Democracy Now! ("always worth watching," Marcia) has an amazing show today. Watch, listen or read but don't miss it.
Headlines for March 18, 2005
- Army: No Plan To Reduce Troop Level Until At Least 2006
- 725 Anti-War Protests Planned For War Anniversary
- Ex-Halliburton Manager Arrested on Fraud Charges
- Israeli Nuclear Whistleblower Faces Jail Again
- Senate Rejects Bush's Proposed Cuts to Medicaid
- Study Links Mercury Emissions to Autism
- Ex-Haitian Official Hospitalized After Prison Hunger Strike
- U.S. Revokes Visa For Hindu Leader Connected to Gujarat Killings
- Ashcroft To Teach At Pat Robertson's College
No Child Left Unrecruited: Rep. Jim McDermott Seeks to Protect Students From Military RecruitersWe speak with Rep. Jim McDermott (D-WA) who is backing a bill that would make it easier for parents to block military recruiters from gaining access to their high school-aged children. The bill seeks to amend a provision of the No Child Left Behind Act that requires school districts to provide the Pentagon the names, addresses and phone numbers of every student in the school. [includes rush transcript]
Campus Resistance: Students Stage Counter-Recruitment Protests Across the CountryStudents around the country have launched a national week of campus resistance to mark the second anniversary of the Iraq invasion and high profile counter-recruitment protests are being staged at university campuses around the country. We speak with a former marine and recruiter's assistant who is now speaking out against the military and two people arrested during a protest against military recruiters on university campus. [includes rush transcript]
Over 725 Protests Planned to Mark Second Anniversary of Iraq InvasionMore than 725 anti-war protests and events are scheduled across the country on March 19th to mark the second anniversary of the invasion Iraq. We hear from organizers around the country who describe what is happening in their communities. [includes rush transcript]
From the last story:
Saturday, March 19th, marks the second anniversary of the Iraq invasion.
More than 725 anti-war protests and events are scheduled across the country to mark the anniversary. United For Peace and Justice reports this is more than double the number of actions that took place a year ago to mark the first anniversary of the war.
One of the largest rallies is expected to take place in Fayetteville, North Carolina outside the military base Fort Bragg. Main sponsors of that protest include Veterans For Peace, Iraq Veterans Against the War, and Military Families Speak Out. Yesterday we spoke with organizers around the country to get a sense of what is happening in their communities.
Please make time for Matthew Rothschild's "This Just In:"
Pass the mercury, please.
That's what the Bush Administration is saying anyway.
Bush's EPA decided to reverse the agency's requirement that utilities "scrub as much mercury as possible from coal-fired power plants," The New York Times reported.
We wouldn't want those poor little utility companies to stop throwing 48 tons of mercury into the air every year now, would we?
Mercury exposure is highly toxic, especially to the fetus and to the infant's developing nervous system.
"The EPA should be well aware of the threat that mercury poses," said Representative Tammy Baldwin, Democrat of Wisconsin, in a letter to Acting Administrator Stephen Johnson signed by thirteen other House members. "In January 2004, the EPA found that nearly one in six women of childbearing age has mercury levels in her blood above what is considered safe for an unborn child, doubling the previous estimates to approximately 630,000 newborns each year."
Jude at Iddybud is always worth reading. Karen e-mails wanting to draw attention to an item Jude is discussing. It's a bipartisan letter to the FEC from the blogging community. (I'm summarizing because it's a short item. Jude's words are much better, so go read them. But it's brief and I don't want to violate fair use.) Karen wonders who can sign it? I would assume anyone could. If you're a member of this community, consider yourself a blogger. Members weigh in here all the time. From Jude:
Please go this THIS ADDRESS and sign the letter regarding the Upcoming FEC Notice of Proposed Rulemaking governing political activity on the internet.
Brady asks that we note an entry Leah did at corrente.
Brady: She's taking on Nicky K of the NYT and I think most of the community would enjoy reading it. Kristof truly is useless and it's nice to see him called on it.
From Leah's entry:
Action Alert: Why Are Liberals Such Losers? Part XXXCCDXVII
Well, for one thing, liberals are burdened by schmuck-pundits like Nick Kristof who are so often identified as liberals, and aren't happy about it; having the courage of no convictions except the conviction his own career is at the center of the moral universe, Kristof regularly engages in liberal-bashing to insure his status as an independent thinker. Of course, before you can be considered an independent thinker, your work has to be recognizable as the work of someone who is able to think.
Okay, I'm mad as hell and I have little prospect of being able to not have to take it anymore, which doesn't mean I don't believe in trying. So, I'm stating my bias - outraged fury in defense of some form of the truth.
Now then, you tell me what mental process on the part of Mr. Kristof produced these paragraphs, and if it can fairly be described as "thinking?"
Brady: Corrente is a great site with a bunch of really strong voices. I'm picking Leah because she makes me laugh and I also think she's really upfront. I think her entry is great but she discussed it later starting with an apology.
From that post:
My long ANWR post of yesterday was filled with typos and bad links. Please accept my regrets. Nor, ordinarily, would I have let it run to such length, and instead, would have discussed the idiocy of Kristof in a separate post. Although it is far too easy to blame all things on Blogger, yesterday was an especially bad Blogger day which made it impossible to have control of what got put up on the blog.
Brady: I know there were problems here with Blogger so I thought it was worth noting for that alone. But I think it's really cool that Leah's another person who will just say, "You know what? I made a mistake." I see that here and I see it in Naomi Klein's writing but mainly I see people either unable to admit a mistake or wanting to be like NYT and blame it on "printer error." We all make mistakes, big and small, and I think someone's got to be pretty secure with themselves to say, "I made a mistake." It's the ones who are faking it that can never admit to a mistake.
Leah comes off very down to earth. I like her a lot.
On the subject of mistakes.
This morning's first post (there are two, some of you see only one, go to archives for the month)
referred to the song "Change Is Gonna' Come." And noted Sam Cooke, Tina Turner and Al Green.
Russell: How could you not mention Otis's version?
Lloyd: Not to be picky, but the song is called "A Change Is Gonna Come."
Trina: Isn't the song title "A Change Is Gonna Come?"
Correction, there should be no apostrophe after "Gonna" ("Gonna'" should be "Gonna").
Susan: You called the song "Change Is Gonna Come" and I know you're going to get mail on that. Depending upon who's recording it, there is an "A" in front of it. Otis Redding does the song on Otis Blue and it is just "Change Is Gonna Come." This is how it was billed originally. If someone gets the remastered CD, they need to open the booklet that reproduces the original back cover and they'll see listed at number three "Change Gonna Come." The liner notes from the original back cover also refer to it as "Change Gonna Come." On Tina Turner's Live in Europe it's also billed as "Change Is Gonna Come."
Susan is correct about the albums she notes.
Besides the ones quoted above, 15 other members e-mailed on this topic.
Al Green, not mentioned by Susan, has a version of it on the Ali soundtrack. (Which I don't own. I have heard Green perform the song live.) On that album, the song is billed as "A Change Is Gonna Come." Since I listed Green as one of the three (and omitted Otis Redding unintentionally -- honest, Russell), I was obviously wrong.
When this was an issue before with "Brand New Me" versus "A Brand New Me" (Aretha Franklin's version had one title, on Young, Gifted and Black; Dusty Springfield's version had another, on Brand New Me), we went to the Songwriters Hall of Fame for the last word. We'll go there again. They list the song as "Change Is Gonna Come."
So that's the song title except when someone is listed that recorded it under some other title.
In this instance, as when Al Green is listed (wrongly by me) as having recorded "Change Is Gonna Come." Does that clear up? Probably not.
But I'm glad so many cared enough to weigh in. Sam Cooke wrote the song and his recorded version is listed as "Change Is Gonna Come." Therefore in the future (unless we're referring to a specific version -- as I wrongly did by citing Al Green) we'll refer to the song as
"Change Is Gonna Come" (as The Songwriters Hall of Fame does).
And I mean it when I say "I'm glad so many cared enough to weigh in." Music matters. (And they had some great music on Democracy Now! today, by the way.)
The e-mail address is common_ills@yahoo.com if you want to raise or share anything.
I'll be saving this to draft because I've gone over my alloted time. Point, we will have posts this evening and tonight. They were done ahead of time (and are noted as such). It's get-out-and-be-heard weekend. I hope everyone that's comfortable expressing themselves finds a way to do so peacefully this weekend. The plan is to have a Saturday Times entry early on. However, warning, there may or may not be links for it depending on the schedule of activities for Saturday.
(And if it wasn't clear, saying that anyone recorded "Change Is Gonna' Come" was wrong on my part since it's "Change Is Gonna Come" -- no apostrophe. I was also wrong when I stated Al Green sang "Change Is Gonna' Come" -- due to apostrophe and the fact that his version is credited as "A Change Is Gonna Come." When referring to the song in general in the future, I'll refer to it as "Change Is Gonna Come" -- Songwriters Hall of Fame's listing. When referring to specific artists, I'll refer to it as their recording of it is listed.)
