tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-35653002012-01-13T16:30:36.815-08:00Body and SoulThoughts on the body politic, the human soul, Billie Holiday songs (and other people's) -- with a lot more questions than answers
jeannehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05712278994238765336noreply@blogger.comBlogger14671100tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3565300.post-1059935199883225632003-08-03T11:26:00.000-07:002003-08-03T11:26:39.810-07:00I have moved Body and Soul to a new site in a much more friendly and attractive neighborhood:
http://bodyandsoul.typepad.com/
Please update your bookmarks and click on over.jeannehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05712278994238765336noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3565300.post-1059862475404162882003-08-02T15:14:00.000-07:002003-08-02T15:16:55.593-07:00I don't think my brain has really shifted back to politics yet, but I found a few intriguing, and connected, posts that I want to take note of:
First, Kos says (and demonstrates) something that ought to be carved in stone: Lieberman is not a Republican. And he's not just a Democrat on paper, either. On most issues he's well to the left of any Republican.
Next, Ampersand wonders why progressives jeannehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05712278994238765336noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3565300.post-1059400817248337742003-07-28T07:00:00.000-07:002003-07-28T07:00:17.073-07:00Communing with the redwoods
I'll be gone all this week. Should be back at the computer on Saturday. In the meantime, I just added several good blogs to the top of the sidebar on my new TypePad site. And the old ones are great, too. There are also several interesting discussions going on over there, including a remarkably enlightening and civil -- keep it that way, okay? -- debate about Democrats jeannehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05712278994238765336noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3565300.post-1059400685319283662003-07-28T06:58:00.000-07:002003-07-28T06:58:05.133-07:00Colonialist mentality watch
The natives are unbelievably shiftless, and lack initiative without our example to guide them.jeannehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05712278994238765336noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3565300.post-1059328443233792152003-07-27T10:54:00.000-07:002003-07-27T10:54:03.040-07:00I just discovered a new factor in the California recall election. The recall won't be the only thing on the ballot. Ward Connerly's suspiciously financed , anti-affirmative action "racial privacy initiative" qualified last year to go on the ballot in the March 2004 primary. The initiative would stop state and local agencies from collecting racial statistics, except for medical research.
A poll jeannehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05712278994238765336noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3565300.post-1059321980591628952003-07-27T09:06:00.000-07:002003-07-27T09:06:30.543-07:00Speaking of potential California gubernatorial candidates...
Max was right.jeannehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05712278994238765336noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3565300.post-1059318798578898742003-07-27T08:13:00.000-07:002003-07-27T08:13:18.543-07:00Anytime I say anything positive about Bush and Company, I end up eating my words later. But fools rush in...
The news that they're planning to triple the amount of aid to Afghanistan sure sounds like a good thing. The United States never had a better opportunity to contribute to the development of a democracy in an Islamic country than it had in Afghanistan, and we simply threw it away. I don't jeannehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05712278994238765336noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3565300.post-1059313594866751592003-07-27T06:46:00.000-07:002003-07-27T06:49:06.613-07:00I have mixed feelings about the prospect of Arianna Huffington running for governor. Maybe my discomfort is just a matter of her style -- too slick, too celebrity-wanna-be. Maybe it's because I first got to know her as the conservative wife of my conservative congressman (who, by the way, is also running.), and I'm wary of political converts. Sometimes they're trustworthy; sometimes they're jeannehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05712278994238765336noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3565300.post-1059252538023354112003-07-26T13:48:00.000-07:002003-07-26T14:05:16.983-07:00George Soros has been reading Billmon. He will be running full page ads in the New York Times the St. Louis Dispatch, and the Houston Chronicle tomorrow with a list of a dozen Bush administration lies about the war. You can download a copy of the ad -- headlined WHEN THE NATION GOES TO WAR, THE PEOPLE DESERVE THE TRUTH -- here.
UPDATE: Oh, Jeez, I was kidding about Billmon, but check out the jeannehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05712278994238765336noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3565300.post-1059240914702495352003-07-26T10:35:00.000-07:002003-07-26T10:38:11.566-07:00I find it very hard to make sense of what Bush is doing in Liberia.
From today's New York Times:
President Bush gave orders today for a naval amphibious force that includes 2,300 marines to sail from the Mediterranean and nearby waters to a position off the coast of Liberia, but left vague what its specific mission would be.
So, we're sending more than 2,000 marines to somewhere in the vicinity jeannehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05712278994238765336noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3565300.post-1059240899745597472003-07-26T10:34:00.000-07:002003-07-26T10:34:59.646-07:00I find it very hard to make sense of what Bush is doing in Liberia.
From today's New York Times:
President Bush gave orders today for a naval amphibious force that includes 2,300 marines to sail from the Mediterranean and nearby waters to a position off the coast of Liberia, but left vague what its specific mission would be.
So, we're sending more than 2,000 marines to somewhere in the vicinity jeannehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05712278994238765336noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3565300.post-1059235283143786922003-07-26T09:01:00.000-07:002003-07-26T09:01:43.356-07:00Miracle of miracles! What do you know? Gray Davis is running as -- of all things -- a Democrat, and a progressive one at that:
Davis, who has sought in recent days to portray himself in a more liberal light, moving away from a carefully calculated image as a centrist, made his only public appearance with his wife, Sharon, at a battered-women's shelter in East Los Angeles. Surrounding himself withjeannehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05712278994238765336noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3565300.post-1059172734305385812003-07-25T15:38:00.000-07:002003-07-25T15:38:54.273-07:00Apparently the blues have passed (see the post below) and I feel like I have something I have to say -- albeit something brief.
I hate Green bashing. Democrats need to stop blaming Greens for everything and reach out to them. If you can't find a whole lot to agree with Greens on, you're so far outside the history of what the Democratic Party has always stood for that you shouldn't even call jeannehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05712278994238765336noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3565300.post-1059158140555898172003-07-25T11:35:00.000-07:002003-07-25T13:28:53.626-07:00Blogger Blues
I gathered together a bunch of things I wanted to write about, looked at them all, and suddenly felt...well...dumb -- in both sense of the word. Speechless and stupid. I don't know if it's me or the news, but I suspect the former. I know ignorance isn't supposed to stop anyone from blogging, but awareness of my own ignorance seems to have cut off the supply of ideas and opinions to jeannehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05712278994238765336noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3565300.post-1059006021923102672003-07-23T17:20:00.000-07:002003-07-23T17:20:48.896-07:00Consider how the Eli Lillies grow
Interesting revelation in the fight to allow Americans to import prescription drugs. With even Republicans supporting it, the drug companies are running scared, but they have one ally -- Christians. Or some group of people going by that name anyway.
The Traditional Values Coalition (TVC) portrays its campaign as a moral fight for the "sanctity of life." Documentsjeannehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05712278994238765336noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3565300.post-1059005972590647552003-07-23T17:19:00.000-07:002003-07-23T17:19:32.433-07:00Interesting revelation in the fight to allow Americans to import prescription drugs. With even Republicans supporting it, the drug companies are running scared, but they have one ally -- Christians. Or some group of people going by that name anyway.
The Traditional Values Coalition (TVC) portrays its campaign as a moral fight for the "sanctity of life." Documents provided to The Washington Post, jeannehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05712278994238765336noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3565300.post-1059004337190585742003-07-23T16:52:00.000-07:002003-07-23T16:52:24.943-07:00Getting to the bottom of Yellowcakegate
The janitor did it.jeannehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05712278994238765336noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3565300.post-1058976357942719712003-07-23T09:05:00.000-07:002003-07-23T09:15:54.080-07:00Let's Do The Time Warp Again
I know I'm way behind on this story -- You don't really expect me to keep up on all the twists in turns in the yellowcake saga, do you? I mean, I do have a life, you know, and this administration turns out fiction faster than Joyce Carol Oates -- but the most recent version I've heard is that Stephen Hadley, a deputy to Condoleeza Rice, says it's all his fault. In jeannehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05712278994238765336noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3565300.post-1058966896626262832003-07-23T06:28:00.000-07:002003-07-23T06:30:32.266-07:00Conversation with a Republican friend responding to the bumper sticker on my car
Him: So you're for Dean?
Me: Sort of. We need a fighter. If a better one comes along, the bumper sticker's gone. Dean's really pretty far to my right?
Him: To your right?
Me: He's not a leftist, although the media spins it that way. He's pro-death penalty, anti-gun control...
Him: Sounds like my kind of guy.
Me: Injeannehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05712278994238765336noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3565300.post-1058923658462032802003-07-22T18:27:00.000-07:002003-07-22T18:27:38.446-07:00In June, 1972, I was sitting on the ground at an anti-war rally in People's Park, in Berkeley, when someone came to the podium to announce that George Wallace had just been shot. I'm not sure how many people reading this are old enough to remember Wallace as anything other than a black and white photo in a history book, or are able to summon up the visceral hatred his name evoked in anyone who jeannehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05712278994238765336noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3565300.post-1058889232366474342003-07-22T08:53:00.000-07:002003-07-22T08:53:52.173-07:00The National Library of Iraq.jeannehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05712278994238765336noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3565300.post-1058887626069862542003-07-22T08:27:00.000-07:002003-07-22T08:27:05.983-07:00Yesterday I was complaining about Bush's confusing and indecisive policy on Liberia. The "ambivalence continues, even after a day in which the death toll in Monrovia may have gone over 600, and humanitarian workers warned of a "doomsday scenario."
Today Liberal Oasis has a clear-eyed post -- with lots of worthwhile links -- on how Bush's confusion has made the situation in Liberia more dangerousjeannehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05712278994238765336noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3565300.post-1058805517599634152003-07-21T09:38:00.000-07:002003-07-21T16:30:13.750-07:00Mortar fire hit the U.S. Embassy in Liberia today.
It surprises me how little I've read in blogs about the situation in Liberia, despite the fact that we seem to be edging into a war there. Maybe it's too complicated, and doesn't lend itself to partisanship. Maybe. Howard Dean has called for 2,000 American troops to be sent to Liberia (and Rush Limbaugh excoriated him as a hypocrite for doing so jeannehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05712278994238765336noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3565300.post-1058735404309863702003-07-20T14:10:00.000-07:002003-07-20T14:18:29.256-07:00Do you know how bad the intelligence about uranium from Niger was?
Via CalPundit, and the LA Times, I just learned that it's source was an Italian journalist named Elisabetta Burba, who works for the weekly Panorama. But Panorama -- which, by the way, is owned by Silvio Berlusconi (yes, that Silvio Berlusconi), and which is not exactly a news source with high standards -- didn't print the story jeannehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05712278994238765336noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3565300.post-1058724360613611512003-07-20T11:06:00.000-07:002003-07-20T11:27:07.650-07:00Judith Miller: The weapons were there, but the plans for finding them were chaotic and the Pentagon was reluctant "to make the mission an urgent priority."
Send Ahmad home, dear. There are people you don't need in your life. Make yourself a nice cup of chamomile, and ask yourself: Might there be a reason the Pentagon didn't make finding weapons an urgent priority?jeannehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05712278994238765336noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3565300.post-1058723325236384702003-07-20T10:48:00.000-07:002003-07-20T10:49:45.976-07:00Reading, this week, about the House's decison to block UNFPA funding because of fear-mongering about the money being used to support China's one-child policy, which can lead to coercive abortions, one thing I didn't doubt is that China had an enforced one-child policy. But an article in today's NYT, on the sale of baby girls in one rural Chinese province, undercuts that assumption. For the most jeannehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05712278994238765336noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3565300.post-1058721948337909032003-07-20T10:25:00.000-07:002003-07-20T10:25:48.263-07:00Bush had no intelligence
Pity the poor New York Times, which has plenty of fine reporters, and uncovers stuff other papers miss, but is so committed to defending the actions of the powerful that it often doesn't know what to do with the stuff it gets.
Witness this article on the poor Bushies, "blinded" by the almost total lack of intelligence coming out of Iraq after 1998. Is is any wonder the jeannehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05712278994238765336noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3565300.post-1058710146377642042003-07-20T07:09:00.001-07:002003-07-20T11:16:05.800-07:00Dana Milbank is a jewel. Is any other professional reporter looking closely not only at the lies about uranium, but at the whole pattern of "exaggerated intelligence" (lacking any back-up from the CIA) that has been pouring out of the White House the past year?
More Milbanks, please.
UPDATE: It's not the news section, but the NYT has a good op-ed going after the other big lie: the alleged ties jeannehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05712278994238765336noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3565300.post-1058710184144696442003-07-20T07:09:00.000-07:002003-07-20T07:14:33.636-07:00Do I have this right?
One of the reasons the war in Iraq was so short (not counting the post-war war, of course) is that it actually started in mid-2002? Not just airstrikes to protect the no-fly zone, which everybody knew about, but attacks that "laid the foundation for the military campaign against the Baghdad government?"
According to the New York Times, the administration turned down a plan jeannehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05712278994238765336noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3565300.post-1058569546073969772003-07-18T16:05:00.000-07:002003-07-18T16:05:50.920-07:00Personally, I'm a native Catholic speaker, but I'm fluent in Baptist as well, and I'm working on my Buddhist. I wonder if John Kerry speaks Jewish.jeannehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05712278994238765336noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3565300.post-1058562213467766752003-07-18T14:03:00.000-07:002003-07-18T14:03:33.450-07:00A small victory for independent humanitarian aid groups working in Iraq, although it's amazing that this ever arose as an issue:
Bush and Company were trying to force NGOs in Iraq to get approval before they talked to reporters. According to the LA Times, "some aid workers said they saw the request as an attempt by the Bush administration to use its financial clout to make the groups serve U.S. jeannehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05712278994238765336noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3565300.post-1058559831688218912003-07-18T13:23:00.000-07:002003-07-18T18:21:58.860-07:00Quel scandale!jeannehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05712278994238765336noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3565300.post-1058555421279283692003-07-18T12:10:00.000-07:002003-07-18T12:10:21.263-07:00Bush administration officials have sought to limit the influence of other countries in the Iraq reconstruction, fearing that shared power could interfere with their effort to build a free-market, democratic state at the center of a new Middle East.
What a bizarre sentence! It must be really hard for journalists to translate Bush reasoning into comprehensible English. Am I supposed to take it thatjeannehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05712278994238765336noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3565300.post-1058553368977057192003-07-18T11:36:00.000-07:002003-07-18T14:49:15.433-07:00The LA Times fronts a long, detailed article on all the screw-ups in the occupation of Iraq -- late starts on planning, failure to anticipate some pretty obvious problems, the usual agency infighting and lack of co-ordination, too few boots on the ground, rosy scenarios. Basically, Bush and Company were Chalabied about what to expect after the war. It's long, but well worth reading. Because of jeannehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05712278994238765336noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3565300.post-1058540955134515062003-07-18T08:09:00.000-07:002003-07-18T08:10:06.876-07:00Iraqi security
So basically the plan is rent-a-cops?jeannehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05712278994238765336noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3565300.post-1058540853883508612003-07-18T08:07:00.000-07:002003-07-18T08:07:33.886-07:00I'm getting a bit peeved with the press's use of the phrase "flawed intelligence" to describe the uranium story. You can make a case that Bill Clinton took military action on flawed intelligence, and that itself is contemptible. But there is a world of difference between the irresponsibility of acting without adequate proof, or having evidence that's open to varying interpretations, and choosing jeannehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05712278994238765336noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3565300.post-1058447294874644962003-07-17T06:08:00.000-07:002003-07-17T17:59:33.480-07:00A couple of months ago, Nicholas Kristoff wrote a powerful piece in the New York Times on obstetric fistulas, a horrible condition that destroys the health and lives of women in the developing world. As Kristoff noted, the primary sponsor of programs to prevent and treat fistulas is the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA).
It does a lot more than that, supporting health care, family planning,jeannehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05712278994238765336noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3565300.post-1058446666150603752003-07-17T05:57:00.000-07:002003-07-17T06:10:45.430-07:00I must admit, everything I know about Bill Pryor's Court of Appeals nomination I learned from Sam Heldman. It's one of those topics I really ought to know more about, but can't quite wrap my brain and my righteous indignation around. I just let Sam get indignant for me.
At least I don't need to tax my brain with legal intricacies to get mad about this:
GOP Attorneys General Asked For Corporate jeannehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05712278994238765336noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3565300.post-1058369070958542252003-07-16T08:24:00.000-07:002003-07-16T12:04:10.916-07:00Can we all agree that Ahmed Chalabi is one of the slimiest brown-nosers anyone has ever encountered? Check out this report from Salam Pax on the Iraqi governing council's first meeting:
They sat in that semi-circle, smiling nervously, with the exception of Mr Chalabi, who looked very relaxed. For some reason, at the end of the conference he went to the edge of the podium and took a bow in front jeannehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05712278994238765336noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3565300.post-1058362810828480432003-07-16T06:40:00.000-07:002003-07-16T07:20:42.576-07:00The 36 Lies That Launched A War
I haven't counted the words, but I know it's more than sixteen, and no matter how you twist things, you can't blame Tenet for all of them.
Meanwhile, Joe Conason has either caught Bush in a senior moment, or another lie.jeannehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05712278994238765336noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3565300.post-1058288754209824992003-07-15T10:05:00.000-07:002003-07-15T10:05:54.183-07:00Maybe I spoke too soon.
Awhile back I expressed some admiration for Bill Gates' philanthropic work, which attracted plenty of controversy. The main objection was that Gates' actions were simply ameliorative -- that he made a fortune in a lousy system and then made himself look good by giving away a piece of it, without doing anything to change the lousy system. The reason I didn't buy that jeannehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05712278994238765336noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3565300.post-1058281365731449842003-07-15T08:02:00.000-07:002003-07-15T08:03:00.080-07:00"American interests": A desultory philippic (which sounds so much nicer than "a rant")
What does the phrase "American interests" mean?
That question's been bugging me for years, since the first time I heard a college Republican kid argue that anti-sweatshop protesters hated America and American interests. That made no sense whatsoever to me, until it hit me that to the speaker, "American jeannehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05712278994238765336noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3565300.post-1058202680778953242003-07-14T10:11:00.000-07:002003-07-14T10:11:20.776-07:00USA Today has an interesting article about George Tenet, and the conflict in the administration over the benefit of getting rid of someone who was skeptical about convenient intelligence versus the danger of having an angry ex-C.I.A. director running loose.
Between a sick child and company yesterday, I've been a little out of the loop when it comes to news, including this story. I didn't even jeannehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05712278994238765336noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3565300.post-1058202630894849352003-07-14T10:10:00.000-07:002003-07-14T17:04:53.900-07:00It's just one word, but...
The word is "occupation," and apparently it has very different connotations to different people.
Tacitus has a thought-provoking post up about the Iraqi governing council that was appointed this weekend. He sees plenty of cause for hope.
I don't think it's unreasonable to see some rays of light there. Getting the SCIRI on board is no small accomplishment, and although jeannehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05712278994238765336noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3565300.post-1057964430465142442003-07-11T16:00:00.000-07:002003-07-11T16:07:24.846-07:00Everything I put up today is also posted at my TypePad site, where there's a comments section, in case anyone feels the urge to comment.
And speaking of TypePad, apparently two people on my blogroll -- Al-Mujahaba and Randy Paul -- are also trying it out.jeannehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05712278994238765336noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3565300.post-1057963877482862132003-07-11T15:51:00.000-07:002003-07-11T17:18:35.680-07:00I have to warn you before you read this: My daughter has spent the day throwing up on the carpet, and I've spent the day cleaning up, making straciatella, playing Parcheesi, and reading Harry Potter aloud. I won't vouch for the quality of my thought processes at the moment.
If the recall against Gray Davis goes through (and it looks like it will), no high profile Democrats are planning to run, jeannehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05712278994238765336noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3565300.post-1057938615058960752003-07-11T08:50:00.000-07:002003-07-11T08:50:58.413-07:00Cojones I don't know about, but Democrats do seem to have acquired vocal chords lately -- and not just when it comes to Iraq. On one of the most important issues for me, Democrats are calling Bush's bluff on the alleged $15 billion for AIDS relief in Africa (the money isn't there, but Bush is getting some nice photo ops out of it.)
A word of advice to Democrats: If you want to know what's jeannehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05712278994238765336noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3565300.post-1057935210063211372003-07-11T07:53:00.000-07:002003-07-11T07:53:29.923-07:00One of the things that has concerned me most about this war -- as well as the war in Afghanistan -- is the way humanitarian and military work have been mixed. The most dangerous part is the attempt to make relief workers operate under Defense Department jurisdiction, right down to wearing military i.d. tags. In a hostile environment -- and I don't think there's much doubt anymore that there is jeannehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05712278994238765336noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3565300.post-1057935161214497182003-07-11T07:52:00.000-07:002003-07-11T07:52:41.073-07:00Fascinating article in today's Christian Science Monitor on partnerships between NGOs and businesses to make capitalism work without crushing human rights and destroying the environment.
There are real opportunities here, but also a danger that NGOs that have become effective watchdogs could end up serving as cover for abuses. It's certainly an interesting development to keep an eye on, though.jeannehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05712278994238765336noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3565300.post-1057927873755566502003-07-11T05:51:00.000-07:002003-07-11T05:54:03.600-07:00READ.
Bush Knew Iraq Info Was FalseSenior administration officials tell CBS News the President’s mistaken claim that Iraq tried to buy uranium from Africa was included in his State of the Union address -- despite objections from the CIA.
Traveling with the president in Africa, national security adviser Condoleezza Rice on Friday said that the CIA had cleared the reference to the attempted jeannehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05712278994238765336noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3565300.post-1057890318970458402003-07-10T19:25:00.000-07:002003-07-10T19:25:18.940-07:00I seriously considered participating in Blogathon2003, in which bloggers commit to posting every thirty minutes for twenty-four hours straight to raise money for their favorite charities. Unfortunately (unfortunately...yeah, right, anybody buying that one?), I'm going on a trip the day after, and didn't think it would be a great idea to head out in the car without making the acquaintance of my jeannehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05712278994238765336noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3565300.post-1057855448686406502003-07-10T09:44:00.000-07:002003-07-10T09:46:49.113-07:00Two recent events offer George Bush an opportunity to prove that human rights are not just something he trots out when he needs an excuse to invade a country:
The Indian government has asked the U.S. to extradite Warren Anderson, the former chair of Union Carbide, because of his role in the Bhopal disaster.
The State Department made a strange decision to certify the Colombian government in jeannehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05712278994238765336noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3565300.post-1057766456499706072003-07-09T09:00:00.000-07:002003-07-11T06:25:12.233-07:00Help
Posting will probably be light today. I'm testing the beta TypePad service, where I'll probably be moving this blog pretty soon, and getting the new page to look the way I want is taking quite a bit of my time (a computer whiz I am not).
The new site is here, if you'd like to visit (it's still under construction.) There are comments, so you can help me out by telling me what you think.
jeannehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05712278994238765336noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3565300.post-1057763954974913372003-07-09T08:19:00.000-07:002003-07-09T08:20:11.273-07:00One more reason I'm a Democrat
On Goree Island in Senegal yesterday, George Bush gave a good, if not quite Clintonesque, speech about the horrors of slavery. The residents of Goree Island were unimpressed but that might be because they didn't get to hear it. They had all been removed from their homes and taken to a football stadium on the other side of the island until after the president had jeannehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05712278994238765336noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3565300.post-1057701124152258772003-07-08T14:52:00.000-07:002003-07-08T14:52:04.130-07:00SAFE is a new non-profit organization focused on raising public awareness of the importance of preserving cultural antiquities. They just launched their website today.
If you've followed the issue of the looting and destruction of Iraqi antiquities and are interested in following up, take a look at some ways you can help.jeannehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05712278994238765336noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3565300.post-1057698650928995682003-07-08T14:10:00.000-07:002003-07-08T14:12:33.640-07:00I love this: When George Bush gets to Nigeria, he will have to travel on the Bill Clinton Highway.jeannehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05712278994238765336noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3565300.post-1057694934420805182003-07-08T13:08:00.000-07:002003-07-08T13:10:38.313-07:00Bill Howell at StoutDem thinks there is something a little misleading about Feministis for Kucinich who make six points about why they support Dennis Kucinich for president, only one of which is directly related to a feminist issue.
I'm not sure I agree. I wouldn't be surprised to see a labor union come out in support of a candidate, for instance, and give several reasons that weren't directly jeannehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05712278994238765336noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3565300.post-1057687328800550792003-07-08T11:02:00.000-07:002003-07-08T12:48:02.316-07:00Yesterday. Ugh.
I looked at the front page of the newspaper and decided to go shopping, working on the assumption that I can't do a thing about Liberia, but I can replace worn-out shoes. (I hate shopping. I wait until things are falling apart before I replace them. I look at shoes the way George Bush looks at countries.)
I'm not sure what brings on that overwhelmed feeling. The news wasn't any jeannehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05712278994238765336noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3565300.post-1057420944849408952003-07-05T09:02:00.000-07:002003-07-05T09:03:22.326-07:00HAPPY FIFTH OF JULY
What? You thought patriotism season ended yesterday?
Suddenly I feel all crazy happy proud to be an American, without getting too sappy about it. And determined to live up to the responsibility that entails. Thank you, Julia.
jeannehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05712278994238765336noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3565300.post-1057331532451275422003-07-04T08:12:00.000-07:002003-07-04T08:14:17.593-07:00What is the depth of the American soul if we can allow destruction to be done in our name and the name of "liberation" and never even demand an accounting of its costs, both personal and public, when it is over?
We like to take comfort in the notion that people make a distinction between our government and ourselves. We like to say that the people of the world love Americans, they simply jeannehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05712278994238765336noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3565300.post-1057328549756279712003-07-04T07:22:00.000-07:002003-07-04T07:23:08.250-07:00Mexico's Supreme Court recently ruled that a former Argentine military officer, Ricardo Miguel Cavallo, could be extradited to Spain for crimes committed during Argentina's "dirty war." This is important, a small step forward in eliminating immunity for atrocities.
George Bush is rather fond of immunity for atrocities, at least he acts as if he is. The Economist and the LA Times both have pieces jeannehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05712278994238765336noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3565300.post-1057267497684763022003-07-03T14:24:00.000-07:002003-07-03T14:33:09.076-07:00There's an interesting article up at the Institute for War and Peace Reporting on the Iraqi police. Last weekend I mentioned the Washington Post article about Iraq being administered largely by former military and police officers with Baath Party ties. This week, both the Washington Post and the New York Times have done articles on the "tainted" Iraqi police. The NYT tells a story of poor jeannehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05712278994238765336noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3565300.post-1057259304124567272003-07-03T12:08:00.000-07:002003-07-03T12:12:18.473-07:00Some good news for a change: The Ibn Khaldun Center is an Egyptian organization focused on doing research and advocating for democracy. It's been closed for three years, since the arrest of its chair, Saad Eddin Ibrahim. Dr. Ibrahim was acquitted by Egypt's Court of Cassation on March 18. And now the Ibn Khaldun Center has re-opened.
But according to a recent article in the Christian Science jeannehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05712278994238765336noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3565300.post-1057249681604562942003-07-03T09:28:00.000-07:002003-07-03T09:29:25.050-07:00If you've been reading this blog for awhile, you know that I keep harping on the games Bush and Company have played with promising money for AIDS relief in Africa. The latest mind-boggler: Bush selected someone to head the program -- the former CEO of Eli Lilly.
They're not even making an effort to hide the corruption, are they?jeannehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05712278994238765336noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3565300.post-1057249127587648662003-07-03T09:18:00.000-07:002003-07-03T09:18:47.566-07:00Speaking of conservatives who hate America (see the post below), Dan Walters, of the Sacramento Bee, would like California to be more like Third World countries -- in other words, ordered by the World Bank and the IMF to privatize everything -- and I do mean everything -- and eliminate all social programs.
Liberals often get creamed for looking fondly on other countries' health care systems. jeannehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05712278994238765336noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3565300.post-1057248966591188852003-07-03T09:16:00.000-07:002003-07-03T09:16:06.573-07:00Avedon Carol has an example of what makes right-wing professional patriotism so galling:
Somewhere in the last 24 hours I came across a post on a weblog in which someone (I would be grateful if someone would remind of who) quoted a conservative to the effect that the current crop of loonies is making America great. Making America great. As if America had not already been great, had never before jeannehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05712278994238765336noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3565300.post-1056979408898049112003-06-30T06:23:00.000-07:002003-06-30T06:24:29.913-07:00"Mother was really left of center; women's suffrage was her great cause, and I remember appearing at all the local fairs carrying huge flocks of balloons that said 'Votes for Women.' I almost went up with them." -- Katharine Hepburn (1907-2003)
This will sound strange, I'm sure, but I don't feel the least bit sad about Hepburn's death. She did exactly what she wanted to do in life, did it with jeannehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05712278994238765336noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3565300.post-1056979179565313282003-06-30T06:19:00.000-07:002003-06-30T06:32:14.920-07:00Cheerful news for Monday
The president doesn't even know who's in charge of looking for WMDs in Iraq.
Warren Rudman: We are all less safe because Bush hasn't put real money into preparing for terrorist attacks.
jeannehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05712278994238765336noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3565300.post-1056979025915174642003-06-30T06:17:00.000-07:002003-06-30T06:17:05.880-07:00Trish Wilson has an intriguing post up about a new study of how children are effected by a parent -- either the parent the child lives with, or the non-custodial parent -- moving away after a divorce. Among the surprising findings:
Children who lived with their mothers, and whose fathers moved away, were marginally better off than children whose fathers continued to live nearby.
Children who jeannehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05712278994238765336noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3565300.post-1056898187170177552003-06-29T07:49:00.000-07:002003-06-29T07:52:48.520-07:00The LA Times reports that the Bush Administration is considering setting up a standing global peacekeeping force, led and trained by the U.S., and operating outside the auspices of the U.N.
Trained by the U.S.? I guess that makes sense, now that we've so clearly proven ourselves masters of nation building.
Okay, sarcasm aside, is it a good idea?
Some of the words sound nice, but I still doubt it.jeannehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05712278994238765336noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3565300.post-1056820705582557442003-06-28T10:18:00.000-07:002003-06-28T10:18:25.536-07:00So the democracy in Iraq thing didn't work out too well, did it?
Something I heard Tom Friedman say before the war came to mind this morning. He said -- casually, the horrible thing about Friedman is the nonchalance he summons while saying things like this -- that we might discover after the war that Iraq could only be governed by a thug, and that we might have to be "the new Saddam Hussein."
jeannehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05712278994238765336noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3565300.post-1056817308652428672003-06-28T09:21:00.000-07:002003-06-28T09:25:23.100-07:00In the current issue of Art News, there's a fascinating article on what happened to Iraq's national museum, based on interviews with residents of the museum's neighborhood, museum officials, U.S. troops, and Americans involved in investigating the looting. Suffice it to say, the difficulty of protecting the museum from looting was greater than I appreciated, but plenty of opportunities to protectjeannehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05712278994238765336noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3565300.post-1056755074335932892003-06-27T16:04:00.000-07:002003-06-27T16:04:34.300-07:00The MoveOn Primary results are up. Nobody got 50%, which I think is probably a good thing at this point.
By the way, I had trouble voting and I heard that some people couldn't get in at all. Did anyone else have that experience?jeannehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05712278994238765336noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3565300.post-1056754202675914712003-06-27T15:50:00.000-07:002003-06-27T15:51:36.076-07:00Don't try to convince Kevin about the evils of socialized medicine. He's having one of those something's wrong here moments.
I had the same feeling eight years ago, when I was sent home from the hospital less than two days after a Caesarian, while I was still unable to turn over in bed without help. I was back in the emergency room three times the next night (with a newborn baby in my arms, and jeannehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05712278994238765336noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3565300.post-1056741660679427152003-06-27T12:21:00.000-07:002003-06-27T12:24:41.500-07:00I apologize for the lack of posts, but Blogger switched me over to its "new" version yesterday, at which point it stopped working completely. (The post below was posted this morning, but it wouldn't publish until now.)
It seems to be working now, but unfortunately, I'm not. I'll be back with more later.jeannehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05712278994238765336noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3565300.post-1056733003045540842003-06-27T09:56:00.000-07:002003-06-27T12:22:57.810-07:00Surf City
Sam Heldman finds a bright side to Scalia's temper.
Emma (responding to a fascinating post by Dave Pollard) expands on a previous post on corporations and morality. Why is it that corporations have all the rights of individuals (and then some), but none of the responsibilities?
Speaking of the inordinate power of corporations, Paul Krugman's column today offers a frightening example jeannehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05712278994238765336noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3565300.post-960209362003-06-25T09:37:00.000-07:002003-06-25T09:42:24.000-07:00One of these days I'm going to get around to writing a big fat post about children's literature, which is one of my deepest loves, despite the fact that I missed out on most of the best kiddie lit when I really was a kiddie. (Or maybe I love it now because I missed it then. There is something a bit odd about reading Charlotte's Web for the first time at 30, but it has its advantages.)
Let me get jeannehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05712278994238765336noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3565300.post-960042542003-06-24T21:20:00.000-07:002003-06-24T21:20:10.066-07:00War and Peace and Then Another War
Chapter IIjeannehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05712278994238765336noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3565300.post-959950462003-06-24T15:05:00.000-07:002003-06-24T15:16:32.000-07:00Yesterday I read a heartbreaking article in the New York Times on the toll that war in the Congo has taken on children.
The warlords have killed even childhood here.
As militia groups battle for control of this provincial town in Congo's northeast, Bunia's young are paying a high price. The war has shuttered their schools, left them lame and hungry, killed their parents before their eyes. It hasjeannehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05712278994238765336noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3565300.post-959844542003-06-24T08:58:00.000-07:002003-06-24T08:58:05.810-07:00Cowboy Kahlil has a moving reminder of the simple goodness Americans are capable of.jeannehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05712278994238765336noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3565300.post-959800512003-06-24T06:34:00.000-07:002003-06-24T06:34:52.966-07:00Everything you always wanted to know about WMDs in Iraq but were afraid to ask...
They lied.jeannehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05712278994238765336noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3565300.post-959679232003-06-23T20:25:00.000-07:002003-06-23T20:29:13.000-07:00Want to hear my Claude Rains imitation? I'm shocked. Shocked!
U.S. Aid Plan Comes Up Short
For months, President Bush has basked in praise from champions of the world's poor, such as the Irish rock star Bono, who have extolled the White House for ambitious proposals to boost foreign aid and provide treatment for African AIDS victims.
But now, congressional appropriators appear poised to approve jeannehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05712278994238765336noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3565300.post-959641652003-06-23T17:53:00.000-07:002003-06-24T16:38:42.000-07:00Soldier Says U.S. Army Turns Away Burned Iraqi Children in Need of Help
On a scorching afternoon, while on duty at an Army airfield, Sgt. David J. Borell was approached by an Iraqi who pleaded for help for his three children, burned when they set fire to a bag containing explosive powder left over from war in Iraq.
Borell immediately called for assistance. But the two Army doctors who arrived jeannehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05712278994238765336noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3565300.post-959553472003-06-23T12:13:00.000-07:002003-06-23T12:15:06.000-07:00For Kevin:
Sausage Sauce
1/2 lb. Italian sausage
1 large onion, chopped
1 clove garlic, chopped
1 can (16 oz.) tomatoes, chopped (or 5-6 medium, ripe tomatoes)
1 can (6 oz.) tomato paste
1 cup water
3/4 tsp. basil
3/4 tsp. oregano
1/2 tsp. salt
1/4 tsp. pepper
1/4 tsp. red pepper
Remove casings from sausage. Cook meat slowly in a medium-sized pan, breaking up with a spoon, until no pink remains. jeannehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05712278994238765336noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3565300.post-958962532003-06-21T10:23:00.000-07:002003-06-22T06:37:16.000-07:00 Having spent my entire voting life hanging on to the atrophying left wing of the Democratic Party, I normally take very little interest in who the party's presidential candidate will be, figuring that my preferences don't mean a hell of a lot. In the end, I will hold my nose and vote for a Democrat who is far to my right only because he's infinitely preferable to anything the Republicans have jeannehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05712278994238765336noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3565300.post-958952052003-06-21T09:34:00.000-07:002003-06-22T08:48:38.000-07:00A BUNCH OF INTRIGUING STUFF I WOULD HAVE LINKED TO LAST WEEK IF I'D BEEN HERE, BUT I WASN'T, SO NOW I'M CATCHING UP
Tim Dunlop on why blogging needs amateurs.
Halley on how blogging could allow women to change the face of business.
Emma, demonstrating the truth of Tim's argument about blogging amateurs, is an "economically challenged" non-economist who asks essential questions about corporate jeannehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05712278994238765336noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3565300.post-958643802003-06-20T08:02:00.000-07:002003-06-21T10:06:08.000-07:00I haven't looked at a newspaper since Monday morning, but as far as I can tell, nothing earth-shattering happened while I was gone. The headlines are dispiritingly similar to last week's. Soldiers are still dying in Iraq, and they still want to go home. They still haven't found any banned weapons in Iraq, but nobody cares (except John Kerry, who is displaying sudden outbursts of Rainsian -- or jeannehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05712278994238765336noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3565300.post-957171252003-06-16T07:33:00.000-07:002003-06-16T07:34:32.000-07:00I'll be in San Diego for most of this week and I assume blogging from Sea World and the zoo would be a little tough. See you on Friday.jeannehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05712278994238765336noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3565300.post-957165842003-06-16T07:15:00.000-07:002003-06-16T07:21:24.000-07:00I know I'm going to sound like a broken record, but humanitarian relief is not a public relations stunt -- not when it's done right. Today's New York Times and Washington Post have interesting articles about the military's mixed mission in Iraq -- hunting down stray Baathists and carrying out "high-visibility relief projects for Iraqi civilians." I'm afraid that adjective may be far too telling. jeannehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05712278994238765336noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3565300.post-957151182003-06-16T06:26:00.000-07:002003-06-16T07:30:33.000-07:00Do you feel safer now?
One of George Bush's top counterterrorism experts -- and the man who replaced Oliver North on Reagan's NSC -- quit shortly before the war in Iraq started because, in his words, "The administration wasn't matching its deeds to its words in the war on terrorism. They're making us less secure, not more secure. As an insider, I saw the things that weren't being done. And the jeannehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05712278994238765336noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3565300.post-956954152003-06-15T15:25:00.000-07:002003-06-15T20:34:59.000-07:00One of the reasons I like the Los Angeles Times better than the New York Times is that they have the courage to put articles like this one on the front page: A two-part look at Unocal's involvement with the Burmese junta's brutal treatment of people who lived in the path of the Yadana pipeline, which was built by Unocal, Total, and the Burmese government's Myanma Oil and Gas Enterprise. Oddly jeannehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05712278994238765336noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3565300.post-956382622003-06-13T11:49:00.000-07:002003-06-13T19:21:00.000-07:00I'm rushed today, and won't have time to post much, if anything, but there are some fascinating posts up about the museum and archaelogical site looting in Iraq. Go read Hesiod, Trish Wilson, and Sean Malloy.
The most important point about this story, I think, is this: The looting has not stopped.
UPDATE: Teresa Nielsen Hayden explains it all for you.jeannehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05712278994238765336noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3565300.post-955140392003-06-10T10:29:00.000-07:002003-06-10T10:37:49.000-07:00I've been writing a lot lately about human rights, which can be extremely draining. It's a subject I've cared about for most of my life, but I understand why most people don't share my fanatic interest. There is only so much you can learn about the horrors human beings are capable of inflicting on each other before you scream, "Stop! I don't want to hear any more." Sometimes just carrying the jeannehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05712278994238765336noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3565300.post-955105392003-06-10T09:01:00.000-07:002003-06-10T09:07:53.000-07:00Several weeks ago, Steve Bates linked to some articles about plans to turn Guantanamo into a combination prison, courtroom, and execution chamber. Speedy justice. To be honest, I wasn't sure how trustworthy the sources were, and the "plans" sounded pretty tentative, so I hoped the story was just a bit of paranoia from the left. Uh-uh.jeannehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05712278994238765336noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3565300.post-955076592003-06-10T07:55:00.000-07:002003-06-10T07:56:28.000-07:00Via Beautiful Horizons, which does a great job of covering human rights issues, I discovered that there's opposition on the right to John Ashcroft's attempt to protect Unocal from a suit by Burmese citizens. Bravo! Go read Instapundit and Winds of Change on the issue.jeannehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05712278994238765336noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3565300.post-955050502003-06-10T06:49:00.000-07:002003-06-11T08:38:49.000-07:00"Even under the most crushing state machinery courage rises up again and again, for fear is not the natural state of civilized man." -- Daw Aung San Suu Kyi, Freedom From Fear
Burma seems to have gotten the blogosphere's attention lately -- and the press's -- which is entirely a good thing. When it comes to human rights, publicity is one of the most important tools, and the detention (and jeannehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05712278994238765336noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3565300.post-954857462003-06-09T16:54:00.000-07:002003-06-10T07:07:57.000-07:00I just discovered a wonderful idea for a human rights campaign.
Last year, George Bush not only unsigned the International Criminal Court treaty, he conducted a childish campaign to destroy it.
He didn't destroy it. The court came into existence -- without U.S. participation -- in July of last year, although American opposition is certainly a drawback.
Now here's the campaign: The ICC has set up jeannehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05712278994238765336noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3565300.post-954707942003-06-09T09:51:00.000-07:002003-06-09T09:59:26.000-07:00Today's Los Angeles Times has an editorial and two op-eds that are essential reading for anyone interested in human rights. The first deals with the Bush Administration's attempt to eviscerate the Alien Tort Claims Act, which allows foreigners to bring suit in American courts for violations of international law, including human rights abuses. It's one of the few tools victims have, but it's beingjeannehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05712278994238765336noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3565300.post-954707642003-06-09T09:50:00.000-07:002003-06-09T09:50:36.060-07:00The Los Angeles Times picks up on a topic I mentioned on Saturday: the destruction of both public and private sectors in Iraq, which creates a world beneficial for foreign businesses, not for Iraqis.
Some experts express concern that free-market capitalism, while efficient at channeling money to its most productive use, may be too much, too soon for a country struggling to emerge from decades ofjeannehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05712278994238765336noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3565300.post-954447502003-06-08T18:45:00.000-07:002003-06-09T08:47:25.000-07:00Hesiod found a really inspiring story: Abdel Mohsen Hammouda is an Egyptian political activist who's been suing the Egyptian repeatedly for decades, over various human rights issues. With each small victory, he expands the rights available in an extremely repressive country.
UPDATE: Jonathan Edelstein sees Abdel Mohsen Hammouda as part of an encouraging trend:
I noticed the article about the jeannehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05712278994238765336noreply@blogger.com