Week of May 21, 2006 to May 27, 2006
Submitted by Prometheus 6 on May 27, 2006 - 8:19am.
on Politics
Opinion Journal Over Democratic opposition, the Senate this morning confirmed Gen. Michael Hayden as CIA director. In the interest of fairness, we thought we'd print some quotes from Hayden's opponents: - "I believe we are on our way to a major Constitutional confrontation on Fourth Amendment guarantees of unreasonable search and seizure. I think this is also going to present a growing impediment to the confirmation of General Hayden (to be CIA Director). And that is very regretted."--Dianne Feinstein (D., Calif.), May 11
- "Fixing intelligence also depends on real oversight from the Republican-led Senate Intelligence Committee. Time and again this Committee has shown itself more committed to protecting the White House than to dealing with the disarray in our intelligence community. The Committee must finally take the steps necessary to fix an intelligence system that has broken on President Bush's watch, including not only determining if General Hayden is the right man for the job ahead, but also completing its investigation into the Administration's misuse of Iraq intelligence. America's security depends on it."--Harry Reid (D., Nev.), May 8
- "Earlier this year General Hayden appeared before the Press Club where he said of the program: 'the intrusion into privacy is also limited: only international calls.' . . . It is hard to see however--if the leaks about this program are accurate -- how the only intrusions into Americans' privacy are related to international phone calls as General Hayden said at the National Press Club. And it's certainly not hard to see the potential for abuse--and the need for an effective check in law on the government's use of that information."--Carl Levin (D., Mich.), May 18
Oh wait, sorry, all three of these senators voted for Hayden's confirmation. They said they'd look out for our precious civil liberties, then they folded like a cheap accordion! Hayden was confirmed by a lopsided 78-15 margin, with 14 Dems and Republican Arlen Specter saying "nay."
Submitted by Prometheus 6 on May 26, 2006 - 10:31am.
Is this satire? Bovens calculates that, if the rhythm method is 90% effective, and if conceptions outside the fertile period are about twice as likely to fail as to survive, then “millions of rhythm method cycles per year globally depend for their success on massive embryonic death”.
This is deeper than the pre-pregnant thing . Who thinks this crap up? Rhythm method criticised as a killer of embryos
Alison Motluk The range of birth control choices may have become narrower for couples that believe the sanctity of life begins when sperm meets egg. The rhythm method, a philosopher claims, may compromise millions of embryos.
at Intrapolitics.org There are people who will always have a special place in your heart. Michael Meyers has one in my spleen. This is strictly from personal memory but I believe his New York Civil Rights Coalition was the first organization to call itself a civil rights organizations while actively opposing civil rights for Black folks (and there is no error in that phrasing). It was so successful it lead to things like the Clear Skies Initiative. Stop the Black Only Treatment is typical of his efforts.
I was going to refer to "the immigration debate" again, but somehow "debate" doesn't seem to be the right word... This, by the way, is why it would be a great mistake to create a large new class of "guest workers" with no pathway to citizenship. Paradoxically, those most worried about the impact of immigration should be those most insistent upon full rights for immigrants. Establishing a separate and unequal population with limited civil, political and social rights is the surest way of undercutting the rights of those who were born here. Of course, the immigration battle is not just about economics. It also entails sharp cultural confrontations, particularly in areas of heavy immigration. Our nation's long history of such fights suggests that cultural battles are more easily resolved when legitimate economic grievances on both sides of the immigration divide are taken seriously. Paradoxically, those fighting to achieve justice for immigrants will reach their goal only if they are also seen as fighting for justice for the native-born. The native-born, in turn, will find their rights better protected if the rights of immigrants are guaranteed, too.
That's E. J. Dionne Jr . You should read it.
Submitted by Prometheus 6 on May 26, 2006 - 4:33am.
on Politics
Quote of note: Snow grew frustrated as news reports in recent weeks suggested that the White House wanted him out, the source close to him said. Rather than be left hanging any longer, he decided to set a firm July 3 departure date even if a replacement is not named. "He just didn't want it to drag on later than that," the source said. "He's anxious to get back to the private sector."
Treasury Secretary to Step Down
By Peter Baker and Paul Blustein
Washington Post Staff Writers
Friday, May 26, 2006; A05
Treasury Secretary John W. Snow, who has presided during a period of strong economic growth but at times seemed out of sync with President Bush, has informed the White House that he will resign in the coming days after three years as the nation's chief economic officer, a source close to Snow said yesterday.
Submitted by Prometheus 6 on May 26, 2006 - 4:25am.
Don't get confused by the number of sylables, children. There's actually only one part to the word "voluntary."
GAO Report Faults Voluntary Programs To Cut Air Pollution
Study Says Administration Has Not Ensured That Firms Set, Meet Goals
By Juliet Eilperin
Washington Post Staff Writer
Friday, May 26, 2006; A03
The Bush administration's voluntary programs to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by industry have yet to deliver promised results, according to a report issued yesterday by the Government Accountability Office. The 51-page report, which was requested by Sens. John McCain (R-Ariz.) and John F. Kerry (D-Mass.), highlights shortcomings in two projects aimed at encouraging the private sector to cut emissions linked to global warming. The Environmental Protection Agency sponsors "Climate Leaders," while the Energy Department oversees "Climate VISION."
Submitted by Prometheus 6 on May 26, 2006 - 3:49am.
on Politics
In [TS] A Test of Our Character , Paul Krugman asks
But can the sort of person who would act on global warming get elected? Are we — by which I mean both the public and the press — ready for political leaders who don't pander, who are willing to talk about complicated issues and call for responsible policies? That's a test of national character. I wonder whether we'll pass.
For some 32% of us, the answer is NO.
Quote of note: Since then ALD has been held on May 25th in every corner of the African world. It marks the last stage of African people's struggle against imperialism, demanding the African masses to coordinate efforts on a global scale and for the intellectual and professional classes to fulfill a heightened obligation.
May 25: Celebration of an aspiration
Netfa Freeman (2006-05-25) What is liberation? What is the existence of liberation like? While most holidays or commemorations celebrate people and things for whom or what they were, there are some that celebrate things as we aspire them to be. The latter is what can be said about May 25th when we celebrate African Liberation Day, often referred to as Africa Day.
Submitted by Prometheus 6 on May 25, 2006 - 10:50am.
on Politics
Quote of note: From his first days at the State Department, Mr. Zoellick has chafed at his subordinate position, frequently remarking that he was finding the adjustment difficult after running his own office
Rice's Deputy Intends to Resign, Aides Say
By JOEL BRINKLEY
WASHINGTON, May 24 — Robert B. Zoellick intends to resign as deputy secretary of state, the department's second in command, after barely 15 months in the job, aides and associates said Wednesday.
Submitted by Prometheus 6 on May 25, 2006 - 10:44am.
on Politics
Representative Jefferson's case is one of those issues I'm going to watch for a while before I say something stupid. On the one hand, folks have gotten away with videotaped crimes before. On the other hand it takes serious balls to claim innocence in the face of a video tape. And ultimately the institutional moves are more important than the specific incident. Somewhere down in the linked article it says Rep. Pelosi is wary of offending the CBC. I don't see that. Pelosi move triggers revolt
By Josephine Hearn
Furious black lawmakers, rallying behind Rep. William Jefferson (D-La.), were pulled back from the brink of open revolt against House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) in an emergency meeting with her yesterday.
Submitted by Prometheus 6 on May 25, 2006 - 10:24am.
on Economics
This Glass Is Half Full, Probably More WASHINGTON HERE is a political Rorschach test for this midterm election year. What's your reaction to the following: These are the best of times in many ways. Americans are wealthier than previous generations, they are healthier and they enjoy a higher standard of living. The good old days simply weren't as good as the present day. If that makes you a little squeamish, the odds are good that you generally vote Democratic. You see a lot of real problems — widening inequality, a big federal budget deficit, melting icecaps — and you have a hard time believing that the country has never been richer.
Oh, please.
Today in TimesSelect Mr. Brooks presents Of Love and Money, continuing his drive to explain market and economic perversities as the personal perversities of the poor. Ultimately he talks himself into a dead end...a wall whose height and density far surpasses the one at the end of the immigration "debate." He opens a strange editorial with what may be the most fatuous opening statement I've ever read. Let me tell you why I, a scientific imbecile, have spent several weeks trying to understand the amygdala and the orbitofrontal cortex. It all started a few years ago as I was plowing through studies on income inequality. When you delve into this literature, you realize inequality is more complicated than some polemicists let on. For example, inequality is much lower when measured by consumption than by income because poorer people now spend much more than they officially report as income.
That's called credit. And it's being used to buy necessities. The phrasing slimes the poor. Then I take his audience into account.
At Intrapolitics.org I took a poll at Prometheus 6 a little while ago. In case you don't feel like clicking, the question was "What is Black folks' most pressing need?" Truly not a scientific poll, but 88 folks is more responses than you get from a lot of national polls. I am not taking it as definitive but I am taking it seriously. At worst it gives me an idea of what the sort of folk who read P6 would like to see.
Idiot of note: The Rev. Jesse Peterson, a member of Choose Black America,
Black coalition forms against immigration By DANIEL GILBERT Wednesday, May 24, 2006 WASHINGTON - For a newly formed coalition of black Americans, the issue of illegal immigration is personal. The leaders of "Choose Black America," a group of community, religious and academic leaders across the country, view illegal immigration as particularly detrimental to black Americans. "We're here to call the alarm, the alarm for justice," said Frank Morris, a former associate dean at the University of Maryland, and one of the group's founding members, at a press conference Tuesday. Morris blames illegal immigration for high levels of unemployment among blacks.
Submitted by Prometheus 6 on May 24, 2006 - 8:13am.
on Media | News
It's like that. She played the entire hit song to the jury with the catchy chorus "When I move you move, just like that" while Ludacris joined jurors in bobbing his head.
And that's the way it is. Ludacris, Kanye West defend lyrics in court
Tue May 23, 2006 08:12 PM ET
By Christine Kearney NEW YORK (Reuters) - A federal courtroom was transformed into a rhythmic hip-hop battlefield on Tuesday with jurors bobbing their heads in a copyright trial pitting a New Jersey group against rappers Ludacris and Kanye West. Music group I.O.F. claims Christopher "Ludacris" Bridges and Grammy award winner Kanye West breached copyright laws by stealing lyrics and style from the little-known group's song "Straight Like That," using it for their 2003 hit single "Stand Up."
Submitted by Prometheus 6 on May 24, 2006 - 8:01am.
on Politics
Of course this Almost everyone (97%) said they consider themselves to be trustworthy, and 85% said they think their personal goals in life are less important than acting with honesty and integrity.
makes me question the value of the whole polling enterprise. U.S. Public Widely Distrusts Its Leaders Lichtman/Zogby Interactive poll: Gov’t., corporate scandals damage public trust in institutions at the bedrock of society. As an increasing volume of news about political and corporate leaders comes out of investigations and federal courthouses instead of boardrooms and Capitol Hill hearing rooms, a new Lichtman/Zogby Interactive poll confirms Americans are distrustful of leaders across the societal spectrum. Three out of four (75%) said they trust government less than they did five years ago, just 5% said they think corporations do right by the consumers they are in business to serve, and only 25% feel the reporting is fair and accurate in the newspapers they read or the nightly broadcast network news they watch on television. Nearly 60% said they believe the “state of honesty in America” today is in poor shape (18% said it is in the worst possible shape).
Submitted by Prometheus 6 on May 24, 2006 - 7:42am.
on Politics
Quote of note: The tensions between the CBC and Emanuel come less than a year after another Democratic group, the Congressional Hispanic Caucus (CHC), charged Emanuel with failing to hire enough Hispanics to important staff positions. CHC members withheld dues from the DCCC for more than six months until Emanuel hired a Hispanic staffer, Adrian Saenz from the office of Rep. Charles Gonzalez (D-Texas). Saenz serves as a liaison between the committee and the Hispanic caucus, often sitting in on CHC political meetings.
Pelosi seeks to end rift
By Josephine Hearn
Looking to mediate a long-simmering feud, House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi has worked with the Congressional Black Caucus (CBC) to form a working group to address the caucus’s objections to the tactics used by the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee (DCCC). Pelosi (D-Calif.) and the CBC have organized a small “ad hoc working group” of CBC members to address the caucus’s concerns with DCCC Chairman Rahm Emanuel (Ill.), the chief architect of the Democrats’ efforts to take control of the House. The CBC has long been upset about Emanuel’s strong-arm tactics, registering complaints about his constant drumbeat on paying dues to the DCCC, his threats to withhold DCCC services from members who are in arrears and his alleged lack of interest in engaging them on electoral strategy. CBC members have also expressed frustration that he has not hired as many African-American staffers as they would like.
Seriously. There will be a test later. Many blacks also feel as if they've been pushed out of jobs that then go to Latino immigrants. But what's too often overlooked is that the immigrants didn't do the pushing, the employers did.
For many employers, illegal immigration is a double winner. They get to hire cheap labor, and they don't have to hire blacks, whom they were loath to hire in the first place. It's true that there aren't many black parking valets or hotel maids anymore. But thanks to racist American labor practices, they never had a foothold in the better-paying trades — carpentry, plumbing and electrical work — that Latinos now dominate.
Blacks and Latinos took to the streets in the 1992 riots, which were sparked by a sense of injustice and a lack of ownership in South L.A. But when the smoke cleared and there was a need for community rebuilding, it was Latinos who benefited more from the construction boom. Blacks made some attempts to ensure equal participation, with little success. The bitterness of that experience lingers.
In the documentary "The New L.A.," a narrator describes how, until the mid-1980s or so, most of the janitors working in Century City and downtown were African American. As immigration peaked, many of those janitors were fired and replaced by Latinos willing to work for half the pay and fewer benefits. The narrator only mentions this as a prelude to a discussion of the Justice for Janitors movement, the triumphant union organizing campaign that inaugurated Latino civic involvement.
Everyone wants justice for janitors, of course, including me. But I was left asking: What happened to all those black janitors? What about that justice? It's a question that has few takers.
None of this negates the real things black and brown folks have in common, or the need for unity. (In fact, it makes that need much clearer.) But before coming together, we have to look unflinchingly at the forces keeping us apart.
via Boing Boing TMBG ringtone: "Call connected through the NSA" Brian sez, "They Might Be Giants is offering up a few ringtones for purchase. The first two are amusing, but the third in particular is great, and is titled 'Call connected thru the NSA', with lyrics as follows:" "Call connected through the NSA/Complete transmission through the NSA/Suspending your rights through the duration of the permanent war"
It is sung rather pleasantly and has some nice piano accompaniment with the lyrics. It's available as a $1.50 purchase (through xingtone.com), but there is also a direct link to the freely-provided MP3 for those who prefer to make their own ringtones or who'd just like to use this as, say, a connecting sound for an IM client or an 'Email received' alert, etc." Direct MP3 link
Submitted by Prometheus 6 on May 24, 2006 - 6:37am.
on Health
Pot Smoking Not Linked to Lung Cancer Study Shows No Increased Risk for Even the Heaviest Marijuana Smokers May 23, 2006 -- People who smoke marijuana do not appear to be at increased risk for developing lung cancer, new research suggests. While a clear increase in cancer risk was seen among cigarette smokers in the study, no such association was seen for regular cannabis users. Even very heavy, long-term marijuana users who had smoked more than 22,000 joints over a lifetime seemed to have no greater risk than infrequent marijuana users or nonusers. The findings surprised the study’s researchers, who expected to see an increase in cancer among people who smoked marijuana regularly in their youth.
Submitted by Prometheus 6 on May 24, 2006 - 6:28am.
on Health
Upward Mortality
By Kai Wright, Mother Jones. Posted May 24, 2006. The genetics theory is driven by the commonsense observation that adult-onset diabetes runs in the family--if your parents had it, you are more likely to as well--and researchers are frantically searching for a guilty gene. The lifestyle, or "conditioning," argument blames obesity and inactivity, both of which happen to be more prevalent among African Americans. This same genes-versus-lifestyle debate applies to a range of deadly illnesses that disproportionately plague black America--and middle-class black America in particular. From heart disease to AIDS, African Americans are dying from preventable illnesses in disturbing numbers. The diabetes mortality rate is 20 percent higher for black men than white men, and 40 percent higher for black women.
Submitted by Prometheus 6 on May 24, 2006 - 5:57am.
on Justice
(being more genteel than Cavlor Epthith , I'm saying sellout) ...is Alberto Gonzales. Cue the canned applause. Why Sellout of the Week instead of the equally coveted Mr. Gonzales said on Sunday that a careful reading of some statutes "would seem to indicate" that it was possible to prosecute journalists for publishing classified material. He called it "a policy judgment by Congress in passing that kind of legislation," which the executive is obliged to obey.
Submitted by Prometheus 6 on May 23, 2006 - 8:26pm.
on Media
Remember when Winamp was counterculture and cool, and Shoutcast made streaming audio possible to anyone?
The Participatory Culture Foundation's Broadcast Machine lets you do that and more with video. Not that I personally have a bunch of videos but I'm considering fooling around with it. What do you think? Installs easily. - Written in PHP, runs on most websites
- No MySQL setup required, just ftp a folder
Everything you need to broadcast video online. - Creates internet TV channels (video RSS feeds)
- Describe and tag your videos
- Supports Creative Commons licenses
- Public and private channels
- Personal and community channels
- Innovative one-step Bittorrent publishing (or just direct link to hosted videos)
- Optional Bittorrent "server seeding"
For your viewers, everything is easy. - Browse videos on a web page, by channel or tag
- Easy BitTorrent downloads for Mac and Windows
- Users can subscribe to your channels with Democracy and watch videos like a TiVo.
Submitted by Prometheus 6 on May 23, 2006 - 7:37pm.
on Random rant
It just gelled. I got C-Span in the background, and the House is voting on an amendment to something or other that "requires food stamp program to to enforce current law banning illegal aliens from getting food stamps."
I though only civil rights laws needed seperate laws mandating their enforcement.
Submitted by Prometheus 6 on May 23, 2006 - 6:29pm.
on Seen online
Bomani Jones :
...the culprit in this steroids stuff is baseball. Bonds may have cheated according to commonly held notions of fairness, but he wasn't breaking baseball rules by using steroids before 2004. They weren't illegal at the time. So there's really no knock there on Bonds. It's not his fault that the players' union never allowed 'roid testing. And in the case of segregation, the culprit was baseball. Segregation was cheating according to commonly held notions of fairness, but it was the law of the land of baseball. Judge Landis and the boys kept the momentum going on the color barrier. It's not Ruth's fault that blacks weren't allowed to play. ...If you believe Jeff Pearlman's Love Me, Hate Me--which is only my shelf but still unread by me--then you believe that Bonds started using steroids because McGwire and Sosa passed him using drugs and it killed Bonds inside to see that. So while he's painted as the villain of this era of steroids, he could just as equally be painted as the reason why steroid testing was so necessary.
***BUMPED TO TOP, SCROLL DOWN FOR NEWER POSTINGS***
 A much-esteemed, long-neglected friend sent an email this morning, which was delightful to recieve. At one point he mentioned this post from yesterday and wrote: I think (President Bush) has lost his bearings. but then, so did Moses from time to time, it’s quite understandable. [P6: Oh, no she didn't!]
That made me wonder a little - has President Bush lost his bearings, or have we? Is it President Bush who has broken faith with “his base” or have they?
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