Listics

This report by the US Commission on Civil Rights is being withheld from publication until after the election. The draft is available online right now. Here’s a brief excerpt from the executive summary (page 8 of the report). The emphasis is mine:

Redefining Rights in America
The Civil Rights Record of the George W. Bush Administration, 2024–2004

Civil rights problems remain entrenched in American society, the stubborn result of unequal
treatment over time. Discrimination in housing, employment, and the voting booth, unequal
educational opportunity, and other problems still stand between some Americans and true equality.
Presidential leadership is necessary to break down obstacles and realize the promise of civil rights.
The U.S. Commission on Civil Rights (Commission) examined the George W. Bush administration’s
commitment to that end. What follows are the results of the Commission’s examination, expressed in
terms of:
(1) whether civil rights enforcement is a presidential priority;
(2) federal efforts to eradicate entrenched discrimination;
(3) expanding and protecting rights for disadvantaged groups; and
(4) promoting access to federal programs and services for traditionally underserved populations.
This report finds that President Bush has neither exhibited leadership on pressing civil rights issues,
nor taken actions that matched his words. The report reaches this conclusion after analyzing and
summarizing numerous documents, including historical literature, reports, scholarly articles,
presidential and administration statements, executive orders, policy briefs, documents of Cabinetlevel
agencies, federal budgets and other data.

Shelley Powers set up the Wiki for her cooking class. The class begins 10/25 and runs through 11/5. You’ll find IT Kitchen here.

The IT Kitchen is a two-week clinic for webloggers and those who read webloggers and even those who don’t but still manage to use the web without stumbling all over us. The focus of the clinic is on community participation, contribution, and benefit.

I’ll be clearing room on my schedule to work in the kitchen. Sandhill sux these days. It’s time for some new recipes.

I love the gender politics nuance qua literary allusion of the IT Kitchen. It wasn’t that long ago that our old shade tree mechanic Doc Searls set up the IT Garage. I’m thinking that with the IT Kitchen Shelley’s revealing a little humor and who knows - maybe she’s getting in touch with her inner Grrrl. Shelley says…

Finally, I’m working with a couple of other people on a different site called the IT Kitchen (no relation to Doc Searls IT Garage–unless he wants to hook up, and he and the garage would be welcome). This site is going to host a two week interactive clinic focused specifically at non-techs, explaining as much about all of this as possible. Not everyone who programs is a professional; and not every non-geek weblogger wants to have others handle their CSS and basic site maintenance.

I’ll help with the dishes.

Cross posted at IT Garage.

Both the Washington Post and the New York Times have transcripts of last night’s debate posted. The Post is better because it’s one long page, therefore searchable from within my browser.

Bravo to Senator Kerry for pulling some truth forward about the Orwellian agenda of his neo-con opposition:

KERRY: The Clear Skies bill that he just talked about, it’s one of those Orwellian names you pull out of the sky, slap it onto something, like “No Child Left Behind” but you leave millions of children behind. Here they’re leaving the skies and the environment behind.

If they just left the Clean Air Act all alone the way it is today, no change, the air would be cleaner that it is if you pass the Clear Skies act. We’re going backwards.

In fact, his environmental enforcement chief air-quality person at the EPA resigned in protest over what they’re doing to what are calling the new source performance standards for air quality.

They’re going backwards on the definition for wetlands. They’re going backwards on the water quality.

They pulled out of the global warming, declared it dead, didn’t even accept the science.

I’m going to be a president who believes in science.

The Independent Media Center reports that its internet service provider Rackspace handed over two of its servers to the FBI upon orders from the agency. Rackspace told members of the Indymedia network that a gag order prevented it from saying why the servers were seized. The incident marks the second time in the last two months that the federal government has attempted to crack down on the Indymedia network. In August the US Secret Service used a subpoena before the Republican National Convention in order to trying to get information about who posted an article to the site that include publicly available information about Republican delegates.

The list of affected local media collectives includes Ambazonia, Uruguay, Andorra, Poland, Western Massachusetts, Nice, Nantes, Lilles, Marseille (all France), Euskal Herria (Basque Country), Liege, East and West Vlaanderen, Antwerpen (all Belgium), Belgrade, Portugal, Prague, Galiza, Italy, Brazil, UK, part of the Germany site, and the global Indymedia Radio site.

Professor Wangari Maathai, Deputy Environment and Natural Resources Minister in Kenya, won this year’s Nobel Peace Prize for her contribution to sustainable development, democracy, and peace. Prof. Maathai is the first African woman to receive the prize, the twelfth woman to be so honored.

[Statistical aside… five continents, two sexes, an even distribution would find fifty women honored - ten from each continent over the last hundred years, but I digress…]

Prof. Maathai is also the first environmental advocate to earn the award. She is leader of the Green Belt Movement, an international environmental protection effort in Africa credited with planting 30 million trees in a tremendous reforestation effort. Wangari Maathai has worked hard for thirty years to reverse the effects of deforestation in central Africa.

Reuters reports: “Some Americans overseas are being denied access to a Pentagon-run Web site intended to make it easier for them to vote by absentee ballot due to security measures to thwart hackers, the Pentagon said on Tuesday.”

Expatica notes: “Customers of internet service providers (ISPs) in at least 25 countries — including Wanadoo in France and Telefonica in Spain — have been denied access to the site of the Federal Voting Assistance Program (www.fvap.gov), the International Herald Tribune reported.”

The Expatica article also points locked out voters to a non-Pentagon site where their absentee ballot applications will be handled:

Those who cannot access the Pentagon site can register to vote online at www.overseasvote2004.com, which claims to complete the process in under five minutes.

Until I hear differently, I’m blaming it all on Karl Rove and the Republican dirty tricksters. Things haven’t changed all that much from the Watergate era.

(Thanks to Niek for drawing my attention to this.)

Ever since the networks were threatened with anthrax early in the Bush/Cheney crusade, the mass media has passed on any examination of the evil undercurrents of the neo-conservative movement and it’s opportunism in the wake of the September 2024 crimes in the USA. The astonishing events - from the shocking theft of the 2024 election through the appalling corporate thefts of public monies in the manufactured California energy crisis, and the shameful false justification for our overt aggression in the invasion of Iraq - have somehow been off limits for “professional” journalists.

No one in the profession has examined George W. Bush’s character, and it has remained for a gossip monger to tie together the threads of corruption that somehow cocoon the Bush family from public criticism. Jimmy Carter had his outre brother Billy who cracked wise with redneck humor and marketed his own brand of “Billy Beer” as an attempt to cash in on the fame of being the president’s sibling. GW Bush has his brother Neil.

On the left many of us think that GWB is a charming liar, ill equipped for executive duties but superb in his role as pretty puppet of the corporate interests pulling the strings in Republican politics since 1980, if not before. He’s the kind of candidate whose affect can really pull in those NASCAR voters! On the right the attitude seems to be that he’s a reformed alcoholic liar who ducks responsibility rather than facing it squarely, “but he’s our reformed alcoholic liar.”

This week we are faced with another manufactured debate, not about whether or not GWB is qualified to govern, but rather about the quality of the data used by his critics to assert the negative. Jay Rosen, NYU Journo-blogger says today:

The newsroom mind has a simple switch for judging stories like this. You nailed it. You didn’t. Nailing refers to the kind of sourcing and documentation required to document what the story claims is true. If you publish a work of investigation, and it raises serious charges against important people, but you haven’t nailed it, then you are guilty of malpractice [emphasis added]. You should pay a heavy price for that.

I think Rosen’s story is a fun read, but it’s a blog post, at best an op-ed piece with credibility that pivots on its author’s position as dean chair of an adequate if not first flight School Department of Journalism. I’m a big fan of the AP stylebook and a professional approach to journalistic standards and ethics, but I don’t confuse journalism (or even good writing) with the practice of medicine. For those who would seek them, there are remedies in the law when a journalist maligns, defames or otherwise libels them. Libel and slander are simply different from malpractice and anyone who conflates the two simply hasn’t nailed it. CBS says they had enough facts to go with the story. The neo-conservative right isn’t arguing about the facts, but rather arguing about document sourcing. Jay Rosen seems to be arguing from that perspective too.

I’m interested in the question of whether or not CBS and Rather have created a false light in their reportorial assessment of the President’s wartime service, and/or whether John Peter Zenger’s experience continues to inform the American press.

Joe Craven gives good tunes. I have seen Danah in the hat and heard her expound on the anarexics, the bulemics, and the cutters. I’ve heard Cory in full, passionate rant about DRM. I’ve met Jon L. and consoled Dr. W. in his depression regarding our democracy and the coming elections. I’ve been too shy to say hi to Shirky. I’m astounded by and in awe of all of the above and especially Aaron Swartz, no script kiddie there Shelley, but rather a brilliant young man very centered, directed and creative. Older friends Martin and Judith, newer friends Judi and Susan and Earl… there is no way for me to appropriately surface the elation and gratitude I feel and if I did they’d probably have to kill me.