|
|||
Proudly afflicting the comfortable [and collecting shiny things] since March 2003 | |||
Send Magpie an email! RSS Feeds Click button to subscribe. Need a password? Click the button! Cost of the Iraq War [US$] (JavaScript Error)
[Find out more here]BLOGS WE LIKE 3quarksdaily Alas, a Blog alphabitch Back to Iraq Baghdad Burning Bitch Ph.D. blac (k) ademic Blog Report Blogs by Women BOPNews Broadsheet Burnt Orange Report Confined Space Cursor Daily Kos Dangereuse trilingue Echidne of the Snakes Effect Measure Eschaton (Atrios) feministe Feministing Firedoglake Follow Me Here gendergeek Gordon.Coale The Housing Bubble New! I Blame the Patriarchy Juan Cole/Informed Comment Kicking Ass The King's Blog The Krile Files Left Coaster librarian.net Loaded Orygun Making Light Marian's Blog mediagirl Muslim Wake Up! Blog My Left Wing NathanNewman.org The NewsHoggers Null Device Orcinus Pacific Views Pandagon The Panda's Thumb Pedantry Peking Duck Philobiblon Pinko Feminist Hellcat Political Animal Reality-Based Community Riba Rambles The Rittenhouse Review Road to Surfdom Romenesko SCOTUSblog The Sideshow The Silence of Our Friends New! Sisyphus Shrugged skippy Suburban Guerrilla Talk Left Talking Points Memo TAPPED This Modern World The Unapologetic Mexican New! veiled4allah Wampum War and Piece wood s lot xymphora MISSING IN ACTION Body and Soul fafblog General Glut's Globlog Respectful of Otters RuminateThis WHO'S IN CHARGE HERE? Magpie is a former journalist, attempted historian [No, you can't ask how her thesis is going], and full-time corvid of the lesbian persuasion. She keeps herself in birdseed by writing those bad computer manuals that you toss out without bothering to read them. She also blogs too much when she's not on deadline, both here and at Pacific Views. Magpie roosts in Portland, Oregon, where she annoys her housemates (as well as her cats Medea, Whiskers, and Jane Doe) by attempting to play Irish music on the fiddle and concertina. If you like, you can send Magpie an email! WHO LINKS TO MAGPIE? Ask Technorati. Or ask WhoLinksToMe.
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons License. |
Saturday, July 15, 2006
Sinking the Mideast further into violence and despair.
The Mideast is always hard for outsiders to understand, as the failure of decades of US policy in the region should make blindingly obvious. According to journalist Rami Khouri of the Beiruit-based Daily Star, observers of the Mideast tend to see the region's politics in simple black-and-white terms: Israel vs Palestine, Arabs vs Jews, good vs evil. This oversimplification is particularly obvious in how Dubya's administration and much of the US media are viewing the current conflict between Israel and Lebanon. Instead of being a fight between good and evil, as the prez would have it, the conflict is really the results of decades of action by fours pairs of actor that keep the Mideast in turmoil: Hamas and Hezbollah; Palestine and Lebanon; Syria and Iran; and Israel and the US. In a fairly short piece for Agence Global, Khouri manages to make more sense out of the current state of the Mideast than almost anything I've seen. Here's some of what he has to say: Hezbollah and Hamas emerged in the past decade as the main Arab political forces that resist the Israeli occupations in Lebanon and Palestine. They enjoy substantial popular support in their respective countries, while at the same time eliciting criticisms for their militant policies that inevitably draw harsh Israeli responses. We see this in Lebanon today as the Lebanese people broadly direct their anger at Israel for its brutal attacks against Lebanese civilian installations and fault Palestinians, other Arabs, Syria and Iran for perpetually making Lebanon the battleground for other conflicts -- but more softly question Hezbollah's decision to trigger this latest calamity. According to Khouri, Hamas, Hezbollah, Israel and the other partners will be unable to break out of their current 'death dance' until they are willing to give up the failed policies that have kept the various Mideast conflicts alive for decades. The way to break this cycle is for all actors to negotiate a political solution that responds to their legitimate grievances and demands. Everyone involved seems prepared to do this, except for Israel and the United States, who rely on military force, prolonged occupations, and diplomatic sanctions and threats. What will Israel and the United States do when there are no more Arab airports, bridges and power stations to destroy? The futility of such policies should be clear by now, and therefore a diplomatic solution should be sought seriously for the first time. Read the rest of the article here. It's really worth your time. | | Posted by Magpie at 10:48 AM | Get permalink
Friday, July 14, 2006
Everything you need to know about global warming.
The climate scientists over at Real Climate give this comprehensive site by Spencer Weart a big thumbs-up. So do I. Since 2001, scientific advances have confirmed that we are fast approaching one of the most serious challenges our civilization has ever faced. Improved computer models and an abundance of data have strengthened the intergovernmental panel's conclusion that several degrees of warming are likely within this century. The only expert views that have recently been thrown into doubt are beliefs that certain threats were distant. Stronger hurricanes and disintegrating ice sheets, for example, may bring harm sooner than most scientists had expected. In some regions, damage from climate change has already become grievously visible. Worse, there are hints that the warming is beginning to generate further warming, all by itself. The political news is a bit better. A large number of individuals, government units, and corporate entities have realized that there is much they can do, and must do. They have taken the first steps toward effective action. There's enough info available on Wearts' site to keep you busy for a long time. You can jump in if you go here. Even better, you can download the whole site as a ZIP file and run it on your own computer, or you can order a copy on CD-ROM. And if you've never checked out Real Climate, I recommend it highly, too. | | Posted by Magpie at 10:21 AM | Get permalink
First as tragedy, then as farce.
Mideast reporter Chris Allbritton has an interesting observation about Israel's current military action against Lebanon and Hezbollah: From Wikipedia:In August [1981], Israeli prime minister Menachem Begin was re-elected, and in September, Begin and his defense minister Ariel Sharon began to lay plans for a second invasion of Lebanon for the purpose of driving out the PLO. Sharon’s intention was to “destroy the PLO military infrastructure and, if possible, the PLO leadership itself; this would mean attacking West Beirut, where the PLO headquarters and command bunkers were located” (Smith, op. cit., p. 377). Via Back to Iraq. | | Posted by Magpie at 10:09 AM | Get permalink
Thursday, July 13, 2006
L'état, c'est Part of an exchange on Tuesday between US Sen. Patrick Leahy (D-VT) and Steven Bradbury, head of the Justice Department's Office of Legal Counsel. Leahy was questioning Bradbury about Dubya's apparent belief that the Supreme Court's Hamdan decision affirmed his right to hold prisoners indefinitely at Guantánamo despite the fact that the truth is exactly the opposite. Bradbury asserts Dubya's divine right to govern at a Senate hearing on Tuesday. LEAHY: The president has said very specifically, and he's said it to our European allies, he's waiting for the Supreme Court decision to tell him whether or not he was supposed to close Guantanamo or not. After, he said it upheld his position on Guantanamo, and in fact it said neither. Where did he get that impression? The President's not a lawyer, you are. The Justice Department advised him. Did you give him such a cockamamie idea or what? Think Progress has video of the exchange here. | | Posted by Magpie at 12:18 AM | Get permalink
Wednesday, July 12, 2006
'Why don't the Americans just go home?'
Riverbend has posted again. You should just go read the whole thing. Via Baghdad Burning. | | Posted by Magpie at 12:18 PM | Get permalink
What happens when fear and paranoia rule.
From the Wall Street Journal, a story that shows the kind of country that the US has become post-9/11: Last November, when Yassine Ouassif crossed into Champlain, N.Y., from Canada, border agents questioned him for several hours. Then they took away his green card and sent him home to San Francisco by bus, with strict instructions: As soon as he got there, he was to call a man named Dan. That's not the worst part of Ouassif's story, either. Read the rest here. Just remember: Anything that Dubya's administration is willing to do to Ouassif, they could someday be willing to do to you or me. Sleep tight. Via Talk Left. | | Posted by Magpie at 12:29 AM | Get permalink
A Fairport treat.
Lately, my pal alphabitch has been posting some wonderful links to YouTube videos of performances by Fairport Convention, Sandy Denny, and Richard Thompson. Given that I've been accused of being something of a Thompson/Fairport geek, she was delighted to find that I'd never seen this clip of the pre-Sandy Denny version of the band, where they showed themselves to be excellent US-style folk-rockers. But lest alphabitch get too big for her britches, I'm posting a link to something I'm sure she's never seen: this 1970 clip from an outdoor concert by the post-Denny lineup of Richard Thompson, Dave Swarbrick, Simon Nicol, Dave Pegg, and Dave Mattacks. (Yes, I think you had to be named 'Dave' to be in the band.) A very young Richard Thompson finishes his vocal on 'Now Be Thankful.' The clip features 'Now Be Thankful,' which I think is one of the finest songs that Fairport recorded. Period. It's one of the few songs that Richard Thompson and Dave Swarbrick wrote together and was also (I think) the last song that Thompson recorded while he was with Fairport. Initially released only as a single, the song has since surfaced on a few Fairport compilations often in an inferior mono mix which is sad given what an excellent piece of work it is. One has to wonder what other Thompson-Swarbrick compositions might have resulted had Thompson decided not to leave Fairport shortly after this video was taken. The clip, incidentally, comes from a 1987 Fairport documentary called 'It All Comes 'Round Again,' which has not been released on DVD to my knowledge. Sadly, even the VHS version is hard to come by. | | Posted by Magpie at 12:12 AM | Get permalink
Ooooooh, shiny!
Lightning photography by Aussie storm chaser Michael Bath! Lightning over Ballina, New South Wales on 23 December 1990. Bath has been photographing lightning storms for almost 20 years, and his website contains hundreds of photos. Unlike some photographers, he's generous with the technical knowledge he's gained over the years, and gives good advice on how to get smokin' hot lightning photos of your own. I lived in the Midwest for 10 years, and the thing I miss the most is the loud and dramatic summer thunderstorms. (In a decade of living in Oregon, I have yet to see a thunderstorm that would rate higher than 'pathetic' by Midwest standards.] Bath's photos are almost as good as being back. | | Posted by Magpie at 12:07 AM | Get permalink
Uh-oh. Osama's going to hit the petting zoo.
I think I know now why federal anti-terrorism money gets allocated in such weird ways. Yeah, the old pork barrel has something to do with it. But an even more likely reason why New York and Washington DC had their anti-terror funding cut, while Louisville, Kentucky (for example) got a big increase is the Department of Homeland Security's list of 'critical' sites that could be targets for terrorists. A report just issued by the department's inspector general shows that the list is full of sites whose importance is just a wee bit questionable: It reads like a tally of terrorist targets that a child might have written: Old MacDonald's Petting Zoo, the Amish Country Popcorn factory, the Mule Day Parade, the Sweetwater Flea Market and an unspecified "Beach at End of a Street..." The list shows Indiana with more 'critical' sites than any other state in the country, with half again as many as New York and twice as many as California. For the geographically impaired, both states have way more people than Indiana, and California is big enough and populous enough that it would be a major nation were it not part of the US. The money quote comes from someone at Homeland Security, of course: "We don/t find it embarrassing," said the department's deputy press secretary, Jarrod Agen. "The list is a valuable tool." Via NY Times. | | Posted by Magpie at 12:05 AM | Get permalink
'I can't think of another social movement where "strident" is a bad word.'
One of the main reasons why we read The Nation is Katha Pollitt's column, 'Subject to Debate,' which has run in the magazine since 1980. The column as is Pollitt herself is uncompromisingly feminist, both in how it deals with issues and in Pollitt's insistence that every issue is a feminist issue. Our hero! Over at Salon, Jessica Valenti has an interview with Pollitt which doesn't disappoint. Here's a taste: Do you think it's important that women call themselves a feminist or is it enough that women are doing feminist work -- without necessarily labeling it as such? You have to admit that it's heartening that someone whose been around the block as many times as Katha Pollitt can still be optimistic about the future of feminism and of the US. I certainly hope she's right. You can read the whole interview here. [Paid sub or ad view req'd.] The latest installment of Pollitt's Nation column is here. | | Posted by Magpie at 12:01 AM | Get permalink
Tuesday, July 11, 2006
Welcome to the Hale Stewart has an informative and depressing post on the growth of income inequality in the US. Via BOPNews. | | Posted by Magpie at 10:42 AM | Get permalink
Dubya cuts budget deficit by US$ 100 billion!
It wasn't hard to do, either, given that the administration deliberately overestimated the deficit by at least US$ 60 billion to begin with. Of course, the fact that nothing Dubya did had any effect on the deficit isn't keeping him from taking credit for the 'big reduction.' And nobody in his administration is mentioning that, even with the reduction, the current budget deficit is the fourth largest in US history. And yes, the top three deficits belong to the prez. Brad DeLong has more about the administration's budget number game here. Via Salon. | | Posted by Magpie at 9:25 AM | Get permalink
Sunday, July 9, 2006
'All that protects us from their evil is their incompetence.'
In a bit over two minutes, Penn & Teller tell you pretty much everything you need to know about the Patriot Act. Sometimes a few blunt words can have way more impact than pages of razor-sharp political analysis, eh? Via I See Invisible People. | | Posted by Magpie at 10:19 AM | Get permalink
Speechless. Yet again.
Just go read the story. Via The Dees Diversion. | | Posted by Magpie at 12:14 AM | Get permalink |
NEWS HEADLINES Mail & Guardian [S. Africa] NEWS LINKS BBC News CBC News Agence France Presse Reuters Associated Press Aljazeera Inter Press Service Watching America International Herald Tribune Guardian (UK) Independent (UK) USA Today NY Times (US) Washington Post (US) McClatchy Washington Bureau (US) Boston Globe (US) LA Times (US) Globe & Mail (Canada) Toronto Star (Canada) Sydney Morning Herald (Australia) AllAfrica.com Mail & Guardian (South Africa) Al-Ahram (Egypt) Daily Star (Lebanon) Haaretz (Israel) Hindustan Times (India) Japan Times (Japan) Asia Times (Hong Kong) EurasiaNet New Scientist News Paper Chase OpenCongress COMMENT & ANALYSIS Molly Ivins CJR Daily Women's eNews Raw Story The Gadflyer Working for Change Common Dreams AlterNet Truthdig Truthout Salon Democracy Now! American Microphone rabble The Revealer Current Editor & Publisher Economic Policy Institute Center for American Progress The Memory Hole IRISH MUSIC Céilí House (RTE Radio) TheSession.org The Irish Fiddle Fiddler Magazine Concertina.net Concertina Library A Guide to the Irish Flute Chiff & Fipple Irtrad-l Archives Ceolas Comhaltas Ceoltoiri Eireann BBC Virtual Session JC's ABC Tune Finder SHINY THINGS alt.portland Propaganda Remix Project Ask a Ninja grow-a-brain Boiling Point Bruno Cat and Girl Dykes to Watch Out For Library of Congress American Heritage Dictionary Dictonary of Newfoundland English American's Guide to Canada Digital History of the San Fernando Valley MetaFilter Blithe House Quarterly Astronomy Pic of the Day Earth Science Picture of the Day Asia Grace Gaelic Curse Engine Old Dinosaur Books ARCHIVES |