harriet miers.
the woman who would be judge.
the woman who needs to bone up on constitutional law.
the woman who can say no one knows how she'd rule on reproductive rights but signed a pledge in 1989 to do everything in her power to destroy abortion rights.
she's a mystery.
she's a riddle.
harry reid loves her.
some reports have him suggesting her to bully boy.
more likely he just said she was some 1 he could live with.
and why not?
1) he's not a woman.
it's not his rights that could be curtailed.
why should he care?
the empathy that was once a hallmark of the democratic party left a long time ago.
we're left with self-contained dopes who can't see past themeselves and have no spine.
where have all the flowers gone?
long time passing.
where have all the real democrats gone?
long time passing.
long time ago.
when will we ever learn?
when will we ever learn?
where have all the real democrats gone?
where have all the real democrats gone?
long time passing.
long time ago.
when will we ever learn?
when will we ever learn?
harriet miers is a croney.
that alone should be enough to worry people.
with all the cases winding through the courts questioning bully boy's right to be king and declare law by royal decree, her being a bully boy croney should worry people.
her inexperience with constitutional law (and lack of awareness of it) is only more frightening when you realize that she thinks bully boy is like totally groovy! or whatever dopey things she wrote him repeatedly in her private mash notes when she was supposed to be heading the lotto commision and not sucking up to the governor.
this is a woman with a really bad haircut who dresses badly. that's not a problem with a judge if you're talking about someone who's spent their lives studying the law and focusing on that. it could show dedication. but she hasn't done that.
so we're left with a fashion disaster who's a fundamentalist and probably skirting the guady with her inept choices.
bully boy sold her on her religion, and her 'heart' which he can peer into like he did with his buddy 'pooty' (putin). so is her religion effecting her clothing choices? probably. bully boy probably knows that as it effects her 'fashion' choices, it will effect other areas as well.
which brings us back to the issue of choice.
her answers in the 1989 survey shouldn't disturb, they should frighten.
while the right worries that she may be a souter, the left hangs on to the hope that she is.
despite all the indications that she isn't.
have we forgotten that the right thought we were entering a 'winnable war'? why do we place so much importance on their judgement of harrie?
the enemy of my enemy does not necessarily become my friend.
but a lot of people want to act that way. a lot of people want to pin their hopes (and the court's future) on the fact that some right-wingers are outraged by mier's nomination.
the left would be better served by examing the known details.
harriet miers
supreme court
the common ills
10/21/2005
10/20/2005
harriet miers unqualified now, still & always
the cartoon is from isaiah's "celibacy in the city" (the world today just nuts) and i'll get to harriet miers in a minute.
but first, i was on the phone with mike this evening and we'll both end up getting a late start. but c.i. gave a heads up to the interview mike did with wally. last night, i was on the phone with kat and we were both checking and checking for it. i'm glad i finally gave up because it didn't go up until late this morning.
it's up now and it's wonderful. i had to call mike to tell him congrats because it is a really strong interview with humor and a lot more. wally is someone i got to know when he praised my site at the common ills and then started e-mailing me. he's funny and he's deep and he's only 19. he can veer into silliness 1 moment and then make the wisest comment in the world the next. i hope he never loses either quality.
i knew he lost his father because that came up during an e-mail exchange early on but i did not know it was when he was 8 years old or how. c.i. will ask those questions and always tries to encourage me to do the same. (c.i.'s been encouraging me to do the same for years.) but i just go tongue tied on those things.
am i prying? am i bringing up an unpleasant memory? will i say something that i mean to sound helpful but will end up sounding hurtful?
so i don't usually ask questions regarding death and illness and wait for someone to share their feelings instead. that's not a good way to handle it.
but if you want to know wally's story, read the interview mike did. warning, it may make you cry. i was crying so hard by the time wally was talking about the nurses, that i had to take a minute before continuing to read. there are things you read that touch you and you carry them with you and mike's interview with wally is 1 of those things.
so please make time to read it.
and don't forget to check out wally's site, the daily jot.
sherry likes it a lot and the interview as well, as she noted in her latest e-mail. but she does not like the idea that some strangers thought they could write to c.i. and try to get my phone number.
sherry says if that happened to her, if some guy she'd never met or seen, was contacting her friends for her phone number, she'd be worried. i agree that it crosses a line.
the guy's defense would be, 'well i wrote and she didn't write back.' because i was on vacation and if the guy really read my site like he claimed, he would have known that. instead he's off to c.i. with another e-mail, like centrist ed's, where i'm spoken of in the 3rd person.
sherry asked if that was the only thing pissing me off these days? no.
i'm pretty pissed about the nonsense that harriet miers is supposedly being criticized in a sexist manner. now i don't watch fox news, i don't read a right wing magazine or columnist.
so maybe i'm missing it. but i know timid democrats and i know when someone starts saying 'sexism' then spineless ones get afraid to speak out.
criticizing harriet miers as unqualified is not sexism. she is unqualified.
but ever since diane finestein goes on the chat and chews and says 'sexism' all the sudden people can't criticize. i called 1 of my reps today and the assistant says 'well he feels that miers isn't the right person either but needs to say that carefully.'
biggest bunch of crap i ever heard.
miers isn't qualified. she'll never be qualified. not because she's a woman and with 2 women on the court right now, i don't know any 1 who'd be stupid enough to make the lame argument that women can't be judges.
she's not qualified because she's never done a damn thing with her law degree but suck up. she sucked up to bully boy, she sucked up to corporations. she's not very smart and that has nothing to do with being a woman, she's not very smart because she's stupid and doesn't care that she is stupid.
is she a lesbian? i got an e-mail asking about that. i don't know, i don't care. we've already got 1 life long bachelor on the court so having 2 wouldn't be earth shattering.
but pointing out that the press nonsense about her and that male judge supposedly being romantic is a bunch of crap isn't homophobia. she's had over 40 years as an adult to have a relationship if she wanted. she didn't want it. and like isaiah pointed out in the wonderful celibacy in the city, those right wing christians who preach no sex before marriage have to live with what they preach.
so she may be a lesbian, she may be a virgin, she may be a hyporcrite who tells every 1 else not to have sex while getting it herself.
she needs to be scrutinized. john roberts should be scrutinized.
in case anyone missed isaiah's the world today cartoons on john roberts, you'll see the charlie brown stripe across his chest even when he's shirtless. why? because the point isaiah was making in those cartoons was every 1 was acting like he was good old charlie brown and not pressing him for answers.
that includes diane feinnstein who embarrassed herself during his confirmation hearings.
so i'm not in the damn mood to hear diane feinstein talk about sexism. my attitude there is 'go see how much your husband made off the war today, diane.'
she was useless during the confirmation hearings.
i think most of the dems on the committee were. i think ted kennedy distinguished himself. i don't see much else to be impressed with.
and they better get off their lazy asses this time.
with clarence thomas he himself had to make the claim that he was being lynched. with harriet miers, all it took was laura bush to whine 'sexism' and suddenly fools like diane feinstein (and she's not the only fool) are rushing in and saying 'sexism.'
the only sexism involved is thinking she's above criticism because she's a woman.
she's not above criticism.
and she doesn't deserve to sit on the bench.
she's unable to answer a straight question. she is a cronie. she has no history.
she's not qualified.
tomorrow, i intend to start letting it rip on harriet miers. i will knock anything and everything about her. that includes her hair style which looks like someone who couldn't get hired at super cuts cut it.
how come?
because she's not qualified.
and i won't hold my tongue or watch my words.
we just put 1 enemy of roe on the court.
i will use any critique to prevent the 2nd 1 from making it.
i will mock her. i will insult her.
and if diane or any other woman wants to have a problem with that, i say screw you all. i say diane sat on her war mongering ass during roberts confirmation. i say she needs the heat turned on. and if some 1 doesn't like it, too damn bad.
it's not sexism.
but watch miers hide behind that the same way clarence thomas hid behind the charge of racism.
people need to grow the hell up. roe is too damn important and must be preserved.
harriet miers
the world today just nuts
the common ills
mikey likes it
the daily jot
10/19/2005
go away little boys
i was on the phone with kat and we were waiting to see if mike's interview with wally would go up at mikey likes it but it must be a long 1. i want to thank kat for calling and even though she denied c.i. asked her to call, thank you to c.i. i was really depressed yesterday and poor c.i. had to hear about it for 2 hours.
it's the harriet myers nonsense.
she's not qualified. she's anti-choice. her legal experience is less than mine.
i'm serious. i rarely get tickets for speeding, even though i speed all the time, but on those times when i can't talk my way out of it, i take it to traffic court. unlike harrie, i always win my case.
i can't believe that a right so many worked so hard for, that so many died for, hangs by a thread and the general attitude among the press and our elected officials is to shrug.
by the way, let me toss this out here. on a good day, i don't need junk in the e-mail. i've got three guys (yes, all men) who've written me. i'm not reading their crap. their names have never gone up here and i can't imagine that they have anything to say that i care to read so just go away boys. i'm glad you're packing, but i don't date little boys.
that especially goes to the idiot who kept writing me while i was on vacation and attempted to get my phone number from c.i. (c.i. didn't give it out.) you need to learn how to read. you're raving over how 'smart' and 'intelligent' i am (or were in your earlier e-mails) and, big dope, you're actually praising something c.i. thought up. that's noted here in the thing you read that you just felt made us 'kindred souls.' c.i. is too modest. c.i. should have told you, the big dope wrote c.i. after i didn't respond, 'uh, that's my idea you're praising.'
i have no idea why you think i'd want to date you but i don't. so go away.
that's for every 1 who writes with their nonsense.
if you're a reader, i love to hear from you. but i'm getting real tired of opening up e-mails from bloggers and others asking me my measurements and swearing that they get me, they really get me.
do i come off like sally field here? do i really sound like i care what some stranger thinks of me?
i'll note that when elaine noted, at the third estate sunday review, that my breasts were the largest (of any of the women doing sites in the community), e-mails started coming in from blogging fellows and their friends. so since the majority couldn't read well enough to tell when i wrote something or when i linked to something, i'll guess it was the breast citation from elaine.
yes, boys, i have big breasts. yes, boys, they are real. no, boys, i have no interest in meeting you.
you don't even attempt courtship before asking my measurements. not even what might pass for online courtship, 'rebecca i really like you and your mind and especially your big breasts. as my gift to you, i've linked to you.'
these boys are all about the slap and tickle. go away and play with your blow up dolls, you have nothing to offer a woman.
my readers know that i had an abortion last year. they know that i had 1 because of a disorder the child would have been born with which would have required the child to have multiple operations and even after all of that the life expectancy would have been short.
i take roe v. wade very seriously. and it's very hard for me not to be depressed when i think of women losing our right to make the decisions we decide are needed.
i'll keep putting something up every day and hopefully i'll be out of the funk shortly but i'm really upset and bothered by the lack of outrage on the part of our elected dems regarding harriet myers' survey.
in case anyone's asking 'what survey?':
Harriet Miers Openly Opposed Abortion in 1989
This news on Supreme Court nominee Harriet Miers: A document submitted to the Senate yesterday shows Miers previously expressed support for banning abortion. In 1989, when Miers was running for Dallas city council, she filled out a questionnaire that shows she advocated banning abortions except when necessary to save the life of the mother. Miers also said she would support legislation to ban abortions if the Supreme Court ruled states could do so, and would participate in "pro-life rallies and special events." The questionnaire was written by the group Texans United for Life. Democratic Senator Dianne Feinstein responded to the revelation by saying: "The answers clearly reflect that Harriet Miers is opposed to Roe v. Wade."
it's the harriet myers nonsense.
she's not qualified. she's anti-choice. her legal experience is less than mine.
i'm serious. i rarely get tickets for speeding, even though i speed all the time, but on those times when i can't talk my way out of it, i take it to traffic court. unlike harrie, i always win my case.
i can't believe that a right so many worked so hard for, that so many died for, hangs by a thread and the general attitude among the press and our elected officials is to shrug.
by the way, let me toss this out here. on a good day, i don't need junk in the e-mail. i've got three guys (yes, all men) who've written me. i'm not reading their crap. their names have never gone up here and i can't imagine that they have anything to say that i care to read so just go away boys. i'm glad you're packing, but i don't date little boys.
that especially goes to the idiot who kept writing me while i was on vacation and attempted to get my phone number from c.i. (c.i. didn't give it out.) you need to learn how to read. you're raving over how 'smart' and 'intelligent' i am (or were in your earlier e-mails) and, big dope, you're actually praising something c.i. thought up. that's noted here in the thing you read that you just felt made us 'kindred souls.' c.i. is too modest. c.i. should have told you, the big dope wrote c.i. after i didn't respond, 'uh, that's my idea you're praising.'
i have no idea why you think i'd want to date you but i don't. so go away.
that's for every 1 who writes with their nonsense.
if you're a reader, i love to hear from you. but i'm getting real tired of opening up e-mails from bloggers and others asking me my measurements and swearing that they get me, they really get me.
do i come off like sally field here? do i really sound like i care what some stranger thinks of me?
i'll note that when elaine noted, at the third estate sunday review, that my breasts were the largest (of any of the women doing sites in the community), e-mails started coming in from blogging fellows and their friends. so since the majority couldn't read well enough to tell when i wrote something or when i linked to something, i'll guess it was the breast citation from elaine.
yes, boys, i have big breasts. yes, boys, they are real. no, boys, i have no interest in meeting you.
you don't even attempt courtship before asking my measurements. not even what might pass for online courtship, 'rebecca i really like you and your mind and especially your big breasts. as my gift to you, i've linked to you.'
these boys are all about the slap and tickle. go away and play with your blow up dolls, you have nothing to offer a woman.
my readers know that i had an abortion last year. they know that i had 1 because of a disorder the child would have been born with which would have required the child to have multiple operations and even after all of that the life expectancy would have been short.
i take roe v. wade very seriously. and it's very hard for me not to be depressed when i think of women losing our right to make the decisions we decide are needed.
i'll keep putting something up every day and hopefully i'll be out of the funk shortly but i'm really upset and bothered by the lack of outrage on the part of our elected dems regarding harriet myers' survey.
in case anyone's asking 'what survey?':
Harriet Miers Openly Opposed Abortion in 1989
This news on Supreme Court nominee Harriet Miers: A document submitted to the Senate yesterday shows Miers previously expressed support for banning abortion. In 1989, when Miers was running for Dallas city council, she filled out a questionnaire that shows she advocated banning abortions except when necessary to save the life of the mother. Miers also said she would support legislation to ban abortions if the Supreme Court ruled states could do so, and would participate in "pro-life rallies and special events." The questionnaire was written by the group Texans United for Life. Democratic Senator Dianne Feinstein responded to the revelation by saying: "The answers clearly reflect that Harriet Miers is opposed to Roe v. Wade."
10/18/2005
harry, harry, harry
so it turns out harriet miers is anti-choice.
shocked!
simply shocked!
who would have known?
who could have known?
anyone not in a coma.
isn't it about time harry reid started finding something to say other than, 'you go, girl!' everytime harriet miers comes around?
he does realize that he's a democrat, doesn't he?
he does realize that it is his job to oppose anti-choice nominees, doesn't he?
of did the fact that the party made a huge mistake and picked an anti-choice democrat as a leader translate to him as 'screw reproductive rights, they want me for my anti-choice stance?"
it's sickening.
bendy buddy harry reid is no democrat's buddy if he can't find his spine. the drawing is by isaiah. one of his the world today just nuts comics.
hope everybody checked out beth's column at the common ills last night.
the common ills
harry reid
the world today just nuts
10/17/2005
torture
i hope everyone's checking out wally's site the daily jot. i love wally and not just because he's written me some of the nicest, most encouraging e-mails. he's a common ills member who got active and helped suggest links and other things. he's one of the active members who really help shape the community. so please check out his site.
sherry asked me which cd i liked better of the 2 we reviewed for 3rd estate sunday review?
it's hard because they're both beautiful cds, dolly parton's those were the days and the cowboy junkies early 21st century blues. but the 1 i've listened to repeatedly today was dolly's so that's my pick for today. on another day, it might be different. but that's my choice for today and i've included the picture of dolly's latest cd in this post.
i don't have much to say tonight but i do want to note a thing c.i. did:
The Sunday Herald (Scotland) had news and Ava was intending to report on it in "The Third Estate Sunday Review News Review" but everything came to a halt. (Another reason to focus on what's important, my opinion.) We'll cover it here.
Neil Mackay's "Britain sued for 'complicity' in torture:"
One of the world’s leading human rights lawyers is to sue Britain for its 'complicity' in the torture of terror suspects who have never been convicted of a crime.[. . .]
And the former American spy chief who devised a controversial scheme for snatching terror suspects and imprisoning them has criticised its use as a means of delivering them to US-friendly countries for torture.
The developments all focus on "extraordinary rendition flights", which take terror suspects abducted by the US from all over the world to countries such as Egypt, Morocco and Uzbekistan, where they are tortured.
In one case, Benyam Mohammed al-Habashi -- a British resident from Ethiopia -- was captured in Pakistan. He claims he was visited in prison by two MI6 officers after he was tortured by Pakistani interrogators, who told him that he was going to be sent to an undisclosed Arab nation for more torture.
Later, Habashi was flown to Morocco on one of the CIA's fleet of Gulfstream jets used in renditions. There he says he was subjected to appalling abuse, the worst of which involved his interrogators cutting his private parts with a scalpel.
[. . .]
Habashi's lawyer, Clive Stafford Smith, OBE, who is acclaimed in both the USA and UK for his human rights work, is now to sue Britain for breaching the Convention on Torture. Stafford Smith said: "The UK was complicit in this process. What happened to Benyam was morally wrong and stupid. People will say anything when you take a razor blade to their genitals."
That's the overview. Mackay has other articles on this that we're excerpting from. Former American spy chief? That's probably a good place to start. How did America get into the "extraordinary renditions" process? From "These two men are experts on rendition: one invented it, the other has seen its full horrors:"
IF there are two men in the world who know about "extraordinary renditions" then they are Michael Scheuer, the CIA chief who invented the programme, and Craig Murray, the UK ambassador to Uzbekistan who saw first-hand the devastating consequences for British intelligence of using renditions.
In exclusive interviews with the Sunday Herald they blew apart any justification for the rendition system, saying the US government deliberately refused to opt for a legal alternative to renditions which was presented to the President by the CIA and that the programme undermined Western democracy, damaged the prosecution of the war on terror and "contaminated British and US intelligence".Michael Scheuer
CIA officer and special adviser to the chief of the CIA's bin Laden department until November 2004
In 1995, in the wake of the 1993 car-bomb attack on the World Trade Centre in New York, Scheuer was the main CIA officer charged with hunting down Islamic terrorists believed to be posing a threat to the US. He was the "go-to guy" for all things al-Qaeda.
President Clinton's National Security Council had asked the CIA to break up al-Qaeda around the world and to arrest and imprison key operatives. "The Agency is a tool of the President so of course we said "yes"," Scheuer explains at his home near the CIA's HQ in Langley, Virginia. "We asked how we were to do it and where we were to take them, and they said "it's up to you"."
The CIA has no prisons and no powers of arrest, so Scheuer was presented with something of a problem. The programme of renditions he developed was very different to the system which now operates.
Today, anyone suspected of links to terrorism can be snatched anywhere in the world, put on a secret CIA jet and taken to a country, such as Egypt, for "out-sourced" torture.When Scheuer developed his programme he stipulated strictly that only suspects who had been tried in absentia for terrorist offences or had an outstanding arrest warrant were to be targeted. "They had to be part of some legal process," Scheuer says. "We were focusing on a very narrow segment of al-Qaeda. It was very delicate and complicated."
The target also had to be perceived as a direct threat to the US by the CIA and the department of justice and the country in which the person was to be seized had to support the action and carry out the arrest. Today there only has to be the suggestion they are involved in terrorism -- no convictions or warrants are needed, nor is the permission of another country.
Even more crucially, Scheuer's rendition programme stated that snatched suspects would be taken to the US as prisoners of war, protected by the Geneva Conventions. The Clinton administration, however, says Scheuer, forbade this, insisting instead on sending captives to whatever nation had tried them or had an outstanding warrant for them. "To give them PoW status would have given them credibility, in the eyes of the administration, and they didn't want that," Scheuer says.
Scheuer was in charge of the snatch operations from 1995, when the first target was seized, until June 1999. In that time, some 50 were captured. Since 9/11 there have been 150 to 200 snatches. "The primary intention was to get the guy off the streets so he couldn't carry out any more atrocities against US citizens," he says."Our second goal was to seize documents along with the suspect and exploit them for intelligence. Finally, we never expected to get anything from interrogations. Al-Qaeda are trained to fight the jihad from their jail cells , they are masters of counter-interrogation. They'll give you old information or false information. The CIA never felt it would help to torture these people."
So that's some of the history. (It's an excerpt. Read the full article.) Now let's focus on Mackay's "One victim's story" which gives a human face to the torture:
]
He laughed at them, and the Americans told him that if he didn't start talking, he'd be taken to an Arabic country and tortured. When they left, angry at his refusal to talk, the Pakistanis came into his cell. He was beaten with a belt and had a gun stuck in his chest. In comparison to what he was to go through later, this was nothing.After his beating, two MI6 officers came into the room. In a statement taken by Stafford Smith in Guantanamo Bay, Habashi says: "They gave me a cup of tea with a lot of sugar in it. I initially only took one. 'No, you need a lot more. Where you are going, you need a lot of sugar,' they said.
"I didn't know exactly what [the MI6 officer] meant by this, but I figured he meant some poor country in Arabia. One of them did tell me that I was going to get tortured by the Arabs."
This is the first time evidence has come forward to show British intelligence directly co-operating with torture – in this case the torture of a man claiming political asylum in the UK. Previously, the UK was thought only to have offered logistical support in the torture of terror suspects, allowing planes ferrying captives held by the Americans to regimes such as Egypt and Syria where they would be tortured, to refuel at airports such as Glasgow International.
The Pakistanis then gave al-Habashi to masked American soldiers. A report by Stafford Smith reads: "They stripped him naked, took photos, put fingers up his anus and dressed him in a tracksuit. He was shackled, had earphones put on, and was blindfolded. He was put into a plane." He landed in Morocco eight hours later.The Americans told al-Habashi that they wanted him to give evidence against Jose Padilla, an American who has been in custody awaiting trial for three and a half years, accused of planning to plant a "dirty bomb" in the US. They also wanted him to give evidence against senior al-Qaeda figures in captivity, including Abu Zubaydah, the number three in the terror organisation, and Khalid Sheikh Moh ammed, the mastermind of 9/11. The Americans told him they believed he was al-Qaeda's "ideas man" -- an accusation that Stafford Smith says is "beyond absurd".
Al-Habashi was then confronted with the Moroccan torture team. With a macabre flourish, some even wore bondage-type masks to give the torment an added mediaeval flavour. Stafford Smith says: "The British government was complicit in some of the abuse that took place against Benyam, at least to the extent that the government told the Moroccans information that they would then use against him in the torture sessions." The Moroccans knew about his personal fitness trainer, what grades he got at school, where he studied and where he lived.
Until now, it has never been alleged that British intelligence aided and abetted torture by passing information to interrogators, which was then used to question suspects. Lying in his cell, al-Habashi says in his statement: "I was not of this world. I did not believe this was real, that this was happening to me. It never, never crossed my mind that I'd end up being hauled half-way across the world by the Americans to face torture in a place I had never been -- Morocco."
Finally, (if there's a fifth story, I didn't notice it and neither did Ava), Mackay's "TORTURE FLIGHTS: THE INSIDE STORY:"
THEY could be walking the streets of Sweden, Italy, Albania, Indonesia or Pakistan. They are kidnapped in broad daylight, hooded, drugged, shackled and placed on a jet operated by the CIA. When they wake they find themselves in a country such as Morocco, Egypt or Uzbekistan -- where torture is the currency of the interrogation room. The CIA hand the captive to the local secret police, and the prisoner disappears off the face of the Earth. If they are lucky, they will emerge a few years later in a cage in Guantanamo Bay, broken by beatings, rape and electrocution ... if they are unlucky, they are never seen again.
America's "extraordinary rendition" programme targets suspected Islamic terrorists, captures and delivers them to US-friendly nations which are quite happy to use torture to get the information the US wants for the war on terror.
Neil Mackay's reporting matters. He and his paper (Scotland's Sunday Herald) deserve credit for covering this issue with something more than an occasional piece (the way the New York Times does the reporting of Raymond Bonner on this topic).
I'll add that Jose Padilla is an American citizen. He hasn't been given a trial after three years. We know that. We all know that (in this country). We can pretend we don't and we act like it's not happening but it is happening and, from Mackay's reporting, we know that some of the torture has been used to attempt to get information on Padilla. If after three years they've got no information that allows them to feel they have a winnable case, the government appears to have no case. Padilla should have been granted a trial years ago. The continued refusal to allow him to stand to trial is a shame on the country (United States).
For Bonnie, last evening's entries were "Reporting from outside the US mainstream media" and "Reporting from outside the US mainstream media focused on Iraq."
neil mackay
scotland sunday herald
torture
extraordinary rendition
the common ills
dolly parton
cowboy junkies
10/16/2005
wally's new site, the big rip off and a nature & science report
it's sunday. you're getting an entry. don't you feel lucky.
first off i'll note that wally has started his own site called the daily jot. you love wally, i love wally, check him out.
second, we're still at work on the third estate sunday review. we're about to take an extended break to get out of ava & c.i.'s way so that they can do one of their tv reviews. but we need to finish up a post. we want illustrations for that so we'll post them here and then carry them over to the third estate sunday review.
why are we so behind? the news review was halted before it was done. dona wanted to be sure c.i. was comfortable with continuing. why wouldn't c.i. be comfortable? because it appears c.i. may have been ripped off. (yes, martha, it would be by the person you hate.) (martha was the one who e-mailed third estate about the possible rip off.) c.i. was fine with it.
i know dona was surprised by that but c.i. can handle that junk. i don't doubt that c.i.'s more ticked off than we know but c.i. handles things like this differently. not by stuffing it down, but more along the lines of an edith wharton novel (as ava pointed out). to pull a c.i. 'translation' the rip off artist may find some doors closing in their face. like in a wharton novel, the character will never even see it coming until it's too late. so we took a long break during that because dona was worried.
if it had been me that was ripped off by that person (this would be 3 times now that the rip off has ripped off the common ills), i would be up in arms. but c.i.'s got more control and probably better social graces. the social graces are what will lead to doors closing for baby rip off. baby rip off has often ripped off others and screamed and yelled when called on it. c.i. won't go for a confrontation with baby rip off, c.i. will just ensure, via friends, that baby rip off finds that some of the once welcome homes no longer leave their porch lights on for baby rip off. all baby rip off had to do was say 'while reading the common ills this morning, it suddenly occurred to me that . . .' instead, as usual, baby rip off tries to act as though they invented the wheel.
baby rip off got away with it in the past. in some ways baby rip off will again. but in ways that matter, baby rip off's about to get the cold shoulder.
i had the misfortune of giving the report right after the break. it was so tense because everyone was pissed off except for c.i. and everyone thought c.i. was going to crack or something under the strain. (well, elaine knew better but mike was wondering if we'd even be able to turn out an edition.) dona and jim were saying 'there won't be any questions, c.i. will just go to you and then say thank you and move on to the last report to finish up.' i didn't think that would happen and it didn't. leave the tantrums to baby rip off, c.i.'s cool as a cucumber and can eat baby rip offs for breakfast.
here's my section of the third estate sunday review news review:
C.I.: Noted. That was Ava of The Third Estate Sunday Review. And note that was Ava's statement, so take it up with her or The Third Estate Sunday Review. I can guess who the person was but I haven't read the piece so I've made no statement on it. For myself, I'll state that I didn't do any "reporting," I merely listened to friends at The Times. Let's move on. Rebecca, of Sex and Politics and Screeds and Attitude.
Rebecca: In Japan, they're entertaining a plan to put microchips in "dangerous animals" such as crocodiles. AFP reports that in Australia, plans are in place to bring back the extinct Tasmanian tiger by using bones and teeth for cloning. The Irish Examiner reports that nine people in Turkey have been tested and released after no sign of bird flu was found in their systems. The nine lived in the area where Turkey's bird flu outbreak occurred. In Jefferson, Texas, almost four hundred people gathered for a conference on Big Foot. Australia's ABC reports that a German team believes that they have found a brain belonging to a Hobbit. United States researchers disagree. The Independent of London, on the same topic, reports that"at least nine more "hobbits" - a miniature species of human discovered two years ago - have been unearthed by scientists excavating the floor of a cave on a remote Indonesian island. "
C.I.: Rebecca, The Independent has a story on the measures England will take if they have a bird flu outbreak.
Rebecca: Right. Let me first note this from Geoffrey Lean and Severin Carrell in The Independent:
The likeliest scenario is that the mutation will take place in China and South-east Asia, and be carried to Britain by a passenger on a commercial flight. Professor Oxford warns it could arrive here just a day after beginning to spread widely in Asia.
No fully effective vaccine will be ready in Britain in time for the first wave. Instead, the Government is relying on building up stocks of anti-virals, like Tamiflu, which may blunt its effects. But Britain dithered last March in ordering the drug, which means that it will not have enough if the pandemic arrives in the next year.
Rebecca (con't): The article you're referring to is also by Geoffrey Lean, "Schools to close and sport banned if bird flu hits." From that article:
The plans allow for: closing schools, theatres and public buildings; cancelling mass gatherings such as sporting fixtures; suspending international flights from infected countries; deploying police to deal with public disorder; setting up special centres to dispense the anti-viral drug Tamiflu; and encouraging people to observe basic hygiene.
Rebecca (con't): Here in the United States, Bully Boy continues to push the "turn it over to the military!" nonsense and we don't appear to be any closer to a plan of response.
C.I.: Thank you, Rebecca. Due to the time we used on The Times, we're running short so Betty of Thomas Friedman is a Great Man and Kat of Kat's Corner will do a joint entertainment report. Betty, why don't you start.
the third estate sunday review
like maria said paz
mikey likes it
sex and politics and screeds and attitude
thomas friedman is a great man
kats korner
the daily jot
the common ills
first off i'll note that wally has started his own site called the daily jot. you love wally, i love wally, check him out.
second, we're still at work on the third estate sunday review. we're about to take an extended break to get out of ava & c.i.'s way so that they can do one of their tv reviews. but we need to finish up a post. we want illustrations for that so we'll post them here and then carry them over to the third estate sunday review.
why are we so behind? the news review was halted before it was done. dona wanted to be sure c.i. was comfortable with continuing. why wouldn't c.i. be comfortable? because it appears c.i. may have been ripped off. (yes, martha, it would be by the person you hate.) (martha was the one who e-mailed third estate about the possible rip off.) c.i. was fine with it.
i know dona was surprised by that but c.i. can handle that junk. i don't doubt that c.i.'s more ticked off than we know but c.i. handles things like this differently. not by stuffing it down, but more along the lines of an edith wharton novel (as ava pointed out). to pull a c.i. 'translation' the rip off artist may find some doors closing in their face. like in a wharton novel, the character will never even see it coming until it's too late. so we took a long break during that because dona was worried.
if it had been me that was ripped off by that person (this would be 3 times now that the rip off has ripped off the common ills), i would be up in arms. but c.i.'s got more control and probably better social graces. the social graces are what will lead to doors closing for baby rip off. baby rip off has often ripped off others and screamed and yelled when called on it. c.i. won't go for a confrontation with baby rip off, c.i. will just ensure, via friends, that baby rip off finds that some of the once welcome homes no longer leave their porch lights on for baby rip off. all baby rip off had to do was say 'while reading the common ills this morning, it suddenly occurred to me that . . .' instead, as usual, baby rip off tries to act as though they invented the wheel.
baby rip off got away with it in the past. in some ways baby rip off will again. but in ways that matter, baby rip off's about to get the cold shoulder.
i had the misfortune of giving the report right after the break. it was so tense because everyone was pissed off except for c.i. and everyone thought c.i. was going to crack or something under the strain. (well, elaine knew better but mike was wondering if we'd even be able to turn out an edition.) dona and jim were saying 'there won't be any questions, c.i. will just go to you and then say thank you and move on to the last report to finish up.' i didn't think that would happen and it didn't. leave the tantrums to baby rip off, c.i.'s cool as a cucumber and can eat baby rip offs for breakfast.
here's my section of the third estate sunday review news review:
C.I.: Noted. That was Ava of The Third Estate Sunday Review. And note that was Ava's statement, so take it up with her or The Third Estate Sunday Review. I can guess who the person was but I haven't read the piece so I've made no statement on it. For myself, I'll state that I didn't do any "reporting," I merely listened to friends at The Times. Let's move on. Rebecca, of Sex and Politics and Screeds and Attitude.
Rebecca: In Japan, they're entertaining a plan to put microchips in "dangerous animals" such as crocodiles. AFP reports that in Australia, plans are in place to bring back the extinct Tasmanian tiger by using bones and teeth for cloning. The Irish Examiner reports that nine people in Turkey have been tested and released after no sign of bird flu was found in their systems. The nine lived in the area where Turkey's bird flu outbreak occurred. In Jefferson, Texas, almost four hundred people gathered for a conference on Big Foot. Australia's ABC reports that a German team believes that they have found a brain belonging to a Hobbit. United States researchers disagree. The Independent of London, on the same topic, reports that"at least nine more "hobbits" - a miniature species of human discovered two years ago - have been unearthed by scientists excavating the floor of a cave on a remote Indonesian island. "
C.I.: Rebecca, The Independent has a story on the measures England will take if they have a bird flu outbreak.
Rebecca: Right. Let me first note this from Geoffrey Lean and Severin Carrell in The Independent:
The likeliest scenario is that the mutation will take place in China and South-east Asia, and be carried to Britain by a passenger on a commercial flight. Professor Oxford warns it could arrive here just a day after beginning to spread widely in Asia.
No fully effective vaccine will be ready in Britain in time for the first wave. Instead, the Government is relying on building up stocks of anti-virals, like Tamiflu, which may blunt its effects. But Britain dithered last March in ordering the drug, which means that it will not have enough if the pandemic arrives in the next year.
Rebecca (con't): The article you're referring to is also by Geoffrey Lean, "Schools to close and sport banned if bird flu hits." From that article:
The plans allow for: closing schools, theatres and public buildings; cancelling mass gatherings such as sporting fixtures; suspending international flights from infected countries; deploying police to deal with public disorder; setting up special centres to dispense the anti-viral drug Tamiflu; and encouraging people to observe basic hygiene.
Rebecca (con't): Here in the United States, Bully Boy continues to push the "turn it over to the military!" nonsense and we don't appear to be any closer to a plan of response.
C.I.: Thank you, Rebecca. Due to the time we used on The Times, we're running short so Betty of Thomas Friedman is a Great Man and Kat of Kat's Corner will do a joint entertainment report. Betty, why don't you start.
the third estate sunday review
like maria said paz
mikey likes it
sex and politics and screeds and attitude
thomas friedman is a great man
kats korner
the daily jot
the common ills
10/13/2005
senator meow meow, new tribe ministries
loving the e-mails and beatrice, a lot of people remember your lucky from the diet coke ads.
corrie e-mails to gripe about johnny depp getting so many votes and feels that's only because 'he's been in every damn movie for the last 5 years.' that may be true but it's also true that corrie didn't vote. sorry but if you don't weigh in, you've got no right to complain after.
i'll also i loved c.i.'s post last night. sherry did too but wrote asking where the title was? it doesn't have a title which probably means c.i. was hurrying to get to bed and didn't notice that there was no title.
let me do a thing from democracy now since elaine can't post tonight and mike wants to get the word out on the show.
SEC Subpoenas Frist’s Financial Records
The Securities and Exchange Commission has subpoenaed Senate Majority Leader Dr. Bill Frist to hand over personal financial records related to his recent sale of stock in his family’s company HCA, the Hospital Corporation of America. The SEC is investigating whether Frist violated insider trader laws when he sold off HCA stock shortly before the company’s stock value fell. HCA is the largest private hospital corporation in the country.
senator meow-meow just keeps having problems. i hear a lot of talk with people speculating that the long arm of the law finally got wise but my friend thereze swears that what happened is that bully boy doesn't want frist to run for president in 2008 and is clearing the field for jeb or some 1 else.
whatever the reason, somewhere millions of cats are celebrating with a big ball of yarn.
i hope everyone saw mike's interview with tracey yesterday. if you didn't here's a taste of it where tracey's talking about her grandmother ruth:
She puts in the time for it. How proud is everyone of Ruth?
We are so proud of her. She was really sad after my grandfather died and that was hard to see because I don't think I'd seen her sad before. Not like that. They were married a long time and they really loved each other so it was really hard on her to lose him. It was hard on all of us but after a few weeks, I think everyone was just concerned about her. She's a great cook and we all go over on Sundays but we all go over during the week. You can't step through the door without her asking if you're hungry and whipping you up something. But she wasn't eating that much and she lost a lot of weight. It was really hard on her. She took it real hard.
ruth is wonderful and her voice is a really important 1 to me. i got to meet her face to face and tracey as well when we were all in d.c. for the protests at the end of september. tracey's got a strong family and ruth's 1 of the reasons. i also got to meet ruth's best friend, her life long friend treva, who ruth always says i remind her of. i will take that as a supreme compliment because treva rocks.
be sure to read c.i.'s 'other items' for today because i knew nothing about new tribe ministries but i get the feeling there's going to be a push by the anti-hugo chavez faction to use the expelling of the group as evidence of chavez being evil. the group is very fishy and has a long history in venezuela. i spent about 3 hours today hunting down information and they're connected to corporations who just happen to donate to them and then the 'missionaires' just happen to end up stationed in areas where there are materials that the corporations who sponsor them are in. there is a great deal to be found about them and c.i.'s right this is public record, just not in this country.
so watch to see if the new york times or any 1 else tries to paint them as a poor, put upon group. there's a lot more going on.
and to seth i say, 'blog when you can, seth.' if you miss a day, you miss a day. it's not the end of world. when you're new it does help you get more readers if you're blogging every day but if you are in it for the long haul it doesn't matter. so just keep blogging and don't beat yourself up for things you can't control. seth writes seth in the city and if you haven't checked it out, you should.
and let me note elaine who found a cartoon by isaiah that i didn't. i thought i was hunting down most of them yesterday but she found irma la dunce and i so wish i had found that 1.
the common ills
like maria said paz
ruths morning edition report
democracy now
seth in the city
the world today just nuts
bill frist
senator meow meow
mikey likes it
corrie e-mails to gripe about johnny depp getting so many votes and feels that's only because 'he's been in every damn movie for the last 5 years.' that may be true but it's also true that corrie didn't vote. sorry but if you don't weigh in, you've got no right to complain after.
i'll also i loved c.i.'s post last night. sherry did too but wrote asking where the title was? it doesn't have a title which probably means c.i. was hurrying to get to bed and didn't notice that there was no title.
let me do a thing from democracy now since elaine can't post tonight and mike wants to get the word out on the show.
SEC Subpoenas Frist’s Financial Records
The Securities and Exchange Commission has subpoenaed Senate Majority Leader Dr. Bill Frist to hand over personal financial records related to his recent sale of stock in his family’s company HCA, the Hospital Corporation of America. The SEC is investigating whether Frist violated insider trader laws when he sold off HCA stock shortly before the company’s stock value fell. HCA is the largest private hospital corporation in the country.
senator meow-meow just keeps having problems. i hear a lot of talk with people speculating that the long arm of the law finally got wise but my friend thereze swears that what happened is that bully boy doesn't want frist to run for president in 2008 and is clearing the field for jeb or some 1 else.
whatever the reason, somewhere millions of cats are celebrating with a big ball of yarn.
i hope everyone saw mike's interview with tracey yesterday. if you didn't here's a taste of it where tracey's talking about her grandmother ruth:
She puts in the time for it. How proud is everyone of Ruth?
We are so proud of her. She was really sad after my grandfather died and that was hard to see because I don't think I'd seen her sad before. Not like that. They were married a long time and they really loved each other so it was really hard on her to lose him. It was hard on all of us but after a few weeks, I think everyone was just concerned about her. She's a great cook and we all go over on Sundays but we all go over during the week. You can't step through the door without her asking if you're hungry and whipping you up something. But she wasn't eating that much and she lost a lot of weight. It was really hard on her. She took it real hard.
ruth is wonderful and her voice is a really important 1 to me. i got to meet her face to face and tracey as well when we were all in d.c. for the protests at the end of september. tracey's got a strong family and ruth's 1 of the reasons. i also got to meet ruth's best friend, her life long friend treva, who ruth always says i remind her of. i will take that as a supreme compliment because treva rocks.
be sure to read c.i.'s 'other items' for today because i knew nothing about new tribe ministries but i get the feeling there's going to be a push by the anti-hugo chavez faction to use the expelling of the group as evidence of chavez being evil. the group is very fishy and has a long history in venezuela. i spent about 3 hours today hunting down information and they're connected to corporations who just happen to donate to them and then the 'missionaires' just happen to end up stationed in areas where there are materials that the corporations who sponsor them are in. there is a great deal to be found about them and c.i.'s right this is public record, just not in this country.
so watch to see if the new york times or any 1 else tries to paint them as a poor, put upon group. there's a lot more going on.
and to seth i say, 'blog when you can, seth.' if you miss a day, you miss a day. it's not the end of world. when you're new it does help you get more readers if you're blogging every day but if you are in it for the long haul it doesn't matter. so just keep blogging and don't beat yourself up for things you can't control. seth writes seth in the city and if you haven't checked it out, you should.
and let me note elaine who found a cartoon by isaiah that i didn't. i thought i was hunting down most of them yesterday but she found irma la dunce and i so wish i had found that 1.
the common ills
like maria said paz
ruths morning edition report
democracy now
seth in the city
the world today just nuts
bill frist
senator meow meow
mikey likes it
10/12/2005
the poll
so this post started the poll (a photo of paul walker and his sexy nips). beatrice wrote me and here's what i noted then:
beatrice says paul walker is her's and her's alone. she said it's his butt that's his best feature and she would make him get down on all 4s and she'd ride him around her condo. beatrice, despite the arguing over who has dibs on paul, you sound like an interesting gal!
she just discovered paul walker in the lead up to this film, into the blue, coming out so i'll do her a solid and steer her towards joy ride which features some lovely shots of paul walker's butt.
beatrice wanted me to do a survey so here's her question. paul walker has to make out with a hot guy in front of you. you get to pick the guy. who do you pick? and is paul a pitcher or a catcher or versitile?
here are the results. i had 76 responses on this (not counting the tom welling freaks).
51 of you said paul would be the bottom. some said 'because he's so sensitive' but sherry came right out and said the obvious 'he'd be a lover if he knew what it felt like to be screwed.' exactly sherry. 8 said he would be both the the bottom and the top (like a cole porter song, i'm guessing). 6 of you said 'total top' with carrie saying 'he's got that don't piss me off look.'
so who would he top? the most popular choice? billy baldwin. i had no idea any 1 even knew who billy was anymore but i went through some old clippings and pulled out some photos that i thought would express billy the morning after paul walker laid some pipe. he's the guy in the towel staring in the mirror. who would top paul walker? you're favorite choice was johnny depp with sherry saying 'i'd love to see that, see depp pound walker's fine ass.'
beatrice weighed in as well. she's retired and she said the diet coke guy is who she would pair paul walker with and that she's like to see him lick the guy's arm pits. i hope i found a good picture for you beatrice.
we had 10 guys participate which surprised me because i would have thought since it was a question about men, more would have. the guys, 8 of them, went with steve zahn who did the movie joy ride with paul walker. derek even e-mailed me that there was a great story online about them as a couple but he didn't include the link!
so those were the results. we'll do another sex poll soon on another topic. paul walker's hot so maybe he'll be in that 1 too. maybe we'll try to match him up with famous women. beatrice asked if i thought he had the best nips and i do think he has sexy nips but i'd need to really reflect on that before answering.
i'll also thank you to seth for noting the photos and for his support. seth in the city is a great site if you haven't checked it out. if you have, you don't need me to tell you that.
no apologies and isaiah resource
first off, c.i. did not bother me by including me last night. if you missed it, there was a big pow-wow among members of the community who have their own sites, gina & krista and beth. gina & krista's round-robin poll was very clear that members felt some sites were not helpful to the community. it wasn't the vote that convinced c.i. but the examples offered. so you saw a lot of them dropped last night.
i was glad to participate in that especially since the non-linking to me was 1 of the things that pissed c.i. off the most. i didn't bring the issue up to c.i. because i didn't want c.i. to feel caught in the middle. i had told elaine about for weeks before i went on vacation. while i was on vacation, elaine cleaned up my blog roll and i appreciate that. i didn't ask her to. but i appreciate that she did it.
elaine also explained to c.i. why it happened.
i was happy to promote any 1 and to listen to their problems but this 'please link to me!!!!' with no return links after i did. and every 3rd reply to an e-mail i would say, 'hey lady, what happened with the link' and at 1st it would be 'oh i'm going to do it' and then after awhile it would be 'well you're not really the sort of blog that i link to.' oh excuse the hell out of me.
here i am being supportive and listening to whines about how mean male bloggers are and wasting time reassuring you that you should keep blogging and the whole time you just want a link but don't want to give 1 because i'm not your sort of blog.
so elaine pulled them while i was on vacation and thank you to elaine for that.
i didn't want to deal with it. i didn't ask her to pull them but she's always got my back.
and she told c.i. who waited until i was back and settled in to bring it up because i went through a depressing period, as you all know, over roberts' confirmation. c.i. would just be silly on the phone then and try to cheer me up. but when i was back to my old self, c.i. asked what the hell happened. i read the e-mails to c.i.
c.i. was already dealing with 1 jerk who had insulted isaiah and hurt isaiah's feelings. isaiah never did a thing to this jerk and actually visited the jerk's site. then 1 day he goes there and the jerk's trashing isaiah. if that had been a stranger and not some 1 who always wanted to play 'friend of the community' it wouldn't have mattered.
but it bothered isaiah and it should have. isaiah's not paid to do those illustrations, he does them to contribute to the community. i think they're great. and isaiah would have been fine with people not liking them. but to go to a site that's supposedly a friend of the community and read that your stuff not's that great and the guy says he doesn't usually even like them but here's one he'll post. of course he'd post it, he steals from every site. the common ills has their own cartoonist and so of course he'll swipe that too. all he knew was that it was drawn by a member. he didn't know that the member's favorite site outside the community was this guy's site.
the world today just nuts is funny. but i guess it made someone feel important to trash isaiah.
it would be like being a big fan of the rolling stones and then going to a concert and hearing mick jagger dis you on stage. i talked to isaiah about it and so did betty (and betty delinked from the jerk immediately she knows how hard the creative process is) and we kept saying, 'tell c.i. how you're feeling.' but isaiah kept it inside and it got to the point that he couldn't even draw 1 for a bit and that's when i spoke to c.i. and said 'isaiah is not okay with that and that's why there's no cartoon.'
it had nothing to do with isaiah it had to do with some 1 trying to play both sides. so publicly at their site they would say they didn't like isaiah or the common ills or just ignore the common ills and then they'd write into c.i. 'great post and i have something on it too' and people in the community noticed especially natalie who had enjoyed the site before that nonsense.
c.i. never goes to sites, there's not any time. so when the e-mails started coming in on it, c.i. was thinking people were taking offense to something that was really minor. then billie and another member did their survey of the site to see how often the common ills was mentioned there? not at all. but every week or every other it was send in an e-mail with 'great post and i've got this and could you link to it' and not only that, a common ills member gave data for a report that person was working on. and that member was so offended by this nonsense that he asked that that the data go to mike which is why it started popping up there instead.
c.i. could care less and left the matter to isaiah. if isaiah wanted it gone, it would be gone. isaiah tried to blow it off but it really did bother him that some 1 who played like they were a friend of the community would then make a point to slam him.
in the end, he told c.i. not to pull the link but that he'd just stop drawing the comic. c.i. said that was bullshit, that the site was gone and for isaiah to keep drawing the world today just nuts. the person wanted links from the community but then wanted to play like he didn't read the common ills at his own site. he also made the mistake of laughing at another blogger's problems to c.i. and c.i. didn't care for that. i got a call when that came in because there were a number of people doing that. c.i. asked me what i thought and explained that there was no friendship between them and it seemed like it crossed a line. c.i. was not trashing the person in question and was wondering why the jerk thought an e-mail trashing the person would be funny?
(i've just put isaiah's take on john bolton at the top of this post. it's one of my many favorites.)
so c.i. did the generic response that went out to all the people laughing that said 'i'm sorry if __ is having problems and i don't with ___ any harm.' but that was probably the beginning of the end for the guy. c.i. stopped noting the guy except when the guy would e-mail and then c.i. would do the cheerful, high road pose and note it but the guy is creepy.
on another topic, i got 15 e-mails today from people i've never heard from before all asking who the friend is that c.i. wrote the note to. oh yeah guys, they were all men, i'm going to tell. and like dates from hell, not even a compliment or a bit of blogger foreplay. no 'i really like your site.'
not even a hello. just 'i think it's ____ am i right?'
but for my real readers, i do have the results of the poll. that's what i was going to write about yesterday and was in the middle of when c.i. called. that's why i posted the photos yesterday.
if you'll remember beatrice had a question and i'll do 2 entries tonight 1 that's just the results of the polling we did for beatrice's questions. i've had a lot of fun with this post, going through all of isaiah's the world today just nuts comics i could find. i had no idea he'd done so many. he really is talented. and makes a huge contribution to the community so thank you isaiah. you can read an interview with him that the third estate sunday review did by clicking here.
the common ills
like maria said paz
isaiah
the world today just nuts
thomas friedman is a great man
mikey likes it
the third estate sunday review
10/11/2005
10/10/2005
3rd estate sunday review's new review
i wanted to post something here (and have it below) but i thought i'd do that before my entry. i can't believe how everything ran together. i'm going to steal from c.i. and not do italics or anything else.
"The Third Estate Sunday Review News Review 10-09-05"
C.I.: Welcome to The Third Estate Sunday Review News Review 10-09-05. The news review is the brainchild of The Third Estate Sunday Review's Dona and we do it in one hour time frame. This is rough transcript. We'll have reports on nature and the environment, entertainment news, a commentary on Bully Boy's latest chat buddy and news on what's happened to The Smurfs. I'm not kidding on that last item. This is a news review for the left. First up, Iraq. We begin with Mike of Mikey Likes It!
Mike: In Baghdad, a killing spree is taking place and Hala Jaber of The Sunday Times of London reports that speculation is the killings are linked to the Iraqi police force. The speculation is that "ethnic cleansing" is going on and that Sunnis in the Shi'ite neighborhoods, specifically Sunni men married to Shi'ite women are being killed. Claims of "insurgents" being targeted are weak when you consider that one of the men assassinated, Najah al-Rassam, worked for "interior ministry’s Maghaweer special police force." al-Rassam was pulled from his bed by the police, taken to the Badr Brigade for confirmation and then killed.
C.I.: To jump in here for a moment, the Badr Brigade is the paramilitary group of the Supreme Council for the Islamic Revolution in Iraq. They've been accused, including by Allawi, of killing intelligent officers at the behest of Iran. While Saddam Hussein ruled Iran, the Badr Brigade was stationed in Iran, a composition of Iraqi exiles, but they returned to Iraq following the 2003 invasion. Along with the report you're addressing, they've also been accused of targeting British troops. How many Sunnis have been reported killed?
Mike: 22. And they were not turned over to their families. The 22 bodies were found in the desert, wrists still restrained by handcuffs, plastic and metal, or ropes. There are concerns that a civil war is emerging. The 22 men were all blindfolded and had been killed via gunshots. The bodies were dumped in the desert and that's something that should be concerned whenever reports come out of a newly discovered group of bodies. A total of 539 bodies have been found at present. The tensions come as Iraq prepares to vote on their constitutional referendum and measures are being imposed including curfews and border closings as the election approaches.
C.I.: Thank you, Mike. Now we go to Cedric of Cedric's Big Mix with further thoughts on the Iraqi Constitution.
Cedric: At Iraq Dispatches, Dahr Jamail has posted "Open Letter to Amnesty International on the Iraqi Constitution." In the letter, an Iraqi writes:
To hold the election, thousands of people were killed and the entire city ofFallujah was demolished. Now, what is needed to impose a constitution? A civil war ?
Cedric (con't): The letter questions the assumption that a constitution is currently needed considering both the process under which it was written and the upcoming elections in the face of the current climatethat finds Iraq on what appears to be the brink of civil war. Will the constitution provide more than a photo op? How are Iraqis being helped by the push for the constitution? Also noted is an article from The Guardian, by Haifa Zangana, that attempts to remind people this constitution is being written in a war zone and is on imposed timeline that is coming from outside of Iraq. The article also notes that:
Just a few weeks ago, a highly significant judicial decision, comprising more than 130 pages, was handed down by the German Federal Administrative Court. With careful reasoning, the judges ruled that the assault launched by the United States and its allies against Iraq was a clear war of aggression that violated international law. The occupation itself constitutes the gravest violation of human rights and dignity. The legitimacy and autonomy of this government, installed and completely controlled by the US occupation forces after an illegal and illegitimate war of aggression, is not only challenged by a large part of the Iraqi population, but also by the international peace movement and international lawyers.
Cedric (con't): The constitution, if passed, will not provide Iraqis with any means to address the violations and war crimes that have taken place in Iraq under the occupation or by the occupying forces.
C.I.: Thank you, Cedric. The open letter is from the Brussels Tribunal which was one of the groups participating in this summer's World Tribunal on Iraq. The Brussels Tribunal also has addressed what the two British intel agents may have been doing in Basra when they captured last month. The two, attempting to pass for Arabs, were stopped by Basra police and found with weapons including explosives. That hasn't been addressed in the United States but in Scotland and other nations, it has made the news. More information on this can be found in "The Salvador Option exposed. Who's Blowing Up Iraq? New evidence shows that bombs are being planted by British in Basra" at the Brussels Tribunal Organization. Now we go to Jess of The Third Estate Sunday Review with an update on the unrelated threat announcement of last week, Operation Scare The Hell Out Of America.
Jess: Operation Scare The Hell Out Of America has not gone over as well as some might have hoped. The terror alert, which came just as Bully Boy began once again linking the occupation of Iraq with 9/11, is being questioned after unquestioning acceptance. Michael Weissenstein reports for the Associated Press of the alleged threat to NYC subways that "Almost as soon as the threat was made public, officials in Washington began talking it down, and Homeland Security still downplayed the threat Saturday." In D.C. the Washington Monument was closed for two hours on Friday due to an alleged bomb threat. After police searched and found nothing, the Washington Monument was reopened. Operation Scare The Hell Out of America has led to many stories being ignored such as the fact that the library group whose records are sought under the Patriot Act are still under gag order as a result of the Supreme Court denying their appeal. New opponents to the Patriot Act include the U.S. Chamber of Commerce and the National Association of Manufacturers.
C.I.: Jess, this comes as two bills are working their way through Congress.
Jess: Correct. A provision in the original Patriot Act, added due to concerns on the part of some lawmakers, would have certain aspects of the legislation sunset out. As the expiration date approaches, there is a push for renewal. In the House, the renewal of components that would otherwise be phased out would renew them for ten years. The Senate version would renew them for four years.
C.I.: Republican Bob Barr's group is favoring the Senate version as the lesser of the two evils.
Jess: I hadn't found anything on that. I did find that, no surprise, Alberto Gonzales is favoring the House version. Business groups now coming out against the Patriot Act have spoken of the fact that we are no longer under threat which may offer additional explanations for the launch of Operation Scare The Hell Out of America.
C.I.: Thank you, Jess. We now go to Elaine with commentary on Bully Boy's new chat buddy, Elaine of Like Maria Said Paz.
Elaine: Scotland's The Herald delves further into the claim by Bully Boy George W. Bush that God speaks to him. Palestinian Information Minister Nabil Shaath asserts that in June of 2003, Bully Boy explained his conversations with the Lord Jesus Christ who speaks back or possibly, like Diane Keaton says in Love & Death, Bully Boy does "both parts"?William Tinning notes that Bully Boy claims: "God would tell me . . . George, go and fight those terrorists in Afghanistan. And I did. And then God would tell me . . . George, go and end the tyranny in Iraq. And I did."If Bully Boy is indeed hearing voices the two most likely explanations are as follows. One, William Kristol and Robert Kagan's gentle whispers have been mistaken by Bully Boy for the voice of God. Two, the strange behavior that's included numerous falls and stumbles that put the klutzy experiences of Gerald Ford to shame, despite little commentary from the press, and the psychosis claim of hearing God speak to him are signs of a serious illness that goes beyond the mere delusions many have abscribed to the Bully Boy.
C.I.: Elaine, there are people who feel that they get signs from various religious figures. What's the difference between that and what you're reporting on Bully Boy?
Elaine: Good question. It's not uncommon for people to look for or ask for a sign from above when they're making a decision. It can be a big decision or a small one. But that's not uncommon. It's not uncommon for someone to state that they feel the presence of a higher power around them. These issues go to faith and how one practices a faith. With Bully Boy, we're not hearing that. With him, we're hearing, from Shaath, that he speaks and then he hears the Lord speak back. That is not a sign, that is not feeling God around you. That is claiming that you, and apparently you alone, are speaking one on one with the Lord. That is psychosis. If it's true. Not just if Shaath is retelling what he was told accurately, but also if Bully Boy was being genuine -- always a big if. This is very serious and the press, in this country, hasn't given it the attention it deserves. Another take on it, one that Mike offered this week, at his site Mikey Likes It!, that Bully Boy's pushing the responsibility of the decisions he made off onto God. That's a likely explanation as well because, as a personality type, Bully Boy does not take responsibility for his actions. Nothing that happens has ever been his fault, in his mind, by his public statements. It's always someone else. The Not So Swift Floaties launch their attacks on John Kerry and Bully Boy acts as though he's not responsible. John McCain is targeted in 2000 and Bully Boy acts as though he's not responsible. He's arrested for a DUI and isn't honest about that while running for the United States Congress and years later will offer that he had to keep quiet because of his children, his children that, as you have pointed out, weren't even born then. There's nothing in the public record that speaks of personal accountability on his part. So it's hardly surprising that with him in a leadership role, we'd have the least accountable administration/government in recent history. The White House has denied that Bully Boy made the remarks about talking to God and God talking back.The domestic, mainstream press has not touched this story in any real manner. Possibly they're worried about offending people of faith. This isn't an issue of faith. This is a medical sympton and he needs to be asked on the record to explain or refute the remarks.
C.I.: Thank you Elaine. With entertainment news, we go to Betty of Thomas Friedman is a Great Man. Betty, I understand that you suspect someone in the oval office has been checking out ABC's fall lineup?
Betty: Correct. The question to ask is: Has Condi Rice been watching Commander-in-Chief, ABC's drama starring Geena Davis as a vice-president who becomes president after the office holder dies? As she departs for a trip that will take her to Afghanistan and throughout Asia, the Sunday Times of London reports, via anonymice, that although Rice won't run for president, she is interested in the vice-presidential post. Always the handmaiden, never the leader. Saturday, playwright August Wilson was buriedin Pittsburg which was both the setting for nine of Wilson's plays as well as the town he grew up in. Wilson, who had announced in August that he was suffering from terminal liver cancer, died October 2nd. As we noted in August, the African-American playwright's ten play cycle won much praise and many awards. In an e-mail, Common Ills community member Keesha asked that I note Ma Rainey's Black Bottom as a masterpiece of the 20th century. The TV channel Al-Jazeera has added TV veteran David Frost to their lineup and he will join them this spring.Ted Koppel will be leaving Nightline at Thanksgiving and not, as assumed, on December 4th when his contract expires. Finally, I'll note that Jennifer Lopez is currently filming Bordertown in which she will play a reporter investigating the murders and disappearances of women in Juarez.
C.I.: Lopez's co-star in that is Antonio Banderas, correct?
Betty: Correct. This will be their first onscreen teaming. The role is thought to be a return to the sort of strong role that Lopez played in Out of Sight opposite George Clooney who, since I have a few more seconds, is planning to produce a live, TV version of Network, the seventies film that took a look at the television news industry and is famous for the phrase, "I'm mad as hell and I'm not going to take it anymore!"
C.I.: Thank you, Betty. More information on the murders in Juarez can be found at Eve Ensler's V-Day. V-Day has been shining a light on that issue for some time. We now go to Rebecca, of Sex and Politics and Screeds and Attitude, with news from the world of nature.
Rebecca: C.I., tracking the melting of the polar caps will be more difficult as a result of CryoSat crashing into the ocean. CryoSat was a $224 million satellite launced to measure the thickness of the polar caps but it never went into orbit and instead is believed to have crashed in the North Pole region, into the Lincoln Sea. Some reports express the belief that it came apart in space before crashing to the earth. Regardless, the tracking transmitter was not thought to be working. Meanwhile, Canada's CBC reports that outbreaks of bird flu have been found in Romania and Turkey. Want to ride a camel in Australia? Take along a "poo bag." Australia's ABC reports that "the amount of camel dung" on Cable Beach has become an issue and "poo bags" are now required. The think tank Worldwatch Institute, speaking at the 18th World Petroleum Congress, declared that fossil fuels were becoming a thing of the past and that the oil executives in attendance should ask themselves if they were "in the oil business or the energy business." In other energy news, America get ready to get your war on harder. Oil sands in the far noth of Canada are thought to contain "the equivalent of 1.7 trillion barrels of oil." Kevin G. Hall's report for Knight Ridder also notes that "Canada already quietly has surpassed Saudi Arabia as the United States' largest foreign supplier of crude oil and petroleum products."The Independent of London's Geoffrey Lean reports that genetically modified crops pollute the ground for "up to fifteen years after" harvesting. Of the study and its impact, Lean notes, "Financed by GM companies and Margaret Beckett's Department of the Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, the report effectively torpedoes the Government's strategy for introducing GM oilseed rape to this country."
C.I.: Thank you, Rebecca. For a grab bag of items not covered elsewhere, we go to The Third Estate Sunday Review's Ava.
Ava: C.I., following up on Rebecca's look at the environment, I'll begin by noting that a mudslide is thought to have killed 1400 people in Guatemala. Mario Cruz, spokesman for the Fire Brigrade, has stated that there are no survivors. India, Pakistan and Afghanistan have been rocked by an earthquake that's thought to have killed 1800 people in Pakistan alone, with 300 people thought to be dead in India. With regards to Afghanistan, Scotland's Sunday Herald reports that: "Given the remoteness of so many communities it may take weeks to know the full death toll. " The Sunday Times of London has an excerpt from James Yee's book For God and Country: Faith and Patriotism Under Fire. Yee, a Muslim chaplain at Guantanamo Bay, was falsely accused by the United States government of espionage, charges that were bandied about by various news outlets who assisted the government in smearing Yee. The book is his response and offers an inside look at conditions in Guantamao Bay. As noted by the International Federation of Journalists, workers at Canada's CBC have ended their fifty day walk-out and appear victorious in contract talks. Finally, what's happened to TV's The Smurfs since the animated cartoon stopped production of new episodes? Canada's The Windsor Star reports that, in a new cartoon put out by UNICEF, the village the animated cartoon characters reside in is destroyed by bombs dropped by war planes.
C.I.: Thank you, Ava for including the promised update on The Smurfs. The reason for the cartoon?
Ava: Unicef is attempting to raise awareness on the victims of bombings. The cartoon has already began airing in Belgium.
C.I.: Thank you. For our final report, on the world of music, we go to Kat of Kat's Corner (of The Common Ills). Kat?
Kat: This week, check your local listings, PBS will air a documentary on funk master and pioneer George Clinton on Independent Lens. Saturday's broadcast of The Laura Flanders Show featured a discussion on this documentary in the third hour. In other news, the Beastie Boys are denying rumors of a breakup. November 8th sees the release of the group's first hits collection entitled Solid Gold Hits. The Black Eyed Peas will be performing a free concert as part of Honda Civic Live that will take place October 22nd and 23rd. The Independent of London has a wide ranging interview with Carly Simon entitled "Carly Simon: Boho Queen" where Carly discusses breast cancer, meeting Mick Jagger, marriage to James Taylor, her current marriage to poet Jim Hart, and various other topics including Joni Mitchell. Carly's Moonlight Serenade is released in England Monday. Stevie Wonder, who played harmonica on "As Time Goes By" for Carly Simon's Coming Around Again, album not only has a new album coming out, as noted last week, entitled A Time To Love and due to be released October 18th, he's also discussing participating in a new surgery, involving microchips, that, if successful, would allow him to see. December 1st, Comedy Central's The Daily Show will feature it's first musical performance when the White Stripes come on to perform and be interviewed by Jon Stewart. Rolling Stone reports that Police guitarist Andy Summers is working on an autobiography to be entitled One Train Later. Rolling Stone also reports that a new concert film from Greenday will debut in select theaters at the start of November. On November 15, the film, entitled Bullet In A Bible, will be released on DVD.
C.I.: Thank you, Kat. And that wraps up The Third Estate Sunday Review News Review for 10-09-05. As always Jim and Dona, both of The Third Estate Sunday Review, worked behind the scenes to edit, research and keep things running smoothly. In addition thanks to Jess' parents who help with the research and to Dallas who hunts down links.
iraq
the smurfs
iraq constitution
the patriot act
carly simon
august wilson
stevie wonder
george clinton
oil
environment
bird flu
jennifer lopez
david frost
the third estate sunday review
sex and politics and screeds and attitude
kats korner
like maria said paz
the common ills
thomas friedman is a great man
Mikey Likes It
posted by Third Estate Sunday Review @ Sunday, October 09, 2005
"The Third Estate Sunday Review News Review 10-09-05"
C.I.: Welcome to The Third Estate Sunday Review News Review 10-09-05. The news review is the brainchild of The Third Estate Sunday Review's Dona and we do it in one hour time frame. This is rough transcript. We'll have reports on nature and the environment, entertainment news, a commentary on Bully Boy's latest chat buddy and news on what's happened to The Smurfs. I'm not kidding on that last item. This is a news review for the left. First up, Iraq. We begin with Mike of Mikey Likes It!
Mike: In Baghdad, a killing spree is taking place and Hala Jaber of The Sunday Times of London reports that speculation is the killings are linked to the Iraqi police force. The speculation is that "ethnic cleansing" is going on and that Sunnis in the Shi'ite neighborhoods, specifically Sunni men married to Shi'ite women are being killed. Claims of "insurgents" being targeted are weak when you consider that one of the men assassinated, Najah al-Rassam, worked for "interior ministry’s Maghaweer special police force." al-Rassam was pulled from his bed by the police, taken to the Badr Brigade for confirmation and then killed.
C.I.: To jump in here for a moment, the Badr Brigade is the paramilitary group of the Supreme Council for the Islamic Revolution in Iraq. They've been accused, including by Allawi, of killing intelligent officers at the behest of Iran. While Saddam Hussein ruled Iran, the Badr Brigade was stationed in Iran, a composition of Iraqi exiles, but they returned to Iraq following the 2003 invasion. Along with the report you're addressing, they've also been accused of targeting British troops. How many Sunnis have been reported killed?
Mike: 22. And they were not turned over to their families. The 22 bodies were found in the desert, wrists still restrained by handcuffs, plastic and metal, or ropes. There are concerns that a civil war is emerging. The 22 men were all blindfolded and had been killed via gunshots. The bodies were dumped in the desert and that's something that should be concerned whenever reports come out of a newly discovered group of bodies. A total of 539 bodies have been found at present. The tensions come as Iraq prepares to vote on their constitutional referendum and measures are being imposed including curfews and border closings as the election approaches.
C.I.: Thank you, Mike. Now we go to Cedric of Cedric's Big Mix with further thoughts on the Iraqi Constitution.
Cedric: At Iraq Dispatches, Dahr Jamail has posted "Open Letter to Amnesty International on the Iraqi Constitution." In the letter, an Iraqi writes:
To hold the election, thousands of people were killed and the entire city ofFallujah was demolished. Now, what is needed to impose a constitution? A civil war ?
Cedric (con't): The letter questions the assumption that a constitution is currently needed considering both the process under which it was written and the upcoming elections in the face of the current climatethat finds Iraq on what appears to be the brink of civil war. Will the constitution provide more than a photo op? How are Iraqis being helped by the push for the constitution? Also noted is an article from The Guardian, by Haifa Zangana, that attempts to remind people this constitution is being written in a war zone and is on imposed timeline that is coming from outside of Iraq. The article also notes that:
Just a few weeks ago, a highly significant judicial decision, comprising more than 130 pages, was handed down by the German Federal Administrative Court. With careful reasoning, the judges ruled that the assault launched by the United States and its allies against Iraq was a clear war of aggression that violated international law. The occupation itself constitutes the gravest violation of human rights and dignity. The legitimacy and autonomy of this government, installed and completely controlled by the US occupation forces after an illegal and illegitimate war of aggression, is not only challenged by a large part of the Iraqi population, but also by the international peace movement and international lawyers.
Cedric (con't): The constitution, if passed, will not provide Iraqis with any means to address the violations and war crimes that have taken place in Iraq under the occupation or by the occupying forces.
C.I.: Thank you, Cedric. The open letter is from the Brussels Tribunal which was one of the groups participating in this summer's World Tribunal on Iraq. The Brussels Tribunal also has addressed what the two British intel agents may have been doing in Basra when they captured last month. The two, attempting to pass for Arabs, were stopped by Basra police and found with weapons including explosives. That hasn't been addressed in the United States but in Scotland and other nations, it has made the news. More information on this can be found in "The Salvador Option exposed. Who's Blowing Up Iraq? New evidence shows that bombs are being planted by British in Basra" at the Brussels Tribunal Organization. Now we go to Jess of The Third Estate Sunday Review with an update on the unrelated threat announcement of last week, Operation Scare The Hell Out Of America.
Jess: Operation Scare The Hell Out Of America has not gone over as well as some might have hoped. The terror alert, which came just as Bully Boy began once again linking the occupation of Iraq with 9/11, is being questioned after unquestioning acceptance. Michael Weissenstein reports for the Associated Press of the alleged threat to NYC subways that "Almost as soon as the threat was made public, officials in Washington began talking it down, and Homeland Security still downplayed the threat Saturday." In D.C. the Washington Monument was closed for two hours on Friday due to an alleged bomb threat. After police searched and found nothing, the Washington Monument was reopened. Operation Scare The Hell Out of America has led to many stories being ignored such as the fact that the library group whose records are sought under the Patriot Act are still under gag order as a result of the Supreme Court denying their appeal. New opponents to the Patriot Act include the U.S. Chamber of Commerce and the National Association of Manufacturers.
C.I.: Jess, this comes as two bills are working their way through Congress.
Jess: Correct. A provision in the original Patriot Act, added due to concerns on the part of some lawmakers, would have certain aspects of the legislation sunset out. As the expiration date approaches, there is a push for renewal. In the House, the renewal of components that would otherwise be phased out would renew them for ten years. The Senate version would renew them for four years.
C.I.: Republican Bob Barr's group is favoring the Senate version as the lesser of the two evils.
Jess: I hadn't found anything on that. I did find that, no surprise, Alberto Gonzales is favoring the House version. Business groups now coming out against the Patriot Act have spoken of the fact that we are no longer under threat which may offer additional explanations for the launch of Operation Scare The Hell Out of America.
C.I.: Thank you, Jess. We now go to Elaine with commentary on Bully Boy's new chat buddy, Elaine of Like Maria Said Paz.
Elaine: Scotland's The Herald delves further into the claim by Bully Boy George W. Bush that God speaks to him. Palestinian Information Minister Nabil Shaath asserts that in June of 2003, Bully Boy explained his conversations with the Lord Jesus Christ who speaks back or possibly, like Diane Keaton says in Love & Death, Bully Boy does "both parts"?William Tinning notes that Bully Boy claims: "God would tell me . . . George, go and fight those terrorists in Afghanistan. And I did. And then God would tell me . . . George, go and end the tyranny in Iraq. And I did."If Bully Boy is indeed hearing voices the two most likely explanations are as follows. One, William Kristol and Robert Kagan's gentle whispers have been mistaken by Bully Boy for the voice of God. Two, the strange behavior that's included numerous falls and stumbles that put the klutzy experiences of Gerald Ford to shame, despite little commentary from the press, and the psychosis claim of hearing God speak to him are signs of a serious illness that goes beyond the mere delusions many have abscribed to the Bully Boy.
C.I.: Elaine, there are people who feel that they get signs from various religious figures. What's the difference between that and what you're reporting on Bully Boy?
Elaine: Good question. It's not uncommon for people to look for or ask for a sign from above when they're making a decision. It can be a big decision or a small one. But that's not uncommon. It's not uncommon for someone to state that they feel the presence of a higher power around them. These issues go to faith and how one practices a faith. With Bully Boy, we're not hearing that. With him, we're hearing, from Shaath, that he speaks and then he hears the Lord speak back. That is not a sign, that is not feeling God around you. That is claiming that you, and apparently you alone, are speaking one on one with the Lord. That is psychosis. If it's true. Not just if Shaath is retelling what he was told accurately, but also if Bully Boy was being genuine -- always a big if. This is very serious and the press, in this country, hasn't given it the attention it deserves. Another take on it, one that Mike offered this week, at his site Mikey Likes It!, that Bully Boy's pushing the responsibility of the decisions he made off onto God. That's a likely explanation as well because, as a personality type, Bully Boy does not take responsibility for his actions. Nothing that happens has ever been his fault, in his mind, by his public statements. It's always someone else. The Not So Swift Floaties launch their attacks on John Kerry and Bully Boy acts as though he's not responsible. John McCain is targeted in 2000 and Bully Boy acts as though he's not responsible. He's arrested for a DUI and isn't honest about that while running for the United States Congress and years later will offer that he had to keep quiet because of his children, his children that, as you have pointed out, weren't even born then. There's nothing in the public record that speaks of personal accountability on his part. So it's hardly surprising that with him in a leadership role, we'd have the least accountable administration/government in recent history. The White House has denied that Bully Boy made the remarks about talking to God and God talking back.The domestic, mainstream press has not touched this story in any real manner. Possibly they're worried about offending people of faith. This isn't an issue of faith. This is a medical sympton and he needs to be asked on the record to explain or refute the remarks.
C.I.: Thank you Elaine. With entertainment news, we go to Betty of Thomas Friedman is a Great Man. Betty, I understand that you suspect someone in the oval office has been checking out ABC's fall lineup?
Betty: Correct. The question to ask is: Has Condi Rice been watching Commander-in-Chief, ABC's drama starring Geena Davis as a vice-president who becomes president after the office holder dies? As she departs for a trip that will take her to Afghanistan and throughout Asia, the Sunday Times of London reports, via anonymice, that although Rice won't run for president, she is interested in the vice-presidential post. Always the handmaiden, never the leader. Saturday, playwright August Wilson was buriedin Pittsburg which was both the setting for nine of Wilson's plays as well as the town he grew up in. Wilson, who had announced in August that he was suffering from terminal liver cancer, died October 2nd. As we noted in August, the African-American playwright's ten play cycle won much praise and many awards. In an e-mail, Common Ills community member Keesha asked that I note Ma Rainey's Black Bottom as a masterpiece of the 20th century. The TV channel Al-Jazeera has added TV veteran David Frost to their lineup and he will join them this spring.Ted Koppel will be leaving Nightline at Thanksgiving and not, as assumed, on December 4th when his contract expires. Finally, I'll note that Jennifer Lopez is currently filming Bordertown in which she will play a reporter investigating the murders and disappearances of women in Juarez.
C.I.: Lopez's co-star in that is Antonio Banderas, correct?
Betty: Correct. This will be their first onscreen teaming. The role is thought to be a return to the sort of strong role that Lopez played in Out of Sight opposite George Clooney who, since I have a few more seconds, is planning to produce a live, TV version of Network, the seventies film that took a look at the television news industry and is famous for the phrase, "I'm mad as hell and I'm not going to take it anymore!"
C.I.: Thank you, Betty. More information on the murders in Juarez can be found at Eve Ensler's V-Day. V-Day has been shining a light on that issue for some time. We now go to Rebecca, of Sex and Politics and Screeds and Attitude, with news from the world of nature.
Rebecca: C.I., tracking the melting of the polar caps will be more difficult as a result of CryoSat crashing into the ocean. CryoSat was a $224 million satellite launced to measure the thickness of the polar caps but it never went into orbit and instead is believed to have crashed in the North Pole region, into the Lincoln Sea. Some reports express the belief that it came apart in space before crashing to the earth. Regardless, the tracking transmitter was not thought to be working. Meanwhile, Canada's CBC reports that outbreaks of bird flu have been found in Romania and Turkey. Want to ride a camel in Australia? Take along a "poo bag." Australia's ABC reports that "the amount of camel dung" on Cable Beach has become an issue and "poo bags" are now required. The think tank Worldwatch Institute, speaking at the 18th World Petroleum Congress, declared that fossil fuels were becoming a thing of the past and that the oil executives in attendance should ask themselves if they were "in the oil business or the energy business." In other energy news, America get ready to get your war on harder. Oil sands in the far noth of Canada are thought to contain "the equivalent of 1.7 trillion barrels of oil." Kevin G. Hall's report for Knight Ridder also notes that "Canada already quietly has surpassed Saudi Arabia as the United States' largest foreign supplier of crude oil and petroleum products."The Independent of London's Geoffrey Lean reports that genetically modified crops pollute the ground for "up to fifteen years after" harvesting. Of the study and its impact, Lean notes, "Financed by GM companies and Margaret Beckett's Department of the Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, the report effectively torpedoes the Government's strategy for introducing GM oilseed rape to this country."
C.I.: Thank you, Rebecca. For a grab bag of items not covered elsewhere, we go to The Third Estate Sunday Review's Ava.
Ava: C.I., following up on Rebecca's look at the environment, I'll begin by noting that a mudslide is thought to have killed 1400 people in Guatemala. Mario Cruz, spokesman for the Fire Brigrade, has stated that there are no survivors. India, Pakistan and Afghanistan have been rocked by an earthquake that's thought to have killed 1800 people in Pakistan alone, with 300 people thought to be dead in India. With regards to Afghanistan, Scotland's Sunday Herald reports that: "Given the remoteness of so many communities it may take weeks to know the full death toll. " The Sunday Times of London has an excerpt from James Yee's book For God and Country: Faith and Patriotism Under Fire. Yee, a Muslim chaplain at Guantanamo Bay, was falsely accused by the United States government of espionage, charges that were bandied about by various news outlets who assisted the government in smearing Yee. The book is his response and offers an inside look at conditions in Guantamao Bay. As noted by the International Federation of Journalists, workers at Canada's CBC have ended their fifty day walk-out and appear victorious in contract talks. Finally, what's happened to TV's The Smurfs since the animated cartoon stopped production of new episodes? Canada's The Windsor Star reports that, in a new cartoon put out by UNICEF, the village the animated cartoon characters reside in is destroyed by bombs dropped by war planes.
C.I.: Thank you, Ava for including the promised update on The Smurfs. The reason for the cartoon?
Ava: Unicef is attempting to raise awareness on the victims of bombings. The cartoon has already began airing in Belgium.
C.I.: Thank you. For our final report, on the world of music, we go to Kat of Kat's Corner (of The Common Ills). Kat?
Kat: This week, check your local listings, PBS will air a documentary on funk master and pioneer George Clinton on Independent Lens. Saturday's broadcast of The Laura Flanders Show featured a discussion on this documentary in the third hour. In other news, the Beastie Boys are denying rumors of a breakup. November 8th sees the release of the group's first hits collection entitled Solid Gold Hits. The Black Eyed Peas will be performing a free concert as part of Honda Civic Live that will take place October 22nd and 23rd. The Independent of London has a wide ranging interview with Carly Simon entitled "Carly Simon: Boho Queen" where Carly discusses breast cancer, meeting Mick Jagger, marriage to James Taylor, her current marriage to poet Jim Hart, and various other topics including Joni Mitchell. Carly's Moonlight Serenade is released in England Monday. Stevie Wonder, who played harmonica on "As Time Goes By" for Carly Simon's Coming Around Again, album not only has a new album coming out, as noted last week, entitled A Time To Love and due to be released October 18th, he's also discussing participating in a new surgery, involving microchips, that, if successful, would allow him to see. December 1st, Comedy Central's The Daily Show will feature it's first musical performance when the White Stripes come on to perform and be interviewed by Jon Stewart. Rolling Stone reports that Police guitarist Andy Summers is working on an autobiography to be entitled One Train Later. Rolling Stone also reports that a new concert film from Greenday will debut in select theaters at the start of November. On November 15, the film, entitled Bullet In A Bible, will be released on DVD.
C.I.: Thank you, Kat. And that wraps up The Third Estate Sunday Review News Review for 10-09-05. As always Jim and Dona, both of The Third Estate Sunday Review, worked behind the scenes to edit, research and keep things running smoothly. In addition thanks to Jess' parents who help with the research and to Dallas who hunts down links.
iraq
the smurfs
iraq constitution
the patriot act
carly simon
august wilson
stevie wonder
george clinton
oil
environment
bird flu
jennifer lopez
david frost
the third estate sunday review
sex and politics and screeds and attitude
kats korner
like maria said paz
the common ills
thomas friedman is a great man
Mikey Likes It
posted by Third Estate Sunday Review @ Sunday, October 09, 2005
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