@CP, speaking of shit state of Brit. media, do you or anyone else know what happened to the Guardian? I know that they moved previous head of (Scott?) trust over to head Wimbeldon, I assumed to clear the way for someone more congenial. Remember when you read it to get the best take on America?? So, they had to quickly recall Ed V. (can’t spell his name, but sure y’all remember him – good friend of Sontag’s.) because he wasn’t sufficiently one dimensional, so impossible to control. Where is he now & what the hell is going on. Such a loss.
What’s up w/French media? Is it the same Predators asslickers that Anglo press is?

Posted by: jj | Jun 14 2007 3:33 utc | 4

latest PINR analysis on somalia
Somalia Continues its Political Collapse

Developments in Somalia through mid-June confirm PINR’s basic forecast that the country will remain in a devolutionary political cycle, which has only become more pronounced.
…
For the moment, the T.F.G. and the nascent opposition are polarized on the issue of the Ethiopian occupation. The opposition is united by its resistance to the occupation and the T.F.G. depends on it for survival. At some point the occupation will end — with or without sufficient peacekeepers to replace it — and Somalia will either sink back into chronic statelessness or serious power-sharing discussions will begin. The former eventuality — devolution — remains by far the most likely outcome.

Posted by: b real | Jun 14 2007 3:52 utc | 6

Kurds have blocked a vote in Parliament on a new oil law.
Am I the only one who wonders if Turkey massing troops on the border was a combined Turk-xUS operation to threaten invasion unless Kurds okayed theft of Iraqi oil by Western Oil Cos., I mean signed the “oil law”? Yes, I know there are other Very Substantive issues, but the timing is damn peculiar you have to admit.

Posted by: jj | Jun 14 2007 4:31 utc | 8

Speaking further of the Brit media being in the toilet…Tony Blair is utterly hysterical that internet making it tough for elites to manipulate the masses in any way they may wish, hence he’s calling for it to be turned to shit as well:
In a farewell lecture on public life, he said that much of the British media behaved like a “feral beast, just tearing people and reputations to bits”.
…
With newspapers increasingly moving online, he said the regulatory systems for papers and TV needed to be revised. Currently they are monitored by separate watchdogs.
“As the technology blurs the distinction between papers and television, it becomes increasingly irrational to have different systems of accountability based on technology that no longer can be differentiated in the old way,” Mr Blair said.
…
Mr Blair insisted that there was still a genuine desire for impartial news coverage among the public.
“At present, we are all being dragged down by the way media and public life interact,” Mr Blair said. “I do believe this relationship between public life and media is now damaged in a manner that requires repair.
“The damage saps the country’s confidence and self-belief; it undermines its assessment of itself, its institutions; and above all, it reduces our capacity to take the right decisions, in the right spirit for our future.” Blair Demands Internet Censorship
Tony, ain’t it a bitch when you have yr. self-image, much less your actions, affected by the damn sheep, the wretched refuse who should have no ability to speak to such enlightened beings as yourself, other than to kiss yr. shoes…

Posted by: jj | Jun 14 2007 5:59 utc | 10

One of the first pieces I wrote here was about Jack Idema who ran a private prison in Afghanistan.
Later he was jailed. Now he has been set free: American Held in Torture Case Leaves Prison in Afghanistan

The American, Jack Idema, a former Green Beret, was pardoned by President Hamid Karzai in late March as part of a general amnesty. Rahim Ahmadzai, Mr. Idema’s Afghan lawyer, said Mr. Idema left the prison outside Kabul on June 2 and flew out of Afghanistan. He did not know Mr. Idema’s destination.
Shamir, the warden of Policharki prison, where Mr. Idema was held, said Mr. Idema had wanted to stay in Afghanistan but could not for legal reasons. Mr. Shamir, who like many Afghans goes by one name, said he transported Mr. Idema and his dog to the Kabul airport for the flight out.

Posted by: b | Jun 14 2007 6:03 utc | 12

Looks like Hamas just handed the bush administration another cartoon bomb with a lit fuse, news tonight said Fatah now only holds a tiny piece of Gaza, and Hamas could literally rub them out, if they wanted to. Pretty soon Air Force One won’t be allowed to land anywhere in the ME, including Israel. One Wiley E Coyote Administration we got here.

Posted by: anna missed | Jun 14 2007 6:13 utc | 14

short history of american empire

Posted by: anna missed | Jun 14 2007 7:32 utc | 16

Stenographer David Ignatius has again one of his administration loving op-eds today: A Sectarian Spy Duel In Baghdad

Iraq’s internal conflict is on the verge of claiming a new victim — the country’s fledging intelligence service. Pressure to abolish the spy agency is coming from pro-Iranian Shiite politicians who have created a rival organization.
…
Instead of the one good intelligence service it needs, Iraq today has two — one pro-Iranian, the other anti-Iranian. That’s a measure of where the country is: caught between feuding sects and feuding neighbors, with a superpower ally that can’t seem to help its friends or stop its enemies.

Not in one word does he mention that the “anti-Iranian” spy service is payed by U.S. and under complete U.S. control. It is not in any way an Iraqi spy service.
Knight Ridder reported in 2005:
Amidst Doubts, CIA Hangs on to Control of Iraqi Intelligence Service

The CIA has so far refused to hand over control of Iraq’s intelligence service to the newly elected Iraqi government in a turf war that exposes serious doubts the Bush administration has over the ability of Iraqi leaders to fight the insurgency and worries about the new government’s close ties to Iran. The director of Iraq’s secret police, a general who took part in a failed coup attempt against Saddam Hussein, was handpicked and funded by the U.S. government, and he still reports directly to the CIA, Iraqi politicians and intelligence officials in Baghdad said last week. Immediately after the elections in January, several Iraqi officials said, U.S. forces stashed the sensitive national intelligence archives of the past year inside American headquarters in Baghdad in order to keep them off-limits to the new government.

Posted by: b | Jun 14 2007 7:56 utc | 18

Radio corr. in Gaza on France Culture this morning says Hamas controls all of Gaza.

Posted by: Noirette | Jun 14 2007 8:17 utc | 20

For those that missed it yesterday. Yet another bushie giving Congress the middle didget.
Ex-Justice Dept. lawyer can’t recall his role in controversial policies(Von Spakovsky)

WASHINGTON – Another former Justice Department lawyer went before Congress on Wednesday with few answers for his Democratic interrogators and a spotty memory.
Hans von Spakovsky, who’s seeking a full six-year term on the Federal Election Commission, deflected questions about whether he undermined voting rights laws, saying, “I was not the decision maker in the front office of the Civil Rights Division.”
Time and again during his confirmation hearing, he cited either the attorney-client privilege or a cloudy memory for his purported role in restricting minorities’ voting rights.
Von Spakovsky couldn’t remember blocking an investigation into complaints that a Minnesota Republican official was discriminating against Native American voters before the 2004 election.
Under oath, he also said he didn’t recall seeing data from the state of Georgia that would have undercut a push by senior officials within the Civil Rights Division to approve the state’s tough new law requiring photo IDs of all voters. The data showed that 300,000 Georgia voters lacked driver’s licenses. A federal judge later threw out the law as unconstitutional.

At the same time, we had GSA chief of the government’s procurement agency, Lurita (Berlin Wall*) Doan back in front of Waxman’s House Committee on Oversight.
Doan vs Waxman on her memory loss
Also see,
Waxman To Doan: Step Down.
*For those whom weren’t able to watch today, she had in her opening statement a monologue about her being one of the people whom helped bring down the ‘Berlin Wall’. It was a hoot!

Posted by: Uncle $cam | Jun 14 2007 9:59 utc | 22

A whale was just killed in Alaska.
It had a harpoon dart in its shoulder that was fired sometime in 1890.
How much do we really know about this planet?

Posted by: hopping madbunny | Jun 14 2007 10:38 utc | 24

The Situation in Gaza
Here are a few readings on the Gaza situation from today’s press.
Electronic Intifada: Gaza Battle Kills 21, Injures 150
Report on Recent Developments

Fatah said on Tuesday that it may abandon the unity government, which could let Abbas rule by decree, despite his limited authority in Gaza.
Analysts say a Fatah break with Hamas could divide the West Bank and Gaza Strip, the two territories Palestinians want for their state.

Financial Times: Jihadistan? (Longish news piece with some good details)
Middle East Times

Amid warnings that the deadly showdown could lead to an all-out Palestinian civil war, the official said in the West Bank town of Ramallah: “The Palestinian presidency will make a conclusive announcement Thursday concerning the partnership with Hamas in the unity government.”

News Report from Gaza
Report: Abbas Orders Guard to Strike Back [at Hamas]
And here are some background context pieces:
Gaza’s Psychiatrist, Dr Sarraj: Psychosocial Causes for Palestinian Factional War

Jewish Forward: Top Bush Adviser Says Rice’s Push For Mideast Peace Is ‘Just Process’ (Or how U.S. Policy has Deliberately Sown the Seeds for Violence)

Washington – As Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice presses Israelis and Palestinians to meet a new set of policy benchmarks, the White House is reassuring Jewish groups and conservatives that the president has no plans to pressure Jerusalem.
Deputy National Security Advisor Elliott Abrams told a group of Jewish communal leaders last week that the president would ensure that the process does not lead to Israel being pushed into an agreement with which it is uncomfortable.
Also last week, at a regular gathering of Jewish Republicans, sources said, Abrams described President Bush as an “emergency brake” who would prevent Israel from being pressed into a deal; during the breakfast gathering, the White House official also said that a lot of what is done during Rice’s frequent trips to the region is “just process” — steps needed in order to keep the Europeans and moderate Arab countries “on the team” and to make sure they feel that the United States is promoting peace in the Middle East.

Livelihoods of Gaza Fisherman (and Gaza’s Access to Protein) in Jeopardy Due to Israeli Restrictions

Posted by: Bea | Jun 14 2007 11:51 utc | 26

Ahh, sorry esme @, I didn’t see your comment till a short while ago, however, as I read it Sibel Edmonds has had the goods on the Riggs bank/Bandar/the elder Bush as well as Jr. Bush and CIA carlyle group for a while. Edmond knows that the government has been infiltrated to the extent that it all hides behind business ventures. This is just another example of what Sibel Edmonds is being gagged for. You have to be in deep denial at this point to not realize that there are high level criminal networks involving officials in the U.S., U.K., Saudia Arabia, Turkey, Israel, Pakistan, UAE, etc. These criminals are involved in all sorts of business schemes. Some are saying, the reason America has not yet turned completely fascist is because business does not need to form an alliance with political power to maintain their wealth and privilege — because, now, they are that political power. For example, Robert Gates’ and his business ties raised concerns recently in the LAT.

Defense nominee’s business ties raise concerns
Robert M. Gates’ affiliations have some watchdogs worried about a revolving door between the private sector and government.
By Walter F. Roche Jr., Times Staff Writer December 2, 2006

This is one specific one. It is organized crime, but instead of involving a casino or a brothel or a shipping company, it involves governments, defense contractors, (private and no so private) intelligence agencies, etc.
Lukery at Wot Is It Good 4 blog is the man to go to on these things. However, he is in the process of moving to a new site here. I ran your question by him and he promises to indeed have something on it very soon.

Posted by: Uncle $cam | Jun 14 2007 12:13 utc | 28

Another Guardian piece on the de Soto Report:
UN Was Pummeled Into Submission

American support for Israel has hindered international efforts to broker a peace deal in the Middle East, according to a hard-hitting confidential report from the outgoing UN Middle East envoy.
Alvaro de Soto, who stepped down last month after 25 years at the UN, has exposed the American pressure that he argues has damaged the impartiality of the UN’s peace making efforts.
In Mr de Soto’s “End of Mission Report”, which the Guardian has obtained, he delivers a devastating criticism of both Israelis and Palestinians, as well as the international community.
The Quartet of Middle East negotiators – the UN, the US, the EU and Russia – has often failed to hold Israel to its obligations under the Road Map, the current framework for peace talks, he argues.
Over the past two years, the Quartet has gradually lost its impartiality. “The fact is that even-handedness has been pummelled into submission in an unprecedented way since the beginning of 2007,” he writes.
He blames overwhelming influence exerted by the US and an “ensuing tendency toward self-censorship” within the UN when it comes to criticism of Israel.
“At almost every juncture a premium is put on good relations with the US and improving the UN’s relationship with Israel. I have no problem with either goal but I do have a problem with self-delusion,” he writes. “Forgetting our ability to influence the Palestinian scene in the hope that it keeps open doors to Israel is to trade our Ace for a Joker.”
Mr de Soto reveals that after Hamas won elections last year it wanted to form a broad coalition government with its more moderate rivals, including Fatah, run by the Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas. But the US discouraged other Palestinian politicians from joining. “We were told that the US was against any ‘blurring’ of the line dividing Hamas from those Palestinian political forces committed to the two-state solution,” Mr de Soto writes. It was a year before a coalition government was finally formed.
The US also supported the Israeli decision to freeze Palestinian tax revenues. “The Quartet has been prevented from pronouncing on this because the US, as its representatives have intimated to us, does not wish Israel to transfer these funds to the PA [Palestinian Authority],” he writes. “There is a seeming reflex, in any given situation where the UN is to take a position, to ask first how Israel or Washington will react rather than what is the right position to take.”
Mr de Soto opposed the international boycott placed on the Palestinian government after Hamas won elections last year. He argued that it was wrong to use pressure and isolation alone, and proposed retaining dialogue with Hamas. He wanted tougher criticism of Israel as well, but came up against a “heavy barrage” from US officials.
The effect of the boycott was to seriously damage the Palestinian economy and promote radicalism. It also lifted pressure from Israel. “With all focus on the failings of Hamas, the Israeli settlement enterprise and barrier construction has continued unabated,” he writes.
The US, he argues, was clearly pushing for a confrontation between Fatah and Hamas but Washington misjudged Mr Abbas, who he argues had wanted to co-opt rather than defeat Hamas. Fighting between Fatah and Hamas has intensified in recent months. He quotes an unnamed US official as saying earlier this year: “I like this violence … It means that other Palestinians are resisting Hamas.” Since December at least 600 Palestinians have been killed in factional battles.
The report criticises the Palestinians for their violence, and Israel for extending its settlements and barrier in the West Bank. But he also argues that Israeli policies have encouraged continued Palestinian militancy. “I wonder if the Israeli authorities realise that, season after season, they are reaping what they sow, and are systematically pushing along the violence/repression cycle to the point where it is self-propelling,” he writes.
Mr de Soto speaks of his frustration in the job, not least that he was refused permission to meet the Hamas and Syrian governments in Damascus. “At best I have been the UN special coordinator for the Middle East peace process in name only, and since the election of Hamas, I have been the secretary-general’s personal representative to the Palestinian Authority for about 10 minutes in two phone calls and one handshake,” he writes.
He stepped down in May at the end of his two-year contract and left the UN. The “tipping-point” for his departure came after the new UN secretary general Ban Ki-moon said future meetings with a Palestinian prime minister would depend on the actions of his government.
Michele Montas, spokesperson for Mr Ban, said: “It is deeply regrettable that this report has been leaked. The whole point of an end-of-mission report is for our envoys and special representatives to be as candid as possible … the views in the report should not be considered official UN policy.”

Pretty amazing.

Posted by: Bea | Jun 14 2007 12:36 utc | 30

CP thx for the links. Rowan that is bad news.
——
Jj @ 4: the mainstream French Press has gone wonky. (Of course Sarkozy’s best friends own the media.) However the plurality of the Press is alive and well, there are all kinds of different, alternative, etc. papers and they are read. The TV is the pits – well it always was. CNN Europe is far far better than TF1, etc. On the TV, though, the legitimacy of the news or political discourse is aided by the fair to excellent programs on matters historical, foreign, social, etc. and even scientific or investigative (this last on occasion.) So you have an utterly weird two-tier system: rabid babblings in Nov Lang presented in a smooth authority envelope; followed by in-depth coverage of a usually narrow-ish, but important, topic that is really quite acceptable. French excellence is proudly presented – after 21.00 hours.
I find it hard to judge in what measure the msm saw to it that Sarko was elected. The French media system is probably the fairest in the world for a pres. election and even the press maintains its ethic for that. However it is impossible to quash ‘slant’, the organisation of discourse, paragraphing, background pictures, camera angles, etc. (These were set in the most egalitarian way for the Sego-Sarko pre election debate but cannot be controlled all the time.) The media do follow their audience, and the groundswell for Sarko was quite strong.
Some in the msm have made the point that Sego had a worse time of it as a woman – in the usual way. It is hard to judge, I’m personally not convinced, it certainly was not obvious; no, the matter is mainly political – Sarko made populist right wing ideology respectable, and so he won (to make it short, by attracting Le Pen voters and others from the ‘right’ in a follow-the-leader way) and Sego’s looser position was known from the start.

Posted by: Noirette | Jun 14 2007 12:50 utc | 32

Military expenditure has risen 37% in the last ten years.
excerpted from SIPRI – Stockholm International Peace Research Institute.
link
for perspective, this one graph (many others available)
link

Posted by: Noirette | Jun 14 2007 13:33 utc | 34

Missing Links has more on the situation in Gaza.

Fatah leaders have fled to safety in Cairo, and there isn’t any motivation for their people to continue defending positions that are now without significance. The urgent question now is what will Hamas do once it has full control and has purged all of its enemies, and what will the million and a half Gazans do?

Posted by: Bea | Jun 14 2007 15:36 utc | 36

jj@#19
thanks for that…I’ll be pushing that around. As best I can figure, God operates a protection racket somewhat similar to the mob. (Worship me or burn forever in everlasting torment – but don’t let me influence you, you have free will so you can pick which one you want). Geez.
Until now all human history has been
only a perpetual and bloody immolation of millions of poor
human beings in honour of some pitiless abstraction — God,
country, power of state, national honour, historical rights,
judicial rights, political liberty, public welfare. –
Mikhail Bakunin, God and the State, p. 59
“Religious fundamentalists alone are a huge popular grouping in the United States, which resembles pre-industrial societies in that regard. This is a culture in which three-fourths of the population believe in religious miracles, half believe in the devil, 83 percent believe that the Bible is the ‘actual’ or the inspired word of God, 39 percent believe in the Biblical prediction of Armageddon and ‘accept it with a certain fatalism,’ a mere 9 percent accept Darwinian evolution while 44 percent believe that ‘God created man pretty much in his present form at one time within the last 10,000 years,’ and so on. The ‘God and Country rally’ that opened the national Republican convention is one remarkable illustration, which aroused no little amazement in conservative circles in Europe.”
-Noam Chomsky

Posted by: Uncle $cam | Jun 14 2007 16:00 utc | 38

Jesus fucking Christ…more on Hans Von Spakovsky
Every single day these Bush operatives pull some kind of nefarious shit, and EVERY SINGLE DAY the goddamned dem majority does nothing, but shout and hold toothless hearings and send stern letters. It’s beyond bizarre. It has to be something else. As
this excellent post shows, they’re not pussies, they are complicit. And I strongly suspect, Complicit VIA BLACKMAIL? There is no other way to explain it. Blackmail via Cheney’s NSA DARPRA TIA toys.

Posted by: Uncle $cam | Jun 14 2007 18:01 utc | 40

Are our EuroBarFlies aware that talks for the hostile takeover of yr. land by the Predators are ongoing? But they’re hoping to avoid any popular scrutiny or input by not calling Predator Rules a Constitution. Link And, of course, once you have a country w/a “Constitution”, even if it just says the Predators are God, the masses are sheep, you get to have a military. Stay tuned on that. So helpful, actually since America running short of fresh bodies. You think your policy will be independent? Maybe, but consider Georgie Soros has ended his exile & been sent back to form a Euro-CFR. And the recent French elections were just as corrupt as Americans this yr. so there’s at least reason for concern.

Posted by: jj | Jun 14 2007 18:42 utc | 42

Uncle @40
One has assumed so. Egregious failure of Dem Congress to take any meaningful action becomes just one more instance reinforcing that overwhelming suspicion.
Blackmail has always been an aspect of governing, but this gang has raised it to a whole new order of comprehensive control. Nowhere, it seems, is the panopticon more omnipresent, more unrelenting than surveying the legislators and the halls and shadows of government.
Wasn’t that the most revealing aspect of the investigation into the Florida congressman who preyed upon congressional pages? The Congressman had wanted to leave office, but Rove “persuaded” him to run again in 2004 because 1) Repubs needed every seat they could win; and 2) he was popular in his home district and would win re-election.
The investigation made it clear that most of the Republican leaderhship had been aware of the Congressman’s little peccadillo for some time. Thus, 3) Rove could count on on the Congressman’s vote in any close legislative roll calls.
Dems may not vote w/ WH. But they certainly are not mounting an effective opposition. Senate has some excuses – majority only maintained via quisling Lieberman, and cloture rules. But why would the House hold back?

Posted by: small coke | Jun 14 2007 19:25 utc | 44

Uncle – re not turning over emails. Listen to this SUPERB discussion by Prof. Francis Boyle that I just this moment finished listening to & one has to consider they’re not worrying about it ‘cuz they have other plans for us. (thanks to Marc Parent for posting it today.)

Posted by: jj | Jun 14 2007 20:45 utc | 46

Just turned on BBC News 24 and there they were interviewing Mark Negev, the Israeli Gvt propaganda officer. Last I saw of him Israel were bombing Lebanon. Expect Israeli “targeted” bombing raids of Hamas locations in Gaza over the weekend.

Posted by: Cloned Poster | Jun 14 2007 21:20 utc | 48

Mobile Phone Salesman knocks one out of the park with music talent competition.

Posted by: Cloned Poster | Jun 14 2007 22:20 utc | 50

Yes CP.

Posted by: beq | Jun 14 2007 23:09 utc | 52

In a country where no less than 70 civilians are killed on any given day, and where over a million have fled their homes to live in makeshift camps, the Iraqi parliament has taken the extraordinary step of forming a committee to question what they term “exaggerated reports” by international humanitarian organisations about the situation in Iraq.
(snip)
The committee on civil society organisations intends to question representatives of these international organisations about the statistics they release. “Reports from the Human Rights Commission, the UNHCR and the ICRC have made serious allegations concerning the deteriorating health and social conditions of large numbers of orphans and widows. These reports and figures do not reflect reality, and some are exaggerated,” Al-Talabani remarked.
(snip)
In another development in the city (Kirkuk), a cleric lashed out at a tourist company, allegedly run by occupation forces, which claimed to be able to obtain asylum on humanitarian grounds in the US for its clients. A woman speaking on condition of anonymity said she went to the office and discovered during the interview that her two sons would be obliged to undergo military training and then be sent to Afghanistan or Iraq. So she left without registering. A university student recounted a similar story, saying that he too had refused to register.

Posted by: Alamet | Jun 15 2007 0:08 utc | 54

Yes G’iap my sentiments exactly, but we are what we live in. I detest the smug bastards that sit on that “smug jury” but there is talent out there, that is the only hope for our species.

Posted by: Cloned Poster | Jun 15 2007 0:17 utc | 56

thanks CP. what a greta talent he has, r’giap, i am always amazed by extraordinary talent. most of us have something extra that adds to our ordinariness. i like watching talent shows especially when it’s audience driven. here is my favorite all time american idol contestant, fantasia. when she was on i used to try to watch it every week just to hear her. i knew the first time i heard her she would win.

Posted by: annie | Jun 15 2007 1:33 utc | 58

Thanks CP and Annie. Beautiful.
Agreed about the dominant culture. It is a culture of hierarchy where we are expected to be surprised that “ordinary” non-famous people are actually good at stuff. Same as any feudalistic society.

Posted by: a swedish kind of death | Jun 15 2007 2:43 utc | 60

the singer obviously has a powerful voice, though i didn’t care for the manipulative production. (how could one help but root — and perhaps shed a tear — for the “lump of coal”?). but then that’s what the tv dreamworld is all about & the guy did get to live out part of his.
Walter Rodney lives! People’s power – no dictator!

Wazir Mohammed reflects on Walter Rodney’s continuing relevance in Guyana and the Caribbean, 27 years after his assassination in Guyana on June 13, 1980.
…
Walter Rodney’s way of life stands as an exceptional example to the international movement. His drive to combine original historical scholarship with involvement in the day-to-day struggles of the oppressed serves as a model to academics and activists the world over. Thus he could switch from researching and writing about the devastation wrought by outside forces on African societies in How Europe Underdeveloped Africa, through intervening in the pan-African movement in Tanzania, to discussing with Rastafarians in Jamaica in Grounding With My Brothers.
But Rodney’s later political work in his home country of Guyana was of equal or possibly greater significance. His rejection of racial politics in favour of struggling for unity of all the oppressed was in the finest traditions of Malcolm X. It came not from some abstract theory – Walter was not a prisoner of political orthodoxy – but from the concrete reality in Guyana, where racial politics had been used by the colonialists and imperialists to split the progressive movement and prevent the people from securing their rightful shares. Walter was neither interested in the corruption readily available from the Afro-Guyanese PNC government, nor in joining the Indo-Guyanese embrace of the PPP. Instead, he called for a new kind of politics based on the grassroots, or the ‘street force’, as he used to call it.

Nigeria: Achebe Wins Man Booker N15 Million Prize

Barely a week after Nigeria’s Chimamanda Adiche won the Orange fiction prize, the nation’s profile in the literary world rose again yesterday as legendary novelist, Prof. Chinua Achebe was announced winner of the £60,000 (about N15 million) [USD $120k] Man Booker International (MBI) prize.
Achebe who has been described as the father of modern African literature beat formidable shortlist, including Carlos Fuentes and Doris Lessing, boosting the MBI status as a highly rated international prize.
It is believed that by honouring Achebe, the judges have redressed what is seen in Africa-and beyond – as the acute injustice that has never received the Nobel prize, allegedly because he has spent his life struggling to break the grip of western sterotypes of Africa.
One of his most famous essays is an attack on Joseph Conrad’s Heart of Darkness, a novel about European’s descent into savagery in Africa.
The choice of a 76-year-old also establishes the MBI as a lifetime achievement award. The shortlisted author thought to have come nearest to beating Achebe is the great Mexican novelist Carlos Fuentes, who is 78.
Among mostly younger writers on a towering shortlist were Britain’s Doris Lessing, Ian McEwan and Salman Rushdie, Ireland’s John Banville, the Americans Philip Roth and Don DeLillo, the Canadians Margaret Atwood, Alice Munro and Michael Ondaatje, and the dissident Israeli Amos Oz.
…
Interestingly Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie, a disciple of Achebe, won the Orange fiction prize last week with her novel about the Nigerian civil war, Half of a Yellow Sun.

“The white man is very clever. He came quietly and peaceably with his religion. We were amused at his foolishness and allowed him to stay. Now he has won our brothers, and our clan can no longer act like one. He has put a knife on the things that held us together and we have fallen apart.”
— from “things fall apart”

Posted by: b real | Jun 15 2007 4:54 utc | 62

sometimes a cigar is just a cigar
Yeah… Bravo!
I was as moved as anyone else by the production of that performance. I was taken in and moved to near tears by it. I literally got chills too. And I don’t even like nor understand Opera, however, I was truly in awe of a “cell phone salesman” wowing the crowd. Average joe makes good etc. I, like so many of you , — suspect, always have a place in my heart for the underdog– and was proud for him. It gave me feelings of hope.
However, what seemed to be a fairy tale come true for this bad toothed average working stiff –for my self anyways– turned to something else.
As I said it gave me hope, then that hope turned to consternation, confusion and finally dismay, as I learned that what we saw was indeed a production. One that was used, and further, meant to be used to manipulate, mold, manage control and exploit. Entertainment.
What!? “Uncle quit being cynical!” you say.
I was personally offended to see that my open feelings of genuine acceptance were used to frame the situation. I mean what do you expect. I was once again taken in by the idiot box. Our working class hero Paul ‘cell phone salesman’ Potts, is not quite the ‘amateur beginner’ that we are led to believe from that clip. I hunted up to find out more about Paul; it seems he’s not quite the ‘amateur beginner’ that we are sort of led to believe from that clip at all, at all .Here’s why. Again, he was moving, and it was a great performance and production. But keep in mind, it was indeed a production. One meant to play on your good feelings.
One out of the playbook of a business-motivational seminar. Something out of the school of people such as business guru, Tom Peters. You were the customer. Yes, reduced to a customer. Reduced to a formula. Reduced to Happiness Machines.
Tom Peters, said in his book “Thriving on Chaos”, Customer perception (CP) equals delivery (D) divided by expectation (E). Maximizing CP [by under-promising and over-delivering] is essential in the squishy, real world, where perception of the intangibles is really everything.” How do you like Paul Potts now?
I personally was angry about being once again taken in by the mentality of little more than the gong show. However, what would you expect when everything is reduced to perception; where “perception is everything”. Brought to us by none other than the master of deception by the likes of the Tavistock Institute in London, Rand Corp. in Santa Monica, Calif., Systems Development Corp. in Santa Monica, Stanford Research Corp.in Sunnyvale Calif., Frankfurt Institute in Frankfurt Germany, and several others… elite persuasion strategists.
Perhaps I am being ridiculous and am over thinking a plate of beans. Yeah, that’s it…pork and beans. With emphasis on the pork fat. Shows like this are twice the phatt and still tasteless. I argue if we were to examine our “Consciousness”; In a world where the perception is the reality, all people need to have the capability to manage their own perceptual alignment otherwise someone else will. Blake said, ‘create a system or be enslaved by another’s’.
The phenomenology of Perception, is nothing less than a Social production.

Posted by: Uncle $cam | Jun 15 2007 7:36 utc | 64

well said Uncle, but what of our innate need to root for the underdog. for is perception not the product of what we are conditioned to hear. human beings are motivated by cravings and aversions and they color our perception. equanimity is not the citizens’ general state of mind… but we can turn off the tele. better yet, toss it out the window 🙂
all of those programs are gross – for lack of a better word, particularly the cops shows. what do you want to bet that as mr. potts advances he gets his teeth fixed!

Posted by: esme in paris | Jun 15 2007 9:09 utc | 66

I followed the case of Lt. Col. Steele, accused of “aiding the enemy”. Here is some news: U.S. commander faces court-martial

A U.S. Army officer who oversaw high-profile prisoners such as former dictator Saddam Hussein at a detention center in Iraq will be court-martialed on charges of aiding the enemy and other offenses, the military said Thursday.
Lt. Col. William H. Steele, 51, is the first U.S. service member stationed in Iraq to face such charges, which can carry the death penalty.
…
Investigators said they discovered thousands of classified documents in February during a search of his living quarters at Camp Victory.
The charge of failing to obey an order stems from allegations that Steele returned to the trailer while it was being searched despite being told to stay away from investigators.
Charges of failing to properly oversee expenditure of government funds were not recommended for court-martial. Those charges were based on accusations that Steele permitted money to be squandered on such things as Cuban cigars for Hussein and for hiring laborers to do work that should have been done by U.S.-approved contractors.
Defense witnesses testified that the cigar purchases had been approved before Steele’s tenure to encourage cooperation from Hussein and other regime members. They said Steele used laborers out of frustration with the contractors’ slow pace.
Steele is believed to be the second U.S. military officer charged with aiding the enemy in connection with the Iraq war since the U.S.-led invasion in March 2003. Army Capt. James J. Yee, a chaplain at the Guan- tanamo detention facility in Cuba, faced the charge in September 2003. The military dropped the case in March 2004 and he later resigned, receiving an honorable discharge.

Posted by: b | Jun 15 2007 11:17 utc | 68

too too much
I guess Mr. Pott’s doesn’t have a beautiful voice after all – it was all artifice designed to manipulate the masses. How silly of me to appreciate music as, horrors, “entertainment”.
so what if he gets his teeth fixed, really. Isn’t that his business, just like it is yours that you let yours rot (this is a gross assumption on my part, I realize, but if you feel it is such a crime for someone to look after their teeth, one can only imagine what is in your festering gob). /snark
Why did you even notice that he needed dentistry? I didn’t and the first time I watched that clip it was without sound – and even so, I could see from the reaction – not of the crowd (they ARE way too easy – i despise audience driven shows – sorry annie – because they invariably choose style over substance), but of the dicks at either end of the dais, that he was impressing them. (Don’t know aboot the skirt, never seen her before)
He doesn’t really move cell phones and he sings for his supper as a pro – without a beautiful voice – and the producers sought him out to package him as everyman makes good, all to deceive us. And he shouldn’t make a boat load of cash “entertaining.” So, he’s the snaggle-toothed equivalent to William Hung, someone much more deserving of such learned analysis.
can you folks not appreciate anything without going out of your way to invoke the great satan of the dominant culture
If i saw that man singing in the subway, i’d put cash in his hat.

Posted by: jcairo | Jun 15 2007 13:26 utc | 70

Here’s Part 1: Sibel Edmonds wants hearings Pt 1
Bonus: Lest ye forget: “little-noticed provision” to criminalize protesters under Patriot Act as “disruptors” does this remind anybody else of Stalins, Article 58 (RSFSR Penal Code)

Posted by: Uncle $cam | Jun 15 2007 14:57 utc | 72

Helena Cobban sums up the current situation in Israel-Palestine very accurately and succinctly:

Sarah El Deeb is not the only commentator in the Anglosphere–and perhaps elsewhere?–who has started to write about the possibility of Gaza becoming even more deeply politically split off from the West Bank. The two territories have already been functionally split from each other for several years, due to Israel’s refusal to honor agreements mandating the nearly free flow of goods and persons between them. All diplomatic agreements regarding the OPTs have meanwhile stressed again and again that the two territories form “one political unit”, but of course that hasn’t stopped Israel from trying to split them apart, for many years–and nor has it stopped Israel from trying to split East Jerusalem off from the rest of the West Bank, and indeed from dividing the rest of the West Bank into a large number of sometimes hermetically sealed-off tiny cantons (or large-ish prisons.)
Anyway, the fears–or possibilities, or in some cases desires–that are currently being expressed in much of the Anglosphere center on the possibility of the emergence of a “Hamastan” in Gaza. I guess some western commentators think the name sounds cute and indicates how “in style” they are? They use the term despite the insistence of the leaders of the elected Hamas plurality in the Palestinian parliament that this is absolutely not their intention…
Haaretz’s Aluf Benn is reporting that,
In the wake of the Hamas takeover of the Gaza Strip, United States said Thursday that the administration of U.S. President George W. Bush will now work to prevent the violence from spilling over to the West Bank. The U.S. therefore aims to accelerate the Israeli-Palestinian negotiations to allow Abbas to present some achievements.
H’mmm. Wouldn’t you say it’s about three (or 30) years too late to suddenly say, “Oh, we have to give Abu Mazen some diplomatic achievements?”….
So there you have it: US-fueled death and destruction in Palestine; a continuing complete stasis in the peace negotiations; and the UN and the world community it represents is expected once again to stand aside and wait on the pleasure of this government in Israel whose only imperatives seem to be (a) to somehow hang on in office, and (b) to obstruct any meaningful peace negotiations while Israeli concrete-mixers continue their transformation of the West Bank into a vast network of lavish, Israelis-only settlements punctuated by large numbers of hellish Palestinian Bantustans.
There really is a better way to end this state of fearfulness and violence in Israel/Palestine, and to bring security, hopefulness, and a decent life to everyone concerned. Engaging seriously in negotiations over how to build a peaceful, equality-based social order among all these people–whether in two states of equal standing, or in a single binational state–is the place to start.

Posted by: Bea | Jun 15 2007 15:21 utc | 74

I have found : http://whiskeybar.org/
December 21, 2006.
Where is the archive of billmon?

Posted by: curious | Jun 15 2007 15:48 utc | 76

curious,here. when i am looking for something, if i remeber the title or topic, i frequently search for it here at the moon search. then i take the date and look for it at the link i provided. unfortunately it stops at may 06.

Posted by: annie | Jun 15 2007 18:14 utc | 78

In light of the cynical stuff posted about Paul Potts above I have to say the following since I just talked to my son about the Utube video.
I. He is a good singer.
II. He could be classed as a semi-pro since he had being doing opera since 1999.
III. This is a fucking set-up (from my son) because the winner of this competition is going to perform for the Queen.
IV. Fuck you ITV.

Posted by: Cloned Poster | Jun 15 2007 20:22 utc | 80

it is a great song, I don’t like all operas but there are some like Othello or Pagliacci that make the hair stand up on the back of my neck and tears stream down my face. You tube has clips of another modern star of classical music named Andrea Bocelli singing this aria from Turandot. I would have linked one here but I would rather listen to Bocelli than see him. Here is a clip of Nicola Martinucci at La Scala in Milan.

Posted by: dan of steele | Jun 15 2007 21:29 utc | 82

Great link DoS. true opera is hair-raising stuff.
The Prince Nobody shall sleep!… Nobody shall sleep! Even you, o Princess, in your cold room, watch the stars, that tremble with love and with hope.
But my secret is hidden within me, my name no one shall know… No!…No!… On your mouth I will tell it when the light shines.
And my kiss will dissolve the silence that makes you mine!…
The Chorus of women No one will know his name and we must, alas, die.
The Prince Vanish, o night! Set, stars! At dawn, I will win! I will win! I will win!

Posted by: Cloned Poster | Jun 15 2007 21:53 utc | 84

thanks for more details, jcairo. i really don’t anything about that show, but the girl judge reminded me of the mean girl on the american version of “what not to wear.”
i don’t watch much tv, blessed be.
however, i watched mr. potts cast his pearls before the swine (the judges, not the audience) a couple of times, listened to an interview with him, and then watched 3-4 other performers singing “nessun dorma,” just because puccini nailed that one to the wall. my favorite youtube vid was an old record player spin a 12″ lp of jussi bjorling singing “nd”, scratches and all.
have any of y’all ever seen ken russell’s short film to “nessun dorma,” one of ten in the 1987 movie “aria”? i saw it right after i had taken a lit course covering “decadence in literature and painting at the turn of the 20th century.” amazing how well russell’s bejewelled bruises fit right in with swinburne, wilde, flaubert, mallarmé.

Posted by: catlady | Jun 16 2007 2:21 utc | 86

thanks all for the segue into nessun dorma and opera. opera, while originally created for italian nobility, evolved very much in the manner of shakespearean theatre to be written for and performed to entertain the full spectrum of social strata in 17th century italy. it is a shame that it has become considered a pastime of the wealthy. i have been fortunate to be the guest of the b family in ibm in their parterre box at the met (seats you can’t buy), yet i think my favorite performance was viewed from a $10 seat in the family circle rafters. i will never forget jessie norman in parsifal – both the chills and how moved i was by the entire wagner experience and the view down her costume of her enormous bosom heaving with the notes. i love opera.
i also want to take a moment to draw attention to a fine piece of writing by exmearden, “It’s turned us into other creatures.” i have been reading exmearden’s work for some time and am seldom disappointed by her craft or her sentiments. she has a special ability to interweave personal and public truths that i think will resonate with some here. in this case she talks about herself, us, and iraq. here is a bit of what she has to say:

I am a creature of odd ill-focused habit. The personal worries and concerns that compose my parental, employment, and community life weave somehow intimately with the randomly filtered bits of disconnected events and news from the worlds I haven’t been to and to which I will never go. The open space in my brain, those fragmented areas where nothing has been saved, where the ill winds from outside whistle through, are haphazardly chinked by alien guilts and the sorrows of other people and other places. Most of us have these gaps, those who follow politics and the news. And so the unclaimed bodies haunt me.

Posted by: conchita | Jun 16 2007 4:16 utc | 88