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Friday, July 29, 2005
"Encuesta: 64% sostiene que Bush carece de estrategia definida en Irak" (Democracy Now!)
"Encuesta: 64% sostiene que Bush carece de estrategia definida en Irak" (Democracy Now!)
Francisco: Hola mi amigos y gracias a Maria para todo su trabajo dedicado. De parte de " Democracy Now!" doce cosas que vale hacer notar este fin de semana.
Encuesta: 64% sostiene que Bush carece de estrategia definida en Irak
Mientras tanto, una nueva encuesta del Pew Research Center reveló que el 64% de los estadounidenses creen que el presidente Bush carece de una estrategia clara para lograr que la situación en Irak culmine exitosamente.
Convención de AFL-CIO pide poner fin a la ocupación en Irak
Bajo presión de sus miembros y de los sindicatos disidentes que abandonaron la federación, la Federación Estadounidense del Trabajo y el Congreso de las Organizaciones Industriales (AFL-CIO por sus siglas en inglés) aprobó una resolución que pide el retiro inmediato de las tropas estadounidenses que actualmente se encuentran en Irak. La resolución se tomó durante la convención nacional del grupo en Chicago. El sindicato estadounidense contra la guerra US Labor Against the War, calificó la resolución como "un gran cambio en la política". Los grupos afirman que el Consejo Ejecutivo General de la AFL-CIO intentó aprobar una resolución que no establecía claramente el llamado a la inmediata finalización de la ocupación. Este intento no prosperó luego de que uno de los líderes de US Labor Against the War propuso incluir un artículo en el que se exigiera poner fin a la ocupación. Escuchamos al coordinador del grupo, Gene Bruskin: "La resolución fue histórica ya que puso fin a décadas de silencio por parte de los movimientos de trabajadores y de apoyo al gobierno de Estados Unidos en cuanto a sus políticas exteriores. Como dijo Henry Nicholas, presidente de la federación 1199 AFSCME de Philadelphia, en su discurso para condenar la guerra, 'este es el momento de mayor orgullo en mis 45 años dentro del movimiento de trabajadores. Finalmente nos hemos levantado contra esta guerra diciendo"ya es suficiente'".
Informe de GAO indica que Estados Unidos desvía fondos de ayuda humanitaria para seguridad
Un nuevo informe de la Oficina de Responsabilidad del Gobierno (GAO) publicado ayer demuestra que millones de dólares destinados a proyectos de reconstrucción y ayuda humanitaria en Irak son desviados para operaciones de seguridad, utilizando dinero destinado a la reconstrucción de redes de agua, electricidad y salud. En muchos casos, la seguridad implica más de un tercio del presupuesto destinado a proyectos individuales y Estados Unidos paga a agentes de seguridad hasta 33.000 dólares mensuales, unos 400.000 dólares al año, por guardia individual. En algunos casos, los proyectos humanitarios fueron cancelados para liberar fondos para operaciones de seguridad en otros lugares.
Benderman sentenciado a 15 meses
Un mecánico del ejército estadounidense que se negó a ir a Irak y solicitó objeción de conciencia, fue absuelto ayer del cargo de deserción pero fue declarado culpable de un cargo menor por una corte marcial. El Sargento Kevin Benderman fue sentenciado a 15 meses de prisión por desobedecer órdenes de emplazamiento, se le dio la baja deshonrosa del ejército y fue degradado a soldado raso. En caso que hubiera sido declarado culpable por deserción, podría haber sido sentenciado a cinco años de prisión. Sin embargo, su sentencia parece ser la más dura aplicada a alguien por resistirse a combatir en Irak.
Lanzamiento oficial de nueva cadena de televisión de América Latina
Esta noticia está relacionada con los medios de difusión, ya que el gobierno venezolano lanzó oficialmente Telesur, una nueva estación de televisión satelital de América Latina. El presidente venezolano Hugo Chávez expresó que el canal le dará a América del Sur una voz independiente de los conglomerados mediáticos como la CNN. En la ceremonia de lanzamiento el domingo, Chávez indicó que, "esto es producto del despertar de nuestros pueblos". El canal será lanzado con la ayuda de otros gobiernos latinoamericanos, incluyendo a Argentina, Cuba y Uruguay. Entre los miembros del directorio se encuentran el actor Danny Glover, el escritor Tariq Ali y el Premio Nobel de la Paz Adolfo Pérez Esquivel. El nuevo canal no es bien recibido por Washington y la semana pasada la Cámara de Representantes sancionó una enmienda solicitando que Estados Unidos comience a transmitir su propio canal en la región para que compita con Telesur. El congresista republicano de Florida, Connie Mack, afirmó que el gobierno de Estados Unidos debería "iniciar transmisiones de radio y televisión que proporcionen a Venezuela una fuente de noticias coherente, precisa y objetiva". Mack agregó que esto es necesario para contrarrestar lo que describió como el "anti-americanismo" de Telesur.
Hombre inocente baleado por la policía británica en el subte de Londres
Asimismo, la policía británica reconoció haber matado el viernes a un hombre inocente en un vagón del subte de Londres, en su búsqueda de sospechosos. Jean Charles de Menezes, un electricista brasileño de 27 años de edad, recibió cinco disparos en la cabeza por oficiales de policía encubiertos. En un principio la policía sostuvo que Menezes estaba vinculado a los atentados, pero más tarde reconoció que fue un error. A pesar de la muerte, la política del "gatillo fácil" permanece vigente en Gran Bretaña. "Debemos considerar lo que hubiera ocurrido si los oficiales no hubieran disparado y el hombre hubiera sido un atacante suicida, hubiera ingresado al subte y los oficiales hubieran tomado la decisión equivocada. Eso hubiera sido terrible", manifestó el Jefe de la Policía Metropolitana Ian Blair.
Brasil criticó muerte de brasileño por la policía en Londres
La familia del hombre brasileño expresó que posiblemente presente una demanda contra la policía británica. El canciller de Brasil Celso Amorim también criticó la muerte y afirmó que, "la reacción de nuestro país Brasil es la que ya he expresado, conmoción y perplejidad de que una persona inocente sea atrapada en la lucha contra el terrorismo". Amorim agregó que, "por supuesto que apoyamos la lucha contra el terrorismo, pero considero que se debe ser cuidadoso de no matar personas inocentes."
Funeral del brasileño asesinado por policía británica
En Brasil, prácticamente todos los 6.000 habitantes de Gonzaga, asistieron a ofrecer su respeto al joven emigrante brasileño asesinado por la policía británica tras los fallidos atentados de Londres a comienzos de mes. El cuerpo de Jean Charles de Menezes llegó el jueves a Brasil, seis días después de que recibiera los disparos en la cabeza que le causaron la muerte en el subterráneo de Londres. Muchas personas de la multitud que asistió al funeral usaron brazaletes negros y portaron banderas de Brasil, símbolos de protesta que fueron adoptados en ese país luego del asesinato.
Familia del brasileño cuestiona versión oficial
Mientras tanto, los familiares de Menezes cuestionan la versión oficial de la historia. Afirman que no vestía una chaqueta que pudiera ocultar una bomba y que no saltó por encima de la barrera cuando fue detenido por oficiales vestidos de particular que portaban armas. En conferencia de prensa tras la reunión mantenida con la Policía Metropolitana, Vivien Figueiredo, prima de Menezes, condenó la política del "gatillo fácil" que llevó a su primo a la muerte y abogó porque el crimen no quedara impune. Afirmó que: "a pesar de que atravesamos circunstancias similares a una guerra, no deberíamos exterminar personas injustamente". En la conferencia de prensa habló junto a la abogada de la familia, Gareth Peirce y a la activista contra la guerra Bianca Jagger.
Encuesta: Los estadounidenses quieren que se vaya Rove
Una nueva encuesta realizada por CNN/USAToday/Gallup informa que la mayoría de los estadounidenses piensan que Karl Rove debería abandonar la Casa Blanca por el papel que desempeñó en la revelación de identidad de la agente de la CIA Valerie Plame. Sin embargo, sólo la mitad de los encuestados reconoce haber seguido la historia de cerca, mientras que la cuarta parte afirma nunca haber oído acerca de Karl Rove. Por otra parte, el National Journal informa que Rove y otros asesores cercanos al presidente Bush recibieron 4.000 dólares de aumento el año pasado. Rove percibe actualmente 161.000 dólares.
Lance Armstrong criticó costo de guerra de Irak
El campeón de ciclismo Larce Armstrong, quien acaba de ganar el Tour de France por séptima vez, criticó públicamente la guerra en Irak porque impidió que el gobierno destinara más dinero a la investigación del cáncer. Armstrong expresó a la revista Time que, "es difícil conseguir fondos [para la investigación de cáncer] hoy en día. La peor desventaja de la guerra en Irak es lo que se podría hacer con ese dinero. ¿Cuánto cuesta la guerra de Irak por semana? ¿Mil millones? ¿o quizás mil millones de dólares por día?". Agregó que, "el presupuesto destinado al Instituto Nacional de Cáncer es de cuatro mil millones. Eso ha cambiado. Es necesario que vuelva a ser una prioridad. Las encuestas indican que la gente le teme mucho más al cáncer a que un avión se estrelle en su casa o que explote una bomba o cualquier otra forma de terrorismo. Es una prioridad del pueblo estadounidense".
Tribunal italiano ordena arresto de otros seis agentes de la CIA
En Italia, un tribunal federal ordenó el arresto de otros seis agentes de la CIA vinculados con el secuestro de un clérigo egipcio en las calles de Milán. Un total de 19 funcionarios de la CIA son requeridos en el caso. El clérigo habría sido secuestrado en una calle de Milán en febrero de 2003, luego fue trasladado a una base aérea en Alemania y finalmente a Egipto, donde supuestamente fue torturado. La operación habría sido parte del programa de "rendición extraordinaria" de la CIA, en el que los sospechosos terroristas son trasladados a terceros países sin la autorización de un tribunal, sometiéndolos a posibles torturas.
Francisco: Hello friends and thank you to Maria for all her hard work. Here are twelve stories from Democracy Now! this week. Try to get the word out to at least one person that Democracy Now! is providing their headlines in Spanish and English, in text and audio. Help get the word out.
Poll: 64% Say Bush Has No Clear Strategy in Iraq
Meanwhile a new poll by the Pew Research Center has found that 64 percent of Americans believe President Bush does not have a clear strategy for bringing the situation in Iraq to a successful conclusion.
AFL-CIO Convention Calls for End to Iraq Occupation
Under major pressure form its membership and dissident unions that pulled out of the federation, the AFL-CIO has passed a resolution calling for a "rapid" return of all U.S. troops currently in Iraq. The resolution came at the group's national convention in Chicago. The group US Labor Against the War called the resolution a "major shift in policy." The groups says that the AFL-CIO General Executive Council had tried to push through a watered-down resolution that did not clearly call for a prompt end to the occupation. This attempt was headed-off after one of the leaders of Labor Against the War put forward an amendment calling for an end to the occupation.
Gene Bruskin, US Labor Against the War:The resolution was an historic one because it ended decades of silence from the labor movement and actual support for the U.S. government on the issue of foreign policy. As Henry Nicholas, president of 1199 AFSCME of Philadelphia said when he rose to the mic to condemn the war, "In my 45 years in the labor movement, this is my proudest
GAO Report Says US Diverting Iraq Humanitarian Funds for Security
A new report by the Government Accountability Office released yesterday shows that millions of dollars designated for reconstruction and humanitarian projects in Iraq are being diverted for so-called security operations, draining money from efforts to rebuild water, electricity and health networks. In many cases, security accounts for more than a third of the budget for individual projects and the US is paying individual security contractors up to $33,000 a month. That's nearly $400,000 a year per individual guard. In some cases, humanitarian projects were cancelled to free up funds for security operations elsewhere. moment. We have finally stood up to this war and said, 'Enough is enough.'"
War Resister Benderman Sentenced to 15 Months
A US Army mechanic who refused to go to Iraq while he sought conscientious objector status was acquitted yesterday of desertion but found guilty of a lesser charge during his court-martial. Sgt. Kevin Benderman was sentenced to 15 months in prison on the charge of missing movement. He also was given a dishonorable discharge from the military and a reduction in rank to private. If he had been found guilty of desertion, he could have faced five years in prison. Still, his sentence appears to be the harshest yet given to an Iraq war resister.
New Latin American Television Network Officially Launched
In media news -- the Venezuelan government officially launched Telesur -- a new Latin American satellite TV station. Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez has said the station will give South America a voice independent of traditional media conglomerates like CNN. At a launch ceremony on Sunday Chavez said "This is part of an awakening of our peoples." The station is being launched with help from other Latin American governments including Argentina, Cuba and Uruguay. Board members include a group of international supporters including the actor Danny Glover, the writer Tariq Ali and Nobel Peace Prize winner Adolfo Perez Esquivel. The new station is not being well-received in Washington. Last week the U.S. House passed an amendment calling for the U.S. to begin broadcasting its own channel into the region to counter Telesur. Republican Congressman Connie Mack of Florida said the U.S. government should "initiate radio and television broadcasts that will provide a consistently accurate, objective, and comprehensive source of news to Venezuela." Mack said this is needed to counter what he described as Telesur's "anti-Americanism."
Innocent Man Shot Dead in London Subway by UK Police
In addition, British police have admitted they shot dead an innocent man inside a London subway car on Friday during its hunt for suspects. Jean Charles de Menezes, a 27-year-old Brazilian born electrician, was shot five times in the head by undercover police officers. Initially police maintained Menezes was connected to the bombings but later admitted it was all a mistake. Despite the killing, a shoot-to-kill policy is still in effect in Britain. "We have to consider what would have happened if the officers had not shot and that man had been a suicide bomber and had got on the tube and the officers closed and the officers taken the wrong decision. That would have been absolutely dreadful," said Metropolitan Police Commissioner Ian Blair.
Brazil Criticizes London Shooting
The Brazilian's man family has said they might now sue the British police. Brazil's foreign minister Celso Amorim also criticized the shooting. "The sense of the reaction in Brazil is the one I gave already; it's shock and perplexity that an innocent person should be caught in fight against terrorism," said Amorim. "Of course as I said we support the fight against terrorism but I think even there you have to cautious not to take away innocent lives."
Funeral for Brazilian Shot by UK Police
In Brazil, almost all of the 6,000 residents of Gonzaga turned out to pay their respects to the young Brazilian emigrant killed by British police after the failed London bombings earlier this month. The body of Jean Charles de Menezes arrived Thursday in Brazil, six days after he was shot dead in the head in a London subway. Many people in the funeral crowd wore black armbands and waved Brazilian flags, taken up as a protest symbol in Brazil since the killing.
Family of Brazilian Challenges Official Story
Meanwhile, Menezes's relatives are challenging the official version of the story. They say he was not wearing a heavy jacket that might have concealed a bomb, and did not jump the ticket barrier when challenged by armed plainclothes police. Speaking at a press conference after a meeting with the Metropolitan police, the man's cousin, Vivien Figueiredo condemned the shoot-to-kill policy that had led to her cousin's death and vowed that what she called the "crime" would not go unpunished. She said, "Although we are living in circumstances similar to a war, we should not be exterminating people unjustly." She spoke at a news conference with the family's lawyer, Gareth Peirce, and antiwar activist Bianca Jagger.
Poll: Americans Want Rove Gone
A new CNN/USA Today/Gallup poll has found that a majority of Americans believe that Karl Rove should leave the White House for his role in the outing of CIA operative Valerie Plame. But only half of those surveyed say they are following the story closely, while a quarter said they had never even heard of Karl Rove. Meanwhile, the National Journal reports that Rove and other top aides to President Bush were given $4,000 raises from last year. Rove is now paid $161,000.
Lance Armstrong Criticizes Cost of Iraq War
Cycling champion Lance Armstrong - who just won his seventh Tour de France --has publicly criticized the war in Iraq because it has prevented the country from spending more on cancer research. He told Time Magazine, "'Funding [for cancer research] is tough to come by these days. The biggest downside to a war in Iraq is what you could do with that money. What does a war in Iraq cost a week? A billion? Maybe a billion a day?" He went on to say " The budget for the National Cancer Institute is four billion. That has to change. It needs to become a priority again. Polls say people are much more afraid of cancer than of a plane flying into their house or a bomb or any other form of terrorism. It is a priority for the American public."
Italian Court Seeks Arrest of Six More CIA Agents
In Italy, a federal court has issued arrest warrants for six more CIA agents in connection to the kidnapping of an Egyptian cleric from the streets of Milan. A total of 19 CIA operatives are now wanted in the case. The cleric was allegedly snatched on a Milan street in February of 2003, flown to an air base in Germany and then to Egypt, where he reportedly was tortured. The operation was allegedly part of the CIA's "extraordinary rendition" program, in which terror suspects are transferred to third countries without court approval, subjecting them to possible torture.
[Note: This entry originally appeared at The Common Ills.]
Posted at 09:24 pm by thecommonills
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Sunday Chat & Chews
Friday night, which means, shudder, the Sunday Chat & Chews are just around the corner. And goodness will they be chewing Sunday -- Cokie Roberts makes her return (it's understood that there will be pearls and that, yes, Cokie will clutch them).
Over at Gasbag Central, er, ABC's This Week the unholy trinity of the depraved discourse "Fareed Zakaria, editor of Newsweek International, ABC News' Cokie Roberts, and George Will"
returns. George Will must be like Lucifer in that there's no need to identify him. No slug line of "syndicated columnist" or anything. Then again, perhaps like Zza Zza (whom he resembles more and more with each passing year) maybe it's just that he's been around for so long and done so little that no one really has a firm grasp on why he's there?
Joining them are:
Eileen Collins, commander, Space Shuttle Discovery
James Kelly, pilot, Space Shuttle Discovery
Charles Camarda, mission specialist, Space Shuttle Discovery
Former Sen. John Glenn, D-Ohio, former astronaut
Buzz Aldrin, former astronaut
Don Nelson, retired NASA aerospace engineer
Sen. Rick Santorum, R-Pa.
Don't get excited, Santorum's not going into outer space (though his mind's lived there for years).
I have a Lee Iacocca joke but I'll bite my tongue due to the fact that he'll be appearing to speak of diabetes (and his late wife).
Instead we'll note that the administration is really pushing the NASA angle hard. (Wouldn't you if you wanted to move attention from the outing of Valerie Plame and John Roberts' memory issues?) How can you tell? Check out NBC's Meet the Press:
MICHAEL GRIFFIN
NASA Administrator
EILEEN COLLINS
Discovery Shuttle Commander
JAMES KELLY
Discovery Shuttle Pilot
CHARLES CAMARDA
Discovery Shuttle Mission Specialist
Let's also note the roundtable:
DAVID BRODER
Washington Post
JOHN HARWOOD
Wall Street Journal
KATE O'BEIRNE
National Review
EUGENE ROBINSON
Washington Post
You got the right and the center. ("Left leaning" Robison perhaps. That's how the Wash Post promotes him and his syndicated column.) Meet the press, or at least this limited faction.
Now let's note Face the Nation (CBS):
Host:
CBS Evening News Anchor Bob Schieffer
Topics:
The Fight Over Stem Cell Research; Space Shuttle Discovery
Guests:
Sen. Arlen Specter
Republican - Pennsylvania
Sen. Sam Brownback
Republican - Kansas
Bill Harwood
CBS Space Analyst
Elisabeth Bumiller
The New York Times
Carin Pratt is the Executive Producer of Face the Nation.
We note Pratt this week. If I were watching one of the shows, it would be Face the Nation. Not because, as Jordan wondered, of my friend at CBS. I don't even personally care for Blinky (Bob Schieffer). But while This Week and Meet the Press seem to ape one another week after week, Face the Nation seems to mix it up a bit more. Not enough. But compared to the siamese twins of MTP and TW, Face the Nation tries to provide something a little less obvious. (Some times.)
Shieffer also seems to take the news a bit more seriously than the Georges and Russert.
(Which doesn't mean he doesn't clown. Check The Daily Howler archives.)
The e-mail address for this site is common_ills@yahoo.com.
[Note: This entry originally appeared at The Common Ills.]
Posted at 09:22 pm by thecommonills
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Democracy Now: Jesse Jackson, Ralph Neas, Lori Wallach; Bob Somerby, Matthew Rothschild, BuzzFlash, Margaret Kimberley, CODEPINK, Norman Solomon
Democracy Now: Jesse Jackson, Ralph Neas, Lori Wallach; Bob Somerby, Matthew Rothschild, BuzzFlash, Margaret Kimberley, CODEPINK, Norman Solomon
Judge Blasts Bush Policies: We Don’t Need a 'Secret Military Tribunal'
This week, a US District Court Judge in Seattle sentenced Algerian Ahmed Ressam to 22 years in prison. Ressam was convicted of bringing bomb making materials across the Canadian border in December 1999 in an alleged plot to attack the Los Angeles International Airport. The Judge, John Coughenour, who was a Reagan appointee, used Ressam's sentencing as an opportunity to speak out against Bush administration policies. The Judge said, "We did not need to use a secret military tribunal, detain the defendant indefinitely as an enemy combatant or deny the defendant the right to counsel." He continued, "The message to the world from today's sentencing is that our courts have not abandoned our commitment to the ideals that set our nation apart." He added that September 11th made Americans realize they are vulnerable to terrorism and that some believe "this threat renders our Constitution obsolete ... If that view is allowed to prevail, the terrorists will have won," the judge said.
War Resister Benderman Sentenced to 15 Months
A US Army mechanic who refused to go to Iraq while he sought conscientious objector status was acquitted yesterday of desertion but found guilty of a lesser charge during his court-martial. Sgt. Kevin Benderman was sentenced to 15 months in prison on the charge of missing movement. He also was given a dishonorable discharge from the military and a reduction in rank to private. If he had been found guilty of desertion, he could have faced five years in prison. Still, his sentence appears to be the harshest yet given to an Iraq war resister.
Israel Building New Barrier to Surround Gaza
The Israeli army revealed yesterday that it is increasing its military and security system near the Gaza Strip in anticipation of next month's so-called withdrawal. The army describes a high-tech complex to ring the coastal strip with what Israel hopes will be the world's most impenetrable barrier. The barrier system will surround Gaza with fences, electronic sensors; watchtowers mounted with remote-control machine guns, and hundreds of video and night vision cameras. The Israeli military says that the plan includes new army bases and 22-foot concrete walls around nearby Israeli settlements. Watchtowers armed with remote-controlled machine guns are to be built every 1.2 miles and within a year, remote-controlled, unmanned vehicles will begin patrolling the area. The barrier will run about 35 miles and will cost about $220 million. Israel says it will be completed by mid-2006.
The three items above are from Democracy Now!'s Headlines and were selected by Alabama, West and Kara. Democracy Now! ("always worth watching," as Marcia says)
Headlines for July 29, 2005
- Marines Killed In Iraq
- IRA Ends 30-Year Armed Campaign
- Israel Building New Barrier to Surround Gaza
- War Resister Benderman Sentenced to 15 Months
- Bill Frist Breaking With Bush on Stem Cell Research
- GAO Report Says US Diverting Iraq Humanitarian Funds for Security
- State Department Admits Bolton Didn’t Disclose CIA Interview
Roberts' Record on Civil Rights Enters Battle Over Supreme Court Nomination
In the ongoing controversy over the Supreme Court nomination of John Roberts, questions are being raised over Roberts’ role in the civil rights debates of the 1980s. During his tenure as Deputy Assistant General under Reagan, Roberts advocated a narrow interpretation of a variety of civil rights laws, and presented a defense of congressional efforts to strip the Supreme Court of jurisdiction over busing, abortion and school prayer cases. We speak with Ralph Neas of People for the American Way and Reverend Jesse Jackson.
Irish Republican Army Announces End to Violence
The Irish Republican Army Thursday called for all of its volunteers to disarm, effectively ending a 36-year guerilla campaign against the British government. We’ll look at whether this move will really change the fate of Northern Ireland.
CAFTA Voting Irregularities
After Congress passes CAFTA by one vote in a midnight count, questions are being raised about the process. We speak with the Director of Public Citizen's Global Trade Watch about the GOP leaders' round-up of House votes to approve trade agreement.
PROFILE OF A WEAK REQUEST: At the risk of provoking fury from liberal readers, the most interesting Thursday post we saw was this one, by the estimable David Corn. An edited version of the piece appears at the site of The Nation.
Overview: In his piece, David discusses Bob Novak's fateful decision to report the fact that Joe Wilson's wife worked for the CIA. More specifically, David discusses Novak's call to the CIA to confirm what he'd heard about Plame. Novak described this conversation in an October 2003 op-ed column--and just this Wednesday, the Post's Walter Pincus added a new perspective. Pincus had interviewed Bill Harlow, the CIA spokesman with whom Novak spoke. In the Post, Pincus gave Harlow’s version of his conversation with Novak.
In short, we now have accounts from both Novak and Harlow. In his piece, David is struck by the "contradictions" between the two accounts, and he says that Harlow’s account shoots down Novak's excuse for publishing. At the risk of provoking fury, we have to say we disagree on both counts.
First, the alleged contradictions. David quotes Novak's account of his exchange with Harlow, from his October 03 column:
NOVAK (10/1/03): At the CIA, the official designated to talk to me denied that Wilson's wife had inspired his selection [for the trip to Niger] but said she was delegated to request his help. He asked me not to use her name, saying she probably never again will be given a foreign assignment but that exposure of her name might cause "difficulties" if she travels abroad. He never suggested to me that Wilson's wife or anybody else would be endangered. If he had, I would not have used her name. I used it in the sixth paragraph of my column because it looked like the missing explanation of an otherwise incredible choice by the CIA for its mission. That was Novak's account of what happened when he called the CIA. Next, David produced Harlow's account, as laid out this Wednesday by Pincus:
PINCUS (7/27/05): Harlow, the former CIA spokesman, said in an interview yesterday that he testified last year before a grand jury about conversations he had with Novak at least three days before the column was published. He said he warned Novak, in the strongest terms he was permitted to use without revealing classified information, that Wilson's wife had not authorized the mission [to Niger] and that if he did write about it, her name should not be revealed.
Harlow said that after Novak's call, he checked Plame's status and confirmed that she was an undercover operative. He said he called Novak back to repeat that the story Novak had related to him was wrong and that Plame's name should not be used. But he did not tell Novak directly that she was undercover because that was classified. "So how many contradictions can you find?" David asks. Our answer: As a matter of fact, we can't find any. In fact, given the emotion surrounding this matter, we think it's amazing that these two men's accounts are so similar.
There's a lot to read so consider clicking here and reading today's Howler in full.
The Democrats just can’t hold the line.
Nowhere was this clearer than on the CAFTA vote that passed the House in the wee hours of the night by a mere two-vote margin, 217 to 215.
Democrats gave Bush this victory, and workers and the environment this defeat, here and in Central America.
You see, 15 Democrat sided with Bush and multinational corporations by voting for CAFTA (see list below). If only two of those Democrats had voted with their party, CAFTA would be dead.
But now, already having passed the Senate with 10 Democratic votes, it will wreak its havoc for years to come, devastating the livelihoods of millions of people in Central America, further hollowing out the job market in the United States, and placing environmental safeguards at the mercy of corporations.
For those who were wondering why The Black Commentator wasn't mentioned yesterday, the site hadn't changed before the entry here was completed. They're on a summer break until September 1st. While they're on vacation, you can search the site and find things you may have missed earlier or articles you read and enjoyed before but want to savor again. On the home page they have a "Best of Our Guest Commentators" which is easy to access and will provide enjoyable and educational readings.
We'll also note "The Best of Freedom Rider," Margaret Kimberley's purpose and value is clearly stated as the editors of The Black Commentator assemble a collage of some Kimerberley's many strong columns:
Margaret Kimberley is a woman of the people. She speaks for the people, and is not encumbered by corporate constraints. Her weekly column on BC is the best-read item on our menu. We are honored that she writes for us, and writes so well.
She also speaks truth to power, and to the powerless, and to those who purport to speak for the powerless -- the false leadership that is subsidized by outside forces.
False leadership comes in various flavors. Sometimes it is licorice, simulating Black. It stains your tongue, but doesn’t tell the truth.
Margaret Kimberley’s weekly columns hit hard – like they’re supposed to do. In the Blackest major city in the nation, Detroit, misguided politicians tried to set aside a few square blocks for Africa Town. This is crazy. Most of Detroit is “Africa Town.” The whole city should be developed to serve African Americans. Ms. Kimberley said so, on October 7, 2004:
”Detroit’s population is 80% black. In theory, the entire city should be a boom town for black people. If a majority black population and black political leadership can’t provide economic development for Detroit, then the African Town discussion is a waste of time and energy that might be better spent developing a real plan for that city.”
We must speak the truth, especially to our own people. Halfway measures don’t get us the whole way to freedom and prosperity. And half-ass politics gets us nowhere. Margaret Kimberly spares no one, in the search of truth. Certainly, the Democratic Party, to which Blacks have been wedded for generations, is an actor in the racist game. Senator John Kerry conceded, in the face of massive voting fraud in Ohio, Florida, and many other states, almost before the sun came up on the day after the election. He was complicit in the crime, as Ms. Kimberley wrote on November 11, 2004:
”The same politicians who looked over the Democratic field and decided that Senator Empty Suit was going to be the savior of the party are now blaming gay marriage for the loss. They have said nothing about electronic voting irregularities in Ohio and Florida that disenfranchised their most loyal voters. They have said nothing about the system of electoral racial separation that condemns black voters to use punch card ‘hanging chad’ machines and provisional ballots that aren’t counted.”
Tara e-mails to note Norman Solomon's "In Praise of Kevin Benderman" (CounterPunch):
Conscience is not in the chain of command.
"Before being sentenced to 15 months for refusing to return to Iraq with his Army unit, Sgt. Kevin Benderman told a military judge that he acted with his conscience, not out of a disregard for duty," the Associated Press reports. Benderman, a 40-year-old Army mechanic, "refused to go on a second combat tour in January, saying the destruction and misery he witnessed during the 2003 Iraq invasion had turned him against war."
Three weeks ago, his wife Monica Benderman wrote:
"He returned knowing that war is wrong, the most dehumanizing creation of humanity that exists. He saw war destroy civilians, innocent men, women and children. He saw war destroy homes, relationships and a country. He saw this not only in the country that was invaded, but he saw this happening to the invading country as well -- and he knew that the only way to save those soldiers was for people to no longer participate in war. Sgt. Kevin Benderman is a Conscientious Objector to war, and the Army is mad."
On Thursday, at his court-martial, Kevin Benderman spoke. "Though some might take my actions as being against soldiers, I want everyone to be home and safe and raising their families," he said. "I don't want anyone to be hurt in a combat zone."
But the Pentagon is imposing its power to enforce the unconscionable. And words that were written by Monica Benderman in early July are now even more true: "The Army has removed itself so completely from its moral responsibility, that its representatives are willing to openly demand, in a court of law, that they be allowed to regain 'positive control over this soldier' by finding him guilty of crimes he did not commit, and put him in jail -- a prisoner of conscience, for daring to obey a moral law."
And, she added: "It is 'hard work' to face the truth, and it is scary when people who are not afraid to face it begin to speak out. Someone once said that my husband's case is a question of morality over legality. I pray that this country has not gone so far over the edge that the two are so distinctly different that we can tell them apart."
Eli e-mails to note the ACLU's Reform the Patriot Act blog and specifically the entry "Overheard in Oversight Hearing:"
Just yesterday, the FBI testified before the Senate Judiciary Committee about the failures in their process for hiring translators to translate foreign intelligence, and made a pitch for administrative subpoenas. In June the Senate Intelligence Committee had a secret meeting to report out a bill that would give the FBI this power -- the power to write its own search orders for "any tangible thing" without getting any court approval in advance and without proving to any court that there are any facts connecting the records sought to an agent of a foreign power.
The FBI has wanted this kind of power for so long that people who have worked on this issue longer than me actually have mimeographed copies of such proposals from decades ago (this was practically before the copy machine, if you can even imagine that). But Congress after Congress has wisely rejected such requests which would completely undermine our Fourth Amendment.
The FBI says that businesses would be able to challenge those subpoenas after the fact but this is slim protection -- do people really believe that the credit bureau or their credit card company is going to go to the legal expense of fighting for their privacy if the FBI goes on a fishing expeditions with their customer files. One can always hope, but the FBI subpoena would be secret forever and you would probably never know if your records were turned over to the FBI.
On a related note, in the House Judiciary Committee two weeks ago, Congressman Scott of Virginia proposed that businesses successfully challenging a Section 215 court order would get their attorney fees paid, but that too was defeated on a party-line vote. If the FBI were given the power to write its own orders for such records without any court approval, Section 215 will be phased out because: Why would they ever go to court to get an order if they can just get the same thing themselves?
Now we go to Kara, with breaking news and awards coverage.
Kara: Thank you, C.I. As many know BuzzFlash has announced their latest GOP Hypocrite of the Week winner, Pat Roberts the Senator from the state of deranged. And quite honestly, there's talk that this week's awards won't be televised. A problem has been the ratings. And ad agencies are complaining about ad buys. They argue that the winners are all too ... I believe the technical term is "butt ugly," to pull in large audiences. There's also talk that some past winners have frightened small children when their faces loomed on the screen. BuzzFlash's is going after truth and the networks, as always want glitz.
C.I.: Kara, with the attacks on the left, is there any talk that any of this may result from a mainstream media that's titled right?
Kara: While that is surely a possibility, the fact remains that the winners of the GOP Hypocrite of the Week are in deed butt ugly. On the face of it, they are butt ugly.
C.I.: Interesting. And the current winner, Pat Roberts?
Kara: Let's just say he's no dream date. He looks like Karl Rove's skinny brother.
C.I.: Now Kara, did I understand you correctly earlier, Kenneth Tomlinson has interjected himself into the matter?
Kara: That is correct. Now the BuzzFlash GOP Hypocrite of the Week is not telecast on any PBS station so many are confused by Tomlinson's latest actions which include giving two million dollars to The Drudge Report to analyze the content and selection process.
C.I.: And did he get approval from the CPI Board for that?
Kara: Does he ever? The best anyone can figure out is that Tomlinson's been riding his hog without his helment one too many times or else he's just hard up for ways to garner attention these days.
C.I.: Kara, thank you.
(Before anyone writes in to ask if Kenneth Tomlinson really gave 2 million dollars to Drudge, the above was a joke. Thanks to Kara for coming up with the idea and exchanging e-mails this morning that make up the above dialogue. Hopefully it draws further attention to BuzzFlash's GOP Hypocrite of the Week choices.)
Toby e-mails to note CODEPINK:
ONEMILLIONREASONS.ORG: Tell Bush to Get Out of Iraq
Polls show that we now represent the majority -- 6 out of 10 Americans would like the US troops to come home -- people feel isolated from each other and feel their voices are not being heard. So we have created an exciting new campaign called ONEMILLIONREASONS.ORG, where you can post on-line YOUR reason why the US should get out of Iraq, and read what other people all over the world have to say. On September 26 we will hand deliver the signatures and messages directly to the White House.
For those who wrote in to say how much they enjoyed Kat's reviews of Aimee Mann's The Forgotten Arm and Carly Simon's Midnight Serenade (e-mails have been forwarded to Kat and her e-mail address is kats_korner@hotmail.com), we'll note Tony Peyser's "Loudon Wainwright IIIs's 'Here Comes The Choppers!'" (BuzzFlash):
Loudon Wainwright III is on drugs.
I'm not talking pot, cocaine or heroin. I mean the performance-enhancing drugs that professional baseball players have been taking during the last ten years which turned every damn major league game into a home run derby. The most coveted substance was Androstenedione, which is an androgenic steroid. (I don't know what an "androgenic steroid" is and neither do you.) I even believe that Wainwright has stolen so much Androstenedione that needy sluggers like Barry Bonds just can't get any of the damn stuff. (The San Francisco Giant home run king isn't having any knee problems; that's the cover story while he's trying to find a way to get his hands on some of Wainwright's steroids.)
Where's my proof? Well, how else can you explain two sensational albums of new material in the last four years? Wainwright's in his late fifties and this is precisely when a singer-songwriter's quality should skid right off the proverbial rails. He's supposed to be phoning it in with something annoyingly retro like a collection of rockabilly or doo-wop tracks. Or, more likely, a live album of his early songs. (Uh, Wainwright did do So Damn Happy in 2003, which had a lot of his early songs on it. But I'm on a roll here, so forget about that.) Wainwright could even pull a page from the Ry Cooder playbook, find some old world music fellas from a sweaty banana republic and get them onto vinyl before they start dying off like Democratic bills in the GOP-controlled House to provide health care for poor people.
Marcia e-mails to note that Anne's taking on the ex-gay "therapy" at Peevish . . .I'm Just Saying:
Today is the day Zach is supposed to be released.
I know it's unreasonable to think his parents will let him use the internet today, or probably in the immediate future, but I really want to know how he's doing.
And if his parents took this time, after they saw the public shit-storm over their actions, to consider whether or not they might be taking the wrong tack. I don't think they did. Based on what I've read in Zach's blog and the interview with his father, they're too set in their religion and too defensive to back down.
Sigh. I'd like to believe they think they're doing what's best, that they made a calm and rational decision to take this step, but Zach's journal entry about his mother "saying the worst things to me for three days straight" until he was considering suicide, even briefly, makes it very difficult for me to believe that.
Tracey (yes, that Ruth's granddaughter) e-mails to note Robert Parry's "Why We Need Investigative Reporting:"
By the mid-1990s, past crimes by the Republicans were off the media's radar scopes as the mainstream press joined the right-wing media in obsessing over trivial "Clinton scandals," such as the firing of White House travel office employees and endless questions about Bill and Hillary Clinton's Whitewater real estate investment.
These stories represented a deformed version of investigative journalism, essentially political attack operations masquerading as investigative journalism. In short, they were a form of political dirty trick.
Faced with the bleak media environment of 1995, we started Consortiumnews.com as a way to publish well-reported stories of true significance, what we considered old-fashioned investigative journalism, albeit in the new medium of the Internet.
Some of our articles were about current events while others pieced together key parts of recent American history. In the broadest sense, our goal was to tell the real story of what happened to the United States since World War II and how that often-secret history helped explain the troubling present.
So, for instance, when five Republicans on the U.S. Supreme Court stopped the Florida recount in December 2000 and handed George W. Bush the White House, our readers weren't surprised, knowing the history of how ruthlessly Republicans had pursued control of the White House in the past. [See the "October Surprise X-Files" series or Parry's Secrecy & Privilege.]
Our readers weren't surprised either when Colin Powell turned out to be a rank opportunist, as he exploited his sparkling reputation to sell the Bush administration's puffed-up evidence about Iraq's supposed weapons of mass destruction. [For Powell's real background, see the "Behind Colin Powell's Legend" series.]
As the right-wing media bullied Americans who dissented from Bush's pronouncements about Iraq, our readers already recognized the intellectual corruption of a media infrastructure that had long been subsidized by Rev. Sun Myung Moon, writing checks from his mysterious funding sources. [See the "Dark Side of Rev. Moon" series.]
And we'll close by noting, in full, a press release from The Green Party at Third Party's request:
Greens gathering in Tulsa for the national meeting of the Green Party of the United States this past weekend elected new national co-chairs of the party.
The party's National Committee elected the new officers on Sunday morning, July 24. The new co-chairs, who serve on the Green Party's steering committee, are Pat LaMarche (Maine) and Rebecca Rotzler (New York). Steve Kramer (Maryland) was reelected co-chair. Holly Hart (Iowa) was elected secretary of the national party.
They join sitting co-chairs Gwen Wages (Mississippi), Marc Sanson (Illinois), and Jody Haug (Washington) and treasurer Jake Schneider (Wisconsin), who were elected in 2004. One seat was left vacant in the election and will be filled through a runoff. (Steering committee terms are two years; elections are staggered, with half the committee elected every year.)
Ms. LaMarche ran for Governor of Maine in 1998 and was nominated for Vice President of the United States in 2004. During the Tulsa meeting, Ms. LaMarche announced Maine's record number of Green registrants: 24,155 Maine voters were reported registered Green in November, 2004, up 50% from 16,169 Green registrants in November, 2002. At 2.3%, the 2004 number is the highest per capita percentage of registered Greens in any state.
Ms. Rotzler, who is a Yupik Eskimo and originally from Alaska, is Deputy Mayor of New Paltz, New York and serves as co-chair of the Green Party's Peace Action Committee, leading Greens in their opposition to the U.S. invasion and occupation of Iraq. Ms. Hart currently serves as co-chair of the Green Party's Platform Committee.
Also in the past week, Nancy Allen (Maine) stepped down from her position as one of two Media Coordinators for the Green Party. Starlene Rankin (California) replaces Ms. Allen, joining Scott McLarty (District of Columbia).
Raitt Wins Humanitarian Award
Greens also congratulated singer, guitarist, and acclaimed songwriter Bonnie Raitt, who will receive the Harry Chapin Memorial Humanitarian Award during the opening session of the 47th annual convention of National Association of Recording Merchandisers in San Diego on August 12. Ms. Raitt is a member of the Green Party of California.
"Ms. Raitt's efforts to stop war in Central America, participation in the Sun City anti-apartheid project, performances at 'No Nukes' concerts, dedication to ecology and rights for women and Native Americans, and work to ensure higher royalties for older R&B musicians are all consistent with all the best Green principles," said Rebecca Rotzler. "We're enormously proud that a member of the Green Party will receive the Harry Chapin Award this year. Congratulations, Bonnie!"
MORE INFORMATION
Green Party of the United States
http://www.gp.org
1700 Connecticut Avenue NW, Suite 404
Washington, DC 20009.
202-319-7191, 866-41GREEN
Fax 202-319-7193
"Green Independent Party sees hefty growth in state"
Associated Press, Portland Press Herald (Maine), July 25, 2005
http://pressherald.mainetoday.com/news/state/050725greens.shtml
The e-mail address for this site is common_ills@yahoo.com.
[Note: This entry originally appeared at The Common Ills.]
Posted at 09:20 pm by thecommonills
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Kat's Korner: Beware when Carly invites you along a Moonlight Serenade
Friday, July 29, 2005
Kat's Korner: Beware when Carly invites you along a Moonlight Serenade
I blame Carly Simon.
I blame Maggie.
And I blame Sumner and his sexy self.
But most of all I blame Carly Simon and her latest CD Moonlight Serenade.
One thing's for sure, I ain't taking the fall for it.
We were tired. It had been a nice Sunday. The sun had set, Dak-Ho and Toni were off to a club, Maggie was buzzed and still swearing she was up for anything. Sumner had Monday off so he wasn't ready to call it a night.
No sooner are we back at my place and Maggie parked on the couch than she's out like a light while Sumner's digging through my discs trying to find something he hasn't heard in awhile or, better yet, not heard at all.
He pulls out Carly's latest. It's her fourth album of standards. I'm luke warm on Film Noir. I really like Torch, but I love My Romance. Moonlight Serenade is in the new format, the one that's supposed to save the music biz, dual disc. Maybe it will save the biz or maybe it will go the way of 3-D movies, who knows?
But the DVD side of the disc contains an interview with Carly and producer Richard Perry. During that, as an aside, Carly offers that maybe the album will help people make love and not war. It's a moment, an aside, but it demonstrates once again that Carly Simon's very much a part of the world around her. You can hear that on her finest songs which don't just explore her own landscape but add to your own. And when everyone was choosing sides during the primaries, she proved once again where she stood by coming out in favor of Howard Dean. The photos of Carly and Howard from Yahoo news quickly filled my inbox last year as various friends e-mailed them. Carly and Dean were a perfect fit because, to use an old term, the two of them together was just so organic.
And when Carly does an album of standards, it's a very organic process. There's no sense that she's trembling before the microphone, fearful of being overshadowed by a big band sound or by the weight that comes with the standards. There's no sense that she's a little miss who's going to be plucky and proud like the worst of Shirley Temple meets the worst of Julie Andrews as has been the case with so many of her peers who've mined the standards. With Carly, it always sounds like she's comfortable and that probably has a lot to do with the nature of her voice but it may also have to do with the fact that, unlike some, she's proven she can write songs so she approaches the torch songs without the desperation bid of "I can't sing what they're writing these days anymore and this may be my last shot!"
While others look up after the songs with a knowing grin that they fail to hide behind false modesty and wait for the expected applause, Carly's just being Carly. Her approach is probably closer to Sinatra's than any of her peers will ever get because, like Sinatra, she makes you think she's completely at home in each song.
When the second track started playing, "I've Got You Under My Skin," Sumner jokingly suggested we should dance. Why not? It was a great version of the song and we long ago entered the safety of just friends, right?
Hadn't planned on "I Only Have Eyes for You" following. As Carly breathed new life into a song that's grown tired from too many bad versions performed at wedding receptions, something else was going on.
By "In the Still of Night," we were kicking off our shoes, Sumner was pulling up my blouse and I was undoing the button on his pants.
Though both of us had long ago moved beyond bed buddies, here we were again, years later, fumbling around with each other and "stumbling in false starts" (Carly's "Make Me Feel Something" off Spoiled Girl) as the simmer emotion captured on the disc came to a boil.
The rest of the album served as our own personal soundtrack as we got, as I would put it, reaquainted or as we got, as kids today would put it, busy. Amidst the panting and movement, somewhere I threw my head back as Carly was singing "Where or When" and we both stopped for a moment to hear, really hear the song, before resuming our devouring of one another.
Side by side, catching our breath and reflecting on what had just happened, it seemed appropriate to hear Carly ask the musical question of "How Long Has This Been Going On?"
Now nobody worry, there won't be any wedding registry you have to sign up for. It was a moment, only a moment. A replapse. But the album should come with a warning label advising you not to listen with someone with whom you think the fires of passion were long ago extinguished.
Maggie passed out in the living room or not, I can't imagine the above happening if we were spinning, for instance, Linda Rondstadt's What's New? With that, we might nod to each other and say, "Nicely done." With one of Rod Stewart's albums of standards, we'd probably shurg. But Carly doesn't show boat. Her comfort level lets her delve into the actual emotions of the songs so don't be surprised if things heat up when you listen.
That's what Sumner and I told each other as we quickly put back on our clothes and returned to the living room where Maggie was stretching her arms out above her and yawning.
"That was really nice," she said nodding to the CD player. "Let's listen again."
"No!" Sumner and I both exclaimed causing Maggie to raise a suspicious eyebrow.
"We just listened to it," Sumner mumbled as I went in search of less passionate disc and avoided making eye contact with the curious Maggie.
Beware the power of Carly, kids, beware the power of Carly. Moonlight Serenade should come with a warning label: Listening may induce bursts of passion.
[Note: This originally appeared at The Common Ills.]
Posted at 07:20 pm by thecommonills
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Kat's Korner: Aimee Mann's The Forgotten Arm
Friday, July 29, 2005
Kat's Korner: Aimee Mann's The Forgotten Arm
Sun warming our bodies, coastal winds cooling them off. The great thing about this park is probably it's proximity to the ocean. Not that any of us is going to go jump in. That's the sort of thing we did in our wild, reckless teens. "It's the ocean for God's sake!" is how we'd dismiss concerns raised. Then, after awhile, bypassing the floating human waste isn't so funny or your foot gets pricked by a syringe or . . . It's still fairly pretty from a distance despite the fact that we have totally and completely f**cked it up.
So this park is probably our favorite place to have a picnic. It brings with it the distant memory of the passion we once had for playing in the surf and the comfort of enough distance.
So that's where we were Sunday. Toni and Dak-Ho had made the eats, Maggie had offer to pack them which was only greeted with howls of laughter. She truly is the inverse Felix the Cat -- with anything going into her purse apparently vanishing. Sumner was bringing a big wicker basket and I was in charge of the boom box and the discs.
Under the shade of our favorite tree, we set up camp and kicked back. Coldplay gave way to Prince, gave way to White Stripes, gave way to Tori Amos, gave way to Van Hunt as we laughed and joked and ate and drank, stopping to admire the scenery, a person or the moment itself or maybe just to join in with an improvised game of frisbee.
Ava and C.I. had been talking up the new Aimee Mann, so I'd brought that along. I hadn't put it in the boom box. It was more of "if we get tired of hearing all the stuff we already love, I'll put this on" kind of choice.
But Maggie had dropped the frisbee once too often and the jokes had been one too many for her, so she'd gone back to the blankets and beach towels to do what she does best, forage. She'd turned up Aimee Mann's The Forgotten Arm, probably due to the cover -- a pulp drawing of two men in boxing shorts.
Throwing kisses so Richmond's unfortunate can go on
Throwing kisses so Richmond's unfortunate can go on
Throwing kisses so Richmond's unfortunate can go on
Mann started out in 'Til Tuesday which for too many is remembered for her hair, a shock of white mane with a tail. (Really kids, in the eighties, some people did add a long strip of hair to their otherwise short hair.) Mann and the group have an image, to some who didn't pay close attention, that's right up there with Cyndi Lauper as a good time, everybody Wang Chung type of band.
Goes completely against the music which even when overly produced provided some of the starkest, most isolated lyrics you've ever heard in the top forty. Get beyond loudly singing the "Hush hush" parts of "Voices Carry" and listen to the story that song is telling. By the second album ( Welcome Home), the band was sounding better, the production was losing some of that high gloss sheen, and Aimee Mann was demonstrating gifts that still make her one of the strongest writers in popular song. By the final album ( Everything's Different Now), she was holding her own with Elvis Costello. This wasn't Costello breathing life into her tired act (the way it was when he teamed with Paul McCartney), this was two strong songwriting giants engaging one another. In the process, Mann produced, by herself, what I still consider to be one of her quieter masterpieces: "J for Jules."
She went solo, got screwed around by the labels. Came back to grab an Oscar nomination and do some solid work on her own recording label. The feeling is that you know what you're getting with an Aimee Mann album these days. Feelings can be wrong.
As The Forgotten Arm poured out of the boom box, it was obvious that we were hearing something remarkable. Joe Henry's producing. Henry can be hit or miss with me. He added very little to Ani DiFranco's Knuckle Down, for instance. Made me wonder why Ani had even used a producer on that album instead of doing it herself? But working with his sister-in-law, he helped her record her best non-soundtrack hit in years ("Don't Tell Me"). The sister-in-law is of course Madonna who used to be married to Sean Penn who is the brother of Michael Penn who is married to Aimee Mann.
Still awake?
Whatever connection brought Henry and Mann together, it was a fortuous one. The Forgotten Arm sounds like Aimee Mann and it sounds like something more. It's like she's working with a band again and, unlike 'Til Tuesday, they aren't fumbling around trying to figure out the sound, the sound is fully born from the first song.
Aimee Mann's lyrics probably intimidate many of her peers. It's not every songwriter fresh out of the gate that ends up prompting a state of music discussion from Joni Mitchell (and getting basically a seal of approval).
So, like a ghost in the snow
I'm getting read to go
Because baby, that's all I know --
How to open the door
And though my exit was crude
It saes me coming unglued
For when you're not in the mood
For gloves and the canvas floor
That's how I knew this story would break my heart
When you wrote it.
The song will grab you and nail down every memory of that one romance you stayed in way too long because it meant way too much even though it cost far more than you were willing to pay.
And when Mann's voice rises, whispers and breaks on the "break my heart" part, you really register it.
That's what Henry and Mann have done producing this album, found a way to underscore the mood of the songs and to provide the best arrangements for them. When you write as strongly as Mann does, it's probably easy to assume the song is ready for posterity and there's no need to fuss over an arrangement. Which is why her albums can sometimes sound like a collection of demos, incredible demos granted, and not like an album itself.
The Forgotten Arm isn't just her best album, it's one of the top ten albums of the year. We were dancing and swaying to "That's How I Knew This Story Would Break My Heart" and bouncing around to "Going Through the Motions" the next. On the latter, the first line, the first note, of each verse, she nails in a way that she hasn't since she had 'Til Tuesday behind her. The music isn't just providing support, it's pushing her further. And she seems to know that and provides her strongest vocals in years.
The album's theme is that Joe, the boxer "tossing kisses so Richmond's unfortunate can go on," and Caroline are in the midst of a messy, emotional affair and calling it quits at various points. It's an interesting theme and it probably freed a writer like Mann to explore even more lyrically than she usually does. And possibly since each song has the safety of characters and doesn't need to be viewed as the latest "I confess!" entry in her canon, she's able to explore musically.
"Video" is the perfect example of what Mann and Henry are doing. Lyrically, it's full of the insight and bravery we expect from Mann and, in the past, we've grown accustomed to this sort of song getting a simple, no frills treatment. Instead, it gets a cinematic treatment that not only opens up the song and enlivens it, it also fits the cinematic nature of the lyrics.
Like a building that's been slated for blasting
I'm proof that nothing is lasting
Counting to eleven as it collapses.
And tell me baby:
Baby, I love you.
It's non-stop memories of you.
It's like a video of you playing
It's all loops of seven-hour kisses
Cut with a couple of near-misses
Back to the scene of the actor saying
"Tell me baby, baby -- why do I feel so bad?"
And baby -- baby, I love you.
But baby -- I feel so bad.
Between "Video" and "Going Through the Motions" the other thing that stands out the most is probably Mann's rediscovery of the rest note. The melodies share a stop and start quality that add the momentum when they get going and that underscore the suddeness of an ending (which, again, is the theme of this album -- the start and stop nature of romance).
You could pour over and pick apart this album for hours. It's the finest thing she's recorded thus far and finer than the majority of albums winning praise and audiences currently. But that probably still wouldn't convey the energy or infectuous nature of the music. Noting at this late date that Mann explores the human heart better than any of her peers is noting the obvious. Stating that she's made her most musically adventurous album, one that will grab you and anyone around you is a new argument.
Some people familiar with Mann's past accomplishments may scoff at that. It's been so long since she's been paired with a band that we wrongly tend to see her as the last of the coffee house greats, strumming her guitar on stage while we sip our espressos and mutter "Deep, man." (Or is it, "Deep, Mann"?)
But The Forgotten Arm isn't just an album that will have you nodding in acknowledgement as she writes the score to the push-pull dance of our times, it's also an album you can put in the player and blast as you zip down the Pacific Coast Highway. Which is exactly what we did enjoying the power of Aimee Mann working with a band.
Put away the notions of an Aimee Mann album as something you haul at two a.m. when the party's wound down and it's just you and a few stragglers needing to chill. The Forgotten Arm is the sort of album that you can play as the guests arrive. It's full of robust energy and excitement and though some listeners may end up overlooking the beauty of Mann's lyrics as they savor the musical experience, it will hopefully remind others that the coffee house poet can still front a band and bowl you over all over again with arrangements that are as passionate as her lyrics have always been.
[Note: This originally appeared at The Common Ills.]
Posted at 07:19 pm by thecommonills
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Nothing much in this morning's Times
Friday, July 29, 2005
Nothing much in this morning's Times
John D. Negroponte, the new director of national intelligence, has imposed strict safeguards intended to ensure that the government's National Intelligence Estimates are based on credible information instead of the kinds of unsubstantiated claims that were the basis for prewar intelligence on Iraq, his top deputy said Thursday.
The deputy, Gen. Michael V. Hayden, made clear that the change should be seen as a response to the intelligence failures on Iraq, most notably the National Intelligence Estimate of October 2002 that asserted that the Iraqis had chemical and biological weapons and were rebuilding their nuclear program. Those assertions were proved wrong, and a presidential commission said in March that the fault lay in part with failures by the Defense Intelligence Agency, the Central Intelligence Agency and others to validate the reliability of their sources and to share their doubts with others.
General Hayden, testifying before a House Intelligence subcommittee, said the change was intended to give new, critical scrutiny to both human and technical intelligence, including reports from agents, satellite photographs and intercepted communications. Among the focuses, he said, will be "who said what, why, and why do we think this is true?"
The above is from Douglas Jehl's " Top Spy's No. 2 Tells of Changes to Avoid Error" in this morning's New York Times which wants desperately to be a news article but reads like instructions to a board game and counts that you share the Times' ability to forget Negropante's past as well as dispense with common sense.
The point of noting it is that when even Jehl's writing can't be mined for some gold, you know the New York Timid has had an off day (even for the Timid). Jehl's not fluffing, but he is left with providing minutes.
Fluffing comes via Elisabeth Bumiller's " U.N. Nominee Omitted Data at Hearings in the Senate."
Who but the Elite Fluff Patrol squad leader could file a piece where Bolton offers the John Roberts' excuse I-didn't-lie-or-obscure-I-just forgot. From the article:
"When Mr. Bolton completed his forms for the Senate he did not recall being interviewed by the inspector general," Mr. McCormack said in a telephone interview Thursday. Mr. McCormack reiterated that Mr. Bolton had not been questioned by the grand jury in the leak investigation.
The latest disclosure about Mr. Bolton came as Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice strongly hinted that President Bush would bypass the Senate when Congress adjourns this weekend and temporarily appoint Mr. Bolton to the United Nations post. Another Republican official said Mr. Bush could name Mr. Bolton as early as next week, but the official would not let his name be used as the decision is Mr. Bush's.
When Condi's ready to rumble, Bumiller's ready to do her part. ("Minimization" is the only term for Bumiller's article.)
The print version of " I.R.A. Renounces Use of Violence; Vows to Disarm" tones down the rhetoric of an earlier draft that appeared online yesterday. (For instance the "organized crime" pull quote Krista and Eli both noted appears to be gone.) Eli's point about reporting on the mood in America from . . . England and Ireland does stand, however. It's apparently true because Brian Lavery and Alan Cowell (our man in London who could have pushed for coverage of the Downing Street Memo but didn't -- he apparently only wakes up when the issue is Ireland) say it's true. Eli's point about innuendo is still valid (Gerry Adams! Apparent I.R.A. commander! An allegation that doesn't appear in the BBC coverage, for instance). The insulting oversimplification of the historical conflict has been pulled from this version. But they haven't added one word about last week's attacks on Catholic Churches. No real surprise there. The Times long ago decided that the conflict was one-sided and you were engaging on one side or the other apparently.
We'll note developments in an issue that Elaine's been covering, Kevin Benderman's case. In the Times, Shaila Dewan has " Army Mechanic Is Acquitted on Desertion Charge:"
An Army mechanic who did not return to Iraq with his unit, saying he was opposed to war after seeing it firsthand, was acquitted yesterday of desertion, but convicted of a lesser charge of purposely missing his unit's deployment.
The mechanic, Sgt. Kevin Benderman, had applied for conscientious-objector status 11 days before his unit, the Third Infantry Division based at Fort Stewart, Ga., went to Iraq on Jan. 8.
[. . .]
When threatened with a court-martial in January, Sergeant Benderman continued to show up for work at the base. He also spoke publicly about his change of opinion on war, saying that during his first tour in Iraq in 2003 he had seen officers refusing treatment to a burned girl and dogs eating corpses at mass graves.
You can visit the BendermanDefense.org for more coverage and I'm sure Elaine will be addressing it this evening.
We'll let Erika have the last word on the Times today, "A complete waste of time and tree."
On Democracy Now! today, the planned topics are:
* The White House releases thousands of pages of documents stemming from Supreme Court justice nominee John Roberts' service as an attorney for the Reagan administration. We'll speak with Ralph Neas of People for the American Way.
* Congress narrowly approves he Central American Free Trade Agreement by a 217-215 vote in the House. We'll get reaction.
* The Irish Republican Army orders an end to its armed campaign. We'll speakwith journalist Ed Moloney, author of "The Secret History of the IRA"
And we'll close by noting that BuzzFlash has picked the latest " winner" for their GOP Hypocrite of the Week. (We'll note this again, this afternoon.)
The e-mail address for this site is common_ills@yahoo.com.
[Note: This originally appeared at The Common Ills.]
Posted at 07:17 pm by thecommonills
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Friday, July 29, 2005
Indymedia roundup
From Elaine and Ciaran on the newswire: The point blank killing of Jean Charles de Menezes, the lack of charging or even suspension of those who killed him (1 shot to the shoulder, 7 to the head) and the New Labour rationalizations that lay a basis for more of these killings to come redefine what is considered as acceptable collateral damage in this war. Blair has decided that these Judge Dredd scenes are part of the price 'we' are willing to pay for his war on Iraq. Meanwhile, the Ahern led government has made us morally culpable in the indiscriminate killings in the U.S invasions of Iraq & Afghanistan and have of course transformed Shannon Airport, hosting 25,000 U.S. troops a month, into a soft and significant target.
The above is 1's " Remembering Jean Charles De Menezes And Ireland's Role In Unleashing Terror on Iraq" ( Ireland's IMC) and was e-mailed by Lloyd.
Rita alerts us to William Hughes' " Did the Bishops Make 'A Devil's Pact' for Anti-Choice Judge?" ( Baltimore Indymedia):
During the very close 2004 presidential election, the Catholic Bishops did everything but officially endorse the ultra-War Hawk, George W. Bush, Jr. I suspect, but I can't prove, that "a devil's pact" was hatched between the clerics and the Bush-Cheney Gang. The clerics would push for Bush's victory and he would oppose abortions and appoint an anti-choice judge to the Supreme Court at the first opportunity. Is John G. Roberts, Jr. that jurist?
[. . .]
Here is some background: On Aug. 3, 2004, only months before the presidential general election, the Knights of Columbus, (K of C), a Roman Catholic organization, held its annual convention in Dallas, Texas. (3) Despite the fact it is supposed to be a nonpolitical group, the guest speaker was none other than President George W. Bush, Jr., a candidate for reelection, who is also anti-abortion. He was then in a very tight race with the Democratic nominee, John Kerry, who was pro-choice on the abortion question. Many of the leading Catholic Bishops and Cardinals throughout the country showed up in Dallas to "bless" Bush at that event. Some had even spoken out before the Convention about denying Holy Communion to Kerry because of his liberal position on abortion. Oh, by the way, Texas is also the home base of Bush's chief of staff, and reputed brain, Karl Rove! Right after the K of C event, and only days before the Nov. 2nd election, on Oct. 21, 2004, another important political signal was sent to the Catholic community in America. Philadelphia's Cardinal Justin Rigali, a very influential prelate, met personally with Bush for a photo op in a church rectory, in Downingtown, PA. On Oct. 3, 2004, that same Cardinal Rigali had given a homily, which some observers read as a ringing endorsement of Bush’s candidacy. It was distributed to 1.5 million Catholics in the Philadelphia area. (4)
At that time, I remember raising this question: "Is the Church's silence on the Iraqi War a quid pro quo with the Bush-Cheney Gang for its pushing the Vatican's anti-abortion agenda?" At the K of C Convention, Bush announced to wild cheers from the gleeful prelates, that "religious organizations would receive part of $188 million in government grants this year for social service programs, the centerpiece of a White House 'faith-based' initiative." (5)
Levi e-mails to note Bruce's " Black Box Voting Board Member Arrested in San Diego" ( San Diego Indymedia) (which appears to be a carry over from Black Box Voting):
Jim March, a member of the Black Box Voting board of directors, was arrested Tuesday evening for trying to observe the Diebold central tabulator (vote tallying machine) as the votes were being counted in San Diego's mayoral election (July 26). (- online discussion: http:/www.blackboxvoting.org -)
According to Jim Hamilton, an elections integrity advocate from San Diego, he and March visited the office of the registrar of elections earlier in the day. During this visit, March made two requests, which were refused by Mikel Haas, the San Diego Registrar of elections. 1) March asked that the central tabulator, the computer that tallies up the votes from all the precincts, be positioned so that citizens could observe it.
According to Hamilton, this would have required simply moving a table a few feet. 2) March also asked for a copy of the ".gbf" files -- the vote tally files collected during the course of tabulation ? to be provided for examination after the election. During the tallying of the election, the Diebold computer was positioned too far away for citizens to read the screen. Citizens could not watch error messages, or even perceive significant anomalies or malfunctions.
Unable to see the screen, March went into the office where the tabulator was housed. Two deputies followed him and escorted him out.
According to Hamilton: "He was not belligerent, not at all. After he went inside the tabulator room he came [was escorted] out and he said clearly 'I'm not resisting.' They handcuffed him, took him out of the building. They put him in a squad car. They're going to take him to the police station, book him and take him to jail," said Hamilton. "He's getting charged with a felony, 'interfering with an election official.'"
At Black Box Voting, Jim March offers more in " In His Own Words: Jim March on taking back his civil rights:"
"Arright. There’s been a LOT of discussion of this and it’s time I spoke up for myself...The CORE reason for doing this is to establish our civil right to observe elections. Right now a lot of county election officials in California and across America don’t believe in that right; they are dead set on taking it away from us piece by piece as elections become electronic and increasingly “automated” – and you can take that last term as meaning “in the control of the vendors”... I’ve said it to Diebold, I’ll say it to these clowns: bring it on. You picked this fight, not me. You don’t trample my civil rights without consequences. ...The real trick will be to try and make those consequences happen before November, establishing the principle of open access to this stuff statewide.
Gareth e-mails to note Scotland IMC's " Carnival for Full Enjoyment - What Really Happened:"
Edinburgh's Carnival For Full Enjoyment was roundly condemned by the police, Edinburgh City Council and the mass media. But what was this anti G8 action really about? And what really happened on the capital's streets on 4th July? Here for the first time the Carnivalistas give their own account of the day....
The Carnival for Full Enjoyment writes:
"The Carnival for Full Enjoyment took over the streets of central Edinburgh on 4th July. Despite a level of police violence rarely seen at demonstrations in Scotland, Princes Street - the capital's main street - was occupied and closed for the whole afternoon and till late in the evening. A significant number of local people were involved along with internationals.
"Despite heavy-handed police action, the day was an impressive show of what people can do to take back the streets."
The aim of the day was to encourage resistance to wage slavery, benefits slavery, debt slavery and army slavery. "This is a chance to link everyday struggles against the bosses and politicians here in Scotland with the struggles of working class people throughout the world. Let's tell the G8 and all rich bloodsuckers: we owe you nothing. You owe US. You have stolen the whole world from us. Now we are organising to take it back."
The e-mail address for this site is common_ills@yahoo.com.
[Note: This originally appeared at The Common Ills.]
Posted at 07:15 pm by thecommonills
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Friday, July 29, 2005
Indymedia focus on Iraq
Thunder rumbles over Fort Carson as Pamela Knott weeps inside the Army base's chapel. Minutes later, she tells television and newspaper reporters that the pouring rain soothed her during the memorial service for her son, Pfc. Joseph Knott, who was killed by a remote-controlled explosive device while on patrol in Iraq.
Journalists hover, adjusting cameras and scrawling in notebooks, asking the same questions and getting the same sorrowful responses, again and again and again.
With the war unofficially entering its 29th month -- though President George W. Bush was seen under a banner reading "Mission Accomplished" more than 26 months ago -- almost 1,780 American troops have been killed in Operation Iraqi Freedom. Of those, 121 have been memorialized on the base in southeastern Colorado Springs.
The Knotts, whose son was memorialized with three other soldiers on May 24, say Joseph's death is part of the big price Americans must pay to bring freedom to a people oppressed by former dictator Saddam Hussein. Pamela Knott says her son helped make the United States safer.
Not everyone feels this way. A June Gallup poll found that 58 percent of Americans think the war isn't worthwhile. It's the lowest level of support since the war's start in March 2003. In another poll, 52 percent of respondents said they believe the world has become less secure because of the war, which Bush maintains is a major and inexorable component of the nation's broader fight against terrorism.
Embedded deep in such polls is an indefinable malaise, where Americans somehow have become numb to the great human suffering taking place in Iraq, says Robert Schulzinger, professor of history and director of international affairs at the University of Colorado at Boulder.
"I'm only speculating, but I wonder if people are not talking much about the war out of some kind of embarrassment for thinking they were wrong," he says. "They're now changing their minds. They're now thinking it wasn't worth it. They're now discouraged."
The above, e-mailed by Brandon, is from Michael de Yoanna's " Paying the Price: As soldiers are buried, America tunes out" ( The Colorado Springs Independent).
It's early Friday morning and we're doing the Indymedia roundup with my apologies to everyone for the delay. I got home late, got off the phone with Elaine a little while later and thought I was just resting my eyes but ended up falling into a deep sleep.
We're pulling from the Indymedia items members sent on Iraq for this entry.
Lori e-mails, from The Boulder Weekly, Doug Monroe's " Liars, Liars" which also has to do with Iraq:
Much attention is focused now on the Downing Street memo, the leaked British document that suggests President Bush and his administration tailored intelligence to support his decision to attack Iraq.
The memo--despite being ignored for nearly six weeks by much of the American media, which dealt instead with Duluth's runaway bride and Michael Jackson's acquittal--has bubbled up through the Internet and into Congress. It's helping Americans see how Bush and his administration fabricated the reasons they publicly gave for war against Saddam Hussein.
But 5th District Congressman John Lewis, D-Ga., didn't need the British memo. He began asking questions about the origins of the war during Bush's first term. In fact, he believes Bush decided to go to war with Iraq before he even moved into the White House.
A member of the new Out of Iraq Congressional Caucus, Lewis recently told a group of senior Democratic House leaders, "It was time for us to break our silence. We had been too silent."
In a telephone interview, Lewis said, "We've been very frustrated with the administration not giving us a timetable about getting out, and we continue to lose so many of our young men and young women." At a Democratic House leadership luncheon in Washington last week, he said, "We need to organize and start speaking up and speaking out to stop this madness."
Lewis' doubts about the Iraq adventure go back to the beginning, when the administration was saying it had made no decision about going to war in Iraq. Regarding a briefing with then-National Security Adviser Condoleezza Rice, now secretary of state, Lewis said, "I asked her point-blank in a Democratic caucus meeting whether the decision had been made to go to war --whether there had been a meeting with her, along with President Bush, [Defense] Secretary [Donald] Rumsfeld and others--and she denied it. But apparently, even before [Bush] took office, there was some conscious decision that they would have a war with Iraq and they would find the necessary means and message to justify it.
Portland e-mails to note Brian Bogart's " America Programmed for War: The Long War: from NSC68 to 2005" ( Eugene Weekly):
A single policy decision made in secluded chambers of the White House shortly after World War II explains why our financial and intellectual creativity focuses on lethal technologies, why 51 percent of our taxes go to defense and less than 5 percent go to education, why there are 6,000 military bases in the U.S. and 1,000 U.S. bases overseas, why comprehensive agendas support warfighting and weak agendas address human services and the environment, and why our top industry since 1950 remains the manufacture and sale of weapons.
Our dilemma stems from the postwar adoption of a military-based rather than a people-based economy. This policy, authored by Wall Street's Paul Nitze, is embodied in NSC68, a document signed by President Truman in 1950. Along with then Secretary of State Dean Acheson, Nitze convinced -- some say coerced -- Truman into recognizing the Soviet Union as an evil and imminent threat, and into adopting NSC68 and launching the Cold War.
Assessing key indicators in 1947 and '48, Truman's advisors acutely feared an economic collapse back into the Depression, and, as Noam Chomsky points out, there was scant debate among them: "It wasn't really a debate because it was settled before it started, but the issue was at least raised -- should the government pursue military spending or social spending?"
All U.S. military actions from 1950 to 2005 flow from this decision, made without the consent of the American people. There is no fundamental difference between the Cold War and today's so-called permanent war on terror -- perfect fuel for our military-based economy. For 55 years, America has been waging a crime against humanity, a crime for profiteers. I call it the Long War because "permanent" is defeatist.
As satellite photos and extensive post-Cold War interviews have revealed (including interviews with Acheson, Nitze, and Paul Wolfowitz, our current Deputy Secretary of Defense), no Soviet threat existed in 1950. NSC68 was a for-profit ploy. Paul Wolfowitz cites Nitze and Acheson among his role models [. . .]
Erika e-mails to note, from the Philadelphia City Paper, Brian Hickey's " Ms. deYoung Goes to Washington: A Philly native wants Americans to realize how wasting Billions in Iraq is ruining our lives at home:"
Chances are you've heard very little about [Marie] deYoung, or her cause. There's a reason for that: She and her fellow advocates -- namely U.S. Rep. Henry Waxman of California, U.S. Sen. Byron Dorgan of North Dakota and the rest of the Democratic Party -- have found themselves howling into the winds of war when they call for fiscal accountability in Iraq.
In short, they believe the powers-that-be have ignored the skyrocketing costs involved and, thanks to that lack of oversight, Halliburton, the Texas-based defense contractor that provides support services to soldiers in the field, has delivered bills containing more than $1.4 billion in "questioned" and "unsupported" charges.
Critics have focused on how Halliburton, through its subsidiary Kellogg Brown & Root (KBR), has received billions in "cost-plus" contracts. (KBR is an engineering and construction firm; Halliburton is its parent company. As such, what KBR earns, Halliburton earns.) In a cost-plus contract, a company gets paid for the work it does and also receives an additional bonus percentage based on the amount of money it spends. Such an arrangement, critics claim, is tailor-made for abuse; the more a company bills, the bigger the bonus check.
[. . .]
If what deYoung claims is true -- and she dutifully and exhaustively provides evidence to back up every claim from her five months working as an $8,800-a-month KBR subcontracts administrator -- we all should be furious.
The money deYoung says has been wasted would cover, for example, most of the cash-strapped Philadelphia School District's $1.9 billion budget for 2006, educating more than 200,000 students in more than 270 schools.
That cash could also have purchased life-saving body armor for soldiers who've come home maimed or dead. Instead, it's been spent on $85,000 SUVs that are abandoned in the desert when they get flat tires.
It funded the 100 KBR workers who partied at luaus -- one, in the wake of the 2004 Good Friday convoy attacks that left several KBR workers dead -- and dipped their feet in the "uniquely unpolluted azure waters" of the $10,000-a-night hotel they leased in Kuwait while soldiers huddled in $139 tents during sandstorms.
Now whistleblower deYoung wants to know what taxpayers would think if they knew their tax money allows Halliburton to charge $45 for a case of soda and $100 for a 15-pound bag of laundry. Or that these controversy magnets are reaping billions in profits while soldiers are forced to eat meals that, if they're not a year past their expiration dates, are accented with the delicious seasoning of bullets and shrapnel.
Kayla e-mails to steer us to Douglas Nelson's " Local Peace Groups Meet on Depleted Uranium Munitions" ( DC Indymedia):
Representatives from local peace groups and concerned citizens met to view a German film, "The Doctor, the Depleted Uranium and the Dying Children" Sunday, July 17 in Takoma Park, MD. The DC and northern VA chapter ofVeterans for Peace sponsored the event. DC Antiwar Network, Code Pink, Military Families Speak Out, several DC and MD based labor groups and various local organizations were represented.
This film, a German public television documentary, follows the work of Dr. Siegwart Horst-Gunther, who first demonstrated hard evidence of US and allies use of Depleted Uranium (DU) during the 1991 Gulf War and today. "The Doctor, the Depleted Uranium, and the Dying Children" documents uranium contamination in Iraq following aerial bombardment and armored tank assaults by U.S. and allied forces. The story is told by citizens of many nations and opens with comments by two British vets, Kenny Duncan and Jenny Moore, describing their exposure to radioactive, so-called 'depleted' uranium (DU), weapons and the congenital abnormalities of their children.
Dr. Siegwart-Horst Günther, a former colleague of Albert Schweitzer, andTedd Weyman of the Uranium Medical Research Center (UMRC) traveled to Iraq, from Germany and Canada respectively, to assess uranium contamination inIraq. As an M.D., Dr. Günther is especially interested in the health effects that can be caused by such contamination. Dr. Jenan Hassan brought Dr. Günther and the film-makers through the Mother and Children's Hospital inBasra. Over 300 tons of uranium weapons were used by coalition forces in 1991 during Gulf War I, and some of the heaviest use was in Basra, in southern Iraq. There we glimpse an on-going health catastrophe--a ten-fold increase in cancers and a twenty-fold increase in congenital deformities.
Throughout his travels, Tedd Weyman regularly took Geiger-counter readings and soil and water samples for laboratory analysis. As well as a bombed television station, and areas where tanks shelled buildings and vehicles, Weyman visited city streets and scrap yards where children played on the remains of destroyed vehicles.
The e-mail address for this site is common_ills@yahoo.com.
[Note: This originally appeared at The Common Ills.]
Posted at 07:14 pm by thecommonills
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Democracy Now: Amnesty on Gerad Jean-Juste; Bob Somerby, Tom Hayden, David Sirota, Juan Gonzalez, BuzzFlash, Carly Simon
Thursday, July 28, 2005
Democracy Now: Amnesty on Gerad Jean-Juste; Bob Somerby, Tom Hayden, David Sirota, Juan Gonzalez, BuzzFlash, Carly Simon
AFL-CIO Convention Calls for End to Iraq Occupation
Under major pressure form its membership and dissident unions that pulled out of the federation, the AFL-CIO has passed a resolution calling for a "rapid" return of all U.S. troops currently in Iraq. The resolution came at the group's national convention in Chicago. The group US Labor Against the War called the resolution a "major shift in policy." The groups says that the AFL-CIO General Executive Council had tried to push through a watered-down resolution that did not clearly call for a prompt end to the occupation. This attempt was headed-off after one of the leaders of Labor Against the War put forward an amendment calling for an end to the occupation.
- Gene Bruskin, US Labor Against the War:
The resolution was an historic one because it ended decades of silence from the labor movement and actual support for the U.S. government on the issue of foreign policy. As Henry Nicholas, president of 1199 AFSCME of Philadelphia said when he rose to the mic to condemn the war, "In my 45 years in the labor movement, this is my proudest moment. We have finally stood up to this war and said, 'Enough is enough.'"
Poll: Americans Want Rove Gone
A new CNN/USA Today/Gallup poll has found that a majority of Americans believe that Karl Rove should leave the White House for his role in the outing of CIA operative Valerie Plame. But only half of those surveyed say they are following the story closely, while a quarter said they had never even heard of Karl Rove. Meanwhile, the National Journal reports that Rove and other top aides to President Bush were given $4,000 raises from last year. Rove is now paid $161,000.
Headlines for July 28, 2005
- CAFTA Passes by 1 Vote in Midnight Session
- Iraqi PM Call US to Withdraw Troop
- Top US Commander: Withdrawal Could Begin in Spring 2006
- Bush Declares an End To Phrase 'War on Terror'
- AFL-CIO Convention Calls for End to Iraq Occupation
- Poll: Americans Want Rove Gone
- Terror Suspect Posada Entered US on Fake Passport
| AFL-CIO Convention Results in Major Split
The AFL-CIO labor convention in Chicago this week has seen the largest rupture in the US labor movement for more than fifty years. Democracy Now! co-host and New York Daily News columnist Juan Gonzalez talks about the implications. [includes rush transcript] |
Subway Shakedowns: Necessary Security or Unconstitutional Violation?
New York City police are now conducting random searches of subway passengers in a program of stepped-up security following the London subway and bus blasts earlier this month. Civil liberties groups say the searches are unconstitutional and ineffective. We host a debate. [includes rush transcript - partial]
| Lynching Reenactment in Georgia Dramatizes Call for Indictments in 59-year-old Case
Civil rights activists in Georgia reenacted a 59-year-old lynching this month to push for indictments in the murder of four African Americans, two men and two women, one of whom was seven-months pregnant at the time. No one was ever prosecuted in the case. We speak with the Georgia Association of Black Elected Officials, which organized the reenactment. |
AMY GOODMAN: Juan, before we move to our debate on subway searches, you have covered labor for many years. The end of the convention comes at the same time as the passage of CAFTA by one vote, 217-215. Just one vote would have tied it.
JUAN GONZALEZ: Yes, a big defeat for organized labor that put a lot of effort into it, and also the AFL unions threatened that any Democrat that backed CAFTA would not get their support. We'll wait and see what happens on that, but also the other big thing about the AFL convention is the war resolution that you just talked about, the anti-war resolution. Historic for the AFL-CIO. It has never come out so clearly. All of the unions now from the left to the right of the AFL-CIO are now on record saying that they want U.S. troops pulled out of Iraq as soon as possible. That's going to mean that all of these unions are going to financially support the peace movement from now on, and I think that's going to be a big boost to the peace movement.
AMY GOODMAN: And Sweeney re-elected.
JUAN GONZALEZ: And, yes, Sweeney re-elected yesterday a day early. He was supposed to be re-elected today, but he was re-elected by acclamation yesterday. I suspect it's because some of the AFL delegates are so disheartened by the split, they were eager to get out of Chicago as fast as possible and move on.
Bob Somerby is covering a wide section of things in today's The Daily Howler. We're going to skip Chris Matthews and focus on the critique of Wolf Blitzer's show that featured Pat Roberts and Diane Fienstein -- specifically, we'll focus on the Feinstein critique:
Omigod! In fact, he set her up pretty good! Blitzer mentioned the CIA complaint, although he didn't flesh out the logic his question implied. What should Feinstein have said in reply? In an ideal world, the fiery Dem might have said something like this:
WHAT FEINSTEIN MIGHT HAVE SAID: Wolf, it's important for everyone to understand--the CIA asked for a criminal probe of this matter, saying that Valerie Plame, Joe Wilson's wife, was a covert agent. And that "five-year period" to which Pat Roberts just referred is only part of one narrow statute. In fact, there are other laws banning disclosure of classified information under which the leak of Plame's name may well have been a crime. We have to wait for the special prosecutor, but it's important for people to understand--the CIA has said that Plame was covert; the CIA filed a criminal complaint about the leak of her name; and Patrick Fitzgerald may end up finding that a serious crime was committed in this case. Of course, expecting Feinstein to act this way is like asking the sun to set in the south. Instead, the somnolent solon offered this vague, snore-inducing response:
FEINSTEIN (responding directly to Blitzer, above): Well, it says to me that the CIA values this as extraordinarily important. If they can't protect their agents, they can't survive as an agency. And I've been distressed to even see in the newspapers, I believe this morning, about what some of the undercover placements were, listing them rather generically. Huh? No one on earth understood that last sentence, and her opening was vague and uninformative. She didn't counter Roberts with the most direct points: The CIA has said that Plame was covert, and that disclosure of her name may have been a crime. But then, this lazy, who-gives-a-fig approach is typical of the Dem message machine. Why are RNC spokesmen free to spread a range of misleading points? (To spread these points to willing vessels like Allen?) Simple! Because players like Feinstein roll over and die--and because players like Blitzer don't challenge.
In this case, the greater fault lies with Feinstein. In fairness, Blitzer set her up pretty good--and, as usual, she failed to deliver. But all across the liberal web, we hear screaming about this statement by Roberts--and nothing at all about Feinstein and Blitzer. Yes, the world would be a better place if Roberts hadn't put his thumb on the scale. But he was able to do so because of the other two players--most specifically, because of Feinstein's weak effort.
As usual, Feinstein rolled over and died. But all across the liberal web, you hear about one player only--Vile Roberts. Why do you hear so much about Roberts and so little about Blitzer and Feinstein? In the case of individual sites, we can't say. But some bloggers work for (or kiss up to) the Dems, and they don't like to challenge the lazy response of utterly hapless players like Feinstein. Meanwhile, some of them want to be guests on cable themselves--so they rarely speak ill of the Blitzers.
So when you visit some fiery sites, you receive a one-track message. You're invited to contribute to "epithet lists" about Vile Roberts--and you're handed tortured, sooth-saying tales about the vile things he plans for the future. But you don't hear a word about his hapless enablers. But readers, can you hear something else at work here? Can't you just hear it? Hey, rubes?
Iraqi prime minister Ibrahim al-Jaafari says he wants the rapid withdrawal of US troops. after weeks of being in denial about this development, the media - and the peace movement - now to have to deal with it.
A month ago 82 Iraqi parliamentarians called for US withdrawal. There was no media coverage. But the statement of the prime minister, standing next to Donald Rumsfeld, has to be reported.
So is the war over? Hardly. Here is my interpretation.
The US wants to avoid more casualties on the battlefield and political losses in election year 2006.
They want to confuse, divide, lull and deflate American and global anti-war opinion.
They want to take the risk of some American troop withdrawals this winter or spring.
By seeming to begin withdrawal, they are looking for a way to stay.
Trey e-mailed to note the above and wanted to share this: "I'm still learning about The Huffington Post but any site that gives Tom Hayden a platform is a site that will peek my interest. Glad there are sites that still care about strong voices."
Okay, today is Lewis Black day on BuzzFlash.com -- and here's our crazed rant.
First, we are reposting this commentary because it is so important.
TreasonGate is all about the Busheviks once again bullying their way through the rule of law.
But, expect PardonGate to Replace TreasonGate if there are indictments. Like his father pardoning Weinberger BEFORE he testified, "Baby Doc" Bush has the same thing in mind. Right now, Rove is smearing people about his original treasonous smears, and Bush isn't putting a leash on the guy, let alone firing him. So, Bush is proven as a de facto co-conspirator in deed. (And Staff Sergeant Karen Hughes has the usual Bushevik audacity to not answer any Senate Committee questions on TreasonGate by claiming Fitzgerald has asked the White House staffers not to talk about it and she follows "President" Bush's wishes, even though Bush is letting Rove orchestrate a massive leak and SECOND smear campaign against the same people -- and even some new ones -- he may be indicted for retaliating against in the first place.)
Remember, BuzzFlash predicted PardonGate first, and the latest domino to line up with that theory is the nomination of Bush loyalist, John Roberts, to become a Supreme Court Judge. Of course, the Busheviks won't release the presidential papers that show what role John Roberts played in the Iran-Contra pardons, because that would strike a little too close to coming events, wouldn't it?
Read the entire following analysis from a BuzzFlash content contributor if you haven't. This is also why Pat "Treason is Okay with Me if It's a Good Loyal Republican Doing It" Roberts wants to muck up Fitzgerald's possible indictments by holding hearings to intimidate him and get witnesses to possibly raise grounds for getting off convictions via double jeopardy pleas. (This is the excuse used by Bush's Zelig hack judge, David Sentelle, to overturn the Iran-Contra convictions of Ollie North and John Poindexter.) It's all a Bushevism Omerta cabal: "You take care of us; We take care of you." Even down to the kinky partisan judges.
Remember, BuzzFlash was there first. So read:
http://www.buzzflash.com/contributors/05/07/con05249.html
What's important here is that Bush needs to pardon any staff members indicted before they testify, because, as Poppy Bush showed, you have to save your butt by keeping anybody out of the prosecutor's office before they might be thinking of plea bargaining in return for information implicating the President (Bush I and Bush II in separate criminal acts) in a conspiracy to commit a crime and/or obstruct justice. Let us point out yet again that Bush retained a private lawyer to represent him in the case, shortly after the CIA requested the Justice Department to investigate the outing of a CIA operative specializing in tracking weapons of mass destruction, and the resultant harm to our national security.
Well, heading off to move my family somewhere out West, to one of those "undisclosed locations" people like to talk about.
I'll be gone for about a week, but you can and should check in with the Diaries Section to see all the great stuff the diarists are writing. You can make submissions as usual if you like, but the community will have to vote them up to the front page.
Wanna see your story up? Go tell your buddies to create an account and vote for your story. Tell everybody. We accept all comers, right, left, and center, into our little community.
Rachel also notes that Anne has posted "Taking It Easy" at Peevish . . . I'm Just Saying:
Me, I mean. For a few days, blogging will be light, just because I'm feeling like a slacker. (Also, after having fought off yet another avalanche of comment spam, I'm tired of looking at this blog.)
Before I go (again), a few links....
It's summer. (By the way, Rachel was joking in her e-mail.) Smartest thing people can do is grab some downtime if they're able to. Rest is important (but A!'s actually moving and not vacationing so I doubt that will be restful and it sounds like Anne's just grabbing a little down time).
Now I'll move on to tell you that I heard from Rebecca today. She phoned a little after noon. She's enjoying herself and and her rest but said to tell everyone she is missing blogging and will be back when she's had enough of her vacation. She says to tell Sherry that she (Sherry) was right, the wrong men wear speedos in real life. She said to tell you that she misses all of you but she needed to get away from all the crap (mainly ex-in-laws shredding an entry she'd worked hard on about her abortion) and needed a rest.
I'll be here until she gets back which, hopefully, will be soon.
Ellis e-mails to note David Sirota's post from yesterday:
Ellis then notes this from Sirota today:
There is nothing so pathetic as someone who undermines a team crying when they get called onto the carpet for disloyalty. But, as expected, that's what's happening with Democrats and CAFTA. I was met this morning with a few emails from Capitol Hill Democrats who don't like that I had the nerve to tell it like it is about last night's tragic vote. The whining and crying is the perfect image of pathetic thumb-sucking weakness that has hurt Democrats throughout the heartland.
Don't worry - I've been there before with this, and it is more than a little hilarious to criticize me for supposedly being disloyal to Democrats. I long toiled in the day-to-day trenches fighting the Republicans. And, unlike many of the whiners in Washington, I've actually left the Beltway and worked on winning campaigns. Still, it never ceases to amaze me how Washington, D.C. Democrats - unlike Republicans - have no understanding of why accountability will actually help them get back into the majority.
You've heard it before: Democrats don't like to talk about who is loyal to the party and who isn't. They would prefer that everyone just be quiet about divisions, even if those divisions undermine the party's ability to deliver a serious message. It's the big tent for big tent's sake - even if it means losing into perpetuity.
Susan notes that this morning's New York Times, in The Arts, noted this:
But there are some unexpected debuts in the Top 10 this week. Carly Simon's latest Moonlight Serenade (Columbia), sold 58,000 copies to reach No. 7 -- her highest chart ranking in 31 years, according to Billboard . . .
That item (from "Arts, Briefly") is credited to Ben Sisario. Kat's working on two reviews and, yes, one of them is Moonlight Serenade.
We'll quote Carly from Performing Songwriter ("Some Thoughts on Songs & Singing" -- not available online):
When I write my own songs and then sing them, I am least able to be assured of a good outcome. Naturally I am a harsh critic of my own performances, but I don't make it easy on myself. I write intervals for my voice that should assure that no other singer would cover my songs. Not that that is my intention. A guitarist I used to work with explained it to me like this: I have a crooked ear. I do love the surprising melody, the one that takes you through the Japanese garden, the rapids, the road less traveled. That's how I please myself. It is sometimes the duty of the artist/musician to surprise the self.
Two big unions that broke away this week from the AFL-CIO are moving quickly to launch a new national labor federation by September.
"We're looking at Ohio or another Midwest battleground state for the founding convention," a top source in the breakaway group told me yesterday.
The regular convention of the AFL-CIO was set to draw to a close today after yesterday's reelection of John Sweeney to his fourth term as president.
But the entire convention - even its call for the "rapid" withdrawal of U.S. troops from Iraq - was eclipsed by the organization's worst split in more than 60 years.
The two breakaway unions, the Teamsters and the Service Employees International Union, represent nearly a quarter of the AFL-CIO's 13 million members.
Posted at 07:12 pm by thecommonills
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Democracy Now! asks you to take action re: consolidation and grassroots radio
Thursday, July 28, 2005
Democracy Now! asks you to take action re: consolidation and grassroots radio
Rod e-mails to note an action alert sent out to those who sign up for them at Democracy Now!:
1. FCC considering rules to let cable companies get even bigger -- It's up to us!
Comcast and Time Warner are trying to further consolidate their regional monopolies. If this deal goes through, Big Cable Company #1 (Comcast) and Big Cable Company #2 (Time-Warner) will gobble up Big Cable Company#3 (Adelphia), and the two remaining cable giants will control over 50%of US cable subscribers. At the same time, the FCC is considering rules that could potentially allow just 3 cable companies to control over 90% of broadband and cable access across the United States.
If you're fed up with constant cable rate hikes, poor service and a lackof local and independent programming, the FCC needs to hear from you --right now.
TAKE ACTION:
http://www.freepress.net/fcc/comment.php?d=92-264
2. Grassroots Radio
a) Countdown: Expand and Support Low Power FM Radio: Comments due to the FCC by August 8th! Low Power FM (LPFM) radio stations are popping up all across the United States. Thanks to the activism and support of Democracy Now! listeners, along with organizers for social/economic/environmental justice,schools, churches, and media reform, over 600 groups across the country have their own not-for-profit community radio stations. LPFM stations broadcast local news, public affairs, and music -- as well as national and international programming like Democracy Now!.
On July 7th, the FCC released a Notice of Proposed Rulemaking asking a number of important questions about the future of the Low Power FM (LPFM) radio service. This is the most important opportunity for you to comment on the direction of LPFM since the service was implemented 5 years ago. If you act today, you can help expand LPFM to reach your community!
TAKE ACTION: http://www.prometheusradio.org/comments_fcc.shtml
b) Coming up - Grassroots Radio Conference and Barnraising
The Prometheus Radio Project will team up with Valley Free Radio, FreePress, and the Grassroots Radio Coalition to build a brand new community radio station in Western Massachusetts! This barnraising is like no other in that it also will host the 10th Anniversary Grassroots Radio Conference -- the best place to gather together to learn about community radio, and strategize for its brilliant future. No one turned away for lack of funds, but you have to register to attend!
WHEN: August 4th-7th
WHERE: Florence, MA (Right outside of Northampton!)
FOR MORE INFORMATION & TO REGISTER:
http://www.prometheusradio.org
OR call (215)727-9620
The e-mail address for this site is common_ills@yahoo.com.
[Note: This originally appeared at The Common Ills.]
Posted at 07:11 pm by thecommonills
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