Sunday, May 07, 2006

Blog Spotlight: Rebecca with what Kat calls "Truly, the last chance Texaco"

Elaine just made us all laugh by singing,  "And when the country was falling apart, Betsy Ross got it all sewn up.  And then there's Rebecca.  And then there's Rebecca."  (A play on the theme to the TV show Maude.)  Rebecca doesn't hide behind men or wait to see if others (male or female) will back her up.  She's always called it just the way she sees it.  We're doing two of her posts as highlights and we're starting with this one.
 
 

stephen colbert spits on women (past and present) and the web and e&p don't see the problem

oh that stephen colbert, he so damn funny. so crazy.

open a window so we can all get a breath of fresh air.

we need it.

we really need it.

stephen colbert's been praised across the web (will the offenders please step up?).

anybody notice a problem?

no?

okay, how about this, you ever heard of helen thomas?

anybody?

that's 1.

that's 1 dc reporter who doesn't leave the white house to go "make love to your wife."

this is from editor & publisher - presumably a thinking press organ (write up's credited to e & p staff):

Addressing the reporters, he said, "Let's review the rules. Here's how it works. The president makes decisions, he’s the decider. The press secretary announces those decisions, and you people of the press type those decisions down. Make, announce, type. Put them through a spell check and go home. Get to know your family again. Make love to your wife. Write that novel you got kicking around in your head. You know, the one about the intrepid Washington reporter with the courage to stand up to the administration. You know -- fiction."

somehow, in their intrepid write up, they can't note the thing that should be obvious to them - women do work for editor & publisher, don't they? what are they all queen bees or just to damn scared to stand up and say 'that's wrong'?

read that b.s. and you'll realize why the work ava and c.i. do is so sorely needed. e & p offers commentary in spots. they never question the sexist remark, the sexist assumption that all reporters are male (or straight and married). must be a pretty diverse crowd over at e & p - what, you've got the white man who drinks jack daniels, the white man who drinks beer and the white man who doesn't drink anything?

that's a pretty observant bunch, huh? supposed reporters that can say a damn word when the 'funny' guy renders all women invisible with that remark - pretty damn disgusting.


helen thomas doesn't go home to her wife.

and guess what? she's not alone.

not anymore.

in the old days, it was helen thomas, sarah mcclendon and a smattering of others like may craig.

when they started out they had to prove they could do the job because, back then, it was assumed that reporters were naturally male.

back then.

back when?

last night.

to pretend that stephen colbert did not utter an insulting remark is surely an act of desperation and those rushing to applaud him might want to check themselves real damn quick.


it's not funny. it's not cute.


in a room full of a large number of female journalists, he insulted all women.

in a room that was only open to the female gender because of mavericks like thomas and mcclendon, he insulted all women, past and present, living and dead.

'oh but it's so damn funny!'

what colbert did was not funny.

it was insulting.

and i'm not that desparate for giggles that i have to pretend it wasn't insulting.

colbert could have as easily said 'spouse.'

he didn't. why not?

well he's never appeared all that aware.

but let's be real clear here, what he did should have been greeted with howls. in the old days, women's groups would be coming down on him and the guys and gals giggling right now would think twice. they'd probably still titter in private. but they'd realize it was too insulting and had made people too angry for them to chuckle in public.

it's the sort of 'joke' they'd tell about african-americans when none were in the room.

so they'd avoid people like me and make sure they kept their chuckles private.

that our supposed left wing net wants to act like we had a gift from heaven via our lord stephen colbert last night is disgusting. but hey, e & p paved the way.

they're picking & choosing.

what they're picking is 'colbert so funny! he insulted bully boy so we should rush to applaud him even if he just stripped women of decades of accomplishments in the process.'

it sure is nice to know that while the anti-bully boy movement claims to want every 1, it's still okay to act as though women are invisble. that says a lot about 'priorities.' or maybe just a lot about what's important to you.

for all the chuckle heads, out there, you want to explain the women's national press club and how about eleanor roosevelt's press conference association?

want to explain to me why they were created in the 1st place?

oh, i know why they were created. i don't need the lesson. but maybe some of the howling with laughter set do.

women had to fight for the right to cover dc. they had to fight for the ability to ask a question. i'm not joking.

colbert made light of their struggle and light of the female reporters present.

i won't. it's not funny to me that he stood up at a press club function with members who were male and female and thought it was 'funny' to just address the men.

it's disgusting.

'spouse' to 'husband' was it would have taken for him to be inclusive. 1 word but that was too much for him. and apparently, it's too much to expect that our brave left males will step up to the plate and say, 'hey, that wasn't funny.'

i will. women came before me, they came before you (whether you are female or male). i won't devalue their contributions or forget their struggle.

but i'm not a silly comic making stupid films about being a 40 y.o. virgin.

if i could act, i doubt i'd be convincing as some 1 scared of sex - another difference between myself and stephen colbert.

he's gotten a lot of mileage out of this 'i can't relate to women' shit.

maybe at some point he'll be called on it?

probably not. it's easier to giggle along and, in the process, say it's okay to destroy and spit on the accomplishments of women. yeah, we're so starved for funny that it's okay to spit on women and it's okay for males (and some women i'm sure) to go along with it. for the 'cause' - obviously.

editor & publisher is supposed to be a press trade journal. their organ. when it won't speak up for women in its ranks, what use is it?

if you don't get how insulting his 'bit' was, this is from adam bernstein's january 8, 2003 obituary of sarah mcclendon that ran in the washington post:

As one of the few women after World War II writing about politics in the nation's capital, Ms. McClendon was pitted against discrimination, condescension and exasperation among politicians and her peers. It wasn't uncommon for her to be reproved by presidents who did not want to be bothered with her because of her sex, brusque manner and the small circulation of the papers for which she wrote.

that was a fighter. i doubt colbert's fought for anything besides the right to offend. apparently editor & publisher just wants to fight for their right to be pig headed and chuckle when half the ranks get insulted. and our left web is eager to go along.


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C.I. checks the NYT on their coverage of the immigration issue

If you missed it (maybe you were too busy applauding a comic?), The New York Times, which has told the immigration struggle from the business point of view, continued to do so this week, only more so.  C.I. took their nonsense on daily.  We had many requests to note C.I.'s critiques of that in e-mails and this one was the most cited critique.  (Ramon wrote the most lengthy e-mail on this post, going deep into why it meant something to him.  Thank you for that e-mail, Ramon.)
 

NYT: Millions protest so the Times highlights Small Business and the Minutemen

The paper's that never shown any interest in the immigratants involved in the struggle for immigration rights continues to flaunt it's sneering "don't give a damn" attitude. Having allowed Monica Davey to twice tell us how it feels to be . . . big business, Randal C. Archibold (who has more problems than his name) comes along with "Immigrants Take to U.S. Streets in Show of Strength" to reassure readers it was no big thing.

From the beginning, the issues and the realities are underplayed. You get that with "hundreds of thousands" in Archibold's first sentence. Try over a million. I've heard as low 1.1 million and as high as one and [a half million] -- eye balling the rough figures I've heard from friends across the country, I think a case could be made for two million or more. Just do the numbers out of Los Angeles and Chciago alone and you grasp that.

But we mustn't say "million" in the Times. Not after they've ignored and mocked the issue in ALL their coverage from reporting to editorials. "Uppity" seems to be the attitude of the paper. Stil hurt that the nation didn't rush to get on board the Senate plan that the Bullies of 43rd Street were pushing as 'reasoned' and 'well thought'?

The moral equivalency of allowing a smeer in the seventh paragraph from a spokesperson for a xenophobic organization may be the thing most people can't get past. The "Minuteman" as reliable sources? I guess readers can look forward to the Grand Dragon of the KKK being consulted in future stories and being treated as just another source.

Bully Boy doesn't like boycotts and neither does the Times. So they trash and smear while minimizing.

We get people sniffing that it wasn't all that. As you read the construct of this story, you grasp that the Mean Girls/Heathers have crossed over from the op-ed pages and now pose as reporters.

It's funny they missed what happened in Bakersfield. (A lot of us didn't but someone didn't see it as "all the news that's fit to print.") Just as they miss that march that took place in the evening after police harrassment (and that's putting it mildly), they also miss the rumors of police harrassment that were put out ahead of time to attempt to clamp down on the numbers.

The biggest bold face lie (a tough choice, granted)? This:

Most of the demonstrators' ire was directed at a bill passed by the House that would increase security at the border while making it a felony for an illegal immigrant to be in the country or to aid one. The marchers generally favored a plan in the Senate, for which President Bush has shown signs of support, that would include more protection at the border but offer many illegal workers a path to citizenship.

The Times flat out lies. I was at multiple protests, I've spoken (and am speaking as I type) to people all over the country. The faction pushing the Senate proposal remains the Times editorial board. But the paper's refused to listen to immigrants from day one so why the hell should this morning be any different?

It's a flat out lie. They're not just doing their usual thing of coaxing and shaping coverage, they're lying. Forget speaking to individuals (the Times prefers polls where the people are at a distance), all they had to do was listen to speeches at the rallies.

But that would require a committment to the truth and truth and the Times are, if not strangers, opponents.

To tell the truth about the protests is just too much to them. They've favored that crappy Senate proposal from day one. They're going to shape every bit of coverage to attempt to manipulate readers into thinking that the immgrants, whom the paper's never interested in, favors it too.

They should be ashamed and embarrassed. From Archibold to everyone who supposedly contributed:

Reporting for this article was contributed by Cindy Chang from Los Angeles, Steve Friess from Las Vegas, Carolyn Marshall from Watsonville, Calif., and Gretchen Ruethling from Chicago.

What happened? Well though the paper dismisses it, business did shut down and were shut down. People gathered, many at great risk to themselves considering the rumors being put out all weekend of INS and police crackdowns. What you saw was bravery around the nation. You don't get that from liars for the Times.

Archibold also tells you that criticism of the Mexican flag resulted in it appearing less. He wishes. He and the press wish they had any power on this movement. They don't. Not only were Mexican flags in abundance in California, so were the flags of other nations as well. That will probably continue because the press that lies on your cause is hardly the press you take your cues from.

Javier Barajas should enjoy his moment in the sun. The Times trots him out to talk as a small business owner. He says there should be other ways to protest and that the ones really hurt are the small business owners. He actually says that.

People die each day coming across the borders, but the ones really hurt are the small business owners?

Don't believe the crap. People marched in huge numbers, the impact was felt. You can tell how much by the paper of no record's attempt to white wash.

Want to know what really took place? Democracy Now! is covering the protests today. So listen, watch or read (transcripts).

The e-mail address for this site is common_ills@yahoo.com.






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Humor Spotlight: The Daily Jot wonders if Condi hears bells?

Need more humor? Us too.  Here's Wally.  Again a strong week for Wally and there's a three way split on which to go with.  This won by one vote.
 

THIS JUST IN! DOES CONDI HEAR BELLS?

BULLY BOY PRESS - DC.
 
THIS JUST IN!
 
DOES CONDI HEAR BELLS?
 
WHILE DICK CHENEY GEARS UP FOR HIS 'FREEDOM' TOUR (FULL TITLE: FREEDOM TO TORTURE! AS CROOKED AS I WANNA BE!) AND BULLY BOY ANTICIPATES HIS FLORIDA TRIP NEXT WEEK WHERE HE WILL PROMISE
EACH SENIOR WHO SIGNS UP TO HIS NEW MEDICARE PLAN 3 FREE CDS WITH THE AGREEMENT THAT THEY PURCHASE 92 MORE AT REGULAR COST OVER THE NEXT 3 YEARS, WHO'S WATCHING CONDI?
 
WAGS ARE WAGGING THAT CONDI RICE HAS FINALLY FOUND A MAN SHE HAS SOMETHING IN COMMON WITH.
 
WHO'S THE LUCKY JOE?
 
TEODORO OBIANG NGUEMA, THE PRESIDENT OF EQUATORIAL GUINEAN. 
 
NO-ONE-COULD-HAVE-GUESSED-CONDI, AS FRIENDS CALL HER, IS AS SURPRISED AS ANYONE TO FIND HERSELF IN LOVE WITH TEODORO.
 
 
"WE'RE LIKE BRAD AND ANGELINA," SHE REPORTEDLY TOLD ONE FRIEND.
"WE JUST FIT.  HE GETS ME.  REALLY GETS ME.  YOU KNOW HE'S SAID ON STATE RADIO THAT HE'S GOD.  THAT REALLY TURNS ME ON IN A MAN!  WHILE MOST OF THE PEOPLE IN HIS COUNTRY LIVE ON LESS THAN A DOLLAR DAY, HE'S WORTH OVER $300 MILLION!  IT'S NOT THE MONEY, YOU UNDERSTAND, JUST THE CRUELTY FACTOR INVOLVED.  THAT'S WHAT EXCITES ME."
 
DETERMINED TO KEEP TEODORO AWAY FROM SPURNED SUITER MARK THATCHER, CONDI'S KEEPING FRIENDS' AT ARMS LENGTH. 
 
"SHE GOT TIRED OF SHARING,"  A FRIEND WHO IS NOT NAMED SCOTTY MCCLELLAN EXPLAINED. 
 
 
CONDI'S BEEN OBSERVED TEACHING HIM TO SAY "YA'LL" AND "HOWDY."  REPORTEDLY SHE'S GROOMING HIM TO RUN FOR GOVERNOR OF TEXAS "AND THEN THE WORLD!" 
 
 
 
 


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Humor Spotlight: "Betinna" tells you about Thomas Friedman's "Trash Dump Psuedo Politics"

You need a laugh right about now?  Us too.  Which is why we're going with Betty now.  Betty says that she didn't post yesterday hoping she'd post today but this edition has gone on too long for that.  She plans to post Tuesday and adds that C.I. did call and listen while she read the upcoming chapter over the phone.  (C.I. had noted that at The Common Ills.)  This will make you laugh and C.I. and Kat (who've both heard Betty's upcoming chapter) say get ready for Tuesday.
 

Thomas Friedman's Trash Dump Psuedo Politics

Next month, I start college and I'm excited but nervous. My husband, Thomas Friedman, says I'm not focusing on him enough. I replied, "Unless you're going down to the drug store and buying the Depends, we ain't playing William Safire and Peggy Noonan."

It's his sex game, let him be the one standing in line with the Depends. I'm tired of the weird looks I get. It's not really even a "sex game" -- or at least not one for two. Thomas Friedman gets off on it but diapering "Willie" does nothing for me.

He kept whining and whining, so finally last week, I said, "Show me one of your columns."

See, I used to read that garbage all the time. But now I'm focused on preparing for college and really don't have the time to read junk/trash. I know he fancies himself a modern day Montesquieu but, let's be honest, there are more philosophical truths in the writings of Erma Bombeck. I made the mistake of saying that out loud and started in with a diatribe about how his "The World Is Flat" is the natural successor to "The Spirit of the Laws."

I interrupted and asked, "You want me to read this or not?"

He shut up. "Gas Pump Geopolitics" was the title.

----------------

No sooner did I finish then he asked, "Well, did you get it?"



"Yes, Rose," I replied. " 'Never let go.' They let you run this crap?"


Jerking the column from my hands, Thomas Friedman huffed, "It is not crap. 'Titanic' was a wonderful movie. And what do you mean, 'Yes, Rose'?"



Kate Winslet he's not. Except maybe in his mind.



But who am I to gripe? If I'd just smiled and said "Wonderful" I could have day dreamed for half an hour while he went on about just how wonderful his writing was. Instead, he was thrusting another column at me.



This one was called "Go West, Old Men." Right away, I had mixed feelings. It would be fun to live on the west coast but I am about to start college. Then I read past the title and saw that Thomas Friedman wasn't speaking about himself. I know! I was surprised to. With his sassy highlights and that ridiculous black turtleneck he insists upon wearing in public, he's a dead ringer for Bea Arthur. But make a joke about "The Golden Girls" and watch him blow his top.


"Black is slimming, Betinna," he whines.



White boy's lecturing me about Black?



"And it's very Bo-ho, I'm like Marilyn Monroe at the Actors' Studio or Audrey Hepburn in 'Funny Face!' "



I guess he's been brushing up on his 'motivation.' That would explain the added 'drama' in the column. Such as this statement:




It was surely no accident that President Hu made his first stop in the U.S. in Washington State -- not Washington, D.C. -- to dine with Bill Gates, who gave him the "state dinner" that the Bush White House refused to extend.



"It was surely no accident"? Doesn't saying "It was no accident" make the same point? He's like a starlet determined never to roll on a bed half-naked again. I suspect it won't be long before he's wearing his glasses in public to look like an intellectual. In his final paragraph, he asks, "Why waste the gas?" That's a question I can get behind and wish he'd ask it of himself each time he thinks he needs to write another column.



I had a party planned. Really more of a gathering. And seeing that it was almost time for that to begin, I pretended to like the column to avoid him pulling out his notebook full of laminated "Best Of Thomas Friedman" columns. (If you guessed the notebook contains every column he's ever written, you'd be guessing right. Well, every writer needs at least one fan, right?)



"You really think it was wonderful?" he asked. "Which parts? I think I was most 'on' in the third paragraph. 'On' throughout, but I'm really impressed with that third paragraph. That's not to take anything away from paragraphs four or five, which are also quite impressive . . ."



"Uh-huh," I added every few seconds to make him think I was listening and, most important, agreeing as I set out trays of snacks.



I caught something about "sense-memory," on the third trip from the kitchen and figured A&E must have aired a bio on Marilyn this month.



The doorbell rang and pretty soon, there was Wally, Rebecca, Jess, Ty, Cedric, Elaine, Mike & Nina, Kat, Ava and C.I. Trina came in with some wonderful dishes.



So we spent the evening listening to music and discussing a number of topics. Primarily what to do about a certain situation in a certain nation.




Most of the evening, Thomas Friedman spent with his back turned to everyone.


Wally pointed to Thomas Friedman and asked me if he was having trouble with his bowel movements?


No, I explained that Thomas Friedman was merely trying to flex his buttucks because he's convinced Wally thinks he's attractive. All the straining and grunting came from the fact that the butt is pure flab.



"Ignore him," I advised, "life's so much nicer when you do."



Which is pretty much what we did even when he asked Wally if he wanted to feel his "quads." Bored, he offered to let people do canned cheese shots off his body.



"Any takers? No? Wally? No? Oh. Okay."



As soon as everyone left, he trashed them all. Ava and C.I. were nothing but TV critics, he said haughtily. Elaine was a bad influence me, he declared.



As I rinsed off the trays, I told him it was too bad he felt that way because I'd be joining them all for the big march Saturday, April 29th.



"So! So!" he screamed. "You're all so boring! Even Wally thought so. You all intimidate that poor farm boy. He wanted to feel my quads but the way you all rolled your eyes, he decided not to."



"Yeah, that's it," I said turning off the faucet.



Walking past him, I headed for the bedroom.



I woke up a few hours later and he wasn't in bed. Thinking he might be brooding and do something foolish, like last week when he attempted suicide by injesting a box full of laxitives (which, if you think about it, really was an "inner" suicide for him), I grabbed my robe, non-shorty robe, and walked through the apartment.



He was at the computer. I started to head back to the bedroom when I realized that wasn't a fake nude of Zach or Slater or any of the "Saved By the Bell" boys he usually looks at, it was text. Reading over his shoulder, I saw: "Here's The Plan The World Needs."



"Thomas Friedman, you are not stealing their idea!" I snapped causing him to lurch in his chair, fall and hit the ground with a mighty thud.



He was about to argue when he must have seen how serious I was. Since he has only two speeds and argue was eliminated, he fell back on whine.



"Please, please," he cried sounding like an adenoidal teenager. "It would really chafe Nicky's K rear if I got this into print! You have no idea how prissy he's been since he won the Pulitzer! John Tierney told me he's insisted that the paper furnish him with a padded toilet seat and his own stall. They're calling it 'Nicky's Throne!' "



He begged. He pleaded. He said if he'd stolen "Should This Marriage Be Saved?" two years ago, he would be considered "the prophet of the paper!"



"As opposed to?" I asked.



"The blonde bombshell that I am," he replied full of defiance.



"Well, you can't be a blonde bombshell and smart," I said turning off the computer and walking out of the room.



"Jayne Mansfield was!" he hollered rushing after me. "She had a genius I.Q.!"



So far, he's avoided the topic. But he refuses to let me see his column for tomorrow so I am suspicious. Trash Dump Psuedo Politics is all that Thomas Friedman has to offer and even that's no longer cutting it. I'm concerned that all the attention Kaavya Viswanathan has recently received may be giving Thomas Friedman the wrong ideas.




















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Blog Spotlight: Elaine on the ones we need protection from

Elaine telling it like it is (Dona) and needing an amen (Betty).
 

"God protect us from the fools that we elected to protect us!"

Usually on Monday's, I offer a summary of radio program. I wasn't able to listen today. I did go into work (C.I.'s correct that to back out of sessions, I need a huge lead time in terms of a heads up). Friday, I had told Sunny to take the day off because she wanted to take part and there was no reason in both of us missing out. (Take part in the immigration rallies today, I'm starting mid-stream.) Though I wasn't able to "call off," I did avoid purchasing anything. Even when temptation was there -- I had packed a lunch and the yogurt had gone bad (or was bad when I purchased it last night) and it just contaminated the fruits (an orange and an apple) -- or I felt it did. I could smell the sour smell on them. Probably that was in my mind. I was going over some paperwork (billing paper work) and reached for the phone. I forgot until I'd dialed "no purchases." So I hung up.

Sunny does a huge job and that's clear when she's there but, when she's not, it's even more so. When she first started (a few years back), I'd walk through during the day, and she'd always jerk and hide her book or her magazine. When I realized that was what was going on (I'd thought she just startled easily), I told her, "If you can do your job and read at your desk or whatever, don't worry about it." She can do that and a great deal more. There are moments that I know must be deadly boring but there are also hectic times and she handles it all. So, Sunny, if you read this tomorrow in the office, again, "Thank you, for all you do."

I tried to pay attention to Democracy Now!, I did have it on, but there was just too much to do today. I got a better idea of the show, in fact, when Mike and I were reading over the headlines this evening to select what we'd highlight. Please visit Mikey Likes It! for his thoughts.


"Three Years Ago: Bush Declared Missions Accomplished in Iraq" (Democracy Now!):
In news on Iraq, it was three years ago today that President Bush declared mission accomplished and major combat operations over. Meanwhile the U.S. death toll in Iraq has topped 2,400. 70 soldiers died in April making it the deadliest month for U.S. troops so far this year.

I heard the 2,400 number from C.I. this weekend. I remember we all just sort of stared. What do you say to that? The war was an illegal one built upon lies. Remember when the 2000 mark was news? Or the 1000 mark? Or when we were at 700 and whatever and Nightline did the special noting the name of each American troop who had died in Iraq?

On the 70 in April, I'll wait a few days. I know the official count is "fudged" since you have to die while in Iraq. If you're transported out of the country and die while receiving medical treatment or die later from your wounds (and you're not in Iraq), you don't go into that total. But the administration also has a habit of a few days into a new month, after the total's been reported, suddenly releasing news of other deaths for the previous month.

On the issue of the dying itself, I don't know. A peace movement doesn't happen overnight. That I know. But there are times, with the mainstream media, that you have to wonder are they even living in the same world? (Probably not, press passes squeak a lot of wheels.) I think the alternative media has been good about getting the word out. Better than good, they've done an excellent job. Amy Goodman tops the list but everyone has done a wonderful job. The peace movement itself has done a wonderful job, especially when you consider what it's been up against. I'm a huge supporter of United for Peace and Justice. That said, I do think new life needs to be brought into the demonstrations.

Check "Music Roundtable" for thoughts on that. I'll also add that after the roundtable was done, Jayson reminded Wally and I of another comment we were hearing. I wished he'd spoken up in the roundtable. A lot of people we spoke to were bothered by the demonstration on Sunday. The peace rally was known for some time, the rallies going on today were announced ahead of time. I have no idea when the Darfur rally was announced but people we spoke to said it was put together quickly and that they were really offended that they would "split" the causes like that. If you were traveling to either demonstration Saturday or Sunday, more than likely, you had to make a choice. Will I go to DC? Will I go to NYC?

When Jayson brought that up, I think C.I. said it best: "If you've got the Monterey Pop Festival on Saturday and Woodstock on Monday, you don't try to squeeze in Live Aid on Sunday." Regardless of when it was planned, I think it hurt. I think it hurt it's own cause and I think it hurt the peace rally. In terms of hurting it's own cause, there were people Wally, Jayson and I spoke to who would have liked to have attended. "Why did it have to be this weekend?" was the question repeated on that. I would have tried to attend. (C.I. did.) If it was another day, I would have tried to attend. It hurt the peace event if there were people who made the choice to go to DC that would have been in NYC if the two events hadn't been one right after the other. It hurt both causes because they were weekend events which were not going to get much press attention (print) until Monday. So on Monday, they were competing with one another for limited press coverage. (Though Darfur got more because it had the political approval of some elected officials.) I hope they had more than the "tens of thousands" that was used. The peace rally had 350,000 people and some press reports were saying "tens of thousands" early on. (We checked for figures at the event and were told at least 300,000 so that's what we went with at The Third Estate Sunday Review, but the figure is over 350,000.)

It may not have hurt attendence in NYC. Jess called when I was leaving the office this evening and from the reports and photos the press has run, it was a different crowd. But there were people at the NYC event that would have liked to have attended the DC one if there had been more space between the two. Jess asked what I thought of a musical for The Third Estate Sunday Review this week? He's run the idea by Kat, Rebecca and C.I. and they're fine with it. (The four of them even have one song roughed out.) (That may seem off topic, but if the song is used, you'll see it isn't.) I'm all for it. I think it would be an interesting and creative way to address events and I think we sorely need to interject news elements into the movement. As I noted in "Music Roundtable," there was a feeling of burnout on the part of some who attended. That doesn't need to set in. (I am not insulting the demonstration. I give praise to everyone who organized it, worked on it and attended. It was a wonderful moment. But it needs to be built upon.)

"Report: Bush Claims Authority To Disobey Over 750 Laws" (Democracy Now!):
A major investigation by the Boston Globe has revealed President Bush has quietly claimed the authority to disobey more than 750 laws enacted since he took office. In each case the president has issued a so-called "signing statement" that asserts that he has the power to set aside any statute passed by Congress when it conflicts with his interpretation of the Constitution. According to the Globe, Bush has issued a signing statement to more than one of every 10 bills he has signed. Bush has said he can ignore Congress' ban on torture as well as Congressional oversight of the Patriot Act. Bush has also said he can ignore laws forbidding US troops from engaging in combat in Colombia and any attempt by Congress to oversee what happens in military prisons such as Abu Ghraib. NYU law professor David Golove has warned that Bush's actions threaten to overturn the existing structures of constitutional law. Golove said that having a president who ignores the court, backed by a Congress that is unwilling to challenge him can make the Constitution simply ''disappear."

Of course he does. Just as he bragged to Tom Brokaw that he seeks out a "higher" father than his own, he doesn't feel bound by laws. When you can talk to God, why bother with the Constitution? Does God speak back? Or does Bully Boy have to do both parts? (As Diane Keaton jokes in Love and Death.) We are in a very dangerous area right now. Those screaming for force regarding Darfur not only fail to grasp that there has been no real attempt at peaceful means from foreign countries, they also appear unaware of the damage an unbound Bully Boy can bring.

"Sarandon tells of Iraq death threat" (Anushka Asthana, The Observer):
But she said that every time anything happened the Republicans would 'try to play that card' and criticised the Democrats for failing to stand up to Bush. 'There was no reason for Hillary Clinton, for instance, to vote (for the war), for John Kerry to vote, they were protecting their reputations. They crumbled under the pressure and it was a very lonely, very scary time to ask a question. That's a horrible condition to exist in a democracy.'


That was almost the reality quote for the night. Susan Sarandon spoke up and suffered extreme attacks for it. Not just from "talk radio" in the traditional sense. She was trashed by sports radio, the United Way made a point to draw a line between her and themselves. (Thereby losing any support from me. I had contributed despite the corruption scandals. When they drew their line and she was uninvited from the Florida event, they lost my support.)

That's what discourages me actually. This is the media we're speaking of. Bully Boy can bluster and lie but the media failed to keep him in check and allowed a climate to build where someone speaking out (Sarandon, Tim Robbins, the Dixie Chicks, Linda Ronstadt, go down the list) could be attacked openly, vicisouly in ways that you'd never imagine. (On Linda, C.I. would point out that the media reports were largely wrong on what actually happened. That was true of the "reporting" on Pearl Jam as well.)

Let me talk Pearl Jam for a minute. There's a little __ that C.I. and I know. I think she's the most fake person in the world and have thought that for years. (I observed her, years ago, at a party going on repeatedly about how good she was. Someone who's actually trying to do good neither needs to give themselves so much p.r. or to obsess over it.) To this day, she mainstains she's a hippie. (I have no problems with hippies. Real ones.) But she drives her gas guzzling, V6, SUV that she really doesn't need. She was a huge Pearl Jam fan. But she voted Bully Boy. In 2000 and 2004. Her big "issue" was the death penalty. I am opposed to the death penalty. I am not someone, however, who acts as though no crime was committed. She got close to someone on death row who was guilty, admitted he was guilty (of multiple murders) and expressed no regret. It was one of those "I'm bored with my kids, bored with my husband and bored with the boards I sit on" projects. She tried to get his journal published but kept running into a problem because there was interest, in publishing it in full. But she wanted to censor the parts where he was talking about what he did. Not because he expressed no remorse. (He didn't express any remorse, I know because she shoved it off on me after the execution thinking I could find some psychological meaning that would demonstrate that, somewhere in the subtext, he had.)

So my point here is, she lies to herself (to this day) about his guilt. (It's in his journal and, as far as I know, he didn't attempt to deny it at any point prior to the journal -- which he started after he was on death row.) So when she was voting Bully Boy in 2000 (I found out before C.I. because C.I.'s more clever about avoiding contact with her), I said to her, "Your issue is the death penalty. How can you vote for him with his record as governor?" She knew nothing about it. She didn't know about Carla Fay Tucker or anyone. When I told her about Tucker, she said it wasn't true. When I sent her press clippings, she responded they were lies.

Her Bully Boy would never do that. She was a huge fan of Pearl Jam, or Eddie Vedder at least, whom she was always attempting to invent ways to meet. (She did manage to get backstage at a few concerts -- rather sad considering her age, intent and the fact that she was married.) But she wrote off Pearl Jam after the press reports on the Colorado concert. I think it was a few months after when I made the mistake of picking up the phone without checking the caller ID.
(Besides changing the unlisted phone numbers regularly, C.I. has a system -- number of rings and pattern -- otherwise the service picks up. I should do something similar.) So I brought up Pearl Jam on the phone to her. Our "hippie" says they need to be run out of the country.

What's so funny about intolerance, liars and the aging deluded?

She explained she's even tossed away her DVD of Dead Man Walking. (A big thing for her due to the nature of the film.) Because of what Susan Sarandon had said publicly.

That's the Bully Boy crowd, the ones still hanging with him. I know Republicans who broke with him long ago. They stopped supporting him, they think there's nothing conservative about him. But if you're wondering who those people are who still delude themselves, that's her. They go through a pot phase every few years so they can still be "free spirits." They sell out their beliefs because "9/11 changed everything" and they lie about their hero the way they lie about their own lives. (If her husband reads this and thinks, "That's my wife!" -- oh well. Why did you think she was going all over the country on that one Pearl Jam tour? They weren't the Grateful Dead.)

They've given up cigarettes and look down on smokers. But they take a toke or two or three or four or more. Sometimes it means that their kids don't see them until noon. (The "help" can take care of breakfast.) Mommy's a little too strung out from her latest pot binge to cope. They'd leave their husbands if it didn't mean a loss in status and a loss in lifestyle (money). Those tax breaks are real important to them because it really is all about the money.

At one point she was involved in a huge land development deal (meaning her husband was) and our "hippie" had no qualms about destroying all those trees. "If we don't do this, someone else will. We'll do it right." By making it friendly to the environment? No. By tossing out a few bills to Greenpeace afterwards to purge any guilt.

That's who continues to stick by and stick up for him. They're law and order folks, except when they're toking. They're believers in the abolition of the death penalty, except they don't blame anyone actually responsible for the executions. They're environmentalists, until money enters the picture. They're happily married, as they unsuccessfully travel across the country attempting to bed a rock star. They're parents, who have trouble remembering their children's birthdays. (Thank God for the "help!")

They're also your "friend" -- when they need something. She only calls when she's traveling east and needs something from me. In terms of physical distance, she's closer to C.I. and I'm still amazed at how C.I. successfully avoids her. That may have to do somewhat with her attempts to crash a big party in 2005. She was turned away by security. I heard about it after. (I was at the party.) I said to C.I., "Why didn't you let me know!" I really would have enjoyed seeing that, especially so soon after the 2004 election. At some point, our side has to win a few. But I did hear about it at least. A month later, from her. How mortified she was because she'd brought a "few" friends. She kept explaining that, no, she didn't have an invitation but surely she was on the list.

I've just gone on at the mouth, haven't I? It was a long day. (Again, Sunny, "Thank you, you do an amazing job.") During lunch, Sunny and I talk about various things while we've got Democracy Now! on. (But never about work.) I'm also usually able to make a few calls during work (personal ones). Until I was leaving and Jess phoned, I had been in listening mode all day. So, if this has been too much chatter for you, my apologies.

Two bits of reality and then I'll post.


"Iraq snapshot" ("Democracy Now: James Green looks at May Day -- what happened, how it was reported," The Common Ills):
As May Day is celebrated even in Iraq (
national holiday) but not, apparently, today, the Associated Press reports that at least 200 Shi'ites demonstrated on the edges of the heavily Green Zone area of Baghdad "to demand that U.S. and Iraqi forces do more to stop insurgents attacks." This as China's People's Daily Online notes the United Kingdom's stated intent to draw down their troops in Iraq "to 800 next month" (from 8,000 currently). Meanwhile, FOCUS News Agency notes that Denmark's 539 troops may be reduced to 400 this month (May 18th). AFP reminds that it was three years today that Bully Boy stood in front of the "MISSION ACCOMPLISHED" banner on the USS Abraham Lincoln to state: "Major combat operations in Iraq have ended. In the battle of Iraq, the United States and our allies have prevailed."
Far from Bully Boy's dress up and pretend, chaos and violence continues. In Baghdad,
Reuters reports that "[t]he wife and daughter of a former construction and houseing minister Omar al-Damluji were kidnapped" Sunday. Today, in Hawija, at least four were wounded when a roadside bomb went off near "an art college." The Associated Press notes that, in Haqlaniyah, a US military base was fired on ("two mortar shells"). Reuters reports that at least "[e]ight members of the Interior Ministry commandos" were wounded from a roadside bomb that went off in Samarra. Tikrit was also an area where roadside bombs exploded (no wounded or dead reported). In Iskandariya, at least one civilian was killed and two injured in a car bombing that also took the life of the person in the car.
In Baghdad today, the
Associated Press reports three corpses were discovered, "handcuffed and blindfolded" and that a Shi'ite store owner has died as a result of a drive-by shooting. At least two have been wounded in the three roadside bombs that have gone off today in Baghdad.
In the latest news on Australian solider Jake Kovco,
who died in Baghdad on April 21st, despite Australian Defense Minister Brendan Nelson's assertion (which is a bit of a twist on his past claims last week) that Kovco died from an "accidental firing of the weapon he was handling," reports on the autopsy do not, thus far, support that assertion. Reporting for the Sydney Morning Herald, Les Kennedy, Tom Allard and Cynthia Banham note: "THE forensic examination of Jacob Kovco's body revealed no evidence of burn marks near the wound, indicating the weapon that killed him was not fired close to his head. The finding appears to make it less likely that the young sniper -- Australia's first military fatality in Iraq -- committed suicide." Kennedy, Allard and Banham note that the bullet is missing and that, as the outrage over the death of Kovco, Australian's Prime Minister John Howard has announced that he will be attending the funeral. Jake Kovco is the first Australian soldier to die in Iraq.
Back in Iraq, the
Chicago Sun-Times reports that the US army is concerned with "Chicago gang graffiti" popping up throughout Iraq. And in the United States, as Bully Boy, who, again, exactly three years go declared "major combat operations," used the anniversary of that shameful moment to delcare his "confidence" in Iraqi leadership (or "leadership"). His new faith-based remarks come as CNN reports on their latest poll which found that 44% of Americans surveyed (4.5% +/- margin of error) "said the United States would never accomplish its goals in Iraq" and 40% of optimistic souls selected the "someday" option (someday goals will be accomplished). Bully Boy's at 32% approval rating in the poll and 55% of Americans chose the option of "the United States made a mistake by invading Iraq."

I think everyone who slammed Susan Sarandon or anyone else should be forced to read that -- out loud. In front of people. They should have to read it and then think about the way they attacked those who were speaking out against the war, the ones who have turned out to be right.

No peace quote tonight. I'm not in a peaceful mood. (Can you tell?) (That parenthetical was a joke.) Instead a reality quote.

"Reality Check" (Cindy Sheehan, "Mission Accomplished," BuzzFlash):
Before we the people need to be subjected to another swaggering spectacle from George after he has bombed Iran back into the stone ages and has made we the people of the United States of America even more hated around the world, it is time to rein him in ourselves. Congress won't do it and the media is falling into lockstep behind the murder again.

It is time to fire the warniks whose bloodlust cannot be slated and hire people who will finally use their wisdom, integrity, and non-violence to solve problems, and won't create imaginary problems out of smoke and mirrors. We need a Congress that will hold George accountable not one that is complicit in the war crimes.
Martin Luther King, Jr. said: "We must live together as brothers, or perish together as fools." God protect us from the fools that we elected to protect us!


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Blog Spotlight: Kat on music, Guns and Butters and RadioNation with Laura Flanders

The one and only Kat with a Saturday entry in the midst of a busy week.
 

 

Music, Guns and Butter and RadioNation with Laura Flanders

Okay, I just posted my review of Neil Young's Living With War. It's murder posting at The Common Ills this morning. You have to publish and republish and republish again. I hope it's not Blogger/Blogspot acting up because I've got stuff to do today and don't intend to hang around waiting for this thing here to post.

Here's the deal with the reviews. I was planning to go boom! boom! boom!, one right after the other for five reviews. Then I realized Ruth would be on vacation. Since it's largely just C.I. other than Ruth and myself, I really wanted to help out by having something for next Saturday. So I've been trying to figure out when to start and also adding a few CDs to the potential reviews.

Over the next two weeks, barring any problems or life coughing up something unplesant, you can expect to see at least six more reviews. That will include Pink, Josh Ritter, and The Free Design. Others? I'm doing one suggested by an artist that's more of a value buy (and was suggested) and I'm hoping two others, maybe three. On the two others list is Bruce Springsteen's latest.

I skipped his previous CD because I didn't have anything to say about it. I did listen to it. But I was more excited by the live recording from the seventies that came out recently. Another thing that had me excited was Van Hunt's new CD. I won't be reviewing it, however.

Van Hunt can sing. There are a few really good songs on this CD. But it's got very little to say.
Consider him Marvin in the "I Want You" phase and not the "What's Going On?" phase. There's nothing wrong with that but it doesn't speak to me currently.

There is a lot that does speak to me currently and that's why there will be so many reviews this month. This isn't a plan for the rest of the year. If something speaks to me, I'll write up a review. A part of me hopes this is signifying some really strong trend in music, but it may also be true that it was a fortunate twist of release dates.

KPFA's Guns and Butter Wednesday found Bonnie Faulkner (the great Bonnie Faulkner) interviewing Michel Chossudovsky of Global Research. Worried what we're headed for if the Bully Boy's war on for Iran explodes? You should be.

Chossudovsky traced the 'rehabilitation' of nukes. And it's not just the Bully Boy. A piece of legislation put forth in 2003 (I believe it was 2003) makes it even more frightening and spreads the blame around.

The key point I want to note from the interview is about "bunker busters." I heard the term and though, "Oh my God." But it wasn't until this interview (and I think Bonnie's question prompted the discussion) that I grasped how the term masquerades.

I assumed, anti-nuker of the old school that I am, that everyone would grasp that nukes, whatever they're called, are not to be used. But Chossudovsky explained how the nickname itself was used to imply that they go deep into the earth and, therefore, provide a level of safety that's not true of other nuclear weapons.

There's a push to portray nuclear energy as "safe" and "clean." Listening to the interview, I realized how it wasn't just Vietnam that they were attempting to erase (Bully Boy and the weapon manufacturing industry) but basically everything. They want us to forget what the nation did to Japan, Three Mile Island, Karen Silkwood, Chernobyl and much more.

Which is why a drip like Felicity Barringer can do that hideous article in 2005 about nuclear energy where she carefully presents "voices" saying that it will be good for the environment (nuclear energy). Somwhere on KPFA, I think last week, I heard a guest really address the Green Peace founder who's pushing nuclear energy. He's not with Green Peace now and hasn't been for some time. But he's always been with big business and still is.

Nuclear energy isn't safe. And turning nuclear weapons into "gadgets" for a really "cool" war won't make it safe either. Guns and Butter covered a lot of topics on Wednesday (many, if not all, of them frightening) but what it will really do is leave you thinking about the topics and making your own connections. That's why I enjoy the show so much. That and the fact that Bonnie's not afraid to put herself out there. I'm sure she's slammed something fierce.

I was thinking about that and thinking about how Barney trashed me and had his psuedo-feminist line up behind him. If Barney can't accept that not everyone's wet dreaming over Bob Dylan and he and "I Robot" have to pick up the bricks and stones to hurl at me, imagine what kind of crap Bonnie has to put up with?

But the thing that Bonnie demonstrates is that you do live.

Personally, the trashing (and this isn't to excuse Barney and "I Robot" or the actions) ended up being an experience that I learned from. I learned that, most important, some pose as feminists but join their 'fellas' -- why? To prove they're not one of those vocal feminists. (Point proven, I Robt.) The trashings like that really come from the people who can't take a stand.

When you grasp that and grasp that people like I Robot will sell out any belief they supposedly hold, you grasp how unimportant anything they could say is. And you really can laugh. (I still laugh at Barney's e-mails demanding I put his words up here and act like I wrote them -- the whole "I was wrong, Barney is right" nonsense. He never wanted to have a say here publicly. He just wanted me to put his words up and act like they were mine.)

This topic came up a lot at the party this week because I had listened to Guns and Butter and wanted to share that and because, for some people, it was the first time we'd really spoken at length since I Robot and Barney tried to tag-team me.

A personal hero of mine (heroine) attended and listened as I was talking about Bonnie. She said,
"Kat, the thing is, the people who slam Bonnie play it safe. They're frightened by actual thought and they lash out at anyone who who breaks from the scripted." I really think that sums it up.

I need to post this and grab a few hours (before we all work on the edition for The Third Estate Sunday Review), so let me just steal from C.I. to give a heads up:



Martha passes on the planned guests for this weekends Radionation with Laura Flanders (from an e-mail heads up that you can sign up for at Flanders' site):

SATURDAY, May 6
As the Senate prepares for a immigration debate, we look at the backlash some Republicans want to incite and to real solutions. Then, What makes a song dangerous? The newest protest music.
KYRSTEN SINEMA, Democratic Legislator from Arizona, on the latest border clashes in her state.
Dr. ROBERT PASTOR, Vice President of International Affairs at American University on how Europe managed illegal immigration.
JOHN NICHOLS, of The Nation.
FIDEL RODRIGUEZ, host of KPFK-FM’s Divine Forces Radio.
SUNDAY, May 7
Did coverage the largest protests in US history help us better understand immigration problems and solutions?
And what about those anti-war marches?
Then, Jane Jacob's urban wisdom and what makes a great neighborhood?
ROBERTO LOVATO, Contributor to The Nation and New America Media.
TIM GRIEVE, of Salon.com
JUDITH LeBLANC of UNITED FOR PEACE AND JUSTICE.
SIMEON BANKOFF of NYC's Historic Districts Council.
REVEREND BILLY of the Church of Stop Shopping.
Plus a few surprises.

RadioNation with Laura Flanders can be heard over the traditional broadcast airwaves, on XM satellite radio and online -- airs from seven to ten p.m. Eastern time Saturday and Sunday nights.










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Blog Spotlight: Cedric's Bix Mix on Law and Disorder and Bully Boy

Cedric said we should highlight his post on this edtion (the preview) so readers could tell what was intended and compare it with what is.  We think that's a great idea and urge you to read it but, being pressed for time, we're doing one highlight and we voted on Cedric's post from Tuesday:
 

Bully Boy and check out Annette Rubenstein on Law and Disorder

Q The flip side of all that was the rescue of Jessica Lynch.
THE PRESIDENT: It was.
Q Did you get advanced notice that that operation was going down?
THE PRESIDENT: I did. I did. Secretary Rumsfeld told me not to get my hopes up, but there was going to be a very sensitive operation into a hospital where he thought that there would be an American POW. And that's all he said. He was very circumspect, as he should be, to a lot of people, because he didn't want any information to get out that might have jeopardized the operation. But he gave me a heads-up. And then when we heard that she had been rescued, it was a joyous moment.
Q Let me ask you about some of the larger policy questions. Before we went to war against Iraq, one of the reasons that you justified this war was that he posed a real threat to the United States. If he couldn't defend his own country -- and we have not yet been able to find the weapons of mass destruction, which were not even launched in defense of Iraq -- was that overstated?
THE PRESIDENT: No, not at all. As a matter of fact, I think time and investigation will prove a couple of points. One, that he did have terrorist connections. And, secondly, that he had a weapons of mass destruction program -- we know he had a weapons of mass destruction program. We now know he's not going to use them. So we've accomplished one objective, and that is that Saddam Hussein will not hurt the United States or friends or our allies with weapons of mass destruction.
Secondly, we are learning more as we interrogate or have discussions with Iraqi scientists and people within the Iraqi structure, that perhaps he destroyed some, perhaps he dispersed some. We also know there are hundreds and hundreds of sites available for hiding the weapons, which he did effectively for 10 years from the -- over 10 years from the United Nations. And that we've only looked at about 90 of those sites so far. I mean, literally hundreds of sites.
And so we will find them. But it's going to take time to find them. And the best way to find them is to continue to collect information from the humans, Iraqis who were involved with hiding them.
Q As you know, there's still a lot of skepticism around the world about American motives in Iraq.
THE PRESIDENT: Right.
Q Why not fold in some of the U.N. inspectors to this effort, not turn it over to them, but make them a part of it? Would that help with the credibility, do you think?
THE PRESIDENT: I think there's going to be skepticism until people find out there was, in fact, a weapons of mass destruction program. One thing there can't be skepticism about is the fact that this guy was torturous and brutal on the Iraqi people. I mean, he brutalized them, he tortured them, he destroyed them, he cut out their tongues when they dissented. And now the people are beginning to see what freedom means within Iraq. Look at the Shia marches, or the Shia pilgrimages that are taking place.
The world will see that the United States is interested in peace, is interested in security and interested in freedom.
Q But it is important to find the weapons of mass destruction, or the evidence that he had a massive program underway, isn't it?
THE PRESIDENT: Yes. I think we will. I'm pretty confident we will.


I know. You'd be laughing right now if we hadn't lost over 2406 troops, if countless Iraqis hadn't been killed, their homes destroyed, their land turned into a war zone. That's the Bully Boy speaking to Tom Brokaw in April of 2003. Wally passed that on to me (thank you, Wally). He'd called C.I. about what he wanted to do today ("THIS JUST IN! BULLY BOY LAGGING!" read it, it's funny) and C.I. told him, "You know he didn't come out against boycotts when he was asked of the Dixie Chicks by Tom Brokaw." So Wally grabbed that interview online and sent it to me saying I might want some of it. I did. Bully Boy there were no, in fact, WMDs in Iraq. Are you still "pretty confident"? If so, that explains this:

"Bush: Iraq At A Turning Point (Again)" (Democracy Now!):
Meanwhile President Bush announced on Monday that the formation of a new Iraqi government marks a turning point in the war. His comments came three years to the day after he proclaimed that major combat operations were over while standing under a banner that read Mission Accomplished. On Monday he spoke briefly on the White Hose lawn while standing next to Secretary of State Condoleeza Rice and Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld, both of whom had just returned from Iraq. "We believe this is a turning point for the Iraqi citizens and it's a new chapter in our partnership," Bush said. "The secretaries began building this new partnership during their trip. In other words, the Iraqi leaders saw that we are committed to helping them succeed." This doesn't mark the first time the president has declared Iraq has reached a turning point. He did so back in June 2004 when the occupying U.S. forces announced they would transfer sovereignty back to the Iraqi people. Bush also said the 2005 election in Iraq would mark a turning point.

Are you "pretty confident" on that too, Bully Boy? What's your fat gut telling you now?

WBAI's Law and Disorder addressed MayDay Monday (so did Democracy Now! with "The Origins of May Day: A Story of Chicago, the First Labor Movement and the Bombing That Divided Gilded Age America" but I assume everyone in the community heard it, saw it or read it). So the guests were Zayd Dorn, Annette Rubenstein and Julie Ruben -- the last two are with the Brecht Forum. Ms. Rubenstein is 96 years-old and she's lived a wonderful life and seen it all. I really enjoyed her. She said she had some troubles with pinning down dates and that reminded me of Three Cool Old Guys and, I bet, of you and me when we're older. We'll remember really important events but I bet if we're lucky enough to live that long we'll be able to give a general date to some of our memories but not all because those are a lot of years.

She was a really informed person. I enjoyed all of her stories. She and Michael Ratner and Michael Smith talked about how MayDay was demonized and the government tried to weaken it -- which they did. They created a "Law Day" on that day to try to detract from it. But let me back up (as Amy Goodman would say) and start out with what MayDay is and was: a day for the workers. Workers gathered together to fight (and they fought for and won the eight hour work day) and march and celebrate.

You better believe that was as threatening to business then as the immigration rallies are to business today. (For a perfect example of how the organs of business dismiss and trash the immigration rallies, read C.I.'s "NYT: Millions protest so the Times highlights Small Business and the Minutemen.") Ms. Rubenstein could remember so many amazing experiences that she took part in. Someone (Studs Terkel?) should put a tape recorder in front of her if she doesn't want to write her own life story because it's amazing. Michael Smith pointed out that at MayDay events in the thirties, people might meet up, fall in love and marry.

It was these like minded people who cared about the world and weren't going to fool themselves that they or everyone else was getting a fair deal. I think those people still exist (I am one) but I think we've gotten so discouraged. It was really inspiring hearing those stories.

So the government creates Law Day to cut into MayDay. And then they followed that by establishing Labor Day. MayDay got demonized and was basically run out of town. Ms. Rubenstein talked about that happening over a period of many years. There was a funny story she told about how the Catholic kids in parochial school were let out and encouraged to heckle and yell at the people participating in MayDay. They did that at one of her marches and she started a cheer of "No homework" and pools for schools. That shut them up.

Amazing woman, Annette Rubenstein. She lost her job as a principal due to her politics. She's an editor of a magazine, teaches at the Brecht Forum and writes for Monthly Review. I can't find the magazine she edits for (Science Society?) and I'm surprised that she doesn't even have a biography at Wikipedia. But what she does have is a sharp mind, an amazing life that is still underway and a lot of things to share. So listen to the show, if you missed it, at WBAI's archives or at the Law and Disorder site.

Last thing for tonight. There were five e-mails I'd avoided that got answered today. If it's from a community member that I know or recognize their e-mails from the gina & krista round-robin, I'll read it right away. But if I don't know the e-mail, I'll usually let it sit until I'm ready to wade in. There are a lot of racists e-mails. I'm not like Betty (who follows Elaine's advice of waiting and only reading when she feels like) but I will wait if I don't recognize the e-mail address. I answered the five today. I'm sorry for being that way about it but if I don't know the sender (or think I don't), some days it's just not worth it to get that kind of e-mail. With Betty and myself, e-mails that disagree like to go racist. That really doesn't happen at The Third Estate Sunday Review even though Ty's responsible for answering most of the e-mails. (As Ty's pointed out, usually they assume that everyone at Third is White.) Instead they go for foul language aimed at women (which is probably because you get little TV babies wanting to trash Ava and C.I. for saying something "mean" about Nick Lachey or John Stamos or any other guy who really can't act). Rebecca gets that nonsense too. I think they're scared of Elaine because I'll talk to Jess or Ava and they'll say that instead of attacking Elaine in e-mails, they'll attack her in an e-mail to C.I. Wally's gotten the least hate mail. C.I. gets tons. There's always some right winger having a fit and Ava and Jess enjoy it best when it's a "name" right winger. They also enjoy the tantrums from certain reporters. But I think C.I.'s been around so long and posts so often that, except for the TV reviews, they just scream politics in their hate e-mails.

It's interesting, thinking about that. Some time when we need a story idea, some weekend, I'll try to suggest that.

Now who didn't I mention? Mike. Saving him for last because he's writing about WBAI's Law and Disorder too so hop on over there (but remember, he's a slow typer).


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Recipe spotlight: Pasta salad with avocado dressing in the Kitchen

We are posting this morning!  We've got over half the edition finished.  We'd hoped to be done much sooner (false hopes) but then we tacked on assignment for Ava and C.I. (which they completed, thank you) and everything started running behind.  As it stands right now, we have two pieces to polish, the musical piece to finish and polish, the editorial to write and the promised feature to finish and polish.
 
Now it's time for highlights.  First up, Trina.  Here's the latest from Trina's Kitchen:

Pasta salad with avocado dressing in the Kitchen

Karla wrote to say that avocado's have gone on sale in her area and she's stocked up. These are fresh ones and she's wondering how long before they ripen? You can speed up the process a number of ways (I have an aunt who puts them in flour, I don't do that). But you should store them in a paper sack. It's summer and avocados will be on sale so with Karla's e-mail and Billie's asking for something simple and light, we'll do a pasta salad with avocado dressing.

There are many kinds of pasta salad and I think I love all of them. They can be made with meat or without. Shrimp, ham, chicken and scallops are among my favorite meat ingredients to put into a pasta salad. They are easy to make and even easier if you skip the meat.

This one is very simple and requires only boiling water for the cooking step.

You'll need:
8 ounces of small pasta shells
3 stalks of celery (cut into 1/2 inch slices)
2 medium tomatoes chopped
4 ounces of ham in 1/2 inch cubes (optional)

Dressing:
1 medium avocado, pitted, peeled
3/4 cup of mayonnaise
2 tablespoons of cider vinegar
1 teaspoon of Dijon mustard
dash of salt
dash of pepper

Boil water and cook the pasta as directed on the package. Drain the pasta.

While the pasta cools, you'll make the dressing. Cut the avocado in half and remove the seed in the middle. Scoop the avocado into a bowl. (Mike has his own way with avocados. He slices them in half, removes the seed, then peels off the skin, and dumps the two halves into a bowl.)
Using a fork, mash the avocado until it is smooth. Add mayonnaise, vinegar, mustard, salt and pepper and then stir with fork until well blended.

Chop the celery and tomatoes. Using a large bowl, combine the celery, tomatoes, ham and pasta. Add the dressing and toss the salad lightly to mix the ingredients. ("Tossing" does not mean throwing it into the air. My daughter is reading over my shoulder and said I should note that. Think of tossing as a form of stirring, if you're confused. You're not stirring in a circle, you're lifting with the spoon and then going to the bottom of the bowl to lift again, in order to make sure the dressing is mixed with the salad.)

So that's it. You can now serve it or, if you'd prefer it chilled, you can put it into the fridge (cover it) and eat it in a half-hour or hour.

Summer's gearing up and, with the hotter days, many people look for lighter meals. This is both due to the fact that you don't want to spend a hot day standing over a hot stove and also because many people don't want a heavy meal during the summer heat. So summer can be the perfect time for salads (pasta and non-pasta ones). Fresh produce is also more plentiful in the summer as well.

The fiber in fruits and vegetables can help you lose and/or maintain your weight if that's a concern for you. In the dish above, you get tomatoes, celery and avocados. You can also add to it with your favorite fruit or vegetable. (Radishes are my mother's favorite and she's always sneaking them into any salad.)

The news of the week? Porter Goss announced Friday he was stepping down as director of the C.I.A. and C.I. and I were discussing the news that Michael Hayden would be his replacement. A scary thought. Last weekend, a number of us went to NYC for the rally and march against the war. At some point over the weekend, the figure for American troops who have died in Iraq hit 2400. Today, the total is 2417. It's being reported that a British helicopter was shot down in Basra and at least four British troops have died.

If you've been following the Iraqi snapshot that C.I.'s been doing at The Common Ills, Monday through Friday, you know that despite Bully Boy's nonsense, things are not getting better. Nor will they. The United States government launched an illegal war. That's not something you move "past." The war was illegal from the start and the occupation has no validity for Iraqis. Nor would it for us, if we were occupied. "Democracy" and "liberation" do not come by a foreign government occupying and controlling your country.

With Vietnam, we were told we were "winning" or soon to be. That nonsense is echoed by the current administration. Something's you do not "win" because you're not meant to. When you have to lie to achieve your goals (or attempt to achieve them), your goals themselves are in question.

I was very encouraged by the numbers in NYC last weekend. They indicate awareness but more is needed as well as more action and more participation. It was a bit of a comedown, to put it mildly, to return home and find that a number of people were saying that they'd heard things were getting better and the Iraqi government was on track.

An occupied territory does not have an independent government. What they do or do not do is dictated by the occupiers (the United States government) and that's grasped by the Iraqi people. Having entered into an illegal war, there is no "victory" to be had.

The only solution is to withdraw the troops. Not to do so is to demand more deaths (of troops and of Iraqis). That is as basic as 1+1=2 and no spin can will change the reality (although spin obviously does manage to confuse people).

It's easy to get frustrated and depressed when you notice some people around you who would rather follow anything except the news from Iraq. One thing that cheered me up this week was reading Rebecca's "goldie's (and marlene's) house party last weekend to end the war" which very much addresses the power that we have as individuals.

For a light take on current news, I recommend Wally's "THIS JUST IN! DOES CONDI HEAR BELLS?" (his mother and I spoke many time this week and both agreed that sometimes his humorous take on the news provides the only "daily laughter"). I also enjoyed Mike's "Law and Disorder and lots of other stuff" and Cedric's "Bully Boy and check out Annette Rubenstein on Law and Disorder." Betty's "Thomas Friedman's Trash Dump Psuedo Politics" is funny and I'm so tempted to ask her if I've guessed one of the twists of Betinna's life? (I think I've figured out how Betinna ended up with Thomas Friedman.) But I especially want to recommend, dropping back to April 19th, "My pacificism isn't a cloak I wear some days and others put on war drag" which was a strong and, I think, beautiful post by Elaine. I think she says many things that a lot of us have been thinking. (And I see that now it's being addressed outside of the community.) Having demonstrated in Afghanistan and Iraq that he's incapable of allowing "freedom" or even ensuring "safety," I'm very bothered by the cries of some to turn the events in Darfur over to the Bully Boy's hands.

I have to wonder how closely those calling for that have followed the news in the last few years?
I think some people are fooling themselves and willfully dropping out from reality. Ava and C.I.'s "TV Review: Without a Point" is a wonderful review but I especially enjoyed the conclusion of the review:

They play it just as safe when they turn to a Jerry Bruckheimer show that offers what passes for flash and no meat. Near the end of Dostoyevsky's The Idiot, Mrs. Yepanchin says, "We've had enough of being carried away by our enthusiasms. It's high time we grew sensible." Watching the Bruckmeister's various franchises, we couldn't agree more.

Sunday morning, they told me that they hoped I would enjoy the review ("in some manner" -- they are very down on their reviews, wrongly so) and I was wondering about that? Others explained that they'd worked in something just for me. Dostoyevsky is one of my favorite authors and The Idiot is one of my favorite novels. So when I read the review Sunday evening,
I was very happy to come across that quote. One that I agree with and think we should all heed.
 


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