In the comments Shannika said some stuff I could only hint at due to my lack of credentials.

I could not believe this when I heard it last night. I wrote a lengthy post about it in another forum but will summarize it here:

As anyone who has suffered through law school like I did knows, the Dred Scott case is NOT a property rights case in the correct sense of the word. It is a case about citizenship and "privileges and immunities" such as access to the Courts. As Justice Taney wrote: "The question is simply this: Can a negro, whose ancestors were imported into this country, and sold as slaves, become a member of the political community formed and brought into existence by the Constitution of the United States, and as such become entitled to all the rights, and privileges, and immunities, guarantied by that instrument to the citizen? One of which rights is the privilege of suing in a court of the United States in the cases specified in the Constitution...The only matter in issue before the court, therefore, is, whether the descendants of such slaves, when they shall be emancipated, or who are born of parents who had become free before their birth, are citizens of a State, in the sense in which the word citizen is used in the Constitution of the United States."

What's up with those dickheads?

LATER: It occurred to me that maybe they are VERY aware that everyone in DC can walk around strapped and feel the need to get in some advance intimidation.

Conservative TV Group to Air Anti-Kerry Film
Sinclair, with reach into many of the nation's homes, will preempt prime-time shows. Experts call the move highly unusual.
By Elizabeth Jensen
Times Staff Writer

October 9, 2004

NEW YORK — The conservative-leaning Sinclair Broadcast Group, whose television outlets reach nearly a quarter of the nation's homes with TV, is ordering its stations to preempt regular programming just days before the Nov. 2 election to air a film that attacks Sen. John F. Kerry's activism against the Vietnam War, network and station executives familiar with the plan said Friday.

Sinclair's programming plan, communicated to executives in recent days and coming in the thick of a close and intense presidential race, is highly unusual even in a political season that has been marked by media controversies.

Check the sidebar for links to previous articles in the series.

Quote of note:

"We come from the old school that you work hard and give it your all, and the job will be there for you," said Fredo's wife of 35 years, Donna. "It's different today."

If America Is Richer, Why Are Its Families So Much Less Secure?
For 25 years, government and business have forced workers to take on mounting risk. A Times analysis shows ever-larger swings in household incomes.
By Peter G. Gosselin
Times Staff Writer

October 10, 2004

HORNELL, N.Y. — By most conventional measures, Paul Fredo is an American success story.

The son of a coal miner, he made almost $200,000 in the last year, enough to place him in the top 2% of wage earners. As a financial manager for the U.S. unit of Alstom, the French bullet-train maker, he has lived an expense-account life, spending most nights in hotels and jetting to meetings in Washington and Paris.

GIBSON: Mr. President, let's extend for a minute...

BUSH: Let me just -- I've got to answer this.

GIBSON: Exactly. And with Reservists being held on duty...

(CROSSTALK)

BUSH: Let me answer what he just said, about around the world.

GIBSON: Well, I want to get into the issue of the back-door draft...

BUSH: You tell Tony Blair we're going alone. Tell Tony Blair we're going alone. Tell Silvio Berlusconi we're going alone. Tell Aleksander Kwasniewski of Poland we're going alone.

There are 30 countries there. It denigrates an alliance to say we're going alone, to discount their sacrifices. You cannot lead an alliance if you say, you know, you're going alone. And people listen. They're sacrificing with us.

Our own Al-Muhajabah has joined Six Apart.

Smart move on their part.

Cleveland Steamers
The VP debate came down to a battle between student council kissass and troll under the bridge.

It's All Relative
Some look at a glass and see it as half full while others look at a glass and say... it's a dragon.

Spurning Haiti
Saturday, October 9, 2004; Page A30

…The question is whether Washington should help Haiti to cultivate one of its few economic bright spots -- the assembly and export of cheap apparel such as T-shirts to the United States -- after a quota system expires at the end of this year. A bill passed by the Senate would do so, providing duty-free access for Haitian apparel manufacturers to as much as 1.5 percent of the U.S. market, an amount that would double over three years and, Haitian officials say, support some 100,000 jobs. But a House version of the Haitian Economic Recovery Opportunity Act, known as H.E.R.O., is far less heroic. Bowing to pressure from U.S. textile manufacturers (for most Haitian apparel is made from cheap material imported from Asia), the House bill would all but eliminate duty-free access to U.S. markets; it would do almost nothing to provide employment to a country where 80 percent of the population lives in extreme poverty and a single job can support a half-dozen people or more. By closing off duty-free access for Haitian apparel, the stingy House bill all but guarantees that investors would write off Haiti and take their business elsewhere.

Of course, I can't credit any politician for that.

Factcheck.org has a fisking of the debate worthy of Blognet's snarkiest…except it's not snarky, it's accurate. Their work is forcing a response—from the media and from the candidates.

I have a vague sense of human collectives as equivalent to organisms like slime mold, each cell/human an individual acting almost independently, The Internet could become the equivalent of a nervous system…and organizations like Factcheck.org would be the first of a set of higher brain functions.

Let the evolution begin.

Quote of note:

…Bush was the most aggressive, at one point overrunning moderator Charles Gibson's attempt to pose a question after Kerry said he was "not going to go alone like this president did" in Iraq.

"I've got to answer this," Bush said, cutting off Gibson, then indignantly responded to Kerry. "You tell Tony Blair we're going alone."

Often, Bush's voice rose to nearly a shout.

Also note Bush is still irrationally citing Poland in his list.

Bush fights to keep emotions in check
By Ron Fournier, AP Political Writer | October 9, 2004

23-nation inoculation push in Africa aims to eradicate polio
By John Donnelly, Globe Staff | October 9, 2004

JOHANNESBURG -- Health workers across west and central Africa began a 23-country polio immunization campaign yesterday to reach more than 80 million children in the next several days. The undertaking is part of an international effort to eradicate the disease by next year.

With 88 percent of this year's polio cases in Africa and with 10 formerly polio-free countries in Africa reporting infections, the challenges of the synchronized effort are great, said Bruce Aylward, head of polio efforts at the World Health Organization.

DeLay assails panel, accusers
Ethics complaint libelous, he says
By Suzanne Gamboa, Associated Press | October 9, 2004

WASHINGTON -- House majority leader Tom DeLay went on the offensive after being chastised twice in the past week by the House ethics committee, accusing his accusers of libel and the bipartisan panel that judged him of mistreating him.

DeLay's lawyer, Ed Bethune, sent a 33-page letter to Representative David Dreier of California, chairman of the House Rules Committee. Bethune said in the memo that the House should prevent lame-duck lawmakers like Representative Chris Bell from filing ethics complaints.

Quote of note:

The Justice Department fought the release of information on the no-fly list on national security grounds, leading a federal judge in San Francisco to admonish government lawyers for making "frivolous claims" to justify the unusual secrecy.

Papers Show Confusion as Government Watch List Grew Quickly
By ERIC LICHTBLAU

WASHINGTON, Oct. 8 - The government's list of banned airline passengers has grown from just 16 names on Sept. 11, 2001, to thousands of people today amid signs of internal confusion and dissension over how the list is implemented, newly disclosed government documents and interviews showed Friday.

Remember that "strict constructionists" is a label to mask the reversionary activism of the Conservative courts in this country.

---

MICHAELSON: Mr. President, if there were a vacancy in the Supreme Court and you had the opportunity to fill that position today, who would you choose and why?

BUSH: I'm not telling.

I really don't have -- haven't picked anybody yet. Plus, I want them all voting for me.

I would pick somebody who would not allow their personal opinion to get in the way of the law. I would pick somebody who would strictly interpret the Constitution of the United States.

Let me give you a couple of examples, I guess, of the kind of person I wouldn't pick.

I wouldn't pick a judge who said that the Pledge of Allegiance couldn't be said in a school because it had the words "under God" in it. I think that's an example of a judge allowing personal opinion to enter into the decision-making process as opposed to a strict interpretation of the Constitution.

George Bush had much better control of his temper this week than last…which is kind of sad.

inetnum:      195.210.171.52 - 195.210.171.55
netname:      TDK-N
descr:        "TDK-N", Moscow representation office
country:      RU
admin-c:      DT990-RIPE
tech-c:       DT990-RIPE
status:       ASSIGNED PA
mnt-by:       COMSTAR-MNT
changed:      [email protected] 20040525
source:       RIPE

route:        195.210.128.0/18
descr:        COMSTAR Telecommunications
descr:        RUSSIA
origin:       AS6731  

This sucks. The people who would refuse this man a new trial in the face of such evidence suck. The people who appointed such bastards are themselves bastards and suck such suckage as to inspire deep envy from vacuum cleaner engineers and hookers worldwide. These Republican judges are suckdom's the Weapon of Mass Destruction.

How is this any different than what Saddam Hussein was accused of?

If this man is put to death, there are eight Republican judges that I call accessories to murder.

I don't want to hear shit from Republicans about "judicial activism." Not when bastards like these are appointed. Not when they value the chance to make a political statement over a human life.

---

An Inexplicable Vote for Death

Robert Novak has a "debate blog."

And I think it's wonderful that FoxNews has a poll option that reads 'I did not watch." The know their audience.

If you though George Bush lost last week, how can you think he won this week by saying all the same things?

Report Cites U.S. Profits in Sale of Iraqi Oil Under Hussein
By JUDITH MILLER and ERIC LIPTON

WASHINGTON, Oct. 8 - Major American oil companies and a Texas oil investor were among those who received lucrative vouchers that enabled them to buy Iraqi oil under the United Nations oil-for-food program, according to a report prepared by the chief arms inspector for the Central Intelligence Agency.

The 918-page report says that four American oil companies - Chevron, Mobil, Texaco and Bay Oil - and three individuals including Oscar S. Wyatt Jr. of Houston were given vouchers and got 111 million barrels of oil between them from 1996 to 2003. The vouchers allowed them to profit by selling the oil or the right to trade it.

Since Cheney was good enough to direct us to factcheck.org, I thoght I'd see if they had something to say about tonight's issues.

GOP Website Uses Misleading Kerry Quote On Abortion
09.24.2004 - modified: 09.24.2004

When Kerry said abortions should be moved "into the mainstream of medical practice," he was talking about safer locations, not more frequent abortions.

---

Are Bush and Cheney "Small Businesses?" Their Ad Counts Them As Such
09.23.2004 - modified: 10.01.2004

A Bush-Cheney ad says Kerry would raise taxes for 900,000 "small businesses" and "hurt jobs." It's a big exaggeration.

---

Update on Kerry's "Shrinking Middle Class" -- Still Shrinking in 2003

Bush's Dred Scott comment, if I caught it correctly, is a classic.

Especially in connection with the idea of interpreting the constitution.

Bush is spinning jobs as a side effect of energy policy and tax policy.

You know, I think I would have preferred a three way split screen, including the questioner.

Bush has a plan to increase wetlands by three million what?

We need to list and count promises made in 2000.

Smart move to go back to a previous questioner.

Nail they ass on the numbers.

And Bush just

doesn't

answer.

Good, good. Law suits are less than one percent of the cost of health care. Good, good.

Here it comes…the liberal demonization. Please, please, give Kerry a rebuttal?

George is still claiming Poland as an ally.

And he looks testy again.

Kerry took to long to get to the point.And he's making a serious error addressing Bush rather than the questioner.

Actually, this display on both their part is proof of what I said this morning, that bothe men had more than enough information to prepare for the questions they'd get.

Bush is saying all the things that were publicly dismembered for a week.I would love to see one of the commentators tell Bush he can't follow-up when he leaps off his chair.

---

What is your plan to repair relations with other countries? No damn answer. Kerry won't point that out, unfortunately.

Kerry seems to handle the wishy-washy thing.

George Bush opens the same damn way.Didn't we go through this last week?

---

Nine eleven chainged it all. Nine eleven chainged it all. Nine eleven chainged it all. Nine eleven chainged it all. Nine eleven chainged it all. Nine eleven chainged it all. Nine eleven chainged it all. Nine eleven chainged it all. Nine eleven chainged it all. Nine eleven chainged it all. Nine eleven chainged it all. Weapons of mass destructions. Weapons of mass destructions. Weapons of mass destructions. Weapons of mass destructions. Weapons of mass destructions. Weapons of mass destructions. Weapons of mass destructions. Weapons of mass destructions. Weapons of mass destructions. Weapons of mass destructions. Weapons of mass destructions. Weapons of mass destructions. Weapons of mass destructions.

Crucified for the sins of CEOs everywhere.

They've just had too much fun talking about how she'll be strip searched and have to obey.

Ben Sargent has a campaign ad you can take to the bank

Tony Auth tells about a debate rule that didn't get much press.

Ann Telnaes cracked me up…I should have seen it before the VP debate.

David Horsey shows George Bush's protective side.

You know, I always find myself explaining myself. Folks get a general conservative (as in preference for tried and true methods) vibe from me and often mistakenly apply the Conservative label.

For about an hour and a half.

See, I've never denied that the way things always were creates a coherent system. I think the system has its shortcomings but I also think it's strong enough to survive compensating for irrational restraints such as racism and tornados. That sort of annoys some folks on the left.

But I also feel clinging to those old forms is counterproductive at this point. Look at the truth. Between the beginning of the 20^th and 21^st centuries the very ground on which society was built has changed. That alone is enough to require the old ways be adjusted at minimum…and is enough to have the right equally annoyed at me.

Frequent Filers:
Corporate Hypocrisy in Accessing the Courts

To read the full report, click here. [PDF]

Business lobbyists and their political allies have
created a perception that America’s legal system has run amok.
They point the finger at consumer and patient lawsuits, which they
imply are concocted by “greedy trial lawyers.” They argue that lawsuits
have detrimental effects on society and the economy, and effectively
suggest that people should turn the other cheek when their rights are
violated. President Bush and Vice President Cheney mimic these
erroneous claims and make attacks on the legal system a central part of
their campaign stump speeches. “See, everybody is getting sued,” says
the President, and the lawsuits are “junk and frivolous.”



But Public Citizen’s examination of public records finds that for the
most part it is businesses rather than consumers and their lawyers
doing the suing, and that businesses are far more often guilty of
filing frivolous pleadings than the trial lawyers they demonize.

Privacy Act, Order Shielded U.S. Names on List
By Charles Lane
Washington Post Staff Writer
Friday, October 8, 2004; Page A30

CIA analyst Charles A. Duelfer's report on Iraq's weapons programs included lists of governments, political parties, companies and individuals from at least 44 nations who received vouchers to buy oil -- both legally and otherwise -- from the Iraqi government during Saddam Hussein's reign.

The names on the politically explosive list are French, Russian, Chinese, Canadian and Japanese; if Duelfer had had his way, U.S. companies and individuals would have been included, too.

But he was overruled by CIA lawyers. The report instead lists some voucher recipients only as "U.S. person" and "U.S. company," explaining in a footnote that disclosure was barred by the 1974 Privacy Act and "other applicable law."

Stocks can't shake U.S. payrolls blues
Economy creates fewer jobs than expected in September

NEW YORK (CBS.MW) -- U.S. stocks traded lower Friday as an upbeat earnings outlook from General Electric failed to quell concern over the nation's economy after a weaker-than-expected employment report for September.

The economy added 96,000 jobs in September, the Labor Department reported. Economists polled by CBS MarketWatch had been looking for payrolls to rise by about 138,000. See full story.

The Dow Jone

In an attempt to make up for just posting a link and an extract yesterday, I created a new category at The Niggerati Network: Bizarro World.

I don't know how frequently I'll use it but I suspect it will come in handy.

Quote of note:

The campaigns approved the screening questionnaire used by Gallup to select the audience, Newport said, but they had no input in the selection process itself. "The campaigns have no idea who the participants are or the questions they're dealing with," Newport said.

Not…quite.

Uncommitted to fill 2d debate audience
By Brian C. Mooney, Globe Staff | October 8, 2004

With the stakes so high for their town meeting-style debate tonight, the campaigns of President Bush and Senator John F. Kerry employed teams of specialists to negotiate terms designed to prevent partisans from being among Missourians who will ask the questions at Washington University in St. Louis.

Quote of note:

Still, economists say Bush and Kerry are only beginning to address the underlying causes of the nation's painfully slow job growth: technological change and globalization. As these historic forces have accelerated, job losses in economic downturns are increasingly becoming permanent. In the face of hard times and fierce competition, companies that once called back workers when the economy improved are instead adopting new technologies that allow them to produce more goods and services with fewer employees. Often, too, they are shifting production to lower-cost nations.

That in turn has left a large pool of workers with skills that are unsuited for the industries that are adding jobs. While both Bush and Kerry have put forward worker-retraining proposals, these programs are too small to make much of a difference, economists say. Kerry, for instance, has proposed $22 billion in tax incentives for businesses to hire new workers. Mark Zandi, chief economist at Economy.com, a West Chester, Pa., forecasting firm, says that is not enough money to have a significant effect on the labor force.

Bleak Landscapes, Green Produce
By JENNIFER MEDINA

Usmanu Salisu surveyed the tabletop scene: potatoes, apples, watermelons and squash.

"This is good, real good, and it's all fresh," Mr. Salisu said, inspecting a ripe Cortland apple. "I don't see it this good at the supermarket."

That's just what Ena Nemley wants to hear.

Every week, Ms. Nemley rounds up green beans and collard greens from the community garden and gets melons and beets from upstate farms to sell at a farmers' market along East Tremont Avenue in the Bronx. And every week, dozens of customers line up at her three tables, grandly called La Familia Verde, to inspect fruit and vegetables and trade recipes and neighborhood gossip.

Just remember, your turn to get sorted will come around too.

---

Pentagon Sets Steps to Retake Iraq Rebel Sites
By ERIC SCHMITT and THOM SHANKER

WASHINGTON, Oct. 7 - Pentagon planners and military commanders have identified 20 to 30 towns and cities in Iraq that must be brought under control before nationwide elections can be held in January, and have devised detailed ways of deciding which ones should be early priorities, according to senior administration and military officials.

Recent military operations to quell the Iraqi insurgency in Tal Afar, Samarra and south of Baghdad are the first and most visible signs of the new, six-pronged strategy for Iraq, approved at the highest levels of the Bush administration, the officials said. While elements of the plan have been discussed in generalities recently, the officials described it in much more detail, calling it a comprehensive guideline to their actions in the next few months.

Novak is the only one who actually committed a crime, you know.

---

Reporter for Times Is Facing Jail Time
By ADAM LIPTAK

WASHINGTON, Oct. 7 - A federal judge held a reporter for The New York Times in contempt of court on Thursday for refusing to name her sources to prosecutors investigating the disclosure of the identity of a covert C.I.A. agent.

The reporter, Judith Miller, published no articles about the agent, Valerie Plame. Even so, the judge, Thomas F. Hogan, of United States District Court in Washington, ordered her jailed for as long as 18 months, noting that she had contemplated writing such an article and had conducted interviews for it.

Even though I feel the economic model we have is to simplistic to use as gospel, their dispassionate mathematical model allows but limited room for bullshit. Sure the national economy has as many non-linear inputs as the weather and we're just about as good at manipulating one as the other.

But just as you tend to regret ignoring the meteorologists when getting dressed to go out, you tend to regret ignoring the advice of economists.

Type one economists, anyway.

Economists Speak Out
October 06, 2004
Call it Economists Speak Out Day , if you will. Today, a total of 729 men and women with a lot of knowledge about fiscal matters blasted President Bush and his policies in two separate letters. The first, an open letter signed by 169 tenured professors of business and economics, decried how every major economic indicator has taken a nosedive since the Bush administration took the reins. The professors hammer home the point that the tax cuts did not work, and argue that the income inequality inherant in a free-market scheme has been taken to an extreme. SEE LETTER #1 The second letter, signed by 560 economists, including several former Nobel Laureates, calls for an increase in the minimum wage—which hasn't gone up in seven years. They propose a moderate increase to ease workers' hardships without incurring serious averse effects like increasing unemployment. SEE LETTER #2 (pdf)

Today was hot at The Niggerati Network and YOU almost missed it.

When I checked in this morning I found Al-Muhajabah had linked to two lectures on the historic relationship between Black folks in America and Islam. And this afternoon Professor Kim told of about a repository of information on Malcolm X:

The latest addition to the site is the recording of an April 23, 1961 debate between Malcolm X, writer James Baldwin, conservative black journalist George Schuyler and premier black religion scholar C. Eric Lincoln.

All I did was link to an article at The Black Commentator on how the follow-up to Brown v Board of Ed., as opposed to the decision itself, came up short.

They don't play chess at Time Magazine

When John Edwards on Tuesday turned to Vice President Cheney and said, "Mr. Vice President, you're still not being straight with the American people," the antiwar base of the Democratic Party thrilled at the spectacle of the administration "being held to account," as a DNC ad put it. And yet, for all Edwards' efforts to paint the invasion as a disastrous error that has created a burdensome mess for America, he couldn't really escape Vice President Cheney's jibe that the Kerry-Edwards recipe for fixing Iraq is essentially simply an echo of the administration's current efforts.

Let's say you're watching two chess games and in both cases White runs a Queen's Gambit by the book. Do you expect both games to turn out the same way? Even if Black is played by the same guy in both case?

S-Train is gone. That was his street from back in the day. Now he's signing Solo and changing his site's name to Solotude.

Senate Approves 9/11 Bill at Odds With House Version
By PHILIP SHENON

WASHINGTON, Oct. 6 - The Senate voted overwhelmingly on Wednesday to approve a sweeping bipartisan bill to reorganize the way the nation gathers and shares intelligence, enacting the major recommendations of the Sept. 11 commission, including the creation of the job of national intelligence director and the establishment of a national counterterrorism center.

The lopsided Senate vote, 96 to 2, is likely to increase pressure on House Republican leaders to adopt a similar measure, especially since the Senate bill had the support of all 51 Senate Republicans, as well as the endorsement of both the White House and the leaders of the Sept. 11 commission. The pair of votes against the bill were cast by Democrats.

U.S. Report Finds Iraqis Eliminated Illicit Arms in 90's
By DOUGLAS JEHL

WASHINGTON, Oct. 6 - Iraq had destroyed its illicit weapons stockpiles within months after the Persian Gulf war of 1991, and its ability to produce such weapons had significantly eroded by the time of the American invasion in 2003, the top American inspector for Iraq said in a report made public Wednesday.

The report by the inspector, Charles A. Duelfer, intended to offer a near-final judgment about Iraq and its weapons, said Iraq, while under pressure from the United Nations, had "essentially destroyed'' its illicit weapons ability by the end of 1991, with its last secret factory, a biological weapons plant, eliminated in 1996.

Cheney Says Report Finding No Illicit Arms in Iraq Justifies War
By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS

Published: October 7, 2004

Filed at 4:09 p.m. ET

MIAMI (AP) -- Vice President Dick Cheney asserted on Thursday that a finding by the chief U.S. weapons inspector in Iraq that Saddam Hussein's government produced no weapons of mass destruction after 1991 justifies rather than undermines President Bush's decision to go to war.

The report shows that ``delay, defer, wait wasn't an option,'' Cheney told a town hall-style meeting.

The gist of the article says the whole world is in revolt against Western dominance, by both the USofA and Europe, that Americans are literate enough to understand if you said Oops, we screwed up, and that Iraq will ultimately become three nations.

Check it out.

And understand why the Western powers would find this problematic. Iraq, in it's original nature, is three nations (not nation-states, don't get it twisted). It, like all the other nation-states that graduated from legal colonial status was partitioned in such a way as to create ethnic minorities and place them in positions of power. This is the root cause of all the strife in Africa, for instance. As a result these nation-states don't have the cultural and social unity needed to control their own destiny. And it was the ONLY way to weaken them this long; When the wave of independence crested there was no way to project the force necessary to control them over such great distances…our current war is a perfect demonstration of that fact for those unfamiliar with Sun Tzu's The Art of War.

This is stolen directly from The American Progress Action Fund's Progress Report.

---

White House 'All Wrong'

Saddam Hussein did not have weapons of mass destruction.
Iraq's illicit weapons stockpiles were destroyed more than a decade ago
and Saddam was not making any active effort and had no formal plans to
revive the program. The top American weapons inspector in Iraq, Charles
A. Duelfer, yesterday released a 1,000-page report that also found
Saddam's ability to produce weapons of mass destruction had "decayed"
significantly due to the U.N. weapons inspection regime. The report is
a devastating critique. Sen. John D. Rockefeller (D-WV) said, "The
administration would like the American public to believe that Saddam's
intention to build a weapons program, regardless of actual weapons or
the capability to produce weapons, justified invading Iraq....In fact,
we invaded a country, thousands of people have died, and Iraq never posed a grave or growing danger.'' Appearing before the Senate yesterday, Duelfer summed his findings: "we were almost all wrong" on Iraq.

The evidence that has surfaced means that in a fair trial Saddam Hussein would have a VERY strong chance of acquittal.

Quote of note:

The first line of the government's indictment now appears to have been copied without attribution from a scholarly article on Islamic fundamentalism. Government documents that cast doubt on a critical piece of evidence - what was described as a surveillance sketch of an American air base overseas - were not turned over to the defense.

…Mr. Convertino angered the Justice Department by testifying at a Congressional hearing held by a powerful Republican senator who is a vocal critic of the department. Mr. Convertino, who was ultimately removed from the prosecution, is now suing the department and is under investigation for his handling of this case and others.

After Convictions, the Undoing of a U.S. Terror Prosecution

Now we invaded Iraq because of his "defiance" and because he undermined the Iraq Food for Oil Program.

With the help of the entire world.

Including the Americans whose names the Administration redacted because of "privacy concerns."

I figure by the end of the month we'll have invaded Iraq because Saddam kept spitting on the sidewalk. His germs were biological weapons.

Quote of note:

Holten says the nation opposes Jews, minorities, homosexuals, federal and local law enforcement officials, drug dealers, the media and anyone against white supremacy.

Aryan leader charged with sending e-mail threats

RENO, Nevada (AP) -- The self-proclaimed leader of the Aryan Nation in Nevada was indicted Wednesday by a federal grand jury for allegedly sending threatening e-mails to newspapers in Reno and San Francisco.

Steven Holten, 40, once described by a police official as a "one-man Aryan Nation," faces arraignment Thursday on one count of transmitting a threat in interstate commerce. The charge carries up to five years in prison and a $250,000 fine.

People often go mad when their most deeply held beliefs turn out to be false. George Bush has feet of clay.

Actually, that might be bullshit; I have no intention of getting close enough to tell what his feet are made of.

Quote of note:

It's true, a man ran panting into the office, said Bush campaign field director Kim Ward.

"I think he thought we'd offer him sanctuary," added Elizabeth Yorio, another campaign worker.

"We didn't know who he was. He doesn't work here. We threw him out," Ward said. "We're on alert. Two Bush campaign offices like this were stormed this week in Florida. People were hurt. And our Seattle office was broken into."

Greensburg Kerry rally disrupted
Wednesday, October 06, 2004

And I said long before any of you ever saw this site

Untenable Positions To Take With Me:
"Well, everyone thought he had WMD. "
That's because everyone relies on U.S. intelligence.

"Why didn't he just let inspectors in?"
He did. He'd been complaining for years about the inspectors being a political tool because he'd already proven to them he had no forbidden weapons.

"Why are you on Saddam's side?"
I'm not. I'm just not on the side of liars either. For some reason people keep acting as though one side or the other must be right. Are you REALLY that stupid?

The Verdict Is In

I always find stuff certain folks would really rather not be exposed. Especially when the site isn't run by a US-based entity.

Harretz is a deep newspaper. They are going to publish the entire interview with Dov Weisglas that busted the fraud of the "Roadmap to Middle East Peace." Meanwhile, to feed certain tin-foil theories, I present this…

Odigo says workers were warned of attack

By Yuval Dror

Odigo, the instant messaging service, says that two of its workers received messages two hours before the Twin Towers attack on September 11 predicting the attack would happen, and the company has been cooperating with Israeli and American law enforcement, including the FBI, in trying to find the original sender of the message predicting the attack.

Transcript at the website of The Commission on Presidential Debates

MEMBER OF AUDIENCE: What would you make -- what would make you the best candidate in office during the Middle East crisis?

BUSH: I've been a leader. I've been a person who has to set a clear vision and convince people to follow. I've got a strategy for the Middle East.

I remembered Bush's claim to have a strategy for the Middle East immediately when I read this. And the New York Times was even better about it:

Bush's refusal to join the World Court takes new significance.

---

Israel Holding 25 U.N. Workers
Associated Press
Thursday, October 7, 2004; Page A29

UNITED NATIONS, Oct. 6 -- At least 25 Palestinian U.N. workers have been detained by Israel for as long as two years under charges Israel refuses to reveal, U.N. officials said Wednesday.

The statements coincided with the arrival of a U.N. team in Jerusalem to investigate Israeli charges that a Palestinian employee of the U.N. Relief and Works Agency loaded a Qassam rocket into a U.N. ambulance during fighting in the northern Gaza Strip.

Israel has backed away from its claim that footage from a drone plane showed an agency driver loading a rocket into the ambulance. But Israel will demand that the investigators determine whether the world body employs people who "aid and abet" Palestinian militant groups, an Israeli official said.

The quote of note comes from The Center on Budget and Priorities

Would the Administration Purposely Overestimate the 2004 Deficit?

For more than half a year, the Administration has stated that it has "a plan to cut the deficit in half in five years." Overstating the deficit for 2004 would raise the “target deficit” for 2009, since that target would be half of the overstated deficit number for 2004. This would make the target somewhat easier to reach. In this respect, overstating the 2004 deficit could be an exercise in setting the bar low.

In addition, overstating the 2004 deficit could allow the President to announce significant “progress” on the deficit in late October — shortly before Election Day — when the Treasury Department announces the final figures for fiscal year 2004. Overstating the 2004 deficit in February could be an attempt to get the bad news out of the way as early in the year as possible, while setting the stage for some October spinning of the “reduction” in the 2004 deficit (compared to the February projection) as good news that shows Administration policies are working.

• Iran is no threat to the USofA. If WE are having so much trouble projecting military force half way around the world, what chance (does)|(did) Ira[n|q]
• At this point the USofA would need to establish credibility, and that is beyond this administration's capability

U.S. Official: No Prospect of Bargain on Iran Nukes
Tue Oct 5, 2004 11:46 AM ET

BRUSSELS (Reuters) - The United States sees no reason to offer Iran incentives to ensure its nuclear program remains peaceful, a U.S. government official said on Tuesday.
European states want the United States to make such proposals to Tehran after the Nov. 2 U.S. presidential election to add weight to efforts by Britain, France and Germany to reach an accord with Iran and avoid a U.N. Security Council showdown.

Quote of note:

Gun rights advocates pledged to fight the proposal, saying it would be easy for gang members and criminals to find unmarked ammunition and create a costly state bureaucracy.

Not if the program went national…

---

This is a way to tie rights to responsibility.
Calif. Proposal Would Laser-Brand ID Number on Bullets
Wed Oct 6, 2004 08:43 PM ET

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - California's attorney general wants to crack down on gun violence by laser-branding all handgun bullets sold in the state with tiny identification numbers nearly invisible to the naked eye.
The controversial proposal could open the way for the next major debate over gun control in California, a state that already has some of the toughest such laws in the United States.

Switching Stories
By E. J. Dionne Jr.
Thursday, October 7, 2004; Page A39

When you spend so much time torturing the truth, it's hard to keep your story straight -- or even remember what you just said.

The most remarkable moment in Tuesday's debate between Vice President Cheney and Sen. John Edwards came when Cheney issued a blanket denial of the obvious.

Edwards, who proved both his value and his loyalty to Democratic nominee John Kerry, declared that "there is no connection between Saddam Hussein and the attacks of September 11th. Period. The 9/11 Commission has said that's true. Colin Powell has said it's true. But the vice president keeps suggesting that there is."

How the HELL can someone be found in violation of a "secret law?"

How can there even BE a "secret law?"

Quote of note:

In court documents, the U.S. government at first said it could not confirm whether there was a security directive requiring passengers to show ID. In an about-face, the government last month acknowledged that the order existed in a new court filing. As it turns out, the order was mentioned in an obscure maritime security rule published in May 2004.

If Gilmore succeeds in forcing the government to disclose what its secret law says, other attorneys worry it would set a dangerous precedent that could harm efforts to combat terrorism.

Anyway…

Secret Rule Requiring ID for Flights at Center of Court Battle

Conferees Agree on Corporate Tax Bill

By Jonathan Weisman
Washington Post Staff Writer
Thursday, October 7, 2004; Page A05

House and Senate negotiators agreed yesterday on an ambitious corporate tax bill that would shower billions of dollars in tax breaks on beneficiaries from old-line manufacturers to Alaskan whalers to gamblers from overseas -- and includes a controversial $10 billion buyout of the nation's tobacco farmers.

The bill could be taken up by the full House as soon as today and passage is expected. Opponents could filibuster in the Senate over the tobacco farmer buyout, but Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist (R-Tenn.) expressed confidence that the bill will be sent to the White House before Congress adjourns for the final weeks of the campaign.

This puts a whole new spin on Israeli tactics, not to mention George Bush's attempts to discredit and defenestrate the United Nations…which is as much in violation of Security Council resolutions as Saddam Hussein ever was.

---

Sharon Aide Says Goal of Gaza Plan Is to Halt Road Map
Key Adviser: Israel Got U.S. Blessing

By John Ward Anderson
Washington Post Foreign Service
Thursday, October 7, 2004; Page A14

JERUSALEM, Oct. 6 -- A senior aide to the Israeli prime minister, Ariel Sharon, said in an interview published Wednesday that Sharon's plan to withdraw troops and Jewish settlers from the Gaza Strip had "frozen" the Israeli-Palestinian peace process and guaranteed that Israel would never have to remove 80 percent of its settlers from the occupied West Bank, with the "blessing" of the U.S. government.

DeLay Draws Third Rebuke
Ethics Panel Cites Two Situations
By Charles Babington
Washington Post Staff Writer
Thursday, October 7, 2004; Page A01

The House ethics committee last night admonished Majority Leader Tom DeLay (R-Tex.) for asking federal aviation officials to track an airplane involved in a Texas political spat, and for conduct that suggested political donations might influence legislative action.

The two-pronged rebuke marked the second time in six days -- and the third time overall -- that the ethics panel has admonished the House's second-ranking Republican. The back-to-back chastisements are highly unusual for any lawmaker, let alone one who aspires to be speaker, and some watchdog groups called on him to resign his leadership post.

Quote of note:

Martin's move came after a day in which members of the Armed Services panel also criticized President Bush's nominee for Army secretary as lacking the background needed to oversee the Army as it engages in Iraq in the first sustained combat operations it has faced since the Vietnam War.

I suppose George Bush figure if ignorance is good enough for the American People it's good enough for his military commanders. That or he's tired of knowledgeable folks quitting and writing up detailed explanations of where George Bush screwed up.

Anyway…

Pacific Command Nominee Withdraws; Army Pick Questioned
By Thomas E. Ricks
Washington Post Staff Writer

Oh yes they did.

Administration officials spent yesterday trying to refocus the attention of reporters on the disclosures in the report that many U.S. allies, top foreign officials and major international figures secretly helped Hussein generate more than $11 billion in illegal income in violation of U.N. sanctions. The report contains a long list of foreign officials and companies involved in helping Iraq -- while the names of Americans were blacked out because of privacy considerations.

What fucking hypocrites!

Halliburton Iraq oil deal investigated

War's Rationales Are Undermined One More Time
[P6: Only among those who weren't REALLY paying attention]
Revelations May Hurt Bush's Image
[P6: There are some for whom that isn't even possible. Unfortunately for George Bush that set does NOT include the Middle Americans the Republicans have been lying to all along]
By Glenn Kessler
Washington Post Staff Writer
Thursday, October 7, 2004; Page A35

One by one, official reports by government investigators, statements by former administration officials and internal CIA analyses have combined to undermine many of the central rationales of the administration's case for war with Iraq -- and its handling of the post-invasion occupation.

Your host will be in Debate Preparation Mode for most of the day.

Basically, that means
1. Laying in a supply of junk food
2. Checking into C-SPAN. I have a particular memory from the debates in 2000 I need to verify
3. Finding out why my VCR don't R
4. Buying the latest issues of Thor, Lord of Asgard, Captain America and The Falcon and Majestic (This may be the most important measure)
5. Getting a little crunk after completing my daily duties

Wandering around looking to find out when the next upgrade to my development environment, Delphi 9, will be released. It's due soon, and they got bigger plans than I thought…most particularly, it will be a single development environment that supports Win32 development in Delphi and .NET development…in Pascal and C#. This is wonderful news to me because it means Delphi is not going away until Windows does…and they have plabs for Kylix, the Linux development environment, too. And—

This has nothing to do with why I started the post. I started it because I stumbled into a listing of Synchronet BBSes. Synchronet was never huge. But it still lives! The page lists 140 nodes and they're accessible by...Telnet! Old, text-based BBSes, I couldn't believe it.

via Waveflux, because to be honest I'm not hanging anywhere I could see something this dumb. Stupid is contagious under certain circumstances.

Moore, a Michigan native, is touring the country and imploring "slackers" who usually don't vote to head to the polls this year, saying they could make the difference in the presidential race. Moore has made stops at three Michigan universities as part of a 60-city pre-election tour.

During each program, habitual nonvoters are invited on stage to pledge to vote. First-time student voters are offered gag prizes such as clean underwear.

The GOP said Moore also offered students a clean dorm room, a year's supply of Tostitos and a package of Ramen noodles.

Hard Word at The Gadflyer.

You ready?

Until this scrolls off the front page I'm going to have to content myself with the RSS feed.

I was goingto look something up at www.whitehouse.gov and unconsciously typed www.whitehouse.org.

Man, you can't keep up with this stuff except by accident.

David's comment at In Search of Utopia

BTW-Hehe....

…about says it all about this communique intercepted from (okay, mismanaged by) the Republican A-Team:

BC'04 TALKING POINTS: Oops. Looks like an overeager Bush-Cheney campaign staffer sent the following out to the campaign's press list:

TO: BC'04 Surrogates
FROM: BC'04 Communication
RE: Talking Points

We will be sending more talking points later this evening, but the decisive line by Vice President Cheney during the debate was the following:

"So they, in effect, decided they would cast an anti-war vote, and they voted against the troops. Now, if they couldn't stand up to the pressures that Howard Dean represented, how can we expect them to standup to Al Qaeda?"

The Black Republicans Against Groupthink meme is suffering severe, serial disrespect…as the purveyors of the meme disrespect us thereby it's totally appropriate.

The HUD secretary said President Bush's campaign is trying to counter by focusing on younger black voters rather than those who grew up during the civil rights era of the 1960s. Those voters have especially "been conditioned that if you are Republican and white, you hate black people, and that's nonsense,'' he said in an interview with The Associated Press.

Quote of note:

The center found that 18 states had pre-Roe laws totally or partially banning abortion. In some cases those laws have been blocked by a court, but could easily be revived if Roe were overturned. Alabama is one state where the abortion ban was never enjoined by the courts, and could be immediately enforced. Other states such as Ohio do not have abortion bans, but both the legislature and the governor oppose abortion and without Roe there would probably be a rush to pass legislation banning abortion, the center said.

It concluded that 21 states are at high risk, and nine states at middle risk, of banning abortion within a year of Roe being overturned. More than 70 million women of childbearing age would be affected, the center said.

…The 21 states considered at high risk of banning abortion are Alabama, Arkansas, Colorado, Delaware, Kentucky, Louisiana, Michigan, Mississippi, Missouri, Nebraska, North Carolina, North Dakota, Ohio, Oklahoma, Rhode Island, South Carolina, South Dakota, Texas, Utah, Virginia, and Wisconsin.

I like that word "blackamoors," and used it in reference to Republicans below. Linked to the definition on Wikipedia. But I noticed there's an EBay link on the page:

And I was like, aw shit, what is EBay selling as blackamoors? I had my suspicions, and I was right. A while back EBay had scads of items for sale that you could find by searching for the word "nigger." Old characatures, lawn jockey kind of things. Seriously collecters items, seriously offensive to a lot of people that they'd be sold at all, much less tagged as niggers. So some folks went for the boycott move in an attempt to get the items removed.

Kerry reaching out to black leaders
By Mary Dalrymple, Associated Press Writer | October 6, 2004

PHILADELPHIA --Determined to avoid any erosion in support, Sen. John Kerry is reaching out to black voters, a core Democratic constituency, in the campaign's final month, meeting with black religious leaders and traveling with Jesse Jackson.

A strong voter turnout by African-Americans is crucial to the presidential nominee's goal of ousting President Bush on Nov. 2, particularly in battleground states. Kerry's recent contact have focused on Ohio and Pennsylvania, two states teetering in a virtual tie between the Democrat and the Republican incumbent.

Quote of note 1:

''We all thought that we would find stockpiles, and that was not the case," McClellan said. ''The fact that he had the intent and capability and that he was trying to undermine the sanctions that were in place is very disturbing.

Quote of note 2:

The officials said the 1,000-page report by Charles Duelfer, chief US weapons inspector in Iraq, concluded that Hussein had the desire but not the means to produce unconventional weapons

They think you're stupid. It's the only explanation.

Hussein was waning threat, report says
Iraq said to lack nuclear capability
By Mike Allen and Dana Priest, Washington Post | October 6, 2004

This is just stupid.

Queen Hillary and her Feminazis are so determined to take power and emasculate all Right Thinking Men With Guns And Beer, so scheming, so calculating…

She's going to take a discoverable bribe during a campaign she's running while the Republican Machine's defeat at her and her husband's hands is still raw and smarting?

They know she's not stupid enough to do something like that. So who do they think is stupid enough to believe it?

US is said to intensify probe of senator's fund-raising
FBI claims proof of improper acts
By Larry Margasak, Associated Press | October 6, 2004

Quote of note:

When respondents were asked what comes to mind when they hear the word Muslim, 32 percent responded with a negative image and 2 percent offered a positive image. The remaining 67 percent gave a neutral response, which CAIR officials called somewhat encouraging. "We take comfort in this finding," said Awad, adding that "the majority of Americans are open-minded and receptive" to learning more about Islam.

Other hopeful results from the poll, council officials said, were that 64 percent said terrorists are misusing the teachings of Islam; 63 percent agreed that Muslims have family-oriented values; and 47 percent said Muslims have contributed to civilization. And 47 percent of the poll's participants said American Muslims are cooperating in the war on terror, with 21 percent disagreeing with that statement and the other respondents having no opinion.

Quote of note:

Opponents said the legislation's certain death in the Senate was evidence that Republicans were more interested, in the words of Representative Howard L. Berman, Democrat of California, in providing "campaign-season cannon fodder" to their political base than passing a bill that would relieve overburdened federal courts.

House votes to break up Calif.-based US Court of Appeals
By Mark Sherman, Associated Press | October 6, 2004

WASHINGTON -- The Republican- led House voted yesterday to break up the US Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit, an action opponents said was motivated by conservatives' ire over the court's rulings.

I didn't even watch the damn thing.

---

Unleashed bitterness marks VP face-off
By Peter S. Canellos, Globe Staff

WASHINGTON -- By the time the final finger had been pointed, the final statistic disputed, and the final attack levied on a candidate's competence, truthfulness, or record of service, the 2004 presidential campaign had descended to a new level of acrimony with last night's vice presidential debate.

Vice President Dick Cheney forcefully questioned the Democratic ticket's fitness for office, declaring "There's no indication at all that John Kerry has the conviction to successfully carry through the war on terror."

America, Just Be Yourself
Standing for our principles is more important than being loved.

BY CLAUDIA ROSETT
Wednesday, October 6, 2004 12:01 a.m. EDT

"America addressed the earth: Do you love me as I love you?"

--W.H. Auden, "In Time of War"

Auden wrote those lines in 1938, on the eve of World War II, and in them he summed up one of the basic traits of the American character. More than most, we want to be liked. Maybe that's because we are naive, or absurdly romantic. More likely it's because we are a country of immigrants, a democracy in which mobility and markets reward richly those who find ways to get along. And just possibly it's because life in America, with all its human failings, is still good enough that we dwell less on hate than on friendlier sentiments.

Please find below the information on AGOA…from Africans,whose word you say you prefer,…that I promised I could provide. I really tried to not rub your nose in your rhetorical excess and inexperience, but since you insist, enjoy.

LATER: Just for convenience sake, I think I'll pin this sucker to the top of the page for the day. And I'll I'll link to a category that will return this and all the AGOA references all nicely lined up like ducks in a row. Since it takes you several days to write something up for me to dismember in 45 minutes, I thought I'd help speed up the process on your end.

The Year To Date export value figures tell an interesting story.

Thirty-seven nations are AGOA qualified. Of them, The Trade Law Center for Southern Africa says at their AGOA.info site:

While most AGOA-eligible SSA countries recorded exports to the US, the bulk (by value) is concentrated among a relatively small number. Overall exports to the US by Nigeria, Angola, Gabon and South Africa far exceed those of the other countries, while only approximately 10 of the AGOA-eligible SSA countries have recorded any significant exports to the U.S.

By how much does Nigeria, Angola, Gabon and South Africa's exports exceed everyone else's? Unfortunately they don't break out the AGOA and GSP figures, but here you go:

South Africa´s automotive sector exports to the US down

South Africa´s automotive sector exports to the United States are lower this year than over the corresponding period last year. This is according to the latest available trade data from the US International Trade Commission. The trade data to July 2004 shows that in a number of categories, South Africa has been unable to match last year´s exports of automotives and components to the US. And since the data is denominated in US$, the impact in local Rand has been even greater as a result of a strengthening local currency.

Key to South Africa´s US-bound auto exports has been the trade in "spark-ignition internal combustion engines" with an engine size of between 1500cc and 3000cc. In other words, normal passenger vehicles classified within 87.0323 in the widely used Harmonised System nomenclature. 2003 exports were valued at US$ 319mn, with exports in the January to July time-frame of that year amounting to US$ 315mn. Since then, however, exports have taken a major step back. In the corresponding January to July 2004 period, exports in this categoy [sic] have fallen a staggering 87% year-on-year. Since this categoy [sic] qualifies for the important duty-free concessions offered under AGOA, virtually all of SA´s exports have entered the US under this program. The tariff preference that AGOA offers here is 2,5%, and it appears insufficient to provide a real competitive edge to South African producers.

A real economist too, not a Type Two economist.

---

An African Response to AGOA
By: Mushita, T.A.
In: Southern African Economist
Vol. 14, N° 6
pp. : 17-19

One of the objectives of the US Africa Growth and Opportunity Act (AGOA), signed last year by former president Bill Clinton is to balance out with the Cotonou agreement
between the European Union (EU), African, Carribean, and Pacific countries. However, while the Cotonou agreement is based on preferential trade, AGOA is designed
to determine trade and development modalities, priorities and opportunities, without offering any macro-economic benefits to sub-Saharan Africa.

From the Trade Law Centre for Southern Africa's AGOA.info site:

AGOA covers over 6000 product items, after the extension of GSP preferences to a further 1,800 product lines (including numerous food products, handbags, gloves, footwear, iron and steel items, automotive components and vehicles). Countries meeting the 'Apparel Provisions' further qualify for duty-free access for apparel.

AGOA gave trade preferences for 1800 additional items to sub-Saharan African nation-states. Sound significant?

Somehow it always turns out that way.

Quote of note:

"Africa could improve its trade performance if donor policies such as the 2000 African Growth and Opportunity Act (AGOA) are strengthened," the report stated and reiterated that most of the benefits of aid are lost through debt servicing.

UN Urges Industrial Nations to Adopt Fair Trade Policies
Concord Times (Freetown)
October 1, 2004
Posted to the web October 1, 2004

Freetown

An economic report on Africa issued by the United Nations Economic Commission for Africa (ECA) has called on industrial nations to play fair in international trade in order to allow African countries benefit from the opportunities of the global marketplace.

This year's report examines economic constraints facing Africa in its struggle to attain a position in the world economy.

La. Judge Throws Out Gay Marriage Ban
Constitutional Amendment Was Approved by Voters Sept. 18
By Adam Nossiter
The Associated Press
Tuesday, October 5, 2004; 3:55 PM

BATON ROUGE, La. -- A state judge Tuesday threw out a Louisiana constitutional amendment banning gay marriage, less than three weeks after it was overwhelmingly approved by the voters.

District Judge William Morvant said the amendment was flawed as drawn up by the Legislature because it had more than one purpose: banning not only gay marriage but also civil unions.

Michael Johnson, an attorney for supporters of the amendment, said he will appeal the ruling.

A gay rights group challenged the amendment on several grounds, arguing among other things that combining the question of gay marriage and the issue of civil unions in one ballot question violated state law.

U.S. Job Cuts at 8-Month High in Sept.
Tuesday, October 5, 2004; 10:06 AM

NEW YORK -- U.S. planned job cuts soared to an eight-month high in September while new hiring rose only slightly, a report said on Tuesday.

Employment consulting firm Challenger, Gray & Christmas Inc. said employers announced 107,863 layoffs in September, 41 percent more than in September 2003 and 45 percent more than in August of this year, when 74,150 were laid off.

The September figure was the largest since January 2004, when employers laid off 117,556 workers.

The September figure brings third-quarter job cuts to 251,585, 19.9 percent more than the 209,895 registered in the previous quarter and 4 percent more than the 241,548 for the third quarter of 2003.

Partly because I hit a pause in my server side stuff, partly because I miss working in Pascal and partly because I need a tool to work with whatever CMS, it's time to start work on the next version of MTClient.

I've learned a lot rooting around in the plumbing of the various CMSes I've examined. And I've decided this version will have WYSIWYG editing and I'll be paying special attention to internationalization. I swear, it's gonna be off the hook. I'm shooting for the best client out there with really useful extensions…none of which will be named right now but all of which you will be loved by your non-techie-type bloggers.

Greenspan Calls U.S. Banking System 'Vibrant'
By Jeannine Aversa
Associated Press Writer
Tuesday, October 5, 2004; 10:32 AM

The U.S. banking system, having weathered a recession and the bankruptcies of several big corporations, is in very good shape, Federal Reserve Chairman Alan Greenspan said Tuesday.

Technology and the use of sophisticated financial instruments to hedge risks have helped banks navigate through sometimes difficult economic and financial waters, the Fed chief said in remarks to the American Bankers Association's annual convention in New York. A copy of his remarks was distributed in Washington.

"By any measure, banking in the United States is strong, vibrant and profitable," Greenspan said. "Under the circumstances, the present health of banking is a dramatic testament to both the management skills of bankers and the ability of regulators and legislators to adopt, albeit slowly, to change," he said.

Sorry.

Lead Levels in Water Misrepresented Across U.S.
Utilities Manipulate or Withhold Test Results to Ward Off Regulators

By Carol D. Leonnig, Jo Becker and David Nakamura
Washington Post Staff Writers
Tuesday, October 5, 2004; Page A01

Cities across the country are manipulating the results of tests used to detect lead in water, violating federal law and putting millions of Americans at risk of drinking more of the contaminant than their suppliers are reporting.

Some cities, including Philadelphia and Boston, have thrown out tests that show high readings or have avoided testing homes most likely to have lead, records show. In New York City, the nation's largest water provider has for the past three years assured its 9.3 million customers that its water was safe because the lead content fell below federal limits. But the city has withheld from regulators hundreds of test results that would have raised lead levels above the safety standard in two of those years, according to records.

Armstrong Williams makes me wonder what the fuck he means by "black leader" at The Niggerati Network.

I almost titled this, "Buckdancing Negroes and Conservative Groupthink About Black Folks."

I almost titled this, "You're obviously not trying to convince Black folks talking like that." I decided the original title was more to the point.

---

Pseudo leadership and black groupthink
Armstrong Williams
October 5, 2004

Black groupthink and the pseudo leaders that tout it are destroying the black community.

The black pseudo leader is the community activist who is dedicated solely to getting us to pay attention. Nattily dressed in a Brooks Brothers suit, he stands tall at phony press conferences, studding his speech with racially charged words that solicit knee-jerk reactions from the crowd.

Quote of note:

But when asked about counties that were interpreting the law differently, Hood replied: "We can't do anything except say what the law is.''

Botched forms exclude many voters
BY ERIKA BOLSTAD AND GARY FINEOUT

Broward County residents who skipped over a box on their voter registration form will be barred from voting in the presidential election, while Miami-Dade residents who made the same omission will be allowed to cast ballots.

Secretary of State Glenda Hood, who oversees elections statewide, said Monday that Broward was following her instructions in disqualifying those who failed to complete the form.

But she indicated that there was no way to force Dade to follow the same procedure. And Dade said it was sticking to its plan of not disqualifying voters for skipping the citizenship box if they affirmed elsewhere with their signatures that they are U.S. citizens.

Top Court Opens Term, Hears Sentencing Cases
Mon Oct 4, 2004 04:46 PM ET

By James Vicini

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The U.S. Supreme Court opened its new term on Monday, with the government's top courtroom lawyer trying to save the long-standing federal rules used to sentence about 1,200 criminals each week.

In two cases with significant impact for the federal sentencing system, Acting Solicitor General Paul Clement warned of the "carnage and wreckage" that would result from the high court declaring the rules unconstitutional.

The justices by their questions appeared resigned to striking down the federal rules, just as they did in June for a similar state system. But they struggled on how broad the ruling might be and what would replace the guidelines.

It's a chicken coop.

One of the childhood heroes.

---

Mercury Astronaut Gordon Cooper Dies at 77

Tue Oct 5, 2004 03:37 AM ET

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - Gordon Cooper, one of the Mercury Seven astronauts who helped pioneer human space exploration, piloting the last of the Mercury missions and the troubled Gemini 5 flight, died on Monday. He was 77.
Cooper, who along with his six fellow Mercury astronauts became an American hero in the space race against the Soviet Union the 1950s and 60s, died at his home in Ventura, California, NASA said.

"As one of the original seven Mercury astronauts, Gordon Cooper was one of the faces of America's fledgling space program," NASA Administrator Sean O'Keefe said in a statement.

Maybe this explains George Bush's flip-flop on global warming.

---

Denmark to Claim North Pole, Hopes to Strike Oil
Mon Oct 4, 2004 01:13 PM ET

COPENHAGEN (Reuters) - Denmark aims to claim the North Pole and hunt for oil in high Arctic regions that may become more accessible because of global warming, the Science Ministry said Monday.
It said Denmark would send an expedition to try to prove the seabed beneath the Pole was a natural continuation of Greenland, the world's biggest island and a Danish territory whose northern tip is just 450 miles from the Pole.

Science Minister Helge Sander said last week success would give Denmark access to "new resources such as oil and natural gas."

But…

Rumsfeld, during a question-and-answer session before the Council on Foreign Relations, had been asked to explain the connection between Saddam and Osama bin Laden's al Qaeda network -- one of the U.S. arguments for launching a war on Iraq.

He replied: "To my knowledge, I have not seen any strong, hard evidence that links the two."

…it's hard to claim a statement that direct was misunderstood. Misspoken? Yeah.

Rumsfeld Says He Was Misunderstood on Iraq-Al Qaeda
Tue Oct 5, 2004 05:54 AM ET

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld said Tuesday he was misunderstood when he stated hours earlier that he knew of no "strong, hard evidence" linking Saddam Hussein's Iraq and al Qaeda.

Poll Finds Kerry Assured Voters in Initial Debate
By RICHARD W. STEVENSON
and JANET ELDER

Published: October 5, 2004

Senator John Kerry came out of the first presidential debate having reassured many Americans of his ability to handle an international crisis or a terrorist attack and with a generally more favorable image, but he failed to shake the perception that he panders to voters in search of support, according to the latest New York Times/CBS News poll.

City Challenged on Fingerprinting Protesters
By DIANE CARDWELL

Since coming under fire for their handling of protesters arrested during the Republican convention, Bloomberg administration officials have said that sluggish fingerprint processing in Albany was a major cause of the long delays in releasing detainees, although state officials have denied any tardiness.

Now it looks as if much of the fingerprinting may not have been legal in the first place. According to lawyers at the New York Civil Liberties Union, the city may have violated state law by routinely fingerprinting arrested protesters.

In a letter sent yesterday to Police Commissioner Raymond W. Kelly, officials of the organization wrote that although the law allowed the police to fingerprint people charged with minor offenses in certain circumstances, "this could not justify the routine fingerprinting of the nearly 1,500 people reportedly arrested during the convention for minor offenses."

They go into great detail about what Saddam would have done if he could. But the fact is, he couldn't.

It's like they want to arrest a guy for murdering a guy that's still alive.

---

Inspector's Report to Detail Iraqi Plans to Undermine Sanctions and Produce Illicit Arms
By DOUGLAS JEHL

WASHINGTON, Oct. 4 - A report to be made public on Wednesday by the top American weapons inspector in Iraq will outline new details of attempts by Saddam Hussein's government to undermine United Nations sanctions as part of a plan to produce illicit weapons if those sanctions were lifted, Bush administration officials said Monday.

The report by the arms inspector, Charles A. Duelfer, will make clear that Iraq did not possess stockpiles of illicit weapons at the time of the American invasion in 2003, and that it had not begun any large-scale program for weapons production by the time of the invasion, the officials said. Those findings had previously been reported, based on an early draft of the document.

Leader of Haitian Senate arrested
Standoff ends; riots continue grip on city
By Stevenson Jacobs, Associated Press | October 4, 2004

PORT-AU-PRINCE, Haiti -- Gunfire erupted in a slum teeming with loyalists of ousted President Jean-Bertrand Aristide yesterday, sending people scattering through the trash-strewn streets following days of political clashes that have left at least 14 dead.

Residents said men fired guns into the air, stole food from market vendors, and burned tires in the streets in the slum, La Saline.

A day earlier, police arrested Haiti's Senate president and two other pro-Aristide politicians following a six-hour standoff at a radio station. Justice Minister Bernard Gousse said the three were suspected of being ''intellectual authors" of the violence that erupted Thursday during demonstrations demanding Aristide's return.

Quote of note:

A Bremer aide told the newspaper that those comments, as well as similar remarks last month at DePauw University, were for private audiences and were supposed to have been off the record.

Ex-U.S. Governor of Iraq Criticizes Troop Levels
October 5, 2004

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The U.S. intervention in Iraq was hampered early on by a lack of adequate forces and efforts to contain looting after the ouster of Saddam Hussein, according to the former U.S. administrator in Iraq.

"We paid a big price for not stopping it because it established an atmosphere of lawlessness," Paul Bremer said in a speech reported by The Washington Post on Tuesday. "We never had enough troops on the ground."

Deaths in Darfur could reach 300,000, US official says
By Jonathan Fowler, Associated Press | October 5, 2004

GENEVA--The death toll in Sudan's conflict-ravaged Darfur region could rise sixfold by the end of the year--hitting 300,000--because of worsening food shortages among refugees, a senior US aid official said yesterday.

The conflict already has killed at least 50,000 people and displaced 1.4 million villagers from their homes. More than 200,000 have crossed to neighboring Chad, where tensions have risen because of scarce resources for refugees, who are in temporary camps.

''The crisis in Darfur has not yet peaked," said William J. Garvelink, deputy assistant administrator of the US Agency for International Development. ''We have not yet seen the worst."

Just 3 of 18 candidates for president attend debate
Karzai is front-runner in first Afghan election
By John Daniszewski, Los Angeles Times | October 5, 2004

KABUL, Afghanistan -- It was not exactly riveting: three candidates and the representatives of 12 others sat at a horseshoe-shaped table yesterday droning out near-identical speeches outlining plans to fight corruption, exploit the nation's untapped copper and gold resources, and improve pay for civil servants.

At Afghanistan's first and only presidential debate, front-runner and interim President Hamid Karzai did not even attend. His chief rival, Education Minister Younis Qanooni, opted to campaign elsewhere -- while working behind the scenes to get the other candidates to unite behind him before Saturday's vote.

COPS Program May Soon End
Watching Justice
October 4, 2004

The Justice Department's Community Oriented Policing Services program – or "COPS" – appears to be ending. The Clinton Administration initiative has issued more than $9 million in grants to police departments nationwide, allowing them to hire 118,000 police officers since its inception in 1995.

The program handed out its last scheduled round of grants in September, and the Administration's 2005 budget contains no money for the initiative. The program had already been subject to sharp cutbacks under President Bush.

Administration officials say the grants – called the Universal Hiring Program – have met their original goal of putting 100,000 new police officers on the streets. They also say the COPS program will continue offering grants for technology, school resource officers and law enforcement training, and note that $97 million has been allocated for those programs in the fiscal year beginning October 1.

Where have I been and why haven't I been checking out Heather Headley?

Let me explain. I have a thing for those sister-in-the-choir voices. Seriously.

How bad? There was a bar on Chelsea that had locals performing live jazz Friday nights…it was really popular with transit workers, I noticed. Me and the one I was stuck on at the time (really stuck), we were at this bar and a jazz band was seriously kicking ass. And two girls, vocal students and friend of the band, came in and were talked into singing a set each. One was this little tiny sister who held the mike about diaphragm-height, away from her body.

The child shattered my composure. Talk about power. End of the set I walked up and kissed her hand.

You will not beLIEVE how much trouble I was in. Plus my girl kept talking about Denzel for the rest of the night.

How bad? The first time I saw Jennifer Holiday sing You're Gonna Love Me in Dream Girls, when she finished I said, "Okay."

How bad? If Bobby Brown had been anywhere near me when he proposed to Whitney, he'd have been a dead mother fucker.

Okay. On the whole I listen to jazz. And while I'm at the keyboard I tend to listen to swissgroove.ch. Bangin' play list they got. And on the play list is He Is, by Heather Headley. I enjoyed it, sister got that voice. It just ain't what I generally listen for on that station so it got discounted a bit.

I don't even remember anymore what made me Google the child. The banner graphic with her no-doubt-retouched headshot got my attention.

I never saw The Lion King on Broadway, and I'd have had no idea what she looked like under all that Nala makeup anyway.

The site is on hiatus like a blog would be: just sitting there unchanged. But she got audio and video clips up until they finish a redesign.

low | med high

low | med high

I defy any Black man to watch that video and not fall in lust. DAAAAAAaaaayum!

Getting people to do some out-there stuff that has the potential to transform EVERYthing.

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SpaceShipOne Wins Ten-Million-Dollar X Prize

Brian Handwerk
for National Geographic News
October 4, 2004

SpaceShipOne scored a ten-million-dollar (U.S.) hat trick this morning. The world's first privately built manned spacecraft completed its third round-trip journey to space. In the process, it laid claim to ten million dollars (U.S.) in prize money and further bolstered dreams of private space exploration.

The craft, tucked under the belly of the carrier airplane White Knight, lifted off from California's Mojave Airport, now technically a spaceport, around 6:45 Pacific time. Ninety minutes and a 62-mile-high (100-kilometer-high) space shot later, the vehicle was safely back on the ground.

via Elle at Elle's Garden I see a new pop culture ezine named The Flow. Visually interesting despite the fact that it uses the dread <iframe> tag. And I haven't gotten through all of it but it's interesting enough already that I figure it will appeal to some of the audience here.

They're really doing the magazine thing with a monthly publication schedule and the whole nine yards.Might consider breaking that up because folks want NEW stuff on the web. Wait a month and they may not remember to come back, which in this case would be quite a shame.

Exclusive: Saddam Possessed WMD, Had Extensive Terror Ties
By Scott Wheeler
CNSNews.com Staff Writer
October 04, 2004

(CNSNews.com) - Iraqi intelligence documents, confiscated by U.S. forces and obtained by CNSNews.com, show numerous efforts by Saddam Hussein's regime to work with some of the world's most notorious terror organizations, including al Qaeda, to target Americans. They demonstrate that Saddam's government possessed mustard gas and anthrax, both considered weapons of mass destruction, in the summer of 2000, during the period in which United Nations weapons inspectors were not present in Iraq. And the papers show that Iraq trained dozens of terrorists inside its borders…

Because Digby said everything I ever thought about George Bush in one long-ass essay.

Of course, having nothing to say never stopped me before. I don't know why I even mentioned it.

The Institute for Research in African-American Studies continues its rich tradition of hosting a series of "CONVERSATIONS". Initiated in 1993, The Institute sponsors these conversations with the goal of bringing together members of the Harlem & New York community and the Columbia University community for critical exchange with leading scholars who explore a wide range of issues that have shaped and continue to define the black experience.

Through this lecture series we will address the historical and contemporary social, political and economic conditions and experiences of blacks in the U.S. as well as the larger African Diaspora. We invite you to join us as we help shape the future direction of Black Studies.

Upcoming "Conversations" Lectures
Friday, 10/15/04	Jonathan Kahn, Columbia University - "W.E.B. DuBois & the Discourse of Sacrifice"
Friday, 10/29/04	Mia Bay, Rutgers University - "The Ambidexter Philosopher:' Thomas Jefferson in Free Black Thought"
Friday, 11/05/04	Salim Washington, Columbia University - "Beautiful Nightmare: Coltrane, Jazz & American Culture"