Mahmoudiya

I have been thinking about this story for a while. I have nothing new to say about it, but was particularly struck when I discovered that the young victim and I shared a birthday.

The Fish Story

I know that we are all thrilled that the president of the United States still finds time to relax and go fishing, but as reported on Tapped the DCCC puts it in persepctive:

HEH. I'm not much in the habit of regurgitating DCCC press releases, but this quote from Rahm Emanuel is too funny not to pass on:



Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee Chairman Congressman Rahm Emanuel, today released the following statement on President Bush’s “best moment in office”:
“Five years after President Bush said he would find Osama bin Laden, we’re all glad to hear that all he’s caught is an apparently harmless fish,” said Congressman Rahm Emanuel, Chairman of the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee.



An apt point of comparison, considering that bin Laden is still at large.

May Day Virtual Sit In

Join May Day Virtual Sit-In! All Day Long.

Bodies On-line and Bodies in the Street Together.

NO ILLEGAL BORDERS! NO ILLEGAL LAWS!

CLICK HERE*CLIQUEN AQUI

The Electronic Disturbance Theater and the borderlands Hacklab call for a virtual strike in solidarity with the May 1st General Strike /Walkout / Boycott in the US and actions for Freedom of Movement taking place all over Europe on May 1st, 2006.

Information control is a critical part of the control of people's movement and the information dissemination engines such as CNN are used to propagate racist propaganda from the mouths of Lou Dobbs, Tom Tancredo and Sensenbrenner every day. Racists like the Minutemen, with known ties to neo-Nazi groups, have become an everyday fixture in the US media landscape. With this virtual strike, we will join the millions marching in the US, Mexico and Europe in slowing down the economy by slowing down the information systems.

On this day without an immigrant, we will also have a day without Lou Dobbs, Semsenbrenner and the Minutemen in cyberspace. Join us in making this a reality.

This virtual strike is also made in solidarity with La Otra Campana of the Zapatistas, who are marching to the US consulate in Mexico City as part of their campaign to overthrow the evil governments of the world by building community power from below and from the left.

May 1st has been celebrated for more than a century as International Workers Day, commemorating the struggle for the eight hour workday in the US and the state murder of anarchist labor organizers in Chicago in 1887. The militant labor movement in Chicago was largely due to the influence of radical immigrants. Today we reclaim May Day as a day for migrant people everywhere.

Against HR4437 and for amnesty for all! For a world free of deportations and detention centers! For Freedom of Movement and the Right to Stay! For a world free of borders! For a world free of racist immigration controls! For a world free of neo-liberalism and capitalism! For a world where many worlds fit!

Join the Virtual Sit-In, May 1st, 2006 and help make the massive mayday
strike/walkout/boycott be felt throughout cyberspace.

Not Going Away

I admit I have not been much of a fan of Stephen Colbert and the Colbert report, perhaps because his parody cuts too close to the real for me, but after watching the replay of his speech at the White House Correspondent's Dinner, I may have to take another look. He has provided one of the the most honest crticisms of the current sate of affairs that I have seen in a long time. With the objects of his ridicule as his audience, his jokes received few laughs and have gotten even less mention in the real media. I suppose that what happens now is that we all go back to business as usual, grimacing and trying to pretend that nothing is wrong-- don't worry about the elephant in the room, or the sinking shup that we seem to be on-- at least the fake news continues to stand for something.

Remembering the Nuclear Past

As the founder of Greenpeace argues for the increased use of nuclear energy and the description of plans for possible tactical nuclear strikes in Iran, seem to have fallen off the map, we might reflect on the nuclear disaster at Chernobyl, 20 years ago.

Happy Flying

As if airline travel were not onerous enough as it is the airlines have more in store for all of us happy customers. I know that gas prices and operating costs are going up, but this is absurd.

One Day, That Economy Ticket May Buy You a Place to Stand

The airlines have come up with a new answer to an old question: How many passengers can be squeezed into economy class?

A lot more, it turns out, especially if an idea still in the early stage should catch on: standing-room-only "seats."

Airbus has been quietly pitching the standing-room-only option to Asian carriers, though none have agreed to it yet. Passengers in the standing section would be propped against a padded backboard, held in place with a harness, according to experts who have seen a proposal.

Worst President Ever

George W. Bush's presidency appears headed for colossal historical disgrace. Barring a cataclysmic event on the order of the terrorist attacks of September 11th, after which the public might rally around the White House once again, there seems to be little the administration can do to avoid being ranked on the lowest tier of U.S. presidents. And that may be the best-case scenario. Many historians are now wondering whether Bush, in fact, will be remembered as the very worst president in all of American history...

History may ultimately hold Bush in the greatest contempt for expanding the powers of the presidency beyond the limits laid down by the U.S. Constitution. There has always been a tension over the constitutional roles of the three branches of the federal government. The Framers intended as much, as part of the system of checks and balances they expected would minimize tyranny.

from Rolling Stone

The New World Order

Freedom of Information

After more than four years we learn the names of some of the individuals disappeared by the United States Government. A freedom of information request from AP convinces the Penagon to relase the first list of names of the Guantanamo detainees.

The Sport of the Future Has Arrived

I wake up to what seems like a normal day and then listening to morning edition I hear about "Chess Boxing." Somehow the combination of a sport that is about landing blows to the head and body of one's oponent and a game that is supposed to be sublimely tactical seems hard to beleive, but yet...

Nothing to Do but Laugh

Should we file this under only in the United States?

A DEA agent who accidentally shot himself in the foot while demonstrating gun safety to school children is suing the agency, saying video of the incident has made him the joke of the Internet.

from SF Gate.

Immigrant Rights are Human Rights

In the Washington Post Alisa Valdes-Rodriguez explains that "latino," "immigrant," and "illegal" are not synonyms.

What Immigrants do for the U.S.

Steve Gilliard has a post about immigrant soldiers who have died in Iraq.

National Day of Action for Immigrant Justice

Non-Violent Protest in Lawrence, KS

One hand knows not the other

It's always great to know just how much the government supports our troops and their families.

A Marine's Mother
Washington Post, Wednesday, April 5, 2006; Page A21

Last August, Danielette James, 58, a federal custodian who cleans congressional offices five nights a week, unsuccessfully pleaded with her bosses for time off to welcome home her son, a Marine who was returning to Camp Lejeune, N.C., after seven months in Iraq.

Holiday in New York

Because my timing is impeccable, I am planning to travel to New York City just a few days after the transit strike begins. I am only hoping that this spectacle will be more vivid than the Paris riots. Despite my presence that the city I saw no sign of unrest. New York is a union town if there are any union towns left so it will be interesting to see where the support and sympathies of New Yorkers go. According to the Gray Lady:

Streets were crowded with workers bundled up against the cold, with a wind chill of as low as 10 degrees Fahrenheit in the early morning hours. Cars were backed up at arteries leading onto the bridges, tunnels and major expressways that feed into Manhattan, as the police peered into cars to enforce the four-passenger rule, turning some away and letting others pass.

Richard Pryor, 1940 - 1965

I was lucky enough to meet Richard Pryor once back in the 1980s. I was about sixteen and we were on the set of the film Brewster's Millions. I was an L.A. kid, not too starstuck, but some where I still have the picture. He was kind and quite the gentleman, and it was after the fire incident so I remember seeing the burns on his skin. One can say that he lived a lot of life, through all types of experiences. And I suppose that that is the best way to live it.

Richard Pryor, comic voice of black America, dies
Richard Pryor, whose genius for turning personal tragedy and social injustice into humour made him one of the most influential American comedians of the last four decades, died yesterday.

Let the Games Begin

Jon Stewart's salvo into the "War on Christmas", priceless.
Jon Stewart 10, "Fat Fundies" 0!

Belgian Bomber

Her passport, which featured a striking image of a European woman, told the security forces that insurgents in Iraq had succeeded in recruiting a new type of suicide bomber...

"Muriel became more Muslim than a Muslim," her mother told Le Parisien newspaper. "When she first converted she wore a simple veil. But with her last husband she wore a [head to toe] chador."

How will we be able to tell who the terrorists are now? The Guardian has the full story.

So Maybe not the Last Word

Boing Boing directs us to an interesting video, The French Democracy, made with gaming technology that tells the story from the POV of the disgruntled youth in the Paris suburbs. Not perfect but worth a watch.