Saturday, March 13, 2010

Elvis was wrong, fools and reporters rush in

Anthony Shadid and Sam Dagher (New York Times) report that the appointed (and ceremonial) President of Iraq position is becoming an issue. They describe Jalal Talabani as "avuncular" and deserve credit for that. (He's grossly overweight, under doctor's orders to lose weight that he's never lost, regularly comes to the US for treatment and, in the US, passed out at a bookstore and his bodyguards had to struggle to lift him and carry him out of the store.) Jalal, of course, angered Kurds by saying an independent Kurdish region was 'just a dream'. After that infamous remark, Jalal announced he would not attempt to seek the presidency again (and that infamous remark also impacted his political party's showing in the July 2009 elections). But, in the tradition of H. Ross Perot, Jalal attempted to walk back the remark and now wants to continue as President of Iraq. You would too if you needed the intense health care because you refuse to follow doctor's guidelines. The reporters note (previous remarks are my own and not in the report) that Tareq al-Hashimi, currently one of Iraq's two vice-presidents, wants the post. Again, it's a ceremonial post.

Meanwhile Al Jazzera reports that partial election results are in from 10 provinces but that it is "to close to call six days after the March 7 vote." There are 18 provinces and, yes, it is too close to call. It was too close to call on Monday -- that didn't stop Quil Lawrence, Steve Inskeep and NPR though, did it? -- it was too close to call all week but the press largely wasted our time with gas baggery passed off as reporting. Yes, it's too close to call. No surprise there for anyone with half-a-brain -- which is apparently a greater portion of the brain than so many in the press have. Let's check in on Quil and NPR. Jackie Lyden spoke to him today on Weekend Edition (link has audio and transcript):

LYDEN: So, how are Iraqis reacting to this long wait and what are the politicians doing in the meantime?

LAWRENCE: It seems to kind of depend on who people voted for whether they said this wait is okay. I've talked to a lot of people who support sitting Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki in the capital. They say they think it's going fine. Similar results in Basra. But up in Mosul, for example, it's a bit more worrisome. People are saying that they think there might be attempts at fraud during this delay, but they are still convinced that they'll win, meaning that they're Sunni supported list probably Ayad Allawi will win. I can tell you right now that list is not going to win a majority. No one expects that to be the winner. So, it's a little bit disturbing to hear from the still the most troubled and violent part of the country saying they're confident they're going to win and it makes you wonder what they're going to say when the results do come out.

LYDEN: There have been results announced in a few provinces, including some partial results from parts of Baghdad. Anything to be concluded from these limited returns?

LAWRENCE: Those just came in this morning, the results from Baghdad, but we're still talking about 17, 18, under 20, under 30 percent from the few provinces we've heard from. I can tell you, we got a little NPR war room set up here with a whiteboard and all 18 provinces listed. And next to them is the number of seats they'll get. But our board is mostly blank. We just don't really have anything conclusive.


And just when you want to applaud Quil for remembering that he's a reporter and that facts matter, he adds, "It looks like Prime Minister Maliki is going to be the largest single individual vote getter, but he probably won't be able to form a government without months of political horse trading, negotiating with some of the other parties who will still get 20 percent, 25 percent of the vote." What? WHAT!!!

The Prime Minister position is voted on by the Parliament. The new Parliament. Members of Parliament are what Iraqis voted on in this election. The voters selected who or what party they wanted to be their member of Parliament. Does Quil think, for example, that in Falluja, Nouri's name was on the ballot? If he does, NPR needs to start drug testing employees. There is no excuse for this nonsense. It's not only ignorant, it amplifies ignorance and it damn well needs to stop. There's no excuse for it.

Al Jazeera offers some basics:

Baghdad is worth twice as many seats in Iraq's next parliament as the next largest province.
The parliament has a total of 325 seats.
The votes tallied so far suggest weeks or months of horse-trading ahead to form a government and pick a prime minister.
Allegations of fraud may also unsettle the scenario.

Sam Dagher (New York Times) decides that the thing to do is to try his hand at tea leaf reading. Dagher, ply your trade elsewhere. The election results -- which are unknown at this point -- indicate to Dagher what people may feel about Kirkuk. Really? You had nothing else to write about? How very, very sad. Next up, the New York Times tackles what the (partial and unnofficial results) say about Iraqis attitudes towards both global warming and the potential longevity for Taylor Lautner's film career. In the real world, Amanda Kim Stairrett (Killeen Daily Herald) reports:

More than 700 names line the black granite walls of the 1st Cavalry Division's Iraq war memorial. Of those, 169 fell while serving with the 1st Cavalry-led Multinational Division-Baghdad from 2004 through 2005, 492 fell during the 2006 to 2008 surge years and 69 fell during the division's latest deployment to Iraq from late 2008 to early 2010.


Violence continues in Iraq.

Bombings?

Reuters notes
a Mosul car bombing which claimed 3 lives, a Baghdad roadside bombing which claimed 1 life and left ten people injured, another Baghdad roadside bombing which injured two police officers and a Mosul grenade attack which injured one person.

Shootings?

Reuters notes 1 person shot dead and a police officer wounded in a Kirkuk battle and 1 police officer shot dead outside his Tal Afar home and 1 person shot dead outside his Mosul home.

Corpses?

Reuters notes 2 corpses discovered in Samarra.

And we'll close with this from Danny Schechter's "How 'Bankquakes' Shake People From Their Homes" (Information Clearing House):

Ed Harrison who monitors this industry for a website called Credit Write Downs sees a "second wave coming"--like a new tsunami in a industry that All of Obama's horses and all of Obama's Men have not been able to do anything about. The idea of challenging fraud and deception with a debt relief plan goes a bit too far for these self-styled centrists. Writes Harrison:

When the crisis first developed, in February of 2007, it was subprime where the worries were, with the lion's share of writedowns coming from mark-to-market losses in the securitisation market. However, subprime was a relatively small part of the overall market, making up 14% of loans outstanding at that time. Alt-A loans were 27% and prime loans were 57% respectively of loans outstanding according to a Banc of America Securities report.

As the 2004-2007 co-horts of Alt-A option ARM mortgages have started to reset and prime borrowers have come under stress, we have started to see defaults in markets which are an order of magnitude larger than subprime.

I love phrases like "order of magnitude" because they make problems seem too big to do anything about. As we aggregate the losses we lose sight of the individuals whose lives are at risk even as financial websites carry more and more articles about how to profit from foreclosures.

Today, it's not just that prime loans are about to go belly up but more and more tenants living in private homes are at risk-with no one looking out for them because they don't own anything and so are considered disposable.

Mounting foreclosures is an issue I have been writing and railing about. Protests against them are featured in my forthcoming film Plunder: The Crime Of Our Time.

There is a macro dimension to this crisis abut also a far more personal micro one.




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Court-martials, continued targeting of Iraqi Christians

I knew the phony progressive left was just a trick of Soros and billionaire criminals to take down health care. I knew Obama got more wall street money than any other candidate, and I knew he was a phony too, all the way, as I watched him snicker about Hillary, the woman's candidate being "likable enough". I didn't like her vote on Iraq, but she promised to end the war, and I believed that she would. I knew that she would listen to women, not completely abandon them as Obama has done. I knew that she would listen to working people, before bankers, unlike what Obama has done.

The above is from Roseanne's "when the dems screwed Hillary, they screwed america" (Roseanne's World). Meanwhile Gregg K. Kakesako (Honolulu Star-Bulletin) reports that, following his Article 32 hearing, the US military will now move to court-martial Spc Beyshee Velez in the September 13th death of KBR contractor Lucas T. Vinson and cites Army spokesperson Maj Cathy Wilkinson explaining that the charges include "two counts of murder". Strangely, the court-martial -- like the Article 32 hearing -- will apparently take place in Hawaii. Strangely? The death took place in Tikrit.

By contrast, Iraq War veteran Marc Hall recorded a rap song in the US and yet the military is attempting to court-martial him in Iraq -- which not only removes him from many witnesses who could offer supporting testimony, it also greatly limits the press and let's not pretend that the latter especially factored in when the military decided to court-martial for the 'crime' of rapping. Iraq Veterans Against the War has more information on Marc and his struggle including how you can donate to his legal defense fund and Marc explaining what happened in his own words:

I guess this all started with a hardcore “rap” song I made about the Army’s very unpopular “Stop-loss” policy back in July 2009. Like any “rap” or rock song, I was expressing my freedom of expression under the US Constitution. Being that the Army’s “Stop-loss” policy was a Pentagon decision from what I had heard on the news, I decided to send a copy of my song directly to the Pentagon.
I don’t know if anyone at the Pentagon listened to my song, but somebody in Washington DC mailed the package back to my chain of command. My First Sergeant called me in to his office to discuss it. I explained that the rap was a freedom of expression thing. And that it was not a physical threat, nor any kind of threat whatsoever. I explained that it was just hip hop. He told me that he kind of liked the song, that it sounded good.
1st Sgt Chrysler and Capt Cross, our company commander at B-CO 2-7 IN [Bravo Company, 2nd Battalion, 7th Infantry Regiment] at that time, just recommended me for mental counseling and evaluation. I attended mental counseling at the behavioral health clinic on Ft. Stewart from late July 2009 through November 2009. I had about four visits to the clinic, but I couldn’t attend all the appointments because we were always training in the field. In the end this counseling still left me feeling the same way about Army life, "Stop-loss" and war in general.
I spoke to our chaplain and told him my feelings, including all of the domestic things I had gone through with my estranged spouse and my three-year-old daughter over the last four years. I let him hear the "Stop-loss" song and I explained that he shouldn’t take anything in the song personally. He said he liked the song but wished it was not “gangster”.
Later when we trained in the field in Georgia and at the National Training Center (NTC) in California I was made to train without a weapon due to the song and my ongoing counseling. During that time of training without a weapon; however, I felt a surprising sense of peace for the first time.
At NTC in October 2009 I spoke again to our chaplain after attending services one night. I explained to him how I still felt hurt by the Army policies. He replied that my chain of command had already “forgiven” me about the song. But that didn’t really help me with what I was going through and trying to deal with.

In Iraq, Christians have been under attack again with a continuous exodus from Mosul taking place. Catholic News Agency reports:

A religious sister from Mosul reports that Iraqi Christians continue to leave the country because they are targeted by violence. In a CNA interview, she said many people are suffering and tired of the conflict. “Where is the freedom?” she asked.
For eleven years Sister Aman Miriam has been a Dominican Sister of St. Catherine of Siena in Iraq. Her motherhouse is in Mosul, an ancient center of Christianity that now stands at the center of anti-Christian violence.
Bomb attacks have targeted several churches in Mosul. In recent weeks extremists killed at least eight Christians in the city.
Speaking with CNA in a Thursday phone interview, Sr. Aman said she has lived and ministered with the Adrian Dominicans in Michigan since September 2005.
There Sr. Aman is among five young Iraqi religious sisters engaged in ministry and study.

Paula Doyle (The-Tidings) speaks with Father Yousif Habash, an Iraqi-born priest now at LA's Jesus Sacred Heart Catholic Church:

He noted that Christian students in the region have been banned from attending the local university and seven college-age students have recently been killed. "Since 2003, there hasn't been any progress in Iraq. The electricity, water and power [infrastructure] are destroyed," said Father Habash, who hopes Americans will write their congressional representatives in support of enhanced protection for Iraqi religious minorities.


Thursday, the US State Dept issued "2009 Country Reports on Human Rights Practices" and they noted the following regarding religious minorities:



Religious leaders, groups, and centers were targeted for killings. On July 12, a coordinated series of bombings at six Christian churches in Baghdad killed four persons and left more than 20 wounded. On July 31, five Shia mosques were bombed in Baghdad in a coordinated attack that resulted in at least 29 killed and 136 wounded. On October 16, a gunman attacked worshippers at the Taqwa mosque in the town of Tal Afar and then detonated an explosive vest, killing 15 people, including the mosque's imam, Abdual-Satar Hassan, and wounding approximately 100 others. On November 26, bomb attacks against St. Ephrem's Chaldean Church and St. Theresa's Convent in the city of Mosul caused extensive damage to the buildings, but no casualties. On December 15, bombs detonated outside the Syriac Catholic Church of the Annunciation and the Syriac Orthodox Church of the Virgin Mary in Mosul, killing five individuals and wounding 40. On December 24, a bomb targeting a procession to commemorate Ashura, an important Shia religious holiday, killed six persons and wounded 26 in Sadr City, and another explosion in the city of Karbala killed one and wounded 12 individuals. On December 27, a bomb killed five persons celebrating Ashura in the town of Tuz Khormato.
During August and September, a wave of attacks targeted minority communities in the north. On August 7, a truck bomb in the village of Shirakhan killed 37 Shia Turkmen. On August 10, two truck bombs destroyed the village of Khazna near Mosul where approximately 10,000 Shabaks lived. The attack killed 34 and wounded 200. On August 13, a suicide bombing at a cafe in the village of Sinjar killed 21 Yazidis. On September 9, a truck bomb exploded in the Kakai village of Wardek in Ninewa Province, killing 20 persons and wounding 40 others.
During the year Sabean-Mandaeans, who were few in number and lived in small groups spread across the country, continued to report criminal and extremist elements targeted them because of their religious identity and their perceived wealth. On April 19, three Sabean-Mandaean goldsmiths were among seven jewelers killed in a coordinated daytime robbery in Baghdad. Three other Sabean-Mandaeans were severely injured. Four suspects in the killings were arrested, tried, and sentenced to death. On August 6, a Sabean-Mandaean, We'am Abdul Nabi Lazem, was killed in his shop in the Iskan district of Baghdad. On September 19, four masked men using silenced pistols and knives killed two Sabean-Mandaean goldsmiths, Farqad Faiq Authman and Muhand Qasim Abdul-Razzaq, in their shops in the city of Basrah.
According to a 2009 report published by the Hammurabi Human Rights Organization, a domestic NGO, 12 Christians were kidnapped during the year. On May 15, a Christian missionary was kidnapped in Kirkuk and held for eight days before mediation by tribal chiefs and local imams led to their release. On November 23, gunmen kidnapped a Christian oil industry worker on his way to work in the city of Kirkuk. On December 28, a Christian university student, Sarah Edmond Youkhana, was kidnapped in Mosul by an organization identifying itself as the "Islamic State of Iraq" (see also section 1.b.).
Islamist militants continued to target stores that provided goods or services considered inconsistent with Islam. Islamic extremists bombed, looted, and defaced liquor stores in Baghdad and elsewhere. For example, on May 9, an alcohol merchant in the al-Shurta district of Baghdad was killed after storekeepers in the area received anonymous warnings to close their shops. Liquor store operators in Basrah received occasional threats from Islamist militants, but there were no recorded acts of violence during the past year.
The country's Jewish population was virtually nonexistent as a result of both voluntary and forced emigration over decades. Even so, anti-Semitic sentiment remained a cultural undercurrent. Among other provisions, the citizenship law precludes Jews who emigrated from regaining citizenship.
For a more detailed discussion, see the 2009 International Religious Freedom Report atwww.state.gov/g/drl/rls/irf/ .


Earlier this week, Amy Goodman interviewed the parents of Rachel Corrie. The Salem-News has posted the transcript of the interview with a foreword by Tim King. Since yesterday morning, the following community sites have updated:








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thomas friedman is a great man






oh boy it never ends

Friday, March 12, 2010

Iraq snapshot

Friday, March 12, 2010. Chaos and violence continue, vote counting continues, the gas baggrery over less than a third of the votes never stops, and more.
 
Today on the second hour of The Diane Rehm Show (NPR), Diane was joined by Nadia Bilbassy (MCB TV), Michael Hirsh (Newsweek) and Warren Strobel (McClatchy).
 
 
Diane Rehm: Michael Hirsh, what are the early results of the elections in Iraq?
 
Michael Hirsh: Well they're just trickling in and it's going to take days and possibly weeks before we know the final results of the vote and much less what the final shape of the government is going to look like. But in the early returns it does seem as if Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki's State of Law Party uh-uh mainly Shi'ite party but not only Shi'ite party is dominating the returns particularly in some of the southern provinces where the vote have come in.  Uh-uh, Ayad Allawi's largely secular but still Sunni dominated party is lagging behind. And the big question hanging over this is how long is this going to take to piece something together that will last and of course I think the nightmare that both the Americans there and the Iraqis themselves remember all to well was what happened in December 2005 when it took more than 150 days to piece together a government and during that time a sectarian war broke out.
 
Diane Rehm: Nadia?

Nadia Bilbassy: I think then, I spoke to somebody who works for the UN there and he was telling me he was striked by how normal was the process. You have to credit the Iraqis. They've taken to this election like they've been doing it for 100 years. And it's very interesting, although they distrust all politicians but they showed up in number. About 62% showed up in this election and, of course, the government is going to take a long time to form and that's understandable. But if you look at the example, Iraq is not a democracy but the process of the election is a democratic one and [. . .] in the Arab world. If you look at how this government is going to emerge, the coalition part is going to emerge to form a government.  You know, the jokeying for power, include this party or that party, who's going to be the king maker? Will it be the Kurds? Will it be the Sadarist?  Who's going to be represented? I think it's fascinating to watch and the rest of the Arab world will be watching but I think ultimately the ones who were out of the picture were the Americans.  The Iraqis were in charge of the security as well.
 
Diane Rehm: What about -- what about allegations of fraud, Warren?
 
Warren P. Strobel: I think the UN spokesman in Iraq today said that these allegations of fraud are uh overwrought or exaggerated and he sees no widespread fraud as the type we saw in the Afghan election.  Uhm -- I agree with uh Michael the government formation is one of the key questions. I think the overall question is can Iraq find a way to incorporate the Sunnis into political life. These Sunnis are 21% roughly of the country, they ran it during Saddam's years. They have seen their roles marginalized. And if there's not some way to bring them back into politics, they're going to return to violence. And you know, American officials talk like this is the Red Zone, we're at the end of the day here. I talked a couple of weeks ago to Ryan Crocker, the former [US] Ambassador to Iraq, and he said this can go either way and it can go either way for a very long time. So it's very much on the bubble.
 
That's about all the crap we can stomach.  What a load of S**T.  Let's start first with "Saddam."  In 2003, Saddam Hussein was driven from power by a military invasion/coup.  I don't care for the man.  Does that mean I call him "Saddam"?  Do we call Hitler "Adolf"?  No, but Hitler's first name, if mispronounced, doesn't summon images of gay (and straight) sex.  "Sodom," as Colin Powell like to put it.  Hussein was driven from power in 2003.  You better believe that some of Diane's listeners started listening recently.  (Her show adds listeners all the time -- one of the few radio shows -- public radio or commercial -- that you can say that about. And that's especially true of her Friday shows which features an hour discussion of domestic issues and an hour discussion of international issues.) 
 
So that's the first part.  The second?  Why is Nadia ever brought on?  Well, they bring on right-wing crazies during the domestic hour so presumably Nadia's the international crazy who comes on during the second hour.  She never knows a damn thing except when she knows but chooses to lie.  Nadia, you're supposed to be a reporter, not ambassador to the west.  Stick to facts and you'll do more for good will than anything else.

About 62% showed up!  Nadia's got her Happy Face stamp out, she's putting smiley faces on all the pages.  62% is a marked drop from the last parliamentary elections which, Jane Arraf (Christian Science Monitor via McClatchy) reminded this week was 79.6%. That's a drop off of 17.6% and, no, that is not a good sign no matter how many Happy Face stickers you affix to the paper. Nadia doesn't tell that story.  The full truth is sacrificed by Nadia who prefers to offer the FOOL TRUTH.  
 
Warren  and Michael didn't embarrass themselves as much as Nadia (Warren had one bad one, we'll get to) and often had some interesting guesses but what a waste of time.  Excuse me, there are real issues and we didn't get them, now did we?  Yesterday the State Dept released "2009 Country Reports on Human Rights Practices" -- with a lengthy section on Iraq.  Why wasn't that discussed instead of the sort of gas baggery we got (the sort of gas baggery you will find on cable and any other program)?  Well, for one thing, we're not hearing from reporters covering Iraq.  Jane Arraf, Leila Fadel, Ernesto Londono, Anthony Shadid, Marc Santora, Sam Dagher, Liz Sly, Ned Parker, etc.  They're not on the show.  So everyone's trying to brush up quickly on Iraq before they comment.  And it shows.  Oh, does it show.
 
Warren declared, "I think the UN spokesman in Iraq today said that these allegations of fraud are uh overwrought or exaggerated and he sees no widespread fraud as the type we saw in the Afghan election."  Oh, I'm sorry, I didn't realize that McClatchy prized the UN so much. In fact, I'm thinking of about a dozen reports the UN issued on Iraq in 2009 that McClatchy never covered.  As for Ad Melkert, that's who he is referring to, he's a credible voice?
 
Let's drop back to the end of February.  That's when the impartial observer  Ad Melkert pennded a column for the Washington Post. The UN Secretary-General's Special Representative in Iraq wrote a column where he warned "foreigner observers should be cautious about trying to understand the new balance of forces" while writing as anything but an independent observer. An independent observer is not vested in any outcome. Ad Melkert exposes himself as anything but independent. He never should have written the column. Should the Post have published it? Absolutely. Public officials disgracing themselves has always been news and when they disgrace themselves it certainly saves money that might have instead been spent on investigative reporting. As you read the column, you quickly grasped that the UN would not investigate any charges of fraud after the election because their position is that the elections must take place and must be seen as valid regardless of whether or not they are. The Iraqi people and their desires are put on hold because the UN's going in with their own determination of what is appropriate and needed. The UN has done a lot of good work during its existence and it's also done some awful things. Ad Melkert's column explained how that happens -- the UN puts the needs of a people second to what they hope might bring 'stability' -- stability to the people? No, less grief to on the international scene. And it's that attitude that's allowed the UN to repeatedly look the other way with regards to so many despots. (Look the other way does not mean that the only alternative is combat. War is not the only answer -- no matter what Bush or Barack might have you believe.) So the needs and desires of the people take backseat to the UN's hope that they've guessed correctly about what might stabilize the international system.
 
We'll come back to Ad Melkert but for laughter, check out the first hour, specifically Ron Elving snit fit when a caller brings up Patrick Kennedy's remarks this week and Ron starts insisting that it's hard to cover Iraq (it's hard to cover any story, Ron, it's dangerous for any reporter, grow the hell up) and besides NPR has always, always covered Iraq.  Grow the hell up, Ron, and don't lie.  Was NPR covering Iraq during the four weeks recently that they went without filing a single story?  Was that coverage?  And if a Kennedy complains, what might cause to complain?  How about the fact that every single broadcast network pulled shuttered their standing desks.  They have no reporters.  Now for big moments, they'll ship someone in.  A fly-over 'report.'  ABC will grab the BBC's coverage. 
 
US House Rep Patrick Kennedy is not running for re-election.  He made a statement this week (Ava and I covered it in this morning's gina & krista round-robin) during the House floor vote on Afghanistan on Wednesday.  Here are his remarks:
 
If anybody wants to know where cynicism is -- cynicism is that there's one, two press people in this gallery. We're talking about Eric Massa twenty-four-seven on the TV. We're talking about war and peace, $3 billion, 1,000 lives and no press? No press? You want to know why the American public is fit? They're fit because they're not seeing their Congress do the work they are sent to do. It's because the press, the press of the United States is not covering the most significant issue of national importance, and that's the laying of lives down in the nation for the service of our country. It's despicable the national press corps right now.
That's actually the finest moment the Kennedy family has had since Ted spoke out against the Iraq War.  There's nothing for Patrick Kennedy to be ashamed of or embarrassed by and I'm real sick of hearing defenses from the press.  Along with the nonsense from Ron on Diane's show, you can check out Washington Unplugged (link has text and video) from yesterday.  There's nothing appalling or out of bounds in Patrick Kennedy's words.  And all the faux shock fails to address reality.  Ava and I have noted this at Third, Kat's noted it at her site, Wally's noted it at his site, I've noted in the snapshot: Where is the press?
 
We attend Congressional hearings all the time (we don't usually follow floor votes).  Unless you have a 'hot' speaker, you really don't have the press. You have AP and that's generally about it.  Congress is holding public hearings.  Why?  If no press is there, why?  That's not me picking on Congress, that's me making the point that the press isn't doing their job.  Cut backs are not an excuse.  Open government means open government. The press has a responsibility and they are not meeting it.  Patrick looked up and saw two reporters.  That was it.  He's exactly right to call it out.  It was a vote on funding a war.  Where were the reporters?
 
Well we saw where they are on Diane's show today.  They're gas bagging about things they know nothing about. Warren, who is McClatchy's go-to in Iraq.  I'm not knocking Sahar Issa.  She does a wonderful job.  But she's an Iraqi and thus far has not been allowed to just file on her own.  (I would let her file on her own.  I think she's more than demonstrated her gifts and abilities.)  So who does McClatchy have? When McClatchy has NO ONE (that is the answer currently) that's very telling.  But it doesn't matter, it doesn't stop the gas baggery.  None of the three were on the ground during the elections  but they yammered away, didn't they?  Any of them could have read the State Dept report but they ignored that, didn't they? 
 
We're not getting the coverage of things that are important and the coverage we get is so awful.  Patrick rightly noted a scandal or 'scandal' (depending on your take of it) eating up all the oxygen in the room.  And it's always something like that because the press wastes our time with gas bagging.  Five out of 18 provinces have a partial recount and we're wasting time on Diane Rehm's show talking about what might happen in the elections.  WE DON'T KNOW.  And that's a message media should be able to send.  They'd be more trusted if they'd rely on that and stop trying to act like an expert on everything. Salam Faraj (AFP) explains of these partial votes from five provinces: "The results released so far represent less than a third of votes cast."    Liz Sly (Los Angeles Times) also notes the reality, "But with only 17% to 30% of the votes counted in each of those provinces, the results are inconclusive."
 
This month alone, we attended Senate Veterans Affairs Committee hearings that there was no press at.  As Patrick Kennedy points out, war's a big issue.  Where was the press?  Patrick Kennedy was correct and Ron Elving and others can try to lie and justify but he was exactly correct and he knew what he was talking about -- all the business Congress does in public (as it is supposed to in a democracy) and a press that would rather gas bag than report. And let's be really clear about one thing: Patrick said it.  He's not the only member of Congress voicing that sentiment in private.  We've heard it over and over, how your committee or subcomittee is holding a hearing, how it's an important issue and the press doesn't even turn out.
 
On elections, yesterday's snapshot included: "Leila Fadel (Washington Post) reports some Sunnis are very nervous about the outcome and that one man she spoke with is planning to leave Iraq as a result of the 'early release' or 'early figures' on the voting (which Fadel notes is only a partial count of four provinces in Iraq)."  The link did not work.  Click here for the story.
 
Yesterday Oliver August (Times of London) reported on charges Ayad Allawi was making of fraud in the election and August explained, "Several violations alleged by Mr Allawi have been confirmed by diplomats and election observers. Haider al-Abadi, a senior adviser to Mr al-Maliki, spent about an hour inside the election data entry centre on Wedensday, a violation of election rules. Supporters of Mr Allawi claim that the adviser falsified nationwide records, but they have not presented any evidence. On the same day, six clerks at the main election centre were dismissed for offences committed while inputting voter tallies."
Caroline Alexander and Daniel Williams (Bloomberg News) add, "It's not clear whether the complaints represent sour grapes from defeated politicians or concerns that could spread among the public and revive sectarian and ethnic violence in the U.S.- occupied country, which has the world's third-largest oil reserves."  Ad Melkert, we said we'd get back him.  Jane Arraf (Christian Science Monitor) interviewed him.  Strobel said on Diane's show today, "I think the UN spokesman in Iraq today said that these allegations of fraud are uh overwrought or exaggerated and he sees no widespread fraud as the type we saw in the Afghan election. "  That's not what he said to Arraf. 

 
Not what he said?  New topic, try not what the SOFA says.   Thomas E. Ricks and Marc Lynch are dueling at Foreign Policy and I'd love for Marc to be correct but Ricks is. Ricks' argument is that Maj Gen Tony Cucolo has asked for 800 "combat" troops to remain in Iraq after August.  That actuallyd oes back Ricks up in terms of what he's been saying.  Marc Lynch reads the story and says, "Okay.  If the "unravelling of Iraq" which Ricks has been predicting for the last year is of the same magnitude as this possible extension of 800 troops in small advisory units which may not be necessary, then I think we could probably all live with it."  Who's "we"?  No, I can't live with it.  Ricks is correct that this proves him right.  Ricks is correct.  Ricks said "combat" troops might stay on past August and there is a request for them to by a general.  That means Ricks is correct.  For the record, as we do, Ricks mocks the notion of "combat" troops -- all troops are combat troops. 
 
Yesterday the US State Dept issued  2009 "Country Reports on Human Rights Practices" and we'll note this from the Iraq section:
 
During the year the following significant human rights problems were reported: arbitrary or unlawful killings; insurgent and terrorist bombings and executions; disruption of authority by sectarian, criminal, and extremist groups; arbitrary deprivation of life; disappearances; torture and other cruel, inhuman, or degrading treatment or punishment; impunity; poor conditions in pretrial detention and prison facilities; denial of fair public trials; delays in resolving property restitution claims; immature judicial institutions lacking capacity; arbitrary arrest and detention; arbitrary interference with privacy and home; other abuses in internal conflicts; limits on freedoms of speech, press, assembly, and association due to sectarianism and extremist threats and violence; limits on religious freedom due to extremist threats and violence; restrictions on freedom of movement; large numbers of internally displaced persons (IDPs) and refugees; lack of protection of refugees and stateless persons; lack of transparency and significant widespread corruption at all levels of government; constraints on international organizations and nongovernmental organizations' (NGOs) investigations of alleged violations of human rights; discrimination against and societal abuses of women and ethnic and religious minorities; human trafficking; societal discrimination and violence against individuals based on sexual orientation; and limited exercise of labor rights.  
Insurgent and extremist violence, coupled with weak government performance in upholding the rule of law, resulted in widespread and severe human rights abuses. Although their influence and ability to attack has significantly weakened since 2007, terrorist groups such as AQI and other extremist elements continued to launch highly destructive attacks, attempting to fuel sectarian tensions and undermine the government's ability to maintain law and order. Extremist and AQI attacks continued against ISF and government officials. AQI and other extremists also conducted high-profile bombings targeting urban areas, particularly prominent government buildings, Shia markets, and mosques, and killing Shia religious pilgrims. Religious minorities, sometimes labeled "anti-Islamic," were often targeted in the violence. Insurgents also carried out a number of attacks against other civilians. During the year, despite some reconciliation and easing of tensions in several provinces, the government's human rights performance consistently fell short of according citizens the protections the law provides.
 
Turning to some of today's reported violence . . .
 
Xinhua (link has text and audio) drops back to yesterday to note 1 police officer killed and two more injured in roadside bombing outside of Falluja while eight people were injured in Diyala Province bombings and shootings.
 
 
March 20th, a variety of organizations, groups and individuals will be standing up for peace and against war by taking part in DC marches, LA marches and San Francisco marches. The Green Party of the United States issued the following:
 
 
For Immediate Release:
Thursday, March 11, 2010

Contacts:
Scott McLarty, Media Coordinator, 202-518-5624, cell 202-904-7614,
mclarty@greens.org
Starlene Rankin, Media Coordinator, 916-995-3805, starlene@gp.org

March 20 is the 7th anniversary of the US invasion of Iraq

Green Party Speakers Bureau: Greens available to speak on the wars, foreign policy, and related topics:
http://www.gp.org/speakers/speakers-foreign-policy.php


WASHINGTON, DC -- Green Party candidates, leaders, and other members will participate in the 'US Out of Afghanistan and Iraq Now' march in Washington, DC, on Saturday, March 20.

Greens will join hundreds of thousands of others to demand an end to the wars and occupations in Afghanistan, Iraq, Palestine, and Haiti and threats of war against Iran. March 20 is the seventh anniversary of the invasion launched by the Bush-Cheney Administration against Iraq, in which hundreds of thousands of Iraqis have died and tens of thousands of US troops have been killed or been maimed.

For more information on the march, which has been organized by the ANSWER Coalition, visit March20.org (
http://www.march20.org).

Related events will take place in Washington throughout the week leading up to the March 20 march: see the Washington Peace Center's 'Iraq Anniversary Special Alert' (
http://washingtonpeacecenter.org/node/2756).

The Green Party of the United States opposed the US invasions of Iraq and Afghanistan from the very beginning, and more recently criticized President Obama for expanding the Afghanistan War into Pakistan and for his announcement of 30,000 additional US troops to be sent to Afghanistan (
http://www.gp.org/press/pr-national.php?ID=267).

Greens participated in the "Rally to tell Obama No You Can't!" on December 12, 2009, in Washington, DC in Lafayette Park near the White House, which was sponsored by the End US Wars Coalition (http://www.enduswars.org). Among the Green Party speakers at the rally were Cynthia McKinney, the Green Party's 2008 presidential nominee; Lynne Williams, 2010 Green candidate for Governor of Maine (
http://www.lynnewilliams2010.org); and Marian Douglas-Ungaro of the DC Statehood Green Party.

On November 25, Ms. McKinney sent an open letter to President Obama urging a reversal of his warhawk policy on Afghanistan (
http://dignity.ning.com/profiles/blogs/cynthia-mckinneys-letter-to).

Green Party leaders have disputed President Obama's claims that the invasion of Afghanistan was "the right war." The invasion has resulted in a catastrophe for Afghan civilians, with thousands killed and maimed and the destruction of property and infrastructure. The Taliban has won greater popular support because of its defiance of foreign troops, while President Karzai's corrupt administration have betrayed any hope for democracy and regional warlords have turned Afghanistan into the world's leading producer of opium. Human rights for most Afghans, especially women, have not advanced because of the US invasion.

"The expansion of the Afghanistan War with drone attacks inside Pakistani borders has created even greater regional instability and animosity towards the US," said Craig Thorsen, co-chair of the Green Party of the United States and former US Navy Lieutenant. "We're dismayed that President Obama has embraced the Bush-Cheney doctrine of 'preemption' -- the idea that the US may attack any country around the world to replace that country's government. This doctrine was expressly outlawed in the wake of World War II."

"The Democratic leadership in Congress rubberstamped the GOP war agenda. Both parties have voted to spend enormous amounts of taxpayers' money to feed a military machine that bullies other nations and ultimately sustains corporate war profiteers. The Green Party urges all Americans who desire peace to speak out with their voices and votes, join us on March 20, call on Congress to cut military spending, and demand that President Obama call our troops home now," said Mr. Thorsen.


MORE INFORMATION

Green Party of the United States
http://www.gp.org
202-319-7191, 866-41GREEN
Green candidate database and campaign information:
http://www.gp.org/elections.shtml
Green Party News Center http://www.gp.org/newscenter.shtml
Green Party Speakers Bureau http://www.gp.org/speakers
Green Party ballot access page http://www.gp.org/2008-elections
Green Party Livestream Channel http://www.livestream.com/greenpartyus

Green Party International Committee http://www.gp.org/committees/intl
 
What If They Revised The War And One Side Stopped Caring?  That's what the right-wing is hoping for in this country and around the world.  If they get to revise and aren't challenged (usually because we have so many, many other 'important' topics to cover), then they win.  They rewrite history and they win.  Mehdi Hasan (New Statesman) takes on England's David Aaronovitch who identifes as of the left but not all consider him to be that:
 
In his column in the Times on Tuesday, he ridicules those of us who opposed the war, calls the Iraqi elections a "bloody miracle" and deplores seven years of "goddamned" discussion of WMDs, legality, etc. Time to move on, says Aaro.              
Let me begin by highlighting some points on which he and I agree. 1) It is both miraculous and inspiring that Iraq is able to conduct multi-party parliamentary elections seven years on from the fall of Saddam Hussein. 2) Torture was indeed much, much worse and widespread under Saddam Hussein than it is in Iraq today. 3) There has never been a proper debate about what would have had happened to Iraq had Saddam Hussein been left in power in 2003. What were the alternatives, if any?            
But in Aaronovitch's column, entitled "Iraq has moved forward. It's time we did too", there is a glaring omission. How many Iraqis died in order to build this new Mesopotamian democracy, what he calls "one of the most hopeful changes in recent times"? Or, to rephrase the question, how many Iraqis were unable to vote in these historic elections because they'd been killed in the period since March 2003?
 
 
Years after the debate was seemingly settled on the folly of the Iraq War, some in the media are using the recent Iraqi parliamentary elections to excuse the invasion.
[. . .]
 
Estimates of Iraqi fatalities since Bush's invasion range from 100,000 to upward of 1 million. Millions of Iraqis were either forced to flee abroad or become refugees in their own country. And crimes against women escalated dramatically in the aftermath. To glibly ignore or dismiss this human wreckage is unconscionable.   
"Always we defend these miserable results with the same refrain: Do you want the Taliban back? Do you want Saddam back?" writes Robert Fisk in The London Independent in a piece entitled, "Once Again, a Nation Walks Through Fire to Give the West its 'Democracy.' "  
Besides, I thought that the reason for invading Iraq was to get rid of those dreaded Weapons of Mass Destruction. (Read Harper's hilarious satire on the Bush Administration's excuses for the war.) "Democracy" was never much more than an afterthought for the Bush team, used as a pretext for its misadventure after the fabled WMDs turned out to be fairy tale creations. 
 
 
TV notes. NOW on PBS begins airing Friday on most PBS stations (check local listings):
 
 
Two men on a remarkable journey high in the Himalayas investigate
threats to global water and food supply. Next on NOW
change will cause some of the world's largest glaciers to completely
melt by 2030. What effect will this have on our daily lives, especially
our water and food supply? With global warming falling low on a national
list of American concerns, it's time to take a deeper look at what could
be a global calamity in the making.

On Friday, March 12 at 8:30 pm (check local listings), David Brancaccio
and environmentalist Conrad Anker -- one of the world's leading
high
altitude
climbers - trek to the Gangotri Glacier in the
Himalayan
Mountains
, the source of the Ganges River, to witness the great melt and
its dire consequences first-hand. The two also visit Montana's Glacier
National Park to see the striking effects of global warming closer to
home and learn how melting glaciers across the world can have a direct
impact on food prices in the U.S.

Along the way, Brancaccio and Anker bathe in the River Ganges, view a
water shortage calamity in India, and see with their own eyes and
cameras the tangible costs of climate change.

"We can't take climate change and put it on the back burner," warns
Anker. "If we don't address climate change, we won't be around as
humans."

Visit
http://www.pbs.org/now/shows/516/ right now to watch an extended
hour-long version of the program, and to access David's 12-day
photo-filled travel journal from their trek.


Staying with TV notes, Washington Week begins airing on many PBS stations tonight (and throughout the weekend, check local listings) and joining Gwen around the table this week are Charles Babington (AP), John Dickerson (CBS News and Slate) and Doyle McManus (Los Angeles Times). Remember that the show podcasts in video and audio format -- and a number of people sign up for each (audio is thought to be so popular due to the fact that it downloads so much quikcer). If you podcast the show, remember there is the Web Extra where Gwen and the guests weigh in on topics viewers e-mail about. And also remember that usually by Monday afternoon you can go to the show's website and stream it there (including Web Extra) as well as read the transcripts and more. They're beefing up their online presence and that includes highlighting archived shows and Gwen's weekly column which this week addresses Eric Massa. Jeanne Cummings (Politico), Michael Duffy (Time magazine) and John Harwood (CNBC, New York Times). And along with catching the show, you can click here for Gwen's take on two of the current political scandals (text report). Meanwhile Bonnie Erbe will sit down with a number of women on the latest broadcast of PBS' To The Contrary to discuss the week's events. And at the website each week, Bonnie and her guests offer an extra video on a topic not covered on the show. The current web extra is a discussion of sperm donors and privacy. For the broadcast program, check local listings, on many stations, it begins airing tonight. And turning to broadcast TV, Sunday CBS' 60 Minutes:

Inside The Collapse
Former trader-turned author Michael Lewis writes about a handful of Wall Street outsiders who realized the subprime mortgage business was a house of cards and found a way to make millions betting against it. He also talks about the current situation on Wall Street, the large bonuses still being paid and his predictions for the future of the industry. Steve Kroft reports.


Derek
Lesley Stahl profiles British musical savant Derek Paravicini, whose computer-like memory for music is matched by his creative abilities to play it in any style. | Watch Video


60 Minutes, Sunday, March 14, at 7 p.m. ET/PT.

 
 
Lastly, US Senator Jeanne Shaheen can be seen in this video discussing how International Women's Day was celebrated around the world . . . but not in the US.  This is part of the Democratic Policy Committee's daily videos.
 
 

The gas baggery continues (and the damage it causes)

An e-mail from an irate NPR listener insists that there is nothing wrong with the "coverage" (gas bagging) of Iraqi elections and that it's just the way elections are covered in the US. A) Election coverage in the US are not the gold standard. B) No, it's not covered the same. You find a network that predicts the US president based on results -- partial results at that -- from 10 states. That's what's going on here. The US has fifty states, Iraq has 18 provinces. With partial results from five, the gas bags are predicting. But they're not even predicting what was voted on and try grasping that. No Iraqi voted for the prime minister in the elections. The Parliament votes the prime minister. The Iraqis were only voting on their Parliament member. The people do not choose the prime minister. It's a point that the Quil Lawrence coverage does not get across and it's really an intentional lie in the US when most people are not familiar with this system. It's not impossible to explain it, here's Tony Karon (Time magazine) doing just that:


In light of the ongoing power struggle between Iraq's communities and their regional supporters, the design of the country's democratic system may hamper efforts to build a strong government. Iraq's democracy is a parliamentary system based on the principle of proportional representation -- voters all over the country simply choose a party or bloc, whose list of candidates is then allocated the number of seats in parliament proportional to its share of the total vote. The Prime Minister is chosen by a parliamentary majority. While the system may be designed to promote consensus, in the absence of consensus it can be a recipe for weak and unstable government. (Ironically, Israeli leaders can sympathize: their own proportional-representation system gives massively disproportionate influence to smaller parties, who claim control over ministries and their power of patronage as the price for their parliamentary votes in a ruling coalition.)



This Quil Lawrence gas baggery is useless. But let's note Monday he was gushing about Nouri being the prime minister and today's he's still doing the same. And his 'evidence' is five provinces -- partial results in five provinces. It's not reporting. And it's really disgusting. This 'coverage' would be disgusting of a US election but try to grasp that we're repeatedly Iraq is a democracy -- newly born, with birthing pains according to Condi Rice. So what message is the Western media currently sending to Iraq with this lousy coverage. To this allegedly emerging democracy, what message is being sent? Are they learning the importance of issues and facts from Western media? No, they're learning that opinion trumps fact and that you can say whatever you want and pass that off as reporting, facts be damned. It is not a pretty message to send to any country but especially not one where journalists and journalism are under attack.

Caroline Alexander and Daniel Williams (Bloomberg News) report on Ayad Allawi's charges that voter fraud is taking place:

Electoral commission chief Faraj al-Haydari had said that the final results of the parliamentary vote, Iraq's second since the 2003 U.S.-led invasion, would take four to five days to announce, the Aswat al-Iraq news agency reported.
The coalition government that emerges from the election must resolve disputes over sharing oil revenue among regions and whether to include the oil-rich city of Kirkuk in the Kurdish autonomous region in the north, as well as cope with hostilities between Shiites and Sunnis. Fraud allegations may increase the risk of post-election violence.
Parties will probably spend months haggling over the makeup of a coalition government, said Wael Abdel Latif of the National Iraqi Alliance. "The formation of the government may face big problems if the results are close and there is no clear winner," he said this week in an interview in Baghdad.

For more on the allegations, see Oliver August's "Ayad Allawi accuses Nouri al-Maliki's group of fraud in bid to retain power" (Times of London). Contrast that with Quil Lawrence's bad gushing that repeatedly acts as if the whole issue is already sewn up. The US will pull out of Iraq. It might be 2011, it might by 2075. But at some point, they will pull out. The press needs to ask what their actions are doing? It is not their job to do propaganda for anyone. I'm not implying that they should return to Operation Happy Talk. I am stating that a large amount of time and money has been spent on training journalists in Iraq (and journalism was practiced in Iraq before the invasion) and the point there was an attempt to establish a strong, working press with real press freedoms. So the Western press in Iraq that's passing gas baggery off as reporting are setting bad examples. They should be chasing down news stories, offering human interest stories, etc. The last thing they need to do is take the worst of the US coverage at home and export that nonsense to Iraq.

This is embarrassing. If you doubt me, fine. So here's Liz Sly (Los Angeles Times), "But with only 17% to 30% of the votes counted in each of those provinces, the results are inconclusive." And on that laughably slim count, Quil Lawrence is going on NPR and speaking of the "presumed winner" of the prime minister position -- a position that the people don't even vote on. Where is the ombudsperson on this? Where are the standards? He should have been pulled aside a long time ago and told to knock it off. And, repeating, it's not just that it's bad 'reporting,' it's that Iraqis are watching and will take cues for their own future coverage from the way the Western media is covering the current election.

Other coverage is just confusing. We'll be kind and not link or call out because it may be a typo. But a major daily is reporting that X% from X of Iraq's 19 provinces . . . Iraq has eighteen provinces. That's basic. Let's hope it's a typo. Again, we'll be kind and not link or call out by name. Again, feel free to doubt me on that. But do your own research and you'll see it's 18. Or go to this report by Muhanad Mohamed, Waleed Ibrahim, Missy Ryan and Samia Nakhoul (Reuters) which notes this morning, "The race may remain too close to call until initial results are posted for all of Iraq's 18 provinces, including pivotal areas like Baghdad, the ethnically and religiously diverse capital city that is home to at least 6 million people." 18 provinces and too close to call.


A.N.S.W.E.R.

March 20th, marches in DC, San Francisco and LA.


TV notes. NOW on PBS begins airing Friday on most PBS stations (check local listings):
Two men on a remarkable journey high in the Himalayas investigate
threats to global water and food supply. Next on NOW
change will cause some of the world's largest glaciers to completely
melt by 2030. What effect will this have on our daily lives, especially
our water and food supply? With global warming falling low on a national
list of American concerns, it's time to take a deeper look at what could
be a global calamity in the making.

On Friday, March 12 at 8:30 pm (check local listings), David Brancaccio
and environmentalist Conrad Anker -- one of the world's leading
high
altitude
climbers - trek to the Gangotri Glacier in the
Himalayan
Mountains
, the source of the Ganges River, to witness the great melt and
its dire consequences first-hand. The two also visit Montana's Glacier
National Park to see the striking effects of global warming closer to
home and learn how melting glaciers across the world can have a direct
impact on food prices in the U.S.

Along the way, Brancaccio and Anker bathe in the River Ganges, view a
water shortage calamity in India, and see with their own eyes and
cameras the tangible costs of climate change.

"We can't take climate change and put it on the back burner," warns
Anker. "If we don't address climate change, we won't be around as
humans."

Visit
http://www.pbs.org/now/shows/516/ right now to watch an extended
hour-long version of the program, and to access David's 12-day
photo-filled travel journal from their trek.


Staying with TV notes, Washington Week begins airing on many PBS stations tonight (and throughout the weekend, check local listings) and joining Gwen around the table this week are Charles Babington (AP), John Dickerson (CBS News and Slate) and Doyle McManus (Los Angeles Times). Remember that the show podcasts in video and audio format -- and a number of people sign up for each (audio is thought to be so popular due to the fact that it downloads so much quikcer). If you podcast the show, remember there is the Web Extra where Gwen and the guests weigh in on topics viewers e-mail about. And also remember that usually by Monday afternoon you can go to the show's website and stream it there (including Web Extra) as well as read the transcripts and more. They're beefing up their online presence and that includes highlighting archived shows and Gwen's weekly column which this week addresses Eric Massa. Jeanne Cummings (Politico), Michael Duffy (Time magazine) and John Harwood (CNBC, New York Times). And along with catching the show, you can click here for Gwen's take on two of the current political scandals (text report). Meanwhile Bonnie Erbe will sit down with a number of women on the latest broadcast of PBS' To The Contrary to discuss the week's events. And at the website each week, Bonnie and her guests offer an extra video on a topic not covered on the show. The current web extra is a discussion of sperm donors and privacy. For the broadcast program, check local listings, on many stations, it begins airing tonight. And turning to broadcast TV, Sunday CBS' 60 Minutes:

Inside The Collapse
Former trader-turned author Michael Lewis writes about a handful of Wall Street outsiders who realized the subprime mortgage business was a house of cards and found a way to make millions betting against it. He also talks about the current situation on Wall Street, the large bonuses still being paid and his predictions for the future of the industry. Steve Kroft reports.


Derek
Lesley Stahl profiles British musical savant Derek Paravicini, whose computer-like memory for music is matched by his creative abilities to play it in any style. | Watch Video


60 Minutes, Sunday, March 14, at 7 p.m. ET/PT.




Also on TV, Press TV has an interview with Jeff Gates here.
Radio notes. Today on The Diane Rehm Show (airs on most NPR stations and streams live online beginning at 10:00 am EST), Diane is joined the first hour (domestic news roundup) by John Dickerson (CBS News, Slate), Ron Elving (NPR) and Susan Milligan (Boston Globe). For the international round up (second hour), Diane is joined by Nadia Bilbassy (MCB TV), Michael Hirsh (Newsweek) and Warren Strobel (McClatchy).

I will hopefully add to the permalinks this weekend but I haven't had time so we'll again note
In the US, Ms. magazine is increasing their online presence by starting a new blog:

Ms. Magazine Launches the New Ms. Blog

On this International Women's Day, March 8th, Ms. magazine - the flagship feminist publication - launches the Ms. Blog, showcasing the sharp writing and informed opinions of a community of feminist bloggers from around the nation and the globe.

The Ms. Blog will be a hub for exchange, collaboration and discussion, introducing fresh perspectives on national and global politics, culture, media, health, law and life.

The range, diversity and quality of bloggers is already exceptional: In the months leading up to this historic launch, Ms. was inundated with blogging offers from academics, activists and journalists. There are contributors from seven countries and counting, and the overall contributors' roster ranges from well-known names to up-and-coming writers and thinkers. We at Ms. are thrilled about the prospects of intercultural and intergenerational exchange.

Among the bloggers who have signed on to this exciting new project are novelist Diana Abu-Jaber, sexuality author Hanne Blank, L.A. journalist and scholar Lynell George, health activist/author Paula Kamen, masculinity critic/scholar Michael Kimmel, environmental journalist Sonia Shah, feminist writer Deborah Siegel, sociologist Shira Tarrant, media scholar Ebony Utley, memoirist Aimee Liu, Chicana activist and "mommyblogger" Veronica Arreola, Moroccan feminist scholar Fatima Sadiqi, gender and global development expert Lina Abirafeh (reporting from Haiti), Iraqi activist Yanar Mohammed, Muslim feminist Melody Moezzi, Chicana author Michele Serros and law professor Pamela Bridgewater.

Recognizing that no aspect of life is immune from gender politics, the Ms. Blog will address the intersectionality of gender with race, class, nationality and sexuality. And although there will be personal talk on the Ms. Blog, it will always be with the recognition that the personal is political.

Ms. executive editor Katherine Spillar is available for interviews about the new Ms. blog.

Contact: Jessica Stites
P. 310-556-2515
Email:
jstites@msmagazine.com

The e-mail address for this site is common_ills@yahoo.com.

















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