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Showing posts from October, 2005

stranger than paradise

I was driving a big truck around the abandoned industrial streets of West Oakland tonight and it made me think of one my favorite scenes in the movies. It occurs in Jim Jarmusch's movie Stranger than Paradise when Willie and his buddy, Eddie, have driven to Cleveland to visit Willy's recently-arrived Hungarian cousin, Eva, (the beautiful Esther Balint...whatever happened to her?) who is living with their Aunt in less than happy conditions, and working as a waitress in a diner. It's winter in Cleveland. It's dark and it's cold. It's brutal. Big factories line the streets. The wind blows snow. Eddie, played deadpan by Richard Edson (original drummer for Sonic Youth, btw) and Eva and Willy go for a drive. They stop. Get out. They face the cold, empty streets of the industrial American city that is Cleveland. Eddie observes, matter of factly, " Hey, Willie, this looks just like Brooklyn. " I laughed at that. My American buddy laughed too. We were

Samuel Alito

George W. Bush, when all is said and done, has nominated a man, Judge Samuel Alito , to replace Sandra Day O'Connor on the Supreme Court. Alito, an "ultra-conservative", is famous for holding that the Pennsylvania legislature was within its rights to make a law that said a woman must inform her husband in order to have an abortion: "[t]he Pennsylvania legislature could have rationally believed that some married women are initially inclined to obtain an abortion without their husbands' knowledge because of perceived problems — such as economic constraints, future plans, or the husbands' previously expressed opposition — that may be obviated by discussion prior to the abortion." I could say many things about Bush's hypocrisy, his caving to the religious right, and the truly odious legal reasoning that would make it illegal for a woman to have an abortion unless she "talks" to her husband. There will be time for that later. For now, all I can

Rosa Parks

I have little to add to the already considerable commemorations of Ms. Parks' life and work other than this: Rosa Parks actions touched all of us, whether we know it or not. Pehaps, in memory of her passing, it would pay to bear that in mind, as we go about our business this week...how many ways her life and work touches our own...how fitting it might be to invoke her name in unexpected ways. Segregation was not so long ago. The movement Ms. Parks started did not achieve its true legal goals for a decade...with the passage of the Civil Rights Act and the Voting Rights Act. Tens of millions of Americans have direct, lived experience of racial segregation by law. It's not something people talk about much, but it is there beneath the surface. Rosa Parks' struggle was more than simply a legal one, it had a spiritual and philosophical meaning too. In that sense, though her life is finished, her name is a part of history now. Wherever someone stands for equality, for dignit

chess

Karl Rove had come to love Cheney ...[ snip ]...Cheney had made it clear he did not aspire to the presidency. It was almost an unheard-of luxury to not have the the vice president nipping at the president's heels, Rove realized. Cheney did not seem worried about covering his own ass , an amazing phenomenon in politics. -Bob Woodward, Plan of Attack , 2004, p 429 One thing about Rove and Bush...and it's something that characterizes the entire GOP...is that they like "slam dunks." They like things to be settled simply, directly, powerfully...in one fell swoop. They don't play chess; and if they do, they don't trade pieces. They like things done and they'll play dirty to get there quickly. That wasn't true of Bill Clinton , a president who "traded pieces" like it was going out of style. Clinton wasn't a "dunk" man; as his infamous Lewinsky denial proved, he wasn't good at it. (If slam dunks express GOP politics, then Bi

questions and a hunch

Occasionally, Tenet had breakfast with Karl Rove, the president's senior political adviser, in the White House mess and joked that he would share secrets with Rove that even Rice was not allowed to know. -Bob Woodward, Plan of Attack , p. 67-8 As you sit here now, if you're asking me what his motives were, I can't tell you; we haven't charged it. -Patrick Fitzgerald, Press Conference , Oct. 28th, 2005 Questions: What does the Libby indictment communicate to the players in this case ? What did the Fitzgerald press conference communicate to the players? What did it communicate to those who now know they may be called as witnesses? What are all those "unnamed officials" who were listed by their titles thinking today, and what are their lawyers telling them? What can we learn from the "four corners of the indictment" that we didn't know already? What are the political consequences of the information contained in the indictment? How can we use the i

encyclopedia brown

Jane at firedoglake links to this thread at Kevin Drum's, it's really fascinating. I guess this moment brings out the inner Encyclopedia Browns on all sides. Good stuff.

the meaning of Fitzmas

By Wendell Gee, or as you know him, wg : I think I may be experiencing, Linus-like, the deeper meaning of Fitzmas. Watching and listening to Fitz, I rediscovered something I haven't felt in a long, long time: a kind of simple, optimistic pride in the potential and promise of America. I know that sounds fatuous, but it felt like, after crawling through the desert, I was finally rewarded with a tall, clear glass of ice-cold life-sustaining water. I took such profound and unexpected pleasure in the trust I felt in this guy. And I even found a perverse satisfaction in the way he frustrated my shallow partisan craving for a brutal rhetorical smackdown. When was the last time you had the experience of seeing somebody on tv, in a political context, that you didn't feel compelled to view through an angry ideological prism? It was such a relief to not be an analyzing and enraged critic, or even a chortling schadenfreudian. I just had a very simple, almost childlike, faith in this guy. H

first thoughts and an open thread

I am neither someone with a background in journalism , nor am I savvy or privy to beltway politics , nor am I a lawyer , nor do I know the ins and out of intelligence matters ...(those links are all worthwhile) but these things strike me from today's events, take 'em worth a grain of salt: Patrick Fitzgerald made a no-nonsense, straightforward case for one thing today: Lewis Libby lied to the FBI and the grand jury investigating the leak of a CIA employee's identity, and his perjury and false statements noted in the indictment amount to an obstruction of justice. Fitzgerald made two related things very clear: #1: Fitzgerald's investigation concerned a matter that impacted our national security in a "serious" way; namely, whether present and future employees of the CIA can have the reasonable expectation that their identities will be protected by our government. Fitzgerald made clear that his indictment of Libby directly relates to that seriousness. Libby

Bingo....

Merry Fitzmas! (NYT, Libby 5 counts, Rove legal jeopardy continues...) And don't miss the Frogs ....pretty funny.

the link

This is... the link. Nothing new up yet. But fresh Atrios ...read it. Billmon has some excellent tea leaf reading. I'll be bouncing back and forth between Swopa and firedoglake...after I get my coffee. (As if I'm not awake enough!)

the sound of silence

Just spoke with good friend and fellow blogger, awol, who dropped this line on me vis a vis Fitz: " Perhaps the most effective use of silence in U.S. politics in living memory." To which I replied: " I hope Fitz is no Chauncey Gardner ." (Of course, there's no doubt, he isn't , and, further, this article seems a pretty big deal to me.)

aprés Miers: a modest proposal

I wrote the comment that follows on a thread about how the Miers nomination threatened to create a new bloc on the court: Bush might have nominated a brilliant moderate, acceptable to all sides. A justice's Justice. Perhaps someone with enough conservative credentials that they could pass the base...but whose talent and capabilities and love of the Court, and the people it serves, were clear. Dreaming? Maybe. The Bush clan is bushel of rotting apples. It's too much to hope for apple pie. Miers withdrawal affords a chance to revisit the question of "voting blocs," and think anew about strategy. We're in "do-over" land. Upon further reflection and rereading that earlier piece about voting blocs, I think the key relationship on the Roberts Court will be something I neglected to address a month ago: the relationship between Chief Justice Roberts and Justice Anthony Kennedy. Jeffrey Toobin had an excellent profile of Kennedy in the New Yorker a couple

meta k/o: comments

This blog welcomes comments. However, I'm not looking to pick fights. Or to be abused. I'm not looking for readers who are into that either. This isn't a public square. The comments here, ideally, are like a "letters page" in a magazine. Simply put, I don't publish this blog to take on all comers. I publish this blog to give its readers good content, and, perhaps, as a byproduct of that, if we're lucky, we get constructive discussions. I am familiar with the macho, hair-trigger attitudes of a lot of bloggers and blog participants. That's not me. That's not this blog. If a macho vituperativeness is your thing, then I must say... k/o is not the droid you're looking for. There's a difference between being critical and being abusive. My guess is that the readers here know that and appreciate it. So, regarding comments here that are disruptive, macho, assinine or abusive: they will be deleted when I get around to it. That's the p

the grand jury

A portrait of the grand jury, from the Washington Post : The grand jury, a group of onetime strangers from across the District, has spent two days a week for nearly 24 months in the cloistered, guarded room on the third floor of the U.S. District Courthouse. They have sifted through the day planners of White House aides and listened intently as the prosecutor grilled West Wing officials and reporters who relied on them as confidential sources. They are paid $40 a day, plus $4 for transportation. Now they might be called upon to make decisions that could deal a crippling blow to the Bush White House and put top administration officials on trial. There were 23 members at the start, committed for 18 months. Their term was extended in May for six months. At least six original jurors have been excused because of hardships their service created. Some were replaced with alternates. Like the jury's forewoman, the majority are African American women who appear to be middle-age or older. The

crooks and cronies: a halloween massacre

Over the years this Ford shake-up, sometimes known as the Halloween massacre, became part of the Rumsfeld legend. Many other Republicans believed (and continued to argue for decades) that Rumsfeld had engineered the changes as a way of enhancing his own political prospects...[ snip ] The reality was more prosaic than these conspiracy theories. By all accounts, notably including Ford's, the driving motivation behind the cabinet shake-up was the president's own intense antagonism toward Schlesinger. Ford felt his defense secretary was arrogant and condescending to him. When the president first outlined the series of changes, Rumsfeld balked at the idea of becoming secretary of defense, asking to think about it overnight. He wasn't sure he wanted to leave the White House. Indeed, by Cheney's subsequent account, the president had to enlist him to persuade Rumsfeld to take the job at Defense. " Frankly, I had to talk [Rumsfeld] into it--long distance, " Cheney

words have power, soj and arthur silber

We're all waiting. Yes. And reading. Here's some things to ponder in the meantime... Blogger Words have Power has a nice appreciation up of sportscaster Bill King . It's a nice piece even if you're not into sports. Reader "j" is kind enough to point out the rearrival of two old friends: soj and arthur silber ...welcome them back with a visit. It kind of feels like the end of the Wizard of Oz...there they are again!

body and soul

If you're tired of hunting for news flashes....try revisiting this tour de force of blogging from last spring by Jeanne D'Arc at her always deeply relevant blog, Body and Soul : It's called the The Beast in US . It's worth a look and a ponder.

the zeros: the cobra snake

Okay, I am stealing this from the L.A. Times front page ...so it's hardly fresh...and, as usual, I'm the last to know... but check out this website ....called thecobrasnake.com. It's just party pictures. But as party pictures go; it's a sign o' the times.

reality du jour

In a realm of discourse in which words have lost all normal meaning, it is not surprising to hear that Nixon also told Sulzberger , 'I rate myself as a deeply committed pacifist.' Many men have been 'committed' for less obvious lapses from reality. I.F. Stone , 14 March, 1971, vol. 19. no. 6 So, this is Fitzmas ? Forgive me for missing the party, my internet went down...yeah, great timing ...and the essay I wrote yesterday before all this news broke is now hopelessly out of date. (To be honest, it wasn't much to write home about anyway.) Coming back online today at 3PM was like... whoa , what a difference a day makes. Now, I'm just a humble blogger out here on the West Coast, what do I know...but that New York Times story last night had the effect of setting official reality on its ear, didn't it? The Vice President knew Valerie Plame's identity early in June of 2003 at least...and, more importantly, he knew that Scooter Libby knew, too, because the V

a woman's marathon

I worked today...early...for a photographer documenting a women's marathon in San Francisco. I've worked sporting events before, met atheletes I admired, even stood in awe in the presence of a few legends that I never thought I'd see up close. (May I mention the elusive, remarkable...Bill Russell?) But today was different. In the dark, in the pre-dawn, 15,000 women descended on Union Square in San Francisco. Some were there for charity. Some were there for each other. Yet each of these women, was, on some level, fundamentally there for herself. There was something powerful about that. Purposeful. Intentional. Under the radar. Driven. It was almost like a protest, but it wasn't. It was a sponsered event, a benefit, a race. These were all types and shapes of women...though marathoners are most often well-to-do. They came from all over...with all sorts of different styles and ways of going about things. I overheard one group of women talking about where they coul

Mack Dennis and Sekou Sundiata

I heard Oakland spoken word artist and poet Mack Dennis for the first time the other day. You can hear Dennis perform here . I recommend both poems... Old Vacherie Road and Shades of Black . Originally from New Orleans, Dennis puts his whole life into it...and he's got much life to give and share. (I've listened to Old Vacherie Road five times now.) There's really no substitute for seeing Mack Dennis live and in person. He's just so smooth and indirect and wise...like a West Coast Sekou Sundiata...another spoken word artist I love...and if you click on this link and listen, I bet you will too. Sundiata , who recently came through a serious health crisis documented in his piece blessing the boats (which he talked about with Terry Gross in this interview on Fresh Air) is famous for being the poetry teacher who inspired Ani Di Franco. You can find additional samples of Sundiata's readings here , but for my money, the hard-to-find album... Blue Oneness of Dr

the pursuit of happiness

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Wilkerson

Throughout the entire Presidency of George W. Bush, my father, born in 1938, a child of the war that shaped the second half of the 20th Century and an astute reader of the news for...rrr...at least fifty years now...has been telling me that something is deeply awry in our government...in our ship of state. Institutions and practices, however flawed, that were meant to serve the long term interests and security of the citizens of the United States, and in turn, the world, have been twisted...and indeed...perverted. This critical, significant, must-read speech by Col. Lawrence Wilkerson, former Chief of Staff, U.S. Department of State, 2002-2005 expresses the gist of what my dad has been getting at in no uncertain terms. This is the speech my dad's been waiting for. Agree or disagree with his premises or prescriptions, Wilkerson is, to push an image I've been using...another figure walking down the fetid alley of Bush's Washington with a lantern held high and exposing the

friday night's alright: open thread

I woke up early for a 6AM call time today. As usual for me in that situation, I woke up way too early. There's something about setting my alarm for well before dawn that makes me wake up well before well before dawn...and then vainly try to fall back asleep at 3:30 AM. I don't know how I ended up listening to Bill Bennett's Morning in America on AM radio, but there you go, it happened. Some things a single guy can indulge in from time to time...letting the dishes and laundry sit for a week, enjoying the occasional beer and frozen pizza, wasting half a day on a computer game...of these vices, however, listening to AM radio of any sort is probably the most pernicious and least forgiveable. Bill Bennett's show was insane. He's clearly fighting to hold onto the oblivion of the "pre-dawn" hate jockey circuit...and his racist remarks of a few weeks ago threaten his stakehold there. But that situation, if anything, made the show fascinating...like a train

only in San Francisco

I hopped on BART at Embarcadaro today...and while squeezed like a sardine riding under the Bay I overheard this guy talking about travelling light with a buddy. Basically, to illustrate his point he held up this tiny bag with all these really useful things that was about the size of a sandwich. He'd travelled to remote places and mountains and had people with much heavier luggage asking him for stuff. Pretty cool concept. Halfway through the transbay tube , this gadget guy started talking about his blog... escapemyhead.com , and how it had this nifty traffic of, like, up to 40,000 visits a month. Whereupon his buddy asked about the difference between unique visitors and just plain hits...and I just started laughing out loud at the ironies. (And, yeah, I admit, I did the math...and realized that this guy's blog is more popular than k/o.... blog envy under the bay .) Only in the Bay Area does this stuff happen on a regular basis. Of course I pipped up that I was a blogger

the emerging shitstorm

History will look back on this moment as the one in which that they lost all control of it. I mean, last weekend, like everyone else, I was sincerely trying to understand Libby and Miller's goofy notes to each other. Now I'd just guess that Miller and Libby...like everyone involved in this mess...are scared shitless...and it runs all the way to the top. There's only one reason that anybody , even in gossip, mentions governmental nobodies like John Hannah and David Wurmser ...and that's when folks in government are in deep, deep trouble . I remember back in my home state of Minnesota, occasionally there'd be a scandal or two...and what would usually emerge was that in the monolithic culture of Lake Wobegon ...once enough people did something wrong...then, within that class of people, most everybody did it ...and the big excuse, safety in numbers , became the big trap. Witness the GOP. It seems to me, in this emerging shitstorm, that we are very close to breakin

an accident on 280

I got in my car today, grabbed a coffee at 7:20AM at my favorite cafe...large, super dark roast, half-and-half till it's mocha brown...and started my drive to Silicon Valley for a photo shoot. Don't ask me how I drive and drink coffee in a stick shift. I do. Cup in left hand. Shift with right. And some kind of learned timing thing. I'm a safe driver for the most part. Regardless, this story isn't about me. Today, going south on 880, because I just didn't have the heart to face the Bay Bridge again this morning, the sun was just this golden thing above the hills east of San Jose. And the hills themselves were clear dark silhouettes...mountains of a sort...and beautiful. I turned the radio off because, hell, sometimes I'd rather think. And, aside from the traffic, there's rarely news on the radio much anymore. At any rate, I made good time. I'd been late two days running. It's a long haul from Oakland to the South Bay...and my strategy of fi

E+P on the NYT

Editor and Publisher has Joe Strupp inside the New York Times piece up: ""It's sort of 'strike two,'" one reporter said. "This is deeply institutional, so in a way it is worse [than Blair] and the implications of it are worse, for the press and the paper, that we are capable of suppressing reporting of an important story." The staffer added that any plans for Miller to return to the paper would be "hard for me to imagine."" Funny, a lot of us saw it as strike three.

notes from outside the beltway

Random thoughts having read today's and tonight's news: The only people who really know what Fitzgerald is up to...outside of his office...would be those who have testified, received a target letter or made a plea bargain...and their lawyers...so, although there's a sense of anticipation when we see talking points and speculative headlines that say..."indictments expected" or..."plans for a post-Rove White House made"...in my view, it should also all be taken with a grain of salt. When I see Bill Kristol working "grim expectations" talking points. I think for a second. When I read that there are "rumors" swirling that anyone will resign. I step back. They are fighting this, they have been fighting this, and they will fight this. You don't get the President to publicly change his employment criteria if you've been hung out to dry, or cut out of the loop. If Fitzgerald comes out with "narrow charges" and the Wh

two scandals two diaries

Allan Lichtman , civil rights activist and candidate for Senate in Maryland, get's it just right at boomantribune in a piece called, the Scandal of the Century : "Unlike the response to Hurricane Katrina, the first great scandal of the century remains mostly unknown. This was the disenfranchisement of more than 50,000 African-American voters in Florida's 2000 presidential election. These were not potential votes struck from the rolls as felons or prevented from reaching the polls. These were voters who actually turned up at the polls and fully expected their ballots to be counted in the election. George W. Bush will be president of the United States for eight years because the votes counted in Florida's 2000 election did not come close to matching the ballots cast by the state's voters. The result in Florida was not decided by hanging chads, recounts, or intervention by the Supreme Court. As the analyst for the U. S. Commission on Civil Rights I found that George