the guy by the door …

… simply to try to vilify and defame him in the hope that maybe what he’s writing will disappear.

Part II of the joint interview with Howard Zinn and Noam Chomsky on Democracy Now! included this remark by Noam. He is referring to the Dersh’s attempts first to stop publication [according to Chomsky] of Finkelstein’s book Beyond Chutzpah¹ then failing that, to cause Finkelstein to be denied tenure. Noam claims that DePaul University has complained to Harvard administration about Dersh’s kibitzing. In an April 12 article [w. correction 4/14], A Bitter Spat Over Ideas, Israel and Tenure, Patricia Cohen of the New York Times says:

A Patriots Day special report Howard Zinn and Noam Chomsky on Democracy Now! for the full hour.

• Patriotism to me means doing what you think your country should be doing… supporting your government when you think it’s doing right, opposing your government when you think it’s doing wrong. [Howard]
• Howard recently asked a class of young students, “Who here has heard of My Lai?” No one had.
• This [the war in Iraq] is one of the worst catastrophes in military history and also in political history. [Noam]

Archived video and audio streams available from Democracy Now!

• The first casualty of war is truth.¹
• The truth continues to die after the war. There are plenty of truths to kill.²
• Any president is going to feel he needs to compete for time on TV and so what he’s [Bush] going to entertain us with is what I call Republican superbowl played by the lower classes with live ammunition.²

• Religion is the opiate of the masses.³
• He [Marx] said it at a time when opium was the only pain killer. You took it for a tootache. … He might have said religion was the aspirin of the people.²

• There was a time when I could vote for economic justice, now I can’t.²

  __(‘Read the rest of this entry »’)

At the time of the Gulf War, we acquired irrefutable proof that Iraq’s designs were not limited to the chemical weapons it had used against Iran and its own people, but also extended to the acquisition of nuclear weapons and biological agents. — National Security Strategy [September 2002] Section V. Paragraph 6

The Iraq Survey Group also found that pre-war intelligence estimates of Iraqi WMD stockpiles were wrong – a conclusion that has been confirmed by a bipartisan commission and congressional investigations. We must learn from this experience if we are to counter successfully the very real threat of proliferation. — National Security Strategy [March 2006] Section V. 4th Paragraph from the bottom.

And yet, two paragraphs later:

Indeed, prior to the 1991 Gulf War, many intelligence analysts underestimated the WMD threat posed by the Iraqi regime. After that conflict, they were surprised to learn how far Iraq had progressed along various pathways to try to produce fissile material.

Apparently Noam is the only person who reads these things. In Resort to Power from his book Hegemony or Survival, Noam says,

…Bush and colleagues declared the right to resort to force even if a country does not have WMD or even programs to develop them. It is sufficient that it have the “intent and ability” to do so. Just about every country has the ability, and intent is in the eye of the beholder.

All three groups of Harvard students weighed in heavily on intent. It misses the point.

bbiab

On Democracy Now! An MP was giving a TV interview at the time of the bombing. The footage comes from U.S. Government financed Al-hurra. Sourcewatch, a wiki-hosted project of the Center for Media and Democracy has a fairly extensive Al Hurra page [with stuff not on Wikipedia], and an apparently orphaned Alhurra page.

The New York Times reports that a significant number of students and faculty at one of America’s most conservative universities is protesting the invitation of Dick Cheney to speak at commencement. Issues of character were cited as the reason. Appearing first in the article was Cheney’s use of profanity on the Senate floor. And the issues of lying about the connection between Sadam and Al-Qaeda as well as outing CIA agent Valerie Wilson were also mentioned.

According to World Net Daily, even as [or because of] Ahmadinejad announcing atomic ‘good news’ today, the Russians are insistent on U.S. Iran attack¹. The “nibble” I mentioned previously is the U.S. support for Pakistani militants operating in Iran. [Sorry 🙁 ] Scott Ritter claimed more than two years ago that U.S. U2’s were overflying Iranian air space. This is technically an act of war. A friend argued that it is an act of war so frequently used by the U.S. that it doesn’t count. That kind of thinking is part of the problem.

¹That our armed forces will, not that they should :).

Two friends of Dee in Salt Lake City. Photo: Dee

It is 1:08 P.M. in Tehran [UTC +3:30]¹. According to a report from Russian intelligence sevice, the U.S. war with Iran was scheduled to go hot at 4:00 AM today, known to some as Good Friday. Nothing on Yahoo news. Nothing on English Al-Jazeera.² The blogosphere only this. And more recently this from Dee’s Dotes.

I kinda learned that in grade school, but it remained a blur.

It was a dazzlingly brilliant day, so much that it almost hurt. And there she was. Her traditional robe gently unfurling in the breeze. She had to be African. Not African-American*, African-African*. I was right. She is Ashanti. She looked lost. It took almost two years for Harvard and Cambridge to help her find her way, but they did. I don’t know how she is doing now.

I don’t know the full history of the Hutu’s and the Tutsi’s, but I do wonder where the machetes came from. Would things have been different if we African-European-Americans* had The Prime Directive or better if we had never gone back at all?
I know a man from Tanzania and young man from Eritrea. They have pretty good ideas where they are going. If you work at Harvard long enough the whole world drops in. Slowly the fog is lifting.

This is Africa Week at Harvard. Tonight a Film: The Invisible Children; The lives of children soldiers in Uganda. Tonight Thurs. April 5, 2007 @ 7:00 PM Emerson 305.

Last night, Professor Jacob Olupona from [among many places] Harvard Divinity School
addressed the question, “Is Jesus a White Man’s God?” I speak not even one African language. Fortunately he spoke English. Unfortunately, I still had a hard time**. Hopefully the text will be posted to the net. But I heard what I most needed to. “It is often assumed that Christianity in Africa is nothing more than a tool of colonial oppression. This racist assumption is false.” After duly noting the disclosure implicit in his job title, I still feel compelled to take this seriously. It is the assumption I held. It is tenaciously held by some on the ideological left, who seem to believe that denouncing others magically makes them free of racsim. I almost wish it were that simple. For me, unlearning the racism of youth*** has been and may well be a lifelong task. I am a work in progress.
Full schedule of events in the Science Center
*According to the Human Genome Project, we are all African-somethings.

** In graduate school I learned that multilingual people are also better at understanding non-native English speakers than I am. My Greek colleague could understand by Chinese colleague’s English and ‘translate’.

***My mother’s commentary on “Gone with the Wind” and a fortiori “Amos ‘n Andy” was tragedy and farce.

With the Nation’s lawyer‘s lawyer threatening to take the 5th before Congress, having Amy Goodman ’84** of Democracy Now! in the area tonight is a rare breath of fresh air. Stonehill College Easton Ma 6:30 PM tonight. Details…

*”of whom Harvard can be proud?” Get real.
** Harvspeak for Class of 1984.

Some were asked of me privately.

Reading the names of U.S. military killed in Iraq on the steps of Memorial Church, Harvard, March 20, 2007 – Invasion + 4 years. A comparable number of names of the much more numerous Iraqi dead were also read.

Others asked quite publicly.

A question of law students, by law students, and for law students, North Yard Harvard, March 20, 2007 – Invasion + 4 years, “Complicit HLS Alums, Chertoff*, Gonzales, You?”

Gotta go hear what Dave Weinberger has to say about the Internets saving democracy. BBL -r

*I’m making you hunt for the Michael Chertoff Wikipedia link, because I have not yet posted about his visit to his alma mater the night before George W. Bush signed the Military Commissions Act of 2006. Coincidence? After he spoke, a phalanx of secret service men escorted him out of the Ames Court Room. The HLS website offers a brief synop and a Realmedia webcast, but does not mention that the event was cohosted by the HLS Federalist Society.

Harvard’s Legal Left took me to dinner and a movie and didn’t ask me for sex afterwards. I had a good time anyway. With more time, I’ll describe the conference hosting the movie. I promised my companero who could not stay that I would take notes.

The movie focuses on the workers at one factory that management closed as “inefficient” and describes their struggle to organize themselves and take over the factory. It depicted their occupation of the factory, getting the factory back into production, and appearances in court in the hope of obtaining legal title – expropriation. [Perhaps “eminent domain” is more familiar.] The movie ended on an optimistic note for the workers.

… is a corporation called Blackwater USA. [Wikipedia*] It is headquartered in North Carolina. Being unnoticed by the American public is an essential part of their business model. We are not supposed to notice that the number of “private security contractors”** in Iraq, for example, is comparable to the number of U.S Armed Forces personnel. The war effort is twice as big as what we’re supposed to see.

There was something happening here:

Crossing the Bridge to the Pentagon Saturday

A demonstration sponsored by A.N.S.W.E.R. marched to the Pentagon. [An AP story through CNN. A slightly different AP story through Yahoo.] Some of them are what Professor Roberto would call necessitarians. Some would call them the OLD Necessitarians.

These days, public discussion of economic policy and related laws (e.g. bankruptcy) tacitly assumes that property is something predetermined by laws of God or Nnature.* But an apartment which can be rented, cannot be sold as a condominium until and unless a master deed is filed on the building. And in the Commonwealth of Massachusetts “the condominium” did not exist at all until The Great and General Court [the real name of the Legislature] added it as a “form of ownership.” Property is a creation of Man Person. [:)] Perhaps it’s no accident that Harvard’s Economics building is adjacent to the Law School.

Knowing how to resolve conflicts over “property rights” means knowing what property is. French anarchist Pierre-Joseph Proudhon posed his answer under the title, “What is Property?” There is a course at Harvard in the Government Department by the same name. Or you can find some views of Harvard’s Legal Left in their Journal Unbound.

*When I first published this, I had the unqualified deitistic ‘N’. My bad. I do be after all, an empiricist, experimentalist, a bit of a nominalist, and just may be a crit although as of this posting we Wikipedians got some ‘splaining to do. The homorphism with this is not obvious. I met a bunch of Foucauldians**. Am I? [Am I truculent?] “I don’t know what that is, but if that’s good, I’m that!”

** People who respect Michel Foucault, but not consonants.

In his trip to Latin America, George W. Bush remarked, ‘We are all sons of George Washington and Simon Bolivar.” Venezualan President Hugo Chavez implied different heritage and pointed out a strong difference in the careers of Washington and Bolivar. Democracy Now! had substantial clips from Chavez’ “shadow tour” of Bush. According to Chavez, George Washington was born to a poor family and ended up a wealthy slave owner, while Bolivar was born ‘with a silver spoon in his mouth’ but [after leading the successful struggles for independence in several Latin American countries] died wearing borrowed clothes. Which historiography is more nearly right? Let’s go to the Internets!

To sidestep the issue of whether one can acquire “ownership” of a holiday merely by registering a domain name, I offer links to events not listed on the official website and local to the Boston area:

An Electronic Vigil in Solidarity with Women’s Rights Activists in Iran
Online and ongoing. [Thanks to Kaveri Rajamaran of Harvard Initiative for Peace and Justice.]

__(‘Read the rest of this entry »’)

International Women’s Day is today.* [click logo for “Official site,”**] I wouldn’t have known, if Amy Goodman hadn’t told me.

Featuring an interview with Sargent Eli Painted Crow USAR a woman soldier for 22 years and mother of 4, two of whom also served. Also Professor Helen Benedict about her salon.com article, “The Private War of Women Soldiers.”[Salon server is temporarily slashdotted]. Clip of Colonel Janice Carpinsski, former Brigadier General and commander of Abu Gharib prison. Phone interview with Specialist Mickiela Montoya, “there are only three things they let a woman be in the military, a bitch, a ho, or a dyke.”

Geena Davis, actor and founder of the See Jane Foundation, speaking at the National Conference for Media Reform on the paucity and stereotypes of female characters in children’s media.
Web rebroadcast, headlines and transcripts available at noon.

*There’s currently a minor edit scirmish on Wikipedia. The IWD 2006 logo has been replaced with an “unofficial” logo. It is more provocative than the official logo, but the “Quick Delete” banner says only that it is a licensing matter.

**The “Official Site” has corporate sponsors including Big Four accounting firm Deloitte. This must truly thrill the Marxist crowd or any remaining Marxians who founded the day.

Former four star General Wesley Clark on Democracy Now! for the most of the hour.
www.democracynow.org

Shows are normally archived for post-broadcast streaming by noon.

Highlights:

Re: The Times of London report* that Generals will quit if Iran is invaded, “It’s good the generals are asking these questions.” [He doesn’t know who specifically.]

Gitmo should be closed.

His Stop Iran War website.

The truth about the Middle East – had there been no oil, it would be like Africa.

*In an earlier edition, I attributed this report to Sy Hersch. I apologize for this error. If you read his recent article, The Redirection, you will understand my confusion.

Shortly after 8 PM, as I was crossing the overpass just north of the Yard I heard sirens, under me and on Mass Ave. As I crossed the Yard headed for the T, more sirens. Something big was happening. When I stepped out of the Johnston Gate, I saw a sea of flashing lights. Out of Town News was surrounded by emergency equipment. Cambridge Fire had a ladder truck, a remote controlled nozzle truck, special services truck [Tactical Rescue 1], and other units. There was at least one patrol car and one paddy wagon from the MBTA police and several commercial ambulances.

The station was still open with T personnel directing North bound passengers to shuttle buses at Johnston Gate. Since Inbound trains were still running I was allowed to go through the turnstile, but I went up the Outbound ramp to see what I could learn. A woman sheepishly told me someone had been hit. I could see that the train was stopped with only the head of one car in the station. Then I heard an MBTA officer calling in that a man had jumped on the tracks. There was a witness.

I thought to investigate further, but it made me feel like a ghoul. I remembered the “Subway” episode of Homicide: Life on the Street. I did not want to see it for real. What was my responsibility? A professional journalist would have marched up the platform and asked the emergency workers what was going on. My experience as a Unix system mother told me that right after a crash is just the time you don’t want to be answering questions. WIth lives at stake, focus is critical. What should a ‘citizen journalist’ do. I decided to take what I had, make a quick post, and e-mail the ‘pros’ at the Crimson. When I returned at 9:30PM only about 1/3 of the emergency vehicles were still there. The train had not moved. I was looking from the North end of the platform this time. I saw no victims.

UPDATE: The Crimson reports that the man hit by the train survived and is likely to recover. There is no mention of injuries to passengers due to the motorman slamming on the brakes. I would guess that there were minor injuries treated, but no hospitalizations. The report doesn’t capture the magnitude of the emergency response. It was impressive and I don’t believe excessive. Not knowing just what they are facing, I would rather our public employees show up with too much rather than too little strength. I’m proud of them.
I found no other reports of the event on Yahoo news.

Lt. Watada surrounded by community supporters at Tacoma press conference, June 7, 2006. Photo by Jeff Paterson thankyoult.org.

Lieutenant Ehren Watada refused an order to deploy to Iraq on grounds that it is an illegal war. His court martial, which began yesterday has drawn crowds near Fort Lewis. Through yesterday there were 38 demonstrations of support nationwide. Boston’s contribution will be tonight in Jamaica Plain.

This note from Gold Star Families Speak Out and People United for Peace:

Dear Friends,

Court martial proceedings begin today against Army Lt. Ehran Watada in Fort Lewis, Washington. On June 22, 2006, Watada stepped forward as the first commissioned officer publicly to refuse deployment to the Iraq War. He faces up to 5 years imprisonment if found guilty.

Please join the nationwide movement to support this courageous soldier.

There will be a candlelight vigil held from 5:30 – 7:30 PM at the JP monument located at the intersection of South and Centre Streets in Jamaica Plain in front of Curtis Hall and Unitarian Universalist church.

Boston City Councilor Chuck Turner,

Iraq War Veteran Halsey Bernard,

Melida Arredondo, wife of Carlos Arredondo the Gold Star Father who at Fort Lewis this week to support Watada,

and more…

Please plan to attend. Dress warmly and bring extra candles.

There’s something happening here!

Park Street station on Boston Common. The Statehouse dome is in the background.

The big action was, of course, in Washington D.C. Mainstream media are slowly starting to pay attention, but ‘alternative media’ [ 🙂 ] are still well in the lead. Today’s edition of Democracy Now! dedicated the most of the hour to coverage of Saturday’s protest. Video coverage is available through their website [at low resolution] and through cable systems around the country. Audio is available over some broadcast radio stations. The website has a finder to help you hookup.

I was turned on to DN! by a fellow HUCTW member who is also a member of the Dollars and Sense Collective. DN! was started by Amy Goodman ’84*. Produced from the Downtown Comunity Television Center in a decommisioned firehouse in Chinatown NYC, Amy and her team provide an hour of in depth reportage every weekday. It is subtitled, “The War and Peace Report.”

Dollars and Sense is bimonthly magazine of economic analysis from a left perspective.

* For those of you not inundated by the Harvard Culture, a year after somebody’s name is their year of graduation from Harvard. As my first thesis advisor said, “Harvard is sweet on itself.” Jack Trumpbour has a slightly different view of the same phenomenon. As do I.

… we’re finally on our own…

… or are we?

Couldn’t make it to D.C?

Saturday, Jan 27:

Boston Common at Park Street, from 1-2 PM. A March on Washington solidarity event. Organized by the Committee for Peace and Human Rights and Newton Dialogues on Peace and War. For more information contact Marie-Louise Jackson-Miller marieljm1961@yahoo.com or Linda Nathanson univ@comcast.net. Bring your voices, Bring your signs!

United for Justice with Peace. 

Four dead in Ohio. -30-