Jan 15 2008

Cry For NOLA And Mississippi, Hillary

Jesse Jackson, Jr., in stumping for Barack Obama, was correct in pointing out after the New Hampshire primary that Hillary Clinton did not cry for Katrina.

Apparently, based on what’s above the fold on her issues page, Clinton doesn’t seem to think that Katrina’s impact on the Gulf Region or the loss of 80% of New Orleans due to the failure of federally-maintained levees is that big a deal today–as if the fact that the continued suffering of many in the disaster zone close to 2 1/2 years after the flood doesn’t matter. And this is morally wrong.

Per the New York Daily News

Obama’s national campaign co-chairman, Jesse Jackson Jr., slammed Clinton’s now-famous misty-eyed moment by wondering aloud why she didn’t shed public tears for victims of Hurricane Katrina, for example.

“They have to be looked at very, very carefully in light of Katrina, in light of other things that Mrs. Clinton did not cry for,” Jackson told MSNBC.

Now that Clinton has won in New Hampshire and could win the nomination, she needs to be reminded that New Orleans and the Mississippi and Louisiana Gulf Region communities still feeling Katrina’s impact are a part of America. Crying–showing some sensitivity for what the people of New Orleans and the rest of the region have been going through would be a good start–but she has to back this up with highlighting her Gulf Coast plan. It’s time for her to show that she’s the Democratic candidate for all Americans by promoting Katrina and New Orleans to her issues page. Right now, she obviously thinks Katrina and the flood are all over with. New Orleans and the Louisiana and Mississippi Gulf Coasts have been off her radar–and she needs to start paying attention to their needs now.

Here’s why: Her list of front page issues includes strengthening the middle class, providing affordable and accessible health care, ending the war in Iraq, promoting energy independence and fighting global warming, fulfilling our promises to veterans, supporting parents and caring for children, restoring America’s standing in the world, a champion for women, comprehensive government reform, strengthening our democracy, reforming our immigration system, and an innovation agenda.

But, just like Barack Obama’s issues page, which I deconstructed in a previous diary, Hillary’s list is incomplete without New Orleans and Katrina recovery. These issues not only are affecting real people in New Orleans and elsewhere in the Gulf Region of Louisiana and Mississippi, but are national issues. And, just like those on Obama’s issues page, her issues all have some sort of Katrina or New Orleans relevance.

1.) Strengthening the middle class. New Orleans’ flooding and Katrina’s ferocious winds did not only affect the poor. The middle class there is also in a world of hurt–struggling with the frustrating Road Home program. Wanting only to rebuild their homes which they’d lost to the flooding or to Katrina or Rita, homeowners are being fingerprinted and having mug shots taken as though they’re common criminals and otherwise put through an emotional wringer as they must deal not only with the Road Home but also corrupt contractors, etc. For hanging in there in New Orleans even with these problems, instead of giving up and leaving, they are true heroes.  And a major problem also experienced by homeowners is the fact that their insurance companies don’t cover flood damage–and dishonestly claim that wind damage is instead water damage. So someone whose roof had been blown off by Katrina could be told that their loss is water damage and won’t be covered. See this diary for more on how Big Insurance has been giving customers in Louisiana the shaft–which is why homeowners have to resort to dealing with the Road Home, which had been intended to bridge the gap between insurance and damage up to a total of $100,000, in the first place, either that or victims of water damage will be looking for companies that have employed the help of water damage restoration marketing strategies so they can find custom. Why isn’t Hillary interested in strengthening New Orleans’ and the rest of the Gulf Region’s middle class by making a major issue of their problems with insurance and the Road Home?

2.) Providing affordable and accessible health care. New Orleans’ health care system is ailing over two years after her flooding.(

CBS) In her six years as a nurse practitioner, Scharmaine Lawson has been on medical missions to Puerto Rico and the Dominican Republic. But she had no idea she’d be doing Third World work in her own hometown….

Lawson’s practice consists solely of house calls, or, in most cases, calls to the FEMA trailer parked outside the house. She had 100 patients before Katrina; now she has 500.

One of them is Alice Pierre, 67, who suffers from heart disease, back problems and diabetes.

“My sugar this morning was … oh my goodness. I have CRS now – Can’t Remember Stuff,” Pierre says with a laugh.

Almost all of the patients are elderly and in some cases, bedridden. Those who can manage to get to a doctor often can’t find one.

How would Lawson describe the state of health care in New Orleans? “It’s still on the respirator,” she says. “It’s still in the ICU.”

And even worse

The medical community says that survivors continue to die from multiple effects of the storm-including psychological and physical problems, financial stress, fears of crime and violence. Dr. Kevin Stephens, director of the New Orleans Health Department, commented to the Associated Press, “Years from now, when they talk about post-traumatic stress, New Orleans after Katrina will be the poster child.”….

The Associated Press reported one such tragedy: the case of Sylvester Major, who escaped from his flooded home, survived harrowing days at the convention center, and ended up in Oklahoma, where he died 10 months later of congestive heart failure at the age of 59. Major’s family contends he died as a result of the impact of the hurricane and the loss of his elderly mother, who also died after being evacuated.

Major’s brother, Ellis Coleman Jr., commented, “Being away from most things we love, the people we’re used to… it had to take a toll on him. He just didn’t have the will to go on. He lost the spark.”

Why doesn’t Hillary seem interested in this lack of affordable, accessible health care in New Orleans? Not to mention the horrendous mental and physical trauma and suffering, and elevated death rate, this, the flooding itself, and life in its wake, have been causing?

3.) Ending the war in Iraq. It is truly a shame how Clinton has turned her back on New Orleans and the communities hit by Katrina even though all communities have been sending their children off to fight in Bush’s wars including that in Iraq which she voted for. And recall how when New Orleans flooded, many of Louisiana’s National Guard troops were off in Iraq.

4.) Promoting energy independence and fighting global warming. Definite hurricane relevance here–global warming has been causing the water of the seas around the world to become warmer. Unusually-warm water in the Gulf of Mexico is what contributed to the strength of both Katrina and Rita.

5.) Fulfilling our promises to veterans. Not only are there a lot of homeless veterans living and sleeping under overpasses in New Orleans, her VA hospital was flooded and now veterans like Paul Hermann have to travel all over the South for medical care.

If the bone fusion in Paul Hermann’s spine had disintegrated the summer before Hurricane Katrina, he would have made the short drive from his home in Slidell to the veterans hospital in downtown New Orleans to have it resealed.

But Hermann needed surgery the summer after the storm, and the hospital had been closed for nearly a year. His case file was shipped to the veterans hospital in Jackson, Miss., where doctors tarried over it for two months before arranging for him to have the surgery — in Houston.

Hermann’s ordeal is all too common these days. While the Department of Veterans Affairs makes plans to build a new hospital to replace the one lost to Katrina, retired military men and women — many of them aging and frail, some of them with limited incomes — have had to travel all over the South for medical care that was once available at their doorstep. Worst of all, the delays frequently worsen the conditions that need treatment. Cancers can spread or heart attacks recur….

“Because it took longer to have the surgery on my back, other parts of my body were affected,” said Hermann, an Air Force veteran. “My legs began to atrophy. I have not been able to drive since September….

And not only veterans, but also active members of the military, are being ripped off by Big Insurance after Katrina and Rita:

And to think that these insurance goons are doing this also to our military men and women–be they active, on reserve, or veteran, many of whom live in the southern part of Louisiana and Mississippi. Disgusting!….

by Ana Maria

Why doesn’t Hillary seem to care about fulfilling promises to Louisiana’s and Mississippi’s veterans?

6.) Supporting parents and caring for children. Hillary should emphasize the fact that young children and their parents have been rendered vulnerable to mental health problems. In fact, according to a psychologist at the Rand Corporation

students with post-traumatic stress disorder or post-hurricane anxiety might appear to be fine and show up for school every day, but many struggle. Many of the students have nightmares, are hyper-vigilant, easily startled, irritable, depressed or want to avoid things that remind them of the trauma, which can include the loss of family, pets and their homes…Some of the barriers to continued mental health services for the some 200,000 children displaced by hurricanes Katrina and Rita are: problems communicating with parents — some have no phone service, pressure to “get back to normal,” inadequate resources, insufficient staff training and burnout among staff.

But Hillary hasn’t. Why isn’t she supporting the parents and caring for the traumatized children of Louisiana and Mississippi?

7.) Restoring America’s standing in the world. Image has something to do with that. What do people overseas think when they look at how BushCo is practically letting New Orleans, reknowned internationally for her history and beauty, to rot? And why has Hillary been silent on this?

8.) A champion for women. Does Hillary even know that

One of the biggest post-Katrina challenges is the complete absence of consideration or special provisions to meet the needs of women. So many studies related to disaster or times of war and conflict show that women are one of the most vulnerable populations. Violence against women increases as well as their responsibilities since they are generally the primary caregivers for the elderly and children. Thereís been an invisibility toward the needs of women of color in the Gulf Coast region.

And this is corroborated by the Women’s Media Center, which also brings up increased violence against and other dangers to women. It says,

Of the estimated 142,000 New Orleans apartments or houses destroyed by the storm, nearly four-fifths were affordable to low-income families. People rendered homeless and unable to rebuild took refuge with extended family and friends. That gave them a place to call home but also left women and children vulnerable to sexual assault and domestic violence, says a new report by the Institute for Women’s Policy Research.

The “overcrowding has led to abuse specifically linked to the Katrina experience,” said Avis A. Jones-DeWeever of the IWPR…In addition to overcrowding and an increased threat of domestic violence, women face problems involving health needs, childcare and jobs, among other issues….

Why hasn’t Hillary been a champion for New Orleans and other Gulf Region women?

9.) Comprehensive government reform. According to this recent diary, funds that were supposed to rebuild communities on Mississippi’s Gulf Coast have instead been diverted by Haley Barbour and Co. to projects in Jackson. Why has Hillary been overlooking the obvious need for comprehensive government reform in Mississippi?

10.) Reforming our immigration system. After her flooding, Latino immigrants have been flocking to New Orleans to work in construction, etc. Many are undocumented, and there’s also controversy because these immigrants will work for lower wages than will native-born Americans.

11.) An innovation agenda. This means various scientific and other investments in America’s future. And I’ve news for Hillary: Louisiana and Mississippi are part of America. Why doesn’t she seem to care about their future?

I’m wondering exactly what Hillary’s game is–I mean, for all I know, she seems to share the view obviously displayed by BushCo–that the Gulf Region (especially Louisiana) is not a part of America. I somehow find it hard to imagine Hillary similarly turning her back after a major disaster hits California or New York, for example. Maybe she’s written Louisiana off as a “Red” state. The following  conversation bears this out:

I’m torn on the whole “LA is a redder state” meme.  It’s useful to the extent that it illustrates Rove-ian manipulation of the process, but it’s detrimental if it causes the DCCC and the netroots to pass us over as lost causes.

by YatPundit on Mon Jan 14, 2008 at 07:00:23 AM PST

Do you think…..

that the reason none of the Democrats have either New Orleans or Katrina on their issues pages could be because they’ve decided Louisiana is a lost cause?

We need to stand up against this…..

by Louisiana 1976 on Mon Jan 14, 2008 at 10:23:06 AM PST

most definitely

we never were really on Clinton’s radar, and Obama surrogate Jesse Jackson Jr. has reduced us to a “black” issue as far as that campaign is concerned.  Edwards has been marginalized by the MSM for months now, in their desire to make this a two-horse race…..

by YatPundit on Mon Jan 14, 2008 at 10:53:37 AM PST

I also don’t think the fact that Jesse Jackson Jr. spoke out asking why Hillary Clinton didn’t cry over Katrina should “reduce” New Orleans to being a “black” issue–I mean, it was time somebody said something about her silence on the matter. I mean, bear with me for being cynical, but I wouldn’t be surprised if, after Obama’s Iowa victory and on hearing how the New Hampshire polls showed Obama ahead, one of Hillary’s handlers advised her to break up. Pity she wasn’t advised to break up regarding New Orleans and Katrina.

It would be wonderful if the candidates (of both parties) and the media took a good long look at what really happened in New Orleans and elsewhere in the Gulf Region and recognize the fact that it’s people of all races and colors who were affected by the storm and the flooding and are now in a world of hurt afterwards. The candidates and the media need a reality check on what’s going on. Because this is truly a national issue.

Jan 15 2008

Bush Cheney Industries, Inc.

Treason for sale

Larisa at-Largely, January 14, 2008

We know that there are a number of Saudi royals sympathetic to the Jihadi cause. We also know that many in the Saudi royal family fund terrorism in general and al Qaeda in particular. We know that the majority of foreign fighters in Iraq are Saudi nationals – killing our troops. We know too that the majority of 9/11 hijackers were from Saudi Arabia. Yet, the US has continued to supply the Saudis with weapons, despite their role as being the world sponsor of terrorism. The latest is as follows:

“RIYADH (Reuters) – U.S. President George W. Bush, trying to counter Iran’s growing military clout, made clear his commitment on Monday to go ahead with a major arms sale to Saudi Arabia as he began his first visit to the Islamic kingdom.

   Just hours after his arrival in Riyadh, the U.S. administration said it notified Congress of its intention to offer the Saudis a controversial package of advanced weaponry as part of a multibillion-dollar deal with Gulf Arab allies.”

Sorry? If I recall we were fighting a war on terror and yet we are providing advanced weapons to the terrorists? How the hell is this not treason? Seriously, I want a Constitutional scholar to tell me how this is not treason. The Saudi regime may be Bush’s ally in the mythical war on terra, but they are no ally of the US, and they are certainly no ally of Israel or or India, or to any other democracy in the world.

Oh did I mention what types of weapons we will be handing to the Saudis? Our deal includes – sit down now – Joint Direct Attack Munition (JDAM) bomb kits.

Let’s hear a big round of applause for George W. Bush and his idiot supporters….

Jan 15 2008

A Candidate Diary

Fourth Time Is The Charm!

After a long stretch of not actively endorsing a candidate, I have decided to come out both guns blazing for the one man who will ABSOLUTELY, POSITIVELY bring bold change to the White House, our nation ,and indeed the world, should he be elected. NONE of the other candidates can bring the perspective and unwavering, steadfast position of this fine, noble and no longer upstanding example of commitment to principle, values, and the working man of America.

My candidate is a man of values, both religious and social, a man of literally lifelong experience in foreign and domestic policies. A man who has proved time and again his willingness to take on special interests and vast corporate and business powers to advance the interests of the working man and the middle class, no matter what the cost to his own aspirations. He has been long…very long… an outspoken opponent of America as an Empirical power in the wold. An untiring and relentless candidate, he has a solid track record of walking his talk and of putting what he believes in above any petty political calculation.

Some here, in the mean-spiritedness of a fiercely fought and, some may say, meanly and even dirtily contested primary campaign, will attack him for his positions. We welcome these attacks, as they can only serve to bring to the light of day the issues for which he has tirelessly fought.

Yes, he advocates prohibition of alcoholic beverages, surely his long crusade against the idea of evolution, that man is descended from dirty apes, is well known. He is proud of these positions. The indisputable fact of his untimely death is not disputed, but indeed is CELEBRATED by this campaign. And STILL he refuses to let the vitriol and the attacks of his opponents sway him from his unchanging position…such as it is…on both  these issues and on the  great leveling influence of bi-metalism.

In this spirit of a TRUE FIGHTING (though, indeed, dead) Democrat I urge you all to abandon your candidates and to swing your support to his nomination by the party for the fourth time in his long and illustrious career.

Ladies and gentlemen of Docudharma and Daily Kos and of America….I ask of you, I beg of you, I sincerely plead with you to nominate ….WILLIAM JENNINGS BRYAN as our Democratic Party representative in the 2008 election for President of these great United States Of America.

I can give you my unalloyed reassurance that he personally will NOT attack his opponents with charges of racism or sexism or any other of the foul isms that have so besmirched this election season, that indeed, he will be as quiet as the grave as far as any form of attack on his opponents. Well actually, as far as anything, really.

Hmmm, maybe I should take a break from candidate diaries….

Jan 15 2008

Time To Get Into The Streets

Photobucket

This is stark, and it is maddening. This NY Times  article says it succinctly:

The Iraqi defense minister said Monday that his nation would not be able to take full responsibility for its internal security until 2012, nor be able on its own to defend Iraq’s borders from external threat until at least 2018.

Those comments from the minister, Abdul Qadir, were among the most specific public projections of a timeline for the American commitment in Iraq by officials in either Washington or Baghdad. And they suggested a longer commitment than either government had previously indicated.

Pentagon officials expressed no surprise at Mr. Qadir’s projections, which were even less optimistic than those he made last year.

President Bush has never given a date for a military withdrawal from Iraq but has repeatedly said that American forces would stand down as Iraqi forces stand up. Given Mr. Qadir’s assessment of Iraq’s military capabilities on Monday, such a withdrawal appeared to be quite distant, and further away than any American officials have previously stated in public.

This means: US troops in Iraq until at least 2018.  That means: ten more years of Iraq occupation and ten more years of US troops in harm’s way and ten more years of death and maiming in Iraq.    

Friday is another Iraq Moratorium Day.  I hope you know what to do.

Jan 15 2008

Pony Party, Best Supernova Diva Star

im not getting all corporatist on you, sharing adverts and whatnot….but i liked this commercial….  

nope….not dead yet….

no recs, y’know…

~73v

Jan 15 2008

Docudharma Times Tuesday January 15

This is an Open Thread: No International Borders Here

Tuesday’s Headlines: FDA Says Clones Are Safe For Food: Race enters the Democratic fray: Nigeria takes on big tobacco over campaigns that target the young: Barenboim becomes first to hold Israeli and Palestinian passports: Road hell: mind the cows!

Iraq Defense Minister Sees Need for U.S. Security Help Until 2018

FORT MONROE, Va. – The Iraqi defense minister said Monday that his nation would not be able to take full responsibility for its internal security until 2012, nor be able on its own to defend Iraq’s borders from external threat until at least 2018.

Those comments from the minister, Abdul Qadir, were among the most specific public projections of a timeline for the American commitment in Iraq by officials in either Washington or Baghdad. And they suggested a longer commitment than either government had previously indicated.

Pentagon officials expressed no surprise at Mr. Qadir’s projections, which were even less optimistic than those he made last year.

Militants Escape Control of Pakistan, Officials Say

ISLAMABAD, Pakistan – Pakistan’s premier military intelligence agency has lost control of some of the networks of Pakistani militants it has nurtured since the 1980s, and is now suffering the violent blowback of that policy, two former senior intelligence officials and other officials close to the agency say.

As the military has moved against them, the militants have turned on their former handlers, the officials said. Joining with other extremist groups, they have battled Pakistani security forces and helped militants carry out a record number of suicide attacks last year, including some aimed directly at army and intelligence units as well as prominent political figures, possibly even Benazir Bhutto.

USA

FDA Says Clones Are Safe For Food

Report Finds No Evidence of Risks

A long-awaited final report from the Food and Drug Administration concludes that foods from healthy cloned animals and their offspring are as safe as those from ordinary animals, effectively removing the last U.S. regulatory barrier to the marketing of meat and milk from cloned cattle, pigs and goats.

The 968-page “final risk assessment,” not yet released but obtained by The Washington Post, finds no evidence to support opponents’ concerns that food from clones may harbor hidden risks.

But, recognizing that a majority of consumers are wary of food from clones — and that cloning could undermine the wholesome image of American milk and meat — the agency report includes hundreds of pages of raw data so that others can see how it came to its conclusions.

Race enters the Democratic fray

Voters disagree over whether Clinton meant to target Obama with racially charged comments, but say the matter was bound to come up sometime.

ATLANTA — Jarvis Jenkins and Kytu Ivory are two black voters with two very different ideas about the racial tensions that have flared between presidential hopefuls Barack Obama and Hillary Rodham Clinton.

Jenkins, a transit system worker, was not offended by Clinton’s recent comment that “it took a president” to pass the Civil Rights Act of 1964 — a remark that some critics have found disrespectful toward the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr.

Ivory, however, thinks that those words are part of a concerted effort by Clinton to inject race into the campaign.

But like many other African American voters here, the men could agree on one thing: In a presidential contest featuring perhaps the most viable black candidate in history, it was inevitable that race would emerge. It was just a matter of time.

Africa

Nigeria takes on big tobacco over campaigns that target the young

Developing world’s first such case seeks £22bn from three cigarette firms

Chris McGreal, Africa correspondent

Tuesday January 15, 2008

The Guardian

The Nigerian government has launched a £22bn lawsuit against three multinational cigarette manufacturers it accuses of trying to hook young Africans on tobacco, to replenish a market that is dwindling in the west.

The first legal case of its kind against big tobacco in the developing world opened at Abuja’s high court yesterday. The government is seeking the multi-billion pound damages from British American Tobacco (BAT), Philip Morris and International Tobacco Ltd over what anti-smoking activists in Nigeria have characterised as a cynical disregard for young African lives through strategies seeking to glamorise cigarettes in ways that are now banned in Europe.

John Simpson: The abject poverty in a country where everyone is a millionaire

Travelling undercover, the BBC’s World Affairs Editor, discovers a nation running out of patience with Robert Mugabe

Published: 15 January 2008

In Robert Mugabe’s Zimbabwe, everyone is a millionaire. You have to be: a loaf of bread costs a million Zimbabwe dollars, a newspaper costs two million, and a decent joint of beef costs a hundred million. The only problem is that the average wage is 20 million dollars a month. They’re called Mugabe dollars and it isn’t a term of affection.

Everyone queues here: in the supermarkets, at the petrol stations and in the banks, in order to draw out the money to buy anything. Inflation is so high that items which cost a mere20 million dollars yesterday are likely to cost double that by tomorrow. For some reason, the government refuses to print million-dollar notes; perhaps it thinks it would look bad. The highest note is for 750,000 dollars, and doing the maths is horrendous.

Middle East

Barenboim becomes first to hold Israeli and Palestinian passports

The Israeli pianist and conductor Daniel Barenboim has been granted Palestinian citizenship for his work in promoting cultural exchange between young people in Israel and the Arab world.

The Argentine-born musician is believed to be the first person in the world to possess both Israeli and Palestinian passports after receiving his new documentation at the end of a piano recital in Ramallah in the West Bank at the weekend.

“Under the most difficult circumstances he has shown solidarity with the Palestinian people,” Mustafa Barghouti, a Palestinian MP and presidential candidate, said at the recital held to raise money for medical aid for children in the Gaza Strip.

George Bush offers allies $20bn of arms to counter Iran

President Bush backed his political rhetoric against Iran yesterday with the promise of a $20 billion arms deal to boost the military clout of Washington’s key allies in the Gulf.

The deal, which could still be blocked by Congress, would see weapons, including Patriot missiles and precision-guided bombs, parcelled out to Gulf states, including Saudi Arabia, to counter Iran. The announcement was timed to coincide with Mr Bush’s arrival in Riyadh, where he sought further support from King Abdullah for his continuing campaign against the Islamic Republic.

Europe

UK defies Russian order to shut British Council offices

Luke Harding in Moscow

Tuesday January 15, 2008

The Guardian

Russia and Britain were last night locked in a standoff over the future of the British Council after Britain defied an order from the Kremlin to close down the council’s regional offices.

The council’s St Petersburg branch reopened yesterday following the Christmas and new year break, despite an edict from Russia’s foreign ministry ordering it to cease operations from January 1.

The Kremlin reacted swiftly and angrily. It dubbed the British move a “deliberate provocation” and summoned Britain’s ambassador in Moscow, Tony Brenton, to the foreign ministry for a rare public dressing down. It promised further measures against the government-funded cultural organisation, and said that Britain was wholly to blame for harming relations between London and Moscow.

Guggenheim lost £4.5m in art sale

The authorities at Bilbao’s Guggenheim Museum are facing intense criticism over the botched purchase of a sculpture by Richard Serra that cost millions in public money.

Instead of paying for the work in euros, the Guggenheim Foundation and the Tenedora Museum Modern of Contemporary Art decided to pay in dollars. The only problem was the bad exchange rate meant they lost more than ¿6m (£4.5m).

Asia

Road hell: mind the cows!

Driving in Delhi is a hazardous experience – and that’s before the city’s roads are invaded by the cut-price Tata Nano. Andrew Buncombe takes his life into his hands behind the wheel

Published: 15 January 2008

“Not too fast. Mind the cows,” says the instructor, trying to remain calm. “Yes, there are lots of cows in India.”

We edge around the half-dozen hump-backed creatures merrily eating the contents of an overflowing rubbish skip. The wheels rattle, the car shakes. We pass a handful of shop-fronts, stray dogs and children before turning into what seems like an impossibly narrow back street. Surely we’re not going to drive down there? “It’s very narrow, very slowly,” the instructor says unnecessarily. “Now go straight.”

In India, driving is not for the faint-hearted. The roads are crowded and cluttered and filled with a rare energy. There is noise and dust and heat and honking and pushing. Barely anyone obeys either the traffic rules or else the most basic rules of common sense as they jostle for position. Sometimes it feels like Rollerball, the futuristic, full-contact “sport” that gave its name to the 1975 movie starring James Caan. Frankly, it is terrifying.

Samsung Group headquarters raided

SEOUL, South Korea – Special prosecutors raided the headquarters of Samsung Group on Tuesday in a widening probe into allegations that the massive conglomerate set up a slush fund to bribe influential figures.

The raid, which occurred in the same building where global technology giant Samsung Electronics, the flagship of the conglomerate, has its Seoul offices, came a day after investigators searched an office of Samsung Chairman Lee Kun-hee and seven other locations.

As the raid was occurring, Samsung Electronics said net profit in the fourth quarter fell 6.6 percent from a year ago amid sharp declines in prices for computer memory chips. That was a smaller drop than expected, and investors – apparently unfazed by news of the raid – sent the company’s stock as much as 3 percent higher.

Yim Jun-seok, a Samsung spokesman, confirmed that investigators entered the strategic planning office at the conglomerate’s headquarters in Seoul. He provided no details. Investigators could not immediately be reached for comment.

Latin America

Guatemala president takes oath of office

At his inauguration, leftist Alvaro Colom pledges to work to alleviate poverty.

GUATEMALA CITY — Alvaro Colom was sworn in Monday as Guatemala’s first leftist president in more than 50 years, promising to fight poverty in a nation where half the people live on less than $1 a day.

Colom, who led Guatemala’s efforts to coax thousands of war refugees back home after its civil war ended in 1996, took office in a ceremony attended by world leaders including Presidents Hugo Chavez of Venezuela and Alvaro Uribe of Colombia, who recently clashed over a hostage-release mission.

“Today is the beginning of privileges for the poor, the beginning of privileges for those without opportunities,” Colom, 56, said after receiving the presidential sash to the tune of traditional Maya music.

Despite his ideology, Colom said he doesn’t want to be identified with other leftist governments in Latin America, including that of Chavez.

Jan 15 2008

Muse in the Morning

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Muse in the Morning

The muses are ancient.  The inspirations for our stories were said to be born from them.  Muses of song and dance, or poetry and prose, of comedy and tragedy, of the inward and the outward.  In one version they are Calliope, Euterpe and Terpsichore, Erato and Clio, Thalia and Melpomene, Polyhymnia and Urania.

It has also been traditional to name a tenth muse.  Plato declared Sappho to be the tenth muse, the muse of women poets.  Others have been suggested throughout the centuries.  I don’t have a name for one, but I do think there should be a muse for the graphical arts.  And maybe there should be many more.

Please join us inside to celebrate our various muses…

An Opened Mind XXVII:

A multi-layered metaphor.  I am not sure anyone has ever looked past the first layer.

Art Link

Shell

Metaphors

Sometimes when you

peer inside an egg

all that you find there

is the inside of the shell

holding in darkness

A brain can seem as empty

A heart can seem as black

Courage can seem as fragile

as an empty egg shell

I am reminded of the wizard

It was all for show

with smoke and mirrors

Impressively awesome

with very little substance

The parallel is clear

–Robyn Elaine Serven

–December 29, 2005

I know you have talent.  What sometimes is forgotten is that being practical is a talent.  I have a paucity for that sort of talent in many situations, though it turns out that I’m a pretty darn good cook.  🙂  

Let your talent bloom.  You can share it here.  Encourage others to let it bloom inside them as well.

Won’t you share your words or art, your sounds or visions, your thoughts scientific or philosophic, the comedy or tragedy of your days, the stories of doing and making?  And be excellent to one another!

Jan 15 2008

Web Stats of Presidential Candidates and Why They Shouldn’t Be Ignored

I noticed a very interesting thing while doing promotions tonight, namely, the web site statistics for Presidential Candidates.  There is a correlation between current standings in the voting booth and current rankings on the internet.  It is not a perfect correlation but I think it is important enough to mention to the group.

See Hillary vs Barack vs Edwards here  on Alexa.

See Huckabee vs Rudy vs Romney here on Alexa.

Google stats below the fold:

 

References for the names of the candidates on Google™.

Hillary Clinton: 12,200,000

Barack Obama: 4,400,000

John Edwards: 4,370,000

Mitt Romney: 1,770,000

Mike Huckabee: 1,440,000

Rudy Giuliani: 1,240,000

Fred Thompson: 529,000

References for the websites of the candidates on Google™:

BarackObama.com 478,000

MikeHuckabee.com 301,000

JohnEdwards.com  198,000

HillaryClinton.com 133,000

Fred08.com 103,000

JoinRudy2008.com 83,600

MittRomney.com 52,300

So what’s all this mean?  I’m the wrong guy to ask.

What I see is campaigns that don’t understand the web doing very poorly.  Campaigns that do are doing very well.  Campaigns that kind of get it are struggling.

The best example of a site performing well is Obama’s HQ blog.  The blog is clear and easy to read.  It isn’t over-cluttered and even your first time browser can understand what is going on. Something for the other candidates to think about.  And something for tomorrow’s candidates to pay attention to.

Jan 15 2008

at random cattle

cattle

 a random word from a random random word generating website

so strange that “cattle” was generated as I was just thinking about something else

maybe i should delve on this

.

.

most people like cattle

i have eaten many cattle

i have never followed cattle

they walk slowly toward the slaughterhouse

maybe it is better to wait until they are finished

afterwards the cattle are washed

and displayed in refrigerated glass cases

you can pick the cattle part you like best

it’s a perfect funeral

Jan 15 2008

Our Experience Bird-dogging Rep. Jerrold Nadler on Sunday

There were two opportunities to “bird-dog” Rep. Nadler this past Sunday at events where he was scheduled to appear in support of Hillary Clinton.  In the early afternoon he was at Hudson Guild at a candidates forum sponsored by Chelsea Reform Democrats.  Later he was at a NOW-NYC forum on How Critical is the Women’s Vote? featuring Congressman Jerrold Nadler, former Congresswoman and Brooklyn D.A. & NYC Comptroller Elizabeth Holtzman, and Sheryl McCarthy, USA Today & Newsday Columnist and Distinguished Lecturer in Journalism at CUNY.  I attended and flyered at the NOW-NYC event with a fellow PDA member and another concerned constituent and want to share our report with you.  However, first a disclaimer:  I have been under the weather with the nasty upper respiratory thing that has been going around and it sorely diminished my note taking abilities.  Also, I should mention that the report will focus on our experience with regard to Rep. Nadler and impeachment as opposed to the event itself.

The NOW event was a full house: my estimate is about 150 attended and some latecomers even stood. On the dais were Sonia Ossorio, current president of NOW-NYC, Rep. Nadler, Liz Holtzman, and Sheryl McCarthy (USA Today & Newsday journalist). Sonia introduced them and each gave a somewhat brief statement re their support for Hillary Clinton or Obama. McCarthy opened and said she would support either as a nominee, that the most important thing was to put a Democrat in office. Holtzman agreed and remarked that the country could not survive another four more years under a Republican President. She went on to say she supported Hillary Clinton and that her support went very far back to the Nixon impeachment when Hillary Clinton was a Congressional staffer working for the House Judiciary Committee. She said some nice things about Hillary Clinton being a humanitarian and a person with values who chose to work in government rather than accept a high paying corporate position.  

Rep. Nadler then spoke at length.  He began by describing the upcoming election as the most important in recent history.  He launched into a list of all the wrongs done this country by the current administration.  He asserted that they had shredded the Constitution and listed all of the reasons which make impeachment an imperative – inroads on civil liberties, imbalance of separation of powers, Executive aggrandizement, destruction of checks and balances, signing statements, torture, habeas corpus suspension, and more.  However, not once did he mention the word impeachment or the need to hold this administration accountable or address the issue of precedent.  He then sang Hillary Clinton’s praises.  Ironically he began by relating how he had been on the House Judiciary Committee during the Clinton impeachment and how the research that he did in that capacity took him to the majority report that Hillary had co-written in 1974 and how he had been impressed then by her work.

Sonia Ossorio then asked if there were questions from the audience. The first question was from a man who turned out to be one of the writers on Democrats.com – thebluehighwayman.  I don’t remember what the question was nor the responses, but it was election related. The second question was from Elizabeth Sackler, who brought Judy Chicago’s “The Dinner Party” exhibit to The Brooklyn Museum.  Sackler is also founder of The American Indian Ritual Object Repatriation Foundation, http://www.repatriationfoundat…  I don’t recall her exact words – it was a long question – but the essence was that she questioned if we were paying attention to the right thing in our focus on elections – “if we had our eye on the ball” – and that instead we should be addressing accountability.  She started by saying that she was happy with some things (forget what exactly), but NOT happy that there has been no accountability for the administration and that she is not convinced they´re going to “give back the bone”, i.e. give up power and have elections, stating that she did not feel we had seen a true election since 1998.  For the first time that afternoon, the audience broke into applause.  I noticed that even the elderly woman sitting across from me who had appeared to be snoozing during the opening statements was enthusiastically clapping in agreement.  Holtzman jumped on this immediately, bringing up the “I word,” saying how she had written a book on impeachment and how she was convinced that impeachment was the only way we can make sure there is change. She turned to Rep. Nadler and said that she was certain that he was working on it as well. However, her comment about working on “it” was vague.  It could have been construed as in invitation to him to explain how he was also working on impeachment or it could have a diplomatic moment where she hoped he would step up to the plate.  My notes on this moment and Rep. Nadler’s response are less than perfect.  It was a convoluted response and I found myself asking the person next to me what he said.  Our conclusion is that he was saying that impeachment wasn’t the “right solution.”  He responded that it wasn’t the forum to get into impeachment, and that his solution was to enact legislation that would remove the Executive inroads into power and restore checks and balances, etc. under a Democratic President. He talked about state secrets legislation and his FISA telecom immunity bill (complaining how the liberal blogs have overlooked what the House has done with their preoccupation with the Senate).  Rep. Nadler did share that a little noticed paragraph the Dems inserted into a recent bill extended the statute of limitations from 5 to 10 years (or something similar) and that with a Democratic President they will prosecute Bush for wiretapping etc. in 2009 or 2010.  I am tempted to editorialize here about how likely this is given Congress’ current record, but will let you fill in the blanks.  Unfortunately, this wasn’t a forum where you could follow up on Sackler’s question and get into the issue deeply. The conversation moved on to a more election focused discussion comparing the strengths and weaknesses of Clinton, Obama, and at times Edwards.

I wasn’t able to ask the question I had in mind which was regarding Hillary Clinton’s lack of support for habeas corpus.  On a blazing hot July day this past summer I traveled before dawn with the ACLU to DC to lobby Congress on habeas corpus.  About 300 of us signed up to meet with Hillary Clinton.  Not only did she not make time to meet with 300 constituents who had traveled five hours by bus to meet with her, but the two representatives she sent –  her legislative aide and her deputy counsel – ducked our questions the same way that we have seen Bush’s various press representatives deal with the Washington press corps.  The one straight answer they gave to us is that she did not support Senator Dodd’s amendment Restoring the Constitution Act (S. 576).  Instead she supported the weaker version, Senator Spector and Leahy’s Habeas Corpus Restoration Act (S. 185) which was more limited in scope in addressing the problems the Military Commissions Act caused in undermining the Constitution and the rule of law.

Restoration of habeas corpus is  something that Rep. Nadler had been working very hard on in the House.  He too was on our list of Congressional reps to visit and I have written to him and about him relating how impressed I was with the level of respect he accorded us in the meeting we had with him.  I have wondered for a long time how he justified support of Hillary Clinton given his position as the Chair of the Judiciary Sub-Committee on the Constitution, Civil Rights, and Civil Liberties and his work on habeas corpus.  I would have preferred to ask him in a public forum, but settled for asking him privately as he was leaving, reminding him of the day when I was in his DC office with the ACLU.  He didn’t recognize me and asked who I was and when I told him my name, he stiffened and tried to brush me off – no doubt expecting to hear about impeachment. I told him about our experience with Hillary Clinton that day and her refusal to support full restoration and his response was that he didn’t know what happened in the Senate, but focused on his work in the House. I found it surprising that he wouldn’t be on top of what was happening in both Houses with regard to key legislation and issues.

I then asked Rep. Nadler to support the call for impeachment hearings in the House Judiciary Committee. He became visibly angry and told me “I thought I made my position clear an hour and a half ago.” I had no idea what he was talking about and told him so. He refused to believe me and then it occurred to me that he must have been referring to the earlier event and I said “oh you must mean in Chelsea.”  I told him I was not there and had decided to attend this event, but that it was clear that constituents in his district are not happy with the position he is taking on impeachment. He began to move away from me to get out of having to discuss it further and someone else came up and began speaking with him. The National Arts Guild is a nice place and NOW had a lovely spread of wine, cheeses, pates, crudites, etc. and I think he was trying to decide if he should stay.

However, not long after, I noticed he was speaking with the person who asked the first question of the afternoon, thebluehighwayman from democrats.com. They were talking about impeachment and thebluehighwayman had a copy of Holtzman’s book with him.  I began to pay attention when I heard him asking Rep. Nadler about the oath he swore to defend the Constitution. I didn’t hear Rep. Nadler’s reply but it looked like he blew him off too, mumbling, and then headed for the door. He was not happy.

I found out later that at the event in Chelsea, there were many questions about impeachment and the crowd was overwhelmingly in favor.  It seems that being bird-dogged does not sit well with Rep. Nadler.  He is clearly annoyed, even angry, yet he seems determined to ignore us and do what he pleases.  The folks with me watched me talking with him and saw him become angry and dismissive. They were aghast at his introduction where he spoke at length about civil rights, only to be followed by his evasive response to Elizabeth Sackler promising that a Democratic President would criminally prosecute, and then his intransigence with me.  After the Congressman left I stayed and “worked the crowd” and found many people in favor of impeachment and shocked that Rep. Nadler wasn’t doing more. I even spoke for a bit with a woman who is a self-proclaimed conservative who had attended with her sister at her sister’s urging to see “the other side.” She said that we would be surprised – they are saying the same things at the Republican events she attends – universal dislike for Bush and desire for change, and she and I were specifically discussing impeachment. I wish there had been another half hour to talk with more people but I got caught up with three feisty Latinas and suddenly the National Arts Guild was picking up glasses and making the hors d’oeuvres disappear. It was time to go.

I hope that someone who attended the Chelsea Decision ’08 forum writes up what happened earlier in the afternoon.  And I hope that thebluehighwayman publishes a report on Democrats.com about his impression of the NOW-NYC event.

It seems with primary season in full swing, it is likely that Rep. Nadler will be out stumping for Hillary Clinton in the district.  He refuses to meet with constituents to discuss impeachment – or in my opinion remember his oath of office to defend the Constitution – but chances are there will be additional opportunities to meet up with him at these events to reinforce that his constituents want him to support the call for hearings in the House Judiciary Committee.  I will keep you informed of additional opportunities to bird-dog Rep. Nadler and hope you will join me.  On Sunday afternoon, the applause that broke out after Elizabeth Sackler raised the issue of accountability clearly indicated the level of support for impeachment.  What will it take for our Congressman to listen to and acknowledge his responsibility to his constituents and support impeachment hearings?

Jan 15 2008

Is This Why The Iraqi Parliament Passed the de-Ba’athification Law?

[Update 1:14 am 1/15/08 by LithiumCola]: I think the speculation in this post is incorrect.  In the thread MO Blue links to a Juan Cole post with important info, and some other stuff I’m looking at leads me to think there is a more complicated struggle going on than is being accounted for by the sources in this essay and in this essay itself.

_______________________________

Sami Moubayed, a Syrian political analyst who writes for the Asia Times, provides the first explanation that has made any sense to me for the Iraqi parliament’s recent passage of a reversal of de-Ba’athification law.  

In brief, Prime Minister Maliki is running out of friends willing to support him, and therefore running out of options.  With Kurds running out of patience, the Prime Minister needs factions in his camp, and Sunnis are about the only untried group left.

First, some background.

The bill, set to reverse portions of Bremer’s de-Ba’athification initiative, has passed parliament and is nearly certain to be signed into law by Iraq’s presidency council.  This amounts to the appearance of the passage of a Bush “benchmark” . . . and therefore is a minor coup for the White House.  Voice of America described Bush’s reaction like this:

The news from Baghdad reached President Bush in the midst of a Middle East tour, and just hours after he visited a U.S. army base in Kuwait that acts as a staging ground and support center for American forces in Iraq.

By the time he reached Bahrain and sat down for talks with King Hamad Bin Isa Al-Khalifa, Mr. Bush was jubilant – hailing the achievement of a key U.S. benchmark.

“I’m pleased to inform you, your majesty, that the Iraqi Council of Representatives passed a de-Baathification law today,” Mr. Bush said.

The Bush administration has been pushing the Iraqis for months to pass a law that would remove restrictions on members of the Baath Party, allowing some to return to government jobs they held under Saddam Hussein.

For Mr. Bush, passage was a personal victory.

The Los Angeles Times described the factions in the Iraqi parliament, and their attitudes to the bill:

The vote itself showed how divided Iraqis remain on the matter. Barely 150 members of the 275-seat parliament attended the session.

Mutlak’s National Dialogue Front, with 11 seats, and some members of another Sunni bloc, the 44-seat Iraqi Accordance Front, boycotted the vote. All major Shiite parties in attendance voted for the legislation, including 30 lawmakers loyal to anti-U.S. cleric Muqtada Sadr. But if some endorsed the measure, others skipped the session rather than vote for a proposal they vehemently opposed.

“I consider this law as a pure American law aiming to restore the Baath Party to the political process,” said Sadr lawmaker Maha Adil Mehdi, who boycotted the session. “I refuse this law completely.”

Others whose parties have been associated with the mass purges and even attacks on former Baathists backed the law.

“From the beginning, the Supreme Islamic Iraqi Council was backing this law because there are many people suffering from this law and others are using this law to revenge and to gain more authority,” said parliament member Hamid Mualla, a member of the party.

The Iraqi Islamic Party, the largest Sunni party in parliament, endorsed the legislation as a compromise. “We want to push the national reconciliation ahead and calm things down among the Iraqis, and this might not help a lot,” said Nureddine Hayali, a lawmaker with the party.

This description of the Iraqi parliament, confusing as the factions are, sounds like the same-old same-old of division and distrust.  So, why did Prime Minister Maliki and the enough Shiites decide, now, that they wanted a bill allowing many ex-Ba’athist Sunnis back into government jobs?

According to Sami Moubayed, Prime Minister Maliki had no choice.  The Kurds are on the verge of abandoning him, and several Shiite factions have already done so.  To put it simply, Maliki needs someone, anyone, who will support his position, and Sunnis are the only choice left.

Moubayed writes at the Asia Times:

Unlike any other time since Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki came to power in 2006, his tenure is under real threat. This time, Maliki’s exodus is not being engineered by his long-time rivals in the Sunni community, but rather by the Kurds: friends of yesterday, enemies of today. This is what he was reportedly told by British Prime Minister Gordon Brown during his recent visit to London.

The Kurds had been counting on Maliki to deliver Kirkuk to them by the December deadline, and also to keep Turkey out of the Kurdish north.  Maliki could do neither.

Simply put, the Kurds have lost faith in Maliki. Last December, they sent him an ultimatum, showing grave concerns over his failed policies with regard to the Kurdish issue. Barzani visited him in Baghdad to demand more action on the issue of Kirkuk, but returned to Irbil empty handed. Commenting on the failed meeting, he said; “Sadly, the Kurdish delegation returned without achieving any results.”

Maliki is therefore struggling to cobble together a new coalition to support him.  Pickings are getting slim, as he has lost many friends.  He needs a few good Sunnis.

Additionally, Maliki’s team is trying to put together a new alliance that excludes the angry Kurds, composed of the National Dialogue Front (Sunni) that is led by Saleh al-Motlak, the Iraqi National List (secular) that is lead by Allawi, the Sadrist bloc headed by Muqtada, the Iraqi People’s Congress, led by Adnan al-Duleimi, and the Da’wa Party, headed by Maliki himself.

He has also backed a law originally advised by former US ambassador Zalmay Khalilzad – bringing thousands of Ba’athists (all Sunnis) back into government. And so it was that on Sunday Parliament passed a bill allowing lower-ranking former members of the Ba’ath party to reclaim government jobs. Washington has been pushing for the legislation, which will become law after being processed by the sluggish Iraqi bureaucracy and approved by the presidential council, consisting of the president and two vice presidents.

The passage of Bush’s “benchmark”, then, seems to amount to another momentary shift in balance of power between Shiite, Sunni, and Kurd, while Maliki tries to balance on top of the pyramid.

Jan 15 2008

Dennis wins suit: Here’s why NBC/GE want him off the stage!