Friday, July 14, 2006

My thoughts

The Operation Happy Talk goes on.
Sean McFarland becomes the biggest doofus outside the administration by delcaring, "I think we have turned a corner her in Ramadi." MacFarland is both an Army Col. and a Happy Talker.
In news that's a little harder to Happy Talk, Antonio Castaneda (AP) reports that of the 1000 Sunni soldiers who made up the May 2006 graduating class "only about 300 of them have reported for duty".
In other news from the real world, Reuters reports that the US Congressional Budget Office predicts: "The Iraq war could cost U.S. taxpayers between $202 billion and $406 billion more over the next 10 years".
These projections come at a time when, as Martha Burk has pointed out (Ms.), the US government has cut "[d]omestic-violence prevention by $35 million, Medicaid by $17 billion over five years and child care programs by 1.03 billion over five years."
In other costs paid, Reuters reports 12 corpses were discovered in Tal Afar. CBS and the AP note a corpse ("shot in the chest . . . signs of torture") discovered in Azizyah".
Bombings?
As noted earlier this morning, seven people were killed ("after Friday prayers") when a Sunni mosque in Baghdad was bombed. Meanwhile Reuters reports that a mosque in Balad Ruz was hit by mortar rounds leaving at least two dead and four wounded while a car bomber in Mosul who killed himself and five others. The AFP covers a mortar attack in Baghdad that left one person dead and nine wounded.
Shooting deaths?
Reuters notes that two policeman were killed by a sniper in Tal Afar while a minibus near Kut was attacked "with machine gun fire" resulting in five dead ("including a wwoman and a child"). Meanwhile, the AFP reports attacks in two cities: a car was "ambushed" in Tikrit by assailants who shot the father dead and wounded the son; and, in Mosul, two different attacks left a police officer dead as well as the bodyguard of a judge. And the Associated Press reports a drive-by in Baghdad that killed a taxi driver.
The BBC noted the death of several Iraqi soldiers (12 at that point) in Kirkuk when they were attacked with "rocket-propelled grenades and machine guns". AFX raised the number dead to 13 (citing "colonel Mahmud Abdulla").
Meanwhile, following yesterday's kidnapping attempt that left wrestling coach Mohammed Karim Abid Sahib dead, the AP reports that: "Iraq's national wrestling team [has] pulled out of a tournament in the United Arab Emirates".
In the United States, Saturday July 15th is a day of action calling for Suzanne Swift to receive an honorable discharge including a protest, "at the gates of Ft. Lewis (exit 119) beginning at 12 pm with a press converence at 3 pm" in Washington state -- while in Eugen, Oregon there will be a demonstration outside the Federal Building at noon.
In DC (and across the globe -- over 22 countries), the fast led by CODEPINK and others continues. As Thursday's The KPFA Evening News reported some Congressional members, including Barbara Lee, Maxine Waters, Dennis Kucinich, Cynthia McKinney and Lynne Woolsey took part in a one-day fast on Thursday. Ann Wright, who ressigned from the State Department on May 19, 2003 and is taking part in the actions stated: "The only reason we fast is to force us to remember what's going on here. That innocent Iraqis are dying every day, Americans are dying every day. We need to get this war ended. So, yeah, we're going to up the ante".
Lastly, Wednesday July 19th, San Antonio, TX will be the location for a "public hearing held by the the independent Commission on the National Guard and Reserves" -- "in the Iberia Ballroom of the La Mansion Del Rio Hotel, 112 College Street, San Antonio."
There will be two panels with the first lasting from 9:30 a.m. to 12 p.m. and focused on "roles and missions to funding requirements" and the second, lasting from 2:00 pm to 4 pm, focusing on how reserves were "involuntarily mobilized after September 11, 2001".

C.I.'s "Iraq snapshot" above, in case you didn't know. I was asked in e-mails why I wasn't weighing in on Democracy Now! and figure I better note that here so the issue can go away. I didn't link to it on my blogroll and the reason was because I took from it what I could use and left the other stuff alone. Rebecca's "is there a price tag on your ass?" writes about the problem I had with a 2004 episode. Reading C.I.'s "Community note" and finding out that the guest who was supposed to 'debate' was, as David Ray Griffin said on air, someone who makes a point to go around sneering 'crackpot' really made me mad because I wasn't aware of that. (The article, I asked C.I., appeared in CJR, the one where he sneered about Pacifica Radio.)

So my concern this week and last and the week before hasn't been the program. C.I. really does like the program (there was no attempt to hide that online) and my concern was more with C.I.
I read Beth's column in the round-robin this morning and I know how many members are thrilled that the program's not being noted anymore. I understand the wish of the community.

But I guess where it comes in for me is, as important as that is, C.I. is the one who writes those entries that go up at The Common Ills. I just thought another road could have been found. Or should have been. And if anyone is bothered by that remark, let's remember C.I. started the fast on the Fourth and is still on it. This was a lot of crap to get dumped on C.I. That's how I see it. And that would have been at any time, but especially when someone's fasting for days and days.

I knew there was stuff going on so I stayed out of it until I saw the thing Thursday. Then I went over to C.I.'s and we called Betty to hear how her latest chapter was going (it's "The War Paint Council" so make a point to read it). C.I. didn't hide in the entry announcing the community had come to a decision that the decision was personally depressing.

I mean. I don't know. I just think if it needed to be done, if the community wanted it enough to put the kind of pressure behind their opinions that they did, I think everyone could have waited another week.

Now maybe that's not a "news" decision. It was probably going to do more harm over a week's time. But I kept coming back to how tired and depressed and hungry C.I. already was. It honestly just struck me as the wrong time to pile on with any topic.

We ended up buying CDs last night. I went over on a cheer up mission. After we were done talking to Betty, C.I. thanked me for stopping by and was intending to get back in bed. I said, "No, no, no. I need the new Thom Yorke. Come on, I'm going CD shopping, you can tag along."
When we were there, I remembered Jess saying no one could find Ben Harper's Both Sides of the Gun, so I suggested that and then really started saying, "Come on, buy the store out."

(I was joking.)

I bought Yorke and three other CDs (and, instead am listening to Aimee Mann which just got returned this morning -- The Lost Arm). C.I. bought gifts and probably 20 or so personal CDs. Including Ben Harper which I'm sure someone walked out of C.I.'s house with or C.I. is really, really tired. (Or both.)

Ten days of fasting is tough. I did two days and that was tough. Ann Wright and Diane Wilson and others are doing these really long-term fasts and that's amazing. But I just didn't think the timing was right.

I understood why the community felt it was. This had been building for some time due to any number of issues. (And if you read this and think, "Oh, I'll write C.I. that I'm okay with the show . . ." Don't. The decision is made. That's another reason why I didn't blog during this. I didn't want someone saying, "Oh we could have stopped noting it but Kat had to butt in.") But I really think, if only for the issue of the ongoing fast, that this could have waited. I know this was very depressing to C.I.

On the plus side, it shows, for any doubters, that it's a community and no one person controls it. On the other hand, I just would have, if I was advocating delinking, waited a week or so. I wouldn't have said, "Okay, Saturday C.I.'s off so I'll e-mail Saturday." I would have given it until at least next Monday to give someone a chance to really get back on their feet.

Beth makes good points and members make good points in her column in the round-robin. But in terms of the timing for C.I., I've really only seen (online) Mike express any regret about the fact that this happened during a fast.

So that does bother me.

My attitude on the show is that sometimes it has something valuable and sometimes it doesn't. And I do agree that there have been a lot of less valuable moments of late. I mean, there was stuff to do during this. C.I. was speaking and doing the site and the first day that C.I. made time off for was Thursday. The fact that the day was spent sleeping for the most part should indicate that this wasn't a good time.

I'm not trying to act like I'm the best person in the world. I'm not. I don't think anyone demanding the delinking was a bad person, either. But, for instance, Thursday after we got done shopping, I swung by a food place and ordered take out. I was really hoping, fast be damned, C.I. would eat something. There was a deep sniff and a comment on how good it all smelled but C.I. stayed on the fast.

So in this, my concern was the timing.

It's over. Nothing can be changed. But if there's something to take away from this, I hope it's that the community is listened to, does decide so if there's ever a need for something similar, some thought is given as to whether or not this is a good time.

That's all I'll say on it. It's over. Aimee Mann's singing:

So, like a ghost in the snow
I'm getting ready to go.
Because baby, that's all I know --
how to open the door.
And though the exit is crude
It saves me coming unglued
for when you're not in the mood
for the gloves
and the canvas floor.
That's how I kne wthis story would break my heart.












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