Blogging backlog

Been preoccupied with midterms and pitching a story to Free Speech...now to imporantant blogging business.

Follow-up:

-Posada faces deportation, after 2 months of being in the U.S. without government action...the question is whether he'll be sent to Venezuela to face murder charges in connection with the downing of a Cuban airliner. The administration is between a rock and a hard place--concede to Chavez and Castro's wishes, or violate its own policy and harbor a terrorist.

-Senate Democrats charge that Bolton perjured himself, lying about seeking George Tenet's help to discipline a dissenting intelligence officer. Have any democrats pointed out that as UN Ambassador, Bolton, with his petulance and recklessness, would be a threat to national security? Security is an idea that's been co-opted by the right, but for all their talk, security is subverted by hardliner ideology and poor policy and funding.

As for the Newsweek scandal--

FAIR points out:

"Newsweek was right to retract the Quran story--mainly because the magazine claimed to have 'sources' for the information, when Newsweek's subsequent descriptions of how it acquired the story mention only a single source. But it's far from clear that Newsweek's source was inaccurate in saying that U.S. investigators had uncovered abuse of a Quran in the course of a recent investigation; similar allegations have repeatedly been made by former Guantanamo prisoners."

Why denounce government policy that perpetuates an illegal war and human rights violations when you can attack the "liberal media"?

from Alternet:

"It's part of the tried-and-true strategy of demonize, disguise, and divert. Demonize the news media to disguise the real causes of the resistance to occupation and divert attention from failed U.S. policies. The irony is that the U.S. corporate news media deserve harsh criticism for coverage of the U.S. wars in Afghanistan and Iraq -- not for possibly getting one fact wrong, but for failing to consistently challenge the illegality of both wars and the various distortions and lies that the Bush administration has used to mobilize support for those illegal wars."

Emphasis on this one incident ignores that broader reality that the riots were more in protest of the U.S. occupation in general, than the specific Koran desecration:

"The frustration with U.S. policy that fuels these demonstrations isn't limited to the Koran incident, and to reduce the unrest to one magazine story is misleading. Indeed, Gen. Richard Myers, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, said at a news conference last week that the senior commander in Afghanistan, Army Gen. Carl Eichenberry, reported that the violence 'was not at all tied to the article in the magazine.'"

So I'm sitting listening to panelists at UCSB's 2nd annual Afrogeeks conference, and a speaker just referred us to blogger La Shawn Barber (she's been endorsed by Michelle Malkin, so you know where she's coming from). She puts in her two cents on the defiling of the Koran, noting "why Islam is disrespected" and self-righteously touting the Christian notion that "the words of the Bible are written in the hearts of the believers" and that to have any other belief is absurd:

"Physical objects are not to revered or worshiped, and they hold no 'sacred' power. Islam obviously teaches something entirely different. I think it’s ridiculous for the United States to cater to prisoners of war in this way, no matter what their religion."

Nevermind the fact that many of these prisoners are held without being charged, and without the chance for a fair trial. And even if they are guilty, torture and disregard for cultural sensitivities are still unacceptable and must stop, at the very least out of concern for the U.S. reputation and future of diplomatic relations, if not out of decency and respect for human dignity.

Freedom of the press conference

Bill Moyers delivered a great speech at the 2005 National Conference on Media Reform in St. Louis over the weekend. The former PBS host of NOW lambasted Corporation for Public Broadcasting chairman Kenneth Tomlinson for his partisan crusade to impose right-wing politics on PBS programming, a campaign that included his hiring a consultant to monitor Moyers' show for "liberal bias." Moyers has challenged Tomlinson to a televised debate on the direction of public broadcasting.

Free Press has gathered 50,000 signatures so far this month to demand Tomlinson's resignation.

"The more compelling our journalism, the angrier the radical right of the Republican Party gets," Moyers said. "That's because the one thing they loathe more than liberals is the truth. And the quickest way to be damned by them as liberal is to tell the truth."

Listen to his speech here or watch it here (both may be slow). You can also listen to Democracy Now!'s coverage of the conference and Moyers' closing speech.

Novak wusses out

Eric Alterman was scheduled to debate Bob Novak on media bias next week at UCSB...I was excited to see Novak get his ass handed to him, but in typical cowardly form, he cancelled.

Alterman called him out in this article in The Nation. Here's his statement:

"I very much regret Robert Novak’s decision to withdraw from the Arthur N. Rupe Great Debate scheduled for May 25 at UC Santa Barbara. I had looked forward to debating the important question of media bias, as well as the implications for that issue raised by Mr. Novak’s journalistic and ethical transgressions that have made him as much a “story” as a reporter. Until now, Mr. Novak has managed to avoid being asked to answer for these transgressions, either by his employers, CNN and The Washington Post, or by other journalists. No reporter from either of these allegedly liberal media institutions has yet pressed Mr. Novak to explain his role in a probe that may see two journalists jailed. Nor has Mr. Novak been pressed to explain why he would play patsy to anonymous Bush administration officials in their attempt to destroy the reputations of two loyal and patriotic public servants -- an attempt that may have endangered national security and involved the commission of a crime. If Mr. Novak withdrew from this debate because he feared the consequences of being asked to defend his journalistic ethics in a public forum, then he made a wise decision. It is ironic, however, that someone so willing to fling unsubstantiated charges appears to lack either the courage or the sense of personal honor to answer the questions he has inspired among so many of us in the profession. I also very much regret that Mr. Novak's apparent capriciousness will cause the hard work done by so many at the University of California at Santa Barbara to go to waste."

Novak has really shown his true colors. He's mastered spitting partisan lies on his own turf, but when it comes to a hard hitting, important debate outside Crossfire, he's got nothin. It's too bad, would've been entertaining to watch him go on the defensive.

Stop Bolton!

Especially you, AK, ME, NE, OH, and RI.

http://stopbolton.org/activist/

"Fall into the funding Gap"

Did some press coverage downtown today for a protest against the Gap that my friend Elia helped organize. The Gap's corporate social responsibility record is tarnished, but improving--an LATimes article back in January cited Gap as being "a leader in the small but growing corporate movement to improve conditions for some of the world's most exploited workers." So what's our beef? The Gap's founder, Don Fisher, is a big Schwarzenegger campaign contributor. Doesn't seem right that a company that targets young people should be donating funds to a politician who leaves schools penniless.

I'd had my doubts about how impactful a small rally convincing a handful of people to boycott a huge corporation could really be. But on the way downtown, I was driving behind a truck that looked like it was owned by the Postal Service, bearing the most despicable, hate-filled banner masquerading as "patriotism" that I've seen yet--"Revenge is very sweet" emblazoned under an American flag. Disgusted, I felt a renewed sense of determination to do anything in my power to defeat that ignorant mentality and the politicians who perpetuate it.

The activist spirit was reenergized when I arrived on State St, and watched a pair of girls push through the gathering crowd. They could've been Ashlee Simpson and Paris Hilton, a couple of fake-baked cookie-cutter princesses who turned their noses up at us, responding to our signs with an indignant "ugh, what's wrong with the Gap?" only to wave away attempts at explanation as they continued their shopping trip. That's why we were on the street--to be visible to people that otherwise wouldn't give a rat's ass, to defeat the kind of indifference and apathy that has made it so easy for Americans to be blindly led. As David Krieger of the Nuclear Age Peace Foundation put it before my class today, "silence is a sin." We take action how we can, and if it means going after campaign contributors to weaken an irresponsible governor's base and ultimately restore good progressive governance, we do it.

Now, what to do with that underwear I bought from the Gap...perhaps send them to the governor's mansion? I'm betting that's where part of the money I used to purchase them went anyway--Fisher's given Ahnold a quarter mil. Ehh, on second thought, that might tickle the Gropeinator's fancy a bit too much...

Neuroscience of sexuality

A Swedish study shows women and gay men have the same physiological response to male pheromones, suggesting that sexual preference is more nature than nurture.

"The different pattern of activity that Dr. Savic sees in the brains of gay men could be either a cause of their sexual orientation or an effect of it. If sexual orientation has a genetic cause, or is influenced by hormones in the womb or at puberty, then the neurons in the hypothalamus could wire themselves up in a way that permanently shapes which sex a person is attracted to."

Posada saga continues

Another plug for the prof. From Democracy Now!:

"...but we first turn to the reporter who interviewed Posada for the New York Times in 1998 - Ann Louise Bardach. At the time, she didn't say where he was hiding out. It was Aruba. We reached her last night at her home in Santa Barbara where she is a professor at the University of California Santa Barbara. She is a columnist for online magazine Slate and the author of 'Cuba Exile.' She talked about what Posada admitted to her and why he chose to speak out."

Hopefully our class will get the inside scoop next week after some of this blows over...

UPDATE: Common Dreams weighs in on Posada's potential to embarrass the White House.

A mother’s day for peace.

Mother's Day means more than just flowers for its founder, Julia Ward Howe. From Democracy Now!:

"Howe was very interested by the time she got to the 1870s in the Women's Movement, the Women’s Suffrage Movement, in particular, and the Franco-Prussian War – it’s not a war that most Americans or probably even most Europeans think too much about. But in 1870, she looked at this war and she began asking herself, you know, why is it that nations do this to one another, and in particular, she began thinking about what might be possible for women to do on behalf of humanity. And women in this day and age were supposed to be confined to the home. They weren't supposed to be out making speeches or working for political change. And Howe really wanted to find a way for women to express what she thought was an innate nature of love for God and love for humans. She thought that being a mother really was a powerful experience and that after having been a mother, no one could willingly see their sons go off to war to be slaughtered, so she began to organize on behalf of women for peace, basically. And again, her theory was men just seem to be innately aggressive, and the only hope for civilization is for women to speak a different kind of voice. So, she held peace conferences both in the United States and in Britain, and by 1872, she began proclaiming that June 2 every year would be a Mother's Day for Peace. And so, Mother's Day originally was not a day when dad cooked and you went to church, and the ladies got applause and everything. It was really a day for women to come together and to call men and the world to see the necessity for living in peace, rather than giving into the ravages and aggressions of war. So, yeah, Mother's Day is really a day of activism." -Valarie Ziegler, author of Diva Julia: The Public Romance and Private Agony of Julia Ward Howe

Watch a short movie that speaks to Howe's call for peace (via CodePink).

The smoking gun

...it's a memo, not a mushroom cloud. A top secret memo to newly re-elected British Prime Minister Tony Blair made it clear that Bush was set on invading almost a year before bombs were dropped, long before there was intelligence to suggest necessary action:

"The Foreign Secretary said he would discuss this with Colin Powell this week. It seemed clear that Bush had made up his mind to take military action, even if the timing was not yet decided. But the case was thin. Saddam was not threatening his neighbours, and his WMD capability was less than that of Libya, North Korea or Iran. We should work up a plan for an ultimatum to Saddam to allow back in the UN weapons inspectors. This would also help with the legal justification for the use of force."

Two countries, two liars re-elected.

UPDATE: FAIR implicates the MSM for its standard inattention to stories like this that indict the administration.

UPDATE 2: CNN picks up the story at last...

Disarmament--it's not rocket science

Peace activists rallied outside the UN in NY earlier this week at the start of a monthlong convention to conduct a scheduled review of the Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty.

Long time disarmament advocate Dr. Helen Caldicott:

"Let's for God's sake talk about the real moral issues of our time," she said. "Not stem cell research, gay marriage or abortion. Let's talk about whether or not the whole of the world survives, life on the planet survives."

Amen.

In the tradition of his oreo cookie military spending math, Ben (of Ben & Jerry and TrueMajority) gives an astounding visual of U.S. nuclear weapons stockpiles. Watch the 90 second movie here.

UPDATE: Robert McNamara's piece from Foreign Policy, "Apocalypse Soon"

"When the president talks to God"

Bright Eyes was a guest on The Tonight Show earlier this week--this ain't your typical fluffy boy band Leno performance. Watch the video here. (courtesy of Nico)

"When the President Talks to God"

When the president talks to God
Are the conversations brief or long?
Does he ask to rape our women's' rights
And send poor farm kids off to die?
Does God suggest an oil hike
When the president talks to God?
When the president talks to God
Are the consonants all hard or soft?
Is he resolute all down the line?
Is every issue black or white?
Does what God say ever change his mind
When the president talks to God?
When the president talks to God
Does he fake that drawl or merely nod?
Agree which convicts should be killed?
Where prisons should be built and filled?
Which voter fraud must be concealed
When the president talks to God?
When the president talks to God
I wonder which one plays the better cop
We should find some jobs. the ghetto's broke
No, they're lazy, George, I say we don't
Just give 'em more liquor stores and dirty coke
That's what God recommends
When the president talks to God
Do they drink near beer and go play golf
While they pick which countries to invade
Which Muslim souls still can be saved?
I guess god just calls a spade a spade
When the president talks to God
When the president talks to God
Does he ever think that maybe he's not?
That that voice is just inside his head
When he kneels next to the presidential bed
Does he ever smell his own bullshit
When the president talks to God?
I doubt it
I doubt it.

from Kos and AlterNet

Media panel

Had another guest speaker in global journalism on Monday--freelance writer and "global soul" Pico Iyer. As someone who has written and traveled so extensively, his insight and optimismon the direction of globalization were encouraging. He views global integration and adaptation less as a form of cultural imperialism and more as an opportunity to engender understanding between disparate cultures...all well and good, assuming the integration isn't unilaterally and militarily rammed down people's throats.

Next up:

"Media Ownership and Media Bias: A Crisis in the Newsroom"

Saturday, May 7th 3pm
The Lobero Theater, 33 E. Canon Perdido St. in SB

Journalistand Professor Anne Louise Bardach of The Media Project at UCSB will moderatea discussion between Lionel Barber of Financial Times, New York Times Editor Bill Keller, Jacob Weisberg of Slate, and blogger Virginia Postrel.

Here's what Keller has to say about blogging:

"While he celebrated the blogger’s ability to uncover breaking news, he noted that a blog’s inherent bias might be detrimental to the reader. 'A blog is still a view of the world through a pinhole,' he said, noting that it can sometimes fall as low as being a 'one man circle jerk.'"

And the MSM doesn't do its share of intellectual masturbation?

Speaking of crisis in the newsroom--you've probably read about the chairman of the Corporation for Public Broadcasting's attempts to silence independent voices on PBS by monitoring programming for dissenting opinions. Join Free Press and tell him that partisan media influence won't be tolerated.

Seems to be a right wing coup at the CPB. From AlterNet:

"Mitchellwent on the record, telling The New York Times 'I do think there have been instances of attempts to influence content from a political perspective tha tI do not consider appropriate.'

"Among the attempts cited by the Times: the hidden hiring of a consultant by CPB Board Chairman Ken Tomlinson to 'review' the content of 'NOW with Bill Moyers'; Tomlinson's assistance inlining up $5 million in corporate financing and subsequent PBS distribution of 'The Journal Editorial Report,' the weekly chat show featuring members of the conservative editorial board of the Wall Street Journal; his penchant for involving the White House in matters ranging from legislation affecting the CPB board to addressing concerns about 'objectivity and balance;' all the way to remarks at a 'fun occasion' -- a post-election meeting last November-- when Tomlinson told PBS officials, including Mitchell, that they ought to make sure their programming better reflected the Republican 'mandate.'"

This organization is made possible by a grant from the federal government, the republican noise machine, and by support from viewers like you.

Anti-military recruitment campaign picking up speed

With recruitment levels falling short for the third month in a row, Joint Chiefs of Staff Chairman General Richard Myers has told Congress that the military is on the verge of being dangerously overextended. Recruiters on campuses are getting desperate, suggesting unethical strategies to students who would otherwise be ineligible to join the army.

The battle over military presence on campuses has now reached the Supreme Court, with the justices agreeing Monday to hear a case that will decide whether the military can recruit at federally funded colleges and universities.

Joining students from universities around the country, activists from the Student Commission on Racial Equality and the LGBT Resource Center at UCSB have been embroiled in a battle to get the military off campus. The military’s “don’t ask, don’t tell” policy is inconsistent with UC principles of non-discrimination, and the Academic Senate has proposed a resolution that will bar recruiters from UCSB. Read their editorial in today's Santa Barbara News Press:

"The military's 'don't ask don't tell' policy forces a person to suppress and hide her/his identity. Why is an institution of higher education allowing this discriminatory agency to recruit on its campus? UCSB's own nondiscrimination policy states: 'It is the policy of the University not to engage in discrimination against or harassment of any person employed or seeking employment with the University of California on the basis of race, color, national origin, sexual orientation, citizenship, or status as a covered veteran.' This policy must extend to anyone who steps onto campus. Should not UCSB enforce this policy where military recruiting is concerned?"

A town hall meeting on campus military presence will be held today at 3:30 pm in the McCune conference room on the 6th floor of the Humanities and Social Sciences building. The meeting’s outcome is expected to impact voting on the resolution.

First Lady-o-Laughs

Bush's landscaping technique unsurprisingly consistent with his foreign policy:

"George's answer to any problem at the ranch is to cut it down with a chain saw, which, I think, is why he and Cheney and Rumsfeld get along so well." -Laura Bush

Blogging the blogger

Slate writer and self-proclaimed "self-hating democrat" Mickey Kaus paid UCSB a visit on Monday, giving an introduction to blogging in my global journalism class. Kaus was introduced as a pioneer in the field, and the #1 blogger (which I'm not even sure you could quantify, but just going by hits I'd say it's Kos, not Kaus, by a landslide--roughly 400,000/day!).

I was pretty skeptical about what he had to say...I wanted to know what his deal was, you couldn't be too sure just from reading KausFiles on Slate (though I found he generally seems to come down on the right, rather than the left side of the fence). Someone at DailyKos addressed him as "uber-hack." I couldn't really say if this was the case, so I waited to see if he might suggest it himself.

He commented that the "media concentration issue is dead," (I beg to differ, media is still contracting), and that in spite of the largest blogs being liberal, conservative blogs in the ratings tail (that receive no traffic, mind you) dominate the blogosphere. A study from MyDD shows they do not, though if they did, it'd be through unreasoned attacks and insults (in spite of what Kaus said about lefty blogs being more extreme). Kaus reasoned that there must be more conservative blogs because embattled conservatives feel there's a need to counteract the liberal media bias propogated by CNN and the NYT (@#%$*&!!!). Funny, there seems to be some collusion between the MSM and blogs, (on CNN, that bastion of liberal power, no less!) but not surprisingly, neither the MSM outlets, nor the blogs they feature, are liberal.

Oh, and Kaus also made a quip about terrorist blogs and the Dean internet movement. After saying them in almost the same breath, he noted that he should be careful not to draw any parallels between the two...har. He actually quoted Rush Limbaugh during the talk, so perhaps that's the source of his material.

My guess is he was probably right in saying that there isn't really a place for "wishy washy centrists" like himself in the blogosphere (though truth be told Kaus is probably only a bit more fair and balanced than Fox). From the Centrist Coalition blog--"what really bugs me is, they're ignoring the center again. Say something about us. Bash us! We exist."

You have no choice.

From the NYTimes:

"The House passed a bill on Wednesday making it a federal crime for any adult to transport an under-age girl across state lines to have an abortion without the consent of her parents."

Representatve Nita Lowey of NY on the decision:

"'Under this legislation, those who feel they cannot turn to their parents when facing an unintended pregnancy will be forced to fend for themselves without any help from a responsible adult. Some will seek unsafe abortions close to home. Others will travel to unfamiliar places seeking abortions by themselves.'"

This, combined with a parental notification initiative penned for the California special election ballot places girls living in abusive households in an ever more precarious position. Sure, it'd be nice if everyone had a communicative, loving relationship with their parents, and could involve them in such a difficult decision. But there must be provisions for those who can't, and this cannot be made a judge's decision...if a girl feels shamed, what makes people think she would be comfortable discussing her situation in court? Why don't we protect the lives and well-being of the women and girls we have before we consider the potential life she might be forced to bring into the world?

Shiney happy people

UCSB's Storke Plaza had a special visitor yesterday--a chubby, pleasant old man with a white handlebar mustache...no, not Santa. Not John Bolton, either. It was none other than Santa Barbara's very own card carrying--er, 6ft tall sign carrying homophobic Christian zealot! Yay!!! All the kiddies gathered around born again street preacher Paul Johnson as he spouted off about sodomy, androgyny and how us "women all look like men." Apparently we'll all be spending eternity in hell for attending UCSB instead of a REAL institution like Bob Jones University. Too bad the old man only dug himself deeper the more he smited us with his righteous sign (propped up in a gun holster, imagine that)--his presence alone galvanized activists and inadvertently furthered the Queer Student Union's cause, by bolstering Queer Pride week activities.

These street preachers have a rich tradition, always raining their hellfire and damnation anywhere there is heathen tolerance and pagan pride. Take my favorite Market St. staple--Mr. "No Sloppy Seconds." Reverend Owens Diaz brandishes signs that say "No unlawful sex" and chants such catchy slogans as "Sex only between a virgin woman and a virgin man. No leftovers. Sex outside of marriage makes the woman a whore and the man a whoremonger." Reverend, what exactly are leftovers? What, no doggy bag? Reminds me of one of Margaret Cho's jokes...but I won't get into it, my parents read this thing.

Anyone interested in putting down the signs and engaging in a civil dialogue about what Jesus really WOULD do?? Bill Maher via Kos:

"I don't believe in the Christianity that says one thing and then goes and kills innocent people and tries to rob women of their fundamental human right to control their reproductive lives, or deny people of the same sex their right to be married and have relationships and is judgmental and narrow-minded, and angry and vengeful. That is not the Jesus Christ that I believe in."
--Jane Fonda

"There are some people out there who are Christians...who believe that homosexuality is a sin. You know what? I'm a Christian. I do believe that it's a sin. You know what else? I believe divorce is a sin. Guess what? I've been divorced. Guess what? Jesus talks about divorce a lot more than he talks about homosexuality. I don't know why people obsess over it so much, but they do. Wait a second, I do know why they obsess over it. Because they get votes bashing gays."
--Joe Scarborough (wha-wha-what?!)

Some have signs, others have blogs. To each his own...as long as you're not imposing your beliefs on anyone by waving around obnoxious signs. Wait...


"Sinners!!! Blaaaaaaaaaarg"
(...well yea, this is UCSB forcryingoutloud.)

picture from the Nexus

Senate nuclear nonproliferation

Textbook definitions from The Daily Show's America (with just a hint of sarcasm in the first one):

1. A judicial activist sees the Constitution as a living document that can be adapted and re-interpreted to protect the needs of a changing society, such as "marriage between sodomites" and "impulse abortions."

2. A strict constructionist interprets the Constitution according to the language and original intent of the text at the time of its writing, in much the same way as a fundamentalist views the Bible. Fortunately for strict constructionists, they have been endowed by God with the superhuman gift of being able to read the minds of people who died 200 years ago. Naturally, they use this power only for good.

Just the kind of judges we would want--those who subvert reason for religious convictions and blind faith in the immutability of a document. You're right, no need for the filibuster. But wait...what's this? The majority of Americans want to protect the Senate's ability to block the nomination of unfit judges like Whitey "what civil rights?" McRacist (::cough:: Pickering ::cough::) and the Honorable Oliver Wendell Homophobe (no relation to the justice who ruled that shouting fire in a theater isn't protected under the first ammendment...you can learn that one from America too). According to the WaPo ABC News poll:

"By a 2 to 1 ratio, the public rejected easing Senate rules in a way that would make it harder for Democratic senators to prevent final action on Bush's nominees. Even many Republicans were reluctant to abandon current Senate confirmation procedures: Nearly half opposed any rule changes, joining eight in 10 Democrats and seven in 10 political independents, the poll found."

So why are Democrats acquiescing?

"Minority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) and Minority Whip Richard J. Durbin (D-Ill.) said that under such a deal, Democrats would allow a vote on some of President Bush's seven controversial nominees to the federal bench, while others would be withdrawn by the White House. "

C'mon, Bush has still got his recess appointments! No need to give in here, right? But as Kos points out, Reid is actually painting Dems as flexible and concilliatory with his proposal, making Frist and the Republicans look like the stubborn stalwarts they are for not agreeing to compromise. We may yet win this one.

Oy gevalt!

I'm feeling a little verklempt on this matzah-less Passover...some matzah rap is definitely in order.

Et tu, Dean?

As the cost of the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan rises to nearly $300 billion, and a report says there are more terrorists today than ever before, Howard Dean comes out in support of keeping troops in Iraq.

From Democracy Now!

"The chair of the Democratic National Committee Howard Dean has come out in support of President Bush"s current Iraq policy. In a speech earlier this week in Minnesota, Dean said, 'The president has created an enormous security problem for the United States where none existed before. But I hope the president is incredibly successful with his policy now that he's there.' Dean said a US pullout could endanger the United States in three ways: By leaving a Shiite theocracy worse than that in Iran; by creating an independent Kurdistan in the north, with destabilizing effects on neighboring Kurdish regions of Turkey, Iran and Syria, and by making the so-called Sunni Triangle a magnet for what Dean called Islamic terrorists similar to the former Taliban-ruled Afghanistan. Dean was portrayed as an antiwar candidate in the media during the 2004 presidential race."

Alright, so he's not for the war, but he's not calling for a timetable for withdrawal.

Dean's fears of a Shiite theocracy are shared by Noam Chomsky:

"The first thing they'll do is reestablish relations with Iran...The next thing that might happen is that a Shiite-controlled, more or less democratic Iraq might stir up feelings in the Shiite areas of Saudi Arabia, which happen to be right nearby and which happen to be where all the oil is. So you might find what in Washington must be the ultimate nightmare-a Shiite region which controls most of the world's oil and is independent."

So what's the solution? Before the elections in January, Ted Kennedy weighed the options:

"President Bush has left us with few good choices. There are costs to staying, and costs to leaving. There may well be violence as we disengage militarily from Iraq and Iraq disengages politically from us, but there will be much more violence if we continue our present dangerous and destabilizing course. It will not be easy to extricate ourselves from Iraq, but we must begin."

UPDATE: Dennis Kucinich writes an open letter to Dean for The Nation:

"We can draw no clearer distinction with the President than over this war. He cannot right a wrong (unjustified war) by perpetuating a military occupation. Military victory there is not possible. General Tommy Franks concedes that. The war will end when we say it's over. The Democratic leadership should be pressing for quick withdrawal of all troops from Iraq."

"Who ever heard of a good piece of elephant?"

I've been recovering the last couple days from my weekend adventure to the California State Democratic Party's Convention in LA. Dems are recovering from November's defeat, but they're still struggling to come up with a coherent vision and message for the party. There was a lot of pontificating and preaching to the choir (fitting for all this Pope talk) and really little evidence of solid, effective strategies for winning elections. They've gotta learn to be bold and have some conviction.

Dean spoke at a dinner on Saturday--in keeping with George Lakoff's Don't Think of an Elephant, he talked about how people vote their values, with their hearts rather than their heads, and that Democrats need a positive agenda--but this is not to say they need to change their core values and go further right. Dean said Democrat ideals are moral values--this is true, progressives value peace, taking care of their families and their neighbors, protecting the earth, caring for the sick and the disempowered...I just wince whenever I hear "moral values," not because I'm a godless heathen as conservatives would charge, but because it's such a loaded abstract term, and it's disappointing that we're still on that kick from the election when everyone decided to make a bad poll the authority on what's important to voters.

Dean did say something that caught my attention, a strong message that effectively sums up the difference between liberals and conservatives on domestic policy: it's a "question of whether we are responsible for one another as a community or not," whether policies are inclusive and honest, or divisive and deceptive. The message is sac up, Democrats. The party of fiscal irresponbility and lies needs to be called on the carpet for its deeds.

And speaking of lies, House Majority leader Tom DeLay also had a busy weekend, as keynote speaker at a convention of another kind...The National Rifle Association's annual get together. Everyone's probably already heard this, but his quote is worth repeating:

"When a man is in trouble or in a good fight, you want to have your friends around, preferably armed. So I feel really good."

Excellent. Nukes in the Senate, and gun toting crazies in the House. Yeehaw!

Cuban militant seeks asylum in U.S.

Former CIA operative Luis Posada Carriles, a Cuban exile who's spent the last 4 decades trying to violently overthrow Fidel Castro, is seeking to enter the U.S. Posada went to prison for his involvement in the downing of a commercial airplane which left 74 dead, and in the bombings of Cuban tourist destinations, attacks which were aimed to destabilize the Cuban economy and spark revolution.

After his last arrest around the time of the 2000 presidential elections, a man with links to Posada told investigative journalist (and UCSB professor) Ann Louise Bardach that Posada and others were relying on the election of George W. Bush so they'd be released from jail. They knew Bush would help them because Papa Bush had been so kind to them and the other Contras when he was head of the CIA in the late 70s. Don't think Posada would be feeling so welcome had Bush not won, with the help of his fellow exiles in Florida.

Ann Louise Bardach is the foremost expert reporter on Cuba, and having had exclusive interviews with Castro and Posada, she's got the scoop on this story. Should be interesting to see whether the administration will bow to the radical Cuban exile population that helped get Bush elected, and grant amnesty to a criminal. Between Elian Gonzalez, the 2000 elections, Terri Schiavo, and now this, Florida has a rich history of scandals...and the Bush dynasty has always been at the helm.

Bardach charts this history in Cuba Confidential, which I've been reading for the global journalism course she teaches...it's an interesting read, with complete background on U.S./Cuban diplomacy (or lack thereof). One thing stuck with me--NSA official James Bamford's disclosure of the Operation Northwoods, a diabolical plot aimed at legitimating a full U.S. invasion of Cuba following the Bay of Pigs disaster:

"The plan called for innocent people to be shot on American streets; for boats fleeing Cuba to be sunk on the high seas; for a wave of violent terrorism to be launched in Washington, D.C., Miami, and elsewhere. People would be framed for bombings they did not commit, planes would be hijacked. Using phony evidence, all of it would be blamed on Fidel Castro, thus giving [Cold Warriors] the excuse to launch their war."

I defy even the most batshit insane conspiracy theorist to come up with that one. Can you put anything past these hawks?

UPDATE: Ann Louise Bardach on NPR

UPDATE 2: Bardach's Washington Post article on Posada, which Castro read on TV (not her intention)...now she's got a number of administration hawks like Otto Reich, White House envoy for the Western Hemisphere, who want her head. Here's what Bardach had to say on Reich's controversial nomination last year:

"Virtually every country in Central and South America and Mexico has complained officially or unofficially" about Reich, Bardach said. "The guy is very, very far right, and Latin America has had a very decided shift. All of Latin America is lurching to the left, and who do you have handling Latin America for the administration? Otto Reich. You've got to say to yourself: What is this administration thinking of except a few votes in Dade and Broward counties?"

"I never saw any help wanted signs for a sarcastic feminist political essayist"

Barbara Ehrenreich, workers' rights activist and author of Nickel and Dimed: On (not) Getting By in America spoke at UCSB last night. She devoted the majority of her talk to discussing her experience as a worker struggling to make it on "low low" wages exacerbated by the "Wal-Martization" of the U.S. economy. Ehrenreich denied that poverty is simply a natural phenomenon--it is the result of conscious policies. She condemned not only reckless domestic policies like welfare reform (which she called a "practice run" for republicans whose larger agenda aims to dismantle social security) but also the Bush administration's disastrous foreign policy, the debacle into which so much social spending has been misspent "If George W. Bush took an interest in poverty," she said, "what would he do, bomb it?!"

Ehrenreich also said sweatshop conditions don't exist solely in places where MNCs export labor around the globe. She said it's closer to home than some think, citing lawsuits over forced overtime without pay, and allegations brought against stores that locked workers in after hours. Ehrenreich channeling her anger over injustice and the plight of the poor into her own brand of sardonic humor, leveling blows at the establishment which forces low wage workers to resort to desperate measures. She called for the "end of the involuntary philanthropy of so many of America's people."

Her talk could not have come at a more appropriate time--just Monday the release of an LA Times article revealed that wages are being outstripped by inflation, and that while companies are making more money, earnings aren't being passed along to workers. Wealth is increasingly polarized, concentrated in the hands of CEOs. Ehrenreich said she'd heard a number of arguments on how poor women earning next to nothing could get by--one brilliant idea suggested women "marry up." Ehrenreich expressed her rightful disgust with this idea by recommending that to rectify the crisis she devoted so much time to studying, every CEO marry a woman earning a non-livable wage. She quickly took it back though, realizing that it'd be tough to find a CEO who was worth marrying...scandals at WorldCom, Enron, Tyco, and others have taken quite a few of these guys out of the running for most elligible bachelor.

Conflict of interest? Never!

Last week's merger between ChevronTexaco and Unocal has raised some suspicion among advocacy groups. The Foundation for Taxpayer and Consumer Rights has cried foul, denouncing a cozy relationship between the Schwarzenegger Administration and ChevronTexaco. The energy company was a big campaign contributor and has allegiances in California's capital, with a former lobbyist appointed as Schwarzenegger’s chief of staff. Amid ever increasing evidence of republican misconduct and scandal surrounding House Majority Leader Tom Delay, The Foundation for Taxpayer and Consumer Rights has called for an investigation into an all expense paid trip to Australia for high ranking state officials’, hosted by oil executives last year in an effort to sell the Administration on Liquefied Natural Gas, or LNG, as a new source of electricity for the state. With ChevronTexaco’s purchase of Unocal, a big supplier of Liquefied Natural Gas from pipelines in Asia, the company has much to gain by promoting LNG, as it seems poised to corner the international market. This would provide the company with the leverage and potential to follow in the footsteps of Enron, monopolizing California’s energy and driving up prices by limiting supply...

Thought police

Russell Jacoby of The Nation shows how the idea of liberal domination at institutions of higher learning is predicated on flawed studies that don't stand up to academic rigor. Not surprising--like many ideas generated by the right, we're expected to accept this notion on faith alone. And while irrationality is completely incongruous with the goals of higher learning, somehow it's acceptable in all three branches government??
By misappropriating progressive values like equal opportunity, Horowitz and his minions are lowering the bar, softening standards of what is considered "scholarly" in order to make way for dogmatic ideologues like themselves on campuses. If a teacher who votes democratic counts as a Trotskyist, anyone "to the left of Attila the Hun" could be implicated in a McCarthyite purging of rational thinkers.

Border control

Travelers passing to and from Canada and Mexico could soon be required to present a passport, rather than just a driver's license, when crossing the U.S. border. The newly proposed federal regulation is the latest government effort to deter would be terrorists from entering the U.S. by tightening border controls. However a new study of out of the University of California, San Diego, shows that stricter security measures have unexpectedly changed the immigration patterns of undocumented immigrants from Mexico. Research by The Center for Comparative Immigration Studies at UCSD shows tighter border control has made it far more dangerous and costly for immigrants to cross in the U.S. As a result, those who successfully reach the U.S. or are smuggled in, are staying longer, at an average of 70 weeks, and more women and children are entering the country than before, as workers opt to emigrate with their families. Wayne Cornelius, director of the study, interviewed 600 potential migrants, 90 % of which agreed that border crossing was dangerous, but only 20% said border controls would deter them from making the trip. Border security difficulties have recently been compounded by the Minutemen, a vigilante group whose call to arms prompted a number of white supremecist organizations to travel south to intervene at the border. Immigration rights groups have expressed concern that the groups presence at the border has exacerbated an already unstable situation and fueled racist sentiment.

"Dont' hang your rosaries on my ovaries"

As democratic Senators challenge right-wing ideology and potentially restricted access to the morning after pill, refusing to confirm Bush's unfit FDA nominee, NARAL asks women's rights proponents to urge pharmacists to not withhold contraception from women. Sign a letter to prevent third parties from interfering with a woman's right.

"Sucks to your assmar!"

No more cat allergies?

"A new chemical compound, part cat and part human, may provide an end to misery-making cat allergies, U.S. researchers reported this week in the journal Nature Medicine."

Wow, maybe someday I'll actually be able to breathe without wheezing like an 80 year old when I'm within a mile of a cat. That is, unless evangelicals jump in and say doctors are playing God, creating a feline-human abomination or something along those lines.

Hannity's humble beginnings

I think I'm the only one at KCSB who didn't know that the Fox News demagogue got his start at none other than UCSB's campus radio station.

"My first gig was with my own talk radio show at the University of Santa Barbara. But it didn't last long. I was too conservative, the higher-ups said, and they didn't like the comments one guest made on the show ... The left-wing management had zero-tolerance for conservative points of view. And I was promptly fired. Once my voice was silenced, my destiny was set – do or die, I'd make my career in radio. "

Hannity the martyr...only it's just another one of his characteristically warped versions of reality:

"After airing for less than a year, Hannity's weekly show was canceled in 1989, when KCSB management charged him with 'discriminating against gays and lesbians' after airing two shows featuring the book 'The AIDS Coverup: The Real and Alarming Facts about AIDS.' Written by homophobic Christian-right activist Gene Antonio, the book crankily argued that AIDS could be spread by casual contact, including coughs, sneezes and mosquito bites. Antonio charged that the government, medical establishment and media covered up these truths in the service of 'the homosexual movement.'

"When Antonio appeared by phone on one of the shows, Hannity and his guest repeatedly slurred gay men. At one point, according to the UCSB campus newspaper The Daily Nexus, Hannity declared: 'Anyone listening to this show that believes homosexuality is a normal lifestyle has been brainwashed. It's very dangerous if we start accepting lower and lower forms of behavior as the normal.' According to the campus paper, Antonio responded by calling gay men 'a subculture of people engaged in deviant, twisted acts.'

"When a fellow KCSB broadcaster called the show to challenge the host and his guest, Hannity pointed out that the caller, a lesbian, had a child through artificial insemination, and Antonio dubbed the child a 'turkey-baster baby.' When the caller took issue with that 'disgusting' remark, Hannity followed up with 'I feel sorry for your child.'"

Not so blameless. But of course now he's mainstream, the "reigning king of talk radio."

According to hannity.com, after KCSB (which is conveniently excluded from his bio) he found work in Huntsville, Alabama--my (very) former hometown. Funny, I've been unwittingly tracing the footsteps of such a respectable individual. Perhaps one day, with a little luck and some chutzpah, I too will be a blowhard and a liar.

"Open libraries or closed minds"

A NYTimes Op-Ed highlights the fight (spearheaded by CodePink) to keep the last library in Salinas open, urging Laura Bush to join the campaign to prioritize funding for literacy and education.

"As globalization takes hold, American workers have more competition than ever before from well-educated, hard-working people in places like India and China. For the United States to maintain its standing and its standard of living, it needs to make a greater commitment to books, literacy training, materials on English as a second language, and all of the other services libraries provide."

Thomas Friedman also stresses the dire need for prioritizing education, out of America's own competitive self interest as a declining superpower in an increasingly cutthroat global labor market. He gets that education is important, but he paints a simplistic, excessively rosy "it's a small world after all"-esque picture of the globalized planet (which he's apparently just woken up to), where the playing field is level between first and third worlds, and everyone in India is content, with their wireless internet enabled laptops. Nevermind the one billion that are impoverished and the sharp stratification between the rich and the penniless.

Holding reporters accountable

FAIR takes aim at the NYTimes for its biased Cold War era-esque reporting on Nicaragua, while the Bush administration campaigns to prevent a leftist from taking power.

"The article, by Ginger Thompson, characterized the U.S. attempt to overthrow the Sandinista government as part of 'the global struggle against Communism'-- though Nicaragua under the Sandinistas had a mixed economy, multiple opposition parties and a very active opposition press, features that were not found in actual Communist countries. She refers to Daniel Ortega, the Sandinista president of Nicaragua, as a 'revolutionary strongman,' even though he was elected to the presidency in 1984 with 67 percent of the vote, in balloting that international observers found to be 'free, fair and hotly contested' (Extra!, 10-11/87).

"Referring to the Sandinista-led government of the 1980s and the U.S.-sponsored Contra rebels as opposing 'armies,' Thompson wrote, 'The armies fought each other to a standstill, until both sides agreed to elections in 1990, which Mr. Ortega lost.' This summary leaves out the election that Ortega won in 1984, and wrongly suggests that the 1990 elections were held because of Contra pressure, when the Nicaraguan constitution at that time required elections to be held every six years. (That sentence also implies that the Contras directed their fight against the Nicaraguan army, although in fact they chiefly targeted civilians and civilian infrastructure--see Nicaragua: The Price of Intervention, Peter Kornbluh, pp. 39-50.) "

Hmm...wonder how elections in Iraq will be reported on down the line? Coverage is bound to become more and more distorted as it becomes more distant, and Norman Soloman demonstrates how it's obismal as it is now. History repeats itself, and the picture always gets rosier and more favorable for the U.S.:

"The London-based Guardian published a devastating essay bya university lecturer who left Iraq during Saddam Hussein’s rule. Sami Ramadani wrote: 'On Sept. 4, 1967, the New York Times published an upbeatstory on presidential elections held by the South Vietnamese puppet regimeat the height of the Vietnam War. Under the heading "U.S. encouraged byVietnam vote: Officials cite 83 percent turnout despite Vietcong terror," the paper reported that the Americans had been "surprised and heartened" by the size of the turnout "despite a Vietcong terrorist campaign todisrupt the voting." A successful election, it went on, "has long been seen as the keystone in President Johnson’s policy of encouraging thegrowth of constitutional processes in South Vietnam." The echoes of this weekend’s propaganda about Iraq’s elections are so close as to be uncanny.'"

It would seem we haven't been paying attention to our history lessons.

So much for Cornucopian logic

The economist's argument that an oil shortage will be mended simply by the laws of supply and demand doesn't hold water (or oil...nyuk nyuk)--the idea that as oil prices go up, people will stop buying and start seeking alternative energy sources runs contrary to reality:

"Won't the problem take care of itself? As prices rise, people will voluntarily cut consumption, right? Well, in a 2003 article, energy economist Andrew McKillop showed that at least during the 1990s, the opposite happened. Each time oil prices rose, world demand rose within six-12 months. And over on the far side of Hubbert's peak, it will be physical reality, not economics, that governs consumption. With supply shrinking year by year, every barrel that comes out of the ground will likely be burned lickety-split." Stan Cox on Alternet

Grassroots promise

Via today's Progress Report--the Senegalese movement to end female genital mutilation is taking hold in countries around Africa. Guinea, Burkina Faso, and Mali have all followed suit, imitating Senegal's holistic approach to abolishing excision through human rights and health education and awareness. Groups like UNICEF have taken note of this success and endorsed the model.

Truly inspiring...a shining example of women's agency in the Third World, and change through empowerment at the local level.

The film Moolaadé is a powerful homage to those that began the movement. Also, one of my favorite professors at UCSB has been working on a documentary on women's organizations in the Third World called Passion for Change, and it features the women of Senegal. The trailer on its own was so moving it brought the lecture hall to tears. These are the kinds of films that should be brought to people's attention.

"Tell them babies come from the stork."

Blogs and over 100 organizations have are all over this one: Republicans are proving beyond a shadow of a doubt that they've got the "cover your ears and yell 'lalalalala' whenever sex is mentioned" market cornered with their latest magnum opus: 4parents.gov. The website takes an ignorant approach to sexual orientation, recommending counselling for kids who come out and passes off right wing talking points as facts, downplaying the effectiveness of condoms.

For the Department of Health and Human Services, "family planning" consists of timing a woman's menstrual cycle to determine when she's most fertile, and not having sex during that time. Failsafe, if you're looking to get knocked up. They don't provide information on how to properly implement such methods, and they say "natural family planning" has the same failure rate as emergency contraception, when these rates actually vary a great deal. Go to Planned Parenthood to get the facts straight.

On the negative impact of teen pregnancy (which mystically seems to happen even when teens promise not to have sex...immaculate conception, not lack of contraception...that's gotta be it):

"Did you know that teens who become parents:
-Are more likely to end up poor or on welfare;
-Have fewer job opportunities;
-Have fewer educational opportunities; and
-Are less likely to marry."

Funny, these are all side effects of Bush administration policy already.

Kids will be totally screwed (literally and figuratively, since they're more likely to get an STD if they sign abstinence petitions, and more likely to engage in kinkier activities--read Bill Maher's hi-larious take on how kids are "thinking outside the box") if this is all they've got to go on from teachers and from parents. This sad, malconceived website makes the Department of Homeland Security's oh-so-useless scare tactic, ready.gov, look like an invaluable tome (it tells people which way to shit themselves in case of a nuclear blast...check out the graphic, reminiscent of the calm airplane passengers plunging to their death on seat-back pocket cards that Tyler Durden ridicules in Fight Club).

Teens don't need scare tactics and closed mindedness in sex ed. They need communication, acceptance, and condoms. Help them get what they need.

Homicidal maniacs at the helm

"When I or people like me are running the country, you'd better flee because we will find you, we will try you and we'll execute you. I mean every word of it. I will make it part of my mission to see to it that you are tried and executed." [Addressing doctors who perform abortions, in a speech to the U.S. Taxpayers Alliance, from The Hotline, May 9, 2000]
--Randall Terry, "pro-life" spokesperson for Terri Schiavo's parents

This nut used the same language as Paul Hill, a man that decided to take it one step further and personally execute a doctor. It's beyond me how you can rationalize that when a doctor terminates a pregnancy, it's murder, but when someone kills a doctor, he's doing God's work:

"He did kill somebody, but it was justifiable homicide," says the Rev. Donald Spitz, director of Pro-Life Virginia and Hill's spiritual adviser. "Those babies needed to be protected."

A Christian fundamentalist has the propensity to be every bit as violent as an Islamic extremist, but militant Christian groups naturally receive little attention from the complicit crucifix brandishing establishment. Terrorism is made out to be an exclusively Arab pastime--makes it easier to dehumanize an entire region, ripe for the imperialist taking. I suppose we haven't heard much from organized Christian groups lately because they've had friends in high places over the last 4 years. But plenty of regular crazies (including Tom DeLay, who warned that judges "will answer for" their refusal to reopen the Schiavo case) have spouted off with the usual death threats to judges and to anyone who sought to end Terri Schiavo's suffering)

And then Bush comes out with this gem: "The essence of civilization is that the strong have a duty to protect the weak." But his budget axed the social programs that assist the weak--the poor, the elderly, high risk youth...and what does he do for the billions of impoverished people in Third World countries who are in dire need of assistance? He sends a Wolf to guard the henhouse.

The religious right's penchant for hypocrisy is astounding.

I've said my peace on Schiavo now that she's at rest. Don't feel like perpetuating the story, it just encourages them.

"Don't make me bust out my Constitution"

Senator Byrd urges Americans to keep the Founding Fathers close to their hearts:

"'I carry a pocket-sized edition of the Constitution with me every where I go, whether I'm back home in West Virginia or speaking out on the Senate floor. Now you can, too. You can download and print the DSCC's exclusive personal Constitution.' Byrd's appeal accuses Republicans of threatening to 'undermine the system of checks and balances described in the Constitution and the fundamental rights we hold dear' by changing the rules governing confirmation of judges.
'The best way to defend the Constitution is to elect more Democrats to the United States Senate.'"

(More after shameless personal plug picture...)


I got my pocket Constitution from Cato--a group that comes pretty close to being the antithesis of the DSCC. They obviously swing right, but had something to say when Congress overstepped its bounds last week:

"'Republicans today are as guilty, almost, as the Democrats were over their long reign in power,' said Roger Pilon, director of the Center for Constitutional Studies at the Cato Institute, a group that advocates limited government and individual rights. 'Now that they find themselves in power they are not at all reluctant to use government for the ends they favor.'"

Good old Pilon, always managing to take a good natured shot at the dems even when he's condemning republicans. As he told us kids in DC, they're both wrong--evil bifurcators, they are. Little DC humor for you there.

Culture of life...when it's politically expedient

David Corn weighs in on what we should take from this feeding frenzy:

"There remains much to process in the Schiavo matter. Why did so many Americans become emotionally bound to the case of this woman? Why did they care so much for this one life? Are they as concerned about the lives of civilians killed during military actions in Iraq? Or those who die in the United States because they lack access to quality health care? How far does the "culture of life" extend? (CNN broke from a noontime White House press conference on the release of a new report on WMD intelligence to return to its coverage of the Schiavo story.) George W. Bush and the Republican congressional leaders believed it was necessary for the federal government to intervene in this case, why did they not take further action after the federal courts turned down the Schindlers' appeals? DeLay, for one, argued that the federal court decisions were an arrogant usurpation of power because, in his view, these judges disregarded the law passed by Congress. If that was indeed the case, then shouldn't Congress have appealed those decisions to the Supreme Court or passed another law? But DeLay and the others choose to do nothing—after polls showed their intervention was tremendously unpopular with the American public. So how much did they care about Terri the person as opposed to Terri the issue?"

Mr. Popular

59 ex-diplomats have vocalized their opposition to John Bolton's nomination as UN envoy. They had this to say in a letter to the head of the committee that will decide whether Bush's unilateralist nominee will get the chance to show his contempt for international law in person:

"'John Bolton's insistence that the UN is valuable only when it directly serves the United States, and that the most effective Security Council would be one where the US is the only permanent member, will not help him to negotiate with representatives of the remaining 96 percent of humanity,' read the letter from the former diplomats, who served under both Republican and Democratic administrations."

Hopefully the committee will take their advice...though if he's confirmed it wouldn't be the first time someone got the job in spite of great opposition.

Simple, elegant.

Been around for a while, but still too good to pass up. I love a good poo joke.


Smarter than a flaming bag of poo on the White House doorstep.

"Biggest douche in the universe"

It's not enough that in diagnosing Terri Schiavo, Faux News (Nancy Grace on Headline News, for that matter) is relying on sketchy doctors who have been on the end of more disciplinary action than Nobel peace prizes (non-existent ones at that). Now they've gotta bring in a psychic--John Edward.

DOOCY: So she may not be able to talk with her brain, but she can with her soul --
EDWARDS: But she's clear on what's going -- and I can tell you that she's definitely clear on what's happening now around her.

That's pure medical science talking. South Park can tell you all you need to know about this guy.

"I am not a douche!"

Wilco frontman on file sharing

"'I look at it as a library. I look at it as our version of the radio,' Tweedy said. 'It's a place where basically we can encourage fans to be fans and not feel like they're being exploited, which is basically what the whole industry is geared to do.'

Tweedy encourages fans to tape Wilco shows and has distributed tracks over the Internet for free months before releasing them on CDs.

He agrees artists should be compensated, but 'you try to encourage people to feel more like a patron of the arts instead of a consumer.'"

File sharing creates a more level playing field for independent artists.

G.O.P. Right Is Splintered on Schiavo Intervention

CATO's gotta be going nuts over this...which is the party of big government now?

NYT:

"'My party is demonstrating that they are for states' rights unless they don't like what states are doing,' said Representative Christopher Shays of Connecticut"

¡Adelante, marchemos compañeros!

So much for "spreading democracy." Washington is apparently trying to stop the election of leftist Nicaraguan party leader and presidential candidate Daniel Ortega.

"Tomas Borge, the former interior minister who is currently No. 2 in the Sandinista Party, said the United States is using a complaint about surface-to-air missiles left over from the war to try to derail a bid by Ortega to retake the presidency in elections next year.

"'The United States is trying once again to meddle in Nicaragua's internal affairs, because they are desperate and scared by a certain Sandinista victory in the upcoming elections,' Borge, the party's vice-secretary, told The Associated Press in a telephone interview."

I would like to extend to you an invitation to the pants party.

Alright, so I should be weighing in on this week's crazy unconstitutional fiasco, but...it's spring break, and I'm taking a bit of a hiatus. Just got a new laptop and rented a cello, so I'm busy with the new toys and catching up with friends at home.

I couldn't not post about this--I'm really out of touch with TV, since I don't have cable...but it looks like the networks might be attempting to crawl out of the programming cesspool that is reality TV by cranking out some new comedies. And by god, Steve Carrell is starring in one of them--The Office. I might just have to call my cable company.



I don't know what we're yelling about!!

Update: I was giving NBC too much credit--it's not an original series, it's an attempt to duplicate the success of the British series The Office.

Senate gives cute arctic wildlife the finger

ANWR oil output

Karen Wayland, legislative director at NRDC (Natural Resources Defense Council), on today's Senate vote to authorize drilling in ANWR:

"Drilling the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge won't make a dent in gas prices at the pump or break our dependence on Middle East oil.

"This was really a vote for Big Oil, not for the solid majority of Americans who oppose turning America's last great wilderness into a vast, polluted oil field.

"President Bush and his Senate allies resorted to a sneaky budget maneuver to get their way. Now, Congress is one step closer to trading away an irreplaceable national treasure for a few drops of oil that we wouldn't see for a decade or more.

"If the oil industry can drill in the Arctic Refuge, then no place, no matter how pristine, will be safe."

Einstein's Birthday

"We must inoculate our children against militarism, by educating them in the spirit of pacifism.... Our schoolbooks glorify war and conceal its horrors. They indoctrinate children with hatred. I would teach peace rather than war, love rather than hate."

Sunday morning (well, afternoon)

Thought this place could use some art.


Ani

Sunday morning
Slow beats seething
Through the screens in
The open windows
Eggs frying
Legs shaking
After we stayed lying
So long in bed
Sunday morning
Both of us reading
And looking up occasionally
Looking up occasionally

Sunday morning
You're doing your thing
And I am doing mine
Speaking words
More a formality
Cuz we can feel we
Are of one mind
Sunday morning
Sheets still warm
Kitties swarming
Around our feet
Life comes easy
Your sweet company
Making it so complete

Of all the Monday through Fridays
We joined the crusade
Of all the Saturday nights
In which we were made
Of all the exorcisms
I've done with your ghosts
Still it's Sunday morning
I miss you the most

"Video news releases" from the Ministry of Love

Government propaganda without attribution:

"Under the Bush administration, the federal government has aggressively used a well-established tool of public relations: the prepackaged, ready-to-serve news report that major corporations have long distributed to TV stations to pitch everything from headache remedies to auto insurance. In all, at least 20 federal agencies, including the Defense Department and the Census Bureau, have made and distributed hundreds of television news segments in the past four years, records and interviews show. Many were subsequently broadcast on local stations across the country without any acknowledgement of the government's role in their production."

Ironic, especially considering this is the message being sent:

"'There needs to be a nice independent relationship between the White House and the press,' Mr. Bush told reporters in January, explaining why his administration would no longer pay pundits to support his policies."

Transparent government

"Seven groups interested in journalism are joining with The Associated Press and other news organizations to promote accessible, accountable and open government.

The Sunshine in Government Initiative seeks to combat what the groups see as increased government secrecy since the 2001 terrorist attacks. The coalition will lobby for legislation and seek to educate the public about First Amendment issues."

AIM improves teens' writing skills

"Though plenty of adults grumble about e-mail and instant-messaging (IM), and the text messages that send adolescent thumbs dancing across cellphone keypads, many experts insist that teenage composition is as strong as ever - and that the proliferation of writing, in all its harried, hasty forms, has actually created a generation more adept with the written word."

OMG! ur j/k, right? LMAO, b4 I used AIM, I sooo wuz a bad writer, LOL!

...I won't hesitate to block you if you type like that.

I can actually vouch for this--e-mailing, IMing, texting, ehem...blogging--all good practice, especially when one is trying to hone one's rapier wit.

A few of my favorite things...

iPods, radio, and blogs, married together in the trifecta that is...podcasting!
I've gotta get on this...when I have enough harddrive space to download iPodder (I've only got enough room for music now, which brings up another point--why can't you access music on your iPod when you connect it to your computer?).

Thou shalt not pollute

Not everyone believes the rapture will be a cure-all for environmental degradation. These Evangelical leaders are diverging from Reaganite Cornucopians, taking stock in data on the very real impact of global warming, and urging environmental action. Imagine, tree-huggers banning together with an otherwise right-wing group of 30 million+ Christians, bearing slogans like "What Would Jesus Drive?" Interesting prospects for bridging the cultural gap.

International law? Just kidding!

After a memo between Bush and Gonzales allowed the Hague to have jurisdiction in calling for new hearings for 51 prisoners on death row (wha?! White House and international law??), the State Department announced the U.S. would reject the protocol that allows opponents of the death penalty to fight sentencing of foreigners. Ah yes, that's more like it.

"'It's a sore-loser kind of move,' Professor Spiro said. 'If we can't win, we're not going to play.'"

Dizzouble Dizzouche

WaPo columnist sounds like a tool trying to explain the subtle nuances of Snoop Dogg’s brand of “nuevo pig latin”

“Throughout the years, other hip-hop artists would add -izzle suffixes or 'iz' infixes to their lyrics. Retired-yet-still-recording rapper Jay-Z spouted in Snoop Dogg's 'Drop It Like It's Hot (Remix)': 'Got haters on my jizzock / plus the frickin cizzops / all of whom want to hit me with shizzots til I drizzop.' Then Snoop D-O-Double Gizzle, as he sometimes calls himself, added fuelizzle to the fizire with 'Doggy Fizzle Televizzle,' which began airing in 2003 with characters such as schoolteacher Mr. Dizzle.'"

Mainstream media trying to decipher the world of hip-hop...hi-larious.

On a related note--a self-deprecating Jon Stewart pointed out that no one could be more awkward than himself, "Whitey McWhitington," in discussing "pizzeace in the Mizzeast."

You're killin' me, Smalls.

Blogger is on the fritz this morning...what happens when you need to post a rant about Blogger not working and you can't because, well, it's not working?

"I read the news today, oh boy..."

1.) Why is Jacko still making headlines?
2.) Why is AP prioritizing the news in this order?

AP: Top Stories

Michael Jackson Arrives Late to Court - 22 minutes ago
Suicide Bomber Kills 30 at Iraq Funeral - 47 minutes ago

"Liberal indoctrination" actually breeds hawklets

Lionel Lewis debunks the myth that pinko professors are defiling the youth. (Turns out Washington's "Vulcans" are a product of the very same institutions that are accused of having a liberal faculty that's inhospitable to conservatives).

Also, shockingly enough, college students are mostly intelligent people who can ::gasp:: think for themselves, so they mostly aren't blindly led by their professors (even if they are all commies to begin with...which they're not...thought I'd clarify, in case you weren't following my oh so subtle sarcasm):

"Indeed, it has long been known that it hardly matters what professors teach students. What matters is what they come away with—and that is pretty much what they bring with them when they first set foot on campus. The broadest range of ideas can be found on all but the most doctrinal campuses, and students can readily find a niche without having to change their beliefs. Research spanning six decades has shown that the effect of college on the attitudes, values, religiosity, and political views of students, on elite campuses and elsewhere, is almost nil. In light of this research, it hardly makes a difference if the professoriate is mostly liberal or conservative, teaching Leo Tolstoy or Leon Trotsky."

No crisis

The head of the Government Accountability Office said Social Security "does not face an immediate crisis." Also: polls show that the public is largely not in favor of personal accounts. Probably too early to rejoice, but it looks like Bush's agenda is getting shut down.

International Women's Day

Calling for stronger committment from governments worldwide, women say they are worse off today than 10 years ago, when the platform for action was set forth at the UN conference on women in Beijing. Equality of education is still sorely lacking in Africa and in the Middle East, sex trafficking continues, women have only marginal representation in government, and access to reproductive health service is dismal--kicked while it's down by Bush's Global Gag Rule.

*********

In recognition of progressive change enacted by women, Amy Goodman interviewed Wangari Maathai, Nobel Peace Laureate and founder of Kenya's Green Belt movement on Democracy Now.

Human scum.

Just when you thought it couldn't get any worse...Bush named neocon Undersecretary of State John Bolton the next U.S. ambassador to the United Nations. His appointment can only spell future diplomatic disaster (as if we weren't already knee deep in it). The man is as hawkish as they come. Who could forget when he cozied up to Kim Jong Il, dubbing him a "tyrannical dictator" leading an "evil regime," in a country where life is a "hellish nightmare". North Korea responded in kind, refusing further diplomatic relations with Bolton, a man they deemed to be "human scum." Right you are, Mr. Bush, a perfect choice for UN ambassador--the man who said "there's no such thing as the United Nations," and ''if the UN secretary building in New York lost 10 stories, it wouldn't make a bit of difference.'' This is the administration's not so underhanded way of saying they don't give a rat's ass about the UN, or support from the international community, at a time when they need it most to heal the wounds they created in the Middle East.

I had the opportunity (for which I am grateful, despite the fact that I have some serious qualms with his politics) to sit at a conference table with Bolton at the State Department and ask him a question last year. I brought up a report from the daily Ha'aretz from February 2003, when he told Israeli officials that "it will be necessary to deal with threats from Syria, Iran and North Korea after Gulf War Redux." I asked him to reevaluate this in light of the situation in Iraq, and he gave me the brush off, scoffing, "well, you weren't there, so..." So it's personal--the man is on my shit list. If there is any way to oppose his nomination, I am there.

"Who vants a mustache ride!!"

The republican wing of the democratic party

Great piece from The Nation on the decline of the centrist Democratic Leadership Council and the rise of a new grassroots directed party with Dean at the helm:

"Dean won't be alone. The progressive infrastructure that helped keep Kerry alive and began crafting a sharper Democratic message--America Votes, Progressive Majority, Camp Wellstone, Democracy for America, Center for American Progress, Air America Radio, Media Matters, the blogosphere--now exerts a greater degree of influence, bankrolled by new, wealthy outsiders and small donors who share similar goals. George Soros and Peter Lewis have pledged $100 million over the next fifteen years to support a permanent idea factory rivaling right-wing think tanks like the Heritage Foundation and the mushy centrism of the DLC's Progressive Policy Institute. 'We've come to represent a way of doing politics that is dangerous to people in DC who have a nice little niche,' says MoveOn.org executive director Eli Pariser. 'Bringing in the grassroots will mean a loss of influence for some of the establishment folks.'"

Press room politics

Russell Mokhiber of Common Dreams throws McClellan a curveball--"Does the pesident believe in Commandment No. 6--'Thou shalt not kill'--as it applies to the U.S. invasion of Iraq?"

I was sitting next to him November 17th when he asked this question:

MOKHIBER: Kofi Annan, in September, he said that the war in Iraq is an illegal war. If it's an illegal war, then the 100,000 who have died there, according to the Johns Hopkins School, are victims of war crimes. Now, the President is going to Canada later this year, and the largest circulation newspaper in Canada yesterday wrote a column, printed a column titled "Should Canada Indict Bush?" -- raising question of a war crimes prosecution. They have a war crimes law in Canada. And I'm wondering, has the general counsel --
MR. McCLELLAN: Do you have a question, or is this just a statement of opinion?
MOKHIBER: It's a question. Has the White House Counsel looked at the President's legal exposure to a war crimes prosecution?
MR. McCLELLAN: Russ, I think that it's a ridiculous question that you bring up. You were out on the Nader campaign, I think, at the time when this issue came up, and we addressed it at that time. And I'm not going to go back through it again.

It was impossible transcribing the gaggle for Talk Radio News because McClellan was so effective at making his responses free of any useful information.

Yes, they let me in the press room. And I'm not even a prostitute for the military.

I'm in the Press Room, derp!
Why do I look like I'm 14?

Cyber dissidents

"A California judge said in a preliminary ruling that bloggers should not have the same protection afforded to journalists under US law."

also

"Web logs have become a popular forum for dissent. And the Iranian government has responded by arresting dozens of bloggers."

Government backed killing

"A top militia leader says the Sudan government backed and directed Janjaweed activities in northern Darfur, according to a videotape released by Human Rights Watch today...

Hilal states that the government of Sudan directed all military activities of the militia forces he had recruited. 'All of the people in the field are led by top army commanders,' he told Human Rights Watch on videotape. '…These people get their orders from the Western command center, and from Khartoum.'

'Musa Hilal squarely contradicts the government's claim that it has 'no relationship' with local militias,' said Peter Takirambudde, Executive Director of Human Rights Watch's Africa division.'"

What you can do about Darfur.

Good news?

"The United States bowed to global opposition today at a United Nations conference on women's equality and dropped its insistence that a document being put to a vote later in the day include an antiabortion amendment."

...but apparently delegates stopped pushing for an amendment because they thought they'd reached an understanding with UN leaders. Reminds me of something Jeb Bush said in Florida after the gay marriage initiatives, that an amendment would be redundant when coupled with the DOMA, which already sufficiently "defended" marriage.

"Fear and loathing in the blogosphere"

Hunter S. Thompson's gonzo journalism as a precurser to blogging.

Purple ocean

Service Employees International Union president Andy Stern envisions a global labor movement. The NYTimes Magazine had a good article on the future of unions and the future of the democratic party--the two run parallel, and right now they're both in a rut.

Stern calls for progressive change:

"The economic policy of the Democratic Party, he says, ''is basically being opposed to Republicans and protecting the New Deal. It makes me realize how vibrant the Republicans are in creating 21st-century ideas, and how sad it is that we're defending 60-year-old ideas.'' Like big labor, Stern says, the party needs to challenge its orthodoxy -- and its interest groups -- if it wants to put forward a program that makes sense for new-economy workers."

He proposed to divert half the AFL-CIO's funds into organizing a revolutionary union movement, but the idea was voted down . Stern had threatened to leave the AFL-CIO, but he hasn't said yet if he will stick to that plan.

Join the Purple Ocean.

If the world ended tonight...

I think that life would suddenly seem wonderful to us if we were threatened to die as you say. Just think of how many projects, travels, love affairs, studies, it--our life--hides from us, made invisible by our laziness which, certain of a future, delays them incessantly.

But let all this threaten to become impossible for ever how beautiful it would become again! Ah! if only the cataclysm doesn't happen this time, we won't miss visiting the new galleries of the Louvre, throwing ourselves at the feet of Miss X, making a trip to India.

The cataclysm doesn't happen, we don't do any of it, because we find ourselves back in the heart of normal life, where negligence deadens desire. And yet we shouldn't have needed the cataclysm to love life today. It would have been enough to think that we are humans, and that death may come this evening.

-Marcel Proust

"Journalists are beach combers of other people's intelligence."

Bill Moyers is my hero.

Seeing him live the other night reaffirmed my commitment to journalism. He described the ideal journalist as being someone who is disciplined, insatiable curious, and a good student--one that takes a test and quickly forgets the information, moving onto the next thing. He said "journalists get paid to write things they know nothing about" and that he thinks of himself as an "amateur--a lover of all things."

He contrasted journalism with poetry--something else I love. He described poetry as a medium that allows much more freedom and unabashed truth than journalism. Journalists are bound by caution, lest they become pundits.

The audience was riveted, you could hear the collective "hmphs" of thoughtful assent, the warmth of admiration palpable in the packed auditorium. He spoke with such clarity and honesty, with insight and profundity but without pretense. We really need more like him.

My little town

Mavericks Surf Competition

To Be of Use

The people I love the best
jump into work head first without dallying in the shallows
and swim off with sure strokes almost out of sight.
They seem to become natives of that element,
the black sleek heads of seals
bouncing like half submerged balls.
I love people who harness themselves, an ox to a heavy cart,
who pull like water buffalo, with massive patience,
who strain in the mud and the muck to move things forward,
who do what has to be done, again and again.
I want to be with people who submerge
in the task, who go into the fields to harvest
and work in a row and pass the bags along,
who stand in the line and haul in their places,
who are not parlor generals and field deserters
but move in a common rhythm
when the food must come in or the fire be put out.
The work of the world is common as mud.
Botched, it smears the hands, crumbles to dust.
But the thing worth doing well done has a shape that satisfies, clean and evident.
Greek amphoras for wine or oil,
Hopi vases that held corn, are put in museums
but you know they were made to be used.
The pitcher cries for water to carry
and a person for work that is real.

-Marge Piercy