November 07 Dispatches (mostly media blips)
I'm a year older as November comes to a close, and I'm just happy to be here. I'm scheduled to go out to dinner tonight with Best Friend and her Husband (and probably The Husband... and maybe his friend, Tim). It's a birthday dinner, but not on my actual birthday. We've had some trouble deciding where to go, in the wake of our regular bar's closing, but we have some possibilities. I think it's between an old favorite and a new spot in the neighborhood, whose website informs me that they're (we're!) located in "an up and coming trendy area". Who knew?
*******************************************It's been announced that 2008's Yearly Kos Convention (a/k/a Netroots Nation 2008) will be held in Austin, Texas next July 17-20. Austin's a fine choice, an obvious fit for this growing event, but still; it seems to me that an important opportunity was missed. In their words:
Austin is an amazing town, full of great food, great progressives and good times. In addition to all that, we've got a fantastic venue for the first ever Netroots Nation.The other city, in which they were unable to find a venue large enough for their crowd and in which they seem to have expected some difficulty finding volunteers (or great food) was New Orleans. The rationale is beyond my understanding (and vaguely reminiscent of the presidential debate site selection commission's lame excuses) but I'd still love to go. Maybe NOLA for Kos in 2009?There are many reasons that we choose Austin, personally, I was most compelled because the hotel rate was $25 better than the other city. But it also gives me piece [sic] of mind to know the venue can handle our technical needs because they host South by Southwest every year. Another great reason is that we have already been approached by people on the ground to help with organizing local volunteers (always a consideration for a convention that relies on getting 100+ volunteers, many of whom tend to be local to the area). Finally, Austin has everything that our audience asked for in our post-convention surveys this year. The rooms are cheap, the city is walkable, there are many food and accommodation options, and the meeting space is compact.
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There's continued attention to H.R. 1955, the "Violent Radicalization Homegrown Terrorism Prevention Act of 2007" (h/t Dambala and Catty), including Matt Renner's 11/29 article at Truthout.org, which illuminates:
Despite being written by a Democrat, the current version of the act would probably set up a Commission dominated by Republicans. By allowing Bush and Secretary of Homeland Security Michael Chertoff to each appoint one member of the Commission, and splitting the appointment of the other eight positions equally between Congressional Democrats and Republicans, the Commission would consist of six Republican appointees and four Democratic ones.
The Commission would be tasked with collecting information on domestically spawned terrorism from a variety of sources, including foreign governments and previous domestic studies. The Commission would then report to Congress and recommend policy changes to address the threat. There is no opposition to this consolidation or research. However, the Commission would be given broad authority to hold hearings and collect evidence, powers that raise red flags for civil liberties groups.
Civil liberties activists have criticized the bill, some comparing the Commission it would establish to the McCarthy Commission that investigated Americans for possible associations with Communist groups, casting suspicion on law-abiding citizens and ruining their reputations. The Commission would be empowered to "hold hearings and sit and act at such times and places, take such testimony, receive such evidence, and administer such oaths as the Commission considers advisable to carry out its duties."
Odette Wilkens, the executive director of the Equal Justice Alliance, a constitutional watchdog group, compared the legislation to the McCarthy Commission and to the FBI's Counter Intelligence Program (COINTELPRO), which infiltrated, undermined and spied on civil rights and antiwar groups during the 1950s and 60s.
The article later quotes Wilkens again:
According to Wilkens, the bill, in its current form, lacks specific definitions, which would give the Commission expansive and possibly dangerous powers. The Committee would be set up to address the process of "violent radicalization," which the bill defines as "the process of adopting or promoting an extremist belief system for the purpose of facilitating ideologically based violence to advance political, religious, or social change." According to Wilkens, the bill does not adequately define "an extremist belief system," opening the door for abuse.
"An 'extremist belief system' can be whatever anyone on the commission says it is. Back in the 60s, civil rights leaders and Vietnam War protesters were considered radicals. They weren't committing violence but they were considered radicals because of their belief system," Wilkens said.
I guess most (all?) reformers, many of whom are later considered great patriots, are called "radical" at one time or another. Civil rights leaders were certainly considered so, as, I suspect, were our founding fathers (and mothers) themselves. I mean, some of us (Moi!) consider our status as descendents of, gasp, revolutionaries, to be a great honor.
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Peace, out, y'all.
Happy Belated Birthday, Sophmom!
Ditto on the birthday greetings! Us Sagittarians got to stick together.
Wish I coulda celebrated it in person wit'cha. Be well.
Happy Birthday!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Thanks, Ladies! It was a perfectly fine b-day, 'though not particularly
remarkable. I did come up to Best Friend's farm for Saturday night and am
happily spending a lovely overcast Sunday morning here, looking for excuses
not to return to the city while they're outside tending the horses. One of
my favorite things about being up here is getting to spend time with her 2
year old grandson. It's a joy.
The insidious part of this whole thing has to do with the fact that this is
coming into play due to the desires of big business and globalization.
They realize that the American people are not going to go along with the
program once we're totally aware, and this gives the government the tool to
squash those that would get in the way of their making money. I'm afraid
they would put me on their list.
Well, the Bat & Ball certainly SOUNDS dangerous: I'm grabbing my crotch as
we speak. But ironically the restaurant by the Peachtree Dekalb Airport
probably IS more dangerous.
I know, Capt. I'm afraid they'd put me on their list too. Oh, well. Have
you read any Naomi Klein. We ended up at the Downwind at PDK. It was our
"old" place before we discovered Paradise (and became Paradisians). We had
a nice time. The chef came out, gave us a nod and said, "Welcome back." I
dunno about dangerous. B&B is attracting a big, young crowd. The Oldest is
spending plenty time there. Hey, shouldn't you be studying?
I hadn't read Naomi Klein, but I was recently made aware of her work. The
American people are going to have to do a `Du Bai' on this new attempt to
squash our rights.
Happy belated birthday, sweetie!
Happy belated birthday!
There are lot of people out there that criticize the progressive netroots
community for not doing enough to be racially inclusive, that this
community downplays race or is otherwise unresponsive when it comes to
racial issues. Failing to stage the yearly kos convention in new orleans is
a missed opportunity.
H'lo Soph. First off, Happy Birthday, kiddo. ;) And I'm sure there's
plenty you are not sying on the glossing over of New Orleans for the
upcoming convention...like, "Gee, you mean the food's not "good" enough?
Thanks also for the heads up on the new jingoist commission in the
works...it's hard to keep up with all of the shenanigans going on to
establish control of the distortions. The link and reminder on Truthout
are well timed...it's been a while since I browsed their site. They have
some savvy people working for them...and I need to see what's on their
radar.
Capt., we've gotta do *something*!
Dangerous times indeed.
JWL
A much belated happy birthday! May the coming year be better for us all.
Happy Holidays. S and as Paula said, hope for a better New Year. I'll be
signed off the blog-city site as of 1Jan. 08 and the only place aside from
e mail address which I think you have will be the blog at the Toad.
The belatedest of happy birthdays to you! I somehow missed this post the
first time around. Anyway, I've commented on the bill before (in fact, it
sounds like Wilkens was channeling me with that last paragraph you
quoted!). It shouldn't surprise anyone that the current version was written
by a Dem, though there are a variety of explanations for that. The most
benign, I suppose, is that Dems want to appear tough on terrorism (which is
also why they can't seem to be really tough on torture). Further
to the cynical side, it may be because, as The Capt seemed to allude to
earlier, American politics are run by a conservative wing of the Business
Party and a liberal wing of the Business Party. I'd be willing to bet that
most really bipartisan legislation doesn't favor the voters (after all, we
only vote for one of the other party, or neither) but the corporations who
generously support both sides.