November 2007 archive

I was a Gore Guy. (siiiiiiiigh)

I have had to admit my powerlessness over Al Gore not running for President. It hurt, but I have kicked the Opiate of Hope and am now willing to settle for some other candidate.

Which means to some extent or another entering The Candidate Wars at Daily Kos. I have mainly stayed out of the candidate diaries and certainly have not dared to participate directly, mainly just dipping a toe in to read a candidate diary here and there. The Candidate Wars make the Impeach Wars look like a game of flag football, and the convention isn’t until, gulp, August?

So it seems like some preparation, since this is obviously not something to be taken lightly, is in order. But since I have not studied up or paid attention to the players and the memes the players are playing, I need your help and advice on preparing myself to enter the fray. Below I will outline where I am in my process so far and ask for your kind and gentle help in completing my preparations.

In the Boston Globe this week we find an article titled Blog is Beautiful: People of color challenge mainstream views online:

These intellectual challenges to mainstream and other viewpoints are some of the opinions Latino, Asian/Pacific Islander-American, and black bloggers are exposing on a growing number of sites focused on social, political, and cultural issues. The sometimes facetiously named blogs range from Angry Asian Man to The Angry Black Woman. Readers can find Latino viewpoints at Guanabee, The Unapologetic Mexican, or Latino Pundit. Those interested in information from an Asian angle head to Ultrabrown, Zuky, or Sepia Mutiny. Sites created by blacks include The Field Negro, Too Sense, and Resist Racism….

These sites – many of which launched in the past year, although a few are older – have become places where people of color gather to refine ideas or form thoughts about race relations, racial inequities, and the role pop culture has in exacerbating stereotypes. The writers often bring attention to subjects not yet covered by mainstream media.

(links added)

I thought this week we’d take a look at the blogs that were highlighted in The Globe to find out what’s on their minds lately. So lets start at the top and work our way down.

Airplane

White Rabbit

This is an Open Thread: Talking Backwards is OK

Sunday’s Headlines, FBI’s Forensic Test Full of Holes, Court rejects challenge to warrantless wiretaps,’Safe’ uranium that left a town contaminated,

USA

FBI’s Forensic Test Full of Holes

Lee Wayne Hunt is one of hundreds of defendants whose convictions are in question now that FBI forensic evidence has been discredited.

By John Solomon

Washington Post Staff Writer

Sunday, November 18, 2007; Page A01

Hundreds of defendants sitting in prisons nationwide have been convicted with the help of an FBI forensic tool that was discarded more than two years ago. But the FBI lab has yet to take steps to alert the affected defendants or courts, even as the window for appealing convictions is closing, a joint investigation by The Washington Post and “60 Minutes” has found.

Mark Adams favors us with the first report (that I have seen) on Markos’ antagonist/counterpart, KKKarl Rove.

Rove: Rhymes With Spoofiness by Mark Adams

As Mark points out, KKKarl devotes his first column to Hillary the anti-Christ.

The direct Newsweek link in case you wish to dispense with my and Mark’s editorial, though it might be nice if you slipped him a tip in the jar as you pass through.

Update-

Markos’ new piece is up too.

Make the Bush Record the Issue

^{Absent amnesia-which only happens on soaps-Democrats will be fine.}

I owe this tip to SusanG.

As an Admin, she doesn’t need love but it’s always good for your karma to show respect.

Update 2– She points out in the comments of Mark’s diary that this second piece is the one that’s going in the print version, the original was on-line only

Something extremely fishy is going on in the US-Pakistan negotiations.

The world press is reporting that when Deputy Secretary of State Negroponte visited with Pakistani President Musharraf Saturday, urging Musharraf to ease off the “state of emergency” and schedule elections under acceptable conditions, Musharraf responded with a threat.  Essentially saying, “Nice world you’ve got there, be a shame if anything happened to it,” Musharraf told Negroponte that if the Pakistani Army lost control of the government, nukes could get loose.

This is being reported in The Times of India and the UK Telegraph, for example, as a harsh and decisive rebuke of US interference in Musharraf’s affairs.

However, there is something else going on.  Just as word of this remarkable rebuke by Musharraf comes out, we read in The New York Times a new story.  The United States, under a secret Bush plan, has been helping Pakistan secure its nuclear arsenal for years, with a hidden-budget supply of security equipment.