When you think of the "Talented Tenth" a particular image comes to mind. That image sums up the archetypical "good Negro," doesn't it? It's been the entré to the Black upper class...the class that deals with white folks. Booker T. Washington is as much a member of that class as W.E.B. Dubois was.

Of course now there's no such thing as good and bad Negroes. Black Americans are more concerned with "rich and poor" than "good and bad."

The expression of the class war in the Black communities is a dispute over the validity of the "Talented Tenth" image and approach.

This is about comment spam, sort of. Not the biggest problem here for various reasons but to bits were posted here the other day and it just annoys me. It really reduces the potential we got with this cheap-to-free communication channel blogging thing. In the end I'm going to ask those who comment without logging in how much grief they would consider logging in to be. There will actually be benefits beyond a personal sig and icon.

I've been following the efforts to address comment spam. The SpamAssassin Wiki, on its BlogSpamAssassin page says

To summarize, I think that a permanent solution to weblog spam needs to:

1. Eliminate the benefits of spamming (boost in pagerank). 2. Not eliminate the benefits of linking in legitimate comments. 3. Require minimal maintenance. 4. Be accountable and trustworthy to the user. 5. Not disrupt or delay legitimate comments.

and I honestly think analyzing the content of the comments is a Sisyphean task.

U.S. Tech Exports Slide, but Trash Sales Are Up

WHO says the United States cannot compete? Trade statistics may indicate the country is slipping in technology, but we're still tops in trash.

In the late 1990's, those who counseled Americans not to be worried about the growing trade deficit pointed to "advanced technology products" - a category tracked by the government that reflects what it calls leading-edge technologies. The United States was running a sizable trade surplus in that area, and shipments of those products were rising much more rapidly than other exports.

All that has changed. In November, the United States had a record trade deficit of $5.8 billion in advanced technology products. For the most recent 12 months, the deficit was $36.9 billion, also a record.

China Promotes Another Boom: Nuclear Power
By HOWARD W. FRENCH

Published: January 15, 2005

DAYA BAY, China - The view from this remote point by the sea, with lines of misty mountains stretching into the distance, is worthy of a classical Chinese painting. In the foreground, though, sits a less obvious attraction: one of China's first nuclear power reactors, and just behind it, another being rushed toward completion.

There are countless ways to show how China is climbing the world's economic ladder, hurdling developed countries in its path, but few are more pronounced than the country's rush into nuclear energy - a technology that for environmental, safety and economic reasons most of the world has put on hold.

Quote of note:

The biggest boom is in loans to highly indebted companies. These deals, known as leveraged loans, rose some 60 percent over the last year, to $480 billion.

"There's been a party going on for the last year," said Mark Gold, who manages $4 billion in loan portfolios in New York for Trust Company of the West. The market has been so robust, he said, that there will eventually "be some blowups, probably within the next year or two."

Investors Flock to Loans Made to Companies Deep in Debt
By RIVA D. ATLAS

Charter Communications, the cable company controlled by Microsoft's co-founder Paul G. Allen, is struggling to hang on to subscribers even as it is weighed down by a hefty $19 billion in debt. Charter continues to lose tens of millions of dollars, and its stock trades at a mere $2 a share.

Michael overstates the obvious:

Absolute Poverty & Black Empowerment

I want to assert something a bit provocative which has to do with the standards by which we judge black progress in this country. I just read the following over at Black Voices:

In 2005, it remains a fact that 25 to 33 percent of black Americans are still mired in poverty, yet roughly 60 percent are middle-class (with 10 percent in the elite). It’s questionable, however, if the black middle class, which has historically been the leadership class, can socially and economically reproduce itself without programs such as affirmative action and minority set-asides, which have aided them in procuring the wealth that they have so far.

I don't think I have a beef with those statistics, but I recognize that they probably define poverty in line with 'The Poverty Line' which is defined by the federal government. Without going into any ideological rants about the welfare state, I wonder how realistic it is in a global economy to talk about Americans who live below The Poverty Line as if they were truly impoverished. There is no question whether or not they relatively poor, but are they necessarily indigent? I say no. There is a difference between relative poverty, absolute poverty and indigence.

I haven't looked in on my conservative brethren and sistren in a while. so I looked about a bit. Got a pointer to an editorial in Newsday...and to this line in particular:

Black America has no future-oriented vision of itself within the context of American reality.

And this is true.

But what is that context?

This is a day of significance for several reasons. Therefore I may or may not post what you expect.

<set mode="Chaos Lord">

From the Africana.com staff
After 6 years, Africana.com is shutting its doors on January 31, 2005. It's been an exciting and interesting ride, and we hope you've enjoyed it as much as we have. So…what now?

While Africana.com will be no more, many of the features that comprised Africana.com will be given a new home at AOL BlackVoices. We hope that you, our members and readers, will also make the move to AOL BlackVoices with us and enrich its community with your voices.

The report can be found at the NIC - 2020 Project.

Note to the paranoid: the CIA is on the other side of that link. But so is a lot of other interesting stuff...seems they do this every five years or so.

Iraq War May Incite Terror, CIA Study Says
Think tank sees a breeding ground for militants. It says the risk of a germ attack is rising.
By Bob Drogin
Times Staff Writer

January 14, 2005

WASHINGTON — The war in Iraq is creating a training and recruitment ground for a new generation of "professionalized" Islamic terrorists, and the risk of a terrorist attack involving a germ weapon is steadily growing, an in-house CIA think tank said in a report released Thursday.

It's the sort of synchronicity that crops up with us Chaos Lords all the time.

Central point of note:

...the firm is singularly self-interested: its purpose is to create wealth for its shareholders. And, like all psychopaths, the firm is irresponsible, because it puts others at risk to satisfy its profit-maximising goal, harming employees and customers, and damaging the environment. The corporation manipulates everything. It is grandiose, always insisting that it is the best, or number one. It has no empathy, refuses to accept responsibility for its actions and feels no remorse. It relates to others only superficially, via make-believe versions of itself manufactured by public-relations consultants and marketing men. In short, if the metaphor of the firm as person is a valid one, then the corporation is clinically insane.

The lunatic you work for
May 6th 2004
From The Economist print edition

Quote of note:

To rebut arguments that it relies too heavily on part-time workers, the chain said that 74 percent of its employees work full time. To challenge claims that it offers substandard health care benefits, it writes that more than 500,000 Wal-Mart employees receive health care coverage through the company.

And yet

Wal-Mart does not point out that the majority of its 1.2 million U.S. employees do not receive company health care coverage.

They also say

(Wal-Mart's average hourly wage for full-time employees in Maryland, for example, is $9.60. In Virginia, it is $9.49. The chain has no stores in the District.)

...which, of course, includes all the executives. Mad misleading.

Anyway...

Wal-Mart Rebuts Its Critics
Company Launches Major Media Campaign to Improve Its Image

By Michael Barbaro
Washington Post Staff Writer
Friday, January 14, 2005; Page E01

For an executive who rarely talks with the media, it was a hectic 24 hours. After granting interviews to USA Today and the Associated Press, H. Lee Scott Jr., Wal-Mart Stores Inc.'s generally low-profile chief executive, sat down for on-camera interviews yesterday with ABC, CNN, Fox and CNBC.

That said, having Step defend Fetchit is kind of a joke. I need not remind you Education Secretary Roderick R. Paige oversaw the school system in Texas that because the model and justification for No Child Left Behind Encie Elbie by lying.

Anyway...

Education Chief Defends Payments to Pundit
By Michael Dobbs
Washington Post Staff Writer
Friday, January 14, 2005; Page A04

Education Secretary Roderick R. Paige yesterday defended payments to a conservative black commentator to promote the No Child Left Behind law as a standard "outreach effort" to minority groups who stand to benefit most from the Bush administration's showcase education program.

Paige, the nation's first African American education secretary, said in a statement that he was deeply disturbed by the publicity surrounding the $240,000 contract. He announced an investigation by the Department of Education's inspector general to clear up any unresolved issues so as not to "sully the fine people and good name of this department."

A Senate Appropriations subcommittee overseeing education spending has asked the department to turn over records relating to the payments to Armstrong Williams, a conservative television personality, to plug the education law. The panel reminded the department of a federal ban on spending public money for "propaganda" purposes.

Quote of note:

The campaign will use Bush's campaign-honed techniques of mass repetition, never deviating from the script and using the politics of fear to build support -- contending that a Social Security financial crisis is imminent when even Republican figures show it is decades away.

But even better:

Bush aides said that in addition to mobilizing the Republican faithful and tapping the power of business, they plan to target minority voters who have not been able to afford to save and might be open to the argument that the president's plan would turn them into investors.

...which reminds me a LOT of affinity group scams. And, in fact, this graph from the FTC report on consumer fraud that I linked to yesterday:

Quote of note:

HUD has evolved into an agency designed to support urban interests and low-income citizens, while Commerce and Labor are more receptive to business needs.

Quote of note 2:

Cities have become dependent on HUD's development programs, especially the CDBG, which has existed for 30 years, city officials said. Stanley Jackson, director of the D.C. Department of Housing and Community Development, said the city has used CDBG grants of $21 million to $22 million a year for clinics, recreation centers, day-care facilities, literacy programs and housing development.

With housing and property values skyrocketing, the need for such programs for low-income families has never been higher, he said.

Bush Plans Sharp Cuts in HUD Community Efforts
By Jonathan Weisman
Washington Post Staff Writer
Friday, January 14, 2005; Page A01

Military Tests Lasers To Warn Off Aircraft
By Sara Kehaulani Goo
Washington Post Staff Writer
Friday, January 14, 2005; Page A06

A day after the Department of Transportation urged pilots to report hazardous laser beams aimed at aircraft, the U.S. military said it is testing a system to beam red and green lasers at aircraft in the Washington area as a warning when they enter restricted airspace.

The plan has prompted confusion among some area pilots who said they were unsure whether they would be able to tell the difference between a commercial laser used by someone playing at home and one operated by the North American Aerospace Defense Command. Transportation Secretary Norman Y. Mineta on Wednesday urged pilots to report laser sightings to the Federal Aviation Administration and local law enforcement. A commercially available laser beamed into a cockpit can distract a pilot and in rare cases cause permanent eye damage.

And not just because of Stargate Atlantis.

American Experience "Malcolm X - Make it Plain"

Political philosopher and visionary, husband and father, dynamic orator and militant minister. In his lifetime, Malcolm X was many men. Born Malcolm Little, he later became "Detroit Red" and "New York Red" - a hustler, drug pusher, pimp, con man and the head of a Boston robbery ring. After spending time in prison, he emerged as Minister Malcolm - Malcolm X, the fiery, eloquent spokesman for the Nation of Islam. Finally, he became El Hajj Malik El Shabazz, an internationally recognized leader and advocate for oppressed peoples. He was both loved and despised, revered and feared - until an assassin's bullet cut him down at age 39.

AMERICAN EXPERIENCE marks the 40th anniversary of his death with "Malcolm X - Make It Plain," airing on PBS Monday, February 21, 2005. This in-depth film portrait goes straight to the heart, mind and message of one of the modern era's most complex figures. Actress Alfre Woodard narrates the special.

This film chronicles Malcolm X's remarkable journey from his birth on May 19, 1925 in Omaha, Nebraska, to his assassination at the Audubon Ballroom in New York City on February 21, 1965. His compelling story is told through the memories of people who had close personal and working relationships with him: prominent figures such as Maya Angelou, Ossie Davis and Alex Haley; Nation of Islam associates, including Wallace D. Muhammad, the son of Elijah Muhammad; and family members, including his wife, Betty Shabazz, and his oldest daughter, Attallah Shabazz. Included is extensive archival footage of Malcolm X, speaking in his own words at meetings and rallies, and in media interviews.

Remember when I showed off my new pagination capabilities?

Well, it's on, fa sho now...I moved The Souls of Black Folks from it's previous static page home to The Niggerati Network...one post per chapter, but paginated into nice bite-sized (and bookmarkable...it's long) chunks.

I did it in three days because I was goofing off...the last seven chapters took two hours because I had to read deep enough to find plausible places to put the page breaks.

Next comes Walker's Appeal, then The Martin Luther King, Jr. Collection and My Bondage an My Freedom.

And a couple others I have l have laying about.

I think Anne Zook was, like the third blogger I've ever spoken/written to. She writes these pretty amazing rants...amazing because they are

1. long
2. coherent
3. documented

which is deep because she ties such an array of topics into the one post even I had to pause for a breath on occasion.

Well, she wrote them. She went on hiatus long enough for me to remove her from the blogroll when I did some housekeeping around these parts.

I think I was a bit rough on Prince Henry for wearing that Nazi uniform.

After all,we have thousands of folks wearing Confederate uniforms, reenacting the Civil War (does anyone know if they ever reenact battles the Confederacy lost?). We have millions flying the Confederate battle flag or some embedded variant. And I'm not seeing a big different, know what I'm saying?

The Koufax Award is the only blogging award I'm even tempted to give a shit about. And I got one nomination for Most Deserving of Wider Recognition, and one vote (thanks,Quaker in a Basement).

Just One More Tribal Tale of Abuse
By Paul VanDevelder
Paul VanDevelder is the author of "Coyote Warrior: One Man, Three Tribes, and the Trial That Forged a Nation" (Little, Brown & Co., 2004)

January 13, 2005

On long winter nights beside the Knife and Little Big Horn rivers in Montana, tribal elders sit around story fires and tell their grandchildren legends to help them make sense of the world. It's a time-worn custom, as old as silence.

A black man, a white man and an Indian arrived at the Pearly Gates, begins one of their favorite tales. After welcoming them to heaven, St. Peter invites each man to pick the afterlife of his dreams. The black man asks for great music and lots of friends. St. Peter grants his wish and sends him on his way. Up steps the Indian, who asks for beautiful mountain streams, deep forests and plenty of food. "Say no more, chief," says St. Peter, sending him off. Lastly, he turns to the white man and asks, "What do you want heaven to look like?" And the white man says, "Where did that Indian go?"

The Truth Shall Set You Back

By Margaret Carlson

At CBS, four high-level people (five, if you count Dan Rather giving up his anchor chair) have been fired for being taken in by phony documents. You may not think that's enough, but what strikes me is how rare such firings are. When there's lying, cheating and stealing on Wall Street, a prosecutor has to have the corporate executive dead to rights — at Fannie Mae, at Marsh & McLennan, at Sanford Weill's Citigroup — before heads roll. And even then the dismissals are generally accompanied by a payday so lavish it would make Croesus blush.

Quote of note:

A study released by the Federal Trade Commission this year found that among major ethnic and racial groups, only American Indians fall victim to financial fraud more often than blacks.

The study didn't address why this occurred, but fraud experts say African American churches are targeted because many of their members have accumulated savings but have limited experience with putting that money to work.

"Our community is not as educated about investments," said Craig York, an African American investment counselor with Los Angeles-based Operation Hope, a nonprofit organization that provides economic literacy programs in urban areas.

Just how bad the problem has become at black churches is unclear, said James Kohm, a consumer fraud expert for the Federal Trade Commission. But so many North Carolina congregations were targeted recently that state Atty. Gen. Roy Cooper organized a "church scam summit" last summer.

Hollow Accountability

It took no less a sage than President Bush to put the firing of four high-level CBS News employees in perspective: "CBS said they would act. They did. And I hope their actions are such that this doesn't happen again." This from the man who fired not a single person in his entire administration for getting nearly everything wrong about Iraq and taking the nation to war for reasons that did not exist or were downright specious. Lucky for Bush he's only the president of the United States and not the head of CBS.

Sugar, Vending Groups Take Action Against Obesity Claims
By Caroline E. Mayer and Dina ElBoghdady
Washington Post Staff Writers
Thursday, January 13, 2005; Page E01

Two more food industry groups are taking the offensive against claims that their products play a role in the nation's growing obesity problem.

Concerned about efforts to curb the sale of junk food in schools, the vending machine trade association is teaming up with pro football Hall of Famer Lynn Swann to announce today its own $1 million campaign against childhood obesity. One feature will be rating the nutritional value of the food in the machines. A red sticker on a candy bar, for example, would mean it should be chosen rarely, while a green sticker on a granola bar would mean it's more nutritious and can be selected more frequently.[P6: OH, yeah. That'll be real effective. Bet the sticker will be on the bottom, so you'd have to buy the candy to see it...]

Meanwhile, the Sugar Association, worried about the declining sales, is going to spend at least $3 million a year for the next three years to give consumers "permission to use sugar," according to Melanie Miller, a spokeswoman for the association. "In moderation, it's not evil," she said, noting a teaspoon is only 15 calories.

The industry-sponsored drives come as the food industry is being blamed for the growing number of obese Americans, particularly children. The number of obese children has more than doubled in the past 30 years.

"We're not buying influence, we're buying access."

"And the difference is...?"

Big-Money Contributors Line Up for Inauguration
By Thomas B. Edsall and Jeffrey H. Birnbaum
Washington Post Staff Writers
Thursday, January 13, 2005; Page A01

President Bush wants to lower barriers to building nuclear power plants, and the lobby that promotes nuclear energy could not be happier. To show its thanks, the group has given $100,000 to help pay for his inauguration.

"He's a big supporter," said John E. Kane, chief lobbyist for the Nuclear Energy Institute. "Our donation is just a small way of supporting him."

The nuclear energy industry's contribution is part of a record-breaking outpouring of corporate cash for next week's inaugural festivities. At least 88 companies and trade associations, along with 39 top executives -- all with huge stakes in administration policies -- have already donated $18 million toward a $40 million goal for the country's 55th inaugural celebration.

They can't fuck up their world without fucking up mine.

Anyway...

Effort Under Way to Weaken U.S. Endangered Species Law
Mon Jan 10, 2005 12:49 PM ET

By Judith Crosson
DENVER (Reuters) - For the first time in three decades, critics of the Endangered Species Act are building momentum to rewrite the law implemented to save America's threatened flora and fauna, from the star cactus to the grizzly bear.

Weakening the law has been a priority for Republican Western governors, and a second Bush term provides critics of the act a prime opportunity to push the U.S. Congress for changes that would help open up vast stretches of wilderness for development.

Rep. Richard Pombo of California, chairman of the House of Representatives natural resources committee, is expected to introduce legislation this session to revamp the law.

Activists on both sides of the issue say there is little chance of truly gutting the act given its mission of saving plants and animals, but environmentalists fear it could become significantly watered down.

Frankly, Reilly has a better domain arbitration case than most I've seen.

Mass. Republicans Launch Pre-Emptive Web Strike
Mon Jan 10, 2005 04:17 PM ET

By Greg Frost
BOSTON (Reuters) - Massachusetts Republicans have launched a pre-emptive strike against Democratic Attorney General Tom Reilly by snapping up online Internet addresses that would have been obvious picks for him if he decides to run for governor in 2006.

Reilly has not yet said whether he will challenge Republican Governor Mitt Romney in 2006. But if Reilly does run, it will be hard for him to use the Web sites reillyforgovernor.com, tomreillyforgovernor.com, reillyforgovernor2006.com and reillyforgovernor06.com.

That's because the state Republican Party registered those domain names last week, the Boston Herald newspaper reported on Monday.

"It was bought with the intention to have some fun if he is indeed the nominee," Tim O'Brien, executive director of the state party, told the Herald.

Quote of note:

White House spokesman Scott McClellan said Bush "has a great amount of trust" in Hubbard, who once served as deputy chief of staff to Vice President Dan Quayle during the administration of Bush's father.

Oh, that is a convincing line on the resume...

"The key question to ask is whether Mr. Hubbard is being brought on to just be a salesperson for predetermined policies or whether he has a real mandate to run a coordinated and rigorous policy process to present options to the president. One hopes that it is the latter," said Gene Sperling, who ran the National Economic Council under former President Bill Clinton.

Mr. Sperling, please. You can't possibly be that naïve

Anyway...

Prince Harry draws fire from Jewish groups
By Michael McDonough, Associated Press Writer | January 13, 2005

LONDON --Jewish groups and lawmakers in Britain criticized the grandson of Queen Elizabeth II on Thursday for wearing a Nazi soldier's uniform to a fancy dress party.

Prince Harry, the second son of Prince Charles and the late Princess Diana, apologized in a statement after a British newspaper printed a picture of him clutching a cigarette and a drink and wearing a swastika armband.

"I think a lot of people will be disappointed to see that photograph and it will cause a lot of offense," said Michael Howard, leader of Britain's main opposition Conservative Party.

"I think it might be appropriate for him to tell us himself just how contrite he now is," added Howard, who is Jewish. He didn't specify how he thought the prince should make the apology.

Home Secretary Charles Clarke, however, said he was satisfied with Harry's statement. "He's apologized and I think we should leave the matter there," he told British Broadcasting Corp. radio.

The picture of the 20-year-old prince appeared in The Sun newspaper.

Bush seeks to expand education act
By Susan Milligan, Globe Staff | January 13, 2005

WASHINGTON -- President Bush yesterday proposed spending $1.5 billion to expand his controversial ''No Child Left Behind" education reforms to high schools and requiring public schools to test secondary school students yearly in reading and mathematics.

Quote of note:

The State Department will begin issuing new electronic or biometric passports within a few months, containing a microchip holding a citizen's name, birth date, and photo. But while the chip will be able to include fingerprints, none are planned at this point.

"Without good encryption, there's a big risk of biometric pollution," said Peter P. Swire, an Ohio State University law professor who served as the Clinton administration's chief privacy counselor. "That can breed identity theft because now the bad guys can forge your fingerprint as well as your Social Security number. You can change your Social Security number, but it's really hard to change your thumbprint."

US passports should have fingerprints, Ridge says
Privacy advocates fear identity theft
By Lara Jakes Jordan, Associated Press | January 13, 2005

WASHINGTON -- The United States should put the fingerprints of its citizens on passports to enhance global security, outgoing Homeland Security Secretary Tom Ridge said yesterday in a recommendation risking a privacy fight at home.

Ridge said passports could ideally include biometric finger scans -- for all 10 fingers -- to help customs officials quickly and accurately identify US travelers. He offered no details on how the plan might deal with privacy concerns or guard against international identity theft.

Just curious...

Reputed Klansman held in '64 killings out on bail
By Shelia Byrd, Associated Press | January 13, 2005

PHILADELPHIA, Miss. -- The reputed Ku Klux Klansman charged with the 1964 murders of three civil rights workers was freed yesterday on $250,000 bail.

Time has an article online about the NAACP's need to refocus its mission and efforts. And since I have issues with the way they've worked since Ben Chavis days I was ready to dump on them, just a little.

When I saw they were talking to Michael Myers, my own focus shifted a bit.

He is a past member of the ACLU's Academic Freedom Committee, Affirmative Action Committee, Equality Committee, and Free Speech/Association Committee, and of various professional, not-for-profit, and civic organizations, including the advisory board of the Washington, D.C.-based Center for Equal Opportunity. His other current board memberships include the America-Israel Friendship League; the Foundation for Individual Rights in Education (F.I.R.E.); and The City Club of New York.

Note: past member. Brother got credentials out the yin-yang but became, shall we say, problematic in the early 90s...Newt Gingrich days. You may recall (or not, you young punks) that was when a lot of Black Conservatives got their start, and Meyers was right up front condemning "Black Racism." At this point I believe the organization consists on Meyers alone, and maybe someone that knows how to type.

Homeless Bound?
By JULIE RAWE JEFFREY RESSNER; AMANDA BOWER

At the age of 23, James Brown has already spent four years in the Marines and two months in a homeless shelter. After serving in Iraq and Afghanistan before being honorably discharged last summer, he moved from Dayton, Ohio, to Los Angeles seeking work but soon wound up in a 515-bed facility run by the public-private organization U.S. VETS. Brown's plight is not unique. The National Coalition for Homeless Veterans is releasing a nationwide survey this week that counted 67 vets from Iraq and Afghanistan in homeless shelters at some point last year. "A lot of guys I met in the service were loners," says Brown. "And when they get out, their support system is pretty small."

via MetaFilter

FERAL CITIES
Richard J. Norton

Imagine a great metropolis covering hundreds of square miles. Once a vital component in a national economy, this sprawling urban environment is now a vast collection of blighted buildings, an immense petri dish of both ancient and new diseases, a territory where the rule of law has long been replaced by near anarchy in which the only security available is that which is attained through brute power. Such cities have been routinely imagined in apocalyptic movies and in certain science-fiction genres, where they are often portrayed as gigantic versions of T. S. Eliot’s Rat’s Alley. Yet this city would still be globally connected. It would possess at least a modicum of commercial linkages, and some of its inhabitants would have access to the world’s most modern communication and computing technologies. It would, in effect, be a feral city.

I admire that. You got to check out his Payolagate posts, especially this one. Evil, I tell you.

Plus, there's a link to an article by Eugene Kane which contains the very concise (and likely precise):

I have no problem with blacks having conservative opinions, in politics or elsewhere. But for the most part, whenever a commentator or writer in America is labeled a "black conservative" by the media, you know what you're getting: a black Republican toeing the party line, just like black Democrats do.

The only difference: the black Republican is probably getting paid.

OOF!

And this:

This is a clear indication - once again - of the credibility gap between blacks and the Republican Party.

Many blacks are socially conservative, as much or more so than the average white American. But the GOP keeps placing its bets on the wrong horse to reach black voters.

And it's getting expensive.

Seeing how their opinions can be bought and sold so easily, maybe we should stop calling them "black conservatives" in favor of something else.

I can think of a few suggestions.

Double OOF!

I'm thinking March, maybe early April. Something totally non-intellectual...which means I haven't a clue in life where or what to do when I get there (serious proof I need a vacation). And I'm not entirely sure I want humans around at all.

Too Black, Too Strong
A Ken Burns documentary reveals a champ whose individualism ignited his rise--and his downfall
By JAMES PONIEWOZIK

Monday, Jan. 17, 2005

Racial supremacists hold two contradictory beliefs: 1) that one race is mentally and physically superior to another and 2) that at all costs the disdained race must never get a chance to prove that first belief wrong. In 1908, Jack Johnson shattered the racists' worldview with his two gloved fists when, after years chasing a title shot, he pummeled Tommy Burns to become the first black heavyweight champion of the world.

Ken Burns' two-part PBS documentary Unforgivable Blackness: The Rise and Fall of Jack Johnson (debuts Jan. 17; check local listings) rediscovers the story of an athlete who not only broke the color line but insisted, to white and black critics, that his color was irrelevant. The title of Blackness--the companion to last year's book of the same name by Geoffrey C. Ward--is no throwaway. Towering and obsidian-dark, Johnson was the kind of black man, critic Stanley Crouch says in the documentary, who makes whites "think they're in the presence of something aboriginal."

Yet he was more like a man from the future. While his white opponents stood and slugged in the style of the bare-knuckle era, he weaved the way Muhammad Ali would later do. Outside the ring, the handsome, savvy and charismatic Johnson prefigured today's celebrity athletes (and polarizing black stars like Kobe Bryant and Mike Tyson). He wore tailored suits, drove custom cars and slept with many women, white women in particular. His boxing wins drew death threats and caused riots, but it was his sex life that most outraged whites, and many blacks. In 1913 he was tried under the Mann Act on charges of transporting a girlfriend across state lines for immoral purposes; he was convicted and went into exile and dissolution.

Search for Illicit Weapons in Iraq Ends
By THE NEW YORK TIMES

WASHINGTON, Jan. 12 - The top American weapons inspector in Iraq, Charles A. Duelfer, has wrapped up his work there, a step that ends the search for illicit weapons, an intelligence official said Tuesday night.

Mr. Duelfer issued a comprehensive report last fall that acknowledged that Iraq had destroyed its chemical and biological weapons in the early 1990's, years before the American invasion of 2003. But Mr. Duelfer returned to Iraq for further investigations after that report was issued. In an article in its Wednesday issue, The Washington Post reported that he had ended that work in late December.

The intelligence official said that Mr. Duelfer was still likely to issue several small additional statements on his findings, but that none would contradict the central conclusions that Iraq did not possess illicit weapons at the time of the American invasion.

President Bush and his top advisers had described what they said were illicit Iraqi arsenals as the central justification for going to war.

Judge Finds Pricewaterhouse Withheld Data
By JONATHAN D. GLATER

A federal magistrate judge in Ohio has found that PricewaterhouseCoopers failed to provide documents and other evidence in an accounting fraud lawsuit against the firm.

In documents unsealed yesterday, United States Magistrate Judge Patricia A. Hemann wrote in a nonbinding recommendation to another federal judge that she had "considered, but cannot recommend, any lesser sanction than the entry of default judgment" against PricewaterhouseCoopers for its failure to turn over evidence sought by the Telxon Corporation, which was an audit client, and by Telxon's shareholders.

"In some cases, it is difficult to avoid the conclusion" that PricewaterhouseCoopers "engaged in deliberate fraud," Judge Hemann wrote in describing instances in which the accounting firm discovered very late in proceedings that multiple versions of some documents sought by the two plaintiffs existed in different places. In concluding that a default judgment should be entered against PricewaterhouseCoopers, she also wrote that "there is strong evidence that documents have been destroyed, placing plaintiffs and Telxon in a situation which cannot be remedied."

Quote of note:

The agreement was also timely. President Bush will visit Europe next month as part of his campaign to reach out to his European allies, and a trade dispute would have been unwelcome. "This improves the atmosphere," said Ambassador John Bruton, the head of the European Union's delegation to the United States. "There was a risk that if this had gone ahead, both the U.S. and the E.U. would have had egg on their faces."

The United States wants European countries to end direct loans to Airbus, which it says has been the beneficiary of as much as $40 billion in government aid through low-interest loans called launch loans.

In their counterclaim, European trade officials said that the United States paid Boeing "massive illegal subsidies that damage Airbus," like tax benefits and subsidized research and development.

On Subsidies, the Sky Wasn't the Limit
By ELIZABETH BECKER and PAUL MELLER

There's this cable channel, The Word Network, that my mom watches.

The Word Network provides programming that is sensitive to, and touches the fabric of, the urban African American community. The goal of the Network is to feature Urban Ministries, Gospel Music and Live church conventions and Specials.

The programming covers a broad range of demographics from the teens and young adults that are interested in contemporary gospel music, to the families seeking values consistently presented in a positive way, to the slightly more mature urban population that relates to many of the popular local, regional and national ministries.

All televangelists, all the time

Now, I'm known to be a non-deist with much respect for what religion has done for some believers I know. And in fact there's one minister on the network, this white woman, who actually gives sound advice on the day-to-day tip. But I heard one of there guests say something I found a bit disturbing. In talking about using faith to overcome one's difficulties he invoked Job...the single most difficult book in the Old Testament to truly wrap your head around. And he claimed through his adversity Job laughed; Job said "I know my Redeemer exists."

Not. True.

And so few people know any more of what the Bible says than their minister quotes out of context that the Quote of note:

Now that the religious right has triumphed over the secular left, every politician seems determined to get religion. They're all asking "What Would Jesus Do?"-- about the war in Iraq, gay marriage, poverty and Social Security. And though the ACLU may rage, it is not un-American to bring religious reasoning into our public debates. In fact, that has been happening ever since George Washington put his hand on a Bible and swore to uphold the Constitution. What is un-American is to give those debates over to televangelists of either the secular or the religious variety, to absent ourselves from the discussion by ignorance.

...may well have come too late.

America is the temple in which the money changers operate. And as Jesus showed in the New Testament, the problem isn't the temple...it's the money changers.

A Nation of Faith and Religious Illiterates
By Stephen Prothero
Stephen Prothero teaches at Boston University and is author of "American Jesus: How the Son of God Became a National Icon" (Farrar, Strauss and Giroux, 2003).

January 12, 2005

The sociologist Peter Berger once remarked that if India is the most religious country in the world and Sweden the least, then the United States is a nation of Indians ruled by Swedes. Not anymore. With a Jesus lover in the Oval Office and a faith-based party in control of both houses of Congress, the United States is undeniably a nation of believers ruled by the same.

Things are different in Europe, and not just in Sweden. The Dutch are four times less likely than Americans to believe in miracles, hell and biblical inerrancy. The euro does not trust in God. But here is the paradox: Although Americans are far more religious than Europeans, they know far less about religion.

Governor's budget cuts, borrows
Reductions proposed in programs for poor, elderly and disabled to close $9.1 billion gap
- Lynda Gledhill, Chronicle Sacramento Bureau
Tuesday, January 11, 2005

Sacramento -- Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger proposed an $85.7 billion budget Monday that would cut assistance to the elderly, poor and disabled and once again relies on borrowing to help close what he now describes as a $9.1 billion deficit.

In a plan that does not raise taxes, Schwarzenegger said he had no choice but to make difficult decisions such as eliminating cost-of-living increases for the disabled, slashing welfare for families and not giving schools $1.1 billion that they are owed this year.

"Of course we would like to spend much more money on those various important different programs and on education, but the fact is that's all the money we have, and we must live within our means," he said. "There is great virtue in providing services to the people, but it is also virtuous to be wise and responsible with the hard-earned money people paid to the state in taxes."

Quote of note:

"By the statements the suspect made at the scene, it was clear he wanted to die and take as many cops down as he could in the process," said Lt. Bill Heyne, lead investigator for the Stanislaus County Sheriff's Department. "This officer was executed."

He said that as Raya ran from police, he was telling residents, "Don't worry, you're a civilian. You won't get hurt.

No clear motive in Marine's killing of police officer
Shooter's friends believe he suffered from combat stress
- Meredith May and Matthew B. Stannard, Chronicle Staff Writers
Wednesday, January 12, 2005

Marine Lance Cpl. Andres Raya told his mother that he wanted just one thing for Christmas, relatives say -- to stay in Ceres instead of returning to military duty in Iraq.

The 19-year-old Marine's holiday wish now haunts his family and friends, who believe his reaction to the war may have played a role in his shooting Sunday night of two Ceres police officers, one of whom died. It also alarms military mental health experts, who say Raya may have been suffering from post-traumatic stress in the days before the incident, which ended when police shot him to death.

But more questions than answers remain for the Marine investigators working with police on the case, as well as those who served with Raya -- including one Marine who said that despite the stories of house-to-house combat Raya told his family, he had seen little or no fighting during his time in Iraq last year.

Homicide investigators said Raya apparently had been intent on dying at the hands of police when he went to a liquor store armed with a semiautomatic rifle.

Quote of note:

The reason, as in other states, has to do with complex legal arrangements made among telecoms, legislatures and regulators. But the core issue is money. BellSouth says it can't compete effectively with cities where taxpayers pay for laying down expensive fiber-optic networks.

Perhaps, but Lafayette is building because BellSouth and the city's cable TV company aren't rushing to meet the city's needs

Internet quest gets squashed

Lafayette, a city of 116,000 in southwest Louisiana, has plenty of Cajun spunk. Creativity, too. Just ask telecommunications giant BellSouth, which is trying to block Lafayette's plan to save its citizens' money and time by giving them high-speed access to the Internet.

As described in a story last week by USA TODAY 's Leslie Cauley, city leaders took up the fight because they feared that the city and its citizens were suffering for lack of broadband Internet access.

This has emerged as a survival issue for rural and small-city residents, whom the telecom companies logically get to last because less density translates into lower profit potential. As measured by education, employment or entertainment, the future appears to be tied to high-speed access.

So Lafayette, like dozens of other cities unwilling to wait for telecommunications giants such as Bell South to install broadband pipelines, decided to build its own.

That should have been the end of the story. Why shouldn't citizens be able to use their own resources to help themselves? Because BellSouth, like other telecoms, thinks actions like Lafayette's are unfair competition.

Quote of note:

The stolen identities, bought by intermediaries for about $60 per name, were then used to access the victims' bank accounts and use their credit cards

ID theft mastermind gets 14 years

A Briton involved in what is believed to be the largest identity theft case ever has been sentenced to 14 years in prison by a New York judge.

Philip Cummings, 35, used his job as a computer helpdesk employee to steal personal information from more than 30,000 unwitting customers.

He passed credit card and other stolen details on to other criminals.

The fraud is believed to have taken place from early 2000 to October 2002. He pleaded guilty in September 2004.

Judge George B Daniels said the case "emphasized how easy it is to wreak havoc on people's financial and personal lives", and added that consequences for individual victims were "almost unimaginable".

Cummings, who worked for Teledata Communications - a New York-based software company which helps lenders access major credit databases - had access to clients' codes and passwords.He would steal people's credit reports and pass them on to an accomplice, who would sell them on and share the profits with Cummings.

The stolen identities, bought by intermediaries for about $60 per name, were then used to access the victims' bank accounts and use their credit cards.

The criminals would buy expensive goods, including computers and electronic equipment, and resell them to other members of the network.

By changing a customer's personal details, the thieves could even have new credit and ATM cards mailed directly to them.

Civil Rights Leader James Forman Dies
By Joe Holley
Washington Post Staff Writer
Tuesday, January 11, 2005; 6:37 PM

James Forman, 76, who as executive secretary of the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee in the early 1960s dispatched cadres of organizers, demonstrators and Freedom Riders into the most dangerous redoubts of the Deep South, died Jan. 10 of colon cancer at Washington House, a local hospice.

At the height of the civil rights movement, Mr. Forman hammered out a role for SNCC among the so-called Big Five, the established civil rights organizations that included the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People, the NAACP Legal Defense and Education Fund, the Congress of Racial Equality and the Southern Christian Leadership Conference.

It's like the whole issue of The Onion is dedicated to me.

I'll bet they're a bit nervous about this one.

Frankly, I think the whole issue is brilliant.

Zambia Elects Black President

ABUJA, ZAMBIA In a historic triumph for Zambia's African-African community, Bilikisu Adewale, a 49-year-old black man, was elected president Monday.

Racial Harmony Achieved By Casting Of Black Actor As Teen Computer Whiz

BURBANK, CA The long-standing economic, political and social divisions between blacks and whites in America at long last ended Monday with a TV producer's casting of a black actor in a bit part as a teen computer-whiz archetype.

Anti-Racism Laws Mutate Racism Into Newer, Stronger Form
WASHINGTON, DC According to a report released Monday by the Center For The Study Of Human-Morality-Legislation Attempts, the passage of anti-racism laws in recent decades may have caused racism to mutate into newer, stronger forms, undermining federal efforts to control the spread of the disease by spawning new strains of "super-racism" impervious to traditional treatment methods.

Blacks, Whites Put Differences Aside, Work Together To Make Better Burger
LOUISVILLE, KY Sadly, in 2005, America remains a nation deeply divided along racial lines. It's enough to cause one to lose hope. But divided as we are, every now and again something comes along to remind us just how much can be achieved when we view our differences as assets rather than liabilities.

I'm basically a Windows guy with enough Linux to get by...and the distinct feeling I need to get at least as comfortable with Linux servers as I am Windows servers.

But this even I find tempting.

MWSF: Apple introduces Mac mini

By Peter Cohen [email protected]

Apple Computer Inc. on Tuesday ended rumors that it would offer a low-priced Macintosh by introducing the Mac mini. Measuring 6.5 inches wide and long and 2 inches tall, Mac mini weighs 2.9 pounds. The Mac mini starts at US$499, the lowest-priced computer Apple has sold.

Check this to see why that may be important.

Quote of note:

Lewis Killian, a sociologist, in a book called The Impossible Revolution Phase II, concluded that "To subscribe to the general principle of racial equality is one thing, to pay the personal price in terms of sharing traditionally white held advantages is quite another (p.175)". In countless instances White people proclaim dedication to the abstract principle of racial equality but resist application of this principle when they perceive that their own neighborhoods, their children's schools, their job opportunities, or their political power or tax bills will be affected.

Economics seems important, as does politics because they are the immediate threat.

Oil Find Hints at a Less Dependent Cuba
By SIMON ROMERO

HOUSTON, Jan. 10 - On Dec. 25, President Fidel Castro said he had some information to lift the spirits of Cuba's 11 million people: two Canadian energy companies, Pebercan and Sherritt International, had discovered oil in the Gulf of Mexico in an area under Cuba's control.

Mr. Castro, in an announcement that raised eyebrows in the executive suites of energy companies here, disclosed that the Canadian companies had discovered estimated reserves of 100 million barrels. That was the good news. It was also the bad news.

The deposits, which are expected to produce oil as early as next year, may provide Cuba's government with some relief as it presses forward with efforts to use hard currency for purposes other than petroleum purchases from abroad. Shortly after Mr. Castro announced the discovery, the central bank said it was tightening measures intended to centralize the control of dollars circulating in the Cuban economy.

"Cuba simply needs the money," said John S. Kavulich, president of the U.S.-Cuba Trade and Economic Council in New York, which tracks trade activity in Cuba.

Free Speech, or Secrets From Apple?

By TOM ZELLER Jr.

Published: January 11, 2005

Against the backdrop of the Macworld Exposition in San Francisco this week, a series of legal actions filed by Apple Computer over the last month highlights the difficulties of defining who is a journalist in the age of the Web log.

A reduction in the rate of increase is NOT the good news this headline implies. Simple example:

Cost was $100, is now $110. Increase : 10%

Cost was $110, is now $120. Increase : ~9%

Nation's Health Spending Slows, but It Still Hits a Record
By ROBERT PEAR

WASHINGTON, Jan. 10 - The torrid pace of growth in national health spending cooled a bit in 2003, but the spending, at $1.7 trillion, topped 15 percent of the gross domestic product for the first time, the government said on Monday.

Total health spending rose 7.7 percent in 2003, compared with an increase of 9.3 percent the year before, in part because of state cutbacks in the Medicaid program and a slower increase in drug spending. But it grew much faster than the economy as a whole, and now accounts for 15.3 percent of the nation's output, the government said in its annual report on health spending.

"Prescription drug spending growth slowed more sharply than growth of any other service, increasing 10.7 percent in 2003, compared with 14.9 percent in 2002," said Cynthia Smith of the federal Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, the principal author of the report, published in the journal Health Affairs.

Retail sales of prescription drugs totaled $179.2 billion in 2003, the government said. Though drug sales increased more slowly than in 2002, they are still growing faster than overall national health spending, the data showed.

As if to underscore Prof. Krugman's point:

But several Wall Street economists expressed doubts about the potential impact on interest rates from floating hundreds of billions of dollars of additional government bonds at a time when it is not clear how the Bush administration is planning to reduce the existing budget deficit.

"The overall impact on the Treasury market would be negative," wrote Kathleen Bostjancic, a senior Merrill Lynch economist, who estimated that the administration plan could lead to increased government borrowing of $54 billion to $120 billion a year for the next 20 years

Wall Street Hears Pitch for Social Security Plan
By EDMUND L. ANDREWS

WASHINGTON, Jan. 10 - Treasury Secretary John W. Snow began a three-day sales effort on Monday to drum up Wall Street support for President Bush's plans to overhaul Social Security.

Despite what some see as the potential boon to the stock market from allowing younger employees to invest part of their Social Security tax payments in personal accounts, many Wall Street economists are dubious about the costs. Administration officials acknowledge that their plan could require the government to borrow as much as $2 trillion over the next two decades, to pay for costs during a transition period when the government still has to pay full benefits to existing retirees.

In private meetings, Mr. Snow will confer with top executives from the biggest bond-trading firms on Wall Street and is expected to argue that such borrowing would more than pay for itself at the end of 75 years.

Industry executives said the meetings would include firms like Goldman Sachs, J. P. Morgan Chase and Lehman Brothers. Mr. Snow is also expected to meet with brokerage firms and mutual fund companies that could end up managing the personal savings accounts.

"The secretary will make the case that reform is needed to guarantee retirement benefits for today's youth, given the system's insolvency," said Robert Nichols, a spokesman for Mr. Snow. "The byproduct will put the nation's fiscal affairs in order by addressing the $10 trillion in unfunded obligations, a move that will be well received by the financial markets."

The Iceberg Cometh
By PAUL KRUGMAN

Last week someone leaked a memo written by Peter Wehner, an aide to Karl Rove, about how to sell Social Security privatization. The public, says Mr. Wehner, must be convinced that "the current system is heading for an iceberg."

It's the standard Bush administration tactic: invent a fake crisis to bully people into doing what you want. "For the first time in six decades," the memo says, "the Social Security battle is one we can win." One thing I haven't seen pointed out, however, is the extent to which the White House expects the public and the media to believe two contradictory things.

The administration expects us to believe that drastic change is needed, and needed right away, because of the looming cost of paying for the baby boomers' retirement.

The administration expects us not to notice, however, that the supposed solution would do nothing to reduce that cost. Even with the most favorable assumptions, the benefits of privatization wouldn't kick in until most of the baby boomers were long gone. For the next 45 years, privatization would cost much more money than it saved.

Quote of note:

Mr. Rideau has never denied killing Ms. Ferguson. Many whites here say he should have been executed long ago. Many blacks say Mr. Rideau has paid his debt many times over and would have been released years ago had his victims not been white and had he not achieved a measure of fame in the meantime. Until the 1970's, people sentenced to life in Louisiana - which is what prosecutors now seek for Mr. Rideau - were generally released after serving 10 years and 6 months

With Little Evidence, 4th Trial Opens in '61 Killing
By ADAM LIPTAK

LAKE CHARLES, La., Jan. 10 - Wilbert Rideau went on trial on Monday for the fourth time for a killing that has already cost him 44 years in prison.

All-white, all-male juries convicted him of murder and sentenced him to death in 1961, 1964 and 1970. Each time, appeals courts eventually threw out the verdicts, citing misconduct by the government.

Now, prosecutors are trying once again to obtain a conviction against Mr. Rideau, one that will stick.

But the passage of almost half a century presents difficulties. So many of the original witnesses are dead, for instance, that prosecutors have asked stand-ins to play the part of 13 witnesses, reading their original testimony to the jury.

Rick Bryant, the district attorney here, addressed the jurors on Monday with a version of events that is largely undisputed. "Most of you sitting here today probably weren't even born in February 1961," he said.

Mr. Rideau, then a 19-year-old black porter at Halpern's Fabric Shop, walked a few buildings over to the Gulf National Bank and robbed it of $14,000 on Feb. 16 of that year. He forced three of the bank's employees, all white, into a teller's sedan.

They drove to a gravel lane near a bayou on the edge of town, where Mr. Rideau shot all three of them. Jay Hickman, the bank's manager, took a bullet in the arm but managed to escape by jumping into the swamp. Dora McCain, a teller, was shot in the neck and lay still, feigning death. But Mr. Rideau caught another teller, Julia Ferguson. He stabbed her in the heart and slit her throat.

Almost nothing tangible remains of those events so long ago. The fabric shop is gone; so is the bank. The gravel lane is now an on-ramp to Interstate 10. Much of the evidence is lost, and most witnesses are dead.

Mr. Rideau, now 62, is transformed, too. He has, from prison, become an acclaimed journalist and documentary filmmaker.

But the community's rage lives on in this racially divided oil and gambling town near the Texas border. "It's ferocious, the way we hold on to this episode," said the Rev. J. L. Franklin, a black pastor, who had come to the courthouse to see the State of Louisiana make its case.

Quote of note:

A lawyer for the newspaper, Herschel Fink, said news organizations, not judges, should decide whether the health information was newsworthy or should remain private.

I'm not feeling those records were sacrosanct, and it would be totally reasonable for the defense to want access to them. Nor do I thing anyone's "stature" should affect their treatment in a court of law, one way or the other (of course it does...).

The request from the press is blatant peeping tomism. And they should just admit it...every time we act like one of the bullshit excuses should be dealt with as a serious argument we lower the level of the public debate. Which is more than low enough.

On the other hand I'm pretending our public servants pay attention to th epublic debate, so who am I kidding?

Anyway...

Judge Orders Release of Rosa Parks's Mental Health Records in Fight Over Song
By GRETCHEN RUETHLING

Medical records about the mental health of Rosa Parks, whose actions helped start the civil rights movement, will be made public, a federal judge in Detroit ruled yesterday.

The judge, George C. Steeh of Federal District Court, ordered the release of some of Ms. Parks's records in response to a request by The Detroit Free Press in connection with a legal fight between Ms. Parks's representatives and record companies and music distributors. Ms. Parks, 91, suffers from dementia, her doctor has said in court documents.

Quote of note:

"This is exciting," said Lawrence Lessig, a professor at Stanford Law School and founder of the school's Center for Internet and Society. "It is I.B.M. making good on its commitment to encourage a different kind of software development and recognizing the burden that patents can impose."

But a better way to understand what I.B.M. is doing is to compare it to Microsoft's practice of damn near giving away the whole collection of their developer and end user software to their affiliates. Only this is even cheaper for I.B.M. than for Microsoft...they don't even have to burn any disks.

Techie types are SO naïve sometimes...

I.B.M. to Give Free Access to 500 Patents
By STEVE LOHR

I.B.M. plans to announce today that it is making 500 of its software patents freely available to anyone working on open-source projects, like the popular Linux operating system, on which programmers collaborate and share code.

The new model for I.B.M., analysts say, represents a shift away from the traditional corporate approach to protecting ownership of ideas through patents, copyrights, trademark and trade-secret laws. The conventional practice is to amass as many patents as possible and then charge anyone who wants access to them. I.B.M. has long been the champion of that formula. The company, analysts estimate, collected $1 billion or more last year from licensing its inventions.

The move comes after a lengthy internal review by I.B.M., the world's largest patent holder, of its strategy toward intellectual property. I.B.M. executives said the patent donation today would be the first of several such steps.

John Kelly, the senior vice president for technology and intellectual property, called the patent contribution "the beginning of a new era in how I.B.M. will manage intellectual property."

I.B.M. may be redefining its intellectual property strategy, but it apparently has no intention of slowing the pace of its patent activity. I.B.M. was granted 3,248 patents in 2004, far more than any other company, according to the United States Patent and Trademark Office. The patent office is announcing today its yearly ranking of the top 10 private-sector patent recipients.

I.B.M. collected 1,300 more patents last year than the second-ranked company, Matsushita Electric Industrial of Japan. The other American companies among the top 10 patent recipients were Hewlett-Packard, Micron Technology and Intel.

I.B.M. executives say the company's new approach to intellectual property represents more than a rethinking of where the company's self-interest lies. In recent speeches, for example, Samuel J. Palmisano, I.B.M.'s chief executive, has emphasized the need for more open technology standards and collaboration as a way to stimulate economic growth and job creation.

On this issue, I.B.M. appears to be siding with a growing number of academics and industry analysts who regard open-source software projects as early evidence of the wide collaboration and innovation made possible by the Internet, providing opportunities for economies, companies and individuals who can exploit the new model.

Your Call (and Rants on Hold) Will Be Monitored
By KEN BELSON

MELVILLE, N.Y. - It is the opening line on so many phone conversations these days: This call may be monitored for quality assurance purposes.

The taped message is so common that many callers might assume that no one is ever listening, let alone taking notes. But they would be wrong.

Monitoring is intended to track the performance of call center operators, but the professional snoops are inadvertently monitoring callers, too. Most callers do not realize that they may be taped even while they are on hold.

It is at these times that monitors hear husbands arguing with their wives, mothers yelling at their children, and dog owners throwing fits at disobedient pets, all when they think no one is listening. Most times, the only way a customer can avoid being recorded is to hang up.

"You could have a show on Broadway just playing the calls," said Mike Schrider, president of J.Lodge, a call monitoring service based in Hammonton, N.J.

Quote of note:

After the last bodies are counted and public focus shifts, governments stop sending money, pledges are withdrawn, many private relief organizations pack their bags and the poor are left to finish reconstruction projects in the face of the same entrenched systems of corruption and neglect.

For Honduras and Iran, World's Aid Evaporated
By GINGER THOMPSON and NAZILA FATHI

TEGUCIGALPA, Honduras - The people of San Miguel Arcángel know all too well what it is like to be struck by disaster, and they have watched the world rush to Asia's rescue with sober eyes.

Elder Nahum Cáceres said his entire community was swept off a hillside six years ago by Hurricane Mitch. In his wallet he keeps a handwritten list of the dozen international aid organizations that have come and gone since then.

"I don't know how much they sent, but they tell me this is a million-dollar project," Mr. Cáceres said, looking down over an unsightly patch of flat gray houses in different stages of completion. "I would like them to see what has happened with all their money."

Eric Moscoso, a neighbor of Mr. Cáceres, was more succinct: "We are abandoned."

OPEN MIND Special: Race Relations in Crisis 6/12/63 - 11/13/92

1963/1992

Guests: Malcolm X; Morrison, Alan; Walker, Wyatt Tee; Farmer, James (Original guests)

Update Guests: Farmer, James and Walker, Wyatt Tee

Theme: Civil Rights

Quote of note:

Statistics South Africa estimates there are about 4.2 million whites in the country and most of them still live in the top economic brackets, many with the same pools, maids and imported cars they enjoyed under apartheid.

S.Africa's White Poverty Grows as Apartheid Fades
Tue Dec 14, 8:03 AM ET
By Lucia Mutikani

VANDERBIJLPARK, South Africa (Reuters) - South Africa, once Africa's last bastion of white rule, has something you don't often see elsewhere on the continent: poor whites.

A few years ago it was unimaginable to see whites begging at traffic lights or working as parking attendants. Now it is a common sight.

Pottering around in her scantily furnished house with peeling wall paint, Elsie Smit holds back tears as she talks of her family's battle to survive.

"We struggle a lot. My husband is unemployed. The only one who works in this house is my son. His money goes to paying for the house and for water and lights. So there isn't much that is left of his salary to feed us the whole month," she says.

Several white families in the Vanderbijlpark industrial area, south of Johannesburg, are in a similar position and depend on food parcels.

Guaranteed a quality education and good jobs by the apartheid regime, some whites -- particularly the Afrikaners who put apartheid in place -- have seen a reversal of fortunes under democracy.

Estimates differ on the extent of the problem and opinion varies on the root causes of white poverty, but all agree that it is growing as unemployment remains a serious concern among all racial groups.

According to a United Nations Development Program report last year, 6.9 percent of the country's white population lived on less than 354 rand ($58.57) per month -- the national poverty line in 2002 -- up from 1.5 percent in 1995.

Statistics South Africa estimates there are about 4.2 million whites in the country and most of them still live in the top economic brackets, many with the same pools, maids and imported cars they enjoyed under apartheid.

But white poverty is not a new phenomenon to South Africa, which saw substantial white immigration rather than the scattering of ranchers, adventurers and colonial administrators that formed the white communities in most other African states.

After Threats, Iraqi Electoral Board Resigns
Head of Commission in Volatile Anbar Province Says Rebels Make Vote Impossible

By Jackie Spinner
Washington Post Staff Writer
Monday, January 10, 2005; Page A12

BAGHDAD, Jan. 9 -- In another significant blow to Iraq's upcoming elections, the entire 13-member electoral commission in the volatile province of Anbar, west of the capital, resigned after being threatened by insurgents, a regional newspaper reported Sunday.

Saad Abdul-Aziz Rawi, the head of the commission, told the Anbar newspaper that it was "impossible to hold elections" in the province, which is dominated by Sunni Muslims and where insurgent attacks already have prevented voter registration. The province includes the restive cities of Fallujah and Ramadi.

"They are kidding themselves," Rawi said about officials hopeful that the elections, set for Jan. 30, could take place in Anbar.

An Iraqi at the commission's office in Anbar said the members had resigned and had gone into hiding.

Iraqi and U.S. officials have said Sunni participation in the elections is necessary for the vote to be considered legitimate. The largest political party representing Sunnis announced last month that it would drop out of the process, the country's first democratic elections in nearly half a century.

US pensions pain  to get worse
By Dan Roberts in New York
Published: January 9 2005 17:35 | Last updated: January 9 2005 17:35

Corporate America's pension headache is getting worse, not better, according to a new analysis that calculates the likely drag on company earnings in future years.

Actuaries at Towers Perrin estimate the average Fortune 100 company is now storing up more than $3bn in deferred pension costs that have yet to show up in published profit and loss figures.

This follows a year when large US companies spent hundreds of millions of dollars topping up under-funded schemes and reducing the size of their apparent pension deficit. But accounting rules allow companies to smooth out the expensing of these cash contributions, meaning much of the negative impact on earnings has yet to be felt.

The New Negro

1957

Guests: King, Martin Luther with Waring, J. Waites
Theme: Race

Stream | 20.0M

To: Graduate Students of Color Network

Subject: [gscn] Issues ,Challenges and Triumphs II

Happy New Year GSCN:

What role will you play in the creation of an action agenda for the Black and Latino male in America?

From the impact of the prison industrial complex, educational attainment to career success, Black and Latino men are disproportionately affected. Conversely, success and triumphs abound for these men despite the multitude of challenges.

The Office for African American, Latino and Asian American Student Services at New York University

You've seen SixApart's Guide to Combatting [sic] Comment Spam?

Did you know the Apache guys are scheming up a BlogSpamAssassin? It's just discussion on a wiki now, but they got links to "proof of concept" stuff. This guy has already written an MT-SpamAssassin plugin...don't ask me if it works, but he's running MT 3.121. And they pointed to a WordPress plug-in I need to look over (I've gotten real comfortable with PHP recently) which has an interesting approach--adding a Javascript function to compute an m5 hash to the comment form.

I'm reading Derrick Bell's latest book, Silent Covenants: Brown V. Board Of Education And The Unfulfilled Hopes For Racial Reform, and I'm impressed. So impressed I wanted to scan a chunk of the introduction. But I have no room for a scanner right by this machine.

I did scan it...there's another machine 'round these parts with one of those all-in-one printer/scanner/washer/dryer things to keep certain folks happy but it's not networked and the floppy drive is apparently broken so the file sits on the desktop over there.

The cheapest, yet most annoying, option is to attach my zip drive to the beast...which requires moving shit, untangling cables...

Meanwhile I just because aware of a NY Times article by Virginia Postrel via Negrophile that I need to get to, but it was published on Dec 30, and I was not reading the Times between the 27th and 31st so I don't have it in the RSS archives. And from what I see of the commentary on it around the net, it's simplistic as hell...

The Salvador Option

To deal with the skyrocketing insurgency, the Pentagon is considering creating secret death squads in Iraq. Now, the Pentagon's brave new solution for democracy in the Middle East is to revisit the reprehensible "Salvador Option," the clandestine operation implemented by the Reagan White House in the 1980s in El Salvador. Back then, faced with losing a war against the Salvadoran rebels, the United States government funded "nationalist" forces "that allegedly included so-called death squads" which killed scores of innocent civilians. Today, according to an explosive new article in Newsweek, the Pentagon dusted off that model and has a proposal on the table to "advise, support and possibly train" secret Iraqi squads, "most likely hand-picked Kurdish Peshmerga fighters and Shiite militiamen, to target Sunni insurgents and their sympathizers, even across the border into Syria."

First CNN cancels Crossfire. Now this.

This may be the beginning of the end for smashmouth journalism...at least in blue states...

Anyway...

CBS Ousts 4 For Bush Guard Story

NEW YORK, Jan. 10, 2005, 2004

Four CBS News employees, including three executives, have been ousted for their role in preparing and reporting a disputed story about President Bush's National Guard service.

The action was prompted by the report of an independent panel that concluded that CBS News failed to follow basic journalistic principles in the preparation and reporting of the piece. The panel also said CBS News had compounded that failure with "rigid and blind" defense of the 60 Minutes Wednesday report.

Going through the headlines in the dread RSS reader, I started to read this

What Happened in Ohio
I don't usually let other people do my thinking for me, but I confess I'd been waiting for Rep. John Conyers (D-Mich.) to tell me what to think about the voting irregularities that marred the November elections in Ohio.

when this

Accepting Politics In Science
The Bush administration has been hammered over the past few years by accusations that it is "politicizing science," especially through the practice of stacking advisory panels with political partisans. For instance, in 2002 a professor at the University of New Mexico claimed that an invitation to join the National Advisory Council on Drug Abuse was rescinded when he failed to express to an agency official his support for President Bush.

caught my eye. Given that I feel bad and incomplete data can screw the best of intentions, and given that I feel that is the Bushista plan all along I thought I'd give it a read.

As of this writing I haven't read either op-ed. I got...distracted

I do hope all this new tech is more stable than what they're using for missile "defense."

Anyway...

Inaugural Security Draws on Latest Technologies
Intelligence to Stream Into Command Center From 50 Police Agencies Aloft and on the Ground
By Sari Horwitz and Spencer S. Hsu
Washington Post Staff Writers
Monday, January 10, 2005; Page A01

The nerve center for the most heavily guarded presidential inauguration in history will not be in Washington, where President Bush will take the oath of office, but 25 miles away in a futuristic command post in Northern Virginia.

Inside a gleaming steel-and-marble complex, the Secret Service and 50 federal, state and local agencies will monitor action in the sky, on the ground and in the subway system. Giant plasma screens will beam in live video from helicopters and cameras at the U.S. Capitol, along the parade route and at other potential trouble spots. Officials will be able to track fighter jets patrolling the skies, call up three-dimensional maps of downtown, even project the plume of any chemical release.

One top police official likened the new facility to a set from the "Star Wars" movies. It is one of many signs that Bush's second inauguration Jan. 20 will take security in Washington to a new level, using expertise and equipment developed after the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks.

Quotes of note:

Rep. Rahm Emanuel (D-Ill.) said the president's advisers are trying to have it both ways. "You cannot have bipartisanship based on a political strategy of polarization," he said

"The president's idea of bipartisanship is, 'Here's what I want to do, join me,' " said Rep. Robert Menendez (N.J.), chairman of the House Democratic Caucus. "It isn't about negotiating. It isn't about compromise."

"Four years ago, as a new president, his inaugural address indicated he wanted to work with people and then he didn't," said Sen. Christopher J. Dodd (D-Conn.)

Sen. Tom Harkin (Iowa), one of the most combative Democrats in Congress, accused Bush of "throwing down the gauntlet" since winning reelection. "Usually when you win you try to be magnanimous," he said. "But everything we've heard from the president is, 'I've got a mandate,' 'I've got all this political capital,' and 'We'll work with you as long as you agree with us.' Well, wait a minute, you mean we have to agree to everything before they'll work with us. That's a non-starter."

What's been clear and somewhat surprising in the weeks after the election is that Bush got virtually no bounce and no honeymoon from his victory," said Democratic pollster Geoffrey Garin. "What seems pretty clear is that there was nothing particularly healing about Bush's victory."

Quote of note:

Whether it's a flu, cold or stomach virus going around, companies and their employees are realizing that it only takes one employee coming to work sick to spark a workplace outbreak and set off waves of absenteeism down the line.

Call in sick -- please
Many companies are actively discouraging unwell employees from coming to work.
By Melissa Healy
Times Staff Writer

January 10, 2005

When a miserable cold struck Kim Colabella in early December, duty called. Her supervisor and several colleagues were out of the office, and Colabella determined that, ailing or not, she needed to keep things going. So she took a cold pill, packed up her tissues and soldiered on to work.

Quote of note:

"Everyone recognizes something has to be done in the delta, but it's refracted through their own prism," said Sen. Mike Machado, a Democrat from Linden (San Joaquin County) whose district includes much of the delta. "Each interested party backs what serves its own needs."

You expected something different?

Anyway...

Lack of funding imperils aging system
$1 billion project finds little political support
- Greg Lucas, Chronicle Sacramento Bureau
Monday, January 10, 2005

Shoring up the 1,100 miles of deteriorating levees that protect the Sacramento-San Joaquin River Delta is easy -- it just takes money and political commitment.

There's little sign of either.

"The current course we're on is not sustainable," said Curt Schmutte, the state Department of Water Resources' chief of levees for the northern part of the delta. "We need a reliable, long-term, stable funding source for the delta. The cost of doing nothing far exceeds the cost of being proactive."

Although two-thirds of all Californians depend on the delta's levees to keep salt water out of the freshwater that flows through the meeting point of the Sacramento and San Joaquin rivers, neither the state nor the federal government has contributed nearly enough money to buttress the levees.

"Everyone recognizes something has to be done in the delta, but it's refracted through their own prism," said Sen. Mike Machado, a Democrat from Linden (San Joaquin County) whose district includes much of the delta. "Each interested party backs what serves its own needs."

The California Bay-Delta Authority, which is responsible for most decisions affecting the delta, says $1 billion in repair and improvements should already be under way.

In an October 2003 report, the Army Corps of Engineers identified 185 eroded sites along just the Sacramento River from Colusa in the north to the delta. The price tag to fix those potential trouble spots is at least $180 million, according to Col. Ronald Light, the new commander of the corps' Sacramento office.

But the only state money being spent on levee maintenance is the remainder of $70 million from a state bond measure, which will run out next year. There is a promise of $90 million in federal money, which won't be available until October at the earliest and couldn't be spent before spring 2006.

States Battling Meth May Put Controls on Cold Pills
By Stephanie Simon
Times Staff Writer

January 10, 2005

ST. LOUIS-- Over-the-counter cold pills may be removed from store shelves across much of the Southwest and Midwest this year as officials struggle to crack down on methamphetamine, a highly addictive stimulant that can be brewed from decongestants and other common household items.

At least 20 states are considering tight restrictions on access to Sudafed, NyQuil, Claritin-D, Tylenol Flu and hundreds of other cold, allergy and sinus remedies that contain pseudoephedrine.

Details vary, but in many states only pharmacists or their assistants would be allowed to dispense the medicines.

I'd link to the Slashdot post that calls this four year old section on Google Groups a new thing, but I don't want to embarrass them...

11 May 1981 Oldest Usenet article in the Google Groups Archive
Feb 1983 First "Me too" post (I wonder is this what this guy expected to be immortalized by)
May 1983 First mention of Church of the SubGenius (No I'm not a member...)
Nov 1989 First Make Money Fast post
Aug 1991 Mike Godwin formalizes Godwin's Law
Apr 1992 Thread about Rodney King verdict and resulting LA riots
Jun 1992 First BOFH post
Jan 1994 Instance of first mass spamming (this one is truly special)
Jun 1994 Thread about televised O.J. Simpson arrest
Dec 1995 Announcement of AltaVista launch (and AltaVista was the best search engine, until...)
Mar 1998 First mention of Google
11 Sep 2001 First thread after terrorist attacks (Second, Third, Fourth)

Quote of note:

But the militants' presence and their apparent plan to develop long-term influence here could complicate efforts to bring peace to a region long troubled by a separatist conflict and make the province a religious battleground.

Or it could show the two sides are both concerned and can work together.

Anyway...

Militants Jump Into Aceh Aid Efforts
By Richard C. Paddock and Don Lee
Times Staff Writers

January 10, 2005

BANDA ACEH, Indonesia -- Hundreds of Muslim militants, best known for smashing up Jakarta discos or advocating Islamic rule, have poured into devastated Aceh province with the help of the Indonesian military to aid in disaster relief.

The Islamic Defenders Front and the Indonesian Mujahedin Council have set up camp at the same Indonesian military air base in the provincial capital, Banda Aceh, being used by U.S. Navy helicopters for aid flights to victims of the Dec. 26 tsunami.

So far, the two sides have kept their distance. But the militants' presence and their apparent plan to develop long-term influence here could complicate efforts to bring peace to a region long troubled by a separatist conflict and make the province a religious battleground.

"We saw the American soldiers helping the Acehnese, and that is a good thing," said Hilmy Bakar Almascaty, head of the Islamic Defenders Front mission in Aceh, on the island of Sumatra. "They come here to help us and we welcome them. However, if they interfere with our tradition, or civilization or law, that would become a problem."

Almascaty's group, which he said could soon number more than 1,000, has focused on the grisly job of pulling bodies from the rubble and cleaning up damaged mosques. U.S. officials have played down any possible threat and have not curtailed operations at the air base because of the militants' presence.

Indonesian army spokesman Col. Djazairi Nachrowi praised the efforts of the militants and said they should not be discriminated against simply because of their past willingness to use violence to further their ideology.

"I think we have to put aside the negative thinking and prejudice," Nachrowi said. "We should focus our thoughts on things that would help the victims."

Of course I check around to see what other folks are doing with Drupal, Movable Type and other software I use regularly. And though I doubt ever participating I have to admit this is a clever thing I would have never thought of myself. My only concern were I running it would be whether it would be considered "Internet gambling."

One of the major advantages to being a registered user is, you can edit your comments as long as no one has responded to it using the 'reply' link immediately below the comment.

Quote of note:

Wilford Barrett, whose barber shop sits across the street from the county courthouse, thinks the 41-year-old slaying of three civil rights workers should stay where it is: in the past. "It's been so long ago," he said. "I wouldn't mess with it."

At Barrett's Barbershop, Kenneth Wells snorts when asked if he believes the preacher is a killer.

"He's a preacher. He wouldn't have done nothing like that. Everybody knows Edgar Ray Killen," said Wells, a 64-year-old lifelong resident of Philadelphia.

According to FBI files and court transcripts, Killen not only participated in the crime, but did most, if not all, of the planning.

Wells is old enough to have been in the crowd himself.

Anyway...

Toxic Breast Milk?
By FLORENCE WILLIAMS

If human breast milk came stamped with an ingredients label, it might read something like this: 4 percent fat, vitamins A, C, E and K, lactose, essential minerals, growth hormones, proteins, enzymes and antibodies. In a healthy woman, it contains 100 percent of virtually everything a baby needs to survive, plus a solid hedge of extras to help ward off a lifetime of diseases like diabetes and cancer. Breast milk helps disarm salmonella and E. coli. Its unique recipe of fatty acids boosts brain growth and results in babies with higher I.Q.'s than their formula-slurping counterparts. Nursing babies suffer from fewer infections, hospitalizations and cases of sudden infant death syndrome. For the mother, too, breast-feeding and its delicate plumbing of hormones afford protection against breast and ovarian cancers and stress. Despite exhaustion, the in-laws and dirty laundry, every time we nurse our babies, the love hormone oxytocin courses out of our pituitaries like a warm bath. Human milk is like ice cream, Valium and Ecstasy all wrapped up in two pretty packages.

But read down the label, and the fine print, at least for some women, sounds considerably less appetizing: DDT (the banned but stubbornly persistent pesticide famous for nearly wiping out the bald eagle), PCB's, dioxin, trichloroethylene, perchlorate, mercury, lead, benzene, arsenic. When we nurse our babies, we feed them not only the fats, sugars and proteins that fire their immune systems, metabolisms and cerebral synapses. We also feed them, albeit in minuscule amounts, paint thinners, dry-cleaning fluids, wood preservatives, toilet deodorizers, cosmetic additives, gasoline byproducts, rocket fuel, termite poisons, fungicides and flame retardants.

If, as Cicero said, your face tells the story of your mind, your breast milk tells the decades-old story of your diet, your neighborhood and, increasingly, your household decor. Your old shag-carpet padding? It's there. That cool blue paint in your pantry? There. The chemical cloud your landlord used to kill cockroaches? There. Ditto, the mercury in last week's sushi, the benzene from your gas station, the preservative parabens from your face cream, the chromium from your neighborhood smokestack. One property of breast milk is that its high-fat and -protein content attracts heavy metals and other contaminants. Most of these chemicals are found in microscopic amounts, but if human milk were sold at the local Piggly Wiggly, some stock would exceed federal food-safety levels for DDT residues and PCB's.

Some of the chemicals I'm mainlining to my 1-year-old daughter will stay in her body long enough for her to pass them on to her own offspring. PCB's, for example, can remain in human tissue for decades. On a body-weight basis, the dietary doses my baby gets are much higher than the doses I get. This is not only because she is smaller, but also because her food -- my milk -- contains more concentrated contaminants than my food. It's the law of the food chain, and it's called biomagnification.

Quote of note:

The White House laments that patients in some areas are thus forced to travel long distances to find, for example, obstetrical care. But when the Government Accountability Office visited five of the hardest hit states in 2003, it found only scattered problems and was unable to document wide-scale lack of access to medical care.

The best response, one that would benefit the public in general, would be to weed out the small number of negligent doctors responsible for generating most of the malpractice awards.

And this:

Congress should push for a wide range of demonstration projects aimed at solving the malpractice problem by actually cutting down on malpractice.

...which, because I wrote this:

If there's so many failures you can't afford to pay for them, you can pay less or fail less. Insurance companies advertise about programs to improve your driving or fire safety you can implement in exchange for lower insurance rates. Why not do the same thing for hospitals? Give them the incentives to eliminate the factors that cause error (primary of which, in NYC anyway, is a critical understaffing of hospitals talk to the union reps, they'll have the figures at their fingertips). That way we get lower premiums AND better health care.

And that is what we want, right?

...justifies the title of the post.

Anyway...

Malpractice Mythology

We have lived through a generation now in which television news operations grew more and more dependent on "talking heads" shows because they are inexpensive. Since conversation is not normally high-octane viewing, producers tried to raise the interest level by encouraging the guests to start yelling at one another.

But one cannot be sure. After all, game shows, talk shows and award shows are all very popular because they are all very cheap to make.

If the snarling is over, conservatives of the type I so enjoy at Blogcritics are in trouble because that's where all their arguments come from (speaking of which, is it me or has LGF's profile dramatically lowered? Are we paying attention to the likes o' them anymore?).

Anyway...

Exit, Snarling

As it turns out, an important moment in the annals of modern culture may have occurred when Jon Stewart of Comedy Central went on CNN's "Crossfire" last October and decided to be serious. He told Paul Begala, on the left, and Tucker Carlson, on the right, that their show, which specializes in encouraging midlevel political types to yell slogans at each other, was "partisan hackery" that was lowering the level of political discourse. At the time, he was widely denounced for failing to be funny.

But the fact that Mr. Stewart, a comedian, is perhaps the most influential political commentator on television is in itself a sign of the times, and it turns out he may be prescient about programming as well. Jonathan Klein, president of CNN, announced last week that he was canceling "Crossfire" and steering CNN back toward actual news.

Maybe this could be the start of something big. We have lived through a generation now in which television news operations grew more and more dependent on "talking heads" shows because they are inexpensive. Since conversation is not normally high-octane viewing, producers tried to raise the interest level by encouraging the guests to start yelling at one another. The Fox News network swept the decks when it combined the snarling heads with right-wing commentary. Soon, the all-news airwaves were awash with primal screams. People tuning in to hear how the election was going might very well have imagined they had clicked onto a pregame show for professional wrestling.

Perhaps this trend has gone as far as it can go. Mr. Stewart's "Daily Show," which is especially popular with young people, is a reminder that television was supposed to be a "cool" medium, best suited to people whose jugular veins aren't throbbing. And last month, when the tsunami hit Asia, viewers got a chance to notice what they were in danger of losing to talk TV. CNN, with a comparatively large international army of journalists at its disposal, went out and covered the story. Fox News and MSNBC had to depend more on conversationalists in the studio, all of whom agreed that tidal waves were very, very bad.

It's called "starving the beast," but it's a bit more literal in this case,,,

Quote of note:

"Usually at this point in a recovery, job creation is skyrocketing, but so far that hasn't happened," said Kevin A. Hassett, economic director at the American Enterprise Institute for Public Policy Research, a conservative organization. "It's not a partisan issue, it's a fact. The labor market is worse than in the typical recovery."

For Unemployed, Wait for New Work Grows Longer
By JOHN LELAND

When Fabiola Quitiaquez lost her job in New York City last May, she moved to the Atlanta area, confident that she would easily find work there.

"I thought maybe it would take two or three months," she said.

But after six months Ms. Quitiaquez was still unable to find a job, even cleaning houses or caring for the elderly. As her unemployment benefits ran out in November, she found herself at odds with news reports of economic recovery. "I realized what all these people like me were going through," she said.

Ms. Quitiaquez, 50, is one of about 3.6 million American workers who ran out of unemployment insurance benefits last year, the most in at least three decades, said Isaac Shapiro, a senior fellow at the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities, a research and advocacy group that supports extending unemployment benefits.

Even as overall unemployment dropped last year, the share of unemployed workers who have been jobless for more than six months - the point at which most state benefits run out - has remained historically high. As of November, about 1.8 million, or one in five, unemployed workers were jobless for more than six months, compared with 1.1 million when the recession officially ended in November 2001.

Since the start of the recession in March 2001, the average length of unemployment has risen to 20 weeks from 13.

"Usually at this point in a recovery, job creation is skyrocketing, but so far that hasn't happened," said Kevin A. Hassett, economic director at the American Enterprise Institute for Public Policy Research, a conservative organization. "It's not a partisan issue, it's a fact. The labor market is worse than in the typical recovery."

Mayday? Payday! Hit the Silk!
By TIMOTHY L. O'BRIEN

PITY Sammy Sosa. If the Chicago Cubs dump him after his contract expires this year, Mr. Sosa, the struggling slugger, will receive only a $4.5 million buyout payment and $3.5 million in severance.

True, his send-off would be more lucrative than the one recently awarded to a group of baseball umpires: several got about $400,000 each to settle a severance dispute. And it is far better than the severance pay state officials want for 1,100 blue-collar workers at Great Northern Paper, a bankrupt company in Portland, Me. The state is suing the company's owner, seeking an average of about $23,000 for each of its former employees.

But Mr. Sosa's prospective goody bag seems meager when compared with the retirement piñata that the Bank of America plans to bestow on Charles K. Gifford when he steps aside as its chairman at the end of this month. An amiable, dedicated manager with a decidedly mixed track record as chief executive, Mr. Gifford, 62, has managed to survive strategic misfires, one bungled merger and another merger that kept him in the top ranks of the bank but no longer in control.

For his ministrations, Mr. Gifford is promised a $16.36 million cash payment, up to an additional $8.67 million in "incentive payments" for work done over the last 13 months and $3.1 million a year for life. If he dies before his wife, she will receive $2.3 million a year, also for life.

That's not all. The bank guarantees him $50,000 a year in consulting fees, 120 hours of free flight time a year on the company's jet, and an office and a secretary, according to federal securities filings. All of this is on top of $38.4 million in company stock that he has accrued over his 38-year career.

One of the problems with getting all creative is it eats the time you'd have had to check other folks' creativity. And on balance I accept that. But Michael Kinsley's thing here could have saved me a lot of typing. So what if it wouldn't be as much fun?

And the quote of note comes from Kinsley's own reaction to our (well, your...I was late) reaction to his proof:

To vent my frustration, I sent an e-mail to some economists and privatizing buffs saying, look, either show me my mistake or drop this issue. Refute me or salute me. Disprove it or move it. Or words to that effect. As an afterthought, I sent copies to a couple of blogs (kaus files.com and Andrew Sullivan.com). What happened next was unnerving.

A few days later, most of the big shots haven't replied. But overnight, I had dozens of responses from the blogosphere. They're still pouring in. And that's just direct e-mail to me. Within hours, there were discussions going on in a dozen blogs, all hyperlinking to one another like rabbits.

Just so I don't sound too naive: I am familiar with the blog phenomenon, and I worked at a website for eight years. Some of my best friends are bloggers. Still, it's different when you purposely drop an idea into this bubbling caldron and watch the reaction. What floored me was not just the volume and speed of the feedback, but its seriousness and sophistication.

Kinsley's Proof That Social Security Privatization Won't Work

By Michael Kinsley

MY CONTENTION: Social Security privatization is not just unlikely to succeed, for various reasons that are subject to discussion. It is mathematically certain to fail. Discussion is pointless.

For Marine Unit, Fallouja Is 'One Big Ordnance Dump'
The military's effort to rid the city of munitions has gained urgency as insurgents increasingly turn to bigger, deadlier explosive devices.
By Tony Perry
Times Staff Writer

January 9, 2005

FALLOUJA, Iraq --The origin of the greenish mortar rounds found Saturday along a row of demolished houses was unclear. Their killing power was not.

"They're Chinese, probably," said Marine Master Sgt. Michael Dailey, leader of the Delta Team responsible for explosive ordnance disposal. "The green ones are most likely Chinese; the Russian ones tend to be more gray."

The battle for Fallouja may be over, but the military is continuing its effort to find and dispose of thousands of ordnance rounds, some left from the U.S. assault on this Sunni Triangle city and others from insurgent stockpiles.

The hunt has taken on new urgency with the Pentagon's acknowledgment Friday that insurgents are packing increasingly large amounts of killing power into the improvised explosive devices that are taking a near daily toll on U.S. convoys.

Part of Fallouja's significance, officials said, is that it was a "safe zone" for insurgents to store ordnance and assemble roadside bombs.

"This whole city was one big ordnance dump," said Marine Capt. Joe Winslow, part of a project to write the official history of the Marines in Iraq.

Where Focus Groups Hold Court
O.C. jury consultant uses business strategy to give attorneys upper hand
By Jean O. Pasco

...Most court watchers know about jury consultants, the people brought in to help defense attorneys and prosecutors pick jurors most likely to be sympa- thetic to their side. Attorneys also hold mock trials, where they rehearse their case in front of a faux jury or prepare witnesses for going to court.

St. Hilaire's Costa Mesa company, Jury Impact, has adopted another strategy in trial preparation, by gathering the kinds of focus groups used by marketing experts to test new products and political messages. So far, the company's work has involved only civil cases.

The company assembles groups to sit as faux juries, listen to legal arguments and provide instant feedback so attorneys can sculpt the most effective way of presenting their cases in court.

The focus groups listen first to the opposition arguments, recording with hand-held electronic dials their reactions to what is most effective. The attorneys then put forward their best counter arguments, analyzing which hit the closest to home based on how the group reacts.

"The courtroom is the last place in America where you deliver a message before you test it," said St. Hilaire.

The idea to meld jury research with political packaging came from Costa Mesa attorney Todd Theodora, who worked with St. Hilaire as political director for the New Majority, a group of wealthy Republican moderates that formed in 1999.

Quote of note:

"Parents are more and more realizing that they not only have more choices, but they   better choose, because the consequences are so great," said Guilbert C. Hentschke, a professor of education at USC.

Safety, cost, class and school sizes, and proximity to home are among the factors parents look for, in addition to   and sometimes more than   curriculum and educational philosophy, Hentschke said.

The process can be grueling.

Some parents spend hours researching class sizes and test scores. They soon learn that some of the area's most sought-after private schools are also the most expensive, with tuitions approaching, or exceeding, $20,000 a year. Many schools, including the public magnets and charters, have far more applicants than they can accommodate.