Prometheus 6

I must say, Matt Stoller has come a long way from "Please talk to the blogs."

Every nasty trick the right-wing plays on us or our candidates they have used in a much more aggressive manner to keep African-Americans disempowered for hundreds of years.  So when we complain about smear campaigns and fear-mongering, I can imagine the response in the African-American community is something along the lines of 'what took you so long to notice that they are a bunch of crazy immoral warmongers'.  You'll notice that African-Americans, the single most progressive voting block, didn't send any votes for Nader in 2000. Though white progressives were fooled, blacks knew who Bush really was.  The language and politics of social justice is inherent to black politics, which is why Al Sharpton was so good in the 2004 debates. 

The city agreed in 1985 to abide by guidelines for police tactics as part of a settlement of a lawsuit by Vietnam-era political activists. Four years ago, after the 9/11 attacks, a judge agreed to give the police greater powers to investigate political groups. Unfortunately, the cops ignored the part about having a rationale for video surveillance.

Smile, You’re on N.Y.P.D. Camera

The New York Police Department has generally had the public on its side when it comes to securing the city since the Sept. 11 attacks. For their part, New Yorkers seem perfectly willing to put up with inconveniences, including traffic stops and bag searches. But the police have more and more overstepped their bounds by routinely and indiscriminately videotaping demonstrations of every kind, even peaceful ones. A federal judge was right this week to order the police to curb this conduct.

The practical effect of the order is to compel law-enforcement officers to obey guidelines that require them to state a reason to suspect unlawful activity before they videotape demonstrators. They must also get department authorization. That’s a modest requirement. The city contends the current practice is not strictly unconstitutional, but the prospect of being photographed by police while merely protesting can have a chilling effect on free speech.

Republicans want to vote on a binding resolution not to cut funding for deployed troops.

Just as I said they would. 

As with Iran, I suppose it doesn't really matter whether Bush knows that U.S. weapons are ending up with insurgents. He said it best himself, when discussing the Iranian government's responsibility for supplying weapons to Iraqi insurgents: "Either [top Iranian officials] knew or didn't know" that Iranian weapons were going to end up with insurgents, but "what matters … is that they're there. What's worse, that the government knew or that the government didn't know?"

Insurgents -- they buy American
The administration's latest memory lapse is remembering where our enemies in Iraq got their weapons.
Rosa Brooks
February 16, 2007

...EFPs have a venerable history. The IRA used them with lethal effect against British troops in Northern Ireland, as did French resistance fighters against the Germans in World War II. It is only a question of time before someone shows the Taliban how to make them, and then NATO forces in Afghanistan will begin the same ordeal.

Despite their known lethality, these weapons weren't taken into account by former Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld's program of military "transformation."

In Iraq, anyone can make a bomb
Improvised explosive devices don't require international conspiracies.
By Andrew Cockburn
ANDREW COCKBURN is the author of "Rumsfeld, His Rise, Fall and Catastrophic Legacy," published this month by Scribner.
February 16, 2007

PRESIDENT BUSH HAS now definitively stated that bombs known as explosively formed penetrators — EFPs, which have proved especially deadly for U.S. troops in Iraq — are made in Iran and exported to Iraq. But in November, U.S. troops raiding a Baghdad machine shop came across a pile of copper disks, 5 inches in diameter, stamped out as part of what was clearly an ongoing order. This ominous discovery, unreported until now, makes it clear that Iraqi insurgents have no need to rely on Iran as the source of EFPs.

While he is all for girls wrestling — his daughter, Stefenie, started wrestling at 8 and now, at 20, is an Olympic hopeful — Mr. Shaw said that for boys, coed wrestling can be disconcerting. “A boy who goes out on the mat against a girl doesn’t win,” he said. “If he beats her, he was supposed to, and if he doesn’t, he’s dead meat.”...

Occasionally, boys choose to forfeit rather than wrestle a girl, as happened at a Dobbs Ferry High School exhibition match this season, leaving Sophia Veiras, a sophomore, with no one to fight.

“It’s always a little intimidating for the boys at first,” said Jamie Block, the coach at the school, in Westchester. “They’re raised not to do this to a girl. And the thing about Sophia is, she’s very good. If you don’t really fight, she’ll pummel you. The girls who come out for wrestling now, they go to wrestling camps in the summer. They’re serious.”

More Girls Take Part in High School Wrestling
By TAMAR LEWIN

UNCASVILLE, Conn. — The takedown came after all of 12 seconds.

Jessica Bennett, Montville High School’s 103-pound wrestler, waited until Rich Wood went down to try to grab her leg, then launched herself onto his back, and got him down to his knees. After a brief stalemate later in the match, Jessica, 15, lifted him off the ground and took him back to the mat, for more points.

At that, several of Rich’s teammates, from St. Bernard High School here, looked down at their feet. There is still some pain in watching a teammate being beaten by a girl — even a girl like Jessica, who has won 23 of her 35 matches this season.

I really hope Sen. Obama hangs in there...it's, like, feeding me here. Somewhere in the comments I noted all this noise says more about the electorate than Obama himself.

Not everyone is handling it well, though. 

I felt bad for state Sen. Robert Ford...it's obvious that nothing in his personal experience as a politician in South Carolina prepared him for being forced to choose between supporting a Black man and a white woman...that's what short-circuited his mind.

You know...the one from November...

Fox News Poll: Majority Of Americans Would Vote To Defund Escalation
By Eric Kleefeld

Here are some numbers to consider for Dems who fear getting attacked for cutting off funding for the "surge": A new poll finds that an astonishing 54% of Americans would vote to cut off funding for escalation if they were in Congress. What's more, the new poll was done by Fox News.

On discourse with our recent influx of new readers

Here’s the valued Pandagon Guest:

Guest: The Lord Jesus loves [Pandagon blogger different from the one who wrote the post to which the Guest is responding] purely and deeply and will therefore send you to an eternity of torment unless you love him back. I will pray for you.

How does G00fu5 respond?

G00fu5: Come, let us reason together. Surely if we engage in a Wimbledon-like exchange of several hundred sequential one-line posts alternating between earnestness and insult that displaces all discussion by any other commenters of the actual post to which we are responding, we can come to some sort of productive agreement, if only through repetitive motion injury.

The need to cut them fools mike when their time has expired.

That or everyone's standards will be dragged down to the "least comedy nominator."

All students, no matter where they live, should have to show proficiency in certain skills and knowledge. The reason no such test exists has more to with politics than with education.

Cheating on Tests
Geography should not determine standards of learning.
Thursday, February 15, 2007; A26

EDUCATORS who are successful in turning around troubled schools say the first step is collecting reliable data. A true measure of performance is the only way to identify problems and map improvement. Yet, five years into the No Child Left Behind Act and its mandate for accountability, too many states are still gaming the system by administering weak tests. They boast about high scores, but their claims are as phony as the performance of their students.

You know about the Presidential $1 Coin series? Well, there's a First Spouse program.

The United States is honoring our Nation’s First Spouses by issuing one-half ounce $10 gold coins featuring their images, in the order that they served as first spouse, beginning in 2007 with Martha Washington, Abigail Adams, (Thomas Jefferson's Liberty) and Dolley Madison. The obverse of these coins will feature portraits of the Nation’s First Spouses, their names, the dates and order of their term as first spouse, as well as the year of minting or issuance, "In God We Trust" and "Liberty." The United States Mint will mint and issue First Spouse Gold Coins on the same schedule as the Presidential $1 Coins issued honoring the Presidents. Each coin will have a unique reverse design featuring an image emblematic of that spouse’s life and work, as well as "The United States of America," "E Pluribus Unum," "$10," "1/2 oz." and ".9999 Fine Gold."

This means that if Sen. Clinton manages to ascend to the office of President, both she and Bill will have a coin in both series.

Artrell Dickerson, a victim of police brutality

A young man named Artrell Dickerson was killed by a Detroit police officer this Monday while he was attending a friends funeral. The Dickerson family released a statement describing the incident,

“Monday afternoon a crowd of people were gathered outside of Cantrell’s funeral home after the emotional and somewhat disruptive funeral of a young man who was killed February 5th outside a bar on 8 mile in Detroit. The police arrive after having been called to calm the unrest. In the midst of the excitement a young man is killed. He is shot once in the back by a single officer as he runs away from the scene. When he is down he is shot as many as five more times. This young man was Artrell Dickerson. These are the facts.” (read entire “Statement on behalf of Dickerson family” here).

Ignorant jocks need to stop the foolishness
By Jeff Pearlman
Special to Page 2

In response to the shocking, troubling, earth-rattling news that the National Basketball Association – our National Basketball Association – once housed one of those (lock the barn!) gay folk, commissioner David Stern said it best. "We have a very diverse league. The question at the NBA is always 'Have you got game?' That's it, end of inquiry."

Stern's comments were expressed in proper sentences.

Stern's comments were phrased somewhat eloquently.

Stern's comments were encapsulated in fewer than 25 words.

Stern's comments were, well, inane.

I have been a sportswriter for nearly 13 years. I have been in clubhouses and training rooms, baseball stadiums and horse barns. I've watched Barry Zito surf, Cord McCoy lasso a cow, Troy Aikman spit into a cup, J.D. Drew praise Jesus and Gary Sheffield praise money. I've chronicled what it's like to win, what it's like to lose, what it's like to love a teammate and what it's like to hate one. I've seen envy and elation, hunger and disinterest, excruciating pain and unrivaled pride.

Here is what I can say, with 100 percent certainty: Most jocks don't like, to use the popular word of choice from the locker rooms, the "fa----s."

I know ... I know. Watch my language. But let's be honest. That's what they are to the majority of professional athletes: Not gays. Not homosexuals.

F------ fa----s, often.

But the reward for coming out still should be measured carefully against the retribution, and given what we know about the hysterical reaction to Janet Jackson's exposed hooter, we should remember how mighty the retribution can be. America isn't as open-minded as it likes to think it is, and the first one out is the one who will pay full retail for his or her courage. 

Sorry, Mark: 'Coming out' won't be about 'cashing in'
Feb. 12, 2007
By Ray Ratto
CBS SportsLine.com Columnist

Mark Cuban...told the Fort Worth Star Telegram (well, not all of it, just Dwain Price) that being the first openly gay NBA player is actually the marketing opportunity of a lifetime..."That's what the American spirit is all about, going against the grain and standing up for who you are, even if it's not a popular position."...

There is a good deal of truth to what Cuban says, because the American spirit can be defined as a single individual fighting the good fight. And yes, Jackie Robinson is a hell of a good analogy, and so is Muhammad Ali.

But the American spirit is also very often punished cruelly and surely, only to be resurrected much later, often after the recipient is dead. Say, like Jack Johnson. And with all due respect to Cubes' marketing expertise, dead isn't a big seller except maybe to Doris Kearns Goodwin.

I'm linking to the Wall Street Journal's report. Well, that's also because my favored reading material tends to be boring...

Tim Hardaway was known for his candor as a member of the Miami Heat. Now he's taking the heat for that candor.

On a Miami radio show yesterday, Miami Herald columnist Dan Le Batard asked Mr. Hardaway how he'd deal with a gay teammate -- a question sparked by last week's disclosure by retired player John Amaechi that he is gay. Mr. Hardaway said he wouldn't want a gay player on his team and would distance himself from such a player. Then he spoke his mind: "You know, I hate gay people, so I let it be known. I don't like gay people and I don't like to be around gay people. I am homophobic. I don't like it. It shouldn't be in the world or in the United States."

During the 1920s, Colorado had the largest and most influential Knights of the Ku Klux Klan following of any other state west of the Mississippi River. In the 1924 elections, the Klan gained control not only of state government with the election of Governor Morley, but also of many local governments. Fremont County was one of those local governments with a dominating Klan presence, having a particularly large following of Klansmen and Klanswomen in Cañon City and Florence. As a result of this local Klan presence, the Local History Center of the Cañon City Public Library contains in its archives newspapers, photographs, oral histories, and other materials pertaining to the Klan in Fremont County.

The U.S. was at the bottom of the list in health and safety, mostly because of high rates of child mortality and accidental deaths. It was next to last in family and peer relationships and risk-taking behavior. The U.S. has the highest proportion of children living in single-family homes, which the study defined as an indicator for increased risk of poverty and poor health, though it "may seem unfair and insensitive," it says. The U.S., which ranked 17th in the percentage of children who live in relative poverty, was also close to last when it comes to children eating and talking frequently with their families.

...Some of the wealthier countries' lower rankings were a result of less spending on social programs and "dog-eat-dog" competition in jobs that led to adults spending less time with their children and heightened alienation among peers, one of the report's authors, Jonathan Bradshaw, said at a televised news conference in London.

U.S., Britain fare poorly in children survey
UNICEF ranks the well-being of youngsters in 21 developed countries.
By Maggie Farley
Times Staff Writer
February 15, 2007

UNITED NATIONS — The United States and Britain ranked as the worst places to be a child, according to a UNICEF study of more than 20 developed nations released Wednesday. The Netherlands was the best, it says, followed by Sweden and Denmark.

UNICEF's Innocenti Research Center in Italy ranked the countries in six categories: material well-being, health, education, relationships, behaviors and risks, and young people's own sense of happiness.

Also amusing is the letter's assertion that "Democrats want to force us to focus on defending the surge." Now why on earth would Dems want Republicans to justify a policy that will directly impact tens of thousands of people and their families? How unreasonable!

Leaked Letter Reveals GOP Strategy: Talk About Anything But Escalation
By Greg Sargent

So this explains a lot. House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer's office has obtained a letter that GOP Reps. John Shadegg and Peter Hoekstra sent out to House GOP colleagues about escalation. The letter gives GOP members pointers on how they should approach the battle over it on the House floor this week.

Bob Herbert has a really nice piece on Tavis Smiley behind the financial firewall at the NY Times.

[TS] For Tavis Smiley, Promises to Keep
By BOB HERBERT

The description in the ol' RSS reader said, "Mr. Smiley has quietly become one of the most effective black leaders in the nation," so I had to see what that was about.

Bush Declares Iran’s Arms Role in Iraq Is Certain
By SHERYL GAY STOLBERG and MARC SANTORA

WASHINGTON, Feb. 14 — President Bush said Wednesday that he was certain that factions within the Iranian government had supplied Shiite militants in Iraq with deadly roadside bombs that had killed American troops. But he said he did not know whether Iran’s highest officials had directed the attacks.

Mr. Bush’s remarks amounted to his most specific accusation to date that Iran was undermining security in Iraq. They appeared to be part of a concerted effort by the White House to present a clearer, more direct case that Iran was supplying the potent weapons — and to push back against criticism that the intelligence used in reaching the conclusions was not credible.

Didn't really want to write about this.

2nd Blogger Resigns From Edwards Team

A second controversial blogger resigned yesterday from John Edwards's presidential campaign, a day after Amanda Marcotte quit amid criticism that her writings were anti-Catholic.

Melissa McEwan wrote that she made the decision, with the campaign's "reluctant support, because my remaining the focus of sustained ideological attacks was inevitably making me a liability to the campaign, and making me increasingly uncomfortable with my and my family's level of exposure."

I've seen some of the mail Ms. Marcotte got, and the troll are still infesting Pandagon. Ms. McEwan didn't share. What they underwent is familiar to me...not being targeting in the mainstream media but the snarling of the piranha when they think they smell blood in the water.

War supporters are talking so much shit they use toilet paper for napkins. So much shit their tongues are brown. So much shit you can smell their breath over HDTV.

Rep. Jim Saxton, how bad is it in Iraq?