Friday, September 30, 2005

"It's sad...that you don't give yourself an opportunity to hear what's going on." -- Greensboro Mayor pro tem Yvonne Johnson, asked at this afternoon's Truth & Reconciliation hearings by commissioner Mark Sills about the fact that no white members of the City Council have shown up for any part of the proceedings. Her hope is for "some closure" and "healing." Noted to those who point out that these events are 26 years in the past that we celebrate and mark historical occurences of all types, going back much further than that. "I believe in the power of reconciliation." Register of Deeds and former County Commissioner Jeff Thigpen also spoke. Greensboro suffers from something like Post Traumatic Stress Disorder when it comes to the killings, he said. "We have an obligation to look at it. We need to understand it." A veteran of the Pulpit Forum's work around the K-Mart labor issues in the '90s, Thigpen said he hopes this process, like that one, can become "a community issue." Previous coverage here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, and here. 4:56:40 PM   permalink   comment []

I still don't know what the parents of some girls are thinking...but last night's South Park rerun explained where they might shop.                               1:11:32 PM   permalink   comment []

The N&R has this op-ed by Marty Nathan posted online...hope they'll also post the counterpoint from Mike Schlosser that ran in print today. Update: Schlosser's piece is up. It's a tough rebuttal to Nathan's claims that prosecutors didn't seek cooperation from CWP survivors. Schlosser: "The writer starkly fails to report in her column on the attorney/client privilege in place and steadfastly maintained by all the Communist Workers Party members...prosecutors and law enforcement officers were absolutely prohibited, unless authorized by the attorneys, from communicating with these potential eyewitnesses. One of the attorneys, Earle Tockman, was so enamored of his success in interdicting the prosecutorial efforts that he published an article titled 'Tactic of Non-cooperation, Klan Trial.'" Read the whole thing. 12:33:49 PM   permalink   comment []

Jawad Williams signs with San Antonio. Houston Chronicle: "Williams, a forward, averaged 13.1 points and four rebounds in helping the Tar Heels win the national championship last season." Also, Phil Ford and Dave Hanners join Larry Brown on the Knicks bench. 12:28:12 PM   permalink   comment []

DarkTimes review: Krugman at his (a) best or (b) shrillest, depending on your POV. Paragraph after paragraph of simple statements about corruption in the GOP leadership, cronyism at federal agencies, junk science response to global warming, and so on. For example: "Dr. Scott Gottlieb, a 33-year-old Wall Street insider with little experience in regulation but close ties to drug firms, was made a deputy commissioner at the F.D.A. in July." And "David Safavian is a former associate of Jack Abramoff, the recently indicted lobbyist. Mr. Safavian oversaw U.S. government procurement policy at the White House Office of Management and Budget until his recent arrest." And "When Senator James Inhofe, who has called scientific research on global warming 'a gigantic hoax,' called a hearing to attack that research, his star witness was Michael Crichton, the novelist." And "James Schmitz, who resigned as the Pentagon's inspector general amid questions about his performance, has been hired as Blackwater's chief operating officer." A litany of woe. "That's the way it is," concludes Krugman. Friedman has a thumbsucker on the development of an Iraqi Navy -- there is progress, but then again progress is slow. Sounds like foreign forces (ours and the Brits) will be keeping the oil tankers safe for a while to come. 9:53:16 AM   permalink   comment []

Notes from a blog/media event I had to miss at the last minute, from Jay Rosen, Jeff Jarvis, and David Weinberger. 9:44:06 AM   permalink   comment []

Onion: "Congress Abandons WikiConstitution." 9:37:53 AM   permalink   comment []