Your daily dose of civil rights and related news Is our natural inclination when seeing others in distress indifference? Montgomery County, Maryland just became America's first jurisdiction to pass a law protecting the workplace rights of nannies. Immigrant students in college (here legally, I might add), face severe harassment and discrimination on campus. The focus, … [Read more...] about Civil Rights Roundup: 07/16/08
Jib Jab Campaign 2008: Time For Some Campaignin’
Those geniuses at Jib Jab have a new Campaign 2008 satire out...which is a MUST VIEW: … [Read more...] about Jib Jab Campaign 2008: Time For Some Campaignin’
Zogby Reuters Poll: Obama Leads McCain By 7 Percent Amid Polling Warning Signs
A new Zogby/Reuters poll shows Democrat Senator Barack Obama with some upward movement in his campaign against Republican Senator John McCain for the White House: he has now taken a 7 percent lead and being perceived as better equipped to get the U.S. out of the unfolding crisis involving the economy. But even on the economic issue, Obama's numbers are way below what many … [Read more...] about Zogby Reuters Poll: Obama Leads McCain By 7 Percent Amid Polling Warning Signs
Apple’s walled garden & the meaning of Open Source
Nik Cubrilovic tells it like it is: Geeks and enthusiasts wearing Wordpress t-shirts, using laptops covered in Data Portability, Microformats and RSS stickers lined up enthusiastically on Friday to purchase a device that is completely proprietary, controlled and wrapped in DRM. The irony was lost on some as they ran home, docked their new devices into a proprietary media … [Read more...] about Apple’s walled garden & the meaning of Open Source
Contextual Cover Art
RJ Matson, The St. Louis Post Dispatch … [Read more...] about Contextual Cover Art
Israel As A Haven For Perps, Doug Feith Squawks & Other Bush Torture Regime News
KEY TORTURE PLAYERS: Feith, Addington, Gonzalez, Bush, Cheney Being Israel and protecting the values on which it was founded is one helluva tough job, but a funny thing happened on the way to the 60th anniversary of the Jewish state: It has subsumed some of those values for political convenience and is kissing George Bush's ass when it comes to torture. This has great … [Read more...] about Israel As A Haven For Perps, Doug Feith Squawks & Other Bush Torture Regime News
‘You Don’t Care About Me,’ Sobbed Teen Gitmo Detainee
Here's a story of one Guantanamo interrogation. Here's the video. I really couldn't watch much of it -- I admit it. It's gut-wrenching. I'm just warning you. Cernig summarizes it better than I could do. Well now. A tape of a Canadian 16 year old sobbing as he's interrogated at Gitmo has surfaced after the Canadian Supreme Court ordered it … [Read more...] about ‘You Don’t Care About Me,’ Sobbed Teen Gitmo Detainee
Unhappy 35th Birthday DEA
The DEA turned 35 and here are some thoughts from Bill Steigerwald. Guest Voice posts do not necessarily reflect the opinion of TMV or its writers. Unhappy 35th Birthday DEA by Bill Steigerwald Belated birthday greetings to the Drug Enforcement Administration. The DEA, which our great moral leader Richard Nixon created in 1973 and charged with the impossible but … [Read more...] about Unhappy 35th Birthday DEA
Another Alternative New Yorker Magazine Cover
Tab, The Calgary Sun … [Read more...] about Another Alternative New Yorker Magazine Cover
Jon Swift and Others on Satire-Gate (The Obama New Yorker Cover)
I admit it. I am afraid I thought the infamous cover was hilarious. It didn't occur to me till the condemnation started rolling in that it could be detrimental to Obama in the wrong hands. I can't imagine that anyone with a sense of context (or humor) could possibly have taken it as anything but a knock at those who buy into attempts to demonize Obama. … [Read more...] about Jon Swift and Others on Satire-Gate (The Obama New Yorker Cover)
From the Gazeta Wyborcza, ‘Missile Shield Talks: How the Bush Team Lost Poland’
From Poland's Gazeta Wyborcza, here's an in-depth explanation of why the Bush Administration's negotiations with that nation on the U.S. anti-missile shield have gone so terribly wrong - and an inside look at how the White House managed to turn relations with one of our staunchest allies sour. … [Read more...] about From the Gazeta Wyborcza, ‘Missile Shield Talks: How the Bush Team Lost Poland’
Sabato’s Crystal Ball: THE “CONTROVERSIAL” CAUCUSES
I missed several Sabato’s Crystal Ball emails due to accidental unsubscribing. Here is one of many make-up posts. 05/29/2008 Rhodes Cook's THE "CONTROVERSIAL" CAUCUSES: An Outsized Influence in 2008 Maybe one of the most intriguing - and nefarious - aspects of this long-running Democratic presidential campaign is that the legitimacy of the system itself has come … [Read more...] about Sabato’s Crystal Ball: THE “CONTROVERSIAL” CAUCUSES
Cut all ties with South America!
Why? Because if you go there and so much as step outside (at least barefoot) ... you'll probably die. … [Read more...] about Cut all ties with South America!
Trying to recycle the “Surge” in Afghanistan
I had the time to catch both Barack Obama's speech on the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan along with John McCain's response today. The number of areas where they agree at this point is probably far larger than either would like to admit. One of the key points came not on the issue of Iraq - in which we all know where they both stand - but the future of our engagement in … [Read more...] about Trying to recycle the “Surge” in Afghanistan
Yankee Stadium: Field of Dreams
At tonight's All-Star Game of major league baseball, there will be a sentimental farewell to the House that Ruth Built, Yankee Stadium, a place that has been the field of dreams for my life ever since boyhood in the Bronx. Herewith a brief excerpt: One night in the early 1980s, an hour before game time, I was in George Steinbrenner’s private dining room for an evening … [Read more...] about Yankee Stadium: Field of Dreams
Dial in, Turn off, Opt out
If you have a credit rating that's not absolutely in the tank, you probably receive a regular flood of paper in your mailbox which gushingly declares that you are a wonderful person, trustworthy and responsible, and because of that you have been pre-approved (sound of horns blaring, balloons floating skyward and pigeons being released) for a credit card from their generous … [Read more...] about Dial in, Turn off, Opt out
Kristol, Russert and Snow
I have come to look forward to reading and commenting on Bill Kristol’s “much-awaited” Monday morning column in the New York Times. Usually there is plenty to comment on and to set the record straight in his writings. As fate would have it, Kristol has written two columns within one month’s time in which he himself set the record straight--in a fitting and most commendable … [Read more...] about Kristol, Russert and Snow
Douglas A. Blackmon on “Neoslavery” and the “Convict Labor System”
Douglas A. Blackmon, author of Slavery By Another Name: The Re-Enslavement of Black Americans from the Civil War to World War II, is interviewed in Newsweek this week: Can you explain the concept of "neoslavery" and the "convict labor system"? Neoslavery is a term to describe a whole range of ways in which all across the Southern United States in the late 19th century and … [Read more...] about Douglas A. Blackmon on “Neoslavery” and the “Convict Labor System”
Oil Companies are Eeevil! (except when they’re not)
It's become quite fashionable in some quarters to blame the oil companies for all ills -- a position verging on hypocritical. Either they're greedy for the big bucks, or they're sitting on oil they could produce but won't. (Can't really make that argument work both ways.) Along those lines... last night, while flipping through the TV channels, I stumbled across C-Span, and … [Read more...] about Oil Companies are Eeevil! (except when they’re not)
Quinnipiac Poll: Obama Leads McCain 50 To 41 Percent
A new Quinnipiac University national poll has some good news and bad news for Democratic presumptive Presidential nominee Senator Barack Obama: he leads the GOP's likely candidate Senator John McCain 50 to 41 percent but a breakdown of the poll numbers shows he remains politically vulnerable: With commanding leads among women and young voters and near unanimous support … [Read more...] about Quinnipiac Poll: Obama Leads McCain 50 To 41 Percent