playing catch-up again. in june i read these 2 poems at musehouse and this one at big blue marble.

here's a poem i wrote the day the cops that beat rodney king got acquitted and the riots started:

THE VERDICT

if you make a tool
& it does the job
& you use it
long as you can
till it gets old
& starts to fall apart
& doesn't work well
& even makes you risk
getting hurt
if you use it
what do you do?

you take a good look
& see if you can fix it
& if you can
you fix it
& if you can't
you throw it away
& make a new tool

4/92

in simi valley in april 1992, 3 LA cops were found not guilty and the jury failed to reach a verdict for the fourth. the riots that followed caused 53 deaths and 2000 injuries and destroyed 600 buildings.

regarding the march 1991 incident, wikipedia says:

King was taken to Pacifica Hospital immediately after his arrest. He suffered a fractured facial bone, a broken right ankle, and numerous bruises and lacerations. In a negligence claim filed with the city, King alleged he had suffered "11 skull fractures, permanent brain damage, broken [bones and teeth], kidney damage [and] emotional and physical trauma." Blood and urine samples taken from King five hours after his arrest showed that he could be presumed intoxicated under California law. The tests also showed traces of marijuana (26 ng/ml), but no indication of PCP or any other illegal drug. At Pacifica Hospital, where King was taken for initial treatment, nurses reported that the officers who accompanied King (including Wind) openly joked and bragged about the number of times King had been hit. King sued the city over the beating, settling for $3.8 million.

his book, just published in april to coincide with the 20th anniversary of the trial, will undoubtedly and ironically be a bestseller.


‎"Can we all just get along?"


RIP

we scoop reuters

looks like i ought to tweet more. yesterday "the lookout" blog on yahoo posted this story, which begins:

A partially redacted police report detailing the initial investigation in the Feb. 26 shooting death of Trayvon Martin has surfaced.

Reuters reporter Matthew Keys first posted scanned copies of the report to his Twitter account. As the Chicago Tribune noted, the report contains details that conflict with several rumors surrounding the case.

here's a screenshot of matthew keys' tweet, also dated 3 april:

and here's a screenshot of a little bit of my facebook timeline, dated march 31:

the only problem is that the chicago tribune beat me by 4 days.

bbc
unholy alliance?

Mexico church divided over drug wars

Some 50,000 people have been killed in drug-related violence since 2006 and the Church has been accused of failing to speak out over the fighting.
...
"The Church has had an ambivalent response to the drug war and the incredible amount of violence going on in the country," says John Ackerman, Professor of Law at the Autonomous University in Mexico City.

Since the Christian Democrats came to power in 2000, the constitutionally separate relationship between the Catholic Church and the government has been progressively narrowing.
...
He says Pope Benedict will find in Mexico a clergy deeply divided over its position on the fighting.

"The general impression is that those Church leaders who have spoken out against violence and in favour of a change in policy have all been relatively low-level leaders. The one exception is Bishop Raul Vera," says Professor Ackerman.

Bishop Vera is a silver-haired, balding priest who is quick to laughter, but equally quick to criticise.
...
"The president's war against drug trafficking seems to us to be more of a war against the people than a war against the cartels," he says, stabbing his finger in the air.

"The cartels have multiplied, the number of dead has risen exponentially, corruption is deeper every day - we see it. So when we hear the president of the Republic saying his strategy is working, we think he's either in an ivory tower and has no idea what's actually going on, or basically he's a liar. I'm going with the latter!"

But his anger is not just reserved for the state. He is equally critical of some of his colleagues in the Catholic Church.

One of the most serious charges against the Church is that there are some parishes that have actually profited from the drug violence in the form of donations from drug barons or cartels.

"We have to be very careful about who we accept donations from, particularly to fund structures of the Church. Very careful indeed," says Bishop Vera.

It is alleged that drug money has swelled the coffers in parishes where the drug lords exert control.

"There was once a rather embarrassing bishop who said something absurd," remembers Bishop Vera. "He said that money from drug trafficking was purified when it entered the Church. Of course it's not! The money from drugs is intrinsically stained with blood and we can't use it. We mustn't." [more]

from march 6

npr/ap

Music Superstar Whitney Houston Dies

Whitney Houston, who ruled as pop music's queen until her majestic voice and regal image were ravaged by drug use, erratic behavior and a tumultuous marriage to singer Bobby Brown, died Saturday. She was 48.

The Beverly Hills Police Department say Houston was found dead Saturday afternoon at the Beverly Hilton Hotel. The cause of death has not been reported. Her body remained in the hotel and Beverly Hills detectives were investigating.

Houston's death came on the eve of music's biggest night — the Grammy Awards. It's a showcase where she once reigned, and her death was sure to cast a heavy pall on Sunday's ceremony.

The biggest devil is me. I'm either my best friend or my worst enemy.
- Whitney Houston in a 2002 interview

"I am absolutely heartbroken at the news of Whitney's passing," music producer Quincy Jones said in a written statement. "I always regretted not having had the opportunity to work with her. She was a true original and a talent beyond compare. I will miss her terribly." [more]

rip

madmikesamerica

A Death in Arkansas

Ken Aden is running for congress as a Democrat in Arkansas. Aden’s campaign manager, Jake Burris lives in Pope County, a highly conservative area in Central Arkansas. Sunday evening, as Burris and his children returned to their Russellville home, they found something horrific.

Someone had murdered the family cat, and written the word “liberal” on the body with a black marker. One side of the cat’s head was bashed in and an eyeball was hanging out of the socket. The cat’s body was left on the front porch and was discovered by one of Jake Burris’s children. [more]

till killing stops

boycott mex dope

sure, ending the war on drugs and stopping the flow of arms across the border would be best, but until those unlikely events occur, we can help somewhat by getting our illegal drugs somewhere else!

one of the greatest!

Wangari Muta Maathai

(1 April 1940 – 25 September 2011)

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wangari_Maathai

RIP

algarve daily news

Earthquake scientists prosecuted for ineffective prediction

Six Italian scientists and a former government official are on trial for manslaughter over the earthquake in 2009 which killed 309 people.

Prosecutors allege that they gave a statement which was falsely reassuring before the earthquake hit. The seven defendants were members of a government panel, the Serious Risks Commission, tasked with assessing the risks after hundreds of low-level tremors had rattled the medieval city in the months before the earthquake struck.

The prosecutors accuse the seven of "negligence and imprudence... of having provided an approximate, generic and ineffective assessment of seismic activity risks as well as incomplete, imprecise and contradictory information".

The defence argues that there is no way to predict major earthquakes even in a seismically active area.

L’Aquila suffered a 6.3 magnitude quake which devastated the city. The week before it struck, the scientists issued a statement said there was "no reason to believe that a series of low-level tremors was a precursor to a larger event". They also stated that it was not possible to predict whether a strong quake would occur.

The defendants face up to 15 years in jail. Lawyers for civil plaintiffs - who include the local council - are seeking damages of €50m euros. The trial has been adjourned until 1 October.

china daily

Interview: Earthquake prosecution does not make sense: Australian experts

CANBERRA, September 23 (Xinhua) -- The prosecution of the six Italian scientists for manslaughter over Italy's L'Aquila earthquake in 2009 is likely to silence experts from openly communicate with the public in the future, Australian experts warned on Friday.

Six leading Italian scientists and one government official are standing trial for manslaughter for alleged negligence that led to the deaths of over 300 people when a 6.3-magnitude earthquake struck the Italian city of L'Aquila in March 2009.

Dr Kevin McCue, a spokesperson for the Australian Earthquake Engineering Society, said the case does not make sense because it is not possible to predict earthquakes.

According to Professor Paul Somerville, Deputy Director of Risk Frontiers at Australia's Macquarie University, the prosecution of the scientists, especially if it is successful, is likely to imperil the very need that this incident has highlighted: for open and clear communication between the scientists and the public.

"In a further irony, no action has yet been taken against the engineers who designed modern buildings that collapsed and caused fatalities, or the government officials who were responsible for enforcing building code compliance," he told Xinhua in an email note.

"It has occurred to some observers that the local government officials may be scapegoating the scientists to avoid prosecution themselves."

The defendants in the Italian trial were members of a panel that had met six days before the April 6 quake, to assess risks after hundreds of tremors had shaken the medieval university city. At that meeting, a committee analyzed data from the low-magnitude tremors and determined that the activity was not a prelude to a major earthquake.

However, Professor Somerville defended the scientists saying that the government's objective in holding the meeting was to debunk unreliable but alarming earthquake predictions that were being made by L'Aquila resident Giampaolo Giuliani, who is not a seismologist.

"The scientists were distracted in this direction instead of focusing on information about earthquake risk that the citizens needed," he said.

"Further, it appears that the scientists found themselves answering questions (during the meeting) about deterministic prediction of earthquakes (which they acknowledge is not currently possible) instead of probabilistic forecasting of earthquakes ( which they can do)."

Dr McCue also pointed out that an Italian civil servant was sued in 1985 for advising people to leave their homes following a swarm of earthquake, and that fear of being sued could scare off seismologists from developing earthquake hazard maps and advising on building codes, unless they are indemnified by the government.

"Given the limited knowledge we do our best, but maybe that's not enough for the public. And if they are willing to sue us, then we won't be doing it at all," McCue said.

Following the announcement of the trial in May, Italy's National Institute of Geophysics and Volcanology (INGV) published a letter of support for the scientists, signed by over 5,000 researchers worldwide, including 77 Australians.

The letter said the scientific community involved in earthquake science urges the Italian government, local authorities and decision makers in general, to be proactive in establishing and carrying out local and national programs to support earthquake preparedness and risk mitigation, rather than prosecuting scientists for failing to do something they cannot do yet, as to predict earthquakes.

given the enormous absurdity of prosecuting scientists for failing to do the impossible, i feel like i might be getting too picky if i quibble about a journalistic inaccuracy, but i feel i have no choice, since that has become one of the main missions of the blogosphere, so here goes:

the seventh paragraph of the otherwise excellent china daily piece contains these words: "...a committee analyzed data from the low-magnitude tremors and determined that the activity was not a prelude to a major earthquake."

the fifth paragraph of the portuguese article includes this sentence: "The week before it struck, the scientists issued a statement said there was 'no reason to believe that a series of low-level tremors was a precursor to a larger event'."

that's not the same thing. if algarve daily news has correctly quoted the scientists' statement, then the china daily interpretation is incorrect.

in fairness, i have to point out the missing word "that" after the word "statement" in the algarve sentence.

i guess neither of them is perfect. but then, nobody is.

media matters

Glenn Beck thinks he can spew his hateful rhetoric, take a few days of heat, and then dance away from accountability for what he's done.

Last week, we brought your attention to Glenn Beck's comparison of the young, innocent victims of the Norway mass murders to "Hitler youth" and his attempt to escape responsibility for that outrageous claim -- and you responded en masse with more than 10,000 petition signatures asking radio stations to drop Beck for his indefensibly hateful statements.

One radio station informed us that it had already made the decision to cancel Beck's show, which is a reflection that Beck's vitriol is bad for business and a testament to how grassroots power can help restore responsibility to our public airwaves.

But we need to keep up the pressure on other radio station managers across the country, so they won't be able to defend providing a platform for such hateful and profoundly disturbing intolerance for very much longer. [more]

alternet

The Utterly Wrong Beltway Myth Driving the Debt Ceiling Insanity

By Joshua Holland / AlterNet

5 Reasons Michele Bachmann Is the New Sarah Palin

By Sarah Seltzer
AlterNet

The Reason CEOs Make 350 Times More Money Than Their Workers -- And Why That's Terrible for the Economy

By William Lazonick
New Deal 2.0

8 Dumbest, Most Insensitive Right-Wing Reactions to the Norway Shooting

By Mark Howard
AlterNet

12 Ways Rupert Murdoch's Media Empire Has Made the World Worse

By Russ Baker
WhoWhatWhy.com

speculation about what caused the norway massacre has degenerated into finger-pointing and simplistic solutions, as usual.

the simplistic category includes "If one counselor or youth had a gun on them and shot back at this guy, he would of killed far less people." [exact quote; don't blame me for the phrasing]

the fingers point all over the map: at cops, right-wingers, christians, islamophobes, atheists — i almost said "you name it" and put myself among the oversimplifiers.

i find it ironic that some christians defend what they view as their side by blaming atheism because a few prominent atheists have attacked islam, like richard dawkins, below.

it's surprising that such a smart guy would say "in the former christendom ... there's more of a historical tradition of questioning." dawkins ought to recall that christianity, at islam's present age, sent inquisitors to interrogate questioners of the faith, often quite harshly.

i'm willing to admit i don't have too many answers, tho i suspect more information couldn't hurt, but i can't deny that some react violently when overexposed to information (not necessarily misinformation) that alarms or provokes them.

for now i'll just call for more light. if we humans want to avoid a mass throat-cutting, we need to wake up. few of us think clearly as we sleep.

going slow

Mississippi schools get tough on bullies

...a video circulating the Internet showed a special needs child in a north Mississippi district being punched in the face.

And in Yazoo County a couple of years ago, a girl carried a gun onto the school bus because she said she had been the victim of bullying, one of the instances lawmakers used to illustrate the need for a stricter law.

Bullying doesn't apply only to students, either: Moss Point's high school principal was recently fired in part for alleged bullying of a subordinate.

In response to the rising problem, Mississippi last year passed a new, tougher anti-bullying law. The law requires that all districts have a policy and procedure prohibiting bullying under any conditions. Teachers and coaches, under the law, are required to report any suspected bullying to administrators.

It includes off-campus incidents such as school-bus and cyber bullying.

The onus is on principals to investigate each case.... [more]

Mississippi Goddam
(1963) Nina Simone

The name of this tune is Mississippi Goddam
And I mean every word of it

Alabama's gotten me so upset
Tennessee made me lose my rest
And everybody knows about Mississippi Goddam

Alabama's gotten me so upset
Tennessee made me lose my rest
And everybody knows about Mississippi Goddam

Can't you see it
Can't you feel it
It's all in the air
I can't stand the pressure much longer
Somebody say a prayer

Alabama's gotten me so upset
Tennessee made me lose my rest
And everybody knows about Mississippi Goddam

This is a show tune
But the show hasn't been written for it, yet

Hound dogs on my trail
School children sitting in jail
Black cat cross my path
I think every day's gonna be my last

Lord have mercy on this land of mine
We all gonna get it in due time
I don't belong here
I don't belong there
I've even stopped believing in prayer

Don't tell me
I tell you
Me and my people just about due
I've been there so I know
They keep on saying "Go slow!"

But that's just the trouble
"do it slow"
Washing the windows
"do it slow"
Picking the cotton
"do it slow"
You're just plain rotten
"do it slow"
You're too damn lazy
"do it slow"
The thinking's crazy
"do it slow"
Where am I going
What am I doing
I don't know
I don't know

Just try to do your very best
Stand up be counted with all the rest
For everybody knows about Mississippi Goddam

I made you thought I was kiddin' didn't we

Picket lines
School boycotts
They try to say it's a communist plot
All I want is equality
for my sister my brother my people and me

Yes you lied to me all these years
You told me to wash and clean my ears
And talk real fine just like a lady
And you'd stop calling me Sister Sadie

Oh but this whole country is full of lies
You're all gonna die and die like flies
I don't trust you any more
You keep on saying "Go slow!"
"Go slow!"

But that's just the trouble
"do it slow"
Desegregation
"do it slow"
Mass participation
"do it slow"
Reunification
"do it slow"
Do things gradually
"do it slow"
But bring more tragedy
"do it slow"
Why don't you see it
Why don't you feel it
I don't know
I don't know

You don't have to live next to me
Just give me my equality
Everybody knows about Mississippi
Everybody knows about Alabama
Everybody knows about Mississippi Goddam

That's it for now! see ya' later

star-ledger

Amy Winehouse:
The newest member of 'The 27 Club'

If you stop and look at the ages, it's downright creepy. Amy Winehouse, who was found dead on Saturday at her London home, is the latest musician to enter rock music's infamous "27 Club."

Named for the group of influential artists who all died at age 27, there seems to be a pattern at hand: An incredible amount of musical talent, a definite self-destructive flair and possible drug or alcohol addiction.

Winehouse died at 27 years, 311 days. In the order of their death, here are some of the more famous members of "The 27 Club":

Robert Johnson (27 years, 100 days): The mystical bluesman recorded just 29 songs but influenced a generation of rockers. Much of Johnson's life was indeed mythical, but it's suspected that he died of strychnine poisoning on Aug. 16, 1938, in Greenwood, Miss.

Brian Jones (27 years, 125 days): The Rolling Stones guitarist drowned in a swimming pool on July 3, 1969, in Hartfield, Sussex, England. The coroner's report stated it was "death by misadventure."

Jimi Hendrix (27 years, 295 days): On Sept. 18, 1970, the pioneering rock guitarist died in Kensington, Greater London, England. Hendrix asphyxiated on vomit after combining sleeping pills with wine.

Janis Joplin (27 years, 258 days): Known as the Queen of Rock 'n' Roll as well as the Queen of Psychedelic Soul, the bluesy rock vocalist died on Oct. 4, 1970, in Los Angeles. The official cause of death was an overdose of heroin, possibly combined with the effects of alcohol.

Jim Morrison (27 years, 207 days): The charismatic lead singer of The Doors died on July 3, 1971, in Paris. His cause of death was listed as "heart failure," but no autopsy was ever performed.

Kurt Cobain (27 years, 44 days): The founding member, lead singer, guitarist and songwriter for Nirvana was found dead on April 5, 1994, in Seattle. His death was ruled a suicide.

& from wikipedia

Alan "Blind Owl" Wilson. September 3, 1970. Barbiturate overdose, possible suicide. Leader, singer and primary composer of Canned Heat.

Ron "Pigpen" McKernan. March 8, 1973. Gastrointestinal hemorrhage associated with alcoholism. Founding member, keyboardist and singer of the Grateful Dead.

& a lot more. it really is weird.

miss in4mation
from today's ann coulter human events column:

As I described in my last book, "Guilty," the leading cause of all social pathologies is single motherhood. One way or another, Casey Anthony's refusal to give up Caylee for adoption was going to cost society -- and cost Caylee.

The statistics are so jaw-dropping that not giving up an illegitimate child for adoption ought to be considered child abuse. [more]

ah! so we criminalize abortion, but if single women bear children and decide to keep them we criminalize that too!

and look what comes next:

Various studies have shown that children raised by a single mother comprise about 70 percent of juvenile murderers, delinquents, teenaged mothers, drug abusers, dropouts, suicides and runaways. Imagine an America with 70 percent fewer of these social disorders and you will see what liberals' destruction of marriage has wrought.

how did she get from a dead child to how awful her life might've been if she'd lived?

is she saying america is better off with caylee dead?

and of course she had no trouble pinning the blame on liberals.

Detective in UK phone hacking scandal says 'sorry'

The case has refocused the spotlight on the already tainted News of The World, part of Rupert Murdoch's global media empire at News Corp. It also comes as Murdoch is trying to engineer the politically sensitive, multibillion-pound takeover of broadcaster BSkyB in Britain.

[13-year-old Milly] Dowler's abduction in 2002 while walking home from school in Surrey, south of London, transfixed Britain until her decomposing body was found six months later in the woods by mushroom pickers.

But while police were pursuing all leads and Milly's parents were making dramatic appeals for any tidbit of information that could be useful, a private investigator working for the News of the World tabloid allegedly hacked into her cell phone, listened to her messages, and even deleted some to make room for possible new ones.

Mark Lewis, a lawyer representing Dowler's parents, said Tuesday the suspected hacking may have hampered the police investigation and he plans to sue the tabloid for its interference.

It was never determined how long Dowler was alive after being abducted but the tabloid's actions reportedly came right after her disappearance. Police realized some messages had been deleted, giving them and Milly's parents false hope that she was still alive.

"It is distress heaped upon tragedy to learn that the News of the World had no humanity at such a terrible time," Lewis said. "The fact that they were prepared to act in such a heinous way that could have jeopardized the police investigation and give them false hope is despicable." [more]

from the post below:

Nineteen hijackers plus other al-Qaida plotters spent an estimated $400,000 to $500,000 on the plane attacks that killed 2,995 people and caused $50 billion to $100 billion in economic damages.

What followed were three wars in which $50 billion amounts to a rounding error. For every person killed on Sept. 11, another 73 have been killed since.

i guess we showed 'em!

reuters

Cost of US wars since 9/11?
At least $3.7 trillion, study finds

224,000 people have died directly from warfare
and 7.8 million people have been displaced

NEW YORK — When President Barack Obama cited cost as a reason to bring troops home from Afghanistan, he referred to a $1 trillion price tag for America's wars.

Staggering as it is, that figure grossly underestimates the total cost of wars in Iraq, Afghanistan and Pakistan to the U.S. Treasury and ignores more imposing costs yet to come, according to a study released Wednesday.

The final bill will reach at least $3.7 trillion and could be as high as $4.4 trillion, according to the research project "Costs of War" by Brown University's Watson Institute for International Studies.

In the 10 years since U.S. troops went into Afghanistan to root out the al-Qaida leaders behind the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks, spending on the conflicts totaled $2.3 trillion to $2.7 trillion.

Those numbers will continue to soar when considering often overlooked costs such as long-term obligations to wounded veterans and projected war spending from 2012 through 2020.

The estimates do not include at least $1 trillion more in interest payments coming due and many billions more in expenses that cannot be counted, according to the study. [more]

miss begot 10

Sarah Palin Blasts Hollywood Stars as 'Full of Hate' at Movie Premiere

PELLA, Iowa -- Sarah Palin stared a bit uncomfortably at a movie screen Tuesday night watching a montage of Matt Damon, David Letterman, Madonna, Howard Stern, Bill Maher, Louis C.K. and other celebrities malign her, then asked The Hollywood Reporter: "What would make someone be so full of hate?" [more]

hate you? they don't hate you. they love you. you give them so much material.

but, truth to tell, tho they don't hate you, some do hate things you say or do. what things? well, for starters, try 'death panels.'