I'm piecing a potion
To combat your poison
I'm piecing a potion
To combat your poison
She is risen
She is risen
She is risen boys
I said she is risen
When whiney little boys, wiping the, er, snot off their hands start making stupid comments about Tori Amos's filigree and about how she's spotlighting something other than piano this go round, it's time for your uber critic to bare her claws.
This is what's wrong with music critics today. They can't talk about an album, they have to speak of a history and the truth is they don't know what they're talking about.
In case you missed the last round of reviews for an album by Tori Amos (Scarlet's Walk), let me inform you of the 'conventional wisdom' most critiques carried: Tori's returned to piano! It's just like Little Earthquakes!
No, it wasn't. But they put forth the lie as truth because, hopefully, they didn't know any better.
Now we see the latest spin.
Jon Pareles (who spent years embarrassing himself at Rolling Stone) weighed in Monday on Tori's album:
Tori Amos has been settling down lately.
Has she? What's your basis Jon?
She has cut back on her fluttery vocal leaps into the high register, her busy classical piano filigrees and her most abstruse verbal free-associations.
Filigrees? Kind of a dainty word, one might infer your mocking her in a way you'd never dream of doing to any number of male keyboard players. As for cutting back on vocal leaps, what album were you listening to? But the "fluttery" term is rather cute if you're trying to win Sexist of the Month. (Warning, you've got a lot of competition with the defenders of Lawrence Summers, so even you may have to up the wattage!)
On her new album, "The Beekeeper" (Epic), she offers something like a straightforward love song in "Sleeps With Butterflies," thinking about a lover who is flying off somewhere and promising, "You say the word you know I will find you/Or if you need some time I don't mind."
A straightforward love song is your idea of what Tori needs to do? Obviously since it's the first song you highlight. Does she need to do a love song, straightforward or otherwise, because she's a woman, Jonny?
[And note to the Times, your lousy punctuation is not only confusing, it's dated. Someone needs to update your style book. Using the same punctuation for a song as for an album shows a lack of respect for music. But hell, the majority of remarks you publish on music show a lack of respect.]
"The Beekeeper" is a generous, even overstuffed album, 19 songs and 79 minutes long, with an elaborate scheme involving six "gardens" of songs inspired by the six-sided cells of a honeycomb.
Overstuffed? Again we're looking at wording that would never appear in a review of a male performer written by Jonny. But it's his way to clue you in that Tori's good . . . for a woman.
This isn't a review of Tori Amos or her music, this is a ruler slap from big bad Jonny who wants to make sure Tori knows her place. He concerns himself with word collages (gee, didn't Jim Morrison do those?) and other nonsense and never shows any evidence that he grasps the album he's listened to. He's far too busy trying to put the album into a context but fails miserably because he has no grasp of what Tori's done before.
She's a girl
Rising from a shell
Running to spring
It is her time
It is her time
Barry Walters in a review that appeared in Rolling Stone doesn't care for the album but at least he has a grasp on her past recordings when he attempts to offer perspective. For instance, while Jonny thinks that Tori's stepped away from the piano for the first time, Walters offers:
The title track brings back the flattering electronic sounds we heard on 1998's From the Choirgirl Hotel, and "Original Sinsuality" hearkens back to the harrowing starkness of Little Earthquakes.
Oh yeah, Choirgirl. Funny how Jonny's such an expert but he's completely unaware of that album or, for that matter, the disc of studio recordings (the other disc in the two disc set is live recordings) on To Venus and Back? Or that he missed Strange Girls, Tori's album of covers.
It's strange, isn't, that something that began on Tori's second studio album (Under the Pink) has somehow escaped his expert attention?
Jonny is killing a love for music, not fostering it and he needs to be called to the carpet.
I don't I don't know why
In your Boys life you become like a bull in a china shop
Smash it up into smithereens
There you
There you go again
Breaking
Breaking porcelain
His review style on Tori's album is not unlike that of a man who beats his wife, a little praise, a slap from nowhere, a little praise.
This is his way of covering all his bases. (And working out his own sexual dysfunctionality.)
And he's not alone on that.
Walters doesn't like the album. That's his opinion. But he doesn't try to play the "on the one hand, on the other hand, on the one hand, on the other . . ." crap until he comes off like some
useless male copy of the Devi Durga. (Walter's also doesn't come off like a sexist with his own personal agenda/issues to work through.)
What's to generate passionate in a review like Jonny's?
I did a thing before about how the people killing the love for music were bad reviewers and Jonny's one of the worst. He wastes time posing as an expert on Tori's music when he's not (and he could get away with that at most publications but he's truly found a home at the New York Times which allows know nothings a greater say simply because there's no one on staff editorially that knows anything about modern music). When not posing as an expert, he's passing himself off as Durga with his many hands on various arms apparently.
Tell me who gets inspired by that crap? That's not fostering an appreciation for music, that's not fostering an appreciation for the truth. It's reduced an album (a passionate one from a passionate artist) into a lab dissection done by a clinician with all the life of the stereotypical undertaker.
It leaves you cold. Jonny's the king of salt peter, folks. Always has been (check out his reviews for Rolling Stone sometime). Walters truly doesn't care for the album and some won't. But Walters says so in straightforward language without the bitch-slaps an abuser like Jonny so enjoys.
I want you to look at the reviews you come across because I really think that's disturbing at this late date. See which males mock and ridicule Tori's feminine art with what words. (And look for the Queen Bees as well -- women eager to prove that they can jerk it with the big boys.)
And there will be men and women who don't care for art. That's fine. It's art and we won't all respond the same way. But I'm not asking you to look for disagreements, I'm asking you to look for bias. Like when you come across the an attitude that if she's do "straight forward" songs like everyone (male) else, there'd be no problem. In other words, see if the critic is reviewing the album or making a statement on how women should make art because there's a world of difference between the two.
In album reviews, sexism can still be paraded and here comes Jonny to lead the charge.
And looking at the Sunday paper, Dwight Garner has his back! Dwight's terms in his brief Tori review?
"flightily melodramatic";
"whacked-out";
"ramble";
"Glinda the Good Witch."
It must be great sport for Dwight to mock a woman so openly, maybe helps him get over all those school yard taunts inflicted on him as a child named "Dwight." And little prefaces to his "work" in Salon like "straps on his reading jock" probably tell you more about how hard he's working it to prove his masculinity then anything I could write here. Although some might argue that was tongue-in . . . Well, I don't even want to think about where the tongue went on iddy biddy Dwight.
Lucky me
I guessed the kind of man
That you would turn out to be
Now I wish that I'd been wrong
Tori's in the same situation with this masculine thinking that Stevie Nicks (among others) was before. Stop writing about what interests you! Write something straightforward! Think like a man! Of course, the same critics wet dreamed over Lindsey Buckingham for years and the simple facts are Stevie Nicks had a successful solo career and Lindsey never had anything. Even within Fleetwood Mac (where he largely spent his time reworking old Mamas & the Papas hits); he never achieved the success of Stevie. Or for that matter the success of Christine McVie (kids, Linsdey didn't write "Don't Stop," Christine did).
But, they'd argue, if she'd just write like Lindsey, or better, sing Lindsey's songs, she could really go places. That's what the reviewers implied repeatedly with Stevie. Okay, kids, tell me who's known and who's a footnote? Tell me who made a career and who never found fame outside of the ravings of sexists who couldn't deal with the fact that the two most talented writers and singers in the Big Mac were women?
Lindsey, coasting on a fourth of the talent of Glen Frey, never really made his splash. Stevie Nicks made history. Yeah, she's hit the brick wall all women hit if they live to a certain age, but she's an iconic figure of the '70s and '80s, something that can never be said of Lindsey.
This bullsh*t has to stop. It should have stopped long ago. And the supposed progressive New York Times should be embarrassed and ashamed of themselves for a double assault on Tori Amos this week.
"Hoochie Mama" is a stand out track which finds her playing with her voice (as Jonny notes) just as she did on "Professional Widow" (something that slips Jonny's mind apparently since he doesn't note that). It also has a wonderful descending line that repeats throughout.
Yep, Tori's music. Something left out of Jonny's review as he quotes lyrics. (I can read a lyric sheet as well. I honestly don't think that quoting one means I've done the work entailed to discuss an album. Jonny feels differently.) Also of note is the drumming on "Marys of the Sea" which is the perfect example of prosody (it's a term, Jonny, look it up) as the song goes from a narrative of an individual speaking to an individual dancing. Check out the pensive quality to the music and Tori's vocals in "Toast" (the perfect marriage of lyric to melody).
"Parasol" opens the album and it's worth noting that Tori is one of the more physical performers/writers. That's often noted in concert reviews, but it's true of her approach to recording music as well. With "Parasol" she's stepping slowly into a vision (one Dwight and Jonny will never be able to conceptualize) and then she's quickly swept into it. (As is any listener up for the journey.) Scarlet's Walk was a spiritual journey through America. See if you can figure out for yourself where The Beekeeper takes you.
"Sweet the Sting" has a stuttering to it (lyrically and musically) underscoring the mating dance we all engage in. When Tori sings of "breathing" her voice climbs those "fluttery notes" Jonny thinks she's given up on.
(Getting the impression that Jonny just scanned the lyric sheet? Me too.)
"The Power of Orange Knickers" is a key song to understanding the album (and the journey). Maggie got that straight away. Dak-Ho took forever to grasp it's importance to the central concept of the album and Iwan swore he'd never speak to me again if I provided a road map to the journey. So if you're confused when listening to the album, I'll just recommend that you listen to this song repeatedly until the point seeps in.
I'll footnote "Jamaica Inn" by telling you to listen to "Josephine" off Venus (think in terms of the relationship between Stevie Nicks' songs "Dreams" and "Outside the Rain"). "Barons of Suburbia" finds Billy and the Christian boys of "Precious Things" all grown up as well as the narrator who no longer has reason to run.
And "Sleeps With Butterflies" is a statement of purpose, an announcement of a transition ended. (Surprisingly, or maybe not, Jonny sees it as a love song.) "General Joy" (which follows "Sleeps With Butterflies") puts the manifesto into action. (The vocals and music may remind you of "In the Springtime of His Voodoo" -- I don't think that's accidental.) "Mother's Revolution" especially ties into the previous two songs.
Word collages may be hard for Jonnys to follow. I find Amos's lyrics straightforward. I think the ease or struggle you have "decoding" it may have to do with your artistic background and your appreciation for art.
"Cars and Guitars" deserves special note because Tori's left the "Taxi Ride" and is taking control of the wheel and it highlights some of the best work by the band on the album. It also showcases those "fluttery" vocals that Jonny claims are missing.
So what we've got here is a pretty major statement from a major artist and the Jonnys are pouting because they weren't spoon fed. Maggie calls this the ultimate drinking album. But if you know anything about Maggie, you know that any good album becomes the ultimate drinking album to her. So I ask Iwan who's fairly straightfoward (in a non Jonny way) what he thinks.
"The album rocks." Did he catch the journey, does he grasp what Tori's singing about? "Huh."
And the point of that is not to embarrass Iwan but to note that you can get into this album even if you're not able to decode it. Toni likes the "rhythms she's using." Sumner smirks at her and she makes a comment about feeling like she's on American Bandstand's rate a record before falling silent.
There's a message here and it's worth hearing. And maybe you'll get it and maybe you won't. But the music alone is enough to provide you with enjoyment. Of course if you're used to the simple-minded Disney kids (who try to clobber you with repetition) and are still stuck on reflecting on that first crush (regardless of your age), this probably isn't for you. But take heart, there will always be someone to fill the world with silly love songs (straightforward or not) and
if art and passion don't figure into your musical trip, I'm sure you'll find many selections at your local Wal-Mart that will speak down to you.
Thought I heard you
Whispering murder
Thought this witches
Brew was more than
Bullet-proof
But words are like guns
When you shoot the moon
Sunday, February 27, 2005
Quick rundown on this morning's New York Times
Moving quickly (and we'll offer no links to the Times -- see General Note on why we are moving quickly) through this morning's Times.
Check out Paul von Zielbauer's "As Health Care in Jails Goes Private, 10 Days Can Be a Death Senatence."
Page A13 contains an AFP release noting that Condi Rice feels we can get back into bed with Indonesia. Apparently the abuses that are ongoing in the region aren't important. Maybe she read about them in a document but felt the document was "historical." Or maybe she read documenation and then forgot about them, not unlike 'yellow cake,' and this time George Tenent isn't around to jog her memory.
From Democracy Now!'s "With Tsunami Death Toll in Indonesia Possibly Rising Over 200,000, Military Crackdown In Aceh Continues:"
ALLAN NAIRN: Well, it's now 20 days after the tsunami, and the president of Indonesia, General Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono, is still refusing to lift the state of siege, the de facto martial law. There's an interesting op-ed piece in the "Wall Street Journal" by a German doctor, Norbert Vollertsen who has done medical work in North Korea. He's now in Aceh, and he compares the current military control in Aceh to the situation in North Korea, the environment. And that's the least of it. Because he's only seeing a part of Banda Aceh, now that it's been open to the outside world. If he could have seen rural Aceh before, it would have been even worse. But it's not a bad comparison. Specifically now, it appears that Kopassas, the red berets, the special forces of the Indonesian army, the most feared units who specialize in torture and kidnapping and political rape and who are also trained by the U.S. Green berets in tactics such as urban warfare, and advanced sniper technique, the Kopassas and also the Indonesian military intelligence unit, S.G.I., also quite feared. They are now getting directly involved in the distribution of aid. I just spoke to an Acehnese activist just returned from West Aceh, who said that aid supplies are being taken directly to the Kopassas and S.G.I. barracks. These barracks are torture centers where Acehnese are routinely brought in and worked-over for interrogation. And now these supplies are being piled up there and either resold by the Kopassas and S.G.I. intelligence people or, as the person that I spoke to put it, used as a political instrument in the villages. They go out to the villages and first demand that villagers present their special I.D. card issued by the police, given only to people who are certified as not being opponents of the army, and they demand they swear allegiance to the state of Indonesia and collaborate with the army. Specifically, this is apparently now going on in Meulaboh, in West Aceh, in Aceh Jaya and rural areas of Banda Aceh, such as Leupnung, Krueng Raya, and also in the east in the outskirts of Pidie and Lhokseumawe. In Meulaboh. There's a report of forced labor by the local district military commander, who is requiring survivors to pick up the dead bodies and some who have refused to do this, have been tortured.
JUAN GONZALEZ: Allan, what do you make of first the insistence of the Indonesian government that all foreign troops get out by March, and then yesterday, U.S. officials saying they think that that’s actually a reasonable request?
ALLAN NAIRN: Well, it's probably a little confusing to people looking from the outside. The Indonesian military is a client of the U.S. military. Their regime came to power in 1965-1967 with U.S. backing. At that time they consolidated their power and put in General Suharto as the ruler of Indonesia by killing anywhere from 400,000 to 1 million Indonesian civilians and Washington and the Pentagon and also the U.S. press openly expressed their delight. They gave extensive military aid. But at the same time, because of the internal politics of Indonesia, where nationalism is very important, the Indonesian military has to pretend that it's independent of the U.S., even dislikes it. So they're often rhetorical clashes of this kind. It's very ironic now because when you speak to Acehnese in Aceh, they're very grateful for the fact that American troops have come in on helicopters, have come ashore and are delivering food aid, but if the White House and the Pentagon have their way, those Acehnese are in for a cruel trick, because the White House and Pentagon are now pushing to restore full military aid to Jakarta, which means that in addition to food being brought in off those ships, and delivered to Acehnese, weapons and military expertise would be brought in from those ships and the Pentagon they represent and given to the military, which has been, the Indonesian military, which has been killing the Acehnese. That is, if the White House and Pentagon succeed, and in fact this Wednesday, Paul Wolfowitz, who is the Deputy Defense Secretary, had a series of meetings in Washington with top generals and brought in some outside consultants where they planned a campaign to restore the U.S. military aid to Indonesia. Wolfowitz himself has personally been three times to Aceh. He's about to go over to Indonesia.
AMY GOODMAN: We're talking to award-winning journalist, Allan Nairn, who has won numerous journalistic honors for exposing the Indonesian military, recently returned from Indonesia and Aceh, about the situation in Aceh now, the tsunami-ravaged Aceh. You talk about deputy director of defense, Paul Wolfowitz who's headed over there now. Well-known for being one of the architects of the invasion of Iraq, was a former ambassador to Indonesia, so knows well what was going on. What was his role and how does it continue today now?
ALLAN NAIRN: Wolfowitz was a big backer of Suharto and the Indonesian military and at every stage he has pressed for further backing for the Indonesian armed forces. So, now he is going to try to use this opportunity to break the current congressional restrictions. Right now, due to grassroots activism all across the United States, and due to bipartisan congressional response to that activism, there are severe restrictions in place on what the Pentagon can actually do for the Indonesian armed forces. They're not allowed to sell almost all categories of weapons. They're not allowed to finance weapons sales. They're not allowed to provide most categories of training. There are very tough restrictions. These were put in after the various massacres in East Timor. But Wolfowitz is now trying to break them to further equip the Indonesian military, which would be disastrous for people in Aceh and also in Papua where the Indonesian military is doing similar operations.
Douglas Jehl & David Johnston's front page story ("Within C.I.A., Growing Fears of Prosecution") details some of the concern about responsibilities the C.I.A. may face for actions in Iraq. From that article:
In one of the cases that contributed to the removal of the station chief, an Iraqi named Manadel al-Hamadi died under C.I.A. interrogation in a shower room at Abu Ghraib on Nov. 4, 2003. It is probably that he died of wounds inflicted by commandos of the Navy Seals who struck him in the head with rifle butts after they and C.I.A. officers captured him. But former intelligence officials said there were still questions about the role played by the C.I.A. officer and contract interrogator who had taken custody of Mr. Jamadi and were questioning him at Abu Ghraib at the time of his death.
Mr. Jamadi had not been examined by a physician at the time he was brought to Abu Ghraib, because the C.I.A. officers had circumvented procedures in which he was to have been registered with the military. [Me: Polite wording for ghost detainees, something the Red Cross has rightly objected to.]
The death was among the most notorious to emerge from the incidents at Abu Ghraib that became public last spring, in part because the man's body was photographed wrapped in plastic and packed in ice.
From Democracy Now!'s February 18th "Headlines:"
Iraqi Prisoner Died in Handcuffs During CIA Torture
A major expose by the Associated Press has revealed that an Iraqi whose corpse was photographed with grinning U.S. soldiers at Abu Ghraib died under CIA interrogation while suspended by his wrists, which had been handcuffed behind his back. The death of the prisoner, Manadel al-Jamadi, became known last year when the Abu Ghraib scandal broke. The U.S. military said back then that it had been ruled a homicide. But the exact circumstances of the death were not disclosed at the time.
According to investigative documents reviewed by the AP, the prisoner died in a position known as "Palestinian hanging." It is unclear whether that position- which human rights groups condemn as torture - was approved by the Bush administration for use in CIA interrogations. The Justice Department and the CIA refused to comment on the story.
Al-Jamadi was one of the CIA's so-called "ghost" detainees at Abu Ghraib -prisoners being held secretly by the agency. His death in November 2003 became public with the release of photos of Abu Ghraib guards giving a thumbs-up over his bruised and puffy-faced corpse, which had been packed in ice. According to the documents, Al-Jamadi died in a prison shower room during about a half-hour of questioning, before interrogators could extract any information. The documents consist of statements from Army prison guards to investigators with the military and the CIA's Inspector General's office.
One Army guard, Sgt. Jeffery Frost, said the prisoner's arms were stretched behind him in a way he had never before seen. Frost told investigators he was surprised al-Jamadi's arms "didn't pop out of their sockets." Frost and other guards had been summoned to reposition al Jamadi, who an interrogator said was not cooperating. As the guards released the shackles and lowered al-Jamadi, blood gushed from his mouth "as if a faucet had been turned on," according to the interview summary.
Navy SEALs apprehended al-Jamadi as a suspect in the Oct. 27, 2003, bombing of Red Cross offices in Baghdad that killed 12 people. His alleged role in the bombing is unclear. According to court documents and testimony, the SEALs punched, kicked and struck al-Jamadi with their rifles before handing him over to the CIA early on Nov. 4. By 7 a.m., al-Jamadi was dead.
According to the documents seen by the AP, Al-Jamadi was brought naked below the waist to the prison with a CIA interrogator and translator. A green plastic bag covered his head, and plastic cuffs tightly bound his wrists. Guards dressed al-Jamadi in an orange jumpsuit, slapped on metal handcuffs and escorted him to the shower room, a common CIA interrogation spot.
There, the interrogator instructed guards to attach shackles from the prisoner's handcuffs to a barred window. That would let al-Jamadi stand without pain, but if he tried to lower himself, his arms would be stretched above and behind him.
The documents do not make clear what happened after guards left. After about a half-hour, the interrogator called for the guards to reposition the prisoner, who was slouching with his arms stretched behind him. The interrogator told guards that al-Jamadi was "playing possum" -faking it - and then watched as guards struggled to get him on his feet. But al-Jamadi was already dead.
On A10, James C. McKinley Jr. has "Prosecutors in Mexico Reopen Inquiry in Rights Lawyer's Death" which they indeed should. Twice, they've ruled it a suicide.
For those not familiar, Digan Ochoa (human rights attorney) killed herself, according to two investigations. Apparently, she started out by shooting herself in the leg. And the, like someone at a hair salon saying, "You know I think another inch off would be better," she decided to shoot herself in the head. And apparently concerned with something (the resale value of the gun?) she did so wearing plastic gloves. The investigations previous have not dealt with the bruises on her face, an anonymous note threating other human rights attornies that was found on the scene, or any other issues (such as the kidnapping of Ochoa and past threats against her). The family doesn't have much hope for this latest investigation.
If your new to this story, here's this from Human Rights First:
Digna Ochoa was one of Mexico’s frontline defenders in the truest sense of the phrase. As a staff attorney at the Miguel Agustín Pro Juárez Human Rights Center (PRODH) in Mexico City, she took on the most sensitive issues facing Mexico as it transitions from its authoritarian past towards a more democratic future. Working primarily in the southern Mexican states of Guerrerro and Oaxaca, she documented, denounced and judicially challenged the army’s takeover of rural policing for counterinsurgency purposes. Her cases often highlighted the illegal influence of economic interests over the criminal justice system to target social activists.
. . .
In 1999, Digna was abducted twice and once held hostage in her home for nine hours of interrogation before being left to die, bound hand and foot in front of an opened gas valve. On this occasion, she managed to free herself and escape.
On October 19, 2001, Digna was shot and killed in her Mexico City office. Several of the PRODH’s past and present staff received death threats after her murder, reminding them that they should no longer ignore the many warnings to abandon their work.
Lastly, somewhere in the print edition (told you that we're moving fast), Robert Pear has an article about Bill Gates's decision to provide matching funds to high schools meeting certain criteria. Reading the article, I couldn't help but wonder what Bill Gates is thinking?
With the underfunding of science in the public schools, one would think Gates (if he were tossing around money) would be addressing that issue and addressing it in a way that demonstrated how he himself benefitted. Gates' plan (as reported) struck me as being about as useful (and meaningful to him) as funding the training of hair stylists. Now obviously, Gates has never visited a hair stylist. So why would he waste money on training them?
Just as obvious, Gates benefitted from project learning. One would expect that Gates would be more likely to fund some sort of super-national-science-fair to stress project based learning and the sciences. Instead, he appears to be focusing on lesson plans that will be evaluated by some sort of standarized testing.
If it's unclear why I find Gates' proposal so distasteful (I'm hurrying, admittedly) let me break it down in simplified language: He's stressing closed circuit learning despite the fact that his life, career and riches are based on open circuits. It strikes me as a huge contradiction.
In the longer version of this (the one that disappeared in the posting stage -- "This page cannot be displayed"), we discussed in greater length these stories and more. (And had links to them and to stories in The Nation, Amnesty Internationl, CounterPunch, Bloomberg wire service and The Washington Post.) Maybe there's a lesson here for me that I shouldn't attempt to summarize and discuss the entire main section? The links provided are due to the fact that they were still on open screens. But I'm too tired and in too much pain (see General Note prior to this) to go through the trouble of recreating the entire post. As Kat would say, it is what it is.
But I will note that Rob wanted to be quoted (four other people weighed in, only Rob wanted to be quoted) on the Times' new look. He likes it. (Three didn't, one other besides Rob did.) He compares it to the difference between web pages (like this one) and those using Moveable Type.
(I have no idea what MT is and probably spelled it wrong. On that, proper names mispelled will be corrected if they're brought to my attention. Other typos can stand.)
[E-mail address is common_ills@yahoo.com.]
Check out Paul von Zielbauer's "As Health Care in Jails Goes Private, 10 Days Can Be a Death Senatence."
Page A13 contains an AFP release noting that Condi Rice feels we can get back into bed with Indonesia. Apparently the abuses that are ongoing in the region aren't important. Maybe she read about them in a document but felt the document was "historical." Or maybe she read documenation and then forgot about them, not unlike 'yellow cake,' and this time George Tenent isn't around to jog her memory.
From Democracy Now!'s "With Tsunami Death Toll in Indonesia Possibly Rising Over 200,000, Military Crackdown In Aceh Continues:"
ALLAN NAIRN: Well, it's now 20 days after the tsunami, and the president of Indonesia, General Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono, is still refusing to lift the state of siege, the de facto martial law. There's an interesting op-ed piece in the "Wall Street Journal" by a German doctor, Norbert Vollertsen who has done medical work in North Korea. He's now in Aceh, and he compares the current military control in Aceh to the situation in North Korea, the environment. And that's the least of it. Because he's only seeing a part of Banda Aceh, now that it's been open to the outside world. If he could have seen rural Aceh before, it would have been even worse. But it's not a bad comparison. Specifically now, it appears that Kopassas, the red berets, the special forces of the Indonesian army, the most feared units who specialize in torture and kidnapping and political rape and who are also trained by the U.S. Green berets in tactics such as urban warfare, and advanced sniper technique, the Kopassas and also the Indonesian military intelligence unit, S.G.I., also quite feared. They are now getting directly involved in the distribution of aid. I just spoke to an Acehnese activist just returned from West Aceh, who said that aid supplies are being taken directly to the Kopassas and S.G.I. barracks. These barracks are torture centers where Acehnese are routinely brought in and worked-over for interrogation. And now these supplies are being piled up there and either resold by the Kopassas and S.G.I. intelligence people or, as the person that I spoke to put it, used as a political instrument in the villages. They go out to the villages and first demand that villagers present their special I.D. card issued by the police, given only to people who are certified as not being opponents of the army, and they demand they swear allegiance to the state of Indonesia and collaborate with the army. Specifically, this is apparently now going on in Meulaboh, in West Aceh, in Aceh Jaya and rural areas of Banda Aceh, such as Leupnung, Krueng Raya, and also in the east in the outskirts of Pidie and Lhokseumawe. In Meulaboh. There's a report of forced labor by the local district military commander, who is requiring survivors to pick up the dead bodies and some who have refused to do this, have been tortured.
JUAN GONZALEZ: Allan, what do you make of first the insistence of the Indonesian government that all foreign troops get out by March, and then yesterday, U.S. officials saying they think that that’s actually a reasonable request?
ALLAN NAIRN: Well, it's probably a little confusing to people looking from the outside. The Indonesian military is a client of the U.S. military. Their regime came to power in 1965-1967 with U.S. backing. At that time they consolidated their power and put in General Suharto as the ruler of Indonesia by killing anywhere from 400,000 to 1 million Indonesian civilians and Washington and the Pentagon and also the U.S. press openly expressed their delight. They gave extensive military aid. But at the same time, because of the internal politics of Indonesia, where nationalism is very important, the Indonesian military has to pretend that it's independent of the U.S., even dislikes it. So they're often rhetorical clashes of this kind. It's very ironic now because when you speak to Acehnese in Aceh, they're very grateful for the fact that American troops have come in on helicopters, have come ashore and are delivering food aid, but if the White House and the Pentagon have their way, those Acehnese are in for a cruel trick, because the White House and Pentagon are now pushing to restore full military aid to Jakarta, which means that in addition to food being brought in off those ships, and delivered to Acehnese, weapons and military expertise would be brought in from those ships and the Pentagon they represent and given to the military, which has been, the Indonesian military, which has been killing the Acehnese. That is, if the White House and Pentagon succeed, and in fact this Wednesday, Paul Wolfowitz, who is the Deputy Defense Secretary, had a series of meetings in Washington with top generals and brought in some outside consultants where they planned a campaign to restore the U.S. military aid to Indonesia. Wolfowitz himself has personally been three times to Aceh. He's about to go over to Indonesia.
AMY GOODMAN: We're talking to award-winning journalist, Allan Nairn, who has won numerous journalistic honors for exposing the Indonesian military, recently returned from Indonesia and Aceh, about the situation in Aceh now, the tsunami-ravaged Aceh. You talk about deputy director of defense, Paul Wolfowitz who's headed over there now. Well-known for being one of the architects of the invasion of Iraq, was a former ambassador to Indonesia, so knows well what was going on. What was his role and how does it continue today now?
ALLAN NAIRN: Wolfowitz was a big backer of Suharto and the Indonesian military and at every stage he has pressed for further backing for the Indonesian armed forces. So, now he is going to try to use this opportunity to break the current congressional restrictions. Right now, due to grassroots activism all across the United States, and due to bipartisan congressional response to that activism, there are severe restrictions in place on what the Pentagon can actually do for the Indonesian armed forces. They're not allowed to sell almost all categories of weapons. They're not allowed to finance weapons sales. They're not allowed to provide most categories of training. There are very tough restrictions. These were put in after the various massacres in East Timor. But Wolfowitz is now trying to break them to further equip the Indonesian military, which would be disastrous for people in Aceh and also in Papua where the Indonesian military is doing similar operations.
Douglas Jehl & David Johnston's front page story ("Within C.I.A., Growing Fears of Prosecution") details some of the concern about responsibilities the C.I.A. may face for actions in Iraq. From that article:
In one of the cases that contributed to the removal of the station chief, an Iraqi named Manadel al-Hamadi died under C.I.A. interrogation in a shower room at Abu Ghraib on Nov. 4, 2003. It is probably that he died of wounds inflicted by commandos of the Navy Seals who struck him in the head with rifle butts after they and C.I.A. officers captured him. But former intelligence officials said there were still questions about the role played by the C.I.A. officer and contract interrogator who had taken custody of Mr. Jamadi and were questioning him at Abu Ghraib at the time of his death.
Mr. Jamadi had not been examined by a physician at the time he was brought to Abu Ghraib, because the C.I.A. officers had circumvented procedures in which he was to have been registered with the military. [Me: Polite wording for ghost detainees, something the Red Cross has rightly objected to.]
The death was among the most notorious to emerge from the incidents at Abu Ghraib that became public last spring, in part because the man's body was photographed wrapped in plastic and packed in ice.
From Democracy Now!'s February 18th "Headlines:"
Iraqi Prisoner Died in Handcuffs During CIA Torture
A major expose by the Associated Press has revealed that an Iraqi whose corpse was photographed with grinning U.S. soldiers at Abu Ghraib died under CIA interrogation while suspended by his wrists, which had been handcuffed behind his back. The death of the prisoner, Manadel al-Jamadi, became known last year when the Abu Ghraib scandal broke. The U.S. military said back then that it had been ruled a homicide. But the exact circumstances of the death were not disclosed at the time.
According to investigative documents reviewed by the AP, the prisoner died in a position known as "Palestinian hanging." It is unclear whether that position- which human rights groups condemn as torture - was approved by the Bush administration for use in CIA interrogations. The Justice Department and the CIA refused to comment on the story.
Al-Jamadi was one of the CIA's so-called "ghost" detainees at Abu Ghraib -prisoners being held secretly by the agency. His death in November 2003 became public with the release of photos of Abu Ghraib guards giving a thumbs-up over his bruised and puffy-faced corpse, which had been packed in ice. According to the documents, Al-Jamadi died in a prison shower room during about a half-hour of questioning, before interrogators could extract any information. The documents consist of statements from Army prison guards to investigators with the military and the CIA's Inspector General's office.
One Army guard, Sgt. Jeffery Frost, said the prisoner's arms were stretched behind him in a way he had never before seen. Frost told investigators he was surprised al-Jamadi's arms "didn't pop out of their sockets." Frost and other guards had been summoned to reposition al Jamadi, who an interrogator said was not cooperating. As the guards released the shackles and lowered al-Jamadi, blood gushed from his mouth "as if a faucet had been turned on," according to the interview summary.
Navy SEALs apprehended al-Jamadi as a suspect in the Oct. 27, 2003, bombing of Red Cross offices in Baghdad that killed 12 people. His alleged role in the bombing is unclear. According to court documents and testimony, the SEALs punched, kicked and struck al-Jamadi with their rifles before handing him over to the CIA early on Nov. 4. By 7 a.m., al-Jamadi was dead.
According to the documents seen by the AP, Al-Jamadi was brought naked below the waist to the prison with a CIA interrogator and translator. A green plastic bag covered his head, and plastic cuffs tightly bound his wrists. Guards dressed al-Jamadi in an orange jumpsuit, slapped on metal handcuffs and escorted him to the shower room, a common CIA interrogation spot.
There, the interrogator instructed guards to attach shackles from the prisoner's handcuffs to a barred window. That would let al-Jamadi stand without pain, but if he tried to lower himself, his arms would be stretched above and behind him.
The documents do not make clear what happened after guards left. After about a half-hour, the interrogator called for the guards to reposition the prisoner, who was slouching with his arms stretched behind him. The interrogator told guards that al-Jamadi was "playing possum" -faking it - and then watched as guards struggled to get him on his feet. But al-Jamadi was already dead.
On A10, James C. McKinley Jr. has "Prosecutors in Mexico Reopen Inquiry in Rights Lawyer's Death" which they indeed should. Twice, they've ruled it a suicide.
For those not familiar, Digan Ochoa (human rights attorney) killed herself, according to two investigations. Apparently, she started out by shooting herself in the leg. And the, like someone at a hair salon saying, "You know I think another inch off would be better," she decided to shoot herself in the head. And apparently concerned with something (the resale value of the gun?) she did so wearing plastic gloves. The investigations previous have not dealt with the bruises on her face, an anonymous note threating other human rights attornies that was found on the scene, or any other issues (such as the kidnapping of Ochoa and past threats against her). The family doesn't have much hope for this latest investigation.
If your new to this story, here's this from Human Rights First:
Digna Ochoa was one of Mexico’s frontline defenders in the truest sense of the phrase. As a staff attorney at the Miguel Agustín Pro Juárez Human Rights Center (PRODH) in Mexico City, she took on the most sensitive issues facing Mexico as it transitions from its authoritarian past towards a more democratic future. Working primarily in the southern Mexican states of Guerrerro and Oaxaca, she documented, denounced and judicially challenged the army’s takeover of rural policing for counterinsurgency purposes. Her cases often highlighted the illegal influence of economic interests over the criminal justice system to target social activists.
. . .
In 1999, Digna was abducted twice and once held hostage in her home for nine hours of interrogation before being left to die, bound hand and foot in front of an opened gas valve. On this occasion, she managed to free herself and escape.
On October 19, 2001, Digna was shot and killed in her Mexico City office. Several of the PRODH’s past and present staff received death threats after her murder, reminding them that they should no longer ignore the many warnings to abandon their work.
Lastly, somewhere in the print edition (told you that we're moving fast), Robert Pear has an article about Bill Gates's decision to provide matching funds to high schools meeting certain criteria. Reading the article, I couldn't help but wonder what Bill Gates is thinking?
With the underfunding of science in the public schools, one would think Gates (if he were tossing around money) would be addressing that issue and addressing it in a way that demonstrated how he himself benefitted. Gates' plan (as reported) struck me as being about as useful (and meaningful to him) as funding the training of hair stylists. Now obviously, Gates has never visited a hair stylist. So why would he waste money on training them?
Just as obvious, Gates benefitted from project learning. One would expect that Gates would be more likely to fund some sort of super-national-science-fair to stress project based learning and the sciences. Instead, he appears to be focusing on lesson plans that will be evaluated by some sort of standarized testing.
If it's unclear why I find Gates' proposal so distasteful (I'm hurrying, admittedly) let me break it down in simplified language: He's stressing closed circuit learning despite the fact that his life, career and riches are based on open circuits. It strikes me as a huge contradiction.
In the longer version of this (the one that disappeared in the posting stage -- "This page cannot be displayed"), we discussed in greater length these stories and more. (And had links to them and to stories in The Nation, Amnesty Internationl, CounterPunch, Bloomberg wire service and The Washington Post.) Maybe there's a lesson here for me that I shouldn't attempt to summarize and discuss the entire main section? The links provided are due to the fact that they were still on open screens. But I'm too tired and in too much pain (see General Note prior to this) to go through the trouble of recreating the entire post. As Kat would say, it is what it is.
But I will note that Rob wanted to be quoted (four other people weighed in, only Rob wanted to be quoted) on the Times' new look. He likes it. (Three didn't, one other besides Rob did.) He compares it to the difference between web pages (like this one) and those using Moveable Type.
(I have no idea what MT is and probably spelled it wrong. On that, proper names mispelled will be corrected if they're brought to my attention. Other typos can stand.)
[E-mail address is common_ills@yahoo.com.]
General Note
First off, the post on this morning's Times is now lost. A weak ass version will be redone shortly.
At the start of that entry, I noted we'd move quickly.
Will move even more quickly this time.
For those wondering why there are only two posts yesterday, briefly.
Visiting a friend yesterday afternoon, the casing of their gas heater (which comes to about nose level on me) came loose and began falling towards their two year old. I rushed over to stop it with my hand and burned my right hand (including finger tips). I've got burns and bubbles all over it. (And don't think I'm not an asshole or that I did anything noble, I didn't realize I'd be burning it when I rushed to grab it.)
It is nearly impossible to type. (Which is why the entry I just finished -- and lost in the posting phase -- took three hours to type.)
Hoped for transcriptions of Bill Scher (Liberal Oasis) and Mark Karlin (BuzzFlash)'s appearences two weeks ago on Air America (The Majority Report and The Laura Flanders Show respectively) will now not be happening. If I'm able to do additional posts, I will.
I will create a much briefer version of the Times post that just got lost but don't expect much today.
At the start of that entry, I noted we'd move quickly.
Will move even more quickly this time.
For those wondering why there are only two posts yesterday, briefly.
Visiting a friend yesterday afternoon, the casing of their gas heater (which comes to about nose level on me) came loose and began falling towards their two year old. I rushed over to stop it with my hand and burned my right hand (including finger tips). I've got burns and bubbles all over it. (And don't think I'm not an asshole or that I did anything noble, I didn't realize I'd be burning it when I rushed to grab it.)
It is nearly impossible to type. (Which is why the entry I just finished -- and lost in the posting phase -- took three hours to type.)
Hoped for transcriptions of Bill Scher (Liberal Oasis) and Mark Karlin (BuzzFlash)'s appearences two weeks ago on Air America (The Majority Report and The Laura Flanders Show respectively) will now not be happening. If I'm able to do additional posts, I will.
I will create a much briefer version of the Times post that just got lost but don't expect much today.
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