Tide Pools

   

I had a sort of meandering day… we are in a heat wave again and it will continue thru tomorrow. 

Because of the last thread, off and on I would think of the blogs, before they were full-on Blahhggs… and, likely suffering from heat exhaustion, they reminded me a little of tide pools. Open to the elements, part of a whole, a bit removed, changeable due to rain or sun or influx of creatures. 

But so alive.

I pulled up a few references and photos, remembered a late afternoon that I had been to the tide pools at Point Loma north of San Diego.  It was a wonderful, revitalising respite after a wretched day going in to and out of Mexico.

As I kept reading… I read that one of the predators of the tide pools are the “leather stars“. 

  

Fitting, no?

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Out in the wild world, beyond any floating confinement… I found this at Electronic Lebanon, a sort of after event snapshot of S Lebanon.

[S]hoes, clothes, curtains, shards of furniture, bits of rugs, closet doors, children’s books, school books, shards of kitchen utensils, all torn to shreds, all smashed, all dusty, all mixed in an ugly salad of dust, shattered cement, broken glass, and bent steel. But the dust formed the largest percentage of the mix. I try to imagine the power that made dust out of life.

Meanwhile, to cover the horrors of the crime in Lebanon, the western press has been redefining the dictionary. Terrorism is the defense of one’s own community and the preservation of its life and culture. Democracy is the racism, apartheid, and murderousness of Zionism, the destruction of nations, the assassination of leaders, and the theft of resources. Self-defense is the hostile killing of civilians on neighboring lands, and the bombardment and destruction of that neighbor’s land. Freedom is the kidnapping of others, and their torture and imprisonment. Piety is Jewish and Christian blindness to Islam. Fascism is the moral practice of Muslims in the Arab world.

[I think that sums it up very well – MCat]

Many are confused here and everywhere. Hizballah keeps its head and its commitment, thus its influence with those who have no influence grows.  [snip]

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I am just catching Robin Wright on Charlie Rose… and she works hard to get this in at the end… that there is a misperception about, this idea that if America strikes at Iran it will be a limited strike at the hardened sites.  Charlie is very hot for regime change (Iraq is going so well?  Taliban under control?  Osama under control, getting a US tax payer provided “three hots and a cot”?) but she does not agree that it will necessarily go that far.  But surely broader than limited aerial strikes…

I say we are for WAR! and, as gas prices come down… the American people return to sleep.  Or, passively engage in nothing farther afield than aggressively declining to love thy neighbor as thyself.  Nor even loving one’s fellow blogger….

   

I do believe this stunningly self serving comment deserves some light and air – not the only one in that particular thread, btw:

72

The contempt you have for the real issues people of color are trying to bring to the forefront in this is crystal clear.  

The issue is whether we’re going to help each other or hold each other back, and throwing messy public temper tantrums over imagined sleights is holding us all back, and has to stop. I treated the African American commenters exactly the same way I’d treat anyone else behaving badly.

Maha actually called two african-americans commenters racist.

Anyone who prejudges and hates another because of race is a racist. Those two clearly qualified.

Comment by maha — September 21, 2006 @ 5:29 am

Rather a whiff of “sage on the stage” here… The blog as false classroom? And a wooden ruler at the ready to rap the knuckles o f those who “throw messy public tantrums over imagined sleights…” and are so clearly “holding us all back”.

As I said, stunning.

Day Trip to Harlem and playing pattycake with Big Whitey (a friend calls Bill that) failed.  Really failed:

I say that if the people at that table are your “oppressors,” your life is gravy. Everybody should have such problems.

When White progressives need to wonder why progressive people of color won’t join their organizations, eagerly attend their events, or even talk to them? Remember this comment. The contempt you have for the real issues people of color are trying to bring to the forefront in this is crystal clear.

Comment by Delux — September 20, 2006 @ 7:53 pm

…and

Wow.

Maha actually called two african-americans commenters racist.

That is the kind of attack I would expect to hear from a radio or television wingnut against a person of color who dared to question the attitudes of many white people.

I am white btw — so what next, accusations of self-hatred?

In all seriousness, you are way behind the 8-ball here. I recomend you read something, anything by Arnold Mindell. Like “Sitting in the Fire.”

Comment by not your standard poodle — September 20, 2006 @ 7:58 pm  

 Further, this is of interest… 😉  For some reason, Bill and his reaction to being asked to sign a baseball comes to mind. 

Chris Nolan of Spot-On (who is a credentialed reporter, having worked in DC in business and politcal reporting and now reports on Silicon Valley issues and people) who has had several trenchant articles on Kos and Dkos issues over the past couple of years, early on identified this coming issue, that Kos bleated (my words) he was “activsit” or “just a blogger, man” but he really wanted to BE media.

A great deal of virtual ink was spilt last week in long discussions about Markos Moulitsas – known to most folks as DailyKos – and his insistence that he’s not a journalist, he’s an activist.

Since he’s a partisan Left-wing blogger – not a journalist or, God forbid, a mainstream media representative – Kos argues that he’s doesn’t have to worry about some of the conflict-of-interest restraints that tie down others who style themselves as reporters and writers.

So he can accept payment from candidates. Or have clients who are advertisers and advertisers who are clients who benefit from his fundraising. It’s a convincing argument – up to a point. A brief and unstable point.

Seeing Kos – he introduces himself with the simple “I’m Markos” — Saturday at the Western Caucus of the Democratic National Committee brought the back the questions raised last week with full force. Kos, the partisan blogger, was wearing a green card, a press credential. Sitting with a group of Simon Rosenberg supporters, Kos wasn’t wearing the yellow cards hanging around staffers’ necks or the necks of those calling themselves “observers” – folks attending for some particular purpose or cause. Nah. He was wearing a press card.  [snip]

I know blahhggers (The Harlem 20?) entertain themselves – and unpleasantly insist to the rest of us – with the notion that none of this matters… but it is not going away.

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A snip from Tuesday’s Democracy NOW! with Michael Ratner, president of the Center for Constitutional Rights.

MICHAEL RATNER:  … It’s really, Amy, the fundamental right that protects us against just arbitrary arrest and disappearance. It’s absolutely crucial. And so far, unfortunately —

I just want to emphasize this — both the administration bill and the McCain bill abolish the writ of habeas corpus.

And there should be a massive, massive public campaign about that. People can go to the Center’s website and get information about that and get to their senators and say, “Don’t abolish the writ.” This is the protection that will protect the Maher Arars in the world, that protect our Guantanamo detainees and protect people who are really disappeared all over the world.

AMY GOODMAN: No Democrats have stood up to defend habeas corpus?

MICHAEL RATNER: Oh, no. There are some. It’s happening. I mean, it’s just not in the public dialogue or discourse right now.

But certainly within the Senate, there are Democrats who are extremely, extremely concerned by the abolishment of the writ of habeas corpus. The problem is, right now, of course, in an election year, Democrats feel they don’t want to necessarily oppose the administration on that issue.

They are happy to see the Republicans and the Democrats fight about, you know, the use of torture, and they’re not really raising this issue. But let me just say, abolishment of the writ, those who abolish it will really go down in infamy as really taking away the fundamental constitutional right, a right that goes back to 1215. [snip]

Hell.  Can’t they even say this:  Lincoln, that Republican they so want y’all to think they are like, Lincoln GAVE US HABEAS CORPUS BACK... after suspending it during war [and from what I have read he should not have, did not have to suspend it…].

But you know, each of the reprehensible judges that they declined to use filibuster over, spring 2005, could have been appropriately demagogued (hey I am not above that… remember how much The Clinton BLahgers think we should ignore to Save! The! Nation!, lol…) with a single line:

Here is one … Owens… Just label her “Rove’s judge”.   Even more so:  “Enron’s judge”.

Rodgers Brown…  more fun, “does not believe in child labor laws”.  Just slam that home, every single appearance about the judge nominations…

Instead we get the Gang of 14.

Democrats don’t fight.  And the Republicans wake up every morning knowing that…

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UPDATE, 11:50 am Thursday

– Blahg Smog –

Noticed this at Schechter’s News Dissector.  I am guessing it is drawn from a personal email between Nyhan and Schechter, there is no link provided.

NON PARTISANS NEED NOT APPLY

Brendan Nyhan quits American Prospect after being told to aim at conservatives. He writes in part:

Everybody Has One: Bloggers and the Death of Opinion Journalism by Brendan Nyhan

Not that long ago, many people thought the Internet would break down partisan boundaries and improve the quality of political debate in this country — a prediction that sounds as silly today as previous hype about the educational potential of television and radio.

Today, online politics has come to be dominated by two warring camps, just like offline politics. And while many critics complain about the polarization of the blogosphere and its effect on elections, how blogs will affect the economics of opinion journalism is less well understood. In particular, partisan blogs have become so popular that they are threatening the business model — and the independence — of center-left opinion magazines, which may be forced to toe the party line to ensure their survival.

I learned this lesson the hard way after I signed on as a contributor to The American Prospect’s media criticism blog a few weeks ago. It seemed like a bit of an awkward fit — the Prospect is a liberal magazine, and I had previously co-founded Spinsanity, a non-partisan watchdog of online spin — but I assumed they knew who they were hiring. I was wrong.”‘

I am guessing this may have been the entry that triggered “a little talk”. 

 Now, if one thinks about it… Nyhan’s angle would have been the one to discuss, possibly, the Harlem Day Trippers, issues raised, as well as the blog commentary to follow — and a messy non progressive swamp it is, has been (on to YKos 07!)… blinded as the Blahgers are by the reflection of the sun off their white skin… and find themselves down to offering the ORGANISER as indicative that a Blogger of Color was there. 

Sorry, scrambling around to call Daou other than present at the luncheon as a facilitator for Hillary… that is not a ‘no harm no foul’ reach.

But it was a desperate and outta gas scramble… .

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UPDATE, 2:00 pm

– More Blahg Smog – Harlem Day Trippers –

Not sure if this – from today – is the first entry at Blogometer on the recent diversity issues but in this one they give Bowers the dance floor, which I would call a mistake.  His pissy, whiney take, rhetorically hiding out in a nasty redoubt somehwere, his take thru out this makes him not worthy of the dance floor alone…  He is part of the problem.

THOUGHT OF THE DAY: Don’t Blog About Affirmative Action Angry Now

Chris Bowers at MyDD sees two ways solve the “diversity problem of the Clinton blogger lunch.” Bowers first articulates a “type of blogger affirmative action in order to make sure that a more diverse range of people had the privilege of having lunch with President Clinton.” The second view Chris forwards “is not who was invited, but the problem is that the leadership of the progressive blogosphere is itself not very diverse.” Bowers then writes: “As someone who has spent a long time studying the demographics of the netroots and as someone who rather immodestly considers himself a leader in the blogosphere, I side quite strongly with the second view. … The solution has to be … to increase diversity within the leadership of the progressive blogosphere”

Bowers then offers six things progressive bloggers can do to increase diversity: [snip]

AND… Blogometer fills in on the Nyhan / American Prospect / Etc. recent events… VERY interesting – and I am taking liberties and posting the entire Blogometer entry… [emphasis is mine]:

BLOGGERS VS. BLOGGERS: The American Politburo

Andrew Sullivan excerpts Brendan Nyhan‘s 9/20 contribution to Time‘s Political Bite

Last Wednesday, controversy broke out when I slammed two liberal blogs for using an airline employee’s suicide after 9/11 to take a cheap shot at President Bush. My post, which initially contained a minor factual error, prompted one of the bloggers, Atrios (aka Duncan Black), to label me the “wanker of the day” and to call on TAP editors to “rethink things a bit.” Hundreds of Atrios readers filled the Prospect’s comment boards with vitriol. In an email Friday morning, Sam Rosenfeld, the magazine’s online editor, asked that I focus my blogging on conservative targets. … I refused and terminated the relationship.

Why was I asked to slant my work to the liberal party line? In an email statement, TAP editor Michael Tomasky said that “[t]he Prospect is hardly averse to criticizing liberal verities” and that the magazine had no problem with my initial posts criticizing liberals, but “there were a few posts in succession that struck us as either inaccurate or an effort to draw equivalencies where none existed. The Prospect has always opposed a ‘pox on both houses’ posture, and that’s what we came to believe you were doing.”

Sullivan comments:

“Sorry, Michael, but that’s pathetic. The blog partisanship on the right is often depressing – and boy would I have been fired long ago if I had ever been blogging on a “conservative” site. But the politburo on the left is no better. And to think we once believed the blogosphere could liberate independent thought. Yeah, right.”

 [and believe me, I am no Sully fan… I feel I have watched him equivocate, deflate, dissemble and whatever else for 16, 17 years now… MCat]

Over at his own blog, Nyhan has a thorough rundown of other blogger reaction to the episode, including a link to Hit and Run‘s Matt Welch’s very similar experience with TAP.

[close of Blogometer post] 

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UPDATE, 3:30

– Blahg Thugs and Dem party Thugs –

gong posted to threads the latest version of SYFPH…

 It is a Del Dem (whip of the blahg and all around classic ‘never grew up from being a parochial school boy’, and now thinks the sun sets and rises with Dem party thug attys… oh yes, IMO) … anyway, it is a Del Dem diary and I extracted a classic Del Dem comment.  Brevity is best when the sloberation on offer is old.  And very slimey:

 You don’t have to like it. (14+ / 0-)

Recommended by:

BTP, Kevin in Long Beach, zenbowl, SallyCat, spartan68, Miss Blue, MadEye, gmb, BWasikIUgrad, Sopiane, Rick Oliver, trashablanca, dennisl, greenearth

But you don’t have to come here and complain about it.

If all you can do to help us win is vote, fine.  But do nothing us.  I do not want to hear any bitching about Democrats on a Democratic site like Daily Kos this close to an election.

Do you understand?

If you don’t, get out.

My Photoblog, Milhouse’s Glasses

by Delaware Dem on Thu Sep 21, 2006 at 12:50:45 PM PDT

[ Parent ]

Good luck to them all.

more to come

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