Prometheus 6

Road rage plus the right to carry unregistered weapons in the car? I don't think so. 

Alice Tripp, the legislative director for the rifle association, conceded that the groups had been seen as an odd couple. “Everybody kind of went, ‘Oh my God, what’s the A.C.L.U. doing here with the gun people?’ ” Ms. Tripp said. But she said they had found common ground on self-defense as an endangered liberty.

Unusual Allies in a Legal Battle Over Texas Drivers’ Gun Rights
By RALPH BLUMENTHAL

HOUSTON, April 4 — Keith Patton was driving home one night in February when police officers pulled over his red Ford Explorer for a traffic stop.

While homeownership is often desirable as a means for accumulating wealth and obtaining secure housing, it will not always be a good mechanism for either.

It's going to be hard to break folks of fifty years of subsidized wealth accumulation.

The Subprime Meltdown and the Ownership Society
By Dean Baker
Saturday, April 7, 2007;

A huge percentage of the easy-money mortgages issued to low- and moderate-income families in the past few years are going bad. This has led to bankruptcies for the big lenders in this market and millions of dollars in losses. The chain of defaults has also raised concerns about the mortgage and housing market more generally, and a growing number of economists view a recession induced by a housing crash as a distinct possibility.

I read TomPaine.com regularly. They have this daily section, Newsworthy , that's a bunch of bare links to stories of interest to progressives. Today they linked to a report about Florida restoring voting rights to ex-felons.

Their title was Florida Reverses Jim Crow-Era Disenfranchisement.

Um...no. They stopped piling it on. They didn't reverse a damn thing. They can't.

Nothing can be reversed. Don't let the fact that we best express the laws of physics in the language of mathematics fool you.

But he hasn't exactly reached out to the general populace. Maybe he's just trying to raise enough money to be a player, since he can self-finance the rest.

Romney Used His Wealth to Enlist Richest Donors
By DAVID D. KIRKPATRICK

WASHINGTON, April 5 — Mitt Romney, the multimillionaire founder of a giant private equity firm, knew he did not need other people’s money to mount a presidential campaign. But as they began planning a campaign more than two years ago, Mr. Romney and his advisers wanted to avoid the fate of two other millionaires, Steve Forbes and Ross Perot, whose self-financed campaigns went down as quixotic indulgences.

When all the newspapers report Third Suspect Tied to F.B.I. Shooting Is Caught, I can't help but wonder how the suspect was tied to the shooting. 

I understand he was a bank robber, yay for catching the thieves, no bullshit. But the agent was shot accidentally.

Witnesses said they heard three shots, or bursts from automatic weapons, and F.B.I. officials later said that the suspects had not fired their weapons. One official said that Mr. Bush had been shot from behind at close range.

Yet everyone agrees the suspect was tied to the shooting.  

Dubbed "Operation Return to Sender," the crackdown began last May in cities nationwide. As of Feb. 23, it had resulted in 18,149 arrests of suspected illegal immigrants, most of whom were captured at home and in Hispanic neighborhoods.

But, according to figures from Immigration and Customs Enforcement, nearly 37 percent of those cases, or 6,696 arrests, were "collateral" captives -- people who just happened to be present when agents arrived. Such arrests account for more than half the total in four cities: Dallas and El Paso, Texas (59 percent); New York (54 percent); and San Diego (57 percent).

Immigrant crackdown brings 6,696 'collateral arrests'
By Elliot Spagat
Associated Press
April 6, 2007

SAN DIEGO -- More than one-third of 18,000 people arrested in a nearly yearlong federal crackdown on illegal immigrants were not the people authorities had targeted, according to government figures.

Jackson Defers to the Black Caucus on Fox Debate
By Kate Phillips

In an interview with the Rev. Jesse Jackson this afternoon, he told us that while he had “concerns” about Fox News, he had decided to “give deference” to the Congressional Black Caucus institute which cut a deal with Fox to do two presidential debates.

I see no benefit for Black folks in validating Fox News.

Jesus, I feel like ranting here.

We're undoing all his hard work. 

"One of three things must be happening," Connerly said Thursday. "Black kids have either gotten extremely smart or extremely competitive in a way they weren't five or six years ago, or there's been a deliberate, carefully orchestrated effort by a lot of admissions people to conspire to increase those numbers, or they've found a proxy for race."

Maybe it became just as difficult to figure out who to suppress as who to further suppress.

The initial drop in applications was because Black students felt unwelcome, that's all. It takes a moment to adjust to a collective slap in the face.

UCLA sees an increase in black student admissions
The Westwood campus offers spots in its fall class to 392 African American students, up from 249 a year ago.
By Rebecca Trounson and Richard C. Paddock
Times Staff Writers
April 6, 2007

UCLA has offered admission for the fall to 392 African American students, up from the 249 who were offered a place in the current freshman class, officials announced Thursday.

That part of the University of California's detailed annual release on freshman admissions was greeted with satisfaction and a measure of relief by UCLA administrators and others who had expressed concern about declining numbers of black students on the Westwood campus. The number reached a crisis last fall, when only about 100 black freshmen enrolled — or about 2% of a class of more than 4,800.

Stories about African nations can be written by a macro nowadays. 

A Western official who spoke on the condition of anonymity because of diplomatic considerations predicted that even if there were compelling evidence of war crimes, the case would probably never get to court.

Another Western official, speaking anonymously for similar reasons, said, "At the end of the day, no one is going to want to further undermine the transitional government."

So to hell with the human beings, right?

The transitional government never stood up. There's nothing there to undermine. 

Diplomats and analysts from Somali and international organizations predicted yesterday that the US government would resist the European effort because Ethiopia is a close American ally, valued as bulwark against Islamic militants in the Horn of Africa.

Diplomats to probe troops' acts in Somalia
Allegations made of war crimes
By Jeffrey Gettleman, New York Times News Service  |  April 6, 2007

Approval Expected For 'Living Wage' Bill
Md. House Considers Measure to Raise Pay Of Contract Employees
By John Wagner
Washington Post Staff Writer
Friday, April 6, 2007; B01

Maryland would become the first state in the nation to mandate that state contractors pay employees a "living wage" under a bill moving briskly toward passage in the House of Delegates yesterday.

The legislation would require that at least $11.30 an hour be paid for work on state contracts in Montgomery, Prince George's, Howard, Anne Arundel and Baltimore counties and in Baltimore. In other, more rural, counties, where jobs are less plentiful, the floor would be set at $8.50 an hour, still significantly higher than the state's minimum wage of $6.15.

This made me realize the hardcore Bush supporters are actually going through an identity crisis. Progressives are responding to external events while conservatives are responding to internal events.

Watch this clip.

Because after a while you just have to decide.

I have to upgrade Prometheus 6 to Drupal 5 this weekend. I kind of dread it, but it'll be quick and safe. Sunday, I think, if the site is offline for a couple of hours you know why. When it's done, there'll be a couple of changes.

To begin with, Drupal 5 has a captcha module I'm testing tonight. It asks you to add two digits instead of reading an image, which is more accessible. That plus a couple of changes may let me bring back commenting for unregistered users. It only went away because when I turn it on I get stupid spam.

There will likely be less to comment on, though. I'm going to divide my stuff...the more speculative and 'race man' stuff goes to Intrapolitics.org. Still invitation only, though there's a link on the main menu to request an invite now, and another to submit an article or make a site suggestion without joining up. Members will still be able to create forum posts, still be able to invite other members.

Not badly written, as these things go... 

Black members of the Senate said they were pleased to see the resolution pass, but added that lawmakers also need to help improve the quality of life of blacks who still suffer from the effects of slavery and discrimination. They called for improvements to the state's education system and giving black-owned businesses more access to state contracts.

"This is a noble gesture but I urge you, don't let it end here," said Democratic Sen. Larry Shaw. "There's plenty of work to be done."

Several white senators recalled their own links to slavery. Democratic Sen. Bill Purcell said his grandfather had owned slaves. Republican Sen. Jim Jacumin mentioned his ancestors' own suffering due to religious bias.

"Any conflict or wrongdoing can never have a closure until there is an apology or reconciliation has occurred," Jacumin said.

N.C. Senate apologizes for slavery
By GARY D. ROBERTSON, Associated Press Writer
2 hours, 6 minutes ago

The North Carolina Senate apologized Thursday for the Legislature's role in promoting slavery and Jim Crow laws that denied basic human rights to the state's black citizens.

Following the lead of lawmakers in neighboring Virginia, the Senate unanimously backed a resolution acknowledging its "profound contrition for the official acts that sanctioned and perpetuated the denial of basic human rights and dignity to fellow humans."

"This is a way to reflect upon this and express our understanding and our regret for official actions of our state," said Senate Majority Leader Tony Rand, a Democrat and the bill's primary sponsor.

Such an apology, Rand added, will help us "to try to be better children of God and better representatives of all the people of this state."

My reaction.

The questions at the heart of the Dred Scott case -- about citizenship, belonging, and participation -- remain unresolved. As we stand at a crossroads, challenged by threats abroad and within, we, like the Supreme Court in 1857, risk being blinded by our own cultural assumptions. These threaten the admirable gains we have made during the past century and a half. We must not lose sight of the context that not only enabled the Dred Scott decision in 1857, but led far too many members of the public to view the decision as sensible and right.

The civil rights era demonstrated that we are a nation strong enough to withstand harsh self-examination and to correct our mistakes. With the lessons learned from Dred Scott, we must invoke that spirit of reflection now and reawaken the America that embraces change, diversity, and progress.

The lessons of Dred Scott
By Charles J. Ogletree Jr. and Johanna Wald  |  April 5, 2007

ONE HUNDRED fifty years ago -- on March 6, 1857 -- the Supreme Court issued a landmark decision that haunts us today. In Dred Scott v. Sandford the court found all "negroes," even free ones, exempt from the rights, privileges, and immunities afforded to US citizens by the Constitution. Chief Justice Roger Taney, writing for the majority, concluded that blacks "had no rights which the white man was bound to respect."

E-Activism: Analysis of Black Bloggers in the Blogosphere

In the first scholarly research examining the role of black bloggers, Brown University’s Antoinette Pole found that bloggers of color are using this burgeoning medium to encourage political participation and activism. She also found that black bloggers do not feel discriminated against or excluded by other bloggers. Her findings appear in the International Journal of Technology, Knowledge and Society.

PROVIDENCE, R.I. [Brown University] — In the first scholarly research examining the role of black bloggers in the blogosphere, Brown University researcher Antoinette Pole assessed how bloggers of color use their medium for purposes related to politics. She found that black bloggers are, in fact, mobilizing readers to engage in political participation. Additionally, Pole found that black bloggers do not feel discriminated against or excluded by other bloggers. These findings appear in the International Journal of Technology, Knowledge and Society.

I don't mean to be TOO cynical...

Though Greenwich’s population of 61,000 is 90 percent white, according to the census, nearly a quarter of the public school system’s 8,800 students are black, Hispanic or Asian. Yet their representation in many elementary and middle schools is lopsided.

Still, Connecticut's school superintendant is doing the right thing.

Few parents are openly criticizing the goal of diversity, but a group calling itself Concerned Citizens of Greenwich has run full-page advertisements in local newspapers asking that neighborhood schools not be made to suffer in the rush to bolster other schools. Dr. Sternberg said she had received a flood of e-mail messages, including many that took a “hateful, bullying tone.” In a recent essay in Greenwich Time, she cited one e-mail message from a parent who complained: “The children are exposed to racial diversity in middle school and high school and in their extracurricular activities. ... We don’t want our elementary school-age children used to neutralize the makeup of another part of town.”

Otherwise, them poor white kids are going to be lost come junior high school.

Wealthy Connecticut School District Starts to Grapple With Racial Imbalance
By ALISON LEIGH COWAN

GREENWICH, Conn., April 4 — More than half a century after the landmark desegregation ruling in Brown v. Board of Education, this overwhelmingly white and wealthy town is beginning to confront the yawning racial imbalance in its cozy, well-groomed neighborhood schools.

Every year since 2000, the Connecticut Department of Education has sent Greenwich — along with other towns like West Hartford and, more recently, Fairfield and Groton — warning letters citing specific schools in danger of violating state laws on racial balance by having student bodies far less diverse than their districts over all.

Because it was a Republican Congress, and the vast majority will have Republican names on them. Which will gather an fired Attorney General-like reaction from those Congressmen that inserted the earmarks at the insistence of the Office of the Executive.

Congress ought to take the same data, add the appropriators' names, and post that publicly.

White House posts earmarks on website
Pet spending projects that lawmakers put in the 2005 budget are listed. The administration's requests aren't.
By Nicole Gaouette and Tom Hamburger
Times Staff Writers
April 5, 2007

WASHINGTON — In a direct challenge to Congress and the way it does business, the White House on Wednesday unveiled an online list of all the pet spending projects lawmakers tucked in the federal budget for the 2004-05 fiscal year.

The Internet database details spending known as earmarks, funds that lawmakers funnel to projects, programs and sometimes even specific recipients without going through the normal budget review — such as the $25 million provided to California spinach farmers in the recent Iraq spending bill.

The history at the end of history
Francis Fukuyama
April 3, 2007 10:15 AM

Fifteen years ago in my book The End of History and the Last Man I argued that, if a society wanted to be modern, there was no alternative to a market economy and a democratic political system. Not everyone wanted to be modern, of course, and not everyone could put in place the institutions and policies necessary to make democracy and capitalism work, but no alternative system would yield better results.

While the End of History thus was essentially an argument about modernisation, some people have linked my thesis about the end of history to the foreign policy of President George Bush and American strategic hegemony. But anyone who thinks that my ideas constitute the intellectual foundation for the Bush administration's policies has not been paying attention to what I have been saying since 1992 about democracy and development.

This sort of thing is why I use my own limited skills to administer my sites.

Freedom.

At last.

I can finally write what I want without some Mormon censoring me. In fact, if I hadn't switched tech teams I couldn't even use the graphic above. It's been a harrowing six weeks and it's all the General's fault. Actually it's not, but it all started with one little, measly link from the General.

The trouble started with this post, "Malleable Contender," which was about Mitt Romney. In one portion about Mormonism I talked about it "not being a mainstream religion" and then linked to the General's post entitled "What Mitt Believes... (Volume 2),". Later in the day, during my radio show, I interviewed my husband who was a good Mormon for decades, but who has since left the church and taken his name off the roles, which is a very big deal. He had to petition the bishop, send in certified letters, but we still got visits from LDS prodding him to stay. I had nothing to do with his choice, but I watched it play out. Anyway, on the show that day we talked about Mitt and Mormonism, but were very respectful. I knew little about Mormonism until I moved to Nevada to do radio. It's been an eye opening experience. Mitt's run had me looking into it further, because my husband and I don't talk about it. Anyway, the discussion on my show with my husband was very light, because he didn't want to appear to be bashing anyone's religion. We went out of our way to be respectful. After the show and much to my surprise I received the following email from my tech team. It's signed by them both but it came from the wife's email address.

...which is good, since they're trying to shoot the point in the face.

Many countries provide universal insurance but deny critical procedures to patients who need them. Britain's Department of Health reported in 2006 that at any given time, nearly 900,000 Britons are waiting for admission to National Health Service hospitals, and shortages force the cancellation of more than 50,000 operations each year.

How long would they wait with no health care at all?

In a 2005 ruling of the Canadian Supreme Court, Chief Justice Beverly McLachlin wrote that "access to a waiting list is not access to healthcare."

What would the sentiment be if there wasn't even a waiting list? And most of all

Hospitals are legally obligated to provide care regardless of ability to pay, and although physicians do not face the same legal requirements, we do not hear of many who are willing to deny treatment because a patient lacks insurance.

Then the problem isn't universal health care. The problem is, how to you normalize it.

Universal healthcare's dirty little secrets
Patients in countries that provide government insurance often experience hurdles to care such as extremely long waitlists.
By Michael Tanner and Michael Cannon
MICHAEL TANNER is director of health and welfare studies and MICHAEL CANNON is director of health policy studies at the Cato Institute.
April 5, 2007

AS THEY TACK left and right state by state, the Democratic presidential contenders can't agree on much. But one cause they all support — along with Republicans such as former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney and California's own Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger — is universal health coverage. And all of them are wrong.

What these politicians and many other Americans fail to understand is that there's a big difference between universal coverage and actual access to medical care.

And yes, this is the sort of thing the Internet is used for.

Obama's campaign said that at least $23.5 million of its first-quarter collection would be available for the primary campaign, an important distinction because candidates are able to raise money now for both the primary and general elections.

Clinton officials have refused to say how much of the $26 million can be used for her primary campaign, a figure that should be readily available. The Edwards' campaign, meanwhile, has said less than $1 million of his tally is designated for the general election.

Obama fundraising rivals Clinton
By John McCormick and Mike Dorning
Tribune staff reporters
April 4, 2007, 1:28 PM CDT

Paul Finebaum, a sports columnist and radio talk show host in Alabama, said of Robinson today: “I think he is arguably the most important singular figure in the history of college football. He opened the door for thousands of black players and inspired many black coaches who had no other role model. He was to college, from this perspective, what Dr. Martin Luther King was to civil rights.”

Eddie Robinson, College Coach, Dies
By WILLIAM N. WALLACE

Eddie Robinson, who in 55 seasons at Grambling State University in Louisiana became the first college football coach to win more than 400 football games, more than any other college coach in history, died on Tuesday in Ruston, La. He was 88.His death was confirmed to The Associated Press by Doug Williams, one of his former players, who became a Super Bowl M.V.P. He had entered the hospital earlier Tuesday. The cause of death was not immediately announced but he had been in declining health since learning he had Alzheimer’s disease in 2004.