Good evening. Elaine's off tonight because she has that group that she counsels on Thursday night. But she's here with us in spirit. :D First, let's do Democracy Now!
Amnesty: US Among Top Four State Executioners
Meanwhile, a new report from Amnesty International shows the US ranks only behind China, Iran, and Saudi Arabia in carrying out state executions. 94 percent of an estimated 2100 executions worldwide took place in those four countries alone. In China, Amnesty says at least 1700 executions took place last year, but that the actual number could reach as high as 8,000.
Ruth had C.I. post this:
Ruth wants to note something from this week's Law and Disorder. Amnesty is asking for help in stopping an execution (scheduled for tomorrow) of Willie Brown. In addition to the Amnesty link (which allows you to take action as well as providing information), you can also listen to Sue Gunawardena-Vaughn discuss the case and issues with the hosts on this week's Law and Disorder.
Isn't it shameful that we're on the list at all? We're only number four so Bully Boy's probably going to be encouraging more to be "number one!" I guess the idea of rehabilitation left the country long ago and life in prison isn't good enough, got to kill 'em. I'm still forming my thoughts on the death penalty. It's not something I thought about at all until Democracy Now! was covering Stanley Tookie Williams' impending execution and then after he was executed. I knew I was against it because I was taught it was wrong in Church. I took that lesson to heart. Every Catholic I know picks and chooses and I'm the same way. That one I probably never thought about until recently but just took the Church's word for it. In this case, my religion was right. But this is an issue I'm trying to understand. (And I grabbed some books from C.I. last week that I'm going to be reading as soon as I get caught up after missing a week of classes.) I bet some people who support are like me in that they're going with what they were taught growing up and never thought too much about it after.
Pentagon Releases Most Comprehensive Gitmo List To Date
Back in the United States, the Pentagon has released its most comprehensive list yet of the detainees held at Guantanamo Bay since it opened four years ago. The list shows the names of 558 men from 41 countries. Most came from Saudi Arabia, Yemen and Afghanistan. The list was not complete, with the omission of close to 200 current and former detainees.
Here's something I have thought about a lot because I've seen it pop up. The death penalty came back in to use, widespread, before I was old enough to know about it. What I'm learning now is about the resistance to it and the success before. With something like Guantanamo, I've seen it pop up and gone from disbelief that we could do this to disgust. I love Amy Goodman and Democracy Now! but sign me up as one of the ones who calls them "prisoners." I won't call them "detainees." I know that's the widely accepted word but I do think that word disguses what has gone on. These people are prisonres and they seem to have little chance (thanks to the Levin-Graham amendment) of having a day in a real court. But they've been held as prisoners. Not detained because their time just goes on and on. I was going to say their "sentence" but they weren't "sentenced," they were grabbed and they were imprisoned.
Now to Elaine. My favorite prof is this cool guy who is just smart and willing to listen. That's to all the students, not just the ones he agrees with. (I agree with him.) He thinks blogs are really important and he prints stuff up to pass around the class. You know C.I. makes it at least once a week on the print outs. C.I.'s in a class of one, no one comes close. I feel that way but my prof will tell you that too. When so many sites seem to have dropped real issues to give consultation help to the Democratic Party (let's hope they're being paid), C.I.'s out there tackling issues. My prof likes Elaine's work and there was one that she did on the medical communities obligations (and how they fail when it comes to Guantanamo) that he included. He passes out the stuff. Each row gets a different one. We're supposed to read it together and then talk to each other and then share it with the class. And he focuses on talking about one he didn't pass out. That's about ten to fifteen minutes because during that he's raising issues from the main selection. He made Elaine the main selection today with her post from yesterday.
After class, he wanted to talk about it with me. He said it was real and "on the mark" and that he enjoyed Elaine's comments but she's usually more reserved with the exception of when she talks about the medical communities obligations (she's a doctor herself). He said this was really raw for her. It was. I told him that she was very frustrated with the "we must go to war" nonsense regardless of the country and regardless of who is making the claim.
C.I. gave her the advice to just "open a vein and let it pour, don't worry about grammer, don't worry about spelling and don't go back after you're done to make it professional, let people see the thought, the struggle and speak what you feel."
Prof goes, "Well she did that." She did too. It's an amazing post. (Nina's reading over my shoulder and said to put in that Elaine is an amazing woman.) He asked me if I'd talk about that next week? I said sure. He didn't want to put me on the spot in class in case I didn't know or it was something "just for the community" (the whole way of how she wrote it). By the way, he does bring in right wing stuff. He won't bring in anything racist or sexist or homophobic. But he will bring in stuff from right wing blogs. The point is for us to hear what people are thinking about, what they care about. He thinks the "political consultants" are boring with all there "what the Democratic/Republican Party needs to do to win in November is . . ." stuff.
Biggest laugh of the ones he passed out -- C.I.'s thing comparing Dexter Filkins to Donna Summer. I was hearing people laughing and thinking, "What did that row get?" (My row got a right winger today.) The row that got C.I. enjoyed that post. They had the most to talk about of any of the rows. One guy was just going over the main points and this one woman kept saying, "Don't forget the humor!" So she'd bring that up and everyone would laugh. Then he read some of Elaine's post and asked us what they made us think and feel. That was a pretty intense discussion. Then he goes, "I've got one more and you'll have to read it on your own so come by the desk if you want a copy but last week I was making Katie Couric jokes. I read this critique and felt a little stupid." It was Ava and C.I.'s "Katie Was a Cheerleader." About half the class picked it up on their way out. I was talking to him and stuff and then when I finally get out of the classroom and am walking around, this woman who knows Nina from a class they have together but never speaks to Nina or to me (she's in the prof's class with me) says, "Hey! Wait!"
She goes "Tell them, keep doing just that!" I didn't even know she knew my name let alone that I knew Ava and C.I. She was really mad. She's this super serious person who only talks in class to make a point. Turns out, she was a cheerleader for two years in high school. She goes that she's used to all the lame jokes and has "buried" that side of herself because she wants to be taken seriously but all last week when the cut downs on Katie Couric were being made because she had been a cheerleader, she really got bothered by it. She goes, "Today we are all cheerleaders!" That's one of the points Ava and C.I. make at the end, that if women have learned anything from the attacks on Katie Couric it's that "today we are all cheerleaders."
So I'm walking over to meet Nina and stuff like that keeps happening. It was mainly the female students but it was a few men too. Ava and C.I. really got to something with that thing.
Prof's including Kat's thing next week. Her latest review. He said she brought up a real good point about it's easy to be a "peace voice" when things are "hunky dory" like Carole King but why didn't she have one song, something old or something new, really addressing that on a double disc album? He'd already decided to do Ava and C.I.'s TV critique when he read it Sunday because it made good points and because he'd been making jokes about Katie Couric (either in other classes or to his friends and family because it hadn't come up in our class). But he said to pass on to Kat that she "posed an interesting question that should be addressed."
Which was the point of two guys who stopped me. They know I blog and they know about the others in the community with sites. (I almost said "other bloggers" but C.I. would say, "I don't have a 'blog.' I have a resource/review. There are great bloggers, I'm not one of them." :D) But they were all, "Dude, there are some strong women in that community." There are too. Wally does the humor take, but Cedric does hard hitting stuff. (Prof used his thing on covert racism last week but I missed it because I was in California.) I just toss out stuff and plug Democracy Now! (especially when I'm trying to catch up on what I missed last week). By the way, I love Wally's stuff and most of the guys I know do too. Do women like it? Leigh Ann, you want to take that question?
But the point or, I guess, reason Prof does the blogs once a week in class is because he wants us to see that people do have opinions. People not on TV doing chat and chews. And that you should think about opinions. Not just read a column and go "Hmm." He thinks the blogs (and the resource/review) are great examples of people expressing themselves on the world around them. He's not in the mood for "reasoned" where half-wits (Thomas Friedman?) play the "look at me" game.
The other thing in class was I delivered my paper. That was my work for missing his classes like week, I had to write a paper on the student activism and talk about what I saw of that in California. Before I left, I go, "What is this like?" Because speeches still make me nervous. He goes it's a presentation and, hopefully, they'll be questions. There were. I read the first paragraph and was thinking, "Dear God, someone please ask a question." At the end of the first paragraph, I got a question. After I answered that, I got another one. That's how I filled up the whole time and I liked that a lot better than just standing there, looking down at my paper reading while I was thinking everybody was staring at me thinking, "Will he ever finish this paper?" I think the photos helped because I started them being passed around before I went to the podium and read my paragraph. I took a ton of pictures. I think that helped a lot because it's really easy for me to give numbers or say "a lot of people" but it's another thing when you can hold a picture and look at it and see the people yourself.
So that was my day. Hope you had a great one. Tomorrow is Friday! The weekend! I'm still trying to make up for two classes I missed last week and I'm hoping to knock that out tonight but I'll probably only get to one. (Ma, if you're reading, Nina and I wanted to see that movie last night! I'm not behind. My stuff's not due until Monday! :D)
Check out Betty tonight because she's got a new chapter she's working on right now. (I heard a paragraph when she called a second ago. About twenty minutes ago. I'm long winded and wordy tonight!) And Rebecca's going to continue part two of her post from last night so check that out.
Oh, from C.I., snapshot of Iraq today:
In Iraq today . . .
AFP reports that at least ten people have died in Iraq today and the Herald News Daily notes that Ibrahim al-Jaafari has "cleared the way Thursday for Shiite leaders to withdraw his nomination for a second term." No surprise here but, as Bloomberg News notes, Azzaman has a list of contenders and it's all male. In Baghdad, a Sunni mosque was attacked by gunmen. Also in Baghdad, two men were killed in a drive by shooting while two more will be killed by gunmen in a bakery. In Karbala, a man was shot to death outside his home. Roadside bombs have killed at least three police officers today. Two in Khalis, where a civilian was also killed and at least seven people wounded, and one in Baqouba. In addition to those three police officers killed, in Tal Afar, two more died (roadside bombing) and at least four were wounded while a doctor was killed "inside a hospital." Close to Basra, Middle East Online reports at least five wounded civilians and two dead from a roadside bombing.
And in the United States, the trial of 18 women, grandmothers aged 50 to 91, has begun. The women form the "Granny Peace Brigade" and are standing trial for an October protest of military recruiting. In NYC's Time Square, the Granny Peace Brigade are accused of the "disorderly conduct" and "refusing to comply with a police order."
Now here's a test we can grade tomorrow: Will the New York Times cover this? Eighteen women. Aged fifty to ninety-one. This is a news story that the paper won't touch. Will they cover it as a feature or act like it doesn't exist? These women are news. So let's see what the Times elects to do. It is news (it also makes for a human interest feature). Will it be ignored?
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Thursday, April 20, 2006
Wednesday, April 19, 2006
Iran, Jack Anderson, Dave Zirin
Good evening. Starting late due to Blogger being down for fixing. Let's kick things off with Democracy Now!
Bush Refuses To Rule Out Nuclear Strikes on Iran
At the White House Tuesday, President Bush refused to rule out the use of nuclear weapons in the impasse over Iran's nuclear program. "All options are on the table," Bush said. "We want to solve this issue diplomatically and we're working hard to do so. The best way to do so is there for (sic) to be a united effort with countries who recognize the danger of Iran having a nuclear weapon. And that's why we're working very closely with countries like France and Germany and Great Britain. I intend, of course, to bring the subject up of Iranian ambitions to have a nuclear weapon with Hu Jintao this Thursday. We'll continue to work diplomatically to get this problem solved."
Diplomatically. Bully Boy can sound out the word but he has no idea of what it means. If you missed it Scotty McClellan is out and Karl Rove's being shuffled around. No real changes being made. And Rumsfeld remains, as does Condi, Dick and, of course, Bully Boy. News of Scotty came out while I was at work this morning. I don't know how the corporate press organs will play it tomorrow but I can tell you how it played to all the people talking about (over fifty): means nothing. Some noted Ari left and nothing changed, some noted that Scotty really didn't do anything about policy. Everyone agreed (and easily close to half of them were Republicans) that it was meaningless. That's the Bully Boy, meaningless.
So when he says diplomacy is an option, everyone knows it is empty talk. On Iran, this woman, about forty, had a good point at the end of her bit on Scotty. Her point was on Iran and it was that Bully Boy says, "You can't have nukes. They're bad. You can't have them. If you try to have them, we'll . . . nuke you!" She said it real funny and I bet she's used to cracking everyone up. Everyone who heard her was laughing.
FBI Seeks Files of Deceased Investigative Journalist Jack Anderson
The Chronicle of Higher Education has revealed the FBI is seeking to search through the files of the late investigative journalist Jack Anderson. Anderson, whose legendary career included exposes of the Iran-contra scandal and the CIA's attempts to kill Cuban leader Fidel Castro, died in December at the age of 83. Federal investigators say they want to access Anderson's files to recover classifed documents and seek out evidence that could be used in the current prosecution of two pro-Israel lobbyists. Anderson's family has turned down the FBI's request. During his lifetime Anderson was viewed with derision by several administrations. He earned a spot on President Nixon’s infamous "enemies list", and was reportedly the subject of a poisoning operation ordered by a White House aide.
C.I. wrote about this with "What Shane leaves out" and there are good points throughout. One is asking whether this is the pattern of law enforcement trying to get convictions from the work of journalists when they can't get them on their own? Another point was about how Anderson's files cover Bully Boy's father. Poppy Bush was involved in Iran-Contra. In addition, Anderson's got stuff on the CIA from when Poppy was the head and trying to clamp down. So is this another effort by the Bully Boy to keep the public from knowing the truth about his father?
FBI needs to leave it alone. They argue, "Our papers!" and that's crap. The Pentagon Papers could have been pulled back and reclassified based on that nonsense. Your papers until you lose them. You lost them. Tough.
I told Nina we'd go to the movies tonight before I realized that Blogger would be down so I'm wrapping up quickly. I may try to write about things tomorrow night that I was hoping to have time for tonight. Check out Like Maria Said Paz tonight because Elaine's got at least one topic she's going to address. She may not comment on the news items above because we're both way behind due to Blogger going down. Give your props to Rebecca. She posted in less than ten minutes this evening to be sure there was something up for the community. Also check out Cedric's "Law and Disorder addressed PBS and Armenia" from last night if you missed it.
I'll go out with sports. From Kevin Prosen and Dave Zirin's "Privelege Meets Protest at Duke:"
In Durham North Carolina, a scant three miles separate Duke from historically black North Carolina Central University (NCCU), but the divide more resembles a canyon. The seismic shock of the recent and now notorious rape charges levied against the Duke Lacrosse team has upturned this complex cultural cocktail of a city, occupied by an aloof and narcissistic private school catering mainly to wealthy students rarely seen outside the gothic cloister of their campus. Tuition at Duke is $43,000 per year, more than four times the cost of NCCU and about $3,000 more than the median joint family income in Durham.
The case in question is by now widely known; Lacrosse players at an elite campus hired two young African-American women as exotic dancers, one a student at NCCU. While details aren't yet clear, the woman has injuries consistent with being raped and sodomized. Lawyers for the team have gone on a remorseless counter-offensive. A new well-heeled booster club called the Committee for Fairness to Duke Families hired the ultimate authority in smearing women who "cry rape: Bill Clinton,s former attorney Bob Bennett. Bennett has already begun, saying, "A lot of innocent young people and the families are being hurt, and unfortunately this situation is being abused by people with separate agendas. It is grossly unfair, and cool heads must prevail."
Bennett and his team have also released personal details about the assault victim. This gets the spotlight off the confirmed squalidness of the case. 911 calls report racist epithets being screamed by men in the party house. Ryan McFayden, a sophomore on the Lacrosse squad, sent an e-mail dated the night of the party describing in morbid detail his fantasy of torturing the exotic dancers, saying, "I plan on killing the bitches as soon as they walk in and proceeding to cut their skin off while cumming in my Duke issue spandex." The same McFayden had the unholy arrogance to show up at the Take Back the Night Rally on campus and while sexual assault survivors gathered in a circle, he stood on the sidelines giving interviews with the Chronicle, Duke's odious student paper. The racial climate on campus is utterly appalling and this isn,t isolated in the world of Lacrosse. Others on campus have noted parties with vile themes, like the "Viva Mexico" bash where students handed out "Green Cards" for invitations. Danielle Terrazas Williams, a grad student at Duke, told the Independent, a local weekly "This [the rape] is not a different experience for us [African-Americans] here at Duke University. We go to class with racist classmates, we go to gym with people who are racists. That's not special for us." Commenting on the persistent sexual harassment faced by black women at Duke, Williams continued, "[it's] as if they're re-enacting a rap video or something. [. . .]"
Nina just said, "Wait!" I forgot to note C.I.'s thing on Iraq today:
The Australian reports that since the start of this year (reminder: we're now in the fourth month), 19,548 people have been kidnapped. This number includes as many as 2350 children and 4959 women. In Kuwait City, the American military is looking into allegations that three military contractors (American) have been smuggling marijuana into the city. Still on American contractors in Iraq, Al Jazeera reports that Philip Bloom has entered a plea of guilty to charges of "conspiracy, bribery and money laundering in Iraq." While participating in the conspiracy, Bloom used over 2 million dollars to bribe the "US officials who directed more than $8.6 million in contracts to companies he controlled." Combine the two items and you've apparently got: "Money to be made in Iraq!" Apparently that's how the World Bank sees it since the BBC is reporting that it is pondering returning to Iraq. Associated Press notes that Iraq's Prime Minister (Ibrahim al-Jaafari) is refusing calls to step down (calls have come from the US government as well as some in Iraq). Earlier this week a Shia cleric was killed by gunmen in a drive-by shooting. Now Deusche Presse-Agentur reports that Sheikh Saad Jaber Yassin has also been killed (both the death earlier this week and the more current one took place in Baghdad). Yassan was killed by a car bomb set to dentonate when the car started. Ireland's BreakingNews.ie notes that, in Baghdad, two bombs have gone off and at least 15 have been wounded while at least 2 have been killed. AFP is estimating that "[a]t least 19 people" have been killed in Iraq today. In Baquba gunmen killed three Diyala college professors and wounded another. Also in Baquba, the AFP notes that a police officer was killed. In al-Ramadi, Deutsche Presse-Agentur reports that at least four civilians were killed and six wounded when "[c]ivilian houses were struck by rockets." Back to Baghdad, two people were killed at the elementary schools of Amna and Shaheed Hamdi. The AP reports that the National Security Ministry has changed details (originally stated that two teachers were beheaded in front of students -- now backed off that claim and state a school guard was stabbed in front of students and a teacher was shot enroute to the classroom).
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Bush Refuses To Rule Out Nuclear Strikes on Iran
At the White House Tuesday, President Bush refused to rule out the use of nuclear weapons in the impasse over Iran's nuclear program. "All options are on the table," Bush said. "We want to solve this issue diplomatically and we're working hard to do so. The best way to do so is there for (sic) to be a united effort with countries who recognize the danger of Iran having a nuclear weapon. And that's why we're working very closely with countries like France and Germany and Great Britain. I intend, of course, to bring the subject up of Iranian ambitions to have a nuclear weapon with Hu Jintao this Thursday. We'll continue to work diplomatically to get this problem solved."
Diplomatically. Bully Boy can sound out the word but he has no idea of what it means. If you missed it Scotty McClellan is out and Karl Rove's being shuffled around. No real changes being made. And Rumsfeld remains, as does Condi, Dick and, of course, Bully Boy. News of Scotty came out while I was at work this morning. I don't know how the corporate press organs will play it tomorrow but I can tell you how it played to all the people talking about (over fifty): means nothing. Some noted Ari left and nothing changed, some noted that Scotty really didn't do anything about policy. Everyone agreed (and easily close to half of them were Republicans) that it was meaningless. That's the Bully Boy, meaningless.
So when he says diplomacy is an option, everyone knows it is empty talk. On Iran, this woman, about forty, had a good point at the end of her bit on Scotty. Her point was on Iran and it was that Bully Boy says, "You can't have nukes. They're bad. You can't have them. If you try to have them, we'll . . . nuke you!" She said it real funny and I bet she's used to cracking everyone up. Everyone who heard her was laughing.
FBI Seeks Files of Deceased Investigative Journalist Jack Anderson
The Chronicle of Higher Education has revealed the FBI is seeking to search through the files of the late investigative journalist Jack Anderson. Anderson, whose legendary career included exposes of the Iran-contra scandal and the CIA's attempts to kill Cuban leader Fidel Castro, died in December at the age of 83. Federal investigators say they want to access Anderson's files to recover classifed documents and seek out evidence that could be used in the current prosecution of two pro-Israel lobbyists. Anderson's family has turned down the FBI's request. During his lifetime Anderson was viewed with derision by several administrations. He earned a spot on President Nixon’s infamous "enemies list", and was reportedly the subject of a poisoning operation ordered by a White House aide.
C.I. wrote about this with "What Shane leaves out" and there are good points throughout. One is asking whether this is the pattern of law enforcement trying to get convictions from the work of journalists when they can't get them on their own? Another point was about how Anderson's files cover Bully Boy's father. Poppy Bush was involved in Iran-Contra. In addition, Anderson's got stuff on the CIA from when Poppy was the head and trying to clamp down. So is this another effort by the Bully Boy to keep the public from knowing the truth about his father?
FBI needs to leave it alone. They argue, "Our papers!" and that's crap. The Pentagon Papers could have been pulled back and reclassified based on that nonsense. Your papers until you lose them. You lost them. Tough.
I told Nina we'd go to the movies tonight before I realized that Blogger would be down so I'm wrapping up quickly. I may try to write about things tomorrow night that I was hoping to have time for tonight. Check out Like Maria Said Paz tonight because Elaine's got at least one topic she's going to address. She may not comment on the news items above because we're both way behind due to Blogger going down. Give your props to Rebecca. She posted in less than ten minutes this evening to be sure there was something up for the community. Also check out Cedric's "Law and Disorder addressed PBS and Armenia" from last night if you missed it.
I'll go out with sports. From Kevin Prosen and Dave Zirin's "Privelege Meets Protest at Duke:"
In Durham North Carolina, a scant three miles separate Duke from historically black North Carolina Central University (NCCU), but the divide more resembles a canyon. The seismic shock of the recent and now notorious rape charges levied against the Duke Lacrosse team has upturned this complex cultural cocktail of a city, occupied by an aloof and narcissistic private school catering mainly to wealthy students rarely seen outside the gothic cloister of their campus. Tuition at Duke is $43,000 per year, more than four times the cost of NCCU and about $3,000 more than the median joint family income in Durham.
The case in question is by now widely known; Lacrosse players at an elite campus hired two young African-American women as exotic dancers, one a student at NCCU. While details aren't yet clear, the woman has injuries consistent with being raped and sodomized. Lawyers for the team have gone on a remorseless counter-offensive. A new well-heeled booster club called the Committee for Fairness to Duke Families hired the ultimate authority in smearing women who "cry rape: Bill Clinton,s former attorney Bob Bennett. Bennett has already begun, saying, "A lot of innocent young people and the families are being hurt, and unfortunately this situation is being abused by people with separate agendas. It is grossly unfair, and cool heads must prevail."
Bennett and his team have also released personal details about the assault victim. This gets the spotlight off the confirmed squalidness of the case. 911 calls report racist epithets being screamed by men in the party house. Ryan McFayden, a sophomore on the Lacrosse squad, sent an e-mail dated the night of the party describing in morbid detail his fantasy of torturing the exotic dancers, saying, "I plan on killing the bitches as soon as they walk in and proceeding to cut their skin off while cumming in my Duke issue spandex." The same McFayden had the unholy arrogance to show up at the Take Back the Night Rally on campus and while sexual assault survivors gathered in a circle, he stood on the sidelines giving interviews with the Chronicle, Duke's odious student paper. The racial climate on campus is utterly appalling and this isn,t isolated in the world of Lacrosse. Others on campus have noted parties with vile themes, like the "Viva Mexico" bash where students handed out "Green Cards" for invitations. Danielle Terrazas Williams, a grad student at Duke, told the Independent, a local weekly "This [the rape] is not a different experience for us [African-Americans] here at Duke University. We go to class with racist classmates, we go to gym with people who are racists. That's not special for us." Commenting on the persistent sexual harassment faced by black women at Duke, Williams continued, "[it's] as if they're re-enacting a rap video or something. [. . .]"
Nina just said, "Wait!" I forgot to note C.I.'s thing on Iraq today:
The Australian reports that since the start of this year (reminder: we're now in the fourth month), 19,548 people have been kidnapped. This number includes as many as 2350 children and 4959 women. In Kuwait City, the American military is looking into allegations that three military contractors (American) have been smuggling marijuana into the city. Still on American contractors in Iraq, Al Jazeera reports that Philip Bloom has entered a plea of guilty to charges of "conspiracy, bribery and money laundering in Iraq." While participating in the conspiracy, Bloom used over 2 million dollars to bribe the "US officials who directed more than $8.6 million in contracts to companies he controlled." Combine the two items and you've apparently got: "Money to be made in Iraq!" Apparently that's how the World Bank sees it since the BBC is reporting that it is pondering returning to Iraq. Associated Press notes that Iraq's Prime Minister (Ibrahim al-Jaafari) is refusing calls to step down (calls have come from the US government as well as some in Iraq). Earlier this week a Shia cleric was killed by gunmen in a drive-by shooting. Now Deusche Presse-Agentur reports that Sheikh Saad Jaber Yassin has also been killed (both the death earlier this week and the more current one took place in Baghdad). Yassan was killed by a car bomb set to dentonate when the car started. Ireland's BreakingNews.ie notes that, in Baghdad, two bombs have gone off and at least 15 have been wounded while at least 2 have been killed. AFP is estimating that "[a]t least 19 people" have been killed in Iraq today. In Baquba gunmen killed three Diyala college professors and wounded another. Also in Baquba, the AFP notes that a police officer was killed. In al-Ramadi, Deutsche Presse-Agentur reports that at least four civilians were killed and six wounded when "[c]ivilian houses were struck by rockets." Back to Baghdad, two people were killed at the elementary schools of Amna and Shaheed Hamdi. The AP reports that the National Security Ministry has changed details (originally stated that two teachers were beheaded in front of students -- now backed off that claim and state a school guard was stabbed in front of students and a teacher was shot enroute to the classroom).
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Tuesday, April 18, 2006
Law and Disorder, Nepal, Guantanamo and more
Good evening. Let's get things kicked off with Democracy Now!
Former U.S. Senator Mike Gravel To Run For President
In political news, former Alaskan Senator Mike Gravel has become the first Democrat to officially announce he will seek the party's nomination for president in 2008. Gravel served in the Senate from 1969 to 1981. Gravel who was an outspoken critic of the Vietnam War and is vowing to remove U.S. troops from Iraq. He said "President Bush's mistake is not worth the life or maiming of one more American soldier."
That makes me happy. Want to know why? That's two in the race -- Mike Gravel and Russ Feingold -- who should be worth watching. If Hillary Clinton and Joe Biden want to play twin hawks, they'll look all the more freakish (and out of touch) with two people in the race. I wish Dennis Kucinich would run again as well. Could you imagine those debates? Hillary and Joe trying to go hard right and people seeing it in the debate with not one, not two but three candidates calling out their crappy "logic." C.I. highlighted an article by John Nichols so if you want to read more about Gravel you can click here for Nichols take on him.
Supreme Court Rejects Appeal of Chinese Men At Guantanamo
The Supreme Court has rejected an appeal from two Chinese Muslims who are being held at the U.S. military prison Guantanamo Bay even though the government acknowledges they were mistakenly detained. The men have been held for more than four years. Lawyers for the men said they should be immediately released but the Bush administration has refused the request. Officials say they have been unable to find a country that will accept the men after their release. Both men are Uighurs and do not want to return to China out of fear that they would be imprisoned and tortured.
King George wins again. Not because he's right. Not because he plays fair. But because chicken asses refuse to call him on his crap. The two men, the two prisoners! Need to reinforce that because Elaine and C.I. are correct about Guantanamo. There are no "detainees" there, they are prisoners. And that word needs to be used because that's what it is. They are imprisoned. They are prisoners. The Guantanamo Prisoners. And there's no way out for most of them. Look at the two above who shouldn't have been 'rounded up' to begin with. Government admits it. But they remain imprisoned.
Let's used Leigh Ann because she's a cool lady. Okay, Leigh Ann gets stopped while traveling around the country. They toss her in a prison in Rhode Island. They don't give her a trial. They never give her a trial. She's held in prison for four years. After four years, it turns out that even the ones holding her, the government, says it was a case of mistaken identity. But they keep on holding Leigh Ann. Holding her in prison. Four years of her life they've already stolen. Instead of rushing to fix their huge injustice, they keep holding her. So Leigh Ann's lawyer files for her case to be heard by the Supreme Court. If they refused to hear her case, you better believe people would be howling. If people aren't howling about what's happened, it's because they think "Oh, they aren't like us." Don't be so sure. If they can get away with this and if they can get away with what they did to Jose Padilla, they can go after anyone. The Supreme Court failed justice and it failed democracy.
Nepalese Police Shot Dead One Protester
In Nepal, pro-democracy protests are continuing for a 13th day. On Monday police shot dead one protester. The BBC is reporting police in Nepal have arrested 25 government officials for demonstrating against King Gyanendra inside the Home Ministry. Among the detained are four high ranking officials. This marks the first time civil servants have been arrested for joining opposition protests against the king.
In your face, Somini Sengupta, the New York Times' in house poet! As C.I. noted on Monday, she worried that Nepal's politicians might not be able to "curtail" democracy. Civil servants have joined in. Sengupta must be frantically flipping through her rhyming dictionary in tears.
Be sure to check out Like Maria Said Paz to get Elaine's take on the news. You'll see this at both of our sites and we know this takes a lot of work, the thing we're both highlighting. We know C.I. will write this (type it) if nothing else. If the rest of the entry's dicated, C.I. will type up this. Now C.I. could type up an entry will quick and not have to dictate it at all but hunting down the stuff in the paragraph or paragraphs takes time. I'll talk about that in a second. But this is what's going on in Iraq and we're not trying to put pressure on C.I. and if one day there's not time for it, that's cool. But when it is up, we're going to highlight it.
Violence and chaos (planned) continues. In Baghdad, the Associated Press notes, a bomb went off resulting in the death of at least two (Iraqi police officers) and wounding at least six. A separate bombing incident would claim addition lives. Xinhua reports that four civilians were dead and twenty-two were wounded. Also in Baghdad, four workers at the Sunni Endowmen Authority were shot at -- Bahrain News Agency reports two dead and two wounded. Still in Baghdad, AFP and Reuters announce that twelve more corpses were found. In addition to those twelve bodies, Ireland's BreakingNews.ie notes that two more corpses were found in Iraq -- both had been shot in the head. Al Jazeera notes that a Shia cleric died in Baghdad -- the victim of a drive by shooting. In Basra, a drrive-by also claimed the life of an Iraqi "police officer walking near his home." Reuters informs that, in Baiji, "a police colonel" and "two policemen" were wounded by gunmen while, in Tikrit, a police officer was killed with two others wounded. A police officer was also killed in Irbil, KUNA notes, and at least six civilians were wounded. There is still no word on 3 kidnap victims: Salah Jali al-Gharrawi (AFP -- kidnapped April 4th) or Reem Zeid and Marwan Khazaal (Sumariya TV -- kidnapped February 1). And Tom Lasseter reports for Knight Ridder that despite warnings "more than two years that Shiite Muslim militias were infiltrating Iraq's security forces and taking control of neighborhoods," the US ignored the warnings.
So I talked to C.I. because there's not a lot of news on Iraq popping up in The Boston Globe. I was wondering about that and we had talked about it last week. I'd seen the work that went into that and how it would be pull out the laptops and Ava and Jess would go through the e-mails and say, "Here's a highlight" and C.I. would say yea or nah and while they were doing that, C.I. would hunt down news for that paragraph on Iraq. C.I. felt like Iran was a point of focus, or concern, but that there was less attention being paid to Iraq. ("But they can still offer the usual fluff topics, on the fluff, there's never a shortage," C.I. had said.)
So C.I. and Rebecca both called last night to check on me because I was angry (and I'll talk about that in a bit) and I made a point to call C.I. today to ask about the Iraq coverage. C.I. said, "I never thought I'd say 'thank you for the Associated Press.'" The BBC wasn't even offering new coverage on Iraq today. The BBC. They had nothing. That's really not new or because of what happened in Israel and the occupied territories yesterday.
Right now, on the BBC's Middle East news page, I see the Iraq deaths story C.I. mentioned. C.I. didn't highlight it today. Why? It's a story that was done on Sunday. They have a story they filed Monday. There is now a story up that was filed today. And there's this story last updated March 20th. Those are the main stories on Iraq on their Middle East news page. If you go their UK version (and not international) you'll find three more stories (that aren't up yet on the international) one about the World Bank, one about a bomb and one about Saddam Hussein. C.I. said that the AP gets mentioned over and over in those paragraphs of what's going on in Iraq because the AP is the only one filing repeatedly each day. I have no idea why the BBC doesn't offer more coverage. But let me put it good for the Associated Press. And the BBC's not the only one.
C.I. also pointed out (on plus side) Dahr Jamail's Middle East Wire which translates Arabic coverage of the area. That's usually two days behind when C.I.'s doing the entry and a day behind when I'm doing mine. A day behind is not bad when you consider that it's independent media and that it has to be translated. (And probably just one guy doing that. C.I. mentioned a name but I forgot who.) So make a point to check out Dahr's Middle East Wire and I'll make a point to add it to my links tonight. You should follow what's going on Iraq because this 'pacification' program is probably a) going to be very violent (it already is) and b) not going to work no matter how the Bully Boy spins it. So make an effort to follow news on Iraq and if you don't see any, make an effort to track down some.
About the BBC, I may be misunderstanding, and Pru, Polly, Gareth or the other British community members can correct me if I am, but BBC has many channels, radio and TV, and at least one radio channel is straight news, 24/7. So how do they get away with having so little Iraq coverage?
Now, I'm going to talk briefly about my anger yesterday. I was real angry. That's why C.I. and Rebecca called. They could tell I was real angry. I probably would've been less angry if I'd talked about it with Elaine but I didn't want to. So I stored it up until I was writing and then it all came pouring out. But if you're ancestors are from some place, you don't need to hear an entire group of people trashed. By going after the IRA and then comparing them to Sinn Fein, the idiot was insulting. I'm still insulted. And on the advice of everyone, when I'm insulted, I will say so. Here and in conversations. He wanted to be heard about a story that mattered to him. Here's a clue for him, when you build your case by trashing another group of people, you're not making a solid case. You are making people want to tune you out. The Common Ills community has a number of Irish-Americans (like me) and a number of members in Ireland. I heard from fifty-two of them about my post yesterday. I want to thank them for the support. Some members have popped up since C.I. addressed their concerns in March through May of last year because eleven or twelve (from Ireland) said, "Yes, it was a bar fight!" over and over in their e-mails (about the sisters who came to this country and met with Bully Boy because their brother died). But we want to turn it into an international incident. You go to a bar and you're drinking and talking (shooting off your mouth or not), someone may get mad. Bar fights happen all the time in this country and people die in them. That's not to say I don't feel sorry for the sisters. That is to say, wait. Point on that was that C.I. actually made that point last year (repeatedly). So newer community members should know that and know I was building on that.
Now the sisters, I am sorry for them. Let's go with the official narrative which is that some members of the IRA were involved in the bar fight. (Some members does not constitute the IRA. And the IRA and Sinn Fein are two different bodies.) So there case becomes an Oprah moment in Ireland and then internationally as a lot of people use their pain to work out their own personal bias. And at some point the IRA either offered to execute those involved or did. (I think they offered.) Offered to the sisters. That wasn't right either but it was an international incident by that point. I really don't know what to say here except a bar fight between individuals is not reflective of a political party. That would be like me going, "Proof died in a gun battle last week and so did the other guy. Proof's a rapper. Puffy's a rapper. All rappers are criminals. Puffy (or P-Diddy) helped with the get out the vote efforts and was for John Kerry so that must mean that all Democrats are criminals!"
It's just insulting and tarring people. And when I hear that junk, it makes me angry. There is violence in Ireland and that's not surprising. (And C.I. has repeatedly noted how when it's those loyal to the British, the New York Times looks the other way. There were two parades within a few weeks and both had violence. The paper of misrecord chose to only cover the one that made the Irish Catholics look bad. There are reasons for the violence and acting like there's not is really silly. There are reasons for the violence in Iraq and in Israel and the occupied territories. And thank you to Elaine for what she wrote last night. I appreciated it and knew she was commenting on it because she thought I was going to let it slide. I appreciated that then and now.)
Now Law and Disorder (which is on WBAI on Mondays). Cedric and me talked aobut the show and I'm grabbing one part and he's grabbing another. I'm grabbing the part where Michael Smith talked about a candidate rushing off the campaign trail to return to his home state for an execution. Who was that candidate? Bill Clinton. Had to look "tough" on crime. That's what's so damn scary about both the Clintons. Whatever they personally believe, they always work over time to look "tough" and not like someone's idea of squishy liberals. You can probably goad either of them into doing anything just by going, "Chicken! You're chicken!" Michael Ratner talked about a story in The New Yorker on how Clinton's best friend was a lawyer for the guy and how he tried to get a call through to Clinton but Clinton wouldn't take it. The guy that was executed was mentally ill. Bill Clinton always says, "He wasn't when he committed the crime! That's the law!" He still makes that stupid statement. The "law" is what got him into hot water. Then Michael Smith told a story about Michael Ratner's daughter Ana (or Anna) and how when she was seven, she was at a Clinton fundraiser. She interviewed Hillary (Michael Smith said cornered) and then went back and wrote an article for her school newspaper about how she wasn't for Hillary because Hillary was for the death penalty.
I should have written about it yesterday but I was mad. Then today my oldest bro calls and goes, "Dude!" I was supposed to write about him. (Him who won't let me use his name!) He was listening at work in New Jersey Monday to Law and Disorder because he wanted to hear
Dalia Hashad to see if she really did sound like our sister like I wrote last Monday and the Monday before. She did. She sounds just like one of our sisters. He goes that if he had just caught a second or two of it and not heard her name, he would have called our sister and asked her why she didn't tell him she was going to be on the radio.
So see, you never know what will make someone listen. You just got to keep pitching and you'll get one over the home plate. So make sure you pitch the programs that matter to you. Think about how many times Ruth had to note it before I finally listened. You just keep pitching.
So that got him to listen. He liked the show. He says he'll catch the first half-hour each Monday (he can only promise that half because of his work schedule).
democracy now
guantanamo
nepal
iraq
the common ills
john nichols
sex and politics and screeds and attitude
the third estate sunday review
cedrics big mix
law and disorder
dalia hashad
michael ratner
michael smith
ruths public radio report
like maria said paz
mikey likes it
the new york times
somini sengupta
Former U.S. Senator Mike Gravel To Run For President
In political news, former Alaskan Senator Mike Gravel has become the first Democrat to officially announce he will seek the party's nomination for president in 2008. Gravel served in the Senate from 1969 to 1981. Gravel who was an outspoken critic of the Vietnam War and is vowing to remove U.S. troops from Iraq. He said "President Bush's mistake is not worth the life or maiming of one more American soldier."
That makes me happy. Want to know why? That's two in the race -- Mike Gravel and Russ Feingold -- who should be worth watching. If Hillary Clinton and Joe Biden want to play twin hawks, they'll look all the more freakish (and out of touch) with two people in the race. I wish Dennis Kucinich would run again as well. Could you imagine those debates? Hillary and Joe trying to go hard right and people seeing it in the debate with not one, not two but three candidates calling out their crappy "logic." C.I. highlighted an article by John Nichols so if you want to read more about Gravel you can click here for Nichols take on him.
Supreme Court Rejects Appeal of Chinese Men At Guantanamo
The Supreme Court has rejected an appeal from two Chinese Muslims who are being held at the U.S. military prison Guantanamo Bay even though the government acknowledges they were mistakenly detained. The men have been held for more than four years. Lawyers for the men said they should be immediately released but the Bush administration has refused the request. Officials say they have been unable to find a country that will accept the men after their release. Both men are Uighurs and do not want to return to China out of fear that they would be imprisoned and tortured.
King George wins again. Not because he's right. Not because he plays fair. But because chicken asses refuse to call him on his crap. The two men, the two prisoners! Need to reinforce that because Elaine and C.I. are correct about Guantanamo. There are no "detainees" there, they are prisoners. And that word needs to be used because that's what it is. They are imprisoned. They are prisoners. The Guantanamo Prisoners. And there's no way out for most of them. Look at the two above who shouldn't have been 'rounded up' to begin with. Government admits it. But they remain imprisoned.
Let's used Leigh Ann because she's a cool lady. Okay, Leigh Ann gets stopped while traveling around the country. They toss her in a prison in Rhode Island. They don't give her a trial. They never give her a trial. She's held in prison for four years. After four years, it turns out that even the ones holding her, the government, says it was a case of mistaken identity. But they keep on holding Leigh Ann. Holding her in prison. Four years of her life they've already stolen. Instead of rushing to fix their huge injustice, they keep holding her. So Leigh Ann's lawyer files for her case to be heard by the Supreme Court. If they refused to hear her case, you better believe people would be howling. If people aren't howling about what's happened, it's because they think "Oh, they aren't like us." Don't be so sure. If they can get away with this and if they can get away with what they did to Jose Padilla, they can go after anyone. The Supreme Court failed justice and it failed democracy.
Nepalese Police Shot Dead One Protester
In Nepal, pro-democracy protests are continuing for a 13th day. On Monday police shot dead one protester. The BBC is reporting police in Nepal have arrested 25 government officials for demonstrating against King Gyanendra inside the Home Ministry. Among the detained are four high ranking officials. This marks the first time civil servants have been arrested for joining opposition protests against the king.
In your face, Somini Sengupta, the New York Times' in house poet! As C.I. noted on Monday, she worried that Nepal's politicians might not be able to "curtail" democracy. Civil servants have joined in. Sengupta must be frantically flipping through her rhyming dictionary in tears.
Be sure to check out Like Maria Said Paz to get Elaine's take on the news. You'll see this at both of our sites and we know this takes a lot of work, the thing we're both highlighting. We know C.I. will write this (type it) if nothing else. If the rest of the entry's dicated, C.I. will type up this. Now C.I. could type up an entry will quick and not have to dictate it at all but hunting down the stuff in the paragraph or paragraphs takes time. I'll talk about that in a second. But this is what's going on in Iraq and we're not trying to put pressure on C.I. and if one day there's not time for it, that's cool. But when it is up, we're going to highlight it.
Violence and chaos (planned) continues. In Baghdad, the Associated Press notes, a bomb went off resulting in the death of at least two (Iraqi police officers) and wounding at least six. A separate bombing incident would claim addition lives. Xinhua reports that four civilians were dead and twenty-two were wounded. Also in Baghdad, four workers at the Sunni Endowmen Authority were shot at -- Bahrain News Agency reports two dead and two wounded. Still in Baghdad, AFP and Reuters announce that twelve more corpses were found. In addition to those twelve bodies, Ireland's BreakingNews.ie notes that two more corpses were found in Iraq -- both had been shot in the head. Al Jazeera notes that a Shia cleric died in Baghdad -- the victim of a drive by shooting. In Basra, a drrive-by also claimed the life of an Iraqi "police officer walking near his home." Reuters informs that, in Baiji, "a police colonel" and "two policemen" were wounded by gunmen while, in Tikrit, a police officer was killed with two others wounded. A police officer was also killed in Irbil, KUNA notes, and at least six civilians were wounded. There is still no word on 3 kidnap victims: Salah Jali al-Gharrawi (AFP -- kidnapped April 4th) or Reem Zeid and Marwan Khazaal (Sumariya TV -- kidnapped February 1). And Tom Lasseter reports for Knight Ridder that despite warnings "more than two years that Shiite Muslim militias were infiltrating Iraq's security forces and taking control of neighborhoods," the US ignored the warnings.
So I talked to C.I. because there's not a lot of news on Iraq popping up in The Boston Globe. I was wondering about that and we had talked about it last week. I'd seen the work that went into that and how it would be pull out the laptops and Ava and Jess would go through the e-mails and say, "Here's a highlight" and C.I. would say yea or nah and while they were doing that, C.I. would hunt down news for that paragraph on Iraq. C.I. felt like Iran was a point of focus, or concern, but that there was less attention being paid to Iraq. ("But they can still offer the usual fluff topics, on the fluff, there's never a shortage," C.I. had said.)
So C.I. and Rebecca both called last night to check on me because I was angry (and I'll talk about that in a bit) and I made a point to call C.I. today to ask about the Iraq coverage. C.I. said, "I never thought I'd say 'thank you for the Associated Press.'" The BBC wasn't even offering new coverage on Iraq today. The BBC. They had nothing. That's really not new or because of what happened in Israel and the occupied territories yesterday.
Right now, on the BBC's Middle East news page, I see the Iraq deaths story C.I. mentioned. C.I. didn't highlight it today. Why? It's a story that was done on Sunday. They have a story they filed Monday. There is now a story up that was filed today. And there's this story last updated March 20th. Those are the main stories on Iraq on their Middle East news page. If you go their UK version (and not international) you'll find three more stories (that aren't up yet on the international) one about the World Bank, one about a bomb and one about Saddam Hussein. C.I. said that the AP gets mentioned over and over in those paragraphs of what's going on in Iraq because the AP is the only one filing repeatedly each day. I have no idea why the BBC doesn't offer more coverage. But let me put it good for the Associated Press. And the BBC's not the only one.
C.I. also pointed out (on plus side) Dahr Jamail's Middle East Wire which translates Arabic coverage of the area. That's usually two days behind when C.I.'s doing the entry and a day behind when I'm doing mine. A day behind is not bad when you consider that it's independent media and that it has to be translated. (And probably just one guy doing that. C.I. mentioned a name but I forgot who.) So make a point to check out Dahr's Middle East Wire and I'll make a point to add it to my links tonight. You should follow what's going on Iraq because this 'pacification' program is probably a) going to be very violent (it already is) and b) not going to work no matter how the Bully Boy spins it. So make an effort to follow news on Iraq and if you don't see any, make an effort to track down some.
About the BBC, I may be misunderstanding, and Pru, Polly, Gareth or the other British community members can correct me if I am, but BBC has many channels, radio and TV, and at least one radio channel is straight news, 24/7. So how do they get away with having so little Iraq coverage?
Now, I'm going to talk briefly about my anger yesterday. I was real angry. That's why C.I. and Rebecca called. They could tell I was real angry. I probably would've been less angry if I'd talked about it with Elaine but I didn't want to. So I stored it up until I was writing and then it all came pouring out. But if you're ancestors are from some place, you don't need to hear an entire group of people trashed. By going after the IRA and then comparing them to Sinn Fein, the idiot was insulting. I'm still insulted. And on the advice of everyone, when I'm insulted, I will say so. Here and in conversations. He wanted to be heard about a story that mattered to him. Here's a clue for him, when you build your case by trashing another group of people, you're not making a solid case. You are making people want to tune you out. The Common Ills community has a number of Irish-Americans (like me) and a number of members in Ireland. I heard from fifty-two of them about my post yesterday. I want to thank them for the support. Some members have popped up since C.I. addressed their concerns in March through May of last year because eleven or twelve (from Ireland) said, "Yes, it was a bar fight!" over and over in their e-mails (about the sisters who came to this country and met with Bully Boy because their brother died). But we want to turn it into an international incident. You go to a bar and you're drinking and talking (shooting off your mouth or not), someone may get mad. Bar fights happen all the time in this country and people die in them. That's not to say I don't feel sorry for the sisters. That is to say, wait. Point on that was that C.I. actually made that point last year (repeatedly). So newer community members should know that and know I was building on that.
Now the sisters, I am sorry for them. Let's go with the official narrative which is that some members of the IRA were involved in the bar fight. (Some members does not constitute the IRA. And the IRA and Sinn Fein are two different bodies.) So there case becomes an Oprah moment in Ireland and then internationally as a lot of people use their pain to work out their own personal bias. And at some point the IRA either offered to execute those involved or did. (I think they offered.) Offered to the sisters. That wasn't right either but it was an international incident by that point. I really don't know what to say here except a bar fight between individuals is not reflective of a political party. That would be like me going, "Proof died in a gun battle last week and so did the other guy. Proof's a rapper. Puffy's a rapper. All rappers are criminals. Puffy (or P-Diddy) helped with the get out the vote efforts and was for John Kerry so that must mean that all Democrats are criminals!"
It's just insulting and tarring people. And when I hear that junk, it makes me angry. There is violence in Ireland and that's not surprising. (And C.I. has repeatedly noted how when it's those loyal to the British, the New York Times looks the other way. There were two parades within a few weeks and both had violence. The paper of misrecord chose to only cover the one that made the Irish Catholics look bad. There are reasons for the violence and acting like there's not is really silly. There are reasons for the violence in Iraq and in Israel and the occupied territories. And thank you to Elaine for what she wrote last night. I appreciated it and knew she was commenting on it because she thought I was going to let it slide. I appreciated that then and now.)
Now Law and Disorder (which is on WBAI on Mondays). Cedric and me talked aobut the show and I'm grabbing one part and he's grabbing another. I'm grabbing the part where Michael Smith talked about a candidate rushing off the campaign trail to return to his home state for an execution. Who was that candidate? Bill Clinton. Had to look "tough" on crime. That's what's so damn scary about both the Clintons. Whatever they personally believe, they always work over time to look "tough" and not like someone's idea of squishy liberals. You can probably goad either of them into doing anything just by going, "Chicken! You're chicken!" Michael Ratner talked about a story in The New Yorker on how Clinton's best friend was a lawyer for the guy and how he tried to get a call through to Clinton but Clinton wouldn't take it. The guy that was executed was mentally ill. Bill Clinton always says, "He wasn't when he committed the crime! That's the law!" He still makes that stupid statement. The "law" is what got him into hot water. Then Michael Smith told a story about Michael Ratner's daughter Ana (or Anna) and how when she was seven, she was at a Clinton fundraiser. She interviewed Hillary (Michael Smith said cornered) and then went back and wrote an article for her school newspaper about how she wasn't for Hillary because Hillary was for the death penalty.
I should have written about it yesterday but I was mad. Then today my oldest bro calls and goes, "Dude!" I was supposed to write about him. (Him who won't let me use his name!) He was listening at work in New Jersey Monday to Law and Disorder because he wanted to hear
Dalia Hashad to see if she really did sound like our sister like I wrote last Monday and the Monday before. She did. She sounds just like one of our sisters. He goes that if he had just caught a second or two of it and not heard her name, he would have called our sister and asked her why she didn't tell him she was going to be on the radio.
So see, you never know what will make someone listen. You just got to keep pitching and you'll get one over the home plate. So make sure you pitch the programs that matter to you. Think about how many times Ruth had to note it before I finally listened. You just keep pitching.
So that got him to listen. He liked the show. He says he'll catch the first half-hour each Monday (he can only promise that half because of his work schedule).
democracy now
guantanamo
nepal
iraq
the common ills
john nichols
sex and politics and screeds and attitude
the third estate sunday review
cedrics big mix
law and disorder
dalia hashad
michael ratner
michael smith
ruths public radio report
like maria said paz
mikey likes it
the new york times
somini sengupta
Monday, April 17, 2006
"120,000 Mark 90th Anniversary of Easter Rising in Ireland" (Democracy Now!)
Good evening, kicking it off with Democracy Now!
Cindy Sheehan Returns to Camp Casey
And Cindy Sheehan and others returned to Crawford Texas to protest outside President Bush's estate. At a sunrise service on Easter Sunday the Rev. Joseph Lowery urged the protesters to keep working for peace.
See Cindy Sheehan makes peace her life and we need to be doing that. You don't just go to an event, you make sure that Iraq is a topic when you and your friends get together. You make sure you're challenging people who still support the war. What are there, fifty-two in the country? More if you count members of Congress. I'm swiping from C.I. to note the Iraq report:
Iraq? The Times of India reports that at least 31 Iraqis died on Sunday with an additional 32 wounded. In Baghdad today, Xinhua reports, the corpse of Taha al-Mutlak, brother of Salih al-Mutlak ("top Sunni policitian"), was found. Also in Baghdad, a gun battle between the Iraqi army and the resistance has resulted in seven civilians wounded and one killed according to the Associated Press.. Still in Baghdad, Reuters notes, a doctor was kidnapped. Still in Baghdad, back to Reuters, the corpses of 12 were found -- seven had bullet holes, three had signs indicating torture. The Associated Press is reporting a bomb exploded today in Ramadi "in front of a U.S. observation post." Deutsche Presse-Agentur reports that Jebail has seen the death of at least three Iraqis and the injury of 10 more. The three dead? Two children and a woman. The cause? "Pacification." They, and the ones wounded, according to "security force spokesman" Mustafa Karrim, were guilty of being in their homes.
C.I.'s been offering that every weekday lately. A way to cancel the Operation Happy Talk. That's in addition to Thursdays and Sundays special entries on the war. And there was a
"And the war drags on" last night so check that out.
120,000 Mark 90th Anniversary of Easter Rising in Ireland
In Ireland, 120,000 people gathered in Dublin Sunday to mark the 90th anniversary of the Easter Rising -- a short-lived 1916 rebellion against British rule. During the uprising, Irish rebels seized parts of Dublin from the British and declared an Irish Republic. The rebellion failed and the British executed 15 leaders. But the uprising inspired the Irish independence movement. Five years later 26 of Ireland's 32 counties became free of British rule.
You know what I'm tired of? Hearing people blame the Irish for everything. There was a report on a man who pleaded guilty. I know some of the coverage on that and I'm willing to be he's innocent. He's been targeted by the administration (and by Clinton's before) because of the war on Arabs. So he had a trial and it came out pretty good for him with him being cleared on a lot of charges and having a hung jury on other charges. But he pleaded guilty. Now Sami Al-Arian is being deported. So this former reporter who is now an editor came on Democracy Now! today, not a columnist, supposed to have been a reporter, John Suggs explains why the guilty plea doesn't mean anything. Then goes on attack Sinn Fein and saying that it and the IRA are the same thing. He doesn't offer any proof. He just says it -- so it must be so.
I think Irish-Americans need to start calling that crap "crap" whenever we hear it. He lost me.
I didn't care about another word he said (and turned off the radio). The New York Times has conducted a war on Ireland and the joke's on them since the big story they just knew was going to get traction and outrage with this country's Irish didn't. Why?
It wasn't about Sinn Fein. A man dies in a bar fight. That's not right but don't try to drag a political party into it. If a member of a party does it, that's a member of a party. Claude Allen loved going into department stores, buying an item, coming back to the store with the receipt, grabbing a new item and returning it as though he'd paid for it. ("See here's my receipt.") That doesn't mean Laura Bush did the same thing. Even though Claude Allen is a Republican, even though he worked for the White House. But a bar fight -- a bar fight -- is suddenly reason to tar and feather a political party?
So when John Suggs started blowing chunks out of his ass, I turned off the radio. I didn't need to hear another word he said because I didn't respect him or his opinions anymore.
Neo-Naxi Supremacist Convicted In WMD Case
In Tennessee, a white supremacist with Neo-Nazi ties has been convicted of attempting to acquire Sarin nerve and C-4 explosives in order to blow up government buildings. The man, Demetrius Van Crocker, once told an FBI informant that he dreamed of riding a motorcycle to Washington D.C. and setting off a dirty nuclear bomb while the House and Senate were in session. Crocker also said he wanted to get a helicopter license so he could bomb or spray poison gas on the African-American neighborhoods in Jackson Tennessee. Crocker was arrested after he bought nerve gas from an undercover agent. His attorney argued Crocker was prone to exaggeration and was a victim of entrapment. Despite the serious charges, the national press has ignored the story. The New York Times, Washington Post or Los Angeles Times have yet to report on Crocker’s arrest or conviction. A recent report by the Southern Poverty Law Center found that the radical right has attempted to carry out at least 60 terrorist plots since the 1995 Oklahoma City bombing that killed 168 people.
Go check out Elaine's Like Maria Said Paz for her thoughts.
And check out Ava and C.I.'s TV commentary from yesterday. That's pretty amazing and the longest thing ever run at The Third Estate Sunday Review. Here's the conclusion of "TV: Katie Was a Cheerleader:"
If women learned anything from the trashing of Katie Couric last week, it was that today, we're all cheerleaders. In their eyes, we're all cheerleaders. Our own work isn't addressed and there's no desire to familiarize themselves with it before weighing in. Call us when it's our turn to stand trial at the war crimes tribunal.
That's it for tonight. I felt like Suggs pissed over me through the radio speakers and everytime I think about it, I get mad.
democracy now
the common ills
and the war drags on
iraq
the third estate sunday review
mikey likes it
like maria said paz
Cindy Sheehan Returns to Camp Casey
And Cindy Sheehan and others returned to Crawford Texas to protest outside President Bush's estate. At a sunrise service on Easter Sunday the Rev. Joseph Lowery urged the protesters to keep working for peace.
See Cindy Sheehan makes peace her life and we need to be doing that. You don't just go to an event, you make sure that Iraq is a topic when you and your friends get together. You make sure you're challenging people who still support the war. What are there, fifty-two in the country? More if you count members of Congress. I'm swiping from C.I. to note the Iraq report:
Iraq? The Times of India reports that at least 31 Iraqis died on Sunday with an additional 32 wounded. In Baghdad today, Xinhua reports, the corpse of Taha al-Mutlak, brother of Salih al-Mutlak ("top Sunni policitian"), was found. Also in Baghdad, a gun battle between the Iraqi army and the resistance has resulted in seven civilians wounded and one killed according to the Associated Press.. Still in Baghdad, Reuters notes, a doctor was kidnapped. Still in Baghdad, back to Reuters, the corpses of 12 were found -- seven had bullet holes, three had signs indicating torture. The Associated Press is reporting a bomb exploded today in Ramadi "in front of a U.S. observation post." Deutsche Presse-Agentur reports that Jebail has seen the death of at least three Iraqis and the injury of 10 more. The three dead? Two children and a woman. The cause? "Pacification." They, and the ones wounded, according to "security force spokesman" Mustafa Karrim, were guilty of being in their homes.
C.I.'s been offering that every weekday lately. A way to cancel the Operation Happy Talk. That's in addition to Thursdays and Sundays special entries on the war. And there was a
"And the war drags on" last night so check that out.
120,000 Mark 90th Anniversary of Easter Rising in Ireland
In Ireland, 120,000 people gathered in Dublin Sunday to mark the 90th anniversary of the Easter Rising -- a short-lived 1916 rebellion against British rule. During the uprising, Irish rebels seized parts of Dublin from the British and declared an Irish Republic. The rebellion failed and the British executed 15 leaders. But the uprising inspired the Irish independence movement. Five years later 26 of Ireland's 32 counties became free of British rule.
You know what I'm tired of? Hearing people blame the Irish for everything. There was a report on a man who pleaded guilty. I know some of the coverage on that and I'm willing to be he's innocent. He's been targeted by the administration (and by Clinton's before) because of the war on Arabs. So he had a trial and it came out pretty good for him with him being cleared on a lot of charges and having a hung jury on other charges. But he pleaded guilty. Now Sami Al-Arian is being deported. So this former reporter who is now an editor came on Democracy Now! today, not a columnist, supposed to have been a reporter, John Suggs explains why the guilty plea doesn't mean anything. Then goes on attack Sinn Fein and saying that it and the IRA are the same thing. He doesn't offer any proof. He just says it -- so it must be so.
I think Irish-Americans need to start calling that crap "crap" whenever we hear it. He lost me.
I didn't care about another word he said (and turned off the radio). The New York Times has conducted a war on Ireland and the joke's on them since the big story they just knew was going to get traction and outrage with this country's Irish didn't. Why?
It wasn't about Sinn Fein. A man dies in a bar fight. That's not right but don't try to drag a political party into it. If a member of a party does it, that's a member of a party. Claude Allen loved going into department stores, buying an item, coming back to the store with the receipt, grabbing a new item and returning it as though he'd paid for it. ("See here's my receipt.") That doesn't mean Laura Bush did the same thing. Even though Claude Allen is a Republican, even though he worked for the White House. But a bar fight -- a bar fight -- is suddenly reason to tar and feather a political party?
So when John Suggs started blowing chunks out of his ass, I turned off the radio. I didn't need to hear another word he said because I didn't respect him or his opinions anymore.
Neo-Naxi Supremacist Convicted In WMD Case
In Tennessee, a white supremacist with Neo-Nazi ties has been convicted of attempting to acquire Sarin nerve and C-4 explosives in order to blow up government buildings. The man, Demetrius Van Crocker, once told an FBI informant that he dreamed of riding a motorcycle to Washington D.C. and setting off a dirty nuclear bomb while the House and Senate were in session. Crocker also said he wanted to get a helicopter license so he could bomb or spray poison gas on the African-American neighborhoods in Jackson Tennessee. Crocker was arrested after he bought nerve gas from an undercover agent. His attorney argued Crocker was prone to exaggeration and was a victim of entrapment. Despite the serious charges, the national press has ignored the story. The New York Times, Washington Post or Los Angeles Times have yet to report on Crocker’s arrest or conviction. A recent report by the Southern Poverty Law Center found that the radical right has attempted to carry out at least 60 terrorist plots since the 1995 Oklahoma City bombing that killed 168 people.
Go check out Elaine's Like Maria Said Paz for her thoughts.
And check out Ava and C.I.'s TV commentary from yesterday. That's pretty amazing and the longest thing ever run at The Third Estate Sunday Review. Here's the conclusion of "TV: Katie Was a Cheerleader:"
If women learned anything from the trashing of Katie Couric last week, it was that today, we're all cheerleaders. In their eyes, we're all cheerleaders. Our own work isn't addressed and there's no desire to familiarize themselves with it before weighing in. Call us when it's our turn to stand trial at the war crimes tribunal.
That's it for tonight. I felt like Suggs pissed over me through the radio speakers and everytime I think about it, I get mad.
democracy now
the common ills
and the war drags on
iraq
the third estate sunday review
mikey likes it
like maria said paz
Friday, April 14, 2006
Kendall-Smith sentenced to 8 months & trip to California
Good evening. It's Friday! It's the weekend! (If you're lucky.) Let's kick it off with Democracy Now!
RAF Doctor Jailed For Refusing Iraq Service
In Britain, a doctor in the Royal Air Force has been sentenced to eight months in jail for refusing to go to Iraq. Flight Lieutenant Malcolm Kendall-Smith maintained he is refusing his assignment in order to not take part in an illegal war. "Now more so than ever he feels that his actions were totally justified and he would not if placed in the same circumstances seek to do anything differently," Justin Hugheston-Roberts, the lawyer representing Kendall-Smith, said after the sentencing.
So Kendall-Smith isn't allowed to make his case (he couldn't talk about why he refused to return to Iraq under the judge's order)? 'The war isn't on trial' was what the bench said. But if the very illegal nature of the war is why you can't serve, how do you have a case left to make? It's insane. But that's how the court martial played out. The good news is that, outside of this country, it is getting attention. Probably helps that the hearing was in London and that Kendall-Smith was born in Australia and also has citizenship in New Zealand (as well as British citizenship). That allows three countries to cover it as a "home story."
Like Nina and Tony said, "We put the wrong people behind bars."
California TV Station To Stop Using VNRs
In an update on a story we have been tracking, a major California television station has announced it will no longer use material from video news releases in any news reports. Last week the Center for Media and Democracy revealed at least 77 TV stations around the country have been caught airing corporate-sponsored propaganda disguised as news releases in the past 10 months. One of these stations was KCBS, Channel 2 in Los Angeles. On January 27 the station aired an edited video news release promoting the child-safe Internet search engine for the company NetTrekker. The station used part of the script and video provided by the company without revealing its source. On Wednesday the management at KCBS announced it was barring the use of video news releases.
So what do you think? Good or bad news? One station, out of 77, steps up to the plate and announces it will do what it always should have done? Fake news though, that's all over the dial.
I tried to get C.I. on the phone but couldn't. Got ahold of Ava and asked if members had noted the item any because it didn't go up at The Common Ills. Ava explained that there were so many e-mails with suggestions for the headlines today that the decision was made to skip this one since people suggesting other items were more vocal about why they wanted a headline noted. I told her that Elaine and me would note it and she said, "Remember to link to the prior story."
Immigrant Rights Coalition Calls for One Day Boycott, Walk-Out
A coalition of groups advocating for immigrant rights are calling for a massive one-day job and economic boycott to take place May 1st. Some are calling the event "A Day Without Immigrants." Organizers are calling on immigrants to refuse to work or spend any money on May Day to protest moves in Congress to criminalize undocumented workers. In recent weeks millions of immigrants and their supporters have taken to the streets in an unprecedented wave of protests.
That's our announcement. Take part in it. Don't buy anything on May 1st, don't go to work. Show your support.
Now I'm going to talk a little about the week in California. Nina and me went out on Friday. She came back on Monday with Rebecca and I got back last night. It was a really great time. I was telling Ma and Dad about it and Ma said I had to include a song. (It's a great song.)
Do you know who you'll meet there?
Great soldiers and seafares, artists and dreamers
Who need to be close, close to the light
They need to be in danger of burning by fire
And I, I want to get there.
I, I want to be one
One who is touched by the sun, one who is touched by the sun.
That's a song by Carly Simon called "Touched By The Sun" and it's in a few movies but Ma's got the Letters Never Sent CD (which is where I got the words from). That works for a lot of reasons. Like, California -- sunny -- touched by the sun. Get it? And also because there were all these amazing people we got to meet.
We met activists and writers, reporters and actors, musicians and comedians, professors and students, you name it. Dad goes, "The left is alive and well and living in C.I.'s living room." :D
Tony just wanted to know "famous names" and that's cool but that really doesn't get at what it was like. Like me and Wally and Jess did a thing for the gina & krista round-robin that went out today that was just focusing on students who were participating in all these demonstrations and protests and organizing. They really do so much and they're amazing and, in some cases, they were younger than me and made me feel like "What do I do?"
I won't lie and go I wasn't thinking, "Oh my God! It's ___!" But I got over that and anyone who impressed me impressed me because they cared about what was going on in the country and the world.
What else? Does it ever not rain in California? Seriously, it rained all the time. The day we're leaving, I don't think it rained at all before we left. (Don't know about after.)
We saw a lot of places. We saw some tourist spots because some of us were insisting Kat show us around. She had a mix and some of it was obvious and some of it was stuff that only Kat would know about! :D
During the days, we were all over the place. We went to rallies and protests. And we got to see Maria's classroom and one of her classes which was really cool. She uses Democracy Now! in her teaching and that was really cool. Her students think she's great. (And she is great.) Her students are pretty cool too. What else?
We got to meet some other members that live out there.
Where I live, sunglasses are mainly just to look cool. :D But they are like a requirement out there. When the sun shines, it shines and just bounces off everything. It can go from a rain spell to sunshine so quick.
C.I. walks way too fast. I got the longest lets of anyone and I was going, "Jim, how do you keep up?" He goes that he was thinking that when he got out two days before me but he noticed
Jess and Ava, who'd been out there longer than the rest of us, had no problem at all. In fact,
Ava, Jess and C.I. had matching sunglasses (C.I. loses sunglasses and buys more than one pair)
and looked like they were their own division. :D
I was wiped out in the mornings because me Jim and Dona were still on eastern time and stayed on it all week. So we'd be up early (which would be normal time here at home). By mid-morning, I'd get excited (especially when we were hearing students talk about what they were doing and why) and lose my sleepy mood. But the days were long. (Fun, but long.)
We got to see Sir! No! Sir! and you should too. It's a great movie. And Kat took us to hear some live music. One night we went to a comedy club. So there was a lot to do. When there was something to do at night and Betty wasn't sure her kids were up for it, we'd all take turns watching them (and a small infant or todler, I'm not sure what qualifies for todler but I'll get to that in a moment) because we all wanted Betty to get a chance to have some fun. (I only watched once before people think "What a guy." We rotated.) Cedric's smart and I think most people get that but me and Wally had no idea how smart Cedric was until this week. We were like, "Dude, you're like a genius!" :D
Ruth's really cool and she brought her grandchildren Tracey, Jayson and little Elijah so that was cool (because they are). Ruth's only worry all week was, "How am I going to do a report?" Elijah's not really the little boy's name, as community members know. Ruth only names her family when she has permission (a rule I follow too) and since Elijah's too young to give permission, she dubbed him that so she wouldn't have to keep saying, "My grandson" over and over.
He's a funny little dude and has one new trick that I swear Ty taught him which is to stick his tongue out. Ruth likes it, whoever taught it to him, because he's a kicker. And he's got a pretty powerful kick for such a tiny dude. I was like, "This is a soccer player!" But the only time he'd get in trouble was when Ruth would have to give him a talking to for kicking and sit him in time out. So she was thrilled when he picked up on sticking out his tongue instead. She said his mother may not be pleased but considering that his father was real bad about sticking his tongue out as his brothers growing up, it shouldn't be a problem especially since it seems to have gotten him off the kicking. By the end of the week, he'd only kick if you rolled a ball to him.
There were a lot of evenings of talking and sharing (with each other and with guests) and like Kat's written about, lots of great music. Jim says it was like a summit and Dona says it was like a retreat and if those two didn't enjoy arguing so much, you'd wonder how they stay a couple! :D
(I told them I was putting that in somewhere when I wrote about the week and they both laughed and were cool with it.)
I wish Elaine, Rebecca and Nina could have stayed longer. (Elaine left Sunday evening because she had patients on Monday and Nina left with Rebecca Monday because Nina had to do a family thing on Wednesday and Rebecca had a christening to attend on Tuesday. It was easier for Nina to catch a ride with her and Fly Boy since he came out to pick up Rebecca. Flyboy got there Sunday morning and got to spend a day basically. He's pretty cool so it would have been nice if he could have stayed longer too.)
So it was just a lot of fun and I must have taken more pictures this week than I have my whole life. (Some were in today's round-robin but that's like less than 10% of what I took in one day! :D)
It was real cool and educational. I need to put that in for my folks! :D Seriously, it was educational. And fun.
I'm going to wrap up now. I'm a slow typer and this thing has taken like over three hours!
democracy now
carly simon
touched by the sun
the common ills
sex and politics and screeds and attitude
kats korner
mikey likes it
like maria said paz
cedrics big mix
thomas friedman is a great man
the daily jot
ruths public radio report
the third estate sunday review
sir no sir
RAF Doctor Jailed For Refusing Iraq Service
In Britain, a doctor in the Royal Air Force has been sentenced to eight months in jail for refusing to go to Iraq. Flight Lieutenant Malcolm Kendall-Smith maintained he is refusing his assignment in order to not take part in an illegal war. "Now more so than ever he feels that his actions were totally justified and he would not if placed in the same circumstances seek to do anything differently," Justin Hugheston-Roberts, the lawyer representing Kendall-Smith, said after the sentencing.
So Kendall-Smith isn't allowed to make his case (he couldn't talk about why he refused to return to Iraq under the judge's order)? 'The war isn't on trial' was what the bench said. But if the very illegal nature of the war is why you can't serve, how do you have a case left to make? It's insane. But that's how the court martial played out. The good news is that, outside of this country, it is getting attention. Probably helps that the hearing was in London and that Kendall-Smith was born in Australia and also has citizenship in New Zealand (as well as British citizenship). That allows three countries to cover it as a "home story."
Like Nina and Tony said, "We put the wrong people behind bars."
California TV Station To Stop Using VNRs
In an update on a story we have been tracking, a major California television station has announced it will no longer use material from video news releases in any news reports. Last week the Center for Media and Democracy revealed at least 77 TV stations around the country have been caught airing corporate-sponsored propaganda disguised as news releases in the past 10 months. One of these stations was KCBS, Channel 2 in Los Angeles. On January 27 the station aired an edited video news release promoting the child-safe Internet search engine for the company NetTrekker. The station used part of the script and video provided by the company without revealing its source. On Wednesday the management at KCBS announced it was barring the use of video news releases.
So what do you think? Good or bad news? One station, out of 77, steps up to the plate and announces it will do what it always should have done? Fake news though, that's all over the dial.
I tried to get C.I. on the phone but couldn't. Got ahold of Ava and asked if members had noted the item any because it didn't go up at The Common Ills. Ava explained that there were so many e-mails with suggestions for the headlines today that the decision was made to skip this one since people suggesting other items were more vocal about why they wanted a headline noted. I told her that Elaine and me would note it and she said, "Remember to link to the prior story."
Immigrant Rights Coalition Calls for One Day Boycott, Walk-Out
A coalition of groups advocating for immigrant rights are calling for a massive one-day job and economic boycott to take place May 1st. Some are calling the event "A Day Without Immigrants." Organizers are calling on immigrants to refuse to work or spend any money on May Day to protest moves in Congress to criminalize undocumented workers. In recent weeks millions of immigrants and their supporters have taken to the streets in an unprecedented wave of protests.
That's our announcement. Take part in it. Don't buy anything on May 1st, don't go to work. Show your support.
Now I'm going to talk a little about the week in California. Nina and me went out on Friday. She came back on Monday with Rebecca and I got back last night. It was a really great time. I was telling Ma and Dad about it and Ma said I had to include a song. (It's a great song.)
Do you know who you'll meet there?
Great soldiers and seafares, artists and dreamers
Who need to be close, close to the light
They need to be in danger of burning by fire
And I, I want to get there.
I, I want to be one
One who is touched by the sun, one who is touched by the sun.
That's a song by Carly Simon called "Touched By The Sun" and it's in a few movies but Ma's got the Letters Never Sent CD (which is where I got the words from). That works for a lot of reasons. Like, California -- sunny -- touched by the sun. Get it? And also because there were all these amazing people we got to meet.
We met activists and writers, reporters and actors, musicians and comedians, professors and students, you name it. Dad goes, "The left is alive and well and living in C.I.'s living room." :D
Tony just wanted to know "famous names" and that's cool but that really doesn't get at what it was like. Like me and Wally and Jess did a thing for the gina & krista round-robin that went out today that was just focusing on students who were participating in all these demonstrations and protests and organizing. They really do so much and they're amazing and, in some cases, they were younger than me and made me feel like "What do I do?"
I won't lie and go I wasn't thinking, "Oh my God! It's ___!" But I got over that and anyone who impressed me impressed me because they cared about what was going on in the country and the world.
What else? Does it ever not rain in California? Seriously, it rained all the time. The day we're leaving, I don't think it rained at all before we left. (Don't know about after.)
We saw a lot of places. We saw some tourist spots because some of us were insisting Kat show us around. She had a mix and some of it was obvious and some of it was stuff that only Kat would know about! :D
During the days, we were all over the place. We went to rallies and protests. And we got to see Maria's classroom and one of her classes which was really cool. She uses Democracy Now! in her teaching and that was really cool. Her students think she's great. (And she is great.) Her students are pretty cool too. What else?
We got to meet some other members that live out there.
Where I live, sunglasses are mainly just to look cool. :D But they are like a requirement out there. When the sun shines, it shines and just bounces off everything. It can go from a rain spell to sunshine so quick.
C.I. walks way too fast. I got the longest lets of anyone and I was going, "Jim, how do you keep up?" He goes that he was thinking that when he got out two days before me but he noticed
Jess and Ava, who'd been out there longer than the rest of us, had no problem at all. In fact,
Ava, Jess and C.I. had matching sunglasses (C.I. loses sunglasses and buys more than one pair)
and looked like they were their own division. :D
I was wiped out in the mornings because me Jim and Dona were still on eastern time and stayed on it all week. So we'd be up early (which would be normal time here at home). By mid-morning, I'd get excited (especially when we were hearing students talk about what they were doing and why) and lose my sleepy mood. But the days were long. (Fun, but long.)
We got to see Sir! No! Sir! and you should too. It's a great movie. And Kat took us to hear some live music. One night we went to a comedy club. So there was a lot to do. When there was something to do at night and Betty wasn't sure her kids were up for it, we'd all take turns watching them (and a small infant or todler, I'm not sure what qualifies for todler but I'll get to that in a moment) because we all wanted Betty to get a chance to have some fun. (I only watched once before people think "What a guy." We rotated.) Cedric's smart and I think most people get that but me and Wally had no idea how smart Cedric was until this week. We were like, "Dude, you're like a genius!" :D
Ruth's really cool and she brought her grandchildren Tracey, Jayson and little Elijah so that was cool (because they are). Ruth's only worry all week was, "How am I going to do a report?" Elijah's not really the little boy's name, as community members know. Ruth only names her family when she has permission (a rule I follow too) and since Elijah's too young to give permission, she dubbed him that so she wouldn't have to keep saying, "My grandson" over and over.
He's a funny little dude and has one new trick that I swear Ty taught him which is to stick his tongue out. Ruth likes it, whoever taught it to him, because he's a kicker. And he's got a pretty powerful kick for such a tiny dude. I was like, "This is a soccer player!" But the only time he'd get in trouble was when Ruth would have to give him a talking to for kicking and sit him in time out. So she was thrilled when he picked up on sticking out his tongue instead. She said his mother may not be pleased but considering that his father was real bad about sticking his tongue out as his brothers growing up, it shouldn't be a problem especially since it seems to have gotten him off the kicking. By the end of the week, he'd only kick if you rolled a ball to him.
There were a lot of evenings of talking and sharing (with each other and with guests) and like Kat's written about, lots of great music. Jim says it was like a summit and Dona says it was like a retreat and if those two didn't enjoy arguing so much, you'd wonder how they stay a couple! :D
(I told them I was putting that in somewhere when I wrote about the week and they both laughed and were cool with it.)
I wish Elaine, Rebecca and Nina could have stayed longer. (Elaine left Sunday evening because she had patients on Monday and Nina left with Rebecca Monday because Nina had to do a family thing on Wednesday and Rebecca had a christening to attend on Tuesday. It was easier for Nina to catch a ride with her and Fly Boy since he came out to pick up Rebecca. Flyboy got there Sunday morning and got to spend a day basically. He's pretty cool so it would have been nice if he could have stayed longer too.)
So it was just a lot of fun and I must have taken more pictures this week than I have my whole life. (Some were in today's round-robin but that's like less than 10% of what I took in one day! :D)
It was real cool and educational. I need to put that in for my folks! :D Seriously, it was educational. And fun.
I'm going to wrap up now. I'm a slow typer and this thing has taken like over three hours!
democracy now
carly simon
touched by the sun
the common ills
sex and politics and screeds and attitude
kats korner
mikey likes it
like maria said paz
cedrics big mix
thomas friedman is a great man
the daily jot
ruths public radio report
the third estate sunday review
sir no sir
The lies and minimizing go on
Got home, flopped down on the couch and was talking the folks and must have fallen asleep. Wake up and see the scary Nick Lachey on TV. (My sister's watching some infomercial he's on.)
Does he tease his hair? What's up with that? Looks like he's carrying "break up weight." I said that to my sister and she threw the remote at me. :D
Okay, short post. Let's do Democracy Now!
Bush Criticized For Falsely Claiming U.S. Found Mobile Weapon Labs in Iraq
The White House is coming under intense scrutiny after the Washington Post revealed that the administration kept asserting it had uncovered mobile biological labs in Iraq even after a team of Pentagon investigators had concluded no such labs had been found. On May 27, 2003 the Pentagon made its findings available. Two days later President Bush said "We found the weapons of mass destruction. We found biological laboratories." Days later Secretary of State Colin Powell said "We have already discovered mobile biological factories… There is no question in our mind that that's what their purpose was. Nobody has come up with an alternate purpose that makes sense." The Bush administration continued with its faulty claim for more than a year.In Washington, Press Secretary Scott McClellan attempted to spin the controversy of mobile labs by criticizing the press for covering a story based on what he described as rehashed, old information. He called the story "an embarrassment for the media" and irresponsible because the Bush administration has already admitted its pre-war intelligence on Iraq was mistaken. But McClellan could not answer whether the President knew of the Pentagon's conclusions before he publicly said the trailers were proof Iraq had weapons of mass destruction.
When does the lying stop? You get caught in a lie and you keep on lying? Any six-year-old learns that doing that isn't smart. But whoever accused the Bully Boy of brains?
I really wish I knew how this played out to the last of the believers? I bet they just snort "liberal media!" and dismiss it. Why not? They've gone this far defying reality.
Powell Admits He Did Not Believe Iraq Posed Imminent Nuclear Threat
Former Secretary of State Colin Powell is now saying neither he nor his aides believed Iraq posed an imminent nuclear threat before the US-led invasion. In an interview with journalist Robert Scheer, Powell said the President was convinced by nuclear claims given to him by Vice President Dick Cheney and the CIA. Powell said: "The CIA was pushing the aluminum tube argument heavily and Cheney went with that instead of what our guys wrote." Asked about President Bush's faulty claim that Saddam Hussein attempted to buy nuclear material from Niger in his State of the Union speech, Powell reportedly answered: "It should never have been in the speech... I never believed it."
What do you say? He's still poking at his "blot" and acting like it's no big deal. He went to the UN and made it a big deal. Saying "I never believed it" now doesn't change what he did.
And?
And give me a break, cut me some slack, I'm dead tired.
I see C.I.'s already got the "And the war drags on (indymedia roundup)" entry up. So go read that. I'm going back to sleep. And go to Democracy Now! and check out this "Village Voice Shakeup: Top Investigative Journalist Fired, Prize-Winning Writers Resign Following Merger with New Times Media" if you missed it yesterday.
democracy now
the common ills
and the war drags on
iraq
the third estate sunday review
Does he tease his hair? What's up with that? Looks like he's carrying "break up weight." I said that to my sister and she threw the remote at me. :D
Okay, short post. Let's do Democracy Now!
Bush Criticized For Falsely Claiming U.S. Found Mobile Weapon Labs in Iraq
The White House is coming under intense scrutiny after the Washington Post revealed that the administration kept asserting it had uncovered mobile biological labs in Iraq even after a team of Pentagon investigators had concluded no such labs had been found. On May 27, 2003 the Pentagon made its findings available. Two days later President Bush said "We found the weapons of mass destruction. We found biological laboratories." Days later Secretary of State Colin Powell said "We have already discovered mobile biological factories… There is no question in our mind that that's what their purpose was. Nobody has come up with an alternate purpose that makes sense." The Bush administration continued with its faulty claim for more than a year.In Washington, Press Secretary Scott McClellan attempted to spin the controversy of mobile labs by criticizing the press for covering a story based on what he described as rehashed, old information. He called the story "an embarrassment for the media" and irresponsible because the Bush administration has already admitted its pre-war intelligence on Iraq was mistaken. But McClellan could not answer whether the President knew of the Pentagon's conclusions before he publicly said the trailers were proof Iraq had weapons of mass destruction.
When does the lying stop? You get caught in a lie and you keep on lying? Any six-year-old learns that doing that isn't smart. But whoever accused the Bully Boy of brains?
I really wish I knew how this played out to the last of the believers? I bet they just snort "liberal media!" and dismiss it. Why not? They've gone this far defying reality.
Powell Admits He Did Not Believe Iraq Posed Imminent Nuclear Threat
Former Secretary of State Colin Powell is now saying neither he nor his aides believed Iraq posed an imminent nuclear threat before the US-led invasion. In an interview with journalist Robert Scheer, Powell said the President was convinced by nuclear claims given to him by Vice President Dick Cheney and the CIA. Powell said: "The CIA was pushing the aluminum tube argument heavily and Cheney went with that instead of what our guys wrote." Asked about President Bush's faulty claim that Saddam Hussein attempted to buy nuclear material from Niger in his State of the Union speech, Powell reportedly answered: "It should never have been in the speech... I never believed it."
What do you say? He's still poking at his "blot" and acting like it's no big deal. He went to the UN and made it a big deal. Saying "I never believed it" now doesn't change what he did.
And?
And give me a break, cut me some slack, I'm dead tired.
I see C.I.'s already got the "And the war drags on (indymedia roundup)" entry up. So go read that. I'm going back to sleep. And go to Democracy Now! and check out this "Village Voice Shakeup: Top Investigative Journalist Fired, Prize-Winning Writers Resign Following Merger with New Times Media" if you missed it yesterday.
democracy now
the common ills
and the war drags on
iraq
the third estate sunday review
Wednesday, April 12, 2006
Block ice fell from the sky Saturday
Good night. That's all. Good night. Go to sleep. :D Let's get things started with Democracy Now!
Report: Bush Admin. Suppressed Evidence Refuting Iraq WMD Claim
The Washington Post is reporting the Bush administration claimed to have found mobile weapons labs in Iraq after the invasion despite the explicit conclusions of a Pentagon-sponsored mission the claim was untrue. On May 29, 2003, President Bush cited the discovery of the trailers in an attempt to justify his decision to go war two months earlier. Bush said: "We have found the weapons of mass destruction." But just two days before, a Pentagon team sent to Iraq had concluded that the trailers were in fact "the biggest sand toilets in the world." One team member said: "Within the first four hours, it was clear to everyone that these were not biological labs." The Bush administration failed to make the findings public and continued with its faulty claim for more than one year.
Bully Boy, who can trust him anymore? His polls are so low but it's not like he's at zero yet. Makes you wonder what it takes for some people to say, "You know what, he is a liar." It's like they got a check list and haven't reached the big item yet. "Lied us into war? No, that's not enough. Outed a CIA agent? No, that's not enough. Lied to us after the invasion? No, that's not enough." I guess he's going to have to have an affair with an intern to make some people get outraged?
I think it was Matthew Rothschild of The Progressive who made the point that we have to hold him accountable and if we don't, what are we saying to future leaders?
If we don't say no to the Bully Boy, we better get ready for anything to be tolerated.
For a humorous take on the latest news of Bully Boy's lying, check out Wally's "THIS JUST IN! BULLY BOY GOT SOME HARD LEARNING DISABILITIES!"
Cheney Booed At Washington Baseball Game
And in Washington, Vice President Dick Cheney was greeted with loud boos Tuesday when he threw out the ceremonial pitch at the opener for Major League Baseball's Washington Nationals. This wasn't the first time Cheney has gotten a hostile reception at a baseball game - in June 2004, Cheney was booed at a Yankees game here in New York.
I wish I could see a clip of that. I listened today. We listened in the car on the way to Kat's to pick up her and Betty and I ran for the door saying, "Uh-huh, uh-huh, Hersh is on, outta' my way!" Wally was right behind me. It was the musical break and we were rushing to hear the rest of the interview.
If you missed it here's the link "Seymour Hersh: Bush Administration Planning Possible Major Air Attack on Iran." Here's a taste of the interview:
AMY GOODMAN: Sy Hersh, you write in your piece about a military official who says that the military planning is premised on the belief that a sustained bombing campaign in Iran will humiliate the religious leadership. Can you talk more about what this defense official said?
SEYMOUR HERSH: It’s a former defense official who still does a lot of highly classified stuff, so he has access and he was given a briefing or a look at what they’re planning. And, you know, it's hard to know. This is a White House that's very dominated -- this kind of planning is very dominated by the Vice President's office. In that office, you have a number of people who have been long associated with what we call the neoconservative point of view, the American Enterprise Institute point of view, which is a very hard line towards the Middle East. They've been the great pushers on this idea of democracy in that area, and it's those people who I think are pushing most effectively the President and the Vice President to believe that you can -- if you bomb and if you sustain the bombing, you will humiliate the clerics, the mullahs, who run the country.
Hope you already caught it but if you didn't catch it now. But back to Cheney, I'd love to see his face at the moment where he realized they were booing. That would have been so great. I'd put it on a t-shirt!
Now this is by Associated Press and it ran in the Lake Sun Leader Tuesday under the title "Odds and Ends" with other news items:
Even the experts are having trouble explaining why a solid block of ice fell from the sky, crashed and left a 3-foot hole in the grass.
The ice fell at Bushrod Park in Oakland when homeowner Jacek Purat was waiting to show apartments to prospective renters Saturday. No one was injured, police said.
"It was totally amazing. ... I saw this flash, like a streak," he said. "Then I saw this explosion, like a big boom. I came over and it (the field) was all covered with ice.
"Some were this big," Purat said, making a head-size circle with his hands.
Brooks and Judith Mencher said they were standing on their back porch when they heard a sound like a rocket. "It kind of went 'whoosh!'" Brooks Mencher said.
The ice block was about the size of the hole -- 3 feet wide and 2 1/2 feet deep.
Tony, in your face! :D Seriously, I was not making that up. It really did happen. That's pretty weird.
Check out C.I. on Kerry's "plan" & Dexy Filkins! Also check out Elaine's Like Maria Said Paz for some. Tomorrow I'll probably write about this trip and stuff but tonight I'm trying to get everyone rounded up to watch a documentary by Naomi Klein (The Take) that I've never seen.
democracy now
amy goodman
seymour hersh
the common ills
the new york times
dexter filkins
kats korner
mikey likes it
like maria said paz
thomas friedman is a great man
the daily jot
Report: Bush Admin. Suppressed Evidence Refuting Iraq WMD Claim
The Washington Post is reporting the Bush administration claimed to have found mobile weapons labs in Iraq after the invasion despite the explicit conclusions of a Pentagon-sponsored mission the claim was untrue. On May 29, 2003, President Bush cited the discovery of the trailers in an attempt to justify his decision to go war two months earlier. Bush said: "We have found the weapons of mass destruction." But just two days before, a Pentagon team sent to Iraq had concluded that the trailers were in fact "the biggest sand toilets in the world." One team member said: "Within the first four hours, it was clear to everyone that these were not biological labs." The Bush administration failed to make the findings public and continued with its faulty claim for more than one year.
Bully Boy, who can trust him anymore? His polls are so low but it's not like he's at zero yet. Makes you wonder what it takes for some people to say, "You know what, he is a liar." It's like they got a check list and haven't reached the big item yet. "Lied us into war? No, that's not enough. Outed a CIA agent? No, that's not enough. Lied to us after the invasion? No, that's not enough." I guess he's going to have to have an affair with an intern to make some people get outraged?
I think it was Matthew Rothschild of The Progressive who made the point that we have to hold him accountable and if we don't, what are we saying to future leaders?
If we don't say no to the Bully Boy, we better get ready for anything to be tolerated.
For a humorous take on the latest news of Bully Boy's lying, check out Wally's "THIS JUST IN! BULLY BOY GOT SOME HARD LEARNING DISABILITIES!"
Cheney Booed At Washington Baseball Game
And in Washington, Vice President Dick Cheney was greeted with loud boos Tuesday when he threw out the ceremonial pitch at the opener for Major League Baseball's Washington Nationals. This wasn't the first time Cheney has gotten a hostile reception at a baseball game - in June 2004, Cheney was booed at a Yankees game here in New York.
I wish I could see a clip of that. I listened today. We listened in the car on the way to Kat's to pick up her and Betty and I ran for the door saying, "Uh-huh, uh-huh, Hersh is on, outta' my way!" Wally was right behind me. It was the musical break and we were rushing to hear the rest of the interview.
If you missed it here's the link "Seymour Hersh: Bush Administration Planning Possible Major Air Attack on Iran." Here's a taste of the interview:
AMY GOODMAN: Sy Hersh, you write in your piece about a military official who says that the military planning is premised on the belief that a sustained bombing campaign in Iran will humiliate the religious leadership. Can you talk more about what this defense official said?
SEYMOUR HERSH: It’s a former defense official who still does a lot of highly classified stuff, so he has access and he was given a briefing or a look at what they’re planning. And, you know, it's hard to know. This is a White House that's very dominated -- this kind of planning is very dominated by the Vice President's office. In that office, you have a number of people who have been long associated with what we call the neoconservative point of view, the American Enterprise Institute point of view, which is a very hard line towards the Middle East. They've been the great pushers on this idea of democracy in that area, and it's those people who I think are pushing most effectively the President and the Vice President to believe that you can -- if you bomb and if you sustain the bombing, you will humiliate the clerics, the mullahs, who run the country.
Hope you already caught it but if you didn't catch it now. But back to Cheney, I'd love to see his face at the moment where he realized they were booing. That would have been so great. I'd put it on a t-shirt!
Now this is by Associated Press and it ran in the Lake Sun Leader Tuesday under the title "Odds and Ends" with other news items:
Even the experts are having trouble explaining why a solid block of ice fell from the sky, crashed and left a 3-foot hole in the grass.
The ice fell at Bushrod Park in Oakland when homeowner Jacek Purat was waiting to show apartments to prospective renters Saturday. No one was injured, police said.
"It was totally amazing. ... I saw this flash, like a streak," he said. "Then I saw this explosion, like a big boom. I came over and it (the field) was all covered with ice.
"Some were this big," Purat said, making a head-size circle with his hands.
Brooks and Judith Mencher said they were standing on their back porch when they heard a sound like a rocket. "It kind of went 'whoosh!'" Brooks Mencher said.
The ice block was about the size of the hole -- 3 feet wide and 2 1/2 feet deep.
Tony, in your face! :D Seriously, I was not making that up. It really did happen. That's pretty weird.
Check out C.I. on Kerry's "plan" & Dexy Filkins! Also check out Elaine's Like Maria Said Paz for some. Tomorrow I'll probably write about this trip and stuff but tonight I'm trying to get everyone rounded up to watch a documentary by Naomi Klein (The Take) that I've never seen.
democracy now
amy goodman
seymour hersh
the common ills
the new york times
dexter filkins
kats korner
mikey likes it
like maria said paz
thomas friedman is a great man
the daily jot
Tuesday, April 11, 2006
World's waking up
Tired and I'll talk some about that (Tony called and asked, "Dude, what are you doing?") but let's do Democracy Now!
Up to 2 Million March in National Day of Action for Immigrant Justice
As many as two million people took to the streets in more than 100 cities and towns across the country on Monday to march for immigrants' rights. Undocumented workers, legal immigrants, labor unions, immigrant rights advocates and their supporters demonstrated in what was billed as the National Day of Action for Immigrant Justice. In New York, more than one thousand demonstrators crossed the Brooklyn Bridge and packed the streets in lower Manhattan for a rally near City Hall. In Atlanta, as many as 80,000 people flooded the streets. In Phoenix, an estimated 100,000 rallied at the Arizona Capitol. 25,000 marched in Madison, Wisconsin. 10,000 in Boston. 8,000 in Omaha, Nebraska. The rallies Monday followed a day of demonstrations in San Diego, Miami, Birmingham, Alabama, Utah, Idaho and Iowa. A rally in Dallas drew half a million people, the largest protest in the city's history. In Washington DC, hundreds of thousands streamed past the White House to a rally on the National Mall. The demonstration took place just yards from the Capitol, where Senators last week failed to reach agreement on wide-ranging immigration reform that would allow the more than 11 million undocumented immigrants living in this country a chance to work here legally and eventually become U.S. citizens. We'll spend the hour looking at the growing immigrant rights movement after headlines.
Remember the summer of protest? That was a good call (by C.I.) and I just can't believe all the activism that's going on. I mean, when I started this site, I was thinking, "Why aren't we doing more?" But we are doing more. I had no idea. This week, I've got to talk to people participating in protests for immigrant rights and with students who are saying no to their campus in so many ways. I got to meet people who are protesting an energy company. . . . Tony had called yesterday evening to find out what's up and I told him I'd call him back but I ended up just chilling with everyone in the living room listening to music.
I'm so exhausted at the end of the day. What it's taught me most of all is that I don't do enough.
C.I. knows everybody. That's what it seems like. I knew C.I. read a lot and all but I had no idea how much went on any day. I get now why no one could throw C.I. when we did the news roundups. By the time something is news, C.I.'s usually already familiar with it. Nina had a blast and all but she was saying, "There's so much to do." She went back with Rebecca on Monday morning and I wish she'd stayed because this weekend it was focused on immigrant rights and the war and there's so much more going on.
I hope Nina's not going to be mad. She got me a pair of the sneakers, hightops, that were made without sweatshop labor and that was back a few months ago. I've walked so much in the last few days, I've almost worn them out. On the inside, I have. Where my heel is, it's like on top of the bottom of the shoe, the sole's worn out.
Besides listening and learning (and me and Wally both said this morning, we are on either side of C.I. because some of this stuff is things we never heard of so C.I. can whisper to us and bring us up to date), we've also got to go sight seeing and that's been pretty cool. Kat goes, "I hate doing the tourist thing" but she showed us some pretty cool places.
Betty's plan was to blog tonight but she's parked in the living room with her kids asleep next to her and she said she was just going to stay there and enjoy talking tonight. If I rush this, it's because I want to get back in there. There's a guy talking about Hugo Chavez and Venezuela and if I didn't want to be called a slacker, I wouldn't be blogging tonight! :D
There is so much going on. Democracy Now! covers so much but I get why Pacifica is so important because there's too much for even a great show like Democracy Now! to handle all of.
Probably older people are reading this going, "Silly college student." Okay, maybe I am. Maybe everybody knew how much was going on in the world. But maybe not. It's supposed to rain tomorrow and can someone tell me where the idea that it never rains in California started? :D
Here's something weird. I told Tony this and he thinks I'm making it up. I'll try to find some link if I can to it because it did happen. A block of ice fell from the sky and hit a park. No one was hurt but it made this huge hole in the ground. It just fell from the sky and no one knows where. It might have come off a plain's gear or wings or something. But it may not have. I am so not making this up. I'll try to have a link for tomorrow's entry.
French Government Backs Down on Unpopular Job Law
In other news, France has scrapped a widely unpopular job law that would have made it easier for employers to fire young workers. French President Jacques Chirac announced the decision following two months of protests attended by millions of people. Student groups and unions hailed the decision as a major victory over a measure they claimed would have only worsened job security in France. Chirac said the measure would be replaced by a new initiative to help disadvantaged young people find work.
See, summer of protest. My poli sci prof was saying during the March protests against the war that we'd be seeing even more and I think so too. I think people woke up and it took Cindy Sheehan and others to wake us up last summer but this is really cool. I mean, the Bully Boy's awful. But it's kind of amazing to live in such an exciting time. Not good, just exciting. Well maybe good because, with the demonstrations here and the ones in France, you are seeing people standing up to governments and saying, "You represent us, we do not follow your orders."
Look what they've done in France and look what's being done here. It's amazing. Ma called this morning and said I better say thank you here to C.I. I know Ma's right but C.I. gets so "Oh don't talk about that" when you start talking like that. So I'll just say thank you.
Me and Jim and Dona are the first ones up because we're still on eastern time. And this morning, we were going through the papers and really hogging them until Dona said, "For God's sake give C.I. the Times!" :D That's fun too, watching the way the entries get pulled together because C.I.'s always on at least one phone. And usually, it's more than one. "Uh-huh-uh," trying to figure out what to write about while someone's calling going, "You got to write about this!" I go much more slowly. (Not tonight! :D) I think about something. Usually ask Nina what she thinks about it and then I start writing. There's no time for that with The Common Ills. C.I.'s ripping through e-mails, juggling phones and going through the paper. Man, the paper is all over the floor at the end. This section and that section.
C.I. had a comma or something in the wrong spot today and Jim is Mr. Stickler on that. I think C.I. forgot a comma. Jim starts pointing that out and Dona goes, "Jim!" Then Jim goes, "Okay."
But really, if you can follow it, you can follow it. The Common Ills is like a live broadcast. C.I.'s rushing to get it done, workout, shower and get on with the day.
At The Third Estate Sunday Review, Jim wants everything perfect and we end up working and working and working. By the middle of session, we just want something up, and, by then, so does Jim. But he loves The Common Ills and would grammer check and spell check every entry (even after it's posted) if C.I. would let him.
But I think I'm going to be able to move a little quicker here because seeing C.I. flip from screen to screen and all makes me realize that I can move a little faster.
I don't know if Cedric's writing tonight, but you gotta read his "Law and Disorder addressed covert racism." Maria loves it and me too. Oh, if that publisher/editor got on your nerves on Democracy Now! today, Maria's kids were booing him. She had to keep telling them to boo quietly or the other classrooms were going to complain. :D Wally goes, "What were they saying?" and she ticked off all the phrases in Spanish and I don't speak it so I was lost. She realized that and goes, "Just think 'tool.'" and I laughed so hard. He really was a tool. Okay, I'm tagging, then getting back to the living room where there's some great music and conversations that are probably way over my head! :D
Be sure to read Elaine's thoughts and stuff at Like Maria Said Paz.
democracy now
the common ills
sex and politics and screeds and attitude
kats korner
mikey likes it
like maria said paz
cedrics big mix
thomas friedman is a great man
the daily jot
Up to 2 Million March in National Day of Action for Immigrant Justice
As many as two million people took to the streets in more than 100 cities and towns across the country on Monday to march for immigrants' rights. Undocumented workers, legal immigrants, labor unions, immigrant rights advocates and their supporters demonstrated in what was billed as the National Day of Action for Immigrant Justice. In New York, more than one thousand demonstrators crossed the Brooklyn Bridge and packed the streets in lower Manhattan for a rally near City Hall. In Atlanta, as many as 80,000 people flooded the streets. In Phoenix, an estimated 100,000 rallied at the Arizona Capitol. 25,000 marched in Madison, Wisconsin. 10,000 in Boston. 8,000 in Omaha, Nebraska. The rallies Monday followed a day of demonstrations in San Diego, Miami, Birmingham, Alabama, Utah, Idaho and Iowa. A rally in Dallas drew half a million people, the largest protest in the city's history. In Washington DC, hundreds of thousands streamed past the White House to a rally on the National Mall. The demonstration took place just yards from the Capitol, where Senators last week failed to reach agreement on wide-ranging immigration reform that would allow the more than 11 million undocumented immigrants living in this country a chance to work here legally and eventually become U.S. citizens. We'll spend the hour looking at the growing immigrant rights movement after headlines.
Remember the summer of protest? That was a good call (by C.I.) and I just can't believe all the activism that's going on. I mean, when I started this site, I was thinking, "Why aren't we doing more?" But we are doing more. I had no idea. This week, I've got to talk to people participating in protests for immigrant rights and with students who are saying no to their campus in so many ways. I got to meet people who are protesting an energy company. . . . Tony had called yesterday evening to find out what's up and I told him I'd call him back but I ended up just chilling with everyone in the living room listening to music.
I'm so exhausted at the end of the day. What it's taught me most of all is that I don't do enough.
C.I. knows everybody. That's what it seems like. I knew C.I. read a lot and all but I had no idea how much went on any day. I get now why no one could throw C.I. when we did the news roundups. By the time something is news, C.I.'s usually already familiar with it. Nina had a blast and all but she was saying, "There's so much to do." She went back with Rebecca on Monday morning and I wish she'd stayed because this weekend it was focused on immigrant rights and the war and there's so much more going on.
I hope Nina's not going to be mad. She got me a pair of the sneakers, hightops, that were made without sweatshop labor and that was back a few months ago. I've walked so much in the last few days, I've almost worn them out. On the inside, I have. Where my heel is, it's like on top of the bottom of the shoe, the sole's worn out.
Besides listening and learning (and me and Wally both said this morning, we are on either side of C.I. because some of this stuff is things we never heard of so C.I. can whisper to us and bring us up to date), we've also got to go sight seeing and that's been pretty cool. Kat goes, "I hate doing the tourist thing" but she showed us some pretty cool places.
Betty's plan was to blog tonight but she's parked in the living room with her kids asleep next to her and she said she was just going to stay there and enjoy talking tonight. If I rush this, it's because I want to get back in there. There's a guy talking about Hugo Chavez and Venezuela and if I didn't want to be called a slacker, I wouldn't be blogging tonight! :D
There is so much going on. Democracy Now! covers so much but I get why Pacifica is so important because there's too much for even a great show like Democracy Now! to handle all of.
Probably older people are reading this going, "Silly college student." Okay, maybe I am. Maybe everybody knew how much was going on in the world. But maybe not. It's supposed to rain tomorrow and can someone tell me where the idea that it never rains in California started? :D
Here's something weird. I told Tony this and he thinks I'm making it up. I'll try to find some link if I can to it because it did happen. A block of ice fell from the sky and hit a park. No one was hurt but it made this huge hole in the ground. It just fell from the sky and no one knows where. It might have come off a plain's gear or wings or something. But it may not have. I am so not making this up. I'll try to have a link for tomorrow's entry.
French Government Backs Down on Unpopular Job Law
In other news, France has scrapped a widely unpopular job law that would have made it easier for employers to fire young workers. French President Jacques Chirac announced the decision following two months of protests attended by millions of people. Student groups and unions hailed the decision as a major victory over a measure they claimed would have only worsened job security in France. Chirac said the measure would be replaced by a new initiative to help disadvantaged young people find work.
See, summer of protest. My poli sci prof was saying during the March protests against the war that we'd be seeing even more and I think so too. I think people woke up and it took Cindy Sheehan and others to wake us up last summer but this is really cool. I mean, the Bully Boy's awful. But it's kind of amazing to live in such an exciting time. Not good, just exciting. Well maybe good because, with the demonstrations here and the ones in France, you are seeing people standing up to governments and saying, "You represent us, we do not follow your orders."
Look what they've done in France and look what's being done here. It's amazing. Ma called this morning and said I better say thank you here to C.I. I know Ma's right but C.I. gets so "Oh don't talk about that" when you start talking like that. So I'll just say thank you.
Me and Jim and Dona are the first ones up because we're still on eastern time. And this morning, we were going through the papers and really hogging them until Dona said, "For God's sake give C.I. the Times!" :D That's fun too, watching the way the entries get pulled together because C.I.'s always on at least one phone. And usually, it's more than one. "Uh-huh-uh," trying to figure out what to write about while someone's calling going, "You got to write about this!" I go much more slowly. (Not tonight! :D) I think about something. Usually ask Nina what she thinks about it and then I start writing. There's no time for that with The Common Ills. C.I.'s ripping through e-mails, juggling phones and going through the paper. Man, the paper is all over the floor at the end. This section and that section.
C.I. had a comma or something in the wrong spot today and Jim is Mr. Stickler on that. I think C.I. forgot a comma. Jim starts pointing that out and Dona goes, "Jim!" Then Jim goes, "Okay."
But really, if you can follow it, you can follow it. The Common Ills is like a live broadcast. C.I.'s rushing to get it done, workout, shower and get on with the day.
At The Third Estate Sunday Review, Jim wants everything perfect and we end up working and working and working. By the middle of session, we just want something up, and, by then, so does Jim. But he loves The Common Ills and would grammer check and spell check every entry (even after it's posted) if C.I. would let him.
But I think I'm going to be able to move a little quicker here because seeing C.I. flip from screen to screen and all makes me realize that I can move a little faster.
I don't know if Cedric's writing tonight, but you gotta read his "Law and Disorder addressed covert racism." Maria loves it and me too. Oh, if that publisher/editor got on your nerves on Democracy Now! today, Maria's kids were booing him. She had to keep telling them to boo quietly or the other classrooms were going to complain. :D Wally goes, "What were they saying?" and she ticked off all the phrases in Spanish and I don't speak it so I was lost. She realized that and goes, "Just think 'tool.'" and I laughed so hard. He really was a tool. Okay, I'm tagging, then getting back to the living room where there's some great music and conversations that are probably way over my head! :D
Be sure to read Elaine's thoughts and stuff at Like Maria Said Paz.
democracy now
the common ills
sex and politics and screeds and attitude
kats korner
mikey likes it
like maria said paz
cedrics big mix
thomas friedman is a great man
the daily jot
Monday, April 10, 2006
Leaky Bully Boy, Immigration and Law and Disorder
Good evening, let's kick things off with Democracy Now!
White House Defends Bush Intelligence Disclosure
The White House has publicly admitted President Bush authorized the disclosure of pre-war intelligence on Iraq. But White House spokesperson Scott McLellan said the disclosure wasn't illegal because information disclosed by the President is considered declassified. Lewis "Scooter" Libby, Vice President Dick Cheney's former chief of staff, has testified that President Bush authorized him to leak a highly classified intelligence document on Iraq to the press in an effort to defend the administration's decision to go to war.
Leaker-in-chief is what John Kerry is calling Bully Boy and let me point that out because that's probably the only kind thing about Kerry you'll find in here. He leaked. He needs to explain himself. He once said he doesn't have to explain to people but people have to explain to him (because he occupies the oval office). He does have to explain. He works for us. And right now we just showed up at our KFC we own to find sh*t smeared over the walls and Bully Boy behind the counter passed out drunk. Start explaining.
Mass Protests Continue Around the US For Immigrant Rights
Hundreds of thousands of people demonstrated in cities across the country Sunday urging Congress to pass legislation that would legalize the estimated 12 million undocumented workers in the US. An estimated 500,000 people took to the streets in Dallas. The marchers filled the downtown streets with chants of "Si Se Puede!" -- Spanish for "Yes, we can!". In St. Paul, Minnesota, 30,000 people rallied at the state capitol. In Birmingham, Alabama, demonstrators marched along the same streets where activists clashed with police in the civil rights struggle of the 1960s. Other protests were held in New Mexico, Michigan, Iowa, Alabama, Utah, Oregon, Idaho and California. Michael Martinez, who attended a rally in San Diego, said: "It's not about flags, it's not really about race. It's about just equal opportunities for everybody and nobody being above or below the law and nobody being exploited by the law. It's that simple." More protests are planned for today in nearly 100 cities across the country.
I'm still California Dreamin' and it's pretty cool. It'll be great to get back home. But I was talking to Elaine about this over the weekend before she went back and I go, "You do get that people here think this is cold." We both laughed at that and thought, "They don't know cold tempartures." But it has been a lot of fun and I really enjoyed meeting up with so many students my age and younger who are going to be heard whether somebody in D.C. wants to hear them or not. They have committment and they have fire. I was really impressed.
Now go check out Like Maria Said Paz to see what Elaine's got to say today.
I was thinking about doing a plus and minus thing on John Kerry's plan (mentioned that last time). Then I read this by C.I.'s "And the war drags on" and felt like the points I had missed the larger point:
One thing that I've noticed about the gasbags refusing to address the issue of withdrawal, they want "a plan." They say, "You don't have a plan." What is "the plan" for self-rule? They don't mean an aid plan, they don't mean anything like that. (Certainly they don't mean helping with reconstruction.) They mean "the plan" by which Iraq's government will operate. "The plan" for that?
How about self-rule. You know, democracy -- the thing we falsely claimed to be "exporting."But that's not what's happened. What's happened is the illegal occupation has imposed rules and conditions. And of course, as always, economic models. Now the people had no say in those, their leaders had no real say. But the administration isn't interested in "liberation" (and never was), it's interested in markets. It's interested in dollars.
I'm not impressed or embarrassed by John Kerry's ten-point plan. It's sort of blah to me. Full of a lot of talks of deadlines (that would be imposed by the United States). It's kind of "jump through these hoops or else" "plan." Iraq will stand or fall according to the wishes, hopes and desires of the Iraqis. They live there, it's their home, they're entitled to self-rule. (As is everyone.) The occupation needs to cease, the troops need to return home. If Kerry's plan does that, fine. But it's a great deal like the IMF in that there are "deadlines." And you'll note the deadlines are for the Iraqis. There's no deadline in there for the occupying power. There's no deadline that states the United States will, for instance, have 35% of the hospitals in Iraq back up to pre-war levels within six months or the United States will leave Iraq. It's a "jump through our hoops, Iraqis" plan to me.
They're occupied and each week brings a new administration-outsourced reconstruction scandal. But the expectations are placed upon Iraqis, not upon the occupying power. Iraqi's didn't bomb their own infrastructure. But there are no expectations for the administration (other than to tell the truth -- which, sadly, does need to be put into Kerry's plan).
If it ends the occupation, great. Anything that ends the illegal occupation is appreciated. But the operating principles continue to be "Iraqis must be do" while they've had no real power under the illegal occupation. Expectations for the occupying power are aims/goals/deadlines that are never thought of.
I hadn't even picked up on that when I read Kerry's plan. But it is right there. It's all about what Iraq must do over the next few months but where's the "America must . . ." sections?
I wish I'd caught it and I'm glad I didn't have time Saturday to write about it because I would've missed that. You know why? I probably wouldn't have thought it because John Kerry is my senator and I keep hoping he'll step up to the plate and probably end up cheering him hoping he'll do more. But that's probably a lost cause.
So let's hop over to Robyn E. Blumner's "Lies Lurk Behind U.S. Terror Policy:"
President Bush once famously stumbled over the phrase "Fool me once, shame on you. Fool me twice, shame on me." It was a Freudian slip. Bush knew just how often he's put one over on the American people. Why rub it in?
Slowly this country has come to the realization that nothing the president and his minions say is believable, yet they still want us to just trust them. There hasn't been a more dangerous combination of incompetence, mendacity and arrogance since Lansford Hastings encouraged the Donner Party to diverge from the Oregon Trail and take his "short-cut."
Bush recently dropped a whopper by telling veteran journalist Helen Thomas that he never wanted to go to war, even as insider memos keep popping up detailing Bush's early intention to attack Iraq. But nowhere has the bald-faced lying been as fierce as in the "war on terror." Here, Bush has raised prevarication to national policy. From the president's disingenuous proclamations that all prisoners are treated "humanely" to the administration's laughable claim that it couldn't disclose the names of those swept into detention after 9/11 because it would violate their right to privacy, there is nothing this crew won't say to avoid accountability.
The prison camp at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, is perhaps America's biggest international black eye and moral morass. We have been told by Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld that only "the worst of the worst" are incarcerated there, when that isn't remotely true.
In an analysis of the Defense Department's court files on 132 of the more than 500 prisoners, the National Journal found that more than half the group were "not accused of taking part in hostilities against the United States" and only eight were found to be tied directly to plans for terror attacks outside of Afghanistan. Oddly, two of those eight men have since been sent to their home governments, where they were released.
Everyone staying silent on the Guantanamo prisoners better grasp that their grandchildren will ask them someday, "How could this happen?" They'll hear about it in school and they'll want to know. Better be prepared for the next question which is "What did you do to help?"
I'm trying to think if Guanantamo is a topic on today's Law and Disorder? Heard the podcast while we were all eating. I remember a guy who was a professor and he is part of the International Endowment for Democracy -- which is a real democracy group, not like the National Endowment for Democracy which is just a psuedo-democracy organization.
Oh, Dalia Hashad was talking about racism at the beginning and I was thinking how I'd pictured her just like my sister because they sound alike. This sister is the only blonde in the family and I just assumed Dalia looked just like her. Dalia thinks it is important to realize that White people (me) don't get the indignaties that a person of color can experience in your average day which sounds right to me. She discussed a thing at a place in Houston and a thing while she was waiting for the Amtrack and how these experiences can really get under your skin and I bet they do. You'd like to think that they were in the past and over but they really aren't. Are they better? I don't know. Cedric said, while we were listening to the interview and eating, that he thinks that a lot of it is the same. That instead of lynching with a rope, they lynch with prisons. Let me stop.
Okay, Cedric's going to write about this at his site. He was saying this afternoon while we were all taking a break that he didn't know what to write about because he was writing about the rallies for the gina & krista round-robin. But while we were listening to Dalia, he had a lot to say so I went over and go, "Hey, you do have something to write about." And reminded him of what he was saying while we were around the table. So check out Cedric's site tonight.
And check out Law and Disorder.
democracy now
the common ills
plamegate
immigration
cedrics big mix
law and disorder
like maria said paz
mikey likes it
White House Defends Bush Intelligence Disclosure
The White House has publicly admitted President Bush authorized the disclosure of pre-war intelligence on Iraq. But White House spokesperson Scott McLellan said the disclosure wasn't illegal because information disclosed by the President is considered declassified. Lewis "Scooter" Libby, Vice President Dick Cheney's former chief of staff, has testified that President Bush authorized him to leak a highly classified intelligence document on Iraq to the press in an effort to defend the administration's decision to go to war.
Leaker-in-chief is what John Kerry is calling Bully Boy and let me point that out because that's probably the only kind thing about Kerry you'll find in here. He leaked. He needs to explain himself. He once said he doesn't have to explain to people but people have to explain to him (because he occupies the oval office). He does have to explain. He works for us. And right now we just showed up at our KFC we own to find sh*t smeared over the walls and Bully Boy behind the counter passed out drunk. Start explaining.
Mass Protests Continue Around the US For Immigrant Rights
Hundreds of thousands of people demonstrated in cities across the country Sunday urging Congress to pass legislation that would legalize the estimated 12 million undocumented workers in the US. An estimated 500,000 people took to the streets in Dallas. The marchers filled the downtown streets with chants of "Si Se Puede!" -- Spanish for "Yes, we can!". In St. Paul, Minnesota, 30,000 people rallied at the state capitol. In Birmingham, Alabama, demonstrators marched along the same streets where activists clashed with police in the civil rights struggle of the 1960s. Other protests were held in New Mexico, Michigan, Iowa, Alabama, Utah, Oregon, Idaho and California. Michael Martinez, who attended a rally in San Diego, said: "It's not about flags, it's not really about race. It's about just equal opportunities for everybody and nobody being above or below the law and nobody being exploited by the law. It's that simple." More protests are planned for today in nearly 100 cities across the country.
I'm still California Dreamin' and it's pretty cool. It'll be great to get back home. But I was talking to Elaine about this over the weekend before she went back and I go, "You do get that people here think this is cold." We both laughed at that and thought, "They don't know cold tempartures." But it has been a lot of fun and I really enjoyed meeting up with so many students my age and younger who are going to be heard whether somebody in D.C. wants to hear them or not. They have committment and they have fire. I was really impressed.
Now go check out Like Maria Said Paz to see what Elaine's got to say today.
I was thinking about doing a plus and minus thing on John Kerry's plan (mentioned that last time). Then I read this by C.I.'s "And the war drags on" and felt like the points I had missed the larger point:
One thing that I've noticed about the gasbags refusing to address the issue of withdrawal, they want "a plan." They say, "You don't have a plan." What is "the plan" for self-rule? They don't mean an aid plan, they don't mean anything like that. (Certainly they don't mean helping with reconstruction.) They mean "the plan" by which Iraq's government will operate. "The plan" for that?
How about self-rule. You know, democracy -- the thing we falsely claimed to be "exporting."But that's not what's happened. What's happened is the illegal occupation has imposed rules and conditions. And of course, as always, economic models. Now the people had no say in those, their leaders had no real say. But the administration isn't interested in "liberation" (and never was), it's interested in markets. It's interested in dollars.
I'm not impressed or embarrassed by John Kerry's ten-point plan. It's sort of blah to me. Full of a lot of talks of deadlines (that would be imposed by the United States). It's kind of "jump through these hoops or else" "plan." Iraq will stand or fall according to the wishes, hopes and desires of the Iraqis. They live there, it's their home, they're entitled to self-rule. (As is everyone.) The occupation needs to cease, the troops need to return home. If Kerry's plan does that, fine. But it's a great deal like the IMF in that there are "deadlines." And you'll note the deadlines are for the Iraqis. There's no deadline in there for the occupying power. There's no deadline that states the United States will, for instance, have 35% of the hospitals in Iraq back up to pre-war levels within six months or the United States will leave Iraq. It's a "jump through our hoops, Iraqis" plan to me.
They're occupied and each week brings a new administration-outsourced reconstruction scandal. But the expectations are placed upon Iraqis, not upon the occupying power. Iraqi's didn't bomb their own infrastructure. But there are no expectations for the administration (other than to tell the truth -- which, sadly, does need to be put into Kerry's plan).
If it ends the occupation, great. Anything that ends the illegal occupation is appreciated. But the operating principles continue to be "Iraqis must be do" while they've had no real power under the illegal occupation. Expectations for the occupying power are aims/goals/deadlines that are never thought of.
I hadn't even picked up on that when I read Kerry's plan. But it is right there. It's all about what Iraq must do over the next few months but where's the "America must . . ." sections?
I wish I'd caught it and I'm glad I didn't have time Saturday to write about it because I would've missed that. You know why? I probably wouldn't have thought it because John Kerry is my senator and I keep hoping he'll step up to the plate and probably end up cheering him hoping he'll do more. But that's probably a lost cause.
So let's hop over to Robyn E. Blumner's "Lies Lurk Behind U.S. Terror Policy:"
President Bush once famously stumbled over the phrase "Fool me once, shame on you. Fool me twice, shame on me." It was a Freudian slip. Bush knew just how often he's put one over on the American people. Why rub it in?
Slowly this country has come to the realization that nothing the president and his minions say is believable, yet they still want us to just trust them. There hasn't been a more dangerous combination of incompetence, mendacity and arrogance since Lansford Hastings encouraged the Donner Party to diverge from the Oregon Trail and take his "short-cut."
Bush recently dropped a whopper by telling veteran journalist Helen Thomas that he never wanted to go to war, even as insider memos keep popping up detailing Bush's early intention to attack Iraq. But nowhere has the bald-faced lying been as fierce as in the "war on terror." Here, Bush has raised prevarication to national policy. From the president's disingenuous proclamations that all prisoners are treated "humanely" to the administration's laughable claim that it couldn't disclose the names of those swept into detention after 9/11 because it would violate their right to privacy, there is nothing this crew won't say to avoid accountability.
The prison camp at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, is perhaps America's biggest international black eye and moral morass. We have been told by Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld that only "the worst of the worst" are incarcerated there, when that isn't remotely true.
In an analysis of the Defense Department's court files on 132 of the more than 500 prisoners, the National Journal found that more than half the group were "not accused of taking part in hostilities against the United States" and only eight were found to be tied directly to plans for terror attacks outside of Afghanistan. Oddly, two of those eight men have since been sent to their home governments, where they were released.
Everyone staying silent on the Guantanamo prisoners better grasp that their grandchildren will ask them someday, "How could this happen?" They'll hear about it in school and they'll want to know. Better be prepared for the next question which is "What did you do to help?"
I'm trying to think if Guanantamo is a topic on today's Law and Disorder? Heard the podcast while we were all eating. I remember a guy who was a professor and he is part of the International Endowment for Democracy -- which is a real democracy group, not like the National Endowment for Democracy which is just a psuedo-democracy organization.
Oh, Dalia Hashad was talking about racism at the beginning and I was thinking how I'd pictured her just like my sister because they sound alike. This sister is the only blonde in the family and I just assumed Dalia looked just like her. Dalia thinks it is important to realize that White people (me) don't get the indignaties that a person of color can experience in your average day which sounds right to me. She discussed a thing at a place in Houston and a thing while she was waiting for the Amtrack and how these experiences can really get under your skin and I bet they do. You'd like to think that they were in the past and over but they really aren't. Are they better? I don't know. Cedric said, while we were listening to the interview and eating, that he thinks that a lot of it is the same. That instead of lynching with a rope, they lynch with prisons. Let me stop.
Okay, Cedric's going to write about this at his site. He was saying this afternoon while we were all taking a break that he didn't know what to write about because he was writing about the rallies for the gina & krista round-robin. But while we were listening to Dalia, he had a lot to say so I went over and go, "Hey, you do have something to write about." And reminded him of what he was saying while we were around the table. So check out Cedric's site tonight.
And check out Law and Disorder.
democracy now
the common ills
plamegate
immigration
cedrics big mix
law and disorder
like maria said paz
mikey likes it
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