Friday, December 02, 2005

Redistricting, Recruiting, Danny Schechter

Good evening, I hope everyone's psyched about the weekend. We'll kick things off with Democracy Now!

Justice Dept.: Delay Redistricting Plan Violated Voting Act
A memo obtained by the Washington Post shows lawyers at the Justice Department concluded a controversial Texas redistricting plan spearheaded by indicted Congressmember Tom Delay violated the Voting Rights Act. The memo argued the redistricting plan illegally diluted the voting influence of minorities in several Texas congressional districts. The memo said: "The State of Texas has not met its burden in showing that the proposed congressional redistricting plan does not have a discriminatory effect." Texas lawmakers approved the plan anyway, the memo says, because it stood to increase the number of elected federal Texas Republicans. Following the plan's approval in 2003, Republicans gained five seats in the following year's congressional elections. The redistricting plan is currently being challenged before the U.S. Supreme Court. Meanwhile, Congressmember Delay is facing state charges of money laundering and conspiracy in connection with state elections.

We picked this one because The Common Ills community has a lot of members in Texas. They just break every rule in the book, don't they. It's like "Target: the 9th Circuit (The Republican war on the judiciary continues)" where the Republicans snuck into the budget bill the provision to break up the 9th Circuit. They have no shame and they cheat.

National Guard Offering $1,000 Recruiting "Finders Fee"
Faced with dwindling recruiting numbers, the Army National Guard is offering a finder’s fee to soldiers who can enlist new recruits. This according to a report in USA Today. The Guard Recruiter Assistant Program, launched this week in five states, offers National Guard members rewards of $1,000 dollars for enlisting a recruit and an additional $1,000 dollars if the recruit shows up for basic training. The National Guard says recruiting has fallen 20% short of its goal this year.

Now this is how bad things are, they're asking the non-recruiters to recruit. They tried to act like they were doing good. They lowered the targets to keep from embarrassing themselves, but no one wants to sign up. So now they're asking people who did sign up to help them out. The National Guard is supposed to be a weekend a month but you've got Guards serving in Iraq for months and months. That's not what they signed up for and that's taxed them, their families and the Guard itself. The costs of Bully Boy's war are big and one of them is that who wants to serve with a mademan in the White House?

Now I need to put up something here. Elaine asked me if I was checking my bulk mail folder and I haven't been. She has stuff in her's that she just looked at today. Me too. Let me start with this Nemanja Divjak wrote awhile about a new blog: www.millionpostsblog.com. I'll go ahead and post a link because I feel bad that Nemanja might feel ignored since it went to the bulk folder.

I also had three e-mails noting things that I'd already seen at The Common Ills. I think this is the one of the three that's still timely, Danny Schechter's "Debating Iraq: A Murtha Moment and the Slide to An Exit:"

The much-maligned Mr. Marx said history often begins as tragedy and repeats itself as farce. That was never more true than last Friday night as we watched the great Iraq war "debate." Those of us with the stomach to do so saw the consequences of years of increasingly polarized partisanship in our Congress. It was as manipulated and managed an episode of theater that I have ever seen. It was more like a fraternity food fight than an honest discourse on all sides.
Even the Washington Post, the local organ of media power, was disgusted, noting: "Aggressive challenges to the Bush administration's military and political strategy -- even calls for an immediate withdrawal of troops, such as that made by Rep. John P. Murtha (D-Pa.) on Thursday -- must be part of that democratic discussion. Yet what we've mainly seen during the past two weeks is a shameful exercise in demagoguery and name-calling."
That's because no one is really saying what they believe. The Democrats want out but are afraid to say so and the self-styled patriots see the end coming but need someone to blame beside themselves. The drama on the hill represented a triumph of message point politics with thoroughly robotic and irrelevant cliché-ridden speeches on the Republican side with Congress member after Congress member playing at patriotism by finger pointing.
It was matched I am afraid, by equally vitriolic opportunism by leading Democrats who had blindly supported the war and now avoided talking about the truth of what their hawkish colleague Mr. Murtha was talking about. Instead they defended his character and military record, but rarely backed his courageous call for withdrawal.

Elaine had the same three items e-mailed to her and she may note a different one (or none at all). But she will be noting the same two items from Democracy Now! and providing her commentary so be sure to check out her site Like Maria Said Paz.

Now I want to say thank you to everyone who dropped an e-mail about yesterday's race comments that Betty and me did together. I'm going to share the positive feedback with her tomorrow when we're all working on the latest The Third Estate Sunday Review edition. If you read Elaine's post last Saturday, you know Betty's been getting some really mean e-mails full of threats and racist remarks. Jim said it's like with Ava & C.I.'s TV reviews. That started out with all of them plus C.I. doing the TV reviews. But it quickly became just Ava & C.I. and when they started getting credit for them, all the sudden the e-mails on them changed. Instead of agreeing or disagreeing strongly (including "You're so stupid!"), they suddenly started containing threats as well. I don't get that kind of e-mail but Rebecca's noted the kind of e-mails she and other women get and I guess when some "tough guy" knows it's a woman writing, he feels like he can make threats. Makes him feel like a "tough guy" or something.

Cedric gets that nonsense sometimes too, racist e-mails. I read his "Race" today and was really impressed with the way he approaced the topic so check that out. It's a serious, hard hitting look.

After that, since it's the weekend, you may need a good laugh so check out Betty's "Hell is your house-bound husband on house arrest with you serving the sentence:"

"You can't bench me!" Thomas Friedman bellowed. But obviously Gail Collins can.What lit the fire under Ms. Nonsense & No Sensibility?
Davy Brooks came into her office ("In his shiny ass pants, Betinna! In his shiny ass pants!") and had a vacation request of his own that he repeatedly dropped on the floor necessitating that he repeatedly bend over in front of her. ("It was as though I had died and gone to Mansfield Park, Betinna! Mansfield Park!") With no lines cupping his butt and no lines near his upper thigh, Gail was convinced he must be wearing his sock. ("In another life, Betinna, I'd like to come back as that sock!")
Gail says she played it cool so I'll assume that besides sweat dripping from her forehead and her hands shaking, she managed to pull it together. She signed the request, granting his time off. Davy stood by her desk grinning. Then he asked her if she'd ever seen Disclosure.
Poor Gail, I had to explain that film to her. If it's not a book at least a hundred years old or something airing on Pax, she's lost.
Her idea of a pop culture ref is, "Betinna, what's wrong! You look like Beth on her death bed!"I keep trying to explain to her that Jo and Marmie hardly trip off the tongues of kids today but she swears Kayne West's "Gold Digger" says not "When I'm in need" but "When I'm a reading Little Women." I've tried playing the song for her repeatedly but some people hear only what they want to. (Which does explain her editorials.)

And it's Friday so we need a lot of good laughs to get this weekend started. When you need to laugh, read Ava & C.I.'s TV reviews. Here's something from their latest one and it's on supposed country music star Kenny Chesney:

Somewhere in the Sun no doubt pleased arm pit fetishists throughout the land. If Chesney flashing his pits does it for you, ABC provided you with enough mulitple orgasms to last a lifetime.
Other than on the arm of Renee Zellweger, this was our first time seeing Chesney. And we quickly realized that something more was going on than Chesney's desire to demonstrate, repeatedly, that, yes, he had hit puberty and sprouted body hair.
What if, we wondered, Liza Minelli woke up one morning with two left feet? She would still have the song in her. She would still need to express herself through movement.
If that day should ever come, Minelli will owe a huge debt to Kenny Chesney who is bravely pioneering The Dance of the Arms while others without dancing feet simply accept their lot in life. "Jazz hands"? That's so last millenium. This is arm choreography at it's most energetic. Chezney with a Z!
Little Miss Show Biz strode around the stage. Sometimes he did the wave all by himself. Sometimes he pointed at the audience in a sudden burst of arm movement! Sometimes he did an extended pointing session, sweeping the arm back and forth. Sometimes he threw both arms suddenly into the air in an All . . . That . . . Jazz kind of manuever. The arms need to be bare. They are his legs.
Kenny sleeveless is like a dancer in short-shorts.
Watching him blowing kisses and move around gesturing wildly, our question wasn't, "Why did Renee leave him?"; our question was, "Did she ever see him onstage before she married him?"
She must have felt like Marjorie Main standing next to Judy about to wow 'em with "Get Happy." Chezney's very dramatic. Some might say overly dramatic. We'll just say we've never seen anything in country music quite like it. (Rip Taylor's never done a country album, right?)When we got over our shock that so much could be done with arms, all of it embarrassing, and over our giggles at his pop eyes, dramatic head turns and those facial expressions made for Match Game PM, we were left with . . . the music.
Kenny smiles a lot in the sad songs. He winks a lot while singing the lines, he blows kisses. We're not really sure if it's that he doesn't understand the lyrics he's singing or if he's just so bound and determined to sparkle.

Motto: The Common Ills community is important and the Common Ills community is important to me. So I'll do my part for the Common Ills community.















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Thursday, December 01, 2005

Betty and me on race

Good evening, we'll start off with Democracy Now!

Pelosi Backs Murtha Call for Withdrawal
Calls for a troop withdrawal have been bolstered by the stance taken by hawkish Democratic Congressman John Murtha. On Wednesday, Democratic minority leader Nancy Pelosi became the first congressional leader to endorse Congressman Murtha’s position. Pelosi and other top Democrats had initially distanced themselves from Murtha’s call to end the deployment in Iraq to and maintain rapid reaction force in the region. But Pelosi told the Washington Post: "clearly a majority of the [Democratic] caucus supports Mr. Murtha" in his call to withdraw U.S. troops from Iraq.

She took her time but she found her voice which is more than anyone can say about General Hillary who's got the war lust so bad you worry about her being caught in the oval office not with an intern but a missile.

Do you think Hillary watched the last Democratic primaries and told herself, "I know what I'm going to do, I'm going to be the next Joe Lieberman!" That's what it seems like.

Dec. 1st Marks 25th Anniversary of World AIDS Day
And today marks the 25th anniversary of World AIDS day. Since 1981, AIDS has claimed the lives of more than an estimated 20 million people. In the United States alone, an estimated 1 million Americans are now living with HIV, with at least 35,000 new infections occurring a year. In the southern African country of Malawi, UNICEF estimates over half a million children have lost at least one parent to AIDS. In India, at least 4.5 million people live with HIV, the most in any country outside of South Africa.

25 years is more years than I am old. It's weird to realize that there was a time without AIDS because in my life, it's always been around.

I know it's somewhere at The Common Ills lots of times and probably at The Third Estate Sunday Review too. I'd provide a link if I could find it, but I agree with C.I. that Bully Boy has really damaged the fight against AIDS. He's injected his personal beliefs into a scientific discussion. Doing that confuses the message.

So if you're stressing a condom one year and the next year you're saying "Just say no to sex" you're confusing the message. Science money should go for science. It should teach how to prevent the transmission of AIDS. Instead it's been diverting into teaching someone's religion. It's not reasonable to expect people to just wait until marriage to avoid AIDS. What happens is you may say, "Okay, I'll wait a bit." Then you tell yourself, "Okay, this is one time and we will get married." Then you break up and pretty soon it's back to saying "This one time . . ."

Can people wait until marriage to have sex? Some can. (But some people will never get married.) (And some people might like to be married but can't because only 5 countries have gay marriage if I'm remembering Democracy Now! right.) Better to teach people what to do if they do have sex and leave the religious teachings to a church.

Instead Bully Boy's putting money into stuff that's not going to work and has no science backing up that "I will wait" pledges work.

C.I. noted this today:

At Corrente Wire, Leah's asking everyone to "Help Make Thursday, December 1st 'Blog Against Racism Day.'"

We're supposed to write about race or racism. Wally already did his part on this today. He focused on Florida's 2000 election and the media not caring about the disenfranchisment of African-American voters. Today's also the 50th anniversary of Rosa Park's brave stand as Betty just pointed out. These are our thoughts on race because at her site, she has to stay in character but she wanted to weigh in.

Race is an issue that's come up a lot in the community. Like when John H. Johnson died and all anyone (media or bloggers) wanted to talk about was Peter Jennings.

Was that racism? Was it just people focusing on the obvious?

Democracy Now! covered John H. Johnson's death. Some people think that Oprah had to be strong armed into covering it and, when she did cover it, my sister says it was like a three minute tribute that mainly showed celebrities on the cover of Ebony. Oprah goes for the obvious. Democracy Now! tries to shine a light where no one else does.

That matters. Grace Lee Boggs is a voice we never knew about until Liang noted her for women's history month. A lot of voices are left out of the mainstream media period but it's even more obvious when it comes to people of color. How often does Tim Russert have a person of color on? If you leave out Condi the number's even lower. There's a tendency to just go for the obvious voices and if we do that we just end up with white voices because that's what we get on the airwaves and in print.

Oprah was supposed to be a big breakthrough and for awhile there were a lot of copycat shows but in the end there's really just Oprah. And the shows she does on whatever Hollywood couple is in love or whatever big budget movie has come out don't really challenge much. Betty's old enough that she can remember Phil Donahue's daytime show and she talks about how she wishes Oprah would try to be a little less inspirational and a little more practical by informing people. But Betty and I both wonder how fair it is to just pin that on Oprah?

She's not the only person in the mainstream with a TV show. And she did get taken to court when she did her mad cow show. Ma says if Oprah's a breakthrough that it's the people of all color who need to build the roads now that Oprah's opened the door. That's probably a better take than Betty or I have on it. (Betty also said it was a kinder take than our take.)

But where is the mainstream's interest with non-whites? In entertainment or in news, they really don't seem that concerned that they basically present all whites.

We've seen three African-Americans win best acting Oscars (Denzel Washington, Halle Berry and Jamie Foxx) but what's shocking is that the Oscars are older are than me and those were the first three African-Americans to win.

And when it's time to replace white male anchors, we get white males.

Is there a reason that the networks refuse to go beyond that?

I think it's because racism is institutional and self-perpuates.

The mainstream says "These are the important voices" and we all nod along.

It can be hard to go beyond the mainstream but if the world's going to change, we're going to have to. Think about The Daily Jerk Off and how it's all white all the time.

On the left the problem is that we're already shut out of the mainstream. That's all of us. But think about how much more difficult it must be to be left and a person of a color.

Margaret Kimberley has a funny essay today called "Republican Sex Freaks." And I know her voice because of The Common Ills. Salim Muwakkil is another voice I've learned of due to The Common Ills. He is a senior editor and columnist for In These Times. When C.I. gripes about the fact that Patricia J. Williams' columns at The Nation are hardly ever made available to anyone other than subscribers, that's because she's missing an audience that others get. Eric Alterman has his own weblog. If they don't want to make the whole issue available to nonsubscribers, they should do some sort of rotation because Williams is a law professor and a really strong voice.

When we review books at The Third Estate Sunday Review, we've got a lot of people with a lot of ideas (and readers suggest things too). I think that's why we've had a pretty good mix. Like Cedric said in the last book discussion, we try to go for something besides the obvious. If every big paper in the world's talking a book, we probably aren't interested. That's how we ended up with a book of Bayard Rustin's writings last time.

I think that's the only real answer, going for the less obvious. It's probably easier to give shout outs to an all white cast all the time because that's what the mainstream media does but if the net's going to be any different than the mainstream media, fundamentally different, we need to work to make the range of voices wider.

Everyone's got time constraints and is rushing to do what they can. But if there's not a real effort made to enlarge the landscape now, the internet's going to end up exactly like the mainstream.

I'd already decided to highlight something and then decided against it but Betty said to go with it because the topic's important and she likes sports as much as me. So here's Dave Zirin's "The Fight to Save Stan Tookie Williams" (The Nation):

"Years ago, I recognized my kinship with all living things, and I made up my mind that I was not one bit better than the meanest on earth.... While there is a lower class, I am in it, while there is a criminal element, I am of it, and while there is a soul in prison, I am not free." --Eugene V. Debs
These words of the fabled social activist also define the life of NFL hall of famer and actor Jim Brown. He has mediated truces between the toughest gangs in Los Angeles and fought racism from South Central to Soweto. But today he is involved in a different kind of fight: the race to save Stan Tookie Williams, who now awaits execution on California's death row. Williams is due to be executed December 13, and Brown has linked arms with a motley crew of activists from Archbishop Desmond Tutu to hip-hop artist Snoop Dogg demanding that Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger spare his life. Schwarzenegger, who has set a clemency hearing for December 8, recently told reporters he is "dreading" the decision he is about to make.
The clemency hearing comes at a critical time. On December 2, North Carolina death row inmate Kenneth Lee Boyd is expected to be the 1,000th person to be executed since the death penalty was reinstated in 1976. Boyd' scheduled execution comes days after Virginia Gov. Mike Warner granted clemency to Robin Lovitts, who was originally slated for that spot. After the California Supreme Court decided this week to refuse to re-open the Williams case, the race is on to persuade Schwarzenegger to follow Warner's lead.

Now I'm adding for everyone to be sure and check out Betty's "Hell is your house-bound husband on house arrest with you serving the sentence."

Remember the motto: The Common Ills community is important and the Common Ills community is important to me. So I'll do my part for the Common Ills community.






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Wednesday, November 30, 2005

9th Circuit being split?

Good evening. Elaine called me and said "Stop the presses!" Why?

There's a story that no one's paying much attention to. C.I. mentioned it to Elaine on the phone and Elaine asked, "What are you talking about?" C.I. just assumed it was all over the news and all over online. So if you've missed it, you need to go read C.I.'s "Target: the 9th Circuit (The Republican war on the judiciary continues)" about how Republicans in the House snuck into the budget legislation a provision to break up the Ninth Circuit Court into two courts.

The Ninth Circuit is seen by conservatives as "the most liberal" of the circuit courts. They've had the Ninth Circuit in their sights for some time. So make sure you know about this.

Now we'll turn to Democracy Now!


US Paying Iraqi Media to Publish US-Authored Reports
The Los Angeles Times is reporting the US military is secretly paying Iraqi newspapers to publish American-written articles favorable to the U.S. presence in Iraq. The Times reports articles written by U.S. military "information operations" are translated into Arabic and then placed in Iraqi newspapers with the help of Washington-based defense contractor the Lincoln Group. The articles are presented to an Iraqi audience as unbiased news accounts written by independent journalists. The Lincoln Group’s contract is worth up to $100 million dollars over five years. A senior Pentagon official commented : "Here we are trying to create the principles of democracy in Iraq. Every speech we give in that country is about democracy. And we’re breaking all the first principles of democracy when we’re doing it."

We just make up "news." It's like Ava & C.I. said in their "TV Review: Barbara and Colin remake The Way We Were" - if the war was "just" like Colin Powell believes, why did he have to lie about it to the UN? If we're making headway in Iraq, I know we ain't, then why do they have to spend all that money (that's 20 million dollars a year) pushing & planting false stories?

Tells you everything you need to know.

Supreme Court to Hear New Hampshire Abortion Case
And the Supreme Court will hear arguments today that observers expect to shed new light on Supreme Court Chief Justice John Roberts' views on abortion. The case deals with a New Hampshire parental notification law that an Appeals court ruled was unconstitutional. The case will be heard as the Senate Judiciary Committee prepares to consider the nomination of Judge Samuel Alito. Twenty years ago, Alito said there was no constitutional right to abortion.

This is one of two cases on reproductive rights. I keep thinking about all the gas bags talking during the Roberts hearing about how abortion's not really an issue that matters. I agree with Ruth that it's interesting how those gas bags were all men. It's really easy for me to see it as not as important because I'm not going to get pregnant. But you can't just be in it for yourself. Being in it just for yourself is what being a Republican is about.

Also people, male and female, should realize that it's not just Roe v. Wade that's under attack, it's the right to privacy. The conservatives want to take away that right. When you hear them talk about that or anything to do with birth control or same sex relationships, they'll usually get around to attacking the right to privacy if they're not just some dope repeating what Rush said. Conservatives do not like the right to privacy and argue that it does not exist.

So I agree with Ruth, the gas bags shouldn't have been given all their air time to go on and on about how unimportant abortion supposedly was.

Now check out Elaine's site Like Maria Said Paz for her take on this.









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Tuesday, November 29, 2005

Bully Boy goes to Denver and the people turn out to make their voices heard

Good evening. We'll kick things off with Democracy Now!

Time Magazine Reporter Testifies in CIA Leak Case
This update on the CIA leak case - the Washington Post is reporting Karl Rove's defense team is hoping the testimony of a reporter from Time Magazine might help Rove escape indictment. On Sunday Time revealed that its reporter Viveca Novak had agreed to testify about a conversation she had last year with Rove's attorney Robert Luskin. A person familiar with the investigation told the Washington Post that Luskin cited his conversations with Novak in persuading Special Prosecutor Fitzgerald not to indict Rove in late October. So far Vice President Dick Cheney's former chief of staff Lewis Scooter Libby is the only administration to be indicted over the outing of Valerie Plame's identity as an undercover CIA operative.

Round and round it goes, where it ends, only Karl Rove knows. For now. Patrick Fitzgerald seems to be on to something with Karl. When Scooter got indicted there was some disappointment but it's really starting to look like it's not over by a long shot.

Maybe that's why Bully Boy looks so creepy these days? He's so worried it's eating away at him? My aunt swears he looks like he's drinking again. She says his skin looks like it. I don't know about that. Anybody else seeing it?



Greenpeace Disrupts Blair Speech About Nuclear Energy
In Britain, members of Greenpeace disrupted a speech of Prime Minister Tony Blair's in which he launched an energy review which could lead to new nuclear power stations. The Greenpeace activists climbed into the roof above the podium and unfurled a banner saying: "Nuclear: Wrong Answer." They also dropped stickers onto the delegates below them.

In England, Tony Blair can't hide the way Bully Boy tries to in this country. But in Denver, they turned out to protest the Bully Boy today. From Mark Couch and Tim Hughes' "Bush praises Musgrave in Denver" in the Denver Post:

Outside the Brown Palace Hotel, about 300 protesters expressed their opposition to the war in Iraq by banging on pots, pans and drums, blowing on horns, flutes, kazoos and recorders
and breaking into "peace now" chants.
"Tell George Bush what Democracy looks like!" an organizer yelled through a bullhorn, kicking off one round of call-and-response.
"This is what Democracy looks like!" the crowd yelled back.
South High School students Ashley Adams and Jenny Fleming-Owen wrote "No More War" and "Make Love Not War" on their faces in black ink
The only two pro-Bush sign holders on the scene found themselves in heated arguments.

Ah, that's so cute. Two little Bush-ites. Standing by their Bully Boy. Back to the article:

All day, chants called for an end to the war and for Bush's impeachment. A few signs equated him to Hitler. Several accused him of invading Iraq in pursuit of oil profits and an expanded American empire.

"This whole war never should have happened," Bonnie McCormick, 87, of Boulder said as the throng marched from the Capitol to the Brown Palace. A 30-year military wife and long-time anti-war activist, McCormick said she was arrested during a recent protest outside a military recruitment center in Lakewood. "Bush should be spending money on education and health care, not war."
The demonstration included several veterans from the Iraq war and previous conflicts.

The summer of protest lit a fire and it keeps on blazing.

Speaking of blazing, what was in C.I.'s cereal this morning? Did you catch The Common Ills this morning? C.I. was on fire. Read "NYT: 'Justices Reject F.B.I. Translator's Appeal on Termination' (Linda Greenhouse)" and "Other Items." C.I. really took on the New York Timid today.

Sunday, C.I. noted that Pop Politics had some stuff on sports and Wally told me the same thing. This is from Richard C. Crepeau's "Giving Thanks for Football: An American Tradition:"

The history of Thanksgiving and of football both go back to the Middle Ages, so it may not be so strange that the two would become intertwined in modern America.
The first American Thanksgiving is generally believed to have been in Plymouth Colony in mid-October of 1621, when William Bradford and the Pilgrims gathered with local Indians to give thanks for survival and the first harvest. The first Thanksgiving proclaimed by a president was Nov. 26, 1789, when George Washington called for a national day of Thanksgiving for the new form of government.
By the end of that century the practice had faded, but through the first half of the 19th century, Sarah Hale, editor of Godey's Lady's Book kept the idea alive by writing editorials and letters to presidents and governors urging their adoption of such a day. Finally, during the Civil War, Abraham Lincoln took her advice and proclaimed the last Thursday of November 1863, as Thanksgiving Day. The practice stuck.
Eleven years later, in 1874, the first intercollegiate football game was played. In 1876, the Intercollegiate Football Association was formed and instituted a championship game for Thanksgiving Day. Within a decade it was the premier athletic event in the nation.
Princeton and Yale were the participants all but twice in the first two decades of the league. By the 1890s, when the game was played in the Polo Grounds, it was drawing 40,000 fans. Players, students and fans wore their school colors while banners flew from carriages, hotels and the business establishments of the city. It was by then one of the most important social events of the season for New York's social elite.

If you're not checking out Pop Politics, you should. It's got lots of great stuff. And don't forget to check out Elaine's commentary at Like Maria Said Paz.











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Monday, November 28, 2005

Al-Jazzera, Iraq contractors, recruiters

Good evening. Hope everyone had a great holiday break. We'll get things started with Democracy Now!

Al Jazeera Demands Answers from Bush Administration
The director-general of the Arabic tv network Al-Jazeera has demanded Washington respond to reports that President Bush wanted to bomb the network's headquarters in Doha. Last week the Daily Mirror cited a secret British memo revealing that Bush told Tony Blair last year of his desire to bomb the news outlet. The Bush administration has described the Daily Mirror's report as "outlandish." Officials at Al Jazeera are now questioning whether the U.S. might have been targeting the network when it bombed its bureaus in Afghanistan in 2001 and in Baghdad in April 2003. The attack in Iraq killed Al Jazeera's correspondent Tariq Ayub. Ayub's widow, Dina, said she is now considering suing the U.S. government for her husband's death. She said "America always claimed it was an accident. But I believe the new revelations prove that claim was false or at least not trustworthy." Meanwhile in Britain a ban remains in place on all media outlets from disclosing the contents of the secret memo. But a member of parliament - Boris Johnson - has vowed to publish the memo and risk jail time if anyone leaks him the document.

This is a big thing even if big media doesn't think so. Bully Boy wants to attack a network and you see how big media acts. Big cowards is more like it.

Where is the freedom of the press in this country? That's what you hear people complain but here's a perfect example of how big media doesn't support the press. If they were for a free press instead of saying silent or offering excuses of how Bully Boy was joking and nonsense like that, they'd be all over this story and trying to get as much information as possible.

By the way, C.I.'s given a head's up to Danny Schechter's "WAR ON THE MEDIA: 'Don't Bomb Us'" so I'll do the same.

UK investigates Shootings by Private Contractors in Iraq
The British Foreign Office is investigating allegations that private contractors with the defense company Aegis have randomly shot at Iraqi cars. According to the Telegraph newspaper, a video recently appeared on a site affiliated with Aegis that contained four clips of an unidentified gunman shooting at cars in Iraq. In one clip a Mercedes is fired on at a distance of several hundred yards before it crashes in to a civilian taxi. One Iraqi Interior Ministry officials confirmed such shootings occur. He said: "When the security companies kill people they just drive away and nothing is done... I would say we have had about 50-60 incidents of this kind."

Here's another story big media's not interested in. How come? Maybe cause they never made a big deal when Paul Bremer was signing all those orders keeping contractors from being prosecuted.

Remember to check out Elaine's comments at Like Maria Said Paz.

And you've probably already seen it, but I want to make sure everyone knows about C.I.'s
"NYT: 'Even Supporters Doubt President As Issues Pile Up" (Kate Zernike)" which was done Saturday morning and takes the paper to task for never finding room in the paper for the voices who spoke out against the war. This is an essay and Ma says it's her favorite since C.I.'s "Reading Press Releases Live From The Green Zone (C.I.)." She said to put in that it's essays like this that really explain why The Common Ills is such a great site.

Dad wanted me to note something too, Elaine's "Too long on a variety of topics." Dad was wondering the same thing Beau wondered in his e-mail, if I'm feeling burned out? No. But I'm not even at six months for this site yet so check with me at the year mark. :D

Seriously though there are times when I wish I could do it later. Like so Nina and me or Tone and my other buds could hang out a bit. So if you check during the week and don't see something here at the usual time, check back later. Leigh Ann wondered if my oldest brother had set a date for his wedding. I don't think so. If he has, he's keeping all of us out of the loop. They're thinking of late spring or early summer but don't have a date planned. Or aren't telling if they do.

Be sure to check out "Recap of November 16th Counter Recuitment in Brooklyn" by in our hearts:

On Wednesday, November 16th, around 40 people flyered the armed forces recruitment station on 41 Flatbush Avenue near Downtown Brooklyn. We arrived to a recruitment center shut down completely by the police and almost all of the shutters pulled down on the large plate glass windows. There were cop cars, unmarked police vehicles, and a host of 'community affairs' cops lining the sidewalk at noon. Our goal was simple: to flyer potential recruits that might consider going in to the center, to be a public presence at a very busy intersection in downtown Brooklyn, and to make the recruiter's day uncomfortable.
During the day, we gave out over 500 flyers-- some presenting our position on fighting the government's bullshit wars, while others presented concrete reasons to not join the military (a flyer written by a black anarchist Vietnam war veteran, as well a newspaper directed toward people who have already enlisted with resources on what they can do now that they have signed up.) The response from passersby was very positive-- many people stopped to talk and thanked us for being there, and some recounted stories of people in their lives who are currently in the military. Lots of anti- Bush/war sentiment was displayed by people walking by and we had some great interactions with some high schoolers who were on break from school. Some kids expressed annoyance that the military is in their high schools and talked about the 'opt out' forms they had their parents sign to stop military recruiters from harassing them. Almost everyone who passed us took flyers and understood exactly why we were there-- The connection between the war and the presence of military recruitment stations in their neighborhood was simple for them, as many knew someone who was in the military or have had some kind of interaction with a recruiter.

And I saw that at CounterRecruiter so you should be checking that site out.









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Friday, November 25, 2005

Headlines you should know about

We've composed the following twelve headlines dealing with , , , , , , , the , the , and other topics. [At the end of the headlines, I'll discuss this.]

1) From Dahr Jamail's MidEast Wire (Iraq Dispatches):Monday in Iraq, US troops fired on a car in Ba'qubah, killing five, two adults and three children. The US military states that they feared the car "booby-trapped." The family had been returning from visiting relatives when a US convoy approached. The car was fired on from the front and the back. One Iraqi was quoted as saying, "The ones who brought in the Americans are at fault. Those who support them are at fault. All of them are at fault. Look at these. They are all children. All of them of are children. They killed them. They killed my entire family."

2) In the United States the Associated Press reports that Cindy Sheehan returned to Crawford, Texas Thursday and joined what some estimates say were 100 protestors and other estimates say as many as 200.Cindy Sheehan stated, "I feel happy to be back here with all my friends ... but I'm heartbroken that we have to be here again," said Sheehan, who hoped to arrive earlier in the week, but was delayed by a family emergency. "We will keep pressing and we won't give up until our troops are brought home."

3) Since Sheehan and others last gathered at Camp Casey I and Camp Casey II, laws have been passed to prevent further gatherings in Crawford -- "local bans on roadside camping and parking." As protestors returned this week, they were advised they could be arrested. Among those arrested Wednesday were Daniel Ellsberg and US diplomat Ann Wright. Democratic Underground has a report from Carl who was also arrested Wendesday. Carl reports that "The entire [arrest & booking] process took 3.5 hours." Carl advises that the vigils will also take place on Christmas and New Year's Eve as well as that "Donations to the Crawford Veterans For Peace can be mailed to P. O. Box 252, Crawford, Texas, 76638-9998."

4) As the participation of psychologists and psychiatrists in the "BISQUIT" program and other 'interrogation' work raises ethical and professional questions today, CounterPunch is reporting that in WWII, United States anthropologists participated with the Office of Strategic Services in attempts to determine means to destroy the Japanese. David Price reports, in what is a clear betrayal of the profession, anthropologists were instructed "to try to conceive ways that any detectable differences could be used in the development of weapons, but they were cautioned to consider this issue 'in a-moral and non-ethical terms'." Price notes "Ralph Linton and Harry Shapiro, objected to even considering the OSS' request ­ but they were the exceptions."

5) In legal news, as the prison industry has switched to a profit making business, prisoners have found themselves located far from relatives. The distance has proved profitable for long distance companies. The Center for Constitutional Rights argued in court Monday on behalf of "New York family members who pay a grossly inflated rate to receive a phone call from their loved ones in state prisons." CCR notes:

The lawsuit, Walton v. NYSDOCS and MCI, seeks an order prohibiting the State and MCI from charging exorbitant rates to the family members of prisoners to finance a 57.5% kickback to the State. MCI charges these family members a 630% markup over regular consumer rates to receive a collect call from their loved ones, the only way possible to speak with them. Judge George Ceresia of the Supreme Court of New York, Albany County, dismissed the suit last fall, citing issues of timeliness.

6) In other legal news, Cynthia L. Cooper reports for Women's enews that November 30th the Supreme Court will hear arguments in Ayotte v. Planned Parenthood of Northern New England. At issue in this case, is whether or not bans on reproductive freedom enacted by state legislatures must take effect before they can be legally challenged or whether they can be challenged as soon as they are passed. The standard up to now has been that laws can be challenged as soon as they are passed. Cooper notes:

By changing the legal standard for when an abortion restriction can be challenged in court, anti-abortion laws could quickly entangle women across the country, without directly overturning Roe v. Wade, the 1973 Supreme Court case that held that states could not criminalize abortion in all circumstances.

7) The Guardian of London reports on a Rutgers University study that has found "[g]lobal warming is doubling the rate of sea level rise around the world, but attempts to stop it by cutting back on greenhouse gas emissions are likely to be futile." Professor Kenneth Miller tells The Guardian's Ashraf Khalil, "This is going to cause more beach erosion. Beaches are going to move back and houses will be destroyed." This comes as the Climate Conference is gearing up to take place in Montreal from November 28th to December 9th. United for Peace and Justiceis issuing a call for action:

This fall let's mobilize a nationwide, grassroots education and action campaign leading up to mass demonstrations in Montreal and throughout the U.S. on Saturday, December 3rd. Help gather signatures for the Peoples Ratification of the Kyoto Global Warming Treaty (http://www.unitedforpeace.org/www.kyotoandbeyond.org), which will be presented in Montreal. Join Climate Crisis: USA Join the World! (http://www.unitedforpeace.org/www.climatecrisis.us) as we call for:USA Join the World by Ratifying the Kyoto Protocol
Support and Export Clean, Safe, Non-Nuclear Energy Alternatives
End Government Subsidies for Oil and Coal Corporations
Dramatically Strengthen Energy Conservation and Fuel Efficiency Standards
A Just Transition for Workers, Indigenous and Other Communities Affected by a Change to Clean Energy
Defend the World's Forests; Support Community-Run Tree Planting Campaigns

8) With Congress out of session due to the holidays, a number of organizations are attempting to inform the public of pending legislation. The Bill of Rights Defense Center warns to "[e]xpect a vote [on the renewal of the Patriot Act]after Congress returns on December 12th." Of the bill, Lisa Graves of the ACLU states:

The Patriot Act was bad in 2001, and despite bipartisan calls for reform, it's still bad in 2005. Instead of addressing the real concerns that millions of Americans have about the Patriot Act, the Republican majority in Congress buckled to White House pressure, stripping the bill of modest yet meaningful reforms. Congress must reject this bill.

Both the ACLU and the Bill of Rights of Defense Center are calling for grass roots action.
Also asking for action is NOW. Congress failed to reauthorize the Violence Against Women Act. You can make your voice heard via NOW's take action page. On their page, you have the option of e-mailing your representatives and/or signing a petition that NOW will present to Congress on December 5th.

9) Meanwhile, as November winds down, American military fatalities have reached 76 for the month, with the Department of Defense reporting 50 Americans wounded thus far this month. The total number of American military killed in Iraq, official count, has reached 2105. Scripps Howard News Service reports that, "U.S. commanders on the ground have already launched plans to close bases and withdraw troops in the coming year, according to two congressmen who returned from Iraq this week." The two congress members are John Kline and Mark Kennedy (Republicans, Minn.).

10) In other Congressional news, Ari Berman reports for The Nation that John McCain is in the midst of makeover. Meeting with The Arizona Republican Assembly in August, McCain slapped some new war paint on as McCain supported the teaching of so-called "intelligent design" side by side with evolution, the state's "ban on gay marriage that denies government benefits to any unmarried couple," hailed Ronald Reagan as "my hero" and was observed "strenuously defending . . . Bush's Iraq policy."

For those who have forgotten, McCain attended Mark Bingham's funeral. Bingham was one of the passengers of Flight 93 on 9/11 in immediate media reports. As the days wore on, Bingham appeared to disappear from many reports. Mark Bingham was gay. Whether that resulted in a "downgrading" by some in the media has been a source of speculation for some time.

11) Focusing on the media, at The Black Commentator, Margaret Kimberly addresses the issue of Bob Woodward, tying him and his editor to the journalistic behaviors of Judith Miller and her editors:

Miller, Sulzberger, Woodward and Bradlee are at the top of the corporate media food chain, and their behavior tells us why Americans aren't being told anything they ought to be told. Woodward uses his access to make a fortune writing about the Supreme Court or various presidential administrations. If a journalist's priority is writing best selling books based on the amount of access gained with the powerful, then truth telling goes out the window.

12) Also addressing the very similar behaviors of Miller and Woodward are Steven C. Day at Pop Politics, Ron Brynaert at Why Are We Back In Iraq?, and Arianna Huffington at The Huffington Post. Though still vocal on Judith Miller and weighing in with the "latest," CJR Daily still can't find a connection between the "journalistic" styles of Judith Miller and Bob Woodward. In their most recent 'Judy report', CJR Daily ponders the question of why did Miller go to jail when Scooter Libby and his people maintain that they released her from confidentiality claims. Covering old news and working themselves into another lather over Miller, CJR Daily wonders"Why did Ms. Miller go to jail?" and maintains the question "has never been fully answered." The question has indeed been answered.

Whether CJR Daily approves of or believes the argument of Miller, Floyd Abrams, et al, is beside the point. For the record, the answer has been given many times. The argument was that Miller needed more than a form signed possibly under duress. Abrams and others have long been on the record explaining that they sought a release other than the form. In the front page report, Sunday October 16, 2005, Don Van Natta Jr., Adam Liptak and Clifford J. Levy reported:

She said she began thinking about whether she should reach out to Mr. Libby for "a personal, voluntary waiver."
[. . .]
While she mulled over over her options, Mr. Bennett was urging her to allow him to approach Mr. Tate, Mr. Libby's lawyer, to try to negotiate a deal that would get her out of jail. Mr. Bennet wanted to revive the question of the waivers that Mr. Libby and other administration officials signed the previous year authorizing reporters to disclose their confidential discussions.
The other reporters subpoenaed in the case said such waivers were coerced. They said administration officials signed them only because they feared retribution from the prosecutor or the White House. Reporters for at least three news organizations had then gone back to their sources and obtained additional assurances that convinced them the waivers were genunie.
But Ms. Miller said she had not gotten an assurance that she felt would allow her to testify.

Again, from the front page New York Times story on . . . October 16, 2005. Though this was not the first reporting on Miller's position, this front page story of the Times was commented in great detail including at CJR Daily here and here. The latter time by the same writer who now wonders "Why did Ms. Miller go to jail?" Repeatedly hitting the designated pinata with articles focusing on her conduct while reducing the conduct of Bob Woodward to asides (whispered asides?) doesn't appear to make for brave "watchdoggery."

Democracy Now! has a special presentation today. The headlines above were composed by The Third Estate Sunday Review's Dona, Jess, Ty, Ava and Jim, Rebecca of Sex and Politics and Screeds and Attitude, C.I. of The Common Ills and The Third Estate Sunday Review, Kat of Kat's Korner (of The Common Ills), Mike of Mikey Likes It!, Elaine of Like Maria Said Paz, Betty Thomas Friedman Is a Great Man, Wally of The Daily Jot and Cedric of Cedric's Big Mix. Thanks to Dallas for his help with links and tags. The above will be reposted at The Third Estate Sunday Review and may also be reposted at the sites of members participating.

- - - - - - - - - -

So the way this worked was that C.I. and Elaine were thinking we might all want to work on something and that it would result in an easy post. A lot of members are having problems with time. So this way, if you're busy, you could just post the above at your site and if you have a little time you could add to it. Rebecca's got a big-time date tonight so she was saying she's just posting them. Betty will do the same because her site is "Betinna"'s voice. She can't break character even when she wants to. That can make things really hard for her sometimes.

You'll also note I'm only including the tags in the paragraph at the top of the headlines. Why?

Because technorati's suddenly not reading my tags, Kat's tags or Betty's. They'd stopped reading Cedric's awhile back. C.I. has something like 2,100 posts at The Common Ills according to Elaine. So to get read by technorati (maybe!), C.I. has to publish and republish every entry while manually pinging techonrati on top of it. Due to the size of C.I.'s site, this can take an hour or more some days. C.I. didn't want to do tags to begin with. Rebecca came up with it as a way to get the word out about community sites and C.I. didn't do them at first until Rebecca pointed out that if people saw tags and visited The Common Ills, they might then visit other community sites. C.I. hates the tags but was willing to do them for the good of the community. All the sites were never being read. And we're all set up where we should be read automatically and not have to manually ping. But if you didn't manually ping, you didn't get read. And if you manually pinged, you might still not get read. C.I. posted some time ago and technorati still hasn't read the tags.

So we're all pretty sick of technorati.

Which doesn't mean we're mad at Rebecca. It was a great idea. And Rebecca hung in there every day even though technorati NEVER read one of her tags. As far as they're concerned, she's never existed. And she's registered with them and she's even put code for their site on her site. So she really got crapped on by technorati.

But she put the good of the community ahead of her own interests.

Which is time for a motto update! :D I mislinked in the previous one.

The Common Ills community is important and the Common Ills community is important to me. So I'll do my part for the Common Ills community.

So the point is, people are starting to feel like Jim who never thought they were with doing. At The Third Estate Sunday Review, Jim never wanted them. For abit, they were done on the news review. Techno wouldn't read them. When C.I. would repost the news review, they'd read it from C.I.'s site. We'll probably be dropping the tags since they aren't being read.

It's a waste of time to do them if they're not going to be read. And we shouldn't have to publish and republish and manually ping to be read. By Technorati's guidelines, all we're supposed to have to do is include the tags and then publish (once). We're all set up for automatic pings.

So it's just a waste of time. And since Elaine contacted them about this over a month ago and the only reply was an automated reply saying she'd hear from them in "a few business days" and since that was exactly one month ago, we don't see the point.

Dad says it's a bunch of crap that everyone went through all of that and Technorati's program can't even read the tags. He's really down on Technorati. I am too. It would be one thing if they bothered to reply to Elaine but it's pretty crappy that they said they reply a month ago and never did. And she's written them twice since then with kind reminders.

If something's not going to help promote the community, I'm not for promoting it.

I said I'd write about the process. We were all on the phone for two hours working on this (plus twenty minutes discussing Technorati). First we figured out what topics we wanted to cover. Then we hunted down our information and worked on writing the headlines. Then we selected from the twenty. Jim was surprised that C.I. didn't include an "in fairness" phrase re: CJR Daily. We asked about that after and C.I.'s attitude is that if they can write about Judith Miller, about an old, already explained aspect of the story, while still avoiding seriously addressing Bob Woodward, what's the point in adding an "in fairness"?

It was a lot of fun. No link's provided to the New York Times story. That's because C.I. read that in from the print edition. I called C.I. a few minutes ago about a link for the story and here it is. Hope everyone has a great weekend.
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Wednesday, November 23, 2005

Bully Boy caught in another lie and did he want to bomb Aljazeera

Good evening. It's the night before Thanksgiving and I'm excited. Since my oldest brother is now engaged, lots of people on my father's side are coming. And since that means flying most of them are already here and the place is packed. Let's get started with Democracy Now!

CIA Told Bush of No Iraq-Al Qaeda Links Ten Days After 9/11
A new article by investigative journalist Murray Waas in the National Journal says President Bush was notified ten days after the 9/11 attacks U.S. intelligence had no evidence linking Iraq to al Qaeda or the attacks. According to several current and former government officials, little evidence has emerged to contradict the assessment. One former high-level official said : "What the President was told on September 21 [2001], was consistent with everything he has been told since -- the evidence was just not there." The Bush administration has so far refused to release the briefing, not even as a redacted document. Administration officials subsequently ignored the intelligence assessments in favor of those that alleged Saddam Hussein had chemical weapons and ties to Al Qaeda. One of the key proponents of this theory was then-undersecretary of Defense Douglas Feith. In the margin of one of Feith's reports, Vice President Dick Cheney wrote: "This is very good indeed ... Encouraging ... Not like the crap we are all so used to getting out of CIA."

So Bully Boy told another whopper? You start wondering if there were any values at all in the Bush family? I mean where did he learn that this crap was okay? Did Big Babs (to steal from C.I.) have a chart in the hall where she gave each of the kids a gold star every time they told a lie? How about every time they cheated? Big Babs and Poppy raised a big liar. Worst Family Values.

So after Cheney and Bully Boy and all their yadda yadda of "we all saw the same info" truth is White House saw info "all" didn't see and Bully Boy & Cheney knew better. It's all lies all the time with that crew. Check out Rebecca's "bully boy lied, people died" for more on this.

British Newspapers Threatened in Al Jazeerah Memo Case
The British government has threatened to sue newspapers that publish contents of a leaked memo in which President Bush allegedly discusses bombing the Arabic satellite network Al Jazeerah. The government says it would take action under the Official Secrets Act, which makes it illegal come into the possession of government information without lawful authority. The British newspaper Daily Mirror disclosed the memo Tuesday. The paper based its a report on a confidential Downing Street memo that claimed Bush told British Prime Minister Tony Blair in April 2004 that he wanted to attack Al Jazeera's headquarters in Qatar. Blair allegedly talked Bush out of the strike, fearing revenge attacks. The Daily Mirror says it will comply with the government's threat against publication. But Daily Mirror editor Richard Wallace said : "We made [the government] fully aware of the intention to publish and were given 'no comment' officially or unofficially. Suddenly 24 hours later we are threatened under section 5 [of the secrets act]." Two British civil servants have been charged in connection with the leak.

The US government has a long history of targeting the media in war time.

Here's an excerpt from Al-Jazeera by Hugh Milespage 266-267:

European stations' evening news reports paid emotional tributes to their journalist colleagues who had died in the Palestine Hotel, while [Tareq] Ayyoub was reduced to a footnote if he was mentioned at all. When news of the death broke across the Arab world, however, there was outcry. Ayyoub became a 'martyr' and his death a deliberate assassination. The Arab press accused the coaltion of stopping at nothing to muzzle Al-Jazeera so as to cover its atrocities. In the Occupied Territories dozens of Palestinian journalists staged a sit-down protest outside the offices of the International Red Cross and the Committee to Protect Journalists in New York wrote an open letter to the Defense Secretary Rumsfeld to remind him that he had an obligation to protect all journalists, that the attack contravened the Geneva Conventions and that there should be an immediate enquiry.
Tareq Ayyoub's distraught widow made an emotional appearance via telphone on Al-Jazeera. She was both overcome with grief and furious. 'My message to you is that from hatred grows more hatred,' she said. 'My husband died trying to reveal the truth to the world. Please do not try to conceal it, not for the sake of American policy, not for the sake of British policy.'

(Excerpt via The Third Estate Sunday Review's "Five Books, Five Minutes" June 19, 2005.)

Or during the nineties bombing Serbian broadcasting, from Amy Goodman and David Goodman's The Exception to The Rulers pages 286-287:

Laughter broke out in the room."It is an enormously important and I think positive development," Holbrooke added.
Here were hundreds of reporters supposedly upholding the highest principles of journalism, and they chuckled on cue -- at a war crime committed against journalists.
Now, what would have been different if Milosevic had stood up to announce, "We just bombed CBS!" and a bunch of Serb journalists had laughed? Radio Television Serbia, whatever its faluts as a mouthpiece for Milosevic, is not a military target. We went back to our office later that night to see the pictures of body parts being pulled out of the wrecked TV studios in Belgrade. It wasn't soldiers blown to pieces in the rubble. It was the people who apply makeup, the cameramen, and the journalists who were inside. People like 27-year-old technician Ksenija Bankovic, whose mother Borka we interviewed on Democracy Now! Borka asked how journalists could laugh at the killing of her daughter, whose only crime was going to work that night. In all, sixteen media workers were killed in the bombing.

(Excerpt via The Third Estate Sunday Review's "1 Book, 10 Minutes Amy & David Goodman's The Exception to the Rulers" July 24, 2005.)

We've seen the administration villify Aljazeera and it's not surprising that Bully Boy would want to bomb them.

I've taken forever with this because I've been on the phone with Elaine and kept hearing C.I. laughing. C.I. is on the phone with Ava and they're watching something for a potential TV review. I asked Elaine what was on and it's not a sitcom. So I asked her to butt in during a commercial and see what was so funny. If Ava and C.I. write a review on what they were watching, it should be hilarious because their raw stuff had me rolling.


Tony came over and told me Dave Zirin's column is now being carried at Common Dreams. I did not know that. So we'll note his lastet one. He's responding to a critic slamming Terry Owens and Diego Maradona for making high salaries and slamming Zirin for praising them. The column's called "Which Side Are You On? My Response to Dr. Christian Christensen:"

In fact, if high salaries somehow stain athletes, we should have shunned Muhammad Ali in the 1960s and Billie Jean King in the 70s. We should have questioned Martina Navratilova's commitment to Gay rights in the 80s (after all, she profited from a homophobic "system") and NBA star Etan Thomas should have been kicked off the stage at the September 24th anti-war demonstrations.
I believe that this is a very basic question of "which side are you on?" When Diego Maradona fights in the streets against Bush and the FTAA, I will link arms with him any day. Maradona, in Dr. Christensen's eyes, is the "poster child of global capitalism". This is true insofar as he rose from abject poverty to make money around the world. But I believe that this only makes his stance in Argentina more powerful. Would Dr. Christensen prefer that Maradona be like Pele, taking millions from mega national corporations, appearing in photo ops with dictators and being a mouthpiece for the system? I will take Maradona any day, someone who understands - as do the masses of Argentina from bitter experience - that an economic system with the power to create one soccer millionaire while impoverishing a nation is nothing to celebrate.
Admittedly, the TO question is far more complicated. As I wrote in my piece, no one should confuse him with Nelson Mandela. But if a trend begins where teams can suspend players not for their performance on the field, but for what they say off the field - I think we have a problem. You don't like TO's attitude, then bench him. You don't want him on the team, cut him. But to "deactivate" him and flout the collective bargaining agreement in the process, is something that must be opposed. It's a slap in the face not to TO but every player who fought - and fights - in the NFLPA for a stronger union. For Dr. Christenson to write, "It is an insult to working people (you know, the people who make as much in one year as Owens makes for 5 minutes of football) to discuss this situation as if it has anything to do with real working life" I think displays a profound misunderstanding of how sports and culture can influence our world. Anytime someone takes such a public hit, in clear violation of their union contract, it sends a message felt all too clearly in many union shops that labor exists to get slapped.

Now last thing. Rebecca and I were both talking about this. On Labor Day, we made a point to watch Democracy Now! with our families. In my family, it's always something my folks watch anyway and they watched before me. But this was extended family, aunts, uncles, cousins, and friends. People who'd never been exposed to Democracy Now! before ended up being able to not hear us talk about but see what it actually had to offer. So we're urging you that if you watch Democracy Now! normally, why not watch it with family Thanksgiving?

You'll be getting the word out and that's important. Me and Rebecca like watching Democracy Now! but if you listen, that's cool too. Just take some time to get the word out. And maybe you can't listen or watch. Maybe like it's on during the big game. Maybe you can pull up the website on your computer and show it to someone, even one person.

Hope everyone has a great Thanksgiving.

Remember my motto:

The Common Ills community is important and the Common Ills community is important to me. So I'll do my part for the Common Ills community.

And remember to check out Elaine's comments at Like Maria Said Paz.













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Tuesday, November 22, 2005

JFK, Iraq wants us out and white phosophorus

Good evening.

I'm posting late because Ma saw C.I.'s entry on Democracy Now! and ran out to rent Oliver Stone's JFK. After dinner, we all watched the movie and then the second disc to see the documentary that Danny Schechter and the other two people made.

I'm going to guess everybody and their dog and their cat has seen JFK but I hadn't. It came out like before I was probably in first grade. A few years ago, two?, we saw some crappy documentary on JFK on the anniversary of his assassination. Peter Jennings was the host.

We've got JFK stuff and Robert Kennedy stuff up all over the house because my family is a) Democrat, b) Catholic and c) Irish-American.

So it was a real treat to watch this movie. It's a long movie but it doesn't seem like it. We all crowded into the living room and my kid sister was going "I'm watching ten minutes and then, if I don't like it, I'm going out." She ended up sitting through the whole thing.

We grabbed an intermission to pop more pop corn. :D

That's a good movie. And my older readers are probably thinking "No shit." But if you're my age or younger, maybe you haven't seen it before.

So let me try to figure out a way to interest you in it because a lot of people think history and then move on to something else.

Okay, you got a lot of famous people in the movie. Martin Sheen's a narrator. Kevin Costner is the star. Sissy Spacek from In the Bedroom plays his wife. Kevin Bacon's in it, Donald Sutherland, Tommy Lee Jones is in it and he was really good in The Fugitive, Gary Oldman is in it, Jack Lemmon who's so good in the old movies like Some Like It Hot and The Apartment is in it and probably a ton of other people that I'm forgetting right now. The sister in Roseanne, the one who played Jackie, she's in it. So you got a lot of famous people in it.

And it's not dull history because it starts with the assassination. Then Kevin Costner's character is trying to figure out what's going on and who killed JFK and why?

This is a really good movie.

And Beyond JFK is a really good documentary. Danny Schechter and the others get all these people who covered the assassination to talk to the cameras and Ma and Dad were saying they were famous news people but I didn't know most of them. So people should check that out too.
Walter Cronkite is a name I know but I think he was off TV by the time I was born. But Ma and Dad and my oldest brother, who came over with his fiancee, were all, "Walter Cronkite."

So you should check it out. JFK is a really good movie.

Democracy Now! is a really great news program and now let's talk about two things from it today.

Iraqi Leaders Call for Troop Withdrawal Timetable
In Iraq, Shiite, Kurdish and Sunni leaders have issued a joint communiqué calling for a timetable for the withdrawal of U.S troops. The New York Times reports this marks the first time Iraq's political factions collectively called for a withdrawal timetable. The communiqué was released during a reconciliation conference held under the auspices of the Arab League. Attendees included Iraqi president Jalal Talabani. The leaders also condemned attacks on Iraqi civilians, government institutions and oil installations, and called for the release of all detainees held without trial. They said Iraq's opposition had a "legitimate right" of resistance but condemned terrorism and acts of violence, murder and kidnapping.

They want us to leave. How hard is that to grasp? Nina clipped something from the New York Times and passed it on to me. It's a column Paul Krugman wrote that was in Monday's paper. It was arguing how we are fueling the instability.

If you're a member of The Common Ills, that's no surprise to you.

We just keep getting one lie from the Bully Boy after another and the public's sick of the lies. I don't think we'll swallow another one now. Bully Boy's on the ropes these days.

Pentagon Docs: White Phosphorous Is A Chemical Weapon
New evidence has emerged that the U.S. military used chemical weapons during the assault on Fallujah a year ago. Last week the Pentagon confirmed for the first time that it used white phosphorous as a weapon to attack Iraqi fighters. But the Pentagon rejected claims that white phosphorous is a chemical weapon. White Phosphorous is often compared to napalm because it combusts spontaneously when exposed to oxygen and can burn right through skin to the bone. While the Pentagon is denying white phosphorous is a chemical weapon, a newly uncovered Defense Department document, reveals that is just how the military described it when Saddam Hussein allegedly used it a decade ago. A declassified 1995 Pentagon intelligence document reads QUOTE "Iraqi forces loyal to president Saddam may have possibly used white phosphorous chemical weapons against Kurdish rebels." Meanwhile a British commander has admitted that he trained his troops in using white phosphorus as a weapon. Until now the British government has maintained it used white phosphorous but only for tactical purposes.

White phosphorus was used as a weapon and Monday the New York Times did a white wash, screw with the facts report, trying to act like it wasn't.

Will they do a "correction" now. Hell no. They're the New York Times and they write whatever they want, when they want. Right now they want to carry water for the military using an illegal chemical weapon. Maybe someday they'll be brought down by what Amy Goodman's called "the lies of the Times." If it happens, let's hope people aren't acting like it's a sad thing. The way some are acting like the end of Ted Koppel's Nightline is a boo-hoo situation. C.I.'s got a great thing on that today called "The end of a (Bad) era." Hopefully, there will be brave voices if and when the might New York Times crumbles.

Be sure to check out Rebecca's Sex and Politics and Screeds and Attitude (she says she'll be up around midnight). And also Elaine's Like Maria Said Paz. I didn't get to talk to her before she caught her plane but after the movie and the documentary, I called her up and we picked our two things to note. She was taking a nap and then going to grab something to eat with C.I. Wally and Kat posted today.

And if you're looking for something to read on Bob Woodward, Rebecca said to check out Ron's thing. He's asking about the "slam dunk" quote that Woodward's always said George Tenent made.

I'll be posting tomorrow and I'm still up in the air about Thursday. I'll try to figure out by tomorrow. I will be posting something on Friday. I'm leaning towards posting on Thursday, just not sure where I'll find time.

Motto: The Common Ills community is important and the Common Ills community is important to me. So I'll do my part for the Common Ills community.















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Monday, November 21, 2005

Plamegate, School of the Americas and Commander-in-Chief

I'm late tonight. Elaine will be as well. That's because we've been on the phone trying to figure out what to do. C.I.'s asking for people to figure out when they'll be blogging this week.

The Common Ills has never been on vacation ("thus far," C.I. noted) and there's a reason for that. Last year at this time, C.I. gets members complaining about NPR and ends up using the time to do a long entry on how NPR brought on Robert Kagan to "critique" John Kerry in the last month (October) of election 2004 even though Kagan's wife worked for Dick Cheney and NPR didn't tell listeners that their impartial critic had a wife working for Dick Cheney.

Because of that entry, during the "holidays," members started asking if Christmas would be a "holiday" too. A few members brought up the fact that they were Jewish and some members explained they wouldn't be home for Christmas. One in particular couldn't afford to go. She couldn't tell her parents there because they didn't have the money to bring her home so she was acting like she was working. And the whole holiday had her depressed. So C.I. decided, no vacation.

On holidays especially, C.I. feels like something needs to be done at The Common Ills. C.I.'s been out of the country on Christmas before and one time, college years, due to some campus stuff, C.I. didn't have a huge crowd. So C.I.'s attitude is "I've been there, I know what you're going through." (All of this has been up in different posts at The Common Ills.)

So we're trying to figure out what to do and I talked to Wally too. He didn't post today. He and his grandfather were going around grabbing things on the list for his mother's big feast.

Elaine's flying on Tuesday. Barring jet lag, she'll have something up late Tuesday.

She says she can probably blog every day. She'll be celebrating Thanksgiving at C.I.'s and figures it shouldn't be a problem. She said she may not be hitting hard on anything.

Me, I'd like Thursday off. I can guarantee every other day, but I'd like to take Thursday off.
If it's just going to be C.I. & Elaine on Thursday though, I'll blog on Thursday to do my part for the community. But I've got to do Thanksgiving here and at Nina's so if I do blog on Thursday, I have no idea what time I'll do it.

Wally's planning on taking Thursday off.

So where it stands right now that I know of, C.I. will be blogging every day. Elaine and I may have different times but we'll have stuff up this week. For Elaine, it will be every day. For me, I'd like Thursday off.

But I'll wait and see how everyone else shapes up and if it's just C.I. and Elaine or them plus Rebecca, I might go ahead and blog on Thursday. I'm really lucky in having family around me every holiday. But I know everyone's not like that. And Elaine brought up something she and C.I. had talked about which is that the holidays can be rough on people.

So I'll try to figure out what I'm doing on Thursday and let you know ASAP. The community is important and the community is important to me. So I'll do my part for the community.

Now we'll note Democracy Now! and remember to check out Elaine's site Like Maria Said Paz for her take.


CIA Leak Prosecutor to Go to New Grand Jury
And this update on the CIA leak case... Special Prosecutor Patrick Fitzgerald said Friday that he plans to present new evidence to another federal grand jury. The announcement came three weeks after an earlier grand jury indicted Vice President Cheney's chief of staff Lewis "Scooter" Libby. Last week investigators questioned Washington Post Assistant Managing Editor Bob Woodward for two hours after learning that a senior administration official revealed Valerie Plame's identity to him in mid-June 2003. There has been great speculation over who within the Bush administration might have been Woodward's source. The Times of London claims it is Stephen Hadley who is now Bush's National Security Advisor. At the time Hadley was deputy National Security Advisor under Condoleeza Rice. Newsweek magazine has suggested it might be former deputy secretary of State Richard Armitage.

This isn't over. Bob Woodward just opened up a mess of worms. He should have been honest and not gone all over saying the investigation was nothing and the work of a 'junk-yard dog.' He looks like a hypocrite and a liar.

He had an image and he trashed it. But like Rebecca said he's not Robert Redford and if someone made a movie of him these days, he'd be played by David Spade, cause he's a clown.

19,000 Protest At School of the Americas
In Georgia, an estimated 19,000 people demonstrated outside Fort Benning calling for the closing of the Western Hemisphere Institute for Security Cooperation, formerly known as the School of the Americas. It was the largest protest to date for the annual event. 40 arrests were made. Protest organizers said the U.S. military has used the school to train Latin American military officials to torture. The protests are timed to coincide with the anniversary of the November 1989 murders of six Jesuit priests, their housekeeper and her daughter in El Salvador. The weekend demonstration came just weeks after it was revealed that Vice President Dick Cheney was seeking Congressional approval for CIA interrogators to engage in torture.

The largest protest to date. That's incredible and just demonstrates that the summer of activism has deep roots and people are looking around and saying, "This isn't what America's supposed to be and I'm not going to stand for it." There's just this wave of activism.

And Elaine goes maybe Bully Boy can be thanked for it. Not just for being the idiot that's destroying our country but also because he wrapped himself and his lies in the flag and it ended up getting a lot of people thinking about the country. Not at first. At first, they just waved the flag to silence dissent. And it worked for some. But you keep waving the flag and at some point people are asking questions about what it means to be an American and what the United States means and stands for.

He's back to trying to hide behind the flag again and that's only going to fuel the activism of this summer. We're living in some wild times and I'm hopeful for the future. I think Bully Boy will leave office disgraced and that we'll all be a little more educated than before.

Yesterday, I mentioned Ava and C.I.'s review of Commander-in-Chief and I thought Ma would be happy. Wrong. :D She said, "Mike, you didn't put a quote from it." She really loves this review. I do too but she really, really loves it. So for Ma, I'll include a section of the review:

We searched in vain, through aired episodes and unaired ones, to find some sort of a feminist conscience to the show. We couldn't. While it's true that Davis rescues a woman in a foreign country, we're not really sure that "Send in the Marines" (even with Sondheim chords) will rank up there with Helen Reddy's "I Am Woman" as a feminist anthem.
This manuever was applauded by some critics. We're failing to see the "feminism" involved in Davis' decision. She attempted to get international support, while still vice-president, and was shot down. So she's acting unilaterally.
For those who can't connect real lives with TV lives, let's speak slowly, unilaterally is an approach the Bully Boy endorses and, unless we missed it, he's yet to make the cover of Ms.
Like the Bully Boy, Davis sends in the marines not because the United States is threatened.
She's willing to risk a war because she wants to act alone and because she's "plucky."Well hell, smear some of Davis' crimson lipstick on the Bully Boy and let's all hail him as "plucky" as well.
Okay, well what about her background?
It's sketchy. But let's go over what viewers know. She's an "independent." She was elected on a ticket with a man, Republican, whose ideas go against everything she stands for. There's much talk of this in the first episode where we learn that she won't carry out the ailing president's "agenda" but that the Speaker of the House would (and turn back the clocks in the process).This is feminism? This isn't feminism, this is Dan Quayle sop thrown out in an attempt to get voters -- to fool them.
How can Mac be part of a ticket pushing an agenda she doesn't believe in? Or, for that matter, an agenda she strongly opposes? Mac appears to be, from the start, in it for herself. Nah Nah to notions of Sisterhood.
Davis wrongly won an Oscar (supporting) for The Accidental Tourist (Michelle Pfeiffer should have won for Dangerous Liasons) and now she plays The Accidental President and for some reason we're supposed to be thrilled.A sell-out, who wants to be a vice president just to be vice president, is elevated to the presidency and, surrounded by men, demonstrates she's got the "stones" to be as arrogant as any male before her. This is what passes for feminism today?

It's a great review and the sort of thing, like Jim said, that makes Ava and C.I. such strong TV critics. They don't ride the wave of "This show is a water cooler topic! Let me jump on the bandwagon." They offer insight and criticism. Ma's somewhat appeased by the fact that I told her about my favorite prof saying this was the most honest look at Commander-in-Chief he'd seen.










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