Dona scoffs at "writing" in the title. Here's what we listened to.
1) Holly Near's Show Up
2) Albert Hammond, Jr.'s Yours To Keep -- new CD from Strokes' bassist. Mike says opening track is amazing. There's another favorite but C.I.'s the only one with a copy and sometime during the edition, someone's moved the case away from the stereo.
3) Ben Harper's Both Sides Of The Gun.
4) Bright Eyes' Cassadaga -- Bright Eyes latest CD, check it out. No favorite, it's all good. (Including first track which does grow on you.)
5) Carly Simon's Into White
6) Crosby, Stills & Nash's Greatest Hits -- a favorite CD of Jim and Jess'. Favorite songs: "Just a song before I go" and "Our House."
7) Neil Young's Living With War.
8) Rolling Stones' A Bigger Bang.
9) Stevie Wonder's Skeletons -- Betty said everyone was going to think she picked this one. (She didn't, she picked the Stones. Kat picked this CD.) Favorite song? Title track. Least favorite? The duet with Michael Jackson. Run, try to run, it will still find you.
10) Buffy Sainte-Marie's Illuminations --Cedric's pick during the edition. He loves the entire CD and says he couldn't pick one track.
[CDs without comments have links to reviews by Kat.]
Sunday, April 15, 2007
Highlights
Written and selected (unless otherwise noted) by Mike, Elaine, Cedric, Rebecca, Betty and Wally.
"Macaroni Coleslaw in the Kitchen" -- Trina's latest. (C.I. say next time Rebecca doesn't need to say it's up, the entry at The Common Ills can go up with a "*" and a note, "Trina's almost completed her post.") Trina's talking food and Dennis Kucinich.
"Ruth's Report" -- Ruth's latest, went up late last night. Read it.
"Flop House" -- you may have heard of Grind House. In this chapter, Betina enters the flop house as two flops attempt to get rid of her.
"Suzanne Swift" -- it was close, but our favorite post by Elaine this week.
"What to write . . ." -- and our favorite by Mike and probably anyone who's ever thought they didn't have anything to write about only to have it hit them as the night winding down.
"David Ray Griffin, etc." -- Kat recapping Bonnie Faulkner and explaining that, no, she's not concerned about "respectability."
"THIS JUST IN! CONDI KNOWS, SHE KNOWS!" & "Funny Condi" -- Wally and Cedric explain Condi's upcoming book (and humor).
"Birth Announcement: Judith Miller and Dexter Filkins are proud parents" & "NYT: Stenographer Rubin has a limited vocab" -- fans of Dexy's daughter should check out TCI later today.
"Vote Insane! Vote John McCain!" -- the most suggested highlight at this site, this week.
"Joni Mitchell's Hissing of Summer Lawns" -- as we all await Kat's next CD review, this can tide you over.
"the cover up ain't pretty" & "gonzales and his blotter of many crimes" & "gonzales has mail - that he's not sharing" & "the gonzales crime spree" & "gonzales and big babs" -- Rebecca's Gonzales crimes scandal coverage.
"THIS JUST IN! TIRED OLD HOOKER" & "You know his price" -- second most requested highlight, Wally & Cedric's "interview" with John McCain.
Isaiah's The World Today Just Nuts "Veto" -- Isaiah's timely comic on Bully Boy and "veto."
"Macaroni Coleslaw in the Kitchen" -- Trina's latest. (C.I. say next time Rebecca doesn't need to say it's up, the entry at The Common Ills can go up with a "*" and a note, "Trina's almost completed her post.") Trina's talking food and Dennis Kucinich.
"Ruth's Report" -- Ruth's latest, went up late last night. Read it.
"Flop House" -- you may have heard of Grind House. In this chapter, Betina enters the flop house as two flops attempt to get rid of her.
"Suzanne Swift" -- it was close, but our favorite post by Elaine this week.
"What to write . . ." -- and our favorite by Mike and probably anyone who's ever thought they didn't have anything to write about only to have it hit them as the night winding down.
"David Ray Griffin, etc." -- Kat recapping Bonnie Faulkner and explaining that, no, she's not concerned about "respectability."
"THIS JUST IN! CONDI KNOWS, SHE KNOWS!" & "Funny Condi" -- Wally and Cedric explain Condi's upcoming book (and humor).
"Birth Announcement: Judith Miller and Dexter Filkins are proud parents" & "NYT: Stenographer Rubin has a limited vocab" -- fans of Dexy's daughter should check out TCI later today.
"Vote Insane! Vote John McCain!" -- the most suggested highlight at this site, this week.
"Joni Mitchell's Hissing of Summer Lawns" -- as we all await Kat's next CD review, this can tide you over.
"the cover up ain't pretty" & "gonzales and his blotter of many crimes" & "gonzales has mail - that he's not sharing" & "the gonzales crime spree" & "gonzales and big babs" -- Rebecca's Gonzales crimes scandal coverage.
"THIS JUST IN! TIRED OLD HOOKER" & "You know his price" -- second most requested highlight, Wally & Cedric's "interview" with John McCain.
Isaiah's The World Today Just Nuts "Veto" -- Isaiah's timely comic on Bully Boy and "veto."
McCain News
[As requested, a repost.]
THIS JUST IN! TIRED OLD HOOKER & You know his price
BULLY BOY PRESS & CEDRIC'S BIX MIX -- DC.
IN AN EXCLUSIVE INTERVIEW WITH THESE REPORTERS, U.S. SENATOR CRAZY JOHN MCCAIN HOPPED OFF THE JOHN MCCAIN SHOWBOAT EXPRESS TO CONFIDE THAT HE WAS THINKING OF DROPPING OUT OF THE RACE.
THOUGH CRAZY JOHN HAD HOPED TO GRAB THE 2008 G.O.P. PRESIDENTIAL NOMINATION HE FELT HE WASN'T "GETTING THE BREAKS" AND THAT "REPORTERS ARE FICKLE. I COULD JOKE WITH 'EM, TELL 'EM MY G**K JOKES AND MAKE FUN OF MINORITIES AND THEY LAPPED IT UP LIKE I WAS DON IMUS OR SOMETHING. NOW THEY'RE ALL OUT TO GET ME."
CRAZY JOHN WAS ESPECIALLY ANGRY THAT HIS BIG AD PUSH, TO BE TIMED WITH HIS OFFICIAL ANNOUNCEMENT THAT HE WAS IN THE RACE, WAS LEAKED TO THE PRESS.
"'VOTE INSANE! VOTE JOHN MCCAIN!' HAD A GOOD RING TO IT," HE WHIMPERED. "NOW IT'S OUT THERE AND SO IS MY SLOGAN 'I DISAGREE WITH WHAT THE MAJORITY OF THE AMERICAN PEOPLE WANT.' HOW CAN YOU DO BETTER THAN THAT? I WAS POSITIONING MYSELF AS SO INDEPENDENT THAT I DIDN'T EVEN GIVE A DAMN ABOUT THE AMERICAN PEOPLE!"
AFTER CRAZY JOHN CALMED DOWN (AND AFTER THESE REPORTERS REMOVED ALL SHARP OBJECTS FROM HIS REACH), HE REVEALED THAT THE REAL ISSUE WAS MONEY.
"I GOT BEAT IN FUNDRAISING BY TWO GUYS NAMED MITT AND RUDY. WHAT IS THAT? THE MUTT AND JEFF OF CANDIDATES? I WAS BIG TIME! I OWNED 2000. NOW NOBODY WANTS TO GIVE ME BLING-BLING OR MY PROPERS. IT'S LIKE I GET A LITTLE LOVEY DOVEY WITH THE BULLY BOY AND SUDDENLY MY PRICE DROPS. I'M SICK OF BEING TREATED LIKE A TIRED OLD HOOKER WHO'S BEEN WORKING THE CORNER ABOUT 20 YEARS TOO LONG," HE SIGHED.
FROM THE TCI WIRE:
In war resister news, we'll focus on KPFA and Brian Edwards-Tiekert. Responding to a commentary by Marc Sapir in The Berkeley Daily Planet last week, Edwards-Tiekert wanted to address the issue of war resisters. Edwards-Tiekert is an important part of KPFA's news staff and does strong work, but appears to think much more is being covered than actually is. Sapir, sharing his feelings and fears regarding KPFA, wrote (this was not the thrust of his commentary), "How could KPFA be a useful tool for the GI resisters' movement, the immigrants' rights and sanctuary movements, the prison reform and opposition movements, the new sds [SDS] (already at 160 chapters), . . . if such an edict is upheld?" Sapir is referring to the fact that KPFA can promote events; however, they can not say "Be there" (as Sasha Lilley explained on the Listeners' Report earlier this month). Edwards-Tiekert grabs the subsection of that sentence and responds (this was not the thrust of his response), "Clearly, he [Marc Sapir] wasn't listening the week Aaron Glantz traveled to Fort Lewis, Washington, to produce up-to-the minute rports on the failed court martial of First Lieutenant Ehren Watada." Was Edwards-Tiekert? Aaron Glantz' reports were largely filed for Free Speech Radio News and re-aired duing the KPFA Evening News and during Aileen Alfandary's newsbreaks during The Morning Show. Sandra Lupien and Alfandary each spoke with Glantz once during the court-martial on programs other than the Free Speech Radio News. But, as Edwards-Tiekert well knows, Free Speech Radio News is an independent program, it is not a KPFA program.
Aaron Glantz did a wonderful job reporting on the court-martial for Free Speech Radio News, for IPS, for OneWorld.net. His voice gave out and, possibly, had that not happened he would have done more reporting on it for KPFA. But in terms of reporting (not interviews days after the mistrial was called), Edwards-Tiekert appears to believe that Glantz was reporting on KPFA programs more than he was. This could result from the fact that it was usually announced (by the news staff) that he would be reporting but, in the morning or evening, what instead aired was a rebroadcast (sometimes edited down) of a report Glantz had done for Free Speech Radio News.
Ehren Watada's court-martial is important. His upcoming court-martial (July 16th) will also be important and, hopefully, KPFA will do a better job covering it than they did with the February one. For that coverage, Aaron Glantz deserves praise. KPFA? Not so much. That was February. Since Watada's court-martial, Agustin Aguayo and Mark Wilkerson have been court-martialed. Aguayo was court-martialed in Germany, possibly that's why it wasn't covered (reading wires doesn't really replace first person reporting)? Wilkerson was in Texas. Texas is much closer to California than DC (Edwards-Tiekert notes KPFA's DC coverage in his response) but it might as well be across the Atlantic. What of Robert Zabala's historic court case? Where was KPFA? Again, reading wire reports (or local press) on air doesn't really replace on the spot reporting.
Edwards-Tiekert muses, "Perhaps Sapir doesn't listen much to the radio station he maligns." As Ruth pointed out regarded Sasha Lilley's declarations in the Listeners' Report, Lilley doesn't seem to listen a great deal. In the listners' report she maintained that KPFA news staff promoted, on air, the KPFA webpage of local events when, in fact, that wasn't the case. KPFA is an important radio station and a historic one. Edwards-Tiekert is a strong member of the news staff. His commentary (and recent call in on air to Larry Bensky) only fans simmering flames for many. I'm not interested in that. (Ruth may be. She can write whatever she wants in her space.) I am interested in war resisters.
Edwards-Tiekert may feel Watada was covered by the KPFA news. He really wasn't. (Off topic, but needs noting again, Philip Maldari, not part of the news staff, did a wonderful job last summer interviewing Bob Watada.) That false impression may come from on air announcements such as, "Tomorrow morning in the first half-hour of The Morning Show, Aileen Alfandary will speak with Aaron Glantz . . ." -- announcements that were made of coverage that never took place. (That's not a slam at Alfandary. Glantz' voice was giving out early on.) But announcements of intended coverage are not actual coverage. And re-airing reports done for a non-KPFA produced program (Free Speech Radio News) on KPFA news and news breaks does not indicate that KPFA itself provided coverage.
In February, Kyle Snyder was hauled away in handcuffs (and in his boxers) by Canadian police. Joci Perri (Citizenship and Immigration) stated the arrest was requested by the US military and that deportation was supposed to follow. Did KPFA listeners hear about that on the news? Joshua Key is being 'shadowed.' Winnie Ng reported the incident that happened at her home. She was visited by three men, she was told they were Canadian police. They were looking for Key (Joshua, Brandi and their children stayed with Ng early on after moving to Canada). Ng's character was called into question (including by some 'friends' in Canada) and the police said it never happened. Turns out, it did happen. The Canadian police, WOOPS, did send out one officer . . . with two members of the US military. Has the KPFA news informed listeners about those developments? Dean Walcott self-checked out of the US military and went to Canada in December of 2006. How often has his name came up during news breaks or newscasts?
Here's where the real fault is, the real problem. Four years into the illegal war and KPFA still has not created a program to focus on Iraq. Flashpoints started to cover the first Gulf War. KPFA can't spare one half-hour or hour a week for a program that focuses on Iraq? Of course they can. The fact that they haven't is more embarrassing than any of the back and forths or the old history (covered in both Edwards-Tiekert and Sapir's commentaries). Is KPFA frozen or paralyzed when it comes to new programming? No. In fact it did an election series for the 2006 elections. One would think that an illegal war was at least as important as a mid-term election.
Dean Walcott, the latest to go public, part of the growing movement of war resistance within the military that also includes Ehren Watada, Camilo Mejia, Robert Zabala, Darrell Anderson, Kyle Snyder , Corey Glass, Jeremy Hinzman, Joshua Key, Ricky Clousing, Mark Wilkerson, Agustin Aguayo, Camilo Mejia, Patrick Hart, Ivan Brobeck, Aidan Delgado, Pablo Paredes, Carl Webb, Jeremy Hinzman, Stephen Funk, David Sanders, Dan Felushko, Brandon Hughey, Clifford Cornell, Joshua Despain, Katherine Jashinski, Chris Teske, Matt Lowell, Jimmy Massey, Tim Richard, Hart Viges, Michael Blake and Kevin Benderman. In total, thirty-eight US war resisters in Canada have applied for asylum.
Information on war resistance within the military can be found at Center on Conscience & War, The Objector, The G.I. Rights Hotline, and the War Resisters Support Campaign. Courage to Resist offers information on all public war resisters.
Yesterday in Iraq, the Green Zone was the target of an attack. AFP notes today that the US military is now saying that the bombing in the parliament's cafeteria killed only one person (but "an Iraqi security officer" maintains "three people died"). Though Alissa J. Rubin (New York Times) prefers to call it the "International Zone," as William M. Arkin (Washington Post) notes of the Green Zone, "The Zone is officially known as the international zone, a less inflammatory label that suggests non-U.S. control, but everyone knows the truth." Bushra Juhi (AP) reports that al Qaeda is claiming responsibility for the bombing and that it was a suicide bombing and that the Iraqi parliament met today ("about 90 minutes") but turnout was low due to the traffic ban and to the fact that many were visiting the wounded from yesterday's bombing. While AP repeats that the culprit is thought to be a bodyguard to a Sunni lawmaker, The Australian reports that three cafeteria workers are being questioned as well as "some parliamentary guards". CNN notes that this is due to the suspicion that the bombing was an 'inside job'. Robert Burns (AP) reveals: "The U.S. military will not take over security of the Iraqi parliament building in the wake of the deadly suicide bombing in Baghdad's heavily fortified Green Zone, a top commander said Friday. Lt. Gen. Ray Odierno, the No. 2 U.S. commander in Iraq, said "it is clear we still have a long way to go to provide stability and security to Iraq." Michael Howard (The Guardian of London) informs, "US officials admitted last night that the bombing of the Iraqi parliament shows that not even the heavily fortified Green Zone is safe any more, despite the security crackdown launched earlier this year in the Iraqi capital." Despite that reality, Robin Wright and Karin Brulliard (Washington Post) report that John McCain, "who this week spoke of 'the first glimmers' of progress in the new U.S. effort, said the attack on the parliament building does not change the 'larger picture'."
RECOMMENDED: "Iraq snapshot""Other Items""NYT: Attempting to popularize "International Zone"""And the war drags on . . ."
"the cover up ain't pretty""gonzales and his blotter of many crimes"
"Flop House""Suzanne Swift ""What to write . . .""Law and Disorder, Marjorie Cohn""David Ray Griffin, etc.""Drainage""THIS JUST IN! CONDI KNOWS, SHE KNOWS!""Funny Condi"
THIS JUST IN! TIRED OLD HOOKER & You know his price
BULLY BOY PRESS & CEDRIC'S BIX MIX -- DC.
IN AN EXCLUSIVE INTERVIEW WITH THESE REPORTERS, U.S. SENATOR CRAZY JOHN MCCAIN HOPPED OFF THE JOHN MCCAIN SHOWBOAT EXPRESS TO CONFIDE THAT HE WAS THINKING OF DROPPING OUT OF THE RACE.
THOUGH CRAZY JOHN HAD HOPED TO GRAB THE 2008 G.O.P. PRESIDENTIAL NOMINATION HE FELT HE WASN'T "GETTING THE BREAKS" AND THAT "REPORTERS ARE FICKLE. I COULD JOKE WITH 'EM, TELL 'EM MY G**K JOKES AND MAKE FUN OF MINORITIES AND THEY LAPPED IT UP LIKE I WAS DON IMUS OR SOMETHING. NOW THEY'RE ALL OUT TO GET ME."
CRAZY JOHN WAS ESPECIALLY ANGRY THAT HIS BIG AD PUSH, TO BE TIMED WITH HIS OFFICIAL ANNOUNCEMENT THAT HE WAS IN THE RACE, WAS LEAKED TO THE PRESS.
"'VOTE INSANE! VOTE JOHN MCCAIN!' HAD A GOOD RING TO IT," HE WHIMPERED. "NOW IT'S OUT THERE AND SO IS MY SLOGAN 'I DISAGREE WITH WHAT THE MAJORITY OF THE AMERICAN PEOPLE WANT.' HOW CAN YOU DO BETTER THAN THAT? I WAS POSITIONING MYSELF AS SO INDEPENDENT THAT I DIDN'T EVEN GIVE A DAMN ABOUT THE AMERICAN PEOPLE!"
AFTER CRAZY JOHN CALMED DOWN (AND AFTER THESE REPORTERS REMOVED ALL SHARP OBJECTS FROM HIS REACH), HE REVEALED THAT THE REAL ISSUE WAS MONEY.
"I GOT BEAT IN FUNDRAISING BY TWO GUYS NAMED MITT AND RUDY. WHAT IS THAT? THE MUTT AND JEFF OF CANDIDATES? I WAS BIG TIME! I OWNED 2000. NOW NOBODY WANTS TO GIVE ME BLING-BLING OR MY PROPERS. IT'S LIKE I GET A LITTLE LOVEY DOVEY WITH THE BULLY BOY AND SUDDENLY MY PRICE DROPS. I'M SICK OF BEING TREATED LIKE A TIRED OLD HOOKER WHO'S BEEN WORKING THE CORNER ABOUT 20 YEARS TOO LONG," HE SIGHED.
FROM THE TCI WIRE:
In war resister news, we'll focus on KPFA and Brian Edwards-Tiekert. Responding to a commentary by Marc Sapir in The Berkeley Daily Planet last week, Edwards-Tiekert wanted to address the issue of war resisters. Edwards-Tiekert is an important part of KPFA's news staff and does strong work, but appears to think much more is being covered than actually is. Sapir, sharing his feelings and fears regarding KPFA, wrote (this was not the thrust of his commentary), "How could KPFA be a useful tool for the GI resisters' movement, the immigrants' rights and sanctuary movements, the prison reform and opposition movements, the new sds [SDS] (already at 160 chapters), . . . if such an edict is upheld?" Sapir is referring to the fact that KPFA can promote events; however, they can not say "Be there" (as Sasha Lilley explained on the Listeners' Report earlier this month). Edwards-Tiekert grabs the subsection of that sentence and responds (this was not the thrust of his response), "Clearly, he [Marc Sapir] wasn't listening the week Aaron Glantz traveled to Fort Lewis, Washington, to produce up-to-the minute rports on the failed court martial of First Lieutenant Ehren Watada." Was Edwards-Tiekert? Aaron Glantz' reports were largely filed for Free Speech Radio News and re-aired duing the KPFA Evening News and during Aileen Alfandary's newsbreaks during The Morning Show. Sandra Lupien and Alfandary each spoke with Glantz once during the court-martial on programs other than the Free Speech Radio News. But, as Edwards-Tiekert well knows, Free Speech Radio News is an independent program, it is not a KPFA program.
Aaron Glantz did a wonderful job reporting on the court-martial for Free Speech Radio News, for IPS, for OneWorld.net. His voice gave out and, possibly, had that not happened he would have done more reporting on it for KPFA. But in terms of reporting (not interviews days after the mistrial was called), Edwards-Tiekert appears to believe that Glantz was reporting on KPFA programs more than he was. This could result from the fact that it was usually announced (by the news staff) that he would be reporting but, in the morning or evening, what instead aired was a rebroadcast (sometimes edited down) of a report Glantz had done for Free Speech Radio News.
Ehren Watada's court-martial is important. His upcoming court-martial (July 16th) will also be important and, hopefully, KPFA will do a better job covering it than they did with the February one. For that coverage, Aaron Glantz deserves praise. KPFA? Not so much. That was February. Since Watada's court-martial, Agustin Aguayo and Mark Wilkerson have been court-martialed. Aguayo was court-martialed in Germany, possibly that's why it wasn't covered (reading wires doesn't really replace first person reporting)? Wilkerson was in Texas. Texas is much closer to California than DC (Edwards-Tiekert notes KPFA's DC coverage in his response) but it might as well be across the Atlantic. What of Robert Zabala's historic court case? Where was KPFA? Again, reading wire reports (or local press) on air doesn't really replace on the spot reporting.
Edwards-Tiekert muses, "Perhaps Sapir doesn't listen much to the radio station he maligns." As Ruth pointed out regarded Sasha Lilley's declarations in the Listeners' Report, Lilley doesn't seem to listen a great deal. In the listners' report she maintained that KPFA news staff promoted, on air, the KPFA webpage of local events when, in fact, that wasn't the case. KPFA is an important radio station and a historic one. Edwards-Tiekert is a strong member of the news staff. His commentary (and recent call in on air to Larry Bensky) only fans simmering flames for many. I'm not interested in that. (Ruth may be. She can write whatever she wants in her space.) I am interested in war resisters.
Edwards-Tiekert may feel Watada was covered by the KPFA news. He really wasn't. (Off topic, but needs noting again, Philip Maldari, not part of the news staff, did a wonderful job last summer interviewing Bob Watada.) That false impression may come from on air announcements such as, "Tomorrow morning in the first half-hour of The Morning Show, Aileen Alfandary will speak with Aaron Glantz . . ." -- announcements that were made of coverage that never took place. (That's not a slam at Alfandary. Glantz' voice was giving out early on.) But announcements of intended coverage are not actual coverage. And re-airing reports done for a non-KPFA produced program (Free Speech Radio News) on KPFA news and news breaks does not indicate that KPFA itself provided coverage.
In February, Kyle Snyder was hauled away in handcuffs (and in his boxers) by Canadian police. Joci Perri (Citizenship and Immigration) stated the arrest was requested by the US military and that deportation was supposed to follow. Did KPFA listeners hear about that on the news? Joshua Key is being 'shadowed.' Winnie Ng reported the incident that happened at her home. She was visited by three men, she was told they were Canadian police. They were looking for Key (Joshua, Brandi and their children stayed with Ng early on after moving to Canada). Ng's character was called into question (including by some 'friends' in Canada) and the police said it never happened. Turns out, it did happen. The Canadian police, WOOPS, did send out one officer . . . with two members of the US military. Has the KPFA news informed listeners about those developments? Dean Walcott self-checked out of the US military and went to Canada in December of 2006. How often has his name came up during news breaks or newscasts?
Here's where the real fault is, the real problem. Four years into the illegal war and KPFA still has not created a program to focus on Iraq. Flashpoints started to cover the first Gulf War. KPFA can't spare one half-hour or hour a week for a program that focuses on Iraq? Of course they can. The fact that they haven't is more embarrassing than any of the back and forths or the old history (covered in both Edwards-Tiekert and Sapir's commentaries). Is KPFA frozen or paralyzed when it comes to new programming? No. In fact it did an election series for the 2006 elections. One would think that an illegal war was at least as important as a mid-term election.
Dean Walcott, the latest to go public, part of the growing movement of war resistance within the military that also includes Ehren Watada, Camilo Mejia, Robert Zabala, Darrell Anderson, Kyle Snyder , Corey Glass, Jeremy Hinzman, Joshua Key, Ricky Clousing, Mark Wilkerson, Agustin Aguayo, Camilo Mejia, Patrick Hart, Ivan Brobeck, Aidan Delgado, Pablo Paredes, Carl Webb, Jeremy Hinzman, Stephen Funk, David Sanders, Dan Felushko, Brandon Hughey, Clifford Cornell, Joshua Despain, Katherine Jashinski, Chris Teske, Matt Lowell, Jimmy Massey, Tim Richard, Hart Viges, Michael Blake and Kevin Benderman. In total, thirty-eight US war resisters in Canada have applied for asylum.
Information on war resistance within the military can be found at Center on Conscience & War, The Objector, The G.I. Rights Hotline, and the War Resisters Support Campaign. Courage to Resist offers information on all public war resisters.
Yesterday in Iraq, the Green Zone was the target of an attack. AFP notes today that the US military is now saying that the bombing in the parliament's cafeteria killed only one person (but "an Iraqi security officer" maintains "three people died"). Though Alissa J. Rubin (New York Times) prefers to call it the "International Zone," as William M. Arkin (Washington Post) notes of the Green Zone, "The Zone is officially known as the international zone, a less inflammatory label that suggests non-U.S. control, but everyone knows the truth." Bushra Juhi (AP) reports that al Qaeda is claiming responsibility for the bombing and that it was a suicide bombing and that the Iraqi parliament met today ("about 90 minutes") but turnout was low due to the traffic ban and to the fact that many were visiting the wounded from yesterday's bombing. While AP repeats that the culprit is thought to be a bodyguard to a Sunni lawmaker, The Australian reports that three cafeteria workers are being questioned as well as "some parliamentary guards". CNN notes that this is due to the suspicion that the bombing was an 'inside job'. Robert Burns (AP) reveals: "The U.S. military will not take over security of the Iraqi parliament building in the wake of the deadly suicide bombing in Baghdad's heavily fortified Green Zone, a top commander said Friday. Lt. Gen. Ray Odierno, the No. 2 U.S. commander in Iraq, said "it is clear we still have a long way to go to provide stability and security to Iraq." Michael Howard (The Guardian of London) informs, "US officials admitted last night that the bombing of the Iraqi parliament shows that not even the heavily fortified Green Zone is safe any more, despite the security crackdown launched earlier this year in the Iraqi capital." Despite that reality, Robin Wright and Karin Brulliard (Washington Post) report that John McCain, "who this week spoke of 'the first glimmers' of progress in the new U.S. effort, said the attack on the parliament building does not change the 'larger picture'."
RECOMMENDED: "Iraq snapshot""Other Items""NYT: Attempting to popularize "International Zone"""And the war drags on . . ."
"the cover up ain't pretty""gonzales and his blotter of many crimes"
"Flop House""Suzanne Swift ""What to write . . .""Law and Disorder, Marjorie Cohn""David Ray Griffin, etc.""Drainage""THIS JUST IN! CONDI KNOWS, SHE KNOWS!""Funny Condi"
VOTE INSANE! VOTE JOHN MCCAIN!
[As requested, a repost.]
Vote Insane! Vote John McCain!
When The John McCain Showboat Express went to Baghdad, it came up with it's bumper sticker: "Vote Insane! Vote John McCain!" But it didn't have the ring to it that Crazy John McCain was looking for. Now he thinks he's found the equivalent to 1992's winning slogan of "Hope Not Fear" (the Clinton-Gore slogan):
Well again, I disagree with what the majority of the American people want.
He tested that out on Sunday on 60 Minutes and, in his cracked mind, he's convinced it's a rallying cry. "I disagree with what the majority of the American people want! Yee-ha!"
With the help of a blue screen, he intends to impose himself onto Slim Picken's Air Force Major T. J. "King" Kong character (Dr. Strangelove or How I Learned To Stop Worrying And Love The Bomb) as Kong rides the nuke through the skies. It is then that Senator Crazy will cry out, "I disagree with what the majority of the American people want! Yee-ha!"
Crazy John McCain will announce his candidacy for the GOP 2008 presidential nomination hours before his new ad campaign begins airing.
[Illustration via Isaiah's The World Today Just Nuts.]
Vote Insane! Vote John McCain!
When The John McCain Showboat Express went to Baghdad, it came up with it's bumper sticker: "Vote Insane! Vote John McCain!" But it didn't have the ring to it that Crazy John McCain was looking for. Now he thinks he's found the equivalent to 1992's winning slogan of "Hope Not Fear" (the Clinton-Gore slogan):
Well again, I disagree with what the majority of the American people want.
He tested that out on Sunday on 60 Minutes and, in his cracked mind, he's convinced it's a rallying cry. "I disagree with what the majority of the American people want! Yee-ha!"
With the help of a blue screen, he intends to impose himself onto Slim Picken's Air Force Major T. J. "King" Kong character (Dr. Strangelove or How I Learned To Stop Worrying And Love The Bomb) as Kong rides the nuke through the skies. It is then that Senator Crazy will cry out, "I disagree with what the majority of the American people want! Yee-ha!"
Crazy John McCain will announce his candidacy for the GOP 2008 presidential nomination hours before his new ad campaign begins airing.
[Illustration via Isaiah's The World Today Just Nuts.]
Sunday, April 08, 2007
Truest statement of the week
They did not offer protests. They did not offer calls for an end to the war. Their candlelight vigils were meek and weak efforts that honestly remind me of the Ellen James movement in John Irving's The World According To Garp only no one need cut out a tongue because WalkOn.org has no intention of using a voice.
-- Ruth addressing WalkOn.org in her latest report.
-- Ruth addressing WalkOn.org in her latest report.
A Note to Our Readers
Hey --
Sketch to be filled in with a note.
We switched templates. We did that because we wanted to post a video (read on). After the switch, that Blogger/Blogspot would allow us to post the video, the "widget" that was supposed to be visible wasn't.
We'll continue playing with the template. In switching it, we lost all links except The Common Ills. Dona, Ty and me, Jim, spent about a half-hour putting the links back in. They never showed. As we type the note, we have added some links. We will continue to add more -- as the week goes by. "Was it a blog purge?" No. It was switching a template. Some that were on the link list won't be back. Some we no longer have use for, some involved a link exchange and then they either never followed up or delinked shortly after they got their link. We didn't have time or want to make time to pull those people. We thought they were small and petty. (At best.) But now that the links are wiped out, you can be damn sure we won't be going to the trouble of putting those back on our list.
Ty, Ava and C.I. read some of the e-mails (some) from regular readers this evening (and only names they recognized). We'll try to answer the questions as we go through. (Yes, there's one big topic, no surprise.)
The following helped with this edition:
The Third Estate Sunday Review's Dona, Jess, Ty, Ava and Jim,
Rebecca of Sex and Politics and Screeds and Attitude,
Betty of Thomas Friedman Is a Great Man,
C.I. of The Common Ills and The Third Estate Sunday Review,
Kat of Kat's Korner (of The Common Ills),
Cedric of Cedric's Big Mix,
Mike of Mikey Likes It!,
Elaine of Like Maria Said Paz,
and Wally of The Daily Jot
If you're late, welcome! We're always late. We've actually been later in posting new content than we were today. But we did make a point to take a lengthy break. We'll go into it in a bit. But thank you to all of the above for their help. Thank you to Dallas for his help as soundboard (we used him more as that than as link locator -- those who wonder about the number of links, that wasn't our issue this week, it wasn't pressing). We thank Rebecca for photo shopping the one new visual we used this week.
New content?
Message from Jim, Dona and Ty -- The three of us explain what's going on. We weren't planning to do that. Most people know we'll be late. ("As usual," wrote T.L.) But because we (the three of us) had switched the template and lost all the links, we figured we better post something or people might say, "No new content. And links are gone. Are they shutting shop?"
Highlights -- Mike, Elaine, Rebecca, Betty, Cedric and Wally wrote this and we thank them for it.
The winners are -- The winning video is worth checking out. We love that video. C.I. phoned midweek telling us to check out the video. We did, finally, on Friday. It's really great and this is the video we really wanted to post on our site. Congratulations to the winners.
The Nation Stats -- You can round up or round down, but throughout the year thus far, The Nation continues their pattern of one female byline for every four. Publish or perish? The Nation must want to kill off women, especially since they achieved the 'feat' of publishing an entire issue without one female credited in an article's byline. How proud they must be. The Nation has a woman as editor and publisher. Those who think that some woman, any woman, being placed in charge means advances for all women should really be following the numbers. When this issue was brought to C.I.'s attention (by friends, including some with the magazine) last year, it was stated that under a man, The Nation offered more articles by women. Every time this feature runs, we hear from readers and we also hear from the press. On the latter, while the congrats are nice, why aren't you covering it?
Roundtable -- C.I. had a bad feeling. Trust the gut. Early on, Rebecca admitted that she felt left out when Elaine started her site (Rebecca plans to write about that tomorrow -- she will write about it this week, we told her the number of e-mails that had already come in). We were all surprised (except Elaine and C.I.) and, afterwards, all agreed we figured that was the thing that would get the most comments until . . . "Jess just exploded," wrote Pam. Yes, he did. And we all understand why. We don't blame him. Bob Somerby couldn't get away with that crap if he was basing it on race. But he wants to create a false stereotype and blame people, scapegoat them. He's a sick ___. (C.I. insisted "___" be used.) We all roll our eyes about B.S. He's compromised himself and we've addressed that before. So when we learned of the Friday post from readers, we were rolling our eyes and thinking, "What an idiot." All except Jess. In retrospect, we should have caught that ourselves. We're sorry we didn't catch it. (Ava knew Jess was upset by it, she had no idea he was that upset.) B.S. is linked to by Mike, Rebecca and C.I. C.I.'s pulled him as we write, Mike and Rebecca will as well. This is not just that B.S. was wrong. He's been wrong before. This is a case of him stereotyping. (Ava may address B.S. next week. If you think she said all she had to say in the roundtable, you are mistaken.) His comments were wrong, that happens frequently. The fact that he was attempting to create a group of people to tar and feather is why we have no use for him, not even for cheap laughs (which is what we understand is all he gets on the third-tier comedy circuit). C.I. wants it noted that Betty deserves a huge thanks. Read the roundtable. Betty's just keeping it going and going. Betty and Wally. Dona, Ty and me (Jim) broke away to figure out what to do because there was the choice of wrapping up quickly or just leaving it there. That wasn't due to Jess as much as it was due to our all feeling bad that we hadn't grasped how hurtful B.S. was. Jess didn't want to speak, Ava and C.I. had already waived off speaking and pointed to their pads (they do the transcription of the roundtables and any other feature that starts with us discussing it). Betty and Wally really stepped up and kept it going, so thank you to them for that. (Thank you to everyone but it was Betty and Wally -- who each pulled one early statement they'd made -- if that was included, you'd see exactly how they kept it going.) Betty said we could note that she shared a personal memory of when it was made very clear to her, by a White person, that she was seen as 'different' and "less" because of her race. We really did think this would be an easy roundtable, except for C.I. (who still hasn't said "I told you so.").
Your Guide to the Horse Race -- the roundtable was done early. Ava and C.I. had done their TV thing, we'd done an interview. We had other pieces semi-started and planned. We had illustrations for them. That all went into the trashcan after the roundtable. C.I. suggested we all take a break. Betty and Cedric wanted to be a part of the full edition to show solidarity with Jess so they asked that we regroup after they were done with church. So we took our break. When we got back, we were tossing around ideas, the planned edition was over. Someone suggested this. Jess liked the idea and C.I. said, "I am only participating in this because of Jess."
We're not planning to do handicapping. Our contribution was to note how, election cycle after election cycle, the the gas bags waste time and the object of their gas bagging crashes and burns.
Thomas e-mailed that Obama comes off poorly and notes that C.I. ("who doesn't endorse") had comments about Obama before. C.I. made those comments before Obama was in the race. The piece contains no endorsement. We're not Hillary fans. She comes off better than anyone. (Thomas and others have e-mailed to note that.) We're commenting on the system itself. How it tends to play out, cycle after cycle. As to Obama, if you're unfamiliar with the fact that his campaign in 2004 faced only one serious rival, wake up. If you're under the impression that the one rival decided to embarrass himself and his ex-wife, wake the hell up. If you're under the impression that squeaky clean Obama's campaigns aren't littered with those sorts of 'events,' you're in a coma. But as to it being a non-endorsement of Obama, we called Betty for a reply (as Thomas requested). Here's Betty's response: "Obama runs trash campaigns. That's a fact. Noting it doesn't mean he's not endorsed. Sometimes you need the trash man to take out the trash." The illustration? We have very few visuals. When this was agreed upon, C.I. said, "Hold on." Kat had mentioned the Laura Nyro song and suggested we use it. C.I. went off to the bedroom and came back with this t-shirt. We scanned it. It's from the 1992 Clinton-Gore campaign.
Talking with Ruth -- Done early Saturday night so Ruth didn't have to stay up. This is very popular in the e-mails and why not? Ruth's a great woman. Thank you to Ruth and thank you to Brady for the e-mail to C.I. and Ruth that led to this interview.
TV: The not-so-universal White Boy blues -- "Where is the illustration?" That came up a great deal. It's generally known that Jess and Rebecca did the regular illustartion. Had it been dropped? If so, why? Was it because of the roundtable? Yes. Yes, because of the roundtable we dropped the illustartion, because of the roundtable, Ava broke up with Jess, because of the roundtable, we've, in fact, banished Jess. No! We all agree with Jess. Our only regret is that we didn't catch what he caught ourselves. The illustration was pulled because we had publishing problems. After everything was done, it took about two hours just to get it to publish. The text of the commentary? We get it, okay, you love Ava and C.I.! Seriously, we love them too. Dee Dee wrote that it "is so strange that the former Pax had to move a show from the seventies back an hour and it's even stranger that this didn't get attention from others. Now they've dropped the show and given us another boy's life tale. When I started reading, I wasn't sure what to expect. I think they carried the theme off very well and that there are multiple themes. It's my favorite." Dee Dee, you were far from alone. Ava and C.I. trash everything they write so none of us were surprised when they told us, "This is our worst. No one will like it." As usual, they were wrong on the reaction by a huge margin.
Editorial: Shameful -- Most know exactly who the unnamed is. We weren't surprised. If you follow the issue, you know who we're speaking of. We, however, did not want to spoon feed those who would trumpet it.
Truest statement of the week -- Harvey loved this and wrote that he had forgotten about The World According to Garp and felt this was the perfect comparison for WalkOn.org.
See you next week.
-- Jim, Dona, Ty, Jess, Ava and C.I.
Sketch to be filled in with a note.
We switched templates. We did that because we wanted to post a video (read on). After the switch, that Blogger/Blogspot would allow us to post the video, the "widget" that was supposed to be visible wasn't.
We'll continue playing with the template. In switching it, we lost all links except The Common Ills. Dona, Ty and me, Jim, spent about a half-hour putting the links back in. They never showed. As we type the note, we have added some links. We will continue to add more -- as the week goes by. "Was it a blog purge?" No. It was switching a template. Some that were on the link list won't be back. Some we no longer have use for, some involved a link exchange and then they either never followed up or delinked shortly after they got their link. We didn't have time or want to make time to pull those people. We thought they were small and petty. (At best.) But now that the links are wiped out, you can be damn sure we won't be going to the trouble of putting those back on our list.
Ty, Ava and C.I. read some of the e-mails (some) from regular readers this evening (and only names they recognized). We'll try to answer the questions as we go through. (Yes, there's one big topic, no surprise.)
The following helped with this edition:
The Third Estate Sunday Review's Dona, Jess, Ty, Ava and Jim,
Rebecca of Sex and Politics and Screeds and Attitude,
Betty of Thomas Friedman Is a Great Man,
C.I. of The Common Ills and The Third Estate Sunday Review,
Kat of Kat's Korner (of The Common Ills),
Cedric of Cedric's Big Mix,
Mike of Mikey Likes It!,
Elaine of Like Maria Said Paz,
and Wally of The Daily Jot
If you're late, welcome! We're always late. We've actually been later in posting new content than we were today. But we did make a point to take a lengthy break. We'll go into it in a bit. But thank you to all of the above for their help. Thank you to Dallas for his help as soundboard (we used him more as that than as link locator -- those who wonder about the number of links, that wasn't our issue this week, it wasn't pressing). We thank Rebecca for photo shopping the one new visual we used this week.
New content?
Message from Jim, Dona and Ty -- The three of us explain what's going on. We weren't planning to do that. Most people know we'll be late. ("As usual," wrote T.L.) But because we (the three of us) had switched the template and lost all the links, we figured we better post something or people might say, "No new content. And links are gone. Are they shutting shop?"
Highlights -- Mike, Elaine, Rebecca, Betty, Cedric and Wally wrote this and we thank them for it.
The winners are -- The winning video is worth checking out. We love that video. C.I. phoned midweek telling us to check out the video. We did, finally, on Friday. It's really great and this is the video we really wanted to post on our site. Congratulations to the winners.
The Nation Stats -- You can round up or round down, but throughout the year thus far, The Nation continues their pattern of one female byline for every four. Publish or perish? The Nation must want to kill off women, especially since they achieved the 'feat' of publishing an entire issue without one female credited in an article's byline. How proud they must be. The Nation has a woman as editor and publisher. Those who think that some woman, any woman, being placed in charge means advances for all women should really be following the numbers. When this issue was brought to C.I.'s attention (by friends, including some with the magazine) last year, it was stated that under a man, The Nation offered more articles by women. Every time this feature runs, we hear from readers and we also hear from the press. On the latter, while the congrats are nice, why aren't you covering it?
Roundtable -- C.I. had a bad feeling. Trust the gut. Early on, Rebecca admitted that she felt left out when Elaine started her site (Rebecca plans to write about that tomorrow -- she will write about it this week, we told her the number of e-mails that had already come in). We were all surprised (except Elaine and C.I.) and, afterwards, all agreed we figured that was the thing that would get the most comments until . . . "Jess just exploded," wrote Pam. Yes, he did. And we all understand why. We don't blame him. Bob Somerby couldn't get away with that crap if he was basing it on race. But he wants to create a false stereotype and blame people, scapegoat them. He's a sick ___. (C.I. insisted "___" be used.) We all roll our eyes about B.S. He's compromised himself and we've addressed that before. So when we learned of the Friday post from readers, we were rolling our eyes and thinking, "What an idiot." All except Jess. In retrospect, we should have caught that ourselves. We're sorry we didn't catch it. (Ava knew Jess was upset by it, she had no idea he was that upset.) B.S. is linked to by Mike, Rebecca and C.I. C.I.'s pulled him as we write, Mike and Rebecca will as well. This is not just that B.S. was wrong. He's been wrong before. This is a case of him stereotyping. (Ava may address B.S. next week. If you think she said all she had to say in the roundtable, you are mistaken.) His comments were wrong, that happens frequently. The fact that he was attempting to create a group of people to tar and feather is why we have no use for him, not even for cheap laughs (which is what we understand is all he gets on the third-tier comedy circuit). C.I. wants it noted that Betty deserves a huge thanks. Read the roundtable. Betty's just keeping it going and going. Betty and Wally. Dona, Ty and me (Jim) broke away to figure out what to do because there was the choice of wrapping up quickly or just leaving it there. That wasn't due to Jess as much as it was due to our all feeling bad that we hadn't grasped how hurtful B.S. was. Jess didn't want to speak, Ava and C.I. had already waived off speaking and pointed to their pads (they do the transcription of the roundtables and any other feature that starts with us discussing it). Betty and Wally really stepped up and kept it going, so thank you to them for that. (Thank you to everyone but it was Betty and Wally -- who each pulled one early statement they'd made -- if that was included, you'd see exactly how they kept it going.) Betty said we could note that she shared a personal memory of when it was made very clear to her, by a White person, that she was seen as 'different' and "less" because of her race. We really did think this would be an easy roundtable, except for C.I. (who still hasn't said "I told you so.").
Your Guide to the Horse Race -- the roundtable was done early. Ava and C.I. had done their TV thing, we'd done an interview. We had other pieces semi-started and planned. We had illustrations for them. That all went into the trashcan after the roundtable. C.I. suggested we all take a break. Betty and Cedric wanted to be a part of the full edition to show solidarity with Jess so they asked that we regroup after they were done with church. So we took our break. When we got back, we were tossing around ideas, the planned edition was over. Someone suggested this. Jess liked the idea and C.I. said, "I am only participating in this because of Jess."
We're not planning to do handicapping. Our contribution was to note how, election cycle after election cycle, the the gas bags waste time and the object of their gas bagging crashes and burns.
Thomas e-mailed that Obama comes off poorly and notes that C.I. ("who doesn't endorse") had comments about Obama before. C.I. made those comments before Obama was in the race. The piece contains no endorsement. We're not Hillary fans. She comes off better than anyone. (Thomas and others have e-mailed to note that.) We're commenting on the system itself. How it tends to play out, cycle after cycle. As to Obama, if you're unfamiliar with the fact that his campaign in 2004 faced only one serious rival, wake up. If you're under the impression that the one rival decided to embarrass himself and his ex-wife, wake the hell up. If you're under the impression that squeaky clean Obama's campaigns aren't littered with those sorts of 'events,' you're in a coma. But as to it being a non-endorsement of Obama, we called Betty for a reply (as Thomas requested). Here's Betty's response: "Obama runs trash campaigns. That's a fact. Noting it doesn't mean he's not endorsed. Sometimes you need the trash man to take out the trash." The illustration? We have very few visuals. When this was agreed upon, C.I. said, "Hold on." Kat had mentioned the Laura Nyro song and suggested we use it. C.I. went off to the bedroom and came back with this t-shirt. We scanned it. It's from the 1992 Clinton-Gore campaign.
Talking with Ruth -- Done early Saturday night so Ruth didn't have to stay up. This is very popular in the e-mails and why not? Ruth's a great woman. Thank you to Ruth and thank you to Brady for the e-mail to C.I. and Ruth that led to this interview.
TV: The not-so-universal White Boy blues -- "Where is the illustration?" That came up a great deal. It's generally known that Jess and Rebecca did the regular illustartion. Had it been dropped? If so, why? Was it because of the roundtable? Yes. Yes, because of the roundtable we dropped the illustartion, because of the roundtable, Ava broke up with Jess, because of the roundtable, we've, in fact, banished Jess. No! We all agree with Jess. Our only regret is that we didn't catch what he caught ourselves. The illustration was pulled because we had publishing problems. After everything was done, it took about two hours just to get it to publish. The text of the commentary? We get it, okay, you love Ava and C.I.! Seriously, we love them too. Dee Dee wrote that it "is so strange that the former Pax had to move a show from the seventies back an hour and it's even stranger that this didn't get attention from others. Now they've dropped the show and given us another boy's life tale. When I started reading, I wasn't sure what to expect. I think they carried the theme off very well and that there are multiple themes. It's my favorite." Dee Dee, you were far from alone. Ava and C.I. trash everything they write so none of us were surprised when they told us, "This is our worst. No one will like it." As usual, they were wrong on the reaction by a huge margin.
Editorial: Shameful -- Most know exactly who the unnamed is. We weren't surprised. If you follow the issue, you know who we're speaking of. We, however, did not want to spoon feed those who would trumpet it.
Truest statement of the week -- Harvey loved this and wrote that he had forgotten about The World According to Garp and felt this was the perfect comparison for WalkOn.org.
See you next week.
-- Jim, Dona, Ty, Jess, Ava and C.I.
Editorial: Shameful
We'll be really kind and not name names but someone minimized hugely last week, at the start of the week, and by the end of the week, the minimization became more obvious.
We'll note that the speaker took great strides to defend the Canadian police and noted that facts weren't known. Even offered a vague, 'We don't know who's lying.' That seemed addressed at
Winnie Ng who, for the record, is not a professional liar. The comments were shameful and embarrassing, they were uninformed and it was all that sadder considering the source.
Well Winnie Ng is not a liar. We never thought otherwise. But even the one casting aspertions must have been red faced when The Toronto Globe and Mail reported that Ng was visited by three men. Who were the three men posing as Canadian police and attempting to locate US war resister Joshua Key?
Toronto police spokesman Mark Pugash confirmed this week the affiliations of the three men who visited Ms. Ng. Initially, Toronto police said none of their officers were involved, but after a further search they found that an officer did in fact accompany two military men.
But Mr. Pugash stressed that the police officer was not acting in any investigative capacity, but was simply assisting the men. There was absolutely no effort on the part of the police officer to mislead Ms. Ng into thinking all three men were with Toronto police, he added.
Now who's the liar? Ng who has been consistent with her statements from day one or the police who denied involvement and now wants to assert that Ng must have heard wrong because "no effort on the part of the police officer to mislead" was made?
The police that lied once now lied twice. Ng has been consistent. It's the police who continue to change their story. And it's the domestic media in the United States who continue to ignore this story and the similar story of Kyle Snyder, pulled out of his home in his boxers, handcuffed and tossed into a jail because Canadian police elected to take orders from the US military.
In Canada this is becoming a bigger issue and the latest twist by the police of "Oops, one of us were involved but we did not mislead" will only add to that.
It's not a deportable offense in Canada to self-check out of the US military.
With Key the claim by the US military is that they wish to discuss with him the contents of his book The Deserter's Tale. Though that may prove to be true, the reality is that the US military lied to Kyle Snyder when he returned. The reality is that Jeffry House, Key's attorney, has contacted the US military supposedly interested in just speaking to Key and the US military has refused to return his calls.
The reality is that the issue in Canada is fastly becoming one of whether it is in fact a nation-state or merely an annex of the US. The latest round of explanations, the latest "Oops! We were there, we did cooperate!" won't diminish those concerns.
We think it's a real shame that when someone had a platform to address the issues, and a host welcome to them, he instead elected to cave, to appear 'reasonable,' to cast asperstions on Ng and to act like a water carrier instead of a leader.
We would be more shocked were it not for the fact that the host of the program that invited the guest on was obviously shocked by the weak ass statements being made, by the coverage being offered. At one point, the host attempted to introduce the topic of the United States spying in Canada on peace activists. The guest insisted that wasn't the case when it was the case and had been reported by the Washington Post.
We have no idea why someone was so cowardly and craven or why they came off so hostile. But a leader leads and, if that's leadership, someone needs to step down.
Our sympathies to Ng who was inferred to be a liar. Ng is one of the many people who have put their principles into practice. She and her family opened their home to war resisters seeking refuge in Canada. Her thanks for that should not include a weak ass man attempting to side with the police and suggest that Ng lied about the visit of three men stating they were the police officers.
Again, at the end of the week, the police confirmed that three men did visit Ng's home. They confirmed that one was indeed a police officer. They now want to state that they were wrong before but the truth now, cross their hearts, is that no one misled Ng into thinking all three were police officers.
The only one who has remained consistent has been Ng. We have no reason to doubt her. We think it's really sad that a friend to the movement, for whatever reasons, took to the airwaves last week to imply she was a liar and that no one visited her home.
We think there's no excuse for him not to know the details of Kyle Snyder's arrest. We strongly suggest that he rethink his most recent appearance and figure out whether he is attempting to help war resisters or if he's merely trying to cozy up to the powerful. He was provided with a welcoming forum where the host was voicing much stronger criticism than he was. That's the sort of thing that prolongs the illegal war and you can pair it up with those Party Hacks in the US who tell Americans to be "reasonable" and cheer Congress for every symoblic step.
We'll note that the speaker took great strides to defend the Canadian police and noted that facts weren't known. Even offered a vague, 'We don't know who's lying.' That seemed addressed at
Winnie Ng who, for the record, is not a professional liar. The comments were shameful and embarrassing, they were uninformed and it was all that sadder considering the source.
Well Winnie Ng is not a liar. We never thought otherwise. But even the one casting aspertions must have been red faced when The Toronto Globe and Mail reported that Ng was visited by three men. Who were the three men posing as Canadian police and attempting to locate US war resister Joshua Key?
Toronto police spokesman Mark Pugash confirmed this week the affiliations of the three men who visited Ms. Ng. Initially, Toronto police said none of their officers were involved, but after a further search they found that an officer did in fact accompany two military men.
But Mr. Pugash stressed that the police officer was not acting in any investigative capacity, but was simply assisting the men. There was absolutely no effort on the part of the police officer to mislead Ms. Ng into thinking all three men were with Toronto police, he added.
Now who's the liar? Ng who has been consistent with her statements from day one or the police who denied involvement and now wants to assert that Ng must have heard wrong because "no effort on the part of the police officer to mislead" was made?
The police that lied once now lied twice. Ng has been consistent. It's the police who continue to change their story. And it's the domestic media in the United States who continue to ignore this story and the similar story of Kyle Snyder, pulled out of his home in his boxers, handcuffed and tossed into a jail because Canadian police elected to take orders from the US military.
In Canada this is becoming a bigger issue and the latest twist by the police of "Oops, one of us were involved but we did not mislead" will only add to that.
It's not a deportable offense in Canada to self-check out of the US military.
With Key the claim by the US military is that they wish to discuss with him the contents of his book The Deserter's Tale. Though that may prove to be true, the reality is that the US military lied to Kyle Snyder when he returned. The reality is that Jeffry House, Key's attorney, has contacted the US military supposedly interested in just speaking to Key and the US military has refused to return his calls.
The reality is that the issue in Canada is fastly becoming one of whether it is in fact a nation-state or merely an annex of the US. The latest round of explanations, the latest "Oops! We were there, we did cooperate!" won't diminish those concerns.
We think it's a real shame that when someone had a platform to address the issues, and a host welcome to them, he instead elected to cave, to appear 'reasonable,' to cast asperstions on Ng and to act like a water carrier instead of a leader.
We would be more shocked were it not for the fact that the host of the program that invited the guest on was obviously shocked by the weak ass statements being made, by the coverage being offered. At one point, the host attempted to introduce the topic of the United States spying in Canada on peace activists. The guest insisted that wasn't the case when it was the case and had been reported by the Washington Post.
We have no idea why someone was so cowardly and craven or why they came off so hostile. But a leader leads and, if that's leadership, someone needs to step down.
Our sympathies to Ng who was inferred to be a liar. Ng is one of the many people who have put their principles into practice. She and her family opened their home to war resisters seeking refuge in Canada. Her thanks for that should not include a weak ass man attempting to side with the police and suggest that Ng lied about the visit of three men stating they were the police officers.
Again, at the end of the week, the police confirmed that three men did visit Ng's home. They confirmed that one was indeed a police officer. They now want to state that they were wrong before but the truth now, cross their hearts, is that no one misled Ng into thinking all three were police officers.
The only one who has remained consistent has been Ng. We have no reason to doubt her. We think it's really sad that a friend to the movement, for whatever reasons, took to the airwaves last week to imply she was a liar and that no one visited her home.
We think there's no excuse for him not to know the details of Kyle Snyder's arrest. We strongly suggest that he rethink his most recent appearance and figure out whether he is attempting to help war resisters or if he's merely trying to cozy up to the powerful. He was provided with a welcoming forum where the host was voicing much stronger criticism than he was. That's the sort of thing that prolongs the illegal war and you can pair it up with those Party Hacks in the US who tell Americans to be "reasonable" and cheer Congress for every symoblic step.
TV: The not-so-universal White Boy blues
2007, we were old beyond our years. A lot happened that year. The Bully Boy was still terrorizing America and the rest of the world. The Iraq war passed the fourth year mark. Dems in Congress sought applause for hitting meaningless notes with nothing to back them up, kind of like the contestants on the popular high school talent show American Idol. We logged so many TV hours our eyes felt burned with test patterns . . . but we'll get to that. There's no pretty way to put this: We were living in a world with little substance and little meaning. We guess some people think of trivia as the height of of awareness, with all the disadvantages of reality, and none of the advantages of informed life. But, in a way, those truly were awful years.
As the White House telegraphed, it was a golden age for Bullies.
Religious ones had bullied the former Pax network until they stopped airing Charlie's Angels, apparently moving it to a later time slot hadn't calmed them down any. So desperate for something inoffensive to air, they went with The Wonder Years.
It was 1988, ABC was deep in the sixties. Like most networks, they'd done all they could to avoid dealing with Iran-Contra so a double helping of the sixties might give them some sense of 'awareness.' China Beach was the drama, Wonder Years was the . . . Not a sitcom, not a drama. Just a half-hour of preaching.
Prone to statements about how "everyone" did something (brought a ham and jello to a funeral, felt some way about a girl) that never rang universal to anyone that wasn't a White, Straight, Male of a certain age. Vietnam was the supposed backdrop but the show was more interested in the lead child, Kevin (played by Fred Savage) hiding things in his school locker. His parents were a stay at home mom and a smoldering, angry dad. His older brother Wayne (played by Jason Hervey) was Tony Dow's Wally with a nasty side. A sister was tossed in, and rarely utilized, Karen (played by Olivia D'Abo). If the message wasn't already clear that women were to be sidelined there was Winnie Cooper.
In a performance so rotten it made one yearn for the deeper meanings in Brooke Shields' 80s film work, Danica McKellar played the ultimate trophy -- shiny, glossy, and if she got 'emotional' that was okay, just meant she was about to cry on Kev's shoulder. In later years, it appeared she might have actual wants besides being a trophy so good thing she'd have an affair with a life guard in the final season -- proof positive of how those women couldn't be trusted.
It was Leave It To Beaver with bad voice overs and June didn't even get to look polished in pearls. Quite the contrary, the mother always looked to be in fear of the father only we weren't supposed to notice.
What would you do . . . If the theme was a Beatles song sung by Joe Cocker? You might note that the song came after, months after, the period it was used in. Or maybe you'd just note that, and the other songs, and realize how little they reflected the time period or represented. A song performed by Carole King would appear on one episode, a Joni Mitchell one ("River") on another. But to listen, you'd have no real grasp of how much race and gender barriers were overcome in the period the show supposedly was covering.
Though the opening voice over name-checked The Mod Squad, you just knew if an African-American sat next to Kev, he'd squirm more than when he was playing RFK Jr. in the school play. In fact, inclusion on the show apparently began and ended with Kev's best friend, Paul the town's token Jew.
It was 1969, ABC was airing The Brady Bunch, a family sitcom set in the time period it was airing. Preceding The Wonder Years by two decades, it was much more forward thinking than what ABC would serve up in the 80s. You had Alice, the working woman. You had Marcia, Jan and Cindy, three sisters who were active and had wants. All together, they longed for a sewing machine while the boys wanted a canoe. The compromise was a TV -- the compromise society's been paying for ever since. Individually, Marcia wanted to be beautiful and loved by all, Jan wanted to be a writer but, most of all, she wanted to Marcia and Cindy wanted that damn Kitty Karry-All doll and to be famous. Though nothing ground breaking, it's the difference between characters and trophies. Winnie was just a bland piece of ass to little boys who didn't even know the phrase "piece of ass."
Fred Savage (slowly) became an actor during the course of the series. Hervey devolved and, short of Three's Company: The Movie needing a new Mr. Furley, has a 'talent' that can't be marketed. Olivia D'Abo did strong work with an earlier version of Christina Ricci's Black Snake Moan character but, like Ricci, her talents couldn't save the snark factor. As usually happens on these retro shows, a woman's reward for actual talent is to be written off the show. Which is why D'Abo vanishes and McKellar can be found season after season.
It was 2007 and NBC was attempting to figure out whether they should cancel Medium or Crossing Jordan or both, because two women starring in hour long dramas seemed, to the network, to be two too many. Wasn't it enough that they had women as featured players in various Dickie Wolf shows? It was 2007 and for the former Pax network, three women playing private detectives was so controversial, they had to pull it and, in its place, air a White boy-centric half hour show in two installments. They'd also added a half-hour daily helping of Alice because the boss was a man and it was so much safer, they thought, than One Day At A Time. Still the complaints came in the first week when the episode aired where Alice dates a gay man ("Jolly?") and has to decide whether or not her son Tommy should be allowed around him? (She decides yes.)
It was 2007 and boys, White boys, of all ages still existed in lead roles on TV in larger proportion than they did in the country. It was 2007 and, at that late date, networks and pseudo-netlettes (like the former Pax) still felt White boy played 'universal'. It was 2007 and CBS suits were grumbling about being 'stuck' with the sitcom hit The New Old Christine. It was 2007 and Thirty Rock was renewed not because of the amazing work of Tina Fey but because NBC suits really believed it was Alec Baldwin's show.
As you read this all these years, all these decades, later, probably as the country is engaged in another illegal war, and see nothing but the embrace of whiney White boys who lament their very non-universal past, grasp that what passes for TV entertainment remains the largest and most effective gate keeper society has.
As the White House telegraphed, it was a golden age for Bullies.
Religious ones had bullied the former Pax network until they stopped airing Charlie's Angels, apparently moving it to a later time slot hadn't calmed them down any. So desperate for something inoffensive to air, they went with The Wonder Years.
It was 1988, ABC was deep in the sixties. Like most networks, they'd done all they could to avoid dealing with Iran-Contra so a double helping of the sixties might give them some sense of 'awareness.' China Beach was the drama, Wonder Years was the . . . Not a sitcom, not a drama. Just a half-hour of preaching.
Prone to statements about how "everyone" did something (brought a ham and jello to a funeral, felt some way about a girl) that never rang universal to anyone that wasn't a White, Straight, Male of a certain age. Vietnam was the supposed backdrop but the show was more interested in the lead child, Kevin (played by Fred Savage) hiding things in his school locker. His parents were a stay at home mom and a smoldering, angry dad. His older brother Wayne (played by Jason Hervey) was Tony Dow's Wally with a nasty side. A sister was tossed in, and rarely utilized, Karen (played by Olivia D'Abo). If the message wasn't already clear that women were to be sidelined there was Winnie Cooper.
In a performance so rotten it made one yearn for the deeper meanings in Brooke Shields' 80s film work, Danica McKellar played the ultimate trophy -- shiny, glossy, and if she got 'emotional' that was okay, just meant she was about to cry on Kev's shoulder. In later years, it appeared she might have actual wants besides being a trophy so good thing she'd have an affair with a life guard in the final season -- proof positive of how those women couldn't be trusted.
It was Leave It To Beaver with bad voice overs and June didn't even get to look polished in pearls. Quite the contrary, the mother always looked to be in fear of the father only we weren't supposed to notice.
What would you do . . . If the theme was a Beatles song sung by Joe Cocker? You might note that the song came after, months after, the period it was used in. Or maybe you'd just note that, and the other songs, and realize how little they reflected the time period or represented. A song performed by Carole King would appear on one episode, a Joni Mitchell one ("River") on another. But to listen, you'd have no real grasp of how much race and gender barriers were overcome in the period the show supposedly was covering.
Though the opening voice over name-checked The Mod Squad, you just knew if an African-American sat next to Kev, he'd squirm more than when he was playing RFK Jr. in the school play. In fact, inclusion on the show apparently began and ended with Kev's best friend, Paul the town's token Jew.
It was 1969, ABC was airing The Brady Bunch, a family sitcom set in the time period it was airing. Preceding The Wonder Years by two decades, it was much more forward thinking than what ABC would serve up in the 80s. You had Alice, the working woman. You had Marcia, Jan and Cindy, three sisters who were active and had wants. All together, they longed for a sewing machine while the boys wanted a canoe. The compromise was a TV -- the compromise society's been paying for ever since. Individually, Marcia wanted to be beautiful and loved by all, Jan wanted to be a writer but, most of all, she wanted to Marcia and Cindy wanted that damn Kitty Karry-All doll and to be famous. Though nothing ground breaking, it's the difference between characters and trophies. Winnie was just a bland piece of ass to little boys who didn't even know the phrase "piece of ass."
Fred Savage (slowly) became an actor during the course of the series. Hervey devolved and, short of Three's Company: The Movie needing a new Mr. Furley, has a 'talent' that can't be marketed. Olivia D'Abo did strong work with an earlier version of Christina Ricci's Black Snake Moan character but, like Ricci, her talents couldn't save the snark factor. As usually happens on these retro shows, a woman's reward for actual talent is to be written off the show. Which is why D'Abo vanishes and McKellar can be found season after season.
It was 2007 and NBC was attempting to figure out whether they should cancel Medium or Crossing Jordan or both, because two women starring in hour long dramas seemed, to the network, to be two too many. Wasn't it enough that they had women as featured players in various Dickie Wolf shows? It was 2007 and for the former Pax network, three women playing private detectives was so controversial, they had to pull it and, in its place, air a White boy-centric half hour show in two installments. They'd also added a half-hour daily helping of Alice because the boss was a man and it was so much safer, they thought, than One Day At A Time. Still the complaints came in the first week when the episode aired where Alice dates a gay man ("Jolly?") and has to decide whether or not her son Tommy should be allowed around him? (She decides yes.)
It was 2007 and boys, White boys, of all ages still existed in lead roles on TV in larger proportion than they did in the country. It was 2007 and, at that late date, networks and pseudo-netlettes (like the former Pax) still felt White boy played 'universal'. It was 2007 and CBS suits were grumbling about being 'stuck' with the sitcom hit The New Old Christine. It was 2007 and Thirty Rock was renewed not because of the amazing work of Tina Fey but because NBC suits really believed it was Alec Baldwin's show.
As you read this all these years, all these decades, later, probably as the country is engaged in another illegal war, and see nothing but the embrace of whiney White boys who lament their very non-universal past, grasp that what passes for TV entertainment remains the largest and most effective gate keeper society has.
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