Prometheus 6

As long as they didn't disappear into someone's private collection like some pile plundered from the pyramids, I'd have been cool with where they landed. But Atlanta, and Morehouse in particular, is where Dr. King's legacy belongs.

But none of Atlanta's institutions was prepared to muster the asking price for the papers, and it was rumored that New York City, among other parties, was prepared to compete for them. It was left to Ms. Franklin to take action. 

Mayor Franklin can't be commended enough. 

The Deal That Let Atlanta Retain Dr. King's Papers
By SHAILA DEWAN

Michael S(ellout)teele :

But Steele said any attempt to attack him for taking these donations just highlights a double standard he believes that black Republicans face because they are "inconvenient" for Democrats, who have had the support of the vast majority of black voters for the past half-century.

"When I look across the aisle, I see a Democratic leader who was a member of the Ku Klux Klan," Steele said, referring to Sen. Robert C. Byrd (W.Va.). Byrd has said his Klan membership, when he was a young man, was "a major mistake."

"That doesn't stop Democrats from taking his money," Steele said.

But it would if he were still taking racists' money. As you are.

You know what? They're here...they're queer. Get over it so we can do real problems. Like flag burning.

A 2003 survey found that 30% of Americans believed sexual orientation was innate and 14% said it was determined by upbringing, besides the 42% who considered it a lifestyle choice. That survey was conducted by the Pew Research Center for the People & the Press and the Pew Forum on Religion & Public Life.

Polls show that people who believe sexual orientation is governed by biology tend to support gay rights, whereas those who consider it a choice don't, said Dr. Jack Drescher, who chaired the American Psychiatric Assn.'s Committee on Gay, Lesbian and Bisexual Issues for six years. 

Study Links Male Gays, Birth of Older Brothers
A mother's antibodies may change with each boy, raising chances the next will be homosexual.
By Karen Kaplan
Times Staff Writer
June 27, 2006

It's like visiting Bob Jones University...an undercover way of conveying the support of the racist wing of the Republican party. And when he says

The important message he has for black voters, he said, "is that it will make a difference for them to have me at the table."

Steele's Donor List Stirs Racial Questions
Those Who Offended Blacks Contribute
By Matthew Mosk
Washington Post Staff Writer
Monday, June 26, 2006; B01

Steele said he sees nothing unusual about getting help from Floyd Brown's Citizens United Political Victory Fund. Brown produced the Willie Horton ad, which helped torpedo Michael Dukakis's presidential campaign by drawing attention to a weekend furlough program that released a black convicted murderer serving a life sentence.

He asked ...

Today it seems we must be reminded that blackness is an intellectual construct. If it becomes anything other than that, it will essentially be racial, and there is no good to come from that degeneration. I wonder (out loud) if the bulk of African Americans, looking at them as an ethnic group, wish blackness to go in that direction. If they don't, then there are great challenges to get that intellectual spark going again.

First problem...what the hell is 'blackness?' I know who Black people are...

If you insist on getting all airy-fairy philosophical, all the true statements ever made doesn't prove there is such a thing as Truth...some common essence that all true things share. And all the Black people in the world don't prove there's such a thing as 'blackness.' One would think a person who rails against all the "blacker than thou" would recognize that rather than playing with it.

The Colorblind Society.

This is especially dedicated to all of those short-sighted african americans who endorsed racial and ethnic profiling of arabs and muslims after 9/11. Those of with more clear heads could see what would happen, which is that the barrel of the faux terror war would be turned on blacks eventually (aside from the fact that most American muslims are black).

Well, this morning, I opened the paper and saw profiles of several black men headlining, and read on the front page that they represented the 'new face of american terrorism'.

So now, the police, TSA, and feds have another good reason to pull you over and crack a baton on your head. In addition to being the source of drugs and violent crime, the african american is also the spawn of bin ladin.

You think that's an overstatement? Check this transcript from Anderson Cooper 360, from which I cull this interesting bit of information.

On June 13, the FBI, Department of Homeland Security, put out a call, an informational bulletin, "Black Separatism a Volatile Movement of Node -- Node of Domestic Radicalization."

I want a copy of that. And here's the scary shit.

I still check my referral logs on occasion. Came across fever 103, who referred me to a Tim Wise article than pisses me off because I'd get lynched if I said such stuff...I will quote below the fold.

It was posted at LiP Magazine , and I noticed the article was originally published by Counterpunch in April, but I couldn't find the original article (I generally prefer that), so I decided to look for the non-printer friendly page. Didn't find that either. I did find enough other stuff to make LiP a probable future stop.

For example:

Author and clinical psychologist Bruce E. Levine, PhD, wants to tell you that depression, discontent, and a whole raft of diagnosed mental illnesses are nothing more than natural responses to the oppression of “institutional society.” In his book, Commonsense Rebellion: Taking Back Your Life from Drugs, Shrinks, Corporations, and a World Gone Crazy, Levine contends that the vast majority of mental disorders are, to put it simply, profit-driven fabrications with no established biochemical or genetic causes. In this day and age, a psychologist arguing forcefully against the entire concept of medication seems odd. Hearing him argue that anger, depression, and dissent are not only normal, but deeply healthy, borders on the bizarre. We interviewed Levine for our web site back in 2001, but now more than ever we thought we could use a strong dose of his crazy talk.

I've often said that some things are foul enough that not getting depressed is a sign of mental illness. The pisser was when Dr. Levine mentioned a "new" mental disability: Oppositional Defiant Disorder, which sounds a lot like Drapetomania. 

I think I'll check out their first audio experiment too.

Anyway, here's some of the stuff Tim Wise said that folks going ballistic.

Because it deserves the harshest name one can imagine.

ISO a Softer Name for Internment Monument
Monday, June 26, 2006; A19

HUNT, Idaho -- The National Park Service wants Congress to remove the word "internment" from the name of a national park commemorating a World War II prison camp for Japanese Americans.

In a management plan for the Minidoka Internment National Monument finalized last week, the Park Service says the term legally means imprisonment of civilian enemy aliens during wartime and does not accurately reflect the government's forced relocation of thousands of U.S. citizens of Japanese descent.

The agency wants the name changed to Minidoka National Historic Site, which would match the only similar prison camp under its protection, California's Manzanar National Historic Site.

Question of note:

Why So Lonesome?
By Sebastian Mallaby
Monday, June 26, 2006; A21

The question about loneliness is: Why do people do this to themselves? Why do Americans, who reported an average of nearly three close friends in 1985, now report an average of just over two? And why does one in four have nobody with whom to discuss personal issues? This is the age of Oprah and MySpace, of public emoting on television and the Web. Apparently people watch "Friends" but don't actually have many.

Good question.

But since Mr. Mallaby just asked the question so he could present his throwaway line at the very end of the editorial, I present the Answer of note:

Serious Study: Immaturity Levels Rising
Jennifer Viegas, Discovery News

June 23, 2006 —The adage "like a kid at heart" may be truer than we think, since new research is showing that grown-ups are more immature than ever.

Specifically, it seems a growing number of people are retaining the behaviors and attitudes associated with youth.

As a consequence, many older people simply never achieve mental adulthood, according to a leading expert on evolutionary psychiatry.

Among scientists, the phenomenon is called psychological neoteny.

...let me say, "a matter of flawed perception." Not matter who argued for it,

Quote of note over here...

Now that your income and employment levels approach the level you associate with Black folks, others are already lobbying on your behalf.

But the chief "equity" issue at their college is the shortage of men, who make up barely a fifth of the student body. What happened to the boys who didn't make it?

Boys are, on average, as smart as girls, but they are much less fond of school. They consistently receive lower grades, have more discipline problems and are more likely to be held back for a year or placed in special education classes. The Harvard economist Brian Jacob attributes these problems to boys' lack of "noncognitive skills," like their difficulties with paying attention in class, their disorganization and their reluctance to seek help from others.

Those are serious handicaps, but they could be mitigated if schools became more boy-friendly.

And their suggestions look remarkably like those Black folks have said were needed for decades.

We are losing young boys to a sense of failure that comes from schooling poorly adapted to their needs. We are losing adolescent males to the depression that comes from feeling neither needed nor respected. We are losing young men to life tracks that include neither college nor any other energetic endeavor.

According to the Boys Project white males take collective damage simply from the transfer of attention from them to girls for a decade or two.

Article poking all holes in the nonsense over there.

Study Casts Doubt On the 'Boy Crisis'
Improving Test Scores Cut Into Girls' Lead
By Jay Mathews
Washington Post Staff Writer
Monday, June 26, 2006; A01

A study to be released today looking at long-term trends in test scores and academic success argues that widespread reports of U.S. boys being in crisis are greatly overstated and that young males in school are in many ways doing better than ever.

Using data compiled from the National Assessment of Educational Progress, a federally funded accounting of student achievement since 1971, the Washington-based think tank Education Sector found that, over the past three decades, boys' test scores are mostly up, more boys are going to college and more are getting bachelor's degrees.

Quote of note:

"It shouldn't be a political decision, but it is going to be with this administration," Levin said on "Fox News Sunday." "It's as clear as your face, which is mighty clear, that before this election, this November, there's going to be troop reductions in Iraq, and the president will then claim some kind of progress or victory."

Democrats Cite Report On Troop Cuts in Iraq
Pentagon Plan Like Theirs, Senators Say
By Michael Abramowitz and Thomas E. Ricks
Washington Post Staff Writers
Monday, June 26, 2006; A01

Senate Democrats reacted angrily yesterday to a report that the U.S. commander in Iraq had privately presented a plan for significant troop reductions in the same week they came under attack by Republicans for trying to set a timetable for withdrawal.

"I can't imagine a better home than the home of Dr. King for this collection," Redden said. "It was there for years, it's going to be there forever. I think that's a marvelous conclusion to this extraordinary process. It guarantees that it will be looked after properly and made available to the public."

Morehouse College says it will inherit King papers
June 23, 2006
BY ERRIN HAINES ASSOCIATED PRESS

ATLANTA-- A collection of Martin Luther King Jr.'s handwritten documents and books won't be sold at auction and instead will be given to his alma mater, officials said Friday.

A coalition of business, individuals and philanthropic leaders led by Atlanta Mayor Shirley Franklin bought the collection for an undisclosed amount, said Morehouse College President Walter Massey.

The Washington Post series on Black men continues. Friday's entry combined an inspirational story about two high school students inspiring others with the standard run-down of educational statistics. Today they feature a nightmare no Black man in America feels totally free of.

But they have transcripts of online chats about the various articles that are worth skimming .

Observations from a Latina/Black woman: I am from a Spanish-speaking Caribbean island...in my case, that means I am both black and Latina. So, I feel that I have a special insight in this topic. This is because I have noticed again and again that when African-American men learn that I am not just black, but also speak Spanish and come from a different culture their interest in me increases exponentially. I just feel that African-American men feel like they have a "prize" in their hands if they are not dating a plain jane African-American woman, but instead someone exotic that somehow elevates their status.

I have noticed that for them it's important to brag they are not just with a black woman, but also a Latina from the Caribbean AND who speaks Spanish...they are besides themselves!!!

Kellina Craig-Henderson: Very interesting what you refer to is the extent to which being "Black" in the US is undervalued, and even denigrated. One young man I interviewed for the book talked about the way that most of friends who were Black all seemed to feel obligated to qualify their ethnicity and racial status by pointing to ways that they were "mixed." There is something very perverse about a society that leads its people to feel bad about themselves so much so that it becomes important to be something other than who they may really be. So, I would agree, that for some Black men with "mixed" women there is a certain delight in vicariously being something other than just an African American

Is it really that bad, so totally on the surface? Being old, I don't know the current state of the bachelor herd.

Mall officials won’t clarify what clothing and accessories are prohibited.

"The code of conduct is pretty clear, and, you know, I think common sense should prevail," said Les Morris, spokesman for Simon Property Group Inc., which owns the mall...

"There are things we sell that it’s OK to own them, but to use them in the mall setting is inappropriate," Morris said.

Bandanna banned in Springfield mall
Officials won’t explain how headgear is offensive.
Published Thursday, June 22, 2006

SPRINGFIELD (AP) - A southwest Missouri mall defended its dress code after a security guard told a 10-year-old girl her bandanna decorated with peace signs, smiley faces and flowers violated the mall’s code of conduct.

Schwarzenegger Denies Bush Troop Request
Jun 23 9:22 PM US/Eastern
By AARON C. DAVIS & SCOTT LINDLAW
Associated Press Writers
SACRAMENTO

Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger this week rejected a request from the Bush administration to send an additional 1,500 National Guard troops to the Mexican border, the governor's office confirmed Friday.

The National Guard Bureau, an arm of the Pentagon, asked for the troops to fill shortfalls for the mission in New Mexico and Arizona, two California National Guard officials told The Associated Press on Friday. But Schwarzenegger said the request would stretch the California guard too thin if an emergency or disaster struck.

I just like the phrasing here.

'Idol' threats
If you can't beat 'em, copy 'em to death.
June 25, 2006

LIKE NOSFERATU SUCKING AT the throats of couch potatoes everywhere, "American Idol" cannot be killed using conventional weapons. Rival networks have tried starving it with reality programs, stabbing it with sitcoms, shooting it with dramas and firebombing it with award shows. "Idol" just shrugs them off, pulling in record viewership for the Fox network. Its season finale in May was the most-watched TV show of the year except for the Super Bowl and the Academy Awards. Simon Cowell's mocking laughter haunts the dreams of executives from every other network.

AT&T instituted a new privacy policy this week stating that the company, not customers, owns customers' private data.

Oh, you didn't know they could do that?

And if AT&T makes that work, how long do you think it will take for your bank to make the same claim? Or your insurance company? 

Fact is, they do own the data they've collected about you (I almost wrote "your data"). People think "ownership" means you can do whatever you want with the thing in question. Wrong. "Ownership" means you can prevent others from using the thing in question. Copy protection, the broadcast flag, digital rights management, all such stuff is an effort to establish ownership by preventing you from doing anything beyond accessing a digital thing. Without these limits, corporations are willing to leave money on the table, to expend money to prevent your accessing it.

Ask yourself now: can you even access the data your ISP has gathered on you? The data your bank has gathered? Or even that the supermarket gathers when you use that discount card? 

Can you prevent them from using it? 

More Rumblings About Net Privacy
By DAN MITCHELL

ONCE again, an online news outlet has published details about secret rooms in AT&T buildings where government spies are said to be gaining access to millions of private e-mail messages and other Internet traffic. This time, it's Salon, which on Wednesday published an article featuring two former AT&T employees who asserted that the company had maintained a secured room in its network operations center in Bridgeton, Mo., near St. Louis, since 2002 (salon.com).