliberate attempts were made to prevent black voters' ballots from being counted."

BACK TO MESSING WITH FLORIDA: Earlier this month in Florida, where President Bush's brother Jeb is governor, the U.S. Commission on Civil Rights announced it would ask the Department of Justice to investigate whether the state's aborted effort to "use of a flawed database to remove felons from the voter rolls was a deliberate attempt to block some voters from casting ballots." The Miami Herald reported that this year's list "included people – many of them black Democrats – who have had their right to vote restored."

E-MACHINES MEAN NO RECORD: Efforts to suppress votes could only be aided by the proliferation of touch screen voting machines. The machines, despite coming under fire for technical glitches and a lack of transparency, "are poised for use in the November elections in more than 675 counties, comprising more than 30 percent of the nation's registered voters." Because many of the machines provide no paper record of votes, they could make a manual recount of a contested vote impossible.

RIGGING THE SYSTEM: The CEO of the company which will provide many of the new voting machines is Diebold's Walden O'Dell, a top Bush fundraiser (Pioneer) who wrote in a fundraising letter last August that he was "committed to helping Ohio deliver its electoral votes to the president next year." Federal Election Commission data shows "at least eight million people will cast their ballots using Diebold machines next November," meaning 8 percent of the number of voters in 2000 will have their 2004 votes calculated on a machine created by a self-described Bush partisan.

STILL STICKING WITH PUNCH CARDS?: Meanwhile, the ACLU is taking aim at problems with antiquated punch card ballots, which were the source of controversy during the 2000 election in Florida. AP reports an ACLU lawyer in Ohio is "arguing that even isolated malfunctions in Ohio could change the November election results in this swing state." Arguing for the machines to be judged unconstitutional, the ACLU maintains "that punch cards are more likely to go uncounted than votes cast with other systems, and that use of the ballots violates the rights of black voters, who mostly live in punch-card counties."

CONTEMPLATING POSTPONEMENT: The Bush administration has reviewed "a proposal that could allow for the postponement of the November presidential election" in the event of a terrorist attack. The Justice Department was going to move forward with an inquiry to "determine what the legal mechanism for calling a halt to a national election would be," despite the fact that "Homeland Security Secretary Tom Ridge…and other counterterrorism officials concede they have no intel about any specific plots." But because of public outcry, the White House has backed off.

From the Center for American Progress

CONVENTION
Boon for Special Interests

As the Democratic Party this week uses its national convention to trumpet its working class roots, and the need for a government that represents the middle class, a whole other convention is occurring out of sight of television cameras. In scores of parties throughout Boston, the New York Times reports, "corporate big spenders...finally can cut loose." While anti-war protestors expressing their constitutional rights are "under lockdown" and cordoned off from the convention, lobbyists have flooded the area, underwriting the convention with cash from some of the biggest companies with the biggest business before the federal government. The brazen display of corporate largesse runs counter to Sen. John Kerry's consistent support of campaign finance reform. As one lobbyist at the convention said, "Corporate dollars are flowing rather freely" at the convention, with "a lot of folks saying, 'Let the good times roll.'" Similarly, former DNC Chairman Don Fowler said, "Some of the best lobbying in the world is done at these conventions. It is a tremendous boon for special interests."

$39.5 MILLION FROM CORPORATE SPECIAL INTERESTS: The NYT reports the Raytheon Company, IBM and Fidelity Investments each gave at least $1 million to the host committee for the Democratic National Convention in Boston, according to a donor list. AT&T, Amgen and Nextel Communications each gave at least $500,000. In all, more than 150 donors have contributed more than $39.5 million - money they could not legally give to a political party or a candidate under the new law but are permitted to donate to a convention. All told, "private sources are on track to contribute about $110 million to this year's Democratic and Republican conventions combined, some 13 times what they gave for the 1992 conventions."

REVERSING A TOBACCO MONEY BAN, WITH NO COMMENT: Just eight years after then Vice President Al Gore gave an impassioned convention speech about the ills of tobacco, the Dallas Morning News reports this year's Democratic Convention is being partly financed by a $100,000 donation from Philip Morris' parent company – a move that quietly reverses a Democratic ban on tobacco sponsorship of its conventions. The company is also among those sponsoring a party with an "Indiana Jones" feel at an Egyptian exhibit at Boston's Museum of Fine Arts. When the party was asked to respond to criticism from the Campaign for Tobacco-free Kids, one DNC press secretary "referred questions to the party's convention spokeswoman, who did not return a half-dozen messages." Meanwhile, a spokesman for Sen. John Kerry (who does have a solid anti-tobacco record) claimed the senator had no knowledge of the tobacco contributions and actually claimed "he has no control over anything [the convention committees] do."

POCKETING DRUG INDUSTRY CASH: Even after Democrats were steamrolled by the drug industry during the controversial passage of a new Medicare law, the party's convention will play host to various events sponsored by the pharmaceutical industry. As the Indianapolis Star reports, "seven drug companies -- including Pfizer Inc., Novartis Corp., Merck & Co. and Bristol-Myers Squibb Co. -- are among the top 36 contributors to the convention, giving $2.5 million to $5 million combined. Another three gave up to $99,999 each." One of the parties will be for retiring Sen. John Breaux (D-LA), a "vocal opponent" of allowing seniors to purchase lower-priced FDA-approved medicines from Canada. One of his parties tonight is called the "Breaux's Beer Beachballs Bikini Bingo Bistro Bash on the Beach in Boston"; when asked who was financing it, the senator simply said, "I'm going to have one hell of a great party." Ironically, the fete will be occurring in the heart of Boston, a city that has launched a pilot program to allow city workers and retirees to buy drugs from Canada.

TARGETING THE LARGESSE TO THOSE WHO MAKE A DIFFERENCE: The corporate largesse is, by no means, random. USA Today reports, "Mickey Kantor, a former Commerce secretary and U.S. trade representative in the Clinton administration, hosts a lunch today for Sen. Max Baucus (D-MT) and Rep. Charles Rangel (D-NY), the top Democrats on the tax-writing committees of the Senate and House of Representatives. They'll report on the upcoming agendas for their committees on issues important to the lobbying practice of Kantor's law firm." Similarly, The San Francisco Chronicle reports Rep. Jane Harman (D-CA) "is being featured at a brunch Wednesday sponsored by Boeing, Lockheed Martin, General Dynamics, Raytheon, Northrop Grumman and SAIC." Harman is the ranking Democrat on the House Intelligence Committee, which has influence over various intelligence/defense contracts.   

MAKE NO MISTAKE – THE GOP CONVENTION IS WORSE: As troubling as some of the behavior at the Democratic convention is, it appears the Republican Party is trying to go even further. Earlier this year, CBS News reported House Majority Leader Tom DeLay (R-TX) was planning to use the guise of a children's charity to allow corporate donors to slather him and other Republicans with cash. Specifically, DeLay created a group called "Celebrations for Children" that he said was a charity, but planned to use to solicit corporate donations at the Republican National Convention. "For $50,000, a donor will get luxury box seats at the 2004 Republican convention, tickets to Broadway shows and spots in an upscale golf tournament," from the "charity," while "A half-million dollars will buy all of that, plus a New York cruise and two dinners" with DeLay himself. In 2000, DeLay had major corporate donors sponsor a luxury train car for him and other top Republicans to party in during their convention.

I mean EVER.

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Sri Lanka pushing stationery made of dung THE ASSOCIATED PRESS COLOMBO, Sri Lanka -- A Sri Lankan company that made personalized stationery for President Bush from paper made of elephant dung is asking people to use its products to help the country's dwindling elephant population. Former Sri Lankan Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe had presented Bush with a box of elephant dung writing paper, envelopes and name cards in a visit to Washington in July 2002. The elephant is the symbol of Bush's Republican Party, but it was not immediately known whether he has used the paper. Sheets have a unique color and texture, depending on the diet, age and dental health of the elephant that has produced the dung, said Rohan Martis, a marketer for the company, Maximus. "We produce the paper using 75 percent elephant dung," Martis told The Associated Press on Monday. "Fully digested fiber gives the paper a smooth finish, while half digested fiber makes the paper coarser."

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LATER: Who licks the envelopes? Eeeewwwwwww!

I got my full text search working. The problem was a difference between the way Apache and IIS web servers handle things. Right now it brings back the whole of every post it finds, which is less than optimum, of course.You know what though? It works. Drupal has several types of posts (or node types) you can create and the search module lets you limit your search to any combination of node types. You can search the title, teaser, main body of the post in any combination as well. Now I need to format it, display an excerpt instead of the whole post, but that's all straightforward stuff. I should probably log searches the way the standard search module does. Okay, so we have the fortune cookie block that I just think is cute, the weekly archives and links thereto are set up, a recent comments block that recognizes which blog you're on, custom title and blog icon for each account that's authorized to have a blog. Search works though it must be prettified. The modules I've written are independent of all the others and the hacks are minor…as well as applicable to the base distribution (I need to test them on the version in CVS though). Though I still have work to do I know I have exactly the functionality I want and have no more technical obstacles to relaunching this sucker sometime in August.

I need to keep y'all busy while I deal with a really annoying problem. I'm writing a module to do full text searches for the new site and it works wonderfully on the Windows local network but chokes on my web host. This is important because I got way too many entries not to have a really good search facility. And beyond some minor design stuff it's the last tech I need be concerned with before switching over.

I don't know. But between Atrios' comments on protesters and DNC security, and Roger's commentary of it you have a couple things to think about when considering the utility of street protests.

(1) Ever since the anti-Vietnam War protests, leftists and minority groups of every shade and stripe have made protests and demonstrations a mainstay -- if not THE mainstay -- of their popular response to most everything that happens politically. And, I would contend, ever since the Vietnam War, protests and demonstrations have been practically worthless as a means of changing public policy or public opinion. Simply put, they've been done to death.

(2) A mutual acquaintance of ours on the internet made a very important point that I fully agree with but that -- as I think you may recall -- some others in our circle (more stolidly leftist than she or we) reacted very negatively to. She noted that back when the original civil rights marches were being organized, those behind them INSISTED that anyone participating must look and act a certain way. Folks had to be clean, they had to have good haircuts and either be shaved or with neatly-trimmed beards and mustaches. On many of the early civil rights marches, men HAD to wear ties and white shirts and dress slacks. Women HAD to wear neat, professional work dresses or skirts and blouses.

3) My third point really ties points #1 and #2 together: it seems to me that many leftists who engage in protests -- marches, demonstrations, and so on -- do so in order to look like they're doing something, or feel like they're doing something ... but not, in fact, in order to actually DO something. "Doing something" that’s actually REAL, that would actually have a chance at changing things, would require hard work and innovative thinking. It would require action that extends over time, and would be less instantly gratifying than going out and howling in protest.

(4) BONUS POINT: More on self-indulgence. Whenever a protest march or demonstration is called these days, you can be just certain that many, many, MANY of your participants will use it as an occasion to protest EVERYTHING. Do you want to have a protest about destruction of old growth forests? Be prepared for some folks to show up with signs, T-shirts, or slogans about gay rights, or the 2000 election scandal, or Enron, or something else completely and utterly unrelated. Do these folks EVER think? Are they just completely, absolutely, utterly clueless?

Barack Obama is all over the place, man. Folks are suggesting his "youthful good looks" may bring out the youth vote. The L.A. Times has this profile piece, complete with the cool "eyes on the future" pose picture: That kind of iconography is a sign of direct support from the powers-that-be. Much is being made of this "third Black Senator" thing, which is why I can't help but go back to the first article I read about Mr. Obama wherein it was said:

voters should not expect a fiery leader who pounds his fists, but rather, a measured collaborator similar to the late Paul Simon

That's an obvious reference to the militant Black leadership of yesteryear. And it's interesting the concern is strong enough to mention when you consider Illinois seems ready to send a second Black senator to Washington DC almost immediately after Ms. Mosely-Braun's tenure ended. Illinois seems determined to do a significant symbolic repudiation of anti-Black racism. Even conservatives are getting in on it; this from John Kass of the Chicago Tribune:

Republicans might suggest that's a tough argument--hiring Kerry to complete Bush's war policy--but what I like about Obama is his willingness to consider different angles out loud. Such as race. It is one reason he was chosen to offer the keynote address, obvious to politicians and voters but difficult to acknowledge publicly. He acknowledged it himself, straightforwardly. "You know, look, there's no doubt that part of the reason I was asked to speak is because I'm an African-American candidate," he said, picking at a salad. He was asked: So how does Kerry connect with African-American voters? "There's no doubt John Kerry has not captured the hearts of the black community the way [Bill] Clinton did," Obama said. "... His style is pretty buttoned down. He's not the guy who is going to play the saxophone on MTV." Still, Obama said Kerry didn't have to stoke emotions to connect with black voters before November. "He'll make them feel he cares about them," Obama said. "The African-American community doesn't need a preacher. We see preachers every Sunday." Again, Obama answered honestly. I'm not used to that from Chicago politicians. As he grows into the job of senator, he may change his style and stick to the script. But he's riding so high now that he doesn't have to. For all the adulation and the rock-star status, Obama is levelheaded enough to know there will come a time when all his incredible political fortune will tempt others to try to knock him down. Some of those people may be young, ambitious Illinois Democrats, whom he has eclipsed. "There will be some deflation, which is good. It's healthy," Obama said. "... I have to walk a careful balancing act, of not seeming ungrateful for all the hype around my election, which I think is a little over the top." All glory is fleeting. But for now, there's Tuesday night, and the speech he'll give to the nation. Good luck, Senator.

To me, this is all good. I am simply concerned that the "third Black Senator" meme will set Black folks up for disappointment and Mr. Obama up for some frustration. You see, though he has a good legislative record, has done civil rights work and such, he has already said that being the only Black Senator will not mean he's The Race Guy. He's specifically including his Hawaiian upbringing in his resumé. If you consider his constituency, Mr. Obama will be…frankly, SHOULD be…about as much a "Black representative" as whats-his-face from Texas was. Meanwhile, Lynn Sweet of the Chicago Sun-Times interviewed Jesse Jackson, Jr

Rep. Jesse Jackson Jr. (D-Ill.) told me he imagines Obama's first day as senator as something like this: a call from all 39 members of the Congressional Black Caucus to sponsor their bills in the Senate. Al Sharpton and Jackson's dad, the Rev. Jesse Jackson, will phone, as will NAACP President Kweisi Mfume and the chief of every other civil rights organization in the nation. Mayor Daley, Sen. Dick Durbin (D-Ill.) and Gov. Blagojevich also will call on Obama. …The other Democratic senators have the welcome mat out for Obama, and some, Jackson predicted, will soon be asking Obama to travel to their states if they need help shoring up the black vote.

There's kind of no such thing as not being The Race Guy. Not nowadays, not yet. This is not a sell-out accusation or anything similar. It's a suggestion that we recognize reality. Mr. Obama will, at best, be as cablasian as Tiger Woods. Yet his being in the mix changes things somewhat because we're still such superficial children that image means a lot. This means you do not want to screw this man's thing up. You may want to identify what in his admittedly turbulent past changed and talk THAT up. You can advocate for enhancing the odds of such changes with such a shining example of how well it turns out when one can beat the current odds. Understand? Barack Obama will do politics, make both deals and appearances, and if he continues his current voting practices you can probably be satisfied…the worst that will happen is he'll do no harm. But he will not be a "Black representative" because that's not what got him to the party. He will inject a few new images into the brain soup of our culture though, and those images can be useful to Black partisans.

Josh Marshall at Talking Points Memo linked to the unbelievable spectacle of Peggy Noonan expressing doubt about l'il Georgie's electability:

But let me share a thought I've been having that is not so jolly. It has to do with Mr. Bush's re-election prospects and a worry I have. History has been too dramatic the past 3 1/2 years. It has been too exciting. Economic recession, 9/11, war, Afghanistan, Iraq, fighting with Europe. fighting with the U.N., boys going off to fight, Pat Tillman, beheadings. It has been so exciting. And my general sense of Americans is that we like things to be boring. Or rather we like history to be boring; we like our lives to be exciting. We like history to be like something Calvin Coolidge dreamed: dull, dull. dull. And then we complain about the dullness, and invent excitements that are the kind we really like: moon shots, spaceships, curing diseases. Big tax cuts that encourage big growth that creates lots of jobs for young people just out of school. No, I am not suggesting all our recent excitement is Mr. Bush's fault. History handed him what it handed him. And no, I am not saying the decisions he took were wrong or right or some degree of either. I'm saying it's all for whatever reasons been more dramatic than Americans in general like history to be. Here is my fear: that the American people, liking and respecting President Bush, and knowing he's a straight shooter with guts, will still feel a great temptation to turn to the boring and disingenuous John Kerry. He'll never do anything exciting. He doesn't have the guts to be exciting. And as he doesn't stand for anything, he won't have to take hard stands. He'll do things like go to France and talk French and they'll love it. He'll say he's the man who accompanied Teresa Heinz to Paris, only this time he'll say it in French and perfectly accented and they'll all go "ooh la la!" The American people may come to feel that George W. Bush did the job history sent him to do. He handled 9/11, turned the economy around, went into Afghanistan, captured and removed Saddam Hussein. And now let's hire someone who'll just by his presence function as an emollient. A big greasy one but an emollient nonetheless. I just have a feeling this sort of thing may have some impact this year. "A return to normalcy," with Mr. Kerry as the normal guy.

At first I thought one could say Bush has done what history sent him to do only after Dick Cheney is history. But then I gave it a bit of thought. Disregard for the moment that NObody "handled" 9/11. Well, you have to overlook that job growth hasn't kept up with population growth too, okay? And I guess it's only so important to recognize simply going into Afghanistan wasn't the mandate, taking out Al Qaida was. That Bush stopped short of that to invade Iraq is, I guess, balanced by…well, I don't know what it's balanced by but my ignorance isn't the point. The point is, she may have a point. George W. Bush and the Neocon contingent have shown exactly what happens when you let rhetoric rather than reason determine you policy. They've proven you can't trust people who expect you to disregard their actions in favor of the particular words they use in this particular conversation. They've given us a taste of the only political philosophy more dangerous in this day and age than isolationism: that philosophy is solipsism. These are things we need to understand on a damn near genetic level if we're going to survive. A while back, when I was writing in the mythic mode rather than the sociopolitical one, I wrote this thing:

A Little Myth "But Master, it's been said God moves in mysterious ways. What hope do we really have?" "What is needed will be provided and as always, it is by the Grace of God that we achieve that which we do. "The dispensation of Grace in the time of Abraham was in Faith. Through Faith, his people became great. The dispensation of Grace in the time of Yeshua was in Knowledge. Through Knowledge his people because great and powerful. The dispensation of Grace in the current age is in Understanding. Through Understanding our people will become great and powerful and wise. "The world needs this wisdom because our power is such that it bids fair to destroy us. And what is needed will be provided. So set out to understand, to be great and powerful and wise, without fear of failure."

In that context I can accept that history intended us to see the immense dangers of defining ourselves purely by our physical powers and economic interests. Especially when we don't actually seem to know the limits of that power. And George W. Bush has shown us those dangers, and in the person of his administration, has given people to whom HUMANS are the priority the opportunity to reject them. Yes, perhaps we can say George has done what history told him to do. When Cheney is history, we can definitely say it.

Black With N.V. Where there is no vision the people perish - Pro. 29:18 Young girls are getting pregnant because they want to. Not all of them, although any is too many. According to this article, nearly 25% of the girls between 14 and 18 years of age who participated in a survey in Birmingham, AL expressed a interest in being or wished they were pregnant. I have some problems with that. Now, I could get up on my soap box and go off about how all people, but kids especially, need to save themselves for marriage, and I would be quite correct in doing so. I'm sure there are many other people who will take that angle, however, so I'll leave that to them. What I'm more interested in is why. What in the world can a 14 year-old possibly want with a baby? Some possible answers are mentioned here:

Okay, maybe this "blogging the convention" thing isn't going to be very exciting.

Hoping to find some more substantive stuff going on during the day tomorrow. Spent most of the afternoon hanging out with a friend I ran into here. Can tell this week is gonna be over before I know it. Can't believe how much coverage a single clip of Teresa Kerry saying "Shut up" is getting. Every TV screen I walk by is playing it. Just shows how little has happened so far, if that's all people can come up with to put on the news.

The only thing that caught my attention (other than the new, big banner graphic that really is NOT an improvement) was this in Afro-Netizen's third entry of the day

This lack of meaningful inclusion adds insult to injury given that of the 15,000 credential journalists here, only a smattering of Blackfolk are among them. A new friend and colleague, Walter Fields of The North Star Network said that at the media walk-thru here 3 weeks ago, of the few thousand press folk who attended, he literally saw only a handful of Blackfolk present. Now, don't even get me and Walter started on Viacom's erudite BET presence here, or the underrepresentation of Black newspapers. And before folks start adding comments to this blog entry about the "crabs in the barrel" phenomenon many of us believe our community suffers from, let me interject something to the contrary. Over the last few weeks, I have begun to have highly encouraging conversations with other Black netpreneurs who are actively interested in and committed to working together towards pooling our resources for our mutual benefit and the benefit of the African-American community -- online and off. I am certain that by this time next year, those of us in Black cyberspace will have formed a well organized coalition that will bear much fruit.

Actually, as far as inclusion of bloggers of color, there just ain't that many of us in the editorial ranks. And of all the editorial bloggers you can find, some 200 applied. I was not among them. I'm willing to bet Christopher and Jesse were the only Black bloggers who are. Frankly, I doubt many Black newspapers applied for credentails, but I have no way of knowing that. It's just a hunch. The BET thing, though… The pooling resources thing sounds interesting, conceptually.

Mithras mentioned a Black conservative cartoon character and I'm like, well very few aren't. He means a real cartoon though (which still doesn't let Larry Elder off the hook as far as I'm concerned), and the artist has this coyote wanting to marry the little Black Conservative child. One day we must come to understand what happened to cause great masses of Conservatives and Republicans to become so fixated on sex with canines. Their fascination pushes the concept of "man's best friend" beyond all reasonable bounds, not to mention good taste.

Plus I'm not Latino, but if I kept my mouth shut I could fake it.

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Dear Supporter, Latinos for America, Democracy for America, and Democracy for NYC are pleased to announce a Campaign Organizer Training in New York City, on Saturday, July 31, 2004. This one day seminar is a fantastic opportunity to learn how to manage a local campaign, increase your skills as a volunteer leader, connect with candidates who need your help, and develop action plans for the 2004 campaign and beyond. The training will feature a call from Gov. Howard Dean. You can register for this training at: http://www.latinosforamerica.com/?q=trainingreg This campaign training is staffed by top campaign professionals leading sessions on key topics in organizer training, media production and management, data mining, constituency outreach and fundraising. These presentations are supported by small group sessions for in-depth work in each of the featured areas. Thanks to the thousands of donations from national DFA supporters and the hard work of the local host committees, Democracy for America is able to reduce the regular price of these trainings from $150 to $45. Join Latinos for America, Democracy for America and Democracy for NYC at this exciting Campaign Management Training. http://www.latinosforamerica.com/?q=trainingreg Tom Hughes Political Director Democracy for America

provided by Jeff at Notes on the Atrocities!

(Incidentally, the correct answer to the liberal question is: "That's a rigged question, [good-looking vacuous reporter's name here]. The GOP has spent 25 years demonizing the word "liberal" in order to create the situation I now find myself in, with a dim-witted reporter regurgitating conservative talking points and offering them as objective questions that will inform viewers. Actually, what you should ask is, 'am I a liberal in the fake, absurdist sense of Ronald Reagan's Welfare Queen, or a liberal in the FDR, resurrected-America-from-the-depression-and-liberated-Europe-from-Hitler sense.' I'm the latter, and thanks for asking.")

Doesn't that make you want to know the question? Hey, r@d@r didn't tell me, so I'm not telling you.

Quote of note:

But who else are the "not rich"? Well, Bush last year reported an income of only $822,000, and his assets were worth as much as $19 million. That includes his 1,583-acre ranch in Crawford, Tex. Clearly not rich.

Like Jeanne D'arc said, just so you know who he's talking about when he says he's fighting for the middle class.

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Now That's Rich By Al Kamen Monday, July 26, 2004; Page A17 …"In the campaign, you'll hear, we're only going to tax the rich," Bush said. "That's what you'll hear. Now, this from a fellow who has promised about $2 trillion of new spending thus far. And only taxing the rich, first of all, creates a huge tax gap, which means buyer beware. "You see, if you can't raise enough by taxing the rich, guess who gets to pay next?" Bush asked. "Yes, the not-rich. That's all of us." So it turns out that Bush, unlike your typical grandsons of senators, sons of presidents and graduates of fancy prep schools, Yale and Harvard business school, is just another "not rich" guy, a regular working stiff.

Amanda at Mousewords:

Abortion is legal, so if there is a disagreement over whether to get one, the one who owns the uterus gets to make the final decision. The other can have an opinion, but the owner of the uterus is free to disregard that opinion. So it's just a matter of who owns the uterus. There are two schools of thought. One is that women have rights to their own bodies, that they are full citizens with equal rights to their bodies that men have. The other school of thought is that men have rights over the bodies of their wives, and therefore if a woman is pregnant it is his responsibility to decide what to do with it. In the latter school of thought, women also are allowed to have input in the decision to abort or not, but they don't have the final say. I know which school of thought I prefer, that's why I'm a feminist. I understand that one might have a problem with the legality of abortion itself, but that's a whole other issue. It's legal, so the only question in a dispute is who gets to decide.

'A dire situation' for working poor 3 minimum-wage jobs required for family of 3 to live - Jason B. Johnson, Chronicle Staff Writer Friday, July 23, 2004 A single parent with two children living in the Bay Area would need to work at least three minimum wage jobs to care for their family's basic needs, while nationwide the cost of living for many is so high that government subsidies are essential for survival, according to a report released Thursday by a network of family advocacy groups. The study, "Coming Up Short: A Comparison of Wages and Work Supports in 10 American Communities," was done by the Washington, D.C.-based group Wider Opportunities for Women. The Oakland-based National Economic Development and Law Center, which falls under the national group's umbrella, outlined conditions in the Bay Area at a San Francisco press conference. The reports used the self-sufficiency standard -- a minimally adequate budget to cover food, lodging, child care and other basic necessities. Advocates say the self-sufficiency standard captures the high cost of living more effectively than the widely used federal poverty guidelines. To meet basic needs according to the standard, a single parent with an infant and a preschooler needs to earn $69,241 annually ($32.78 hourly) in San Francisco, and $56,932 annually ($26.96 hourly) in Alameda County. The federal poverty line for a family of three is $15,260, and $18,850 for a family of four. The guidelines are used to determine eligibility for programs such as Head Start, food stamps, National School Lunch and the Children's Health Insurance Program.

This is one of those "back myself into a corner" posts because I promised to say something about the topic a while ago. Steve Gilliard links to this in Salon:

"Isn't she a little young?" A new public service ad campaign in Virginia uses billboards and bar coasters to remind men that sex with a minor is against the law. But will it work? What really worries the Virginia Department of Health is teen pregnancy and how it relates to sex with minors, technically called statutory rape. "The push for the campaign came from seeing the numbers of teens becoming pregnant by older men," Franklin says. "The campaign is aimed at reducing the number of young girls who have had children fathered by older men." "Statutory rape is a significant public health problem nationwide," says Georges Benjamin, executive director of the American Public Health Association. "A large percentage of births from young women can be from older men." He cites several studies, including a 1997 study that indicated that at least half of all babies born nationally to minor women were fathered by adult men. "The fact that Virginia is trying to do something about this is commendable," Benjamin says. It is estimated that in 2000 the state of Virginia "had a total of 104 births to 14- and 15-year-olds that the age of the fathers would have made their engaging in sex a felony," Franklin says. (The number can only be estimated because just 28 percent of mothers age 14 to 15 reported the age of the baby's father.)

And adds:

So what you have is a culture where sex with teen girls is not only encouraged, but deemed acceptable "if she looks old enough". It's the same game played in college, where freshmen women suddenly have all these male suitors or why graduate students are found attractive by professors. Men maybe attracted to women for any number of reasons, but someone chasing a teenager is looking for sex. But it's often not noted how teen girls actively seek these adult boyfriends. Older men have always had a cachet with young women, and not just teenagers. And a lot of parents turn their heads when their teen daughters take up with men five, even ten years older than they are. This is a public health issue and people treat it as personal foible. Besides the psychological damage created when these older men abandon them, there is the issue of the higher risk when these teenagers give birth and the burden they create on their families and the state because these men will not support them. It isn't really aquestion of sex or the age of consent laws, because as the article states, we aren't talking about college students, but kids who are sleeping with men. Also, the abstinance campaign ignores this, by assuming teen girls sleep with teen boys and we have imperical proof to the contrary. A 25 year man screwing a 17 year old girl is not interested in abstinance or anything like it.

In this installment we have present a pretty clear picture of the political difficulties Black folks need to resolve. I present to you, via Negrophile,

Black Power(less) The decline of black politics in America by Norman Kelley …Kerry’s appearance, to correct CNN, was more symbolically than politically significant, since Kerry did not offer the assembled blacks anything beyond merely appearing and spouting boilerplate pro–civil rights rhetoric. And this is why the NAACP has lasted for almost a hundred years. While most of African-American politics in the last 20 years or so is drenched in the charisma of Jesse Jackson, Louis Farrakhan and now Al Sharpton, the NAACP has persevered as the country’s premier civil rights organization (with a middle-class orientation) because it so deftly plays the game of seeking the recognition of the powers that be. Hence the NAACP’s publicly manifested ire this past week that “Massa” Bush did not grace the “good Negroes” with his presence. That Kerry could get away with so little before the NAACP — essentially offering no substantial policy initiatives that would benefit African-Americans — underscores the grim reality that 50 years after Brown v. the Board of Education, effective black politics in America has utterly bottomed out. No real agenda drives politics beyond having the Democratic candidate show up. One is hard-pressed to hear most blacks voice any enthusiasm for Kerry the way they did when Bill Clinton ran in 1992. “There’s no message, no organizing aimed at black people,” says Kevin Gray, a former organizer in Jesse Jackson’s two presidential campaigns and Senator Tom Harkin’s former Southern coordinator. “It’s not like Kerry stands for anything; black people are voting against Bush” but not for Kerry. Gray, who briefly worked for Al Sharpton’s tragicomic presidential campaign in this past year in South Carolina, believes that Kerry has no message or any kind of organizing to deal with the problems faced by black people in America. Nothing beyond “the basic political pabulum that we’ve been hearing for the last 20 years,” Gray reflects. Put another way, boilerplate liberalism but no legislative initiative. And why would they need one? Democrats know they will suffer no sanctions from disgruntled blacks. Bill Clinton proved that when he did not announce any significant urban agenda (read “chocolate” cities as opposed to “vanilla” suburbs). He was, however, provided one by Henry Cisneros, his HUD secretary. Cisneros advocated, among other things, hot-wiring public-housing complexes to the Internet to create “electronic villages” or “campuses for learners.” This sad state of affairs where black votes are as much as taken for granted by the Democratic nominee is the culmination of 20 years of decline of black politics. In reality, blacks have steadily lost influence and a sense of self-empowerment by ceasing to be organized in any meaningful fashion, having given into pseudo-political mobilization over nonissues such as “atonement” and reparations over the past 10 years. One could even argue that blacks have not been sufficiently organized since the 1960s.

and via Oliver Willis

Blackwashing Scratch the surface of a black conservative group and you find a Vast Right-Wing Conspiracy by Joshua Holland, Guest Contributor 7.21.04 "Black Conservative to Rebut NAACP Leader's Remarks in C-SPAN Interview," read the press release from Project 21, an organization of conservative African-Americans. I had read in Reuters that Kweisi Mfume, president of the NAACP, had called groups like Project 21 "make-believe black organizations," and a "collection of black hustlers" who have adopted a conservative agenda in return for "a few bucks a head." So I tuned into C-SPAN with interest to hear what a leading voice in the black conservative movement had to say. But then a funny thing happened: the African-American spokesperson for Project 21 caught a flat on the way to the studio, and the group's director had to fill in. And he was white. As the segment began there was an awkward Wizard of Oz moment as C-SPAN's Robb Harlston – himself black – turned to Project 21's Caucasian director, David Almasi, and said, "Um...Project 21... a program for conservative African Americans...you're not African American." It was a remarkable moment. A flat tire had led to a nationally-televised peek into what lies behind a murky network of interconnected black conservative organizations that seek ostensibly to bring more African-Americans into the conservative movement. But they're not just reaching out to the community. They also speak out publicly for conservative positions that might evoke charges of racism if advocated by whites. And while that's not to say that there aren't some blacks who embrace conservative values, the groups that claim to represent them are heavily financed by business interests and often run by white Republicans.

Unseen Civil Rights Photos Found in Alabama Date: Monday, July 26, 2004 By: SHERREL WHEELER STEWART, BlackAmericaWeb.com MONTGOMERY, Ala. - Montgomery County, Ala. Chief Deputy Sheriff Derrick Cunningham has visited the Rosa Parks Museum in his hometown, and toured Birmingham’s Civil Rights Institute. But the history he stumbled upon a few days ago while cleaning out a closet at the Sheriff Department left him in awe. “It was breathtaking,” Derrick told BlackAmericaWeb.com. “There they were, photos of more than 100 people indicted under the Anti-Bus Boycott Law” nearly half a century ago. The books, which were separated by race and by gender, contained pictures of Rosa Parks, the seamstress who defiantly touched off the boycott by refusing to give up her seat to a white man, and the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, who at the time was pastor of the city’s Dexter Avenue Baptist Church. Cunningham also discovered booking mugs and accompanying jail logs of Parks and other eventual civil rights icons arrested Feb. 22, 1956, on charges stemming from the historic Montgomery bus boycott Parks was prisoner No. 7053. A youthful looking picture of her displays that number. King was No. 7089. At the top of his photo, some apparently wrote years later: “Dead 4-4-68.”

I don't know what inspired these two posts, but if you're a Libertarian (note the capital "L") you should read them.

Why Anarcho-Capitalism is a Pipe Dream Three simple words: advantages of scale. Or here's another way of putting it:

• Q: what do you call a private security company that's so big it can afford to build stealth bombers, supersonic cruise missiles, nuclear-powered aircraft carriers and intercontinental ballistic missiles?
• A: A government!

All the firearms* in the world won't do anything to preserve one's liberty in the face of such weaponry and an organization ruthless enough** to make full use of it if need be.

and more succinctly (and completely):

Anarcho-Capitalism in Historical Perspective It seems obvious to me at least that were anarcho-capitalists ever to attain their daydream of abolishing government in its entirety, we'd quickly end up back in the not so good old days of feuding clans and warlords; but this is just what Europe took more than a thousand years to escape from after the collapse of the Western Roman Empire, and even as well-established a state as France was only able to tame its "over mighty subjects" in the middle of the 17th century. What point would there be in giving up everything that has been so slowly and painfully gained in order to embrace a new feudalism? What new and wonderful freedoms would this hypothetical new dawn promise, to justify taking such a step?

(You may notice I do NOT piss off Abiola on the intellectual tip)

Site looks a hell of a lot better too. Now this is serendipitous. I do a search for P6 links to see if it still has a peculiarity I'd noticed (a search can appear to hang, but if I hit the stop and reload buttons it pops up almost immediately), and the first link is from Mike at Move the Crowd discussing Technorati's visual change and their new feature to track Democratic convention blogging. P6 is one of the blogs being tracked, it seems. It needs work, though. I see a lot of duplication in there, like maybe they're aggregating based on notification pings to Technorati AND Weblogs.com AND Blo.gs AND Blogstreet.

Time to put on the Magic Negro hat. I have, I think, finally figured out how to explain to white folks why nobody is feeling their arguments about the propriety of non-Black folks using the N-word. Make your standard argument, but replace every occurrence of the word "nigger" with the word "booboo-cakes." Have you ever had a nickname for your spouse you'd never dare call him or her in public? Or one you can use in public but your best friend can't? How would you sound holding forth on the right to call your neighbor "sweet cheeks" or some other term that assumes a very personal relationship? Do you want to argue that anyone should be able to anyone else by their private terms of endearment? Because I'll tell you something that may have slipped your notice: even Black folks don't call other Black folks "my nigga" unless they're part of the same set. Wouldn't it show more respect to not use the term unless you have ABSOLUTELY NO DOUBT how it will be received? Okay, the Magic Negro hat is off…it's no accident comments aren't allowed on this post.

And because sooner or later I get to everything that ever interests me. I've always had a curiosity about logic programming, expert systems and such. Delphi 7 came with a non-commercial license for Amzi! Prolog+Logic Server, which I simply haven't had time to mess with. It lets you embed a logic engine in your programs via component programming techniques. Their latest version uses the Java-based Eclipse IDE, a good thing I guess. This isn't a GUI development tool so it matters little that the IDE isn't tightly integrated in the OS' GUI. And Amzi make a lot of supplemental stuff available. Last night I stumbled on Visual Prolog, the descendant of Borland's Turbo Prolog compiler. It's a Windows development environment, strongly typed the way I like my languages, fully object oriented, can make direct Win32 API calls, link in C and C++ LIBs…and that's just the free, non-commercially licensed download version. Sometimes I think I need to stop this.

Study: Caffeine Interferes with Diabetes Control Mon Jul 26, 2004 07:55 AM ET WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Caffeine could interfere with the body's ability to handle blood sugar, thus worsening type 2 diabetes, U.S. researchers said on Monday. The team at Duke University Medical Center in North Carolina found a strong correlation between caffeine intake at mealtime and increased glucose and insulin levels among people with type 2 diabetes. The American Diabetes Association says that at least 90 percent of the 17 million Americans diagnosed with diabetes have type 2, in which the body either does not produce enough insulin or cells ignore the insulin, which the body needs to convert food into energy. The findings are significant enough that the researchers recommend people with diabetes consider reducing or eliminating caffeine from their diets. "In a healthy person, glucose is metabolized within an hour or so after eating. Diabetics, however, do not metabolize glucose as efficiently," said James Lane, a psychiatry professor who led the study. "It appears that diabetics who consume caffeine are likely having a harder time regulating their insulin and glucose levels than those who don't take caffeine."

I had no idea an average of ten supertanker-sized ships are lost per year.

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Ship-Sinking Monster Waves Are Widespread -- ESA Sat Jul 24, 2004 04:18 PM ET PARIS (Reuters) - Rogue waves that rise as high as 10-story buildings and can sink large ships are far more common than previously thought, imagery from European Space Agency (ESA) satellites has shown. As part of a scientific project initiated by the European Union in December 2000, two ESA satellites monitored the world's oceans to test the frequency of monster waves that were once dismissed as a nautical myth. Three weeks of data from the early months of 2001 showed more than ten individual giant waves around the globe of over 80 feet in height. Previously, ESA said, scientists believed that such large waves occurred only once every 10,000 years. "Having proved they existed in higher numbers than anyone expected, the next step is to analyze if they can be forecasted," said Wolfgang Rosenthal, a scientist at the GKSS research center in Geesthacht, Germany. [P6: Not with the model you guys are working with…one per 10,000 years vs. some 170 per year?] ESA said that severe weather had sunk more than 200 supertankers and container ships exceeding 650 feet in length over the past two decades and that rogue waves were believed to be a major cause of such accidents. Current ships and off-shore platforms are built to withstand maximum wave heights of only 50 feet, ESA said.

African Plants Grow as Dutch Environment Warms Sun Jul 25, 2004 07:42 AM ET AMSTERDAM (Reuters) - Changes in the Dutch climate in recent years because of global warming have meant dozens of plant types normally found in warmer areas are now growing wild in the country, according on one study. The Standaardlijst Nederlandse Flora, a catalog of plants growing wild in the northern European country, found 50 varieties introduced here over the last seven years -- some from as far away as Africa, Dutch media reported on Sunday. Researchers who compiled the catalog, due to be published in September, said that as the European climate has warmed the plants spread from the south of the continent.

The White House Tax-Cut Machinations As the tax-cut extension bill suddenly fell apart in Congress last week, President Bush was caught with his hand in the re-election cookie jar. Billed as timely help for the middle class, the proposed extension of the more worthy tax cuts enacted in recent years was intended by the White House to be a timely boost for the president on the eve of the Democratic convention. Senate Democrats and a few Republicans had been responsibly holding out, insisting that any tax cuts, no matter how meritorious, be paid for by raising other revenues or by spending cuts. At issue were child credits, relief for married people who file jointly and an extension of the lower 10 percent marginal rate. When moderates began ignoring the budget-offset issue and shifting behind a compromise package of tax cuts, the White House showed its political hand, scuttling the bill to stop Democrats from strutting forth as tax-cut champions. Sometimes you watch a game and don't know for whom to root. We didn't like seeing moderates cave on their principled stand for fiscal discipline. But the president's gambit - ostensibly holding out for the whole tax-cut enchilada -betrayed a determination to treat the budget as a political cudgel. The tax-cut issue will revive when Congress returns in September, with the White House again demanding an irresponsible five-year extension costing more than $100 billion, not the more limited two-year measure that failed last week. Closer to Election Day, it will be even harder for lawmakers to resist the president's simplistic pitch. But we urge members of the Republican-led Congress to discover some spine and stop kidding themselves, and their voters. Congress must start budgeting responsibly since the president obviously won't.

A Jimmy Durante reference. God, I'm old…

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Africa Can Seize Share of IT Outsourcing Market By ECT News Syndication Desk 07/18/04 5:49 PM PT There are many areas in which African countries, eager to move into this space, can carve out a niche for themselves. The lucrative call center sector is one such area. Creating an environment that makes offshore outsourcing in Africa attractive can have many positive spin-offs for the continent as a whole, not just in terms of increased employment, additional revenue and new skills, but also in terms of changing the perception the developed world has about Africa.

Bush's Dark Pages in Conservation History By Stewart L. Udall Stewart L. Udall has written, edited or contributed to dozens of books, most recently "The Forgotten Founders: Rethinking the History of the Old West" (Shearwater Books, 2002). July 26, 2004 SANTA FE, N.M. — A crucial struggle over land stewardship is taking place south of my home on the Greater Otero Mesa, a 1.2-million-acre stretch of grassland that looks pretty much the way it did when Coronado explored the region almost 500 years ago. As much as half of Otero Mesa still qualifies for protection under the landmark 1964 Wilderness Act, which was enacted when I headed the Interior Department under presidents Kennedy and Johnson. This law prevents industrial development on designated federal land "retaining its primeval character and influence." But the Bush administration, determined to ransack public lands for the last meager pockets of petroleum, has turned my old department into a servile, single-minded adjunct of the Energy Department. It is intent on opening Otero Mesa and other wild lands to oil and gas exploration under the guise of reducing our ever-growing dependency on imported oil.

Clinton's Critique of His Successor Takes On a Harder Edge Ronald Brownstein July 26, 2004 Even after completing 957 pages of memoir, Bill Clinton still has a lot to get off his chest. About, for instance, George W. Bush's decision to invade Iraq. "The American people can decide who they think is right and wrong, but the Bush administration believed Iraq was far and away the biggest security problem of the country, despite the fact that there was more support for Al Qaeda within Pakistan and now we know more contacts with Iran," the former president said in an interview as he prepared for his prime-time address to the Democratic National Convention tonight. "There were," he added dryly, "other responsible people who had different views." He's just as exercised about Bush's doctrine of military preemption. "I think it's a very tricky, slippery slope," he said. "I think you have to be under an imminent threat to justify any kind of preemptive attack. First of all, it was never realistic because we are not going to go to war with Iran or North Korea. I think it's hard to even think of another case."

Part 1 Part 2 Part 3

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We've done a lot in three-and-a-half years. I ask you to look at the record of accomplishment. And I didn't do this alone. I've got a good administration, really good people. It's a diverse Cabinet. It's a Cabinet full of strong people. It's a Cabinet who are serving our country first. People like Rod Paige. You've heard my talk about education. I hope you have a sense of my passion to make sure we get it right. I understand the importance of schools in America. I picked a good man to serve as the head of the Education Department, Rod Paige. He was -- (applause.) You heard me talk about owning your own home, it's a vital part of this future of this country. Alphonso Jackson is the head of the Housing and Urban Development. (Applause.) Kay James runs the Office of Personnel Management. You know, the government owns a lot of property. Steve Perry is the head of the GSA. (Applause.) We've got a diverse cabinet, diverse administration, people who serve our nation with dignity. You know, when it comes time to money, Allen Greenspan is a smart guy, so is the Vice Chairman, Roger Ferguson, of the Federal Reserve. (Applause.) Chairman of the FCC, the Federal Communications Commission, Michael Powell -- in other words, what I'm telling you is -- (applause) -- I feel I have an obligation to reach out to people from all walks of life. I have met that obligation, and the government is better for it. (Applause.)

You would have to be awfully sheltered to call talking to the guys he named "reaching out to people from all walks of life." But that's not the best questionable statement. He saved that for his aces in the hole.

And when it comes to national security, thankfully I've had a good team. We've had some big challenges in this country. And I've got a strong foreign policy, because the architects of that policy are people like Condi Rice and Colin Powell. (Applause.) These are good people. I've seen them -- I've seen them under incredible pressure. I know their steadiness and their clear vision.

"People like" Condi Rice and Colin Powell are the archetechs of his foreign policy. Not Condi Rice and Colin Powell themselves but "people like" them. This is what actually made me decide to see what other precision parsing they set up. Not one word in this speech was placed there accidentally.

See, our most solemn duty is to protect the American people. That's our most solemn duty. It's a duty brought upon us not at our asking, because we were attacked unmercifully by people who hate what we stand for. They hate the fact that we can have free dialogue just like this. They hate the fact that there's open discourse. They hate the fact that we're a free society where people can worship any way they see fit. They hate the idea that we welcome people who worship God and we welcome people who don't worship God. They can't stand the thought that we're a society that says, if you choose to worship, you're equally American, if you're a Christian, Jew, or Muslim. And so they attacked us.

This is just so much bullshit and spew.

[Empty rhetoric redacted]

Our foreign policy is tough and it's compassionate. It's tough and we have to be tough, it's compassionate. We liberated over 50 million people who were brutalized by tyrants.

He's talking about Afghanistan and Iraq? Afghanistan where the warlords run everything outside the capital city? Iraq, where hundreds of people known to have been innocent were abused, tortured and worse.

We're proud to lead the armies of liberation. We're standing true to this great American ideal that freedom is the almighty God's gift to each man and woman in this world.

I have to say that "armies of liberation" thing gives me the creeps.

We've begun the largest initiative ever to combat global AIDS. America is in the lead on dealing with the pandemic that ravages the continent of Africa. We're taking the lead because we're a compassionate nation. We feed more of the hungry than any nation on the face of the Earth. We're a compassionate nation. We're also a wise nation when it comes to smart policy. I signed the African Growth and Opportunity Acceleration Act of 2004. It recognizes that the best way to help lift people out of poverty is to trade, it's through the free flow of commerce. And it's working on the -- this policy is working on the continent of Africa. Problems come to our desk because of our influence in the world. We've dealt with Liberia. We're now dealing with Sudan. The United States is working closely with the United Nations. As a matter of fact, the Secretary of State was recently with Kofi Annan talking about this very subject. We're working closely with the African Union to bring relief to the suffering people in that region. We've made our position very clear to the Sudanese government: They must stop the Janjaweed violence. They must provide access for humanitarian relief to the people who suffer.

Having not actually done anything about Sudan and the Janjaweed yet I think the promise to intercede saves a loss of moral ground rather than gaining ground. And my understanding of the promise to support the U.N.'s AIDS research and prevention program has seen only a small fraction of the pledged funds. I will mark a plus in Bush's column for each promise he actually keeps. As for the African Growth and Opportunity Acceleration Act of 2004, regardless of intent, there's a pattern to how these things work out.

Ours is a solid record of accomplishment. And that's why I've come to talk about compassionate conservatism and what I envision for the future. I'm here for another reason. I'm here to ask for your vote.

No.

No, I know, I know, I know. The Republican party has got a lot of work to do. I understand that.

Here's a question: if it's so clear that a lot of work need be done, why has no one started on it? [babble redacted]

And as I do, I'm going to ask African American voters to consider some questions. Does the Democrat party take African American voters for granted? (Applause.) It's a fair question. I know plenty of politicians assume they have your vote. But do they earn it and do they deserve it? (Applause.)

On a national level, yes the Democratic Party has just assumed Black folks need not be specifically attended to. That's since Clinton days, actually. Democratic presidents have been the cooler to Black folks (since I've been political anyway).

Is it a good thing for the African American community to be represented mainly by one political party? That's a legitimate question.

It is not a good thing, and it is do because the Republican Party campaigns are hostile to Black interests. That hostility is a selling point to Bush's major constituencies. It's the nature of the parties, not Black folks' lack of political unsophistication, that is the Republican problem.

How is it possible to gain political leverage if the party is never forced to compete?

And if Black people vote Republican, they will have gotten the votes without having done a damn thing. Without even intending to.

Have the traditional solutions of the Democrat party truly served the African American community?

Based on all that Black progress you just lauded, I'd say yes. No one can even pretend the traditional solutions of the Republican party served the African American community.

That's what I hope people ask when they go to the community centers and places, as we all should do our duty and vote. People need to be asking these very serious questions. Does blocking the faith-based initiative help neighborhoods where the only social service provider could be a church?

No.

Does the status quo in education really, really help the children of this country?

No.

Does class warfare -- has class warfare or higher taxes ever created decent jobs in the inner city?

I don't even know that that says.

Are you satisfied with the same answers on crime, excuses for drugs and blindness to the problem of the family?

Hey, Mr. Stay-The-Course. I haven't heard any new answers on anything from you. And who is making excuses for which drugs? I know I'm setting myself up here but what is the problem of the family? [Closes with a lot of noise about what the guy who doesn't read newspapers himself believes]

http://www.cnn.com/TRANSCRIPTS/0407/23/pzn.00.html

ZAHN: That was our Jason Carroll reporting from Detroit. Joining me now to discuss President Bush's efforts to reach out to African-Americans, one of his campaign advisers, the Reverend Joe Watkins, pastor of the oldest African-American Lutheran church in Philadelphia. Welcome. REV. JOE WATKINS, BUSH CAMPAIGN ADVISER: Let's talk about some of those numbers. And they are striking when you look at what polls are showing today, that BET/CBS News poll that 79 percent of African- Americans say they will vote for John Kerry come November, only 10 percent for the president. Why does the president poll so low among African-Americans? WATKINS: Well, it's not November yet, Paula. Remember that. In his first campaign for governor in Texas, the president got less than 10 percent of the African-American vote. But in his second campaign for governor, he got about 30 percent of the African-American vote. So I think that, as the president continues to talk to the community, talk to Americans and in particular African-Americans and he gets his message out so they can hear it, that people are going to vote for him. You're going to see a larger percentage of African-Americans vote for him than last time.

Why does everyone assume Black people don't know what George W. Bush's message is? Even Rev. Watkins is pushing the thought. The discussion is being had about how George is a known quantity, Kerry has to establish an identity…l'il Georgie is known everywhere except the Black community?

ZAHN: But you have to concede, we would be talking about a glacial shift if he were to outnumber the John Kerry vote. What do you think he has got to do, particularly when you heard people at the Urban League convention saying we don't think this president understands what is going on in our communities economically; he hasn't broadened his reach enough? WATKINS: Well, he certainly does. He understands that the keys to changing your situation, to helping the African-American community to be everything that it can be economically is to support education, which he's done with the Leave No Child Behind Act, which really does level the playing field for kids, especially kids in the inner cities, by bolstering economic development and entrepreneurship, which he's done with the tax cuts and the incentives for small businesses to grow and to really prosper, which is wonderful, and, likewise, by strengthening families, because in African-American communities, the breakup of the family unit has been devastating for us. And this president understands the importance of strong families.

Okay, George Bush has strengthened families? When did he do that? Probably just before negotiating that peace settlement in the Sudan. We did the tax cut thing yesterday, I think.

ZAHN: Do you think the African-American community, by and large, has felt the benefits of the Bush tax cut? WATKINS: I think so. I also think the African-American community heard the president loud and clear when he said today, are you going to be taken for grant? Are you being taken for granted by the Democratic Party? Does the Democratic Party automatically deserve your vote?

No details, just "yes," and change the subject.

If you look at the president and John Kerry and you contrast their records, there is no comparison. John Kerry is a Democrat. He has no real relationship with African-Americans; 20 years in the Senate, no African-Americans on his Senate staff, just recently named a black person to his campaign. President George Bush, he has named the first African-American to be secretary of state, has an African- American national security adviser who is a woman as well, and has two African-American Cabinet members.

Okay, George W. Bush has a relationship with African-Americans? If he means Dr. Rice and Gen. Powell, well I'm sure some of Kerry's best friends are Black too. There was a name for the tactics of putting a Black person in prominent view, an example used to ward off accusations of racism-sitting a spook by the door. Very popular in the 60s.

ZAHN: You make a good point, but there are people who say that that doesn't necessarily translate to improvements in our community. Why do you think the black community has voted in large blocks for Democrats historically? Why that alignment? WATKINS: Well, that has been our -- That has been a history. The Democrats have certainly worked hard to get our vote, and now Republicans are working hard to make sure that the message gets out, because when African-Americans hear the message of this president and this party they're going to come out in larger numbers for the Republicans.

Now I know what this reminds me of.

ZAHN: A lot of controversy over the president not speaking before the NAACP, and I want to put up on the screen what the president of that organization had to say about that. Quote, "For him to say that he doesn't want to be with us because we don't agree with him or because somebody made a reference to him that he didn't like is foolishness. If his mandate is that he will only meet with organizations that agree with him, then God save our nation." Was it a mistake... WATKINS: Absolutely not. ZAHN: ...for the president to what some people of your organization, the NAACP, would say dissed them?

There's one slang word I won't be using anymore…

WATKINS: Absolutely not. I think he made the right decision not to attend the NAACP convention. I think the offer for him to attend was disingenuous. And I think that Kweisi Mfume and Julian Bond certainly poisoned the water with some of the venomous rhetoric that they had out before the convention started. ZAHN: Does that mean you're no longer associating yourself with the NAACP?

Good question.

WATKINS: No, the NAACP is at its best when it's fighting for people who are downtrodden, people of color who are downtrodden, and I support that. Organizations like the NAACP ought to be political, but they ought not be partisan. They ought not put African-Americans in the hip pocket of either political party, and that's what these leaders of the NAACP, today's leaders have done.

So, you're saying they should convince us to vote for a party while it actively opposies our interests. That's YOUR job, Rev, and I think you're a slacker for trying to palm it off on someone else.

ZAHN: But finally tonight, you know the NAACP, Julian Bond, in particular was pretty tough on the Democrats as well? WATKINS: Well, he ought to be. They haven't done anything to deserve our vote automatically. ZAHN: So it wasn't like they were just attacking the president?

Another good one, Paula! I'll forgive you for the "what people of your organization would say, dissed them" excess of cuteness.

WATKINS: Well, the Urban League has really led by example, and what I mean is that they've worked hard to foster a working dialogue with both political parties, and that's the way it should be.

That's hard when one party refuses to talk to you.

ZAHN: Reverend Watkins, thank you for spending some time with us here in New York tonight. WATKINS: Thanks for having me.

Aaron McGruder is fucking brilliant.

What's the Presidential Tipping Point? By MICHAEL ORESKES IN presidential elections much is made of the power of incumbency. Who but the president can order up an aircraft carrier for a speaker's platform? But there are perils, too, as George W. Bush is finding. Because when you are the incumbent the election is, fundamentally, about you. On this summer weekend, jammed between the harsh report of the 9/11 commission and the nomination of John Kerry at the Democratic convention, Mr. Bush finds himself in the same difficult place as Harry S. Truman in 1948 and Jimmy Carter in 1980: an incumbent facing a dubious electorate that could tip either way. "At some point, politicians can step over an amorphous line that separates good or questionable judgment from inexcusably arrogant, outrageous or incompetent behavior," said Professor Jeffery A. Smith, an historian at the University of Wisconsin and the author of "American Presidential Elections: Trust and the Rational Voter." "That shatters trust. Democracy is built on perceptions of trustworthiness. We bond with politicians who tell us they like us and are like us, but their images and stories can be built up and torn down by what they actually do. If they disappoint, they may be discarded if the alternatives don't look worse."

Picture the impact on the economy (by which I mean the particular statistics on which folks base their political and economic judgments) of deciding NOT to buy those unnecessary Cold War era weaponry. And consider the priorities the reaction to that potential impact implies.

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Indefensible Defense Budgeting …Just as the commission's report should bring major reforms in the management of America's intelligence agencies, it is as important that it lead to a thorough reconfiguration of the military budget. If the White House and the Pentagon cannot do it, the Congressional appropriators who too readily rubber-stamp Defense Department requests will have to subject military budgets to far more aggressive scrutiny than the bloated $416 billion spending package they approved last week. That legislation incorporates a special $25 billion request for immediate needs in Iraq and Afghanistan, and adds, at least temporarily, a desperately needed 30,000 troops to the active duty Army. If past patterns hold, even that $25 billion may not be enough, and the Pentagon continues to resist permanently moving resources from unneeded weapons to badly needed troops. Taken as a whole, this year's budget, like previous ones, lavishes enormous sums on costly futuristic gadgets like stealth fighters and missile defense systems, for which there are no clear, current military justifications, and pinches pennies when it comes to anticipating the real needs of American ground troops already in combat. A new report from the Government Accountability Office of Congress shows that the administration has consistently underestimated the actual costs of the Iraq war, forcing the military to cut corners in ways that increase today's risks and tomorrow's expenses. While waiting for the latest supplemental spending, the military has had to postpone repairs of worn-out equipment and delay training exercises - and it still had to take money meant for other things to meet immediate needs. It's inexcusable that a country spending more than $400 billion a year on defense is facing squeezes like this. The main cause was the administration's unrealistic assumption that it would be able to make do with far fewer troops in Iraq right now, despite continuing insurgent attacks, the unreliability of Iraqi security forces and the general unwillingness of other countries to help. The Pentagon now acknowledges that roughly 138,000 United States troops will be in Iraq for the foreseeable future. That is a lot, but a country with more than 40 million people between the ages of 18 and 30 could have managed it much better. By waiting as long as it has to expand recruitment quotas for the Regular Army, the Pentagon found itself compelled to turn to unwise and unfair expedients like forced extensions of combat duty tours and involuntary recalls of discharged veterans. It also resorted to a clearly unsustainable overuse of National Guard divisions in overseas combat zones. Roughly 40 percent of American troops in Iraq now come from National Guard or Reserve units. This undermines the country's ability to respond to domestic terrorism, especially since many Guard members work as firefighters and in other emergency response jobs in civilian life. …There is no question that the escalating costs of this misconceived war in Iraq have become a continuing drain on America's ability to fight terrorism elsewhere. Until Washington finds a way to internationalize the responsibility for solving the problems it has unleashed, it needs to factor those costs honestly into the military budget. The rational way to do that is to shift funds away from unneeded cold war weapons, not to force the Army to defer repairs and training and damage future recruiting by involuntarily calling back those who have already served.

Quote of note:

The commission's report found that the hijackers had repeatedly broken the law in entering the United States, that Mr. bin Laden may have micromanaged the attacks but did not pay for them, that intelligence agencies had considered the threat of suicide hijackings, and that Mr. Bush received an August 2001 briefing on evidence of continuing domestic terrorist threats from Al Qaeda.

Correcting the Record on Sept. 11, in Great Detail By PHILIP SHENON This article was reported by Philip Shenon, Douglas Jehl and David Johnston and written by Mr. Shenon. WASHINGTON, July 24 — When the National Commission on Terrorist Attacks Upon the United States set to work early last year to prepare the definitive history of the events of Sept. 11, 2001, it seemed that much of the hard work of the so-called 9/11 commission was already done, because so much of the horrifying story seemed to be known. At the time, it was understood that all of the hijackers had entered the country legally and done nothing to draw attention to themselves; Osama bin Laden had underwritten the plot with his personal fortune but had left the details to others; American intelligence agencies had no warning that Al Qaeda was considering suicide missions using planes; President Bush had received a special intelligence briefing weeks before Sept. 11 about Al Qaeda threats that focused on past, not current, threats. But 19 months later, the commission released a final, unanimous book-length report last Thursday that, in calling for a overhaul of the way the government collects and shares intelligence, showed that much of what had been common wisdom about the Sept. 11 attacks at the start of the panel's investigation was wrong.

Quote of note:

The administration's participation in the cases is consistent with President Bush's position on "tort reform."

It is indeed.

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In a Shift, Bush Moves to Block Medical Suits By ROBERT PEAR WASHINGTON, July 24 — The Bush administration has been going to court to block lawsuits by consumers who say they have been injured by prescription drugs and medical devices. The administration contends that consumers cannot recover damages for such injuries if the products have been approved by the Food and Drug Administration. In court papers, the Justice Department acknowledges that this position reflects a "change in governmental policy," and it has persuaded some judges to accept its arguments, most recently scoring a victory in the federal appeals court in Philadelphia. Allowing consumers to sue manufacturers would "undermine public health" and interfere with federal regulation of drugs and devices, by encouraging "lay judges and juries to second-guess" experts at the F.D.A., the government said in siding with the maker of a heart pump sued by the widow of a Pennsylvania man. Moreover, it said, if such lawsuits succeed, some good products may be removed from the market, depriving patients of beneficial treatments. In 2002, at a legal symposium, the Bush administration outlined plans for "F.D.A. involvement in product liability lawsuits," and it has been methodically pursuing that strategy.

Steve Gilliard has some advice about blogging the DNC I'll keep in mind on the odd chance I decide to try blogging the Republican convention here in NYC…I got a 75-300mm auto-stabilizing zoom lens that (if I'm convinced they can tell it from a rifle barrel) could get me close enough for some documentation.

He's picked up on this NY Times Magazine piece, Wiring the Vast Left-Wing Conspiracy, already

I'm not done with it yet, but Matt Bai's latest piece, profiling the rise of the next next next Democratic party, is really essential. As a day on the blogs shows and a scan of the primaries proves, the energy and appeal of the Democratic Party is coming from outside the party structure. Bai's article articulates exactly how it's being channeled. Well worth reading.

…though a different section caught his immediate attention than mine.

Spurred on by legal reforms that were in fact supposed to reduce the torrent of private money into politics, the new political venture capitalists see themselves as true progressives, unbound by any arcane party structure. If their investment ends up revitalizing the Democratic Party, so be it. If they end up competing with the party to control its agenda, or even pushing the party toward obsolescence -- well, that's fine, too. As the old union bosses and factional leaders who dominated the Democratic Party in the 20th century file into the FleetCenter this week, waving signs and hooting for their heroes, be sure to take a long, last look. The Democratic Party of the machine age, so long dominant in American politics, could be holding its own Irish wake near Boston's North End. The power is already shifting -- not just within the party, but away from it altogether. By the time this election year ends, George Soros will have contributed more than $13 million to the independent political groups known as 527's. (The term is shorthand for the section of the tax code that makes them legal.) For this reason, Republicans insist that the 74-year-old Soros, who may become the largest single political contributor in history, has resolved to buy the Democratic Party. This is, on its face, a little silly. To put things in perspective, $13 million is a fraction of what it takes to run a serious modern presidential campaign, let alone control a party. And Soros, who made his fortune as an international investor, is worth an estimated $7 billion; his foundation alone gives away some $450 million every year. In other words, if George Soros really felt like buying the party, you would know it. For Soros, spending $13 million on a campaign is like you or me buying 100 boxes of Thin Mints from the Girl Scout next door. The real significance of Soros's involvement in politics has little to do with the dollar amount of his contributions. What will stand out as important, when we look back decades from now at the 2004 campaign, will be the political model he created for everyone else. Until this year, Democratic contributors operated on the party-machine model: they were trained to write checks only to the party and its candidates, who decided how to spend the money. But by helping to establish a series of separate organizations and by publicly announcing that he was on a personal mission to unseat Bush, Soros signaled to other wealthy liberals that the days of deferring to the party were over. He became what the financial world would call the angel investor for an entirely new kind of progressive venture.

Why does Bush think snubbing the NAACP is a good idea when you're not going to find very many people prominent in one that isn't prominent in the other? I wonder how many people in the audience for his address at the National Urban League were NOT NAACP members? You know Jesse Jackson is a member of both. You know Al Sharpton is a member of both. Kweisi Mfume is a member of both. Julian Bond is a member of both.

Gonna be hanging on 49th Street today. Takes me about an hour and a half to get there and since the deadline is 2 pm my choice is to watch the Sunday morning talking heads or NOT be all stinky and sweaty when I get there. No brainer, right?