grist for the mill

Florence Griffith-Joyner Biography

Boston.com / News / Boston Globe / Opinion / Op-ed / The anatomy of a smear campaign: "Thus, the 'pollsters' asked McCain supporters if they would be more or less likely to vote for McCain if they knew he had fathered an illegitimate child who was black. In the conservative, race-conscious South, that's not a minor charge. We had no idea who made the phone calls, who paid for them, or how many calls were made. Effective and anonymous: the perfect smear campaign.

Some aspects of this smear were hardly so subtle. Bob Jones University professor Richard Hand sent an e-mail to 'fellow South Carolinians' stating that McCain had 'chosen to sire children without marriage.' It didn't take long for mainstream media to carry the charge. CNN interviewed Hand and put him on the spot: 'Professor, you say that this man had children out of wedlock. He did not have children out of wedlock.' Hand replied, 'Wait a minute, that's a universal negative. Can you prove that there aren't any?'"

BBC NEWS | Programmes | Newsnight | New Florida vote scandal feared: "In Jacksonville, to determine if Republicans were using the lists or other means of intimidating voters, we filmed a private detective filming every 'early voter' - the majority of whom are black - from behind a vehicle with blacked-out windows.
The private detective claimed not to know who was paying for his all-day services.
On the scene, Democratic Congresswoman Corinne Brown said the surveillance operation was part of a campaign of intimidation tactics used by the Republican Party to intimidate and scare off African American voters, almost all of whom are registered Democrats. "

William Gibson: "'I think I've said before that usually I have a fair bit of sympathy for the 'they're all as bad as each other, there's no real difference' argument. I really, honestly think that's crap, this time around. Bush is heading for an undemocratic combination theocracy/oligarchy in unprecedented ways. The Republican party has been hijacked by extremists. Mainstream Republicans and mainstream Democrats might not have a lot of characteristics that are different, but these guys (Bush/Cheney/Rove) differ from both groups in their radicalism. A vote for them - or even a vote that's not against them - is qualitatively different, I would argue, than any vote cast in the US in recent memory.'

This isn't the election in which to make the quixotic but satisfying point that you'd really rather vote Green, or the quixotic but satisfying point that you'd really rather not have to vote for any more white men in tight blue suits at all.

This is an election in which to vote for *the greater likelihood of there being more elections in the future*. "

Man accused in sword killing: "Flemons, 30, told police he was fed up with Williams' bullying at Peerless Metal Powders and Abrasive on West Fort near Livernois.
Police said Flemons offered Williams a large piece of scrap metal, as if to challenge him to a fight. Williams, apparently unaware of what Flemons was planning, tossed it aside. Flemons then 'told some guys to get out of the way and proceeded to slash the man, nearly decapitating him. He used some cloth material as a handle. He hit the man more than once. Then he put the sword down and went outside,' Deputy Chief Craig Schwartz said."

Mayor's family cashes in on charity: "A charity Detroit Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick's family established to help city students has spent more than half of its money on salaries for three employees: the mayor's sister, his wife and the wife of one of Kilpatrick's best friends."

A Silent Epidemic - Why is there such a high percentage of HIV and AIDS among black women? By Jon?Cohen:And there's one more factor to consider, says Wilson: Politicians ignore this population. "It's both a cause and a symptom of the problem that our government really is not interested in the health and well-being of black people and in particular black women," says Wilson. "How is it that Dick Cheney can tell you how many machine guns are in Baghdad, but doesn't have a clue about issues that are killing black women a stone's throw from his office?"

LEST WE FORGET | THE TRIUMPH OVER SLAVERY

South Blogania
Disgruntled 50ish white guy with more college than average. Supply your own stereotype.

The New York Times > International > International Special > After Terror, a Secret Rewriting of Military Law

The New York Times > Magazine > Growing Up With Mom and Mom

PBS | I, Cringely - The Diddy Factor

The New York Times > Opinion > Op-Ed Columnist: He Ain't Heavy. . .: "We in America could save kids like Abdelrahim and Muhammad. This wouldn't require troops, just a bit of gumption to declare a no-fly zone, to press our Western allies and nearby Arab and African states, to impose an arms embargo and other targeted sanctions, to push a meaningful U.N. resolution even at the risk of a Chinese veto, and to insist upon the deployment of a larger African force.
Instead, President Bush's policy is to chide Sudan and send aid. That's much better than nothing and has led Sudan to kill fewer children and to kill more humanely: Sudan now mostly allows kids in Darfur like Abdelrahim to die of starvation, instead of heaving them onto bonfires. But fundamentally, U.S. policy seems to be to 'manage' the genocide rather than to act decisively to stop it.
The lackadaisical international response has already permitted the deaths of about 100,000 people in Darfur, and up to 10,000 more are dying each month. We should look Abdelrahim and Muhammad in the eye and feel deeply ashamed"

MIKE WENDLAND: Power lines are new path for high-speed Internet

CEO Reputation

The National Book Foundation

The Journal of Blacks in Higher Education

Real Estate Portal To Homes For Sale

Article | Why I'm Black, Not African American: "With the number of African immigrants in the U.S. nearly tripling since 1990, the use of 'African American' is becoming increasingly strained. For example, Alan Keyes, the Republican Senate candidate in Illinois, has claimed that as a descendant of slaves, he is the 'real' African American, compared with his Democratic rival, Barack Obama, who has an African father and white mother. And the reason Keyes and others are making arguments such as this is rather small, the idea being that 'African American' should refer only to people with a history of subordination in this country - as if African immigrants such as Amadou Diallo, who was killed by police while reaching for his wallet, or Caribbean ones such as torture victim Abner Louima have found the U.S. to be the Land of Oz. "

Pushing to Be Counted in Fla. (washingtonpost.com)

Portland State Orientation | News | Slavery's Legacy: "With the historical lens of slavery one can now better understand why the mother in the bank insisted that her children be near her. In the slave environment, it was inherently unsafe for a black child to stray, wander, or question white people. Such behavior could result in severe punishment or even death. Thus, black slaves were hyper-vigilant about the whereabouts of their children, for such hyper-vigilance meant survival.

This is just one possible example of an adaptive behavior that could have been passed down through generations. There are hundreds, perhaps thousands more"

ESSENCE.com - Spare The Rod?:Recent studies have shown that positive disciplinary methods are highly effective in creating well-behaved, academically confident, socially responsible individuals. Still, many African-American parents find it hard to let go of old-school ways, in part because they are so deeply ingrained in our culture. “During slavery, the thought among Black people was, You got to beat the badness out of the boy, because if he were to stand up for himself in front of the master, it could mean death,” explains Joy DeGruy-Leary, Ph.D., an assistant professor of social work at Portland State University and an expert in post-traumatic slave syndrome. DeGruy-Leary’s work studies the residual effects of slavery in modern culture.

But in today’s world, DeGruy-Leary says, we should question what was then a survival mechanism. “We no longer have to protect our children in that way,” she explains. Therefore we must ask ourselves why we continue to perpetuate these methods. DeGruy-Leary speculates that this behavior represents the parts of who we are that are broken, “and we haven’t had a chance to heal.” The challenge for today’s parents, then, is to unlearn the past and replace it with positive parenting methods.

Slavery isn’t a criminal defense :For corroboration, Vogt drew upon the work of Joy DeGruy-Leary, an associate professor at the Portland State University School of Social Work. The lawyer called DeGruy-Leary to testify. In fairness, DeGruy-Leary did not testify about the specifics of the case. According to her, she was simply called to offer an insight into the ramifications of “transgenerational trauma caused by the legacy of slavery.”
DeGruy-Leary has spent almost two decades developing her theories regarding slave syndrome. The theory postulates that the African-American community never got a chance to heal from the wounds of slavery, and, as a result, blacks suffer from multigenerational trauma. Self-destructive, aggressive and violent behaviors often result.

Post Traumatic Slave Syndrome: "Dr. DeGruy-Leary's argument (in a nutshell) posits that the short three-month growing season in prehistoric Europe has rendered European-Americans - thanks to bygone prehistoric necessity - time-sensitive, forward-looking, and obsessed with efficiency, hierarchies, and the acquisition of objects, while the year-round warmth of African climates has translated into a more fluid, holistic, and spiritual approach to life for African-Americans. The incompatible value systems of these two cultures collided in the slave trade; we, as a nation, continue to suffer from the traumatic and manipulative methods through which white slave-owners deliberately brutalized and manipulated the fears and loyalties of their captives, all in the name of stabilizing and maximizing the output of their plantations."

Dr. Joy DeGruy Leary: "In brief, Post-Traumatic Slave Syndrome theory proposes that varying levels of both clinically induced and socially learned residual stress related issues were passed along through generations as a result of slavery. Dr. Leary presents facts, statistics and documents that illustrate how the destruction of the African culture (i.e., belief systems, customs, and values) continues to effect traumas resulting from inequality, racism and oppression policies."

Post Traumatic Slave Syndrome in the Courts: "Post traumatic slave syndrome is the brainchild of Joy DeGruy-Leary, an assistant professor in the Portland State University Graduate School of Social Work. According to DeGruy-Leary, because the Thirteenth Amendment's abolition of involuntary servitude did not include treatment for the trauma associated with slavery, the descendants of slaves now exhibit violent behavior. Though never a slave or a witness to abuse of slaves, Isaac, who is black, is a victim of this multi-generational trauma and therefore should not be held accountable for Ryshawn's death."

State Civil Rights office taking steps to protect voter rights: "Pappageorge later clarified his remark, saying, 'In the context that we were talking about, I said we've got to get the vote up in Oakland (County) and the vote down in Detroit. You get it down with a good message. I don't know how we got them from there to 'racist.' If I have given offense in any way to my colleagues in Detroit or anywhere, I apologize.' "

COMMENT: Monitoring polls is necessary: "Beginning with Florida -- the state that turned the presidential election itself -- state officials may have continued through 2000 to violate federal laws by knowingly approving a 'potential felon' purge list that disproportionately blocked African-American voters. Also in Florida, a government report found that some bilingual poll workers were directed not to provide language assistance to Spanish-speaking voters, even when such assistance was mandated by law.
Two years later, in Louisiana, flyers were distributed in African-American communities telling voters they could go to the polls on Tuesday, Dec. 10 -- three days after a Senate runoff election was held. "

BBC NEWS | Science/Nature | 'New' giant ape found in DR Congo

FactCheck.org Cheney & Edwards Mangle Facts: "Cheney used a misleading figure to support the idea that the administration was 'deeply concerned' about the toll that AIDS has taken on poor countries, stating that the administration has 'proposed and gotten through the Congress authorization for $15 billion to help in the international effort.' That's true, but the $15-billion figure was to be spread over five years -- and when it came to asking for money to be actually appropriated and spent Bush sought only $2 billion for the fiscal year that just ended. Congress increased that to $2.4 billion.

Cheney and Edwards both made misleading statements about each other's education records, specifically on the No Child Left Behind law. Cheney claimed 'they were for it; now they're against it.' But while Kerry has criticized the law as being underfunded and called for some changes he has not called for the law's repeal. Edwards claimed 'they said they were going to fund their No Child Left Behind; $27 billion short today.' In fact, overall federal funding for education grew 58% in Bush's first three years, though many governors and congressional Democrats say even more is required."

Tempest in A T-Shirt (washingtonpost.com)

PBS | I, Cringely . Archived Column