Democracy Now! (Marcia: "always worth watching")
Headlines for June 10, 2005
- After Weeks of Mass Rebellion, New President in Bolivia
- Conyers to Hold Hearings on Downing Street Memo
- Justice Department: FBI Failed on Pre-9/11 Intelligence
- Dem Leader Reid to White House: No Docs, No Bolton
- Republicans Threaten to Cut UN Funding
- Former RNC Chair May Head Corporation for Public Broadcasting
- Saddam Lawyers Say They Have No Access to Evidence
NEW FEATURE: Democracy Now! is now offering the program's daily news summary translated into Spanish. Los Titulares de Hoy
New Bolivian President Sworn in After Weeks of Mass Rebellion
The head of Bolivia's Supreme Court, Eduardo Rodriguez, was sworn in as president after a day marked by massive protest and widespread fears of a bloodbath or a civil war. The situation in the country remains tense but many believe that the worst-case scenario has been avoided. Earlier this week, President Carlos Mesa resigned amid massive protest against his government, giving the right-wing head of the Bolivian Senate, Hormando Vaca Diez an opportunity to take power as his constitutional successor. But Vaca Diez declined the post after protesters blockaded parliament to prevent his appointment. We go to Cochabamba to speak with Bolivia analyst, Jim Shultz and we speak with Bolivian researcher and activist, Marcela Olivera as well as Tom Hayden. [includes rush transcript - partial]
Anti-Sweatshop Activist and Chief Nicaragua Negotiator on CAFTA Debate Central America Free Trade
We host a debate on the U.S.-backed Central American Free Trade Agreement between veteran anti-sweatshop activist Charles Kernaghan of the National Labor Committee and Nicaragua's chief negotiator on CAFTA, Carlos Sequeira.
We'll note Matthew Rothschild's latest "This Just In" at The Progressive (it's entitled "The Iraq Tide Is Out"):
The tide of public opinion has finally gone out on the Iraq War.
And it won't be coming back in anytime soon.
According to a new Washington Post-ABC News poll, "nearly three quarters of Americans say the number of casualties in Iraq is unacceptable."
Already, Bush's illegal and duplicitous war has taken the lives of 1,676 U.S. soldiers and wounded 12,861.
And anywhere between 22,000 and 100,000 Iraqi civilians may have been killed, as well.
Here are some other poll numbers that spell trouble for Bush: "Two-thirds say the U.S. military there is bogged down, and nearly six in ten say the war was not worth the price," according to the Post article.
From The Black Commentator, Tori calls our attention to Randall G. Shelden's "Slavery in the Third Millennium, Part I - Prisons and Slavery: Seeking Cheap Labor and Control of African-Americans:"
The winter, 2005 issue of Contexts (a leading sociology journal) featured a photo essay on the infamous Cummins Prison Farm in Arkansas. One photo showed about twenty convicts in a field picking cotton, while a white guard stood over them. Another photo showed a tractor pulling about 8 carts filled with convicts returning from the fields, with four guards riding on horses along the left side. The black and white photos could have easily been taken 100 years ago at one of several "plantation prisons" in the South. They were among about 5,000 photographs taken by sociologist Bruce Jackson between 1971 and 1975.
Plantation prisons emerged in the southern states shortly after the end of the Civil War. Not surprisingly they were modeled after the slave plantation. Practically all of the prisoners were black, both male and female. They were sent to these prisons "on the flimsiest pretexts and then put to hard labor in the fields of these prisons, often in chain gangs." Prisons like Parchman in Mississippi and Cummins in Arkansas were little more than slave plantations which, along with convict leasing, extended the slave system long after emancipation.
Many of these prisons became notorious over the years, resulting in literally thousands of deaths. Perhaps the most infamous case came to light at the Tucker Prison Farm where a reform-minded warden named Tom Murton discovered numerous bodies of dead prisoners buried in the fields in the 1960s. The scandal created quite a stir at the time. Even a movie, Brubaker, starring Robert Redford was made about this scandal.
Throughout history those in power have sought to control groups that they perceived to be a threat and/or groups they wished to dominate for political or economic gain. The methods of control have varied from economic marginalization to thought control via propaganda to subjecting them to the control of the legal system to total or partial segregation and finally, in extreme cases, total extermination (e.g., genocide). In America such control has targeted Native Americans, African slaves, labor agitators and many others.
Trina e-mails to note Ari Berman's "Outrageous Outtakes:"
** There's nothing more pathetic than Democrats lining up to bash DNC Chairman Howard Dean. Now publicity hounds like Joe Biden are getting an unexpected assist from the Associated Press and headline writers at the New York Times online. A headline posted yesterday at 12:57 pm read, "Newsview: Some Democrats Angry With Dean." Not one Democrat, however, was quoted criticizing Dean. A revised headline posted later in the day, titled, "Dean Visits Democratic Leaders in Congress After Stir," made it sound as if Dean was summoned to the Hill for an apology. He was, in fact, in a meeting with Senate Minority Leader Harry Reid to discuss the Democrats agenda for the next few weeks of Congress. Reid, rightfully, stood by his party's chairman. "Reid Declines to Join Blame Dean Choir" may have been more appropriate.
Trina: The article [in the Times] is gossip and petty passing for news.
The article is, CORRECTION, written by Anne E. Kornblut. I'll correct that (from Ann Kornblutt) this evening when I'm at my own computer. (Apologies to Kornblut.)* In addition, "online" is missing from the section on Krista's comments (thanks Shirley) and there are two words to correct in Ruth's post (my mistake as I copied and paste bit by bit). Someone, a visitor also e-mailed to gripe, and it was a gripe, that a link in Ruth's post isn't accurate. Here's my reply to that, you know the author, the publication has a search engine, you know the date; therefore, get over yourself. (I also was so out of this morning that I failed to provide a link to a Times article. Author's name and the title are provided so it can be searched and my attitude on that, expressed previously, maybe why no one e-mailed on that.)
Two things to note from BuzzFlash:
This Week BuzzFlash's GOP Hypocrite is a State Senator from Kansas Who Commits Hypocrisy Everytime She Votes for Herself, Because She is Opposed to Women Having the Right to Vote -- And Now She Wants Women to Help Elect Her Kansas Secretary of State. So Many Republican Hypocrites, So Little Time.
So check out the BuzzFlash pick for GOP Hypocrite of the Week.
Also BuzzFlash has an interview with George E. Lowe, "BuzzFlash Interview With George E. Lowe: Can 'It' Happen Here? Isn't 'It" Already? A Fascist Christian America."
We'll do an excerpt of the interview this evening (when hopefully my headache will be gone and I can enjoy what should be a pretty incredible interview). If there is a slight delay in posting this evening, I've decided to take a nap before posting. But to Carl and Steve, don't worry, we will have the Sunday Chat & Chews schedules posted tonight.
Where's The Daily Howler? Friday's isn't up yet. We will note it -- hopefully tonight.
But we will note Tom Hayden on Democracy Now! this evening (one comment in particular). It's one of those "the Times never tells you" topics. And Kevin, you're comments on Mother Jones (that should have gone up yesterday) are first on my list for tonight's posts. (Sorry for the delay.)
The e-mail address for this site is common_ills@yahoo.com.
*On names, there's a guest on Democracy Now! listed in the summaries whose name is not in the heading. That choice was made by me because I can't tell if I'm looking at an "r" and a "n" or a "m."
[Note: This entry has gone up three times today via e-mail. Three times it has ended up vanishing. This time it was done by logging into Blogger so there shouldn't be anymore problems with it disappearing. But for those e-mailing, yes, it probably does mean that after a brief period of no problems e-mailing the mid-day post, we're not in store for a string of them.]
[Note II: I've just come back in and added the NEW FEATURE: Democracy Now! is now offering the program's daily news summary translated into Spanish. Los Titulares de Hoy to the entry. Please make sure to do your part to get the word out on the new feature.]
