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Sean Bell?s killers will walk, but should they?
2008-04-02 23:03:00
Nearly every morning for the past few weeks, I’ve brewed a strong cup of orange pekoe, sat down at my computer, and googled “Sean Bell ” to get the latest information from a weeks-long trial. In case you haven’t heard, Bell is a young man who was gunned down on the morning of his wedding day by New York City cops who fired 50 shots at Bell and his two companions, claiming that one of them had a gun. No gun was found. There is a wealth of information on the case here, including a nifty visual recreation complete with comments. If you prefer a more narrative style, you can find it here. But for those who’d rather not read all that, here’s a capsule of the events. On the evening of November 24, 2006, Bell, the impending groom, and his companions went to a strip club, the Kalua, next to the train tracks on 94th Avenue near its intersection with 143rd Street in the New York borough of Queens. The Kalua puts the seam in seamy. Both the club and it...
More About: Killers , Walk

We?re sorry - we blowed up the Internets
2008-04-02 21:04:00
Some of you may have noticed that S&R has been down for the last hour or so, and we apologize. The Hillary Clinton/Rocky Balboa post we put up earlier caught fire on Digg and wound up on the top page there, which meant we were seeing more hits in an hour than we do most days. Short version: this level of traffic overran our shared hosting set-up and the hosting company shut us off. We’re investigating solutions that will hope assure this doesn’t happen again, although the money involved may mean we have to consider taking advertising to offset the cost. When the ruckus dies down we’ll try to re-post the Hillary/Rocky item, but for the moment we have pulled it in order to be able to continue operation. Thanks for bearing with us.
More About: The Internets , Rogues

The Weekly Carboholic: Gore launches massive global heating media campaign
2008-04-02 15:30:00
The Washington Post reports that Al Gore and his Alliance for Climate Protection are launching one of the most expensive advocacy programs ever. The We campaign will run over the next three years and cost $300 million, of which about half has already been raised. The goal of the campaign is to change ingrained habits and behaviors directly if possible, but primarily through legislation. “This climate crisis is so interwoven with habits and patterns that are so entrenched, the elected officials in both parties are going to be timid about enacting the bold changes that are needed until there is a change in the public’s sense of urgency in addressing this crisis,” Gore said. “I’ve tried everything else I know to try. The way to solve this crisis is to change the way the public thinks about it.” League of Conservation Voters president Gene Karpinski, whose group is supporting the effort, said he’s optimistic the “We” campaign will ...
More About: Media , Global , Campaign

Helter skelter
2008-04-02 04:55:00
MC Gravel is back with some decidedly trippy coverage of the military-industrial complex. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bA2LgJviH9 w Whatever else you may think about Mike Gravel - and there are many opinions to be had - he’s damned serious about his anti-war campaign and his critique of the state of American democracy at a time when not everyone is paying attention. Our friend George Turner has a new video covering the recent demonstrations in DC, and Gravel’s comments here are to the point. It’s worth a look. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jNtVPud8Dc I

Which Rocky are we talking about, Sen. Clinton?
2008-04-01 19:26:00
by Adam Bulger It’s time for Hillary Clinton to bone up on her some classic ’70s cinema. Attempting to pander to a Philadelphia crowd, she compared herself to Philly’s most famous fictional son, the Italian Stallion, Rocky Balboa. The AP reports: “Let me tell you something, when it comes to finishing a fight, Rocky and I have a lot in common. I never quit. I never give up. And neither do the American people,” Clinton said in excerpts of prepared remarks to be given Tuesday to a meeting of the Pennsylvania AFL-CIO. It’s a hack reference, and it’s a little distressing that she included it in her “prepared remarks” — she needs crib notes for pop culture references? But what’s worse is that it’s an inaccurate one. In her attempt to appear more human by invoking the name of the scrappy underdog fighter, she revealed that there’s a good chance she’s never actually seen the movie. Mrs. Clinton evidently doe...
More About: Barack Obama , Sylvester Stallone , Talking

TunesDay: talent v. hype?
2008-04-01 18:45:00
We’ve all heard the mewling and puking about the music business - it’s not about talent, the labels no longer care about artists, good music goes unheard while media conglomerates push prole drivel down the throats of the public, Clear Channel/Infinity/Whoever have killed radio’s power to lead the public to talented new artists with their computerized market segmenting and overly tight play lists, etc., yadda, so it goes….Let me begin by disabusing you of some of these notions: 1) “It’s not about talent.” Folks, it’s never been about talent. I’d remind you of the famous communique sent to Brian Epstein (for our younger readers, Epstein was the manager of a group called The Beatles who had some small success in the music business): Groups with guitars are on their way out. - Dick Rowe, Decca Records A&R 2) “The labels no longer care about talent.” The labels have never cared about talent. Want to know who the hot...
More About: Hype , Talent

LIFE and the long view: ideologies of science and technology since the Enli
2008-04-01 15:18:00
Part two in a series. As I suggested in Part One, the messianic/utopian view of science and technology attributed to LIFE Magazine is consistent with an ideological bent that traces its lineage to the dawn of the Enlightenment in Europe. Francis Bacon?s highly influential New Atlantis, first published in 1626, recounts the narrator?s fictional shipwreck on the shores of Bensalem, a lost utopia, and offers one of the earliest testaments to the potential of applied science (Outhwaite & Bottomore 1994). In an extended ceremony, Bacon is given to know the seemingly limitless bounty of Bensalem?s scientific expertise. Bensalem is well versed in all manner of advanced technology: refrigeration and preservation, mining, agriculture, astronomy, meteorology, genetics, animal husbandry, desalination, medicine, musicology, mechanics, air flight, and mathematics are literally only a few of the society’s advanced technological arts. Together these technologies provide the citizenry wit...
More About: Science , Technology , Life , Science and Technology , View

Staff Cartoonist Presents: Hitting the ?progressive crackpot?
2008-04-01 06:47:00
Or: ‘This is even worse than the time we walked into that bar’
More About: Progressive , Presents , Staff

Paulson?s rescue plan: Rearranging deck chairs on the Titanic
2008-04-01 02:24:00
I was deeply amused to read the breathless news coverage of Hammerin’ Hank Paulson’s “ambitious” and “sweeping” plans to restructure the federal financial regulatory structure. It says something about how far the goalposts of this country’s discourse have been moved towards rampant, unchecked, unbridled “law of the jungle” financial pillaging that modest reforms like these are considered a major move. If these pathetic hot-flashing stenographers that call themselves “reporters” would actually take a closer look at the plan itself–hell, even just the fact sheet–they would see that not only is Paulson’s reform agenda miniscule at best, but that it’s a shell game, a distraction designed to accomplish the long-held mantra of the Bush administration–centralizing federal power and weakening consumer protections at the state level. Some of the recommendations are good–like creating a nat...
More About: Chairs , Rescue , Plan , Deck , Titanic

Never gonna give you up! Never gonna let you go!
2008-03-31 21:30:00
by Rafael Noboa Really? I mean, really? Are you serious? What you?re seeing is my reaction to reading an interview in which Hillary Clinton basically tells every Democrat that she?s in it till the last dog dies ? she?s not going to quit until the Convention. According to her, ?I know there are some people who want to shut this down and I think they are wrong,? Clinton said in an interview during a campaign stop here Saturday. ?I have no intention of stopping until we finish what we started and until we see what happens in the next 10 contests and until we resolve Florida and Michigan. And if we don?t resolve it, we?ll resolve it at the convention ? that?s what credentials committees are for. “We cannot go forward until Florida and Michigan are taken care of, otherwise the eventual nominee will not have the legitimacy that I think will haunt us,? said the senator from New York. ?I can imagine the ads the Republican Party and John McCain will run if we don?t figure out how we ca...
More About: Barack Obama , Give , Gonna

Homeschooling discussion at Rockridge Nation
2008-03-31 20:36:00
Eric Haas and our friends over at the Rockridge Institute have a great Monday Weekly Workgroup feature that I encourage everybody to investigate. Today the subject is homeschooling, and that’s obviously one that’s going to matter to a lot of folks here. Several of us at S&R either are or were educators and it’s a topic our readers have demonstrated a good deal of concern for, as well. Eric frames this week’s conversation nicely: In sum, the key is that this accountability encompasses both personal and societal responsibility. We all have a responsibility to provide every child with a level and quality of education so that they are likely to develop into healthy and competent adults?both society and individual parents. This means that there is two-way accountability. Primarily, there is societal accountability ? has the community, usually through the government, provided the infrastructure and policies needed so that students can get a high quality public ...
More About: Homeschooling , Nation , Discussion

Rogues, scandals and the Church of Baseball: S&R honors Babe Ruth
2008-03-31 19:30:00
Walt Whitman once said, “I see great things in baseball. It’s our game, the American game. It will repair our losses and be a blessing to us.” You could look it up. - Annie Savoy I’ll promise to go easier on drinking and to get to bed earlier, but not for you, fifty thousand dollars, or two-hundred and fifty thousand dollars will I give up women. They’re too much fun. - Babe Ruth Today is Opening Day for America’s Pastime, and to mark the occasion S&R honors our newest Scrogue, George Herman Ruth. The Bambino. The Sultan of Swat. The Babe. What Ruth lacked as a scholar he more than made up for in roguishness, and his appointment to our masthead comes at a time when our game is facing its own set of troubles. The Mitchell Report is a desperately flawed effort, but BALCO, the Federal pursuit of Barry Bonds, admissions of cheating by Andy Pettite and others, the now-discredited denial of cheating by Rafael Palmeiro, the strange case of Mike McGw...
More About: Church , Baseball , Scandals , Alex Rodriguez , Sammy Sosa

Zimbabwe and the future of Mugabe
2008-03-31 17:01:00
Elections in Africa are always precarious affairs. If there is the least sense that, perhaps, the current dictator-for-life will somehow be deprived of power then the citizens will expect change. If, despite this overwhelming demand for change, the election still goes the way of the incumbent then … well, you get events like Kenya. Previously seemingly stable countries erupt into genocide and horror. Then we get Zimbabwe . A place that has been unstable and unpleasant almost since independence. Current president-for-life, Robert Mugabe , is responsible for massacres in Matabeleland and causing untold suffering to his people. He has rigged every election since independence. But he is gradually losing control as the economy falls apart (inflation is now 100,000% - everyone is a billionaire). So, here we stand. The elections took place on the 29th of March. The results were due out this morning. They are not yet out. The opposition parties expect to win. So do the people...
More About: Future , The Future

Book Review: Mr. Adams?s Last Crusade
2008-03-31 16:23:00
by Chris Mackowski Mr. Adams ’s Last Crusade : John Quincy Adams’s Extraordinary Post-Presidential Life in Congress by Joseph Wheelan PublicAffairs Publishing Fewer families in America have had a greater influence on the country than the Adams family of Quincy, Massachusetts. After all, the family spawned two presidents, America?s most influential Founding Mother, a minister to England who helped saved the Union during the Civil War, and a turn-of-the-twentieth-century literary giant. The family patriarch?America?s second president, John?has received a lot of attention in the past few years since the publication of David McCullough?s Pulitzer Prize winning biography. In fact, HBO Films is now airing a seven-part mini-series based on that book. However, John?s son, John Quincy?America?s sixth president?is, in many ways, as fascinating as his father?as Joseph Wheelan?s new biography shows. Mr. Adams?s Last Crusade: John Quincy Adams?s Extraordinary Post-Presidential Life in ...
More About: Book Review , Review , Book

Nota bene!
2008-03-31 13:53:00
Appearing weekly, Nota Bene attempts to provide an overview of the week’s news. Meanwhile, in its appendix, we cull trenchant comments to articles and posts, as well as those heard in person or emailed. In “The Obama Doctrine” at American Prospect, Spencer Ackerman writes: “Obama is offering the most sweeping liberal foreign-policy critique we’ve heard from a serious presidential contender in decades. [He envisions] a doctrine that first ends the politics of fear . . . in favor of ‘dignity promotion,’ to fix the conditions of misery that breed anti-Americanism. ”We want to have [a foreign policy] debate with John McCain,’ a close Obama adviser says.” As for Hillary, reports Frank Newport for Gallup, “A sizable proportion of Democrats would vote for John McCain next November if he is matched against the candidate they do not support for the Democratic nomination. This is particularly true for Hillary Clinton supporters...
More About: Middle East , Iraq , Iran , Barack Obama

Booting the boys off the bus: Coverage costly, newspapers whine
2008-03-30 19:05:00
Timothy Crouse’s book gave us the overused phrase “boys on the bus.” Now, it seems, the boys (and girls) are being yanked off the bus in droves. Fewer and fewer reporters for the nation’s major dailies are riding the campaign bus and flying on the press plane to regularly cover the remnants of the pre-convention presidential race. That bodes poorly for both the survival of the print press and the level of political knowledge of the electorate the print press decreasingly serves. Jacques Steinberg of The New York Times reports that 650 journalists parachuted into Cleveland, Ohio, in February to cover the debate between Sens. Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama. “But,” Mr. Steinberg writes, “early the next morning, as the two candidates set off for engagements across Ohio and Texas, representatives of only two dozen or so news organizations tagged along.” [emphasis added]. Newspaper managers say they have reasons for pulling the boys off t...
More About: Newspapers , Amendment , Boys , Generation X , Coverage

ArtSunday: ??to see and be amazed?: The LIFE and Times of Technology in Ame
2008-03-30 17:06:00
Part one in a series. During its 36-year run, LIFE Magazine traversed a period of technological innovation and peril unsurpassed in the recorded history of humanity. As the first issue was released in November of 1936, a resurgent Germany was constructing the most awesome war machine the world had yet seen, a development that literally threatened the very future of the hemisphere. LIFE?s final issue went to press at the end of 1972, roughly three weeks after NASA?s last manned mission to the moon, Apollo 17, closed the books on a program that proved — theoretically, at least — that humanity was not inevitably bound to this planet. The technological distance between these two moments is mind-boggling. German engineers working on the development of rocketry could perhaps, just barely, envision a trip to the moon, but for most everybody else such an idea remained the stuff of pulp science fiction. Nonetheless, human technology did cover this distance, and it did so in t...
More About: Technology , Life , Times , Amazed , Roman Catholic Church

Universal health care doesn?t mean we?re entitled to all the health care in
2008-03-30 05:54:00
The AFL-CIO and its community arm, Working America, just released their 2008 Health Care for America Survey. Most of the 26,419 online respondents are insured, employed, and college graduates — those, the report explains, most likely to react positively to America’s health care system. But with its pie charts and tables, enhanced by 489 “heart-wrenching stories about the effects of this broken health care system on them and their families,” the report is like a PDF version of Michael Moore’s movie “Sicko.” Of course, it’s to be expected that many of those who took part were prompted by the chance to air their grievances. One of the premises on which Senators Clinton and Obama are running is the extent to which they feel our pain. In fact, Hillary consented to an in-depth interview on her plans for universal health care with Kevin Sack of the New York Times. When taking either of their plans into consideration, one must first disabuse h...
More About: Health Care , Barack Obama , Universal

Whom will next president appoint? To what? Why?
2008-03-29 17:46:00
I still do not know whom I will vote for as president. That’s because what I wish to know, candidates will not tell me ? whom they’ll appoint to office. It is through appointments to judgeships, cabinet posts and other executive branch positions that presidents implement their policies and impress their will upon government and therefore the governed. Alan Pergament of The Buffalo News, in his review of PBS’ “Bush’s War,” said it well: At a time in which America is preparing to elect a new president to deal with Bush?s war, it reminded me of something I learned from my college courses in political science: It doesn?t so much matter who becomes president as it matters whom he or she chooses to put in his or her Cabinet. [emphasis added] Sage advice, but Mr. Pergament didn’t take the notion far enough. The U.S. Constitution , Article II, section 2, clause 2, says: The president shall nominate, and by and with the Advice and Consent of the Sena...
More About: President , Bush administration , House of Representatives

Saturday Video Roundup: be afraid - be very afraid
2008-03-29 17:10:00
Hi folks, and welcome to SVR’s Halloween in March special. Today we’re going to have a look at things that just scare the bejeezus out of us. First up, Tiny Toons. I was never as big a fan of the series as some of my friends, but it did have its moments. The subtle homomegalomaniacism of Pinky & The Brain, for instance, never ceased making me wonder “how the hell did they get that past the censors?” But as the original Warner toons taught us, the best kids’ shows are really aimed at adults, anyway. The scariest - and funniest, probably - of all Tiny Toons characters was Elmira, the adorable little red-haired girl from Hell. And Elmira just loved animals. Loved them to bits. Our favorite Elmira episode is embedded in this episode, which unfortunately is broken into two parts. The good part starts at the 7:28 mark of the first clip and continues in the second. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bdw9iY8dbf E http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6otlhBjwWR E Ne...
More About: Video , Roundup , Saturday , Warner Brothers , Gizmodo

I thought I knew you, Chuck
2008-03-28 22:28:00
by Josh Nelson I generally like Chuck Todd, and tend to agree with his analysis, but this is pretty weak: From NBC’s Chuck Todd As expected, one of the two major Democratic candidates saw a downturn in the latest NBC/WSJ poll, but it’s not the candidate that you think. Hillary Clinton is sporting the lowest personal ratings of the campaign. (emphasis mine) It’s not the candidate that we think? Is he implying that most people thought Obama would “see a downturn” in your poll? Obama has had a great past few weeks. He won the last two primaries, increasing his delegate lead to about 150. He now leads the pledged delegate count by 6% with only 17.4% remaining. He leads the popular vote total by close to one million votes. Hillary, on the other hand, has had a miserable past few weeks. She has been caught in a major lie, cementing the perception in some minds that she can’t be trusted. Judging by the fact that Todd devoted so much of this piece t...
More About: Barack Obama , Thought

Quotabull
2008-03-28 16:13:00
If it was the Marlins, you wouldn?t see people in Florida getting up at 5 a.m. And if it was the Yankees ? well, their fans aren?t real. They just buy the hat. ? Helio Rocha, a restaurant manager who stayed up all night in anticipation of watching the Red Sox’ Major League Baseball opener (played in Toyko) at 5:30 a.m. in famed Boston watering hole Cask ?n? Flagon; March 26. Adam Smith?s invisible hand has a puppeteer: the Federal Reserve. In case there is any confusion about who was pulling the strings behind the scenes of JPMorgan Chase?s acquisition of Bear Stearns, the curtain was lifted Monday. By raising its bid ? with the grudging approval of the Fed ? to $10 a share, from $2, JPMorgan exposed what had long been whispered about but no one dared to say aloud: the Fed is officially in the deal-making business. ? from Andrew Ross Sorkin’s “Dealbook” column in The New York Times; March 25; emphasis added. Largely due to the aging of the baby boomers and ...

Airport security and the fast lane to hell
2008-03-28 15:11:00
I’ve been hearing some ads lately on sports talk for the Fly Clear program, which allows you to speed through airport security. Seductive message, that - those security lines are a bitch, even now that the TSA has apparently concluded that I’m not a terrorist. It would damned sure be nice to be able to scoot through a special line and be on my way, especially when I’m running late. Of course, it’s not an uncomplicated issue, is it? These days convenience comes at a price, and the price here is almost certainly even more loss of privacy. So let’s see - how does this work? Ah, here it is, in Step 2: A Clear attendant will verify two pieces of approved government-issued identification, capture images of your irises and fingerprints, and take your photograph. They want my biometrics. A retinal scan. How very Minority Report. Up until a few months ago I’d never even been fingerprinted, but now the state of Colorado requires that everybody be printed wh...
More About: Security , Airport , Lane , Hell , Fast

Staff Cartoonist Presents: Deep-fried diversity, or? ?Oh, how things have c
2008-03-28 01:14:00
It occurred to me just how often I draw food. With arms and legs. And personal biases. Maybe it just makes it all easier to stomach. Click on thumbnail to enlarge…
More About: Presents , Diversity , Deep , Things , Fried

Poll results: let it ride?
2008-03-27 23:56:00
The results of the latest S&R poll are in. The question was: What should happen to the FL and MI primary delegates? 1: Nothing; the states violated Dem rules (54) 2: Do-over primaries in both states (18) 3: Seat delegates from both (11) 4: Caucuses in both states (6)    Each state should decide for itself (6) 6: Other (4) Our new poll, which asks about your opinions on popular music, is now posted in the column to the right.
More About: Results , Ride , Poll

Emigration 2: Leaving Home
2008-03-27 16:38:00
One makes a life-changing decision for some time in the future and then … And then time goes by. The shock wears off. Denial (or futurism) creeps in. It wasn’t until I was emptying my flat as my cleaning lady took possession of most of my bits and bobs that it really hit home. The life of a cleaning lady There are around 15 million South Africa ns of working age (out of a population of 41 million). Around 8 million have jobs. The rest don’t. For 2 million uneducated, barely literate women there really is only one choice for earning a living. They clean the homes of the people who do have jobs. These are the cleaning ladies, or “Domestic Workers”. Maids, in other words. Sometimes they live in and cook and clean and wash. Sometimes they turn up once a week to do some ironing and basic cleaning. They’re not paid much. The minimum Government-mandated wage is less than $1 per hour. Since most white English-speaking South Africans battle with Af...
More About: Home , Leaving

Condoleezza Rice: Never met a milestone she wasn?t willing to render meanin
2008-03-27 13:12:00
At The Washington Note yesterday, the estimable Steve Clemons wrote “Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice is speaking this morning to Grover Norquist’s weekly powerhouse gathering at Americans for Tax Reform of conservative associations, think tanks, and political operations.” What’s not business as usual about this? It seems a major Republican operative told Clemons that it was an attempt to “secure her future in Republican politics and to position herself as a ‘potential’ VP candidate on the McCain ticket.” Imagine if McCain chose her, they won, he became ill or died, and she was ushered into the White House. Congoleum Condie would not only trump Hillary as the first woman president but Obama as the first black president. Just like when she was named national security advisor and secretary of state, her breakthrough would have absolutely no residual benefits for either her sex or her race.
More About: President , Bush administration

WordsDay: Entropy in literature
2008-03-27 07:51:00
Ozymandias Source: Jack Cohen Art, Shadows exhibit The universe is destined to die. Some physicists believe that this death will occur as the rate of expansion tears every atom apart. Others believe that the Second Law of Thermodynamics means that, trillions of years into the future, all that will be left is the universal background radiation, after all the suns have burned out and all the black holes have even evaporated. But even before the Big Rip or the heat death of the universe, entropy - the degree of disorder in our own systems - is destined to rule our future. We can struggle against it, and we can even beat it back for a time, but ultimately entropy wins and we die. Our works fall apart. And memory fades. Today, we explore entropy in the written word. I met a traveller from an antique land Who said: “Two vast and trunkless legs of stone Stand in the desert. Near them on the sand, Half sunk, a shattered visage lies, whose frown And wrinkled lip and sneer of cold...
More About: Literature , Bible , Arts , Entropy

Tomorrow: VerseDay ?> WordsDay
2008-03-26 20:39:00
Beginning tomorrow, S&R’s weekly literature feature, VerseDay, becomes WordsDay. We love poetry, but we felt like we were ignoring other literary forms, so it just made sense to expand the field. WordsDay will continue to address poetry, but now we’ll also be writing about fiction and creative non-fiction, as well. We hope you enjoy it.
More About: Tomorrow

Supreme Court inserts head up ass over treaty obligations
2008-03-26 17:27:00
Yesterday, the Supreme Court threw our entire diplomatic corps, the State Department, and possibly every treaty the U.S. has ever signed that is still in force, into complete disarray. And in the process, the Court may have inflicted more harm to our national authority and international standing than anything President Bush II has done to date, including invading Iraq. And that harm may turn out to have fantastic reach and duration if Congress and the President don’t immediately step in to rectify the Court’s gross error. The Supreme Court essentially invalidated an international treaty by blocking federal enforcement of the treaty’s obligations. First, a little background. The Vienna Convention on Consular Relations insists that foreign nationals be provided consular access if they’re charged with a crime that could bring the death penalty. And even though Bush has withdrawn the U.S. from this part of the treaty (while still demanding that our citizens b...
More About: Bush administration , Head