Good evening. This isn't a real post, just a repost from The Common Ills. Everyone who reads my site probably knows that the program I love the most is Democracy Now! and that I wish everyone would watch. Each weekend at The Common Ills, member Maria, Frank or Miguel spotlight the week's headlines in Spanish and English. That's to note the show and note the fact that Democracy Now! provides their headlines in Spanish and English (transcript and audio so you can listen or read).
This gets reposted by The Third Estate Sunday Review to help get the word out and I'm sure between the two everyone who comes here already sees it. But I want to do my part to make sure that Democracy Now! registers as a heavily linked source online so I'm going to repost here. I mean to do that every weekend but usually forget.
If you are new to this, Maria's doing the rundown this weekend. (Maria's ending of "Paz" in these rundowns is where Elaine got the title for her site Like Maria Said Paz.) Always these entries start with Spanish and after the Spanish version, you get the English version.
"Senador Robert Byrd exhorta a retiro de tropas de Irak"
Maria: Hola. De parte de "Democracy Now!" trece cosas que vale hacer notar este fin de semana.
Oficial de Guardia Nacional admite que despliegue en Irak afectó respuesta a Katrina
A decenas de guardias nacionales de Mississippi desplegados en Irak se les negaron licencias de 15 días para ayudar a sus familiares desplazados. Los comandantes les dijeron que la cantidad de soldados estadounidenses en Irak era demasiado escasa para que se pudiera prescindir de ellos. El 40 por ciento de los integrantes de la Guardia Nacional de Mississippi y el 35 por ciento de los de la Guardia de Louisiana se encuentran en Irak. Mientras tanto, por primera vez un oficial de alta jerarquía de la Guardia Nacional reconoció que la respuesta de esa fuerza al huracán fue dificultada por la gran cantidad de sus integrantes que se encuentran en Irak. El teniente general Steven Blum, jefe de la Guardia Nacional, dijo a la CNN que "posiblemente" se demoró un día o más en la respuesta debido a la ausencia de soldados de la Guardia que se encontraban en Irak. Dijo: "Si esa brigada hubiera estado en el país en lugar de en Irak, se podría haber aprovechado su experiencia y capacidad".
Senador Robert Byrd exhorta a retiro de tropas de Irak
Mientras tanto, en Capitol Hill, el integrante más antiguo del Senado, Robert Byrd, exhortó al gobierno de Bush a que se retire de Irak y traiga a los soldados de regreso al país. Byrd dijo: "No podemos continuar gastando millones de dólares en Irak cuando nuestro propio pueblo está pasando tantas necesidades, no sólo ahora en Nueva Orleans, sino en todo el territorio de Estados Unidos, y en toda clase de materias, desde educación y salud hasta seguridad interna y custodia de nuestras propias fronteras".
EPA: Agua tóxica podría hacer que la ciudad sea inhabitable por una década
Un alto funcionario de la Agencia para la Protección del Ambiente (EPA, por sus siglas en inglés), advirtió que los productos químicos tóxicos en el agua que inundó Nueva Orleans harán que esa ciudad sea un lugar inseguro para la vida humana durante una década. Hugh Kaufman, veterano de la EPA, dijo al diario The Independent, de Londres, que la limpieza necesaria será "el mayor trabajo de obra pública jamás realizado" en Estados Unidos. Kaufman fue jefe de investigadores de la defensoría del pueblo de la EPA. Ahora es un analista de políticas en la Oficina de Desechos Sólidos y Respuesta de Emergencia de la misma agencia. El experimentado funcionario pronosticó que "solamente lograr que todo vuelva a funcionar y sea seguro llevará 10 años". Kaufman criticó la decisión de bombear el agua contaminada de la inundación al lago Pontchartrain y al río Mississippi. Dijo que esa medida podría poner en peligro a la gente que utiliza el agua río abajo.
Informe: Chertoff fracasó en la supervisión de la respuesta al huracán
Pasamos a una noticia sobre el huracán Katrina. La agencia de noticias Knight Ridder informa que el funcionario facultado para movilizar la respuesta federal al huracán Katrina era en definitiva el Secretario de Seguridad Nacional, Michael Chertoff, y no Michael Brown, el ex director de la FEMA que renunció a su cargo a principios de esta semana. Registros internos demuestran que Chertoff no delegó sus facultades a Brown hasta 36 horas después de que comenzara el impacto del huracán. Según Knight Ridder, Chertoff, podría haber ordenado a los organismos federales que tomaran medidas aunque no hubiera una solicitud de funcionarios estatales o locales, e incluso antes del paso del huracán. Según el Plan de Respuesta Nacional, era Chertoff, y no Brown, quien estaba a cargo del manejo de la respuesta nacional a un desastre catastrófico. Knight Ridder también informa que obtuvo un documento interno que sugiere que Chertoff se habría confundido acerca del papel principal que le correspondía desempeñar en la respuesta al desastre y la función de su departamento.
FAA advirtió en 1998 de que Al Qaeda estrellaría aviones secuestrados
Nueva información desclasificada del informe de la Comisión del 11 de Septiembre revela que la Administración de Aviación Federal (FAA, por sus siglas en inglés) advirtió, en 1998, que Al Qaeda podía "intentar secuestrar un avión comercial y estrellarlo contra un lugar simbólico de Estados Unidos". Esta es la primera advertencia conocida de que podía ocurrir un atentado similar al del 11 de septiembre. También hace surgir nuevos cuestionamientos acerca de la veracidad del testimonio de la entonces Asesora de Seguridad Nacional Condoleeza Rice ante la Comisión. Rice dijo a la Comisión "No creo que nadie pudiera prever que intentarían utilizar un avión como misil". Esta información estaba en el informe original de la Comisión, pero recién fue revelada esta semana. Otra sección revelada demuestra que funcionarios descubrieron meses antes de los atentados del 11 de septiembre de que dos de los tres aeropuertos utilizados por los secuestradores habían presentado fallas de seguridad en repetidas ocasiones.
Ministro de Justicia de Irak critica a Estados Unidos por arresto arbitrario de iraquíes
El Ministro de Justicia iraquí, Abdul Husain Shandal, criticó a Estados Unidos. En una entrevista con Reuters, condenó a las fuerzas militares estadounidenses por detener a iraquíes sin orden de arresto y por mantener a miles de iraquíes presos sin que haya cargos contre ellos. El Ministro de Justicia también dijo que quiere quitar la inmunidad a los soldados extranjeros.
Partido Republicano bloquea investigaciones sobre Katrina y Memorando de Downing Street
En Capitol Hill, los republicanos bloquearon varios esfuerzos de los demócratas para que se investigue o informe sobre el huracán Katrina, la guerra de Irak y la revelación de la identidad de la agente de la CIA Valerie Plame. En el Senado, los republicanos bloquearon una propuesta de Hillary Clinton para llevar a cabo una investigación independiente de la respuesta del gobierno al huracán Katrina. Esa iniciativa fue rechazada en una votación partidaria, por 54 votos contra 44. En una encuesta realizada por CNN-USA Today-Gallup, 70 por ciento de los consultados en todo el país apoyaron la realización de una investigación independiente. En la Cámara de Representantes, los republicanos rechazaron los intentos de los demócratas de obligar al gobierno de Bush a que entregue documentos sobre información anterior a la guerra de Irak, vinculada con el llamado Memorando de Downing Street. Ese memorando reveló las actas de una reunión de julio de 2002, entre el Primer Ministro británico Tony Blair y sus asesores, que indican que Estados Unidos se propuso atacar Irak casi un año antes de que la guerra comenzara oficialmente. El memorando también dice que la Casa Blanca "tergiversó" datos de inteligencia para justificar la invasión. También el miércoles, los republicanos de la Comisión Judicial y de Relaciones Internacionales rechazaron los intentos de los demócratas de obligar al gobierno de Bush a entregar información y registros relacionados con la revelación de la identidad de la agente de la CIA Valerie Plame.
El 72% de afroestadounidenses piensan que Bush no se preocupa por ellos
En una nueva encuesta de USA Today, 72% de los afrodescendientes consultados opinaron que al Presidente Bush no le importa la población negra del país. El 67% de los blancos que contestaron opinaron que sí.
Atentado estadounidense/ iraquí deja 200 muertos en Tall Afar
En Irak, al menos 200 personas murieron en la ciudad de Tall Afar, luego de que fuerzas estadounidenses e iraquíes lanzaron el fin de semana un importante ataque en esa ciudad norteña. El lunes, la Sociedad Iraquí de la Media Luna Roja envió ayuda a las familias desplazadas luego de tres días de bombardeos. Fue el mayor ataque desde la toma de Fallujah.Funcionarios estadounidenses inicialmente describieron los ataques como necesarios para detener el ingreso a Irak de combatientes extranjeros, procedentes de Siria. Pero el Washington Post informa que los objetivos fueron en gran parte turcomanos sunitas. Según el Post, el ataque no fue dirigido por el ejército iraquí, sino por la milicia kurda conocida como "Peshmerga".Mientras tanto, Estados Unidos niega la acusación de que los militares utilizaron gases tóxicos en el ataque. Abu Musab al-Zarqawi habría publicado un mensaje de audio en Internet acusando a Estados Unidos de haber utilizado algún tipo de armas químicas en la ciudad.
Tribunal de Apelaciones acepta detención por tiempo indeterminado sin juicio
En materia jurídica, un tribunal federal de apelaciones decidió que el Poder Ejecutivo puede detener por tiempo indeterminado a José Padilla, nacido en Brooklyn y acusado de haber conspirado para colocar una bomba sucia en Estados Unidos. Padilla, que es ciudadano estadounidense, permanece hace tres años en reclusión e incomunicado, en instalaciones de una brigada de la marina de guerra. Aún no se presentaron cargos en su contra y nunca compareció ante un juez. El fallo del tribunal de apelaciones revoca la decisión judicial anterior de que "la detención por tiempo indeterminado sin juicio" es inconstitucional.
Consejo electoral de Haití bloquea candidatura presidencial de Jean-Juste
En Haití, el Consejo Electoral intenta impedir que el sacerdote encarcelado Gerard Jean-Juste se presente como candidato en las primeras elecciones presidenciales en Haití desde el golpe de Estado que derrocó a Jean-Bertrand Aristide. El Consejo se niega a inscribir a Jean-Juste como candidato, con el argumento de que debe presentar su candidatura personalmente, y no desde la prisión. Jean-Juste es el candidato del Partido Lavalas, el mismo partido de Aristide, y permanece en prisión desde julio, pero aún no ha sido acusado de ningún delito. Amnisitía Internacional lo clasificó como prisionero de conciencia.
Chávez acusa a Estados Unidos de secuestrar cumbre de la ONU
En la Organización de las Naciones Unidas, el presidente venezolano Hugo Chávez acusó a Estados Unidos de intentar secuestrar la cumbre de los líderes mundiales. Exhortó a las naciones a realizar más esfuerzos para combatir la pobreza y mejorar el medio ambiente. La cumbre de tres días fue establecida para encontrar nuevas formas de combatir la pobreza, aunque en el documento definitivo acordado por los estados miembros de la ONU, temas como educación, enfermedades, comercio, ayuda y el desarme se vieron reducidos, en un intento por realizar un texto que todos los países pudieran aprobar al final de la cumbre. Chávez también describió a Estados Unidos como un país terrorista porque protege al pastor tele-evangelista Pat Robertson. Chávez dijo "pidió públicamente ante el mundo mi asesinato y anda libre, ¡ese es un delito internacional!, ¡terrorismo internacional!"
Bush: "Creo que necesito un receso para ir al baño"
Otra noticia relacionada con las Naciones Unidas. Una breve nota escrita por el presidente Bush a Condoleeza Rice durante la cumbre de la ONU está en primera plana de los medios internacionales. Un camarógrafo de Reuters tomó una foto de Bush mientras le escribía "Creo que necesito un receso para ir al baño. ¿Es posible?" La nota aparece en la tapa del Times de Londres con el titular: "Documento filtrado de la ONU: ¿Qué le pidió el presidente Bush a Condi Rice?"
Maria: Hello. En inglés here are thirteen stories from this week's Democracy Now! Get the word out. Peace.
National Guard Official Admits Iraq Deployment Affected Katrina Response
Scores of members of the Mississippi National Guard stationed in Iraq have been denied 15-day leaves in order to help their displaced families. The commanders told them that there were too few U.S. troops in Iraq to spare them. 40 percent of Mississippi's National Guard force and 35 percent of Louisiana's is in Iraq. Meanwhile, for the first time, a high-ranking National Guard official has admitted that the Guard's response to the hurricane was hindered by the high number of troops in Iraq. Lt. Gen. Steven Blum, chief of the National Guard Bureau, told CNN that "arguably" a day or so of response time was lost due to the absence of the Guard troops in Iraq. He said, "Had that brigade been at home and not in Iraq, their expertise and capabilities could have been brought to bear."
Sen. Robert Byrd Calls for Withdrawal From Iraq
Meanwhile on Capitol Hill, the Senate's most senior member, Robert Byrd called for the Bush administration to withdraw from Iraq and bring the troops home. Byrd said "We cannot continue to commit billions in Iraq when our own people are so much in need, not only now, in New Orleans, but all across America for everything from education to health care to homeland security to securing our own borders."
EPA: Toxic Waters Could Make City Unsafe For A Decade
A top official at the Environmental Protection Agency is warning that toxic chemicals in the New Orleans flood waters will make the city unsafe for full human habitation for a decade. EPA veteran Hugh Kaufman told the Independent of London that the clean-up needed will be 'the most massive public works exercise ever done in this country." Kaufman is the former chief investigator to the EPA's ombudsman. He is now a senior policy analyst in the EPA's Office of Solid Wastes and Emergency Response. He said "It will take 10 years just to get everything up and running and safe." Kauffman criticized the decision to pump the contaminated flood water back into Lake Pontchartrain and the Mississippi River. He said this could endanger people using the water downstream.
Report: Chertoff Failed In Overseeing Hurricane Response
In other news on Hurricane Katrina, the Knight Ridder news agency is reporting that it was Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff who was ultimately empowered to mobilize the federal response to Hurricane Katrina - not Michael Brown, the former head of FEMA who resigned earlier this week. Internal records show that Chertoff didn't shift power to Brown until 36 hours after Katrina hit. According to Knight Ridder, Chertoff -- even before the storm struck -- could have ordered federal agencies into action without any request from state or local officials. According to the National Response Plan, it was Chertoff - not Brown - who was in charge of managing the national response to a catastrophic disaster. Knight Ridder is also reporting that it has obtained an internal memo that suggests that Chertoff may have been confused himself about his lead role in disaster response and that of his department.
FAA Warned in 1998 of Al Qaeda Crashing Hijacked Jets
Newly declassified sections of the 9/11 commission's report reveals that the Federal Aviation Administration was warned as early as 1998 that Al Qaeda could "seek to hijack a commercial jet and slam it into a U.S. landmark." This is the earliest known warning that a 9/11-like attack could take place. It also raises new questions about the veracity of then National Security Advisor Condoleeza Rice testimony before the commission. She told the commission "I don't think anybody could have predicted that they would try to use an airplane as a missile." This information was contained in the commission's original report but remained classified until this week. In addition another declassified section shows that officials realized months before the Sept. 11 attacks that two of the three airports used by the hijackers had suffered repeated security lapses.
Iraqi Justice Minister Condemns U.S. For Arbitrarily Detaining Iraqis
The U.S. is also coming under criticism in Iraq by the country's Minister of Justice, Abdul Husain Shandal. In an interview with Reuters he condemned the US military for arresting Iraqis without a warrant and for holding thousands of them without charges. The Justice Minister also said he wants to strip immunity from foreign troops.
GOP Blocks Investigations Over Katrina & Downing St. Memo
On Capitol Hill, Republicans have blocked several efforts by Democrats to seek investigations or information on Hurricane Katrina, the Iraq war and the outing of CIA agent Valerie Plame. In the Senate, Republicans killed a proposal by Hillary Clinton for an independent investigation of the government's response to Hurricane Katrina. Her proposal was rejected on a party line vote of 54 to 44. A new CNN/USA Today Gallup poll shows that 70 percent of the country supports an independent investigation. In the House, Republicans rejected attempts by Democrats to force the Bush administration to surrender documents on pre-war intelligence about Iraq connected to the Downing Street Memo. The memo revealed the minutes of a July 2002 meeting between British Prime Minister Tony Blair and his advisors that indicate the United States was already committed to attacking Iraq almost a year before the war officially began. The memo also says that the Bush White House "fixed" intelligence data to justify the invasion. Also on Wednesday, Republicans on the Judiciary and International Relations Committees rejected attempts by Democrats to compel the Bush administration to turn over information and records related to the outing of CIA officer Valerie Plame.
72% of African-Americans Say Bush Doesn't Care About Them
A new USA Today Poll has found that 72 percent of African-Americans feel that President Bush does not care about the country's Black population. 67 percent of white respondents said he did. U.S./Iraqi Attack on Tall Afar Kills 200
In Iraq, at least 200 are dead in the city of Tall Afar after U.S. and Iraqi forces launched a major assault on the northern city over the weekend. On Monday the Iraqi Red Crescent Society sent in aid for families displaced by three days of bombardment. It was the largest attack since the siege of Fallujah. U.S. officials originally portrayed the bombing as essential to stop the flow of foreign fighters from Syria. But the Washington Post reports the targets were largely Sunni Turkmen. According to the Post, the Kurdish militia known as the Peshmerga - not the actual Iraqi army - led the assault. Meanwhile the U.S. is denying an accusation that the military used toxic gases in the attack. Abu Musab al-Zarqawi reportedly posted an audio message online claiming the U.S. was using some type of chemical weapons in the city.
Appeals Court Oks Indefinite Detention Without Trial
In legal news, a federal appeals court has ruled that the government can indefinitely detain the Brooklyn-born Jose Padilla who was accused of plotting to set off a dirty bomb inside the United States. Padilla, who is a US citizen, has been held for over three years in solitary conferment on a Navy brig. No charges have ever been filed against him and he has never appeared before a judge. The ruling overturns an earlier decision that "indefinite detention without trial" is unconstitutional.
Haiti's Electoral Council Blocks Jean-Juste Presidential Run
In Haiti, the country's electoral council is attempting to block jailed priest Gérard Jean-Juste from running for president in Haiti's first elections since the coup that ousted Jean-Bertrand Aristide. The council is refusing to enroll Jean-Juste as a candidate claiming that he has to enter his candidacy in person, not from prison. Jean-Juste is the candidate of choice for the Lavalas Party - the same party of Aristide. Jean-Juste has been in jail since July but he has not yet been charged with any crimes. Amnesty International has classified him as a prisoner of conscience. Chavez Accuses U.S. of Hijacking UN Summit
At the United Nations Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez accused the United States of trying to hijack the summit of world leaders. He called upon nations to do more to tackle poverty and improve the environment. The three-day summit was set up to find new ways to tackle poverty but the final document agreed to by UN member states saw almost every issue from education, disease, trade, aid and disarmament scaled down in an attempt to produce a text all governments could endorse by the summit's end. Chavez also described the United States as a terrorist nation because it is harboring the tele-evangelist Pat Robertson. Chavez said, "He publicly asked for my assassination and he is still walking the streets. This is an international crime, terrorism, international terrorism."
Bush: "I Think I May Need a Bathroom Break"
And in other news from the United Nations, a short note written by President Bush to Secretary of State Condoleeza Rice during the UN summit is making international headlines. A Reuters cameraman snapped a photograph of Bush writing the words "I think I may need a bathroom break. Is this possible?" The note appears on the cover of today's Times of London under the headline: "Leaked UN Memo: What did President Bush ask Condi Rice?"
Saturday, September 17, 2005
Friday, September 16, 2005
Democracy Now and Zogby's "06 Mid-Term Zogby Poll"
Good evening. We'll get things started with Democracy Now!
73-Year-Old Held w/ $50K Bail for "Looting" Sausages
More information is emerging from New Orleans over how the police are treating people accused of looting. A 73-year-old woman remains in jail on a $50,000 bond after police arrested her for looting sixty dollars worth of sausage. At the time of her arrest, the woman -- Merlene Maten -- was staying in a hotel with her 80-year-old husband. She said they had followed orders to stock up on food and had stored some sausage in her car. After she took the sausage from the car, she says police handcuffed her and threw her in jail. A judge then set the bail at $50,000 -- 100 times the maximum $500 fine under state law for minor thefts.
The big bad looters, remember? This is disgusting and more so if you read Ruth's Morning Edition Report where she talked about the law professor CounterSpin had on discussing human necessity.
Vatican Orders Review of Homosexuality in Nation's Seminaries
The Vatican has ordered a crack down on homosexuality at seminaries in the United States. According to the New York Times, the Vatican is sending teams of investigators to all 229 seminaries in the country in order to interview every faculty member and seminarian as well as everyone who graduated in the last three years. Archbishop Edwin O'Brien is supervising the review. Last week he told the National Catholic Register that "anyone who has engaged in homosexual activity or has strong homosexual inclinations," should not be admitted to a seminary. He said the restriction should even apply to men who have not been sexually active for a decade or more. The investigators will also be on the lookout for any faculty members who dissent from church teaching. The last such review began about 25 years ago and took six years to complete.
Cause we can't have any priests who are gay in the Church. All our priests have to have sex with women and only women. Oops! No sex for priests at all.
This is one of the things the Church works itself into a tizzy over that I just can't grasp. We got some serious issues in the world and what a priest desires isn't one of them. If he breaks his vow of celibacy with any adult, he should be disciplined. If he breaks a vow with any child, strip him of his collar.
We worry about the biggest nonsense. I like a lot of stuff about my religion but this is not one of them.
On that story, I want to include something C.I. put in from it at The Common Ills (I won't link to NYT):
Experts in human sexuality have cautioned that homosexuality and attraction to children are different, and that a disproportionate percentage of boys may have been abused because priests were more likely to have access to male targets - like altar boys or junior seminarians - than to girls.
There have been a number of e-mails about the Zogby poll I posted earlier this week. I'm going to wait on those and let everyone see the latest. It's called "'06 Mid-Term Zogby Poll:"
Thank you for taking the time to participate in this survey. We have questions on a variety of topics and really appreciate your input.What state do you live in?
State
Select from list
[. . .]
Are you registered to vote in the United States?
Yes
No
Not sure
How likely are you to vote in statewide elections?
Very likely
Somewhat likely
Not likely
Not sure
In the 2004 presidential election, the candidates were Democrat John Kerry, Republican George W. Bush, and independent Ralph Nader. For whom did you vote?
Kerry
Bush
Nader
Badnarik
Peroutka
Cobb
Someone else
Not sure
In which party are you either registered to vote or do you consider yourself to be a member ...
Democrat
Republican
Independent
Libertarian
Constitution
Green
Natural Law
Reform
Other
Not sure
Please tell me if your overall opinion of George W. Bush is very favorable, somewhat favorable, somewhat unfavorable, or very unfavorable, or you are not familiar enough to form an opinion.
Very favorable
Somewhat favorable
Somewhat unfavorable
Very unfavorable
Not familiar
Not sure
[Now they ask state questions, not national ones. Who would you vote for in this race with various candidates listed. I'm editing that out.]
Thanks. I just need some statistics.What is your age?
Age
Are you currently employed full-time?
Yes
No
Not sure
Refused
Do you work for a not-for-profit company, government agency, or in education?
Yes
No
Not sure
Refused
How often do you shop at Wal-Mart?
Every week
A few times a month
A couple times a year
Never
Other
Not sure
Refused
Which of the following best describes your highest level of education?
Less than high school graduate
High school graduate
Some college
College graduate
Refused
Which of the following best represents your race or ethnic group?
White, non-Hispanic
Hispanic
African American
Asian/Pacific
Arab American
Other-Specify
Refused
Which of the following best represents where you live?
Large city (100,000 or more residents)
Small city (less than 100,000 residents)
Suburbs
Rural area
Not sure
Refused
Which description best represents your political ideology?
Progressive/very liberal
Liberal
Moderate
Conservative
Very conservative
Libertarian
Not sure
Refused
Which of the following best represents your religious affiliation?
Roman Catholic
Protestant/other non-denominational Christian
Jewish
Muslim
Mormon
No affiliation
Other-Specify
Refused
Are you or is anyone in your household a member of a union?
Yes
No
Not sure
Refused
Are you a parent or guardian of a child under 17 who is living at home?
Yes
No
Refused
Which of the following best describes your marital status?
Married
Single, never married
Divorced/widowed/separated
Civil union/domestic partnership
Not sure
Refused
Are you or is any member of your family a member of the Armed Forces?
Yes
No
Not sure
Refused
Would you consider yourself to be a member of the "investor class?"
Yes
No
Not sure
Refused
Do you own any stocks, including mutual funds or 401K plans?
Yes
No
Not sure
Refused
Which of the following best represents your household income last year before taxes?
Less than $15,000
$15,000-24,999
$25,000-34,999
$35,000-49,999
$50,000-74,999
$75,000 or more
Refused
Are you male or female.
Male
Female
Refused
Thanks to C.I. and Common Ills member ___ for passing that on to me.
To make up for rushing me tonight, Nina's agreed I can post her "poem" up here so look for that.
Hope everyone has a great weekend and I hope I get some time to blog again. Don't miss The Third Estate Sunday Review.
73-Year-Old Held w/ $50K Bail for "Looting" Sausages
More information is emerging from New Orleans over how the police are treating people accused of looting. A 73-year-old woman remains in jail on a $50,000 bond after police arrested her for looting sixty dollars worth of sausage. At the time of her arrest, the woman -- Merlene Maten -- was staying in a hotel with her 80-year-old husband. She said they had followed orders to stock up on food and had stored some sausage in her car. After she took the sausage from the car, she says police handcuffed her and threw her in jail. A judge then set the bail at $50,000 -- 100 times the maximum $500 fine under state law for minor thefts.
The big bad looters, remember? This is disgusting and more so if you read Ruth's Morning Edition Report where she talked about the law professor CounterSpin had on discussing human necessity.
Vatican Orders Review of Homosexuality in Nation's Seminaries
The Vatican has ordered a crack down on homosexuality at seminaries in the United States. According to the New York Times, the Vatican is sending teams of investigators to all 229 seminaries in the country in order to interview every faculty member and seminarian as well as everyone who graduated in the last three years. Archbishop Edwin O'Brien is supervising the review. Last week he told the National Catholic Register that "anyone who has engaged in homosexual activity or has strong homosexual inclinations," should not be admitted to a seminary. He said the restriction should even apply to men who have not been sexually active for a decade or more. The investigators will also be on the lookout for any faculty members who dissent from church teaching. The last such review began about 25 years ago and took six years to complete.
Cause we can't have any priests who are gay in the Church. All our priests have to have sex with women and only women. Oops! No sex for priests at all.
This is one of the things the Church works itself into a tizzy over that I just can't grasp. We got some serious issues in the world and what a priest desires isn't one of them. If he breaks his vow of celibacy with any adult, he should be disciplined. If he breaks a vow with any child, strip him of his collar.
We worry about the biggest nonsense. I like a lot of stuff about my religion but this is not one of them.
On that story, I want to include something C.I. put in from it at The Common Ills (I won't link to NYT):
Experts in human sexuality have cautioned that homosexuality and attraction to children are different, and that a disproportionate percentage of boys may have been abused because priests were more likely to have access to male targets - like altar boys or junior seminarians - than to girls.
There have been a number of e-mails about the Zogby poll I posted earlier this week. I'm going to wait on those and let everyone see the latest. It's called "'06 Mid-Term Zogby Poll:"
Thank you for taking the time to participate in this survey. We have questions on a variety of topics and really appreciate your input.What state do you live in?
State
Select from list
[. . .]
Are you registered to vote in the United States?
Yes
No
Not sure
How likely are you to vote in statewide elections?
Very likely
Somewhat likely
Not likely
Not sure
In the 2004 presidential election, the candidates were Democrat John Kerry, Republican George W. Bush, and independent Ralph Nader. For whom did you vote?
Kerry
Bush
Nader
Badnarik
Peroutka
Cobb
Someone else
Not sure
In which party are you either registered to vote or do you consider yourself to be a member ...
Democrat
Republican
Independent
Libertarian
Constitution
Green
Natural Law
Reform
Other
Not sure
Please tell me if your overall opinion of George W. Bush is very favorable, somewhat favorable, somewhat unfavorable, or very unfavorable, or you are not familiar enough to form an opinion.
Very favorable
Somewhat favorable
Somewhat unfavorable
Very unfavorable
Not familiar
Not sure
[Now they ask state questions, not national ones. Who would you vote for in this race with various candidates listed. I'm editing that out.]
Thanks. I just need some statistics.What is your age?
Age
Are you currently employed full-time?
Yes
No
Not sure
Refused
Do you work for a not-for-profit company, government agency, or in education?
Yes
No
Not sure
Refused
How often do you shop at Wal-Mart?
Every week
A few times a month
A couple times a year
Never
Other
Not sure
Refused
Which of the following best describes your highest level of education?
Less than high school graduate
High school graduate
Some college
College graduate
Refused
Which of the following best represents your race or ethnic group?
White, non-Hispanic
Hispanic
African American
Asian/Pacific
Arab American
Other-Specify
Refused
Which of the following best represents where you live?
Large city (100,000 or more residents)
Small city (less than 100,000 residents)
Suburbs
Rural area
Not sure
Refused
Which description best represents your political ideology?
Progressive/very liberal
Liberal
Moderate
Conservative
Very conservative
Libertarian
Not sure
Refused
Which of the following best represents your religious affiliation?
Roman Catholic
Protestant/other non-denominational Christian
Jewish
Muslim
Mormon
No affiliation
Other-Specify
Refused
Are you or is anyone in your household a member of a union?
Yes
No
Not sure
Refused
Are you a parent or guardian of a child under 17 who is living at home?
Yes
No
Refused
Which of the following best describes your marital status?
Married
Single, never married
Divorced/widowed/separated
Civil union/domestic partnership
Not sure
Refused
Are you or is any member of your family a member of the Armed Forces?
Yes
No
Not sure
Refused
Would you consider yourself to be a member of the "investor class?"
Yes
No
Not sure
Refused
Do you own any stocks, including mutual funds or 401K plans?
Yes
No
Not sure
Refused
Which of the following best represents your household income last year before taxes?
Less than $15,000
$15,000-24,999
$25,000-34,999
$35,000-49,999
$50,000-74,999
$75,000 or more
Refused
Are you male or female.
Male
Female
Refused
Thanks to C.I. and Common Ills member ___ for passing that on to me.
To make up for rushing me tonight, Nina's agreed I can post her "poem" up here so look for that.
Hope everyone has a great weekend and I hope I get some time to blog again. Don't miss The Third Estate Sunday Review.
Thursday, September 15, 2005
Democracy Now! and my professor is checking out the community
Good evening. We'll get things started with Democracy Now!
170 Die in Iraq Over Two Days of Violence
In Iraq, a suicide car bomber has killed at least 21 people after he rammed his car into a convoy of police vehicles in Baghdad. This comes a day after 150 people died in one of the bloodiest days of the Iraq war. In the deadliest incident on Wednesday up to 114 Shiite day laborers were killed after they were lured to a car packed with explosives. Over a dozen other attacks were reported in Iraq on Wednesday injuring as many as 600 people.
Iraqi Justice Minister Condemns U.S. For Arbitrarily Detaining Iraqis
The U.S. is also coming under criticism in Iraq by the country's Minister of Justice, Abdul Husain Shandal. In an interview with Reuters he condemned the US military for arresting Iraqis without a warrant and for holding thousands of them without charges. The Justice Minister also said he wants to strip immunity from foreign troops.
Elaine and I are going with the same items again today so check her out at Like Maria Said Paz for her take. We're also both agreed that the two stories go together and require one response.
The two things go together like milk & cookies. You get a violent response when Iraqis are treated violently. There's cause and effect. We need to get out of there. This has been an American mission. It's been Operation Enduring Falsehood from the start. The hawks and their fine tuning never address that. They keep saying, "We broke it, we must fix it." It's like Elaine said when she was subbing for Rebecca, about the time the person spilled red wine on her white carpet, she didn't want their help, she just wanted them to go away.
So we've shot up the mosques, we've let the museums be plundered, working water and electricity is not in abundance, we're patrolling their streets, we've wrongly imprisoned many, we've tortured in the prisons and you get the little minds saying, "We need to fine tune!"
They don't get that there is not trust there. That trust will not be rebuilt by our remaining in charge and remaining over there.
It's time to "Time to Head On Home." (And Jess has a song he wrote by that name that he played for me last week that is awesome!) Last night, I mentioned a student who spoke before the debate. She was a big hit judging from campus talk today. Her name, everyone says, was Monique. (If that wasn't her name, I'm sorry for getting it wrong. I didn't catch her name last night and I'm going by whatever was saying today.)
People were saying they wish that Amy Goodman would bring her on Democracy Now! because she was making so much sense and she knew what she was talking about. Of people who heard it, they think she would make a strong spokesperson for people our age. She knew her stuff and was talking about everything from recruiters to the war itself. She has a lot more sense than a blogger who lost the audience with tales of fine tuning. (You know who I mean.)
The debate itself, between George Galloway and Christopher Hitchens and moderated by Amy Goodman, was kind of a disappointment. Most people felt Christopher Hitchens was just not up to a debate and resorted to cheap tactics and no real argument. Now no one I know wanted him to win the debate, but we did expect he'd be able to offer an argument. He didn't.
George Galloway was great. Amy Goodman did her usual excellent job. Tony said he wished, as Christopher Hitchens kept going limp, that Amy Goodman had jumped in and said, "Look, I'm not for the war but there's no debate here so I'll take the pro-war side just so we can have a debate."
We were talking about that in one of my classes and the professor said that Hitchens has just lost it. He says that Hitchens mind can't handle anything complex anymore so he makes his "nasty little jokes" and acts like that's an argument. He said the death of Hitchens' mind was now "official and an autoposy should be performed to see if the cause was extreme alcoholism."
My professor surprised me by saying Elaine called it right:
Well the debate's over. It wasn't even close. Hitchens tried to Bully Boy it by tossing around references and tie-ins to 9/11. He couldn't frame an argument because he was too busy sloganeering. (Some people think he can't frame an argument period. Janeane Garofalo has wondered if he's damaged himself with all his drinking.)
It reminded me of a high school event, actually. Of two people running for class president. And one thinks that everyone loves him so he can just offer slogans. The other was prepared to debate. George Galloway is the one who was prepared to debate. I think he did a great job.
But at the end, when he was winding down the debate, when he called for it to end, I understood.
His argument, other than that we need to leave Iraq, was an attempt to appeal to Christopher Hitchens' better nature. But Hitchens didn't have a better nature tonight.
So Galloway would make statements and arguments and Hitchens would try to come back with jokes and not address the issue. I don't like Hitchens but I honestly felt sorry for him because he made such an idiot out of himself.
I doubt he'll admit that. I see that in a lot of patients. They'll rewrite it in their heads and, over time, convince themselves that they came out on top. I wouldn't be surprised if Hitchens did that.
I was only surprised because my professor reads Elaine. I think Elaine called it right. But I didn't know my professor even knew about Elaine's site. He knows I blog and he's read a few things here but that's all I knew about.
I spoke to him after class about it and he really surprised me because he's always seemed to me like one of those centrists. He goes that he read here and started thinking about the war and then started checking out The Common Ills community. He goes that C.I.'s editorial Saturday was the "best thing" he's read. And then he goes that in the early seventies he was this big anti-war protester and he can't just sit on the sidelines anymore. I asked him if I could interview him and he goes if I don't put his name in sure. So I'll probably do that soon. Probably after the semester so it doesn't hurt my grade. :D
He was asking me about Democracy Now! and all. He's seeing the stuff that C.I., Elaine and I highlight and he's interested in it but he's never watched or listened. So we talked about that for about twenty minutes.
That's pretty cool to me and about all I have time for tonight because Nina and I are volunteering for something tonight. But I got to put in this from The Third Estate Sunday Review's "13 Books, Ten Minutes:"
Mike: Mine's a Halloween book because I always loved Halloween best because you got to dress up in costumes. Christmas is great for presents, but Halloween's still my favorite. My book is by Bernard Wiseman, he did the words and the pictures, and it's called Halloween with Morris and Boris. It's about a moose and a bear who go trick or treating. My favorite character was Morris the moose. Boris was kind of a know it all and had a short temper. Morris ends up being a clown for Halloween and Boris ends up being a ghost. They get candy and go to a party and play pin the tail on the donkey and bob for apples. I just liked the book when I was little. Halloween, the color of the drawings.
Gina & Krista are doing a big thing on children's books tomorrow in the gina & krista round-robin and we did the thing above to make sure everyone was thinking about it this week. So look for that in tomorrow's round-robin. And Nina says her favorite book was Anne of Green Gables. Nina just reminded me that Rebecca agreed to be interviewed next Wednesday so I'll pass that on and be Matt Lauer and say, "Now for some good news, next Wednesday we'll have Rebecca."
http://www.blogger.com/ rel="tag">The Common Ills
170 Die in Iraq Over Two Days of Violence
In Iraq, a suicide car bomber has killed at least 21 people after he rammed his car into a convoy of police vehicles in Baghdad. This comes a day after 150 people died in one of the bloodiest days of the Iraq war. In the deadliest incident on Wednesday up to 114 Shiite day laborers were killed after they were lured to a car packed with explosives. Over a dozen other attacks were reported in Iraq on Wednesday injuring as many as 600 people.
Iraqi Justice Minister Condemns U.S. For Arbitrarily Detaining Iraqis
The U.S. is also coming under criticism in Iraq by the country's Minister of Justice, Abdul Husain Shandal. In an interview with Reuters he condemned the US military for arresting Iraqis without a warrant and for holding thousands of them without charges. The Justice Minister also said he wants to strip immunity from foreign troops.
Elaine and I are going with the same items again today so check her out at Like Maria Said Paz for her take. We're also both agreed that the two stories go together and require one response.
The two things go together like milk & cookies. You get a violent response when Iraqis are treated violently. There's cause and effect. We need to get out of there. This has been an American mission. It's been Operation Enduring Falsehood from the start. The hawks and their fine tuning never address that. They keep saying, "We broke it, we must fix it." It's like Elaine said when she was subbing for Rebecca, about the time the person spilled red wine on her white carpet, she didn't want their help, she just wanted them to go away.
So we've shot up the mosques, we've let the museums be plundered, working water and electricity is not in abundance, we're patrolling their streets, we've wrongly imprisoned many, we've tortured in the prisons and you get the little minds saying, "We need to fine tune!"
They don't get that there is not trust there. That trust will not be rebuilt by our remaining in charge and remaining over there.
It's time to "Time to Head On Home." (And Jess has a song he wrote by that name that he played for me last week that is awesome!) Last night, I mentioned a student who spoke before the debate. She was a big hit judging from campus talk today. Her name, everyone says, was Monique. (If that wasn't her name, I'm sorry for getting it wrong. I didn't catch her name last night and I'm going by whatever was saying today.)
People were saying they wish that Amy Goodman would bring her on Democracy Now! because she was making so much sense and she knew what she was talking about. Of people who heard it, they think she would make a strong spokesperson for people our age. She knew her stuff and was talking about everything from recruiters to the war itself. She has a lot more sense than a blogger who lost the audience with tales of fine tuning. (You know who I mean.)
The debate itself, between George Galloway and Christopher Hitchens and moderated by Amy Goodman, was kind of a disappointment. Most people felt Christopher Hitchens was just not up to a debate and resorted to cheap tactics and no real argument. Now no one I know wanted him to win the debate, but we did expect he'd be able to offer an argument. He didn't.
George Galloway was great. Amy Goodman did her usual excellent job. Tony said he wished, as Christopher Hitchens kept going limp, that Amy Goodman had jumped in and said, "Look, I'm not for the war but there's no debate here so I'll take the pro-war side just so we can have a debate."
We were talking about that in one of my classes and the professor said that Hitchens has just lost it. He says that Hitchens mind can't handle anything complex anymore so he makes his "nasty little jokes" and acts like that's an argument. He said the death of Hitchens' mind was now "official and an autoposy should be performed to see if the cause was extreme alcoholism."
My professor surprised me by saying Elaine called it right:
Well the debate's over. It wasn't even close. Hitchens tried to Bully Boy it by tossing around references and tie-ins to 9/11. He couldn't frame an argument because he was too busy sloganeering. (Some people think he can't frame an argument period. Janeane Garofalo has wondered if he's damaged himself with all his drinking.)
It reminded me of a high school event, actually. Of two people running for class president. And one thinks that everyone loves him so he can just offer slogans. The other was prepared to debate. George Galloway is the one who was prepared to debate. I think he did a great job.
But at the end, when he was winding down the debate, when he called for it to end, I understood.
His argument, other than that we need to leave Iraq, was an attempt to appeal to Christopher Hitchens' better nature. But Hitchens didn't have a better nature tonight.
So Galloway would make statements and arguments and Hitchens would try to come back with jokes and not address the issue. I don't like Hitchens but I honestly felt sorry for him because he made such an idiot out of himself.
I doubt he'll admit that. I see that in a lot of patients. They'll rewrite it in their heads and, over time, convince themselves that they came out on top. I wouldn't be surprised if Hitchens did that.
I was only surprised because my professor reads Elaine. I think Elaine called it right. But I didn't know my professor even knew about Elaine's site. He knows I blog and he's read a few things here but that's all I knew about.
I spoke to him after class about it and he really surprised me because he's always seemed to me like one of those centrists. He goes that he read here and started thinking about the war and then started checking out The Common Ills community. He goes that C.I.'s editorial Saturday was the "best thing" he's read. And then he goes that in the early seventies he was this big anti-war protester and he can't just sit on the sidelines anymore. I asked him if I could interview him and he goes if I don't put his name in sure. So I'll probably do that soon. Probably after the semester so it doesn't hurt my grade. :D
He was asking me about Democracy Now! and all. He's seeing the stuff that C.I., Elaine and I highlight and he's interested in it but he's never watched or listened. So we talked about that for about twenty minutes.
That's pretty cool to me and about all I have time for tonight because Nina and I are volunteering for something tonight. But I got to put in this from The Third Estate Sunday Review's "13 Books, Ten Minutes:"
Mike: Mine's a Halloween book because I always loved Halloween best because you got to dress up in costumes. Christmas is great for presents, but Halloween's still my favorite. My book is by Bernard Wiseman, he did the words and the pictures, and it's called Halloween with Morris and Boris. It's about a moose and a bear who go trick or treating. My favorite character was Morris the moose. Boris was kind of a know it all and had a short temper. Morris ends up being a clown for Halloween and Boris ends up being a ghost. They get candy and go to a party and play pin the tail on the donkey and bob for apples. I just liked the book when I was little. Halloween, the color of the drawings.
Gina & Krista are doing a big thing on children's books tomorrow in the gina & krista round-robin and we did the thing above to make sure everyone was thinking about it this week. So look for that in tomorrow's round-robin. And Nina says her favorite book was Anne of Green Gables. Nina just reminded me that Rebecca agreed to be interviewed next Wednesday so I'll pass that on and be Matt Lauer and say, "Now for some good news, next Wednesday we'll have Rebecca."
http://www.blogger.com/
Wednesday, September 14, 2005
Interview with Cedric and Democracy Now! Headlines
Good evening, we'll start with Democracy Now! and by the time I post this, the debate will probably be over but I hope you're listening to Amy Goodman moderate the debate between George Galloway and Christopher Hitchens. I recognize the hosts thanks to Ruth and her strong praise for WBAI's Christmas Coup Players. I always mean to put a thank you up here to Ruth for that. (I did e-mail her a thank you.) Christmas Coup Players is a comedy radio program that airs the first Thursday of every month and it is a great show that will make you laugh like crazy. So listen in. Or go to their website and you can hear their stuff too.
"College Not Combat/Relief Not War" is something a student is talking about. This is what I see and what Maria's talked about when she's been quoted at The Common Ills. "This is" the student's explaining that high schoolers are overwhelming against the war. That's reality and people are not prepared for it if they're playing "Let's send more troops" in some little narrow mind way of "improving." This movement is going to slap the hawks upside the face with surprise because they don't seem to get what real people feel about the war. I saw it in my high school, I'm seeing it at my college.
Lot of stuff tonight so let me get started because we've got an interview with Cedric of Cedric's Big Mix on top of everything else.
Baghdad Suicide Car Bombing Kills 114
In Iraq, a suicide car bombing has killed at least 114 Shiite day laborers in Baghdad. 220 people were injured. It is believed to be the second deadliest bombing of the war. The explosion went off at 7 a.m. as the day laborers gathered in search of work. Meanwhile another 17 Iraqis were killed after they were dragged from their homes in the middle of the night and shot dead. The executions occurred in the town of Taji.
Do you get how much violence is going down? I called C.I. this morning because I loved the latest on sweaty jock strap sporting Todd S. Purdum ("NYT: Todd S. Purdum "cupping" the story") and it was crazy getting C.I. on the phone. When we were finally talking, the line goes out. When I got C.I. back on the phone I was talking about what I was hearing on Democracy Now! and this item right here and C.I. goes it is like the Guatamalization of Iraq. C.I. goes that people who cannot grasp John Negroponte and why he is in Iraq are either historically ignorant or willfully stupid. The connection was so bad and about to break up again so I just talked about the Purdum thing and asked Dad about it when I got home and Dad goes this is like how we kept pouring money into Guatemala for years and years while setting up puppet regimes and they had death squads and killed the people and it was all about American business and stuff like that. Made me think about some of the stuff Naomi Klein had written.
U.S. Expands Attacks on Sunni Strongholds
In Northern Iraq, U.S. forces have widened their attacks on Sunni strongholds in the region. Over the weekend, U.S. and Iraqi forces carried out a major assault on the city of Tal Afar. On Tuesday the U.S. attacked the city of Haditha.
And this is what Dad says is really to pay attention to. This is where we just go wild on the whole country side and breed even more hostility and begat more violence. (Don't think I'm a smarty, Dad used "begat.") This isn't the Iraq they sold you. This isn't the "Thank you, thank you, America for coming here." They just want us out and who can blame them?
Sen. Robert Byrd Calls for Withdrawal From Iraq
Meanwhile on Capitol Hill, the Senate's most senior member, Robert Byrd called for the Bush administration to withdraw from Iraq and bring the troops home. Byrd said "We cannot continue to commit billions in Iraq when our own people are so much in need, not only now, in New Orleans, but all across America for everything from education to health care to homeland security to securing our own borders."
In the House you got some smart members but in the Senate I'm really only seeing Robert Byrd and Ted Kennedy. I'm seeing a lot of cowards. And I may be the only one to say this and it may piss off some people but I'll throw it out. John Edwards sounds like a broken record. What was he? A one-term senator. He needs to stop repeating the same stuff from this summer. If he were smart, he'd be speaking out against the war and trying to build up some Howard Dean momentum. We watched the convention, my friends and I, over at Tony's house and everyone, Tony's parents, my friends, Tony and me were all just like "What the hell?" as John Edwards played war hawk. It was like he was trying to out Bully Boy the Bully Boy. Then he vanishes until everyone's complaining about the hits Kerry's taking from the GOP convention.
John Kerry and Ted Kennedy are our senators so I may be more inclined to support Kerry than some people. But Senator Kerry needs to get his act together to. As the junior senator, he should be backing up Ted Kennedy on ending the war.
Good for Senator Byrd.
CounterRecruiter has found that Recruiters are at the Astrodome in Houston attempting to sign up evacuees. So check that out and let's get started with my buddy Cedric of Cedric's Big Mix.
First off, thank you Cedric. I really appreciate you're doing this interview. We were the newbies and now it's Elaine. :D
Cedric: I'll try to be interesting but no promises.
You'll be great. Okay, the first thing I want to ask you is a question from Lee Ann. She wrote in and wanted to know why you started your site and how you came up with the title Cedric's Big Mix?
Well the thing is, good question Lee Ann, the thing is that it really goes together, why I started and why the title. I'm a Common Ills community member and I think it's a great site and you had started your site because there were attacks on the community and there were people who could promote it but didn't. You got really mad about that.
Yeah, I had a petition going around until C.I. asked me to stop it and, by the way, I don't link to that site. I won't link to that site. I think that site is full of shit. I won't say the site's name because C.I. would hit the roof but it's a site that the community, even now, feels like we've done a lot to support -- "done" cause we don't go there anymore even when C.I. links -- so I stopped the petition and Wally and C.I. and Rebecca and I think Maria too were all talking to me about that and saying The Common Ills was a resource/review and we really didn't have time for that. So like Wally goes "Man, you can sit around griping or you can do something." That's why I started this site.
And I'm reading your site and I'm thinking about why you started because it was up here and it was out in the community and we knew what was going on. And I go back a ways with the community.
Right, like you are old school! You picked a winner for The Common Ills "Year In Review."
Which is funny because I wrote this entry defending my choice, I picked Eminem's "Mosh," and I was writing this thing about why it should get an award and I didn't think it would. I was making a case for it but thinking, "Well it's Eminem and that will kill it being noted." But C.I. put up my words and my choice and I always thought C.I. probably hates Eminem. Later on, I did ask C.I. and C.I. was all "Not hate, but not really care for." And I knew that. I knew it before I made my choice. This to me is what is so great about The Common Ills. It's a community. If we are pressing an issue, it's up there. It may not be what C.I. wanted to address or what was planned, but it's a community and every member can have a voice if they use it. There are issues I've brought up there too. Things that I felt were important and that I didn't feel got a hearing elsewhere. They'll get up there. They'll go out to the community. So it's really not a "blog." C.I.'s said that forever but it really is true. So you started your site and I thought, "Props to Mike" because you were doing your part. I wanted to do my part too. But I didn't think I had much to write about. That's where Cedric's Big Mix comes in. I thought I'd just make it like a blog report for the community, just highlight you, The Common Ills, Rebecca, The Third Estate Sunday Review, Kat and Betty. I just planned to do copy and pastes and make it a mix, like a mix tape. It was about doing my part to say, "Hey, there's a community here and you need to check it out." You really got me off my butt.
Well thank you and you know that when you started it was like a huge relief for me because I was the new kid on the block and I felt like every and any mistake was under a microscope and cause I felt like I was too. You started up and it was like, okay, I can breathe.
That's something you would toss to me and I would think, "What is he talking about?" Then Elaine started up last week and I got it. Because, me at least, I'm looking at the computer screen and thinking, "No one's going to care, why even bother. It will sound stupid or lame." A lot of that is just being new and a lot of it is being the newest one in the community. I really understood what you were saying when Elaine started up Like Maria says Paz. She's great. I hope she doesn't have the pressure we had.
I don't think she does. Her pressure, and you have this too, is "When will I find time?" But she put in those six weeks substituting for Rebecca so she had that under her belt and she knew what she was doing by the end of the six weeks.
Right. With her, it really is a time issue more than anything else. Also it's that she doesn't realize how many people are into what she is doing. She's also smart, really smart, and I think she has to scale that down. When we're all together working on The Third Estate Sunday Review that really comes through.
I know, I always feel like she's going to scream when I ask, "What are you saying?" I'm not embarrassed to say I don't know something.
She wouldn't scream at you. You're like a puppy, remember?
I laughed so hard when I read that. Okay, now my friend Tony had a question for you too. He wanted to know if people were really helping out and all. He knows you and me would talk because I'd usually be on the cell phone with you but he was wondering if it was like it said on your site and people were just saying, "Sure, run it by me."
They really were. C.I. has no time and I would feel so bad for e-mailing about something but C.I. would e-mail back or call. Kat was a huge resource. We'd get on the phone and talk forever.
It would be maybe 5 minutes about the blog and then maybe 25 minutes just sharing. And she never said, "Cedric, I've got stuff to do." She understood that I was nervous and needed to ease into it. I called Elaine because Rebecca e-mailed her number. Not because Rebecca asked me to but because I was starting out and I thought if she had problems we could enjoy being blind together. Dona is someone who helped. She cuts right through the nonsense. That's not an insult. I'd read her something and she'd say, "Where do you think it goes off?" And if I had an idea, she'd give me some suggestions there and if I couldn't figure out where it went off the tracks, she'd say, "Right here." Jim was like Kat only instead of talking about music, we'd b.s. about sports. I can say b.s. here, right?
You can say anything here.
Oh I forgot, other than CounterRecruting, you're most famous for crotch rot.
Rebecca's the one who came up with that so give her the credit. But my girlfriend Nina's written this thing about me that's about my 'obsession' with my balls. She says I can't go a week without writing about my nuts.
You should post it.
I'm trying to get her permission to put it up. So who else?
Jess would call and just do a "Hey man" check in. I really appreciated that. I never, ever opened up my inbox without finding that Ava had written first thing each morning. Just an encouraging note and the offer to listen or talk. Ty was there in every way. Like Ava, I posted anything and there was Ty with encouragement. Betty is the surprise because she's got work, she's got kids, she's got church, there's like full plates and then there's Betty with food spilling over. But she made a point to call me. Which I really appreciated because a) I knew she didn't really have the time and b) I wasn't going to call her because I know how busy she is. Eli, Keesha and Francisco really helped me. Karla and Maria too. And I know you weren't asking for a compliment --
No, don't worry about it. We helped each other. Okay, here's Suzette's question, she wants to know if you're going to write about music any?
I mean to and I will. But there's not been time for it. But I think music is important. I think Kat does amazing reviews and that last one on Joan Baez, I bought that album after I read her review.
I get e-mails saying that. Kat's like the pied piper or something.
Right and I'm never going to be up to that level which is cool but it is intimidating. Changing the topic, did you read C.I. and Ava's entries last night and see that another community member may be starting a site?
Yeah. I have no idea who it is. That's the first I heard of it. I know there's someone who's thinking about it and but that's not who C.I. meant.
So there are two people who may start blogs?
Yeah. I know. We won't be the newbies by a long shot if that happens!
Sure 'nuff. That's really cool. I'm trying to figure out who the two are.
I'll tell you one after the interview.
I know it's not Eli, Wally or Keesha because I'm always after them to start up.
They'd all do a great job. Can you imagine what would happen if everyone started a site? How many are there now?
Eight not counting mirror sites.
See that's the community standing up and being counted. Eight sites and the community still isn't a year old. It's really something, isn't it? Okay, sorry to keep going to questions but I think it's partly that people are used to me doing interviews now and know what to expect and partly because everyone loves your work but let me do one more e-mail and then I'll stop but this one is from Eli and you know he's like the soul or heart or something of the community.
Eli's great. And we served on several committees selecting blog picks for The Common Ills permalinks. He is so full of wisdom and just inspiring. If I'm half the man he is when I'm his age, I'll be happy.
Well Eli thinks the world of you too. He wrote a great e-mail praising you for your writing about the nursing home. Eli's the oldest community member and he writes that he is so proud of Cedric not just for giving time to visit with the elderly but also for writing, and this is a quote, "about our responsibilities to each other. Cedric's heart can never be questioned."
I don't have anything to say to that. Members will understand why. When Eli speaks, we're all just honored and to have such praise from Eli . . .
I know. He chuckles when he reads me but you really speak to him so you should be proud. What entry are you the proudest of?
None of them. I go in with high hopes, and Kat said just write it so that's what I do, and then after I'm done I think, "Well maybe I could have done this or that."
You're really hard on yourself.
Well, I'm not like Ava and C.I. after they finish a TV review. I'm not going "It's crap. It's shit. Don't say it's funny, it's not."
Man, those two tear apart every review they write!
I understand that. There's never enough time for them to put it the way they want. They're always scrambling and always pushing the deadline so it's, for them, like an endurance test or running a martahon and they're just glad they made it over the finish line but not getting that they won the race.
You ran track.
Right. I played basketball. I did all the school sports but I was best at those two. I wasn't any good at football. I was j.v. but on varisity I was just a bench warmer. Let's talk about you for a second. What's your favorite entry?
I'm not hard on myself like you or Ava and C.I. I don't think I have anything really great but I don't think that I've really embarrassed myself. I may be kidding myself on the last part. If I had to pick something, it would be the interviews because I have fun doing them.
I like your site because you always seem like this ball of energy and they're easy to follow because of that.
You switched to a new site. What were your reasons for that?
I set up the site with something easy. I asked the UK Computer Gurus what would be the easiest to do and they told me that place and they said they'd help me set it up and just let them know. But when I decided, it was a Saturday night and I didn't call them. I figured, set it up and see if you can handle it and if you can't, no one needs to know. So that's why I started there. But you can't do a blog roll or a permalink thing. Because of that, I didn't feel like I was doing what I wanted to do which was say, "Hey check it out." So I moved to the same program that everyone else uses.
How do you like it?
I honestly hate it. The other location, I could just copy something, drag it over to my compose window, click paste and there it was. But here, when I do that, the spacing is all off and it takes forever to go through and space it. But I figure I'll get used to it.
C.I. and Ava wrote something last night and it just hit me so let me change that to nine because Gina and Krista do their round-robin.
That's right. I enjoy reading that every Friday and can't believe how they're doing a daily this week for each day of the John Roberts hearings. They deserve credit for all their hard work.
Can we talk about the war?
You bet. I'm against the war and that was never a problem because, I'm African-American, we really didn't rally behind the Bully Boy. I think there are some great resources online that are agains the war. But the one that really spoke to me was The Common Ills. That's why I started writing C.I. to begin with, because of the stance on the war. Now, because of Cindy Sheehan and the people that supported her, it's not as foreign as it was but a lot of blogs, even on the left, or web sites, a lot of them couldn't make up their minds. One day they were opposed, one day they were for. And the ones who want to "fine tune" disgust me, honestly. I have no use for them.
Do you think your race had much to do with the way you viewed the war from the start?
I think it did. I mean there are "Uncle Toms" who sell out. I think Condi Rice is one, I think Colin Powell is one. But you're dealing with a race that, historically, knows that there is what the larger culture says and there is what you're seeing with your own eyes. So when Bully Boy and Condi and Colin and Rummy and the other, Dallas calls them "Bullies Without Borders," were hyping the war before we went over there, there wasn't a lot of, "Oh Bully Boy says it so it's true."
You, Ty and Betty wrote the skit addressing the dismissal of race.
Yes, we did. We were wanting C.I. to participate but C.I. likes Bob Somerby. That's who we were responding to, Bob Somerby of The Daily Howler. Betty was the one who finally asked C.I. and the response was, "Anything you need, I'm there." They didn't plan their part. Betty had some examples and spoke off the top of her head and so did C.I. But that's the community I was talking about earlier. The community was outraged by him. And C.I. understood the outrage, understood where we were coming from and when Betty asked, C.I. was there.
Have you guys talked about it since?
With C.I., I haven't. You know how busy things are due to the hearings. But I spoke to Ty and Betty and C.I. told them the same thing which was basically, "I'm not going to tell anyone who feels that they are disrespected, 'Oh no, you're not.' I'm not going to assume that I know anyone's feelings better than they do. This is an issue and I get that." Because it really was an issue, a huge issue. Which is why the three of us wanted to do the skit and were going to do it by ourselves but C.I.'s participation kind of gave it a stamp of approval. Let's note too, that in the community, it wasn't a "black issue." It didn't fall along racial lines. The community itself got it. I think that's partly due to the fact that John H. Johnson's death was so ignored. And we saw that. And we saw a lot of people, on the left, ignore it at their sites. They didn't get it. They didn't get why the African-American community felt that Johnson mattered. And because of the work C.I. did on that, and The Third Estate Sunday Review and everyone in the community, because of that work, I think the community was able to grasp immediately, regardless of race, that we were headed down another road where the minority community wasn't validated and wasn't respected but instead it was, "It's not happening! You're crazy and seeing something that's not there." Gene Lyons is now weighing in and you know the idiot that linked to that because it's run through the community. I don't have any use for Gene Lyons now.
Bob Somerby?
C.I. will highlight Bob again when the New Orleans focus is gone. I'll wait and see on that. I'll also recognize that when he was dismissing the concerns of a race, he was doing it in real time.
Maybe he'd find a way to say it differently now, I don't think he'd not say it, but maybe he'd find a way to say it that didn't bother so many. So I will, when C.I. highlights him again, give him a chance. But Lyons, he weighed in after it was a huge issue. Bob Somerby was doing it in real time. C.I.'s said that Bob Somerby's not racist just too focused on his own issues and I'm hoping that's true. But what he wrote was hurtful and I don't think he got that. I don't think he gets it now. I have no respect for Gene Lyons. With Bob Somerby, I'll take a wait and see attitude. There were some things before that I was interested in. And when C.I.'s spotlighting his work agian, I'm sure I'll find things I agree with. But, to go with what Gina's said, there's not a plate set at the table for me. I do feel that. I think it's a lack of realization. And until I see something differently, I'll go ahead and give Bob Somerby the benefit of the doubt.
Do you go to the site now?
No. I'll wait for C.I. to spotlight it and if it's something that I'm interested in, I'll visit. I used to visit is every day. Sometimes before C.I. got the entry up. It was probably my favorite non-community site. And I was really hurt by what I read there.
Which read to you like what?
Like "This isn't an important issue." Like "People are making this up." And it's very real to me.
I don't need a white man telling me what is and isn't racism or what I see as racism does or doesn't exist. I'm not sure how he meant it to be read, but I do know how I felt when I read those things.
Which was?
Hurt. Like I didn't matter. Because of my skin color. Like there were issues that time could be used on from sports to Wilson to any noodle brain on the right. But when an issue of race came up, it wasn't going to be addressed. We were going to be told it wasn't there, it wasn't happening. That it was driven by the "liberal intelligensia" or whatever it was. No L.I. came to my door to explain it to me. This is an issue that touched off in the black community and it was a very serious issue. And to hear him say it didn't exist, it wasn't real and it was coming from the TV or wherever . . . In his world that may be true. In my world, my friends don't sit in front of the TV watching those chat & chews. We're hardly ever on them. If we make it on, it's Uncle Toms. In the black community, in my area anyway, this wasn't driven by the meida. Before the media picked up on it, it was an issue. Those photos went around in mass e-mails. And I just wish that instead of immediately dismissing it, Bob Somerby had stopped a moment to ask himself, "Okay, I'm black and I'm seeing this. How do I feel?" I'll go along with C.I. and say he's not racist until I see something that indicates otherwise. But I will also say that he wasn't able to leave his own perspective. And from that perspetive he dismissed some very real concerns among African-Americans. That really hurt. I was angry. Now I'm just sad because he is smart, he has a lot to say. And when I really felt I could count on him to illuminate something, he was just saying, "There's no 'there' there!" So that hurt. Look, he could disagree with the photos and turn that into a serious discussion on race and that didn't happen. Instead it was all "fuck" this guy, that guy's stupid, and running down this nonsense. That hurt. The issue was racism and he was name checking. I'm speaking for me but, and you read the round-robin so you know, that was the feeling in the community.
That race wasn't serious enough to address?
Right. It hurt. It still hurts. Here was an issue, one that matters to me obviously, and instead of addressing it, he wanted to play butt pats with bloggers. I agree abou tthe "shout outs." That was already irritating. The hat tips that really were like shout outs at a Grammy show. That's not why I read him, to hear what other people were saying about something that was on TV or in print. I wanted to hear what he thought. So I was already frustrated with the site. But I was hanging in until he just dismissed race. To him, I don't know, I don't think it was about race. It was more chance to compete with Atrios or whomever. And that's what I mean, and what Gina and others mean, when they say he didn't deal with the issue. The issue of race was turned into an ammunition for him to go hunting. That hurt. That racism took a back set to his own personal battles.
I know you've got plans and I know that we need to wind down. I usually try to ask people if here was something I could have asked but didn't. So is there something I didn't bring up that you wished I should have?
I wish I was that smooth. But all I've been thinking about since you asked was, "I'm going to be so boring, I won't have anything to say and everyone's going to be thinking, 'I wish he'd interviewed C.I. instead.'"
Because I had planned to interview C.I. and even had that agreed to but then you moved your site and C.I. said it would be better to highlight you.
Exactly and I just felt like everyone was going to read and think, "Oh we could have had C.I. but we got the bartender on the Love Boat."
Well I think it went well. I think you came off very real. I don't want to call it "work" because I know you see it as something that benefits you, but I did have one more question. Everyone knows that you took one of the guys, one of your friends at the nursing home, Vern's death pretty hard.
I just . . . I want to be able to say, "It's cool that his family ignored him." But it's not cool. C.I. highlighted that and I asked about it and C.I. said "Hey, you made even an asshole like me tear up so don't think it wasn't good." But I feel like it would be lying to write "His family realizes now that they should have visited and called so everything worked out for the best." I don't think that. I wasn't going to say it was okay. If someone's got a family member or a friend in a nursing home, they need to know those people aren't sitting around thinking, "This is the life!"
They, if they're lucky, have some friends in the nursing home. But they feel, and I don't just mean the three that I'm visiting with, they feel like they're forgotten. I just wish that people could get what it feels like if you're in one of those places and no one visits. Yes, they know you're busy. They'll say that to their friends. They talk you up, their kids, their grandkids, like they walk on water. They think about them and they are just waiting for a visit or a phone call and every day it doesn't come, that hurts them. They don't turn around and lash out. If anything, they start defending the kids and grandkids and talking about how busy they are and how they want to visit. But it hurts. Forgive me for the lecture.
Don't apologize. People need to think about it. I've been interviewing my buddy Cedric of Cedric's Big Mix. Check out his site because he's great. Last week I interviewed Elaine and before that I interviewed Jess, Ty, Dona, Jim, and Ava.
Who will it be next week?
I'm thinking Rebecca because she just got back from vacation and all. Thank you for letting me interview you.
Thank you.
http://www.blogger.com/ rel="tag">The CommonIlls
"College Not Combat/Relief Not War" is something a student is talking about. This is what I see and what Maria's talked about when she's been quoted at The Common Ills. "This is" the student's explaining that high schoolers are overwhelming against the war. That's reality and people are not prepared for it if they're playing "Let's send more troops" in some little narrow mind way of "improving." This movement is going to slap the hawks upside the face with surprise because they don't seem to get what real people feel about the war. I saw it in my high school, I'm seeing it at my college.
Lot of stuff tonight so let me get started because we've got an interview with Cedric of Cedric's Big Mix on top of everything else.
Baghdad Suicide Car Bombing Kills 114
In Iraq, a suicide car bombing has killed at least 114 Shiite day laborers in Baghdad. 220 people were injured. It is believed to be the second deadliest bombing of the war. The explosion went off at 7 a.m. as the day laborers gathered in search of work. Meanwhile another 17 Iraqis were killed after they were dragged from their homes in the middle of the night and shot dead. The executions occurred in the town of Taji.
Do you get how much violence is going down? I called C.I. this morning because I loved the latest on sweaty jock strap sporting Todd S. Purdum ("NYT: Todd S. Purdum "cupping" the story") and it was crazy getting C.I. on the phone. When we were finally talking, the line goes out. When I got C.I. back on the phone I was talking about what I was hearing on Democracy Now! and this item right here and C.I. goes it is like the Guatamalization of Iraq. C.I. goes that people who cannot grasp John Negroponte and why he is in Iraq are either historically ignorant or willfully stupid. The connection was so bad and about to break up again so I just talked about the Purdum thing and asked Dad about it when I got home and Dad goes this is like how we kept pouring money into Guatemala for years and years while setting up puppet regimes and they had death squads and killed the people and it was all about American business and stuff like that. Made me think about some of the stuff Naomi Klein had written.
U.S. Expands Attacks on Sunni Strongholds
In Northern Iraq, U.S. forces have widened their attacks on Sunni strongholds in the region. Over the weekend, U.S. and Iraqi forces carried out a major assault on the city of Tal Afar. On Tuesday the U.S. attacked the city of Haditha.
And this is what Dad says is really to pay attention to. This is where we just go wild on the whole country side and breed even more hostility and begat more violence. (Don't think I'm a smarty, Dad used "begat.") This isn't the Iraq they sold you. This isn't the "Thank you, thank you, America for coming here." They just want us out and who can blame them?
Sen. Robert Byrd Calls for Withdrawal From Iraq
Meanwhile on Capitol Hill, the Senate's most senior member, Robert Byrd called for the Bush administration to withdraw from Iraq and bring the troops home. Byrd said "We cannot continue to commit billions in Iraq when our own people are so much in need, not only now, in New Orleans, but all across America for everything from education to health care to homeland security to securing our own borders."
In the House you got some smart members but in the Senate I'm really only seeing Robert Byrd and Ted Kennedy. I'm seeing a lot of cowards. And I may be the only one to say this and it may piss off some people but I'll throw it out. John Edwards sounds like a broken record. What was he? A one-term senator. He needs to stop repeating the same stuff from this summer. If he were smart, he'd be speaking out against the war and trying to build up some Howard Dean momentum. We watched the convention, my friends and I, over at Tony's house and everyone, Tony's parents, my friends, Tony and me were all just like "What the hell?" as John Edwards played war hawk. It was like he was trying to out Bully Boy the Bully Boy. Then he vanishes until everyone's complaining about the hits Kerry's taking from the GOP convention.
John Kerry and Ted Kennedy are our senators so I may be more inclined to support Kerry than some people. But Senator Kerry needs to get his act together to. As the junior senator, he should be backing up Ted Kennedy on ending the war.
Good for Senator Byrd.
CounterRecruiter has found that Recruiters are at the Astrodome in Houston attempting to sign up evacuees. So check that out and let's get started with my buddy Cedric of Cedric's Big Mix.
First off, thank you Cedric. I really appreciate you're doing this interview. We were the newbies and now it's Elaine. :D
Cedric: I'll try to be interesting but no promises.
You'll be great. Okay, the first thing I want to ask you is a question from Lee Ann. She wrote in and wanted to know why you started your site and how you came up with the title Cedric's Big Mix?
Well the thing is, good question Lee Ann, the thing is that it really goes together, why I started and why the title. I'm a Common Ills community member and I think it's a great site and you had started your site because there were attacks on the community and there were people who could promote it but didn't. You got really mad about that.
Yeah, I had a petition going around until C.I. asked me to stop it and, by the way, I don't link to that site. I won't link to that site. I think that site is full of shit. I won't say the site's name because C.I. would hit the roof but it's a site that the community, even now, feels like we've done a lot to support -- "done" cause we don't go there anymore even when C.I. links -- so I stopped the petition and Wally and C.I. and Rebecca and I think Maria too were all talking to me about that and saying The Common Ills was a resource/review and we really didn't have time for that. So like Wally goes "Man, you can sit around griping or you can do something." That's why I started this site.
And I'm reading your site and I'm thinking about why you started because it was up here and it was out in the community and we knew what was going on. And I go back a ways with the community.
Right, like you are old school! You picked a winner for The Common Ills "Year In Review."
Which is funny because I wrote this entry defending my choice, I picked Eminem's "Mosh," and I was writing this thing about why it should get an award and I didn't think it would. I was making a case for it but thinking, "Well it's Eminem and that will kill it being noted." But C.I. put up my words and my choice and I always thought C.I. probably hates Eminem. Later on, I did ask C.I. and C.I. was all "Not hate, but not really care for." And I knew that. I knew it before I made my choice. This to me is what is so great about The Common Ills. It's a community. If we are pressing an issue, it's up there. It may not be what C.I. wanted to address or what was planned, but it's a community and every member can have a voice if they use it. There are issues I've brought up there too. Things that I felt were important and that I didn't feel got a hearing elsewhere. They'll get up there. They'll go out to the community. So it's really not a "blog." C.I.'s said that forever but it really is true. So you started your site and I thought, "Props to Mike" because you were doing your part. I wanted to do my part too. But I didn't think I had much to write about. That's where Cedric's Big Mix comes in. I thought I'd just make it like a blog report for the community, just highlight you, The Common Ills, Rebecca, The Third Estate Sunday Review, Kat and Betty. I just planned to do copy and pastes and make it a mix, like a mix tape. It was about doing my part to say, "Hey, there's a community here and you need to check it out." You really got me off my butt.
Well thank you and you know that when you started it was like a huge relief for me because I was the new kid on the block and I felt like every and any mistake was under a microscope and cause I felt like I was too. You started up and it was like, okay, I can breathe.
That's something you would toss to me and I would think, "What is he talking about?" Then Elaine started up last week and I got it. Because, me at least, I'm looking at the computer screen and thinking, "No one's going to care, why even bother. It will sound stupid or lame." A lot of that is just being new and a lot of it is being the newest one in the community. I really understood what you were saying when Elaine started up Like Maria says Paz. She's great. I hope she doesn't have the pressure we had.
I don't think she does. Her pressure, and you have this too, is "When will I find time?" But she put in those six weeks substituting for Rebecca so she had that under her belt and she knew what she was doing by the end of the six weeks.
Right. With her, it really is a time issue more than anything else. Also it's that she doesn't realize how many people are into what she is doing. She's also smart, really smart, and I think she has to scale that down. When we're all together working on The Third Estate Sunday Review that really comes through.
I know, I always feel like she's going to scream when I ask, "What are you saying?" I'm not embarrassed to say I don't know something.
She wouldn't scream at you. You're like a puppy, remember?
I laughed so hard when I read that. Okay, now my friend Tony had a question for you too. He wanted to know if people were really helping out and all. He knows you and me would talk because I'd usually be on the cell phone with you but he was wondering if it was like it said on your site and people were just saying, "Sure, run it by me."
They really were. C.I. has no time and I would feel so bad for e-mailing about something but C.I. would e-mail back or call. Kat was a huge resource. We'd get on the phone and talk forever.
It would be maybe 5 minutes about the blog and then maybe 25 minutes just sharing. And she never said, "Cedric, I've got stuff to do." She understood that I was nervous and needed to ease into it. I called Elaine because Rebecca e-mailed her number. Not because Rebecca asked me to but because I was starting out and I thought if she had problems we could enjoy being blind together. Dona is someone who helped. She cuts right through the nonsense. That's not an insult. I'd read her something and she'd say, "Where do you think it goes off?" And if I had an idea, she'd give me some suggestions there and if I couldn't figure out where it went off the tracks, she'd say, "Right here." Jim was like Kat only instead of talking about music, we'd b.s. about sports. I can say b.s. here, right?
You can say anything here.
Oh I forgot, other than CounterRecruting, you're most famous for crotch rot.
Rebecca's the one who came up with that so give her the credit. But my girlfriend Nina's written this thing about me that's about my 'obsession' with my balls. She says I can't go a week without writing about my nuts.
You should post it.
I'm trying to get her permission to put it up. So who else?
Jess would call and just do a "Hey man" check in. I really appreciated that. I never, ever opened up my inbox without finding that Ava had written first thing each morning. Just an encouraging note and the offer to listen or talk. Ty was there in every way. Like Ava, I posted anything and there was Ty with encouragement. Betty is the surprise because she's got work, she's got kids, she's got church, there's like full plates and then there's Betty with food spilling over. But she made a point to call me. Which I really appreciated because a) I knew she didn't really have the time and b) I wasn't going to call her because I know how busy she is. Eli, Keesha and Francisco really helped me. Karla and Maria too. And I know you weren't asking for a compliment --
No, don't worry about it. We helped each other. Okay, here's Suzette's question, she wants to know if you're going to write about music any?
I mean to and I will. But there's not been time for it. But I think music is important. I think Kat does amazing reviews and that last one on Joan Baez, I bought that album after I read her review.
I get e-mails saying that. Kat's like the pied piper or something.
Right and I'm never going to be up to that level which is cool but it is intimidating. Changing the topic, did you read C.I. and Ava's entries last night and see that another community member may be starting a site?
Yeah. I have no idea who it is. That's the first I heard of it. I know there's someone who's thinking about it and but that's not who C.I. meant.
So there are two people who may start blogs?
Yeah. I know. We won't be the newbies by a long shot if that happens!
Sure 'nuff. That's really cool. I'm trying to figure out who the two are.
I'll tell you one after the interview.
I know it's not Eli, Wally or Keesha because I'm always after them to start up.
They'd all do a great job. Can you imagine what would happen if everyone started a site? How many are there now?
Eight not counting mirror sites.
See that's the community standing up and being counted. Eight sites and the community still isn't a year old. It's really something, isn't it? Okay, sorry to keep going to questions but I think it's partly that people are used to me doing interviews now and know what to expect and partly because everyone loves your work but let me do one more e-mail and then I'll stop but this one is from Eli and you know he's like the soul or heart or something of the community.
Eli's great. And we served on several committees selecting blog picks for The Common Ills permalinks. He is so full of wisdom and just inspiring. If I'm half the man he is when I'm his age, I'll be happy.
Well Eli thinks the world of you too. He wrote a great e-mail praising you for your writing about the nursing home. Eli's the oldest community member and he writes that he is so proud of Cedric not just for giving time to visit with the elderly but also for writing, and this is a quote, "about our responsibilities to each other. Cedric's heart can never be questioned."
I don't have anything to say to that. Members will understand why. When Eli speaks, we're all just honored and to have such praise from Eli . . .
I know. He chuckles when he reads me but you really speak to him so you should be proud. What entry are you the proudest of?
None of them. I go in with high hopes, and Kat said just write it so that's what I do, and then after I'm done I think, "Well maybe I could have done this or that."
You're really hard on yourself.
Well, I'm not like Ava and C.I. after they finish a TV review. I'm not going "It's crap. It's shit. Don't say it's funny, it's not."
Man, those two tear apart every review they write!
I understand that. There's never enough time for them to put it the way they want. They're always scrambling and always pushing the deadline so it's, for them, like an endurance test or running a martahon and they're just glad they made it over the finish line but not getting that they won the race.
You ran track.
Right. I played basketball. I did all the school sports but I was best at those two. I wasn't any good at football. I was j.v. but on varisity I was just a bench warmer. Let's talk about you for a second. What's your favorite entry?
I'm not hard on myself like you or Ava and C.I. I don't think I have anything really great but I don't think that I've really embarrassed myself. I may be kidding myself on the last part. If I had to pick something, it would be the interviews because I have fun doing them.
I like your site because you always seem like this ball of energy and they're easy to follow because of that.
You switched to a new site. What were your reasons for that?
I set up the site with something easy. I asked the UK Computer Gurus what would be the easiest to do and they told me that place and they said they'd help me set it up and just let them know. But when I decided, it was a Saturday night and I didn't call them. I figured, set it up and see if you can handle it and if you can't, no one needs to know. So that's why I started there. But you can't do a blog roll or a permalink thing. Because of that, I didn't feel like I was doing what I wanted to do which was say, "Hey check it out." So I moved to the same program that everyone else uses.
How do you like it?
I honestly hate it. The other location, I could just copy something, drag it over to my compose window, click paste and there it was. But here, when I do that, the spacing is all off and it takes forever to go through and space it. But I figure I'll get used to it.
C.I. and Ava wrote something last night and it just hit me so let me change that to nine because Gina and Krista do their round-robin.
That's right. I enjoy reading that every Friday and can't believe how they're doing a daily this week for each day of the John Roberts hearings. They deserve credit for all their hard work.
Can we talk about the war?
You bet. I'm against the war and that was never a problem because, I'm African-American, we really didn't rally behind the Bully Boy. I think there are some great resources online that are agains the war. But the one that really spoke to me was The Common Ills. That's why I started writing C.I. to begin with, because of the stance on the war. Now, because of Cindy Sheehan and the people that supported her, it's not as foreign as it was but a lot of blogs, even on the left, or web sites, a lot of them couldn't make up their minds. One day they were opposed, one day they were for. And the ones who want to "fine tune" disgust me, honestly. I have no use for them.
Do you think your race had much to do with the way you viewed the war from the start?
I think it did. I mean there are "Uncle Toms" who sell out. I think Condi Rice is one, I think Colin Powell is one. But you're dealing with a race that, historically, knows that there is what the larger culture says and there is what you're seeing with your own eyes. So when Bully Boy and Condi and Colin and Rummy and the other, Dallas calls them "Bullies Without Borders," were hyping the war before we went over there, there wasn't a lot of, "Oh Bully Boy says it so it's true."
You, Ty and Betty wrote the skit addressing the dismissal of race.
Yes, we did. We were wanting C.I. to participate but C.I. likes Bob Somerby. That's who we were responding to, Bob Somerby of The Daily Howler. Betty was the one who finally asked C.I. and the response was, "Anything you need, I'm there." They didn't plan their part. Betty had some examples and spoke off the top of her head and so did C.I. But that's the community I was talking about earlier. The community was outraged by him. And C.I. understood the outrage, understood where we were coming from and when Betty asked, C.I. was there.
Have you guys talked about it since?
With C.I., I haven't. You know how busy things are due to the hearings. But I spoke to Ty and Betty and C.I. told them the same thing which was basically, "I'm not going to tell anyone who feels that they are disrespected, 'Oh no, you're not.' I'm not going to assume that I know anyone's feelings better than they do. This is an issue and I get that." Because it really was an issue, a huge issue. Which is why the three of us wanted to do the skit and were going to do it by ourselves but C.I.'s participation kind of gave it a stamp of approval. Let's note too, that in the community, it wasn't a "black issue." It didn't fall along racial lines. The community itself got it. I think that's partly due to the fact that John H. Johnson's death was so ignored. And we saw that. And we saw a lot of people, on the left, ignore it at their sites. They didn't get it. They didn't get why the African-American community felt that Johnson mattered. And because of the work C.I. did on that, and The Third Estate Sunday Review and everyone in the community, because of that work, I think the community was able to grasp immediately, regardless of race, that we were headed down another road where the minority community wasn't validated and wasn't respected but instead it was, "It's not happening! You're crazy and seeing something that's not there." Gene Lyons is now weighing in and you know the idiot that linked to that because it's run through the community. I don't have any use for Gene Lyons now.
Bob Somerby?
C.I. will highlight Bob again when the New Orleans focus is gone. I'll wait and see on that. I'll also recognize that when he was dismissing the concerns of a race, he was doing it in real time.
Maybe he'd find a way to say it differently now, I don't think he'd not say it, but maybe he'd find a way to say it that didn't bother so many. So I will, when C.I. highlights him again, give him a chance. But Lyons, he weighed in after it was a huge issue. Bob Somerby was doing it in real time. C.I.'s said that Bob Somerby's not racist just too focused on his own issues and I'm hoping that's true. But what he wrote was hurtful and I don't think he got that. I don't think he gets it now. I have no respect for Gene Lyons. With Bob Somerby, I'll take a wait and see attitude. There were some things before that I was interested in. And when C.I.'s spotlighting his work agian, I'm sure I'll find things I agree with. But, to go with what Gina's said, there's not a plate set at the table for me. I do feel that. I think it's a lack of realization. And until I see something differently, I'll go ahead and give Bob Somerby the benefit of the doubt.
Do you go to the site now?
No. I'll wait for C.I. to spotlight it and if it's something that I'm interested in, I'll visit. I used to visit is every day. Sometimes before C.I. got the entry up. It was probably my favorite non-community site. And I was really hurt by what I read there.
Which read to you like what?
Like "This isn't an important issue." Like "People are making this up." And it's very real to me.
I don't need a white man telling me what is and isn't racism or what I see as racism does or doesn't exist. I'm not sure how he meant it to be read, but I do know how I felt when I read those things.
Which was?
Hurt. Like I didn't matter. Because of my skin color. Like there were issues that time could be used on from sports to Wilson to any noodle brain on the right. But when an issue of race came up, it wasn't going to be addressed. We were going to be told it wasn't there, it wasn't happening. That it was driven by the "liberal intelligensia" or whatever it was. No L.I. came to my door to explain it to me. This is an issue that touched off in the black community and it was a very serious issue. And to hear him say it didn't exist, it wasn't real and it was coming from the TV or wherever . . . In his world that may be true. In my world, my friends don't sit in front of the TV watching those chat & chews. We're hardly ever on them. If we make it on, it's Uncle Toms. In the black community, in my area anyway, this wasn't driven by the meida. Before the media picked up on it, it was an issue. Those photos went around in mass e-mails. And I just wish that instead of immediately dismissing it, Bob Somerby had stopped a moment to ask himself, "Okay, I'm black and I'm seeing this. How do I feel?" I'll go along with C.I. and say he's not racist until I see something that indicates otherwise. But I will also say that he wasn't able to leave his own perspective. And from that perspetive he dismissed some very real concerns among African-Americans. That really hurt. I was angry. Now I'm just sad because he is smart, he has a lot to say. And when I really felt I could count on him to illuminate something, he was just saying, "There's no 'there' there!" So that hurt. Look, he could disagree with the photos and turn that into a serious discussion on race and that didn't happen. Instead it was all "fuck" this guy, that guy's stupid, and running down this nonsense. That hurt. The issue was racism and he was name checking. I'm speaking for me but, and you read the round-robin so you know, that was the feeling in the community.
That race wasn't serious enough to address?
Right. It hurt. It still hurts. Here was an issue, one that matters to me obviously, and instead of addressing it, he wanted to play butt pats with bloggers. I agree abou tthe "shout outs." That was already irritating. The hat tips that really were like shout outs at a Grammy show. That's not why I read him, to hear what other people were saying about something that was on TV or in print. I wanted to hear what he thought. So I was already frustrated with the site. But I was hanging in until he just dismissed race. To him, I don't know, I don't think it was about race. It was more chance to compete with Atrios or whomever. And that's what I mean, and what Gina and others mean, when they say he didn't deal with the issue. The issue of race was turned into an ammunition for him to go hunting. That hurt. That racism took a back set to his own personal battles.
I know you've got plans and I know that we need to wind down. I usually try to ask people if here was something I could have asked but didn't. So is there something I didn't bring up that you wished I should have?
I wish I was that smooth. But all I've been thinking about since you asked was, "I'm going to be so boring, I won't have anything to say and everyone's going to be thinking, 'I wish he'd interviewed C.I. instead.'"
Because I had planned to interview C.I. and even had that agreed to but then you moved your site and C.I. said it would be better to highlight you.
Exactly and I just felt like everyone was going to read and think, "Oh we could have had C.I. but we got the bartender on the Love Boat."
Well I think it went well. I think you came off very real. I don't want to call it "work" because I know you see it as something that benefits you, but I did have one more question. Everyone knows that you took one of the guys, one of your friends at the nursing home, Vern's death pretty hard.
I just . . . I want to be able to say, "It's cool that his family ignored him." But it's not cool. C.I. highlighted that and I asked about it and C.I. said "Hey, you made even an asshole like me tear up so don't think it wasn't good." But I feel like it would be lying to write "His family realizes now that they should have visited and called so everything worked out for the best." I don't think that. I wasn't going to say it was okay. If someone's got a family member or a friend in a nursing home, they need to know those people aren't sitting around thinking, "This is the life!"
They, if they're lucky, have some friends in the nursing home. But they feel, and I don't just mean the three that I'm visiting with, they feel like they're forgotten. I just wish that people could get what it feels like if you're in one of those places and no one visits. Yes, they know you're busy. They'll say that to their friends. They talk you up, their kids, their grandkids, like they walk on water. They think about them and they are just waiting for a visit or a phone call and every day it doesn't come, that hurts them. They don't turn around and lash out. If anything, they start defending the kids and grandkids and talking about how busy they are and how they want to visit. But it hurts. Forgive me for the lecture.
Don't apologize. People need to think about it. I've been interviewing my buddy Cedric of Cedric's Big Mix. Check out his site because he's great. Last week I interviewed Elaine and before that I interviewed Jess, Ty, Dona, Jim, and Ava.
Who will it be next week?
I'm thinking Rebecca because she just got back from vacation and all. Thank you for letting me interview you.
Thank you.
http://www.blogger.com/
Tuesday, September 13, 2005
Latest Zogby poll on nothing, Democracy Now! and ABC makes Colin Powell look good
Good evening. We'll start with three things from Democracy Now!
U.S./Iraqi Attack on Tall Afar Kills 200
In Iraq, at least 200 are dead in the city of Tall Afar after U.S. and Iraqi forces launched a major assault on the northern city over the weekend. On Monday the Iraqi Red Crescent Society sent in aid for families displaced by three days of bombardment. It was the largest attack since the siege of Fallujah. U.S. officials originally portrayed the bombing as essential to stop the flow of foreign fighters from Syria. But the Washington Post reports the targets were largely Sunni Turkmen. According to the Post, the Kurdish militia known as the Peshmerga - not the actual Iraqi army - led the assault. Meanwhile the U.S. is denying an accusation that the military used toxic gases in the attack. Abu Musab al-Zarqawi reportedly posted an audio message online claiming the U.S. was using some type of chemical weapons in the city.
Are Americans even paying attention to this story? If we are, what are most of us saying? "Yee-haw! Killed 200 more!" Or are we starting to get how we go city to city and wondering if we'll end up visiting every city before long? This is "winning?" For who? The Iraqis? For us? Notice that Amy Goodman's citing the Washington Post. That's because the New York Times keeps printing "military officials said" and nonsense like that.
Lawyers For Frances Newton Seek Stay On Execution
Lawyers for Texas death row inmate Frances Newton has asked Texas Gov. Rick Perry for a 30-day stay to try to prove that authorities erred in linking her to a presumed murder weapon. Newton is scheduled to be executed on Wednesday night. She is set to become the first African-American woman executed in the state since Reconstruction. Meanwhile the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals refused on Monday to stop the execution and the Texas Board of Pardons and Paroles voted unanimously not to recommend that Perry commute the sentence to life in prison.
This is tomorrow, Frances Newton's execution. I don't think most people even know about it.
There is so much going on right now. I really feel like a month from now we'll all be asking how she was allowed to be executed. I hope I am wrong and that she is not executed. She had a lawyer who didn't seem to know the case. There are questions about the gun used and there are a whole host of questions. But tomorrow, it looks like she'll be executed.
I'm Catholic and I don't believe in the death penalty. But I don't just think she should be spared, I think she deserves a new trial for the original charges.
Journalists Released From Haitian Jail
In Haiti, two journalists have been released after spending the weekend in jail. Independent journalist Kevin Pina and Jean Ristil of the Associated Press were arrested while covering a police raid on a church led by the jailed priest Gerard Jean Juste. Pina is a regular contributor to the Pacifica Radio program Flashpoints.
I wonder why most of the big papers didn't want to talk about this story? But like Ava's pointed out, they don't really cover Haiti. I'm glad Pina and Ristil are free but I'm wondering how much longer it will be before they or some other brave reporters are arrested. There are a few brave ones. Be sure to visit Elaine's site, Like Maria Said Paz, because she's running down the same three stories.
We hear a lot about polling and polls. Right now, if I was polling, I think my first questions would be about people's opinions of the Bully Boy. Hurricane Katrina and his refusal to meet with Cindy Sheehan hurt him. I'd want to know who support him, who supports his programs, do they support the nomination of John Roberts Jr. and a host of other questions.
Zogby, a famous polling institution, isn't concerned with any of that. Here's latest Zogby poll and thanks to C.I. for passing this on from a Common Ills member.
Thank you for taking the time to participate in this survey. We have questions on a variety of topics and really appreciate your input.Are you registered to vote in the United States?
Yes
No
Not sure
How likely are you to vote in national elections?
Very likely
Somewhat likely
Not likely
Not sure
In which party are you either registered to vote or do you consider yourself to be a member ...
Democratic
Republican
Independent
Libertarian
Constitution
Green
Natural Law
Reform
Other
Not sure
Please tell me if your overall opinion of George W. Bush is very favorable, somewhat favorable, somewhat unfavorable, or very unfavorable, or you are not familiar enough to form an opinion.
Very favorable
Somewhat favorable
Somewhat unfavorable
Very unfavorable
Not familiar
Not sure
Have you watched or read news coverage of Hurricane Katrina and its aftermath?
Yes
No
Not sure
Do you strongly agree, somewhat agree, somewhat disagree, or strongly disagree that the coverage of Hurricane Katrina helped produce better results from government than would have otherwise occurred?
Strongly agree
Somewhat agree
Somewhat disagree
Strongly disagree
Not sure
What term do you think should be used to refer to the people who have been displaced because of Hurricane Katrina?
Victims
Refugees
Evacuees
Survivors
None of the above
Not sure
Do you strongly agree, somewhat agree, somewhat disagree, or strongly disagree that New Orleans WILL be re-built as it was before the hurricane?
Strongly agree
Somewhat agree
Somewhat disagree
Strongly disagree
Not sure
Do you strongly agree, somewhat agree, somewhat disagree, or strongly disagree that New Orleans SHOULD be re-built as it was before the hurricane?
Strongly agree
Somewhat agree
Somewhat disagree
Strongly disagree
Not sure
Would you strongly support, somewhat support, somewhat oppose, or strongly oppose increasing taxes to pay for rebuilding New Orleans?
Strongly support
Somewhat support
Somewhat oppose
Strongly oppose
Not sure
Would you strongly support, somewhat support, somewhat oppose, or strongly oppose increasing taxes to pay for improvements to levees around the country to avoid future floods?
Strongly support
Somewhat support
Somewhat oppose
Strongly oppose
Not sure
Some estimates are that as many as 50,000 pets have been stranded by Hurricane Katrina. Do you agree or disagree that official rescue efforts for any disaster - flooding, earthquakes, storms, fire, etc. - should include rescuing pets?
Agree
Disagree
Not sure
Current FEMA and Red Cross rescue policy excludes allowing the rescue of pets? Do you agree or disagree with this policy?
Agree
Disagree
Not sure
Reports are that pets, left in the wake of Hurricane Katrina, are on the verge of starvation and dehydration. Who do you think should be most responsible for getting food and water to these pets or getting them to shelter?
Government disaster relief agencies, like FEMA
Private relief agencies, like the Red Cross
Animal welfare or animal rights groups like the Humane Society
Individual pet owners
A combination of all of them
Not sure
There are some reports that animal rescue groups were not allowed into the flooded areas to begin rescuing animals until much of the rescuing of people was complete. Do you agree or disagree that animal rescue efforts by these groups should be allowed to take place at the same time rescue efforts for people by the Red Cross and others are taking place?
Agree
Disagree
Not sure
As many as 10,000 people in New Orleans may have refused evacuation because they stayed behind to care for pets and other animals. How likely would you be to refuse to evacuate an area before a disaster struck because you were not able to take your pets with you?
Very likely
Somewhat likely
Not very likely
Not at all likely
Not sure
How likely would you be to refuse to be rescued after the disaster has struck because rescuers refused to allow you to take your pets with you?
Very likely
Somewhat likely
Not very likely
Not at all likely
Not sure
Which do you think should be the top story on the nightly news: the confirmation hearings for Chief Justice nominee John Roberts or the ongoing relief efforts in New Orleans?
Confirmation hearings
Relief efforts in New Orleans
Neither
Not sure
And now, some questions about popular culture.From the following list of movies, which would you consider the greatest World War II movie of all time?
The Longest Day
A Bridge Too Far
Saving Private Ryan
Big Red One
Das Boot
Patton
Pearl Harbor
Tora! Tora! Tora!
Twelve O'Clock High
Guadalcanal Diary
Sands of Iwo Jima
Midway
The Bridge on the River Kwai
Other
None of the above
Not sure/not familiar
From the following list of movies, which would you consider the greatest World War I movie of all time?
All Quiet on the Western Front
Gallipoli
A Farewell to Arms
Paths of Glory
What Price Glory?
Sergeant York
Lawrence of Arabia
Other
None of the above
Not sure/not familiar
From the following list of movies, which would you consider the greatest Vietnam War movie of all time?
We Were Soldiers
Hamburger Hill
Platoon
Full Metal Jacket
Apocalypse Now
The Green Berets
Other
None of the above
Not sure/not familiar
From the following list of war movies, which would you consider the greatest war movie of all time?
The Longest Day
A Bridge Too Far
We Were Soldiers
Blackhawk Down
Hamburger Hill
Platoon
Saving Private Ryan
Full Metal Jacket
The Patriot
Gettysburg
Glory
Gods and Generals
Cold Mountain
All Quiet on the Western Front
Gallipoli
A Farewell to Arms
Big Red One
Thank you. Please give us some information about yourself.
What is your age?
From which sources do you get most of your news?(Choose all that apply.)
Television
Newspapers
Internet
Radio
News magazines
Other
Not sure
How often do you shop at Wal-Mart?
Every week
A few times a month
A couple times a year
Never
Other
Not sure
Which of the following best describes your highest level of education?
Less than high school graduate
High school graduate
Some college
College graduate
Refused
Which of the following best represents your race or ethnic group?
White, non-Hispanic
Hispanic
African American
Asian/Pacific
Arab American
Other-Specify
Refused
Which of the following best represents where you live?
Large city (100,000 or more residents)
Small city (less than 100,000 residents)
Suburbs
Rural area
Not sure
Refused
Which description best represents your political ideology?
Progressive/very liberal
Liberal
Moderate
Conservative
Very conservative
Libertarian
Not sure
Refused
Which of the following best represents your religious affiliation?
Roman Catholic
Protestant/other non-denominational Christian
Jewish
Muslim
Mormon
No affiliation
Other-Specify
Refused
Are you or is anyone in your household a member of a union?
Yes
No
Not sure
Refused
Are you a parent or guardian of a child under 17 who is living at home?
Yes
No
Refused
Which of the following best describes your marital status?
Married
Single, never married
Divorced/widowed/separated
Civil union/domestic partnership
Not sure
Refused
Are you or is any member of your family a member of the Armed Forces?
Yes
No
Not sure
Refused
Do you have any pets?
Yes
No
Not sure
Do you consider yourself a NASCAR fan ?
Yes
No
Not sure
Refused
How often do you attend church, mosque, synagogue or other place of worship?
More than once a week
About once a week
Once or twice a month
Only on religious holidays
Rarely
Never
Not sure
Refused
Would you consider yourself to be a member of the "investor class?"
Yes
No
Not sure
Refused
Do you own any stocks, including mutual funds or 401K plans?
Yes
No
Not sure
Refused
Which of the following best represents your household income last year before taxes?
Less than $15,000
$15,000-24,999
$25,000-34,999
$35,000-49,999
$50,000-74,999
$75,000 or more
Refused
Are you male or female.
Male
Female
Refused
What state do you live in?
State
Thank you for taking time to complete the survey.
So what do you think? Is that poll really on any pressing issue? Does it have anything to do with anything effecting our lives right now? Do you even know all the movies they list? How about most of them? Did you notice that films about the after-effects of war didn't make the list? Born on the Fourth of July. What about the homefront during wartime? The Best Years of Our Lives. Jane Fonda's Coming Home.
I find the poll worthless. Maybe you'll see something in you like.
Last night I noted the attitudes of Ma and Dad. The e-mails split almost evenly with a slight edge for Ma. The people who sided with Dad felt like the left has taken enough crap over the years. Terrell wrote that he's tired of turning the other cheek.
Just to clear it up, Ma wasn't saying that. She was saying fight back. Call something wrong, make fun of it, rage against it. She was saying don't sell out what you believe in. If I wasn't clear last night, that was my fault.
Bo wrote that Ma has a point and that when he reads something with a headline that says one thing and he reads the item itself and it turns out the headline is really a distortion it pisses him off because we're "supposed to tell the truth." He said he usally responds like Dad and then thinks about it and feels like Ma, that we have to hold on to what we believe in and to what our standards are.
To quote 1 more e-mail, Linda thinks that you hit them hard "with whatever you have and whatever it takes and you worry about the fallout later." A lot of people agreed with Linda and Terrell. The people who felt like Bo were only 3 more than the ones who felt like Linda and Terrell. (There were 63 e-mails. 33 of you felt like Linda. 30 of you felt like Linda & Terrell.)
Now I want to talk about what ABC did. Colin Powell said this on TV to Barbara Walters:
Powell: Well it's a, it's a, of course it will. It's a blot. I'm the one who presented it on behalf of the United Nations, uh, United States, to the world. And it will always be uh, part of my, uh, my record.
Walters: How painful is it?
Powell: (shrugs) It was -- it *was* painful. (shifts, shrugs) It's painful now.
Here's how ABC reports it on their website in "Exclusive: Colin Powell on Iraq, Race, and Hurricane Relief:"
"It's a blot," Powell said. "I'm the one who presented it on behalf of the United States to the world, and [it] will always be a part of my record. It was painful. It's painful now."
In one of them, Powell's fumbling and the other he isn't. Why don't they want America to know the truth?
Ava and C.I. reviewed the interview "TV Review: Barbara and Colin remake The Way We
Were" (Third Estate Sunday Review). Today C.I. did an entry on ABC altering the quote ("ABC 'fixes' Colin Powell") and so did Ava ("Note from Ava on ABC's altering Colin Powell's remarks").
The media polishes for Powell and you have to wonder what's in it for them? They give him the kissy-kissy treatment and make him look better. The war mongers always are made to look better.
If you saw Powell speaking, you heard a man who spoke badly. If you read the quote, he's the smartest man in the room. Guess it would hurt the media too much to pull back the curtain on the great and powerful Oz?
U.S./Iraqi Attack on Tall Afar Kills 200
In Iraq, at least 200 are dead in the city of Tall Afar after U.S. and Iraqi forces launched a major assault on the northern city over the weekend. On Monday the Iraqi Red Crescent Society sent in aid for families displaced by three days of bombardment. It was the largest attack since the siege of Fallujah. U.S. officials originally portrayed the bombing as essential to stop the flow of foreign fighters from Syria. But the Washington Post reports the targets were largely Sunni Turkmen. According to the Post, the Kurdish militia known as the Peshmerga - not the actual Iraqi army - led the assault. Meanwhile the U.S. is denying an accusation that the military used toxic gases in the attack. Abu Musab al-Zarqawi reportedly posted an audio message online claiming the U.S. was using some type of chemical weapons in the city.
Are Americans even paying attention to this story? If we are, what are most of us saying? "Yee-haw! Killed 200 more!" Or are we starting to get how we go city to city and wondering if we'll end up visiting every city before long? This is "winning?" For who? The Iraqis? For us? Notice that Amy Goodman's citing the Washington Post. That's because the New York Times keeps printing "military officials said" and nonsense like that.
Lawyers For Frances Newton Seek Stay On Execution
Lawyers for Texas death row inmate Frances Newton has asked Texas Gov. Rick Perry for a 30-day stay to try to prove that authorities erred in linking her to a presumed murder weapon. Newton is scheduled to be executed on Wednesday night. She is set to become the first African-American woman executed in the state since Reconstruction. Meanwhile the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals refused on Monday to stop the execution and the Texas Board of Pardons and Paroles voted unanimously not to recommend that Perry commute the sentence to life in prison.
This is tomorrow, Frances Newton's execution. I don't think most people even know about it.
There is so much going on right now. I really feel like a month from now we'll all be asking how she was allowed to be executed. I hope I am wrong and that she is not executed. She had a lawyer who didn't seem to know the case. There are questions about the gun used and there are a whole host of questions. But tomorrow, it looks like she'll be executed.
I'm Catholic and I don't believe in the death penalty. But I don't just think she should be spared, I think she deserves a new trial for the original charges.
Journalists Released From Haitian Jail
In Haiti, two journalists have been released after spending the weekend in jail. Independent journalist Kevin Pina and Jean Ristil of the Associated Press were arrested while covering a police raid on a church led by the jailed priest Gerard Jean Juste. Pina is a regular contributor to the Pacifica Radio program Flashpoints.
I wonder why most of the big papers didn't want to talk about this story? But like Ava's pointed out, they don't really cover Haiti. I'm glad Pina and Ristil are free but I'm wondering how much longer it will be before they or some other brave reporters are arrested. There are a few brave ones. Be sure to visit Elaine's site, Like Maria Said Paz, because she's running down the same three stories.
We hear a lot about polling and polls. Right now, if I was polling, I think my first questions would be about people's opinions of the Bully Boy. Hurricane Katrina and his refusal to meet with Cindy Sheehan hurt him. I'd want to know who support him, who supports his programs, do they support the nomination of John Roberts Jr. and a host of other questions.
Zogby, a famous polling institution, isn't concerned with any of that. Here's latest Zogby poll and thanks to C.I. for passing this on from a Common Ills member.
Thank you for taking the time to participate in this survey. We have questions on a variety of topics and really appreciate your input.Are you registered to vote in the United States?
Yes
No
Not sure
How likely are you to vote in national elections?
Very likely
Somewhat likely
Not likely
Not sure
In which party are you either registered to vote or do you consider yourself to be a member ...
Democratic
Republican
Independent
Libertarian
Constitution
Green
Natural Law
Reform
Other
Not sure
Please tell me if your overall opinion of George W. Bush is very favorable, somewhat favorable, somewhat unfavorable, or very unfavorable, or you are not familiar enough to form an opinion.
Very favorable
Somewhat favorable
Somewhat unfavorable
Very unfavorable
Not familiar
Not sure
Have you watched or read news coverage of Hurricane Katrina and its aftermath?
Yes
No
Not sure
Do you strongly agree, somewhat agree, somewhat disagree, or strongly disagree that the coverage of Hurricane Katrina helped produce better results from government than would have otherwise occurred?
Strongly agree
Somewhat agree
Somewhat disagree
Strongly disagree
Not sure
What term do you think should be used to refer to the people who have been displaced because of Hurricane Katrina?
Victims
Refugees
Evacuees
Survivors
None of the above
Not sure
Do you strongly agree, somewhat agree, somewhat disagree, or strongly disagree that New Orleans WILL be re-built as it was before the hurricane?
Strongly agree
Somewhat agree
Somewhat disagree
Strongly disagree
Not sure
Do you strongly agree, somewhat agree, somewhat disagree, or strongly disagree that New Orleans SHOULD be re-built as it was before the hurricane?
Strongly agree
Somewhat agree
Somewhat disagree
Strongly disagree
Not sure
Would you strongly support, somewhat support, somewhat oppose, or strongly oppose increasing taxes to pay for rebuilding New Orleans?
Strongly support
Somewhat support
Somewhat oppose
Strongly oppose
Not sure
Would you strongly support, somewhat support, somewhat oppose, or strongly oppose increasing taxes to pay for improvements to levees around the country to avoid future floods?
Strongly support
Somewhat support
Somewhat oppose
Strongly oppose
Not sure
Some estimates are that as many as 50,000 pets have been stranded by Hurricane Katrina. Do you agree or disagree that official rescue efforts for any disaster - flooding, earthquakes, storms, fire, etc. - should include rescuing pets?
Agree
Disagree
Not sure
Current FEMA and Red Cross rescue policy excludes allowing the rescue of pets? Do you agree or disagree with this policy?
Agree
Disagree
Not sure
Reports are that pets, left in the wake of Hurricane Katrina, are on the verge of starvation and dehydration. Who do you think should be most responsible for getting food and water to these pets or getting them to shelter?
Government disaster relief agencies, like FEMA
Private relief agencies, like the Red Cross
Animal welfare or animal rights groups like the Humane Society
Individual pet owners
A combination of all of them
Not sure
There are some reports that animal rescue groups were not allowed into the flooded areas to begin rescuing animals until much of the rescuing of people was complete. Do you agree or disagree that animal rescue efforts by these groups should be allowed to take place at the same time rescue efforts for people by the Red Cross and others are taking place?
Agree
Disagree
Not sure
As many as 10,000 people in New Orleans may have refused evacuation because they stayed behind to care for pets and other animals. How likely would you be to refuse to evacuate an area before a disaster struck because you were not able to take your pets with you?
Very likely
Somewhat likely
Not very likely
Not at all likely
Not sure
How likely would you be to refuse to be rescued after the disaster has struck because rescuers refused to allow you to take your pets with you?
Very likely
Somewhat likely
Not very likely
Not at all likely
Not sure
Which do you think should be the top story on the nightly news: the confirmation hearings for Chief Justice nominee John Roberts or the ongoing relief efforts in New Orleans?
Confirmation hearings
Relief efforts in New Orleans
Neither
Not sure
And now, some questions about popular culture.From the following list of movies, which would you consider the greatest World War II movie of all time?
The Longest Day
A Bridge Too Far
Saving Private Ryan
Big Red One
Das Boot
Patton
Pearl Harbor
Tora! Tora! Tora!
Twelve O'Clock High
Guadalcanal Diary
Sands of Iwo Jima
Midway
The Bridge on the River Kwai
Other
None of the above
Not sure/not familiar
From the following list of movies, which would you consider the greatest World War I movie of all time?
All Quiet on the Western Front
Gallipoli
A Farewell to Arms
Paths of Glory
What Price Glory?
Sergeant York
Lawrence of Arabia
Other
None of the above
Not sure/not familiar
From the following list of movies, which would you consider the greatest Vietnam War movie of all time?
We Were Soldiers
Hamburger Hill
Platoon
Full Metal Jacket
Apocalypse Now
The Green Berets
Other
None of the above
Not sure/not familiar
From the following list of war movies, which would you consider the greatest war movie of all time?
The Longest Day
A Bridge Too Far
We Were Soldiers
Blackhawk Down
Hamburger Hill
Platoon
Saving Private Ryan
Full Metal Jacket
The Patriot
Gettysburg
Glory
Gods and Generals
Cold Mountain
All Quiet on the Western Front
Gallipoli
A Farewell to Arms
Big Red One
Thank you. Please give us some information about yourself.
What is your age?
From which sources do you get most of your news?(Choose all that apply.)
Television
Newspapers
Internet
Radio
News magazines
Other
Not sure
How often do you shop at Wal-Mart?
Every week
A few times a month
A couple times a year
Never
Other
Not sure
Which of the following best describes your highest level of education?
Less than high school graduate
High school graduate
Some college
College graduate
Refused
Which of the following best represents your race or ethnic group?
White, non-Hispanic
Hispanic
African American
Asian/Pacific
Arab American
Other-Specify
Refused
Which of the following best represents where you live?
Large city (100,000 or more residents)
Small city (less than 100,000 residents)
Suburbs
Rural area
Not sure
Refused
Which description best represents your political ideology?
Progressive/very liberal
Liberal
Moderate
Conservative
Very conservative
Libertarian
Not sure
Refused
Which of the following best represents your religious affiliation?
Roman Catholic
Protestant/other non-denominational Christian
Jewish
Muslim
Mormon
No affiliation
Other-Specify
Refused
Are you or is anyone in your household a member of a union?
Yes
No
Not sure
Refused
Are you a parent or guardian of a child under 17 who is living at home?
Yes
No
Refused
Which of the following best describes your marital status?
Married
Single, never married
Divorced/widowed/separated
Civil union/domestic partnership
Not sure
Refused
Are you or is any member of your family a member of the Armed Forces?
Yes
No
Not sure
Refused
Do you have any pets?
Yes
No
Not sure
Do you consider yourself a NASCAR fan ?
Yes
No
Not sure
Refused
How often do you attend church, mosque, synagogue or other place of worship?
More than once a week
About once a week
Once or twice a month
Only on religious holidays
Rarely
Never
Not sure
Refused
Would you consider yourself to be a member of the "investor class?"
Yes
No
Not sure
Refused
Do you own any stocks, including mutual funds or 401K plans?
Yes
No
Not sure
Refused
Which of the following best represents your household income last year before taxes?
Less than $15,000
$15,000-24,999
$25,000-34,999
$35,000-49,999
$50,000-74,999
$75,000 or more
Refused
Are you male or female.
Male
Female
Refused
What state do you live in?
State
Thank you for taking time to complete the survey.
So what do you think? Is that poll really on any pressing issue? Does it have anything to do with anything effecting our lives right now? Do you even know all the movies they list? How about most of them? Did you notice that films about the after-effects of war didn't make the list? Born on the Fourth of July. What about the homefront during wartime? The Best Years of Our Lives. Jane Fonda's Coming Home.
I find the poll worthless. Maybe you'll see something in you like.
Last night I noted the attitudes of Ma and Dad. The e-mails split almost evenly with a slight edge for Ma. The people who sided with Dad felt like the left has taken enough crap over the years. Terrell wrote that he's tired of turning the other cheek.
Just to clear it up, Ma wasn't saying that. She was saying fight back. Call something wrong, make fun of it, rage against it. She was saying don't sell out what you believe in. If I wasn't clear last night, that was my fault.
Bo wrote that Ma has a point and that when he reads something with a headline that says one thing and he reads the item itself and it turns out the headline is really a distortion it pisses him off because we're "supposed to tell the truth." He said he usally responds like Dad and then thinks about it and feels like Ma, that we have to hold on to what we believe in and to what our standards are.
To quote 1 more e-mail, Linda thinks that you hit them hard "with whatever you have and whatever it takes and you worry about the fallout later." A lot of people agreed with Linda and Terrell. The people who felt like Bo were only 3 more than the ones who felt like Linda and Terrell. (There were 63 e-mails. 33 of you felt like Linda. 30 of you felt like Linda & Terrell.)
Now I want to talk about what ABC did. Colin Powell said this on TV to Barbara Walters:
Powell: Well it's a, it's a, of course it will. It's a blot. I'm the one who presented it on behalf of the United Nations, uh, United States, to the world. And it will always be uh, part of my, uh, my record.
Walters: How painful is it?
Powell: (shrugs) It was -- it *was* painful. (shifts, shrugs) It's painful now.
Here's how ABC reports it on their website in "Exclusive: Colin Powell on Iraq, Race, and Hurricane Relief:"
"It's a blot," Powell said. "I'm the one who presented it on behalf of the United States to the world, and [it] will always be a part of my record. It was painful. It's painful now."
In one of them, Powell's fumbling and the other he isn't. Why don't they want America to know the truth?
Ava and C.I. reviewed the interview "TV Review: Barbara and Colin remake The Way We
Were" (Third Estate Sunday Review). Today C.I. did an entry on ABC altering the quote ("ABC 'fixes' Colin Powell") and so did Ava ("Note from Ava on ABC's altering Colin Powell's remarks").
The media polishes for Powell and you have to wonder what's in it for them? They give him the kissy-kissy treatment and make him look better. The war mongers always are made to look better.
If you saw Powell speaking, you heard a man who spoke badly. If you read the quote, he's the smartest man in the room. Guess it would hurt the media too much to pull back the curtain on the great and powerful Oz?
Monday, September 12, 2005
Democracy Now!, methods and C.I. on reporting from the green zone
Good evening. We'll start with two items from Democracy Now!
Rep. Baker (R-LA): "We Finally Cleaned Up Public Housing in New Orleans"
Meanwhile a number of Republican Congressmen have come under criticism in recent days for comments made about the hurricane. Congressman Richard Baker of Baton Rouge was overheard telling lobbyists "We finally cleaned up public housing in New Orleans. We couldn't do it, but God did."
But there's no racism in the government's response to the victims, right? This is disgusting. If a Democrat said it, there would be calls to censure him or her on the floor of the House. That's a debate Dad and Ma are always having. One of them thinks we need to maintain our committment to free speech, the other things we should use the same tactics they use on us. Ma says if we do that, we give up everything we stand for and believe in. Dad agrees in theory but something like this happens and he hits the roof. Like when Robert Novak said "shit" on CNN.
Dad was all "Call the FCC!" and I think he did complain, I know he talked about it. Ma was like, "Over shit?" Dad was all, "If it was James Carville, the right-wing would be screaming their heads off and calling for Senate hearings!"
It's an interesting debate and I'm not really sure where I stand. In calm moments, Dad agrees with Ma but I share his temper and when stuff like that happens, like the thing Congress member Baker said, I just think, "Man, they would crucify us if we said that!"
And they would. What do you guys think?
Ma says we can fight back and we can hit hard but we don't give up what we believe in no matter how tempting.
I think about what Baker said and how they forced an apology of Senator Dick Durbin and shamed him. He didn't do anything wrong but look what they did.
So I asked Ma her opinion and here it is: say you find the statement disgusting, mock him, gripe about him, point out how idiotic and insensitive he is but leave the "get out of America" and "he should step down" stuff to Ann Coulter.
Two Journalists Detained in Haiti
In Haiti, police have detained two journalists including Kevin Pina who regularly reports for the Pacifica Radio program Flashpoints. Pina was arrested on Friday as he filmed the Haitian police searching a church run by the jailed priest Gerard Jean-Juste. A Haitian journalist named Jean Ristil, who works for the Associated Press, was also detained after he tried to photograph Pina's arrest. Haitian officials say they are being held on suspicion of QUOTE "disrespect to a magistrate" and resisting arrest.
I was on my way out the door this morning and trying to hurry because I was running late and Dad calls after me and is all "You got to see this." I go back in and Dad's at The Common Ills. I didn't have time to read it then. So I asked Dad to give me the quick summary. Can you believe this? I didn't know about the Haitian journalist but Dad told me about Kevin Pina. This is disgusting and you didn't hear about it in the pages of the New York Times, did you? Democracy Now! told you. WBAI told you. Ruth found it and sent it to C.I. so The Common Ills told you. But who else?
See this is why people laugh when the Times does one of the editorials on Judith Miller. If the paper really cared about freedom of the press, they 'd put Kevin Pina on the front page. I called C.I. today and asked for thoughts. C.I. said if they front paged it and front paged other stories about attacks on journalists they'd be able to make a case for Miller. C.I. goes Miller by herself is not going to get sympathy from Times coverage because of her history and the way the paper bungled their strategy on her from the start. But if they provided a context of "journalists are under attack" and covered that seriously in their news articles, when the editorials came along a few more people would say, "You know I hate Judy Miller. I can't stand her. But this may be something bigger here."
"Editorial Reading press releases, live from the Green Zone"
[Note: This is an editorial.]
What the hell goes on in the Green Zone? Forget the rumors that led to a guild becoming involved (rumors of wild behavior on the part of Times reporters, rumors that someone was fired for telling truths to wives back in the United States, rumors, rumors, rumors), exactly what do they do?
Not a whole hell of a lot.
The big Iraq news of the week was Tal Afar. The Times front paged Kirk Semple's " Baseball in Iraq: As Pastimes Go, It's Anything But." Apparently the jock fumes reach the Green Zone as well. (Though I'll refrain from pinning this one on Todd S. Purdum.)
This is a front page story. Why? Not because it's a big story in Iraq. It's not. It's a piece of disgraceful fluff. It's Operation Happy Talk. And while it goes on, while we're bored with a non-story passing for front page news, the Times can't even report on Tal Afar.
What do they do in the Green Zone?Yes, Friday, finally, a story ran in the Times on Tel Afar: "U.S.-Iraqi Sweep Arrests 200 in Rebel Staging Area" but the Times receives no credit for that article, it's an Associated Press article. Whatever it's positives or minuses, all the Times did was run a report by another news organization.
So what do they do in the Green Zone?
And what the hell is Robert F. Worth? Is he a reporter? Is he an op-ed writer? Read"Basra Bombs Kill 16 Iraqis and 4 U.S. Contractors" and try to answer that question.I'm unable to grasp how, in a story on bombings, this opening qualifies for a news report:
There was also a piece of good news: American military officials said [. . .]
What did "American military officials" say? It doesn't matter for this discussion. (A contractor was released.) What is that judgement call ("good news") doing in the paper? Is Worth channeling Matt Lauer? Tip to Worth: "In other news . . ." You're supposed to be reporting. You're not there to editorialize. The sentence, the part noted above, reveals all that is wrong with the Times reporting on Iraq.
"American military officials said . . ." That's the basis for every damn thing. (Yes, I'm tossing around "damn." Call me Bumiller. But "damn" is much more mild than the word I'm saying outloud as I dictate this.) Reporters are supposed to serve as the eyes and ears of the public. That's why they're called the "watch dogs." That's not happening when every "report" is a press release.
"American military officials said . . ." And what did you see Robert F. Worth? What did you hear? Not what were you told. What did you observe all by yourself?
Or does that require leaving the Green Zone? From all accounts, it's Delta House there so who would want to leave -- other than someone with a modicum of taste?
Look they can Boys Gone Wild it or not all they want in the Green Zone, I don't care. I do care what makes into print but I wonder if anyone reporting from the Green Zone does?
I did a conference call with three friends (reporters) on this asking them to play devil's advocate so I could anticipate the responses. (The Times would call the phone call "reporting.")
So here's the big argument. "It's not safe. I could lose my life."
You know what, cover cook-offs. If that's your excuse, cover cook-offs. No one's forcing you to be there. The paper certainly isn't forcing anyone. Reporters are choosing to be there. If you're a reporter and you're there, you need to be reporting.
It's not safe, doesn't cut it. It wasn't safe for Daniel Pearl. He went after the story. Others have before him and will after. The attitude of "Oh it's tough here so you have to cut me slack" doesn't wash. You get off your asses or the Times needs to appoint J-school graduates who are ready to dig in and find stories. (Which the Times, being the Times, will water down. But a diluted news report is still more powerful than any of the diluted press releases that regularly get filed.)
There is nothing, I repeat nothing, that reporters can point to with pride coming out of Iraq for the paper. You're not making a name for yourself. The t-shirt you should be furnished with when you depart can only proclaim: "I SURVIVED THE GREEN ZONE." That's all that's being done. Reporting isn't being done. (And the Times is becoming a joke to other print organizations over their "reporting" from Iraq.)
Want a blast from the past? Try this ("More Iraqi Army Dead Found in Mosul; 2 Clerics Slain," November 23, 2004):
Basic services are still unavailable in Falluja, and the valves in the city's main water-treatment plant are still not working. But troops will provide bottled water until the plant and the city's heavily damaged water and sewer pipes can be fixed, the general said.
The general said it, did he? Well Richard A. Oppel. Jr. and James Glanz, did you follow up on that? Or did you just print what you were told? (Rhetorical question.)
Does anyone working for the Times in Iraq do anything more than play telephone chain? Does anyone not buckle immediately?
From Molly Bingham's "Home From Iraq" (Atlanta Journal-Constitution):
The intimidation to not work on this story was evident. Dexter Filkins, who writes for The New York Times, related a conversation he had in Iraq with an American military commander... Towards the end of one of their conversations, Dexter declined an invitation for the next day by explaining that he'd lined up a meeting with a "resistance guy." The commander's face went stony cold and he said, "We have a position on that." For Dexter the message was clear. He cancelled the appointment.
If you're going to discuss Iraq, you have to discuss Filkins at some point. I'm aware it's more pleasing to discuss Judith Miller. But if she had a part in getting us over into Iraq, it's the "reporters" like Filkins who keep us there. For the record, Filkins has denied Bingham's version of the events. People will have to make up their own minds as to whom to take the word of.
While you're attempting to sort that out, let's again note this:
Christian Parenti mentioned Filkins last night on The Laura Flanders Show: "Dexter Filkins politics are very different from the Dexter Filkins politics we know in the New York Times. [In person, he's saying] 'Oh it's awful, the situation is totally out of control.'" That's a paraphrase (I've left out a "Dude" among other things).
Oh, it's awful, the situation is totally out of control?
Didn't seem that way when Filkins reported "In Faulluja, Young Marines Saw the Savagery of an Urban War" -- his rah-rah-rah piece of "award winning" journalism. Six days after the battle (Nov. 15), Filkins' story makes it into print. Exactly how slowly does he type? Exactly whom edited that copy?
From Dahr Jamail's "Iraqi Hospitals Ailing Under Occupation" (pdf format, you can find the quote below at this site here):
Burhan Fasa'a, a cameramn with the Lebanese Broadcasting Corporation (LBC), witnessed the first eight days of the fighting. "I entered Falljuah near the Julan Quarter, which is near the General Hospital," he said during an interview in Baghdad. "There were American snipers on top of the hospital," who, he testified, "were shooting everyone in sight." The Iraqi Red Crescent would have to wait a full week before being permitted to dispatch three ambulances into the city.
Not quite the way Filkins reported it. For that matter, not quite the way Richard A. Oppel, Jr. and James Glanz report it. (They report that the Iraqi Red Crescent found no one when they entered Falluja. They just fail to seriously address why that is.) It goes beyond Filkins but Filkins has the prize and he contributed the go-go boy gone wild story that portrays a massacre as a video game. Reality: Preceding the blood bath, males of "fighting age" were prevented from leaving that city. The destruction was severe and has not been "fixed." (Does the United States military still provide bottled water? Did they ever? Not what they told you, but what you could verify, please.)
Press releases continue to pass for reporting ("Hussein Confessed to Massacre Order, Iraqi President Says") and they should all be worried. They're the upcoming Judy Millers. They're the laughingstock of many of their peers. (Filkins epecially whose appearance on Terry Gross's Fresh Air is legendary -- and the tales repeated of it are far more interesting than what he actually said on air.)
Let's note this:
On this 60th anniversary of the atomic bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, Amy Goodman, host of the national radio and TV show "Democracy Now!" is submitting a formal request to the board of the Pulitzer Prize, calling for The New York Times and its reporter William Laurence to be stripped of the 1946 Pulitzer Prize for their coverage of the atomic bomb. Laurence was also on the payroll of the US War Department. Goodman recently wrote an Op-Ed in The Baltimore Sun (written with journalist David Goodman, her brother) called "The Hiroshima Coverup" (see http://www.commondreams.org/views05/0805-20.htm ).
Goodman said, "William Laurence and the New York Times won a Pulitzer Prize for his reporting on the atomic bomb, and his faithful parroting of the government line was crucial in launching a half-century of silence about the deadly lingering effects of the bomb. It is time for the Pulitzer board to strip the atomic bomb apologist and his newspaper of this undeserved prize."
This is Filkins future. I used to assume that it would take place long after he was gone. (And long after I was gone.) But he's the one reporters bring up to me. They're friends and they know I consider his reporting proganda. (Had the election gone differently, would his story have been more realistic?) So maybe they're just saying what they say to please me? I don't think so. (I could, as always, be wrong.)
But away from them, when you walk someone through Filkins reporting, someone who has no idea who he is, they grasp that its people like Filkins that keep us in Iraq.
By failing to report accurately what Operation Enduring Falsehood did (and what they do) they allow a number of otherwise well meaning people to think "fine tuning" is an answer. (Filkins is also a laughing stock for a TV appearance I missed. He supposedly minimized a trial for the abuses of Abu Ghraib -- with regard to instructions from above.) Fine tuning isn't an answer. As Filkins allegedy told Parenti, "It's totally out of control." Until that truth makes it into the reports, I'm saddened by those who argue fine tuning and aren't war hawks but I don't blame them for the failures of the press to report reality. They're being short changed. (Hawks aren't. They don't need excuses to continue war. They thrive on it the way some in the Green Zone thrive on the chaos.)
But here's the reason Filkins may feel the bite while he's still alive. Some domestic reporters in the United States aren't speaking fondly of the embeds. They're pointing fingers right now as the clampdowns that reporters have gone along with in Iraq come home to the United States.
The Boys Gone Wild are also a joke to people who've served in the area. And those first hand accounts will continue to come out. A Worth or Glanz will be embarrassed for being so quick to print press releases, but Filkins was in Falluja. He saw with his own eyes and he didn't report.
The bodies, the limbs piled up in the streets, Filkins somehow missed. And he was there. A friend at one of the top ten (circulation) dailies has gone from lukewarm support of Filkins' infamous "reporting" to outright disgust with it. The opinion is there is no "comeback" from it. That Filkins could do a mea culpa and return his prize and he'd still be damaged goods.
That kind of talk may not make it into the Green Zone but Filkins should worry. And so should the paper.
In an early November piece on Falluja (this one co-written with James Glanz), a military officer told Filkins that "it ought to go down in history." Filkins accepted the gung-hu attitude, too bad he didn't consider the words themselves. This will go down in history. This will haunt the Times and it will haunt Filkins.
Amy and David Goodman may not get the Times stripped of a Pulitizer (though I hope they do) but just addressing the issue accomplishes something. And when the issue of Dexter Filkins is seriously addressed it will further tarnish the paper's name.
With Judith Miller, the paper waited far too late to address the situation. (Both her reporting itself and the legal argument they attempt to make -- they not Millers' attornies.) If they hem and haw with regards to what passes for "reporting" from Iraq currently, they'll further hurt their already badly damaged reputation. In the meantime, by not revisiting the press releases they published, they do real reporting, democracy and the people of the United States a huge disservice because they're not reporting. It took Cindy Sheehan to act as the spark to wake up a nation. The Times could have done that long ago with some strong reporting. It shouldn't be the job of the editorials to try to later straighten out the reporting.
And as the press in the United States feels they're under attack, they're making some rather rude comments about those in the Green Zone that they feel have condoned this sort of behavior.
Democracy Now! noted the following Friday:
The journalists who have been covering Hurricane Katrina have literally been risking their lives for the last week. Reporters have been stationed in and around New Orleans since the Hurricane hit and have tirelessly reported on the devastation to the city. Some journalists have expressed enormous outrage at government officials for their slow response. A few television reporters openly broke down on air as they report the horrific conditions and the desperation of victims. Reporters have witnessed the militarization of the city and are starting to feel the effects of the government crack-down on information gathering. FEMA is now rejecting requests by journalists to accompany rescue boats searching for storm victims. In addition, journalists are being asked not to photograph any dead bodies in the region. NBC News Anchor Brian Williams reported on his blog, that police officers had been seen aiming their weapons at members of the media. And a blogger named Bob Brigham wrote a widely read dispatch that the National Guard in Jefferson County are under orders to turn all journalists away. Brigham writes: "Bush is now censoring all reporting from New Orleans, Louisiana. The First Amendment sank with the city."
Earlier this week, Reporters Without Borders issued a warning about police violence against journalists working in New Orleans. They highlighted two cases – in one case police detained a Times-Picayune photographer and smashed his equipment to the ground after he was seen covering a shoot-out with police. In the second case, a photographer from the Toronto Star was detained by police and his photos taken from him when police realized that he had snapped photos of a clash between them and citizens who the police claimed were looters.
Those in the Green Zone may have kidded themselves, if they were non-Arabic, that they weren't being controlled. It was just the Arabic reporters suffering, right?
A Dexter Filkins could cancel the meeting with the resistance and kid himself that he made the choice. (Like Madonna' s ludicrous claim in the nineties that the difference was she chained herself.) The "choices" that have been made are now impacting reporters outside the Green Zone and they aren't amused. That's why the Times should be concerned. The rumblings and grumblings are coming from their competitors. Not from independent media, which the Times would easily dismiss (as it so often does). I don't know that other dailies are doing a better job than the Times (the daily I read is the New York Times). Reporters at other papers seem to think to think they are. Three reporters in particular (two at one organization, one at another) are mentioned repeatedly (by press not affiliated with the two organizations).
The Times is aware that Judith Miller has become the fall guy for every reporter that gave breathless (and non questioning) coverage to WMD claims. So they're familiar with the concept of a fall guy. (They've also created a few over the years.) They should be really concerned right now because although Filkins isn't the "name" that Miller is (even people who didn't read her reporting in real time can now list the problems with it), he'll quickly become that. One reporter trying to cover New Orleans has already used Filkins as an adjective to express dismay over conditions that authorities attempted to impose. ("They thought I'd do a Filkins!")
Whereas the derision of Miller began with the independent press, Filkins' is starting at the top. Again, he wrote a first person account of what happened in Falluja. That's hard to come back from as details continue to emerge about what didn't get reported in that piece of melodrama.
The paper should be very worried. It took years for the criticism of Miller to go beyond independent media. If Filkins gets burned by the mainstream press, it will be a much harder hit than any criticism the Times faces over Miller.
The fact that they've continued to offer press releases won't help them either. They should have dealt with this long ago. They need a new chief in Baghdad and they need it right away.
What Americans need is some honest reporting.
Rep. Baker (R-LA): "We Finally Cleaned Up Public Housing in New Orleans"
Meanwhile a number of Republican Congressmen have come under criticism in recent days for comments made about the hurricane. Congressman Richard Baker of Baton Rouge was overheard telling lobbyists "We finally cleaned up public housing in New Orleans. We couldn't do it, but God did."
But there's no racism in the government's response to the victims, right? This is disgusting. If a Democrat said it, there would be calls to censure him or her on the floor of the House. That's a debate Dad and Ma are always having. One of them thinks we need to maintain our committment to free speech, the other things we should use the same tactics they use on us. Ma says if we do that, we give up everything we stand for and believe in. Dad agrees in theory but something like this happens and he hits the roof. Like when Robert Novak said "shit" on CNN.
Dad was all "Call the FCC!" and I think he did complain, I know he talked about it. Ma was like, "Over shit?" Dad was all, "If it was James Carville, the right-wing would be screaming their heads off and calling for Senate hearings!"
It's an interesting debate and I'm not really sure where I stand. In calm moments, Dad agrees with Ma but I share his temper and when stuff like that happens, like the thing Congress member Baker said, I just think, "Man, they would crucify us if we said that!"
And they would. What do you guys think?
Ma says we can fight back and we can hit hard but we don't give up what we believe in no matter how tempting.
I think about what Baker said and how they forced an apology of Senator Dick Durbin and shamed him. He didn't do anything wrong but look what they did.
So I asked Ma her opinion and here it is: say you find the statement disgusting, mock him, gripe about him, point out how idiotic and insensitive he is but leave the "get out of America" and "he should step down" stuff to Ann Coulter.
Two Journalists Detained in Haiti
In Haiti, police have detained two journalists including Kevin Pina who regularly reports for the Pacifica Radio program Flashpoints. Pina was arrested on Friday as he filmed the Haitian police searching a church run by the jailed priest Gerard Jean-Juste. A Haitian journalist named Jean Ristil, who works for the Associated Press, was also detained after he tried to photograph Pina's arrest. Haitian officials say they are being held on suspicion of QUOTE "disrespect to a magistrate" and resisting arrest.
I was on my way out the door this morning and trying to hurry because I was running late and Dad calls after me and is all "You got to see this." I go back in and Dad's at The Common Ills. I didn't have time to read it then. So I asked Dad to give me the quick summary. Can you believe this? I didn't know about the Haitian journalist but Dad told me about Kevin Pina. This is disgusting and you didn't hear about it in the pages of the New York Times, did you? Democracy Now! told you. WBAI told you. Ruth found it and sent it to C.I. so The Common Ills told you. But who else?
See this is why people laugh when the Times does one of the editorials on Judith Miller. If the paper really cared about freedom of the press, they 'd put Kevin Pina on the front page. I called C.I. today and asked for thoughts. C.I. said if they front paged it and front paged other stories about attacks on journalists they'd be able to make a case for Miller. C.I. goes Miller by herself is not going to get sympathy from Times coverage because of her history and the way the paper bungled their strategy on her from the start. But if they provided a context of "journalists are under attack" and covered that seriously in their news articles, when the editorials came along a few more people would say, "You know I hate Judy Miller. I can't stand her. But this may be something bigger here."
"Editorial Reading press releases, live from the Green Zone"
[Note: This is an editorial.]
What the hell goes on in the Green Zone? Forget the rumors that led to a guild becoming involved (rumors of wild behavior on the part of Times reporters, rumors that someone was fired for telling truths to wives back in the United States, rumors, rumors, rumors), exactly what do they do?
Not a whole hell of a lot.
The big Iraq news of the week was Tal Afar. The Times front paged Kirk Semple's " Baseball in Iraq: As Pastimes Go, It's Anything But." Apparently the jock fumes reach the Green Zone as well. (Though I'll refrain from pinning this one on Todd S. Purdum.)
This is a front page story. Why? Not because it's a big story in Iraq. It's not. It's a piece of disgraceful fluff. It's Operation Happy Talk. And while it goes on, while we're bored with a non-story passing for front page news, the Times can't even report on Tal Afar.
What do they do in the Green Zone?Yes, Friday, finally, a story ran in the Times on Tel Afar: "U.S.-Iraqi Sweep Arrests 200 in Rebel Staging Area" but the Times receives no credit for that article, it's an Associated Press article. Whatever it's positives or minuses, all the Times did was run a report by another news organization.
So what do they do in the Green Zone?
And what the hell is Robert F. Worth? Is he a reporter? Is he an op-ed writer? Read"Basra Bombs Kill 16 Iraqis and 4 U.S. Contractors" and try to answer that question.I'm unable to grasp how, in a story on bombings, this opening qualifies for a news report:
There was also a piece of good news: American military officials said [. . .]
What did "American military officials" say? It doesn't matter for this discussion. (A contractor was released.) What is that judgement call ("good news") doing in the paper? Is Worth channeling Matt Lauer? Tip to Worth: "In other news . . ." You're supposed to be reporting. You're not there to editorialize. The sentence, the part noted above, reveals all that is wrong with the Times reporting on Iraq.
"American military officials said . . ." That's the basis for every damn thing. (Yes, I'm tossing around "damn." Call me Bumiller. But "damn" is much more mild than the word I'm saying outloud as I dictate this.) Reporters are supposed to serve as the eyes and ears of the public. That's why they're called the "watch dogs." That's not happening when every "report" is a press release.
"American military officials said . . ." And what did you see Robert F. Worth? What did you hear? Not what were you told. What did you observe all by yourself?
Or does that require leaving the Green Zone? From all accounts, it's Delta House there so who would want to leave -- other than someone with a modicum of taste?
Look they can Boys Gone Wild it or not all they want in the Green Zone, I don't care. I do care what makes into print but I wonder if anyone reporting from the Green Zone does?
I did a conference call with three friends (reporters) on this asking them to play devil's advocate so I could anticipate the responses. (The Times would call the phone call "reporting.")
So here's the big argument. "It's not safe. I could lose my life."
You know what, cover cook-offs. If that's your excuse, cover cook-offs. No one's forcing you to be there. The paper certainly isn't forcing anyone. Reporters are choosing to be there. If you're a reporter and you're there, you need to be reporting.
It's not safe, doesn't cut it. It wasn't safe for Daniel Pearl. He went after the story. Others have before him and will after. The attitude of "Oh it's tough here so you have to cut me slack" doesn't wash. You get off your asses or the Times needs to appoint J-school graduates who are ready to dig in and find stories. (Which the Times, being the Times, will water down. But a diluted news report is still more powerful than any of the diluted press releases that regularly get filed.)
There is nothing, I repeat nothing, that reporters can point to with pride coming out of Iraq for the paper. You're not making a name for yourself. The t-shirt you should be furnished with when you depart can only proclaim: "I SURVIVED THE GREEN ZONE." That's all that's being done. Reporting isn't being done. (And the Times is becoming a joke to other print organizations over their "reporting" from Iraq.)
Want a blast from the past? Try this ("More Iraqi Army Dead Found in Mosul; 2 Clerics Slain," November 23, 2004):
Basic services are still unavailable in Falluja, and the valves in the city's main water-treatment plant are still not working. But troops will provide bottled water until the plant and the city's heavily damaged water and sewer pipes can be fixed, the general said.
The general said it, did he? Well Richard A. Oppel. Jr. and James Glanz, did you follow up on that? Or did you just print what you were told? (Rhetorical question.)
Does anyone working for the Times in Iraq do anything more than play telephone chain? Does anyone not buckle immediately?
From Molly Bingham's "Home From Iraq" (Atlanta Journal-Constitution):
The intimidation to not work on this story was evident. Dexter Filkins, who writes for The New York Times, related a conversation he had in Iraq with an American military commander... Towards the end of one of their conversations, Dexter declined an invitation for the next day by explaining that he'd lined up a meeting with a "resistance guy." The commander's face went stony cold and he said, "We have a position on that." For Dexter the message was clear. He cancelled the appointment.
If you're going to discuss Iraq, you have to discuss Filkins at some point. I'm aware it's more pleasing to discuss Judith Miller. But if she had a part in getting us over into Iraq, it's the "reporters" like Filkins who keep us there. For the record, Filkins has denied Bingham's version of the events. People will have to make up their own minds as to whom to take the word of.
While you're attempting to sort that out, let's again note this:
Christian Parenti mentioned Filkins last night on The Laura Flanders Show: "Dexter Filkins politics are very different from the Dexter Filkins politics we know in the New York Times. [In person, he's saying] 'Oh it's awful, the situation is totally out of control.'" That's a paraphrase (I've left out a "Dude" among other things).
Oh, it's awful, the situation is totally out of control?
Didn't seem that way when Filkins reported "In Faulluja, Young Marines Saw the Savagery of an Urban War" -- his rah-rah-rah piece of "award winning" journalism. Six days after the battle (Nov. 15), Filkins' story makes it into print. Exactly how slowly does he type? Exactly whom edited that copy?
From Dahr Jamail's "Iraqi Hospitals Ailing Under Occupation" (pdf format, you can find the quote below at this site here):
Burhan Fasa'a, a cameramn with the Lebanese Broadcasting Corporation (LBC), witnessed the first eight days of the fighting. "I entered Falljuah near the Julan Quarter, which is near the General Hospital," he said during an interview in Baghdad. "There were American snipers on top of the hospital," who, he testified, "were shooting everyone in sight." The Iraqi Red Crescent would have to wait a full week before being permitted to dispatch three ambulances into the city.
Not quite the way Filkins reported it. For that matter, not quite the way Richard A. Oppel, Jr. and James Glanz report it. (They report that the Iraqi Red Crescent found no one when they entered Falluja. They just fail to seriously address why that is.) It goes beyond Filkins but Filkins has the prize and he contributed the go-go boy gone wild story that portrays a massacre as a video game. Reality: Preceding the blood bath, males of "fighting age" were prevented from leaving that city. The destruction was severe and has not been "fixed." (Does the United States military still provide bottled water? Did they ever? Not what they told you, but what you could verify, please.)
Press releases continue to pass for reporting ("Hussein Confessed to Massacre Order, Iraqi President Says") and they should all be worried. They're the upcoming Judy Millers. They're the laughingstock of many of their peers. (Filkins epecially whose appearance on Terry Gross's Fresh Air is legendary -- and the tales repeated of it are far more interesting than what he actually said on air.)
Let's note this:
On this 60th anniversary of the atomic bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, Amy Goodman, host of the national radio and TV show "Democracy Now!" is submitting a formal request to the board of the Pulitzer Prize, calling for The New York Times and its reporter William Laurence to be stripped of the 1946 Pulitzer Prize for their coverage of the atomic bomb. Laurence was also on the payroll of the US War Department. Goodman recently wrote an Op-Ed in The Baltimore Sun (written with journalist David Goodman, her brother) called "The Hiroshima Coverup" (see http://www.commondreams.org/views05/0805-20.htm ).
Goodman said, "William Laurence and the New York Times won a Pulitzer Prize for his reporting on the atomic bomb, and his faithful parroting of the government line was crucial in launching a half-century of silence about the deadly lingering effects of the bomb. It is time for the Pulitzer board to strip the atomic bomb apologist and his newspaper of this undeserved prize."
This is Filkins future. I used to assume that it would take place long after he was gone. (And long after I was gone.) But he's the one reporters bring up to me. They're friends and they know I consider his reporting proganda. (Had the election gone differently, would his story have been more realistic?) So maybe they're just saying what they say to please me? I don't think so. (I could, as always, be wrong.)
But away from them, when you walk someone through Filkins reporting, someone who has no idea who he is, they grasp that its people like Filkins that keep us in Iraq.
By failing to report accurately what Operation Enduring Falsehood did (and what they do) they allow a number of otherwise well meaning people to think "fine tuning" is an answer. (Filkins is also a laughing stock for a TV appearance I missed. He supposedly minimized a trial for the abuses of Abu Ghraib -- with regard to instructions from above.) Fine tuning isn't an answer. As Filkins allegedy told Parenti, "It's totally out of control." Until that truth makes it into the reports, I'm saddened by those who argue fine tuning and aren't war hawks but I don't blame them for the failures of the press to report reality. They're being short changed. (Hawks aren't. They don't need excuses to continue war. They thrive on it the way some in the Green Zone thrive on the chaos.)
But here's the reason Filkins may feel the bite while he's still alive. Some domestic reporters in the United States aren't speaking fondly of the embeds. They're pointing fingers right now as the clampdowns that reporters have gone along with in Iraq come home to the United States.
The Boys Gone Wild are also a joke to people who've served in the area. And those first hand accounts will continue to come out. A Worth or Glanz will be embarrassed for being so quick to print press releases, but Filkins was in Falluja. He saw with his own eyes and he didn't report.
The bodies, the limbs piled up in the streets, Filkins somehow missed. And he was there. A friend at one of the top ten (circulation) dailies has gone from lukewarm support of Filkins' infamous "reporting" to outright disgust with it. The opinion is there is no "comeback" from it. That Filkins could do a mea culpa and return his prize and he'd still be damaged goods.
That kind of talk may not make it into the Green Zone but Filkins should worry. And so should the paper.
In an early November piece on Falluja (this one co-written with James Glanz), a military officer told Filkins that "it ought to go down in history." Filkins accepted the gung-hu attitude, too bad he didn't consider the words themselves. This will go down in history. This will haunt the Times and it will haunt Filkins.
Amy and David Goodman may not get the Times stripped of a Pulitizer (though I hope they do) but just addressing the issue accomplishes something. And when the issue of Dexter Filkins is seriously addressed it will further tarnish the paper's name.
With Judith Miller, the paper waited far too late to address the situation. (Both her reporting itself and the legal argument they attempt to make -- they not Millers' attornies.) If they hem and haw with regards to what passes for "reporting" from Iraq currently, they'll further hurt their already badly damaged reputation. In the meantime, by not revisiting the press releases they published, they do real reporting, democracy and the people of the United States a huge disservice because they're not reporting. It took Cindy Sheehan to act as the spark to wake up a nation. The Times could have done that long ago with some strong reporting. It shouldn't be the job of the editorials to try to later straighten out the reporting.
And as the press in the United States feels they're under attack, they're making some rather rude comments about those in the Green Zone that they feel have condoned this sort of behavior.
Democracy Now! noted the following Friday:
The journalists who have been covering Hurricane Katrina have literally been risking their lives for the last week. Reporters have been stationed in and around New Orleans since the Hurricane hit and have tirelessly reported on the devastation to the city. Some journalists have expressed enormous outrage at government officials for their slow response. A few television reporters openly broke down on air as they report the horrific conditions and the desperation of victims. Reporters have witnessed the militarization of the city and are starting to feel the effects of the government crack-down on information gathering. FEMA is now rejecting requests by journalists to accompany rescue boats searching for storm victims. In addition, journalists are being asked not to photograph any dead bodies in the region. NBC News Anchor Brian Williams reported on his blog, that police officers had been seen aiming their weapons at members of the media. And a blogger named Bob Brigham wrote a widely read dispatch that the National Guard in Jefferson County are under orders to turn all journalists away. Brigham writes: "Bush is now censoring all reporting from New Orleans, Louisiana. The First Amendment sank with the city."
Earlier this week, Reporters Without Borders issued a warning about police violence against journalists working in New Orleans. They highlighted two cases – in one case police detained a Times-Picayune photographer and smashed his equipment to the ground after he was seen covering a shoot-out with police. In the second case, a photographer from the Toronto Star was detained by police and his photos taken from him when police realized that he had snapped photos of a clash between them and citizens who the police claimed were looters.
Those in the Green Zone may have kidded themselves, if they were non-Arabic, that they weren't being controlled. It was just the Arabic reporters suffering, right?
A Dexter Filkins could cancel the meeting with the resistance and kid himself that he made the choice. (Like Madonna' s ludicrous claim in the nineties that the difference was she chained herself.) The "choices" that have been made are now impacting reporters outside the Green Zone and they aren't amused. That's why the Times should be concerned. The rumblings and grumblings are coming from their competitors. Not from independent media, which the Times would easily dismiss (as it so often does). I don't know that other dailies are doing a better job than the Times (the daily I read is the New York Times). Reporters at other papers seem to think to think they are. Three reporters in particular (two at one organization, one at another) are mentioned repeatedly (by press not affiliated with the two organizations).
The Times is aware that Judith Miller has become the fall guy for every reporter that gave breathless (and non questioning) coverage to WMD claims. So they're familiar with the concept of a fall guy. (They've also created a few over the years.) They should be really concerned right now because although Filkins isn't the "name" that Miller is (even people who didn't read her reporting in real time can now list the problems with it), he'll quickly become that. One reporter trying to cover New Orleans has already used Filkins as an adjective to express dismay over conditions that authorities attempted to impose. ("They thought I'd do a Filkins!")
Whereas the derision of Miller began with the independent press, Filkins' is starting at the top. Again, he wrote a first person account of what happened in Falluja. That's hard to come back from as details continue to emerge about what didn't get reported in that piece of melodrama.
The paper should be very worried. It took years for the criticism of Miller to go beyond independent media. If Filkins gets burned by the mainstream press, it will be a much harder hit than any criticism the Times faces over Miller.
The fact that they've continued to offer press releases won't help them either. They should have dealt with this long ago. They need a new chief in Baghdad and they need it right away.
What Americans need is some honest reporting.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)