Social Upheaval

March 2, 2008

There Are No Jobs

The lead article in today's NYT Business Section is graph after graph of depressing news on the US labor market. US corporations have been making more money over the last ten years by squeezing more productivity out of a leaner and leaner workforce. We had a "jobless recovery" from the last recession, and now companies are plunging workers into even deeper spirals of unemployment because some screwed up economists convinced them that credit checks have an actual correlation to a person's character.

So now, if you lose your home in the mortgage meltdown, and maybe the bank repo's your car because you lost your job, it'll be even harder for you to find work to pull yourself out of the economic hell that is the US "middle class."

Intellectuals wonder why Americans focus so much on celebrity gossip and have such a poor grasp on foreign affairs. Perhaps they can't be bothered with politics because they're struggling to make ends meet and they focus on the lives of the rich and famous because that fantasy is the closest most Americans will ever come to the American dream.

"Is a Lean Economy Turning Mean?" by Peter Goodman

Posted by cj at 2:58 PM | Comments (0)

November 3, 2007

The Sorry State of Public Trans in the US

My favorite city to live in (Chicago), is having trouble paying for its old, rickety public trans system (which by the way is the 2nd largest system in the country). Alas, those down state and suburban fools in the state legislature refuse to budget for the needs of the majority of the state's population (aka Chicagoland residents). Instead of expanding and enhancing the system, the MTA probably has to cut services and postpone upgrades.

In related crazy-people-control-politics news, the LA MTA has a new plan for the subway to the sea. Instead of acknowledging Wilshire as the overwhelmingly most popular bus route in the city, there's a proposal to route it on Santa Monica where more young people live who would embrace faux city living. Apparently, the masses of poor people who desperately need better public trans in this city are secondary to the desire by city boosters to create yuppie paradise.

"Chicago's transit budget at a crossroads: Emergency funds are granted as state lawmakers debate a sales-tax increase." in today's LAT

"L.A. subway plans take a radical shift," by Rong Gong Lin II in today's LAT

Posted by cj at 8:14 PM | Comments (0)

October 7, 2007

We'll Be Paying for Empire Expansion Till the End of Time

This Just In: Paying for war when it occurs is fiscally irresponsible. That is, if you believe the mouthpiece of the administration, the White House press secretary. If the war hawks have their way, we'll be paying for this empire expansion till the end of time.

But that's okay, because the surge is making Iraqis safer. The Public Editor of the NYT makes the case that maybe there's been a decrease in the number of civilian casualties since the surge began. Then again, he ends the column by reminding us that it is still unsafe to live in Baghdad, according to an article written by 15 NYT reporters (never mind what's happening elsewhere in Iraq - it's too unsafe for US writers to venture beyond Baghdad).

Let's not get bogged down in details. It's important to remember the frame through which the occupation of foreign countries became acceptable to the US public: by creating a culture of fear that blames the ills of the world on so-called "Islamofascists." Nevermind that the word is meaningless. Pay no attention to reality: fascism is alive and well in the Western world. Even university courses on political science in the US have a difficult time defining fascism. Perhaps because the core of fascism is simple: the military & corporations taking control of the levers of political power. Instead of allowing this simple definition of fascism to be understood, Western leaders propel a a blurry, fearful understanding of a combination of racism and authoritarianism as the only "true" definition of fascism. Furthermore, instead of debating people who recognize the full scope of power held by the military industrial complex, Western political and intellectual "leaders" dismiss us as crazy left-wing nut cases.

Military force must always be the last resort of states and the international community. As Albert Camus said:

Mistaken ideas always end in bloodshed, but in every case it is someone else’s blood. That is why some of our thinkers feel free to say just about anything.

Do not be persuaded by the rhetorical flourish of individuals who believe democracy and freedom can be created through bloodshed and military occupation. The monolingual, jingoist armed forces of the US are even less capable of building peace in the Middle East than the biased State Department.

The safety of the world relies on more individuals becoming engaged in the political process, supporting international institutions, creating dialog with people in other countries, and demanding that the international political and economic structures be based on human security and human needs rather than on corporate greed.

Camus quote from this Op-Ed piece in today's NYT.

Posted by cj at 11:21 AM | Comments (0)

July 4, 2007

Happy Independence Day...

I'm trying to figure out what I do with this holiday. I had a full day of work yesterday and I'll have another full day tomorrow. I'm not completely clear what I'm celebrating today. Am I celebrating the country that condones torture in undisclosed locations and on a prison built illegally on land belonging to another country? Am I celebrating a country that refuses to acknowledge that most women in Afghanistan are no safer today than they were under Taliban rule? Am I celebrating a country that thinks its system of corporate "free-trade" capitalism should be exported to every corner of the earth, despite having the largest income inequality of any industrialized nation?

Maybe I'm celebrating the country that cares more about the nuclear power industry and the military industrial complex than it does about its citizens' health? Because you know, I've really appreciated how the lax environmental standards in this country gave me thyroid cancer and allowed me to have a vital organ removed and replaced by a daily pill.

Or am I celebrating a country that managed to convince its citizens that Iraq is somehow related to the terrorist bombings of the World Trade Center? Am I celebrating a country that tries to convince me to be wary of every Muslim and every Latino who crosses my path? Apparently, my Arab brothers and sisters "hate my freedom" and my Latino neighbors are "taking away my job."

Of course, there are those who will say I should leave if I'm so unhappy. But, you see, this is my home. And the thing I'm happiest about today is the opportunity to be near family. Then again, I'm contemplating bailing on the family get-together because I'm wary of being on the road so much today. Angelenos are notorious for drunk driving, especially around major holidays. So, uh, Viva los Estados Unidos!

Posted by cj at 8:02 AM | Comments (0)

June 17, 2007

Net Neutrality

Help support Net Neutrality. Go to Save the Internet to learn more. And write your Congresspeople using their online form. Be sure to write an individualized message, so Congress knows we're netroots, not astroturf.

Here's what I wrote to Boxer. Of course, it would've been better if the site had given me a clue as to whether or not Boxer has already taken a position on this issue. It's late and I want to get to bed, so I didn't research her position myself.

Dear Senator Boxer,

I urge you to support net neutrality. As a direct marketing professional, I understand the desire of corporations to ease the transfer of their BtoB and BtoC communications.

But as the Program Chair of Women's International League for Peace and Freedom, US Section (WILPF US) I have personally experienced the frustration of denial of delivery for legitimate email communication between my organization and its members and supporters.

I hope you will take leadership of this issue and rally your fellow Senators and Congresspeople to enforce net neutrality.

As your constituent, I look forward to your response.

Sincerely,
C.J. Minster
http://www.socialupheaval.com

Posted by cj at 10:09 PM | Comments (0)

April 24, 2007

Bush is Over (if you want it)

Bush is addicted to war. The US has been killing and occupying in Iraq longer than it was involved in WWII. Will you do something to stop the insanity?

Posted by cj at 9:37 PM | Comments (0)

March 29, 2007

My take on Presidential Politics

I tend to agree with my sister WILPFers that far too much energy is sucked away by presidential elections. Core issues of peace and justice are never tackled, and none of the candidates every completely represent my views on war, peace, and the way towards democracy. Heck, the whole way we elect presidents is undemocratic.

Nevertheless, I'm still interested in engaging people in the political process. And I think elections are a unique way to preach beyond the choir. That's part of the reason I'm involved with the Courage Campaign, a California progressive organization that is pushing to make CA more than just an ATM on the road to the White House via our ATM Watch.

Some people are skeptical, and I responded to one such critic on the Courage Campaign blog. Feel free to read why I think its important for presidential candidates to address California issues in "ATM Watch in the News: Are Californians Californian?"

Posted by cj at 10:46 PM | Comments (0)

February 18, 2007

Sunday Morning Talk Show Watchin on Sunday Night

Tony Snow, best known for being a has-been Fox Sunday talk show host, is the current head of PR for the Bush administration (aka the White House Press Secretary). This morning, he appeared on Meet the Press. He smiled his way through explaining that the people of the US really want to stay the course in Iraq and escalate / surge the troop levels there. He insisted that the horrible Iranians are killing our troops via their Al Qaeda operatives in Iraq. Sure, he didn't actually link Iran to Al Qaeda, but since he was stirring up fear with both bogeymen, I wouldn't blame you if you thought they were coordinating their efforts to bring down our Empire. Tim, known for his "tough" questions, didn't bother to ask the White House Press Secretary about the fact that Al Qaeda is already operating in Afghanistan because we dropped the ball there in our rush to clean up Daddy's mess in Iraq.

Then there were two guys pontificating on how good it is that the Senate and House are trying to debate non-binding resolutions on this bloody never-ending war based on lies. Congratulations, politicians, for beginning to do your jobs. Next time, why not do something that has an impact on this war - like say, defunding it or demanding a withdrawal?

Next up, the youngest looking bureau chief ever. I guess you gotta be young to want to live in Iraq for four years. Turns out, he's just four years older than me and speaks the Egyptian dialect of Arabic. (I assume he's about 34 because he graduated from college four years earlier than me.) I'm a little unclear where he actually reports from these days. According to his MSNBC bio, he works in Beirut, Lebanon. This older WaPo bio explains how he left his college sweatheart in Cairo to pursue the adrenaline rush of conflict in Israel & Iraq. Yet, he claims: "I'm basically a pacifist."

Mitt Romney is rambling his way into a dark, dark hole of tread over by many before him. This no chance in hell candidate declares that marriage is not primarily about adults - it's about children. Apparently, adults are not choosing their own life partners when they get hitched. Nope, we're just a bunch of breeders and our offspring are the only important part of the equation. Guess we should deny marriage certificates to infertile women and women past menopause b/c they clearly aren't good enough for Romney's litmus test. Also ridiculous - watching is badly coifed wife gush about Mormonism, because its prostelytizing missions turned her sons into men. Wow. Mitt's wife needed to be taken care of by his father while he was away in France on mission for the Mormon church. My goodness. I guess I should stop mockin the two of them, since Ann has Multiple Sclerosis. Well, I'm still not interested in Mitt Romney as POTUS. But, hey, I suppose if the Republicans nominate him, they'll help the Dems win.

First articulate progressive I've ever seen on a Sunday talk show is a woman from The Nation magazine: Katrina Vanden Heuvel. Unfortunately, she's being pit against ABC Roundtable mainstays Fareed Zakaria and George Will, two of the most articulate conservatives in this country. According to her Wikipedia entry, she's a frequent guest on Hardball with Chris Mathews. Too bad I work when that show airs. She has an infrequent blog on the Huffington post. And of course, there's that little mag she edits - which every good liberal subscribes to and very few have the time to read. (Personally, I don't bother cuttin down trees for it. Instead, I subscribe to the Sunday NY Times to get my progressive cred.)

Posted by cj at 10:53 PM | Comments (0)

February 8, 2007

Notes from Thursday Papers

I'm off of work, recovering from having my throat sliced open. (I was diagnosed with probable thyroid cancer and had my thyroid, two nodules, and some lymph nodes removed. One of the nodules was cancerous.) I thought this would be a great time for me to catch up on novel reading and do more blogging than I have in recent months. Instead, I've been reading newspapers and falling asleep.

I was going to write a post on the political articles I've read, but alas, I just realized that all of the stuff I've read belongs on my other blog. The LA Times Business section should be titled the "Entertainment Business" section. I can't stand the Wall Street Journal's editorial page or most of its news articles, but I can say that their coverage of marketing and fashion is highly entertaining. I haven't cracked open the NY Times yet, but I think I should take a nap before my WILPF conference call.

So no notes here (yet). Go to angelheaded hipster for more ramblings on fashion, dog shows, and the like...Right now, I'm watching Democracy Now! so maybe I'll get something else to write about...

Posted by cj at 3:12 PM | Comments (0)

January 28, 2007

Short Shrift for Protestors

At least 100,000 people took to the streets of DC yesterday to protest the US occupation of Iraq. And yet, it was relegated to inside page coverage in both the NY Times and the LA Times. At least the LAT put a picture on the front page - but both were more interested in fronting articles on Obama and Hillary than they were in the political activism of thousands of citizens.

I think this speaks to the limitations of mainstream media. The masses are not authoritative. That's why the nightly news highlighted Jane Fonda, Susan Sarandon & Jesse Jackson - they are recognizable and eloquent in a way that can't be found consistently in the masses. The other limitation is that protestors must always be followed immediately by some self-righteous war-mongerer who believes peace activists are diminishing the morale of the troops and that the only way to support the US military is to keep them as an occupying force in a country where the occupation caused civil war and where US'ians have zero understanding of the language, culture, or ethnic differences in the country.

I do not know how to change the media reality of this country. I do not yet have a plan for the nonviolent paradigm shift necessary to overturn the belligerent, corporate-capitalism forced on the world by the US ruling class. But I do know that it more important than ever to figure out how to do this. Our progeny and the future of the world depends on it.

"Protest Focuses on Iraq Troop Increase," by Ian Urbina with contributions by Sarah Abruzzese and Suevon Lee in the NY Times

"Thousands join bicoastal war protest: The Washington rally draws about 100,000 people. Marchers also take to the streets in L.A. and San Francisco." by Adam Schreck, Ashraf Khalil and David Streitfeld in the LA Times

Posted by cj at 7:34 PM | Comments (0)

January 25, 2007

Move the California Primary to February

Sign the Courage Campaign petition.

Read my post on the CC blog, "This is What Democracy Looks Like."

Posted by cj at 11:05 PM | Comments (0)

January 24, 2007

Why there is no entry re SOTU

Last night, the president gave his annual State of the Union address. Apparently, there are now compendiums of drinking games on the subject. And since I finally got my wireless router working, I could've been watching it on the big screen and furiously entering my feedback. Alas, it was not to be.

I did not see the SOTU address because I was working an eleven hour day. There was a lot of work to do - I didn't even stop for a full lunch break - and I was happy to be of help. Plus, it allowed me to take time off today to be with my family for my nephew's bris.

I could've watched a webcast of the speech, or read it, but I chose not to. Perhaps in the future I'll rant about his fucking ridiculous bullshit remark about "gold-plated health insurance," but this is one cancer patient who will refrain for the time being. I'll be back - perhaps tomorrow - with more measured thoughts on world affairs.

Tip o' the hat to my fellow blogger, Todd at the Courage Campaign, for pointing me to the drinking games post at Daily Kos.

Posted by cj at 9:48 PM | Comments (0)

January 18, 2007

Personal Thoughts on Healthcare

I'm now a blogger for the Courage Campaign - an organization that focuses on bringing together people for progressive political change here in California.

If you click over there, you'll see my thoughts on the human right to healthcare (told mostly from a personal perspective).

The nutshell version is that Schwarzenegger's plan is a big pile of crap and that the only way forward is universal healthcare.

Posted by cj at 10:25 PM | Comments (0)

December 12, 2006

Jeannette Rankin on Film

Do you know who Jeannette Rankin was? She was the first woman elected to Congress, a life-long pacifist, and a person who voted against both world wars. Her life was magical, her story is empowering. WILPF US Board Member Jeanmarie Simpson wrote and starred in the play "A Single Woman" about Rankin's life. Simpson and WILPF Life Member Cameron Crain have brought the story to the big screen - a film based on the play is now in post-production.

Unlike "Blood Diamonds," Simpson did not have to alter the facts to create a moving drama. The story is compelling because at every turn, Rankin held her ground and lived by her pacifist beliefs. We must listen to her story, even if we disagree. There is nothing weak-willed about a principled pacifist. And the path Rankin promoted is filled with strong actions. The path of diplomacy and political dialogue is a path we Americans have strayed far from. By embracing Rankin & the film, we are embracing the hope for a better future.

Posted by cj at 9:47 PM | Comments (0)

December 11, 2006

Women Being Left Behind in LA County

I just wrote a post for the Courage Campaign based on a report from the United Way on how women, especially single mothers, struggle to stay afloat in LA.

Go read it. It includes a link to the transcript of the Larry King show I was on.

Posted by cj at 11:39 PM | Comments (0)

December 2, 2006

Blogging on Cali Issues at Courage Campaign

I'm proud to report that I'm now a blogger for The Courage Campaign. From their About page:

The Courage Campaign was created to revitalize the California dream from outside the political system. We are progressives who activate and enable the grassroots and organized leadership to take on the problems that have held back our state for the past 30 years.

Go read my rant on public trans in LA.

Posted by cj at 4:13 PM | Comments (0)

November 23, 2006

Taking the Foreign Service Exam

Editor's Note: This was originally posted on July 26, 2004 on my old blog. That blog gets a huge amount of traffic based on this one post. I decided to move it to this site to try to entice people to read my more recent ramblings.

Recently, many people have found my blog by searching for info on the FSWE and the FSOA. Lemme just say this as a previous test taker (took the FSWE four times, passed the first three times; took the FSOA three times, got on the passing list once). To be clear - I am *not* an FSO. I was on the list of eligible hires for 18 months, but never got into an A-100 class. If these terms make no sense, then send me an email or post a comment and I'll answer your question as best I can. I got a lot of help preparing for the FSWE and FSOA. My profs at Wellesley prepped us during seminars about the oral exam (even before we'd taken the written). My class dean's jaw dropped when I announced I had passed the written exam during my senior year of college (proving that yes, even those without straight As can get ahead in life). If you follow foreign affairs regularly and did well on the AP U.S. History exam, you'll probably pass the written exam. (check and check; I got a 5 on that exam.) To be honest, I passed the oral exam because I took it after spending a week learning how to be a union organizer. Sound strange? Here's why it's not: I had to explain my position, discuss sensitive issues, and reach compromises with people during that week of training. Those are the same things you have to do at the orals. I've also spoken to a few FSOs, one of whom worked as an oral examiner.

[For Google's Eyes Only. Update: For some reason, people are finding other posts about these topics but not this all inclusive one. So here's my attempt to teach google to find this post. Keywords: FSWE, FSOA, foreign service, foreign service exam, foreign service oral assessment, foreign service written exam, passing the foreign service exam, State Department, diplomat, blog.]

How to Study for the Foreign Service Exam
1. Don't look to Amazon for a good list of books before taking the written exam. Read the newspaper and weekly news magazines, especially The Economist. Read a book on management theory and one on economics. Read the Constitution. Play games about geography and learn as much world geography as possible. Learn how to write an essay. If you don't know any American cultural history, especially famous books about politics, read about that as well. (I think one of those big books of American culture would suffice.) Don't bother learning any more about the foreign service or diplomacy before taking the written exam. It's not worthwhile.

2. If you get to the orals, join the Yahoo groups on the subject. Also search the web for sites written by diplomats and expats for an idea of what you're getting into. Know the game before you get there: you'll have a group exercise to start the day. The point isn't to win (getting your project funded). All the projects are worthwhile. The point is to be a leader who brings your group to a consensus within the time period. Also pay attention to what the directions ask you to talk about during your presentation, and talk about those points. Introduce yourself before speaking. Stop taking notes on your project before the presentations start. Take notes on what your colleagues say.

3. Learn more management theory. It's really important. Learn how to read a budget and analyze a budget and manage idiotic underlings.

4. The point of hypothetical questions isn't to test your knowledge of diplomatic procedure. You can learn about the consular and administrative rules for embassies, but past that who cares? Always start by asking your supervisor for advice. Defer to them often. When asked why you want to be a diplomat, have an answer besides wanting to be an ambassador. Most FSOs never get to that point on the career ladder cause they haven't given money to a presidential campaign. (It's important to leave the really important jobs to diplomatic novices.) It doesn't matter if you know five languages or one, if you have five degrees or none. It's important to have a realistic career goal for going into the service. For me, I wanted to get into the Naval War College (the oldest war college in the country) and get paid to get a Masters degree in Security Studies. I thought that would look good on a resume above my Peace and Justice Studies degree.

5. Think hard about what you want to do in the Service and afterwards. If you want to get to know people in your host country, you should choose the Public Affairs or Consular cones. Those are the only cones that actually interact with the natives. The Economic and Political cones don't even chat with the foreign nationals who work at our embassies and consulates. There also isn't much power left in the Economic and Political cones. Economics is done by the Commerce Dept and politics are handled by Congress and every Administrative dept not labeled State. The public affairs officers create cultural exchange programs and teach host country citizens about American values and educational opportunities. Alternatively, you could join the Administrative cone since administrative job skills are the most easily transferable in the outside world. Consular officers do a thankless job and there aren't enough of them, so people in every other cone have to spend at least two years on a consular post. You stamp passports and deny entry to suspicious people. Least exciting work, but also the easiest way into the service b/c it has the lowest passing grade on the oral exam. You can't change your cone once you enter the service, so stop thinking the administrative and/or consular cones will offer a back door into politics or economics. If you're really interested in a meaty foreign policy job, go work at the Commerce department or at the House or Senate foreign relations committees. State does not make any policy, it only enforces it. You aren't going to change the world in a hugely significant way by being in the service, and if you agree with any other post on this site, you'll be a miserable and lonely person in the service.

6. Don't lie on any form you fill out. If you've done drugs, admit it. If it was at least two years ago, they wont care too much especially if it wasn't a "hard" drug. They'll throw you out of the running if they catch you in a lie. If you do lie on a form, fess up as soon as you have your first interview w. the FBI (or whoever it is that runs the background check). They're going to talk to your elementary schoolmates and your mamma's best friend and that chick who lived down the hall from you in college who hated your guts. They're also going to follow you and ask you why you went to a particular movie during your period of review and who that same-sex date was. Also, you wont get clearance to work anywhere in the world if you've got serious medical problems, so don't bother with these tests if you couldn't hack it in a third world country with minimal medical attention.

7. You'll live like royalty in a foreign land. That land will probably be a poor, newly independent state your friends have never heard of and probably have no intention of visiting you in. It will be a lonely and thankless life, offering little reward. There are much easier ways to work abroad. Teach English. Be part of the capitalist beast and go into international finance. Marry a foreigner. But don't marry a foreigner if you eventually want to be an FSO. It'll be harder to pass the background check if you do.

11/21/04 Update: I received an email from a retired FSO who pointed out that I discussed a lot of things you could do via the Public Affairs cone as responsibilities of the Administrative cone. My apologies for the confusion. When I first started taking the exam, the Public Affairs cone didn't exist (because it was still part of the U.S. Information Agency and just getting merged with State).

And just to reiterate: I'm not in any way affiliated with the USG. I've given up on my dream of being an FSO. Mostly because I love expressing my own opinion on world affairs and so instead am trying to eventually be a professional writer. For now, I work in the Midwest Advertising Office of a major national magazine that maybe you've never heard of.

Editor's coda: I'm currently home in Los Angeles looking for a job in advertising / marketing / community organizing / public policy advocacy. And I no longer want to give out advice over email. If you're curious for more info, just drop a comment.

Posted by cj at 11:02 PM | Comments (0)

The Drugging of America

The NYT features an article on kids who take drug cocktails to deal with their "mental health problems." At what point will drug-happy doctors stop prescribing drugs that comatose our kids and start Treating Them With Therapy and Other Non-Invasive Treatments?!?!

While I don't know what it's like to have attention deficit disorder, I do know that cocktails of drugs that stunt growth and mental capacity are not the way to fix the problem of employment sucking away parents' ability to parent their children. I can accept that in rare cases young children may need a single psychiatric drug (though I would never use one on my hypothetical children), but there is zero scientific evidence that three or more horse pills will help little Johnny function better. Why do we rush to drugs without even trying other forms of treatment? Do people really believe in magic pills? Don't they understand that psychiatrists still don't know how most of these drugs even work?

This position is a tad hard for me to take. I should give full disclosure and admit that I did take anti-depressants in college. I've even had doctors tell me that I should be on them for the rest of my life. And I can accept that as the right path for some adults. But these harsh chemicals that we're throwing down the throats of innocent, prepubescent children is horrific. It is beyond the pale - much worse than the simplistic notion of Prozac Nation.

The fact of the matter is that our society, our education system, our family structures, our lives are not structured in a way that is conducive to mental health. Starting with the US "healthcare" system - visits with drug pushers are more likely to be covered than visit to talk therapists. Alternative medicine is rarely covered. Activities such as yoga, massage, and life coaching are generally available only to the wealthy. Instead of being open to variety, the No Child Left Behind Act ensures that schools are getting more rigid in their approaches to "teaching," leaving less time for imagination or a way in for kids who are not motivated by Scantron tests. High divorce rates, increasing economic pressure for both parents to work outside the home, and over-indulgence of children has led us to need British t.v. nannies and Psychiatrists to keep our children behaved.

The article was so difficult to read.

Ms. Kehoe, who receives government financial and child-care assistance because her children are considered mentally ill, said she knew that there were risks to the drug cocktails. Both her sons are short and underweight for their age -- a common side effect of stimulants -- and she fears that the drugs have affected their health and behavior in other ways.

"But I don't think the insurance would pay for it if the F.D.A. didn't decide that children should use it," said Ms. Kehoe, who herself takes psychiatric medication.

[emphasis added]

Seriously. Do people have that much trust in insurance companies and the FDA that they're willing to risk their children's lifelong health? That quote has plagued me since I read it several hours ago in the print version of the paper. I don't know how we get from complete reliance on Big Brother to a healthy balance between drug therapy and other therapy for mental health problems, but we've got to start.

Happy Thanksgiving.

full article: "Proof Is Scant on Psychiatric Drug Mix for Young," by Gardiner Harris

Posted by cj at 9:34 PM | Comments (0)

November 8, 2006

Provisional Balloting - "Democracy," Warts and All

I was forced to cast a provisional ballot today because the old ladies that run my precinct did not have my name on the voter rolls. Basically, this means my vote wont count. Nevermind that LA County sent me a sample ballot and information on where to vote. Apparently, I didn't prove my residency. Nevermind that I simply returned home - to the exact address that I last lived at before moving away from Cali. Nope. I think the problem is that I didn't write a Cali driver's license down when I registered. See, I just moved back in September and well, I haven't gotten that yet. It's aggravating to be silenced by the system.

Even more aggravating, my fellow Californians are idiots. They overwhelmingly re-elected the misogynist in chief as governor. They passed an initiative to put GPS monitoring on all sex offendors even though its net result will be to make the public less safe (more offendors will simply drop off the roles, more cops will spend their time on duty watching computer monitors instead of policing the streets, more money will be wasted on a Republican vote getter that gets nothing for our safety). The proposition to make Cali like every other state in the union and force Big Oil to PAY FOR THEIR USE OF OUR PUBLICLY-OWNED OIL FAILED. The morons in chief on this one were Hollywood Money. I'm so disgusted with the system. But really, who can I blame? Yes, Hollywood and Big Corporations have the real power in California politics. But where are my sisters and brothers? Why do my fellow citizens not bother to vote? Why don't they lobby their representatives? Why don't we have a voice int he democratic process? Why does one racist fall (George Allen in Virginia), while another racist wins (the guy in Tennessee whose supporters sent out racist propaganda attacking Ford, the first black man to have a chance at a Southern Senate seat since Reconstruction)? How does the establishment Democratic candidate lose so swiftly after National Dems forced out the progressive Democrat (Duckworth, Illinois)?

I'm tired, bitter, and angry. Tomorrow is another day, and I'll use it to create the world I want to see rather than picking apart this horse race. Are you sick and tired of the way the world is turning? Then Join WILPF. Together, we're going to create the nonviolent revolution in domestic and foreign policy that this country so desperately needs.

I'll leave you with my comments on the LA Times blog -

The lesson of Prop 87 is that Californians are really, truly addicted to oil. They're afraid they will have to pay this tax at the pump. No sound bite from President Clinton on t.v. or any of the other wasted millions on this proposition could convince them otherwise. In some ways, this proves that democracy can't be created by the upper class - that Californians don't walk lock step behind Hollywood money. Then again, people do seem to be enamored by a celebrity governor regardless of his record or his muddied past.

In the end, the results of this particular election don't matter. There's a cancer on our democracy - people are so alienated by the system that they don't even bother to do their civic duty and vote. And even less people pay attention and get involved in the political process beyond voting. We must figure out a way to get back control of the political process from Hollywood moguls, large corporations, and the sycophant politicians. Here's hoping we build a grassroots democracy in the coming decade.

Posted by cj at 12:00 AM | Comments (0)

October 24, 2006

Cold Hard Facts on Rent in L.A.

"Low pay, high rent, wit's end," by Nancy Cleeland: Column One feature in today's LA Times.

The cold hard reality behind LaLa Land's gilded image.

65% of rental units are studios or one-bedrooms.
Nearly half of rental households have 3 or more people.
8.5% have 6 or more.
5,000 rent controlled units have been lost since 2005.
Almost all rental units currently being constructed are in the luxury market.

Progressive Angelenos, limousine liberals, and all other people with a conscience in this town should be ashamed of themselves. How is it that we've failed on such a massive scale to protect ourselves and our neighbors from homelessness?

I thought the housing situation in Chicago was messed up. I thought Daley's plans to force the poor into the suburbs and gentrify public housing into public middle class housing was the ultimate corruption plan. Little did I realize how profoundly outright neglect of urban planning could ruin a city. Little did I realize there was a city larger than Chicago forcing its poorest members to suffer even more harshly than Chi-town. May the Lord have mercy on us all.

Posted by cj at 1:18 AM | Comments (0)

October 22, 2006

Bush Fam Still Screwin American Taxpayers

Remember how Mama Bush gave money to Katrina victims in Texas, with the stipulation that the money had to be used to buy her son's "educational" toys materials? Yeah, well it turns out the Bushies are using their political influence to grab even more money. The (Every) Child Left Behind Act mandates testing in English and math. Yet for some reason, it's legal to use federal money earmarked for implementing the standards on social studies resources. Even worse, the "resources" Neil Bush's company, Ignite, are shilling is an electronic COW that "teaches" social studies. The technology was originally designed to give kids individualized instruction based on their answers to questions. After acquiring the technology, Ignite killed its original meaning by making the lessons one-size fits all. In other words, its a robotic teacher. A collection of lazy teachers is even quoted by the company, saying it allows them to not make lesson plans.

Does this sound like revolutionary schooling? Yeah, not so much. It does sound like a revolutionary fleecing of America. Nowadays, Bush cronies aren't just pushing to spend tax dollars making bombs and cutting social services, they're also forcing school districts to waste money on crappy pseudo-educational toys. The school district tech boom across America has done nothing to pay for the much needed pens, pencils, and paper lacking in many of our classrooms.

Read the gory deet's in the Sunday LA Times article by Walter Roche, Jr.

These same greedy Bush lackeys will tell you that the way to reform the problem in America's education system is to privatize it. Because the same for-profit motive that pushes school systems to acquire COWs will surely be a panacea to the problem of high drop out rates and inability to write complete sentences or do basic math. Let's be clear: Pump Up the Volume's plot line is happening across this country (i.e. principals forcing kids to drop out because of low test scores and principals keeping drop outs on the attendance roll to gather more district funding for fewer students). Charter schools cut much needed funding from school districts, destroy union contracts, and put the minds of our young people into the administration of people who have no background in education. But you don't have to go to a charter school for that - just look at how many districts hire chiefs with zero educational experience. Apparently, LA's school board thinks military service offers an exact transfer of skills needed to run a school district. Public education is a scary place. At least half of the administrative personnel should be cut from LAUSD's budget. Teachers, students, and parents should be in charge of figuring out what to do with the money saved. And instead of forcing our teachers to be drill sargeants for standardized tests, we should be reviewing the history and problems related to standardized testing - this would lead to the elimination of high stakes, racist, and classist testing from our schools.

Posted by cj at 8:33 PM | Comments (0)

October 4, 2006

V-I Day: Coming Soon Courtesy of Your Tax Dollars

$20 million.

That's how much it costs to celebrate the end of the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.

Well, not really. Projected cost is higher - that's just for the military's participation in DC events. Our Congressional representatives approved its use in 2006; alas that's not going to happen so they rolled over the appropriation to the 2007 military spending bill.

Yahoo! Now if we could just get those pesky natives to understand the beauty of our occupations, we could spend the dough.

"In Bill’s Fine Print, Millions to Celebrate Victory," by Thom Shanker in NYT

found via Today's Papers

Posted by cj at 12:52 PM | Comments (0)

September 21, 2006

Spinach Recall Caused by Overflow of Crap from Livestock

Warning - the following post contains a word some might find offensive. I find it more offensive that it occurs throughout our food system, and have decided to use the impolite term for feces.

Let's get this straight - all fresh spinach has been recalled from the US because there is no oversight of the livestock industry in this country. Factory farming and a complete lack of oversight from the USG means that animals are crammed into smaller and smaller feedlots and their shit is allowed to seep into area waterways. Owners are never fined and never required to clean up.

This has led to every single stream of ground water in the Salinas Valley to have huge amounts of E. coli bacteria. And since Salinas is the lettuce bowl of the country, an outbreak there spells trouble everywhere.

The thing is - this has been going on for years. It hasn't changed since the first E. coli scare based around fast food hamburgers. To read mainstream news you'd think there's absolutely nothing we can do to prevent the problem. Prevention is fairly simply: stop the overproduction of livestock. Force the industry to properly dispose of its shit. Slow down the butchering process so that shit doesn't splatter on the meat. And spend the money to clean up our ground water. Make the fat cats of agri-business pay for it - they've broken the back of meatpacking unions, they've forced us to eat shit for years, they deserve to pay.

Furthermore, let's bring back the public works administration - pay some people to clean up after dogs, cats, and wild animals in our cities so that their shit doesn't end up in the ground water system either. Then the birds will stop eating E. coli-contaminated crap and will stop crapping E. coli all over the lettuce / spinach fields. It's really quite simple - we must hold agribusiness accountable for this public health disaster.

More info:

"E. Coli Pervades Harvest Area: Salinas Valley waterways are known to carry the bacteria that poisoned at least 145 people and killed one who ate tainted spinach.," by Marla Cone in today's LA TImes

"Lab Definitively Links E. Coli Outbreak to Contaminated Spinach," by Mary Engel in today's LA Times

Posted by cj at 7:10 PM | Comments (0)

August 25, 2006

Class in America

Oprah - or her 11:00pm rerun - is on Class in America. She glosses over the extreme difficulty in changing class; applauds people who grabbed their bootstraps (and perhaps their good looks) and got themselves an expensive car. I watched the whole thing. I'm not clear why. It's not like I learned anything new. Econ classes, and the NYT series on the same subject told me more hard facts.

I don't understand how Robert Reich kept saying that the rich are getting richer and the poor are getting poorer, but didn't also admit that the middle class is disappearing. Perhaps b/c of his final statement - that class disparity and feeling that you can't get ahead lead to great upheavals in society. Could it be? Are we really on the edge of mass activism for social and political change? One can only hope that the nonviolent sea change is coming.

Posted by cj at 12:02 AM | Comments (0)

July 29, 2006

One dead in hate-crime shooting at Jewish center

It is with sadness that I report that the Jewish Federation of Greater Seattle was the target of a hate crime yesterday. One woman was murdered and five other women were wounded when a man claiming to hate Israel forced his way into the center. The shooter called 911 and was arrested on the scene.

6 Shot, 1 Fatally at Seattle Jewish Center, by AP via ABC News

"Fatal Seattle Jewish center shooting a "hate crime"," by Daisuke Wakabayashi of Reuters, via Yahoo News

"One dead in hate-crime shooting at Jewish center. Suspect in custody; three women in critical condition," by CNN

cross-posted from the WILPF blog.

Posted by cj at 1:00 AM | Comments (0)

July 21, 2006

Blog About Geneva Conventions, Get Fired

A woman with top level security clearance who worked for a CIA contractor had her security clearance revoked and was fired for registering her agreement that the Geneva Conventions should apply to the CIA on her intranet-must-have-security-clearance-to-read blog.

The story is ridiculous. It is a good distraction from war coverage.

"Top Secret World Loses Blogger: CIA Contractor Is Fired When Internal Post Crosses the Line," by Dana Priest in today's WaPo

Posted by cj at 10:07 AM | Comments (0)

July 3, 2006

Air Force Spending $450K to recreate Technorati

Think Progress linked to the Foreign Policy magazine blog note about this asinine Air Force project.

Here's the deal: your taxpayer money is being spent to build a system for understanding the relevance, specificity, timeliness, and credibility (RSTC) of blog postings. The scientists in charge of this slush fund are going to use these new fangled links to determine what bloggers are talking about.

Funny thing is, Technorati already does a damn good job of that.
Then there's one of the early tracking systems, created at The Truth Laid Bear.
And there's the Blog Search Engine.
Let's not forget the Open Directory Project.

So tell me again what the Air Force is wasting $450,000 on?

As the copyrighted WILPF statement goes,
It will be a great day when our schools get all the money they need and the Air Force has to hold a bake sale to buy a bomber.

cross-posted from WILPF US Membership Blog.

Posted by cj at 10:01 PM | Comments (0)

July 1, 2006

WILPF on the Front Page of the LA Times

WILPFers were out in force to support one of our own, MacGregor Eddy, at her federal trespassing trial in Santa Barbara earlier this year. MacGregor is a member of the DISARM! Dismantle the War Economy! leadership team. Read her sentencing statement here.

This protest was noticed by the kooks at the California state office of Homeland Security and reported in today's lead story at the LA Times.

While it is a shame the government is wasting our taxpayer money spying on us, it comes as no surprise. WILPF recently filed a FOIA request. Our last one, 25 years ago, brought us 23 boxes of information dating back to 1923.

What can you do to help the peace and justice movement from further incursions on our civil rights? Join raging grannies, radical cheerleaders, and proud new parents in making peace a reality: Join WILPF!

cross-posted from the WILPF US Members Blog.

Posted by cj at 6:45 PM | Comments (0)

June 25, 2006

The State of Mainstream Debate

The Acting Executive Director of WILPF had an interesting experience last week. She was asked to participate in a debate on the Iraq War on a local cable channel. She was told she'd have time for an opening statement, followed by a question and answer period. Instead, only the conservative pundits were allowed opening statements and they framed the debate before our ED and a professor were brought into the program.

This is but one example of the larger problem in mainstream society. Progressive voices are only heard as a kooky add-on to the "substantial" discussions of "mainstream" / right-wing pundits. We're told that the "majority of Americans" agree with a middle-of-the-road cross between Republican "values" and Democratic "populism." In reality, when offered the choice between free-trade capitalist no-morals conservatism and social democracy inclusive progressivism, most Americans side with the progressive point of view. I might be using too many catch phrases here, but I have a serious point:

Too much of the media is drafted from the talking points of the corporate heads of state. You think I'm a conspiracy nut for pointing out the collusion between big business and government? Sorry, sir, but I've read Confessions of an Economic Hit Man, and I know the truth about power in this country.

By the way, left of center media isn't much better. NPR is decent, but doesn't have enough courage in its reporting of the war and the Bush administration. Democracy Now offers access to people rarely interviewed by the mainstream media, but damnit Amy Goodman doesn't actually interview people so much as say "talk about this." And when she gets someone on whose politics she doesn't agree with (rarely, but it does happen), she asks kooky questions that don't probe the heart of the problem with their views. I mean, I still watch the program; but it is so frustrating when I catch her in factual mistakes: like how she kept repeating that Nadia McCaffrey learned the truth of her son's death two years after he died. In reality, Mrs. McCaffrey knew what happened to her son soon after he was killed by Iraqi security forces who were patrolling with him - it just took two years for the military to officially acknowledge the real cause of his death. She kept erroneously stating this even though she was interviewing Mrs. McCaffrey - it was as if she wasn't listening to her guest, but simply repeating from the script written prior to the interview. Whatever problems I have with NPR, at least they got the facts right when they reported Nadia's story.

The take away lesson for activists is to think outside preaching to the choir. Think about how your statements sound to someone who hasn't read the same blogs, harbored the same negative reaction to the war on "terror," and marched in the same rallies. If you ever want to go beyond the soap box that no one listens to, you must create a compelling argument that sounds reasonable to non-activists. It can't have too much conspiracy theory (don't mention Kennedy's article on stealing the 2004 election), and it should have some factual basis in addition to the heart-pulling pleas of parents of dead soldiers. All due respect to military families for peace - your voices are vital to the expansion of the peace movement; but no one activist is worthy of being the poster child of this resistance. And those of us dedicated to a multi-issue approach must be willing to isolate an issue now and then to have our voices heard. We also must respect people's time and not expect them to understand arcane details of the cause that we're passionate about.

Okay, enough of the soap box. Sure do wish Ecuador had played better today. Congrats to Britain and Portugal for makin it to the semifinals!

Posted by cj at 9:26 PM | Comments (0)

June 24, 2006

Terrorists, Citizens, and Other Creatures Living in the World

I had the most interesting conversation tonight. My friend actually thought that the "terrorists" who were arrested in Florida this week will be acquitted because US citizens simply wont believe that their fellow citizens are terrorists.

Unfortunately, knowing US history as I do, there's simply no way I can agree with him. First, there are the terrorists that have been around during my lifetimes: Timothy McVeigh and the Oklahoma City bombing; Ted Kaczynski, the Unabomber; and the Branch Davidians near Waco. And of course, when I was less than a year old, there was the Jonestown mass murder / suicide, origin of the phrase "drink the Kool-Aid" (even though they used FlavorAid).

My point is that crazy people exist in all societies, including the US. It is not easy to distinguish between the white hats and the black hats. Indeed, many ultra-conservatives would take one look at the name of my blog and throw me in the same lot with the people I've been mentioning. So, where exactly has the shades of grey gone?

Lost, perhaps in the same place as a serious discussion of racism in our society. While many US residents believe in American exceptionalism and the need to fight crusades to "spread democracy and capitalism" (emphasis on the latter), a few of us are trying to valiantly resurrect the art of serious discussion.

In this Age of Fear, I think it would be extremely easy to convict US citizens of crimes they didn't commit. It happens everyday for far less egregious reasons than pledging oneself to Osama bin Laden. Never mind that the suspects had no weapons and no serious plots. The 24/7 news media spent days chattering about this government "coup," which gave the administration a welcome reprieve from the constant reminder that the majority of Americans want to get the hell out of Iraq NOW.

Posted by cj at 11:37 PM | Comments (0)

May 21, 2006

Sunday Mornin Talk Show Snippets

Saw the end of Gonzalez rambling his b.s. on This Week. Was so late and so distracted by cleaning my dishes that I didn't notice who was spewing the company line. The I was intrigued by John Edwards and his vehement attack on the Shrub administration and everything they stand for. He kept burnishing his outsider creds - saying he knows so much more about what's going on with the average working man b/c he no longer lives in DC. Because, you know, a millionaire living outside the beltway obviously has his finger on the pulse of society. He didn't rule out runnin for prez in 08, but apparently his decision depends on his wife's health condition. Wasn't listening close enough to know what that health condition is, but I hope she gets better.

SecState Rice bantered with Tim for a good half hour. She continued the lie perpetuated by this totalitarian administration that their "war" makes it necessary to Spy on Citizens and Deny Freedom in order to make the world safe (for capitalistic greed). She defended the existence of US torture centers, despite the fact that the UN Committee Against Torture recently ruled they should be shuttered forever. Of course, she panders some token words about the desire to close them, but only after this "war" is over and The State has an alternative incarceration system for the detained "terrorists." (I am not convinced terrorists exist in those prisons when the vast majority of detainees are held without any formal charges and only a select few are being prosecuted in a real court of law.)

Enough of the morning chatter, it was time for a break with Ebert & Roeper. They really liked The DaVinci Code, and felt the movie was more realistic than the book. Personally, I was struck by the glaring omission of a key piece of the ending in the celluloid version. But I agree that it worked as a thriller, although at times I was bored by the extended chatter of explanation...They also liked X Men III, which I'm so excited about seeing. And they liked Over The Hedge. They split on Shiloh 3, and both liked The King, a movie that wont be in 98% of the movie theatres in the country, but does star Gael Garcia Bernal, so is worth looking for.

Back to a "serious" show, The Chris Mathews Show on NBC. I seriously don't know why I bother watching this crap. He has absolutely zero respect for progressive opinions and always tips his panel to the right. Adding insult to injury, almost every week features Katty Kay, the most repulsive British export, chatting like she knows shit about being American. In her version of America, it is impossible for a woman to be president. I really wish she was deported. Anyway, the show spent the majority of the hour discussing the Democratic horse race for the 08 presidential nomination. Note that it is still 2006 and there's an important Congressional election coming up this fall. Never mind those nattering particulars, it's apparently more interesting for inside-the-beltway pundits to yap incessantly about a race that is two years away.

Back to more palatable fare: PBS. I should've watched Zakaria's slightly annoying program instead of Matthews, but I went mainstream for that half hour.

John McLaughlin's One on One was actually good, probably b/c he was interviewing a fellow conservative, this time Francis Fukuyama. He also made time to chat via phone with Joe Cirincione of the Center for American Progress. Francis distanced himself from the neocon mainstream, following the pattern he started with his most recent book, America at the Crossroads: Democracy, Power, and the Neoconservative Legacy. McLaughlin kept harping about the noble lie, attributed to Socrates in Plato's The Republic. Google Answers has a concise explanation of the original noble lie (which someone paid 5 bucks for). Here's a long interview about the lefty theory that the disciples of Leo Strauss are perpetuating the use of misconception and mass manipulation to further the aims of the Bush administration. Fukuyama vehemently denied that Strauss agreed with noble lying, and said his work was related to political theory, discussing / critiquing dense work and that he never formed a doctrine. Then they chatted about nuclear proliferation with Joe C.

Next came Now, which oddly seemed like it should be re-dubbed "Then," since the majority of the show was about the lead-up to Saturday's mayoral run-off in New Orleans. Not on Now: the fact that Ray Nagin won re-election. Well, apparently the original air date was May 19. But still, it was weird and oddly public tv-ish: because if a network re-ran something, they'd include an update. Turns out more NOLA's want to stick by Ray rather than cede power to the Landrieu dynasty (pa = frmr gov, sis = sr LA senator).

Therein ends my teevee watching till this evening's cotton candy.

Posted by cj at 6:01 PM | Comments (0)

May 4, 2006

File Under: Ridiculous Corrections

As pointed out by Today's Papers. I find it appalling how many mistakes were made.

Because they had so little time to prepare ... From the NYT:

An obituary on Monday and in late editions on Sunday about the economist and diplomat John Kenneth Galbraith referred incorrectly to his family at several points. He had a younger brother, William, who died several years ago; he was not an only son. A sister, Catherine Denholm, also died several years ago; she was not among his survivors. Mr. Galbraith had 10 grandchildren, not 6. Because of an editing error, the term for his wife's vocation was truncated in some copies. She is a linguist. A caption misstated the date of a photograph of the Galbraiths taken at their home in New Delhi while he was an ambassador. It was in 1956, not 1966.

Posted by cj at 6:39 AM | Comments (0)

April 30, 2006

Mind-Numbing Chatter and the Loss of a Great Thinker, John Kenneth Galbraith

I used to blog about Sunday talk shows on a more regular basis. It's not that I've stopped watching them; it's that I'm less interested in what I'm watching. My original reason for tuning in was simple - the lead stories in Monday newspapers were based on what people said Sunday morning, so why not just get the news straight from the horse's mouth? Now that I've been following them for several years, my excitement has waned.

So instead of TiVo'ing both This Week and Meet the Press (when I lived in LA, where they come on at ridiculously early times like 7am), I watch half an hour of each (during the football off-season). First of all, I only have broadcast tv now. Second, the first half hour of each show is plenty of time; usually the interviews are done during that time and the rest is spent on roundtables, and in the case of ABC, gimmicky recaps of comedy / tragedy (late night shows and obits).

First I saw Ben Stein ramble in defense of SecDef Rumsfeld on CBS News Sunday Morning (a folksy show that's a good way to ease into Sunday, hosted by Charles Osgood of radio fame). Then 9 o'clock rolled around an I saw SecState Rice on This Week. She defended everything from the administration's scare-mongering re Iran to its "helpful" energy policy. I'm really bored with the company line and the mainstream press's complete inability to offer serious, hard-hitting questions to challenge their sound bites.

Next up was a debate between someone I thought was a good ol' boy Republican and a Nor'Easter Dem. Turns out the first was a retired Dem, former LA Senator Bennett Johnston and the latter was NY senior Senator Chuck Schumer. Schumer harped about record oil profits, Johnston carped that instability and disaster have tightened the supply of oil leading to the current prices. This lasted fifteen minutes, ending with them agreeing that the Western Gulf of Mexico should be opened for drilling and more money should go to researching alternative fuels.

At this point, I switched to MtP. Their roundtable on oil lasted the whole hour, but I could only stay for 30 minutes (had an appointment on ABC). Here's what I really hate about these shows: roundtables are always held between The Establishment and The Establishment. Alternative voices are rarely invited, nor are they taken seriously if they are. So this roundtable featured Energy Secretary Samuel Bodman, American Petroleum Institute President Red Cavaney, commentator Jim Cramer, Sen. Dick Durbin (D-Ill.) and energy analyst Daniel Yergin. That's four shills for Big Oil and one mildly left of center politician discussin big oil's rape of America. Why would anyone listen? That ain't a debate, it's a convention of sycophants with one guy starting every comment with "I guess I'm the only one who disagrees." No you're not - you're just the only one invited to the party!

Something the oil shills kept saying was that big conglomerates are needed to compete with the huge national companies overseas. Tim kept spewing numbers like $400 million in compensation for CEOs. Here's a thought: what if the US joined the rest of the world and allowed energy sales to benefit the entire country instead of a few billionaires? Imagine we lived in a country where record oil profits meant more money for schools, healthcare, and other societal needs. That's what Chavez is doing in Venezuela; why can't we do it here? We're not a nation of "rugged individualists;" we're a nation fed on the lies of the ruling class that blindly accepts falling wages because we foolishly think the American dream of pullin yourself up by your bootstraps is actually attainable.

Okay, so ultimately I don't like these talk shows because they absolutely never have a credible voice from outside the halls of power on their shows. It's not entirely their fault - I was watching The News Hour with Jim Lehrer on PBS last week and got thoroughly frustrated with the idiot speaking against nuclear power; he wasn't an idiot, he just played one on tv because he had no sound bites and he couldn't articulate his crucial points in a convincing tone.

Right, so the halls of power aren't open to imagination. Nor are they open to many women or people of color. Condi was the only one who fit either of those categories amongst the peeps interviewed. (Roundtables of pundits don't count; tokenism is much easier in the halls of rambling cranks than it is in the halls of Actual Power.)

After an hour of this nonsense, I went back to ABC for a dose of Ebert & Roepert. Shockingly, they didn't like RV. They repeated their love of Akeelah and the Bee (no word on whether this will get them free Starbucks) and Flight 93. Even though half the show repeated their reviews from last week (see aforementioned movies), it was still more engaging than the chatter boxes.

Then I saw Foreign Exchange with Fareed Zakariah. Ug. The man is too ubiquitous. I think he was also on the pundit roundtable I didn't watch on This Week. And why exactly does he take on Three Topics in 30 minutes?!?! There's no chance for any substance in what he / his staff reports on. The interviews are the quickest bits of nothing. Most interesting segment was on the textile market in Ghana. 90% of ppl in Ghana buy second-hand Western clothing. It's cheaper than Ghanian clothes (until recently, to wear traditional clothing, one had to buy the cloth than pay a tailor to make the clothes; now there are a few ready-to-wear manufacturers).

The part not talked about in the brief snippet: Western excess fuels this problem; our disposable clothing and finicky taste floods the world with secondhand clothing that is practically brand-new. It's a billion dollar a year business. I think it is a symptom of the larger problem of US-backed free-trade capitalism: excess consumption of unnecessary products, fueling our dependence on the corrupt system.

This ties into the obituary I read this morning for John Kenneth Galbraith. He followed Thorstein Veblen's example. Veblen wrote "Theory of the Leisure Class," and coined the phrase "conspicuous consumption." Snippets from Galbraith's extremely significant contribution to the world of ideas and politics:

"The Affluent Society" appeared in 1958, making Mr. Galbraith known around the world. In it, he depicted a consumer culture gone wild, rich in goods but poor in the social services that make for community. He argued that America had become so obsessed with overproducing consumer goods that it had increased the perils of both inflation and recession by creating an artificial demand for frivolous or useless products, by encouraging overextension of consumer credit and by emphasizing the private sector at the expense of the public sector. He declared that this obsession with products like the biggest and fastest automobile damaged the quality of life in America by creating "private opulence and public squalor."

Anticipating the environmental movement by nearly a decade, he asked, "Is the added production or the added efficiency in production worth its effect on ambient air, water and space — the countryside?" Mr. Galbraith called for a change in values that would shun the seductions of advertising and champion clean air, good housing and aid for the arts. [...]

In 1973 he published "Economics and the Public Purpose," in which he sought to extend the planning system already used by the industrial core of the economy to the market economy, to small-business owners and to entrepreneurs. Mr. Galbraith called for a "new socialism," with more steeply progressive taxes; public support of the arts; public ownership of housing, medical and transportation facilities; and the conversion of some corporations and military contractors into public corporations. [...]

In 2004, Mr. Galbraith, who was then 95, published "The Economics of Innocent Fraud," a short book that questioned much of the standard economic wisdom by questioning the ability of markets to regulate themselves, the usefulness of monetary policy and the effectiveness of corporate governance.

He remained optimistic about the ability of government to improve the lot of the less fortunate. "Let there be a coalition of the concerned," he urged. "The affluent would still be affluent, the comfortable still comfortable, but the poor would be part of the political system."

Despite the fact that Galbraith's ideas are dismissed by the corporate ruling class, his ideas have helped shape the world, especially in other countries that are pursuing viable alternatives to the lopsided development goals of the USG. I hope he did not suffer in his final years. While the world mourns the loss of a great man, can we really expect to live much longer than 97? May his ideas continue to illuminate the world.

Article quoted: "John Kenneth Galbraith, 97, Dies; Economist Held a Mirror to Society," by Holcomb Noble and Douglas Martin, front page of today's NYT

Posted by cj at 11:32 AM | Comments (0)

April 26, 2006

A Few Things to Write to Congress About

1. Space for Peace, not War
Women's Action for New Direction (WAND) is using their online letter-writing system to get folks to write to their Congresspeople to oppose authorization in the defense appropriation bill for a $5.7 million to fire a laser at a satellite. Click here to write to your Congresspeople via WAND.

2. Tell Congress People Should Count More Than Corporations
So Common Cause is doing an action for real ethics reform. You can sign an email to urge your Representative to vote against a piece of legislation in its current form. You can also re-write the letter. Here's how I amended (and shortened) their email to Rep. Rahm Emanuel:

The corruption and lobbying scandals in Congress threaten the heart of American democracy. I believe it is essential for the House to adopt strong, effective and comprehensive reform measures to address these scandals.

H.R. 4975, in its current form, fails to provide real and effective reform of the lobbying laws and congressional ethics rules. I urge you to vote against H.R. 4975 unless the bill is greatly strengthened on the House floor and turned into acceptable legislation.

I believe the change needed to reinvigorate our democracy is much larger than any bill or amendment. While I support the effort to defeat HR 4975 in its current form, I am more interested in your ideas to strengthen constituents' access to power and our ability to be part of the decision-making process. As long as corporations are treated as people in the eyes of the law, corruption and scandal will continue to plague the halls of Congress. It is a shame that their voice has more credibility than this email.

Click here to write to your Rep via Common Cause.

Posted by cj at 8:23 PM | Comments (0)

April 22, 2006

I'm the Decider

A sister WILPFer sent me a link to this fabulous riff on "I am the Walrus." The original song is by one of my all-time favorite bands, Oingo Boingo.

Here's the political version - "I'm the Decider (Koo Koo Ka Choo)" on Huffington Post

Boingo, btw, wrote several political songs including a few about the first Gulf War...

And re Rumsfeld - I read an insightful article in the WSJ about the disputes btwn him and the career military men. But the thing is, I just can't get behind this groundswell to kick him out. Not that I think he's that great; just that the arguments are so small-minded. The problems created by the USG's occupation of Afghanistan and Iraq are not completely caused by Rumsfeld's emphasis on small, quick-moving forces; the problems go back to the idea of occupation itself. An occupying empire cannot create democracy anywhere. And the corporations receiving billions of taxpayer money to "rebuild" Iraq will simply continue to take our money and Iraq will continue to be a more inhospitable place to live than it was during Saddam's regime.

The problems created by W.'s foreign policy cannot be fixed by turning the military over to "trusted experts." It can only be fixed by booting him out of office. And doing a 180 in foreign relations - only when the American elite / foreign policy establishment stops thinking they can mold the world in their image will the US be a helpful world leader.

Posted by cj at 3:11 PM | Comments (0)

April 19, 2006

The High Cost of Protesting

Let's be clear: while I generally believe there are better ways to make social change, I support people's right to protest. I've been encouraged by the immigrants' rights rallies that recently swept the nation.

And I'm horrified by the response of an Inglewood, CA principal: she forced elementary school students to relieve themselves in buckets inside their classrooms to "protect" them from the walk outs of nearby high school students. And the Inglewood school district continues to defend the idiot.

More info: "Campus Lockdown Appalls Parents: Some students at an Inglewood elementary school were barred from using the restroom." by Hemmy So in LAT

found via Today's Papers, by Eric Umansky on Slate

Posted by cj at 12:03 AM | Comments (0)

March 22, 2006

Helen Thomas v. George Bush, Jr.

George Bush, Jr. had a press conference yesterday. (I was too busy voting and doing WILPF work to notice, but I read about it today.)

Here is Talking Points Memo's transcript of his exchange with Helen Thomas, columnist extraordinaire.

THE PRESIDENT: Helen. After that brilliant performance at the Gridiron, I am -- (laughter.)

HELEN THOMAS: You're going to be sorry. (Laughter.)

THE PRESIDENT: Well, then, let me take it back. (Laughter.)

HELEN THOMAS: I'd like to ask you, Mr. President, your decision to invade Iraq has caused the deaths of thousands of Americans and Iraqis, wounds of Americans and Iraqis for a lifetime. Every reason given, publicly at least, has turned out not to be true. My question is, why did you really want to go to war? From the moment you stepped into the White House, from your Cabinet -- your Cabinet officers, intelligence people, and so forth -- what was your real reason? You have said it wasn't oil -- quest for oil, it hasn't been Israel, or anything else. What was it?

THE PRESIDENT: I think your premise -- in all due respect to your question and to you as a lifelong journalist -- is that -- I didn't want war. To assume I wanted war is just flat wrong, Helen, in all due respect --

HELEN THOMAS: Everything --

THE PRESIDENT: Hold on for a second, please.

HELEN THOMAS: -- everything I've heard --

(Read the entire TPM post for the full effect)

Thomas has covered more presidents as a member of the White House press corps than any other journalist. When the Moonies bought UPI, she ended her 57 year career there and became a columnist for King Features Syndicate (a Hearst company). Alas, I've been trying to find her columns for awhile to no avail. Or maybe her most recent column was penned on March 8...

According to Jack Shafer at Slate, she's no longer asking hard questions but rather speechifying, which makes it easier to dodger her questions because they are rarely asked directly. That might be true, but at 82, I think she's earned the right to be the voice of reason in the White House. Shame on us for not electing a president who appreciates her point of view.

More info on the press conference: "Bush Concedes Iraq War Erodes Political Status," by Elisabeth Bumiller in today's NYT

Less interesting transcipt from CQ Transcipts via The Columbia Dispatch (reporter names removed and full exchange not included)

Posted by cj at 8:45 AM | Comments (0)

Taxpayer Money Flowing Into Anti-Choice, Stridently Religious "Social Service" Groups

This should surprise absolutely no one - Shrub did this as governor of Texas and simply continued doing it once becoming president. Massive amounts of federal funding has flowed into socially conservative groups that stridently "educate" women that life begins at conception, to keep their legs closed to prevent unwanted pregnancy and sexually-transmitted infections.

To qualify for federal funding for social "service" (questionable whether most of these groups provide any real service) it really helps to be:

A member of a minority group that Republicans traditionally have difficulty reaching out to. Therefore, if you're Latino and Protestant, you're in. If you're Latino and Roman Catholic, the USG doesn't need your help providing services to the poor (b/c most of you still vote Democrat). Black Evangelicals are also appreciated.

Never fear, there's still room in the federal budget for white evangelicals with a background in campaign fund raising or getting people to the polls.

Strange that I agree with a quote from Grover Norquist:

Grover Norquist, president of Americans for Tax Reform, said the grant-making is "corrupting."

"The danger is that any group that gets money from the government will end up serving the interests of the state rather than the constituencies they are trying to serve," he said. "The guy who writes the check writes the rules."

At least $157 million has been wasted. It's not just a waste of money - it puts women's lives in danger by not being honest about all health options available in the even of a pregnancy; it puts teenage lives in danger by not providing real sex education, so that they know how to protect themselves if they choose to have sex; and it is just plain wrong to use government money to prop up work that is tied to a specific religion / religious beliefs.

More info: "Grants Flow To Bush Allies On Social Issues: Federal Programs Direct At Least $157 Million," by Thomas B. Edsall in today's WaPo

Posted by cj at 7:16 AM | Comments (0)

March 19, 2006

Election Day Hassle

I completely brought this on myself. I could have re-registered at my actual address before the deadline for the primary election, but I didn't. I have re-registered, but according to the guy at the DMV I should vote at my old precinct. My old precinct is suburban Cook County and I live and work in the city. Even though I live in the heart of the Democratic machine and will be voting on a Democratic primary ticket, I think it's important to mark my ballot so I'm gonna trek out to my old haunts via public trans. My only worry is that I'll get all the way out there and wont be on the rolls. (I never actually voted there; I think I missed a local election; but I voted for Obama and Kerry back at my previous Chi-town address. I can't believe how many places I've lived in the last few years.)

Anyway, in case you too are wondering where to vote and for some reason you too live in suburban Cook County (or are registered there), go to http://www.voterinfonet.com/. Of course, I could've voted early downtown but alas that option ended last Thursday. Who knew?

And who the heck are all the people on the darn ballot?

Posted by cj at 11:23 PM | Comments (0)

January 31, 2006

Think Progress Blogs and Webcasts re SOTU

I think the blog entries are more interesting than the webcast.

Why isn't there a female writer on the staff? Why only the color commentator, aka ditzy host of the webcast?!?!?

http://thinkprogress.org/?tag=State+of+the+Union

And um, the webcast only works well via IE, not Firefox.

Posted by cj at 9:43 PM | Comments (0)

SOTU Sucks

democracy = capitalism + transnational corporations + American soldiers

radical Islam = catch-all phrase for "the Evil Doers"
fear breeds loyalty
loyalty breeds blind faith
blind faith breeds total control
total control is the objective of POTUS

USG only wants "democracy" in our enemies' countries.
Democracy is not important in Egypt, where political parties were denied access to polls and its illegal to protest.
Democracy is not important in the US, where peace protestors are thrown into federal prison for months at a time and soldiers convicted of "negligant homicide" (i.e. murder) walk free

Wow. I wrote about Egypt before he lied about "multi-party elections" and apparently the Congress is in lock-step behind the idea that Palestinians are holding up the peace process when Israel is the one who refused to negotiate for years before the recent elections...

I'm gettin sick of liberty, hope, and democracy. How many frickin times can one man say those words?!?!

Reminder: the Evil Doers are All Around You. Thank Goodness for the popo.

PATRIOT ACT?!?! A tool of law ienforcement? It's a tool of denial of civil liberties, a way to stranglehold ppl in America as well as abroad.

See, the constitution and statutes give me the authority to spy on you, Mr. Joe American. (did you notice his dropping of the "g" in talking? Apparently, we need to be talked to in folksy-ness when being lied to about presidential power.

Yeah right. Republicans really appreciate immigrants. That's why they just gave Bechtel a contract to build more holding pens for ICE, to hold undocumented workers like cattle...

TAX RELIEF? American families? My frickin taxes never went down. Tax cuts during a war?!?! What happened to being fiscally conservative you damn moron? I really hate his smirk.

...and the Grolsch goes down smoothly...

Woohoo! Less government help! Why don't you pass more corporate welfare you baffoons and fully screw America's workers by completing your transfer of social services to private companies that can waste more money on administrating a worse system than the current one.

Increase Taxes! Decrease Spending on Corporate Welfare and the Military Industrial Complex!

Go Dems! Have a Spine! Note the horrid squalor of Shrub's social security "reform proposal" with your clapping.

Healthcare is a right, Not a commodity. Real reform would be a national, single-payer healthcare system.

How did I know his clean energy plan would include money for COAL?!?!?! Nuclear energy? Give me a frickin break.

Ethanol. A boom for politicians from small states with lots of corn. A disaster in terms of "new technology."

If you signed the Kyoto Protocol, it'd be a helluva lot easier to be an Environmental President.

Talent and Creativity? While you Cut Spending for grants to colleges? Give me a frickin break!

Your Culture Is Doomed To Unravel.
Progressive, thoughtful, honest culture is destined to inherit the earth.

Mangling your words again. Good thing you got some water during the applause break. "Legislate from the bench" - a lie propagated by Republicans. Liberals don't legislate from the bench, conservatives do.

Stay in School - where you'll learn how to pass standardized tests and lose all hope of creativity.

Really? You're meeting immediate needs? Where? Not New Orleans.

I've got mad job skillz. Doesn't help when employers refuse to pay higher salaries and healthcare costs increase exponentially every year.

Really? We can defeat AIDS? But it's not curable.

Yay Ryan White ACT! I worked on the TAC (Technical Assistance Contract) for that at John Snow, Inc.

Oh now you're just being silly. No new infections? Platitude b.s.

History is not turning. You Are a Moron Leading Us Towards Our Own Distruction.

I know Lincoln and MLK, Jr., sir. And you are like neither of them.

History is written in courage? We aint all macho bullshitters like you, sir.

Thank goodness it's over. 51 minutes of pure hell.

Posted by cj at 9:03 PM | Comments (0)

January 29, 2006

Sunday Mornin Teevee

First, a brief program note: I hate when the Bears season ends. Not because I follow football - I can't even watch the Super Bowl this year - but because it messes up my Sunday morning routine. Now, Meet the Press starts a half hour later, meaning that the last half hour runs at the same time at Ebert & Roepert. I think I missed their annual Note to the Academy program, but don't know for sure.

Back to the talk shows -

This Week: Like most media outlets, they spent a bunch of time giving an update on the tragic state of their reporters. Bob Woodruff and his camera man were hit by an IED and were in surgery this morning. While I share the sympathy of all the shows for the men and their families, I wonder why their situation is so much more worthy of air time then anyone else who gets hit by IEDs, is abused by US troops and Iraqi officials, or otherwise suffers in Iraq. Ok, moving on -

George talked to Barack Obama (who was Tim's guest last week). As usual, Obama sounded realistic and strategic - he doesn't come across as a politician trying divide the country for political gain, but rather looks to working with Republicans to clean up lobbying practices and other American problems.

Chuck Hagel was the Republican counterpart on This Week. It was interesting that George kept pointing out the ways Hagel is different from the Bush admin - Hagel believes in open, honest governing, including releasing photos of Bush with Abramoff and being honest about who Abramoff met with in the administration and what they discussed.

Note re This Week: they have a helluva lot more commercial breaks compared to MtP.

Onto MtP at 10am: over a half an hour with Republican Majority Liar Bill Frist. Think I'm too partisan? I really started gagging towards the end of the half hour when Frist refused to acknowledge Tim's assertion that the Minority Leader Reid rejected creating a Task Force on lobbying because he wants to create legislation, not more studies. Frist just kept repeating that he offered a bipartisan approach and Reid rejected it. Then Frist kept turning his politician's fake smile on his lies on CNBC that Tim quoted re the "blind trust" arrangement for his HCA stock. (HCA is the corrupt for-profit hospital chain that Frist's family created and runs that has ruined healthcare and workplace conditions for millions of people in the US.)

Due to my disgust with Frist, I tried to find solace in ABC. Found out that Chris Penn died. (Cause unknown.) Ebert & Roepert was a repeat, so I switched back to MtP.

The talking heads chattered on. I didn't pay much attention because they're all milquetoast heads - there's Never Ever a truly progressive opinion expressed, although often hard-line conservatives are invited to these round table discussions. I was reading my NYT (after learning that the cost is going up...seems the prices increase on everything when the calendar year changes except my paycheck, which went down due to an increase in my heath insurance cost)...okay, so all I heard was Tim saying: "Whoa, that’s going to set the blogs a running there, Kelly." Didn't actually hear Kelly's comment, so I'm thankful for the transcript. Here's what preceded that comment:

MR. RUSSERT: The president said the other day that this is a wide open race, the most wide open he’s ever seen. Does he have any kind of wink, or nudge towards any Republicans?

MS. O’DONNELL: Well, he was very careful because he knows that anything he says will influence the process. I think if he could get Condoleezza Rice to run he’d be happy about that, but we know where she stands on it.

Interesting aside to this Rice comment: I went to a lecture yesterday by a professor from Stanford, who used to work with/for Rice (she was provost of Stanford). He said that she refuses to hear any opinion that differs from her's and believes those opinions to be traiterous. So why the hell do so many pundits and politicians want her to run?!?! And where, oh where, is the Realistic, Effect Left in this country? I guess it's on PBS, since Now is starting and talkin about the new doc, "Why We Fight," that blasts the military industrial complex. Then again, it was preceded by "John McLaughlin's One On One," and McLaughlin is a one note right-wing wonder. The only problem with PBS is there are no breaks...which can be a problem at the end of 6 cups of coffee...

Posted by cj at 11:31 AM | Comments (0)

January 19, 2006

Right Wing v. Left Wing College

A friend at DePaul University alerted me to a problem being experienced on her campus: conservative students, armed with activist training are creating turmoil and the people they are tormenting seem to be responding like textbook liberals. I don't know enough about the situation at DePaul to say anymore about it, but my friend pointed me to this really interesting article, "My Right Wing Degree," by Jeff Horwitz on Salon that explains this phenomenon.

I'm particularly intrigued that everyone uses the term "Leadership Institute," or some variation of that. I attended a Leadership Institute for union organizing. I kept bumping my head against the union's emphasis on This Election and This Win and This Crisis. While I agree that there is a shockingly low number of Americans in unions, I don't think the way to increase union membership working in crisis mode 24/7. Instead, I appreciate the groundswell approach of Morton Blackwell's LI. I think the right is effective because they play the game of politics; the left is ineffective because they either appeal constantly to Higher Truths or get stuck in the mud, reacting to meaningless drivel of the day. Obviously, lack of union representation is not meaningless drivel; but failure to think long term is a problem for most progressives.

Will you join me in changing this? Think more long term; take time to pay attention to world affairs that aren't the top of broadcast news programs. And let's figure out how to keep ourselves sane in this insane world by not getting outraged by every single thing that happens.

Posted by cj at 9:44 PM | Comments (0)

January 17, 2006

Conkrite Says Get Out of Iraq

Entertaining AP article re Walter Conkrite, beloved news anchor from the time before I remember teevee news. (Cut me some slack - I was three when he retired.)

He thinks we should get out of Iraq and spend the money on hurricane recovery. Clearly, he's been out of the news gathering business for awhile since he pays no attention to the military industrial complex.

Amusing bit o Daily Show yesterday: Eugene Jarecki having a child-like amazement at Eisenhower's military industrial complex farewell address. And his doc re same, Why We Fight. Glad to see people other than my fellow peace & justice studies students and peace activists taking the military industrial complex seriously.

Posted by cj at 10:53 PM | Comments (0)

December 31, 2005

Chicago Rejected Cheap Diesel for CTA

Citgo, a Venezuelan company, offered the CTA heavily discounted diesel fuel. In exchange, they asked Chicago to offer free or heavily discounted transportation to its poorest residents. Chicago refused; probably because it gets a lot of funding from the federal government. As we all know, the Bush administration abhors Hugo Chavez and Venezuela for defying corporate capitalism and leading a Latin American uprising against USG sponsored "free" trade agreements.

More info: "Chicago Turns Down Discounted Venezuelan Oil," by Jessica Pupovac in The New Standard

Posted by cj at 11:40 AM | Comments (0)

December 11, 2005

Sunday Mornin Talk Show Feedback

I'm struck by the narrowness of mainstream media's political spectrum. The only people taken seriously are Republicans and Democrats. If you're a "maverick," aka don't follow every single talking point from your party, then you are met with skepticism and hype. If you're a nut job, aka think completely for yourself and reject the mainstream world view of 9-11 SECURITY BUILDING DEMOCRACY, then you are occasionally invited to the table and mocked the entire, paltry sum of time you are engaged by the host. Doesn't matter if you're a right-wing jingoist or a left-wing internationalist, you aren't taken seriously by Sunday morning talk shows if you don't follow a party line. Furthermore, none of the mainstream media hosts ever question the paradigm of US politics. Its never important to include pundits from across the political spectrum, and forget about diversity. If there is a black man and a white woman on the panel, not only are you lucky, but its a sign of complete political correctness regardless of the views your token "minority reps" spew.

I'm trying to figure out where there's room in the national discussion for serious people who are dedicated to international cooperation and collaboration in order to create a peaceful and just society. Not just hand-wringing over the death of New Orleans or the horrifying and increasing gap between the rich and the poor in the US and the world. More than hot air, we need a place at the decision making table for peacemakers and social justice activists. I think our inclusion starts when we're taken seriously by the pundit class.

At least Now, the investigative journalism program on PBS continues to take activists seriously. This week's topic was Do It Yourself Democracy, with guests Frances Moore Lappe (author of Democracy's Edge) and activist Diane Wilson (author of An Unreasonable Woman). After being demoralized by the increasingly obvious right-wing slant of Chris Matthews, and former SecState Albright's refusal to call the US occupation of Iraq a mistake, I was happy to view an uplifting reminder that we individuals have the power to create the democracy we wish to see.

Posted by cj at 12:17 PM | Comments (0)

December 4, 2005

Sunday News Roundup (not really)

Watched MtP today. It made me realize how severely stuck-in-war-mode Senator John McCain is. I cannot believe he actually believes the US occupation of Iraq is a good thing. Furthermore, he believes that to win the "propaganda war" its a good thing for the US military to pay media outlets in Iraq to publish phony news articles. So much for a free press being a cornerstone of a democratic society.

Shockingly, no one at any level of government has taken the 9-11 commission's report to heart. Government is corrupt and doesn't take its responsibility to keep its constuents safe seriously. Instead of no fly zones over nuclear reactors (which we probably shouldn't be using to begin with), we've got a permanent no fly zone over the VP's summer house.

And then there was prattle on the Chris Matthews Show. Katty Kay continues to be the pundit I dislike the most for her insipid commentary. But nowadays, since the show comes on after both MtP and Ebert & Roepert, I find myself not really tuned into the dialogue; instead, I read my paper and glance occassionally, wondering why Kay gained so much weight. Apparently, I'm reacting to the fact that she spouts Republican talking points, according to chatter on the web.

Speaking of Matthews, he seems unable to deal with knowledgeable progressive pundits. He mocks and dismisses Amy Goodman on Hardball, and I haven't actually seen a progressive as a pundit on the NBC Sunday morning show. Last week his personal thought was based on the cover story of Esquire magazine - not exactly reaching very far to learn that Clinton has created another chapter in his political career around public health and economic development in Africa.

I haven't been inspired by anything in the newspapers today. I was annoyed that none of the female politicians were featured in the Week in Review's roundup of Afghani politicians. In the print version, none of the female politicians were given photographs - only disparagingly revealed that many of them "didn't win their elections outright" but were put into power by the Afghan constitution's insistence that 25% of the lower house be filled with women. Mind you, this is only about half-way towards the goal of Security Council Resolution 1325, which mandates women's equal participation in post-conflict resolution. And nevermind the fact that many people believe there were anomolies in the counting process for Afghan elections. Let's just complain that women might actually have a voice somewhere.

Actually interesting news I read today (not written today):
"Women gain ground in Afghan parliamentary polls: Amid cheers for increased representation of women, polls show most victories were result of constitutional quota requirements rather than preference," in The Daily Star of Lebanon.

Posted by cj at 8:24 PM | Comments (0)

December 2, 2005

Using Political Hacks to Dismantle Voting Rights in Texas

Someone leaked a Justice Department memo to WaPo that clearly points out how illegal the redistricting of Texas House seats in 2003 was. Career employees figured out how messed up it was that Tom DeLay and his aides used back door politics to significantly change the redistricting map without oversight from the public. Further, the opinion of 8 career employees was overturned by a higher-ranking political hack. The Justice Dept decision that the redistricting did not violate the Voting Rights Act (created by the political hack) significantly bolstered the Texas Republican swindlers' case in court. The memo was not made public during the 3 judge review panel and only the Supreme Court can overturn the decision.

It's a complicated case, including the use of token minorities who don't represent the views of the larger minority population in their area:

The complexity of the arguments surrounding the Voting Rights Act is evident in the Justice Department memo, which focused particular attention on seats held in 2003 by a white Democrat, Martin Frost, and a Hispanic Republican, Henry Bonilla.

Voting data showed that Frost commanded great support from minority constituents, while Bonilla had relatively little support from Hispanics. The question to be considered by Justice Department lawyers was whether the new map was "retrogressive," because it diluted the power of minority voters to elect their candidate of choice. Under the adopted Texas plan, Frost's congressional district was dismantled, while the proportion of Hispanics in Bonilla's district dropped significantly. Those losses to black and Hispanic voters were not offset by other gains, the memo said.

I continue to be aghast at the blatant corruption within the Republican party. While I don't agree with the Democratic leadership on all issues, I still don't understand why people continue to believe there is no difference between a Republican and a Democrat. Furthermore, redistricting in general infuriates me. Whoever gets in power changes the maps to get their political cronies more seats. Political maps should be based on geographic communities, with an eye on insuring a political base for ethnic communities.

More info:
"Justice Staff Saw Texas Districting As Illegal: Voting Rights Finding On Map Pushed by DeLay Was Overruled," by Dan Eggen in WaPo

Posted by cj at 8:11 AM | Comments (0)

November 27, 2005

Meet the Press and US Foreign Policy

Senator John Warner (R), Chairman of the Armed Services Committee and Senator Jospeh Biden (D), ranking Democrat on the Foreign Relations Committee squared off today on Meet the Press. It represented my favorite parts of the Senate and Sunday morning talk shows.

First of all, both men are articulate, passionate civil servants. True, they are also politicians. But, unlike many party hacks, they have passionate intelligence that they use to lead the country. While Warner refused to comment on his meeting with ten officers with experience on the ground in Iraq, Tim pointed out that Sally Donnelly in Time magazine covered the substance of the meeting.

As he has since the Balkan Wars, Biden presented a balanced view of foreign policy that makes sense and gives me hope for the future of this country. I don't know anything about his domestic priorities, but I know when it comes to international relations, I have not heard a politician I agree with more than Joe Biden. Too bad his hair is thinning considerably, making him unlikely to gain the support needed to become the leader of this myopic, insular and provincial citizenry.

The round table was a let down after the intense discussion of Biden, Warner, and Russert. Most interesting was the consternation of David Broder and Eugene Robinson of the Washington Post over the ridiculous poor taste of their fellow Post employee, Bob Woodward, in his handling of his own part within the CIA leak case while acting as a partisan pundit throughout the proceedings.

Woodruff than rambled about bloggers speculating that Republicans mistook Russert for Woodward during their grand jury testimony and Woodruff said she understood the confusion, as she believes both men are great journalists. (Or something like that; the transcript isn't up yet, only the podcast.) Russert replied that while he is friends with Woodruff, he is no Woodward. For my part, my mind is either experiencing a mild case of dyslexia or early morning befuddlement, because during the majority of the roundtable, I thought Woodruff was related to Woodward, because I thought they had the same last name. Turns out Woodruff is married to "Wall Street Journal executive Washington editor Al Hunt, a liberal pundit who also appears regularly on the Sunday talk shows," according to this weird website that came up on top of a Google search for her.

Posted by cj at 11:09 AM | Comments (0)

November 17, 2005

More on the President's Lies

"Ignoring the Facts," an Op-Ed by Richard Cohen in WaPo:

[T]he insistence that Hussein was somehow linked to the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001 -- a leitmotif of Bush administration geopolitical fantasy -- tells you much more than whether this or that fact was right. It tells you that to Bush and his people, the facts did not matter. [...]

It would be nice, fitting and pretty close to sexually exciting if Bush somehow acknowledged his mistakes and said he had learned from them.

Good to see Inside the Beltway types getting excited about something again. Interesting to see the MSM rail against the prez and his cronies.

Also found via Today's Papers

Posted by cj at 8:27 AM | Comments (0)

Lies My President Told Me

Knight Ridder has an amazing article on the distortions of the Bush administration. You should read it in its entirety. Some key excerpts:

The administration's overarching premise is beyond dispute - administration officials, Democratic and Republican lawmakers and even leaders of foreign governments believed intelligence assessments that Iraq had weapons of mass destruction. That intelligence turned out to be wrong.

But Bush, Cheney, and other senior officials have added several other arguments in recent days that distort the factual record. Below, Knight Ridder addresses the administration's main assertions: [...]

ASSERTION: In his speech, Bush noted that "more than a hundred Democrats in the House and the Senate - who had access to the same intelligence - voted to support removing Saddam Hussein from power."

CONTEXT: This isn't true.

I feel like quoting the whole article, so please go read the good work of James Kuhnhenn and Jonathan S. Landay with contributions from William Douglas and Warren P. Strobel for yourself.

found via Today's Papers

Posted by cj at 8:01 AM | Comments (0)

November 8, 2005

Another Attempt to Place a Crony in Office

Shrub nominated Ellen Sauerbrey to be the Assistant Secretary of State for Population, Refugees and Migration. You probably haven't heard of this particular nut job. She was in charge of Shrub's Maryland presidential campaign in 2000. Since then she's made a fine name for herself as the US Ambassador to the Commission on the Status of Women. She tried to insert language in the Beijing +10 consensus document that said the original document guaranteed no new human rights and did not include the right to abortion. Not one single country stood with her attempt to demolish women's rights and she had to withdraw the ammendment.

Clearly, the Senate should reject her nomination.

More info in "Editorial: Another Bush crony deserves rejection: Ellen Sauerbrey is neither ready nor right for State job." in the Minneapolis - St. Paul Star Tribune

Posted by cj at 6:36 PM | Comments (0)

November 2, 2005

U.S. Foreign Aid Spending in 2006

When bills are passed by the House and the Senate, they go to a review committee for reconciliation, to create a unified bill that then must be passed by both houses before it becomes law. The review committee for the foreign aid budget has completed their work. Of interest:

The bill also has $150 million in economic aid for the West Bank and Gaza region, doubling current aid and matching Bush's request. The money is only for projects approved by the U.S. Agency for International Development, not for direct budgetary assistance.

Israel would get $2.3 billion in military assistance, up $60 million from current levels and matching Bush's request. [...]

The bill also has $432 million for international family planning programs, keeping the ban Bush insists on against U.S. foreign aid funding for organizations that support or perform abortions.

From "US lawmakers agree to $20.9 bln in foreign aid," by Vickie Allen for Reuters via AlterNet

Basically, our sisters in Palestine and Israel will be bombarded by more U.S.-funded Israeli weapons and our sisters around the world will continue to have inadequate access to healthcare because of the religious beliefs of the U.S. President. I pray that our work as WILPFers, by challenging U.S. policy directly, will help alleviate the harm done by the misguided appropriations priorities of our elected representatives.

Cross-posted from US WILPF blog.

Posted by cj at 9:41 PM | Comments (0)

November 1, 2005

Democrats Find Juevos, Force Investigation into Cause of US War on Iraq

While I was busy working this afternoon, the Senate Democrats led by Harry Reid forced the Senate to do its job of oversight of the Administration by calling a Secret Session and forcing action on the Intelligence Committee's probe of the creation of the intelligence that was the basis for invading Iraq in 2003.

Senate Rule 21 which can force the Senate to go into closed session - calling all Senators to the floor and kicking everyone else out - is usually not used as a surprise element by the minority party. The Democrats have finally shown some national leadership by forcing the Senate to create a new bipartisan committee to report on the progress of the Intelligence Committee's investigation into how the Administration so