Prometheus 6

Of all publications, this is from the Wall Street Journal. 

Pain of 'Pay-As-You-Go' Rules Is About to Strike Congress
By SARAH LUECK
September 1, 2007; Page A2

...When Congress returns this coming week, a few must-do tax items will force lawmakers to confront a harsh reality: Passing tax cuts for one group likely means making others pay more.

A harsh reality, huh?

The problem with being reality-based is, you can't be delusional. WHich means I shouldn't be sneaking peeks at WSJ's editorials.

Some email feedback on the closed thread.

I and others, apparently, were trying to reach out, have dialog. If the impression you're trying to give to your readers is "white people just don't get it", then okay. Fair enough. But it's not "all respect". I made many interesting points, I haven't seen them elsewhere, and you claim to have responded, but did not, and I can't find such a response anywhere.

Anyway, good luck with everything. Check out the Imus show if you ever get a chance, you may surprised how absent from the show anything that can even be construed as racist even appears. He does use edgy, racial satire, very occasionally. But it's generally not mean-spirited. I'm sure that sounds crazy. Also, some of the quotes in that article are simply untrue.

I consider Martin Luther King, Jr., a hero. If your goal is to end racism, I hope you'll find some partners of many different shades. I personally do not like being defined by my skin. I find it very hurtful(no shit), and I'm feeling it happen more and more. I am white and live in a city where no race is the majority. Which is fine by me.

Anyway, of course you know what racism feels like, it is truly awful and disgusting.

Again, good luck and peace,
Burt Packer

That's BertMP, who is probably still not happy. But let's break it down.

It seems there's a crew of people than scan teh Internets for less than approving references to Imus. Having just posted one , the shock troops paid me a visit. It was enlightening.

Before I get to the point, let me dismiss a few things. There is obviously a guerilla marketing aspect to the response. We got referred to

http://imustruth.typepad.com/index/
http://www.supportimus.org/

I'm not annoyed at these guys because they're pros doing a job. But if your purpose in responding is to drop that link, I've saved you the trouble so you can move on.

The volunteer shock troopers are more varied in how annoying they are. The people who came to chastise Richard Lipez were funny as hell. Not only do they miss the fact that I am not Richard Lipez, a couple were like, "you're white?" and "I bet you never experienced racism," when, had they actually read the linked article to the end

Richard Lipez writes the Don Strachey gay private eye novels under the name Richard Stevenson

they might have figured out he has reason other than racism for his concern. The funniest guy seems to not only have decided I'm Mr. Lipez, but that Mr. Lipez isn't Mr. Lipez.

Richard Lipez is not Black

On September 1st, 2007 bvb720 says:

Mr. Lipez has a real name. You will find out that he is 2 years older then Don Imus. And is a far left author. You will find his bio here.

http://members.aol.com/fanspage/richard.html

But he seems to censor people. What does one expect from a man going on 70 year old.

Good God get a grip Richard.

And a Happy Saturday to you.

You got your accusation in. You don't have to read any further either. What else?

Right...one of the devowelled comments led with "Give me one example of Imus saying someting racist." Go to Media Matters and search for Imus. Come back in a week when you're done reading. And someone else was all

There are only 2 million+ of us. What are you afraid of? Your arguments should stand up against ours if they have any merit.

Two million + times, from scratch each time, right? Bite me. You get one time, when you come coherant. Get your two million people, show me they all agree on your questions and send them to me.

Anyone who says something really stupid like "Words aren't racist, people are!" gets banned from teh Internets for life and bitchslapped if I meet them.

There were two folks that posted comments worthy of engagement, keeping in mind

The only thing I don't understand is why it's so personally important to you all. Is your entertainment so important that racist language is a-okay, even knowing racist language is socially damaging?

Detroit News Online has one of those riot retrospectives, titled alternately Detroit's racial divide: 40 years later and Panic in Detroit: Forty Years Later. Couple of articles, couple of slideshows, interesting looking mix. It was published in late July and I missed it.

Topics for today are selecting themselves, and this is one of them. So I'm linking it as a reminder to see what's in there later. 

Rikyrah pointed out this Rush and Malloy piece in the NY Daily News. Normally I just drop such stuff in the press releases pile, but we have a special place in our heart for Dr. Rice.

No, wait, that was Prometheus 5 who felt that way.

Well, I'm in the middle of it now.

Dr. Rice is trying to separate herself from the Bush regime but she's not going to have as easy a time of it as, say, a Republican senator (which says a lot). She's as much a part of the Bushista regime as Cheney, so it's little wonder she's taken a similar tack in image management...a multi-pronged campaign eerily similar to the sort of campaign D.C. lobbyist regularly offer

After Months of Flirting, Thompson Is Almost In
By MARC SANTORA

The campaign of Fred D. Thompson, who has been running for president for months, formally announced yesterday that he would formally announce his bid for the Republican nomination for president next Thursday.

There had been little doubt in recent weeks that Mr. Thompson, a former senator, Washington lobbyist and “Law & Order” actor, would run for president. But he kept his supporters and the rest of the field guessing as to when he might enter the race, postponing a July announcement as he built up a staff and began raising money.

Thanks to ebogjohnson for the picture.

Jack Turner of Jack and Jill Politics linked to this matchless example of the reason, though I have great respect for their record, I allow for the possibility that PUSH's time has passed. You don't maintain your relevance by shit-canning your sense of humor.

Not to mention by being late dan a muhfuggah... 

PUSH speaks out after release of rap video ‘Read a Book’

CHICAGO and ATLANTA (August 23, 2007) The following is a statement released on behalf of Rev. Jesse L. Jackson Sr., founder and president of the Rainbow PUSH Coalition, from Attorney Janice Mathis, Vice President and Executive Director of Peachtree Street Project, Rainbow PUSH Coalition. Mathis’s commentary comes after the release of a rap video, “Read a Book” on YouTube and BET.

The Midwest Teen Sex Show

I could embed the video here but no one would believe it was mine.

Every once in a while you'll stumble upon a forum or an online community that is so specific, so insane, so completely ridiculous that you are forced to conclude that you have reached the end of the Internet. Sure, you may continue on your merry clicking way, but you do so with the deep-seated feeling that there is nowhere else to look; you have seen everything the Internet could possibly hope to provide. Here are the eight online communities that killed our adventurous spirit, made us sure that we'd seen everything the online world has to offer, and even more certain that we didn't want to try to find anything more depressingly fascinating.

I'd give you an example quote...no, that's a lie.

"On Tuesday in a Spanish-language class at Holy Family High School, a single handful of students used heated and inappropriate rhetoric in a discussion on immigration. In a class of approximately 30 students, fewer than six students voiced strong anti-immigration opinions. The remaining two-thirds of the class were silent or voiced support for immigrants. At the end of the discussion, one student inappropriately said "white power," two or three times. Most of the students in the class did not hear the comments. Contrary to media reports, there were no chants by more than one student. Two students, who were offended, asked to leave the classroom and were given permission to leave. However, the discussion ended when other students realized how these students were affected and all of the students remained until the end of class."

White power' chanted during immigration discussion at school
written by: Jeffrey Wolf , Web Producer 
and Nelson Garcia , Reporter

ebogjohnson  

The thing about the racism fairy is that the same wave of the magic burning cross that converts a poor white person into a racist (pobrecito Kramer!) also forces all the coloreds within a 20 meter radius into an abrupt, unwelcome confrontation with something ugly, exhausting and depressing. The closer white people are to power's normative tentpoles - maleness, straightness, richness - the less likely they are to know what it's like to be sitting there minding your own business - say, perusing the transcript of chatter between Sen. Larry "I'm not gay in the bathroom" Craig (R-Idaho) and the cop who nabbed him - only to be suddenly sucker punched by an -ism, in this case white supremacy. Sgt. Dave Karsnia's comment that he'd expect lying and dissembling from a guy "gotten out of the hood" neatly embeds a range classic white supremacist tropes about hoodish suspects, and these tropes are completely from left field. Sgt. Karsnia, apropos of nothing, just figured he'd offer Craig what the cop likely imagined was a particularly shaming contrast, i.e., that between a white male Republican and a hood perp. Because we all know white Republicans don't lie when caught red handed, don't try manipulate the system to get off, and they definitely don't disrespect the established processes and procedures of law enforcement.

"(Democrats) will say they're like you. They'll say, 'I go to church with you,' 'My kids go to school with yours,' " he said in the McComb Enterprise-Journal. "But when they go to the Legislature, they'll vote with the black caucus and support Hillary Clinton."

GOP leader's remark hit as racist
Voters urged to oppose Dems claiming to be conservative
By Laura Hipp

Black lawmakers are upset at what they say was racially tinged remark mmade by state GOP Chairman Jim Herring while attempting to rally Republicans last week in McComb.

Herring spoke at a campaign meeting for Gov. Haley Barbour about increasing the number of Republicans in office.

He urged voters to reject Democrats posing as conservatives.

The opposite of Progressive is Retarded.

I would like to commend school board member Larry Marshall for calling it a "huge mistake in judgment" instead of an isolated incident.

The booklet billed itself as a guide to Ebonics, teaching the reader to speak "as if you just came out of the hood." It included definitions such as "foty: a 40-ounce bottle of beer"; "aks: to ask a question"; and "hoodrat: scummy girl."

The booklet names six district officers "and the entire day shift patrol" as contributors. Abbott said a preliminary investigation has cleared those officers of involvement.

Last year, almost 30 percent of the district's 202,000 students were black and almost 60 percent were Hispanic.

Houston school police in hot water over 'Ghetto Handbook'

HOUSTON — A school district police officer has been suspended as the district investigates his distribution of a "Ghetto Handbook" and a three-month lapse before top district officials were informed about it.

This is right in line with my current readings. I don't know when they're planning to publish this...sounds like it's just a raw idea right now...but I will be reading and commenting on it. 

A discussion on class and how it's covered
Timothy J. McNulty
From the Public Editor
August 31, 2007

We've had lively talks about religion, immigration and diversity, among other topics. Recently, we discussed palliative care and end-of-life issues.

An upcoming discussion is a bit harder to pin down. We intend to talk about class, not about manners, but about status in society and how that affects the way we report, or fail to report, on some issues and events.

At one point, as Moran, Tauscher and Rep. Jon Porter (R-Nev.) were heading to lunch in the fortified Green Zone, an American urgently tried to get their attention, apparently to voice concerns about the war effort, the participants said. Security whisked the man away before he could make his point.

For one, the quotations appeared to be selected to divide the visitors into those who are with the war effort and those who are against. For another, they were not exactly accurate.

Lawmakers Describe 'Being Slimed in the Green Zone'
By Jonathan Weisman
Washington Post Staff Writer
Friday, August 31, 2007; A13

The sheets of paper seemed to be everywhere the lawmakers went in the Green Zone, distributed to Iraqi officials, U.S. officials and uniformed military of no particular rank. So when Rep. James P. Moran Jr. (D-Va.) asked a soldier last weekend just what he was holding, the congressman was taken aback to find out.

In the soldier's hand was a thumbnail biography, distributed before each of the congressmen's meetings in Baghdad, which let meeting participants such as that soldier know where each of the lawmakers stands on the war. "Moran on Iraq policy," read one section, going on to cite some the congressman's most incendiary statements, such as, "This has been the worst foreign policy fiasco in American history."

Four years after Martin Luther King's death, the FBI closed its file on his wife, saying, "No information has come to the attention of Atlanta which indicates a propensity for violence or affiliation of subversive elements," according to a memorandum dated Nov. 30, 1972.

FBI Spied on Widow Of Martin Luther King

ATLANTA -- Federal agents spied on the widow of the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. for several years after his assassination in 1968, according to newly released documents that reveal the FBI worried about her following in the footsteps of the civil rights icon.

In memos that reveal Coretta Scott King being closely followed by the government, the FBI noted concern that she might attempt "to tie the anti-Vietnam movement to the civil rights movement."

She said a GOP debate hasn't been ruled out for later in the fall.

''We're thinking that everyone wants to see how the Democratic one goes before they commit,'' she said. 

Heh.

Aside from pointing out excessive Republican caution, I would like to point out...

Most of the Republican field also ignored invitations to attend Hispanic-oriented conferences in Florida organized by the National Association of Latin Elected Officials and the National Council of La Raza.

That doesn't mean they're not courting Hispanic votes. 

They claim to have courted the Black vote too. Turns out all they did was pay some negroes that no one in the community respects to say what they wanted said.

GOP no-shows prompt cancellation of debate
BY BETH REINHARD

Univisión planned to air the first presidential debates in Spanish on Sept. 9 and 16, one for Democrats, the other for Republicans, trumpeting a national coming-out party for Hispanic voters.

Except Republican candidates aren't coming. Only Ariz. Sen. John McCain agreed to participate in the event at the University of Miami.

So much for Sept. 16. [P6: Should have scheduled it for Sept. 11...that's the only way to get Giuliani to show]

Amy Goodman interviewed Rep. Conyers for Democracy Now! about impeaching The Last Bushistas the other day. There is nothing in there to protect him from Bruce Dixon's ire.

"You're not in danger of identity theft -- it's really not all that dangerous to the person who's been infected... It's really more dangerous to the Internet architecture as a whole," he says.

The Trojan gives Storm's bot army the ability to launch powerful distributed denial of services attacks, Stewart says. "But that's not its only purpose. It's also to make money, [such as from] stock spam."

Storm Hits Blogger
The ubiquitous Storm Trojan has found a new home – on spam blog sites in Google's Blogger network
AUGUST 30, 2007 | 4:53 PM
By Kelly Jackson Higgins
Senior Editor, Dark Reading 

Careful whose blog you're reading these days: Researchers have discovered the Storm Trojan nestled in hundreds of blog sites in Google's Blogger network.

HAH!. Who am I kidding? You think Black vs BlackCon gets ugly, try mainstream feminist vs GLBT feminist.

When asked about the types of information they get from blogs, 65% said they get opinions, while 39% get news and 38% get entertainment. About one in three people read gossip on blog websites while only 2% use blogs to catch upon news about family and friends.

I dare say that's about the reverse of what blogs were originally conceived to be.

Loyalty to specific blogs is also fairly strong with 46% of blog readers saying that they visit the same blogs regularly versus 54% who instead usually surf for new and different ones.

Survey: more women blogging than men as blogs hit mainstream
Posted By John Pospisil On August 30, 2007 @ 11:35 am

The blogosphere has hit the mainstream, according to a new survey, which reveals that 80% of Americans know what a blog is, 50% regularly visit blogs, and 8% publish their own blog.

The survey also revealed that more women than men are bloggers, with 20% of American women who have visited blogs having their own versus 14 % of men.

They swore "solidarity forever."

Bigotry's cheerful enablers
By Richard Lipez | August 27, 2007

IT'S STILL uncertain when or where shock-jock Don Imus will return to the airwaves, now that he has settled his suit with CBS. But a more interesting question is this: When Imus does come back, will distinguished American media personages such as Frank Rich, Doris Kearns Goodwin, and Tom Brokaw continue to show up on his show, lending him respectability and cover for his racist, misogynistic, and gay-baiting rants?

I read this

...Most people think that buying an imitation handbag or wallet is harmless, a victimless crime. But the counterfeiting rackets are run by crime syndicates that also deal in narcotics, weapons, child prostitution, human trafficking and terrorism. Ronald K. Noble, the secretary general of Interpol, told the House of Representatives Committee on International Relations that profits from the sale of counterfeit goods have gone to groups associated with Hezbollah, the Shiite terrorist group, paramilitary organizations in Northern Ireland and FARC, the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia.

Thought, "I buy them fake Oakleys on the corner from the brother, imitation Mont Blanc pen from the Chinese lady, and their profits makes their way to groups with links to paramilitary groups in Northern Ireland?

This must have been hilarious. 

The clown women thought they finally understood what the Klan was trying to say. “Ohhhhh…” the women clowns said. “Now we understand…”, “WIFE POWER!” they lifted the letters up in the air, grabbed the nearest male clowns and lifted them in their arms and ran about merrily chanting “WIFE POWER! WIFE POWER! WIFE POWER!”

Clowns KKKick KKK ass!
Knoxville rejects Nazis and Klan.

Saturday May 26th the VNN Vanguard Nazi/KKK group attempted to host a hate rally to try to take advantage of the brutal murder of a white couple for media and recruitment purposes. http://www.volunteertv.com/special

Unfortunately for them the 100th ARA (Anti Racist Action) clown block came and handed them their asses by making them appear like the asses they were.

Alex Linder the founder of VNN and the lead organizer of the rally kicked off events by rushing the clowns in a fit of rage, and was promptly arrested by 4 Knoxville police officers who dropped him to the ground when he resisted and dragged him off past the red shiny shoes of the clowns. http://www.volunteertv.com/home/headlines/7704982.html

Governor Perry Grants Last-Minute Reprieve to Kenneth Foster