Prometheus 6

Reason has an article titled No Way Out, subtitled The No Child Left Behind Act provides only the illusion of school choice. You school choice advocates should read it. It starts out listing a bunch of horror stories about what kids in the most troubled schools face. Follows with some stories about school districts not trying all that hard to tell folks they can transfer out (though that's a specific spin) And bad parenting…a lot of y'all like those, you'll find them fun to read. But you better stop there.

In the end, though, the problem is not the parents but the law itself. Under NCLB, Title I federal funding -- money used to provide extra educational services to disadvantaged students in high-poverty schools -- does not follow children to better-performing, non-Title I schools. The result is that better-performing schools have no financial incentive to admit low-performing children. In practice, children are offered transfers only to other Title I schools. Since most Title I schools are mediocre performers at best, parents have a choice of schools that are only marginally better. Furthermore, the school districts decide which schools parents will be allowed to "choose"; often they offer only one or two alternatives. Many parents are offered "choice" schools that are just as low-performing as the failing school they are trying to break away from. In the words of school choice advocate Angel Cordero of the New Jersey-based Education Excellence for Everyone, "Camden children are transferred from one bad school to another bad school." In Chicago students in only 50 of the 179 federally identified failing elementary schools would be allowed to move into higher-performing schools. Parents could choose from a list of 90 schools and could not pick a school more than three miles away from home. In 70 of the 90 schools open to transfers, most pupils failed state tests last year.

Pentagon, analysts hit anti-U.S. bias at Red Cross By Rowan Scarborough THE WASHINGTON TIMES [P6: of course…] The International Committee of the Red Cross is breaking with tradition by publicly criticizing the United States for the way it handles terror suspects, say Pentagon officials and outside experts. On at least two occasions in recent months, the ICRC overtly criticized the Bush administration for detaining suspected Taliban and al Qaeda fighters without giving them access to judicial proceedings. The administration has deemed them "enemy combatants" and not members of a formal military organization that would give them the rights of prisoners of war.

Quote of note:

"Hamas has announced that it accepts a Palestinian independent state within the 1967 borders with a long-term truce," Sheik Hassan Yousef, the top Hamas leader in the West Bank, told The Associated Press, referring to lands Israel captured in the 1967 Mideast war. Yousef said the Hamas position was new and called it a "stage." In the past, Hamas has said it would accept a state in the 1967 borders as a first step to taking over Israel. Yousef did not spell out the conditions for the renewable cease-fire nor did he say how long it would last. "For us a truce means that two warring parties live side by side in peace and security for a certain period and this period is eligible for renewal," Yousef said. "That means Hamas accepts that the other party will live in security and peace."

Hamas May Accept Statehood in West Bank Hamas Official Says Group Will Accept Palestinian State in West Bank and Gaza and Long-Term Truce The Associated Press Dec. 3, 2004 - In an apparent change in long-standing policy, a top Hamas leader said Friday the militant group would accept the establishment of a Palestinian state in the West Bank and Gaza Strip as well as a long-term truce with Israel. Hamas' statement came as Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak described Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon as the Palestinians' best chance for peace. Mubarak's comments could mean warming relations between Israel and an important Mideast peace mediator at a crucial time. It was a marked departure from past comments from Mubarak and other Egyptian officials blaming Sharon for the escalation of violence in the territories. "I think if they (Palestinians) can't achieve progress in the time of the current (Israeli) prime minister, it will be very difficult to make any progress in peace," Mubarak told reporters. Hamas has long sought to destroy Israel and replace it with an Islamic Palestinian state, rejecting peace accords and carrying out suicide bombings and other attacks that have killed hundreds of people and badly damaged peace efforts.

Blog ethics movement afoot A movement is under way to introduce ethical guidelines to blogging. Gawker Media publisher Nick Denton says it's time "someone stands up, calls people out, and keeps the blogosphere honest" and suggests his rival blog publisher Jason Calacanis and Jeff Jarvis lead the effort. Calacanis followed up by registering BlogEthics.org and asking Denton to join in.

I guess the word "blogger" officially refers only to what I've been calling editorial bloggers, though there's an argument to be made that tech bloggers are still bloggers. You know, considering that blogs are just personal web sites from my perspective I felt there was hubris in the suggestion, much less the registration of the domain name. But then…and mind you, I'm considering this as I write… Something I figured out a while back: your world consists solely of what you choose to look at. These guys look at commerce and they're trying to create a situation that gets them paid in full. To them, a blog is a set of techniques. To your average blogger, blog is a verb. So I ask myself, if I saw blogs as a set of techniques and wanted to get big-time commercial using those tools, what would have to say to the world? Given the particular press blogs as a concept gets I'd probably have to convince folks blogs are seen as a reliable source of information. So far we get classed as a source of data at best and a conduit of propaganda at worst (though that last may well appeal to advertisers). We Who Blog, of course, already consider ourselves sources of reliable information. We make a judgment on every post, every rant, every link posted on our sites. Obviously this performance wasn't meant for us.

Not that I'm complaining. I haven't been writing like I want someone's approval anyway. And last year I got nominated twice. But this year…the year Little Green Footballs won the Washington Post best group blog award…I'm having a hard time wanting that kind of approval. And Norbizness is a sick (happy furry) puppy but he's right too. I mean, who can compete with Michelle Maglalang?

Cobb

You see, the lesson I learned in interdependency was that, anybody who doesn't mind to see you fail is, by definition, your enemy. I didn't understand that - I thought that people had to dislike you and consciously plot against you. But in fact, all people have to do is know you, and ignore or discount those who actually do plot against you. These are those who won't let you know that the truck is about to hit you. They want to see a crash, and it doesn't matter to them that it's you. It doesn't matter how many episodes of Seinfeld you have discussed over lunch at the food court, they are your enemy nonetheless.

In the course of trying to shape the world such that all loose change rolls downhill into their pockets, Senate Republicans are considering trying to eliminate the filibuster. The Weekly Standard has an article just chock-a-block full of false memory syndrome:

Republicans say judicial gridlock was a big loser for Democratic Senate candidates this year. They point especially to the unseating of outgoing minority leader Tom Daschle. "Tom Daschle's defeat was very instructive," says Texas Republican John Cornyn. "Until then, the Democrats had calculated that all of this was beneath the radar of most of the electorate, and that there wasn't any penalty to be paid. . . . But I think that one of the reasons Daschle was defeated was because of obstructing the president's judicial nominees." Cornyn believes this may chasten Daschle's colleagues.

…but the unknowledgeable will believe it, and sadly that includes many Senators. The idea that rejecting ten of 213 candidates is obstructionist is bizarre. But that doesn't much matter, I guess. As the Weekly Standard says, this is about judicial philosophy. Republicans are, again, sending messages instead of getting the job done. But, of course, they see their job as converting the nation to single party rule. And since we KNOW the ends justifies the means to this crew even if the end objectively sucks, get ready for more political foulness.

But what of its legality? If Republicans merely tinker with Senate precedent, they're on sturdy ground. If GOP senators look to formally amend Senate rules by majority vote, they may be okay, too--at least according to a wide swath of constitutional experts. Indeed, myriad scholars argue Senate Rule XXII, which requires a two-thirds supermajority for cloture on rules changes, is unconstitutional. They cite a timeworn Anglo-American tenet that prevents legislators from binding their successors. This principle stretches from William Blackstone through James Madison. "One legislature doesn't have the authority to tie the hands of another legislature," says Duke law professor Erwin Chemerinsky, a prominent liberal. Rule XXII thus entails "impermissible entrenchment." Michael Rappaport, a conservative law professor at the University of San Diego, agrees. "A majority of the Senate, constitutionally, has to have the right to change that filibuster rule," he says. The murky bit is just when or how often a majority can exercise that right. As presidents of the Senate, Rappaport notes, Richard Nixon, Hubert Humphrey, and Nelson Rockefeller all held that a majority could amend Senate rules at the outset of a new session. Those aren't "clear precedents," he acknowledges, since Humphrey's ruling was overturned. "But it's by no means a new view, or an unprecedented view."

Quote of note:

The capital made available under the act has helped to rebuild entire communities - in rural Maine as well as in the South Bronx. At the same time, banks have learned that lending, investing and providing basic services in low-income communities can be good business. A 2002 Harvard University study found that the law significantly changed the way banks do business in and relate to the communities they serve. As a result, the report stated, "The lower-income mortgage market has become demonstrably mainstream and more competitive over the last decade." The Federal Reserve Board, too, has deemed this lending to be safe and profitable. Low-income families can be part of the mainstream economy only if they can buy homes, start businesses and live in stable, vibrant communities. If the United States is to compete globally, we need everyone to contribute. In these uncertain economic times, keeping the Community Reinvestment Act strong is in the interest of all Americans.

Don't Let Banks Turn Their Backs on the Poor By ROBERT E. RUBIN and MICHAEL RUBINGER FOR more than 25 years, a little known federal law has helped low-income communities get the bank loans and services they need to rebuild their neighborhoods. But that law, the Community Reinvestment Act, is being threatened by proposals from two federal bank regulators. Congress passed the Community Reinvestment Act in 1977 as a response to the practice of redlining - the refusal by banks to extend loans or banking services in poor, and predominantly minority, urban areas. Today, the law is equally important to distressed rural communities. In low-income areas throughout the United States, this law - which encourages banks to serve low-income communities in their markets - has increased homeownership and small-business growth, enabling the revitalization of entire communities. Under the act, regulators consider reinvestment performance when a bank seeks permission to expand or merge. Since its inception, the law has prompted banks to channel more than $1 trillion into reinvestment projects - without requiring a single dollar of Congressional spending. Now, the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation, one of four agencies responsible for enforcing the act, is proposing to relax enforcement of the law at almost 1,000 banks. The Federal Office of Thrift Supervision, another overseer of the law, has already finalized a similar proposal for savings and loans institutions. These new rules may be the first step in an effort - long pursued by some in Congress - to dismantle the act, piece by piece. Under the law now, banks with assets of more than $250 million undergo full periodic reviews of their lending, services and investments in low-income communities. At smaller banks, examiners limit their review to lending practices only. The F.D.I.C. proposal would raise the asset level for this limited scrutiny to $1 billion, making many fewer banks fully accountable. The F.D.I.C. claims that the new rule is aimed at reducing the regulatory burden on banks. The Federal Reserve Board and the Comptroller of the Currency, the law's other two enforcers, have not proposed new rules. But there is a real question as to whether changing the rule would result in any meaningful savings for banks. And communities will suffer if enforcement is curtailed, because the act has been working. A Treasury report presented in 2000 to the Congress concludes that mortgage lending to low- and moderate-income borrowers and areas rose substantially in the 1990's. The capital made available under the act has helped to rebuild entire communities - in rural Maine as well as in the South Bronx. At the same time, banks have learned that lending, investing and providing basic services in low-income communities can be good business. A 2002 Harvard University study found that the law significantly changed the way banks do business in and relate to the communities they serve. As a result, the report stated, "The lower-income mortgage market has become demonstrably mainstream and more competitive over the last decade." The Federal Reserve Board, too, has deemed this lending to be safe and profitable. Low-income families can be part of the mainstream economy only if they can buy homes, start businesses and live in stable, vibrant communities. If the United States is to compete globally, we need everyone to contribute. In these uncertain economic times, keeping the Community Reinvestment Act strong is in the interest of all Americans.

Quote of note:

The situation was this: After the Persian Gulf war, the Security Council had imposed sanctions on Iraq until it could verify that Saddam Hussein had disposed of all his weapons of mass destruction. He refused to cooperate, so sanctions remained, impoverishing and starving ordinary Iraqis, but not the Baathist elite.

Um…no. Saddam disarmed years ago, remember? And he said so years ago. Complained that he'd shown everyone everything and they were just using the sanctions as a political club. Anyway… America's Man at the United Nations By WILLIAM SHAWCROSS London THE growing demands that Kofi Annan resign as secretary general of the United Nations are preposterous. For him to do so would be extremely damaging not only to his organization but also to the United States. I say this as someone who strongly supported the American-led effort to overthrow Saddam Hussein; as someone who, despite the heartbreaking mistakes, still supports the coalition's attempt to build a decent society in Iraq. I also think that the United Nations has repeatedly failed the Iraqi people. But I know that Kofi Annan feels the same way. Years ago, when I was writing a book about the United Nations, he told me that in 1992, he had warned the newly elected secretary general, Boutros Boutros-Ghali, that the United Nations had to do far more to resolve the Iraq situation.

Lift a Pint for Coalitions By DAVID BROOKS I spent much of last week talking with Republicans about Social Security reform, but I didn't expect to find myself salivating over the phone. I was in a hotel room in St. Paul when I connected with Senator Lindsey Graham. As he spoke, I could hear Irish music in the background. I could hear laughter and conviviality. It turned out that he was calling me from a pub in Dublin.

In a pub. Well, that explains his support for destroying the "security" part of "Social Security."

Graham added that he would love to embrace the sort of bill that his New Hampshire colleague John Sununu is proposing, which would create private accounts and wouldn't reduce benefits or raise taxes to pay the transition costs. But like most smart Republicans I spoke with this week, Graham realizes that you can't pass a major entitlement reform without significant Democratic support. "If John can get Democratic support, count me in," he was saying, as a great roar of laughter arose from the pub behind him. But he knows that most Republicans will never agree to a bill that balloons the deficit and transforms a beloved program if it doesn't have bipartisan backing to give them political cover.

Then what the hell have they been doing for the last four years?

Whether they like it or not, Republicans and Democrats are going to have to meet privately in rooms and negotiate with one another. They're going to have to develop some level of trust so they can make unpopular suggestions and know they won't read about it in the next day's papers. They are going to have to compromise, reach a deal and then stick together in the face of the special-interest onslaught.

The plan to screw Social S------y IS a special-interest onslaught. And I WANT TO HEAR EVER UNPOPULAR SUGGESTION MADE.

Maybe the context for old-fashioned coalition building no longer exists. There aren't as many cross-party friendships as before, nor as many master deal makers. But somehow we're going to have to fix Social Security so the baby boom generation doesn't imprison its children in a fortress of debt. We're going to have to bring the entitlement system into the era of longevity. And if this culture of negotiation is to be recreated, I'm thinking of a pub - far away and in a happy, happy place - where it just might start.

Yup. Get folks drunk enough and they'll vote for anything.

Too many people can't afford cars. Even though the monthly payments are less than monthly parking fees. Quote of note:

The cuts in social services are largely the result of the financial problems in state government, which faces a $6 billion deficit in its $100 billion budget for the next fiscal year. But many lawmakers say there is also a more specific reason why the social service programs are being hurt: the state's decision to use federal welfare money indirectly for non-welfare spending; the pot of money is now running out.

I'm actually having a problem being less than cynical this morning. Side effect of getting enough sleep, I think. Anyway… Social Services in City to Lose $100 Million By LESLIE KAUFMAN Barring an 11th-hour rescue by the State Legislature, New York City is to lose nearly $100 million in state aid for social services programs in the current fiscal year, according to the city's Independent Budget Office. The cuts, many of which were the result of line-item vetoes that Gov. George E. Pataki made in August, are among the steepest made to social services in about a decade. The Legislature has until Dec. 31 to override the vetoes, but several lawmakers say such action is unlikely. Already numerous nonprofit groups - providing services like career training for high school dropouts and treatment for drug addicts with children taken into foster care - have lost state funds, closed programs and laid off workers. In the last 60 days, 150 workers have been laid off at substance abuse treatment programs alone, according to a survey by Veritas Therapeutic Community Inc., a nonprofit drug treatment provider. In addition, the city's treasury is temporarily filling the gap created by a $40 million state reduction in programs that counsel families with children found to be at risk of abuse or neglect by their parents. In recent years, such programs have been credited with helping cut the number of children in foster care in the city by more than half. "These cuts are potentially devastating," said John B. Mattingly, the city's commissioner of children's services. "The city has covered us at least for now, but we are really dependent upon the state funds and we have no easy solution if they don't come through." The cuts in social services are largely the result of the financial problems in state government, which faces a $6 billion deficit in its $100 billion budget for the next fiscal year. But many lawmakers say there is also a more specific reason why the social service programs are being hurt: the state's decision to use federal welfare money indirectly for non-welfare spending; the pot of money is now running out.

I can't say you're stepping on the newspaper's first amendment rights by refusing to talk to specific employees of the newspaper. On the other hand, Ehrlich goes for the "liberal bias" bullshit because he knows how many people's brains shut off as soon as the hear (or say!) the term. The quote of note:

In subsequent radio appearances, Mr. Ehrlich contended that Mr. Nitkin and Mr. Olesker had "no credibility" and had fabricated quotes. He said his ban was "meant to have a chilling effect" on their reporting.

Maryland Governor Is Sued Over Step Against Journalists By JAMES DAO WASHINGTON, Dec. 3 - The Baltimore Sun filed suit against Gov. Robert L. Ehrlich Jr. of Maryland on Friday, asserting that he violated the paper's First Amendment rights by prohibiting state employees from talking to two Sun journalists. The suit, filed in federal court in Baltimore, intensifies a feud between The Sun and Mr. Ehrlich, a Republican who contends that the 167-year-old newspaper has a liberal bias. Friction between the two dates at least to the 2002 campaign for governor, when The Sun endorsed Mr. Ehrlich's Democratic opponent, Lt. Gov. Kathleen Kennedy Townsend. But it has sharpened significantly since early October, when The Sun began running a series of articles raising questions about plans by the Ehrlich administration to sell state forest land to a developer. On Nov. 18, Mr. Ehrlich issued a directive forbidding anyone in the governor's office or any state agency from speaking to David Nitkin, The Sun's Maryland statehouse bureau chief, and Michael Olesker, a columnist.

There's never been a monopoly that kept prices low…except AT&T, which brings me to my second point: there's never been a case where deregulation of an industry resulted in lower prices…except the airline industry, and how often does THAT benefit you? Two, maybe three times a year? Anyway… Supreme Court to Hear Case on Cable as Internet Carrier By LINDA GREENHOUSE WASHINGTON, Dec. 3 - The Supreme Court on Friday stepped into one of the most heated debates over the future of the Internet: how to classify high-speed Internet cable service for purposes of federal regulation and, ultimately, for the question of whether competing Internet service providers are entitled to use the cable companies' networks to reach their subscribers. The justices accepted appeals filed by the Bush administration and the cable industry from a federal appeals court decision that struck down large portions of a deregulatory order issued by the Federal Communications Commission in 2002. The order freed companies that provide cable modem service of the obligation that federal law places on providers of "telecommunications services" to open their networks to their competitors. The F.C.C. had decided after two years of study that broadband cable service was an "information service" and not a "telecommunications service" - categories that in the commission's view are mutually exclusive under the 1996 Telecommunications Act. By placing cable on the "information" side, the commission freed it from the obligations the law places on carriers like traditional phone companies, which must permit interconnection with other carriers. But the United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit disagreed, ruling last year that cable broadband service was a hybrid that could not be freed by administrative decree from its common-carrier obligations. An initial question in the Supreme Court appeals is whether, regardless of the merits of the dispute, the appeals court should have given greater deference to the views of the F.C.C.

The quote of note isn't from the New York Times article I'm linking:

"So many individual investors have no idea they're losing possibly hundreds of thousands of dollars," Bhagat said. "It begs the question of what aspects of the financial marketplace and which consumer traits are responsible for this phenomenon."

Where does it come from? One of the four links below.

One State Talks About Shifting Out of Pensions By MARY WILLIAMS WALSH Just days after the president of a huge California pension fund was ousted, some California officials are proposing that the state get out of the pension business and give state and municipal workers a 401(k) plan instead. Such a move would echo proposals by the Bush administration and some members of Congress to divert a portion of the Social Security payroll tax away from the federal trust fund and into individual savings accounts. Rather than paying retirees a pre-determined benefit based on a common formula, as Social Security now does, the administration is proposing to give workers the opportunity to manage some of their retirement money themselves.

Why Most Stock Investors are Losers The Courage of Misguided Convictions: The Trading Behavior of Individual Investors The Common Stock Investment Performance of Individual Investors And this one is from 1998, but far less technical than the other three linked above: Equity Index funds pay off The next time you're out on the golf course and your partner begins bragging about his hot-shot fund manager and his high return on investment, be skeptical. That investor is probably better off in equity index funds, and his fund manager is likely to know it. So says Donald Lichtenstein, professor in CU-Boulder's College of Business and Administration. "I was clueless about this index fund versus actively managed fund idea four or five years ago," Lichtenstein said. "Then I started doing research." His new study, conducted with CU finance Professor Sanjai Bhagat and Georgia State Professor Patrick Kaufmann, is "Toward an Understanding of Inefficient Consumer Mutual Fund Investment Decisions: Implications for Public Policy." The report provides well-known reasons from the academic finance literature why investors should invest in index funds, and then the authors identify psychological and behavioral aspects that keep investors from doing the right thing. "The data all support the notion that long-term investors continue to pour money into the actively managed equity mutual fund market, despite an abundance of empirical historical evidence that only a minority of fund managers outperform the market in a typical year - and fewer still achieve above-average market returns for their investors year after year." …Why do investors insist on paying fund managers when they are not getting what they pay for? Lichtenstein, Bhagat and Kaufmann identify 18 psychological and behavioral propositions they contend may help account for this situation. …Following are some of the behaviors believed to explain why investors use actively managed, instead of passive, funds:

• Lack of knowledge: Many investors are unaware that the average market return is often the appropriate reference point to use when evaluating actively managed mutual fund returns.
• Broker's influence: In light of the complexity of the market, some investors blindly follow the advice of their broker. Because selling passively managed index funds is far less profitable to brokers than managed funds, there is a strong financial incentive to push managed funds.
• Discomfort with average returns: Investors interpret average returns as sub-standard. Average returns are what passively managed index funds produce, so some people choose to take a chance at higher market returns produced by some - but relatively few - actively managed funds.
• Investor confidence: Active investors also are more likely to believe that the ability to pick high performing stocks reflects a skill, and hence, are more prone to attempt to master the market by beating the odds instead of playing the odds.
• Influence of past performance: The financial media run articles devoted to rating the best and worst performing mutual funds. Such ratings, which are based on past performance, have little predictive value, yet consumers often rely on them because they believe these funds will continue to perform well in the future.
• Price: Many investors do not factor in - or don't even know - fund costs when making investment decisions. Estimates of the difference in cost between actively and passively managed funds fall in the range of 1.7 percent. The difference represents the margin managers must add to the performance of their funds in order to break even with passively managed funds.
• Business publications: Investment magazines and news papers perpetuate the so-called "need" to use managed funds. If everyone used index funds, there wouldn't be a need for these publications.
• The search for perfection: Some investors think they can beat the market. Some can. But in the long run, index funds will make them more money.

The title of this post is an example of the sort of reasoning we'd do if we weren't so damn…theoretical. Anyway… M.T.A. Seeks Tax Increases Over 5 Years By CHARLES V. BAGLI and MICHAEL LUO Moving to address its financial crisis, the Metropolitan Transportation Authority is proposing to increase a half-dozen business, real estate and fuel taxes to raise $900 million a year to help pay for the transit network's five-year rebuilding program. The proposal by the authority's chairman, Peter S. Kalikow, is being presented to the Pataki administration and the State Legislature as a way to deal with the authority's crushing debt and capital costs, a financial burden that has forced the authority to consider a mix of transit fare increases and service cuts when the authority's board meets Dec. 16. Mr. Kalikow is an appointee of Gov. George E. Pataki, and his plan presents a challenge to the Republican governor, an ardent opponent of higher taxes who has yet to come up with his own plan to meet the expenses. The proposal includes raising the real property transfer tax and mortgage recording taxes, new levies that could cost homeowners and businesses hundreds if not thousands of additional dollars during property transactions. Mr. Kalikow also proposed raising corporate taxes and the petroleum business tax, a tax paid by importers of foreign fuel. The new taxes, to be applied statewide, would not prevent the fare increases or cutbacks that are being considered this month, but by supplying the debt service on a bond issue, it could improve the authority's financial situation in future years. In an effort to demonstrate the authority's desperate financial situation and gain support for a plan that could be politically volatile, Mr. Kalikow and Katherine N. Lapp, the authority's executive director, have been meeting quietly over the past two weeks with business leaders from groups like the Real Estate Board of New York and the Partnership for New York City. The authority needs to come up with $16 billion in new revenue over the next five years to cover planned capital improvements, like bringing the Long Island Rail Road into Grand Central Terminal and buying new rail cars for the Metro-North system. Of that, $11 billion is needed just to keep the system in good repair. The authority has also announced that it will need a series of additional fare increases starting in 2007 to cover multibillion-dollar operating deficits projected for the coming years.

Congo Tells Rwanda Troops to Stay Out By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS KINSHASA, Congo, Dec. 3 (AP) - President Joseph Kabila accused Rwanda on Friday of trying to cause a confrontation with Congo in an effort to disrupt Congolese moves to secure the country and move toward elections next year. It was Mr. Kabila's first public statement since Rwanda's president, Paul Kagame, began warning last week that his country would act against 8,000 to 10,000 Rwanda Hutu rebels taking shelter in eastern Congo. Rwanda's warnings have raised fears of renewed war in Central Africa. Mr. Kagame insists that a five-month-old disarmament program led by the United Nations has so far failed to neutralize the Rwandan Hutu rebels. Rwanda twice invaded eastern Congo, in 1996 and 1998, to hunt down Rwandan Hutu involved in the 1994 genocide of more than half a million people.

Worried Merchants Throw Discounts at Shoppers By TRACIE ROZHON Got a credit card ready? The markdowns have begun. America's merchants, shocked by a mediocre post-Thanksgiving weekend, are rushing to mark down their merchandise - way before the majority of holiday shoppers have even seen it. At the beginning of November, merchants had reduced prices on 5 percent fewer of their goods than last year, according to John D. Morris, a retail analyst with Harris Nesbitt who keeps an annual holiday markdown index. "There's been a complete about-face," he said yesterday, speaking from the Garden State Plaza mall in Paramus, N.J. "By the end of Sunday, markdowns were 5 percent higher than last year - and judging by what I see tonight, that figure is accelerating." At the start of November, "everything was coming up roses," he added, "and suddenly there's a foul smell in the air." After the numbers from Thanksgiving weekend were counted, retailers realized that shoppers bought only what was drastically discounted. "They didn't buy the whole store," said Burt Flickinger III, managing director of the Strategic Resource Group in New York. "Now, to stimulate the consumer, the stores must go broader and deeper." In the last few days, repeat shoppers at a wide variety of stores - from Restoration Hardware to J. C. Penney - have been deluged with e-mail messages offering friends-and-family coupons for as much as 40 percent off this weekend. Department stores like Lord & Taylor and Bloomingdale's are already running supersales, their racks dotted with signs proclaiming 20 to 40 percent discounts. Even Borders bookstore was advertising nine best sellers for 50 percent off yesterday, including "The Da Vinci Code" and "My Life" by former President Bill Clinton. At the bottom of the ads were limited-offer coupons. Zales was offering Bonus Dollars on Diamonds, letting customers "take another $500 off."

I'll be blogging normally next week (or lose my traffic, I'm sure). Meanwhile, The Niggerati Network is just about set. Here are the categories that are set up:

• Africa and the African diaspora
• Art, music and culture
• Books and writers
• Civil rights
• Eastasia
• Economics
• Education
• Eurasia
• Health and health care
• Ideology
• Latin and South America
• Law and justice
• Ocenia
• Politics
• Race and Identity
• Religion
• Technology
• The media
• War

There's a few test posts there now. Both sites are now of a pretty solid technological footing. This weekend I finish writing some explanatory material, see if I can arrange for the comment forms to remember anonymous commenters' name, email and websites and Monday it's back to my old verbose annoying self.

Officials criticize commissioner's e-mail Updated: 12/3/2004 7:47 AM By: Lisa Reyes, News 14 Carolina CHARLOTTE, N.C. -- A vehement e-mail from Mecklenburg County Commissioner Bill James has created a stir among local leaders and educators who said his criticism of the urban black community was racially insensitive. James sent the e-mail Tuesday to 1,300 constituents and city leaders, writing: "Most people know why CMS can't teach kids within the urban black community. They live in a moral sewer with parents who lack the desire to act properly. That immorality impacts negatively the lives of these children and creates an environment where education is considered 'acting white' and lack of education is a 'plus' in their world." I do appreciate that folks would say anything about it at all, but it does bring to light the extraordinary lengths folks will go through to keep from calling a spade a spade (that's a joke).

Rebels return to 'cleared' areas In Fallujah, US forces are going through 50,000 houses one by one. But Iraqi insurgents are coming back. By Scott Peterson | Staff writer of The Christian Science Monitor …Iraqi civilians are not expected to be permitted to begin returning to the badly damaged city until mid-December, and extensive damage to virtually every house and building across Fallujah means that detailed US and Iraqi government plans for rebuilding will take months, at least, to realize. But the original problem persists: US forces sweep through one neighborhood after another, only to find insurgents popping up in "cleared" areas. The battle Monday killed one marine and wounded three others - a high cost against three insurgents, who had moved into a house 50 feet across the street from a newly established marine position at a Fallujah fire station. That house and several others nearby had been cleared just two days earlier. The ensuing fight revealed an enemy that has hardly given up and is making US forces learn the lesson of the warning taped up on the inside gate of the Marine fire station base: "Complacency kills." "They are in survival mode, and they're just waiting until someone comes to them [to fight], rather than going out and initiating attacks," says Lt. Col. Dan Wilson, the deputy current operations officer for the 1st Marine Expeditionary Force in charge of western Iraq.

The Cost of Congressional Caprice The pork-stuffed omnibus spending bill that Congress rushed to passage without reading largely remains a $388 billion national secret. But laugh lines are gradually leaking out. For instance, why not spend $100,000 for the Punxsutawney Weather Museum in Pennsylvania, considering the annual drollery of Groundhog Day? And once the lawmakers put the taxpayers in for $25,000 to finance mariachi music in Nevada, hey, why not go for $350,000 for the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in Cleveland? As for that $50,000 for wild hog control in Missouri, it's in the same spirit as the $335,000 to protect sunflowers from blackbirds in North Dakota. If only the bill were a mere laugh riot. But the truth is that the measure, cobbled together from 13 bills that Congress failed to weigh separately and thoughtfully, legislates the costs of next year's government by blindfold and bludgeon. Nowhere is this more graphic than in the shocking cut that Congress levied on the National Science Foundation, the research dynamo that does so much to feed the nation's economic growth through breakthrough advances in science and technology. Its budget will be $105 million less than last year's, even as lawmakers spared an estimated $15.8 billion for a record 11,772 pet projects. This binge of bipartisan pandering to voters includes such national priorities as renovating the Hot Springs bathhouses in Arkansas and bolstering the Paper Industry International Hall of Fame in Wisconsin.

---

---

Bipartisan? Democrats got pork?

Americans Relying More on Prescription Drugs, Report Says By ROBERT PEAR ASHINGTON, Dec. 2 - More than 40 percent of Americans take at least one prescription drug, and 17 percent take three or more, the government said Thursday in a comprehensive report on the nation's health. The report documented the growing use of medications in the last decade, a trend that it attributed to the growth of insurance coverage for drugs, the discovery and marketing of new products, and clinical guidelines that recommend greater use of drugs to treat high cholesterol, high blood pressure, diabetes and other conditions. Health spending shot up 9.3 percent in 2002, to $1.6 trillion, but Americans seem to be getting some benefits from it, the report said. Life expectancy at birth increased to 77.3 years in 2002, a record, and deaths from heart disease, cancer and stroke - the nation's leading killers - declined. But, the government noted, "men and women have longer life expectancies in many other countries," including Japan, Italy and Canada. Use of prescription drugs in the United States is rising among people of all ages, and the nation's medicine chests are more crowded than ever.

Music Industry Turns to Napster Creator for Help By JEFF LEEDS LOS ANGELES, Dec. 2 - As a teenager, Shawn Fanning brought free music to the masses, creating the Napster file-swapping program and unleashing a technological genie that granted the wishes of fans seeking virtually any song at any time - gratis. Now, the recording industry is turning to the college dropout turned cult hero, with dreams of putting the genie back in its bottle. The major record corporations, who accused Mr. Fanning's Napster of ravaging CD sales and weakening the underpinnings of the industry, now say that a licensed file-sharing system could bolster their position in their legal fight against piracy as well as increase digital music sales. Mr. Fanning, now 24 and part of a new venture called Snocap, has lately written software that would recognize songs being made available on a peer-to-peer network and let copyright holders set terms for its price and its use by consumers who wish to download them. Snocap and the music corporations are envisioning an online community where visitors could trade songs without violating copyright laws.

Yesterday I linked to a really clumsy attempt to spin the latest unemployment numbers. Here's the real deal.

Job Growth Is Well Below Wall Street Forecasts By EDMUND L. ANDREWS WASHINGTON, Dec. 3 - The economy added 112,000 payroll jobs in November, the Labor Department reported today, far fewer than the month before and not enough to keep up with growth in the adult population. The gain was well below Wall Street forecasts for an increase of about 200,000 jobs, and employment in manufacturing remained stagnant for the third month in a row. The overall unemployment rate remained unchanged at 5.4 percent and has essentially been flat ever since July, the Labor Department said. Bond investors immediately reacted to the disappointing report by pushing up prices of Treasury securities, on the expectation that economic growth will be more moderate and that interest rates will be under less pressure to climb. "The economy is adding jobs, but not at a feverish pace," said Richard Yamarone, chief economist at Argus Research, an economic research firm in New York. "Economic growth is not expanding at a pace that can engender stellar job growth, and I think you have to get used to these kinds of numbers."

News: 'Black' PAC misleads public In our continuing probe of the National Center for Public Policy Research and its offspring, our next stop is with one of its political action committees, the Black America's PAC. As you may have guessed already, many of the candidates supported by the 'black' PAC are white conservatives. The black candidates who get backing from the group seek succor from the far Right. Two black candidates from BAMPAC's 2002 and 2004 lists are representative.

Now that you have the conclusion, read the analysis.

The Culture War in Alabama: A Theory …So let me put it all together: The christian coalition and the republican party have been endoctrinating Alabama voters for months with this ridiculous clap-trap about judges and taxes, which actually has nothing to do with race. They know, though, when the rest of the country hears that Alabama wouldn't get rid of the racist language in its constitution, they'll assume, not unreasonably, that it's a purely race-related matter. They also know that there are many Southerners (and yes, Zell Miller is their poster boy) who resent being called racists by Yankees [sic]. So the christian coalition gets to make the blue states hate Alabama even more, because the blue states think Alabama is racist. Alabama will hate the blue states even more, because they're sick of the Yankees in New York telling them how to run their state. And who wins when there's a lot of anger and resentment in the air? The people that play politics with really emotional issues. The Christian Coalition, in a nutshell. They get to perpetuate the culture war, reinforce stereotypes, and make sure the possibly vulnerable Republican governor of Alabama has a easier time in '06 (is it '06? I might be wrong), maybe help keep the South solid in '08 for Guiliani or McCain, who might be having problems against Edwards. It's all a big, and particularly well-executed, political strategy, folks. To my friends on the right: your side is getting more and more dispicable. You people need to get a new image. Tell your strategists to stop killing your state if you live in Alabama, and to stop manipulating the national media if you don't. Tell them to be honest, and not make up this crap about taxes to intentionally make you look bad to the rest of the country. And to those of you who are still racists: fucking join the 20th century, ok? Then you can make your way towards the 21st. To my friends on the left: don't let yourself get played by this dispicable republican ploy. They want you to say what you have the impulse to say. Calm down. Make yourself a stiff drink. Think before you start talking about the Confederacy and reconstruction. That was my first impulse too, but it's not the right solution. That the ballot initiative was defeated is outrageous. But shrillness is not the way to win this battle.

Not really complaining, though. Thunderbird has been berry, berry good to me.

---

Mozilla Thunderbird 1.0 Release Candidate 1 Available Wednesday December 1st, 2004

Scott MacGregor
writes: "I'm excited to announce that our first Thunderbird 1.0 Release Candidate is now available for testing. 1.0RC1 includes lots of bug fixes and improvements for features like saved search folders, the RSS reader, mail migration, and message grouping. The default themes have both been updated with new improved artwork as well."

Scott's post to the Thunderbirds Builds forum about 1.0RC1 has more information. The release candidate can be downloaded from the 1.0rc directory on ftp.mozilla.org.

Harley Sorenson's column in the San Francisco Chronicle wove in a couple of letters which deserve to be individually noted. Here's the second.

A second e-mailer, who said he was from Europe, had an unusual point of view: He is a liberal happy that Bush won reelection. Read on: "As I am against the American empire, I am happy that George W. Bush won the election, whatever frauds there might have been. "The U.S. seems to be going the same way the U.S.S.R. did. If, hopefully Bush will be followed by someone like Perle or Cheney, it will not take very long. "It is only sad to see all the ones tortured and murdered in Iraq, Palestine and other places, but hopefully the U.S. regime will attack Iran and Syria, so the empire can fall in less then a decade."

Harley Sorenson's column in the San Francisco Chronicle wove in a couple of letters which deserve to be individually noted. Here's the first.

"I read your column about Bush's four more years. I agree with all of it. I, too, lament the scuttling of the greatest successful experiment in human free spirit. But I think there is another side to it. "Regardless of what Mr. Bush did in office or to get reelected, he did not vote himself in. And irrespective of the rigging that probably did happen in Ohio, Florida and elsewhere, roughly 59 million people voted for him. Alarmingly, many of these voted based on their faith. "That is scary. They said in essence that while there was looting of taxpayer money to repay campaign contributors, an untruly reasoned war killing thousands abroad and allowing millions to starve at home, and robbing millions more of health care, it was consistent with their faith-based value system. "This is the scary part. I saw this growing up in Pakistan. It is worse to see it repeated here in the U.S. "Bush will go in four years and perhaps some other neo-con will take his place. But if the nation has taught itself to think like religious fanatics, that damage will take years to repair." …When I asked permission to use his letter, he added the following: "My point in all of this is that beyond anything one or more politicians are doing, there is a sea change in the way a majority of Americans think. "There is a reversion to fundamentalist way of thinking, which, among other things, means that morality is defined narrowly (usually something to do with sex -- somebody else's). "In this way of thinking, as long as you prevent abortions and keep gays from getting married, all the other horrors are okay. I think this is a major change in the way the nation thinks, probably on the level of the one that brought about the Civil War. Unfortunately, it seems the Confederates are winning this time."

Lynch Mob's Real Target Is the U.N., Not Annan By James Traub James Traub is writing a book about Kofi Annan and the U.N. December 3, 2004 Kofi Annan must be wondering whose dog he shot. A right-wing mob is gathering around him, howling for his head. And why? Because the gentle and generally accommodating leader of the United Nations has, as New York Times columnist William Safire recently put it, "brought dishonor on the Secretariat of the United Nations" through mismanagement of the U.N.'s "oil-for-food" scandal. The secretary-general must have been surprised indeed to learn that Safire and the anti-U.N. crowd hold the organization's honor so dearly. …The oil-for-food program was developed and directed not by U.N. civil servants but by the U.N. Security Council, as are all the organization's sanctions regimes. The diplomats who ran the program worked for the council's member states, including the United States and the four other permanent members. And they ran it according to the interests of those states, with the U.S. and Britain determined to prevent Iraq from importing items that could be used for military purposes and the French, Russians and Chinese equally determined to give the Iraqis the benefit of every doubt. Preventing theft was at the bottom of everyone's to-do list. The U.S. government had dozens of people monitoring the contracts but didn't hold back a single one on the grounds of corruption, price irregularities or kickbacks. The secretariat deserves some portion of the blame, both for failing to sound the alarm over Iraqi swindling and for a slow and grudging reaction when the allegations first surfaced earlier this year. But the idea that this constitutes a firing offense for the secretary-general — especially when the call is coming from the folks who rallied to Donald Rumsfeld's side after Abu Ghraib — is hard to take seriously. I suspect that Annan's persecutors are after something else: not the man, but the institution itself.

Fallouja Fight Among Deadliest in Years for U.S. Last month's battle left 71 American troops dead and 623 injured. But the numbers are low for such urban warfare, a commander says. By Patrick J. McDonnell and John Hendren Times Staff Writers December 2, 2004 BAGHDAD — Seventy-one U.S. troops died in the November battle to retake the city of Fallouja, according to the top Marine commander in Iraq, a toll significantly higher than the previous count of 51 deaths. An additional 623 American troops were wounded, said Marine Lt. Gen. John F. Sattler, up from an injury count of 425 issued more than two weeks ago. The Fallouja offensive made November one of the two most deadly months for American military personnel since the U.S.-led invasion of Iraq in March 2003. The U.S. death toll in November was at least 134, according to wire service compilations, nearing the mark of 135 killed in April — when an aborted offensive in Fallouja also contributed to a sharp increase in dead and injured. Officials say casualty figures during last month's fight for Fallouja were among the highest in recent years for any battle involving U.S. troops. But they were still low for the kind of house-to-house urban warfare that took place, they said.

Quote of note:

Marnie Funk, a spokeswoman for Senate Energy Committee Chairman Pete V. Domenici (R-N.M.), said her boss put the language into the bill "to bring clarity to a situation in California that has been fraught with uncertainty and conflict." Domenici aides drafted the language for a bill overhauling national energy policy, she said, and when that bill stalled, Domenici added it to the spending measure. Carl W. Wood, a member of the California Public Utilities Commission, said the language "shows a complete contempt for the people of California and their representatives."

Congress Fuels Fire Between FERC, States By Richard Simon Times Staff Writer December 3, 2004 WASHINGTON — State officials from California to Rhode Island are fuming over a provision, slipped into the massive year-end spending bill expected to clear Congress next week, that says federal regulators should decide where liquefied natural gas terminals are built. Many lawmakers say they didn't know about the provision when they voted for the voluminous bill last month. [P6: emphasis added] But state regulators know about it — and they don't like it. They said it could make it harder for them to block facilities that could harm the environment or pose safety and security risks. The provision seems to leave the Republican-controlled Congress leaning against its natural tendency to support states' rights. But the language reflects the determination of President Bush and his congressional allies to increase energy supplies, especially in the face of predicted increases in natural gas prices. California appears to be the target of the provision. The state has gone to court challenging the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission's claim that it has sole authority to decide whether an LNG facility will be built in Long Beach. The facility would receive imported natural gas that had been cooled to a liquid so that it could be transported by ship rather than pipeline.

Quote of note:

Attorneys for the prisoners argued that some were held solely on evidence gained by torture, which they said violated fundamental fairness and U.S. due process standards. But Boyle argued in a similar hearing Wednesday that the detainees "have no constitutional rights enforceable in this court."

U.S. Can Use Evidence Gained by Torture By MICHAEL J. SNIFFEN Associated Press Writer 12:48 AM PST, December 3, 2004 WASHINGTON — Evidence gained by torture can be used by the U.S. military in deciding whether to imprison a foreigner indefinitely at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, as an enemy combatant, the government concedes. Statements produced under torture have been inadmissible in U.S. courts for about 70 years. But the U.S. military panels reviewing the detention of 550 foreigners as enemy combatants at the U.S. naval base in Cuba are allowed to use such evidence, Principal Deputy Associate Attorney General Brian Boyle acknowledged at a U.S. District Court hearing Thursday. Some of the prisoners have filed lawsuits challenging their detention without charges for up to three years so far. At the hearing, Boyle urged District Judge Richard J. Leon to throw their cases out.

Cultural Divide on Campus At Montebello High, as elsewhere in the state, Latinos split between the more Americanized and those more drawn to their immigrant roots. By Erika Hayasaki Times Staff Writer December 3, 2004 During lunch, there is a line at Montebello High School that students on either side rarely cross. Part gravel, part grass, it runs between a row of bungalows and buildings, lopping off the short end of the L-shaped quad. They call this the border. It separates rock music from ranchero. Cheerleaders from folklorico dancers. English from Spanish. To outsiders, students at Montebello High are mostly the same: 93% Latino, 70% low-income. But the 2,974 Latino students on campus know otherwise. As at many schools in California, students here are delicately split — in classes, sports and clubs, at social events and at lunch — between those who seem more Americanized and those who feel more connected to their Latino immigrant roots. Students call one side of the campus "TJ," as in the Mexican city of Tijuana. During lunch and break periods, students who hang out in TJ gossip, chat and flirt mostly in Spanish. From homes where Spanish is the primary language, many are still learning English. Besides soccer, folklorico and the Spanish club, few students in TJ are involved in extracurricular activities on campus. On the other side of the border, in an area with a brightly painted quad and a new cafeteria, is Senior Park. This is where students immersed in traditional American high school culture hang out. They include football and basketball players, student government leaders and members of the water polo and drill teams. Many students here come from Mexican American families that have been in California for several generations. English is the predominant language. Some don't know Spanish. The groups don't hate each other. Some cross between the two sides and have friends on both. But some talk bitterly about a divide. Others acknowledge it as inevitable, even if they wish it weren't.

With One Swing (of the Gavel), Ruth's Bat Hits $1.26 Million By Josh Getlin Times Staff Writer December 3, 2004 NEW YORK — Minutes after he entered newly built Yankee Stadium in 1923, Babe Ruth shared a dream with reporters gathered around him: "I'd give a year of my life if I can hit a home run in the first game." The Bambino delivered on opening day, smacking the first home run at the new ballpark. On Thursday, an East Coast collector paid $1.26 million for the bat Ruth used that day. It's one of the most famous pieces of memorabilia in baseball history.

These guys manage God's bank account (something Fallwell never forgave them for). Quote of note:

The settlement will be paid without bankrupting the diocese or requiring any of its 56 parishes to be closed, church officials said. Maria Schinderle, general counsel for the diocese, said the sale of some property, as well as cash reserves, staff cuts and loans secured with church assets would raise the funds for the diocese's share of the settlement. The one major piece of property that is not a parish or school and is eligible to be sold is the diocese's 17-acre headquarters in Orange.

O.C. Diocese Settles Abuse Cases The Roman Catholic Church reaches a deal with 87 plaintiffs. The undisclosed amount, reportedly a record, could affect L.A. talks. By Jean Guccione, William Lobdell and Megan Garvey Times Staff Writers December 3, 2004 The Roman Catholic Diocese of Orange agreed Thursday to settle claims by 87 people who said they were sexually abused by priests and other church employees, promising a sum that sources said would exceed the $85 million record payment by an American diocese. The specifics of the settlement were not disclosed under the terms of a court-imposed gag order. Some details remain to be worked out, according to a statement issued by both sides. The record settlement is likely to influence the money that may be paid to thousands of plaintiffs in pending cases in Los Angeles and elsewhere. Bishop of Orange Tod D. Brown called the agreement "both fair and compassionate." He said he planned to write a letter to each victim "personally seeking forgiveness and reconciliation." "We will be able to fairly compensate the victims in a way that allows our church to continue its ministry of service to the entire community," Brown said immediately after the announcement shortly after 11 p.m. at the civil courthouse in downtown Los Angeles.

Since it lay fallow so long, I didn't try to pick up where it left off. As you may know. the site itself is built around Drupal 4.5. Drupal can deliver all the functionality of Scoop, but I understand the code. So not only do I get to build on the same foundation CivicSpace is built on I can tweak, and even add functionality to it, via the official contributed module or my own minor creations. Of course, this means I can take very little credit for all this. I've made small hacks in two places (the most recent poll only shows while it is active and the Trackback module ignores internal links) and written a couple of small modules. One, a "fortune cookie" program, is just a toy. One is invisible but useful because it automatically closes comments for specified content types of configurable age a processing cycle of my choosing. And both the recently commented threads and weekly archive sidebar boxes are mine (those the built-in pager doesn't like me very much). Oh, yeah. I wrote the Amazon.com book search engine. The results have a purchase link, and the clicking an author's names searches Amazon for books by that author. More tweaks are forthcoming there, like adding Black American and African-specific category searches. Now that I got the rhythm I can build a search engine page pretty quickly. Even more than the Amazon search, the functions that should be of greatest interest to members are Blogs - You know what that is…this is supplemented by the TrackBack module, that has autodiscovery and sticks the trackbacks in the flow of your comments where (in my opinion) they belong. To be honest, this is the one that makes me nervous because I have 100 registered members not counting me, and I have no idea what kind of space and bandwidth demands I'm setting myself up for. But I like the idea of setting up something of an incubator. I'm strongly considering writing an exporter that will wrap up a Drupal blog with its comments and such and spit out a Movable Type export file. Blogapi - If you like desktop blogging clients, you can use one to post to your blog. Ultimately though, there will be reasons to post via the web interface. Specifically, Scheduler: Lets you schedule the publication and/or unpublication of a post. At some point I'll figure out how to get the WYSIWYG editing working right, at which point I can turn on the image handling modules. Book - A way of organizing groups or arbitrary posts, something like a digital binder. I'll be using it to (re)organize reference and historical material. It's not generally available, because the organization can't be usefully exported and it's really sort of clunky to use, but the end result is excellent. Forum - A bulletin board. Polls and surveys: The surveys come by way of the Webforms module, though there's Survey and Feedback modules that, being more specialized, look like they may relace webforms Weblinks: A link farm of considerably less complexity than my last experiment but sufficient power to support the joint. Private Messages: Like all the bulletin board systems out there, members can send and receive private messages.

Michael says:

Civil Rights is Civil Rights. I don't think there is much work to be done. For American citizens the bar is the same, and it's reasonable to say that the Congressional Black Caucus has done all that needs to be done with regards to providing leadership, which is to say not a whole lot. I don't see what little meat on the bones is worth splitting amongst those few organizations if their concern is truly Civil Rights. Which illustrates my point, it's not. They are ethnic poltical organzations. To the extent that is true, I think it is a failure of the legacy of the NAACP, and if the IRS thinks so too, good. So make it one civil rights organzation for everyone, or drop the pretense and be the Black Left Coalition.

There is one civil rights organization for everyone. The Black Left Coalition isn't the worst idea I've heard. The Black Coalition is better, though. See, The Black Left Coalition (or any similar construct) assumes you identify problems through a leftist/rightist analysis. Nope. You identify a problem when something poles at you and it hurts. Your analysis should focus on solving the identified problem.

You should go to the Chicago Tribune to read it. I only plagiarized the whole thing because I'm trying to figure out what Mr. Page is saying. I think something about it bothers me. Persistent civil rights wounds Published December 1, 2004 WASHINGTON -- Kweisi Mfume's sudden departure after nine years as president and chief executive officer of the NAACP signals a seismic quake that rattles far beyond the doors of the nation's oldest and largest civil rights organization. Reports have been leaking out for months that Mfume and Julian Bond, chairman of the NAACP board, have not been getting along, although both men displayed nothing but unity after Mfume's announcement Tuesday. Some board members have complained to me privately that Bond's speech criticizing President Bush at the NAACP's annual convention in Philadelphia this summer unnecessarily provoked the Internal Revenue Service to review the group's tax-exempt status as a non-partisan organization. Other board members say Bond's support of gay marriage alienated many black ministers. By remarkable coincidence, Rev. Fred Shuttlesworth stepped down recently after less than a year in office as president of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference, the organization that Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. led to the mountaintop. Shuttlesworth succeeded the late civil rights leader's son, Martin Luther King III, who had his own run-ins with the SCLC board. Rep. John Lewis (D-Ga.), a civil rights veteran who once was a member of the SCLC board, has suggested that the group disband while it still has some dignity left. He's not alone. By coincidence, both shake-ups come at a time when support for Bush grew to 11 percent of the total black vote from 8 percent four years earlier, despite attacks against the president from black civil rights leaders such as Bond. Racism still is a problem, of course, but it's not as much of a complex issue for black Americans as it used to be. For example, we still have episodes like Alabama's Nov. 2 referendum in which voters of that state narrowly failed to remove segregation-era language from the state's constitution. Even though the old provisions on school segregation and references to poll taxes used to disenfranchise blacks are unenforceable, the provisions' durability sends a chilling signal to black Americans who like to think race no longer matters. Nevertheless, opportunities abound for those who are willing to take advantage of them. The struggle for equality involves more than civil rights. It also involves preparing our young people to take advantage of opportunities the civil rights movement opened up for them. America's leading civil rights groups have been searching for new agendas since the 1960s. Meanwhile, the gap has grown between formerly poor blacks like myself, who have benefited from civil rights advances, and those who have been left behind in poverty and despair. It is this gaping contradiction that inflamed Bill Cosby earlier this year in Washington at a 50th anniversary observance of the 1954 Brown vs. Board of Education school desegregation decision. Infuriated by continuing black-on-black violence related to poverty, he unfurled a litany of self-reliance, personal responsibility and other values regarding reality that need to be pounded into the heads of black youths and families. Although the media had a field day with a few black leaders who thought Cosby was harshly blaming the victim, Mfume, who was on the same stage, told me later that he agreed completely with what Cosby said, although he would not have used the same blunt language. So have most other black folks whom I have heard in discussions, formal and informal, since Cosby's comments, which he would later re-emphasize at Rev. Jesse Jackson's Operation PUSH headquarters and other places. By comparison, hardly anyone but the president seemed to notice when Bond unleashed a thoroughly predictable anti-Bush attack at the NAACP's July convention. Although Bush addressed the NAACP as a candidate in 2000, he is the first president since Herbert Hoover to skip the group's annual gathering. The president has described his relationship with the NAACP leadership as "basically non-existent." Bush, however, has spoken to the National Urban League and continues his outreach to black churches through his faith-based initiatives. After the presidential election, Mfume sent a congratulatory letter to Bush and asked for a bridge-building meeting between the administration and the NAACP. Since Bush has not shown much interest in talking even to Republicans who are not 100 percent on board with his programs, I'm not holding my breath for him to meet with the NAACP. Apparently Mfume isn't either. That leaves the NAACP to launch a search for a new leader. I suggest Bill Cosby. He might not jump at the opportunity, but he seems to have his priorities straight.

Quote of note:

The admissions office already uses some nonacademic criteria to evaluate applicants, including students' creativity, community involvement and integrity. Admissions officials stressed that the majority of admissions would be based solely on superior academic performance, and all admitted students would be qualified.

UGA: Let race count Diversity would be one factor in admissions policy By KELLY SIMMONS The Atlanta Journal-Constitution Published on: 12/01/04 ATHENS — The University of Georgia could return to using race as a factor in freshman admissions as early as next fall. A faculty committee has recommended adding diversity criteria, including race and ethnicity, to its admissions policy in time for selecting the fall 2005 freshman class. It would be the first time in five years that UGA would be using race in admissions decisions. The university abandoned its previous race-conscious policy in 2001 after a federal judge ruled the practice unconstitutional. However, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled in June that schools could use race as a factor in admissions as long as it was not the sole criterion. Sheldon Steinbach, general counsel for the American Council on Education, said the proposed UGA policy appears to meet the guidelines established by the Supreme Court ruling. "This is wholly compatible with the majority opinion, which urges individual consideration, permits race as a plus factor and encourages schools to look at additional non-race-based factors," Steinbach said.

Disappearing for hours on end… I've been setting up the revival of The Niggerati Network. It's like, enough experimenting, already. Note to memer: I haven't done the list of powers registered users here have because you're going to want to use them there. I have a single user list between the two sites so if you're registered here you'll be registered there.

Judge Questions Sweep of Bush's War on Terrorism Pentagon Says 550 'Enemy Combatants' Are Confined Properly, Seeks Benefit of Doubt on Detentions By Carol D. Leonnig Washington Post Staff Writer Thursday, December 2, 2004; Page A04 …"If a little old lady in Switzerland writes checks to what she thinks is a charitable organization for Afghanistan orphans, but it's really supporting . . . al Qaeda, is she an enemy combatant?" the judge asked. Boyle said the woman could be, but it would depend on her intentions. "It would be up to the military to decide as to what to believe," he said.

And she sits in Gitmo until they decide?

That previous post, about the misleading abstinence programs…the Washington Post delivered that story in the Politics RSS feed. There's way too diverse a set of articles in that feed.

Some Abstinence Programs Mislead Teens, Report Says By Ceci Connolly Washington Post Staff Writer Thursday, December 2, 2004; Page A01 Many American youngsters participating in federally funded abstinence-only programs have been taught over the past three years that abortion can lead to sterility and suicide, that half the gay male teenagers in the United States have tested positive for the AIDS virus, and that touching a person's genitals "can result in pregnancy," a congressional staff analysis has found. Those and other assertions are examples of the "false, misleading, or distorted information" in the programs' teaching materials, said the analysis, released yesterday, which reviewed the curricula of more than a dozen projects aimed at preventing teenage pregnancy and sexually transmitted disease.

Okay, don't the people who put these programs together realize how easy it is to find out the truth? And I know, you don't think it's really a lie, you're just sending the message that premarital sex is dangerous and wrong. But when your message is sent by provable falsehoods, it sends the message that you're a damned liar. And who is the father of lies? Don't you think there's a problem with something you can only achieve by lying? Please say yes.

Jobless Claims Up but Still Show Recovery By JEANNINE AVERSA The Associated Press Thursday, December 2, 2004; 9:27 AM WASHINGTON -- The number of new people signing up for unemployment benefits rose sharply last week but the overall level of applications still points to a recovering job market. The Labor Department reported Thursday that new filings for unemployment insurance increased by a seasonally adjusted 25,000 to 349,000 for the week ending Nov. 27, which included the Thanksgiving Day holiday. Some analysts were expecting a smaller rise -- of around 7,000. Private economists and Labor Department analysts say claims around Thanksgiving and other holidays are typically more volatile -- meaning that they can bounce around a lot more from week to week in part because of seasonal adjustment difficulties. The unadjusted figure for new claims last week showed a steep decline of more than 36,000. In other economic news:

This report manages to contradict itself on every level possible. And there's no other economic news quoted. I just wanted you to see there's no further explanation for this forthcoming.

The Speaker Who Would Be Maître D' The speaker of the House, Dennis Hastert, has reached a dangerous new level of partisan zealotry to bolster the Republicans' control of government. For the new Congress, Mr. Hastert intends to cater to what he calls "the majority of the majority" in deciding which bills will get a vote and which won't. He has little use for the bipartisan majorities idealized in civics classes and once seen even in the House. Mr. Hastert first enunciated his approach last year in a speech. "The job of speaker is not to expedite legislation that runs counter to the wishes of the majority of his majority," he said. At the time, it sounded like mere grandstanding. But it was put into practice last month when Mr. Hastert - ostensibly tasked by President Bush with steering the intelligence reform bill to passage - trembled before opposition in his caucus and blocked the final compromise from a floor vote. Since this was in secret, it is not even clear that "the majority of the majority" exercised a veto; it was enough for Republican leaders to sense that plenty of Democrats would vote for the compromise on this desperately needed bill.

Bush, in Canada, Declares He'll 'Reach Out' to Friends By ELISABETH BUMILLER HALIFAX, Nova Scotia, Dec. 1 - President Bush said Wednesday that a "new term in office is an important opportunity to reach out to our friends," but he remained uncompromising about the American-led invasion of Iraq and his insistence that the United Nations be focused on "collective security, not endless debate." In a speech at Pier 21, the entry point in this blustery Nova Scotia port for nearly one million immigrants to Canada in the 20th century, Mr. Bush made clear that diplomacy would be a theme of his second four years. But he described a diplomacy that appeared to be based largely on his terms, with a heavy emphasis on "the nightmare world of danger" that will befall future generations if the United States eases up in its struggle against terrorism.

Key Antigun Program Loses Direct Financing By ERIC LICHTBLAU WASHINGTON, Dec. 1 - Congress has eliminated direct financing for a Justice Department program that has been the centerpiece of the Bush administration's efforts to prosecute black-market gun crimes. The move, which Congressional officials attributed to competing budget priorities, cuts federal grants to local and state law enforcement agencies in investigating and prosecuting crimes committed with guns. It also raises questions about the administration's ability to persuade the Republican-controlled Congress to support its legislative priorities, after Republicans last month blocked an intelligence overhaul backed by the White House. The administration had sought $45 million for local grants under the gun prosecution program, Project Safe Neighborhoods. That would have represented a sharp increase in grants for a program that President Bush and Attorney General John Ashcroft have hailed as a critical way to crack down on gun trafficking and gun-related crimes. "If you use a gun illegally, you will do hard time," Mr. Bush is quoted as saying on the Web site for the neighborhoods program, www. projectsafeneighborhoods.com. But in passing a $388 billion spending bill on Nov. 20, Congress erased all the direct money sought for the program. A related program to track and intercept illegal purchases of guns by youngsters, for which the administration sought an additional $106 million, also received nothing in the final spending package, although the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, which administers it, received an overall increase of $20 million.

Quote of note:

"You start with a relatively small number of sounds you have to distinguish with high accuracy - gunshots, for example; or diesel engines for border patrol crossings; or chainsaws to listen for outlaw loggers. This vocabulary is quite manageable," said Berger.

Waiting for the Gun

A USC engineer uses his expertise with nerve cells to create a surveillance system that can recognize the sound of a nearby gunshot - and identify the shooter. In a unique pilot program, L.A. and Chicago will deploy test units in high-crime areas.

By Eric Mankin A USC biomedical engineer's pioneering brain cell research has led directly to a patented system that is now being rolled out to stem gun violence on the streets of Chicago and Los Angeles. The engineer is Theodore Berger, director of the USC Center for Neural Engineering, whose life's work has deciphered the way in which nerve cells code messages to each other. Berger is also a key researcher in the USC Viterbi School of Engineering's Biomimetic MicroElectronic Systems Engineering Research Center. A microphone surveillance system now is using his insights to recognize - instantly, and with high accuracy - the sound of a gunshot within a two-block radius. The system can then locate, precisely, where the shot was fired, turn a camera to center the shooter in the camera viewfinder and make a 911 call to a central police station. The police can then take control of the camera to track the shooter and dispatch officers to the scene. The city of Chicago is installing the first five of a planned 80 devices in high-crime neighborhoods, supplementing existing cameras. In Los Angeles County, Sheriff Lee Baca is now soliciting community involvement and participation to deploy 10 of the units in a pilot test, to be followed by more if the results are successful.

Army to deploy robots that shoot By Michael Kanellos Next year, the U.S. Army will give robots machine guns, although humans will firmly be in control of them. The Army next March will begin to deploy Talon robots from Waltham, Mass.-based Foster-Miller. The robots will be mounted with M240 or M249 machine guns, said a Foster-Miller spokesman. The units also can be mounted with a rocket launcher. Defense agencies have been testing an armed version of the Talon since 2003. Putting guns on robotic vehicles is a natural evolution of the technology, which is being adopted to decrease risks to personnel in the field, the company said. Several robots, including the Talon and the PackBot from iRobot, have been used to conduct surveillance missions such as taking pictures inside the caves of Tora Bora, Afghanistan, during the conflict. Other robots have been mounted with "distruptors," guns that disable bombs and mines. A robot coming next year from John Deere and iRobot will ferry supplies to and from the front, navigating its travels with little human input. A robotic vehicle with a machine gun will essentially enable soldiers to stay in a safe area while attacking an enemy.

Widening the College Gap December 2, 2004 With all the talk about not leaving children behind and the necessity of a college education to survive in the Information Age economy, it's hard to fathom why Congress and the Bush administration would cut back on Pell grants, a form of college aid for truly needy students. In passing the omnibus spending bill, Congress gave the go-ahead to the U.S. Department of Education to "adjust" its formulas for calculating financial aid. Last year, Congress had held back the adjustment because it would reduce grants for 1.2 million students and cut off aid completely to about 90,000. On the surface, the change seems like a reasonable update. The government uses a complex formula comparing a family's expenses — including taxes — with its income to determine its financial need. Education officials want to stop using old state tax rates that date back to 1990 and replace them with rates from 2000, which are generally lower. But most states have been raising taxes since 2000, so the 1990 rates are now probably more accurate than the newer ones. Though the change will not affect the poorest of the poor — families of four with incomes of less than $25,000 — no students who get Pell grants are rolling in cash. At most, their families take in perhaps $45,000 a year. Further, college costs are rising at more than twice the rate of inflation, and the maximum Pell grant has been frozen for three years at about $4,000. The Pell grant changes, by themselves, probably won't keep many low-income students from attending college, said Brian Fitzgerald, director of a congressional advisory committee on financial aid. But most states use the federal formula for their own grant programs and, by law, colleges and universities that receive federal funds must use the formula in calculating financial need. (California officials are still figuring out how the changes to the Pell grant formula might affect the more generous Cal Grant college aid.) With reductions in financial help at the federal, state and college level, worthy but needy students might be kept from higher education.

Anti-Syphilis TV Message Finds Few Takers Many stations reject public service spot aimed at gay men as inappropriate. By Jia-Rui Chong Times Staff Writer December 2, 2004 A public service ad paid for by the Los Angeles County public health agency to raise awareness about the dangers of syphilis has been rejected by local television stations that consider the content inappropriate. County health officials had signed off on the admittedly adult-oriented spot aimed at reaching gay men who are at greatest risk of getting the disease. But they said they were frustrated by their inability to get the ads broadcast at a time when Los Angeles was struggling with a high number of syphilis cases. "It's distressing to hear that some important public health messages are not being aired," said Dr. Jonathan Fielding, county public health director. "My question would be, 'Is this content more "adult" than others that are being shown … in the evening hours?' " "I don't find it objectionable," he said. "Would I show it to a 4- to 5-year-old? No. But do I think it's appropriate for an adult audience? Yes, I do." The debate comes as the Federal Communications Commission has increased its scrutiny of programming in recent months, following headline-grabbing incidents such as Janet Jackson's "wardrobe malfunction" during the Super Bowl half-time show. Last week, Viacom agreed to pay the federal government $3.5 million to settle complaints that it broadcast sexually explicit material on its radio and TV shows, though it is still fighting the $550,000 fine that resulted from the Super Bowl incident.

Weak pun. Shoot me.

---

Panel to Review Drug for Low Female Sex Drive By ANDREW POLLACK Men have Viagra and other pills to fight sexual impotence. Now women might soon have something roughly equivalent. Procter & Gamble will try today to persuade a federal advisory panel to recommend approval of the first drug to increase a woman's sex drive. The company plans to tell the committee, which advises the Food and Drug Administration, that the drug Intrinsa increases the sexual desire of women and the frequency with which they have "satisfying" sex. Some experts say approval of Intrinsa would bring a new era in the handling of women's sexual problems. "It's a big breakthrough in acknowledging there are medical aspects to sexual dysfunction in women," said Jennifer R. Berman, director of the Female Sexual Medicine Center at the University of California, Los Angeles, and a consultant to Procter & Gamble. "It's not all in our heads." But Intrinsa might not sail smoothly toward a positive recommendation from the advisory committee, which will meet in Gaithersburg, Md. The F.D.A.'s own staff, in its review of the data, questioned whether the benefits of Intrinsa were "clinically meaningful" because the drug increased the number of times women had satisfying sex by only once a month compared with a placebo. In documents posted on the F.D.A. Web site yesterday along with the company's data from clinical trials, the agency's reviewers also said they had concerns about the long-term safety of the treatment, which consists of the hormone testosterone.

Dollar's Fall Drains Profit of European Small Business By MARK LANDLER FRANKFURT, Dec. 1 - To get a sense of how fast the falling dollar can ruin a European businessman's day, talk to Udo Pfeiffer, the chief executive of a small German machinery maker in the industrial Ruhr Valley. Mr. Pfeiffer's company, SMS Elotherm, builds machines that forge crankshafts for cars. He exports many to the United States and Mexico, selling them for dollars to manufacturers like DaimlerChrysler. In recent weeks, the euro has been rising so rapidly against the dollar that Mr. Pfeiffer lost $10,000 in profit in the three days between shaking hands on a $1.5 million deal for a machine and signing the contract. The profit on these machines, he said, will be no more than $30,000. As the euro and other currencies climb into rarefied territory - the euro reached another record on Wednesday, settling in New York at $1.3319, and the British pound rose to $1.9327, a 12-year high - exporters are expressing more and more fear about how it will affect their businesses. For every familiar name like Mercedes-Benz or Louis Vuitton, there are scores of much smaller enterprises, making everything from crankshafts to concert pianos, that are being buffeted as shifting currency values make their products more expensive in the American market. Some are even more dependent on the United States and other dollar-dominated markets than Daimler or LVMH of France. And they do not have the financial resources of these big companies to engage in complex currency hedging.

Not. U.S. to Increase Its Force in Iraq by Nearly 12,000 By ERIC SCHMITT and THOM SHANKER WASHINGTON, Dec. 1 - The American military presence in Iraq will grow by nearly 12,000 troops by next month, to 150,000, the highest level since the invasion last year, to provide security for the Iraqi elections in January and to quell insurgent attacks around the country, the Pentagon announced Wednesday. The Pentagon is doing this mainly by ordering about 10,400 soldiers and marines in Iraq to extend their tours - in some cases for the second time - for up to two months, even as their replacement units begin to arrive. The Pentagon is also sending 1,500 paratroopers from the 82nd Airborne Division in the next two weeks for a four-month tour. By extending the tours of some 8,000 soldiers from two brigades, the Army is risking problems with morale and retention by breaking its pledge to keep troops on the ground in Iraq for no more than 12 months, some commanders and military experts said. Commanders had signaled for weeks that there was a likelihood that additional troops would be needed to provide security for elections scheduled for Jan. 30, and the Pentagon took a first step in October by ordering 6,500 troops to extend their tours. But the force levels announced Wednesday are larger than many officers had expected and reflect the insurgents' deadly resiliency and the poor performance by many newly trained Iraqi security forces in the face of rebel assaults, military officers said.

Company Hopes to Take Outsourcing to a New Level: Africa By Mary Ellen Slayter Washington Post Staff Writer Monday, November 29, 2004; Page E05 Many large companies have reaped the economic benefits of outsourcing in recent years. Karim Morsli is trying to make money bringing those same advantages to small and medium-sized businesses -- while also spurring economic growth in Africa. His company, Rising Data Solutions, opened the first outsource call center in Ghana, a West African nation of about 20 million people. The company circumvents the country's limited telephone infrastructure by relying on voice-over-Internet protocol. "Outsourcing is here to stay. Period," said Morsli, the Gaithersburg company's chief information officer. "But we give people an option to India." Morsli said Ghana's low cost of living, stable democratic government and literate, English-speaking population make it well-suited as an outsourcing location. He said his company can provide call-center outsourcing for 25 to 30 percent less than what it would cost in India. Despite those advantages, Morsli said, Ghana has not been an easy sell to the business community. Most of what people hear about Africa is negative, he said, "definitely not news to entice investment." It wasn't even an easy sell to the Ghanaian government, which has resisted phone service over the Internet as a threat to the state-run telephone company, Morsli said. Rising Data eventually persuaded the Ministry of Communications and Technology to grant it a license to use the technology, which is generally banned.

Quote of note:

Richard Grenell, a spokesman to the U.S. mission to the United Nations, said the Bush administration will withhold comment on the report until it is formally released Thursday. "We will review this report with an eye towards how, if at all, the recommendations will improve the workings of the Security Council."

U.N. Panel Rejects Bush Stance on Military Action By Colum Lynch Washington Post Staff Writer Wednesday, December 1, 2004; Page A15 UNITED NATIONS, Nov. 30 -- An influential U.N.-appointed panel challenged the Bush administration's right to use military force against an enemy that does not pose an imminent military threat. The 16-member panel, which was appointed by U.N. Secretary General Kofi Annan after the U.S.-led invasion of Iraq, said in a long-awaited report that only the U.N. Security Council has the legal standing to authorize such a "preventive war." The panel's findings reflect persistent international unease over the U.S. invasion of Iraq last year without an explicit council endorsement, noting that "there is little evident international acceptance of the idea of security being best preserved by a balance of power, or by any single -- even benignly motivated -- superpower." It also recommends the establishment of five guidelines that must be met before force can be legitimately used -- including a determination that force is used as a last resort and that the threat is serious. If there are good arguments for preventive military action, with good evidence to support them, they should be put to the Security Council," the report said. But "in a world full of perceived potential threats, the risk of the global order . . . is simply too great for the legality of unilateral preventive action . . . to be accepted."

AIDS in India, China and Russia Nears 'Tipping Point,' U.N. Says By David Brown Washington Post Staff Writer Wednesday, December 1, 2004; Page A17 The head of the United Nations' AIDS program warned yesterday that India, China and Russia are "perilously close to a tipping point" that could turn their small, localized AIDS epidemics into gigantic ones capable of disrupting the world's response to the disease. The situation in those three countries "bears alarming similarities to the situation we faced 20 years ago in Africa," Peter Piot, a Belgian physician and epidemiologist, told policymakers in Washington. It could transform "from a series of concentrated outbreaks and hot spots into a generalized explosion across the entire population -- spreading like a wildfire from there." If that happens, affecting both the global economy and international security, "no country on Earth will escape the impact," said Piot, who heads UNAIDS, a program run by U.N. agencies, the World Bank and the World Health Organization.

Why AIDS keeps spreading in Africa A new UN report, marking Wednesday's World AIDS day, estimates that 5 million people this year got HIV. By Mike Crawley | Correspondent of The Christian Science Monitor ABANSE, GHANA – Messages about how to prevent HIV have been spread to all corners of Africa. AIDS education programs take place in schools in Kenya, churches in Uganda, workplaces in Botswana, and even bus stations here in Ghana. Yet the stark numbers in a new United Nations report suggests these efforts are failing to persuade millions of Africans to change their sexual behavior. …Here in sub-Saharan Africa some of those cultural stumbling blocks include male dominance, a reluctance to talk openly about sex, and a tradition of polygamy that today manifests itself in tacit acceptance of married men having multiple sexual partners. African men who have become disempowered through a history of colonialism, racism, and poor economic prospects are unwilling to give up the power they hold over women, says Suzanne Leclerc-Madlala, head of anthropology at South Africa's University of KwaZulu-Natal. "I don't think we're putting enough emphasis on changing men's behavior," says Ms. Leclerc-Madlala. She says a key solution is for male African leaders - whether politicians, sports figures, or traditional rulers - to take a stand, admit publicly that men's behavior is a problem, and urge men to change. "The prevention strategies are missing the point. Women do not have the economic power or social choices over their lives to put the information into practice," said Kathleen Cravero, deputy executive director of the UN joint program on AIDS, during a press conference in London last week. "We tell women to abstain when they have no right. We tell them to be faithful when they cannot ask their partners to be faithful. We tell them to use a condom when they have no power to do so."

Bill Frist's reelection campaign…not Frist himself, mind you…took out a loan for over a third of a million dollars. To invest it in the stock market. After having lost over half a million dollars in the market over the last four years. Paid back about three percent when it was due in August because they lost another 32 grand this summer (should have sold Halliburton before the investigations like Cheney and Bush likely did). And the bank lets them roll the loan over.

Nick Smith, a spokesman for the Tennessee Republican, referred questions yesterday to the senator's financial consultant, Linus Catignani, who said the idea that Frist has received any preferential treatment is ''absurd.'' Catignani said ''the loan was rolled over,'' and interest earnings will pay it off by the time it's due in February 2007.

It's kind of a shame when Nick@Nite has more balls than CBS and NBC.

Big Media Clamps Down on Free Speech CBS and NBC are refusing to air an ad produced by the United Church of Christ because it advocates religious inclusion. The ad shows bouncers turning away a variety of people at the door of a church – including ethnic minorities and two men who may be a homosexual couple. The announcer says, "Jesus doesn't turn people away. Neither do we. No matter who you are or where you are on life's journey you are welcome here." (You can watch the advertisement here). In a letter to the UCC, CBS is refusing to air the advertisement because the commercial "touches on the exclusion of gay couples and other minority groups by other individuals and organizations." Also, CBS found the ad "unacceptable" because "the Executive Branch has recently proposed a Constitutional Amendment to define marriage as a union between a man and a woman." NBC similarly declared the ad "too controversial." The ad has been accepted and will air on a number of networks, including ABC Family, AMC, BET, Discovery, Fox, Hallmark, History, Nick@Nite, TBS, TNT, Travel and TV Land. Email CBS and NBC and tell them to air the advertisement because everyone in this country – not just the Bush administration – should be able to freely express their opinions.

There's something about the delirium that comes from a lack of sleep that makes me insanely productive. Or being insanely productive makes me unable to sleep. Fortunately it only happens in spurts. I think I got enough of a grip on PHP4 to use it productively. PHP 5 is up though… And Delphi 2005 is out. I need to upgrade, probably as a birthday present for myself. It's a Win32 and .Net development environment, and a C# environment as well…a move that quashed any concern I had they might abandon Object Pascal. Since Win XP's service pack 2 includes the .NET framework I lose all excuses to avoid C#. Oh, well… My coding efforts are shifting back to the desktop because the website issues are coming down to configuration. One of the more annoying things about testing the vast number of scripts I've messed with over the last year was keeping all the administration methods straight. Drupal gave me the potential of running multiple sites from a single pile of code and and API I could grok immediately. But the multiple site thing took a leeeeeetle more shell skills than I possessed until, oh, two hours ago. Two separate installations that were almost identical was almost as bad as four-five totally different administrative UIs. If I got the grip I think I got, it gets interesting. I'm now working on MTClient 2.0. So far version 1.60 has had over 375 downloads. I haven't actively promoted it because in my experience no software is seriously usable before version two. With WYSIWYG and raw HTML editing and post previewing (a request I still don't get), I think MTClient will qualify as seriously usable.

Cautionary quote of note:

Daniels-Meade cautioned against concluding that the new results were correct. "This has happened before in almost every election, in some race in some level," she said. She also said that Proposition 72 was not even among the closest races the secretary of state's office was tracking.

Surprise Shift in Prop. 72 Vote Tally Late ballots appear to make measure requiring health insurance coverage a winner. But a clerical error may be responsible, officials say. By Jordan Rau and Tim Reiterman Times Staff Writers December 1, 2004 SACRAMENTO — The fate of a statewide proposition mandating health insurance coverage — assumed to have been defeated in the Nov. 2 election — was thrown into confusion Tuesday night after the secretary of state's office reported that late-counted ballots had given Proposition 72 a narrow margin of victory. But state elections officials, who had posted the results on the secretary of state's website after the close of business Tuesday, removed them a few hours later, fearing that a clerical error was responsible for the surprising turnaround. Officials said they would verify the information today. "We had updates from 17 different counties today, but we are suspicious that one did not report something right," said Caren Daniels-Meade, a spokeswoman for Secretary of State Kevin Shelley. "So we have to get in touch with them all tomorrow." If the late results prove accurate, however, it would make for one of the most remarkable come-from-behind victories in California's election history. Proposition 72, which would require all employers with 50 or more workers to provide health insurance, was the subject of one of the most intense battles in this year's election. It pitted doctors, unions and consumer advocates against California's business sectors.

PR Meets Psy-Ops in War on Terror The use of misleading information as a military tool sparks debate in the Pentagon. Critics say the practice puts credibility at stake. By Mark Mazzetti Times Staff Writer December 1, 2004 WASHINGTON — On the evening of Oct. 14, a young Marine spokesman near Fallouja appeared on CNN and made a dramatic announcement. "Troops crossed the line of departure," 1st Lt. Lyle Gilbert declared, using a common military expression signaling the start of a major campaign. "It's going to be a long night." CNN, which had been alerted to expect a major news development, reported that the long-awaited offensive to retake the Iraqi city of Fallouja had begun. In fact, the Fallouja offensive would not kick off for another three weeks. Gilbert's carefully worded announcement was an elaborate psychological operation — or "psy-op" — intended to dupe insurgents in Fallouja and allow U.S. commanders to see how guerrillas would react if they believed U.S. troops were entering the city, according to several Pentagon officials. In the hours after the initial report, CNN's Pentagon reporters were able to determine that the Fallouja operation had not, in fact, begun. "As the story developed, we quickly made it clear to our viewers exactly what was going on in and around Fallouja," CNN spokesman Matthew Furman said. Officials at the Pentagon and other U.S. national security agencies said the CNN incident was not an isolated feint — the type used throughout history by armies to deceive their enemies — but part of a broad effort underway within the Bush administration to use information to its advantage in the war on terrorism.

Via Pandagon I see this:

His name is Steve Gardner. He's also known as "The 10th Brother," as in Band of Brothers. He's one of two members of Sen. John Kerry's 12 Vietnam swift boat crew members who refused to stand with Kerry at the Democratic Convention. The other man remained silent. "They said I had a political agenda. I had no and have no political agenda whatsoever. I saw John Kerry on television saying he was running for the Democratic nomination for president, and I knew I couldn't ever see him as commander in chief -- not after what I saw in Vietnam, not after the lies I heard him tell about what he says he did and what he says others did."

OooooKAY! What does "political" mean? What does "agenda" mean? And in what language?

Though I think she classes me as an opponent of the first type, Ambra hasn't actually annoyed me yet. And frankly for this one she gets much respect (for the across-the-board distancing of self from stupid). I'm impressed enough to let her piss me off once with no repercussions.

The Requisite Monthly Rant: for the record, Republican doesn't equal "Moral" or "Righteous" Throughout the course of my brief time as a writer, I've generally been able to pin "opponents" by brand. There's the "You're Too Young to Know Anything So Go Back and Finish College First" brand of people. There's also the "I Think You're an Uncle Tom, Coon, Sell-out Because You Talked Bad About Jesse Jackson And it Rubbed Me the Wrong Way" brand of people. Lastly, there's my personal favorite: the "I'm An Atheist and A Democrat and I Think You're Stooopid" brand of people. I am quite familiar with all these schools of thought. However, just when you think you're on top of your game, a new brand emerges. Well, somewhat new to me at least. Earlier this summer, I was introduced to what appears to be the most dangerous of all the brands of opposition: the "I'm a Republican and Am Therefore by Default Righteous and Moral" people. Boy does this one open up a can of worms. These people are dangerous because they are deceived.

Oh, the responsibility part is because it wasn't long ago that I linked to her with the title Still young, still learning.

Must've Hit Close to the Mark To get 'em all riled up like this - from the comments:

Fuck you mouthy niggers! What the hell are you doing on the internet? computers are for white people! Niggers are just too stupid for computers!

No, my friend, clearly it is YOU who are too stupid. If you could read, you would discover that this blog is written and maintained by an Asian Indian American. If you know anything about the Internet and computers, then you might recognize that it's Indians that pretty much own anything computer-related. You're just lucky we let you have an AOL account... I guess hate mail is better than none...

He remembers Mr. Peabody. NOBODY remembers Mr. Peabody.

Somebody's Idea of Black Culture Baldilocks is meditating on an old meditation. I thought I'd bring back some flavor to that discussion that we've discussed here and there. The way I see it, there are two bogus arguments that fuel such problematic discussions and and one shady argument. The first bogus argument is the racist one. Blacks are genetically predisposed to be blockheads, so ugliness is inevitable. Second bogus argument is a slippery version of the first, racist, but trying not to sound racist: Black *culture* is predisposed to ugliness and so such behavior is to be expected. The third argument is the shady one which suggests that Black culture *should* have ugly elements in it because it's appropriate to the political struggle of African Americans. If people really respected Artest as an individual (or disrespected him as an individual) we wouldn't be talking about black people, culture or authenticity. But now that we are, Mr. Peabody, crank up the wayback machine.

Followed by links to explain why I never give up on him.

And, of course, some folks approve…

GERALD WALKER COMMENTARY: Jesse Jackson Vs. Martin Luther King, Jr. The 17-year-old conservative Republican recounts a recent church discussion where he expressed disapproval of today's black 'leadership' — and was called a sellout — and vociferously took issue with another person's claim that Rev. Jackson was the greatest U.S. black leader since Dr. King: "No black leader has done more things for the African American community than Dr. King. Dr. King was a real activist, a national figure, and he sent civil rights in new directions. During a time of oppression to blacks, Dr. King let everyone know that they were 'Somebody' and gave blacks and poor people dignity, a sense of hope....Jesse Jackson is a profiteer who with the help of the liberal media has co-opted Dr. King's dream and turned it into a nightmare."

After I ragged on the NAACP while praising the Legal Defense and Education Fund the other day, Ruthie asked what was up with the division of the two organizations. There's but so much I can tell you. The NAACP started out as something of a cheerleading organization. The intent was to influence public opinion, make people think well enough of negroes to support their admission into society as full members. That was one of the things DuBois tasked the "Talented Tenth" with, the motivation behind the Harlem Renaissance, it was even behind Booker T. Washington's approach. At the time Black Americans…and there was dispute about this, no question, but overall we felt all we need do is show we were their peers. And that almost because a whole 'nother essay. Anyway, around 1935 the NAACP felt they needed to get some legal expertise going on, open up another front in the battle. They opened a legal department that spun off into the Legal Defense Fund in 1957. The NAACP continued working on a social and political level while the LDF took charge of the legal challenges. Both organizations did excellent work for a long time. But the LDF still has focus. I'm not thrilled they view integration as the goal rather than a tactic but were I in their position I might not admit I view integration as I do. Integration remains a necessary tactic and must remain an option for those who choose it.But to see it as the method by which Black folks can heal and be whole leaves too much in the hands of others…some of whom obviously mean us no good. The NAACP, it seems, lost its focus. Or maybe, having different initial focuses required different structures and it's possible they just have different natural life spans. The people it helped are no longer in the places it operates and too many of the people who need it have lost faith by now. The negro is no longer in vogue and the NAACP has some hard choices ahead of it.

President of N.A.A.C.P. Is Resigning By MARIA NEWMAN The president of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People, Kweisi Mfume, said today that he was stepping down as head of the nation's oldest and largest civil rights group. Mr. Mfume, 56, a former congressman from Baltimore who became the N.A.A.C.P.'s president in 1996, said he wanted to spend more time with his family. "I just need a break," he said at a televised news conference in Baltimore. "I need a vacation. I'm just not going to do anything for a while." The group's legal counsel, Dennis Hayes, will serve as interim president while the organization conducts a national search for replacement for Mr. Mfume, who is to depart on Jan. 1. Mr. Mfume took over the organization at a time when it was saddled with a $3.2 million debt. He brought fiscal stability by running the operation with a corporate style of management and laying off some staff to save money. "For the last nine years, I've had what I believe is both the honor and the privilege to help revive and to help restore this great organization," Mr. Mfume said at the news conference. "In my heart of hearts, I know the job has been done, and I step aside willingly," he said. Mr. Mfume's resignation comes at a time when the N.A.A.C.P. is facing a review by the Internal Revenue Service that its executives say is politically motivated because of the group's chilly relationship with President Bush. Mr. Bush declined to speak at the last four N.A.A.C.P. annual conventions. White House officials said the president had scheduling conflicts this year when the group was meeting in Philadelphia. But they also cited "hostile political comments" about Mr. Bush from N.A.A.C.P. leaders in recent years as the main reason he decided not to attend. In a letter dated Oct. 8, the I.R.S. told the association it was reviewing its tax-exempt status, citing a speech given by its chairman, Julian Bond, at its Philadelphia convention. In the letter, the I.R.S. said it had received information that Mr. Bond conveyed "statements in opposition of George W. Bush for the office of presidency" and specifically that he had "condemned the administration policies of George W. Bush in education, the economy and the war in Iraq." The letter reminded the association that tax-exempt organizations are legally barred from supporting or opposing any candidate for elective office. Mr. Bond's speech on July 11 included a long section that sharply criticized the Republican Party, Mr. Bush and Vice President Dick Cheney for their positions on an array of issues important to black Americans. In an interview with The New York Times last month, Mr. Bond defended his remarks, saying they focused on policy, not politics. "This is an attempt to silence the N.A.A.C.P. on the very eve of a presidential election," he said. "We are best known for registering and turning out large numbers of African-American voters. Clearly, someone in the I.R.S. doesn't want that to happen."

Bush Nominates Kellogg Executive for Commerce Secretary By RICHARD W. STEVENSON Published: November 30, 2004 WASHINGTON, Nov. 29 - President Bush on Monday nominated Carlos M. Gutierrez, among the most prominent Hispanic business executives in the United States, to be his commerce secretary, as the president continued with what Republicans said would be a broad overhaul of his cabinet. Mr. Gutierrez, 51, has been chief executive of the Kellogg Company, the cereal maker, for more than five years, and has built a reputation as an innovative and forceful business leader with broad international experience. But he has little background in public policy, leaving him largely unknown in political circles and untested by the demands of a high-profile job in Washington.

Merck Offering Top Executives Rich Way Out By ALEX BERENSON Published: November 30, 2004 With its stock plunging and its ability to thrive as an independent company uncertain, the drug giant Merck has adopted a plan that could give its top executives big bonuses if the company is taken over. Merck has been reeling since it withdrew its arthritis treatment Vioxx from the market on Sept. 30 after acknowledging that studies have found a higher incidence of heart problems in people taking the drug. Yesterday, Merck said in a federal securities filing that its board had decided to give its top 230 managers the opportunity for a one-time payment of up to three years of salary and bonus if another company bought Merck - or merely bought over 20 percent of its shares. Any executive who was fired or resigned for good cause would receive the payment.

A Steamroller That May Lose Its Steam By TODD S. PURDUM Published: November 28, 2004 …From the rapacious capitalism of the Gilded Age to the cronyism of Teapot Dome, from the corruption of Tammany Hall to the cultural and fiscal excesses of the Great Society, American history is replete with examples of the price of one-party rule. At the moment, Democrats on Capitol Hill lack even the power to call a committee meeting, issue a subpoena or do anything much more active than complain. But history also suggests a perilous twist on an adage as old as Athens: Whom the Gods would destroy they first give control of both ends of Pennsylvania Avenue. With responsibility for all of government comes accountability for all of government, and the picture is not always pretty.

New Social Security Plan Allows Workers To Put Portion Of Earnings On Favorite Team WASHINGTON, DC—President Bush signed an ambitious Social Security plan into law Monday that will allow citizens to bet a third of their payroll taxes on their favorite sports teams. "It's time we gave the American people the chance to make some real money for retirement," Bush said, speaking from the new Office of Social Security and Pari-mutuel Wagering Building. "Some naysayers think the average citizen doesn't know how to handle his own money. When spring training starts next year, it's up to you to prove them wrong." "It's your money," Bush added. "You earned it. You should be able to bet it on whatever team you want." Under the new plan, participating citizens will be asked to list their favorite teams on their W-2 forms. At the start of each major sports season, program participants will visit their local Social Security booking offices to review point spreads and sample playoff trees. Citizens' team selections will be subject to approval by their employers, who contribute a percentage of wages to the employee Social Security Earned Benefits Fund, or "pot," under the new system. "For too long, Social Security has been managed by an elite group of government accountants and economists," said U.S. Sen. Paul Ryan (R-WI), a longtime advocate of Social Security reform and athletics-based gambling. "Why let your retirement money sit around in an account when you could double or triple it in a single year? Under the new plan, anyone with access to a sports page can control his financial destiny."

Tuesday, November 30th, 2004
Red Cross Finds Detainees Intentionally Tortured in Guantanamo as Lawyers in Germany Charge Rumsfeld, Tenet With War Crimes in Iraq

Listen to Segment || Download Show mp3 || Watch 128k stream ||Watch 256k stream || Read Transcript

The report also concluded that the military had a set up a system at Guantanamo devised to break the will of the prisoners , and make them wholly dependent on their interrogators through "humiliating acts, solitary confinement, temperature extremes, use of forced positions." The U.S. has rejected the charges.

Meanwhile in Germany, the Center for Constitutional Rights is filing a criminal complaint today on behalf of four Iraqi citizens who allege that a group of U.S. officials committed war crimes in Iraq.

The Iraqis claim they were victims of electric shock, severe beatings, sleep and food deprivation and sexual abuse. Among the officials named in the complaint are Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld and Former CIA Director George Tenet. Germany's laws on torture and war crimes permits the prosecution of suspected war criminals wherever they may be found.

 

...then it's all UI from this point to the next major version of MTClient.

Said to Al Sharpton:

DR. FALWELL: To answer your question, Reverend, I do not think we have the right to impose our religious beliefs on people that disagree with you.

Be very clear what he's saying.

---

On the creator of Desperate Housewives:

DR. FALWELL: Well, the fact that he's a gay Republican means he should join the Democratic Party. MR. RUSSERT: Conservative, gay Republican. DR. LAND: Obviously a fiscally conservative gay Republican, not a socially. Not socially. Not socially.

---

Scariest statement possible from an Eveangelical (who by definition wants to convert everyone):

REV. SHARPTON: But at--I think that's important. But I think, Reverend, what you've got to do is convert people, not force them. If we were spending more time preaching the conversion, we wouldn't have to worry about... DR. LAND: If we wanted to convert everyone, we wouldn't have the civil rights laws. When a critical mass of the society believes something is immoral and is imposing something on someone else...

Sunday's duscussion on "religion and public life," according to David Brooks.

MR. RUSSERT: If abortion is outlawed in the state and abortions are performed by a doctor in that state, who's prosecuted? The doctor? DR. LAND: The doctor. MR. RUSSERT: The mother? DR. LAND: I see mothers as victims. I've worked in crisis pregnancy centers. I've counseled women who'd had post-abortion traumatic stress syndrome. When an abortion takes place, there are at least two victims, the mother and the unborn child. I would prosecute the doctors. And we're ready to battle that out in every state and let the people's elected representatives make those decisions, not people in black robes.

REV. SHARPTON: I think that they will. Let me say this first. I think that we have the debate over civil liberties that may not, in my opinion, be given the kind of airing that we should. I may agree. You know, Reverend Falwell and I talk. I have two daughters. My marriage just ended a couple of years ago, we've changed, but I'm very much involved with my daughters, and I talk to both of my daughters. If my daughters had an unwanted pregnancy, I would probably advise, under any circumstances, not to get an abortion. But I don't want the state to make that decision for them. There's a difference in values and imposed values. Second, in terms of the party reaching out, I think as we build a new party--there's a fight now for DNC chair, Wellington Webb. We're fighting with Congressman Greg Meeks and how active is Marjorie Harris and others that want to be key--that are reaching out to try and do this in a way that we speak to the American people but protect American values. I think the Democratic Party has to do that. But I don't think you can put aside that we do not have the right given personal conviction to make that law. I think that's un-Christian. Jesus didn't do it. DR. LAND: Tim, that's the very same--that's the very same argument that slave owners made in the 1860s. REV. SHARPTON: No, slave owners argued state's rights. What you're arguing is state's rights. That's what slave owners argued. DR. LAND: No, no, no. Slave owners said, I wouldn't--people who supported slavery said, "I wouldn't own a slave, but I don't have the right to tell somebody else whether they can own slaves. That's imposing my values." REV. SHARPTON: No. [P6: No indeed. And I have no doubt way too many people think Dr. Land is telling the truth.] DR. LAND: What they forgot was slaves were people, and unborn babies are people. And in this society, no human being should have an absolute right of life and death over another human being. REV. SHARPTON: May I respond to that? Slave owners used what you're using. Let each state decide people's rights rather than have a federal government protect the rights of people. DR. LAND: I did--I did my bachelor's... REV. SHARPTON: And I think we're trying to see is the right way--I didn't interrupt you, Reverend. DR. LAND: ...thesis on this and the Supreme Court said slaves weren't people. REV. SHARPTON: Reverend, I think what we're trying to see is the right wing to try to bring this back to state's rights, and I think that state's rights is frightening to those that have been victims by it.

REV. WALLIS: You know, we're not--no one's pro-abortion. How do you prevent unwanted pregnancies? I'd like to find some common ground to work together to dramatically reduce the abortion rate. On so many of these issues, we get in the polarized, ideological debates and then we don't talk about to solve the problem. DR. FALWELL: You're a preacher, aren't you? REV. WALLIS: "How do we make abortion"--Democrats--"safe, legal and rare?" Well, they're keeping it legal, but let's try to make abortion truly rare in the society. That is a common ground around which I think a lot of people, pro-life and pro-choice could and should support. DR. FALWELL: Jim, let me ask you a question. Did you vote for John Kerry? REV. WALLIS: I did vote for John Kerry. DR. FALWELL: Now, he is pro-choice. How can you as an ordained minister--you are an ordained minister, right? REV. WALLIS: Jerry--Jerry... DR. FALWELL: How could you vote for some--I wouldn't vote for my mother if she were pro-choice. REV. WALLIS: Yeah. You endorsing George Bush. That's fine. But you also called--you ordained him. You said all Christians could only vote for him. That's ridiculous. There are Christians who voted for deep reasons of faith for both candidates.

REV. SHARPTON: It's strange to me, Reverend, how the right wing wants to privatize public policy and make public private lives. I mean, people have the right to their private decisions. DR. FALWELL: No, I'm just trying--I'm trying to do what Martin Luther King did. I'm trying to...

REV. SHARPTON: Jesus--Jesus met the woman at the well. She was guilty of adultery. The state said she could be stoned. He stopped the stoning. You would condemn her for that. DR. FALWELL: We have a home for unwed mothers. REV. SHARPTON: He wasn't condoning adultery. He was not condoning adultery. He was saying that the state does not have that right to not say... DR. FALWELL: You guys talk about that. We have a home for unwed mothers. We have a national adoption agency. REV. SHARPTON: That was not just a mark. That was law on that day. That was law. DR. FALWELL: You guys are great at spending somebody else's money.

REV. WALLIS: If we really decided as a religious conviction that life was sacred... REV. SHARPTON: Well, I thought we decided that. REV. WALLIS: ...it would change all of our politics. It would challenge right and left. I mean, I think there are secular fundamentalists--you're right, Tim--on the left, who don't want to talk the language of values or faith or even kind of moral politics. But there's also religious fundamentalism on the right which wants to narrow and restrict all of our ethics to one or two issues. And that we can't do. The Catholic bishops get it right, this consistent ethical right. Capital punishment... DR. FALWELL: That means John Paul II has it wrong, right? REV. WALLIS: Well, the pope was against the war in Iraq. The pope was against President Bush on the war in Iraq. War and peace is a life issue, too. Social justice is a moral issue, too.

DR. FALWELL: Anyone who takes the Bible seriously believes that family... REV. WALLIS: If we could define these more broadly... DR. FALWELL: ...is one man married to one woman. Anyone who takes the Bible seriously. Anyone who takes the Bible seriously believes that life is sacred from conception on. REV. SHARPTON: And anyone that takes the Bible seriously gives people the right to disagree even with their beliefs. This country was founded with freedom of religion. It is unpatriotic to impose... DR. FALWELL: Well, then that's where we want to--why were you against slavery? Why were you against slavery? REV. SHARPTON: I was against slavery because slavery imposed the will of some on others. DR. LAND: Well, if there's no demand, than it's the same thing.

Who Is John Stott? By DAVID BROOKS Tim Russert is a great journalist, but he made a mistake last weekend. He included Jerry Falwell and Al Sharpton in a discussion on religion and public life. Inviting these two bozos onto "Meet the Press" to discuss that issue is like inviting Britney Spears and Larry Flynt to discuss D. H. Lawrence. Naturally, they got into a demeaning food fight that would have lowered the intellectual discourse of your average nursery school.

The discussion was religion, politics, law and judicial appointments…a small, highly distorted fragment of public life. That made Falwell and Sharpton perfect choices. And Rev. Sharpton flung no food. He showed well, as usual;stiffs like Falwell are perfect foils for his style.

This is why so many people are so misinformed about evangelical Christians. There is a world of difference between real-life people of faith and the made-for-TV, Elmer Gantry-style blowhards who are selected to represent them. Falwell and Pat Robertson are held up as spokesmen for evangelicals, which is ridiculous. Meanwhile people like John Stott, who are actually important, get ignored.

Looking at the list of accomplishments and acknowledgements Mr. Brooks lists it's hard to say he's ignored. It's hard to say he's not operating at the exact level of exposure he chooses. Falwell and Robertson were not chosen by non-Evangelicals. They are the political face of that movement for a reason and will remain so until they are repudiated. And that ain't gonna happen.

Quote on note

Given the weak performance of Iraqi forces, any major withdrawal of American troops for at least a decade would invite chaos, a senior Interior Ministry official, whose name could not be used, said in an interview last week.

U.S. Officials Say Iraq's Forces Founder Under Rebel Assaults By RICHARD A. OPPEL Jr. and JAMES GLANZ Published: November 30, 2004 MOSUL, Iraq, Nov. 29 - Iraqi police and national guard forces, whose performance is crucial to securing January elections, are foundering in the face of coordinated efforts to kill and intimidate them and their families, say American officials in the provinces facing the most violent insurgency. For months, Iraqi recruits for both forces have been the victims of assassinations and car bombs aimed at lines of applicants as well as police stations. On Monday morning, a suicide bomber rammed a car into a group of police officers waiting to collect their salaries west of Ramadi, killing 12 people, Interior Ministry officials said. While Bush administration officials say that the training is progressing and that there have been instances in which the Iraqis have proved tactically useful and fought bravely, local American commanders and security officials say both Iraqi forces are riddled with problems. In the most violent provinces, they say, the Iraqis are so intimidated that many are reluctant to show up and do not tell their families where they work; they have yet to receive adequate training or weapons, present a danger to American troops they fight alongside, and are unreliable because of corruption, desertion or infiltration.

You know, the complaint tells a subtly different story than has been presented up until now. Given the gossipy nature of the news media, that's probably legitimate. And I'll likely watch this one but the verdict is a forgone conclusion. One of the survivors has said yes, they used profanity but did not threaten Vang. I can't say, of course, but there's doubt in the very phrasing of this statement…for good reason, I think. Vang was an experienced hunter. A marksman and veteran that earned his U.S. visa by rescuing downed U.S. pilots in Viet Nam. This is not a coward that is likely to panic. And the first story I heard had Vang claiming he was shot at as he was leaving, that the shot hit the dirt near him. And I totally believe it possible a shot was fired with no intent of hitting him. Sort of a "Scoot, varmint" sentiment. I mean, we did it as kids…you get in a fight and people holler and throw rocks as the loser slinks away. One guy facing eight or so hunters in the woods of Wisconsin is a different thing than a bunch of kids on a city block. Well, it used to be… Maybe it's a delayed reaction from Agent Orange and Vang is mad. But if one guy shot at him, he was entitled to retaliate. And being in a hunting party he had to assume they had weapons in the ATV, at which point he would have had to judge his ability to outrun them and their vehicle. I don't know what the terrain was like but if it is as Vang says I think I would have chased and shot them all myself. But you can't have six upstanding members of the community killed by a guy who isn't even a citizen, and nothing happens. Remember, we've learned from the election, humans are not rational actors. Hmong Hunter Charged in Wisconsin Slayings Mon Nov 29, 2004 07:51 PM ET MINNEAPOLIS (Reuters) - A Laotian immigrant accused of shooting several hunters in Wisconsin was charged with six counts of murder and two counts of attempted murder on Monday, authorities said. Defendant Chai Soua Vang was scheduled to make his initial court appearance on Tuesday. According to the criminal complaint filed with the Sawyer County Circuit Court by the Wisconsin attorney general's office, the incident began after Vang got lost and wandered onto private land in Wisconsin's North Woods on Nov. 21. He climbed into a tree stand used to hunt deer and was told to leave by a passing hunter, who used a walkie-talkie to contact his friends. Vang, an experienced hunter and a former marksman in the U.S. Army, told investigators he believed some of his victims were going for their guns, so he chased them down and shot them, the complaint said. Vang initially told investigators that the hunter he saw took Vang's rifle and shot the others, according to the complaint. Later, Vang changed his story and said the hunters hurled racial insults at him, the complaint said. He also told investigators he was shot at first as he walked away, but the shot missed as Vang crouched down. According to the complaint, Vang shot back at the armed man and the others ran toward their all-terrain vehicles, which Vang believed carried gun racks or cases containing weapons.

Canadian Inventor Lets Everyone Be an Armchair Spy Mon Nov 29, 2004 06:55 PM ET By Larissa Liepins TORONTO (Reuters) - New Internet-based technology could soon turn regular computer users into armchair spies, a Canadian inventor said on Monday. Vincent Tao, an engineer at Toronto's York University said he has invented a mapping and surveillance tool called SAME (see anywhere, map anywhere), that produces images so sharp that geographic co-ordinates typed into a Web site can reveal the make of a car parked on the street. Tao said SAME works by taking satellite images of the Earth and combining them with real-time remote sensors that monitor traffic and weather. The information is reformatted on a searchable Web site that can capture ground-level images of the Earth with little or no time delay. The resolution is 2 feet -- fine enough to determine the make of a car, though not the details of a human face, according to Tao. "This is real-time streaming technology. It's like (the online directory) MapQuest or the navigation system in your car, but three-dimensional," he said in an interview on Monday. "You'll see a globe, like a virtual Earth, and then you can fly in from outer space and zoom all the way in to a city and even to street level, which will be updated by very nice, high-resolution imagery."

Today is the last day you can vote in my little attitude adjustment poll. It's also the last day I can pay my cell phone bill without incurring late charges. I admit, I'm conflicted… I, like President Bush, voted for myself to be more aggressive. So at this point the exit poll (which, by coincidence, is also the actual poll) gives me a clear mandate for greater aggression, with 55% of the vote vs. 18% for the next most popular option.

There's a book of speculative fiction by James Halperin titled The Truth Machine that explored the possibility of an affordable absolutely accurate lie detector. The book has it's flaws (all books written to make a point instead of tell a story has flaws) but it was correct in this: the wide-spread ability to flawlessly detect lies whose shake human society to its roots. Not to mention eliminate all advertising. All of it. Anyway… Brain Scan Shows Differences in Truth, Lying Mon Nov 29, 2004 02:17 PM ET By Maggie Fox, Health and Science Correspondent WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Brain scans show that the brains of people who are lying look very different from those of people who are telling the truth, U.S. researchers said on Monday. The study, using functional magnetic resonance imaging or fMRI, not only sheds light on what goes on when people lie but may also provide new technology for lie-detecting, the researchers said. "There may be unique areas in the brain involved in deception that can be measured with fMRI," said Dr. Scott Faro, director of the Functional Brain Imaging Center at Temple University School of Medicine in Philadelphia. "There may be unique areas in the brain involved in truth-telling," Faro added at a news conference.

Tiny Fuel Particles Cause Heart Attacks, Group Says Mon Nov 29, 2004 04:43 PM ET GENEVA (Reuters) - Tiny air-born particles released by burning fossil fuels are reducing the average human life span across Europe and North America by eight months, a leading research body said on Monday. Studies showed that the particles are a major cause of heart attacks, one of the world's biggest killers, a scientist from an Austrian-based research body told a U.N. news conference. [P6:emphasis added] "We always knew that they had an effect on the respiratory system, but now we know that they spark cardiovascular disease by inflaming the heart membranes," said Markus Amann of IAASA, the International Institute for Applied Systems Analysis. Power stations, road traffic, steel and cement plants and even wood-burning in country areas contribute to the build-up of the particles, he added.

To think that this could have been a book if I were inclined to unnecessary verbiage. Anyway… Erosion of Rights a Long U.S. War Tradition-Author Mon Nov 29, 2004 06:25 PM ET By Ellen Wulfhorst NEW YORK (Reuters) - The Bush administration uses "Gestapo tactics" to clip civil liberties in its war on terror but the author of a new book said on Monday that today's climate pales compared to other times of war in U.S. history. While prisoner detentions or the Patriot Act may spark criticism about an erosion of constitutional rights, the United States has seen far more worrisome violations practically since its inception, said Geoffrey Stone, author of "Perilous Times: Free Speech in Wartime." Nonetheless, he notes, some actions of the administration are "shameful," such as holding prisoners incommunicado without access to an attorney, Stone said in an interview on Monday. "I don't throw the words 'Gestapo tactics' around loosely, but that is what it is," he said. "It's breathtaking in its excess." Also troubling, he said, are government infiltration and surveillance and government actions cloaked in secrecy, such as the untold hundreds of closed deportation hearings held in the wake of the Sept. 11, 2001 attacks. "No administration has been as effective at clamping down on access to information as this one has," said Stone, a professor of law at the University of Chicago. "Part of it is chutzpah. Closing deportation proceedings takes a lot of nerve."

Buchanan's idea of closing off all the borders sounds good if we could do it while Bush is out of the country.

---

Bush Makes First Official Visit to Canada Tuesday Tue Nov 30, 2004 04:01 AM ET By Steve Holland WASHINGTON (Reuters) - President Bush will assure Canadian Prime Minister Paul Martin on Tuesday that a U.S. regulatory process is well under way that could end a ban on Canadian beef imports, White House officials said. Bush, elected to a second term on Nov. 2, goes to Ottawa on Tuesday in what will be his first official trip to Canada since taking office in January 2001. U.S.-Canadian relations were strained by the U.S.-led war on Iraq, but both governments have been trying to move ahead in the months after Martin replaced Jean Chretien, who made little secret of his distaste for Bush. In a reminder that Canada remains concerned about Bush's policies, thousands of anti-war activists planned to protest the U.S. president's visit.

You know, because I didn't vote in my latest poll I never saw the results until just now. Ten folks voted: five say I should be more aggressive, two say less aggressive, two say more tolerant and one STFU. Reminds me a lot of the last Presidential election.

Quote of note:

Yes, that's right: letter writers from across the nation are united in their outrage - not that the steely-eyed, smoking soldier makes mass killing look cool, but that the laudable act of mass killing makes the grave crime of smoking look cool.

Smoking while Iraq burns Its idolisation of 'the face of Falluja' shows how numb the US is to everyone's pain but its own Naomi Klein Friday November 26, 2004 The Guardian Iconic images inspire love and hate, and so it is with the photograph of James Blake Miller, the 20-year-old marine from Appalachia, who has been christened "the face of Falluja" by pro-war pundits, and the "the Marlboro man" by pretty much everyone else. Reprinted in more than a hundred newspapers, the Los Angeles Times photograph shows Miller "after more than 12 hours of nearly non-stop, deadly combat" in Falluja, his face coated in war paint, a bloody scratch on his nose, and a freshly lit cigarette hanging from his lips. Gazing lovingly at Miller, the CBS News anchor Dan Rather informed his viewers: "For me, this one's personal. This is a warrior with his eyes on the far horizon, scanning for danger. See it. Study it. Absorb it. Think about it. Then take a deep breath of pride. And if your eyes don't dampen, you're a better man or woman than I." A few days later, the LA Times declared that its photo had "moved into the realm of the iconic". In truth, the image just feels iconic because it is so laughably derivative: it's a straight-up rip-off of the most powerful icon in American advertising (the Marlboro man), which in turn imitated the brightest star ever created by Hollywood - John Wayne - who was himself channelling America's most powerful founding myth, the cowboy on the rugged frontier. It's like a song you feel you've heard a thousand times before - because you have. But never mind that. For a country that just elected a wannabe Marlboro man as its president, Miller is an icon and, as if to prove it, he has ignited his very own controversy. "Lots of children, particularly boys, play army, and like to imitate this young man. The clear message of the photo is that the way to relax after a battle is with a cigarette," wrote Daniel Maloney in a scolding letter to the Houston Chronicle. Linda Ortman made the same point to the editors of the Dallas Morning News: "Are there no photos of non-smoking soldiers?" A reader of the New York Post helpfully suggested more politically correct propaganda imagery: "Maybe showing a marine in a tank, helping another GI or drinking water would have a more positive impact on your readers."

Quote of note:

Perversely, American and British strategic analysts pin their hopes for Iraq on the unpopularity of their own troops. If we leave after elections, goes the thinking, then Iraqi relief and exultation will give the country a chance. It will almost certainly end up controlled by some new strong man, dependent on the reconstituted army, but he will be "our" strong man, and not Saddam Hussein.

Iraq is not Bush's Vietnam. But it is becoming Blair's Public wrath is growing, and the prime minister can do nothing about it Max Hastings Monday November 15, 2004 The Guardian There is a long-standing British belief that we are more robust about war, and its human cost, than are Americans. Yet compare and contrast current national attitudes to what is happening in Iraq. A reverse image is apparent. The British people are very unhappy. Many Americans think everything is going fine. Falluja is now in US hands, with very modest losses to the assault forces. In addition to an unknown number of civilian casualties, more than a thousand insurgents are allegedly dead. President Bush has achieved extraordinary success in persuading his people that Iraq is a stadium in which the War Against Terror is being decided. In consequence, there is a widespread American belief that every insurgent killed in Falluja represents one fewer prospective assailant of Washington DC or Sioux City, Iowa. Bushies are proud of what they perceive as a military success story. Recruitment to the armed forces is booming. The Pentagon highlights the fact that, in the most recent troop rotation to and from the combat zone, 250,000 men and women were seamlessly shuttled between continents, while Iraq's embryo security forces grow daily. Look at the US department of defence website, a study in exuberant patriotism. Here are some headings: "Operation Military Pride"; "Defend America/ Thank You to The Troops"; "Have A Heart/ Adopt a Soldier"; "Salute America's Heroes"... The US media trumpets a host of little stories such as this one: "About 50 military veterans in California's San Quentin State Prison joined forces with volunteers from 'Operation Mom' over the weekend, to wrap 430 care packages for service members abroad." A couple of months ago, a senior British officer in Baghdad said to me: "I have been surprised to perceive the moral strength of the Americans here. Before I came, and remembering Vietnam, I thought that by now they would be cracking. Yet I have not met a single American officer or soldier who questions ... what they are doing". In short, many Americans, including most of those in the armed forces, think that they are doing a great job in the war zone, and are winning - a sharp contrast with the British mood towards Iraq, which grows ever more fractious and cynical. Every death provokes a spasm of anger, driven by disbelief in the value of the sacrifice. Tony Blair recognises this. How else to explain his maudlin gesture in attending Ken Bigley's funeral in Liverpool? Public dismay is bipartisan. Retired colonels and home counties matrons, usually counted on to stand foursquare behind our boys on the battlefield, regard what is happening as Bush's private folly. They admire our boys as much as ever, but they are as disgusted by the British national role, harnessed haplessly to Washington's chariot wheels, as any Labour backbencher.

Lawyer: FDA May Reassign Vioxx Whistleblower Mon Nov 29, 2004 01:20 PM ET By Susan Heavey WASHINGTON (Reuters) - A U.S. Food and Drug Administration reviewer who criticized the agency's handling of Merck & Co. Inc.'s now-withdrawn Vioxx painkiller may be forced to another position at the agency, a lawyer for the scientist said on Monday. FDA efforts to move David Graham, the associate director for science in the Office of Drug Safety, have stepped up since he accused the agency at a Nov. 18 Senate hearing of failing to protect the public, said his lawyer, Thomas Devine. "We were wondering if he was going to be reassigned today," but that had not happened as of Monday morning, said Devine, legal director of the Government Accountability Project. Devine added that talks with other FDA scientists indicate Graham's "exile from drug safety work is imminent."

Quote of note

"Any member of the United Nations may bring to the attention of the Security Council any situation that might endanger the maintenance of international peace and security." Sanders also issued a stern warning to companies, including multinationals, against exporting weapons-related equipment to Iran. The United States "will impose economic burdens on them and brand them as proliferators," she said.

Thwarted U.S. May Seek Lone Push on Iran Sanctions Nov 29, 2004 — By Louis Charbonneau and Francois Murphy VIENNA (Reuters) - Iran escaped U.N. censure over its nuclear program but Washington, which accuses it of seeking an atomic bomb, said Monday it reserved the right to take the case to the Security Council on its own. The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), a U.N. watchdog, passed a resolution approving Iran's week-old suspension of sensitive nuclear activities as part of a deal between Tehran and the European Union. Crucially, and in line with Iranian demands, the resolution described the freeze as a voluntary, confidence-building measure and not a legally binding commitment.

Quote of note:

"It is a long standing case of Not In My Back Yard. Where people have knowledge they give support. In this case familiarity breeds content," she said.

Wind Industry Bids to Win Over Doubters Fri Nov 26, 2004 08:24 AM ET By Jeremy Lovell LONDON (Reuters) - The European wind energy industry, thriving as climate change tops the global agenda, says it could eventually supply all the continent's electricity, but must first overcome public resistance over eyesore turbines. The European Wind Energy Association (EWEA), which held its annual meeting in London this week, projected that offshore "wind farms" covering an area the size of Greece could meet Europe's electricity needs with no greenhouse gas emissions. But skeptics cite pollution of another kind with giant wind turbines scarring the landscape, or blighting the sea horizon, deterring tourists and killing birds with their whirling vanes. "The argument is reaching ridiculous proportions. Most people don't understand climate change and they don't understand wind turbines," Alison Hill of the British Wind Energy Association (BWEA) told an international meeting in London.

Quote of note:

"The only way a president can affect that which is inside the bill, other than vetoing the entire bill, is to be able to pick out parts of a bill and express displeasure about it through a line-item veto. I hope the Congress will give me a line-item veto," Bush said.

Oh, I don't know…how about by being the leader you claim to be? Bush Backs $388 Bln Bill But Wants New Veto Powers Fri Nov 26, 2004 07:12 PM ET CRAWFORD, Texas (Reuters) - President Bush on Friday backed the $388 billion price-tag of a bill to finance government programs this fiscal year, despite criticism that it was loaded up with pork-barrel projects. "Obviously, there's going to be things in these big bills that I don't particularly care for," Bush told reporters near his Crawford, Texas ranch. But he said: "The bill conforms to the budget that I worked out with the Congress ... the size of the bill is a number that we agreed to earlier this year. And I appreciate that because part of making sure we cut the deficit in half is to work together on the overall size of our spending bills."

Comment 169

At this point my primary remaining concern relating to the original topic is the concept of "Uncle Tom" or "Tommin'" - what does this mean exactly? Why is this term so much more freely used by liberals against conservatives than the other way around? Is it a political issue? Can one be a conservative black without being an Uncle Tom?

Eric, politics is sea foam. Consider your local police department: a heterogenous group of people facing a basically hostile world of which circumstances decree they see mostly the seamy side. Extrapolate.

I need to correct an impression one might form from the discussion. I don't like the NAACP. Big ups all day to the NAACP Legal Defense and Education Fund, but the NAACP pissed me off terminally a long time ago. And the turning point was during the brief tenure of Rev. Ben Chavis. When Chavis was brought in, it was with instructions reverse the decline in membership and donations. He chose to approach those younger Black folks that never felt a connection with the NAACP and that was accepted. Until he approached Minister Farrakhan and the fragmented grass roots community. Now at the time, on a practical level, if you wanted to make a big impact among Black youth Farrakhan was the way to go. He wasn't so much followed as heard. And the grass roots community is where the energy is. These are people who are already committed to action. If you can sort the personality issues out (just because there's always personality issues when a bunch of folks who are the alphas of their immediate tribes get together) and get some coordination going, you've got serious potential. Nope. Blew that up. I was like, you should have asked your corporate sponsors to begin with. And I thought well of Kweisi Mfume, I know his history, but when the first program he launched as President of the NAACP was to get more Black people on sitcoms I was not impressed. And nothing has happened to change my mind since. So no, I don't like the NAACP and frankly I don't feel it is long for this world. But I defend it against attacks like that which started the Blogcritics because the criticism was not legitimate, but if allowed to stand it will serve as precedent (as it were) against whatever organization grows from the soil its corpse fertilizes.

President to overhaul economic team quickly Aides said President Bush is seeking a more skilled economic team that can relate better to Congress and be more effective in dealing with financial markets. BY MIKE ALLEN Washington Post Service WASHINGTON - President Bush plans to overhaul his economic team for the second time in two years and wants to tap prominent figures outside the administration to help sell rewrites of Social Security and the tax laws to Congress and the country, White House aides and advisors said over the weekend. The aides said the replacement of four of the five top economic officials -- including the Treasury and Commerce secretaries, with only budget director Joshua Bolten likely to remain -- is part of Bush's preparation for sending Congress an ambitious second-term domestic agenda. Administration officials previously had signaled they would move gradually to replace the economic team, but the White House now is indicating it may move more quickly to convey a fresh start.

If this works, the UN should just buy the damn thing and distribute it at cost.

---

French vaccine fuels hope in AIDS treatment Preliminary study shows promise in suppressing virus - Sabin Russell, Chronicle Medical Writer Monday, November 29, 2004 French researchers reported Sunday that an AIDS vaccine designed to treat the disease, rather than prevent it, has scored an initial success by suppressing the virus for up to a year among a small group of patients who tried it. Although the technique is cumbersome and costly, the experiment published in an online version of the British journal Nature Medicine is being touted as "the first demonstration of an efficient therapeutic vaccine against AIDS." The vaccine was tested in Brazil on 18 volunteers who were already infected with HIV, the virus that causes AIDS, but who were not yet taking any antiviral drugs. After four months, the level of HIV in their bloodstreams had been reduced an average of 80 percent. By the end of one year, eight patients in the group had maintained a 90 percent reduction in virus particles in their bloodstream. Four of those patients had virus levels so low that they were comparable to so-called "long-term non-progressors," a rare cohort of people infected with HIV who never seem to get sick. Unlike a conventional vaccine, this one cannot block infection from occurring. However, if the French technique could be perfected, it has the potential to keep some HIV-infected patients healthy without their having to take the three-drug "cocktails" of toxic antiviral drugs. Instead, a series of injections, perhaps once a year, would keep their chronic infections in check.

Seriously. Quote of note:

One way to fix the problem is simply to not use touch-screen systems. Voting-technology experts tend to favor optical scanners, like those used in Los Angeles County, which cost one-third as much and have been shown in some studies to produce lower voter error rates.

Having used every kind of voting machine except touch screen, I can tell you that optical scanners are the way to go. You know standing right there if there's a problem with the way the ballot was marked, you have a nice recountable pile of paper until confidence levels reach the point where you can replace the collection box with a garbage can. And the ubiquity of lotto means everyone knows how to use them. Give us a week (two would be better) to vote and any concerns about voting fraud will lie outside the official system. Step Toward Election Standards November 29, 2004 The Internet conspiracy theories that George W. Bush supporters stole the election by tampering with electronic voting equipment have finally died down, and for good reason. The new machines generally worked well, and there's no evidence that their data were corrupted in ways that could have swung the election. That doesn't mean, though, that the nation's precincts should continue moving to the latest and most costly e-voting systems. The conventional wisdom now emerging — that the lack of evidence that e-voting systems improperly influenced the election means that fraud would have been impossible — is just as loopy as the cloak-and-dagger conspiracy theories it is replacing. Touch-screen systems, which recorded about 30% of the nation's votes Nov. 2 (up from 12% four years ago), suffer from a host of security flaws that their manufacturers and local election officials have done little to correct. It doesn't take a conspiracy theorist to recognize the possibility of someone using a home computer, a modem and some hacker savvy to break into most of the touch-screen devices now on the market. The most obvious deterrent to such fraud is one that only Nevada managed to implement Nov. 2: a paper printout that scrolls under glass at the edge of the screen.

Uncle Pharma's Mischief in a Bottle By Greg Critser Greg Critser is the author of "Fat Land: How Americans Became the Fattest People in the World." His new book, "Generation Rx," will be published by Houghton Mifflin in January 2006. November 29, 2004 Let's get this straight…. A major pharmaceutical CEO gets hauled up in front of Congress to do the congressional version of a perp walk. The executive's company stands accused of one of the worst drug screw-ups in recent history. Meantime, an FDA official, a scientist with an impeccable scientific track record who had managed to predict almost all of the major drug recalls, testifies that the drug should have been targeted for intense study and possible withdrawal up to three years earlier. The CEO is lauded on the business page for his affability and straightforwardness. The Food and Drug Administration is nailed on the front page for not doing its job. The scientist is profiled as a "devout Catholic," a "loner" and being against RU-486. To ask the obvious: What is that all about? The answer is an uncomfortable one for most Americans, who pride themselves on having a solid sense of anti-business populism. It is this: For many of us, "pharma" has become family, and the FDA has become the scorned black sheep of the clan, no matter what it does. Perhaps more precisely, in our minds and our culture, pharma has become Uncle Pharma, a go-ahead fellow who, like one's occasionally errant but always charming bachelor uncle, shows up unannounced on the doorstep brandishing exotic trinkets from some far-off land, trinkets so amazing that they seem to transform your little world before Uncle, without a word, vanishes into the void. Against him, the FDA can hardly compete. All it can say for itself is "no," a distinctly un-American command if there ever was one.

The problem is the FDA isn't trying to compete. The FDA is complicit…they suppressed the warnings of the scientist.

Quote of note:

There are so many reasons I can call out only a few. One is lack of federal leadership in funding schooling that emphasizes math and science, another is our fragmented educational system that leaves so much to local control, another is general anti-intellectualism and the cult of the sound bite. But I think that the major failure is our inability as parents to pass on our culture to our children. I say "inability" because I truly believe that parents want to do better but do not know how. One reason is the downgrading of family life in the two-wage-earner home, another is the speed with which technology changes how kids spend their lives and how people communicate; yet another is a lack of will when it comes to imposing discipline on children. And one that particularly galls me is the denigration of the word "stress."

When Science Flees the U.S. The trend could have ominous consequences. By David Baltimore David Baltimore won the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine, for his research in virology, in 1975. He has been president of Caltech since 1997. November 29, 2004 The United States is the richest nation on Earth, the world's biggest beneficiary of the global economy. But will it last? Not that long ago, the "global economy" meant that routine factory jobs were going overseas. The unions squawked, but others recognized that the U.S. could concentrate on high- value-added commerce: discovery, innovation, high-technology manufacturing, knowledge-based industries. And we've done very well developing technology and growing our economic base in these areas. So well, in fact, that such development seems like an auto-catalytic process or a "virtuous cycle" that will continue propelling us forward for generations. But the system is overtaking us. We no longer have a lock on technology. Europe is increasingly competitive, and Asia has the potential to blow us out of the water. In the last 20 years, many of the students in American universities who majored in the sciences and engineering came from Asia. Today, significant numbers are staying in Asia because the schooling there is so improved, and because we have made it harder to study here. And Asian scientists who have been successful here are returning home. None of this is lost on the governments of, say, India and China, which are putting huge sums into modernizing their science infrastructure and universities. The proof of their success is the number of U.S. companies opening laboratories in China. Intel and Cisco are leading the way, and many others are seriously looking at the possibility. Wages there are a third of wages here, and some estimate that the cost of employing an engineer in China is as little as a tenth of the cost of employing the same person in the U.S. But the key is not only cost. These companies have found that the Asian workers are as good as ours, as imaginative as ours — and they work longer hours and are more dedicated.

Vaccine Injury Claims Face Grueling Fight Victims increasingly view U.S. compensation program as adversarial and tightfisted. By Myron Levin Times Staff Writer November 29, 2004 Like good moms everywhere, Janet Zuhlke made sure her kids got their shots. This proved disastrous for her daughter, Rachel. She was a healthy 5-year-old until a brain injury triggered by a routine vaccination left her mentally retarded, physically handicapped and legally blind. A single mother raising three daughters in Satellite Beach, Fla., Zuhlke needed help with the enormous costs of Rachel's lifetime care. So she brought a case in a federal tribunal set up to handle vaccine injury claims. There, opposing lawyers hired expert witnesses to prove that Rachel's injuries weren't vaccine-related. When that failed, they balked at paying for costly medicines her doctors said she badly needed. The Zuhlkes finally won — but it took more than 10 years. "I thought it was very cruel," Zuhlke said. "People were very aware of the fact that my family was suffering." The lawyers who opposed the Zuhlkes were not working for a vaccine company but the Justice Department. Government attorneys fought relentlessly to defeat a mother who thought she was doing the right thing by getting her daughter a government-mandated vaccine.

I just unpublished the second of two comment spams I got today. I know some of you will wonder what the hell I'm complaining about with only two spams. Well, I only have two because I've taken some pretty draconian prophylactic measures. I've banned about six whole networks in Israel two or three in Europe and one in White Plains, NY. The last one is the one that annoys me, That was this morning's spam. And it annoys me because this afternoon's spam was identical…and came from Europe. So it's not a simple matter of dynamic IP addresses for dialup users. Especially since not a single IP I've banned belongs to an ISP. Now, I've already found one IP with interesting qualities.

In case you missed the point, I've just demonstrated that there is at least one IP address that is

1. on the Internet as opposed to in the private network address spaces
2. no one lays claim to
3. is the origin point of a spammer or spider that targets weblogs

The APNIC response had a link to an explanation of the Early Registration process, and being old as dirt and a reader of Boardwatch Magazine back before Jack Rickard was undercut I'm familiar with it. These were the pre-ARIN IP numbers, the ones assigned before the Internet went public and blew up.

This digital wild west thing is a pain in the ass.

Keto at The Colorblind Society links to an article about a bunch of racist kids in Maryland harassing a Black kid. Black kid's father had similar drama growing up. All very unpleasant. But something caught my eye in the article.

Principal O. Fred Jenkins said he has worked closely with the family to address its concerns, and students have faced serious consequences for their involvement. The school emphasizes respect, caring and responsibility, and teachers explain that biased behavior is wrong when going over the county's discipline policy. But that can be particularly difficult when dealing with pre-teens because they can't always decipher right from wrong. "Their reasoning capacity is not adult by any stretch of the imagination," Mr. Jenkins said. "They're very easily influenced by parents, other adults and the things that they say."

I want to know why Black boys don't get this level of understanding. I want it explained.

Might have been a bit over the top this time...

UNCLE TOM OUT OF HIS CABIN There are just too many Uncle Toms in the International Cricket Council.[P6:] These black and brown men seem to be in a race among themselves to keep the white man happy. Not that the white man expects such flattery, but servility is in the genes of some people. [P6: ]

And why all the drama?

The decision of the former West Indies cricket captain Clive Lloyd, the match referee for the recent India-Pakistan one-day match at Eden Gardens, reeked of ignorance of the spirit of cricket. He punished India for slow over-rate by suspending the Indian captain for two tests. According to the letter of the law, Lloyd was correct. But then, cricket is not about printed laws alone. There is a far more important issue — the issue of the spirit of the game. Lloyd, in his hurry to punish the brown man, did not use his judgment in the manner a quality judge would. He failed to see that the extra time played on that night was not “time wasted” but “time lost”. “Time wasted” would imply a deliberate wastage, whereas “time lost” would mean time spent owing to factors beyond human control. What can a human being do, if nature decides to take charge? Every cricket-lover and the media observed on that day that the match ended late because of the unprecedented volume of dew on the field. After each delivery, the ball had to be wiped and dried. The slippery outfield made running risky. So, for the sake of safety, the soles of the boots of the fielders and bowlers had to be cleaned quite often. Unfortunately, Clive Lloyd could not see beyond the rims of his spectacles. He went by the word of law instead of using his discretion to view the circumstances involved. This shows that a top-class player need not be a top-class judge. The responsibilities of a judge are obviously different from a player’s.

Quote of note:

An investigation was undertaken, and the military's top commanders -- including the chief of staff, Lt. Gen. Moshe Yaalon -- said repeatedly that the captain had acted properly under the circumstances.

Last week, after troops provided photographic evidence to an Israeli newspaper, the military opened an investigation into allegations that soldiers desecrated the bodies of Palestinians killed during army operations.

"She was going to school like every day, and the soldiers started to shoot," Hams said he was told by a teacher at the school who witnessed the incident. "She was injured in her leg and became hysterical. She started to run. A teacher tried to stop her, but she didn't listen because she was so scared. "Then they shot her," he said.

A Girl's Chilling Death in Gaza Israeli Army Concedes Failure in Initial Probe of Shooting By Molly Moore Washington Post Foreign Service Sunday, November 28, 2004; Page A18 JERUSALEM -- On the morning of Oct. 5, Iman Hams, a slight girl of 13 wearing a school uniform and toting a backpack crammed with books, wandered past an Israeli military outpost on the Gaza Strip's southern border with Egypt. The Israeli captain on duty alerted his troops to reports of a suspicious figure about 100 yards from the outpost. Soldiers fired into the air, according to radio transmissions, military court documents and witnesses. "It's a little girl," a soldier watching from a nearby Israeli observation post cautioned over the military radio. "She's running defensively eastward. . . . A girl of about 10, she's behind the embankment, scared to death." Four minutes later, Israeli troops opened fire on the girl with machine guns and rifles, the radio transmissions indicated. The captain walked to the spot where the girl "was lying down" and fired two bullets from his M-16 assault rifle into her head, according to an indictment against the officer. He started to walk away, but pivoted, set his rifle on automatic and emptied his magazine into the girl's prone body, the indictment alleged. "This is Commander," the captain said into the radio when he was finished. "Whoever dares to move in the area, even if it's a 3-year-old -- you have to kill him. Over." The girl's body was peppered with at least 20 bullets, including seven in her head, said Ali Mousa, a physician who is director of the Rafah hospital where her corpse was examined.

Quote of note:

The amendment had two main parts: the removal of the separate-schools language and the removal of a passage -- inserted in the 1950s in an attempt to counter the Brown v. Board of Education ruling against segregated public schools -- that said Alabama's constitution does not guarantee a right to a public education. Leading opponents, such as Alabama Christian Coalition President John Giles, said they did not object to removing the passage about separate schools for "white and colored children." But, employing an argument that was ridiculed by most of the state's newspapers and by legions of legal experts, Giles and others said guaranteeing a right to a public education would have opened a door for "rogue" federal judges to order the state to raise taxes to pay for improvements in its public school system. The argument plays to Alabama's primal fear of federal control, a fear born of years of resentment over U.S. courts' ordering the desegregation of schools and the creation of black-majority legislative districts.

Alabama Vote Opens Old Racial Wounds School Segregation Remains a State Law as Amendment Is Defeated By Manuel Roig-Franzia Washington Post Staff Writer Sunday, November 28, 2004; Page A01 TUSCALOOSA, Ala. -- On that long-ago day of Alabama's great shame, Gov. George C. Wallace (D) stood in a schoolhouse door and declared that his state's constitution forbade black students to enroll at the University of Alabama. He was correct. If Wallace could be brought back to life today to reprise his 1963 moment of infamy outside Foster Auditorium, he would still be correct. Alabama voters made sure of that Nov. 2, refusing to approve a constitutional amendment to erase segregation-era wording requiring separate schools for "white and colored children" and to eliminate references to the poll taxes once imposed to disenfranchise blacks. The vote was so close -- a margin of 1,850 votes out of 1.38 million -- that an automatic recount will take place Monday. But, with few expecting the results to change, the amendment's saga has dragged Alabama into a confrontation with its segregationist past that illuminates the sometimes uneasy race relations of its present. The outcome resonates achingly here in this college town, where the silver-haired men and women who close their eyes and lift their arms when the organ wails at Bethel Baptist Church -- a short drive from Wallace's schoolhouse door -- don't have to strain to remember riding buses past the shiny all-white school on their way to the all-black school. "There are people here who are still fighting the Civil War," said Tommy Woods, 63, a deacon at Bethel and a retired school administrator. "They're holding on to things that are long since past. It's almost like a religion."

Al Sharpton has actually found his calling. As has Falwell (who told gay Republicans they need to become Democrats). Falwell also has political Tourette Syndrome…he has to interrupt anyone who's making an actual point. Folks are figuring out that the Religious Right, in insisting people live in their pre-defined patterns, is usurping the free will granted humans by God.

…where we left off.

Conspicuously absent from this agenda is a program of healing. Based on studies from the National Center for Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder, psychologist Omar G. Reid, of Pyramid Builders Associates in Massachusetts, has asserted that current conditions of many black Americans are linked to the long-term effects of slavery — a newly identified form of post-traumatic stress disorder. These effects do not stem only from the direct trauma associated with being enslaved, but also from the lack of a centuries-old connection with a homeland; something that can be taken for granted — unless one is without it. A cultural connection provides grounding, strength and self-definition that can offset the damage done by external oppression.

Well. We see here that progressives aren't the only ones trying to weave a new narrative. You can always tell a Black Conservative by their insistence we replace efforts to get some justice in life with "personal responsibility" instead of adding to the efforts to get justice…

Pointing out this uniquely black American phenomenon is not to excuse current behaviors due to a difficult past, because if a true leader were to emerge, she or he would do well to begin anew under the theme of personal responsibility. Individual responsibility becomes a collective strength, as much a part of the group dynamic as language, religion, values and other customs. Each person defining his or her own healing process is the first step in assuming that responsibility, like diagnosing an ill in order to find its appropriate treatment.

…and an effort to displace "so called leaders" with "true leaders" of their own philosophical extraction. And they haven't actually done a bad job of weaving. It's clunky here and there but that's because they're jamming incompatible concepts together but to do it as well as they have takes quite a bit of skill. Anyway. Healing. A good idea, A necessary thing. If we're applying the right cures. I've written many times on this, using Abraham Maslow's analyses as a framework. I would like to know what illnesses Messrs. Counts and Evans see, and what cures they envision. Because if I break your arm and bind it to you broken, the pain will stop and you'll be able to function with a right angle in the middle of your forearm. I wouldn't call that "healing," though.

This is weird. On intelligence reform bill, Sensenbrenner is holding out for immigrant drivers licenses expiring when their visas expire. But only 10-12 states? And Lieberman says he's convinced Bush wants the bill as the Senate presented it to pass. All I know is, they're set up to do nothing.

---

On religion Gary Baur: "I believe if you put strict constructionists on the Supreme Court, we can overturn Roe vs. Wade." And he has to drag out the "cultural elite" crap when Rev. Floyd Flake mentioned the actual moral issues (though Rev. Flake was wrong in saying Black folks see little separation between church and state.). Gary wants to be ruler of the world. The one guy with the toupee isn't very useful, but Tony Campolo is an intelligent evangelical.

Quote of note:

So here, ultimately, is how it all plays out: when the Iraqi man in the mosque posed a threat, he was your enemy; when he was subdued he was your responsibility; when he was killed in front of my eyes and my camera -- the story of his death became my responsibility.

To Devil Dogs of the 3.1: Since the shooting in the Mosque, I've been haunted that I have not been able to tell you directly what I saw or explain the process by which the world came to see it as well. As you know, I'm not some war zone tourist with a camera who doesn't understand that ugly things happen in combat. I've spent most of the last five years covering global conflict. But I have never in my career been a 'gotcha' reporter -- hoping for people to commit wrongdoings so I can catch them at it. This week I've even been shocked to see myself painted as some kind of anti-war activist. Anyone who has seen my reporting on television or has read the dispatches on this website is fully aware of the lengths I've gone to play it straight down the middle -- not to become a tool of propaganda for the left or the right. But I find myself a lightning rod for controversy in reporting what I saw occur in front of me, camera rolling. It's time you to have the facts from me, in my own words, about what I saw -- without imposing on that Marine -- guilt or innocence or anything in between. I want you to read my account and make up your own minds about whether you think what I did was right or wrong. All the other armchair analysts don't mean a damn to me. Here it goes.

With dozens more bills in the congressional hopper, with titles such as the Unborn Child Pain Awareness Act or the Post-Abortion Depression Research and Care Act, reproductive choice is fading fast. The act overrides laws in California and other states explicitly guaranteeing the right to choose. States insisting that hospitals with a no-abortion policy offer that service to women covered by Med-Cal risk losing millions in federal Medicaid dollars. The gag order Bush imposed through executive order on his third day in office remains in effect, withholding U.S. aid from foreign health clinics if a worker in such places as India or Africa even mentions the abortion option. The spending-bill amendment allows health corporations to slap that same gag order on U.S. doctors and nurses. Physicians who oppose abortion already are not compelled by law to perform one. But now a hospital chief who opposes abortion could silence every doctor and nurse in his or her employ. In rural communities with few hospitals and health-plan choices, the measure could effectively end legal abortions. And that's the point. The Partial Birth Abortion Ban Act was the first federal law to forbid an abortion procedure since the 1973 Roe decision established a woman's right to terminate her pregnancy. The ban, which Bush signed last year, has been ruled unconstitutional by three federal judges, but appeals are pending. The law bars a rarely used technique for second-trimester abortions, which are themselves rare. Later-stage abortions most often result from fears for the woman's health or fetal anomalies. In April, President Bush signed the Unborn Victims of Violence Act, letting federal prosecutors bring separate homicide charges if a pregnant woman and her fetus are killed. Murder is usually a state crime, and if there have been federal murder cases involving pregnant women no one seems to know about them. But this bill was not about punishing murderers; it was drafted specifically to grant a fertilized egg legal rights. The amendment is only one brick in a wall, part of a deliberate strategy to shut off access to abortion services, clothe fertilized eggs with the legal rights of a child and discourage, even humiliate, pregnant women who cannot or do not want to raise a child. The obvious aim is to shrink the landmark abortion-rights decision Roe vs. Wade to the point where there is no need for judges to formally overturn it. With no hearings or debate, the Republican majority this month grafted the Abortion Non-Discrimination Act onto the $388-billion appropriations bill, approved last week. Although the name implies it protects women who are seeking abortions from discrimination, the reverse is true. The act legalizes discrimination, allowing any physician, hospital or health insurer to refuse to perform or pay for abortions and even to tell pregnant women that the option exists. That new right will extend, in practice, to employers, who get to pick which health plans a company will offer. EDITORIAL Chipping Away at Roe vs. Wade November 28, 2004

To Hell With Values Michael Kinsley November 28, 2004 It's been less than a month since the gods decreed that, due to the election results, American political life henceforth must be all about something called "values." And I gave it my best. Honest. But I'm sick of talking about values, sick of pretending I have them or care more about them than I really do. Sick of bending and twisting the political causes I do care about to make them qualify as "values." News stories about values-mongers caught with their values down used to make my day. Now, the tale of Bill O'Reilly and phone sex induces barely a flicker of schadenfreude. Why does an ideological position become sacrosanct just because it gets labeled as a "value"? There are serious arguments and sincere passions on both sides of the gay marriage debate. For some reason, the views of those who feel that marriage requires a man and a woman are considered to be a "value," while the views of those who believe that gay relationships deserve the same legal standing as straight ones barely qualifies as an opinion. Those labels don't confer any logical advantage. But they confer two big advantages in the propaganda war. First, a value just seems inherently more compelling than a mere opinion. That's a big head start. Second, the holder of a value is automatically more sensitive to slights than the holder of an opinion. An opinion can't just slug away at a value. It must be solicitous and understanding. A value may tackle an opinion, meanwhile, with no such constraint. No doubt there are strategists all over Washington busily reconfiguring their issues to look like values. Highway construction funds? Needed to help people get to Grandma's house for Christmas. You got something against family values, buddy? Or Christmas? Especially humiliating are efforts by liberals to reposition the issues they care about as conservative and therefore, we hope, transform them into values. Welfare? It (like nearly everything else) is about families, of course. And affirmative action is about work and opportunity. Liberals' actual motivation — the instinct that a prosperous society ought to mitigate the unfairness of life to some reasonable extent — isn't considered a value. So let's keep that one among ourselves.

Mother's view of the war Battle fatigue on the home front - Teri Wills Allison Sunday, November 21, 2004 I am not a pacifist. I am a mother. By nature, the two are incompatible, for even a cottontail rabbit will fight to protect her young. Violent action may be necessary in defense of one's family or home, and that definition of home can easily be extended to community and beyond, but violence, no matter how warranted, always takes a heavy toll. Violence taken to the extreme -- war -- exacts the most extreme costs. There may be a just war, but there is no such thing as a good war. And the burdens of an unjust war are insufferable. I know something about the costs of an unjust war, for my son, Nick, an Army infantryman, is fighting one in Iraq. I don't speak for him. I couldn't even if I wanted to, for all I hear through the mom filter is "I'm fine, Mom, don't worry. I'm fine. Everything is fine, fine, fine. We're fine, just fine. '' But I can tell you what some of the costs are as I live and breathe them.

Black horsemen swoop down on White House - Mike Davis Sunday, November 21, 2004 Earlier this year, four gaunt horsemen in black shrouds cantered down Pennsylvania Avenue. No one complained or even noticed, and they grazed their hungry steeds on the White House lawn. They've been there ever since and threaten never to leave. This interview with them is a Chronicle exclusive:

Loophole would let messages penetrate Do Not Call list November 27, 2004 BY LANCE GAY WASHINGTON -- The agency overseeing the national Do Not Call Registry is considering opening a loophole in the year-old program to allow companies to deliver ''pre-recorded message telemarketing.'' The Electronic Privacy Information Center, a Washington-based privacy watchdog, says the change could result in the 64 million people on the list being bombarded by ''answering-machine spam'' and other unwanted voices on voice mail. ''Even those enrolled in the Do Not Call Registry will be affected by the proposed loophole,'' the group said. The Federal Trade Commission said it does not think the change would have any dramatic results.

Social Security Plan May Put Bush in Saddle An overhaul of the retirement program will be a tough sell, allies say, and Bush needs to ride herd on lawmakers if a bill is to succeed. By Janet Hook Times Staff Writer November 28, 2004 WASHINGTON — If President Bush wants to push an overhaul of Social Security through Congress during his second term, he will probably have to do something he rarely did during his first term — get his hands dirty. To revamp the popular retirement program, many allies say, Bush will have to offer detailed proposals to Congress and engage in a broad public campaign to justify the changes and its cost. And he will have to ride herd on legislators to ensure they do not veer from his main goal of shoring up Social Security by allowing younger workers to invest some of their payroll taxes in private accounts. "It's going to take a lot of personal involvement and a lot of political capital," said Rep. Paul Ryan (R-Wis.), a proponent of private retirement accounts.

Over at Eschaton they're spawning bloggers again, which opening clashes strongly with the title I envision for this post Robert M. Jeffers commented on a book review in Harper' on Niall Ferguson's Colossus: The Price of America's Empire. I been wrapping books in Amazon links recently, but not this one because NO ONE should buy it.

Ferguson's argument is that we (Americans) just aren't ruthless enough, yet. Which means, yes, we could have won in Vietnam, if we'd just had the belly for it. Now America faces "the growing power of liberalism" (don't you all feel better now?), which prevents us from exercising our true authority as the benevolent Empire the Romans...oh, sorry, the British, once were.

Is this sufficient absurdity? No.

How to overcome this and other obstacles to the Pax Americana? Apparently by reining in the deficit by cutting Social Security and Medicare spending. The "less privileged" (Grandin's words, now [P6: Grandin is the reviewer]) would be made: "leaner and meaner, more willing to shoulder the burdens of empire. Just as poverty drove the Irish and Scots into Britain's colonial army, 'illegal immigrants, the jobless,' and 'convicts' could help fill the ranks of Washington's imperial legion." (Apparently Jonathan Swift and Jeremiah were both wrong: poverty is good for sovereigns!). "Ferguson is especially enthusiastic that African Americans might become 'the Celts of the American Empire.' And once he dispense with what here passes for social democracy, he sets his sights on political democracy. Successful empires, Ferguson writes, require 'the resolve of the masters and the consent of the subjects.'"

"African Americans might become 'the Celts of the American Empire.'" By which he means cannon fodder. That ain't spears and swords they're fighting with. Hence the title of the post.